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"HARRY!" Tonks shouted. He rushed towards her before suddenly stopping mid-air after realising it was her. He looked like he was about to go back up into the air for a second before he came down to land next to her.

She was surprised at the look that Harry gave her. She waited for him to speak, his look of frustration bringing out similar emotions in her.

"What?"

"Hello?" She asked in a mockish tone.

Harry sighed. "Sorry, I'm not -" He went silent, his voice seeming to fail him. He shook his head and mounted his broom. He glanced back at her for an instant before taking off.

Tonks fumed for a few seconds before turning around and walking back toward the house, resisting the urge to do some target practice.

'Fucking asshole.' She turned around and flipped him the bird. Her fury fizzled a bit when she found Harry hovering mid-air looking at her. She quickly pulled back her hand before turning around, but refused to let herself care how he felt. 'That little… Fuck!'

Molly was as nice as ever when she explained that Harry didn't seem to be in the mood for breakfast just yet. "Oh we all know how much the boy must have missed his flying all this time. I'll put some aside for him."

'Doesn't give him the right to be such a dick,' Tonks thought.

"Maybe I should just wait for the others to wake up," Molly thought out loud as she looked at all the food in front of her.

"Is no one else awake?"

"Hermione was. But she just went back up a few minutes ago. Didn't look like she had a good night, the poor girl. How did you sleep?"

"Good!" Tonks said a bit guiltily. "You?"

"Oh, I - Good enough, I suppose. Arthur and the boys came back in the middle of the night, so..."

Tonks stayed silent, having no idea what to say or do.

"Just us two, then. Well, here, at least I can feed one person," Molly said with a smile.

"While your food is pretty much what brought me here so early in the morning, I'm not eating alone. C'mon Molly!"

"Oh I'm really not -"

"Well, me neither then," Tonks said.

"Oh fine then," Molly said, "I'll eat. Happy?"

Tonks smiled. "Sure."

"How's your mum?"

"Good. She was really relieved yesterday."

"Did you stay at hers then, last night?"

"Oh no. She doesn't have a TV, so," Tonks used her prepared excuse.

"One of those muggle -?"

"It's like a radio, but with moving pictures."

"Oh yes. Amazing, aren't they?"

"TVs? Totally!"

"Well, I meant muggles," Mrs. Weasley said with a smile, "but those too."

A few minutes later, Mrs. Weasley found Harry lying on the ground nearby, the instant she came outside.

"Oh there you are. Come on in and have some breakfast, dear. I thought you were still practicing. You should've come inside earlier."

"Sorry, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, quickly getting up.

"Well, it is quite nice out. But come get something to eat. You must be famished, all that flying."

"A little," Harry admitted.

"I made all of this food and no one is eating it," Mrs. Weasley told him with a smile.

"I'll go get Ron. Then you'll get to make more," Harry replied, managing to smile back.

"The way that boy eats! Ever since he was a baby, you know. But it used to be just so chaotic when he was tiny. You can imagine, with seven kids, for most - when they were -"

For a second, Harry saw the sudden shock and despair in Mrs. Weasley before she turned away.

Tonks came back from the bathroom to find Molly sobbing and Harry standing still behind her, looking dumbstruck.

She went to stand beside and put a hand on Molly's arm.

"Sorry -", Mrs. Weasley tried to say.

"Don't apologize, Molly."

After a couple of minutes, Harry brought Mrs. Weasley a glass of water, with a questioning glance towards Tonks who gave him a sad little smile and shrugged.

"Oh thank you, dear" Mrs. Weasley said with a sniffle, before smiling at Harry. "Sorry dear, I didn't mean to -"

"What did I just say?" Tonks asked in an exaggerated tone, making Mrs. Weasley give her a little smile.

"Sorry, dear."

Tonks smiled back before asking, "do you want me to get you a dreamless sleep potion? I've got some at home."

"Oh that's okay, dear."

"I'll go bring some. You should get some rest. They'll help."

"Now?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I'll be back in just a minute."

"Oh ok."

"Sorry about that, dear," Mrs. Weasley said to Harry after Tonks had left.

"Mrs. Weasley…"

Harry didn't know what to say. He remembered the end of his fourth year, when Mrs. Weasley had come and given him a motherly hug in the Hospital Wing. He wished someone would wake up already and come help Mrs. Weasley. At least Tonks would only be gone for a minute or two.

"I'll just go... wash up," Mrs. Weasley said quietly, walking toward the bathroom, clearly about to break down again.

Harry sat there, replaying the last few minutes back in his mind, wishing he had said or done something.

"Hey," Tonks said when she got back, "where's Molly?"

"Bathroom!"

Tonks nodded, before going to sit beside him. "Sorry about earlier," she said after a few seconds of silence, "didn't realise you were looking."

"What?"

"Oh you know, when I… The finger."

