It had been several days since Harry had spoken to his Aunt. Several days since the bruises and swelling had begun to recede and Harry was starting to be able to move without flinching. He had been staying in his room alone for the most part, trying to keep to himself, although his cousin had surprised him by inviting him to watch a movie.

One and a half hours later and Harry still couldn't believe what he had seen. Some kid named Marty had ended up in the past. Dudley had even promised to let him watch the sequels when he could convince his mum to buy them for him on VHS. They sat there discussing the movie and their favourite bits, Harry liked the hover-board although he knew his broom was better, and Dudley loved the chases. Aunt Petunia watched on from the doorway, an odd look on her thin face.

Eventually she broke them up and told Harry in no uncertain terms to go wash up. As he headed towards the downstairs toilet he was told that bending over a sink would hurt his ribs and to 'go use the shower for heaven's sake'. Not wanting to try his luck Harry rushed up the stairs and into the bathroom.

Standing under the hot spray was absolute heaven. His aching muscles and bruised ribs felt better and he felt cleaner and healthier in general. He didn't realise he was as dirty as he was. As he scrubbed away the grime as firmly as his ribs allowed he thought back on the past few days.

His Aunt had been, well, not nicer per say but definitely more relaxed around him. He had been called down for meals and for once he hadn't had to make any of them. He had been given a full portion each time too. His cousin had seemed to have been coming around before the whole 'Uncle Vernon' thing but now seemed to treat him no different to how he treated his friend Piers except that there was always an underlying tension there. Harry doubted it would disappear by the end of summer, they simply had too much of an awkward history to just become friends but it was definitely a start.

Quickly washing his hair Harry finished up his shower and began to dry off using one of the fluffy, cream towels that Aunt Petunia left in the bathroom. He figured that if she was letting him use the shower, she was probably expecting him to use the towels too. Walking into his room, one towel around his waist and another around his neck as he gently towel dried his hair Harry sighed at the sight of the still empty perch.

Harry had expected Hermione to write back to him by now. He missed reading something by someone who cared for him and he knew as sure as he knew that the sky was blue or water wet that Hermione cared for him just as he cared for her.

He was disappointed that Ron hadn't written to him yet but it had only been just over a week and goodness knows what Mrs Weasley had them doing. Maybe Ron was angry at him? Harry bit his lip, pushing those thoughts away as best as he could. He didn't know what Ron's feelings were and there was no way he could know unless Ron wrote to him or he wrote to Ron. Harry decided that when Hedwig returned he would write a letter to his red-haired friend and try and find out where he stood.

There was one other thing that was bothering Harry. He knew that he had been beaten badly, he had the bruises and aches to prove it but he also knew that he supposedly had a guard from the order outside his house at all times of the day 'for his protection'. Knowing that when his Uncle got mad he tended to be quite vocal he couldn't help but wonder why no one had helped him. Protection from death eaters was great and all but what good would any of that have been if his Uncle had finished the job for them?

He hadn't even seen any of them as they kept themselves hidden one way or another. Maybe that was why no one had helped him? No one had actually been there. He had no way of testing for an invisible person. No 'accio invisibility cloak' or 'point-me' spell could be cast while Harry was at home for the summer due to the underage magic restrictions that the Ministry upheld. Maybe they just didn't care about him? Maybe Dumbledore had told them to just ignore him. Harry didn't know what to believe about the old man since he had spoken to his Aunt a few days previously. He still couldn't decide if the headmaster would have threatened his Aunt and Uncle or if they just took it that way. Harry was the first to admit that where magic or wizards were involved his relatives had a habit of seeing and hearing the worst possible scenario. Even so, this was the same man who had ignored him the previous year which had led to Harry rushing into one of Voldemort's traps in the bowels of the Ministry of Magic. The same man who had then forced Harry back to his office and locked him inside instead of letting him be with his friends and surrogate family. The same man who had then regaled him with the knowledge of a prophecy that included him squaring up against Voldemort, a wizard much more powerful and dangerous than a mere school child. The same man who, knowing of this prophecy for many years had proceeded to leave him in an unsafe and uncaring environment year after year and yet claimed that the power to love would be the 'power he knows not'. The same man who had given him no training so that when the time came to face Voldemort he had at least a chance of winning or at best surviving.

Harry knew that the only reason he had escaped death when facing Voldemort in the past was, as his head of house McGonagall had once said: sheer dumb luck.

Harry decided that there was no point in trying to figure the aged headmaster out while stuck at his relatives, it would just drive him insane guessing and re-hashing old events and memories. He did however; decide to keep an eye out for order members, there were a few questions he had for them.

