Nymphadora Tonks walked the long, dark hallway that led to the Department of Mysteries. Just why Kingsley had decided that she should be the one to talk to the Unspeakables, she wasn’t sure. He insisted that it would be good for her and help her get her mind back on work.

It had been a rough few months. She had been in a deep depression that had sucked all the happiness from her. Just when she thought things couldn’t get worse, the head of the Order of the Phoenix, Albus Dumbledore had been killed. Her mind was still trying to get a grasp of that. How were they ever supposed to defeat Voldemort without him?

It is funny how when things get dark, a single ray of sunlight can come through the darkness. It is hard to believe that Dumbledore’s death was the necessary element to open the eyes of the man she loved, but she wasn’t going to argue with him. Hadn’t Dumbledore said that love was the most powerful force? She was just relieved to finally have Remus Lupin by her side when they could manage to get time together. Though dark times lay ahead, her attitude was back to being happy and her hair was once again pink due to the hope she held for the future.

Tonks tried to gather her thoughts back to the task at hand. She was supposed to enter the Department of Mysteries and head towards the room with the Veil. Depression started creeping back into her awareness as she thought about the last time she had been in that room. That had been the night they had lost her cousin, Sirius. Injury had kept her out of the loop in the Order and at work in the Auror office for a few weeks after that night.

Reaching out, Tonks turned the handle that led into the Department of Mysteries. As she stepped through the door, she tripped over her own feet. Catching her balance before she fell, she looked up to see that the doors had already begun spinning. As they came to a stop, she opened the door to her left and stepped through into the next room.




As the door closed behind Tonks, darkness closed in around her. All the hope for the future she had been feeling just a moment before ceased and hopelessness worse then what she had felt the entire previous year filled her and brought her to her knees. Had she been able to see herself, the vibrant pink hair that she had moments before turned mousy brown and listless as she tried to hold back a sob.

Remus would never truly believe she loved him, and would continue to find ways to put her off. Voldemort would conquer the Ministry, and horror and misery would rein. She would be one of the first witches targeted, since she was a half-blood. Harry would finally be killed, and what had started thirteen year previous would be brought to a close.

Tonks felt her breathing quicken as the room seemed to have lost all its air and the walls seemed to be closing in on her. Panic took place of the hopelessness and Tonks struggled to keep from screaming and crawling around aimlessly. Instincts she didn’t know she had told her she needed out, but she had no clue from which direction she had come. Her mind was blank as to how to get out of this situation; all that she could process was the darkness, silence, and panic.

When she was almost out of her mind in panic, a sound like something hard hitting cement sounded to her left. The noise grew and was deafening in just a few heartbeats, and suddenly silence filled the air again. The noise brought her back to herself, and she was able to get some of the panic under control. Remembering her wand, Tonks pulled it out and uttered “Lumos.”

The thin ray of light that came from her wand didn’t really cut into the darkness, but it did make her feel less claustrophobic. Turning towards where the sound came from, Tonks aimed the light off into the darkness.

Faintly at first, and then more strongly, the thin ray of light reflected back at her. Tonks realized that a large mirror type object was up against the wall. As she moved a bit closer, she realized it was a mix between a mirror and some sort of portal. It seemed to be connected to the wall, but led to a deeper place. A clear piece of crystal covered the object, seemingly to keep someone from accidentally going through it. More and more light seemed to be coming from the object. Soon it would be too bright to look at. Tonks looked to the side of it and saw a sign on the wall.

Standing took some effort, but the hopelessness was disappearing as curiosity filled her. Soon she felt like she would collapse if she didn’t find out what this object was. She walked over to read the sign.

As her lighted wand left the front of the hole, the light dimmed back down. Tonks hoped the sign explained what was happening.

This portal was the result of a research project by members of the Department of Mysteries. Though it’s exact nature is not understood, it seems to amplify whatever it picks up on, and doesn’t stop until the stimulus stops or changes.

