In Memorium
The ceremony was short - Tonks preferred it that way.
She had talked in length with her mother, Andromeda, about what was necessary and what was respectful. It helped for her to talk about it- to try and separate herself from it as if she was just a bystander, someone helping out the family, someone not at all connected in the way she really was to it.
But the moment the coffin was brought out, the large wooden box floating eerily through the air, Tonks realized she couldn't pretend any longer. The man she had grown to admire and love and respect and cherish was inside that box- and there was no bringing him back. He was gone to her, gone to Teddy, gone to the world he'd fought so hard to protect and change.
She rubbed at the back of her ear, the lobe tingling as it shifted and changed to an elephant ear before bouncing back to what she was born with (though she tended to lose track of what was natural these days, her body ever-changing when she was trying so desperately hard not to cry). She could feel Teddy's hand squeeze at her shoulder and she turned to face her son with a forced smile.
It wasn't much longer now until the speeches were made- until the event would be over and Tonks could push aside the image of Remus when he was brought to their home, his body burned and scarred in ways that begged her to wish they'd just used the Killing Curse.
"It's alright, mum-" Teddy said, his voice hoarse as he followed in his mother's footsteps, throat tightening to keep himself from getting upset.
She had talked in length with her mother, Andromeda, about what was necessary and what was respectful. It helped for her to talk about it- to try and separate herself from it as if she was just a bystander, someone helping out the family, someone not at all connected in the way she really was to it.
But the moment the coffin was brought out, the large wooden box floating eerily through the air, Tonks realized she couldn't pretend any longer. The man she had grown to admire and love and respect and cherish was inside that box- and there was no bringing him back. He was gone to her, gone to Teddy, gone to the world he'd fought so hard to protect and change.
She rubbed at the back of her ear, the lobe tingling as it shifted and changed to an elephant ear before bouncing back to what she was born with (though she tended to lose track of what was natural these days, her body ever-changing when she was trying so desperately hard not to cry). She could feel Teddy's hand squeeze at her shoulder and she turned to face her son with a forced smile.
It wasn't much longer now until the speeches were made- until the event would be over and Tonks could push aside the image of Remus when he was brought to their home, his body burned and scarred in ways that begged her to wish they'd just used the Killing Curse.
"It's alright, mum-" Teddy said, his voice hoarse as he followed in his mother's footsteps, throat tightening to keep himself from getting upset.