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Harry Potter - Nymph in servitudeNymph in servitude [R]
Niklas "Hawk" Jonsson


Summary: Hawk's response to the CJ Cold Tonks Slave Challenge on the PP3 group. Released in celebration of TFF's 1000th member!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.
If the layout looks screwy or symbols seems to be missing, you're probably reading the quickedit-mangled version of this fic on ff dot net, if it grates on your nerves too much, read it on hawksgalaxy dot com or something. ... Whenever I get around to uploading it there. :)

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)
I can be found on ICQ as 21771860, MSN Messenger/E-mail as iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like. More stories are available at my nifty lil' site at hawksgalaxy dot com or by clicking on my handle up above.

"speech"
emphasis/shouts/Kindred Domination/post-hypnotic triggers
thoughts
/telepathy/
~translation~
+soundeffect/radio/telephone conversation/TV+

* Demented writer rants and raves on *

This challenge intrigued the heck out of me the first time I saw it on the PP3 Yahoo Group, but I just couldn't find the inspiration to do anything much about it at the time.

December 12th of 2006, is a day that will forever live in infamy. Because that was when TFF, The Fanfiction Forum, which I founded a little over a year ago got its 1000th member. Keeping with my tradition of releasing TFF-exclusive NC-17 rated stuff whenever certain landmarks in the membership list is reached, I decided to do the same this time. So I had a little look in my "Ficsintheworks"-folder on my hard drive, taking a gander at what could be found that I might use for this momentous event. That was when I came across this little file named "hp-tonksslave.txt". I raised both my eyebrows and wondered just what the heck that was, opened it and rediscovered CJ's challenge.

Inspiration was now present in spades and it didn't take very long until I had two complete chapters written.

I refuse to write HBP stuff, as I have yet to read that particular book ( And unless the next one turns out to be spectacular, I won't ever read HBP either... ). So, the events depicted in this fic takes place during the summer after OotP.

As it was a PP3 challenge to begin with, I guess that it wouldn't be fair to keep it a TFF-exclusive thingie like before, but what the heck. Live with it.

The non-lemon parts of this will also be available at fanfiction dot net, but if you have the perverted urge to read the lemony bits, you'll have to frequent the PP3 Yahoo Group or visit the Hardcore Lemon Forum at TFF. Or my homepage, whenever I get around to actually updating that. ;)


* The Deviant Viking signing off *




* CJ Cold's original challenge was made on the PP3 Yahoo Group *

In short, the challenge was "How about Tonks has to serve as Harry's personal slave in order to repay a debt?".

People thought that having full challenge here ruined too much of the fun when reading the story when it was posted on TFF, the PP3 Yahoo Group and the HarryAndTonks Yahoo Group, so I removed it before posting it here. You can find the full challenge at the PP3 Yahoo Group if you want to read that before sinking your teeth into my fic.


* End Challenge *




Chapter One:

"We are in agreement, then?" Walburga inquired imperiously, glaring at the woman who once was part of this most noble of families.

"We are, Lady Black." Andromeda replied in a terse voice as she shakingly reached out and signed her name to the official document, suppressing the pain as the Blood Quill worked its magic on her. She took a deep breath as she put the quill away and instead picked up the Blood Stamp, pressing it down underneath her signature. There was a faint hissing noise as the magical tool drew out her blood and made a red seal appear on the paper. "So mote it be..." she whispered and pushed the paper across the desk.

Walburga suppressed the desire to smirk and instead settled for merely signing her name on the paper. The Blood Stamp for the Black family was an impressive looking thing, carved into the shape of a knight in full armour. She grasped the three decimetre tall figurine around the legs and watched silently as the knight drew his sword and used that to draw the shield of the Blacks upon the paper. It was a slower and more painful process then regular Blood Stamps, but it did look impressive.

"So mote it be." Walburga announced in a regal tone of voice once the knight was done and had sheathed its sword.

The notary Goblin picked the paper up, quickly verified both their signatures and seals, then nodded to show that everything was in order.

And thus Andromeda Tonks, formerly Andromeda Black, sold either herself, her darling daughter or a future grandchild into a lifetime of servitude to the next Lord Black.

