Chapter Eight: Fall Right Before Autumn
It was the last day of summer. Harry, Hermione and the younger Weasleys were due to leave Grimmauld Place for Hogwarts first thing in the morning; Molly and Arthur Weasley would leave for The Burrow that evening. Tonks had a busy day planned - in the morning, she would escort Harry and his friends to Kings Cross train station and see them safely onto the Hogwarts express; in the afternoon, she would follow Avery (a man known to have previously been a Death Eater, but who escaped Azkaban) on his shopping trip to Diagon Alley.
Tonks had decided on a complete disguise in order to take Harry and his friends to Kings Cross. She knew that the rest of her party would be conspicuous, but Dumbledore had instructed her to conceal her involvement with the Order for as long as possible. Presently, the fact that no one knew the Order had a metamorphmagus member was useful. Once that fact became known, the Death Eaters would become far more paranoid - due to suspecting literally everyone of being Tonks, morphed - and violent. So, mid-morning found a sixty-year-old-looking Tonks impatiently waiting for Molly, Harry, Ron and Hermione on a street corner near Grimmauld Place.
She was concerned and surprised to see they were running slightly late, though Molly explained that this was due to the mysterious absence of Sturgis Podmore. Podmore was the blond wizard who'd formed part of the advance guard that had retrieved Harry from Privet Drive. Tonks was briefly concerned for Podmore's welfare; when she saw a large black dog emerge from behind Hermione, concern for Podmore was quickly replaced by concern that Sirius not be recognised and captured. Tonks reflected that she should not have been at all surprised to see Sirius with them. For weeks, he'd been champing at the bit to volunteer himself for any job or mission at all - he was plainly desperate to leave Grimmauld Place.
When they arrived at Kings Cross, Tonks was amused to see mad eye playing porter - usually such annoying, menial tasks were reserved for her, or another junior auror. Remus appeared with Fred, George and Ginny, looking relieved to see Harry, Ron and Hermione already there.
"No trouble?" growled Moody.
"Nothing," said Remus.
"I'll still be reporting Sturgis to Dumbledore," said Moody. "That's the second time he's not turned up in a week. Getting as unreliable as Mundungus."
Tonks and Remus exchanged concerned glances.
"Well, look after yourselves," said Remus, shaking hands all round. He reached Harry last and gave him a clap on the shoulder. "You too, Harry. Be careful."
Tonks said her goodbyes and hugged Hermione and Ginny.
A whistle sliced through the air and the students still on the platform started hurrying onto the train. Mrs Weasley began shepherding her party toward the train, stopping to prevent Sirius from giving Harry an altogether too anthropomorphic hug. The train began to depart and Sirius chased it, bounding down the length of the platform as Harry waved and other students on board laughed.
When the train disappeared from sight, Sirius returned to the little party of farewelling adults and Tonks felt the urge to pat his head. Grimmauld Place was about to become a darker place for Sirius - and for his sometime-housemate, Remus.
"Back to Grimmauld for lunch?" Tonks asked quietly. "I have a job to do with Hestia."
*****break*****
"Cleansweep, comet, nimbus, firebolt - personally, I don't think it makes much difference for most people," said Hestia earnestly. "Most people will hardly ever fly at the firebolt's top speed, nor require the tight turning circle on the nimbus."
"Yeah, one of ours reckons that his new broom is the key to getting onto his house's quidditch team. Hogwarts kids always want a better broom for that reason. But as long as you're not riding one of the old brooms they use in lessons, it won't make a difference," Tonks concurred.
"Except perhaps for Seekers," said Hestia. "They really do need to turn the speed on - and dive."
"Maybe even chasers, at a push. But this boy's a keeper!" Exclaimed Tonks. "They don't fly fast, they don't dive that sharply - all they're doing is protecting those hoops. There is no need for a good broom. Only chasers and seekers need the extra speed - and really, only seekers need the dive gradient."
Tonks was pleased that she and Hestia had found a mutual interest; it made her feel less vulnerable around the pretty, older witch and helped pass the time they spent waiting for death eaters to begin their shopping trips.
