Just another take on a Tonks is a werewolf story. And I can not deny, I love the idea of mates among werewolves and have seen it often in fics with these two.
It'll hopefully span from OoTP-DH.
Also, I'll be using scenes from the books.
Obviously, if you recognise it, I don't own it.
*****Also, I edited something in CHAPTER SIX. If you notice it, cookies for you, considering it's relevant later ;)*****
And with this chapter, we return to Order of the Phoenix related topics!
I did not realise it would be so difficult to write out OoTP, my GOD
Which will be very different from canon.
Shoutout to my ladies, LesbianRavenclaw and Kem'Ajiana, because I'll be using them, as I've been used in Kem'Ajiana's stories(I believe two of them? and you should read her stories for sure because yas)
The portrait was screaming, but Remus realised that wasn't the only sound in the hallway as he and Remus walked up the stairs. A child was crying, and he could hear a few voices talking.
Tonks was kneeling in front of a very young brunette boy, another slightly older blonde girl standing beside her. Tonks' cheek was bruised and cut, her dark green robes looking absolutely ancient. She stood as soon as she realised Sirius and Remus had entered the hall, and the three women with Tonks immediately tensed up.
"I'm sorry, but-" Tonks began, picking up the little boy. "I had to bring them here-"
"What happened?" Sirius asked, cutting her off.
"I met Greyback." She said as Sirius stunned the portrait.
"Who are they?" Remus asked, gesturing to the kids and the other women.
"They're mine." She said, her tone cold.
"Yours." Sirius said. "You've been gone three months. We can do math, you know."
"We've been traveling for days, we escaped the pack a week ago. We need rest." Tonks said. "I'll explain everything, I promise, but I'm starving and I'm sure they are too. This is Charlotte, Cassie and Clare-"
"And now that I'm back in civilization, I'd love some coffee." Charlotte said.
"We just finished eating, but Sirius can go multiply the leftovers." Remus said, walking forward. "Are any of you injured?" He asked Tonks as Sirius went back downstairs.
"A few bruises, nothing terrible." The one named Cassie said.
"How old are they?" Remus asked.
"I'm six!" The little girl said proudly. "Liam's three!"
"And what's your name?" Remus asked her.
"Grace."
"What a nice name." Remus said, looking at Tonks. "Whose are they, Tonks? I have to say, even with a female werewolf's shorter pregnancy, you can't have a six year old daughter and a three year old son."
"I'll explain later, Remus, I promise." Tonks said.
"None of you are actually injured?" Remus asked. All of them shook their heads. "Are you all hungry?"
"We haven't eaten for days, Remus, I'm sure we all are." Tonks said.
"Is he the alpha of your pack?" Grace asked Tonks.
"No, we're not a pack." Tonks said, as Charlotte took Grace's hand. "You can't have a pack of two, can you?"
"I guess not." Grace said, allowing Remus to lead them all to the stairs.
Sirius was just setting plates down, and he walked around the table to help Grace climb into one of the chairs. Tonks sat with Liam on her lap, spooning the slightly cold stew into his mouth.
"He doesn't talk much, does he?" Sirius asked.
"He's shy at first, and you're both strangers." Tonks said. "It took a few weeks before he said anything to me, and he doesn't say much anyway."
"So what happened?" Remus asked, sitting beside Sirius.
"Later." Tonks said. "Can one of you Floo Molly? They need clothes, and maybe she has something from when her own kids were young..."
Remus nodded, standing up and heading for the fireplace. He knelt down to Floo Molly, who had been staying at the Burrow since September, when the kids returned to Hogwarts.
It took only fifteen minutes before Molly arrived, clothes from boxes in her attic. Tonks, who had barely eaten anything while helping Liam to eat his food, went upstairs with Molly to help bathe the kids.
"Will you tell us what happened?" Sirius asked the women.
"Greyback." Charlotte said with a shrug.
"Yes, we got that." Remus said. "However-"
"He killed the alpha of the pack." Cassie said. "Said he'd kill anyone who refused to join the merged packs."
"He wanted to kill Charlotte, because she's a potential alpha." Clare said. "So we left."
"You said you had been traveling for days? Why?" Remus asked.
"Greyback doesn't believe in having wands. We all lost ours." Charlotte explained. "Which I'm a little annoyed at..."
"We'll make sure you get replacements." Remus said. "Where have you been?"
"Maybe it's better if Tonks tells you, Remus." Cassie said. "She's been missing you."
"Ooh, yeah, you should go talk to her, Remus." Charlotte said immediately.
"That wouldn't answer my questions." Sirius said.
"You can wait." Charlotte decided. "Remus, go."
Remus stood slowly, and then turned, leaving the kitchen and heading upstairs. Tonks was outside the bedroom Harry and Ron had shared, watching Molly tuck the kids into bed.
"Are you alright?" Remus asked her, and she nodded. She hadn't had a chance to shower or change her own clothes, and she had only eaten a few bites of stew before Molly had arrived and she had gone to help bathe the kids, and she definitely looked exhausted.
"You're going to ask what happened." Tonks said.
