Chapter Nineteen – Azkaban

"What is going on?" Tonks screamed.

Kingsley waved his wand and Tonks immediately felt invisible tape over her mouth, leaving her unable to speak. She looked over at Malfoy and saw something on his face she hadn't expected, fear.

Tonks was unable to move, unable to speak. She knew from experience she would simply have to wait until she was officially taken into custody. She knew this because it was usually her doing the arresting, not being arrested.

Calvin Wong was there and he lit a fire in the fire place. "Too bad Tonks wasn't home, eh Kingsley? She would have loved to have been here for this."

Kingsley nodded and forced her over to the fireplace. "Calvin, floo with her. The rest of us will escort Malfoy."

Calvin roughly took her arm and pushed her into the fireplace after he had spread the floo powder into the flames. Was she that rough with criminals too? Probably, she thought, always wanting to look tough in the boys club.

"Azkaban Prison," Calvin said, as Tonks' eyes widened.

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"What do you want us to do?" Calvin Wong asked her.

Tonks was magically bound to a chair. She was very tempted to morph back to normal and just get up and leave. She knew Malfoy was in the next room, and she wasn't willing to give herself away.

"Well," Calvin snapped, "Answer me!

Tonks made her voice seem lower. She knew that Calvin would recognize her real voice. "I don't know," she whispered.

"You won't tell us your name; you won't tell us where you live. What's to stop me from just locking you up in Azkaban for the rest of your life!"

Please do, Tonks thought, and then she could escape!

"Why were you with Malfoy?" Calvin yelled. This was a routine she was used to. Calvin would rough her up and then in a few minutes a female Auror would come in the small room to play "nice cop." Nice Cop was the role she usually played.

"I just met him tonight. He picked me up," Tonks said softly.

"Bullshit!" Calvin yelled. "His son was just put in Azkaban today. You expect me to believe he just picked you up off the street?"

Tonks nodded, not wanting to talk anymore. She heard the door open, and Emmeline Vance walked in, holding two cups of coffee. Here was Tonks' nice cop.

"Calvin," Emmeline started, "Do you really need to shout like that? As if she isn't frightened enough." She sat down across the table from Tonks and pushed a cup of coffee towards her.

The gesture was nice, but Tonks was still bound to the chair. "Aren't you thirsty?" Emmeline asked. Merlin, Tonks didn't want to play this game. Now she would tell Emmeline that she was tied up and Emmeline would unbind her arms, but ask to keep it a secret, just between them "girls." Tonks could do this routine in her sleep.

Tonks looked straight at the witch. "No, I'm not thirsty."

Emmeline looked at her in surprise. "Oh, well, if you're sure…"

Tonks nodded. The next quarter of an hour was tedious. Tonks wouldn't give up any information. They threatened her with Veritserum, but Tonks laughed that off. In questioning a prisoner, using Veritserum by force was illegal. Tonks would never allow them to give some to her.

Emmeline looked at her sadly. "Well, dear, since you won't give us any information, we're going to have to lock you up for at least tonight. Maybe after one night, you'll be willing to cooperate."

Calvin waved his wand and Tonks stood up, still bound, but not to the chair any longer. "Let's go," he said. He led her to the door.

"One thing before you go," Emmeline called. Tonks turned and looked at her. Emmeline was holding Tonks' wand in her hand. With a sudden movement, she snapped the wand in two.

"NO!" Tonks cried. Not her wand!

"We will, of course pay for a new wand if you're proven innocent in all of this," Emmeline said sweetly. "You just have no need for one now."

Tonks closed her eyes, and allowed herself to be brought to a prison cell.

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Even though the dementors no longer guarded the prison, their effect was still there. Every happy thought had left her body. She kept reliving memories she hadn't wanted to see ever again. Lying in bed and Severus was telling her they couldn't be together. Malfoy slapping her. Her muggle grandmother dying of cancer. Tonks as a child, getting teased. Watching her muggle cousin rip the wings off of a butterfly.

Tonks had been Celeste now for over eight hours. She was exhausted. In order to get out of her cell, she would have to make one of the most extreme morphs of her life. And right now, she was in no position to do the morph.

Tonks curled up in one corner of her prison cell. She turned her body and face back to normal, but kept Celeste's hair. Seeing Severus' face, she fell into a fitful sleep.

Hours later, Tonks heard someone banging on the prison bars of her cell. Quickly she changed her face back to Celeste, but kept her body the same. She refused to look up.

"You ready to talk to us yet?" a voice she didn't recognize asked.

Tonks stayed silent. "No?" the voice asked, amused. "Well, let's see if another day wouldn't help that." She then heard the voice's footstep go down the hall.

