I own nothing in the Harry Potter franchise. All such content belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous. He looked around and spotted a squat, smiling witch dressed in mauve, whom he guessed was Madam Malkin herself. She greeted Harry in a friendly manner and said that two others were being fitted up just now, in fact.

In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face and white-blond hair was standing on the leftmost footstool. Two spots to the right, a girl with a pale, heart-shaped face and neck-length, light-brown hair was standing on her own footstool. They were each around Harry's height, and were trying hard to ignore each other's presence. Madam Malkin stood Harry on the footstool between them and continued to fit the girl's robes. Meanwhile, a second witch, likely Madam Malkin's assistant, was busy pinning up the boy's robes.

"Wotcher," said the girl, smiling at Harry in the large mirror ahead. "You going to Hogwarts, too?"

"Yes," said Harry.

"Don't mind her," said the pale-faced boy, his upper lip curled in a sneer. "You shouldn't waste your time talking to this sort."

The girl frowned. "Don't listen to him. He's a Malfoy."

"A what?" Harry asked, at which the pale-faced boy blinked (and the girl laughed).

"Not so famous now, are you?" the girl asked the Malfoy boy.

"You don't know who I am?" Malfoy asked Harry, the former's eyes slightly narrowed. "Are you a Mudblood or something?"

Madam Malkin's hand slipped from the girl's shoulder. "Now, really!" she said to Malfoy.

"Yeah!" said the girl, clenching her fists. "That's rude!"

Malfoy scoffed. "Oh, right. I almost forgot that you have one as a father. No wonder your mother got disowned."

The girl put on a haughty expression. "As if we care. That family's rubbish anyway."

Fortunately, Madam Malkin's assistant finished up with Malfoy and permitted him to leave. Malfoy crammed his robes into a bag as he strutted out the shop.

"What a prat," said the girl, sighing. "Can't believe he's my only cousin."

"Hear, hear," said Harry, feeling a deep sense of understanding.

It wasn't long until Madam Malkin finished the girl's fitting, then moved to Harry. He could see the girl now standing in a pink T-shirt, dark-blue jeans, and a black pair of trainers on her footstool.

"I'm Nymphadora Tonks, by the way," she said, looking at Harry in the mirror. "But don't use my first name. It sucks."

Harry took Tonks's silence as a cue. She was expecting him to introduce himself, which he did in a reluctant manner.

"I'm Harry Potter."

The trio of Madam Malkin, her assistant, and Tonks froze for a moment. But before anyone could speak, Tonks turned so fast to the left that she lost her balance on the footstool.

"Goodness!" said Madam Malkin, catching Tonks as she tumbled backwards. "You need to be more careful!"

Tonks giggled. "Sorry, I'm dead clumsy at times." Then she looked at Harry. "Are you really Harry Potter?"

Harry pulled back his fringe to reveal his lightning scar. The trio of witches gawked for a few seconds.

"Well, er ... wow," said Tonks, still staring at Harry's forehead. "Does it hurt?"

Harry shook his head.

"You see that?" Tonks told Madam Malkin and her assistant. "He's Harry Potter. You can't charge him for his robes."

"No, it's OK!" said Harry, unwilling to make trouble. "I'll pay."

"Certainly, dear," said Madam Malkin to Harry. "Now hold still, please."

Madam Malkin's assistant shook her head and chuckled at Tonks. She kept looking at Harry in the mirror, as if wanting to ask for something (an autograph, perhaps?) but ceased after receiving a quick glance from Madam Malkin herself.

"So, anyway," Tonks told Harry, as she stood beside him with her bag in hand, "Mum's opposite at the ice-cream shop, and Dad's next door buying my books." She paused for a moment. "I told him my stupid, snob of an uncle is also there, but Dad didn't care. I just hope they're not fighting or anything."

Harry looked at Tonks in the mirror. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you see ... Dad's a Muggle-born," said Tonks, "so you can imagine how much people like the Malfoys would hate him. I'm not surprised that Draco Malfoy used the word 'Mudblood'. It's a very rude term for someone with Muggle parents, like Dad."

Harry frowned at Malfoy's insult. "And my mum, too."

Shortly thereafter, Madam Malkin finished Harry's fitting. She folded Harry's robes and placed them neatly into a bag, before seeing Harry and Tonks out.

"Great," said Tonks, as they left the shop. "Look who's here."

Looking left, Harry saw Malfoy standing at Flourish and Blotts, along with a snobbish blonde woman who was likely his mother. They were joined by a man who had the same pale, pointed face as Malfoy; and were all wearing elegant robes.

