[A/N: Not sure what is going on with FFN lately, but I've been struggling with them uploading my docs. I'll continue to post here (when the site lets me), but I am also on AO3 should something ever happen here!]

Tonks knocked on the door of Sirius' house and was a little startled to be greeted by Harry Potter.

"Hey, Tonks," Harry said. "Sirius said you were coming."

She held up the box in her arms. "I come bearing gifts."

Harry welcomed her inside and closed the door behind her. She'd been to the house once with Sirius to check it out before he moved in. It was a nice little house: five bedrooms, a decent-sized eat-in kitchen, a sitting room, and a small solarium. There was lots of land, lots of open space. Perfect for Sirius.

She sat the box on the dining table and Ron and Hermione walked in.

"Hi, Tonks," they said in unison.

"Don't think I've seen you with the brown hair before," Ron said.

"This is just what I look like with the magic turned off," Tonks said. "Don't want to forget what I look like."

She was doing her best to sound light-hearted, but Tonks felt miserable and had been feeling more miserable by the day. Her hair was one of the reasons she wanted to stop by and talk to Sirius.

"Sirius is in the solarium," Harry said.

"Thanks," Tonks said. She lifted the box and walked the short distance through the house to the back room. The solarium was beautifully lit by the setting sun, and every pane of the glass room was shimmering.

"Can I just say that all this sunlight is already doing wonders for my disposition," Sirius said as Tonks sat her box on the table in the middle of the room.

"Glad to hear it," Tonks replied. "You deserve it."

"Thanks," he said.

"Where's Theo?" Tonks asked.

"Taking care of things at her house," Sirius said. "Still trying to get things in order with Levi gone."

She tapped her box. "Here's those dishes you requested."

"Thank you," Sirius said. "How are you?"

"Fine," she said quickly.

"And now for your honest answer," he said.

"Miserable," Tonks said with a sigh.

"You look it, no offense," Sirius said.

Tonks rolled her eyes and sat down. "I can't change it."

"Your face? Not your fault you're feeling poorly," Sirius replied as he opened the box.

"Not my face," Tonks said. "What's wrong with my face?"

"Nothing's wrong with your face. It just looks like someone said that they were in love with you, but then also immediately rejected you," he said.

Tonks sagged in her seat. "I can't use my powers, Sirius."

He looked up from the wine glass he was examining and looked at her. "You can't morph anymore?"

She shook her head. "No. Not a single stitch since I talked to him."

"You think it's because—."

"Because of what happened?" Tonks asked. "I know that's why. I feel like part of my brain just doesn't work. Like, he broke something inside of me and I can't fix it so the rest of me just doesn't work right."

She was crying again, trying desperately to stop. The last thing she needed was for the children to walk in and see her like this.

Sirius came and sat beside her.

"Have you talked to him?" Sirius asked.

She shook her head. "I'll have better luck talking to a brick wall."

Sirius sighed. "I know what you mean. I talked to him yesterday."

Tonks groaned. "You shouldn't have done that."

"What was I supposed to do? Pretend you didn't show up crying your eyes out in the middle of the night?" he asked.

Tonks wiped her face. "He's your friend."

"Yes. My very oldest and closest friend. So I know better than anyone what an idiot he is," Sirius said. He put a hand on her shoulder. "He'll come around."

"Will he?" Tonks scoffed. "Theo seemed to think I was just another notch in his proverbial bedpost."

"That is an idiom I don't think I've ever heard levied at Remus before, and yet, it is applicable," Sirius said. "But, you should talk to him. Preferably before Friday."

"What's Friday?" she asked.

"Aurora's having dinner with Lyall so he can meet Harry. She said it wouldn't feel right if you weren't there as well," Sirius said.

Tonks groaned. "The last thing I want to do right now is have dinner with Remus and his father. You understand how uncomfortable that's going to be?"

"Well, he'll be equally uncomfortable," Sirius said. "Besides, you're not going for Remus. It's for Aurora. You are her family. That's how she thinks of you."

She nodded. She loved Aurora. She was funny and smart and she could be impulsive and reckless, but always out of love. And that kid loved with every ounce of her soul.

"I know," Tonks said.

