Nymphadora Tonks and the Liquor of Jacmel

38. Let's Face The Music And Dance

Saturday 31^st October 1994

Tonks tilted her head sideways and looked critically at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was currently dark brown, shoulder-length, with blonde highlights and a slight curl at the ends that she hadn't been able to resist. The style wasn't a lot like those she normally favoured, but had been carefully selected for the Ball from a number of experiments. On reflection, she'd reluctantly abandoned the idea of giving herself the Carrack Special hairstyle that Portia Blackstock had once worn. Under the circumstances, it might be considered rather inappropriate.

"Hmmm ... what do you reckon?" she asked.

"It'll be fine, dear," replied the mirror patiently, for the seventh time that evening. "I thought you said your young man doesn't really bother about how you look?"

Tonks snorted. "He'd better. He just didn't want me to change into Zara Gabon. Try asking for that, and he might just go the same way as the men in her life." She gazed at her reflection with slight discontent, and let the hair lengthen a few inches. "There. That's more like it, I think."

The mirror was unable to roll its eyes, of course, not having any, but somehow managed to give the impression of doing so. She ignored it and examined her reflection critically, turning from side to side in her robes to gauge the effect. They were her favourite dress robes - deep scarlet, low cut and sleeveless.

Well, more or less my only decent dress robes, actually.

It had been so long since the last time she'd attended a formal event that she'd forgotten that they hung just a little loosely on her in her natural shape. With a grin, she let her cleavage expand enough to fill them out. She didn't usually bother, but, well ... none of her boyfriends had actually objected yet.

A ring at the bell indicated that the current holder of that title had arrived, and she abandoned the mirror, stepped out into the lounge and waved her wand at the door to let him in. He stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw her and whistled.

"Wow. You did all this for little old me?"

"No, I did it for little old me," she said tartly, then relented. "Well, OK, a bit for you. I don't mind trying to keep you enthusiastic."

"It's working." He looked her over as she smiled at him. "Er, have you, erm ..."

"Yes. Any objections?"

"None at all. You know," he said thoughtfully, "I don't think I really like you wearing robes that looks like that at a public event like this ..."

Tonks' smile faded into annoyance. "Why not?"

He chuckled. "Because it makes me want to tear it off you, dammit, and I've got a whole evening of not being able to do that to get through."

"Oh!" That's OK then ... She grinned wickedly. "Excellent! Obviously I judged it right."

She could see him shuffling his feet out of the corner of her eye as she collected her bag and checked that the security spells on her flat were in place. "Look, erm, about the actual dancing," he said after a minute or two. "I know you don't want to do too much in case .. well, you know, because of what happened with your boss and his partner the last time we tried it ... but we can at least have a go at some slow dances, yeah?"

"Actually, we can do the fast ones too."

"Yeah?" The expression on his face was part hopefulness, part deep unease. "Right - are you, um, sure?"

"Yeah. Look at my shoes."

Chesney looked as instructed; obviously slightly distracted by the amount of leg shown by the robes but managing not make it too obvious. "Wait a minute ... aren't those ..."

"Dancing shoes?" said Tonks, grinning again. "Yeah."

"How did you get them?"

"I went round to the Ballroom of Enchantment and had a little word, and they let me have a pair for the evening. All evening, this time, no turning back into clogs at midnight or anything. For a small consideration in Galleons and a tacit promise of a little official help should they ever have any trouble, of course."

Chesney brightened considerably at the news. "Cool! Shall we go?"

*****

As neither of them were willing to trust their dress robes to the tender mercies of the Floo system they Apparated into the Atrium of the Ministry, to discover that it had been elaborately decorated in the few hours since Tonks had passed through on her way to meet Kingsley. All the lights had been dimmed, except for some sort of glow emanating from the Fountain of Magical Brethren, and hundreds of carved pumpkins had been charmed to hover in mid-air with Long-Burning Candles fixed inside them. Soft flickering lights were criss-crossing the ceiling above, which instead of its usual peacock blue now showed a starry sky. Tonks looked up to see a few dozen leprechauns with little lanterns zooming about, and exchanged wry glances with her boyfriend.

The watchwizard on the desk had been replaced by one of the real Ministry house-elves, at which sight Tonks had a sudden fit of the giggles (muttering "I'll tell you about it sometime" when Chesney looked at her in bemusement). The elf bowed and scraped earnestly and handed them programme cards.

"'Honouring the Irish World Cup winners', are they?" said Chesney with a laugh as he read the card. "Our dear Minister's not jumping on the bandwagon at all, then?"

"To be fair, Bagman's department insisted," said Tonks. "Rhiannon told me. All the Irish team are here as special guests, and the trophy's going to be on display."

"Cool!"

"Yeah, I know! We haven't had a winner from the home nations for ages."

