"It is…Tonks," Fleur whispered to Ron, her brow furrowed in confusion. She hadn't seen Tonks since the wedding. Why was she here?
Ron made a point to move toward the stairs, though Fleur told him not to rush off so fast. "It is highly unusual for Tonks to be out and about. I worry this is some sort of…"
But she didn't finish that sentence. She instead moved to the door with her wand raised and called through it, "Tonks?"
"Wotcher!" came back a voice that did belong to Tonks. "How are you? Sorry to just pop in like this, but I was just looking to…I don't know. Say hello? Is that strange?"
She supposed it wasn't, even though she wasn't aware she and Tonks were close enough for her to apparently be the person Tonks would leave her house to visit for the first time in weeks. Then again, who's to say they weren't? They'd had some lovely chats in the past. She supposed they might have actually been those kinds of friends.
"No, it is not," Fleur called through the door. "But before I open the door, I must ask: Where were we the first time we ever met?"
"Oh," Tonks said. "Right, um…Properly met or met in general?"
"Is there a difference?"
"Well, yeah, the first time I wasn't me, I was someone else, so it can get confusing when people recall meeting me. Sometimes they don't even know they've done it, but I do. But if you're talking about that time at the Leaky Cauldron where I was with Bill and you thought he was on a date with me, then…yeah. That's what I remember."
That was what she remembered too, and it wasn't until Tonks recalled it so specifically that Fleur was reminded about how long ago that felt. It felt as if a decade had gone by since then, but it was only two years.
She kept her wand out, but opened the door to find a smiley, blue-haired Tonks standing there with a sweet sort of glow about her and seemingly in good spirits.
"Hi," Tonks said, moving forward to offer a hug, which Fleur returned with a kiss on both of Tonks' cheeks. As she pulled away, Fleur had very much detected a hard, clearly pregnant-feeling belly under that cloak. Tonks would have to remove the garment to be sure, but there was definitely something different about her.
"Again, sorry to just pop in," Tonks said, fumbling with her cloak. "I don't really have a reason for coming, I just…I had to get out of the house. I haven't left in ages and I was going mental."
Fleur waved her off as if to say that was fine. She knew that feeling all too well, and that was with actually having left the house from time to time. She couldn't imagine never leaving like Tonks.
"I know Remus comes over and says you all have nice chats, which I'll admit I'm a slightly jealous of. So I thought, if you weren't busy…"
Fleur shook her head. "I am not busy! You are welcome to stay and talk. I will make tea."
Tonks smiled as if someone had just delivered her the best news she'd heard in awhile. "Terrific. I desperately needed to talk to someone who isn't my mum. Don't get me wrong, I love her and she's the best, but…"
Fleur nodded as if she understood.
"She never wants me to leave," she continued. "Didn't even want me coming here. I had to remind her I am still an Auror and can handle myself, but…" She pulled her cloak off and stepped over to hang it up on the hanger. "Mums. You know how they are."
Fleur nodded, but was too distracted by Tonks' appearance now that she had shed the bulky cloak. All of her suspicions about a larger belly were confirmed as Tonks stood there looking quite visibly pregnant. A real belly had popped out of her since they'd last seen each other, which was especially noticeable on her usually small frame.
"Look at you!" Fleur said, smiling at her stomach.
"Yeah," Tonks offered modestly, putting her hand on her stomach. "I've popped recently. I'm about six months."
"And you are due when?"
"April," she said, rubbing her stomach. "Which, can't come fast enough. I'm not so great at this pregnancy thing."
"Well, if you are welcome to tell me all about it as I make—"
A loud creak from the upper landing made Fleur stop and Tonks immediately look up the stairs. Fleur could hear the urgent snapping of a bedroom door, which meant Ron had just then managed to retreat into his room.
"Is that Bill?" Tonks asked.
Fleur shook her head, immediately waving her off again. "No, he is at Gringotts. The house is simply noisy. It creaks constantly."
"Really?" she asked, suddenly glancing around as if looking for something. "I could have sworn I saw someone with red hair through the window."
Fleur stared at her blankly, unsure of what to say. "Red hair? You must be mistaken…"
Tonks turned back toward her, her face concerned. "Are you sure you're alone?"
