Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor have I seen a Fairy Swotter.
Chapter 21: Into the Ministry
Her fate awaited her. She wanted to say 'hell with that,' but there was really nothing she could do about it. She hated to hand it to him, but Snape was really a great potions master. She remember that, however much she hated his class, he always seemed to be one of the most competent of the professors at his subject, although he was certainly not cut out to be a teacher of those less disposed towards potions. She cursed him for this competency as well; she would have rather died under her own influence than under Voldemort's and she had Snape to thank for that disappointment.
She felt as if she had all the time in the world to ponder all that had happened as she walked through London to the Ministry of Magic. She thought about all those she loved and really cared about. She knew that this was going to be quite hard on her father. She just hoped he would take it better, having known for years that this could happen. She wondered about Remus, about how they left things, whether he would feel regret for rejecting her, and about whether she even felt the same anymore.
She thought about Snape, the greasy sexy bastard. Only he could make bad seem so good, yet she had been disappointed. His arrogant, self-assured, scorching domineer took a back seat around Voldemort. He no longer held appeal, instead he was in the likeness of a puppy-dog at Voldemort's heals. No, he was not cute and cuddly, but Tonks found that Snape serving anyone was a complete contradiction to his character. She found his submissive nature around Voldemort sickening.
When it had been working under Dumbledore's authority, it had been different. Snape was never a servant, nor did Dumbledore ever ask him to be. There was no oppression in the Order. Yet, Voldemort stifled mere personality. Tonks was sure that her uncle, Lucius, would never tolerate being treated as an inferior by any other. Despite the fact that many Death Eaters were followers, she was sure that even the most passive servant of Voldemort had to hold their true selves back.
Tonks couldn't see how they stood it. She always had been one to assert her own personality. She could hardly stand it when she had to hold back. If some like Voldemort had tried to oppress her, she would have had none of it.
Each step Tonks took brought about another realization and another question. She went through everything from the usage of watercress in potions to what might happen if Voldemort was really just a giant squirrel in disguise. She suppose though, if he was, he would probably be more interested in stealing acorns instead of lives, and she was quite sure she had never heard of Death Eaters breaking into nut stores. In spite of its absurdity (which Tonks very well knew of), it was still a very interesting concept.
She walked unwillingly into the telephone booth, followed by Snape and Draco under the invisibility cloak. Tonks knew that the telephone booth would know how many people were in it so, when the cool voice asked for names, she lied smoothly. "Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger here to see the Minister."
"Thank you," replied the voice. "Please submit your wands for inspection in the Atrium and go through the security post. Have a nice day."
Tonks attached the button saying 'Harry Potter: Visitor' to the front of her shirt. Out of spite, she handed the other two to Draco and Snape. She was sure that they didn't appreciate it.
The telephone booth landed and Tonks walked out into the Atrium without hesitation.
People shamelessly stared at her. They were so flabbergasted that no one noticed the lack of her two companions. She cursed them for their stupidity. Did they really think Harry Potter was just going to waltz into the Ministry of Magic? Did they really believe that he would expose himself to that kind of gawkery? She did not care that 'gawkery' was not a word; Tonks was just suddenly pissed off by the idiocy of the world.
She wanted to scream at them to open their eyes, to see that something was amiss. Three people were said to be in that lift and only one got out, shouldn't someone realize it? So much for the new Ministry regime's competence.
She took a breath and strolled forwards, waiting for Scrimgeour to come, waiting for a jet of green light to hit her back. She waited for the Minister's death, she waited to fall to the floor, her lifeless eyes staring up at the crowd, for Snape to come and grab her, to apparate back to Spinner's End. There she would slowly change back to herself. And her lifeless eyes were going to stare into Snape's icy black ones, she would make sure of that. She would make sure that he felt the guilt of a thousand dead bodies weighing down upon him.
The damn sexy bastard would regret it all in the end, she would make sure of that.
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A/N: Not a lot of action, but the next chapter will be action-y. Thank you to everyone for reviewing and everyone for reading!
---Perplexity
PS:
darkmarkgirl: Frame in what way? Tonks is being used as more of a decoy to throw off the magical world and cause dispair.
Red-Devil15: This chapter is dedicated to prevent your head from exploding everywhere. If it has already, I do apologise, but I down-right refuse to clean up.
Response to Chapter 19 reviews:
rebelwilla: Tonks had to submit; she's human. I down right refuse to have in-human people in this story.
HP and JD Fan: I blush. Thank you, it is heartening to hear that this is that funny.
darkmarkgirl: Richard as in Richard Simmons (which was stated previously in that chapter). The eccentric exercise guy with the afro and glittery leotards.
