A/N: Here is chapter 35... wow, that many already? Anyways, hope you like it!


September 1, 1993

"This is pathetic," Tonks whined. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"All right then, what would you rather be doing?" Rachel asked with a sigh.

"Chasing down Death Eaters!" Tonks exclaimed happily.

"Not an option," Rachel replied monotonously. "First of all, you've still got two years until you get to do the real Auror business and second of all, Death Eaters have been completely silent since You-Know-Who disappeared."

"Yeah, silent until one of them broke out," Tonks scoffed.

"Yes, I suppose," Rachel muttered to herself.

"And now we're stuck babysitting all of these students until Black gets caught again," Tonks complained. "Or rather, I'm stuck here. You could ask for something more exciting, you know? You don't have to mentor Auror trainees for the rest of your long, sad life."

"No thanks," Rachel said. "I've had enough excitement in my life. I would much rather stay out of all that now."

"Well that's a waste—I heard you were a great Auror," Tonks replied. "Moody always brags about how you completed the Auror training in two years—half the time—under his supervision."

"Two and a half years," Rachel corrected. "And it wasn't easy, so there's nothing to brag about."

"Yes, but it's bloody well good enough to be put on the elite team that is personally chasing down Sirius Black," Tonks observed.

Rachel paused. "No thanks," she finally said. "I've done enough chasing down criminals in my short lifetime."

The truth of the matter was Rachel had spent four years after Sirius was imprisoned chasing down Death Eaters and seeing their arrests through. She had seen the bloodiest, worst, cases ever. After four years, she was done. Rachel knew that she would go crazy if she kept on doing that for any longer. So she stepped down from the serious work and focused on mentoring and supervising Auror trainees only.

After that, the most dangerous thing she had done was go to Harry's Muggle school one day. Rachel spotted him immediately. He had grown to be the spitting image of his father. Even at seven years old, the resemblance was uncanny. Lily's sister was too cheap to buy him proper glasses. The irony in that was that Harry's glasses looked almost exactly like James's.

"Hello? Earth to the almighty Rachel Fredricks!" Rachel heard Tonks' voice call. "We've got to get on the train!"

"Right," Rachel muttered, following after Tonks.

The two hopped on the train just a few moments before it shook slightly and left the station.


"So, what are my orders?" Tonks asked.

"Get off at Hogsmeade station and make sure all of the students get on their carriages safely," Rachel explained. "Once all of the students are gone, you'll do a sweep of the train and then we come back to King's Cross. I'll be supervising and giving any necessary assistance."

"And, of course, a passing grade," Tonks added.

"Sure," Rachel replied dismissively. "Just remember, you have to treat me like a partner that has the same knowledge as you. I can't provide any extra help."

"Piece of—ow."

Rachel sighed and shook her head. As amiable and funny as Tonks was, she sure was clumsy. The young girl had just run into a compartment door.

"You really should be more careful," Rachel said.

"Hey, it's not my fault!" Tonks said defensively. "I'm just cursed, I guess."

"Sure, whatever floats your boat," Rachel said with a smirk.

Rachel's smirk fell off her face when the train suddenly halted to a stop and the lights went out. Her eyes widened and her hand instinctively reached for her wand. She glanced at Tonks, who had already pulled out and lit her wand. Rachel followed suit and ordered for Tonks to follow.

Rachel's feet quietly and slowly glided through the train. Her and Tonks stopped at compartments to tell the students to remain calm. Rachel suddenly noted the windows freezing over.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" she muttered to herself.

"You know, I wouldn't put it past Moody to do something like this to test the both of us," Tonks grumbled.

"Something tells me Mad Eye isn't behind this one," Rachel replied.

Tonks sighed disappointedly. "Then it's probably going to be boring."

Rachel kept her guard up as they walked along the train. Not long after, she noted a dark figure on the other side of the train carriage.

"Hello?" Rachel called out. "You should get back to your compartment—all students have been instructed to stay put until the problem is resolved."

No reply came. The figure seemed to be advancing slowly. Soon enough, it was close enough to recognize.

Rachel inhaled sharply in shock.

