~ 8 ~

Unintended Consequences

"And now we'll add the final Protego," called Tonks, who was mission lead this time. "Ready—and—go!"

Bright blue sparks shot from four wands, in the four cardinal directions. They spread and grew into nets of light, and when the four nets were linked, a dome of blue stood high above her parents' house, surrounding the pond and the old willow and everything for a hundred yards all around. The sparks hung in the air for only a moment before fading from sight, but the security spell itself, along with four others that had already been woven into the dome, would last for at least three days. Certainly long enough for Hagrid and Harry to arrive safely tonight.

Tonks turned back toward the others, breathing hard from the exertion, and caught Remus's eye. His face was rather stiff, but it softened when he smiled at her.

Mum and Dad had watched the whole thing from the front steps. Tonks was glad—Remus's intense focus and precise but powerful spellwork was something to see.

"We made a good job of that," said Bill, rolling his shoulders.

"We 'ave 'ad lots of practice today!" Fleur laughed.

"It's getting late," said Remus, quietly. "We should set off for Little Whinging soon."

"Have something to eat before you all go," said Mum. "We've made some sandwiches, and there's cold butterbeer."

"Ta!" said Tonks, who was feeling rather hungry after a long day of flying and spellcasting—they had done Mad-Eye's house first (under his very watchful eye), and then Muriel Prewett's, where Tonks would be heading tonight, before flying out to Mum and Dad's. "Any prawn salad?"

"Of course," Dad laughed. "We knew you would be here!" He held out a platter heaped with sandwiches.

Tonks steadied the platter with one hand as she helped herself with the other. The last thing she wanted was to send all that lovely food crashing to the ground.

Her ring caught the late-afternoon sunlight, sparkling merrily.

"Oooh!" Fleur's eyes widened. "You are married now?" She looked from Tonks to Remus and back again, beaming. "But that is wonderful! Congratulations!" She turned to Mum and Dad. "It is good that Remus finally stopped being so stubborn, no?"

Tonks winced. At least Remus looked more resigned than humiliated at Fleur's blunt assessment.

"Thank you, Miss Delacour," said Mum, a master—as always—at remaining elegant and polite while actually being completely noncommittal. But Tonks thought she looked a touch thoughtful.

That was something, at any rate.

~o~

"On the count of three," Mad-Eye shouted into the summer evening outside the eerily tidy home of Harry's Muggle relatives. "One...two..."

"Here goes," Tonks called over her shoulder to Ron, who was clutching her awkwardly around the waist—he was probably still getting used to his arms being shorter, now that he was Polyjuiced to look like Harry.

"...THREE."

She kicked off hard and felt her broom rise, a little more slowly than usual with double the weight, but steady and smooth. To their left and to their right were other pairs of Order members and Harry look-alikes. The flying motorbike roared. She waved at Remus, who returned a swift, worried smile, before turning her attention to the sky around them. There might be a Death Eater or two circling the neighbourhood, so she had her wand out and in her hand just in case—

She swallowed a shriek.

Ron yelled in shock.

Make that thirty Death Eaters, forming a huge circle in the sky, completely surrounding all fourteen of them as they rose into the air.

Tonks felt Ron let go of her with his right hand. "Hold on!" she shouted, hoping he was going for his wand. Jets of light—many of them the shocking green of the Killing Curse—began to fill the air, and shouts and screams echoed all around. Under the cover of a Shield Charm, she banked and swerved and headed right for the circle of attackers. At the last minute, she dropped her broom ten feet straight down. Ron gave a strangled cry, but it worked—they slipped under the ring of Death Eaters and broke through.

Tonks was just turning back, intending to provide more cover for Hagrid and the actual Harry, when three Death Eaters broke away from the circle and hurtled toward them. One of them screamed in rage, a harsh earsplitting shriek that Tonks knew only too well.

Bellatrix.

Tonks wheeled around again and took off in the direction of Ron's Aunt Muriel's, their assigned safe house. She would do the Order (and Remus) no good at all if Bellatrix killed her—and Ron—right over these manicured Muggle lawns. And if she could distract three of the Death Eaters, at least that was three fewer for everyone else to have to worry about.

She threw a glance over her shoulder and urged her broom forward, but it was already flying as fast as it could go. Even if Ron-as-Harry was somewhat slight for his age, he was still nearly a grown man, and none of their pursuers were two to a broom.

"Filth!" Bellatrix howled, closing the gap and coming up on their left so that Tonks had to twist sideways to get a clear shot with her wand. "Child of filth—married to filth!"

Tonks fired Stunners and blocked Bella's vicious curses, all the while trying to keep an eye on the other two Death Eaters. One of them shot past on their right and turned back to face them; Tonks couldn't possibly fight him and block Bellatrix's ferocious attack at the same time. She pulled up, trying to fly above him. All at once, a jet of red light flew past Tonks's right ear and hit the Death Eater squarely in the head. He slumped, slid off his broom, and plummeted.

"Way to go—er, Harry!" Tonks shouted.

