First chapter! Hope you like it! Please let me know what you think!
I don't own Harry Potter, if I did, there would be much less death on the light side.
You can pretend to be a tough chick all you like, when you have a mother whose love for your father is so big that she defied her whole family and their values just to be with him, you're going to have a rather large romantic notion of love. Especially if said parents were still kissing and smooching in the kitchen 30 years on.
"There's no need to complain darling." Andromeda said, letting a cup fly out of the cupboard as Tonks sat down at the kitchen table, complaining about the scene she just saw. "This is our house, if you bounce in unexpected you're bound to see things you don't wish to see sometimes. Besides… It could be quite worse, I was just saying goodbye before he went to work."
Tonks nodded as her mother let the empty cup in front of her fill itself, not wanting to think too long on what those worse scenarios could possibly be.
"Have you read the newspapers lately?"
"I may be old but that doesn't mean I'm senile yet darling, of course I read the papers. With a deranged nephew and sister out of Azkaban you're bound to."
A silence fell as Tonks contemplated her next move. This wasn't a social call on her part. She wanted to have a serious conversation with her mother. But how would you go on explaining that you were one of the few who didn't believe the ministry – the same ministry you work for – and their propaganda machine and that you truly believe Voldemort is back. How would then go on telling her that you were joining forces against him and his followers including your deranged aunt and then add that her mother's nephew isn't as deranged as her mother believed him to be, well not as guilty maybe, he still was quite deranged.
Andromeda watched her daughter and could clearly see the wheels in her head turning as she was thinking of something.
"I take it your question wasn't an attempt at small talk?"
Tonks shook her head as she looked at her mother. She had always been quick to catch on things that weren't right or out of order. Her dad would call it her sixth sense. Y
"Do you believe what the ministry is saying then? That Harry Potter and Dumbledore are lying and that Voldemort isn't back? If it's just about Bellatrix and Sirius for you…"
Her mother's face turned serious and she had suddenly taken quite an interest in her steaming cup.
"I've never known Dumbledore to be a lunatic nor as an ambitious man who wants to take over the ministry by telling lies. Neither do I believe him to be such a fool that a boy of 14 years can tell him stories like that and make him believe them if they weren't true, even if this boy happens to be the boy who lived."
Tonks nodded as she sipped her tea. Deciding to go over to the next step.
"Mad-Eye called me in on this meeting yesterday evening with Dumbledore. They're starting the order back up… The order of the Phoenix that is."
"I see…" her mother mumbled, the color in her face now two shades paler "And did he ask you to join them."
"He did… and I said yes."
There was a silence after she said that and Tonks was sure it would be the silence before the storm as her mother looked up from her cup, straight at her.
"Why by Merlin's beard would you agree to that? You know this family is already a target. You think my sister's just going to ignore us? You think Sirius is going to ignore you? We're the stain in their perfect pure-blood family picture and you… you're going to put yourself on the frontline." Andromeda jumped up from her chair and walked towards the window, unable to cope with this just sitting down.
"Mother..." Tonks got up and went to stand behind her mother "I'm an auror, I'm already on the frontline. Did you think I was just doing some paperwork when Bellatrix escaped? I'm doing this for dad… I'm not going to let that scum win and let him get dragged away. I refuse to."
Andromeda nodded as she turned around and hugged her daughter "I know sweetheart, it's just not easy. Promise me one thing and one thing only. When there's danger, let the Slytherin side of the family take over for once and think of yourself instead of your friends and your loyalties."
Tonks smiled "That would make me them mother, not a Slytherin. I know quite a few who turned out to be the sort of people you can rely on."
She continued to hug her mother for a few more seconds before she finally let go.
"There's something else mother… you're wrong about Sirius."
Andromeda sat down again and listened to her daughter's story about how Sirius turned out to be innocent after all and what really happened that night. As the story continued Tonks saw the closest thing her mother had ever been to tears.
"So.. all this time he was innocent, rotting away in Azkaban and here I was… telling the whole world that even Azkaban was too good for him. Nobody had faith in him. How he must have felt."
"Mother… you can't blame this on you. Like you said, nobody knew… not even Dumbledore. Everyone wished him the same. The thing you need to remember now is that he's safe and that we're working on proving his innocence."
Andromeda nodded as Tonks placed her hand on hers.
"The things those beasts have ruined my girl… and it's all about to start again."
"Well this time the order has me. Anyway… I have to go. Mad-Eye's going to be pissed at me if I'm late, favorite or not. 'Constant vigilance also applies to a clock! If you can't watch two hands on a clock, how are you going to watch everything else!'."
"Well he's right." Her mother said as she gave her daughter a look "And are you really going to wear that at work." She asked.
Typical mom, Tonks thought with a smile as she apparated away two minutes later. The world may come to an end and she'll still question my clothing.
It was 19 o'clock when Tonks shift ended that day but it wasn't the time to settle herself in her sofa, watching muggle shows. Nervous as she was she followed Mad-Eye out of the ministry towards the first order meeting. Kingsley would join them ten minutes later as it would be far too suspicious to all leave together.
"So this is the old family place." Tonks said grinning once Mad-Eye explained what the building appearing out of nowhere was.
She stared around the street and shook her head, not quite believing that the noble house of Black would live in a normal townhouse with muggles living on either side and every other house in the street. It just seemed like they would be disgusted all the time when they went outside. Probably never went there, just using the floo to avoid it. It was only once the front door had opened that she could suddenly believe that this would be the place of one of the darker pure-blood families in the wizarding world. The house itself breathed out darkness.
"Like what they did with it." She said as she looked around in the hallway "Not really my style though, I prefer my furniture and decoration to contain a bit less dead beings."
"Did you expect anything else from the old hag that lived here?" a man said, standing in a door, she couldn't really see him as the room he was standing in was quite dark "You must be Andromeda's little girl, Nymphadora."
"Yeah, I am. Although people with brains prefer to call me Tonks." The man let out a barking laugh and stepped forward out of the shadows.
"I told her no sane person would ever enjoy being called Nymphadora but your mother thought it was the most beautiful thing she ever heard. I'm Sirius by the way."
"Oh, so you're the reason why I spent the last two years looking through mountains of reports? None of which were interesting or way too far-fetched."
He laughed again, another man came to stand behind him and placed his hand on his shoulder. He looked as if he might be the same age as Sirius but he looked so unhealthy, wearing clothes that were either too large or too small and mended in several places. Still… he wasn't that bad-looking.
"Well you'll have to excuse Sirius for that." He said, giving her a shy smile "He has a tendency to bring everyone around him a whole lot of strain and strife."
"Oh come on Moody… if I was that bad. Why are you still friends with me then?"
"If I ever visit a therapist he might tell me I'm a masochist." Moody turned and looked at Tonks "I'm Remus, Remus Lupin."
When she heard the name she knew perfectly well who he was. Remus Lupin, the man who had been in all the newspapers after parents were outraged that Dumbledore had allowed a werewolf to teach at his school, this particular werewolf. The auror department had been asked to take a look at it but there was no crime or no evil intentions so no case for them.
"Tonks." She replied with a smile
"Just Tonks?"
"Yeah… just Tonks."
She stared at the man again. He looked so disheveled and appeared as if he might fall over from exhaustion any minute. She calculated back and knew that the last full moon had only been two days ago.
"I'm feeling rather tired. Care to join me to get a seat before the meeting starts?"
He nodded and allowed her to get inside the room first.
Hope you liked this first chapter, more to come of course!