The Missing Marks Chapter 1
Title: The Missing Marks Chapter 1
Author: patriot_jackie
Rating and Warnings: PG-13 for future violence
Prompt: Signature
Word Count: 3,430
Summary: One year after becoming an Auror, Tonks is presented with her first real case: the mystery of a series of signature crimes marked by a countdown of obsidian crystals and strange notes. - A series of crimes the Ministry is going through great lengths to hide. But she’s also just been inducted into the legendary Order of the Phoenix. And as if her case and new questionably legal - in the Ministry’s eyes, at least - activities aren’t enough to keep her mind occupied, another mystery presents itself: a secret admirer who may not be so secret.
Author’s Notes: I really didn’t think I’d be able to post this in time… *is gleeful* I’m close to a title for this; the second and third chapters of this are finished, though computer time is a very real issue for me... Special thanks to the local Fox station and their weeks-ago report on Signature Crimes. ;)
Note to Mods: Uh... I have two tags. One with the underscore in my name and one without...
Chapter 1
Auror Tonks shifted her gaze around the living room of the well-lit house. The darkening cobalt blue of the sky in the still-early hours of nightfall shone through the back two windows contrasting well with the painted marigold walls. - It wasn’t a color she’d have ever picked, but she couldn’t deny that it gave the room a homey sort of feel. - Mixed equipment - muggle and wizard - took up much of what would have been open space for the Erikson family’s home. Aurors, MLE officials, and muggle detectives probed through everything in sight: the collection of still family portraits and photo albums, the dust and hair samples on and around the mantle, the scattered papers and sheets of music around the probably generations old piano. The center of the room was strangely empty, though that was to be expected.
Four white sheets covered the outlines of four lumpy figures; she, nor anyone else, needed to see how they had died. The unforgivable killing curse was unmistakable and had been used in the previous attacks. Four more dead… With this, the sixth attack, it brought the total to seventeen dead muggles, and they still had not so much as an inkling as to who was behind it or why.
Moving forward with grace and ease uncharacteristic for her during any other time besides work, she halted in the center of the room and knelt down to study the piece of polished black obsidian at her feet and followed the trail around. Fourteen of the carefully placed volcanic glass pieces made an open circle around the murdered Erickson family. They would disappear shortly like the others before had done. There had been fifteen around the Griffin’s, sixteen at the Moore’s… Nineteen surrounded Mr. Forester - the first victim in this string of muggle murders. A countdown, but to what?
Her dark gaze settled on the fireplace; had he entered from there, they would have had a chance at tracking him down. Unfortunately, s/he knew that and simply apparated into the houses to do the dirty work.
If they could just maybe have the eyes of the public helping them in this, they could possibly make some headway. At least people would be alerted to what was happening even if such knowledge would be useless to the potential victims. But the Ministry wasn’t letting any of this case leak out. For the life of her, Tonks couldn’t imagine why. These attacks had started before the controversially doubted return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and while she supposed that, if his return was indeed true, they could possibly be connected, she could not understand why the Minister of Magic would rather put people in ignorant risk instead of telling them the truth. Was his own political power that important to him?
Sighing, she passed a hand over her face; it had been a long day of questions with no answers.
“Why do you suppose he leaves them behind?” a deep voice from behind asked.
She knew his voice: Kingsley Shacklebolt, fellow Auror - was it pathetic if fellow Auror still made her stomach flip with glee and pride? - and friend. He’d taken a liking to her as soon as she’d joined the department at the Ministry last year and helped her become comfortable in her dangerous, difficult career. His advice and insight had been invaluable to her, and she knew he would continue to be of great help. She was extremely grateful to him, though with her way with words, Tonks was unsure if he really knew just how much she appreciated him.
She rose carefully from her crouched position, shaking her head. “He’s toying with us, like in the notes. - Has the one here been found yet?”
“No,” Kingsley answered. “They’re still looking. At the Griffin’s, too.”
“I know. I was there for a while today.”
“Yes, and at the Moore’s before; I know. That’s why I’m here.” He smiled kindly at her.
Probably for the first time all day, she grinned. “Oh? Here to drag me off shift, are you?” As if forgetting the stress and strain of unsolvable murder cases, she felt more like her normal, cheerful, spunky self. “Who sent you? Scrimgeour? He was getting all testy last week over my overtime pay…”
Kingsley laughed in his great, booming voice, drawing the attention of the soberly-minded investigators surrounding them. He looked around self-consciously and nodded towards the back door. “Let’s take this outside.” He gave another look around, and then carefully led the way out of the crime scene.