Tonks thought for just a second and realized that she had been thinking of the sad events that happened the last time she was in the Department of Mysteries when she entered this room. This portal had amplified her helplessness and hopelessness from those thoughts until they almost drowned her. The darkness of the room was also amplified. Looking around, she tried to find what had fallen to cause the loud thud. On the other side of the portal, she found another sign on the ground that when flipped over gently so as to cause no sounds, warned that no one should stand directly in front of the portal, or the consequences could be grave.

Tonks didn’t want to spend more time on this puzzle. She had someone to meet, so she looked around, and headed towards a door she thought was different from the one she had entered from. Pausing for just a moment, she stopped for just a moment in front of the portal, and thought of Remus’s arms around her. The warm feeling of love was filling every part of her body as she stepped into the next room, with her wand still in her hand.


As the door closed behind Tonks, torches flamed up on each wall. When the door was completely closed, it disappeared. Tonks stood in one place and looked around the featureless room. Then she noticed the room was slowly shrinking as all the walls came closer together.

Tonks was at a loss for a moment, and then her Auror training took over. This was a common spell used as security measures. With a flick of her wand and a few whispered words, the walls were moving back out, and two doors appeared. Taking the door that wasn’t in the wall behind her, Tonks moved on.






Walking into the next room, Tonks started to realize how far she had walked since entering the Department of Mysteries. As she focused on that, she had the overwhelming need to get off of her feet and just take a small rest. Her feet started aching and her calves were cramping as they did when she had over done a workout.

Sitting in the middle of the room was a soft armchair. It looked so inviting, that she had a seat and leaned back to get her feet up. All urgency for her mission slipped from her mind. Staying here and just taking a nap sounded like an excellent idea. Sleep slowly over took her and she started to dream…

Tonks was sitting on a log in a forest. It seemed that she had somewhere she was supposed to be going, but she just couldn’t remember where. As she wracked her brain to figure it out, she heard someone approaching through the trees. She turned to see who it was.

“Hi! I have been looking all over for you. Don’t you realize that you have to meet Declan to find out what the Department of Mysteries might have to add to the fight against Voldemort? You need to get up and moving. More people are killed by Death Eaters every minute.” Remus said as he reached her side.

Tonks stared up at him for a moment, and tried to figure out what he was talking about. Then it came back to her, Kingsley had sent her to meet with Declan Hurst, the Head Unspeakable from the room that studied love. She needed to find her way to the meeting room first, but kept running into obstacles that kept slowing her down.

What was she doing in the middle of a forest? The last thing she remembered…was sitting in an easy chair and falling asleep. She had to wake herself up and keep moving. There must be some spell on the armchair to take your cares away.

Looking up at the Remus from her dream, she took in his healthy appearance. If only he could always be that way, but she would take him any way she could get him. “I’ll get moving right now, Remus. Give me a kiss to help me along.”

Remus leant down, and as their lips met, Tonks smiled dreamily.

With a dreamy smile on her face and the thrill she always felt when Remus kissed her; she sat up from the chair and moved towards the next door. That was definitely a great dream.





Tonks recognized the next room she walked into. It was the one with the veil in it. The last time she was in here, she had watched Sirius die and had been gravely injured herself.

As she looked around, she realized something didn’t feel right. This was not the same room; the feeling of wrongness just permeated the space. As she studied the room, she realized the veil in this room wasn’t centered, like in the other room. It sat off towards the right hand side. The curtain that hung in it wasn’t black, it was almost lavender but Tonks couldn’t totally decide the best name for the color. The stone that formed the benches and walls seemed to have a sickly green color which made them seem formed from some other substance. Where the air in the other chamber had been still and cold, here the air moved and shadows floated all around the room. Whispering could be heard, but it didn’t come from the veil, it came from the shadows.

The shadows really seemed to be where the wrongness came from. When one came near, she made sure it didn’t touch her. She needed to find her way out of here, and quickly.

“Tonks,” said a very familiar, but ghostly voice.