. . .

Harry had almost fully recovered, at least on the outside, from his Uncle's attack. He had also been feeling a lot more accepted at home to the point where he would actually talk to his Aunt and cousin about the magical world and being a wizard. He told them about the prophecy and why Lily and James had been targeted by Voldemort. He found that they actually had quite a lot of questions, well Dudley did, Harry was actually surprised at how much knowledge his Aunt Petunia had remembered about magic.

He had also kept an eye out but still had not seen any sign that there was anyone guarding the house. Deciding to try his luck now that his bruises were mostly gone Harry stepped outside, deciding on a walk to the local park.

He had not been gone for long when there was a noise behind him. Spinning around Harry kept his wand hidden up his sleeve but ready to cast if the need arose.

"Wotcher Harry, good reflexes!" came the voice of Nymphadora Tonks or just Tonks as she preferred to go by.

"Hi Tonks, um, where are you?"

"Oh right!" After a few seconds she pulled off the invisibility cloak and smiled brightly at Harry. "So how you been?"

Ignoring her question Harry posed one of his own. "Not that I mind; I will admit it's nice to see you of course," she smiled. "But why are you talking to me? Weren't Dumbledore's orders to stay hidden or something?"

Tonks snorted and her hair turned a bright shade of bubble-gum pink. "What happened to your face?" she asked pointing to the slightly yellow tinge around Harry's eyes and jaw.

Harry decided not to reply and instead posed his next question. He was still upset about the order not coming to help him as he now knew that they were definitely watching him. "Who was on duty last Sunday?" he asked politely.

"Um let me think…" she tilted her head and bit her lip. Blushing, Harry looked away. "I think it was Mundungus Fletcher last Sunday. Yeah, Remus was on duty Monday and we have a sort of rota thing going. Yup, Mundungus. Why?"

"Just curious. You mentioned Professor Lupin was a guard, who else is there watching me?"

"Well there's me obviously," she winked at him and Harry smiled back, still pink in the cheeks. "Remus, Mad-Eye, Mundungus Fletcher, Dedalus Diggle, Kingsley Shacklebolt and a few others but to be honest it's mostly the ones I said before." She shrugged. "I don't think there were a lot of takers but Dumbledore insisted that you were watched. Several of us thought you could handle yourself well enough but he was adamant."

Harry stood stiffly for a moment as his brain took in the information. Most of the guard were people that Harry was relatively sure were trustworthy although he didn't personally know Dedalus Diggle. Tonks was always nice to him, as was Professor Remus Lupin his Ex Defence against the Dark Arts teacher from his third year at Hogwarts. He knew Kingsley was an Auror and a darn good one at that and he knew of Mundungus Fletcher from his predicament the previous year with the dementors.

According to Sirius, Mundungus had abandoned his post as guard to make a deal on some cauldron's that had apparently fallen off the back of a broom. That had led to Harry's trial as he had had to perform under-age magic to save himself and his cousin. The fact that this same man had been the guard on the very night that he had almost been beaten to death made Harry very angry and start to question his loyalty to the headmaster and the loyalty of Dumbledore to him. How the headmaster could put a man in charge of his safety, one that had already proved that his petty crime activities were higher on his list of priorities was beyond Harry. The last name was also one that made him angry, Mad-eye Moody. Harry knew that Moody had a magical eye that could see through anything and so he wondered how he had not seen the state that Harry was in.

Harry snapped back to reality when Tonks tapped him on the forehead. "Hellooo, is anyone in there?"

"Oops sorry Tonks I was thinking."

"'Bout what?" asked the now green haired Auror.

Not wanting to tell the Auror of his wavering loyalties he decided to try a different tack. "Sirius."

Harry was shocked when the normally bright and bubbly Auror's hair turned black and lengthened almost to her bottom. It was limp and she now resembled Snape more than anything, it was quite disconcerting. Her face was pale and her eyes sad. Harry felt terrible for bringing up the subject but worse for not realising what an effect it would have on the young woman in front of him. She was a blood relative, even if her family had been cast-out. The bubbly personality and the colourful hair were a cover and Harry was ashamed that he had not realised this.

"I'm sorry Tonks."

Her voice was lacking her usual fervour as she replied. "It's not your fault Harry." She smiled at him, a genuine, soft smile. "I miss him too."

