A/N:

My heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Nachtrae for taking the time to read, edit and comment on this Chapter. She does amazing work and I'm lucky to have her as my beta.

Chapter 41

Christmas Recruitment

Saying that there was tension in the Castle would have been an understatement. All of Harry's friends had witnessed his latest run in with the headmaster via pensieve, though that did not show the duel of the mind arts. They were all silently relieved that they were all gaining proficiency with the mind arts and would be able to detect and expel an intruder. Harry himself had admitted that the duel had no real winner or loser, "I had to use something and I gave him access to memories… of my childhood. Memories I'd rather never remember or think about." In the aftermath, it had taken him several hours to separate those memories and restore them to that secure, walled off section of his mind.

Since the impromptu showdown two weeks before, Dumbledore had not been above trying to manipulate others in to helping him. By the beginning of December, every friend he had at Hogwarts had been called for a chat with the headmaster. It was only with the help of his invisibility cloak and Rowena that he was able to pull quite a fast one on the headmaster.

Harry was inside his office, every time the headmaster had a chat with one of his friends, augmenting their Occulemency to keep the headmaster out of their minds. What did not go unnoticed by other students, was the subtle and gradual shift in some of the students who followed the lead of Harry's friends, if not Harry himself. While many of the professors saw it, none of them knew what was going on with the shift in stance towards the Headmaster, but also the fact that there seemed to be more inter house friendships, and relationships blossoming. The only house that remained in isolation was Slytherin itself. Not that anyone seemed to give a damn about the house of Serpents, and they did not seem to mind their isolation either.

It was clear to him that what was possibly a three front war, was now going to be a three front war. With an angry sigh, he threw down the quill, and looked across the room, at his sleeping girlfriend. Term ended tomorrow and everyone was heading home, except for Colin who would again, be staying with Luna. Of course, he was already home but his frustrations with the situation kept him awake. That and his Occulemency had reduced his need for sleep to a mere handful of hours.

He rose and stretched out of habit and made his way over to the bed. Her hair was scattered across the pillow, one long shapely leg sticking out from under the duvet. He watched her, the rise and fall of her steady breathing for a few minutes, before he slid in to bed beside her.

The frame creaked at the extra weight and she rolled over, pulling herself close up against him. No matter when he went to or went back to bed, she would always pull herself close, and just hold him as she slept. He was not sure if she was aware of what she did, but he did not mind. Let that be a small mystery between them. Half an hour later, his mind clear, he let himself drift off to sleep.

His dreams were formless, nothing specific, vague shapes, flashes of color. Nothing he could make sense of or understand. Then the dream… changed…

His body was different: smooth, powerful and flexible. He was gliding between shiny metal bars, across dark stone. The floor was tiled with black stone slabs. It seemed somehow strange yet also familiar. He was flat along the floor, sliding on his belly. Movement ahead, out of the corner of his eye.

With a start, he realized that he was inside something, a creature, watching through its eyes, the way it saw the world through mesmerizingly vibrant colors. Someone was seated on the floor, a cloak wrapped around them. He saw a flare of violently pink hair, head dropped upon her chest.

His tongue flickered out from behind his teeth, tasting the air, tasting the scent. A woman. Young and no doubt tender. He felt a longing to bite, to sink his fangs in to her flesh and feed but it mastered the impulse… he had more important things to do than feed. The door was not far along the corridor from this sleeping sentry.

She stirred. Harry froze, too little too late. She jumped to her feet, a bright blurred outline of motion, a wand snapping out from a wand holster similar to his own. He had no choice, whatever he was in had no choice. It reared back upright, like a king cobra and struck.

Fast. Rapid strikes. Fangs plunged in to flesh, he could taste the metallic copper tinge of blood on his tongue, on its tongue. He felt flesh part, ribs splinter and the gushing of warm blood. There was a scream of pain, then silence as she slumped backwards against the wall and slid down. Blood splatters decorated the wall as she slumped to the floor, her wand rolling out of reach.

His head was ablaze with fire. The sound or rushing blood thundering in his ears, it was like a white-hot sheet of metal was clamped across his forehead, "Harry!"

