WHO: Draco Malfoy and Nymphadora Tonks
WHAT: Draco needs help, and … surprise, surprise, he asks Tonks.
WHERE: Tonks’ office.
WHEN: Thursday, November 19, 1997
RATING: PG
STATUS: Complete



Draco ordinarily had no issue with Transfiguration work. In fact, though he wasn’t as good in it as he was in, say, Potions, he was usually between E and O. More of the former, but still. That was quite acceptable for the Malfoy heir.

But an A was not. ‘Acceptable’? Draco was not an ‘Acceptable’ student, and his recent batch of work had merely been A level, and he knew it. He might have excused himself for it, had he not known that personal distractions had cost him so much more the year previously. He had a lot left to prove.

It was reluctantly that he sought Tonks out at the end of his lessons, therefore, to see if there was private tutoring available to cross the border from an A to an E, if not an outright O. (No one had ever said Draco wasn’t obsessive, either.) He chose her rather than McGonagall without actively knowing why, either. Perhaps because she was his cousin, and because she’d not pushed. Perhaps because McGonagall could have simply felt guilty over last year – not that she’d ever have admitted it, nor would Draco have accepted such pity. Tonks was not in a position to pity him, and so therefore he thought he could deal more honestly with that. He rapped soundly upon the half-closed door and waited.

Tonks was spending the afternoon grading assignments. She truly hated having to assign essays, but sometimes theory was as necessary as the actual act of transfiguring. Nonetheless, she recalled being a young student just wanting to get on with the real learning and empathized with just how boring such homework could be. She had just graded one paper when she heard the knock. "Come in!" She smiled without even knowing who was entering. It was just Tonks' way.

Draco pushed the heavy oak door inward, liking this idea even less. "I need your help," he said, and had never disliked four words more. "And yes, I did just say that, please don't make me repeat it."

Though seeing Draco standing there threw Tonks for a loop, she didn't show it. She knew his recent marks weren't what the school expected, but after last year, they knew he was behind with reason. Hence, she simply smiled wider, standing up. "Come in, come in then. Tea? Biscuit, love?"

If they could have skipped the pleasantries, he would have. "Tea is fine," Draco replied, setting his books down as he entered. "Earl Grey, if you have it."

"Particular on your tea then?" Tonks smirked, pouring some of the liquid from the kettle she kept near her desk. "I've no idea what this is truthfully. It does taste splendid though." She handed him the flowered cup, pushing a chocolate biscuit toward him despite Draco not asking. Remus was brain-washing her with his idea of chocolate as a cure-all it seemed!

He lifted a brow as he accepted the cup and saw the biscuit on the plate. "Darjeeling," Draco returned, when he'd taken his first sip. "And it does taste fine. But why the chocolate?"

Giggling and blushing, Tonks shrugged. She looked much like a school-girl rather than a professor just then, but that was why so many of her students related. She had no idea if Draco felt the same, but Tonks never tried to be anyone but herself. No matter what. "Remus thinks chocolate helps pretty much any feeling. And you, my darling, must be pretty miserable to come asking my aid." She took a bite of her own snack, no judgment registering anywhere on her face.

"I'm not quite a darling," he said dryly, "but I do require your aid. If you can actually keep a straight face when you try." Draco took another sip, ignoring the biscuit. Chocolate or not - which was his favorite, not that he'd admit it - he wasn't going to eat it because Remus suggested it.

"Aw, are you a sweetheart?" Tonks didn't miss a beat. Sure, she had felt odd teaching her estranged cousin at the start of term, but, really, he was just another student. At least this is what she told herself to get through his class. "Now, why would I laugh? Pretty rotten of me, don't you say? Do you think I'm rotten, Draco?"

"Rotten is a subjective term," Draco informed her. "I, myself, was called rotten on twelve different occasions by four different nannies. To say the least. And laughing would not be rotten, it would be semi-sadistic, possibly." He exhaled, putting the cup down. "I am having difficulty with the current set of spells."

