AN: Yay! My second HP fic! I've got this myriad of ideas that are begging to be written, but, alas, time is a curse! Oh well.
This particular story was written as a oneshot, but you may notice that I left the end very open. Deliberate. I might write some more oneshots related to this, and add them on. There will be no Tonks/Charlie romance in here. Diehard RLNT fan. I like Tonks/Charlie friendship fics, and that is what that is meant to be. Please excuse me if I've got the year wrong... :worries:
Disclaimer: Recognizable characters are not mine. Nor is the setting, or events alluded to. They are JK's. Adele is mine. So are some of the other mentioned names.
Pink and Freckly Mischief
First Encounters: September 1, 1984
The knot of black-clad first years trailed behind McGonagall, many tilting their heads back to glimpse at the bewitched ceiling of the Great Hall for the first time. Unfortunately, so of the ones who did so were still walking forwards while gawping at the ceiling, causing a few crushed toes and resentful looks between the nervous eleven year olds
One of these culprits, a slim girl with wavy brown hair and a heart-shaped face, blushed crimson as the freckly red-head winced slightly and gave her a reproachful look. "Sorry," she whispered as they came to a halt at the front. "I tend to be a bit clumsy."
He shrugged in reply. "You can't be as bad as my twin brothers," he whispered back. "Although, they tend to do it on purpose!" Both of them fell silent as they earned their first (and certainly not the last) glare from the transfiguration teacher as placed a tattered hat upon a small stool.
The Sorting Hat then burst into song, talking about the qualities of each of the four houses. Gryffindor for bravery and courage, Ravenclaw for wit and intelligence, Hufflepuff for loyalty and honesty, and Slytherin for cunning and ambition. The brown-haired girl couldn't stop herself from mentally wincing at Slytherin, hoping that she was not put there. After the ragged hat had finished it's spiel, McGonagall got back up and addressed the small group once more.
"When I call your name, come forward and place the Sorting Hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses," she instructed them. "Abbot, David." A blonde boy with an open face stumbled to the front and tentatively put the hat on his head.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" came the near immediate cry from the hat, causing the table adorned in yellow to explode with noise.
The red-haired boy sighed with relief. "I'm gonna kill, Bill," he murmured to the girl next to him. "He kept going on about how it was like a really hard test..."
"Bill?" she queried softly as 'Margaret Adderly' became the year's first Ravenclaw.
"My older brother, Bill Weasley. I'm Charlie, by the way," he informed her, a whole lot happier now that the 'hard test' was really just putting on an old hat.
"I'm Tonks," she replied.
Charlie looked at her disbelievingly. "What kind of name is that?"
Tonks sighed. "It's my last name, I refuse to be called by my first name," she informed him.
"Why not?'
"Because my mum wanted to give me an unusual name, and it's hideous."
"What is it then? You might as well say it, 'cause McGonagall's gonna call it out anyway," Charlie pointed out, much to Tonks' annoyance.
"Nymphadora," she muttered, almost inaudibly, but Charlie still heard it.
He blinked for a moment, before saying, "Yeah, I'd probably go by my last name too,"
"Told you it was bad."
They both fell silent for a while as McGonagall kept going through her list: Boot, Crabbe, Cooper, Dalby, Fawcett, Flint, Goyle, and finally, 'Johnson, Rowan' became the first of the group to join the gold and scarlet bedecked Gryffindor table, amongst raucous cheering and cat-calling.
"You know what house you're going to be sorted into?" Tonks asked, her nerves returning now that the list was getting closer to her name.
Charlie rubbed the back of his neck before he answered. "Well, I'll probably be in Gryffindor, my family's always been in there, and my brother's in there," he looked curiously at Tonks, "You?"
"I... I don't really know," she murmured softly as Chrysanthemum Norden as sorted into Slytherin.
Both of them sent distasteful looks towards the table bedecked in silver and green, who were clapping, before lapsing back into an anxious silence again. The names continued, Pemberly, Rider, Rieslen, Rosier, Spinnet, and finally...