Fear filled Tonks as she realized it was Sirius’ voice. She hadn’t heard it almost a year, but she would know her favorite cousin’s voice anywhere. One of the shadows seemed to have stopped a few feet from her. It also seemed to be keeping the other shadows at bay.

“Sirius? Is that you?” Tonks questioned the shadow.

“You must leave this place, it isn’t safe. I can only protect you for a few minutes. I will stay close to protect you, but you must hurry across the chamber. The door directly behind the veil is safe to enter. Move! Quickly! ” Sirius’ voice filled with intensity as Tonks hadn’t made any move to follow his directions.

Tonks decided she had no choice but to follow the directions she was given. She had no clue which door to take otherwise. Hurrying across the floor, she noticed the shadow blocked all the others from reaching her. This gave her some relief. Who knows what would happen if one of them touched her. Just the thought gave her the chills.

As she reached the door the voice had told her to use, Tonks paused before exiting. “We all miss you, Sirius. Harry, Remus, and I keep sharing our stories about you. You might be gone, but you will never be forgotten. Harry has grown so much, but I fear his childhood has been taken forever. I’ll keep watching over him for you.”

“Thank you, and let him know I’m always watching, too, ” the voice said as she turned the door knob and stepped through the doorway.





Turning to pull the door shut behind her, Tonks took a step backwards and found she was falling backwards. As she braced herself for impact, water splashed up around her. Gasping in surprise some water got pulled into her mouth. Realizing she better start swimming, Tonks swam towards the surface. Sputtering and choking, Tonks caught her breath before talking a look around.

A lake took up the entire room. A dim light seemed to fill the room from the walls, but no source was visible. Across the room stood a door with a key hanging beside it, but Tonks decided it was too easy to just be able to swim across, unlock the door, and exit the room. Scrutinizing the room further, she realized that there was a key at the bottom of the lake, and one up on the ceiling. One of those must be what actually opened the door.

“Accio key,” Tonks said while aiming her wand towards the key on the ceiling.

Nothing happened. This wasn’t going to be easy.

After thinking for a moment, Tonks held her wand out and said, “Aguamenti.”

Water flowed from her wand, and slowly the lake began to rise. Inch by inch, Tonks found herself getting closer to her goal. Finally she stopped the flow from her wand and jumped a little out of the water. She felt the key pull free from the ceiling. Smiling with glee, Tonks started towards the door, but realized she wouldn’t be able to get out of the room without flooding out the next room.

After thinking for a few minutes, Tonks tied the key to the inside of her robes, took a deep breath, and swam down to the key at the bottom of the lake. The water was clear, so she could see where she was going. Reaching the key under the water, she noticed a plug with the spot for a key. Taking hold of the key, she inserted it into the plug. The water she had added began to drain. Swimming to the surface, she headed towards the troublesome door. The key from the ceiling she pulled from her pocket, and inserted it into the key-hole when the water level went below the door. Turning it, she heard a click as the door unlocked. Breathing a sigh of relief, Tonks opened the door, took a deep breath, and stepped through to face her next challenge.





The door closed, leaving Tonks in darkness momentarily, but then lights appeared along the walls. As the light appeared, Tonks found she was standing on the ceiling. Shock brought her to her knees. Far above her head on what seemed to be the floor, the room was laid out like a courtroom. Row upon row of wooden benches sat around what appeared to be a judge’s stand. Off to the side were some stone benches, which seemed to be where a jury would sit.

Across the room, Tonks saw a door. That must be where she needed to go. The problem lay in getting across the room without falling off the ceiling, and then getting down to the door to exit through it.

Tonks slowly started crawling across the ceiling. She didn’t want to stand back up, knowing her fear would keep her from getting anywhere. Every millimeter of her that touched the ceiling helped her feel more secure. Falling to the benches below would not be pleasant. The question was how she got to the door when she reached the other wall.

Wracking her brain was giving her a headache. Meeting with someone for Kingsley wasn’t supposed to be this difficult. Next time she would insist on meeting in a part of the Ministry that would be straight forward, and not this maze of rooms and challenges.