In theory, anyway.

As Andromeda walked out of number twelve, she allowed herself a faint smile. Walburga Black had been just as arrogant as she had expected her to be and hadn't done more then skim through the contract. Thus she wasn't aware of the handy little clause that allowed Andromeda Tonks to pay back the money she owed the Black family instead of the life-time of servitude that would otherwise have been required.

If Andromeda had been aware of just how much her husband's medical treatment would cost over the years, she wouldn't have smiled.

Far from it.




"Bloody umbrella stand..." Tonks muttered to herself as she stood in line for one of the tellers at Gringotts. Yet another pair of pants had been torn beyond the capabilities of magic to repair and would now have to be replaced or fixed the Muggle way. She didn't have the energy to fix them herself and shopping was way more fun then sewing anyway, so she now stood in line to withdraw some Muggle currency from her account so she could hit the shops on this rare afternoon off.

For once, she had neither Auror nor Order duties to concern herself with until this evening and she intended to enjoy this rare occasion to the fullest!

"Your business?" the Goblin sneered down at her as she finally made it all the way to the teller.

"Nymphadora Tonks. I'd like to make a withdrawal, in Muggle currency." Tonks replied and handed the Goblin her key. The Goblin sighed and placed the key into a slot carved into his desk, where ancient Goblin magic confirmed the authenticity of the key and magically conjured an account statement into a little box to the right of the desk. The Goblin glanced quickly at the statement and started to look back at Nymphadora, only to suddenly halt and look back at the statement.

"You are wanted in the Magical Contracts Department once your business here is concluded." the goblin informed the young Auror, then smirked at her. "How large an amount are we talking about?" it inquired, already looking forward to the small provision that would result from this transaction.

"Contracts? Is there a problem?" Tonks inquired with a surprised expression. Other then her Auror paperwork, she'd never signed a magical contract, so she couldn't for the life of her imagine what business she might possibly have there.

"Not as far as I'm aware. Now, how large a withdrawal would you like to make?" the goblin responded.




"Mom! What's this?!" Nymphadora shrieked as she spun out of her parents' fireplace, spinning around several laps before she tumbled to the ground. She bounced right back up onto her feet and encountered her mother in the kitchen, where the surprised woman had stopped mid-stride on her way to refill her tea cup when her daughter unexpectedly cried out.

"Nymph? How nice to..." she started, before she was cut off.

"What's this?!" Nymphadora repeated and thrust the paper she was holding in her right hand up into her mothers face.

"It seems to be a ma... Oh no... What are you doing with this?" Andromeda asked after she'd skimmed through the top of the document and paled to a near corpse-like hue as she recognised the contract for what it was.

"The Goblins gave a copy to me five minutes ago, telling me that it would activate in a weeks time!" Nymphadora exclaimed in a panicked state of mind. "Mom, what the hell is this?" she demanded to know.

"But that means... Oh no... Oh no! There's a new Lord Black?!" Andromeda asked in a horrified tone of voice.

"How the hell did you wind up owing that old slag seven hundred thousand six hundred and eighty-three Galleons?!" Nymphadora yelled as Andromeda staggered over to the table, where she slumped down into a chair.

"Your father's medical bills..." Andromeda simply responded, still shell-shocked from the unexpected revelation.

"... Oh. ..." was all that Nymphadora was capable of saying in response to that and the two of them shared an uncomfortable silence for nearly twenty seconds, before she spoke up again. "But seven hundred thousand Galleons?! There's no bloody way I can repay that! I have a couple of thousand saved away for a rainy day, but seven hundred thousand?"

"Keep reading..." Andromeda said and buried her face in her hands. "Oh, god. I'm too old, that's why you got it..." she muttered and shook her head. "'A female member of the Tonks family under the age of forty.'. Oh, god. The debt passed on to you..."

"Whatd'ya mean keep reading?" Tonks inquired and quickly read through it. Once the goblins had informed her that she owed the future Lord Black so much money, she'd merely grabbed the contract and headed for her mother once she saw her signature on the bottom of the contract. She hadn't actually bothered to read it before.

