Chapter 7
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these Harry Potter characters! Enjoy!
Patrol Duty
"So we're just supposed to stand around here and make sure nothing happens?" asked Tonks pacing around the long platform and peering about.
"I guess so" said Remus sitting down with his back against a nearby tree, watching her.
"What's so important about this place anyway, nothing special happens here?" she asked looking Remus in the eyes.
"Well, I guess Dumbledore thought that this place, being near Hogwarts was one of the most likely places that a gang of Death Eaters was to appear" he chose his words carefully making sure not to let anything slip.
"I can't believe that he would straight out lie to me!" Tonks thought trying to hide her emotions in her appearance.
Lupin's eyes darted to the castle of Hogwarts that loomed over the swaying treetops; the sun in the background was sinking rapidly, giving the castle an eerie affect.
"I wish I was still there" he said simply.
"Great now he's trying to change the subject!" Tonks turned her hair a middle length, spiky, fiery shade of red, and looked up at the castle, deciding she would play along.
"What as a teacher or a student?" she asked sitting next to him, pulling her knees to her chest so she could lean her face on them.
He glanced down at her small form and her fiery red hair, "I guess, I would like to be the student more so than the teacher, to be young and free and have little troubles in the world, is what I think everybody wants these days."
"Your not that old and besides even though everything now is complicated and confusing, you can still look to the bright side of things and have some fun!" he raised his dark eye brows at her as she said this.
"How so?" he looked at her intently, as if willing her to answer such an impossible statement.
"Well, pretend you're casting a patronus, think of a happy thought that makes you smile or laugh, you know to brighten the mood" she said as if it was as simple as that.
"If you don't mind me saying, it's very hard to come by optimists these days, unless you are a muggle" he turned back to the castle. A deep silence followed these words, not an embarrassing and anxious silence, but a warm and comforting one. The peace and quiet was all Nymphadora needed, as a slight breeze blew through her hair, making it ruffle and waver. She didn't know how long she sat there, it seemed like hours, but which was actually two minutes.
"Hey, what do you think about when you're about to cast a partonus, what is your happy thought?" she asked breaking the short silence, sitting cross legged facing him.
"Hum, me...I...Uh" he closed his eyes and thought. A vivid picture of a laughing Tonks that was morphing her hair to all the colors of the rainbow, eyes twinkling with mischief loomed from the depths of his mind, putting a smile to his face.
"What are you smiling about?" asked a sharp voice cutting his daydream. Snapping his head back to her in horror he thought of a cover story as quickly as he could think.
"My...uh... happy memory is about..um.. Well, when I was at Hogwarts with Sirius, James and all that" he stuttered caught off guard, not even bothering to mention Pettigrew. "What's yours?" he said diverting her attention away from his burning face.
"I don't really know, I think it must be seeing a smile on everybody's face that keeps me going, to see my friends and family happy and safe would make my day, you know, a life without sadness or worry" she smiled at him, and he glanced at her and couldn't help but smile back, forcefully tearing his eyes away from her before she became suspicious of anything, he quickly said the first thing that came into his mind.
"Oh, yes I forgot, Dumbledore told me the Hogwarts Express makes monthly trips to this station and back, you know to keep it in shape" Tonks only nodded at this, so he continued "Its due for an arrival at about 8:15 pm, which is in 10 minutes from now" he said checking his brown leathered wrist watch.
"So what does Dumbledore want us to do with it?" Tonks glanced up and down the train track, half expecting the scarlet steam train to come whistling to a stop in front of them.
"When it arrives he wants us to just quickly check it to make sure nothing is wrong on board" Tonks looked at Lupin a little confused, "He also reminded me to tell you that, so your not on the train tracks when the train comes" he added as she rolled her eyes.
"Honestly, I'm not going to trip onto the train tracks and get run over by the Express, how much of a klutz do you people think I am!?" she turned away half angry at herself.
"It's like I'm a two year old child the way they carry on" she thought, looking at the dull cemented ground, as emotions ran through her "Why wouldn't they tell me about Bellatrix, I could be prepared when the time comes and I could defend myself. Why are they treating me like I'm so young, humph maybe I am immature. Well let's get this over with!"
Remus who was watching her carefully jumped like he had been badly electrocuted when she spoke quietly but deadly in a small voice:
"Why didn't you guy's tell me?"
"Tell you what?" he feared what she meant, and his stomach sank when she voiced his worries.
"Oh don't play dumb, why didn't any of you tell me about Bellatrix!" she exclaimed shooting to a defensive standing position out of anger.
Lupin sighed and turned away from her, his head down cast.
