May 2nd, 2008

Ten Years After...

"Teddy, Merlin's sake, slow down! Grandmum won't be able to catch up!"

Tonks rolled her eyes, exasperated, following Teddy as he ran down the hall of Hogwarts towards the Great Hall. For a ten year old boy, Teddy was very light on his feet, Tonks could barely keep up, what with her clumsiness, her being thirty five…and her wooden leg on the left side, for which she needed a cane to walk with (she used Remus' old walking cane for this task, and it suited her well enough).

"But the Memorial feast smells good, even from here, Mummy!" whined Teddy. "We'll be late!"

Tonks called ahead to her son, deciding that trying to make her son slow down was a lost cause. "Just save a seat for your Grandmum, the Weasleys, and I!"

She didn't know if Teddy heard him, but she needed to wait for Andromeda. She leaned against a wall and rolled up her pant leg to see if her wooden leg was still safely fastened to her knee. She'd lost it three years ago, while chasing a particularly nasty stray Dark Wizard with Ron Weasley. And it was her last chase because of that injury. As secondary head of the Auror Department under Harry Potter now, Tonks didn't have to fly as much, but she still liked the odd on-scene assignment. The Wizarding world calm as it was, still had a little 'action' here and there. She often worked alongside Harry Potter as well. The Healers had looked at her leg and told her that they had no chance of saving it or re-attaching it, but Tonks didn't mind the fake leg, because Mad-Eye Moody had one too. It made her feel…important. Like a big battle-scar to show off to the world.

"Nymphadora, for Merlin's sake, does Teddy ever run out of energy?" asked a worn, torn, wispy voice. Tonks turned to see her mother limping on her own cane slowly down the corridor towards her, looking tired out.

"Mum, you've lived with him for ten years. What do you think?" Tonks said. "I can only imagine what he'll be like next fall when he comes here to school..."

Andromeda smiled her unique smile. Three teeth were missing, but she didn't care, nor bother to have them replaced. A fair bit older in appearance as well as age, Andromeda was rather well dressed and groomed. This was because her sister, Narcissa, the last full-blooded Black, had died a few years back of some disease, and despite Andromeda's disowning by her Aunt Walburga, the Hall of Blacks all agreed to leave the family fortune to her. This ensured that Andromeda was perfectly independent, with or without a husband. She moved out of her old cottage and into a new home in a nice apartment in Rowena's Way. She lived nicely there, and Teddy loved to spend time there with her.

"Who else is coming?" asked Andromeda.

Tonks shrugged. "Everyone, I guess."

"Where's Danny? Is he coming?" Andromeda wondered. Tonks shook her head at the mentioning of her fiancé.

"He's got a game in Italy tonight. Teddy and I are Apparating down to Verona to see him after the Memorial feast," Tonks said. Danny O'Shea, a Beater for the Ireland Quidditch team, was a decent fellow who made Tonks feel happy like Remus Lupin once had. Of course, no one would every replace Remus Lupin in her heart. But Tonks eventually realized that both he and Andromeda had been right all along. Opening her heart to love again made the pain seem to disappear. An August wedding was being planned, right before Teddy would leave for school for the first time.

"I see, well, we might as well hurry up and get into the Great Hall and see if Teddy saved us those seats!" Andromeda said. Tonks nodded at her mother, and they both did so.

The Great Hall was filled with war veterans and Hogwarts students who had relatives who were veterans (the school had closed for the day in order to have the Tenth Anniversary Memorial feast for those who had fought and died during both wars). Once inside, Andromeda and Tonks looked in the direction of the old Hufflepuff table, from which Teddy waved. Both women went to sit down in the two seats, one on either side of Teddy, that were reserved for them. Tonks was delighted to see Charlie was on her left with Kelly Morton, whom Charlie had taken for his wife a year or so after their long journey to the Himalayans. Charlie's daughter was sitting on the other side of her mother, and Kelly's stomach was big and round.

Tonks smiled. "Charlie, I haven't seen you in months! Not since you left to live in New York!"

