A sunny, cloudless August sky provided the backdrop for another massive celebration at the Burrow. This time, it was for the Potters: Harry's 23rd birthday, Ginny's 22nd, and their first child's baby shower were being celebrated together.
Quidditch seemed to be the theme; in addition to a miniature, Snitch-shaped cake and a larger, Bludger-shaped cake, Quaffle-shaped biscuits, goalpost lollies, and broomstick-shaped sweets littered the many tables around the garden.
The skies reflected the merry decorations. High above, the older Weasley boys and Angelina played Quidditch with Remus's godsons, while the smaller children zoomed across the garden on their tiny broomsticks. The children's 'game' was a comic attempt in avoiding each other, while the whoops from above indicated a lively competition.
Tonks had been up there, too, but when the Wakefields arrived, she and Remus gladly let Denys and Wally borrow their broomsticks to soar through the air.
"So explain this to me," Charlie said, bumping into Tonks's shoulder, his finger pointed at the window in the Burrow's living room. "Why does it look like the toy shop in there?"
Tonks took her eyes off the makeshift Quidditch match above the orchards. "You haven't heard?"
"Lupin said I should hear it from you." He nodded in the direction of the garden, where Remus guided Hope along on her Babybolt. The tiny broomstick only hovered a few inches above the ground, but it was faster than a walking pace, so Remus had to half-jog to keep up with the zooming toddler.
Tonks smiled, seeing Hope almost run into a bush, before Remus stopped her. "You want the short version or the long version?"
Charlie held up a glass of firewhisky and grinned. "Long version, of course. It's this or listen to Perce yammer on about his plans for the Wizengamot. Poor Audrey's got the worst of it."
Tonks glanced at Percy, with a tired-looking Audrey to his left, excitedly telling anyone who would listen that if he was elected to the Wizengamot, he'd make tremendous changes to the wizarding world. Tonks stifled a laugh and led Charlie near the garden, where they found empty seats. From there, she could keep an eye on Teddy, who raced alongside Moira on her kid-sized broom.
"The story starts at Quality Quidditch Supplies," Tonks began, setting her drink down on a nearby table. "We waited until we were sure we arrested everyone involved in trying to kill off werewolves—Merlin, the overtime I had to work to get those bastards behind bars."
Tonks yawned, thinking about the sleepless months in which the DMLE hunted for anyone remotely related to the plot to kill werewolves. At least a dozen more suspects were charged and now awaited trials, once the Wizengamot elections were over and the proceedings could begin.
The last of them were arrested in early June, a month before the term ended. Six weeks later, the Lupin moved back to their home in Northumberland, set under every manner of enchantment they could think of, and tried to go back to living a normal life.
"They're not even in Azkaban yet!" Tonks half-shouted, pounding her fist on the wobbly table. "We ran out of room in our holding cells and they've all got Tracking Charms now, on house arrest—"
"Tonks, get to the point," Charlie interrupted. "Your hair's red and I just got the same news as Perce told me. What happened at Quality Quidditch Supplies?"
Tonks sighed dramatically and told him what happened, including the refusal to sell anything to Remus or even let Teddy bring the stuffed harpy to the till.
"I felt so terrible, Charlie. I told Remus it would be fine. Teddy begged and begged to go somewhere to get a birthday present for Hope, and we thought—well, it doesn't matter. Remus gave them our vault information, but just wait till you hear what Ginny did—"
"Ginny?" Charlie stretched out his legs and quirked an eyebrow at her.
"This happened later, when Remus came to the Ministry," Tonks explained. "Harry told Ginny about the stuffed harpy, so Ginny wrote to her captain, Gwenog, and an hour later the Holyhead Harpies threatened to pull all their merchandise, jerseys, brooms, endorsements—you name it, they threatened to pull it—from Quality Quidditch Supplies."
Charlie offered his glass to her and they clinked them together, toasting to Ginny's nerve.
"Brilliant, just brilliant," Charlie said, beaming. "That's Gin for you."
