Ron took to practising at the goalposts later that day. He made some good saves against Harry and Tonks, but immediately started faltering once some of the other students (particularly Fred and George) started showing up. This was a clear warning sign to Harry, who resolved to find some way to boost his best friend's confidence.

"He's got a lot of talent," Harry told Tonks, as they climbed the sloping lawns later that afternoon (Ron had stayed behind with the Cleansweep Eleven). "But his brothers really drag him down."

"Yeah, no kidding," said Tonks. She was speaking in a less-heavy accent, as there was nobody around the overhear (she double-checked with a non-verbal Human-Presence-Revealing Spell). "Fred and George have always been like that, taking the piss out of everyone. Bill and Charlie were much nicer."

"No wonder they made prefect," Harry said.

Unfortunately, the topic soon changed as Tonks alerted Harry to a few students up ahead. Harry sighed as he came across Draco Malfoy and a few other Slytherins at the front doors.

"Oh look," said Malfoy, readjusting his prefect badge. "If it isn't the deranged prefect and our misguided guest. Leroux, was it? Do yourself a favour and stay away from Potter. He's bad news all around."

Harry kept his hand in his pocket, ready to whip out his wand at a moment's notice. "Look who's talking. Don't you have first-years to bully or something?"

"I don't know what rubbish you've been feeding your new friend," said Malfoy, his upper lip curled in a sneer, "but I'm sure she'll see you for the idiot you are soon enough."

The Slytherins (including Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, and a few others) sniggered. Harry battled to suppress the growing rage in his chest.

"So, how's Voldemort treating Mummy and Daddy?" he asked, at which Malfoy's grin slid from his face. "Has he moved in yet, or is he still working from home?"

Malfoy frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about, Scarhead. There's no You-Know-Who in our manor."

"Exactly," said Pansy, eyeing Harry in a disgusted manner. "He's lost his mind after the Tournament. Imagine thinking You-Know-Who's really back."

"Regardless," said Tonks, speaking in her heavy accent once again. "'Arry Potter eez still a winner of ze Triwizard Tournament. From what I've 'eard, 'e eez pretty talented."

The Slytherins guffawed. Malfoy shook his head and said, "I don't know where you get your news from, but that's definitely not true. Potter's a waste of space."

"Agreed," said Pansy, nodding. "You're not doing yourself any favours by hanging out with him. What are you anyway? A pure-blood?"

Tonks gave this some thought before saying that she was a half-blood. The Slytherins (including half-bloods Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode) sneered.

"That explains a lot," said Daphne Greengrass, wrinkling her nose. "But at least it's better than being a Mudblood."

Malfoy shot Greengrass a warning look, but it was too late.

"Fifteen points from Slytherin, Greengrass," Harry said. He'd been looking forward to docking points from Snape's house ever since the holidays. "Should I add detention?"

"Like I said on the train," said Malfoy, narrowing his eyes. "Enjoy it while it lasts, Potter. These are ... interesting times after all."

"Get lost," said Harry.

When the coast was clear, Tonks gave a snort of laughter as she turned to look at Harry. "Three years of Auror training only to get into a schoolyard argument again," she said. "You're really dragging me down, aren't you?"

Harry felt his anger subside as he saw the look of amusement on Tonks's face. "I'm more than used to this already. Malfoy's the worst."

"Well, at least he isn't lying," said Tonks, as they approached the front doors. "We know for a fact that You-Know-Who isn't operating out of Malfoy Manor."

"Probably his father's place," said Harry. "Has Dumbledore made a move on Little Hangleton yet?"

Unfortunately, Tonks wasn't at liberty to tell Harry much about the Order. He shot her a scathing glare, which she returned with a shrug and a slight smile.

"No hard feelings, I hope?"

Harry frowned. "And here I thought you, of all people, would at least be honest with me. I don't like being left in the dark."

"Dumbledore's orders, sorry."

"Screw Dumbledore," said Harry. Tonks rolled her deep blue eyes.

"Now you're starting to sound like a typical teenager, Harry. Don't sink to that level."

Much like at Grimmauld Place, Harry felt a burning sense of anger and frustration within. He felt the urge to let loose and yell at Tonks, which she spotted in an instant.

"Calm yourself," she said, as they entered the empty Entrance Hall. She cast a non-verbal Human-Presence-Revealing Spell, and carried on speaking. "Focus on your studies first, and leave the rest to us. You're not doing yourself any favours by stressing over You-Know-Who."

"At least say his name," said Harry, feeling rather disappointed in Tonks. But she ignored the remark and carried on walking towards the marble staircase.

