Over the next week and a half, Harry pushed on with his housecleaning and decided to share some of his thoughts on Tonks with Sirius. He kept things simple by stating that despite Dumbledore and the staff's efforts at keeping the school safe, Harry would feel a lot better knowing that there was an Auror within reach. Sirius eyed Harry in an odd manner before asking if Harry wished to have Tonks come in undercover.

"I don't know," said Harry, shrugging. He was sitting against the wall in the master bedroom, while Sirius was feeding Buckbeak. "I mean, Dumbledore's great and all, but between him ignoring me and Professor McGonagall often being too busy, I'd prefer to have someone on hand in case of a Slytherin ambush or something. Hogwarts isn't exactly small."

Sirius vanished the leftovers on the ground. Then he took a seat on a chair facing Harry. "If I wasn't stuck in this hellhole, I'd gladly come in and keep watch on Snape and his swine. Most Slytherins are idiots and cowards, though, so I doubt they'll have the guts to ambush you."

Harry frowned.

"Still," said Sirius, scratching the side of his cheek, "we're going to have to plan things carefully. The way things are going now, you can be damn sure that Fudge will put some sort of eyes and ears in Hogwarts. We can't risk having Tonks expose herself as an Order member, which would spark an investigation into the other Aurors, including Kingsley."

"So what, then?" Harry asked, feeling his chest heat up. "Am I supposed to just put my trust in Dumbledore and McGonagall, and maybe even Snape, and hope they can keep the rubbish away? I can't keep looking over my shoulder all the time!"

Sirius smiled. "You're hellbent on having Nymphadora around, aren't you? All right, I'll have a word with the others and see what we can do. I just wish I could come in and keep watch on the Death Eaters' friends and families."

Harry found himself daydreaming about Hogwarts more and more as the final week of holidays moved on. And although he tried to spend some time with Ron and Hermione as usual, it just didn't feel the same. Harry was steadily becoming more interested in duelling like an Auror than chatting about random things. He could hardly believe how distant he'd grown to his best friends, though part of him felt satisfied at getting them back over their lack of communication.

On the very last day of the holidays, Harry was using the Scouring Charm to clean Hedwig's owl droppings from the top of the wardrobe when Ron entered their bedroom carrying a few envelopes. Their booklists had arrived, and when Ron opened his first, they saw that only two were new: The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5, by Miranda Goshawk, and Defensive Magical Theory, by Wilbert Slinkhard.

"Wait," said Harry, eyeing the second unopened envelope on the bed. "Why are there three envelopes? I thought Hermione would be all over hers by now?"

Ron pointed with his thumb at the door. Harry was caught off guard as he saw a young witch in plain black robes standing in the doorway. She had sleek black hair that fell to her upper back; and had large, deep blue eyes, and very white, even teeth. She bore a slight resemblance to Fleur Delacour, now that Harry thought about it.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, scratching the side of his cheek. "A new Order member, perhaps?"

The witch walked in a haughty manner over to the envelope on the bed. "I believe zis eez mine. Zank you vairy much."

Ron mumbled something that sounded like, "Mental."

The witch turned to face Harry and smiled. "Eet eez vairy nice to meet you, 'Arry Potter. 'Ow are you?" (She had a similar voice to Fleur – a bit deep and soothing.)

"Fine, I guess." Harry eyed the unopened envelope lying on the bed. "What's with the Hogwarts envelope? You're not one of our students, are you?"

"You Eenglish boys are so stupid," said the witch. She opened her envelope and ran her eyes down the lists. "Zis Slink'ard book eez trash. Trust me, eet doesn't teach you much about combat at all. Zat means whoever Dumbledore appointed must be setting a substandard curriculum for us all. What a joke."

She gave a loud, derisive laugh. Harry looked at Ron in a disbelieving manner.

"When did she arrive?" Harry asked. Ron struggled to say that it was just a few minutes ago.

Just then, Fred and George Apparated into the room, glanced at the witch, and laughed at Ron.

"What do we have here?" Fred asked, as Ron backed off. "Is ickle Ronniekins getting the hots for our French guest?"

George nodded. "Yeah, Ron. Keep your trousers on in the presence of the magnificent Maia Leroux. Don't make us rein you in."

