Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Not my disclaimer either. In simple words, YOU CAN'T SUE ME.

Spoilers: PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OotP, HBP, QTTA, FB.

Genre: Action/Adventure/Romance.

Rating: R – For MATURE language and themes.

Author's Notes: Harry sure is for a rough ride this summer, his last and most happening one.

Chapter 1 – Surprise, Surprise

It had been two weeks since Harry had arrived at the Dursley's, his summer home for the last time in his life. Obviously, he did not like to be here, far from it actually. But he had promised Dumbledore he would stay here for this summer, and he was going to keep his promise. And so here he was, sitting at his window in the smallest bedroom of the Dursley house looking outside at the immaculate, though dull neighbourhood of Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.

He wondered again about his latest addiction, not anything dangerous or life threatening, of course. Something that was much simpler and satisfying at the same time – sitting at the window. He had been doing that regularly since he had come here. It gave him incentive to think, stimulated his brain cells perhaps. He would feel a sense of calm enveloping him, providing him with some much needed peace of mind. Occasionally he would sit on his bed and read a few books, but even he knew that it would not be able to hold his attention for too long. He would even spend a major part of the night staring at the sky, as if it would provide him an answer to all his problems. He sorely wished that it would.

His only other comforter was Hedwig, his snow white owl. If Harry didn't know better, he would think that she had fallen in love with him, in a romantic way. She would often spend her time with him, sitting on his shoulder, clicking her beak and nipping his ear affectionately, just being close to him. Harry thought that she could sense something was going to happen to him and so wanted to be there for him. Harry smiled fondly as he recalled the many years she had spent with him, as a companion and as a friend. He had spent much of his holiday time talking with her, and she would always be there to lend an ear. He felt that she really could understand him. Except for food, water and a tender caress, she had no expectations from him and this loving nature of hers endeared the most to him.

She even got a decent workout carrying letters to his friends. He would write to them at least twice a week and would receive a reply to each of his letters. They contained nothing but mundane topics like health enquiries, local new and such matters. The only important thing he had received from Hermione was a hope that Hogwarts would still open this year. From Ron, he got word of nothing but the happenings at the Burrow and current status of The Chudley Cannons. Ginny mentioned that Bill, who was wounded by the werewolf Fenrir Greyback, wasn't recovering as fast as the healers had hoped. As a result, both Mrs. Weasley and Fleur were fussing all day over him.

He also received some letters from Neville and Luna. While Neville would mention the various plants he managed to grow in his greenhouse, he also promised that he would be there for Harry whenever his help was required. Luna managed to reiterate the same point, though her letters were interspersed with ramblings about weird creatures and their properties.

Harry had hoped that at least this time his stay here would be bearable. His hopes had received a shock the second day he had arrived, and for a change it was a pleasant one.

His relatives had not spoken to him since picking him up from the King's Cross station. Harry felt that it suited him just fine. If they wanted to keep quiet and stay away from him, he definitely had no problems with that. But his joy at this particular thought had been short-lived as his uncle; Vernon Dursley had come knocking on bedroom door.

"Boy… er… that is Harry." Harry wanted to laugh at the effort it took to say his name. He wasn't some egotistical megalomaniac Dark Lord hell bent on a killing spree, for Merlin's sake. "Um… we, that is to say, me, your aunt and Dudley wanted to er… talk with you about… about something er… important. So I wanted to ask if you could come downstairs so that we could, er… have a little chat."

It was late Sunday afternoon. Everyone was at home. And the Dursleys had decided to have a chat with their much hated relative.

Harry followed his uncle straight into the sitting room where less than a year ago, they had had a marvellous conversation with Albus Dumbledore. He smiled sadly at the recollection. The aging Headmaster had left the Dursleys dumbstruck with his gift of the gab. Harry liked to think it was his talk that left them speechless and not any of the old man's eccentricities. He also remembered many occasions where Dumbledore had displayed this talent. He certainly had a way with words.

