After having kicked Dung Fletcher in the ribs and sent him on his stinky way, Nymphadora Tonks had settled in for her turn guarding the Boy-Who-Lived. Important as the task was, it had never failed to be a dull, monotonous duty that always left her bum asleep and her eyes itchy by the time she went home. So imagine her surprise when the sudden crack of Apparition was followed shortly by a very familiar patronus telling her to follow the new woman's lead.

"Oi!" Tonks called, pulling the invisibility cloak off her shoulders and marching towards the black-haired stranger. Or she would have, if she'd not immediately tripped over the flapping material and face-planted into the road.

She heard the muffled laughter, she did, but for the sake of Tonks's pride she put her hands under her, sniffed, and stood up like nothing had happened, dusting off the cloak and shoving it into her bag. Looking up at the newcomer, Tonks was taken aback at first by how pretty and neat she looked – there was a burst of incredulity too as she gawped at the high heels and wondered how anyone could walk in those.

"Tonks!"

And then she was wondering who the hell this woman was to grab her in a hug like they'd been friends for years.

"Er, yeah?"

Awkwardly patting the woman's back and watching as she pulled away, Tonks hoped to get some answers as the stranger opened her mouth. This was derailed when both jerked their heads towards a sudden screech and watched as a plain brown owl clutching a letter swooped through a window in Harry's home down the street.

"Oh, bugger!"

Once more Tonks was left watching the woman in clear confusion as she immediately began striding off down the street in pursuit of the owl – walking in the heels like they wouldn't possibly break her ankle if she landed on them wrong. Tonks felt her eye twitch and hurried after her.

Arriving at the door of number four Privet Drive, they could clearly hear the butt-end of a Ministry Howler spouting off about underage magic and – Tonks gaped at the closed door – was that something about expulsion?!

"They can't do that!" Tonks burst loudly, hair flaming orange in the ensuing quiet.

Dahlia's face was grim but she raised her fist to knock purposefully on the door anyway. However the point seemed moot as, in the next moment, dashing feet were heard and then Harry Potter opened the door.

"So … weird," Dahlia whispered, eyes widening of their own accord as they met and held those of her counterpart. The boy had gone to speak as the door had opened but let his mouth slowly close and his eyebrows twitch in confusion as he held the identical green-eyed stare.

Tonks glanced between the two and made to speak when a whale of a man followed behind the boy and glared at them suspiciously.

"This more of your lot then, boy?" he snapped, moustache twitching and small eyes narrowing at the eccentric-looking Tonks. Tonks tried not to feel offended by his look. Or his clean hall. What proper Muggle didn't have a mess here or there, anyway?

"Yes, yes we are, Vernon Dursley," Dahlia took lead, stepping into the house and past the observant younger Potter, smiling professionally at the Muggle. Said Muggle went red as she walked in without an invitation and opened his mouth. Dahlia cut him off before he could start. "If you don't mind, we're representatives from the Ministry here to talk to Harry."

"Now see here –!"

"Won't be long. We'll just do this up in his room, won't we Harry? Ah, you must be Petunia and Dudley. I know all about you. If you'll excuse us – official business, you understand."

Dahlia maintained her professional smile the whole time she spoke, looking into the living room at the assembled Dursleys. It was perhaps the easy admittance of her familiarity with them, as well as her magical status, that kept the two quiet. Petunia's eyes widened slightly more than her son's, though, as she made eye contact.

"Shall we, Harry?" Dahlia turned again to the boy and smiled, winking in amusement as she turned her back on Vernon and heard his enraged huff. Harry glanced at his uncle and almost smiled.

"Sure. This way," he said, pointing awkwardly up the stairs and starting the trek up. Dahlia followed easily while Tonks hesitated at the bottom of the steps, glancing into the living room at the family.

"You've got a very clean house," she told them like an admonishment, glancing around before quickly following the other two up to the second floor and into the second bedroom. "Oh, this is more like it!" she nodded, walking into Harry's room, looking around at the mess.

"Don't worry about it," Dahlia smiled as Harry tried to organise his desk, in a slight fluster as he realised the state of his room.

"Er, sure," he muttered, adjusting his glasses uncomfortably before he blurted, "Is this about the Howler? Because I didn't do any magic, I swear!"

"Ah, no," Dahlia said, drifting around the room and pausing at Hedwig's perch. Pain came to her eyes as she gently raised a finger to stroke the snowy white breast. "Hello, old girl," she murmured, smiling tenderly at the creature. Hedwig was still as her large amber eyes studied the woman before, with a soft hoot, the bird nipped her finger affectionately.

Harry relaxed slightly at Hedwig's approval of the stranger and asked, "Then … what's this about?"

"No idea!" Tonks decided to interject her two cents, setting herself down on the unmade bed comfortably, leaning back on her elbows and watching the other witch closely. "So who're you and why does Dumbledore say to let you run this show?"

Harry turned back to the other woman and frowned as she seemed reluctant to pull away from his feathered friend.

"Right," she muttered, turning to face both of them. If Harry was anything like her then being delicate was only going to frustrate him, and if Tonks was anything like she remembered, being upfront was the way to go with her too. "Well, my name's Dahlia Potter. Hello," she added, wiggling her fingers awkwardly and watching Harry's jaw drop and Tonks's eyebrows pop, her hair returning to bubble-gum pink. That, admittedly, stole Harry's attention for a moment before he turned back to her.

"So … we're related, are we?" he asked, leaning back on his desk filled with old Daily Prophets and clenching his hands.

This was the hard part. Dahlia bit her lip and winced slightly as she shook her head before pausing.

"Well, no. Well – yeah, technically. I'm you," she said, looking at the boy seriously. Jumping in before he could do more than look confused, Dahlia continued. "I woke up this morning in my world – or my dimension or whatever – and after a weird Apparition I found myself here, walking into Grimmauld Place with everyone young and alive." Dahlia paused and really wished the last part hadn't come out of her mouth but soldiered on. "Anyway, point is I'm you from a – like – alternate universe, or something. But I'm here now and while I'm here I'm here to help. So pack up your stuff, male-me! I'm taking you to Grimmauld Place!"

Both Harry and Tonks just stared at her like she was crazy.

"This is what Dumbledore had planned?" Tonks claimed disbelievingly. Dahlia frowned.

"Well, no, I planned this. Sort of. I mean, I know if you're anything like me, Harry, then this place is awful and you want contact with everyone, right? Well, with me here I can help you get it. And get to Sirius. You couldn't live with him before because of the blood wards, but we share the same blood, so they're going to work for us, and I live at Grimmauld Place – that's … that's Sirius's house. And you can live there, and…"

Dahlia trailed off at the look she was receiving from the boy-her. His jaw was slack and his green eyes were staring at her with something like befuddlement.

She probably could have taken five minutes to plan out what to say so he wouldn't be stunned. Oh well, hindsight and all that.

Sorry for the wait. Assessment time right now (you know how it is) and then I got hooked on this completed Hook/older!Wendy fanfic (Why swallows build in the eaves of houses by redhandjill) that refused to let me go for several days afterwards (hooked on Hook, hehe), and then I binged on media (I couldn't help it, I'm so sorry), and then I did some edits on the previous chapters (nothing you need to worry about re-reading though, I promise). But it's a new chapter, so yay! Hope you enjoyed!

Much thanks also to those of you who reviewed with the 'guest' feature. Like Uncle Kracker, you make me smile~ :)