Part Five: Confrontation
Title: Confrontation
Author: gijane7702
Rating & Warnings: PG
Prompts: "You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be."
Word Count: 2421
Summary: While on watch, Tonks encounters Professor Sprout
Author’s Notes: Set Valentine’s Day OotP (remember...a Hogsmeade weekend). Appearences by Harry, Hermione, Luna, Cho, Dumbledore, and McGonagall.
Part 5 of my series, but wondering if I should continue...*pauses at Part 6*
Part One: Scratching The Surface
Part Two: Late Night Encounter
Part Three: First
Part Four: Meet The Parents
Tonks flinched slightly as she watched Harry Potter and Cho Chang enter Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop. She felt bad for Harry. Tonks had never submitted any of her boyfriends (all two of them) or herself to that torture. The place was usually bad enough, but today it was even worse since it was festively decorated for Valentine’s Day…complete with pink confetti throwing cherubs.
She missed Remus. He was at home at their flat, nice and warm, preparing dinner, while she was huddled down in her cloak and freezing in the cold Scottish rain, watching Harry, looking completely uncomfortable with all the other snogging couples, flounder through his date.
Tonks came to attention as Cho jumped to her feet, yelling at Harry. From her position at the back entrance of Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop, Tonks watched as Cho ran out of the shop, past her, and around the corner towards Honeydukes. A few moments later, Harry came out, looking around for her. Unable to locate Cho, Tonks heard him mutter “Women!” He then stuffed his hands in his pockets and shuffled off.
A few steps behind him, Tonks was intrigued when Harry entered the Three Broomsticks. She grinned as she saw him take a table with Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood (once again silently thanking Professor McGonagall for her intelligence report). But the smile slid off her face as she recognised the fourth person at the table.
Rita Skeeter.
That woman wrote the scathing article on Remus, exposing his lycanthropy to the entire wizarding world.She had also written an article on Tonks herself when she had passed her Auror Qualifications, mentioning her by name as related to Sirius and also mentioning the fact she was a Metamorphmagus, therefore broadly hinting to Scrimgeour that he should be wary of her.
Clenching her fists, Tonks cast a Drying Spell on herself and entered the pub. Nodding to Madam Rosmerta, whose eyes went wide, darted to Harry’s table, then back. Tonks smiled slightly at her, and then slid into a stool at the bar close to Harry so she could eavesdrop. Rosmerta set a gillywater in front of her, muttered, “I wish I could look 17 again”, and then tottered off towards another customer.
Tonks couldn’t help it, she laughed, causing Rosmerta to grin while taking another order. She then choked a few minutes later when she overheard what exactly Harry, Hermione, Luna, and Skeeter were planning.
After hearing everything she needed to, Tonks slid off her stool, nodding at Rosmerta so she knew to add the half-drunk gillywater to her tab, then exited the pub. Turning towards Hogwarts, she Apparated to the gates.
Once inside the entry hall, Tonks cast another Drying Spell, and then headed straight up to the Headmaster’s Tower. Giving the gargoyle the current password (Liquorice Wand), Tonks tripped over the first step and proceeded to curse the entire ride up over the pain in her knee.
Without her knocking, the oak door swung open to admit her. Tonks peeped inside the Headmaster’s office and whispered, “Hello…Professor Dumbledore?”
She was greeted with a snappish “Get in here, girl! No true Black is timid!” by Phineas Nigellus.
Entering the office, Tonks rolled her eyes at her great-great-great grandfather’s portrait with distaste, and then hissed back at him, “Well, thank goodness I’m not a true Black then!”
Phineas looked highly offended, and then stalked out of his portrait. She stuck her tongue out at his empty frame and then grinned cheekily at Armando Dippet, who had snorted with laughter.
“Ah…Nymphadora!” Dumbledore said coming out of his study. “Or should I say Miss Tonks? It’s like a trip back in time five years without the use of a Time Turner.” Dumbledore sat at his desk and arched an eyebrow in appreciation at her disguise. “What brings you here?”