"I rather think my father might have bellowed that at me a time or two." Tonks winked, setting her cup down. "And laughing at someone in need is rather horrid, don't you agree?" She leaned down, pulling her text out of her bottom desk drawer. She came around the table, pulling a chair near. "What's the exact issue, sweetheart?"

"While I realise that Animagus spells are not within bounds, the capillatus spells are on the NEWTs," Draco explained, rather impatiently. He withdrew his wand, pointed it at his hair, and said the incantation with the proper swish-and-flick motion. In an instant, the platinum blonde locks (which, had he not been angry with his father, would have been spilling over his shoulders) turned as deep and brilliant a shade of scarlet as her own. And yet, he continued to look at her unhappily. "In about five minutes, the spell will turn my hair bright pink. I cannot maintain it. Therefore, I need your help."

At that, Tonks did giggle, but not meanly. "But you'd look cute with pink hair!"

Draco rolled his eyes. "You're a girl, you think anything with pink on it is cute," he countered.

"Not true! I knew some girls who would rather eat dirt than own anything pink when I was your age." Tonks shook her head, flicking her finger against some of his hair as it did indeed start going pink. "Oh, my, Draco, tell me. What do you think of when casting the spell?"

The question startled him. "I wasn't really thinking of anything in particular," he told her. "Ought I to have?"

She cocked her head, wondering if he actively kept thoughts at bay. She wouldn't blame him if he did. Poor child. Of age or not. "Well," she said carefully, "You have to want it, Draco. You have to allow it. It's quite personal. Transfiguration, I mean."

Magic that required personal commitment was not anathema to him. Several potions required absolute diligence and sacrifice of time. But sacrifice of personal space, for lack of a better word, was something he'd only encountered when working on the Dark Lord's plan. Requirement of his blood and his person ... he was uncomfortable with it. "I don't have to allow my hair to change colors," he returned, the words half-protest.

"Except you do if you wish to get a good mark." Tonks' tone held no malice. On the contrary. She flashed a grin. "What's so wrong with a few moments with red hair? It can be liberating, you know."

"That's not the point, the point is I don't have to allow it to change. It's hair," Draco countered, though his own tone lacked malice as well. "It's not actually a living thing."

"No, dead cells," Tonks agreed. "But most can't simply change at will. It takes effort to allow your body to do something it's not used to." On cue, her own hair went from red to pink to blue and back to red. "I had to learn to control this, you realise."

"You also had a natural advantage over the rest of the population." Draco tried not to stare; he'd never actually seen her do that up close and personal and it was disarmingly fascinating.

"Yes, but it wasn't easy to make it happen on cue. I had to learn to harness it. It would literally explode with my moods." She noticed he was failing at not staring and chuckled. "A freak of nature they used to call me."

He would have called her the same, once upon a time. Now he simply shrugged, though despite himself, he did reach out and touch a curling strand, watching it flash colors against his skin. "Well." Perhaps it was the word which broke him from touching her without permission. Which he realised, and immediately stiffened, pulling back as if he'd burned himself. "Sorry," he muttered tersely.

Tonks wondered what had changed, but, really, it wasn't exactly common for a student to touch a student so freely. But then again, nothing was normal about the pair facing each other just then. "It's quite alright, love." She rubbed her palms together, noting the winter chill was settling in. It would be a long winter. "Try to find a reason you'd like to change, Draco."

"How about for once because it's shit being me?"

He definitely recoiled, hearing himself. Apparently, as his brain was thinking the words, it was also telling his mouth to repeat them. And cursing in front of a teacher - more over, a woman - and thirdly, a blood relative who did or did not tolerate him, and who was moderately sane ... well. She applied to two of the three, anyway, and that was quite out of line. Draco looked away from her. "That is, I, uh, have not sorted a proper reason."

