June 2, 1998

Tonks couldn't believe what she was hearing. She glanced at Remus to see the same shocked expression that she was sure was on her face.

His eyes met hers before he looked back to the Minister of Magic, Kingsley. "Are you really asking us to do this?"

Kingsley nodded. "Yes, I'm asking you to do this."

"This is insane," Tonks muttered in disbelief.

Kingsley got up from behind the desk and walked around to the front of it, leaning his back against it to try and appeal to them more as friends rather than the Minister of Magic. "If I thought for one second that there was another way I would pursue it. Unfortunately this is the only way that I can guarantee her safety."

Tonks looked down at the sleeping two month old baby girl in her arms. "I-I can't."

"Take tonight and think on this. Think about how much we've already lost because of Voldemort. I don't want the two of you to have to add your daughter to the list of fatalities. I am doing this for you both and for her."

Remus got up and started pacing the office shaking his head. He'll admit that he never once thought that having children was a reality to him and when Tonks got pregnant, he had gotten scared. But then he began to love watching his wife's body change as she grew their baby. And when she was born and he got to hold her he felt a love like he had never felt before.

"Remus...Tonks." Kingsley sighed. "There has already been one attempt on her life. If your mother hasn't been as strong as she was, your daughter would already be dead."

Tonks jumped as the sound of glass breaking echoed in the office. She looked around to see Remus standing in front of a hole he just made in the glass. "Sweetheart."

Remus closed his eyes tightly and murmured a spell that has the window fixing itself back up again. "When do you need an answer?"

"Tomorrow at the latest. If you don't find me by four pm I'll assume that you have decided not to go ahead with this plan, but let me stress again that there is nothing else I can do to save her."

--

There is nothing else I can do to save her. There is nothing else I can do to save her. The words kept floating around in her head. No one should ever have to try and save an infant from someone trying to kill them.

Tonks was devastated. She curled up beside her husband on the bed in their room, their beautiful baby girl sleeping in her bassinet beside them both.

"What are you thinking, Dora?" Remus asked as he placed a gentle kiss on the back of her neck.

"I'm thinking tha...that that baby is my little girl and I love her. But I also know that we can't be selfish." Tears were streaming down her face as she tried to put her feelings into words. "We want her here with us but it's not safe."

"It's not about us," Remus agreed quietly. "It's sacrificing our feelings so that she can live. That's the most important thing right, love? That our baby lives?"

Tonks nodded her head. "Yeah...she has to live."

Before the words were out she began sobbing, her quiet tears turning into body shaking ones. She turned in Remus' arms and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

Voldemort was just killed a month ago. Everyone just assumed that meant happily ever after for a while. Not for Remus and Tonks. Almost as soon as it was over they found out about Andromeda being attacked as she was trying to protect Hope. She had come out a little hurt but she had managed to make sure no one touched her granddaughter.

Since then they have had the feeling of being watched. Late one night someone had been slamming their body against the door of their house trying to get in. Trying to kill their daughter.

Kingsley told them that Hope had a prophecy. He wouldn't tell them what it said but it was extremely important and she had a huge purpose in her life. But it was a purpose that wouldn't happen if she was murdered. He had a logical solution just not a simple one.

Hope would live with a stand in parent. Someone who could raise her to what she is meant to be. While under this person's care she would be safe and protected from harm because she would be just another child. She wouldn't be Hope Lupin anymore. And she would be alive, hidden under a false identity but alive. This also meant that they would have to lose every memory about their baby girl. Anyone who had interacted with her or knew about her would have her completely wiped from their minds.

They wouldn't remember their daughter almost being killed. They wouldn't remember the crushing feeling that his them as they handed their infant over to Kingsley, making Tonks fall to the ground in despair as she told her daughter goodbye.

They would never see her lose her first tooth. Not know when she began to crawl or walk. Never hear her first word or celebrate Christmas or her birthday with her. She would just be gone from them.

To everyone it was like she was just never born.

--

June 2, 2014

Tonks gasped awake and sat up in bed, trying to draw more air into her lungs. She felt her husband's hand against her back and she used his touch to ground her back to reality.

"Another dream?" He asked her quietly when her breathing evened out.

She nodded. "The baby again." She had been having dreams of a baby, a baby with Remus' eyes but her heart-shaped face. A baby that obviously didn't exist, yet felt so familiar to her.

Remus sat up and pulled her body flush against his. "I'm sorry, Dora."

"About what?"

"That I could never give you a child. I know you had wanted one."

Tonks shifted in the bed so she could see his face. "I'm not upset that we didn't have children, Remus. I wanted this life. I've never felt like I was missing something because we didn't have them. There is just something about this one particular baby. I don't understand it myself, but it's always the same baby. It looks like us."

"But maybe that's how you're processing your want for a child. You're putting features that we have and combining them to create this child. It's not unheard of."

Tonks laid back on the bed. "It just doesn't feel like that, Remus. She's so familiar to me. She feels like she is mine."

Remus didn't answer her. There really wasn't anything to say. They didn't have a baby.

"What time do you work today?"

"I have to be there at 8."

Remus glanced at the clock to see it was a little past 7. "I'm going to make some breakfast. Go shower, clear your mind some, and come eat with me."

Tonks nodded in agreement. "Okay."

"I love you, Dora."

"I love you too."

Remus watched as she got up and headed towards the bathroom. He didn't know how to help her.

Tonks leaned her head against the wall of the shower as the hot water streamed over her. Trying to talk with Remus about these dreams since she began to have them almost a year ago had always been difficult. He had always told her that it was her subconscious telling her she needed a baby. He just wouldn't listen to her. She let out a small sob as the dream came back to her.

-A baby was crying. She couldn't see the baby from where she was sitting but she could hear it. A shadowy person walked away from her and she realized that person has the baby. Her baby. She was on her feet chasing the shadow but it kept disappearing then appearing further away from her. The baby still cried.

Suddenly she could see the baby. She was holding the baby. No cries came from it now as it laid peacefully in her arms. The baby's head was covered in a dark blue mess of hair and it's eyes...there was no doubt in her mind the baby had Remus' eyes. They were the exact same shade of blue, almost green that his were. As she smiled down at the baby it disappeared again.

She was on her knees in a circular room that was filled with doors everywhere and the baby was crying again but the cry was different. This was one of those cries that sounded hurt, sounded like it was in pain. She couldn't find it. She couldn't find her baby then she heard the heartbreaking shrill of her own scream as she realized her baby was gone. -

Tonks took a few deep breaths to stop the tears before they came. It was just a dream. She didn't know why it felt real, but it was just a dream. They didn't have a child and she really was happy with her life. At one point in her life she had wanted kids but when she met Remus and fell in love with him that dream changed. Being with him made her so happy and she never felt like she missed out on being a mother.

She quickly finished her shower and got dressed for work. As she walked out of the room she didn't hesitate as she went straight to Remus and wrapped her arms around him. Remus kissed the top of her head and returned the hug.

"Are you okay?" He asked after a couple of minutes when she hadn't released him yet.

She nodded against his chest but didn't say any words and kept holding him. Finally after several minutes of silence she pulled slightly back from him so she could see his face. She cupped his cheek and ran her thumb over his lips, which he in turn kissed.

"I love you."

"I love you too, my sweet Dora."

Her face broke into a hug grin and she started to bounce on her toes. "So, what did you make me for breakfast?"

Remus let out a loud laugh at her antics. "Strawberry pancakes with bacon."

"My favorite! I should just marry you already." She joked.

"Finally decide I was too good of a catch to let me get away?"

"Nah," she said with a head shake and smile. "I've known that since I met you."