Chapter 7

Important note: This story has been revised, the only major difference is that Tonks now is a much more important character than before but some stuff might be a little confusing in this newest chapter if you're not new to the story.

Rogue didn't know how long it had been, Fudge had come and gone several times but she had remained firmly rooted to the chair. In this room, or for the person connected to the chair at least, there seemed to be some sort of spell that kept the victim from getting hungry or thirsty, or from having to perform certain other natural functions for that matter. After giving her the truth serum he had asked her all the questions she had predicted but she had gritted her teeth and kept quite. The answers had tried to force their way through her mouth but she had refused. It actually hadn't been that hard at first, and if she hadn't just fought another major mental battle she probably would have brushed off the first part of Fudge's attack, but as it currently stood, fighting the magic had been more draining than it should have been.

When the first truth serum had failed he had moved onto a stronger one, one that not only tried to force her to speak with a greater urgency than the last, but one that also sent shooting pains through her mind and down her body each time she resisted. The pain got more intense with each refusal to speak, and Rogue could almost see the insanity in Fudge's mind grow along with the pain. After that he had moved onto a magical probe that he placed on her skin at the base of her neck. This one was by far the most intense. It had actually buried itself into her skin, attaching itself to the neural pathways and attempted to manipulate her brain more directly. This one also was incredibly painful but Rogue had been fighting battles for a long time, she could handle pain better than your average person.

It was more shear exhaustion that was wearing her down, the magic of the room didn't seem to do anything about sleep depravation and Rogue desperately needed to sleep and let her mind rest. Fudge wasn't in the room at the moment, but every time she started to nod off the chains around her sent shockwaves through her body and kept her awake.

/

"What about the x-men?" Tonks had to ask it. It was the name they were all thinking but that no one was willing to actually suggest.

"They're mutants…" Moody voiced, the distrust clear in his tone, "we know nothing about them"

"But they can fight, they're trained, and as of now they're the only mutant group we're aware of that don't seem to want to hurt people" Harry was arguing passionately. He wasn't about to let something happen to Rogue without knowing he did everything possible to help her.

"We can't involve them" Moody argued back, "we'll find another way"

"No," Dumbledore stood up from his chair drawing all eyes to him. "I said if there was someone who was both magical and a mutant we would involve mutants in our battle. Rogue may not have gained her magical powers through the normal means but she is a part of both worlds, and she was part of the mutant world long before she was part of ours. If these people can help we need them now"

Tonks grinned at Dumbledore, he met her smile with a soft twinkle of his own. Looking to the side Tonks felt her grin falter slightly when she realized that Harry was wearing an identical look, but she forced herself to focus on saving Rogue and ignored the strange feeling that Harry's obvious crush on Rogue always seemed to make her feel.

"Three of us will go," Dumbledore decided, "I'll take two of you with me to contact the x-men incase they are less friendly than our research into them has suggested"

"I'm going" Lupin had been pacing back and forth for the last several hours, growling at anyone who came too close or tried to get him to calm down.

No one argued with him, partly because everyone there felt he had a good reason to be involved with approaching the x-men and partly because they were all a little to scared to argue.

"Me too" both Harry and Tonks spoke at the same time, both turning to look at each other with defiance.

"I've been in plenty of dangerous situations before" Harry argued, "You people always say it's too dangerous but I'm the one who always ends up having to sort things out"

"I'm an auror," Tonks was not about to let him win this one, "and plus I'm the one with a mental connection to Rogue, that might be important for finding her and getting her out safely"

"She's my friend!" Harry argued, though everyone in the room could tell he wanted it to be something more.

"Exactly!" Tonks shot back, "you're too emotionally involved, everyone can tell how you feel about her and now is not the time to let a crush muddle your judgment and mess things up!" Tonks realized she had gone to far almost as soon as she spoke, she doubted if Harry would forgive her for that last remark for along time.

