Author's Note: So one of our prompts was "write about x character realistically fighting on the other side of the war," and our character was Remus. So you know I was all over this, even before I realized I got to write Auror Tonks in her element to go with. I'm quite happy with how it came out. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. You can tell I am not she because #transrights

Hogwarts: Assignment #3, Calligraphy Task #1 - The Dark Lady: Write about a woman in a position of power.

Warnings: Canon-compliant discrimination and abuses of power; violence; imprisonment

This week's AU: Dark!AU

What's Hidden In The Pack

"Seperate them," Scrimgeour said as soon as he closed the door of his office behind himself. He looked at the group of Aurors gathered before him one by one, his grey eyes hard and his instructions firm. "They're a pack. They're used to working as a pack and I want to see what weaknesses we can find when we force them to work as individuals."

"Okay, so we'll split them. Who did you want taking point on the interrogations?" Dawlish asked.

"Tonks," Scirmgeour said.

Her eyes widened some as he said it.

"Me?" she asked.

"Yes, you," Scrimgeour said, turning back to her. "You're the one who located their campsite and blew their cover wide open after three months of investigation, Tonks. Is that going to be a problem?"

"No, sir," Tonks said. She pushed a piece of her hair back—it was teal, today, and her eyes were wider than usual and emerald green. Her lips were fuller and the set of her jaw was more natural than the face she had worn while undercover. The werewolves in custody wouldn't recognize her, she was sure of it.

"Alright," Dawlish asked, turning back to face Tonks. "Who do you want to start with? Greyback?"

"No, not Greyback," Tonks said. "He'll be harder to crack than the rest and he's still fucking furious that he's been caught. I want to start smaller, but not… not too small."

Scrimgeour nodded in approval. She saw him from the corner of her eyes and it immediately made her feel better.

"You've got four werewolves in custody," Scrimgeour said. "Where do you want to start?"

Tonks considered her options.

"Bring in Greyback's right hand man," Tonks said. She took the appropriate folder from Scrimgeour's desk so that she could review the file before going in. "Someone go get Remus Lupin."

He was sitting in the interrogation room, handcuffed with the manacles tied down to the table.

"You'll be alright on your own?" Dawlish asked.

"Yes," Tonks said, holding the file and a spare length of parchment for note-taking to her chest.

Dawlish nodded.

"Alright," he said. "Remember; you can smash the bottle of sleeping drought if he gets violent and you need to defuse."

He swung the door open and Tonks walked into the room. He looked up when he saw her but he didn't sit up. Still, she knew that his chocolate brown eyes were analyzing her, picking her apart.

"Good afternoon," she said, taking her time to draw her chair and pour them two glasses of water from the pitcher. "I'm Auror Tonks."

"You know my name," he said simply. She pushed the glass of water towards him.

"I do," she said. "Remus John Lupin. Your parents were Hope and Lyall."

"They're both dead," he said. "We don't need to talk about them if you'd like to save time."

"We won't," Tonks promised. She looked up from the file and saw Lupin shift uncomfortably, moving his arms gingerly. That was when she saw the burn marks around his wrist, looking pink and fresh and painful.

"What's going on there?" she asked, looking at his wrists. "Are those silver mannacles?"

"As per Auror Department procedure, yes," Lupin said, shifting again. He winced as the silver touched and seared new skin. Part of her was impressed at him, for knowing the rules and protocols so well.

"I don't think we need those," Tonks said, looking up. "You'll behave if I untie you?"

"I'm not sure what you'd expect an unarmed man to accomplish against an armed Auror, but I won't try to get creative," Lupin said.

Tonks waved her wand and the silver mannacles clattered onto the table. Lupin immediately drew his hands back, cradling his burnt wrists against his chest.

"You say that, but you're a wizard yourself," Tonks said.

"I was never taught magic," Lupin said. "There's no room at Hogwarts for my kind and my father didn't believe in making an apex predator more powerful than strictly necessary."

"You were bitten young," Tonks said.

"I was already aware that you had read my file, Madam Auror," Lupin said. "I also know why you're here and you won't soften your cause by unshackling me."

