Molly skirted snowmen skipping across the floor and ducked under a sprig of mistletoe that squawked, "You didn't kiss anyone!" at her only to skid across the floor on a pool of liquid that had taken up residence half under the table.
"George, Fred, if I fall on your bloody new non stick super sliding liquid whatever you are really in for it!"
"Sorry mum," they called, hurrying forward. "We haven't found a package that will actually hold it yet."
"What have you tried?" Hermione piped up from her seat by the fireplace.
Finally reaching the door Molly wrenched it open and grinned at her newest snow-covered guests. "Remus, Dora," she greeted, hugging each as they shrugged through the door.
Dora stopped to shake the snow from her hair, earning a tut from Remus. "You're like an unschooled animal," he teased as he sent a wave of hot air into her hair.
"I am an unschooled animal," she shot back. "Thank you so much for inviting us, Molly."
"It's what Christmas is about. You could have used the floo powder."
"The cake never would have made it," she said, setting a plate on the table and revealing it with a flourish. "And I might have broken a bottle, which would have been a real tragedy," she laughed as she began unloading alcohol from her pockets.
"Goodness, how much did you bring?" Molly asked.
"Exactly the right amount for Christmas. Hands off boys," she added when she noticed Fred and George's eyes drawn to that. "At least 'til I've had mine."
"Actually it's the bottles we were interested in."
She looked at them disbelieving and shook her head. "Unnatural creatures."
"What if you had fallen in the snow?" Molly asked.
"Eh, we had mountains of it when I left. We'll have tunnels by now in Siberia. I know how to handle snow."
"Siberia?" Hermione asked as Remus trekked further into the crowded space.
She glanced up. "Where I'm from. Molly, who is this inquisitive girl?"
"I'm sorry, I forgot you haven't met the kids. This is Hermione. Watch out for her. Smartest witch in Hogwarts right now."
"Hardly," Hermione scoffed. "What about the Professors?"
Molly waved her off. "That's my youngest boy, Ron, hand in the cookie jar as usual," she laughed as Ron looked up, cheeks bulging. "That's Ginny playing exploding snap with the twins." She waved. "And Harry's..." Remus waved from across the room where he was chatting with the dark haired boy., "...deep in conversation with Remus. Everyone, this is Dora."
"PANdora," the twins corrected.
"Who prefers to go by Dora," Tonks wagged a finger at the twins as she came over to throw her arms around the woman.
Remus leaned close to the twins. "You know the more you do that the more trouble I get in."
"Sacrifices have to be made, mate."
"It's for the greater good."
He rolled his eyes.
"Dora is a member of the Order now. Friend of Remus'," Tonks filled in.
"From Siberia?" Hermione said.
"From Siberia," Dora agreed.
"You mean Russia. Siberia hasn't really been an official place in a few hundred years."
"Eh, technically, I suppose." She fell back into a chair, propping her feet on a stool near the fire. "That's the language we speak. But we're far enough north they don't have a clue we're there. Wizards or muggles. Most of those born there have never set foot on a road or paid taxes or even seen a Russian official. The old timers call it Siberia so we go along. It seems more honest."
Harry came over to sit on the stool with Hermione. "You knew Remus when he was young?"
"Early 20s, if you call that young."
"What was he like?"
She cackled evilly as Remus gave her a look over Tonks' shoulder.
"A lot like now. Stuck up git that doesn't know how to have a good time or what's good for him." She leaned over the arm of the chair toward him and called, "He needs a woman to loosen him up. The less mature the better."
He shrugged. "You're the one that turned down my proposal."
"He proposed?" Hermione asked.
"For all the wrong reasons," she laughed. "I'll take my love as heads our pack, thank you. He knows how to have a good time."
Remus raised the drink in his hand. "I wish him luck. He'll need it."
Hermione's eyes widened and she looked at Harry. "He made a joke?"
"I have that effect on him," Dora said. "Ask me how we met."
"I think it's time to get you a drink," Remus hurried over, grabbing her arm and attempting to drag her to the table.
"Wait, how did you meet?" Harry asked.
Remus wrapped an arm around her waist as she struggled to get away from him, clapping a hand over her mouth. "This way."