Chesney winced. "Don't I know it. Thirty years of hurt. Wish it had been England though ..."

The lifts took them all the way to the Ministerial offices on the top floor, which Tonks had rarely visited, and they stepped out into a sizeable lobby. She looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings and frowned. "Which way do we go, then?"

"Er ... that way, I suppose," said Chesney, indicating the far corner, where a formation of leprechauns in the shape of an arrow was pointing towards a set of double doors. The Ministry ballroom on the other side of the doors was decorated in much the same way as the Atrium had been, although this time the focus of the lighting was on a shamrock-draped plinth at one end of the room, bearing the huge gold World Cup trophy. More leprechauns were hovering overhead.

"Hope they're better behaved than the ones we met," murmured Chesney.

Tonks chuckled. "I suppose they must be. No-one in Will's department would have agreed to it if they weren't, they'd get sacked."

"That's probably what they said before the World Cup."

"True. But at least there aren't any Bulgarian bird-women here tonight to set them off ..."

A photographer was stationed in front of the plinth, taking shots of guests standing next to the Cup. Tonks caught Chesney's eye and grinned. That's something we're going to have to get done before the end of the evening.

The band were just finishing their tuning up, and Chesney offered her his arm. "Shall we dance?"

"Why not?"

Tonks couldn't suppress a slight pang of anxiety about how well the dancing shoes would work; but reflected, as she glanced out onto the virtually empty dancefloor, that she was never going to get a better opportunity to test them out. Fortunately, her worries proved groundless; they worked perfectly; and the floor filled up rapidly as more guests arrived at the Ball.

As the shoes helped her execute a perfect twirl she saw the big Irish Keeper Barry Ryan dancing awkwardly with his wife Eloise; he was obviously a lot less mobile away from a broom. Both Ryans actually looked quite impressed by her prowess, and she grinned as Chesney swept her away from them. It was really rather a nice feeling to not be the clumsiest person in the room for a change.

The Blackstocks were there, of course; Tonks soon spotted Portia sitting at a table with her parents, who looked as distinguished here as they had at the World Cup. Their party was completed (to her amusement) by a rather vapid looking young man who was talking to Portia in an earnest manner. Presumably he was parentally approved due to his wealth, valuable family connections, or both; but he was definitely barking up the wrong tree. Tonks caught Portia's eye as they passed, and could have sworn that she saw her wink.

Chesney caught the interplay and gave her a puzzled look, so (after swearing him to secrecy) Tonks took him aside and whispered a brief explanation in his ear.

"Ah, right." He seemed mildly interested, but not at all surprised, as if the news merely confirmed a long-held suspicion. "How's Charlie then? Will she be OK now?"

"Well, I can tell you we've arrested her cousin and his girlfriend, because it'll probably be in the Prophet in a day or two. I don't suppose she's too happy that her cousin did it, and -" she hesitated, but had to say it "- I wouldn't bet on their secret staying secret when Mickey and Jacqueline come to trial. One of them is bound to say something, and you know what the Prophet is like. That Skeeter woman's always ready to print juicy details."

"Ah. Poor Charlie. Look, Tonks," he added awkwardly, "I probably should have mentioned about that ... well, you know. I was pretty sure Charlie was ... erm ... that way ... I just didn't know she had anything to do with Portia Blackstock."

"That's OK, Ches. I'm not blaming you for sticking up for a friend."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I'd hate for you to need to arrest me!"

The ballroom had become positively crowded by now, and every few minutes Tonks would spot yet another person or couple that she knew. Percy Weasley was there, dancing cheek to cheek with a girl with long brown curly hair, and looking far more open and relaxed than she'd have believed possible, given how uptight he'd been every time she'd seen him at work. She also spotted Donnacha and Rhiannon in a slow clinch in one corner, and grinned at them over her shoulder. She hadn't even realised they were going to the dance. The grin temporarily disappeared at the sight of two fair-haired people dancing a sedate waltz

To her further annoyance, when she and Chesney stepped off the dancefloor for a breather a short while later, that couple were nearby - talking to the Minister and his Permanent Undersecretary, no less. Neither official noticed the couple's reaction when they spotted Tonks; their eyes narrowed and she was treated to aristocratic sneers. She scowled and turned away, determined not to let it affect her enjoyment of the evening.

Unfortunately, Chesney had noticed this incident as well. "Who are Lord and Lady Muck then? And what have you done to them? Given their house-elf clothes or something?"

Tonks couldn't help sniggering at the idea. "Hah! I'd love to see their faces if someone did. No, that's just my aunt and uncle."

"Your aunt and uncle ..." He looked baffled for a moment, and then the Knut dropped. "Oh, so they're the Malfoys! That little waste of space we met on the campsite was their son, right? Heard of them, of course, never actually run into them before." He looked at the Malfoys again with interest, and gulped slightly. "Er, that's the one you said was You-Know-Who's catamite, isn't it? You, erm ... you weren't serious, were you?"

