Departing

Written for the 22nd anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts but I forgot that this blog exists and only posted it on AO3. So here I am two days later covering up the mistake.
Tonks/Lupin Pre-Battle very short oneshot, a sad one.

‘Be safe’ she said, the words choked.

Even the request was a lie. They both knew he would not be safe. Yet she needed to say it. Formalities. To calm their minds. Pretend everything would be alright.

‘I love you’ whispered Remus.

That was the one thing he could promise. That, and the fact that he would fight till death if it made the world a better place; for their son, for his beloved wife. But that, he would not say out loud. They both knew it anyways. Pretended it wasn’t there.

Tears streaming down their faces, they both took a step back at the same time. Remus clutched his wand, fingers trembling. Tonks clutched Teddy to her chest, whole body trembling. Remus took another step back. Pretending if he never looked away from his family they would always stay with him.

Then he closed his eyes, the bright turquoise of his son’s hair sticking with him, and Disapparated. Never to see him again.

*

‘Please, Nymphadora, you cannot leave!’ begged her mother, pleading, on the edge of breaking down.

Her voice betrayed her emotions, yet her face was a composed mask. She would not show distress in front of her daughter and grandson. Not again, not now. She had to be strong. Pretend this was not about life and death.

‘I love you, mom. I love you, Teddy’ she said softly, with an air of finality.

There was no point in answering her mother’s pleas. Just as Remus left to fight for them, irrevocably, she would leave to fight for Teddy, for their family, right by his side. Both Andromeda and she knew that. Pretending that was not the case would have been but a lie. And you don’t lie when it’s your last time speaking to your loved one.

‘Fight with all you’ve got’ said Andromeda, and it was more than a request. It was a demand, a mother’s last wish of her only child.

Heart constricting, Tonks took a step back, fighting the urge to reach out and touch her son. Just one last stroke of a finger. But she could not linger any longer, she might already be too late. Teddy looked up at her from his grandmother’s arms, eerily calm. He blinked, eyes full of innocence and love.

A single teardrop fell from Tonks’s cheek as she closed her eyes, the deep seas of her son’s eyes sticking with her, and Disapparated. Never to see him again.