But Harry was far too preoccupied with his newly opened envelope to pay much attention to the twins. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw a most unexpected letter with his name on it.

"Come on, 'Arry," said Maia, with a slight grin on her face, "eet eez time you took some pride in yourself, rather zan sit around sulking all day. Don't look so surprised."

Fred and George bolted towards Harry and seized the envelope from him. They turned it upside-down and cheered as a scarlet and gold badge fell into their hands.

"I knew it!" said Fred, holding up the badge. "We knew you were a cert! Better be careful, people, or our deranged, nearly-expelled friend over here might come down hard on us."

"Looks like our law-breaking days are finally over," said George, with an exaggerated sigh. "We were doing so well."

Harry stared at his badge in shock. Maia snorted with laughter.

"Eet eez called a 'prefect badge', by ze way. Prefects wear zem."

Ron, however, hardly seemed surprised at the sight of the prefect badge in Harry's hand. He congratulated Harry and said that Dumbledore had made the right choice.

"Finally," said Fred, chortling. "It's about time you spoke some sense, Ron. We didn't think it was possible."

"Knock it off," said Harry, pinning the badge to his jacket. Fred snorted with laughter and made an exaggerated bow.

"Do forgive me, Sir Prefect. May this lowly peasant offer thee some advice and suggest that thou does not end up like a certain 'sibling' of ours? Please refrain from enlarging thou head and calling thyself 'Percy'."

They all laughed, including Maia. Then she spun around so fast that her black hair almost whipped Harry in the face, as Hermione came tearing into the room. Hermione spotted the badge on Harry's chest and let out a shriek.

"I knew it!" she said, brandishing her letter. "Me too, Harry! Me too!"

"Excellent!" said Maia, clapping her hands together. "I am 'oping zat you set a good example for zis boy. 'E needs to learn to live up to zat badge."

Hermione blinked, and frowned. "Erm, who are you?"

Ron chortled. "You're the only one in the dark here, Hermione. This is Maia Leroux. She's been homeschooled for most of her life, and decided to pop in after the whole Triwizard thing."

"Ohhh! Really?" Hermione gasped in delight, and shook Maia's right hand. "I didn't think we'd ever have a foreign student at Hogwarts, besides during the Tournament. But what are you doing here –"

The door behind her opened a little wider, and Mrs Weasley backed into the room carrying a pile of freshly laundered clothes. She congratulated Harry and Hermione over making prefect, and gave them each a tight hug. Then she said that she would head over to Diagon Alley that afternoon, and turned to face Maia.

"Are you sure about this? It could turn out to be a very long year for you."

Maia shrugged. "Eet eez OK. I am looking forward to everytheeng besides ze 'omework again. Or maybe zat will actually be fun too. 'Oo knows?"

Mrs Weasley blinked and chuckled. "You can drop the accent for now, dear. Save it for school."

Drop the accent? Harry thought. "Wait, are you –"

"Tonks, duh!" said Maia, throwing her hands up. "I'm surprised it took you this long to figure out. You did figure it out, right? Or did I jump the gun?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked shocked. Fred and George laughed at them (while Mrs Weasley left the room to carry on with her chores).

"Feeling proud of yourself, Ron?" Fred asked, raising his brows. "You just perved on Nymphadora Tonks, of all people."

Maia, or rather, Tonks, turned to face Fred in an instant. "And what does that mean, huh? You Eenglishmen are all so stupid and lack ze finesse of us French people. Hon, hon, hon!"

They all laughed. And when Hermione asked about the safety of Tonks's disguise, Tonks explained that as far as the Ministry was concerned, she was currently undercover in various countries, searching for Sirius Black.

"And what if the Ministry digs deeper to verify your identity?" Hermione asked.

"Already sorted," said Tonks. She proceeded to explain how Dumbledore and a few others, including Olympe Maxime, had pulled so many strings behind the scenes to create Tonks's identity. "Anytheeng else you wish to know?"

"You don't have to keep doing that accent for us," Harry said. Tonks shrugged.

"Eet eez easy when you are a Metamorphmagus. Now, rule number one, I don't want any of you to call me by any of my real names. Zat means no Nymphadora, Vulpecula, or Tonks, got eet?"