"Nor was I hoping to," Tonks said, leaning back in her chair. It was the week of the full moon; they were all distinctly aware of it. Kingsley was already working out how they'd safely contain the arrested werewolves days from now, when the full moon rose. Why had nobody thought not to let silver touch the werewolves' skins so close to the full moon?

Lupin leaned back in his seat, seemingly measuring her up for size.

"I'm not uncomfortable with silence, Madam Auror," he said. "Let me save you a fair bit of time by telling you that you'd be better off asking questions directly than trying to bore me into speaking."

"Alright," Tonks said. "You're Fenrir Greyback's right-hand man. Tell me how that happened."

Lupin didn't answer.

"Of course, you won't be doing much of anything while you're locked up," Tonks pointed out. "Inconvenient, that is. It must be maddening if you're usually doing so much work for the good of the pack."

"Maddening is a strong word," Lupin said.

"I can tell you how your packmates are doing if you can tell me a few things in return," Tonks offered casually. She looked up. "I used the word 'maddening,' but really I bet you must be worried."

Lupin hesitated for a moment.

"I can start by telling you who is in custody, other than yourself," Tonks said. "There's Greyback himself, of course. Vega Miranda was brought in as well, and Odin Oberon."

Lupin's attention perked up.

"Vega is here?" he asked.

Tonks nodded; it was important that he see that she could cooperate so that he felt safe to cooperate in turn.

"My turn," Tonks said. She leaned back in her seat. "You were bit when you were little. Why does the Auror Department's intelligence only place you in Greyback's pack as of the last ten years?"

"Greyback bit me when I was four," Lupin said. "I was a child. I didn't make my own decisions about where I went and what I did with who."

"Greyback himself bit you?" Tonks asked. "And you turned to him?"

"Greyback may have bit me, but he stood by me," Lupin said.

"And others didn't?" Tonks asked.

"I'd tell you to look around the Wizarding world and the things that are said about us, but I've already answered a question and it's your turn now," Remus said.

"Fair enough," Tonks said. Mad-Eye had taught her himself that good information was worth a fair price, and Tonks knew very well that bartering information that the press would soon have with Lupin was worth the trouble she would save, trying to sit down and talk with the others.

Fenrir Greyback was still hissing and snarling and kicking from his chains, swearing up and down that he'd have the throat of any Auror who tried to talk to him. Vega Miranda hadn't said a single word since she'd been arrested. Odin Overon, meanwhile, had little to say and was mostly drifting in and out of consciousness—someone from the Department for the Care and Regulation of Magical Creatures had come by and concluded that he was still reeling from the silver bullet an agent in the field had sunken in his thigh, not that he was allowing anybody to touch him. Not only was Lupin upright and lucid, but he seemed reasonable and informed. Perhaps, Tonks would hazard to say, even better than Greyback himself did.

"Was Vega alone when you arrested her?" Lupin asked.

It wasn't the question Tonks had expected.

"You were all arrested together, when the Aurors stormed the encampment in the Forest of Dean," Tonks said. "Who would she have been with?"

"Is that really what you want to spend your next question on, Auror Tonks?" he asked.

She pondered.

"How did the pack make the decision to ally itself with the Death Eaters?" Tonks asked.

"Answering that question would presume that the pack had allied itself with the Death Eaters and that wasn't the question I was asked to answer," Remus said.

Tonks leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms.

"Fair enough. Your turn again, then," she said.

"Where are those in the pack that you didn't arrest?" Remus asked. "What was the limit of the Auror Department's warrant?"

Tonks stirred in her seat.

"That's two questions," she pointed out. He stirred in his seat and for the first time she saw him grow nervous or impatient. She realized that she had hit a sensitive nerve because he was looking for someone. Part of her softened with curiosity. "Which one do you want me to answer?"

Remus pondered. "The second."

"Our warrant was to arrest the leadership of Fenrir Greyback's pack," Tonks said. "By extension we could arrest anybody who interfered for obstruction of justice."

"That's how you picked up Vega and Odin?"

"Yes," Tonks said. "Though he was also known to the Auror Office as Greyback's muscle."

