Author's Notes: I'm so glad you all liked the last chapter, I was really happy people liked my portrayal of Snape. I have to say, as modestly as possible, the Tonks interaction with Snape is one of my favorite scenes that I have written. And don't worry... you see more Snape in this chapter. Speaking of which, I don't think you cliffhanger haters will be too happy with the ending... heh heh. *nervously walks off to let you read*
*****
"Ah!"
"Holy..."
Remus and Tonks jumped back to avoid having the body land on them. Neither of them could speak at first until...
"I was wondering where the hell he had gone," Tonks said.
"Man, Sirius would have loved this," Remus said.
"Remus! I'm shocked to hear you talk like that!" Tonks laughed. She had expected him to glare at her and bend over and check to see if Kreacher was simply asleep or in a coma.
"I didn't like him-"
"But you treated him so nicely," Tonks acknowledged.
"Because I knew I should. But he never treated me too nicely," Remus explained. Tonks nodded and kicked the body with her foot.
"So, um, what do we do?" Tonks asked finally. Remus shrugged and with his own foot pushed the body over to the side of the hall.
"I expect we'll have some stuff to take down from the attic... we'll take him then," he said starting up.
"But... but what if he starts to smell?"
"He already smelled, I don't think a couple of hours is going to do anything worse," Remus said looking back at Tonks whose gaze kept switching from him to the dead house elf.
"But, what if Hermione happens on him?"
"Why would she be up here?"
Tonks wished Remus hadn't said that. It so happened at that moment, Hermione, in her knowledgeable ways, knew they were talking about her and decided to venture up and join in attic cleaning fun.
"Hi, Tonks, I decided to- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Oh, my God! What happened? Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" she screamed. Tonks ran over and slapped her hand over Hermione's mouth.
"Shhh, it's okay 'Mione, Kreacher was old, it was his time-"
"Hermione, what's going on- whoa! Dead house elf!" Harry exclaimed running up the stairs, Ron and Ginny close behind him, all of them with their wands out.
"Wicked! Did Tonks finally kill him?" Ron asked.
"Why didn't you tell me! I would have loved to watch!" Ginny complained.
"Stop!" Tonks silenced them. "Kreacher died of... natural causes. And I'm glad you came up here, you can do me a favor by Flooing Professor Snape and asking them what to do with a dead house elf, seeing as I have never dealt with one."
"Yeah, just make the job more disgusting than it is..." Ron mumbled, starting to kick Kreacher's body in the direction of the stairs.
"Ron!" Hermione admonished. "Even in death we should respect him!"
"Fine then, you carry him," he stepped back allowing Hermione to gingerly pick up the elf body. Ron playfully rolled his eyes at Harry and Ginny as they went down stairs.
"Now, on to the attic," Tonks said venturing up the stairs to where Lupin had disappeared.
"Have you ever been up here?" Remus asked when Tonks came in.
"Yes. Sirius and I..." she trailed off.
"No, go ahead. It's better to talk about it than keeping it in," Remus said. "We know what happens when it's kept in too long." Cue tension here.
"Well, I haven't been up here since he died," Tonks cleared her throat. "But, if he was bored and I happened to be over, we would venture up here and have a look around."
"Ever find anything cool?" Remus asked, closing a box full of old clothes he had opened. Tonks started on another box.
"Well, we found loads of pictures that Kreacher ended up running off with. But we stopped when we found several boxes of torture equipment," she shuddered. The box she opened had moldy linens so she pushed it to the side, ready to discard.
"Interesting pictures?"
"Not really... just creepy relatives. One of my mum and her sisters which kind of weirded me out," Tonks said, deciding to go further into the attic.
"Was it like this one?" Remus had apparently found another box of pictures that Kreacher hadn't seen yet, he was holding one of them. Tonks walked over and took it from his hands.
It was a rare picture of all three sisters, quite young, standing and smiling with one another. It was taken at an outdoor picnic of some sort. Bellatrix looked as if she was twelve or thirteen, she was standing closely next to Tonks's own mother Andromeda, who was looking lovingly up at her older sister. She could have been ten or eleven, ready to enter Hogwarts. Both had the dark Black hair, thick and long. Despite the heavy-lidded eyes Bellatrix had even then, you could still see the dark twinkling eyes that matched Andromeda's. A small scoot away was the sister that looked nothing like the other two. She had pale shining eyes and hair so blonde it was almost white. Narcissa. She was smiling at the other two and was holding an apple. She couldn't have been older than three.
"Auntie Narcissa was always so different," Tonks frowned.
"What do you mean?" Remus asked stepping up and looking at the picture over Tonks' shoulder.
"Well physically, just look at her..." she pointed out. "And then there's that age difference... Mum liked to joke that Narcissa was an affair child. Then she stopped joking."
"Were you ever close to your aunts?" Remus asked off-handed going back to glancing at the other photos.
"Before I got into Hogwarts, I was, actually," Tonks admitted. Remus jerked his head up. He knew that Sirius had avoided his cousins, minus Andromeda, like the plague, and he had figured Tonks did the same thing.
"You were?"
"Yeah," Tonks smiled slightly. "They thought that I may be in Slytherin and that they could warm me up for it. Mind you, my mum had an idea what they were up too and had brought me up well enough to treat everything they told me very cautiously. Sure enough, when I got to Hogwarts and didn't end up in Slytherin they cut off all communications."
"Did it hurt you?" Remus asked.
"Not at all!" Tonks laughed. "I was happy, the older I became, the scarier and more determined they seemed to get."
She tossed the picture back into the box, nearly hitting Remus' hand. He sealed it and pushed it towards the other discarded boxes.
"So, do you have an idea where you might want to be in the attic?" she asked, looking around. A dull flash of light caught her attention. It came from a dusty mirror.
"A place cleared out where I don't have a chance of breaking anything. Like that mirror," he pointed, spotting what Tonks was looking at.
She hurried over to the beautiful object, stumbling and knocking over a few precariously towering boxes. Taking the sheet off a covered couch next to it she quickly removed the dust from the surface. It was glass... but it wasn't. When she had wiped it off with the sheet it felt hard and smooth, but with the dust all gone she noticed it seemed to be moving like water, her reflection moving like waves in a lake.
"What does it do?" Remus asked stepping behind her. Tonks shrugged and reached out to touch it. Remus caught her hand. "Wait, we don't know what it does. Let me..."
Gingerly, with his wand, Remus poked the mirror. It was hard... the wand made no effect in the movement of the water-like substance. Tonks then took her hand and tapped it lightly, the only thing it did was make the water ripple. It felt like a cool liquid, but when she pulled her hand away it was dry. Remus tried with his hand, it was hard and smooth again like glass.
"It must work only for you... since you're a Black?" he suggested. He began scanning the rim of the mirror for any inscription. Tonks put her hand in the substance again and held it longer.