“I don’t recall agreeing to leave, you kno-“ Her voice caught as her foot became tangled in one of the electrical wires. Flailing, she reached out and grabbed hold of the back of Kingsley’s robes. He made a surprised choking sound and stopped in his tracks, for which Tonks was grateful because had he taken another step, she was positive that she’d have dragged them both down in what would have been a mortifying crash of jumbled expensive equipment.
She felt the eyes of those in the room on her again, and she fought back a bright blush. Righting herself and releasing Kingsley, she hurriedly tip-toed past him whispering a quick “Sorry!” as he massaged his neck where the collar had caught him. She pushed through the back door, and it slammed closed adding to her embarrassment. Leaning against the back wall beside the door, she sighed, agitated and pounded her head against it lightly.
In the long lines of her family history, no one on either of her parent’s sides had been as remotely clumsy as she was! But then, no one had ever been a Metamorphmagus, either. Perhaps clumsiness was the offset for having such a rare gift…
The back door opened, and Kingsley stepped through looking bemusedly at her, and she felt her face burn hotter.
“Merlin, Kingsley, I’m sorry!” she said bowing her head to look away. “I didn’t mean to-”
A low laugh rumbled out of him, and he hopped from the raised porch to stand beside her. “Do you ever mean to, Tonks?”
If he’d meant to make her feel better, he’d failed miserably.
Whether or not he noticed this, Tonks couldn’t tell. He placed a large, heavy hand on her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “I take it that you agreed just then.”
Confusion overtook her. “Agreed…?”
“To leave.”
Embarrassment ebbed away as she caught onto his teasing. She shrugged out of his embrace putting a bit of distance between them and spat her tongue out at him.
He laughed again and stepped away from the house. “You know, if you stayed as focused as you are while doing your Auror duties, I bet you’d break a lot less-”
“Shut up, Kingsley.” She said it tightly, but he knew she was teasing
Turning around, he was still grinning. “Come on. I have a sort of party tonight, and I’d like you to come with me.”
Tonks was taken aback. Kingsley inviting her to a party? They got along well, and she liked him to be sure, but they hadn’t started hanging out together. “A party?” she repeated.
“Sort of.” He spoke casually, but she caught something underlying in his expression. “Not really,” he said a little quieter. “I’ll buy you a drink.”
She understood that. During the past week and a half - since the disastrous and tragic end to the Triwizard Tournament - she and Kingsley had met erratically at a muggle pub not too far from the Ministry. Both had had questions about the current goings-on in the Ministry and the world at large - though Kingsley seemed to have more answers than she did. And he had been feeling her out for some reason. She had a feeling that he was a part of something, - something big - and she thought she was close to discovering what it was. Perhaps he would tell her tonight.
“Okay,” she said as casually as he had spoken. She grinned mischievously. “Last one to clock out buys!”
With a crack, she disapparated leaving behind the other Auror to sputter about unfair advantages.
------------
“It’s a get-together.”
“Who?” Tonks asked.
Seated in a shady corner away from most of the other rowdy patrons, they spoke quietly over untouched glasses of foamy muggle beer provided by Kingsley. He’d claimed to have let her win even though she’d cheated because he was a gentleman. He also pointed out that he doubted she was carrying any muggle money, - and he was right - so it hadn’t been a fair contest to begin with.
“Uh…” He searched for the right words. “A gathering of like minds.”
Tonks narrowed her eyes slightly in thought. “That doesn’t tell me much, King.”
“I know,” he said with a shrug of his great shoulders, and then shook his bald head.
“You can trust me,” she tried. She was at the very end of this mystery, and she just couldn’t let it slip through her fingers. Right now, she had to say all the right things, and up to this point, she’d only had to be true to herself and her misgivings about what was happening in the world. She hoped that would be enough. “You know you can.”
“I…I know, but…” He trailed off and was silent for a long stretch caught in deep thought.
Tonks crossed her toes since her fingers were visible and bit her lip in anticipation. When he still said nothing, she looked down to the bubbles popping atop the amber liquid in her glass. It smelled terrible, but she liked it. Strange how that worked out…
“All right, Tonks,” he said, and she immediately looked up to him. “I just- I need to know: do you really trust Dumbledore?”
Dumbledore had come up a lot during these meetings of theirs. It made her wonder just what she was getting into, especially with Fudge’s idea that the greatest wizard of their time wanted to take over. But then, Tonks had a feeling that if Dumbledore really wanted to take over, he wouldn’t really need to amass an army; he could probably take the entire Auror department single-handedly. As it was, the chances of Dumbledore wanting power for power’s sake were about as great as her chances were for becoming a tight-rope walker in one of those muggle circle things.
“I…” she began her answer carefully.
“The Ministry isn’t around to hear you,” he encouraged gently.