The way she'd asked hadn't been accusatory; rather, it had sounded worried. She now seemed under the impression someone unwelcomed may have been lurking about.
"Um…" Fleur mumbled, glancing up the stairs. However, before she could even say anything more, Tonks had pulled out her wand and cast a revealing spell with a quick, "Homenum Revelio." Fleur felt a strange swooping feeling tingle through her body, knowing that the spell was already giving Tonks all the answers she needed.
"There's someone upstairs," Tonks said urgently, her entire body now on high alert as she stepped forward. "Do you have your wand?"
Fleur sighed. "I do, but it is unnecessary." She walked over and gently pushed Tonks' raised wand toward the floor, calling up the stairs, "Ron, you may as well come out."
"Ron?" Tonks asked, though no response came from upstairs. Either Ron hadn't heard her—which was unlikely—or he refused to believe she'd told him to come downstairs.
"Ron, she knows you are up there," Fleur called again. "You may as well come down and visit."
Hesitant footsteps followed moments later; then the slow opening of an upstairs door. When Ron timidly appeared, Tonks visibly inhaled and exclaimed, "Ron!"
"Hi," he said awkwardly, stopping at the top of the stairs. After a second of taking in Tonks, he let his eyes grow wide and added, "Heard you were pregnant." He pointed at her. "You are definitely pregnant."
"And you are definitely…here," Tonks said, turning her curious gaze onto Fleur. Clearly they had some explaining to do.
And they did explain themselves as Fleur tended to tea and Ron caught Tonks up with what information he could. He told her he'd been there just a few weeks, which Fleur noticed in his tone seemed to deliberately be downplaying the six weeks he'd been here. He explained he was looking to get back to Harry and Hermione, but that he was hiding out here to avoid detection from not only the Death Eaters, but his own family and their judgment.
Tonks had listened raptly, speaking little until Ron was done. She seemed shocked that Remus had visited several times since he's arrived and was none the wiser. If Fleur didn't know any better, Tonks seemed amused that she happened to be in-the-know about something that Remus wasn't.
"Your secret is safe with me," Tonks said. "I understand the need to keep things discrete for the safety of yourself and others."
She suddenly let her hand absently find her stomach, frowning as she added, "Like who the father of your child is."
Fleur smiled sympathetically, remembering the story Bill had told her from the wedding where the Death Eaters had been ready to kill the baby because they felt it was a monster. Charlie had stepped in to claim paternity, and Remus had pushed the lie along. Tonks hadn't been happy; it had been the start of all the conflict between the pair lately. But according to her, they'd recently come to an agreement where he would no longer deny being the father, but she wouldn't advertise it to strangers.
"Which isn't hard to do when you don't leave the house or talk to strangers…" Tonks muttered, a bitterness in her tone.
Fleur sipped her tea, noticing Ron was awkwardly doing the same. Neither seemed to know how to respond to that, so Fleur instead attempted to steer the conversation toward the better parts of Tonks' pregnancy. Was she feeling the baby yet? How was she sleeping? Any strange cravings?
Tonks noticeably perked up at these sorts of questions, enthusiastically offering up that the baby moved around regularly these days; that they were apparently very mobile, especially in the evenings. She'd had a couple bad weeks of sickness early on, and her ankles tended to swell, but otherwise she was still sleeping well enough and finding that she did have some bizarre cravings.
"There was a day I really wanted an cooked aubergine dipped in honey."
Ron made a face as if even he wouldn't eat that.
As she told it, the only other curious change in her was that her morphing abilities had become very unreliable as the baby grew. It hadn't been an issue early on, but with every passing week, she was finding herself unable to control some of the things that happened to her body. She may wake up one day a foot taller, or with entirely different features or a new face shape. She couldn't always change them back right away. Sometimes, she was stuck with things for days.
"The baby chooses," she said with a tired smile. "My hair for instance." She pointed toward the blue, which was really more of a turquoise color. "I can't do anything with it lately. It's been like this for nearly a month. No matter how much I try to change the color or the length, it won't budge. I even tried to cut a chunk off to see what would happen, but I woke up the next day with back exactly the way it was."
She laughed. "Needless to say, my pregnancy is not typical."
