She was scared. She was genuinely, honestly scared and she didn't know what to do about it. She hated herself for it. But he was scared too and she needed to be strong for him. Tonks sighed, but with Rodolphus there and then she could feel that gaping loneliness that had haunted her the whole day fade that much more. That overburdened, cornered feeling becoming an unpleasant memory as he reassured her; his every kiss and every smile giving her at least that much more strength until reality came crashing back. "If-- When He makes his presence known.. That will be it. There's no bureaucracy that can protect you. MLE already has you in their sights, the minute the Dark Lord comes back.. Every pretense will be gone." She should have rejoiced over that. She, an Auror, should have been thrilled at that. Yet the prospect haunted her. This would be the DMLE's chance to finally throw Bellatrix behind bars, yet every time Tonks opened her eyes she saw the price. Her hatred for Bellatrix or her love for him. It scared her even more that she already knew the answer. The minute all this became public the Dark Lord wasn't going to be their only enemy, or their only threat. Swallowing, Tonks smiled, then, tightly at first until she forced herself to relax into it, "Protecting the innocent, are we? How chivalrous" she laughed weakly, brushing her nose against his, "I think I'm starting to corrupt you."
Her hands tightened against the fabric of his shirt as he went quiet. Tonks tried desperately to look past the tension she could feel radiating from him, to ask what had driven him to silence. Instead she focused on his breathing against her neck, the feel of his hair against his face. Now more than ever she knew this couldn't last forever, and the day would come when it'd come down to death or goodbye. But still she needed him, it destroyed her to know how much risk she was putting him in but she just needed him so much.
Tonks blinked when he pulled back to look at her, finding it suddenly difficult to look in his eyes. She needed to be strong, she repeated to herself. She couldn't break. It was morbid, she realised, when there were only so many places one could change the subject to, "I.. I need to know. Do you.. Do you know what happened to Lily Potter last night?"