Authors Note: I'm humbled by the positive reactions I've been getting for my story. I'll do my best to maintain and hopefully improve quality. You guys keep reading and reviewing, and I'll keep writing and improving.
Update: Fixed minor typos that were brought to my attention.
Chapter 4
Meet the family.
-o-o-
Harry and his cousin Dudley stood, fidgeting uncomfortably in their new robes. Both healers, Brown and Abbott had insisted they dress smartly for when they meet their new guardian. While no more comfortable than Dudley in the dress-like wizard wear, Harry objected much less than his cousin. Dudley was fearful that he'd be mistaken for a poof wearing what he thought were obviously girls clothes. He finally gave in after being shown the differences between girls robes and boys robes. While the outer robes were mostly the same for both sexes, the inner robes were clearly cut and worn differently.
Healer Brown waited with them, but stood off to the side along the back wall. She wanted to stay out of the way as her two patients met their new guardian. While waiting, she noted the changes in the two boys thanks to her care. Harry had started to fill out, and was now thin as opposed to emaciated. Dudley's change was even more extreme; now instead of looking like a beached whale, he could be described as merely husky.
The boys' attention was drawn to the door as a tall aristocratic witch strode purposefully into the room. Her light brown hair was tied back elegantly, her chin held high she looked every bit the upper-class noblewoman. If not for her soft caring eyes one could mistake her for cold and unfeeling. As it was, both Harry and Dudley felt very nervous in the commanding presence of the beautiful witch.
Her mouth broke into a warm smile, and she bent down to be eye level with the children. She noted which boy had the famous lightning bolt scar, but was careful to not draw attention to her observation. "Hello there, my name is Andromeda Tonks. I will be taking care of you two. My husband Ted and I will help both of you ease into our society, and learn what it means to be a wizard."
"Um Mrs. Tonks?" Harry started, while working out how to phrase his question.
"Please dear, call me Andy. There's no need to be formal." She said, directing her request at both boys.
Harry quickly glanced over at his cousin, then back to Andromeda. "Um. Okay. Uh, Andy? Why are me and Dudley both staying with you?"
"Dudley and I." She corrected automatically. "I'm afraid I don't understand. Why wouldn't you both want to stay together?"
"'Cause we don't like each other." Dudley answered churlishly, wishing he could express his dislike of his cousin better. Healer Abbott did not tolerate all of the names he liked to call Harry, and Healer brown was even more severe. The last time he had called Harry a freak, Brown had pointed her wand at him and his mouth filled with soap suds. It wasn't an experience he was eager to try again.
Harry looked at his cousin. "Yeah. Something like that." Harry was more inclined to say he hated Dudley. Although ever since they'd come to this hospital, his cousin had restrained his worst tendencies. Thinking on it, Harry figured that was probably because the two healers never allowed them to be alone together.
Andromeda observed Harry and Dudley all but glaring at each other with distaste. She then turned her attention to the healer in the background. "I was under the assumption that they got along well. I believe when I talked with Healer Abbott last, she said that they were enjoying playing various games together."
Slightly embarrassed about the miscommunication, Brown defended her colleague. "Their relationship has improved, but they do have a ways to go. They do set aside their problems to enjoy a game. I'm sorry if you were given the wrong impression."
"Does this mean you don't want us?" Harry asked, staring at his shoes.
Looking back at the boys, Andromeda was shocked to see how dejected Harry looked. Dudley too had an air of depression. "Now I didn't say that dear. I was just surprised is all. My family is a very loving one, and there is more than enough to share with the both of you." She ignored the voice in the back of her head that asked just when the last time she spoke with her sisters was. "I do want the two of you to be friends, but we'll see if that doesn't come with time."
Healer Brown stepped forward holding a parchment, a quill, and a small case. "I can see you have everything under control Mrs. Tonks. I just need you to sign their release here, and I can get back to my other patients."
