The red birds were reserved for the Heads of departments only. They were the easiest to spot, out of all the flying pieces of parchment in the Ministry, and it was not atypical for the witches and wizards doing their jobs to tense whenever one flew past.
You might even jokingly say to your colleague, "Oh, you'll get a red one if you keep that up" if they do something wrong, but it's really not a laughing matter because the red birds very rarely bring good news.
Tonks had learned early on in her career to ignore the threat of the red birds. Thinking of them just made her anxious, and Tonks wasn't the kind of person who could gracefully pull off nervousness. And all jokes aside, Tonks was actually pretty decent at her job.
So, at first, she didn't notice the piece of parchment that had landed on her desk. Tonks was in her cubicle, doing something extremely, extremely stupid. She had managed to talk herself into doing it by pointing out that she knew it was wreckless, as if that somehow made it better.
She was looking over Sirius Black's file. The file she had taken right from Kingsley's desk. She hadn't asked him for it – she knew he would say no, and for good reason. For one, she shouldn't even be on speaking terms with Kingsley, and two, it would draw too many questions if people realized Tonks had the file. Sirius was her cousin, so it wouldn't be too big of a leap for an idiot to assume she was sympathetic to him. And the last thing she wanted people to think was that she was on the side of a mass murderering agent of You-Know-Who.
So Tonks had stolen the file. It hadn't been easy, however. After searching around his cubicle, Tonks concluded that the file was hidden in the bottom drawer of Kingsley's desk, the one that was locked. She got down on her knees and began to fiddle with it, but the fact of the matter was that Tonks was never very good at breaking into things. It took a flick of your wrist that Tonks had never mastered. Any sort of spellcasting that required subtlety was out of her range.
Another problem was that she was in a cubicle. She wasn't hidden. If anyone stuck their head in, she would be caught. When Tonks realized that this wouldn't be as quick and stealthy a job as she had assumed, she had done an even stupider thing.
She morphed into Kingsley.
Right when Dawlish came to speak to him.
"Kingsley, mate," he said. Tonks froze.
Tonks hadn't mastered nonverbal magic, and she had trouble with the Voice-Copying Charm even when she did voice it, so that was not an option.
She just shook her head.
"Can you believe that? About that Muggle girl?"
Tonks kept her back firmly to him, and sat down in Kingsley's desk chair. It was weird, being so muscular. Tonks had never felt any more comfortable than she did in her usual body. She wondered if that meant it was her real size.
"It really got to you, didn't it?" Dawlish was still talking. "I wondered who was behind it."
Tonks shrugged. She hoped he would just go. She was fortunately wearing her Auror cloak; otherwise, he would've surely noticed something was wrong. The outfit she had on today included her favorite leather mini skirt and dancing Bertie Botts tights.
"I'll leave you be, then, mate. Try not to think about the picture. Look over Black's file again. Where was he last seen? Aruba?"
Tonks nodded again, but refused to meet his eyes. When he finally left, she let out a sigh of relief. Crawling back onto her knees, she decided to try one more time before giving up.
"Alohomora!" She flicked her wrist.
The lock clicked.
She grabbed the file folder and ran back to her desk, where she was now reading about her cousin. Vance's comment had spun Tonks's mind into all sorts of directions. She had tried to talk to Sirius at Grimmauld Place, but he hadn't seemed all that interested. On the few occasions he left his room, he just walked around like a zombie, never looking happy about anything. There were so many times she wished she had a Sirius handbook to read up on, to learn how to best deal with her cousin. The closest thing she had was Remus, and there were a lot of things she didn't feel comfortable asking him about. Sirius's official file seemed her best bet to get some insight into him.
But as she read it, all she got was a portrait of lonely boy. Granted, there were pictures where he was grinning and looking like a model, and there was a list a meter long of his girlfriends, but there were also diary entries in which he complained of his home life. He wrote about his friendship with James Potter almost incessantly, as if it were the one good thing he had. (Tonks's favorite entry read: Today James and I figured out how to make Minnie blush. We've detention until we're dead.)
Tonks knew that, according to the Ministry, Sirius wasn't implicated in James's death, but she wondered how the members of the Order had wrapped their heads around that. How could they believe that Sirius would betray his best friend?