She glanced at them again. "Well I don't suppose he went that far, no - but I'd put money on him having been a Death Eater. Got out of it by claiming the Imperius defence though."

"How did he get away with that?"

"Oh, he's smart," she said bitterly. "After what their precious little Draco said to us, I looked the case up. Lucius Malfoy came into the Department the day after You-Know-Who vanished, and made what you could call a pre-emptive confession. Lots of sanctimonious hand-wringing about how he had big gaps in his memory over the last few years, felt sure he'd been under Imperius and done dreadful things. They did find traces of the spell - he probably got one of his Death Eater pals to put it on him before he came in - and I wouldn't put it past him to have known how to use one of those Pensieve things to edit out anything incriminating. And he's always had lots of friends in high places, so if anybody argued they spoke up for him. Wouldn't be surprised if he waved a large bag of gold in front of the right people too. My aunt probably wasn't one of them herself, I'll give her that, but I bet she supported him all the way. Lying toerags."

Chesney shuddered. "You've got some funny relatives for an Auror, haven't you?"

"Don't I know it! My other aunt and uncle were part of the merry band of death too, just so you know. They're in Azkaban now. Gives me a lot to live down in the Department, as you might imagine."

"Right." He was looking at her oddly, although he didn't seem to be shocked - if anything, he looked rather flattered. "You've never told me all that before."

"Would you want to shout about it if they were your relatives?"

"Er, no, I suppose I wouldn't, really. But it's nice that you trust me to know." He flashed her a sudden nervous smile. "Your mum's their sister, then? What's she like?"

"Oh, she's terrifying," she replied with an evil grin. "Especially to her only daughter's boyfriends. Turns them into crested newts if she doesn't think they're good enough for me. You'll have to come and meet her sometime soon!"

"Right ... thanks ..." Chesney had the air of a man who didn't want to ask his girlfriend any further questions, for fear that it would turn out that she wasn't actually joking. "Er - shall we go and get a drink? Thirsty work, the tango."

The bar was at one end of the ballroom, and proved to be staffed by more Ministry elves, eager to offer them a choice of at least sixteen different concoctions of their own devising, in addition to anything else they might care to name. Tonks randomly picked up something lime green, with silvery bubbles and an apparent desire to make its own way out of the glass and explore. She was just taking an experimental sip when she heard a familiar voice behind her, and turned to see Cassius standing there. To her mild concern, but utter lack of surprise, he had Angelica Hallendale on his arm.

"Hi, mate," she said. "You made it then?"

"I told you I'd be fine, didn't I?" he said, turning to the bar. An elf tried to offer him a glass of something inky-looking which he turned down with a shudder, instead picking up a couple of champagne flutes and handing one to his companion. He nodded towards the other side of the room. "You'll have to join us - our table's over there, with a chap who works down the hall. This is fun. I haven't been to one of these Balls for years."

"And I've never been to one, so I jumped at the chance to go," said Angelica with amusement, looking around them. "Hank never quite managed to be respectable enough to wangle us some tickets, and you don't get scalpers in the wizarding world, do you?"

"Erm - no, I suppose not," said Tonks, confused. She had a momentary mental picture of someone casting an extremely unpleasant hex, but let it pass. "Are you enjoying it?"

"Very much. Did I -" she looked slightly embarrassed "- really see you and your young man dancing earlier on? I said to Cassius that it looked like you, but, well ..."

"Practice," said Tonks airily. "Makes perfect, you know." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Chesney trying very hard to keep a straight face.

Cassius grinned. "Well, in that case ... may I cut in? I'm sure this young chap won't mind." He offered Tonks his arm, which she accepted with a reasonable approximation of a demure smile. Angelica shook her head in amused disbelief.

"Oh well, if you're going to just go off and leave me like that," said Chesney, with mock-offence. "I'll just have to steal somebody else's date. Madam, would you accompany me?"

"Oh!" Angelica looked startled, but said, with a grin, "Why not?" They swept onto the floor and Tonks and Cassius followed at a more sedate pace. She still didn't quite trust herself not to trip over things when the shoes weren't doing all the work for her.

"Are you sure about this?" murmured Cassius as they stepped onto the floor.

"Of course I am. I said I always intended to have a dance with you, didn't I? You're not decrepit yet."

"Actually, I meant are you sure about the dancing," he said, looking slightly annoyed. "I picked a simple waltz so you wouldn't have to do anything too complicated ..."

"Ah. Sorry." She quickly explained about the dancing shoes. "So for tonight, at least, your toes are safe from me. However complicated it gets. If you're up to it, of course."

