A/N: Guess who forgot to post two chapters in a row here again. Whoops. I think it's safe to say at this point that you're better off following this story on AO3 if you want the chapters when I actually finish them. Not because I'm purposefully holding them back but because I genuinely forget to post them here since I'm so used to exclusively posting on AO3 now. (And posting here is kind of a hassle to be honest.)
Anyway, most of the dialogue in this chapter is from Half-Blood Prince.
Chapter 35 is going up right after this one.
Tonks couldn't bring herself to look at Bill lying on the Hospital Wing bed. Her attention kept wandering to Remus instead, but he wouldn't look at her either. For once, Tonks understood why. Bill's wounds were Greyback's fault, and Tonks knew he was using them to justify keeping his distance from her. Which was ridiculous because he wasn't Greyback! They both knew that he never would have done something like this.
The sound of the Hospital Wing doors opening drew Tonks' attention to Harry and Ginny arriving, already somber before they reached Bill's bed. Hermione rushed forward to gather Harry in a hug, and Tonks was surprised when Remus was the only other person who reacted. He moved around Tonks to get closer to Harry, and Tonks tensed at his brief closeness.
"Are you all right, Harry?" he asked.
She tried not to let it sting that he hadn't asked her that question when the fighting had ended and they'd all gathered in the Hospital Wing.
"I'm fine…" Harry said. "How's Bill?"
Tonks turned back to her friend, forcing herself to look at his wounds, which Pomfrey was in the process of tending to. Between the movements of her hands, Tonks could see exactly how Greyback's claws had punctured his skin. Not claws, she reminded herself. Greyback had been human when he'd done this. It had been the work of his nails, not claws.
"Can't you fix them with a charm or something?" Harry asked, coming closer to the bed.
"No charm will work on these," Pomfrey said. "I've tried everything I know, but there is no cure for werewolf bites."
Tonks swallowed down her nausea.
"But he wasn't bitten at the full moon," Ron said. While Tonks could hardly look at Bill, Ron couldn't look away. "Greyback hadn't transformed, so surely Bill won't be a— a real—?"
Tonks tightened her hands into fists as Ron looked towards Remus. She followed his gaze, and listened with rapt attention as Remus explained that he didn't think Bill would be a "true" werewolf but there might still be traces of "wolfish characteristics." Whatever that meant. Remus was a "true" werewolf, and Tonks never would have described him as being like a wolf, no matter what he thought about himself.
"Dumbledore might know something that'd work, though," Ron said. "Where is he? Bill fought those maniacs on Dumbledore's orders, Dumbledore owes him, he can't leave him in this state—"
"Ron," Ginny interrupted him. "Dumbledore's dead.
"No!"
Remus' outburst startled Tonks as much as the news itself. She sucked in a sharp breath as Remus collapsed into a chair. He looked as distraught as he had after Sirius' death, but Tonks was hesitant to close the distance between them and probably be rejected in front of the others.
"How did he die?" she whispered instead. "How did it happen?"
"Snape killed him," Harry said. Tonks listened alongside the others as Harry explained the whole story. She was distraught herself, but she couldn't help but keep glancing at Remus to watch his reaction to each new detail. He all but trembled in his chair when Harry reached the end of the story.
He wasn't the only one affected. Even Pomfrey was sobbing.
"Shh!" Ginny exclaimed. "Listen!"
As soon as Pomfrey quieted her tears, Tonks heard what had caught Ginny's attention. Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, was crying. It was a sound Tonks had never heard, but she knew right away what emotions were inspiring it. She wasn't sure how long they stood there and listened, but she felt better the longer the song continued, like Fawkes was purging them of their sadness and taking it on himself.
They listened in silence until McGonagall arrived, looking as exhausted as the rest of them. "Molly and Arthur are on their way," she announced.
Tonks turned to look at Bill again, somehow surprised when he looked just as bad as he had the last time she'd glanced at him. She could imagine how frantic Molly would be when she arrived. Tonks focused on a spot on the wall as McGonagall questioned Harry about what had happened, but she didn't bother to really tune into the conversation until Remus spoke.
"Snape was a highly accomplished Occlumens," he said, sounding angrier than Tonks had ever heard him. And it was directed at McGonagall. Tonks watched him with wide eyes. "We always knew that," he concluded.
"But Dumbledore swore he was on our side!" Tonks whispered, unable to make her voice any louder. "I always thought Dumbledore must know something about Snape that we didn't…"
It had been the only logical explanation, and it was still the only thing that made it make sense.
Remus still didn't look at her, but his shoulders tensed.
"He always hinted that he had an ironclad reason for trusting Snape," McGonagall muttered. She was crying. Tonks had never thought she'd see the day. "I mean…with Snape's history…of course people were bound to wonder…but Dumbledore told me explicitly that Snape's repentance was absolutely genuine… Wouldn't hear a word against him!"
"I'd love to know what Snape said to convince him," Tonks said. She couldn't think of a single lie that would have made it past Dumbledore.
"I know," Harry said. Everyone turned to look at him. "Snape passed Voldemort the information that made Voldemort hunt down my mum and dad. Then Snape told Dumbledore that he hadn't realized what he was doing, he was really sorry he'd done it, sorry that they were dead."
Everyone stared at him. The older members of the Order knew more about Snape's history than Tonks did, but even she thought that explanation was flimsy at best.