It didn't sound typical, but given that Tonks was speaking of it rather positively, it also seemed to be going well. That seemed to be a small relief considering how much of the rest of Tonks' life was currently upside down. Her struggles with Remus, her being restricted to the house, her missing father…
"Mum dotes on me like she did when I was little," Tonks said later on, having finished her tea. "If it were up to her, I wouldn't even go up and down the stairs. She's so overprotective after everything that's happened."
She sighed, her mood dropping off again. "I know it's because she doesn't know what to do about my dad. She's always so worried about him. I'm her distraction."
"Have you heard from him?" Fleur asked, a heaviness now sitting on chest at the mention of Tonks' father.
"Not in months," Tonks muttered. "September was his last letter. Then there was that sighting Bill told Remus about in October."
Fleur glanced over at Ron, who was looking back at her as if they both were now thinking the same thing. That sighting Bill had told Remus about had actually been Ron's account of having run into Ted Tonks on the night he'd left Harry and Hermione in the woods.
Of course, given that no one was supposed to know Ron was here, Bill had reworked the sighting into a different tale that took Ron out of the picture. He'd claimed to have heard a story circulating around Gringotts about the missing goblins; how they'd made contact and mentioned traveling with Ted Tonks. That had been the story related to Remus.
Neither Ron nor Fleur corrected the version Tonks' knew.
Tonks fidgeted in her chair, absently playing with a teaspoon. "Dad's lack of contact makes me think he hasn't got out of the country like we'd hoped. Because if he had, he'd be more inclined to send a letter from the safety of somewhere that's harder to access."
She paused, as if thinking something over. "I don't think he's dead. If he were dead, we'd have heard about it. I know if the Death Eaters got him, they'd be sure to rub it in my face."
"I am sure he will contact soon," Fleur encouraged, not knowing if this was true one way or another, but only thinking about how if her own father was on the run, he would stop at nothing to let his family know he was safe. Fleur didn't know Tonks' father, but she always spoke very affectionately of him. If he wasn't making contact, there was a reason.
"Remus says the same," Tonks sighed. "He's the one scanning sources for all the deaths and accidents, so he'd be one of the first to know." She paused. "He's started helping Potterwatch out, you know?"
Fleur nodded. "We heard him on the last broadcast. It was good to hear his voice because he has not visited in over a week. We were growing concerned since I am used to him coming by often."
"Oh," Tonks said. "Right. Yeah, he has mostly stopped, hasn't he? It's because he and I are…well, we've been spending more time together. He's moved in with mum and me. We're working on things."
Fleur and Ron both let their expressions say that was good news, because that meant she and Remus had reconciled. Fleur even clapped a little, offering up, "That is wonderful!"
Tonks smiled a little. "Yeah, he's changed lately—in a good way. Not drinking as much, his attitude toward the baby is better and—don't get me wrong, it still scares him—but he's more open to things now."
She looked at Fleur. "He said it was actually something you said to him."
"Me?"
Tonks nodded. "How he was basing all his fears on werewolf information, but neglecting how my abilites may impact things. I think he sees how much control the baby has over my morphing now and it has him questioning things. He's more willing to accept that we just don't know what's going to happen and there's no point in worrying until we have to. After all, the baby could be a Metamorphmagus. They might be able to stave off inherited lycanthropy. No one knows."
"Which is exactly what I told him!" Fleur said, feeling rather vindicated at this news.
Tonks smiled. "Well, I'm glad someone got through to him. He can be so painfully stubborn."
"That is most men, is it not?" Fleur countered, both she and Tonks sharing a chuckle. She even glanced over at Ron, almost as if daring him to contradict her, but he didn't. He actually looked lost in thought.
Fleur turned back to Tonks. "I am happy to hear—"
"You forgave him," Ron interrupted, addressing Tonks. His comment had come out sounding both like a statement and a question.
Tonks didn't seem entirely sure what he was playing at, but she did eventually nod and say, "Yes."
"After everything he's done," Ron continued. "After how he acted and how he practically abandoned you, you forgave him."
As soon as Fleur heard the word 'abandoned' come out of his mouth, she now realized where this was going. He wasn't accusing Tonks of something bizarre or trying to make her feel bad about it. It was that he was happy to hear someone was capable of that level of forgiveness. It was proof that reconciliation, even after some very bad choices, was possible.
