Chapter 4. Here it is in all it's glory. A different perspective. For Tannis, Michaela, and all the other 1,200 times this has been read so far. I didn't plan on posting this until I finished chapter 5, but I couldn't resist. Also I'm never quite sure when I'll get the time to post it at all so I might as well seize the chance. As always, reviews are adored and favoriting and subscribing to alerts are even more loved.

Ciao!

Tonks' breath caught in her throat and for the briefest moment it seemed as if her heart had stopped. The tears had stopped, now replaced by an unblinking stare of horror and surprise. She...died? When? In several years? Months? Weeks? Days? And Remus too, and all the others Teddy had listed. She stared at him, her child. A child she didn't know would ever exist until mere minutes ago. A child she herself would bear in probably less than a year's time. His head was still buried in his lap and thick gasping sobs escaped from the space between his knees. His hair, no longer spiky and blue, hung limp and mousy over his scalp. Tonks doubted he was even aware this had happened; she remembered all too well the past year. Powerful emotions do things to metamorphmagi. Grief, anger, love, hate. With the coming of each new strong emotion people like her and Teddy (her son, her mind auto-corrected) lost control. They couldn't help it. Even as this thought crossed her mind she realized her own hair had dulled to a shade identical to her son's.
Her son. It was obscenely odd to think of this teenage boy closer to her own age than Remus was as her son. Even the thought of having a son at all had barely crossed her mind ever. That wasn't even her goal with Remus, she loved him. That's why she wanted to be with him; not for the kids but for the plain fact of being with. Obviously that had grown into something more, that something was sitting in front of her bawling. It should have been obvious from the moment she'd first laid eyes on him, but maybe she didn't want it to be true. It was too much to comprehend.
Now, as she gazed over her son she saw even more resemblance to both her and Remus. The way he clenched his hands; Remus did that whenever he was stressed. His slightly angular face; Tonks herself had the same facade. Even the mousy shade his hair had assumed bore an uncanny resemblance to that of his fathers. Now that Tonks thought about it there was no doubting the fact he was their son. But that didn't make the fact that he was here or what he claimed any less troublesome.
For a moment Tonks attempted to comprehend dying. Who would do it? Yaxley? Dolhov? Voldemort himself? A fleeting memory crossed her mind of the sadistic sneer of victory Bellatrix Lestrange had shot her during the battle at the department of mysteries last year. They'd dueled and Bellatrix had won, leaving her alive, but Tonks had a feeling that next time she wouldn't be as lucky. Would her own aunt deal the killing blow? Just thinking of her relation to that psychopath brought a bitter taste to Tonks' tongue.
Tonks hoped she would die in battle. That is where she figured it would all end when she first became an auror. A straight shot of Avada Kedavra from some brutal death eater while valiantly defending righteousness. It was the way every auror wanted to go, but for some reason Tonks felt even more so like it was her destiny. Doing all this good for the Order, helping the great Harry Potter along the way; she felt that it would be a bit disappointing if she died from something trivial like tripping over an umbrella stand or down the stairs. Tonks knew herself well enough though to not completely rule out those options.
She knew that everyone died eventually, but now that she knew it was coming so soon it seemed so real. Too real.
Would it all go black as the life left her body? Would it be like going to sleep without waking up? Or would there be another place? Another life. Heaven? Hell? Something completely different?
"When?" Remus asked quietly, cutting off Tonks' thoughts. She then remembered that he was going through the same shock. The same experience. And that Victoire girl, Bill's kid, what was she thinking? Teddy wore his emotions on his sleeve, a trait Tonks knew she was guilty of more often than not, but the pretty blond girl seemed stoic. Worried maybe, or sad. But nothing like the emotional wreck Teddy was. The boy himself had stopped sobbing hysterically but his head was still in his knees and his hands were still clenching like he wanted to squeeze the life out of his palms.
"When?" Remus repeated, this time louder though his voice wavered. "Answer me Ted."
Tonks saw Victoire lean down and whisper into Teddy's ear. He made a gesture that could have been shaking his head or nodding, Tonks was unsure. Then he slowly raised his head. The teen's face was a mess. He more resembled Moaning Myrtle than anything else. His face was tear-streaked and red; his eyes puffy and blinking. It was the face of someone in great despair. If Tonks didn't know any better she would have sworn he'd just witnessed a best friend killed or committed some crime which he didn't mean to do. But no, he hadn't done either of those things. Slowly, like a much older man he raised up an elbow and wiped away the excess tears.
"Not long," he whispered so that Tonks could barely hear him, "I was not even six months old when it happened." His voice faded into silence.
"So a year from now," Remus said thoughtfully, though Tonks could see the fear in his eyes "who? Who...did it." It was starting to sound like an interrogation to Tonks. Like one of those muggle cop programs on that blasted teleseeing device or telesight or whatever it was. Hermione had attempted to explain the concept to her along with several other Order members last Christmas, but the idea still bamboozled Tonks. Moving pictures in a box. With no magic either. Utterly bizarre.
"Don't grill him Remus," she said gently, mentally shaking thoughts of televisions from her mind "don't you see how difficult this is for him." How difficult this is for me, she thought to herself. How could Remus calmly and quietly discuss his demise with the son he never met like it was the weather for the coming afternoon? Didn't anything in that situation sound even the slightest bit off?
"Well he can't just say we die and then pretend like there's no baggage that goes with that," he replied, "if we are to know we might as well know the details."
"Do you want to though?" Victoire addressed them for the first time in some time, "how does the nature of your immanent death appeal to you? Wouldn't you rather face it like any other mortal man or woman?"
"The same reason seers seek the future. The same reason nutcases like Trelawney continue to attempt to make that one prophecy. The prophecy that could change the world. Yes, a bad prophecy, but they still strive for it. They do it to know what's coming. They do it-"
"To find out how to stop it," Teddy cut him off in a soft voice and every head, including Tonks' own turned to stare at him. The boy seemed to have gained some control over himself. He was no longer crying and even as Tonks watched his hair darkened into a deep midnight black and his features seemed to grow sharper and more angular. What was it that he was implying? Could he really believe that was possible?
"Come again?" Tonks said, "you mean..." But she trailed off. She knew what he meant. She knew it very well. It was farfetched, a fantasy almost, but in their current predicament anything was possible. It's not everyday that your sixteen year old son from the future shows up and tells you that you'll be dead within a year. Nor in most worlds would a mistake as simple as dropping a time turner result in such drastic consequences. In a world where time turners can turn back years rather than hours and people like her and Remus can find love and have a son, what is impossible? Surely nothing. It almost felt like fate had sent Teddy and Victoire to them. Fate had given them the chance to change what was to come. Suddenly the idea of changing the future didn't seem so absurd.
"I mean that if you know what's coming. If you have the time to be ready and the foresight to avoid those killing curses then maybe you'll live," Teddy's voice was steady but every couple of words a slight waver crept into it. "Maybe we can change the future." A fire blazed in his deep blue eyes which seemed to darken into a deep shade of navy. Tonks wasn't paying attention though to whether it was just the light or the boy's doing, she was once again in shock. A steady shock that had been building as the realizations and thoughts crossed her mind. With Teddy's statement it seemed to come to a pointed climax and left her just as in awe, if not more than, as when Teddy and Victoire first appeared. Her son was a genius.