Chapter 1: An unusual day
It had been an excruciatingly long day at training. Nymphadora Tonks was eager to arrive home, eat his dad's homemade dinner and watch some movie in her pajamas. She was fantasizing about a steaming plate of lasagna when one of his trainers approached her and quite a few of her companions, informing them that they had been summoned by the legendary Alastor Moody and he expected them at the Ministry in an hour. Immediately her excitement overrode all the exhaustion she had been feeling. The group of trainees left the center together, talking and theorizing about the unexpected meeting. After all, it was extremely unusual for any trainee to be needed by the Head of the Auror Department, as the crime rates were in an all-time low and there were enough experienced aurors to handle any threat that might appear.
When they arrived at the Ministry building, it was as deserted as it always was at that time of the day. That changed as soon as they enter the Auror Department. It was buzzing with chatter from several aurors from all ranks. However, Tonks could see that most of them were young people such as herself. Her hair kept switching between different colors as she tried to contain her enthusiasm, mainly her usual shade of pink, a cheerful orange and bright yellow. A number of people stared at her, but she was used to the attention; methamorphmagus were quite rare. She only knew of two others and they were actually related to her, Isadora - one of her mum's distant cousins - and her nine-year-old son Teddy. Tonks looked around and, yes, she was right there, the blond woman with purple highlights who was laughing at Moody's grumpy face.
The Head Auror caught everyone's attention and guided them to one of the bigger conference rooms. There, the senior members of the department told them that in order to participate in the meeting, they would all need to make an oath of secrecy. Tonks didn't even hesitate to do it. After they were done, the bosses told them they were waiting for a few more people to show up.
Ten minutes later, two unspeakables with their hoods up and their faces shadowed entered the room. Instantly, everyone went completely silent. The presence of two employees from the Department of Mysteries meant serious business and they were all well aware of the fact.
One of the individuals stepped forward and lowered his hood. With that action his face also became clear for all to see and Tonks stifled a gasp. It was not just the gesture that surprised her, breaking the rule that unspeakables were supposed to be anonymous, but also the fact that she knew him. He was Remus Lupin, Isadora's husband. The trainne's gaze began to search for her among their coworkers and, when she locked eyes with her, she didn't seem at all surprised. Obviously, as his wife she would know. That kind of explained much about their family, they had always been extremely secretive.
Her focus returned to Remus the minute he smiled at the aurors in front of him and started to talk. "Good evening everyone. My name is Remus Lupin and, as you can tell, I'm an unspeakable. We gathered you all here today to offer you the chance to participate in a classified mission, a joint effort between the Auror Department and the Department of Mysteries." He beckoned Moody forwards and the old auror obeyed him, making a big show of rolling his eyes and grumbling about getting to the point quicker. Remus' amused smile told Tonks that he was familiar with the man.
"Head Auror Moody and I have chosen the people standing in this room. That means we believe that you have what it takes to succeed in this task." Tonks was getting more and more thrilled. Whatever it was, she was in.
Remus pleasant tone continued with his speech. "Not so long ago, there was a terrible war throughout the magical world. Most of you were old enough to be aware that there were horrifying things happening around you but not so old as to be directly drawn into it. Aurors were not the only ones fighting, people who had enough courage and ability to stand for themselves and for others were involved as well. Disappearances, murders, they were usual occurrences. Entire families were wiped out." At that point, a solemn silence had stablished in the room. They knew all of that, of course, but that didn't mean it was easier to hear. Many of them had lost family members during the war.
Moody cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes at his subordinates. The metamorphmagus thought that he was laying that old irritable boss image a bit thick – not that she ever going to tell him that. "You probably heard this from family members, read it from books or even studied it at school. What not many people remember though is what happened after Voldemort's fall" At this Tonks raised her head. He was right, beside the partying and the death eater trials, she didn't know what else happened. "After his defeat, the Ministry was in chaos. Hell, our world was in chaos, but specially the Ministry. We had lost too many people battling Tom Riddle's army and the Auror Department couldn't keep track of all those bastards. We feared that many of them would get away. Several men and women had joined us during the war but they were tired of fighting. This profession is demanding and not everyone is up for it, so when the war ended, they left to pursue other careers, easier ones, less dangerous. Truthfully, I don't resent them. Aurors are supposed to be investigators, not a bloody army. Still, it's important for you to get the picture, we needed help."