The third Death Eater roared in anger. "Rodolphus!" He sent his broom diving after his falling comrade, giving up the chase.

Bellatrix didn't spare her unconscious husband so much as a glance. She had thrown away her mask, and her eyes burned with madness and rage. Tonks flew on, trying to zig-zag and shake her off. But her mother's sister was nothing if not persistent.

"I will put you down!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You and your wolf of a husband! You sully the name of the House of Black!"

Tonks blocked and blocked and blocked, sending back Stunners any chance she could. Ron was frantically casting more Stunners and Shield Charms over her shoulder. But Bellatrix was unstoppable.

"We're almost there," Ron said into her ear. "I can see Auntie Muriel's place! Aim a little to the right."

"Hold on tighter," Tonks warned him. "I'm going to roll!" She waited until she felt Ron wrap both arms around her waist, and then she dropped straight down, rolled twice, shot up above where they'd been, rolled again, and dived straight for the lighted window of a little country cottage.

Bellatrix shrieked again, and tried to follow, firing off hexes left and right. But just as she was getting a little too close for comfort, she vanished.

They were inside the protective charms.

Tonks banked the broom twice to lose speed, and landed right in front of the cottage door. The two of them tumbled off the broom and sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath.

Safe. They were safe.

Were the others?

When she closed her eyes, Tonks could still see the terrifying circle of black robes and white masks, the flicker of dozens of curses slashing through the darkening sky. The Order had been badly outnumbered—their attackers had all been lighter and faster on their brooms—

Remus—

She climbed to her feet, rubbing at her wand arm where it had begun to cramp. Before she could give Ron a hand up, he stood up on his own.

His face—or, rather, Harry's face, still—was white. "D'you think everyone else is all right?"

She pushed her fingers through her hair, tugging at the spikes. Please be all right. "We'll find out when we get to the Burrow, I reckon." Please.

The cottage door opened a crack. Warm light spilled out. "Ronald? Is that you?" Muriel squinted into the darkness. "What kept you? Your Portkey's already gone."

"Oh, bloody hell—!" Tonks bit back a string of even more colourful language that Ron's elderly aunt would surely not have appreciated. They were stuck here, now. They couldn't just fly on to the Burrow, not with Bellatrix likely still circling overhead.

"May we come inside, Miss Prewett?" she asked, instead. "I'm afraid we'll need to wait a few minutes and be certain it's safe before we fly on."

Muriel buzzed around them, scolding one moment and offering tea the next.

Tonks didn't hear a word she said.

~o~

Finally, the skies overhead were clear. Finally, Tonks and Ron (who looked like himself now) could kick off into the night again, Disillusioned just in case.

And there, finally, finally, was the Burrow.

Tonks could see several people standing outside, looking up at the sky. One was clearly Hagrid, but it was too dark to make out who the others were.

She broke the Disillusionment Charm. Excited cries spiralled up from the watching figures.

She still couldn't see who was there.

She dived and then levelled out, just above the ground, coming in as fast as she dared.

There. There he was. Pale as death, but standing.

Alive.

She hit the ground still moving fast, and her boots scuffed through the soft soil of the field, throwing up clumps of earth and stones. She dropped the broom and ran, stumbling, straight to him.

"Remus!"

He caught her up and pulled her close. He didn't say a word, but she could feel him shaking. And never had he clung to her so tightly before.

She held on to him, and breathed him in, and the world put itself to rights again.

~o~

Harry was safe, too, she found. George had been hurt, but he would live, and Arthur and Fred were all right. And Kingsley, and Hermione. Tonks listened to their stories, and told them all how bloody brilliant Ron had been, and marvelled at the fact that things had gone as well as they had done.

Until Bill and Fleur finally arrived, disheveled and horribly shaken. Fleur had clearly been crying. Bill looked at Arthur, and he said, "Mad-Eye's dead."

Tonks could only stare.

How could Mad-Eye be dead? He had made it through the first war, survived being locked in his own magical trunk for a year—he was as tough as they come.

She began to shake.

"Pull yourself together, lass," he would have said. "Don't get distracted! The Death Eaters are still out there. Keep your mind on what matters."

And, of course—"Constant vigilance!"

But he was dead.

She would never hear that gravelly voice again, never feel his heavy hand on her shoulder, never see the rare and highly prized glint of approval in his eye.

"Here you are, poor dear." Molly pressed a handkerchief into her hand. "I'm so sorry."

Tonks realised, dazedly, that her cheeks were wet. She held the handkerchief to her face and tried to stop the tears.

Everyone was going inside. She followed, mechanically. People spoke. She discovered a glass of firewhisky in her hand, and Bill led them all in a toast.

"To Mad-Eye," Tonks whispered.

~o~

There were no Death Eaters in Little Whinging now, only scorch marks in the earth and broken branches everywhere. All the neat-freak suburbanites were going to have kittens in the morning when they saw the state their gardens were in. And that thought made Tonks laugh, just a little, even though the laughter hurt something that was knotted up tightly, deep inside her chest.