Tonks felt herself blushing. Feeling quite like a schoolgirl again, she took the seat in front of the desk, loosening up the Hufflepuff scarf around her neck and shrugged out of her old school cloak. “I need to blend with the other students today. I had watch over Harry this Hogsmeade weekend.”
“And Mr Potter is why you are here?”
“Yes! I left him Hermione Granger. She should keep him out of any more trouble until I can get back. Well, actually,” Tonks paused and ran a hand through her natural blonde curls. “I believe the interview was probably all Hermione’s idea.”
“Interview?” Dumbledore asked curiously.
“With Rita Skeeter for the Quibbler regarding what happened last June,” she paused so the Headmaster could respond, but Dumbledore remained silent.
Instead, he stood and went to a window and looked out. “Go on…”
“And he wonders why we’re watching over him,” Tonks said, knowing Harry’s complaint since Sirius had reported his and Harry’s Floo conversation. “First weekend he goes and forms a Defence…er, a study group.” That earned a small chuckle from the Headmaster. “And this weekend he goes and gives an interview… to Rita Skeeter of all people!” She paused again, and then asked, “Is it a Gryffindor thing?”
“It’s a Harry thing, Miss Tonks, not a Gryffindor thing.” The Headmaster turned around. His blue eyes sparkling, he continued, “You should know that… given your Gryffindor preference in men.”
Tonks felt her cheeks redden again. “Sorry…” she muttered, smiling when Dumbledore did.
“Quite all right, Nymphadora. How is Remus?”
She blushed again, but this time for another reason. “He’s quite well, sir. Should I head back to watch Harry?”
“I believe he’s gotten into as much trouble as he can all ready. Actually,” Dumbledore looked out the window again, “here he and Miss Granger come now. It’s Valentine’s Day, Nymphadora, I’m sure Remus has something planned. Have a good evening.”
Knowing herself to be dismissed, Tonks stood. Refastening her cloak and rewinding her scarf, she said, “I’ll relay your greetings to Remus, sir. Have a good night yourself.”
Leaving the Headmaster to gaze out his window, Tonks let herself out of his office. Down the spiral staircase and out the gargoyle, she made it all the way to the second floor landing when Professor McGonagall came around a corner holding a huge pile of books and ran right into her.
“Are you all right, Professor?” Tonks asked her the same time Professor Sprout called from down the corridor, “Are you all right, Minerva?” She began to hurrying towards them.
Tonks closed her eyes, sighed, and then reopened them. Professor McGonagall was smiling at her, clearly recognising her. Eyes twinkling behind her glasses, she whispered, “You’ll be fine. She doesn’t bite.”
“Could have fooled me,” Tonks whispered back.
Flicking her wand, Tonks non-verbally Summoned the scattered books as her former Head of House arrived. “Thank you for assisting Professor McGonagall, Miss…Tonks?!”
“Hullo, Professor,” she said in a polite tone.
“Miss Tonks, what are you doing here? And looking like…that?” Professor Sprout asked clearly perplexed.
“I needed to see the Headmaster so I needed to be disguised!” She immediately bit her lip. Her words had come out far more defensively than she had meant them too.
“Ah…yes,” Professor McGonagall said as Professor Sprout’s eyes narrowed. “Thank you, Nymphadora. Send Remus my regards, will you. Goodbye!”
Tonks couldn’t help it. As Professor McGonagall scurried off down the corridor, she called, “I shall. And I thought Gryffindors where brave!”
Professor McGonagall came to a screeching halt and spun around. At the same time, Professor Sprout exclaimed, “Miss Tonks!”
“We are brave, Nymphadora, but we’re also intelligent.” Nodding her head curtly, but grinning, causing Tonks to laugh aloud, Professor McGonagall spun on her heel gracefully and sailed down the corridor.
