SO, I got the idea to combine my stories "Raising The Rainbow" and "A Ready Made Spy". Some parts will be identical to the other stories, but with changes)
A formal warning: This story will contain abuse, non-con/rape, death, dark themes, it will not contain graphic descriptions of such.
*****And I don't own HP, or the excerpts you see below*****
It's literally just a reworking of a Ready Made Spy with Kingsley and Alastor instead- however, differences ahead!
The yard had descended into a silent vigil, no one wanting to say a single word, until Kingsley cleared his throat, finally tearing his eyes away from the darkness beyond the field.
"I should go, I was expected at the Minister's house nearly-"
"You can't go!" Tonks said, grabbing his arm. "Alastor is still out there-"
"I know he is, Dora." Kingsley said patiently. "I'll see you lot at home later."
"Kingsley-" Tonks began, but she broke off when the boundaries seem to shift again and a shape appeared.
A thestral soared into sight and landed a few feet from them. Bill and Fleur slid from its back, windswept but unhurt.
"Bill! Thank God, thank God—"
Molly ran forward, but the hug Bill bestowed upon her was perfunctory. Looking directly at his father, he spoke. "Mad-Eye's been captured."
The shock hit Tonks, leaving her breathless. No. Of all people...
She felt Remus wrap his arm around her shoulders. "He's-" She began, her mouth feeling dry. "Are you sure?"
Bill looked regretful as he nodded. "We saw it." He said, and Fleur nodded, tears on her cheeks. "It happened just after we broke out of the circle: Mad-Eye and Dung were close by us, they were heading north too. Voldemort—he can fly—went straight for them. Dung panicked, I heard him cry out, Mad-Eye tried to stop him, but he Disapparated. Voldemort's curse missed Mad-Eye, he fell backward off his broom and—there was nothing we could do, nothing, we had half a dozen of them on our own tail—"
"Of course you couldn't have done anything." Remus said.
"But you just said it yourself, you had half a dozen coming after you- maybe they didn't-" Tonks said, and she felt frustrated when most of them looked at her like she had gone mad. "We could go look-"
"Tonks,-" Bill said, shaking his head. "We saw them grab him-''
"But we could just try to look." Tonks said, shaking off Remus' arm.
"Come inside, everyone." Molly said, and everyone slowly made their way inside.
Remus took Tonks' arm. "Dora, we can't do anything." He said gently. "Come inside."
She sighed, allowing him to lead her inside. She didn't realise she had started crying until Remus handed her a handkerchief. They entered just as Arthur told the twins what had happened. She sank into one of the armchairs in the room, burying her face in Remus' handkerchief. Remus stood next to the chair, stroking her shoulder with one of his hands. Kingsley appeared on her other side, sitting on the arm of the chair.
Alastor captured. The man who helped raise her after her parents had been taken, gone. The man who patiently trained her to be an Auror, gone. She was sure if she hadn't been an Auror, or if she hadn't been trained by him, she would have broken and told the Death Eaters every bit of information she had. She felt like she owed him so much.
And now he was gone. Just... gone.
She couldn't understand it, she couldn't accept it. Remus handed her a glass of firewhiskey, and she savoured the harsh yet warm flavour.
She felt responsible. "I'm sorry." She said hoarsely.
"So, you said Mundungus disappeared?" Kingsley asked Bill at the same time.
The atmosphere changed as everyone looked at them.
"Stop apologising, Dora. It's not your fault." Remus said, tightening his grip on her shoulder. "I'm wondering why Mundungus fled-"
"I know what you're thinking, and I wondered that too, on the way back here, because they seemed to be expecting us, didn't they?" Bill asked. "But Mundungus can't have betrayed us. They didn't know there would be seven Harrys, that confused them the moment we appeared, and in case you've forgotten, it was Mundungus who suggested that little bit of skullduggery. Why wouldn't he have told them the essential point? I think Dung panicked, it's as simple as that. He didn't want to come in the first place, but Mad-Eye made him, and You-Know-Who went straight for them. It was enough to make anyone panic."
