How Tonks Met Dung

Chapter one: The Order of the Phoenix

You are too clumsy to be an Auror! If you complete this mission, and bring back something from the Department of Mysteries as proof then we'll accept you, otherwise...

With the words of the Chief Auror echoing in her head, Nymphadora Tonks looked back with satisfaction over the past month. She had been examining the Unspeakables for several weeks and now knew which one she would copy in order to gain access to the mysterious place.

Walking into the lift, she pressed the number nine button. It began to sink slowly down, stopping at every floor. Level three... four... five... six... seven... eight, the Atrium. She saw the Unspeakable crossing to the fireplaces. Level nine, the lift stopped and Tonks left it. She screwed up her face until she had taken on the figure of the other woman, then headed along the dark gray corridor.

The door to the Department of Mysteries lay ahead of her and the steps to Courtroom ten led off to the side. Tonks shivered reflexively as she passed it, before drawing her wand. The door opened easily, and she stepped into a circular room. The door closed and the room began to spin. She closed her eyes, dizzy.

Eventually she opened them to see the room still again. She saw the dozens of doors and picked one at random. She tried to open it and to her surprise it did so easily. A large dark room shaped in a square, spread before her. It was shaped like an amphitheater, oddly enough, and in the middle was an archway hovering there.

Hung from the archway was a thin curtain, fluttering slightly despite the still conditions. Tonks immediately became suspicious, and keeping to the walls of the room she began to walk around, looking for someone.

Suddenly she heard a tapping footstep from the door she had just come through. Tap, pause, tap, pause, tap, pause. She raised her wand and pointed it at the door.

"Who's there?" she called loudly. The door opened but no one appeared.

"Who is it?" she asked again, on the alert and all her Auror senses heightened.

A voice growled back at her from across the room, as the door shut. "Who's there?"

"I'm asking you," she said angrily.

"You tell me first," said the oddly familiar voice.

"I work here," she said. "I had to collect something."

"Liar!" growled the voice with what seemed like pleasure. "I saw someone who looked just like you leave the Atrium via the network just a few minutes ago."

Tonks stepped sideways, and slipped on something next to her. Suddenly she began to slip, the stair seemed to come up towards her head, and suddenly she hit it with a bang. Everything went black.

*~*~*

Some time later she came to in a strange room with bare gray walls. She felt groggy, but could somehow still sense that someone was in the room.

"Who's there?" she demanded, as before.

"The person you tripped over," said a gruff voice apologetically.

"Are you always invisible?" asked Tonks curiously. "Or is it just specially for me?"

"Nah, I'm wearing an invisibility cloak," said the voice from near her.

"Wow!" said Tonks, impressed. "They're really expensive and rare! Where did you get it?"

"Nicked it," said the voice proudly. Tonks tried to frown disapprovingly but she couldn't help herself and burst out laughing.

"You nicked an invisibility cloak?" said Tonks in awe. "You must be mad!"

"You're not the only one to say that," said the voice. "I've gotta go for a moment, See you mate!"

"It'll be you doing the seeing, not me," said Tonks grinning. The door swung open, and then closed again. Tonks felt much better now, wide-awake. She sat up, noticing that she was still wearing the robes she had taken to look like the Unspeakable. Borrowed, not stolen, she reminded herself.

Soon the door opened again and a familiar face entered. He was frowning and his eye was weaving about of its own accord.

"Mad-Eye Moody!" exclaimed Tonks.

"Aye, that's me," said the ex-Auror grimly.

"Where am I?" asked Tonks.

"Later," said the stern old man. "First, I would like to know why you were in the department of Mysteries."

"The chief Auror told me to go, said it was a sort of initiation thing because I'm so clumsy, sir," she added respectfully.

"That doesn't make sense," said Moody thoughtfully. "When I was head Auror no one would do that. But then, with your talent for being a Metamorphmagus they should have set you something harder like spying on Death Eaters. In my day we were all doing that."

"Yeah," said Tonks. "But there's no point. You-Know-Who is gone!"

"You really believe that?" said Moody scornfully.

"Yeah," repeated the perplexed Auror.

"Well being locked into a trunk by one of his Death Eaters for nine months while he took Polyjuice to impersonate me has certainly helped," said Moody, smiling grimly.

"What!" said Tonks amazed. "Never!"

"Aye," said Moody.

