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 from the book/movie you see below*****
Tonks cursed to herself quietly, trying to reach under the bed. Unfortunately, over the last year or so, the box had been pushed too far under the bed and was unreachable on both sides. She was on her knees, her face flat against the carpet, one arm trying to reach the box.
On Alastor's advice, she had made the box unable to be summoned.
Now she wish she hadn't.
"Dora, what are you doing?"
Tonks jumped slightly. "Remus, don't do that!" She cried, straightening up. "Merlin, you're lucky I didn't have my wand."
"I'm sorry, love, but what are you doing?" Remus asked again.
"I have a box under the bed with Muggle money." Tonks said. "But it got moved, and-"
"Darling, not to alarm you, but you are a witch." Remus said. "Can't you summon it?"
"No. Alastor showed me a charm that keeps items from being summoned." Tonks said.
"Well, let me get it." Remus said. "Other people can touch it, right?"
Tonks stood, nodding. She walked around Remus, grabbing a jacket from the closet. Remus knelt down, and a moment later, straightened up with the box in his hands. She was trying to button up the jacket, but it was too tight.
That was why they were going to a maternity store, to pick up some undergarments that would fit her the entire time(with help from the spell in the book, of course) and a few other items of clothing they'd also use the spell on.
"That jacket won't work." Remus said.
"I'm aware, I'll wear it unbuttoned." Tonks said.
Remus set the box on the bed, taking off his jacket. "Wear this one."
"You're joking." Tonks said.
"No."
"Remus, my jacket is fine."
Remus shook his head. "Love, you can't button that one up anymore." He said gently. "It was a tighter jacket before, and now-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Tonks said, but she ran a hand over the small bump that had begun to form. "However, I really like this jacket-"
"I've got two perfectly good reasons why you should wear mine instead." Remus said. "It's cold, and this jacket is very warm. And it will cover you."
"Remus, we're going to be going into a maternity shop, you can't honestly believe that someone won't figure it out."
"Yes, but you and Sirius are also going to be going into Diagon Alley. And while you can morph your appearance to be unrecognisable, I doubt you can morph this away." Remus said, brushing a hand over her stomach.
"Maybe I can."
"Maybe don't try." Remus said with a slight smile. "You know I love this, I think you look beautiful-"
"You always say that."
"-but I just don't want anyone being able to tell Death Eaters about it." Remus continued. "What happens if Bellatrix finds out?"
"I don't think it's obvious that I'm pregnant at a first glance." Tonks said. "It just looks like I've gained weight,-"
"I just don't want someone to notice it." Remus said. "And it's cold out."
Tonks sighed, but smiled slightly. "Fine, I'll wear your jacket." She relented, removing her jacket and taking his from his hand.
"Dora?"
"Hmm?" She asked, pulling the jacket around her.
"I thought you weren't morphing unless necessary." Remus said.
"I am. So I'll be morphing later-"
"Your hair is blue."
Tonks frowned. "What?" She asked, walking into the bathroom. Sure enough, her hair was turning a dark blue at the ends. "Oh."
She concentrated, trying to get rid of the blue, but it wouldn't disappear. She tried to morph a whole new colour, but even trying to get the rest of her hair to match the blue didn't work.
"Remus, I can't control this." Tonks said, and Remus appeared in the doorway, wearing a new jacket.
"What do you mean?" Remus asked.
She turned to him. "I mean, I can't change it."
"How are you supposed to disguise yourself if you can't control your hair?" Remus asked. "And why can't you control it?"
"I don't know, and I don't know." Tonks said, turning back to the mirror. She tried morphing her eye colour, her hair length, any small thing she could- but nothing changed. "You don't think Metamorphmagi can lose the ability, do you?"
"Didn't you last year?" Remus asked.
"I wasn't able to do anything last year, I didn't do things I couldn't control!"
"Perhaps it's related to your pregnancy." Remus offered. "It'll be fine. Hermione, Sirius and Harry are all taking Polyjuice. We'll ask Hermione to go with Sirius instead of you going. They'll be disguised, you can give Hermione the list you wrote out."
"That solves one problem, but not the main one."
"Maybe it'll stop." Remus said. "You've never heard of this happening before?"