"Vulpecula?" Ron asked, looking just as surprised as Hermione and the others. "Is that your middle name or something?"

"Yeah," said Tonks, before switching back to her soothing (if not heavy) accent. "My fool of a maman, and even my papa, decided to give me zat. Talk about carrying on ze Black family naming-tradition. But never mind zat. I am Maia Leroux now, OK? Get zat in your teenaged skulls!"

"Technically," said Harry, "you're a teenager too now. Welcome to the club again."

Tonks snorted, and tilted her pretty little nose in the air. "'Mph! Don't expect me to go around sulking, and snogging people. Zat eez 'orrible. OK, now I am 'ungry. Let us go get some Eenglish food."

They left the room, sniggering.

That evening, Harry joined Hermione and the others for a small celebration in the basement kitchen. Mrs Weasley had hung a scarlet banner over the heavily laden dinner table, which read:

CONGRATULATIONS

HARRY AND HERMIONE

NEW PREFECTS

Harry felt an odd mix of fear and excitement upon seeing the banner. It didn't help that everyone was of the opinion that Dumbledore had chosen correctly, leaving Harry with a lot of pressure on his shoulders.

"Time to sink or swim," Tonks whispered in his right ear. She was still in her black-haired, blue-eyed Maia Leroux form. "Think of it as Auror practice in a way, though we aren't really policemen."

So with that in mind, Harry was determined to live up to the expectations. He couldn't risk making a fool of himself in front of Nymphadora Tonks.

"By the way," said Moody, interrupting Harry's thoughts at the table. "Authority figures always attract trouble. Best brush up on your duelling skills, Harry."

"He'll be fine," said Tonks. Sirius and Lupin both agreed.

"Let's hope he does a better job at reining in his friends than I did," said Lupin.

At some point, Harry ended up approaching Fred and George, who were huddled in a corner with Mundungus Fletcher.

"Blimey, 'ere comes the prefect," said Mundungus. "Can't remember 'ow many times I've been in detention back in the day."

"Nah, it's OK," said Fred. "Badge or not, Harry's still on our side. He's our financial backer, see?"

The conversation soon turned to Mundungus selling Venomous Tentacular seeds to Fred and George. Harry felt part ashamed, and part amused at helping the deal go through.

"Cheers, Harry!" said Fred, pocketing the seeds. "Nothing like a good bit of corruption, eh? Just don't end up like Fudge and the others."

After that, Harry wandered around for a while until being beckoned by Moody at the table. He wondered if Moody was about to scold him for aiding illegal activities, but Moody only ended up showing him a picture of the old Order of the Phoenix. Harry felt a rush of gratitude for the gesture, though he couldn't help feeling that he had a lot to live up to.

The next morning, after a troubled night's sleep involving his parents, the pressures of being prefect, and a mysterious corridor ending in a locked door, Harry almost jumped out of bed as he rushed to get ready. He joined the others on a twenty-minute walk to King's Cross station – at which Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny made their way onto platform nine and three-quarters. They were followed by an awestruck Tonks, who Harry made the first move in taking her to the Hogwarts Express.

"Think it went all right?" Harry whispered. Tonks nodded.

"Perfect, Monsieur."

Harry half rolled his eyes.

When the warning whistle sounded, Harry and the rest of the students rushed to climb aboard the scarlet steam engine. Harry tried to ignore the odd looks and hushed whispers he was getting as he passed numerous compartments. More than once, he overheard people questioning his fitness for prefect duty.

"What's Dumbledore thinking, making a nutter like him prefect?" one of the older Ravenclaw boys asked, as Harry passed their compartment. "He won't last a day."

"Just ignore them," Hermione muttered, though Harry was finding it increasingly difficult. "You're supposed to be setting an example, remember?"

Harry scoffed. "Tell that to Cornelius Fudge, not me."

It wasn't long until they found a suitable compartment for Ginny, Ron, and Tonks, which ended up being the very last one. Harry and Hermione then set off for the prefects' carriage upfront, where they joined the Head Students and the rest of the prefects for a lengthy meeting. Harry was hardly surprised to see none other than Draco Malfoy sitting with his chest puffed out, and a green and silver badge pinned to his robes.

