Tonks was afraid, that was the only way to put it. She hadn't seen Dumbledore since the latest round of attacks, and she knew he was going to be disappointed in her. Severus stopped her before knocking on Dumbledore's office door. "You're being too hard on yourself, Dora," he told her, "If you hadn't warned the Weasleys, a lot more people would have died."
Tonks nodded. She knew that was the truth, but she was still upset over what had happened. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door. It opened quickly, and the pair stepped inside the office. She saw Albus standing over his pensive.
"Nymphadora, Severus, I was hoping for a chance to speak with both of you," he said quietly. They sat down as Albus brought the tip of his wand to his temple. Tonks watched him curiously. She had heard of pensives, of course, but had never actually seen one.
A minute later, Albus sat down at his desk. "Nymphadora, I want to thank you for your level-headed thinking two nights ago," he told her.
That's not what Tonks expected. "You're welcome," she said more as a question than a statement. Hesitantly, she said, "Severus and I have found out some more information."
Albus sighed, "What have you found out?"
Tonks looked at Severus for support, he nodded encouragingly to her. "There will an attack on the Ministry of Magic on Monday evening," she said.
"How have you discovered this?" he asked.
"Has Harry told you about his scar bothering him since Thursday evening?" she asked.
"Yes, which is why I believe there will be an another attack soon," he said. "But I need to know why I should believe that these attacks will be Monday night."
"We found this out from Crabbe and Goyle. We got them very drunk, and they started talking," she said.
"Drunks don't always tell the truth," Albus said sharply.
"These drunks did," Severus said. "Albus, I performed Legilimency on them, they were telling the truth."
"I see," Albus said, "then we have a great deal of work to do."
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The next evening Tonks went down to the parlor where the Order had gathered for the memorial service. She wore a simple black dress and wore her hair in black spikes. The parlor had been magically expanded to fit the many people that were there. She found Severus, and went to stand next to him. He handed her a goblet, which everyone else carried.
Albus stood in front of the crowd. He had not worn mourning colors. He was wearing robes of deep purple. After a few minutes of silence, he started the memorial. "Today, we say good-bye to two of our own," he said in a clear voice.
"Hestia Jones and Emmett Ramsbottom gave their lives so that others may live. They truly believed that good will always triumph over evil. Never forget Hestia's smile or Emmett's dedication."
He raised his goblet. "To Hestia and Emmett,"
The rest of the Order followed his example. "To Hestia and Emmett!"
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The next evening, Tonks paced the parlor floor. Members of the Order were already stationed at the Ministry. Tonks stayed at number twelve, Grimmauld Place waiting to be summoned. Merlin, she hoped she wasn't mistaken about this.
Suddenly, she felt her arm burn. Oh thank goodness, she thought. She was already dressed in Celeste clothes, so she morphed her body to match. She closed her eyes and apparated. The field was not as crowded as she expected. Tonight, she made the decision to stay as far away from Lucius and Narcissa as possible.
The crowd of Death Eaters waited for a good ten minutes before Lord Voldemort appeared. "My Death Eaters!" he cried. "Tonight we make our move on the Ministry itself! We shall destroy the building and there shall be chaos!"
Tonks took a deep breath. This would be a very long battle, she knew. She cheered along with the other Death Eaters. "Go now, my Death Eaters!" he cried.
There were loud cracks one after another. Tonks concentrated on the Ministry and apparated. It was time to put her plan into action. She refused to fight her fellow Order members. Yet she knew Celeste couldn't disappear completely during the fight.
As flashes of light surrounded her, she ran to a deserted hallway. Quickly, she striped naked. She was now free to morph into anything she wished. And now she wished to be herself. She morphed herself some clothes and ran into the battle.
She saw Remus dueling a Death Eater. From his behind, another Death Eater raised his wand towards Remus. "Stupefy!" Tonks yelled and stunned the Death Eater. Remus looked behind and grinned at Tonks.
"Thanks!" he said, casting another spell at his opponent.
"Anytime," Tonks yelled, running towards the elevator hallway of the Ministry. Bill and Fleur were working together fighting the Death Eaters. Fleur was in full Veela mode, two Death Eaters dropped their wands and stared at her, while Bill stunned them quickly.
"You finally joined the fun, Tonks!" Bill said.
"Wouldn't miss this for the world," she cried back.
Bill and Fleur were defending the elevators very well, so Tonks looked for somewhere else to go. She saw Narcissa, underneath her Death Eater robes. Save her for later, Tonks told herself. She went to hide in the shadows and morphed to her Death Eater robes. Quickly, she ran over to Narcissa, who had just been hit by a spell. Narcissa shook it off.