"We could always do some Shield Charm studies, if you want," she said. Harry agreed.

Nothing much happened on Sunday. Harry spent a fair bit of time wandering around, flying in the stadium, and practising some duelling with Tonks. She was eager to get their lessons underway, especially as Gryffindor would have their double Defence Against the Dark Arts session the following afternoon.

"I'd like to see what Umbridge has in store for this school," Tonks said, while sharing an empty classroom with Harry. "If there's anyone who might need investigating, it's her. There's something off about that woman."

The longer Tonks spoke about doing investigations and surveillance, the more Harry was beginning to understand the ins and outs of Auror work. It wasn't so much a case of policing the wizarding world and fighting one Dark wizard after another, but rather doing some intricate office-work in addition to elite-level duties. The average infringements were dealt with by the regular workers in the Department of Law Enforcement, including Mr Weasley.

"We're the crème de la crème," said Tonks. She was sitting on a desk, kicking her legs, while Harry was paging through a defensive spellbook. "The top Ministry-dogs in battle."

Harry took his eyes off a paragraph on Protego Totalum, and looked up at Tonks. "And what if you can't take your target?"

"Then you get more Aurors," said Tonks.

"And if that doesn't work? Let's say one of Voldemort's top Death Eaters takes down many Aurors at once?"

Tonks gave a low whistle. "In a straight-up fight? Doubtful. But I guess you'd then need someone on the level of Mad-Eye in his prime. Or perhaps someone in the gap between between him and Dumbledore."

Harry snorted. "If Dumbledore's so great, why didn't he stop Voldemort in the first war?"

"Because You-Know-Who never exposed himself to the point of taking on Dumbledore directly," said Tonks. "He only came out to deal with certain threats."

"What a coward," said Harry. Tonks agreed.

"Yeah, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to take on Albus Dumbledore, if I was a Dark wizard."

"Don't you mean 'witch'?" Harry asked. Tonks shrugged.

"Eh, Dark wizard's the common term, I guess."

The next morning at breakfast, Professor McGonagall came around to hand out the Gryffindors' timetables. Harry and the others took a good look at their schedules, but found themselves getting distracted by Fred and George's talk about opening a joke shop. Hermione tried to get an idea of where they might come across the required gold, though Tonks (who Harry had confided in) was quick to steer the conversation out of these dangerous waters.

"What a nice, busy schedule," she said, running her eyes down the list. "'Ow eez zis 'Istory of Magic class we 'ave first?"

"Terrible," said Ron, eyeing his timetable in a grumpy manner. "And it only gets worse from there. The Potions teacher hates us all."

"The feeling's mutual," said Harry without a doubt. Hermione frowned at Ron and turned to look at Tonks.

"Don't mind him. History of Magic is a fascinating class in which we can learn many lessons from the past."

Parvati scoffed beside Hermione. "Binns? Fascinating? Only you would say that."

True to Ron's words, History of Magic turned out to be as terrible as ever. Hermione and Tonks ended up being the only students capable of withstanding Binns's soporific voice, though Tonks was in no mood to suffer through this class again.

"I'm skiving off," she whispered to Harry in the corridors, when they left for break. "You can join me, if you want."

Hermione overheard the conversation and shot Harry a stern look. "You can't skip classes! You're a prefect!"

Harry ignored Hermione and asked to be tutored by Tonks in private. "Bet you'd make a far more interesting teacher than old Binns."

"Can I join too?" Ron asked. Tonks accepted the offer and said that she would teach all three of them in private, during Binns's classes. Hermione refused unless Tonks moved her tuition to a more suitable time.

"Remind me to buy you something at Hogsmeade," Harry told Tonks, much to Ron's and Tonks's amusement. "Now, if only you could take over from Snape ..."

"Not a chance," said Tonks. Hermione agreed.

"You'd think the git would be happy to be rid of us," Ron said, referring to Snape. "Mind you, he's never happy."

When they reached the courtyard during break, there was a fine, misty drizzle falling. People were standing in huddles around the yard, while Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Tonks chose a secluded corner beneath a heavily dripping balcony. They had just started talking about Snape's potential curriculum when a familiar face approached Harry.

"Hello, Harry!" said Cho Chang, who was without her usual group of girls that day. But that wasn't the only thing which took Harry by surprise, and neither was the fact that Cho was actually speaking to Harry, as opposed to loathing him after Cedric's death.

I must be going mental. There's no other reason.

