Life is a tragedy full of joy

Too many Hippogriff's?

  Distorted shapes formed in the bitter, cold January air each time Tonks and Remus exhaled as they slowly paced down a quiet street in Muggle London, which was quite unusual, to say the least. The once crowded city, or better yet Capital of Great Britain was much quieter nowadays. Since the current Muggle Prime Minister had learnt of the great threat Voldemort posed to both Muggles and Witches and Wizards, he had put London on alert as well as putting in place a curfew, despite the fact this would have absolutely no effect. If Voldemort wanted to get to you, then he would. There was no stopping him.

Everything had changed.

Tonks linked her arms through Remus's, her gloved hands clutching at his brown, tweed jacket. It was best not to stand out in their eccentric wizard robes, so Remus and Tonks had found some suitable Muggle clothing to wear to ensure that they would easily blend in with the crowd, or lack thereof. Remus practically wore his usual get-up of shabby clothing, minor his cloak instead opting for his faded, tweed jacket, whilst Tonks was concealed by her jet black jeans, a Weird Sisters jumper, a black duffle coat which hugged her bump and ankle high, leather boots. It felt highly unnatural to Tonks for her to be covered completely in black, as she usually at least wore a bright, coloured top to add a splash of colour to her outfit. Her clothing made her feel as though the world was mocking her for being a descendant of the Blacks, most of them Slytherin, pureblood maniacs and power hungry. Tonks couldn't be less of a Black if she tried for she was a former Hufflepuff and a Half-Blood, but Black blood still ran through her veins nonetheless. Her mother, Sirius and herself were the only sane ones. They weren't corrupted by the Darks Arts.

The pink hair had also gone. It was important that she looked as much of a Muggle as humanly possibly so she did something that she barely ever did. She morphed into her natural form. It was astounding really how much she resembled her mother with her shoulder length, brunette hair and her pale, heart-shaped face. It was true that her hair looked mousy and limp when depressed, but her natural form was very different when she was content, for her mousy hair transformed into silky, luscious locks that had an element of waviness to them.

These were dangerous times.

Not only was Voldemort more powerful than ever with great numbers at his side, including his loyal Death Eaters, giants and the dementors which had once guarded the wizard prison, Azkaban, Tonks was now also virtually shunned from most of the Wizarding community due to her marriage to Remus. However, she didn't let this phase her, she just ensured that she no longer stuck out like a sore thumb when out in public. In fact, Tonks had never felt happier. She was happily married to the man she loved and lived with him in their small, yet cosy cottage, not to mention that she was 24 weeks pregnant and was carrying their first born.

They were currently out for the day shopping for furniture to put in their baby's nursery. Apparently, according to Andromeda, there was shop not far from the heart of London called 'Magical Mother and Baby Care' which was exactly like St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries which appeared as a department store to Muggle's passing by. Whilst 'Magical Mother and Baby Care' was a pregnancy and baby store, it had the exterior design of a dilapidated, worn down, two storey toy shop. Tonks had questioned her mother as to why it was so randomly placed in London, but her mother simply responded that there was nowhere else to put it. Diagonally Alley was mainly directed at shops for those still in school and Hogsmeade wasn't big enough to accommodate it. Surprisingly, this was actually a very well known shop amongst Wizarding families that were expecting, so Tonks was dumbfounded to have never heard of it, however, she had never had reason to before.

They both arrived at the entrance where a Lego statue stood out front, a big smile painted on his face, and Tonks was forced to remind herself that this was supposedly an old toy shop. Andromeda had informed Remus and Tonks that in order to enter you just needed to shake the Lego statue's hand and he would step aside. Of course, to Muggles they would believe this to be an animatronic or robotic trick. Remus stuck out his hand to the Lego statue and gently shook it, leading it to announce, "Welcome to Magical Mother and Baby Care. Please enter", before taking a step to the right revealing a glass door which Remus and Tonks happily stepped through.

They found themselves in a small, wooden panelled hallway with a set of stairs at the other end which Remus and Tonks proceeded to walk up. It came as no surprise to find that it was practically empty. They were at war. It wasn't exactly an appropriate time to be having children. Nevertheless, they were in this predicament and had come to accept the fact that it had happened and that there was nothing they could do to alter their situation. Abortion just wasn't an option.