The door to the Leaky Cauldron opened, and a man in his early forties appeared. He was still quite handsome - tall and broad-shouldered, with a good head of wavy, dark brown hair and an aquiline nose. Tonks didn't need to know anything about Francis Avery's life in order to know that his handsome face had never seen the inside of Azkaban prison.
She nodded curtly to Hestia, put a handful of sickles on the table, and then followed Avery out the back.
*****break*****
Tonks was wholly unsurprised when Avery marched straight to the apothecary.
Inside, she tailed him closely - he was completely oblivious to the presence of the fairly plain, plump young witch. And it appeared he had probably not set foot in the apothecary since his days at Hogwarts, because he strode up and down the rows of ingredients, like a man at an unfamiliar grocer's, muttering to himself. She was fairly sure she caught some expletives and "why in Merlin's name are these things not arranged in alphabetical order!"
Eventually, he strode up to a rather harassed-looking shop attendant and tapped the younger man on the shoulder. The attendant turned around, his expression changing from irritation to pronounced fear.
"Porcupine quills, lionfish spines and salamander blood!" Barked Avery.
The terrified attendant abandoned the other client in front of him - an old, greying witch who looked absolutely furious - and immediately set about gathering Avery's ingredients.
Inwardly, Tonks sarcastically thanked the death eater for eliminating the need for her to follow him and surreptitiously look at his shopping. Avery pushed to the front of the queue, quelling protest with a ferocious scowl, and disappeared from the apothecary before Tonks could catch him. It seemed shoppers were more inclined to move aside for a widely-suspected death eater than an innocuous young woman, and her progress was slowed by the crowd.
Back in the Alley, she saw his head disappearing out of sight. She couldn't rely on Hestia being further up the street and on the lookout, so she had to jog to catch him. Suddenly, her left foot lurched sideways, her heart jumped as she felt the ground beneath her disappear, and she crashed to the floor. Her left ankle was searing and her foot was shaky. She cursed, realising she'd turned it quite badly, and hastily got out her wand.
"Stay still, I can fix that in five minutes," came a rich, soothing voice in an accent that was almost - but not quite - French.
Tonks looked up to see a very tall, slim witch with large, faintly cat-like black eyes, light brown skin and a halo of short, very tight black curls around her head.
"I'm a healer. I have just set up a stall on Diagon Alley," said the witch.
"I really must be going!" Tonks said, realising she sounded ruder than she'd intended.
"You have torn at least one ligament," said the witch, matter-of-factly. "This is no broken nose, it is a delicate thing to fix! This is not the easy kind of healing spell that you can learn at school."
Tonks knew perfectly well how to fix a torn ligament - it was part of aurora training - but she couldn't very well tell the Healer without arousing suspicion because the witch was right - it was a hard spell and few civilians had mastered it.
"Er…thanks, but I don't have any money," Tonks said
"It is not a problem," the Healer said, stiffly. "I treat injured people for free."
With a wave of her wand, the healer had levitated Tonks and began marching back down the cobbled street. Tonks decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and she had lost Avery already. Hopefully Hestia had eyes on him.
The healer's shop was tiny, with nothing but a large sofa, a short leather stool, and a bookcase full of bottles, jars, powders, tinctures, bandages and splints - and a few books. With barely a flick of her wand, the Healer deposited Tonks on the sofa. With another fleeting gesture, she'd rolled up the leg of Tonks's jeans and removed her shoe and sock. Realising she'd been unintentionally rude earlier, Tonks gave the Healer a grateful smile and muttered her thanks.
"Lie still. You will feel an intense heat and swelling," said the Healer. Tonks's ankle ballooned and turned purple.
The Healer busied herself stirring a couple of half-brewed draughts and arranging some parchment scrolls in the bookcase. A couple of minutes later, she turned to examine her patient Tonks's ankle was no longer burning, but it was still large and purple.
"This is strange, that ankle should have deflated by now," frowned the Healer.
Tonks knew exactly what had happened - she was holding her morph, which meant that subconsciously, she had maintained the size and colour of the ankle.
