Tonks had to take a moment to let the words Severus said sink in.
"I was hoping that you weren't going to be there with him. But it was a risk I had to take Tonks," he looked at her shocked face. "Please say something."
"You called in the tip?" she asked stupidly.
He nodded and took a step towards her. "Merlin, I hope you can forgive me."
Tonks took a step back. "Why would you do that?" she asked in a dangerous voice.
Severus looked taken aback. "Dora, Malfoy is in Azkaban. You're a Death Eater. Don't you understand? We can be together now," Severus closed the gap between them and pushed back a lock of her lime green curls.
"Don't touch me!" Tonks snapped and walked away from him.
"Dora…" Severus started.
Tonks turned and looked at him. "Have you ever been in Azkaban, Professor Snape?"
Severus' eyes widened at hearing her say his name so formally. "Well, no, I haven't," he admitted.
"I have, thanks to you. I still don't know how long I was in there. It could have been twenty-four hours, thirty-six hours, a week. I was this close to giving up and just wasting away in Azkaban. I was able to get out by thinking of you. And now I find that you're the one who sent me there," Tonks yelled.
"Silencio" Severus said quickly, casting the charm on the room. "Dora, please let me try to explain," he stuttered.
"Don't ever call me that again! You have lost that privilege, understand?" Tonks said furiously, tears starting to roll down her cheeks. "You could have told me! We could have set this all up through the order. Why did you have to go behind everyone's back?"
Severus just stood there, staring at her. Tonks stared right back. She was so upset that she was shaking. After a minute of silence, Severus seemed to take back control of himself.
"Tonks, you are very upset." She started to open her mouth to agree when he cut her off. "You will take whatever I say in the wrong way, I understand that. I'm going to leave now. Tomorrow, after you've had some rest, we will talk again. Is that acceptable?" Severus was in full potion master mood now.
Tonks looked away and nodded her head yes. She couldn't bring herself to look at him as he left her room through her fireplace. Tonks collapsed on her bed in a flood of tears.
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Several hours later, Tonks woke up to a tingling in her left forearm. "Merlin," she whispered. "Not now." Groggily, she got up of off her bed. Still half asleep, she morphed her arm. She didn't even have to look at her arm to know she was being summoned.
A few minutes later, when she was finished getting ready, she apparated to Lord Voldemort. Tonks opened her eyes and saw that a smaller group was there this time, maybe only ten people. Everyone had their masks on, including her. She looked around, trying to tell if Severus was there.
Suddenly someone came up from behind her and ripped her mask off. "Whore!" she heard someone scream, as Tonks was pushed down to the ground.
Narcissa Malfoy was standing over her and on either side was a witch. Tonks stayed silent, unsure what to think.
"You were with my husband the night he was taken to Azkaban, were you not?" Narcissa accused.
Shit, Tonks thought. This was very, very bad. "I don't know what you're talking about," she told Narcissa.
"Liar!" screamed the witch to Narcissa's right. Tonks recognized it as her aunt's Bellatrix' voice. She allowed herself one moment to be grateful that her mum hadn't followed the path of her two sisters. Then she brought herself back to the present.
"How did you escape?" Narcissa asked coolly. "It was quite brilliant, you know. Azkaban is more heavily guarded than when the dementors ran it. How in the world did you manage to escape?"
Tonks looked around and realized from the shape of everyone's robes that there were only women here tonight. Women who would most likely follow Narcissa's every command. No matter what she said, she knew Narcissa would take it the wrong way. Just like you would take everything Severus would say in the wrong way, a voice in the back of her head whispered.
Tonks stood up and faced Narcissa. "Why would you ever think that the woman with your husband was me?" she asked.
"I realize that my husband's dick does a great deal of his thinking, child." Narcissa said, starting to circle Tonks. "You're only a few years older than our son. It's disgusting."
"Maybe you should be telling this to you husband instead of me," Tonks sneered.
Narcissa slapped Tonks across the face as a few witches took out their wands. "I would think very hard about what you say before you answer the next question, child." Narcissa said.
"Take out your wand," Narcissa ordered.
Tonks closed her eyes and said nothing. "You heard her," Bellatrix yelled, "Draw your wand." Narcissa had asked the perfect question, for Tonks had no wand.
Tonks brought up her hands in defeat. "I have no wand tonight," she said quietly.
"Going to a Death Eater meeting without one?" Narcissa asked. "Not your smartest idea, child. Where is your wand?"
Tonks met Narcissa's gaze, but refused to answer.
"Could you have lost it? No self-respecting wizard loses her wand, child. Did a charm backfire on you? You're young enough where that could still happen. Or maybe," Narcissa stopped for a moment to draw her own wand and point it straight at Tonks, "your wand was broke in two when you went to Azkaban." The witches started laughing softly.
Tonks stood there, helpless. "Child, not answering is your certain death," Narcissa whispered in her ear.
Having decided her course of action, Tonks answered, "They broke my wand in two at Azkaban," she said loud enough so that all of the witches could hear. The laughing stopped immediately.