Tonks shakily got to her feet. Reaching her hand towards the wall, she picked her foot up. The room righted itself, and Tonks fell onto a bench as the disorientation filled her. Rubbing her elbow which had smacked on the back of the bench, she climbed to her feet and was happy to leave this particular room.





Tonks found herself in a stone enclosure. Cautiously she walked towards the center of the enclosure, and found herself face to face with a snarling wolf. Closer inspection brought her to realize it was a darker form of her Patronus, a werewolf. A chain ran from around its neck to the only other door in the room. A glance behind her showed that another chain was connected to the door behind her.

The wolf suddenly pounced, and Tonks had to keep all her attention on the creature or end up maimed or worse. Tonks managed to block the attack with a solid wall of air that she held between them. It occurred to her that the only way she was getting out of this room was by attaching it to the chain behind her. The question was how to do this without getting caught in the powerful jaws.

Tonks backed up and used her free hand to grab the chain. Slowly she started inching towards the wolf, but he kept bouncing off the air shield. The hard part would be distracting him long enough to attach the chain. She needed a distraction.

Thinking fast, she realized all she needed was something to take the attention of the wolf just for a moment. Tonks raised her wand and yelled, “Expecto Patronum! ” The wolf once more bounced off her protective shield.

The dark wolf followed the bright light as it came running out. Tonks half fell, and half ran to attach the chain in her hand. Relief filled her as she felt it click and attach to the other chain. The wolf turned and almost took her hand off as she scrambled towards the door on across the room. Her Patronus faded away, and she hurriedly left the room.





Tonks closed the door to make sure the wolf wasn’t able to follow her. After hearing the click of the door, she noticed that she was floating. Looking down, she saw herself lying on the ground just inside the door. Realization set in about a moment later; somehow her spirit had ended up outside of her body. Taking a moment to enjoy the flying experience, Tonks zoomed around the room.

After just a few minutes, she realized she still had a meeting to make, so she headed towards her body. Something seemed to be blocking her. Every time she got close to her body, she found herself bouncing off of some sort of barrier. No matter what angle she tried to approach her motionless body, she found herself spiraling around the room away from it.

Frustration was settling in, so Tonks took a moment to clear her mind and think. Ending an out-of-body experience was something she had studied her seventh year at Hogwarts in Charms class. She remembered Professor Flitwick standing in front of the room stressing how important this spell could end up being. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t remember the spell!

Floating up to the ceiling, Tonks studied the walls and ceiling trying to get some clue as to what the spell was. To move a body was Mobilus Corpus. Corpus was the second word in the spell, so what was the first?

On one wall of the room was a picture of a bird getting turned in to a teacup, and then reverting into a bird. Tonks found herself staring at that picture for a few minutes. Then it hit her, “Reverto Corpus! ” her spirit shouted.

Relief filled her as she found she could open her eyes and move her body. Every thing seemed heavy after being free to float around, but it was also very comforting to be back in her body. Tonks glanced once more around the room, and then proceeded to the next door to see what else lay in front of her.





The walls that surrounded Tonks were dark and shimmering. Curiosity filled her about what could make the walls look like that. Walking up to the wall, awe filled her at what she saw. All the people she had ever cared for stood around her. Remus was at her side, along with her mom and dad. Grandma Tonks looked on in perfect health. Sirius stood next to Remus and a yellow retriever played at his side. Albus Dumbledore seemed to be laughing at the chaos around him. Harry and the Weasleys laughed on the other side of her parents. Hermione, Kingsley, and her other Auror and Order friends stood behind her parents. Behind everyone, Tonks could feel that the world was finally free of Voldemort and corruption. It was as if all her hopes and dreams had come true.

As she stood there gaping at the walls, her old dog Arfy bounded out of the wall, and knocked her to the ground. He licked her face, and greeted her like he had every time she had come home from school. Sirius walked out, and helped her up, with Remus right behind him. Tonks threw her arms around her cousin. How could she be lucky enough to meet him twice in one day? This time was better though, since she could hug him. Tonks cried as her dad came up and hugged her. Losing him had been one of the hardest times of her life. It felt so good to be in his arms.