He snorted. "As you so rightly said, I'm not decrepit yet. And unlike you youngsters I happen to know what I'm doing, so I can probably show you a trick or two."

The music speeded up, and Tonks found the shoes moving her feet into position for a quickstep. To her amusement, Cassius spun her round with the aplomb of a dancing instructor. "So how come Angelica's with you, then?" she asked, in between moves. "I thought you said it wasn't very serious with you two?"

He rolled his eyes. "We've been through all this before, Tonks. I like her. I enjoy having a pleasant companion - not that you aren't, of course, but it's not quite the same thing. Your concerns have been duly noted."

"And ignored?"

"And filed for consideration at a suitable future time. And while we're on the subject," he said as the band paused for a moment between numbers, "how serious are you and young Chester there?"

"Chesney," she corrected him, turning ever so slightly pink. "And the answer is - not serious, really, but I do like him. We've only been going out a couple of months, after all. "

"Long enough for you to have an idea," he pointed out as the music began again.

"Well then. What was it you said about you and your Angie? - we're not exactly going to run away to get married. Ches is a nice bloke, and I do fancy him quite a lot. I'm not saying he's the love of my life or anything - it hasn't got that far! - but I'm definitely willing to give it a chance and see how things go. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't."

"Well then yourself. Grant me the same courtesy with regard to Angelica, will you? Believe me, if and when you find the love of your life, you'll know - whether it's quite what you expected or not. Remember, Tonks, I've already had it happen to me, so I do know the difference between that and this."

"Fair point," she said apologetically. Over his shoulder, she could see Beatrice Easton and her husband sitting at a table, and pointed them out to Cassius, who nodded in recognition. Beatrice seemed embarrassed when Tonks winked at her; she made a quick mental note to get her input on the target she mentally thought of as 'Scarf Boy', at least if they ever got any closer to finding him. "Nice robes, Cassius, by the way. Very smart. Very ... classic."

"Very old-fashioned, you mean? Well, as I said, I haven't had much call to wear them for a few years. And it could be worse." He chuckled. "The robes in style when I was a young man tended to be trimmed with lace, for some reason. You have no idea how glad I was when those went out of fashion. Shall we go and sit down now? I thought I saw Angelica and your young fellow taking a break."

"OK. You'll have to show me where to go, though."

As they picked their way through the maze of tables along the edges of the room, she noticed. Norah O'Gregan sitting at one of them and nearly said a semi-polite hello before she remembered that she wasn't actually supposed to have met her. Her colleague's wife was in the company of an older man that Tonks presumed must be the 'Francis Bletchley' she'd talked about in Carrack's salon. Fortunately Donnacha and Rhiannon were nowhere in sight. She nudged Cassius and pointed them out.

"Ah, yes," he said. "Yes, well-connected chap. I attended one of his musical evenings once. I'm sure many of the guests there didn't entirely approve of Emily, but the invitation had already gone out so there wasn't much they could say. And we'd learnt to ignore that sort of behaviour by then."

"What sort of reaction is Angelica getting?" she asked curiously. "It can't be that common to bring a Muggle to one of these dos."

"You'd be surprised. And to answer your question, we've had one or two odd looks but no-one's actually said anything yet. Of course, most of the people here wouldn't know she's a Muggle, so that may be why. Bletchley is all right though, I think."

Tonks glanced back at Norah and her escort. She got a distinct impression that he was somewhat ill-at-ease, although if so, whatever it was about didn't seem to be related to his companion. He looked positively boyish when speaking to her, and she in turn was smiling sweetly, with (to Tonks' eyes) a slightly triumphant expression, although she didn't expect Bletchley would notice that.

Their respective partners for the evening were indeed sitting at Cassius' table when they got there, but they weren't alone. A slightly alarmed-looking Angelica Hallendale was talking - or rather being talked at - by a man with thinning hair. After a moment or two of racking her brains, she recognised him as Arthur Weasley, the Muggle Artefacts bloke who worked down the corridor from them. Chesney was looking on, clearly amused, and a plump woman that she took to be Arthur's wife was rolling her eyes in exasperation

"But we so rarely have a Muggle visiting the Ministry!" he was saying in delight. "It's wonderful to see you here, I'm so glad you could come. What do you think of it?"

"Er ... well, it's quite impressive," said Angelica helplessly, "all the, erm, charmwork in the decorations ..."

"How would you Muggles do it? Would you have eclectic sportlights?"

"Well, I suppose so, yes ..."

"Arthur, that's enough, leave the poor woman alone now," interrupted his wife. Tonks could detect a distinct note of steel in her voice. Mrs Weasley looked up and saw Tonks still on Cassius' arm; she raised her eyebrows slightly, but didn't say anything. Tonks, embarrassed, hastily moved over to sit with Chesney, as Cassius sat down by an obviously amused Angelica.

