"Cornelius Fudge: Order of Merlin First Class, Vice Warlock of the Wizengamot, Minister of Magic. Blimey." Tonks had never said more than two words to the Minister before and now here she was being called to his office; first thing in the morning too. She'd only been on the job six months and couldn't imagine what the Minister would want with the Ministry's most junior Auror.

"Well, get on with it," she whispered to herself. Raising her hand she knocked on the door.

"Yes, yes, come in, come in," the Minister shouted through the door. "Ah, Miss Tonks, just the witch I wanted to see. Have a seat."

The Minister's office was less impressive than she had expected. Photos of Fudge with various wizards and witches adorned the walls, while the entire back wall seemed to be devoted to trophies, and accolades. The Minister himself was a portly fellow. Never a man to command respect, Fudge's face always looked as if he was waiting for the next shoe to drop. The lime green bowler he wore cocked over his ears always looked ridiculous, and today was no different.

"Thank you for coming so speedily Miss Tonks, I'm afraid this matter is rather urgent."

"I'm sorry sir, have I done something wrong?" Tonks blurted out, "I've only been here six months."

"What? Oh, no, no, no Miss Tonks, this isn't about punishment. In fact in a funny way one could see it as a sort of reward. I'm sure you heard of Sirius Black's escape, yes?

"Umm, of course sir," Tonks replied reservedly. "Is that what this is about?"

"Only partly my dear. Tell me, how familiar are you with Mr. Black's case?"

"Well, sir, he is my cousin. Second cousin once removed or some such."

"Ah, is he now?" Fudge replied somewhat taken aback.

Tonks saw the look on Fudge's face and knew she had to reassure him. "We didn't know each other well sir. I was only 8 when he was arrested. And our families were never close."

"OK, good, good," Fudge seemed to need a moment to collect himself

Tonks was only growing more confused. Did they want her to help track her cousin down? She certainly wouldn't have minded. Her family was rife with dark wizards and witches and she hated every one of them. Sirius most of all

"Am I to be assigned to the task force sir? I promise you I have no love in my heart for Black."

"No dear, I'm afraid you're not experienced enough for that. No, what I would ask you to do is perhaps even more important. You see, we believe that the first thing Sirius Black is going to do is to go after Harry Potter."

Tonks gasped slightly.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. We believe he means to finish the job he started 12 years ago with James and Lilly. For this reason we believe it would be prudent to assign Mr. Potter a bodyguard, and you seem to be the Auror best suited to the job"

Tonks was taken aback, and more than slightly flattered

"But, why me sir?"

"Well, you are a metamorphmagus are you not? We believe it would be best if Harry himself did not know he had a bodyguard. Mr. Potter has developed a bit of a reputation for defying authority and seeking adventure during his first two years at Hogwarts. Because of this it's been decided that it would be best if he never knew he had a bodyguard in the first place. Less likely to slip away you see."

"I see… does that mean I'm going back to Hogwarts?"

Tonks couldn't have been more excited. Like basically everyone in her grade she had been in love with Harry Potter from a young age. He had been a national celebrity before he had walked. To most he was an honest to goodness hero. She'd always wanted to meet him. Thinking it over it wouldn't be bad for her career either. She would be guarding a high value asset who was presumably already under loads of protections, and so she couldn't really see a downside.

Fudge began going over the details. Tonks was going to move into a house a few doors down from Harry's muggle relatives later today. The muggles living there had been given a nice memory charm, and an even nicer vacation to the Bahamas in return. Her name was to be Erin Davies. Both of her parents were Muggles and before now they had decided to try home-schooling. ("Always following the Ministry Guidelines for Home-Schooling Your Young Witch or Wizard of course.") Recently, though they had decided it would be best to send her to Hogwarts. Especially since her dad had just accepted a new job in the area.

Her first task was to try and become close with Harry before the school year began. Tonks was excited at the prospect. She'd always wanted to meet the Boy-Who-Lived, but at the same time it did make her feel a little dirty; she'd never really lied to someone on this scale before. The ministry was also interested in seeing how Harry's home conditions were being handled. Dumbledore had assured them they were fine, Fudge explained, but they still felt it was best to check in.