Harry's aunt Petunia was already sitting at one end of the sofa. Vernon occupied the other end, then looked around, not finding Dudley, bellowed his name. Harry took the armchair he had taken the previous time as Dudley waddled into the room and squeezed between them. He had an interesting expression on his face, a mixture of boredom, curiosity and loathing. Harry thought it made an interesting combination. He knew for sure that the whale look-alike most certainly wanted to be anywhere but in the presence of his freak cousin, most likely in front of the computer playing his gun-wielding alter ego. Harry seriously thought the boy needed to be brought down to earth.

Harry had an immense feeling of déjà-vu. He felt an enormous loss looking at the armchair nearest to the fire that Dumbledore had previously occupied.

"Would you like some tea?" Petunia asked.

"Er… no thanks." Harry replied. He did not know what to say. He wondered if his relatives were under the influence of the Imperius curse and were trying to poison him. He suddenly felt like a younger version of Mad-Eye Moody, paranoid from hair to toe, but without the swivelling eye, hideous scars and the artificial leg. Actually, he did have quite a well known scar, but it was no way hideous. Paranoia is good Potter. It'll keep you on your toes. He thought to himself.

"We", his uncle continued, "wanted to talk to you, and we were er… concerned about… about your future."

Now Harry definitely did not know what to say.

"Not that it is any of our business, of course", he continued hastily. "But if you remember, your Headmaster informed us the last time he visited that you would be coming of age and would not be returning here again. Not that we aren't pleased, 'coz we definitely are. We just wanted to see if you would be requiring any help. If you would need anything, then we could perhaps try to help you the best we can, as a parting gift certainly."

"I don't want to trouble you –" he began, only to be cut off by his aunt.

"Nonsense, Harry. We want to help you and we will try the best we can." Petunia said and Harry had the distinct feeling that his aunt was the main player here as was expressed by the tone she had used. His uncle and cousin were just playing their parts. This was just another way for them to get rid of the guilt they had accumulated over the years.

"No, uncle Vernon, aunt Petunia, you do not understand. I appreciate your concern, but I assure you that you do not need to trouble yourself. I have certainly got enough to eke out till I get a decent employment in a years time." Aren't I the master of understatements? Harry wondered internally. "Actually I do have some that was left by godfather. But he was an escaped convict, so I don't know how much it is but I'll get through. I also have been left a house but it's, you know, not of the normal kind. In fact, it's downright dark and gloomy, and I don't know how anyone can manage to live in that godforsaken place. Overall, I think I can manage."

Harry did not want to think his uncle and aunt wanted something in return for letting him stay, so he decided to downplay everything.

"Are you sure Harry?"

"Yes. Though I do wonder what made you people to change your mind about me. It's not like you worried about me in the past. You always considered a good beating to be a cure for my anomaly." He replied disdainfully. Better get to the root of this little chat. He was slightly satisfied than his aunt winced a little at his statement, as if she had been struck violently.

"Do not take that tone with us boy. After all that we have done for you. Sheltered you, gave you food to eat, clothes to cover you…" Vernon exploded.

"Vernon, please." His aunt interrupted his uncle's rant. "Harry is right. We never cared for him as much we cared for Dudders. We could have treated him a little better."

"It doesn't matter now." Harry replied with a sense of finality. "We say our goodbyes in about a month and that's hopefully the last time we'll be seeing each other. I'll again like to say thanks for your generous offer but I think it has come a bit too late for any of us. I'll just ask that you let me stay here for a final time this summer and I will make sure not to trouble you by setting my foot on your doorstep ever again in this life."

"There's no problem Harry. We'll make sure that you are not troubled this time at least. I just wished that we'd say our goodbyes on a pleasant note." His aunt was the only one talking now. Vernon had decided to shut up and see wherever this chat was going.

"Yeah, me too."

"I also wanted to ask you some questions."

"Go ahead."

"So you become an adult when you turn seventeen?"

"Yeah, in our world," he gave a special emphasis on 'our', "we become of age legally when we turn seventeen."

"And you can do, er… your thing, legally?"

Harry snorted at the mention of 'his thing'.

