Written 2003, © Erica 2005

Profile for Golden Feather (RPG is now dead)

Personal Info:

Name: Erica
Email: [email protected]
Any previous experience on RPGs?: Do you really need to ask? *winkies*
AIM/MSN/ICQ/Yahoo: MSN: [email protected]

Character Info:

Name: Nymphadora Tonks
Nickname: Tonks, Dora (childhood nickname)
Age: 25
Date of Birth: May 10, 1974
Place of Birth:
Gender: Female
Blood: Half-blood (father was muggleborn)
Wand: Pink ivory wood, dragon heart-string, 13 inches

Personality

Likes: Quidditch, sweets, jokes, pranks, adventure books, changing her appearance (only for those's she's friendly with)
Dislikes: Her clumsiness, having to disguise herself in an unflattering manner, purebloodists, Death Eaters, the Dark Lord
Pet Hate: When someone starts going on about blood purity
Phobias and Fears: Dying, going down without a fight, being unable to protect those she cares about, being completely alone

Personality Summary: Tonks is, to say the least, very optimistic. She likes to keep a generally bright outlook on life, even when the times are dark. It's then that you have to be the most positive, she believes. Tonks' enthusiasm is almost as boundless as her optimism. She's always ready to pitch in and help in anyway she can. She will lend a hand or volunteer for whatever is needed of her, and while she'll mutter under her breath about an assignment she doesn't really want, she'll still do the assignment.

Tonks also has a somewhat random sense of humour. While she's certainly not as chaotic as the Weasley twins, she caused enough trouble the years she went to Hogwarts. Tonks had a certain “inability to behave herself,” something she still retains a bit of. When she's in a good mood (which is about constantly) Tonks will play around with her appearance, either to amuse herself or those around her. However, she will only do this around people she knows will find it amusing. Mad-Eye, heck no. Ron, Hermione or any of the other Weasley brood, defiantly. Shacklebolt... maybe...

Most people's first impression of Tonks is that she's a clumsy, over-exuberant young woman who couldn't be serious for one second if her life depended on it. This, however, is a serious misconception. Tonks can be dead serious, and knows when to be. But when she knows she doesn't need to be serious, she isn't. It's merely a timing thing. If she has to be serious, she is, if she doesn't, she isn't.

Tonks enjoys flying and is a broom enthusiast. And while she’s an excellent flyer, she never played Quidditch at Hogwarts for one reason or another. It was mainly due to the lack of a good broom. While Tonks’ interest of brooms goes back to her childhood, she didn’t own her own broom until her seventh year in school. However, she loves her Comet 260 like it was her own child and is a little over protective of it.

Despite the darkness and apparent hopelessness of the wizarding world’s current situation, Tonks still keeps her hopes up. They just have to find a way to beat Voldemort without Harry and Dumbledore. If they have enough determination, they’ll find somewhat to ride themselves of him, prophecy or no prophecy. And then what? Tonks has a few things she wants to do after Voldemort is gone. First, she wants to travel the world a bit, see a few things, meet some interesting people. But in the end, Tonks wants to settle down and have a family of her own.

Appearance

Hair Color: Whatever she wants, but naturally medium brown
Eye Color: Whatever she wants, but naturally black
Height: Again, whatever she wants, but naturally 5' 3"
Weight: You're getting the idea right? Whatever she wants, but naturally 57 kg (125 lbs)
Distinguishable Marks: A birthmark on her right hip about three centimeters across and shaped like... well, nothing, it's just a blob. But like the rest of her appearance, she can make this disappear.

Appearance Summary:
If Tonks didn't change her appearance at all, she'd actually appear somewhat normal. Her hair is naturally a medium brown, just like her mothers, and is usually cut short and rather spiky. Her eyes are the Black eyes, again which she got from her mother. Deep and colorless, they were what gave the Black family it's name. And while Tonks changes her hair and eye color liberally, she never changes the shape of her face or her complexion unless it’s require for a mission. Tonks inherited her heart shaped face and smooth pale complexion from her father’s mother, and she is rather attached to that part of her anatomy as she only grew up knowing her grandmother on her father’s side.