The other adults were nodding at Tonks words, however, "Sorry Harry, but she has a point," Dumbledore spoke. "We don't know enough about these people to go into the situation emotionally charged"

"What about him then?" Harry fumed, looking at Lupin who was still stalking around the room.

"He can handle himself," Dumbledore spoke softly, "He knows when to control himself if he needs to, and his relationship to Rogue as her wolf-father is an important one to show to these people. They need to understand that we didn't kidnap her or abandon her, they need to see that we look after our own"

Turning to look at Tonks Dumbledore continued in a softer voice, "You're mental link to Rogue may be important so you would be coming regardless of who the third person was, but I need to know, are you too emotionally invested in this as well?"

Tonks felt her face flush slightly, thankful that most of the people were still looking at Harry as he glowered and fumed to himself. She cared about Rogue, sure, and when she had though Rogue was going to die back at Hogsmead she had felt some pretty intense emotions, but that was natural for anyone to feel after developing a strong mental connection with someone. She couldn't help but wonder, however, if Dumbledore was asking something else, if his question went deeper than simple fondness for another person.

Tonks was about to answer that she was fine but when she met Dumbledore's eyes something about the way he was looking at her made her pause. There was trust in his eyes, he was asking her a question and trusting her to make the right decision. Forcing herself to stop and think, Tonks realized that she needed to be sure she would be in control during this mission. She absolutely could not allow herself to be the one to mess things up. She had to consider if her emotional attachment to Rogue would really be a problem.

Taking a breath Tonks closed her eyes and forced herself to really look at her emotions regarding Rogue. She had been avoiding them for a while, but now she had to admit that she did care deeply for the other woman. But was it going to be a problem for the mission? No, she decided. She would do whatever was needed to get Rogue back safely, and part of that meant not letting her emotions cloud her mind or judgment so she couldn't do her job. She was the best one to help with this, her auror training and occlumency work with Rogue proved that.

"It won't be a problem" She answered Dumbledore, meeting his gaze with a firm look of determination. He searched her eyes and then nodded once, finding what he had been looking for.

"Then let's go"

/

Logan met the strangers at the gate. He had been in a terrible mood since Rogue's disappearance and with each failed attempt at locating her he seemed to sink further and further into his depression. So he had been waiting to burst for along time when the strangers appeared on the security system and he had rushed out to deal with it before anyone else had started to react. As he got closer, however, his sense of urgency increased, he could smell her on them, a sent no more than a few hours old.

Dumbledore felt Lupin and Tonks tense next to him as a large man came hurtling towards them, anger clear on his face. Metal claws sprang from the man's hands as he finally slowed and came to a stop a few short feet away.

None of them were expecting what happened next, however, as Logan bared his teeth and growled out, "Where is she? I can smell her on you"

"She?" Dumbledore tried to ask amicably.

"Rogue! Where is she? If you've hurt her I'll kill you," a threat they all believed he fully intended to carry out.

"He knows Rogue," Tonks breathed, feeling slightly relieved at this revelation. At the moment she was still wary of the clawed man, but knowing that he knew Rogue, and seemed to care about her, made her think that convincing these people to help might not be so hard after all.

"I think we need to talk" Dumbledore spoke softly, meeting Logan's eyes, "and I promise you, we want to help Rogue just as much as you do"

Logan sniffed the air carefully. He didn't trust these people but so far they seemed like they weren't going to be a threat. He couldn't smell any weapons on them, and they knew Rogue. At this point any link to Rogue was enough to make him suppress his battle instinct if it meant getting the information they had all been hoping for over the past few months.

/

It had taken several hours to sort everything out. Logan had taken them to see Professor Xavier, and he and Dumbledore seemed to come to an almost instant understanding, both recognizing a kindred spirit in the other. Dumbledore had started first, explaining how Rogue came into their lives and what had been happening over the past few months, and then Xavier filled in the gaps about who Rogue really was.

As they were speaking Logan and Lupin kept eyeing each other wearily. They could both feel the wolf in each other, different forms of it but still very similar, and they had by now realized that they both viewed Rogue as a sort of daughter. Neither of them looked entirely happy to be faced with their other world counterpart, not quite comfortable with sharing the father role just yet.

