Despite it being the middle of the night, the Auror department was more crowded than he expected. Harry spotted a few of the American Aurors, who never seemed to give any of them the time of day. He could see Dean and Padma with Proudfoot, wearing their robes, listening to whatever he was explaining. He didn't see Ron, Seamus or Savage and wondered if the trainees were actually helping with whatever had happened or if those two had just happened to be here. Why hadn't he been contacted, if the other trainees were?

As far as Harry understood it, there were few Aurors overnight unless something big happened- and then it was always a call for the entire department. The crowded department made Harry feel uneasy.

"Harry! Have you heard from Tonks?" Roofie asked, pulling him over to a desk. There was a map of London spread out, an 'x' drawn in a few spots. Dawlish was staring down at it, as if expecting it to do something.

"No, I- they're not back?"

"No, and we've sent Aurors to the area they were in." Dawlish said, looking up at Harry. "Bellatrix found Larry and tortured him. He says he didn't say anything, but somehow she knew to come back to London. She was spotted by a Hit Wizard, they lost track of her. We don't know where she's gone for sure, but we do know that someone found MacIver's flat. Ransacked the place. He's missing, and now we can't find Tonks or Neville. They should have been back over half an hour ago, or at least checked in. I would be very surprised if this wasn't all related."

Harry's heart plummeted. He tried to think back, tried to remember anything in the vision that could help them find a location. It wasn't as easy as Arthur or Sirius, he had been able to tell both had been at the Ministry. This had just been a dark alleyway. How would he explain it to them, anyway?

For a brief moment, he wondered of Tristan would help Bellatrix if they met. Surely not, Tristan was an Auror even if he was a complete asshole to Tonks, Harry figured.

"Dawlish, there was an explosion in Diagon Alley. No one can Apparate in, our Aurors will keep trying to go through the Leaky Cauldron." Williamson said, rushing over, a memo clutched in his hand. "Something has prevented the entrance from opening. They've been trying for half an hour to break the anti-Apparition wards that went up, but no luck."

"Okay, Roofie, join Williamson. Both of you go. We need as many wands there as possible. Take Proudfoot and his trainees, send for Savage and his. Get everyone there."

"What if it's a distraction?" Roofie asked, looking anxious. "To lead us away from Tonks and Neville?"

"We still need to respond, Roofie." Dawlish said. "It's our best lead."

"Anyone who lives there will be panicking anyways, we need to go where we're needed." Williamson said.

Dawlish nodded. "We'll find her, Roofie, now go. That's your assignment."

Roofie looked like he wanted to argue, but Williamson grabbed his arm and they left. Most of the remaining Aurors cleared out at Williamson's command.

"What can I do?" Harry asked.

"Come with me." Dawlish said. "Matthews, Richardson, you'll watch the department." He called to two of the remaining American Aurors. Harry followed Dawlish's fast pace out of the department. They weren't leaving the Ministry, Harry realised after a moment. They entered a slightly smaller department, Magical Law Enforcement Patrol, where a stout witch with tight copper coloured curls was sitting at a desk. She wore light grey robes, a badge pinned to the front that said Head Officer. She looked surprisingly young, Harry would have guessed she was no older than Tonks.

"Head Auror Dawlish! What brings you here?" She asked, looking up from the parchment spread in front of her. She glanced at Harry and her eyes widened slightly, but she returned her gaze to Dawlish quickly. "I thought you'd have gone where the action is-"

"Penny, we need some of yours." Dawlish said. "We have two missing Aurors and a missing trainee."

"We only had eight watching the department tonight, they've already responded to the Diagon Alley explosion." Penny said. "Robards said to send everyone I had, all wands on deck."

"Is Robards still in the Ministry? Do you know?"

"I don't, he sent the directive through a memo."

"We need a few addresses checked on, can we send yours there instead? I've sent all of my Aurors to Diagon."

Penny nodded. "I can call in more of my department." She said. "Do you need any escorts done?"

Dawlish checked his watch. "Only for two, the third has to wait a couple more hours." Dawlish said, grabbing a quill and parchment. "These are the addresses, you'll be looking for Andromeda Tonks and Augusta Longbottom. I'll handle the other one."

"Where are they being escorted?"

"My department."

Penny nodded again, writing out two different memos. They vanished in a puff of smoke. "Have they sent Hit Wizards?" Penny asked.

