Tonks,

P.S.: You have my word that no other guests will be ostentatiously shocked by your presence.

Tonks almost sent regrets, but some rebellious part of her mind rejected it. Not being with Remus didn't mean she had to be alone all the time, and she wasn't on duty on Wednesday night. She sent a quick message to Dumbledore to make sure he wouldn't need people at Hogwarts to patrol the corridors, and he assured her that he would be there for at least a few more days. She sent back an acceptance with Errol, checking the road in several directions before sending him flying from the Shrieking Shack. She really had to break the habit of sleeping here. Owls coming and going to an abandoned house wouldn't look very good.

She closed the window and pulled on clothes from the bag she'd stashed beside the wardrobe--she hadn't quite started stowing her clothes in the bureaus and wardrobes yet, that was something--and made the bed sloppily. Dumbledore had said it belonged to a headmaster. She amused herself by wondering if it had been Phineas Nigellus's--if she was stealing her own inheritance from her several-greats-grandfather--but that would have been too much of a coincidence. There were no identifying markings on it that she could see.

Work continued to be harried and repetitive, an unceasing, plodding rhythm of Dementor sightings, dark wizards, dark object tracking, and missing persons investigations. She broke it up working with Maddie on the forest gates on Tuesday afternoon; Maddie was looking for the spellwork they'd used to create openings for Dark Creatures, on the thought that someone doing spellwork of that sort might be easier to find than a lone gate which might not have been charmed at all yet. "The bones of a child," she muttered, shuddering. "And the blood of a dark creature of some sort."

"Does it have to be all the blood?"

"No, just a bit for sprinkling. Though I don't suppose anyone wanting to let Dark Creatures onto Hogwarts grounds will scruple at killing a redcap." Maddie tapped her quill against the scroll. "Are you sure this needs to be done? There are already quite a lot of things in that forest that are dangerous."

"I was asked."

"By a creature you don't know, based on something she saw scrying, with the promise of a favor in return. You're spread so thin already. Do you really owe anyone any favors on top of it?"

"I gave my word. If these water sprites are anything like their mythology, it wouldn't be a good idea to break it."

Maddie shook her head, and they got back to work.

She finished her rounds of Hogsmeade haunts early on Wednesday and made sure all of her paperwork was in order for Dawlish, then ducked out before Proudfoot could claim another headache and ask her to take his watch. She flooed to Diagon Alley to buy Molly a present (a glove and scarf set that would adjust their thickness depending on how cold it was; Tonks suspected it would be dissected for copying purposes), then Apparated to the Burrow just before seven and heard laughter coming from the kitchen as she approached the house.

The door opened and one of the twins--she was fairly sure it was Fred, but wouldn't put gold on it--waved to her. "Hullo! The surprise was out the window when Charlie showed, so come on in!"

"Security questions!" Arthur called.

"Right," (probably) Fred said. "Er..."

"Ask her what we had detention together for!" someone else called from the house, and Tonks recognized Charlie Weasley's voice.

"Which time?" she called back.

"When Filch had us scrubbing the Great Hall Muggle-style."

"Oh, that was your fault and it was totally unfair that I was dragged into it. It was when you decided to bring Kettleburn's Bundimun colony into the castle and it ate the Hufflepuff table."

"You were the one who took them out of the box. It's her."

Probable-Fred smiled graciously and gestured her inside. Once he sat down beside his brother (giving Tonks a side-by-side comparison), she saw that he was George.

Charlie gave her a jaunty wave and kicked a chair out for her. Bill and Fleur were cuddled up at the far end of the table. Arthur and Molly were at the head and foot, and the dishes were in the process of serving. A place setting flew down and landed in front of Tonks. She Banished the present to a little table where the others were piled.

"You didn't have to bring anything," Molly said, eyeing it curiously.

"It's nothing. Happy birthday!"

"Thank you. I'm glad you could come, dear."

"But Mum's declared a no-war zone," Bill said.

"Oh, I like that zone."

They had a pleasant meal. The twins had quite a lot of non-war-related gossip from Diagon Alley. George had also been spending time in the nearby village, and apparently flirting with a Muggle girl. Fleur was choosing dresses for bridesmaids, but abruptly stopped talking about it. She looked at Tonks resentfully. Tonks nearly apologized and urged her to go on, but on her left, George jabbed her with an elbow and waved his wand under the table, Conjuring a note that said, "You're an excuse, sorry."