"Yes, everyone above seventeen years of age is legally allowed to do magic. But we have laws for secrecy and all that stuff. Basically it means that we are not allowed to do anything in front of normal folk. We have to stay hidden from them."

"What job do you expect to do? You have jobs for people of your type, right?"

"We have our own government, as you may know, of course. There are various types of jobs that make use of our special skills."

"Oh. Well then, I think everything is in order. You can go to your room now. I'll just make sure dinner is on time."

All in all, Harry thought, the meeting had gone as good as expected. Well, nobody died. He added internally.

His brief time at his relatives was interspersed with surprises. Unfortunately, not all of them were pleasant ones. Remus Lupin had arrived a few days later and brought much unpleasant news with him. Harry had cancelled the subscription to the Daily Prophet. It never printed the actual truth anyway. And so Remus was his principal source of information.

The Death Eaters were attacking everywhere, muggle and magical towns alike. The attacks would be very brief, never lasting more than five minutes at a stretch, but the damage would be colossal. There were liberal uses of the unforgivable curses. It was quick, but most importantly it was nasty. Aurors and Obliviators for the muggles were running everywhere, but they would never get to the crime scene in time. The attacks would be so random that by the time the alarm was raised, the culprits would have left and be safe in their hideaway. The situation had become desperate.

It seemed that the Death Eaters had decided to celebrate Dumbledore's death as a long lasting party – pop at some random place, spread havoc and death, pop back home. The plan was simple, effective and highly successful; a basic hit-and-run strategy.

Even the dementors were quite active. There were reports in the muggle news of a mysterious plague that was causing confusion in the minds of sign-tits or something similar, Remus had said, which had Harry rolling on the floor holding his sides, all the while thinking about signed tits. The entire intellectual muggle population was baffled as to how a vast number of people living in vicinity of each other would suddenly suffer from tremendous amount of coldness, depression, hallucinations of particular horrible events that had happened in their lives and what they all singularly described as a feeling that they would never be happy again in their life. Many of them appeared to be dead, most likely kissed by the dementors.

Even Scotland Yard was perplexed about the number of crimes committed that occurred under unexpected circumstances. There were no clues, of course, nor any motives or the standard ways in which the deeds were performed in the past. Murders behind closed doors were common, as were destruction of public and private properties. There wasn't a thread common to everything that had been happening. The only indication of magical warfare would be the horrendous Dark Mark that would be hovering above the target.

Snape's betrayal had shaken the Order of the Phoenix to its very core. The bold ones were still helping as much as they could, but some of the members had gone underground. There was wide spread dissent among those that still were in contact; there wasn't a common ground to achieve. Many wanted to save their own skins, trying to live another day. The death of their leader had drained them of their hopes.

"And if that was not enough", Remus continued, "Tonks has suddenly fallen ill. We had to admit her to St. Mungo's. Her condition was very bad when Arthur and I took her there. The Healers managed to stabilize her, but it looked like it would become worse before it becomes better."

"What happened to her?"

"Dunno. The healers think she may have been poisoned or even given a defective potion. Can't say why anyone would want to poison her. She was taking some potions for overexertion and magical exhaustion. Every auror takes them at least once a week. It's difficult to keep standing on your feet if you don't. Too much work to do, too much use of magic to cause exhaustion. The Death Eaters are making things worse for everyone."

"I hope she gets better. She's quite full of energy. I don't think anything would keep her down for long."

"Yes, she almost appears to be bubbling with energy," Remus added with a smile. "Except for last year when, you know…" he finished lamely.

"So, er… how are things going between you two?" Harry asked, wanting to tease the former Marauder, but was alarmed to see the slight sorrowful look. "You don't have to tell me", he added hastily.

"There's nothing to hide Harry. You know how I was trying to avoid her last year. There was a good reason for that. I think she liked someone, or so Sirius told me. He didn't tell who, just that she did. And before you say it, it wasn't me. Sirius would have said so, not in so many words, but I would know as I would have had a hard time stopping him from teasing me about it. I know it was someone because I did hear him teasing her plenty of times. Of course, I didn't know who exactly as he was quite proficient at implied talking. As for Tonks, in the beginning she would blush and stutter like mad and had even threatened him to be shipped to Azkaban. But she learnt to control herself and he knew she would never do it and the threat fell on deaf ears. I just couldn't figure out why she would start liking me."