"Hmmm," she murmered thoughtfully as the water began to move. Suddenly the water began to churn harder and the image of Tonks was replaced with a scene seemingly out of a movie.
...A park, summer, a dark haired woman that had been seen in a picture earlier, but many years younger, was holding the hand of a small girl who looked a lot like her. The little girl was skipping happily, chattering on like a bird while her mother smiled and nodded, beaming at her daughter. A small, older woman passed by them, walking her toy poodle.
"Poodle!" the little girl screamed, pointing at the dog then jumping down into a sort of squat position. She stared at it before scrunching her face up. Then suddenly, to the surprise of her mother and the woman, who had turned to smile at the adorable little girl squealing with delight at her dog, the girl's hair had turned the same color, texture, and shape as the white, fluffy dog's.
"Oh good heavens!" the elderly woman gasped, putting a hand to her mouth in shock.
"Nymphadora!" the mother screeched, jerking her daughter up. The mother suddenly pulled a stick, better known as her wand, out of her purse and pointed it at the lady. "Obliviate."
"Nymphadora turn your hair back right now," she said. The girl obliged. The lady with the dog looked at them with a glazed expression, smiled fondly at the little girl, then turned and headed back in the direction she came from, not understanding why her dog kept staring at the little girl...
"What was that?" Remus asked, having seen the whole thing.
"That was when I learned not to transform in public," Tonks said, stunned at the outsider prospective on a cherished childhood memory.
"Well, there's an inscription here at the bottom," he pointed.
"What's it say?" Tonks said, kneeling down for a closer look.
"Eru tureht foeg del wonkeht thiw tsapehtt neserpi," Remus read. "The inscription on mirrors, magical ones, usually always read backwards." He frowned as he began reading the inscription backwards.
"I present the past with the knowledge of the future," Tonks said. He glanced up at her.
"How did you know that?"
"I remember my mother telling me about a mirror her aunt owned that could show your past, present and future," she explained. "She said she found it and told me what the bottom said but had never worked it out what it meant. I've had some time to think about it."
"Oh."
"That's why it doesn't work for you though, because it's a Black family mirror."
"Well, good, I don't want to see what it has to show me," he turned his back, heading towards more boxes. Understanding he didn't want to be bothered about it, Tonks shrugged her shoulders and began searching for more interesting items, her mind continued wandering to the mirror though. Wondering exactly how it worked.
"Ah ha!" she heard Remus laugh.
"What?" she called back to him.
"Look at this," he hurried over, holding a very old and yellowed magazine. It was a very ancient copy of Witch Weekly.
"Oh, this is hysterical," she said flipping through it. "'Escaping the gallows: Five easy to use spells for escaping witch hunters.' Hmmm, maybe I should read this."
"Look at this one... 'The Busty Boustier, now in three sizes and complete with the latest of chest enhancement attachments!'" Remus fell on the floor laughing. Tonks landed next to him, giggling too hard to continue holding herself up.
Remus rolled to his side, still chuckling, to look at Tonks. He stopped, hypnotized. Her arms were over her head, her eyes shut, and mouth open in laughter. She was flushed with glee, and seemed near perfect in the little rays of sunlight that managed in through the grimey windows of the attic.
Maybe it was because of the full moon that was to be rising the next night, or just because he couldn't avoid the way he felt in his heart, but Remus found himself unable to stop what he did next.
Leaning down, he planted a soft kiss on Tonks' still giggling mouth. She stopped laughing and he pulled back. Her eyes were wide open in shock and her breath was shallow and light. He just stared back at her, until, he realized what he did was wrong and began standing up. But her hand flung out and grabbed his collar, pulling him back over her, kissing him fiercely.
He pulled away again minutes later, smiling at her while she smiled back.
Tonks was feeling very strange indeed. Could it be the hormones from the baby? Could it be the part of Remus inside of her was affected by the full moon and therefore she was also affected? But whatever it was it was making her want Remus bad.
"Tonks?" Remus stopped smiling and was looking at Tonks rather fearfully. She had a feral, wild look in her eyes to him, Tonks resembled a predator after the prey. Oh, but he wasn't a werewolf ready for the full moon for nothing. She pounced at him like a cat, but he was ready. He quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her on to the uncovered couch.
His kisses were hard. He bit, nipped, and licked her neck. Tonks was loving every moment of it, but she was sick of being on the bottom...
Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Harry and Buckbeack all looked up at the ceiling, startled, when a large thump followed by a loud moan came from the attic above them.
***
Despite one minor set back that morning, Remus and Tonks managed to clear away a good spot for Remus to spend the next three days comfortably and safely.
"Well, this looks very nice," Molly commented, peering into the attic, her head only visible. "I've just come up to tell you lunch is ready."
"Thanks, Molly, we'll be down in just a minute," Remus said, stacking up the last box.
"You know one good thing about being pregnant so far," Tonks said from behind another stack.
"What's that?"
"We can do... anything... and not have to worry about getting me pregnant again!" she grinned. Remus glared. "Hey, I'm on the lookout for the bright side Mr. Gloomy-Gus."
"Come on, let's get washed up for lunch."
***
It was nearly an hour before the meeting was to start and Tonks was already on edge. Dumbledore had told her he was going to start the meeting off with announcing Tonks' pregnancy, and then move on to the true topic at hand... the Death Eater break out.
"Dumbledore," Tonks greeted him at the door. She looked next to him, standing there, looking quite sloppy, was a drunk house elf. "And... why is there a house elf?"
"Well, Tonks," Dumbledore started, walking in and helping her re-seal the wards. "Severus informed me of the loss of your current house elf-"
"Yes, it was quite tragic," Tonks commented drily.
"And I thought that you would appreciate a new house elf, especially in the next few months," he winked.
"Why?"
"Well, this is actually a special house elf. I believe she needs to feel wanted again. Do you keep butterbeer in the house?" he asked.
"Yes."
"You'll want to keep it locked," he headed towards the basement. Tonks followed after, very confused. "Now, this was the cupboard Kreacher slept in?"
"Yes, but Pr-"
He interrupted her with a flick of his wand and the objects with in the cupboard quickly vanished and it was sparkling clean, with a small bed and nightstand.
"Winky," he said to the small elf that had followed him. "This is to be your new home, this is where you will be sleeping. And this woman here is going to be one of your new masters. She will be the one who will tell you who else is a master."
"Master Dumbledore is... is leaving Winky?" she looked up at him blearily.
"No, I will still be around. But I am putting you in the charge of a woman who is really going to need you," he explained, turning her to see Tonks who was smiling uncomfortably.
"Hello... Winky, I'm Nymphadora Tonks. You can call me Tonks."
"You is not a Crouch!" the little elf squealed.
