A/N: I shelved this fic for a few months to work on some other projects and have recently regretted it. I put up a poll on my profile and this story got smashed in a "what should I update next" poll. Twice! But this story did get a few votes, plus I actually like writing for this story. Big style difference though, I rely a lot less on dialogue this chapter. Feels more natural.

Limbo is going to be wrapped pretty soon. I just have a thing about Hufflepuffs, being one myself.

Chapter 3: Hufflepuffs Are Nuts


Harry and Tonks continued their journey through Limbo together growing closer along the way. That description is perhaps deceiving, as they didn't bond emotionally or anything of the sort. No, Tonks' constant physical prodding via pinching Harry in various exposed – and unexposed – areas ensured that they were always very close together indeed.

Alas, the deceased Harry Potter took this good-hearted sign of attraction the wrong way. For you see, if Harry Potter had thrown all of his gold galleons at someone he still would not be able to convince anyone to call him a lady's man. It was true that he had thought that he had found true love in the form of Ginny Weasley. However, in true Harry Potter fashion, he had made a selfless decision. Not only did he have to sacrifice the last embers of his childhood to defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort, but he had to do so while never getting laid. Being single may very well have many advantages while hunting a dark lord, but it certainly does not prepare you for one Nymphadora Tonks. Thus Harry tried to reason out why Tonks would do such a thing. That was his first mistake.

As cited Harry had no experience with woman and so he could only come to the conclusion that Tonks was having a go at him and so he schemed on how to gain his revenge on the metamorphmagus. That was his second mistake.

The Sorting Hat might have thought all those many long years ago that Harry would make a fine Slytherin but the boy in question continued to do his best to make the hat look bad. It was little wonder that the Sorting Hat had refused to put up a fight when the Death Eaters burned it to ash all those many long years ago. Could anyone live with the burden of knowing they had misjudged Harry Potter that badly? Whenever Harry plotted he got a smile on his face so devious that having a neon sign over his head reading "currently plotting" could not make him any more obvious. Subtly was clearly lost on the dead Gryffindor.

Despite his obviousness, Harry was given the freedom to come up with a dastardly deed. Tonks was a sport about this sort of thing, after all.

In retrospect, she probably regretted the mercy she had shown.

Harry had thought himself clever when he had called his companion by her first name. He had thought himself especially cunning when he had kept repeating the name mockingly while doing a very poor jig around Tonks as she walked. His appreciation for his own cunning came to an abrupt end, however, after running for close to an hour being chased by the face, body, and voice of Draco Malfoy screaming raunchy pick-up lines. The Boy-Who-Lived was so utterly defeated by Tonks' assault that instead of thinking of revenge he wished very hard for the option to die again to get away from the vengeful Tonks. Sadly, no such option presented itself.

Finally something interrupted Harry's terrified screams. "Something" in this case just happened to be a massive stone castle that was not impressed by a skinny wizard smacking into it from a full run.

Tonks jogged up to him casually, back to her usual form, with a smirk on her face. "That's what you get, prat." She offered her hand and Harry took it gratefully.

Harry rubbed his head and craned his neck upward to attempt to get a better view of the hulking structure.

"I've never seen this before," Tonks murmured thoughtfully. She had a bad feeling about the very big castle in front of them.

A pleasant voice came from the top of the castle that sent a chill down Tonks' spine.

"Ah, Nymphadora! I see you've come back to us at long last. Have you reconsidered our offer to join us then? How pleasant."

Harry strained his eyes in an effort to see who was speaking when suddenly Tonks grabbed him roughly from behind and growled into his ear. "We've got to run. Now."

Harry was utterly bewildered. He had figured out a ways into their walk that Tonks had lost her mind but this was random even for her. "Tonks, what are you talking about? The woman up there seems nice enough."

Tonks rounded on him and for a moment Harry was taken aback by the sheer terror written plainly on her face. "You don't understand where we are Harry. I must have taken a wrong turn or something. We need to leave now."

