Chapter Twenty-Eight – The History of the Metamorph
Ding-Dong!
Tonks waited patiently at the steps of Nata's house. After a moment, Nata's mother, a short, portly witch with fly away hair opened the door.
"Wotcher, Mrs. Haley," Tonks said brightly, trying to pour on the charm. Mrs. Haley didn't really like Tonks all that much. Tonks supposed that was because the Haley household looked perfectly put together. Mrs. Haley always looked organized. Tonks was a bit of the opposite.
"Is Tonks here, Mum?" Nata cried.
"Yes, dear," Mrs. Haley called.
"May I go up?" Tonks asked. Mrs. Haley nodded and Tonks ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
"Wotcher, Nata," Tonks said. "Ready for our field trip?"
"I've been ready since nine this morning," Nata admitted.
"So who are you going as?" Tonks asked.
Nata showed her the clothes that she had picked out. It was quite a loud outfit. A short line green robe combined with a pair of black pants.
"I'm going punk," Nata giggled. Tonks turned her back while Nata changed. "I'm ready!"
Tonks turned around and saw that the clothes were too short. "So you're going to be short today?" Tonks asked.
"About your height, I thought," Nata said. Tonks was a good six inches shorter than Nata, so that would be quite a morph.
"Ready?" Tonks asked.
Nata nodded and scrunched her nose as if she was in a little bit of pain. Slowly, she shrunk until she was at the height she wanted. Her face grew a bit rounder, while her eyes grew larger and turned a dark blue. Her hair morphed into a bright blue crew cut.
"Good show!" Tonks said, clapping.
Nata gave a small bow. "I'll be right back." Tonks told her. She ran into the bathroom and changed into one of her normal disguises. A tall, thin woman around fifty with a long face.
"I'll be your aunt today," Tonks said, re-entering the bedroom. Nata nodded eagerly. "Now how long do you think you can hold the morph?"
"Three hours, tops," Nata said seriously.
Tonks took out her pocket watch. "We'll say two and a half hours," she said, as she cast a quick alarm charm on the watch.
"Let's go!" Nata cried, taking Tonks by the hand and running out the door.
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"I'm getting strange looks," Nata whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
"Welcome to my world," Tonks said softly back.
"Can we get some ice cream?" Nata asked.
"Why not?" Tonks said.
Together they found a table inside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. "Since we're being different today, we need to try something we've never tried before," Tonks announced.
"I'll try Apple Maple,'" Nata said after a moment.
"And I'll get Avocado," Tonks said, standing up to get the ice cream.
Tonks quickly came back to the table with the ice cream. "Cheers!" Tonks said happily. They both tried a small spoonful. Nata seemed to enjoy hers while Tonks coughed. "This is awful!" Tonks whispered.
"Have a taste of mine," Nata offered. "It's pretty good."
Tonks did, and enjoyed that much more than the avocado. "So how are you feeling?" Tonks asked.
"I'm tired," Nata told her. "And it's only been an hour."
"You might have taken too much on," Tonks said thoughtfully. "Change your eyes back to normal. When we're ready to leave, you can run to the bathroom and change your hair. We'll try to keep the height as long as we can."
Nata nodded and scrunched her face. Her eyes quickly changed back. "I already feel better," she admitted.
"Good thing," Tonks said.
Together they walked through Diagon Alley. After another hour, she could tell that Nata was fading fast. "Time to go home, kiddo," Tonks said.
"Not yet," Nata whined.
"Nope. Game over," Tonks said. "You're exhausted, aren't you?"
Slowly, Nata nodded her head.
"See. I'm not going to push you yet. You still have plenty of time to learn."
"Fine," Nata said.
Tonks put her arm around the young metamorph's shoulder. "Don't be disappointed in yourself."
"I thought I could last three hours," Nata said sadly.
"Next time, my dear, next time."
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"Mum!" Tonks cried. Christmas break was almost over. She was quite glad, to be truthful. Spending this much time with her parents was getting to her. She couldn't wait to go back to Hogwarts.
"In the kitchen, dear," Tonks' mum called back.
"Where's Draco?" Tonks asked.
"Having a fly on the broom you gave him," Andromeda said.
"Cool," Tonks said, smiling.
"So it's back to Hogwarts, tomorrow, eh?" Tonks' mum said.
"Back to the ol' grind stone," Tonks grinned.
Andromeda smiled, and then took a thoughtful sip of tea. Tonks started playing with the ring Severus had given her.
"That's a beautiful ring," Andromeda commented.
Tonks nodded. "I know."
"It's from Severus, isn't it?" her mother asked.
"Yes," Tonks said. "Why don't you really like him, Mum?"
"Nymphadora, had it ever crossed your mind that he and I went to school together for a couple of years?" Andromeda said sternly.
Tonks' eyebrows shot up. "Honestly, I didn't even think of it," she admitted. Which Tonks realized was stupid.
"I was in my sixth year his first year," Andromeda said. "He was always with Lucius Malfoy, who was a fourth year then. By then I was already with your father. Narcissa was embarrassed to be seen with me. It was absolute hell to sit in the common room at night. Lucius, Severus and their friends would taunt me to no end."
Tonks was surprised to see how upset the memory was making her mother. "Mum, that's all in the past," Tonks said sadly. "Severus isn't like that any more."
"If he wants to marry you, I know he's changed, at least a little bit," Andromeda admitted. "I'm just having a hard time letting go of those feelings."