"During the day we'd prefer it if you stayed in disguise. At night, you should be patrolling the area, looking for anything suspicious. We'll provide you with an invisibility cloak to make that a bit easier." Fudge explained. "It says in your file that your father is a Muggle. How familiar are you with their customs?"

Tonks couldn't help but chuckle. "Quite familiar sir." Tonks had grown up watching Man U with her father, and driving around the countryside. It may have been a few years since she'd needed to use a Muggle appliance, but she felt more than up to the task.

Once the school year started it would be announced she had been sorted into Gryffindor and from there she just needed to make sure Harry didn't get into anything too dangerous, and, most importantly of all, tomake sure he didn't try and go after Black himself.

"That's what we're most worried about you'll understand. That somebody will reveal too much of Black's history to him and Harry will decide to track him down. We'd like to make sure he stays inside the school as often as possible. No trips to Hogsmeade for young Mr. Potter I'm afraid."

"And Dumbledore agreed to all this?" Tonks asked, surprised. While she had been at Hogwarts Dumbledore had always seemed to detest outside influences.

"He has, and he doesn't mind your presence. It's the others he's worried about…" Fudge trailed off. "But, right now the Ministry doesn't want to reveal too much about our plans. Just rest assured that you won't be the only Ministry guards on patrol at Hogwarts."

Tonks couldn't help but wonder what those other defenses might be, but held back on asking. She could tell Fudge wished to bring the meeting to a close.

"Well," Fudge began, "since you seem so eager let's start getting you situated. We'll have to do something about that hair of course."

Harry Potter was quite bored, summer with the Durseley's will do that to a growing boy. He sat in his room on the second floor just staring at the wall, wishing he was anywhere but here. He was bored enough that the thought of writing essays for Professor Binns seemed downright exciting. Anything to remind him that he was in fact a wizard and it hadn't all been some crazy dream. He still had two more months before he would be back in school.

It wasn't even worth it to try writing to his two best friends. Both Ron's and Hermione's families had decided to go on vacation. Their letters had been few and far between so Harry hadn't really had any contact with anybody that wasn't a relative. Harry couldn't imagine a worse fate.

Harry glanced at the clock, 2PM, which meant he had been sitting in his room doing nothing for 5 hours now. Getting fed up with just sitting there feeling sorry for himself Harry decided if he couldn't get any work done he was at least going to get some fresh air. The Dursley's didn't particularly like for him to be seen out in public so he had to be careful as he snuck out the front door, but once the door had closed quietly behind him he let out a sigh of relief. Still he wasn't totally free. He'd have to keep an eye out for Dudley and Piers Polkiss's gang.

As he took off Harry was reminded how much he hated Little Whinging. Beyond being home to the most horrible muggles he had ever met, it perfectly encapsulated how unimaginative some muggles could be. Every house exactly the same, perfectly spaced, no creativity allowed. Even the cars were all incredibly similar. It seemed as though there were only a few models you were actually allowed to own if you wanted to live there. It made him pine for The Barrow something fierce. Jumping over the last step and reaching the front gate Harry took off up the street, although he did not make it far.

Harry walked, lost in thought, picturing how the Quidditch tournament at Hogwarts might go this year. He knew it was Woods' last year and he really wanted to finally be able to help put that beautiful cup in his captain's hands. At the very least he hoped they'd at least be able to finish the tournament this year as opposed to last year. He was so preoccupied he didn't see Erin until he had already run walked straight into her, and proceeded to fall right on his ass.

Suddenly great gales of laughter burst forth above him.

"Alright down there?" A feminine voice asked, still giggling. She reached down and offered Harry a hand.

"Yea, I'm fine," Harry replied taking the proffered hand and standing up, his ears turning bright red.

Harry was surprised, whoever she was this girl didn't seem like she belonged in Little Whinging. Harry could tell right away that his Aunt Petunia would hate her for her hair alone. She looked to be about his age with close cropped brown hair with the tips died pink. She wore a black leather jacket over a knee length green skirt with jeans underneath. Not the usual fare for the area. Her eyes struck him most however; they held a mischievousness Harry had never seen outside of the Weaseley twins.