"You are a nice guy Remus, don't forget that. Except for once a month when you face your furry little problem, you are quite the eligible bachelor. Er… you don't bat for the other team, do you?" He blurted out before he could stop himself.

Remus was actually stunned and so issued an indignant reply almost immediately in the negative. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds and burst out laughing at the humour of the situation.

"Sorry." Harry said after he had calmed down a bit.

"No problem, Harry. You just caught me off guard. But to answer your question, I really do think I am too old for her and very dangerous. That's why I had refrained from dating her. I do not, as you so eloquently put, bat for the other team. In fact, I actually dated, er… never mind about that. But I had decided to take it slow and see if this relationship will actually work. This happened the same time as the incident with Fleur and Bill. And now, she's in the hospital suffering from Merlin-knows-what. I just don't know what I'm supposed to do."

Harry asked him who was it that he had dated. He had let it slip and Harry wanted to extract it from him. But Remus resolutely denied telling him the name of the mystery woman.

"It wasn't Moaning Myrtle, was it?" Harry asked him and Remus made an indignant sound between a snort and a growl.

"Ah, then it must be Madam Pomfrey. She used to help you during your werewolf days, wouldn't she? I definitely think you had the hots for her."

"Now, now, Harry, play nice. If I remember correctly, Poppy always says you are the one who has spent the maximum amount of time in the Hospital Wing. I don't even want to guess what goes on behind closed doors between you two when she sends the visitors away."

Remus smirked at Harry's horrified expression. Harry quickly learnt an important lesson that day that he shouldn't try to mess with the genial werewolf. He also understood why the man was the brains behind the pranks pulled by the Marauders.

Harry managed to change the topic of discussion quickly and informed Remus about his relatives' apparent change of heart. Remus was of a similar opinion that this was indeed a ploy they were trying to be free of their own guilt. They had continued talking for a long time during which Harry informed him of his break up with Ginny.

"I thought you liked her Harry." Remus had said. "You two looked quite good with each other. To be frank, it reminded me of your parents, Harry."

"I know Remus. After Dumbledore's death, I just thought about the war and everything else. The time we spent together was the best in my life. But that's not who I am, that's not what I have to do. It would not be fair for her to be in constant danger. Everything has a price and being with me has the ultimate one. Besides, she doesn't know what it's like to lose someone dear to us. I know that, you know that. True, she has been there for me when I needed her, my pillar of strength, but she deserves better."

"It's your choice, Harry. I would not object."

Remus' first visit had provided a bit of comic relief for Harry when he had left. That day, the old Marauder had visited like a muggle, through the front door after pressing the doorbell. When Harry's name had been called by his uncle, he found the pair shaking hands in the doorway. While Remus wore a very pleasant smile on his face, his uncle's face, au contraire, was turning a little blue. The reason for that became apparent to Harry when Remus left the same way, he had arrived. This time though, his uncle had refused to shake hands with him, giving just a wave and had stayed a little out of reach.

"Good man that, decent enough, friend of your parents, wasn't he?" His uncle enquired after Remus had left. Harry saw that he was continuously massaging his right hand.

"Yes." Harry had replied.

"Quite strong, very good grip he has." His uncle muttered. "He doesn't take any drugs or anything, does he?"

And then it came to him. His uncle had tried to bully Remus by trying to squeeze his hand, underestimating him due to his lanky and weak appearance, but had found himself unable to do so due to Remus' werewolf strength. Harry had to suppress a laugh.

"Oh that! No, he doesn't take drugs or anything. His strength is natural. It's one of the perks of being a werewolf."

Harry had stalled a couple of seconds to enjoy the horrified expression on his uncle's face and then quickly made his way up the stairs into his bedroom where he had to undergo a serious coughing fit as he tried in vain to hold back his mirth.

His also found himself answering many of his aunt's questions a couple of days later, with regards to the ongoing activities of the Death Eaters.

