I apologize for the delay, readers. I had writer's block and major plot flaws to work out, all while having to deal with packing for college and then heading off to college and then the opening days of college. I did eventually put up a notice saying this had gone on temporary hiatus, though I did not put up my buffer chapter because I wasn't sure how long it would take me to get another one.

Chapter Nine is now finished, though for computer reasons I had to rewrite much of it not once but twice.

This chapter does contain the most prominent Harry/Tonks moment yet - and it's not the beginning.

Just so you all know, the reason this story is moving slowly is because the plot demands it. None of the scenes I have yet included were throwaways. If you try to flip through to the dialogue or to all of the Harry/Tonks moments, you will miss parts.

Oh, and I maintain my warning. This story is not primarily a Harry/Tonks romance, and if you're reading this just for that you should probably read something else. There's a whole lot here besides that, and I reserve the right to develop a totally different romance if necessary.

---

Harry was rooted where he stood for a moment before he comprehended what had happened. It was the flame that shot up his right leg that did it. Then he acted.

The fireplace being directly across the office from the entrance, Tonks was about as far from escape as she possibly could be. Harry was much nearer, until he charged straight into the fire after her.

The sensation of pain was so overwhelming that after a moment his brain simply stopped trying to comprehend it. He charged through the flames - the stray thought reaching his head that if he could just remember the appropriate spells, he could probably execute a rescue without giving himself massive burns - towards where he had last seen Tonks.

Already so much smoke had appeared that he could barely see at all. He reached where he thought she had been, only three or four meters away, and found her on the floor, apparently unconscious. Harry had no idea why she would be unconscious; it did not seem as if anything had hit her, and she had been exposed to the fire's effects only as long as he had.

Harry was not particularly muscular, and Tonks was several inches taller than him, but he managed to lift her up anyway. A few moments later they were out the door.

There was a face in his vision, suddenly. Kingsley Shacklebolt. Then he started to feel the pain again, and he looked down at his arms and realized that his clothes were on fire.

Then he passed out.

---

Harry recognized the Hogwarts Hospital Wing even as he opened his eyes, and some cynical part of him thought it was funny that there had been no moment of uncertainty. He had become so used to it that it was now as recognizable as his own bed.

He looked down and realized that his arms were bandaged, though he felt no pain.

There had been voices, but he had not been paying attention, and they cut off suddenly when he moved. "Harry?" he heard, and turned to look. It was Lupin. Beyond that was another, but without his glasses he could not tell who it was.

An arm reached over from the other side of his bed, waving precisely what he had been looking for. He took them and put them over his eyes, and saw that it was Tonks who had handed him the glasses. Her arms were bandaged also, but she appeared to be in as little pain as he was, and she was smiling - if carefully. "Tonks," he said.

"Good morning," she said. "One o'clock in the morning, specifically."

"You're all right?" he asked.

"She's fine," Harry heard. He turned his head again, and saw that what he had thought was one figure behind Lupin was in fact two, Severus Snape and the speaker, Madam Pomfrey. "Unlike someone, her body only went through a burning room once. You and she will both have to remain here at least until tomorrow morning."

"Madam Pomfrey is babying you both again," said Snape. "The treatment for burns took full effect within ten minutes, and you are both capable - or, at least, as capable as you were before - of going about your lives."

"And everyone's always trying to convince me just how skilled and capable Snape is," said Tonks, "So how about we just go along with this and Harry and I can get out of here."

"Harry's burns were worse than yours, Tonks," Lupin placated, "and you convinced Moody that you would be handling his guard while he was here."

Tonks did not look especially pleased about that, but she did not say anything.

"All right," Lupin said. He walked directly to Harry's bed. "Harry, do you remember what happened?"

"I was in Tonks's office, and McGonagall was in the fireplace, and she said Dumbledore was..." Harry paused. "And then the whole room was on fire."

"Harry," Lupin said, "We think you did it."

"I didn't-"

"It was accidental magic, of course, but-"

Snape interrupted. "Most students learn to control their magic in first year, Potter. One would think that by your sixth you would have been competent."

Harry frowned. He had been angry before it had happened, but it did not seem to him that he had caused anything to happen. "I don't think I did it," he said.