He felt something touch him, and his body reacted, pure instinct. Magic blasted from his hands, flames and eldritch witch lightning. Ice crackled across the bed. His eyes flew open as he bolted up right, panting, gasping for breath as if he had just run a race and lost. Sweat soaked his skin as he looked around, wild eyed, wand in hand. It took a long few moments before his brain was able to process everything he was seeing. He rolled across the bed and threw up.

He took a deep gulp of air, and pushed himself up right, "Fleur? Are you ok?"

She waved him off, "I'm fine Harry." She waved her wand over her arm, healing the minor burns along her arm, "I've had worse during the tournament," her voice trailed off, "Are you alright?"

"Someone has been attacked, in the Ministry," he panted, chest heaving. The little light from the embers glowing in the grate made it clear that it was the middle of the night. What was worse was that he had no way of gaining access to the Ministry: He could not apparate through the wards, and the Floo would probably take too long. His mind spun and latched on to numerous possibilities but none of them found sufficient traction.

Fleur hesitated, "Are you sure? It was a dream…"

"It… was different. I was not watching things happen, I was watching things happen as the Snake." He almost cursed aloud: The one person who would probably have people and resources in the right location was Dumbledore. He would have to improvise. "Fleur, ever been to the ministry?"

She nodded, "Give me a moment to change."

"Dobby! Winky!" he called, "Wake Blake and Remus and prepare the infirmary for one incoming!" The elves vanished and Fleur gave him a critical look, "I don't know what we're getting ourselves in to here," he said with a shrug.

A moment was all they needed before they were in motion, taking the Floo to the Leaky Cauldron in London before apparating to the visitor's entrance and cramming themselves in to the phone booth where Fleur dialed in a string of numbers.

As the dial whirred smoothly back into place, a cool female voice sounded inside the telephone box as though an invisible woman were standing right beside them, "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Er ..." said Fleur, "Harry Granger and Fleur Pot…Porter… medical emergency?" she suggested, almost tentatively.

"Thank you, visitors, please take the badges and attach it to the front of your robes." Of course, neither of them were wearing robes: Both were dressed as muggles and hidden under a battery of Glamour charms just in case. There was a click and a rattle, and Harry saw something slide out of the metal chute where returned coins usually appeared. He picked it up and handed the silver badge with Fleur's name to her. "Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."

The floor of the telephone box shuddered. They were sinking slowly into the ground. Harry watched apprehensively as the pavement seemed to rise up past the glass windows of the telephone box until darkness closed over their heads. Then he could see nothing at all; he could hear only a dull grinding noise as the telephone box made its way down through the earth. After about a minute, though it felt much longer to Harry, a chink of golden light illuminated his feet and, widening, rose up his body, until it hit him in the face and he had to blink to stop his eyes watering, "The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," said the woman's voice.

They stepped out and found themselves in the atrium, surrounded by the banks of elevators, "We need to get down, seven levels to the department of mysteries." They were in luck as they hopped in to the first available elevator and began to descend. Harry drew his wand and Fleur did likewise, "Stealth pattern," he said, "and stay out of sight,"

She nodded and cast the disillusionment charm over herself. Harry followed suit. They exited and broke in to a dead run down the corridor, one that looked remarkably familiar to Harry. With a jolt, he realized why. It was the same corridor that appeared regularly in his dreams. They were almost to the end of the hallway when they found the victim, "Auror Tonks," said Harry, "I'll cover, you heal!"

Fleur waved her wand over the wounded Auror, casting a series of diagnosis charms in rapid succession, "She is weak, barely alive, I… I cannot do much…" her hands were busy as she poured potions directly on to the massive gaping wounds that had ripped open the Auror's flank. Blood Replenishment, bruise reducer, a few basic healing and stasis charms repaired some of the damage, but clearly not enough.

"Phoenix tears… What I would give for phoenix tears!" thought Harry. He looked down at Fleur, her hands covered in blood as she struggled to do three tasks at once. He shrugged, what could it hurt? "Fawkes! Help!"