Charlie nodded. "Yes, raising dragon awareness in the United States is a tough job. So many skeptical people nowadays, even wizards. Then Kelly got pregnant again, which made things MUCH more fun…"

"It's another girl," said Kelly proudly. "Little Bastet couldn't be happier that she's getting a sister, right?"

The little redheaded girl on Kelly's left scowled. "When's the pudding coming out?" she pouted. Tonks smirked at her goddaughter. She looked at Charlie. After their trip, Charlie had come out and confessed everything about his feelings to Tonks, but both of them decided that when it came down to it, they weren't really meant to be lovers. Just friends. So Charlie finally let go of his long-standing crush on Tonks and instead married Kelly, his longtime associate in the new branch of the Ministry, the Department of Dragon Awareness, Keeping, and Protecting. Not that Kelly was just an alternate to Tonks, Charlie came to realize that they were, indeed, more compatible and more attracted to each other in the long run. Sadly for Charlie, dragons had become somewhat of an endangered species, and he and Kelly shared the same goal: to protect and save these creatures. Luckily, Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt was convinced to open up the new branch for Charlie's cause.

The room was suddenly called to order by Headmistress of Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall. This would be the last Memorial feast she would be speaking at, as she was retiring after the final exams were done. "You attention, please? Before we begin our delicious Memorial feast, let us please have a moment of silence for those who fell ten years ago during the final Battle of Hogwarts…"

Tonks bowed her head and squinted her eyes tight, getting an image of Remus behind her eyelids. She wished she never made that promise to never journey to the Borderland again. She had so much she wanted to beg Remus' forgiveness for. Like for marrying again. For all those times she had nearly given up on raising Teddy herself because Remus wasn't beside her. Sometimes, she wanted to beg Remus to forgive her for not being happy. She was happy again, but there were the odd days when she wasn't happy, of course. Those early days after she returned home were terrible. Tonks had not only physical fatigue to recover from, but she was haunted with dreams for many nights that included Remus and how she would now never be able to see or hear his voice in person again. She wished she could die sometimes, but she never tried. It took her a long time to say a formal goodbye, but she managed to pass on into the next phase of her life.

Tonks and Andromeda together decided (along with the permission and advice of Sirius' portrait in the Hall of Blacks) to turn 12 Grimmauld Place into a memorial library (Remus would have liked that) and a Magical Historical Landmark in honor of those who died from both Wars at the hands of Death Eaters. Of course, the Hall of Blacks was off limits to visitors, and it remained there. Aunt Walburga's terrible portrait was finally taken down and stowed away there (much to the vexation of Sirius and a few of the other Blacks). The Phoenix Library each had a separate room and a separate memorial plaque or portrait for Remus, Sirius, along with James and Lily Potter, Fred Weasley, Colin Creevey, Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Mad-Eye Moody, and several other important figures that lost their lives. For awhile, Tonks was tempted to visit the portrait of Remus hanging outside the Lupin Room (where rare books on magical beasts were kept), but she never went.

After a moment, Tonks raised her head as Minerva McGonagall waved her hands, and the feast appeared before them. Tonks, her belly empty and not wanting to be, dug in almost immediately, and ate until she nearly burst.

Tonks knew that the pain would never cease completely. It did wear down as time went on, but Tonks knew it would never go away completely. It wouldn't, not even after she married Danny O'Shea and possible had more children (Tonks was secretly hoping for a little daughter with Metamorphmagus abilities like herself), even after Teddy grew up, married, and gave her grandchildren. But maybe a little pain was good. Maybe keeping a little bit of the pain meant Tonks was never completely grown up. She didn't want to be grown up. She had the feeling that neither Remus nor Sirius would want her completely grown up either.

With this thought on her mind, Tonks smiled, widely satisfied, and decided to go for the second helping of chocolate torte after all.

A/N: I know what you might be thinking, according to JK Rowling, Charlie never married or had kids and his whole life was about dragons. Well, she ALSO said that Tonks was killed off by Bellatrix, so screw her! Thanks to all those who were kind enough to review this! See ya next fic!