a/n: a million giddy thank yous to my reviewers. this chapter totally kicked my butt and i'm off to bed. hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 31

It was the first time Harry got to see the house that would soon be home. Ally had shown him pictures of it before, both inside and out because she'd planned to redecorate while he was stuck at Grimmauld Place. But those photos had never truly managed to capture the emotions brought on by the house. Like the Burrow, it instantly drew him in. They had appeared on a small country lane lined with trees and while Ginny swore and put out her smoldering sleeve Harry took a good look around.

The house was hidden from view by a row of hedges and a big iron gate stopped muggles from wandering onto the property. A simple stone path led from the gate to the front door of a large two storey house that appeared a little run down but Harry could tell that was part of its charm. The front garden was large and open and Harry knew that if he were to go around the back he would find a vegetable garden well tended by Kipper. A chicken coop stood off to one side, surrounded by clucking chooks free to wander about the yard. In the back ground was a breathtaking view of the mountains and a forest Harry was aching to explore in panther form.

Harry could picture it already, how he and his daughter would collect the eggs from the chicken coop in the morning, how they would build an army of snow men in the front yard in winter. He could already imagine inviting the Weasley's over for a friendly game of Quidditch in the back field in summer time. This beautiful old house that had once been Ally's childhood home would be the beginning of a life, of a family Harry had always dreamed of. It was home.

'It's beautiful, Harry,' Ginny admired, interrupting his thoughts.

'Yes, it is,' he agreed. 'Come on, we haven't got much time before we're supposed to meet Als at the pub.'

Ginny grinned. 'I can't believe I finally get to see the Lonely Wench!'

Harry shook his head and tried not to laugh at her excitement as he led the way up the garden path toward the house. Pip opened the door before he got the chance to test out his key and for an aging elf she was certainly excited.

'Master Harry,' Pip greeted in her croaky wheeze. 'Kipper is taking care of the garden and Tilly is waiting for you in the nursery.'

'Thanks, Pip.' Harry took a step forward and then realized he had no idea where the nursery was. 'Uh, where am I going?'

'Pip is showing you the way!'

They followed Pip through the foyer and up a large staircase to the second floor where she directed them to a room on the left. Harry had to fight the urge to knock on the door. This was his home; he shouldn't have to knock on a door that was set to be his baby's nursery. So he thanked Pip and pushed the door open, not bothering to close it behind him. Ginny slipped in behind him and let out a low whistle. The room was completely filled with boxes and half assembled pieces of nursery furniture. Neither could see Tilly anywhere.

'Tilly?' Harry called, taking a few more steps into the room.

'I is here!' Tilly called.

'And here is where exactly?'

An arm shot up out from behind a pile of boxes and waved frantically. Chuckling, Harry made for the only part of his house elf he could see. She was buried in a box of stuffed toys and she'd just thrown an arm around the corner while she continued to search for whatever it was she was looking for. Being raised by Ally had definitely made Tilly a little different for a house elf.

'What are you looking for, Tilly?'

'This!' Tilly proclaimed, straightening up victoriously and holding out a very old looking white teddy bear. 'We is ready to start now.'

'Start what?' Ginny questioned, she had no idea why exactly Harry had dragged her here first rather than just going straight to the bar.

'We're going to decorate the nursery for Ally.'

Tonks was sneaky by nature. When she wasn't being clumsy and tripping over ugly umbrella stands sneaky was a basic description of her job. This was starting to feel a little ridiculous. When she was a kid her father had taken her to see a muggle movie about a secret crime fighting organization who wore tights. Now, ever since she'd been drafted into helping Harry and Ally, she was beginning to find the whole dynamic of the Order a little ridiculous, similar to how she'd felt after seeing the movie. Were they going about this the right way? Was it really so necessary to hide out in the basement of a dirty old house waiting for the great Albus Dumbledore to come and show them the way?

Tonks snorted and Sirius who was seated beside her at the kitchen table, shot her a questioning look. In answer she shot a pointed look at the empty chair at the head of the table and then made a huge point of rolling her eyes. Sirius smirked and grabbed her by the neck in a rough hug, ruffling her hair. He had always been her favourite relative. However the hug was just a way for him to get close enough to whisper in her ear.

'You see it too?'

She nodded her head slightly. She didn't need him to clarify what he was saying but she was curious to hear what else he had to say.

'My room after the meeting.'

