A Time For Courage

Chapter Three

Of Stumbling and Giggly Schoolgirls

The group watched in horror as Althea threw a handful of floo powder into the fireplace and called out \"Hagrid!\". They waited until she had stuck her head in to continue their conversation. Ron turned to Hermione. \"Um, Mione? Wh-what exactly is a Wyvern?\"

\"Wyverns are native to the Mongolian Steppes. Upon first inspection they look much like a dragon, only smaller. They are hebivores though, and don\'t breathe fire...\" The group surrounding her let out a small sigh of relief. Until she finished her statement. \"Instead they spit corrosive acid.\"

\"Wonderful.\" Draco drawled. \"One more psychotic beast to add to his zoo. And just think...we all signed back up for that class..\" He pointedly glared at Harry.

\"Sure just blame me. Thanks alot, there, Draco. I was going to ask for your help on the practical aspect of my Potions homework.\" Harry rolled his eyes. He had to admit, goading his boyfriend was immensly fun. The blond Slytherin scoffed. Harry valiantly tried to hide his smirk. He would so pay for that later. Remus stepped over to them.

\"What exactly is she doing?\" The werewolf frowned at the kneeling figure.

\"Firecalling Hagrid to make sure he can look after Rupert so she can stay the night here before heading on to Hogwarts.\" Ginny replied conversationally.

\"Uh. Who is Rupert? Or do I even want to know..?\"

Hermione grinned. \"A Wyvern.\"

\"Wonderful.\"

Draco smirked. \"My sentiments exactly.\"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Althea gazed about Hagrid\'s hut before calling out for him. \"Hey Hagrid! Can you hear me?\"

Moments later the burly man bustled into view. \" \'Pends on who wants ter know!\" She grinned as he peered at the fireplace. Obviously trying to see her face.

\"Hagrid, it\'s me Thea! I just wanted to see if Rupert is alright and if you could watch him tonight.\"

Recognition dawned on the hairy man\'s face as he finally crouched down near the fire to chat. \"Thea! It\'s good ter hear from yeh! An yeah, Rupert\'s doin\' jus fine. He an Witherwings are curled up tergether in the punkin\' patch fer a nap.\" He seemed to glow with an almost fatherly pride. \"He\'s a real sweet fella, he is. I\'d be righ\' honored ter keep an eye on \'im fer yeh.\"

Althea grinned broadly beneath her hood. \"Thanks Hagrid. I\'d really hoped you would get along with him. Perhaps then I could ask if he could stay with you for the school year? I doubt Minerva will allow him in the castle. Housebroke or not.\" She chuckled.

Hagrid gave a great belly-laugh. \"I canna understand it either.\"

Althea tensed as she heard something on the other side of the connection. \"I have to go Hagrid. I\'ll see you tomorrow. Take good care of Rupert.\"

\"Yer can be sure o\' that, Thea.\"

With a nod, she pulled her head from the fire to hear chuckling behind her. Remus had a wistful grin on his face, and something was screeching abominations from the corridor. Harry shook his head. \"Sounds like Tonks made it back finally.\"

She perked up. \"Tonks? Nymphadora Tonks?\"

Harry nodded. \"Yeah. She\'s....\" He never got to finish as Althea bolted from the room. Sure enough, the neon blue haired Auror, was righting the giant Troll\'s leg umbrella stand. She was grumbling to herself as she turned to silence the portrait. Tonks froze as she saw Althea watching her from the kitchen doorway.

\"Nymphie? Is that really you?\"

Tonks\'s eyes widened as she heard the old nickname roll out so easily. \"Who are you?\"

Althea answered with a shriek and bounded down the hall, knocking the shocked Auror flat. \"Oh Nymph. You should be able to answer that question easily.\"

\"Merlin, Thea?\" She gazed up into the blackness of the hood.

\"In the flesh, love.\"

The rest of the group had left the kitchen as soon as they heard the thump. The giggling and squealing that resulted from the revelation on the floor, made them all cringe. Tonks pushed Althea off her and they both embraced fiercely. They turned to the shocked group watching them. Tonks smiled at Remus. \"We were in the same year at Hogwarts. Best friends actually.\"

\"Oh.\" Remus nodded. \"You were both in Gryffindor?\"

\"No. I was a Ravenclaw. Kept the Gryffindors on their toes in Quidditch too. I only ever lost a match to Charlie Weasley. Real pain in my arse too.\" Althea replied with a chuckle, making Ron and Ginny grin brightly. \"I actually have three Quidditch awards in the trophy room.\"

\"How long are you staying , Thea?\" Tonks asked as she made her way over to greet her fiance. \"Hey Moony.\" She stood up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss.

