DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter the fabulous Joanne Rowling does.

The Order of the Phoenix was gathered at Number 12, Grimmauld Place to await a report from Severus Snape, and Professor McGonagall about the upheaval Umbridge was causing at Hogwarts; the atmosphere was relaxed despite the apprehension about the impending confrontation with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. At the head of the table in The Black Family home's kitchen, was the Black heir himself, Sirius Black, sitting alongside his best friend, Remus Lupin.

Both men were the epitome of calm and collected – however, on the inside, they were on tender hooks.

Speaking aside so no-one else could hear, Remus whispered, "Stop worrying so much, Padfoot; Harry is a bright boy, he'll give that woman hell if he has to. He's not alone either. He has Neville, Ginny, Ron and Hermione beside him as well as countless others. Have faith."

Hearing these words of comfort did little to relax the tension in Sirius' gut. "Moony, you know as well as I do words aren't going to help me relax. You know I need to see him, just as I know you need to see her."

At Sirius' words, Remus grew hot under the collar and tried to immerse himself in listening to Tonks and Kingsleys' conversation on current happenings in the Auror Department of the Ministry.

"Not so conciliatory now are we, Moony?" Sirius smirked.

Remus instantly thought back to the time he confessed to Sirius in a moment of drunken weakness...

It was the day after Remus had transformed in front of Harry, Ron and Hermione, and the day he had left Hogwarts to ease his guilt. Or so that was what he had told himself. Upon arriving at Grimmauld Place, Remus dragged himself to the kitchen, barely able to stay upright due to his exhaustion. Collapsing onto the wooden bench on one side of the table, his werewolf senses alerted him to the scent of blood and firewhiskey not a foot from him.

Picking his head up, Remus started to babble, "I am so sorry, Sirius. If I had only taken my wolfsbane instead of being solely focused on finding Peter, it wouldn't have happened. I didn't hurt Ron or Hermione did I? Oh Merlin, I've hurt you. Sirius, please forgive me..."

The animagus let Remus ramble on before nudging the bottle of firewhiskey in the werewolf's direction. "There is nothing to forgive, mate. Just get that down and stop whining for Godric's sake."

Without hesitation, Remus proceeded to down the whole bottle in one go. "Be thankful it takes a lot for me to get drunk." Remus laughed lowering his head into his arms as Sirius clapped him on the shoulder.

After what seemed like an eternity, Sirius heard Remus whisper, "She called to me. She called to the wolf. I could have stayed teaching DADA, but the wolf would not settle knowing she was so close, and he couldn't have her." Remus slowly raised his eyes to see Sirius staring at him with a shocked expression upon his face. With eyes flecked with amber, he continued in a low growl, "The wolf wants Hermione."

Growling at Sirius, Remus' eyes flashed. "You know I respect the witch. She kept my secret for months, even from her own friends; that is not something I take lightly."

With a hearty chuckle, Sirius replied, "But even you have to admit she is turning into one fiery little witch."

Before Remus could rebuke his friend, the fireplace at the opposite end of the room burst alive with green flames before spewing out a frantic looking Snape. "Is Black here?"

At this, Sirius practically flew at Snape, who went grey at seeing him. "Potter and his bloody heroic friends think you're at the prophecy room in the Ministry. If he hadn't been so obnoxious during his Occlumency lessons, this wouldn't have happened."

Silence enveloped the room. All at once, every member of the Order present besides Snape – who remained behind both to protect his cover, and find a way to inform Dumbledore – apparated to the Ministry of Magic.

As soon as their feet hit the Atrium, Sirius and Remus sprinted off to The Department of Mysteries, the rest of their comrades close behind them. They knew their way from so many months guarding the door to it, so it took them a short time to enter the circular entrance room, and find where the children were.

Upon opening the door to the Death Chamber, Sirius' vision turned red at seeing Lucius Malfoy towering over a scared looking Harry as the boy was reaching out to hand over the prophecy on which his lifehad been mapped out. Without thinking, Sirius stormed over and punched Lucius square in the face, and a few seconds later heard the satisfying smash of the prophecy as it slipped from the blond's hand and crashed on the floor.

Searching for Remus with his eyes, Sirius found him battling a masked Death Eater, his attention diverted between his own duel and across the room from him, where Hermione was fighting against Antonin Dolohov.

Remus' eyes widened in alarm when he saw Hermione being struck by a curse from Dolohov, a shocked expression on her face as she collapsed, and the force of his anger turned his eyes amber. In a flash, he disposed his own opponent – Sirius heard bones crunching as the Death Eater was thrown against a wall with the force of a wrecking ball, – and engaged Antonin, who appeared surprised at the ferocity of Remus' duelling.

Within seconds, the werewolf had his Dolohov on his knees, silver ropes magically wrapped around him, rendering him useless.

Amidst the chaos of the battle, Moody shouted, "LUPIN! GET THE KIDS OUT OF HERE!"