"It was you, Harry," Tonks said gently. "Kingsley checked my office. The magic was originally channeled from where you were right at the fireplace."

"Couldn't it have come from the fireplace at me?" Harry said.

"Well, yes, but then you would have been the one knocked out, not me."

Harry thought for a moment about that before deciding his argument was going nowhere. "Sorry," he offered.

"Here," Tonks said, "you just try not to burn down my office again, okay?"

Snape scowled. "You will also, of course, pay for any repairs. I'm sure your father managed to leave you enough money for you to handle that."

"I'm sure he did," Harry said, feeling suddenly cold. "Are you here for a reason besides taking the opportunity to provoke me?"

"Believe it or not, Potter, the world does not revolve around you. I was discussing strategy with Lupin. It was him who insisted that the conversation be held here." Snape turned, the edges of his black cloak sliding across the floor, and left.

"Snape's losing his touch," Lupin said when the door closed behind the Potions professor. "Back when we were in school he used to limit himself to less obvious lies."

"What do you mean?"

"He came in here on his own and said 'I trust the boy didn't get himself permanently injured.'"

Harry was struck by the memory that Lupin had been one of his father's Marauders in ages past. He looked at Tonks. She held her right hand up. "It's true. My jaw dropped so fast it almost dislocated."

Harry laughed at that. He could easily imagine anyone's natural reaction to Snape showing even the smallest bit of compassion. He might have reacted the same way to the news if he had not already had a strange encounter with Snape that made him seem very nearly human.

"Anyway, Harry, your friends were worried about you. They went to McGonagall, who I was speaking with at the time, when you weren't at the ceremony. She gave them a rather condensed explanation of what happened and they, of course, wanted to come down and see you."

"And she told them they couldn't come and made them go back to their respective dormitories," Tonks finished quickly.

"Respective?" Harry asked.

Lupin smiled. "Yes. In addition to the Weasleys and Mister Longbottom, Miss Lovegood was also quite worried. If I'm not mistaken, the Gryffindor team Chasers were also concerned that their team might need a new Seeker."

Harry might have smiled at that concern if Quidditch did not seem so terribly unimportant at the moment. "When can I see them? My friends, I mean."

"When you're discharged you'll be given your class schedule as usual," Lupin said. "I'm afraid that I do have rather urgent business that I only put off so that I could make sure you were all right. It's... Everyone thought McGonagall would take over, but she... I'm sorry." Lupin was gone so fast he seemed to leave an afterimage.

"Hmph," said Madam Pomfrey, before turning to Tonks. "The next time you see Professor Lupin, could you please remind him that some of us at Hogwarts, however much we might sympathize with your cause, are not members of your little underground organization, and have no interest in learning its secrets?"

"Of course," Tonks said, rather more graciously than Tonks was to anyone - though, Harry realized, Madam Pomfrey's manner tended to bring out courtesy in everyone else.

"Very well. It is now nearing one-thirty in the morning, and I have not yet slept. You have agreed to keep guard over Mister Potter, and I trust you will do so. See that my trust is not misplaced."

Harry had never considered where Madam Pomfrey slept before, but judging by the door she took, she must have had a room behind her office.

"Speaking of sleep, Harry," Tonks said, "You look like you haven't been sleeping well. And you just slept for a good six or seven hours just now."

"I'm fine," he said.

Tonks looked away for a long, long time before she spoke again. "Don't say that, Harry. That's not fair. We're all in pain. We've all lost people. Professor McGonagall just lost the man who was a father to her." She seemed to be building up to something now. "Molly Weasley's lost two brothers to... to him. Lupin lost the only people who ever called him friends, and yes, one of them was your godfather, and you've lost him and your parents and now - now you've lost - you've lost Dumbledore, too. And you shouldn't disrespect them by lying to us and saying that you're fine."

"Tonks," Harry said calmly, "Fine. I'm not fine. I'm sad and I'm angry. But I'll manage."

"Fine." Then Tonks shrugged and said "But if you'll let me pretend to be Mrs. Weasley for a moment, you do look tired. So get some sleep."

"All right," he said, and closed his eyes.

As he fell asleep, he could have sworn he heard her say "I'll be right here when you wake up."