\"Just tonight. Minerva has me taking the DADA position at Hogwarts this year.\"

Tonks giggled. \"You? A teacher? Merlin help us all!\"

\"Hey! Be nice. I have grown up a bit.\" Remus cocked an eyebrow at her. \"Honestly I have.\" She frowned. \"I don\'t think he believes me....\"

Hermione looked between the two. \"So you were a Ravenclaw, Professor Montrose?\" Althea nodded. \"Then how did you two meet?\"

\"It was the second term of our first year. Tonks, here, was late to class and running through the halls like a bat out of hell. Well, even at normal speeds stairs don\'t seem to cooperate with her. Let\'s just say, I made a rather convenient pillow.\" Althea chuckled. \"We just kind of clicked after that.\"

Draco snickered. \"She\'s still not too good with stairs.\"

Tonks scoffed and reached out to ruffle his hair. Draco scowled at her. \"I still have that photo album we made of our schooldays.\"

Althea gasped. \"Really?\"

\"Yeah. I\'ll go get it and we can all look at it in the upstairs parlor.\"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They all waited for Tonks to return with the album. Harry had sat on the floor and leaned against the armrest of a sofa, and Draco had made himself at home in between the Gryffindor\'s legs. He leaned back against Harry\'s chest, content to listen to his heartbeat rather than the conversation. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione had perched themselves on the sofa behind them, and Remus sat against the other armrest. Althea was staring at the Black family tree.

Draco frowned as he watched her trace a gloved hand along one of the lines. \"Professor?\"

\"Yes Draco?\" She paused, her hand resting on the tapestry.

\"Being a Montrose makes you a pureblood, doesn\'t it?\" He noted how the conversation quieted around him.

She sighed. \"Through my mother it does. My father was a half-blood. He was never recognized by the family.\"

\"Ah. I see. I didn\'t mean any insult. Just the name struck me as familiar.\" He paused for a moment. \"If your mother is a Montrose, then why do you carry the family name?\"

\"My parents are both dead. The only way to get an inheritance was to be formally taken into the family and drop my father\'s name.\"

Draco nodded. He was quite familiar with the practice in pureblood society. \"Hmm.\"

\"I didn\'t get much time to know my father. I only remember his smile. It was so warm. He\'d pick me up and swing me around and we\'d both laugh until our sides hurt.\" She laughed ruefully. \"He died when I was eight. My mother died in my seventh year at Hogwarts. She was never the same after father died.\"

\"I\'m very sorry to hear that.\" Hermione spoke gently.

\"Thanks. I really appreciate it.\" Rico nuzzled her gently, knowing she was glossing over the truth quite a bit. They all turned as Tonks came into the room holding a large leather-bound photo album. She plopped down next to Remus and Althea settled between her and Harry, with Draco merely shifting about so Harry could sit up staighter.

Althea reached out and gently caressed the black leather, running a finger over the Hogwarts crest on the cover. Tonks turned to smile at her. \"Ready for a trip back in time?\"

\"Ready as I\'ll ever be.\" Together they reached up and opened the book. A single large photo made up the first page. Seven girls in Hogwarts robes waved merrily at them. Signatures were placed on the page around the photograph. \"Ah, sixth year. It was the last time we were all together at school. The only fitting photo for the opening page.\" Three of the girls wore Gryffindor red, one in Ravenclaw blue, two in Hufflepuff brown, and one in Slytherin green. One of the Gryffindors was seated on a bench in front with the Ravenclaw, their arms around each other.

Althea pointed them out. \"That was us. Tonks was going through a redhead stage because of something Charlie had said.\"

\"Is that really you Professor?\" Harry asked softly. The girl next to Tonks had a vibrant smile and long, curly mahoghany hair. Hazel eyes sparkled with mirth at something the Slytherin girl leaned in and told her.

\"Yeah, Harry. That\'s me.\"

\"You\'re very beautiful. Why do you hide your face, now?\" Hermione asked, frowning at the Althea in the photo. Everyone paused and Tonks glanced up to where Althea\'s face was shrouded in shadows.

She sighed. \"Not everyone\'s scars are easily hidden, Hermione. I use glamours from time to time, but the fact is I know they are still under there, and the facade makes me feel guilty.\" Nicely glossed over on that one, Thea.

