Nymphadora Tonks was bouncing up and down. She was immensely excited because today was the day. Today was the day that Nymphadora, who preferred to be known as Tonks, would be meeting the Order of the Phoenix. She straightened her purple Weird Sisters t-shirt and dusted off her faded and holey jeans. She looked in the mirror by her door and scrunched up her nose.

"Pink", she thought. "Bubble gum pink with spikes."

She looked in the mirror, surveying her handwork. Her hair was now exactly what she wanted, bubble gum pink in a short spikey length. At that moment, there was a knock at her door. She opened it to reveal the tall, dark Auror, Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Wotcher, Kingsley!" she said with a grin. "Where are we going?"

"You know I can't tell you, Tonks. We'll have to side along apparate."

She grimaced, "Fine, come on before I change my mind."

Kingsley grabbed her arm and turned on the spot. Seconds later, they landed in a grim looking square. Tonks looked around and frowned. This place looked familiar, but she just couldn't place it. Interrupting her thoughts, Kingsley handed her a scrap piece of parchment. She looked at him in confusion. What was she supposed to do with a spare piece of parchment?

Seeing her confusion, Kingsley said, "Read it and then think about what you just read."

She shrugged and opened the piece of parchment. It said, "The Order of the Phoenix is located at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place." She looked around, but she didn't see a Number Twelve. There was Eleven and there was Thirteen, but there wasn't a Number Twelve. She was a bit confused, but then she remembered what Kingsley had told her. She thought about what had been on the parchment, and to her surprise she felt a rumble coming from the ground below. She looked up at Kingsley with panic in her eyes, but he simply pointed at the houses in front of them. She looked in the direction of his pointing and she saw Number Twelve expanding between Numbers Eleven and Thirteen. As the house finished emerging, Kingsley walked forward and Tonks raced to catch up. Once they reached the steps, Kingsley hurriedly looked around quickly and bounded up the steps. Tonks went to follow, but managed to trip up the stairs. Kingsley managed to catch her and haul her up the rest of the steps. He tapped the door three times and it opened for them.

Kingsley entered first and motioned for her to quickly follow. He was quickly making his way down a set of stairs that she assumed led to the meeting area, maybe a kitchen or a den. Just as she made her way to follow, she felt her leg catch on something big and heavy. Tonks sprawled forward and let out a shriek as she hit the floor with a thud. On her way down, she hit her head on something rather sharp. As she laid there dazed, she heard a horrible sound. She looked up to see a portrait of a horrible looking woman staring down on her.

"FILTHY LITTLE HALF-BLOOD. DARING TO ENTER INTO THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS. HAVING THE NERVE TO STEP FOOT INTO THE MOST NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK! UNNATURAL SHAPE SHIFTER, LITTLE FREAK! DAUGHTER OF A MUDBLOOD –"

At that moment, she heard a voice yell, "SHUT UP YOU OLD HAG! NOT ONE MORE SOUND OUT OF YOU OR I SWEAR I WILL STUN YOU!"

She saw two men struggle to shut the curtains on that wretched portrait. She tried to get up, but found herself feeling quite dizzy. Also, there was something wet getting into her eyes. Before she could do much else, she felt two strong, but gentle arms lift her to her feet. She still felt terrible, so she clung to the robes of the owner of those arms. As she steadied herself, she wiped the blood from her face as best she could. Tonks looked up into the eyes of a man that had a vaguely familiar look to him. He was ruggedly handsome, he couldn't be very old, but it looked like life had been hard on him. He had brown hair streaked with grey and beautiful blue eyes. He had a slight smile on his face, but his eyes conveyed his worry.

She was just about to thank him, when she glanced at the other man. Her eyes grew wide and she let out a gasp. "Sirius Black." Then she lunged. She pulled out her wand and was about to stun him, when she felt those arms tighten around her again. He grabbed her wand as she struggled.

"No, let me go! Let me go! I'm an Auror. He must be arrested. If you don't let me go this minute I will arrest you as well. Now let me go!"