Harry nodded solemnly. He thought Tonks was crazy but didn't want to see the face of Draco Malfoy again. Hermione had taught him sometime in third year that if he just nodded and looked very concerned when a woman brought a problem to him that he was less likely to be hexed or, in this case, tortured with the face of Draco Malfoy.

They both turned to rush away from the castle but their path was blocked.

"We…we weren't fast enough," Tonks stuttered out as she slowly backed away from the group impeding her and Harry's path.

The group in front of them appeared to be harmless, yet something bothered Harry about how they were dressed. There were two girls and three boys and all of them had the same inviting smile on their face. They were well groomed and they even wore matching clothing. The clothes were made up of mostly varying yellow colors with white and black trim where appropriate. Their shirts were bright yellow which contrasted nicely with their dark yellow dress pants.

"Hello Nymphadora. I am ever so glad you decided to visit us again. We have missed you dearly!" A blonde-haired girl exclaimed.

Tonks looked like she was going to be sick.

Harry cast a glance over at Tonks who kept mouthing "run" to him. Harry shrugged; Tonks sure did have a funny sense of humor. Harry looked back over at the group and decided it was time to introduce himself. "Hello. Sorry about Tonks, she can get a bit funny sometimes. I'm-"

"Harry Potter," all five of the group supplied for him.

Harry quirked an eyebrow to attempt to disguise the look of surprise on his face. That was remarkably creepy.

"How did you know-"

"My name?" All five questioned for Harry.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Don't do that-"

"Again," all five finished. All five laughed mechanically in sync with one another at the irritated look on Harry's face before abruptly stopping at the same time and fixing their faces with the exact smiles they had on before.

Harry was starting to see why Tonks had wanted to get away from here.

After an awkward silent moment one of the women stepped forward and smiled kindly at Harry. "Hello Harry Potter. We have wanted to talk to you for a very long time now. When You-Know-Who blew up magic itself we had expected some news of you but it never came. Some of the weaker members of our organization even doubted your coming. However the Great Puff, our leader, foretold your coming and so we of the Hufflepuff knew that it must come to pass eventually. So we built this castle for you."

Harry glanced back over his shoulder to make sure the large castle he had bumped into earlier was still there. It was. He feared that he had suffered some sort of mental breakdown from trying to make sense of what he had just been told. Finally his mind registered that he was expected to respond to that. "Who are you? I know you were in Hufflepuff, but…" Harry trailed off, not sure what he was supposed to say.

The girl's smile seemed to strain and her eyes darkened slightly. "We do not believe in names any longer. We have given ourselves to something greater than our own identities could have ever allowed us to become. We are Hufflepuff. That is very important to understand, Harry. We want you to become one of us. We believe in friendship and hard work and we are ready to extend these qualities to you." The girl turned to Tonks. "With you as well, Nymphadora. The Great Puff was saddened that you have rejected us for so long but the Great Puff is a forgiving man." She turned back to Harry. "Let us get going, Harry. If you remain uninterested after visiting with the Great Puff you are of course welcome to abandon us like Nymphadora here has chosen to."

Harry nodded slowly. Hermione's lessons on women sure were coming in handy today. The Hufflepuffs were a strange lot, but they appeared to be harmless enough. As soon as the thought had passed through his mind an ominous thunderclap shook the surrounding area. Harry gulped. He was already regretting his decision to go along quietly. Well, Gryffindors forward and all that.

Then again the phrase "Gryffindors forward" was what got Harry killed and had ultimately caused the destruction of magic, so it remains a mystery why he still had any faith in that stupid saying.

Harry allowed himself to be led towards the castle by the five Hufflepuffs. Harry looked over at Tonks and saw her hair was black and ran straight down her back.

"Tonks you look like you are going to a funeral," Harry said trying to be funny. Like usual, he failed.

Tonks gave him a morose look. "We are having tea with the Hufflepuffs, Potter. This is a funeral."

Harry chuckled nervously. Surely Tonks was being overly dramatic. How bad could people who believed in friendship and loyalty be?