Robards appeared for a check-in on Wednesday morning with Sarah Mason--a middle-aged Auror who Tonks knew only vaguely--in tow, and informed Dawlish that he was supposed to have instructed Tonks to take a few days off more than a week ago. Mason would be able to cover for her official duties. "We don't give time off because we're kindly uncles," he said. "We give time off because burned-out Aurors are careless Aurors. And Tonks, I can't control what you do with your days, but do yourself, us, and your other friends a favor by using them to refresh your mind a bit."

Tonks paled. "Has my work been off? I--"

"Your work has been quite adequate. So far. I would like it to stay that way."

Tonks owled Dumbledore and asked what the Order needed, and got a response from McGonagall, who was handling his correspondence while he was away from the school.

Dear Miss Tonks,

Minerva McGonagall

Tonks read it over, slightly irritated at the scolding tone, but there was no particular recourse. She packed a suitcase to go stay with her parents, briefed Mason on the ongoing investigations, and Apparated to London.

Mum and Dad were glad to have her, but quite busy. There was a vicious outbreak of Morphosia Fever in Sri Lanka, causing dozens of wizards to change shape without plan or control, and usually without warning. Three wizards so far had died during particularly abrupt changes.

"They want me to come," Mum said. "I spent so much time studying disorders related to shapeshifting when you were small, I'm apparently considered something of an authority on the subject."

"You're the authority on the subject, Mum," Tonks said.

"I try to tell her that," Dad agreed.

"Then we're all in trouble, because I've barely scratched the surface."

The next morning, Tonks wandered into Diagon Alley, shopping for nothing in particular and coming out with several new sets of robes whose colors she couldn't remember once they'd been wrapped in brown paper. She charmed them to be feather light and slung them over her shoulder, wondering what she was meant to do next. She spotted Bill Weasley across a small square, but just as she was about to go and say hello, Fleur Delacour came out of a shop and they walked off holding hands and looking happy. Tonks didn't think they'd appreciate an interruption.

Finally, her feet carried her to Florean Fortescue's shop, still cordoned off by hexes. She didn't have her talisman with her, so she couldn't pass them to go inside. Instead, she crossed the street and looked at the front window. It was boarded now, but she remembered how it had shattered. Whoever had broken it had been standing near where she was... for how long, though? How long had they watched him? How long--

"Tonks?" Robards had come up beside her, looking annoyed. "What are you doing here?"

"Shopping," Tonks said, showing him her packages.

"Fortescue's is closed."

"There's, er... well, there's an apothecary further down the way. I need to restock some..."

"Don't give me that." He sighed and pointed to a nearby bench. They went to it and sat down. "I pegged you for any number of things when I went through your file upon getting this post," he said. "Being a crushing, work-obsessed bore wasn't one of them."

"Oh, thank you very much."

"I didn't mean that to be unkind."

"What would you say to be unkind? No, never mind. I don't care to know."

Robards turned slightly, orienting himself toward her. "You're an extraordinary Auror, Tonks. I don't say that to everyone. You have sharp instincts and good intuition. But you're slipping. Your work is still excellent in comparison to other people, and certainly adequate to the tasks at hand, but in comparison to yourself, you're slipping."

"None of us are doing very well this year. Stan Shunpike? Please."

"What would you have us do with someone who confesses in public?"

"Give him a couple of months in light security for spreading panic and making a false confession, and let him go with a really hard slap on the wrist."

Robards smiled. "I should have expected that you'd actually answer that. Well, leave it to the Wizengamot and Rufus."

"Rufus Scrimgeour--" She stopped, trying not to think about how unpleasant Scrimgeour had been last year, his sharp mind and suspicious nature applied to nothing more than trying to ferret out Cornelius Fudge's enemies. "I sometimes wonder why I work for the Ministry at all."

"We all do." He shrugged when she raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, we do. How special do you imagine you are? The Ministry can be quite horrid, except when compared to nearly any other wizarding government in the world. And it's certainly better than either anarchy or our current alternative."

"I know."

"I think we all have an idea of what it's supposed to be, and we compare it to that instead to the rest of the wo--Tonks? What is it?"

Tonks felt the blood drain out of her face as she glanced up over his shoulder. Standing in the shadows of a narrow alley was a tall, skinny shadow with bright eyes and wild hair. She stood up. "Remus?"