The biggest surprise was that while Cho was still as pretty as ever, Harry didn't feel half as taken by her as last year. Sure, he felt a warm tingle through his body upon seeing her (and her smile), but Harry's mind immediately settled upon Tonks, and dampened it. Funnily enough, this made Harry far more comfortable in Cho's presence (especially compared to when he'd tried to ask her to the Yule Ball).

"Hi," said Harry. His calm and composed tone was being scrutinised by a thoughtful Hermione on his right. "Had a good summer?"

Cho's face seemed to tauten as she said, "Oh, it was all right, you know ..."

And then Harry felt foolish for bringing this topic up, considering Cedric's death. Fortunately, Ron changed the topic to Cho's choice of Quidditch team, the Tutshill Tornadoes, much to the frustration of Hermione.

"You are so tactless!" Hermione told Ron, once Cho had left. She proceeded to scold Ron over failing to see that Cho was hoping to speak to Harry on her own, rather than be dragged into a nonsensical – and aggressive – topic of Quidditch.

"She has a point, though," said Tonks, speaking in a near whisper. "Wasn't it her boyfriend who got killed? It's obvious she wanted to get some closure from Harry."

"Exactly!" said Hermione, glaring at Ron. She looked up once the bell rang, and shooed Ron away. "Don't walk next to me, you tactless moron! Go walk with Maia!" (Tonks chortled.)

And so, while Ron backed off from Hermione, the latter approached Harry and spoke in a whisper as they walked.

"I can tell that something's changed," she said. Harry glanced at her in a quizzical manner.

"What do you mean?"

"You're far less nervous around Cho this year," Hermione said. "Am I right?"

Harry chose to ignore this conversation and drift towards Ron and Tonks. He could almost feel Hermione analysing him as they walked all the way down to the Potions classroom, in the dungeons.

At least she can't read minds or anything.

That was true, for if Hermione could read what was going on in Harry's head, she would have seen Harry's thoughts drifting towards Tonks. There was something about her first two appearances – the violet-haired and pink-haired ones – which had caught Harry's interest in no time. Then again, her black-haired form with its Fleur-ish features wasn't too bad either.

But it wasn't just Tonks's looks which had captured Harry's attention (Tonks was pretty; there was no denying it). Harry couldn't shake the fuzzy feeling which had built up over the holidays, particularly in response to the manner in which Tonks had understood both Harry and Sirius so well. The dungeons felt a lot less cold as Harry thought about his conversations with Tonks over the holidays, and how she'd checked up on him from time to time.

"Settle down," said Snape in a cold manner, once the trio and Tonks had entered. They settled into their seats at the back, with Tonks getting looks of scorn and derision from the Slytherins.

Must be jealous or something, Harry thought, as he saw the Slytherin girls looking at Tonks as if she were made of dung. It was quite ironic, actually, considering that Pansy and her gang ranged from average to troll. Tonks, however, couldn't care less.

"I don't have time for stupid little blood-purists," she whispered.

As expected, Snape gave a stern talk on the O.W.L.s. before starting today's lesson. He barely paid any attention to Tonks as the class got started on their Draughts of Peace, though he did whisper a snide remark as he came to stand behind Harry.

"I'd better not catch you piggybacking your way through my class, Potter. Dumbledore may have approved of this assignment, but be warned that I shall be watching you and your new 'friend' closely."

Harry remained focused on his ingredients, his cauldron, and the blackboard. He worked as hard as he could to prove that he wasn't about to copy Tonks, and achieved a near-silvery vapour on his potion by the end (as opposed to the shimmering, silver vapours covering Tonks's and Hermione's potions). Unfortunately (and as Harry had expected), Snape found a way to turn even Harry's best efforts against him.

"As expected," said Snape, looking down into Harry's cauldron. "Five points from Gryffindor for attempting to piggyback on Miss Leroux over here."

The Slytherins were barely able to contain their sniggers. Malfoy was looking particularly pleased.

Next, Snape swept over to Ron's cauldron, which was spitting green sparks. Snape mocked both Ron's and Neville's efforts before deducting five points each. Harry had a strong suspicion that Snape had deducted fifteen points in total as payback for Harry's deduction on Greengrass.

"That was really unfair," Hermione told Harry after class, as they made their way through the labyrinthine dungeon corridors. "Personally, I think you did an excellent job for your first potion of the year. It could've used some improvements, sure, but it was light-years ahead of the Slytherins."

Harry snorted with laughter. "Now you're just exaggerating. It wasn't that good."

"Zat Snape man eez awful towards you," Tonks told Harry.

