Disclaimer: Anything that is recognisable as part of the Harry Potter franchise is not my own.

"Thank you, Andromeda," Kingsley said with a nod towards her as she presented him with his promised drink, taking his travelling cloak from him and hooking it onto the stand by the front door which already seemed full to bursting. Remus took the seat next to him on the sofa as Andromeda settled in the armchair across the room from them.

"So they were willing to accept the reforms?" Andromeda asked the pair with heightened interest, peering over the glasses she often wore purely out of habit.

The two men looked at each other for a second, by Kingsley gestured for Remus to describe the events of the afternoon. As he opened his mouth to speak, Tonks entered the room with Teddy in her arms, now fed and calm.

"Don't stop on my account," She teased as she perched herself on the arm of the sofa next to Remus. "I want to hear everything, don't you dare leave out any of the finer details,"

Remus laughed, shaking his head slightly before turning back to the eagerly waiting Andromeda. "Well, there isn't much to say to be honest," He told her, earning a hum from Kingsley in agreeance.
They were under strict instructions not to let details of the situation involving Neil Wolcott slip from within the tight group of those already involved. "They were quite surprisingly accepting towards our case,"

"I wouldn't say 'surprising'," Tonks said. "The case was fantastic,". Remus looked down briefly at the mug he held clasped between his own hands, shaking his head although a small smile graced his lips. Looking past Remus from her position on the arm of the sofa, she saw Kingsley lean back in his seat and nod.

"I've assigned two ministry workers who stayed loyal to our cause during the take over of the ministry, Nicholas Plunkett and Demelza Rothley, to lead the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and they were both very open to the reforms, Remus' presence seemed to be the thing that convinced them," Kingsley said, thumping Remus on the shoulder admiringly.

"There were a couple of people on the panel who were reluctant to agree, but the power of majority seemed to help us most of all," He said, turning to Andromeda once again as he fell silent. Her face was one of impatience as she practically bounced in her seat, grinning widely.

"And what have they agreed?" She said, leaning forwards in her seat, much like Tonks who seemed to be edging closer and closer to Remus until she was practically seated in his lap.

"For now," Kingsley started, bending down to retrieve a scroll of paper with notes that had been taken by a scribe during the conference and beginning to read from it. "The marriage, breeding and employment laws have been repealed, werewolves have the right to take any cases of discrimination to a hearing with the Court of Magical Law, and a pamphlet written by Penrose to combat some of the anti-werewolf propaganda spread by Umbridge."

"Brilliant," Andromeda exclaimed with evident gratitude. "And after that?" she added, as Tonks flung the arm that wasn't supporting Teddy around Remus' shoulders.

"Well," Remus sighed, reaching up to take a hold of Tonks' hand on his shoulder, and rubbing small circles into the back of her hand with the pad of his thumb. "I think were just going to be playing it by ear, seeing how the public takes it and how well the repeals work, and then we'll think about adding to the proposal,".

Kingsley drained the last of his drink and stood as he checked his watch. "Very promising," he added, earning various noises of approval from the others present in the room. "I must dash though, I have a few more errands to run quite urgently,".

Kingsley shook Remus' hand, and hugged both of the women, obviously happy with the outcome of the days events. He allowed Andromeda to show him to the door, thanking her for the tea as she handed him his travelling cloak. Remus and Tonks were left alone with Teddy.

"I couldn't be more proud of you, Remus," Tonks said as Remus shuffled over on the sofa to allow her to slip into the seat next to him, handing him Teddy as he held his arms out for the baby, now sleeping remarkably peacefully.

"Thank you, Dora," He said, supporting Teddy with one arm as he held him firmly against his chest as he reached out towards he with the other. He hooked it around her waist, pulling her closer towards him. She obliged, leaning into his torso and resting her head on his shoulder, giving her a perfect view of the baby's face, scrunched up in his sleeping state. She reached out and pushed the shawl away from his face slightly, running her hand against his very sparse hair. Remus, on the other hand, focused solely on her. He rested her chin on the top of her head, taking in the familiarly fruity scent of her shampoo.

"I told mum about the house in Hogsmeade," she said, not looking away from Teddy. All of a sudden, she burst out into a silent laugh, hiding her face in Remus' chest to hide her laughter, although the shaking of her shoulders gave her away. "I think you know what I mean when I say she was not at all happy,".

This conjured a similar bought of laughter from Remus, who was well aware of how much Andromeda would oppose to them moving away from her. Despite her usually calm demeanour, it was evident that she had the Black family temperament when pushed to a certain point. "She'll come around soon. Perhaps you just shocked her a tad," He ran a hand over her back as he reassured her, feeling the bump of each vertebrae in her spine as he did so.

She shrugged, keeping her movements small and subtle to avoid disturbing Teddy. "She's agreed that she'll look after Teddy while we move in though. I suppose she hasn't got a choice, the house is far too crowded at the moment,".

Remus raised an eyebrow, surprised at his mother in law's willingness to accept her only daughter moving out, for good it seemed. "We shouldn't have to wait too long then,".

Tonks looked up. "Saturday," she grinned, grey eyes twinkling with excitement. Saturday, just under two days away.