"No, Winky, I come from the Black family-"
"Black family is bad wizards!" Winky accused, pointing a finger at Tonks.
"Yes, but I'm a good one, you won't have to do anything for the bad ones," Tonks explained. It seemed too much for the little drunk elf who blinked a few times before falling down, unconscious. Tonks looked up at Dumbledore. "And she's supposed to take care of me?"
"She'll come around. Like I said she just needs to feel needed again," Dumbledore explained, magicking the little elf into the small cupboard. "She is very sweet so you shouldn't feel the need to treat her as you did Kreacher."
"Hey! I just treated him as he treated me!" Tonks defended herself.
"Even so..." Dumbledore sighed.
"Yes, I understand," Tonks nodded.
"Now, is there any of Molly's fudge left?"
***
"May I have your attention please?" Dumbledore called the meeting to order. Immediately the noise in the Hall of Grimmauld Place died down. "Thank you. Before we get straight to business about the Death Eater break out, there is one minor event we must address.
"Some of you already know this, but for those of you who don't, Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin will be expecting a child in April of next year," he smiled.
An immediate rush of murmering voices picked up, heads turning rapidly to look at Tonks who was unfortunately right next to Remus at the moment. Snape of course had a large, excited sneer plastered on his face.
"One problem we're already encountering with this is that Miss Tonks will be unable to use her Metamorphmagi abilities as of now. It may change later. She is also not allowed to work out in the field as an Auror," Dumbledore said. "I, on the other hand, am permitting her to work out in the field as a member of the Order.
"Now, while some of you are probably feeling anger, dissapointment, and other similar emotions towards Miss Tonks, I ask you not. Already her pregnancy has allowed her to get out of a dire situation, as most of you have heard, and bring down one of the most prominent Death Eaters. So I ask you to congratulate her, rather than scorn her. Along with Professor Lupin. This is a joy, a new life, amongst a time of death. We should smile and give all we can to help."
Those in the Hall nodded in support. Hestia Jones who had been frowning slightly at first turned to Tonks and gave her a pat on the hand.
"I have a daughter at Hogwarts dear, I've been through the experience, I'll be glad to help you," she smiled.
"Thank you Hestia," Tonks smiled back.
"Now, on to the topic at hand..."
Dumbledore went on to explain the events leading up to the Death Eater escape from Azkaban. Voldemort knew that Friday was the day Fudge was officially withdrawing the Dementors from Azkaban, but he already had them in his control. The minute the dozen Ministry members sent to replace the Dementors as guards arrived... the attack began. The prisoners broke into the guarded wand room, where all of the wands of those prisoners were stored. And then they came back to England... angrier than ever.
"It appears they are most focused on those who imprisoned them in the first place, especially those in the Chamber of Death at the Department of Mysteries," Dumbledore finished. "We will not be attacking them until we hear of their plans, we can't risk any of our losses. We will be on the defensive.
"I suggest you all take care of yourself and be on guard. While on duty never be alone, always be in at least a pair, I would advise more. Order members are no longer required to guard Diagon Alley-"
Voices raised in curious anger and outrage.
"Quiet, quiet, I understand you're upset. The Ministry has placed dozens of Aurors about in Diagon Alley, that allows us to have more Order members available," Dumbledore calmed them down. "We also have several shop owners placed on the lookout in Diagon Alley. Two of which are here tonight to be inducted into Order of the Phoenix."
Tonks looked around, seeing if she could spot some unfamiliar faces. But she recognized everyone.
"Mssrs. Fred and George Weasley happen to run the newly opened Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes at number ninety-three Diagon Alley," Dumbledore explained as the two red-headed twins walked to the front. "Despite the innocent nature of their store-" Several people scoffed or rolled their eyes ("Innocent my ass," Tonks whispered to Lupin) "-they believe that it would attract more then a few dark wizards, and they said they would keep a lookout for them.
"They have also demonstrated, in their time at Hogwarts, quite powerful and clever magic that will prove very useful in this upcoming war. They have also proven quite adept at inventing new, powerful, magical objects. They have offered to donate this talent to the Order and help come up with some useful items for us.
"So, as an Order, we welcome our two newest members," Dumbledore held out his arms in a signal for those in the room to rise. As a group, with the exception of Fred and George, they all held their wands up high and spoke together:
"Initio novicius flammae." A warm red-gold jet of light shot out of each and every wand, headed straight towards the twins where each and every jet engulfed the two. The twins seemed to absorb the light, glowing strong until it faded out and the last jet was gone. Tonks remembered that feeling... that you were excepted and belonged. It bonded you into the Order... you were there for life.
"That was the last item of business for this evening," Dumbledore said once Fred and George returned to their seats. "Be on guard, and if there is one problem, please alert me or one of the senior members immediately. Please remember when your shifts are for the rest of this month. Professor McGonagall will be contact everyone within the next few days with next month's new shifts. Meeting adjourned."
"Well, that was very informative," Tonks said sarcastically to Remus.
"We just don't have that much information," he said, rubbing his eyes. Tonks rubbed his back, looking at him with concern.
"You should go to up to bed right after dinner," she said softly. He turned to say something, but was interrupted by a sudden rush of people coming at him and Tonks.
Emmeline Vance practically picked up Tonks from the chair and wrapped her in a very large hug, while Sturgis Podmore came up to Remus from behind and slapped him full on the back.
"I'm very happy for you my dear," Emmeline said in as much dignity as she could muster while hugging Tonks. "A bit dissapointed you didn't wait until you were married and after the War... but, if you need any help, feel free to ask me. Mind you, I've never had children myself, but I do have several neices and nephews about."
"Oh?" Tonks said. "Do you seem them much?" Emmeline looked thoughtful.
"No," she stated. "But I do send them money on their birthdays... when I do remember. I'm just so busy with what not. They understand."
"Ah, okay, well, thank you Emmeline," Tonks said. She was quickly caught up by a second wave of happy witches.
"Oh, Tonks, dear!"
"A baby! How exciting?"
"April? Well, we'll have to have shower before then."
"Ooh, how along are you?"
"You and Lupin? That is going to be an adorable baby!"
"Do you know what the sex is yet?"
"A little girl! Remus is going to be such a good father!"
"What if it's a little boy?"
"Ooh, Tonks, he will love you to death."
Tonks slowly backed up, smiling and nodding, giving thanks and trying to acknowledge all of the women surrounding her. Finally after giving their final congratulations they drifted off and Tonks was able to get back to Lupin, who was talking warily to Mundungus Fletcher.
"...but I tell you it's in fabulous condition. May jerk a little bit when it rocks, but it works!" Fletcher was finishing. "Ah! Tonks, I was uh, jus' tellin' Remus 'ere about a wonderful baby carriage I 'appened by-"
"You're not selling us any stolen carriages, Dung," Tonks cut him off.