Tonks usually doesn’t retain her natural height of 5’ 3” and likes to add on a few inches to “even everything out.” And no one is brash enough to ask Tonks if she trims off a kilogram or five from her natural weight of 57 kilograms. She doesn’t though. Tonks is rather pleased with the proportions of her body and unlike some women, sees no reason to change them even when she can. Although she might increase her bust by a cup size for a special date… *wink* Since she’s an Auror, Tonks finds it necessary to stay well in shape, and them some. So her body is past the trim state and approaching the toned level.

Since Tonks grew up in a home influenced by both the muggle world and the wizarding one, her wardrobe reflects this. When she needs to blend into the wizarding world, Tonks dons designer robes that are very cut and neat, a fashion sense she picked up from her mother. But while she’s in the muggle world, Tonks almost falls under the “punk” category. She wears wizarding rock t-shirts (though the muggles are none the wiser), jeans, trainers and lots of jewelry. Tonks can dress "to the nines" in the muggle world as well, but the occasion is rarely called for. When she’s off duty, Tonks tends to go more with comfort than style and can be found lounging in jeans and sock feet with large warm sweater to top it off.

History

Parents: Theodore "Ted" Tonks and Andromeda "Meda" Black
Sibling(s): None

History Summary:
Theodore Tonks was born to Thaddeus Tonks and Gwendolen Hawkwood in East London, just a few streets away from the famous St. Mary Le Bow church. Thaddeus and Gwendolen had actual met at the church during Christmas mass in 1951. They ran into each other again at a mutual friend's New Year's party and found each other's company rather enjoyable. The two started dating shortly after, and Thaddeus proposed to Gwendolen in May of '52. They were married that June. Thaddeus was an accountant and Gwendolen was a school teacher. Between the two of them they managed to make enough money to pay the mortgage on the small house they bought in East London and put a little bit away for a rainy day. While the neighborhood wasn't the most upscale, it was actually really pleasant. By October, Gwendolen told Thaddeus some exciting news. She was pregnant. Theodore was born in the middle of April in a nearby hospital and was brought home the next day.

Thaddeus and Gwendolen was absolutely smitten with their baby son. While their budget was too small to really pamper him, Ted's parents made sure he had exactly what he needed. They had no idea their precious little boy was any different from the other children until his seventh birthday. The small family of three was celebrating in the kitchen of their small house. Gwendolen was about to light the candles when they suddenly lit themselves. Shocked she looked over at Thaddeus. He was as surprised as she was, if not a little scared. Only Ted found the candles amusing and started giggling. After that day several more unusual things happened that Ted's parents were unable to explain.

Finally, the summer after Ted turned eleven, they got their answer. A large owl swooped in through the open kitchen window and deposited a large envelope in front of Ted. It was his Hogwarts letter. So Ted went off to wizarding school. He was sorted into Hufflepuff, taking after his parent's work ethic. At first Ted thought being a wizard would be fun. But then he ran into the whole Pureblood vs Mudblood issue. Trying to get away from the taunting students, mostly Slytherins, Ted took refuge in the school library, where any disturbance was halted immediately by the stern Madam Pince. It was in the library that Ted first met Andromeda Black during his third year.

Andromeda Black was born to Cepheus Black and Cassiopeia Banon in Corbridge, Northumberland. Cepheus and Cassiopeia had met at Hogwarts where they had been in the same house, Slytherin, though not the same year. Cepheus was about three year older than Cassiopeia, and their marriage had been arranged when Cassiopeia had been born. The two children grew up together, strictly indoctrinated by both their parents that purebloods were better than anyone else. And they believed it to. Why should wizards want to marry pathetically magic-less people, when there were plenty of eligible pureblood witches they could marry instead. Cepheus and Cassiopeia were married shortly after Cassiopeia finished her schooling at Hogwarts. But it wasn't like Cassiopeia even needed to finish. She was basically a trophy wife, and all she needed to know was how to order the house elves around and punish them when they got something wrong.