He retreated.

"I'm sorry, Gawain. I have to cut our little pep talk short. Could you watch my packages here?"

Robards nodded as she left, but she'd have left them there even if she was certain someone would steal them. She ducked into the alley, and it twisted away into darkness. She caught a glimpse of Remus scuffling around the next twist and followed him. It came out into a wider back area, walled in on three sides except for a tiny alley even Remus wasn't thin enough to slip into. He stood with his hands on his hips, looking confused.

What in the name of God had happened to him?

"Remus," she said.

"Go away. Go back to your friend."

"He's my boss, not my friend, and I'm off duty."

"He's old for you. Even older than I am. Too old."

Patient. Be patient. "Again, he's my boss. And he's already juggling two women. And I have an odd reluctance to go out with someone who's cheating by going out with me. I doubt men like that would suddenly become faithful. More to the point, Robards is simply out of the question for a simpler reason."

"Which is?"

"He's not you. Most men suffer from that particular malady."

"Lucky them." He turned to look at her, and she saw that he was covered head to toe with scratches, and his eyes were wild. "Go away, Tonks. I don't want to see you."

She took a short, sharp breath, remembering Dumbledore's advice to be patient with him, remember that something horrible had happened. She tried to tell herself that he was playacting because Greyback was somewhere nearby--a possibility that seemed bright and welcome--but she'd never known him to be this good an actor where she was concerned. "You were the one watching me," she said. "Let me help you."

She took a few steps forward, and he took a few sideways steps along the wall. "I mean it," he said. "You need to stop this. If he's just your boss, fine, but go talk to someone else. I have nothing. I'm nothing. You have to move on from this, Dora. You have to move on."

"No."

He blinked in total incomprehension.

"I'll stay away now if it's what you actually need. But I'm not bloody 'moving on.'" She stepped aside.

He looked at her for a moment, his eyes taking her in completely, then he stepped forward and went around her, disappearing down the alley. Tonks breathed deeply, closing her eyes, her head pounding. After awhile, she went back and got her packages (Robards gave her what seemed a genuinely sympathetic look).

She wanted to settle in for a long talk with Dad, to get him to talk about Remus and Greyback, anything he knew. She could get him to talk if she tried, she knew it. But when she got there, her parents had a visitor.

Sitting at the kitchen table, sipping tea and speaking in a low and confidential voice, was Narcissa Malfoy.

Mum's eyes were both wary and sympathetic; Dad, leaning against counter was flatly suspicious. Aunt Narcissa looked drawn and tired, but Tonks didn't trust her any further than she could be hexed.

"Hello, Auntie," she said.

Narcissa nodded to her. Between them was the memory of a day in the spring, when Tonks had found her outside Grimmauld Place and threatened to "have her for something," and Narcissa had practically dared her to try. "Hello, Nymphadora," she said coolly.

"I saw Uncle Lucius last week."

Narcissa's cool composure broke away. "You saw him? At Azkaban? Is he well? That horrid place...!"

"The Dementors are gone. He's probably a bit uncomfortable, but he's well, and worried for you. I took the liberty of telling him you missed him. I suppose it wasn't my place, but..."

"Thank you." The words carried no trace of sarcasm or irony. Narcissa's composure returned. "That was kind."

"You're my mother's sister. I've been raised to care about such things. So I probably won't poison you and--"

"Nymphadora," Mum cut her off.

"I've heard rumors as well," Narcissa said. "I won't say where, but you did well to rid yourself of that werewolf. Do you know he's going about saying it's because you thought he would get Sirius's money and left him when he didn't?"

Tonks went cold. "Whoever is he telling that to, Auntie?"

"As I said... rumors. He's keeping some unsavory company." She pulled a newspaper from her bag--a Muggle newspaper, much to Tonks's surprise. "I thought your Mum would be glad to hear that you were away from that monster now." She smoothed it out on the table.

Tonks didn't need to search for which article Aunt Narcissa meant. It was off in a lower corner of the page and she hadn't circled it, but only one made sense.

"Happened under the full moon," Narcissa said, and her solicitous voice now had a cruel undertone to it. "And rumor--just word on the grapevine, as it were--has it that your ex has gone off his vegetarian diet."

"That's it," Dad said. "That's bloody it."