"Wotcher," she said gripping Harry's hand as he stood. "Name's Erin, Erin Davies."

"Nice to meet'cha Erin, I'm Harry Potter." Harry replied. He was somewhat taken aback when Erin's eyes went wide and went straight to his forehead.

"Harry Potter?! Not the Harry Potter?!" Erin reached over brushing aside Harry's hair to get a better look at his scar. "No bleedin' way, you are him!"

"Err, yup, that's me." Harry was embarrassed, he hated being recognized and especially when he looked as shabby as he did now. Dudley's old clothes were not the most flattering. The cogs in Harry's mind started turning. "You're a witch then? Do you go to Hogwarts? I don't think I've ever seen you there."

"Starting this year actually. My parents are Muggle and they didn't want to send me away, decide to try and homeschool me. Didn't work very well. They never really got a good grasp on the whole magic thing."

"That's great!" Harry beamed. "I'm starting my third year as well. Are you staying here long? I could tell you all about Hogwarts." Harry was genuinely happy for probably the first time in a month. Somebody he could talk about Hogwarts with? In his own neighborhood? It was a dream come true.

"For the next few years at least, I reckon. Dad just got a new job at one of the plants on the edge of town."

"Oh wow, that's great! Wait, it's not Grunnings is it?" Harry couldn't help but imagine how this Vernon Dursely might poison Erin's father against him.

"No, why?" Erin replied. Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"No reason."

"Look you have to come in and have a cuppa'. I'm not taking no for an answer. My mum and dad might not know much about you, but I've read about you in all the history books. C'mon."

Erin grabbed him by the arm and started pulling him towards one of the nearby houses. Normally Harry would've been annoyed to be dragged around from place to place, but right now he couldn't be happier. From what he could tell this summer was looking way better than any that had come before.

Erin let out a little squeal as she dragged him along. "Harry bleedin' Potter," she whispered under her breath.

Tonks was amazed at how easy this all was so far. She had worried that she'd make a bad first impression. She thought for sure she'd put her best foot forward straight into her mouth and that Harry would want nothing to do with her. So far though she hadn't really had to say much. She started by asking about Hogwarts was and then Harry went on a tear. Telling her all about the best and worst professors. Quickly, however, he had shifted to telling her about the two encounters with Voldemort he'd somehow managed to fit into his first two years. She'd have to talk to Dumbledore about that. Neither event was in his file at the Ministry.

. "…and then Fawkes carried us all back up into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Then we went up to Professor Mcgonagall's office…"

Tonks was genuinely fascinated with Harry's tales of Hogwarts. In two years he'd had more adventures than she'd managed in seven. But, she was properly exhausted. Drilling all of the details of her backstory into her head at the ministry had taken a full two hours. She really needed a nap if she was going to be able to patrol the neighborhood tonight.

Tonks had really wanted to ask if Harry had seen anybody unusual in the neighborhood lately (other than herself of course), but it would have to wait until later. There was no way to organically work the question into the conversation now, and she needed to get Harry out of the house.

"Hey Harry," Tonks said cutting him off. "I hate to do this, but I really have to start helping my mum prepare dinner soon."

"Oh yea, of course," Harry said, somewhat crestfallen.

"Before you go though, I was wondering… your relatives… they don't like magic much do they?" Tonks asked

Harry winced.

"It's that obvious is it?"

"Well, you've spent two hours talking about Hogwarts and they haven't come up once. Look, I was thinking. How would you like to come back over tomorrow? My parents will be working all day, we could properly hang out. How does that sound?" Tonks asked somewhat coyly. It was only partly an act, she really did want to spend more time with Harry. She could already tell they were going to get on famously.

"Sure, that would be amazing," Harry said, his enthusiasm returning.

Tonks showed Harry the way out, managing to trip twice, and almost knock over a vase the Muggles that lived their owned. After Harry was safely back in his own house Tonks changed back into her normal appearance. She thanked the Ministry witch and wizard who had pretended to be her parents, and sent them on their way. They wouldn't be back again, but Tonks wasn't expecting to need them. After all her father and mother both worked long hours.