Molly had been back at Grimmauld Place earlier in the week, and promised Tonks that she'd got it tidied up. "I was up in London taking advantage of Arthur's birthday present," she said. "He had to give it to me early, of course--Kwikspell was offering a class on international Potion-brewing. Frivolous things, really."

"I dunno," Fred said, "I liked that one from America that keeps people warm for Quodpot games. We could bottle that up for long Quidditch matches."

"As long as we don't start going shirtless with team-color body paint," Arthur said, rolling his eyes.

"There's also a lovely one from Russia," Molly said. "It turns into a sort of sugary sprinkle, and you can add it to anything to make it taste richer."

"But your cooking has never needed help, Molly," Arthur said, and refilled her wine glass. She smiled and blushed. The boys all rolled their eyes simultaneously.

After cake and presents, Molly was forbidden to clean up. The rest drew lots--the kitchen wasn't big enough for a lot of hands working in it--and Fleur and Fred ended up washing dishes and straightening up. George and Charlie settled in to talk to their parents, and Bill drew Tonks aside.

"Lupin said he spoke to you about the children," he said. "The ones Greyback has. I was surprised. He told me not to tell you anything at first."

Tonks frowned, then remembered Remus's confused instruction to see Bill. In the rush of getting her parents out of town and the attack on Katie Bell in Hogsmeade, she'd lost track of it. "I told him I wanted to help," she said. "Oh, Lord, I should have talked to you a month ago."

"I didn't have anything particular to do a month ago," Bill said. "But Lupin left a note after the meeting. One of the boys wants to get out."

"Oh."

Bill nodded and led her to a bureau. From the second drawer, he pulled out several scrolls and flat sheets of parchment. "Come on. We can talk in Dad's workshop."

They went out into the chilly mist, crossing to the ramshackle shed where Arthur kept his Muggle gadgets. Bill cleared part of the work table and spread out the parchments and papers. He handed Tonks a sketch--certainly Remus's--that showed a narrow-eyed teenage boy with a tangled mop of hair. She glanced down at the other single sheets of parchment and saw other faces. A pretty girl with curly hair, a horribly scarred one with large eyes, a sharp-faced boy wearing a skull as a necklace... Greyback's pups. And there were so many.

"He's Robert Alderman," Bill said, pointing at the picture Tonks had. He was shuffling through papers, and came up with a file of newspaper clippings. "Taken eight years ago. His mum worked in Werewolf Capture. Fiona Alderman at the time, of course. She's Fiona Crowler now." He handed Tonks a picture of a small boy and his parents. The boy had a cocky grin much like the one Remus had drawn on him, but was otherwise unrecognizable. "The father is dead. Fiona remarried and was promoted."

Tonks nodded. "I think I've met her. I had to spend a week in Werewolf Capture while I was training. She's still in the unit, just not in the field anymore." She frowned. "She was absolute death on werewolves."

"Her son was attacked by one." Bill sat down. "I don't know yet how Lupin is planning to get him away from Greyback--I'm not sure Lupin knows himself--but once he does get away, we'll need to find somewhere to hide him. And possibly his family."

Tonks scanned the articles in the folder. "They might not want to go into hiding. She and her new husband have small children."

"Yes."

She cursed under her breath. "If this one--Robert--goes missing, Greyback will take another of them."

Bill's eyes widened. "I hadn't got that far in my thinking. I just thought she might not be in a rush to uproot them. I thought we would be able to help her son and then get word to her of where he was."

"We could put extra security on her."

"Sure. If we start raising some Order-loyal Inferi."

"We are spread a bit thin." She put the papers down. "And as much as I hate to say it, she hasn't expended any effort to find the boy. She may not be happy to hear he's about to turn her life on its head."

"She's his mother."

"Checked in with my auntie's portrait lately?" She sighed. "We need to talk to her, preferably without rousing Greyback's suspicions. Do you have any reason to go to the Capture Unit?"

"No."