"Er…maybe just one more minute?" She inquired hopefully. If the Healer would only turn her back, she could morph the ankle back to being pale and small.
"No, it must deflate immediately," snapped the healer, reaching into her bookcase and removing a sharp object. Tonks decided the gig was up.
"Can you close the shop front?" She asked in a low voice.
It was the healer's turn to look alarmed, and she froze - spike held aloft.
"I'm a metamorphmagus," said Tonks, even more quietly. "And I'm trying to hide from someone - a difficult ex boyfriend. He works on Diagon Alley, so I morph before I come here."
A look of satisfied comprehension flitted across the healer's face, relaxing her pursed lips and un-furrowing her high forehead. She drew the shutters closed with another twitch of her wand. The woman's non-verbal magic was really very impressive, mused Tonks.
Tonks undid her morph. Her hair grew paler and longer, her body grew thinner and the architecture of her face changed.
"I have never seen this before!" The healer remarked. "You look completely different!"
"Yeah, this is me without any morphing. I…I wasn't keen to accept your help earlier, because I thought you'd find out I was in disguise," Tonks lied fluently. She felt guilty, and wanted to smooth things over with this undoubtedly highly-skilled and altruistic witch.
"I understand," said the Healer. "I need to repeat the inflammation phase, in case your…ah…skills affected it. You must not change your appearance. Be completely natural."
Again, the a rush of warm, tight swelling raced through the veins in her foot and ankle. This time, the Healer wanted to talk to her, and she answered most of the woman's questions honestly. Did she ever have to learn to hone her skills, or were they all present from the day she was born? Tonks explained that she'd been able to morph as a baby, but she'd had to practice in order to perfectly emulate real people. No one had taught her how to morph - metamorphmagi were so rare that she hadn't met another one until two years ago. The Healer also wanted to know if she subtly enhanced her appearance. Tonks admitted that she did, but said that her friends and family only saw her as she currently was - except with shorter, often colourful hair (purple, pink, blue), slightly thicker, darker brown eyebrows and no dark shadows under her eyes.
"Time for the regenerative phase," the Healer suddenly announced, pointing her wand at Tonks's ankle. The ankle returned to its previous size, and only faint shadows of the dark purple bruises remained. She felt a strange tugging sensation around the joint - it was unpleasant, but luckily didn't last long.
"Unfortunately, this bit is painful," said the Healer, pointing her wand at Tonks's ankle again and sending a searing hot blast of purple light toward it. "Recoquo."
It felt like something inside her ankle was being stitched together; she could feel something being repeatedly punctured and pulled. Tonks winced, the Healer congratulated her on her pain tolerance - and then it was over.
"No running for at least two days - the ligament is not yet perfectly restored," ordered the Healer. "I will bandage it."
"I'm sorry, but morphing is non-negotiable," said Tonks.
"Don't change your height, and don't add any additional weight," said the Healer.
Tonks decided that this was a good opportunity to change her appearance completely, just in case Avery recognised her from the apothecary. She morphed into a woman of her own height and weight, with olive toned skin, dark beady eyes, a large hooked nose and long, dark brown hair (which mysteriously remained in a practical, tight plait, despite not being tied). She thanked the healer profusely, insisted on giving her a donation of two galleons, and then departed.
As she rounded the bend she glimpsed Hestia in the window of the second hand bookshop. She waited outside the bookshop, apparently examining the blackboard menu outside Florean Fortsecue's ice cream parlour.
A short time later, Avery left the bookshop. Tonks followed at a safe distance, relieved to see that he was moving more slowly. She caught Hestia's eye, and saw the other witch start in surprise.
"Sorry, explain later," breathed Tonks, when Hestia caught up to her.
"I'll go ahead and cover Borgin and Burkes," said Hestia. "Try not to lose him again."
Hestia hurried off - without tearing any ligaments on the cobblestones, Tonks observed irritably.