Resisting the urge to go to Hermione – her close proximity was driving his inner wolf crazy. She's finally here! The beast whispered gleefully inside his head, distracting him and earning him a singed arm from one of Malfoy's curses, – Remus rounded up Neville, Luna, Ron and Ginny, dodging and deflecting curses from the remaining Death Eaters. The children obediently followed him, half dragging a giggling, delirious Ron with them.

With them safely tucked beside the door, Kingsley and Moody taking up guard posts in from of them, Remus turned around to go to Hermione, and froze on his steps at the scene before him; Sirius and Harry were duelling Malfoy, Tonks was busy levitating an unconscious Crabbe to the rest of the restrained Death Eaters, and Bellatrix Lestrange, cackling madly, was on her knees, crawling over the unconscious body of Hermione, a silver knife in her hand.

Everything happened at once; Harry finally managed to disarm Lucius, Bellatrix – hearing Malfoy's scream of impotent rage as Sirius magically bound him, – looked up, and without batting an eyelash, she raised her wand and cast an Avada Kedavra at Sirius. Without his permission, a desperate scream was torn from Remus' throat as he watched the jet of green light heading toward his best friend – his last remaining friend.

Before anyone could comprehend what was happening, Tonks threw herself to her cousin, tackling him to the ground and taking the curse that was meant for Sirius. In a daze of rage and grief, Sirius sat up, cradling Tonks' body in his arms. Both he and Bellatrix threw an Avada at each other.

At that exact moment, the entrance doors literally blew open, and Albus Dumbledore, wand extended and a terrifying expression on his face, stood there.

Bellatrix reflexively turned to the doors; Sirius's curse hit her square on her chest.

Sirius on the other hand acted on instinct; throwing himself to the side, Tonks's body still held in his arms, he avoided the green jet of light by a hair's breadth. Lucius was not so lucky; grey eyes wide as Dumbledore descented the stairs, he didn't notice Bellatrix's curse heading at him, until it hit him right between his eyes and by then, it was too late for him.

The large room became swathed in silence.

Dumbledore wasted no time in casting curses and spells at the still standing Death Eaters; outnumbered and outclassed – no one of them was foolish enough to believe he could take out Albus Dumbledore , – they started apparating away. Soon, the only people in the room were the Order members, the children and the incapacitated Death Eaters.

Kingsley, face ashen and eyes shining with unshed tears, walked over to Tonks' body; kneeling down, he reached out hesitantly, as if by keeping from touching her would somehow make her death a lie, a hallucination. Seeing Sirius' red rimmed eyes, a wail of agony escaped his lips, and he pulled the witch from her cousin's arms, and to his. Cradling her to his chest, tears running down his cheeks, he let grief consume him.

Hearing Kingsley mourn for the woman he loved, Remus came to his senses; running over to Hermione, he knelt beside her and touched her throat, only breathing when he felt her pulse. She was still alive, but barely.

Her left arm was bleeding profusely, deep gashes marrying her pale skin, and he could see a dark bruise spreading under her shirt, most probably from Dolohov's curse, whatever it was.

"Come on, Hermione wake up," he murmured, conjuring a bandage around her arm. It'd have to do until he got her to Pomfrey. "Don't leave me, sweetheart, stay alive."

Scooping her up, he joined the other Order members, careful not to jostle her too much. Albus, a solemn expression on his aged face, looked around at the small rescue team and the six teenagers, and realised he needed to act quickly, before Cornelius showed up. The Ministry had been compromised, so they needed to get Harry away immediately.

"The children need medical attention, but I don't trust St Mungo's, not after this. We need to go upstairs and use the fireplaces to floo to Hogwarts; Poppy will take care of them."

Heads bobbing in numb agreement, they followed him as he made his way upstairs, in silence. When they reached the Atrium, Albus led the way to the fireplace closest to them, and Remus heard him ask a sombre Sirius and Harry to stay behind; they'd be flooing to his office, since he needed to speak with Harry and he had the prudency to not demand Sirius go back to Grimmauld Place, but the rest of them would be flooing straight to Madame Pomfrey's office; he had send her a Patronus earlier, so the Matron was already waiting for them.

Kinglsey stayed behind; he wouldn't be joining them. There was nothing Poppy could do for Tonks, and he needed to inform her parents, and deliver her body. Speaking quietly with Albus, the dark skinned wizard nodded, and left first, after allowing Sirius the chance to kiss Tonks' kiss one last time.

On his left, Neville Longbottom was supported by Luna Lovegood, his nose bleeding and turning dark; on his right, Ginny was struggling with her brother, who was acting irrationally. He almost smiled at the young girl's exasperated threats that she'd tell their mother if he didn't behave, but the smile died at his lips when the unconscious witch in his arms groaned quietly, her eyebrows scrunching in pain.

There was no room in his mind for worrying for anyone other than Hermione at the moment.

A huge thank you to my beta waterflower20 who has basically held my hand throughout editing and publishing.

Please rate and review. This is my first fanfic and it would be much appreciated.