Disclaimer: No, I don't own Harry Potter. You really thought I was JK Rowling? Gee, thanks 'blush blush'
Chapter 3: A Different Light
In a very dim-lit room, at 11:00 in the morning on a calm, peaceful Monday morning, a shrill alarm filled the air, causing the large mound of blankets in the middle of the room to move slightly.
As the earsplitting sound continued, the mound moved a little more, trying to slowly crawl across the room to the ugly mahogany wardrobe in the corner.
As the mound approached the dresser the blankets fell off, only to uncover a young twenty-six year old Auror, with sandy blond hair in tight pin curls.
Tonks got up and stretched lazily, shaking off the remainder of the blankets. She rubbed her eyes, yawning loudly, and pulled open the wardrobe. She took out a pair of jeans, and a bright-pink t-shirt with 'The Weird Sisters' written across the front. She dressed quickly and yawned once more.
Tonks trudged back over to where the pile of blankets lay, picked them up and threw them carelessly on her bed, which, apparently, she had rolled off of in the middle of the night. She scouted the floor for a minute, searching for her backpack. When she found it, she walked clumsily back over to the dresser, pulled out a new, clean black robe and stuffed it vigorously into the small backpack.
Tonks started out the door, then, realizing the alarm was still screeching annoyingly, took out her wand and flicked it lazily.
Her alarm clock exploded.
Tonks hand flew to her head and she murmured to herself, "It's 'Arrêtez bruit' not 'Erretes boot'… I always do that…"
As she walked hastily down the hallway, an old lady stepped unexpectedly from the nearest doorway, and held up a wrinkled hand to stop her.
"T-Tonks, dear, your rent's late…" she peered at Tonks irritably from under a set of large frameless glasses. "Again. Now, I'll need it by the end of the day, or else I'll have to…'kick you out' or however you young people say it these days."
The old lady's eyes drifted slowly up to Tonks hair. "Your hair is…blond today, I see…" she gave Tonks another sharp look and began waddle away, muttering under her breath, "Changes her hair every day, that one does…I don't know how she does…it's a wonder…every day…"
Tonks waited until she was out of earshot until she let out a laugh. She wasn't bothered at all by her landlady's threat; she had told her the same thing every time Tonks failed to get her rent in on time, yet she had so far never lived up to her word. Nevertheless, Tonks was getting paid today, and she vowed to drop the rent off as soon as she got home.
Something in her landlady's words did remind her to do something, however (other than pay the rent, that is). She scrunched up her face in concentration and felt a cool tingling sensation trickle down from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. She opened her eyes and felt her hair. It was short, spiky and bubble-gum pink, which clashed horribly with her 'Weird Sisters' t-shirt. Tonks went into the elevator and exited on the ground floor. A few Muggles gave her peculiar looks, but of course that was the drawback to being a witch in a non-magical community.
She walked about four blocks before she saw the place she walking towards; a very old-looking set of office buildings that had windows so covered thick with dust, they looked totally black. She began to half-skip towards the doors, humming to herself. Tonks felt very good about today; she didn't know why, but there was a feeling of total joy and anticipation exploding inside her.
When she reached the door to the office buildings, she unzipped her backpack and pulled on her black robes. She then prodded the office door twice with the tip of her wand and murmured something very softly under her breath. Almost at once she began to experience the familiar feeling of boiling hot water splashing her in the face.
As the sensation stopped a cool female voice spoke tonelessly from nowhere. "Nymphadora Tonks, Office Eighteen, Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters and Wizengamot Administration Services, welcome."
After listening impatiently to the speech, she heaved opened the large stone doors and stepped into a gigantic, beautiful entrance room. To her right was a gold statue of a house-elf, a centaur, a witch and wizard, and a goblin. Tonks approached the statue and threw in one shiny bronze Knut, as she did everyday.
She began to half-skip once again down the long hall and eventually turned quickly into a large silver elevator. There were three other people in there with her: a short, plump blonde witch who was immersed in a large leather-bound book; a tall dark man whom Tonks thought she remembered was named "Markus"; and closest to her a wizard named Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was also an Auror and whom she was on pretty good terms with.
"Wotcher Kingsley," she said pleasantly.
He smiled, "Morning Tonks. Late night?" he added, just as Tonks heaved another huge yawn.
