Impressions: 22nd August 1995

Her name is Nymphadora Tonks but woe betide anybody who calls her by her first name. Well, anybody apart from Sirius, her long-lost cousin who she lets get away with murder (ironic, that). Her mother, the infamous Andromeda who ran away with a Muggle-born, was Sirius' teenage hero and he's awed that Andromeda's daughter is now grown-up and an Auror and a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

She's a Metamorphmagus and doesn't shut up about it. The first thing she did upon entering Grimmauld Place for the first time was to check everybody was looking before asking if turquoise was her colour, and when they all seemed perplexed she announced, "Nah, I don't think so," and morphed her hair to pink. It was obvious from her face that the impressed reaction was something she was used to and enjoyed. The twins bombard her with questions like, "Can you turn yourself into a boy?" and "So what's your real face?" and her answers are cheerful, detailed and proud.

She's an Auror too, and will tell anybody who's listening how she qualified last year after getting full marks on Concealment & Disguise but nearly failing Stealth & Tacking. Remus doesn't blame her for showing off about her job- it is impressive, especially as nobody was taken on to training straight from school for two years before she was, and as far as he knows nobody has since. She trained under Mad-Eye Moody and is his special favourite, so she can say things to him that nobody else would dare and receive only a glare from his remaining eye as reprimand. Sometimes Moody even chokes out a gruff laugh. She does, Remus has noticed, make people laugh a lot. She likes silly jokes and sarcasm and if all else fails she makes her nose look like Severus'.

The Auror and the Metamorphing go together, because at a moment's notice she can turn into an old lady or a teenage girl or the Indian woman who sings at the Leaky Cauldron. Instant disguises, no Polyjuice or human transfiguration necessary. Mad-Eye assures Remus that she is an excellent Auror and will be an excellent asset to the Order. Remus doesn't remember hearing Moody talk about anybody else like that. Mad-Eye's right though, because already she's snuck into various places she shouldn't have been and returned gleefully laden with information. Furthermore, she and Kingsley are the Order's spies at the Auror office, keeping an eye on Fudge and Scrimgeour and diverting the search for Sirius.

He reckons that she's a punk, or a goth, or whatever they're calling themselves these days. Her jackets and jeans have artistic tears in, her multicoloured t-shirts are either extremely tight or hugely oversized. They have slogans garishly printed on them blaring Gluten Tag and Is there a Healer in the house? although Remus tries not to read all of them because he doesn't want to look like he's starring at her chest. Her dangerously short skirts are made of some sort of tutu material so that they fan out. She has piercings at the top of her ear and a tattoo of the letter A on her right hand, although sometimes the tattoo's hidden by those fingerless gloves she has. The boots that she wears go up to her knee. Remus isn't sure how old she is but she's friendly with the older Weasley boys, the two who'd left school by the time he'd started teaching there. She's always asking Mrs Weasley what Charlie is up to in Romania. He reckons that puts her about twenty-two, and Remus remembers that by the time he was twenty-two, two of his best friends were dead because the third had betrayed the first, and that he, Remus, was alone.

Nymphadora Tonks is not alone; she's always on about going to drinks or concerts with friends from school or colleagues from the Ministry. Her definition of "concert", he supposes, judging by her band t-shirts and the music she blares out of the kitchen radio, is probably different to his. She's seeing somebody, something Remus only knows because Sirius pointed out the love-bites on her neck a couple of weeks ago (she is not, then, the sort of woman who covers up love-bites). It's probably a tall, slim, bright Ministry boy with battered Converse like she wears, or maybe a big muscled lad who works in Quidditch promotion. Remus wouldn't know.

She seems to have appointed herself as Ginny Weasley's older sister, which is kind because goodness knows Ginny needs one with all those big brothers. She can often be found chatting with Ginny or morphing noses for her. She's also told her to check for shield charms on the doors so they can use the twins' Extendable Ears to eavesdrop. Remus should probably have a word with her about that but he suspects she'd laugh it off, shrug and say he was being a stick in the mud. That's what Sirius said when Remus brought it up with him, and he's very similar to his little cousin.

She trips over the doormat every time she enters Grimmauld Place. She spills her tea and drops her mug. She scrapes her plate with her fork and talks with her mouth full. Her elbows are frequently grazed and the scabs on her knees are visible through her ripped jeans. She is constantly knocking things over.

She is, to be honest, a bit annoying. She interrupts and asks too many questions and she does not. Stop. Talking. Remus wishes she would shut up for five minutes. It's like being with Sirius except she's less bitter and more prone to giggling. When she isn't asking questions she's probably talking about herself. This makes Remus roll his eyes but, he supposes, she does has a lot to say about herself; a lot of things in her life. He isn't sure if all of her wild anecdotes are true but he chuckles politely anyway. Sometimes when he's in the hall he can hear her tittering upstairs with Ginny and Hermione. Hearing Hermione Granger titter is unusual, he notes. Sirius frequently commandeers his little cousin to gossip and tease and flirt with, and that annoys Remus too. He should probably cut Sirius more slack, cooped up in here all day like a madwoman in the attic (no, that's his mother).

She says hello to Remus and asks him how he is and what he's been up to. She wants to know what book he's reading. She needles him for embarrassing anecdotes about Sirius at school, and sometimes Remus indulges her. He can feel her eyeing him in the days around the full moon, wanting to fire questions. Everybody does. For once however, she seems to know to keep her mouth shut, and for this he is grateful. She usually offers to help Molly with the washing-up and to run errands for Kingsley (a more cynical man would suggest that she is itching for a promotion. But Remus doesn't think she's like that, or if she is she's very good at disguising hankering for helpfulness. But disguise is her thing, isn't it, so what does he know?). She mucks in with the cleaning projects Molly sets the kids. She always takes a sweet if offered one.

Remus notices these things about her because he notices things about everybody. He's always had a good eye for detail. And apart from her casual enquiries about his books and her inquisitive looks at him in the days before and after the full moon, he doubts that Nymphadora Tonks has noticed him at all.