Tonks, for her part, had keep quietly to herself on the corner. A woman named Ororo had smiled at her welcomingly and Tonks had smiled back politely, but she was too caught up in Xavier's part of the story to really focus on much else. Hearing the back story explained so much, how Rogue had developed such strong mental shields even before starting occlumency training, how she had such amazing reflexes, and even the sadness that sometimes appeared in her eyes when some mention of her home or past came up. Hearing about the things Rogue had done Tonks couldn't help the swell of pride that whelmed up in her breast, she didn't think she could ever think of Rogue as a student again.

When both side were done filling in the other, that's when the planning started. Dumbledore, Lupin, and Tonks were asked to wait in a side room while Xavier gathered the other x-men and filled them in about Rogue, and then another round of introductions followed.

Dumbledore sent messages to people from their side trying to find someone to get information on Rogue's location, while Xavier and the x-men discussed different strategies for getting her out. In the end it was decided that a stealth operation was probably best and that using a combination of mutant powers and magic would be the most likely to succeed.

It took several days to get the information about where Rogue was being held, but in that time the two worlds were melding. The wizards learned about the mutant world and started to see them with far more clarity than before, and the mutants learned about the hidden world of magic and the terrible war that was raging in secret around them. Both sides knew what it meant to have to hide in place view, and both sides were willing to work together if in meant saving Rogue, and possibly doing more good if possible.

/

Fudge was growing exceedingly impatient with the girl in the chair. He was getting pressure from the council to produce some sort of proof or confession from her, or they were going to consider letting her go. He had tried to explain to them that he was almost there, that she had strong mental barriers and the few short days he had had with her were not enough to crack her mind, but they still suggested that he turn the questioning over to some other party. Fudge knew what would happen if he did that though, she would plead her case, convince them of her innocence and go free. He wouldn't allow that, he would use whatever means necessary to achieve his immortality.

And so as he arrived back at the room he stopped outside the door, took a few minutes to compose himself, and then burst into the room hitting her full on with the crucio curse before her tired mind could do more than register his presence.

/

Rogue wanted it to stop, she wanted it to stop so much that she didn't realize the fact that the only voice she could hear was her own. It was her own voice screaming louder than she had ever screamed in the past. And it didn't stop, her body just kept screaming as the pain continued to surge through her, actually increasing in strength with each second.

Fudge dropped his wand giving her a few short seconds to breath and then hit her with the curse again, this time holding it for almost a full minute before stopping the pain. When he finally let his wand drop Rogue's head was ringing with such intensity that she didn't hear him ask her a question, her lack of response quickly resulting in yet another round of torture.

Something strange was happening to her, however, the pain kept coming, and eventually she stopped screaming simply because she had forgotten how, but she seemed unable to focus on anything. She thought he might be asking her questions but she was deaf to everything but her own pain. Physical exertion had often been one way for her to focus her mind and separate herself from the other minds in her head, but she had never gone through something this physically stimulating or intense before. Even as she felt her terror rise in her with each repeated attack, her fear that she would break and hurt her friends, or that he would attack her with the spell again, she was at the same time becoming more and more aware of the silence that was settling in inside her mind.

As Fudge hit her again she felt herself black out, but instead of completely loosing consciousness she sank into her mind. She realized that Fudge hadn't ended his abuse of her body, that the pain was still coursing through her veins, but for some reason she was able to escape into her mind for a brief period. Or at least until he realized she was unconscious.

Rogue looked around her. She was standing in blackness, maybe floating would be a more appropriate word as the blackness didn't seem to have a form, but she could feel some sort of ground under her 'feet'. Looking around she realized that she was solid, but all around her ghost-like figures were slowly backing away from her. As they did, their bodies became even more transparent and shapeless while hers took on a more solid form. All around her body, she realized, rays of blood-red light were leaking forth and sending out tendrils to the surrounding area. These were what the other forms were trying to avoid.

