Chapter Thirteen – A Sitting Duck
Mad-Eye seemed to recover from the shock. "We need to land!" he screamed.
Tonks quickly changed directions and flew back to the transport. Teddie Hollandsworth, a senior Auror was driving. "We need to land!" Tonks yelled to him.
"The prisoners could escape!" Teddie yelled.
"We can't fight them up here!" Tonks exclaimed.
She flew back to the front of the transport. A Dementor was at her left. Thinking hard about the time she first heard Severus tell her he loved her, she screamed "Expecto Patronum!"
A silver light emitted from the tip of her wand. Her Patronus was a small lizard. Tonks always liked to think it was a chameleon. The Dementor flew quickly out of the way of the Patronus. Tonks was flying at a high speed. Her Patronus stayed behind as Tonks flew on.
Tonks looked at Mad-Eye, who pointed his wand at his throat. Suddenly his voice could be heard by everyone. "Stop flying now! We'll fight them in mid-air!"
Tonks leaned back on her broom, and came to a complete stop. Tonks could hear her fellow Aurors frantically casting the Patronus spell over and over.
"We've been set-up!" Tonks heard someone yell from behind her.
"There are too many of them!" someone else screamed.
Tonks was perched precariously on her broom. She balanced with one hand and was had her wand hand at the ready. Another Dementor came upon her.
"Expecto Patronum!" she yelled, thinking of the first time she changed her hair color on her own.
Her thought was not strong enough. The Patronus didn't have a defined form and fizzled out in front of her.
She put her wand between her teeth. She needed both hands to balance on the broom. The Dementor was right on top of her.
She was huddled in Azkaban, not having the strength to escape…She was in Professor Dumbledore's office, being told that the Death Eaters wanted to use her as a weapon…"Expecto Patronum!" she heard Kingsley shout. The Death Eater in front of her was deflected.
Tonks took a deep breath to collect her thoughts. Taking her wand with her left hand, she yelled to Kingsley, "Thanks!"
He gave her a thumbs-up sign and went on his way. She quickly looked around. There were at least twenty Dementors left.
There was a sudden movement to her left. Tonks saw one of her collogues slip from their broom.
"No!" Tonks cried. She started to dive, and pointed her wand at her fellow Auror. "Impedimentia!"
The man's fall started to slow. Tonks leaned forward, and picked up speed. She grabbed him by his robes, and using all of her strength, got him on her broom.
"Thanks!" Gordon Petty cried. The look of surprise was even more pronounced on his face.
"Not a problem. I'll steer, you cast the spells," she said quickly.
"Works for me!" he yelled back.
Tonks flew to the closest Dementor. Gordon cast the spell, and an Eagle flew out of the tip of his wand.
"You from Ravenclaw, mate?" Tonks asked, changing directions.
"Nah, Hufflepuff. Dementors need to realize they shouldn't mess with us badgers," he laughed, casting another spell.
Tonks noticed that other Aurors were pairing up, just like she and Gordon had. It was much easier, not having to fly and cast spells at the same time. After ten minutes of constant spells, the Dementors finally were gone.
Calvin's voice came out of nowhere. "We're going to land!"
"Good thing," Tonks said to Gordon.
"About bloody time," Gordon shouted.
Tonks leaned forward on her broom. Gordon had his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. They came closer to land. She had a decision to make. Tonks loved to fly, loved it. She was a good flyer too. But the ground here was a reason she had only been the reserve seeker at Hogwarts.
She didn't know how to land.
She had been taught over and over. But somehow, the teaching never engrained itself in her brain. Tonks had had some spectacular crashes in her time. Over the years, she taught exactly how to crash and not hurt herself, or more importantly, not look like an idiot. But she had never had a passenger while trying to crash before.
Tonks yelled over her shoulder. "When I get close enough to the ground, jump off and roll!"
"Are you mad?" Gordon yelled.
"Yep!" Tonks shouted.
The ground was getting closer and closer. "Jump!" Tonks screamed.
Gordon must have complied, because Tonks felt the weight on her broom get considerably lighter.
Tonks tried to bring up the broom handle as she had been taught so many times, but it wouldn't obey. The tip of the broom hit the ground, and Tonks was thrown off. "Damnit!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, trying to let go of some frustration.
She hit the ground hard, and heard a crack. She gingerly stood up, feeling a throbbing in her wrist. It was definitely broken. Luckily it was her right wrist, not her wand hand.
Tonks quickly looked around and saw that the transport had landed. She ran back towards the rest of the Aurors in the field.
Mad-Eye had quickly assumed command of the situation. "Are the prisoners still bound?" he barked.
"The wards and ropes are still intact," someone yelled from the transport.
"Someone needs to disapparate to the Ministry. We need to get some Enforcers out here with us to continue the journey," he said to the group of Aurors huddled around him.
"I'll go," Tonks quickly volunteered. "I broke my wrist landing."
"I want you here, Tonks," Mad-Eye told her. Tonks just nodded. "Kingsley, you go."
Kingsley didn't bother to answer, but was gone with a sharp crack.
Mad-Eye's magical eye was doing double-time. "I don't like our position," he muttered. "My eye doesn't reach into that forest there. More Dementors could be waiting."
"They would have attacked us by now, Mad-Eye. We've been on the ground for more than five minutes," Gordon Petty said.
Tonks finally looked around her. They had landed in the middle of a large field. There was a forest about a hundred meters away.
"Best thing we can do is stay here. More than half of us have lost our brooms. We can't fly with that few," Mad-Eye told the group. "We'll wait for the Enforcers, and then keep going."
