Chapter 1 - The Order
"Well where is it?" Nymphadora Tonks asked, looking up at the old building before her, "These are just muggle houses." Alastor Moody sighed and shook his head beside her, before clunking forwards, in between the houses. He mumbled something, and Tonks gasped when the two houses began to part – and a whole new house appeared between them. he signalled for her to join him she went to knock but he shook his head.
"Not a good idea, Nymphadora." He mumbled. Tonks glared at the older wizard.
"Don't call me that. And why can't I knock?" he just shook his head before simply pushing through. There was a pair of old black curtains hanging over a section of the wall. Trailing behind Moody, she pulled back the curtains. Big mistake.
"FILTHY HALF-BREEDS! HALF-BLOODS! BLOOD-TRAITOR FILTH!" a second later, Moody rushed towards it and a second came in –
"Sirius Black!" she grabbed her wand and held it up, pointing towards the ragged man. He just rolled his eyes and helped Moody pull the curtains closed once again.
"Moody, will you stop bringing people into my house without informing them that I'm not a killer please? I'm starting to get seriously tired of it now." Moody pushed Tonks' hand down.
"It wasn't him, Tonks. We've been stringing the Ministry along, all this guff about Voldemort," he ignored the shudders from Tonks, "but it wasn't him. come into the kitchen, we'll explain then."
The Black's kitchen was quite scary – even the fridge was black! Tonks stared around in awe, but still making sure she heard at least half of what Sirius and Moody said. She nodded as they finished explaining. "So Peter Pettigrew faked his death after joining You-Know-Who and killing all those people? and Sirius, you were put in Azkaban all those years for the crimes?" The man nodded, "But they found his finger-" Sirius rolled his eyes and took a sip of his tea.
"Chopped it off himself, made it seem like he was dead and gone then spent fourteen years as a rat - in more than one way. he was an unregistered Animagus – as am i. that's how I escaped. But you can't tell the Ministry. Kingsley and Moody have sent them on a wild goose chase. That's partly why you're here. the two of them suggested that you'd be a good asset to the Order." Tonks smiled, and looked at Moody.
"Really? you and Kingsley – wait – Kingsley!? He's in on this – on you? so… you being in Singapore was just… a lie?" the two men nodded.
"And the Order. What is that exactly?" Moody seemed to smile – a rare site –
"The Order of the Phoenix is an anti- Evil organization created by Dumbledore to stop Voldemort-" Tonks shuddered- "from killing us all." she blinked a few times, "So are you in? the next meeting is on Monday, if you join-"
"of course I want to join! Are you crazy? You-Know-Who's a whacko and he needs to be stopped. I have to get home now, but I'll be here on Monday straight after work, promise, to meet the other members – I'll see you then!" and with that she stood up and made to leave, only to fall flat on her face.
As she stood and left, she heard Moody mutter to Sirius, "Don't leave anything valuable around her, by the way, she's not the most elegant women, but she's a nice lass." She felt herself go pink as she pulled open the door and stepped into the hot summer night. She looked around, made sure there were no Muggles who would see her, and apparated to her flat. As soon as she reached her living room, the familiar sensation in her stomach almost immediately fading, she hurried into the kitchen and made herself some coffee.
"An anti- Evil organization to stop You-Know-Who, huh? Sounds like an Auror's cup of tea. And I am most definitely one of those." She smiled, before tacking her mug into the living room.
"Damn it!" she scolded herself as she tripped on the rug, spilling half of her drink. Sometimes, she thought angrily, as she placed her cup on the table, I'm a serious klutz. She sighed, before picking her mug back up and taking it into her bedroom.
"I'm going to bed, before I can mess anything else up. Night, mother." She smiled to the photo on her windowsill, and her mother smiled back. Oh, the wonders of having moving pictures! She thought with a wide grin. So much better than Muggle pictures.
Monday was only two days away, and it came rather quickly. Tonks stared at the mirror, debating whether to go with the pink spikes or the golden curls. "should I go bold, or natural?" she asked the enchanted mirror. It smiled back at her and shrugged,
"The bold, definitely. I'm sure everyone will really notice you then." Tonks nodded and scrunched up her eyes, converting back to her original choice, before heading out to Grimmauld Place. When she got there, she could already see the extra house. She tried the door. It was locked.
"Oh no. I'm going to have to-" as soon as her knuckle connected with the wooden door, she could hear the shrieking from inside. She covered her ears, and after a second Sirius appeared at the door, with two men behind him – one was Kingsley, the other man someone she did not recognize – who were both busy trying to pull the curtains closed. He had already left to help the other two by the time she had stepped inside, narrowly avoiding missing the step. Sirius ushered the other two out of the way and tried to yank the curtains closed himself, yelling furiously,
"Be quiet Mother!" she smiled bashfully as the three men turned to look at her.
