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If you die here, what happens? Do you go back to your own world or is that it? Do you just pop out of existence entirely?
[ Wait. She remembers being shown and told something horrible by Bellatrix. ]
Is death permanent here? Is there hope that the others could return? I'm going to miss Arthur.
[ Tonks draws back a bit. Her expression becomes ( Read more... )
[ Wait. She remembers being shown and told something horrible by Bellatrix. ]
Is death permanent here? Is there hope that the others could return? I'm going to miss Arthur.
[ Tonks draws back a bit. Her expression becomes ( Read more... )
At large. Not just between them.]
Disappearance from Anatole, what we assume to be returning to world of origin, and death while in Anatole, are usually distinct. Death is typically impermanent. Though returning has side-effects.
[…dammitdammitdammit he's thinking of Teddy if she asks for examples he'll have to choose between violating her future and lying by omission again should not have responded dammit.]
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[ It would be unwise to lie to her Remus. ]
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I've seen mainly sensory or memory loss. Riza Hawkeye was temporarily blind. Hughes and Mustang were physically incapacitated for about a week. Haruno Sakura, Lestrange, and I all experienced amnesia. I can give specifics if you -
[No, don't do that. Don't make it her responsibility when you're the one with the information to choose.
You promised to do better. This still doesn't seem "better" but it's the alternative.]
For Sakura, it was as if she hadn't come to Anatole, she could only remember her original life. For Lestrange, it was as if she'd regressed to a younger woman... earth life, pre-war. These states were both temporary. Unfortunately, for the latter.
I think I was different because I didn't die and revive within Anatole. I was killed on earth - [full disclosure] in battle against Voldemort, by a Death Eater I think - directly before coming here. So my memory loss has proved, so far, permanent. I'm told I had a son. I don't remember enough even to feel the gap where memory of him should be ( ... )
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When Remus findally tells her that he has a son, the color drains from her face. It isn't just that he has a son. It couldn't have been mercy on Bellatrix' part to leave that out. Had she forgotten or had she deemed it not important. ]
We have a child...?
[ She doesn't shut him out or shut the feed. However, for the next few moments, Tonks is not going to be able to speech. ]
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[His neutral expression is to give her space, to react however she's going to. He's certainly not going to judge any reaction.]
I'm amazed she didn't tell you.
[Though he hadn't said it as if-or because-he expected her to already know. He was going to take responsibility, from here on in, for any information, whether Tonks might know from elsewhere or not.]
We were married over a year before…
[It's what you told me to do but will it ever stop feeling like I'm assaulting you?]
…we died.
I'll keep volunteering information until you tell me to stop.
I didn't mean to lay on so much at once.
[Maybe it's a dam bursting from successfully not speaking to her for what feels like a very long time. Maybe that kiss as teenagers affected more than they know it should. Maybe he's always wanted to tell her all this and more, even while still unconvinced it's the right thing to do. In any case, in life he'd never been much for skimping on exposition.]
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She didn't have to tell me that we died. I saw it. Bellatrix replayed your dream. It was beautiful at first... Then it ended.
[ Tonks frowns. She raises a hand to the side of her face. You are doing the right thing in telling her Remus. It cannot be articulated now but one day, soon, it will be. ]
Don't apologize for telling me the truth Remus, never apologize for that.
[ Tonks struggles for a moment. ]
You've said things that've made me wonder but Sirius dies too, doesn't he?
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None of this, really. We'll get to the larger death count… the ones you don't suspect…]
Long before us. …It feels long. Two years before. Voldemort laid a trap for Harry at the Ministry. Five of his friends were caught in it as well. The Order went to help them. There were Death Eaters. We all fought. Bellatrix killed Sirius.
[As if anticipating what Tonks has not told him-like it's a warning,]
As she'd later kill you.
[No, it's because he's wanted to kill Lestrange over these things; many times over. But this is the conversation we're having: death is impermanent. She's defeated us before. Do you see why it's not so easy to decide to fight her… do you forgive me for not having killed her already…?]
A lot of people die too… [he stops before calling her "Dora".