'It's the pain,' she realized. The other minds in her head were running from the pain, separating themselves from her own mind in the process. Rogue had always thought of her mind as a sort of collection of the minds of those she had absorbed. But now she realized that it was the opposite. Her mind was the central focus point, the other minds latched onto her and took their form from her. As they shrank away they began to lose their shape and form, she was becoming more and more solid because their parasite-like ghost bodies were abandoning the host, removing the wispy veil from her person.

'Yes it is, the pain is driving them away' Her own voice agreed with her. Startled, Rogue turned around and saw the one remaining figure, this one just as solid as herself. Rogue looked into the eyes of Marie, they looked almost identical, except Marie was lacking the white strips of hair and her eyes were a normal brown color. Both the white hair and the unnaturally green eyes had manifest themselves alone with her powers, the physical signs of the mutation.

'Why are we separate?' Rogue asked, she had thought briefly that as the other minds drew away she would be left as Marie, not Rogue.

'Because I don't really exist anymore, Rogue, I only exist because you keep me around as a memory," Marie reached out her bare hand to Rogue and Rogue understood. Kitty had suggested that Rogue was the evolution of Marie, she had ignored it but now it made sense. Humans are evolving and changing their whole lives. No one is the same person they were five years ago. Rogue might have been Marie several years ago but she had changed too much since that point to be the same person anymore. In a normal mind the old personality is just absorbed by the new one, a slow process that happens without either side realizing it. But because if the nature of Rogue's powers she had obsessed over the Marie part of her mind so much that this process had been halted. She was Rogue now, but not because she was a combination of many minds, but rather because that is who she had grown into. In a few years she would probably be a different version of Rogue, but the current Rogue would just be naturally absorbed into the newer model. Marie, on the other hand, would continue to hang around until Rogue allowed the process to be completed and fully absorbed the personality into herself.

Reaching out her own hand Rogue grabbed the hand of Marie and drew her closer. Smiling, Marie stepped forward and into Rogue. A slight shudder passed through her and then Rogue felt herself becoming completely solid, or at least, solid in this mental world. She didn't feel different at all, Marie was her past and so by absorbing her she wasn't adding to her present, but rather just completing her transformation into Rogue.

Looking around her again, Rogue noticed that she could now see clear distinctions between herself and the other personalities. Reaching out a hand she summoned one to her, briefly pausing to identify it as the electricity mutant from the previous battle, before dragging it in even as it struggled to escape from the red pain that was still radiating from her body. As it got close the personality gave up fighting to escape and instead tried to reattach itself to her mind, sending its wispy tendrils out to wrap around her outstretched arm. The tendrils couldn't seem to penetrate though; she was too solid a form now for them to seep into her body.

Grinning, she let the mind go, watching as it fled away again in relief. Her smile dissolved however, when she realized that the red had faded, the pain that had given her access to this deep level of her subconscious had ended and she was jerked upward and outward.

Rogue gowned as she opened her eyes, immediately wishing she hadn't as her throat was incredibly sore from screaming. Fudge was standing in front of her in full on insanity. His small beetle eyes seemed about to pop from their sockets and the sweat dripping down his face made it appear as if he was melting from some inner evil.

"ANSWER ME!" He roared, raising his wand again and starting the form the words for the spell, but before he could complete it something blue and furry popped into existence behind him causing him to spin around hurriedly.

Fudge didn't have time to register who was pointing a wand at him before the stunning spell hit him square in the chest and he slumped to the floor. As he fell the chains binding Rogue slipped off, causing her abused body to lose its support and she felt herself begin to slip to the floor. Tonks moved first, catching Rogue and cradling her before her body could hit the hard stones. Rogue looked into the concerned and caring eyes of the woman above her and for once didn't feel scared of the physical touch. She felt safe and secure in this woman's arms, she felt protected from all harm, including herself.

