Nymphadora Tonks lay on the wooden table in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Staring at the ceiling, she was trying to be patient, but was failing miserably. “Where is he?”
Just when Tonks was at her wits end she heard the front door open, then the footfalls of someone walking down the steps. Standing up, Tonks’ dark eyes twinkled with excitement as her co-conspirator came into the room, “Did you get the merchandise?”
In response Kingsley Shacklebolt held up a rather large crate. Tonks could just make out the lettering in the dark kitchen. “Weasleys’ Wild Fire Whiz Bangs Deflagration Deluxe Special Birthday Edition,” Tonks read. “They were able to do it, I see.”
“Able,” Kingsley laughed. “As soon as I gave Fred and George my request they turned the shop over to Verity and disappeared into the back room until they had it perfected. On top of that, they gave me the whole thing for free with orders that if either of us still have our heads left we must return, and give them a play by play account.”
“Still have our heads left? Kingsley, I think we're going to have to show those two how much trouble we are capable of.”
“We’re going to be in trouble, that’s for sure,” Kingsley sighed.
“It’s not my fault,” Tonks proclaimed. “It’s my lack of ability to behave myself.”
Kingsley snorted, “If you say so, Tonks.”
“Come on,” Tonks pleaded, “it’s almost 11:30. We are going to need the half hour to get past all of his security systems.”
“Why did I let you talk me into this?”
Tonks just smiled and they both walked out of Grimmauld Place and Disapparated.
They appeared on dirt road north of small Muggle village. Their target lived in a dilapidated old house that overlooked the village. As they approached the house they discovered Tonks was right. It took them twenty-five minutes, and all of their skills they learned in Auror training, to bypass all of the security.
“No wonder they call him Mad-Eye,” Tonks declared. “If anyone is good enough to get through that first layer of security, they’re not going to make through the next three.”
“Mad-Eye hasn’t completely gotten over the whole Crouch incident.” Kingsley glanced at his watch, “We have five minutes until midnight.”
Kingsley quickly cracked open the crate and they placed the Whiz Bangs in strategic locations around Moody’s backyard. Tonks ran around, giggling like a little school girl, as she accomplished her task. Finished, she ducked behind a large bush were Kingsley was already hiding. Keeping a close eye on his watch, Kingsley counted down, “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…” Together they waved their wands…
BOOM!
In that instant the sky was filled with dragons, Catherine wheels, rockets, and sparklers flying around the yard; making a great deal of noise, too.
Tonks could see in one room, on the second floor, there were flashes of many different colors of light. It appeared that Moody was awake and was busy hexing everything in sight. When Moody realized the threat wasn’t in his room he opened his window just in time to see a green and gold dragon swooping toward him. Tonks had a perfect view of a red jet of light hitting the dragon, and smiled as the dragon exploded, leaving behind the words, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”
With a wave of his wand, Moody was able to get the words and the rest of the Whiz Bangs to disappear. Without the noise from the firecrackers he was able to hear the laughter from below. “SHOW YOURSELF OR I WILL HEX THIS YARD APART!”
“Wotcher, Mad-Eye!” yelled Tonks waving.
“TONKS!”
“I think he’s mad,” Tonks stated.
“WAIT UNTIL I GET DOWN THERE!”
“I don’t think he’s mad enough to hex us, but I think we’re going to get something much worse,” replied Kingsley.
“Ouch,” Tonks winced, “death by lecture. This is going to hurt.”
Moody came storming toward them, he was moving as fast as wooden leg could take him. Upon spotting the second person standing in his yard he yelled, “KINGSLEY!”
Kingsley shook his head, but Tonks unable to resist the temptation cried out, “Mad-Eye, nice to see you. Did you like our Birthday present?”
Moody simply exploded. He proceeded to lecture them about: sneaking into other people’s yards, lack of respect for one’s elders, deliration of duty, how they were lucky he wasn’t in charge of the Aurors anymore, and a lot of other things. Truth be told, Tonks wasn’t paying all that much attention to what Mad-Eye was saying at all. Instead, she was simply standing there with her hands behind her back and a huge smile on her face.
As the minutes stretched on and Moody showed no signs of stopping, Tonks and Kingsley glanced at each other and screamed, “CONSTANT VIGILANCE!”
“If you didn’t want this to happen you should have been paying attention,” said Tonks with a smirk.
“Who knows what might have happened if we were Death Eaters?” added Kingsley.
Leaving Moody in shock, the two of them swirled around and walked away. As they left Tonks was sure she heard Moody murmur something about the best pair of Aurors the Ministry had seen in a long time.