"I suppose that's fair," Remus said.

"We knew Greyback had muscle aplenty but we hadn't realized just how you fit into the pack," Tonks said. "Frankly, just by talking to you now I wonder how Greyback would be able to run a functioning community once his charisma runs out."

"You seem to think you have us pegged," Remus said.

"I have a question now," Tonks said.

"You've been generous enough in your answers to earn it," Remus said.

"Wonderful. Who are you looking for?" she asked. "Who did you leave behind that you're looking for so adamantly?"

Remus' jaw tightened and he leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.

"While I do appreciate our arrangement, it isn't binding," Remus said. "I don't need to answer that."

"You're right, you don't," Tonks said.

He nodded and they sat in silence for five minutes before Tonks rose to her feet.

"I have other things to do," Tonks said. "I'll come back to you later."

Remus nodded.

"Are you going to shackle me again?" he asked.

"No," Tonks said. "So try not to jump any of my colleagues when they come in to offer you food and drink. Your chances would be rather slim and I'd get into worlds of trouble."

"Understood," Remus said.

Tonks got up and she had her hand on the door when Remus Lupin called her name. She turned around.

"You should know that Fenrir will smell you," Remus said. "He'll recognize you as the spy who infiltrated our camp."

The hairs on the back of Tonks' neck stood up straight. She had spent months approaching the werewolf camp once a week, posing as a farmgirl bringing milk and fruit that the wolves couldn't harvest themselves in their dark corner, lost in the middle of the Forest of Dean. Her cover had been good, but smell… well, she was known in the department for her undercover work and she could change a lot of things about herself but not her smell.

"I thought that the superhuman senses of a werewolf were only active on the day of the full moon," Tonks said.

"Fenrir is different," Remus said. "There is… there is a reason why Fenrir attracts so many others to himself."

"Thank you," Tonks said finally. She would send in Dawlish, she supposed.

She brought Lupin tea the next time she tried interrogating him. He arched an eyebrow when she slid the cup across the table to him and uncuffed his hands.

"There's no sense in pretending I wasn't undercover if you have ways of recognizing me," Tonks said. "I saw you at the camp, organizing the kitchen and tracking supplies and keeping things running. I know you like your tea."

Remus smiled. "Earl Grey, is it?"

"It is," Tonks said. He took a sip and nodded gratefully at the warmth.

"How's Azkaban?" Tonks asked.

"Not my favourite," Remus said. "Odin Overon shouldn't be there. I know Healers refuse to treat our kind so sending him to a hospital would have little effect, but he shouldn't be in a prison."

"He tried to bite the last Auror who came within four feet of him to offer first aid," Tonks said.

"It wouldn't have had any effect outside of the full moon," Remus said.

"I understand that, but you can see how he hasn't earned himself any goodwill," Tonks said. "My superior, the one who has been interrogating Greyback, reports back that Greyback says Overon will be happy to die for the good of the pack."

Remus looked pale as he looked into his tea.

"I'm sure he will," Remus said. "You do understand that he is going to die, then?"

"I do," Tonks said. She didn't want to show Lupin any signs of it, but part of this investigation had run away from her when Scrimgeour had hopped back in to interrogate Greyback. The idea that a man's care was becoming a bartering chip for information about Voldemort's activities didn't sit well with her, but Scrimgeour had consistently told her to focus on her other charges.

"Right," Remus said quietly, drinking his tea. "And how's Vega, then?"

She knew that she could, and probably should, charge him a question in exchange for that answer but she didn't.

"Vega Miranda also remains in Auror custody," Tonks said. "She has also been in Azkaban, aside from her occasional interrogations."

"She hasn't told you a word, has she?" Remus guessed.

"No," Tonks said. "No she absolutely hasn't."

"Don't take it personally," Remus said.

"Will you elaborate on that? I think you owe me an answer."

"I suppose I do," Remus said. There was worry in his eyes and in his tone as he went on. "Vega doesn't talk much. I don't know how verbal she was before she was bitten anyways, but she was attacked by Boris London. I don't know if you know of him, but he was another werewolf known for his… violence, even by our standards. He targeted women, specifically. Enjoyed biting and turning them. He was taken down a few years ago, during a full moon, but still. It changed Vega, though she's better and happier with the pack."