Tonks’ grin faded as she turned back around. Professor Sprout was wearing the same disapproving look that she had worn Tonks’ entire school career. “I suppose you don’t approve of that,” she snapped before Professor Sprout could say anything. “You never approved of me!”
Professor Sprout opened and closed her mouth a few times before saying, “I think you and I need to speak.”
“About what?” Tonks wondered aloud. “I’m not your…problem child anymore. I’m a grown woman, not to mention a fully-trained Auror. Goodbye.”
She set off in a huff down the next flight of stairs, rolling her eyes as Professor Sprout followed her. “Miss Tonks! Wait!”
Tonks stopped on the first floor landing. “Yes?” asked curtly.
“Come with me, please.”
Tonks rolled her eyes, but followed Professor Sprout down the corridor to an unused classroom. Remembering her training on gaining a level playing ground with an enemy, she morphed her blonde curls to her usual pink spikes, loosened her Hufflepuff scarf, and removed her cloak. In one of Remus’ heavy woollen jumpers and her own patched jeans, she felt more like herself and less like a schoolgirl.
After she closed the door, Professor Sprout let out a deep breath and said, “I think somewhere you and I had a misunderstanding that led to…this.”
“This what?” Tonks asked, then realised that though she had her hand crossed defensively across her chest, her wand was at the ready. “Er…sorry. Auror training: Always armed when facing an enemy.” She closed her eyes when she realised what she had said.
“Why do you look at me as an enemy, Nymphadora?” Professor Sprout asked in a quiet voice.
“Um…”
“Tell me, please.”
“You never liked me!” Tonks blurted out. “Dad told me on Platform 9 ¾ that you were one of his classmates and now Head of House. He told me you’d be nice to me, yet when I was Sorted into Hufflepuff I saw you turn to Professor McGonagall and heave a sigh!” Professor Sprout opened her mouth to respond, but Tonks cut her off, “I was eleven years old…a terrified first year! I was told my Head of House was supposed to be a mentor, yet you looked like you had just been assigned seven years of torture!”
Professor Sprout dropped her head into her hands. She was quiet for a few minutes and Tonks took the time to glare at her. Then, softly she raised her head and said, “I was wrong then, Nymphadora. I had no idea you were watching. Minerva and I had placed a bet which House you would be Sorted into. She bet Hufflepuff like your father while I bet Slytherin like your mother. I heaved that sigh because I had just ‘won’ Minerva’s Hogsmeade duty.”
It was Tonks’ turn to gasp inarticulately for a few moments. Finally she spat out, “What about later? You were always on me! Constantly!”
“Now you have to admit that I should have been on you! Albus said it best one time, ‘That girl should have been Sorted into Gryffindor with all the trouble she gets into!’ And you did, young lady! You and Charlie Weasley.”
That was true, but Tonks grabbed another point, “There’s another thing! Charlie! You didn’t like the fact that we were friends!”
“You two were always into something! I wasn’t used to a troublesome student. Most Hufflepuffs are well-behaved! I had no idea what to do with you.”
“I was on the Team that won the Quidditch Cup. You thanked every other Team member, but me! But by then I expected nothing from you.” It came out bitter.
“You were flying around the common room on your broom! How could I have thanked you?! I didn’t give you detention like I could have!” Tonks ran her hand through her hair in frustration. She had forgotten that. Professor Sprout continued, “Why do you do that to your hair-”
“Oh! I forgot the whole ‘No morphing, Miss Tonks’ rule! I can’t help the fact I was born a Metamorphmagus!”
“I put that rule into effect to protect you. Yes, I didn’t want you showing off to the other students, but you now know that your ability can have a negative connotation to it. And you know that the boys became more interested in what you could become for them than who you were. Keeping you in your beautiful natural form didn’t cause distractions.” She paused, and then added, “I think our problem has been based on misunderstandings. And it is my fault.”
“How?” Tonks asked. She had come to the same conclusion.