Turning her head slightly Rogue looked into the face of her brother, the expression on his face more than enough to tell her how terrible she must look, but at the moment she was too sore to speak, or even do more than simply nod to acknowledge their presence. Looking back at Tonks Rogue allowed herself to feel the warmth of the other woman's body seeping into her own, and a moment later she was asleep.

Rogue would remain asleep as Kurt teleported them all back outside the ministry, as Tonks revealed that Fudge had gone as far as the crucio curse, and as newspapers across the Wizarding world printed articles about the arrest of Fudge and his current incrassation in a mental hospital.

If Fudge had regulated his methods to the truth potions and probes he would have been fine. It would have been assumed than mutants had helped Rogue escape to return to Voldemort even as she was remaining hidden at Hogwarts. Because of his use of the curse, however, Dumbledore and a group of aurors had arrested him and Rogue's part in the story had been thankfully pushed to the side as the papers were told to focus on the minister.

/

Rogue was not looking forward to waking up. To be fair she was already awake but she was enjoying the relative silence inside her mind. She could still feel the other personalities, they had once again crowded around her now that the pain was gone, but her central person, Rogue, was now too solid for them to infiltrate. She could hear their voices, feel their presence, and access their memories, but it was on her terms now. Until she reached out to a specific one they would remain only a slight buzz in the back of her mind.

Rogue had thought she was being rather sly, she was sure that no one else knew she was awake yet, so when someone tapped her arm and spoke to her she was completely surprised.

"Common Rogue, up and at em, early bird gets the worm and all that" Rogue smiled and opened her eyes to see Tonks looking down at her.

"I guess I should have known I couldn't fool you," she responded, feeling completely relaxed in the older woman's presence. The new inner peace she felt, along with the strange connection to Tonks she could no longer deny was making it impossible to pretend to be indifferent anymore. "You're probably so attuned to my mind by now you could feel it if I thought about you the wrong way"

Tonks raised an eyebrow at Rogue's comment, her smile widening in amusement, "I mean," Rogue stuttered, her face flushing slightly, "you know, if I mentally insult you or something…"

Rogue was saved from making things any worse as an angry roar interrupted her stammering. A second later Tonks had been shoved none to graciously aside and Logan was towering over her, displeasure radiating from his every pore.

"What the hell were you thinking! Running off without telling me where you were going, do you have any idea what we've been going through these past few months? What I've been going through? I practically killed the professor when he didn't bring you home, how could you possibly think that leaving us in the dark would be a good idea?" Logan's words were full of anger, but Rogue knew what he meant. Sitting up in bed she carefully wrapped her arms around the angry mans body, burying her face into his shoulder and holding on tightly.

"I missed you too," she whispered, "and I'm sorry"

Logan was surprised by her hug. She was normally a little more physically affectionate with him because his powers meant that she was far more unlikely to seriously hurt him if an accident happened, but a hug was far beyond where she would normally draw the line. He took a breath and relaxed his body, letting his anger and hurt melt away. Enfolding her in his arms he held her tightly, not willing to miss this opportunity in case it never came again. He didn't say anything else, nothing else was really necessary, and after a few moments they separated and he nodded his head at her before turning and walking out of the room. The other people in the room were careful to avoid his eyes, sure that if anyone dared to comment on the tender side of him they would find themselves facing the extreme opposite version of Wolverine.

Rogue finally had the opportunity to look around. She was in a secluded part of the hospital wing, a separate room off the main floor. She was pretty sure that Tonks had been the only one there when she woke up, but now the room was filled with Dumbledore, Xavier, Lupin, Kurt, Kitty, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Looking from Dumbledore to Xavier, Rogue felt her face flush for the second time since waking. She could tell Xavier probably wanted to give her a lecture about not contacting them, while Dumbledore would probably support Xavier. They would tell her they were disappointed in her for thinking that running off was the best option, and it would probably result in her feeling worse than she already did and promising never to do it again. For now though, they simply smiled at her and asked how she was feeling. Dumbledore and Lupin filled her in on what was going on in the Wizarding world involving Fudge, and then they too left the room.

