Note: A chapter for you before I disappear off on holiday for a few days! Enjoy! =)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing.

10: Lost and Found

Back flat against the wall, listening to the sound of pounding footsteps out in the corridor beyond, Tonks drew a deep, calming breath, willing herself to concentrate. Grip tight upon the wand that she clutched in her hand, the Auror pushed herself back from the wall, tuning to face the open doorway. She took definite aim at the approaching man and sent a stunning jinx speeding down the corridor, only to find it streaking right back at her as he deflected it with a furious swipe of his wand. She sidestepped it just in time, hearing the window in the room behind her shatter as the spell smashed straight through it and out into the trees beyond.

Teddy gave a startled jump at the sound of smashing glass, grip upon his perch tightening at the sight of a flash of red lighting up the trees before him.

Not for the first time, the boy silently begged the Aurors to hurry up and arrive. What was taking them so long, anyway? Surely one glimpse of his mother's patronus and they ought all come running...

Suddenly, a rustling sound from somewhere to his right caught Teddy's attention and he stiffened, holding his breath. He peered through the trees, down towards the ground and, after taking a long moment to squint searchingly, spotted a large, dark figure making a slow progression deeper into the forest, dragging something shrouded in cloth along behind them. As the person disappeared from view, Teddy leaned carefully forwards, trying to catch a second glimpse.

Who was that? He wondered, and what were they doing?

For a brief moment, Teddy felt tempted to jump down from his hiding place and go and investigate, but then he recalled the deathly serious look upon Tonks' face just before she had left him.

Hide here until the Aurors arrive...

No, he wasn't going anywhere. He would stay put, just as his mother had told him to...

But what if it was important? What if somebody was escaping? The Aurors weren't here to catch them!

Maybe, Teddy mused, he should just go and have a peek, just to see who it was...

He'd come straight back, it would be as if he had never moved, then when the Aurors arrived he could tell them what he had seen...

Mind made up, Teddy carefully disentangled himself from the branch and dropped down onto the forest floor. He set off after the figure, footsteps soft and cautious upon the ground.

When she finally succeeded in knocking her opponent flying halfway down the corridor and into a wall with a loud thud, Tonks felt no real relief. It was taking much too long, she was running out of time...

She set off down the corridor at a sprint, slowing only to stoop and snatch up the wizard's wand and shove into her pocket. She vaguely wondered just who the unconscious man was, she did not recognize him, but since he was no longer a threat she did not care much for an answer.

The door to the room that she and Teddy had broken out of was still open, and Tonks was so bordering on frantic that she did not stop to check that the coast was clear, she simply dashed inside, coming to an abrupt halt in the middle of the room.

It was empty.

Tonks froze, eyes darting from side to side, finally coming to rest upon the bare corner where, a short while earlier, she had left her husband lying upon the cool stone floor, his head cushioned by her discarded robes as he struggled to draw short, gasping breaths.

He's gone...

He can't be...

Tonks began to slowly turn, scrutinizing every inch of floor, every grimy brick in the wall, the damp ceiling, as if somewhere, somehow, she would spot signs of life. Once she had completed a full circle and, unsurprisingly, found nothing, she went back to staring at the empty corner.

"Remus...?" she called hesitantly, and the silence that followed made her stomach clench.

He's gone. They've taken him...

And you have no idea where...

He's going to die. You know it. He's probably already dead...

Tonks drew in a deep breath and held it, eyes screwed shut and teeth clenched as she struggled not to allow her knees to buckle.

It's too late...

Tears blurred her vision and she felt her whole body trembling, arms limp at her sides as she gripped hold of her wand, desperate to hold onto something, to have something, as the world seemed to slip away around her.

"They haven't come back," Kingsley had told her, all those years ago in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, amid the chaos of battle as they had gathered for one last stand against Voldemort and the Death Eaters. "They left for the grounds ages ago, Remus gathered them together and led them out there and we've not seen a single one of them since. Not a single one."

He'd been gone then, too. He'd been dead. But she hadn't given in, she hadn't believed it, she'd shouted at Kingsley to stop, to shut up and be quiet because he was wrong. He could not possibly be right, there was no way that she could listen to him. It hadn't mattered that Remus was nowhere to be seen. It hadn't mattered that he had disappeared, or that the last people to have seen him claimed that he had been going to his death.

"Show me his body." she'd told Kingsley fiercely, turning her back on him and facing the doors. "You show me his body and I'll believe that he's dead. Until then, Kingsley, you just shut up, I don't want to listen to you lying."

And sure enough, a mere two minutes before the doors had been magically sealed in anticipation of Voldemort's final assault, Remus had slipped into the room, robes stained with mud, a shallow wound upon one shoulder, face gravely pale, but otherwise unscathed. He had silently made his way to stand beside her. For a long moment he had scrutinized every inch of her, taking note that she was alive and perfectly well, and she had done the same to him. They'd exchanged a brief glance, silent reassurance, before turning their attention to the doors.

Against all the odds, they had both survived.

Tonks had thought they were both going to die. It had seemed a reasonable assumption. But sometimes life just wasn't that reasonable.

Who was to say life was being reasonable now?

The room was empty. She couldn't see a body, so Remus wasn't dead. Not to her, not yet at least.

And so Tonks wiped the tears from her eyes, pushed the hair back from her face, took a deep breath to steady her nerves, before turning on her heel and marching back out of the door.

Teddy took another cautious step forward and flattened himself up against a tree trunk. His heart was still pounding in his ears and he was sure that his breathing was so loud that whoever he was following was going to hear every single breath.

For a long moment, the young Gryffindor considered the possibility that he was making a grave mistake. By now he was quite some way away from his hiding place and he was starting to doubt his ability to find his way back.

Yes, Teddy Lupin was completely lost.

Idiot, he silently cursed himself as he looked around at all of the identical looking trees. You should have stayed put, like Mum told you to.

And, what really was the point of this little expedition? How would he alert the Aurors, anyway? He'd thought he'd heard a noise a long few minutes ago that might have been the sound of them apparating, but he didn't even have a wand...

It probably wasn't even the Aurors, he thought dismally. It was probably just Mum and one of those nutcases smashing holes in the building with their stunning spells.

At the sound of something heavy dropping to the ground, Teddy turned his attention back to his foolish task and peered around the tree.

The man had finally come to a halt, dropping the end of the cloth cargo to the ground.

The cloth gave a spluttered groan.

Teddy gasped, reaching to clamp and hand over his mouth.

Dad?

He squinted, trying to get a clearer look at the scene, so consumed by panic that he failed to notice the soft rustling sound behind him.

He didn't want to believe it, he could not stand the thought, no matter how sure in his mind he was that the spluttering bundle was indeed his father, Teddy needed to be just a little more certain...

Willing himself to be brave, he took a small step out from behind the tree, holding his breath again. He edged closer, closer...

Snap!

Teddy froze, eyes darting down to the twig that had just broken under his foot, before looking back up again with a gasp.

The man spun around to face him, eyes lighting up in triumph at the sight of the small, petrified boy who simply stood, staring at him in panic.

And it seemed to Teddy that the world suddenly moved in slow motion, he watched the man raise his wand, pointing it directly at Teddy's chest, and at the sight of a flash of red light shooting towards him, Teddy screwed his eyes shut in terror.

And at that moment the boy felt something clamp down upon his shoulder, in an instant he felt a sickening sensation as if he were being jerked violently backwards, and quite suddenly everything felt blank.