“The whole Sorting debacle aside, I have no idea what to do with you. I should have gone to Minerva, who has experience dealing with...er…”
“Troublemakers,” she was supplied.
“Well, yes. But I didn’t. I floundered through seven years and watched helplessly as you withdraw from me further and further. I felt like an utter failure with you.”
Her voice trembled at the end of the last sentence.
Tonks didn’t know what to say or do. Twelve years of dislike evaporated as Professor Sprout took a deep breath. She felt horrible that she had made such a brilliant teacher feel like a failure. “Er…I’m sorry, Professor.”
“It’s not your fault, Nymphadora! I’m the one that’s sorry. You were a just child reacting to what you thought was an adult who didn’t like you for various reasons. It’s my fault. I never explained anything to you.”
“It’s both our faults. I was a student…you were my Head of House. You shouldn’t have had to explain anything to me.”
Professor Sprout quickly rubbed her eyes. “We should have had this talk during your school years, not now. I just want to let you know that I’m so proud of you, dear. Look at you…you’re a full-fledged Auror…the first in five years and the last person accepted in the past three. You’re in a loving relationship with a wonderful man.” She smiled as Tonks beamed. “You’ve become a very accomplished young woman, Nymphadora, and a shining credit to Hufflepuff House.” Tonks couldn’t help it… she began to cry. Professor Sprout ran over and pulled her in a hug. “I understand…”
They embraced for a few minutes, before Professor Sprout pulled back slightly. “Look at the two of us,” she laughed, wiping her eyes. “Crying like a bunch of ninnies… and not the strong women we are.”
Tonks giggled, and then wiped her eyes on her scarf. “I have to get going. Remus is waiting for me.”
Professor Sprout nodded. “Give him my regards. He’s a good man, Nymphadora. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“I know, Professor. He’s such a good man. I love him very much.”
“That’s wonderful, dear. And call me Pomona. You’re no longer one of my students.”
“Oh, I can’t do that! Mum’d kick my…Er…you know.”
Tonks grinned as Professor Sprout threw her head back and laughed.
Author: gijane7702
Rating & Warnings: PG
Prompts: "You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be."
Word Count: 2421
Summary: While on watch, Tonks encounters Professor Sprout
Author’s Notes: Set Valentine’s Day OotP (remember...a Hogsmeade weekend). Appearences by Harry, Hermione, Luna, Cho, Dumbledore, and McGonagall.
Part 5 of my series, but wondering if I should continue...*pauses at Part 6*
Part One: Scratching The Surface
Part Two: Late Night Encounter
Part Three: First
Part Four: Meet The Parents
Tonks flinched slightly as she watched Harry Potter and Cho Chang enter Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop. She felt bad for Harry. Tonks had never submitted any of her boyfriends (all two of them) or herself to that torture. The place was usually bad enough, but today it was even worse since it was festively decorated for Valentine’s Day…complete with pink confetti throwing cherubs.
She missed Remus. He was at home at their flat, nice and warm, preparing dinner, while she was huddled down in her cloak and freezing in the cold Scottish rain, watching Harry, looking completely uncomfortable with all the other snogging couples, flounder through his date.
Tonks came to attention as Cho jumped to her feet, yelling at Harry. From her position at the back entrance of Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop, Tonks watched as Cho ran out of the shop, past her, and around the corner towards Honeydukes. A few moments later, Harry came out, looking around for her. Unable to locate Cho, Tonks heard him mutter “Women!” He then stuffed his hands in his pockets and shuffled off.
A few steps behind him, Tonks was intrigued when Harry entered the Three Broomsticks. She grinned as she saw him take a table with Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood (once again silently thanking Professor McGonagall for her intelligence report). But the smile slid off her face as she recognised the fourth person at the table.
Rita Skeeter.
That woman wrote the scathing article on Remus, exposing his lycanthropy to the entire wizarding world.She had also written an article on Tonks herself when she had passed her Auror Qualifications, mentioning her by name as related to Sirius and also mentioning the fact she was a Metamorphmagus, therefore broadly hinting to Scrimgeour that he should be wary of her.