Tonks knew she should leave as well and allow Rogue to spend time with her friends but, well to tell the truth, she just didn't want to. She wanted everyone else to leave instead so that she could find out how Rogue was actually doing, find out what sort of emotional damage that monster had done to her. But for now she had to know her place. Nodding casually in Rogue's direction she made her way to the door and followed the professors and Lupin out into the hallway.

Rogue felt slightly hurt by the causal way Tonks left, but then Kitty and Kurt stalked over to her and she realized she was in no position to judge anyone for leaving.

/

Rogue was exhausted again and after the mental and physical trauma she had been through she didn't think anyone could really blame her. She had spent the past three hours getting threatened about not leaving again, lectured about how guilty she should feel, showered with how happy people were that she was alright, and pelted by about a dozen other conflicting emotions.

Finally unable to hold it in any longer, Rogue allowed herself to yawn loudly, hoping that the other would get the point. Most of them did and after another round of tearful exclamations about how happy they were she was all right, Ron, Hermione, Kitty, and Kurt filled out. Harry was dragging his feet and just after Kurt left the room, Harry seemed to change his mind and turned back to face Rogue.

Harry had been waiting for the others to leave for the past several hours. He had kept trying to shoot meaningful looks at Ron and Hermione, but they had been obstinately ignoring him. Rogue was their friend too and they wanted to make sure she was all right.

Now that everyone was leaving however he felt nervous, almost allowing that to dissuade him from his previous plan. He had just reached the door when he changed his mind, turning back to look at the beautiful, if slightly pale woman on the bed.

Walking back over to her he stumbled over words, finally settling on, "I wanted to go with them, you know" he suddenly found it very important that she know his absence from her rescue hadn't been through any fault of his own.

Rogue nodded and offered him a small smile, "Thanks," she replied. Rogue didn't really know what else to say, the way Harry was looking at her was making her feel strange but she was too tired right now to really focus on it.

Harry grinned in answer to her smile, it still amazed him just how beautiful she looked when she allowed herself to relax enough to show some emotions. He was about to say more when Rogue yawned again and Madam Pomfrey bustled in. She wasted no time at all in shooing him out, giving him just enough time to turn around and see the apologetic glance Rogue shot his way.

Rogue knew Harry wanted to say more and if she hadn't been so tired she would have liked to hear it. She wanted to try and understand what she felt when he looked at her like that, and now that her mind was more her own she wondered if she would be free to actually feel something without being afraid of its origin. But as it stood, she was glad when Madam Pomfrey demanded she get some rest, and within the next few minutes she was fast asleep.

/

Tonks watched as Harry left the hospital wing, he had been rushed out by Madam Pomfrey, but for some reason he had a large grin on his face and he looked very pleased with himself. She had been waiting in one of the offices with some of the other adults, but when the other students and x-men had come out and Harry had remained behind, she had made some excuse to leave and wandered out to check on things. Tonks glared at his back slightly as he walked away, he had been to caught up in feeling happy about whatever to notice her presence outside the door. Didn't he realize that Rogue was in a complex emotional state right now? He should back off and let her get better, he would have plenty of time for romance later. She tried to ignore the nagging little thought that asked if she would really be ok with his pursuing Rogue after she had had some time to heal. Of course she would, she decided, she wanted to protect Rogue, not smother her. She felt like that argument was a little hollow, but she repeated it to herself and forced herself to stop glaring at the retreating boys back.

After a few minutes, just when she was deciding that she really should find something else to do, Tonks felt Rogue's mental scream hit her like a shockwave. No actual sound had passed Rogue's lips but as Rogue had mentioned before, the two of them were now so in tune with each other that it would be almost impossible for Tonks to miss the mental distress at this short a distance.

In the three seconds it took for Tonks to reach the side of Rogue's bed she felt another agonizing scream from Rogue. Rogue was in the throws of an intense nightmare; her body was tossing and turning in the bed while silent scream after scream echoed through her mind.

"Rogue!" Tonks yelled, wrapping her arms around the other woman and holding her tightly.

