Author's Notes: Well I'm working all day with rambunctious pre-teens, so I don't have much time for writing. However, I will try to get in a chapter whenever possible.

I don't want to have a page-long author's notes, so my little comments and such to all you wonderful reviewers are on the review page.

Sidenote: Peanut butter and crackers is the best snack EVER. I ate like, half a jar of peanut butter while writing this.

Saturday, 6 January

3:35 p.m.

Things have become increasingly dull and increasingly gloomy around here. I've been sticking to my new goals and have been working hard at O.W.L. revision to make up for lost time, but I still just don't feel as motivated as I usually do when it comes to exams. It's hard to decide if I'm looking forward to returning to school tomorrow or not. On one hand, going back to Hogwarts will get us out of Grimmauld Place; on the other hand, going back to Hogwarts means going back to the tyrannical rule of Dolores Umbridge.

On a positive note, no one seems to remember (or they're all pretending to have forgotten) my idiotic behaviour on New Year's Eve. I eventually came downstairs on New Year's Day, still feigning a bad headache as an excuse not to talk to anyone, and nobody mentioned the incident. However, I did see Mrs. Weasley give Sirius a few murderous looks, and noticed Sirius glancing at me guiltily from time to time. Ron avoided me the entire day (or perhaps it was the other way around…I can't remember now…) and I thought things were a bit awkward for a few days afterwards, though neither of us mentioned the ill-fated corner-of-the-mouth-kiss. Then Crookshanks tried to eat one of the rooks from Ron's precious chess set and we got into a row. I was angry because poor Crookshanks nearly choked, and Ron was angry because apparently the experience traumatized his rook and now it's too afraid to move when he's playing with it. We had it out, made up, and then everything was back to normal again.

I apologized to Ginny for yelling at her on New Year's Eve when she came to check on me (she really was concerned about me), and I even apologized to Tonks, although she doesn't remember me shouting at her during the countdown and apparently didn't even notice anything was amiss with regards to my behaviour that night. In fact, when I finally gave Ginny permission to tell Tonks what happened, she was furious with herself for having missed it. I noticed Ginny left out the part about me kissing Ron on the corner of the mouth, though; perhaps she was too busy kissing Harry to have noticed. Hopefully no one else noticed, either.

I actually wasn't going to let Ginny tell Tonks about my punch-related escapades on New Year's Eve, but when I finally relented and let Ginny tell her about it, I felt much better. The three of us had a good giggle over it. I suppose it is rather funny in retrospect. It's good to have Ginny and Tonks around to talk to sometimes - laughing about it with the two of them made me realize how silly all of my fretting about the incident was. Don't get me wrong, Harry and Ron are my best friends and I wouldn't trade them for anything, but it's also sort of nice to have…well, girlfriends. I know Tonks is quite a bit older than us, but she spent a lot of time with Ginny and I in the summer and over the holidays, and we've gotten to be quite good friends. She seems more like an older sister than an adult witch, or an Auror, or a member of the Order.

Actually, Tonks had the day off today, and opted to spend the morning and most of the afternoon here, even though she could have probably spent her morning more wisely by sleeping. I've noticed that since Mr. Weasley was attacked, all of the members of the Order who happen by Grimmauld Place look even more tired and weary than usual. Even Tonks can't morph away the bags under her eyes. This was a hot topic of discussion amongst Harry, Ron, Ginny, the twins, and I for awhile. The most obvious reason why everyone is so tired, of course, is that they've had to step up security on whatever it is they're guarding since Mr. Weasley was attacked. What they're guarding though, still remains a mystery…

So this morning the collective inhabitants of Grimmauld Place plus Tonks were sitting around the kitchen after breakfast, listlessly watching Sirius's and Kreacher's tug-of-war over a silver candelabra that apparently belonged to his Aunt Elladora. This was vaguely amusing for awhile, and then Tonks got bored and started playing with her hairstyle.

"Curly and red?" Tonks mused aloud, morphing to match the description. She glanced at herself in the mirror hanging next to the fireplace and scrunched her nose. "Hmm…lengthy and blonde?"

"Doesn't that hurt you at all?" Ron asked curiously, watching Tonks's hair lengthen and turn platinum blonde.

"Nah. It used to be really draining and harder to control when I was younger, but now…" Tonks shrugged and her hair rapidly shortened into a chin-length bob, still platinum blonde. "Or perhaps you prefer it bushy and brown, Ron?" she said innocently, hair thickening and darkening.

I'll kill her, I thought savagely.

"What's your hair look like naturally?" Ginny asked inquisitively before I could act on my murderous thoughts.

Tonks looked pensive for a moment, and then took a deep breath. As she exhaled, her hair rapidly unfurled into a long, thick, shining black curtain. With her hair like that, and the bags under her eyes, she looked vaguely like someone else I'd seen before…but I couldn't quite place who it was…

I became aware that Sirius had stopped his struggle with Kreacher. He was staring at Tonks with an unreadable expression on his face while Kreacher hugged the candelabra to his chest.

"Sirius?" Harry said.

Sirius shook his head, muttered something, and then left the kitchen. Tonks watched him leave worriedly and then quickly morphed her hair back to its usual, spiky, pink state.

No one said anything about it until later, when Tonks, Ginny, and I were sitting around the drawing room together. I was finishing off The New Theory of Numerology, Ginny was reading a letter from Michael, and Tonks was amusing herself by charming pictures of various Ministry members in a four month-old issue of The Daily Prophet that was lying around.

Ginny finished reading her letter from Michael (frowning slightly and turning it over, as if expecting to find more on the back of the piece of parchment) and then looked up at Tonks, whose hair was still short and spiky, but was now neon green.

"Tonks?"

