14 Chapter 14 - Late night talks with Tonks

Tonks and Ash were all alone in a dark room, just standing together shoulder to shoulder.

"So you're telling me YOU figured it out?"

"Why do you sound so surprised?"

"I mean, you're pretty book smart and..uh... okay-ish when it comes to potions, I guess. Never thought you would be good at solving mysteries," Tonks said while thoughtfully tapping a finger to her pursed lips.

"Did you just say I am okay at potions?" Ash said with an exaggerated hurt look.

"Yeah, passable, I guess," Tonks drawled on.

"Wow, someone passable helped you achieve your potion N.E.W.T.s, no wonder so many people achieve those in the last few years," Ash said with a straight face, though Tonks was already snickering.

"I mean, most of it came from my mom, but yeah, I guess you did help a little."

"Keep it up, and I will tell your auror friends about the time you stumbled into the bluesun algae pond in our greenhouse...twice in the same day," Ash said with a mocking smirk.

"*Gasp* You wouldn't! You promised you will destroy the photo and your memories of that day!" Tonks exclaimed.

"Your mom thought you looked really cute in all those blue lights from the algae, so she had me keep a few copies of that day. I'm pretty sure she has a copy of it in her study at work, and your father has one in his office in the law firm, Nym."

"Betrayed by my own mom, oh whatever will I do," Tonks theatrically brought a hand to her heart.

Ash patted her shoulder with a thin, reassuring smile.

Tonks slapped his hand away after a few moments. "Don't you console me! It was your fault there's a camera in that greenhouse! By Merlin's nuts, why was there a camera in a greenhouse anyway?!"

"Uh, research?" Ash asked as he scratched the back of his head.

"See? This is why I asked how you could solve this over a decade after the fact, when you're just a dork who makes pictures of plants," Tonks huffed.

"That is a really good point, Ms Tonks. How could a dork like me do it when you and your entire department failed to do it for such a long time. I should bring that up before the Wizengamot," Ash sagely nodded with a thoughtful look that slowly turned into a grin.

Tonks narrowed her eyes at him. "Tell me then, how DID you do it?"

"Well, it all started with the one person that should have come forward a decade ago with information about his three friends, but couldn't because our bigotted society would never hear him out, once they learn what he is. Oh and he was probably just swept away in the moment like the rest of us. He looked positively devastated when we found out together."

"Who?"

"Who is unimportant, Nym. What I am trying to say is, I found out because I spent a lot of time with him and he told me that his three friends were all unregistered animagus and one came in the form of a rat. You know, I also tutored Charlie Weasley so he would at least achieve his potion O.W.L.s, right? That was almost six years ago, but his brother Percy's 'pet rat' Scabbers had already been with him at Hogwarts that year. I know because Charlie complained about it constantly."

"So the Weasley's kept a rat for roughly a decade and didn't think it weird?"

"Nym tell me. You knew about the rat, too. Rats live for what? Two years? Four years at the very best? Nobody ever wondered because what person would actually want to live as a pet rat for a decade."

"Then why would you suddenly think about it?"

"Well, it started off with the fact that Sirius Black came to the school twice and never once interacted with a student. Not even Harry. If his target was Harry, that made no sense at all. Surely he would have lingered on his first break-in or left behind a cursed item or poison for Harry or something like that," Ash explained while Tonks nodded along.

The break-ins weren't widely advertised in the Daily Prophet, likely because the Ministry wanted to keep a lid on their shortcomings, but aurors like Tonks would know all about it.

"So what else could he want? I agree it's a bit of a stretch to think he would go for Ron's pet rat, but something has always bothered me about Sirius Black incarceration. Took me a bit to link his weird arrest to his possible motive."

Tonks looked at him for a bit, then the cage in front of them with a gagged and unconcious Peter Pettigrew lying like a sack of potatoes in it.

"Weird arrest? His incarceration? Hmm, I don't get it," Tonks said as she scrunched her eyebrows.

"Well, let's go back to his arrest. Voldemorts 'right hand man', the most feared betrayer in the world, falls down to his knees and screams 'I killed them' while crying his eyes out? When supposedly he could have easily killed all present aurors and fled? The death eaters were known to easily escape getting surrounded."

"It could have been a tactic," Tonks added while deep in thought.

"Yeah, it could have, I agree. But what tactic would need him incarcerated for such a long time? Slowly becoming madder by the day from the constant exposure to the dementors?"

"Then what about his incarceration?"

"That one only really came clear to me when he broke out. I checked every issue of every newspaper for half a year after his arrest. There was no mention of his trial in any of them," Ash shook his head. Tonks' mouth gaped at that information.

"Yeah, want me to explain to you why I think the politicians should have formed a line to spit on him in Diagon Alley during a public trial if there had been nothing fishy with his arrest?" Tonks only scoffed at the question.

They sat there in silence for a minute.

"The question now is, why did it take some young know-it-all like me to figure this all out when we have people like you?"

"Like me?" Tonks asked, a little weirded out.

"No, like that auror standing behind us for the last 10 minutes."

They heard a rustling of clothes and a soft tock followed by a footstep from behind them. Tonks hurriedly looked behind her, but Ash kept looking forward.

"Good vigilance boy. Though I've been here longer than 10 minutes."

Ash smiled at that but didn't respond.

"At the time, I always thought there was something fishy going on. I was too old to care though, just glad the war was finally done," the newcomer gruffly said.