"Nah, I'm always like this in the morning," she paused as the elevator stopped. 'Level Seven, Department of Magical Games…' they watched closely as the two other occupants hurried out, "All this Harry Potter business too," she said quietly, "He's being a right idiot, Fudge is. I don't know about you, but I believe what Harry Potter says. After all, Dumbledore backs him up, and I think that anything Dumbledore says goes…I mean, I don't even understand what he's going on about sometimes…but that just might be because I'm a bit slow." She paused and let out another gigantic yawn. "I really feel for that kid, I wouldn't be able to stand it if someone made up rumors that I had lost my marbles…or that I never even had them." She rubbed her arm subconsciously and plowed on. "Besides, how does the Ministry know that You-Know-Who isn't back? It just makes me mad that they can't see what's shoved right in front of their faces."
Tonks cast a cautious look at Kingsley; she had always thought he wasn't a real big supporter of Fudge, but she could be wrong.
But Kingsley had a rather curious look on his face; it wasn't annoyance, or disbelief, anger, or even agreement. As she tried to place it Kingsley opened his mouth and spoke very, very silently, in an extremely hushed tone, "Tonks, would you, if you had the chance, fight for what you believe, I mean, like even if you had to go behind…behind the Ministries back?"
Tonks raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out what Kingsley was going on about, but before she could answer, Kingsley continued, "Have you ever heard of The Order of the Phoenix?"
Tonks nodded immediately. Ever since her mother had once mentioned the Order, Tonks found and learned every single fact she could about them. But…why was Kingsley mentioning them now?
"So, would you, if you had the chance - even if it meant sneaking behind the Ministries back - fight with all you had for what you believe?"
Tonks nodded once more. She thought she was beginning to see what Kingsley was getting at. She opened her mouth to speak when the elevator stopped and they arrived on their floor. Kingsley was still looking at her strangely, his face serious, "Look, meet me right outside the entrance at around 5 o'clock tonight, OK?"
Tonks nodded again. She and Kingsley got off the lift together in silence, walked quickly down the hall, and into their cubicles. For a minute Tonks just stared at the huge stack of parchment in front of her.
What was happening? She thought, her mind racing. 5 o'clock, 5 o'clock, she repeated, over and over again in her head.
Now, as she got to work anticipation began to grow. She found herself glancing at her wristwatch every few moments, and started to tap her foot impatiently. She couldn't wait.
----
At 4:45 that evening Tonks hurriedly began to pack away her things. She picked up the towering mountain of papers and precariously took them over to Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of the Auror office.
"Here, sir," she said timidly, slowly placing them down on his desk, so relieved she had not dropped the stack of papers, being as she was usually clumsy as hell.
Scrimgeour didn't even bother to look up; he gave his head a tilt, and continued reading a very long roll of parchment. Tonks left without another word; she didn't like Scrimgeour much, he wasn't very kind and never made any attempts to be friendly.
She checked her watch excitedly, 4:54, six minutes to go. She hurried into the large silver elevator, which was so stuffed with people that you could barely lift an arm. Tonks waited patiently until the elevator finally reached her stop.
Tonks grinned to herself as she hurried out the entrance. Her instincts had been right, something did, well, was, going to happen today. She wringed her hands tightly, and started to walk a bit faster, but not too fast, she didn't want to stand out, although her pink-hair kind of took care of that. Perhaps her meeting with Kingsley wouldn't be that great after all, she thought suddenly, perhaps it's bad news, or maybe I've just read to much in to it…yes, it's probably nothing. But even as Tonks slammed open the heavy stone doors and stepped into the cold, brisk night air she could not help but feel overwhelming excitement.
Kingsley was there, waiting, his hands over his chest, shivering like mad. "Tonks c-come here," he said, spotting her, and gesturing wildly with his right hand. "Quickly, I need to get moving, it's so cold," Tonks walked up to him, feeling her teeth begin to chatter.
"OK, Kingsley, what do you want me for?"
Kingsley bowed his head and spoke in the same hushed tone he used earlier that day in the elevator, "Not here, let's walk a bit further," he nodded his head to a muggle bus stop, about two blocks up the road. Tonks shrugged and they began to walk in silence, except for their constant shivering. When they reached the run-down bus stop, Tonks sat down gingerly, and eagerly up.
"Kingsley?"
