Right first things first i wanna give special thanks to: PhantomHokage, Connor, DJPOTTER, Wyvern Ryder, YuffieRikkulover88, darthme1011, frostyhogwarts, shadow of the wind4699, vanders.bane, taself and Cell4. Your support is appreciated.

Tragically enough I don't own the rights to Harry Potter, I wish I did but I don't. All the rights belong to JK Rowling so if I make any money out of this I'm fucked, lucky that fanfiction is non profitable then. Anyways enjoy.

Keeping it Real

Chapter 1, Suspension, Shadows and Shitholes :

8 months later.

Tonks was bored. She was going on a raid later that night at a known Deatheater hideout and so wasn't allowed to over exert herself, or in other words she wasn't allowed to do anything at all, which included going home. So here she was stuck at her desk with nothing to do.

Leaning back on her office chair Tonks was currently blowing different coloured bubbles out of the end of her wand. When she had signed on to be an Auror this was not what she had in mind for the highly exciting and dangerous job she grew up believing it to be.

A deep indigo colour from one of her bubbles caught her eye. Smiling clearly amused by the colour she closed her eyes and concentrated. Moments later a newly improved Nymphadora Tonks lent across her desk and picked up a small hand mirror she kept nearby at all times. Admiring her new look Tonks stretched in her chair sighing deeply and sadly.

Casting a disgusted glance across her workbench she mentally smacked herself for being so untidy. Paperclips bent into weird and wonderful shapes littered the desk, official looking documents and reports showered every available space making it look like a small hurricane had centred itself in her cubicle. Cold cups of half drunk coffee in polystyrene cups were randomly placed everywhere, there was space and a small cauldron of purple potion was gently stirring itself in one corner of the desk. Covering the walls were maps of towns and cities across the country where Deatheater attacks had occurred. Pictures of known killers, wanted criminals, vampires, werewolves etc covered the space not filled by the maps. The only individualizing object in her workspace other than the mess was a single framed photograph.

The photo was of her, Remus, Sirius and Harry in a collapsed pile at the bottom of the stairs in number 12 Grimmauld Place. They were all laughing and waving at the camera. It was one of the happier moments Tonks had before life royally fucked her up.

Firstly her bitch of an aunt Bellatrix had murdered Sirius in the department of mysteries. Admittedly Tonks had only really known Sirius for about a year having only one childhood memory of him. She had been five and he had come over to see her mother Andromeda. He was in Auror training at the time and she remembered that he had been telling her about all the wonderful things he was learning in training. A young and shy Tonks had listened in amazement clearly transfixed by the wondrous things he was telling her. It was the main reason she had applied for the job in the first place.

Secondly was the murders of the Dursleys and the consequential disappearance of Harry Potter. Harry's vanishing act had completely thrown the wizarding world into chaos. The Order was in ruins after the attack. Believing Harry needed time to mourn the death of his godfather, Dumbledore had decided that it would be better to give Harry some space and so the Order had pulled back and left him alone. As long as they received the owl every three days making sure that Harry was fine. After two weeks of this arrangement there came a period of four days when the Order received no owl from Harry. Consequently Remus and Arthur had gone to check that Harry was ok, simply believing him to have forgotten to send them the letter. The scene that met their arrival was not a pleasant one; they were the first people to enter the house since the murders two days earlier.

For some reason since then Dumbledore seemed to believe that the light side had no chance in the war without Harry; it was as if the old man truly believed that it was up to Harry to finish the war, the reasoning behind this mindset was a complete mystery to the members of the order because Dumbledore had never seen fit to inform the order about the prophecy.

Gringotts had closed Harry's account and all his gold and heirlooms had been greedily seized by the goblins. Harry had never left a will and the goblins stated upon questioning, "gold was useless to a dead man".

Tonks personally refused to believe that Harry was dead. The young lad had battled dragons, basilisks, an army of dementors and evil wizards and had won every time. A couple of amateur Deatheaters were child's play compared to some of the terrors the unfortunate boy had faced. Tonks wasn't the only person to believe in Harry's survival; in the eight short months, mysterious sightings of Harry plagued the order and ministry.

The Order under Dumbledore's insistence had followed up on each of these sightings, Tonks herself had more than once been sent on one of these wild goose chases. However in the end the Ministry announced Harry Potter was officially presumed dead.