"You're passin' up a good deal, but, I won't stop you. The offer's still open if you want it," he put up his hands and walked off.
"I'm still wondering why he's in here," Remus said to Tonks once Mundungus was out of ear shot.
"He's actually quite good at spotting a sleazy character from a mile off," Tonks said, heading towards the exit.
"Kind of that 'It takes one to know one' thing, huh?" Remus said, following her. Tonks laughed.
"GET YOUR WANDS OU-" a voice was suddenly cut off in the middle of a shrill command.
Alana Deerborne, who had been standing boldly in the door way, suddenly fell forward.
"What the...?" Tonks along with everyone else in the room whipped their wand out. Black cloaked figures shadowed into the exit.
"Ah, it will be like shooting fish in a barrel," one of them said.
And then the curses started flying and the bodies started falling. Tonks quickly cast a shielding charm around herself she headed towards the doorway. Hopefully the four children upstairs were smart enough to stay where they were.
It seemed that the Death Eaters multiplied. Every time one fell another one was there to take it's place. Why were they attacking? Why now? How did they find the place? It had to have been highly organized, so why didn't Snape hear anything about it?
Her shield fell, and Tonks was forced to fire quick repelling charms in rapid succession before she could get it back up. Finally, she was a couple of paces away from the doorway and started casting stunning curses.
Despite her clumsiness, Tonks had a dead on aim when it came to curses. People who only knew her as Tonks the person and not as Tonks the Auror were always surprised to see exactly why she was picked to be in one of the most difficult and challenging jobs in magical law enforcement.
With Tonks firing her curses up front, the Death Eaters fell quickly until there was a big enough break in their line for her to dart through, doing a couple of surprisingly graceful flips and kicks, knocking the Death Eaters to the ground in surprise.
Naturally speedy, Tonks cast a few well-placed hexes over her shoulder while running up the stairs.
"Stupefy!" she screamed at a Death Eater running forward at her. She continued up the stairs until she reached Harry's room and kicked the door open.
"It's me!" she yelled before they could fire a curse at her. "Come with me now!"
They followed.
"But shouldn't we go and help?" Harry asked, running up the next flight of stairs.
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked breathlessly. Tonks turned when she heard Ron and Ginny beginning to scream curses out. Two of the Death Eaters followed them.
"Stupefy! Stupefy!" Tonks fired. She was right underneath the attic door, and she pulled it down, a plan beginning to form in her head. "Get up there! Now!" she added when Harry looked back at the hall, feeling like he should be fighting.
She went in last, stunning a few more Death Eaters, where the hell did they all come from? Not stopping to ponder the conundrum, Tonks practically flew up the stairs, firing several more hexes and stunning spells at the wave of Death Eaters coming up.
She jerked the stairs up and before they could be pulled back down, sealed them.
"That should slow them down a bit, come on," she grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him in the direction of the mirror, the others keeping close behind. "Please work."
Tonks reached her hand out and ran it through the mirror. Their reflection churned, until it was replaced with what looked like Dumbledore's office. Tonks didn't care what it was, it wasn't here where there were Death Eaters pounding and cursing the trap door to the attic. Keeping her hand on Harry's skin she pushed him to the mirror, hoping that as long as he was in contact with her he would go in, if you could go in at all. HE DID! Tonks practically cried with relief, but instead satisfied herself with pushing the other four teenagers into the mirror, until she went in... the very moment the trap door burst open.
Hermione was obviously very stunned and frightened, for she asked Tonks nothing about the mirror. She actually said nothing at all. Harry did have something to say.
"Why are we in the Headmaster's office?" he asked, looking around.
"I don't know," Tonks said, she was distracted by looking for a calendar. "You stupid, omniscient old man, Albus! Are you so all knowing you don't even need to have a bloody calendar around here?"
"Tonks?" she heard Ron say.
"Not now Ron."
"But, Tonks-"
"Ron, I'm trying to find a calendar so I know what time we're in."
"We're in 1996."
"That's all nice and wonderful Ron but- What?"
"There's a calendar right here," he said, pointing to a nice puppy calendar.
"Oh. Well then," she had the decency to look sheepish, but stopped when she spotted Fawkes. "Oh, God! Fawkes! You can help us!"
The beautiful phoenix looked youthful, but full grown, after the frightening night at the Ministry of Magic, in which he took the Killing Curse for his master.
"At Grimmauld Place, there's an attack happening by the Death Eaters! Can you take me back there and do whatever else you can to help us?" she didn't feel the least bit foolish asking the bird.
"And me too," Harry spoke up.
"No, Harry," Tonks turned on him, looking fiercer and meaner than he had ever seen her. "You will not go there, all of you will stay here, safe. I'm not saying you wouldn't hold your own, but this isn't your battle right now. I can't risk your lives that I just saved. If you have any respect for me, you will stay here. I put my own life and my baby's life on the line to save you, please, respect that."
She spun on her heel back to Fawkes who was stretching out his wings, he gave a gesture as if telling her to grab his tail. She did.
Porting with a Phoenix was an experience like no other. It wasn't naseauting like Flooing. It wasn't a sudden moment like Apparating. Nor was it dizzying like taking a Portkey. Instead it was warm, soft and gentle, as if floating down a dry river, warm in the sun. When she landed it was delicate and graceful, and quite surprising for those around her as she appeared in a burst of flames.
Too bad she landed in the midst of Death Eaters. Before the sparks and flames could clear away all Nymphadora Tonks could see and sense was black, and nothing else.
*****
Ending Notes: Please don't hurt me... Lol. Small note: I only have about seven completed chapters written, and I kind of like to stay ahead of myself with posting and what I have written. I also have no proper word processor seeing as my computer no longer gets along with Microsoft Word, so I write with WordPad then hand edit in all the HTML code in Notepad, that's another thing slowing me down. It's also why there may be a lot of typos and misspelled words, though I have tried my best to write things correctly... everything you read hasn't been put through a word processor... it's all straight from my head and into the computer to what you're reading, so I apologize. Next chapter... well, I won't spoil it... but... *giggles* Sorry, I can't say anything, you'll just have to review in order to get me to post sooner.
Thank You's: Spikey the Neon Blowfish (do you have access to my computer or something? Second thing you've guessed right, what with Lucius first and now Kreacher!), jordy-n-peyts mama (now I feel like I'm going to have to live up to standards, what with you havin' been pregnant and all. I hope you'll let me know if I've written something completely absurd and completely incorrect about being pregnant), Jaina Solo2 (I have to confess that the line you liked was borrowed from a play I was in at the time I wrote that chapter), Lour, Luney-Luna, nycgrl, Kazza, The French Rabbi (the updates will probably slow down around next chapter... you'll see why... *evil grin*), coffeeaddict14, Jestana, LadyA, Emmy-Chan, tradilien, Titanic-HarryPotter-lvr-2, and anyone else I may have accidently forgotten. You guys are the reason I'll ever post again!
