Dad was waiting in the kitchen when she got home, flipping absently through the newspaper. "Dora," he said, getting up. "I was starting to wonder where you'd got to! We should go, if we're going to make it to the show on... Dora, is something wrong?" He put the paper down and took her by the arm. "What's happened? Is it Remus?"

Tonks felt her face go red and wished she could morph it away. Had it been Remus for so long that Dad couldn't imagine her worrying about anything else? Had she even talked about anything else? "No," she said. "I saw him, but no. Where's Mum?"

"At work. The A and E is a bit swamped. They even had me in there for a bit, but I'm rubbish with physical problems."

"Why is it swamped?"

"Little things, but a lot of them. A lot of Dementor exposure. And it's just one of those days. People mis-brewing potions, having magical accidents, and so on. They happen from time to time. You know that."

"Right. I suppose I'm jumping to You-Know... Voldemort... every time something happens. We can meet Mum there. We'll catch the film another time." She started for the door.

Dad caught her by the shoulder. "What's happening?"

Tonks squeezed his hand. "I just understood something. I don't know why I never saw it before. I've been so caught up in... other things..." She winced at herself. "Let's talk to Mum. Back entrance to St. Mungo's?"

Dad nodded, and they went to the Apparition shelter in the back garden. A moment later, they were in the deserted alley outside of St. Mungo's, protected from Muggle view by permanent security charms. It was here that patients were brought in emergencies, when they couldn't come of their own accord. Dad used his talisman to let them in.

There was a great deal of screaming and moaning here, witches and wizards writhing on trolley beds, Healers rushing from one to another of them. In a group of comfortable chairs in a far corner, a group of listless people sat quietly, some of them crying. Dad looked at them with some concern and ducked away to talk to another Healer, who shook her head and showed him a few scrolls. He looked at her dubiously and came back. "Sorry, Dora," he said. "There are a few more Dementor exposure victims than there were when I left. Georgina said they're all taken care of, though--they've had a potion, and they're waiting for it to take effect--so we can find Mum."

It didn't take long, as Mum's voice rose suddenly over the din, "Dammit, try a Binding Hex if you have to!"

Tonks glanced over. Mum was kneeling over a patient on a trolley bed, furiously working charms over his throat. The flesh on his hands--all of him that Tonks could see--was erupting in green pustules.

Dad steered her away. "We'll wait for her in the staff room." He waved at Mum with a quick motion and pointed in that direction. Mum nodded curtly.

Tonks watched her work for a moment more before following him to the shabby lounge where Healers ate and rested during their rare down times. She knew the room well, but it had never become comfortable for her.

Two sets of curtains were drawn along the far wall, and she supposed Healers were sleeping behind them. She had very vague memories of sleeping behind one herself during the first war, when Mum and Dad had been finishing their apprenticeships and Granny Tonks had been traveling quite a lot. They'd sometimes left her with Sirius then, and sometimes with Remus. Peter Pettigrew had never agreed to take her, which she supposed in retrospect should have been suspicious, as he was usually eager to do what the others did, and he'd got on with her rather well. Once, she thought she might have stayed with James and Lily Potter--she had a spotty memory of a big house and a wild flight on a broomstick over the back garden--but she wasn't sure if that had actually been a caretaking situation. They'd tried to keep the number of babysitters small so she'd feel safe, so it was almost always Sirius and his friends. But they were all busy people, and it hadn't been at all unusual for her to simply come to work with her parents. After Granny Tonks had died, there had been no more sitters, and she had been with them all the time. Though she remembered much of her childhood in great detail, this room was nothing but a somewhat disturbing blur--someplace where she knew she came because there was danger out there somewhere.

She supposed it was appropriate enough to talk to them here. She chose a table far from the sleeping cubicles.

Dad, fully comfortable here, went to a locked trolley, popped a handful of Sickles into a collection box, and came back with pumpkin juice and treacle tarts. "Are you going to give me a hint?" he asked when he sat down across from her.

"I'll wait for Mum, if it's all right."

"All right." Dad took a sip of his pumpkin juice, then waved his wand lazily to create a privacy spell. People coming in would see them talking, but would be under the impression that they were discussing something else altogether, possibly politics or Quidditch scores. Given Dad, wandering staff members might imagine that they heard a heated conversation about thirty-year-old Muggle music. The Healers often used it to discuss patients when other people were about. "How is he?" he asked.