And since he's raised it-since he thought it-he keeps up his end and doesn't wait for her to ask ( ... )
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Tonks lets out a deep breath that she had been holding in. It's a sign that she's gotten better, recovered more, that she isn't completely crying right now. She knows that Bellatrix murders her. She knows that Remus dies. A son though, is still new.
She almost comes close to asking him who else dies. He's right. Over a forge is not the way to do this. ]
No, we shouldn't.
[ She knows of a place. It's nearby too. ]
You know the fountain in the Clinic? There's a bench, we can talk there.
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Tonks' dress isn't rose today. She's hit it with a color-changing charm and now it's an amalgamation of lavender and steel blue. It suits her mood. She's a brunette but there are just enough red highlights and undertones that it's not a mousy shade of brown. She has her morphing abilities back but often she just doesn't bother. Every now and then her hair shifts on its own, a reflection of her mood.
All that she has left to do now is wait. Tonks is sure that it won't be long. ]
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give orders that no one is to enter the courtyard?
cast Repello Muggletum - double function finally test effect on Scorched
simply spread the word
no, no courtyard is valuable to long-terms, not just place to recover but a goal, a destination, a reason to get out of bed and get to the level where they can go out to the fountain
spells sometimes take hold or have aftereffects, won't risk it
isn't spreading the word only a form of advertising, could have opposite effect
public clinic, everyone has the right to be anywhere. No special privileges just because I try to help
-on anything and everything except the conversation he's about to have.
Because as much as he dreaded other information… ships sailed, most, unknown reactions others; this will be a reaction he knows, and it's always initially the fault of the person breaking the news, and he does not want to do-
that to her. Stop thinking those words. Ever.
Shut ( ... )
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Being reduced to a teenager, hadn't been voluntary. It is awkward to remember. Had she been more of herself, she would've apologized and even laughed about it. There had been an adorable sweetness to that. As it is, Tonks feels her cheeks flush with the memory. Later, yes, there's always later.
When she finally catches sight of him, Tonks smiles. She doesn't mean to smile, that's not right for this occasion but it's not something she can help. ]
Thank you Remus.
[ When he sits down, Tonks shifts a bit. She turns in his direction so that it's easier for her to look at him and address him. Tonks is tempted to reach for his hand. Her hand in flexes but stops before actually reaching for him. ]I'm glad you're finally telling me this ( ... )
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I know it's the right thing to do. But please don't thank me.
…There's no way to lead up to it.
[again, forces himself not to wait for her to either stop him (won't happen), redirect (not fair), or spur him on (not her job: his).]
I know that Harry and Hermione and Ron and Ginny survived. You have the photograph. I know also from it that we won the war. So everyone who died… did so… in the cause they believed in… and helped to win it. We all made the better world we wanted.
But before us… that I know of…
[In his timeline he'd broken the news of Sirius to her, but never these others. He'd been there with her for them, they were hit with it together and did their best to get through it together… which was terrible enough. Maybe making this harder than it needs to be. His talk about being two further years older than her is suddenly very obvious: it looks like even more than that on his face ( ... )
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I still have the photograph. I framed it. I didn't want anything to happen to it.
[ It's important, the photograph. She wants to keep it safe and within easy view.
Tonks always knew that she could die in the war. She doesn't want to die but not wanting to die is not enough to keep her from fighting. She knows why they fight. Tonks knows the reasons. It's more important than the photograph. It's so that the photograph can come to pass. Life and freedom must go on.
When she hears that Mad-Eye dies, that is bad enough. When Tonks learns that her Dad dies as well, it's like she's been hit in the stomach. She simotaneously flinches and doubles over somewhat at her waist. ]
Oh... oh...
[ It's going to take her a few moments to process this and what it means. ]
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but right now he's already put his arm around her and taken her hand and there's no thought about it.]
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She's not crying, not yet, but her breaths are coming in deep and fast. ]
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No more I'm sorrys. No last words he can think to recount to her, from any of them: the last he heard from Dumbledore and Moody were both about Harry. And from Ted…
The memory so hazy. To do with the child, no doubt. Of course.
Says quietly against her skin,]
We named our son after him. We named him Teddy.
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