Trailing Tonks
Disclaimer: I don't own HP and I definitely do not own Nymphadora Tonks! I just love her as a character so much and I didn't like the way she died. Yeh, I said it! So I'm going to be doing this story about her school years, it will go through her loves, her adventures, her friendships.
AN: This is really just like a continuation of the pilot, to see if people like it or not. If you do I will continue! See how this works! :D Enjoy the story!
Chapter 2
Tonks could no longer see her mother's smiling face, so she pulled her body back inside the train and slid the window closed behind her. She grabbed the brown duffle bag (containing her robes, wand, a few homemade biscuits & sandwiches her mother made special for her and a pack of muggle playing cards from her father) which she had left on the ground whilst waving goodbye and began to make her way down the corridor of the now speeding train. Her light purple hair was just reaching her shoulders and her eyes were a dark blue, sparkling with the exceptional excitement she was feeling. She passed many full compartments, until she finally found one that only had about 3 people in it.
As she pulled open the door, the first thing she noticed was the cold stares she was receiving from the occupants. They were all boys; one looked about her age with short dark hair, dark brown eyes and a stony, cold demeanor, and the others looked to be twins - each with light brown hair, green eyes and the same judgmental, up themselves expressions.
"Do you mind if I sit in here?" Tonks asked. The boys exchanged looks and not very subtly moved their bags onto the unoccupied seats.
"Sorry! There doesn't appear to be any room!" The dark haired boy said; his voice drenched with fake sympathy. Tonks's turned her face downcast and started to moved out of the cabin. She heard laughter behind her and her hair went from the mauve color to a dark blue out of sadness.
"Oh look! The ickle girlie's a shifter, what a freak!" one of the twins shouted behind her. Another roar of laughter erupted from the group of boys as Tonks swiftly made her way back down the corridor, tears rimming her now grey eyes. As she reached almost the end, she found a completely unoccupied compartment. She stormed in; all but throwing her bag onto the storage ledge above the seat, sat herself down and began to cry. God, this is not as fun as I thought it would be. Mum said I would make friends as soon as I got on the train! Why were the first people I met so mean to me? What did I do wrong? Suddenly, the door of the compartment slid open, raising Tonks from her thoughts. She wiped her eyes in a hurry with the sleeve of her sweater.
"Hey, do you mind if I sit here? All the others are full." A girl, who looked about Tonks's age said. Tonks nodded and the girl smiled warmly at her. She had chocolate brown hair with gold highlights that just reached her shoulders and a side bang that looked as if it would constantly fall over her left eye, eyes that were an extremely dark blue - but not in a cold way, and lightly tanned skin. She was wearing a peacock feather earing in her left ear, a blue and black checked jacket that was slightly unbuttoned revealing a black t-shirt, dark denim jeans and black sneakers.
"I hope you don't mind me prying, but why were you crying? Aren't you excited to be going to Hogwarts?" She asked, her voice having a slightly husky edge to it. Tonks looked up at her, her eyes still glistening with tears, and saw genuine compassion in the young girls face.
"Oh, just a group of boys were really mean to me. They wouldn't let me sit with them and then they started laughing at me" Tonks said, her voice still thick with tears, but was starting to get back to normal. A look of anger quickly washed over they girl, but as fast as it had come it was gone, and a look of absolute sympathy took over.
"Well, boys are idiots if you ask me! And I don't know why they would laugh at you, you seem absolutely splendid company!" The brown haired girl said, a wide grin spreading across her face. Tonks let out a chuckle.
She smiled at the girl as she moved away from the doorway to sit opposite her, and Tonks's hair changed from the blue back to her favorite purple-pink color, and her eyes to the blue. The other girls eyes went wide, as a look of absolute amazement crossed her soft features.
"That was so cool! How did you do that?" She asked, her mouth still hanging open slightly. Tonks looked at her with a confused expression.
"What, this?" she changed her hair and eyes to red and quickly back to the original colors. The amazed girl nodded, and giggled slightly. "I don't know. I guess I've always been able to do it! Oh, check this out!" Tonks said, and changed her mouth and nose so that it looked like a duck's bill. The other girl laughed so hard she was lying down on the seat. Tonks laughed a bit as well, and waited for the other to control herself before changing back to her normal features.