She pried the hand away. "But The Boy Who Lives asked me a question. I have to answer him."
"No you don't."
"He's a living ledged. I have to curry favor."
"You REALLY don't. Come on, make me that drink you used to do. I've never gotten it right."
"Only if I can give it to you with a green straw."
"Never!" he crowed, making her laugh.
Ginny looked up at Tonks. "How did they meet?"
"Something about waking up naked in a field with no memory of the night before," she said.
Hermione spit the drink she'd been sipping onto Harry. He was too shocked even to notice.
Remus had let go of Dora by this point and reached out to cuff her upside the head. "You told her?"
"She asked. I think. I told her you were a wolf right that moment. Where did the vodka go?"
"The drink didn't have vodka in it," Remus objected.
"You're a lot nicer when it does."
"You keep this up I'm going to need it. Sirius and James didn't give me half as much trouble."
"Only because they didn't get the chance to embarrass you in front of children. If they'd had the chance they would have. And there were two of them. I think Miss Tonks over there need to team up to really pull that off."
"Well we haven't managed to nearly off Snape," Tonks said, perching on the table to watch Dora start mixing liquid.
"We'd probably manage it, if we put our minds to it," Dora said with a grin.
Tonks held up her glass and Dora clinked hers against it.
"No plotting against fellow Order members," Molly said with a shake of her head.
"We were just saying we COULD. Not that we would. He's nice enough in his own way," Dora said with a shrug.
"I can tell you didn't have him for a professor."
She nodded. "He may be tough but he is loyal. You guys couldn't have a better choice for a double agent."
"What makes you say that?" Tonks asked.
"Women's intuition. Coupled with wolfish instincts. Killer."
"Impressive," Tonks said.
"You're a werewolf too then?" Hermione asked. She paused suddenly. "I'm sorry, is that rude to say?"
"Not at all," Dora said quickly. "And yes, I am. Quiet proud of it actually." She used her wand to retrieve a bottle from across the room as Tonks hopped off the table.
"You're proud of a condition?"
She shrugged. "I am who I am today because of it. The little mousy thing I was growing into, never would have fought against Voldemort, let alone find herself leading a group like my pack."
"You shouldn't say such things about yourself," Tonks said. Her wand twitched and Dora gave a little cry and clutched her arm. Pulling back her shirt she revealed boils crawling up her arm.
Molly hurried over with her wand and stopped the spread, working them off her arm.
"What did you do that for?" Dora asked Tonks.
"Sorry, you had your wand in your hand. I thought you'd block it."
"How would I block it?" she asked, glancing down at Molly's work.
"The same way you block any spell," Tonks said. She stopped and looked at Remus, then back at her. "Dora, you do know how to block spells? To duel?"
"Of course not," she said, face a bit red. "They didn't teach me before I was fourteen and my captor certainly wasn't going to give me a wand, let alone teach me how to attack people with it."
Tonks blinked at her. "How much do you know?"
She shrugged, although her hand shook a bit as she retrieved her glass. "Mostly household stuff. Every day spells. We werewolves tend to settle disagreements other ways."
Hermione looked a bit pale. "We do take our education for granted, don't we?"
Harry looked up at Remus. "Captor?"
"She was kidnapped when she was young. Kept as a companion for a wealthy werewolf. She was twenty when she escaped."
She rolled her wand in her hand. "You know most of us don't even have wands. If they were bitten young they hardly know how to use it anyway."
"Well you are going to learn," Tonks said, setting down her glass. "Get your coat. You're going outside for your first lesson right now."
"I don't...Tonks, I appreciate it, but I don't know that there's much point."
"If you plan to come face-to-face with Death Eaters you're going to need this," Tonks disagreed.
"You'll be far more capable of protecting your pack," Remus offered.
She sighed. "All right, but I don't have to like it."
"Harry should go too," Ginny offered. "He's brilliant at teaching this stuff. And Professor Lupin, who used to teach dark arts. You couldn't find someone better to teach you."
"Yeah, great. I get to get my ass kicked by an Auror, a Professor, and the Chosen One. This will do wonders for my self esteem."