Tonks's mind was spinning, but one thing was suddenly very clear. Narcissa was in contact with Fenrir Greyback. If she knew what this was and who had been involved, then only Fenrir could have told her. And information could flow two ways.

"Don't worry about it, Dad," she said, hoping that fatigue would make her sound distant and disinterested. "Narcissa's right. Good thing I dumped him. And he's saying it was my fault? Bloody cad was all over town on me. Thinks being a wolf should let him be a dog."

Mum's eyes widened and Dad looked dumbfounded, but neither of them contradicted her.

Narcissa stayed for an interminable amount of time, and Tonks registered nothing that she said. She left the newspaper on the table. As soon as she had Apparated out, Tonks grabbed it, read the article over and over, and chose a focus.

Whatever she did, she was going to make sure that Fenrir Greyback paid for this.

Dearly.

Mum and Dad were gone by sunrise on Friday, and when Tonks woke up (after another interrupted night of sleep), she found a large breakfast and a note to have some fun. Dad had left the film listings from the newspaper. He'd circled one that seemed to be about aliens and written, I hear this is fun, but you know Mum and explosions. I'll take you later, if you don't decide to go alone. Tonks drew a smiling face beside it and circled a time, though she'd never felt less like watching aliens destroy the world. It would be good to spend some time with Dad. He and Mum had asked her about her behavior with Narcissa, but she hadn't felt like explaining it--she wasn't sure she could put her thoughts together--so she'd just asked them to play along. She suspected that he planned to press her for information later, and she supposed she'd give it to him. He was good at getting her to organize her thoughts.

After she'd eaten, she made brief pass at shopping and an even briefer one at the British Museum--nothing in either place seemed able to draw her attention away from that headline for more than a minute or two--then finally gave up and took the tube to Grimmauld Place just after noon. Kingsley, who was in the kitchen when she got there, looked up without much surprise. He was dressed in Muggle business clothes again. "I knew Mad-Eye'd end up getting you, no matter what he promised," he said. "Where is he, anyway?"

Tonks froze. "Mad-Eye? What?"

"You mean he didn't come for you?"

"No. McGonagall sent me, about Dung. Why would Mad-Eye be coming to get me, and why would he have promised not to?" She closed her eyes. "Never mind. Where is he?"

"Mad-Eye?" Kingsley asked unconvincingly.

"Remus. Where is he?"

"Third floor guest room. The big one. Mad-Eye hexed him asleep two hours ago." Kingsley shook his head. "He doesn't want to see you, though. He was pretty clear about that."

"I know what he's clear about."

"Yes, well... I need to get back to my post. Moody should be here this afternoon, up through the evening, if you want to talk to him. I was just stopping in to pick up my lunch. I... Tonks, you might want to think clearly about it. I don't know what's happened with him, but he--"

"I know what's happened, and I know what he doesn't want." She took a deep breath. "Thank you for worrying, really. I'm glad--and I don't mean it sarcastically--that so many people care. But I have to do this my way. No one else's way is making a damned bit of difference."

She went up the stairs slowly, skirting the screens around Auntie's portrait by a wide margin, and made her way to the far end of the third floor corridor. The door was shut, but not locked. She went in.

Remus was asleep face down on top of the covers, a crocheted blanket tossed loosely over his bare back, his hands resting in curled claws to either side of his head. Tonks sat down beside the bed and took his right hand in both of hers. In sleep, his fingers curled easily and comfortably around her own. She kissed them, then laid her head down on the pillow beside him. In the peace and quiet, here at home, her mind settled somewhat, and after awhile, despite the uncomfortable position, she slept. At some indefinable point, she felt his hands in her hair, and he drew her to him. She curled up beside him on the bed, and she knew nothing until late in the afternoon, when a frantic shove awakened her and she found him standing beside the bed, his arms crossed, shivering.

"What are you doing here? I told Mad-Eye not to bring you."

Tonks sat up. "I know. And he didn't. I came on my own."

He just looked at her. "I thought you were a dream. When I reached for you. I always dream you're there."

"I was there this time." She held out her arms, and he came to her, sat across the bed from her, took her hands. She squeezed his fingers. "I'm sorry if you really didn't want me here. I know I shouldn't assume... I just couldn't think of anything else to do."

"I don't want you here."

