Chapter 1

(A/N: Here it is! The first chapter of my first story. Please comment and review, constructive criticism welcomed. I apologize for any errors! Also, I don't own the characters or the setting. That stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling.)

July 1, 1995 7:25pm

Although it was July, London was cold and dreary. Nobody was out in the rain except for a young woman in a deserted alleyway. The hood of her cloak covered her eyes, but bits of her pink hair peeked out. She appeared to be waiting for someone, as she was tapping her foot impatiently against the ground.

Indeed, Nymphadora Tonks got bored easily, and waiting for Mad-Eye Moody in the freezing rain was not exactly her idea of fun. He was supposed to have met her here ten minutes ago so he could take her to her first Order meeting. Tonks really wanted to make a good first impression, and showing up late and soaking wet was not exactly the best way to do that.

"Finally," she muttered when the retired auror showed up.

"Constant vigilance," Moody grunted. "I thought there might have been somebody tailing me. Do you remember the address Dumbledore gave you?"

"Of course," Tonks answered. She had met with the headmaster to confirm to rumors that Voldemort was back, and he had told her about the Order of the Phoenix.

"You'll be taking side-along apparition with me tonight, seeing as you've never been to the place before." Moody grabbed her arm and within seconds they were at a deserted street lined with tall, fancy houses. For some reason the place looked vaguely familiar to Tonks.

"Well, come on, lass." Moody rushed her up the front steps of number 12and briefly taught her how to undo the enchantments guarding the door. "Don't make any noise when you go inside, for Merlin's sake." The interior of 12 Grimmauld Place was dark and depressing. Dull gas lamps lit the hallway and old portraits lined the walls.

"Oof," Tonks muttered as she ran into an umbrella stand shaped like a troll's leg. Both Tonks and the umbrella stand fell over, making a great deal of noise. Louder than that, though, was the horrible screeching of the portrait of an old woman.

"Shape shifters and blood traitors! Besmirching the house of my father's!" She screamed. "Out, out, OUT!"

A man with pale skin and jet black hair burst out of the nearest door, also yelling. "Shut up Mum, you horrible old hag! Shut up!" Somehow he managed to close the curtains around the portrait, and then he turned to face Mad-Eye and Tonks, who was still on the floor. Blushing, she got up and righted the umbrella stand.

"Well, well, well… look who it is," the man said. Tonks looked closely at him for the first time. He wasn't hard to recognize; his face was on wanted posters all over England, as well as in several of her childhood memories.

"Sirius Black," she whispered, taking a step back.

"He's innocent," Mad-Eye told her.

Sirius made a sudden movement, but it was only to hug her. "I've missed you," he murmured.

"I've missed you, too," Tonks replied, relaxing in the arms of the cousin she had loved and admired as a child. "I never really believed you did it. Everyone else told me that there were too many witnesses, but I kept on trying to find ways to prove you weren't guilty.

"Come on," he said, leading her down a spiral staircase at the end of the hallway. They emerged in the kitchen, which was just as depressing as the rest of the house. Sirius tossed her a Butterbeer and motioned for her to sit down on one of the stools next to the counter.

A half hour and two Butterbeers later, Tonks had heard all about how Sirius was unjustly sent to Azkaban, from the time the Potters switched secret keepers to the time he escaped by turning into a giant black dog.

"Anyway," Sirius said when he was done with his story, "the meeting's about to start, so you'd better go up to the dining room."

Tonks walked up to the ground floor, remembering where the dining room was from the years spent here when she was younger. "So that's why it looks so familiar," she said to herself as she entered the dining room. People were already starting to arrive; a few she even recognized.

"Wotcher, Bill," she greeted Bill Weasley, who she had been friends with at Hogwarts.

"Tonks! Merlin, I haven't seen you in ages!" Bill exclaimed. "Charlie isn't here; he's in Romania someplace, continuing his study of dragons."

They both sat down at the long dining room table; Dumbledore was beginning the meeting. It was definitely not what Tonks was expecting; it was actually kind of boring. Sure, it was kind of interesting to meet new people and to learn about what Voldemort was up to, but everything was rather long and drawn out, with various speeches on safety, such as Mad-Eye's 'Don't-Put-Your-Wand-in-Your-Back-Pocket' speech, in which he mentioned somebody losing a buttock. She made a mental note to ask him who later.

Once the meeting was over she went around chatting with people she hadn't seen for a long time.

"Here's your schedule for guard duty at the Department of Mysteries," Dumbledore said, handing her a slip of paper, which Tonks put in her back pocket, along with her wand. She could practically feel Moody glaring at her.

"I'm giving you tomorrow off from work so you can get settled. Use the time responsibly. Absolutely no wild parties," her boss, Kingsley Shacklebolt informed her.

"Settled? Wha...?"

"Detention has been very boring without you and Charlie Weasley," Professor McGonagall told her. Tonks blushed, remembering an unfortunate incident involving Charlie, a giant sousaphone, and not very many clothes.

Bill smiled knowingly. "Good memories, huh, Tonks?"

Tonks punched him in the stomach.

(A/N: I'm planning to do a lot more stories, including one involving Tonks's Hogwarts years; this will include whatever happened with Charlie and that giant sousaphone. Please comment and review!)