Tonks sat up at her desk, quill in hand. She bit at her lip, looking at the report in front of her. She was supposed to be writing on the suspected traitorous activities of Molly Weasley, one of the Ministry's supposed Dumbledore's sympathizers.
She hated this tedious work. She didn't become an Auror to spend her days filling out meaningless paperwork, but Scrimgeour had seen to it that her talents were wasted in paperwork. Moody had put her up to this, and while she knew his intentions were good, she couldn't help but resent him as well. She pulled at the ends of her glossy violet hair, wondering what to write about Molly.
"Invested in her children's future at Hogwarts."
That, at much, was true.
"Appears to be supportive of Dumbledore's eccentric leadership."
Again, true, but nothing the Ministry didn't already know.
"Seen purchasing food for many more than necessary."
She was grasping at straws. She was desperate to get through the day for the Order meeting tonight. She saw a shadow over her shoulder and turned around, wand ready.
"It's just me, Tonks," a familiar, husky voice. "You've been spending too much time with Moody."
Tonks rolled her eyes. It was her fellow Auror, Alfie Wallace.
"I heard you moved out of your parents' place," Alfie said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"And how did you hear that?" Tonks inquired.
"Dawlish had a new Floo connection set up for you."
"Oh, right. That." Tonks stared at him. She and Alfie had gotten along well enough the last few years during training. Though she didn't care for his excessive devotion to Scrimgeour, he was relatively harmless as a co-worker.
"I see you've cleaned up around here," said Alfie. "Quite unlike you." There was something of a smirk in his face.
"I figured that now that I have my own place, I should practice housekeeping charms here too," she said.
"I'd love to see your handiwork, you know," Alfie said. "I'd like to see how those charms are coming along." He coyly smiled at her.
Tonks tried to control her anger; though Alfie was usually harmless, these sorts of propositions made her skin crawl.
"Maybe once I've settled in," Tonks said. "I've got to get back to work, Alfie." She sighed and turned back around to get back into her report on Molly.
"Need any help?" Alfie ventured. It took Tonks considerable effort to keep her voice even and wand at her side. A good hex might teach him a long-deserved lesson.
"No, thanks, Alfie. I've got this," Tonks replied with an attempt at a smile. Anything to get him out of her hair, she thought.
Tonks stared blankly at the report, waiting for the hours to pass by for tonight's Order meeting.
…
At last, Tonks was able to get out of the office and on her way to Headquarters. She had seen Alfie waiting around near the end of the day, possibly hoping for an invitation to her place. She decided to wait until he gave up and went off to the exit. Despite his many attempts over the years, she couldn't ever justify going down that road. She shuddered slightly at the thought.
She was running late for the meeting tonight. Her robes were flying at her side as she ran up to the exit, and finally Apparated to the top step of Grimmauld Place. She unlocked the front step and flailed her way down the corridor, knocking over another ancient statue. Before she could set it upright, an ear-splitting scream came from the landing at the stairs:
"BLOOD TRAITOR, BLOTCH ON MY FAMILY TREE BESMIRCHING MY HOME! MUGGLE LOVERS DARKENING MY-"
"YOU FILTHY HAG, SHUT UP!" Sirius roared at the portrait. The Weasley twins were at his side, struggling to close the curtains. At last, they closed the drapes and quieted the portrait.
The Weasley twins scurried back downstairs to the kitchen. Sirius said, "I thought it was you! Who else would have caused this much destruction so soon?" He barked a hearty laugh at her.
"Wotcher, Sirius," Tonks winked at him. "I'm not too late, am I?"
"You'll have to grab something quick before the meeting," Sirius replied. "We're about to start."
At this, Remus emerged from the kitchen stairs, holding a few sandwiches and a cup of steaming tea. Sirius looked at Remus, with a wicked grin flashing over his face.
"For me, Remus?" asked Sirius, the grin growing wider. "You shouldn't have!" Sirius was holding back laughter, but his eyes betrayed him.
Tonks noticed Remus grow pink. Remus replied, "I thought your cousin would be hungry from missing dinner with us." Remus straightened himself. "Tonks, I know it's not much, but I hope it will do for now." He offered the sandwiches and cup of tea to her.
"Wotcher, Remus!" Tonks said, brightly. "Thank you!" She felt her own face grow hot as she grabbed the sandwiches from Remus. "Do you mind holding onto the tea for me? I don't trust myself on those stairs."
"Of course," replied Remus. "Let's head up now."
Sirius, Remus, and Tonks made their way up the stairs to the library, where most of the Order were already assembled. Sirius and Remus found seats on the remaining settee, with Tonks unsure of where to sit.
Remus' eyes grew wide and stood up abruptly, offering his seat to Tonks. "Please, you've likely had a long day and need to eat, please sit here." Sirius' wicked smile came back to his face upon hearing Remus' offer to Tonks.
Tonks chuckled at him, saying, "Always the gentleman, Remus." She continued, "If you insist, I'll take the spot, but I insist you take Sirius' spot in return." She stuck out her tongue at Sirius, a playful smile growing on her face at them both.
"I wouldn't mind at all, my dear cousin," Sirius said, smirking at Remus and Tonks. Sirius slinked towards the floor, leaving Remus to sit next to Tonks.
Tonks flushed when Remus sat next to her. She could feel the warmth of his body next to hers, as she munched on the sandwiches he'd so kindly brought her. She noticed his arms more clearly tonight. He had rolled up his sleeves, and she saw raised scars crisscrossing the entirety of his forearms. Some had been there for decades; she had the urge to touch them, but set her eyes and hands back down to finish eating and start on her tea. She could tell Remus had charmed the tea to stay warm for her; as much as she hated herself for thinking it, she thought, how is this sweet, kind man a werewolf?
