A Long Memoried Woman

A Long-Memoried Woman - Chapter two.

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"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

"Shut up!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Oh my God. Oh my God. I had three strange men in my room, it was the middle of the night, and I couldn't move. Oh my God!

"Is she okay?" Was I okay?! Was I OK?! What kind of stupid moron would ask that?

I could feel my breathing getting faster and faster. I tried to calm down, get myself under control. I could do this. I was an Auror. We were trained to do this. But training had never covered what to do in the middle of the night when you couldn't move to grab your wand and there were three strange men in your room!

"I think she's panicking." No. Never. I was panicking? Because, of course, that would be a really weird thing to do when you woke up to discover you had three men in your room!

But that voice, slow and deep was far too familiar. Oh my God. I had Kingsley Shacklebolt and two of his Death Eaterish friends in my room! One of them could even be Sirius Black!

"Tonks, we don't want to hurt you." One of the dark silhouettes leaned closer, stepping around the edge of my bed to come towards me. Oh my God. "Look, don't do anything okay? We just want to talk to you, and we'd like to ask you some questions, so I'm going to take the spell off now, okay? We aren't going to hurt you." He spoke soothingly, as if I was some scared little kid who was about to run away screaming which, admittedly, I felt like doing.

"Finite Incantatum!" Quicker than I think I've ever moved before in my life, I rolled across the bed, grabbed my wand off my bedside table and stuck it out in front of me, landing standing on the floor and only slightly banging my knee in the process. Tonks, Auror Extraordinaire!

"You are aware you're outnumbered three to one?" Kingsley spoke again, his voice dry and slightly scathing. And yes, he had a point, but what was I supposed to do, just give up?

"Who are you?" My voice trembled as I spoke, but my hand was steady. Good. I could do this. I could be calm, cool and collected. No problem.

My question was ignored by all three of them. "Tonks, we just want to talk to you." The gentle sounding-man spoke again, his voice still soothing and calm.

The man who had spoken first, to ask if I was okay, spoke again. "Don't worry, Tonks. We don't want to hurt you." Just terrify me to death. But no, shouldn't think like that, because what if there was a dark spell to terrify me to death, like a Boggart spell, except stronger than a Boggart, and they were about to use it?

I took deep breaths, trying to calm down again, ease my panic. Panicking was not going to help me. Either I was going to die, or I wasn't. And panicking wasn't going to help, because if I was going to die, then I at least wanted to give them a few problems first!

Slowly, to my relief, my eyes adjusted to the dark, and I could make out Kingsley's bald scalp and earring. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, even when You-Know-Who was at his most powerful, were there any Death Eater Aurors?

"Kingsley? Kingsley Shacklebolt?"

"Do you know why we're here, Tonks?"

"Because you're Death Eaters and I saw your secret note?"

What I was not expecting was laughter. "No, Tonks. We're not Death Eaters. We're, well, the opposite."

"I thought Aurors were the opposite." And he was an Auror, so technically he was, but...

"Not quite, Tonks. Not quite." He still sounded amused, but was getting more serious again. Was that good or bad?

"Have you ever heard of the Order of the Phoenix?" The gentle man spoke again.

"Remus!" The other two spoke at the same time.

"Now she's slept, it'll be much more difficult to erase her memories. We'd probably damaged her mind permanently. You know the risks. And besides, remember what Du...he said before we left."

"You are not erasing my memory!" Though I didn't suppose I could really stop them if they were determined to.

"You can't tell her...."

"Dumbledore said...." Dumbledore? That was good, right? Dumbledore was on the side of light and all that, wasn't he? But then I thought about the Daily Prophet and all that had been happening. What if he wasn't?

"I know, what Dumbledore said, but Remus, she's useless! She can't enter a room without falling over!"

Ouch. That hurt. Mainly because I knew it was partly true, but only partly! Very definitely only partly. I could be very graceful, at times. Like when I got my wand just now. A really clumsy person would have rolled straight off the bed. And I was brilliant at some things - disguises, for one, and I wasn't bad at duelling! And why did I care what he thought?

