Chapter 3: Meeting Nymphadora Tonks
Eventually, the doorbell rang. Holly jumped up from her nap on the floor (since her bed was still laden with all her belongings) and ran down the stairs to the front door. Outside stood a young witch with bright pink hair and a heart shaped face.
Holly had never seen an adult witch this young, only pupils in Hogwarts and elderly teachers. Plus, she was quite beautiful too, in her own way. When Holly didn't say anything, the witch smiled:
"Wotcha, you must be Holly? I'm Nymphadora Tonks, but you better just call me Tonks."
Holly just found her voice again and greeted the witch, showing her in. Tonks looked quickly around the hallway, obviously curious and impressed.
Surely, she hadn't been to many muggle households.
"Are you done packing, ready to go?", she finally asked Holly.
"Actually, since I will have to pack everything that belongs to me, I couldn't fit everything in my school trunk…", Holly answered, a little embarrassed, but Tonks just chuckled.
"I think I can help you with that, just show me where your stuff is."
Holly and Tonks went up to her room and Tonks promptly started to work her magic.
"I will put an Undetectable Extension Charm to your trunk, I think everything will fit inside quite nicely afterwards."
Tonks whirled her wand above Holly's trunk and knit her brows in concentration. From the outside, her trunk still looked the same, but it must have worked, something must have changed, Holly could sense the magic in the air.
Tonks grinned at her disarmingly and opened her trunk. The inside was huge. She could have fit several owl cages inside, damn, she could quite comfortably sleep in that thing now. Holly was too stunned to speak, she just shook her head in disbelief and watched, as Tonks magically lifted all her belongings up from the bed and inside the trunk.
"I'm not the best at this, sorry", she said, while Holly's stuff one after the other disappeared. "I'm much better at Transfiguration, but Charms… They never were my signboard. Household charms are the worst. My mother excels at them, she can even get clothes to fold themselves. But hey, at least everything will be inside the trunk, even if it's all tangled and chaotic!", Tonks laughed.
Holly didn't care if everything was tangled, she was just glad Tonks helped her.
After just a few last flicks with her wand, Tonks was done: "Ready to go now?", she asked still a smile on her lips.
"Ready as I can be", Holly answered, smiling herself. She was actually leaving this place!
Tonks lifted the trunk magically into the air and carefully guided it down the stairs. Holly took Hedwig's cage and her wand and without a last glace she left her room, never to come back again.
Tonks waited at the door for her, surprisingly accompanied by Holly's cousin. Sure, Debbie stood some feet away, always so frightened at the sight of everything magic. She probably couldn't help it, being her parent's daughter after all.
Just when Holly came to the door, uncle Vernon came slowly from the living room up to her and stretched out his hand:
"Well, I guess this is good bye then."
Holly stared at his fleshy pink fingers for a moment, then took it anyway. She would not be the one being unfriendly, even after everything this fat sack had said or done to her over the years.
"Yeah, guess so."
As soon as their hands parted, Vernon went back to his seat in the living room, where he quite audibly watched some kind of sports game.
Debbie also came forward and offered her hand, nails painted all pink and glittery.
"Still can't believe you're actually leaving", Debbie's voice was really quiet, not loud and attention seeking as it normally would be. Holly couldn't say a word, just nodded slightly. She did not understand what's gotten into her cousin. And even uncle Vernon! Everything about it was so… wrong!
Before Holly turned to leave, she saw aunt Petunia standing in the kitchen door, watching her. Holly turned to her, almost expecting her aunt to come and shake hands too, but she didn't. Petunia just stood there, some kind of gardening tool in her gloved hands, not moving or saying anything. Just watching. There was an odd sensation in the corridor, Holly could feel it. Petunia's mouth twitched, as if she wanted to say something, she looked over at Holly, for a moment their eyes met. Then, Petunia shook her head once and without a word, went back out of sight.
Holly felt the weirdness of the moment crawl down her spine, shuddered and simply went out the frontdoor.
Before it shut, Holly caught a soft "Bye, Holly", spoken by her cousin.
Never before, had Debbie called her by her first name.
Outside, Tonks had already sent of Holly's trunk to that secret place called the headquarters. The young witch took Holly by her elbow and lead her down the street along ever the same houses.
"That was awkward, wasn't it?", Tonks asked, her head pointing back to Number 4.
