It figures, Tonks thought, that I'd get stuck falling through some creepy mirror with one teenage know-it-all and two Weasleys, which she decided was the most stubborn family she'd ever met. The three of them had been arguing over what to do next since Ron had woken up. She was starting to wonder if she even liked the people. Nah, she was just being melodramatic. Hermione could be pretty bossy, but the two of them had become pretty good friends over the summer. And Ron could actually be pretty fun to hang around with. And Charlie, well, she had been noticing some interesting things about him all summer.
In school they had both been in Gryffindor. Tonks had even been just one year ahead of Charlie. But she had never really seen the appeal of the star quidditch player like most of the girls in the school had. To be truthful, she had had quite a crush on the older Bill during their Hogwarts days and Charlie had never been able to compete with his brother in her eyes. Now she wondered if Charlie had always been this good looking, if he had always been so good-natured or had his great sense of humor. Of course, all his daring stories of dealing with dragons might have had something to do with her newly acquired crush. There was something about a man who dealt with danger everyday that she found appealing. Which was pretty ironic since she couldn't even think of her fellow auror members in that way and nobody had a more dangerous line of work than the aurors.
Finally, Tonks got tired of listening to Hermione detail every single bad thing that could happen to them if they left the cave and Ron yelling, "Yeah, well, if we stay here waiting for that mirror to change back I'll tell you what will happen to us; we'll all starve to death!" What these people needed was a little direction.
"Enough! Ron's right, we can't stay here forever. However, I also agree with Hermione, we can't just leave the mirror. Sorry, Charlie, but between these two I couldn't even hear what you're idea was," she shot a grin towards Charlie who didn't seem to mind before continuing, "Now, I would like to introduce an idea that neither of you two seemed to consider. Charlie, Ron, if you would, try to pick up the mirror."
Between the two they easily lifted the gigantic mirror.
"Just as I suspected! Not only does it look and feel like an ordinary mirror it weighs about the same. So, as the oldest member of this group I have decided we are going to leave the cave and take the mirror with us."
After she finished her speech Tonks wondered if maybe it weren't such a good idea to bring up the age issue, as nobody looked too happy with her.
"Er, what I meant to say was since we all have equal say in what we do I suggest that we follow my plan of action?"
"I still think we should at least wait here a day or two to see if the mirror will reactivate."
"And I'm telling you, Hermione, that that mirror was radiating magic and I bet it took a lot of power to transport all four of us here. If that mirror were going to power up again we'd feel it!"
"You don't know that Ron. None of us know how the mirror works."
"And that's…"
"Precisely why we shouldn't put any of our hopes into it," Charlie quickly finished for Ron so that he wouldn't make Hermione any madder, "I must say that I agree with Tonks. This way we're exploring all avenues of getting home."
"Me, too," Ron added, "That's three against one. You're out voted."
"Fine, but I'm not comfortable with this."
"Well," Tonks said, "Might as well get moving. But which way do we head?"
"This way," Charlie replied, pointing to their right, "You can tell by the patterns in the rock."
So Tonks took one end of the mirror and Ron the other while Charlie led the way and Hermione brought up the rear of their little procession.
It felt like hours later that they finally came to an opening in the cave wall. Charlie was the first to look out at the landscape before them. His only way of describing it was "Whoa."
And when Tonks was finally able to see the landscape before them she had to agree with Charlie.
"Wow."