"We didn't tell you because well… we thought it would be too dangerous for you to know" he said avoiding her sparkling red eyes.
"But didn't any of you take it into account that if you had told the immature Tonks, she might have been able to defend herself from her evil Aunt when the time came. Instead she used her stealth and tracking skills, which no doubt none of you thought I possessed and found out for herself that her mad Aunt was trying to kill her!" she was shaking with rage, her fists clenched and her knuckles gone white as she spilled her emotions into these words.
"Look... Tonks... I know your angry but hear me out before you go any further" Remus said calmly, even though inside he was a little shaken.
She looked at him, her red eyes flashing with anger, "How could he be so calm about this!!!" she thought stamping her foot in frustration.
"Fine!!!" she burst out slamming herself down onto the ground, her legs dangling over the platform and hovering above the train tracks.
"Well, yes as you said Bellatrix is after you and from what we have heard she really wants to get to you, we are still trying to find out why but it may take some time, and all we were trying to do was protect you, we wanted you not to worry or anything, you would have been more of a target then, that's why we didn't tell you, it would have been to dangerous, the others and I are truly sorry" he finished, looking at her directly, meaning every word he said.
Tonks's mood lightened only slightly as she saw the truth in this, but she still was angry at him. Trying to unleash some of her fury she stood up and kicked the nearest tree as hard as possible.
"Ahh" she yelped grabbing her foot and hopping on the spot, muttering curse words every two seconds. Lupin's head however snapped back in the direction of Hogwarts, his wolfish sensors working hard. The sun had completely dipped below the horizon clothing them in utter darkness, the bright stars in the sky and street lamps that were stationed on the platform however gave them dazzling light: that in Lupin's grey eyes provided enough light to see a hundred yards. And he could sense something; and smell the presence of at least a dozen people.
"Nymphadora!" he hissed as she stopped jumping around, her hand instantly flew to her robes pulling out her long wand.
"Hey, I told you not to call me that stupid name that my mother gave me!" she said loudly, pointing the wand at him, thinking of an exciting jinx she could use on him.
"Shut it, something's coming!" he hissed at her again as he pulled at his own wand pointing it into the mass of dark trees that signaled the beginning of the forest.
"What's coming?" she asked, becoming serious, standing rooted to the same spot near the tree that now bore her boot mark upon it her wand pointing in the same direction as his, he only held up his hand for silence.
"I thought Dumbledore said nothing was likely to come here, what could it be" she thought glancing at Remus repeatedly. She mastered her emotions and turned her hair a dark black like her cousins, her eyes shifted to a grey sliver colour. Her heart was pounding in her chest wildly as she scanned the trees carefully.
BANG!!!!
A huge eruption form the end of a dozen wands all coming from opposite directions of the station shot at Nymphadora, who was caught off guard. Lupin darted in front of her and quickly cast a shielding charm, deflecting all the red curses which went bouncing around everywhere. A dozen masked figures swooped from their hiding places in the trees and started firing jinxes at the two helpless figures. Lupin ran forward and shot a stunning spell at the closest Death Eater, which caused him to fly back into the darkness of the trees. A huge bulky figure, his mask shining in the star light sent a killing curse flying at Remus who dove to the side just in time, falling to the ground, helpless as the enormous Death Eater loomed over him.
"Stupefy" hissed Tonks hitting him from behind sending him toppling to the ground knocked unconscious. She helped Remus up and sent a dozen spells to the four remaining Death Eaters who were aiming their wands at her ready to fire.
"Sectumsempra" yelled a Death Eater whose high pitched voice rang out, the Death Eater's mask could not conceal the black shrieking hair that was flying everywhere. The spell hit Tonks full on in the back, she fell on her hands and knees as blood spurted out of her. She collapsed to the floor her vision blurring; she could see the black haired death eater slowly approaching her, it was cackling madly, and Nymphadora knew she was no match for this one. But she also knew she couldn't give up.
Expelliarmus" she yelled shooting to her feet but cringing from the pain in her back. She felt dizzy and light headed, but she ran forward hardly aware of what she was doing.
"Stupefy" she yelled shooting another spell at a Death Eater now attempting to strangle Remus, who had gone a pale blue. It hit him in the face and he fell to the floor dazed. Lupin's nose was bleeding heavily and he had several deep cuts, he glanced at her frantically as he saw her blood spilled all around the floor.
"Three down three to go" thought Tonks as she watched the black haired death eater once again approach her coolly, like she was a little child trying to escape from a wolf. "I thought Dumbledore said nothing would happen!"