She hadn't had time to examine the house earlier so she slowly took stock of things. All of the Muggles' furniture had been left behind so the house was fully stocked. Food in the fridge and pantry, large TV, washer dryer, and, perhaps most importantly, a fully stocked bar. She decided to take the master bedroom for herself. She opened her luggage on the floor but didn't bother taking her clothes out. Instead she pulled out the sneakoscope and several other instruments the Ministry had provided her with and placed them on the dresser.

After exploring the house Tonks stood at the window and watched Harry's house for a bit. Everything seemed normal but she'd feel a lot better once she'd been able to put some charms around the place. The house she was staying in had already been heavily charmed by the Ministry: Charms to keep the muggles from remembering what they had seen if they came up to the door, charms to keep them from remembering her, charms to let her know if magic had been cast nearby, etc.

Tonks ate a quick dinner, and then sat and watched TV until the sun went down; though it was more like she had the TV on in the background while she went over the plan over and over again in her head. She'd slip out under the cover of the invisibility cloak once it was dark enough. First she'd check through the windows and make sure the Durseley's, and Harry were all settled in. If they came out while she was placing her charms and wards there was a chance that things might go awry. Normally she'd wait until they'd all gone upstairs to bed, but she wanted to get this done as soon as possible.

Around 9'o'clock Tonks judged it was dark enough and slipped outside under the cover of her invisibility cloak. First she snuck up to the windows at the front of the house and peered in. Harry's uncle, Vernon, sat eating dinner in front of the TV with Dudley sitting in the chair next to him. Thankfully the front windows were closed so she wouldn't have to worry about being heard. She walked back to the sidewalk and muttered the incantations for several charms. The idea was to place the same charms at several strategic points around the house so that they formed a crude circle.

She started circling the house from the left, checking all the windows. On both sides of the house were tall wooden fences, but Tonks managed to magic the lock on the fence door open. The second window on the side of the house gave her a view of Petunia Dursley who was nose deep in some gossip tripe. The window was opened, however, so Tonks had to be careful as she placed the charms on that side of the house. Thankfully, Petunia only looked out the window once while she was working and that was only because Tonks had banged her knee on a low stone bench and had started cursing. She was extra careful after that.

After making her way around in a rough circle to the fence on the right of the house Tonks circled back around to the front right side and placed the last few charms. All-in-all it took her 20 minutes to get everything set up. Her last task was to make sure the most important charm of all was working. One of the charms she had placed would let her know if any magic was cast within the circle, and indeed if anybody magical other than herself or Harry entered.

"Unflar," Tonks whispered to herself, pointing at Vernon's front left tire. Tonks got a good chuckle as she watched the car sag down. She'd gotten a fair amount of work in, but it was time to head home.

Tonks awoke quite groggy the next morning. She'd made rounds of the neighborhood 4 separate times last night. Checking her nightstand Tonks sighed.

"Vernon Dursley left at 7:45, and return at 7:46." Tonks read aloud "Great, at least I know the git got his paper."

This had been one of the Ministry's more clever ideas in terms of magical surveillance. One of the charms Tonks had placed last night would send a message to a magical quill anytime anybody entered or left the Dursley's residence. It was set up to recognize her, the Dursley's, and Harry. If anybody else entered the grounds it would just mark down the times they entered and left.

Tonks was grumpy as she headed downstairs, the amount of sleep she had gotten did not agree with her, but she'd just have to deal with it. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat at the table looking over some of the reports the Ministry had given her on Black. At 8 there was a knock at the window as a brown owl attempted to deliver her copy of the Daily Prophet. She slipped the owl a knut and sat back down.

"'I cannot reveal exact details at this time, but we know we're closing in on Black.' What a bunch of rubbish," Tonks said to herself. All of the Aurors she worked with had been telling her all summer how they had no idea where Black might have gone. Tonks was happy to have gotten this detail from the Ministry, but she had to agree that most of her co-workers were correct, Fudge was a giant blowhard.

After finishing the paper Tonks headed upstairs to clean and dress herself. Back to looking like a 13 year old Tonks sat downstairs and turned on the TV. In truth, however, she was watching the Dursley house through the front window.

