Chapter Text
“Auror Tonks.” A deep, gravelly voice pulled Nymphadora Tonks out of a bored stupor. Embarrassed to be caught staring off into space, the young officer snapped her head up and met the eyes of Kingsley Shacklebot, her supervisor.
Tonks’s eyes were wary as she took in the stern face leaning over the top of her cubicle, and mentally kicked herself for allowing her mind to wander. “Yes, sir?” she asked, waiting for whatever punishment he decided to inflict. She flinched as his arm came over the top of the divider and he dropped a thick file on her desk.
“This is your next mission, officer. You leave in three days. Come see me after you’ve read through this and we’ll discuss your arrangements.” Kingsley’s arm slithered back out of view and he walked away before Tonks could think of a reply.
“Well, that wasn’t so bad,” she muttered to herself, dropping her gaze to the folder on her desk. She flopped back into her chair and blew the purple fringe of bangs out of her eyes before she scooped up the information. She flicked her fingers at her wireless, tuning it to play softly, then leaned back in her chair, propped her boots on her desk and settled in to read. The file was an inch thick, and Tonks wrinkled her nose as she opened it.
The photograph clipped to the inside caught her attention. It seemed to be some kind of staff photo- the man in it was dressed in formal robes, his expression serious. He wasn’t smiling, but his face wasn’t unpleasant either. His brown eyes looked sad as he watched the camera, and even though his lips had settled into a flat line, she could see that they curved generously when he did smile, given the laugh lines at the corners. His eyebrows were nicely shaped and curved gracefully away from a slightly crooked nose, and a jagged scar curved down the side of his face. Most of it was hidden under his longish sideburns, but she could see the white skin skirting the line of his jaw.
“Looks like he’s been in a few,” Tonks murmured to herself, continuing to study the picture. His hair was brown with small gray patches at the temples, and it fluttered gently at the nape of his neck as a breeze blew through the photograph. A sheaf of brown bangs lay across his forehead, just begging to be brushed away. As she watched, something caught his attention off camera, and she sucked in a breath at the transformation his face made when he smiled. His eyes crinkled at the corners and his lips curved as his white teeth flashed in a grin, and the clean-shaven skin turned slightly pink with amusement.
“Well, damn,” Tonks muttered. “This bloke is going to be easy on the eyes, at least.” She smiled, and then spent a few moments in distraction land as she plotted on how best to make him smile again. Realizing the trail her thoughts were taking, Tonks harrumphed loudly and tore her eyes away from the man’s face. She looked at the next page, avoiding the photo, and sucked in a breath.
“Remus John Lupin, lycanthrope,” the first line read in large, bold letters. Beneath the name, his date of birth, date of infection, known markings and family were listed.
“He was just a boy,” Tonks whispered, pity flooding her chest as she returned her gaze to his picture. She did some quick math and realized he was in his mid-thirties. She was not surprised when her initial estimate was off by more than a decade, given his condition. With a last glance at the now somber face looking back at her, Tonks leaned forward and began reading through the rest of the file.
“Student at Hogwarts, wonder how Dumbledore managed that,” she muttered, as her eyes scanned the page. The list of former occupations covered the rest of it, and she grimaced when she realized it was most likely due to his affliction. Werewolves had a hard life; being an Auror gave Tonks an inside look at how they suffered in their regular lives as well as in their transformed state. When she read the last entry, she shifted her eyes back to the photo.
“A professor, huh,” she said, smiling softly. “You look like a professor, a damn good one, I imagine, especially if Dumbledore recruited you.” Lupin’s face didn’t respond, and Tonks shook her head. “Talking to photographs now,” she muttered, glancing over her shoulder to see if anyone was listening. “They’ll think I’m a nutter for sure if they hear that.” Tonks squared her shoulders and planted her booted feet on the ground under her desk. She looked once more at Lupin’s photo, and then turned the page, resigning herself to an afternoon spent reading boring paperwork.
Tonks looked up from the file an hour later, her brain feeling like it was going to explode. Lupin was a werewolf, a former professor, a jack of all trades, and apparently, a known affiliate of Sirius Black, the mass murderer who had escaped from Azkaban the year before. Sirius Black also happened to be a second cousin to Nymphadora Tonks, on her mother’s side. The Auror’s office had been after him ever since the breakout and there hadn’t been a sighting of the villain in weeks. Tonks hadn’t been on the case- even though she had only met her cousin a few times before that fateful Halloween night, she was deemed to be too closely related to be objective, and was barred from helping with the search.
“Why now?” Tonks thought to herself, curious as to why this file had landed on her desk. The last page had been an outline of her mission- she was supposed to go undercover as a potions master in a small Irish village where Lupin had taken up residence. He reportedly bought his monthly Wolfsbane potion from the small apothecary shop, came to town once a week to buy his groceries and supplies, and otherwise kept to himself. He had resigned from his position at Hogwarts at the end of the last school term, and as far as she could tell from the file, he hadn’t found steady work since. Tonks’s mission was to watch him when he came to the village, and see who he talked to or met with, watch what he purchased, and determine if he had had any contact with Sirius Black. The mission seemed straight forward, but something was niggling at the back of her brain.
