Chapter Thirty – The Minister of Magic
Trying to get her mind off of Severus, Tonks decided to stay late at the Ministry to get some paperwork done. She poured all of her energy into her work. Well past midnight, Tonks finally decided to head back to Hogwarts to get some sleep.
She walked slowly down the hall, wishing it was better lit. But to save money, only a few candles were burning.
"Juliette?" a voice asked, causing Tonks to jump.
She turned around quickly. The Minister of Magic was standing in front of her. "Yes, Minister?" Tonks asked, confused. Fudge knew that Juliette was Tonks. He had fought against the plan when Madam Bones told him, but Madame Bones prevailed.
"Juliette, why do you look different all the time?" he asked in a high pitched voice.
"Minister?" Tonks asked warily. Something didn't sound right.
"One day you have pink hair. The next you're blonde. Today you're a brunette!" Fudge started giggling.
Tonks looked around wildly. She knew the signs. This was a man who had been under Imperius Curse for far too long. Tonks grabbed his shoulders. "Finite Incantatum," Tonks whispered.
"NO!" Fudge yelled, shoving her down to the floor. He put his hands on his knees and started laughing, sounding wild.
"Finite Incantatum!" she yelled, pointing her wand at his chest.
"Juliette Nymphadora Livingston Tonks," Fudge said in a sing-song voice.
Tonks moaned. There went the plan. By now, Fudge had told the Death Eaters about her rouse. "Damnit, man!" Tonks yelled. "Fight the curse!"
"Too tired," Fudge wheezed. "Can't fight anymore."
Suddenly Tonks felt sorry for him. She could see him for the old, pathetic man he truly was. A hint of malice gleamed in his eyes, and Tonks looked around. Was it possible that the spell caster was near-by?
"Who did this to you?" Tonks demanded, trying to get his attention. She tried to grab his shoulders again, but he pushed her away with alarming strength, knocking her own wand away from her.
As Tonks fell to the floor, Fudge brought out his wand and pointed it at her. "I make the decisions! I will not let Dumbledore push me around any longer! I am Minister of Magic! Me! Not Dumbledore!"
But Tonks could tell, just by looking into his eyes that these words were not true. She couldn't get the curse off of him. It was too powerful. But Professor Dumbledore would be able to remove the curse.
He still was pointing his wand at her. Tonks started to get up, but Fudge started waving his wand. Still sitting, Tonks kicked his hand, knocking his wand out of his hands.
"Noo!" Fudge cried.
"Everyone freeze!" a voice cried. Tonks looked up. The few Aurors assigned to guard the outside of the Ministry must have heard the commotion.
"Juliette?" the Auror asked. Tonks nodded. It was Teddie Hollandsworth; he did not know that Tonks was Juliette.
"Minister?" Damian Uther, another Auror asked, bewildered. Damian knelt to help Fudge off of the ground.
"What the hell happened here?" Teddie demanded.
"Sweet mother of Merlin!" Damian cried. "The Minister is under the Imperius Curse!"
"Juliette, tell me you didn't do this," Teddie said quickly.
"Of course not!" Tonks said. "I tried to take the spell off of him and he attacked me!"
"This is not good," Damian muttered. "Juliette, light a fire and get Madam Bones over here."
Tonks nodded, and ran towards the closest fireplace, which was three rooms away. Within a minute, the fire was lit and Tonks found herself looking into Madam Bones' bedchamber.
"Madam Bones!" Tonks cried. "We have an emergency!" Tonks gave her the details as fast as she could.
Putting her monocle on her eye, she shook her head. "I'll be right there."
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The night never seemed to end. Madam Bones had hoped to keep this quiet. Tell the press that Fudge was resigning effective immediately, and be done with it. But as soon as Madam Bones showed up, a reporter from the Daily Prophet made his way into the building. Tonks sighed; the reporter was about to get a story of his life.
By the time Tonks actually left the Ministry, it was already morning. The Daily Prophet already had their headline.
Minister of Magic Under Imperius Curse!
Tonks started reading a few paragraphs and then threw the paper away. If only the Ministry could be that efficient! Shaking her head, Tonks apparated to Hogsmeade. Decisions would have to be made. She could no longer use Juliette as a cover. If a new Auror just happened to "appear," the Death Eaters would probably assume it was her.
She made her way up to Professor Dumbledore's office. To her dismay, Tonks saw that Severus was there. Automatically, Tonks brushed her hair out of her face. Then she realized how stupid it was to be worried how she looked. There were much more important things going on.
A copy of the Daily Prophet was already on the desk. "I see you've heard the exciting news," Tonks said sarcastically, sitting down on a chair. She tried to catch Severus' eye, but he wouldn't look at her.
She relayed the story as best she could. Tonks was exhausted. She had been up the entire night, and had barely gotten any sleep the night before. Finally, she had told them everything.
"I need to take a nap and go back to the Ministry. The place will be a wreck," Tonks said.
"Go as yourself, Nymphadora. We will figure out a way to protect you," Professor Dumbledore said firmly.
Tonks stood up, half hoping Severus would follow her out the door. But he stayed planted firmly in his seat. Shaking her head sadly, Tonks left the office.
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It took a week. But finally a new Minister of Magic was decided upon. Everyone agreed that Madam Bones would be best for the job. She had practically been Fudge's right hand man.
Tonks started spending more and more time at Headquarters. A week after Madam Bones had been decided on, Arthur Weasley came walking into the parlor, looking high as a kite.
"Tell them, Arthur," Molly said, holding Arthur's hand.