"Of course." She took the parchment and offered quill. After reading over the details, she signed and handed back the parchment. "I take it that case in your hands contains the potions mentioned in the release?"
Brown exchanged the case for the signed parchment, and took back her quill. "Yes, it has a weeks worth of nutrient potions. There's also the directions for brewing it yourself when you run out. It's a fairly simple potion, so long as you got an OWL in potions you should have no trouble with it. Make sure that both Harry and Dudley take one per day until school starts. After that, the school matron should give them the once over. I trust Madam Pomfrey's judgment on whether they need to continue the regimen. Dudley should be all set by then, but I would not be surprised if Harry will still need another week or two."
Andromeda schooled her features at the implication of needing nutrient potions for so long. That level of malnutrition would be expected for someone released from Azkaban, not a child just entering his school years. She had been informed of the neglect and abuse both boys had suffered whether intentional or not. This though, worried her. She made a note to inform Ted, and to make sure Nymphadora was on her best behavior around the boys.
Instead of outwardly reacting at her revelation, she merely nodded. "After we get the boys settled in, I'll floo Healer Abbott and see about follow up appointments. Is that acceptable?"
She was a little taken aback, surprised that a pure-blood was interested about continuing mind healing, even if just for her charges. Brown rallied swiftly, and agreed that would be fine before moving on to do her rounds.
Watching the healer walk away, Andromeda turned to the children now under her care. "Well now, lets get out of here. No sense staying in a hospital any longer than you have to."
Her warm smile put them at ease, and the two cousins followed as she lead them down to the fireplaces on the ground floor.
-o-o-
Sirius Black sat chained to a simple chair before a Wizengamot tribunal. His eyes were blank, and his head lolled off to the side. Mouth hanging slightly open, the veritaserum had yet to wear off. The tribunal was stunned. Speechless they forgot momentarily to have the guard administer the antidote.
Shaking his head to bring himself back to the situation at hand, Tiberius Ogden had the guard give Sirius the truth serum's antidote. "We will deliberate on this... surprising information. If you have anything further to say in your defense, now is the time." He said while making sure his fellow judges were paying attention once more.
"All I can say is that I bitterly regret my suggestion to have that traitorous filth Pettigrew be the secret keeper. I also never should have chased after the rat." Tears began to roll down his cheek. "I failed James and Lilly. I failed Harry."
Tactfully ignoring the grieving wizard, the tribunal quietly conferred.
"It is possible to defeat veritaserum. He still could be lying, an elaborate act perhaps?"
"Maybe if he had just been captured, but after ten years in Azkaban? There's no way his mind is strong enough to resist the potion."
"One could argue that Azkaban addled his mind. It could be a fiction he's convinced himself is reality."
"Pettigrew is the key. If Black is telling the truth, then he is still alive. His finger should still be preserved as evidence, so all we need to do is have someone use it to divine his location."
Ogden looked at the other two judges to confirm their agreement with the plan. "We are agreed then, if Pettigrew lives then Black is innocent. If he is dead then Black returns to Azkaban."
After receiving two nods of affirmation, Ogden turned to address Sirius. "We shall postpone our verdict until your story has been verified. This tribunal will reconvene tomorrow morning at ten." He punctuated his statement by striking with his gavel.
-o-o-
"You want us to jump into a fire?!" Exclaimed a very nervous Dudley.
"There's nothing to worry about; floo travel is perfectly safe. I'll set it up, you boys walk through one at a time, and I'll follow right behind. When the fire is green it can't burn you." Andromeda said as she gathered a pinch of floo powder and tossed it into the flames.
Seeing the yellow orange flames turn green and noting the lack of heat, Harry got excited about the obvious magic involved. "I'll go first." He stepped in front of Dudley, ready to walk into the magic fire.
"Tonks' Cottage." She said clearly, and motioned for Harry to go.
After his cousin safely vanished through the flames, Dudley felt better about the prospect of floo travel. Once Andromeda reset the fireplace, he walked through without further comment.
