Phoenix and Fascination

Chapter 3: A Dementor Disaster

On Monday, August 2, Tonks stayed late at work, trying to overhear conversations between Scrimgeour and other high ranking Ministry officials. For all her trouble, she was only able to glean a few interesting tidbits from several hours of eavesdropping, and headed for home disappointed.

It was already dark out when she reached her flat. The place was a bit of a mess. She felt sorely tempted to turn right around and head over to Grimmauld Place, but she was there every night last week, and really ought to do some housework at her own place for a change. With a sigh, she started gathering scattered clothes into a laundry basket.

Suddenly, with a burst of light, a large glowing white wolf loped into her front room. It was Remus' patronus--there must be something important happening!

Remus' disembodied voice--sounding hollow and far away--issued from the Patronus. "Emergency meeting in one hour. There's been some trouble with Harry. Decisions must be made." As the voice, and the patronus, faded to leave Tonks once more alone she dropped the laundry with an excited smile and headed for the door--who needs to wait an hour?

Tonks had always wondered why Remus' patronus took the shape of a wolf. He didn't seem very wolf-like to her. More of a cat, or an owl. With this thought spinning in her head, she headed back out her door.

Within minutes she was walking into Grimmauld Place. She headed straight for the kitchen, where all the meetings took place, and found it already buzzing with excitement. Sirius, Remus, Bill, Arthur, and Alastor Moody were all gathered around the table, caught up in conversation. Most of them just gave her a nod when she walked in, and then continued with their own conversations, but Remus strode forward to greet her.

"Good to see you, Nymphadora," he said, forgetting his promise to only use her name in private. "Let me bring you up to date on the situation."

"Do," she answered eagerly.

With a grave look on his face, he said, "Earlier this evening, Harry Potter and his Muggle cousin were attacked by Dementors."

"No!" exclaimed Tonks, a hand flying to her mouth. "Are they ...?"

"They're fine," said Remus, with a dark expression on his face. "No thanks to Mundugus. It was his guard shift, and he abandoned his post early!"

"That irresponsible little slug!" cried Tonks. "That good for nothing ..."

"Dung will get what's coming to him," said Sirius grimly, breaking into their conversation. "I'll see to that."

"So how did Harry get away?" she asked.

"Harry had his wand on him, and was able to produce a Patronus to drive the Dementors away," said Remus.

"At his age?" asked Tonks. "I thought that was Newt-level magic!"

"He's a gifted boy," said Sirius proudly. "And he had a good teacher," he added, looking at Remus.

"You taught him how to conjure a Patronus?" Tonks asked him.

Remus nodded. "I was his teacher the year the Dementors were set to guarding the school from our friend here," he nodded at Sirius. "Harry suffered more from the effects of the Dementors than most of his classmates, so I gave him some private instruction on how to protect himself."

"And thank god you did," said Sirius. "His Patronus saved my life that year--and it saved his today."

"But unfortunately, the Ministry doesn't see it that way," said Remus angrily.

"What?" exclaimed Tonks.

"The Improper Use of Magic Office wants to expel him," growled Sirius.

"But it was a clear case of self-defense!" said Tonks.

"That might be difficult to prove, when the only witnesses were a Muggle boy and a Squibb," said Remus. "Arabella Figg was there," he added in explanation.

"Dumbledore has been in meetings at the Ministry all evening trying to sort things out--but the best he's managed is to talk them into holding a hearing to review Harry's case, before formalizing the expulsion," said Sirius.

"They can't expel him for defending himself," Tonks declared. "That would be despicable!"

"It's time you learned, Nymphadora," said Remus with quiet intensity, "that the Ministry is capable of a great many despicable things."

Tonks was slightly shocked by the strength of his anti-Ministry sentiment, and felt certain that there was more to it than anger over the recent Ministry smear campaign against Dumbeldore and Potter. But before she could ask him more, several more Order members arrived, and they all had to restart the conversation to fill in the new arrivals. A few minutes later, Mundungus Fletcher arrived. Sirius glared at him with a ferocious intensity, and snarled, "Mundungus! What the bloody hell do you think you were doing?"

Mundungus cowered, and started to stammer. "C-calm down Sirius," he said as Sirius strode threateningly toward him. "I didn't mean for the boy to get hurt! How was I to know that dementors would be prowling the neighborhood right when the boy decided to go for a stroll?"