"Hi Mr Weasley," said Tonks, breaking what threatened to be a slightly awkward silence. "I'm Tonks. I don't think we've actually spoken to each other, but I've seen you passing through plenty of times."

She could see recognition dawning. "Oh yes, you work with Cassius here, don't you? In fact -" he coughed "- I think my son mentioned meeting you. Er, my son Percy, that is, you may know some of the others, I'm not sure. Don't you usually have pink hair?"

"Well, yes, sometimes ..." At the mention of his other sons a bell rang for Tonks too. "Oh hang on, are you Charlie Weasley's parents? He was in my year at school! And Bill Weasley? I remember he was Head Boy when I was there, I had a bit of a crush on him actually ..."

Mrs Weasley positively beamed. "Yes, those are my boys. They've all done so well for themselves! Did you know Bill's a curse-breaker for Gringotts now? We went to visit him in Egypt last year, we never thought we'd be able to take the whole family out there but we were so lucky, we won the draw in the Prophet! And Charlie works with dragons out in Romania - I must admit I worry about him sometimes, but he says he's having the time of his life. Percy works for Barty Crouch, he's his personal assistant, as you know ..."

"Yes, well, I'm sure Miss Tonks doesn't want the life story of our family, Molly," interrupted Arthur with a smile.

"Where is Crouch tonight?" asked Chesney. "You'd have expected him to turn up."

"Hasn't been well, apparently," said Tonks. "He looked terrible when I went to his office. Has your son said anything about him, Arthur?"

"Just a little," he said wryly. "He talks more about Crouch than he does about his girlfriend. But Barty's otherwise engaged tonight."

"Ooh, where?"

"Ah well, all will be revealed later. It's Halloween, remember?" He winked at them, but the only one who seemed to understand him was Chesney, who looked baffled for a moment but then nodded in recognition.

"Is this your young man, dear?" asked Molly, nodding at Chesney.

"He is," said Tonks. She nodded at Arthur. "Is this yours?"

"He is," said Molly, chuckling. "I'll get him dancing in a moment, I promise."

"Not as young as I was ..." mumbled Arthur.

"Reluctant, Arthur?" Angelica Hallendale grinned at him. "Come on, even Cassius here dances, and he's a lot older than you!" The man in question seemed rather alarmed at being brought into the conversation in this way, and exchanged rueful looks with Arthur Weasley.

Molly leaned towards Angelica with a conspiratorial look. "He always was a bit embarrassed being out on the dance floor in public, dear, even when we used to jive to Celestina when we were young."

"Shame on you, Arthur!" Angelica told him, evidently enjoying herself. "Why did you bring your wife here if you weren't going to dance with her?"

"It was my birthday yesterday, dear. It's my treat."

"Well then! When are you going to show the lady a good time?"

Molly Weasley's face suddenly acquired a very mischievous look. "Oh well, Arthur did take the day off yesterday. Percy was working, and our younger ones are at school, so we had the house all to ourselves ..."

Arthur made a strangled noise and leapt up, his ears going crimson. "Shall we dance, Molly?"

Molly gave him a big smile. "I'd love to, Arthur." She winked at Tonks and Angelica as they moved away.

*****

The evening continued to pass pleasantly as the couples moved between the table and the bar and the dancefloor (with a short detour to get their photographs taken standing next to the World Cup). Cassius kept the party entertained with tales from his past, and Tonks added a few from her training that didn't involve embarrassing pratfalls while attempting Stealth and Tracking.

Tonks and Chesney returned from the dancefloor after one such excursion to find Montgomery Hallendale by their table, in the company of a slight, dark-haired girl that he seemed to be introducing to his mother. He looked a little embarrassed when he caught Tonks' eye, and hastily made his excuses and left.

"My younger boy, Montgomery," Angelica explained to a puzzled Chesney, with a wink to Tonks who was sure that Angelica knew all about the interest her son had previously shown. "And that young lady works in the office of the International Magical Trading Standards Body. I believe they met when he went in there to check what he needed to do to bring in magical materials via his Muggle shipping business. He's really doing very well for himself ..." She trailed off at the sight of the slightly too polite smiles on the faces of her companions. "Or am I starting to sound like that Molly woman?"

"A bit," said Chesney before Tonks could decide what to say. He quickly added, "But that's all right, you're supposed to be proud of your children, aren't you?"

"How the other one doing?" asked Tonks. Angelica winced and Cassius made a face.

"Clark? Not as well as Montgomery, I'm afraid, but he makes a living. He insisted on meeting us in the Atrium at the end of the evening. Do make my apologies if I have to dash off early, won't you?" Her voice sounded tight, and Tonks remembered that her relationship with her older son was somewhat fractious, according to Cassius. She didn't press the matter, and fortunately at that point the Weasleys returned.