She looked down. "All right."

"I need you here," he said, quickly and softly. He didn't look at her.

"I know about the forest warden. I know what Greyback did to you."

"How... Dumbledore...?"

"Had nothing to do with it. Greyback seems to be one of my Aunt Narcissa's gossip mates."

He grimaced, turning his head away from her and trying to pull his hands away. She didn't let him. "Did he tell her that I begged for it? Crawled on my belly and..."

She touched the side of his face and ran her fingers through his hair. "I don't know how much he told her. But I know how wolves behave."

"I'm not--"

"I studied. I've read everything there is. There's never been any evidence that--"

"It's me, Dora. I did that. I did it. I did it."

She moved forward and put her arms around him, holding his head against her chest. "Greyback did that to you, Remus. You said it yourself. He knows more about lycanthropy than you do. And he used that against you."

"He picked her because she helped me. She cleared the campers away."

"You crossed him, and he hurt you for it."

"He put me in my place."

"He's trying to force you into the place he wants you."

"He's succeeded." He kissed her throat, then pulled away from her and stood up, facing away from her. A wide, ragged scar from some long ago calamity twisted up from his hipbone to the middle of his back. "Dumbledore knows. He has Moody checking in on me every few days now. This time, Moody grabbed me and side-along Apparated me back here."

"Why?"

He didn't answer. "I don't know why I went out yesterday. I didn't know you were in town. I'd just got in. Moody found me again and brought me back. I'm beginning to feel like they've mistaken me for Sirius and are keeping me prisoner here. And if I don't get back soon, Greyback will make someone else pay."

"You're sure?"

"I can disappear for a few days between moons. And Greyback was gone himself. But if he thinks I've left the pack, or that I'm off sharing secrets, he'll..." He didn't finish.

"We can protect the people around you. The Order can--"

"The pups."

"What?"

"The children. Greyback has total control over them. I couldn't get you to where they are, not with any degree of certainty. Both times I've been there, I've been led. I've tried to distance myself, but I don't think Greyback is fooled." He raised his hands and rubbed his knuckles against his eyes, a small boy trying to wake himself up in the morning. "I'm trapped. I'm trapped, Dora."

"Then maybe we should work on getting them out of there."

Remus stood very still. "What? Where would they go? Their parents are dead or don't want them anymore. And Greyback would follow them."

"We can work on it," Tonks repeated.

"I don't want you near it."

"So you've said."

"So I mean." He turned on her and grabbed her upper arms, pulling her roughly to him. "Do you know what he'll do to you? He won't just kill you. And I don't want to wake up with a full belly and find you torn up outside a cave." She could feel his breath on her lips, quick and sharp. He kissed her. "I love you," he said. "God, how I love you." He let go of her and went across the room. "Please do as I ask."

"No."

"Dora..."

"I'm not a child, Remus. And you are not responsible for me. Maybe I'm worried about them, as well. And in case you've forgotten, it's my job to worry about things like this."

"Dora, please..."

"I'll keep my distance from you when I can, but don't try to keep me from helping other people. Remus, I may be able to help. I may be able to help them. I don't know how, but I may."

He wiped at his face and took a few helpless deep breaths. "I..."

"What?"

"Talk to Bill. Bill's been trying to help. If you can... don't. Don't. Stay away."

"We've covered that already." She got up and went to him. The skin of his back was warm and dry, and he shivered when she touched him. "I'll talk to Bill and see what I can do."

He closed his eyes and nodded. "Do it carefully, Dora. Don't let Greyback connect either of you to the other."

"That, I'll agree to."

He nodded again. "Good, yes. Er, Dora... would you agree to... go to the kitchen now?"

"I beg your... oh. Right. I need to talk to Moody anyway. He should be here by now." She went to the door. "Remus, the last thing in the world I want is for you to go back there. I hate this more than you imagine. But I know you can do it. I know you can do it without letting Greyback win."

"He's already won. He won when I was six years old. Everything my parents did, everything I've done... it's trying to make it a draw. And I'll never get there." He looked over his shoulder. "Thank you for coming to me," he said. "I'll go back. I'll do my best. But I've already lost, Dora. Don't start to imagine I can win. It will only drive you mad."

"Come down and join us," Tonks said. "You could probably stand to think about something else for a bit."

He nodded, and she went downstairs.

