Nymphadora Tonks

Nymphadora Tonks (c. 1973 - 2 May 1998) was the daughter of Andromeda and Ted Tonks and a Metamorphmagus. Preferring to be called "Tonks", she attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1984 to 1991, and was sorted into Hufflepuff House. After leaving Hogwarts, she joined the Ministry of Magic and trained to become an Auror under Alastor Moody, qualifying in 1994. In 1995, she joined the reconstituted Order of the Phoenix, working undercover in the Ministry and helping to guard the Department of Mysteries. In June, 1996, she fought in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, and at some point fell in love with Remus Lupin. Remus, feeling he was too poor and too dangerous for her, rejected her feelings although he felt the same way. In the wake of the return of Lord Voldemort, Tonks was assigned to Hogsmeade as part of the Auror task force sent to guard Hogwarts. Tonks later fought in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, and, after seeing the love Fleur Delacour held for Bill Weasley despite his injuries, publicly declared her love for Remus. The two were married in the summer of 1997, and Tonks fell pregnant shortly after. She gave birth to her son, Teddy, shortly after Easter in 1998. In May of that same year, Tonks fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, and was killed by her aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange.

Early life and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Tonks began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1984, and was Sorted into Hufflepuff House. Although never made a Prefect due to her inability to behave, Tonks earned good enough marks in her exams to qualify for Auror training when she left school in 1991.

Auror
Undergoing three years of Auror training under the tutelage of Alastor Moody, Tonks' natural metamorphic abilities allowed her to easily pass the Concealment and Disguise portion of the training. However, her clumsiness gave her trouble with the Stealth and Tracking portion of the course. Tonks qualified as a full Auror in 1994.

The Order of the Phoenix
With the return of Lord Voldemort in 1995, Tonks was one of the few Ministry employees to be convinced of the truth rather than accept the Ministry line that he had not returned. She joined the reconstituted Order of the Phoenix, and, alongside Kingsley Shacklebolt, worked as a covert operative inside the Ministry, feeding the Order with information. Tonks had to be careful around the Ministry, though, as indiscreet actions would have seen her lose her position as an Auror. She was considered a considerable asset to the Order, and also took shifts guarding Harry Potter's prophecy in the Department of Mysteries.

In the summer of 1995, Tonks was part of the Order's Advance Guard sent to escort Harry Potter from 4 Privet Drive to 12 Grimmauld Place. In order to lure the Dursleys from the house so they could retrieve Harry, Tonks sent a letter via the Muggle post informing them that they had been short-listed in the All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. With the Dursleys out of the way, the Advance Guard arrived to protect Harry during the journey to London. Tonks befriended the young wizard immediately, helping him pack his trunk and was impressed by his Firebolt broomstick. During the broomstick flight to Grimmauld Place, Tonks flew in the lead of the formation.

After rescuing Harry from the Dursleys, Tonks was extremely busy at the Ministry, and the situation wasn't helped by Rufus Scrimgeour asking awkward questions, possibly due to her association with Mad-Eye Moody. Still, she found the time to attend the party at Grimmauld Place for Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger to congratulate them on becoming Prefects, and was part of the Order task force that escorted Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George to King's Cross station disguised as an old woman so they could catch the Hogwarts Express.

At Christmas of the same year, Tonks accompanied Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries to visit Arthur Weasley, who had been attacked by Lord Voldemort's snake, Nagini. She gave Harry a miniature replica of his Firebolt as a Christmas present, and escorted Harry, Hermione and the Weasley children back to Hogwarts on the Knight Bus to start the new term.

In the June of 1996, Tonks was part of the Order force that went to rescue Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood from the Department of Mysteries along with Kingsley, Mad-Eye, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black. During the battle with the Death Eaters, she shot a Stunning Spell at Lucius Malfoy, and dueled her aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange. Bellatrix proved too strong for Tonks, though, and she was injured and knocked unconcious in the fight.

Following the conclusion of the battle, Tonks needed to spend some time at St. Mungo's to recuperate, but was released in time to join several Order members at King's Cross station to confront the Dursleys over their treatment of Harry.

The Second Wizarding War
Tonks continued to serve both the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix, but she had become withdrawn and depressed. The change in personality - and her seeming difficulties in controlling her metamorphic abilities - was noted by those around her. However, they put the blame for her mood on the death of her cousin, Sirius, since she had been fighting his killer, Bellatrix, and failed to stop her. However, the true cause of her depression was her love for Remus Lupin. He felt a relationship with her would be disasterous; he was too dangerous as a werewolf, too old for her, and too poor. Tonks confided her feelings in Molly Weasley, and was often at The Burrow for "tea and sympathy". Her feelings also caused her Patronus to change to a Werewolf.

With the news that Lord Voldemort had returned being confirmed by the Ministry, Hogwarts recieved a team of Aurors to help protect the castle from any threats. Tonks was part of the task force, and was stationed in Hogsmeade. On September 1st, she rescued Harry from one of the carriages on the Hogwarts Express where he had been incapacitated by Draco Malfoy, then covered with his invisibility cloak, and escorted him to the school gates.

