Tonks apparated outside Grimmauld Place with a small pop and a flurry of bubblegum pink hair. Her side bag clattered into her leg as she regained her balance. She sighed as pain exploded in her thigh, a nice purple bruise would be blossoming there tomorrow, typical. She pulled her long purple hair out of her face with frozen fingertips and turned, her green eyes shining down the long street. It was dark and silent almost as if a blanket of calm was settled upon the tarmac road. She could hear the sound of cars driving past in the next street.
It was common that Mad-Eye Moody would send her somewhere that was laced in violence and possible dark magic. The houses on the street were not exactly what she would call inviting. Piles of rubbish lay on the unkempt gardens, some houses had broken windows and peeling paint. And there was silence. It unnerved her, this different kind of silence; it made her feel like at any second someone or something was going to jump out at her. A completely natural reaction, she told herself, given the circumstances.
She dug her hand into her deep coat pocket and clasped a torn piece of parchment. Her other hand was clutched around the tip of the wand that was protruding from the sleeve of her corduroy jacket, completely hidden from view.
Elegant calligraphy danced across the sandy material. It was Albus Dumbledore's handwriting; she had recognized it immediately when Mad-Eye had pressed the paper into her hand. She'd seen the elegant script many times in Kingsley's office at the Ministry.
She closed her eyes, and she could see the curly script unfurling slowly beneath her eyelids. She recited the address in her mind over and over. 'The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London'.
Her eyes slowly open as the previously invisible number 12 house began to appear. She smiled broadly at the building. So this was where they met, a secret base no less. Her imagination had led her to only one conclusion. She could imagine beyond the dark walls all kinds of plots and schemes being laid down. Wizards and witches pouring over a wooden table covered in maps and diagrams. She could almost hear the secrets being split beneath candlelight.
She took the steps up to the doorway two at a time, very nearly slipping and having to throw out her arm to grab hold of the metal gate.
She pulled out her wand from the confides of her sleeve and tapped the door once, saying the words Mad-Eye had told her to use, over and over in her head. From behind the wood she could hear many loud, metallic clicks and what sounded like the clatter of a chain.
She reached out slowly for the wooden handle and took a large lungful of air. It creaked as it rotated and then swung open and unexpectedly she was met by an almost physical wall of noise. She turned her head and the street behind her was as silent as before.
She could hear the voice of a woman shouting names from the kitchen, what appeared to be the portrait of a demented woman shrieking from down the hall, a deep voice's bellows and the unmistakably familiar sound of Mad-Eye Moody's stick thumping the floor.
"Hey!" A girl said as she ran down the stairs in front of her. She jumped the last two steps, her straight red hair fanning out behind her.
"Wotcher" replied Tonks slightly nervously. The girl walked lightly down the corridor which ran parallel to the stairs, she turned into a room on the left, leaving Tonks alone in the hallway.
The surrounding walls were covered in peeling wallpaper and laced with cobwebs. There was an old smell on the air, it reminded Tonks of the time she had helped her dad clean out their old mouldy attic.
Abruptly a small mouse like man ran out of the room the red haired girl had gone into. He pulled the curtains shut with difficulty on the portrait of the shrieking woman, who had been yelling the whole time Tonks had been standing there. He sighed to himself as if this was a regular occurrence and then walked through the doorway he had come through. She didn't recognise him from the Ministry, she supposed there would be a lot of people here she had never met before.
Tonks awkwardly took off her coat and put it onto the nearest already filled coat stand, resulting in it swaying dangerously and depositing all the coats onto the floor with a loud crash. She let out a huge sigh. She bent down to pick them all up, by the looks of it there was a fair few people already in the house. Alerted by the noise a woman's face appeared from behind a door down the corridor, where the man had disappeared.
Tonks was immediately stuck by how motherly she looked despite her positively harassed expression. Red hair curled around her round cheeks. She looked exactly how Kingsley had described Arthur Weasley's wife, who would probably be that girl's mother. Tonks made a mental link to begin constructing a small family tree in her head. Now she was sure Arthur mentioned more than one child, well she supposed it wouldn't be too hard to remember. Oh and Bill and Charlie, they'd been in school with her, a long long time ago, so not too many names to remember.
