Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shit.

Shit!

Double shit!

Why the FUCK was he doing this again?

Why did he always have to poke his nose into things that shouldn’t affect him?

And now here he was.

Percy Ignatius “can’t keep out of other people’s business” Weasley.

Loitering in the threshold of the Auror Department with possibly the most important lead into the ongoing investigation to track down ex-Deatheaters since before the Battle of Hogwarts.

And what’s worse?

He’s face to face with the one auror, apart from his brother (and his brother’s insane friends), that is solely driven to be personally and persistently irritating to him alone.

Nymphadora Tonks had successfully cornered him into a stalemate: he couldn’t push forward into the department to give his findings to the head auror, or hell, even his brother and co, and he certainly couldn’t turn back now. Not when he might be holding the key to the single most important thing he’s ever discovered. Nymphadora Tonks was looking right at him, then to the dossier clutched to his chest, and back up to his face, currently mismatched eyes swirling colours full of curiosity, mischief, and something sharper he couldn’t quite place. Something not quite natural played at the corner of the smirk she shot his way. Percy was subconsciously reminded of a muggle book Hermione and Harry (mostly Hermione) were ranting about late one cosy evening, drenched in the golden light of The Burrow. What was it again? Alice in Wonderland. The Cheshire cat and his permanent grin.

The silence had dragged on for too long. Unspoken words hung between them, bristling in the air. It seemed to cling and tug at them both, begging either of them to speak. Tonks’ features shifted almost imperceptibly, as if all her questions were trying to force their way out from under her skin. Percy needed to say something, anything, before one of those questions broke loose and he was forced to come up with an answer.

“Is,” he winced at the unexpected dryness in his throat, coughing politely before trying again “Is Ronald here? I have some, uh, urgent- important business to discuss with him.” He hated how uncharacteristically uncertain he sounded, and prayed his mouth would stop uselessly babbling before he managed to shove his whole foot in it, even as it continued moving without his consent “Or Potter? Granger, even?”

Tonks, to their credit, didn’t seem phased by his odd behaviour and thankfully didn’t immediately start mocking him for his sudden and unprecedented lack of social decorum. Instead, they stood patiently and waited for Percy’s mouth to finally stop spewing names, a twinkle of mirth shining in the corner of their eye.

“Sorry, they ditched ‘bout an hour ago.” She shrugged, then continued conspiratorially “Don’t tell ‘Bards!” a beat of silence, then, like an afterthought “Or the Minister!”

That caused a startled choking noise out of Percy, even as he carefully trained his face to stay impassive.

Tonks continued without comment “Harry’s probably off making goo-goo kissy faces at his ever-so-smart-and-handsome healer boyfriend. Again. Dunno about Ron and Hermione. Hopefully they’re not snogging in some abandoned corner of the Department of Mysteries or anything.”

Percy immediately wished he could obliviate the mental image that sentence produced. He was already sick of being forced to watch his family be obnoxiously lovey-dovey with their significant others, and that was only at family gatherings.

“Is this a family thing? Or an auror thing? ‘Cause, y’know, if it is an auror thing, I could help?” Before Percy could even think of responding, Tonks continued at breakneck speed, seemingly unable to stand even the idea of silence now that the dam had been broken. Energy fizzed out of her. It sparked and cracked, causing the ends of their (currently) candyfloss pink and blue curls to fray. Words were steadily streaming out of their mouth like a flood; what began as a trickle very quickly grew into a boiling sea that threatened to sink Percy’s carefully maintained raft of small talk. “You probably want to discuss this with someone you trust, which is why you were asking about your brother and his buddies, right? Not that you necessarily trust me! We’re not exactly friends, we hardly even know each other really. It’s just with The Order and everything- well, its just- “

The quickly nonsensical string of words ended abruptly as Percy twitched his hand up to cut them off. (Why the hell not?) Glancing further into the department his dear brother should be in right now, he made his decision and returned his attention back to Tonks. He sighed, jerking his head back in the direction of his own office. “Not here.” He clipped.

He didn’t need to look back to know she was following him when he began marching back to his office. The promise of intrigue lit Tonks up from the inside. Every colour of their features dialled up in intensity for just a second before settling back down into shades (barely) tolerable to the human eye. Percy could hear her practically skipping through the halls just behind him as he focused on leading them through the well-travelled route from their department to his own, plotting out his next words very carefully as he traced his eyes across the dark polished stone.