As she did so now, her eyes gradually widened and she emitted surprised gasps, astonished whimpers and indignant squeaks the more she read.

"Mom! This is... It's... You sold me into slavery?!" Nymphadora finally exclaimed and allowed the paper to drop from her hands, as she too slumped into a chair. "A slave?" she questioned the woman who'd given birth to her.

"It was supposed to be me!" Andromeda sobbed. "Or rather, nobody at all. I thought I would be able to pay back the money owed. But... Your fathers potions, the one he took in the morning contained Manticore claws and the evening one Phoenix feather. They were dreadfully expensive." she explained and let out another sob. "We've been saving money all this time, but... It's nowhere near as much as we need to repay it all."

"First Sirius and now this..." Nymphadora sighed and shook her head. "Perhaps we can get a loan?"

"Your father and I have managed to save sixty thousand Galleons over the years. We're still six hundred and forty thousand Galleons short. None of us will be able to get a loan for that amount." Andromeda complained, as Nymphadora's eyes boggled at the amount of money her parents had. She hadn't exactly grown up in poverty, but money had always been somewhat tight and to now find out that her parents were actually rich was somewhat of a surprise.

Then again, considering the Damocles sword hanging above all their necks, perhaps it wasn't so odd that they'd been saving instead of spending.

"Why haven't you ever told me about this?" Nymphadora finally inquired. "I could have helped you."

"We... We hoped that we'd never have to. I'm sorry, but neither of us ever imagined just how much money we'd wind up owing the Blacks." Andromeda admitted. "We were going to put all our savings into a trust fund that would lie dormant until the next Lord Black was anointed, which we hoped wouldn't be for a very long time."

"Oh, mother..." Nymphadora groaned.

"What are we going to do?" Andromeda whispered. "What are we going to do?"

"I'll ask Dumbledore. Perhaps he can do something. Or at least give us a loan." Nymphadora replied and staggeringly got onto her feet. "I'll pop on over there right now."




"Tonks? Is that you?" Harry asked as he put the lid back onto the garbage after having deposited the garbage there. It was as he was walking back towards the house that he heard the girlish sniffles. "Hestia?" he asked when he hadn't gotten a response to his first inquiry.

He looked all around himself, scanning his surroundings for the muted sniffles.

"It's me..." he heard a broken female voice from his left and soon found a depression in the lawn, indicating that somebody invisible was sitting in that spot. He walked on over and seated himself next to the depression. He heard additional sobs and sniffles as he did so, but the owner of the voice was so distraught that he hadn't been able to identify whom it belonged to. It was a female though.

He reached out and felt around for a few moments, until he felt the soft fabric of an invisibility cloak. He started gently pulling at it and finally unveiled a sobbing Nymphadora Tonks.

"Tonks. What's wrong? Why are you crying?" he asked as he hesitated over what to do or say. This was so not one of his specialities.

"M-my mom..." Tonks sobbed.

"Oh, god... Something has happened to your mom?" Harry whispered in a horrified voice. "Is it... Was it Voldemort?" he asked and tentatively put his hand on her shoulder, which completely shattered what little composure she had. She turned towards him and flung herself into his chest, clutching at his over-sized shirt as she burrowed her face into his chest.

"Nooooo!" she wailed and Harry made a horrified face, hoping that the Dursley's hadn't heard her. "She... She... She borrowed money from the Blacks to pay for my fathers medical bills and now there's going to be a Lord Black, so the amount is due in just a week!" she sobbed through a short explanation. "And we can't pay it off!"

Harry felt like crying himself. Black. Sirius. The Veil. he thought, but slowly managed to put his arms faintly around Tonks. That spurred on a new bout of sniffles and sobs, rendering her incapable of speech for a while.

"How... How much?" he asked.

"Mo-m-mo-mor-m-more then s-six h-hu-h-hundred th-t-thousand G-galleons." she sobbed. "I asked D-d-du-dumbledore, b-but he o-only ha-had a l-little mo-more then t-two hundred thousand. T-three if h-he sold off s-some unus-u-unused p-properties." she continued and then let out a muted wail into his chest.

"What happens if you can't raise the money?" Harry asked, fleeting images of a crying Tonks watching as her mother was dragged off to Azkaban.

