The Cryptic Delphian
By the Hippy Gypsy
Disclaimer: I know the beginning of this chapter is reminiscent of Men in Black, but it fits all too well, so bear with me. I own nothing. It's JK Rowling's. Anything that's mine, well, yep. Enjoy!
Chapter 2: The Trials of Nymphadora
"Hey! Hey!! HEY!!"
On the farthest side of London was where Nymphadora Tonks was for the evening, doing what she did best: Auror work. Tonight's assignment consisted of tracking down a werewolf who wasn't registered with the Ministry of Magic. He was considered dangerous, so Kingsley Shacklebolt and she were currently chasing him on foot in the middle of downtown Muggle London.
"HEY!!" she screamed again at his back, but the man wouldn't quit. He was too quick. "HEY MEANS STOP!!" she yelled again.
Kingsley finally had to stop and catch his breath, and he gasped to her, "Let 'em go Tonks. We'll get 'em another night."
But Tonks wasn't likely to listen to him, and tonight wasn't any different. She left Kingsley behind, half dead from having no air left in his lungs, and she pursued the unregistered werewolf into the night alone.
Another block down, she chased him into an alley, and their culprit discovered it was quite dark. In fact, he didn't even notice that she had disapparated and re-apparated right in front of him until she had him pushed up against the wall of the alley, his hands being held behind his back. Tonks held him and she pulled out her badge and shoved it in his face. "You see this?!" she yelled. "I'm a Ministry of Magic Auror! That means I will bust your non-registered werewolf ass down! You're not tagged and marked! Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?! You don't even take the proper potions to control it do you?!"
The man, however, continued to struggle, ignoring everything she said. "He's coming!" he pleaded. "He's coming! For me! He's gonna make the Third Trial of Darkness come!"
"Yeah," Tonks replied half listening, trying to get the werewolf tag ready. "And when he gets here I'll bust his ass too."
But in the next moment, the culprit whipped around and gave Tonks a swift punch in the face, giving him just the split second he needed to disapparate. With a growl of frustration, Tonks ran back to the end of the alley to see Kingsley running by, yelling, "I just saw him! He apparated and turned the next left corner!"
Tonks then apparated to the other end of the street, waiting for their culprit to come running from the other end. Ready to catch him off guard, she closed her eyes and transformed her spiky pink hair into it's natural form of a long sheet of raven black and brown eyes. Sure enough, the next moment, their culprit showed up. He had slowed down his pace, sure that he had shaken his pursuers from his tail. Shoving his hands in his jacket pockets, he gave no notice to Tonks in her new form walking by, until in one swift movement she kicked him down to his knees and wrapped one of her arms around his neck. With her other arm, she reached under the back of her jacket and pulled out a Muggle pistol. She placed the nose of it right over the culprit's heart, and cocked back the hammer.
"Do you know what kind of bullets I have in here?" she said calmly.
"Silver ones?" he asked, his voice trembling ever so slightly.
"That's right. Will you come quietly?"
"Now I will," he answered. And he grabbed the gun and pulled the trigger, sending the silver bullet straight through his heart and right into the left side of Tonks' stomach.
She dropped the man instantly, knowing he was dead and grabbed her side, stumbling to the ground. She caught her breath and tried to breathe through the shock of it all, but her vision began to blur. The last thing she heard before she passed out was Kingsley's voice above her.
"Nymphadora?" she heard above her. "Nymphadora…c'mon Tonks. You know you want to wake up."
Slowly, Tonks retuned to consciousness and quietly opened her eyes to see a familiar face smiling down at her. He had grown up in so many ways in a short amount of time, from his shyness turning to boldness, to the fact that his face had finally lost all of its baby fat and a confident, handsome face replaced where a trembling lip had once been.
Once her eyes were wide open, the doctor asked, "Tonks, do you know where you are?"
She nodded and replied in a harsh, raspy voice, "Yes Dr. Longbottom."
Neville nodded and said, "That'll do. Want to sit up?"
"Sure," she replied trying to clear her throat, but to no avail. Neville passed her a glass of water and she took it with a breathed, "Thanks."
Neville rose to grab Tonks' charts and said, "You know, if you keep finding yourself in the hospital wing of the Ministry, your insurance is going to sky rocket." He looked up at her as she adjusted her pillow behind her and took a great gulp of water.