Moody was sitting at the kitchen table when she got there, using his magical eye to closely examine what was, by any appearances, a fancy pair of ladies' knickers. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Found 'em in an alley," he said. "Thought they might be cursed."

"Oh. Are they?"

"Not as far as I can see."

"Er... why did you think they were cursed?"

"Well, they looked a bit fancy to be lying about in an alley. Brand new, as well, with the price right on them. Thought someone was trying to set out bait. Happens all the time, you know--Muggle-baiting."

"Don't tell me... you know someone who was once cursed by red lace knickers."

"Well, why else would they be there?"

"Reckon some girl nicked them, then realized she didn't want her mum to find them in the laundry."

"Huh. I never thought of that. Well, if you want 'em, they are brand new."

"Toss them in the fire, Mad-Eye. Bloody things scratch in places I don't want to talk about."

"If you say so." He Banished them into the fireplace. "Shacklebolt told me you went up to see Lupin."

"Don't worry, I told him you didn't send me."

"Found some little girl pounding at the door of this shack he's been staying in, and him not letting her in. Just didn't seem Lupin-ish. I thought he could stand to get his head together."

"Thanks, Mad-Eye. I appreciate that. I told him to come down and join us to talk about Dung."

"That'll do him good, too, so I guess I'll let old Dung keep breathing a while longer."

Tonks smiled and sat down. "How've you been?"

"Same as ever. You?"

"I'll probably live."

"Want me to hex Lupin for you? I've got some good ones that don't last long, but'll bother him pretty well for a while."

"No, but thanks for your concern."

"I'm fond of you, Tonks. Always have been, ever since Dumbledore dragged me up to the school to talk to you." He shrugged. "Reckon I'd have liked you when you were a little thing, too, if I'd stopped to talk to you when we were watching your family. You've got spirit."

"It doesn't seem to be especially prominent at the moment."

"Oh, it's flashing in your eyes right now. I can see it right through that mask you've got on." He winked grotesquely with the magical eye.

There was a shuffling sound at the door, and Remus came down the steps. He'd grabbed someone else's shirt (Tonks could tell, as it was in one piece and unpatched) and was buttoning it as he walked. He left it untucked. "What are we talking about?" he asked, affecting a casual tone of voice that didn't go well with his constantly shifting eyes. "I'm a bit out of the loop."

"Dung's been selling off headquarters," Tonks said. "An heirloom at a time."

"What?"

"Dung's being Dung."

"Right." Remus shook his head. "Well, it's not as though Sirius didn't tell him a dozen times that he could have nearly anything he wanted. I suppose he decided to take advantage of it."

"My guess is that the buyer is Bellatrix." Mad-Eye rolled his eyes in disgust. "Not that Dung would know it. He probably just doesn't care."

"So we're trying to track him," Tonks added.

"Oh. Right."

"He hasn't done anything in London," Mad-Eye said. "At least not since I started watching him. He's got to have quite a hoard by now. And I'm thinking he's going to go for Hogsmeade."

Tonks frowned. "Why?"

"We put out the whole collection of goblets Sirius offered him--the ones with the family crest--and he took them two days ago. He'll definitely be looking for a place to get rid of them. School visit next weekend. Place will be crawling with them. Easy to slip a few more extra people in. It's always been a good time for shady deals. No one's paying attention."

"If Harry catches him at it," Remus said, "he'll be paying a lot of attention. We should warn him."

"Mail's being checked," Tonks said. "The Ministry isn't going to care about tracking him; they'll just have us arrest him on the spot." She sighed. "Dammit, I'm on duty next Saturday. I'm going to have to track him while I'm pretending not to see him."

"Take my cloak," Mad-Eye said, pulling it from his satchel and handing it to her.

"No. I'll just..." Morph came to mind, but that wasn't a sure bet. "I'll Disillusion myself. Hide from Dawlish as well as Dung."

"Now, you see, that's my girl," Moody said. "I told you those marks in Concealment weren't just because of a fluke of nature. You've got a good brain for it as well."

"Of course she does. She knows that," Remus said. He sounded moderately irritated, and Tonks realized that Moody must have been lecturing him about her own state of mind. She felt her face go hot. Remus crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. "I think you'll do fine hiding--why would Dawlish question that?"

"He likes being a visible presence."