Tonks was engrossed by the story. She was sure that somehow they had received that help because, in the end, not many death eaters had remained free. She was not disappointed when Moody resumed talking. "From out of nowhere, a group of witches and wizards showed up to work with us. We couldn't afford to waste time with long training so we just tested them out and most of them were given the rank of junior aurors. They were put on the field and started working immediately. Together, we captured almost every death eater with minimal casualties."
Remus picked up the story. "But the Ministry never understood where all those people came from. They all told the same thing, that they were part of an organization that used to fight death eaters, just like the Order of the Phoenix, and when the war ended they decided that they were needed in an official capacity."
Moody snorted. "Of course, nobody believed them. If that organization had been real, we would have known; some of us would have crossed paths with them at some point. But they were too damn useful so we let it go."
"Nevertheless, that eventually changed and now we know who they were and where did they came from," declared Remus. Tonks shivered with anticipation. That was it, they were going to tell them what they wanted from them. "They were a group aurors sent from the future."
Everyone was stunned. Remus waited some time to let that statement sink in. Tonks was shocked, but she didn't have any doubt that it was true. Who better to know than an unspeakable? They did study time, or at least there were rumors about it… Suddenly, it dawned on her. They were the group! They wanted to send them all to the past!
The second unspeakable stepped forward with a shiny object in his/her hands. It looked like an ancient hourglass. Tonks assumed it was the time travel device. The rough voice, distorted by magical means, started to explain "This is a time-turner. It can send the wearer back to up to nine years and four months. Ever since we realized where this mysterious people had come from, we concentrated our efforts in developing these devices. Today, we can say for certain that they are in perfect working order."
"The reason we are showing you this is that we are asking for volunteers. You'll be sent to November 1981, given new identities, money and places to live. This decision is not one to make lightly, as there is no coming back," the enthusiasm that had been building in the room abruptly came to a halt. "The time-turners work one-way only. That means, if you decide to go back in time, you won't return to the future, at least not with the device. You'll live your lives normally and after eight years you'll find yourselves in this time again." The dejected faces around her made Tonks realize that most of his coworkers had already chosen not to do it. She was not so sure. It still sounded awesome, to be able to travel to the past! Maybe she could stop herself from dating Charlie Weasley in her sixth year, that had been a disaster…
The young trainee's plan was crushed when the unspeakable kept explaining the mechanics of the time-device. Apparently, she wouldn't be able to change anything. Everything that happened to her would happen again, she would just experience the past from a different perspective. That actually sounded pretty safe, there was no way to muck something up and ruin her present. Tonks listened closely to the dangers. They warned them about the troubled times, with free death eaters and a post-war world, but that didn't worry her much. Then, the unspeakables told them about the risks of confronting their younger selves or people that knew them. That got her attention. The time travelers would be disguised, would become different people, so that they could reduce the possibilities of being recognized. Tonks was confident she wouldn't have a problem with that, after all, she was a methamorphmagus.
They continued talking about the mission for about half an hour. Tonks was focused on everything they were saying, trying to decide if she wanted to go or not. Finally, they concluded the meeting, letting them know that they had two weeks to consider it.
Tonks was about to walk out of the room when she saw Isadora making a head motion for her to stay. She nodded and went to stand beside her while they waited for the rest to leave. The hooded unspeakable also exited the room, but Remus, Moody and Isadora stayed with her. She could see that they were all quite nervous. Well, Moody was scowling as always but he kept glancing at her so she assumed he was as nervous as the other two.
When the door was closed, Remus cleared his throat and asker her "Wha – What do you think about it? Are you up to the challenge?" He had started stuttering but finished with a challenging smirk. Tonks shook her head, amused. She had always gotten on pretty well with Remus and he liked teasing her almost as much as Sirius did. She concentrated on the question.