"These attacks are done by your people, aren't they?" She had asked one day.

"Yes." He has replied in a monotonous voice. He wasn't surprised to find that she had figured it out. There was also no point in denying the obvious.

"Do they really have a valid reason to cause these atrocities?"

"Well, they have only one rule. If you are non-magical or even related to non-magical people, you should die. It is simple to understand and easy to execute as well as very effective."

"How can you say such a thing? Do you not fear them?" She had been shocked by his candour.

"Considering that I have lived the last six years of my life, fighting these people and trying to stay alive, I just don't have the time to stop to be afraid. You stop, you die. They would sacrifice their lives for their leader just to try and do me in."

"But you are safe here, right?"

"Just till my seventeenth birthday. When I become an adult, the blood protections on this house will fail. That's the reason I won't be coming here any more."

"And after you are gone? We won't be safe here, will we?"

"These days, nowhere is safe, aunt Petunia. The protections are supposed to last till I come of age. After that, I have to take care of myself. As for you, you would be safe only if you leave the country."

Harry had decided that he would in fact leave a couple of days before his birthday. This way, he could be sure that the Death Eaters wouldn't try to gatecrash on his birthday.

Remus' second visit had brought more disastrous news. The random attacks still continued, but there was grave news concerning Tonks. Harry was rather surprised by the agitated state of the normally quiet werewolf, who was almost ready to pull his hair apart.

"It's a bloody nightmare. And I am absolutely insane."

These proclamations were the ones with which Harry was greeted and he immediately inferred the gravity of the situation.

"The Healers have found traces of residual love potion in her system." Remus continued. "The potion, as far as they can tell, is not among the standard ones brewed, but it is beyond doubt a love potion. She was under that influence of a bloody love potion! They say it is a very ingenious one. Ha! Ingenious my arse! It was supplied as a mixture of the normal potions aurors take and of course the vile concoction. Didn't leave a single indication either about its actual intention and was untraceable, colourless and odourless. She was on it for a long time. How long – as long as she was trying to get me to date her – such a bloody long time. And what do these people say – it's ingenious. The recent ones she ingested were completely safe. The adverse effects happened since she had stopped taking those things."

All this while, he worked himself up in frenzy and was rapidly pacing back and forth in the smallest bedroom. Harry was sure the older man was trying to carve a trail in the floor. He knew the last full moon had only been a couple of days ago and Remus hadn't fully recovered from it yet. Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to compose the hysteric man or go out and rip the throats of whoever had done this to one of his good friends. At last, Remus seemed to calm down and sat heavily in the chair with his head in his hands.

"She's going to be okay, isn't she?" Harry asked. He figured taking a practical approach was a good choice.

"Physically, she will recover. Emotionally, I don't know. It's a big blow, Harry. She wasn't in control of her emotions for almost a year. I can't even begin to imagine how she must be feeling. I don't even know how I'll face her. I should have known there was something wrong."

"You couldn't have known. And you, as well as her, aren't at fault. If anyone is responsible then it's the person who gave her the potions. We should try to catch him and beat the hell out of him. Did you at least speak to her?"

"No. She was released yesterday, while I was sleeping off my exhaustion due to the transformation. No one, even Arthur, was informed. She just demanded the Healers to release her. As there wasn't anything physically wrong with her, they couldn't keep her there. She even asked them not to tell anyone. The Healers have to honour the patient's wishes, so they are not at fault. I have searched her everywhere I could think of, but couldn't find her anywhere. She has the ability to disappear from sight due to her skills and I doubt anyone can find her if she doesn't want to. I just hope she is alright."

Harry prayed that she wasn't as foolhardy as he was. Else, she would just jump ahead without looking back and try to find the person who had wronged her and skin him alive. While that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it was beyond doubt very dangerous and she could really get hurt. He had learnt that lesson the hard way. Besides, she had made quite an impression on him when she had arrived with his house as a part of the Advanced Guard in the summer after his fourth year. And truthfully speaking, he had missed her liveliness the most whenever he had met her in the last year. The morose look didn't suit her as well as it suited him.

