Chapter Fifty Three – In Which Strangers Are Only Friends You Haven't Met
Tonks continued pacing back and forth in front of her potion. She couldn't work out what it was that she was doing wrong and despite everything her mother had done to reassure her, she was still worried. What if she really wasn't smart enough?
Twice today Tonks had already messed up her potion. She had been trying since 8:00 this morning and it was already 5:00 in the evening. She didn't need a mirror to know that her hair was most likely red with frustration.
"Son of a veela" Tonks swore as she began pacing faster as once again the potion began turning green rather than the desired blue. "Pillock, prat, shitake mushrooms" continued Tonks suddenly feeling much better for letting off some steam. "Ruddy toerag, drat, bummer, blighter, blimy, barking, barmy, buttocks, bullocks, Merlin's left elbow".
"Don't forget Merlin's right elbow" said a voice behind her.
Tonks turned around and flushed. In the door stood Mad-eye Moody eyeing her with both eyes (for a change) which was somewhat off-putting.
Tonks's hair flashed instantly to an embarrassed green, then suddenly back to red again. She didn't care who saw her angry anymore, she didn't care about what they thought. Nothing else mattered except getting this potion right.
"Relax lass" said Mad-eye "No need to cry over spilt potion".
Tonks just looked at him angrily. How dare he think that this was funny! She huffed for a few seconds and then realised how stupid this whole thing probably looked to him. Then suddenly Tonks agreed. He was right, she was being stupid and getting too worked up. Suddenly it had gone from the most tragic moment of her life to the funniest joke in the world and Tonks couldn't stop laughing. Next thing she knew she was desperately holding onto her stomach and begging herself to stop laughing. So much so that she began to tear up.
"Calm down lass, I'm not that funny" said Mad-eye, but only succeeding in making Tonks laugh even more.
"What's wrong" he asked taking a seat next to Tonks once she had finally calmed down. Despite the fact that she had been laughing he could still tell that something was upsetting her.
Suddenly Tonk didn't mind at all that he was now patting her on the shoulder and sympathizing with her. It was nice that somebody was finally treating her decently enough to actually care. In fact Tonks couldn't help but think to herself that actually Mad-eye wasn't that scary after all. He was just one big softie.
"I don't understand why I can't get this potion to work" sighed tonks trying her best not to let the frustration her voice show.
Mad-eye took a look down at her practical book in front of her. There was spillages and stains of all sorts of her ingredients splattered on the instructions.
"Wolfsbane potion eh?" He asked thinking back to how much he too had hated potions at school "That's a hard one to make" He continued to flick through the text reminding himself of what the steps were.
"Why don't you show me what you're doing?" he asked "and I'll try and work out what it is that you're doing wrong"
Tonks nodded and began the potion again starting from scratch. It was hard work but Tonks knew that it was going to work this time, with someone there to correct her. By the time Tonks had finished the second part of the potion, Mad-eye had corrected her twice. The first time because she had forgotten to ground the root with the silver side of her blade and the second time because she had forgotten to peel back the silverweed crust before dicing. Tonks couldn't help but think that it was no wonder that the potion had not turned out right. How could she possibly have forgotten to do something as obvious as that?
After working through the rest of the entire potion with Mad-eye, he then left Tonks to repeat the potion by herself working through and fixing all the mistakes that she had made. Surprisingly Tonks didn't find herself getting stuck at any stages at all and by the time she had finished she looked down at her potion to see a faint blue solution with a slight amount of smoke coming off it. It looked perfect, exactly like it was supposed to.
Looking down at her wizard watch Tonks jumped. It was already three in the morning and Tonks was still in the Ministry of Magic. She couldn't quite believe it. Her parents were going to kill her.
Rushing, Tonks placed a small amount of potion into a vial and placed the remaining liquid into a larger sturdier container that she sneaked into her backpack.
Only once leaving the room did Tonks realise how hungry she was. She had barely eaten all day. Quickly Tonks hurried to the aurors offices. Walking into the large atrium surrounded by old brick and makeshift cubicles, Tonks couldn't help but feel as if it became a different place at night. The room had almost a more relaxed and informal feel to it, nothing like during the day. But despite it being three in the morning it was still bustling with people. In the distance Tonks could here almost a constant buzzing that sounded vaguely like coffee being ground.
Checking that Professor Williams had gone home Tonks left her vial for marking on his desk, but just as she turned to leave her eyes caught alight on in the desk down the corridor. It was Mad-eye Moody's desk.
Tonks decided that she would go down and thank him for all his help. As she began to walk towards his office she couldn't help but notice that the offices got progressively more and more larger as well as the lights getting more and more dimmer. It was like his office was some sort of black hole, and she couldn't quite believe that she was walking towards his desk. However after everything that had happened today Tonks wanted to thank him. He had helped her and looked after her like something her own father would have done and Tonks couldn't help but wonder why he didn't have any children. He would have been a great father. Despite the impression he gave off, deep down he was a big softie.