"A Tonks fe-f-female under t-the age of forty w-will have to s-s-se-s-ser-serve the L-lord Black f-for the remainder of her life!" Tonks squeaked stutteringly between sobs, sniffles and whimpers. "Mom is older then forty, so that only leaves me!"

"What?!" Harry exclaimed. "You? Why?"

"The c-contract binds the entire family to the debt, including m-me." she replied. "Oh, Harry... It's terrible. I'd have to w-w-we-wear a m-m-magical s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-sl-sla-s-slave c-collar, b-br-bracelets and an-anklets. I m-mig-might just as well h-have been f-forced to a-accept being p-put under the Imperious."

"Tonks. I have money. I don't know exactly how much, but I'll lend you whatever I have." Harry replied. "I've never found out how much exactly, but it's a large pile of Galleons."

"R-really?" Tonks asked, pulling away from him and looking up at him with a near worshipful glint in her eyes, a faintly hopeful look on her face. "D-do you h-have any account statements here?" she inquired eagerly.

"No." he replied with a confused expression.

"Oh, they're still at Hogwarts? I can pop on by and get them after my shift is over." she suggested.

"No. ... I've never received an account statement in my entire life. Am I supposed to get them?" he asked.

"Yeah! Every month." Tonks exclaimed with a surprised look.

"Well... I guess we can sneak off to Gringotts and get one directly from them." Harry hinted, causing Tonks to look extremely worried.

"But you're not supposed to... But they won't just give one to me... Dumbledore said... But... Oh, darn it all to heck. Let's go." Tonks babbled, hesitating back and forth until she finally decided to do it. "And... Thank you, Harry. For listening, not just offering to lend me money." she said as she got up, then helped him get up and leaning over to kiss his cheek. "It was very sweet of you." she said and wiped the tears away from her face, casting a quick make-up charm, before she bent down to retrieve her invisibility cloak.

Harry moved over to the house and told his relatives that he'd be going for a walk, then quickly hurried back to Tonks who had made a Portkey from a Muggle pen she had in one of her pockets. Both of them grabbed on to it.

"Gringotts." Tonks said, activating the Portkey and sending them off to the Apparition point in Diagon Alley. She threw the invisibility cloak over Harry, then hurriedly led him over to Gringotts after shifting her appearance beyond recognition. It wouldn't do if anyone from the Order recognized her and realized that she wasn't on her post at number four as she was supposed to.

When Harry told the teller they eventually got to see that he'd never gotten an account statement and asked to receive one, it caused all sorts of ruckus and they were quickly rushed in to a managers office, who promised to open up an investigation to see what had happened to all the account statements and other correspondence they'd sent out over the years.

Tonks hopes were crushed the moment Harry got his account statement, however.

While he was filthy rich, it just wasn't enough. His vault 'only' contained just above seventy thousand Galleons.

"Oh..." she said and slumped in her seat. "It's not enough."

"Mr Potter, since you're already here, there is another issue we here at Gringotts would like to discuss with you." the manager, Riptooth, announced.

"Can it wait?" Harry asked, putting a comforting hand on the back of Tonks neck.

"It might have bearing on your current inquiry. Am I correct in assuming that you were hoping that your account had larger means then it had?" Riptooth inquired.

"Yeah. Tonks has a debt she has to pay off and I hoped to be able to cover the money that was missing, but I came up short." Harry explained.

"Then I think you will be interested in discussing the issue I was trying to bring up." Riptooth hinted.

"All right. What is it?" Harry asked, then glanced down at Tonks as Riptooth looked rather pointedly at her. "She can stay." he assured the goblin.

"Very well then. Mr Sirius Orion Black is deceased, as you may or may not be aware of. You are mentioned in his will. In fact, you're the primary beneficiary. A significant amount of funds will be available to you after the will has been executed and you become of age." Riptooth explained and picked up a paper from a file on his desk. "About three million Galleons in ready cash, in fact." he announced, which caused both Harry and Tonks to gasp.

"The will is executed on Thursday next week, you become of age on the last of this month. At that point, you will have full access to the Black Vault which contains the funds in question." Riptooth finished.

