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scyfly: Tonks is getting trashed because her boss cares more about people doing things his way. He ordered her to drop it completely and focus only on Hogwarts and she was the only auror who hadn't dropped everything and was still trying to work a case. Also where I'm from backchat and backtalk are used interchangeably. Also yes, Carnage as this version is bonded to a magical owl and came from a symbiote bonded to a wizard so she can use magic.
ZealJD: Not for a bit, but it is coming.
Lucifer-Satani: I'm sure I heard that quote somewhere else but I can't recall where
BoredKing: Tonks hadn't forgotten the case, she had been working on it before being sent to Hogwarts and was still working on it in her free time since being sent to Hogwarts, even after it was assigned to Dawlish. The reason she's obsessed with it is that not only did she discover the case, she also saw him first hand in action and her whole reason for joining the aurors in the first place is because she wanted to make a difference and help people. She'll likely be helping people if she solves the case of a guy like Venom. Besides, it doesn't matter if the people are bad or not, in real life a cop is not going to let a cannibal go free simply because he's only targeting bad people. She's interacting with Fleur because Fleur's the only one who hasn't really had follow up interviews because of her father.
Chapter 65 -
"Wotcher Harry, Fleur!" Tonks said with a smile as she approached the pair. While things were complicated between them at best, she didn't have it in her to dislike Fleur, especially since the girl hadn't really done anything to her. Whatever happened between them, she wished the both of them the best.
"Hi Tonks," Harry said with a small smile as he sat against the tree by the lake, dressed in a casual pair of black shoes, trousers, a black jacket and a white shirt. Sitting in between his legs and leaning against him was Fleur who was dressed in blue jeans and a matching blouse, she was barefoot as she had taken off her high heels which were also blue, it turned out the girl had a favourite colour. "What's up?" Harry asked.
"Nothing much, just dealing with a livid Minister of Magic and his irritating secretary," Tonks huffed as she plopped down onto the ground in front of them, bringing her knees up to her chest. As she sat down, she noticed Harry's owl, Hedwig, perched on one of the tree branches. She gave the owl a wave and was surprised to see Hedwig lift one wing and use it to wave back at her. "That's new," She blinked.
"Hedwig's the smartest owl in the world," Harry said with no small amount of pride in his voice.
"You do realise your girlfriend is supposed to be your favourite female, right?" Fleur asked in a teasing voice.
"Silver medal looks good on you," He shrugged before turning back to Tonks. "So, I'll bite -"
'Me too,' Venom couldn't help but comment.
"-What's got Fudge all bothered?" Harry continued.
"Draco Malfoy was attacked in Hogsmeade," Tonks answered.
"We know," Fleur frowned. "That horrible man, Snipe, accused Harry of doing it,"
"You mean Snape?" Tonks asked with a smile.
"Whatever," Fleur huffed. "Anyway, he accused Harry despite Harry being with me all day. I don't know what Dumbledore is thinking, I can't believe he is letting someone like Snop teach in a school like this."
"Alright, you're obviously doing this on purpose now," Harry chuckled, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," She said innocently as she snuggled back into him.
"Focus please," Tonks cut in. "Anyway, Draco got attacked again in St Mungo's hospital. He got mutilated pretty bad."
"My pity well is surprisingly empty when it comes to Draco," Harry said in an unbothered voice. "Everyone in the school has been saying for years that eventually Draco would wind up getting his mouth shut. Ron actually better ten galleons on Draco being sent to Azkaban or an early grave via your standard murdering before he reached the age of thirty."
"Still, Fudge wasn't happy about it," Tonks said.
"What does it have to do with him?" Fleur asked, staring between the two.
"Long story short, Draco's dipshit father is Fudge's biggest 'supporter', it's an open secret that Malfoy senior just bribes the Minister to get away with everything from minor crimes to murdering," Harry said bluntly, causing Tonks to wince. She wanted to argue against that, but she knew he was right, everyone who had taken a minute to think about it knew that Fudge was taking bribes, they were just debating on whether he actually was stupid enough to believe that Malfoy was innocent or if he was simply more interested in the money. Only nobody could prove that Fudge was taking bribes so he got away with it.
"Anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk to you two about," Tonks said, before taking a deep breath. "I actually came to talk to you, Fleur, I need to ask you a few things. If you don't mind, I want to talk to you about the World Cup." She revealed, earning a surprised look from Fleur while Harry's eyes narrowed slightly at her. "If you want to talk alone without anyone here then we can do that. If you want, that is."
"I already gave a statement about what happened at the World Cup," Fleur pointed out. "Why am I being asked again?"
