The second independent story in the series, featuring Tonks in action and a repentant scared Draco Malfoy

"Brr," Tonks shivered, and pulled her fleece coat closer to her body to trap in what little heat there was. For lack of anything else to do, she shifted through the cans in the shopping cart beside her, muttering to herself for good measure when a couple walked by. Their pace quickened; she was a convincing act. Her usually pink spiky hair was a straggly grey frizz, and her pale complexion was a windburnt marred red. She'd traded her Auror robes for various heat-retaining muggle clothes items, and the only signs that she was anything but a vagrant was a stick in her cart of cans and a small magical earpiece-like device in her ear used by the Ministry and created by the twins.

"Do you have a visual?" A voice in her ear, Auror Blackheart, said softly through the device in her ear. She looked around as erratically as she could even though the answer was obvious.

"Nobody's here but me," she muttered. What she said was being recorded, and she was supposed to be as professional as possible, "and I'm really bored."

"Make a pyramid with your cans," Blackheart suggested, also sticking rigidly to protocol. Another Auror in a different location chuckled. She was always the decoy because of her metamorphmagusing abilities, and the other Aurors went out of their way to bother her about it.

After several minutes of silence, a young man with his hands in his coat pockets sauntered down the ally, studying and dismissing her in a glance. Though casual, he couldn't hide his anxiety in his body language as he made a near beeline towards the door to Tonks' right. The wind gusted suddenly and blew his hat off, revealing white-blonde hair. The boy gasped slightly and grabbed for the hat, missing. He watched it float away for a minute, then turned the doorknob and went inside. A breath of warm air caressed Tonks for a minute as she heard a clinking sound. Looking down, she saw some muggle coins in the slush that hadn't been there before. He'd given her some change.

What kind of pureblood boy Death Eater gives a homeless muggle money?

"He went inside," she said to blackheart, her expression darkening as she stood up stiffly and retrieved her wand from the cart, getting into position and waiting for her cue.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, sound arose from within and the back door flew open. The blonde hair showed who it was, and Tonks shouted the leg-binding spell. The boy fell to the ground and Tonks pinned him with her body so he couldn't crawl away.

"Got 'im!" She shouted, full of adrenaline, and tossed his wand out of reach. He didn't struggle, but lay there as she cuffed him. Blackheart and another Auror took him away to the Ministry, and after routine cleanup and morphing back into her customary Tonks look, she followed. By the time she'd found the interrogation room they were in, the interrogation had started.

Blackheart turned when she opened the door, frowning. The boy's blue eyes widened for a second.

"He's not saying anything," she was informed, and was ushered to a seat at the table across from the young Death Eater while Blackheart rose and stood back by the door, signaling for her to bargain.

"Try deals. No one gives freely for nothing. Look at him, he's terrified." She said blandly, then turned towards the feminine-looking blonde.

"Draco," she said softly, "I'm willing to bargain with you. I'll get you the best protection I can find in exchange for your help for the Ministry. Do you know why I would do this for you, given your situation?"

He shook his head slowly, eyes never leaving her face.

"You did something nice for an old hag," she gently put the coins he'd left for her on the table, the metallic sound of contact loud in the room.

"It- she was you," he said softly. "How could I miss that?"

"I'm an old hand at this and you weren't expecting it. Word of advice- if you're going to be sneaky, don't take the back door. Anyway. Let us help you. Ministry protection can be a powerful thing."

"What do you get out of this?" he asked suspiciously, leaning forward in his hard chair.

"Information," Tonks said bluntly. She knew Draco Malfoy. He was family- closely related family, at that- and half-Black, like her. They were cousins. Even though people could change, much like Draco seemed to have in the past several months, some basic traits remained. The need for preservation, for one.

"Like a spy? I can't go back. Not now," he tensed, fully aware of how bad an actor he was. It was a family trait, poor acting.

"No. Like an informant. All you have to do is talk." Tonks countered. "You'll have somewhere safe to stay, a new chance at life. A second chance, which is more than the other Death Eaters will get. Draco, you're not like them. You can't kill. Bully, harass, demean, mock, yes. Kill? It's not in you, and when Voldemort figures that out you're a dead man walking."

"I already am!" he said hotly. "I'm alone, and trying to hide, I'm scared, and I'm beginning to get the feeling that I won't live to see the end of the war at the rate things are going!"

He took a breath but held it at the last minute, and studied the table, deep in thought.

"All you want is what I know?" he asked softly, "And in return I get a second chance?"

Tonks nodded absently as she noticed that they were alone. She'd been the only one to hear his outburst, and that bothered her. "Names, events, people, locations, things like that."

Blackheart opened the door and entered, followed by Kingsley and Bill Savage, two of the top Aurors in the Ministry. Both Tonks and Malfoy looked at them, surprised.

"Er," Tonks cleared her throat, which was increasingly getting sorer. "Draco, this is Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt and Auror Bill Savage. Kingsley, Bill, this is Draco Malfoy."

Kingsley wasted no time. "Blackheart informed me of the situation. How does Tonks' offer sound?" he said genially.

"What about my family?" Draco asked, looking over at Tonks as though she had all the answers.

"Your father, once captured, will be sent back to Azkaban. It's what he deserves. You, however, haven't done anything horrible yet or we would know about it, so you get off easy if you help us. If not, it's jail. Or as you said a few minutes ago, you're hunted down and killed." Tonks said.

Draco paused, then nodded slowly.

I think I'll take your second chance," he said steadily, and began talking.