Sirius snarled again, and clenched his fists. "That's why we are supposed to have a guard on him day and night, you idiot! Day and night! Not whenever you aren't busy with something else!" Sirius raised his fist as if to strike, but Remus restrained him.

"Let Dumbldore deal with him, Sirius," said Remus, holding his friend at bay. "He'll want to see to this himself."

"Yes I will," thundered a voice from the stairwell, and Dumbledore strode into the room with an angry fire burning in his eyes; Tonks had never seen Dumbledore looking so terrifying before, and she'd always found him rather intimidating. "How dare you leave Potter undefended? How dare you leave your post, in spite of all the warnings and admonitions I have given night after night?" Dumbledore spoke with an uncharacteristically harsh tone.

Mundungus trembled. "I'm sorry, sir. I'm so sorry! I'll never do it again!"

"You most certainly will not," said Dumbledore sternly. "Others will be assigned to fill your shifts for the rest of the week. And by the end of the week, we will remove Harry from that neighborhood and bring him here. Apparently, even Little Whinging is no longer safe."

All the members of the Order stood in stunned silence at the news. Originally, the plan had been to leave Harry with his Aunt until a week before the start of the school year. But Dementors in the neighborhood was the best reason Tonks had ever heard for a change of plans.

"Excuse me, Professor," said a nervous voice from the hall.

Dumbledore turned, and they all saw Hermione and Ron standing in the open doorway. "Yes, Miss Granger?" said Dumbledore gently.

Hermione spoke hesitantly. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we've just had an owl from Harry. She had notes for Ron and me, and for Sirius." She held out a scrap of parchment in her trembling hand.

"Give it here!" said Sirius, striding forward to snatch the parchment from her hand.

"They're all three the same," said Hermione as Sirius read the short note.

Dumbledore smiled. "Thank you, Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley. You may return to your rooms now."

The two teenagers nodded, and headed back up the stairs. With a flick of his wand, Dumbledore closed the door, then turned to Sirius. "What does he say?"

Sirius looked frustrated. "He says: I've just been attacked by Dementors and I might be expelled from Hogwarts. I want to know what's going on and when I'm going to get out of here."

"That's all?" asked Dumbledore.

Sirius nodded. "That's all. I need to write him, before he does something rash."

Dumbledore sighed, and shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Sirius. Word of tonight's events have doubtless reached Voldemort by now. Any owls we send at this point are at risk of interception. If the Death Eaters were to learn of our plans to remove Harry from his Aunt's house this week, we would be in serious danger of attack. We cannot afford to court disaster by sending further owls."

"Harry's not going to like that," growled Sirius.

"Harry has his orders not to leave the house," said Dumbledore firmly, "and I am confident that he will obey them." He turned to look at the rest of the Order. "We will need to strengthen the protections on this house, and devise a safe and secret method of removing him from his Aunt's home. Remus, Alastor--I am putting you in charge of these projects." The two men nodded in acknowledgment of their tasks. Dumbledore continued, "I will continue to investigate the Dementor attack, and will begin to prepare the defense for Harry's hearing at the Ministry. I expect all of you to return here tomorrow night at six-o'clock to receive your instructions from Remus and Alastor. In the meantime, I suggest all of you return home and get some sleep. Nothing more will be resolved tonight."

Everyone filed out of the room, chatting about what was happening, and Tonks noticed Dumbledore speaking with Remus and Alastor, presumably about what he wanted them to accomplish in the next day or two. Personally, Tonks agreed with Sirius--someone really ought to get in touch with Harry right away. She knew that if she were him, she would be going crazy right about now wondering what was going on. But Dumbledore's word was law around here, so Harry would just have to wait.

Tonks was on the edge of her seat all day the next day work. She wanted nothing more than to get back to Grimmauld Place, find out the plan, and get things going. But her nervous energy did nothing to make the day go faster, and only resulted in three overturned coffee cups, a stack of reports knocked to the ground, and a door slammed on a colleague's hand. As soon as she got out of work, she raced right over to Grimmauld Place.

"Hello, Tonks!" whispered Molly brightly when Tonks walked in--she appeared to be carrying a pile of cleaning supplies upstairs--undoubtedly to distract the youngsters during the meeting by putting them to work. "Remus and the others are downstairs," Molly whispered again.

