Brunettes have it Better
"Ok, so it's just a flick movement and then a quick swipe, right? Right?"
When no one answered, Ebony looked up from her Charms textbook. Pamela was murmuring to herself under her breath, her pale blue eyes trained on her own textbook. Her wand was in her hand, and she was making small movements with her wrists. Tonks, on the other hand, was staring across the courtyard, a small smile on her face.
Following the brunette's gaze, Ebony tried to see what had caught her friend's attention. Only a few other students were out sitting on the lawn. A few Gryffindors in their year were sprawled out near the Black Lake, their heads tilted to the sky as they soaked up the last rays of sun before winter hit. Among them was Charlie Weasley who, just like Tonks, seemed preoccupied with the world around him. He and his friend, Ace Johnson, were staring at a group of blonde Ravenclaws nearby, their eyes almost glazed over.
The Ravenclaw girls were the only other group studying, yet every so often, a shrill giggle would echo throughout the air, and one of them would hit the other in an attempt to quieten them.
Turning back to Tonks, she waved a hand in front of her face. "Tonks? Earth to Tonks? I need your help."
Tonks blinked a few times. "Huh? What?"
"I said, is the charm just a flick and then swipe movement? I'm having trouble with this," she said.
Her friend leaned over her shoulder and stared at the book. "Yeah, I think it is. You need to do the swipe movement pretty quickly," she said.
Before she could ask her to demonstrate what she meant, however, Tonks was back to staring across the grounds. Ebony took a peek at her homework, the parchment spread across the grass. Only a few lines of her Charms essay were written down, with the rest of the page covered in tiny hearts and stars.
"Tonks… Er, I don't mean to pry, but shouldn't you finish your essay? Flitwick is cool and all, but I doubt he'll be too happy if you don't hand anything in," she said.
"Mmm… yeah, Flitwick is a cool guy…" Tonks said, her voice sounding far-away. Instead of the smile she had had one before, her thin lips were turned down and her brows were furrowed.
"Tonks!"
With a small jump, Tonks' head swivelled back towards her. Pamela also startled, and her quill slashed across the page, leaving a long, purple ink trail over the diagram she had copied from her textbook. Instead of admonishing her, however, the blonde simply picked up her wand and waved it, making the ink disappear.
"Sorry, Pam," Ebony said, then turned to Tonks. "And sorry to scare you, but you were starting to go off with the fairies again."
Tonks tilted her head, the frown slipping away. "'Off with the fairies?' That sounds like something my dad would say."
Ebony felt her cheeks heat up. She often forgot that neither Tonks nor Pamela came from Muggle families, and although both had at least one parent with Muggle ties, they often didn't understand her expressions. Still, that was beside the point.
"Tonks, please, can we focus? I really need to finish this before class tomorrow, and there's a tonne of work McGonagall has set."
Tonks looked back at the grounds again, before a smile lit up her face. "You know what? I think we should maybe start on that Transfiguration work."
"Well, I suppose that wouldn't hurt."
Leaning over, Tonks closed both Pamela and Ebony's books and sat on her knees. Pamela protested with a small, "Hey!" but when she saw the mischievous sparkle in the girl's eyes, she sat up and crossed her legs.
"We were doing eyebrows this week, weren't we?" Tonks said, wiggling her eyebrows up and down. As she did so, they transformed from light brown to pale green. "See? Too easy."
Pamela rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's easy for you, Little Miss Special Powers. But how are I and Ebony supposed to do it?"
Tonks waved her hand in the air. "I saw you turn your own purple on Friday, and Ebony mastered it earlier. I think we should practice beyond just our eyebrows, you know, so McGonagall will really be impressed. If we manage to, say, change our hair? Just an example, mind, but if we do that, she might get off our backs for a while."
Ebony turned to Pamela. Pamela shrugged her shoulders, a mixture of worry and amusement on her face. She knew that Pamela wasn't all that confident with her Transfiguration work—especially as she was one of the last to be able to successfully perform the task McGonagall had assigned. She also knew, however, that Tonks could easily bring Pamela out of her shell with all of her ideas.
She had to admit, she too was a little intrigued by the suggestion. She still needed to do a lot more practice on the eyebrow task, but if she could master a different self-transformation, perhaps Professor McGonagall really would be a little more lenient in the amount of homework she gave out.
"Ok, so, how do we do it?" she said.
Tonks clapped her hands. "Alright, you pick a colour, close your eyes and imagine your hair turning that colour. Oh and using that same charm from the eyebrows. Go on, someone give me a colour."
