World's Smallest Violin

Chapter 5: Change

Nearly a week later, things were still running smoothly for Nymphadora Tonks. She had returned home twice to tutor Malfoy and was actually seeing some improvement. On her most recent visit, Malfoy even passed the salt to her father at dinner, which was certainly progress. Meanwhile, Tonks had finally found a system which allowed her to meet all her commitments to both the Aurors and the Order of the Phoenix and still occasionally get a good night's sleep. The only downside was that she frequently caught herself with blazing orange hair; it seemed that her Metamorphmagus abilities were beginning to develop a mind of their own.

Now Tonks was back in Professor McGonagall's sitting room, waiting for the next meeting of the Order of the Phoenix to start and deeply regretting that she had arrived so early. It was the first meeting of the Order since her run-in with the Dementors and nearly everyone there seemed to be taking the opportunity to praise, congratulate, or thank her, particularly a very grateful Hestia Jones. Tonks had been excited and gratified by this turn of events for all of about five minutes, after which it wore off very quickly indeed. She dearly wished that everyone would leave her alone for long enough for her to think up an excuse that would allow her to escape and was also becoming very uncomfortably aware that every single person in that room could be relied upon to do the exact same thing if presented with the same situation, and most of them could have handled it better. It was really only bad luck that had given her patrol duty that night.

All told, Tonks was very grateful when Dumbledore finally called the meeting to order and made no further mention of her alleged heroics from a week earlier except to remind those present that her Patronus had changed form from a bear to a werewolf. Tonks was rewarded for her patience, for what followed was the conclusion of the previous meeting, which she had interrupted, then, finally, the discussion of tactics and strategy she had been hoping for. She watched with rapt attention bordering on awe as Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mad-Eye Moody stood up to describe the tactics and fighting styles they had observed during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. They also called upon Lupin and Tonks to describe their own parts in the fight. Tonks was certain that her hero image suffered from her account of her short duel against Bellatrix Lestrange and was much happier for it. The feeling only lasted a few minutes, however, because shortly thereafter Lupin reached the point in the story where Sirius fell through the veil.

Dumbledore tried to continue, but he must have sensed that no one was in the mood for discussing strategy after that because, far earlier than usual, he ended the meeting with the words, "Thank you everyone for your attention. I believe we have Molly Weasley to thank for the wonderful aroma that is currently distracting us. Miss Tonks, a moment of your time, if you please."

Now that she was aware of it, Tonks wanted very much to investigate the kitchen with the rest, but she was even more curious about what Dumbledore wanted to say to her. Lupin joined Professor Dumbledore as she approached. This was a pre-arranged meeting, then.

"Miss Tonks, we have need of your particular talents," Dumbledore began, leading them into a quiet corner.

"Go on," Tonks replied, but her mind was already steps ahead. He could only be referring to her Metamorphmagus abilities, meaning that they needed someone to assume a disguise without using Polyjuice potion or transfiguration, and Lupin's presence probably meant that werewolves were involved.

"There is a werewolf in Fenrir Greyback's pack who wishes to defect," Dumbledore explained. "We need someone to take her place while we usher to safety. She is a close companion of Greyback's, you see, and her absence will not go unnoticed for long."

"Um, when you say 'companion,'" Tonks interrupted.

"Nothing untoward, of course," Dumbledore assured her quickly. "I refer to her position as confidante and advisor." Relieved, Tonks nodded and waited for him to continue. "All told, I anticipate that we will need at least twelve hours to transport her to a safe location. She has agreed to provide us with information in exchange."

Tonks' brown crinkled. Twelve hours was an awfully long time for a fully qualified witch to travel anywhere, and with all the speed of her Auror training, Tonks was beginning to work out why it was necessary.

"Does Polyjuice potion work to make someone look like a werewolf?"

Nearby, Lupin twitched restlessly but remained silent.

"Yes," Dumbledore replied. "But only in that person's human form."

"When are you planning for all this to take place?" Tonks pressed.

"In approximately two weeks' time," Dumbledore said.

Tonks suspected that she did not really need to ask the next question. "When is the next full moon?"

"I can see that you have already deduced some of our plan," Dumbledore said. "Our notion is that the pack will be much less likely to notice their defector's absence while in wolf form, and even if they do they will be incapable of mounting an effective response. Of course, she will also be unable to escape while in wolf form, hence the need for the switch."

"Then I'll need to be able to appear as a werewolf too," Tonks inferred.

"Or a careful subterfuge," Dumbledore confirmed. "You must convince the pack that the defector is still among them until the point when they transform. Once that has been accomplished you will be able to escape at your leisure."

"This is starting to sound like a complicated plan," Tonks pointed out. There was also the fact that she could not think of a single leisurely thing about the idea of escaping from a pack of bloodthirsty werewolves. "I'm not sure if I can appear as a werewolf, I've never tried it before."

"This is too dangerous, Professor," Lupin finally chimed in, and Tonks was grateful that he said so. The very real possibility of being bitten in the course of events was weighing heavily on her mind, but as an Auror it was not in her DNA to complain about such things.

