Wow, you guys are awesome!
Cathree: Thanks for the…gold flag apparently…! Haha, it's okay! Thanks for the popcorn and kool-aid filled review!
xanya-forever: Yes, Tonks MUST be a good Auror…it's gotta make up for her clumsiness, right?
Squee!: Ah, I'm a sultan now, eh? I shall don my cloth diaper crown with pride… I just put in Andromeda being a metamorphmagus so that Lupin would somehow remember from the past. But I'm not sure. Maybe we should ask JKR…
Also loads of thanks to, Loz, Sweetdeath04, Galenturiel, Elf771, mag, chaotic pink chocobo, and Snail-sama! You guys really made my day with your responses! M&Ms for EVERYONE!I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations…oooooh, the pressure…
Disclaimer: Jo Rowling owns Harry Potter. I am not Jo Rowling. :points at cover of Time Magazine: That's Jo Rowling.
His Metamorphmagus
Chapter II:
Tea and Revelations
Remus Lupin, gray streaks weaving through his brown cap of hair, Apparated in an alley next to an apartment complex. He straightened his worn but clean robes before stepping under a dim, flickering street lamp. He entered the first building and started up the stairs to an ordinary green door. He raised the brass knocker and let it fall a couple of times, alerting the occupants that they had a visitor.
He waited quietly, his fingers itched nervously as he listened for footsteps. He glanced at his watch. It read six o'clock. Yes, he was on time, so where was…?
His thoughts were interrupted by stumbling footfalls. The doorknob twisted left, then right, and flew open.
Nymphadora Tonks stood there, her short violet hair looked ruffled and she was breathing heavily, straightening her robes.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, motioning him to enter as she stepped back from the threshold, holding the door open. "I was running late at the office and Kingsley was telling me about…never mind."
Remus swept his traveling cloak off and it whisked itself onto a multi-colored hat stand. He couldn't help but smile as he noted the strange contrast between his worn, brown cloak and her slightly bent, green and pink hat holder. But the contrast had a rather nice effect…
She hurried past him into a nicely furnished sitting room with lavender walls and invitingly squishy seats.
Her wand was out in a flash and a tray of small cakes, a teapot, and two mismatched mugs appeared on the ordinary coffee table. "Tea?" she said as she carefully poured some into the red and yellow striped mug.
He accepted it politely, smiling graciously as he sipped the warm liquid after adding some cream and sugar. "I see you got a new coffee table."
Tonks looked at it with an amused expression. "Yeah, my dad gave it to me because my mum insisted that a proper lady should never paint her coffee table purple and teal." She shook her head, "I think she put a charm on it so I can't make it change colors. And it's a pity, really…"
He smiled as she continued on. The two had been corresponding regularly for the past year, writing owls to one another, discussing current events and the Triwizard Tournament. They met occasionally at the Leaky Cauldron for lunch. He was grateful to have her for a friend, for she never questioned him about his health or his state of employment. The two spoke regularly and though he considered her a close friend, he had yet to reveal his true being to her.
"Remus?"
He jumped slightly as he broke out of his reverie, the half-empty cup's contents swishing dangerously close to the lip of the mug. "I'm sorry," he apologized hastily, focusing his attention on the worried expression on the woman's face.
"What's the matter?" her voice was heavy with concern.
He set the sturdy cup on the coffee table and looked her in the eye. "Do you remember when we met last year? At your Auror celebration?"
She nodded.
"Do you remember when I said I'd owl you if I needed help capturing a Dark wizard?"
Her lips twitched upwards slightly, "Vividly."
He hesitated slightly. "I know this is asking a lot and you'll probably think I'm mad…but…" he sighed and mentally dove into the mess, "I'm here on the behalf of Albus Dumbledore to ask you to join the Order of the Phoenix."
"The what?"
"It's a secret organization formed by Dumbledore back during the last war and he's reinstating it," he explained in a hushed tone. "Because…despite what the Ministry says, Lord Voldemort is back."
She winced slightly at the use of the Dark Lord's name. Then a strange, far away look glazed over her pale face. "So it's true?"
He nodded, confused. "Aren't you going to question and pester me until I bring out some genuine proof?"
"Kingsley Shacklebolt told me," she explained quickly. "That's why I was held up! He heard Fudge throwing a fit in his office when he was delivering his Sirius Black report to him," her eyes darkened in anger. "He was grumbling about Dumbledore being a mad, old, power-hungry dingbat that was trying to get Fudge out of office by telling everyone You-Know-Who's back."
"Yeah, he's back, and since Fudge won't admit it, we need to organize as many supporters as possible."
