Evidence

"Being able to fight is one thing; having a sharp eye and quick mind, that's something else."

Moody held up a strand of hair for the students to look at. There were only three of them in this training session, so it was almost like one-on-one. Moody made Tonks nervous, though she'd never show it.

"What can you tell me about this? It was found at the scene."

"It's... brown?" Dawkins smirked a little.

"Clearly."

"It's long," Tonks piped up. "Could mean it's a woman's hair."

"Or a man disguised as a woman, or simply a man with long hair, but you may have something there. Never assume your adversary is a man; you'll only be right half the time." Moody looked at her with his small eye; the magical one was swiveling around frantically. He seemed to expect her to continue.

"There are some magical tests we could do. To, uhm. Determine if the hair belongs to someone who has been in trouble before. Or, uhm. Even to determine whether the hair is from a witch or wizard, or a Muggle."

The magical eye swiveled to her, so Tonks felt as though she were under the most intense scrutiny of her life. "Not just a fancy way of disguising yourself, I see. Very good."

Tonks felt like she was on top of the world.

Word count: 227

What makes you smile or laugh no matter what?

The nightmares were awful. Some were just bloody and filled with pain, with screams and fear. Battle dreams, with red eyes and taunting laughter.

"The pretty little wolf cub will be next..."

Some of the dreams were quieter, but no less terrifying. Darkness, and silence, and the knowledge of being entirely alone. Not even a note this time, no message to say "I love you, Dora, but..."

Just emptiness.

There were others, too, less vivid, a bit like grotesque slideshows. Hogwarts in ruins, dead bodies, leering death masks, torn, fluttering curtains and a flash of vivid green light.

Tonks woke with a start, bathed in sweat, alone in the bed, in the dark. The clock read 2:22. Getting up, she padded into the hall, towards the kitchen, but stopped short at another door.

She could hear it before she walked in, the low quiet rumble of his voice. When she opened the door, a familiar sight greeted her eyes. Remus was in the rocking chair, murmuring nonsense to the sleeping baby in his arms. He glanced up at her without a pause, and his lips twitched upwards, like they always did.

It never failed to make Tonks grin.

Word count: 197

"What is so important that I had to take the day off tomorrow, anyway?" Tonks asked with a laugh. "And we had to send Teddy to my mother's..."

Remus looked at her and shrugged. But he was smiling, too. "Maybe we could just use some time to ourselves."

The restaurant was posh, the most posh restaurant Tonks had ever seen. "Can we afford this? I'm not sure we can afford this..."

Now Remus just raised his eyebrows. "I'm the one supposed to be worrying about money, aren't I?"

"Not when you're in this kind of mood..."

Remus took her by the shoulders, so they were facing each other. She never could avoid his gaze. "Dora, we have been through so much together. We've done, and seen, things that most people never even imagine." He traced her features affectionately. "But... we've never been on a date before, have we?"

Tonks tilted her head a little, and smiled. "No, I don't suppose we have. That is pretty important, now that I think about it..."

Word count: 172

Talk about your first love.

Charlie Weasley.

It was the perfect match, really. We were in the same year at Hogwarts, though not the same house of course. My parents knew the Weasleys and were friends with them, so Charlie and I spent a lot of time together, especially the first few months of school. We were best mates for a long time, got each other into and out of trouble a lot, and in fifth year it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to start dating.

Charlie wasn't the first bloke I dated, I'd been on a few dates before him. I'd even kissed a bloke or two before him. But he was the first long-term boyfriend I ever had. We lost our virginity to each other (and unlike most people I know, especially women, I've never regretted it, either). We were really in love, I think. In our way.

I even thought I might marry him, for a while. But it was more a teenage fancy than anything else. We both knew logically that it wouldn't work. Charlie was going to study dragons, they are his passion, even more than Quidditch (and believe me, he loves Quidditch). And I was going to be an Auror. Logistically, it just wouldn't have worked.

So yeah, Charlie Weasley was my first love. We're still good mates, and always will be.

Word count: 228

Underground

"You promised, remember?"

"I hate boring brown hair, dad."

"Yes, I know, but you promised. Just for the afternoon. You're not supposed to show off for the Muggles, it might scare them."

"All right. Where are we, anyway?" Down some stairs, and it was noisy and cavernous, people everywhere. It had better be worth it, to have brown hair all afternoon.

"It's called the Underground, Dora. We'll get on a train, and the train will take us through all these tunnels, and we'll get to where we want to go."

Dora thought about this for a moment, holding tight to her father's hand as he led her to the ticket window. "Why isn't it above-ground?"

Her father smiled a little. "Because of all the other traffic up there."

A train wooshed by in the tunnel, and Dora watched it, fascinated. "It looks dark down there..."

Ted Tonks nodded. "Dark, and lots of fun."

Word count: 154

Battle

Tonks had seen plenty of films with wars and big battles in them. There were lots of paintings in museums depicting grand battles won by armies long ago. Tonks had seen many of them. Many of them were very pretty.

None of them were accurate.

Because battle, Tonks came to realize, the real battles they fought with spells flying back and forth and yelling and grappling on the ground - these battles were never pretty, or glorious. They were just awful. Nothing but pain and blood and adrenaline. Heart beating in her chest, death might come at any moment in a flash of light.

There was blood, and mud, and everything was confused. She could hardly tell her friends from her enemies. At some point, the will to actually keep fighting ran out and the pure survival instinct set in. She was exhausted, and in pain, and hardly knew which end was up. What had she come out here for, anyway? What was the point?

If she got out of this alive, Tonks knew she'd never watch a war film again.

Word count: 180

http://i5.tinypic.com/7wi9qgl.jpg shovel and pail

( It seemed like a good idea at the time. )

Word count: 210

Photo prompt: hospital bed

( Tonks was used to hospitals. )

Word count: 263