"You don't mind us sitting with you ..." asked Arthur, gesturing vaguely at the seats. He looked slightly out of breath.

"Not at all," said Tonks. Arthur and Molly seemed pleasant enough people, even if they were mildly eccentric (but then, that was hardly unusual in the wizarding world). Angelica Hallendale looked uncertain for a moment but then smiled and nodded.

"Are you and Cassius off duty tonight then?" asked Arthur, sinking into a chair in relief.

"I am," said Cassius. "Well, technically I suppose an Auror is Never Off-Duty and all that, but I'm certainly not on night shift and I managed to stay off the emergency call rota." He frowned. "I thought Tonks was on that rota, actually. Did you switch?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm down to be called in if anything urgent happens."

"Don't you need your wand handy?" asked Arthur curiously. His face went rather red. "Surely there's nowhere to put it in, erm, ..."

She took pity on him. "These dress robes? No problem." She picked at her arm and a strip of cloth appeared; she peeled it back to reveal the wand attached there, just as it had been in her house-elf disguise. "The new top-of-the-range Blackstock product line wand holder with special Invisibility Spell, due to hit the shops in Diagon Alley next week. Our people got a sneak preview and I ... erm, forgot to hand this one back after an operation the other day."

"I wondered where that had got to," said Cassius with a smile. "So did K, I hear ..."

"Oh, that's ingenious!" said Arthur, examining the strip of charmed cloth closely. "I must mention this to our twins, they love that sort of gadget. They're always inventing things themselves ..." His wife looked mildly disapproving, but any comment she might have been intending to make was forestalled when a magically magnified voice announced that the Minister for Magic was about to speak.

The band cut short their number, and as the couples out on the floor made their way back to the tables Tonks could see the Minister up on an impromptu platform talking earnestly to Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour, both of whom looked discontented. Fudge had evidently decided to play the popularity card tonight and was dressed in robes of a bright emerald that didn't suit him in the slightest, but mercifully had at least left his lime-green bowler behind. Most people looked on politely as he made his speech without really paying much attention, Tonks among them; she noticed a slight grin on Arthur's face and followed his gaze to where his son was listening with rapt interest.

Awards of some sort were handed out to the Irish team and their coaching staff following the speech, and Tonks suddenly realised who was missing from the presentation party. "Where's Ludo Bagman tonight?" she asked, "Shouldn't he be the one doing this?"

"I think I know where he might be," said Chesney. "Same place as Crouch, Arthur?"

"I imagine so," he replied with a chuckle.

"What do you two know that I don't?" asked Tonks, annoyed.

"Just think of a story that was in the paper at the beginning of September," said Chesney with a maddening grin.

"Well whatever it was, I must have missed it. I was busy," she said tetchily. She remembered spending the first part of that month shut away in her flat, reading through the notes that Kingsley had provided for her. "Come on, you can tell me, Ches," she said in a cajoling voice. "I thought you cared ..."

"Who, me? Nah, must have been a couple of other people who look like me."

"I think Cornelius Fudge might be going to talk about it himself, dear," said Molly, who had actually been watching the presentation. Tonks turned to listen more carefully as Fudge began to waffle about the revival of the Triwizard Tournament, of all things. She looked around her; there were many guests who seemed as surprised as she was, but a fair proportion of them were nodding in recognition.

"I didn't know about that!" she cried.

"It was in the paper a couple of months back," said Chesney, smirking. "I was waiting for it to appear."

"Oh yes, of course," said Cassius with a frown. "The announcement wasn't on the front page, though, was it? You'd have expected it to be, really - I don't think that Tournament's been held since before I was at school."

"I think Fudge wanted to downplay it a bit after everything that happened at the World Cup," said Arthur Weasley with a sigh.

Tonks suddenly realised the implication of her boyfriend's last remark. "Wait a minute, Ches, you were waiting for it to appear? Did you know about it beforehand then?"

"Might have done," he said, tapping his nose. "Remember the experimental charms work we were doing? That one I used on you?"

"Damn! Git." She was regretting not having paid more attention to the gossip with everything that was going on. "Wish they'd held it when I was there. I'd have put myself down to have a go."

Chesney gave a rueful laugh. "I wouldn't. But then, I've got some idea what they're facing ..."

Molly Weasley's face fell at that. "Oh dear. I thought they were really trying to make the Tournament safe this time, Arthur!"

"I don't think the tasks are actually meant to be entirely safe, you know Molly," he replied gently. "Charlie's helping with the set up for one of them, remember."

"Charlie's doing something for this?" asked Tonks. "What did you say he's doing now?"

"Dragon handling in Romania," said Arthur with a touch of pride.

Angelica Hallendale looked at Molly in sympathy. "I bet you're worried about that?"