"How do you know, though, for sure?" she asked in a hesitant tone.
"Harry Potter saw it all."
"Oh."
"Look," said Lupin. "Joining the Order can put so many things in jeopardy; your career, your family…even your life. I'm not trying to pressure you into it or— "
Her eyes suddenly turned fierce and bright. "I'm behind Dumbledore, one hundred percent," she smiled slightly. "I was sent to his office quite a few times when I was at school. He's nothing like the other teachers. He's the greatest person I've ever spoken to."
"Me too," Lupin agreed quietly. He raised his voice for his next statement, "You can extend the invitation to Kingsley Shacklebolt too, if you like."
"Good," she set her magenta and blue mug down in the coffee table and got to her feet to emphasize how she felt; the mug tipped over and tea stained the wood. "I'll ask him first thing tomorrow morning. Better yet, I'll go visit him as soon as you go. I know he'll join. He thinks Fudge is an idiot, too."
Lupin quickly cleaned the puddle up, smiling at her fierceness, surprised and pleased, but still worried. "Joining's a very dangerous decision, and..."
She interrupted him, "What's life without a bit of danger?"
He thought about her words. What's life without a bit of danger...oh if she only knew... "I'll go inform Dumbledore, then."
"May I come?"
"Not right now," he said apologetically. "Anyway, you need to go see Kingsley, but keep it on the quiet side of things, will you? If Fudge hears this…"
"The idiot in the bowler hat'll grab his pompous chest in shock and then ship you off to Azkaban," she finished in a monotonous tone.
"I'll be back tomorrow," he said as he walked to the door and took his shabby cloak off the bent hat rack.
"If Kingsley wants to join, tell him to be here at exactly seven tomorrow evening. I'll take you to the headquarters then and Dumbledore can tell you everything."
He donned his traveling cloak, securing the dull clasps under his chin, as Tonks opened the front door.
"Tomorrow, seven o'clock."
"See you then," she said.
He stepped over the threshold and Disapparated with a pop.
Remus took a seat in the dark library of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place (after checking the chair to see if there were any jinxes or hexes on the selected seat). Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt were down in gloomy kitchen with Albus Dumbledore who was explaining everything to the two from what had happened in the past month, to the purpose of the order, to the two's mission for the organization.
He leaned forward and glanced at an open book. A thick sheet of dust coated the open pages. He softly breathed on it and the layer of dust rose into the gloomy air. He sneezed once, twice, three times. After dabbing his eyes dry, he saw that the words were printed across the yellowing pages in what appeared to be blood. Grimacing, Remus turned his attention away from the leather bound book and looked at the shadowy doorway. Something to his right creaked.
"I see you've found my mum's old diary."
"Hello, Sirius," said Remus, unperturbed.
"I thought I had you there," grumbled a gaunt man with gray eyes. His eyes told more than a thousand pictures, sometimes twinkling with mischief, but glazed with emptiness at other times. He looked like a wasted man whose life was sucked out of him and he was now trying to regain his spirit.
"I'm afraid the wooden floorboards gave you away," Remus said distractedly.
Sirius gave him a searching look as he took a seat on the stiff-backed chair with clawed feet opposite Remus. "All right, who is she?"
"What?" Remus's head jerked his neck so hard it cracked slightly.
"Who's the girl?" Sirius clarified with an amused expression.
"Sirius," Remus pointed at the clawed feet supporting his friend's chair.
Sirius looked down in time to see the clawed feet wrapping their nasty, flea bitten paws around Sirius's boots. "It's nothing," he said as he lifted his feet up slightly and brought them down on the bodiless feet with a resonating thump. Studying his handiwork with a thoughtful expression, he turned back to his friend.
"And don't change the subject."
"There's no girl," said Remus, the back of his neck burned red as he denied the accusation. "I…I was just thinking about the new members.
"Yeah," Sirius rolled his haunted gray eyes. "One of them's a girl."
The beet red burn spread to Remus's sickly face as he examined the dark shelves next to him, pointedly ignoring his friend's bark-like laughs.
Just then, a clatter resounded down the hall to the library. Someone must have knocked something heavy over and…
"NO GOOD, USELESS BLOOD TRAITORS!" screeched an unpleasant voice, the words shaking the shelves so much that the dust rose from the neglected books, faded parchments, and empty ink bottles. "IN MY HOME! IN MY HOUSE! THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS!"
Remus and Sirius leapt to their feet and hurried out the room as the screams of insult boomed through the gloomy house, waking all the dozing paintings. The violet haired Tonks was sprawled on the ancient floor, a hat stand (with what appeared to be a troll's foot) was rolling out from under her foot.