Clenching her fists, Tonks cast a Drying Spell on herself and entered the pub. Nodding to Madam Rosmerta, whose eyes went wide, darted to Harry’s table, then back. Tonks smiled slightly at her, and then slid into a stool at the bar close to Harry so she could eavesdrop. Rosmerta set a gillywater in front of her, muttered, “I wish I could look 17 again”, and then tottered off towards another customer.
Tonks couldn’t help it, she laughed, causing Rosmerta to grin while taking another order. She then choked a few minutes later when she overheard what exactly Harry, Hermione, Luna, and Skeeter were planning.
After hearing everything she needed to, Tonks slid off her stool, nodding at Rosmerta so she knew to add the half-drunk gillywater to her tab, then exited the pub. Turning towards Hogwarts, she Apparated to the gates.
Once inside the entry hall, Tonks cast another Drying Spell, and then headed straight up to the Headmaster’s Tower. Giving the gargoyle the current password (Liquorice Wand), Tonks tripped over the first step and proceeded to curse the entire ride up over the pain in her knee.
Without her knocking, the oak door swung open to admit her. Tonks peeped inside the Headmaster’s office and whispered, “Hello…Professor Dumbledore?”
She was greeted with a snappish “Get in here, girl! No true Black is timid!” by Phineas Nigellus.
Entering the office, Tonks rolled her eyes at her great-great-great grandfather’s portrait with distaste, and then hissed back at him, “Well, thank goodness I’m not a true Black then!”
Phineas looked highly offended, and then stalked out of his portrait. She stuck her tongue out at his empty frame and then grinned cheekily at Armando Dippet, who had snorted with laughter.
“Ah…Nymphadora!” Dumbledore said coming out of his study. “Or should I say Miss Tonks? It’s like a trip back in time five years without the use of a Time Turner.” Dumbledore sat at his desk and arched an eyebrow in appreciation at her disguise. “What brings you here?”
Tonks felt herself blushing. Feeling quite like a schoolgirl again, she took the seat in front of the desk, loosening up the Hufflepuff scarf around her neck and shrugged out of her old school cloak. “I need to blend with the other students today. I had watch over Harry this Hogsmeade weekend.”
“And Mr Potter is why you are here?”
“Yes! I left him Hermione Granger. She should keep him out of any more trouble until I can get back. Well, actually,” Tonks paused and ran a hand through her natural blonde curls. “I believe the interview was probably all Hermione’s idea.”
“Interview?” Dumbledore asked curiously.
“With Rita Skeeter for the Quibbler regarding what happened last June,” she paused so the Headmaster could respond, but Dumbledore remained silent.
Instead, he stood and went to a window and looked out. “Go on…”
“And he wonders why we’re watching over him,” Tonks said, knowing Harry’s complaint since Sirius had reported his and Harry’s Floo conversation. “First weekend he goes and forms a Defence…er, a study group.” That earned a small chuckle from the Headmaster. “And this weekend he goes and gives an interview… to Rita Skeeter of all people!” She paused again, and then asked, “Is it a Gryffindor thing?”
“It’s a Harry thing, Miss Tonks, not a Gryffindor thing.” The Headmaster turned around. His blue eyes sparkling, he continued, “You should know that… given your Gryffindor preference in men.”
Tonks felt her cheeks redden again. “Sorry…” she muttered, smiling when Dumbledore did.
“Quite all right, Nymphadora. How is Remus?”
She blushed again, but this time for another reason. “He’s quite well, sir. Should I head back to watch Harry?”
“I believe he’s gotten into as much trouble as he can all ready. Actually,” Dumbledore looked out the window again, “here he and Miss Granger come now. It’s Valentine’s Day, Nymphadora, I’m sure Remus has something planned. Have a good evening.”