"There's not much information about Metamorphmagi." Tonks said. "We don't need to be registered, because we can't really be monitored, and others must be better at keeping it quiet."
"Then, perhaps it's nothing. Your hair has changed without your permission before-"
"Without my permission?" Tonks asked, snorting.
"Without you doing so, then." Remus said. "Why don't we ask Sirius to stop by that bookshop in Knockturn Alley? They have books about a lot of subjects, perhaps there's one about Metamorphmagi."
"I don't want him to risk getting caught looking for something like that."
"I agree, taking risks isn't something Sirius likes to do." Remus said, smiling slightly. She smiled too, wrapping her arms around Remus' waist.
"How is it that you can calm me down so easily?"
"I don't know, honestly." Remus said, pressing a kiss to her hair.
"When the war's over, Remus, can you promise me something?"
"Anything."
"We'll do this properly." She said, leaning her forehead against his chest.
"Do what properly?"
"This baby thing." She said, leaning back to look at him. "We'll plan it, we won't have to second guess paternity, we can come and go from the house as we please, I won't have to hide my baby."
"You want more than one?" Remus asked.
"I would like to have a few, I think." Tonks said. "Perhaps not as many as Molly, but a few."
"And what if the baby is a werewolf?"
"I'm very certain that won't happen, love." Tonks said. "Nothing we've read has suggested it's hereditary. However, you know what can be hereditary?"
"Hmm?"
"Everything else about you." Tonks said. "And hopefully, not so much about me."
"I wouldn't mind." Remus said. "Should we go? The others won't take Polyjuice Potion until the moment before we leave, it'll give us more time before it wears off."
Tonks nodded, and they left the bathroom. Tonks went to the box, taking out some of the money and shoving it into her bag. She closed the box, shoving it under the bed with her foot as she shifted the bag onto her shoulder.
"That may be why you couldn't reach it." Remus said, and she rolled her eyes as they left their bedroom, heading downstairs.
"Now, why can't we just drive to London?" Remus asked.
"Because I am the only one who knows how to, and I don't want to." Tonks said.
"Sirius can drive."
"Oh, Kingsley would be thrilled if Sirius drove his car." Tonks said. "I wasn't even allowed until two years ago."
"Sirius?" Remus called as they got to the bottom of the stairs.
"We're here!" Sirius' voice called from the kitchen.
"We have a slight change of plans." Remus said as they entered the kitchen.
"What's that?" Sirius asked, looking up from where he was spooning Polyjuice Potion into three goblets. "I thought you gave up morphing-"
"Unless necessary. I did." Tonks said. "I can't go to Diagon Alley with you, Sirius. We think Hermione should."
"Why can't you?" Sirius asked. "Are you alright?"
"I can't morph." Tonks said. "I have no control over this, and I couldn't get a single feature to change when I tried."
"Oh, so you were trying to morph." Sirius said. "I was thinking you two got distracted."
Tonks rolled her eyes at Sirius, who shrugged.
"It's happened before." He said, gesturing to her stomach. Tonks had to admit, she did like the fact Sirius and Remus had avoided mentioning Rodolphus unless she did, it certainly helped her believe it was Remus' baby.
"Can that happen?" Hermione asked. "Losing control of it?"
Tonks nodded. "Children mostly, though. Not grown adults." She said. "Although, that's just a guess based on the fact I had almost complete control over my morphing by the time I was ten."
"So, I figured, to make it easier, we can change the plan slightly." Remus said. "Sirius, Hermione, you go to Diagon Alley. Sirius knows what we need, Hermione's just a spare wand, and Dora will give you the list of potion ingredients she knows that we need. I'll go with Harry and Dora to the shops in Muggle London that we need to go to. We'll send each other a patronus when we're done, and meet back here. I think it'd be safer anyway, because Dora and myself have not disguised ourselves in any way, and we should avoid going near the Leaky Cauldron."
"Dora, what would happen if you cut the blue part off?" Sirius asked.
Tonks frowned. "What...?"
"If you cut the blue part of your hair. Would it get rid of the blue?" Sirius asked.
