A/N Thank you so so so so much to everyone who reviewed. It made me feel v. happy.

Chapter Two

Tonks

"I don't know why they're always going on about him being mad, and all," I said, glancing at the latest piece of waffle about Harry Potter having the intellect of a squash.

"They've got nothing else to talk about," said Mara, sipping her coffee daintily. She's always dainty, Mara. "Stupid really. He just wants attention, so he's pretending."

"Oh, I dunno," said Eric. "What d'you reckon Tonks, is he mad or not?"

"Not." I said. I felt safe saying it here. Eric, Mara, and I had gone to a little muggle coffee shop on Portabello road for our lunch break. As far as I knew most ministry wizards didn't even know it existed.

"But if he's not out of his tree then he's telling the truth about…..about You-Know-Who, isn't he?" said Tom.

"Oh don't be ridiculous," said Mara. "He just wants attention, is all."

I took a deep breath. "Well actually….actually I'm not really sure about all that either." If it had been anyone else but Mara and Eric I'd have kept shut, but I'd known them since forever.

"You think You-Know-Who's back?" said Mara.

"Well I don't think Harry Potter's trying to get attention, he's got enough already. Besides Dumbledore believes him, and when's he been wrong?"

"Well they say he's loosing his grip…."

"And that's tripe, isn't it? Dumbledore's not mad, and neither is Harry Potter." I said.

"Oh no he's Mad!" said Eric, in an unnecessarily loud voice. "Mad, mad, mad! Mad as a…..as a……as a gold fish!"

"What are you on about?" I asked.

"Completely potty. Round the twist. His brain has gone to the dogs. He is completely insane." He nudged me in the ribs and jerked his head toward the door.

It was Kingsely Shacklebolt, standing there, bold as brass, in line for coffee, in my safe, muggle coffee shop, overhearing my subversive conversation. Oh pig, pig, pig! I thought.

"Yes!" I bellowed, in a desperate attempt to undo any possible damage. "Yes I believe you're right, Eric he is dotty as a camel, that Harry Potter! He has no sense. Utterly barmy. Potty Potter. And Dumbledore's just as bad! Yup yup."

"Yars, yars a nut job if I ever saw one!" added Mara, for good measure. "Well must rush. Come along Eric, Tonks. "

"'Dotty as a camel' eh?" muttered Kingsley as we hurried past. "I'll be speaking to you later, Tonks."

So that was it. My life, as I knew it, was over. I'd worked so long to be an Auror, I was still putting up with stupid hazing because I was the youngest one in the department, and now I was going to be fired. Could I have been more stupid? Saying I believed Voldemort was back in public…..God! I deserved to be fired. Aurors were supposed to be subtle and discreet, not loud, opinion showing, morons.

Back in the Atrium I changed my hair from pink to straight and brown. I had a vague and idiotic idea that if I looked more inconspicuous (i.e. brown hair instead of pink) Rufus Scrimgeour wouldn't be able to spot me, and therefore to sack me. I could just imagine Kingsley Shacklebolt reporting to him:

"Nymphadora Tonks is disloyal and anti-ministry. Not only does she have a stupid first name, she is unfit to be an Auror because she lacks subtlety and the right opinions. Also she is clumsy and always spills her coffee and can never find anything. Fire her at once, we all hate her!"

Oh God, I'd be in disgrace. I'd have to go beg Eric to put in a word for me at Flourish and Blotts. All my friends would come in to buy books and they'd whisper to each other "Didn't she use to be an Auror?" "Yes but she was sacked for being a moron, poor dear."

Oh God, oh God.

I'd worked myself into such a frenzy by the time I reached my cubicle that it was all I could do to sit down and start shuffling through papers, pretending to work.

"Tonks!" it was Shacklebolt. OhGodohGodohGodohGod.

"Y-yes sir?" I turned around slowly, clutching a quill with both hands.

"Help me carry these files to my cubicle, would you?" he held out two heavy looking boxes. I could barely hold them for shaking. I had no thoughts, just a horrible buzzing behind my ears. What was I going to do?

"Changed your hair color I see?" he muttered as we headed down the rows.

"Mmmphg," was all I could manage.

When we reached his cubicle I dropped the boxes of files in shock. Blinking at me from three walls were pictures of Sirius Black. There was even one of him and my mother when they were young. He'd been her favorite cousin. It was something I didn't like to think about.

But of course, it made sense about the pictures. He was in charge of the search for Black, after all.

"Sit down, please," he said.

I sat on the edge of his desk and immediately knocked a large pile of parchment on to the floor.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Oh….." I scrabbled on the floor, trying to gather the papers up. It just kept getting worse and worse.

"Never mind the papers, Tonks. We need to talk."

I could feel all the blood rushing out of my head. I stood up and swayed. This was it. This was really it. I was done for.

"I over heard you conversation with your friends today, about Harry Potter."

"Shamhumph," I said. I was going for 'which bit?' but of course I couldn't get it out.

"Don't worry. You're not going to get into trouble."

"I—I'm not? But why?"

"Surely you don't want to?" he grinned slightly.

"No! Of course not, but…..why aren't you telling anyone?"

He leaned toward me, his face deadly serious. "I take it you're too young to have heard of the Order of the Phoenix?"

It's amazing how quickly your life can change. One minute everything is crushingly boring and disappointing and then you do something amazingly stupid and it changes everything, and suddenly you're doing what you've always wanted to do. It was really happening, I'd be able to do something, to be part of something. This was why I became an Auror.

I floated through the rest of the day, I felt like my feet barely touched the ground I was so happy. I was going to do it. I was going to be part of this. And it was going to be amazing.