Her instincts kicked in immediately. "Expecto patronum!" she shouted. A silver wisp of light came from the tip of her wand that soon formed a dog, which eagerly charged the Dementor. The Dementor collapsed silently and Rachel's patronus disintegrated.

For fourteen years all it's been is a bloody dog, Rachel thought to herself. Guess no matter what, he's never left me.

When did Rachel's Patronus first change… when she thought about it, it must've been when she moved in with Sirius. She had used it to send a message to Kingsley about a week after and suddenly it wasn't a hawk anymore. It was a dog—just like Sirius's Animagus form.

"Wow, that was one bloody powerful Patronus," Tonks observed admiringly.

"It used to be a hawk," Rachel muttered, more to herself.

"Oh? When did it change?" Tonks asked.

"About fourteen years ago," Rachel answered. "Or somewhere around there."

"Okay…" Tonks said, a little confused. "Anyways, that was pretty badass."

Rachel laughed. "Tonks, let me tell you something," she said. "Whenever you think I'm a brilliant Auror, just remember this: I had two Death Eaters tied up and captured in my apartment one time and they both got away, no harm done."

"Well, that is pretty bad," Tonks admitted, laughing.

The lights suddenly flickered back on and the train shook. Slowly, it started back along the tracks, quickly gaining speed. The frost on the windows started to melt and the animated conversation of students started back up again.

"I don't get what a Dementor was doing here…" Rachel suddenly said.

"Didn't you hear?" Tonks asked. "Fudge ordered them here to protect Hogwarts."

"Guess they're really taking precautions against Black, huh?" Rachel said. Honestly, the most threatening thing about Sirius are his lame jokes, she thought to herself. Oh, how she missed those jokes.

Thinking about it, Rachel missed a lot about Sirius. She missed morning tea with him, she missed yelling at him for hiding her clothes so she got to work late in the morning, she missed how they would have rainy days out, not in. They would purposely go outside, which sounded pretty pathetic, but during the war it had been pretty exciting. She just missed him, in all of his cocky, lame jokes, sweet, attractive glory.

"Well, he is a mass murderer," Tonks replied.

"Apparently so," Rachel said, pretending to agree.

Rachel and Tonks heard a compartment door slide open. They both began to turn.

"If you don't mind, we're still asking students to remain—oh," Rachel paused as she recognized the person in front of her.

"Right, and, uh, who are you?" Tonks asked. Blunt as ever, Rachel thought to herself. Honestly, the young girl had grown on her in the past two years.

"Remus Lupin," Remus introduced himself. "I'm the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"Not for long," Tonks said jokingly.

"Pardon?" Remus asked.

"The Defence teachers—they don't stick around for long," Rachel clarified.

"Right," Remus said. "And you are?" he added, obviously trying to act like he didn't know Rachel. What is he playing at?

Rachel resisted the urge to scoff at Remus's terrible lying. "Auror Rachel Fredricks and Auror Trainee Nymphodra Tonks—"

"—just call me Tonks," Tonks interrupted with a grumble.

"Yes, well, we were stationed here for extra security," Rachel finished. "Have there been any problems around this area of the train?"

"Yes, actually," Remus replied. "A Dementor attacked one of the students."

"What?" Rachel exclaimed. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"Well, it happened," Remus said. "I'll alert Dumbledore of it as soon as I get the chance."

"Very well," Rachel said with a nod. "Goodbye, Lupin."

Rachel turned and walked along the aisle of the train, Tonks following after her. Rachel heard some incoherent grumbling from her trainee. She paused and turned towards Tonks.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Well, Merlin, Rachel," Tonks grumbled. "You wanna let the trainee handle all of this cool and exciting fancy internal affairs or whatever you call it next time?"

Rachel smirked. "Not your objective," she replied. "Why, look, fellow Auror Tonks, we've almost arrived at Hogsmeade station! What shall we do?"


Heh. Talk about time jump XD

-Grammar/spelling?
-What do you think of grown-up Rachel?
-Did anyone see the whole Tonks thing coming or...?

Thanks for reading! :)