He looked her straight in the eye, "You-Know-Who has returned, and the Ministry is doing nothing to stop him," he began pacing, one hand to his chin, the other on his hip, "Something had, and has, to be done, so we took action." His sharp stare hardened, "You say you've heard of the Order of the Phoenix?" Tonks nodded impatiently, "Well…" Kingsley lowered his voice dramatically, "We've started it up again, and we're trying to recruit whoever we can who can aid us in the war against You-Know-Who…and well, you seemed to have a very strong opinion and you are definitely an asset to the Order, being an Auror and all."
Tonks immediately glowed at this, though it was hardly even a compliment. "Would you?" he ended abruptly, looking at Tonks more sharply than ever.
Tonks pondered this for a moment. If she said no; she'd probably get her memory obliviated, but if she said yes, she could finally do something decent, that would eventually be thanked by the greater good, besides, she'd always dreamed of being in the Order. She felt like her insides were bursting with happiness and excitement. She nodded gleefully and couldn't help but smile hugely.
Kingsley returned the grin, "Now I've written Dumbledore, and he's very happy about having another member, especially one that can get inside information about the Ministry. Here, read this quickly and memorize," he handed her small slip of parchment with thin, slanted green writing on it.
It read: 'The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.'
Kingsley then grabbed the slip of parchment back from her and placed his wand tip to it. It burst suddenly into flames and after a few seconds, disappeared.
Both were silent for a moment, Tonks taking in everything that had just happened in the last minute, and repeating the message slowly in her mind 'Number twelve Grimmauld Place'…for some reason that seemed vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't place it. "So…" she started, fervently rubbing her hands up and down her arms, trying to keep warm, "Who, rather than yourself and Dumbledore of course, is in – er - 'The Order'?"
Kingsley thought for a moment and took a while before answering. "Who? Well, to name a few, Emmeline Vance, sure you've heard of her, very well known; Dedalus Diggle; Mad Eye; half of the Weasley bunch, I think you went to school with the some of them; Sirius Black; Elphias Doge; Remus Lupin-"
"Wait, stop," interrupted Tonks, "Did you say -" at this point for some reason Kingsley winced- "Remus Lupin?"
Kingsley blinked, looking both surprised and relieved. "Why, yes-yes I did, do you know him?"
Tonks smiled and gave a little squeak, which surprised her a bit; she was definitely not the squeaking type. "Yes, I've met him a few times before," Kingsley looked at her suspiciously and she rolled her eyes in sarcastic annoyance.
Tonks thought for a bit about Kinsley's words and suddenly felt her blood run cold. She had just remembered one of the names he had listed for the Order.
Sirius Black. Tonks rounded on him, her eyes wide and shocked. "You…you said 'Sirius Black'?"
Kingsley's face crumpled and he heaved an exasperated sigh, "Yes, I did, but Tonks, listen-"
But she was on a roll, "Sirius Black, the convict? Sirius Black, who betrayed the Potters' by turning them in to Voldemort? Sirius Black, who - who was their friend? Sirius Black, my…my…" She gulped loudly and Kingsley seized this momentary silence to interrupt her.
"Look, Tonks, the Ministry got it all wrong! Sirius Black is innocent! It was their runt of a friend, Peter Pettigrew, not him; he's innocent!"
Tonks tried to let this all settle in. No way. It was hard enough to believe that there was an Order of the Phoenix going on behind Fudges' back, and that she was now a part of it, and that she was going to see Remus Lupin, whom she had not so much as had a glance at since they crossed each others paths in Diagon Alley eleven years ago…and now this.
No way. It was just too unbelievable, even for Tonks' huge imagination. Kingsley was crazy.
"Nice one Kingsley," she said sourly, and started to turn away. "You really had me going for awhile, what with the exploding parchment and…" Tonks stopped dead, her mouth open in a perfect 'O'. She had just remembered something. Something that she should have remembered as soon as she read the address 'Number twelve Grimmauld Place'. That was the address of Sirius' house. Suddenly everything fit into place. Kingsley must have been telling the truth after all.
She clapped a hand to her forehead and began hitting herself for her stupidity. "Grimmauld Place, Grimmauld Place! I should have remembered! Ahh, I'm so stupid!" She turned to Kingsley, feeling very embarrassed and sorry that she had doubted him, "Look, I-"
But to her surprise, Kingsley grinned, "No matter. You took it better than me. Now," his tone became brisk and stern, reminding Tonks vividly of her mother, whom, incidentally, she was not on speaking terms with, "Meeting tonight at the Headquarters. I'll inform everyone of your coming. 7 o'clock. Don't be late." With a curt nod, and a swish of his robes, he Disapparted.