-o-o-
Ted Tonks stood by the fireplace with his daughter Nymphadora. They waited patiently for the new additions to the family to arrive.
Having originally been a muggle house, the fireplace in the Tonks' home had been located in the family room. After having a rather intimate moment interrupted by a floo call early in their marriage, Andromeda had convinced Ted to move the fireplace to the entryway where it should be. It hadn't taken much convincing, merely pointing out there wouldn't be anymore intimate moments at all until the problem was fixed. Needless to say, as a newlywed Ted was quick to cater to his wife's request. Instead of outright moving the fireplace, he installed a second one. The new one he made sure was full height for easier travel. The old one he made sure was disconnected from the floo network. He double checked.
The flames suddenly flared green, and a small boy shot out of the fire. He slid across the floor, and Nymphadora was forced to jump to the side to avoid being bowled over. At least that's what she tried to do. She didn't quite clear the boy projectile, and he barreled into her leg causing her to tumble wildly.
Green flames again disgorged a young boy. This time the boy in question merely stumbled and fell over, catching himself by landing on all fours.
Flashing for a third and final time, Andromeda gracefully stepped out of the flames. She was unsure of what to make of the sight that greeted her. Her husband was bent over laughing hysterically, Dudley was on his hands and knees gaping at his cousin's misfortune, and the focal point of the whole scene: her daughter and Harry were a tangled mass of limbs writhing on the ground attempting to separate.
By the time Andromeda managed to help Harry to his feet, the poor boy was bright red with embarrassment. Ted had managed to contain his laughter, and had helped Dudley stand up.
Nymphadora remained sitting on the ground. Cheeks tinged with a blush, she was trying to figure out what exactly had just happened. Here she was about to enter her seventh year at Hogwarts, ready to excel with her NEWTs to get into the auror program, and she gets blindsided by an eleven year old. About to start yelling at her dad for laughing at her, she noticed how mortified the boy who knocked her over looked. Shrugging, she stood up and closed her eyes for a second to contain herself.
"Sorry about that squirt. I wasn't expecting you to come out of the floo so quickly. You okay?"
Seeing that Harry was still too embarrassed to respond, Andromeda laid a hand on his shoulder squeezing gently. "It's okay Harry, that's not the worst exit from a fireplace I've ever seen. My daughter has had a few good ones herself."
"Mom!" Nymphadora cried in outrage.
Holding his hands up to draw attention to himself Ted spoke. "All right lets get introductions out of the way, then we can show you boys where you'll be living from now on. You've already met my wife of course. My name is Edward, but you can call me Ted. Then we have our daughter Nymphadora." He gestured at each person in turn as he introduced his family. Nymphadora winced when her name was mentioned.
"I take it that you are Harry Potter." Ted said while smiling at the still red boy. "That leaves you who must be Dudley Dursley, right? Welcome to our home boys."
-o-o-
Amelia Bones was surprised to say the least. She hadn't really thought Black had been innocent, yet here she was digging through decade old boxes of evidence at the request of a Wizengamot tribunal. She decided she really needed to get someone to organize the sealed evidence better. Everyone was so used to using magic to find whatever they needed, that the boxes were all haphazardly strewn about the room. It would be so simple to just summon the right box, but there were some truly volatile items in some of these boxes. Using magic around them was too great a risk. After nearly pulling her hair out it exasperation, she finally found what she was looking for.
After removing Pettigrew's finger from deep storage, re-sealing the evidence box, and dressing down the archivist for allowing the room to get so disorganized; she headed down to the department of mysteries.
-o-o-
In the center of the room, two hooded figures hunched over a severed finger. The finger was in the center of an array of runes which glowed seemingly at random. The two unspeakables argued in hushed tones over what the pattern meant. Meanwhile Amelia stood off to the side waiting patiently for an answer.