But I did, and I was so glad it was dark and they couldn't see me blush.

"Kingsley, she's an Auror. She passed the tests, got through the training. That alone means she's not useless. And we are not wiping her memory." The nice one's, Remus's, voice was firm as he spoke, and I felt a wave of goodwill towards him for defending me. He turned back to me. "Tonks, the Order of the Phoenix was created during the first war. It was formed to fight Voldemort. And now you need to come with us."

"What?!" Okay, that I didn't like.

"We need to tell you more, but we can't tell you here. We need you to comeback to headquarters with us."

"But I can't!"

"Why not?" He was starting to sound slightly impatient.

I blushed again, and was again glad they couldn't see it. "Because I'm only wearing my pyjamas."

"Oh. Well, get changed, and then come with us." He stood back, as if expecting me to jump up and start stripping.

"Not in front of you!"

Now he definitely did look impatient, but also a little embarrassed. I think that Kingsley was rolling his eyes, but would he get undressed in front of me? I think not.

The other man, the quiet one who'd only spoken twice so far, spoke up for a third time with, "We'll go outside then, and...."

"No!" I was really starting to dislike Kingsley. "What if she Apparates away?"

"Take my wand." Stupid, maybe, but I was not undressing in front of three men. What would my mother say?

"You would rather give up your wand than undress in front of us?" Kingsley obviously shared the opinion that this was a slightly stupid thing to do.

I stuck my nose in the air. "You should feel glad I trust you." And they should've, as well. It's not like they deserved my trust. What had they ever done to earn it?

Remus, who still seemed to think I was a nervy five year old, shot a look at Kingsley. A 'shut-up-you're-not-helping-look.' Which was all very well, but I was capable of making my own decisions without paying attention to sarcastic comments. Like when I told my roommates I was going to become an Auror, and they all started laughing.....

I held my wand out to Remus, who took it cautiously. I mean, honestly, what was I going to do, booby trap my own wand?

"Will you let me get dressed now?"

The third one spoke up again, and I got the impression he was slightly frustrated with his comrades antics. "Come on, you two. Tonks, we'll just wait outside." Remus walked out ahead of him, and he took Kingsley by the arm to lead him out. Kingsley kept shooting suspicious glances over his shoulder at me, to which I vigorously returned angry glares.

As soon as they were out the room, I jumped off my bed and headed for the wardrobe, now nervous for a different reason. I mean, maybe it's silly, but I like to make the right impression. And one way to do that is through what you wear. But what do you wear to visit the headquarters of some possibly evil/good very powerful wizards? Something practical, obviously, and...

There was a knock at the door. "Tonks? Are you done?"

"Um, no! Just a minute!" Now rushing, I grabbed the first things at hand -a Harpies t-shirt and Muggle jeans. Say what you want about Muggles, they do fashion much better than wizards. There is only so much you can do with a robe.

I shoved my feet into some boots, ran over, and flung open the door. "Can I have my wand back?"

Remus handed it back while I ignored Kingsley's disdainful look. The other wizard, who I could now see had red hair, made an impatient motion with his hand. "I think we should get going now."

Remus turned to me. "We're Apparating to Grimmauld place, in London." Fixing that name in my mind, I raised my wand. Bringing it down, I Apparated away. Next thing I knew, I was (at last) standing outside their headquarters...

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"And then what? What were their headquarters like?" The middle grandchild, a boy, spoke up, excited with the story and wanting to know more.

The eldest, a girl, was also impatient. "Were they the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Yes! They were. But I cannot continue without a glass of water, I am parched. If one of you would be so kind?" The old lady smiled at them all, amused and flattered by their interest.

Her eldest grandchild jumped up, running out the door and towards the kitchen. Her siblings stared after her, willing her return, eagerly awaiting the next part of their grandma's story.

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