Holly nodded, still confused about everything that just happened. Why hadn't Petunia said anything? That'd been the weirdest thing of all. Trying to take her mind elsewhere, Tonks started talking:
"Anyway, let's get back to business! You see, since it's broad daylight, there aren't many means of travel we can use. We can't just take a broom and fly away, or we would be seen. Your aunt and uncle don't own the right fireplace I've been told" (Holly had to smile at the memory of the Weasleys nearly destroying the Dursley's living room last year) "So, floo powder wasn't really an option either. There is really only one thing for us left and it won't be pleasant for you, I'm afraid."
With those words, they had arrived at the big corn field just a few streets away. Tonks abruptly came to a halt, Holly nearly fell over, grasping Tonks' arm, trying to stay on her feet. She hadn't expected them to stop moving at that moment, she'd been too focused on the words "won't be pleasant for you".
"Oops, sorry, didn't want to run you over, Tonks", Holly felt her cheeks blush a little, "but, um, what do you mean, what exactly won't be pleasant?"
Tonks just smiled suspiciously, took Holly's hand and led her inside the high growing corn. Just a few feet in, Tonks turned around again, her smile now even more diabolical.
"Don't be afraid, it won't hurt, and it will be over real' quick. Step one: take one deep breath and hold it, now!"
Tonks waited for Holly to do as she was told, so Holly took a deep breath, trying to hold it. She had no idea, what she should be expecting. Was this some kind of prank? For what sort of transportation would she need to hold her breath?
Before she could ask Tonks any of her questions, the witch grabbed her hand tightly in hers and quickly spun around in place. Suddenly, everything around her went black. She felt pressure very hard all around her, against her. She couldn't breathe, her body got squished, compressed from all sides. Her eyeballs were being forced to the backside of her head, her ear drums hurting from all the black pressure around her and then-
Her lung filled with air again, the darkness lifted around her, her feet hit firm ground, she felt herself nearly collapsing, sitting down on the ground before that would actually happen, sticking her head between her knees. Tonks must have landed beside her, because Holly could hear her giggly voice:
"Step 2: try not to throw up or faint."
For Tonks it might be funny, but it took all Holly's strength to not do either. After taking some deep breaths, she started to feel better.
Holly lifted her head up to face Tonks:
"Have we -? Did we just -?", her voice was still trembling, but her nausea was finally gone, as well as the dizziness she had felt right after.
Tonks nodded knowingly: "Yeah, we just apparated. And for your first time, you did really well. I remember mine, I threw up all over. But then again, I also got splinched that time, so it might have been because of that too." Tonks shrugged one shoulder. Holly didn't even want to know what "splinched" meant, it sounded dreadful.
"Anyway, look where we are! Come, let me help you get off the ground", Tonks held out her hand, helping Holly back up to her feet.
Holly looked around. They'd traveled to a square place, surrounded by old, big identical city houses. Making sure nobody would see them, Tonks had apparated them right behind some big dustbins next to a house with a small number 13 written next to the wooden front door.
Tonks reached inside her bag and took out a tiny piece of paper, which she handed Holly.
Holly eyed the piece suspiciously. It was written in a neat, slanted handwriting, and even though this time it wasn't written in green ink, she instantly recognized it as Dumbledore's:
The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is at Grimmauldplace, 12.
Holly couldn't think of any reason why she had to read this sentence, why Tonks hadn't just told her in person, but when she looked up from the writing, right in front of her, something started to happen. Holly felt the ground beneath her trembling, like an earthquake, the airs filled with the sound of magic. Where the two houses of number 11 and number 13 met, suddenly, under great noise, slowly grew a new house, pushing the other two next to it away. After a couple of seconds, everything came to a halt again, and there it was, right in front of Holly a house had materialized, identical to the others on that square, but with the number 12 next to its door.
Holly felt her mouth drop open, couldn't believe what had just happened.
Tonks hurried up the stairs to the door: "Come on, Holly, let's get inside!"
Hey there, thanks for reading! :)
Holly finally left the Dursleys behind (don't worry, we'll see some more of them anyhow, especially in some flashbacks coming up further into the story).
What do you think, will Sirius be discharged at the trial that's coming up? Will Holly be able to leave her past truly behind?
Please leave a comment with some feedback about what you are thinking so far, I appreciate every opinion, so don't withhold any constructive criticism - but please, no bashing. If you happen to not like the story at all, that's fine with me, I won't force you into reading it, you know ;)
Stay tuned,
-entscha