"Oh! Yes, no! I should be saying sorry. That was so rude of me."

"A bit, yeah! Never knew flying put you in such a mood."

"No, flying doesn't. That wasn't…" Harry trailed off.

"Sorry, what?"

"It wasn't flying. I just… I had a fight, with... Hermione," Harry said with a sigh.

"Oh! What happened?"

"Nothing, I just did something stupid."

"Alright…" Tonks said

"Is it ok if I stay at your place for a few days?" Harry asked after a few seconds.

Tonks' surprise was evident, "uh - yeah, sure!"

"Just until I've checked out Grimmauld to make sure it's safe."

"No no, that's fine. Stay as long as you want. What - what happened?"

"She doesn't… I don't know, I can't just - Thing is -"

"You like her?" Tonks asked, the conclusion seeming suddenly obvious to her.

Harry looked at her in surprise for a couple seconds before letting out "yes."

"And -?"

"And I told her."

"So... She doesn't like you back?"

"She's with Ron! I mean, she… No, can we talk about this some other time, please? I mean, Mrs. Weasley's in the bathroom, probably crying. Could you please -?"

"Could I please what?"

"I don't know. But something."

"I don't think we can do anything, Harry."

"Give her a hug or something?" Harry said quietly.

"You want me to burst into the bathroom to give her a hug?"

"No," Harry said with a chuckle, "but…" he continued, sobering up, "maybe we should wake Ginny up? Or someone else?"

Tonks shook her head. "Harry… We don't know how the others are. We don't know if they're even sleeping. They might just be lying awake in bed. There's a reason I've got a ton of these fucking potions."

"So you're saying the best thing is to leave her crying alone right now?"

"There isn't a best thing to do in this scenario, Harry. If there is, I don't know about it. They're going to be miserable for a long time, they're going to be crying, all the time, sometimes completely randomly out of nowhere. Being a shoulder to cry on, I don't know, maybe it helps a bit, but I don't really see how it would help someone who just lost her son yesterday."

"... I just wish I could do-"

"Me too! But... " Tonks sighed, "our 'helping' might maybe make us feel better, but them, I don't know, maybe a little bit. But - I don't know, man, it just fucking sucks."

"I'm sorry," Harry said after a few seconds, to having suddenly remembered something, "about your dad, I mean."

"Oh, right, thanks."

"We actually… almost... ran into him, a few days before he was - I heard him and a few others, they were camped somewhere nearby."

"What? Where?"

"I'm not sure. Hermione could probably give you the location, but… It was him, and a few other people. We heard about him a few days later on, uh, Potterwatch."

"But how?"

"I think some of Hermione's charms must have been increasing the volume that we heard from surrounding areas or something. I'm not sure. They didn't even know we were there. But we heard him talking."

Tonks was looking at him wide-eyed before she suddenly turned away.

Harry walked up behind her chair and wrapped his arms around her, putting his head on her shoulder.

"Am I helping?" He asked after a few seconds, making her laugh through her tears. Tonks leaned her head on his in lieu of a response.

"Thanks Harry!" She said after a little while.

"'Course," Harry said quietly, pulling away. "How's your mum?"

"Good. She was really glad it's over. I went to see her last night."

"That's good."

"Probably so happy because I survived. Was seeming unlikely for the last year."

Harry nodded, feeling a bit jealous for not having any family of his own who reacted like that before sharply admonishing himself when he remembered how everyone had responded after Tonks had found him.

"Hey, where are your clothes?"

"What? Why? Oh right! I'm going with you. Oh no!"

Tonks gave him a questioning look.

"Hermione has them."

"Ah," Tonks said sympathetically, "that's ok, I'll go and ask."

"She's going to think I'm going because of her."

"Well, yeah?" Tonks said in a confused tone.

"She's going to blame herself."

"Yep, probably."

"Should I stay here?" Harry wondered out loud.

"Honestly, I think it's really mature of you to ask me to let you stay with me instead of here."

"Yeah, but I don't wanna hurt -"

"Not possible! You're gonna get hurt. She's gonna get hurt. 'Love,'" Tonks said, pausing to stick her tongue out, "hurts. Can't do anything 'bout it."

Harry nodded.

"Staying here isn't good for you, or her, or your friendship. Now, Molly and the Weasleys could be one reason why you might wanna stay here, but I don't think they'll mind, at least not that much. And as for Hermione, she's smart enough to either figure out that you not being here is good for you guys, or if not, at least understand that when it's explained to her."

"I just asked because I thought it would be awkward with her and Ron," Harry quietly said.

"Oh! Does he know?"

"No!" Harry said quickly, "and he can't… The idea of Hermione and me together is literally one of the things that terrify him the most in the world. He once asked me if there was anything between us… I told him I love her like a sister. I don't want him to hate me."

"That's not -"

"Trust me, in that situation, it was the right thing to do."