Cassiopeia put off having children for about five years, not wanting to ruin her figure with a pregnancy, but Cepheus finally convinced her that he needed an heir, so she consented. Nine months later, a daughter was born. Cassiopeia named her Bellatrix. Disgusted by the fact his wife hadn't produced a boy, Cepheus demanded that Cassiopeia have another child. She protested she was still too tired from the first pregnancy, so he gave her two months. Nine months after that, another daughter was born, this time named Andromeda. Cepheus again demanded that Cassiopeia have another child. And this time a male heir. So Cassiopeia tried again. And once again the baby was a girl, who she named Narcissa. Cepheus was livid, but Cassiopeia had had enough. Three pregnancies in a row had tired her out, and she informed Cepheus that if he tried to make her get pregnant again, she'd... fix him... So Cepheus gave up on a male heir and named Bellatrix his heir.

The three Black girls grew up somewhat close, somewhat not so close. Bellatrix, being the oldest, spent a lot of time with their father, leaning about the glories of being pureblood. Narcissa, being the youngest, was pampered and enjoyed the finer things in life like her mother. And Andromeda was the poor middle child, left to her own devices. It was because of this that she became so interested in books. When Bellatrix went to Hogwarts it was no surprise that she was sorted into Slytherin. But when Andromeda followed a year later, her parents were unpleasantly surprised when she was sorted into Ravenclaw. Narcissa did them proud the next year when she was sorted into Slytherin. Because of the house separation, Andromeda saw less and less of her sisters, and more and more of the people in her house. But even Ravenclaws can be a little too loud, and Andromeda began to study more in the library, where she met Theodore Tonks.

Andromeda and Theodore's relationship got off to an extremely rocky start. Meda (as she went by at school) had a childhood of ideals to overcome before she was able to see that Ted was really a nice guy. Ted was actually a year older than she was and had had several classes with Bellatrix, so he had to get over the idea that Meda was in anyway similar to her older sister. By Ted's fifth year and Meda's fourth, they were good friends, and during Ted's seventh year, they started dating. However, Meda kept this bit of information from her sisters and her parents. She still remembered the lectures she'd received as a child about how pureblood wizards were superior to muggle-born wizards. Ted got a short term job in Hogsmeade while he waited for his application for a Ministry job to go through, so Meda continued to see him.

The spring of her final year however, Meda received some very disturbing news from her father. He had arranged a marriage for her. To Rabastan Lestrange the younger brother of the man her sister Bellatrix had married. Meda was horrified. The ceremony was to take place at the Black's home during the summer following her final year, but Meda wouldn't have it. Ted had been putting most of his earnings from his Hogsmeade job in Gringotts and had just received a notice that he'd been accepted for a position in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes as part of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, due his muggle background. Meda had planned to simply run away and stay at Ted's place until she could find a way to support herself, but when Ted showed up at her graduation and proposed to her, she gladly accepted the more welcome choice.

The day school ended, Andromeda didn't leave on the Hogwarts Express. Instead, when the school carriages dropped her off at the Hogsmeade station, she Apparated to Ted's flat in East London with her things. The only person that knew anything about her elopement with Ted was her younger cousin, Sirius Black, who had only been in his 2nd year at the time. Meda and Ted were married in July. Meda sent her parents and relatives invitations to her wedding, but no one came. When she reflected later on that, Meda was realized she was lucky no one had come. All she received in response was a brisk note informing her that she'd been disowned from the Black family and was stripped of her Black name. None of her children would be considered Blacks. And while she'd grown up in splendor and finery, Meda was quite happy to live with Ted in East London, albeit in a slightly nicer neighborhood than the one he grew up in.