"What?"

"Remus. You said you saw him. And I understood what Narcissa was suggesting."

"He's in bad shape," Tonks said simply. "I'm so worried about him, Dad. I think he'll be all right... I hope... but he's so far away." She thought of him pushing her away, looking at her with wild eyes. "Dumbledore says to be patient with him."

"Does he?"

"I know, you think I should just drop it and move on."

Dad's eyes widened in surprise. "What? No. I never said such a thing."

"You're angry with him."

"My little girl hurts, I'm angry. But I understand what's happening now."

"You think I should be patient?"

"I think you know Remus better than I do, and quite possibly better than Dumbledore does. I think you should use your own judgment and do what seems right."

"Then you don't think I'm being silly and shallow and..."

"Of course not. We bond with one another for a reason, and do you think for a moment that if your mum tried to leave me 'for my own good,' I'd spend a second thinking about anything else? And before you imagine some vast altruistic answer, I can tell you from actual experience that I wouldn't. When we started going out at school, Bellatrix was furious. Andi thought I'd be better off without the whole Ancient and Most Noble clan after me, so she tried to freeze me out. I wouldn't let her. So I'm the last person who would tell you to walk away."

"Were you angry with Mum?"

"No. But my mother was furious. The people who love us are angry so we don't have to be."

Tonks shook her head. "I can't even imagine Granny Tonks being furious with anyone."

"You clearly weren't raised by the woman." He smiled and looked up. "And speaking of your mum..."

Tonks looked up. Mum was coming into the lounge, trying to clean some questionable substance from the front of her robes. She spotted them and came through the barrier of Dad's charm. She offered Tonks a weary smile as she sat down. "Sorry," she said. "Please don't try to brew Amortentia while under the influence of firewhiskey. You'll get the ingredients wrong, and they mix badly."

"I'll add that to my collection of odd prohibitions," Tonks said. "I'll file it somewhere near never charming my cat to walk around on its hind legs."

"That's what you get for having Healers for parents," Dad said. "Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't traded us in yet."

"Well, I tried, but there were too many Aurors' children in line ahead of me complaining that they have to remember a thousand rules about how to avoid dark wizards, so I gave up." She took a deep breath. "Speaking of which..."

"What is it?" Mum asked.

"I should have put this together before," Tonks said. "I knew Greyback was getting information on Remus and me from somewhere. He knew too much."

"Greyback?"

Tonks nodded. "Is the charm secure?"

Mum checked it and reinforced it. "You don't mean Fenrir Greyback?"

"Do you know another?"

"Oh, dear Lord."

"Greyback is close to Voldemort. Dumbledore wanted someone on the inside."

"Remus." Dad clenched his jaw. "I should have words with Dumbledore. That's a mess no matter what else he's--"

"I'm not talking about Remus. I mean, I am, but I was thinking too much of him. Of what it was from his point of view. I didn't think about where Greyback was getting his information, but now I know. Why would Narcissa have that article? Why would she know what it meant?"

Mum went pale. "I know Lucius knew him. And Narcissa has said that a friend of Lucius's has been 'looking after' her. I never thought of Greyback. I can't imagine she'd have him in the house."

"That's the thing," Tonks said. "I doubt it's her choice. Voldemort uses Greyback to keep people in line. If he's with the Malfoys, it's probably to keep an eye on them. And if Narcissa is thinking of trying to bolt with any information she has, he's there to threaten people she cares about. Including any of Dumbledore's known associates with whom she's been having bloody tea every other minute." She grimaced. "If Voldemort suspects she's giving you information, then it's you Greyback will go after."

"No. No, Narcissa's not about to start passing me secrets," Mum said. "She... I lost Narcissa a long time ago."

"She's not very lost if she's showing up as often as she is," Dad said.

"Do you really think she might... I mean... she was never as deep into it as Bellatrix. Maybe--"

"Mum, this isn't a hopeful conversation, really."

"But if she is wavering--"

"Mum."

"She's not, though. It's a moot point. She's lonely, that's all, and--"

"It doesn't matter." Tonks stood up. "Whether she's really thinking of turning or just doing something that might make Voldemort think she might be thinking of it, you're the ones who are going to end up paying for it. Greyback is watching her for a reason, and the whole lot of them are more paranoid every day than Moody is in his worst nightmares. I want you both to leave."

