Tonks laughed at the antics of Hooch's young cousin's Crup puppies. The two women were out with the three youngest children of her clan, too young yet to be schooled, enjoying a picnic lunch in a vast cave, lit brightly by magically luminescent fungus and moss. Thick green-gray moss with small pale flowers that shone blue in the strange light made a soft velvety cushion for all of them to sit comfortably, Tonks settled securely between Hooch's legs.

She had stayed near the other woman for the last few days, wanting the reassurance of her touch almost more than she wanted to keep up appearances. She was desperately nervous about the party that night – she had been unusually steady on her feet so far, but last night she had had a terrible nightmare involving herself clumsily turning over an array of elven serving dishes, knocking over Hooch's lordly uncle, and then landing on Elen's talisman, only to crush it.

Hooch seemed to sense her sudden tension, stroking her arms soothingly. The other woman had been particularly sensitive and attentive to her the last few days, becoming even more protective of the Auror around the young unbonded 'Sprites who had shadowed the two of them from the beginning.

Tonks turned to smile reassuringly at her, trying to tell her with her eyes that it was all right. It really was – she knew that she'd become far less clumsy when she wasn't nervous with the martial arts training.

Hooch clutched her tight in response to the smile, nuzzling her hair, a deep turquoise today.

Tonks turned in her arms to face her solemnly. Their eyes met, Tonks' true green-hazel shining into Hooch's golden hawk's eyes. She leaned in to kiss her delicately on the lips – the first true kiss they'd shared. They'd avoided intimate kisses throughout the charade, deliberately at least on Tonks' part. She'd thought she could not bear to offer Hooch a false kiss when she wanted to give her real ones. This was a real kiss, Hooch leaning in to kiss Tonks back after she'd recovered from the surprise. They pulled away, staring at each other, both aware that this was different.

Hooch's mouth firmed suddenly, a decision made. She leaned in to Tonks' ear and whispered, "My name is Ankira Xiomara n'Rioras Hooch."

Tonks stared up at her in astonishment, well aware that this statement from a Hyter Sprite, or even a half-Hyter Sprite, was the ultimate evidence of trust and esteem. She pressed closer, sliding her arms around Hooch and burying her face in her shoulder to hide tears. Hooch loved her to tell her this, loved her deeply as well as trusted her, even if she was not to be her mate. She sighed, relaxing against her, wishing she had something to share that showed her love and trust as clearly.

"You are the only person who has seen my true eyes since I was a child," she offered, looking up suddenly. This was true – she had trusted the other woman almost immediately, enough to give her true appearance when asked. She hadn't thought to wonder about this until recently, and she hadn't brought it up, not wanting to raise questions, even with herself.

Hooch smiled, her eyes shiny for a second before she blinked and leaned in to kiss Tonks again, gently, her lips nipping lightly at the skin around Tonks' mouth before settling on her lips. Tonks pulled her from the rock she sat on down next her on the moss and kissed her back, feeling Hooch's heart beat rapidly, her breasts soft against her, the sturdy body warm and alive with strength and delight.


Tonks and Hooch sat together, cuddled on the mossy floor, a silent agreement to set aside the newest change to their relationship until they had leisure to explore it letting them concentrate on plans for that evening. Hooch looked up sharply at a squeal from one of the children, relaxing as she saw that the little boy had merely been excited at catching another child in a game of tag.

"So," she began, "I can tell you now about some of the rest of Dumbledore's instructions."

Tonks started, then paused, looking at her with a brow raised in question.

Hooch smiled wryly. "This moss is a natural filter against spells – it's almost impossible to get a long-range spell like a listening charm to work here. Too bad it can't be grown elsewhere – Severus told me about the twins' Ears."

Tonks snorted, "I knew you wouldn't speak out of turn. I have to say that those twins worry me sometimes – some of the things they've come up with definitely have dual uses, and could be used against us as easily as for. Yet another reason to be annoyed by Molly's influence against the use of the kids' skills. She's succeeded in alienating or preventing the utilization of her own kids and of Harry."

Hooch, silenced briefly, looked at her partner askance. "Do you think that they'd work for the Death Eaters because the Order isn't using them?"

"No, not knowingly, but I think that a number of the so-called pranks that they're inventing could be used in a battle or for spying, and if no one in command is interested in looking at them, well, then, what's to stop the other side from doing so?" Tonks frowned briefly. "And they might not look so closely – they're not exactly concerned about how something is used as long as they're paid."

