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It's Tonks, NOT Nymphadora by scriboergosum [Reviews - 0]
McGonigall briskly walked into the dark, crowded hallway to see where the commotion was coming from and to find the culprit behind it all. Her tartan robes fluttered behind her, making it appear as though she was about to transfigure into a tartan sheet fluttering on a clothesline. Her appearance would have been slightly comical had she not had such a stern look in her face. She was about to tell off someone and any student, Gryffindor or not, knew that getting told off by McGonigall was no laughing matter. “What is the meaning of this? Someone answer me now before I decide to give you all detentions for a month!” Several students looked at her with faces now livid. It was a quarter past midnight and they knew they were all in for a detention whether or not they gave her an explanation. Students were by no means allowed to wander the halls of Hogwarts at night, especially since Hogwart’s history was littered with stories of students finding harm or death from night-time excursions. “If someone does not tell me what is going on, I will take you all to Dumbledore immediately and deduct one hundred points from all of the houses, yes I do mean it Quigsby,” she added to a rather surly seventh year who suddenly didn’t look so brazen. “Professor, it was me. I told them all to come,” a rather tall, awkward sixth year finally answered as she rubbed her arm. She moved forward, head hung as though she expected McGonigall’s glare to kill her at any moment. Anyone else who had been in her position would have thought the same, especially if they had been gotten a detention that very day for horseplay. “That settles it, five points from Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw for each student. And you,” she pointed to the girl, “you come with me to the Headmaster’s office so you can explain to him personally why you would do something so foolish as to invite so many people to a party in an hour like this-especially when you have been clearly ordered not to wander around Hogwarts during the night. Now all the rest of you BED! I’ll get Filch to deal with you all personally in the morning.” A red-haired boy intentionally bumped into the tall girl. “Good luck Tonks,” he whispered almost inaudibly with a smile. “Well at least with all of the houses being here, the lost points shouldn’t really affect our chance for the cup, Bernard Quigsby muttered grudgingly as though McGonigall couldn’t hear him. “Make it 70 points from Ravenclaw for your cheek Quigsby!” McGonigall snapped as she took Tonks by the arm she had fallen on when she clumsily tripped on her own robes. She winced with pain, but didn’t dare say anything about it. She was already in enough trouble as it was, and she didn’t need McGonigall adding insult to injury by reminding her of how clumsy she was. Not that she needed reminding now. “Frankly, I am ashamed at your behavior. I’d expect this from a first year, but a sixth year? What have you to say for yourself?” Tonks didn’t respond because a large lump had just formed in her throat, choking any form of apology. All she could do was stare at the floor as her shaky knees did what they could to keep up with Professor McGonigall. Still she couldn’t help but wonder how Professor McGonigall had found out about their midnight excursion to the Forbidden Corridor, and how she had suddenly seemed to evanesce into the scene just as Tonks had gotten up from her fall. Luckily, McGonigall seemed to have no idea that Tonks was about to show them all a secret passageway that led to a rather queer room on the seventh floor that seemed to appear out of nowhere when it was sought. “Dumbledore probably knows,” she thought, swallowing hard as she recalled the time he had found out she was a metamorphmagi after she tried to pull a prank on a few haughty Slytherin boys by transforming into Filch and going after them with a club. They had had it coming and Dumbledore was ecstatic at her ability than enraged for her blatant mischief. Still, she did have to clean out bedpans for an entire week and it was a week she spent cursing herself for being so clumsy. Fortunately, Hogwarts had elves to wash her robes. “Orange Pop,” McGonigall whispered before a statue, before it disappeared from view and was replaced with an ascending spiral staircase. “Good evening Minerva, and what do I owe this great pleasure of being awoken from an old man’s rest,” he smiled cheerfully as McGonigall walked into his office with Tonks by her side. His eyes twinkled behind his half-moon spectacles, hinting some amusement on his part toward what had to the scariest moment in Tonks’ stay at Hogwarts. Well, besides her meeting her mother’s family when she was five or so…but that was another story in itself. “Nymphadora Tonks, still have an appetite for trouble I see?” he added with a congenial grin, resting his eyes on Tonks. She couldn’t help but wince as she heard her name. She hated it, but fortunately Professor Dumbledore had turned his attention to McGonigall. “I believe I am fully capable of settling this matter Minerva.” “Very well then. Good night.” Professor Dumbledore waited for McGonigall to exit before he finally told Tonks to have a seat. She barely made it to the nearest chair without knocking over one of his many magical gadgets. She looked around at the all too familiar office and saw that not much had changed since her last visit. Fawkes was still there, sleeping on its perch. Her Great-Great-however many Great uncle Phineas was hanging near a rather pretty slumbering witch. She hadn’t heard much about him, save he had been a very strict headmaster in his day. It was probably best that he stayed asleep because he would have never approved of her hair’s new violent shade of magenta. Nor would he have approved her getting in trouble twice in the same day. “So, why are you here this time Nymphadora?” Dumbledore asked as he twiddled his thumbs and looked at her as though he expected the most adventurous tale to take wing from her mouth. The lump started to loosen itself up, but she still couldn’t speak in a tone much louder than a faint squeak. “Sorry for wandering about the halls at night Professor-oh- and sorry for getting everyone else-” Her words were stumbling all over the place, and her apology sounded like little more than a hurried jumble of words than anything else. “Take your time.” “Well, I’m sorry Professor, but I had found this passage to this room in the seventh floor and I thought it would be fun to invite a couple of people to come and explore it. I had already planned this before I got in trouble earlier today-” “And I suppose such adventures require minimum visibility and maximum danger?” “Well, I- Well, I didn’t think it would be such a bloody disaster-oh-forgive me for the language Professor! I didn’t mean it!” “I’ll forgive it this time. Hmm… It sounds to me that you fancied a lark and were unaware of the dangers of sneaking out far beyond the set curfew. I cannot help but emphasize the importance that students should be in bed at these hours. Still, based on my experience as Headmaster of Hogwarts, I have come to the conclusion that the more we emphasize any rule, the more likely it is to be broken. I do remember when I was about your age and the headmaster of my time told us that boys were forbidden from visiting the girl’s dormitories. He warned us quite often, but there were always a few of us with sore bottoms, even after we found out about the enchanted stairs. It always did seem unfair that the girls could enter our dormitories,” he paused as he recalled a memory from a distant past and his face lit up and Tonks could have sworn she heard a chuckle from one of the paintings nearby (it appeared as though they would all be awake soon). “But still those were different times and this is a different situation.” Dumbledore concluded after a brief digression. “The matter of your punishment has to be arranged still, and I believe you of all know best what punishment is most suited for you.” “Do you mean-?” “Yes, you are quite capable of understanding the severity of your transgression and I feel you are mature enough to give yourself a suitable punishment. I’ll have to admit, however, that lines are quite dull,” he added with a twinkle in his eye. Tonks couldn’t help but smile at the suggestion, but her conscience had never felt heavier. Here she was, getting in trouble twice in the same day, and she was given the freedom of choosing her own punishment. She knew that she would have been expelled by any other Headmaster, and that she did deserve the worst punishment she could think of. Still, she could get off with a slap on the wrist…but Dumbledore had been so understanding… The severity of her crime as well as the leniency of her punishment did not bode well for her conscience. However, she knew what she had to do… Clean bedpans for two weeks. |
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