Tonks gave her a friendly nod, and headed downstairs. Remus, Sirius, and Moody were sitting around the table finishing up their dinner. They all looked very tired. "Come on down, Nymphadora--have some sausages," said Sirius.

"If you call me Nymphadora again you might get one of those sausages stuck up your arse," she responded as she took a seat at the table, and started filling an empty plate. She was glad to see Remus grin and snicker at her comment, and she was also glad to get some of Molly's cooking--she forgot to get dinner on the way there.

"So how are your grand plans going?" she asked.

"We're working things out," grunted Moody, his magical eye spinning wildly in its socket.

"We were up half the night working out the logistics," said Sirius. "We'll fill you in when the meeting starts--we're too tired to repeat ourselves twice. No offense."

"None taken," she said, and then turned to her food. She was much hungrier than she'd realized.

After a moment, Remus said, "Nice hair today, Tonks."

She graced him with a girlish smile. "Why thank you, Remus," she said. Today she was wearing her hair long and red, pulled back into a thick braid falling halfway down her back. "I decided that when in Grimmauld Place, I ought to do as the Weasleys do." Remus and Sirius both laughed. Moody just grunted.

"Harry's not going to be very happy about this delay in answering his letter, will he?" asked Tonks, rhetorically, in between bites.

"Not at all," said Sirius shaking his head. "I wish I could go get him myself--today! But instead I'm shut up in this miserable old house, doing the work of a house elf." Sirius sounded particularly bitter. He'd already been complaining about his confinement in his childhood home for weeks.

"He'll be here soon, Sirius. I promise you that," said Remus to his old friend.

Sirius nodded, but said nothing.

Tonks helped Sirius clear away the dinner dishes, and managed not to break a single thing. Soon after, the other members of the Order arrived, and they got to work.

Moody began outlining the plans for updating the security on Grimmauld Place. "It's already unplottable," he said, "and protected by the Fidelius Charm, but I feel that even more caution is called for. We need to place Imperturbable Charms on every entrance and every window, and place a shield charm over the entire house."

"A house-size shield is quite a difficult thing to manage, Alastor," said Dedelus Diggle.

"Then we'd best get started right away," huffed Moody.

"But first," said Remus, "let me outline our plan for Harry's removal from Little Whinging. He is quite a good flyer, so we believe that our best option for the journey is to travel on broomstick." Several heads nodded in agreement, and Remus continued, "We'll need several volunteers for the journey." More than half of the members of the Order immediately raised their hands, including Tonks. "What do you think, Alastor?" asked Remus, surveying his plethora of volunteers.

Moody gave a sharp nod. "The more the better, I say! Safety in numbers!"

"Very well," said Remus. "You can all come. Alastor--I trust you can plan out our route, and devise the best flight patterns for defensive purposes?"

Moody gave another sharp nod. "I'll have it ready."

Remus nodded back, and continued. "Then only one question remains: how shall we lure the Dursley family out of their home, to leave Harry alone for his retrieval? We can't very well have them there when nearly a dozen wizards burst into their home, can we?"

"Perhaps we could use one of those Muggle tellyfones to tell them a relative is sick, and needs to see them at hospital?" suggested Hestia Jones.

"Or we could put a sleeping spell on them," grumbled Moody.

Remus didn't look very happy with the suggestions. Suddenly, Tonks had a brilliant idea. "I know!" she exclaimed. "We'll send them notice that they've won a contest!"

Remus cocked an eyebrow, and asked, "How will that get them out of the house?"

"I have Muggle grandparents, y'know," she said, "and I used to spend part of every summer in their suburban neighborhood. These sorts of fussy Muggles go wild for things like contests--especially if it will give them more status in the neighborhood. So send them notice that they've won a contest, and that they are invited to an award-giving ceremony. Tell them their picture will be in the paper, and it's a sure thing."

"I think you might be on to something here, Nymphadora," said Remus. She was so glad that he liked her idea that she refrained from correcting his public use of her name.

"But how can we say they've won a contest, if they've haven't entered any?" asked Kingsley Shacklebolt. "Will we have to do some memory modification?"

