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 one bit. So I am writing this. :D
AN: For the sake of the story, I am going to say that Tonks was in Gryffindor, not Hufflepuff. The reason for this is that I don't know anything about the Hufflepuff common room, dormitories, or anything for that matter. If you have a problem with that, please let me know. Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews, especially to my sister EpicNerd even though I haven't talked to her in ages! (Code for – WHERE ARE YOU SMARTIE?)
Chapter3
The two young girls disembarked the train amongst the sea of teenagers who were all running to get to carriages, find their friends, or to have a quick look around the platform that was lit by what looked like many old fashioned oil lamps. Stevie had a tight hold on Tonks's hand, not wanting to be separated from her new friend and being unable to find her again. Although she would never admit it, she was nervous. Tonks felt the same way, but was lucky in the way that her mum had told her about the school, so it wouldn't be as much of a surprise for her.
"First years this way! Hurry up!" boomed a great voice. Stevie jumped and her grip on her friends hand tightened. Tonks laughed and all but dragged Stevie to the source of the voice. A huge man, like a small giant, was standing over a group of children. He had brown – almost black long hair, a great curly beard, round, and had a sort of tired look of exasperation on his face. Tonks immediately liked the look of him, and dragged Stevie to the front of the group until she was staring straight up at the man.
"Hello!" she called up to him. Stevie's eyes widened and she started to pull away; scared out of her wits of the abnormally large man, but Tonks held her back. The giant looked down at them and a smile spread across his face. He kneeled down so that he was closer to their height – but he was still around a foot taller than them. "I'm Tonks. What's your name?" She asked, smiling at the large man. Tonks reached out her petit hand, and he grabbed it and carefully shook it in his enormous hand.
"The name's Hagrid. I 'appen to be the keeper o' keys and grounds o' Hogwarts. And who's this?" Hagrid finished with a chuckle, looking around Tonks to the young girl hiding behind her. Stevie squeaked and straightened up. Tonks laughed and pulled her beside herself. Stevie opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. Tonks laughed again and slapped her on the back, hard.
"Ouch!" Stevie yelped, and Tonks raised an eyebrow at her. Stevie glared at her for a moment.
"Ah, so she 'as a voice. Come on then, what's ya name?" Hagrid said with a grin. Stevie turned back to him, and relaxed slightly.
"I'm Stevie McKinley. Pleased to meet you" she said, and warily shook his giant hand.
"Well you both 'ave the strangest name's I've heard in me lifetime, and trust me, I've heard some great-ones. It's a pleasure to meet the both o' ya, but I think its abou' time we head to the castle. What do ya say?" He looked at the both of them, and they nodded their heads excitedly. "Alrigh'!" he stood up straight and took a few steps back from the two girls. "Follow me to the boats First Years! Don't be shy. Quickly now!" he hollered to the large group that had just accumulated.
The whole group ran to keep up with the large man, Tonks and Stevie were currently at the front of the group, only a few strides behind the giant. Suddenly he stopped, and Tonks had to be grabbed onto by Stevie to prevent her from running straight into his back. He turned around and addressed the group once again.
"Alrigh', there will be no more than five people in a boat, do ya understan'? No standin' up, unless ya' feelin' like a late night swim" a giggle rolled through the group, and everyone started to get into the boats. Because they were in the front of the group, they were the first into the boats, and at the head of the pack when the boats began to make their way towards the castle. As the great building came into sight, both girls gasped.
"Blimey, that's got to be the biggest building I've ever seen in my life!" Tonks gasped, holding onto Stevie's forearm.
"Yeh, look how beautiful it is! Khor, check out that tower! It's got to be at least a 5 kilometers high!" Stevie looked at the beautiful castle in awe, and Tonks nodded in agreement. Hagrid past them in his boat at that moment.
"That may be a wee bit of an overestimation girls" he chuckled as he went past, but they still didn't take their eyes off of the magnificent building. When the boats finally landed on the shore, all the children jumped out and ran to the mouth of the path that led to the castle. Tonks tripped while getting out of the boat and landed face first in the water. Stevie tried to suppress her giggles whilst she helped her out of the water. Hagrid meandered over to them, and seeing the drenched girl, quickly pulled out a pink umbrella. Stevie raised her eyebrow at him.