Remus the last remaining member of the marauders had sunk into the deepest depression imaginable. He now spent his days wandering around number twelve muttering about how he had failed Lily, James and Sirius. You were lucky if you found him sober nowadays; He hadn't washed or shaved in weeks and stunk to high heaven. His skin was a pale sickly yellow colour and his eyes were sunken deep into his skull and were surrounded by large black rings. Remus's changes under the full moon were becoming more violent and painful leaving him weak and sick for days. Tonks was preparing herself for the worst, preparing to be met by one of the order members bringing sad news about her friend.

Ron was apparently unaffected by the disappearance of his supposed best friend and was enjoying taking Harry's place in the social structure of Hogwarts. Finally free after being stuck in Harry's shadow all of these years the young Weasley was enjoying all the popularity now bestowed on him by the student body. Hermione had been extremely upset for a few weeks but after much insistence from Ron to "Get over it." she had seemingly recovered from her best friends disappearance and was apparently continuing her life, obsessively throwing herself at her studies with manically renewed vigour claiming it necessary to make up for the grades that had slightly slipped during her period of mourning at Harry's passing.

"TONKS" Dawlish shouted in her ear.

Startled Tonks felt the balance of her chair shift uncontrollably.

"Shit" was all she managed before falling ungraciously backwards. She found herself upside down looking at the cruelly sneering face of Auror Dawlish, one of Fudge's old cronies. A right bastard if ever there was one.

"Kingsley wants to see you in his office." The unpleasant smirking Auror stated. Muttering under her breath about irritating co-workers Tonks picked herself up off the floor and brushed off the dust that had collected on her robes after her tumble.

"Dickhead" She muttered to Dawlish's retreating back, Tonks left the confines of her small cubicle space and started weaving through the lego like construction that made up the work space of the Auror section in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The whole construct was made with the ability to be quickly disassembled and reassembled if it was deemed necessary to move location in a hurry, however to this date it had never been necessary to do this.

Swiftly ducking as several low flying paper airplanes almost careened into her, Tonks expertly made her way through the large room navigating the maze like structure towards her boss's office. Being a senior Auror Kingsley had a proper office that was located at the edges of the mass of cubicles.

Knocking on the oak door that was befittingly labelled with Shacklebolts's name and rank, Tonks patiently waited outside for permission to enter. Even though they were good friends and often partners within the Order both Tonks and Kingsley had to act like they never knew each other outside the work environment. This wasn't too much of a problem for the two of them but often made talk within the ministry building awkward and uncomfortable. Even in Kingsley's private office they would have to pretend like they didn't know each other. Even the walls had ears in this building.

Entering Kingsley's office the high ranking Auror looked up at Tonks and smiled as she approached his large beech wood desk, which Tonks noted with disgust was a damn site cleaner than her own.

"How are ya holding up Tonks?" Kingsley asked laying down the ministry file that he had been reading before she entered, he linked his fingers and lay his hands down on his desk apparently giving Tonks his undivided attention. This made her kind of nervous, she didn't know whether she was in trouble or whether she had done something worthy of congratulations, Kingsley was keeping his face very guarded. Yep, she was in the shits.

"Err fine sir, why do you ask?" Tonks asked actively trying to keep her expression as closed as Kingsley's was.

"Well the higher powers have been doing our yearly evaluations, it turns out that over the past year your work quality has been slipping. This is not acceptable" He informed in a cold tone and giving her a very convincing look of disappointment.

Tonks blanched and she found herself quickly getting angry. She couldn't say anything in her defence. Sirius had never been found innocent even after his death because the ministry had no evidence to Wormtail's survival, so she could hardly blame her poor work on morning of a convicted murderer that she had only met once. As far as anyone knew she had never met Harry or Remus because the only link she had to either of them were through the Order so she could say that she was worried about her two good friends. Clenching her fists and subtly biting her bottom lip Tonks expertly controlled her temper knowing that Kingsley was only the messenger and it wouldn't do well to shoot him.

"I'm sorry sir its just I've had a lot on my mind recently." Tonks forced out through her teeth throwing Kingsley an angry look letting him know that she wasn't happy with this line of questioning, even if the big bosses had put him up to it. Kingsley met her angry eyes with his own and flashed her a look of apology somehow without changing his facial expression.

"Anything you would care to share with me?" He questioned.

"No."

"Very well, it has been advised that you take a couple of weeks off to recuperate. In the two nearly three years you've been with the department you've not yet taken anytime off sick leave or otherwise." Kingsley said subtly hinting that she should have faked illness after Sirius's death to allow herself time to mourn. But Tonks wouldn't allow herself to do that, she wanted revenge against the whore that killed her cousin and vengeance didn't come about from pretending to be ill.

Straightening himself up in his chair Kingsley continued.