Tonks looked down at her hair, and could see the blue had covered more of it. "I'm not going to chop my hair off just to find out. Besides, it wasn't this blue earlier, so I doubt cutting the blue will stop the rest from turning blue."
"Besides..." Remus said, and she could feel him touching the back of her hair. "There's a lot of blue here. We'll just have to alter the plan."
Tonks reached into her jean pocket, pulling out the list she had written, handing it to Hermione. "Between this and what Sirius remembers, we should have everything we need for a few more months." Tonks said. "Remember, you two are-"
"Ministry employees, buying potion ingredients to sell under the table to werewolves so we can arrest them." Sirius recited. "And you?"
"We're going to be stuck in a few Muggle shops, so I doubt anyone would ask too many questions." Tonks said. "However, if they do, Harry is my brother."
"Brother?" Harry asked.
"Unfortunately, I doubt anyone would believe you're my older son." Tonks said. "So, brother it is. However, I doubt Muggles will ask a lot of questions."
Sirius dropped three hairs into the three goblets. "Who are they?" Tonks asked, nodding to the cups.
"Three Muggles, two I got from your neighbours, one from another town- none from London. Hopefully, we'll be lucky enough to not run into them." Sirius said.
"You have Muggle neighbours?" Hermione asked. "Have they not noticed the house is hidden?"
"It's visible to Muggles." Tonks said. "However, they may have forgotten we're here because of Kingsley's enchantment. Personally, I don't like any of them. I kind of hope the ones across the street will sell their house, their son is horrible."
"And you like the house." Remus said. "Kingsley told me you plan to buy it if they go ahead with selling."
Tonks smiled slightly. "I'm not going to deny that." Tonks said, shrugging.
"I wonder if they ever think you're horrible." Sirius said, handing a goblet to Harry and Hermione.
After the others changed, they separated, Hermione and Sirius Apparating straight to the Leaky Cauldron and Harry going with Remus and Tonks. They Apparated together to a dark alley near a road of shops.
Remus had found out exactly where the two shops they needed to go to were, just to save them some time later. As they walked, Tonks felt Remus take her hand casually, and felt a smile pulling at her lips.
She had never thought of Remus as the type of person to want to hold hands in public, especially when he was so used to being hated by the general populace. However, they were in the Muggle world, perhaps that was why.
It was such a casual gesture, but somehow, it made her feel bad about not telling Remus had had happened a few days after their marriage. She told him everything, she never lied to him.
Certainly, there were things he hadn't told her?
Remus led them down the road, towards a shop that looked a little too frilly, and like a store that Tonks would have never even had the desire to go into. Inside, the shelves and tables and various fixtures were all a sharp shade of white, while it seemed every item was a pastel shade of various colours.
She wasn't sure where to start, and honestly wanted to avoid the various people wearing name tags. They seemed too cheerful, and she didn't really want to deal with it.
Tonks led Remus to a shelf of stuffed toys. "Babies should have a first toy." She said. "Like Kingsley and Alastor did for me."
"I agree, Sirius bought a deer for Harry, actually. I wonder if I still have it somewhere, I know I packed up a lot from the house." Remus said.
"A deer?" Harry asked.
"Sirius thought it was hilarious." Remus said, as Tonks released his hand and picked up a stuffed grey wolf.
"What about this?" Tonks asked.
"No."
"Remus, it's cute." Tonks said.
"It's not cute, you're doing it just to taunt me." Remus said.
"Perhaps, I am, but you do your fair share of taunting, dear." Tonks said, smiling slightly. "However, all babies should have a first toy."
"And a stuffed wolf, that's the one you want to get?" Remus asked.
"Yes." Tonks said, as she saw Harry rub his forehead.
"I think I need some air." Harry said, and Remus turned to him.
"Alone?" Remus asked. "Harry, we're in London."
"Love, leave it. He's disguised." She said in a hushed tone. "Besides, I believe this kind of thing is incredibly boring for someone like him."
Remus have a quick nod, and Tonks saw Harry mouth a quick 'thank you' before disappearing outside.
Tonks couldn't blame him. Even if he wasn't having some kind of vision, this kind of shopping would definitely be boring for a teenager.
"You really want our baby to have that wolf?" Remus asked.