"Umm, aren't umbrellas supposed to stop you from getting wet? I think it's a bit late for that." Hagrid looked at her for a moment. Tonks was completely soaked from her hair to her robes, standing beside Stevie with a disgruntled look on her face.
"Oh you hush up" Hagrid said, and Stevie raised her hands in a sign of defeat and stepped back. Hagrid thought about something for a second, and then pointed the tip of the umbrella at the dripping wet 11 year old. He muttered a spell under his breath and a burst of yellow light came from it. After it disappeared Tonks opened her eyes and saw that she was completely dry. The group gasped and Stevie dragged Tonks to the front of the group, Tonks thanking Hagrid as she was pulled away.
"Nice stack, shifter!" Tonks heard the obnoxious voice behind her. They both stopped in the path and the other kids stopped to watch. Stevie turned around, fists already clenched. Tonks turned around as well, wanting to show that even though she's not a fighter, she isn't weak.
"Oh, grow a pair Carrow" Stevie said, rolling her eyes and turning back towards the path.
"Nice come back small fry" He quipped, referring to the fact that she was about 2 inches shorter than he was.
"Twit" Stevie said
"Git" Carrow replied.
"Tosser" Tonks interjected.
"Pillock" Carrow countered, turning to face Tonks slightly.
"Sod!" Stevie yelled. Carrow turned back to Stevie.
"Drop dead!" Carrow shouted, advancing so that he was shouting straight into Stevie's face from centimeters away.
"Ladies first!" Stevie and Tonks yelled in unison, before they all started shouting in an unintelligible mass of words, cuss's and insults.
"SILENCE!" Hagrid yelled, only just realizing that the entire year had indeed stopped to see the three children arguing. "Now, I don't 'ave any idea where this came from, but I do know it stops here. Do ya' understand me?" He said, walked between the three of them. All three of them nodded, Tonks and Stevie looking down, but Carrow just turning back to his friends. "Hey boy, I asked you a question. Do ya' understand?" Hagrid said, and Carrow turned back to the small giant.
"Yes. I understand" He said through gritted teeth before once again turning to the group of boys. Tonks and Stevie rolled their eyes at his insufferable behavior, and moved back to their prier place beside Hagrid at the front of the group.
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The young students were led through the great stone corridors by the Caretaker, Mr. Filch; an ugly, stringy haired, old man who kept mumbling things about "unruly kids", and "past punishments" with every step he took. Tonks began to wish that Hagrid had stayed with them, not this strange man. He finally stopped them at the top of a great staircase, looking towards a massive wooden door. Tonks could hear people inside, teenagers laughing and running around.
"Wait out here." Mr. Filch said bluntly as he walked away from them. Stevie turned to Tonks, giving her a "Don't ask me!" look. Out of nowhere there was a commotion occurring below them on the stairs.
"My glasses! I dropped my glasses!" A girl yelled from further down the stairs. Then came the tell-tale crunching of glass, and metal. A muffled laugh went around the group.
"I'm so sorry" exclaimed a redheaded boy that the two girls could just see the head of if they craned their necks over the crowd. He bent down and picked up a broken set of glasses from the floor, and handed them to the girl. She mumbled an acknowledgement, before setting the cracked glasses back onto her nose. "I really am sorry!" he said sincerely, sound genuinely worried for the girl. All of a sudden, someone cleared their throat from the top of the stairs.
The whole group whipped around to see a tall, old-ish woman in an emerald green and silver cloak, with a tall pointy hat of the same colors resting on the top of her head with her hands clasped behind her back.
"We're ready for you now" she said in a calm, posh tone. She then turned around and made her way back through the large doors, with the children following close on her heels. As they made their way through the doors, every single new student gasped.