She nodded and realized in the back of her mind just how much fear the current Ministry of Magic was inciting. “I don’t want to believe that…that You-Know-Who is back. I’ve seen hardly any evidence for it. But I haven’t seen any evidence against it, either, and I don’t believe the Ministry’s hogwash that Cedric Diggory died in a freak accident that night. He wasn’t mauled or bruised or anything; I’m positive that it was the killing curse.” She met Kingsley’s eyes. “I really don’t want to believe it, but…. I just can’t believe that Dumbledore would lie about something like this.”
“You believe him, then?”
“I…” She hesitated. In her own mind, she hadn’t quite made a clear opinion. If she wasn’t working for the Ministry and constantly surrounded by its propaganda, she would trust Dumbledore without a second thought. The propaganda blurred the lines; it was believable - if one didn’t really know Dumbledore. As a student, Tonks had been sent to his office enough times to know him better than most of the other students... She felt a sudden surge of anger at herself. “I’m ashamed that I’ve let the Ministry and Prophet cloud my judgment at all,” she said looking away.
“Hey,” Kingsley called her attention, and she looked back to his kind face. “It’s tough in there. If it wasn’t believable, do you think the whole of Wizarding England would believe any of it? - And you didn’t really trust what they were saying.”
Tonks smiled feeling a little better. She would apologize to Dumbledore if she ever got the chance, though. - That gave her an idea. “Will he be there?” she wanted to know.
Kingsley made the slightest inclination of his head; it was barely noticeable.
“What is this?” she asked.
“I’ll tell you when we get there,” he said rising from his chair, and she followed.
“Where’s there?” They left their full glasses of beer on the table; Tonks had been too excited to drink anything at finally gaining Kingsley’s trust in this thing, whatever it was.
“You’ll see.”
She followed him out the back doors of the pub into a back alleyway.
“You’ll have to side-along, if you don’t mind,” he said looking both ways down the alley to ensure secrecy.
“You sure you trust me not to pull you down?” she teased.
She couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but she imagined his silent smirk. He extended his arm, and she grabbed hold of it tightly, and with a crack, she was pulled along with him.
The ground thudded her to a halt beneath her feet, and she stumbled slightly.
“All right?” he asked in light concern.
“I haven’t side-alonged since I was sixteen,” she mumbled shaking off the bit of dizziness she felt. She then looked around; they were in yet another alley. “Where are we?”
“Headquarters.”
“Headquarters? For what?”
He didn’t say anything. He reached into his muggle trousers pocket and pulled out a small slip of parchment which he handed to her.
Unfolding it, she read in the low light:
The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.
“Order of the-“ she whispered in surprise.
“Shh!!!”
She looked to him and bit her lip, realizing her mistake. “Sorry.” She looked around the alley way. “I still don’t see it.”
“It’s out there,” he said quietly with a jerk of his head. “Listen, there are some things I need to tell you first.”
“Like why you’re only just NOW telling me that-that you’re a member??!”
“I had to be sure I could trust you,” he whispered calmly. “That we all could trust you,” he corrected.
She shrugged in acceptance. “So… What do you need to tell me?”
“You’ll know more people than just Dumbledore and myself.”
“Good to know.”
“And… you know how I was suggesting…” He lowered his voice even further. “Your cousin’s innocence?”
Immediately, she felt cautionary walls build themselves inside her. What had she gotten herself into? Trust Dumbledore as she may, it was hard to accept that her renown Azkaban-escapee cousin was innocent. “Don’t tell me…”
“Yes, he’s here. He’s the reason we even have an HQ, so don’t go trying to arrest him.”
Kingsley’s position dawned on her, and she gaped, poking him hard in the chest. “You’re in charge of his investigation! - An-And all those clues…!” Her mouth fell open wider.
“I can’t lead them to an innocent man!” he argued back. “You’ll understand when you meet him.”
“Meet him?!” she whispered loudly.
“Yes!” He sighed and ran a head over the top of his smooth head. “I didn’t expect this…”
Fearing that she would lose her chance, she sucked up her misgivings. I trust Dumbledore. I trust Kingsley. She ran the thoughts through her mind and calmed herself.
“It’s all right,” she said after a moment. “You just… caught me off guard.”
“That’s not being constantly vigilant, Tonks,” Kingsley replied with a half wink.
Her eyes widened. “Mad-Eye, too?! I haven’t seen him since that lecture he gave in my second year of training! And he was just locked up in a trunk for nine months, wasn’t he?”
Kingsley nodded.
“Well, if Moody’s in there and Dumbledore, then I’ve nothing to fear from my cousin.” And with excitement welling up in her - the Order of the Phoenix! The stories everyone told…! - she marched past Kingsley into the street and waited for Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place to show itself.