As she reached his office, Tonks didn't bother to knock. She could tell that he would have seen her coming a mile away. Instead Tonks just burst into the room clumsily knocking over a box of odd jars and magnifying glasses.
"Wotcher Sorry" apologized Tonks when she heard something break. Mad-eye was seriously going to kill her now.
"That's allright. Needed to get rid of it anyway" he said gruffly.
"I just wanted to thank-you for helping me with the potion today" she said.
"That's okay" replied Mad-eye gruffly somewhat shocked that anybody in their right mind had actually bothered to thank him for something for a change. "I get the feeling that that's not all you wanted to say" he nodded to Tonks's bag making her blush. Of course he had probably seen the potion simmering away in her bag, even if his magical eye didn't give it away.
"Well" stammered Tonks, not even realising that she had in fact wanted to ask him, "I wanted to know if the potion would be safe for human or um werewolf consumption" she corrected, doing her best to ignore the intrigued look coming from him. He was beginning to contemplate whether or not this "werewolf" was Remus Lupin and if so whether or not there was anything fishy going on between them. He suspected it was but he wasn't quite sure.
Tonks pulled out the container from her bag and placed it on his desk. Tonks couldn't help but think that it was just as well that he wasn't a mind reader or a seer as well as having magical sight otherwise she probably wouldn't have been able to keep anything to herself.
"Only one way to find out" said Mad-eye taking a nearby goblet (That looked surprisingly like it had been confiscated and sold on the black market) and drinking it.
"Sir!?" Tonks exclaimed. Not quite believing how careless he had just been. What if she had just poisoned the world's best auror with blotchy Polyjuice potion?
She watched as his face recoiled in disgust. Tonks couldn't help but think that she must have really poisoned him to make him give a face like that. Normally Mad-eye was indestructible and fearless. She must have poisoned him. She must have.
"I'm no werewolf" he paused after a painfully long moment, "but I'd say that tastes almost just as terribly disgusting as it should" he smiled.
Tonks heaved a huge sigh of relief. There wasn't anything wrong with it after all.
"But if I were you" he continued, "I'd come back to me each time you make up a new batch and check with me that your making it correctly before you start making big batches of it all by yourself.
Tonks nodded and couldn't hide the glee from her face. Despite it being three in the morning and being in Mad-eye's office she was overjoyed at the prospect of finally being able to help her Gem.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door that didn't seem to surprise Mad-eye at all.
It was Albus Dumbledore.
"Hello Alastor" smiled Dumbledore,
"Albus" smiled Mad-eye greeting him like an old friend, "come-in, come-in"
"To what do I owe this pleasure Nymphadora Tonks" he smiled using her full name and making Tonks cringe.
"Oh I was umm..Just leaving Professor" she apologized, trying her best to pick up the fuming potion on Mad-eyes desk and shove the darn thing into her bag without it looking too suspicious.
"No need to call me Professor" he smiled eyes twinkling, "and how is our lovely Remus going?" he asked as if he knew everything.
Tonks blushed a hard red. She knew she couldn't morph this one away. Why did the darn man always have to be so perceptive all the time? It was as if he had no filter on his mouth. How much did he know? Was he not like a walking library into the lives of others.
"Um" coughed Tonks, trying her best to cover up her uncomfortableness. "He's well"
After an awkward pause Tonks dismissed herself taking a mental note to ask Remus exactly how much Dumbledore knew? "Have a nice night and thanks again Mad-eye and Professor" she smiled her best trying to look naturally but failing.
Leaving the room, Tonks didn't even care if they talked about her once she had left. She had no desire to eavesdrop- not that Mad-eye or Dumbledore would not have noticed of course. Sitting there in that office were perhaps the two most powerful wizards of all time.
All that Tonks cared about was the fact that she knew that Dumbledore knew and now Mad-eye was going to suspect something was up to. She wished that he would have had the sense to keep his mouth shut about it to. But then again that was Dumbledore, the man who wore his heart on his sleeve, any act of love from him he wanted to shout out from the top of the Gryffindor tower. After all the last thing she wanted was a heard of wild rumours reacher her father.
"Great. Just typical" thought Tonks to herself. "Can't even keep a secret for five seconds without either of them finding out.
Tonks left the ministry walking home in the cold almost freezing winter night. Home to her worried mother and father with her red cheeks blushing the entire way.
Author's Note – Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter :) it really means a lot! Firstly to Ukrainianelfhorse – thanks a bunch glad you like it! Lilly and James were probably the same age as JK had in mind originally I think Tonks was just born earlier in this story. Ganastas – Sorry no Gem but there will definitely be a lot of Remus in the next chapter :P Don't worry! And to everyone else thanks for still bothering to read the story ha ha! It honestly still surprises me when people still read it ha ha! Thanks!
PrincessDreamGirl