They stood there, both of them silent and unmoving thinking about nothing in particular, taking solace in being around someone that cared about Sirius as much as themselves. For Harry this was a cathartic experience and he couldn't help a sob escaping from his throat. No matter what people said he couldn't help but blame himself. Before he could apologise again he felt strong arms gather him up and he instinctively stiffened. He saw it was Tonks holding him and she was also crying. He could feel her sobs as she held onto him for dear life, her tears dripping onto the top of his head. He absently wondered if she had been holding it in as much as he had.

They continued to cry for a while, clinging to each other for comfort. Harry had never felt this secure in his entire life and could feel the burden becoming lighter knowing that Tonks really, genuinely, didn't blame him. The fact that they could mourn together, sharing their pain, was like a balm for his aching soul.

After a minute or two, Tonks finally pulled away from the hug. Both of them felt more vulnerable yet, at the same time, more comfortable with each other, it was a very odd feeling. Tonks' hair was still black but was once again in her short, spiky style. There were tear tracks on her face but she seemed more at peace, her expression less pained than it had been. Harry knew without a mirror that he must look a state. He subconsciously wiped at his face with his sleeve.

"You really should go back to your Aunt and Uncle's house Harry. Dumbledore told us to keep you there as much as possible. With Voldemort officially back he won't stop at anything to get at you. I shouldn't really have let you come here but I figured you might need a change of scenery, a bit of fresh air yeah?"

This was interesting. So they didn't know his Uncle was no longer living there or was it just the guard that didn't know? Did Dumbledore know how bad it had gotten at Number 4? Moody must be able to see that Vernon was no longer there. There were so many questions and Harry wasn't sure how he was going to get the answers.

"Ok Tonks, I will make my way back now. You coming with?"

"Yeah I will follow on behind but I better use this." She lifted her arm with the invisibility cloak and proceeded to cover herself in it. "Off you go Harry. I guess I will see you at the will reading. Dumbledore thinks it will be too dangerous but Remus and I are trying to get him to allow you to be there. It's as near to a funeral, to closure, as we can get without the body."

With a nod and a sad smile Harry walked back to his Aunt's house. Tonks was right, without a body, a will reading was the closest thing you could get. The goblins' had never read a will without the magical signature that was linked to it fading away. Harry decided to write to Dumbledore and request permission and if he was denied, well maybe his Aunt could be persuaded to take him.

With a small wave behind him Harry entered the house and went to offer his services to his Aunt who was currently arguing with Dudley over his diet.

. . .

It was about four days later when Hedwig made her first appearance in over a week, a letter tied to her leg. Harry dismissed the letter at first and proceeded to coo over his familiar. She, in turn, hooted along affectionately before sticking her leg out for her master to relieve her of her burden.

Dear Harry,

Firstly, of course I will check your essay for you. I am surprised that you even had to ask! I've managed to do a rough draft for all my main classes but I still have a few things that I want to research before I write my final drafts.

I must admit, I had never really thought about the fact that you don't train with anyone as unusual. I mean, we are only in our sixth year of schooling and they probably worry about us having too many dangerous spells under our belt or something. However, at the same time, we all know that You-Know-Who has it out for you and seems to always find you, well, us. Even if they don't want us to learn serious spells, surely we need more than a stupefy. Hopefully we will get that this year after proving ourselves in the Ministry. A bunch of school kids holding off fully-fledged adult Death Eaters and all getting out relatively unscathed is quite an accomplishment!

How were your three days of peace and quiet then Harry? Did you do anything nice or what? I know you don't enjoy being around your relatives but hopefully you won't be there for too long now.

I wrote to Victor, I hope you don't mind? Hedwig was pretty tired when she got back but I got the feeling she had enjoyed herself. Victor said in his letter that she had eaten her fill of bacon off of his plate. Isn't that cute?! Listen to me, sounding like Lavender or something. Urgh I hope that was just a fluke, better sign off on this before I start using words like 'omigosh' or some other disgraceful use of the English language. Do you mind if I continue to use Hedwig to send my letters to Victor? Let me know okay? Miss you Harry! Keep studying!

Lots of Love

Hermione x x

Harry frowned at Hedwig who was sat on her perch, preening. She didn't normally take bacon from anyone but him, it was their thing! He snorted suddenly as he realised his jealousy over bacon. He really needed to get out more.

Deciding to reply to Hermione later on he turned his sights back to his beloved owl.

"Think you can face another flight tonight girl?" he asked gently.

In response Hedwig gave a low hoot and tucked her head under her wing. Taking this for the no it was, Harry decided to write his letter to Dumbledore now ready to send off with Hedwig in the morning.

Digging through his trunk he received a small piece of parchment and sat down to compose his letter to the aged headmaster.