"Additionally, every other trial was already a farce, so why care about the one case that didn't have a trial, right?" Ash quipped.

"You got some buttons on you, eh boy? And a good head on your shoulders, too. Wanna join the auror program? I'll make sure to shape you into one of our best."

"As much admiration as I have for your profession, I already found my true calling here as a professor. Just make sure you teach little Nym properly, Auror Moody," Ash said with a teasing smirk.

"No worries, the lass is one of the good ones. I'll put her through the wringer until she's learned everything," Moody nodded with a barely visible smile.

"Why have you come, teacher?" Tonks asked with a faint blush. She worked with Moody for over a year now yet didn't notice him at all. But with no training, her friend noticed him easily. She hung her head low in shame.

"I've come to take over the rest of the shift. Drepp and Louda are outside. You're good to take a few hours off. Minerva kept gushing about some hot spring last time I met her, maybe go there and relax a bit. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day, lass. Just get back before 6:30."

They quickly thanked Moody and went towards the hot spring to relax.

The hot spring didn't provide any amenities just yet, so Tonks and Ash had to do a quick detour to his quarters next to his office to grab an extra bathrobe for Tonks. Unbeknownst to Ash, Tonks took one of his photo albums with her and left a fake behind with only pictures of him with a fake mustache.

When he found out two weeks later, he really wondered how or even why Tonks brought a photo album with so many pictures of him in a fake mustache. She thought it was a prank, but actually it turned out to be the thing he teased her about the most for years.

Before any of that happened, eventually, they reached the smaller staff hot spring that night and they both changed into the robes in the single person stalls Ash had installed.

Ash was the first to enter a pool while he explained to Tonks the details of the hot spring.

Seeing that a fog would float up to hide her, the last inhibitions in Tonks' 'maiden heart' vanished and she boldly sat in the same pool as Ash, though with a healthy distance between them.

"What would my mother say if she knew I would sit naked in a pool with a boy in the middle of the night," Tonks said while trying to cutely hide a non-existant blush with both hands.

"I dunno, we can find out when we see her in the Ministry tomorrow and I tell her."

"You wouldn't!"

"Would, too!"

"Hmph, I'll tell her you took advantage of me!"

"Please, your mom has known me for over a decade and you your whole life. She'd much sooner think you took advantage of me," Ash laughed.

"Ugh, that's probably true," Tonks conceded.

The two stayed quiet for a few minutes until Tonks groaned.

"By Morgana's saggy tits this feels amazing."

"Yeah, I wouldn't quite put it like that, but I'm really glad I brought the idea over here," Ash nodded.

"Will I have to become a student again to enjoy this or maybe visit you on the weekend to enjoy this more often?" Tonks asked with eyes closed and sighing in relaxation. "Maybe an at-school-auror-trainee-program," she continued.

"Nope, I'm thinking of opening one these but bigger and with more spa options in Wales close to home."

"What's a spa?"

"Ah, that's one of the most brilliant inventions of non-magicals this century in my opinion. A place wholly dedicated to relaxation and recharging yourself. There's warm baths like these, massages, something called a sauna which is a hot room for you to sweat in - very good for your skin and health, and many other things. I'm working on it with the Burke mother and daughters on it. They had some amazing ideas for the place," Ash explained calmly.

"Man, non-magicals invented something like this and my dad never told me? All he really showed me growing up were cartoons and whoopy cushions. I really missed out," Tonks cried in fake outrage.

"Well he's a man, it's mostly popular among women so I guess he could be excused," Ash responded with a shrug.

"Don't take his side too often Ash, his head always grows a bit bigger when you do."

"Well, Uncle Ted is a cool dude, so I will keep at it."

"He should have never taught you muggle-lingo," Tonks sighed deeply.

"Oh yeah, speaking of the hot spring I'm creating. I don't want to build a full hospital, but for minor illnesses and afflictions I wanted to include a sort of equivalent to a general practitioner's office. Do you think your mother would like me offering her a job there? Or should I ask her for recommendations instead? I wanted to do it in person tomorrow," Ash said in an effort to change the subject.

"It's you, she'd like anything you do. Sometimes I wonder if she would leave my dad for you if she were 10-15 years younger," Tonks said with a deadpan look.

Ash just laughed while scratching his head.

"You're gonna hire a lot of squibs and first generation magicals for this, right?" Tonks asked a few minutes later.

"Yep, that's the plan," he immediately answered with a nod.

"Dividing Magical Britain again, one issue at a time... don't you have enough enemies already?"

"I mean, will I really gain new ones? Who would be new in disliking me? Magicals that hate smelling good?" Ash said with a laugh.

"I'm serious Ash."

"No, Sirius is your uncle."

Tonks glared at Ash for a whole minute until she gave up and sighed.

"Just stay save. Maybe give that moron Fudge a free stay and lobby for a group of aurors to be stationed there permanently," Tonks advised with closed eyes.

They stayed like this for another twenty minutes while talking about this and that. Eventually, Ash made Tonks get out lest she get all wrinkly until tomorrow and they went back to his study. It was already 3am, so Tonks took a short 3 hour nap on a transfigured bed while Ash reclined in an arm chair.

The next morning both woke up with the first rays of the sun and Tonks was very moody because of her lack of sleep. Even when the rays fell on the sun crow's tailfather Ash possessed and created a captivating golden light show, that bathed his room in warm light Tonks was still not feeling any better. It might have been all the wordplays Ash did on the word 'moody' and her teacher's name.