"Hmmm. Have you mentioned this to the Headmaster?" Hooch asked. She couldn't imagine the boys she'd coached for several years deliberately going against the light, but she could easily see them going too far without a wiser eye to force them to reflect. That was something she'd seen all too much evidence of – the twins never really seemed to know when to stop when they got started on a something, whether a Quidditch play, a prank, or a tease of another student. She thought uneasily of young Harry during the year that Sirius Black had been apparently intent on kidnapping and murdering him – things she'd overheard since had suggested that the twins had snuck the boy into Hogsmeade somehow, when it was clearly far too dangerous for him to be there. That hardly smacked of good judgment.

"No. I will when we get back, if you think it would be a good idea." Tonks looked a bit relieved – she was well aware that if Molly heard anything like either support for the twins' initiation or a suggestion that their pranks might be useful to the Light or the Dark side, she would attack the messenger. If she had support from Hooch, who after all knew the boys quite well, it would not be nearly as alarming.

"That aside, what I wanted to tell you was – Elen's talisman is only part of the reason we're here." The sprite looked nervously at her companion.

"What?" Tonks frowned, quite sure that whatever Hooch was speaking of, it had to be at least tangentially related to Dumbledore. She looked up with intent eyes, "what is so secret, that you can only speak of it here?"

"Did you know that Hogwarts used to teach sorcery after the OWLS?" Hooch said abruptly in an apparent non-sequitor.

"Uh – really? I thought that was supposed to be excessively difficult -- I know that the Unspeakables study that sometimes, but no one talks about it. A great-great grandmother of mine was supposed to have been a sorcerer. Of Air, I think. Why?"

"I'm getting to why, but no, it isn't impossible. Most apprentice sorcerers started at about 16 or 17, or just after OWLS. Hogwarts' House System lends itself rather perfectly to sorting and amplifying the elemental nature of its students – everyone's magical nature is made up of all four elements, but sorcery requires an intrinsic imbalance, which the Houses reinforce while it's still malleable due to youth. Gryffindor takes those with majority fire and earth focuses, Hufflepuff with earth and water, Ravenclaw air and fire, and Slytherin water and earth. Younglings with other mixes or a strong desire can end up in any of the houses that they're drawn to, but the magical nature affects personality and drive, so..."

"Anyway, they stopped teaching it through the school some three hundred years or so ago, when they got a close-minded and excessively political Headmaster. It was easy enough for him ban it, after all – the teachers were usually Selieghe, and there was warring Underhill then that kept involving wizards and muggles in spectacularly horrible ways, and apprentice sorcerers often enough meet with injury or even death."

"Also, an apprentice fire adept had accidentally immolated himself and most of London in 1666. It was easy to convince the public that sorcery was too dangerous and was unnecessary. It isn't like other magic – only the very strongest can use it accidentally or without training. The minister at the time was from that same lot of strange overly religious types as Molly Weasley's family, and had convinced himself that sorcery was evil because it involved contracts with other-planar beings, unlike wand magic. Also, he was a Gryffindor, and they've always had the least sorcerers, and been most suspicious of them – Fire's the rarest and most difficult element."

"The Great Fire of London! I thought that was a muggle baker? And how does this connect?" Tonks knew that this wasn't the end of the story – she'd grown used to Hooch's occasional digressions into history. The other woman adored it – Tonks privately thought that she'd be a far better professor of Magical History than Binns, but how did one fire a ghost, or send him into retirement?

"He was a baker – at least, he was a Muggleborn sixth-year who apparently tried his Ordeal early in order to get a better way of baking his father's bread. Headmaster at the time ran the Seleighe professor out, and then for a time anyone who wished to learn it apprenticed him or herself to a willing witch or wizard sorcerer. Eventually they even banned that, and limited it to Unspeakables by default."

Hooch sighed, and leaned back on her elbows a bit. "I'm just up to undertaking my Ordeal – I'm to be an adept of Air, but I've taken it slowly because I've been away from my teacher so much – and Dumbledore also thinks that it may be time to bring sorcery back to Hogwarts. He thinks that the children will need it, with old Moldy Warts running around. That one seems to have possibly learned a bit of sorcery from an Unselieghe."