"It gets better. Two days later," said Tonks, after taking a sip of her own firewhisky, "Quality Quidditch Supplies sends us the new Comet 2100 and the not-even-released-to-the-public-yet Cleansweep 3000. They tossed in a Babybolt for Hope, and would've sent us a Kidsweep for Teddy, but Harry got him that for his last birthday."
Charlie looked properly impressed and glanced at Teddy and Hope, each whizzing along on their broomsticks. They'd arrived with an apology note from the owner of the Quidditch shop, and a promise that the Lupin family would never be treated poorly again. Remus hadn't cared about his own treatment, but he'd been furious over their refusal to let Teddy even hold the stuffed toy because of his association with a werewolf.
"But back to the toy shop." Tonks scrunched her nose, letting her hair go back to its usual bubblegum pink, and continued. "The Quidditch shop was nothing compared to what happened at Trinkitt's Toys. Remus got harassed out of the shop and a clerk assaulted my son."
Charlie's eyes flew open. "They what?"
This was the part of the account that Tonks was most horrified and impressed by; if the shop clerk had been any more aggressive, Remus would've truly harmed him. Whether Remus would've been spurred by the werewolf magic that bonded their family—and protected them too—was something Tonks wasn't sure of. She was sure that if Teddy's life had been seriously threatened, Remus would've had no difficulty in eliminating the source of that threat. He'd had the self-control to merely jinx the worker and grab Teddy's hand to get him out of the shop.
Tonks shook her head, shuddering at the thought of what could've happened to Teddy or Remus had things gone even worse.
"Remus only jinxed the bloke and came right to the Ministry. I was—well, I was terrified when I saw them. Harry kept Teddy busy so Remus could tell me what happened, and once I'd got his side of the story, we went out to investigate. Little did we know, Trinkitt's sent an owl to get us there, so when we got to the shop—"
"—they thought you'd be on their side?"
"Yup," replied Tonks, flashing him a mischievous grin.
She'd had to practice her own self-control not to rush to the shop at once and beat the worker senseless for trying to hurt her son. She, too, had the magic in her bones to protect her children at all costs, and Remus reminded her that even if he was in the right, the shop worker could still punish Remus for his wrongdoing. Werewolves' rights were in flux, with the Wizengamot out of session, but Tonks knew better: as the child of an Auror, Teddy had an advantage.
"You should've seen their faces when they found out they'd harassed Remus, an Order of Merlin recipient, and then assaulted Teddy, the son of the Head Auror. We had laws put in years ago that made assaulting children, especially Aurors' children, carry the highest possible sentence in Azkaban. They nearly shat themselves."
"Bloody hell," Charlie breathed. "What next?"
"My co-worker, Flan, went right to Kingsley. Annoying pain in my arse, but she gets the job done. She caught him just in time and he got to the toy shop about twenty minutes after we did."
Tonks recalled the toy shop owner's face when the Minister of Magic showed up. She hadn't thought she could be more pleased, but the owner's purple-toned terror was too good to ignore.
"Kingsley tells him the same stuff we did," Tonks said. "Since all our holding cells are full, he offers Trinkitt a deal. He can either make a public apology or get a one-way ticket to Azkaban. We got a public apology in The Prophet the next morning, and more toys than we could possibly keep. We brought some here, but we gave most of it to kid werewolves or the kids whose werewolf parents were killed in the massacre."
"They must've loved that." Charlie clinked his glass against hers again, this time toasting Kingsley's quick thinking.
"It was flipping amazing—"
"Flipping?"
"If you ever have kids," Tonks said, sighing ahead at her two young children, "you'll understand. Last week, Teddy told McGonagall to fuck off because she made him wait for a biscuit."
Charlie was momentarily stunned, and then he burst into wheezing laughter.
"Don't laugh! We got an earful from her and my mum. Remus is better about it than I am, but it's fucking hard, okay?"
Charlie had to hold onto his sides from his laughter. Tonks crossed her arms and blew the hair out of her face, mildly irritated with herself.