A blinding flash of flame erupted and the phoenix appeared before them, its wings spread as it came to rest, gently next to Harry, "Uh… can you help her?" he asked. The phoenix gave a gentle trill and hopped towards her. As Fawkes cried in to the grievous wounds the couple breathed a sigh of relief as the broken rib bones began to knit back together as muscle began to grow over, hiding the bones from view. "Thank you, Fawkes."

"Harry, we need to get out of here before someone…" she froze. Distant footsteps became the sound of running feet, several sets of feet.

"Aurors," thought Harry as he looked around them. The corridor was just that: A corridor. There were no doors to other rooms, or windows, not even an alcove of some kind to hide in. Disillusionment charms would not hold once they started scanning. "Evanesco, scrougify." That at least took care of the physical traces of evidence.

"Could you transport us out of the Ministry Fawkes?" asked Harry, "I would not ask, but needs must." The phoenix gave another thrill and spread his wings. They grabbed a tail feather each, supporting the still unconscious Tonks between them and within moments, they reappeared in the alley behind the Ministry building.

"Thanks Fawkes," said Harry. The phoenix seemed to nod in comprehension before vanishing in yet another blaze.

"Harry… we might have a problem," said Fleur hesitantly, "She's… an Auror."

"Oh she's more than," said Harry, "She's also a Metamorphmagus and what's worse is that we were acquainted, very briefly during the summer, when I beat the stuffing out of my cousin."

"We… are not going to just leave her here? Are we?" she asked.

He hesitated for a long moment, she was safe enough, but was definitely in need of medical attention. St. Mungo's would not work because somebody would ask questions about an unconscious Auror being brought in by two teens. Pomfrey was out, given that she would report everything to the headmaster first chance she got. No. there was only one way. They were gone in the blink of an eye, back to the mansion, their unconscious visitor in tow.

Between Blake, Remus, the two house elves, Harry and Fleur, there was little that they could do for the unconscious Auror, now lying fast asleep in the infirmary. "Phoenix tears did most of the repair work, but its blood loss now. The only cure for that is time," said Remus when Harry checked in on her for the seventh time that morning, "And you need to stop popping in here like a house-elf with nothing to do."

"I could ask you why you haven't left her side," said Harry with a glance at his watch, "Rest of us had breakfast downstairs. You had Winky bring yours up here."

"Your point?" asked his former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, staring out the window and across the grounds. The sun was low in the sky, through light across the landscape with an almost careless ease.

"I'm not blind, Moony," chided Harry gently, "Is there something I should be aware of here? Or is this something I should pretend I never noticed or saw?"

"What do you want me to say?" he challenged. There was an edge of sadness there, "I made a choice, but it was not a choice that I made just for me. It was a choice I made for my friends, and while my friends, even Lily, would have applauded my choice, I never consulted her on it, and I made a different decision, in regards to… us." Actions have consequences and though he was not responsible, he still felt as if he was, "I'm not blaming you Harry," added Remus hastily, "I didn't think of everything when I crossed the floor that day."

"You thought you'd lost her?" he asked quietly, "Then you very nearly lost her for real." The werewolf nodded, "I'm not dense but stupid question: Your… condition did not bother her?"

"With the Wolfsbane potion, I go away for a few days a month around the full moon. So, it's never been that big of a deal. She knows where I go for the change just in case. I don't know why she… feels… felt what she did…"

Harry cut him off, "You don't know anything about what she felt, or what she still feels! You two were still in touch weren't you?" he nodded, "You spoke? Met up for drinks?" He recognized the look he was getting and got to the point, "If she still did not have some feelings for you, she wouldn't have bothered." Harry stood, "Don't let her go, Remus, just… don't." he took one look over his shoulder at Remus, still sitting next to her, "Love… it's not easy to find. We both know that."

It was only in the evening that she finally stirred and woke up, "Where… Remus?" she blinked her eyes in surprise, "Where… am I?"

"I can't tell you that," he answered truthfully, "But I can tell you, that you are safe."

"What happened?" she was weak, and not fully aware of her surroundings, but with a sudden burst of energy she sat upright, "The Order!" she struggled only to find herself far to dizzy as she fell back in to bed, "I need to tell them,"

"I sent word to the Order," interrupted a voice, from beyond her line of sight, "That you had been injured, and were being cared for."