Tonks often patrolled the corridors of Hogwarts on the request of Albus Dumbledore when he knew he would be away from the school searching for information regarding Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes. She also patrolled Hogsmeade, and met Harry shortly after he had confronted Mundungus Fletcher when he tried to sell items from Grimmauld Place to Aberforth Dumbledore. She was patrolling the school with Remus and Bill Weasley on the night that the Death Eaters managed to invade the castle via a Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement, and fought against them in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower in 1997, battling a huge blond Death Eater.

In the aftermath of the battle, Tonks saw the love that Fleur Delacour held for Bill Weasley despite injuries suffered at the hands of the werewolf Fenrir Greyback. In the hospital wing, she publicly told Remus that she loved him, and that was all that mattered. Despite his protestations that his and Bill's situations were not the same, the two started a relationship since Remus also held feelings for her.

At the funeral of Albus Dumbledore, Tonks and Remus stood together, holding hands, and her hair had returned to its favourite bubble-gum pink colour.

Tonks and Remus married in a quiet ceremony in July, 1997, shortly before the Order operation to spirit Harry away from the Dursleys shortly before his seventeenth birthday. Several days before the 31st of July, Tonks, along with a dozen members of the Order, travelled to 4 Privet Drive, where they were to escort Harry to safety. Tonks took the role of a protector, flying on a broom with Ron Weasley (disguised as Harry by way of the Polyjuice Potion). During the flight from Little Whinging, Tonks and Ron were chased by Bellatrix Lestrange as they headed to Ron's Great-Aunt Muriel's home. They made it to Muriel's, but missed their portkey to The Burrow. Muriel delayed them futher by fussing over them, but they appeared to Apparate into the sky above The Burrow and perform a crash landing into the garden. Remus was grateful and relieved that she was alive, but the moment was sobered by Bill Weasley's revelation that her mentor, Mad-Eye Moody, had been killed by Lord Voldemort.

In the days following, Tonks found out that she was expecting Remus' child. Remus seemed to become withdrawn and sullen at the news, but Tonks was over the moon and radiant, although she didn't reveal why. She briefly attended Harry's birthday party before the arrival of Rufus Scrimgeour, and was a guest at Bill and Fleur's wedding the day after. When the wedding was disrupted by Death Eaters following the fall of the Ministry, Tonks was questioned but let go.

Shortly after the wedding, Tonks and Remus split up. Remus feared for the child Tonks was carrying, worried that the child would be a werewolf like him. All of his old fears over his and Tonks relationship resurfaced, and he withdrew from her rather than hurt her. She moved back in with her parents. However, their split didn't last. Remus, after arguing with Harry at Grimmauld Place, finally saw sense and he and Tonks were reunited sometime before Christmas. Before Easter in 1998, Tonks learned that her father had been killed by Snatchers. She finally gave birth to a son, Teddy, just after Easter.

When Neville Longbottom raised the call to arms for Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix to fight against the Death Eaters in the Battle of Hogwarts, Tonks initially did not answer the call, staying at her mother's with Teddy. However, she could not stand not knowing what was happening since Remus was fighting, and Apparated to the Hog's Head and travelled through the tunnel in the bar into the Room of Requirement. She joined the battle, asking Aberforth Dumbledore if he had seen Remus. He replied that he was dueling Antonin Dolohov, and she rushed off to find him. During the battle, she was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange, and her body was laid out in the Great Hall next to her husband.

Physical appearance
Tonks was a young woman with dark, twinkling eyes and a pale, heart-shaped face. As a Metamorphmagus, she could change her appearance at will, and liked to use this ability to turn her short, spiky hair vivid colours like violet and bubblegum pink. Her "natural" hair colour was most likely mousy brown. She wore a purple t-shirt with The Weird Sisters' logo on it and heavily-patched jeans on at least one occasion.

Personality and traits
Tonks was enthusiastic and bubbly, and able to make friends with people she had just met. She was eager, and would often want to help Molly Weasley in the preparation of dinner at Grimmauld Place.

As a Metamorphmagus, Tonks could alter her appearance at will, not only as a phenomenal gift in the art of disguise but for the lighter purposes of experimenting with her appearance and entertainment. She was not good at household spells and was also notoriously clumsy, smashing a plate in the Dursley's kitchen during their rescue of Harry, and knocking over an umbrella stand in Grimmauld Place that set off the painting of Walburga Black.

However, her depression over her love for Remus, and his constant refusal to start a relationship with her despite his feeling for her, led Tonks to have trouble controlling her abilites. She had trouble changing like she used to, but her powers returned to their full abilities once she was happy again.

Family
"[Bellatrix] wants me quite as much as she wants Harry, Remus. She tried very hard to kill me. I just wish I’d got her, I owe Bellatrix."

- Tonks to Remus Lupin after the Battle over Little Whinging.

Tonks maintained a good relationship with her parents, although she utterly detested the name Nymphadora which was bestowed upon her by her mother. She took after her father, preferring a little disorder and mess to fanatical cleanliness. She is called Dora by her parents.