Tonks shook her head. "We can just say its some sort of contest that someone else would have nominated them for--perhaps we can say that ... oh, that they've been short-listed for the All-England Best-Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They'll have to go to the prize-giving ceremony to find out if they've won. That's the sort of thing those Muggles go mad for."

"I think that just might work," said Remus. "Do you know how to use Muggle post?"

"Of course I do," she replied. "How else would I write to my grandparents?"

"How soon could we get them out of the house?"

"If I make sure they get the notice tomorrow, we could set the date of the prize-giving as early as Thursday."

"Excellent," said Remus. "That will give us plenty of time to have all the new security in place here at headquarters. Go ahead and get them that notice tomorrow then." She nodded happily in reply, and Remus turned to Moody, and said, "Alastor--you need to have all the details of the flight worked out by Thursday evening, all right?"

"No problem," said Alastor, then continued, "Now that all that nonsense is sorted out, let's get to work on this shield--its not going to erect itself you know."

They spent the rest of the evening working on the whole-house shield. It took the combined effort of every member to get it working properly. Finally, around midnight, they took their leave of each other, and headed home.

Tonks made a detour into Little Whinging on her way to work the next morning, and slipped her carefully crafted award-ceremony invitation through the mail slot of the Dursley's door. She looked up at the stuffy little Muggle home, and sighed in regret. She wished she could whisk Harry Potter away that instant--she was sure he would be happier for it. But Moody would have her hide. And she couldn't bear the thought of having Remus disappointed in her. So instead, she apparated back to London to face another dreary day of paperwork at the Ministry.

That evening, back at Grimmauld Place, she helped finish up the last of the Imperturbable Charms, and then stayed around with the rest of the Harry Potter retrieval squad to go over the plans. Moody drilled them for nearly two hours before Remus finally broke it up.

"I think everyone knows what they need to do Alastor, and we would be better served by having everyone get a good night's sleep tonight, so that they can be rested and alert tomorrow night," he said.

Moody grunted in assent. Remus continued, "All right then. Good work tonight, everyone. Let's all get plenty of rest, and be here, ready with your brooms, at eight o'clock tomorrow night."

With that the meeting broke up. Tonks had noticed Sirius looking restless all night, so she went over to talk to him. "You're looking a bit off today, Sirius. What's troubling you?"

Sirius shook his head. "He's my godson. I should be the one to go get him."

"You know you can't," she replied. "Not as long as the Ministry thinks you're more of a threat than You-Know-Who."

"I know that perfectly well, Tonks. Thank you so much for your concern--its making me feel much better," he said, dripping with sarcasm.

Tonks huffed, and folded her arms across her chest. "You'd best get used to feeling like this Sirius--there'll be no help for it until your name is cleared. And your name probably won't be cleared unless Peter Pettigrew comes marching into the Ministry declaring his guilt, which is not bloody likely. I wouldn't like being shut up here any more than you do--but at least you're safe. You'll be here for Harry when he gets here; that's what's most important, isn't it?"

Sirius scowled. "That's what I keep trying to tell myself."

"The Ministry will come around eventually, Sirius," she said. "It's just a matter of time."

Sirius shook his head. "But how many people will have to die before they do? Crouch and Cedric Diggory clearly weren't enough. Do they need another mass Muggle-killing before they open their eyes and see what's really going on here?"

"I don't know," she said. "But things can't go on like this forever. Eventually, You-Know-Who will make his move. But until then, we've just got to be patient, and do what we can. And what you can do, is to help cheer up that poor boy who probably thinks all of his friends have abandoned him."

Sirius nodded, but she could tell she hadn't fully convinced him. The rest of the Order had left, and Molly walked over to join them. "You ought to get home and get some rest, Tonks," she said. "You've got a big night tomorrow--and I'm counting on you to keep Harry safe for me."

"I will, Molly," answered Tonks. "I'll keep him safe for all of us." She bid goodnight to Molly and Sirius, and then headed for the exit. She passed Remus on the stairwell.

"Goodnight, Nymphadora," he said with a weary smile.

"Goodnight, Remus," she said, continuing up the stairs. Then she paused, and called back, "And Remus ..." he paused to look up at her. "You make sure that you get a good night's sleep as well. You're looking a bit a haggard. We wouldn't want to scare Harry, now would we?"

He laughed lightly. "I'll get right to bed, then."

"You do that. G'night," she said, and headed home.