Remus ran and tackled the third Death Eater to the floor, as his spells went flying. Tonks threw herself backward and landed on the floor crying out in pain as her back scraped against the stone, as another spell came shrieking past her waist. The two remaining Death Eaters slowly approached her; Nymphadora glanced around in panic, and saw nothing but the train tracks looming far below her. The Death Eater with the black hair grabbed her mask and yanked it off smirking. Tonks started and for a second she thought she was staring back at her mother, the woman had the same black hair and grey eyes. Only her eyes were meaner and scarier, her hair was knotted and tangled giving her a crazy appearance. As her vision cleared, Nymphadora found herself glaring back at her Aunt Bellatrix and Aunt Narcissa.
This was the first time she had seen them in person, and she hoped the last time. Narcissa was the complete opposite to her two sisters, and had long blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her eyes were filled with fear as she glanced between her sister and Nymphadora. The two woman took their first look at the niece they had never acknowledged to be alive.
"Humm, she looks a lot like Andy" said the soft voice of Narcissa.
Bellatrix crouched down and peered into her niece's face for the first time.
"How's mum?" she sniggered.
"Better now she inst associated with any of you!" she spat, gazing defiantly back.
"Well, she certainly has inherited the Black family appearance" said Bellatrix glancing at her black hair and grey eyes, "and manner."
"I haven't inherited anything from any of you!!!" she yelled trying to stall time; she knew in the end her Aunt would kill her.
"Yes you have little girl!" snarled Bellatrix standing next to Narcissa again.
"I have not!"
"You have!"
"Have not!"
"Have!"
"Not!"
"Have!"
"Not!"
"Have!"
"Not!"
"HAVE!!!"
"NOT!'
Aunt and niece yelled at the top of their lungs above the fighting of Remus and Lucius, who now had his mask thrown to the floor as he dueled with Remus. Bellatrix smirked in amusement, Narcissa was looking at her sister who was towering above her niece, and shook her head.
"Well, we certainly would have made a great team if Andromeda hadn't betrayed us!" Bellatrix said staring at Tonks with anger.
"My mother doesn't come into this, she made the right choice in leaving your family long ago" growled Tonks.
"Your mother is a filthy blood traitor for marrying that no good mudblood, and for that Half Blood you shall die" Bellatrix raised her wand, Narcissa started forward and looked at her helpless niece lying on the floor, to Narcissa, Tonks reminded her of Andromeda so much it was frightening.
"What Cissy?" asked Bellatrix, glaring angrily at her sister. Narcissa looked Tonks in the eyes with a pleading look, as if saying sorry and backed away behind her sister, nodding her head. Bellatrix raised her wand again; Tonks closed her eyes waiting for the painless death to come.
"Goodbye everyone!" she thought, instead of the Death spell a loud whistle erupted through out the platform, making them all jump. Nymphadora slowly opened her eyes and saw her both black and blonde looking into the mist down the furthest end of the train track. The Hogwarts Express it seemed had saved Nymphadora's life in a way, Bellatrix slowly turned her head back to Tonks, an evil grin spread out over her face that made her niece dread what she was thinking.
"I've thought of a better idea" Bellatrix bent down and lifted Tonks by the throat, "let the train do the work?" she said in her ear, Nymphadora's eyes grew wide with terror at the meaning of this and behind Bellatrix'es back she could see Narcissa staring at her evil sister in horror. In slow motion Bellatrix threw Tonks by the throat onto the train tracks. She landed with a cry of pain as her cut back hit the metal bars, Tonks cringed and tried to sit up to get off the train tracks in time.
"Bellatrix how could you, she's our niece!" yelled Narcissa from the top of the platform over the noise of another sharp whistle form the train.
"Quiet Cissy I want to see if our little talented Auror can make it out of this one!" Bellatrix snarled down at her evilly, Narcissa was almost crying.
Remus turned around and saw Tonks lying on the train tracks; he yelled and ran forward to save her but was caught by Lucius.
"Good Lucius, make him watch!" shrieked Bellatrix, she seemed to be enjoying his very much. Lupin was escorted by a sneering Lucius to the very edge to watch the gruesome scene; he looked down into her panic filled eyes and tried to say sorry. Tried to say it was his entire fault. They could all hear the train speeding along the tracks now, Remus thought he was going to throw up. Tonks scrambled around in panic and turned to face the mist once more, this was it this was how she was going to die, she was going to be hit by a train. She could hear Bellatrix crackling with delight, and Remus yelling in helpless panic as he was forced to watch his friend get hit with a train, yet inside Nymphadora felt calm and steady.
The train whistled sharply once more, and came speeding from the mist like a ghost.
A:N/ Kind of gross I know, but it's what you call a story. Please Review!
R & R peoples!