Chapter Text
Tonks always hated sharing a dorm with other girls, especially during breakfast. It was a mad rush trying to get ready. She sometimes used her system; she would sleep in her skirt and socks during school days. It would save her a minute-and-a-half, which meant that she had extra time to button up her blouse. That minute and half also got her first dibs on the mirror, which is where she used most of her precious time. She just didn't like going to class wearing the same hair style, eye color, or complexion. It was easier getting through life and Hogwarts all together, feeling like a different girl each day. Of course, there wasn't much she could do about McGonagall's class. Tonks grabbed her bag of belongings as she made her way towards the Great Hall for breakfast, sporting a short blue bob.
Her house was Hufflepuff, and she wasn't exactly popular, but she wasn't exactly unpopular. In fact, she was kind of the class clown and was known for getting in trouble from time to time. She sat down next to her favorite crowd, the outcasts, because she was kind of one herself.
"Good morning, Tonks!" Asha said. She was Indian and had strange bags under her eyes because she could only sleep four hours a day.
"Good day, Tonks," said Tom, who was a chubby little boy who, no matter what he seemed to do, just couldn't fit in. He was scared of everything.
"Hey, what's up! Tonks," Josie was Tonks's best friend. She had an older twin brother named Drake. They were both American, and it was obvious by the way they spoke and acted. The truth was that they wouldn't be at Hogwarts if it weren't for their father being in the Ministry and talking Dumbledore into letting them in. Tonks sat down and smiled as she started digging into her French toast.
"Hmm, I think it's going to be a pretty good day," Tonks said to Josie, who nodded.
"Right on! The sun is shining all over your blue hair and everything," Josie said as she examined Tonks' hair. Josie wore things in her hair, like brightly colored strings and rubber bands. They ate breakfast and Tonks started walking towards her first class, Transfiguration.
"Good morning, class," Professor McGonagall greeted her students as she opened the door. She made her way to the board in front of the class. Her wand moved about as she finished writing the days notes for class. All of sudden, as if something had possessed her, she aimed her wand towards Tonks. "Not today, Miss Tonks, nor any other day at that!" she said as she flicked her wand, and Tonk's hair went from spiky blue to a shoulder-length dark shade of wavy brown.
"Yeah, yeah," Tonks said unenthusiastically as she got a rubber band out of her pocket and put her hair back into a messy ponytail. Transfiguration went fairly well, as did Herbology. It was making her way back from the greenhouses and to the castle that she dreaded. The walk through the halls towards the dungeons made her nauseous, as well as angsty.
"Oh, boy. What do you think is going to happen today in class?" Josie asked Tonks and Tom.
"Who cares? Probably the same old bullshit," Drake interrupted as he made his way towards the crowd in front of the dungeon door. It was one of two classes that he had with his twin, Drake was in Ravenclaw.
"That's great. I swear, isn't he ever happy?" Asha asked the group. They exchanged silent expressions, looking at one another to see if they could come up with something.
"Oi, Asha!" Charlie Weasley called out as he passed. "Up for tonight? You know!" he said to her as he grinned deviously.
"Shut UP, Charlie!" Asha shouted as she blushed and turned back to the group.
"Oh, my virgin ears!" Tonks exclaimed playfully, when a thought occurred to her. "Oi, that's it!" Tonks said to herself.
"What is it, Tonks?" Asha asked Tonks, turning her attention over to her. Tonks deviously looked from right to left, and then leaned in closer. Her friends all knew that look, it was the look that meant; huddle in a circle, this is going to get good. Her friends drew closer as they huddled in a small circle, except for Tom, who knew better than to get involved.
"Well?" Josie asked anxiously.
Tonks smiled devilishly. "When's the last time you think the Professor Snape, you know, actually-"
"Oh, you got to be kidding me," Drake said enthusiastically. Tonks' smile broadened.
"Yes!" Tonks yelled out excitedly.
"Oh my gods! No way!" Josie said, trying hard not to freak out.