“Wait! There’s one more thing!” he whispered loudly behind her and followed her up the steps to the door.
“I suspect there are certain wards and charms locking us out,” she said with an expectant look to him.
“Yes, there are,” he said, exasperation leaking through his voice. He met her eyes levelly. “Are you sure you’re okay with…this?”
She nodded soberly. “Yes. I really am.”
“All right.”
“Anything else?” she asked as he waved his wand to unlock the door.
“Ee-Yes…” he said slowly and looked to her quizzically. “How do you feel about werewolves?”
“Werewolves?” What could he possibly mean by that? She looked to the moon quickly - it wasn’t full. “Well, they’re dark creatures…”
“I meant when they’re not transformed.”
“I… I haven’t really thought about it.” She by no means believed they were lesser people like certain people in the Ministry said, nor did she agree with much of the legislation that had been passed. But she had also heard about the feral werewolves who shunned the regular wizarding world and were shunned from it. “I guess it depends.”
“On…?”
“On a lot of things.”
Just then, the door opened out of Kingsley’s grasp and a haunted-looking man with dark, black hair stood in the doorway. Tonks recognized him immediately.
“Sirius!” whispered another voice inside. Raspy and male. “You’re not supposed to answer the door!”
“It’s my house!” he retorted back in a whisper and ushered the two of them inside. Tonks did so, willing herself not to stare at or train her wand on the relation she only knew as a mass murderer. He closed the door behind them.
“Quiet, both of you!” Kinsley whispered. “Tonks, watch your-“
“Why are you whisp-“ Tonks felt her foot catch on something heavy and lumpy. In the dark, she couldn’t tell what it was, and before she could do anything to prevent it from happening…
CRASH!!
“BL---- H---!” she shrieked as she pitched forward. A strong arm wrapped around her waist from behind preventing her tumble. But nothing could prepare her for what happened next.
“FILTH! BLOOD TRAITORS! HALF BREEDS! SHAPE-SHIFTING FREAKS! MUTANTS!”
“New member, Kinsley?” the voice behind her rasped. She couldn’t see his face, but something about his voice made her insides squirm a bit. Someone lit a lamp in the hall, and the man released her.
“I forgot to tell her about Sirius’ Mum!” Kingsley yelled over the epithets. He moved to help Sirius - Sirius Black - close a pair of curtains from which the screams were emitting.
“Yes, I can tell,” the man who had saved her from certain bruised knees said. He gave her a wink and stooped to right what she’d tripped over: a troll-foot umbrella stand. He had brown, graying hair and a face that looked young, but worn. His clothes in the low light of the solitary lamp seemed thin and very used.
“ABOMINATION! BANE OF MY FLESH!! TRESSPASSING IN THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS! YOU ARE NO SON OF MINE!”
“Should have thought of that before you left this wretched, filthy house to me!” Sirius roared back, and with a great heave, he and Kingsley shut the curtains.
Silence had never been so golden and pressing at the same time.
Tonks looked between each of the three men, simultaneously morphing her face to hide her violent blush. She probably looked pained from the concentration.
The man who she didn’t know smiled kindly at her and nodded down the hall. “Let’s go downstairs,” he whispered.
She followed Sirius and Kingsley into an old, grimy kitchen. The other man fell in behind her.
“So,” Sirius said cheerily looking her up and down. She suddenly felt very nervous. “Who woke Mum?”
Both Sirius and the other man were waiting for an introduction. She looked to Kingsley for a moment, and then swallowed her fear and faced her cousin. “Tonks-“
“Nymphadora-“ Kingsley said at the same time.
“DON’T call me Nym-“ she began.
“Tonks,” Kingsley finished. “You don’t expect them to believe that’s your first name?”
She glowered at him.
“Tonks…” Sirius said thoughtfully, and she looked immediately to him, dreading. “Andromeda’s?” he asked with a raised bushy eyebrow.
She nodded sharply. “Yes.”
“Well,” he said cheerfully. “I finally meet my cousin. - Pointless since you already know, but I’m Sirius Black. The Order’s own cold-blooded mass-murderer.”
“He’s innocent,” the other man shot back playfully looking to Sirius. He turned back to Tonks. “I, however, am not.”
Merlin, what had she gotten herself into?! But there was a warmth to his brown eyes that held her transfixed...
“Remus Lupin,” he said in that kind, rasping voice. “I’m the Order’s resident werewolf.”
