A/N: Oh my Gryffindor, a nonexistent author's note? World is J.K.'s, not mine.
It was February. After five months of practice and careful study, Tonks could no longer put off her eventual transformation. No matter what, she couldn't give up now—she had spent too much time working on becoming an Animagus to throw it away. However, she was still as excited for her transformation as she had been on day one. There was nothing left to do—she knew that today was the day to finally try her transformation. She had studied and taken as many precautions as possible; in another month, she would be just as ready as she was today.
If her transformation went awry, she could be hurt, caught, or suffer a side-effect that was even worse; some inexperienced wizards and witches had become half-human, half-animal during their transformations, and were taken to St. Mungo's. She had no idea how she would explain it if she ran into a problem such as this—she doubted the Healers would appreciate the fact that a fourteen year old was attempting to become an Animagus. However, she had done all she could to ensure that her transformation would go smoothly, and according to the books Remus had given her, she was as ready as she could ever be.
After all of the other Hufflepuffs had retired to their dorms—she could tell from the sudden silence in the Common Room—she slipped out from under her black and yellow covers, quietly padding downstairs to the Common Room and out into the corridors of Hogwarts. She had previously decided that she would try her transformation in a room she had been told about by her mother: the Room of Requirement. As she silently made her way up several stories of stairs, pausing now and then to make sure she wouldn't be caught, she went through the steps once again in her head.
Her mind wandering to the Marauders, she wondered, as she had many times that year, why Remus had given her the books—he was a Prefect, and as he seemed to see through her lie, she wondered why he hadn't gone to a teacher with the information that she was trying to become an Animagus. She realized that he didn't have any concrete proof, and he seemed too kind to give someone up like that, but in her mind, a Prefect would tell a teacher of their suspicions no matter what the repercussions would be.
She turned a corner, and her mind came back to the fact that she was walking through the corridors. Focusing on her destination and what she would be attempting that night as she turned another corner and walked up a flight of stairs, she realized that if she was caught, it would be the second detention she had gained that year due to nighttime wanderings. But she also knew that this could be her only chance to try her transformation.
She continued making her way up the stairs, searching for the stretch of wall her mum had told her lay on the seventh floor—the Room that changed its internal appearance depending on the user's needs. Finally, she found it; she turned and started walking back and forth.
I need somewhere where I can change without anyone finding or hearing me.
Three times she walked past the stretch of wall, repeating the plea over and over. Three times was what her mother had said. After this was completed, she halted, facing the door.
For a few seconds, she didn't think it had worked, and she wondered whether she had gotten the wall or number of paces wrong.
Then the wall started shimmering and a door appeared.
Checking the hallway on either side to make sure that nobody was coming, she opened the door and slipped inside.
The Room had given her exactly what she had asked for her—nothing more. She looked around, taking in her simple, but greatly needed, surroundings. She was in a small room, maybe the size of a bedroom. The walls were all a dark shade of grey, and there was no furniture or decorations in it, other than a somewhat soft grey carpet beneath her feet. The room was brightly lit, even though there were no obvious sources—there were no windows or lighting fixtures in the square room; the light seemed to be magicked there.
Still cautious from her way up, Tonks looked around, as if a professor, Filch, or Peeves could be hidden in any non-existent shadow in the room. Content that she was the only one there, she slowly shut the door, finally relaxing and allowing herself to take one of the small books out of her pocket, turning to page one hundred thirty two.
Folding the book back so it would stay on the correct page, she bent, setting the book on the floor so that she could read it with her hands free, and grabbed her wand, standing straight again. Once again, the instructions she had reviewed over and over scrolled through her mind like the credits on a Muggle movie. Truly, the only reason she had brought the book was to comfort herself—she knew the steps like the back of her hand, but she felt much more at peace now that she had concrete proof in front of her that confirmed what her memory told her as correct.
Ten minutes later, only one step remained, repeating itself in her memory as if a lifeline. The process was extremely complex, and this final step was the most complex of all the ones detailed in the books. She was taking her time so that the transformation would not go wrong—as long as the other girls in her dorm didn't realize she was missing, she believed that she could escape tonight without getting caught, and with a newly discovered Animagus form. Once again, the final step repeated itself in her mind, distracting her from all other worries and thoughts.
Pointing her wand to herself, she said the incantation that finalized all the other steps she had taken, and would transform her immediately if done correctly—the step of no return. However, this was also the step that could cause horrible side-effects, and must be done with the utmost carefulness and concentration.
Although she had said the spell, the books had said that it would take about a minute to take effect. Her heart racing, she tore her mind away from possible side-effects, crouching and laying her wand next to the book. She figured that if she was to change, she wouldn't want her wand to be stepped on or lost. It had taken all of her strength to do this, however—she was growing stiff with anticipation, and had to resist the temptation to stand there, unmoving like a statue.
The minute was almost up, and as the seconds ticked slowly by, she became more and more aware of every molecule in her body. She was hyperaware of every hair on her head, every atom of every nail on her fingers, anticipating the hopefully inevitable change.
A comforting warmth began spreading throughout her body. Her intense awareness washed away immediately, leaving her feeling a simple calm, the calm that comes when one has just woken up and feels as if they want to stay in their blankets forever. As she registered this change, another new feeling came into play. She felt as if she had been cramped in one skin for too long, that she had to stretch her limbs and run as soon as possible because of the stiffness of her joints. But when she tried to move, she couldn't. Feeling as if she was glued to the floor, she still felt deadly calm, but her mind was racing with unanswered questions, worry beginning to creep into the crevices of her brain as her bones began to remold themselves. It was as if a long-bared handicap was being removed; she was being born again. As if her skin was a blanket, she was shaking out of it, coming into a new, more comfortable form of existence. Her mind finally realizing that she was shifting, she assessed what was happening, coming to the conclusion that what was happening to her was much more comfortable than she had heard Werewolf transformations were. That was a curse. This felt as if it was meant to be.
She felt her shifting bones halt—they were once again all in place, much more agile than they had been two minutes previously. She looked down, noting that she still had her presence of mind, unlike what happened to werewolves. Bluish-grey paws held her up, attached to legs of the same color, covered in short hairs. She had succeeded in transforming, she knew that much. Turning in a circle, she must have looked like a dog chasing her tail, because after examining her back legs, back, and tail, she realized that she had transformed into a wolf.
At that moment, she didn't make the connection, but maybe her Animagus transformation told her all she needed to know about which of the Marauders was the werewolf.
A/N: Next chapter you'll finally get some Remus and Tonks! Thanks for reviewing again, Epic, and I hope you enjoyed it! Same with everyone else, hope you liked it! I should get at least one more chapter up this weekend. R&R
UPDATED: I revised this chapter very heavily—I almost rewrote the entire thing. This version is a much better representation of my thoughts than the first edition, and I like it quite a bit. So I hope you enjoy!