Okay, I'm beginning to think this is going to be fewer than sixty chapters. Quite a lot fewer, actually. Closer to fifty, though I can't guarantee anything. It wasn't all supposed to happen as fast as it did, but… well, as long as you can understand it, all the better. I have two days left of school, and once summer hits, I'll be able to update almost every day, at least until we move. And I hope to be finished before then, because I don't want to have the stress of trying to finish this hanging over my head at the same time I'm freaking out about moving. Anyway, enjoy… and review :-D

Chapter 43

Together?

"It's falling apart, Harry," Lupin muttered softly, rubbing his eyes in weariness and frustration. They were in the kitchen of the Burrow, Lupin leaning forward in a chair with his elbows on his knees and Harry pacing back and forth in nervous preoccupation. In the month since the attack on Hogwarts, he had grown jumpy and anxious, knowing that he had to do something but not knowing what. There was nothing he could do, not until the Order located Voldemort.

But that was the problem. The Order was falling apart. They faced increasing darkness pressing in on them from outside—more frequent attacks, the state of anxiety that plagued everyone, the constant fear that a Death Eater was lurking within their midst—but they could have withstood all of this were they not also crumbling from within. Charlie's dissention had only been the first destructive wave; arguments now broke out frequently, and nothing ever got done. Harry's letter to the Ministry accusing the Minister of being a Death Eater had been ignored. Rights were constantly being stripped from the people in the name of safety, and aurors were being murdered in their beds.

Tonks had been attacked in her apartment in London, facing off against three Death Eaters. However, she had laid out an escape plan after the assaults against aurors had increased, and she got away with only a broken arm and a nasty gash on her cheek.

Kingsley Shaklebolt had not been so lucky. He was dead.

Sirius had arrived at the Burrow three days previously with the grim news that all the Unspeakables of the Ministry had been attacked individually, and not one had survived.

"That means…" Harry had said hoarsely, raising his gaze to meet Sirius' eyes, "…that means that David Hoffman was killed."

Haltingly, Sirius had nodded.

And then, fifteen minutes ago, Lupin had come to tell him that three more had died: Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge, and Hestia Jones had been trying to glean information about Voldemort's whereabouts, and they had been attacked together. Elphias and Dedalus were killed on the spot, and Hestia lived long enough only to tell her story to the housemaid who found her.

And Lupin was weary. He had fought—for years, he had fought, seeing his best friends die around him. James had been first, fighting to the death for his wife and his son. He had thought Pettigrew to be dead and Sirius to be worse—namely, a traitor who had joined Lord Voldemort—only to realize that he had it wrong, that Peter was the traitor and Sirius was not, and then see Sirius die, with Dumbledore's death following only a year later. The rights of werewolves were growing increasingly limited—not to mention how much stress and pain just having lycanthropy added—and, though Lupin never admitted it, Harry was sure that after learning about the prophecy, he was despairing because he thought that Harry was going to die as well. And he was convinced that the Order was falling apart.

He's right, Harry told himself, as much as he didn't want to believe it.

Mrs. Weasley came bustling inside, having been working in the garden. She saw Lupin's face, and immediately her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What's happened?" she asked.

With a melancholy sigh, Lupin told her. Sounding as though she had a bad head cold, she was on her way upstairs when the doorbell rang. She answered it, and a moment later, Tonks poked her head into the kitchen. "Oh," she said, "there you are, Harry. Remus was looking… oh, hello, Remus…" She paused. "Never mind, Harry," she said brightly, grinning.

"I'm glad someone can still smile," Harry remarked, deciding that if he paced anymore, he was going to wear a hole through the carpet. He sat down.

The smile slid off her face at that. "You heard, then." When he nodded, she sighed and pulled up a chair next to Lupin, taking his hand. "Liven up," she said to both of them, frowning. "You're not going beat You-Know-Who if you die of depression first."

Lupin smiled wanly.

"Where're Ron and Hermione?" Tonks asked Harry. "It's not very often I see you without them."

"They went out," he said shortly. His mind flashed back quickly to that morning, when he had said goodbye to them. Ron, after working up the courage for about three weeks, had (finally, in Harry's opinion) asked Hermione on a date. They had gone to Diagon Alley to spend the day, though, Harry thought, there was no longer much excitement there. The entire wizarding world had been covered with a shroud of darkness.

The front door opened again and Sirius appeared a moment later. He looked as though he were about to say something, but then he paused, a strange look crossing his face. After a moment, he chuckled. "So," he said, leaning against the doorframe and smirking at Tonks and Lupin, "when's the wedding?"

"What are you talking about?" Tonks asked a little too innocently.

As a response, he crossed to her and grabbed the hand that wasn't entwined in Lupin's. He held it up. "This is what I mean."

Harry's face broke into a grin for the first time in a week. On her fourth finger was a gold ring with a small diamond set into it. She snatched her hand back quickly, but she was smiling sheepishly.

"So…?" Sirius prompted. "Tell us officially."