There were four long tables, each full of teenagers either looking at the new arrivals, or talking amongst themselves, and a long table at the far end of the hall, where it seemed that all the teachers were seated. Tonks heard Stevie gasp once again, and turned to see the young girl staring up at the roof. Tonks looked up and couldn't believe what she saw. The ceiling looked like the night sky, stars twinkling and dust moving, and there were hundreds of candles hovering high up in the air. Tonks tore her eyes away from the beautiful ceiling to look back towards where they were walking to. On the raised platform that had the teachers table on it, there was also a lone stool sitting front and center. On that stool sat a raggedy, old hat, slumped over slightly. As all the students reached the front of the stage, the woman in the tall motioned for them to all gather around real close.
"Now, I shall announce your names, and you will sit up here to be sorted. First – Carrow Blake" The woman addressed the newest students. Carrow made his way up to the podium and sat on the stool. The lady then lowered the hat onto his head. A look of slight alarm passed over his features but quickly disappeared.
"Well, this is an easy decision. Slytherin!" the hat yelled. The table on the far left of the hall cheered loudly, and Carrow smirked as he got to his feet and made his way to them.
"Am I losing it, or did that hat just talk?" Stevie whispered into Tonks's ear, and Tonks nodded with a chuckle. The cheering went on as three other students were sorted – The glasses girl by the name of Magnolia Dunstan into Hufflepuff, a chubby black haired boy into Ravenclaw, and one of the twins that had been with Carrow on the train into Slytherine also. Tonks looked over to the table on the far left, and they all looked rather glum that their house hadn't gotten anyone yet.
"Nymphadora Tonks!" the lady announced, and Tonks's eyes widened. She didn't make any move to go so Stevie gave her a hard shove forward. Tonks glared back at her for a second before making her way up the steps. She tripped up on the last one, but managed to recover before the hit the ground. A wave of laughter went through the students for a second, and Tonks looked down at Stevie, who was motioning with her hands to hurry up. Tonks turned back to the stool and sat down. The teacher slowly lowered the old hat onto her head.
"Hello Madame, how's your day been so far?" Tonks jumped as a strange voice filled her head. "Don't worry, I'm just a sorting hat" it said. I must be going balmy! Tonks thought. "No, your completely sane. Now, where shall I put you? You are intelligent, so Ravenclaw perhaps? Oh no, no, no. Well, I see a kind, caring nature – so maybe Hufflepuff? That'll never do… Well, I also see determination, courage, loyalty, and a bit of trouble in you. Well, that's my mind made up" he finished in her mind.
"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yelled loudly. A roar erupted from the once silent table, and from many of the first years as well; the loudest being Stevie. Tonks jumped up from the stool and all but ran to the long table, taking a seat beside a curly haired second year boy. She got many pats on the back, and shook hands with a lot of people also. Her hair was her favorite pinky color, feeling that this was indeed the best house to be in.
When the room finally quieted down, the sorting continued. Many more people were called and sorted, but Tonks was waiting anxiously for her best friends name to be called. Finally, when there was only four people left, the teacher – who Tonks had learnt was named Prof. McGonagall, did just that.
"Stephanie McKinley" she stated, and Stevie made her way onto the podium. She had her head held high, but inside she was freaking out. I'm not gonna be in Slytherin. No way in hell. She thought as she sat down on the slightly unstable seat and the ratty hat was lowered onto the top of her head carefully.
"Well. I knew we'd get at least one" said a gruff voice that echoed around inside her brain. One of what? Stevie thought, knowing that it could hear her. "A dead set trouble maker. Although, I'm sure you are capable of behaving yourself, am I correct?" I'm not planning to, but I am capable of it. "Hmmm… Well, you seem like a good fit for Slytherin in my opinion. Your confident, clever, you have an aggressive streak" No! Please not Slytherin! Anything but Slytherin! "Not Slytherin? Why-ever not? Well, if you insist, let me look closer. You are indeed very intelligent, but certainly not a Ravenclaw. Means either Hufflepuff or Gryffindor… Okay. I have reached a decision" The voice in her head trailed off, and Stevie waited with her eyes squeezed closed.