"Must be horrible having that kind of family," Harry said, and Tonks nodded.

"Yeah, and there's a few more in Azkaban."

Harry creased his brows. "In what?"

"Azkaban," said Tonks. "The wizarding prison."

I'd better not ask.

Just then, Harry saw Hagrid exit the bookshop alongside a fair-haired, big-bellied man wearing plain Muggle clothing. They were each carrying a bag full of books, and were having a jovial discussion between them.

"That's Dad," said Tonks, pointing out the big-bellied man (whom the Malfoys were sneering at). "And there's Mum!"

Across the street, a woman wearing a pink T-shirt, black jeans, and a pair of black trainers emerged from Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour. She had thick, shining light-brown hair, and heavily hooded eyes. There were five different ice-creams levitating beside her, courtesy of a spell she was casting.

Wow, Harry thought. Wish I could do that.

"Five ice-creams?" Tonks asked, rubbing her chin. "That's odd."

Mrs Tonks crossed the street and came to a stop before Harry. Her eyes, much like many others had done, made the usual flick upwards to Harry's scar.

"Pleasure to meet you, Harry Potter," she said, still looking down at Harry's scar. Then she glanced to the right, at the Malfoys. "Any trouble from your so-called 'cousin', Nymphadora?"

Tonks frowned while looking up at her mother. "He used the 'Mudblood' word for Dad."

Mrs Tonks's expression hardened. "Did he, now?"

For a moment, Harry pictured a magical-battle filled with flashes and explosions between the Tonkses and Malfoys. He remained on edge even after choosing a chocolate and raspberry ice-cream with chopped nuts, while Tonks chose the toffee-apple one.

"You know," said Mrs Tonks, as they passed the Malfoys. "I'm glad that Harry Potter's met the right sort. There are some people out there who are 'Toujours pourrie' – 'Always rotten'."

Their next stop was the cauldron shop, where Harry and Tonks bought pewter cauldrons (though both of them wanted gold), lavish sets of scales, and collapsible brass telescopes. This was followed by a visit to the apothecary's, after which Tonks started questioning Harry.

"Do you have a broom?"

"No," said Harry.

"Play Quidditch at all?"

"How can you ask that?" Harry asked in return, much to the amusement of Mr and Mrs Tonks. "I grew up with Muggles, remember?"

Tonks apologised, but Harry wasn't offended.

"Tell you what," said Tonks, as they walked down the street again, "let's go to Quality Quidditch Supplies and get you a broom!"

Hagrid narrowed his beetle-black eyes. "First-years aren' allowed 'em, remember?"

But Tonks didn't care, and she dragged everyone to the Quidditch shop.

"That one," she said, pointing at the window. "The Nimbus Two Thousand's the fastest broom ever! Nought to a hundred in ten seconds! One-twenty max!"

Mrs Tonks eyed the price tag. "It's also eight-hundred Galleons, pumpkin."

"So?" Tonks crossed her arms and tilted her nose in the air. "You and Dad can split it. Four-hundred each."

Mr Tonks chuckled. "Good idea, but I think it would be better to buy something lower first."

"Why?" said Tonks. "Because you're too cheap to buy a Nimbus?"

Mrs Tonks looked at Harry. "Try a Cleansweep and see how it goes. Should they ever put you on the team, at least it won't look like you're buying your way in."

"Oh, he'll make the team, all right," Hagrid said, smiling. "Jus' like his dad."

Harry wasn't sure whether to feel proud or under pressure. Either way, he settled on buying a Cleansweep Seven, at a hundred Galleons (he declined the shopkeeper's discount and insisted on paying Mr Tonks back for covering the fee). It was said to do nought to sixty in ten seconds, with a top speed of ninety miles per hour.

"You really don't have to pay me back," said Mr Tonks, as they left the shop. "Take it as a gift."

But Harry stuck to his earlier decision, and they returned to Gringotts for a quick withdrawal before carrying on with Harry's and Tonks's shopping lists. As it stood, Harry still needed a wand and (at Hagrid's insistence) a pet, while Tonks just needed a wand.

"So, Harry," said Mr Tonks, as they walked down the street towards Ollivanders, "any thoughts on your Hogwarts house yet?"

"Probably Hufflepuff."

"Nothing wrong with that," said Mr Tonks, with a smile.

"Gryffindor's me guess," said Hagrid. "There's a good chance there."

"What's the worst house?" Harry asked.