Pamela thought for a moment. "What about… lavender?"
The brunette scrunched up her nose for a moment but then nodded. "I was thinking more natural colours, but ok. Give me a second."
Squeezing her eyes shut, Tonks took a few deep breaths. Ebony sat up as the roots of her hair, very slowly, turned purple and the colour began to seep through to the tips of her hair. It wasn't quite the lavender purple requested, more of a dark violet, but it was far better than anything Ebony could do.
Pamela giggled and clapped her hands. "Bravo! Bravo!"
Tonks pulled a strand in front of her eyes and sighed. "Well, it's not quite what I was aiming for. Perhaps I should try a more natural colour first?"
Before Ebony could suggest trying a shade of ginger, or maybe a chestnut brown, Tonks glanced over to her left and snapped her fingers. "How about blonde?"
The girl closed her eyes again. Ebony watched as she dug her fingers into the grass, her breathing coming out a little heavier. Then, just as quickly, Tonks relaxed her face and opened her eyes. Her hair grew lighter with every second that passed, as did its length.
Her smile faltered as she looked at both of them. "What? Does it look alright?"
Pamela nodded. "You look really beautiful, Tonks. Like, really beautiful."
Tonks' cheeks turned red and she looked at Ebony. "Well, Ebs, what do you think?"
It was funny seeing Tonks with blonde hair. She was used to the girl's brown hair, coloured only by the occasional streak of pink on the weekends—with the length and colour it was now, her friend looked like a completely different person. The blonde set off Tonks' dark eyes nicely, giving them an added sparkle, but not quite as much as the brown had. Tonks looked very pretty, but she always had in her own way.
Realising her friend was waiting for an answer, Ebony smiled. "You look very nice, Tonks."
"Thanks, I think I might leave it like this." Tonks grinned and patted her hair. Her eyes wandered over the grass, and as they did, her smile faded and she bit her lip.
Ebony tried once more to see what Tonks was staring at, but the situation was the same as before. Only a few clusters of students were sprawled around them, including the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. Charlie and Ace had stopped staring at the girls, but as a few of them let out a few more obnoxious giggles, the boy's heads would turn in their direction.
She reached over and squeezed Tonks' hand, knowing that her friend would be worrying that the girls were laughing at her, despite not even facing them. "Really, it looks great."
Tonks smiled a little and squeezed back. Then, withdrawing her hand, she crossed her legs and looked at Pamela.
"Alright, enough about me. I'm thinking you should go… mmm, I'm not sure what col—"
"Black. I want to try turning my hair black," Pamela said.
Ebony and Tonks looked at each other and chuckled. Ever since Pamela had seen the Warped Witches band play in Hogsmeade two years earlier, she had not ceased trying to convince her mother to allow her to dye her hair black, just like the lead singer.
"Ok, but if anything goes wrong and you get stuck with the colour, you can't tell your mother it was me," Tonks said.
Pamela winked. "I'm kind of hoping it will get stuck," she said. Then, frowning slightly, she added, "Well, as long as it doesn't resemble Snape's hair."
Tonks rolled her eyes. "You won't, you condition regularly. Do you remember the incantation? Just close your eyes and—don't hold your breath, you still need to breathe. Now, concentrate and take it slow."
It took a few hours for Pamela to get her hair the right shade of black. At the beginning, nothing happened, and by the twelfth try, the closest she came was a really dark shade of a greenish-blue hue.
Nevertheless, all three of the girls had fun trying out new colours and lengths. Ebony had managed to make her own dark hair a rich auburn and had competed with Tonks to see who could get the lightest shade of blue. Tonks had won, of course, but now her hair was back the long, blonde number she had originally changed to.
"Ok… what about… bubblegum pink?" Tonks said, pointing her finger at Pamela. "I dare you to try it."
Pamela huffed. When she had finally reached the desired black, she hadn't wanted to try any other colour for fear that she wouldn't pull it off again.
Ebony poked out her tongue. "Don't be scared, Pam. Here, I'll show you."
With her wand carefully aimed at her head, she concentrated for a moment on an object she thought was the correct shade of bubblegum pink. Picturing a ballerina's tutu—despite it not being quite the same—she closed her eyes and muttered the incantation. Her hair didn't feel any different, but as she looked up at Pamela, she saw her friend's expression to turn to one of sheer horror.
Tonks burst out laughing, slapping her knees and snorting. "You—look—oh Merlin!"
Her heart quickened and she grabbed Pamela's compact mirror. Peering into it, she saw that whilst she had achieved the desired colour, her hair was now in short, tight ringlets.
