Nymphodora Arabella Tonks knew that something extremely important was about to happen the moment she stepped into the dining room of her family's home in London, the afternoon of August 17th, 1973.

It all began with a letter.

She'd been playing outside with some of the other neighborhood children, although, there wasn't many who really liked her enough to include her in their games, so really she was just playing around them. Everyday it felt like it was the same: "She's got pink hair today!" they had screeched, - as if she couldn't hear them - whispering behind their hands like she was some sort of nasty frog they'd seen hop around on the pavement.

She didn't really mind, honestly; she was eleven now, old enough to keep herself entertained without anyone else's help. (Besides, who didn't like pink hair? She'd tried blue yesterday, and, much to her confusion, they hadn't been too keen on that one either. Some muggles were just so hard to satisfy.)

After about ten minutes of laying on her back on the hard pavement, watching the clouds pass by and counting the different shades of color in the late-afternoon sky, she decided she'd had enough of the outdoors for one day. Patting the dust and dirt from her bum, she headed inside, pushing open their house gate and bounding for the front door.

The first thing she'd realized when she stepped through (alright, tripped and nearly fell over) the doorway, was that it was far too quiet.

Usually her mother and father could be heard shuffling around, making tea, or debating about something they'd read in the Daily Prophet. Or, quite often, when they thought they were alone, the radio would be on and playing a merry tune, and Tonks would sometimes peek around the corner of the doorway to see them dancing. Her mother would laugh, and pretend that her father actually knew what he was doing, and he would twirl her around and dip her very gracelessly. The situation would usually end up with the pair of them falling to the floor (her dad always did trip over his toes, just like she did), laughing, and breathlessly happy.

They were always laughing. She wondered what was different about today. Her parents' voices were hushed and coming from the kitchen.

"Mum? Dad?" Tonks called out, her voice echoing through the hallway. The voices stopped, and her brow furrowed as she walked further into the house. Odd.

The second thing she realized, was that Sirius was sat at their dining table, covered in soot and grime. Tonks felt elation as she didn't even hesitate to throw her arms around her cousin in a hug. She didn't care if he was dirty; he almost never came to visit anymore, so it was worth it.

"Sirius!" She cried, laughing and hearing his booming chuckle in her ear.

"Dora," Sirius' voice was just as she remembered it: warm and mischievous. He smelled utterly horrible though. Of course, she assumed it had something to do with all the ash. Sirius looked her over with a smile, eyes lingering on her face, before flicking to the top of her head. He did a double take when he saw the color, "Merlin, your hair."

She grinned, "Like it?"

"Her hair?" Adromeda Tonks' voice had the lilt of a question to it as she stepped into the room, carrying a tray of biscuits. Tonks' father, who had been following just behind his wife, bumped straight into her back as the woman stopped abruptly, very nearly tripping over and spilling the kettle he held in his hands (a faint cry of 'bloody hell' escaped his lips as he righted himself). Adromeda's voice took on a firm, dignified squawk, "Nymphodora! What have we told you about morphing outside!"

Tonks frowned, but decided not to comment on the use of her detested full first name. Only her mother ever insisted on calling her that, and she was the only one who could get away with it without Tonk's hair turning a deep crimson.

"I didn't change it outside," the young girl defended herself. She knew she wasn't supposed to use magic outside of the house; she wasn't stupid. "I did it this morning when you were making breakfast, didn't you notice? Besides, I only ever go out changing my hair, Mum, nothing else. All the neighbors think, is that I just have a weird obsession with hair-dye."

"That Joe bloke from down the street asked me if any of her hair had fallen out yet from all the chemicals," Ted Tonks chuckled placing the kettle down on the table, "It was actually pretty fun- I mean, no. It wasn't funny. Not at all." He quickly back-pedaled when he saw the glare on his wife's face. Sirius choked back a laugh and disguised it as a cough.

Adromeda, rolling her eyes, turned to frown at her daughter hesitantly. "But... but, pink, Darling? You're natural hair is just as beautiful."

Sirius slung an arm around Tonks' shoulder, "Oh, come on, Andi, don't be such a spoil-sport - let the kid have a little fun."

Tonks glared at him. Kid? He was only three years older than her.

Sirius caught her glare and smirked, mussing up her hair, "I think it looks great, Dora." He winked at her. She swatted his hand away with a grumble, but she knew he could see the grin she tried to suppress.