"What?" Dad shook his head. "Dora, you don't get to make that call."

"I know. I'm telling you what I want, so you can think about it. I'm worried. I'm scared of something happening to you because of Mum's sisters."

"They've always been there..."

"But you've always been their concern. If it looks like Narcissa might bolt in your direction, you turn into Voldemort's concern. I don't know if she realizes it, or cares if she does, but I do."

"If my sister needs me, I should be there," Mum said.

Dad turned on her, disbelieving. "After what your sisters did to you, you owe them nothing."

"I know. But if Narcissa--"

"Mum, please. If Narcissa wants to get out, there are safer places for her to do it."

"She wouldn't know them..."

"I know them. If she makes the slightest move toward leaving, I'll whisk her off to the Order of the Phoenix, and they can hide her, but I'm not letting her get you killed because she's got cold feet. You don't owe her that." She sat down again and took her parents' hands. "They've been asking for Mum in Sri Lanka, that Morphosia fever business, haven't they?"

"Yes, but--"

"Will you think about going? Both of you?"

Dad frowned. "I don't like leaving you just now."

"I'll be all right."

"We'll talk about it," Dad said. "That's all I'll promise."

"I guess that's all I can ask."

Dad checked his watch. "Now that we've had our little talk about this, I think we still have time to catch a show. What do you say, Andi? Your shift is over, isn't it?"

Mum pulled herself out of her worry and said, thinly, "This isn't that alien business is it?"

"Absolutely. Explosions, races with the clock, lots of good stuff. Back me up, Dora."

"I--"

"If we're to consider leaving, then I'm bloody well going to have a night with my family. All right?"

So they ended up going to see a Muggle film together, a brainless affair which Tonks would remember very little of by the time they finished a late after-show meal, and made a point of being together as much as possible for the remainder of her stay. She returned to Hogsmeade Sunday evening, and was unsurprised on Wednesday morning to get a letter from Mum informing her--with no reference at all to their talk--that she and Dad had volunteered to help with the Morphosia outbreak halfway around the world. By Friday, they were gone.

"I visited Minerva McGonagall this afternoon," Dawlish announced on Friday evening. "I also spoke to the caretaker, the Squib fellow--"

"Filch," Tonks filled in.

"Yes," Dawlish said absently, as though nothing could be less important than knowing the man's name. "Finch. Right. He'll see to it that the students don't bring anything out of the castle that they shouldn't. Plenty of things stored there that could be mixed with items they can find here to cause trouble."

"That's good."

"Glad you approve," Proudfoot sneered.

Tonks didn't bother answering. "We'll want to shore up any of the entrances to Zonko's. I don't want to waste time chasing them out of there. Or having them trip our sensors."

"What would they want in there?"

"An empty building and a lot of teenagers who usually have a lot of eyes on them?"

"Oh," Dawlish sputtered. "Right, yes. Of course. I'll reinforce those spells tonight."

"They don't go up to the Shrieking Shack," Savage said. "And that's been empty practically since it was built, except for whatever moved in there."

"Doesn't it strike anyone as odd that we haven't heard a thing from there?" Proudfoot asked. "A reputation like that, and no one's even tried to use it. I haven't even heard the ghosts."

"I haven't even heard of the ghosts since my fourth year," Savage said. "They were bellowing quite a lot, and then nothing at all."

"The charms are secure on it," Tonks said quickly. "I... well, I worried about that the other night. I don't remember any of us going up there, but I didn't want to take the chance of students deciding to get separated by going there and..." She let it trail off. Too much elaboration wasn't generally a good idea, and the others weren't listening to her anyway. "I think the places we most need to watch are here, and at the Three Broomsticks, and at Madam Puddifoot's. Oh, and Honeydukes. That's where they go."

"And the apothecary," Dawlish said, not arguing. "We're not here to babysit them, though. We're here to watch for people who don't belong here. And I don't just want to scare them away. I want to catch them. I want us patrolling the area Disillusioned." He looked up sharply. "You have a problem with that, Tonks?"

"No. No problem at all," Tonks said, slightly discomfited with the idea that she wouldn't have to argue this point with Dawlish; she'd fully expected him to demand that they patrol visibly. "Just thinking that they're likely to run into us, though."

"So be careful."

"And try not to trip over them," Proudfoot added.