"And Dumbledore believed that?" Remus said incredulously. "Dumbledore believed Snape was sorry James was dead? Snape hated James…"
"And he didn't think my mother was worth a damn either," Harry said, "because she was a Muggle-born… 'Mudblood,' he called her…"
Tonks stared down at the floor, trying to make sense of it all. None of this was what she'd expected when Dumbledore had called her to the castle that evening.
McGonagall started blaming herself, and Tonks couldn't help but think back to her days as a student, when McGonagall had seemed like one of the strongest professors at the school.
"It isn't your fault, Minerva," Remus said. "We all wanted more help, we were glad to think Snape was on his way…"
Harry began asking for details about the fight that he'd missed. Tonks tapped her fingers against her thigh as they relived the night. More than anything, Tonks enjoyed watching Remus interact with the teenagers as he insisted that Hermione hadn't done anything wrong. He never gave himself enough credit.
Once they'd made it through all the details that were important to share, they fell into a silence. Fawke's song was still playing from somewhere on the grounds. Tonks closed her eyes, letting it sink over her until Molly, Arthur, and Fleur arrived.
Molly was as frantic as Tonks had expected, and Fleur was paler than Tonks had ever seen her. Tonks and Remus moved away from Bill's bed to make room for the family, and his parents filled up the space immediately. Tonks glanced at Fleur, expecting her to be just as eager to get near him, but she hovered further back, her eyes wide as she stared at her fiance.
"You said Greyback attacked him?" Arthur asked McGonagall. "But he hadn't transformed? So what does that mean? What will happen to Bill?"
"We don't know." McGonagall looked towards Remus.
"There will probably be some contamination, Arthur," he said, making Tonks cringe at his chosen wording. "It is an odd case, possibly unique… We don't know what his behavior might be like when he awakens…"
Molly took over tending to Bill's wounds from Pomfrey.
Arthur asked about Dumbledore, but Tonks was too distracted by Fleur to pay much attention. Feeling Tonks' eyes on hers, the other woman looked over, and she looked so frightened that Tonks wondered if she should do something. Before she could, Molly spoke.
"Of course, it doesn't matter how he looks… It's not r-really important…but he was a very handsome little b-boy…always very handsome…and he was g-going to be married!"
The words snapped Fleur out of his daze. "What do you mean by that?" Fleur asked so loudly that Tonks instinctively cringed. "What do you mean, 'he was going to be married'?"
Molly looked back at her, startled. "Well—only that—"
"You think Bill will not wish to marry me anymore? You think, because of these bites, he will not love me?"
"No, that's not what I—"
"Because he will!" Fleur stood tall. "It would take more than a werewolf to stop Bill loving me!"
Molly looked around helplessly. "Well, yes, I'm sure, but I thought perhaps—given how—how he—"
"You thought I would not wish to marry him? Or perhaps, you hoped? What do I care how he looks? I am good-looking enough for both of us, I think! All these scars show is that my husband is brave! And I shall do that!" She finally took her spot beside Bill's bed and snatched the ointment from Molly, dabbing it on Bill's wounds herself.
Tonks expected Molly to fight back, but instead, she stared at Fleur for a long, quiet moment before saying, "Our Great-Auntie Muriel has a very beautiful tiara—goblin-made—which I am sure I could persuade her to lend you for the wedding. She is very fond of Bill, you know, and it would look lovely with your hair."
"Thank you," Fleur said, still sounding a bit chilly. "I am sure that will be lovely."
The two women embraced, and Tonks gasped. For months she'd observed them being cold with each other. She might have been hopeful for a gradual thawing, but nothing like this. Tonks felt her own eyes sting. Bill had been bitten by a werewolf, and it hadn't changed a thing about how Fleur felt.
"You see!" she exclaimed, rounding on Remus. "She still wants to marry him, even though he's been bitten! She doesn't care!"
Remus was tense. "It's different," he muttered. "Bill will not be a full werewolf. The cases are completely—"
"But I don't care either, I don't care!" Tonks rushed forward and grabbed the front of his robes. She was tired of this. She had to make him listen to her. "I've told you a million times…"
Remus stared at the floor but didn't try to pull her off of him. "And I've told you a million times that I am too old for you, too poor…too dangerous…"
Molly's voice broke through Tonks' desperation. "I've said all along you're taking a ridiculous line on this, Remus."
Remus' eyes flickered between them, looking hopeless. "I am not being ridiculous. Tonks deserves somebody young and whole."
"But she wants you," Molly said. Tonks could hear the smile in her voice without turning around. Any other time, she might have found it embarrassing to be making such a scene. "And after all, Remus," Molly continued, "young and whole men do not necessarily remain so."
"This is…not the moment to discuss it," Remus said. He took a step back from Tonks, and she let him go of his robes but refused to take her eyes off of him. "Dumbledore is dead…"
"Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think there was a little more love in the world," McGonagall said, and Tonks felt her cheeks warm as she remembered that her former professor had just seen her outburst.
But McGonagall didn't look judgemental or disapproving for the split second that passed before Hagrid came in to let them know that Dumbledore's body had been moved. McGonagall left, taking Harry with her, and the Weasleys gathered more tightly around Bill's bed, talking amongst each other quietly.
Tonks still stared at Remus, who hadn't moved since he'd taken a step back from her. Tonks took a step closer, and he looked up at her, hesitant.
"We need to talk," she said, keeping her voice low this time.
For a second, she thought he would refuse and run away again. When he nodded instead, she almost forgot what to do next. Her legs shook as she followed him out of the Hospital Wing.