"Ah!"
"Holy..."
Remus and Tonks jumped back to avoid having the body land on them. Neither of them could speak at first until...
"I was wondering where the hell he had gone," Tonks said.
"Man, Sirius would have loved this," Remus said.
"Remus! I'm shocked to hear you talk like that!" Tonks laughed. She had expected him to glare at her and bend over and check to see if Kreacher was simply asleep or in a coma.
"I didn't like him-"
"But you treated him so nicely," Tonks acknowledged.
"Because I knew I should. But he never treated me too nicely," Remus explained. Tonks nodded and kicked the body with her foot.
"So, um, what do we do?" Tonks asked finally. Remus shrugged and with his own foot pushed the body over to the side of the hall.
"I expect we'll have some stuff to take down from the attic... we'll take him then," he said starting up.
"But... but what if he starts to smell?"
"He already smelled, I don't think a couple of hours is going to do anything worse," Remus said looking back at Tonks whose gaze kept switching from him to the dead house elf.
"But, what if Hermione happens on him?"
"Why would she be up here?"
Tonks wished Remus hadn't said that. It so happened at that moment, Hermione, in her knowledgeable ways, knew they were talking about her and decided to venture up and join in attic cleaning fun.
"Hi, Tonks, I decided to- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Oh, my God! What happened? Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" she screamed. Tonks ran over and slapped her hand over Hermione's mouth.
"Shhh, it's okay 'Mione, Kreacher was old, it was his time-"
"Hermione, what's going on- whoa! Dead house elf!" Harry exclaimed running up the stairs, Ron and Ginny close behind him, all of them with their wands out.
"Wicked! Did Tonks finally kill him?" Ron asked.
"Why didn't you tell me! I would have loved to watch!" Ginny complained.
"Stop!" Tonks silenced them. "Kreacher died of... natural causes. And I'm glad you came up here, you can do me a favor by Flooing Professor Snape and asking them what to do with a dead house elf, seeing as I have never dealt with one."
"Yeah, just make the job more disgusting than it is..." Ron mumbled, starting to kick Kreacher's body in the direction of the stairs.
"Ron!" Hermione admonished. "Even in death we should respect him!"
"Fine then, you carry him," he stepped back allowing Hermione to gingerly pick up the elf body. Ron playfully rolled his eyes at Harry and Ginny as they went down stairs.
"Now, on to the attic," Tonks said venturing up the stairs to where Lupin had disappeared.
"Have you ever been up here?" Remus asked when Tonks came in.
"Yes. Sirius and I..." she trailed off.
"No, go ahead. It's better to talk about it than keeping it in," Remus said. "We know what happens when it's kept in too long." Cue tension here.
"Well, I haven't been up here since he died," Tonks cleared her throat. "But, if he was bored and I happened to be over, we would venture up here and have a look around."
"Ever find anything cool?" Remus asked, closing a box full of old clothes he had opened. Tonks started on another box.
"Well, we found loads of pictures that Kreacher ended up running off with. But we stopped when we found several boxes of torture equipment," she shuddered. The box she opened had moldy linens so she pushed it to the side, ready to discard.
"Interesting pictures?"
"Not really... just creepy relatives. One of my mum and her sisters which kind of weirded me out," Tonks said, deciding to go further into the attic.
"Was it like this one?" Remus had apparently found another box of pictures that Kreacher hadn't seen yet, he was holding one of them. Tonks walked over and took it from his hands.
It was a rare picture of all three sisters, quite young, standing and smiling with one another. It was taken at an outdoor picnic of some sort. Bellatrix looked as if she was twelve or thirteen, she was standing closely next to Tonks's own mother Andromeda, who was looking lovingly up at her older sister. She could have been ten or eleven, ready to enter Hogwarts. Both had the dark Black hair, thick and long. Despite the heavy-lidded eyes Bellatrix had even then, you could still see the dark twinkling eyes that matched Andromeda's. A small scoot away was the sister that looked nothing like the other two. She had pale shining eyes and hair so blonde it was almost white. Narcissa. She was smiling at the other two and was holding an apple. She couldn't have been older than three.
"Auntie Narcissa was always so different," Tonks frowned.
"What do you mean?" Remus asked stepping up and looking at the picture over Tonks' shoulder.
"Well physically, just look at her..." she pointed out. "And then there's that age difference... Mum liked to joke that Narcissa was an affair child. Then she stopped joking."
"Were you ever close to your aunts?" Remus asked off-handed going back to glancing at the other photos.
"Before I got into Hogwarts, I was, actually," Tonks admitted. Remus jerked his head up. He knew that Sirius had avoided his cousins, minus Andromeda, like the plague, and he had figured Tonks did the same thing.
"You were?"
"Yeah," Tonks smiled slightly. "They thought that I may be in Slytherin and that they could warm me up for it. Mind you, my mum had an idea what they were up too and had brought me up well enough to treat everything they told me very cautiously. Sure enough, when I got to Hogwarts and didn't end up in Slytherin they cut off all communications."
"Did it hurt you?" Remus asked.
"Not at all!" Tonks laughed. "I was happy, the older I became, the scarier and more determined they seemed to get."
She tossed the picture back into the box, nearly hitting Remus' hand. He sealed it and pushed it towards the other discarded boxes.
"So, do you have an idea where you might want to be in the attic?" she asked, looking around. A dull flash of light caught her attention. It came from a dusty mirror.
"A place cleared out where I don't have a chance of breaking anything. Like that mirror," he pointed, spotting what Tonks was looking at.
She hurried over to the beautiful object, stumbling and knocking over a few precariously towering boxes. Taking the sheet off a covered couch next to it she quickly removed the dust from the surface. It was glass... but it wasn't. When she had wiped it off with the sheet it felt hard and smooth, but with the dust all gone she noticed it seemed to be moving like water, her reflection moving like waves in a lake.
"What does it do?" Remus asked stepping behind her. Tonks shrugged and reached out to touch it. Remus caught her hand. "Wait, we don't know what it does. Let me..."
Gingerly, with his wand, Remus poked the mirror. It was hard... the wand made no effect in the movement of the water-like substance. Tonks then took her hand and tapped it lightly, the only thing it did was make the water ripple. It felt like a cool liquid, but when she pulled her hand away it was dry. Remus tried with his hand, it was hard and smooth again like glass.
"It must work only for you... since you're a Black?" he suggested. He began scanning the rim of the mirror for any inscription. Tonks put her hand in the substance again and held it longer.
"Hmmm," she murmered thoughtfully as the water began to move. Suddenly the water began to churn harder and the image of Tonks was replaced with a scene seemingly out of a movie.