Tonks rolled her eyes at him, and they worked out the remainder of the plans. It was close to eleven when she got back to her room, and found Errol panting on her desk. A little scroll was attached to his leg, and she recognized Remus's handwriting before she freed it.

Tonks, he had written, and she winced. Don't answer this. Greyback is suspicious enough already; I won't be able to go to the Burrow until after the moon. I wish we had parted less awkwardly, and that this note was of a more personal nature. I owe you that much. But I'm writing about Harry. Dumbledore has told me that he's bearing up well after Sirius's death, but I know Harry--he doesn't tell people everything. I'm worried about him disturbing your tracking of Dung, but I'm also simply worried about him. His temper has been known to snap, and he's done things he later regrets. The year I was there, when he believed Sirius had betrayed James and Lily, he was quite sincere in his intent to kill Sirius himself, and that was at the age of thirteen. I doubt it would occur to him to kill Dung just for stealing, but I could certainly see him getting himself into some trouble. I suppose I'm asking you to look out for him as a person, if you could. It's probably a moot point--the likelihood of him spotting Dung and noticing the thefts is rather small--but if he does, please, calm him down if he seems to need it.

There was a wide break in the spacing, and another paragraph, written in small, cramped letters with what seemed to be a different quill (it had a scratch in the middle that left the letters oddly lined).

I've no right to ask anything of you, I know that. You've already given more than I should have ever accepted. But this is for Harry. He's a decent boy, and I'd like to not give him any more trouble than he's already been given through no choice of his own.

Tonks crumpled the parchment. "I'd rather do it for you, you prat," she muttered to no one, and got ready for bed.

She awoke to the sound of sleet slapping against her windows, and a riled gray sky above. Her window was slightly open for some air, and a frigid breeze was whistling in. She slammed it shut.

"Perfect," she muttered, pulling on a heavy jumper over the jeans she'd slept in. "Just perfect. They'll be bloody wrapped up on top of it!"

The others were no happier when she met them at breakfast. Savage was to wander up and down the street where Madam Puddifoot's was, from the shop to the post office, Proudfoot to take the apothecary, and Tonks was to wander between Honeydukes and the Three Broomsticks. Curiously, Dawlish had decided he was best used here at the Hog's Head. "Warm and dry?" Proudfoot asked, but Dawlish didn't answer.

Tonks waited for them to become engaged in conversation, then excused herself to the bar to get a glass of juice. "Aberforth?" she whispered.

Aberforth raised an eyebrow at her and waved his wand vaguely. "Aye, Missie?"

Tonks assumed he'd cast a privacy charm, but kept her voice low anyway. "Keep an eye out for Dung. Steer him toward the Three Broomsticks and Honeydukes if you can."

"Right, Miss. You like orange juice, right?"

"Yes."

"Ought to have something hot, going out in that mess."

"Orange juice will be fine."

"I'll keep it in mind," Aberforth said. "I'll keep it right in the front of my head."

It was as good a response as she was likely to get in company, so she just took her juice and left, draining it without bothering to go back to her colleagues. She went to Honeydukes and found it still closed, though the family was shouting to one another as they frantically stocked the shelves. She crossed to the Three Broomsticks, where Madam Rosmerta was standing in the door, looking at the sky in a troubled way. She had a galleon in her hand and was worrying at it with her thumbnail.

"I reckon they'll actually crowd your place on a day like this," Tonks said.

Rosmerta turned, looking a bit dazed. "Yes," she said. "I suppose they will. It's a horrible day, though. Horrible."

"Are you all right?"

"Oh, I'm fine. The cold is harder when you get older."

"Pish-posh," Tonks said lightly. "You're still a girl."

Rosmerta laughed wearily. "I wasn't a girl when your father was in the pub flirting with me, dearie."

"Well, you hide it well. You must tell me all of your secrets someday."

"A lady never tells her secrets," Rosmerta said, not quite smiling.

"Well, I'll be looking after your place today. I'll be Disillusioned, but I'll be around. If you see anything odd, just call for me."

"You'll be here?"

"Yes. Just watching out."

"I don't think it's necessary. My pub is safe."

"I'm sure it is, but I'll keep a lookout anyway. Are you sure you're all right?"

"It's the rain. That's all. Feels gray, doesn't it?" She went inside.