There was a knock at the front door. Sirius stood.

"Not expecting anyone else," he said.

She followed him to the front door.

"Who's it?" Sirius asked.

"Alastor. Open the bloody door," Moody said.

Sirius rolled his eyes and opened the door. Moody limped into the room. He almost spoke, but his eye was spinning around in his head.

"Outside. We've got an audience," he said.

They followed Moody outside and closed the door.

"What is it?" Tonks asked.

"Emmeline Vance has been killed," Moody said.

Tonks gasped, her hands coming to cover her mouth.

"How? What happened?" Sirius asked.

"Deatheaters. It was nasty," Moody said. He held up a piece of parchment. "We found this with her body."

Tonks wanted to avoid seeing Remus considering how terrible their last conversation had gone. These circumstances made talking to him even worse.

They showed up at his flat and could hear the sound of Aurora laughing inside. She hated that they were about to ruin their night.

Sirius tapped on the door and Remus opened it a few seconds later. His face fell.

"Bad news?" Remus asked.

Sirius nodded as they walked inside.

"Aurora, can you go to your room please?" Remus asked.

"Can I finish this layer before I'm banished? It's a bit time-sensitive," Aurora said working a rolling pin across some dough.

Remus sighed. "Be fast."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Are you feeling better, Tonks?"

Tonks was startled for a moment and then remembered that the last time Aurora had seen her, Tonks had been crying at Grimmauld Place.

Tonks forced a weak smile. "I'm fine. Don't have a second thought about it."

"Good," Aurora said as she sat her rolling pin aside and started folding the dough into thirds. "And you're coming to dinner on Friday, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't miss it," Tonks said. She glanced at Remus who gave her a knowing look.

"Excellent," Aurora replied. She wrapped the dough in cling wrap and pulled off her apron. "I'll go banish myself to my room now."

"Yes, yes. Go on," Remus said.

She waved politely to everyone before disappearing down to her bedroom. The door closed with a click. Remus cast a spell on the door for good measure.

"What's happened?" Remus asked.

"Emmeline is dead," Tonks said.

"Massacred her while keeping an on the muggle prime minister," Moody said. "Didn't know how she got found out, but then we found this on her."

Moody held out the letter to him. Remus read it aloud.

"'Remus Lupin, please tell your daughter that despite her failure to cooperate, her insights were still immensely helpful. I have no doubt she will be helpful in the future.'"

Tonks' stomach twisted itself into a knot hearing the letter again.

Remus folded the letter and shook his head. "She has no idea."

"We know," Sirius said. "But she's smart enough that she'll be able to put it together once she finds out."

"The muggles have got wind of the murder as well. It'll be all over their news in the morning as well as ours," Moody said. "And he's all but said he's going to come after her again."

"Well, we anticipated that much at least," Remus said. He sighed. "Emmeline. I can't believe it."

"I can hardly believe it either," Moody said. He motioned to Aurora's door. "What are you going to do about her?"

"I don't know," Remus said. "Most of the time she seems fine. Other times… I can tell she's back there in the Department of Mysteries. Even for someone more experienced than her, it would've been a horrific ordeal to endure. She feels guilty enough for having divulged anything at all even though she didn't know what she was saying. It's even made her less keen to eavesdrop."

"Small miracles," Sirius said.

"You'll need to be sure she hasn't told Voldemort or any of his other lackeys anything else," Moody said.

"I know," Remus said, but he looked distant. Tonks had seen Aurora simply check out of conversations that touched too closely to what happened at the ministry. Watched her lose her train of thought in the middle of a random sentence and stare off into space until she got hold of herself. There was no way Remus wanted to talk to her about this. There wasn't even a guarantee that Aurora would be able to cooperate. Her brain might simply shut itself off to save her from having to relive the trauma.

"She's tough," Moody assured him. "She can go through that and still be fussy about making cakes then you can talk to her."

"Have you ever seen anyone make a cake before?" Tonks asked, rolling her eyes.

"Don't sass me," Moody said. "I don't care who talks to her. Someone needs to. Have Potter ask her about it for all I care. We just need to be sure."

"Tell me, Alastor, did you ever consider having children?" Sirius asked.