"Well, I'm Tonks. My real name's Nymphadora, but I hate that name! I mean Nymphadora - probably my parents sick idea for a joke" Tonks said, reaching out her hand for the other girl to shake. She grasped her hand and shook it vigorously.
"Well Tonks, my name is Stephanie Victoria Elizabeth Rosalina Ariana McKinley, but please… Call me Stevie. If anyone calls me Stephanie I will cause them physical and emotional pain" the other girl said whilst they shook hands. Tonks nodded and laughed at Stevie, and Stevie laughed along, knowing full well how funny she sounded.
"What year are you in Stevie?" Tonks asked the girl curiously.
"First! It's my first time in the wizarding-world too! My mum and dad are both muggles, so it's funny that I'm a wizard. Apparently the first in my family! But you're a pureblood right? I mean otherwise how would you be able to do that whole face thing?" Stevie said excitedly, pulling a funny face and throwing her arms about when she talked about Tonks's morphing. Tonks laughed at the girl who was literally bouncing in her seat.
"Nah, I'm a halfblood. My dad's a muggle, and my mum's a witch. I don't know who I got my metamorphmagus powers from though." Tonks explained, and Stevie gave a look of slight confusion when it came to the word metamorphmagus, but quickly recovered.
"I'd love to be a meto-matama… Anyway, I think it's pretty wicked!" She smiled, and even though Stevie couldn't pronounce the name, she thought it was pretty cool. She couldn't help but smile at the mischievous glint in Tonks's eyes that she knew hers echoed, the relaxed way she was seated, and the happy smile that now looked as if it would be permanently imprinted on her face. She wondered if she would still like her once she met some other people.
"Anything from the trolley dears?" A nice old woman pushing a trolley piled high with magical sweets and candies of all kinds asked the two girls. Stevie jumped up and ran to the trolley as fast as her legs would carry her, but Tonks stayed seated. Stevie turned around and gave her a questioning look.
"Don't have any money" Tonks stated flatly. Stevie smiled at her.
"No worries! You choose somethin' and I'll pay for ya!" Tonks shook her head, muttering things about not wanting to impose on the other girl, but Stevie would have none of that. She grabbed Tonks by the elbow and hauled her over to the trolley.
"Nonsense! That's what friends do!" She smiled at the other girl, but saw the quite shocked expression on her face.
"Friends?" Tonks questioned, quite astounded that after such a bad start to the train ride she was actually being told she had a friend. Stevie saw the look of shock on her face, and took it the wrong way.
"Unless, you know… You don't want to be friends with me, then that's fine. I'll just go…" Stevie began to leave the compartment but Tonks grabbed her elbow just in time.
"Of course I want to be friends with you! I was just shocked 'cause I haven't really ever had a friend before" Tonks looked down, slightly embarrassed. Stevie turned around and gave Tonks a quick hug before turning back to the old woman. Tonks hugged back and smiled. She then turned back to the trolley as well and made her decision.
"I would like two chocolate frogs, a liquorish wand, two boxes of Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans and a peppermint pasty. Thanks!" Stevie said, and she was passed the mountain of candy that she had requested. Tonks raised her eyebrow slightly, before turning back to make her order.
"A liquorish wand and a pack of Fizzing Whizzbees. Thank you!" Tonks said as she took the candies from the woman. The woman added the numbers in her head.
"That'll be 12 sickles" she said, smiling at the young girls. Stevie rummaged around in her pockets for a second, before pulling out the correct amount of money and handing it to the woman. She pushed the trolley away and Stevie slid the door shut once again. She then retook her seat opposite Tonks. Tonks opened her Fizzing Whizzbees and popped one into her mouth, groaning in delight at the wondrous sugary flavor. Stevie carelessly chucked a chocolate frog and a box of Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans onto Tonks's side of the compartment. Tonks raised her eyebrows again at her new friend.
"Hey, you didn't think I could eat all that on my own did you? Anyway, it's better to have too much than not enough, don't ya reckon?" Stevie said through a mouthful of pasty. Tonks gave out a fairly unlady-like snort of laughter before continuing.