She recognized that voice almost immediately, "Har… Harry? Where am I?"

"Safe," he answered, "As to where, you don't know and nobody here will tell you," he held up his hand to forestall the inevitable protest, "You are not a prisoner, or a hostage. Once you're well enough, we'll drop you in Diagon Alley and you can do whatever you please." He shrugged, "Probably tomorrow after lunch." Harry nodded to Remus and he scowled back, but he gave her hand a squeeze, and the werewolf departed, muttering something about getting dinner.

"Reading my mind Harry?" she asked slightly playful.

The thought had never occurred to him and his surprise clearly showed as she laughed. Clearly, she had been teasing him, he realized. He hesitated. It was not his place to say anything, not with someone else's love life, but he had, something of a stake, "Remus…"

"You know about me and the wolf?" she asked, "Don't be shy Harry. It is no secret that I love him. It's him, that's the problem," she sat up, "That, and the sixteen years that separate us. If you could convince him…"

He shrugged, "Convincing him is not my job," he grinned impishly at her, "Besides, with your abilities, surely you could do something to… shorten the gap." She met his smile with one of her own as she stared at him, contemplating what she knew. He was, beyond a doubt the most remarkable boy she had ever met. However, he was no boy. He never had been much of one. Moody was right about that. But that one legged, one eyed veteran happened to be right a lot of the time.

She could not help but smile, "If he was a few years older," she thought. She had joked to herself for a year or so, ever since she had heard of him the year before, and everything he had done with the Triwizard Tournament. However, it was a joke "Could never happen," she thought, "I've seen too many relationships fall apart for exactly this reason." She was young but had seen her fair share of love life ups and downs. Men were frustratingly shy about asking her out, mostly because her methamorphagi abilities were the stuff of male fantasies. She did not resent that at all - besides it was fun to role-play. She smiled devilishly as she recalled the first time she had kissed a boy as someone other than herself: She was only fifteen; he had joked about kissing this particularly attractive singer.

She had done it to tease him, shifting her appearance to match that of the singer in question. His reaction had been, instructive to say the least. She had learned more than a little about male psychology that day, and during the rest of that… interesting summer. She smirked at the memories. She had enjoyed playing those games but had never known if they had wanted her for her or because she could look like anyone, they wanted. She shook her head and dragged her train of thought out of the gutter, "So what happens now?"

"You rest, or you take a very careful look around. Careful because I don't have phoenix tears handy and my healing magic sucks," he added hastily at her confused expression.

"How… badly wounded was I?" she asked, noting the lack of bandages for the first time.

"Severe sharp force trauma, penetrating wounds, some minor internal organ damage to the liver, one kidney and stomach, four broken ribs, three cracked," replied Remus who had come through the door bearing a tray loaded with food and drink.

There was enough there for two, Harry noted absently, not three. It clicked, "I'll leave you two to your dinner." Very lightly, he reached out with his Legilimency and sent a few…. 'images' to both of them. He bit his lip as he struggled to keep from laughing as Remus blushed and Tonks actually turned bright red, "And no excessive physical therapy you two!"

He dodged the spoon fired Jello and managed to roll out in to the corridor as the ham sandwich flew over his shoulder, laughing the whole while, "young love," thought Harry with a snort of laughter. He made his way down to the kitchen to find Dobby and Winky and see who was available for dinner.

The odd couple ate in silence for a long few moments, until Tonks finally sighed, "Remus… I know things have been… difficult between us." It hardly needed to be said that one of the chief stumbling blocks apart from the gulf in their ages, was where their allegiances lay, "I'm… not trying to pick a fight," she said slowly, "But I want to understand. That day, at the Leaky Cauldron, why did you choose Harry over the Order?" Over me, she thought silently.

He toyed with his sandwich a moment and deliberately took a bite of it, playing for time as he marshaled his thoughts, his arguments, "You've read Harry's file?" he asked. She nodded, "Then tell me what you remember."

That gave her a moment's pause, before she regurgitated pretty much whatever everyone knew about his last four odd years at Hogwarts with the Philosopher's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, the Triwizard Tournament and then added what Remus himself had told her about the events of his third year.