She nodded again and he released her. She took the opportunity to look around the room and found herself being pinned with a curious glare from Snape. He seemed to be contemplating something and she couldn't help wondering if perhaps Snape was seeing it too. She could tell McGonagall was beginning to think they were perhaps going about things the wrong way. Every time she glanced at Dumbledore's still empty chair her lips thinned and her eyes narrowed. Harry was going to have quite a few people ready to listen when the truth came out.

Green flames erupted in the fireplace and Dumbledore stepped into the kitchen. Finally they were ready to begin the meeting. Tonks was sure she wasn't the only one to notice just how tired and wary the leader of the Order looked. He took his seat at the head of the table and rested his elbows on the wooden surface and his chin on his steeped fingers.

'I fear,' he said tiredly. 'That Harry Potter is losing sight of the light.'

After an Order meeting spent devising new and wonderful ways to keep Harry from having any sort of life, Tonks excused herself form her conversation with Kingsley and McGonagall and slipped out of the kitchen after her cousin. The meeting had given her a lot to think about and she was eager to discuss it with Sirius, especially now that he was seeing what she was. Perhaps together they could begin to weed out those of the Order who blindly followed Dumbledore from those who could think for themselves.

The door to Sirius' room was ajar and she slipped inside, closing the door silently behind her and cast several spells to prevent people from interrupting or eavesdropping. When she turned around she found Sirius watching her with an amused grin from the bed. She moved forward to sit beside him, tripping over a discarded trainer on her way.

'Do you think there is any truth to what Dumbledore says about Harry?' Sirius sounded as though he were asking out of obligation to Harry not out of any belief that Tonks thought he was going dark side.

'Course not,' Tonks dismissed readily. 'He's just grown some over the summer.'

'That's a bit of an understatement.'

'Yeah.'

They sat in silence for a moment just thinking about why they were having this secret discussion in the first place. Tonks knew why she was there, she'd seen the changes in Harry and she knew what he was capable of. She also knew that a large part of those changes he'd undergone could be put to his growing relationship with Ally. She just wondered if Sirius was seeing those same things or if he was just itching to defy Dumbledore out of sheer spite over being trapped in Grimmauld Place.

'How many Death Eaters do you think he's captured?'

'Harry?' Tonks asked for clarification.

'Harry and the woman Dung saw him with.'

'A lot,' she guessed. 'He killed Aunt Cissy.'

Startled, Sirius turned to look at Tonks with widened eyes. 'I thought the rumors were that she had contracted some sort of illness or that Voldemort had done her in.'

Tonks shook her head. 'She got through the wards at Hogwarts during an ADADA session. She tried to kill Martin and Harry snapped her neck.'

'What about her body? And what are they doing about the wards?'

'They were learning to apparate so the wards were down and he fed her body to the Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest.'

Sirius let out a low whistle, impressed despite the horrible circumstances. 'How do you know all of this?'

'Dumbledore sent Remus and I to search Martin's house, Remus got stuck in the wards and when Martin arrived to get rid of us, well, I'm not stupid. Ally Martin is one of the best the Ministry has to offer. If she is involved then that's the side you want to be on. She's been sending information my way every now and then. Harry came to see me after he killed Cissy to tip me off. He gave me copies of all of their information and her wand.'

'So Harry is working closely with the new DADA professor who just happens to be a highly qualified ex-Auror and one of the Ministry's best Unspeakables,' Sirius murmured. 'Both of them believe Voldemort has returned?'

'Without a doubt,' Tonks agreed. 'McGonagall says Martin is working her students harder than they've ever been worked before and Reid has been very vocal to the right people about the right things to make her position clear. Harry's not stupid; he wouldn't associate with people who don't believe him.'

'I know.' It was a struggle for Sirius to come to terms with the idea that Harry was out there making a difference while he was stuck inside, hiding away from the world. 'What should we do to help, do you think?'

'We start by lifting these ridiculous restrictions Dumbledore wants to put in place. Harry has to have some freedom.'

'Why? I don't.'

'It won't be this way forever, Sirius.'

'I know it won't but I hate the thought that Harry's had to do most of this on his own. I should have been there to teach him half the stuff he's had to do studying out of books on his own.'

Tonks smacked him over the back of the head and then again on the chest for good measure. 'Self pity will get you nowhere,' she informed him.

Sirius rubbed his chest and glared at her and then he had an idea of how they could help Harry. 'What exactly is it the ADADA do?'

'No idea. It's all very hush, hush.'

'Think you could find out?'

'Possibly. What did you have in mind?'

'There have to be some things they can't do while stuck at Hogwarts, right?' Sirius began to explain the idea forming in his head. 'Maybe there are people they can't contact, places they can't get to.'