\"Oh.\" Hermione paled. \"I\'m very sorry.\"

\"No worries. You should have seen the other guy.\" She chuckled, effectively lightening the mood. \"Now. On with the nostalgia!\"

\"Who are the others?\" Ginny rested her head on Tonks\'s shoulder to see better.

\"Ah, well this is Alexa Morgan and her sister Micah. Micah graduated that year.\" Tonks indicated the other two Gryffindors. \"The two Hufflepuffs are Erin McDermott and Prism Hawthorne. Both in our year. Finally,\" She pointed to the raven-haired Slytherin girl. \"Kerrigan Randolph. She was one year below us, but right sweet for a Slytherin.\" Draco glared at Tonks for a second.

\"Did you say Randolph?\" He asked when he turned his gaze back to the picture. Tonks nodded. \"I know her father, I think. Perry Randolph?\"

\"Yes. Perry is indeed her father. He is also one of the Inner Circle, or was. However you look at it. After Voldemort\'s fall, he never really went fully back.\" Althea spoke softly. Draco merely hummed and Althea reached up to turn the page. The first few pages were of first and second year and the tentative beginnings of their friendships.

Harry stopped them and pointed to the first picture including all seven girls on holiday together. \"Where was this one taken?\"

Althea smiled at the girls curled up on a large brown leather sofa sipping hot chocolate, as a woman with hair similar to her own read a book aloud to them. \"That was at my childhood home.\" She placed a gloved finger on the picture of the woman. \"This is my mother Susannah Montrose. We were spending the winter holidays at Tiravel Terrace. Each year afterwards we would spend at least one week there with my mum. During the summer we were in and out of there constantly. Mum was happiest when we were together like this the most, though.\" Her voice had taken on a wistful note, as Tonks turned the page.

The next three pages were all of Quidditch. Althea chuckled. \"Five out of the seven of us were on the House teams. Only Tonks and Kerrigan refrained from participating.\" She pointed to a picture of them, with five in Quidditch robes. \"This was my first game as Ravenclaw Seeker. It was Ravenclaw against Slytherin, and we were pretty evenly matched.\"

Harry watched in fascination as the two Seekers suddenly shot off after a glint of gold. The two were swooping and diving to avoiding the Chasers who were still fiercely fighting for posession of the Quaffle. Harry felt his grip tighten around Draco as they watched the Snitch change direction and zip under the two persuing Seekers. They expected to see some pretty impressive changing of direction from the two. What they didn\'t expect was to see Althea pull a suicidal manuever. She rolled off her broom merely keeping one hand on the nose, forcing them into a plummeting dive. After what seemed like an eternity, but was likely only a split second, she had kicked a leg over the broom again and was speeding along after the Snitch once more.

The next picture showed her holding the Snitch aloft surrounded by her teammates. Tonks chuckled. \"I would have got a picture of the actual catch...but I was still in shock that she wasn\'t on her way to the hospital wing half-dead from that stunt she pulled.\"

Harry gave a low whistle. \"You have got to show me how you did that.\"

Draco turned sharply to glare at him. \"Oh no. You are hard enough to beat without learning stunts like that one...\" He merely received a smirk for his efforts. Draco frowned at the next picture. The Slytherin Seeker had approached Althea and was holing out his hand. Something about the slender bronze-skinned young man looked familiar. When Kerrigan bounced over after Althea had accepted his hand with a wide grin, did it dawn on him. \"That\'s Dominic Randolph isn\'t it?\"

\"Yeah it is.\" Althea replied softly. \"He praised my skill in the air that day in a show of true sportsmanship. Three weeks later we were an item.\"

Tonks smiled wistfully. \"They were inseparable all they way until we graduated. Even after he graduated a year before us.\" She flipped a few pages to a picture showing Dominic, Erin, and Micah receiving their diplomas. Stuck to the page next to it was a picture of Dominic, his arms wrapped around a beaming Althea\'s waist. \"He came back frequently to visit.\"

Hermione frowned. \"What went wrong, then?\"

Althea stood up and brushed herself off. \"I\'m tired, I think I will go to bed, now. A long day of preparing for classes awaits me tomorrow.\" With that she left. She prided herself on making it all the way to her room before breaking down completely and sobbing herself to sleep.

Draco looked sadly to the others. \"He picked the wrong side of the war....\"