AN: Apologies for the curtailed plot in this and even less Remus than the OotP movie. (Which, btw, is the BEST Harry Potter movie ever!) There’ll be more of both in the next chapter. ;)
Author: patriot_jackie
Rating and Warnings: PG-13 for future violence
Prompt: Signature
Word Count: 3,430
Summary: One year after becoming an Auror, Tonks is presented with her first real case: the mystery of a series of signature crimes marked by a countdown of obsidian crystals and strange notes. - A series of crimes the Ministry is going through great lengths to hide. But she’s also just been inducted into the legendary Order of the Phoenix. And as if her case and new questionably legal - in the Ministry’s eyes, at least - activities aren’t enough to keep her mind occupied, another mystery presents itself: a secret admirer who may not be so secret.
Author’s Notes: I really didn’t think I’d be able to post this in time… *is gleeful* I’m close to a title for this; the second and third chapters of this are finished, though computer time is a very real issue for me... Special thanks to the local Fox station and their weeks-ago report on Signature Crimes. ;)
Note to Mods: Uh... I have two tags. One with the underscore in my name and one without...
Chapter 1
Auror Tonks shifted her gaze around the living room of the well-lit house. The darkening cobalt blue of the sky in the still-early hours of nightfall shone through the back two windows contrasting well with the painted marigold walls. - It wasn’t a color she’d have ever picked, but she couldn’t deny that it gave the room a homey sort of feel. - Mixed equipment - muggle and wizard - took up much of what would have been open space for the Erikson family’s home. Aurors, MLE officials, and muggle detectives probed through everything in sight: the collection of still family portraits and photo albums, the dust and hair samples on and around the mantle, the scattered papers and sheets of music around the probably generations old piano. The center of the room was strangely empty, though that was to be expected.
Four white sheets covered the outlines of four lumpy figures; she, nor anyone else, needed to see how they had died. The unforgivable killing curse was unmistakable and had been used in the previous attacks. Four more dead… With this, the sixth attack, it brought the total to seventeen dead muggles, and they still had not so much as an inkling as to who was behind it or why.
Moving forward with grace and ease uncharacteristic for her during any other time besides work, she halted in the center of the room and knelt down to study the piece of polished black obsidian at her feet and followed the trail around. Fourteen of the carefully placed volcanic glass pieces made an open circle around the murdered Erickson family. They would disappear shortly like the others before had done. There had been fifteen around the Griffin’s, sixteen at the Moore’s… Nineteen surrounded Mr. Forester - the first victim in this string of muggle murders. A countdown, but to what?
Her dark gaze settled on the fireplace; had he entered from there, they would have had a chance at tracking him down. Unfortunately, s/he knew that and simply apparated into the houses to do the dirty work.
If they could just maybe have the eyes of the public helping them in this, they could possibly make some headway. At least people would be alerted to what was happening even if such knowledge would be useless to the potential victims. But the Ministry wasn’t letting any of this case leak out. For the life of her, Tonks couldn’t imagine why. These attacks had started before the controversially doubted return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and while she supposed that, if his return was indeed true, they could possibly be connected, she could not understand why the Minister of Magic would rather put people in ignorant risk instead of telling them the truth. Was his own political power that important to him?
Sighing, she passed a hand over her face; it had been a long day of questions with no answers.
“Why do you suppose he leaves them behind?” a deep voice from behind asked.
She knew his voice: Kingsley Shacklebolt, fellow Auror - was it pathetic if fellow Auror still made her stomach flip with glee and pride? - and friend. He’d taken a liking to her as soon as she’d joined the department at the Ministry last year and helped her become comfortable in her dangerous, difficult career. His advice and insight had been invaluable to her, and she knew he would continue to be of great help. She was extremely grateful to him, though with her way with words, Tonks was unsure if he really knew just how much she appreciated him.
She rose carefully from her crouched position, shaking her head. “He’s toying with us, like in the notes. - Has the one here been found yet?”
“No,” Kingsley answered. “They’re still looking. At the Griffin’s, too.”
“I know. I was there for a while today.”
“Yes, and at the Moore’s before; I know. That’s why I’m here.” He smiled kindly at her.
Probably for the first time all day, she grinned. “Oh? Here to drag me off shift, are you?” As if forgetting the stress and strain of unsolvable murder cases, she felt more like her normal, cheerful, spunky self. “Who sent you? Scrimgeour? He was getting all testy last week over my overtime pay…”
Kingsley laughed in his great, booming voice, drawing the attention of the soberly-minded investigators surrounding them. He looked around self-consciously and nodded towards the back door. “Let’s take this outside.” He gave another look around, and then carefully led the way out of the crime scene.
