A/N: As always, the Potterverse belongs to J.K., I just rejoice at being allowed to play in her sandbox. For this story, my prompts were Quill, unpopular, incendio, enemy (the only one I didn't use), and Tonks. And now, on with the show!
"Oh, bugger," thought Tonks as she felt the sensation of a Portkey activating. She knew that something was wrong with this quill, but she hadn't expected that.
A few hours previously….
Junior Auror Nymphadora Tonks was restless, yet excited. The word had come down from on high: her promotion to Senior Auror was set to take place the following day, making her the first of her class to receive the honor. Of course, this promotion also brought a pay bump, which her fellow classmates seemed eager to take advantage of. An after-work party was also being planned for the next day, and though the party was in her honor, Tonks would be paying for the large amount of Firewhiskey expected to be consumed. It was a DMLE tradition, she was told, so she planned to suffer it in good humor, as she did with most things around the department.
Tonks was a loner, to put it simply. Her unique talent had been known to cause trouble with certain people, so Tonks felt it better to remain slightly aloof throughout her training so as not to give anyone the wrong impression of what she could do. This led to her being one of the more unpopular rookies, but that impression had changed slowly, as Tonks became more familiar with her cohort, and realized that she stood to gain more from maintaining some closeness than continuing to try and go it alone. She still preferred her alone time (where most of the Aurors lived together, Tonks still kept a one bedroom flat of her own), but had formed a few friendships, and was accepted as "talented, if a bit off at times."
The head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones, exited her office and headed straight for the desk Tonks was seated at. "Tonks, I need you and Shacklebolt to go track down this lead for me. We got an anonymous tip about some illegal smuggling operation. This is just surveillance, but if you need to take action to protect yourself, do it and get out of there. Clear?"
Tonks nodded. "Clear, boss. I'll grab Shack and go now." Amelia passed her a piece of parchment with the details, and watched as she walked off in search of her senior partner.
The corner office of Kingsley Shacklebolt was small, but also the only one with its own adjustable warming and cooling charms built in, which was why Kingsley was the envy of the rest of the Senior Aurors. He had vowed to not give up the office until he became Head of the Department, which had led to a week of fairly unsubtle hints being dropped to Madam Bones about the matter. As she studiously ignored them all, and threatened pay cuts for those who didn't get the message the first time, they quickly died off.
Thus, it was into a very comfortable office that Tonks poked her head. "Hey Shack, it's go time. Bones has a lead for us to chase down." Kingsley rose, picked his wand off the desk, and followed his partner out to check the DMLE's giant map of the British Isles.
A few moments later, Tonks and Kingsley apparated just outside of Upton Park. There had been a report of some strong magic in this predominantly Muggle area, but not anything lethal, as far as anyone could tell. "All right, Tonks, you search the area right here for anything suspicious, and I'll go see if anyone might have seen anything that would give us a clue as to what we're looking for," said Kingsley.
Tonks nodded, and begin circling around a stadium in the area, as it was by far the largest building around, and also seemed to be giving off a faint aura, which didn't make any sense to the Junior Auror. As she got closer, the aura strengthened slightly, but not until Tonks was on the pitch itself did she spot something lying at midfield that should not have been there.
A heavily enchanted, claret and blue colored, eagle feather quill was quite visible on the bright green turf. Tonks knew she should be sending her partner a messenger Patronus, but something about the quill drew Tonks to it. It wasn't until she was almost standing on top of the quill that the thought of something being wrong with this crossed Tonks' mind. She hesitated for a moment, and then bent to pick up the quill.
The Portkey activating only gave Tonks enough time to mutter "Oh, bugger" before she was pulled away from Upton Park. A few moments later, Kingsley, having felt his Portkey activate, smiled and Apparated back to the Ministry.
When Tonks opened her eyes following the Portkey arriving at its destination, she found herself in a completely blacked-out room. Taking deep breaths to stave off the panic she was starting to feel, she tried to cast Lumos, but nothing happened. She then tried to cast an Incendio, but again, her wand didn't respond. Beginning to seriously worry, Tonks stuck her hand out trying to feel an exit or anything at all in the room, only to brush against a doorknob. Not feeling any magic coming off the knob, she tried to twist it to open the door, but it was stuck tight and didn't budge. Tonks hesitated, as none of the spells she had attempted to cast had yet worked, but this situation clearly screamed out for an Alohomora. With much trepidation, she cast.
And the door immediately popped open, revealing her partner, her boss, and the rest of the Senior Aurors standing outside of it. "SURPRISE!" everyone shouted.
Tonks blinked a few times, before noticing Amelia unroll a scroll of parchment.
"It is on this day," began Madame Bones, "that we in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement officially recognize the promotion of Junior Auror Nymphadora Tonks to Senior Auror, with all accompanying rights and privileges. And furthermore, we offer our sincerest congratulations and good luck in all future cases." She passed the parchment over to Tonks, who continued looking around in mute disbelief, before a very wide grin appeared on her face.
"Thank you," Tonks said softly. "Thank you all so much." Her eyes met her partner's, and the normally very reserved Auror wrapped his partner in a big hug, which the rest of the department soon joined in on.
"The Junior Aurors may have their promotion tradition," whispered Kingsley, "but we think ours is a lot more fun." Tonks nodded, and continued accepting congratulations from everyone.