"Um...well...bollocks," Tonks let out a deep sigh. "The truth is that I'm not technically supposed to be asking you about this,"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked before Fleur could respond.
"Well, I was on a case and I've been taken off of it recently, but I want to finish the case, I...I think it's important, somehow. I don't know, it's just a feeling," She said, sounding quite tired. "Is that alright, Fleur?" She asked hopefully.
"I..." Fleur paused and stared at her for a moment. "...If you think it's important," She said eventually. Tonks smiled, feeling her body relax significantly. She quickly pulled out a notepad and quill.
"Thank you," Tonks said gratefully. "I want to ask you about the man who you saw at the World Cup, the man in black. Tell me about him, please." She said, so focused on Fleur that she missed Harry's brief startled look.
"I was with my family, we were having fun," Fleur began, her shoulders slumping slightly. "Then those...those..." What followed was a long stream of French words that Tonks could barely keep up with, she didn't understand a single one of them but from context and tone, she could tell they were probably not the nicest words in the French dictionary. Once the younger witch was done, she took a deep breath and continued. "My sister and I got separated from our parents during the attack, eventually those bitches of sons caught us,"
"Son's of bitches," Harry absently corrected her.
"Oui, they are those as well," Fleur nodded before turning back to Tonks. "They were discussing what to do with us when he arrived."
"The man in black?" Tonks asked. "Did he give you a name?"
"Yes, he did," Fleur confirmed. "He said 'We are Venom', I think maybe his English is not as good as mine. He must have meant 'I am Venom'."
'If I meant that then I would have said that,' Venom huffed. 'And my English is perfectly fine, thank you very much.'
"He was covered from head to toe in black, but it was not clothes, it was something else. It looked like it was part of him. He had white eyes and a big spider symbol on his front and back." Fleur continued. "He snuck up on one and threw him into a tree, he was stronger than any human could possibly be. He was far too fast and agile to be a normal person. He conjured weapons from his own body and he could make long tentacles that grabbed them from long distances."
"Sounds like the same guy," Tonks muttered under her breath in confirmation as she wrote everything down. "Anything else?"
"One of those men shot a killing curse at me," Fleur revealed, shivering slightly. She relaxed a bit when Harry squeezed her gently, she paused for a moment before she started speaking again. "This 'Venom' saved me, he blocked the curse."
"With what?" Tonks asked, giving the girl her full attention.
"With himself," Fleur said in a serious tone. "One of his tentacles shot out and took the curse instead of me, the curse hit him. Those tentacles were part of him, I'm sure they were, and they took the curse. He wasn't even hurt."
"But...but that's ground-breaking!" Tonks gaped at her. "That's...that's incredible...why hasn't anyone been told about this?!"
"I told several people," Fleur huffed. "They all assumed that I was seeing things, that I was merely a scared little girl with an over-active imagination. I was simply frightened and didn't know what I saw, but I do know. This Venom survived the killing curse."
"Looks like I've got competition," Harry interjected lightly. "Wonder what they'll call him, 'The Venom who lived'? Still, I wonder how he did it. I survived because of my parents, I'm sure of it. Everyone says it's me, but I was a baby at the time, my parents are the ones who probably did something. What about this guy? How do you think he survived?" He asked both girls.
"It's possible he's not human," Tonks guessed, biting her lower lip. "The things he can do, Harry, they're not the sort of things that you're average wizard can do. Plus, if this is the same guy I'm thinking of, then he eats people like a werewolf does on a full moon. I saw him eat a hand."
"You're lucky," Fleur said with a grimace. "I saw him eat a whole head."
"What a bastard," Harry commented.
'Oi!' Venom protested.
"Did you ever meet him before that?" Tonks asked. "Or after? Do you know if anyone in your family might have any idea?"
"No," Fleur shook her head. "I can ask if you want." She offered.
"Please do," Tonks nodded quickly. "But... subtly, please, if you can. Remember, that I'm not supposed to be on this case."
"Veela aren't exactly known for our subtlety but I'll see what I can do," Fleur said in an amused tone, earning a grin from Tonks. The next few minutes passed with Tonks asking several more questions regarding the incident. Once it was done, she put her notepad away with a bright smile.
"Thank you so much," Tonks said appreciatively. "This is a real help to me. You're brilliant,"
"I am," Fleur nodded as if that was common knowledge.
"Extremely humble too, as you can see," Harry commented, earning a light elbow from Fleur.
"Behave," She grinned at him.
"So, how is Hogwarts's power couple doing?" Tonks asked lightly.
"Power couple?" The two repeated before staring at each other. "I like that," They said at the same time.
