Because when I first met her she was funny and irreverent and pink-haired and busy catching the bad guys, just the way I've always wanted to see my heroines. And then she then she fell in love with a man who didn't seem to appreciate her or deserve her, and all of the humor and irreverence and awesomeness disappeared. She just wilted there on the page, as I was reading. And just when I thought it couldn't get worse, she got married--despite the fact that her man still didn't seem to appreciate her--and dropped out of the hunt for the bad guys while she had a baby. It's not like I don't respect the desire for love or a family, but at what cost? Everything wonderful about her character had vanished. By the time she reappeared to fight in the final battles, I didn't really care whether she lived or died.

Nymphadora Tonks' story is not the story I want for myself. But it's the story we have for her, and I certainly have enough experience redeeming other characters (often men) who are not only human and flawed, but whose actions have hurt others and tested the limits of our abilities to understand and forgive. Can I do this for her, too?

I still love her. I wish it were easier to do so.