A Werewolf for Christmas

The Start of Holiday

It was precisely six o'clock in the morning when Nymphadora Tonks's eyes sprang open.

She was staring up at the ceiling of her four poster, her eyes wide and turquoise-blue. She listened to the sound of silence all around - a thick and heavy silence that could only mean that it was snowing outside. She sat up, her violently pink hair stuck up in places, tangled and unruly from her long night's sleep. Gingerly, she stuck her feet out from beneath her blankets and hoisted herself up between her bed and another girl's, whose name was was Harriet, and hurried to put on her robes, kick her feet into slippers, and duck out of the Hufflepuff common room and out into the corridor. She skid on the flagstone steps in her slippers, and rushed up the hall to the stairs and up two flights, paused to breathe at the top of that one and panted exaggeratedly as an irritated looking Ravenclaw came by, then ran the rest of the way up to Gryffindor Tower.

The Fat Lady's portrait shook her head, "Nymphadora Tonks --"

"Don't call me Nymphadora," she said automatically, "It's just Tonks!"

" -- I don't care if you do know the password," the Fat Lady went on, ignoring the fact that she was being interrupted by raising her voice to be heard over Tonks's exasperated tone, "You're not going in the Gryffindor Common Room again."

"Why not?" Tonks demanded, whiny.

"Because, you're not a Gryffindor!" the Fat Lady said pointedly.

"But just for a moment, I only need to get --"

"I said no," the Fat Lady interrupted.

"But he's just --"

"No," she sing-songed.

"But --"

The Fat Lady glared.

Tonks sighed. "Alright, fine." She leaned against the wall and slowly slid down it, her pink hair getting even more messed up as it dragged against the wallpaper, and she hugged her long legs with their knobbly knees to her chest.

The Fat Lady pressed herself as close to her frame as she could, trying to see where Tonks had gone to. "Where are you? What are you doing?" she demanded.

Tonks said, "Waiting."

The Fat Lady clucked. "Wait where I can see you, then."

"What? Is waiting against the rules, too?"

The Fat Lady answered, "Nymphadora Tonks, I --"

"Don't call me Nymphadora!" Tonks replied, haughtily.

The Fat Lady hooted in exasperation, then, "Go back to your own common room, Miss. Tonks!" Her voice was stern and indignant. "You can see Mr. Weasley in the dining hall downstairs at breakfast."

"But --"

"Good day!" she sang.

"But --"

"I said good day!" The Fat Lady was stern. "Don't make me ask my friends to go and fetch Mr. Filch," she waved her arms at the other frames, though she wasn't sure if Tonks was even looking to see the gesture. Darn whoever it was that had put her in a thick quilted frame!

Tonks rolled her eyes and got up. "Oh alright! Alright!" She stood up and dusted off. "I'm going away, are you happy?" and she started off down the corridor. She could feel the Fat Lady's eyes following her, "See, look. Here I am... Leaving."

The Fat Lady snuffed her nose in good riddance as Tonks disappeared around the corridor, and she shook herself, settling in for a snooze, closing her eyes... Footsteps on the corridor carpet made her eyes open. Standing before her was Bill Weasley. The Fat Lady's eyes narrowed in suspicion.