Dawn Breaking

A/N - Whew. as you might have guessed I didn\'t sleep much last night, trying to get these last chapters ready to go. Stilentyenty of free-floating friendly quarks for you all!

deblovesdragon - thank you for being so consistentl in reviewing, your input and continuing support is important to me. Tonks is so much fun to write and as for Ian\'s name, I stole the two conflicting \"official\" names from the Lexicon and then added Ianthorpe so that he would have something worthwhile to make a short name from.

Quillusion - Firstly, love your stuff! I too, love the side characters, the ones everyone ignores. they usually have the odder personality traits and its fun to play with them. I will try to update this one as quick as I can, but I have bitten off a number of carrots and am feeding my plot bunnied as quick as I can. Oh and as for \"Laying Snape on his back once a month.\" Oh honey, me too!

amanda - His mum will be back, never fear!

Ghaeth - Thank you, I am really enjoying writing some sheer siliness. So, here\'s more entertainment for your cats.

Chapter 7 – A Little Help from my Friends

Ian sat in the Three Broomsticks and drank another glass of Rosmerta’s homemade Mead. It slid down his throat like a trail of fire ants coated with honey and he studied the tiny swirls and eddies in the mead with morose insight. That swirl was Tonks, the other swirl, way the bloody hell on the other side of the mug was himself. Note the extreme un-likeliness of the two swirls ever getting together anytime soon.

Moody had kept Tonks so busy lately that they had had precisely one date in the last month which had been about twenty minuets long and consisted of uncomfortable silences and a quick kiss that had left them both decidedly frustrated and unhappy.

Then there was his conscience. It had decided to prick him unmercifully of late. He was a gentleman, always had been and his intentions towards Tonks were decidedly on the dishonorable side. He wanted her as he had never wanted any woman before, something he figured was enhanced by her complete unavailability right now. Then there was the way she had dispatched his mother, warms a man’s heart to see his mother defeated in such a clever and yet gentle manner.

Still, he’d been dead for seven years and possessed by a Dark Lord. There was still a lot to think about and he wasn’t sure he was quite ready to think about commitment. And yet, and yet…. There was something about the girl that made him get little rosy thoughts with frilly bows on top.


Severus Snape had been watching his old rival drinking morosely in a corner for about an hour. Contrary to popular belief, Severus was not oblivious to other’s cares, he noticed them perfectly well, and he just didn’t give a damn.

So he had a pretty good idea as to what was going on with the DADA teacher. He had seen Tonks prancing about the school and from all the giggling that was going on between the two of them, he could guess how far it had gone with great accuracy. He also knew that the Aurors were working incredible overtime, bringing down the last Death Eaters and rooting out Voldemort’s infrastructure. So this recent bout of misery was easily explained.

It gave him an idea. He knew Dumbledore had given the DADA position to Quirrell out of pity. After all the man would be unlikely to find a job anywhere else with that seven year gap in his memory and six year gap in his résumé. Especially the bit about possession and death, that sort of thing bothered potential employers.

However, if he were married and happily off to a new life, Dumbledore would have no further excuses for keeping the coveted position from him anymore. A smile graced his thin lips for a moment and a look of calculation flitted across his face. Then with a sweep of black robes and a sneer, Severus Snape set off to play cupid.


Tonks felt her body arc through the air yet again and caught herself a moment before she landed, tucking her body just so and rolling out of the fall. She bounced up and facing Sensei Kimibuki she bowed. The sensei bowed in return and Tonks felt an elated little grin ing ing at the corners of her mouth. It had taken months but she had finally learned how to fall without hurting herself.

If only the rest of her life would come together now, she would be much happier. She turned to her usual partner, Vera, bowed and began to work out how to toss the other woman. She stepped into her center of balance, grabbing her arm as she moved, there was a shift of the hips and them whoosh, the woman flew over her shoulder and rolled as she fell, bouncing up with a little less enthusiasm than Tonks had. The two women grinned at each other and bowed.

“Miss Tonks, what are you doing after class, because we are getting together for tea and it would be lovely if you could join us?” Tonks grinned at the older women and nodded; sitting in a muggle café was probably not the best idea, but Tonks really needed some friends who weren’t in the Order.

“That sounds brilliant.” It was warming to be wanted.


Two hours later she found herself pouring out a highly edited version of her relationship, or lack thereof, with Ian to a circle of middle-aged muggle housewives. The café they found had an outdoor seating area and some of those iron tables and chairs that looked lovely but left a waffle pattern on your bum. The day was clear and rather warm for London in October and they sat outside to chat. The ladies clucked like chickens, but were surprisingly full of good advice.

“Time is the key dear, you need to find a way to make time to see him. All this overtime you’re doing is all very good, but you have to put your foot down with your bosses and tell them you need time out for yourself. You will burn out if you don’t regardless.” Vera assured her. Outside of class, she wore black slacks, a black turtleneck and a hand-knitted sweater of mauve wool. Her round pleasant face was creased with smile lines and her wispy brown hair was cut short. She looked like a Goth grown to pleasant middle age.

“Vera’s right, lovey. You need to be more than just a copper all the time.” Betty had been raised in the East End, but she had worked hard to scrub the cockney out of her voice; only the occasional word gave her origins away. She was a skinny woman with a sharp face, all angles and knifepoints. Bright black eyes like a beetle’s carapace and graying hair in a tight bun gave her a school marm look, but she had a cheerful demeanor and an earthy sense of humor.

“I will talk to my boss, but he’s a little loony.” She twirled her fingers around her ear to indicate his mental state and the ladies all laughed. Still, she felt better already.

“And then dearie, once you have him to yourself, make him see what a lovely wife you’d make him.” Tassie commented with a waggle of her eyebrows. Tassie had the kind of curvy figure that made strong men pant and beg, with an angel’s face and green eyes like cut emeralds. For a woman of nearing forty she was stunning and Tonks was a bit in awe of her. “Most young ladies make the mistake of trying to seduce the fellow. Let him seduce you, but cook, keep things clean and always remember how he likes his tea made.” The ladies all nodded at that.

“You’d be surprised how much a man’ll forgiv’ya if ya cook well and make a decent cuppa.” Regina added, her Scottish burr rather pronounced. Regina was short plump and fair with gray eyes and a face like a contented dumpling. “O’course, it helps if ya can keep a place tidy like, but food, lassie, tha’s the key.” More nods and Tonks looked at them forlornly.

“But I’m a terrible cook.” She wailed. The women exchanged looks and then nodded to each other.

“We’ll teach ya, lassie, ne’er fear.” Regina patted her on the arm with her plump little hand and the meddlesome biddies all grinned at her. Tonks laughed back.

“You are all such good friends.” She was looking forwards to learning to cook. It occurre her her hours later that they would be teaching her muggle cookery, but surely she could adapt it to a Wizarding kitchen, couldn’t she?