AN: Hello again. Well, this started as just a brief scene in my mind, but it fed my desire to write the story of Tonks and Lupin. So, I'm keeping the first half of this chapter as its own short story as it is now (see my story "Bored"), and continuing it here. And the title may change. Suggestions welcome. Please enjoy!
Chapter 1
Bored
Tonks had quickly heard through the grapevine at the Ministry of Magic that her teacher had been impersonated, locked in a box for the school year, and was now at St. Mungo's recovering. She knew he wouldn't stay there long, so she headed over as soon as she heard to visit Mad Eye.
"Wotcher, Mad Eye," she said as she stumbled over the visitor's chair set up next to her mentor's hospital bed.
"Purple hair, eh? I thought you'd settled on that bright green," Mad Eye said.
"Purple for now, I'm not sure about it," she said.
There was a brief awkward pause. Tonks looked around the room, as if a conversation topic would be hiding on a post-it note somewhere, waiting for her to find it.
"So, all the stories true?" she eventually asked, knowing what a cliché it sounded like.
"Probably."
Well this is awkward. Tonks thought. Why did I come here again?
"So, locked in a box all year?" she asked. He nodded his confirmation. She gave up and defaulted to her goofy personality to get her out of this.
"So all that time, stuck in a dark box, are you afraid of the dark now?" she asked.
Mad Eye snorted, which was as close as he could get to laughing. "What? No, of course not. I'm only here still because they took my clothes and I don't want to walk out of here in a hospital gown."
"Afraid of small spaces?" she asked.
"No."
"Afraid of dark small spaces?" she asked.
"No."
Tonks returned to looking around the room, knowing her attempt at humor was failing. Finally, one thought about her mentor's time trapped by the enemy popped into her head, and she had to confirm it.
"You were bored, stuck doing nothing, weren't you?"
Mad Eye snorted twice.
"I have never been so bored in my life," he said. He was impressed that she knew him that well. He glanced around his empty room, glanced at the young woman sitting next to him, and made a decision. He shot off a bunch of spells one after another, at the window, the door, the ceiling, the room itself, and a few other places so fast that Tonks couldn't completely keep up. When Moody had finished this, he turned to Tonks.
"He's back, you know," he said.
"I'd heard rumors," Tonks said, knowing it was Voldemort her teacher spoke of.
"We're forming a resistance," Mad Eye said. "Build up strength now, get as many on our side as we can, fight him, kill him properly this time."
"I want to help," Tonks replied immediately.
"Good. Contact Dumbledore. Mention his phoenix, Fawkes, and mention talking to me. Don't say anything obvious, in case the letter is intercepted. Now, see if you can find someone to get me clothes so I can get out of here."
As Mad Eye said this last sentence, he flicked his wand around the room, removing all the protective spells he had put up a moment before. A bit dazed, Tonks went to find someone as Mad Eye had instructed. After making sure her mentor wasn't going to damage the frail looking healer she'd found, Tonks returned to her little apartment and pulled out a piece of paper to write to her old Headmaster.