"Explain yourself." Hermione said crossly, the very moment that the car door shut behind her. "You're not really a dentist, are you?"
Bond smiled at her. "No."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Bond gave her a look, but did not respond.
. "Is there a reason?" Hermione pressed him.
"There is." Bond acknowledged. "I suppose… I can show you."
They did not go home right away after leaving King's Cross Station… Bond took her out for a drive in the country. Hermione asked him several times where they were going, but Bond refused to explain.
They came to a stop outside a large graveyard.
"Father…?"
He got out of the car and she followed behind him. She looked somewhat apprehensive. They came to a stop outside a large, well kept grave.
TRACY BOND
Beloved Wife of James Bond
We Have All The Time In The World.
Hermione stared at it.
"Who was she?" She asked softly.
"Someone who knew too much about what I do." Bond told her shortly. Hermione couldn't tear her eyes away from the grave.
"So that's why… you're never around?"
"Yes." Bond said. "It's to protect you."
She leaned into him, and he wrapped his arm around her. To his own very great surprise, he leaned in and kissed her head.
They went back to the car in silence. Hermione seemed completely at a loss for words. They had already gone quite a long way before she spoke again.
"Will you… tell me about her someday?" She asked timidly. "Even if… even if it's dangerous… I want to know."
James shook his head.
"All you need to know." He said. "Is that I loved her very much."
…
When they got back to the apartment Nymphadora Tonks was waiting for them. Hermione shot him an exasperated look at she stood to greet them, smiling.
"Wotcher, James." She said brightly. "I have some documents to look over… and there's some things you need to know about the aftermath of the Black case."
Hermione automatically made her way to leave, but Bond stopped her.
"I think you should sit in on this one." He told her. "It directly involves you, after all."
Hermione looked flabberghasted.
"R-really…?"
She shot a look at Tonks, as if expecting her to refute this statement.
"I don't' see why not." Tonks said cheerfully. Hermione, gratefully, sat down at the table with them.
"Now James." Tonks said, as they were seated. "The Ministry has cleared you to obtain an Order of Merlin First Class… you are the first muggle ever to obtain such an award. Now, these awards are supposed to be given out for extraordinary accomplishments in magic, but the Ministry has seen fit considering the situation to grant you the award anyway, in hopes of furthering relations with your muggle government."
"I'm charmed." James said dryly. "Has there been any changes in the Lupin case?"
Tonks checked her file.
"Well, we know he was poisoned." She said. "But it doesn't seem to be a suicide… the poison was administered in his wolfsbane potion, using a very particular method that only an extremely accomplished Potions Maker could have made. Lupin, Dumbledore assured us, was no expert at brewing potions, and relied on Snape to brew the Potion."
"Has Snape been cleared of any wrongdoing?"
"Dumbledore has vouched for him." Tonks said. "And Snape was the one who found the body… and he immediately reported it. It doesn't seem likely that he would murder Lupin and expect to get away with it. We can, however, confirm that he did brew the Wolfsbane Potion he consumed that night."
"Or, perhaps, Dumbledore is covering for him."
Both Hermione and Tonks laughed.
"I think we can discount that theory." Tonks said.
"If we can't trust Dumbledore, we can't trust anyone." Hermione said. Tonks grinned at her.
"You can tell that she enjoys her time at Hogwarts." She said brightly. "What year are you in now, kiddo?"
"I'm a third year, but the semester is almost over so…"
"You'll be a fourth year." Tonks said, nodding sagely. "The last fun year at Hogwarts."
Hermione gave her a surprised look, and she laughed.
"But anyway." She said, turning back to James. "We have no leads on Lupin's murder. He was a werewolf, so he won't be missed…"
"He was a great teacher." Hermione said sourly. Tonks shot her a surprised glance, but continued her report.
"The closest idea we can come up with is that it had to have been Black." She said. "He knew Lupin was a Werewolf, and if he was aware that Lupin was teaching at the school, he would have targeted him specifically. It was Lupin's testimony that led us… errr… YOU… to apprehending Black in the end. He had the motive, the opportunity, and the knowledge to do it."
"I don't think we have the full picture." Bond said. "What was Black after, exactly? I don't buy that he was motivated to simply kill Harry Potter for the sake of it…"
"We wish we knew." Tonks said unhappily. "Madame Bones is just as upset as you are. Fudge is really off his rocker… there was no reason to order Black to be kissed before we had all of the facts."
The conversation continued well into the night. Hermione was yawning quite candidly by the end of it, and so Bond was forced to send her to bed. She turned away from the table, bleary eyed, as Tonks watched her fondly.
"I like her." She said, once she was out of the room. "I could tell she was following along with every word."
"Thank you." Bond said. "Her Mother and I are really proud of her."
"Where is her Mother, anyway?" Tonks asked inquisitively. "I've never even seen her…"
"She's in France, working on her dental practice." Bond said. Tonks gave him a blank look.
"Dental?" She repeated. "Like… what's that exactly?"
"Muggles don't' have magic, so we have to have specialists look after our teeth." Bond said. "We can't all just adjust our appearance, like you do."