"Dora, don't you think it's a bit soon-".

"Remus," she said, in a matter of fact manner as she put her hand on her hip. "When have we ever taken anything slowly?". She leant forwards, pressing a soft kiss to Teddy's forehead, and then turned to Remus, pressing another kiss, quick and warm, to his lips. All to quickly, she pulled away and stood up.

"Point taken, my love,"

She took his hand as they walked, practically pulling him along behind her. He obliged, simply happy to see that it was he who had made her feel this way. As he stopped her, with a gentle hand on her upper arm than soon slipped down to grasp her hand in his, she turned to him with her mouth set in the same wide grin that it had been in the whole morning. He previous thoughts were validated.

Tonks didn't let go of his hand, not even when he moved towards the door retrieving the key that he had been sent with a flourish, given to him by owl once again. "Here it goes," He said, more to himself than to his wife. He had barely noticed that his hand was shaking, although he was not cold, and couldn't decide whether it was due to the nerves, excitement or a strange combination of both. The absurdity of the situation hit him all at once, something that he hadn't thought of in the adrenaline of the last few weeks.

He fumbled with the key, Tonks still holding on to his other hand as it became clammy with sweat. As he managed to turn the key in the lock, the door swung open, groaning on it's hinges. Then it hit him, all of his heightened senses crying out to him.

Blood, and death. The rancid scent travelled up into his nostrils, completely overwhelming. Automatically he began to hold his breath. It was dark and he couldn't see anything but the silhouette of the staircase and doors leading from the entrance into three other rooms.

Tonks couldn't smell it, but she knew something wasn't right because of the expression on her husbands face. "Lumos," he heard her whisper behind him, sparking him to do the same and taking him out of his daze. Two blue tinged balls of lights erupted from the ends of their wands, not doing much except for highlighting the dated floral wallpaper his mother had favoured so much. "Remus, what is it?" Her voice was shaky.

"I don't know," He wasn't lying, but he didn't tell her about the stench. He remained reassured by the fact that the blood didn't smell fresh, but must have been there some time. "Stay behind me, Dora. I know you can hold your own, but-". The truth was, he didn't want her to have to protect herself. He wanted to be her protector.

She obliged unthinkingly, gripping his hand in a vice grip as he systematically stood in the doorway of each ground floor room, the light from both of their wands just being enough to give them a decent view of the interior. They were all empty, except for the counters in the kitchen, a lone dining table in one room and an arm chair in another, which held various suspicious looking stains and most likely would need to be disposed of.

"I don't think there's anyone down here," Tonks said, quieter than her usual gleeful, happy-to-lucky tone. They didn't need to talk to know that something was not right. Remus shook his head, and looked up to the ceiling.

"I can't hear anyone upstairs," he said, "But it doesn't take a genius to hide,".

She stayed close behind him as they made their way up the staircase with caution, her front pressed up against his back. The stairs protested against his weight as he pulled her up them, and both of them jumped out of shock as a large groan erupted from the wood.

He looked back at her for a second, her face illuminated by the light of their wands and the front door which had been left open. She nodded, as if prompting him to move forwards. "Stay close," he repeated. He didn't wait for her response, but felt her hand tighten around his reassuringly.

The first bedroom and the box room were both just as empty and inoffensive as the rooms downstairs, as was the bathroom, which was only in need to a heavy duty clean. It would have been irrational to look in the attic room, considering that the trap door in the ceiling was practically completely concealed underneath a layer of undisturbed dust and cobwebs. One room, the furthest from the top of the stairs remained, and as much as he tried to deny it the smell seemed to radiate from that room. It had hit Tonks now, and she held her hand up to her face, attempting to block the stench with her sleeve.

The suspense became unbearable and Remus came to a quick and rash conclusion that it was better to jump in head first than to wait, and let the impact of whatever was waiting for them to brew and bubble over. The door was already flung open, and as they walked past it, it was difficult not to notice the large and dark brown hand print of what must have been a male adult. Tonks brought her hand up to it, but upon drawing it away realised that it was old and dried over, leaving no visible marks on her finger tips.

Remus held his wand aloft and pointed at the ceiling, spreading the light that erupted from the tip around the room, illuminating small wooden mantle piece and the window, so covered in general debris that it could have been boarded up. Splattered amongst the roses of the dated wallpaper was alien marks of dark crimson, what would have once been something so much more shocking and red. He took a step closer, Gryffindor courage taking control of him perhaps as every part of his brain screamed out at him to run as far away.

He felt Tonks hand slip from his own, but didn't grip onto it like he had before. It was evident that no one was in there now. He watched as she wandered over to the window, rubbing the glass vigorously with her sleeve until a small patch of dirt had been lifted, just enough to let some daylight into the room. The natural light projected a small area of the soiled wall. It was only then that the realised he was standing in the middle of the room with no purpose, and he moved over to the visible blood, examining it. Cautiously, he bent at the knees slightly until he was at an eye level with it, and inhaled.

"Dora, it's not human," he said, the muscles all over his body relaxing slightly, although not completely. He didn't turn to her, but instead pulled away slightly, examining the colour of the blood. Sure enough, it had a magenta tinge that he didn't recognise, but he could guarantee that it was some sort of animal.