Knowing herself to be dismissed, Tonks stood. Refastening her cloak and rewinding her scarf, she said, “I’ll relay your greetings to Remus, sir. Have a good night yourself.”
Leaving the Headmaster to gaze out his window, Tonks let herself out of his office. Down the spiral staircase and out the gargoyle, she made it all the way to the second floor landing when Professor McGonagall came around a corner holding a huge pile of books and ran right into her.
“Are you all right, Professor?” Tonks asked her the same time Professor Sprout called from down the corridor, “Are you all right, Minerva?” She began to hurrying towards them.
Tonks closed her eyes, sighed, and then reopened them. Professor McGonagall was smiling at her, clearly recognising her. Eyes twinkling behind her glasses, she whispered, “You’ll be fine. She doesn’t bite.”
“Could have fooled me,” Tonks whispered back.
Flicking her wand, Tonks non-verbally Summoned the scattered books as her former Head of House arrived. “Thank you for assisting Professor McGonagall, Miss…Tonks?!”
“Hullo, Professor,” she said in a polite tone.
“Miss Tonks, what are you doing here? And looking like…that?” Professor Sprout asked clearly perplexed.
“I needed to see the Headmaster so I needed to be disguised!” She immediately bit her lip. Her words had come out far more defensively than she had meant them too.
“Ah…yes,” Professor McGonagall said as Professor Sprout’s eyes narrowed. “Thank you, Nymphadora. Send Remus my regards, will you. Goodbye!”
Tonks couldn’t help it. As Professor McGonagall scurried off down the corridor, she called, “I shall. And I thought Gryffindors where brave!”
Professor McGonagall came to a screeching halt and spun around. At the same time, Professor Sprout exclaimed, “Miss Tonks!”
“We are brave, Nymphadora, but we’re also intelligent.” Nodding her head curtly, but grinning, causing Tonks to laugh aloud, Professor McGonagall spun on her heel gracefully and sailed down the corridor.
Tonks’ grin faded as she turned back around. Professor Sprout was wearing the same disapproving look that she had worn Tonks’ entire school career. “I suppose you don’t approve of that,” she snapped before Professor Sprout could say anything. “You never approved of me!”
Professor Sprout opened and closed her mouth a few times before saying, “I think you and I need to speak.”
“About what?” Tonks wondered aloud. “I’m not your…problem child anymore. I’m a grown woman, not to mention a fully-trained Auror. Goodbye.”
She set off in a huff down the next flight of stairs, rolling her eyes as Professor Sprout followed her. “Miss Tonks! Wait!”
Tonks stopped on the first floor landing. “Yes?” asked curtly.
“Come with me, please.”
Tonks rolled her eyes, but followed Professor Sprout down the corridor to an unused classroom. Remembering her training on gaining a level playing ground with an enemy, she morphed her blonde curls to her usual pink spikes, loosened her Hufflepuff scarf, and removed her cloak. In one of Remus’ heavy woollen jumpers and her own patched jeans, she felt more like herself and less like a schoolgirl.
After she closed the door, Professor Sprout let out a deep breath and said, “I think somewhere you and I had a misunderstanding that led to…this.”
“This what?” Tonks asked, then realised that though she had her hand crossed defensively across her chest, her wand was at the ready. “Er…sorry. Auror training: Always armed when facing an enemy.” She closed her eyes when she realised what she had said.
“Why do you look at me as an enemy, Nymphadora?” Professor Sprout asked in a quiet voice.
“Um…”
“Tell me, please.”
“You never liked me!” Tonks blurted out. “Dad told me on Platform 9 ¾ that you were one of his classmates and now Head of House. He told me you’d be nice to me, yet when I was Sorted into Hufflepuff I saw you turn to Professor McGonagall and heave a sigh!” Professor Sprout opened her mouth to respond, but Tonks cut her off, “I was eleven years old…a terrified first year! I was told my Head of House was supposed to be a mentor, yet you looked like you had just been assigned seven years of torture!”