"Then let him go out there himself," Mad-Eye muttered.

"The point is," Remus said, not really acknowledging the issue of Dawlish, "that there shouldn't be a problem with you being Disillusioned, or in disguise, or flying around on your broomstick overhead if you think it would help. The problem is Harry. We need to let him know."

"The village is going to be crowded," Mad-Eye said. "That's the whole point. It's crowded, and I doubt Dung is going to be setting up a booth on the street. I'm sure he'll have the things hidden, so even if Harry does see him, there's no reason for him to lose his head."

Tonks looked between them. "I can watch for Harry," she said. "I'll see if I can draw him aside while he's there."

Remus nodded, and they talked a bit longer about the logistics of it. Some of the distance in Remus's manner began to fade, and Tonks thought she noticed him smile at a joke of Mad-Eye's toward the end of the evening. Close to seven-thirty, Mad-Eye excused himself to go spy on Scrimgeour--"Never did trust him much"--leaving Remus and Tonks alone in the kitchen where they'd spent so much of the previous year.

"Did you want supper?" she asked. "I could go out and get some curry."

"No. I need to go back." She started to protest, but he held up his hand. "I need to go back, or Greyback will miss me. I've been gone for nearly two days. And there's a little girl to whom I owe an apology. I imagine Mad-Eye told you about that."

"He said someone was hammering on your door and you weren't letting her in."

"I've been doing that all week. Trying to distance myself. I don't think Greyback's buying it anyway."

"Remus, no one would buy that from you."

"I suppose not."

"I wish I could somehow help. I wish I could be in touch with you."

"Well, you can always become Narcissa's pen pal. I'm sure she'll be full of gossip." He sighed. "What an odd combination. I can't imagine Greyback sitting across a table from Narcissa, sipping tea and gossiping about his packmates."

Tonks frowned. "It is strange, when you think about it. Not exactly the Malfoys' sort, is he?"

"To put it mildly." He turned to go up the stairs. "Thank you for... Thank you."

Tonks caught his hand. "Marry me."

He didn't turn around. "I have nothing to bring to a marriage. Even when you set aside... what happened. I have nothing. No job, no money. I'm so much older than you are. You're young... beautiful. You can have everything good that there is in life. I was selfish to ask you."

"All I need in the world is you. And without you, the rest of it doesn't matter."

"It will." He turned around and cupped her chin in his hand. "I'm no one special, Dora. You'll see."

She thought he might kiss her, but he didn't. He let go of her and went up the stairs alone. She didn't follow. Somewhere above, she heard the door open, and she knew that when she went up, he would be gone.

She stayed in the kitchen for a long time, running her fingers over the splintered edge of the table and thinking of Sirius sitting here, prying up the loose bits of wood and lining them up, flicking them into the fire with a lazy wave of his wand. Sirius would have got him to stay. Or would have found a way to go back to the woods with him. Sirius would have got him laughing about a tea party with Greyback and Narcissa. He wouldn't have followed it up with a proposal and another reason to argue.

Well, at least not in earnest.

No, he'd start going on about Narcissa and Greyback, perhaps putting a little silk bow in Fenrir's imaginary hair, and having them leaning conspiratorially over their teacups to hear all the latest gossip. He'd make jokes about Greyback fumbling around all of the Malfoys' dandified old heirlooms. Oh, yes, dear Fenrir... do try not to crush Grandmother Malfoy's crystal water goblets...

Tonks frowned as she got up and headed out. What was that about? Voldemort used Greyback to terrorize and intimidate. Why was he with Narcissa? Was she using him to threaten those who would take what Lucius had managed to leave her with?

She went into the square, the house disappearing behind her, and stopped cold beside the lamp-post.

Or was he there to watch Narcissa herself?

The chill of the evening seeped into her bones. If Greyback was watching Narcissa--if all the gossip was there because Voldemort wanted her to know that Greyback was in claw's reach of her--then it raised questions that Tonks was quite sure Sirius would have dismissed as wishful thinking, but for Tonks, it wasn't hopeful at all.

Because if Narcissa was on the edge of disloyalty, then she was grabbing for the people at closest reach, and if she was being watched, then Greyback knew it. He knew in whom she was confiding, at whose house she sat for hours.

Tonks ran for the alley, and Apparated home.