Two years after they were married, Ted and Meda were the proud parents of a baby girl, Nymphadora Tonks. Had Meda realized how tomboyish her baby girl was going to be, she might have given her a more neutral name, like Dustine or Camilla. But Meda had no idea the sort of woman her little girl was going to grow up to be, so Nymphadora it was. Though to keep it from being a mouthful, Ted tended to call her Dora for short, though Meda insisted on calling her by her full name. For most of her life, Tonks went by Dora, although she'd occasionally run across someone like her mother who insisted on using her whole name because "it's such a beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Yuck.

Dora's early childhood consisted of the end of the Dark Lord's first reign, though they didn't know it was the end. But even as a young child Dora could sense the tension and the fear. There would be certain times that her mother was terrified for her father to go to work, and it wasn't until later that she found days like those were right after a major attack. Despite the fear Dora could sense in the world around her, she grew up a happy child, playing with her toys and getting into general childhood mischief. From the start, Dora was a clumsy child. Very clumsy. She fell down stairs, fell out of trees, and tripped over the most easy things to avoid. And try as she might, she couldn’t stop it. Meda was so concerned for her daughter’s safety that she bought a Servias clock (like the Weasley clock) so she could know when Dora was in danger. (Servo = Latin for : to watch over, keep, protect, observe, save, reserve) Meda tried to keep her daughter in line while still giving her enough room to be herself, and pretty much succeeded. Dora never really felt that she was stifled by her parents and while she didn't really have a favorite parent, she knew how and what to get out of each of them. Mum was for treats and clothes, and Dad was for toys.

It wasn't until Dora was seven that Meda and Ted realized their precious little angel wasn't your general run of the mill witch. Meda had taken Dora with her while she did some shopping in Diagon Alley and for a moment lost sight of her. Dora had stopped in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies to look at the new broom, the Cleansweep 7, and hadn't noticed her mother continuing on. When she finally did, notice that her mother was gone, Dora started to panic. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her head and slumped against the window of the store. The pain passed quickly and Dora straightened up to look of her mother. When she caught sight of her reflection in the glass, she gasped. Her medium brown hair had turned a light orange and her black eyes were now green. She stood transfixed by her reflection for several minutes. By that time Meda had noticed her missing daughter, and knowing her love for brooms and flying had decided to search first at Quality Quidditch.

When she got there she found a little girl with Dora's robes but the wrong color hair standing stiff-backed in front of the store. When she turned the child around and demanded to know where she'd gotten the robes, Meda was shocked to find her daughter's heart shaped face staring back at her. When Dora finally found her tongue and Meda recognized her daughter's voice, Meda figured her daughter had simply done a little baby magic and accidentally changed her appearance.

But when she returned home with her daughter and tried to reverse the magic, Meda found she was unable to. When Ted arrived home from the Ministry he also found he was unable to correct his daughter's appearance. Somewhat alarmed, they took Dora to St. Mungo's but the doctors couldn't find anything wrong health-wise with Dora. Still having no idea what had happened to their precious daughter, Meda and Ted sent a letter to Professor Dumbledore asking for help. Professor Dumbledore came later that week and after talking to Dora for a while determined that she was a Metamorphmagus, a witch that could change her appearance at will.

Realizing the fun she could have with her ability, Dora began to practice changing her appearance. She soon discovered she could change not only the color of her hair and eyes, but also the color of her skin, the shape of her nose and ears, the length of her finger nails and many others. But she also noticed that each change caused a bit of pain. But the more she practiced the less she minded the pain as she found more and more things she could do with her ability. Dora continued to experience some random appearance changes, but the more she practiced the less and less frequently the occurred. By the time she was eleven, Dora didn't accidentally morph anymore, even when she was surprised or scared.