"What Greyback does isn't all that different from what London did to her," Tonks pointed out.

Remus shook his head.

"Greyback built a community for people who would have none," Remus said. "That's why people can stomach him."

"People like you and Vega?" Tonks asked.

"You saw me at that camp and you have me in custody. You don't need me to say more about the part I play in the pack," Remus said.

"I suppose not," Tonks said. "Still, I would expect…There are photographs of you as a child, after the attack, in your file. They're quite shocking. I would expect you not to condone Greyback."

"I could say the same about Aurors," Remus said. "You were nice enough to bring me tea while your coworkers let another man die of his injuries in Azkaban because he may just be a valuable bargaining chip."

Tonks didn't like that at all. She swallowed.

"I'm the youngest Auror in a decade," Tonks said. "I hope you can understand how little power I have over my superiors."

"I hope you can understand how little power I have over my superiors as well," Remus said.

"You chose Greyback," Tonks said.

"Did I?" Remus asked. "The pickings were slim, Madam Auror."

"Indeed," Tonks said. She had noticed his tendency to call his home the pack without mentioning Greyback alright. "The pickings were slim."

"I'm going to level with you," Tonks said, annoyed before she even walked into the interrogation room. Remus' wrists were bound by silver mannacles again though she'd told Diggle to unchain him. She clucked her tongue, even more annoyed. She freed him with a flick of her wand.

"I look forward to it," Remus said, rubbing at his wrists. He looked terrible; as he had the last time she'd seen him on the day before the full moon, when the change was imminent and his body knew it was about to lose itself.

"I've been patient with you," Tonks said. "I've given you what I could in exchange for you giving me what you could."

"You have," Remus acknowledged. "You could have done much worst."

"I'm not interrogating you in a vacuum," she said. "There's a war brewing. There's an army being assembled by the darkest wizard in a lifetime. My superiors are getting impatient and they're questioning my methods now."

"I'm sorry," Remus said.

"No," Tonks said. "I'm sorry. They're not interested in learning anymore or in building a relationship with any of you. They're interested in weakening Voldemort's army, and they'll be doing that at dawn, by going back to the Forest of Dean to track down the remaining members of your pack—yes, they'll do it tomorrow, the day after the full moon when everyone's guard is low."

No matter how pale Remus already looked, he paled more.

"They're telling Greyback to try and get him to cave, but you and I both know he won't," Tonks said. "He doesn't care, but you do. You care about people and you care about right and wrong, as far as you can manage it. So between you and me, why should I try to thwart this raid?"

"Because of the children," Remus said breathlessly.

Tonks was absolutely taken aback.

"Pardon?" she asked.

"Because of the children," Remus said again, brown eyes faraway. His entire body language was both taut with worry and limp with despair.

"What children?" Tonks asked, her heart beating in her throat. "I didn't see any children during reconnaissance work."

"Of course not," Remus said. "They're far too precious and vulnerable for a stranger to just see… what do you think Vega jumped an Auror to protect?"

Remus buried his face in his hands and Tonks' stomach sunk.

"I need to talk to Sirius," Tonks said when she swung into Grimmauld Place. Kreacher looked at her with disdain.

"The blood traitor who broke her family's heart had a baby with that filthy Mudblood and now the Mudblood is telling Kreacher to bring her the other traitor," Kreacher muttered. "But Kreacher doesn't want to know where the other traitor is, just as Kreacher's mistress would have wanted…"

"Kreacher," Tonks said. "I'm sorry, I don't have time for this. Where's Sirius?"

"Master Sirius is in the parlour," Kreacher said. "Disappointing his mother furthermore."

She nearly tripped over the goddamned umbrella stand by the door as she scrambled to go find Sirius, who was snuggled up with Kingsley on their favourite armchair in the parlour. Good; she needed to talk to Kingsley too.

"Sirius I need a favour," Tonks said. "And Kingsley—Kingsley I need help."