"I'm considering it. It's a lot to take in, I would be leaving my whole life behind and starting a new one in another time…" mused Tonks, biting her lower lip.
"Yes, you would," Moody said as bluntly as ever. "Don't rush into it, you'll need to be completely sure that it is what you want."
Tonks nodded, thankful for the support. She was still wondering why they had asked her to stay though, and she was about to voice her question when Isadora beat her to it.
"We actually asked you to stay because we have a different mission for you."
"A different mission?" repeated the trainee, bemused.
"Yes, should you choose to return to the past, we will debrief you on the other mission," clarified Remus, looking intently at her.
The young metamorphmagus huffed, disgruntled. "How can I possibly make that choice without having all the information?"
Isadora seemed satisfied with the response. "You are right, of course. We will tell you the basics now, enough for you to know what to expect."
Tonks looked up, surprised. Apparently that had been some kind of test.
"You should sit down; this will take a while" suggested the older witch. They all conjured some chairs and made themselves comfortable. Tonks looked around, wondering which of them would explain.
Remus was the one to start talking. "About eight years ago, I was visited by a time traveler from the future…"
What followed that opening was a story almost too strange to be believable. Remus explained the time ritual that Harry had used and the reasons why he had chosen to do so. It horrified Tonks that the world had been ruined so badly that extreme measures such us time travel had been needed. She was shaken by the consequences of the ritual, mainly the complete disappearance of that whole timeline and the people in it; nevertheless, she understood the need for it.
"Harry was the one who saved Sirius?" she exclaimed when they reached that part of the story. Obviously, she had known about her cousin's escape; however, he had always refused to share any details with anyone.
"Yes, he was," answered Remus proudly. He had been doing most of the talking with the occasional remark from Isadora or Moody.
Tonks was very impressed with the little boy she knew as Harry Potter. Of course, the guy who had gone to Azkaban was a different version of him, but that didn't make it any less amazing. Little Harry was utterly devoted to his friends and family – a very strong Hufflepuff trait, as she always teased him – so it was not so difficult to believe he would go to such lengths for them. What made it that incredible, in her opinion, was that he was merely nineteen years old when he accomplished all that.
"Maybe we should stop at that and leave you some time to process this," suggested Isadora.
"No!" disagreed Tonks. "You haven't even begun to tell me what this mission is supposed to be about."
"She is right; we should at least tell her that," accepted Moody, contemplative.
"All right, let's get to the point. What do you know about Horcruxes?" inquired Remus.
"I don't know what that is."
"Great, I didn't expect you to. Horcruxes are one of the worst sort of magic. They are created in an attempt to reach immortality. The wizard or witch tears a piece of their souls by a ritual and an act of evil and locks it in an object. This objects are the Horcruxes and they tethered the person to life."
The explanation made her turn green, but she nodded at him to continue.
"Tom Riddle made Horcruxes and hid them, that's why he survived after Halloween, 1981. The mission that future Harry left us was to basically cleanse the wizarding world from war and bigotry; one of the steps was to finally get rid of the monster. He gave us a lot of information, but it required quite a bit of work. The three of us plus some allies managed to get it done."
It was all said with a nonchalant air, in the same tone as he had explained countless subjecs to her thought the years she had known him. The people in front of her had managed to defeat the most feared wizard in Britain and they all had been at her home several times for dinner! She had played with them as a child, they had teased her about her clumsiness, they had pranked each other! It was quite shocking for the young witch.
"I think that now it's a good time to stop," observed Remus, watching her reaction.
The other two agreed with him, but Tonks had one more thing she needed to ask before leaving.
"You guys were all there, you should know if I decided to travel back or not. Why don't you just tell me and save me the trouble?"
"It's not our decision to make Tonks," said Isadora softly. "If someone try to force this on you, you will resent that person your whole life. You need to choose what you want to do, forget what we or anyone else already know."