"You are to go ahead with your mission tonight and take 2 weeks to yourself after you have been debriefed."

"But sir I can't-"

"That will be all Auror Tonks" Kingsley said in an authoritive tone clearly stating that it was unquestionable. Picking up the file he had been reading before she entered and started studying it again from where he had left off.

Angrily Tonks turned on her heel and quickly started out of the office. Her hands still clenched into fists she took heavier footsteps than were necessary, obviously upset. Grabbing the door handle she threw the door open.

"Oh and Tonks." Kingsley started not looking up from the folder he was reading. "I think that Blue hair would be more adequate for this situation" Tonks stopped dead on her way out when he said that. That was their secret code for saying there was an order meeting later.

Taking a deep breath to cool herself down Tonks replied.

"I dunno I think red hair would be better suited but it depends on how long the raid is going to take." Which roughly meant that she didn't think she was going to make it due to her Auror duties. Tonks left the office slamming the door behind her she made her way back to her workspace to have a good sulk.

A cold fog was descending across the quaint wheat fields near a small village just outside Hampshire. Ms Agatha Dolens wrapped her silken scarf tighter round her old shoulders. Cursing the cold she watched as her breath added to the unsettling mist that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Reaching into her large carpetbag she pulled out her sleek and shiny holly wood wand, with the help of her trusty walking stick she shuffled over to the side of the road and taking a tight grip on her wand she threw out her arm.

There was a deafening BANG and the sleek and shiny violently purple Knight Bus sped into view from around the corner of the small country lane. The triple-decker bus screeched to an unnervingly accurate stop right next to the old widow was standing. All the beds slid to the front of the bus and a small grumbling wizard turned over in his sleep unperturbed by the sudden deceleration.

Stan Shunpike eloquently jumped off the back of the bus and started the speech that he gave to all of the customers.

"Good evenin' and welcome to the nigh' bus. Emergency transport for the- oomph." Was all he managed before Ms Dolens shoved her heavy bag into his stomach winding him.

"Out of my way you stupid annoying little man" Ms Dolens commanded giving poor Stan a painful whack in the shins with her walking stick. She pushed past him with an amazing strength that you wouldn't have thought possible from the crippled old lady, and took a seat on the bed nearest the rear of the bus. Poor Stan blinked in confusion unsure of how to react around the stubborn and headstrong lady, she had completely messed up his prided routine and he was now sporting a painful new bruise on his legs.

Struggling over to the side of her bed with her bag he heaved it over and lay it at the foot of the bed.

"I would like a one way ticket to Hogsmede please, and be quick about it!" Ms Dolens snapped leaning over and fetching her purse out of her bag.

"Very…Very well Mrs…" Stan gasped still recovering from having his diaphragm assaulted by the incredibly heavy bag.

How could the batty old cow wield it with such ease? Stan wondered to himself.

"I'll have you know that it's Ms, Ms Dolens if you must know." Ms Dolens stated primly pursing her lips in a way that reminded him of his old Transfiguration teacher.

Leaning on the brass knob at the end of the bed he took a couple of seconds to recover his breath but wilted under the agitated stare he received from his newest customer.

"That'll be 14 sickles please then Ms Dolens."

"HOW MUCH! 14 SICKLES? WHY, BACK IN MY DAY YOU COULD GET TO BELIGIUM AND BACK FOR 5 KNUTS, 14 SICKLES! THE EXTORTION! THE INDIGNATY! HOW DARE YOU! WHY IF MY HUSBAND WERE STILL ALIVE-" Ms Dolens ranted clearly oblivious to the other customers surrounding her trying to get a half descent kip during their journeys. Poor Stan didn't have any ideas of what to do with the silly daft moo, his spotted brow furrowed into a frown. There was no other option except to let her continue her ranting in the hope that she would burn herself out, he considered confronting her but could only see that option leading to pain.

After about 5 minutes of her idiotic waffling about the state of the country and what her dearest husband Gregory would do if he were still alive Ms Dolens appeared to have worn herself out, and she reluctantly handed over the 14 sickles to a very relieved Stan. She shut her purse with a sharp snap, a noise that made poor Stan jump.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Not wanting another conflict with her Stan quickly rushed past the bed. Limping up to the drivers compartment Stan tapped twice on the glass and with a bang and a sudden burst of speed they were back on the road. They were currently on the Bodmin Moor and were fast speeding for London and after that northwards towards Scotland and Hogsmede, there they would get rid of a customer Stan would be glad to see the back of.