She kicked and screamed, but it was no use. No matter how much Tonks struggled; she could not free herself from the man's vice grip. She finally let out a defeated scream, and went limp. She had not realized that during her fight, someone had come to witness it. She looked up into the eyes of none other than Alastor Moody. Mad-eye had been her mentor throughout Auror training and had remained so to this day. He had an annoyed look on his face, and his magical eye swiveled unnaturally.

"Now, Nymphadora, if you're quite finished I would like to take this opportunity to explain a few things to you. You are correct in your assumption that the man standing over there is Sirius Black. Do not be alarmed, he is innocent. He was framed by none other than his so called friend Peter Pettigrew. You see lass, Pettigrew is an animagus, so he has been able to avoid capture thus far. He was the one to betray the Potters, he was the one to cut off his own finger, and he was the one that killed all those Muggles. So lass, there will be no arresting of Sirius Black. He is part of the Order as well."

Tonks nodded uncertainly. She had never known Mad-eye to be wrong before, so she supposed that she would just have to trust him. She looked at Sirius warily, and he offered her a tentative smile. She looked up at the man holding on to her and said, "You can let me go now. I promise I won't attack anyone."

He looked at her uncertainly. "Do you promise you won't attack Sirius? I cannot let you go until I am completely sure that you will not hurt him."

"I won't attack him, I promise. You can let me go now."

He looked at Mad-eye, who nodded, and slowly let go of her waist. He handed her back her wand and gave her another small smile. She beamed back at him and stowed her wand in her robes. Suddenly, she started to sway. He caught her yet again and gently set her down on the floor.

"I'm sorry, I completely forgot about your forehead." He pulled out his wand and muttered "Episkey." She felt the gash on her head slowly close, the warmth of the spell spread throughout her body. He stared at her for a moment before muttering, "Tergeo." The dried blood quickly disappeared, leaving her face spotless once again. He straightened up and offered Tonks a hand, which she gratefully took.

"I apologize for not introducing myself earlier, but I got a bit preoccupied. I'm Remus Lupin." At this, he stuck out his hand. She took it, shaking it with vigor. "Wotcher, Remus! I'm Tonks."

"Please to make your acquaintance, Tonks. I'm afraid that we need to head into the meeting now, it's just about to start."

He led her down stairs into the kitchen, which served as a meeting area for the Order. There were many faces that she recognized, but many that she didn't as well. Remus sat down and gestured for her to take the remaining seat between him and Sirius.

At that moment, Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Welcome, Nymphadora. I see that you have met our friend Sirius Black. Don't worry; I would be very happy to vouch for him. We are waiting for a few more members and then we will be able to begin."

Tonks blushed at the sudden attention, but she was able to quickly morph it away before anyone was able to notice. She was annoyed that he had called her Nymphadora, but she was too wise to argue with Dumbledore himself. "Thanks headmaster. I don't think it will be necessary though. Mad-eye already told me the basic story and he has never misguided me before. "

She might have said more if the fireplace had not suddenly flared to life. In a green flash Minerva McGonagall emerged from the fireplace, followed quickly by, to Tonks' astonishment and displeasure, none other than Severus Snape.

"Nymphadora Tonks, what a surprise", Snape sneered. "This is not a place for children. Some of us actually are doing something of worth, unlike yourself."

Tonks' hair flashed long and deep red, a red that would even rival the Weasleys. "Don't call me Nymphadora!" she snapped. "And it's just a pleasure to see you too," she said acidically.

She settled grumpily back in her seat, fuming that Snape of all people was in the Order as well. Why that greasy, slimy git was even allowed near the Order astounded her. He was a Death Eater after all, a supposedly turned one, but a Death Eater nonetheless. Her thoughts were interrupted by none other than Sirius Black, coming to her defense.

"Well Snivellus, I just might remind you that the woman you have decided to insult is my cousin! If my information is correct, and I'm sure it is because it comes from Dumbledore himself, Tonks here is an Auror. She was trained by Mad-eye, and is one of two female Aurors in existence at the moment. If she is as skilled as I have been told, then I can say that she is in no way a child. If you insult her again, I will gladly hex you into next week, just for old times' sake!"

