Disclaimer: If Tonks was mine, she'd still be living.
Author's Notes: I might consider continuing this, depending on how I feel and what (if any) comments I get on it.
Tonks was used to traveling nowadays, what with the constant need to be five places at once. Nobody had ever said it would be easy being of a member the Order, but even so, she found herself continuously out of breath in her attempts to respond to every beck and call. Chest heaving behind a bright yellow t-shirt that depicted the logo of her favorite band Alohomora, she ran her fingers through bright pink hair that seemed to have grown a bit longer of its own accord. Wrinkling her nose to combat the strong urge to sneeze, her eyes seemed to glow today as they reflected the powdery azure sky above. Long legs strained when they began to struggle up a large grassy knoll, the ripped knees of her Prussian blue cargo pants giving way to a modest show of pleasantly tanned skin. Today her eyes were lined in coal black, a ministration she'd made in the morning before her mirror just following a hurried breakfast, but she was starting to regret this: the more she caught a glimpse of her reflection, the more she was on the verge of agreeing with Mrs. Weasley that the attempt at finery gave her the distinct appearance of a raccoon. Black robes, dusty and frayed near the edges, swarmed around her ankles as she reached the top of her destination in triumph, wind blowing against her fiercely. Beaming, she twirled on the spot, wand out and suspended before her, and in the blink of an eye her body was gone, leaving the amazing landscape behind with nothing more than a whiff of white tea and ginger.
Constricted in every possible means of the word, she squeezed her eyes open as soon as she landed, gulping down air greedily but not pausing in her long stride. Wand still out, she approached the gates of the school with due speed, every aspect of her personage vibrant against the rusty black metal and droll buildings surrounding Hogwarts. Oblivious of the way she contradicted her environment, Tonks whispered happily, "Expecto Patronum!" and a giant, four legged dog with wickedly sharp canines and wild features burst from the tip of her wand, shining thick and opalescent in the sunlight. It turned its shaggy head to her slowly, blinking through eyes of the most intelligent, baleful nature, and then it was speeding off at a gallop towards the school, zipping past the gloomily vacant grounds like a ghost.
Tonks waited excitedly, unable to stop her joy from blossoming out of her in the forms of body language and features. Hair suddenly so bright a pink that it stung the eyes, she smiled widely and spun again, though this time she did not disappear. It was simply a twirl of triumph, and though there was little to celebrate in the current situation, Tonks was one of the happiest people on earth. She and Remus were getting married! It was a mantra that she repeated to herself every morning, day, and night, as often as she could to try and make it real. You-Know-Who was the only thing that threatened the wonderful future before her, and the thought of having her life snatched away reminded her to remain, as Mad-Eye always screamed in her face, extra vigilant.
Speaking of vigilance, Tonks was startled as the gates suddenly creaked open of their own accord, causing her to jump a little in surprise. Flushing in embarrassment but glad nobody was around to see, she slipped through the crack in the gate and watched as it shut itself firmly, cringing as the sound of metal clashing against metal ground on her senses. The bark of a door slamming open at the front entrance reminded her that she had an important job to do, and she took off at a trot towards a very filthy, very disgusting Mr. Filch. The greasy man had not changed at all since her years in school except perhaps to achieve an even uglier face, and memories of being trapped in detention scrubbing frog intestines off the bottoms of potions desks popped up fresh and horrible in her mind.
As though he knew exactly what she was thinking of, Filch gave her a particularly nasty smile and growled, "Rainbow girlie back again, I see." He was referring of course to her lack of color control back when she had been a student, and years before her extensive training. Her hair and eyes had changed left to right and back again in her school years, connected solely to her emotional instability, and it hadn't been a rare occasion for her to grow dragon horns, pig snouts, and beaver noses whenever she got nervous. Filch had loved to catch her at it, insisting that it was a disturbance and sometimes influencing her less kind teachers to punish her for breaking out in green-skinned boils during rather hard exams. Well, all of that was over now, and she narrowed her eyes at the rancid fellow before her.
"Yes, I'm back. Here to see Minerva, actually."
Her confidence wiped the smirk off his face, and he slumped over grouchily as he wheezed, "Follow me, then." Trailing after Filch was never a treat as the stifling smell of musty dust and mildew wafted over his shoulders, but she didn't mind today. Once she reached the Headmaster's office she'd be rid of him, and her new assignment would be clear. Outside of the school things had begun to get awful, the Dark Lord inches away from starting a full-on takeover. Deaths were common and little left was there to celebrate, but still the resistance thrived, led by The Order and its supporters. Hogwarts was in danger now, and people were being stationed there as protectors against deatheaters. Voldemort had more than a foot in the door at the Ministry, and if he took over that, Hogwarts would be open to easy attack. This was why she was here today. This was what she came for.
An hour following her entrance into Headmaster McGonagall's office, however, she had to admit that her hypotheses concerning her new assignment had been slightly askew. It was clear that Hogwarts needed all the protection it could get, but not the kind she had expected. She was to be stationed there as a teacher, quitting her job at the Ministry and setting aside her blatant attacks against Voldemort's regime. The Order could spare her for a while, Minerva had said, and Remus would be relieved to know that she was off the immediate battlefield. At night she could help out with any missions they needed her for, a reassurance Minerva had given to insure Tonks' willingness. Tonks had been obviously ill-prepared to be offered a teaching post, but now that it had happened, she knew there was not much for it but to accept her knew cover job. She'd drop out of the Ministry, not such a bad idea anyway seeing as it was being taken over and her marriage to a half-breed would get out eventually, but still...She hated playing behind the scenes. If nothing else, her appearance said as much. She belonged in the forefront, fighting for what she believed in by battling rather that shielding.
This was her assignment, though, and she had promised Dumbledore that she would do whatever it took to help the cause. If this was what she needed to do, then so be it. Besides, helping out in Defense Against the Dark Arts wouldn't be too bad, would it? Not quite as cheery as she had been, she made her way out the entrance hall and onto the grounds, brow furrowed in contemplation. This certainly was a turn of events, and she wondered exactly who she would be sharing her teaching post with. Obviously she wouldn't man the class alone, right? She was a rather poor authority figure, and resented having to play the role of grown up. Stepping out the front gates, she took one last look over her shoulder at the school, once her favorite place in the world to be and now her prison. Rolling her eyes at the irony of it all, she twirled lazily, wand arm out, and whisked away in the space of a second. Behind her lingered the faint aroma of white tea and ginger, and a single strand of bubblegum pink hair floated down, landing on the trodden grass rebelliously.