"Ah you must be Nymphadora", she said, her face switching from murderous to sympathy as her eyes took in the small hill of coats. "You're just in time, the lasagne's just come out of the oven."
Tonks was slightly taken aback that she knew her name, even if it was her ridiculous first name. But she was even more taken aback by the fact that there was going to be lasagne, she cursed silently that she'd eaten a sandwich earlier.
"Thanks Molly", said Tonks using the name she had heard mentioned in work. She began trying to gather all the coats into her arms.
"Leave that, I'll get Fred and George to do it. Come in and have some food", Mrs Weasley bustled forward and almost pulled Tonks forward into the kitchen.
Fred, George, Tonks thought, wizards from the far reaches of the world maybe, come to help Dumbledore? Her brain whirled as she imagined large muscular men come to lend their services with what was happening here, whatever that was. Maybe they were mysterious men with foreign accents and new obscure magic.
"Fred! George! Clean up in the hall", she shouted loudly at the ceiling.
There was a loud POP and two red-headed twins apparated into the hall next to the fallen coat stand. Ah, thought Tonks, without a doubt more Weasley children.
"Cheers!" She heard one of the twins call back sarcastically as they began picking up coats. She dropped her eyes sheepishly.
"You sure you don't want me to go and help them?" She asked, feeling a soft blush entering her cheeks.
"No, no, just come in and eat. Food's ready, they'll be fast enough if they want some", said Mrs Weasley a gentle smile on her face.
As Tonks plodded down the long corridor after Mrs Weasley she took in the dark walls that were covered with paintings of old men and women, most of whom gave her disgusted looks and one old man made an obscene gesture at her, so she made the same back at him, being careful not to let Mrs Weasley see.
Tonks entered the kitchen to find lots of people already seated at a long wooden table; she wished she'd been earlier in arriving so she didn't have to walk into a full room of staring witches and wizards.
Dark wooden cabinets were placed against the walls and their transparent glass doors showed silver goblets and plates. Various pieces of polished metal work adorned the dark walls and a large grandfather clock stood in the corner masked by masses of cobwebs. At the other end of the room the kitchen opened up. Molly bustled over to the oven and tapped her wand on the cupboard and plates began flying out and placing themselves on the table.
Tonks looked around at the curious faces, silently wishing conversation would start up again. Her eyes widened as she saw Bill Weasley looking older than she'd ever seen him, sipping a glass of red wine. The red haired girl from the stairs was next to another red haired boy, another Weasley. Next to him was a girl with thick bushy brown hair, she smiled at Tonks, who smiled back. Next to them was Kingsley Shacklebolt, her eyes widened further when she saw Minerva McGonagall, then Arthur Weasley and Mad-Eye. A dirty man sat opposite, his chin drooping onto his chest and a pipe poking out of his jacket pocket. The small man who'd shut the portrait sat next to his slumbering form, eyeing him nervously.
A chandelier hung from the ceiling casting golden light onto everyone's heads and leaving the door and corners of the room in almost complete darkness.
Molly used her wand to send the large red tray of bubbling lasagne onto the table before she took her seat next to her husband. Tonks looked around suddenly alarmed, it was now time to sit down and she found that she was still standing. Where was she going to sit? The space next to Mad-Eye was filled, the seat at the head of the table looked like it was meant for someone important, maybe Dumbledore? Finally she sat down clumsily next to Bill Weasley, who smiled kindly at her. She sunk low in her seat and surveyed her surroundings.
The smell of food sent the twins named Fred and George running back into the kitchen to scramble into seats next to the sleeping man who greatly resembled a heap of clothes.
As everyone began passing around plates of steaming lasagne, Tonks saw a man in dark clothing enter from the shadow of the doorway. A shaft of light fell across his face and she saw the features that had covered every Daily Prophet for two years. She had to stop herself from giving a small gasp.