About an hour later, they had both finished all of the food - including the food Tonks's mum had packed her, and decided that they may as well change into their robes. They went for a wander, looking for somewhere to change – namely a bathroom. They decided that they would stay together until they got to Hogwarts, and even then they would try to. They finally managed to find it, down the other end of the train, and after both of them had finished, they started making their way back to their compartment. When they were about 3 minutes away, Tonks heard the very voice she was so eager to avoid for the rest of her life.
"Oh look the ickle shifter found a friend!" an obnoxious voice said from behind them. They both turned around, Tonks feeling slightly afraid, and Stevie looking pissed off. She took in the three boys in front of them, and smirked.
"Tonks, are these the guys who were mean to you before?" Stevie said, tilting her head towards Tonks without breaking eye contact with the boys. They were laughing with each other, standing so the dark haired boy was slightly in front of the other two.
"Yeh, but Stevie, let's just go" Tonks said, grabbing her elbow and trying to pull her away. Stevie shrugged her off and took a step towards the boys.
"Why don't you apologize to my friend here, and we won't have a problem" she said, looking up into the dark haired boys face, not breaking eye contact no matter what Tonks was saying behind her.
"Why don't you take a step back?" said the dark haired boy, whilst taking a step forward also.
"Carrow, why don't we just…" One of the boys muttered behind him loud enough for Stevie to hear, but the dark haired boy shushed him and continued to stare down the brown haired girl. Stevie smirked a little bit wider, her eyes gleaming, and Tonks had taken a few steps back, trying to get away from the confrontation but not wanting to leave her new friend. She started to notice a few heads were poking out of the nearest compartments, trying to figure out what the confrontation was about.
"Why don't you make me, Carrow" She said, taking yet another step forward, and using his name to antagonize him. They were now only centimeters apart, and glaring straight into each other's eyes. Tonks finally had enough, and pulled Stevie's wrist hard, turning her around and away from the boys.
"Look, we don't want a fight right now okay? Let's just go back to the cabin and relax alright, okay – are you listening to me?" Tonks said, trying to get Stevie's attention, finally grabbing her head with both hands and forcing her to look into her eyes. Stevie nodded and allowed herself to start being pulled away down the corridor, although not happy at all.
"Yeh, just go relax. Grubby little mudblood." He called out to her, and she snapped. She pulled herself from Tonks's grip and made her way back to the boys at a jog. Tonks called out for her to stop, but it didn't make her halt so she followed her back the way they came.
"What did you call me?" She asked, her voice rising slightly. He turned back to her and walked towards her again, trying to intimidate her to no avail.
"A grubby, dirty, foul mudblood. I can smell the soil in your veins" He said, raising his head so that he was looking down his nose at her. She scoffed at him, and went to turn away, but before she could he turned back to her and poked her in the shoulder. "Why don't you and your horrid ickle shifter friend go run away? That way no-one will ever have to smell your putrid stench or see her horrid, disconfigured face ever again" She felt her blood boil in her veins.
"Insult me all you want, but leave Tonks out of it, okay?" She said, poking him back in the same place he had poked her. The boys behind him, and the small crowd which were now watching them 'oooed' in the typical way. He flashed a fake smile to everyone around him and scoffed. Then, so fast some people possibly didn't see it, he grabbed her shoulders and slammed her against the wall of the train. Tonks let out a little scream, but all Stevie did was smirk at him.
"Come on! Can't you do better than that?" She jeered. He laughed and suddenly dropped her shoulders and pulled his fist back to punch her. Just as he was about to hit her, she moved out of the way, making his fist hit the window where her head was a moment earlier. Both of his goons had backed themselves away, as had Tonks - but at least she was still somewhere near her friend; whereas the twins had taken off running.
Carrow let out a short yelp as his fist collided with the glass, but quickly turned around when he felt a tap on his shoulder. As he turned he was suddenly punched in the face. Hard. No way could such a small girl hit that hard! He thought as he whipped his head back to his attacker. Nope, he was wrong. Standing behind him, nursing her sore hand was Stevie.
