𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐫 | n. tonks

xxi

Mad-Eye frowned as he passed the upstairs bathroom. He peeked his head inside, his brows furrowing when he saw Tonks giving a red golden retriever a bath. He pushed the door open, his brows furrowing when the dog smiled at him. "Tonks, for God's sake, what are you doing?"

"I found a stray dog outside, so I'm giving her a bath." Tonks squeezed some shampoo onto her hand and lathered it onto the dog's red fur. The dog licked her cheek. "I think I'm gonna call her Ginger. By the way, have you seen Hadley? She'd love her."

Mad-Eye chuckled. "Yeah. I think I've seen her around." He raised a brow and gave the golden retriever a look.

Hadley was enjoying this a little too much. She was bored and went out for a stroll in her animagus form; she figured that was a better idea than playing around with fire charms since she nearly burned the house down last time. Tonks had found her rolling around in the mud, noticed that she didn't have a collar, assumed she was a stray, and brought her back to 12 Grimmauld Place for a bath.

"You're just a sweetheart, aren't you?" Tonks smiled and kissed the dog's head as she rinsed the suds off of her red coat. Hadley barked softly and licked her nose. Tonks carefully helped her out of the tub and dried her off with a towel. Mad-Eye shook his head.

"You know, I think I saw the owners of that dog searching for her," the man said. Tonks' shoulders slumped, and a small pout formed on her lips.

"Guess I'll see you around, Ginger." Tonks held her hand out, and Hadley bumped it with her paw. She followed Mad-Eye out of the bathroom and shifted back into a human, her red locks damp.

"I think she likes me." Hadley smiled.

─── ⋆·✧·⋆ ───

"Haddie, just do it already."

"I can't! W-What if I hurt you?"

"That's the whole point."

"I don't wanna hurt you!"

"You did last night. My hip popped."

"That wasn't my fault!" Hadley scoffed and shoved Tonks' shoulder. The older girl was laughing.

Every time Tonks and Hadley had one-on-one private training together, it always went like this: they'd do about 5 minutes of serious work and then end up joking around for the time remaining. Sometimes, it got to the point where Mad-Eye or Kingsley would have to come up to the attic and tell them to get back on track.

Today, they were supposed to be practicing dueling, followed by concealment and disguise. Tonks had spent the last 10 minutes trying to convince Hadley to throw the first spell.

"Do we have to do this?" Hadley asked, whining slightly.

"You can't practice on dummies forever, Ley." Tonks sighed and stepped closer to her, placing her hands on her shoulders. "The only way to be fully prepared is to practice. That's what all this training is for."

"I-I know, but...I don't wanna hurt you," Hadley repeated, pouting a little at the thought. "Maybe it would be easier if I wasn't practicing with you–" Her sentence stopped short as Tonks morphed herself to look like Bellatrix. She had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. "Okay, now you're just showing off."

"If you can't fight me, why not fight my crazy aunt?" Tonks shrugged, her voice sounding just like Bellatrix's. "Or maybe..." She morphed again, this time turning into Greyback.

"You know what...this works." Hadley raised her wand and fired a stunning spell at Tonks, which she blocked with a shield.

As strange as this technique was, it helped ease Hadley's uncertainness. While she still knew she was fighting her girlfriend, she felt less guilty about it since she looked like Greyback. Hadley hesitated for a moment when Tonks morphed back to her normal self, which was enough for her to knock her off her feet with a disarming charm.