"Slow down," Kingsley said, gently pushing Sirius off his lap. "What's going on, Tonks?"

She filled them in as best as she could about Greyback's pack, the children in the camp, the raid on the horizon…

"There isn't an Auror out there who would hurt a child," Kingsley said.

"But there are Aurors who wouldn't see werewolf children as children," Tonks said. "Besides, what do you suppose Scrimgeour is going to have us do with them? Throw them in Azkaban?"

"Kids shouldn't be in Azkaban," Sirius said dryly.

Tonks sunk her fingers in her pink hair, breathing shakily.

"Tonks," Kingsley said—his strong, definitive voice steadying her. "Tonks, what did you come here to ask?"

"Who's your partner for your overnight shift tonight?" Tonks asked.

"There's five of us on tonight," Kingsley said. "It's the full moon; there's extra bodies around in case something happens with the werewolf captives."

"Fuck," Tonks said, tugging at her hair again. Her heart beat in her throat and she forced her eyes shut, clearing her mind. "I need to get him out."

"You need to get who out?"

"Remus Lupin," Tonks said. "I need to get him out tonight."

"Tonks, he's a werewolf," Kingsley said.

"A bad one at that," Sirius said.

"We won't crack the werewolves' allegiance to Voldemort by force or by cruelty," Tonks said. "There's been enough of that. But we can build a new bond with empathy and decency—isn't that what Dumbledore is having Hagrid try to do with the Giants and the vampires? Well, why not the werewolves? Remus—I mean Lupin—has made it very clear. They don't care about politics, and I don't think they care about Greyback all that much. They care about each other and keeping each other safe—they're not inherently destined to fight at Voldemort's side. But the Auror Department is about to mess it all up; if their children get caught in the crossfire, there will be no going back. Remus is the only person who understands both worlds enough to keep the werewolves safe."

"Be that as it may, he's going to become a bloodthirsty monster tonight," Kingsley said.

"That's why we're on a time crunch," Tonks said. She thought she could maybe, just maybe, get time alone with Remus if she proposed a new strategy of interrogating werewolves just before the transformation when they were at their weakest. And technically, technically, Aurors were exempt from the Ministry's anti-apparition wards… that should extend to side-along apparition.

"Where in the world are you going to put an outlaw werewolf on a full moon?" Kingsley asked.

"With his pack," Tonks said. "Listen, I know it sounds bonkers, but that's what they're used to doing. It's a show of trust, and if they're together overnight it will be easier to get them all somewhere safe tomorrow morning."

"Follow up question: where in the world are you going to put a pack of twenty werewolves and some-odd number of werewolf children tomorrow morning?" Kingsley said.

Tonks turned to Sirius.

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't think it was important," Tonks said. "I'm putting my neck on the line here, Sirius, because I want to do something fair…"

"Grimmauld Place?" Sirius said, eyes wide. "You want to hide a pack of werewolves in Grimmauld Place? Ha! My mother would hate it. I'm in."

"No," Kingsley said. "No, no, absolutely not. You're a wanted man, Sirius!"

"So's Remus Lupin," Sirius said gleefully. "Or at least he will be when we break him out."

"And what about the Order's secrecy?" Kingsley asked.

"It's about trust, Kingsley," Tonks said. "We've done it all wrong with the werewolves. We have to put some skin in the game to show that we're at the table for real. I'll deal with Dumbeldore and Mad-Eye myself, but I can't… I can't let this happen. I can't be responsible for what the Auror Department is going to do."

Kingsley looked at her and shook his head.

"I see what you're trying to do," Kingsley said. "I'll help you how I can, but I have no idea how you plan on getting Remus Lupin out of Auror custody on a night like tonight, when security is that much higher."

"Would a 'most wanted man in Britain' style distraction help empty the Auror Department of its staff?" Sirius asked with a grin on his face.

"There is no way in hell I'm letting you do this," Kingsley said.

"What are you going to do to stop me? You work overnight," Sirius said teasingly, leaning in to kiss Kingsley's temple.

"You'll help?" Tonks asked again, barely believing it.