She had only been told of her cousins' innocence a few weeks previously when Kingsley had taken her into his office and explained exactly what had happened. Including everything about how Dumbledore was right about You-Know-Who returning and exactly what had happened to Peter Pettigrew. Kingsley was surprised she'd only taken a little persuading, for around a year she had seen him acting as if he was after Black and that Dumbledore was a raving lunatic.
It had been quite a shock about You-Know-Who, about Black, about all of it really. She'd known Sirius as a child and she'd found it disturbing to think he'd done something so horrific, she almost hadn't believed it, and yet the Daily Prophet and Fudge had made it all so convincing. Being in that kind of environment at work really cast a shadow of doubt over her mind. But deep down she was sure she'd believed Dumbledore and Sirius' innocence. Sirius had always been her mother's favourite cousin. And she'd known them hadn't she, and people didn't just change like that.
She watched Sirius clap a dark figure on the shoulder before he took his seat at the head of the table. Tonks could just make out the silhouette of a man, his shoulder rested against the frame of the door, looking out at the crowded room. She didn't seem to have noticed him there before. His eyes looked tired as they shone through the darkness and his threadbare coat seemed to weigh down his whole body. Molly Weasley appeared to notice him at the same time she did.
"Remus, sit down, sit down!" Mrs Weasley squeezed between people to get to him. She pulled his coat off his shoulders and pushed him into the empty chair directly opposite Tonks. He looked slightly embarrassed to have been singled out by Mrs Weasley, as she placed a hot plate of food under his nose.
"Now eat", she said to him with her hands firmly on her hips, the hustle and bustle of the dining room behind her.
He had a bite and smiled at Mrs Weasley, "its delicious Molly, thank you." Everyone around the table echoed his words. His voice was surprisingly hoarse.
"Sit down Molly and stop fussing over the poor man," said Arthur quietly, a tiny smile on his face. He handed his wife a glass of red wine as she sat down next to him.
Under his coat the man named Remus was wearing a pale grey shirt and brown jumper. His brown hair was streaked with the grey hair of a much older man. He looked weary and tired. He must have felt her gaze because he looked up, his brown eyes, which had none of the age of the rest of his face, met hers and he gave her a small smile.
She gave him a smile in return.
"How are you Tonks? It's been a while, hasn't it?" A voice came from beside her. It was Bill Weasley.
She turned to look at him fully, he had changed, but he still looked like the smiling Head Boy she remembered from Hogwarts. Her eyes roamed appreciatively over his earring and long hair pulled back into a ponytail, it suited him.
"I'm very good thank you, yourself? The last time I saw you was Debbie McGuigan's Halloween party, is that right? Was it really that long ago?" She distinctly remembered drinking a lot more than she should have that night, and that it was because of that night that she could no longer drink a certain lurid green spirit.
He laughed, she hoped it wasn't because he remembered her doing something particularly idiotic, "Yes I think it was. I'm doing well. I'm working at Gringotts now."
Her eyes widened, "Wow! That's brilliant Bill!" He did look very pleased with himself. "Bet it's tricky keeping on the good side of some of the goblins there, eh?" She grinned.
"Nymphadora Tonks?" The man named Remus' surprisingly hoarse voice came from across the table enquiringly. She looked across at him to see polite curiosity on his face.
"Yes, that's me," she said slowly and apprehensively. She tried to think of some embarrassing situation which could have caused this man to know her name.
"Alastor mentioned you'd be here tonight, you're Sirius' cousin aren't you? The Auror? I'm Remus Lupin," he held his hand out over the table for her to shake. The name seemed familiar to her but she couldn't quite think where she'd heard it before.
She enclosed her small hand around his and shook it firmly, the way Mad-Eye had taught her. "Yes that's me, but it's just Tonks."
"You must be one of the youngest Auror's the Ministry has ever accepted," he said mildly, looking impressed. She had to stop herself feeling too smug.
"I didn't realise Mad-Eye was recruiting." Said Bill smirking.
"Well I wasn't entirely sure why Mad-Eye told me to come tonight, he was being his usual mysterious self about it, but I think I have a rough idea now," she took a large mouthful of lasagne and made a mental note to congratulate Mrs Weasley later on her excellent cooking. "I'm quite surprised he asked me though." Truth be told she was bursting with pride that Mad-Eye had trusted her enough to invite her.