"They work with the Auror division. I think Greyback's source on me is my Aunt Narcissa--maybe I can get in and out without being noticed, if I'm quite careful."

"You could try to metamorphose."

"Or I could wear a wig and funny glasses." She smiled. "I'll try. Robards occasionally wants me up in London, so I can slip in. I'll see what we can do."

They passed a few ideas back and forth about how to approach Robert Alderman's mother, but didn't come up with anything that seemed safe. Tonks began to look through the other information and the remaining drawings. There were, perhaps, a dozen... accounting for nearly all of the reported attacks over the last ten years. There'd been a "hot zone" seven and eight years ago, when Greyback seemed to have taken a large number of them in rapid succession; she checked the clippings and was not surprised to see one of the periodic anti-werewolf frenzies happening at the time, though she couldn't tell which had precipitated the other. One way or another, it had apparently been marked by strikes and counter-strikes, ending only when the Muggle boy, Blondin, had been taken and Greyback had gone into deep hiding with his pack. She hadn't thought anything at the time about being required to spend time in the Werewolf Capture Unit during her training, though Kingsley Shacklebolt had been puzzled by it, since it hadn't been required of him. Looking at this string of attacks, she was actually rather surprised that they hadn't had half the Division out hunting Greyback when she'd arrived.

She spread Remus's drawings out and looked at them all. Some had names attached--there was an "Evvie (Evie?)," a "?? Blondin," "Alderman," and the scarred girl "Sweet," beside whose name Bill had scribbled "Vivian Waters." Characteristically, Remus had also put notes about them in the margin, presumably to help Bill find clues to their identities, but Tonks had no idea how knowing that Evvie enjoyed new clothes and Blondin was a ringleader would be of great value in that.

"I don't know where they'll all go," Bill said, sighing. "I can't think where to put even one of them that Greyback won't find him. It's not like they're old enough to live on their own. I mean, I'd take one of them myself, but--"

"Fleur?"

"No. Fleur would be delighted. I mean, I haven't asked her--it's one of those things I think we're all playing close to the vest--but she's got a generous heart and it would go out to them." He looked at her crossly. "Honestly, Tonks."

"Sorry. I didn't mean it quite the way it came out. I--"

Bill shook his head and cut her off. "What I was saying is that we're in the middle of the war ourselves. It's as likely as not that someone with ties to Greyback would spot one of them living with us. You and your parents would have the same problem."

"Right."

"So we--"

The door opened, and Fleur poked her head in. "Bill? 'Ave you feenished?"

"Yes. Mainly."

"Your muzzer wants you to come eenside and 'elp put ze furniture back."

Bill nodded and kissed her cheek, then gave Tonks a wave and went back to the house.

Fleur came into the workshop and looked at Tonks with some unformed suspicion in her eyes.

"Order business," Tonks said.

Fleur warmed visibly. "Oh. Oh, yes." She shifted awkwardly. "Eh... Would you... per'aps... I am planning to shop this weekend, in Diagon Alley. Would you like to shop with me?"

"Oh!" Tonks took a moment to process this. "I'm sorry, but I have work all weekend."

"I see. Per'aps some ozzer time." Fleur gave a dejected kind of nod and left the workshop.

Tonks shook her head, gathered up the information Bill had brought in, and went back inside to bid the Weasleys goodnight. She traded jokes with Charlie and the twins and hugged Molly, wishing her a happy birthday again. Molly hugged her back and said how delighted she was to have her come, and Tonks looked across at Fleur, who was watching it with a slightly puzzled look on her face.

Tonks Apparated back to Hogsmeade.

Work resumed its pace the next morning--strings of leads that turned out to go nowhere, tensions with Savage about who was guarding what at which time... what Tonks was beginning to look at, not without dismay, as the shape of her professional life. Dawlish caught her by unpleasant surprise on Friday by calling her in to grill her about Dumbledore's movements; she'd thought he'd given up on his "Us versus Dumbledore" mentality, but apparently, he'd decided that Dumbledore was still an interfering civilian, and the capture of Voldemort should be left to Aurors.

On Sunday, she had to trade watches with Proudfoot because Robards called her to London to talk about Fortescue's disappearance and the murder of Emmeline Vance. He'd run out of leads on both, and hoped she would have fresh ideas. She hadn't any. He asked if she would care to have lunch with him. She told him to have lunch with his wife.