It didn’t take nearly enough time to finally make it to his office, and he allowed Tonks the opportunity to take in his workspace as he busied himself with locking the doors and drawing the blinds by hand, just so he could buy himself a couple more precious seconds of time. Finally, he turned and slapped the folder onto his desk with a satisfying thwack. All at once, he found there was little else he could do to preoccupy his hands, so allowed them to thoughtlessly twiddle away as he took the last of his few spare seconds to imagine how Tonks might see the space he called his office: what might she be able to glean from the rich oak furniture soaked in emerald green and silver inlays; the only part of his space he let boast his Slytherin pride? What did she think of the numerous bookshelves leaden heavy with volumes and volumes of dense and clearly well-loved books, very carefully positioned so that a casual observer would never notice how truly unorganized it was? He spied the stack of parchment, and the few unread tomes piled beside the quill set on his desk and hoped it portrayed a semblance of order.

The more he looked around his office, the harder Percy prayed Tonks wasn’t as sharp eyed as he suspected she secretly was. He clearly saw all the specks of chaos he tried to discreetly tuck away, and by the way a newly acquired dimple creased in pleasure when Tonks’ eyes settled upon a select few books Percy had shoved back into place not 3 hours ago, she clearly saw them too. He very much doubted his prayers would be answered today. Or ever, knowing his luck.

He needed to have finished coming up with an explanation for dragging the first auror he recognised out of work by now, but as his fingers mindlessly dragged in threads of magic from the air, he found himself hopelessly lacking in words for the second time that day. He was just about to open his mouth anyway and offer some barely cobbled together string of words, plan be damned (how very Gryffindor. His family’s influence must finally be rubbing off on him), but before he could-

“Wanna explain what this is about, now? Because listen, if this is about to become some weird, kinky sex thing, or you’re about to indoctrinate me into some creepy Weasley Family cult thing, I just need a heads up. And maybe a five-minute head start.” Too late. Tonks was already speaking a mile a minute the second they noticed Percy was done finding reasons to look occupied.

“What?! NO!” Percy found himself already regretting even considering confiding in Tonks. He managed to disguise the scandalised blush steadily creeping up his ears by rounding his desk and snatching the file back up. He focused on reorganising its contents; the data that he had already spent too much time preparing so he could hand it off to someone with more authority than himself, or this insane witch who was now apparently (hopefully) his accomplice.

“I don’t even know why I’m involving you. This should really go to your superior, but, well, knowing Robarts and his ilk, they won’t know how to handle this situation any better than I can, and in fact, they’ll probably handle it a lot worse now that I’m thinking about it- That’s a whole issue for another day- “ Just like before, Percy could feel his mouth running away from him, and only barely managed to drag it back to the topic at hand. “It’s like you said: I want this to be handled by someone competent, hence the reason I was asking for my br- for Ronald, Potter, and Granger. Seeing as they’re not here right now, you seemed as good a choice as any.”

“Wow, you really know how to make a girl feel loved.” Tonks interjected, deadpan, although from the way they lounged further into the chair across from him, it was clear no ill-will was felt. If anything, they looked a little too comfortable, arms and legs splayed akimbo across the intricately carved upholstery, face playfully relaxed, like a cat who’s found a particularly warm sunbeam, only the bright burning fire of intrigue in their eyes gave any indication that she was paying attention at all.

She was currently tracing the path his hands made as they fluttered through the air, evidently of their own free will. Percy absently wondered if he’d been hit with a jinx of some kind. (What if his hands were secretly being puppeteered by Cornish pixies, or something?)

“This is all highly confidential,” Percy continued, deciding to ignore Tonks’ comment “so I’ll need you to keep this close to the chest, even if either one of us end up deciding to hand this case off to someone else. Something tells me I’m not going to have to swear you to secrecy (unlike some people)” mainly his brothers, but he would never say that out loud. He was getting off topic again.

“This is a matter of utmost delicacy and careful planning. In fact, this may be the most important case of both our careers.” He finally handed over the case to the auror now reclining her feet on his desk. There was a pregnant pause as Tonks skimmed its contents.

Percy watched her brows lift just a fraction, then crease in tight concentration. Only when it seemed they had glimpsed at all the most important pieces of evidence did he push forward. “I think I may have uncovered the whereabouts of all of the most dangerous remaining Deatheathers not currently held under custody.”

“Merlin’s ballsack…” Tonks looked pale. Unnaturally so. All the colour drained out of her as if she had sprung a leak and it had bled out across the floor. The greyscale effect didn’t last long however, saturation attempting to blind him as she leapt to her feet on elastic bones (literally). “Merlin’s Ballsack!” she repeated “I’ve been hacking away at this Deatheater thing since before Boy Wonder turned No-Nose-Voldy into confetti! Sorry carrots, as much as I’d love to hear you rant about how ineffectual my boss is, you made literally the only available choice picking me as your confidant! What were the chances of that?”