"Mad-Eye obviously thinks you're made of strong stuff then!" Bill smiled, "Dumbledore will be here to give his brief soon and I'm sure it won't take long for you to be caught up. I'm glad you're here; we need as many allies as we can get, and this place needs cheering up. As far as I remember you were pretty good at that," he grinned at her as he took a sip of red wine.
"Usually when I amuse people it's unintentional, Bill," she smiled back at him. It was amazing how quick and easy it was to slip back into conversation with him. A comfortable hum of conversation had fallen around them interwoven with the clatter of cutlery on plates.
"Well there's one person who needs some unintentional amusement if ever I saw one," Bill nodded his head to her left.
She turned to look down the table at Sirius Black. He was toying with his lasagne with his head resting in his hand. His whole body lacked motivation. She hadn't seen her cousin for almost 15 years, but what she remembered of her childhood, he'd been a bundle of energy and laughter.
"Wotcher Sirius", she said down the table.
His head was still down but she saw a faint frown on his features. "Well well well… Is that the voice of Nymphadora Tonks?" His eyes snapped up to meet hers, his first smile of the night spreading like butter over his face. "I was wondering how long I'd have to sit here before you introduced yourself."
"I'll pretend that you didn't call me that Sirius," she forced her face to remain serious as she felt the corners of her mouth twitching. She'd been stern about her first name ever since she was a little girl.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He stabbed his fork into the layers of pasta.
"Well I was hoping for a slightly warmer welcome, if I'm honest," she said, grinning.
He looked up at her again, with softened features, "It is good to see you Tonks. How are you?"
"I'm not bad, it's good to see you too Sirius." She smiled back at him and she knew something had passed between them.
Lupin spoke above the red haired children's giggling, "seems like we're going to rescue Harry any day now."
"Harry Potter?" Tonks asked.
"Sirius is Harry's godfather," said the red haired boy. Conversations around the table seem to have merged and slowly collapsed, everyone was listening in now to Sirius, Lupin and Tonks.
"Yes, that part was in the Daily Prophet," she whispered to herself. Had she really been left out of this part of her world for so long? She felt so blind.
"Been reading a lot of the Prophet?" Asked Sirius grimly.
"Well I do work at the Ministry Sirius, it's quite hard to get away from it."
"Harry is living with his muggle aunt and uncle at the moment," Remus said to her. "I think its Dumbledore's plan to send some of us to go and collect him and bring him here to stay until term starts."
A slow slight smile spread across Sirius' face, "it's about time. He's been cooped up in that house with those barmy relatives for far too long", he said, almost as if he was speaking from past experience.
"You'll have a full 2 weeks with him before term starts again", said Arthur, his cheeks pink from the lasagne.
"Isn't there supposed to be a hearing -" she was about to mention the underage magic hearing she had heard about in the Ministry. There had been a lot of talk about it at work but no one seemed bothered by the fact that there was going to be a full scale enquiry for a tiny bit of underage magic. Bill nudged her elbow gently and shook his head.
"Sirius isn't put into good spirits when the hearing is mentioned. It's taking all of Dumbledore's persuasive speeches to stop him from running off to defend Harry himself. He had members of the Order tailing Harry for weeks before the dementor attack." He whispered to her.
"I didn't realise Harry and Sirius were so close?" Tonks asked Bill quietly.
"As far as I know they've been in contact for the last year or so. He's the only family Harry has left."
Tonks' heart fell. "I hope I get the chance to meet him at some point."
"You probably will now you're in the Order. I've only spent a bit of time with him but he's a great kid, and so oblivious to the fact he's been famous for the majority of his life." Said Bill. "You taught them all for a year didn't you Remus?" He looked to the man opposite who seemed to have been listening in to their conversation.
"Yes I did, the year before last," Remus replied, just finishing his lasagne.
"You taught at Hogwarts?" Tonks asked, surprised. She supposed he did fit the Professor stereotype, perhaps Arithmacy or Muggle Studies, something low key.