Professor Sprout dropped her head into her hands. She was quiet for a few minutes and Tonks took the time to glare at her. Then, softly she raised her head and said, “I was wrong then, Nymphadora. I had no idea you were watching. Minerva and I had placed a bet which House you would be Sorted into. She bet Hufflepuff like your father while I bet Slytherin like your mother. I heaved that sigh because I had just ‘won’ Minerva’s Hogsmeade duty.”
It was Tonks’ turn to gasp inarticulately for a few moments. Finally she spat out, “What about later? You were always on me! Constantly!”
“Now you have to admit that I should have been on you! Albus said it best one time, ‘That girl should have been Sorted into Gryffindor with all the trouble she gets into!’ And you did, young lady! You and Charlie Weasley.”
That was true, but Tonks grabbed another point, “There’s another thing! Charlie! You didn’t like the fact that we were friends!”
“You two were always into something! I wasn’t used to a troublesome student. Most Hufflepuffs are well-behaved! I had no idea what to do with you.”
“I was on the Team that won the Quidditch Cup. You thanked every other Team member, but me! But by then I expected nothing from you.” It came out bitter.
“You were flying around the common room on your broom! How could I have thanked you?! I didn’t give you detention like I could have!” Tonks ran her hand through her hair in frustration. She had forgotten that. Professor Sprout continued, “Why do you do that to your hair-”
“Oh! I forgot the whole ‘No morphing, Miss Tonks’ rule! I can’t help the fact I was born a Metamorphmagus!”
“I put that rule into effect to protect you. Yes, I didn’t want you showing off to the other students, but you now know that your ability can have a negative connotation to it. And you know that the boys became more interested in what you could become for them than who you were. Keeping you in your beautiful natural form didn’t cause distractions.” She paused, and then added, “I think our problem has been based on misunderstandings. And it is my fault.”
“How?” Tonks asked. She had come to the same conclusion.
“The whole Sorting debacle aside, I have no idea what to do with you. I should have gone to Minerva, who has experience dealing with...er…”
“Troublemakers,” she was supplied.
“Well, yes. But I didn’t. I floundered through seven years and watched helplessly as you withdraw from me further and further. I felt like an utter failure with you.”
Her voice trembled at the end of the last sentence.
Tonks didn’t know what to say or do. Twelve years of dislike evaporated as Professor Sprout took a deep breath. She felt horrible that she had made such a brilliant teacher feel like a failure. “Er…I’m sorry, Professor.”
“It’s not your fault, Nymphadora! I’m the one that’s sorry. You were a just child reacting to what you thought was an adult who didn’t like you for various reasons. It’s my fault. I never explained anything to you.”
“It’s both our faults. I was a student…you were my Head of House. You shouldn’t have had to explain anything to me.”
Professor Sprout quickly rubbed her eyes. “We should have had this talk during your school years, not now. I just want to let you know that I’m so proud of you, dear. Look at you…you’re a full-fledged Auror…the first in five years and the last person accepted in the past three. You’re in a loving relationship with a wonderful man.” She smiled as Tonks beamed. “You’ve become a very accomplished young woman, Nymphadora, and a shining credit to Hufflepuff House.” Tonks couldn’t help it… she began to cry. Professor Sprout ran over and pulled her in a hug. “I understand…”
They embraced for a few minutes, before Professor Sprout pulled back slightly. “Look at the two of us,” she laughed, wiping her eyes. “Crying like a bunch of ninnies… and not the strong women we are.”
Tonks giggled, and then wiped her eyes on her scarf. “I have to get going. Remus is waiting for me.”
Professor Sprout nodded. “Give him my regards. He’s a good man, Nymphadora. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“I know, Professor. He’s such a good man. I love him very much.”
“That’s wonderful, dear. And call me Pomona. You’re no longer one of my students.”
“Oh, I can’t do that! Mum’d kick my…Er…you know.”
Tonks grinned as Professor Sprout threw her head back and laughed.