Finally one of the unspeakables walked over to her. "One thing is certain. Whomever that finger belongs to is alive. Unfortunately there is something preventing us from giving you even a direction to search for this man. It's almost as if the missing person is no longer human."
"An animagus perhaps?" Bones asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's possible, maybe even likely. I can't say for sure. All I can say is the target is alive, and their body no longer matches this finger." He responded shrugging in apology. "If it's important we can try a few other methods, but I can't promise success."
"If they are still alive, then there is a very good chance they are responsible for numerous crimes, including murder." She informed him. "If you can find anything, let me know. I need to present this information to the Wizengamot.
-o-o-
The Tonks' house was not particularly large, so the grand tour did not take long. Ted walked around his home, showing Harry and Dudley where everything was. From the entryway they were led into the kitchen/dining area where Ted pointed out the round wooden table where they would be eating meals. Before moving on, he pointed out a small bathroom next to the doorway to the entryway. Strait through the kitchen/dining area was a step-down family room with several comfy chairs and a couch all facing a cheerfully lit fireplace. A door led from the family room out to a stone patio where Ted said he would barbecue when the weather was nice. Walking back to the dining area, they entered a hallway that contained five doors. The first door on the left was Nymphadora's room. Ted joked that the boys best not try to look in there, they might not make it out alive it was so messy.
"I heard that dad! Don't forget I'm seventeen now and can hex what hair you have left off that head of yours."
Chuckling Ted continued the tour by pointing out that the doors on the right belonged to Harry and Dudley's rooms. Both rooms were identical, so it didn't matter which boy chose which room. Harry ended up taking the first room, Dudley the one further down the hall. The second door on the left was the loo that the two boys had to share with Nymphadora. Finally they were told the last door at the end of the hall led upstairs to Ted and Andromeda's bedroom.
"Well that's it. It's not much, but it's home. Any questions?"
Harry shook his head, but Dudley spoke up. "What about all my stuff?"
"Well, for tonight you'll have to do without, but tomorrow we can stop by your old house and gather up anything you two want to keep. We already bought you both the basics: toiletries and the like. I want you both to think about anything in particular you would like, and we'll go shopping after we grab all your things." Ted explained. "For now, feel free to wander around. I'll have dinner ready in an hour."
-o-o-
Harry woke up with a start. This in and of itself was not strange. Usually he woke up because of a nightmare, a woman screaming and flashing green lights. Tonight though he wasn't sure what woke him. He thought maybe he heard something, but wasn't certain. He swung his legs out from under the covers and slipped his feet into the slippers he'd been given. He'd also been given a couple sets of comfy pajamas, he'd never had either before. The thin hospital issue stuff didn't count, those weren't actually his.
He marveled at how big his room was as he carefully walked toward the door. This place was easily ten, no twenty times bigger than his old cupboard. Suddenly he heard the noise again. It seemed to be coming from Dudley's room. Harry moved over to the wall that separated their rooms, and pressed his ear against it.
Pulling back from the wall as if it had burned him, Harry rushed back into bed. Throwing himself under the covers, he thought about what he had just heard: Dudley was crying. Harry of course had heard Dudley cry before, but it had always been fake and in front of an audience in order to get something he wanted. As far as Dudley knew, no one could hear him now, so his tears couldn't gain him anything.
Harry had no idea why his cousin was crying, but he knew for sure that he must never let Dudley know he had overheard him. With thoughts of avoiding Dudley's wrath, Harry forced himself to go back to sleep.
-o-o-
Dudley was a tough kid, tough enough that he'd been leader of his gang back in Little Whinging. Sure in front of his parents he would act all soft and sensitive, but in reality he was not used to feeling... well... feelings. Everything since they took him away from his parents had happened so fast that he never had the time to register any of it, except maybe at the hospital. No, the hospital was enemy territory. There was always someone checking in on him, always someone trying to get him to show weakness. He couldn't drop his guard there. Healer Abbott had tried to get him to open up, but he'd either blown her off completely, or fed her something made up that she wanted to hear. Now he was completely alone in his new room, with only his thought for company.