"Are you all right?" Tonks asked as Celeste. Narcissa looked at her. "I'm fine. Don't waste time by asking that question again," she hissed.
Tonks nodded. She saw Emmeline Vance, and Tonks whispered "Stupefy," as a flash of light hit Emmeline. Tonks put no power in the spell, so it didn't hurt Emmeline at all.
A half hour later, Tonks was still fighting. She was done running though. People were scattered over the ground. She had changed between Celeste and Tonks twice. Suddenly Tonks noticed there were a group of Death Eaters trying to attack Bill and Fleur. Tonks could tell that one of the group was Lucius.
She ducked behind a staircase and quickly morphed into Celeste. She ran over to Lucius, barely missing being hit by one of the Weasley twins. "Lucius, I'm hurt. I need help," she told him. She was risking that he would be willing to leave the group to join her. He did exactly what she thought he would do. Lucius grabbed her arm and took her to a hallway.
"What were you hit with?" he asked quickly.
"This." Tonks raised her wand and yelled "Stupefy!"
Lucius slumped over quickly. Tonks dragged him into an office and bound him to a chair. It was time to find Narcissa. She paused at the hallway and took a moment to find Narcissa.
Narcissa was harder to find. But Tonks saw her. She morphed back into Tonks and ran towards her. She motioned to Remus to help create a diversion. Remus waved his wand and there was a small explosion. Narcissa stopped what she was doing to look. Tonks took that moment and stunned her.
Levitating Narcissa off of the ground, she brought her to the same room Lucius was in. Quickly, Tonks bound Narcissa to a different chair, and put them next to each other. Tonks took a moment and caught her breath. She was conflicted. Half of her, more than half, if she was honest wanted to kill them both now. The other part told her to take them to Azkaban right now.
That's what she would do. Tonks found their wands and took delight in snapping them in half. Using her own wand she cast "Renervate," on both of them. Slowly, they both opened their eyes and looked at Tonks. They both struggled, but could not escape the magical binding she had roped them with.
Narcissa realized who she was before Lucius did. "Well, isn't it our lovely mudblood niece?" she said, not bothering to hide the contempt in her voice.
Tonks stood in front of both of them. "I want you both to know who will be bringing your downfall," she said, words almost tumbling over themselves. "You will have no place to go if you escape Azkaban. I'm going to make sure your assets are frozen, you manor will be demolished. People will spit on the name Malfoy after today."
Neither of them said anything. Before Tonks realized what she was doing, she morphed into Celeste. Lucius' eyes went wide and Narcissa started coughing. "I would never underestimate a mudblood," Tonks told them, "Especially a mudblood who's a Black."
She pointed her wand at them and releasing all of her anger, yelled, "Stupefy!"
They both slumped in their chairs. Tonks knew with the amount of power she had put in the spell that they would be stunned for quite a while. She ran back to the main corridor to continue fighting.
The Death Eaters were out numbered. Some were apparated away. She watched as Bill Weasley tried to stun a Death Eater. He just brushed it off. The ones that were left must be able to resist the spell.
Adrenaline rushing, Tonks decided to change tactics. Tonks pointed her wand towards a Death Eater on the fringes of the group. Shouting "Cadonoceo!" a purple flash emitted from her wand and hit a Death Eater straight in the chest. The Death Eater fell right on the ground. She heard a sickening crack. The Death Eater looked like several bones had been broken when he hit the ground.
"Good one, Tonks!" Remus yelled.
"I do my best," Tonks smiled. A moment later, the remaining Death Eaters apparated away from the Ministry. The battle was over. Tonks put her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.
Albus Dumbledore came to her side. "Will there be another round of Death Eaters?" he asked quietly.
Tonks shook her head. "Everyone who was summoned came straight here. They will not be back tonight."
"Good," Albus said quietly. "We need to figure out if there are any dead here tonight. I did not see any flashes of green light."
She walked over to the last few Death Eaters that were attacked. Already, Aurors and Enforcers were walking around, putting Death Eaters on magical stretchers, making sure they were bound tightly. Tonks spoke quickly to Emmeline Vance, pointing her to the room she had left the Malfoys.
She knelt down to the man she had attacked with Cadonoceo. She had never used that spell before. She recognized him by the angle his arm was in, like it was snapped in two. She gave a gasp as she took of the mask. It was Severus.
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A/N – Cadonoceo, broken down is Cado-to fall and Noceo-to inflict injury