"Ewww," Asha said simply, as if the topic made her terminally ill.
"Really, come on. You know how people get after a good night of knocking boots," Tonks said as she started to glow. "We need to get Professor Snape laid," she whispered loudly.
"How is that going to happen?" Asha asked, as if it was impossible.
"And yeah, like, who?" Josie added in skeptically. Tonks pursed her lips for a moment, thinking hard.
"I know! We'll pay a woman to do it!" Tonks said cheerfully, her pearly whites showing.
"Hey, how and where are we going to find one?" Drake added in some reality to the process.
"Plus, what about the moolah!" Josie, like her twin brother, added in her tid-bit of reality.
"Hmm," Tonks tilted her head, completely stumped. The sound of doors swinging open made everyone straighten up and face forward. Professor Snape had his arm blocking the doorway, stopping anyone from getting in. He cleared his throat.
"How many times do I have to tell you to wait in a single file line," he scolded. Everyone did as they were told.
"It's not like we're psychic," Josie whispered to Tonks.
"No, he'll need Professor Trelawney for that," Tonks whispered back playfully.
"Quiet!" Professor Snape yelled as he started to let the students in.
Tonks sat in class doing her work. She wasn't too bad at potions, she just saw it as a more complicated way of cooking, though she hated cooking as well. However, Potions helped with her cooking skills. Tonks started to wonder about how she could get a concubine. She stared into the air in front of her, thinking. Letters to Hogsmeade, or, of course, Knockturn Alley. She smiled brightly as the swishing sound of fabric entered her ears and the last thought that entered her head was…I wonder if he likes blokes?
Professor Snape turned around, as if he was a bat out of hell, and faced her, his dark eyes piercing into hers as if she had said that last thought out loud. Tonks coughed before back looking down at her work.
"Did you see that?" Drake asked excitedly as they made their way to lunch.
"Shut up, Drake!" Josie said darkly to her brother. Josie had the unfortunate luck to mix up the wrong ingredients at the wrong time.
"Oh my gosh, guys!" Tonks exclaimed loudly, catching everyone's attention. "I think Professor Snape can read minds," she in a serious tone.
"What?" Josie asked confused.
"Yes, really. You know when Professor Snape turned all dramatic-like and faced me," she paused. "Well the moment right before that, I thought, 'I wonder if he likes blokes?'"
"Blokes?" Josie asked, confused again.
"Guys!" Drake yelled at his sister, who blushed.
"Oh, yeah," she said, to mark her ignorance. "Well, I forget sometimes. I was born in America," she said sarcastically to her brother, who rolled his eyes.
"Whatever," he said, brushing it off.
"Anyways, I got an idea about how we can find a prostitute! We'll just send letters to Knockturn Alley stating whoever wants a big payment should make their way to Hogsmeade," Tonks said breathlessly, as if it was the perfect plan.
"Yeah, but what about the money?" Asha asked as they were about to enter the Great Hall.
"Hmph. I'll just have a fund-raiser," Tonks said, entering the Great Hall and walking proudly over to her table. Asha just stopped dead and gasped.
"Is she off her rocker?" Asha asked Josie, who was happy as well.
"This is totally radical!" Josie exclaimed, her surfer accent obvious.
That night, Tonks found the largest jar she could, and put a spell on it so that whenever an adult was nearby, it would shrink to a size of an apple. That morning, she started spreading the word, talking about it whenever people passed by.
"Yeah, did you hear about that Get Snape Laid Fund?" It was the name she called her charity. "At lunch near the lake! Gotta go!" she yelled as loud as she could. As soon as the bell rang for lunch, Tonks made her way towards the lake. Josie and Drake had managed to swipe a chair and table. Asha went to lunch with a basket, gathering the most food she could so they could still eat lunch by the lake. It started off slow, at first it was just a few curious people gathering by and asking questions.
"What's this jar for?" A snooty Gryffindor girl asked.
"It's for the Get Snape Laid Fund," Tonks started in a business-like tone. "We're trying to raise money to hire the best darn tart donations could buy," she ended, adding a wink. The Gryffindor girl giggled as she whispered to her friend, who nodded.