"Mummy! Mummy!"
Hope came running as fast as her legs could take her. Her sandy brown curls flew behind her, shining in the light of the sun, with the lavender dungarees she'd arrived in now covered in muddy grass.
"Hello, darling," Tonks said, lifting Hope onto her lap. "Did you have fun on your broom?"
"She had loads of fun," Remus replied, wiping the sweat off his brow with one hand and clutching a Babybolt in the other. "Loads of fun terrifying her father."
Tonks picked a few twigs and stray leaves out of Hope's curls. "Did you do that, sweetheart? You scared your dad?"
Hope nestled against Tonks's chest, pink-cheeked and giggling. Upon seeing Molly come out of the Burrow with a new platter of sweets, the two-year-old climbed back down and went running toward the food.
"Like mother, like daughter," Tonks snorted, seeing Molly indulge Hope with an oversized lolly.
"You can say that again—she's a natural on a broom."
"Future Gryffindor Quidditch Captain?" Charlie suggested, but Tonks playfully punched him in the arm.
"She's got just as good a chance of Hufflepuff!"
"If anyone's going to be a Hufflepuff," Remus said fondly, glancing in the direction of the garden, "it's Teddy."
"With my luck, they'll both be Gryffindors," said Tonks, with a loud snort. "I'll be surrounded by little lions."
Charlie rolled his eyes at her. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
Molly startled them with her shouts up at the sky, calling everyone to come down to eat. Tonks saw Teddy fly out of the garden, still zipping along on his Kidsweep. Upon seeing Remus's tired expression, Tonks volunteered to get Teddy.
In the end, the boy had to be bribed with sweets to come to the table, but Tonks didn't mind. They were happy and together, and that's all that mattered.
…
Autumn passed by in a blur. In what seemed like the blink of her eye, the first of September came and went, followed by the madness of coordinating elections, and the first session of the newly reassembled Wizengamot in early October.
It was now November, a few days after Tonks's 31st birthday, and the full moon was upon them.
Tonks sat Hope in front of the fireplace in her mother's home, with a warm, thick blanket wrapped around the unhappy toddler. Hope shivered and inched closer to the fire, her face all but pressed into the screen. Tonks had charmed the screen to stay a safe distance from the fire, preventing Hope from burning herself.
"I know you're cold," Tonks murmured, wrapping the blanket a little tighter. "Mummy's cold too."
Hope whimpered. Tonks crouched down next to her, holding her little cheek in her hand.
"I'll get you something to help."
She went to the kitchen, where her mother sat with Teddy, who was filling in a Muggle coloring book and taking care to stay within the lines.
"Mum, do you have any of that potion for fevers? Healer Wallace said we could give her some if she's cold."
"In the cupboard next to the larder," Andromeda replied. "You ought to take some too, if you're cold."
"I'll be fine."
Tonks found the potion and a dropper. She returned to the living room and gave Hope a few droplets, her shoulders sagging in relief when her daughter stopped shivering and sat back from the fireplace screen.
"Better?"
Hope nodded and slumped her body against a large pillow on the floor. She brought her thumb to her mouth, her tiny face and hand all Tonks could see in the mass of wooly warmth around her.
Despite claiming otherwise, Tonks gave herself a small dosage of the potion and felt its effects immediately. She felt warmer from her head to her toes, as if she'd stepped in a hot bath after a long, cold winter's day.
A two-inch scratch from a werewolf in January was all it took for Tonks to feel a few symptoms of the full moon. She didn't feel as badly as Bill or Hope. Bill claimed it was still miserable to go from moon to moon, getting sick all night and craving raw meat when he wasn't bent over a toilet. Hope, now that she could say a few words, suffered the night with chills, nausea, and a splitting headache. A few drops of select potions could dull the symptoms, but not erase them, as they were associated with an incurable blood curse.