"Do you know who did it?" Harry asked, focussing his thoughts on the issue at hand.

"We have no idea, Harry." Remus replied in a dejected voice. "I just can't wait to find that bastard. And when I do find him, full moon or not, I'm going to shred him to bits."

Harry was taken aback by the ferociousness in Remus' voice. He understood that under than cool exterior lived a very dangerous creature and anyone who crossed his path would curse their decision for the rest of their life, if they managed to escape alive and intact.

Remus had then informed him that the Order had requested his presence in the next meeting which was supposed to take place in a couple of days. Harry knew that one of the topics on the agenda was definitely with regards to his outing with Dumbledore just before he was killed. He wasn't sure if he should share any information about the day's events with the Order. He just had to wait and see how things proceed and then play it by ear.

He looked across his desk where a piece of parchment lay that had arrived this morning. It was a letter from Remus stating that there was going to be an Order meeting today afternoon and that somebody, most probably Remus himself, would be coming to pick him up at around one thirty to two o'clock. Harry looked at his battered old alarm clock that he had repaired several years ago and saw that it was exactly half past one. So he expected Remus to arrive sometime soon. He had already informed his aunt that he would be leaving for some hours for a meeting. She wanted to ask for details but wisely refrained from doing so. Five minutes later, a haggard looking friendly werewolf arrived in the room with a soft pop.

"Hello Harry." He greeted. "Shall we get going then?"

"How are we getting there?" Harry asked.

"We are going to apparate, of course. I know you haven't received your license yet, but you can apparate. So we'll do a side-along apparition. It would be legal as long as you have someone with a license with you. Do you remember the patch of grass where we landed after our little broom journey. Good. Alastor has put up a ward, a bigger version of notice-me-not charm coupled with a muggle repelling ward, around it to avoid detection by the local folk. We'll apparate there, quickly make our way inside Headquarters and can talk later, okay?"

Harry nodded his assent, gripped the older man's left arm firmly and pictured the scene clearly in his mind.

"Good, we do this on three. One, two and three…"

There was once again the feeling of being squeezed from all directions for a small moment of time as everything went blank. The next thing he knew, he was standing on the same unkempt patch of grass alongside Remus. The pair quickly made there way inside the house that had popped into existence, apparently from nowhere, in to the kitchen, where Remus provided him with a bottle of butterbeer from the pantry and sat down gulping one himself.

"You found anything about Tonks?" Harry asked.

"No." Remus replied. "We have people looking for her everywhere, but they haven't had any success as of yet."

"So where is everybody?"

"People will arrive soon. We don't use this place any more. The Fidelius still exists, but after Dumbledore's death, we cannot bring in new members as he was the secret keeper. To do that, we would need to break the charm and then do it all over again. No one thinks it is worth the effort required to redo everything. Some extra wards have been added so that Snape won't be able to enter. We are just meeting some of the people who already know about this."

"So who is coming then?"

"You'll see."

Harry gathered that Remus was not in the mood for idle chit chat and so sat quietly sipping his bottle of butterbeer. He figured that Tonks being with him without being in control of her own emotions had hit him hard. He didn't mind the comfort of silence. After all, he was alone and lived in silence for a major part of the day.

Suddenly, the kitchen fireplace flared up and a head of a balding man appeared in the now emerald green flames. Harry thought that he had seen that man somewhere before, but couldn't recall where. Remus, on the other hand, quickly made his way over to the fireplace and dropped to ground in front of it, a trace of fear across his face.

"Remus," the man was saying urgently. "We need to help. There's a large crowd of Death Eaters in Budleigh Babberton. They are attacking as we speak. We think he has gone after Slughorn. He always wanted that potion master. But the whole village is under heavy attack."

"Don't worry. I'll see what help I can get and come as soon as possible."

Remus stood up even as the man nodded and his head disappeared and turned towards Harry.

"Harry, I need to go and help them. Come, I'll take you first to your aunt's house."

"Remus, no, you need to help them. I'll be safe here. You can take me back when you return. Just go now." Harry said in a pleading tone.