Dora was delighted when she received her Hogwarts letter. Unlike her parents, Dora was promptly sorted into Gryffindor House by the Sorting Hat, something her parents were not at all surprised by. Dora immediately began making friends, and enemies. Dora was shocked when some Slytherins started making fun of her because of her blood. Her father had told her it might happened, but Dora had thought that after the fall of You-Know-Who people would have realized his point of view was seriously flawed. But the taunts didn't stop. And Dora began to fight back.

By her fourth year, Dora had gotten a reputation for being a spitfire. Most of the Slytherins had learned not to taunt her anymore, either through one of their friends receiving a decking, or by being decked themselves. And no matter how many times she was hauled to the headmaster’s office by the Slytherin head, Dora refused to stop retaliating. When she was finally threatened with expulsion if she struck another student, Dora decided it would be in her best interest to stop. So instead of decking the Slytherins, she retaliated in a different manner, by pranking them. This was one of the few things she actively used her morphing ability for, which kept her from being caught.

It was during her fifth year that Dora started going by her last name, Tonks. She’d been fed up with all the people that insister on using her full first name ever since her first year, but had been unable to stop it. When a new student was introduced to Dora as Nymphadora Tonks, he was the first to admit defeat by her first name and stated, “You’re last name is so much easier to say, so I’m just going to call you Tonks instead of Nimfanadoor-whatzit.” The name started sticking with a few of her friends, and by the end of the year, only the headmaster called her Nymphadora anymore, as Tonks had started to refuse to respond to a professor or anyone else unless she was addressed as Tonks.

Tonk’s pranking tapered off slightly her sixth and seventh year as she started working on her NEWTs classes. After hearing about Aurors from her father during the summer between her second and third year, Tonks had desired to become one. After doing only decently on her OWLs, Tonks decided she really needed to apply herself a little more. However, whenever she needed a stress break, she planned and pulled a prank. This “inability to behave herself” was probably the only thing that stood between Tonks and prefectship. Not that she really wanted all that extra responsibility. Albeit, she knew she’d probably learn something from being a prefect, but she enjoyed her random pranks way too much.

After earning E’s in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions and Herbology, Tonks applied and was accepted into Auror training. Her ability as a Metamorphmagus was certainly to her advantage, but her clumsiness was not. While her morphing ability made Concealment and Disguise her strongest subject, her lack of control over her clumsiness almost caused her to fail Stealth and Tracking. However, Tonks managed to pull herself together enough to not trip over anything serious until after training was done for the day. Three years later, Tonks “graduated” from the auror program and began working at the Ministry.

It didn’t take long for Tonks to catch Moody’s eye, especially with her history of dislike for “purebloodists” as well as her morphing ability. When the Order of the Phoenix was reinstated the following summer, Tonks was one of the first people he recruited for the Order. Tonks gladly accepted the invitation as she hadn’t liked the approach the Minister was taking to the whole “You-Know-Who might be back” issue. She’d only left Hogwarts four years before and knew both her parents trusted Dumbledore greatly. Like Kingsley Shacklebolt, Tonks acted as the Order’s eyes inside the Auror division of the Ministry of Magic. Since she was still rather new at being an auror she wasn’t given many challenging cases, which in turn left her more time to devote to the Order.

Tonks hadn’t really thought of inviting anyone herself into the Order until Hestia Jones dropped by her cubical. She had known the older woman at Hogwarts and the two of them were rather good friends. When Tonks noticed the doubt her friend had in the Minister, and remembered the dislike Hestia had of Death Eaters’ because of her father’s death, she consulted with Moody and was given the go-ahead to invite Hestia into the Order. Both Hestia and Tonks were members of the advanced guard that brought Harry Potter to Grimmauld Place in August of 1995, and Tonks was one of the Order members involved in the Department of Mysteries battle at the end of the year. She was severely injuring during the fighting and spent several weeks in St. Mungo’s recovering.

