Chapter 14: A Dream and Hope

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Harry knew he must be dreaming. Tonks, who had taken to staring in all of his better dreams as of late, was curled against him, her head on his chest and one leg thrown over his. He shifted slightly, and she didn't wake. Knowing it must be a dream, he let one hand slide through her long black hair and marveled at its' softness. He stared down at her lips for several long moments, wanting to kiss her, something he thought about often, but had never tried to do. 'It's just a dream,' he reassured himself, and decided to indulge. He brought his lips to hers softly, adding pressure slowly and reversing their positions so that he was pressing her into the bed. 'I love dreams,' he thought focusing on nothing but kissing Tonks.

Tonks moaned and opened her mouth to deepen the kiss, still half asleep and quite enjoying her current dream. Without opening her eyes, she brought her hand up to run through the thick hair of the man who was kissing her so thoroughly. 'This is nice,' she thought slowly coming more awake, though she didn't want to. She wanted to stay here in this place between dreaming and waking, where she was enjoying the weight of the warm, hard body pressing into hers, and the lips and tongue that tangled so deliciously with hers.

Harry slid one hand under her shirt needing to feel her skin, and curled the other in her hair, pouring everything he had into the kisses that left him breathless and aching with need. This was better than any dream he had so far.

A loud noise jerked Tonks out of her dream like state only to be looking up at an equally surprised Harry Potter, lips swollen from kissing and body still pressed against hers. Harry blushed and rolled away only to crash to the floor. Tonks tried desperately to slow her breathing, and stop thinking about what she had just been doing and the proof of Harry's obvious arousal that had been pressed snugly against her. She pushed away those thoughts. They could both be in danger. She needed to think. She pulled her wand fluidly, and slid off the bed and onto her feet. When she looked to see if Harry was alright from his crash to the floor, she saw that he was standing as well, his own holly wand at the ready. Sunlight streamed into the room making it bright and cheery. Now that she was fully awake, she noticed other, softer sounds emanating from another room. She moved quietly across the floor, opening the door and peering out into the empty living room of the small home. She motioned for Harry to follow her, and the two made their way to the doorway to the kitchen, wands at the ready. Regulus turned from the sink to place a platter of toast on the table only to drop it startled to find himself at the business end of two wands.

"I made breakfast," Regulus explained holding out his hands palm out to show he was unarmed. Sheepishly, Harry and Tonks lowered their wands and entered the kitchen.

"Sorry," Tonks apologized waving her wand and cleaning up the mess the shattered plate and toast had made on the floor.

"No harm done," Regulus replied trying to calm his racing heart. The two had given him a start. He wondered at what their world was like that they both automatically assumed that someone might attack them. He'd had a pretty restless night's sleep, and finally gave up earlier and started on breakfast. He found that having something to do helped him deal with things.

"There's still plenty of food on the table," he remarked waving a hand at the spread before them. "Please, help yourselves," he invited. He poured himself a glass of juice, and then took a seat at the table to eat his own breakfast. Tonks, and then Harry, followed suit as they too found chairs and started to fill their plates. No one spoke as the three settled in to eat. Tonks wasn't sure what to say, but knew she would have to talk to Harry. His crush was fairly obvious. What she had not expected was the intensity with which she had returned his kisses, and she had returned them. She still tingled at the memory of them.

"I can take care of the dishes if you'd like," Tonks offered as the three finished. Regulus merely nodded in acceptance. A moment later the dishes were all in the sink washing themselves. "It's one of the few household spells, I am reasonably good at," she added trying to fill the silence that had now become almost uncomfortable to her.

"Excuse me," Harry stated, his first words since waking that morning, and disappeared back into the bedroom. Tonks watched him go with a sigh. She had no idea what to say to him, especially when part of her wanted to kiss him again.

"Is everything okay?" Regulus questioned Tonks. Tonks was broken from her reverie by Regulus's question.

"Yeah, just a little startled by the noise this morning. Did you drop something earlier?"

"I knocked a bowl off the counter. Is that why you two came to the door, wands drawn?"