When she got to the end of his profile, there was a picture of Sirius with James, Remus and Peter Pettigrew, and every few moments, Sirius turned his smile toward James.
Written underneath the picture were the words: Most likely joined Death Eaters to appease family. Went mad after Voldemort fell. Maybe went mad about Potter's death? ? ?
It was Kingsley's handwriting.
The next section of the file included the interviews conducted right after the attack with those who knew him. It was noted that Remus Lupin couldn't be found, and that he was "a person of interest" in the case. Tonks wondered if it could really be called a case at all, given that Sirius wasn't even granted a proper trial, and that his wand seemed to be missing.
"It's things like this that make the Ministry look completely inept," Tonks muttered to herself.
When she turned the page, a picture floated into her lap. Staring up at her were her mother and Sirius. Sirius was grinning his handsome grin, while her mother just smiled her small smirk, but Tonks could tell from her eyes that she was happy. Tonks had known that Sirius and her mother had gotten on, but there was a difference between knowing something and seeing it with her own eyes. Sirius and her mother both looked young; Sirius was wearing the plain robes the first years always did. He was a very old 11 or 12.
The page was titled "ANDROMEDA TONKS INTERVIEW," but there were no words on it. The next page said, "EMMELINE VANCE INTERVIEW" and went straight into it. The transcript of her mother's interview was nowhere to be found.
"What in Merlin's name ..."
Tonks looked through the remaining papers, but found nothing.
When she leaned back in her chair and thoughtfully exhaled, she noticed the red bird perched on the edge of her desk.
Tonks had never set foot in Amelia Bones's office, and she didn't know what to expect after rapping on the door and hearing a "Yes?"
She slowly stuck her head in. "You asked to see me, Mrs. Bones?"
Amelia Bones was sitting behind her desk while Scrimegeour stood in the corner like some kind of omen.
"It's Miss, Tonks, and I sent you that bird ages ago. What took you?"
"Sorry, sorry," Tonks said, closing the door behind her. "I was caught up in some paperwork."
"Paperwork?" Bones didn't seem impressed.
"With the Memory Charm case. Dawlish and Savage's case, ma'am," Tonks said quickly. It was the case she was supposed to be working on.
"Oh, right," Bones said flatly. "Anyway, we'd like to talk to you about the Mary Merriwether case."
"Mary Merriwether?" Tonks hadn't heard of it.
"It's the Muggle murder everyone's been gossiping about, Tonks," Scrimgeour supplied gruffly.
Tonks nodded. "Oh, right, right." It must've been the case Dawlish brought up. "With the little girl."
"Yes, Mary Merriwether was ten-years-old and found dead this morning," Bones said, and Scrimgeour held out a folder to her. Tonks tried to take it as gracefully as she could, given that, with no other options, Tonks had stuffed the Sirius Black file down the back of her cloak. She hadn't had time to return it to Kingsley's desk, and leaving it in her own was just asking for trouble. She couldn't even shrink it or Transfigure it into something else because she knew that Ministry files did not deal well with magical tampering.
"Ah, yes," Tonks said as she grabbed the folder. When she opened it up, she was met with the gruesome sight of a savagely slashed up little girl. Her stomach was cut open so brutally that her insides were visible, and the white walls behind her were smeared with her blood. Tonks couldn't look away, even though she felt like she might vomit. The fact that it was a magical picture wasn't even apparent save for a fly that kept landing on the girl and then flying away.
"The Muggle Aurors have agreed to let us co-investigate this matter with them, even though there was clearly magic involved - her body has not decayed and her blood was suspiciously thin. I suspect a potion of some kind," Bones said. "As it stands, her parents are very powerful and wealthy, and so the Muggles are keen on solving this, but they'll need our help. Because this mission will require knowledge of Muggle culture, I have asked that you be assigned to it."
Tonks could barely believe what she was hearing. In between finding out that her mother's interview was missing from the Sirius Black folder and seeing a graphic image of a dead little girl, it had been a very strange morning.
"What?"
"You're on the case, Tonks," Scrimgeour said. "This will be your first field assignment, so I will be monitoring you closely."
