DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter

A/N: Tonks is fed up with being single, but she can't honestly blame the countless men.

I'm With You

Tonks was walking through the Auror department at the Ministry of Magic, carrying a large stack of parchment in her arms, her tongue poking through her teeth in an effort not to trip over her own feet. The parchment was blocking her view and so she didn't see Dawlish standing in front of her. She smacked into him and crash landed on the floor, parchment raining down on her.

"Bugger!" she muttered.

Tonks looked up to see Dawlish was standing over her, shouting. "Will you watch where the bloody hell you're going! For goodness' sake, Tonks." But she was paying no attention to him. She was used to being called a klutz and so it didn't phase her as Dawlish shouted insults.

"It's no wonder you're still single!" he leered. "Any man with any intent to so much as hold your hand would probably end up one limb short. You'd pull it off or something! Ha!" He laughed at his own joke, although no one else seemed to find this very funny, Tonks included.

Dawlish opened his mouth as if to say more, but he was interrupted by Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had arrived to see what all the commotion was about. Tonks scrambled to her hands and knees, gathering up the fallen parchment, whilst her hair turned a deep shade of red in a blush. Her hair had always seemed to blush with embarrassment, rather than her cheeks. It was something that her mother had picked up on when Tonks was a little girl and had broken something in the kitchen. Her mother wasn't the only one, either.

"Oh look! The metamorphamoron's blushing!" exclaimed Dawlish.

Tonks' hand flew to her pocket and whipped her wand out, pointing it straight at Dawlish's face. She gritted her teeth and said, "Say that again, Dawlish, and I will curse you into next Tuesday."

His mouth curved up at one side in a mock grin and his eyes narrowed. "I said, 'Oh look, the metamorphamoron is bl-!"

Tonks moved faster than she had ever thought possible. "Tarantallegra!" she screamed.

There was a flash of light, then Dawlish's legs went wild in a frenzied tap-dance. Tonks straightened up and just started taking pleasure in the fact that he had toppled over when a rough voice from behind her shouted, "Finite!" Looking round, Tonks saw that it was Scrimgeour, Head of the Auror Department.

"Uh-oh," she breathed. "Now I'm in for it."

Scrimgeour limped towards them, pushing through the crowd of people that had gathered. "Come on, out of my way. You two, my office, now." His eyes flashed and Tonks knew that either she was in a heck of a lot of trouble, or Dawlish was. "Yes, you too, Dawlish," he added, for Dawlish had been showing signs of protest.

One after the other they shuffled off for Scrimgeour's office. They filed through the door and stood at the desk and only sat down once their boss was sat in his chair behind the desk. He contemplated them both before asking for Tonks to explain what happened.

"Well, sir," she said with a deep breath, "I've just finished my notes on our last reported sighting of Sirius Black because we've recently had a few owls saying that he's been seen in the south of England. I was on my way to take them to Shacklebolt because he's in charge of the hunt for Black, but I couldn't see where I was going. I accidentally walked into Dawlish and my notes went flying. As I was picking them up Dawlish was shouting insults at me, which is nothing new."

She paused and turned her head to glare coldly at the man seated beside her. Then she said, "I was embarrassed none-the-less and my hair changed colour, like it always does. Dawlish noticed because he said something about 'the metamorphamoron's blushing', which, sir, despite my reaction, I consider a low blow."

Scrimgeour looked at Tonks, thinking about what to do. "Thank you, Tonks. Now, Dawlish. Do you agree with what has been said? Bearing in mind that there were witnesses and so if you lie it may affect your chances at the promotion you have put your name forward for."

Dawlish grudgingly replied by saying, "Yes sir. That's what happened." An ugly crimson flush was creeping its way up his throat and into his face as he thought of how little impact his insults were having on Tonks.

"Very well then. Tonks, do you wish to put in an official complaint?" Tonks shook her head. Seeing Dawlish embarrassed and chided by their boss was satisfying enough. "Righto, then. You can both leave, but believe me, anymore childish antics and I will personally make sure that you are reprimanded with a demotion. No matter who started it, I'm finishing it! Now go away. I have to get through these bloody reports before I can go home tonight."

Tonks stood up and stumbled to the door. She raced down the corridor and snatched her bag up from under her desk and her coat from the back of her chair, then ran to get the lift. She jabbed the button for the Atrium and as the door clanged shut and the lift started moving, Tonks pulled on her coat over the top of her favourite t-shirt that bore the logo The Weird Sisters. She was also wearing her patched and frayed jeans and dragon-hide boots. She normally wore robes for work, but her mother had insisted on washing all of her clothes, trying to save the ones that could be saved and so Tonks had to make do with her Muggle attire for work until she saw her mother again.