The potions were enough for Hope. She went from screaming her head off at the full moon, with Dreamless Sleep to knock her out, to whimpering away in front of the fire. Hope's Healer suggested they move away from Dreamless Sleep, now that Hope was older, and while it was better for the toddler's body, it was a drain on Tonks.
Thus, they now went to Andromeda's home. Remus wanted to stay home for the full moon, now that they were no longer living at Hogwarts, but with werewolf students still there, he remained overnight in the Shrieking Chalet. Tonks had hoped they could stay together, but she needed help with the children, while also managing her own symptoms, and he was needed at Hogwarts.
Tonks returned to the kitchen and put the potion away. She joined her mother and son at the table, watching Teddy color in a cartoon dog.
"Who's this?"
"Scooby-Doo," Teddy replied promptly. "See, mum?" He lifted the coloring book to show her the cover, where a group of Muggles stood with a large dog next to a van called the 'Mystery Machine.'
"And what does Scooby-Doo do?"
Teddy scrutinized the picture before him. "He finds the bad guys."
"Sounds like a good dog," Tonks said, ruffling Teddy's turquoise hair gently.
Andromeda summoned the tea kettle. With a few, expert flourishes of her wand, loose leaf tea arranged itself in a teabag and landed neatly into a teacup, and then hot water came from the kettle, preparing a cup of tea for Tonks.
"Thanks, mum," she said, tapping the side of the teacup. "I needed this."
"Are you still working overtime, Nymphadora?"
Tonks nodded and sighed into her palms, rubbing her tired eyes. "Trials start week after next…and they'll be over in a few months."
"The Wizengamot was sworn in two months ago," Andromeda said tartly. "They postponed the elections until September, to avoid the rush of preparing for school, and they're postponing the trials again?"
"It's all a bunch of bureaucratic rubbish." Tonks yawned and took a sip of her tea, tasting her mother's handcrafted herbal blend for colds and flus. "Half the Wizengamot's practically my age. No one knows what they're doing. Their first session a month ago was a disaster."
Andromeda flicked her wand at a thick pamphlet. It was the Ministry's shade of purple, and easily recognizable: the hundred newly elected Wizengamot members were listed within, including their dates of birth and Hogwarts houses.
She opened it up on the table, and Teddy stopped his coloring to look at the smiling pictures of witches and wizards representing the reorganized British Ministry of Magic.
"It's Uncle Percy," Teddy said, pointing at a proud-looking Percy Weasley. He scanned the rest of the pictures, disappointed when he couldn't recognize anyone else.
"Half of them were there before," Tonks murmured, seeing the familiar names and faces. "The other half's clueless, except for Percy." She snorted quietly and read through the names again.
"They didn't include their blood statuses," Andromeda noted. "The older ones—they're all old families, purebloods."
"Only a few of them are arse—" Tonks corrected herself, seeing Teddy look up at her. "—only a few are unpleasant. Most of them are fair and open-minded. Of the younger ones—" She tapped her finger against the pamphlet, counting them silently. "—fifteen Muggleborns, maybe? Most of them are half-bloods."
"The Wizengamot hasn't looked like this since—"
"Ever, mum," Tonks said. "Even when the old regulations were available, before Grindelwald's time, the Wizengamot never had this many Muggleborns or half-bloods."
The November wind outside howled and a moment later, it began to pour. A bolt of lightning and a peal of thunder rent the air; Teddy recoiled into Tonks's arms, frightened.
"Let's go to the other room, Teddy. We can get cozy with Hope."
Tonks, Andromeda, and Teddy joined Hope in front of the fire. Lightning lit up the space, terrifying Teddy and Hope, and while Tonks expected the light to disappear, a blue figure appeared in the living room.
"It's a Patronus!"
Tonks rubbed her eyes and recognized Arthur's weasel Patronus.
"He's here! James Sirius Potter born an hour ago, everyone doing well!"
The Patronus disappeared and Tonks broke into a huge smile.
"Did you hear that, Teddy?" she said, hugging her son, who was staring at the spot where the weasel had been. "Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny had their baby, a boy!"