"I'll help," Sirius said. He turned to Kingsley who sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as if he felt a migraine coming along.

"I'll help," Kingsley said. "But it's taking all the trust in you I have, Tonks."

"Fair enough," she said. "But trust me. This is the only way to make things right."

The pack had taken over the fourth floor of Grimmauld Square and had spread out across the bedrooms there. Tonks heard children giggling and splashing in the bathtub and whispered conversations until a woman with dirty blond hair and sunken eyes stepped out of one room, a child on her hip. She scowled at Tonks' direction even if she looked exhausted.

"What do you want?" she asked sharply.

"I'm looking for Remus," Tonks said.

"What the fuck about?" the woman snapped.

"Rhea," someone said. It was Remus, walking out of a bedroom with a first aid kit tucked under his arm. "Rhea, it's alright. She's the one who freed me."

Rhea turned and gave Tonks a skeptical look, surveying Tonks from purple hair to the Auror Department-issued boots she was wearing.

"Rhea, Connor was looking for you," Remus said. "He's in that bedroom. He wants to say goodnight to Lovell before he falls asleep. He's on the second watch."

"Alright," she said before stepping away.

Tonks felt exhausted after spending the night awake and bundled up in a tree in the Forest of Dean, too far off the ground for werewolves to reach her though she'd had a broomstick with her just in case. As soon as the sun had risen she'd jumped to the ground and ran to find Remus, who had rallied the others to get them to Grimmauld Place as quickly as possible. They'd left most of their camp and most of their lives behind, so Tonks couldn't truthfully blame them for being untrusting to the point of having watches organized.

"Spirits run high the day after the full moon and things are tense enough," Remus said quietly. "You shouldn't come too close unannounced."

"I'm sorry," Tonks said. "Somebody wanted to talk to you."

"Remus!" a little voice chirped. A little girl ran out of one room, chased by his father, but jumped with her arms around Remus' neck. Despite how slowly he'd moved before, Remus got up with the child latched onto him.

"There she is," Remus said. "Tala, look at you!"

The little girl giggled.

"I knew you'd come back!" Tala said.

"I'm glad you did, because I was worried," Remus said jokingly. "I missed you so much, I can't believe your hair got so long."

"I wish my hair was pink," the little girl said, looking at Tonks.

"Yes, well, Tonks is a special one," Remus said. He kissed the little girl's ear. "Can I hand you back over to your daddy now? We can talk after everyone gets some sleep, okay? Maybe we can play cards."

"Okay," Tala said.

"Sweet dreams, sweet stuff," Remus said, passing the little girl back to her father who whisked her into one of the bedrooms.

"You're good with children," Tonks said.

"There's enough of them around that you get the hang of it," Remus said. "What did you come up and see me for?"

"There's someone who wants to talk to you," she said. "Dumbledore. He's our leader, for the Order of the Phoenix."

Remus considered this. He called for someone and Rhea emerged again. They had a quick conversation in what sounded like Welsh before Remus nodded and followed Tonks down the stairs.

"Is the Auror Department onto you yet?" he asked.

"No," she said. "No, I fudged the paperwork well enough yet when I signed in yesterday and confounded Dedalus Diggle—he still swears that he saw you after I left last night. Kingsley's the only other one who saw, and he's on our side. I think we're good."

Remus nodded. "Will they move Vega, then? Will you be able to get her back out too?"

"I'll try," Tonks said. "I promise, I'll try. Dumbledore might be able to help."

"Do you trust this Dumbledore?" Remus asked.

"I do," Dora said. She rushed to add. "But it's not about me, it's about you and..."

"I know, but I trust you," Remus said. "I never thought I would trust a witch, let alone an Auror, but you… you came through, for me and my people."

Tonks' stomach stirred at his words and at the thought of what may have happened to Tala and Lovell and all the other werewolves whose names she hadn't learned yet had she not. They had come too close to disaster. Much too close.

"You're not like what I thought a witch would be," Remus said.

"And you're not like what I thought a werewolf would be," Tonks said.

He smiled.

"Maybe we'll get along yet," he told her with a smile.

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