The building was largely empty, with the more bureaucratic offices closed for the weekend, but the Werewolf Capture Unit, like the Auror Division, didn't keep banker's hours, and she thought it might at least be worth a visit. She went down two floors to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, wrinkling her nose inadvertently. They'd kept her in a room all night once when she was fourteen, drinking Veritaserum and testing the limits of her metamorphosing abilities. And of course, last year, they'd hauled Remus in for the great crime of helping her rescue a man being held captive by other werewolves.

She was not a great friend of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

She knocked lightly, but didn't wait for an answer before going into the Capture offices. A man she recognized slightly was leaning over a sallow old woman in shackles, and as she came in, she heard the phrase, "...missed your registration, didn't you Holly?" The werewolf--Holly, apparently--was crying and muttering about forgetting.

The man turned when he heard Tonks approach him. "What do you need?"

Tonks flashed her Auror Division talisman and made up a story on the spot. "I'm stationed up north. Had some reports of werewolves up in the Orkneys."

"I haven't heard anything."

"I need to talk to Fiona Crowler. Is she in?"

"It's Sunday."

"Is she in?"

"Yeah, she's in her office, but she wouldn't usually be."

"All right. May I?"

The man shrugged and turned his attention back to Holly.

Tonks knocked on the door of a side office, then went in. Like most Ministry offices, it was a small, cramped space, but it was kept pin neat, and the shelves on the wall were lined with cheerful pictures of life in Fiona Crowler's family. Fiona herself was wearing sharply tailored robes and had her brown hair tied up in a tidy upsweep. She was filling in some kind of long report scroll, and Tonks could see several like it nearby. By the titles, they seemed to involve missed registration warnings.

"Bit hard on them just for missing registration," she said, closing the door.

Fiona put her quill down. "As we've seen a good deal of increased activity this year, you'll please excuse us for not particularly approving of werewolves who abruptly drop out of sight. And yes, Miss Tonks--I do remember you--that very much includes your friend Mr. Lupin, who is due here in April, whether he likes it or not, and I'm more than half-inclined to call him in early. No one has seen him since summer. What do you need?"

Tonks turned to the door, cast an Impervious Charm on it, and sat down. "When is Robert due for his?"

The color drained out of Fiona's face. "Leave my office."

"I asked--" Tonks frowned. She'd meant to shock Fiona, wrong foot her a bit, to see how she reacted to the subject, but the expression on her face wasn't just wrong-footed. She looked like she'd been stabbed.

"Leave my office. How dare you? My son is dead."

"What?"

Fiona stood. "I don't know how you found out about Robert, but you apparently missed the denouement of the story. Greyback killed him. He stood outside my house and bragged about how he tasted. How dare you bring Robert into this? If your friend can't be bothered to--"

Tonks's mind was reeling. She held up her hand. "This isn't about Lupin. It's about Robert." She fumbled in her satchel, pulled out the drawing, and thrust it across the desk before Fiona could blast the door open and let their conversation out into the main offices. It was a risk--she knew almost nothing about Fiona Crowler--but it was the only thing she could think to do.

Fiona looked down at it cursorily, then looked again. She sat down heavily, her hand flying to her mouth. "Where did you get this?"

"He wants to leave Greyback."

"Are you telling me"--he eyes narrowed dangerously--"that you know where Greyback is?"

"No, I don't."

Abruptly, Fiona swept an arm across her desk, sending things flying through the office. "Bloody Aurors! You're tracking him. Using him to get at someone bigger. There is no one bigger. There is no one worse. There is--"

"Mrs. Crowler, Robert is alive."

"And trapped with that maniac, and you're just letting..." She sat back down, put her hands over her eyes, and wept.

Tonks went around the desk and put her hand over Fiona's shoulders. "I know," she said. "I know. I want to bring him in as well."

"Then why don't you, if you know where he is?"

"He's slippery. You know that. And he's got others around him. And backing in... other places."

"You-Know-Who."

"Yes."