Tonks looked interestedly at Molly and Arthur. The other seven or eight in the parlor looked eager for some good news.
"I spoke with Madam Bones today. She asked if I would be the Assistant Minister of Magic," Arthur said proudly.
In an instant, everyone was up on their feet, wanting to congratulate Arthur. Remus decided this called for a celebration. He started flooing to some of the members of the Order's house to tell them the good news.
Within an hour, the parlor was packed. Tonks drank two glasses of wine rather quickly. She could tell that she would be a sad drunk tonight, so she refused a refill when it was offered. Looking at Molly and Arthur, with their arms around each other was torture.
Severus still wasn't speaking to Tonks. She had tried to speak to him everyday since their fight. She even sent him an owl that she knew was delivered, since she was seated next to him as Professor Dumbledore at the time.
But Tonks was practical. They both said some very hurtful things that night. She hoped that this was just Severus' way of dealing with it. Once they had some distance from the fight, hopefully he would be willing to talk to her again.
Knowing that didn't make the hurt go away though. In her mind, she had forgiven him for what he said. Now if he could only find it in his heart to do the same for her.
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Tonks ate breakfast quickly. Today was a Hogsmeade visit. She was currently dressed in her own clothes, but needed time to change into another outfit. Tonks was undecided who she wanted to go to Hogsmeade as. The rest of the Aurors at the small table thought she had been given the day off. They didn't know she would be there as someone else.
Briefly, Tonks glanced up and her eyes locked with Severus' all the way across the Great Hall. She tried to keep the connection, but Severus winced. Tonks knew that gesture. He had just been summoned.
Less than a minute later, Severus leaned over to Albus. Then he stood up, rubbing his left fore arm and left the Great Hall. Tonks had to fight the urge to run after him.
Before she knew it, Tonks was wandering around the edge of Hogsmeade, near the Shrieking Shack. She looked like a young Japanese woman, around twenty years old. Her hair was in pig tails and she wore jeans and a plain black T-shirt.
Tonks kept to herself. She didn't have the energy to go up to people and act all happy and say "Wotcher," so that they knew it was her. Tonks realized she barely had enough energy to hold her morph for the rest of the day. She knew it was just mental exhaustion though; she had plenty of sleep last night.
She sat down on a tree stump and rested her chin in her hands, looking for suspicious activity. Tonks heard a flutter of wings above her and saw an owl flying towards her. The owl landed on her shoulder. With a start, Tonks saw there was a piece of parchment fastened hastily to its leg.
"Thank you," she told the owl as she took the parchment. She watched the owl fly off into the distance.
Tonks rolled open the parchment and stared at it for a moment. The note had been written so quickly that Tonks could barely understand it. Her heart stopped when she recognized Severus' handwriting.
Look out for her. They know.
With a strangled cry, Tonks jumped up off of the tree stump. Quickly she scrunched her face back to its natural state. The note could only be about one person.
Nata.
Death Eaters were coming after Nata. Tonks ran as fast as she could into the main part of Hogsmeade. She wanted to shout out Nata's name, but she also didn't want to bring any attention to herself.
Tonks looked around wildly for another teacher, some one who would recognize Nata by sight. "Damnit," Tonks muttered under her breath. She hoped that if Death Eaters were here that they would see Tonks and go after her instead.
She kept searching frantically, checking stores and alley ways. But then a scream could be heard towards the edge of town. Tonks ran towards the scream. A crowd of people stopped her.
"Pardon me! Excuse me!" Tonks said as she pushed her way through the crowd. She saw Harry, Ron and Neville running towards her.
"Tonks!" Harry cried. "There were Death Eaters! They grabbed a student and disappeared!"
Tonks muttered a few curse words under her breath. Quickly, Tonks found Professor Sprout, who was the head teacher on patrol duty.
"Nata's been taken?" Professor Sprout asked, sounding dumbfounded. "Why in the world would they want her?"
"It doesn't matter. Get the students back to Hogwarts. I'm going to run ahead and talk to Professor Dumbledore," Tonks said frantically.
Professor Sprout nodded, and Tonks took off at full speed towards Hogwarts. Seven minutes later, Tonks was bounding up the stairs to Professor Dumbledore's office.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Tonks cried. "The Death Eaters have taken Nata!"
He stood up quickly. "What has happened?" he said calmly.
Tonks started speaking far too quickly; she knew she could barely be understood. "I was sitting down and an owl from Severus came and it said to look out for her and I knew he meant Nata so I looked for her but I heard a scream and Harry said he said he saw Death Eaters take her!" Tonks didn't care if he couldn't understand her.
"Take a breath, Nymphadora," Professor Dumbledore said sharply.
"This is all my fault!" Tonks screamed.
"Nymphadora, calm yourself," the Headmaster instructed.
"No!" Tonks yelled, all her grief from Severus not speaking to her and Nata's disappearance bubbling over. "I was too concerned about myself! I didn't think for a minute that he would be interested in a metamorph as young as Nata!"
"If Nata is put under the Imperius Curse…" Professor Dumbledore trailed off, turning white.
"She'll be able to amazing things. For about three hours, then her body will shut down. And then they'll kill her!" Tonks cried.
"We need to calm down and figure out a plan to get her back," he said simply.
Tonks shook her head. "No, plan. I'm finding her now," Tonks said determinedly.
"Nymphadora, you can't just start looking for her," Professor Dumbledore started.
"You can if you know where to go," Tonks said quietly, thinking reasonably for the first time.
"You can't just walk into a room full of Death Eaters, Nymphadora! Then you too will be killed," Professor Dumbledore said firmly.
"They won't even know I'm there."