They tumbled out on the hearthrug in a heap, and Tonks pulled Harry to his feet, steering him towards her bedroom door.
"Nymphadora!" said a voice in horror. "Where on earth are you going with that child?"
Tonks turned around, letting go of Harry's hand abruptly, and pasting on a fake smile.
"Nowhere," she said in a would-be innocent tone. "What on earth are you doing here, Mum?"
Andromeda sighed dramatically. "I had nowhere else to go," she said. "Your father's left me for - for-"
With that, she collapsed in hysterics, unable to say another word.
"Oh for the love of Rowena Ravenclaw's chastity belt!" Harry bellowed, as Ginny, Hermione, and Ron came tumbling out onto the hearth. "I want answers! Why did Snape have this parchment? What do I have to do to be normal-colored Harry again? What the hell is after me? Why on earth is my aunt, sorry, why are my AUNTS at Hogwarts, and how does Aunt Petunia know Snape?" He stood there, glaring at them all and huffing and puffing.
"Goodness, he's good looking when he's angry," Hermione muttered.
"May I remind you that you're mine?" Ginny said, smirking.
"Well we could always share," Tonks mumbled.
Ron looked like he might faint again.
"ENOUGH!" Harry yelled. "NO ONE IS GETTING ANY, UNTIL I FIND OUT WHAT'S GOING ON!"
Even Andromeda stopped sobbing in astonishment at Harry's fury.
She looked at him critically and shook her head. "No need to shout my boy," she instructed briskly. "None of us are deaf, you know." She frowned. "Looks like a pretty standard Protection Curse to me. Still, we'd better deal with it before the more unpleasant effects kick in. I'll rustle up a potion."
She stood up and headed for the kitchen. Harry paled (that is, he turned from a nice mid-blue to a particularly sickly turquoise). "Unpleasant effects?" he quavered.
"Believe me, dear, you don't want to know," Andromeda said, popping her head out through the kitchen door, and withdrawing it almost as fast.
Tonks looked around at Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny. "Sit down," she instructed indicating the sofa. "I need to be straight with you about this. For a start, you two..." she looked at Ron and Ginny. "Do you know how to get hold of Charlie? I think we might need him pretty soon."
"Wait," Hermione began. "Is Harry going to lay a dragon egg? Because I think I may know how to make a salve to um..." She began turning bright red. "To help him recover, but I can't make it until the full moon."
"That's...that's fine," Harry said, a squeak to his voice. "Full moon's tonight." He glanced at his best friend. Ron was turning a peculiar shade of green.
"Actually, it just ended," Hermione said, frowning. "You'd have to wait three and a half weeks. In the meantime—"
"Don't tell him," Tonks said. "If it comes to that, we'll um...well, we just won't worry about it until we have to." Tonks sighed. She really had to ask Mum if she had one of those seat cushion thingies for Harry, just in case.