"That would be Robards' call." Dawlish said. "We don't know why Diagon Alley sealed itself after the explosion, there's been attacks there before and it's never happened."

"I meant for your missing." Penny said. "If you need more wands, get them involved too. I can send out a call for some."

Dawlish nodded after a moment. "Let's do that, get them out around London, looking for any signs. Specifically, Unforgivables."

"There was a report of an Imperius Curse being used near Bolton Road, did you get that report?" Penny said. "We sent out two wands, but whoever had done it was long gone by the time we got there."

"One of my missing Aurors lives near there." Dawlish said. "We sent someone out to his flat a few hours ago."

There was another puff of smoke and a memo fluttered onto the desk. Another puff of smoke, and a memo appeared in front of Dawlish. Penny picked it up, and her face fell. "Oh, they got into Diagon Alley." Penny said. "They're reporting two fatalities, Dawlish. One is yours."

Harry felt the floor sway beneath his feet.

"Shit." Dawlish said, reading his own. "Change the escorts to St Mungo's, not here. Harry, you go and wait for Andromeda and Augusta. I'll get Remus as soon as I can."

"Does it say who it was? Who died?" Harry asked, but Dawlish shook his head.

Harry's feet could have been made of lead, they felt too heavy to move. He didn't want to. He'd get to St Mungo's, he'd find out the visions were true, and then what? People acted weird around him after Arthur's attack but this wasn't just an attack. Tonks had died, and he had seen it coming.

How could he face Remus, especially knowing he saw visions of his demise too? What would happen to Teddy when that happened?

Harry wasn't sure how he made it to St Mungo's. It had been as if moving through a fog when he finally did leave the Ministry. When Andromeda and Augusta arrived, Harry couldn't talk to them. He heard the two women talking quietly, trying to figure out what was going on. He heard Andromeda say she left Teddy with Roofie's Mum.

Harry's throat was tight and dry, the nausea he felt earlier returning.

He sat, his head in his hands as he stared at the floor, and waited. Just like with Arthur, all they could do was wait.

He only knew the sun had risen when Remus arrived. Remus asked what had happened, obviously annoyed that no one could answer him. Harry felt Remus' intense gaze. Harry didn't speak, he didn't know what to say.

Remus paced.

Harry was having trouble breathing. Even if it had ended in Arthur's favour, and he had been found in time, this was different. There had been no figure of Death back then, telling him these people would die. Arthur had been found in time.

He thought of Sirius' words, when he had sought out his godfather's comfort.

"You're blaming yourself for something you only witnessed."

He couldn't help it. The guilt was clawing at his insides. Maybe there had been something he missed. Maybe he could have figured out a date or a location, anything that he could have used to warn Tonks. He didn't care if the figure who called herself Death had said it was inevitable. There had to be a way to prevent it. He could have done more.

Harry wondered why they were left to wait in the General Admissions area. Aurors were always taken to the fourth floor. If Tonks or Neville were brought in, that's where they'd be.

Unless, Harry realised, they weren't going to be taken to the fourth floor at all. Maybe they were just waiting to be told Tonks or Neville, or both, were in the morgue instead. There had been two dead, Penny had said so.

Remus continued to pace.

Andromeda tried to urge him to sit and rest. He ignored her.

Roofie arrived and sat with Andromeda. He had no information for them, but his shift had ended and Dawlish had told him he wasn't needed anymore. Harry wondered if that was a good sign. Surely, Dawlish wouldn't send Aurors away if the crisis was still occurring.

He never set foot in Diagon Alley, Roofie explained, he hadn't seen anything. Augusta insisted Tonks and Neville could handle themselves, but Andromeda looked defeated, as if she was expecting to hear the words Harry was certain they'd hear.

Dawlish arrived, but did not stop to talk to any of them before disappearing with a couple of Healers.

Remus kept pacing. Harry kept staring at the floor and listening to the quiet, even footsteps.

Remus finally stopped when Dawlish reappeared. Harry's heart began to race, waiting for the words he was certain were coming. The dread was already filling him, he was already planning it- if she died, he couldn't face Remus. He'd move out. He'd go anywhere else where the guilt wouldn't be staring at him day after day. He'd try to remember the future dreams more clearly, hoping to prevent at least one of them. Maybe he could convince Remus to stay away from any fire, maybe he could convince Colin not to go outside after dark and Fred... Fred had joked about not going swimming, but maybe...