"Defence Against the Darks Arts for the year, one of my better jobs", he smiled. She surprised herself by feeling slightly impressed by this.
"So they all know you as Professor Lupin?" She grinned at him from across the table.
"And I don't think any of them will ever stop calling me it either", he replied, running his hand through his hair. "They seem to be worried that if they call me Remus I'll put them in detention or something."
"That makes it sound like you were a strict Professor", she raised an eyebrow at him jokingly.
"I was probably as far the opposite as you could get, a pushover if anything", he said honestly.
"I definitely could have done with a teacher like that when I was at Hogwarts", she sighed.
"I'm hoping that doesn't mean you think I'm old enough to have been teaching when you were at Hogwarts", he gave her a different smile this time.
While he was speaking she was thinking about what he would be like as a teacher. He did have a very nice voice that she could imagine actually trying to pay attention too. And he did have an open and inviting face and no doubt he knew exactly what he was talking about.
"Of course not, I do try not to insult people the first time I meet them", she grinned back at him and was pleased to see he was still smiling back at her.
As they all finished their meals the teenagers were sent upstairs and out of earshot by Molly, before the meeting began. Tonks' eyes caught a lot of resentful faces as they made their way sullenly from the room. Mrs Weasley waved her wand and all the empty plates flew to the sink, Tonks could feel a nervousness building in her, it must be about to get pretty serious.
After a few minutes Dumbledore swept swiftly into the room in robes of magnificent midnight blue. His eyes twinkled at everyone individually. He looked carefully over his half moon spectacles to survey Tonks in that familiar way. She felt herself sinking slightly into her seat. The tone in the room shifted significantly as soon as the Headmaster entered. It had changed from a cosy home cooked meal to an important and serious meeting. In Dumbledore's shadow she recognised the skulking shape of Severus Snape.
She noticed Sirius' posture shift slightly; it became more threatening and territorial.
"Good evening everyone," said Dumbledore in the soft deep voice she remembered from her days in Hogwarts. "I'm sorry to have missed Molly's delicious lasagne." Out of the corner of her eye Tonks saw Molly blush a primrose pink.
"Before we start tonight I would like to welcome a young auror to our ranks, for those who do not know her, Nymphadora Tonks. Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix."
Tonks felt all the eyes in the room turn towards her and a ferocious blush crept into her cheeks. Hot waves of embarrassment reached the roots of her hair. She could feel one pair of eyes more intense than the others. Remus Lupin was staring at her in naked wonder.
"I don't think Remus is aware that you're a Metamorphmagus
,
" Bill whispered to her, a grin on his face. Tonks fingered the ends of her hair; they had turned tomato red in her state of embarrassment. She winked back at Lupin. She loved surprising people by changing her appearance; she found it hilarious some of the expressions people made. It was a while however before she felt the passing of his eyes.
The meeting mainly comprised of people reporting on where they had been that week and if anything unusual had happened. The sinister tone that rolled off everyone's tongues made Tonks feel really quite tired. Of course she knew what kind of world they were living in now, but despair seemed to be seeping into everything. She did however chuckle occasionally at the man who had been sleeping earlier, called Dung's ridiculous comments.
Suddenly the topic of the Department of Mysteries came up. From what Tonks could surmise there was something in the Department of Mysteries that You-Know-Who was keen to get his hands on.
"I think we should think about placing a guard there. It will probably have to be someone who works at the Ministry so we don't arouse suspicion." Remus' face was serious, Tonks found herself agreeing with everything he said, he certainly was a lot more sensible than her cousin. Sirius sat looking forlorn and sorry for himself and occasionally shooting loathsome glares in Snape's direction.
"It's a good idea", growled Mad-Eye. Every so often his electric blue eye would whirl in her direction and she felt as if he was scolding her for not making more of a contribution. It was a lot to take in in one night, so she decided she would just listen.
"I agree", said Arthur. "If he's sending spies inside, we need to know who they are. If he gets his hands on this weapon, well who knows how bad it could get. I'll put myself forward as one of the people; my presence won't not be questioned in the Ministry." He patted away Molly's hand on his forearm.