"Yeah, but usually I just get treated for bumps and bruises. I got shot this time." It was then that she felt the slight pang of pain in her side. She lifted the blanket of her bed and nightshirt to see that her stomach had been fully repaired, save for a scar where the bullet had entered, and a slight throbbing pain in her side.
Neville came back to her side with a white gauzy patch smeared with a thick potion and taped it to her side gently, right over the scar. "Keep this on it. It'll fight the pain." He stood up again and smiled. "You should be fully recovered by tonight."
"How long was I out?" Tonks asked, suddenly concerned with the time.
Neville's face sobered up, and he replied, "About thirteen hours. You scared the hell out of everyone." He blinked a moment and added as an afterthought, "And Fudge is pissed."
"Doesn't surprise me," she replied. "The guy I was after killed himself on my pursuit."
Neville's face took on a queasy look. "Sounds like it's going to be a good day at the office."
"Where's Kingsley?"
"Back at his desk I believe. He came back to check on your about an hour ago, but once he realized you were no longer near death, he figured he was better needed elsewhere."
She nodded knowingly and gave a partial smile. "Nothing to do but watch me sleep anyways." She took and breath and said, "Alright. I better head back to work then. Anything else Dr. Longbottom?"
"Just sign yourself out," Neville replied handing her the chart. She signed at the bottom and he said, "I'll send in the nurse to clean up once you're changed." With one last smile, he said, "Have a good one Tonks."
"Thanks for saving my life Neville," she replied with affection in her voice.
His back retreated through the door, and she rose from the bed to change. The white blouse she had worn the night before was covered with blood, but she merely buckled her jacket over it, knowing she could head home as soon as she had the business end of her current situation sorted out. Besides, it was Friday, and no one would blame her for leaving early, given her hospital stay.
She left the hospital wing and headed back towards her office, taking the elevator from level three, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, to level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It took her longer than expected to reach her destination, with people giving her warm greetings left and right. At one point, Hermione Granger ran out of her cubicle. "Tonks! Are you alright?" Her voice was shaking slightly.
"I'm just fine," Tonks replied with a full smile. When Hermione didn't seem convinced at first, she went on, "Bullet went right into my stomach. But good ol' Dr. Longbottom patched me up, no problem." She winked. "Heard the whole place was worried though."
"Of course we were!" Hermione breathed, trying to figure out if Tonks had wondered any less.
"Don't worry hun. I'm just fine. But I'm gonna head home early. Just use the Floo Network to get back to Grimmauld Place tonight, okay?"
"Alright. I'll see you later. Glad you're okay."
Tonks left her with a smile and opened the door to her and Kingsley's office. He was sitting behind his desk, and he looked up with a sly smile. "Didn't I tell you to leave that guy?"
"Is that the way you greet your partner?" she replied with a raised eyebrow.
Kingsley chuckled and said, "Welcome back to reality Tonks."
She sat behind her desk and put her feet up. Letting out a sigh, she felt her side slightly throb once again under its gauze patch. "I never expected that guy to do that. I was just trying to tag him and bring him in."
"We know." He placed his quill back in its ink well, and leaned back in his chair. "It was odd though. When the body was examined, he had strange markings all over his back."
"Well he was a werewolf. He probably scratched himself."
"No werewolf I've seen had scratches like this." His thin eyebrows raised high on his completely bald head.
Tonks looked confused. "What was so special about them?"
"They were in the shape of the Death Eater's skull."
She blinked in surprise. "What?"
A knock on the door interrupted them from their conversation. Cornelius Fudge opened the door and let himself in, bowler hat in hand.
"Minister Fudge," Tonks greeted with a light nod.
Fudge, however, was hardly in high spirits. His face was set in sharp, grim lines, and he glared at Tonks at the first instant. "Miss Tonks," he said in a harsh voice. "Care to explain what happened out there last night?"
Knowing she was in trouble, Tonks took her feet from off her desk and stood up at attention, almost as a soldier would in an army. Clearing her throat pointedly, she said, "Minister, last night when attempting to tag and bring in an unregistered werewolf, the man committed suicide, killing himself in the Muggle streets of London. I was wounded in the process, but am fully recovered according to Dr. Longbottom in the Magical Accidents ward."
Fudge pursed his lips and continued without a beat. "Have you heard what we found on the corpse of the body?"