Narcissa raised one eyebrow. "The child isn't as stupid as she looks. You have lived to answer one more question."
"How long have you been sleeping with my husband?" Narcissa asked.
Tonks decided it was time to start lying. "I never have. The night we were taken would have been the first time."
"Oh really?" Narcissa asked,
"We're all here for power, aren't we?" she asked Narcissa. "I could only grab so much with Snape. I decided to, shall we say, upgrade. That's where your husband came in. Needless to say, now that I'm out here and he's in Azkaban, I have absolutely no need or want for his services."
Narcissa nodded almost approvingly. "I see. You've bought yourself another question, child."
"Cissa, let's just kill her and be done with it!" Bellatrix screamed wildly.
Narcissa laughed to herself softly. "My dear sister is always so eager to go straight to the kill. However, I don't believe there will be any killings tonight. We need more Death Eaters like you, child."
Tonks tried not to show too much relief. "How did you escape?" Narcissa asked.
"I have a friend who's an Auror. I convinced her that I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She believed me," Tonks answered.
Narcissa nodded. "You may go now, child." Tonks turned and started to walk away, praying that no one attack her with her back turned.
"Child?" Tonks stopped walking and looked at Narcissa. "A little warning. When Lucius is free again, if I ever see you near him, you will die."
"Understood," Tonks said and apparated home.
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When Tonks reached her bedroom, she was visibly shaking. Her life had been threatened more in the last few days than her entire life combined. She had no doubt that if Narcissa ever got wind of Celeste being near Lucius again, Tonks would die.
Pacing wildly around her room, she tried to think of her next step. She was too new to the Death Eaters, she needed a guide. It would have to be Severus. He was the only one who could keep her alive. Tonks could only think of Severus then, of his taste, his smell. As much as she was upset with him, at the same time, she wanted him so much. Tonks sat on her bed, confused.
She was hit with a realization so strong that she felt the wind was knocked out of her. She loved him. She was in love with Severus Snape. But what of Azkaban? He must love me too, she thought. Why else was he willing to risk that? Suddenly, the most important thing in the world was just to see his face.
She threw off her Celeste clothes and changed into a t-shirt and corduroys. Tonks then grabbed some floo powder and stepped in the flames.
"Hogwarts, Professor's Snape's Bedchamber." Nothing happened. "Damnit," Tonks cried, knowing he must not be there, or she would be able to floo there.
"Hogwarts, Potion's classroom. This time, she got the desired affect. She spun around and around and forced herself out at the correct time.
"Merlin!" she cried at the top of her lungs. She felt like she was on fire. She looked down and saw that there was a real fire in the fireplace. Quickly, she jumped out and started rolling on the floor, seeing that her pants were slightly on fire. While flooing, there should only be a fire in the starting fire. Two fires and disasters happen.
Tonks started crying in pain and looked at her arms, she could tell there were severe burns forming already. Merlin, she was in pain. She ran over to the cupboard, looking for a first aid kit. Oh why couldn't she have her wand to help dull some of the pain?
As she looked, she heard footsteps behind her. "What the-," she heard Severus say. "Dora? What's wrong?"
"I burned my arms," she sobbed, still looking through the cupboards.
"Accio first aid!" she heard Severus yell. In two second he was next to her. He quickly took out a bottle of lotion and put some on his hands. Slowly, he started to rub the lotion on her arms. Soon, the pain started to ease.
They stood in silence as Severus kept putting more and more of the lotion on her arms. "Is the pain gone?" he asked quietly.
Tonks nodded. "Good," he said, continuing to massage her arms. "We'll let the blisters form, and tomorrow, we'll use another potion to take them off."
"What is this?" she asked curiously. The only burn medication she knew of was a horrible potion that left scars for quite a while.
Severus looked a little embarrassed. "It a lotion that I made, actually. You wouldn't believe how many dolts that call themselves students burn themselves in my classroom. I tried to come up with a better solution."
Tonks looked at her arms, which by now felt completely normal. "This is amazing. You should try selling this," she said eagerly.
"I have actually. St. Mungo's has just started using it and I sold the recipe to Miracle Medic. I call it Burn Be Gone. I believe the company changed the name so it's full of alliteration."
Tonks laughed for the first time in days. Once she started, she found she didn't want to stop laughing. She kept on giggling til Severus looked at her worriedly and said, "I didn't think it was that funny."
Which made Tonks want to laugh even more. Finally, after a few minutes, she felt laughed out. Severus still looked confused. "I just wanted a good laugh," she said eventually, embarrassed of letting herself go like that.
"Well, if anyone deserves one, it you, Dora," he said, then remembering, "Tonks. I meant Tonks."
Tonks looked at Severus. "I only wanted what's best for you, Tonks," he said, trying to explain. "It wasn't just so we could be together. I wanted him out of your life, he was making you so miserable."
Tonks shook her head. "Don't," she said.
"Tonks," Severus said, looking defeated.
She took his hand, and brought it to her lips. "Call me Dora."