Alright, so I'm not sure how many people followed me way back when, when I wrote some pretty dark stuff- darker than my current stories have been. (which have all been deleted(or most, idk) in a sad attempt at healing from past experiences. spoiler alert: it did not work)
So, a formal warning: This story will contain abuse, non-con/rape, dark themes, it will not contain graphic descriptions of such.
But it was also have Sirius, Remadora and... I think that's it.
I don't own HP, and I took inspiration from what Remus says in HBP: "Albus needed a spy, and here I was, ready-made."
*****And since I don't own HP, I don't own the parts of DH Chapter 1 you will see in this chapter*****
"It's alright, we've got you." Remus whispered in her ear, carrying her up the garden path. Sirius walked ahead, opening the door of the dark house. He continued ahead, as Remus spoke softly to Tonks, but he was sure she was unconscious.
He had shoved a book and most of the extra pillows off the couch, leaving a single pillow on the end. He walked to the hallway, grabbing a thin blanket from the closet and returning just as Remus set her down.
"We need to get her robes off." Sirius said, handing Remus the blanket. "To heal the wounds-"
"Can you get Dittany?" Remus asked, setting the blanket on the arm of the couch and leaning over her again, grabbing the collar of her ruined shirt, ripping half of the buttons off. Sirius nodded, leaving the room quickly.
Remus noticed small bruises covering her chest and stomach, he even noticed a clear hand shaped bruise on one of her hips, and felt sick. They must have used Slicing Charms or a knife, these cuts were far too long and deep to have happened when she had been beaten.
Remus folded the blanket, covering her bare chest, just as Sirius returned, holding out the Dittany.
"The worst one is here, on her stomach." Remus said, taking the small from Sirius. "The others I can probably heal with spells."
Remus uncorked the Dittany, dropping a few drops on the wound. "What if we hadn't found her tonight?" Sirius asked.
Remus shook his head. "It doesn't matter, because we did." He said. "I just want to know why she didn't come back when she was supposed to."
"I'll make some tea, do you want some?" Sirius asked, and Remus nodded. Sirius went into the kitchen, and Remus shifted the blanket to cover her entirely, lifting her upper body to sit with her partially on his lap. He ran a hand over her hair, his wedding ring glinting in the soft light, a harsh reminder that this was his wife- and he had made no objections to her walking into a den of snakes. His wife, and he hadn't protected her- perhaps he should have gone with her, but he couldn't. They had taken one Death Eater, subdued him long enough so that Tonks could morph into him and go, but Yaxley had escaped and Tonks never returned.
Remus had spent the first week of July, confused. He wanted to marry her, be with her, but could he be either? The second week, they got married. The third, she had vanished.
Now they were a few days from getting Harry from his Muggle family's- a mission Tonks wasn't going to participate in anyway, due to an uneven amount of volunteers.
"I'm sorry, Dora." Remus said, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "We should have sent someone else."
"It's a few hours, Remus." She whispered, pressing her wedding ring into his hand. "You won't even miss me."
"Dora, if they figure it out-"
"If I don't trip, I should be fine." She said, placing a hand on either side of his face, pressing a kiss to his lips. "I have to go, so they don't suspect."
"And you remember everything Yaxley told you?" Moody asked.
"Yes." Tonks said, turning away from Remus. "And you're sure he wasn't lying?"
"He couldn't." Kingsley said. "Not with Veritaserum."
She nodded. "I'll be back, then." She said. She walked towards the kitchen of Kingsley's home, standing in front of Yaxley, who was bound to a kitchen chair. It had been easy, with so many men among the Order, to find robes that would be passable for Death Eater robes. Under the robes, she wore a button up shirt and jeans of Kingsley's, simply so she'd be able to remove the robe later if she needed to escape on foot- it'd be far easier moving around in Muggle clothes.
She focused on all of his features, feeling herself become taller- because she knew he was taller than her. She was always uncomfortable when had to full body morph into someone else.
"His wand." Sirius said, handing her his wand. In turn, she handed her own to Sirius, who pocketed it without a word.
"Is it accurate?" She asked, after focusing on keeping her voice as she knew Yaxley's to be.
He nodded. "If You-Know-Who uses Legilimency, however..."
"Then I suppose I've died for a good cause." She said.
"I'd give you a hug, but you're revolting right now." Sirius said.
"Good to know. I'll be back in a few hours, if I'm not-"
"You will be." Sirius said, his voice tense. "Good luck."
She gave him a nod, leaving Kingsley's house, walking quickly to the Apparition point. She reappeared in the lane, just as another figured appeared. They had both drawn their wands, pointing their wands at each other's chest.
For a moment she wondered if she should kill Snape and flee- after all, he had betrayed the Order- but then Snape put his wand away, and she did the same. She couldn't arouse suspicion, she had a task to do.
