Tonks knew she had to act fast. She refused to let him be taken to Azkaban.
Ripping off his Death Eater robe, she whispered, "What have I done to you, Severus?" Her heart was bleeding on the inside. She hadn't told him that she was going to be fighting on both sides.
She looked around, checking to see if anyone was watching her. No one was paying her any attention. She pointed her wand at Severus and said, "Mobilicorpus." His body levitated off of the ground. She started walking then quickly turned around. Severus' wand was lying on the ground. She picked it up quickly, not wanting to leave anything behind. She directed his body to the small hallway that she had taken her clothes off in. She grabbed her robe, and frantically searched the pockets, looking for something that could be made into a portkey. She found the vial of veritaserum that she had made, it would work fine.
Putting her arm around Severus, she tapped the vial with her wand and said "Portus."
She felt the tug at her waist, and held Severus as tight as she could. They reached their destination just a moment later.
"Madam Pomfrey!" Tonks cried. "Are you up?" She moved Severus' body towards a cot, and then guided him down.
"Tonks, dear? Is that you?" Madam Pomfrey said quickly. Seeing Severus on the cot, she became all business. "Albus warned me that he might be bringing some wounded to me instead of St. Mungos. Do you know what he was hit with?"
Tonks took Severus' limp hand, "Cadonoceo," she said quietly.
Madam Pomfrey shook her head as she headed towards the potions shelf. "That curse is almost as bad as an unforgivable," she said, causing Tonks to sink lower into her chair. "The damage it does to the organs, well, he'll get better soon enough."
"He fell pretty hard, I think his arm is broken," she called after Madam Pomfrey.
"The broken bones are the least of his worries," she replied.
Tears started falling silently from Tonks' cheek. "Don't worry, dear, he'll be fine after a week or two. But you'll have to excuse me, I need room to work."
Tonks nodded and silently left the hospital wing. She knew she couldn't use a portkey to get back to the Ministry. The Department of Magical Transportation would question her about that as there was no real immediate danger in Hogwarts. Slowly she walked down towards the dungeons. She let herself into the potions classroom and lit a fire. Luckily, there was some floo powder on the mantle. She took a handful and flooed to her bedroom at number twelve, Grimmauld Place.
Before she apparated back to the Ministry, she allowed herself a moment to sit on her bed. She would never forgive herself for hurting Severus like she did. If she was honest, it hadn't even occurred to her that Severus might have been fighting tonight. "Enough self-pity!" Tonks told herself. There still work to be done. She changed into some real clothes, to give her body a break from morphing.
She closed her eyes and apparated to the Ministry. She realized as she apparated, that that would be her last trip tonight; her body wouldn't stand for any more abuse. She walked over to some of her fellow Aurors, wanting to be told what to do. They nodded at her.
"Did you fight tonight?" one asked her.
Tonks nodded.
"You look like hell, Tonks. Get some rest, we'll finish up here," he replied.
"Thanks," she whispered. But Tonks knew she would not be going home. She saw Molly Weasley bandaging someone's wrist.
"What can I do to help?" Tonks asked Molly.
Tonks worked through the rest of the night, helping where she could. Her main duty was to help transport the wounded to St. Mungos. Finally, when all the wounded were safe, Tonks flooed to Head Quarters.
She sat down on a couch in the parlor. A few other Order members were there. Someone handed her a cup of coffee, which she eagerly accepted. The caffeine didn't do the trick though, and within minutes she was dozing on the couch. 88888"Nymphadora, I would like you to get some sleep," Albus Dumbledore told her.
"I'm not sleepy," Tonks said, trying to hide a yawn. She was in the hospital wing.
"You are sleepy," he said.
Tonks shook her head, and grabbed Severus' hand. "I'm not leaving his side, Albus."
Professor Dumbledore conjured up a chair next to Tonks'.
"Have you been summoned since the attacks?" he asked.
"No, I haven't. It's been three days," Tonks said.
The attacks at the Ministry were three days ago. Security at the Ministry doubled. The Minister of Magic, Fudge now traveled with a dozen bodyguards. She was very surprised she hadn't been summoned so the Death Eaters could regroup.
"Will you let me know when you are summoned again?" he asked her.
Tonks nodded. "I will," she said, not looking at him.
Silently, Albus stood up and walked away. Seeing that the chair he conjured was more comfortable than the one she was in, Tonks quickly moved to the stuffed easy chair. Tonks curled up in the chair, and allowed herself to close her eyes.
"Dora?" Severus whispered.
Tonks rubbed her eyes, not realizing she had fallen asleep. "I'm here, Severus. I'm here."
"Dora," Severus whispered again, and then was silent.
Madam Pomfrey had told her that it would be a few days before Severus was fully awake. Tonks only left his side to go to work, or to go on watch for the Order. Every other spare second was spent by his side.
Tonks knew she should be proud of herself for providing the information that the Ministry would be attacked. In a small way, she was. Amazingly, no one was killed. Not one member of the Order or Death Eater had been killed. There had been wounded, however. Someone had performed Diffindo on Kingsley, and he had lost a great deal of blood. He had not left St. Mungos yet, but was expected to recover soon.