"Definitely one of the hardest decisions of today. GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor table once again erupted into screams of triumph as Stevie jumped off the stool and ran to the table. As soon as she got there Tonks's arms were wrapped around her in a tight embrace. She hugged her back, until they broke apart and walked over to their seats, being patted, congratulated, and shaking hands with other Gryffindor's on the way. That made them two of only 13 of the year sorted into Gryffindor – some of the others being Charlie Weasley; the redheaded boy who broke Magnolia's glasses, Alexander Puckett; a boy with dark blonde hair and grey eyes, and Quinn Harris; a tall for her age girl with short hair and broad shoulders.
Tonks and Stevie took their seats as a very old man made his way up to the gold stand that was now in the middle of the podium. He was dressed in midnight blue robes with silver stars on them, and a large hat of the same colors was perched on his head. Everyone silenced as Prof. McGonagall tapped a goblet with her fork.
"For those new students who do not know me, I am Prof. Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. I wish to inform you of a few school rules – some of you older students may need reminding so do not tune out" a chuckle went through the hall. "The Black Forest is off limits to all students, and the 7th floor corridor on the left hand side is still out of bounds for those who do not wish to die a most horrible, grizzly death. No student should ever be seen out of bed at night time, or outside the castle walls unless instructed to, or accompanied by a teacher. Now that all the formalities are out of the way, Let the feast begin!" The headmaster finished. He made a sweeping gesture with both of his hands, and every table became filled with delicious looking foods.
Stevie's eyes lit up as she saw all the food and immediately grabbed the bowl of mashed potato and put a scoop of it onto her plate. Tonks got the idea quickly and began to pile her plate with food as well. Stevie grabbed a meat pie off of the plate and put it onto hers. She then grabbed some gravy and poured it onto her pie. Tonks took some chicken, vegetables and a bit of corn. Stevie had eaten about half of her pie already when a light haired third year boy turned to the two girls from across the table.
"So Stephanie, Nymphadora. What'd ya' think o' Hogwarts?" He smiled as he leant towards the two girls. A look of anger flashed across both of their faces.
"Never call me Stephanie. It's Stevie or nothing! Got it?" Stevie said, glaring at the boy slightly, before he nodded understandingly, with a cheeky smile.
"Don't call me Nymphadora! My name is Tonks" Tonks said, her hair going from the purple to a bright red out of rage. The boy's eyes widened before he poked his friend to check out Tonks. They were both in awe for a moment.
"That's amazin'! How'd ya' do that?" the first boy asked. Tonks just shrugged before getting back to her food, as did Stevie. "Well, my name's Travis Montgomery – call me Monty though. This 'ere's me lil' brother Mason. He's a first year as well. Maybe you three can be friends, ay?" He said, gesturing to the second boy, who smiled at them with the same cheeky smile as his older brother. He had sandy blonde hair, green eyes, tanned skin and a few freckles on his nose and cheeks. Stevie and Tonks reached over to the boy and shook his hand. He shook and then swapped seats with his brother so he was opposite them. They started to talk about where they were from, what they liked, their favorite subjects; just getting to know each other.
Mason was from Scotland, but both of his parents are English and live in Cambridge. He was a pureblood. He liked chicken, the color blue, making potions with his dad and flying. He hated animals, green, insects, and cold weather. When he said he hated cold weather, the two girls couldn't help but laugh. He asked them what was so funny and Tonks explained that it was funny because he was Scottish, and he didn't like cold weather when it's always cold in Scotland. He laughed along with them after that.
When the food changed from dinner into desert before their eyes, they were all speechless. Stevie reached over to get a piece of Apple Pie, and when she was carrying it to her plate a most unexpected thing happened. A man's head popped up through her plate. He had short curly hair, a large grin, was wearing very old fashioned clothes, but most peculiarly, he was completely transparent. Stevie screamed from fright and dropped the piece of pie – luckily it landed on her plate. Mason, Tonks and a few others around them jumped, but were not quite as scared as Stevie was.
