That Most Lonely Thing
Chapter Four
I own nothing, I'm just playing for awhile.
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It was easy enough to find his way back to the auror's department. Even though he had taken a different route to reach it the night before it didn't matter, there were signs at each intersection pointing him towards it. He wasn't sure whether whoever had put them up did so because they assumed that it was the most important section of the ministry and so wanted to make it as easy as possible to find, or if the signs were simply charmed to point whoever was looking at them in the direction they wanted to go, but so long as they got him there quickly he didn't really give a damn about the whys behind them. He just hoped what he had to do here would be quick; he didn't relish the thought of spending hours sitting around giving a detailed account of an event that couldn't have lasted more then fifteen minutes tops.
When he reached the doors to the the Department of Magical Law Enforcement he paused for a moment, going over the events of the previous evening. If Mad-Eye Moody was in there, and if he'd heard that Harry'd been attacked he was almost sure he would be, he really wasn't in the mood for a lecture on the necessity of constant vigilance, so he wanted to picture everything as clearly as possible before going in. When he was sure he had a clear enough mental image he took a deep breath and pushed open the door.
"Wotcher Harry!" Before he'd even fully opened the door Tonks was upon him, dragging him through and pushing him into a chair. He couldn't help but stare at her as he sat; her hair was currently a particularly bilious shade of lime green, her eyes bright orange, and she was very darkly tanned. The result was odd looking, even for her. She noticed him staring and grinned, striking a pose. "I just got back from Bermuda, can you tell Harry? Had a vacation due and figured I better take it before the war really heats up and no one's allowed off of active duty. Two full weeks of doing nothing but lying around on the beach."
The receptionist, whom he hadn't noticed before but now saw was Miss. Allard from the previous night, snorted and caught his eye. "She never even left London. She just spent the time visiting her mum, then made herself tan when she came back to make people jealous with that silly story."
"Hey!" Tonks glared, her eyes turning a bright red that made Harry think of the colored contacts the goth boy down the road wore rather then making her seem very threatening. "Do I ruin your fun, Elly?"
Elly just smirked, and went back to her work.
"Tonks," Harry broke in now that he had a chance, "isn't Moody around?"
She grinned at him again, eyes lightning back to orange, and said , "Thought he would be, didn't you? And he was, ever since he's come out of retirement he does his best to take over everything dealing with Voldemort. You're lucky I stopped in for a minute this morning or it would be him here. When I learned what happened I convinced him that his mug wasn't something anyone wanted to see first thing in the morning, especially after they've already been through a trying experience within that same day."
"Hey, thanks. So, what do you need to know?"
"Uh, let's see." She pulled out a parchment and briefly looked over it, then grabbed a quill and unrolled it to a blank section. When she spoke she suddenly sounded much more professional then she normally did. "So, you saw one of them trip into a light for a second, then escaped by flying off with your invisibility cloak on?"
"That's right. There's a window in the roof that I could open up without them seeing it for the street, so I grabbed some things and wrapped my cloak tight around me and my broom, then snuck through it."
"Lucky you that there weren't any in the air then. So, you flew all the way here like that?"
"No, just a few blocks. Then I landed and called the Knight Bus. It was too hard to fly with the bristles wrapped up."
For a second she broke out of auror mode and smiled at him. "Too bad. If you'd made it all that way you would've won quite a bit of respect from any professional flyers that heard about it, and helped your chances of getting into a top team a little if you decided to play Quidditch professionally. Even when you're really good it's still damn hard to fly with no wind reaching your broom." Harry wondered if he should be insulted that that was the second time in the past day that someone that knew him had assumed he had plans to be a Quidditch player for the rest of his life, but decided it wasn't worth it to be as he watched her make a note, then call over to Elly, "Hey, Elly! Get in touch with the Knight Bus offices and tell them we need the stop in Little Whinging at around nine-thirty deleted from the records. Tell them it's an emergency."
"I used a fake name. It's not like they can just look up where Harry Potter went!"
"Smart a move as the was Harry, if they have the sense to look, our enemies are smart enough to realise that the person who got picked up from your area right at the time they were failing to catch you was you, and to look right across the column to see where you went."
"But I've hardly been hiding the fact that I'm in Diagon Alley! It's not like they're going to attack me here!"
"That might be true, if Voldemort isn't quite to the point where he wants you dead so badly that he doesn't mind losing the followers that would surely get captured in the process of killing you in the middle of the Alley, but it also says right here that you stopped and warned your aunt and uncle not to go home. They will realise that since your family never came home last night that that mysterious other stop must have been to where they were, and then it would just be a matter of checking the hotels in the area. We could stake out all the hotels ourselves and wait for them to show, but considering that our department is already spread very thin until the recruits from other departments are out of training we don't want to get into any unneeded confrontations at the moment. So, unless you really wish them dead, we're getting that stop erased from the record."
He glowered at her for a long moment, angry that she was talking at him like this when he thought she was his friend and she knew he'd had a bad night. She glared right back at him, eyes once more red, looking like there was no way in hell she was backing down. Finally he needed to look away, and the tense mood broke as he said, "Fine. You're right."
"Good! I'm glad you can admit it!" Tonks smiled happily, for all the world as though their stare off had never even happened. For a moment Harry felt almost envious of how easily she seemed to shake her anger off, he knew his life would probably be easier if he could do the same. In light of that thought he couldn't even bring himself to sulk like he normally would, because she was in the right, and if she didn't seem to continue harboring any bad feelings then what right had he to do so? "You weren't lucky enough to catch one of them taking off their mask for a second to scratch their nose or anything so you could identify them, were you?"
"Uh, no. Does that happen?"
"More often then you'd think. Apparently those things are very unpleasant to wear for very long. Voldemort doesn't seem to believe in allowing charms to make them more comfortable, he's very much a suffering builds strength type. There's only so long someone can stand wearing one of those things before they need to get some air to their faces, especially if he's not actually there. Let's see now, you said you're staying in the alley right now?"
"Yes, at the Leaky Cauldron."
"I thought that place was booked solid."
"It was. Percy Weasley's lending me his couch at the moment. I'm planning on writing Dumbledore later to see if I can head to Hogwarts, or one of the inns at Hogsmeade."
"Percy, eh? That must be tough to stand."
"Actually, it's been surprisingly decent so far. I don't know if he's loosened up a bit or is just trying to be friendly to be a good host or what, but he hasn't even been annoying yet, let alone made me want to smack him hard enough to dislodge his head from his ass."
"Really? Lucky you. All right, that's really most of what I needed to ask. Everything else I can figure out easily enough from what you already told me, so you don't really need me to ask them. I'm supposed to warn you not to do anything dangerous, or to go anywhere that's not crowded. I do need to know if you're planning on heading into the muggle world for any reason, since you won't be protected there."
"Yeah, this afternoon. I didn't bring any other clothes, so I need to go shopping."
"Really?" She grinned widely and clapped her hands together. "Well then, I guess I don't need to get someone assigned to guard you at all! I'll just go with you!"
"Is that really necessary, Tonks?"
"It's either that, or someone follows you around all day long to make sure they don't miss your leaving the Alley. Come on, it'll be fun. And honestly Harry, don't you think it would be better to have a feminine eye with you to make sure you don't buy anything horribly unbecoming?"
Harry thought that considering Tonks rarely even seemed to manage to keep her eyes from clashing with her hair he probably was better off on his own really, but didn't have the heart to tell her when she looked so excited about the idea. And really, if this spared him from needing to even try to ditch an auror sent to protect him, it was worth it. "Okay. I'm going to do some shopping around the Alley first, and am going to need to get some money exchanged at Gingotts, but I'll be free after that. Maybe we could meet up for lunch at the Cauldron at one or so then go find a store?"
"That's perfect. Since I had to take the whole morning shift to get Moody out of here I'll be here until twelve, so that'll give me enough time to run to Gringotts myself."
"So, is that all?" "Not unless you don't want to know what we found at your house. You do want to know, don't you?"
"Oh, yeah. Was it bad?"
Tonks rolled back to the beginning of the parchment and skimmed it quickly before saying, "No, you're lucky. Nothing was permanently broken, and our men fixed everything that was damaged so your aunt and uncle wouldn't need to take care of it. All the doorknobs in the house except for your's and your cousin's were cursed, and those two were transformed into portkeys. The curses were removed, and we replaced the portkeys and are attempting to trace where they go. The aurors investigating want another day to make sure they've caught all the curses, but after that it'll be safe to let your family go back home." Then she smirked at him, eyes glittering, "Best of all, three of the Death Eaters there were caught. We don't believe any of them were very high ranking, anyone there that was would have left when they realised no one was home and left the peons to take care of the cursing, but we're interrogating them to see what they know. And don't worry, unlike the last time around we aren't going to let anyone go just because we got some names out of them."
"Great! So, I'll just send an owl to the Dursleys letting them know not to go home until tomorrow, and everything will be alright, right?"
"That's right. If anyone's still around when they come home they'll make themselves scarce. We made sure everyone knows that your family has, uh, issues with the wizarding world, and not to let themselves be seen."
"Thank you, Tonks." Then he snorted and continued, "Of course, they've probably already put the house on the market and are halfway to Abu Dhabi by now in an attempt to get away from the evil 'freaks' that've gone so far as attacking their house."
Tonks' smile faltered for a second, then came back but it looked a little strained. "Well, that takes care of things. I'll see you this afternoon then."
"See you then!"
Harry left the room in a even better mood then he'd been in when he entered it. The interrogation had been much easier then he'd assumed it would be, and the fact that he'd narrowly avoided being stuck talking to Moody made things even better. Then there was the capturing of the Death Eaters; three less people out on the streets who were after his life. All in all everything had been going better that one day then it had been for months.
He quickly made his way back to the lobby, finding out as he did so that the signs did indeed change to show people the way to the place they were going to as the same ones that had earlier shown him the way to the auror's department were now pointing him back to the entrance. Not that he needed them now, he remembered his way back out easily enough.
When he reached the reception desk the woman there, Ms. Davis he remembered Percy saying, called out to him, "Excuse me sir!"
Harry winced, assuming that she'd figured out who he was in the time since he'd come in and wanted an autograph or something equally inane. Still, he went over to her just in case she actually wanted something job related, like him needing to sign a form saying he'd been in. If that were the case he thought he probably shouldn't ignore her. As he approached her, giving her her first good view of his face, her eyes widened and he winced again, realising that until just then she actually hadn't known it was him. To her credit, instead of immediately enthusing over how wonderful it was to meet him she quickly schooled her expression back into one of friendly professionalism. "Yes?" he said when he reached her.