...A park, summer, a dark haired woman that had been seen in a picture earlier, but many years younger, was holding the hand of a small girl who looked a lot like her. The little girl was skipping happily, chattering on like a bird while her mother smiled and nodded, beaming at her daughter. A small, older woman passed by them, walking her toy poodle.
"Poodle!" the little girl screamed, pointing at the dog then jumping down into a sort of squat position. She stared at it before scrunching her face up. Then suddenly, to the surprise of her mother and the woman, who had turned to smile at the adorable little girl squealing with delight at her dog, the girl's hair had turned the same color, texture, and shape as the white, fluffy dog's.
"Oh good heavens!" the elderly woman gasped, putting a hand to her mouth in shock.
"Nymphadora!" the mother screeched, jerking her daughter up. The mother suddenly pulled a stick, better known as her wand, out of her purse and pointed it at the lady. "Obliviate."
"Nymphadora turn your hair back right now," she said. The girl obliged. The lady with the dog looked at them with a glazed expression, smiled fondly at the little girl, then turned and headed back in the direction she came from, not understanding why her dog kept staring at the little girl...
"What was that?" Remus asked, having seen the whole thing.
"That was when I learned not to transform in public," Tonks said, stunned at the outsider prospective on a cherished childhood memory.
"Well, there's an inscription here at the bottom," he pointed.
"What's it say?" Tonks said, kneeling down for a closer look.
"Eru tureht foeg del wonkeht thiw tsapehtt neserpi," Remus read. "The inscription on mirrors, magical ones, usually always read backwards." He frowned as he began reading the inscription backwards.
"I present the past with the knowledge of the future," Tonks said. He glanced up at her.
"How did you know that?"
"I remember my mother telling me about a mirror her aunt owned that could show your past, present and future," she explained. "She said she found it and told me what the bottom said but had never worked it out what it meant. I've had some time to think about it."
"Oh."
"That's why it doesn't work for you though, because it's a Black family mirror."
"Well, good, I don't want to see what it has to show me," he turned his back, heading towards more boxes. Understanding he didn't want to be bothered about it, Tonks shrugged her shoulders and began searching for more interesting items, her mind continued wandering to the mirror though. Wondering exactly how it worked.
"Ah ha!" she heard Remus laugh.
"What?" she called back to him.
"Look at this," he hurried over, holding a very old and yellowed magazine. It was a very ancient copy of Witch Weekly.
"Oh, this is hysterical," she said flipping through it. "'Escaping the gallows: Five easy to use spells for escaping witch hunters.' Hmmm, maybe I should read this."
"Look at this one... 'The Busty Boustier, now in three sizes and complete with the latest of chest enhancement attachments!'" Remus fell on the floor laughing. Tonks landed next to him, giggling too hard to continue holding herself up.
Remus rolled to his side, still chuckling, to look at Tonks. He stopped, hypnotized. Her arms were over her head, her eyes shut, and mouth open in laughter. She was flushed with glee, and seemed near perfect in the little rays of sunlight that managed in through the grimey windows of the attic.
Maybe it was because of the full moon that was to be rising the next night, or just because he couldn't avoid the way he felt in his heart, but Remus found himself unable to stop what he did next.
Leaning down, he planted a soft kiss on Tonks' still giggling mouth. She stopped laughing and he pulled back. Her eyes were wide open in shock and her breath was shallow and light. He just stared back at her, until, he realized what he did was wrong and began standing up. But her hand flung out and grabbed his collar, pulling him back over her, kissing him fiercely.
He pulled away again minutes later, smiling at her while she smiled back.
Tonks was feeling very strange indeed. Could it be the hormones from the baby? Could it be the part of Remus inside of her was affected by the full moon and therefore she was also affected? But whatever it was it was making her want Remus bad.
"Tonks?" Remus stopped smiling and was looking at Tonks rather fearfully. She had a feral, wild look in her eyes to him, Tonks resembled a predator after the prey. Oh, but he wasn't a werewolf ready for the full moon for nothing. She pounced at him like a cat, but he was ready. He quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her on to the uncovered couch.
His kisses were hard. He bit, nipped, and licked her neck. Tonks was loving every moment of it, but she was sick of being on the bottom...
Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Harry and Buckbeack all looked up at the ceiling, startled, when a large thump followed by a loud moan came from the attic above them.
Despite one minor set back that morning, Remus and Tonks managed to clear away a good spot for Remus to spend the next three days comfortably and safely.
"Well, this looks very nice," Molly commented, peering into the attic, her head only visible. "I've just come up to tell you lunch is ready."
"Thanks, Molly, we'll be down in just a minute," Remus said, stacking up the last box.
"You know one good thing about being pregnant so far," Tonks said from behind another stack.
"What's that?"
"We can do... anything... and not have to worry about getting me pregnant again!" she grinned. Remus glared. "Hey, I'm on the lookout for the bright side Mr. Gloomy-Gus."
"Come on, let's get washed up for lunch."
It was nearly an hour before the meeting was to start and Tonks was already on edge. Dumbledore had told her he was going to start the meeting off with announcing Tonks' pregnancy, and then move on to the true topic at hand... the Death Eater break out.
"Dumbledore," Tonks greeted him at the door. She looked next to him, standing there, looking quite sloppy, was a drunk house elf. "And... why is there a house elf?"
"Well, Tonks," Dumbledore started, walking in and helping her re-seal the wards. "Severus informed me of the loss of your current house elf-"
"Yes, it was quite tragic," Tonks commented drily.
"And I thought that you would appreciate a new house elf, especially in the next few months," he winked.
"Why?"
"Well, this is actually a special house elf. I believe she needs to feel wanted again. Do you keep butterbeer in the house?" he asked.
"Yes."
"You'll want to keep it locked," he headed towards the basement. Tonks followed after, very confused. "Now, this was the cupboard Kreacher slept in?"
"Yes, but Pr-"
He interrupted her with a flick of his wand and the objects with in the cupboard quickly vanished and it was sparkling clean, with a small bed and nightstand.
"Winky," he said to the small elf that had followed him. "This is to be your new home, this is where you will be sleeping. And this woman here is going to be one of your new masters. She will be the one who will tell you who else is a master."
"Master Dumbledore is... is leaving Winky?" she looked up at him blearily.
"No, I will still be around. But I am putting you in the charge of a woman who is really going to need you," he explained, turning her to see Tonks who was smiling uncomfortably.
"Hello... Winky, I'm Nymphadora Tonks. You can call me Tonks."
"You is not a Crouch!" the little elf squealed.
"No, Winky, I come from the Black family-"
"Black family is bad wizards!" Winky accused, pointing a finger at Tonks.