She wiped her nose. "Greyback stood outside my house for three hours just before the full moon. He had my husband. My first husband, Stanley Alderman, Bobby's father. Kept threatening to kill him if I tried anything. He talked about how Bobby had... tasted... Horrible things. And then the moon rose and he bit Stan. Just bit him once and ran off."

"I'm so sorry."

"Stan brewed poison before the next full moon. I found him when I got home from work."

"Robert wants to leave," Tonks said again.

Fiona picked up the drawing Remus had made of Robert Alderman, holding it so tightly that the edges crumpled under her fingers. Her eyes darted to one of the pictures of her younger children. She put her head down on the desk. "Oh, God," she said. "Where is he? And now what?"

Tonks didn't know what to tell her. If she'd had an idea of how this would go at all, she'd thought there might be some fight to keep Robert where he was to avoid bringing danger to Fiona's new family, but a Fiona ready to help and join the fight needed to know things that Tonks didn't know--how Robert planned to get away, where he would go, and how he would lose Greyback--or couldn't tell (namely, where Remus fit into the picture, though Fiona was quite sharp enough to realize that he was in it somewhere).

"I know Greyback better than anyone," Fiona said, lining up an army of quills along the edge of her blotter. It was an odd nervous habit--in the course of their conversation, she had surrounded the blotter with feathers twice, methodically removed them twice, and was starting on her third time around. "I've made it my business. I expect there are things I know about him that the Death Eaters don't know. I've sometimes wished I didn't know them."

"I can imagine."

"Can you?" Fiona mused. "I wonder. Do you know how Greyback was cursed himself?"

"No."

"He captured a werewolf in human form, kept her in a cage until the full moon, and deliberately took the bite. At sunrise, he killed his captive. She'd served her purpose."

Tonks's stomach turned over lazily. "Oh."

"He wasn't altogether successful at first. Nearly got himself killed the first few months he tried attacking his enemies--he's not very bright. Damn bad aim on our part," she muttered. "And of course, at the time, no one was allowed to use serious curses on werewolves. Dislike them, restrict them... but hurt them? Oh, never. We're far too civilized, aren't we? Or we were, then. Before the first war. When Greyback was just starting to show his colors. Your Mr. Lupin was the first time anyone really understood what he meant to do." She sniffed. "That, of course, wasn't publicized. Other parents would have never stood for him at Hogwarts if they'd known. Even if they'd known a child of a particular age had survived an attack, they certainly would have scrutinized the Hogwarts lists for Greyback's enemies. What leaked out to the public was only the scantest of information, the least they could get by knowing. But the Unit has a full report on the incident. I read it when I was training."

The incident, Tonks thought, slightly bemused. The night that had changed the entire shape of Remus's life. The Werewolf Capture Unit had a full report on The Incident. Which, Tonks realized, was considerably more than she or any of Remus's other friends had.

"The others had disappeared," Fiona continued. "The Lupins got their son back. That was the first time that had happened, and they'd got quite an earful on the subject of what Greyback had intended to do. Greyback went to ground for a while after that. No one knows where he took his pack then. My guess is the Black Forest. There've been rumors of feral werewolves there for centuries. The German Ministry denies it, of course, though it's common knowledge that Grindelwald made use of them."

"Imagine that," Tonks said dryly, thinking of Cornelius Fudge and his adamant refusal to discuss Voldemort's return.

"Yes, well." Fiona finished her circuit of the blotter and began to stack her quills as she went around picking them up. "If Robert leaves, Greyback will come for another of my children."

"I don't think Robert knows about them."

"Well, don't tell him. If he's anything like his father, he'll start worrying about it, and not do anything. I want him out of there."

"I think..." Tonks sighed. "I think we need to find a safe haven first. Have everything in place."

"He'll disappear again. You'll lose anyone with him."

"Not this time."

"Ah. Your Mr. Lupin..."

"I can't speak to that. But I don't think Greyback is free to disappear." Tonks chose her words as carefully as she could. "But Fiona... there's a very good possibility that you'll need to. And your husband and children. At least until we've caught Greyback himself."

She paled, and nodded. "Dear God. Of course. I'll need to speak to Roald about it."

"Do it quietly."

"Of course."

Tonks stood up, and Fiona walked her to the office door. "I told your associate--that, er, enthusiastic idiot outside--that I was talking to you about questionable attacks in the Orkneys."