"I'm sorry to bother you, Mr. Potter," she said, eyes flickering to his scar for a minute then down to meet his eyes. "I just saw you coming in with Mr. Weasley this morning, and was wondering if the two of you were close friends. I've never actual seen him joke with another person before, and couldn't resist asking you about it when I saw you come out."
Harry only resisted sighing aloud because he didn't want to appear rude. Ever since meeting Rita Skeeter and learning how terribly rumors could be twisted he could never stand gossipers, and he could already tell gossip was what she was after. "I know Percy at school my first few years, and his brother is a good friend of mine. Last night I tried getting a room at the Leaky Cauldron but they're full, luckily he was there and offered me his couch for a day or two until I can find a room somewhere else. He got me out of a tight spot, that's all." He tried spinning the truth in the most boring way he could, knowing that if refused to answer she'd come up with some ridiculous reason behind the two of them spending time together and talk about it with everyone she knew. From the obvious disappointment in her eyes he knew that he was right and that she really wished he had told her something more interesting. He probably had still told her a bit to much in mentioning he was staying at Percy's place, but at least he could hope that any rumors that started when people noticed the two of them coming and going from the same room would be quashed within the Ministry. It was a little silly to even think of people thinking the two of them were together, but he's almost gotten used to the fact that that was likely to happen with anyone he was seen spending time with, and he didn't want rumors like that to get spread around the place Percy worked. Harry wasn't sure exactly what the wizarding world's views on homosexuality were, other then the fact that all of his friends had assured him that they had no problem with him seeing Ron when that rumor had flown around the year before, but even if they had no problem with it normally he was sure they'd have issues with the fact that Harry was underaged. He didn't want Percy to be fired because people were saying he was a paedophile, even when they were only four years apart in age. "Is that all you needed?"
"Oh. Yes. Have a nice day, Mr. Potter."
"You too, Ms. Davis. Good-bye." Harry turned to leave, then a thought struck him and he almost slapped himself before turning back to Ms. Davis. "I'm going to need to go to Percy's office quickly, is that alright?"
"That's fine. I'm sure no one will bother you for wandering around. Do you know where to go?"
"I'll be fine, thank you." He quickly turned and began walking away, going as quickly as he could without worrying about getting told off for running. He mentally berated himself for being an idiot as he made his way to Percy's office for the second time within a day. Luckily when he reached it he found he was only intruding on paperwork, and there wasn't someone else there.
Percy blinked up at him when he barged in. "Harry? Are you planning on making a habit of visiting me at work or something?"
"Uh, no. Sorry to barge in on you, but I just realised that I don't have a key to your room, and I need to get in to get my Gringotts key."
"Oh!" Percy quickly scrambled for a blank parchment and a quill. As he quickly wrote something down he said, "I should have thought of that, but I was in such a rush this morning that in never crossed my mind that you wouldn't be able to get into the room on your own. Just one minute." He finished writing, pulled out his wand, and touched it lightly to the parchment, leaving behind his lightly glowing initials, then folded it and handed it to Harry. "There, give that to Tom and he'll give you a spare key."
"Thanks! See you tonight."
Percy was already turning back to his work. "Good-bye. Could you please shut the door behind you on the way out?"
"Sure." Harry left, shoving the letter in his pocket as he did so. There were no more interruptions keeping him from leaving, and soon he was back outside in the Alley and walking quickly back to the Leaky Cauldron. With the letter Percy gave him he had no troubles getting a key, then getting his key and his money pouch with the small handful of spare sickles and knuts he had left over from the summer before. He had enough to buy maybe a school book or two, but nothing more, so he really needed to get to Gringotts first thing. It was a good thing he'd remembered he wouldn't be able to get back into the room before he'd walked all the way back to the Cauldron, and eaten up more of the time he had before needing to meet up with Tonks.
The trip to Gringotts was uneventful, he somehow even managed to avoid getting recognised, probably because he needed a haircut and his scar wasn't obvious until someone got close to him. Part of him wondered if it was even worth it to get it cut soon if he could avoid that bother, but after a moments thought he decided that he really found his hair getting into his eyes to be more annoying. By now most of the people who were regularly in the Alley were used to him anyway after the time he'd spent there before his third year and the trips he took almost every year to get his school things. Visitors from out of the area might be an annoyance, but he'd mostly gotten used to that by now, a fact which he found a little disturbing.
At the bank he went up to the first free goblin that he saw. Even though he didn't seem to be doing anything except waiting for customers, he still glared at Harry as if he were interrupting the most important work in the world. At least until Harry pulled out his key, at which point he still appeared to find Harry's presence distasteful, but at least tried to hide it better. "Good morning sir," he said. "Are you here to make a withdrawal?"
"Yes. I also want to exchange some of the money I get out for muggle currency."
"How much?"
"Um..." Harry tried to think of what the galleon to pound exchange rate might be, but couldn't remember. He knew there were several pounds to a galleon, but not how many, and didn't want to find himself loaded down with muggle currency. He also didn't want to ask the goblin, who clearly assumed he was an idiot from the get go and would just believe he was right if Harry admitted to not knowing something like this. After a moment he said, "50 galleons should do, thank you." He figured that would probably work out to a hundred-odd pounds, and thought that that would probably be more then enough to buy all the clothes he needed. In fact, he was probably overdoing it a bit; it only took a galleon and five sickles to get his school robes for the year, and he got those from an actual tailor instead of a department store so they were probably more expensive. But then, it would probably be for the best that he have some spare muggle money around, just incase he ever needed it.
The goblin had been writing something down while he'd been thinking, and after a moment said, "Alright, sir. Tosslock will show you take you to your safe. Bring the galleons you want converted to me when you've gotten them, and I'll have your muggle currency ready. Tosslock!"
Harry nodded to the goblin behind the counter and said, "Thank you" before following the goblin that approached them off into the vault area. As they careened through the caverns under the bank he regretted the choice to have eggs for breakfast; his stomach was churning much worse then it had through any of his previous times on this trip. They luckily reached his vault before it got bad enough for him to actually throw up, and he made a show of slowly counting out the fifty galleons he needed to give his stomach time to calm down. Another handful into his money bag to join the sickles and knuts he already had, and he was ready to go back.
Harry wondered if it was just his imagination, or if the goblin behind the desk really looked as amused as he thought he did by his obvious nausea. Imagination or not, he still went through their transaction quickly enough, counting the galleons much faster then Harry had, then counting 256 pounds into his hand. He blinked. "There must be some mistake."
"Sir, we do not make mistakes," the goblin replied, his voice's coolly professional tone slipping for the first time and gaining a touch of snippyness.
"This must be to much though, that was only fifty galleons!"
"The current exchange rate is 5.12 pounds to a galleon. 50 galleons comes to 256 pounds. Would you like a piece of paper and a quill to work it out on your own, or will you trust my math? Perhaps you don't think so, sir, but to most people 50 galleons is quite a bit of money."
Harry bit back an angry retort, proud of himself for managing to keep his temper while the goblin was so obviously beginning to lose his. He had to take that as a good sign that he was getting closer to reaching his goal of becoming more even-tempered before the next school year started. "I'm sorry," he said, plastering a pleasant smile on his face. "I've never exchanged money before, and thought the rate was less then that. I guess I'll be going now, thank you."
The goblin nodded at him, "Good day sir."
As Harry left the building Tosslock darted up to him again. "Sir, I hope that you will not allow Dartpit's attitude tarnish the way you view our fine bank."
Harry was a little startled by this, since Gringotts goblins had never actually come up and talked to him outside of when they needed to lead him to the vaults. "Huh? Oh, don't worry. I wouldn't leave the bank or anything just because he's rude."
"Thank you sir. It's just that Dartpit," Tosslock glanced furtively back at the goblin in question and lowered his voice, "Well sir, he wanted to get a job overseas, outside of the banking business, but was unable to raise enough money to move. His parents finally forced him to join the family business, and now he can't leave until his contract expires. He gets a bit... touchy around our richer clientele as he's still upset about his failure to make much money. Nepotism keeps him from being fired, but we try to steer clients with wealth such as yours away from him. I'm afraid that we didn't recognise you, sir, and failed to do so this time."
"It's fine, really. He didn't bother me that much."
"We just thought you should know the circumstances, sir. We did not want you to believe that such behaviour would normally be tolerated from our staff. If you avoid him in the future I'm sure your transactions will be much pleasanter."
"Well, thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Harry nodded to the goblin then walked out the door. He thought that that was definitely the strangest visit to Gringotts he'd ever had; even more so then his very first trip when everything had been strange. He knew the goblins there prided themselves on their professionalism, but not that they'd bother apologising for co-workers who were a little on the rude side. It wasn't as though Dartpit had even been that bad, by human standards. Tetchy, certainly, but if Harry had thought about it later he would have just assumed that he'd been having a bad day, and Harry implying he didn't know what he was doing when exchanging his money had been the straw that'd broken the camel's back. Really, in retrospect Harry didn't know why he'd been so close to losing his temper, Dartpit hadn't been that bad.
He decided not to think about it anymore. It wasn't like he'd need to deal with the goblin again that summer, and if he did the next year it wouldn't be for more then fifteen minutes or so, so it was pointless to wonder about the whole exchange. He glanced around the alley to remember which store he needed to go to was closest, then turned and quickly walked to Madam Malkin's.
When he reached it he found that Malkin herself was in, and she smiled broadly at him when she caught sight of him. "Mr. Potter!" she said. "What a pleasant surprise! I wouldn't have expected to see you here for another month, at least. How can I help you today?"
"I need a new set of school robes, Madam Malkin. The sleeves on the ones I have don't fit right anymore, and the hem's getting worn." He twitched up the bottom of the robe he was currently wearing to show it was fraying in a few places. He felt oddly guilty about that, he knew her robes should last much longer then a year before they became worn enough to notice it, but the life he lead was very hard on his clothing. Even if he did nothing else that would be a strain on them, Quidditch would assure her went through robes faster then most people. The wind whipping through the ends of them did them no good.
She looked him over for a moment, then said, "I daresay they're a bit short on you now as well. Well dear, come along to the back. You're lucky you came in so early; this is a very busy time of the year for us. With Midsummer's day approaching everyone wants to look their best, and my girls need to run themselves ragged taking care of them all. Now, up!"
Harry stepped up onto the same footstool he'd been on the first time he'd been there, and quickly shucked off his old robe. As Madam Malkin pulled one of the oversized school robes over him and began pinning it up he was struck by a sudden sense of deja vu. The only thing missing was Malfoy standing on the stool beside him to make it a complete recreation of his first visit. He'd almost forgotten that they'd met there before they'd ever been at school together, and had even gotten along well enough until Malfoy had insulted Hagrid. It made him feel a little sick to admit to himself that he'd ever gotten along with Malfoy, even if it had only been for a few minutes during which he was sure he remembered being reminded of Dudley. He had to be happy that the other young man didn't suddenly appear to make the feeling of deja vu complete. If he did Harry knew their encounter wouldn't go nearly as peacefully as it had during that first conversation.
