Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

28: The Dream

"Lie down."

"Did you...did you see their faces? Merlin, it was...it was even worse than..."

"It's fine. It's over. Just lie down."

"It's not over though, is it Dora? It's...it's only just starting..."

"For the love of Merlin Remus, just lie down."

"Why?"

"Because...!" Dora Lupin bit her tongue, her grip upon her husband's arms tightening for a moment before she drew a calming breath and insisted:

"You're in a state, love, and you've got to teach this afternoon. So, just lie down for a bit, have a sleep and clear your head, alright? Harry's got everything covered, like he said."

"That's not what he said at all." Remus protested, sinking back upon the bed despite himself with a heavy sigh. "If I remember rightly, Ron said: What the bloody hell are we going to do? And then Harry said: I have absolutely no idea..."

"We'll think of something! Let's just...relax."

The werewolf laughed disbelievingly, reaching to swat her hand away from him as she reached to press it to his forehead.

"Don't fuss over me." he muttered disapprovingly, sighing again when she told him:

"I'm worried about you."

"You and everybody else, apparently."

"Exactly, love. You're...well..."

"I'm what?"

"Don't sound so defensive! All I'm saying is that it's not healthy or even remotely reasonable for somebody to be under as much pressure and stress as you have been these past few days. So lie still, shut up, and let the rest of us shoulder the burden for a little while, alright?"

She took his wary sigh as a yes, and for a glorious moment he was silent, only for recall:

"Ginny's going to be back with the children in an hour or so...and Harry will tell her everything...then she'll tell Hermione and Molly, and then..."

"Shut up, love."

"What in Merlin's name will they all think?"

"I'll tell you what they'll all think, Remus. They'll all think thank bloody Merlin we were right! You think that was disgust on Harry's face just then? No, it was relief! Shock, yes, but relief all the same!"

In all honesty, Tonks would have to admit that both Harry and Ron's relief to realise that her marriage wasn't in complete and utter ruins had only lasted a few seconds. It had all gone a bit downhill after that. First off, Ron had leant forward across the table, eyes wide as snitches as he cried:

"You what?"

Tonks had rather wanted to hex him. After all, it had taken Remus some five minutes or more to finally coax those three immortal words out of his mouth:

I kidnapped Elijah.

Tonks hadn't thought it at all fair to make him say them again.

"Remus took Elijah." she'd informed the two Aurors slowly, just in case Ron didn't quite understand. "He's been hiding him from the Ministry."

The questions after that had come in swift succession, each one a little louder and more agitated than the last.

"Why?"

"Because...it's what Artemis would have wanted."

"Why would you give a toss what Carrow-Smyth wanted?"

"Because...he's not quite the tosser you think he is, Ron."

"But...! Why?"

"Where's Elijah now?"

"What have you done with him?"

"How are you supposed to keep him hidden?"

"You're both bloody mental, did you know that?"

"Shut up." Tonks had demanded after a while, once Remus had sunk so low in his chair that she thought any more questions might lead him to fall straight off of it.

"But..."

"Do you want me to explain or not?"

At this, both wizards had sobered somewhat, Harry had even mumbled an apology and Tonks had relaid the past few weeks events to them. Once she had finished, there had been a very long, pained silence, before Ron had muttered:

"Well...you've really screwed this one up, haven't you?"

Tonks had been about to nod agreement, glad that they seemed to be reacting well, but then Harry had folded his hands upon the table before him and asked:

"How could you? How could you ask...how could you even consider asking Remus to...?"

Tonks hadn't really known what to say to this, so she'd stared guiltily down at her lap and mumbled:

"I'm a crap wife, that's how."

She'd glanced sideways at Remus to see what he thought of this conclusion, and felt a horrible sense of betrayal when he'd spoken for the first time in minutes.

"Exactly."

There had been a long, worried silence as Harry and Ron exchanged a glance and Tonks reminded herself that really, she deserved a cutting response like that after what she had done.

"Elijah can't stay this way," Remus had said, seemingly at last finding his voice properly. "Even if I wasn't found out, which I will be any time now, it isn't healthy for him to drink so many sleeping potions."

Harry and Ron had mumbled worriedly to one another for several minutes before Ron reached to drag a hand through his flaming red hair with a deep frown.

"What the bloody hell are we going to do?" he'd wondered aloud, and Harry had reached to pull the glasses from his face so that he could rub his eyes with his free hand, admitting:

"I have absolutely no idea."