"I'll go shut my idiot mum's portrait up," grumbled Sirius, withdrawing his long, thin wand from his pockets. He took off to a portrait on the other end of the dark corridor with a realistic woman with skin so yellow it could rival the aged parchments in the library. He cursed colorfully as he tried to pull the saggy curtains around the frames to conceal the portrait of his hated mother.
Remus helped Tonks to her feet before righting the strange hat stand. He then stupefied nearby portraits (that had joined the chorus of cries that Mrs. Black began) to quiet them. Tonks quickly joined. The two flew down the hall, shooting red rays at the shrieking paintings and Remus found it hard to conceal his smile. Sirius soon drew the thick, dusty curtains over the drooling monster of a woman and turned to the other two. His grim expression slid off and his eyes lit up with mischief.
"Hello," he extended a hand to the newcomer with just the right amount of charm and composure, "I'm Sirius Black. Your mother is one of the few people I'm related to that I actually like."
"Wotcher, I'm Tonks," she took the hand without hesitation. "Dumbledore told me about your situation. It took some convincing, but we're sorry we thought you were a lunatic on the loose."
Sirius blinked. "Why…thank you…" he gave Remus a meaningful look as Tonks stopped pumping his hands up and down. "I better go down to the kitchen and help some," he said, taking a step away from the two. "The Weasleys are arriving tonight to help us run the place. And even though Percy Weasley's not coming, it's still a large crowd to feed. I'll see you later." He smiled cheekily before sauntering off to the kitchen.
Remus suppressed a groan as the alleged convict's footsteps died away.
Tonks turned to him and said conversationally, "And when were you going to tell me that you are a werewolf?"
Remus froze. "I…" he mouthed wordlessly for a minute as she glared at him with a disturbing amount of severity. "Who…?"
"Dumbledore told me," she stressed the headmaster's name, her eyes slowly built fire. "The man that I haven't seen since I was eighteen told me that a friend of mine that I've been corresponding with for the past year is a werewolf."
"I…I couldn't—didn't know how to tell you," he mumbled, leaning on the dirty wall, rubbing his wrinkled forehead with his hand.
"Which makes sense now," she hissed, stalking back and forth angrily. "That's why you didn't come to my birthday dinner. And why I only saw you once back in March when there were two full moons," she whirled around and stopped before him, her eyes now filled with hurt. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want you to know," he stated quietly, ignoring the hurt that mounted in her brown orbs.
"Why?" she demanded. "Were you afraid that I'd abandon you? That by some strange force of nature I would stop talking to you because of something that you couldn't prevent?"
"Yes," he said in an even tone. "That's how society reacts to…to people like me."
She looked him dead in the eye. "Did you abandon me when I told you that I'm a Metamorphmagus?"
"No, but that's different."
"No it's not!" she prodded his shoulder with her index finger. "I couldn't prevent it and you're still my friend!"
"Yes, well," he smiled wryly. "You can't sprout fangs and go mad every month."
"Oh, yeah, one night a month," she snorted humorlessly. "And if you were trying to protect me, you did a poor job of it. What if I stopped by your house while you were in mid-transformation?"
"First off, that's why I never invited you around for tea. And second, why would you be at my house in the middle of the night?"
"Hypothetically," she pointed out grimly. "Anyway, that's not the point! You," she jabbed her finger at him, "didn't trust me."
"Well, considering the majority of the world runs in the opposite direction when I reveal what I truly am, do you blame me?
She opened her mouth to respond, but hesitated.
"That's what I thought," he sighed heavily, pushing off the grimy wall.
"But that doesn't mean I'll abandon you," she said in a quiet tone.
Remus turned and looked at her sincere face. He bowed his head gravely. "Thank you."
She rushed in and embraced him. He stiffened slightly, but soon wrapped his arms around her, taking in the faint flowery scent wafting from her hair.
"C'mon," she said, taking a step back and leading the way to the staircase down to the kitchen. "We should try to get some dinner ready for the Weasleys. There's six coming, right?"
"Seven," Remus corrected. "They're also bringing one of Harry's friends."
"Ooo, Harry Potter," she said with interested eyes. "I can't wait to meet him."
Remus smiled as he listened to her ramble on about what she heard about the famous Boy-Who-Lived.
Heh, I was gonna add that kingsley and tonks met sirius before they went down to the kitchen to meet dumbledore and the two went berserk and attacked sirius. I had a whole thing fixed, but I had to cut it out 'coz this chapter seemed to go on for too long.
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Until next time,
Farfanugans,
Chikin Wang