Tonks' extended family was populated by members of the House of Black, although she was not considered a member of the House since her mother had married a Muggle-born and had been struck off the family tree. Her aunts included Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, and Draco Malfoy and Sirius Black were numbered among her many cousins. Bellatrix seemed particularly eager to kill her niece whenever they encountered one another, and eventually succeeded.

Because of her family's status with the House of Black, the family house-elf, Kreacher, refused to take orders from Tonks, instead muttering insults about her half-blood status.

Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody
"Mad-Eye, you do know that's disgusting don't you?"

- Tonks to Alastor Moody, after he popped out his magical eye to clean it.

Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody was Tonks' mentor during her time training as an Auror, and later during their time together in the Order of the Phoenix. Despite Moody's surly attitude and behaviour, Tonks was always at ease with him, making jokey comments at his opinions and lectures, such as the one he gave Harry on elementary wand-safety the night the Advance Guard escorted him to Grimmauld Place.

Tonks was upset over Moody's death in 1997, openly crying in front of the Weasley family and other Order members.

Ginny Weasley/ Hermione Granger
Tonks met Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley in the summer of 1995, and immediately struck up a friendship with them, acting like a big sister towards the two of the them during their time at Grimmauld Place. Ginny appreciated Tonks since, although she was an adult, she was interested in having fun and taught her how to check if a door had an Imperturbable Charm by flicking Dungbombs at it. Hermione liked the fact that Tonks was proof of strong women working in good jobs. Both, however, liked the fact that she could change her appearance at will, and she entertained them both over dinner by changing her nose into various shapes.

Remus Lupin
At some point during her time with the Order of the Phoenix, Tonks fell in love with Remus Lupin. She let him know of her feelings, and, although he reciprocated them, he felt that any relationship between the two of them was too dangerous because of he was a werewolf. He also felt he was too old for her, and too poor. She tried on several occasions to convince him otherwise, but he constantly refused her pleas.

Tonks became depressed over this, and confided in Molly Weasley. Her emotional state caused her metamorphic abilities to suffer, and her hair became mousy brown rather than its usual pink. Her Patronus also changed, resembling a werewolf that showed her love for Remus.

In 1997, following the death of Albus Dumbledore and the scarring of Bill Weasley, Tonks openly declared her love for Remus, citing that Fleur Delacour still loved Bill despite the nature of his injuries and the possibility of werewolf contamination. Remus protested that the situations were not the same, but eventually relented and the two began a relationship.

They were married quickly, in a quiet ceremony in the summer of 1997, and Tonks fell pregnant shortly after. Remus, fearing that his child would be a werewolf, was initially horrified at the prospect, believing he had put both Tonks and his unborn child in great jeopardy. They split up just after Bill and Fleur's wedding, and Tonks went to stay with her parents. However, they reconciled sometime before Christmas, after Harry and Remus had argued over his responsibilities at Grimmauld Place.

The couple's son, Teddy Lupin, was born just after Easter, 1998, named after Tonks father who had been killed a few weeks earlier by Snatchers. Sadly, the family would not have long together. During the Battle of Hogwarts, both Tonks and Remus were killed. Teddy was raised by his grandmother, Andromeda, and spent a lot of time with his godfather, Harry.

Behind the scenes

 * Tonks is portrayed by Natalia Tena in the movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. To get Tonks' look, the front part of her hair was dyed, and the back part was a dyed wig.
 * English actress Anna Friel, who is David Thewlis' common law wife, campaigned for the part of Tonks since the character is romantically linked to Remus Lupin. However, she did not get the role.
 * Tonks owns a Comet 260 broomstick.
 * Judging by a t-shirt she owns, Tonks is fan of The Weird Sisters.
 * Judging from the dates she attended Hogwarts from, she was in the same year as Charlie Weasley. It's unknown if they knew each other prior to joining the Order of the Phoenix in 1995.
 * In the movie version of Order of the Phoenix, Tonks isn't seen changing her hair colour the way she does in the books. Instead, it only changes once involuntarily (from purple to red) when she angrily tells Mad-Eye Moody not to call her "Nymphadora." It does briefly change to white when she apparates in during the fight in the Ministry.
 * In the books, her hair is described as "short and spiky", but it is not portrayed so in the movie.
 * As Tonks left school in 1991, her time at Hogwarts would have coincided with that of the five eldest Weasley children, however there is no reference in the books of her having had any contact with them before joining the Order.

Name etymology

 * Nymphadora literally means "Gift of the Nymphs". Nymphs are guardian spirits in Greek mythology who rule trees, sacred groves, streams and the ocean. During the Renaissance, northern Europeans equated the classical nymphs with their own legends of elves. Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream sees traditional English elves like Robin Goodfellow alongside Greek nymphs as servants of Diana (Titania). If we therefore read "gift of the nymphs" as "gift of the elves", this echoes the ancient myth of babies stolen by elves and replaced by hideous monsters called changelings. The metamorphic Tonks could be described as a "changeling".
 * 'Nymph' is also the name of the immature stage of a dragonfly or damselfly before it molts, metamorphosing into a winged adult.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Notes and references
Nymphadora Tonks Nimfadora Tonks Нимфадора Тонкс