Image Credit: 'Remus and Tonks' by upthehillart

Prologue: Auror Down

As soon as the curse struck her, there was an explosion of high, cackling laughter.

"No more polluting my family tree, blood traitor brat!"

There was a tearing sensation deep inside her. Tendrils of dark magic were spreading from the point of impact and surging through her veins. With her legs flying out from beneath her, she was suspended in the air. Then there was a crack as her head hit the first of the stone stairs. Her body flopped from one to the other, gathering speed, and her vision became a spinning blur of colour: a scene of battle; a whirl of pink; a step rising to meet her; an archway with a flowing veil.

Then her vision went. And all was pain.

The next thing she knew was bright whiteness. Uniformed people were shouting, busying themselves around her. She was sliding down a corridor; unreadable signs passing above.

The pain was getting worse and, as the curse tightened its grip on her insides, her understanding began to slip away. The mad laughter bounced around inside her head. An inescapable screech.

"It will be a slow death - blood traitor scum!"

She was afraid. She was tired. The people surrounding her became more urgent; their frantic instructions rising into a terrible buzz.

But then. She heard one individual voice rising out of the din. Warm. Urgent. Choked with sobs.

"…you have to hold on, Tonks…please…."

The sound of the laughter was fading now. It was replaced by this single voice, calling her back to herself. She knew what this voice was: the kindest eyes meeting hers across a room; the deepest kiss on a rooftop as the sky exploded in colour; the warmest arms holding her as night turned into morning.

"…please stay with me…"

The blackness was claiming her now but, as she descended, she didn't lose the sensation of his touch on her hand. A true north in all the pain and confusion.

Remus.