"He's awful towards most people who aren't in Slytherin," said Parvati behind Hermione. "I did warn you last night, didn't I?"

"Maybe she forgot," said Lavender beside her. "After all, she studies almost as much as Hermione, and in her own private room too. Looks like someone's days are numbered on top."

Hermione ignored her sniggering roommates. Then she glanced at Harry and said, "How are things between you and Seamus?"

"Don't even ask," said Harry, as they rounded a corner in the dungeons corridor. "I don't have time for prats."

"Same here," said Ron. "But Snape sure went on the attack with those house points, didn't he?"

Tonks snorted. "Eet eez probably because 'Arry took fifteen points from zat stupid Daphne Greengrass girl for using ze word 'Mudblood', over ze weekend."

"Should've taken more," said Ron. Hermione huffed.

"I would've given her detention as well. That's an awful word to use."

Given that double Potions had lasted from half past ten until noon, Harry and the others reached the Great Hall at around ten past twelve. They crammed themselves full and left for their next class at around twenty minutes to one, which afforded them plenty of time to walk.

"I still say you should've taken Ancient Runes instead," Hermione told Tonks, as the group set off for their next classes. "Divination is a waste of time."

Tonks glanced over her shoulder and saw that the other students were well out of earshot, in the Entrance Hall. "Not really. It's great to come back to a class that I used to enjoy, even if it is a bit silly. Let's just hope Trelawney's Inner Eye doesn't blow my cover in front of the whole class."

Harry and the others laughed, but Hermione looked surprisingly tense.

"That's a good point, actually. I mean, Harry did get an actual prediction from her that one time."

Harry felt a rush of anger upon remembering Trelawney's words back in third year. If they'd caught Peter Pettigrew back then, everything would've been different now.

"Cedric wouldn't've died if we'd stopped Wormtail from escaping," Harry said, clenching his fist. "And Voldemort wouldn't've regained his body."

"And Sirius would've been freed," said Ron. Hermione glared at him.

"That's not helping! All you're doing is making him feel worse over this whole thing!"

Tonks warned them to keep shut, as a few students were coming up from behind.

"Well," said Hermione, when they'd reached the top of the marble staircase. "I'd better be off to Ancient Runes. Don't complain if Trelawney bores you to death."

"Still better than Runes, though," said Ron. Hermione shot him another nasty glare, as she rushed down the first-floor corridor. "What? It's the truth. Who cares about a long-dead language anyway?"

Tonks shrugged. "Eet could be useful for curse-breaking and stuff at a later stage. But uzzer zan zat, eet eez mostly just translation now. I am surprised you did not take Arithmancy, 'Arry."

"What?" Harry glanced at Tonks, and furrowed his brows. "Why would I want to take that? It's dull."

"Yeah," said Ron, as they set off for Divination. "There's much better things to do than work with numbers and stuff. I'd rather practise Quidditch than suffer through numerology or whatever."

Tonks cast a quick Human-Presence-Revealing Spell before speaking. "Fair point. I mean, I took Divination and Muggle Studies, and still made Auror. Just make sure you're brilliant at Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, and Defence, at least. And since you need at least five Exceeds Expectations to be considered, I'd suggest getting at least two more or perhaps an Outstanding."

"Easier said than done," said Ron, shooting Harry a fearful look. "No pressure, eh?"

When they reached Divination, the trio of Harry, Ron, and Tonks took their seats and paged through their books. Professor Trelawney welcomed them all and said that she had foreseen Tonks's arrival, though she didn't seem to realise who she was.

"Your name, dear?" Trelawney asked. "I'm afraid the Seeing Eye has failed to inform me of your identity. Such is the burden of Sight at times."

"Maia Leroux" said Tonks. She stomped Harry's foot beneath the table, just as he was about to laugh. "Eet eez a pleasure to be in zis class, Professor Trelawney. I 'ave 'eard good theengs about you."

"You have?" Trelawney blinked behind her enormous glasses. "Oh, but of course you did! I am the descendant of the great Cassandra Trelawney after all!"

"Nice," said Ron, as Trelawney walked away looking pleased with herself. Ron was sitting at the table to the left of Harry's (at which Neville soon took the other seat). "That'd keep her off our backs for a while. Might even mean less homework."

They spent the bulk of their lesson reading the introduction of The Dream Oracle, after which there was only ten minutes left to do some actual interpretation. Harry and Tonks spoke about all manner of dreams, though Harry was hesitant to mention his recurring one about long dark corridors.

I'd rather she not think I'm mental.

