Tonks is sitting at the kitchen table of the Burrow crying when Alastor Moody pulls up a chair to join her. Tonks turned to Moody tearfully. “Have you ever been in love, Mad-Eye?”
Mad-Eye sits down in a chair, taking the weight off of his wooden leg. “Yes,” he answers. “Once. Her name was Bronwyn. We went to Hogwarts together. She was the sweetest, kindest, gentlest soul you’d ever meet. Saw me struggling in Herbology and offered to tutor me on her own time. Made me a whole notebook full of hand-drawn charts of all of the plants we were studying and their characteristics. I still have it.” He smiles ruefully and takes a drink from his hip flask.
“What happened?” asks Tonks gently.
Mad-Eye rubbed his face with his hand. “What she saw in me, I’ll never know. But we dated all the way from fifth through seventh years. I asked her to marry me on the day we took our NEWTs and she said yes.” He smiles at the memory. “I started going to Auror training and she began working at St. Mungo’s. She was a Healer. She had natural healing powers. I’ve never seen anything like it. She could lay her hands on you and take your pain away.” He sighs. “I remember the back rubs she used to give me would send me to another planet.” He chuckles. “But with her healing, there was a price to pay. She took on a little bit of whatever she relieved. It normally didn’t bother her that much. She said it was a small price to pay for the comfort and healing of others.” He runs his hand through his hair.
“One day a particularly bad case came into St. Mungo’s. Dark wizards had attacked this young girl. She was all cut up. Everyone said it was hopeless, but Bronwyn…” he stares off into space. “Bronwyn was determined to save her. I’m not sure what it was about this particular girl, but she was too far gone… and Bronwyn took on too much…” he looks down, choking up. “She died right there alongside that girl.”
Tonks’ hand flew up to her mouth. How horrible. Poor Mad-Eye.
He sighs again. “The thing is, I know she’d make the same choice again and again. That’s just who she was. Determined to give her life to save others. She certainly saved me in my fifth year. She’s the only person I’ve ever loved. She’s the only person I will ever love. And Merlin willing, I hope that someday I will see her again.”
Tonks moves in to give Mad-Eye a hug. “I know you will, Mad-Eye. I know she’s watching you take down all these dark wizards and cheering you along.”
Mad-Eye pats Tonks gently on the back. “I really hope so. I miss her. You know, when I was locked up by Barty Crouch Junior, I kept seeing her, telling me to hold on. She knew I wouldn’t want to. But I did. For her. So I do have faith that someday we will be together again. For eternity this time.” He smiles, picturing her in his mind’s eye.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a picture. It’s of a large, young man with light, unruly hair and dark eyes smiling down at a petite, beautiful girl with long, dark hair and light eyes. She was looking back at him lovingly. “That’s my Bronwyn,” he says softly, tracing the picture with his finger. “Of course, she probably wouldn’t recognize me now.”
“Yes she would,” Tonks said tearfully, studying the girl in the picture. “She’d recognize your heart.”
Mad-Eye smiles and puts the picture back, patting his jacket as if to keep it safe.