“I don’t recall agreeing to leave, you kno-“ Her voice caught as her foot became tangled in one of the electrical wires. Flailing, she reached out and grabbed hold of the back of Kingsley’s robes. He made a surprised choking sound and stopped in his tracks, for which Tonks was grateful because had he taken another step, she was positive that she’d have dragged them both down in what would have been a mortifying crash of jumbled expensive equipment.
She felt the eyes of those in the room on her again, and she fought back a bright blush. Righting herself and releasing Kingsley, she hurriedly tip-toed past him whispering a quick “Sorry!” as he massaged his neck where the collar had caught him. She pushed through the back door, and it slammed closed adding to her embarrassment. Leaning against the back wall beside the door, she sighed, agitated and pounded her head against it lightly.
In the long lines of her family history, no one on either of her parent’s sides had been as remotely clumsy as she was! But then, no one had ever been a Metamorphmagus, either. Perhaps clumsiness was the offset for having such a rare gift…
The back door opened, and Kingsley stepped through looking bemusedly at her, and she felt her face burn hotter.
“Merlin, Kingsley, I’m sorry!” she said bowing her head to look away. “I didn’t mean to-”
A low laugh rumbled out of him, and he hopped from the raised porch to stand beside her. “Do you ever mean to, Tonks?”
If he’d meant to make her feel better, he’d failed miserably.
Whether or not he noticed this, Tonks couldn’t tell. He placed a large, heavy hand on her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “I take it that you agreed just then.”
Confusion overtook her. “Agreed…?”
“To leave.”
Embarrassment ebbed away as she caught onto his teasing. She shrugged out of his embrace putting a bit of distance between them and spat her tongue out at him.
He laughed again and stepped away from the house. “You know, if you stayed as focused as you are while doing your Auror duties, I bet you’d break a lot less-”
“Shut up, Kingsley.” She said it tightly, but he knew she was teasing
Turning around, he was still grinning. “Come on. I have a sort of party tonight, and I’d like you to come with me.”
Tonks was taken aback. Kingsley inviting her to a party? They got along well, and she liked him to be sure, but they hadn’t started hanging out together. “A party?” she repeated.
“Sort of.” He spoke casually, but she caught something underlying in his expression. “Not really,” he said a little quieter. “I’ll buy you a drink.”
She understood that. During the past week and a half - since the disastrous and tragic end to the Triwizard Tournament - she and Kingsley had met erratically at a muggle pub not too far from the Ministry. Both had had questions about the current goings-on in the Ministry and the world at large - though Kingsley seemed to have more answers than she did. And he had been feeling her out for some reason. She had a feeling that he was a part of something, - something big - and she thought she was close to discovering what it was. Perhaps he would tell her tonight.
“Okay,” she said as casually as he had spoken. She grinned mischievously. “Last one to clock out buys!”
With a crack, she disapparated leaving behind the other Auror to sputter about unfair advantages.
------------
“It’s a get-together.”
“Who?” Tonks asked.
Seated in a shady corner away from most of the other rowdy patrons, they spoke quietly over untouched glasses of foamy muggle beer provided by Kingsley. He’d claimed to have let her win even though she’d cheated because he was a gentleman. He also pointed out that he doubted she was carrying any muggle money, - and he was right - so it hadn’t been a fair contest to begin with.
“Uh…” He searched for the right words. “A gathering of like minds.”
Tonks narrowed her eyes slightly in thought. “That doesn’t tell me much, King.”
“I know,” he said with a shrug of his great shoulders, and then shook his bald head.
“You can trust me,” she tried. She was at the very end of this mystery, and she just couldn’t let it slip through her fingers. Right now, she had to say all the right things, and up to this point, she’d only had to be true to herself and her misgivings about what was happening in the world. She hoped that would be enough. “You know you can.”
“I…I know, but…” He trailed off and was silent for a long stretch caught in deep thought.
Tonks crossed her toes since her fingers were visible and bit her lip in anticipation. When he still said nothing, she looked down to the bubbles popping atop the amber liquid in her glass. It smelled terrible, but she liked it. Strange how that worked out…
“All right, Tonks,” he said, and she immediately looked up to him. “I just- I need to know: do you really trust Dumbledore?”
Dumbledore had come up a lot during these meetings of theirs. It made her wonder just what she was getting into, especially with Fudge’s idea that the greatest wizard of their time wanted to take over. But then, Tonks had a feeling that if Dumbledore really wanted to take over, he wouldn’t really need to amass an army; he could probably take the entire Auror department single-handedly. As it was, the chances of Dumbledore wanting power for power’s sake were about as great as her chances were for becoming a tight-rope walker in one of those muggle circle things.
“I…” she began her answer carefully.
“The Ministry isn’t around to hear you,” he encouraged gently.