Dumbledore decided to break this argument up before it got too heated. "I think Severus has gotten the idea, Sirius. Now may I ask you both to kindly sit down so that we may proceed with the meeting?" He conjured two seats for Snape and McGonagall and cleared his throat. "As all of you have noticed, we have a new member to introduce." He gestured to Tonks and she stood up, knocking down her chair in the process.

"Wotcher, I'm Tonks. I'm an Auror and I'm excited to be able to help any way possible. I can't wait to get to know all of you, and um I guess that's it." She picked up her chair and sat down again, miraculously without much trouble.

Dumbledore stood up again and started giving a summary who would be talking and in what order. Suddenly, Snape stood up and started talking in his drawl about what he was doing and how much he had sacrificed for the Order. He also mentioned all the things he was risking, but Tonks wasn't listening. She was staring into space, unknowingly changing her hair color. It was still long and bright red when she started losing her focus. It became dark purple, then lime green, then it shifted again and again. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there for, but by the time the meeting came to a close, it had settled on a light, slightly curled blonde with bright blue streaks in it. She jumped out of her reverie when she heard chairs scraping. She tried to stand up, but she lost her balance and fell. She fully expected to hit the floor, but she felt two strong arms catch her yet again. She looked up into the soft blue eyes of none other than Remus Lupin.

She grinned, "We really need to stop meeting like this. Thanks for catching me again though."

He grinned as well, "It really isn't a problem Nymphadora. Are you alright?"

She stood up and said, "I think I'm fine thanks. And it's Tonks, not Nymphadora. I hate that name and I don't like to be called it."

Remus frowned and said, "Why not? It's such a beautiful name! And Tonks seems so short."

Tonks sighed and finally said, "You would hate it too if your fool of a mother named you Nymphadora. Try going to school with a name like that. Well, you can call me Dora if you like. Not many people call me that, but I suppose I can make an exception." With that she gave him yet another smile.

"Well then, Dora it is."

Their conversation was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. "I don't mean to interrupt dears, but dinner is ready and I was wondering if you two are going to be joining us."

Tonks turned around to see the mother of one of her best friends, Molly Weasley. "Sure Molly, I'll be happy to stay! I haven't seen you in ages!"

Mrs. Weasley broke into a delighted smile. "Come, come sit down. Both of you are too thin for your own good. You need a nice dinner to fill your stomachs."

As they sat down, Tonks glanced around the table. What Tonks assumed to be the entire Weasley clan was gathered around the table, along with a bushy haired girl with brown hair, Sirius, and of course her and Remus.

"So Tonks," Sirius said, "How's your mother? I haven't seen Andy in years, not since well you know. I was wondering how my favorite cousin was doing lately. She's still with Ted right? Moony, you remember Andy and Ted right?"

Tonks glanced over to Remus, who smiled and said "How could I forget? You always talked about your fellow rebel from the Noble House of Black."

She grinned, "Well, maybe if you two stopped talking for two seconds, I could answer your questions. Ok, well Mum is doing fine; just as stubborn as ever. She still insists on calling me Nymphadora, so no change there. She still misses you, you know. She never did believe you were guilty, always said you were a rebel, not a killer. Dad is doing great, too. I haven't had a chance to visit them in a while, with all the work stuff I have going on. I'll let you know more the next time I stop by."

After a minute or two of silence, Tonks decided to lighten up the mood a little bit. She scrunched up her face and changed her hair color to a nice black with yellow streaks, in honor of her old Hogwarts house. There were audible gasps from around the table.

The girl with the bushy brown hair said in a knowing voice, "You're a metamorphagus aren't you? I've read about them before, but never actually met one. From what I've read, they are quite rare."

Tonks was surprised; normally people that young had no idea what she was. It was impressive that the girl knew that much about her, to say the least. "Yep, I'm a metamorphagus. I'm Tonks by the way, and you are-"

The girl smiled widely and replied, "Hermione Granger. It's really nice to meet you Tonks."