When the bell rang, Ron's hopes were smashed as Professor Trelawney set them the task of keeping a dream diary for a month. He grumbled on the way down the ladder, especially as Professors Binns and Snape had already assigned them homework as well.

"Wish I had it as easy as you," Ron whispered to a smug-looking Tonks.

From what Tonks had said, Professors McGonagall and Snape (being members of the Order) had agreed to overlook her homework and even accept blank or nonsensical rolls of parchment, provided that Tonks kept the ruse going, herself. However, if Tonks wished to hand in an actual assignment for whatever reason, Snape and McGonagall would accept it as well. The other professors, however, were not in on the ruse, which meant that Tonks wasn't without her share of homework, too.

"Enough complaining," she said in a low voice, as they walked down the seventh-floor corridor. "Let's do History straight after dinner."

"But –"

"No 'buts'," Tonks told Ron. "The sooner you get it done, the better. Quit procrastinating."

Ron groaned as he turned to look at Harry. "Makes you wonder if this isn't Hermione under some Polyjuice and a Time-Turner, eh?"

"She's got a point, though," said Harry. "Let's just get our first assignment of the year out of the way. If there's time, maybe we can get started on Snape's too."

"Now you're talking," said Tonks, smiling.

Last but not least for the day, the trio rejoined Hermione on the first floor, where they entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom together. Professor Umbridge drilled them on greeting their teachers properly, once they'd sat down. Then she ordered them to put their wands away and take out their quills. Harry exchanged a dark look with Tonks beside him at the back.

"Don't screw up," Tonks whispered.

Next, Professor Umbridge gave a lengthy speech regarding the standard of teaching at Hogwarts, and the O.W.L.s. Then she rapped the blackboard with her wand and had them copy down the three course-aims, after which the class was told to read chapter one of their Defensive Magical Theory textbooks. Surprisingly, Hermione refused to read the chapter at all, and she raised her hand while staring at Professor Umbridge. It reached the point where nearly all ten Gryffindors plus Tonks were watching Hermione's mute attempt at catching Professor Umbridge's eye, at which point Professor Umbridge could no longer ignore the situation.

"Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" Professor Umbridge asked. Hermione said that she had a query about the course aims, at which Professor Umbridge asked for Hermione's name, and explained that the course aims were perfectly clear if one read them through carefully.

"But there's nothing written up there about using defensive spells," Hermione said. This elicited a passive-aggressive response from Professor Umbridge, who stressed the importance of learning defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way.

This is ridiculous, Harry told himself, as he saw Professor Umbridge smiling in an overly sweet manner at the class, having shot down Hermione's query. I can't just sit here doing nothing!

But just as Harry was about to raise his left arm, Tonks grabbed it the moment Harry so much as moved an inch. There was nothing but silence until Parvati raised her hand.

"And your name is?" Professor Umbridge asked.

"Parvati Patil," said Parvati. "I was just wondering whether there's a practical component to our O.W.L. examinations, Professor. Shouldn't we be able to show that we can actually do the counter-curses and things?"

Professor Umbridge explained that as long as they studied the theory well enough, there was no reason why they shouldn't be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions. Many students exchanged looks of disbelief, at which Professor Umbridge said that if anyone wished to speak, they ought to first raise their hand.

Ron raised his hand. "So, we're not going to be practising them at all? Our first time's going to be in the exam?"

"Your name?"

"Ron Weasley."

Professor Umbridge repeated what she'd told Parvati about studying the theory. Harry couldn't help noticing Professor Umbridge glancing in his direction every now and then.

"Are there any more questions?" she asked, once again glancing in Harry's direction. Even Ron was looking at Harry at this point. "No? Well then, kindly continue your reading. Page five, 'Basics for Beginners'."

At this point, Tonks finally relinquished her grip on Harry's left arm. Harry found it surprising that he hadn't simply raised his other arm to speak. After all, it wasn't as if Tonks had bewitched him or anything.

"Well done," Tonks whispered a few seconds later, when Professor Umbridge was fiddling with some notes on her desk. "I know it's hard, but try to hold out until the end of class."

"I don't know how long I can just sit here saying nothing," Harry whispered. He felt like a balloon that was about to burst. "They need to know the truth!"

Tonks said nothing, as Professor Umbridge had finished sorting out her notes. Professor Umbridge gave them all an overly sweet smile as the class continued to read (or daydream) in silence. Then she quizzed them on some of the chapter's content before assigning them the next one in this overly long textbook.

It was maddening, to say the least.