"Alright dear, that's done. I can make the rest with this," Madam Malkin said, breaking into his thoughts. She looked him over for a long moment, then smiled a little wistfully. "I don't suppose you've been told to get dress robes again this year, have you?"
"Uh, no. Why, have you heard something?" He really really hoped that she hadn't heard anything of the kind. The ball during his fourth year had been bad enough, he really didn't want to go through another. Of course, knowing Dumbledore that was exactly the sort of thing he'd plan for the year in an attempt to raise everyones spirits and keep their minds off the war. Thankfully Malkin was shaking her head as she set to work altering his robes, so even if there was a ball planned at least word wasn't out yet.
"No, I've heard nothing of the kind. It's just... well, I know you won't like me thinking like this dear, but I was looking forward to making you a wonderful dress robe two years ago. I knew that the Boy Who Lived being seen in a dress robe made by me would be grand publicity, and when you never came in I have to admit to being disappointed."
Harry couldn't even bother to get upset by people using his going to their stores as publicity any longer. It was just a fact of life to him now; he could either spend the rest of his life getting ticked off everytime he saw an advertisement mentioning that Harry Potter shopped at wherever the ad was for, or he could get used to it and only get angry when he saw an ad lying about his having shopped there. "Well," he said. "I buy my school robes here, isn't that worth anything?"
"Bless you dear, but no. Everyone who shops in Diagon Alley buys their school work robes here. Merlin himself could come in for work robes and no one would blink. Student dress robes are another matter; the richer families will go to one of the more expensive tailors and everyone else will buy used robes down the street rather then spend much money on one dance when their children are probably going to quickly outgrow whatever they get. So, it would have been something special to have someone famous wearing dress robes from my store at the first Hogwarts ball in decades. But, what's past is past, and it's no use getting hung up on it. We're hardly hurting for work here, it would have just been a nice Christmas bonus if you had brought people in."
"Well, if I ever do need new dress robes, I'll be coming here," he said, though he knew that might only be true because he had no idea where any other robe tailor was. It seemed to make her happy to hear him say that at any rate, and he didn't really mind that he was guilted into it. In the past she'd always been kind enough that a little guilt didn't bother him.
She quickly finished off the last of his school robes and neatly folded and boxed then. "Well, that's that. Is your winter cloak still in good shape, or do you need another of those as well?"
It had been fine the last time he'd worn it, and since it had no sleeves to bother him he didn't mind if it was a little short. However, he'd forgotten to bring it with him when he'd fled the Dursley house and he knew that after their last confrontation there was no way his uncle would send it to him or let him inside to grab it himself. He'd have to sit down someday soon and think about how to sneak back in and get anything he'd want that hadn't fit in his backpack, but if he was unable to do so he really didn't want to go cold all winter long. "Yeah, I'll need a new one. Thanks for reminding me. Oh, and could I also get a pair of black summer robes? The kind with temperature-adjusting spells on them?" He'd seen those for sale before, and figured he might as well get some so that he wouldn't look like a prat for wandering around in school robes all summer. True, he could just not bother wearing robes at all and just stick to muggle clothing, but he didn't want to put up with the more prejudiced residents of the Alley assuming from a distance that he was muggleborn and hassling him.
He was a little surprised when he realised that he was thinking of staying there all summer as if it was a given, even though he'd have no where to stay for god knew how long other then Percy's room, then pushed that out of his mind as something else he'd need to think about later.
"It's no trouble," he realised Madam Malkin was saying while he was lost in thought. "Just give me one moment." It really was just a minute or two, and Harry found himself wishing he knew the spells she used to stitch the fabric together so quickly. It wouldn't be much help during the summer since he wasn't yet old enough to do magic on his own, but during the school year it would certainly be useful to fix tears in his clothing with the flick of the wand instead of needing to pull out a needle and thread while Seamus and Dean made fun off him for doing girls work. Thankfully Ron and Neville never joined it, Ron mostly because Harry would take care of his clothes too to spare him from the teasing and Harry presumed Neville stayed out of it because he was either too nice or too used to being taunted himself to want to join in. They'd never actually discussed it for him to know for sure which, if either, assumption was right.
When Madam Malkin was done she turned to Harry and said, "Will you be carrying these with you?"
"No. Could you have them sent to room 502 at the Leaky Cauldron?"
"Of course. Then that'll be a galleon sixteen sickles for your order, and two knuts for the delivery."
Harry dug the coins out of his money pouch, then said good-bye and left. His next stop was Flourish and Blotts. He knew he wouldn't be able to get his whole order for the year taken care of like he had with his robes; at the very least he wouldn't be able to get his DADA books unless Dumbledore had found a new professor for the year in the last two weeks and that teacher had already sent their booklist in. Considering that people now considered the position to be cursed and didn't want anything to do with it, he really doubted that had happened. He wouldn't buy potions books yet either, even though Snape probably used the same ones every year and so all he'd need to do is ask whoever was working what those books were he didn't want to waste money on them if it turned out he didn't get an O on his OWLs and wouldn't be able to get in. The same with Transfiguration, although if he hadn't managed to get an EE or higher he was pretty sure Hermione would kill him for wasting all the time she spent tutoring him in it. He could get Charms and Herbology books though, and even though he knew he must have failed his Divination OWL he also knew there was no OWL requirement to get into Trelawny's NEWT classes. He was willing to bet that both Hermione and Percy would give him an earful for not dropping the class, but he really didn't want to give up all the midday naps and cups of tea that being in it allowed him. He may have all the second sight of a headless ant, but when Trelawny wasn't busy predicting his death the class was surprisingly restful.
He found it easy enough to get all those books, but when he was checking out he noticed the proprietor slip another into his bag with them. After the events of his second year, this immediately set him on his guard. "What was that?" he said, reaching for his wand.
The man glanced nervously about, before replying, "What was what, Mr. Potter?"
Harry glared at him, and the mans courage wilted almost visibly. "That book you slipped in with mine?"
"Shh, shh!" He hushed, then glanced around again before pulling the top of the book just far enough out of the bag for Harry to read the title, Detection of and Defense Against the Darkest Arts. "Dumbledore's told me to give it to you when you stopped in for your books," he mumbled almost to low for Harry to hear him. "If they find out I've given a copy to a minor I'll be facing the Wizengamot for sure, but he thought it was best you study what's in it and, well, if you're expected to face Voldemort at your age I agree. As soon as you're out of here Dumbledore'll take all blame if you're caught with it, but if someone notices I've given it to you while you're still in here there's no helping me."
Harry lowered his voice to the same tone, "What's so bad about it if it's just about defending yourself."
"What's so bad is that the author thought you need to understand the principles behind casting dark magic to know how to adequately defend yourself. The folks in charge don't want underaged kids knowing those sorts of things. There's a letter in it from Dumbledore that I assume tells you what he wants you to learn from it. Now, get out of here before someone notices us acting suspicious and wants to know what we're doing."
Harry turned to leave, then paused. "When did Dumbledore ask you to do this?" he asked in a more normal tone of voice. If Dumbledore had been planning to do this for awhile it would have made more sense for him to give it to Harry personally, since they'd just seen each other at the end of the school year a couple of weeks before. And if he'd just thought of it since then it would have made more sense for him to send it by owl, since by the time Harry normally got his schoolbooks it would be so late in the summer that there'd barely be anytime to study it outside of school and he again might as well have just waited for the school year to have started and given it to Harry in person.
"Why, just last evening. He owled and let me know you'd likely be in within the next few days. Didn't you let him know you were planning on coming here?"
"Oh. Well then, thank you." Harry felt a little stupid for even thinking that he'd need to write Dumbledore to let him know where he was. Of course he already knew. He always knew everything Harry did, so why should this be any different? He had to admit he was happy with the tacit approval of his staying there he'd just been given. If Dumbledore was writing ahead to make sure he got a book he'd need instead of sending half the Order to drag him home then that meant he could probably hang around as long as he wanted as long as everything stayed the way it was.
If Dumbledore had really sent the book. He knew he wouldn't be touching it until after he'd gotten Tonks to check it for traps when they met for lunch. He might have faith in Dumbledore omniscience, but that didn't make him an idiot. "Constant vigilance!" he murmured to himself under his breath, then snorted. It was a little amazing to him to think that just five years before the worst he could imagine being done to a book was Dudley sticking gum to its pages, and now he couldn't stop running over all the various curses and other spells he knew of that might have been cast on it in an attempt to kill or capture him.
He didn't have anything else that he needed to buy, so he headed back to the Cauldron. When he got back to the room he carefully shoved his bag of books on top of one of the suspended cabinets so that if Percy stopped there for lunch before Tonks checked them there wouldn't be any chance of him looking through them and getting hurt if the book was bespelled somehow. Then he turned to the box of robes. He carefully lifted the top and tipped the robes out with the tip of his wand then counted the robes just in case. There were only the ones he'd ordered, and although he knew that wasn't a sure sign that they were safe he was getting sick of being suspicious and just grabbed one of the summer robes and traded his old school robe for it. He could immediately feel the difference the temperature adjusting spells made, he'd been feeling a little hot, not enough to bother doing anything about it but enough to make him a little uncomfortable, then within seconds of pulling on the robe he was feeling pleasantly cool. He decided to take a second to do a test, grabbed a piece of ice out of the fridge, and pressed it against his leg through the robe. For a second he could feel the freezing cold on his thigh, then the robe adjusted itself again around that area, and while he thought he could still feel it a little it just cooled the warm area to the same temperature as the rest of his body. He thought he might want to see if it was possible to make it a little warmer, but even as is he thought they'd be comfortable in the winter so long as he made sure to wear his cloak over them to make up for the short sleeves.
Test done he took off the robes again and rolled up his sleeves, turning to face the sink. He hadn't had time to clean up that morning since they had to rush off, and now the leftover eggs were caked to the pan and the bacon grease had solidified. He knew he should have cleaned up after himself before sitting down and eating, but at first he thought he probably had plenty of time to do it after he'd finished up, then they'd had to get out of there before he'd had a chance to. He grimaced as he set to work on them. For all that Percy had seemed to want a fully stocked kitchen he didn't seem that interested in cleaning supplies; all Harry was able to find were some washcloths and soap when what he really needed was some steel wool. It wasn't really surprising, he remembered the way Mrs. Weasley did the dishes easily enough and knew that if Percy ever did do any cooking he'd clean up with magic as well. For a second he tried cleaning with them, then he ran downstairs and hunted down Tom.