"News?" She asked in Yaxley's deep tone as they walked briskly.
"The best." Snape replied curtly.
"Thought I might be late." She said. ""It was a little trickier than I expected. But I hope he will be satisfied. You sound confident that your reception will be good?"
Snape nodded, but said nothing. They continued walking briskly, passing the manicured hedges and approaching the gates, both raising their left arms momentarily.
Oh, Merlin, I hope this isn't where I'm outed.
She was surprised when she wasn't, she had been able to pass the gates as if she was truly Yaxley. There was a rustle to their right, and she drew her wand immediately, pointing it above Snape's head as a white peacock strutted along the top of the hedge.
"He always did himself well, Lucius." She scoffed. "Peacocks..." She gave a deep snort, stowing her wand away.
They continued and the door swung open as they approached, although no one had visibly opened it. She walked a step behind Snape, because she had no idea where they were going, but she had to make it look as though she weren't following him.
They approached large wooden doors, and for a short moment, neither moved. And then Severus Snape turned the bronze doorknob, and Nymphadora Tonks entered her first Death Eater meeting.
"Yaxley, Snape, you are very nearly late."
The drawing room was full of silent people sitting at a large table, most of its furniture pushed to the edges of the room. The only light came from a roaring fire in a handsome marble mantelpiece surmounted by a gilded mirror. Snape and Tonks lingered for a moment on the threshold. As her eyes grew accustomed to the lack of light, Tonks' eyes were drawn to a strange sight.
Above the table, an apparently unconscious human was dangling, reflected in the mirror-like surface of the table below. None of the people seated underneath this singular sight were looking at it except for a pale young man sitting almost directly below it, who Tonks recognised as Draco Malfoy, who kept glancing upwards at the form every few moments.
Voldemort was sitting directly in front of the fire and, at first, it was difficult to see him properly. As they stepped forward together, his face shone through the gloom, hairless, snakelike, with slits for nostrils and gleaming red eyes whose pupils were vertical.
"Severus, here." He said, indicating the seat on his immediate right. "Yaxley- beside Dolohov."
They took their seats, most of the eyes in the room following Snape. Good, she thought to herself.
Voldemort spoke to Snape first. "So?"
"My Lord, the Order of the Phoenix intends to move Harry Potter from his current place of safety on Saturday next, at nightfall."
Tonks managed to hide her surprise- how did he know? Luckily, her glance at Snape was not the only movement.
"Saturday... at nightfall." Voldemort repeated, looking at Snape intently. Tonks noticed a few others looked away from the duo, and almost felt the need to do the same. "Good, very good. And this information..."
"Comes from the source we discussed." Snape said.
What source? Tonks wondered, and then remember what Yaxley had admitted earlier.
"My Lord." She said in Yaxley's deep voice. "I have heard differently."
Voldemort's gaze shifted to her, and she leaned forward slightly. "Dawlish, the Auror, let slip that Potter will not be moved until the thirtieth, the night before the boy turns seventeen."
Snape was smiling slightly. "My source told me that there are plans to lay a false trail; this must be it. No doubt a Confundus Charm has been placed upon Dawlish. It would not be the first time; he is known to be susceptible."
Bastard. "I assure you, My Lord, Dawlish seemed quite certain." She continued.
"If he has been Confunded, naturally he is certain." said Snape. "I assure you, Yaxley, the Auror Office will play no further part in the protection of Harry Potter. The Order believes that we have infiltrated the Ministry."
That much was true, the Order was certain the Death Eaters had infiltrated- but if Snape said they merely believed, perhaps it wasn't true at all.
"The Order's got one thing right, then, eh?" A small man a few seats away said with a wheezy giggle.
"My Lord, Dawlish has said an entire party of Aurors will be used to transfer the boy." She said, and it wasn't untrue- there were Aurors among the Order.
Voldemort held up a hand and she fell silent, watching as he turned back to Snape. "Where are they going to hide the boy next?"
"At the home of someone in the Order." Snape said. "The place, according to the source, has been given every protection that the Order and Ministry together could provide. I think that there is little chance of taking him once he is there, my Lord, unless, of course, the Ministry has fallen before next Saturday, which might give us the opportunity to discover and undo enough of the enchantments to break through the rest."
"Well, Yaxley, will the Ministry have fallen by next Saturday?" Voldemort asked, once again turning to her.
"My Lord, I have good news on that score. I have—with difficulty, and after great effort—succeeded in placing an Imperius Curse upon Pius Thicknesse." She said, remembering what Yaxley had said earlier. Many at the table looked impressed, and she felt Dolohov clap her in the back.
"It is a start." said Voldemort. "But Thicknesse is only one man. Scrimgeour must be surrounded by our people before I act. One failed attempt on the Minister's life will set me back a long way."