"But... My debt is due next Friday!" Tonks wailed and started sobbing for a couple of seconds, before realization struck. "Wait a minute... 'Primary beneficiary'? ... Is Harry going to become the next Lord Black?" she asked.

"I am not at liberty to say, Miss Tonks." Riptooth replied.

"Riptooth, am I going to become the next Lord Black." Harry asked.

"Sorry, Mr Potter. I am not at liberty to say." Riptooth replied with a stoic expression. "Oh, by the way... Certain items in Mr Black's personal vaults had expiration dates and we were left with instructions on what to do with them if he should pass away. He instructed us to give you this one." Riptooth explained and handed Harry an intricately carved wooden box. "Now, if our business is concluded?" he hinted with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh... Yeah... Sure..." Harry said and slowly led the still flabbergasted Tonks out of the room. "Thanks for your time, Riptooth." Harry said as they were leaving.

Tonks was silent other then a few muttered words as she turned the pencil into a Portkey back to number four and as she mumbled the activation phrase under her breath, landing the two of them back in the Dursley garden.

"Harry... There's... I... Thanks for trying." she said and kissed his cheek once again.

"Sorry, Tonks. Isn't there any way you could get a schedule of amortization or some such? It seems a bit harsh to have to pay all of it just like that. If it could just wait until my birthday, I'll have enough money." Harry asked.

"Sorry, but no. The contract specifically states that the money has to be paid to the Black family at once when the next Lord Black is announced, or the servant condition comes into play." she replied with a tired sigh. "And we can't even get a loan, because Gringotts doesn't loan more then fifty thousand Galleons at a time, which is why mother had to go to bloody Walburga Black for her loan." she spat out.

"Isn't there anything we can do? Perhaps some other family will be willing to lend me some money, if not you. I'll be able to pay it back soon enough anyway." Harry asked.

"Not many will have that amount of cash readily available. The Blacks were somewhat unusual in that they didn't invest much of their resources. The Malfoys might have enough, perhaps the Notts and possibly the Browns. I wouldn't want to go to either of the first two, but perhaps the Browns would agree to it." Tonks replied after a few moments, causing Harry to shudder at he thought of having to ask Lucius ruddy Malfoy for a loan.

Yeah, not a good idea, that.

"You should go back inside, Harry. My replacement will be here in less then an hour and it wouldn't do for any of them to see me talking to you. We're not supposed to do that." she sighed and slumped down onto the ground, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Tonks... I don't care about that. If you ever need to talk, if any of you ever need to talk, I'll be here. I don't have anything else to do here." he stated, somewhat bitterly at the end. "I'll write a letter to the Browns, see if they'd be willing to lend me some money until my birthday. You'll see Tonks, everything will be all right." Harry assured her.

"Thanks, Harry. You're a life-saver." Tonks whispered, staring in silent gratitude as Harry walked back to the house and slowly pulling the invisibility cloak out to conceal herself from prying eyes.




+pop+

Harry rolled out of his bed and cursed as he realized that his wand was on the bedside table.

On the other side of the bed from which he'd wound up on.

"Nice going, Harry." Tonks commented with a wry smile. "Moody would have a field day with that one." she added as she saw him staring at the wand now well out of his reach.

"Tonks. Damn it, you scared the shit out of me." Harry complained as he stood up and faced the Auror. He took a deep breath to calm himself down somewhat, then turned a sorrowful expression towards her. "The Browns were willing to lend me money, but couldn't raise more then another eighty thousand Galleons on such short notice. I'm sorry." he told her and Tonks flinched at the uncomfortable reminder that her time would soon be up.

"Bloody hell." she sighed and shook her head in consternation, then forced a strained smile onto her face. "Thanks for trying, though." she said, still grateful for the attempt, even if it hadn't panned out.

"I've sent a letter to the Malfoys and the Notts, but they haven't answered yet." he continued and suddenly found himself facing an angry Auror.

"Harry! You didn't!" she gasped.

"Damn it, Tonks. You're about to be turned into a slave. Of course I did!" he countered just as angrily. "I know whatever conditions they set will be outrageous, but I had to give it a shot!"