"Okay!" the two girls said, and brought out some money. One girl threw in a galleon, while the girl next to her threw in ten sickles, and then they ran off cheerfully. The next to come was a Ravenclaw guy who threw in seven sickles and five knuts. Shortly after, more and more people started coming and throwing in money. It seemed that the Gryffindors were the biggest donators. Only a few Slytherins showed up, and only two of them donated.
"Hey, you don't think those Slytherins are narks do you?" Asha leaned forward. Tonks thought about it for a moment.
"You're probably right, best start packing," she said to Asha, who agreed. "Okay, show's over, folks! We'll do this again sometime." Josie and Drake grabbed the chair and table and decided to hide it under the Quidditch bleachers for the time being. Asha and Tonks headed towards the library quickly. It seemed as if everything had gone as planned. Their day went on, and nothing bad happened. It wasn't until nightfall when Professor Sprout, along with Professor McGonagall, made her way towards the Hufflepuff common room, their faces stern. There, they asked to see Asha, Josie, and Tonks. They sent a fellow female student up to their dorms to ask to them to come down please. It was embarrassing, because when they got down, everyone started laughing. Tonks and Asha were already in their PJ's, and both of them had a green mask on their faces. Only Josie was in her uniform, but she was wearing curling rollers in her hair. Professor McGonagall looked shocked and Professor Sprout rolled her eyes.
"Okay, we know what you girls were up to, Professor Flitwick has already taken your brother Drake into custody," Professor Sprout started. Josie looked nervously towards Tonks, who was happy that she was wearing a mask, because her face was getting hot.
"Well, if you already know, then there's no use explaining, right?" Tonks asked nervously. The two teachers shook their heads.
"Tonks what you have done is a serious offense, I'm surprised you could have gone this far," Professor McGonagall said in a serious tone. Tonks looked off to the side.
"Okay now, where is it?" Professor Sprout asked as she held out her hand.
"Where's what?" Tonks asked innocently. Professor Sprout tuned red.
"Don't play games with me, hand it over! We want the jar!" she said, raising her voice. The whole room became dead silent, no one had ever seen Professor Sprout that mad before. Tonks sighed before turning to Asha.
"Asha has it, she's in charge of looking after it," Tonks said simply in defeat. Asha looked at Tonks nervously then back to Professor Sprout.
"It's in the dorm," she said softly.
"Well then go get it," Professor Sprout said angrily. Asha ran down towards her dorm as fast as she could. A few minutes later, she was back, slightly out of breath.
"Here it is," she said, holding the apple-sized jar out in the palm of her hand. Everyone tilted their heads to see what Asha was holding. Even Professor Sprout and Professor McGonagall had to lean in to get a closer look. Professor Sprout leaned back up and spoke to McGonagall.
"It's charmed," she said simply.
"Well, obviously," Professor McGonagall said back to her. She took out her wand and flicked it. The jar grew bigger, though for only a moment, before shrinking back down. Professor McGonagall looked slightly impressed. "Hmph. It seems that they have charmed the jar so that I cannot get it back to normal size," McGonagall said to Professor Sprout.
"Okay, we'll have to take it to Flitwick," Professor Sprout said. "You three, come with me," They all headed out the common room. Professor McGonagall took the small jar and headed off in a different direction. The other three followed Professor Sprout towards her office. They all stood there as Professor Sprout had only one seat and decided it would be wrong for one to sit while the others had to stand.
"I want you to know that, with what you girls have done, you could all be expelled. Messing with a teacher's personal life is a serious offense," she paused, and they all stood silently. She brought out some papers and started writing. "Dumbledore is not here right now, he's out for the Ministry Ball. However, this doesn't mean you're going to get away with this without consequences," she said as she wrote down their referrals. "I don't know what went through your minds!" she said angrily.
