In this chapter Dora turns fifteen and Remus turns twenty-eight. And yes, Dora finally finds out when his birthday is!
...
January 4, 1988
Dear Dora,
Will you tell me about your summer and your grades, and how you're finding fourth year, and what your Christmas was like? Did Hagrid bring Christmas trees into the hall? Did Dumbledore tie a bell to his beard so he resembled a tall, grey Christmas ornament?
Yours,
Remus
...
January 8, 1988
Dear Remus,
All those things happened, and I will tell you about them.
I got another A in Potions. I don't know who is more stubborn, me or Snape. I spent my summer reading and walking and not really talking to anyone. My hair was blue-grey for weeks. I hate that colour. My mother says it's my age. I don't know what she means by that but it annoys me.
Hagrid was so excited for Christmas and the trees he chose were thick with needles and taller than he is. Phoebe talked about the mistletoe non-stop from November as she hoped Bill Weasley would kiss her under it. She's been in love with him since the summer before, but he's two years older than us and doesn't think about her like that. A boy called Singh did kiss her, though, and she hasn't talked about Bill since. Before we left on the Hogwarts Express the hall was looking so pretty and sparkling white for those who were staying behind. Dumbledore jingled with every step.
It's January, Remus, and I know you will be having a birthday at some point this year. When is it? I've never wished you a happy birthday.
Why was your summer so terrible?
Yours,
Dora
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January 15, 1988
Dear Dora,
My summer was terrible because I had a goal, one that filled me with hope, but it wasn't to be. I will keep trying but I won't deny it has been a blow.
My birthday is March 10 and I shall be twenty-eight. Do you know, I have grey hairs already. My joints ache when it rains. I am an old man, Dora.
Yours,
Remus
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March 10, 1988
Dear Remus,
Happy birthday to such a very old man who is all of twenty-eight. Look, I can knit round things now! These socks will keep your feet warm when you go walking in the woods and no one could feel old in a pair of purple and silver socks, gold and green socks and blue and orange socks. Don't the colours clash beautifully?
Yours,
Dora
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March 12, 1988
Dear Dora,
Thank you for the birthday present. I feel like a new man. I went walking and tucked my trousers into the socks so as to show them off to their best advantage. The moor ponies looked upon me with envy.
Yours,
Remus
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April 27, 1988
Dear Remus,
I spent the Easter with the Weasleys and it was great fun. What a lot of noise all those people make! You are an only child too so I'm sure you can understand how unsettling all the clamour and squabbling is.
Charlie asked Mrs Weasley where you were, and she looked taken aback for a moment like she was surprised he was asking, but then said you had to work and couldn't be there. I didn't know you had plans to visit the Weasleys at Easter! It was so disappointing to know that I might have finally seen you again. Well, MET you. I don't feel like that time in Diagon Alley when I was seven really counts.
Exams begin soon. I will get an E in Potions this year. I will get an E in Potions this year. I will get an E in Potions this year.
Yours,
Dora
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May 4, 1988
Dear Remus,
I had the most strange, wonderful and exciting birthday anyone has ever had. Professor Sprout came and found me and told me to go to the headmaster's office at a quarter to six, and to bring my travelling cloak. She wouldn't tell me why but I could only suppose that my mother and father were coming to take me somewhere for my fifteenth birthday.
But when I presented myself to Professor Dumbledore it wasn't my parents who were in his office, but a stranger. And what a stranger he was! A big bear of a man with a false eye strapped to his face and a wooden leg. Dumbledore said his name was Alastor Moody.
Well, I just stared at him. I couldn't help it. It wasn't because of how he looks, it was because he's the most famous Auror alive today. Half the Death Eaters in Azkaban are there because of him.