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

Hello sir. I was hoping that you could give me some information about something. I received a letter from the Goblins' of Gringotts and I was wondering if I was to make my own way or if I was going to be picked up by someone? I know you know how much going to this means to me. It is my chance at closure and I feel that not going would make the healing process all the more difficult.

Also, I was wondering how long I need to stay here until I can join Ron and Hermione? Maybe we could combine the two and I can go there after the reading?

See you soon professor

Harry

Folding up the note he placed it on the desk ready to send off in the morning.

"Oi Harry, mum's made the popcorn. You better get down here before I eat your share!"

With a smile Harry shouted back "Coming!" and raced downstairs to watch another movie with his cousin. Tonight it had been his choice and Harry had picked 'Big' starring Tom Hanks. Dudley had moaned for about an hour as he had wanted to watch something called 'Die Hard' but Harry liked the idea of a comedy. Even Aunt Petunia had decided to watch the film with them. Dudley had only relented when Aunt Petunia had promised to make popcorn as a special treat for them all.

He sat down on the sofa next to his cousin and grabbed a handful of the sweet treat. Aunt Petunia sat on his right with a small glass of sherry and Dudley sat on his left with a huge bowl filled to the brim with popcorn. He already had a mouthful and a fist was hovering over the bowl protectively. Dudley smiled and shrugged before grabbing another handful just as the titles began to play.

The next morning Harry sent Hedwig off with the letter firmly attached to her leg. He didn't really know what to do with himself while awaiting his response from Dumbledore and instead offered his services to his Aunt who asked him to prune the hedges. So Harry spent the day in the garden carefully shaping the hedges and trimming back the unruly branches. It was relatively hot out and so by the end of the afternoon Harry was hot and sticky but after a cool shower he felt that he had achieved something. Even Aunt Petunia commended him on a job well done and said that he had never done them so well before. Harry figured that it was because he was able to take his time instead of rushing to complete an entire list of jobs. It could also have something to do with the fact that he offered to help and wasn't doing it just to get a meal. It seemed that since Uncle Vernon had left, everyone in the house was able to breathe a little easier.

Late the next morning Hedwig returned with Dumbledore's response. She was tired and yet seemed very proud of herself for delivering her missives so quickly. Harry fetched her a few owl treats and some cold water and placed her in her cage to sleep.

With slightly shaking hands Harry unfolded the parchment and began to read.

My dear boy, I am genuinely sorry but it has been deemed too much of a risk to have you travel this summer. We may be able to arrange a visit to the burrow on your birthday but the protections at your relatives' home are all the more relevant now that Voldemort has made his presence known. I will send you another letter with Fawkes after the reading has taken place with any pertinent information.

Take care

A.P.W.B.D

Harry stared at the note in shock. It was true that he had not expected to be allowed to go the will reading but he had hoped that it was just his negativity showing through. But he was holding the proof in his own two hands, Dumbledore was not going to let him attend. What was worse was that it seemed the old man was not going to allow him to spend any time at the burrow with Ron and Hermione. Was he trying to keep him separated or something?

Harry screwed the letter into a ball and tossed it into a corner. Grabbing a fresh sheet of parchment Harry wrote all of his frustrations out in a letter to Hermione and folded it carefully. Feeling his anger pulsing inside of him Harry considered what to do next. He could have cried in all honesty. Just as he was about to curl into a ball on his bed his cousin walked into the room.

"Woah, what's up with you?" asked Dudley frowning as he saw the stern look on his younger cousin's face.

"Bloody Dumbledore!" replied Harry with a growl. "Apparently it's not safe for me to leave the house at all this summer. I'm stuck here!"

Seeing Dudley's hurt expression Harry hastened to add "Don't get me wrong Dud, it's better here for me than it ever has been before but I feel trapped. I can't go out, go shopping, see my friends…just be me!"

Dudley looked thoughtful, which was strange in itself. Harry wasn't sure he liked that look. "I've got an idea!" he announced. "You want to do something, get rid of some energy right?"

Harry nodded.

Dudley walked forward and put one beefy arm around Harry's thin shoulders. "I am going to teach you how to fight."

Authors Note

I really struggled with this chapter. I had a lot of messages saying I was going too slow with this story and that my pacing is all wrong but I want an in-depth story not a quick little novel. I want to show the feelings, how they get to where they are going and how they interact with each other.

I also have had less time to write due to work and medical issues. This may hinder the next chapter too, I am going to start it later on tonight but I cannot write as late intot he night as I had been. I will try and get the next chapter up by next week but I will only publish it when I am completely happy with it. No exceptions.