Tonks had left the two of them to plot around the table so that she could drag Remus upstairs and attempt to make him rest, and once she had persuaded him to lie down upon the bed in the Potters' spare bedroom it suddenly occurred to her that despite it still being well before midday, she too felt utterly exhausted.

"Budge up." she instructed, and with a brief pause to kick off her boots in the direction of the opposite wall, she flopped down upon the bed beside the werewolf, heading coming to rest upon his chest to make running away entirely out of the question. It did not escape her notice that he did not move to put his arms around her.

"You're due at work." he mumbled sleepily, and she'd stubbornly reached to hug his arm to her chest with a muttered:

"Shut up."

And with that final instruction, she'd promptly dosed off to sleep.

It was dark. Cramped. He kept stepping on her toes.

It made her giggle.

"Shhhh!" he demanded as he pulled the door firmly shut behind them, locking it with a sharp tap of his wand upon the lock.

She obediently clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the laughter, only for him to ask:

"What're you doing? Not much use to me like that, are you? Where's my kiss, hmm?"

"Whoever said it was your kiss?" she asked him in a whisper as her hand dropped back to her side. "I might like to give it to somebody else instead!"

"Like who?" he asked incredulously, and she smirked at him through the darkness.

"Oh I don't know...Jonathan, maybe..."

"Who the bloody hell is Jonathan?"

"Wouldn't you like to know!"

"You don't even know anybody called Jonathan!"

"I might do..."

"You're a horrible, horrible tease! Come here and apologize..."

"No!"

"I said come here!"

"Never!"

"Want a bet? Stop squirming, I'm going to..."
CRASH!

As he tumbled to the floor, having gotten a foot caught in a stray bucketful of water, she let out a shriek of laughter.

"SHIT!"

"SHHHHHHHH! You're going to wake half the castle!"

"ME wake half the castle?" he muttered furiously as he scrambled to his feet, clothes sodden from his encounter. "You're the one who's laughing like an absolute lunatic!"

By the time he had managed to disentangle himself from the rest of Mr. Filch's brooms, he found her stood leant back against the shelves, arms folded smugly across her chest.

"How many house points do you reckon this is going to cost us? " she asked as he straightened his jumper with a deep frown.

"Well," he said, having apparently regained enough dignity to step forward and slip his arms around her. "That would depend."

"On...?"

"On many things...whether or not we actually get caught, for one."

"And for another...?"

"On what we're caught doing."

There was a distinctly expectant pause before she informed him bluntly:

"Well I reckon it's only going to be about ten points, because I'm not going to shag you."

"You're not?"

"Merlin no! I'm not losing my virginity in a bloody broom cupboard...what sort of girl do you take me for? Besides, if I did you'd probably write every little detail down and send it to whatshisface in Germany, you know, like some sort of pornographic novel."

At this accusation, his grip upon her tightened in protest and he reached to sweep a strand of hair from her eyes.

"As if I would do something like that! If we...did it...it would be private! I'd not tell anybody about it! I'd certainly not...write it down! I mean...where the bloody hell did you get that idea from?"

"I don't know," she said, offering him a raised eyebrow. "Might have something to do with that letter you were writing to thingy last week, you know, the one that said you should see the size of my girlfriend's boobs, they're much bigger than your girlfriend's ones."

"That...that was a joke, obviously."

"Well it is now." she agreed, her eyes darting down towards the offending articles meaningfully, and he gave an irritated huff.

"You're overreacting you know, I mean...is it really worth changing yourself like that just to spite me?"

"Yes. It really is."

He puffed his cheeks in exasperation for a long moment, before reaching to pull her forward a step until she was pressed against him.

"Well you needn't have bothered." he told her, pausing to press a kiss to her lips. "I don't feel spited. I like you just the same."

"Good." she'd murmured, reaching to tangle her hands in his hair, and within moments she found herself pressed back against the shelves again, narrowly avoiding knocking a can of paint from it's perch as she did so. Something was digging into the small of her back, but she made no effort to move because she suddenly became preoccupied by the fingers that were slipping under the hem of her school jumper and pulling the shirt hem free from being tucked into her skirt, and by the time she had reached to fumble with the knot of his tie she had counted the bottom three buttons of her shirt being carefully undone. They'd paused in their breathless endeavor so that he could rush to pull his jumper over his head, tossing it to the floor and quite forgetting the puddle of water from the upturned bucket, and she'd had just a second to catch her breath before he'd caught her lips against his again, his hand creeping back under the hem of her jumper in search of more buttons.