The lift came to a halt and Tonks walked from it into the Atrium. She hurried along the length of the room to the Apparition point where she turned on the spot and was doused in the familiar suffocating darkness. A second later, Tonks was breathing in the familiar smell of the River Themes.

She emerged from the alleyway where she had Apparated and joined the throng of people walking the length of the river. It started to rain at that moment, but it didn't bother Tonks. The night air was bitingly cold and the chilly rain ran down her face, hiding the fact that she was crying.

Being clumsy had never bothered her before. She was used to the teasing and was used to being at the bottom of everyone's jokes whenever there was an accident. She laughed along with her work colleagues and even told her own jokes, to their enjoyment. Several people had asked her why she hadn't yet met anyone and settled down, but in all honesty, Tonks had no romantic interest in anyone. No one had ever tickled her fancy before. Besides, she was, and always had been, a tomboy, visiting the pub after work with the guys.

She had female friends at the Ministry, but she just didn't feel the same enthusiasm about men that they did. But when a friend would say, "Oh my gosh, that guy over there just complimented me on my robes! Do you think he likes me? He's a dragon slayer too!" Tonks would fake enthusiasm and spend the next ten minutes discussing the man. She only ever joined in with their chatter to keep them happy and the wives of the men happy. They were worried that their husbands would have an affair with Tonks, but she had managed to convince some of them that she was just friends with them and that was all it ever would be.

Tonks preferred to spend her time either at the pub with her work mates, or at home listening to her favourite bands on the Wizarding Wireless Network, or else having dinner at her parents' house. At other times she would stay at home and eat a lonely meal that consisted of either cereal, bacon sandwiches or chips from the Muggle chip shop just around the corner.

Tonks stopped walking to stand in the shelter of a shop doorway that was closed for the night. The rain still beat down on her face, mingling with her tears, but she didn't care. She had more pressing worries on her mind right now.

She thought back over what Dawlish had said about how nobody would ever want to marry her and she couldn't help but agree with him. I'm a walking disaster, she thought. He's right: how could anyone ever love me? I'm just a woman who laughs at the least amusing things, visit's the pub after work with the guys and likes fart jokes. I cause accidents. Heck, I can't even clean my own robes without setting them on fire!

Tonks sighed and thought about how much she wanted to be loved by a man. To feel strong, sure arms wrapped around her waist, and to whisper how much he loves her in her ear. To protect her when she was in danger and to promise that he would always be there for her. She had never thought much about having children before, but if she found the right man she would happily have his children for him.

It wasn't as though she had never dated before. The thought of having a man on her arm had constantly been in the back of her mind. There were plenty of men to choose from. When she first joined the Ministry about five months ago several men had asked her out to dinner. She had always tried to be girlfriend material, but she always came back from them disappointed and humiliated. The first three had been disastrous. She had somehow Transfigured one of them into a giant pumpkin, whilst the others had received broken bones and nose bleeds.

The fourth had escaped without injury. They had been sat at a table in a restaurant in Diagon Alley and they were talking about work when Tonks unthinkingly told him a joke she had said earlier that day to some work colleagues. Whilst the wizard she was with had laughed at her joke he told her that maybe they should stay friends. She hadn't minded: it was demeaning to have to pretend to be someone she wasn't. She wanted a man who would love her for who she really was. After that last date no one had asked her anymore as the man had told people her joke and when asked where he heard it from he told them.

And so Tonks had resigned to giving up on men and living alone, enjoying work with her friends and living like a nun. Never before had Tonks wanted to be loved and made to feel like a woman than she did right now. Maybe I'm not supposed to get married and have children, she thought. Maybe I'm supposed to just be the clumsy Auror, Nymphadora Tonks. She shuddered at her name. Stupid mother! What kind of a name is Nymphadora? That's probably another reason why I'm still single. No one wants a wife with a stupid name like mine.

"Urgh!" Tonks pushed herself away from the shop door and stepped back into the torrent of people, looking for a dark alleyway to Disapparate in and get home so she could snuggle up in her duvet. It wasn't long before she found one. As she stepped behind an over-flowing dustbin, Tonks looked up at the sky. The rain was beginning to stop, so that only a few drops landed on her up-turned face. The clouds had shifted to reveal a large, silver-grey full moon.

"Well," she muttered to no one in particular, wiping the tears and rain from her face. "There's no use in crying over someone you don't even know, Tonks. He's out there somewhere and I already love him. But he'll find me when he wants and when he does, nothing will stand in our way."

Tonks turned once again into the darkness and appeared in the living room of her flat in York. The full moon was twinkling through a gap in the curtains, spilling silver light and hope into the room, while on the other side of the country, a lone wolf howled at the moon.

A/N: A perfect ending, if I do say so myself. Review?