“Come in, come in! Welcome.” Dumbledore waved his good hand in their direction. “It seems we have solved your mystery for you,” amusement filled his voice as he waved the two into the office.
Remus and Tonks moved into the room. Both a bit confused as they saw Fred and George Weasley sitting in the chairs, looking a bit sheepish, especially once they saw who was entering the office.
With a gasp, Tonks came back to herself. All the madness she had felt in the past few days evaporated on the spot. As Remus admitted that he had only been protecting himself and the spells coming at her were her own spells, Tonks looked at him in wonder. The love she felt for him grew ever larger, and when he admitted his love for her she was almost breathless. As he talked about his unworthiness, Tonks knew that she would have to find a way to change his mind. Hope filled her heart at his confession, and she knew he saw it.
As they decided to chase those that had hired them, Tonks felt more herself then she had all year. As they entered Dumbledore’s office, confusion filled her for a minute, but soon she thought she knew what was going on as she saw the sheepish look that came off of Fred and George Weasley’s faces.
Tonks moved with Remus close behind to face the Weasley twins. Molly looked on with a stern look as Dumbledore just seemed to smile larger. It was nice to see him smile since he wore a look of worry more and more these day; however, Tonks wished it was at a more humorous situation.
“What is going on? Remus and I have just found out we were hired to kill each other, and came here to let Molly know I was ok. We were then going to go hunt down the person that hired us to kill each other.” Tonks watched Fred and George squirm as she talked.
Molly glared at the boys before turning to Tonks, “I’m relieved that you are safe. I think that the boys have something to tell you both.”
“Um, we ah. . .,” George started.
Fred glanced at his brother before clearing his throat and added, “It was us. We were the ones that met with both of you and gave you the notes. We were trying to get you to talk to each other.”
Tonks looked at Remus out of the corner of her eye and noticed a completely shocked look. “Do you realize that because of everything that has happened this year, I was actually trying to kill Remus? As he started to talk to me, I managed to snap out of the madness I was feeling and come back to myself!” Tonks yelled.
Dumbledore lost his smile as he heard her words.
Molly looked shocked as she heard Tonks had actually tried to hurt Remus.
Fred and George cringed under her barrage.
“We didn’t think either of you would take the assignment seriously,” George managed to say softly after a moment.
Fred swallowed and added, “We expected you to come here and discuss who could have given you this mission and whether it was real or not. We never thought either of you would be in danger. I told George that I had seen a weird look in your eyes as you accepted the mission, though.”
Remus finally found his voice, “Couldn’t you think of a less confrontational way of getting us to meet up?”
“Well, since you were off undercover, it had to be something big to pull you back,” Fred explained. “Tonks has been so depressed, we thought knowing you were in danger would pull her back to her normal spunky self, not put her into some out of control madness where she was an actual danger.”
George cleared his throat and looked first at Remus, and then at Tonks. “We do intend to give both of you the money that was promised in those letters. The shop is doing well, and we would never promise something like that and not go through with it. It is the least we owe you now after all you have gone through the past few days. Sorry.”
“Sorry,” Fred agreed.
Tonks was speechless. Finding out she would be able to help her parents after all, was a relief. Normally she would turn the money down, but because of the trouble that had come from the past few days; she was going to make sure they paid up.
“You don’t owe us anything. I took the mission because I thought it was a test to prove I was actually working with the werewolves,” Remus replied.
“Remus, dear, you better let them pay up. I insist, even if they hadn’t first. They should have never played such a dangerous prank.” Molly walked over and took Remus’ hand and then turned to Tonks and pulled Remus over to her. “I’m just glad that you are both here and safe, for the moment anyhow.”
Remus met Tonks eyes for a moment before turning his head and pulling his hand out of Molly’s.
Dumbledore came out of the shadows and into the center of the room. “We are all glad that everyone is safe. Fred and George had good intentions, but that isn’t always all that is required. I hope that you boys have learned your lesson.”
Fred and George nodded to everyone standing around them. The stood up as a team as Dumbledore beckoned them to join everyone else.
“Times are still dangerous, and will probably get worse before this all ends. I hope that we can all pull together and be thankful for who and what we are,” Dumbledore added with a strange glint in his eye as he looked to Remus and Tonks.
“Well, I had better get back to my mission. I just wanted to make sure that Tonks didn’t have anyone else after her,” Remus glanced awkwardly at Tonks as he backed towards the door.
“I’m glad that it wasn’t anything else more serious too. All of us have Death Eaters targeting us, but to think someone had actually put a contract out on Tonks had me worried.” Molly hugged Tonks.
Tonks watched Remus leave the office. A wave of sadness washed over her as she wondered when and where she would see him again. Knowing he loved her, she would find a way to convince him of his worthiness. Now all she needed was the opportunity.