He suddenly kicked out and knocked her to the ground, but she grabbed onto the school tie around his neck and forced him down with her. He landed on top of her and started hitting and punching her as hard as he could, but soon she managed to roll them over and she was punching him and pulling on the tie, and so it went on – both of them rolling around on the floor trying to get the upper hand – until Tonks was finally able to physically pick up the fighting girl with the help of a few of the prefects who had finally stumbled across the scene.
One of them grabbed Carrow, and Tonks and the other picked up Stevie and held her in midair until she stopped struggling. She finally put her hands up in a surrender gesture, muttering that she was fine, and that she would stop. They both let her down slowly, but neither of them let go of her tense body.
"What in Merlin's name is going on here?" The one holding onto Stevie shouted. They both started yelling at the same time about the other being at fault, but the other prefect silenced them.
"You, girl with the blonde hair. What happened here?" He asked a spectator who had been watching since the beginning.
"Well, she asked him to say sorry to her but he wouldn't and started to try to intimidate her and then they started to walk away but he called her a mudblood so she came back and he poked her and she poked him and he swung at her and she hit him and then you guys turned up." The teenager said all in one breath, and gesturing at the appropriate people at the appropriate times. The prefect took a second to try to untangle all the words that she had just said, and turned his attention back to the still quite angry teenagers.
"From what I can establish, you…" he started, pointing at Carrow "threw the first punch. That would mean that you are responsible. And plus the fact that it was a young female you happened to swing at, well, let's just say boy whichever house you're sorted into is not going to be very happy with you. You two," he then pointed to Tonks and Stevie, "I suggest leave." Tonks and Stevie nodded and ran back to their cabin. On the way they started to laugh. They ran into the cabin and fell onto the seat laughing. Only then did Tonks take in how bad Stevie actually looked.
She had blood dripping down from her nose, a split lip, a red mark around her eye that she was sure would turn into a bruise, and a cut just above her eyebrow. She was amazed however that the peacock feather was still perfectly intact.
"Oh god, let me help you!" Tonks said, kneeling down in front of the girl and pulling her wand from her robes. "I learnt a few healing charms from my mum, but I haven't tried them before. If this goes wrong, I am so, so sorry!" She moved Stevie so that she was lying down on the seat, and then closed her eyes, trying to remember the spell. "Oh I remember!" She pointed her wand at her new friends lip and prayed to whatever god was listening that she wouldn't hurt her. "Episkey!"
Stevie cringed for a moment, expecting the worst, but then opened her eyes to a smirking Tonks who looked like she was doing a happy-dance. She then reached her hand to her lip and it felt perfectly normal. Yay! It worked! She thought.
"Wicked! Now fix the rest of me!" Stevie said, and Tonks laughed slightly before continuing on her friends face. Tonks used Episkey on Stevie's eye, eyebrow and nose, Tergeo to clean the blood from her face, and finally Brackium Emendo to fix her dislocated shoulder. When she looked in the mirror, she saw the exact same face she had seen before she got onto the train this morning. She turned around and gave Tonks a long, tight hug saying how extremely grateful she was.
As they sat back down Tonks got out the pack of playing cards her dad had given her, and they decided to play a game of snap. They sorted the pile in half and started to play. After about 3 hours, and about twenty-three games of snap, Tonks finally decided to ask the question that had been bothering her since the fight.
"Stevie…" she started, and Stevie looked up from shuffling the cards. "How is it that after the fight, you peacock feather was still perfect, as if nothing had happened to it?" Tonks asked; after going over the possibilities in her head, she just couldn't figure it out!
"Oh, just a protection charm. I read it in one of the textbooks. My feather is my good luck charm. I never take it off, no matter what I am doing. So, I have made sure that it will never get ruined!" Stevie smiled at the look on Tonks's face; a sort of 'Wow, that is really clever' type look. Suddenly they felt the train begin to slow. They looked at each and then scurried over to the window. Outside they saw a great train station. They turned back to each other.
"Well, here we are!" Tonks said, and all the excitement came flooding back into the girls.
Yeh, so this is chapter 2! I would love it if more people reviewed! :l
I hope you enjoyed it, both Carrow and Stevie are of my own creation, so tell me what you think about them! Also, feel free to guess who those two Prefects were! They will come up later and are canon characters so, it probably shouldn't be too hard! :D
READ AND REVIEW!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! :D