The red haired girl sitting next to her butted in, "I'm Ginny! Charlie and Bill told me about you, but we've never actually met. I didn't really believe them when they said they had a friend that could change anything about herself at will. I just thought they were messing with me!"

"Nope, I regret to say that for once, they were being completely serious."

At this remark, Sirius jumped in, "No, I'm Sirius!" Everybody just groaned at the all too familiar joke.

Tonks spent the rest of the meal entertaining the girls by constantly changing her features. Before she knew it, Molly was hustling her brood, plus Hermione, up to bed. Sirius excused himself to go feed Buckbeak, whatever that was. She was left sitting alone with Remus, at loss for what to say.

Remus did her a favor by starting off the conversation, "Nymphadora, would you like some tea? I was going to fix myself a pot, and I was wondering if you would want some too."

"It's Tonks or Dora, Remus. No ifs ands or buts. And yes, tea would be nice, thanks."

He hustled to the stove and began to prepare tea for the both of them. He broke the silence yet again, "My apologies N- Dora. I will try to keep that in mind." He set a cup in front of her and took the seat straight across from her. "I apologise again for having to restrain you earlier this evening, I didn't exactly have a choice you see. I had to keep you from doing something you might come to regret."

She looked up from her tea and said, "I understand why you did it and I don't blame you for it in any way. I might not fully trust Sirius yet, but I do trust Mad-eye and Dumbledore. If they trust him, so do I. I have a question for you, Remus, if you don't mind that is."

Remus silently sipped his tea and then replied, "Of course, ask away."

"How do you know my parents? I think you look somewhat familiar, but I can't place your face quite yet. Not from recent years, but a long time ago. Have I met you before?"

He smiled, "Sirius used to drag James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and I to Andromeda's house all the time when we were still in school. Every holiday we made a quick stop there, and I think James sometimes brought Lily too. I suppose that I might look familiar, since we have indeed met before. The last time I saw you, I think you were about seven. As I recall it, you hated your name even then. Does that answer both of your questions?"

Tonks nodded, "That makes sense. I knew you looked familiar, I couldn't mistake those eyes anywhere. Well, I suppose that I owe you two questions now, so ask away."

Remus took another sip of tea, "From the looks the Severus was shooting you during the meeting, I would guess that you two are not on the best of terms. Why is that, if you don't mind me asking."

She snickered before she replied, "Oh Snape hates me all right! I infuriated him with my knack at potions and my colorful hair. We never really took a liking to each other and I was always in detention with him for talking back to him. I think I called him a greasy, spineless git on the last day of term in my seventh year. All I can say is that didn't go down well with him."

He struggled to stop laughing by finishing off his tea. That didn't seem to work though, as he started choking instead of laughing. When he finally caught his breath, he asked his second question. "Dora, why did you decide to become an Auror?"

"Oh, that's an easy one! You know my mother's side of the family is the Most Noble House of Black. I had been told horror stories about them when I was growing up, and I've even had the vast displeasure of meeting a few of them including dear Auntie Bellatrix and Uncle Lucius. I wanted to fight that part of me. I didn't want to be like them, so naturally I became the opposite of them. I couldn't stand the thought of all the horrible things that they have done to people and I recognized that they needed to be caught. Who better to do it than me?"

Their conversation went back and forth like this for hours, until around three the next morning. Tonks' busy day was beginning to catch up with her, and she was starting to nod off on the kitchen table. Remus noticed this and nudged her awake.

"I'm afraid I've kept you up to long, Nymphadora. I think it's time you went to bed. I don't think you'll be able to apparate when you're this tired. There is a spare room upstairs that I'm sure Sirius wouldn't mind letting you use."

Tonks yawned in reply. Remus took her hand and led her up the stairs to the spare bedroom. He walked her to the door, wished her goodnight, and went into his room which was right next to hers. She stumbled to the bed and went to sleep without even taking off her combat boots.