However, Dumbledore and Lupin soon fell into a discussion on the subject that, from the sound if it, they had already had several times before. Tonks finally put an end to it by asking, "This information she has, will it help?"

Lupin took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"We believe so," Dumbledore replied.

"Then I'll do it," Tonks said.

Dumbledore looked greatly cheered. "In that case," he said, "Remus has agreed to assist you in your preparations, and I am at your disposal as well. But for right now, if you'll excuse me, I simply must find out what that delightful smell is."

"So who is she?" Tonks asked when Dumbledore had left, turning to Lupin.

"Her name is Rachel Munroe," Lupin replied, pulling a photograph from his pocket.

Tonks stared. "I know her," she breathed. "We were at Hogwarts together. She's a good person, or she was. We worked together in Charms sometimes. I had no idea."

"If you're too close to this..." Lupin began.

"Are you kidding?" Tonks replied, snatching the picture out of his hand and striding off in the direction of the nearest mirror, which happened to be in the bathroom in the front hall. Boldly, Lupin followed her inside. "There's nothing that can stop me now," Tonks informed him as she set to work on her nose.

"I'll be there with you," Lupin said after watching for a moment.

Tonks gave him a mismatched look, with a nose and one eye that belonged to Rachel. They both knew that at the moment when it really counted, he would simply be unable to do anything to help.

"I'll take Wolfsbane," Lupin continued.

"What will the rest of the pack thing about that?" Tonks pointed out.

"Let me worry about it," Lupin said.

"Don't take any foolish risks on my account," Tonks replied, turning her attention to her hands.

"Why not?" Lupin said, "You've taken a few on mine."

"Who's counting," Tonks shrugged. "How tall is Rachel without shoes? There's no reference in this picture."

Lupin through for a moment then held his hand up to about the level of his nose. Tonks took a breath and increased the length of her legs by a few inches, then the length of her arms to maintain proportion. Lupin was watching, so she tried to mask the pain of it, but changing the length of the bones of her arms and legs was a different matter from modifying skin and muscle and making subtle changes to the bone structure in her face. She was not much looking forward to enacting a werewolf transformation for that very reason. Besides, getting used to using longer limbs was a tricky matter that made a large contribution to her reputation for clumsiness.

Tonks was taking her usual approach to getting used to different limbs, rocking around on her feet, balancing on one leg, touching her knees, hips, elbows, and shoulders with her eyes open and closed, when Lupin apparently realized that they were standing in the confined space of a bathroom in Professor McGonagall's house and broke the silence.

"I like your hair."

This was an odd thing to say, given that Tonks had already changed her hair so that it exactly matched Rachel's in the picture, and it was extremely tangled and tousled to boot, a fact Lupin quickly realized.

"I mean the way you had it earlier, with the orange color. It reminded me of the sun, actually. I could always tell when you were in the room because you lit up the place."

Tonks had to think about this for a moment before she realized that Lupin was making a joke, not a very good one, perhaps, but all the funnier because it came from such an unexpected source. She could not help but laugh.

"My hair wasn't actually glowing, was it?" Tonks asked.

"No," Lupin replied, smiling along with her. "It was just orange, it made you look happy."

"Well, the sun's yellow," Tonks pointed out, her laughter dying away.

Lupin did not respond. He was giving her a strangle look in the mirror, one she did not recognize until she realized that this might be the first time he had ever seen Rachel smile. For a moment, she wondered who he was looking at. Tonks turned away from the mirror, cleared her throat, and tried a few experimental noises.

"This is Rachel's voice as I remember it from Hogwarts," she said at last. "Am I close?"

"That's eerie," Lupin replied.

"I can learn her movements from this picture," Tonks said. "It's the werewolf form that I'm really worried about. Do you have any pictures of her when she's trans-" Far too late, Tonks realized that she had really stuck her foot in it. Of course Lupin would not be able to take a picture of Rachel in werewolf form, and it was far too dangerous for anyone else to take a picture for him. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Unfortunately, I'm not much of an artist," Lupin replied. "I'll have to describe her to you. Shall we meet three nights from now? The pack tends to get suspicious if I'm gone for too many days in a row. I'll speak to Dumbledore about using a classroom at Hogwarts."

"Fine by me," Tonks replied, taking careful stock of the changes she had made to her appearance then reverting to her usual self, orange hair and all.

"Perhaps we should leave one at a time," Lupin suggested, his attention on his feet.

"What?" Tonks exclaimed. "Grow up. Everyone's probably left by now, anyway."

Without waiting for a counterargument, Tonks charged out, dragging Lupin along with her. At least half the Order was milling around nearby. It seemed that they had hung back to be regaled by one of Mad-Eye's many stories, but now all eyes turned to Lupin and Tonks. With nothing else for it, Tonks decided that she might as well have a bit of fun by adding some confusion to the situation, so she slugged Lupin on the shoulder, hard, and then strode out the front door. As the door closed behind her Lupin stammered, "That wasn't what it looked like." She thought that she also heard some scattered applause.