Did you miss me?

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"Dora," Remus breathed out as he spun quickly around to see his wife's mousey brown hair disappear from view as she retreated quickly up the stairs. He vaguely heard Sirius yell that he was going to take Teddy over to the Burrow for breakfast. But he was off after Tonks like a shot; he had to reach her before she could ward him out of their room. He had to explain himself to her. Whether he was ready or not it was time to tell Tonks about Marly and Hermione.

When he finally caught her she had been just about to close their bedroom door. He was able to force the door open wider and keep her from shutting him out. Thank goodness for werewolf strength!

After a few minutes Tonks finally stopped trying to close the door with Remus's body still in the way causing Remus to unceremoniously fall into the room. He righted himself quickly to see his wife sitting on their bed shaking violently in silent sobs. Remus walked over and wrapped his arms around her only to be quickly pushed off with a wand in his face.

"Don't touch me," Tonks snapped. Remus sighed and held his hands up in defeat. He didn't know what to do. He wasn't ready to tell Tonks about Marly and Hermione. Yes he had already grieved for them once, but finding out that Hermione Granger was his Hermione and then having her cruelly ripped away from his life was like finding out Marly died all over again. He had made peace with Marly's death and had had no intention of ever bringing it up again. He had recently begun to resign himself to the fact that he would probably never see Hermione again.

"Just let me try and explain," he started, but was quickly cut off by an irate Tonks,

"EXPLAIN WHAT REMUS? THAT YOU HAVE ANOTHER WIFE YOU NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT? A DAUGHTER? YOU HAD A WHOLE OTHER FAMILY AND YOU NEVER DEEMED THAT IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO MENTION TO ME? WHY NOT? AM I NOT AS GOOD AS YOUR OTHER WIFE? DO YOU NOT LOVE TEDDY AND I LIKE YOU LOVED THEM? WHY ARENT YOU OUT THERE WITH THEM AND BEING…"

"BECAUSE SHE IS DEAD!" Remus yelled as he grabbed Tonks by the shoulders to get her attention. He dropped his hands quickly and sunk back onto the bed and continued in a broken whisper. "She died and I wasn't there to protect her. My daughter was gone without a trace, most thought her to be dead as well. I was out for a night with the lads to celebrate that Lily was pregnant with Harry. I only had four months with my baby girl. FOUR MONTHS BEFORE I FAILED HER AND HER MOTHER."

Remus was breathing heavily. He hadn't spoken of what had happened ever. When he found out that the Mckinnon house had been attacked he went there immediately only to find the Dark Mark hanging eerily in the sky with a ruined house in front of him. He had searched through the rubble to find their bodies hoping it was all a mistake and they were somehow alive or had gotten out, but most of the house had been burned and he only ever found Marlene's body. The funeral was small and quiet and Remus disappeared for two months afterwards. Looking back it had probably been part of the reason Sirius thought he was the spy. When he had come back is was quiet, cold and distant. He could see now how it would have been so easy to seem like he was the spy. He continued to berate himself silently until he remembered why he was thinking about this in the first place and lifted his head to scan the room for Tonks.

She was still standing there just as she had been since he had grabbed onto her shoulders just staring at him with a confused expression on her face. She didn't know whether to be angry with Remus or to pull him into a hug because of the loss he had dealt with.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked quietly as if not to wake the wolf that she knew was lingering just below the surface.

Remus sighed, "Because I don't like to think about them, how I failed them, or how it took me seven years to realize that my daughter had been right under my nose the whole time only to lose her again before I ever got to tell her."

Tonks was incredibly confused by this statement. Her thoughts were running 1000 miles a minute. What did he mean lose her again? I thought they died, or wait, didn't he say most thought she was dead? She must have been taken and placed somewhere else, but what females did he know that were around enough that Remus should have noticed the similarities? Then it clicked.

"Hermione," Tonks breathed out and looked to Remus for confirmation who only nodded looking miserable. She too had been upset when the young brunette had disappeared, but she had never understood the utter agony that Remus seemed to be in for the first few months after she left. She thought back realizing that the time Hermione disappeared was when Remus has started to withdraw into himself and away from her. Remus's voice broke her out of her revere.

"I had it confirmed the day after Harry and Ginny's wedding that she was my daughter. I was going to tell you about it after I had talked to her, but when I went to the Burrow she was gone and I was devastated all over again. I couldn't bring myself to tell you when the very thought of her was killing me, talking about it would have made it so much worse. It was September 19, 1999 that I first had any inclination that she was my daughter. I had always known that Hermione's birthday was in September just like my Hermione's was, but it never dawned on me that it was the same day, and the same year. Marlene must have sent her away with something that had her basic information on it when the Death Eaters attacked." Remus broke off here, he couldn't say anymore due to how choked up he was.

The next minute he found himself wrapped in Tonks' warm embrace sobbing into her hair as he held her close. She was still mad at him, but she couldn't watch him beat himself up anymore. She whispered comforting things in his ear while he calmed down. When he finally looked up and met her eyes she said,

"I'm still angry that you kept this from me Remus and we will talk about this," she paused for a moment before continuing, "and we will revisit the idea of more children. But right now we are going to go to Charlie's, meet his super-secret girlfriend and then when we come home were going to find Hermione. But you as still in the dog house." Remus knew by the determined glint in her eye that this conversation was far from over and that she had every intention of getting her way, but he could only nod in response as she pulled him down the stairs and into the floo.

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More to come! Please review!