She nodded and realized in the back of her mind just how much fear the current Ministry of Magic was inciting. “I don’t want to believe that…that You-Know-Who is back. I’ve seen hardly any evidence for it. But I haven’t seen any evidence against it, either, and I don’t believe the Ministry’s hogwash that Cedric Diggory died in a freak accident that night. He wasn’t mauled or bruised or anything; I’m positive that it was the killing curse.” She met Kingsley’s eyes. “I really don’t want to believe it, but…. I just can’t believe that Dumbledore would lie about something like this.”
“You believe him, then?”
“I…” She hesitated. In her own mind, she hadn’t quite made a clear opinion. If she wasn’t working for the Ministry and constantly surrounded by its propaganda, she would trust Dumbledore without a second thought. The propaganda blurred the lines; it was believable - if one didn’t really know Dumbledore. As a student, Tonks had been sent to his office enough times to know him better than most of the other students... She felt a sudden surge of anger at herself. “I’m ashamed that I’ve let the Ministry and Prophet cloud my judgment at all,” she said looking away.
“Hey,” Kingsley called her attention, and she looked back to his kind face. “It’s tough in there. If it wasn’t believable, do you think the whole of Wizarding England would believe any of it? - And you didn’t really trust what they were saying.”
Tonks smiled feeling a little better. She would apologize to Dumbledore if she ever got the chance, though. - That gave her an idea. “Will he be there?” she wanted to know.
Kingsley made the slightest inclination of his head; it was barely noticeable.
“What is this?” she asked.
“I’ll tell you when we get there,” he said rising from his chair, and she followed.
“Where’s there?” They left their full glasses of beer on the table; Tonks had been too excited to drink anything at finally gaining Kingsley’s trust in this thing, whatever it was.
“You’ll see.”
She followed him out the back doors of the pub into a back alleyway.
“You’ll have to side-along, if you don’t mind,” he said looking both ways down the alley to ensure secrecy.
“You sure you trust me not to pull you down?” she teased.
She couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but she imagined his silent smirk. He extended his arm, and she grabbed hold of it tightly, and with a crack, she was pulled along with him.
The ground thudded her to a halt beneath her feet, and she stumbled slightly.
“All right?” he asked in light concern.
“I haven’t side-alonged since I was sixteen,” she mumbled shaking off the bit of dizziness she felt. She then looked around; they were in yet another alley. “Where are we?”
“Headquarters.”
“Headquarters? For what?”
He didn’t say anything. He reached into his muggle trousers pocket and pulled out a small slip of parchment which he handed to her.
Unfolding it, she read in the low light:
The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.
“Order of the-“ she whispered in surprise.
“Shh!!!”
She looked to him and bit her lip, realizing her mistake. “Sorry.” She looked around the alley way. “I still don’t see it.”
“It’s out there,” he said quietly with a jerk of his head. “Listen, there are some things I need to tell you first.”
“Like why you’re only just NOW telling me that-that you’re a member??!”
“I had to be sure I could trust you,” he whispered calmly. “That we all could trust you,” he corrected.
She shrugged in acceptance. “So… What do you need to tell me?”
“You’ll know more people than just Dumbledore and myself.”
“Good to know.”
“And… you know how I was suggesting…” He lowered his voice even further. “Your cousin’s innocence?”
Immediately, she felt cautionary walls build themselves inside her. What had she gotten herself into? Trust Dumbledore as she may, it was hard to accept that her renown Azkaban-escapee cousin was innocent. “Don’t tell me…”
“Yes, he’s here. He’s the reason we even have an HQ, so don’t go trying to arrest him.”
Kingsley’s position dawned on her, and she gaped, poking him hard in the chest. “You’re in charge of his investigation! - An-And all those clues…!” Her mouth fell open wider.
“I can’t lead them to an innocent man!” he argued back. “You’ll understand when you meet him.”
“Meet him?!” she whispered loudly.
“Yes!” He sighed and ran a head over the top of his smooth head. “I didn’t expect this…”
Fearing that she would lose her chance, she sucked up her misgivings. I trust Dumbledore. I trust Kingsley. She ran the thoughts through her mind and calmed herself.
“It’s all right,” she said after a moment. “You just… caught me off guard.”
“That’s not being constantly vigilant, Tonks,” Kingsley replied with a half wink.
Her eyes widened. “Mad-Eye, too?! I haven’t seen him since that lecture he gave in my second year of training! And he was just locked up in a trunk for nine months, wasn’t he?”
Kingsley nodded.
“Well, if Moody’s in there and Dumbledore, then I’ve nothing to fear from my cousin.” And with excitement welling up in her - the Order of the Phoenix! The stories everyone told…! - she marched past Kingsley into the street and waited for Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place to show itself.