"Yes, but I'm a good one, you won't have to do anything for the bad ones," Tonks explained. It seemed too much for the little drunk elf who blinked a few times before falling down, unconscious. Tonks looked up at Dumbledore. "And she's supposed to take care of me?"
"She'll come around. Like I said she just needs to feel needed again," Dumbledore explained, magicking the little elf into the small cupboard. "She is very sweet so you shouldn't feel the need to treat her as you did Kreacher."
"Hey! I just treated him as he treated me!" Tonks defended herself.
"Even so..." Dumbledore sighed.
"Yes, I understand," Tonks nodded.
"Now, is there any of Molly's fudge left?"
"May I have your attention please?" Dumbledore called the meeting to order. Immediately the noise in the Hall of Grimmauld Place died down. "Thank you. Before we get straight to business about the Death Eater break out, there is one minor event we must address.
"Some of you already know this, but for those of you who don't, Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin will be expecting a child in April of next year," he smiled.
An immediate rush of murmering voices picked up, heads turning rapidly to look at Tonks who was unfortunately right next to Remus at the moment. Snape of course had a large, excited sneer plastered on his face.
"One problem we're already encountering with this is that Miss Tonks will be unable to use her Metamorphmagi abilities as of now. It may change later. She is also not allowed to work out in the field as an Auror," Dumbledore said. "I, on the other hand, am permitting her to work out in the field as a member of the Order.
"Now, while some of you are probably feeling anger, dissapointment, and other similar emotions towards Miss Tonks, I ask you not. Already her pregnancy has allowed her to get out of a dire situation, as most of you have heard, and bring down one of the most prominent Death Eaters. So I ask you to congratulate her, rather than scorn her. Along with Professor Lupin. This is a joy, a new life, amongst a time of death. We should smile and give all we can to help."
Those in the Hall nodded in support. Hestia Jones who had been frowning slightly at first turned to Tonks and gave her a pat on the hand.
"I have a daughter at Hogwarts dear, I've been through the experience, I'll be glad to help you," she smiled.
"Thank you Hestia," Tonks smiled back.
"Now, on to the topic at hand..."
Dumbledore went on to explain the events leading up to the Death Eater escape from Azkaban. Voldemort knew that Friday was the day Fudge was officially withdrawing the Dementors from Azkaban, but he already had them in his control. The minute the dozen Ministry members sent to replace the Dementors as guards arrived... the attack began. The prisoners broke into the guarded wand room, where all of the wands of those prisoners were stored. And then they came back to England... angrier than ever.
"It appears they are most focused on those who imprisoned them in the first place, especially those in the Chamber of Death at the Department of Mysteries," Dumbledore finished. "We will not be attacking them until we hear of their plans, we can't risk any of our losses. We will be on the defensive.
"I suggest you all take care of yourself and be on guard. While on duty never be alone, always be in at least a pair, I would advise more. Order members are no longer required to guard Diagon Alley-"
Voices raised in curious anger and outrage.
"Quiet, quiet, I understand you're upset. The Ministry has placed dozens of Aurors about in Diagon Alley, that allows us to have more Order members available," Dumbledore calmed them down. "We also have several shop owners placed on the lookout in Diagon Alley. Two of which are here tonight to be inducted into Order of the Phoenix."
Tonks looked around, seeing if she could spot some unfamiliar faces. But she recognized everyone.
"Mssrs. Fred and George Weasley happen to run the newly opened Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes at number ninety-three Diagon Alley," Dumbledore explained as the two red-headed twins walked to the front. "Despite the innocent nature of their store-" Several people scoffed or rolled their eyes ("Innocent my ass," Tonks whispered to Lupin) "-they believe that it would attract more then a few dark wizards, and they said they would keep a lookout for them.
"They have also demonstrated, in their time at Hogwarts, quite powerful and clever magic that will prove very useful in this upcoming war. They have also proven quite adept at inventing new, powerful, magical objects. They have offered to donate this talent to the Order and help come up with some useful items for us.
"So, as an Order, we welcome our two newest members," Dumbledore held out his arms in a signal for those in the room to rise. As a group, with the exception of Fred and George, they all held their wands up high and spoke together:
"Initio novicius flammae." A warm red-gold jet of light shot out of each and every wand, headed straight towards the twins where each and every jet engulfed the two. The twins seemed to absorb the light, glowing strong until it faded out and the last jet was gone. Tonks remembered that feeling... that you were excepted and belonged. It bonded you into the Order... you were there for life.
"That was the last item of business for this evening," Dumbledore said once Fred and George returned to their seats. "Be on guard, and if there is one problem, please alert me or one of the senior members immediately. Please remember when your shifts are for the rest of this month. Professor McGonagall will be contact everyone within the next few days with next month's new shifts. Meeting adjourned."
"Well, that was very informative," Tonks said sarcastically to Remus.
"We just don't have that much information," he said, rubbing his eyes. Tonks rubbed his back, looking at him with concern.
"You should go to up to bed right after dinner," she said softly. He turned to say something, but was interrupted by a sudden rush of people coming at him and Tonks.
Emmeline Vance practically picked up Tonks from the chair and wrapped her in a very large hug, while Sturgis Podmore came up to Remus from behind and slapped him full on the back.
"I'm very happy for you my dear," Emmeline said in as much dignity as she could muster while hugging Tonks. "A bit dissapointed you didn't wait until you were married and after the War... but, if you need any help, feel free to ask me. Mind you, I've never had children myself, but I do have several neices and nephews about."
"Oh?" Tonks said. "Do you seem them much?" Emmeline looked thoughtful.
"No," she stated. "But I do send them money on their birthdays... when I do remember. I'm just so busy with what not. They understand."
"Ah, okay, well, thank you Emmeline," Tonks said. She was quickly caught up by a second wave of happy witches.
"Oh, Tonks, dear!"
"A baby! How exciting?"
"April? Well, we'll have to have shower before then."
"Ooh, how along are you?"
"You and Lupin? That is going to be an adorable baby!"
"Do you know what the sex is yet?"
"A little girl! Remus is going to be such a good father!"
"What if it's a little boy?"
"Ooh, Tonks, he will love you to death."
Tonks slowly backed up, smiling and nodding, giving thanks and trying to acknowledge all of the women surrounding her. Finally after giving their final congratulations they drifted off and Tonks was able to get back to Lupin, who was talking warily to Mundungus Fletcher.
"...but I tell you it's in fabulous condition. May jerk a little bit when it rocks, but it works!" Fletcher was finishing. "Ah! Tonks, I was uh, jus' tellin' Remus 'ere about a wonderful baby carriage I 'appened by-"
"You're not selling us any stolen carriages, Dung," Tonks cut him off.
"You're passin' up a good deal, but, I won't stop you. The offer's still open if you want it," he put up his hands and walked off.