Tonks was shocked. Oh, not at the language, but at the fact that he had just blurted such a sentiment out. Her heart tugged as he recoiled and she wanted nothing more than to reach out and hug him. But she didn't. It wasn't proper for a professor to do so. Course she was more than just a teacher, but she held no right to comfort him as anything of the sort. For that, she kept a kind expression on her face, closing the text quietly. "There's nothing to apologise for, sweetheart. These things can take time. Why don't you try writing some reasons down tonight? Writing can help sort your mind sometimes." As gently as she could, she patted the Slytherin's knee. "We all want to change for one reason or another. The grass always seems greener and all."

Had she been Teddy, or someone closer, he would have flinched out right; but he couldn’t do that, either. He simply stiffened, face bloodless with embarrassment and aggravation. “Write it out. Well then.”

She noticed his demeanor; she wasn't a Hufflepuff for nothing, after all. She was very good at taking in expressions. She withdrew, clearing her throat. "We can meet for a bit tomorrow if you'd like. We can work out a schedule from there if you like."

"That sounds fine," Draco said, bending his head over the notebook to jot down a time. His hair was already regaining its normal platinum. "Four o'clock, is it?"

"Sounds fine. I'll even pick up some of your tea. Bring a biscuit you like though." She gestured toward the uneaten cookie. "Can't learn on an empty stomach."

"I'm not much for chocolate," Draco said, but quieter still. "I had far too much of it afterwards. Not after ..." He shook his head. "Never mind. You don't need to switch teas." The tone was abrupt, as if saying it like that could make the discomfort he was feeling less apparent.

"After you had to heal." She spoke the words softly, but her eyes flickered with a momentary sadness. No child should have been put through that. Not Draco or Harry or Hermione…

“That sounded suspiciously like pity,” Draco stated, glancing up at her with veiled eyes. “Careful, cousin. You are still a Ministry employee, are you not? Wouldn’t do to take up with my issues.”

She raised a brow at the term he used, but didn't comment. "I choose my own beliefs and my own assignments. No job is worth sacrificing morals for." Her face hardened in determination. She hated being associated with a corrupt Ministry. Shacklebolt might have meant well, but he was getting terrible advice.

No job is worth sacrificing morals for. Yeah, and no new world order. Not when those morals being sacrificed had mostly relied on killing his family and – Draco blocked those thoughts out, shunted them aside as he always did. Because it didn’t matter, it was over. “Agreed.” His voice had hardened on the word. “I suppose.”

"You are well entitled to your own beliefs, love." She pulled her now red hair off her face and into a pony with the band she always kept on her wrist. "The beauty of what I want my work to accomplish." Surprisingly, Tonks meant the words. She didn't think anyone was entitled to killing, but ideas? Those were free to anyone with a mind. She thought purity was a load of shite, but a free world was open to all. Education was important in establishing tolerance, but she'd never live happily in a world where anyone was denied his own thoughts.

His lips twisted into a wry semblance of a smile. “Beliefs are rather what got me in trouble to start with, cousin. I do not think mine would be so freely accepted as all that.”

"Accepted, maybe not. But though I might not agree with your point, I'll defend your right to say it." She found herself looking into Draco's face, taking in each feature. She hadn't previously, but being so close up…She blinked a few times, unnerved to see some resemblance there. "Just, you know, we can't go hexing everyone over disagreements."

"We could engage in debate over that point, but I have enough of a headache as it stands," Draco returned. "Besides, I don't want to hex everyone who disagrees with me. Just a few people."

"Tell you a secret? I think we all do sometimes." She covered her mouth with her hand, leaning over in a mock whisper. "We just can't is all!"

“And I disagree, I think we can.” For an instant, just one, he was the smirky little brat he had always been, at least by face alone. And then it faded, leaving something amused, wiser. “But perhaps I’m not to say that, hmm?”

"Noooot if you want to stay out of trouble." Tonks dared to pat his arm this time despite his earlier flinch. "Believe me, it can be hard, but you can do it. I did."

He didn't flinch this time, though he did stiffen slightly. Draco could no more help that than he could help being rich. "You are not a Slytherin," he pointed out. "We have a tendency to be blunt about who and what we don't like."