"Take your jumper off." he murmured, drawing back ever so slightly so that he could grin at her, and though she sniggered, she shook her head.

"Nah..."

"Go on, do it..."

"Nope."

"Please?"

"No-ooo."

"Why not?"

"Because...that'll double, no triple the house points..."

"Since when did you give a toss about..."

"Besides, how would you feel if Filch were to burst through that door and see me stood here in just my bra?"

"Urgh..."

"Exactly."

"That's bloody disgusting!"

"I know. I'd be scarred for life."

"It's alright I'll just...you know..." He reached to fling his arms around her in mock-attempt to shield her from an imaginary caretaker's startled view, and she was forced to throw her arms around him in an attempt to keep her balance. They both dissolved into laughter until he sobered, reaching to straighten her jumper as he told her:

"You're right. Besides, it's a bit chilly in here, isn't it?"

"Mm." she agreed, swatting his hands away so that she could reach to pull the jumper up towards her middle instead, so that she could redo up the buttons that he had so carefully undone for her. He watched her in silence for a minute until she had straightened her jumper again and looked up to smile at him.

"I love you, you know." he told her, one hand smoothing her disheveled hair. "You're one in a million, I swear it. I'm so glad I told you...you know, how I felt."

"Me too." she said, positively beaming, and then he'd lent forward to kiss her again and before she knew it she was stumbling back against the shelves again, knocking over a couple of brooms to her left as he wrapped one arm securely around her to steady them, his free hand wandering slowly up her side from her hip, higher...higher...

She should tell him to stop in a second...

Because she could feel his fingertips pressed against the under-wiring of her bra through her jumper, and and any second now he was going to...

Now. Tell him to stop, now...

Or maybe not. Maybe she just wouldn't, just this once...

Because it felt rather nice, he felt nice...it made her feel a little light headed as if she were floating and his fingers grasping hopefully at the front of her jumper seemed to be sending some sort of electric shock straight through her that made her grip upon him tighten and her heart begin to race, and his breath was growing ragged and hot against her face when they came up for air and at that moment she felt panic, because if he were to ask her again, ask her to take off her jumper or ask her to do anything at all, sweet Merlin she was going to throw all caution to the wind and just do it. Sod sensibilities, he was right about house points, she didn't give a toss. Because it just felt wonderful and exciting and...and...

"Dora?"

And...
"DORA!"

Tonks awoke with a jump, only to find herself sprawled across her husband's chest, arms still wrapped tightly around his arm as he attempted with little success to prise her fingernails from their relentless attack upon his forearm. The witch felt herself redden in embarrassment and she hastily withdrew her hands, revealing a neat line of fingernail shaped dents upon his skin.

"Nightmare, was it?" he guessed as she hastily sat bolt upright upon the bed, drawing in a couple of deep, calming breaths.

What in Merlin's name had she just been...

"Yes." she decided hurriedly, nodding her head resolutely. "It was just a nightmare."

He reached to put a comforting hand upon her arm, thumb scuffing her disheveled robes soothingly for a moment before he told her:

"I ought get up in a minute, if I'm to make it back to Hogwarts in good time."

He sounded genuinely calm at long last, and she wondered just how long she had had him pinned to the bed to make him finally see the light. She flopped back down upon the bed beside him, gazing up at the ceiling as her heartbeat finally began to slow to a more natural speed.

"Remus?"

"Hm?"

She drew a deep, hopeful breath before asking:

"D'you think dreams are...meaningful? I mean...if we dream something, do we dream it for a reason? Or are they just...totally random?"

He was thoughtful for a long moment before musing:

"Both...I think it probably depends upon the dream. Why? What did you dream?"

Tonks swallowed the guilty lump that immediately formed in her throat.

"Nothing..." she mumbled with a deep frown. "It was just...being at Hogwarts."

"Hm..." he reached to rub the sleep from his eyes before guessing: "And Artemis was there."

It wasn't a question, she noted. It made her stomach clench.

"How'd you know that?"

"Legimency." He offered her a raised eyebrow, leaving her to squirm for a long moment before admitting: "Either that or you were talking in your sleep."

Tonks instantly wished that the mattress beneath them would swallow her whole.

"What...did I...I mean..."