Finally I pulled myself together and shook his hand and said what an honour it was to meet him. It still hadn't sunk in that he was there to see me when he was bustling me over to a portkey and telling Dumbledore that he'd have me back by eleven. Then whoosh, off we went! We reappeared in Diagon Alley, right outside the Leaky Cauldron. It was packed full of people when we went inside, all drinking butterbeer and firewhisky, but we didn't stop in the bar. Mr Moody took me upstairs and showed me into a large room with a table set for dinner. There were other people there, Arthur Weasley, Professor McGonagall, and a large, dark man I didn't recognise. And a tall young man with too-long hair with just a little grey, a greeny-brown tweed jacket and tie, and a small, neat moustache. He was standing at the back of the room with his hands deep in his pockets, looking uncertain but also a little bit pleased. I forgot about everyone else, ran to him and gave him the biggest hug I've ever given anyone.
Remus, why didn't you tell me you were going to be there? I suppose it was a surprise. Well, I was very surprised, and so happy! You are real, and you are just how I remember you, or at least how I see you when I read your letters. It's all got so muddled in my mind over the years. But I knew you instantly. Did I look like how you pictured me or was I a stranger?
Everyone was looking at my hair because it had gone the brightest shade of pink it's ever been. I couldn't stop grinning and I don't remember saying hello to anyone else, but I think I must have as then we were all sitting around the table and Mr Moody was talking.
'Tonks, I think you've heard of Aurors. We only take the brightest young witches and wizards with a knack for spotting and battling Dark magic. I keep an ear out for those coming up through Hogwarts who show potential, and you were singled out to me.'
Professor McGonagall smiled at me, and I guessed it was her who told Mr Moody about me. 'You also have a unique ability that would serve an Auror well while undertaking secretive or stealth work,' she said, and I guess she meant me being a Metamorphmagus.
How wonderful, Remus! I could barely eat thinking about how all these very important people had gathered for my birthday. Mr Weasley gave me such an interesting account of how the Ministry of Magic works and where the Auror Office sits within it. Mr Shacklebolt told me all about his training and the things I could expect after school.
Mr Moody cut across the chatter when our plates had been cleared away. 'There's something else, Tonks. Have you ever heard of the Order of the Phoenix?' There was this electric silence around the table and I suddenly knew why.
'It was a secret group who fought You-Know-Who,' I said, and Mr Moody's mouth fell open. 'Were you all members?' And I looked at you and I'm sure you were trying to hide your smile in your pint. Were you proud of me for guessing?
'Some of us, dear,' McGonagall said, faintly. 'Not Mr Shacklebolt. He was still being trained. And not Mr Weasley, though his brothers were.'
I listened to Mr Moody tell me about how, under Dumbledore, the Order recruited Aurors and others to resist You-Know-Who, and it was strange but I felt like I was hearing a familiar song that I had loved as a child.
'It's not active now, but if someone like You-Know-Who ever rises again it will reform. It's something to think about. You should know that Aurors in the Order did not have a very long life expectancy.'
He took out a photograph of the Order of the Phoenix and started to show it to me, though you tried to stop him. 'Come on, Mad-Eye, don't show her that. It's her birthday.'
But he brushed you off. I didn't understand what you meant until I realised just about every person in that photograph was dead. I'm so sorry, Remus. I know you lost people during the war but I had no idea it was so many.
I'm glad he showed me the picture. I should know what I will be facing if I choose this path, and besides many Aurors have died while on missions even without being in the Order.
We had cake, and then before I knew it it was ten minutes to eleven and Professor McGonagall was saying she had to take me back to school. I wish I'd been able to talk to you, just you, or at least give you a proper goodbye. But thank you for wishing me happy birthday and THANK YOU for being there.
I've got so much to think about, but I promise I'm not afraid of becoming an Auror, or one day joining the Order of the Phoenix if they need me. Really I'm afraid that I might let all these people down by failing my O.W.L.s or not being made of the right stuff (what would that Boggart look like?) But I'm more resolved than ever that being an Auror is the right thing for me. Thank you for giving me A History of Aurors at the Ministry of Magic all those years ago. I think you knew this was what I'd be good at even then.
Will you tell me about the Order and how you came to be in it? It's not still a secret, is it?
Yours,
Dora
...
They have met. This makes me so happy!