An hour later, Tonks was Disillusioned, and the first waves of Hogwarts students were rushing into town, splashing in the sleety puddles and hurrying into the shelter of the businesses. She saw several stop briefly to look at Zonko's, and they seemed to deflate at the sight of it, and left with their heads down and their shoulders slumped. Nearly all of them had collars pulled up around their faces and scarves drawn up even further. Hats were pulled down over hair, and the entire Hogwarts student body was rendered unrecognizable.

Tonks watched them moving back and forth from a bench near the Three Broomsticks, her eyes narrowed, running a quick spell on each passing student to make sure there no magical disguises, and maintaining a non-specific but powerful one looking for dark objects. None of the students seemed to be carrying anything dangerous, and none were disguised adults trying to slip in among the children. If Harry was among them, Tonks couldn't tell. She saw one fluff of curly hair that she thought was Hermione, but when she got close, she saw that the girl looked nothing at all like her, and was in the company of four other girls and no boys, something Tonks couldn't even imagine for Hermione.

"...not to do your business in my pub?"

She looked up sharply.

Aberforth Dumbledore was frog-marching Mundungus Fletcher out into the rain, pushing him toward the Three Broomsticks. Dung was carrying a patched suitcase with a sprung hinge and protesting, "Aw, but really, Aberforth... I got nothing dangerous here! Bunch of bric-a-brac and baubles! You've nothing to worry about."

Aberforth squinted at him. "You want to rob headquarters, that's your business, Fletcher. But I'll be buggered if you make a profit from it under my roof. Are we clear?"

Dung was grumbling something when Tonks's ears suddenly started to ring loudly--the signal from her detection spell for Dark Objects. She looked up to see an owl rising from behind the pub, a package tied to its feet.

Perfect timing, she thought. Dung, or whatever's setting off the spell.

But that wasn't a choice. Keeping track of Dung was looking for a hopeful lead; a Dark Object was a definite threat. She grimaced and ran down the wide, muddy alley between the pub and Rosmerta's house and came out near the dustbins. She barely registered the other pair of feet slapping in the puddles and the slight distortion in the air before she heard Savage snap out, "Dammit!"

"Savage, I've got it."

"It was that owl," Savage said, and his footsteps headed for the wall. "Got away from me at the post office. Did it drop its package here?"

"It had one at the post office? There was still one when it--"

The ringing in her ears stopped.

"Counterspell," Savage said. "Either that, or the owl took it out of range of either of us."

"It was definitely leaving. Do you suppose someone was getting rid of something? I--"

"Harry!"

The cry came from the front. It was Hermione Granger.

"It's Harry Potter," she said.

Savage stopped pacing in the mud. "One or the other is a ruse. I'll try to break the counterspell, if that's what stopped it. You check on Potter."

She nodded and went back down the alley, coming out as Hermione shrieked, "Harry, you mustn't!"

Tonks began to run. Harry wasn't in any danger, but he had pinned Mundungus against the wall of the Three Broomsticks, cutting off his air. Dung was flailing and turning blue, and Harry's face was contorted beyond recognition.

She raised her wand and used a Banishing charm to push Harry off. It made a horrible cracking sound in the afternoon.

Dung slithered away, grabbed his suitcase, and Apparated.

Harry spun around, yelling frantically. "COME BACK YOU THIEVING--"

The detection spell had gone dead. Mundungus was gone. She hadn't spotted Harry in time. Everything else was going wrong--she could at least do what Remus asked.

"There's no point, Harry," she said, breaking the Disillusionment. Ron and Hermione looked at her solemnly; Harry also looked at her, too angry to be surprised at seeing her. "Mundungus will probably be in London by now. There's no point yelling."

"He nicked Sirius's stuff! Nicked it!"

Tonks looked around, hoping whoever had sent the owl was nowhere nearby to hear this particular outburst--whether people believed Sirius had been innocent or guilty, they would certainly wonder how Harry happened to know what his stuff was or that Dung had nicked it. She wanted to be angry--it was careless in the extreme--but she was the one who'd failed to spot him on time, and Remus had been right... Harry was on the edge. His eyes were burning. She couldn't tell if he was crying in the sleet, but it didn't matter. This was the Harry Potter who'd led five other children into the Department of Mysteries last year. And that had been an unmitigated disaster.