Tonks began to trudge home, still feeling slightly embarrassed about doubting Kingsley.
Her apartments weren't far from here, so she wouldn't waste any energy on Appartion.
As she passed her landlady's room, she swiftly slipped her rent through the rusty mailbox. When she got to her door, she fished around in her pocket for the key; it was gone. She sighed, and checking there were no muggles in sight, bent low over the keyhole, pointed her wand at it and whispered, "Alohamora."
Her apartment was just as she left it, a total disaster zone. She messily made her bed, so it looked half-decent. She went over to her open wooden dresser, pulled out a robe and closed it tightly, casting it a look of disgust as she did. It had been a gift from her mother two Christmases ago, and she hated it with all her heart, but she had nothing else to put her clothes in and was too poor to go and buy a nice one. Tonks changed quickly into a pair of silky bright purple robes; her favourite.
Tonks checked her wristwatch and gasped, it read exactly 7 o'clock. She must have been talking to Kingsley for near two hours! She held her breath and disappeared, reappearing 200 miles away, right outside a gigantic run-down old mansion.
Tonks checked the address just to be sure. A pure-gold sign with silver numbers read, "12 Grimmauld Place". Tonks shivered, hardly from the cold, but the creepiness of the old house, and tentatively began to step forward. As she reached the big marble doors, she peered down at the large silver knocker, and read the tiny inscription: 'Toujours Pur'.
Tonks upper lip curled in disgust. It was their family motto, which meant 'Always Pure'. As she stood there thinking about what an awful family she came from, and how she loathed that she had to set foot in this terrible house, the door unexpectedly opened in front of her.
She went to look up sheepishly at the person that opened the door, apologize for being late for meeting, and excuse herself for just standing there, when she caught sight of who she was facing. There, in front of her was a thin man, with light brown hair that was slightly flecked with grey, glittering bluish eyes, and a small, peaceful smile, which she had loved so much...
They stood there looking at each other for a moment before Remus said quietly, "Hello, Nymphadora. Won't you come in? The meetings about to start."
Tonks frowned, "It may been eleven years since we last talked, but you know damn well that it's 'Tonks'." She tried to gracefully step in, but managed to trip over the doormat. Remus was obviously trying not to smile, and, as though not trusting himself to speak, he silently helped her to her feet.
This time Tonks managed a sheepish look, "I'm dead clumsy, I am," she smiled at him and he returned it warmly. "Good to see you, Remus."
Molly Weasley poked her head out from the closest door and opened her mouth to yell, but stopped when her eyes found Tonks. She shrieked loudly and clapped her hands together in delight, "Tonks! Oh, dear, I haven't seen you in ages!" She ran up and hugged Tonks tightly around the middle, causing Tonks to cast a bewildered look at Remus, who had put a hand to his mouth, trying to hide his laughter. As Molly let go, all three walked quickly into the room Molly had come out of, and settled down in chairs.
Tonks scanned the tiny, foul-smelling room and found there were more people than she had expected there. Her eyes settled on Sirius, and was broken-hearted to see looked haunted and distant; Azakaban certainly had taken its toll. Their eyes met and Sirius gave a huge grin, and winked at her. Tonks grinned back, and began screening the room once more. There was Bill Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Mundungus Fletcher, Hestia Jones and-!
Tonks jaw dropped; she couldn't believe what she was seeing: Severus Snape, the ex-Death Eater, was sitting right across from her, his face fixed in a sneer, smirking at her purple robes and vivid hair.
But before she could say anything, or do anything for that matter, the meeting had started. Tonks listened intensely as they talked about the specific duties that the members of the Order were doing and what not.
Tonks rolled her eyes and noticed a few other people, including Sirius, looked quite disdained as Snape started to drone on about his dangerous mission of spying on Voldemort and his Death Eater cronies.
The meeting lasted roughly two hours and Tonks was beginning to doze off. She filed out with the others, glad to be out of that creepy old house, but also sad, as she rather enjoyed the company of the others', Snape excluded. She watched as Remus settled down into deep conversation with Sirius and concluded that he was staying the night. She wondered how often he did so.
She fell asleep as soon as she cuddled into her warm soft bed. Her mind dreamt about soaring phoenixes, overgrown bats, and howling wolves.
A/N: Three chapters in like 10 minutes. Heehee. Well, I hope you enjoyed them, I'll update soon. Please review!