She was grinning wildly. Percy couldn’t speak. “Only now, since no one’s gonna be breathing down my neck, and it really doesn’t seem likely you’re gonna bother telling any of the higher-ups about this, we can work together on this! Doesn’t that sound like fun? Weasley and Tonks, amateur (and less than amateur) detectives!”

At some point, Tonks had managed to drag themself over the desk that separated them, slinging her arm across Percy’s neck and striking her other hand out as if to paint him a view of this scenario. She pressed her cheek against his, and from the corner of his eye he could just make out the familiar sight of freckles, green eyes, and red hair appear on their features.

He hurriedly pushed to get them off, and they let go without a fight. His skin felt weird where she touched him, and he straightened his lapel and collar as an excuse to rub away the phantom sensation.

He wanted to argue. He wanted to hand this off to someone else and never think about Deatheaters, or Tonks, or investigating ever again. And yet, something inside him balked at the idea.

Perhaps it was the knowledge that both Tonks and he knew no one could do a better job at finding these assholes.

Perhaps it was the fact that he had already gotten this far, and he wanted to see it to the end. Or perhaps, just maybe, he just wanted some adventure.

Why shouldn’t he?

The rest of his family had their fair share of it:

Bill fought a werewolf.

Charlie got to live with dragons.

Fred and George singlehandedly almost blew up a teacher, not to mention, began a lucrative business out of pocket without ever graduating.

Ginny faced Voldemort in her first year at Hogwarts.

And Ron? Well, you don’t get to be best friends with The Boy Who Lived without your fair share of trouble.

And what had Percy done? He’d gotten a nice, cushy job at the Ministry the first chance he could, decided to be a dick for no reason whatsoever, and only managed to get his shit together at the last possible moment to stop his family from dying in the final battle.

What the hell?

It was Tonks.

What’s the worst that could happen?

Chapter Text

A week had gone by, and it was already worryingly common for Tonks to body slam their way into Percy’s office and throw themself into the first chair-shaped object they saw. By this point, Percy was beginning to get used to the disturbance. He shot them a withering look from the top of his paperwork but didn’t say anything as he flicked a hand towards his enchanted teapot – a Christmas gift from a few years back, if he remembered correctly. It floated passively towards Tonks, and they gave it an impish grin. Before it even reached the witch, they had already begun the mile-long list of requirements for today’s (dubiously palatable, or even edible) beverage:

“-salted caramel mocha latte with 2 pumps of vanilla, 2 pumps of white chocolate mocha and 2 pumps of hazelnut- “About halfway through, Percy attempted to comprehend what Tonks was asking from his poor teakettle. Unsuccessfully.

“-half whole milk and half breve with whipped cream extra hot, extra foam, extra caramel drizzle, extra salt, add a scoop of vanilla bean powder. Thank you.”

Percy very quickly decided to give up on deciphering his new... Acquaintance? Partner? Friend? Colleague. Deciphering his colleague’s strange new concoction.

The teapot diligently poured them a cup of... whatever the hell it was Tonks had just said (Percy was quite certain they had made half of it up on the spot, and the other half had been there just to disgust him). The sickly-sweet scent of syrup drifted languidly from the concoction in little tendrils of white steam that clung to the inside of Percy’s nostrils. He reflexively scrunched his nose, but made no comment, even as Tonks drained the cup at superhuman speeds while maintaining vigilant eye contact with him.

He clamped down on the “Careful, it’s hot!” comment that threatened to spill (he was beginning to sound just like his mother)

“Tonks.” He greeted impassively.

“I’ve had an idea!” They beamed. Percy’s raised an eyebrow at that, the unspoken sarcasm unmistakable. “Shut up, don’t look at me like that.” Tonks chided.

“Go on, then.”

“Right! Okay, so! As we know, you discovered a potential lead to the location of Voldy’s Fanclub-”

“Correct, and please don’t call them that.”

“Whatever. You found this lead because of a leak in the system-”

“I had assumed it was some sort of money laundering scheme.”

“Naturally. So, you chased it up and found links to- “

“An unlicensed potions shop in Knockturn Alley, yes. Why are we going over this again?”

“Stop interrupting me.” Tonks waggled a finger at Percy and continued. “Anyways~! What I’m trying to get at is we can have all the paperwork we want, but without hard evidence that this is in fact a Deatheater hideout, and not just another boring, sleazy money laundering business gone tits up, there’s nothing I can do to gather the appropriate resources needed to take it down.”

“So, what are you suggesting?”

“A stakeout!”

Bloody hell.