"It was me!" Tonks started. Professor Sprout looked up, shocked that Tonks had the audacity to speak. "It was I who got them into this. I made up the plan. I set it up. I even charmed the jar," she said bravely, though she was so nervous that her legs shook. Her friends looked at her, confused.
"Is that true?" she asked aloud. Josie and Asha looked at each other and nodded.
"Yes. It was Tonks' idea, but we chose to do it ," Asha said.
"Yeah," Josie squeaked. Professor Sprout stopped writing for a moment.
"I'm very surprised at you girls. It seems you don't want Tonks to take all the blame," Professor Sprout said.
"I know this is going to be on our public records and can affect our lives in the future," Tonks continued. "I just don't want them to pay for it because of my stupid idea, which seemed pretty good at the time," she added with a shrug. Professor Sprout sat there thinking for a while, and then she let out a deep sigh.
"I'll tell you what. Since I'm impressed by your loyalty, I'll won't give Asha and Josie the file. Instead it'll just be in the school records. However, Tonks, yours is still going in, and all three of you will still be getting detention." all three girls sighed. "Asha and Josie, you'll be assisting Hagrid with his gamekeeper work," Professor Sprout said. The girls had hopeful expressions. "For a month," she added in. The two girls gave each other depressed looks. "You two may leave. Tonks, sit. You're staying right here." Asha and Josie left the room. Tonks took a seat as she was told. Professor Sprout seemed to be calmer now. "Tonks, I'm very ashamed of you sometimes," she started and Tonks gulped. "You're a very bright, very shiny student," Tonks looked confused. What did she mean by shiny? "Not many people in Hufflepuff shine as much as you do. Most of us have to do things the hard way, but you, you're very talented. It seems as if things come to you easily. It sometimes makes me wonder if you were sorted into the wrong house," she ended seriously.
"Maybe I was," Tonks said simply. Professor Sprout looked taken off guard. "I mean, I remember that stupid hat saying that I could be in Ravenclaw, for being witty, or Gryffindor, for being brave, or even Slytherin, for being ambitious and attention-grabbing," Tonks ended, a little disgusted. "I don't know. Why I do these things, I mean, " she said in her defense. "I just thought that maybe, if he wasn't so grumpy all the time-"
"Tonks, you have some growing up to do, but you don't have much time left. I know you mentioned wanting to be an Auror. The job of an Auror is very hard and dangerous, and if you don't grow up, you'll never achieve that dream," Professor Sprout ended. "You may go," she dismissed Tonks, turning to get something from behind her. Tonks stood up and begin walk out of the office, when she suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, what about my detention?" Tonks asked Professor Sprout, who gave a weary smile.
"Oh, I bet Professor Snape will give you more detention than you deserve."
The next day, before Tonks had potions, she thought about ditching his class, but she knew it would only lead to more detention.
"Tonks, your hair's all….plain," Asha said worriedly to her as they walked to Transfiguration class.
"I know. It's just I don't want Professor Snape to notice me when I come in his class later on today," Tonks replied to Asha, who just frowned.
"Well, good luck," she said as they entered Professor McGonagall's class.
Both Professor Sprout and McGonagall's classes went smoothly, as if they weren't mad at anyone at all. Still, Tonks' started to feel nauseous and her heart began to pound. It was fear, fear of what Professor Snape had in store for her. She started sweating and had to make a quick bathroom break. In the bathroom, she splashed cool water on her face and calmed herself. She took a good look in the mirror. She hated her original hair color; she realized if she was going to go down, she might as well go down in style. Tonks changed her hair to a purple bob. Oh, well, she thought. It was the best she could do under pressure. She checked the time; she had only a minute to get to class. Tonks ran out towards Professor Snape's class. A few other students were also running to whatever class they were late to as well. As soon as she got in line, the door swung open.
"Come in," the Professor said simply. Everyone started to make their way in, and Tonks managed to snatch another student's chair in the back of the classroom. It seemed that other person pitied her enough not to argue. Potions class was running smoothly, Professor Snape did not embarrass her in class or anything. It was three minutes until lunch, and Tonks' nerves started to settle. The bell rang and she was starting to wish she had sat in front of class instead of the back. She raced towards the door, not even packing all of her belongings. She figured she could pack later when she wasn't in danger.