"Yes."
"Then, our baby gets the wolf." Remus said. "Now, aren't we supposed to be getting you clothes?"
"I suppose." Tonks said, and they headed towards the racks of clothes. As she usually did, she was quick to buy clothes. Besides, she really didn't need much- with Sirius, Kingsley and Remus teaming up on her to keep her 'safe', she probably wouldn't leave the house very often at all and if she did, it would only be for Order meetings and she doubted the Order would care if she wore pajamas.
About twenty minutes after walking into the store, they were done, and she was relieved. Her back and feet had been sore on and off, depending on what she was doing, since she had started gaining weight. The moment she rubbed her back- hoping it had been a casual gesture- she knew Remus knew immediately from the way he looked at her. Harry was sitting on a bench outside, and stood as they approached.
"You two can wait here, we'll meet across the street in half an hour." Remus said, handing Tonks the bag he had been carrying.
Tonks and Harry sat down. "The downside to marrying a man like Remus, is he understands pain and how people hide it." She said. "Even something as simple as a backache. So, how bad was it?"
"It didn't happen, my scar just hurt." Harry said. "Did you convince Remus to agree to the wolf?"
"I did." Tonks said. "Or, he gave up, really. Didn't even have to use the pregnancy card."
"The what card?"
"Ah, you'll figure that out when you have a wife." Tonks said, stretching. "Can I ask you a favour?"
"What's that?"
"Follow me." Tonks said, standing and grabbing the bag. Harry followed Tonks, and she led him down a quieter side street, taking out her wand. "I'm not going to curse you, put it away." She added, not having to look at Harry to know he had pulled out his wand.
She shunk the bag, tucking it into her purse.
"On second thought, take it out again." Tonks said, as she continued walking.
"Why?" Harry asked, falling into step next to her. "Tonks, what's-?"
She lunged, grabbing his arm and dragging him to the ground. Three spells flew over them, colliding with the side of a building.
She jumped to her feet, grabbing Harry's arm. "Run." She demanded, keeping her hand wrapped around his wrist as they ran down the quiet street. Curses missed them, and Tonks dragged Harry into a fenced yard.
"Tonks, the Muggles-"
"Sh!" She snapped, leading him through the yard towards the house. There was a gate next to the house, leading to a back yard, and she led Harry through it.
There was the sound of a fence exploding behind them, and Tonks sped up. They ran through the back gate, into the back alley.
There was a louder explosion and Tonks felt herself get thrown. She hit the ground hard on her side, pain shooting though her hip. She could hear debris raining down around her, and rolled over to see the house of the yard they used had been blown up.
Three cloaked figures were walking through the alley, and Tonks saw Harry getting to his feet, wand in hand. She pushed herself up, trying to ignore the pain.
Harry raised his wand at the same moment she did, and their combined Stunning Spells managed to throw all three Death Eaters backwards.
Harry turned to Tonks. "Are you alright?" She asked, eyeing the blood that was dripping from his forehead.
He nodded. "You?"
"I think so." She said. "Harry, I'm sorry. You're disguised, it would have been me they recognised."
"It's not your fault." Harry said.
"We should go." Tonks said. "Switch jackets with me. Yours has a hood, it'll disguise me a little."
He nodded, taking off his jacket as she removed hers, waving a wand to clean the blood from his. She muttered a healing spell, healing the cut on his forehead. She muttered another spell, clearing the blood from his face.
Harry put on Remus' jacket and she pulled the hood of his jacket up. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to button it, but she stuck her hands in the pockets to cover her bump.
"We need to go, someone will have noticed that." Tonks said, grabbing his arm and leading him up the alley. The pain in her hip was growing stronger, but she walked on, refusing to acknowledge it.
"Why not Apparate?" Harry asked.
Tonks shook her head. "I can't focus right now, the last thing we need is to Splinch."
They reached the end of the alley, and turned back towards the quiet street they had been on, heading back to the road of shops. They crossed the road quickly, heading for the alley. Remus was there, waiting.
"Where were you?" Remus asked. "What happened?"
"Death Eaters." Tonks answered. "Let's go, Harry's disguise will wear off soon."