Tonks gasped as she landed on hands and knees with a sharp slap against wet stone, her eyes temporarily rendered useless by the sharp sunlight suddenly filtering through them.
She took in her surroundings as her sight adjusted. They had appeared before the front door of a derelict old shack atop a cluster of rocks in the middle of a harsh grey sea.
"Where are we?" she asked, looking around at Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"I'm not entirely sure" Harry answered "My uncle brought us here when I was 11, he was trying to evade my Hogwarts letters… I've always remembered it because this is where Hagrid finally found me… it's turned out to be a brilliant base because it's so secluded"
"How'd you get Lupin to let you come Tonks? I didn't think he'd be keen at all" Ron asked, ever so tactless.
Tonks hesitated to answer and looked away from her friends as she realized the gravity of what she'd done, abandoned her husband, abandoned her child… she felt a pang of guilt.
"You didn't tell him…" Hermione slowly said as understanding reached the three teenagers "Tonks- "
"Look, we all have our shortcomings Hermione, mine is that I have spent my life trying to please others, Ron's right, Remus wouldn't have wanted me to come, he'd have fought it to the end… even though he would've insisted on coming no matter what if it was him… Don't think I don't know that he tried to flee at one time, tried to do the very same thing I'm doing now… I just- I need to feel useful! I've been trapped in that cottage for months while everyone else has fought, don't hate me for wanting to play the one role I can in this war" she ranted, the aggression of a snake building within as though she'd rip their throats apart should they seek to disinvite her now.
"I just… Lupin will-" Hermione started
"I know how my husband will react to this. I don't need you to tell me that! Look, you came to me, you asked for my help, I'm here to help. If you don't want it, I'll leave. But my marital problems are of no concern to any of you, now, will someone please tell me the plan?" she asserted forcefully.
"We don't know exactly what protections will be on the Lestrange vault, but we'll have Griphook with us, he's given us his word" Harry said, exhaling heavily as he finished explaining the plan for the fifteenth time.
"And you trust his word?..." Tonks asked apprehensively, even the kindest witches and wizards knew it was a dangerous game to enter into back-room dealings with Goblins.
"I don't know… but it's the best chance we have" Harry sighed heavily
"Just think on it a bit Tonks, we know this isn't a small favor and we know that it doesn't come without risks… just think on it" Said Hermione, a hint of desperation in her usually level voice, but was it desperation for her to join them or go home? It didn't matter to Tonks.
Tonks found herself once again staring into a fireplace as she considered what she had just been told. The plan was simple, Tonks would alter her appearance to look like her deranged aunt Bellatrix, she would go to Gringotts accompanied by Ron and Hermione, transfigured to look like Death Eaters, and Harry and Griphook under Harry's invisibility cloak. She would present Bellatrix's wand, which they had somehow managed to steal while escaping Malfoy Manor, as identification and simply make their way through the depths of the bank, enter the vault, take the horcrux and leave. Simple.
Simple and insane.
Simple, insane and full of variables.
It was a plan so simple it was almost doomed to fail. Any sane person would tell them they were insane and turn around and leave… but maybe she wasn't so sane after all, because the thought of the insane level of risk excited her, like a grand adventure beckoning her forward… like maybe this was her destiny.
She took an old issue of the Daily Prophet which was sat atop the end table and took her leave into the small bedroom by the entryway. She sat before a speckled, dusty old mirror and gazed down at the front page of the newspaper in her hand.
Staring back at her was Bellatrix Lestrange. The woman, her estranged aunt, was completely and utterly deranged. Her deep, black eyes sunk deep into their sockets, framed by bags which could only be explained by years spent in the dark, harrowing depths of Azkaban. Her strong jaw the only remaining semblance of her once striking features making her sunken cheeks even more shocking.
Tonks caught herself as she started wondering what her life might have been had she been raised with her extended family, her aunt, had her mother not denounced her name and placing within the house of Black… she felt a cold, hard stab of pain in her throat at the thought, as though someone had driven a dagger into it and shifted her focus to the burning question she must face before she could consider agreeing to embark on this mission.
Several hours passed as she moved her gaze between the magical photo of Bellatrix Lestrange and her own reflection, her appearance contorting as each hour passed. It was a massive task, the magnitude of which she had never before attempted. It pained her physically as she adjusted her jaw, and the depths of her eyes, the unusual familiarity of the pain confused her, resulting in a short pause, before she shook herself and moved her attention to her hair and nails.
Finally, as day began to break through the window behind her, the image in front of her and in the newspaper now resting on the floor were indiscernible. Had she not known she sat before a mirror, she'd be convinced she was in the same room as her aunt.
She grinned and let out a shriek of glee, jumping up to find Harry, Ron, and Hermione to show them her handiwork, and tell them she was in.
She expected them to be shocked when they saw her, what she hadn't anticipated was the look of fear in Hermione's eyes as she walked into the kitchen, or the stunning spell that hit her square between the eyes.