"Slytherin," said Mrs Tonks at once. "Speaking from experience, I can assure you that it's the most discriminative house at Hogwarts. Lucky for me, I happened to be from the 'Most Noble and Ancient House of Black'," (she said it in a mocking manner), "which made it easy to settle in."

Harry felt very nervous all of a sudden. "Would I fit in there?"

"Depends," said Mrs Tonks. "But I wouldn't advise it. A lot of Slytherins are like the Malfoys."

Tonks spoke up next. "I'll probably make Hufflepuff, too."

They reached the wand shop in just a few minutes. Harry and Tonks could barely contain their excitement as they stood at the counter.

"Good afternoon," said Mr Ollivander, exiting the back of his shop. His wide, pale eyes were shining like moons through the gloom of the room.

"Can we get our wands now?" Tonks asked, almost quivering with excitement. "I've been waiting forever!"

After speaking about Harry's parents and their wands, not to mention Voldemort and his wand (upon seeing Harry's scar), Mr Ollivander got straight to work in measuring Tonks. He did so from shoulder to finger, wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and then round her head. Tonks groaned as Mr Ollivander mentioned that no two Ollivander wands were the same, much like no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes were the same.

"This better not take long," Tonks said.

Fortunately, it didn't. Tonks went through five different wands before giving off a shower of pink sparks with her sixth one. But as for Harry, he tried over a dozen wands before finding his match.

"Well, well, well," said Mr Ollivander. "How very curious, Mr Potter ..."

Hagrid and the Tonkses cheered so loudly that only Harry heard Mr Ollivander's comment regarding the brother wands. And after paying the fourteen Galleons, they left the wand shop and made their way to Eeylops Owl Emporium, where Hagrid bought Harry a beautiful snowy owl.

"Well," said Hagrid to the Tonkses, as they walked down the street, "it was nice runnin' inter yeh, but we've got ter go. Yeh can catch up on the first o' September, Harry."

Tonks beamed. "Can't wait to see you on the train!"

But before Harry could respond, Mr Tonks gave a slight chuckle and said, "It's on the wizarding side of King's Cross, of course. Just pass through the barrier between platforms nine and ten."

"Enjoy the rest of your holidays, dear," said Mrs Tonks.

Yeah, right.

They left Diagon Alley, with Hagrid agreeing to keep Harry's broom at Hogwarts. Today had been the closest that Harry had ever got to having a family outing, and he could only wish that it would happen again.

One month later, Harry was sharing a compartment with Tonks on the Hogwarts Express. They spoke about all manner of topics and each bought ten Sickles' worth of wizarding sweets, which they shared with each other.

"You should try this one," said Tonks, passing Harry a Fizzing Whizzbee. "It's one of my favourites."

Harry popped the Whizzbee in his mouth and gasped. The sherbet ball caused him to levitate a few inches off his seat.

"Wicked, huh?" said Tonks, eating her own Whizzbee. "Dad introduced me to them years ago."

Some of their other sweets included Liquorice Wands, Cauldron Cakes, Pumpkin Pasties, and even Chocolate Frogs. Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed an infant with jet-black hair, bright-green eyes, and a lightning scar on his forehead. Underneath the picture was the name 'Harry Potter'.

Seriously?

"Who'd you get?" Tonks asked, sitting forward in her seat. "I got another Bridget Wenlock."

Harry flipped the card so that it faced Tonks. She eyed it for a moment before smiling.

"Cool, but you can give it to me if you don't want it."

Harry shrugged. "Why wouldn't I want it?"

"Oh, er, I just thought, well ... never mind." Tonks twiddled her fingers for a while. "What's it say on the back?"

Looking down, Harry placed the card on his palm and read:

Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. The only known survivor of the Killing Curse. As an infant, responsible for the destruction of He Who Must Not Be Named in 1981. Rumoured to have powers beyond the ordinary.

"Is that true?" Tonks asked, with a hint of excitement in her voice. "Do you have super magic-powers?"

Harry shook his head. "If I did, you'd have seen them by now."

"Oh, OK." Tonks rubbed her chin. "But I still think you do."

Yeah, right.

Shortly thereafter, Harry asked Tonks if they could practise spellcasting together. She was more than happy to agree.

"I got just the spell in mind!" she said, beaming. "But first, we need something that's broken."

They looked around and decided to rip their Fizzing Whizzbee boxes in half.

"One Sickle to whoever fixes theirs first," said Tonks, picking up her wand. "Reparo!"

Nothing.

"My turn," said Harry. "Reparo!"

The two halves of the box came together at the bottom; their tears fixed about an inch.

"That doesn't count," said Tonks, looking a little haughty. "The Sickle goes to whoever fixes theirs fully."