He wanted to go home, his home. He wanted things to go back to the way they were. He was the big man, in charge, in control. His parents loved him and did whatever he wanted, and the freak was there for him to torment for fun. He wanted so badly to go back to his parents. Except he couldn't. His parents didn't want him anymore.
Tears began to slide down Dudley's cheeks without him realizing it. He was having difficulty dealing with the difference between what he wanted to be real, and what was real.
His parents had as much as said that they would have treated him just like his cousin if they had known he was a freak too. The freak... Harry was denied food a lot as punishment for being unnatural. Now Dudley was unnatural. His dad had encouraged him when he would beat up Harry. His dad even gave him ideas sometimes on how to hurt Harry without leaving marks. He wondered who his dad would have encouraged to beat him up. It wasn't fair! He knew his parents hated him now, but he still loved them.
Another thing: How come Harry could handle all these changes so well? He was magic too, shouldn't all of this come easy to him as well? Fireplaces that teleported you across the country, magic potions that supposedly healed you, and crazy doctors casting spells that filled your mouth with soap. Not to mention that damn magic wand that proved to his parents that he was a freak. His cousin would just get this magic stuff no problem, like it was normal to him. Why couldn't Harry be suffering too?
Dudley spent most of the night sobbing into his pillow, unable to stop feeling sorry for himself. The same thought kept coming back to him, racing around his head: He loved his parents, but they hated him.
-o-o-
Harry still woke early, a habit formed because he would have to cook breakfast for the Dursleys. Putting on his slippers he shuffled out of his room, making a quick stop at the loo before heading into the kitchen.
"Morning Harry." Ted greeted him cheerfully.
Harry was surprised to find Ted already up and dressed. The jovial man was well into cooking breakfast, and looked to be nearly done. "Good morning sir, I mean Ted."
Sliding several fried eggs onto a series of already full plates, Ted smiled at Harry. "Well, breakfast is ready, and you're the only one here. Would you mind waking your cousin and my daughter up?"
Harry froze. After what he heard last night, waking up Dudley was high up on his list of things he did not want to do at all. "Um..."
Seeing Harry's reluctance, and remembering that his wife said the two cousins didn't get along well, Ted took pity on him. "I'll tell you what, why don't you wake Dora up, and I'll get your cousin."
Still seeing reluctance Ted reassured Harry. "Don't worry, I was just joking around last night about her room. She's real easy to wake up. Just open the door and throw the first soft thing you find in there at her head. I usually don't have to take more than a single step before I find something good to bean her with." Ted knew Nymphadora hated being woken up that way, but since she woke up so slowly Harry would have ample time to escape before she retaliated.
"Okay." He turned around, and stepped up to the door to Nymphadora's room. The door itself had a sign on it that read -Tonks' Room-. Confused about the sign, Harry decided he would ask her about it later.
First Harry tried knocking on the door, then he knocked much louder when he didn't hear a response. Still no sound from inside, he tentatively opened the door and peeked inside. Ted wasn't exaggerating too much. The room was a mess and there was hardly any visible floor space, just a path from the door to the bed. Nymphadora was sleeping on her stomach with her head turned toward the door. She was on top of her covers and was wearing full pajamas similar to the ones he'd been given.
"Hello? Your dad asked me to wake you up." He called out, raising his voice but not yelling.
He realized that he had no choice but to follow Ted's advice or walk over and shake her awake. He bent down and picked up a stuffed badger the size of a bed pillow, and lobbed it across the room. The badger spun end over end, and hit her dead on in the face. Immediately she woke up flailing and grumbling incoherently. As Harry watched her tumble off the side, he jumped back and closed the door quickly. He heard the thud of her landing on the floor followed by swearing, and rushed back to the safety of the dining area where Ted and Dudley were already seated at the large round table.