"Thanks for telling me this, Mum," Tonks said truthfully. "Everything makes a little more sense now."
"If he really makes you happy, and you honestly think you can spend the rest of your life with him, then I'm glad for you," Andromeda said, reaching across the table and taking Tonks' hand.
Tonks smiled happily. "We just shared a moment, didn't we?"
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Tonks had to keep herself from running through the halls of Hogwarts. She desperately wanted to throw herself in Severus' arms. It took what seemed to be ages, but she finally whispered the password and let herself into the bed chamber.
Much to her disappointment, Severus was not there. Automatically, Tonks scrunched up her nose and changed back to herself. Tonks had ridden on the Hogwarts Express as Juliette. She was wearing a very new pair of dark jeans and a light purple blouse. If it was Tonks' outfit, there would be patches all over the jeans. And the blouse wouldn't exist. At all.
She threw the Juliette clothes on the floor and stayed naked for a minute, thinking how nice it would be if Severus walked through the door right then. But he didn't and Tonks changed into a much more suitable outfit. A comfortable pair of camouflage cargo pants and a button down shirt that had the name patch of "Steve" on it. Her hair was in light blue spikes, and she felt like herself again.
Now that she was herself, Tonks couldn't leave the room without changing back into Juliette's clothes. She silently cursed the Death Eaters for forcing her to practically be in hiding.
With nothing else to do, Tonks started unpacking. Her eyes settled on the book that Severus had given her for Christmas. Leaving the suitcase open on the bed, Tonks settled herself on the couch with the book.
First, she checked the date when this was written. 1943. So there had been no known metamorphs for forty years at the time.
Eagerly, she turned the page and started to read about her sisters in crime.
And with each page turn, Tonks became more and more angry, shocked and saddened.
Tonks read in horror how each notable Dark Wizard over the past thousand years had a metamorph under his control. There had only been one case, Nadia of the Hills, who chose to work for the dark side of her own free will. The rest, dozens of metamorphs, all had been put under the Imperius Curse, or something like it.
Not all metamorphs were used for evil. Some were very popular "Ladies of the Night." They were able to become any man's desire, and could charge any price.
Only over the past two hundred years had the stigma been lifted for metamorphs. They were feared and mistrusted all through out history. The Ministry of Magic kept close watch on all known metamorphs, going as far as having a registration. The registration was finally done away with in nineteen thirty-two, when none had registered for twenty-five years.
At the time the book was written, many people hoped that the metamorph had been bred out, as it generally passes from mother to daughter, skipping a generation or two at a time.
Not able to read anymore, Tonks angrily shut the book closed. She hugged the book to her chest and tried to will away the feeling of uncleanliness that had settled over her.
The door suddenly opened and Severus stepped inside, holding a bundle of parchment rolls. He started to head over to her, but then thought better of it, seeing her face.
"Dora?" he asked quietly.
"Did you read this before you gave this to me?" she asked, pointing to the book.
Severus shook his head. "I didn't. I saw the subject, and the thought the cover was nice to look at. Why?"
"When you found out I was a metamorph. Were you frightened of me?" she asked sadly.
"Honestly?" Severus asked.
Tonks nodded sadly. "Honestly."
Severus sat next to her on the couch. "Dora, when I was young, I was taught to hate and fear anything that was different than me. Including metamorphs. Obviously, my views have changed, but when I heard there was a metamorph joining the Order, I was worried."
"Because you thought I'd be a spy," Tonks said, as a statement, not a question.
"I didn't know what to think," Severus said, taking her hand.
"Do you know that you are the only boyfriend that I've had that hasn't asked me to use my powers in bed?" Tonks said.
"Really?" Severus said, raising an eyebrow.
"Why haven't you?" Tonks asked suddenly.
"Haven't I what? Ask you to use your powers?"
Tonks nodded.
"I'd be a liar if I said I hadn't thought about it, Dora. The possibilities are very…shall we say, intriguing," Severus said slowly. Tonks could tell he was trying to choose his words carefully. "But when it's all said and done, I want to make love to you, not some fantasy creature."
Tonks let the book drop to the floor and rested her head against Severus' chest. "Reading that book just made me so upset," she whispered. "I don't want to be under someone else's control."
Severus lifted her head. "You're very good at fighting the Imperius Curse, Dora. You know that."
She jumped up and started pacing. "But what about subtle mind control? I had some courses on Occlumency during Auror training, but I was rubbish at it," Tonks said quickly. "I wouldn't be able to get anyone out of my mind."
Severus stood up suddenly. "Right then. Get your wand."
Tonks stopped her pacing and looked at him. "My wand?" she repeated.
"I should have done this months ago, Dora. You need to have a working knowledge of Occlumency," Severus said, taking his wand out of his robes. "Death Eaters might not use the Imperius Curse to get to you. There are other methods, and you need to be ready for them."
She ran over to the dresser, where her wand was. Gingerly, she faced him. He looked down at her, and Tonks could see that he was preparing himself.
"You know how this starts?" Severus asked.
Tonks nodded. "If I remember correctly, I have no problem letting people into my mind, it's the forcing them out bit that's troublesome," Tonks sighed.
"Just remember, if you can resist the Imperius Curse, you can resist a break-in," Severus said softly. "Clear your mind, Dora."
Tonks closed her eyes and waited for the mental attack she knew was coming.
"Legilimens!"