Tonks frowned at him.
"Metamorphmagi are very rare." She said reproachfully. "You know that."
"There are plenty of ways witches can use to make themselves change their appearance." Bond said. "Hermione just had her teeth shrunken this year."
"Why didn't she just her Mother look at her teeth?"
"Dental work is expensive and painful."
"So why do you do it?"
"Because we have to."
Tonks smiled, shaking her head. "The way that muggles have to live without magic, I swear."
"It isn't all bad." Bond said. "We didn't have anyone like Voldemort running around."
"Yes you did." Tonks said immediately. "He killed lots of muggles too… You mustn't think he was only a threat to wizards."
"You care a lot about muggles, don't you?"
Tonks shrugged.
"Well, I'm muggleborn." She said. "I don't know a lot about them… but I want to protect them, all the same."
"That's very noble of you."
Tonks turned a bright shade of pink.
"Thank you."
She raised a hand to her hair and began to stroke it. It turned bright pink, to yellow to orange, back to pink again. Bond, amused, watched her.
"My favorite hair color on a woman is brown." He said. To his amusement the color almost immediately shifted into a dark brown color. Tonks, almost immediately realizing what she had done, scowled at him and turned it back to pink.
"Pink's nice too." Bond said conversationally. "What do you really look like, Tonks?"
Later that night, he would find out.
"Nymphadora… more like nymphomaniac."
"Stop it!" Tonks said, laughing, as she slapped at him with a pillow.
…
The weeks went by in a flash. Hermione returned to finish her semester at Hogwarts, and Bond continued his operations in secret. Tonks became a frequent visitor to his home. Hermione returned that summer and was shocked to find the two of them chatting familiarly on the couch. She looked like she was about to say something to them before slouching off.
"Is she alright?" Tonks asked, immediately getting to her feet. "Maybe I should have a word with her…"
She was off before Bond could even stop her. Bond watched her go and was reminded of how strongly Hermione had believed that Tonks would not remain a part of his life for longer than a couple of months.
Later that night, Hermione informed him of her plans for the summer to attend the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasley family. Tonks brightened immediately.
"Ooooh, that sounds like fun." She said enthusiastically.
"Quidditch?" Bond repeated, puzzled. He had been learning about the magical world at a rapid pace, but the concept of a sport played on broomsticks was strange and alien to him.
"She'll be fine." Tonks told her, when he expressed his concerns. "You know Arthur, don't you? She'll be perfectly safe."
…
'She's very nice to me, but she's so young." Hermione said unhappily. "If this keeps up… he'll be sleeping with women younger than I am."
"I fail to see the problem." Ron said. Hermione scowled at him.
"You're so pig-headed, Ron…"
"If he stays with Tonks, that's no problem, right?" Harry asked her, trying to placate the situation. Hermione shook her head.
"Oh, Harry." Hermione said unhappily. "You don't know my father."
The three of them were sitting in Ron's room in the burrow. Hermione had confided in them everything she knew about the Black case and Professor Lupin's murder, and they had spent the evening speculating on who had done it. (Unsurprisingly, both Ron and Harry were convinced that it was Snape) The conversation, naturally, turned to Tonks and her relationship with her Father.
"Be thankful that she doesn't seem to be using him or anything." Ron said. "She genuinely likes him, right?"
"Well, yes." Hermione admitted. "But… she's so young."
"But if they really love each other, what's the problem?"
"Oh, you don't get it." Hermione said, sighing. "I would have better luck explaining to you that Snape couldn't have killed Lupin."
…
She enjoyed the Quidditch World Cup more for the culture and the people around her than the event herself. She spent her entire evening watching international wizards mingle and have fun with each other. She wondered just how many of these countries her Father had gone to during his travels… doing whatever it was that he did. She hated the fact that he still wouldn't tell her everything. Harry had told her that Dumbledore had done much the same during their first year when he had asked about Voldemort, and they bonded a little bit over the experience. She felt alienated and put out.
She tried distracting herself with the lights and the exciting atmosphere, but it felt somehow stifling and fake. She felt a strange yearning to go out and do something. To work to uncover the secrets her father had kept hidden from her all of her life. But here she was, at the Quidditch World Cup. Where nothing interesting or sinister could possibly happen…
"Ah, Miss Granger." Lucius Malfoy said, as his eyes fell on her. "Much has been said about your father, as of late."
Hermione stubbornly stared up at him. Draco was staring smugly at her.
"Nothing that you want to hear, I imagine." Hermione said, her voice cold. Lucius chuckled.
"Ah, you have a tongue as sharp as your father's." He said. "Ah, I see that he isn't here… I would have thought the hero who brought in Sirius Black could have at least attended his daughter at the World Cup… but I daresay he is quite busy."
He turned away from her before she could respond. Hermione watched him go, a little apprehensively, before she turned her eyes downward. A little book was sitting in her seat. She had no idea how it had gotten there. She bent down, picked it up, and flipped it open.
This diary is the property of Tom Marvolo Riddle.
Without even thinking she pocketed it.