"Do I strike you as being the slightest bit paternal, Black?" Moody asked.

"Definitely not," Sirius said.

Moody reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a watch. "I have to go. I'll talk to you all Saturday."

They bid him goodnight and he walked out the door.

"I don't know how to bring this up to her," Remus said looking down the hall to his daughter's door. "I feel like I'm walking on eggshells around her most of the time. I don't know what's going to make her snap at me or make her shut down. Who knows what this will do to her."

Tonks did not want to talk directly to Remus, but she had to speak her thoughts aloud. Their drama could not bleed over into this part of their relationship.

"Alastor did have a good point, about Harry," Tonks said. Remus looked over to her and she immediately averted her eyes. "I just mean that she has an easier time talking to him about what happened than the rest of us. Especially since she doesn't want us to worry about her. But Harry knows exactly what happened already."

"It will probably feel like less of an interrogation if Harry brings it up as well," Sirius said.

Remus nodded in agreement. "I'll tell her about Emmeline tomorrow. We can wait until after we've had dinner to ask her about what she said to Voldemort. I don't want to overload her."

"I'll have a chat with Harry as well," Sirius said. "Don't want him approaching her about it on the fly. He won't want to upset her either. He might have a better idea of how she'll react."

"You think so?" Remus asked.

"Well, he does talk to her every night before bed as you've noticed," Sirius said. "He might know her a little better than we do."

"There's a thought," Remus said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Speaking of chatting with Harry—."

"Don't worry. I talked to him," Sirius said. "I don't think there's anything to worry about. They're not nearly as attached as Theo and I were. That might be concerning."

"She's related to you, that's cause for concern enough I think," Tonks managed to tease.

"I think she's managed to only get my better traits," Sirius said.

"Yes, not a shred of impulsiveness in that child in there," Remus said.

"Well, you managed to help her think before she follows through on her impulsiveness," Sirius said.

"Which is perfect. Knowing a decision is bad and then making it anyway. Every parent's dream," Remus said.

"I believe in you," Sirius said. "In the meantime, I'm going to collect Harry and his friends from Molly. Hermione sounded a bit like murder was on the table for Fleur if she didn't get some space from her."

Tonks didn't blame her. Fleur was a lot.

"I should—."

"Stay and chat, I know," Sirius said putting a firm hand on her shoulder. "I know you said this would be a perfect opportunity to catch up."

Tonks glared at Sirius. She was going to murder her cousin for throwing her into this.

"I'll see the two of you on Friday for dinner," Sirius said.

"Assuming no one murders you before that," Tonks said.

He flashed her a smile. "Goodnight." He walked out the door.

Tonks turned to Remus. She still couldn't look him in the eyes.

"You might find this hard to believe, but I don't actually have anything I want to say to you right now that I haven't said already," Tonks said.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why he's like this," Remus said.

"He's like this because he's Sirius and confrontation is just part of his nature, which is annoying," Tonks said. "His need to force us into having a conversation is because he cares about us, which is well-meaning, but ultimately unwanted."

"You don't think we should talk?" he asked.

"And say what?" Tonks asked. "Do you think there's any part of me that wants to stand here and listen to you say 'I love you but I don't want to be with you' for a second time? The first time was humiliating enough, thanks."

"I didn't want things to be like this," he said.

Tonks shook her head. "I don't know what you were expecting at all. Were you expecting to say all those things about you not being good enough and for me to just agree with you? You think someone who loves you is going to think all those things are perfectly reasonable?"

"They are reasonable," Remus said. Tonks rolled her eyes. "Look at your career, your future. I'm just—."

"You're not 'just' anything, Remus. The only person in this room who thinks that is you, and fuck anyone who has ever made you feel that way," Tonks said. She wiped tears from her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm going to leave so you can get back to your evening with your daughter. I will see you Friday for dinner because she asked me to come. Outside of that and my obligations to the Order, I don't want to see you because it might kill me to have this conversation with you for a third time."

She walked over to the door.

"Tonks, I don't want… I never wanted to make you feel like this," Remus said. "But I think one day you'll see that I'm right about this."

Tonks' heart squeezed in her chest. She didn't know what to say. She didn't want to cry anymore. She walked out of the apartment without another word.

