A/N: Thank you to DarylDixon'sgirl1984 for beta reading.

The first thing Tonks noticed when she woke was the pounding in her head. It was a familiar side effect of being stunned. She knew it well after training, where they were made to experience the spell in order to prepare them for it in a real battle. For a moment, she thought she was back in training, but a few seconds later, she realized that the cracks underneath her were from sofa cushions. She wasn't in the Ministry infirmary meant just for the Aurors after minor injuries.

She blinked, looking around blearily until she could make out the people gathered around her. Her parents were there as was Kingsley, all of them looking at her with trepidation. Andromeda had tears shining in her eyes.

It took a second longer for Tonks to place the location as her parents' living room, not somewhere she'd expect to end up after a fight.

The fight. She froze as she remembered what she'd been doing before she'd blacked out. At first, it was hard to remember all the details. The first thing she remembered was fighting Bellatrix and being hit. Her mind took her backwards from there as it pieced together the entire sequence of events, her stomach tightening as she processed it all.

"Why am I here?" she asked when no one else spoke.

Her voice was scratchy, and she wondered how long she'd been out. Andromeda leaned over with a glass of water, urging her to drink. Tonks did so without comment, noting the tears shining in her mother's eyes, though none of them broke free.

"What happened to everyone else?" she asked again, sitting up. "Shouldn't we have gone back to Grimmauld Place after the fight?"

Her parents both looked at Kingsley, who sighed and ran a hand over his brow before he answered.

"Grimmauld Place is no longer safe."

Tonks's eyes widened, her mouth falling open. The scratchiness in her throat was long forgotten.

"What are you talking about? There are a million charms on that place, including the Fidelius Charm. There's no way anyone could've gotten in there."

"Nymphadora," Andromeda started, the waver in her voice freezing Tonks's insides as she turned to look at her mother. "Sirius is dead."

The words washed over Tonks without having any real effect. Despite her attempts to mentally prepare for war, Tonks hadn't prepared for that. The people she loved facing difficulty and getting hurt she could accept. But death? Somehow that hadn't felt like a real possibility, especially for Sirius locked away in Grimmauld Place.

"Dead?" she repeated as if someone would refute the word.

"Dead," Andromeda repeated, her voice firmer than before. "Bellatrix hit him with a spell that sent him through some veil that Kingsley says you saw. He's gone. Completely vanished. There's no body to recover."

Tonks, no longer able to support herself, let her head fall to the armrest of the sofa, ignoring the pain as she hit it too hard. Her eyes flickered between the other three, waiting for someone to tell her something that actually made sense.

That veil had been odd, though Tonks hadn't had time to really inspect it. It was only in looking back on the experience that she noted the unease it had created in her that hadn't felt important at the time. She hadn't thought it could be an instrument of death.

She had nothing to say. When none of the others spoke, she let her gaze grow unfocused, her mind somehow blank despite the millions of things she should have been thinking about.

"Grimmauld Place was safe as long as Sirius owned it," Kingsley said, his eyes on the fireplace mantle. "But now there are no living Blacks. Sirius granted Harry the house in his will, but we aren't sure what enchantments were placed on it by past generations. It may not be possible to transfer the house to someone outside the family. In that case, it would go to the oldest of Sirius's closest living relatives: Bellatrix."

"So it isn't safe," Tonks concluded for herself.

She thought of all the moments the Order had shared in Grimmauld Place. They'd gone through so many pains to rid the house of its horrid past that the idea of Bellatrix reinstituting it left her nauseous. Sirius's bedroom flickered through her mind. It had been his one relatively safe space when he'd been stuck in that place, and Bellatrix could destroy it. That angered her far more than the loss of the Order's headquarters.

"Where's Remus?" she asked, sitting up abruptly as if she'd shocked herself.

Possible scenarios about what he could be doing in his grief ran through her mind, each of them darker than the last.

The others shared a look that Tonks didn't find the least bit comforting. It surprised her when her father was the one to speak, using a familiar comforting tone that didn't work for the first time Tonks could remember.

"No one knows," he said, taking her hand in his. "Kingsley said that he left quickly once the fighting was over and asked to be left alone."

Of course he had, Tonks mused.

"Dumbledore might know where he is," Kingsley said, "but he thinks it's best that we respect his wishes."

"Dumbledore," Tonks echoed, her brow furrowing. "Did he show up?"

"Yes," Kingsley said. He hesitated a second before continuing. "He showed up after You-Know-Who got to Harry."

The room was silent for a moment.

"He was there?" Tonks asked.

She cursed herself for letting herself get hit and inwardly vowed to never let Bellatrix or any other Death Eater get the better of her ever again.

"He was," Kingsley said with a nod. "But Dumbledore scared him away. The Ministry knows everything now though. They aren't denying that he's back."

If there was any silver lining to what had happened, it was probably that. Tonks struggled to see it like that though. The loss of Sirius still stung at her heart unlike anything she had previously experienced.

Her mind drifted back to Remus, wondering where he'd gone.

"He's at Grimmauld Place." She didn't realize how confusing her words were until she looked up at the others. "Remus," she clarified. "He has to have gone to Grimmauld Place."

She tried to ignore the small smile on Andromeda's lips or the way Kingsley tilted his head as he looked at her.

"That's what makes the most sense, right?" she added lamely.

Kingsley shrugged, a glint in his eye.

"Maybe," he allowed, "But Dumbledore told us to leave him alone, so that's what I plan to do. It's probably best if you do too."

Tonks bit her tongue. Disagreeing would only increase their amusement at her reaction, but she was positive that it was better for Remus to be with someone than alone. Her feelings didn't matter. She'd have come to the same conclusion even if she hadn't liked him as more than a friend.

She tried to sit up, but before she could swing her legs off the side of the sofa, Andromeda grabbed her shoulder.

"You should stay put for a while. My elder sister is enthusiastic if nothing else. You took quite a hit."

Tonks scowled but did as instructed. She was too exhausted for any sort of argument.

Kingsley didn't get the same treatment as he stood from the chair he'd been occupying.

"I should go check in with the others," he said. "We need to talk about our next move."

Tonks raised an eyebrow, daring him to discuss such important things without her.

"I'll tell you everything I hear," he promised, hovering over the sofa. "That includes anything I hear about Remus."

Tonks's cheeks warmed at the implications of his statement. Averting her eyes, she tried to appear nothing more than exhausted as she settled deeper into the sofa. She ignored Kingsley's smirk as he disappeared through the Floo.