"Well, well," Malfoy said to Harry once the meeting had finished. "Enjoy it while it lasts, Potter. Because something tells me Dumbledore won't be around much longer to play favourites."

The pug-faced Pansy Parkinson nodded at Malfoy's words. Harry waited for the rest of the compartment (including the other new prefects – Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott of Hufflepuff, and Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil of Ravenclaw) to file out before responding.

"Tell me," said Harry, speaking in a low tone in the nearly empty carriage. "Between Daddy and Voldemort, which one put more pressure on Snape to recommend you for prefect?"

Malfoy's face went paler than usual, and so did Pansy's. Hermione chose that moment to jump in.

"The competition must be nonexistent if you, of all people, could make prefect, Parkinson. Honestly, how low can those standards be?"

Pansy scowled. "Far higher than giving a Mudblood the badge. Right, Draco?"

Malfoy gave a smug grin at those words. "Yeah. Potter should know all about that, right? I wonder what other filthy Mudblood scum made Gryffindor prefect over the years?"

Harry's wand was out in a second, and so was Malfoy's.

"Just leave him," Hermione said, grabbing Harry by the arm. "He probably bought his way to prefect too, just like with Seeker." (Malfoy narrowed his eyes and tightened his lips.) "Let's get going, Harry."

But just as Harry started exiting the carriage, he heard Malfoy say something about dogging Ron's footsteps, in case he stepped out of line. It took Harry a few seconds to realise that Malfoy could have spotted Sirius at the station.

"I knew it was a bad idea bringing him along," Hermione said, as they made their way down the corridor. "He'd better not try anything like that again."

Harry agreed but said nothing. He remained silent until they returned to the last compartment, where Tonks was cracking all sorts of jokes in her heavy accent. But while Ginny, Neville, and Ron were having a good laugh, none could compare to the mysterious blonde girl. She let out a scream of mirth that terrified Hedwig and Crookshanks, and started rocking backwards and forwards, clutching her sides.

Mental, Harry thought.

And so he was introduced to Luna Lovegood.

Upon reaching Hogsmeade station, Harry was caught off guard by two things: the presence of Professor Grubbly-Plank over Hagrid, and the horseless stagecoaches no longer being that way. Instead, Harry saw some sort of black skeletal horse that reminded him of death.

"Thestrals," Tonks whispered, when she saw Harry staring open-mouthed. She gave a quick explanation about Thestrals, and said that she could see them, too. "They're not as bad as they look, really."

Relieved that he wasn't losing his mind and hallucinating, Harry followed Tonks to the nearest available carriage. They were joined by Ginny, Hermione, Luna, and Ron, the second of whom was complaining about Draco Malfoy.

"You should've seen him, Harry," said Hermione, as the Thestral made its way up to the castle gates. "I swear I'm going to report him. He's only had his badge for three minutes, and he's already using it to bully people worse than ever –"

"What's wrong?" Ron asked Harry, as the latter sat in silence beside Tonks. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Tonks looked at Ron and gave a slight shrug. "Close enough. 'Arry's just seen 'is first Zestral." (Ron gave a slight snort of laughter, likely at Tonks's accent.)

Hermione tried to comfort Harry by saying that he wasn't the only one who could see them, while Tonks had to explain what a Thestral was to Ginny, Ron, and Luna.

"I can see them too," said Luna, smiling. Then she gave a quick explanation of how her mother had passed away. "They're quite lovely, actually. Oh, by the way, how's your Sorting going to work, Maia?"

Tonks creased her brows in thought. "I theenk I will do eet in private. After all, eet eez not everyday zat a foreign student comes to 'Ogwarts."

"Yeah," said Harry, nodding, "I've never seen any besides the Triwizard Tournament. Most people prefer to attend their own schools."

A few minutes later, the Thestral stopped at the castle gates. Harry climbed out of his carriage and stared at the mass of students heading for the sloping lawns.

"Not looking forward to it, eh?" Tonks whispered. "Look on the bright side. At least that badge will make people think twice. Well, some people anyway."

Harry smiled. "I just wish Malfoy wasn't a prefect. Would've been great putting him in his place."

"Ah well," said Tonks in a low tone. "You win some, you lose some. That's life."