Fourteen Death Eaters had been taken into custody. The Daily Prophet boasted that they would not be able to escape from Azkaban. Tonks hoped this was true. She had just been reassigned to Azkaban for patrol duty. She was not looking forward to walking past Narcissa's or Lucius' cell.
"Tonks, a word, if I may?" Professor McGonagall called from behind the curtain surrounding Severus' bed.
"One moment," Tonks called. Slowly she stood up and did a quick stretch. As she walked around the curtain, she saw that Professor McGonagall was accompanied by a student in Hufflepuff robes. Tonks recognized the student that Tonks had saved from getting bullied by Draco and his gang so many months ago.
"Tonks, this is Fortunata Haley," the professor said. Tonks nodded at the girl. "Nata, show Tonks what you showed me."
The girl scrunched up her nose, and her dark brown bangs turned dark green. Tonks' smile lit up her entire face. Tonks scrunched her nose and copied Nata's hairstyle. "You're just like me!" Tonks exclaimed.
"I thought I was a freak, the first time I did that," Nata said.
"Bet you were angry or sad when it happened," Tonks said, words stumbling over.
"It was at Hogsmeade, right after you got Draco away from me. I saw you change your hair color, and I wondered if I could. And I did!" Nata said enthusiastically.
"How old are you?" Tonks asked.
"Fourteen," Nata replied.
"That's how old I was, when I learned I was a metamorphamagus," Tonks told the girl.
"What I was wondering, Tonks," Professor McGonagall started, "was if you could find some time, maybe, once every month, teach Nata here how to control her powers."
Tonks went to show off, showing Nata her trick of having two sets of arms. The girl's eyes opened wide. "It took ten years for me to learn that. I bet you can learn it in five," Tonks giggled, "I would love to help you, Nata."
"Off you go," Professor McGonagall told Nata.
Tonks watched the young metamorph walk away with interest. "How is he?" Minerva asked.
"He wakes up occasionally, but not longer than five minutes at a time," Tonks said, "He almost crushed his left arm, so he's going to have some major arthritis from now on."
"He's lucky, Tonks," Minerva said.
"Lucky?" Tonks cried.
"Lucky that he has someone to come back to," the witch said, placing her hand on Tonks' shoulder, before walking out of the hospital wing.
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Tonks decided to take the ferry to Azkaban. It was her first shift patrolling. Truth be told, Tonks was not looking forward to it. Her few days in a cell was plenty to last her the rest of her life.
Halfway through her shift, someone called her name. It was Narcissa. Tonks was shocked looking at the witch. She almost didn't recognize her. She had only seen Narcissa perfectly groomed. Now her hair was down and matted, and she was wearing no makeup.
"You'll be found out, you know," Narcissa told her calmly.
Tonks arched one eyebrow. "Oh really?"
"You accepted the Dark Mark. The Dark Lord will find you, and you will be killed," she said simply.
"Thank you for the warning," Tonks said as she walked away. Tonks refused to show any fear in front of Narcissa. But that was a nagging thought in her mind. Would she go to the next Death Eater meeting? Would she continue to act as spy, when she was stupid enough to show her true self to the Malfoys? Tonks just hoped she wouldn't be summoned for a while.
88888
It had been a week since the attack, and Tonks still had not been summoned. She was now starting to get worried. It wasn't good to continue to push back her decision.
After her shift, she went straight to Severus' side. She was thrilled to see him sitting up and awake. Overenthusiastic, she went to give him a hug. Severus quickly raised his hands and told her to stay back. "Darling, I'm still very, very sore."
Tonks' smile lit up her entire face. "Hi," she said shyly, sitting down next to him.
"Hi yourself," Severus said. He looked at her face and sighed. "We should have given ourselves signals."
Tonks cocked her head, "Signals?" she asked, curious.
"Signals. Then you would've have know it was me, under the Death Eater robes," Severus said quietly.
The smile was gone. "You knew it was me, then? That I was the one who cursed you?" she asked, tears forming.
"Dora, please don't cry. I'm going to be fine. I promise you. Already I'm figuring out my next big potion. Trying to make the ten I have to take down to one or two," he said, putting a lock of her emerald green hair behind her ear.
"I'm so sorry," Tonks said, her face on the bed. "Can you hate me for a little bit? I'd feel a lot better if you hated me."
He stroked her hair. "I don't think it's possible to hate you, Dora."
Tonks raised her head. Quietly, she moved from the chair to the edge for his bed. Tonks took her hands, and cupped his face. "I love you," she whispered, and kissed him gently on the lips.
"I love you," he whispered back, kissing her again. They kissed lightly at first. Severus opened his mouth and Tonks let her tongue slip in. Then immediately broke away.
"That potion tastes terrible!" she giggled.
Severus looked embarrassed. "I forgot to do a breath cleaning spell," he muttered.
"No worries. It's probably best if we don't get too hot 'n heavy in the hospital wing," Tonks teased.
Severus nodded. "I don't think I can handle that yet. But don't worry. I heal fast."