"Yes—my Lord, that is true—but you know, as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Thicknesse has regular contact not only with the Minister himself, but also with the Heads of all the other Ministry departments. It will, I think, be easy now that we have such a high-ranking official under our control, to subjugate the others, and then they can all work together to bring Scrimgeour down." She said.
"As long as our friend Thicknesse is not discovered before he has converted the rest." said Voldemort. "At any rate, it remains unlikely that the Ministry will be mine before next Saturday. If we cannot touch the boy at his destination, then it must be done while he travels."
"We are at an advantage there, my Lord." She continued, remembering more of what Yaxley had said. "We now have several people planted within the Department of Magical Transport. If Potter Apparates or uses the Floo Network, we shall know immediately."
"He will not do either." Snape said, and Tonks felt an overwhelming sense of anger. "The Order is eschewing any form of transport that is controlled or regulated by the Ministry; they mistrust everything to do with the place."
How does Snape know all of this? She wondered. Who was betraying them?
"All the better." Voldemort said. "He will have to move in the open. Easier to take, by far."
Tonks stared at the table. If she went back and told the Order that the Death Eaters knew, would they be able to make a new plan in time?
"I shall attend to the boy in person. There have been too many mistakes where Harry Potter is concerned. Some of them have been my own. That Potter lives is due more to my errors than to his triumphs." Voldemort continued, his red eyes watching the slowly revolving form above the table.
She wasn't even sure he was talking to any of them, it almost felt like he was talking to himself instead. She watched him carefully, hoping the meeting could end soon, on the chance he became suspicious. She wanted to be long gone by the time they figured it out.
"I have been careless, and so have been thwarted by luck and chance, those wreckers of all but the best-laid plans. But I know better now. I understand those things that I did not understand before. I must be the one to kill Harry Potter, and I shall be."
There was a loud wailing, seemingly coming from beneath their feet and Tonks realised she was not the only Death Eater to look down on pure impulse.
"Wormtail, have I not spoken to you about keeping our prisoner quiet?" Voldemort asked, without lowering his eyes from the revolving form.
Tonks hadn't realised Wormtail was even there, until he spoke and she realised the chair she assumed to be empty had only looked that way because he was sitting so low.
"Yes, m-my Lord." He gasped, standing and rushing from the room.
Voldemort now lowered his eyes, seemingly surveying them. Many dropped their eyes, so when his eyes passed over her, she did not stand out when she did the same.
"As I was saying, I understand better now." He continued. "I understand better now. I shall need, for instance, to borrow a wand from one of you before I go to kill Potter."
She noticed a lot of the other Death Eaters seemed shocked, and she wondered for a brief moment if anyone would volunteer for such a task. After all, wouldn't it be a high honour to be the one who gave their wand to Lord Voldemort for him to kill Harry?
"No volunteers?" Voldemort asked, looking around. "Let's see… Lucius, I see no reason for you to have a wand anymore."
Tonks now wondered if she should thank Kingsley and Moody for sending her here- there was a certain pleasure to seeing Lucius in his current state. His skin was almost yellowish, appearing waxy in the candlelight. His eyes were sunken and shadowed, and his voice was hoarse when he spoke.
"My Lord?"
"Your wand, Lucius. I require your wand." Voldemort said.
"I..." Lucius began, glancing sideways at Narcissa, who stared straight ahead and did not move. A moment later, Lucius reached into his robes and withdrew his wand, passing it down to Voldemort, who took it and examined it carefully.
"What is it?" Voldemort asked, his red eyes focused on the wand in his hands.
"Elm, my Lord."
"And the core?"
"Dragon- dragon heartstring."
"Good." Voldemort said, drawing out his own wand, comparing the lengths. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, a very slight movement from Lucius, and Voldemort spoke again. "My wand, Lucius? Give you my wand?"
Some of the table occupants snickered, and Voldemort continued speaking. "I have given you your liberty, Lucius, is that not enough for you? But I have noticed that you and your family seem less than happy of late… What is it about my presence in your home that displaces you, Lucius?" He asked.
"Nothing- nothing, my Lord!"
"Such lies, Lucius..."
Voldemort's voice seemed to hiss on even after the cruel mouth had stopped moving. One or two of the wizards barely repressed a shudder as the hissing grew louder; something heavy could be heard sliding across the floor beneath the table, and Tonks knew exactly what was about to make an appearance. Sure enough, the snake appeared, slithering up Voldemort's chair, coming to a rest around his shoulders.
Voldemort stroked it with the tips of his fingers, seemingly mindlessly, his eyes never leaving Lucius' face.
"Why do the Malfoys look so unhappy with their lot? Is my return, my rise to power, not the very thing they professed to desire for so many years?"
"Of course, my Lord." Lucius said. His hand shook as he wiped sweat from his upper lip. "We did desire it—we do."
To Lucius' left, Narcissa made an odd, stiff nod, her eyes averted from Voldemort and the snake. To his right, Draco glanced quickly at Voldemort and then away again.