"Sorry. The door was locked." The man she didn't recognize held up his hands.
"Apologies. That was my fault. Remus Lupin. You must be Nymphadora, Sirius has told us all about you. he talks very highly."
"Tonks is fine, thank you." she turned to Sirius, and was about to say something when he grinned at her, before laughing. Tonks smiled, happy that he wasn't angry with her for waking the crabby, angry woman behind the curtains. They made their way into the kitchen, but Tonks didn't make it, tripping over her feet and falling into a pair of strong arms.
"Watch your step!" Lupin laughed, helping her steady himself. She thanked him, making her way to the table and sitting down, slightly embarrassed and aware that everyone in the room was looking at her quizzically.
"Ah, I see that Miss Tonks has arrived. Everyone this is Nymphadora Tonks, Sirius' cousin and Auror," chuckled Albus Dumbledore, who was stood proudly at the end of the table.
"Tonks is great, Thanks. I'm not a massive fan of my name, you see." A woman with red hair turned from where she stood at the oven and smiled at Tonks.
"Hello, dearie, I'm Molly, Molly Weasley. This is my Husband Arthur, my daughter Ginny and my sons Fred, George, Ron, Bill and-"
"Charlie!" Tonks stood up and rushed around to the other side of the table, pulling her old best friend into a hug, "How could you not tell me you were coming back!" Charlie smiled, embracing his friend.
"Well, the owls in Romania were all loyal to their owners, and I'm a bit down on money at the moment. Sorry." Tonks shrugged, then looked back at the Order.
"Oh, sorry!" she grinned, slightly embarrassed, "I'm Tonks. Hi." The rest of the Order introduced themselves to her, and she decided that she especially liked the young Weasley girl. "Hey, Ginny. I'm Tonks." The girl grinned and nodded, swallowing the muffin in her mouth.
"I know; you've told us several times!" Tonks rolled her eyes as her cousin said this, strolling past and going over to talk to Remus.
"Sorry, just nervous. I don't really know anyone here, 'cept Moody, Kingsley and Charlie. I don't even know Sirius that well. Um… how would you like to see some morphs?" the girls' eyes widened.
"you can morph?" Tonks nodded, scrunching up her face and turning her nose and mouth into a pig's snout. Then she changed into a duck's beak. "Pretty neat huh-" suddenly another girl appeared behind her, called Hermione Granger, described by 'Professor' Lupin as one of the brightest witches he'd ever met,
"You're a Metamorphmagus, aren't you?" Tonks nodded, and Hermione smiled, "They're extremely rare," she continued, "and they aren't hereditary either. Only one or two in hundreds, maybe even thousands. You can change anything, correct." Tonks smiled, scrunching up her face. Immediately she became considerably bustier. Hermione had to restrain from rolling her eyes. of course Sirius' cousin would do something immature. What had she expected? "Not exactly what I meant but-" Ginny cut her off by sighing, crossing her arms and pouting.
"I wish I could do that!" she said huffily, before grinning. Tonks laughed, but Hermione couldn't help but feel that she was going to dislike Tonks even more than her cousin – both were incredibly mischievous, and being such a, as Ron referred to her, goody-two-shoes, she wasn't a huge fan of this.
Tonks really enjoyed the Order meeting, barring the moment when Severus Snape, who had taught Tonks potions during her time at Hogwarts, had entered the room, looking miserable as usual. She had glanced at Sirius by chance, and was pleased to see that he was whispering something to Remus, who chuckled. Dumbledore had handed out a few missions to various members, but apparently nothing out of the ordinary. At the very end of the meeting Molly stood and smiled at them all.
"Well, for starters I'd just like to ask you all, as usual, not to mention any of this to anyone that isn't here, even the children. I don't want them involved, you see, Tonks dear. Anyway, other than that I was just wondering how many of you are joining us for dinner? It's cottage pie!" as it turned out, Kingsley and Moody both had Ministry work, Mundungus had some 'business' to take care of, ('probably illegal, then again, I'm not surprised,' Tonks had heard Moody murmur) and Dumbledore and Snape had to get things ready for the new term at Hogwarts, which would be starting in just under a month's time. Only the Weasleys, Tonks, Remus and obviously Sirius, who was house bound, being on the run and all, were actually going to be staying.
"Are you sure, Tonks? Do you not work at the Ministry? You surely have some paperwork or something important to take care of?" Sirius had asked, and Tonks had grinned and shook her head.
"Nah. Finished for the day, and I don't tend to bring work home unless I have to. Besides, I can't wait for dinner, I'm famished. Now, where's the loo?"