"I'll say you were mistaken and file something with the 'escaped zoo leopard' reports." She smiled wanly. "In a country with no natural wolves left, you'd think Muggles would at least be curious enough to notice them howling. But they never do. It's always bloody escaped zoo leopards. You'd think they were roaming about in prides."

Tonks returned the tentative smile. "And Fiona... don't..." She took a deep breath. "I can't explain things. But don't look for me or mention that we've been talking."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why ever would that be?" she said dryly, then shook her head. "How will we reach one another?"

"I'll get word to you when we've found a sanctuary."

"But Robert... I want to know where he is. I want to see him."

"You will."

"I want to help. I owe Robert that much."

"You know, Fiona... I rather like having more offers of help than tasks that need to be done right now. I wasn't expecting it."

"You're not a mother yet."

A stream of broken daydreams swirled through Tonks's mind, images of empty cradles and lonely age, and she forced herself to smile politely. "No," she said. "I don't suppose I am."

Apparently realizing she'd said something upsetting, Fiona backed away, and sat down at her desk again. "Miss Tonks?"

"Yes?"

"I'll file Lupin's registration papers next month. He won't be expected for another three years."

Tonks thought about thanking her, decided that would be too much of an acknowledgment of what they weren't discussing, and nodded curtly. She left, making up another few lines about non-existent northern victims as she went. Fiona responded impatiently and told her not to waste any more of the Unit's time with Muggle rumors.

She let herself out of the Ministry. For early November--especially this year--it was fairly warm, but raining lightly, and she drew her cloak around herself to keep dry. She thought about going to Grimmauld Place, but couldn't face the memories, even if Molly had been trying to make it look homey again. She had a feeling it wouldn't take her long to start looking around for Sirius to see if he had any ideas, and she really didn't have time to go mad today.

Instead, she wandered aimlessly toward Diagon Alley, ignoring the Muggles who looked oddly at her long cloak. She reached the Leaky Cauldron around three o'clock and ordered a meal without thinking about it. Her mind was off on its own, trying to make connections. Most of her clumsiest episodes had come when she was like this, trying to come up with answers and just a bit unplugged from the world, but this time, she managed not to trip over anything. Mousy brown hair apparently did wonders for the coordination. Quite a discovery, that.

Tom brought her dinner and beer himself--he seemed relieved to have a fairly full house tonight, and she picked around the problem as she ate.

What did she have to work with? A ruby from a water sprite (in return for a service she had yet to perform, she reminded herself), a series of gates that wouldn't let dark creatures through them, an inside spy who wouldn't tell her where he was, the Shrieking Shack, Fiona Crowley, and Bill Weasley. She supposed Dumbledore might be willing to help Fiona and her new family disappear--he'd indicated in the past that he had ways to do so--but until they had a good way to get Robert Alderman out...

She frowned.

If Robert went--especially if he disappeared cleanly at the same time as his surviving family--Greyback would try to go to ground. Even if Voldemort prevented him from doing so completely, he would hide the pups who were left. If they were to get out, it would have to be at the same time.

Which didn't make the problem any easier, or give her any fresh ideas.

Well, you could always find one of those gates, kill a child for his bones, bleed a dark creature, activate a dark spell, and let a pack of feral werewolves into the Forbidden Forest. That would work prettily. No ethical problems there.

She rubbed her forehead. Maybe they could find a gate that would work for dark creatures, and send them... where? The Black Forest? For all she knew, that was Greyback's back-up lair. And how would she get them from one place to another, at any rate?

She needed to know more about where Remus was, where the Alderman boy wanted to escape from. She finished her beer and got up absently to go to the bar and get another, and turned directly into a young witch laden with packages.

"Oh," she said. "I'm sorry. And here's me just thinking I was getting better about this--"

A package was snatched out of her hand, and she looked up for the first time at the witch she'd collided with.

Fleur Delacour looked every inch the Veela at the moment, and not as an entrancing siren. She looked, in fact, like she was ready to peck Tonks's eyes out.

"Fleur! I--"

"Quite a lot of work you 'ave," she said. "I can see 'ow busy you are." She summoned a fallen package and pushed her way out before Tonks could say another word.