For Tonks, her day went from a dull snail's pace to a sudden helter-skelter of activity in practically half a minute flat. So much so, that she was left a little reeling and her brain had to catch up with the rest of her as she Disapparated with the same old familiar loud crack.
She'd had a pretty much sleepless night before, the aftermath of the attack in Portree resulting in a lot of paperwork and debriefings for all of the Aurors present, as well as a long lecture from Scrimgeour about how they needed to keep an eye out for the guy they'd seen on the screens, during which all Tonks could think about was how if Mad-Eye Moody was here, all he'd needed to do is bark, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" at the amassed Aurors and they'd all get the same message that Scrimgeour was trying to give them with just that.
And then of course it had been her turn to patrol Diagon Alley for a while. All Aurors had to take their turn doing this twice a week just to make sure that nobody started anything in the middle of such a crowded area. Yet, as usual, nothing happened.
Tonks was so proud to be an Auror and was the most recently graduated of the entire force… but boy did her job get boring sometimes.
And then, just as she had been about ready to head home for what she hoped would be a very long and relaxing bath, a silvery Patronus Charm in the shape of a bear came charging through the halls, roaring in Scrimgeour's voice - "All available Aurors report to the briefing room immediately!" - over and over again. Tonks almost tripped over her feet as she rushed to obey the emergency order, but was able to catch herself against a wall and hurry off.
"What's happening?" she called to fellow Auror, Savage, as he ran ahead of her.
"No clue!" Savage called back, and the two of them, along with many other Aurors, hurried into the briefing room, where Scrimgeour was waiting for them with a grim face.
"Listen up!" he announced even as more Aurors were dashing into the room. "I don't have time to explain in detail but we've received an emergency call from a wizard who lives in Brockenhurst down in New Forest in Hampshire. He claims that the town is under attack from a flock of giant birds he doesn't recognise. We're heading out with the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to help subdue this threat. Be prepared for a vicious attack from the air, but try not to kill any of the birds. But this is a Muggle residence so I need a perimeter set around the town - no Muggle must be allowed to leave until we have modified their memory. Now, let's head out."
That was the way it was in emergency situations. Minimal explanation - an Auror had to adapt quickly to the circumstances since dilly-dallying could result in the loss of innocent lives. Though Tonks had a million and one questions she would have liked to ask, like where these birds might have come from, she had no time to ask them and knew that Scrimgeour probably didn't know the answer anyway.
So, instead, Tonks merely thought the word 'Brockenhurst' clearly in her head since she'd never been there and suddenly she was there in the streets with more Aurors popping into existence in various places around her. Almost immediately she was deafened by the loud cawing and ducked as a shadow fell across her - two large green birds swooping low between the buildings, chasing a terrified dog.
With no time to gawp, Tonks' wand was in her hand in a flash and dashed out into the street, firing a round of quick Stunning Spells up at the birds. She was joined by other Aurors from nearby and one of the two crumpled to the ground with a crash, hit by multiple spells at once, while the other lost the use of its wing and spiralled down slightly, landing on its feet and turning to hiss at the nearest Auror, which happened to be Tonks herself, dashing towards her on slightly ungainly feet. Tonks rolled to the side and fired another Stunner up at the bird in mid-roll, hitting it square in the beak with a ragged squawk before keeling over to fall unconscious onto its front.
Tonks pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the amazed faces of Muggles peering through the windows and hurrying off into the town, aware of more birds wheeling overhead and searching for prospective targets. Other Aurors nearby Disapparated in order to go and form the perimeter but Tonks carried on with what she was doing, seeing another bird swooping low nearby and flinging an Incarcerous spell at it, dodging the bird's fall as it was tangled up in the ropes from the spell and fell to the street in a thrashing heap. Tonks left it there and hurried down another street, spotting more Aurors firing more spells at the birds and adding a few of her own to the mix, pretty sure she managed to take out another one.
The hell is going on here anyway, she thought to herself as she rolled out into the next street and fired an Impediment Jinx at another, freezing it in mid-air and allowing several others to Stun it so that when it unfroze it dropped like a stone.
