QL, Wigtown Wanderers, Beater 1, Round 9.

Theme: Girl Power - Nymphadora Tonks

Prompts: [Dialogue] "It's so good to be home." [Setting] Treehouse. [Word] Rich

THC [Y3], Hufflepuff, Round 5, Year 1, Standard.

Prompt: [Colour] Gold.

Word Count: 1468

Beta's: Lynne, Magi, Aya.

The Little Things In Life

Nymphadora Tonks grinned widely as her mother bent down and handed her her birthday present. She was six today. With glee, she hugged the gold envelope to her chest. Her mother was the best person in the world! How did she know that Dora's favourite colour was gold today? She only knew that when she woke up with sparkling gold hair.

"Open it, Dora," her Dad encouraged happily.

The little girl didn't need any more encouragement before slowly undoing the neatly wrapped present. Her excitement got the better of her as she ripped it open right at the end and pulled out the present. "A book?"

"It's a spell book, Dora. I thought you'd like it."

Dora looked thoughtful for a second; were her parents tricking her to read more? Or was this the best book ever to exist? She looked down at it. "Learning spells," she read before gasping with delight. "Is it a real spell book?"

Her father chuckled. "You'll have to read it and find out."

"But first," her mother said while holding out another, larger, gift, "let's finish opening the presents."

Dora giggled and put the book down neatly on the small pile she had created. This was more presents than she had ever gotten before — though, she thought that every time. Days like this made her feel like she was rich. She took the gold-wrapped present again and proceeded to hug it. This time it was squishy. New clothes! Without further ado, she pulled the gold wrapping paper apart to reveal a pair of jeans, two tops, a dress, and socks! "Thank you!" she squeaked, jumping up and hugging her parents. "This is the best birthday ever!"

Later that day, Dora held her hands over her eyes as she was led outside into the garden.

"No peeking," her mother said.

Dora really, really wanted to peek. What was the big surprise? Surely her parents couldn't beat the presents they've already got her. Was somebody visiting? If so, who?

"Open your eyes!" her parents chorused.

Dora removed her hands slowly and looked around. Her mouth dropped open in shock as she saw the most amazing treehouse in the entire world.

To her, it reached the sky! But her Dad could easily see through the window.

"Is it mine?"

"Daddy built it just for you."

Dora threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She squeezed him a bit tighter before letting go with one hand and allowing her mother to join in. "You two are the best parents ever!"

Dora took her time to look at the treehouse. She climbed into it and just knew how much love was put into making it for her. It was perfect.

With excitement, she ran inside and collected the rest of her gifts and brought them outside with her. She carefully placed her new belongings on the wooden floor, smoothed out her dress, and sat down comfortably on the beanbag she had gotten for her fifth birthday last year.

Dora looked around the treehouse; she felt like the luckiest girl in the world. She didn't know anybody whose life was enriched enough to have one all to themselves. She felt rich with all the gifts she had received and from the love her parents gave her.

After a moment of feeling thankful for everything, she picked up the book she had just received. It was time to learn some spells.

The book was interesting, but as the sun began to set, little Dora felt her eyelids close. As she let herself succumb to sleep, she felt her mother pick her up and carry her in. She had the best parents ever.

Eleven-year-old Dora was ecstatic to go to Hogwarts. She would learn so much and meet so many amazing people. "What house will I be in?"

"You'll have to wait to be sorted," her father answered with a laugh.

Dora nodded and picked up the paintbrush. After a bit of begging, her parents agreed to paint her treehouse gold. Of course, Dora tended to opt for more eccentric hair colours these days, but gold was still a personal favourite that she wore for every one of her birthdays. Especially since she had learnt to control her gift.

With messy strides, the painting began. It was supposed to be the whole family, but her mother had something unexpected to attend to.

"Why were you and Mum in different houses?"

Her father paused at her question and raised an eyebrow. "We just were. Why?"

Dora shrugged. "She was expected to marry another Slytherin, wasn't she?"

"Yes, her family didn't approve of me," he responded cautiously.

Dora's mother was a lot better at keeping secrets than her father so she always questioned him when they were alone. "Would you be disappointed if I married a Slytherin?"

"As long as you love them… Why are we talking about you getting married? And why a Slytherin?"

"There's half a chance I'll be a Slytherin and half a chance I'll be a Hufflepuff. I'm just going through the options," she responded thoughtfully. Dora giggled as the gold paint spluttered over her. She really wasn't good at painting. "And Slytherins are rich, aren't they? Mum was when she was a Slytherin and her family has a huge house. Then I'll be rich too and I'll pay everybody off to accept all Muggle-borns."

Her Dad was silent for a few moments. "You can be in any of the four houses; you definitely have the confidence for Gryffindor," he told her cheekily.

Dora pretended to be offended for a split-second before laughing. "Nah. I think I'll be a Hufflepuff like you, Dad! And then I'll marry a Slytherin like you did!"

Her father laughed. "How about you wait to meet your future husband instead of deciding what house they should be in. You should only marry for love and not worry about what others think of you, me, or anybody else."

She looked up at him and shrugged. "Okay. I doubt they'd be a Gryffindor though – that'll be too much confidence in one relationship."

"Since when did you become boy-crazy?"

"I'm not boy-crazy! Just planning my future." Dora giggled. She didn't really care what relationship she had in the future, but if her Dad was worried about boys, he shouldn't be too worried when she gets in trouble. There was no way she could sit still in a class for a whole hour, let alone a day of classes. It was best to plan ahead. "I think his name will be… Barry."

"Like Barry your bear?"

Dora made a noise of confirmation.

"I thought you said you emptied the treehouse?" her dad questioned poking his head out of the window. Uh oh.

She giggled. "I did."

He held up a box of sweets.

"That's my emergency supply! I had to keep it hidden."

The box was returned to its 'hiding spot' but not before he took one of the sweets and popped one into his mouth.

Dora fake gasped before laughing. She was going to miss him when she was at Hogwarts. When she'd wake up tomorrow, she'd be leaving to get on the train.

Christmas holidays were upon Hogwarts. It was time for students to go home — those who wanted to, anyway. Tonks — formerly known as Dora — was eager to go home and see her parents. She had missed them so much! That was one thing she hadn't thought about going to Hogwarts — the fact that her parents weren't there.

The nearer the train got to Platform nine and three quarters, the more excited she became. Her hair was changing colour every minute. Green. Red. Gold. Pink. Brown. Black. Yellow. Turquoise. The second she saw her parents standing on the platform waiting for her it turned into a bubblegum pink and remained that shade all the way home.

"Home, sweet home," her dad said as he put her trunk down.

Tonks took a breath. "It's good to be home."

"Just good?" her mother teased.

"It's so good to be home," she amended. Tonks breathed in the delicious smell of her favourite cake. "So, so good!"

"She's smelt them," her mother stated.

"Told you she would."

"What are we waiting for? Let's go eat them in the treehouse!" Tonks exclaimed grinning ear from ear. "I have so much to tell you! And I want to hear everything that happened since I was away! I don't want to miss a thing."

Her parents shared a glance. "I'll get the cake."

"Let's go."

Home was the best place Tonks could think of. Even Hogwarts was second to it. If possible, Tonks would wish to stay at home all the time. It really was so good to be home.