"Are you sure Harry? I don't know when I would be back. It could take much more time than you could expect."

Harry could see that Remus still had some doubts but there was no time to waste.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Just… just take care of yourself, okay? I won't be happy to find you in St. Mungo's."

Remus nodded wordlessly, pulled him into a one-armed hug and quickly disappeared in thin air, leaving Harry to wonder just what he was going to do staying alone in The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.

Harry decided to stay as calm as possible so as to not disturb the portrait of Mrs. Black. He was sure that he wasn't in the mood to listen to the idiotic screeching rants of the miserable old hag. His memories took him to the time he had spent here with Sirius and he found himself in sombre mood thinking about the possibility of a future, however dark, with his godfather standing by his side. Including Remus and Dumbledore, Sirius was the closest link he had to his parents and he was disappointed to let him go. He made his way to Sirius' room and found it covered with dust as no one had ventured into it. He also found a book, which incidentally was a muggle one, resting on a small study table. The title was 'The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy' written by someone called Douglas Adams. It had a bookmark about halfway through it. Sirius must have been reading this, he thought.

Harry had received no word about the ongoing battle and he just prayed everyone was going to be alright. It was already dinner time and he was getting quite restless, and even very hungry. He found some sandwiches and pumpkin juice in kitchen and consumed them with gusto. He went back to Sirius' room and began reading the book he had found earlier. Earlier, he had spent time looking out of the window, but got bored very soon, and so had switched over to reading the book. He soon understood that the author was either totally insane, or had a very good power of imagination, or both. Harry was more inclined towards the third option.

It was almost half past ten that Harry realised he had spent the last few hours immersed in the book. He also had received no updates about the battle, neither had anyone been in the house. He found his eyelids getting heavier and soon enough gave out a huge yawn. He had no clothes to sleep in and so borrowed some pajamas from Sirius' wardrobe. They weren't the perfect fit, but were good enough for one night. Not feeling any inclination to go into any other room, he threw himself on to the king sized bed and quickly fell asleep.

He awoke some time later drenched in cold sweat. He looked at his watch and saw it was almost three o'clock. He didn't have regular nightmares any more, but being in the dreadful house had somehow triggered those bad memories about Sirius' fall through the veil and his battle with Bellatrix. His mouth felt dry and he made his way downstairs to the kitchen to have some water. He felt rather refreshed even though he had slept for so little time. In fact, this was the normal amount of sleep that he got everyday, but for him, it was enough.

He sat at the kitchen table, sipping water and staring at the fireplace hoping against hope that someone, at the very least Remus, would come tumbling out of it any instant. He had the unmistakable sound of opening of the many magical locks on the front door and his heart leapt up with joy thinking that Remus had indeed returned. He stepped out of the kitchen and saw that a figure in robes was making its way through the door, staggering slightly in the feeble light. The person was swaying in a manner that made him sure, would result in being spread flat on the ground.

The figure barely missed the umbrella stand by a couple of inches and Harry heaved a sigh of relief. It wouldn't do any good to wake up Mrs. Black at this ungodly hour. The second sway was much more dangerous and Harry rushed forward to intercept its fall. To his utter amazement, he found his legs tangling with each other and fell face first on the floor. He rolled over to find that the figure had somehow managed to catch itself and was waving a wand in an elliptical manner that made the torches on the walls to spring to life.

He closed his eyes at the sudden flash of light, and then slowly opened them to see a pale heart-shaped face with violet eyes and medium length bubble-gum-pink hair smiling down at him.

"Wotcher Harry" Tonks said, still smiling. "You know, there's no need to keep throwing yourself at my feet. You can just ask if you need… anything."

"Tonks" Harry said, still in a daze and unable to figure out the innuendo behind whatever she had said. He only knew that she was here, peering at him as he was lying on the floor, while Remus as well as others had tried very much, and without luck of course, to locate her. Also, one other thought had just furiously jumped to the foremost in his already muddled brain, setting all others behind it. Damn it! Why does she always have to find me lying on the floor?

Author's Notes:

Next Chapter – Time with Tonks.

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