"But still," she said, reaching out to him, speaking as calmly as she could. Her ears started ringing slightly again. It was coming from every direction. Harry pulled away, not letting her get close to him. His shoulders hunched, arms crossed, eyes hurt and bewildered, he seemed a younger, darker-haired version of Remus. "You should get out of the cold," she said, and then she heard Savage running up the alley.

Frustrated, Harry stormed into the Three Broomsticks, Ron in his wake. Hermione paused and looked at her sadly, but didn't say anything before going inside.

Savage drew up beside her, panting. She could see the distortion in the air, but he was more clearly visible by the white puffs of air rapidly escaping him. "You're not Disillusioned," he said.

"Judgment call."

Savage took a few more breaths. "Good one." He broke the spell and became visible. "We need to get Proudfoot and Dawlish. There's something here, but whoever has it scattered the detection spell. It could be anywhere. Anywhere at all."

Tonks was on the far side of Hogsmeade, tracking the owl's flight path, when Katie Bell began to scream. She'd got as far as a steep and rocky path that led beside a rushing stream (it cascaded in a narrow waterfall perhaps half a mile downstream) and was scanning the sky for the bloody bird when it happened, and the echoing hills and valleys made it impossible to Apparate there by sound. She Apparated instead to the center of the village, and by the time she got to the site, Hagrid had carried the girl away. Students wove around her with dazed and frightened faces. Savage had arrived before her and was conducting perfunctory interviews ("Though McGonagall decided that the actual witnesses were better off being interviewed by her," he muttered when he finished filling her in), and she joined him, speaking to the confused students as calmly as she could, stopping them on the road as they drifted back to school.

Neville Longbottom and the girl with long, lank hair--the girl he'd come off the Hogwarts Express with in September--were walking together. The girl frowned when Tonks stopped them. "I know you, don't I?"

"She was at the you-know-where," Neville said. "Hurt. She's Professor Lupin's friend." He smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry, but I don't remember your name."

"Tonks. I'm an Auror."

"Oh, right. This is Luna. She was with us."

"I do remember you," Luna said. "I thought that Professor Lupin was terribly worried. You were very badly hurt."

Tonks nodded. "Yes, I suppose I was. Re--" She caught herself. "Professor Lupin has told me that you both helped quite a lot in getting us all out. Thank you."

"Well, we were hardly hurt," Neville said.

"I like Professor Lupin," Luna said. "I'd like him to come back."

Join the club, Tonks thought, but didn't say. "Did either of you see anything before Katie left?"

"Sorry, no." Neville frowned. "I don't know why anyone would want to hurt Katie. She's just a Quidditch player. I mean, nice and all that, but no one would be, you know, out to get her or whatnot."

"It might be the Ministry," Luna said wisely. "They control the Quidditch leagues, you know."

"Er..." Neville blinked at her, rather alarmed, then looked at Tonks helplessly. "Luna thinks of a lot of unusual things," he said.

"I sometimes think unusual things myself," Tonks said.

Luna looked at her with interest. "Do you know anything about tooth decay?"

Neville led her away before she could explain this question.

None of the other students had seen anything, and most of the shopkeepers had been so harried with the crowd that they wouldn't have noticed Bellatrix Lestrange tap-dancing on the cobblestones, wearing pigtails and playing the bagpipes. When she got back to the Hog's Head, soaked to the skin and weary, Dawlish snapped that McGonagall had insisted on giving the school's report to Tonks alone, and that she was to report to the Headmaster's office Monday night at ten.

"I expect a full report on whatever they've found," he said. "No games."

A few more details leaked out on Sunday--McGonagall sent official word that the curse came from a necklace which one student reported having seen in a Knockturn Alley shop (no Auror past the first week of training would have assumed any shop other than Borgin and Burkes)--and the victim was brought to Hogsmeade for transportation to St. Mungo's. Tonks visited her on Monday, but she hadn't yet regained consciousness. Her parents took the opportunity to scream at the whole of the Auror Division for allowing such a thing to happen.

Since she had been publicly invited to the school, instead of using the Shrieking Shack entrance, she presented herself at the main gate at nine-forty-five. McGonagall met her and led her up to the castle, saying little beyond a perfunctory greeting. They stopped to open the doors and Tonks said, "I'm sorry it got by us. We knew it was there, but--"

McGonagall led her inside and set a brisk pace toward Dumbledore's office. "You were looking for it when Miss Bell found it. I know. Dawlish told me. It's all we could ask. If she and her friend hadn't argued about it, it would certainly have been detected at our gate."

