A/N: Anything you recognize belongs to the brilliant imagination of JKR.

Chapter 1: Recruited

Nymphadora Tonks (who preferred to be referred to by her surname only) groaned as she looked at the huge mound of paperwork stacked on her desk. She had thought that being an auror would be full of excitement, catching dark wizards and saving the world. Well, maybe not saving the world, but at least doing something slightly more useful than checking out generally harmless "dark artifacts" and suspicious wizards who usually turned out to know less about the dark arts than Tonks' muggle grandmother.

She sighed. She had known she would be starting from the bottom and working her way up, seeing as she was one of the newest aurors in the division, but somehow she felt that she was wasting her time, filling out report after report after report, especially with the rumors that Voldemort had returned.

Even though the Ministry repeatedly denied any such allegations, referring to Harry Potter, former hero of all wizardkind, as a nutter, and Dumbledore as a crazy old man, Tonks was suspicious. She knew Fudge would go out of his way to ignore anything that could trouble the Ministry, and she refused to believe anything Rita Skeeter wrote, after reading a particularly nasty piece about her mum being in cahoots with her convict cousin, Sirius Black.

As she looked at the teeming pile of papers that sat upon her desk, she felt a sweeping feeling of anger. Who was the Ministry to ignore Harry Potter, the boy who lived, and Albus Dumbledore, the most brilliant headmaster that Hogwarts had ever had, just to wrap themselves in blissful ignorance? The least they could do would be to look at the signs around them. Did they not realize that the reemergence of Voldemort could be the worst thing to happen to the wizarding world in fourteen years? That ignoring the facts would only make them unprepared for future attacks?

She prodded at the stack of papers with her wand, sending them flying all over her cubicle. Unfortunately, Kingsley, a senior auror whom Tonks had great respect for, took that moment to pop his head in.

"Erm… Tonks? Are you busy?" he asked, with an amused glance at the once-orderly papers that now littered the floor.

She blushed. "No, just finishing up some paperwork."

"I see." He smirked. "Well then, I have a meeting to attend, and I think it might interest you. Care to join me?" he said, extending a rather large hand to help her out of her chair.

"I should probably finish up here," she said lamely, gesturing to the sheets of paper covering the carpet.

"Allow me," said Kingsley, and with a grand flourish of his wand, and all the papers zoomed back onto the desk to form a neat pile. "Come on, we don't want to be late."

For what? Tonks wondered, but she trusted Kingsley enough to know that she would find out in due time. Whatever it was had to be more interesting than paperwork.

"Meet me outside, in the back," he whispered as they stepped out of the cubicle. "We shouldn't be seen leaving together." Tonks raised an eyebrow curiously. Kingsley straightened up. In a louder voice, he said, "Well, Miss Tonks, I think that we will be able to forgive your little mishap this time around, but do try and be more careful. Also, I expect the paperwork on yesterday's incident to be filled out in a timely manner."

Tonks was caught off guard, but responded quickly enough. "Yes sir, I'll have that for you as soon as possible. Thank you."

Kingsley turned on his heel and headed towards the elevator. She waited a few moments before following.

He was waiting for her when she got outside. "Come on, take my arm." She complied and soon felt the familiar squeeze of disapparation. When the world came back into focus again, she discovered that they were standing in the middle of a street in muggle London.

"Is it safe to apparate here? Are you sure no one saw us?" she asked worriedly.

"Of course, did you really think I would be so careless?" asked Kingsley, who sounded a bit angry at her accusation.

"N-no, of course not, I just-"

"Here, memorize this, and then burn it," he said, thrusting a small piece of paper into her hands.

The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

She read it several times, and when she was sure she had it memorized, she muttered the incantation and held it up to the flame at the end of her wand. Then she looked up, and was shocked to see a house squeezing its way out between numbers 11 and 13, the inhabitants of which were completely oblivious to the fact that they were being shifted sideways.

"How…" she started, but Kingsley cut her off.

"I'll explain inside, we're late." He took her arm and led her to the front door, which seemed to recognize him. The door open with a series of clicks, and they were greeted by the sight of a gaunt looking man with ragged black hair who was attempting in vain to silence a screaming portrait of an old witch.

"HOW DARE YOU BRING THESE MUDBLOODS INTO MY HOUSE!" the portrait shouted, eyes rolling back in her head.

"Oh, shut up, mum!" The man cried exasperatedly.

"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME – YOU ARE NO SON OF MINE!" He was shouting curses at the portrait now, muttering wildly under his breath. He finally managed to conjure some soundproof curtains, and tied them closed.

"There," he said panting. "Sorry about that, she's not too happy with the new arrangements." He turned to face them.

Tonks clamped a hand over her mouth in shock. "Sirius Black!" She exclaimed, reaching in her robes for her wand, which she then held at his throat. Kingsley grabbed her arm and forced it down, as she protested.

"Is this anyway to greet your long-lost cousin?" asked Black.

"Kingsley, what are you doing? What is he doing here? We need to apprehend him at once!" Tonks shouted.

"I guess you forgot to tell her, then," said Black, amused.

"Forgot to tell me what?" asked Tonks accusingly. "That you are working with dark wizards, supporters of You-Know-Who?"

Kingsley chuckled. "He's not a dark wizard. He was framed by Peter Pettigrew." She grew silent as he explained the situation, finally replacing her wand in her robes.

"So, let's try this again," said Sirius, grinning. "How's it going, cos?" Tonks grinned, wrapping him in a huge bear hug.

"I haven't seen you in forever. I can't believe you're innocent! Well, mom always said the Ministry was being ridiculous, but…" she broke off, embarrassed that she had not believed in him.

"Well, the evidence against me was pretty convincing, or so I've heard. But Dumbledore's on my side, and we've managed to convince everyone in the Order."

"But how did you escape? And what is the Order? Kingsley hasn't told me anything."

"There will be plenty of time to catch up later," Kingsley interrupted, "But the meetings about to start, and you don't want to be late for your first one."

"But what- " Tonks was cut off as the two men hurried her through a sliding door to her first meeting of the Order of the Phoenix.

A/N: Yay, my first piece of fanfiction EVER! (As you can probably tell…) More to come, hopefully. Please review, even if you hated it. Much appreciated!