"Tonks, Nymphadora!" came McGonagall's ringing voice.
Slowly, Tonks make her towards the front, desperately trying to hide her nervousness like she'd seen her mother do. Despite her efforts, she could feel her hair starting to pale, as it had a habit of doing when she was nervous or embarrassed. Or both, which was the case here. As the hat was lowered on to her head, she caught a glimpse of some of the student gawping at her or, she surmised, her changing hair.
'Very interesting,' a voice whispered into her ear, catching her off guard. 'Your parents are Andromeda Black and Ted Tonks, aren't they?'
'What of it?' she thought warily.
'Just intriguing, it's not often I come across the child of a Hufflepuff and a Slytherin. Yes,' it clarified, sensing Nymphadora's confusion. 'I remember your parents, but we aren't here to talk about them, we have to get you sorted into your own house...' the hat trailed off thoughtfully. Into the momentary silence, Tonks put forward her only request:
'Just don't put me in Slytherin,' she told it grimly.
A muffled sound that could have passed for a chuckle reached her ears. 'You don't have to worry on that account, you don't have the ruthless streak in you to be happy there. Your loyalty points towards your father's old house, but I don't think that's right for you. You've certainly got enough brains for Ravenclaw, but no. You've got a bold streak in you, one that would thrive well in... GRYFFINDOR!'
The last word was shouted out to the hall, and the table decorated in red and gold exploded into cheers as she shakily made her way to the Gryffindor table. Gryffindor! Mum and dad will be so proud! So would Si- Tonks stamped down viciously on that train of thought. She wasn't going to go down that path, it led only to a cluster of bittersweet childhood memories.
She was still in a slight daze as she reached the table and slid into one of the empty seats. Once she had taken her place, the noise died down, and the sorting continued. There was only four left to be sorted now. Both Kaeryn Vance and Wynessa Vizard were both sorted into to Hufflepuff, then it was Charlie's turn.
When his name was called, his face went a shade paler than it already was. After making his way to the front, he put the hat one, which hollered out "GRYFFINDOR!" almost immediately. Looking relieved, Charlie made his way to the same table. He grinned happily as he slid into a seat next to Tonks while his brother leaned over to clap him on the shoulder.
Finally, after 'Zabini, Dahlia,' was sorted into Slytherin, Professor Dumbledore stood up at the staff table.
"There is always a time for speeches at gatherings such as these... however," he paused with a twinkle in his eyes. "Now is not that time. Dig in."
Chatter and laughter erupted immediately throughout the hall. At the Gryffindor table, Tonks found herself talking to her neighbours, especially Charlie and Adele, happily. Adele Rieslen was an Australian girl whose family had moved due to her muggle father's job, and she kept them entertained with stories of her older brother for quite sometime. Charlie also had quite a group of students laughing as, with a few interjections from his brother, he relived some of the antics of his younger twin brothers, Fred and George.
Gradually, Tonks began to share some of her own stories, usually involving her own clumsiness. The small pocket of conversation waned and grew at different points during the feast as they took time to eat the delicious meal in front of them. By the time that the desserts had melted away from view, the first years in particular had begun to droop.
Dumbledore gave his usual warnings; stay away from the Forbidden Forest, no magic in the corridors, etc, and packed them off to bed.
Nymphadora was so tired that she barely noticed were the prefect was leading them. Reaching a portrait of a woman, the prefect told her, and the first years, the password: Animagus.
They then all streamed into the common room, and into their respective dormitories. Tonks' mind managed to process a comfy room with three four-poster beds, one of which had her trunk standing at it's foot. Next thing she knew, she was curled up underneath the fresh-smelling sheets, grinning as she drifted into the realms of sleep.
She was finally at Hogwarts.
Little did the population of the school know, one of the latest troublemakers had just appeared.
AN: I love reviews, CC always loved too... :hint:
Misha