She seemed to be drawing towards the same conclusion as him. "They're trying to scare us," She said. "Or someone else," she added, an after thought of sorts. Remus turned to face her, confusion evident on his face. She had picked up a small piece of parchment that had evidently gone unnoticed previously. He approached, resting a hand on the small of her back without any thought and with his other hand using his wand to light up the writing on the paper, faint as if a very small amount of ink had been used.

The only thing written on the paper were three names, in messy block capitals, with little care taken, as if the scribe had been in a rush. They had obviously wanted to make their message known, or their presence.

'ANTONIN DOLOHOV
THORFINN ROWLE
WALDEN MACNAIR'

"They're all in Askaban now, Kingsley escorted them there himself, and the Aurors at the prison would know if they were gone," She craned her neck to look at Remus, a crease forming between her brows. "This must have happened before the final battle,"

Remus was purely focused on the piece of parchment in her hand. It had left a dusty residue on her skin, so must have been there some time. He sighed. "This wasn't unusual during the first war, they're trying to scare people, make them give in-"

"But they failed," she said. Remus was aware of her grinning, turning to face him. The piece of parchment fell until it landed at her feet, forgotten. She leant into him, taking comfort in the closeness of his body to hers. He raised both arms, still holding her wand, and looped them behind his neck as he accepted the proximity, linking his own hands at her waist. "No one gave in to them this time, and that's why they're gone for good,"

"I know. It's all forwards from here,". The simplicity of her statement had made him smile, as did the idea that the wizarding population as a whole now held the view that their safety was not at risk. It didn't prevent the memories of the war from flooding people's minds though, and Remus couldn't quite shake the scene surrounding them, with the animal blood disruption the what should have been scenic family home. Even if it hadn't been the scene of some disturbing loss of human life, it had been used as a weapon by the Death Eaters wasn't a comfortable one either. The lack of the Dark Mark only provided an extent of the ease one should feel in their family home. "Are you sure you want to stay here?" He looked down at his wife.

Her eyes widened and she raised one eyebrow, as if his suggestion was ludicrous. "Wouldn't we be giving them what they wanted, then?"She brought one hand around to cover his cheek and jaw, running her fingertips over his skin. "This is still perfect, much more than I could have ever asked for," She said, her voice hitching as she stood on her toes, pressing her lips against his and tipping her head back slightly as he leaned in closer to her, and she melted into his warm embrace.

She could practically hear the smile in his voice as he spoke. "I should go and get the boxes,". The boxes, left outside on the doorstep of the house, had been completely forgotten in their initial shock of finding the house in the state that it had been in. "I think we have some lamps that we can light for now," He held the door open for her, and they began to walk down the staircase in a entirely different mindset than they had been in previously.

"It won't take us long to clean this up," she stated without even a hint of negativity that most would have after being inside the house. She looked at the wall in the entrance hall "We can strip the wallpaper first, it reminds me of that Umbridge woman,". She looked at the overly floral walls, shuddering as her face formed a grimace.

"Most defiantly," Remus agreed as he cast a engorgement charm on one of the boxes, reversing the shrinking charm that they had used as a way of making the move easier.

It hadn't taken them long to move at all, at the most a few days had been spent moving their possessions back and forth between the Tonks' household and their new home within Hogsmeade. No one really had many possessions after the war, having been prepared to pack up their lives at any second if a threat was to arise. There had been certain bits and pieces that they had collected, and a crib for Teddy, along with the furniture that Andromeda and Molly had given them, and a selection of pieces of furniture that they had found in one of the local antique shops.

As well as functioning practically for the three of them, it provided much more. What Remus thought was the most important factor that they had been given along with the house, was the sense of family that it gave. Although Remus had no complaints about living with Tonks' mother, and everyone had been happy with the situation, he couldn't help but think that this was what being a family was as he watched his wife pace across the bed room, smiling down at the young baby in her arms, while he sat on the bed next to his open but empty briefcase on the last day of August, and the last day of the Summer holidays.

"And you're sure you'll both be fine?" He asked, for what must have been the hundredth time that week. He knew the answer, but he couldn't help but worry about leaving them for the first time since Teddy's birth, even if he would be back by Friday night.

"Of course," She said, as if it would be absurd to suggest anything else. She stopped in front of the window, looking straight forwards at him. After a moment she leant down, her forehead close to Teddy's, but carried on looking at Remus. "Teddy, tell your father he is being ridiculous," she said in a mock whisper.

She walked over, painfully slowly, and lowered Teddy into his arms as he unconsciously accepted him into his embrace, bringing an arm around him protectively and instinctively. He patted the space on the bed next to him, and she sat, leaning into his side. "I don't doubt you for one second,"

"I know," she grinned, propping her chin upon his shoulder and joining him as he stared down at the baby, who looked back up at them with a look of utter fascination on his face, pink lips parted in his concentration.

A/N: Hi! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed and favourited this story so far. I'm back at school now after study leave, but hopefully I'll have more time to write than I did before as my lessons are far more laid back than they were before my exams. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has thought about this chapter, thank you for reading!