Nymphadora Tonks and The Trouble She Got Into
When Andromeda Black Tonks announced that she was pregnant to her husband, Ted Tonks, he was overjoyed. Overjoyed but panicked.
"Neither of us know how to take care of babies," he murmured to his wife. "What if we mess up?"
"Like we're almost certainly going to do." Andromeda said, rubbing her pregnant stomach. The baby wasn't really noticeable yet, but Andromeda's stomach was slowly growing.
Ted bent over another parenting pamphlet. "Anyone you know can help?"
"Nope."
He heaved a sigh. "Then we're on our own."
Nymphadora Lyra Tonks was born shortly after that talk.
She was a cute little baby, and both Andromeda and Ted instantly fell in love with her.
One hour after Nymphadora Tonks was born, her hair was a bright blue that contrasted horribly with the rest of her body.
Thirty minutes after that, her hair was a little curly and light brown - exactly the same as Ted's.
"She's a Metamorphagus," Andromeda whispered as she watched her daughter attempt to make her hair bubblegum pink.
Andromeda watched as her daughter tried to crawl. The older witch had to smile when her daughter bumped into a wall and adopted an incredibly cute expression.
Nymphadora's hair was a soft green.
"Hog-warts." Andromeda said the word slowly so that her young daughter could follow.
"Hwog-wart!" Nymphadora squealed.
Andromeda shook her head patiently. "No, Nymphadora. Hog. No 'w'."
Nymphadora frowned. "Hog-wart!"
"You missed the 's', darling."
"Hogs-wart!"
"The 's' is at the end."
"Hogwarts!"
Nymphadora Lyra Tonks, known in the Tonks House as Nymph, sat on her pink bedspread and knitted.
Or at least, tried to knit.
She threw the knitting kit she had 'borrowed' from her mother's room down, frustrated. Why couldn't she get it? The stupid thing kept unraveling!
Because of her agitation, Tonks's hair started to change colors - green, red, yellow.
She tucked her legs up and cried.
Why couldn't she be more like her mother? Andromeda Tonks was everything a good witch (one who did not believe in blood purity, that is) strived to be. Magically powerful, top of her year at Hogwarts, Prefect and tipped to become Head Girl before she ran away…
But Tonks? Tonks was clumsy. Though she could grasp concepts fairly well, she could hardly remember them! Her power was that of an average witch's power, but her mother's…
Tonks cried.
Really, Fate wouldn't let her be good, would she? Fate was cruel, Tonks thought as she tried, without any true effort, to wipe her cheeks.
She had a hard time going to sleep that night, wondering, Mother, why do you have to be so perfect?
Tonks's Hogwarts letter arrived on her eleventh birthday. Her father had bought her a Muggle cake - strawberry flavour, which she loved.
The owl flew smack into the closed window and dropped.
"AHHH!" Tonks screamed, freaked out.
"Don't be scared, love," her father said. He went outside, Tonks following quietly.
The owl was limp, lying in the grass. Ted Tonks brought it inside.
"Is it alive?" Tonks asked, carefully not looking at it. She was a bit squeamish about dead things.
"Alive," said her mother, who went over to examine it. "But barely."
"We should have remembered to open the window." Tonks's father murmured.
"We forgot," Andromeda Tonks said with a sigh. She prodded the owl with her wand, checking its diagnostics.
That was when Tonks remembered the letter.
Quickly, she grabbed it from the dining table. She glanced at the envelope.
Ms. N. Tonks
Her address was underneath.
The Hogwarts insignia - the snake, the lion, the eagle, the badger - was stamped proudly above it. Tonks clutched the letter to her chest.
It was true.
She was going to Hogwarts.
Written for Hogwarts, Assignment 3, Meditation - Task #4: Meditation can help improve sleep habits: Write about someone having trouble falling asleep.
Also written for Auction - Day 9, Auction 3 - Nymphadora Tonks
WC: 613