Tonks then saw another bird nearby which was attempting to get in through the automatic door of a convenience store. It had its head and part of its torso through and was trying to push the door open with wider with one foot, snapping at people inside who were beating at it frantically with whatever they could while one man kept his hand down on the emergency close button for the door. So the Metamorphmagus did the only thing she could - Apparated right into the midst of the crowd inside and firing a Reductor Curse at the bird. It quite literally didn't know what hit it as it was blown backwards out of the door, rolling beak over tail until it collided with a parked car.
Tonks ignored the stunned looks on the faces of the Muggles as she slipped through the door to Stun the bird. She was getting used to it. This wasn't the first time that Muggles had seen her performing magic, and while she found their awe rather amusing now was really not the time for that.
But, it was right then, that Tonks spotted something that made herself pull up short and stare with awe.
The first thing she saw was a girl with what appeared to be blue hair that was tightly curled at the base, running through the street with several of the green birds in pursuit. But even as Tonks moved to help, the girl's body suddenly changed and liquified, turning to water while still retaining its form right before Tonks' eyes. Tonks openly gaped as the girl fired herself into the air on a jet of water from her feet, weaving down the street as the birds clattered after her, two of them colliding with each other head-on and dropping like stones.
But the girl then whirled around on a tight one-eighty in the air and created two large whips of water in her hands. She spun around to knock two of the birds askew with them before lashing another around a third bird's feet and hauling it into the side of a building. Another bird swept in at her but her form suddenly melted away and she split into two plumes of water that whooshed around either side of the bird before reuniting on the other side, solidifying into her human form again. She fired a blast of water from her palms at the bird, catching into into the back and sending it crashing into the street while the girl landed squarely on her feet.
And that was when Juvia Lockser and Nymphadora Tonks both locked eyes for the first time. Juvia, thinking Tonks was just another bystander, waved her arm frantically and yelled, "Take cover, Miss! Juvia will handle the birds!"
"Who are…?" Tonks started to ask but several of the birds Juvia had knocked aside before had gotten back up and were hissing like angry snakes, charging in towards both the women as they lifted themselves into the air once more. Juvia whirled around to face them and brought her arms up, channelling her magic as several drain grates along the side of the road burst upwards with great plumes of water from the pipes below that washed in on the birds and swamped them, crashing them together in a sodden heap.
"Ugh…" Juvia grimaced. "Juvia doesn't know if she wants to control that water again."
Abruptly a loud honking made both Juvia and Tonks turn around to see a car screeching around the corner, beset by two more birds - evidently someone who had just got here to a rather unwelcome sight. Juvia was already in motion as the car swerved wildly, shouting, "SIERRA!" and blasting herself as a burst of high pressure water to smash both the birds backwards but as she landed she saw the driver of the car had seemingly lost control and was swerving so wildly he was about to crash into the side of a building.
Juvia gasped and frantically searched her brain for something to stop the car but Tonks ran in and yelled, "IMPEDIMENTA!" pointing her wand at the car. The entire vehicle suddenly froze in mid-swerve, both its right wheels off the ground as if it was about to tip over. Tonks barrelled in and yanked the car door open, hauling the also frozen man right out of it and pulling him away before suddenly the car unfroze and smashed into a wall with a crumpling of metal.
Juvia's face lit up slightly. "You can use magic," she noted. "Was that some kind of time related magic perhaps? A holder type maybe, if you have to use that stick for it?"
Tonks deposited the dazed man on the side of the road and turned around to point her wand at Juvia, striding slowly towards her. "Holder type? I don't know what you're talking about, girl, but I'm going to have to ask you not to move, or by my authority as an Auror of the Ministry of Magic I will have to place you under arrest."
"Under arrest?" Juvia blanched. "Ministry of Magic? But… Juvia hasn't done anything wrong…"
"Please make it easier on both of us and just answer my questions," Tonks replied shortly. "And I've got many, but here are some of the big ones. Who are you? What the hell kind of magic was that you were using? And what have you got to do with these birds? And…"
It was right at that point where Tonks spotted something else about this girl. Her clothes were torn and her legs and arms were covered in bandages, but on her left leg some of those bandages had been torn away. And Tonks had just noticed a blue mark on her skin there, in a very distinctive shape. It took a moment, but her eyes widened when she realised she'd seen that mark before - on the golden sphere they'd found in Nottinghamshire the other day.
"And… what… is that symbol?"
...
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