Chapter 59: Escaping

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Tonks was unaware of her tail and walked happily all the way back to the suburbs where she ducked into an alley to take a shortcut into the street parallel to the one she was on, upon which her house was.

And that was her final mistake.

Grunnings instantly gave a signal to his bodyguard, who dashed into the alleyway and shoved a handkerchief dripping with chloroform up her nose.

They then stuffed her into a bag, not too concerned about breaking bones, and carried her nonchalantly across the road to their car. Throwing her into the trunk, they drove away.

When she finally woke up, she found herself in the hands of degenerate thugs who called her a freak and tortured her physically and mentally for hours, trying to get her to change her appearance again. And after a week full of torture and being broken, again and again, she had finally given in and changed her face.

The man, Grunnings… he'd been there, celebrating with a glass of red wine. After she'd finally given in, he'd grabbed his cheeks and forced open her mouth, pouring down half a bottle of red wine down her throat, mumbling fanatically about how she was going to be making him a rich man.

She was too thirsty to care at the time.

The next day, her legs were shattered again, undoing any healing that had happened in the past week, and her mouth was taped shut. They hadn't even bothered to blindfold her as they had taken her to the abandoned building in London.

She didn't know why. Maybe they had wanted her to see her life shatter in front of her eyes.

The man that was driving the car had jerked on her hair, pulling her ear to his mouth and had told her of how they would get to play with her for one last night before shipping her off to her buyer.

Then he'd injected her with some drug that made her sight extremely fuzzy and her mind sluggish.

There was very little she remembered after that.

There were sounds of gunfire and explosions… a whoosh of bright fire… a demon's voice… the feeling of being carried by someone with air rushing across her face… then passing out.

When she had woken up on August twenty-fifth, she was in St. Mungo's. Her parents told her between sobs that they'd found her half dead outside their house. The Aurors had searched the place she'd described, but they had found it entirely empty.

Healing in magical world was more advanced than the muggle world ever could be, and thus, Tonks was free to go the very next day.

A healer had used a memory buffering spell to dull her memories of the capture since Tonks had refused point blank to obliviation.

She wanted to keep the memories.

After a few days of rest, during which she had shut herself in her room and only seen her parents at mealtimes, her mother had tentatively asked if she would be returning to Hogwarts this year for her apprenticeship.

She had dressed within minutes, gave her concerned mother a tired smile hoping to alleviate some of the poor woman's worries, grabbed her wand, and apparated to Hogsmeade, where she'd learned that it was going to be the first day of classes for the new firsties.

As she walked through the halls of Hogwarts towards the dungeons, absently musing that had she been a year younger, she would have gotten to see the famous Boy Who Lived in his first year before graduating.

She shook her head and turned right, walking forward a few more feet before knocking on the door that opened into Professor Severus Snape's office.

"Come in."

The professor was at his desk, presumably writing out the lesson plans for the day.

"Your apprenticeship starts from after Halloween Miss Tonks. I presume you haven't forgotten how to read the calendar. Because if that is the case I'm afraid I must retract my offer." He said without looking up.

Last year, Tonks might have even cracked a smile at the quip. Now, she just didn't have the strength.

"About that, Professor. I'm afraid that I am going to have to refuse the offer. There have been some… extenuating circumstances," she said in a flat voice.

Professor Snape's hand stilled.

"Is this your idea of a joke Miss Tonks?" His voice was tight. With a pang of nervousness, Tonks realized that he was getting angry. "Do you realize how many students I have refused before I agreed to apprentice you?"

Tonks flinched, and then instantly regretted it.

"I'm sorry Professor," she said, keeping her eyes down while trying to hide her flinch.

The side effects of the incident were kicking in. She had been showing problems staying around men for long. When she'd flinched away from her father the time he had gone to hug her, he'd almost cried. She spent most of her time since then trying to curb this instinct. It was getting better, but it wasn't gone.

Despite her attempt to hide it, Snape must have caught the flinch, since his voice suddenly lost its anger.

"Is there anything you wish to tell me?" he asked quietly. When she looked up, his black eyes met hers and a sob wrecked through her as tears rolled from her eyes.

She told him everything.

"They will not be escaping punishments for their crimes." The man's eyes burned with rage. "I will make sure of it."

She thought of the screams and the few wisps of memories she had from the time she was drugged. "They are taken care of," she said.

Snape didn't ask her what she meant.

"Very well then," he said after a few moments of silence, "Is there any course of action you wish to pursue now?"

Tonks thought for a minute.

"I was thinking of the Auror program."

The professor stared at her for a second before pulling out a fresh piece of parchment. He scribbled something on it, put it in an envelope, cast a sealing spell on it and handed it to her.

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