Molly smiled sadly. "Yes, dear. Any mother would be, wouldn't they?"

"Oh I'm sure he'll be OK, Molly," said Tonks brightly. "I remember he was old Kettleburn's star pupil."

"I hope so. I know it's a horrible thing to say, but I'm just glad my children are too young to compete in this Tournament. I was scared to death on the night of the World Cup."

"You were there too, Mrs Weasley?" asked Cassius.

She shuddered. "No, at home. Arthur and the children went off to the site, and then came the news on the WWN and my clock went haywire and I was stuck there in the house not knowing whether they were all right or whether I'd never see them again like my brothers and ... " She trailed off at the sight of Angelica Hallendale's pursed lips and white face. "Erm, are you feeling all right, dear?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Molly. Bad memories too."

"Your sons went to the World Cup as well?"

"Yes, but that wasn't what ... oh never mind. It's not important." Tonks bit her lip. She was fairly sure she knew what Angelica meant, but it wasn't her place to say so. The table had suddenly gone very quiet.

"I'm sorry if I upset you," said Molly, looking puzzled.

Angelica exchanged glances with Cassius and Tonks. "It's not you, it's just ... oh, you might as well know. In the war, my husband was one of those who went off on business and didn't come back. I guess your brothers were too."

Molly looked horrified. "Oh my dear! I'm so sorry, I never realised." She shuddered again. "I know how you must feel, it's horrible ..."

"Try not to dwell on it now, Angelica," said Cassius quietly.

"No ... no I suppose not. But I know what Molly must have felt like. Every time Hank left for a business meeting, I was terrified what might happen to him. And then those last people he met -" she shuddered too "- I never liked the sound of them, and they turned out to be Death Eaters."

Arthur Weasley looked sombre. "Did they kill him?"

"Yes. Well, maybe. That's the thing, I don't even really know. There were four of them - Bellingham, Richardson, Jugson, and Harper - and I never did know what they wanted, but some of your Ministry guys turned up, and a fight started. I guess anything could have happened."

"You knew who he met then?" asked Tonks.

Angelica had a positively vicious look. "Oh, not at the time, but I remembered their names all right. Two of them were killed, and good riddance. The other two are in Azkaban and I hope they rot there."

The Weasleys looked shocked. "Oh my dear, I didn't know," Molly said again.

"No reason why you should know, Molly. Just an old wound I haven't got over yet. But then I probably never will, so like Cassius says, I shouldn't dwell on it tonight." Angelica reached for her wineglass and drained it, a brittle smile on her face. "Damn, I feel like another dance. Cassius?

Cassius started in surprise; he seemed rather distracted. "Oh, erm ... actually, I really do need to take, ah, a bit of a breather ..."

"Come on Mrs Hallendale. I'll dance with you," said Chesney, getting up. "If my partner doesn't mind, of course?" He winked at Tonks, who pretended to look offended, but didn't do a very good job of it

"Go ahead then. Leave me for an older woman!"

"Well if you insist ..." he said with a grin, leading Angelica away.

Tonks found herself making general conversation as Molly chatted happily about her children, starting with Charlie and moving on to the rest. Arthur was talking at high speed to Cassius about the workings of Muggle gadgetry, apparently under the impression that he must be an expert. Cassius looked like a man who would, on the whole, have preferred not to have become involved in a discussion of the subject at this particular time, but was too polite to cut Arthur off.

Fortunately, Angelica and Chesney eventually returned, and as he swept Tonks back out onto the dance floor she could see Angelica taking the brunt of the conversation as Molly talked in stilted fashion to Cassius. Then the band started to play a slow, eminently smoochable number and she found she had far more interesting things to think about.

*****

Eventually midnight came and went and the Ball started to break up as people drifted home. Molly and Arthur made their apologies and slipped away at a quarter past; by the time Tonks and Chesney were ready to go it was past one o'clock and the band had started playing bizarre requests.

They found an empty lift to take them down to the Atrium, and the few minutes taken up by the journey were mostly spent snogging. So when the doors opened it took them a moment or two to realise that they had arrived in the middle of a blazing row.

A young man who looked vaguely familiar (and quite definitely drunk) was shouting at Angelica, who looked furious, and Cassius, who looked upset. Montgomery Hallendale was standing to one side, looking hugely embarrassed, and his date was glancing back and forth between the other members of the party with a completely baffled expression.

"What are you doing with that old fart anyway?" cried the young man.

"CLARK!" Angelica practically screamed at her younger son. "That's enough!"

"That's out of order, Clark," added his brother, glancing nervously at Cassius. Tonks and Chesney looked at each other open-mouthed for a moment and then stepped out of the lift.