When Harry had gotten home the night before his aunt had been all over him. Where have you been all night, hmm? Not getting up to anything… strange I hope. She'd interrogated him for half an hour, and when his uncle got home he had questioned him as well. Thankfully they'd eventually left him alone, but he knew he'd have to be more careful about how much time he spent away from home from now on.

Harry decided around noon to head over to Erin's. He'd almost left first thing in the morning, but had realized that might make him seem a little desperate. He'd stuffed a few of his books along with some parchment and quills into an old backpack of Dudley's. His plan was to hide the bag using his invisibility cloak and to carry it over to Erin's. Harry's only real worry was slipping past Aunt Petunia. He knew she'd notice something was up immediately, and that could have lost him his cloak and any right he had to leave his room. It was a risk he was willing to take.

He crept to the top of the stairs listening for his aunt. He took the first step, his ears straining to place his aunt's position in the house. He had made it halfway down the stairs when he heard his aunt scream. Harry froze, terrified he'd been caught doing something 'unusual'. But then, the scream resolved itself into words.

"Oh no, she did not say that!" Petunia near yelled.

Harry breathed a great sigh of relief. His aunt must have been on the phone, on the other side of the house. Knowing the path was clear Harry was downstairs and out the front door in a flash. The door slamming behind him he tried to slow down a bit as he approached Erin's house, but his excitement carried him forward so that he felt he was floating. Before he knew it he was knocking on the door.

"Wotcher Harry!" Erin opened the door a few seconds after he knocked. She laughed seeing the expression on his face. "Saw you running up the street like a bloody lunatic."

"Oh, right," Harry mumbled his face turning beet red.

"Nah, I'm just pulling your leg. I was excited to see you too. C'mon in."

They made their way into the living room. Harry sat and pulled the invisibility cloak from the backpack. Erin gasped slightly.

"Is that… is that an invisibility cloak." She took the cloak from Harry's hands as he offered it. "Blimey that's cool. Mind if I put it on?"

"Go ahead." Harry replied.

Erin draped the cloak over herself so that only her head poked out.

"How do I look?" She asked.

Harry chuckled. "Well from the neck up you look pretty good."

"Charmer." She muttered, trying to examine herself. "Where did you get this thing?"

"It was my dad's. Dumbledore gave it to me my freshman year."

"Dumbledore's the headmaster right?" Erin asked, not watching as Harry nodded. "Bet you could get up to some real mischief with this thing."

Erin pulled the hood up over her head and disappeared totally from view.

"Hey-" Harry started, standing up. Then his glasses floated off of his face. "Give 'em back!" Harry said, starting to laugh.

"Uh-uh Potter. Not till you say the magic words." Erin replied, outright giggling.

"Uhhh, wingardiam leviosa?"

"Not even close Potter." Harry's glasses started floating disembodied around the room. "Guess again."

"OK, OK. Please, may I have my glasses back?" A dopy grin spreading across his face.

"You're getting warmer, but still not quite the right words." Suddenly Harry's glasses disappeared from view. "Wow you're blind as a bloody bat."

Harry looked lost in thought for a moment, but then he smiled broadly. He bent one knee in front of him and bent low to the ground over it in a formal bow.

"Please Miss Davies, may I please have my glasses returned to me."

"Now that's what I like to hear." Harry's glasses reappeared and seemed to float back onto his head. Then an invisible hand ruffled Harry's hair slightly. Harry was taken aback, he wasn't used to being touched affectionately like that.

"C'mon then," Harry said, slightly flustered. "Take that thing off. You wanted to study right?" At that moment even the thought of studying didn't bother him quite so much.

The next few hours were spent in idle conversation. At first they really did try to study, Tonks would swear to that. But without being able to actually do any magic they quickly found themselves bored to tears. So instead they just talked. At first they talked about Quidditch, and what it was like coming from the Muggle world into the magic one. Quickly though, that conversation shifted into discussions of their families.

Tonks impressed with herself with how much of her Ministry assigned backstory she could actually remember. She thought for sure she'd accidentally call her fake mum Andromeda or some such. She told him all about what it was like to be home-schooled in the wizarding world. How there were very specific places and time she was able to practice her magic ("If you try to sneak in a bit of magic they snap your wand right away.") And how her parents had to submit to random inquiries from the Ministry twice a month.