"She shouldn't have got it in the first place."

"A contingent of only four Aurors cannot be expected to monitor all the movements of nearly two hundred students, while being alert to the actions of the various adults around them. No one on Earth would have anticipated Katie Bell as a target, so she was naturally not being keenly watched."

They arrived at Dumbledore's office a moment later and McGonagall gave the password, then stepped back. "Professor Dumbledore would like to speak to you alone."

"Oh." Tonks's heart sped up.

McGonagall smiled. "If you've finished your business before eleven, do come visit. I usually have tea and biscuits before I retire."

"Oh, thank you. I should probably get back though. I have paperwork."

"Ah."

"Maybe some other time, though. You could tell me about that time you tried to run away from school... remember, you mentioned it in the Forest?"

"Oh, dear... I think I've told quite enough about that." She winked, then turned and walked away.

Tonks went up the stairs.

The door to Dumbledore's office was open, and Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, staring into a Pensieve, a faint smile on his face. He looked up when Tonks came in. "Hello, Nymphadora," he said, giving her a smile. "Please sit down."

"Thank you." She nodded at the Pensieve. "Looking for clues?"

"Alas, no. I had the Pensieve out for the purpose of a private lesson, and I'm afraid I simply kept it out and have been looking back on happier days. A wonderful advantage of growing old is that there are a great many of them to choose from."

"You have led an interesting life."

"Ah, but the happy memories are rarely those which seem interesting to others. I was recalling a visit to a sweetshop. My brother took me. I thought he was quite old at the time." He raised his eyebrows. "You're welcome to try one of your own, if you'd like."

"I'd be afraid to look at happy memories. They might not be as happy as I like to remember them. When I'm just thinking about them, they can be perfect."

"And yet, you seem not to be thinking of them at all." He shook his head. "I won't insist, Nymphadora. An old man's hobbies aren't likely to be of interest to such a young girl, and it's not why I've called you here."

She nodded. "Is it about Katie Bell? I visited her at St. Mungo's earlier today."

"Yes, her parents told me so when I went. Her mother asked me to give your her apology for being sharp with you. She understands that everything that could have been done was being done."

"Thank you, sir."

Dumbledore took a last glance into the Pensieve, then Levitated it back to a cupboard near his desk. He steepled his fingers and took a deep breath. "Mundungus has disappeared."

"Yes, I know, I'm sorry, sir. There was a great deal of activity, and I didn't see Harry Potter..."

"No, no. You behaved quite appropriately. I meant only that I don't see any point in continuing to look for him. It was always a somewhat tenuous connection at any rate. I'd like to free you of any obligation you may feel to follow up on this."

Tonks nodded. "I am sorry. Remus asked me to find Harry ahead of time and warn him so he wouldn't be surprised--"

"If Remus was capable of getting such a message to you, I'm quite sure he could have found a way to get it to Harry, and I personally believe Harry would have valued such a communication. If all else had failed, he could have sent it to me through Alastor Moody. I am not at Hogwarts as often as I would like to be, but I am here often enough for that. Harry does not know you especially well and would have no reason to be less shocked at receiving the intelligence from you that he was at discovering it for himself."

"Well, it could have been explained..."

"That someone was stealing from Sirius's home and we were allowing it? No, Nymphadora. I don't think that could have been explained to Harry in such a way that it would not, at least initially, have caused him to lose his temper." Dumbledore smiled. "Professor McGonagall and I also both might have told him without any prodding from Remus, but neither of us did so. You were in a most unlikely position to have conveyed that message, so I must assume that Remus had other reasons for asking you in particular."

Tonks nodded stiffly. "You know what Greyback did to him."

"Yes."

"Is it necessary for him to stay?"

"No. And I told him so. But he was quite determined to go back."

"Stubborn man."

"Quite."

"Did you just need to talk to me about Dung?"

Dumbledore hesitated before speaking, and his voice, when he spoke, was slow and deliberate. "Am I to gather from Andromeda's sudden desire to work abroad--in the midst of a Muggle civil war--that you are aware that Fenrir Greyback is watching your aunt?"

"I figured it out, yes. You know?"

"I know. Lord Voldemort is not, I imagine, particularly pleased with Lucius after what happened in the Department of Mysteries. Narcissa is in a precarious position."

"Yes. And I wanted my mother out of the way of it."