“I’ve never been allowed to touch the Sirius Black stuff, and now they want me to go undercover and get the inside scoop from one of his oldest friends?” Tonks argued with herself in her mind, desperate to accept the mission, but also curious as to why her, of all people? That question was answered a little while later when she finally made her way to Kingsley Shacklebot’s office. ‘
“Officer Tonks,” the deep voice greeted her when she poked his head around the door. “Come in. I trust you read the file?” He waved his wand at the chair across from him, and Tonks had to hold back a snicker at the pile of junk that flew across the room and landed on the small book case in the corner. She sat down, the file in her hand, and watched her boss watch her.
“I did, sir,” she said, her fingers tap dancing on the cover. “I have to ask, sir, but why me? I haven’t been on any part of the Sirius Black case due to my family background. If you want me to spy on this Lupin to find out where Black might be…” her voice trailed off.
Kingsley leaned back in his chair and braced his elbows on its arm rests. His fingers tented over his belly, and Tonks winced inwardly as she recognized the “instructor’s pose”. His lips twitched as he watched her thoughts slide across her face and knew exactly what she was thinking. Tonks flushed, and sat up straight in her chair. The silence dragged on, and Tonks wanted to shift in her seat to break the tension, but stubbornly held still. Finally, he leaned forward and rested his hands on the desk.
“We chose you, Tonks, specifically because you’ve been kept off the Black case. No one who knows Black knows you. You won’t be recognized, and you received an outstanding on your N.E.W.T’s in potions. You were at the top of your class for potions at Hogwarts and you’ve got the highest potions marks of the entire corps. You aren’t going to be simply taking up space in the apothecary- you will be brewing, among other things, Wolfsbane. I don’t have to tell you how difficult that particular brew is to do correctly. And, before you object- yes, we know you’re a metamorphagus. In this case, changing your appearance won’t help you.” He paused then, and let the information sink in.
Tonks watched him through shrewdly narrowed eyes. “What do you mean, changing my appearance won’t help?” she asked.
Kingsley smiled, waiting for it to dawn on the young Auror. He saw when it did and was pleased with his and Moody’s assessment when she proved her cleverness.
“Oh.” She said. “He’s a werewolf. That means his senses are heightened, right? And if they are, that means his nose is pretty unstoppable. Changing my appearance doesn’t change my scent.” Tonks looked down at the file in her hand when she finished speaking, processing her thoughts. “So,” she started, her eyes rising to his, her face stern. “Does that mean I’m going in as myself? Or in disguise?”
Shacklebot kept his face neutral even though he could feel the grin tugging. He bit the inside of his lip to quell the urge, and then replied “I thought I would leave that up to you, Tonks. You’ll be there for a while. Whatever appearance you choose, you’re going to have to hold it. We can’t risk him getting suspicious- he’s our only link to Black right now.”
Tonks nodded and sat back against her chair, pondering her appearance. She realized Kingsley was still staring at her and knew their conversation wasn’t over yet. “You said arrangements, sir? What kind of arrangements?”
Shacklebot and Tonks spent the next half hour going over her housing, employment and mission details. “You can cast a patronus, correct, officer?” Kingsley’s face gave nothing away as he asked the question.
Without answering, Tonks circled her wand and a jackrabbit bounded across the room, one ear bent and the other straight, its buck teeth appearing to grin. When Kingsley’s eyes met hers, they both laughed. “Well, that makes sense, actually,” he said, his voice friendly. “Very well then- we will communicate through Owl post, but if you need a faster response or need help with anything, or if you spot Black, send a patronus. We’ll dispatch a squad from the Ireland field office- they will get to you faster.”
Tonks nodded and let her patronus fizzle out. She gathered up the file on Lupin, stood and reached across the desk to shake Kingsley’s hand. “I won’t let you down, sir. If Lupin knows where Black is, I’ll get it out of him.” Tonks’s face was relaxed, but Kingsley could feel the energy pulsing when their hands met, and had to hold back another grin. “Moody did a damn fine job with this one,” he thought to himself, before pushing the silliness away and adopting his regular, stern face.
“All right then, officer. You leave in three days- finish up what paperwork is on your desk and leave your open cases with Lettie. I will see that they get reassigned. Take tomorrow and the next day to make your arrangements and let your family know you will be out of reach. This mission is top secret- don’t tell anyone where you’re going or why. I expect to see you again Monday morning before dawn, ready to leave. I will escort you to the field office in Ireland, and from there, someone will direct you to the village. You are to meet Mr. Liam McDonough at the apothecary shop Monday morning at eight am sharp.”
Tonks’s eyes flashed when she heard the time, and Kingsley had to bite the inside of his lip again to keep from laughing at the look she tried to hide from him. “Ha, before dawn. She won’t know what to do with herself, getting up that early,” he chortled silently. She nodded her head at him, and then strode out of the office, not noticing when Kingsley conjured his own patronus and sent it off with a hastily murmured message.