Okay, I finally am ready to publish this! XD

This is my entry for Smile Life Away's "I Have a Dream that one day..." challenge over at the Next-Gen Fanatics forum. It is in celebration of Black History Month (February in America).

My Characters were Nymphadora Tonks & Roxanne Weasley and my Prompt was Milk. Below is my quote :D.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter


"When I'm dead twenty-five years, people are going to begin to recognize me."

-Scott Joplin


Our Own Guardian Angels.


Roxanne stood in the hallway off the Auror office, staring at the shield locked behind the glass cabinet. It shining in the weak light that came through a small window on the opposite side of the wall. She peered in closer, wanting to see the details. She stroked at the glass, wanting to touch it.

As she read the words covering the crest over and over again, she couldn't help smiling. The name of her twin - her twin of another life.

Everyone thought it was strange, the fact that the person she was closest to, was someone who had been dead for twenty-five years. It broke Roxanne's heart that the one person she knew she could relate to the most, the one person she was most similar to was gone, and she could never meet her.

All that she had were a couple of photos and this crest, this one crest that had inspired her to apply for Auror training, that had been engrained within the depths of her mind since that day.

It was actually a coincidence that Roxanne had stumbled on this hallway and this cabinet 6 years before. She'd been put under arrest by the Wizard Police for setting off a fireworks show outside her father's shop, along with her brother and cousin. She'd made a break for it, and managed to reach the 2nd floor of the Ministry and in turn run into her uncle Harry.

Being a juvenile delinquent was therefore the first step that led Roxanne into the rest of her life. Her punishment had been to help her uncle in anything he wanted done over the summer before her 5th year.

Her uncle Harry had given her a look when he was told about her antics in Diagon Alley. It was a look of great remembrance, as if she reminded him of someone else.

He'd always noticed Roxanne's obsession with the Weird Sisters from a young age, the way she could just blend into the background despite her bright auburn hair, which grew out like a halo around her head. Her attitude; she'd just electrify a room. She had the ability to attract a crowd and make them laugh without trying.

What really stuck with Harry was Roxanne's clumsiness; most of the laughs she received were from her tripping over her own feet and flying across a room. Breaking things was her thing, rules included. So it came as a surprise to Roxanne when Harry asked her to clean those precious shields and medals, in that fragile glass cabinet.

The 15 year old Roxanne had tried so hard to be careful and to not drop anything, because those shields did belong to the victorious and the brave. But no matter how hard she tried, Roxanne couldn't stop her butter fingers from betraying her.

Roxanne was left in a pile of smashed glass, wood and metal around her feet. Just about containing her misery at the fact that she was unable to do anything right.

She had started to cry. It was less about the mess she had made, but more about the fact that it was like clockwork, she followed expectations and she made a lot of mistakes. She thought herself a failure, because what really could a clumsy, enthusiastic trouble-maker really do? Because if Roxanne was one thing, she wasn't optimistic, she was realistic.

Harry had found her; crouching around the smashed valuables, carefully picking at the pieces, hoping not to cut herself, though she knew it was inevitable.

"Roxy," Harry said cautiously, seeing Roxanne's slow tears cascade down her cheeks, her nose red.

She looked up at her uncle, and quickly wiped the tears away, "I'm sorry Uncle Harry, I'm such a klutz," she said dejectedly, trying to find pieces of glass that were still intact. "I've destroyed these pieces, and they're so special and they mean so much and I, being so stupid have completely ruined them."

Harry crouched down, and started to carefully sift through the pieces, "don't worry Roxy, it's fine, look there is one still completely fine." Harry said taking out a shield made of mahogany and electrum. He looked at the name and grinned.

Roxy looked at the shield in his hand, "why are you smiling?" she asked, still bleary eyed and wiping at her red eyes.

"Well this," he said showing Roxanne the front of the shield, "belonged to one of the most extraordinary Aurors I have ever known," he said grinning and leaning against the wall as Roxy crossed her legs.

Harry took out his wand and waving it at the shields and trophies, they reformed and he charmed them back into the cabinet.

"Who was it?" Roxanne asked, slightly cheering up at the sight of her Uncle fixing the relics.

"This belonged to Teddy's mother, Nymphadora Tonks, Metamorphmagus extraordinaire. She saved my life and helped me out, always up for a laugh even at the hardest of times. She'd make us all laugh and smile when she'd transform her face, and her hair was always this shade of bubblegum pink that just made everyone look at her. A master of disguise she was, just like you, always sinking into the background, even though she had the natural talent in her blood. And Roxy, she was the perfect friend, always there when you needed her, would go out of her way to help you out, just like you, and you know what else, she had this obsession with The Weird Sisters. I bet if you had met her, you would have got on like a house on fire." he said smiling and softly nudging Roxanne with his shoulder.

"Really?" Roxanne asked, smiling weakly and wiping at the final remnants of the tears, "but no Auror can be clumsy, especially as clumsy as me Uncle Harry. I couldn't even polish a couple awards without smashing them to pieces. Even if I was of age, I wouldn't have been able to clean that mess up."

Harry chuckled softly and put an arm around his niece, "you are so much like her, I remember a time when she rescued me from my Uncles house, you know the one Ron always takes the mick out of me about." He looked at Roxanne who was nodding.