"Tonks! Help me! What do I do?"
Tonks now had tears streaming from her eyes. Struggling for breath, her voice came out in gasps. "Just—change—b-back—to another—another col—colour."
With her heart still beating fast, Ebony tried to clear her mind and concentrate. It was hard to hold her wand steady with her now shaking hands, but with a few deep breaths and Pamela rubbing her shoulder, she managed to murmur the spell.
When she looked at Tonks again, she saw her friend had finally stopped laughing. Her mouth was open slightly, and her cheeks were a bright red once more.
"What? What did I do now?" she asked, swivelling her head from Pamela to Tonks.
Tonks could only shake her head, her gaze focused on Ebony's head. Pamela whispered, "It's back to normal," before nodding her head behind her.
"Wow, girls, that's quite impressive," a voice said.
Shielding her eyes from the sun, Ebony turned her head and squinted up at the redhead standing behind her. Charlie Weasley was smiling down at them, and a few of his friends were lingering around.
"Thanks." Pamela beamed. "Doesn't Tonks look great?"
Tonks still hadn't said anything, and when Ebony turned back to her, she saw that the girl was now staring at her shoes. She gave her a gentle nudge, but it was only when Charlie answered that Tonks looked back up.
"Er, yeah, sure, I like the blonde I suppose… it's different," he said.
Everything started to make sense. If a person's face could turn any redder, it wouldn't quite match the tone Tonks was currently sporting. The girl was staring up at Charlie, her mouth opening as though trying to force a response.
Her friend needed rescuing, and with Pamela's attention now on Ace who had begun to kick around a pebble, it would be up to Ebony to do so. Clearing her throat, she pulled Tonk's hair over her friend's shoulders and smiled up at Charlie.
"It's gorgeous, isn't it?" she said.
It was Charlie's turn to blush, and he quickly nodded. "Oh yes, I didn't mean to suggest—" looking back to Tonks, he winked. "I'm just used to your natural hair. I've always liked brunettes."
Tonks' dark eyes grew wide, but she still couldn't say a word.
"Well, I better go, Johnson wants to go practice a few games before the Slytherins claim the pitch. I was wondering though if you'd be able to give me a few tips on this Transfiguration stuff later, though? I mean, if you want to."
He was still looking at Tonks, but Ebony answered for them. "Yeah, sure, Charlie, I'm sure we'd be happy to."
The red-head gave her a quick smile and turned back to Tonks. "Alright, well, I'll see you all," he said, and when no one answered, he turned and joined his friends.
When they were out of earshot, Pamela giggled. "I think he likes you," she said, poking Tonks in the arm.
Tonks shook her head and swatted Pamela's hand away. "He was just being nice," she said.
Pamela looked at Ebony, her eyebrows raised as if to say, 'Yeah, right.' Ebony clasped a hand over her mouth to stifle the giggle that threatened to slip out and nodded.
Seeing this, Tonks glared at both of them. "Right, we need to get back to work. McGonagall won't find it too amusing if we make mistakes mid-transformation," she said, narrowing her eyes at Ebony.
Ebony shrugged and adjusted her position. Her mind went back to her mistake just moments before, and it made sense that they should stop wasting any more time. They still needed to finish their other homework.
With a sigh, she reached for her satchel and took her essay out. Pamela rolled onto her side and reached for her textbook, whilst Tonks tore off a strip of Pamela's parchment roll and started taking notes.
A comfortable silence fell between the three girls, each one attempting to finish as much as they could. The scratching of quills drowned out the noise of the other students around them, save for the occasional question regarding wand movements.
Once or twice, Ebony would glance up at Tonks. The girl was focused on her essay, a tongue protruding between her thin lips. It was as if nothing had happened. Still, her hair seemed to have changed from blonde back to brown somewhere during their studying, and she had a feeling that it wasn't simply the spell changing.
A/N: This fic was written for the lovely Rocky (currently Minimalist Shadow, previously RockyRoad69 and soon to be Bootylicious ;)). I hope you enjoy this fic; a little birdy told me you like Tonks, and after five attempts at a story featuring her, this is the best so far (yes, be worried about the others).
A big thank you to Kat (roseusvortex) and Cel (Celinarose) for all your help! Xx
In case anyone is wondering, no, I don't think people should change themselves just to please someone else. However, teenagers do, and whilst I absolutely believe Tonks has enough confidence in herself to do as she pleases, I don't think she was completely immune to respecting Charlie's opinion.