"Oh thank you for your help, Mr Perfect Son," spat Clark, to the discomfiture of everyone present. He sounded both angry and hurt, as if he felt betrayed by the mere presence of Cassius. "I've told you, you don't want to mess with people like him! Don't you care about Dad any more?"

Angelica went white again. "Don't you ever say that again, Clark," she said in a low, dangerous voice. "Cassius is a gentleman, and I ... I ... I do think of him as a friend. And if I choose to accompany him to a dance that is my business and my business alone and has nothing to do with my feelings for your father!"

A few other people leaving the Ball were laughing and pointing as they passed by, and Cassius looked as if he would prefer to just fade into the scenery. Tonks edged up to him and muttered,. "Is everything all right?" Unfortunately, Clark Hallendale heard and turned on her with a shout.

"And who's she?"

"She's that shape-changing Auror I mentioned a while ago, if it matters to you," snapped Angelica, who sounded as if she'd reached the end of her tether. "She's Cassius' partner."

Clark Hallendale looked shocked; he spat a swear word and made a sudden move as if about to reach for his wand; but Tonks, anticipating this, had her own wand detached and levelled before he could even reach it. As they locked eyes she silently challenged him: come on then, have a go if you think you're hard enough. He held her gaze only briefly before dropping his eyes in panic.

"OK, that's enough!" said Angelica, a note of hysteria in her voice now. "Cassius, thank you for a lovely evening -" he smiled politely, but not cheerfully "- but we need to go before my son makes an even bigger fool of himself than he has already." She gave Cassius a swift kiss on the cheek and nodded to her other son, who said a hasty goodbye to his girl, took a grip on his brother's arm (Clark tried to shrug him off, but he just held tighter) and almost frogmarched him to the nearest Floo exit.

As the Hallendales disappeared into the flames, the remainder of the party stared at each other. Tonks could see that Chesney was as astonished as she was; Montgomery's date looked as if she might explode and stormed off in the direction of the fireplaces; and Cassius simply seemed miserable.

"Thank you for staring him down, Tonks," he said quietly. "I didn't want to have cause to arrest him. I didn't want to make Angelica feel even worse. So, er, goodnight then."

*****

"Well, that was an eventful end to the evening," said Tonks, after she and Chesney had said hasty goodbyes and Apparated back to her flat. She tapped her wand on the lock of the front door and it sprung open.

"Oh." Chesney seemed disappointed, and grabbed her for a lingering goodnight kiss. "Well. Yes. Night then."

Tonks fought hard not to grin. He really was being rather obvious, not that she could blame him. She gave him a smile that was as demure and innocent as she could possibly make it. "Why, what else did you have in mind?"

Chesney's face went slightly pink and he looked rather sheepish, but obviously determined not to let himself be brushed off quite so easily. "Well, I did say the sight of you in that dress made me want to tear it off you," he said, making a joke of it but unable to conceal that he meant every word.

"Oh!" said Tonks, deadpan. "Right."

She turned away from him for a moment to push the front door fully open, and couldn't resist a private smirk. She turned back to him. "Well, if that's what you feel ..."

"Yes?" He looked half hopeful, half aghast that he might have said the wrong thing.

Her smile this time held nothing of demureness or innocence. "It'd be a shame to waste it then, wouldn't it? You'd better come in ..."

*****

Sunday 1^st November 1994

She was woken the following morning by the little bit of late autumn morning sunshine that was all that ever managed to make its way into an Islington flat. As she lay back and stretched she couldn't keep a big grin from her face. Neither could Chesney once her movements woke him up.

She actually found herself whistling one of the Weird Sisters' bouncier tunes to herself a little later on while making breakfast. Chesney stepped into the kitchen with a mock-pained expression and his fingers in his ears, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh, get the milk out, Ches. Make yourself useful."

"I thought I already did that," he said, grinning. He opened the door of the fridge and bent down to reach to the back for the milk. As he rose, Tonks met his eyes, and out of the blue felt a sudden jolt of realisation as something clicked into place.

Then she remembered what Cassius had said the night before, and a single very loud swear word escaped from her lips before she could stop herself.

"Well, if you insist ..." said Chesney, with a lewd look. "Sounds good to me ..." There must have been a strange expression on her face, because he trailed off, confused. "What's the matter?"

Tonks smiled, not wanting to let him see how distracted she was. Make a joke of it, that's best, don't jump to conclusions, I need to think about this ... "Nothing, I hope. Just a ... um, job-related thought I had. Being around you seems to give me interesting ideas, Ches!"

Chesney smirked as he put the milk bottle down on the table and reached for her. "Snap ..."

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Author's Notes: The phrase 'merry band of death' came from this parody, which you really should all go and read.

Next: chapter 39, Old Sins Cast Long Shadows. In which Tonks explains her new theory to Cassius, who has a confession to make, and in which they have more than one uncomfortable encounter.