Half an hour later the Knight bus was speeding up the hard shoulder of the M1. They had dropped off most of their passengers in London which was one of their most popular destinations. It was getting quite late in the evening now (nearing 10.00pm) and so business was slowing down for the evening. Ms Dolens had been the last passenger that they had picked up and so the bus was very nearly empty with only two or three customers, all in all it had been a relatively quite night Stan was thinking, as he tried to ignore Ms Dolens constant mutterings about injustice and prejudice.

"Excuse me how much longer is this journey going to take?" Ms Dolens inquired for the third time in the half an hour she had been on the bus.

"It'll take as long as it takes Ms Dolens, an' not a momen' sooner." Stan repeated, it wasn't an answer, but it would shut the dozy old cow up for another ten minutes.

"Stan!" Ernie Prang the bus driver called to his accomplice. Turning round Stan swore under his breath as he saw the humungous traffic jam that the knight bus was quickly approaching.

"Looks like we're going cross country then." Stan muttered to himself as he seated himself on one of the empty beds.

Ernie expertly weaved in and out of the Traffic, somehow fitting in spaces that were far too small for the bus. Soon enough they found access onto a muddy field through a gap in the crash barriers. The previously smooth journey was suddenly assaulted by loose turf, wet mud, stones and potholes this made the journey a lot more uncomfortable than it had been when they were travelling on the tarmac. Nevertheless they once again found themselves travelling at dangerously high speeds, however they were now driving across open countryside.

"Excuse me, young man. Can't you make this ride a bit smoother?" Stan sighed deeply and closed his eyes in frustration.

"It's either this or we go back and si' in tha' traffik jam Ms Dolens."

"Don't you take that tone with me you insufferable young whelp." She began indignantly. Stan had had enough of the painfully annoying woman. So he decided that he would risk bruised shins and brave her wrath. Getting up off the bed he had been lounging on he angrily made his way over to the widow.

"Now you listen 'ere Ms Dolens we-"

BANG the bus lurched uncomfortably to the left, knocking Stan off his feet.

Poor Stan now found himself in an extremely compromising position ontop of the old lady he was about to confront.

"RAPE! RAPE! RAPE!" Ms Dolens started screeching at the tops of her lungs, Stan winced at the sound and tried to pick himself up but the bus swung again as Ernie tried to regain control of the vehicle forcing Stan back down onto Ms Dolens who was now screaming uncontrollably.

BANG

The bus lurched again to the right with such speed and ferocity it was momentarily forced onto two wheels. Ernie desperately pulled up on the handbrake. The incredibly strong brakes the bus was fitted with would usually stop the vehicle dead, however the wet mud under the tyres gave no traction to the grip of the wheels so instead of the stopping all that was achieved was the bus spinning wildly out of control.

BANG

Ernie turned the wheels against the spin of the vehicle desperately hoping to slow the vehicle down.

Darkness covered the right side of the bus, and the cold dreaded feeling of a Dementor filled the terrified hearts of the bus passengers.

Ernie looked out the right side of the bus trying to see what the shadow was. And was met with a cold staring shadow clad skull inches away from his own on the other side of the glass.

The creature was covering the entire side of the bus with its shadowy figure. Aside from its face the only other part of the monstrous behemoth was its skeletal claws that was ripping through the bus shell as if it was tin foil. The last thing that Ernie saw before his world was pitched into eternal darkness was his own horrified expression in the rear view mirror as the bus gave into gravity's force and tipped onto its side.

With a triumphant screech the creature started tearing into the buses purple exterior, trying to get to the soft human flesh contained within.

The Blackheart was one of the grottiest and darkest bars in Knockturn Alley but as Tonks sat in a dark corner of the pub she had to admit to herself, the place had atmosphere. The place was a famous neutral meeting ground for people who made a living out of illegal activity. As a matter of fact Tonks was pretty sure that she had seen Mundungus for a brief moment but she wasn't too sure.

The unpleasantly and cramped pub was full of unsavoury characters and it was unsettling to see them all being so friendly with each other. A small dirty wizard with a glass eye and wooden leg was propped on a stool in the corner opposite Tonks was playing a jolly tune on an accordion, some vampires were sitting at a table next to the large roaring fireplace each with a full glass of blood and a banshee was greedily ripping into a fresh cow leg off to one side of the bar. All in all there must have been two hundred wizards all of them drinking, laughing, chatting or smoking.

Tonks had used her Metamorphmagus skills to their full potential and was currently the most fowl and unpleasant looking hag in the tavern. Her teeth didn't line up properly (very uncomfortable Tonks thought to herself as she ran her tongue over them,) she had a nose that had been broken several times, her skin was shallow and drawn tightly across her face giving her a very gaunt look and her eyes were sunken and dark. These changes and some makeup (which mainly consisting of mud and soot) and she was looking truly hideous. She had also managed to save some of the curtains from Grimmauld Place which she had turned into rags.