Tonks tried to go back to sleep, hoping to regain her strength, but the man in the cell next to her was sobbing hysterically.

Finally, what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a few minutes, the man was silent. Tonks was able to sleep.

A sudden crash woke Tonks up. What time is it? There were no windows in Azkaban, so she had no idea how long she had been asleep. Tonks listened to how her body was feeling. She was ready to get out of Azkaban.

Gingerly, Tonks walked up to the cell door. The door was actually a set of iron bars. Perfect for watching what the prisoner was doing in the cell. She listened, trying to figure out if anyone was in the hallway. She heard nothing, not even anyone else breathing.

Tonks morphed her head, so that it was almost flat. Right away, her vision changed. She could not see very well from the sides of her eyes. She put her head through the bars, making sure no one was there. No one was. Quickly she brought her head back in and took off her clothes.

Now it was time for the extreme morph. She scrunched her nose, concentrating as hard as she could. It took a few moments, but her body listened to her demands and she became no wider than two inches. It took every once of effort she had, but she managed to lift her limbs and get through the bars of her prison door.

The second she got through the door, she changed back to herself and collapsed to the floor, panting. A few minutes later, she was able to get back on her feet, and morphed herself some simple clothes. She had done it. If anyone saw her there, she would simply say that she was getting in an extra shift.

Whistling, Tonks walked through the halls of Azkaban, briefly wondering where the two Malfoys were. A few Aurors guarding the place nodded at her.

Just as she reached the doors to go outside she heard, "Tonks, hey Tonks!" It was Calvin Wong.

She turned, not wanting to see him. "Hey Calvin."

"Why are you here? Why'd you skip your Hogwarts duty? Why didn't you at least tell us you weren't going to be there?" he rapidly fired questions to her.

Tonks sighed. "I'm really sorry about skipping duty today, Calvin. I had some personal problems to deal with."

"You heard that we nabbed Lucius Malfoy the other night?" Calvin was the type who liked to boast and have his ego stroked.

"I did," Tonks answered brightly, "Real good work. How did you find his hiding place?" Tonks was very curious about this. As of the other day, as far as Tonks' knew, the ministry had no idea where Malfoy was hiding.

"We got a tip, the same day that his son was arrested. We decided to check it out. I still can't believe it was true! You should have been there, Tonks."

I was, she thought grimly. "That's really, really great Calvin. I've got to go, but I'll see you tomorrow at Hogwarts, right?"

Calvin nodded and rushed off. Tonks opened the door slowly and saw that the sun was shining brightly. Not having seen sunlight for a while, Tonks shielded her eyes with her hand. Tonks took a few steps, deciding whether or not to apparate. She wasn't sure if she was up for it, but she didn't want to stay on this island any longer.

She closed her eyes and thought of Twelve Grimmauld Place. When she opened them, she saw the outside of the building she now called home. Tonks made it through the door when her legs gave out on her.

Tonks wanted to be happy. Her horrible memories were still floating around in her head. How long had she been in there?

"Tonks? Are you alright?" she heard Remus ask.

Tonks had no desire to let Remus know what had happen to her. "I'm fine. Clumsy me! I tripped on the rug."

Remus laughed as he grabbed her hands and helped her up. "Have you thought about dance lessons? I hear muggle take them to help their coordination."

Tonks rolled her eyes. "I had years and years of ballet, tap and jazz as a child, Remus. You can see what good they have done me!"

Tonks started walking up the stairs to her room. "Tonks, you still look shaky, can I help you up?"

Tonks looked at the concern in his face. "No, thank you, Remus. I'll be fine." She gave him a bright smile and went up to her room.

She went straight to her closet and put some pyjamas on, the pair with hippos having tea. As she settled onto her bed, she wasn't even surprised to see Severus' face in her fire.

"How long have you been waiting there, Severus?" she asked.

"I've been checking between every class, hoping you'd get in. Can I come over?"

"Of course," Tonks sighed, still sore.

Within a minute, Severus was in her room. "You were in Azkaban. Did they let you out, or did you escape?"

"I escaped. Was it in the front page of the Daily Prophet?" Tonks asked wearily. She much as she wanted to see Severus, she wanted to have a nice long rest more.

"I knew you'd get yourself out," Severus said softly.

Tonks flopped on her back, nestling her head on her pillow. "For the life of me, I don't understand how the Ministry found out where he was. I talked to an Auror, he said they got an anonymous tip out of the blue."

"They did. I gave it to them," she heard Severus say.

Tonks was on her feet in an instant. "You sent me to Azkaban?" she asked, disbelieving.

Severus shook his head. "I knew you'd be able to get out, Tonks. I gave the tip in order to send Lucius Malfoy to Azkaban."