"It could take them a while," Tonks sighed. "They're going to have to fly from the Ministry. They won't know where to apparate to."
"I know," Mad-Eye said. "So we wait."
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After a half an hour, the Aurors were getting restless. Emmeline Vance, who has some healing skills, came out of the inside of the transport, and bound Tonks' wrist for her. Tonks knew she would need a trip to St. Mungos after the mission was completed.
Mad-Eye kept looking into the forest. "Is there something there, Mad-Eye?" Tonks asked.
"Something just doesn't feel right," he muttered.
Tonks laughed. "Nothing's felt right for the last hour. Face it, we're a sitting duck."
"Do you want me to check it out?" Gordon asked quietly. "I don't mind looking."
"Why don't we both go?" Mad-Eye said. "I'd feel safer knowing there was nothing in there."
Gordon and Mad-Eye walked towards the forest. Tonks watched them walk, her hand on her wand, ready if needed.
Mad-Eye stared at the forest for almost five minutes. Finally, he turned around and started walking back towards the group. Tonks let out the breath she had been holding.
Mad-Eye took his time getting back to the group. Once or twice he turned around to look back at the forest. "It's clear," Mad-Eye said finally. "I can't see the other edge, but the inside is clear."
"I would hope so. I'd hate to see how you'd react if it wasn't," Tonks joked.
They waited for another fifteen minutes. "Where are we?" Tonks finally asked.
"I don't know," Mad-Eye answered. "You'd have to ask someone inside."
It wasn't worth it for Tonks to get up and go inside the transport. Not when there was a chance she'd have to see Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.
Suddenly, cracks could be heard from every direction. Tonks turned quickly and saw that a large group of hooded wizards were coming towards them.
If Mad-eye hadn't shouted so quickly, Tonks would have.
"The Death Eaters are here!"
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"I wake up with a hang-over, get attacked by Dementors and now Death Eaters. Could I have a worse day?" Tonks muttered to herself, while running in the direction of the transport.
She had a feeling that Severus was under one of those Death Eater masks. Tonks knew that the only way the only way his mask would come off is if he were killed. She would have to hope that she didn't end up dueling with him.
"Stupefy!" Tonks cried. A Death Eater to her left crumbled. She ran towards the entrance of the transport. There were other Aurors who had the same idea. No doubt the Death Eaters wanted to release their friends.
As Tonks reached the entrance, another Death Eater cast a spell at her. She didn't have enough time to defend herself, so she quickly dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way. She landed on her broken wrist, and the pain caused her eyes to water.
"Expelliarmus!" a Death Eater cried. Tonks was unprepared and her wand went flying out of her hand. Luckily, her wand didn't fly to the Death Eater, but flew behind her. Tonks turned quickly and sprinted towards where she thought her wand dropped.
As she ran, a Death Eater jumped out at her, and tackled her to the ground. The Death Eater was quite larger than Tonks and pinned her down to the ground. She wheezed loudly. Now she was pretty sure she had broken a rib.
The Death Eater searched her face for a moment. He then threw back his head and shouted, "I have the metamorph!"
Tonks' wand was near; she could feel its energy close by. Stretching her hand out, she could feel an electricity in her fingertips. "Accio wand!" she shouted as loud as she could.
Her wand flew into her hand, and Tonks wrapped her fingers around the base. She then pointed her wand at the Death Eater's face and screamed "Seponio!" The Death Eater flew across the field easily.
"So my day can get worse!" she screamed. Now she wondered if the Death Eaters were after her. She morphed her face to a forty something woman, and made her hair gray. She would just have to keep changing her face, so they didn't know who they were looking for.
She desperately wished she could do a full body morph, but she was still recovering from last night. She cursed herself for drinking the night before such an important mission.
She stood up gently, nursing her ribs. One was definitely broken. She was just a target, standing out here. Tonks needed to get inside the transport. At least there, she could sit and cast spells.
She morphed her face again, this time into a young Indian woman. Now Tonks had the door of the transport in view. And what awaited her there was an awful sight. Some of the prisoners had gotten loose. They were running into the forest as fast as they could.
Tonks tried to slow them down, but she couldn't move fast enough.
She heard Mad-Eye scream, "The prisoners are escaping!"
Tonks looked at the ground. Both fallen Aurors and Death Eaters were scattered. She stamped her foot in frustration. The Death Eaters were winning.
Tonks decided to risk disapparating. She knew that it would be very painful, having two broken bones, but she had to try. She closed her eyes, and pictured the edge of the forest, where the escaped prisoners were running.
She made her mark, but the pain blinded her, causing her to fall to her knees. She could feel her face morphing back to normal. A Death Eater took advantage of Tonks being on the ground and yelled "Stupefy!"
Unable to defend herself in time, the spell bounced off of her arm. Luckily, the spell was weak, and Tonks didn't pass out, but she did fall completely to the ground.
Tonks was on her hands and knees when she felt invisible ropes go around her body. She couldn't move. Her body was lifted into the forest. She tried as had as she could to move her body, but to no avail.
Tonks could see some Death Eaters gathering in the forest. But she was being led away from the group. She was high up in the air, and couldn't see who had the spell cast on her.
After five minutes, her body slammed into a tree. The invisible ropes where still there, tying her to the tree.
She looked up, and saw Lucius Malfoy staring at her, a crazed look in his eyes.
Tonks tried to struggle against the ropes, but her body was ignoring her pleas.
Lucius walked up to her, smiling madly, and gently stroked her cheek.
"Hello, Celeste."