"Steel wool. Got any?" he said when he found him.
"Hello again to you too, Harry," Tom replied. He stood up and began lumbering back toward the kitchen, Harry following close at his heels. "Steel wool? I could just send someone up to scourgify whatever it is you need cleaned you know."
"No thank you. I want to take care of it myself."
"Alright then." When they reached the kitchen Harry waited by the bar for him to come back. A few long minutes passed before he came back with a large mess of the stuff. It wasn't the brillo pads he'd been hoping for, but it would be a world better then trying to scrub off dried, caked-on egg with a washcloth. "You're lucky, I had some left over from a few years back when I let my nephew have a summer job here. He was underaged and had to do everything by hand, so we needed to keep some around. It was a bit rusty, but I scourgified it."
"Thanks Tom. You're a lifesaver." He dashed back upstairs and immediately went at the dishes before the filth could cake in more. He gulped down cups coffee as he scrubbed away, not actually needing a pick-me-up, or liking the taste, but not wanting to waste it. With the steel wool to help things went much easier then they otherwise would have, and it only took him about fifteen minutes before the kitchen was as spotless as it had been when he'd arrived. In fact, it was a little cleaner then it had been since he took an extra minute to dust the place down.
There was still a good three-quarters of an hour to kill before he had to meet Tonks, so for the lack of anything better to do he wandered back into the Alley and to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Within what seemed like seconds after walking through the door Florean had lead him to a seat, served him a free sundae, and was asking if there was anything new he'd like to know about medieval wizardry, for all the world as though Harry was still hanging around from the summer before his third year. At first he tried insisting that he really didn't need any help with history, but was soon caught up in one of Florean's stories about the past. Harry secretly harbored the belief that Dumbledore should make Binns start haunting like a normal ghost and instead hire Florean; the same history that bored him to sleep when he heard it from Binns was somehow exciting and engrossing when it came from the jovial wizard.
They were deeply immersed in a discussion about a was that had taken place in the 1200s between the centaurs and merpeople when they were interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind Harry. Brought back to the present by the sound he suddenly realised that they'd been talking for a good long while, and he was pretty sure he knew who it must be behind him. "Tonks?" he said.
"Mm-hm."
"What time is it?"
"About twenty after one."
"Oh." He looked to Florean for help, but he just seemed amused and not in the least inclined to jump in. "I lost track of time."
"So I gathered."
"Would it help if I apologised?"
"Maybe."
"Well, I'm sorry."
"Mm." He was just about to turn around and see how angry she looked when she smacked him upside the head so hard that his face almost went into the dregs of his sundae. "You prat," she said. She didn't really sound that angry, but he couldn't tell if it was really because she wasn't angry, or if she was just very carefully keeping herself under control and was going to blow up at him any second. "Did you ever think that since you were attacked just last night I might think when you were late that they'd tried again and managed to get you? And maybe that since I was the one who let you wander off unsupervised I might feel a wee bit guilty and, oh, maybe a tad worried when you didn't show up on schedule?"
Harry's eyes widened when he realised exactly how he'd feel if he'd been in her situation with one of his friends, and felt far more then just a 'wee bit' guilty. "Oh hell Tonks, I'm sorry. I didn't even think of that. I didn't mean to worry you."
"Well then, it's a good thing that you didn't then."
Now he spun around to face her, and the smirk on her face was more then enough to let him know he'd been had. "Ok, what time is it really?"
"Five to one. I caught sight of you through the window, and could tell just by looking at you that you had no idea what time it was, so I just had to take advantage of the situation. I hope you realise though that if I hadn't seen you and you had taken that long to show up that wouldn't have been an act, and I would have hit you much harder."
"I assumed as much. So, ready for lunch?" He stood and reach for his money just incase Florean decided to start charging him that day, but was waved off with a smile so they just walked out of the building.
"I'm absolutely ravenous. Now Harry, as we're going out to lunch together you've overlooked your solemn duty as my male escort."
"Huh?" The look he gave her made it clear he thought she was nuts, and that he had no idea what she was talking about.
"You need to give me a compliment over my wonderful muggle-chic outfit. I don't dress like this everyday you know, and I'd like to hear from someone who actually lives among muggles that I won't stick out like a sore thumb."
He turned and looked her over, not really knowing what to say. Other then her hair, which was still bright green, he'd never look at her twice if he passed her on the muggle streets, but that didn't seem like the sort of thing that she'd want to hear. She'd even changed her eyes to a perfectly normal shade of brown. Finally he just said, "You look great, Tonks. If you catch anyone staring it won't be because you're wearing something out of place." That seemed like it would work.
To his embarrassment she patted him on the head when he'd finished speaking. "Good boy. If I were actually a girl who was going out somewhere with you I may want to come up with something a bit more quickly then that, and depending on who I am I might be a bit upset at your implying you have no problem with other guys ogling me, but that was pretty good for a beginner. Of course, some girls aren't all that interested in getting complimented, but we can save that topic for later." She began walking towards the Cauldron again while he stood their stupidly for a long moment, then had to trot to catch back up.
"What the hell was that, some sort of test?" he asked when he caught back up with her.
"Some sort," she agreed. "I've heard that in the past you haven't been that good at handling the girls who were interested in you, and thought I might give you a few pointers."
"Well cut it out, will you? I just want to have lunch and go shopping with a friend, not worry everytime you ask me something that it's part of some ridicules 'what does a girl want to hear' test."
"Is that really what you want?" At his emphatic nod she laughed and said, "Alright then. I just thought you might want some advice from someone with a few years on you, but if you don't want to hear it that's fine. It'll make my day a little easier at least."
They reached the Cauldron, but when she started to turn to grab a table Harry snagged her by the sleeve and tugged her towards the stairs. "Come up to the room. There's something I want you to see."
"Harry, dear, I know I just said I'd stop this, but just for your information this is what we call 'moving too fast.' It's not something you want to make a habit of doing."
He glared at her over her shoulder briefly before turning his attention back to the stairs. "Get your mind out of the gutter Tonks. I need you to check a book I got to see if it's cured or something."
She straightened up immediately and began to walk a bit more briskly. "Any reason you think it might be, or is it just a hunch?"
"Well, the man at Flourish and Blotts tried to shove it into my bag without my noticing, when I didn't ask for it. Considering that the last time something like that happened to someone I know the book in question turned out to be a journal that almost incarnated a young Voldemort I think I have every reason to be suspicious."
"Damn right you do. Did you question him about it? What did he say?"
"He says that Dumbledore wrote him and told him to slip it to me. Apparently it's not supposed to be sold to kids, but he thought I needed it, and it needed to be slipped to me on the sly because until it was out of the store he'd be arrested if he was caught selling it to me, but now that I'm out of it Dumbledore'll take credit if I'm caught with it." He thought that over for a second then added, "Um, I can trust you not to tell anyone about it if it turns out to be legitimate, right?"
"Of course you can. If Dumbledore thinks you need to learn whatever's in that book then I'm not going to question him. And it certainly sounds like the sort of thing he'd do. So, what did you do after that?"
"I just brought it back here. Since he handled the bag I knew that even if something had been done to the book it hadn't spread to it on contact. I was careful not to touch the book itself, and I put it up so that if Percy came home before you got here and I wasn't around he wouldn't come into contact with it. Then I waited around until it was time to meet up with you, since I knew you'd know what to do to figure out if something's wrong with it."
"Good. You're good at thinking things through when you need to be, that'll serve you well if you ever join us as an auror. Now, lead me to that book."
He guided he up to the room, and once there fished the bag back off the cabinet and tipped it upside down so the books fell on the ground. "That one," he said, pointing at the defense book."
Tonks, who had been watching him, looked a bit pained. "Great. Now, for future reference, never just drop a possibly cursed item on the ground. You never know when they've been set to explode if jolted, and you could have just blown the two of us sky high."
"Oh," he said as she set to work. "Well, I'll keep that in mind in the future." He carefully sat down as far away from where Tonks was working as he could get while still staying him the world, careful not to make any suddenly movements. He didn't want to admit it, but he was feeling more then a little shaken by the thought of how close he might have just been to killing them both.
Tonks worked quickly and efficiently, and Harry found himself engrossed with trying to keep up with what all she was doing and working out why each spell was important when it wasn't something really obvious. Some of the spells were ones he'd already learned for curse detecting, others he'd never heard of and had to try to figure out the uses of from the name alone, and most interesting to him were variations of ones he already knew but had never been known could be of any used like that. After almost five minutes she straighten up and tossed the book to him. "It's clean. Apparently Dumbledore really does want you to study it. Pretty difficult stuff though; we aren't even expected to read it until halfway through our second year of training. If you need any help with it feel free to hunt me down and I'll see when I'm free to come over and help you study."
"I'll keep that in mind." Her throwing the book dislodged the letter from Dumbledore, and he pulled it out of the book. "Mind if I read this before going down to eat?"
"Sure. I'll go grab us a table, come and join me when you're done alright?"
"Yeah. I'll just be a minute." He waited for her to leave, then opened up the letter. It was just one short page.
------
Harry,
I have just been sent word of the attack on your home. While I am proud that you managed to escape to safety unscathed, I'm greatly concerned over the fact that Voldemort is clearly moving more quickly then I suspected. I had thought you would be safely back within Hogwarts before he regained enough power to risk a direct attack.
In light of these events, I've decided it's time you learn the lessons that are within this book. I wish that I could wait another year until you come of age to assign it to you, but time is of the essence and we cannot afford to wait. Feel free to write to me at any time with any questions you have about the subject matter or, if you choose to stay in the Alley, I'm any of the Order members who work in the Ministry would be happy to help. I shall be writing to them soon to let them know to be expecting you.
As for you accommodations, if you wish to continue staying with Mr. Weasley at the Leaky Cauldron that's perfectly acceptable, so long as you remain cautious whenever you leave the building. If it's your desire to stay at the Burrow that can also be arranged, and if you feel it would be safest we would even welcome you at Hogwarts this summer. Of course, it's completely understandable if a young man of your age doesn't want to stuck in this drafty old castle all summer. I trust you will make what you feel is the right decision.
Albus Dumbledore
------
Harry flipped through the book for a second, then shoved the letter back into it and took it to the bedroom where he shoved it deep into his backpack, knowing that Percy wouldn't dig around in it without his permission. While he'd been surprisingly decent to spend time with during the past day Harry knew he was still Percy, and more likely then not would take it from him, and get Dumbledore into he didn't know how much trouble for buying it for him, the second he saw it rather then allow the rules to be broken.
That done he turned and left the room, going to join Tonks for lunch.