"Bloody hell, when's the wedding?" Tonks said in a joking tone, even though she felt like she was wilting inside.
"We're not there yet," Harry said with a small shake of his head.
"What of you, Tonks?" Fleur asked her. "Any special man in your life?"
"Um...no, no, unfortunately not," Tonks said, her hair turning into a dull shade of blue.
"That's a shame, maybe you'd like to share this one with me," Fleur said, gesturing to Harry with her head. Harry's gaze snapped towards Fleur while Tonks's hair flared a shade of red before turning into a silver colour.
"Nah, I'd hate to break up the dream team," Tonks coughed as she stood up, getting her hair to turn back into her usual pink. "Anyway, I best be off," She said awkwardly. "I'll...um...I'll see you both soon," She said before all but running away.
"She likes you," Fleur noted clinically.
"I know, I think she likes you as well," Harry said casually, Fleur turned her head back and gave him an unimpressed look.
"No, Harry, she likes you," Fleur emphasised.
"I know," Harry repeated, this time seriously.
"And you like her," It wasn't a question.
"Yes, but I like you as well. I'm happy with you, I have fun with you. I like you, Fleur, honest," He said sincerely, his emerald orbs meeting her blue ones.
"There was no doubt about that, Mr Potter," She smiled as she reached forward and pecked his lips before she sat up and turned to face him. "There is something I would like to think about,"
"Fleur, I..." He was cut off as she placed a finger on his lips.
"I'm not angry at you or anything," She assured him. "There is simply just something I want to think about," She told him in a calm voice, she leaned forward and kissed his forehead before standing up. "I'll see you later," She told him before turning and walking off.
"What the fuck?" Harry muttered while Hedwig flew off from her tree branch. Venom naturally chose that time to chime in.
'Harry,'
'Yeah?'
'If we get dumped then I'm going to be furious,'
Rita Skeeter let out several curse words as she watched from the other side of the lake, hidden in her animagus form. The ability to transform into a water beetle was her ace in the sleeve, the one trick she had that kept her on top of her competitors. The trick that let her sneak into homes and find out information on whoever she wanted, whenever she wanted. Obviously, it wasn't perfect and she didn't dare use it on people like Dumbledore who could catch her or Fudge who could rain hell on her even if he didn't know.
But right now, she wanted to use it on one person, Harry James Potter. The boy who lived was money! He was famous! He was her ticket to being bigger and better than ever before! At least, he was until the brat decided to hit the Daily Prophet with a massive lawsuit, one that made sure Skeeter was barely able to keep her job. She supposed the fact that she was a regular visitor to her boss's house played a part, not to mention the pictures she had of them together that he certainly didn't want his wife to see.
Right now, she wanted revenge, revenge on the boy who thought he'd could go against her and get away with it. And from the looks of it, she had many, many routes to go. She could see so many angles in front of her. So many headlines and unasked questions. Was Harry Potter being seduced by a Veela? Did he have a relationship with that shape-shifting auror? Was the auror trying to steal him from the veela and use him to further her own career? Was he cheating on them or was this a three-way relationship?! What other juicy secrets were available? She didn't know, but she would find out.
Unfortunately, before she could get close, the three of them separated. Why? Did they both break up with Potter? She didn't know, but she wanted to find out! She began flying forward over the lake, making her way closer and closer to Potter. She flapped her little wings as fast as she could, getting closer and closer, only to notice a large shadow come over her. She just had enough time to register that the snowy white owl, Potter's owl, was not going for a simple flight and was in fact heading straight for her! She barely had time to consider turning human when she felt herself get tackled into the river.
She turned back into her human form, dazed but coherent enough to try and strangle the owl that had come into the river with her. Her hands had barely wrapped around its neck when the thing started transforming in front of her, being replaced with a red, monstrous creature that looked like the delivery owl of the devil himself. She gasped, unintentionally swallowing a large amount of water, she tried to swim up but a pair of red tentacles wrapped themselves around her lower and upper body.
"My name is Carnage," It introduced itself perfectly despite being ten feet deep in water. "You bothered my human, prepare to die." It said, opening its mouth and revealing the last set of teeth that Rita would ever see.
"Miss Delacour," A voice called as soon as she came down from the owlery. Fleur turned around and spotted someone she most certainly was not expecting to see.
"Headmaster?" Fleur asked in a curious voice. "May I help you?"
"Perhaps, Miss Delacour," Dumbledore said in a grandfatherly like voice. "Perhaps. Would you be willing to walk with me for a moment, young lady? There are a few things I'd like to discuss with you."