"I have heard that an etching of the Dark Mark was put into the deceased suspect's back."
"Do you know what this means?"
"Possibly a former Death Eater sir," she replied, misgiving coming over her.
"That's right." Fudge glared at her, and with the slightest twitch of his eyes in Kingsley's direction, he dared either one of them to interrupt his rant. "The man possibly could have been a former alley to the Dark Lord. Or he could have been a different type of offender. But we'll never know, Miss Tonks, because by your foolishness, he is now dead." His voice was overriding her, set on putting all blame on her back.
"But Minister," Tonks interjected, "I followed Ministry procedure in the situation. It was he who pulled the trigger and-"
"Silence." He took a breath and continued, "Miss Tonks, since you have begun working for the Ministry of Magic, your work has been shoddy-"
"Shoddy? What?"
"And your demeanor towards you tasks has been none short of clumsy."
"Clumsy?!" she voiced in shock and exasperation. Everyone knew that Tonks was a dead klutz, but no one had attempted to hold it against her until now. She looked straight into Fudge's eyes and replied strongly, "Sir, I have done nothing but give my best work to the Ministry of Magic since the day I started here. Countless times I have put my neck on the line for this place."
"And never once has it been cut."
Tonks jumped back at the comment and even Kingsley looked rather shaken by the statement. "And what is that supposed to mean, Minister Fudge?" she snapped back.
"It means that because of your indiscretion last night and your problematic work tactics I will no longer hold you in my responsibility."
"Excuse me?!"
"You're fired, Nymphadora Tonks!"
She stood in place, rage just threatening to boil over the edge, while the other half of her wanted to do nothing but slump to the floor in frustration. "But…" She barely found words to escape her. "Who…who will-"
"Hermione Granger will take your post in this office starting Monday. Clean out your desk, Miss Tonks. I will escort you out."
Unable to believe what Cornelius Fudge was doing to her, Tonks stole a glance at Kingsley, who could do nothing but exchange shocked looks between her and his boss. Tonks was not taking this well, and rightly so. Kingsley knew she did good work and she wouldn't have performed an action unless it was right. She followed Ministry guidelines while attempting to bring the suspect in, and because the suspect killed himself, she was now paying for his choices. Something was up. People didn't just get fired for following the rules.
"Sir," Kingsley spoke up. "You don't suspect Tonks for foul play do you?"
"Silence Mr. Shacklebolt," Fudge spat turning in his direction. "And no I don't. Nymphadora's dismissal is of her own affair." Turning back to Tonks, Fudge lowered his voice dangerously. "Miss Tonks, clean out your desk."
Not knowing what else to do at that point, Tonks walked over to the coat closet in the corner of the office and opened it, taking an old green backpack from the inside. Taking her wand from her jacket pocket, she pointed it at the pictures that were stuck up on the wall, and the two spare cloaks that were hanging neatly in place. "Minutize," she said sharply. All the pictures shrank to the size of stamps, and the cloaks folded themselves neatly into little bunches, about the sizes of a toddler's. Pointing her want to the inside of her pack, she said, "Accio." The objects flew in.
She repeated the two spells at her desk drawers and book shelves, and pocket sized editions of her reference books flew into the bag, along with toothpick sized scrolls, and pawn sized bottles of ink. Once all was cleared, Tonks threw the bag over her shoulder and did something she knew that would make Fudge angrier than he already was.
She reached out and shook Kingsley's hand. "Good luck working for the man," she said steadily.
Fudge glared. "That's enough. Are you quite finished Miss Tonks?"
"Yes, Minister Fudge," she replied, almost threateningly.
Without wasting another moment, Fudge swept Tonks from the office and they walked past cubicles. People's heads poked out to see what all the commotion had been. Tonks caught Hermione's eye for a split second to see an eyebrow of confusion raised. But Fudge answered no inquiries that were asked of him. He merely escorted Tonks to the front desk.
When they had made it there, she was forced to give up her Auror's badge. She did it reluctantly.
"Good day, Miss Tonks," said Fudge, turning to leave in a huffed rush.
Tonks watched his back for a slight moment, but when she turned to leave, she passed by a large painting of her former boss, that read with a plaque:
Cornelius Fudge
Minister of Magic
As her way of a last send off, Tonks took her wand once again, and as she passed the portrait, she pushed the tip into the canvas, and made a large scratch across the entire surface, ripping it right across Fudge's neck.