Rory was glad that Harry was enjoying his summer, but now that he was out of Surrey and visiting with Ron and Hermione again, she didn't talk to him as much in the mirror. She didn't mind, but she missed him. There was something comforting about talking to him every night before she fell asleep. They still spoke every morning, but briefly.

But Rory had been feeling more anxious lately. The morning after Sirius, Tonks, and Moody had come to her apartment, she'd found out that Emmeline Vance had been murdered outside of the muggle Prime Minister's house while protecting him.

It hadn't taken a lot for her to put together that it was likely her prediction that had pinned Emmeline as a target. Rory knew it wasn't her fault, logically. But there was still a blanket of guilt hovering over her.

She wanted to talk to Harry about it. She couldn't put it in a letter, just in case, but Harry was never alone now. She couldn't sit up with him talking all night now that he was with Ron. She found it unlikely that she'd be able to get a moment to talk to him alone when he came for dinner, and even if she did it was likely to be such an upsetting conversation that she didn't want to have knowing she'd have to face her family again afterward.

Rory knew it was selfish to want more of Harry's time, especially since she hadn't had to share him for two whole weeks, but she was having a hard time. She was busy assuring her dad that she was doing fine, and mostly she was, but the news about Emmeline had rattled her.

She was pretty sure it had rattled her dad too. He hadn't been in the best mood since he'd heard about Emmeline either.

Rory was trying to be in a good mood about dinner though. If it was possible, her dad seemed to be more anxious about dinner than she was.

"I don't know what you're nervous about. You just get to have your friends over while your daughter's boyfriend twists in the wind," Rory said.

"I'm not used to hosting," Remus replied.

"You're hardly hosting," Rory said. "Is it because you've never had Grampy over? You could have had him host."

"That would not ease my anxiety," Remus said. "But I'm sure things will be fine."

Rory wondered if he was apprehensive about seeing Sirius. She couldn't imagine what else would have him so anxious.

There was a knock on the door and Rory smiled at her dad. "Guests are here."

Remus opened the door and Tonks was standing there. She was wearing a black knee-length dress, an obvious attempt to dress nicer for the occasion, but still wore her usual boots. Her hair wasn't a wild color today, again. It was still the same shoulder-length brown that it had been the last few times she'd seen her.

"Not a guest, just Tonks," Rory said cheerfully.

Tonks smiled weakly as she walked into the flat.

"I brought wine," Tonks said. "I even asked the person at the store what goes best with beef. Then he said he had no idea how do to wine pairings so I then just asked him for a decently priced dry red."

"Dad knows lots about wine," Rory said.

"That happens when your best friend tells you about what he steals from his parents' wine cellar," Remus said.

That was pretty similar to how Rory knew anything about wine as well.

"Wait, Grimmauld Place has a wine cellar?" Rory asked. "I've been through almost every inch of that house."

"Not well enough apparently," Remus replied. "I'm astounded that you're related and didn't find it yet."

Rory was still in the headspace of prepping dinner, so she didn't notice at first, but she quickly realized the apartment was silent. Which was weird because usually Tonks came over and it was all Rory could do to get a word in.

"You two alright?" Rory asked. She looked over her shoulder to where they stood. Tonks had her arms crossed tightly in front of her and seemed like she might burst into tears at any moment. Her dad looked equally uncomfortable.

"Fine," they both said too quickly and too casually.

Even without being a seer Rory would know they were lying.

"Wine, Tonks?" Remus asked.

"Yes, please," she replied with a nod.

Rory turned back to the stove and listened to them open the bottle and pour glasses all without exchanging a single word. She'd never felt so uncomfortable in her apartment before.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Rory asked. "You're not as chatty as usual."

"We're fine," Remus insisted. "You've been fussy all day."

Rory pouted. "I am not fussy. No one's coming over to scrutinize your boyfriend."

"That's for Harry to worry about and not you," Remus said. "I wouldn't fixate so much on what other people are going to think if you feel secure about your choices, Aurora."

"I think that's grand advice that we should probably all take," Tonks said. She gave Remus a knowing look and he frowned.

"Excuse us a moment, Aurora," he said. He ushered Tonks over to the balcony and shut them both outside.