Tonks felt safe knowing that there were three fully trained Aurors in the alley out the back of the pub and another of her colleagues was disguised at the bar. She and the other auror that was in the pub were both trying to listen in on conversations, hoping to spy on any Deatheater conversations. So far she hadn't heard any schemes that had sounded like Voldemorts plans but she had heard many other illegal activities that were going to happen across the country, the worst offences she tried to remember so they could be stopped. She'd heard everything, from someone trying to sell some stolen cauldrons to a small group of overeager youngsters that were going to try and smuggle a Nundu into the country.

Struggling to hear anything over the laughter music and general noise that came about from having so many people in such a cramped space, Tonks was listening intently to any and all conversations within her hearing range.

"Come on its yur round-"

"I told you I'm not interested in any jade seeing stone-"

"I'll give you five galleons for them-"

"I love you man, yer my bestest friend you barstad.-"

"A NUNDU, ARE YOU KIDS CRAZY?"

Two darkly dressed men sat down at the table next to her. The first was dressed in ragged fir lined robes and looked like he was going collapse and have a nervous breakdown at any moment, he had shifty pale blue eyes that stared out through his greasy stringy black hair, his pale skin was coated in a thin layer of sweat and he looked incredibly trustworthy and reminded Tonks highly of Peter Pettigrew. She could easily see this man sucking up to people with more power than him, but she could also see him turning traitorous stabbing someone in the back, especially for his own profits. Tonks had an instantly disliked him even though they had never talked.

The seedy mans companion on the other hand looked extremely relaxed, as if he was in any normal bar and not one filled with cutthroats and murderers. Tonks came to the conclusion that this man was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. He was dressed completely in black. He had a leather bomber jacket over a shirt with black jeans, dragon hide boots gave the impression that he was wealthy, but if he was rich what was he doing in this shit hole. His long messy black hair hid his face well, but Tonks just got a glimpse of his dark amber eyes. If she could have guessed Tonks would have classified him as a werewolf but he was looking far too healthy and cheerful. He was unnaturally content Tonks thought to her self and to be honest he freaked her out more than the slime ball he was sat with.

"Come on Bolt" the first greasy haired man was saying in a hushed whisper "you owe this to the Guild, it's only one small job."

"I owe you and the guild nothing Virius and you lot know it." Bolt returned confidently. Taking a sip of his beer he lay the mug on the table "And I don't appreciate the implication that I'm indebted to you in any way" he added with a scowl. The man called Virius was looking quite exasperated and Tonks was pretty sure that this conversation had been going on for a while before they sat down next to her.

She had a perfect view of Virius's face because he was sat facing her, but Bolt had his back to her an she couldn't see his face so she had no idea what he was thinking. She was however hooked on the conversation and couldn't believe her luck that these two had sat on the table right next to her own.

"The Guild will not stand for this indignity! They will strike you down before the month is out!" Virius stated straightening in his chair, trying to make himself more imposing, Bolt burst however out laughing.

"Ha you really think I'm scared of those lunatics! All they ever do is play with magic, then scare themselves shitless when they succeed in creating anything worthwhile, besides as far they're concerned I'm their biggest failure, they daren't try anything with me."

Tonks was extremely confused; she had no idea what these people were talking about. Who was "The Guild?" and how could they create someone?

"We are growing more powerful; we have some new allies who you don't want to mess with." Virius muttered, he was looking straight into Bolt's face, he seemed unnerved that his threats were being accepted so lightly.

So you pussy's have finally accepted the Dark Lords offer"

Alarms bells started going off in Tonks' head; the Dark Lord had new allies! She had to find out who this Guild was! This was vital information for the light side!

"Do you honestly think that I'm scared of some stupid bugger who is given a magic wand and suddenly thinks he's god?" Bolt added.

Tonks was flabbergasted and it took a lot of her will power to stop her hand rising to her mouth at the pure nerve this guy had, how could he have the balls to utter that sentence in a bar filled with potential Deatheaters.

"You should be! He answers all life's questions, puts everything in perspective."

Virius continued his voice full of wonder and a contempt look coming over his face as he stared off into space momentarily.

Bolt interrupted his associate day dreaming "Yeh, I don't think he can answer the questions that I would ask him." He started "Why is the earth round? Why do humans have two legs? Why is the woman sitting behind me listening in on our conversation?"