The security wizard and Cornelius yelled at her back, but instead of answering, Tonks merely stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button for the street above.
"How appropriate, Nymphadora," Fudge muttered dangerously.
As the lift began to rise towards the ceiling, Tonks extended the middle digit of her left hand and replied, "My name is Tonks."
As soon she was out of sight, Cornelius Fudge turned to the security wizard and said, "Send somebody to repair the canvas." Up on the wall, the Fudge present in the painting seemed to be gasping for breath, as if its mouth were not connected to it's lungs. The security wizard sent off a paper airplane with a message to the janitor, and it rose into the air, flapping wildly to stay in flight. It took off towards the same elevator that Tonks had exited in, and as soon as the gate open, it fluttered inside.
A single person stepped off onto the landing from the elevator car. He was about seventeen years of age, dressed completely in black, from blouse, to trousers, to shoes. His long, dark hair was tied back at the nape of his neck, and the way he walked seemed to be as smooth as ice.
He strode up to the security wizard at the front desk and asked in a slight accent, "Excuse me sir?"
The security wizard looked up at the young man. "May I help you son?"
"I'm hoping sir. I'm here to deliver a message from my master." He reached into his pocket and took out a small, green envelope. "Would you see to it that this message gets mailed to this person? I do believe she is an Auror employed by Minister Fudge."
The security wizard nodded and replied, "It won't be a problem at all."
"My most humble thanks," the man replied, and just as smoothly as he arrived, he strolled back to the elevator and was gone.
The security wizard looked down at the envelope and found who it was addressed to:
Miss Nymphadora Tonks
Meanwhile, up in his office, Cornelius Fudge sat back down to his desk to find that the mail had been delivered right on time. Seeing that a message had come from Gringotts, he unraveled the scroll to read. It was a bank transaction record, a transfer to be exact. A sum of 1,500 Galleons was transferred from the account of Minerva McGonagall's into his own.
Taking his quill, he wrote out onto the other side of the scroll the following:
Thank you for keeping your end of the bargain. I had no trouble keeping mine.
Sincerely,
Cornelius Fudge
Minister of Magic
Tonks did not go directly home. As soon as the elevator had reached the street above, she made a bee line for her car: a black, American Ford Explorer. Secretly, she dreamed of a red Aston Martin, but with her salary being cut short by lack of employment, she highly doubted that she would be able to afford it anytime soon. To keep up their profiles of Muggles in some ways, Tonks and Hermione rode together from their home of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place everyday to work. But today, Hermione would have to find some other way to get home. More than likely, she would just use the Floo Network.
Tonks was far too upset to go home at the moment. Despite the state of her clothes, health, and emotions, all she wanted to do was drive. She needed to get away from London, if just for a few hours. Her nerves were rattled, and she needed peace. She pulled out of the parking lot in a rush, and drove for two hours, down a particular stretch of road she distinctly knew would eventually end at a cemetery.
Slowly pulling over, she parked the car in a particular row of high grave stones. It took her a few minutes to find the stone she wanted. It had been a good year since she had visited, but as soon as she found the one she desired, she sighed with relief.
Harry James Potter
July 31, 1980-June 7, 1998
The Boy Who Lived
Just below the inscription, there was a little marking of a lightning bolt, ever so reminiscent of the boy's scar.
Tonks kneeled down next to the grave stone and pulled out her wand. The tip lightly began to glow a dim orange, and when she blew on it, the little ball of glow floated down and rested right in front of the grave, as if it were a small memorial candle. Satisfied with her work, she sat back on her heels and let out a small sigh.
She turned around to make sure she was alone, and as soon as she knew she was, she began to talk to the grave stone.
"You have no idea how much we all miss you kid," she whispered, a slight tremble in her voice. "I really wish you or Sirius were still alive." Tears began to fall from her eyes as she tried to get out her last statement. "I could…really use someone to talk to right now."
Not knowing what else to do, Tonks knelt there, and for the first time in a long while, she indulged in what she thought was a guilty pleasure.
She cried.
Note from the author: Hey y'all! I hope to get some more readers soon! Thanks to all those who did review! I'm working hard on this while I'm ignoring my psych class, so show me that it's worth it! Chapter 3 coming soon! Peace out my peeps! :-D