"And where does that get you?" She said it with no judgment, but, rather, lightheartedness one would use on a sibling. It was simply Tonks' way. Save the judgment for Judgment Day. "Once I called this girl ugly because she stole my doll and I was in awful trouble." She giggled, recalling her mother's embarrassed face. "I learned my lesson early on."

"Learning tact took a bit more time for me. And a few more sore bottoms." Draco remembered that none-too-fondly, but in retrospect, it amused him now.

Surprised, Tonks couldn't help but snort in laughing. "Well, sweetheart, guess you weren't always the pampered prince then." Kindly, she nudged his foot with hers.

"My parents were very insistent upon the point. Particularly my mother." His father was tactful, but only to a point; there was a certain standard that Lucius Malfoy had held up during Draco's childhood, and more often than not, the younger Malfoy had failed to reach that, for sheer impatience. Narcissa had tried, however, and Draco had attempted to live up to her standards. Tried was the keyword.

At the mention of Narcissa, Tonks' heart beat a little faster. Acting friendly toward Draco was one thing; hearing about the woman how had caused her mother so much pain was quite another. "Mums are funny like that." She looked down in her lap, disguising the momentary pain she felt.

Draco glanced at her, just because of the intonation change in her voice. It was, he had to admit, partly curiosity that made him look, too, because he'd never met Andromeda Tonks, and only rarely - once, as a matter of fact - remembered his mother saying anything about her sister at all.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, perhaps a little too quickly. He knew that portrait, still. The darker haired, older version of Tonks that had his mother's cheekbones, the same shape eyes. The same nose. They were so very much alike.

She nodded. "Right then." She bit her lip, looking at the boy. Well, young man really. Still, he seemed so young in a way. Old and young at once. "I'm glad you stopped by, Draco."

Feeling much as if this was a dismissal of sorts, Draco averted his gaze. "I needed the help," he stated, shrugging it off.

"Yeah, but…" She placed a finger under his chin, tilting his head so that they could look fully at each other. "I enjoyed it. We can…do more of the tea and less homework sometime if you'd like."

You have this rather annoying habit of trying to get to know me, he wanted to say. It was disconcerting, because no one had ever made that effort before. At least, no one who actually mattered.

It was that thought which gave him pause. "I guess," Draco replied, hesitance to the words. He was unsure of himself, in that moment, and unsure of her, as well.

"Only if you want." Tonks released his face, her eyes glistening with understanding and kindness. "Though I do get rather bored and all."

"I'll try to make sure you don't lack for amusement, cousin," Draco told her, flashing a reserved smile. "Though if you curse me for setting off fireworks on the grounds, I'll be offended."

"Get me fireworks and I'll get you out of detention." She took two of her fingers, kissed them, and planted them over her heart. "On my honor!"

"You are trying to have Para kill me." The name, so unconscious for so much of Draco's childhood, slipped now, as it often had when first starting Hogwarts. He didn't look embarrassed by it, either. "I'm sure Snape would love that, really."

"Para?" She asked, a confounded look crossing.

Draco sighed, but not in exasperation. "My godfather," he explained. " 'Para' is short for 'parrain,' which is godfather in French. I couldn't pronounce it when I was younger."

"That is the most adorable thing I've heart!" Tonks couldn't help squealing. "Oh my Helga…Severus…awww."

"Tell him I told you and you're like to have your head forcibly severed from your body," Draco warned her. "I oughtn't have called him that in school."

"That's silly. Family's family. But I won't tell him. Though it IS cute. Aw, did you sit in his lap and did he give you baths and read to you…I am telling you I know all he needs is a date!" Once she started, she really didn't stop.

Draco started to open his mouth and protest, halted as his brain tried to process the words, and closed it again. "No, you really did just say 'date.' I didn't mishear that. Dear Salazar."

Rubbing her palms together, she squealed again. "Yes! He deserves some happiness finally, don't you think? Remus thinks I need to mind myself, but…he needs help!"