"Oh. Wow. What's the Ordeal? Is it dangerous?" Tonks asked, biting her lip. She was fairly suspicious that it was dangerous. "Ordeal" wasn't exactly an encouraging name - it didn't exactly bring to mind something like fancy dress balls or high teas.

"Rather. I don't know the details – no one does until they go through it. My gran will help me with that while we're home, when she comes back, and I was hoping you'd stand with me afterward?" Hooch looked at her friend expectantly.

"Of course. I don't like the unknown aspects of it, but of course I'll stand with you, in whatever way that you need," Tonks said firmly, taking her friend's hand reassuringly. "So, if Dumbledore's in on this, does he want you to teach any baby sorcerers we may have in the school?"

"Thank you." Hooch smiled brightly, leaning to bump her forehead gently against Tonks's, and squeezing her hand. "No, I can't teach yet – I'll only be a sort of journeyman after I succeed at the Ordeal, if I succeed. I'm going to try to convince my friends Ghost or Kemoc to come teach. Ghost's a true Necromancer – it's legal in the States where she's from - and also an Adept of Water. Kemoc's an Adept of Earth, and a mage-smith. Ghost will be both easier and harder to drag away – she's taking a leave from a job with the Magical Coroner's office in New York and is free to come with us, but is also trying to relax, not fight a war. And, too, she's fairly well known, and doesn't think much of the British Ministry's stance on and definition of Dark Arts, as of course they include her branch of Necromancy."

Tonks interrupted, her hazel eyes wide – "If she's the Ghost I'm thinking of, I'd be surprised if we did get her. Moody's says that it's ridiculous that we can't use necromancy to solve murders anymore just because Voldemort used Inferi to ill effect – I know it's not at all the same thing, but most of the younger Aurors still get the creeping heebie-jeebies from the thought of it."

"Yes, well, she's an excellent teacher, all other things aside. Dumbledore's certainly hired worse." Hooch snorted, thinking of some of the wonders that had graced the other side of the staff table over the past decade.

"Anyway, Kemoc isn't objectionable any more than any other non-human who practices an unusual form of magic. He's a mage-smith – right now he mostly makes shoes for Thestrals, specialized implements for alchemy, and so on, but he's one of the foremost forgers of magicked swords in the world."

"Actually, we might need both of them. He's very good at teaching practicalities, but he usually lets his students find out about the dangerous little details on their own – if they don't study as they should, they're like to end up damaged or changed – usually irreparably. Ghost likes to talk, and she goes into EXHAUSTIVE detail about things like theory. Rather like old Binns, but no student of hers has ever fallen asleep listening to her."

"Huh. So, we need to get Elen's Talisman, and a teacher or two of sorcery for Hogwarts, and get you through your next stage of your own study of sorcery," stated Tonks, trying to break the flow of information down into salient points.

"Yes. The Headmaster also wants to have all of the members of the Order tested to see if they could learn sorcery – none of you who aren't in the Unspeakables are likely to have been taught, but maybe one out of every five wizards and witches has the potential, and more than that out of the stronger ones. It tends to go hand in hand up to a certain level, although the very strongest wizards usually can't use it at all because their magic is too balanced between the elements."

"Do you think that I have the potential? I was in Ravenclaw, so would it be in Air?" Tonks asked with a mix of apprehension and fascination. She grinned suddenly – "I'd love to be able to call up a whirlwind, say, in the middle of good ole' Snape's cauldron, or Molly's stew pot."

"What did Severus do to you? I can see Molly, but… Anyway, I'd guess that you do have potential, but I can't tell in what area yet. I'd actually guess that it'd be Water for you, though, because of the metamorphomagism." Hooch looked at her friend thoughtfully, a considering glint in her hawk's eyes. "Changeable and all that."

"So we'll need Ghost or Kemoc or whoever for that." She heaved a sigh suddenly, and flopped over gracelessly on the soft moss with a thump. "Too much! Let's just work on the Talisman for now, and I suppose your Ordeal, eh?"

"Sounds fine to me," the older woman agreed, looking down affectionately at her companion. "We can chat up Ghost at the party tonight, anyway, and lay the ground for more later. The Ordeal and Kemoc'll have to wait until my Grandmother returns in a sennight, as I need her for the one, and the other always travels with her when she goes to Alfhelm."

The three children and their Crups came flying up suddenly and threw themselves down on top of the two women, clamoring for them to come and play with them. Glad to abandon serious topics, they allowed themselves to be dragged out onto the moss.