"Yes. I wasn't sure what it was and felt it better to be safe than sorry," she admitted with a shrug.

"Are things that bad these days?" He found himself asking curious.

"Honestly, its' more not knowing when an attack could happen. Voldemort's been back for just over a year now, but he's been relatively quiet until recently. Of course, now that the Ministry knows he's back, there's no reason for him to hold back anymore," she explained thinking over the events since the second war began and debating how much to tell Regulus. Regulus sensing her reticence changed the subject.

"Did you get a chance to read any more of my notes on the spell that brought me here?"

"No. It got dark right after we got settled last night, and I woke up when you dropped that bowl. I am still curious as to why the spell was used. Your notes said that Lucius Malfoy was the one who sent you here. Why? Why use some obscure spell rather than just killing you? And is this another dimension? Or is it simply a heavily warded area in some forgotten part of the world?" Thinking about the problem of how to get them home was a much easier topic of conversation to think about than the feelings prompted by the events of earlier that morning.

"I do not know why Lucius used the spell he did. I suspect that perhaps Narcissa intervened on my behalf and asked him to do something other than kill me. We were always close as children, so she may have pleaded my case. As for where we are, I do not know that either. Lucius was always into obscure spells, but I cannot see him being powerful enough to send us to some kind of other world or dimension. I always suspected it as being some place that sends you around in circles to keep you trapped, and just different enough to keep you off kilter."

"Have you seen or heard any animals since you have been here?" Regulus shook his head.

"No, and that's one of the things that makes me think of the idea of a warded area where we are trapped. Some magic works here, but not all spells. And none of the spells involving transportation or communication work," explained Regulus.

"So we are cut off from the outside world, but perhaps not completely," Tonks pondered thinking aloud.

"I've tried everything I could think of. I even tried calling for Kreacher, but he never came."

"Was Kreacher bonded to you specifically or just the Black family?"

"The Black family, but I am a Black," he stated simply. "He's always answered me before this."

"Harry?" Tonks called, an idea forming in her mind. Harry heard Tonks' call his name and returned to the kitchen a book in his hand. "Call Dobby," she said wondering if it would work.

"Dobby? Dobby, I need your help," Harry called feeling a little silly.

"I take it Dobby is your house elf?" Regulus stated as the three waited to see if the call would be answered.

"Dobby is a free elf and a good friend," Harry responded looking around hoping to see the exuberant house elf.

"A free elf? Why would a free elf respond to your call when a bonded elf did not respond to mine?"

"Really focus, Harry, on how much you need Dobby's help. He said he could always find you. Let's test that," she stated trying not to lose hope as the moments passed. Harry closed his eyes and focused his thoughts on calling Dobby for help. Regulus jumped when a loud pop sounded and a house elf with several colorful hats stacked on his head, child sized bright red shorts, and two non-matching socks in green and purple appeared.

"Harry Potter is needing Dobby?" Harry went to his knees and hugged the tiny elf tightly never more delighted to see him. "Harry Potter is a great and wonderful wizard who hugs Dobby." The little elf stated near tears as he returned the hug.

"It's so great to see you, Dobby," Harry stated pulling back from the tiny elf. "How did you get here?"

"Harry Potter is calling for Dobby, so Dobby is answering," the elf explained simply.

"Dobby, are you bonded to Harry?" Tonks asked grateful to see the little elf and hoping he would be able to help them. Dobby looked down at Tonks' question.

"I thought you were a free elf, Dobby," Harry stated with a puzzled look on his face.

"Dobby chooses to serve the great Harry Potter. Harry Potter has done no formal bond, but Dobby hopes the great Harry Potter may someday want Dobby to work for him."

"Can you get us out of here, Dobby?" Harry questioned deciding to think more about that later.

"Dobby can be trying," he stated bouncing on his toes.

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait. The changes I made in the last chapter called for additional changes in this chapter so I had to scrap what I had and move on from there. I have another couple of chapters written, but they don't take in all the changes that were presented by this chapter, so will require some rewriting. Let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and no money is being made from this story.