Warning: MAJOR DEATHLY HALLOWS SPOILERS
Summary: Their wedding vows had only said til death do us part, but Remus had promised you forever.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, certain characters would be very much alive and I wouldn't feel this gutted.
Remus skidded to an abrupt halt halfway down the corridor, cutting short his race towards where the main battle was going on; there were Death Eaters barring their path. Tonks ran into him and nearly toppled both of them to the floor. Somehow Remus managed to keep both of them on their feet. He whipped around to look the way they had just come; more advancing Death Eaters. Sudden realisation gripped Remus' stomach like a vice; this was it.
"Trapped!" yelled Tonks over the sound of explosions reverberating around the castle.
"Scared?" asked Remus.
"No," replied Tonks evenly, and Remus knew she meant it.
He took her hand in his and held onto it tightly. Tonks gave him a nod and then they were stood back to back, hands held tightly between them, wands raised in defiance against the oncoming Death Eaters.
Remus thought of baby Teddy at home with Andromeda and his heart constricted. There had always been the possibility that either he or Tonks wouldn't be coming home, but now that looked like a grim reality. A large part of Remus wished Tonks had stayed at her mum's; she was too young to die. But he swallowed the thought; if he had learned anything at all it was that he shouldn't underestimate Moody's protégée Auror. And he knew in his heart of hearts that neither of them was capable of staying home and waiting for news of their friends deaths; he just wished that the news would be of someone else's death instead of theirs.
Remus hated that their son would probably never know either of his parents, but he couldn't bring himself to regret his decision to leave the little boy behind. This was a war that he and Dora had been fighting their whole lives; Remus couldn't bring himself to leave the legacy of completing this task to another generation. This wasn't Teddy's fight, and if he and Dora had to die to make sure that it was so, then so be it.
"I'm so sorry Dora, for everything I did that hurt you," yelled Remus as black cloaks and silver masks drew ever nearer.
"I love you," came Tonks' reply. Even now she forgave him of all his sins.
"I love you too," said Remus, squeezing Tonks hand gently. He took a deep breath. "Ready?"
Tonks squeezed his hand back as acquiescence and then the couple took a deep breath and as one they bellowed "Expecto Patronum!"
From one wand erupted an enormous silver werewolf, form the other a silver chameleon. Both Patronuses charged down the corridor, in opposite directions, chasing and knocking down Death Eaters. The next moment the air was filled with flying curses, red and green flashes illuminating the grim looks on Remus and Tonks' faces. Tapestries burned, suits of armour came crashing down and rubble went flying, and still the werewolf and the Metamorphmagus stood in the middle of that corridor, hands firmly pressed, exchanging curses with a dwindling number of Death Eaters.
Suddenly, green flooded Remus' vision and then he was staring into the familiar grinning face of Sirius Black. He looked younger, happier, as though he had never been touched by the horrors of Azkaban.
"Not that I'm not glad to see you, mate, but couldn't at least one of us have had a happily ever after?" he said with a raised eyebrow.
Remus chuckled as Sirius stepped aside to reveal two faces that Remus had ached to see for nearly seventeen years. James Potter, his hair as unruly as always, was wearing an easy grin as he slung his arm loosely around the shoulders of a beautiful red haired woman. Remus looked from James to Lily and then down at the golden band on his finger. He felt his inner Marauder rear it head; he couldn't resist.
"I don't know if any one told you two, but the vows only said 'til death do us part."
"Think again, Remus John Lupin," came an irritated but familiar voice that caused Remus' heart to simultaneously leap with joy and break with sadness. He turned around to look at his wife, a shy smile on his face and contrition in his eyes.
"I promised I would love you forever, didn't I?" he asked quietly.
"You did, and give or take a few hiccups you've done a pretty good job so far," said Tonks with a smile. Suddenly the smile cracked and the pink-haired Auror bent double with the force of her wracking sob. "Teddy..." her voice was a plaintive moan.
Remus gathered her up in his arms and did his best to comfort her, though his heart was breaking over the very same thing; they would not know their son, and Teddy would grow up an orphan. Remus looked back at his childhood friends to see all three wearing bittersweet smiles on their faces. Silently, Lily detached herself from her husband and placed her hand gently on Tonks' arm. Tonks looked up from where her face was buried in Remus' chest.
"As a mother, it's not easy to leave your child behind," said Lily softly, "But it does get easier over the years. You've left him in very good hands."
"Harry coped pretty well while growing up," said Remus reassuringly, sharing a pained look with James. Tonks choked back a final sob and nodded, the pain still etched clearly on her face.
"Harry's calling," said James suddenly, and Remus felt a strange pull back towards the world he had just left.
"Harry needs me right now, but I'll be back soon," said Remus quietly. "I'll be back as soon as it's all over."
Tonks managed a wry smile. "The vows only said 'til death do us part."
Remus gave her a small smile as he began the descent back towards the realm of the living.
"Yeah, but I promised you forever."