Chapter Four
I own nothing, I'm just playing for awhile.
------
It was easy enough to find his way back to the auror's department. Even though he had taken a different route to reach it the night before it didn't matter, there were signs at each intersection pointing him towards it. He wasn't sure whether whoever had put them up did so because they assumed that it was the most important section of the ministry and so wanted to make it as easy as possible to find, or if the signs were simply charmed to point whoever was looking at them in the direction they wanted to go, but so long as they got him there quickly he didn't really give a damn about the whys behind them. He just hoped what he had to do here would be quick; he didn't relish the thought of spending hours sitting around giving a detailed account of an event that couldn't have lasted more then fifteen minutes tops.
When he reached the doors to the the Department of Magical Law Enforcement he paused for a moment, going over the events of the previous evening. If Mad-Eye Moody was in there, and if he'd heard that Harry'd been attacked he was almost sure he would be, he really wasn't in the mood for a lecture on the necessity of constant vigilance, so he wanted to picture everything as clearly as possible before going in. When he was sure he had a clear enough mental image he took a deep breath and pushed open the door.
"Wotcher Harry!" Before he'd even fully opened the door Tonks was upon him, dragging him through and pushing him into a chair. He couldn't help but stare at her as he sat; her hair was currently a particularly bilious shade of lime green, her eyes bright orange, and she was very darkly tanned. The result was odd looking, even for her. She noticed him staring and grinned, striking a pose. "I just got back from Bermuda, can you tell Harry? Had a vacation due and figured I better take it before the war really heats up and no one's allowed off of active duty. Two full weeks of doing nothing but lying around on the beach."
The receptionist, whom he hadn't noticed before but now saw was Miss. Allard from the previous night, snorted and caught his eye. "She never even left London. She just spent the time visiting her mum, then made herself tan when she came back to make people jealous with that silly story."
"Hey!" Tonks glared, her eyes turning a bright red that made Harry think of the colored contacts the goth boy down the road wore rather then making her seem very threatening. "Do I ruin your fun, Elly?"
Elly just smirked, and went back to her work.
"Tonks," Harry broke in now that he had a chance, "isn't Moody around?"
She grinned at him again, eyes lightning back to orange, and said , "Thought he would be, didn't you? And he was, ever since he's come out of retirement he does his best to take over everything dealing with Voldemort. You're lucky I stopped in for a minute this morning or it would be him here. When I learned what happened I convinced him that his mug wasn't something anyone wanted to see first thing in the morning, especially after they've already been through a trying experience within that same day."
"Hey, thanks. So, what do you need to know?"
"Uh, let's see." She pulled out a parchment and briefly looked over it, then grabbed a quill and unrolled it to a blank section. When she spoke she suddenly sounded much more professional then she normally did. "So, you saw one of them trip into a light for a second, then escaped by flying off with your invisibility cloak on?"
"That's right. There's a window in the roof that I could open up without them seeing it for the street, so I grabbed some things and wrapped my cloak tight around me and my broom, then snuck through it."
"Lucky you that there weren't any in the air then. So, you flew all the way here like that?"
"No, just a few blocks. Then I landed and called the Knight Bus. It was too hard to fly with the bristles wrapped up."
For a second she broke out of auror mode and smiled at him. "Too bad. If you'd made it all that way you would've won quite a bit of respect from any professional flyers that heard about it, and helped your chances of getting into a top team a little if you decided to play Quidditch professionally. Even when you're really good it's still damn hard to fly with no wind reaching your broom." Harry wondered if he should be insulted that that was the second time in the past day that someone that knew him had assumed he had plans to be a Quidditch player for the rest of his life, but decided it wasn't worth it to be as he watched her make a note, then call over to Elly, "Hey, Elly! Get in touch with the Knight Bus offices and tell them we need the stop in Little Whinging at around nine-thirty deleted from the records. Tell them it's an emergency."
"I used a fake name. It's not like they can just look up where Harry Potter went!"
"Smart a move as the was Harry, if they have the sense to look, our enemies are smart enough to realise that the person who got picked up from your area right at the time they were failing to catch you was you, and to look right across the column to see where you went."
"But I've hardly been hiding the fact that I'm in Diagon Alley! It's not like they're going to attack me here!"
"That might be true, if Voldemort isn't quite to the point where he wants you dead so badly that he doesn't mind losing the followers that would surely get captured in the process of killing you in the middle of the Alley, but it also says right here that you stopped and warned your aunt and uncle not to go home. They will realise that since your family never came home last night that that mysterious other stop must have been to where they were, and then it would just be a matter of checking the hotels in the area. We could stake out all the hotels ourselves and wait for them to show, but considering that our department is already spread very thin until the recruits from other departments are out of training we don't want to get into any unneeded confrontations at the moment. So, unless you really wish them dead, we're getting that stop erased from the record."
He glowered at her for a long moment, angry that she was talking at him like this when he thought she was his friend and she knew he'd had a bad night. She glared right back at him, eyes once more red, looking like there was no way in hell she was backing down. Finally he needed to look away, and the tense mood broke as he said, "Fine. You're right."
"Good! I'm glad you can admit it!" Tonks smiled happily, for all the world as though their stare off had never even happened. For a moment Harry felt almost envious of how easily she seemed to shake her anger off, he knew his life would probably be easier if he could do the same. In light of that thought he couldn't even bring himself to sulk like he normally would, because she was in the right, and if she didn't seem to continue harboring any bad feelings then what right had he to do so? "You weren't lucky enough to catch one of them taking off their mask for a second to scratch their nose or anything so you could identify them, were you?"
"Uh, no. Does that happen?"
"More often then you'd think. Apparently those things are very unpleasant to wear for very long. Voldemort doesn't seem to believe in allowing charms to make them more comfortable, he's very much a suffering builds strength type. There's only so long someone can stand wearing one of those things before they need to get some air to their faces, especially if he's not actually there. Let's see now, you said you're staying in the alley right now?"
"Yes, at the Leaky Cauldron."
"I thought that place was booked solid."
"It was. Percy Weasley's lending me his couch at the moment. I'm planning on writing Dumbledore later to see if I can head to Hogwarts, or one of the inns at Hogsmeade."
"Percy, eh? That must be tough to stand."
"Actually, it's been surprisingly decent so far. I don't know if he's loosened up a bit or is just trying to be friendly to be a good host or what, but he hasn't even been annoying yet, let alone made me want to smack him hard enough to dislodge his head from his ass."
"Really? Lucky you. All right, that's really most of what I needed to ask. Everything else I can figure out easily enough from what you already told me, so you don't really need me to ask them. I'm supposed to warn you not to do anything dangerous, or to go anywhere that's not crowded. I do need to know if you're planning on heading into the muggle world for any reason, since you won't be protected there."
"Yeah, this afternoon. I didn't bring any other clothes, so I need to go shopping."
"Really?" She grinned widely and clapped her hands together. "Well then, I guess I don't need to get someone assigned to guard you at all! I'll just go with you!"
"Is that really necessary, Tonks?"
"It's either that, or someone follows you around all day long to make sure they don't miss your leaving the Alley. Come on, it'll be fun. And honestly Harry, don't you think it would be better to have a feminine eye with you to make sure you don't buy anything horribly unbecoming?"
Harry thought that considering Tonks rarely even seemed to manage to keep her eyes from clashing with her hair he probably was better off on his own really, but didn't have the heart to tell her when she looked so excited about the idea. And really, if this spared him from needing to even try to ditch an auror sent to protect him, it was worth it. "Okay. I'm going to do some shopping around the Alley first, and am going to need to get some money exchanged at Gingotts, but I'll be free after that. Maybe we could meet up for lunch at the Cauldron at one or so then go find a store?"
"That's perfect. Since I had to take the whole morning shift to get Moody out of here I'll be here until twelve, so that'll give me enough time to run to Gringotts myself."
"So, is that all?" "Not unless you don't want to know what we found at your house. You do want to know, don't you?"
"Oh, yeah. Was it bad?"
Tonks rolled back to the beginning of the parchment and skimmed it quickly before saying, "No, you're lucky. Nothing was permanently broken, and our men fixed everything that was damaged so your aunt and uncle wouldn't need to take care of it. All the doorknobs in the house except for your's and your cousin's were cursed, and those two were transformed into portkeys. The curses were removed, and we replaced the portkeys and are attempting to trace where they go. The aurors investigating want another day to make sure they've caught all the curses, but after that it'll be safe to let your family go back home." Then she smirked at him, eyes glittering, "Best of all, three of the Death Eaters there were caught. We don't believe any of them were very high ranking, anyone there that was would have left when they realised no one was home and left the peons to take care of the cursing, but we're interrogating them to see what they know. And don't worry, unlike the last time around we aren't going to let anyone go just because we got some names out of them."
"Great! So, I'll just send an owl to the Dursleys letting them know not to go home until tomorrow, and everything will be alright, right?"
"That's right. If anyone's still around when they come home they'll make themselves scarce. We made sure everyone knows that your family has, uh, issues with the wizarding world, and not to let themselves be seen."
"Thank you, Tonks." Then he snorted and continued, "Of course, they've probably already put the house on the market and are halfway to Abu Dhabi by now in an attempt to get away from the evil 'freaks' that've gone so far as attacking their house."
Tonks' smile faltered for a second, then came back but it looked a little strained. "Well, that takes care of things. I'll see you this afternoon then."
"See you then!"
Harry left the room in a even better mood then he'd been in when he entered it. The interrogation had been much easier then he'd assumed it would be, and the fact that he'd narrowly avoided being stuck talking to Moody made things even better. Then there was the capturing of the Death Eaters; three less people out on the streets who were after his life. All in all everything had been going better that one day then it had been for months.
He quickly made his way back to the lobby, finding out as he did so that the signs did indeed change to show people the way to the place they were going to as the same ones that had earlier shown him the way to the auror's department were now pointing him back to the entrance. Not that he needed them now, he remembered his way back out easily enough.
When he reached the reception desk the woman there, Ms. Davis he remembered Percy saying, called out to him, "Excuse me sir!"
Harry winced, assuming that she'd figured out who he was in the time since he'd come in and wanted an autograph or something equally inane. Still, he went over to her just in case she actually wanted something job related, like him needing to sign a form saying he'd been in. If that were the case he thought he probably shouldn't ignore her. As he approached her, giving her her first good view of his face, her eyes widened and he winced again, realising that until just then she actually hadn't known it was him. To her credit, instead of immediately enthusing over how wonderful it was to meet him she quickly schooled her expression back into one of friendly professionalism. "Yes?" he said when he reached her.
