Twisted (Charlie Weasley)

Chapter Thirty

The unexpected visit from Nymphadora Tonks was more than welcomed by Charlie, Artie and me... however, she wasn't the same Nymphadora Tonks that I had grown up with and I knew that the moment she knocked on the door of our cabin. Her hair was the same brown that Uncle Ted's hair had once been and the only time her hair went like that was when there was something very wrong with her. 

It didn't take a genius to see that she hadn't been sleeping. She must have slept the first several hours she was in Romania, which was good because it took Artie that long to recognize his aunt without her signature bubblegum pink locks that she normally rocked. It was both a blessing and a curse at that time because although it was good for him to be able to recognize someone who loved him so much, all he wanted was for her to wake up so she would make her funny faces with him. It was clear that Dora was in no mood to make any sort of faces at the time, however. I had never seen her looking so down in all the time that I had known her. 

Once she had finally awoken Charlie took Artie for a walk to the two of us would have time to catch up and really talk, as, despite Arthur's age, there were many things that I didn't like to say with him present. Any sort of cuss was one of them.

"As happy as I am to see you, Dora," I said softly, "What the bloody hell is wrong? I don't think I have ever seen you this down and I'm worried about you... If being an Auror is taking this much out of you maybe you should look at doing something else..."

Nymphadora Tonks quickly shook her head, "No! No, it isn't that Indigo... I'm in love."

Quickly shock ran through my body and my legs jammed into the table we sat at, spilling our tea everywhere and causing me to yell out a few choice words of profanity before I rubbed my hand over my knees in an attempt to sooth them. 

Once I had fully collected myself I looked over at the girl who had become my sister over the years, "Well shouldn't that be a good thing? That you are in love and happy?"

She let out a pitiful groan, "It should be... but the wanker won't admit that he feels the same way even though I know he does! He is just too damn stubborn to admit it!" 

I placed a hand on her knee which seemed to calm her down significantly. In all the time I had known Tonks I had never seen her get angry without her hair turning a vibrant red colour. This time it remained brown and that is when I knew that love went a bit her hard. 

"Who is this mysterious man?" I asked her with a playful smile, though Tonks didn't seem even the slightest bit amused by my tone. She hit her head down on the tea covered table, which would have made anyone in their right mind wince as her hair was soon covered in hot tea water.

When she lifted her head back up it was easy to tell she was holding back any sort of tears. Instantly without even knowing who this man was, I became angry with him. He had hurt my best friend in a way that I had never before seen her hurt. She was holding back tears, an in all the time I had known Tonks I couldn't think back to a time when I had seen her cry. 

"Remus Lupin." She told me before biting down on her lip. I was instantly surprised. This man was at least thirteen years older than us, and he too was clearly going through some things after the death of his close friend last summer. I didn't really have all that much time to react however as tears began to fall quickly from Tonks' eyes and I was trying my best to comfort her... but over the recent months the only crying I had dealt with other than my own had been from my infant son, and when he cried it either meant he was tired, hungry, lonely or needed his nappy being changed... I didn't know how to comfort the cries of a broken heart. 

Tonks and I talked a lot the first night she was in our home. We went from drinking tea to drinking firewhiskey as the hours went on, and although it seemed Charlie wanted to join in with our drinking he remained sober for the sake of our son who seemed more than confused by the presence of his aunt. 

"I don't care that he is a werewolf! It's only one night!" Tonks proclaimed as she took another sip of the throat burning liquid. "I have a whole week of hell once a month!"

I giggled, "Hallelujah!"

She cheered at this statement and we both took another big swig of our drinks. It had been years since the two of us had drunk like this, and at the time we had both tried our best to hide it from Andromeda and Ted as we had only just turned seventeen. 

Once Artie had gone to bed we tried our best to be quiet, but Charlie wasn't helping matters as he laughed at the two of us quite loudly as the evening went on. 

"He is a real git if he doesn't see how great you are Dora!" I said in a whisper yell after Charlie had shushed me once again, "Let's go to his house right now and teach him a lesson!"

Tonks laughed, "A lesson!"

Though she seemed to agree with my statement Charlie quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me into his body stopping me from going anywhere, "Why don't you guys teach him a lesson tomorrow? When you both have more energy to really stick it to him?"

At the time this made a lot of sense, and so somehow Charlie had managed to put Artie, Tonks and me all to bed before crawling into bed next to me himself. As soon as Charlie's arms wrapped protectively around my body I was knocked out and for the first time in a long time, I slept right until morning without even the slightest hint of a nightmare. 

Tonks' stay definitely brought some excitement to our day to day lives. Though her hair remained its brown colour throughout her stay she did have the occasional smile, especially when in the company of Artie who constantly flashed his hair pink as if he was trying to teach her how to do it once again. 

"I am sure Remus will come to his sense eventually." I told her softly, "I am sorry that you are going through this, however... it is strange seeing you so sad Dora. I don't really think I have been much help..."

She quickly shook her head, "No, believe me, you have Indy. Just being around you has perked me up some."

I gave her a quick hug, and couldn't help but be sad knowing she was leaving and I didn't know when I would see her again. There were only a few weeks until the winter holidays now and I knew that with Charlie's siblings home for the break I would want to bring Artie for a visit, I was just nervous about even the thought of being in England while I knew my mother was on the lose. 

I hadn't told anyone but I had been receiving letters for weeks. Always addressed to Indigo Lestrange, not Indigo Tonks, and I always burned them. It was rare that I read them first, but occasionally I did, just to see what they were threatening me within current times. The most frightening one I had read was from my father... in a letter where he seemed genuine. I knew though that I could not trust them... My son, almost a year old, was growing closer and closer to the age Neville Longbottom was when his parents were taken away by mine and the thought made me sick. 

As I got older the urge to reach out and apologize to Neville and Augusta Longbottom grew stronger and stronger. Even though I would never be able to take back what my parents did to their family, I wanted them to know that I was nothing like them. That I would fight for the right side in this war and that even though they were horrible people I wasn't. I wanted the boy to know that why I really became a healer. The reason I had never dared to speak out loud.

I wanted to find a way to undo what my parents had done. That I wanted to help the boy have his parents back, even if it was a little late.