"But then, what Dumbledore says is true, and You-Know-Who has returned?" said Tonks, working it all out.

"And," added Moody, "Sirius Black is innocent." Tonks just looked at him, registering what he had said.

"You what?" she said eventually. "No pun intended or anything but, the black sheep of the Black family is not a Death Eater? I mean, I thought he was a black sheep and changed my mind, but..."

Moody held up his hand. "Welcome to somewhere I can't tell you about yet. Hold on while I get something out my pocket."

Digging into his pocket he drew out a piece of paper and handed it to her.

"Twelve Grimmauld Place?" she said skeptically.

"Memorise it," said Moody gruffly. She did so, and then Moody burnt the Muggle paper to a cinder.

"Welcome to number twelve Grimmauld Place," said Moody. "Home of Sirius Black and several Weasleys, as well as Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix."

"What's the Order of the Phoenix?" asked Tonks.

"I'll let Dung tell you that," he said his magical eye turned behind him. He's waiting just outside."

*~*~*

Tonks found Dung to be a really interesting person. He told really funny stories about how he had obtained different items from his thieving. Even when he made a mistake it was impossible to be angry with him for long. Even Molly Weasley, who disapproved of his thieving habit, could never stay angry with him for long. Tonks would often pop round from her own house to Grimmauld Place, and not just for meetings either.

Tonks was also getting to know her cousin once removed quite well. He enjoyed pranking as well as she had done at Hogwarts, her Metamorphmagus talent helping her in a similar way to his animagus form.

Fred and George, the Weasley twins, were a great laugh. The tales they told of their adventures at Hogwarts avoiding Filch! One day, Sirius was listening in to their conversation.

"I used to be a bit of a prankster myself, of course," he said, grinning.

"Bet you weren't as good as the Marauders," said George, or was it Fred? A smile appeared on Sirius's face and he leant in close to talk to them. Ron and Hermione his girlfriend also leant in, with grins on their faces. Glancing at each other, Tonks and Dung joined in.

"Want to know a secret?" he whispered.

"What?" asked Fred and George at the same time. Ginny entered and peered over Tonks's shoulder, listening.

"I am Padfoot," he said. Then he, Ron, Hermione and Lupin who was standing by the door burst out laughing at the look of shock on the faces of the pair. Tonks grinned, and sat back in her chair.

"Who's Lupin?" asked Fred or George suddenly.

"Moony, stupid!" said the other twin. The first twin grabbed an unbreakable Butterbeer bottle from the table and began to bang it against his head.

"Bad Fred! Bad Fred!" he said, pretending to be a House-Elf.

Number Twelve Grimmauld Place was a mess. There were many Dark Arts items lying around, but the worst thing of all was the House-Elf. His name was Kreacher, and it suited him down to the bone. Kreacher crept around the house all day and night, insulting everyone audibly. Even though Tonks was supposed to be in his family he would not take orders from her.

Tonks got on very well with Ginny and Hermione, the two girls. Once they had discovered that she was a Metemorphmagus they encouraged her to make different noses on her face. Their favorite was the pig's nose, which if not careful could involve food and drink sprayed all over the small table.

However, as well as all the humor involved in the Order, there were serious matters as well. Harry Potter needed guarding, and they couldn't tell him anything. Tonks took her turn under Moody's cloak, and Dung, who had reluctantly given his up to Dumbledore, took his. There was also the matter of the weapon. The Ministry team no longer consisted of Dung, who would look too suspicious if he regularly visited the place. Instead, Kingsley Shacklebolt had joined them. He was a friendly man who wore a single gold earring in his left ear. Most usefully, he was directing the search for Sirius, and was able to make up all sorts of things about the man.

Tonks took the opportunity of her visits to get to know Dung better. At the start of her friendship he was constantly apologizing for tripping her up, and she was always getting very irritated. When he bothered to shave - which was not very often - he looked oddly attractive. Perhaps it was his hair, or maybe his accent, but whatever it was the young adult found herself falling in love.

Mundungus Fletcher was only five years older than the Auror, yet when he was seventeen he had joined the Order. Tonks could remember a boy when she was in her first year, very popular with the girls but not interested. He had been a Hufflepuff, and had many friends, yet even back then he had had a reputation for thieving and detentions. On the list of how many detentions each person hat for the last century he was fourth. Only the familiar names of James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew in that order preceded him, and Remus Lupin was just behind. Perhaps that was why he got on with Sirius so well.