*****break*****
Back in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place, Tonks encountered a thoroughly miserable Sirius and a moderately anxious Remus. Molly and Arthur Weasley had left the house that evening, though Bill had indicated that he may drop by from time to time. Until the Christmas holiday, Remus and Sirius were going to rattle around the big, old, empty house largely alone. Tonks wanted to keep them company
"I suspect you'll be our most frequent visitor," said Remus. "Though we will still have Order meetings here, of course."
"Are you two free tonight?" Tonks asked.
"No, I have a date at the Leaky Cauldron," quipped Sirius.
"I'm afraid we were just going to have leftovers for dinner," said Remus.
"Oh, I can go if you wanted the place to yourselves" said Tonks hurriedly.
Remus and Sirius exchanged amused glances, which would have confirmed her suspicions had Sirius not spoken up.
"We aren't a couple, Tonks," Sirius chuckled.
Tonks blushed. Was she that indelicate about it?
"Sorry," said Tonks, suddenly feeling like a giggling schoolgirl. "I- it's none of my business, anyway."
"Tonks, you are most welcome to stay for dinner," said Remus, rescuing her from Sirius's mirth. "I am sure that Molly's leftovers will be plenty for three."
"Yeah moony and I would love you to stay," said Sirius quickly.
They reheated Molly's braised lamb shoulder and Sirius found them a couple of bottles of fairly good red ("one between three over an entire meal is ridiculous, moony).
"You're certainly not the first to think we're a couple," said Sirius, pointing at Tonks with his fork (on which a parsnip was impaled). "Of course, it didn't help that Moony never had a girlfriend in school."
Remus raised his hand to his forehead, smiling resignedly.
"Thank you, Sirius," said Remus. "I do love it when you tell people all about my love life."
"Short story," grunted Sirius, stabbing another parsnip. "Anyway, I hear commiserations are in order, cousin."
Tonks looked up from her lamb and met Remus's amused, warm, green gaze. So it was her turn.
"Shame about Bill and the Gringotts girl," Sirius continued.
"It's actually all ok," said Tonks.
"Bill told us it went all the way back to his time in Egypt, when you were auror training," said Sirius disbelievingly.
"Exactly!" Exclaimed Tonks cheerfully.
They looked at her blankly.
"Once you've split up, it's never quite the same again," said Tonks, shaking her head. "You can't go back, not really. You can be friends, you can scratch an itch, but you can't be together."
"How old are you?" Sirius mused.
"Twenty three this November," said Tonks briskly.
"That is awfully young. I expect you've got a long life of surprises ahead of you," said Remus.
"Well, getting into the auror training program, graduating, hunting my cousin, being inducted into Dumbledore's secret army and coming face to face with that same cousin was a pretty intense start," said Tonks, eager to move on from romance and pleased to see she drew a chuckle from both of her companions.
They passed a couple of hours companionably sipping wine, going back for second helpings of parsnips (normally Tonks wasn't keen on parsnips, but these were delicious as they had been cooked with the lamb, and were coated in a meaty, red wine gravy) and discussing Remus and Sirius's exploits during the first wizarding war.
"I should probably be going," said Tonks suddenly, noticing the time.
"And I should feed Buckbeak," said Sirius, pushing his chair out with a harsh scraping sound, and bounding out of the kitchen.
"Well," said Tonks, eyeing the remainder of the wine in her glass. "This was nice, I thought."
Remus smiled widely, if a little self-consciously, the creases around his eyes deepening.
"Yes, I think we know each other rather better after that conversation," Remus said, his eyes shining with amusement.
Tonks swirled the wine around her glass and gave him what she hoped was a conspiratorial smile.
"So why didn't you date at all in school?" Tonks asked. "I reckon you'd have had offers."
"I was a werewolf by the time I started school," Remus explained, blushing visibly. "That puts a dampener on romantic relations."
"Does it really need to?" Tonks asked. "There are werewolf women, right? And besides, it's only the night of the full moon, yeah? And how many full moons per are there per year?"
"Twelve, usually. Thirteen some years," said Remus.
"Well those aren't bad numbers," Tonks said, flashing him a quick wink. "You still have three hundred and fifty three nights a year."