"Well, you still shouldn't have done it." Tonks groused and sighed. "But thanks anyway. We hardly know each other and you're still willing to do this for me. .... It's humbling. Nobody has ever even tried to do as much for me as you have."

"You've never been anything but friendly to me, Tonks. Of course I'd try to help!" Harry countered.

"Yeah... Thanks again." she replied and took a deep breath. "Ready to go to the reading?" she asked.

"What reading?" he asked with a confused expression.

"Sirius will! You were summoned, weren't you?" she asked with an equally confused expression.

"Uh, no." he replied and blinked. "Oh yeah, Riptooth did say it was going to be today, didn't he?"

"Weird. You should have gotten a summons. Dumbledore didn't say anything about it either, now that I think of it." she commented and scratched the back of her head. "Well, Gringotts is as safe as can be. I guess he simply forgot to let us know that you'd be heading on over there today. Or perhaps he didn't know about it. Well, whatever. I figured I'd ask you to tag along with me, sit with me and keep me company as I find out what sort of bozo I'll wind up serving."

"Of course. But we'll get you out of this one yet. I'll send another letter to the Malfoys and the Notts, I'll somehow manage to raise the money you need. You'll see." Harry promised.

"You're sweet, Harry." Tonks sighed and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him in a grateful hug. "I don't know how I'll ever repay you for what you've done and still am trying to do. I swear to you, on my magic even, that if there's ever a way I can repay you, I'll take it!" she swore and the two of them felt a faint big of a tingle as magic confirmed Tonks impromptu oath.

"Anything for a friend, Tonks. No repayment necessary. What would I do with all those Galleons anyway, they'd just be collecting dust in my vault." he assured her.

"Well, let's go, shall we?" Tonks asked as she wiped a tear from the corner of her left eye, holding out a teddy-bear Portkey towards him.

"Yeah." Harry said and straightened up, looking down at the Portkey with a faintly amused expression. "Yours?" he asked as he reached out to hold on to it.

"Shut it." Tonks groused and dropped a note onto Harry's bed, letting whomever had been assigned to take him to Gringotts know that she'd already done so. "Godspeed." she said and the Portkey activated, taking them to the rarely used Apparition Point inside of Gringotts itself, as Tonks had spoken with the goblins beforehand and gotten temporarily keyed in to their wards.

The two of them picked themselves off the ground and quickly went outside, were they were met up with a goblin who took them straight to the small conference room where the will would be read without passing the main hall of Gringotts.

Which was lucky as Mundungus Fletcher and Severus Snape were standing just inside the main doors of Gringotts, keeping an eye out for one Harry Potter whom couldn't be allowed to be present at the reading, by orders of one Albus Dumbledore. Albus was reasonably sure that there was no way Harry could have heard about it, but Dumbledore was done taking chances in matters concerning Harry.

Or so he'd thought.

He'd managed to get his hands on copies for the summons for the reading of Sirius will and swiftly dealt with all possible interferences. Remus had been sent on a mission to Hungaria, so the werewolf sent his lawyer to attend the reading in his stead. Andromeda had been told that Nymphadora had duties for the Order, so she wouldn't be able to come along and there was thus not even a need to ask her. He'd also covertly added a little secrecy spell when he met the elder Tonks woman for tea a day before the summons were sent out, so she wouldn't be able to discuss it with her daughter.

He'd asked Molly and Arthur to keep it a secret from their children, explaining that he was concerned that they would discuss it with Harry in their letters and thus unnecessarily upset the boy by reminding him of Sirius. Harry wouldn't be speaking with the Malfoys or the Lestranges, so there had been no need to do anything there. The only others summoned to the reading, were old friends and associates of Sirius, so there wasn't necessary to take measures concerning them either.

So as the headmaster of Hogwarts leaned back in his seat and picked up a steaming cup of tea from his desk, he felt justified in allowing himself to relax, safe in the knowledge that there was no way Harry would be attending the reading and even if he'd somehow managed to find out about it, Mundungus and Severus would be there to bring him back to Privet Drive before the reading were to take place.

Again, or so he thought.


The End! ( For now... )