Dudley's eyes were red and puffy, but Harry pretended not to notice. He just hoped Nymphadora didn't realize that he'd been the one to wake her. Just in case, he made sure to sit down in a chair that faced the hallway. That way he would see her coming if she was angry.
Ted had also noticed that Dudley had been crying. He decided to take Dudley aside later on and see what he could do to make the young boy feel better.
-Crack- Nymphadora suddenly appeared behind her father holding the badger that Harry had thrown at her. She proceeded to beat her dad about the head and shoulders with the stuffed toy. "You – know – how – much – I – hate – that!" Each strike serving to punctuate her words.
Ted was chuckling while he made a token effort to defend himself, Dudley for a moment forgot his own problems while he tried to understand what was happening, and Harry nearly fell out of his chair he was so surprised at Nymphadora appearing out of thin air.
With a "humph" she sat down between her father and Harry, grabbed a plate of food, and started eating. Pausing after swallowing, she leaned over to whisper in Harry's ear. "I know you did it, but you're new so you get a pass. Next time, just turn on the bloody light."
Harry paled slightly, and nodded fervently in agreement. He couldn't run away from someone who could appear suddenly out of nowhere, so he would have to stay on her good side.
Sitting back up, she turned to her dad. "Where's mum?"
"Your mother had to go back to Saint Mungo's to fill out some paperwork or something like that. I'm not sure why exactly." He said between bites.
-o-o-
"I thought everything was settled with my taking custody of Harry and Dudley. Why did you need to see me?" Andromeda asked the nervous wizard at the Saint Mungo's reception desk.
The receptionist fumbled through a stack of parchment. "I'm sorry I don't know what you mean. I don't have anything here about that."
"Then why did I receive an owl asking that I come here this morning? The letter didn't write itself." She glared at the young man who was desperately searching for something relevant.
"Please don't scare the poor child Andy, I had that owl sent. I'll explain the new situation while we head to the sixth floor." Madam Bones said as she walked up to and past Andromeda.
Surprised, Andromeda followed Bones, and caught up quickly. "What's going on Amelia, you said there were two boys who needed healing and a home. Don't tell me there's a third I missed."
Bones laughed. "Ha. In a way I suppose there is. I have every reason to believe that later this morning your cousin Sirius will be found innocent of his accused crimes. After so long in Azkaban, he'll need time here. Afterword, I was wondering if you would keep an eye on him and help him fit back into society. If I remember correctly you two were somewhat close."
Andromeda stared at her friend intensely. "You're not joking are you. He's innocent? What... How... Why is this coming out now?"
Shaking her head in disgust, she answered. "Ministry oversight at best, intentional coverup at worst. Andy, Sirius never got a trial. As soon as this was brought to my attention, I forced the Wizengamot to agree to one. Believe it or not, Minister Fudge and Lucius Malfoy were the ones who really made it happen. It turns out his friend Pettigrew was the real traitor, and framed Sirius while faking his own death. I believe the ministry is going to try and keep the whole debacle quite to avoid embarrassment, so I'd appreciate your discretion as well."
Andromeda stopped while trying to process what she had just been told. "I don't even know where to start. Never mind I'll deal with all that later. I need to talk it over with Ted, but I think we'll be able to help him. It should help that the children will be off to Hogwarts soon enough, maybe even before the mind healers are done with Sirius."
"Good, now we just have to deal with the paperwork, and warn the poor healers of who's headed their way."
-o-o-
Authors Note: I glossed over Sirius' interrogation for a couple reasons. We've all read the same trial over and over throughout various other fics, and I felt no need to rehash the same questions and answers we all know. The other reason is, while Sirius is an important character, he is not a main character in this story. I don't want to spend too much time away from Harry and Dudley. The first few chapters were necessary setup, but I want to focus mainly on scenes containing the two boys.
Also, I know in canon Ted calls his wife Dromeda, but that just sounds awful to me. Andy is a much better nickname, Dromeda sounds like a type of camel.