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Lesson7: Pink Bow Tie
Let me tell you about a guy I know.
He is always wearing a pink bow tie.
Old Splodge's secretary was typing some letters.
It's always a pleasure to see her. Her name is Becky Newham and she is really beautiful.
Every boy in the school is in love with her.
Unfortunately she is seventeen and I'm only fourteen.
Old Splodge called me in. I went and sat down.
"Well, why have you dyed your hair?" said Old Splodge.
"I did not dye my hair, sir," I said.
"Yesterday," said Splodge, "I noticed that you had black hair. Am I correct?"
"Yes, sir," I answered.
"Then tell me," he said. "Why is it that your hair is white today?"
"It's a long story," I told him.
"Yesterday I was going home on the train and was sitting with very strange people.
A kid of about my age was smoking.
A ticket collector came looked at the kid and said, 'Put that cigarette out. You are too young to smoke.'
The kid picked up a kind of box and turned a knob.
Then he started to grow older in front of our eyes.
He slowly changed until he looked about twenty-five, 'Am I old enough now?' said the kid.
The ticket collector gave a scream and ran away.
The kid-man threw the box to an old lady and got off the train.
We all stared at the box.
It had a sliding knob on it.
Along the right hand side it said OLDER and at the left end it said YOUNGER.
There was a label on the top saying AGE CHANGER.
An old lady pushed the knob a few centimeters down toward the YOUNGER end.
Then she started to grow younger.
In about one minute she looked like she was sixteen.
She looked pretty.
She threw the Age Changer over to me and jumped off the train.
Give that to me,' said a man.
He took the Age Changer from me, pushing the knob almost up to the YOUNGER end.
He started to grow younger but he didn't stop at sixteen.
Soon there was a baby wearing adult clothes.
He was only about one year old.
Then, he pushed the knob right up to the OLDER end.
Something terrible happened.
He started to get older and older.
First he was about sixteen, then thirty, then sixty, then eighty, then one "hundred and then he was dead.
But it didn't stop there.
His body started to rot away.
In the end it was only a skeleton that was left.
That was the way my hair got white.
I had to sit with a skeleton for fifteen minutes, shaking with fear.
It was the most horrible thing that had ever happened to me.
My hair went white in just fifteen minutes.
Splodge looked really angry.
Do you expect me to believe that story?
"I can prove it," I said.
I got the Age Changer out of my bag and put it on his desk.
Splodge picked it up and looked at it carefully.
"You can go now," he said in a funny voice.
"I will send a letter to your parents telling them that you are suspended from school for telling lies."
For the next two weeks I worried about the letter showing up in the letter box.
But nothing happened.
I was saved.
Well, it is not quite true that nothing happened.
The good thing is that Splodge disappeared and hasn't been seen since.
The bad thing is that Becky got a boyfriend.
He is about eighteen and is good looking.
I think it strange, though, that she should go out with a kid who wears a pink bow tie.


Name: Nymphadora Andromeda Tonks, but please call her Tonks.
b: 4/19/1974
Tonks is a Metamorphmagus, a very rare ability. So far she's not met another with the same abilities. With her abilities she can change her age, hair type, the length of her nails, height, weight, body type, and also the bone structure of her face. Tonks can also change the color of her hair, skin and eyes.
There are limitations to Tonks' abilities. She cannot change her voice nor does her genetic makeup change. There are limits to how big she could become. While she can grow facial hair and give herself a more masculine face, she lacks the ability to fully disguise herself as a man.
One of Tonks' most obvious quirks is that she is dead clumsy. She can trip, fall, knock over, break, shatter, spill, mess up and otherwise destroy just about anything. A psychologist might say that Tonks is clumsy because deep down she's truly not comfortable within her own skin because it's always changing hence the outward reflection of that.
If Tonks' doesn't like the way she looks, she doesn't have to use a spell or a potion to change. Gifted with metamorphic abilities, Tonks can change her shape to what she likes. However, Tonks has a basic shape that she uses almost everyday.
Tonks stands at an average height of five foot and six inches. Her body is slender with just enough curves in the right places to mark it as feminine. Tonks' skin tone is the typical English shade of cream. Her hair that frames her heart-shaped face however is anything but typical. Her hair changes on a day by day if not hourly basis.
Growing up, Andromeda and Ted soon discovered that their daughter had not a graceful bone in her body. Somehow, Tonks managed to find a way to trip and fall over everything in the house.
When Tonks was five, Andromeda caught her squelching up her face in an effort to look like her dolls. To her utter amazement, Tonks did. To be on the safe side, Andromeda and Ted took Tonks to St. Mungoes. They wanted to be sure that there was nothing wrong with Tonks. It was then they found out that Tonks was a Metamorphmagus. She could change her appearance at will.
Another thing was quite clear, Nymphadora was her father's daughter. Andromeda had one tough time trying to get Nymphadora to keep her room picked up. Tonks liked playing with her toys more than putting them away. She also liked playing in dirt, especially in her father's greenhouse. It grieved Andromeda to no end that Tonks kept ripping and tearing her clothing.
By her third year Tonks had some mastery over her metamorphic abilities. She was able to change her hair and eye color at will, albeit with concentration.
Her mother did not like her showing off and Tonks was reminded of it several times. During her fourth year, Tonks managed to change her body completely. She could even mimic the appearance of other students. It was immensely useful for avoiding certain professors in the hall. Tonks did it on more than just those occasions though she never would admit it even when she was caught (and that was more often than she could count).



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