"What do you know about his home life?" he asked quietly, "Before he was emancipated." She, like everyone else, knew next to nothing, "This is going to be… hard to believe." He told her everything and she sat, and stared at him, as if he was lying through his teeth to her, "I swear, all of it is true. The beating, the abuse, the cupboard, all of it, Nymph," he said, "And it has… created… or at least helped create the Harry you see today."

"But why is he so mad at Dumbledore?" she asked.

Remus shrugged, "He knew, Nymph. He knew all along, the way they were treating him, the way he was beaten up and used as a general purpose punching bag. Why Harry really hates him is because that there is no reason for Dumbledore to have put him there. There were explicit instructions in his parent's will that were ignored."

"I made the choice I did because I had already betrayed Lily and James once. I didn't want to do that again. I made that choice because Sirius never deserved his fate and I never even tried to speak to him to get the truth, and left him to suffer for thirteen years in Azkaban. Dumbledore knew about that too. He has always known that it was Pettigrew who was the real secret keeper, the real traitor."

The revelation literally floored the Auror, whose Jello had sat poised on a spoon for the past several minutes, half way between the plate and her mouth as she listened in disbelief, "He has good reason to hate him," she said quietly.

Harry had been standing just outside the door listening to the conversation but had stayed silent. Fleur and Blake were off somewhere, up to something no doubt. He walked in, "It's worse than that. The wizarding world believes him and follows him, almost blindly. There are those who follow him, the way Death Eaters follow Voldemort. Dumbledore has become accustomed to everyone doing what he wants, when he wants, how he wants. I refused and he doesn't like that. He thinks because he has power, four of the five most powerful and influential positions in Wizarding government and a reputation built as a leader of the Light that everyone should just bow down before him."

Tonks pointed out as she ate the trembling pile of Jello on her spoon, "But others can say you are doing the same thing: You think you should get your way because of who you are, because you are… well, the Chosen One, boy-who-lived or," she added with a grin, "Any other over hyphenated title."

Harry shook his head and laughed, "I commanded no one to follow me. I merely refuse to be lead around like a dog on the leash! You were there Tonks," he chided her gently, "That day at the Leaky Cauldron. I asked my friends to walk away, from my fight, from my war. They refused. They exercised their free will. They chose to stand by me. I commanded them to do nothing. Dumbledore forgot that somewhere along the way. He has his own scheme and plan, but forgets that these are people, lives, loved ones that he moves around like chess pieces." He leveled his gaze at her, "Are you free? Or are you just another chess piece on his board to be played and then sacrificed?"

"When did you get so wise Harry?" she asked.

Harry shrugged, "I'm fifteen years old and I've stared death in the face so often that him and me are becoming rather well acquainted." He picked up half a sandwich, "You've got a few choices to make Tonks, you can stand by the ministry, or you can stand by Dumbledore, or you can stand by me. But you have to make a choice."

True to his word, the following day, Tonks was escorted from the Manor with nothing more than a blindfold around her eyes. Remus held her wand until they arrived via the Floo in Hogsmeade's Three Broomsticks before apparating to Diagon Alley's Leaky Cauldron. Remus hesitated for a moment, "I made a choice," he said, "And I sometimes regret what that choice cost me, cost us." He pulled her in to a hug very suddenly, "I'm hoping, that you'll make the choice that doesn't cost us anything more."

Placing her wand into her hand, he apparated out of the Leaky Cauldron, leaving Nymphandora Tonks with a great deal to think about: First and foremost was what she was going to tell Dumbledore when she reported in. That sparked a thought: Did she have to report in?

The term ended peacefully for all parties and most of them got on with the most important thing: Christmas gift shopping. Harry had done most of his shopping in record time but was still agonizing over what to get Fleur: Trying to figure out what to get her was driving him up the wall. Moreover, it had driven the unfortunate Blake, Remus, Winky and Dobby up the wall, across the ceiling and down the other side.

Of course, Harry was not the only one agonizing over the perfect gift for a special someone, it seemed that all of the boys were in a similar boat. A quick few correspondences by owl and the boys had arranged a last desperate shopping trip to Diagon Alley to try and find something appropriate.