Happiness and wonder fill Tonks as she laughs and jokes with her family and friends. One of her biggest sorrows had been that her father and grandma would never meet Remus. Here, she watched them chatting as if they were old friends. Arfy kept running all over the place. Molly and Arthur had never seemed happier as they visited with her mother and Albus. Everything seemed too perfect.

Looking around, Tonks took in the scene and let the dream play out in front of her. The problem was she knew it was a dream. Tears filled her eyes as she realized she couldn’t stay. As she moved towards the door, everyone turned towards her and begged her to stay. In her heart, she knew she couldn’t. There was a real life that needed to be lived. The real Remus was out there waiting on her. It was true that Arfy, Sirius, Albus, Grandma Tonks and her father would not be out there, but she had already dealt with their deaths. She walked up and gave them all a hug to help her bruised heart.

Quickly she walked to the door and left without looking back. Part of her had wanted to stay, but she owed the ones that were still alive enough to return to them.



Tonks looked around her and saw a man with salt-and-pepper hair sitting in the corner of the room. He was sitting in an easy chair, and reading what appeared to be a scroll. The walls of the room were lined with bookshelves. Scrolls and books filled every space along those shelves.

Tonks cleared her throat. The gentleman raised his head and a bright and catching smile filled his face. Green eyes sparkled with joy and love.

“Nymphadora Tonks, I presume?” the man asked. “I’m Declan Hurst and Remus Lupin has told me enough about you that I’d know you anywhere.”

“Please, just call me Tonks. Remus has mentioned your name to me before, and told me about your wife Binne,” Tonks replied. “Are you the person Kingsley has sent me to meet? He didn’t give me any explanation. He just told me to come to the Department of Mysteries and to pick a door. He told me I would meet the one I was seeking.”

Declan studied her for a moment before saying, “It is the nature of the Department of Mysteries to lead you to where you need to be. Because of the room you came from, I assume you’ve had many trials and tests to reach me. I’m glad to see you passed them, or you would have been trapped there until rescued. Some of the administrators in the Auror office like to use us as a test to make sure their Aurors are up to their job. By making it to me, you have most definitely proven that. You will probably even end up with more responsibility and harder tasks.”

Tonks stood there in shock. There was no real information for her to get here? It had all been a test she hadn’t been warned about? Kingsley was going to get an earful when she saw him next.

“Never fear my dear. I’m glad that I have finally gotten to meet the girl that has brought love and meaning back into Remus’ life. You will have to have him bring you by for dinner sometime. Binne would love to meet you.” Declan stood from his chair and walked up to her in welcome. “It also means a lot to me that I’m the person you found. It means that love and family means the world to you. I bet a few of your challenges proved that too. I will never know, unless you tell me. Remus sure is a lucky man.”

Blushing, Tonks said, “I hope that I can always keep Remus happy. He deserves it, after all the pain and suffering he has gone through. I hope this war is over soon, and pray we both make it through alive. We are both at the center of things, by choice. It isn’t in either of us to back off into the shadows. We both will do what we can to protect the people we love, and the values we hold dear.”

“There are many dark times ahead of us, but love will see us through. It is the most powerful force in the world. I have worked in the Locked Room for decades, and I have learned that above everything else.” Declan nodded at the awe in Tonks face. “Few people realize that room exists, so I take it you’ve been around some people that work here in the Department of Mysteries. We do what we can to teach others, but that room chooses its own workers. Each seem drawn to different aspects of love. I hope we can be of help in this war, and something tells me we shall.”

“Voldemort knows nothing about love, so I would not be surprised if you end up a major part of the last battle.” Tonks held her hand out for a handshake.

Declan grabbed her hand, but pulled her in to a friendly hug instead of just shaking hands. “Let me help you out of here. There is a much more direct way to this room then the way you came in.”

“Thank you very much! I don’t think I could handle going through some of those rooms again.” Tonks laughed as she followed Declan from the room.