"Well we all had to leave in this big rush and I'd never met her before. So the first memory I have of her is this crazy witch with purple hair struggling to pack my trunk away and it looked a right mess, and she even smashed a plate in the kitchen. Yet when it came down to being a good Auror, she was the best, and trust me on that one Rox, if she hadn't been around, I don't think I'd be sitting here talking to you. I think you'd be too distracted by saving the world that you would be a great Auror."

"What? You really think I'd be able to do anything good in the world? As an Auror?"

"'course Rox, you can do anything when you put your heart into it, and I bet, if the time came when you were the one person who could save everyone you love, you'd be the heroine of the hour." He smiled and gave her a tight squeeze.

"You're just saying that because it happened to you Uncle Harry," Roxanne replied smiling, and staring down at the shield still in her hands, carefully stroking the letters engraved on it.

Harry watched as she did so and he grinned.

"I'd like to make a difference, and you really think I wouldn't fall and end up setting the interrogation room on fire?"

He laughed again and shook his head, "trust me Rox, you'd be perfect."

Harry got up and held a hand out for Roxy, she held it still clutching the crest in her other hand. He helped her up and just as she was about to put the shield back into the cabinet he shook his head.

"Could you tell me some more about Nymphadora?" she asked carefully, knowing full well that though her Uncle Harry had known and loved Nymphadora Tonks, it didn't mean talking about her would be easy.

"Of course Roxy, let's talk over some tea, you've done enough for the day," he took the shield from her and led her down to his office.

"I'd prefer just to have the milk Uncle Harry," she said smiling, just like her usual self – lighting up the dim hallway.

So that's where it had started, her sisterhood between herself and Nymphadora Tonks. Her uncle had spoken to her for hours about the various stories revolving around himself and Tonks over the years he had known her, which sadly had been few.

After that day, Roxanne had been eager to learn more about her, what else did they have in common? She'd search for pictures, look through old Ministry records while she was still being punished for the fireworks display. When she'd visit Teddy, she'd ask him to show her pictures of his mother.

She had been completely immersed in everything Nymphadora, Roxanne admired Tonks, aspired to be like her, she was her one inspiration. Roxanne discovered that even a complete klutz could make a difference, die for her family, friends and for the greater good.

So when the summer was over, and Roxanne had to start her 5th year, she chose O. that would allow her to follow a career as an Auror, and worked hard at her chosen craft. She continued to make everyone smile and laugh, doing just what Tonks did when she was alive.

Roxanne felt better about herself, she felt as if she could actually do something with her life. She didn't have to just take over Weasley Wizard Wheezes, because even Fred was looking to be a promising Beater, and Roxanne never wanted to be stuck between four walls all her life.

She hadn't realised it before, how much she loved disguising herself with disillusionment charms, or casting spells, charms and jinxes on her duelling partners. She'd even had a fair go at interrogating her smaller cousins.

She finally knew what she wanted to do, and it was all thanks to someone who was gone, and she had never met.

That's how Roxanne Weasley, former troublemaker and klutz ended up in front of the same cabinet, the same shield belonging to her twin of another life – it standing firmly, and shining.

Roxanne was waiting to begin her first day as a fully trained Auror, a strand of bubblegum pink in her bushy hair, her own way of showing that Tonks was close to her, helping her on her way.

"You're my best friend Tonks, and you've been my everything these past years. I know we've never met, but maybe one day we will, and in some other way I'd have made you proud. I still can't understand my actions myself, but you've guided me these last 6 years and I'm doing this for you, in the name of your memory, your strength and your ability to love wholeheartedly. Because you were a hero, you are a hero, and I want everyone to remember that. So that whenever they see me, they'll see you, and even though it's been 25 years since you died, everyone still knows you made a difference."

Roxanne didn't notice as Harry began to walk down the hallway towards her. She was crying, though she had a huge smile on her face.

As Harry approached she wiped the tears away and jumped onto him with a huge hug.

"Thank you Uncle Harry, thank you for introducing me to Tonks, thank you for everything."

He laughed as he patted her on the shoulder, his sight being completely blocked by Roxanne's huge and out of control hair.

"I promise you this Roxy, she'd appreciate it, I think she'd find it strange that even 25 years after her death, she could make a difference in anyone's life. Now get into the office, we've got your first case on hand." Harry said smiling.

Roxanne nodded, and let go, she took one last glance at the shield and flitted down the hallway, nearly stumbling over her own feet.

Harry looked at the shield and gave it a final nod, "you really are spectacular Nymphadora Tonks, even managing to inspire a teenage girl and she knows you. Even without you being here she got to know you, and now with everything she does, we will all see you and they'll always know you as a hero, our hero."

He made a small smile, and unconsciously touched the glass of the cabinet. Remembering how similar himself and Roxy were, that they were moved so deeply by a simple name in a cabinet full of names.

When they needed some sort of direction, they found their own guardian angels.


A/N:

I based my fic on the true effects our actions have on others. How we can influence people, and when we do something truly inspirational and life changing, we can change people's lives, and their perception of the world. I loved the quote Smile gave me, and I think that if we all aim to have an impact on the world that even 25 years after we die somebody knows what we did, and that what we did mattered and we changed the world for the better, and the world will be better for it.

I think this was an amazing challenge, and it truly spoke from the heart. :D