Piece By Piece

Chapter Twenty-Five: How We Go To War

(If you're seeing this published again I just came back to edit bc I realized I had the chapter number in numerical form by mistake. All fixed now!!)
      To say that Remus "woke up" the next morning would be generous; it was more that he stopped trying to sleep when the alarm clock told him to. He groaned and rolled out of bed, using a sluggish arm to slap the alarm into silence. He sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes... then it hit him: Today they were going to Malfoy Manor.

Remus sighed. All of the preparations they'd been doing, all of the time he'd spent in the Weapons Lab building items and then teaching Aurors how to use some of them, the mornings he'd spent in the conference room, they were all building up to today. The day that they would finally, hopefully, dismantle the Death Eaters for good was today.

He turned around, hoping to speak to Dora, but she wasn't there. Remus stood up and left their room to look for her. When he entered the living room he found her sitting on the small couch and playing with Teddy, who was bouncing on her lap. Remus leaned on the doorway and let his heart ache. He knew that both of them needed to go on this mission; but he couldn't ignore what happened last time they'd both left him to fight. He didn't know if he could lose his son again.

"You're awake." Dora's words snapped Remus out of his thoughts.

He forced a sad smile and shrugged. "I wouldn't say that I really slept."

"That makes two of us," Dora said. She paused and stared at their son. "I should get dressed and get my stuff. Do you-"

Remus was already at the couch by the time she finished the first sentence. "I've got him," He said softly.

Teddy nearly jumped into his arms. "Dada!" He squealed.

Remus smiled as he held his son close and took Dora's place on the couch. "Good morning," he said, kissing the curly mess of hair on top of his head.

"Mommy said you guys have to leave today," Teddy said abruptly, "Is it like last time? When are you coming back?"

The questions hit Remus like a freight train. He knew that Harry had covered for his and Dora's absence as just "they had to leave," but he was still shocked at how aware of it Teddy was. Remus gathered his thoughts. "Hopefully..." He began. "Hopefully it won't be long."

"How long?"

"I don't know, Teddy." Remus pulled his son even closer. "But it shouldn't be nearly as long as last time. And besides; no matter how long it takes you'll have Harry and Grandma. You like them, right?"

"I like you and mommy more."

Remus was thankful that Teddy had buried his head into his shirt, otherwise he would have seen the tears that raced down his cheeks. He was even more thankful that Dora came back out of the bedroom with her things just in time to relieve Remus of hiding his emotions; or, rather, enable it. She picked Teddy out of his arms and he left the room quickly.

Remus busied himself with getting dressed to avoid breaking down. He pulled a knapsack out of the small closet and filled it with the first aid kit he'd been given, as well as a few items he'd been able to take from the Weapons Lab. The rest would be filled up later. When he was ready to go he checked his watch. 7:30, perfect.

Dora stood up as he entered the living room and picked up her bag. They stared at each other silently, not needing words to express how they felt. Remus made a beeline for the door and opened it for Dora, who had her hands full. They walked to the Cafeteria in silence.