"What did you say?"

"Yeah."

"Not a great number of words, to be honest." he admitted enigmatically, and with that he yawned widely and sat up. "If you want a meaningful reading of that...well...I'd say you miss him."

She immediately shook her head.

"I don't." she insisted, leaning to rest her forehead against his back, smoothing the creased from his jumper. "Honestly..."

"It's alright. I miss the spiteful bastard too."

"You do?"

"Oh yes, absolutely. Life was much more simple with him around."

As she watched him shuffled to the bottom of the bed and get to his feet, Tonks pursed her lips together guiltily. Casting her mind back to the dream that she had just been awoken from, she mentally cringed at the thought of what she might have said aloud...

"It was just a dream." she decided as he set about stepping into his shoes and stooping to tie the laces. "I...I don't think it meant anything."

"I expect you're right." he agreed, glancing up at her with a small smile, but she didn't feel terribly reassured.

She desperately thought of the conversation that she and Artemis had had in the broom cupboard. It had certainly not been entirely part of her imagination, rather a recollection. As much as she liked to pretend otherwise, the two of them had had a number of foolish encounters in some of Hogwarts' more secluded and cramped spots...

Tonks frowned in consideration as she mentally skipped past the part about her boobs...

Wait!

Back a bit...what was it that she had said?

She wasn't going to shag him because...

Because of house points and something else...because he might tell...

"Whatshisface in Germany!"

At her sudden, triumphant exclamation, her husband paused in his adjustment of one of his socks to offer her a look that strongly suggested that he doubted her sanity.

"Whathisface...?"

"Yes! Whathisface in Germany! That's it, Remus!"

Remus straightened up, expression entirely unenlightened.

Tonks scrambled off the bed and practically bounced to her feet, eyes wide as she recalled:

"I said to him I'm not going to shag you because you might write to Whathisface in Germany and tell him all about it! Or...or...something..." she trailed off into awkward silence at the realization that really, that hadn't quite been the part of the recollection that she had wanted to pass on to her husband, of all people.

Remus' expression remained impressively unchanged. Tonks was eternally grateful, and she hurriedly recalled:

"Artemis had relatives living in Germany! His cousin...what was his name? They used to write to one another when Artemis was at Hogwarts! We were wrong, Elijah has got other relatives!" She hurriedly reached to snatch up her boots, yanking them onto her feet as she announced: "I'm going to go and tell Harry and Ron! Maybe we can...can contact them or...or something..."

Remus opened his mouth to agree, only for a insistent tapping sound to draw his attention to the window beside him.

A small owl with ruffled brown feathers appeared to be hopping impatiently up and down upon the window sill. Remus reached to push the window open and the bird fluttered inside, offering it's leg to the werewolf, upon which was attached a letter.

"It's for you." Remus observed once he had untied the note and looked down at the name upon the front. Turning it over he spotted the printed coat of arms upon the back and added: "It's from Hogwarts."

"Open it." Tonks suggested as she set about tying her own laces, and once Remus had extracted the letter and was unfolding it, she asked: "What does it say?"

"Dear Mrs. Lupin," Remus read aloud with a frown. "I am writing to you on behalf of the Head of Gryffindow House, Professor Lupin, who is unavailable at this time...to inform you that your son, Theodore Lupin has..." he trailed off into silence, eyes widening in alarm as he stared down at the next few lines.

"What?" Tonks asked, straightening up and hurrying to peer down at the letter too. "What is it? What's Teddy done now?"

"...has gone missing from the castle, along with fellow Gryffindor students Chester Burton and Victoire Weasley..."

"What?"

"...I would like to assure you that we are making every effort to locate them at this time. A full search of the school grounds is currently in progress and an announcement has been made to the rest of the school body asking for any information on your son's whereabouts..."

"Oh Merlin..."

"...Theodore was last seen at approximately midnight by the students who share his dormitory, and as such we are confident that both he and Mr. Burton and Miss Weasley have not gone far..."

"They could be bloody anywhere by now!"

"We shall endeavor to keep you updated on our search and would like to ask you not to panic..."

"Has he got the Map? Did you give him the bloody Map, Remus? Because I SWEAR...!"

"Best Wishes, Minerva McGonnogal, Headmistress."

Both parents exchanged a worried look.

"What in Merlin's name are they up to?" Remus wondered aloud, and Tonks told him:

"We better get over there and figure it out, hadn't we?"