".......No. Really."

Tonks heaved a sigh, pouting. "You blokes are all the same."

"Lupin would like to keep you alive, and I haven't enough words to paint a picture of what Snape would do to you if you tried," Draco pointed out. "He's not the dating type. Mother tried."

"He was distracted then." War and spying could that to a person, after all.

Distracted, Draco thought, was a very mild way to put it. "No, Tonks. Para ... is very particular about everything. If he had wanted a woman, he would have pursued one, regardless of the war. But he didn't, and he won't."

"Well, I am not...throwing birds at him," Tonks reasoned. "But some new robes, a bit of hair-styling..."

He fought a snicker. "Hair styling? Snape?"

"He just needs a teach..." Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "Draco!"

"If you're asking me to participate in this little scheme of yours, you can forget it." Draco shook his head emphatically. "He would have my hide for this."

"Oh PLEASE! Just a little bit!"

“I’m really concerned as to what this would entail,” he told her, flashing a smirk. “And yet, I’m going to ask anyway.”

"You know! Just suggest some new things. Or! Better yet? Give him some presents so he feels he has to wear them at least once." Tonks' eyes glittered in mischief and her smile was vibrant.

"You are definitely attempting to get me poisoned." He shook his head. "Have I really been that big of a pain?"

Tonks tapped her finger to her chin. "If I say yes will it get me what I want?"

"No, it will get you an injured look," Draco informed her.

"I don't see it." She peered closely, standing on her tiptoes.

He sighed. "You're not going to use this as blackmail, are you? Exchanging your help for my ... attempting to persuade Para that you aren't completely mental about this?"

At that, Tonks did pout. "Course not. That would make me a very mean professor indeed!”

Draco looked at her pointedly. "Cousin."

"Draco?" She batted her eyes innocently.

He very uncharacteristically slumped in defeat, letting out a groan.

Jumping in place, she clapped happily. "Yeah?"

"You so owe me for this," he said accusingly.

"Anything you want," Tonks promised, throwing her arms around him before she even realized what she was doing. "Thanks!"

Draco very carefully - and consciously - did not recoil, though he didn't respond. He didn't know how. Obviously, he knew the mechanics of hugging, but he wasn't quite sure if he ought to return the gesture, or what the protocol was, exactly. "Er. You're welcome," he said, the words awkward on his tongue.

"Sorry." She stepped back, blushing. "I, um, got excited." Not only had she just embraced a student, but a cousin no one acknowledged. It was surreal and she wasn't at all sure what to make of it all.

Draco shrugged, brushing off the gesture. "It's fine," he told her. "Really."

Though she nodded her head, Tonks still felt embarrassed by her outburst. Granted, it was purely Tonks, but it didn't seem proper given all the circumstances. She also couldn't help thinking about her mum and how much she'd probably enjoy being there. "Well, thanks again. I'm holding you to this, you know."

"I have no doubt. Tenacity is also a Hufflepuff trait." The corners of his eyes crinkled as he looked at her, a faint version of a smile at his lips.

"I take that as a compliment." Tonks smirked right back, the evidence of relation showing in their features at the moment.

"Seeing as I never compliment Hufflepuff, you ought to."

"Well you should," Tonks argued. "It's a brilliant House. But, I'll take what I can get and I'll also say I'm tickled pink to have one Draco Malfoy complimenting me."

He snorted. "It's not worth much, these days."

She sobered at those words. "To me it is."

Which was such a 'Puff thing to say that Draco had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "If you say so."

"I do. Now get and do well to remember it."

"Yes ma'am," he said mockingly.

"Go study, you little brat." Gently shoving him toward the door, she added, "And don't forget your promise!"

"Not even if it kills me, which, again, it probably will," he said pointedly, and retrieved his things before doing as commanded and heading out.

Once he was gone, Tonks shut the door. She was confused by their talk, but also surprisingly pleased. And hopeful.