Tonks paused for a moment, remembering the hushed voices her parents were talking in when she'd entered the house. "Erm, Sirius... how exactly are you here? I thought..." she frowned again, recalling what she had been told the last time she'd asked why her cousin hadn't been visiting, "I thought you weren't allowed to come here anymore."

Ted and Andromeda exchanged a grim look.

She remembered the day she had found her mother crying into her father's shoulder, crying over Sirius' absence, saying something about his mother catching him. They hadn't told her much of what had happened, and all she'd gotten out of them was that Sirius couldn't be around them like before, even though he wanted to. Tonks had felt furious then, but that feeling didn't last very long. After all, she didn't know a lot about her aunts on mother's side of the family, or why they hated her and her parents so badly, but she knew a lot about Sirius.

And, knowing Sirius, he always found a way around rules. He might not have been able to visit as frequently, but she knew he would find a way to come back to them. Rain or shine, she knew he would.

That didn't make her less scared about him being found out though. Who knows what they would do to him if they caught him... she didn't like to think about it.

Sirius responded to her question with a self-satisfied grin. "Mother doesn't put a password on the basement floo. I snuck out when they went away on business, and I'll be back before they even realize I was gone."

Tonks felt relief flood her chest at that, and Sirius must've seen her expression, because he placed both of his hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. Looking into his face, she mused on how her cousin looked a lot like her mother, with dark curly hair and eyes almost brown enough to be black.

"Now, you listen to me. They won't ever find out I was here; nothing's going to happen to me, not when I'm this good at getting away," He smirked at her, like he was telling her a little private joke between just the two of them, and she did her best to smile back. Even though she wasn't sure she felt better about the situation because of that statement. "Besides," Sirius continued, and Tonks watched on curiously as he slipped his hand into his inside coat pocket, "If I hadn't left that wretched place, then I wouldn't be able to deliver this to you, would I?"

His hand pulled back out of his pocket, revealing an envelope with a deep red seal clutched in his fist. Tonks tilted her head, hearing her mother breath in a little gasp from where she stood next to her. She reached out to take it from him, but hesitated at the last second, suddenly unsure now that the atmosphere in the room seemed to have gotten a lot heavier.

"Go on," Sirius urged. He took her hand, opened it up, and placed the envelope delicately onto her palm. "Read it. It's yours."

Tonks gazed down at the slim piece of paper, taking it in two hands. It was crisp, an off white color that reminded her of cream, and there was neat calligraphy on the front in small, looped letters.

The flowing script read as such:

Miss Nymphodora Tonks

2345, Cinnitom Street, London

Tonks had never had anything addressed to her specifically before. It made her wonder just what anyone would want with her, rather than her parents. Still, Sirius and both of said pair of parents were looking at her with something like anticipation welling up in their eyes, so she turned the envelope over and ripped open the ruby seal.

She read the first few lines of the letter, and, after re-reading them again in disbelief, her mouth went suddenly dry.

Dear Miss Tonks,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into-

"What is this?" Tonks whipped her head up, looking at Sirius with wide eyes. It couldn't be what she thought it was.

He grinned at her, face brightening. "Dumbledore himself asked me to deliver it to you."

Tonks looked back down again at the letter, her hands shaking as read the whole thing through without stopping this time. At the very end of the page, there was a message written in golden ink, the handwriting slanted and different from the formal print of the words before it.

Safe travels, Miss Tonks. We eagerly await you.

She felt suddenly dizzy.

"How..." Tonks glanced up from the letter and looked to her parents for answers. Her mother had tears welling up in her dark eyes, and her father held his wife close to himself, squeezing her shoulders.

Staring at the big, bright, watery smiles on their faces, Tonks had a feeling that this would be one of the moments she would remember of them forever. This picture of them, standing around their tiny dining room right smack in the center of muggle london, with Sirius' grinning face smeared with ash that he didn't even bother to clean and her parents on the verge of tears, looking so excited, and so proud, and so... happy.

On the afternoon of August 17th, 1973, Nymphodora Arabella Tonks knew that something important was about to happen, and her chest tightened as her eyes fixated on the letter that had begun it all.

"Hogwarts is waiting for you, Dora."

Hogwarts was waiting for her.