"It turned hellish after awhile. The whole thing was really meant for witches and wizards to teach their kids the way they wanted." Tonks explained. "My mum was tearing her hair out by the end of my 2nd year. It's tough trying to teach magic if you don't know any yourself. She's much happier being back at work now. The whole reason they did it in the first place was they were worried about sending me off to some strange school for 'magic'. Now though, I think they'll be relieved once they see I'm on the train. For a little while at least," she hastened to add. "I know they'll miss me terribly. I mean, wouldn't you?"

It took a little cajoling from Tonks to get Harry to open up about his upbringing, but once he did Tonks was horrified. She knew the muggles weren't kind to him. That much had been in his Ministry file. But to think those muggles would treat the savior of the Wizarding World as poorly as they had. It was unbelievable.

"A cupboard under the stairs she thought to herself," she thought to herself. "A cupboard under the fucking stairs?!" Tonks was fuming, and it must have shown on her face because Harry started trying to placate her.

"Look I know it sounds bad, but it's loads better now. Now, I've got the room upstairs and they pretty much leave me alone. Plus I've got Hogwarts now. I'd live another ten years with the Dursley's if it meant I got to go to Hogwarts."

Tonks was somewhat mollified, but she was still pissed. Still, she had been dreading the job she had to do later, and she knew this was actually going to make it loads easier. Fun even.

Before they knew what had happened it was 4:30 and they could hear Vernon pulling into the driveway of 4 Privet Drive. Harry looked out the window nervously.

"I should probably…" Harry trailed off. "Aunt Petunia's probably already suspicious that I've been gone all day. They weren't happy I got home so late last night.".

Tonks knew it was time. "I understand," she said trying not to sound disappointed. "But before you go let's at least have a 'cuppa."

"Yea, alright. That sounds good." Harry beamed, some of the happiness of the last few hours returning.

"I'll be right back."

Harry took Erin's time in the kitchen as an excuse to examine the living room a bit more closely. It seemed as ordinary as any other Muggle home; big screen TV, plenty of kitsch decoration, non-moving pictures of the whole family on the mantel. By moving left to right Harry could actually watch Erin growing up. Seeing the pictures made Harry feel a twinge of… of what he wasn't exactly sure. Loneliness, jealousy, longing? A whole ball of emotions seemed to well up inside of him and settle right in the pit of his stomach. He was glad for the distraction when Erin came back with the tea.

"Here 'ya go Harry…" Erin trailed off. "Are you OK?" She asked, concerned.

"Yea," Harry sniffled, trying to wipe the tears that had suddenly sprung up in eyes. This was all too much. After being all alone all summer it just too much.

"Look," Harry began, grabbing the tea from Erin's hand. He swallowed it in one gulp. "I had a really good time today, but I really should… I really should." The world seemed to shrink around him as he stood rooted to the ground. Suddenly darkness started creeping in from the edges and before he knew what was happening, he knew nothing at all.

Tonks caught Harry as he slipped to the ground, though with her 13-year-old frame it was a struggle to pick him up. She carried him over to the couch and set him down gently, placing his glasses on the table next to him. Then she stood for a moment just looking down on him. It was horrible to see what Harry's relatives had managed to do to him. It wasn't hard to piece together what had happened.

She could tell he was on edge as soon as that great oaf Dursley's car had pulled into the driveway. She really thought the tea would help calm his nerve, but she also needed him asleep for the next hour or so. So, while Harry was alone with in the living she'd mixed a strong sleeping draught in with his tea. She had hoped to get him sitting on the couch before he passed out, but she also hadn't expected him to down the cup in one go.

When she'd come back from the kitchen Harry had been staring at the pictures on the mantle, bewitched to appear as though it was Erin Davies family in them. When he'd turned around she'd been shocked. For most of the day Harry had been pretty jovial, even when he was telling them about how horrible his relatives were. But when he'd turned around his face looked ashen, and tears were welling in his eyes.

"You poor boy," she whispered. "There's no need to be sad anymore though. You have family now." She knew he had friends, but they were all far away. If Harry needed family, then she'd be that family. She brushed the hair away from his eyes, and stood up, resolute.

She still had business to attend to.