"You-Know-Who acted exactly as Alastor expected him to." Tonks said, sniffing. "He said he'd expect the real Harry to be with the toughest, most skilled Aurors. He chased Alastor first, and when Mundungus gave them away he switched to Kingsley..."
"Yes, and zat eez all very good, but still eet does not explain 'ow zey know we were moving multiple 'Arrys tonight, does eet? Somebody must 'ave been careless. Somebody let slip to an outsider. It is ze only explanation for zem knowing." Fleur said, glaring at each of them, tears still etched on her pale cheeks. She glared at Tonks last. "Per'aps you do not recall saying-"
Tonks hadn't realised she had pulled her wand out until she was on her feet and the curse had hit the wall beside Fleur. There was a startled shriek, but she wasn't sure who had made the noise, and Remus wrestled her wand from her hand.
"Dora, what the Bloody Hell-?" Sirius began.
"I have told each of you!" Tonks snapped, her hair a bright red. "I didn't tell them anything!"
"But you admitted, you can not entirely recall 'ow you-" Fleur continued slowly, her eyes still wide from the fact an unknown curse barely missed her.
"I remember everything before that, you absolute cow!" She said, pointing at Fleur, her hand shaking slightly. "They knew before they even found me out! And in case you don't remember with that Pygmy Puff sized brain of yours, they didn't know that there would be seven Harrys until after the mission began! Bill said that much- And don't you think, if I would have told them, I would have told them every damned detail?"
Fleur's jaw dropped at the word 'cow', and there was a tense silence as the two women stared at each other.
"No." Harry said, his voice loud in the shocked silence that followed Tonks' words, and most of them turned to look at him. "I mean… if somebody made a mistake, and let something slip, I know they didn't mean to do it. It's not their fault. We've got to trust each other. I trust all of you, I don't think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Voldemort."
There was a moment of silence, and Tonks sank into the armchair again as Fred spoke. "Well said, Harry." He said.
"Yeah, 'ear, 'ear." George said, with half a glance at Fred, the corner of whose mouth twitched.
Sirius and Remus exchanged a glance, something Harry definitely noticed.
"You think I'm a fool?" He demanded.
"No, I think you're like James." Remus said.
"He would have regarded it as the height of dishonor to mistrust his friends." Sirius said with a nod.
"I think we should look for some kind of lead." Remus said. "Bill? Sirius?"
"I want to-" Tonks began, but Remus shook his head.
"You and Kingsley go home. We'll tell you if there's any news." Remus said, and Bill and Sirius followed him from the house.
Kingsley stood, holding out a hand to Tonks. "Come on, we'll go." Kingsley said. "There's nothing we can do right now."
"Harry, come back in the house." Hermione whispered. "You aren't still thinking of leaving?"
"Yeah, you've got to stay, mate." Ron said, thumping Harry on the back.
"Are you all right?" Hermione asked, close enough now to look into Harry's face. "You look awful!"
"Well, I probably look better than Ollivander…" Harry said slowly. He explained to them what he had seen. When he had finished telling them what he had seen, Ron looked appalled, but Hermione downright terrified.
"But it was supposed to have stopped! Your scar—it wasn't supposed to do this anymore! You mustn't let that connection open up again—Dumbledore wanted you to close your mind!"
When he did not reply, she gripped his arm.
"Harry, he's taking over the Ministry and the newspapers and half the Wizarding world! Don't let him inside your head too!''
"Hermione, I can't always help it!" Harry found himself snapping. "I had a vision earlier, about Wormtail, and I suppose it makes sense now..."
"A vision of what?" Hermione asked. "You didn't see Tonks get tortured-"
"No, but I saw Wormtail get killed." Harry said. "Voldemort said he let 'her escape', but would Wormtail let her escape-?"