"Nymphadora Tonks," Professor Snape spoke as she neared the exit. Tonks wondered if she could get away by pretending to be deaf. Yet she hesitantly stopped, letting others zoom by her to get to the door. Tonks didn't even bother facing the Professor until he moved to close the door, waited for the rest of the students to leave, before locking it. Suddenly everything seemed a whole lot scarier as he locked the door manually, with his hands. Tonks gulped as she saw him make his way back to his desk. I'm doomed! Tonks thought in her head as she leaned against the wall and looked up towards at the ceiling, wondering why she had done this to herself.
"Come here. Stand in front of my desk and face me," Professor Snape demanded dully, as if he had done this before. Tonks did as she was told, clutching her books like an innocent school girl, or perhaps she was ready to use them as weapon. Snape sat behind his desk, thinking to himself while grading papers. Tonks' mind started to wander. If this is what he had in mind for detention, standing watching him grade papers, then it wasn't too bad. After a couple more minutes, it seemed like a pretty good idea for torture, as her feet was starting to hurt and her hands were getting sweaty from holding her books so tightly. Finally, Professor Snape stood up from his desk, pushing his chair back. The sound was loud in the quiet room. Tonks tried her best not to step back in fear. Snape made his way towards her, walking around her in a way similar to a shark. He seemed ready to dish out whatever he had in mind.
"You," he finally managed to get out. Tonks' brows rose in shock, wondering if this was all he had to say. "So... you think it's funny to mess with other people's lives," he finished his sentence. Okay, that's not too bad, Tonks thought to herself. "You thought it would be just hilarious to start a fund raiser about me and my sexual life." Oh, boy, here it comes, Tonks thought to herself and closed her eyes, bracing herself for whatever was going to happen. Suddenly, Professor Snape leaned closer. She could practically feel his presence near her, especially when he was breathing heavily in her face. Eww! Don't open your eyes! Don't open your eyes! Tonks thought wildly to herself, just as she suddenly felt his nose touch hers. Tonks eyes shot open and she stepped back, gasping.
"Oh gods! What's your problem!? What do you want me to say? I'm sorry? Fine, I'm sorry!" she said as she continued to step back. Professor Snape continued to step forward and smiled slightly.
"What is it now, Tonks? Still wondering if I like blokes?" Tonks' eyes widened as she dropped her books and ran towards the door yelling. She got stuck trying to unlock the door manually, so she grabbed her wand.
"Alohomora!" she exclaimed loudly as she flicked her wand at the lock. She looked back at her Potions teacher in fear. He was taking his wand out. She had just looked back at the door, when suddenly she felt her body being pulled away from the door, "ALOHOMORA!!!" she yelled desperately, pointing her wand towards the door and trying hard not to cry as she felt her body being pulled away from freedom.
"I'm not done talking to you, Tonks," Professor Snape said simply as she realized she was tied invisibly. Tonks felt dizzy, as if she was going to faint. Snape stood in front of her and smiled. "I haven't issued you your detention yet," he said angrily. His voice was as deep as ever. "You are to help Filch scrub the Owlery floors for two weeks, and since I've heard you want to be an Auror, you have to perform five spells every Auror must be capable of doing. If you fail to do this within two weeks, you'll be issued more detentions and more spells to learn. I can make you pay for the whole year, you know," he added, walking closer to her. "Believe me, I will make you suffer," he said, ending with distinct hatred. Tonks felt nauseous again, though she felt her binds being released. Tonks tried hard not to puke all over his floor as she made her way to her belongings, and hastily picked them up. "Oh, by the way, Miss Tonks, you've got three days to perform the first spell," he said with small grimace. He pointed his wand towards the door, and Tonks heard the door unlock. She ran towards the door as it swung open, and ran to the nearest bathroom as fast as her legs could carry her.