Tonks nudged Lupin, who looked up at Sirius. "We're… we're going to be married," he said quietly. His eyes roved his best friend's face, as though silently asking if he approved. Harry knew he wouldn't have changed his mind even if Sirius had disliked the idea, but he could also understand why he wanted his approbation. Sirius gave a barely perceptible nod and a slight but sincere smile.

And Harry noticed that for the first time in a long while, there was hope and joy in Lupin's face.

There was a tapping sound at the window above the sink. The four of them turned to see a large, gray owl rapping its beak against the pane. Sirius crossed to the window, opened it, and accepted the letter from the arrogant-looking bird, who soared off immediately after delivering its message. Sirius looked at it strangely, turning it over in his hands.

"It's… it's to me," he said, perplexed, "and it has the Durmstrang crest on it."

Harry's heart started pounding. He had a good idea who it was from.

Sirius scanned the letter, his eyes first registering shock, then hatred, and then confusion. His hand shook before he got to the end of it. He leaned against the counter for support, not even noticing that he put his hand in a bowl of beans Mrs. Weasley had set out to soak for dinner. He read the letter twice more in rapid succession, and then he looked up, locking eyes with Harry.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked softly.

Harry shook his head dumbly. The truth was, he didn't know. He had a feeling in his gut that had told him to stay silent about his visit to Durmstrang, his meeting with the headmaster… with Sirius' brother. It was a feeling he couldn't explain, but his stomach had clenched every time he thought about telling him, and eventually, it had faded out of his mind.

"This says you saw him," Sirius said, his voice shaking. "It says you went to Durmstrang, and asks that if I have any doubts about where his loyalties lie, I go to you for the whole story." There was pain in his eyes, a profound pain that Harry couldn't pretend to comprehend. Sirius glanced at the letter again. "I would've thought you would have told me the whole story without being prompted."

"I… I'm sorry, Sirius," he stammered. "I… I didn't want to hurt you. I just…" He looked up. "I'm sorry."

"What is it?" Lupin asked, his brow creased.

So Harry told them the whole story (or most of it, at least—he left out the part about the Horcruxes, since Tonks was in the room). He finished dejectedly, looking at Sirius and hoping for forgiveness.

Sirius sank weakly into a chair. "He's… he's alive," he said hoarsely, looking at the ground.

"I'll bet that was his reaction when he found out that you were," Lupin said. "Does it say how he learned it?"

"The papers. It took a while to reach him, seeing as it wasn't exactly international news…"

Tonks was looking at Harry suspiciously. "You went to Durmstrang just to learn more about the Dark Arts."

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah."

She shook her head. "You're an abysmal liar, Harry, really. Will you tell me the truth, or will I just have to guess?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm not going try to invent another reason, if that's what you mean."

She sighed. "Alright, whatever. But you know, of course, that the human mind generally jumps to the worst conclusions when left to wander?"

He just turned away and faced Sirius. "Did he say anything else?"

"He's coming," he said quietly. "He wants to come to London to talk to me. Next Sunday." He smiled bitterly. "It'll be April thirtieth."

Lupin looked at him sadly. "He knows you," he said quietly. "More than you ever realized."

Tonks and Harry exchanged glances. "What's so significant about April thirtieth?" she asked.

When Sirius spoke, it was as though he were fighting back tears. "It was the day I finally ran away from home, during the Easter holidays in our sixth year. It was… it was the last day I ever saw Regulus." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Twenty-two years is a long time," he said finally. "Twenty-two years spent believing that he was dead, that he was a Death Eater…" He looked up at Harry. "What's he like?"

"Well, he has a limp… I didn't exactly get a chance to ask him what it was from. He's obviously the headmaster of Durmstrang, and he—"

"No," Sirius said impatiently. "I mean, what's he like?"

Harry could do nothing but shrug. "I talked to him a grand total of twice, and the first time was… a very strange conversation that gave me no insights into his character." He looked up. "But he said he looked up to you, more than you ever knew. And he's sorry for the crimes he's committed; that much I know."

Sirius nodded slowly. "Thank you," he said, his voice hoarse.

At that moment, the back door opened and Ginny came in, a broomstick over her shoulder, followed closely by Fred and George, who had taken the weekend away from their store to come home. Ginny and Harry looked at each other and turned quickly away, grinning. All three of them were sopping wet; it looked as though it were raining outside, though Harry could clearly see the sun shining brightly through the window.

"We had a water fight," Ginny explained, wringing out her hair into the sink, "on our brooms."

"Reusable, self-filling water-balloons," George added. "Compliments of… us."

"Big surprise," Sirius grumbled as Fred shook his head vigorously, spraying water everywhere. "You're getting me wet, you know," he remarked dryly.

"You should've seen it," George said dreamily. "Fred threw one at Ginny that was completely off the mark, except that she didn't know his aim was off, so she swooped to avoid it and ended up flying straight into it… Ha! Harry you would've laughed—it was the perfect roll, except had it really been Quidditch she'd have slammed into a bludger."

"Yeah, and you were laughing so hard you didn't see mine, which hit you smack in the face," Ginny added irritably. "Get lost, will you?"

She was headed towards her bedroom when she noticed the same thing Sirius had noticed fifteen minutes earlier. She stopped short, looked from Tonks to Lupin and back to Tonks, and grinned broadly. Without another word, she headed upstairs.