She had stopped being numb. Now, she was angry.

Furious.

Why the hell did Remus think he had the right to go off and do this without her? She was a bloody Auror. This was exactly the kind of thing she was trained for.

Especially since it was for Mad-Eye.

She had loved that gruff old nutcase.

And that was yet another reason why she would not sit there at the Burrow and wait for her husband to come back, when she could be out here doing something. The Order needed her help. Even if Remus didn't think he did.

She scowled at his silhouette as it circled overhead.

Remus and Bill were flying above the neighbourhood in what looked a lot like a standard Auror criss-cross search pattern. Mad-Eye probably taught it to them, she realised, and tears stung her eyes again.

She launched her broom into the air and joined the flight pattern. Bill gave her a small, tired smile when their paths crossed. Remus, on the other hand, looked away, and she could see a muscle in his jaw start twitching.

She forced herself to stop grinding her teeth and turned her attention back to the search.

~o~

Two hours later, they landed in a small play park and conceded defeat. They had been over the entire neighbourhood five times, and there was simply no sign of Mad-Eye's body at all. Tonks was trying not to think about what that might mean. She suspected the other two were doing the same.

Bill's scarred face was grim as he clapped Remus on the shoulder, gave Tonks a wordless hug, and Disapparated.

Tonks drew a deep breath and turned to Remus.

He still wouldn't look at her.

She turned away, spinning on her heel, and Apparated back to her flat—their flat, now, of course. She realised she was grinding her teeth again.

But it was her heart that hurt.

~o~

Tonks opened the foyer door with a little too much force, but she had to admit she was relieved to hear a small pop of Apparition in the courtyard behind her. She glanced over her shoulder once, to make sure it wasn't a Death Eater tailing her.

It wasn't.

Quiet footsteps followed as she clomped up the stairs to the third floor. She held open the door to the flat without turning around. The footsteps hesitated, briefly, and then Remus slipped past her, through the sitting room and on into the tiny kitchen.

Carefully, methodically, Tonks closed and locked the door. Then she wheeled round and stomped after him.

Remus was staring out the kitchen window at the dark and featureless sky as though he were the only person left on earth. The muscle in his jaw was twitching again.

"What the hell were you thinking, going off and leaving me out of the search for Mad-Eye?" Her hands clenched around the handle of her broom, knuckles turning white, but she tried not to shout; it was the middle of the night, after all. "I am an Auror. Remember? I need to be in the fight, not kept out of things. And if anyone had a right to try to bring Mad-Eye home, it was me!"

"I—" He stopped.

She waited.

The tension left his frame. He slumped a little, leaning on his upended broomstick.

"I'm sorry," he said. "You're right."

The knot in her chest started to dissolve. That was something she had needed to hear.

But she wished he would turn away from the window.

Instead, he shook his head, staring out at the night. "Don't you see? Tonight—George was hurt. Any one of the people turning up at the Burrow could've been an impostor. I couldn't leave Molly alone with the children." His voice was growing more and more hoarse. "But your Portkey had come back without you—I didn't know where you were, or if you were even alive—" He ran a shaking hand over his face. "And then you told us all that Bellatrix had been determined to kill you—"

Tonks took a deep breath. She still didn't like it that he'd left her behind, but she understood it a little better now.

"I don't want to lose you either, you prat," she said, softly. "You're not the only one who was worried tonight."

He turned his head. For the first time in hours, he looked at her.

What she saw in his eyes hit her like a punch to the gut.

Terror. Desperation. Loneliness.

Need.

His broom dropped to the floor with a clatter, and hers followed, because he had wrapped her in his arms, burying his face in her soft spiky hair. After the space of a few breaths, he pulled back, just a little, and began to touch her face with trembling fingers, achingly gently, as if memorising every feature.

Then he was kissing her—frantic, pleading kisses—and his hands were everywhere. Pulling her close. Smoothing over her back. Stroking her hair.

Sliding under her jumper.

She gasped, and shuddered. And then her hands and kisses were frantic and desperate, too.

They stumbled together down the hallway to the bedroom. There, in the faint yellow glow from a street light, they proved, over and over, just how much they needed each other.

~o~

Afterward, it was Remus who fell asleep first, with an arm wrapped around Tonks's waist. She ran her fingers through his hair. His lined, weary face softened until he was almost smiling.

They had been married for nearly a week now. But tonight was the very first time Remus had been the one to start things. And never before, not even on their wedding night, had he let it show quite so starkly, in his eyes and on his face, how much she meant to him.

She settled her head on his shoulder, basking in his warmth, his scent. His love.

But then, just as she was drifting off to sleep herself, she was jerked awake by a sudden realisation.

Neither one of them had remembered to cast the Contraception Charm.

Surely, though, just one miss wouldn't matter.

~o~

Author's note: An earlier version of the final four sections was posted at the rt_challenge community on LiveJournal in August 2007, under the title "Need," but the rest of this chapter is entirely new content.