"My Lord." Bellatrix said, her voice thick with emotion. "It is an honor to have you here, in our family's house. There can be no higher pleasure."
"No higher pleasure. That means a great deal, Bellatrix, coming from you." Voldemort said, his head tilted slightly as he considered Bellatrix.
"My Lord knows I speak nothing but the truth!" Bellatrix said, leaning forward in a strange attempt at being closer to Voldemort.
"No higher pleasure... Even compared with the happy event that, I hear, has occurred in your family this week?"
Bellatrix blinked, clearly confused by Voldemort's words. "I do not know what you mean, my Lord."
"I'm talking about your niece, Bellatrix. And yours, Lucius and Narcissa. She has just married the werewolf, Remus Lupin. You must be so proud."
Tonks was startled- they knew. The Death Eaters knew? Most of the table erupted into jeering laughter. Many leaned forward to exchange gleeful looks, a few thumped the table with their fists. The giant snake, disliking the disturbance, opened its mouth wide and hissed angrily, but the Death Eaters did not hear it, they were enjoying the embarrassment of the Malfoy family far too much. Bellatrix's face flushed blotchy and red, and she shouted above the noise.
"She is no niece of ours, my Lord!" She cried. "We—Narcissa and I—have never set eyes on our sister since she married the Mudblood. This brat has nothing to do with either of us, nor any beast she marries!"
Even though it was startling to hear that the Death Eaters now knew she was married, she couldn't help but feel the urge to laugh at the fact Bellatrix was so bothered by this news.
However, Voldemort's next words doused the feeling.
"What say you, Draco? Will you babysit the cubs?"
Draco looked horror stricken, as he looked towards his father for some kind of sign at what to do. His father made no move, but his mother gave a very small shake of her head and Draco's eyes returned to studying the table.
"Enough." Voldemort said, still stroking the angry snake. "Enough."
The laughter died at once.
"Many of our oldest family trees become a little diseased over time." Voldemort said, and Bellatrix looked at him eagerly. "You must prune yours, must you not, to keep it healthy? Cut away those parts that threaten the health of the rest."
Bellatrix grinned, her eyes swimming with tears. "Yes, my Lord! At the first chance!"
Oh bullocks, Tonks thought to herself. Now there was no chance that she going to make it out of here alive if they figured her out.
"You shall have it." Voldemort said. "And in your family, so in the world… we shall cut away the canker that infects us until only those of the true blood remain…"
Oh, good. If Bellatrix wasn't truly trying to kill me before, she'll definitely try now.
Voldemort had raised Lucius' wand, pointing it at the figure suspended above the table. With a tiny flick, the figure came to life, writhing and groaning against the bonds.
"I trust you recognise our guest, Severus?" Voldemort asked, and Tonks saw Snape's eyes look at the figure's face.
She looked as well, her heart skipping a bit, when the figure cried out. "Severus, help me!" Her voice cracked and trembled, and Tonks felt horrible.
"And you, Draco?" Voldemort asked, but Draco shook his head quickly without even looking at the figure.
"But you would not have taken her classes." Voldemort continued. "For those of you who do not know, we are joined here tonight by Charity Burbage who, until recently, taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
There were small noises of comprehension around the table. A broad, hunched woman with pointed teeth cackled.
"Yes… Professor Burbage taught the children of witches and wizards all about Muggles… how they are not so different from us…" Voldemort continued, and a Death Eater Tonks didn't recognise spat on the floor.
"Severus… please… please…" Charity Burbage pleaded.
"Silence," said Voldemort, with another twitch of Malfoy's wand, and Charity fell silent as if gagged. "Not content with corrupting and polluting the minds of Wizarding children, last week Professor Burbage wrote an impassioned defense of Mudbloods in the Daily Prophet. Wizards, she says, must accept these thieves of their knowledge and magic. The dwindling of the purebloods is, says Professor Burbage, a most desirable circumstance… She would have us all mate with Muggles… or, no doubt, werewolves…"
Nobody laughed this time, probably due to the tone Voldemort's voice had taken on.
He raised Lucius' wand. "Avada Kedavra."
Charity fell with a loud crash onto the table below, which creaked and trembled. Voldemort stopped stroking the snake. "Nagini, dinner." He said, and the snake slithered from his shoulders onto the table.
Death Eaters were standing now, clearly this had been the cue that the meeting ended. Tonks stood among the crowd, hoping to make the exit quickly- she had to relay the information to the Order.
"Yaxley, Severus, if you would join us in the library." Voldemort's clear voice said as he stood. "Lucius, Bellatrix, you and your family as well."
Voldemort swept from the room, the Malfoys and Bellatrix following. Tonks and Snape were the last to follow, and she debated fleeing the Manor.
Later on, she realised that she should have fled.