Which, of course, was exactly what Ron needed to hear.
"Er, yes," Tonks said again, clearly finding Ron's comments strange. "He's made some mistakes and it took some time for me to do it, but…I believe him when he says he's sorry and that he wants to make things right. Every day he's been trying to prove it to me."
She shrugged. "And ultimately…I love him. I always have and I always will."
"Huh…" Ron said, his tone faraway. After a moment, he added, "You're a mountain."
Tonks' face screwed up into obvious confusion, though Fleur laughed. She reached over and gave Ron a pat on the shoulder. "Très bien. You understand."
Tonks looked from one to the other. "What are we talking about...?"
They sat around and chatted for another two hours, even after Ron excused himself to go upstairs, and until Tonks said she needed to be getting back. Her mother was probably worried sick and Remus would be back soon from his day of doing reconnaissance and trying to communicate with the rest of the Order.
"I've really enjoyed this, though," Tonks said as Fleur saw her out. "You have no idea how nice this was to just…talk."
Fleur had to admit, it was very nice to talk to someone who wasn't a Weasley or the half-drunk, depressed werewolf who apparently was now making better choices in life. It felt lovely to talk to someone—a woman, especially— who was in a similar stage of her life and could relate to some of the things she was going through.
"We should do it again soon," Fleur said. "I could even come to you." She glanced at Tonks belly. "That may be easier the further along you become."
Tonks heaved a very heavy breath, rubbing her stomach as she did. "Seems never ending."
"I am told it is worth it in the end." Fleur smiled. "One of these days, I hope to experience it myself."
"That wouldn't be anytime soon, would it?" Tonks asked almost hopefully. "You and Bill don't happen to be trying?"
"Not until the war ends."
Tonks nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. I'd have made the same choice, but life had other plans." She grinned down at her stomach before looking back up at Fleur. "I only ask because, selfishly, I wish you two would right now so mine and yours could be friends."
Fleur smiled. That would have been nice, already having a built-in playmate. She'd had so many ready-made friends growing up with all of her cousins; it had been so special to her.
It actually made her sad, thinking of how nice it would have been to be able to start the family she and Bill wanted now and not having to wait; them having that daughter sooner rather than later. If Tonks had a little girl as well, and they were close in age, they may have even been very close friends.
Wouldn't that be lovely? She was now secretly hoping that Tonks had a girl for all the possibilities.
"Well," Fleur said, "let us hope the war ends soon so we can perhaps have that happen. If not and it takes some time, then—"
"Then mine can babysit," Tonks offered with a smile. "But here's hoping things do end soon. And know if they do, I'm holding you and Bill to it. I'd love nothing more than for our kids to be friends."
Ron disappeared on Christmas Day. They'd left him only for a couple of hours to pop in on the Burrow, but had returned to find the house empty and all of his things gone. He'd left a note on the kitchen table.
Bill and Fleur,
I needed to go. I can't explain it, but I have this feeling I have to follow. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I'll find my way back if I have to, but here's hoping I don't have to. Not yet.
Thanks for everything. You both helped me in more ways than you know.
Love, Ron
That was it. Bill read it twice and even flipped it over to see if he'd missed something. Ron had a feeling? What did that mean? And why did it now feel like a hippogriff was sitting directly on his chest?
After Fleur read the note, they both shared a similar look of doubt. Ron being out there had been much easier to stomach when they'd known he had Harry and Hermione with him. Now, who knew if he'd actually find them? Who knew who might find him first?
Because one thing was for certain. They were looking.
Christmas dinner at the Burrow had been the most somber and gloomy meal Bill had ever experienced at his childhood home in the twenty-seven years he'd been alive. His mother had pulled out all the stops for dinner—every one of their favorite foods—even if there was no real coherency in the meal. Roast, chips, beans on toast, meat pies, Yorkshire pudding, green beans, lemon sherbert, chocolate cake…there was no theme to dinner. It was simply a collection of what everyone would have wanted.
The conversation was just as eclectic. His mother tried as hard as she could to keep things positive— "let's have one day where we don't think about how dreadful everything is!"—but it only worked for a short while. Especially once Ginny, who was home from Hogwarts, really got going about how the school's current conditions were. She had so much to say, that Fred and George were already discussing how to structure an entire Potterwatch episode based off of the notes they'd taken from her.