"I'm sorry to bother you, Mr. Potter," she said, eyes flickering to his scar for a minute then down to meet his eyes. "I just saw you coming in with Mr. Weasley this morning, and was wondering if the two of you were close friends. I've never actual seen him joke with another person before, and couldn't resist asking you about it when I saw you come out."
Harry only resisted sighing aloud because he didn't want to appear rude. Ever since meeting Rita Skeeter and learning how terribly rumors could be twisted he could never stand gossipers, and he could already tell gossip was what she was after. "I know Percy at school my first few years, and his brother is a good friend of mine. Last night I tried getting a room at the Leaky Cauldron but they're full, luckily he was there and offered me his couch for a day or two until I can find a room somewhere else. He got me out of a tight spot, that's all." He tried spinning the truth in the most boring way he could, knowing that if refused to answer she'd come up with some ridiculous reason behind the two of them spending time together and talk about it with everyone she knew. From the obvious disappointment in her eyes he knew that he was right and that she really wished he had told her something more interesting. He probably had still told her a bit to much in mentioning he was staying at Percy's place, but at least he could hope that any rumors that started when people noticed the two of them coming and going from the same room would be quashed within the Ministry. It was a little silly to even think of people thinking the two of them were together, but he's almost gotten used to the fact that that was likely to happen with anyone he was seen spending time with, and he didn't want rumors like that to get spread around the place Percy worked. Harry wasn't sure exactly what the wizarding world's views on homosexuality were, other then the fact that all of his friends had assured him that they had no problem with him seeing Ron when that rumor had flown around the year before, but even if they had no problem with it normally he was sure they'd have issues with the fact that Harry was underaged. He didn't want Percy to be fired because people were saying he was a paedophile, even when they were only four years apart in age. "Is that all you needed?"
"Oh. Yes. Have a nice day, Mr. Potter."
"You too, Ms. Davis. Good-bye." Harry turned to leave, then a thought struck him and he almost slapped himself before turning back to Ms. Davis. "I'm going to need to go to Percy's office quickly, is that alright?"
"That's fine. I'm sure no one will bother you for wandering around. Do you know where to go?"
"I'll be fine, thank you." He quickly turned and began walking away, going as quickly as he could without worrying about getting told off for running. He mentally berated himself for being an idiot as he made his way to Percy's office for the second time within a day. Luckily when he reached it he found he was only intruding on paperwork, and there wasn't someone else there.
Percy blinked up at him when he barged in. "Harry? Are you planning on making a habit of visiting me at work or something?"
"Uh, no. Sorry to barge in on you, but I just realised that I don't have a key to your room, and I need to get in to get my Gringotts key."
"Oh!" Percy quickly scrambled for a blank parchment and a quill. As he quickly wrote something down he said, "I should have thought of that, but I was in such a rush this morning that in never crossed my mind that you wouldn't be able to get into the room on your own. Just one minute." He finished writing, pulled out his wand, and touched it lightly to the parchment, leaving behind his lightly glowing initials, then folded it and handed it to Harry. "There, give that to Tom and he'll give you a spare key."
"Thanks! See you tonight."
Percy was already turning back to his work. "Good-bye. Could you please shut the door behind you on the way out?"
"Sure." Harry left, shoving the letter in his pocket as he did so. There were no more interruptions keeping him from leaving, and soon he was back outside in the Alley and walking quickly back to the Leaky Cauldron. With the letter Percy gave him he had no troubles getting a key, then getting his key and his money pouch with the small handful of spare sickles and knuts he had left over from the summer before. He had enough to buy maybe a school book or two, but nothing more, so he really needed to get to Gringotts first thing. It was a good thing he'd remembered he wouldn't be able to get back into the room before he'd walked all the way back to the Cauldron, and eaten up more of the time he had before needing to meet up with Tonks.
The trip to Gringotts was uneventful, he somehow even managed to avoid getting recognised, probably because he needed a haircut and his scar wasn't obvious until someone got close to him. Part of him wondered if it was even worth it to get it cut soon if he could avoid that bother, but after a moments thought he decided that he really found his hair getting into his eyes to be more annoying. By now most of the people who were regularly in the Alley were used to him anyway after the time he'd spent there before his third year and the trips he took almost every year to get his school things. Visitors from out of the area might be an annoyance, but he'd mostly gotten used to that by now, a fact which he found a little disturbing.
At the bank he went up to the first free goblin that he saw. Even though he didn't seem to be doing anything except waiting for customers, he still glared at Harry as if he were interrupting the most important work in the world. At least until Harry pulled out his key, at which point he still appeared to find Harry's presence distasteful, but at least tried to hide it better. "Good morning sir," he said. "Are you here to make a withdrawal?"
"Yes. I also want to exchange some of the money I get out for muggle currency."
"How much?"
"Um..." Harry tried to think of what the galleon to pound exchange rate might be, but couldn't remember. He knew there were several pounds to a galleon, but not how many, and didn't want to find himself loaded down with muggle currency. He also didn't want to ask the goblin, who clearly assumed he was an idiot from the get go and would just believe he was right if Harry admitted to not knowing something like this. After a moment he said, "50 galleons should do, thank you." He figured that would probably work out to a hundred-odd pounds, and thought that that would probably be more then enough to buy all the clothes he needed. In fact, he was probably overdoing it a bit; it only took a galleon and five sickles to get his school robes for the year, and he got those from an actual tailor instead of a department store so they were probably more expensive. But then, it would probably be for the best that he have some spare muggle money around, just incase he ever needed it.
The goblin had been writing something down while he'd been thinking, and after a moment said, "Alright, sir. Tosslock will show you take you to your safe. Bring the galleons you want converted to me when you've gotten them, and I'll have your muggle currency ready. Tosslock!"
Harry nodded to the goblin behind the counter and said, "Thank you" before following the goblin that approached them off into the vault area. As they careened through the caverns under the bank he regretted the choice to have eggs for breakfast; his stomach was churning much worse then it had through any of his previous times on this trip. They luckily reached his vault before it got bad enough for him to actually throw up, and he made a show of slowly counting out the fifty galleons he needed to give his stomach time to calm down. Another handful into his money bag to join the sickles and knuts he already had, and he was ready to go back.
Harry wondered if it was just his imagination, or if the goblin behind the desk really looked as amused as he thought he did by his obvious nausea. Imagination or not, he still went through their transaction quickly enough, counting the galleons much faster then Harry had, then counting 256 pounds into his hand. He blinked. "There must be some mistake."
"Sir, we do not make mistakes," the goblin replied, his voice's coolly professional tone slipping for the first time and gaining a touch of snippyness.
"This must be to much though, that was only fifty galleons!"
"The current exchange rate is 5.12 pounds to a galleon. 50 galleons comes to 256 pounds. Would you like a piece of paper and a quill to work it out on your own, or will you trust my math? Perhaps you don't think so, sir, but to most people 50 galleons is quite a bit of money."
Harry bit back an angry retort, proud of himself for managing to keep his temper while the goblin was so obviously beginning to lose his. He had to take that as a good sign that he was getting closer to reaching his goal of becoming more even-tempered before the next school year started. "I'm sorry," he said, plastering a pleasant smile on his face. "I've never exchanged money before, and thought the rate was less then that. I guess I'll be going now, thank you."
The goblin nodded at him, "Good day sir."
As Harry left the building Tosslock darted up to him again. "Sir, I hope that you will not allow Dartpit's attitude tarnish the way you view our fine bank."
Harry was a little startled by this, since Gringotts goblins had never actually come up and talked to him outside of when they needed to lead him to the vaults. "Huh? Oh, don't worry. I wouldn't leave the bank or anything just because he's rude."
"Thank you sir. It's just that Dartpit," Tosslock glanced furtively back at the goblin in question and lowered his voice, "Well sir, he wanted to get a job overseas, outside of the banking business, but was unable to raise enough money to move. His parents finally forced him to join the family business, and now he can't leave until his contract expires. He gets a bit... touchy around our richer clientele as he's still upset about his failure to make much money. Nepotism keeps him from being fired, but we try to steer clients with wealth such as yours away from him. I'm afraid that we didn't recognise you, sir, and failed to do so this time."
"It's fine, really. He didn't bother me that much."
"We just thought you should know the circumstances, sir. We did not want you to believe that such behaviour would normally be tolerated from our staff. If you avoid him in the future I'm sure your transactions will be much pleasanter."
"Well, thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Harry nodded to the goblin then walked out the door. He thought that that was definitely the strangest visit to Gringotts he'd ever had; even more so then his very first trip when everything had been strange. He knew the goblins there prided themselves on their professionalism, but not that they'd bother apologising for co-workers who were a little on the rude side. It wasn't as though Dartpit had even been that bad, by human standards. Tetchy, certainly, but if Harry had thought about it later he would have just assumed that he'd been having a bad day, and Harry implying he didn't know what he was doing when exchanging his money had been the straw that'd broken the camel's back. Really, in retrospect Harry didn't know why he'd been so close to losing his temper, Dartpit hadn't been that bad.
He decided not to think about it anymore. It wasn't like he'd need to deal with the goblin again that summer, and if he did the next year it wouldn't be for more then fifteen minutes or so, so it was pointless to wonder about the whole exchange. He glanced around the alley to remember which store he needed to go to was closest, then turned and quickly walked to Madam Malkin's.
When he reached it he found that Malkin herself was in, and she smiled broadly at him when she caught sight of him. "Mr. Potter!" she said. "What a pleasant surprise! I wouldn't have expected to see you here for another month, at least. How can I help you today?"
"I need a new set of school robes, Madam Malkin. The sleeves on the ones I have don't fit right anymore, and the hem's getting worn." He twitched up the bottom of the robe he was currently wearing to show it was fraying in a few places. He felt oddly guilty about that, he knew her robes should last much longer then a year before they became worn enough to notice it, but the life he lead was very hard on his clothing. Even if he did nothing else that would be a strain on them, Quidditch would assure her went through robes faster then most people. The wind whipping through the ends of them did them no good.
She looked him over for a moment, then said, "I daresay they're a bit short on you now as well. Well dear, come along to the back. You're lucky you came in so early; this is a very busy time of the year for us. With Midsummer's day approaching everyone wants to look their best, and my girls need to run themselves ragged taking care of them all. Now, up!"
Harry stepped up onto the same footstool he'd been on the first time he'd been there, and quickly shucked off his old robe. As Madam Malkin pulled one of the oversized school robes over him and began pinning it up he was struck by a sudden sense of deja vu. The only thing missing was Malfoy standing on the stool beside him to make it a complete recreation of his first visit. He'd almost forgotten that they'd met there before they'd ever been at school together, and had even gotten along well enough until Malfoy had insulted Hagrid. It made him feel a little sick to admit to himself that he'd ever gotten along with Malfoy, even if it had only been for a few minutes during which he was sure he remembered being reminded of Dudley. He had to be happy that the other young man didn't suddenly appear to make the feeling of deja vu complete. If he did Harry knew their encounter wouldn't go nearly as peacefully as it had during that first conversation.