Her thoughts were broken by a gentle chime. The meeting had begun.
Dumbledore began, "Welcome, all. In the last few days, we have gathered more intelligence on Voldemort's plans and whereabouts. We expect him to be using the Malfoys' residence as his own headquarters. He has left his father's old home in Little Hangleton and his whereabouts are currently unknown, but we expect him to be in Wiltshire by September. It will be wise to monitor the goings-on at Malfoy Manor until we know that Voldemort has arrived there. Once he has arrived, it will be unwise to attempt to gather intelligence regularly."
"Well, we already knew he was headed there, didn't we?" asked Sirius.
"Yes. We suspected it but we have been able to confirm it through our own sources," replied Dumbledore.
Dumbledore continued, "We expect Voldemort to be gathering followers quickly and stealthily. We also expect him to infiltrate the Ministry and attempt entry by any means. The Hall of Prophecies is ever more important to our cause."
"I've gotten a schedule prepared for the week for the Hall and for missions to follow the Death Eaters we know about," said Sirius.
"Excellent," said Dumbledore. "Tonks, your task at the Ministry? How are you faring?"
Tonks spoke up after choking down another quick bite of her sandwich. "It's going swimmingly, Professor," she lied. She felt slightly abashed that she spent her day so underutilized at the Ministry.
His bright blue eyes studied her. "You may call me Albus now, Tonks." He thought for a moment. "Might I suggest, Tonks, that you use your time during the day on missions with our members? That may help with your task."
Tonks slapped her palm to her forehead. This is why Moody wanted me to do it, she thought, to do missions under the guise of Ministry spying. Tonks felt her cheeks grow pink again.
"Of course, Albus, of course," replied Tonks. She buried her face in the steaming tea to avoid Dumbledore's eyes again.
"We're very lucky to have you with us, Tonks," Dumbledore said. Tonks felt slightly better, hoping that his praise was genuine.
"He's right, you know," murmured Remus. "We are really lucky to have you."
Tonks blushed more furiously than she had before, and took a sip of tea to avoid everyone's eyes. She'd always felt so confident around others, but she felt painfully young and clueless in the present company.
Over the next few hours, the Order's members heatedly discussed their plans for the next few weeks, and started planning for Harry's rescue from his aunt and uncle's. At long last, the meeting came to a close, and Tonks' head was swimming with ideas for her reports. She was finally buzzing with excitement at the opportunity of escaping her dull cube at the Ministry for missions with her new team.
The Order members left one by one, until it was only Sirius, Remus, and Tonks left in the library. Molly and Arthur had gone up to bed, after Molly had scolded the twins for overhearing parts of the meeting with their Extendable Ears.
"Those two could've given you a run for your money," joked Tonks. "They might have been better at mischief than you and your Marauders!"
"We certainly didn't have their business acumen," said Remus. "Those boys are going to make quite a bit of gold with their ideas."
"All we ever got was a lousy stint in Azkaban and a bunch of scars," laughed Sirius, darkly.
"Did you get all those scars from the last war?" asked Tonks. Sirius cracked up, and Remus looked at her with a confused face. Tonks realized her mistake; it had been the werewolf that caused those scars, not the war. She blushed again.
"Actually, I think it's from all those wild nights of passion," Sirius choked out, wiping tears from his eyes.
Remus burst out laughing too, and Tonks couldn't help but feel joy at seeing his face break out into genuine laughter.
The night continued in laughter and friendship. Tonks felt at home again, laughing with her cousin and her new (she could hardly believe it) werewolf friend.
...
At the end of the week, Tonks was on her next mission with Remus. They had left Headquarters late in the evening, after a particularly raucous dinner with the Weasley boys. She and Remus were still laughing as they Apparated again to Malfoy Manor.
This time, instead of disguising Remus with various charms, they opted for disillusionment charms. Now that Tonks had been at Malfoy Manor, she made quick work of undoing the various charms the Malfoys had placed around their premises. She and Remus made their way into a box hedge, with Remus as lookout.
"Pius Thicknesse is here," Tonks whispered. "He works for the Ministry. Umbridge is here too, the ugly toad."
"Do you know much about either of them?" asked Remus.
"Thicknesse doesn't have a spine, that's for sure," replied Tonks. "Umbridge is insufferable - the less time you spend with her, the better."
"Is that the one Fudge mentioned the other day?" asked Remus.
"Yes," rasped Tonks, "let me see if I can tell what they're saying." She grabbed a pair of Extendable Ears and whispered, "those boys know what they're doing," and stuck them as close to the window of the Malfoys' grand drawing room. Several minutes later, she scrambled to get parchment out of her Auror robes and a quill to take notes. After many forceful scratches, the handed Remus the parchment and went back to listening.
Tonks kept passing notes to Remus over the next hour, scribbled with frantic notes. She whispered to him, "Thicknesse and Umbridge will be on their way out soon, so we should get out while we can."
Tonks and Remus made their way out of the hedge and back to the forest they had been to before. Tonks conjured her Patronus, a floppy-eared jack rabbit, and sent it off to Moody. Remus checked his watch and said, "It's almost eleven. Do you want to go back to Headquarters?"
Tonks felt her heart thumping lightly under her robes. She whispered, "I've got a better idea." She grabbed his arm and Apparated with him to her flat.
She looked at Remus, and asked, "Stay for a cup of tea? I owe you one!" Tonks felt her heart thumping again. After spending so much time with him and Sirius, she had been longing to speak with him alone.
"Are you sure? It's late and I wouldn't want to impose again," said Remus.
"I insist, Remus," said Tonks. "We can go over some of the notes together...and anyway, it's the weekend. I'm sure the Death Eaters can wait till Monday."
Remus nodded, and Tonks unlocked the door to welcome him into her small flat.