"I'm on the case?" Tonks knew that she was sounding stupid, but she just couldn't help it. "Who am I assigned with?"
"Proudfoot," Scrimgeour said.
"The body will be back from St. Mungo's tomorrow, and both the healers and Muggle doctors will have their reports. You will meet with them then," Bones said. "For now I suggest you wrap any of the loose ends you have on other cases because I imagine this will take up most of your time."
Tonks nodded again. "Thank you."
She didn't wait to be dismissed, but just walked from the room quickly and stiffly.
When Tonks got to Headquarters, she didn't even really know why she was there, but Bill Weasley was in the kitchen with Fleur Delacour, and Tonks suspected that she interrupted them mid-snog when they both seemed to jump into menial tasks when she walked in. Fleur went about making tea, and Bill was, funnily enough, wiping off Molly's meticulously clean dishes.
"So, erm," Tonks said awkwardly from her spot in the doorway, "I suppose there's nothing to report?"
"Nothing zat I am aware of, no," Fleur said, and she wiped at her flushed lips with the back of her hand. "But it is nice to see you, Tonks." Fleur gave her a smile and Tonks noted that she liked the way Fleur said her name. "Tunks," almost. She then thought that she should just go, thought that she didn't want to be a third wheel or an unwelcome guest, but then Bill spoke up.
"How's Harry?"
"Harry?" Tonks repeated. Her mind flashed back to the night before, of Harry sitting in his window, and how she could see him under the full moon, so close, and so, so lonely; she could practically feel the loneliness flowing off of him. And she couldn't even say hello. "He's fine."
"It's maddening, isn't it? Not even being able to talk to him?" Bill said, and she wondered if he were reading her mind.
"'e seems like such a sad little boy," Fleur said, and then no one spoke for a few moments until the tea kettle whistled. "It looks like it is ready to drink," Fleur stated. "Would you like a glass?"
Tonks shook her head, and she felt the file shift in her cloak, and she was struck with an idea. "Bill, could I ask you for a huge favor?"
Bill dropped the pretense of cleaning dishes and raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"It's nothing that will get you in particular trouble," Tonks said quickly. "But I just need help hiding something for a few days. I can't afford to hide it at my house –" Tonks didn't quite know exactly what was going on with her mother yet - "but I also can't leave it lying around here."
"I might know a place," Bill said slowly, "but it really depends what it is."
And by that point, both Bill and Fleur were obviously intrigued, and like vomit, Tonks couldn't stop the words from spilling out. She took off her cloak, and she showed them the file and Bill and Fleur made the appropriate interested sounds.
"It's technically okay for me to have it," Tonks assured them. "I'm an auror, and its well-within my jurisidiction. I just can't afford..."
"You can't afford people to ask questions," Bill finished, and Tonks nodded.
"And I plan on taking it back really soon; I just need to analyze it a bit more."
"Won't Kingsley miss it?" Fleur asked.
Tonks shook her head. "He hardly ever looks at it; he's had it long-memorized. Still, if I hear him mention it around the office, I'll tell him before he files a missing file report." Tonks didn't voice her opinion that a missing file report practically took months to instate, and that she could easily intercept it. "Plus, I think I might want to ask Sirius about some of the stuff in it."
"Don't ask him about this madness; he's already depressed enough as it is," Bill said. "Just talk to Remus. He's relatively more sane."
"Well, I have duty with him next week," Tonks said. "I'll do it then."
Bill took the file and told Tonks that he would be putting it into his personal vault at Gringotts. Tonks objected, but Bill told her that his status at the bank made his vault very private, and besides, no one would think it weird if she came in with one of his keys, and then he gave her one. When Tonks asked why that was, Bill blushed, and Fleur stated, "'e 'ides a lot of things for pretty girls, apparently."
Tonks then found out that Fleur, who had already been there less than two weeks was already going back to France. "It is a shame," she said, "but I plan on being back for permanent next year."
Hearing that news, Tonks left Bill and Fleur to their business because she knew if her significant other were leaving to another country, she would want some private snog time, too. But then again, that would require her to have a significant other.