"It can wait until tomorrow morning." Remus said as Molly left the room, shutting the door behind her.
"Thank you, Molly." Tonks said.
"No problem at all, dear, really." Molly said as she walked passed them, heading down the stairs.
"You didn't eat much, Tonks, maybe you should eat a bit more." Remus suggested, but she shook her head.
"I just desperately need a shower, some clean clothes- some of my clothes-"
"And some sleep?" Remus asked.
"And some sleep." She said. "But, uh, Remus, I was wondering if we could talk after my shower."
"Don't you want to leave it until morning?"
Tonks shook her head. "I don't think I should." She said, and then she stared at the floor. "Besides, Remus, I kind of- uh, kindofmissedyou?"
"Only 'kind of'?" Remus asked, a smile tugging at his lips.
"Can we discuss this after I shower?" Tonks asked. Remus nodded, and she turned towards her room. "I'll be quick, if you want to wait in my room?"
Normally, Remus would have said he'd wait for her downstairs, but the way she suggested it, she didn't sound like she wanted to talk about things in front of everyone. He followed her down the hall, sitting on the edge of the bed she hadn't used in months as she grabbed clean clothes and a towel and disappeared from the room.
It must have only been ten minutes before she returned from the shower. "Aurors need to do everything fast." She explained, when he looked at her in surprise. Her hair was dripping slightly, and he smiled.
"I suppose Aurors don't use Drying Charms?"
"I didn't get that far into training." Tonks responded with a slight smile, sitting on the bed next to him and then her smile faded. "Greyback killed the alpha. The kids are the alpha's children."
Remus exhaled. "You took the alpha's kids."
"He's dead, he won't miss them." Tonks said. "It wasn't terrible, the pack wasn't violent. It was nice, actually."
"Nice?" Remus asked, frowning at her.
"It was only when Greyback arrived that it got bad."
The week passed quickly. Tonks stayed by Charlotte's side, because Liam always seemed to want to be near Charlotte, and she was helping Tonks adapt to the pack anyway.
She learned very quickly that the roles of the men and women were very traditional. The men hunted the surrounding forest area, usually bringing back varying types of deer or even smaller mammals. The women remained at camp, cooking and cleaning what needed to be cleaned, caring for the sick or the children.
Charlotte, however, seemed to be the only woman who didn't care what the pack members "typically" did. She didn't need to worry much anyway, because as beta, she was higher ranking than the rest and really didn't actually have to do anything they did.
The end of the week brought her initiation, which was not a beating- as Remus had admitted his had been- and she was really beginning to realise how different packs must be to the others.
Bruce simply said she was a member, handed her a silver pendant with a black quarter moon, and that had been it. Charlotte told her later that the pendants were the pack's mark, and they all carried them somewhere on their person.
Tonks was surprised by how outspoken Cassie was about the pack members, and how quiet Clare seemed to be at first. The two were inseparable, however, and she rarely saw Cassie without Clare or Clare without Cassie. Charlotte was quick to steer her away from members who she knew to cause trouble, and Tonks never even had to meet Helga the Hag(as Cassie continuously called her).
The full moons didn't seem as harsh as the one at Grimmauld had been, and life among the pack was peaceful. Liam and Grace were nice kids, very quiet- Liam rarely said much at all, and Grace was extremely polite.
When fall came around, Tonks expected it to become difficult to live in a forest, but the few that had wands set up boundaries so that it wouldn't snow in the camp. Her first full moon after the snowfall was interesting, and the next morning, some of them were able to watch some perplexed Muggles talk about about "wolf prints".
By late October, Charlotte had become suspicious that someone was betraying the pack. A few days later, Bruce's true colours showed when he admitted he had spent most of the early '90s infecting young adults in hopes they'd join his pack, and then his admittance that he intended to simply hand his pack over if Greyback found them.
By November, Greyback found them. It didn't take long for Greyback's pack to kill most of the non-werewolves and at that point, Bruce had demanded the pack stop resisting, and Greyback had ordered two of his werewolves to restrain Bruce while a few of his other members took the wands from those that had them.
Greyback raised a knife, pressing the blade against Bruce's throat, beads of blood appearing. "Anyone who wants to can join our pack." Greyback said. "If you choose not to, you will be killed or banished."
No one moved, and Greyback's eyes scanned the werewolves gathered. His eyes fell on Liam and Grace last, standing slightly behind Tonks and Charlotte and in front of Cassie and Clare.
"Alpha's mutts?" Greyback demanded, stepping forward, away from where Bruce was being held between two of Greyback's own.
"They're mine."
The words had slipped from her mouth before she even realised, and Greyback looked at her instead. "Is their father the alpha, then?"
"Their father was a coward, he was no alpha." Tonks said, and she could see Bruce looked a mix of insulted and relieved.
"Is that true?" Greyback demanded, turning back to Bruce.
"The mutts are not mine." Bruce said.
"Infected?"
"She would not let us." Bruce answered.
"That's an easy thing to fix." Greyback said, and the knife moved swiftly, slicing Bruce's throat, a gush of blood pouring down his chest. "This pack is mine now. You either join me, or I will kill you."
