Harry Potter was soon to start his fifth year at Hogwarts. He, Ron, Hermione and Nymphadora Tonks were to be found being joyously entertained by Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, who were telling them tales of the Marauders old misdemeanours during their own Hogwarts days, on a particularly relaxed summer's evening.
"... So that's when old Mrs Crickle set a couple of Doxies on us!" finished Sirius, casually leaning of the back legs of his chair and grinning widely.
"We've still got the scars to prove it," said Lupin. He shook his head, a little despairing of his good friend, though he couldn't help but smile too. It made the people around him roar even harder with laughter, no one more so than Sirius himself.
Hermione sat there, on one of the drawing room's chairs, looking as though she didn't quite know whether to laugh or not. "Wasn't that a really dangerous thing to do?" she asked, sounding concerned.
Tonks grinned. "They survived, didn't they?"
"Just," added Lupin.
A sleepy silence fell over the room as the laughter died down; the remains of Butterbeer in the nearly empty bottles still occasionally frothing.
"I think I'm going to turn in now," yawned Lupin, his bones creaking as he stretched. It was less than a week away until the next full moon, and the strain – as always – was showing on his aged face.
Sirius stood. "Think I'll come with you, Moony. Buckbeak's got to be fed again."
And so, after bidding goodnight to Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks found herself left alone with Harry, Ron and Hermione. Tonks hesitated, biting her lip, before turning to the boy beside her. "Harry, I wanted to ask you a favour," she said, blowing some of the short pink hair out of her face.
"A favour from me?" asked Harry, looking slightly surprised.
"Yeah, I was just wondering if I could borrow your invisibility cloak?"
Harry shrugged. "Erm, sure."
"I only need it for a day or so," Tonks went on. "I've asked Mad-Eye, but Sturgis has still got his cloak, so I'm kind of stuck."
"But what about his other cloak?" asked Hermione. "Didn't Professor Moody have two?"
"Oh, well ... that's being used too," said Tonks, "Mad-Eye's doing -"
"Doing what?" grinned Ron, suddenly eager.
"Nothing!" she said quickly. "Nothing." Grimacing at nearly letting important Order information slip, Tonks ignored her pale cheeks blanching and said, "So, anyway, what d'you say, Harry?"
"What do you need it for?" asked Harry suspiciously, wondering if it was some exciting mission. He vaguely knew what – or rather who – it was bound to be about, but he still thought they could perhaps get some more details about what Voldemort was doing.
"Oh, well, it's my Mum's birthday, you see, and I want to surprise her," beamed Tonks, twirling her wand into the air and picking it up again as it fell onto the table. "She thinks I'm at work tomorrow, but Kingsley has given me the day off."
"Right," said Harry, his hopes deflated. "I'll just go and get it, then."
He went upstairs, leaving the others to tap their bottles of Butterbeer absentmindedly. Hermione's gaze drifted to the tapestry hanging on the wall. "Isn't it interesting how all pureblood wizards are related?" she said, pointing. "Look, Ron, there's a Weasley."
"Oh yeah, great," grimaced Ron. "They're all bloody mad! I'm telling you, everyone on there is completely bonkers."
"Oi!" said Tonks, walking over to the tapestry. "My mum's on there somewhere and she's perfectly sane."
Ron and Hermione's eyes grew wide.
"You're related to the Black family?" asked Hermione.
"Hey, we're related," grinned Ron as he and Hermione followed Tonks over to the tapestry. He poked Tonks in the ribs with his elbow.
"Which is why, dear seventh cousin three times removed by marriage," said Tonks, narrowing her eyes, "you shouldn't be nudging me like that!" She pointed to a small, scorched mark. "Sirius was here and my mum, Andromeda, was here … and I would have been there," said Tonks, trailing her finger down a few inches, "if I wasn't - what was it? - A foul, shape-shifting spawn of a blood traitor or something."
"But that means you're related to Bellatrix Lestrange," said Hermione, shocked. "And Draco Malfoy's mother! They're your aunts!"
"Yeah ... they and my mum haven't seen each other in years though. Bellatrix was put in Azkaban just after I was born and Narcissa, well - she's a Malfoy. Enough said, really. Not that I'm complaining - Bellatrix is bonkers. Let's hope it's not hereditary ... it's not looking good though."
Tonks laughed at her own joke, then pointed to Irma Crabbe. "See that one up there," she said, "Mum told me that dear old Irma used to collect muggles and use them as house-elves."
At this, Hermione gave a gasp which went ignored.
"After a few years, when the ministry caught her," Tonks continued, "she said she couldn't tell the difference between the two. She got off with it though - apparently money exchanged hands ... Mind you, I don't suppose she's as bad as Bellatrix, she's past insane," finished Tonks, morphing her face to look exactly like her aunt's. She made a grotesque face, her mouth sagging open and her eyes rolling.
Ron laughed – admittedly a little tentatively – but Hermione looked horrified.
"Those poor people! It's bad enough house-elves being treated like they are, let alone people!" said Hermione shrilly.
"What are you going to start now? S.P.H.E.W?" Society for the Protection of Human Elves -?" snorted Ron, who immediately stopped at the look on her face.
"Ron, it is very important for witches and wizards to take responsibility of -" started Hermione.
"Oh, Harry, you're back!" said Tonks loudly, interrupting the argument before it could get started. Ron ears were starting to turn red.
"Thank Merlin," muttered Ron under his breath.
"Er, yeah, here it is," said Harry, handing the invisibility cloak to Tonks. "Just ... don't blow it up or anything."
She laughed, but Harry's smile was only half-hearted; he knew full well the amount of chaos Nymphadora Tonks could cause, having been the victim of an apparently slippery, extremely heavy book she was carrying earlier that day.
Thanking Harry and bidding them all a farewell as they travelled off upstairs to go to bed, Tonks went in to the dark hallway. Trying to be careful to not wake Mrs Black, she crept past the portrait and instantly tripped over the edge of the rug. Wincing, she prepared to hit the hard floor and winced at the imminent scream of the picture behind her. No shriek came, however, and Tonks found herself in the arms of a tall, cloaked man.
"Your talent for trouble is astounding, Nymphadora," said a snide voice.
"Don't call me Nymphadora!" said Tonks automatically.
She looked up and found herself looking into the face of Severus Snape. Tearing herself away form him, she glared at him for a moment, stuck out her tongue and strode promptly past him, careful of any umbrella stands that may be looming.
"Great catch, by the way, Sev!" Tonks said over her shoulder, grinning broadly. As she opened the door, she distinctly heard Snape say, "Don't call me Sev!" through strongly gritted teeth.
Finally outside, Tonks turned and Disapparated.