"I'm still wondering why he's in here," Remus said to Tonks once Mundungus was out of ear shot.
"He's actually quite good at spotting a sleazy character from a mile off," Tonks said, heading towards the exit.
"Kind of that 'It takes one to know one' thing, huh?" Remus said, following her. Tonks laughed.
"GET YOUR WANDS OU-" a voice was suddenly cut off in the middle of a shrill command.
Alana Deerborne, who had been standing boldly in the door way, suddenly fell forward.
"What the...?" Tonks along with everyone else in the room whipped their wand out. Black cloaked figures shadowed into the exit.
"Ah, it will be like shooting fish in a barrel," one of them said.
And then the curses started flying and the bodies started falling. Tonks quickly cast a shielding charm around herself she headed towards the doorway. Hopefully the four children upstairs were smart enough to stay where they were.
It seemed that the Death Eaters multiplied. Every time one fell another one was there to take it's place. Why were they attacking? Why now? How did they find the place? It had to have been highly organized, so why didn't Snape hear anything about it?
Her shield fell, and Tonks was forced to fire quick repelling charms in rapid succession before she could get it back up. Finally, she was a couple of paces away from the doorway and started casting stunning curses.
Despite her clumsiness, Tonks had a dead on aim when it came to curses. People who only knew her as Tonks the person and not as Tonks the Auror were always surprised to see exactly why she was picked to be in one of the most difficult and challenging jobs in magical law enforcement.
With Tonks firing her curses up front, the Death Eaters fell quickly until there was a big enough break in their line for her to dart through, doing a couple of surprisingly graceful flips and kicks, knocking the Death Eaters to the ground in surprise.
Naturally speedy, Tonks cast a few well-placed hexes over her shoulder while running up the stairs.
"Stupefy!" she screamed at a Death Eater running forward at her. She continued up the stairs until she reached Harry's room and kicked the door open.
"It's me!" she yelled before they could fire a curse at her. "Come with me now!"
They followed.
"But shouldn't we go and help?" Harry asked, running up the next flight of stairs.
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked breathlessly. Tonks turned when she heard Ron and Ginny beginning to scream curses out. Two of the Death Eaters followed them.
"Stupefy! Stupefy!" Tonks fired. She was right underneath the attic door, and she pulled it down, a plan beginning to form in her head. "Get up there! Now!" she added when Harry looked back at the hall, feeling like he should be fighting.
She went in last, stunning a few more Death Eaters, where the hell did they all come from? Not stopping to ponder the conundrum, Tonks practically flew up the stairs, firing several more hexes and stunning spells at the wave of Death Eaters coming up.
She jerked the stairs up and before they could be pulled back down, sealed them.
"That should slow them down a bit, come on," she grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him in the direction of the mirror, the others keeping close behind. "Please work."
Tonks reached her hand out and ran it through the mirror. Their reflection churned, until it was replaced with what looked like Dumbledore's office. Tonks didn't care what it was, it wasn't here where there were Death Eaters pounding and cursing the trap door to the attic. Keeping her hand on Harry's skin she pushed him to the mirror, hoping that as long as he was in contact with her he would go in, if you could go in at all. HE DID! Tonks practically cried with relief, but instead satisfied herself with pushing the other four teenagers into the mirror, until she went in... the very moment the trap door burst open.
Hermione was obviously very stunned and frightened, for she asked Tonks nothing about the mirror. She actually said nothing at all. Harry did have something to say.
"Why are we in the Headmaster's office?" he asked, looking around.
"I don't know," Tonks said, she was distracted by looking for a calendar. "You stupid, omniscient old man, Albus! Are you so all knowing you don't even need to have a bloody calendar around here?"
"Tonks?" she heard Ron say.
"Not now Ron."
"But, Tonks-"
"Ron, I'm trying to find a calendar so I know what time we're in."
"We're in 1996."
"That's all nice and wonderful Ron but- What?"
"There's a calendar right here," he said, pointing to a nice puppy calendar.
"Oh. Well then," she had the decency to look sheepish, but stopped when she spotted Fawkes. "Oh, God! Fawkes! You can help us!"
The beautiful phoenix looked youthful, but full grown, after the frightening night at the Ministry of Magic, in which he took the Killing Curse for his master.
"At Grimmauld Place, there's an attack happening by the Death Eaters! Can you take me back there and do whatever else you can to help us?" she didn't feel the least bit foolish asking the bird.
"And me too," Harry spoke up.
"No, Harry," Tonks turned on him, looking fiercer and meaner than he had ever seen her. "You will not go there, all of you will stay here, safe. I'm not saying you wouldn't hold your own, but this isn't your battle right now. I can't risk your lives that I just saved. If you have any respect for me, you will stay here. I put my own life and my baby's life on the line to save you, please, respect that."
She spun on her heel back to Fawkes who was stretching out his wings, he gave a gesture as if telling her to grab his tail. She did.
Porting with a Phoenix was an experience like no other. It wasn't naseauting like Flooing. It wasn't a sudden moment like Apparating. Nor was it dizzying like taking a Portkey. Instead it was warm, soft and gentle, as if floating down a dry river, warm in the sun. When she landed it was delicate and graceful, and quite surprising for those around her as she appeared in a burst of flames.
Too bad she landed in the midst of Death Eaters. Before the sparks and flames could clear away all Nymphadora Tonks could see and sense was black, and nothing else.
Ending Notes: Please don't hurt me... Lol. Small note: I only have about seven completed chapters written, and I kind of like to stay ahead of myself with posting and what I have written. I also have no proper word processor seeing as my computer no longer gets along with Microsoft Word, so I write with WordPad then hand edit in all the HTML code in Notepad, that's another thing slowing me down. It's also why there may be a lot of typos and misspelled words, though I have tried my best to write things correctly... everything you read hasn't been put through a word processor... it's all straight from my head and into the computer to what you're reading, so I apologize. Next chapter... well, I won't spoil it... but... *giggles* Sorry, I can't say anything, you'll just have to review in order to get me to post sooner.
Thank You's: Spikey the Neon Blowfish (do you have access to my computer or something? Second thing you've guessed right, what with Lucius first and now Kreacher!), jordy-n-peyts mama (now I feel like I'm going to have to live up to standards, what with you havin' been pregnant and all. I hope you'll let me know if I've written something completely absurd and completely incorrect about being pregnant), Jaina Solo2 (I have to confess that the line you liked was borrowed from a play I was in at the time I wrote that chapter), Lour, Luney-Luna, nycgrl, Kazza, The French Rabbi (the updates will probably slow down around next chapter... you'll see why... *evil grin*), coffeeaddict14, Jestana, LadyA, Emmy-Chan, tradilien, Titanic-HarryPotter-lvr-2, and anyone else I may have accidently forgotten. You guys are the reason I'll ever post again!