Tonks was woken up by Charlotte leaning over her. "Get up." Charlotte whispered, tugging at the blankets that were wrapped around Tonks and Grace.
"What are you doing?" Tonks asked, as she crawled over Grace, who groaned quietly in her sleep.
"We're leaving."
Tonks hadn't realised that Cassie or Clare were in the tent until Clare spoke.
"We're not letting Greyback infect these two." Charlotte said, handing a half asleep Liam to Tonks and scooping up Grace. "So, we're leaving."
"And if we're caught?" Tonks asked.
"Then we die." Charlotte said. "He's already threatened me anyway-"
"What, when?"
"Just an hour ago, before he took over Bruce's tent." Charlotte said. "He also burned our wands, I hope you didn't want that back, Tonks."
"Just an hour ago?" Tonks asked. "How do you know we can get out safely?"
"Trust me, they're passed out." Cassie said. "We need to go now, though."
They left the tent, walking quickly through the silent camp.
"What about the others?" Tonks asked quietly.
"They won't follow." Charlotte said. "It's just us."
Charlotte seemed to have an idea of where she wanted to go, so they all simply followed her through the trees. Tonks had no idea how long they walked, but eventually, they stopped in front of the ivy(and now snow) covered gates she had seen when she joined the pack months ago.
Charlotte tried to push the gate open with her foot because her arms were supporting Grace, so Clare stepped forward and tried to open the gate. The gate moved beneath her hand, but remained shut.
"It's locked, we have to keep going." Clare said.
"Locked?" Tonks asked, walking forward and reaching for the gate. "Are you sure? Maybe it's just stuck-"
When Tonks' hand made contact, the gate swung open to reveal a path covered in overgrown weeds. There was a structure in the middle of the path that might have been a fountain at one point, and a wide set of stairs leading up to the doors.
"Do you think anyone lives here?" Tonks asked as they walked forward and the gates swung shut behind them.
"Look at the state of this place, absolutely not." Cassie said.
They walked up the stairs to the large oak doors. This time, the doors swung open at the touch of Cassie's hand. While the outside looked like it had sat for decades with no occupants, the inside was the opposite.
The lights lit up as they entered, highlighting how every surface seemed to gleam. The front entrance was wide open, leading to a grand staircase straight ahead and a closed off room on each side of the area they were standing in.
Clare walked off to one side, opening one of the doors. "It's a sitting room, we can put the kids on the couches." She said, and Charlotte walked over with Grace. Cassie and Tonks followed, and entered as Charlotte set Grace on one couch and Tonks went to set Liam on the other.
On one wall, Tonks noticed there seemed to be names and golden threads- just like Sirius' family tapestry. She walked towards it once she had set Liam down, her eyes roaming over names and dates that she'd never recognise, until one stood out- Dubois.
"Charlotte, your name's on here." Tonks said, and Charlotte appeared by her side a second later.
"Aperire illis de sanguine." Charlotte repeated, reading the engraving at the top of the wall. "I wonder what that-"
"It roughly means To open for those of the blood." Cassie said, walking over to them. "Look, Gwynne. And lower, still... Tonks, you're there. And I'm there, and Charlotte-"
"Holy shit, it's a family tree." Charlotte said. "I didn't realise we were related, Tonks."
"You're related to the Malfoys." Tonks said.
"So are you."
"According to this, I'm related twice! Through Mum and Dad." Tonks said. "I knew Tatiana's sister married a Malfoy, but... I didn't know any Malfoys went to America, Dad's book didn't say anything about it..."
"So, this house, then..." Cassie said slowly. "It must belong to the family. The Gwynne family."
"It does."
They hadn't heard the elderly woman enter the room, but they all turned to see her standing in front of the now closed sitting room doors. She was slightly hunched, her pure white hair pinned in a bun on top of her head, a long black dressing gown wrapped around her thin frame. She leaned on a black and silver cane, walking slowly to sit in an armchair.
"We're sorry, we didn't mean to intrude." Clare said immediately.
"Oh, trust me, you didn't." The woman said with a warm smile. "I haven't had visitors since... well, what year is it?"
"1995?" Cassie said, sounding a little confused.
"Oh, goodness, is it really? It must have been decades since the last time anyone else was here." The woman said, and then she waved a thin and pale hand. "It's been so long, I don't even keep track. I must say, though, you can't possibly be intruding if they opened for you."
"If we had known someone lived here..." Clare began. "We're so sorry, we can leave-"
"Nonsense, you must be tired." The woman said. "And the children are already asleep."
Tonks looked at Liam and Grace, who were fast asleep on the couches.
"I didn't get your names." The woman said. "Although, if the gates opened, you must be related to one of my sisters." The woman gestured to the family tree behind Tonks, Charlotte and Cassie. "Are you all sisters?"
"None of us are sisters." Charlotte said. "I'm Charlotte. That's Clare, this is Cassie- my cousin- and this is Nymphadora- or, Tonks, she prefers- and she went to school with me."
"And you...?" Tonks asked.
"My name is Annalise Gwynne."