Tonks again

[Barry Arrowsmith]

This is a sort of expansion of the Tonks post put up a couple of days  
after HBP publication. Done some brooding and the antennae are still  
twitching. Something smells fishy, though whether the fish in  
question is red herring or a tastier morsel presented for our  
collective delectation is not a foregone conclusion.

A fair few of the multitudes that comprise the Fandom of HP have a  
romantic bent, there's no question of that. A mention of that four  
letter word, a hint of emotional trauma and the most unlikely things  
are suddenly explained to their total satisfaction. Warts, varicose  
veins, athlete's foot, doesn't matter what it is, it can all be  
explained by a rocky relationship. In this instance it's loss of  
magical powers. Yeah, right.

Others are a bit more cynical, believing that Jo would use any ploy  
to throw fans off the scent,  even stooping so low as to pluck their  
heartstrings while surreptitiously putting the finishing touches to a  
custard pie for later application. Has the woman no shame? Not much  
when it comes to plot IMO. Doesn't it seem a bit odd that an  
emotional  set-back causing loss of magical powers has never been  
mentioned in the previous 5 books? There's been enough angst, pinings  
and mental torment to keep a regiment of counsellors fully occupied  
until their pensions are due, but nary a word  that weeping into your  
pillow stunts your wand-work. 'Scuse me - but I'm not convinced.

A Metamorphagus who can't metamorphose, an ability she was born with  
- able to produce a Patronus - but it's the wrong one - no problem  
with other spells - reversing Draino's petrification, fixing Harry's  
nose without  a hitch - seems awfully selective, this loss of powers.  
And those that are up the pictures are those that are personal to  
Tonks. Those that 'remain' are those that could be produced by any  
competent witch, indistinguishable  from what would be expected if  
someone were pretending to be Tonks.

Reasons (or spurious excuses depending on your inclinations) are  
offered, first that she's mourning for Sirius, then it's pointed out  
that she hardly knew him, then that she blames herself for his death,  
though no-one else does, and finally that she's distraught at being  
kept at arms length by Lupin. A likely tale.

Long, long ago, when the world was younger and The Beatles had just  
split, yours truly ran a hospital department staffed, save for  
myself, entirely by females. My office ajoined the microscopy room  
and for hours at a time conversations, diatribes and character  
dissections drifted to my delicate ears as 'girl-talk' proceeded  
barely interrupted by technical/clinical observations. Boy, was that  
educational. It's probably these traumatic years that scarred me  
irrevocably  and caused the transformation of a naive romantic into  
Kneasy. Correction: remove the word 'clinical' from two sentences  
back. Some of the conversations regarding boy-friends and/or husbands  
were extremely clinical. Poor Lupin. Take my advice, mate - and run  
like hell.

There were two reactions to being spurned in the Hearts Desire  
Handicap; either "Bastard! I'll show him!" or cow-eyes, the quivering  
bottom lip, love-lorn remorseful glances and a compulsion to dog the  
footsteps of the poor wretch that was the object of desire like a bad  
smell. Sometimes one'd go missing for hours, wandering the corridors   
hoping for an  'accidental' meeting that usually resulted in floods  
of tears in the lady's loo. But neither paradigm applies to Tonks.  
Very suspicious IMO.

We're expected to believe that an old-looking Auror!Tonks with dodgy  
magic is set to guard Hogwarts, and strangely enough she's the only  
Auror we see there, even though there are supposed to be three  
others. Turns up in unexpected places, too. Lurking in the background  
when Dung is .... is what? Flogging  the Black family silver? (To  
Aberforth? Anyone else have difficulty with that one?) And doing a  
bit of fortuitous 'guarding' outside the RoR. Guarding for whom, I  
wonder? Is it just  rotten luck that she's totally unable to give  
Harry any useful  information about Draino's activities?

Even her reactions in the hospital after DD's death are incongruous.  
Lupin breaks down - and she ignores him completely. This is love?  
True, she gives him a right bollocking soon afterwards, but that too  
would not be incompatible with someone who's fed up with all this  
'love-crossed lovers' crap and decides it's time to intervene. Acting  
in the way Hermione would.

Nope.
Tonks is high on the 'acting suspiciously -  investigate' list.
Just what is she hiding?

Kneasy