It was unbelievable to Remus and Tonks how many furniture items there were. Their main priority was a cot so they walked over to the section where they were on display. They had recently had a discussion about the nursery and had decided to no longer have it a pale yellow. Instead, they had decided on a light, soft grey and white hippogriff theme, in remembrance of Sirius. Whilst Sirius was cooped up inside Number 12 Grimmauld Place, he had found a friend in Buckbeak, the hippogriff which had once belonged to Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts.

Tonks's eyes welled with tears as she spotted a white wooden cot that ironically had hippogriff heads engraved into the wood. It was though it was meant to be. The cot immediately made her think of her late cousin and how much she still missed him.

"Oh Remus, it's perfect," she breathed.

"Indeed. It certainly has an element of Sirius to it. I can practically hear him cheering us on to buy it for our child," Remus smiled.

They were amazed at how fast they were able to pick out all the furniture for the nursery. They had settled on the white, hippogriff cot, which had a matching changing table, chest of drawers and wardrobe as well as soft, grey curtains and a night-light that illuminated hippogriff's dancing along the walls. It was hilarious the amount of varied polyester, stuffed hippogriff's they had purchased. Lastly, they decided on a round, light grey and white, striped rug to place in the centre of the nursery in order to add an element of warmth.

Once they had purchased all their items, Remus transfigured them all into a smaller size, placing them in a medium sized cardboard box which he could easily carry, then walked over to a fireplace with Tonks which had conveniently been placed at the back of the shop. He allowed Tonks to go first, watching her as she was engulfed by neon, green flames as she called out "Lupin Residence." Remus immediately followed after her.

It was later in the evening and Remus and Tonks found themselves at the Burrow as Molly and Arthur had invited them over for dinner. It was refreshing to see friendly faces as the last time they had seen them had been Christmas four weeks ago. Whilst the Order had remained an underground resistance, it was difficult to meet up on a regular basis. They mainly used Potterwatch now, a radio station which informed the Wizarding world on what was happening.

Whilst it was nice to see friendly faces Remus and Tonks had never seen Molly and Arthur look so sombre. They knew that they were worried about the trio, especially Ron who was, of course, their youngest son. They were too, though Remus hadn't really mentioned the trio since their last encounter at Grimmauld Place. He was still too ashamed. Molly placed a mouth-watering stew in front of them all and sat down at the table, tucking into her own dinner.

Tonks was first to break the silence, "Your cooking skills never cease to amaze me, Molly."

A ghost of a smile appeared on Molly's face, "Thank you, dear. Actually, stew was a meal I regularly craved when I was pregnant with the twins." Once the sentence had escaped her lips she immediately resumed her sombre look. Molly was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that her son, George, had lost his ear during the Battle of the Seven Potters. Of course, she knew how dangerous it was going to be, but reality hit home when she saw the blood gushing from the gaping hole on the left side of George's head.

Remus chuckled, "I've come to the conclusion that Dora here has a huge craving for ginger newts."

This immediately broke Molly out of her melancholy state as a thought struck her mind, "Really? I craved those when I was pregnant with Ginny. Maybe this means your having a girl! What do you reckon Arthur?"

For the first time since they had arrived Arthur laughed at Molly's sudden excitement, "Molly dear, I'm sure it's just a coincidence, although who knows?"

Remus and Tonks both grinned. "It's funny you should say that, even though we would be equally delighted to have a girl, Remus and I are secretly hoping for a boy."

"Arthur and I love all our boys, but we were so happy when Ginny turned out to be a girl. We had always longed for a baby girl so when our wish came true we couldn't have been happier."

"I'm not surprised, six boys is a lot to handle," Remus laughed.

"Hear, hear" Arthur chuckled.

They continued to eat, laugh and talk for the next two hours, thankfully creating a lighter and happier atmosphere. A flicker of sadness would flash across Molly and Arthur's face each time Ron's name cropped up in the conversation, but Tonks promised that they would see Ron before they knew it, safe and happy. Little did they know that Ron, along with Harry and Hermione were currently being ambushed by Death Eaters at Xenophilius Lovegood's house.