Harry was in Ron's (and currently, his) bedroom before dinner that evening when there was a knock on his door. He looked up from the book he was reading and said, "Come in."

It was Ginny. She grinned at him and came in to sit down on the floor beside his bed. There was a moment of silence, and then she began, "So… Lupin and Tonks are getting married."

"That's what I've heard," he replied, setting down the book and lying flat against the pillows.

"And Ron and Hermione are dating," she continued.

"Yeah, and I'm starting to worry that they're still not back."

Ginny scoffed. "They'll be fine. Anyway, this has all got me thinking…"

"About what?"

"About all that I'm missing out on."

Harry laughed. "I should've known it would be something like this." He rolled over and hit her with his pillow. She yanked it from him and hit him back, getting up and sitting on his stomach.

"Really, Harry," she said, "all this noble we-can't-be-together-because-it's-too-dangerous stuff is really starting to get on my nerves."

"Ginny," he said firmly, "if you were hurt because of me, I'd kill myself. I swear, if there were any other way—"

"Do you love me?" she asked abruptly.

Harry was taken aback by the question. "If I didn't, don't you think I'd go out with you? It's because I love you that I won't. You're still sitting on my stomach, by the way."

"Harry," she said, and she was no longer laughing, "I know you don't understand this, but I'm going to tell you anyway. I love you. I can't just sit around and watch while you go do brave and noble things and leave me behind. You said you'd kill yourself if anything happened to me? Well, how do you think I feel? Don't you think I'd do the same if you were hurt? Harry, listen to me. I'm sick of living without you. I'm willing to die if it means we can be together."

"Don't say that," he admonished.

"It's true!" she argued. "Tell me the truth. Do you love me?"

"Yes, but that's not—"

"Then let me make my own decisions," she whispered.

Then she leaned down and kissed him. Harry knew he should pull away, knew that he shouldn't let this happen, but his heart was pounding and his head was hot and he couldn't draw back. He kissed her back, and subconsciously he reached out for her magic. He felt it, burning like a brilliant flame inside her. And then he knew that she was right.

Of course, the door chose that moment to open.

Or rather, Sirius chose that moment to open the door. "Ginny, Molly was…. Oh."

He broke off, but he didn't shut the door. Ginny pulled away from Harry and glared at Sirius as though daring him to object.

"Er…" he stammered, "your mother wants you downstairs. Something to do with muddy tracks in the kitchen."

Ginny glanced at Harry as though saying, See? I was right all along, and then she swept past Sirius and out of the room.

Sirius just stood there for a moment, a fathomless expression on his face. When, after a long silence, he still didn't speak, Harry sat up and asked, "Is anything wrong?"

"No, I just… it's only that…" He paused, and after another moment he crossed to Harry and sat beside him on the bed, running his hand through his hair. "When I walked in," he whispered, "you looked… I could've sworn I saw… you and Ginny looked exactly like your parents, Harry. I could have sworn for a moment that you were James and Lily."

Harry flushed, half with embarrassment, half with pride.

"I don't know if anybody ever told you…" Sirius said hesitantly, "I mean, not many people ever even knew, so I doubt you do…"

"Told me what?" Harry asked sharply.

He sighed. "Everyone always tells you that you have your mother's eyes. Well, that wasn't true when you were born. You looked exactly like James, one hundred percent. Your eyes were hazel. And then that night… that Halloween that Voldemort came to your house… I don't know what happened, Harry, but when I got to the… to the ruins, and I saw you in Hagrid's arms, your eyes weren't hazel anymore. They were green."

"My eyes… my eyes changed?" Harry said hoarsely.

Sirius nodded. "I'd seen you just two days previously, and they'd been hazel, just the same as always. But then, after James and Lily died, they turned brilliantly green."

"Like my mother's."

"Yes. Not many people saw you during your first year, Harry. Your parents knew within three months of your birth that Voldemort might be after them, and they went into hiding. It was just me, Remus, Peter, Dumbledore, and Hagrid, for the most part." He smiled wanly. "I'm sorry, Harry. I know it's probably a painful subject for you. Forgive me."

Harry shook his head. "Nothing to forgive."

Sirius stood to leave, but he paused on his way out, smirking. "The way today is going, what with Remus and Tonks getting married and Hermione and Ron out on a date and now you and Ginny, we'll be having a triple wedding this summer."

Harry threw a pillow at him. "Ginny's not even of age," he scowled. "And we're not going out, not really."

"Oh, and that snogging session I just walked in on is just a nightly pastime for you two," Sirius snorted. "Goodnight, Harry."

Harry lay in bed until Ron arrived home, sometime around nine. He asked how it was, but he wasn't really listening. He was thinking about… well, everything. It had been a long day.

He was also thinking, Maybe Ginny's right after all.

A/N: another depressing chapter. About all this dismal stuff… it's not about to end. But I made it happy in some parts, too! Remus and Tonks are finally engaged! Don't ask me what Tonks' name will be when she gets married, though… Maybe she'll be Nymphadora Tonks Lupin and still go by Tonks… hmm…