That evening, Percy found himself lingering just outside some dingy excuse for a café, rain pitifully drizzling in typical English fashion. He wasn’t waiting long, but that didn’t stop the damp from slowly seeping into his bones. By the time Tonks arrived, his nicely tailored suit was well and truly ruined, and his hair was sagging limply into his eyes.

Tonks couldn’t hold back the bright burst of laughter that burbled out of them “Oh dear, you look like a drowned rat!” They giggled “Why didn’t you grab an umbrella? Or wait for me inside?”

Percy found there wasn’t a reasonable excuse other than the fact that he wanted to see them as soon as possible from the street. Instead of causing himself further embarrassment by stumbling through some half-baked, rambling justification, he spun around into the café whilst muttering a quick drying spell under his breath.

Tonks followed a moment later, and swiftly located a little nook in the corner that allowed the perfect view to their suspected Deatheater hide-out: a closed down potions shop, weather beaten wooden boards covering its windows. The whole shop slummed forwards like damp cardboard in the rain. The glass fogged, condensation dripped from the windows of the diner, obscuring Percy’s view of the old shop.

A wave of their wand, and Tonks had paid for and levitated forth cups of tea for the pair of them. It was cheap and watery, but it was hot, and Percy let the heat seep through his hands and settle in his bones. Tonks had curled up by the window and was similarly cradling their drink. It didn’t take long for a comfortable silence to blanket the pair.

That silence wouldn’t last long however, as Percy soon noticed a restless energy begin to build up inside his Partner. What started as a subtle shifting of positions, the gradual decent into changing each detail of their appearance in increasingly uncanny ways, eventually boiled over into full-blown fidgeting, and then into an insistent need to mess with the items on the table: the salt and pepper shakers danced in circles. The napkin dispenser was meticulously emptied and restocked multiple times. The condiments were all rigorously shaken. And what was worst of all? In an act of volatile boredom, Tonks systematically emptied every last one of the sugar packets into their now barely lukewarm tea and proceeded to drink the whole thing in one go, much to Percy’s horror.

Percy finally snapped. “Nope. That’s it. I can’t do it. I don’t care if this could save all of wizard kind. I can’t sit here if you’re going to do stuff like that!”

“I’m. Bored.” Tonks snapped back, slamming their hands on the table. “We’ve been here for hours? Days-?!”

“About an hour.”

“And nothing’s happened! And you won’t even talk to me, either! I’m starting to go a little stir-crazy over here!”

“Yeah, I might have noticed.”

“Don’t sass me, that’s my job!” Tonks rebutted indignantly “I know! How about we play a getting-to-know-you game? 20 questions, I’ll start: Favourite colour?”

“I’m not playing around. This is serious, we can’t afford any distractions.”

“Who put a stick up your ass? But, okay, fine. No games.” They crossed their arms, sulkily looking once again out of the window. It was getting difficult to see through the thick condensation. Tonks inevitably began drawing little faces, watching the water droplets race down the glass.

Percy sighed. A pouting Tonks was a thousand times worse than a bored Tonks.

“… Green.”

As predicted, Tonks immediately perked up again, stars literally shining in their now-green eyes.

“Favourite season?”

“Isn’t it my turn to ask a question?”

“Oh, right. Go ahead. That first one didn’t count.”

Tonks blushed sheepishly. Percy rolled his eyes. “Favourite book?”

“Hah! Of course you’d ask that, nerd.” Tonks teased good-naturedly. “The Tales of Beedle the Bard. I know it’s a kid’s book, but it’s a classic! Now my question: Favourite season?”

“Spring.” Percy answered quickly. “And for the record, I don’t mind that it’s a kid’s book. I mind that it’s a boring kid’s book. You couldn’t pick something less well known? The seaside or the countryside?”

“Oh no, don’t tell me that you’re a hipster! I mean, I knew you were a little pretentious, but come on man! Things are mainstream for a reason!” Tonks defended. “Also, the seaside. You can find pretty shells.”

“I’m not a-! Whatever, it’s your turn to ask a question.”

“Right. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”

“What is this, a job interview?” Percy quirked his eyebrow. His teacup was empty. He was about to wave over the waitress to get a refill when something caught his eye. “Tonks.” He hissed in a lowered tone, drawing their attention to the front of the potions shop.

Two men in dark robes loitered outside the abandoned building for some time. The way they interacted suggested that they knew each other. Percy thought it might’ve been a coincidence, and perhaps they would move along, but just when he was convinced of that, the old door creaked open, and the two men slipped inside.

“Bingo.” Tonks grinned, slipping out of the booth. Percy scrambled to follow them.

Time to get some answers, once and for all…