During the years between 1995 and the Battle of the Phoenix, Tonks went on several missions for the Order, and kept an eye on happenings in the Ministry. The Battle of the Phoenix was a turning point however. With Voldemort in charge of the Ministry, Tonks knew it would be unsafe for her to return to work because of her blood and because she’d been seen at the Department of Mysteries battle. Those two things alone would make her a prime target. So after some quick planning, Tonks disappeared from the wizarding world and lived in the muggle one. Tonks rented an apartment in Oxford so she could put some distance between her and her parents. Ted Tonks, as well, left the ministry and withdrew to his and Meda’s home in East London. It didn’t last long however. By November Tonks' parents had been killed, because of her father‘s blood and her mother‘s views. Tonks suspected it might have been her aunt Bellatrix who killed them, but she’s not entirely sure. By the end of December, Tonks had almost been caught twice when she dared to venture into Diagon Alley for supplies. (Bloody Cockney accent.) In January she received word from Moody that Order of the Phoenix had a new Headquarters. She quickly passed this information onto Hestia, whom she had carefully kept track of after leaving the Ministry.

Tonks quickly packed the few processions she had and headed to Hogwarts. She has no idea if her apartment was ever found or even the state of her family’s home in East London. Despite all this, Tonks has kept her optimism and humor and is still always willing to go on one more mission to further the cause.

Character Alignment

Side Taken: Order of the Phoenix
Why: To protect the "dirty bloods" like herself and her father. She hates the idea of blood superiority, and this trait was one of the reasons Moody recruited her for the Order.
Any special groups this character is involved in?: Aurors

Writing Sample
Tonks pulled the edges of her cloak in tighter against the brisk wind that was rushing through Diagon Alley. She only had to get a few supplies and then she was out of there. The last time she’d been here she’d almost gotten caught. And while she’d prefer not to be her at all because of that, she really needed these supplies. She’d just have to be careful.

She’d taken precautions of course. Her hair was a demure brown with some grey starting to show, and her eyes were a dull blue-grey. She’d increased her height so she was about 5 foot 8. Her clothing style was severe. She’d transfigured some of her plain black work robes into some deep blue semi-old fashioned robes, with a stiff high collar and lace at the cuffs. No bright colors today. Her cloak was an old wool thing she’d found in the back of her closet. It wasn’t very pretty, but it kept the rain off her.

Ducking into the first shop, the Apothecary, Tonks quickly purchased the potion ingredients she was running low on. So far so good. It was when she was stepping out of the parchment and quill shop that she ran into trouble. While in the shops, Tonks had been careful to keep her Cockney accent in check, settling for the slightly less noticeable Northumberland accent she’d often heard her mother using. But when she was accidentally (or not so accidentally) run into rather harshly, Tonks’ tongue ran off before her brain could catch up.

“Eh, wotch whear ye’re goin’!”

The man who had run into her whirled around and Tonk’s breath caught in her throat. Damn. It was Jugson, the same death eater that had injured her in the Department of Mysteries battle four years ago. It was just her luck she had to run into the one person that would probably noticed her accent.

“Well, well, well, Ms. Tonks. How nice to see you again.”

“Maybe for you, not for me.”

With that she started running. A red colored curse spell struck the wall behind her as she ducked into Flourish and Blotts. Twisting her way through the maze of bookshelves, Tonks glanced over her shoulder to see that she’d lost Jugson for a moment. Stopping in a shadow alcove, Tonks pulled out her wand and readied the apparation spell. And just as she activated it, Jugson came into sight. He shot another curse at her, but she was already gone.

Tonks fell in a heap on the floor of her apartment when she finally arrived. Damn. That had been way too close.

Extras

Pet/familiar: Devon Rex (cat) - Pixie (because she looks and acts like a Cornish pixie at times)
Other Magical Qualifications: Apparation license. Also, Tonks is a Metamorphmagus and is able to change her appearance at will. This came in handy with her job as an Auror and her missions for the Order. Though she also used it for other's amusement.