"Alright dear, that's done. I can make the rest with this," Madam Malkin said, breaking into his thoughts. She looked him over for a long moment, then smiled a little wistfully. "I don't suppose you've been told to get dress robes again this year, have you?"
"Uh, no. Why, have you heard something?" He really really hoped that she hadn't heard anything of the kind. The ball during his fourth year had been bad enough, he really didn't want to go through another. Of course, knowing Dumbledore that was exactly the sort of thing he'd plan for the year in an attempt to raise everyones spirits and keep their minds off the war. Thankfully Malkin was shaking her head as she set to work altering his robes, so even if there was a ball planned at least word wasn't out yet.
"No, I've heard nothing of the kind. It's just... well, I know you won't like me thinking like this dear, but I was looking forward to making you a wonderful dress robe two years ago. I knew that the Boy Who Lived being seen in a dress robe made by me would be grand publicity, and when you never came in I have to admit to being disappointed."
Harry couldn't even bother to get upset by people using his going to their stores as publicity any longer. It was just a fact of life to him now; he could either spend the rest of his life getting ticked off everytime he saw an advertisement mentioning that Harry Potter shopped at wherever the ad was for, or he could get used to it and only get angry when he saw an ad lying about his having shopped there. "Well," he said. "I buy my school robes here, isn't that worth anything?"
"Bless you dear, but no. Everyone who shops in Diagon Alley buys their school work robes here. Merlin himself could come in for work robes and no one would blink. Student dress robes are another matter; the richer families will go to one of the more expensive tailors and everyone else will buy used robes down the street rather then spend much money on one dance when their children are probably going to quickly outgrow whatever they get. So, it would have been something special to have someone famous wearing dress robes from my store at the first Hogwarts ball in decades. But, what's past is past, and it's no use getting hung up on it. We're hardly hurting for work here, it would have just been a nice Christmas bonus if you had brought people in."
"Well, if I ever do need new dress robes, I'll be coming here," he said, though he knew that might only be true because he had no idea where any other robe tailor was. It seemed to make her happy to hear him say that at any rate, and he didn't really mind that he was guilted into it. In the past she'd always been kind enough that a little guilt didn't bother him.
She quickly finished off the last of his school robes and neatly folded and boxed then. "Well, that's that. Is your winter cloak still in good shape, or do you need another of those as well?"
It had been fine the last time he'd worn it, and since it had no sleeves to bother him he didn't mind if it was a little short. However, he'd forgotten to bring it with him when he'd fled the Dursley house and he knew that after their last confrontation there was no way his uncle would send it to him or let him inside to grab it himself. He'd have to sit down someday soon and think about how to sneak back in and get anything he'd want that hadn't fit in his backpack, but if he was unable to do so he really didn't want to go cold all winter long. "Yeah, I'll need a new one. Thanks for reminding me. Oh, and could I also get a pair of black summer robes? The kind with temperature-adjusting spells on them?" He'd seen those for sale before, and figured he might as well get some so that he wouldn't look like a prat for wandering around in school robes all summer. True, he could just not bother wearing robes at all and just stick to muggle clothing, but he didn't want to put up with the more prejudiced residents of the Alley assuming from a distance that he was muggleborn and hassling him.
He was a little surprised when he realised that he was thinking of staying there all summer as if it was a given, even though he'd have no where to stay for god knew how long other then Percy's room, then pushed that out of his mind as something else he'd need to think about later.
"It's no trouble," he realised Madam Malkin was saying while he was lost in thought. "Just give me one moment." It really was just a minute or two, and Harry found himself wishing he knew the spells she used to stitch the fabric together so quickly. It wouldn't be much help during the summer since he wasn't yet old enough to do magic on his own, but during the school year it would certainly be useful to fix tears in his clothing with the flick of the wand instead of needing to pull out a needle and thread while Seamus and Dean made fun off him for doing girls work. Thankfully Ron and Neville never joined it, Ron mostly because Harry would take care of his clothes too to spare him from the teasing and Harry presumed Neville stayed out of it because he was either too nice or too used to being taunted himself to want to join in. They'd never actually discussed it for him to know for sure which, if either, assumption was right.
When Madam Malkin was done she turned to Harry and said, "Will you be carrying these with you?"
"No. Could you have them sent to room 502 at the Leaky Cauldron?"
"Of course. Then that'll be a galleon sixteen sickles for your order, and two knuts for the delivery."
Harry dug the coins out of his money pouch, then said good-bye and left. His next stop was Flourish and Blotts. He knew he wouldn't be able to get his whole order for the year taken care of like he had with his robes; at the very least he wouldn't be able to get his DADA books unless Dumbledore had found a new professor for the year in the last two weeks and that teacher had already sent their booklist in. Considering that people now considered the position to be cursed and didn't want anything to do with it, he really doubted that had happened. He wouldn't buy potions books yet either, even though Snape probably used the same ones every year and so all he'd need to do is ask whoever was working what those books were he didn't want to waste money on them if it turned out he didn't get an O on his OWLs and wouldn't be able to get in. The same with Transfiguration, although if he hadn't managed to get an EE or higher he was pretty sure Hermione would kill him for wasting all the time she spent tutoring him in it. He could get Charms and Herbology books though, and even though he knew he must have failed his Divination OWL he also knew there was no OWL requirement to get into Trelawny's NEWT classes. He was willing to bet that both Hermione and Percy would give him an earful for not dropping the class, but he really didn't want to give up all the midday naps and cups of tea that being in it allowed him. He may have all the second sight of a headless ant, but when Trelawny wasn't busy predicting his death the class was surprisingly restful.
He found it easy enough to get all those books, but when he was checking out he noticed the proprietor slip another into his bag with them. After the events of his second year, this immediately set him on his guard. "What was that?" he said, reaching for his wand.
The man glanced nervously about, before replying, "What was what, Mr. Potter?"
Harry glared at him, and the mans courage wilted almost visibly. "That book you slipped in with mine?"
"Shh, shh!" He hushed, then glanced around again before pulling the top of the book just far enough out of the bag for Harry to read the title, Detection of and Defense Against the Darkest Arts. "Dumbledore's told me to give it to you when you stopped in for your books," he mumbled almost to low for Harry to hear him. "If they find out I've given a copy to a minor I'll be facing the Wizengamot for sure, but he thought it was best you study what's in it and, well, if you're expected to face Voldemort at your age I agree. As soon as you're out of here Dumbledore'll take all blame if you're caught with it, but if someone notices I've given it to you while you're still in here there's no helping me."
Harry lowered his voice to the same tone, "What's so bad about it if it's just about defending yourself."
"What's so bad is that the author thought you need to understand the principles behind casting dark magic to know how to adequately defend yourself. The folks in charge don't want underaged kids knowing those sorts of things. There's a letter in it from Dumbledore that I assume tells you what he wants you to learn from it. Now, get out of here before someone notices us acting suspicious and wants to know what we're doing."
Harry turned to leave, then paused. "When did Dumbledore ask you to do this?" he asked in a more normal tone of voice. If Dumbledore had been planning to do this for awhile it would have made more sense for him to give it to Harry personally, since they'd just seen each other at the end of the school year a couple of weeks before. And if he'd just thought of it since then it would have made more sense for him to send it by owl, since by the time Harry normally got his schoolbooks it would be so late in the summer that there'd barely be anytime to study it outside of school and he again might as well have just waited for the school year to have started and given it to Harry in person.
"Why, just last evening. He owled and let me know you'd likely be in within the next few days. Didn't you let him know you were planning on coming here?"
"Oh. Well then, thank you." Harry felt a little stupid for even thinking that he'd need to write Dumbledore to let him know where he was. Of course he already knew. He always knew everything Harry did, so why should this be any different? He had to admit he was happy with the tacit approval of his staying there he'd just been given. If Dumbledore was writing ahead to make sure he got a book he'd need instead of sending half the Order to drag him home then that meant he could probably hang around as long as he wanted as long as everything stayed the way it was.
If Dumbledore had really sent the book. He knew he wouldn't be touching it until after he'd gotten Tonks to check it for traps when they met for lunch. He might have faith in Dumbledore omniscience, but that didn't make him an idiot. "Constant vigilance!" he murmured to himself under his breath, then snorted. It was a little amazing to him to think that just five years before the worst he could imagine being done to a book was Dudley sticking gum to its pages, and now he couldn't stop running over all the various curses and other spells he knew of that might have been cast on it in an attempt to kill or capture him.
He didn't have anything else that he needed to buy, so he headed back to the Cauldron. When he got back to the room he carefully shoved his bag of books on top of one of the suspended cabinets so that if Percy stopped there for lunch before Tonks checked them there wouldn't be any chance of him looking through them and getting hurt if the book was bespelled somehow. Then he turned to the box of robes. He carefully lifted the top and tipped the robes out with the tip of his wand then counted the robes just in case. There were only the ones he'd ordered, and although he knew that wasn't a sure sign that they were safe he was getting sick of being suspicious and just grabbed one of the summer robes and traded his old school robe for it. He could immediately feel the difference the temperature adjusting spells made, he'd been feeling a little hot, not enough to bother doing anything about it but enough to make him a little uncomfortable, then within seconds of pulling on the robe he was feeling pleasantly cool. He decided to take a second to do a test, grabbed a piece of ice out of the fridge, and pressed it against his leg through the robe. For a second he could feel the freezing cold on his thigh, then the robe adjusted itself again around that area, and while he thought he could still feel it a little it just cooled the warm area to the same temperature as the rest of his body. He thought he might want to see if it was possible to make it a little warmer, but even as is he thought they'd be comfortable in the winter so long as he made sure to wear his cloak over them to make up for the short sleeves.
Test done he took off the robes again and rolled up his sleeves, turning to face the sink. He hadn't had time to clean up that morning since they had to rush off, and now the leftover eggs were caked to the pan and the bacon grease had solidified. He knew he should have cleaned up after himself before sitting down and eating, but at first he thought he probably had plenty of time to do it after he'd finished up, then they'd had to get out of there before he'd had a chance to. He grimaced as he set to work on them. For all that Percy had seemed to want a fully stocked kitchen he didn't seem that interested in cleaning supplies; all Harry was able to find were some washcloths and soap when what he really needed was some steel wool. It wasn't really surprising, he remembered the way Mrs. Weasley did the dishes easily enough and knew that if Percy ever did do any cooking he'd clean up with magic as well. For a second he tried cleaning with them, then he ran downstairs and hunted down Tom.