"Born under the full moon," Andromeda murmured. "He'll be quite a handful."
"Even if he wasn't—they've named him James Sirius and he's Harry and Ginny's kid. He's got no chance of being anything but a handful."
"What's a handful?" asked Teddy, with wide, curious eyes.
"Your mother," Andromeda replied flatly. "Your mother is a handful, Teddy."
Teddy's confused face made Tonks burst into a fit of giggles. She couldn't wait for the morning to see Remus after moonset, and meet baby James soon.
…
"Were my eyes deceiving me," Tonks said, propping herself up on her elbow, "or were you misty-eyed today?"
Remus rolled his eyes and pulled the covers over his body, laying on his back. "We went to see Harry and Ginny and I held a baby named after James and Sirius. I'm old enough to be the boy's grandfather."
"So that's a yes?"
"Yes, Nymphadora," he replied, "that's a yes. It reminded me of the time I met Harry. Today, Harry had the same face James did when he brought his son to me."
"That's actually very sweet." Tonks ran her fingers through Remus's silvery brown hair, enjoying the way his face relaxed under her touch. "Does baby James look like Harry's dad?"
"His hair's redder, but it's hard to tell with some babies." He closed his eyes and hummed lightly. "Speaking of which, I had to have 'the talk' with the boys today."
Tonks's brow came together. "Isn't Denys a bit old for that? He's what—14 now? Wally's 13?"
"Lottie already took care of the big things," said Remus. "They know how everything works. She forgot to explain werewolf mates—or maybe didn't know how to say it."
"They're only teenagers. It's not like they're thinking about kids?"
"No, they're not, and Wally's only a second year. He's more interested in Quidditch than girls. Denys, on the other hand—"
"Ew, don't tell me—"
"—Filch found him with a Ravenclaw girl in a broom cupboard—"
"—ew, Remus—"
He chuckled and turned over to face her. "I don't know what they were doing, and frankly, I didn't ask. I pulled him, Wally, and Ciaran, the other second year, into my office and we had a chat about werewolf mates."
"What about Annie? Shouldn't she know?"
"I thought Madam Pomfrey would be best suited to discuss it with her," Remus said, turning a light shade of pink. "I discussed it with the boys—"
"—and they were properly scared off?"
Remus snorted and nodded. "Horrified, all three of them, but none more than Denys."
"Isn't 14—young?" asked Tonks, with a shudder. "I s'pose I did have my first kiss, and snog, and—" She recalled some of the activities she'd engaged in between her fourth and fifth years. It seemed long ago, but it wasn't out of the question that fourth years would start fooling around with each other.
"I was friends with James and Sirius. They could've dated anyone they wanted," said Remus, remembering how jealous he felt when the other boys were able to get dates without effort. "And they did. Denys is much luckier than I was. Everyone knows he's a werewolf and most of his year mates don't care. They're used to the idea of werewolves, with me and their classmates. Denys is a great student and he's got better care than I did, at his age. He'll have a happier life."
"That's a good thing, though."
"I'm not saying it isn't—" Remus put his hand on her waist and rubbed his thumb over her skin. "—I never would've married you or had this family if my life was like his. I'm all right with how it turned out for me, but Denys, Wally, Annie, and all the other werewolf students we'll get still need to be cautious. They are different and they need to think about the consequences of their actions more deeply than the average student."
"Right," Tonks agreed, thinking of the possibilities, "because while the others can just take a potion, the werewolf kids would be stuck to each other."
"Exactly. I believe I've scared them off from doing anything they'll regret."
"Do you think they'll get married and have kids one day?"
Remus scrunched up his face, deep in thought. "Maybe," he replied quietly. "If they find the right person."
"Like me?"
He nodded and brought his lips down to hers, kissing her softly.
"The kids are asleep, aren't they?" she whispered against his ear, when they broke apart.
He nodded, pulling her closer, with a smoldering look in his eyes.
Tonks grinned, and they began ripping their clothes off, eager for what was next.