"I'm so sorry my dear, I did not intend to frighten you!" the man said as he rose up from the table, and drifted into the isle behind her. Stevie looked around and saw most of the older kids were having a laugh at her expense. She turned back to her pie and got some ice-cream to go with it. Tonks smiled at her friend's uncomfortable expression. "I am known as Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, although regrettably most of you students know me as Nearly-headless Nick." He said, making a slight bowing gesture at his full name, and rolling his eyes at the end. Tonks thought for a second.
"Wait… How can one be nearly headless?" She asked. Nick sighed in exasperation, as if he had had this question way too many times.
"Like this" he said, and grabbed his hair and lifted it to the side. His head fell to the same way, but was still partly connected to his neck. Stevie gasped and made a gagging noise, Tonks mouthed "right" and looked down at her plate, and Mason laughed. "It is not funny boy. Because of this insignificant piece of connective tissue, my requests to join the Headless Hunt are being denied every year! Not a laughing matter at all." He said, glaring slightly at Mason, before drifting off towards the rest of the table. Many ghosts appeared suddenly from everywhere flying around the room. The three looked up in wonder, and got back to their food.
They finished eating desert, and after they were dismissed the prefects took the first years on a brief tour of the castle on their way to the common room. He explained the changing staircases, and Stevie almost got stuck on one; having to jump on the ledge before she was carried to the other side. He showed them all the animated portraits on the walls, some of them smiling and waving, whilst other hid from the bewildered children and various classrooms as they passed. Finally they stopped on an unmoving staircase facing a portrait of a fat woman.
"The Portrait of the Fat Lady is the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. The password is a Gryffindor secret that no other houses can know. The password is Dragon fire." He said, and the portrait swung open. They all filed in, looking around the decorated room. It was covered in Gold and Red wall hangings, with a big fireplace, chess tables, desks a large red couch in front of the already roaring fire. "Boys dormitories up the stairs to your left, girls the same on the right. All of your belongings have already been brought up. I suggest you go now, and have a good night's rest for classes tomorrow" he said, and all the students made their way up the appropriate staircases.
On each of the doors were a set of names in floating gold wand trails. Tonks and Stevie were exceptionally pleased when they found their names on the same door. They touched the name and the door swung open for each of them. They laughed and ran to get dressed into their night clothes. Stevie wore a white tank top and red stripy pants, and Tonks wore a black t-shirt with long, baggy purple pants. They smiled at each other and lay down in the beds that their things were set up next to – which were beside each other's. They both were suddenly hit by a wave of exhaustion.
"Night Tonks. Have a good sleep" Stevie yawned as she lay on her back with her hands behind her head. Tonks lay on her side facing Stevie.
"You too. See you tomorrow" She mumbles as her eyes slid shut and Stevie's did the same. They both fell into a heavy sleep, glad to finally be at Hogwarts, and excited for the adventures to come.
Hey! So, I have decided to continue this because I enjoy writing it. I would love it even more if I got some reviews! Now I have some reply's…
Hi: Hahaha, I am answering you seriously here… You are AWESOME! You are Definitely one of my favorite reviewers. :D I update when I can. I go to school and have been very unwell recently, so my updates are generally relatively slow. I hope you'll bear with me though!
OhSnapItzJess: Aww… that's very sweet. Thank you!
Marine69: That's one of the sweetest things I've ever heard. Thank you so much! :D xx
EpicNerd: Yes it is long, yes I am continuing, but now you must answer my question – WHERE ARE YOU? I miss you Smartie, are you mad at me for some reason? You are my Hawaiian Sister – I NEED YOU! xxx
You know what I just realized? At the rate that I am currently going, this going to be a long story. Like hundreds of chapters if I keep going at this pace and want to get through all of her years of Hogwarts, and auror's training. Wow... I'm screwed.
Well, this is an extremely long chapter, so I think I'm gonna end it here. I love you guys and gals – BUT PLEASE REVIEW SO I CAN SEE YOU! PRETTY PRETTY PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE! xxx
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! xx