Rogue awoke with a start as the horror of Fudge was replaced by the warmth she was quickly coming to associate specifically with Tonks. She felt strong and comforting arms wrap around her and didn't even try to fight back. Instead she allowed Tonks to enclose her in a tight hug and let herself go. She grabbed onto Tonks with an iron grip as sobs shook through her body almost as painfully as the screams, but this time Tonks was there to hold her and sooth her. When she finally calmed down she realized that she had pulled Tonks onto the bed with her and was now lying encircled on the other woman's arms, her head resting on Tonks shoulder.

As Tonks held Rogue as the girl cried she finally had to admit that she had been lying to herself about the true depth of her feelings for Rogue. But seeing Rogue like this, seeing her with absolutely no emotional barriers there was no longer any denying the form these emotions had taken. She would have to deal with them however, she would be there for Rogue in whatever she needed, even if in meant listening to Rogue fall for someone else, some spiky haired, green-eyed someone else.

Rogue lay there unmoving for a long time, simply enjoying the feeling of another person holding her so tightly. Finally she pulled herself together enough to say, "this is dangerous, you're not wearing any gloves"

"And I'm fine" Tonks spoke softly back. They lay in silence for a few more minutes before Rogue spoke again.

"The first time we met you matched your eyes to mine," Shifting her body slightly so that she was now looking up at Tonks, Rogue continued, "ever since then I've been wondering what you really look like, I don't think I've ever seen you in your real form"

"How would you know?" Tons asked, surprised, though slightly pleased that Rogue would care, "how can you tell I never use aspects of my real face?"

Rogue shrugged, "It just doesn't ever seem to quite fit. You're eyes are the most real, but even those are never your real color right?"

It had been years since anyone other than herself in a mirror had seen Tonks's real face. She didn't think anyone else noticed anymore. She didn't really remember why she had started hiding, she supposed it had something to do with not wanting to be connected to the line of dark witches and wizards her family was known for, but whatever it was had turned into a long time practice. Looking at Rogue however, she realized that she didn't care if Rogue saw her real face, she actually found that she wanted to show it to Rogue.

She shifted on the bed, now the two of them were lying on their sides facing each other. No longer touching, but looking intently into each other's eyes.

"Ok" she whispered. It wasn't a response to Rogue's last question, but Rogue knew what it meant.

Rogue watched as the face in front of her transformed, unable to suppress a gasp when the features settled and the real Tonks looked back at her. Tonks had shoulder length, straight black hair, hair so dark that it almost had a faint purplish scene. Her eyes were a deep royal purple, an eye color Rogue had never seen before, and her face, well her face was beautiful.

Suddenly Rogue realized what it was she felt when Harry looked at her, and it wasn't what she expected. When Harry looked at her she wasn't feeling love or fondness, she was feeling uncomfortable and wishing he would stop. She knew this now because what she was feeling looking at Tonks's real face, that was an emotion that went beyond anything she had ever felt before.

Tonks felt fear turn in her stomach when she heard Rogue gasp, more than anything she wanted Rogue to think she was beautiful, but she knew the gasp probably meant Rogue was appalled by her looks. The fear must have shown on her face however because no sooner had it risen in her mind than Rogue was smiling at her, telling her she was beautiful in that adorable, soft American southern lilt of hers.

Without asking permission, Rogue moved closer to her again, nestling into her side. Tonks wrapped her arms around the younger woman again protectively as Rogue once again drifted back to sleep. Tonks lay awake for a few more minutes focusing on the steady breathing of Rogue, and then she too passed into the dream realm, neither of them stirring when a shadowed figure crept into the room and stood there watching them sleep for several minutes before exiting just as quietly as before.

/

"So this other woman, the auror Tonks is her weakness?" the dark lord intoned to the servant kneeling at his feet.

"Yes my lord," the young male voice replied, "get the auror and the mutant will do whatever you desire. All her power will be yours"

The only answer was a cold, delighted laugh.