"Mmm?" replied Tonks, charming a picture of Fudge to grow a long moustache that curled up at the ends.

"What was that business with Sirius about this morning?"

"What, the candelabra? Well, as far as I know, Aunt Elladora was rather fond of - "

"No, no, I mean with your hair," Ginny interrupted.

Tonks's face clouded. "Oh. Well…I suppose I reminded him of someone he doesn't like to remember he's related to."

That's when it hit me: this morning, Tonks looked very much like the woman in the photograph in Kreacher's den. The one who tortured Neville's parents into insanity. Bellatrix Lestrange, nee Black.

"That's right…" Ginny said slowly. "She's your…"

"Aunt," Tonks said bluntly, in a tone that was not at all like Tonks.

"Sorry," Ginny said quickly. "I didn't mean to…I mean, you're nothing like…"

Tonks sighed. "It's all right. Luckily, looks are the only thing I inherited from Mum's side of the family. And fortunately, that's not a big problem for me," Tonks smiled and her green hair turned navy blue.

"Gin?" Bill appeared at the doorway and smiled at Tonks and I before turning his attention back to Ginny. "I'm going to head down to St. Mungo's…Healer Smethwyck owled to say that they're going to run a few more tests, and then Dad might be able to leave."

"Really?" Ginny said delightedly. "That's great! Are you going right now?"

"Yeah, just waiting for the twins to get their things…they're insisting on coming, though I doubt it's because they want to sit through some boring medical spells…" Bill noticed The Daily Prophet splayed out in front of Tonks, and grinned at Fudge's new moustache. "Really, Tonks. Is that the best you could do?"

"Well I was going to give him a very bad haircut, but he is my boss…couldn't do anything too cruel, it might get back to him," Tonks smirked.

"Hmm…still needs a little something," Bill said. He pointed his wand at the picture and murmured something. In the photo, Fudge started twirling the new moustache, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Tonks burst into laughter.

"We'll be back in a few hours," Bill said with a grin, disappearing.

"Ah, that brother of yours," Tonks said with a melodramatic sigh. "Too bad that little French coquette has gone and snatched him up."

"Has she really?" Ginny said interestedly. "I thought the twins were just joking around."

"Oh, I don't know for sure, but that's the latest Order gossip," Tonks said with a shrug. "Apparently, those Weasley men are quite the catches. Right, Hermione?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that insinuation with an answer," I said dryly from behind my book.

"Care to share any other Order gossip?" Ginny asked Tonks casually.

"Nice try," Tonks said. She nodded at Ginny's letter. "And how's your beau?"

"Apparently too busy to write me a decent letter," Ginny said with a little sigh. "I sent him three pieces of parchment and he can't even be bothered to write me half a page."

"Oh, that's just boys," Tonks said wisely. She looked pensive for a moment. "Actually, you probably shouldn't listen to my advice. I didn't have many sordid affairs while at Hogwarts myself."

"I'm not having a sordid affair. He's my boyfriend."

"But what about Harry?" Tonks exclaimed. Ginny rolled her eyes at her.

"Actually, there was only one bloke that I really fancied at Hogwarts," Tonks continued. I was still reading, but I could feel her looking directly at me. "But he was my best mate, and I didn't want to ruin our friendship. By the time I'd worked up the nerve to tell him how I felt, it was the end of seventh year and he was planning to go running off to Africa to study the endangered Erumpent."

"The Erumpent?" I said, frowning and lowering The New Theory of Numerology. "Aren't they the ones that blow each other up during mating season?"

"Yeah," Tonks said, grinning ruefully. "Perhaps it wasn't a good sign that he was so interested in them. But the moral of the story is, I should have told him how I felt much sooner." She gave me a furtive look.

"Excellent moral," Ginny agreed, also looking at me.

I sighed loudly and went back to The New Theory of Numerology.

Right. So I rather like Tonks, and it's great to have girlfriends and all, but sometimes the pair of them drive me mad.

9:45 p.m.

Bill and the twins returned around suppertime with a completely cured Mr. Weasley, still in his striped pajamas. Apparently they found a cure for whatever it was in the snake's venom, fixed up the stitching disaster, and sent him on his way. The Weasley children and Mrs. Weasley made such a ruckus when he got home that Mrs. Black hollered for at least twenty minutes before anybody thought of closing the curtains over her portrait. I felt sort of out of place amidst all those Weasley's hugging and kissing and whatnot (Harry wasn't there because he was talking to Snape in the kitchen…more on that later), but then Mr. Weasley gave me a big hug too, and I felt like I belonged.

The whole lot of us paraded down to the kitchen to tell Harry and Sirius the good news, only to walk in and find Sirius and Snape standing a few feet apart with their wands practically shoved down each other's throats. Harry was standing between them with a strained expression on his face, an arm restraining each man.

"Merlin's beard," said Mr. Weasley. "What's going on here?"

Neither of them gave us a straight answer, and Snape sailed out after stating, "Six o'clock, Monday evening, Potter."

Apparently, Dumbledore wants Harry to take Occlumency lessons from Snape. I don't know why I didn't think of Occlumency before, when Harry told me about his nightmares - but then again, I didn't know then that his nightmares were due to his connection to Voldemort. I think it's a great idea, even though Harry's less than thrilled that Snape will be teaching him. I can't blame him, but I do hope that he puts effort into the lessons, despite his hatred for Snape - it's obviously extremely important for Harry to learn Occlumency. I don't see why Dumbledore wouldn't just teach Harry himself…I suppose he's very busy, but I've read that Dumbledore is one of the best Occlumens, and a very skilled Legilimens, too…

Well, I'd better go to bed. I could have spent all the time I've wasted writing in here today revising for O.W.L.'s instead. When I get back to school tomorrow, no more nonsense. I have to get my priorities straight.