Dumbledore nodded at each of them as they signed on, Kingsley last. After a couple of minutes he, Snape and McGonagall left in a flurry of robes.
Remus turned to Tonks and Kingsley. "How's it going with the Black man hunt?" There was an edge of amusement in his voice.
She felt the sides of her mouth twitching as she replied, "He's been spotted in Northern Ireland recently, we've sent more people over there, we're pretty sure we've nearly got him." In work it had suddenly become very comical to see Kingsley sending fully trained Aurors to remote countries in search of Sirius when it turned out he was sitting in a dusty house in London picking at homemade lasagne.
Sirius was swinging on his chair and chuckling. He seemed to have perked up a bit.
"For Aurors they are pretty easily manipulated", said Kingsley smiling too, "it's been quite easy to gently push towards Dublin. I supposed we've been in need of a new lead for months, just give them a drop and they lap it up. Fudge is desperate to make it look like we're getting somewhere."
"You should take it as a huge compliment", Tonks said to Sirius, "You're almost all anyone in the department can talk about and they are all speculating about what kind of dark magic you know to have hidden for so long. They paint you as some kind of mastermind."
"And you're saying I'm not?" He grinned back at her.
Soon people began to leave and yawns could be heard throughout the house. Molly had cleared the wine glasses and replaced them with mugs of hot tea and coffee. Tonks began to get up; she thought it was about time she left, she could feel multiple yawns bubbling inside her.
"Wait," said Lupin rising so he was eye level with her.
She lowered herself back into her seat and he mirrored her actions.
"Sorry if I looked like I'd seen a talking goat or something, it's just no one told me you were a Metamorphmagus, and it was a bit of a surprise." His voice was sincere and almost guilty.
"Its fine, honestly, I enjoy people's expressions when they find out. Yours was pretty good, and it was only my hair, imagine if I'd changed my appearance entirely!"
Molly handed Remus a cup of coffee and Tonks a cup of tea. He clutched his mug with long thin fingers.
"I think my jaw may just have hit the floor," he said smiling.
"Now that would have been worth seeing," she said smiling back at him. "I hope I can achieve that one day."
"Nymphadora, how come you still haven't given your cousin a hug, it's been 15 years!" Sirius was standing with his arms open and a lopsided grin on his face.
"I thought I told you not to call me that, you don't want your ass kicked by a female auror now do you?" She looked at Remus whose eyes were smiling.
Sirius closed his eyes and took a step towards her and walked straight into the corner of the table. His eyelids winced slightly but his expression remained sombre. She snorted.
Then she smiled and ran into his arms. His soft velvet jacket encased her and brushed against her cheek. "It's good to see you Tonks," he whispered into her ear. She took a deep breath and smelt him. He smelt of the house foremost, but there was an underlying fragrance of something quite jaunty that she couldn't quite identify.
She rubbed his back, "same to you Sirius."
"How are Andromeda and Ted doing?" He asked looking down at her.
"They're good, they've got a little cottage in the Cotswolds now."
"It's nice for some," he said smiling.
She gave a huge yawn.
"I think it's time you went home," said Sirius holding her at arm's length. The kitchen was almost empty now, apart from Remus, Molly and Arthur.
"I think I agree with you," she said.
"With that attitude we're definitely going to get on like a house on fire," she put his arm around her shoulders.
She laughed.
"Night everyone," she called. Molly and Arthur waved at her, and Remus smiled, "Goodnight."
She patted Sirius on his shaggy head and then walked out.
She grabbed her coat from the hook as delicately as she could. She slipped it on and looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was flushed with excitement and her eyes were gleaming. Mad-Eye was right, it was worth her time. Suddenly she remembered the mental note to thank Molly for the lasagne.
She heard Lupin saying goodnight to everyone as she made her way back into the kitchen. At the same moment as he was trying to get out. His body brushed against hers as he tried to squeeze past, she felt his hand on her coat at her waist as he moved her round so they could both get past. His hand was warm and soft. "Goodnight", he said, smiling, before turning to walk up the stairs.
She turned to walk back into the kitchen and began breathing again, completely unaware that she had stopped.