"Mate, she's an Auror. And Wormtail is... Wormtail." Ron said. "She probably just asked for his wand, and he handed it to her. No one in their right mind will fight an angry Auror, and she was probably absolutely-"
"And besides, he was a bit of a coward that night in the Shrieking Shack, so I think the chances he'd try to fight seem slim." Hermione said. "Unless, he knew she had married Remus and was willing to let her walk out?"
"Would he really care?" Harry asked, and Ron shrugged. "I just can't believe Sirius killed someone tonight-"
"What did Rodolphus say anyway?" Hermione asked. "For Sirius to kill him?"
Ron leaned on the garden gate. "You remember when Tonks was gone?"
"No, tonight is the first I've heard of it.'' Harry said. "When did that happen, anyway?"
"Yes." Hermione said to Ron. "That's what she was just talking about, Harry, when she said she didn't tell them anything. She just got back on Wednesday."
"Is that why she didn't help tonight-?" Harry began to ask.
"It could be part of the reason, but from what I heard there was an odd number of protectors anyway, so she was asked to sit aside for this mission." Hermione said. "Anyways, Ron, what about it?"
"I suppose Rodolphus was there too. He asked Sirius if Remus would be able to smell him- as in Rodolphus - on Tonks, called her a whore too. And then Sirius just..." Ron trailed off, raising his wand and miming casting a curse.
"Where was Tonks, anyway?" Harry asked. "Why was she gone?"
"Death Eater meeting." Ron said, and Harry raised his eyebrows. "She became Yaxley. Went to a meeting, and didn't come home. Apparently she was tortured pretty badly, I overheard Mum and Dad talking about it, but she managed to overpower Wormtail and escape."
Harry looked back towards the house. "She seems... normal, for just being tortured-"
"Well, this is only the second time any of us have seen her since it happened." Hermione said. "But look at her, and Remus and Sirius, clearly none of them are sleeping well. And she did just try to curse Fleur..."
"For someone trained by Moody, I'd say that's normal." Ron said, and they laughed quietly before falling into a somber silence.
"Do you think she had a point?" Hermione asked quietly, staring at the dark garden. "That maybe we can find him...?"
"I don't know." Ron said. "I mean, Bill said he saw them grab him."
"But maybe he saw wrong." Hermione offered.
"Even if he wasn't actually grabbed, he still fell." Harry said, and Hermione sighed in defeat, tears hitting her cheeks. Ron dug into his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief and handing it to Hermione silently.
Remus returned home hours later, and the house was quiet. He passed Sirius' room, where Sirius was passed out on his bed, still dressed- and Remus caught sight of a partially emptied bottle of firewhiskey next to the bed. Honestly, while he would have sighed that Sirius had managed to drink himself into unconsciousness again, he was feeling like he wanted to do the exact same.
He headed into the bedroom he shared with Tonks, a little surprised she was there at all- he almost expected her to be with Kingsley, like she had been after her rescue. However, instead of a bottle of firewhiskey, there were two vials on the nightstand, and he figured at least one was a Dreamless Sleep Potion.
He left the room, taking a long- slightly scalding- shower, before returning to their bedroom. He gently crawled under the blanket beside her, not wanting to wake her, wrapping an arm around her waist. In the aftermath of another death, he felt like he needed the closeness, to feel her breathing next to him.
It was silly, Remus would gladly admit later, that in light of Alastor's disappearance, he was reminded horribly that she had been face-to-face with Voldemort less than a week ago. He could have lost her, she could have been the dead body that he and Bill had spent most of the night searching for.
She jumped slightly when his arm touched her, rolling onto her back to look at him, but then sighed sleepily, taking his hand and shifting closer to him. He lay his forehead against her shoulder, slipping his arm beneath her shoulders as she dozed off again, his other hand clasping hers on top of her chest. It was the most relaxed she had been, but he suspected the second vial on the nightstand had been a Calming Draught.
He closed his eyes, not looking forward to the next day, when he had to tell her and Kingsley that Alastor hadn't been found.