Andromeda, Augusta and Roofie were already on their feet. Harry felt too uneasy to stand. It felt like something was tightening around his chest, making it difficult to breathe.

"Neville and Tonks will be alright." Dawlish said. "The Healers need a little more time before they allow visitors."

"What happened?" Remus asked. The tightness released Harry's lungs and he could breathe again.

Dawlish looked at the report he was holding. "I was able to get Neville's statement. I'm still waiting to speak to Tonks." He said. "I think, considering everything, that the two of them should tell you what they want you to know."

"Penny said there were two deaths, who was it?" Harry asked.

Dawlish looked up from the report. "Lestrange and Auror MacIver."

With the memo crumpled in her pocket, they turned down the small alley between the two vacant shops. Tristan knew she would have to respond to a Ministry memo. She could lose her job if she didn't, if it turned out to actually be job related. She just hoped it wasn't something stupid.

The alley was empty, though, except for Tristan. "I thought this was an emergency. What do you want?"

"Your forgiveness."

"This shit again? Tristan-" She started, but then she stumbled a step back when he turned around. He was clearly Imperiused.

"I am sorry." He said, and there was a split second where she believed he was being genuine, but before she could say anything else or tell Neville to Disapparate, there was an explosion.

When she regained her senses, she could hear Neville screaming. Rolling over, she tried to find her wand, but couldn't see much in the still settling dust. It appeared that the entire side of one of the abandoned storefronts had exploded, littering the alley with debris. Her hand closed around something warm and wet- and then she realised it was Tristan's arm. A surprised cry escaped her as she realised it was only his arm.

She heard Bellatrix's shrill cackle amid Neville's screaming, and pushed herself to her feet. She turned towards the sound. She grabbed a loose brick, the time it would take to find her wand could be time Neville didn't have. She didn't know how long she had been down for, so she did not know how long Neville's torture had been. Her head was pounding and an ache was spreading through her ribs and stomach. Her hip hurt, a sharp jolt shooting through her leg with every step. She ignored it all.

Tonks brought the brick down on Bellatrix's head, knocking the woman away from Neville. He was pale and trembling, a thin stream of blood trickling from a busted lip.

She hadn't hit Bellatrix hard enough, she regained her footing too quickly, spinning on Tonks. A spell threw her back. She hit the ground, the air knocked from her lungs, and Bellatrix was looming over her a second later. Tonks realised Bellatrix was pointing her own wand at her, the one she had lost at the battle.

"I am getting very tired of you escaping me." Bellatrix whispered as Tonks tried to regain her breath. If she had been in pain before, it was nothing compared to now. Bellatrix pulled something silver from her robes. "The Aurors can't get to us, why don't we have some fun, niece?"

Bellatrix brought the knife down, a burning sensation tearing through her as the knife tore through the flesh. Blood filled her mouth as she tried to take a proper breath, following by the sensation of choking. She coughed against the blood, splattering Bellatrix's face as the woman laughed, wrenching the knife free after the second strike caught her in the shoulder.

"She's covered in blood." Harry's words echoed in her mind.

God, this was it. She would die at the hands of Bellatrix.

The visions were true.

She was struggling to breathe against the blood.

"What if I take Bellatrix out first?"

Her hand managed to find another rock, and she swung, just as Bellatrix raised the knife again. It wasn't hard enough to do much, but Bellatrix lost her grip on the knife. Unfortunately, she had kept her grip on her wand in the other hand, and raised it as Tonks shoved her off, pulling herself back and away from Bellatrix.

"Oh! The little bitch has some fight left, does she? Crucio!" The pain tore through her, her own screams echoing around her. It only lasted a second, but she was left panting and unable to breathe, blood still dripping from her mouth. Her breaths were rattly, her attempts to breathe around the blood making her hyperventilate. It was all she could hear- her desperate wheezing as she tried to pull any amount of oxygen in.

If she passed out, it was over.

Bellatrix stood above her, blood dripping from the side of her face. Tonks knew what was coming when Bellatrix raised her wand again.

Time seemed to slow.

Tonks realised how tired she was.

Black dots were starting to dance at the edges of her vision.

She was sorry for Teddy, and for Remus.

But she had fought as long as she could.

The green flashed.

It was Bellatrix who dropped.

And Neville, standing on shaky legs, was the one with his wand raised.