"They came on the train," Ginny said, referring to the Death Eaters as she twitched a bit while retelling the story. "Came right aboard and started demanding we all get down and obey every word. If they saw a wand or heard a spell, they were going to make it so we never got home.
"Some of the younger ones started crying and shouting, but honestly, at this point, I think most of us are…used to it." She frowned, looking as if she were thinking of something specific. "The threats and the scare tactics. It's nothing we don't hear every day, so it's as if we're numb. I remember at first I just wanted them to do what they needed to do and go, because I assumed they were just trying to threaten us into keeping our mouths shut while we were home. I was willing to take it because I wanted to go home."
She paused. "That is until I realized what they came for."
According to Ginny, the Death Eaters had come to kidnap her friend, Luna Lovegood, off the train. To where, no one knew, but the moment Ginny had realized this—the moment they plucked Luna out of the compartment they were sharing with friends—suddenly all desire to sit still was gone. Ginny had stood up and started shouting and thrashing, punching and kicking Death Eaters to let Luna go. Neville Longbottom, who'd been there as well, apparently disregarded all orders to drop his wand and instead had started firing off spells.
It hadn't ended well for any of them. Luna was taken. Neville had been stunned and apparently beaten badly while in his stunned state. Others who tried to help had met similar fates, while Ginny had been knocked so hard by some large Death Eater that her head had collided with the wall of the compartment. She claimed she barely held onto consciousness as she lay there, watching as Luna was dragged away screaming.
As a souvenir, she currently had a massive welt on the side of her head that their mother fretted over at least three times while Bill had been present for dinner.
"Luna hasn't done anything more than any of the rest of us have," Ginny said. "It didn't make sense to take her instead of someone like me or Neville. We're the ones pushing buttons. We're the aggressive ones."
Molly let an anxious squeaking noise escape her.
"I'm not even kidding when I say Neville's lucky to be alive the way he mouths off to the Carrows," she said. "Even I have my limits, but Neville…"
She started shaking her head as if to say he had none.
George let out a small laugh, one that seemed to be a mixture of pride and disbelief. "Good for Neville."
"That one's coming along nicely," Fred said, smirking at his brother. "Who'd have thought?"
Ginny sighed. "Luna though, she's not like that. She's quieter and less of an instigator. She has her own way of fighting back without it being so obvious. She's tricker. I don't see how she would have stood out over the rest of us. Why take her?"
"If I had to guess," her father offered, suddenly glancing in the direction of the sitting room. "It may be because of her father."
"Because of Xeno?" Bill asked, now realizing why his father was looking the way he was. The Lovegoods lived in that direction, just a few miles away.
"Have you been keeping up with the Quibbler?" his father asked, his face stone serious. "He's not making any friends with what he publishes against You-Know-Who. I should really go and check on him."
"I think it's brilliant," Fred said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Which is the one and only time I'll say that about Xeno Lovegood, but the man has balls of steel for printing what he does and putting his name on it."
George glanced over at him. "Are you trying to say we should put our name on Potterwatch?"
"No!" their mother cried out in horror, and even Fleur looked shocked by the suggestion. Though the panic wasn't necessary since Fred was already shaking his head.
"No, I'm fine to just have balls of flesh instead of steel. Not a competition."
Bill pulled a face. "Can we not talk about your balls at Christmas dinner?"
"For once," Ginny added.
Fred rolled his eyes. "Right, sure, let's get back to the death and torture and kidnappings, shall we? I would hate to make things inappropriate."
"You know," their father cut in with, his tone very much of the 'moving on' variety, "I could see them using Luna to get to Xeno for everything he's published." He looked at his wife. "They did stuff like that all the time during the first war."
She was nodding. "They did. It's one of the reasons we've been trying to keep our noses clean because it's not your father and I we're worried about. It's what they're willing to do to any of you to send a message to us if we step out of line."
"I just hope the message they're sending to him doesn't involve hurting Luna," Ginny said solemnly. She was currently pushing her collection of dinner foods around her plate mindlessly, not bothering to eat anything.