"I can appreciate it, and would have suggested it myself if I'd thought such a suggestion would be entertained. You're apparently quite persuasive."

"I had to be. They're my parents. And if I've learned nothing else this year, I've learned that I don't want anyone I love in Greyback's reach." She sniffed. "I suppose I'd get Narcissa out of it if I could see a good way to do it. But I think I'd have to kidnap her."

"True. She shows little desire to be rescued." Dumbledore took a package from the desk. A corner was ripped, and Tonks could see a glittering opal in the candlelight. "This is the necklace that was sent here, which Katie Bell intercepted. If its advertising is to be believed, it is responsible for several deaths."

Tonks frowned at this apparent non-sequitur. "Have you found a way to undo the curse?"

"Not yet. It's a tricky business, removing a curse from an object." He looked down at his hand. "No. For now, I will simply find a safe place for it."

"Do you have any idea who might have sent it?"

"I'm well aware of who sent it."

"Who?" Tonks stood. "We need to know. Whoever it was attempted murder and needs to be arrested!"

"It was a clumsy attempt that had no chance of succeeding, and would have caused no harm had the package not ripped. Of course, that might have caused even greater harm--opening it properly may have simply ended with it spilled out onto a desk--but Miss Bell was not the intended target."

"An unintended victim was a completely foreseeable consequence."

Dumbledore nodded absently. "I know. I've thought about this carefully, Nymphadora. And I won't tell you my conclusions, because it would ask you to compromise the very values of your profession, not merely the procedures. It would be hiding not an innocent person, but a guilty one. But a person in far deeper trouble than he has deserved through his own actions, and I would prefer not to give him to the tender mercies of Azkaban. Or--quite a bit more likely--Lord Voldemort. So I will not give him to the Aurors. I am sorry if that puts you in an awkward position."

"Just a bit," Tonks said, feeling both angry and a little ashamed of the feeling. "Why am I here? What did you need?"

"This has confirmed something that I feared. I believe that..." He sighed. "A student is involved."

"It would make sense from the Death Eaters' perspective," Tonks said. "They can't get anyone in here, but someone who's already here--" She stopped, blinking. "Greyback and Narcissa. And Lucius was asking for news."

"You've seen Lucius?"

"Yes, I've seen Lucius."

"Nymphadora, for your own peace of mind, do not follow your thoughts to their conclusion." He leaned forward. "There is no way for me to avoid being away from the school this year. And we will need greater protection than has been in place thus far during those occasions when I am not here."

"You need someone to arrest the little--"

Dumbledore held up his hand. "I will not give a student over to Voldemort's punishment. They are all in my care, and this one needs protection on his own behalf as much as others may need protection from him."

Tonks bit her tongue and counted to ten in her head before speaking. "What do you need from me?"

"I spoke to Minerva McGonagall about this. She believes the best course is to have Order members on patrol when I am otherwise occupied. It would require being Disillusioned; I don't want it common knowledge that Order members are here. There is no one who can be here at all times, and most of our current members have quite a lot to do already. I believe Bill Weasley would be willing to help. The Weasley twins as well... you disagree?"

Tonks was shaking her head. "The twins are too close to being students here. Even with the best of intentions, I'm sure they'd find it difficult not to speak their younger friends."

"A valid point." Dumbledore nodded to himself. "I'd like you to bring in help," he said. "Your friends--the Apcarnes--if either or both are willing. Possibly your friend Sanjiv, who has the added benefit of being local. Fleur Delacour knows the school fairly well after a year here. Others you deem appropriate."

"All right." Tonks stood up. "Is that all?"

"Yes. I am sorry," Dumbledore said, standing up and coming around the desk, leading her to the door. "I know you may disagree with my choice here, and it puts you in an awkward position. But a boy's life is in danger."

Tonks nodded, not even sure where she stood. "When do you want this to start?"

Dumbledore had started back toward his desk. He stopped, but didn't turn around. "Not yet. There is something I need to discuss with Remus before it begins. I'll speak to him on Sunday when he checks in at Molly's." He looked over his shoulder and smiled. "Did you have any messages?"

"Not that you can deliver."

"No, I imagine not. Good night, Nymphadora."

"Good night, sir."

Tonks left the castle without seeing anyone else, and left the grounds by way of the tunnel under the Whomping Willow.

She stayed in the Shrieking Shack.