"Steel wool. Got any?" he said when he found him.
"Hello again to you too, Harry," Tom replied. He stood up and began lumbering back toward the kitchen, Harry following close at his heels. "Steel wool? I could just send someone up to scourgify whatever it is you need cleaned you know."
"No thank you. I want to take care of it myself."
"Alright then." When they reached the kitchen Harry waited by the bar for him to come back. A few long minutes passed before he came back with a large mess of the stuff. It wasn't the brillo pads he'd been hoping for, but it would be a world better then trying to scrub off dried, caked-on egg with a washcloth. "You're lucky, I had some left over from a few years back when I let my nephew have a summer job here. He was underaged and had to do everything by hand, so we needed to keep some around. It was a bit rusty, but I scourgified it."
"Thanks Tom. You're a lifesaver." He dashed back upstairs and immediately went at the dishes before the filth could cake in more. He gulped down cups coffee as he scrubbed away, not actually needing a pick-me-up, or liking the taste, but not wanting to waste it. With the steel wool to help things went much easier then they otherwise would have, and it only took him about fifteen minutes before the kitchen was as spotless as it had been when he'd arrived. In fact, it was a little cleaner then it had been since he took an extra minute to dust the place down.
There was still a good three-quarters of an hour to kill before he had to meet Tonks, so for the lack of anything better to do he wandered back into the Alley and to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Within what seemed like seconds after walking through the door Florean had lead him to a seat, served him a free sundae, and was asking if there was anything new he'd like to know about medieval wizardry, for all the world as though Harry was still hanging around from the summer before his third year. At first he tried insisting that he really didn't need any help with history, but was soon caught up in one of Florean's stories about the past. Harry secretly harbored the belief that Dumbledore should make Binns start haunting like a normal ghost and instead hire Florean; the same history that bored him to sleep when he heard it from Binns was somehow exciting and engrossing when it came from the jovial wizard.
They were deeply immersed in a discussion about a was that had taken place in the 1200s between the centaurs and merpeople when they were interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind Harry. Brought back to the present by the sound he suddenly realised that they'd been talking for a good long while, and he was pretty sure he knew who it must be behind him. "Tonks?" he said.
"Mm-hm."
"What time is it?"
"About twenty after one."
"Oh." He looked to Florean for help, but he just seemed amused and not in the least inclined to jump in. "I lost track of time."
"So I gathered."
"Would it help if I apologised?"
"Maybe."
"Well, I'm sorry."
"Mm." He was just about to turn around and see how angry she looked when she smacked him upside the head so hard that his face almost went into the dregs of his sundae. "You prat," she said. She didn't really sound that angry, but he couldn't tell if it was really because she wasn't angry, or if she was just very carefully keeping herself under control and was going to blow up at him any second. "Did you ever think that since you were attacked just last night I might think when you were late that they'd tried again and managed to get you? And maybe that since I was the one who let you wander off unsupervised I might feel a wee bit guilty and, oh, maybe a tad worried when you didn't show up on schedule?"
Harry's eyes widened when he realised exactly how he'd feel if he'd been in her situation with one of his friends, and felt far more then just a 'wee bit' guilty. "Oh hell Tonks, I'm sorry. I didn't even think of that. I didn't mean to worry you."
"Well then, it's a good thing that you didn't then."
Now he spun around to face her, and the smirk on her face was more then enough to let him know he'd been had. "Ok, what time is it really?"
"Five to one. I caught sight of you through the window, and could tell just by looking at you that you had no idea what time it was, so I just had to take advantage of the situation. I hope you realise though that if I hadn't seen you and you had taken that long to show up that wouldn't have been an act, and I would have hit you much harder."
"I assumed as much. So, ready for lunch?" He stood and reach for his money just incase Florean decided to start charging him that day, but was waved off with a smile so they just walked out of the building.
"I'm absolutely ravenous. Now Harry, as we're going out to lunch together you've overlooked your solemn duty as my male escort."
"Huh?" The look he gave her made it clear he thought she was nuts, and that he had no idea what she was talking about.
"You need to give me a compliment over my wonderful muggle-chic outfit. I don't dress like this everyday you know, and I'd like to hear from someone who actually lives among muggles that I won't stick out like a sore thumb."
He turned and looked her over, not really knowing what to say. Other then her hair, which was still bright green, he'd never look at her twice if he passed her on the muggle streets, but that didn't seem like the sort of thing that she'd want to hear. She'd even changed her eyes to a perfectly normal shade of brown. Finally he just said, "You look great, Tonks. If you catch anyone staring it won't be because you're wearing something out of place." That seemed like it would work.
To his embarrassment she patted him on the head when he'd finished speaking. "Good boy. If I were actually a girl who was going out somewhere with you I may want to come up with something a bit more quickly then that, and depending on who I am I might be a bit upset at your implying you have no problem with other guys ogling me, but that was pretty good for a beginner. Of course, some girls aren't all that interested in getting complimented, but we can save that topic for later." She began walking towards the Cauldron again while he stood their stupidly for a long moment, then had to trot to catch back up.
"What the hell was that, some sort of test?" he asked when he caught back up with her.
"Some sort," she agreed. "I've heard that in the past you haven't been that good at handling the girls who were interested in you, and thought I might give you a few pointers."
"Well cut it out, will you? I just want to have lunch and go shopping with a friend, not worry everytime you ask me something that it's part of some ridicules 'what does a girl want to hear' test."
"Is that really what you want?" At his emphatic nod she laughed and said, "Alright then. I just thought you might want some advice from someone with a few years on you, but if you don't want to hear it that's fine. It'll make my day a little easier at least."
They reached the Cauldron, but when she started to turn to grab a table Harry snagged her by the sleeve and tugged her towards the stairs. "Come up to the room. There's something I want you to see."
"Harry, dear, I know I just said I'd stop this, but just for your information this is what we call 'moving too fast.' It's not something you want to make a habit of doing."
He glared at her over her shoulder briefly before turning his attention back to the stairs. "Get your mind out of the gutter Tonks. I need you to check a book I got to see if it's cured or something."
She straightened up immediately and began to walk a bit more briskly. "Any reason you think it might be, or is it just a hunch?"
"Well, the man at Flourish and Blotts tried to shove it into my bag without my noticing, when I didn't ask for it. Considering that the last time something like that happened to someone I know the book in question turned out to be a journal that almost incarnated a young Voldemort I think I have every reason to be suspicious."
"Damn right you do. Did you question him about it? What did he say?"
"He says that Dumbledore wrote him and told him to slip it to me. Apparently it's not supposed to be sold to kids, but he thought I needed it, and it needed to be slipped to me on the sly because until it was out of the store he'd be arrested if he was caught selling it to me, but now that I'm out of it Dumbledore'll take credit if I'm caught with it." He thought that over for a second then added, "Um, I can trust you not to tell anyone about it if it turns out to be legitimate, right?"
"Of course you can. If Dumbledore thinks you need to learn whatever's in that book then I'm not going to question him. And it certainly sounds like the sort of thing he'd do. So, what did you do after that?"
"I just brought it back here. Since he handled the bag I knew that even if something had been done to the book it hadn't spread to it on contact. I was careful not to touch the book itself, and I put it up so that if Percy came home before you got here and I wasn't around he wouldn't come into contact with it. Then I waited around until it was time to meet up with you, since I knew you'd know what to do to figure out if something's wrong with it."
"Good. You're good at thinking things through when you need to be, that'll serve you well if you ever join us as an auror. Now, lead me to that book."
He guided he up to the room, and once there fished the bag back off the cabinet and tipped it upside down so the books fell on the ground. "That one," he said, pointing at the defense book."
Tonks, who had been watching him, looked a bit pained. "Great. Now, for future reference, never just drop a possibly cursed item on the ground. You never know when they've been set to explode if jolted, and you could have just blown the two of us sky high."
"Oh," he said as she set to work. "Well, I'll keep that in mind in the future." He carefully sat down as far away from where Tonks was working as he could get while still staying him the world, careful not to make any suddenly movements. He didn't want to admit it, but he was feeling more then a little shaken by the thought of how close he might have just been to killing them both.
Tonks worked quickly and efficiently, and Harry found himself engrossed with trying to keep up with what all she was doing and working out why each spell was important when it wasn't something really obvious. Some of the spells were ones he'd already learned for curse detecting, others he'd never heard of and had to try to figure out the uses of from the name alone, and most interesting to him were variations of ones he already knew but had never been known could be of any used like that. After almost five minutes she straighten up and tossed the book to him. "It's clean. Apparently Dumbledore really does want you to study it. Pretty difficult stuff though; we aren't even expected to read it until halfway through our second year of training. If you need any help with it feel free to hunt me down and I'll see when I'm free to come over and help you study."
"I'll keep that in mind." Her throwing the book dislodged the letter from Dumbledore, and he pulled it out of the book. "Mind if I read this before going down to eat?"
"Sure. I'll go grab us a table, come and join me when you're done alright?"
"Yeah. I'll just be a minute." He waited for her to leave, then opened up the letter. It was just one short page.
------
Harry,
I have just been sent word of the attack on your home. While I am proud that you managed to escape to safety unscathed, I'm greatly concerned over the fact that Voldemort is clearly moving more quickly then I suspected. I had thought you would be safely back within Hogwarts before he regained enough power to risk a direct attack.
In light of these events, I've decided it's time you learn the lessons that are within this book. I wish that I could wait another year until you come of age to assign it to you, but time is of the essence and we cannot afford to wait. Feel free to write to me at any time with any questions you have about the subject matter or, if you choose to stay in the Alley, I'm any of the Order members who work in the Ministry would be happy to help. I shall be writing to them soon to let them know to be expecting you.
As for you accommodations, if you wish to continue staying with Mr. Weasley at the Leaky Cauldron that's perfectly acceptable, so long as you remain cautious whenever you leave the building. If it's your desire to stay at the Burrow that can also be arranged, and if you feel it would be safest we would even welcome you at Hogwarts this summer. Of course, it's completely understandable if a young man of your age doesn't want to stuck in this drafty old castle all summer. I trust you will make what you feel is the right decision.
Albus Dumbledore
------
Harry flipped through the book for a second, then shoved the letter back into it and took it to the bedroom where he shoved it deep into his backpack, knowing that Percy wouldn't dig around in it without his permission. While he'd been surprisingly decent to spend time with during the past day Harry knew he was still Percy, and more likely then not would take it from him, and get Dumbledore into he didn't know how much trouble for buying it for him, the second he saw it rather then allow the rules to be broken.
That done he turned and left the room, going to join Tonks for lunch.