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He was getting too old for this. Too old to be running about the British countryside anyway. It was early morning, and the sky broke into a sunless grey dawn. The forest began to wake, birds up and calling in the bare trees above as his feet crunched through dead leaves. Ted Tonks was a proud man. He had never asked for anything without giving something in return. He had never taken himself too seriously like his beloved 'Dromeda did and he was never afraid to stand up for what he believed in.
"Ted, I mean… Are you sure you want to go alone? I can come with you and-"
"No, pet, it'll be safer if I go alone. Besides, 'Dora needs you."
"And did you ever think that I might need you?"
Andromeda needed no one and he knew it as she did. He allowed his mind the luxury to drift back to Hogwarts days. How the haughty Slytherin would protest until her last breath that she didn't need any help with her defensive spells and certainly not from an upstart moron like him. He smirked at how they'd been with each other in the beginning.
He stopped at the edge of a clearing, surveying the area to make sure it was safe like a deer being hunted. He tried to calm his mind, mingling with reminders of being stunned and cursed with flashes of Dora's hot pink hair and Andromeda's deep brown eyes. Sometimes he nearly apparated home, convincing himself that it would be safe, if just for a few minutes. His spontaneous disposition would itch at him. This usually loveable trait he had passed to his daughter.
Crack.
There it was. The smallest sound, missed anywhere else but here in the middle of the sleeping wood. Someone or someones had apparated about 100 yards to the east. Ted gripped his wand which had been permanently attached to his hand in the last few weeks. To think he used to carelessly leave it lying around the house. Andromeda would roll her eyes watching him turn everything upside down to find it. Ted edged forward carefully. It was so cold that breath was visible in front of him in light puffs. His heart rate was up, blood thumping in his temples. He tightened the grip on his wand as the rustling of leaves and booted footsteps edged closer. Please don't be Greyback, please Merlin, don't let it be that brute...
Ted closed his eyes for a brief moment, as he considered his chances at random apparation. It was risky, and they were too close now. He did the only thing he could think of; he flung a disarming spell at the faceless Snatcher as they became visible amongst the trees and moved off quickly.
"THERE. GET 'IM!"
Ted ran, panic stricken. His chest tightened with the sign of age as he continued to sprint through the woods. As he went, he remembered 7th Year, when he had hurried from the green houses to the Great Hall, where Narcissa was ripping her elder sister apart for betraying the family. Ted had never had patience for Narcissa. In his opinion she was a stupid little girl on a power trip, funded from the Black name. She was a Malfoy now and would always have powerful friends to back her up. Those powerful friends were now hunting him.
"NO, Ted! You can't take them all on your own!"
"I'm not going to let them talk to you OR me like that!"
Andromeda's arms came around his shoulders, drawing close to him. He looked reluctantly into her eyes and felt her fingernails in his hair.
"I know and that's why you're wonderful. But Ted, please, just leave it this time."
This time though, Ted chose to face his enemy. He slowed and turned to the three nasty pieces of work in black (luckily, no Greyback). Each sneering triumphantly as they closed in on their muggle-born prey. He'd had taken on three Death Eaters before…Of course he had been younger and with Andromeda as they escaped the Manor. That was the only time he had seen compassion from Bellatrix; she could've killed them both, instead she'd let them go. But he wouldn't run anymore. As the snatchers prowled around him, Ted stood his ground and raised his wand.
"Expelliarmus!" The lanky, mug-faced Snatcher was quicker. Ted's wand flipped off to land somewhere in the grass nearby. He was actually shocked that he had been disarmed so quickly. He thought at least to get a few curses in.
Defenceless and quite singled out, Ted backed up with no where to go. The Snatchers watched him with cruel amusement until one, the largest, raised his wand to Ted and shouted the Unforgivable Curse, Crucio.
He reeled, head splitting as his entire body succumbed to thousands of spasms of pain to make up one ultimately crippling spasm. He withered to his knees and squeezed his eyes shut as white hot pressure seared through his nerves. Ted had suffered this before, with Andromeda. He had never let go of her hand as they endured the worst together. But this, without his wife beside him, he was lax. Part of him wanted to just give up; accept defeat and have done with it. It was better than being on the run, never knowing where the next meal was coming from and having only memories of love, instead of love itself.
She slipped her hand into his delicately as he stood a few metres from the cliff's edge. The wind was fresh and the sun was sinking into a pink and orange arrangement of clouds. He squeezed her hand.
"Are you happy?" He asked, after some time. Andromeda looked up at him, curious of the sudden question, but she smiled and leant into him, head dropping onto his shoulder.
"I've never been happier." She said with a soft melodic purr. They had been married two days, their problems so distant across the sea.
He survived the first war, had seen Voldemort fall through passive eyes. He had not fought as he wanted to and respected Andromeda's wishes. They spent their days protecting their fragile relationship, in hiding. He had fought this time, he had even killed. He had bled and bruised and shivered without shelter. He did it all to protect his family.
The pain subsided but it did not entirely fade as the Snatcher lowered his wand, disgruntled by Ted's lack of vocalised pain. He looked up from his crumpled position on the ground and shifted as much as he tried to stand. He was only able to make it to his knees and there he stayed; head held high.
"Ain't you er..." The lanky Snatcher referred to his parchment.
"Ted Tonks." He said, with a bite. No point in hiding it now. The Snatchers looked as if they had caught Harry Potter himself.
"Well, Mr. Tonks. You've been a very bad man, 'aven't ya?" Said the Snatcher, rather patronisingly. When Ted didn't reply, his amused smirk turned into a scowl. "Well, we were goin' to take ya to the Ministry for screenin' but seein 'ow you've been incredibly difficult-."
"I won't go to the ministry and be screened like some animal for the slaughter. I am Ted Tonks, I was born a muggle, I am a wizard and I am not afraid of you."
Ted Tonks had always been a proud man who never feared anyone. Andromeda had once told him that he was a fool for it, and he had laughed. He could hear her voice now, see her pale, solemn face on the day that he left. Stood on the doorstep with her brown curls cascading over her shoulders. He had leant down and pressed a kiss tenderly to her forehead. Andromeda was beautiful when she looked sad, but her smile warmed his soul like no other. Even after 20 years it still had the same effect.
A green light shot from the end of a wand, Ted's body slumped to the ground.
"Ted Tonks." said the lanky Snatcher, ticking his name from the quota. "Right, let's get on then."
Crack.