"Alright, fine. Well anyway, remind me to get your stuff to my place before we leave for Hogwarts. Then, we could go straight back there afterwards," Tonks said, getting up. "I'll actually go check on Molly."

Harry nodded, and Tonks left.

Tonks lightly knocked on Ginny's door.

"Come in!"

"Hey Ginny!" Tonks said with a warm smile.

Ginny smiled back. "Hey! Good morning," she said, pushing down her covers and sitting up, "how're you doing, Tonks?"

"Good! You ok?"

Ginny shrugged but smiled. She followed Tonks' gaze to Hermione's bed where Hermione pulled the covers down just enough to be able to look at them and gave Tonks a tiny wave.

"Hey," Tonks said, going to sit beside Hermione, "you alright?"

Hermione closed her eyes and nodded.

Tonks looked at her for a few seconds before getting up. "Well, I was just about to head to Hogwarts. I figured I'd drop in. I probably won't be here tonight, so I'll see you girls tomorrow."

"Yeah, you have to go up and tell her," she said to Harry who was waiting near the foot of the stairs.

Harry looked at her with a defeated look.

"I know. I know it's hard. But you have to," Tonks said, lightly pushing Harry onto the stairs. "You can't just leave without explaining it to her. Oh, and tell Ginny that I gave her mum a potion and she's asleep. I forgot."

Harry found Ginny getting out of her room where she gave him a wide smile before giving him a hug, "Good morning Harry!"

"'Morning!"

"You doing ok?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, yeah! You?"

Ginny nodded. "I figured I'll just get up. Have to sometime. Thought I'd help out - Is mum downstairs?"

"Oh, she's actually just gone to sleep. Tonks gave her a dreamless sleep potion. She didn't sleep at all last night apparently. So…"

Ginny nodded, giving him a smile before looking away. "Well, I'll just go get ready."

"See ya!"

Harry knocked at the door but didn't hear a response from Hermione. He opened it slightly and said her name out loud.

"Hermione?"

She pulled down the covers so that she could look at him but didn't say anything. Harry walked inside and sat on Ginny's bed. After a few seconds, Hermione sat up, quickly pulling the covers up to nearly cover her eyes.

He took a deep breath and started, "I'm sorry."

"No!" Hermione said quietly but firmly.

"I really am."

"Oh shut up!" Hermione said quietly, clearly on the verge of tears. "Stop apologizing!"

"I shouldn't have told you."

"What?" Hermione mouthed at him. "Shouldn't have told me? Is that what you're sorry about?"

"Yes! I mean, not just that," Harry said, "I'm sorry I ever developed these feelings for you. I shouldn't have."

"Oh for -" Hermione said exasperatedly. "You should've told me! A long - long time ago. You should've told me the minute you realised."

"Why? What good would it have done?"

"What good would it have -" She mouthed again angrily.

"You liked Ron!"

"Yes, but -"

"And he liked you."

"Not always!"

"And that's it," Harry said, tearing up. "That's it. He liked you and you liked him. Even when he was gone, I didn't…" He took a breath, trying to steady his voice. "I knew I didn't stand a chance," he said quietly, "and that's okay."

They were both quiet for a few seconds before Hermione said "I could've liked you, if I'd -"

"It doesn't matter," Harry interrupted, "not anymore."

The two stayed silent for a while until Harry picked himself up and sat down besides Hermione.

"Tonks thinks this is good. For the two of us, and our friendship. In the future, I mean. It'll take some time, but I'll get over you."

Hermione leaned forward to rest her head on her knees, looking sideways at him.

"I'm going to stay at hers for a few days, until I can check and fix up Grimmauld Place."

Hermione raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything.

"I don't know what to tell Ron. But don't tell him that I liked you."

"You sure?"

"Yeah? Unless… Unless you want to."

Hermione didn't say anything.

"Just let me know if you do," Harry said, with a sinking feeling in his heart.

"Okay."

"I'll still be around sometimes, and… Let me know if there's anything you want me to do."

Hermione sat back up and shook her head before wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

"Right. So I'll just…" Harry said before getting up and going over to Hermione's bag. It took him a couple minutes to get out all of his clothes into a small pile. He kept hoping that Hermione would get up and give him one last hug before he left until he was all done. He opened the door, forced a smile on his face, picked up his clothes and gave a nod looking near Hermione before walking out and downstairs where he found Tonks talking to Ginny.

Ginny gave him a sad smile and Tonks came over to him and put an arm around his shoulders.

"She heard you two talking and guessed, so I told her the gist."

Harry nodded before taking a deep breath.

"Be back in a few," Tonks said to Ginny who waved goodbye to the two of them.

"Come on. We can apparate right inside for now," Tonks said, taking some of Harry's clothes in one hand. "Is this it?"

Harry nodded. He followed Tonks outside where she held out her hand.

"Here. I'll guide you."