Tonks was clumsy as ever. On her first day she slid from the top of the stairs to the bottom, a painful experience which made her glad that she was wearing trousers and that her wand was not in the back pocket of her jeans. If it had been, if Moody's warnings had not got to her, then bye bye wand! With enthusiasm she joined in with cleaning out the house, it was great fun.

*~*~*

Being an Auror, Tonks was also busy at the Ministry. However being a first year in the division had its benefits. Because Voldemort was staying quiet it meant that there was little to do. Kingsley often recruited her for 'missions' investigating reported sightings of Sirius in Britain. Of course, they had all proved false: Sirius was stuck in Grimmauld Place as a man and a dog, for they could not risk the possibility that Wormtail had told Voldemort of the animagus transformations.

Even though Tonks had such a busy life, with work and the order, as well as with entertaining the younger girls, she still found some time to be quiet. This was very useful as that way she could delay any clumsiness that was likely to happen in the future. The often pink-haired woman would sit in the kitchen with Lord of the Rings, enthralled by the hobbits and the rest of the Fellowship.

There was one thing she wanted more than anything else, and that was The Silmarillion. The Silmarillion detailed many things that had occurred in the world of Middle Earth without going into as much detail. It told of the history of the races of Men, Dwarfs and Elves and Tonks could not find it anywhere.

One day, she was sitting reading as usual when Dung entered with a pop. She glanced up and then looked back down at the pages, as the man dumped his bag on the table.

"S'up Tonksie?" he greeted as usual.

"Wotcher!" said Tonks, buried in the Mines of Moria (no pun intended). "Just reading," she said.

"Oh! Whatcha reading then?" he asked.

"Lord of the Rings," she said, her voice muffled by the book.

"Tolkien eh?" said Dung knowledgeable. "Just raided a bookshop you know. Got a few of his books."

"Have you got the Silmarillion by any chance?" she asked casually.

"'Course!" said Dung. "And it's all yours!" He reached into the bag and fished around. Soon he came out with a book that he handed to the blushing young woman. Dung grinned.

Suddenly, on an impulse, Tonks stood up and went over. She meat to give him a friendly kiss on the cheek, and she did, but then Dung put his arms around her, and gave her a whiskery kiss. This they did for a long time, until Mrs Weasley burst in.

"Out! Out! You can do that somewhere else! And take your rubbish with you! I won't have it in this house!" she added angrily. Embarrassed, the pair left. Tonks and Dung were now officially a couple, although they had only just realised it. They would often steal glances or a quick kiss if they could manage it. They knew that Ron and Hermione were doing the same, even if Mrs Weasley didn't.

*~*~*

One day, a few days after Harry Potter's birthday, it was Dung's turn to guard Harry. Dumbledore called an Order meeting, which was also minus Kingsley as he was at the Ministry using Dung's cloak. Tripping over a chair, Tonks settled into another around the kitchen table and they began to talk.

It was late at night, and they were just getting to the most important part of the meeting when Dung apparated with a 'pop'.

"Dementors!" he gasped out immediately, leaning against the nearest person, who happened to be Tonks.

"What?" exclaimed Arthur Weasley in shock. "Where?"

"In Little Whinging, they attacked Potter, he used the Patronus!"

"What have you done?" whispered Tonks, just as Arthur swore. "You were supposed to be guarding him from this sort of thing!"

Dung winced, as Arthur grabbed some parchment and a quill.

"Er, well, there was this stack of cauldrons, they fell off a broom see."

"Never fail to miss a business opportunity do you?" she hissed angrily into his ear.

"Well Mrs Figg, she's taking Harry back to the Dursleys."

"There's no way the Dursleys are gonna like Harry after this," she said as Arthur finished scribbling the owl and sent it off. "I've seen how they treat him at the moment, so have you. You stupid idiot!"

Even her irritation at Dung's mishap couldn't take away her love for him. However it did reduce the trust she had in him for the moment.

"You are going to have to redeem yourself in some way Mundungus Fletcher," she said into his ear. Then she noticed that in all the confusion Dumbledore had left, and now her cousin was writing a quick owl to Harry. She and Dung sank into kitchen chairs, she had her head in her hands and he looked very sorry. He had the puppy-dog look in his eyes again, the one he had used when she had just gotten to know him, after the trip-up. She gave in, and kissed him forgivingly on the cheek.