“Wait! There’s one more thing!” he whispered loudly behind her and followed her up the steps to the door.
“I suspect there are certain wards and charms locking us out,” she said with an expectant look to him.
“Yes, there are,” he said, exasperation leaking through his voice. He met her eyes levelly. “Are you sure you’re okay with…this?”
She nodded soberly. “Yes. I really am.”
“All right.”
“Anything else?” she asked as he waved his wand to unlock the door.
“Ee-Yes…” he said slowly and looked to her quizzically. “How do you feel about werewolves?”
“Werewolves?” What could he possibly mean by that? She looked to the moon quickly - it wasn’t full. “Well, they’re dark creatures…”
“I meant when they’re not transformed.”
“I… I haven’t really thought about it.” She by no means believed they were lesser people like certain people in the Ministry said, nor did she agree with much of the legislation that had been passed. But she had also heard about the feral werewolves who shunned the regular wizarding world and were shunned from it. “I guess it depends.”
“On…?”
“On a lot of things.”
Just then, the door opened out of Kingsley’s grasp and a haunted-looking man with dark, black hair stood in the doorway. Tonks recognized him immediately.
“Sirius!” whispered another voice inside. Raspy and male. “You’re not supposed to answer the door!”
“It’s my house!” he retorted back in a whisper and ushered the two of them inside. Tonks did so, willing herself not to stare at or train her wand on the relation she only knew as a mass murderer. He closed the door behind them.
“Quiet, both of you!” Kinsley whispered. “Tonks, watch your-“
“Why are you whisp-“ Tonks felt her foot catch on something heavy and lumpy. In the dark, she couldn’t tell what it was, and before she could do anything to prevent it from happening…
CRASH!!
“BL---- H---!” she shrieked as she pitched forward. A strong arm wrapped around her waist from behind preventing her tumble. But nothing could prepare her for what happened next.
“FILTH! BLOOD TRAITORS! HALF BREEDS! SHAPE-SHIFTING FREAKS! MUTANTS!”
“New member, Kinsley?” the voice behind her rasped. She couldn’t see his face, but something about his voice made her insides squirm a bit. Someone lit a lamp in the hall, and the man released her.
“I forgot to tell her about Sirius’ Mum!” Kingsley yelled over the epithets. He moved to help Sirius - Sirius Black - close a pair of curtains from which the screams were emitting.
“Yes, I can tell,” the man who had saved her from certain bruised knees said. He gave her a wink and stooped to right what she’d tripped over: a troll-foot umbrella stand. He had brown, graying hair and a face that looked young, but worn. His clothes in the low light of the solitary lamp seemed thin and very used.
“ABOMINATION! BANE OF MY FLESH!! TRESSPASSING IN THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS! YOU ARE NO SON OF MINE!”
“Should have thought of that before you left this wretched, filthy house to me!” Sirius roared back, and with a great heave, he and Kingsley shut the curtains.
Silence had never been so golden and pressing at the same time.
Tonks looked between each of the three men, simultaneously morphing her face to hide her violent blush. She probably looked pained from the concentration.
The man who she didn’t know smiled kindly at her and nodded down the hall. “Let’s go downstairs,” he whispered.
She followed Sirius and Kingsley into an old, grimy kitchen. The other man fell in behind her.
“So,” Sirius said cheerily looking her up and down. She suddenly felt very nervous. “Who woke Mum?”
Both Sirius and the other man were waiting for an introduction. She looked to Kingsley for a moment, and then swallowed her fear and faced her cousin. “Tonks-“
“Nymphadora-“ Kingsley said at the same time.
“DON’T call me Nym-“ she began.
“Tonks,” Kingsley finished. “You don’t expect them to believe that’s your first name?”
She glowered at him.
“Tonks…” Sirius said thoughtfully, and she looked immediately to him, dreading. “Andromeda’s?” he asked with a raised bushy eyebrow.
She nodded sharply. “Yes.”
“Well,” he said cheerfully. “I finally meet my cousin. - Pointless since you already know, but I’m Sirius Black. The Order’s own cold-blooded mass-murderer.”
“He’s innocent,” the other man shot back playfully looking to Sirius. He turned back to Tonks. “I, however, am not.”
Merlin, what had she gotten herself into?! But there was a warmth to his brown eyes that held her transfixed...
“Remus Lupin,” he said in that kind, rasping voice. “I’m the Order’s resident werewolf.”
AN: Apologies for the curtailed plot in this and even less Remus than the OotP movie. (Which, btw, is the BEST Harry Potter movie ever!) There’ll be more of both in the next chapter. ;)