'You're suggesting we become their link to the outside world?'

Sirius nodded. 'I'm suggesting we start fighting dirty right back.'

Tonks grinned, that was an idea she could get behind.

It was love at first sight. There wasn't a thing about the Lonely Wench that Ginny didn't love. From the crowded bar to the done up girls selling themselves. The whole atmosphere was one of fun and joy, so far from the atmosphere of distrust that had been hanging around Hogwarts recently. It was comfortable. The moment Harry had entered he'd been greeted by several people and not in the hero-worship style of strangers who recognized the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry greeted them all by name and stopped for a quick word and to introduce her. All in the span of ten minutes she met two star Quidditch players, a healer at St Mungo's, three small and frizzy haired women who were apparently going to be the next big thing on the WWN and a young wizard just about to complete his Auror training who lived in the apartment below Ruby.

It was a little overwhelming but she enjoyed every frenzied minute in which she forgot several names and was gently directed toward a table where Ally and Ruby sat surrounded by presents. There was a small banner hovering above Ally's head that proclaimed her to be the birthday girl. Ginny sat down with a relieved sigh and was immediately approached by a barmaid loaded down with a tray of drinks.

'What'll it be, sugar?' the barmaid inquired, placing a glass of Firewhiskey in front of Ruby and a Butterbeer in front of Ally.

'Butterbeer thanks.'

'Firewhiskey, Potter?'

'Thanks, Fran.'

Fran wandered back toward the bar, stopping at a nearby table to deliver the rest of the drinks on her tray. Ginny took another long look around while Ally was much more interested in opening her presents. She was bouncing eagerly and every now and then someone would wonder passed their table and offer her some birthday wishes or deposit another present.

'Can I open them now?'

Harry rolled his eyes and leant back in his chair to watch. He had an arm draped along the back of Ally's chair and he was playing with a few strands of her hair. It was interesting, for Ginny at least, to view Harry interacting with Ally in an environment he felt totally comfortable in. Well, an environment he felt comfortable displaying his relationship in anyway. Ginny felt pretty sure you could never be uncomfortable in the Lonely Wench. Ally tore into a small blue package while Ginny eyed a witch taking up the services of a barmaid. She watched as the two disappeared toward the wall and reappeared a moment later on the stairs heading up to the rooms. With a grin over the words her mother would have to say if she ever found out where she was, Ginny turned back to witness the unwrapping of gifts.

'Am I supposed to know what this is?'

It looked to be a small round fluffy gold object; if you squinted it almost appeared to have little silver wings. Harry grabbed the box to see who it was from.

'It's from Dobby; I think it's supposed to be a toy Snitch for the baby.'

'Oh,' Ally nodded. 'That was nice of him.'

The rest of her presents were not nearly as confusing, the best bar far being the Pensieve from Ruby.

'Well, you have to have something to view all of those memories in,' she explained.

'What memories?' Ginny asked.

Harry explained to her the present he had created for Ally and why she would need a pensieve. Ginny gave him a goofy grin and laughed at just how romantic he had unintentionally been. Harry tried to glare at her but Ally kissed him instead and distracted him nicely.

'I doubt it will last long,' Ruby laughed. 'Take what you can get, Als.'

Harry poked his tongue out at her. 'Speaking of romantics, still no sign of Aiden?'

Ruby stuck her tongue out at him and then looked around as though hoping her fiancé would magically appear. It would have been nice had it actually happened, magical or not. It would be just her luck he would go and break the record for longest vanished right when they were supposed to be planning a wedding.

'Still missing, though Richard reckons there have been sightings.'

'Sightings?' Ginny was under the impression that those who vanished from the pub were not seen again until they reappeared in Siberia. 'I thought they just vanished until they popped back out of wherever it is they go.'

'It's a bit strange, really,' Ally explained. 'Usually before they turn up properly people catch glimpses of them, sort of like ghosts.'

'That's horrible.'

'They enjoy it actually; they're always pretty giddy when they reappear.'

'Couldn't that just be joy over finally being back?'

'Nah,' Ruby answered. 'They're drunk off their faces and boasting about strange things. They're just really happy.'

Though Ginny hoped she wouldn't be unfortunate enough to ever experience vanishing off the face of the earth and appearing in Siberia first hand, she sort of hoped someone would return or vanish just so she could better understand how it happened. She raised her glass for a toast and to distract her from silly thoughts that involved flashy magical bangs and smoke when someone disappeared.

'To Ally on her three hundredth birthday.'

'To Ally!'