Hogwarts truly sounded like hell on earth the more Ginny talked. She said Snape barely showed his face, leaving control almost entirely up to the Carrow siblings. She confirmed the only reason she was slightly better off than some of the others—though the word 'better' was clearly to be used lightly—was due to her status as a Sacred Twenty-Eight pureblood. Along with Neville, there were a few of them; they were reminded daily that the only reason they weren't dead was because their blood had value.
"There's a very obvious hierarchy now based on bloodlines," Ginny told Bill, Fleur, and twins later on when it was just the five of them. "They group us purebloods off together and away from others during meals and classes. Everyone else has to sit or work alone, but they force purebloods to be together as much as possible.
"They call it a privilege to socialize with the 'best' kinds. For them it's all about building pureblood relationships. That's their top priority. They seem convinced they can beat the fight out of us eventually and we'll give in. And when that happens, all we'll be left with is the other purebloods we've spent all this time with. They want the rest of the school to resent us for these—" she made air quotes with her fingers—"'privileges' and want us to be forced to depend only on each other. Isolate us as best they can."
"I mean, that sort of thing had worked for ages if you think about it," Bill said. "You keep putting the same families in the same houses and they obviously grow up together, become friends, and blend their families through marriage. They're basically adapting the same tactic here with the rest of you."
"Seems to work for the Slytherins," Fred said.
"Would we say 'works'?" George asked with a funny look. "Have you seen the faces on some of them? You'll be searching for ages for anything that vaguely resembles a human being."
"Oh, and of course the lot over in Slytherin love it," Ginny said sitting up straighter and getting more worked up, "Absolutely love it. But for the rest of us—people like me and Neville—being able to talk to other purebloods is where the privilege stops. The Carrows are quick to remind us of that."
"At least you've got Neville," Fred offered.
Ginny was already nodding. "Yeah, him and a few others. Also, it's not as if we still can't see our other friends in the common room or make plans to meet in secret places. All of them see right through how the Carrows are trying to make them resent us.
"Luna and I aren't supposed to be seen talking to each other during the day under threat of punishment, but we'll find ways to communicate through notes we leave in strategically placed library books. It's the same with Neville and Seamus, they're restricted during the day, but the second we're all back in the common room, we're up half the night trying to work out plans for the next day."
She sighed. "I'm sure half the castle thinks I'm getting off with Neville with the amount of time I spend with him, especially up in his and Seamus' room at night pouring over plans and listening to Potterwatch, but I don't correct them. Neither does Neville. We figure if it gets back to the Carrows, they'll be happy to hear we're potentially blending all this precious pure blood of ours."
"It would also lead people to believe you're over Harry," Bill offered, now hoping that if people thought that she was, that put distance between her and Harry. It made her less of a target. The older brother and protector in him just wanted Ginny as far away from potential harm as possible.
Ginny frowned, her expression suddenly hard. "Yes. That too." She looked around the room. "Though, you should all know I'm not over him."
"Well aware, Gin," George muttered.
"Here's hoping you do a better job keeping those feelings a secret at school than you do around us," Fred added.
It turned out to be incredibly difficult at their visit to keep Ron a secret, especially once the topic of him and Harry and Hermione came up. Ginny seemed desperate for information she wasn't privy to receiving at school that they may have, though given that she listened to Potterwatch the same as they did, she was mostly as caught up as they were. Fred and George said they got constant tips about Harry, though none ever seemed promising. They truly had no idea where the three of them were, though they were obviously doing a bang up job staying hidden.
Bill had looked at Fleur after that comment, both of them likely thinking the same thing about Ron being just an hour away currently sitting around their cottage.
Except, as it turned out, he wasn't. He'd left while they'd been gone and now he and Fleur found their cottage back to being theirs for the first time in nearly two months. It was honestly strange to have this kind of privacy again.
Little did they know, it would be rather short lived.
A/N: And Tonks gets her wish. Their kids will be very good friends...and then some. ;) Had to throw that in there.
Well, this drop was short and sweet. Hopefully you enjoyed seeing my take on what our pair was up to while everyone else was camping. I'm already working on the next chapters; this time I plan to finish them without getting distracted by other projects, so the plan is to be back early on in the new year. See you in 2023. Until then. :)