They practised over and over again. And after several minutes, Harry had fixed his whole box first, while Tonks reached a third of hers.

"Hmph!" Tonks placed a Sickle in Harry's hand, then sat with her arms crossed. "That wasn't fair. You're Harry Potter."

Harry blinked at the silver coin in his palm. He hadn't expected to win.

"Let's break and fix all the empty boxes!" said Tonks. "What d'you say, huh?"

Harry agreed, and they practised their Mending Charms for quite a while until the compartment door slid open to reveal a nervous, round-faced blond boy. He asked if anyone had seen his toad, Trevor, at which Tonks shook her head.

"I've lost him!" the boy said, wailing. "He keeps getting away from me!"

Harry wasn't sure whether to feel pity or annoyance. "I'm sure he'll turn up somewhere."

"Yes," said the boy in miserable manner. "Well, if you see him ..."

He left, and Tonks locked the door behind him. She and Harry continued to practise their Mending Charms until there was another knock on the compartment door.

"Great," Tonks muttered. "What now?"

She got up and opened the door. This time, the nervous boy was accompanied by a bossy girl who had lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth. She enquired about the toad as well.

"We already said it's not here, OK?" said Tonks. "Maybe try somewhere else."

"Let's go, Neville," said the girl, sliding the compartment door shut behind them. Tonks locked it again and sighed.

"Hopefully, that's the last interruption."

She joined Harry in practising the Levitation Charm next. It was a tough spell, with neither Harry nor Tonks getting their Fizzing Whizzbee boxes off the seats.

"Hang on," said Harry, re-reading the theoretical section. "Looks like we're saying it wrong. It's supposed to be Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa."

Tonks giggled. "Sure thing, Professor Potter. Let's try it again."

Unfortunately, their next session was interrupted by yet another knock on the compartment door. Someone tried to open it numerous times from the other side but failed.

"That Neville boy wasn't so eager," said Tonks, getting up. She tiptoed to the compartment window, pulled up the blinds, and scowled. "Not this idiot again."

Harry saw Draco Malfoy and two large boys outside, and understood. Malfoy knocked again and again until Harry got up and opened the door.

"Is it true?" Malfoy asked. He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than at Madam Malkin's. "Everyone's saying that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yeah," said Harry, keeping his eyes on Malfoy's bodyguard's. Malfoy introduced them as Crabbe and Goyle, and Tonks snorted with laughter.

"Something funny?" Malfoy asked. Then he looked at Harry and said, "I'm trying to have a conversation here, and she's being uncouth. As you can see, Potter, some wizarding families are better than others. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

"Why did you use that 'Mudblood' word back at Madam Malkin's?"

Malfoy looked taken aback for a moment. "Er ... old habits, I guess. I suppose not all Muggle-borns are bad, though."

Tonks guffawed. "You're not seriously buying this, are you, Harry?"

"I think I've heard enough, thanks," said Harry, ignoring Malfoy's hand. "Maybe you should think twice about what the 'wrong' sort is. I can help you there."

A pink tinge appeared on Malfoy's pale cheeks. "I'd be careful if I were you, Potter. Unless you're more polite, you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You keep hanging out with riff-raff like this idiot and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."

Tonks took a step forward.

"Oh," said Malfoy, sneering, "you're going to fight us, are you?"

"Get lost," said Harry, trying hard not to worry over the size of Malfoy's bodyguards. If only I'd practised some fighting spells instead.

"But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys?" Malfoy told Crabbe and Goyle. "We've eaten all our food, and you still seem to have some."

Goyle shoved Harry aside and lunged for his Chocolate Frogs on the seat.

"Locomotor Wibbly!" said Tonks.

There was a flash of orange, and the next thing Harry saw, Goyle fell forward and banged his head on the seat.

"What?" Malfoy backed off, then ordered Crabbe to drag the wobbly-legged Goyle out of the compartment. "Don't say I didn't warn you, Potter! You won't get very far with her!"

While Harry got to his feet, Tonks took aim at Malfoy. He fled at once.

"Serves him right!" she said, slamming the compartment door shut. "Are you OK?"

"Fine," said Harry, dusting his hand-me-downs off. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

Tonks gave a smug little grin. "Dad taught me that one, and Mum showed me Expelliarmus, the Disarming Charm. We can practise the second one, if you'd like."

"Why not the first one?" Harry asked.

"Because I'm still learning the Jelly-Legs's counter-curse. You ready?"

Harry nodded, and they spent the rest of their journey going over the Disarming Charm.