Author's Notes: Why, exactly are Harry and Tonks lost in the Muggle Underground? Why not? It's a perfectly reasonable setting, all things considered. And it gives me a chance to introduce a plot twist that's important later in the story.

There's fluff and angst in this chapter (and likely in the rest of the chapters throughout). You'll have to put up with it.

Hold on folks, next stop is a doozy.

Chapter Four
Lost In The London Underground

Much later, they were on the road again, laying miles behind them, and drawing closer to London with every moment that passed. In fact, it took them the better part of two hours to find the first signs of the city. By four o'clock, Harry was sure that they would be in safe haven before sundown, a thought that restored his vigor.

This thought was reinforced when they sped past a familiar landmark: the Leaky Cauldron, a dingy little tavern hidden from the eyes of the Muggles that crowded the streets. It served chiefly as a refuge for wizards in the area, but was also the only entrance to Diagon Alley, the famous wizard market where all your magical needs could be met, at bargain and negotiable prices.

This meant to Harry that they were near a station of the London Underground. All they needed to do now was find it and make their way to the station nearest the Black Manor.

They found it only a block away. The steps leading down into the underground station were decrepit, and at the same time inviting. Harry turned and grinned at Tonks.

"Almost home free."

They faced a bit of a moral plight, however. Their nicked bikes would likely be nicked again, once abandoned. Tonks thought about this, then asked Harry, "Muggles see odd things, don't they?"

"Yeah, I suppose," he said, glancing at the bikes, leaning against a low brick wall. "Why?"

She smirked and pulled her wand from her coat again. She tapped both bikes on the handlebars and whispered, "Go home."

With no physical thrust, the two bikes pushed off from the brick wall and wheeled off, gaining speed as they went. A Muggle crossing the street jumped back as one of the bikes, now maneuvering on its own, let off a sharp ring of its bell. The poor man watch in bafflement as they turned the corner and pressed along.

Harry raised an eyebrow at Tonks and said, "Subtle. Nobody will notice that."

"Come on," she chuckled and led her charge down the steps.

The station stank of some unknown putridity. A handful of evening commuters eyed the trio as they descended, not paying any particular notice to Tonks' bright green hair, but rather to Sirius, who bounded around the platform, yipping at heels and walls.

"I don't suppose you know our stop?" Tonks asked as they examined a route map. She groaned aloud when Harry shook his head. "So it's trial and error then. Snakeskin, I don't even know what part of London the damned manor's in."

Harry smirked. "Snakeskin? That's a cuss to you?"

"Oh geroff it," Tonk muttered.

"We've got a bit of problem," Harry told her a minute later. He'd spotted a man in a uniform making his way between the other commuters, checking their tickets before moving on. "He's going to throw us out if we don't have a ticket."

He pointed to a fare vendor, and a sign upon its front which boldly advertised that they were dead out of luck. Sirius the crup barked at machine, which remained lifeless, even as he lifted his leg to it before returning to Harry's feet.

"We're out of money," Tonks whined. "Ooh, why does it always have to come to this?"

"Come to what?" Harry asked.

"Just stay still and don't say a thing… ever… to anyone… especially anything about what I'm about to do."

Her hand slipped into and out of her coat again, just as the guard finished checking a gaunt businessman's ticket. Behind her back, Tonks gripped her wand in her left hand and signalled with her right for Harry to stay still.

"Evening there," the guard said. Harry didn't believe him to be as jolly as his tone would have him believe. His eyes were hard, and his steely smile showed his high expectations.

"Good evening," Tonks said very calmly.

"The train should be here in a few minutes. You two've got your tickets, I expect?"

Behind her back, Tonks' right hand opened, fingers stretched out. Harry told himself to keep faith.

"Well, actually," Tonks started, and it amazed Harry once again how she could keep the stammer from her voice while weaving a story, "we were mugged today… y'now, upside, and the bugerleers…"

So much for faith. At that slip-up, the guard's eyebrows furrowed. Tonks' right thumb folded in.

"Bugerleer? What sort of rubbish is this?"

"Uh!" Tonks' mind drew a blank as her right pinky dropped.

"Are you smackered?" the guard demanded, all pretense of being a kind civil servant gone. He glowered at Harry, then back at Tonks. "You been drinkin' with this kid?"

Her ring finger dropped, and Harry understood what she was doing. His heart thundered as Tonks' middle finger retracted.

The guard took their silence as a give-away of guilt.

"Right, can't have you on board without a ticket."

Tonks' last finger dropped, and her hand balled into a fist.

"Come on then…" and he made to grab for them.

SMACK.

Tonks' fist hooked around and twisted into an uppercut that caught guard unawares in the chin. His head snapped back and with a groan, he collapsed into a heap on the platform floor.

Harry stared, nonpluss. Tonks cursed under her breath, slipped her wand back into her coat and gingerly cradled her fist.

"Are you mad?" he cried, a little louder than he should have. Every head in the station turned, casting annoyed looks upon the trio before melting into bewilderment at the site of the prone guard at the feet of Tonks, who was nursing her hand.

"What are you all looking at?" she barked.

Obediently, every single head snapped back around.

Harry was flabbergasted. He pointed to the guard, trying to form a coherent sentence.

"Oh, come on Harry, he was asking for it," said Tonk. "What would you have done?"

"I-I… well certainly not that!"

"Are you so sure?" she asked, her eyes twinkling. This may have been due to the pain in his hand, however.

The train pulled into the station less than a minute later, and Harry was more than relieved to be able to sit, no matter how filthy the compartment was. What annoyed him was the attention they were getting from the other passengers. And now, it was not on Sirius' account; the crup was at Harry's side with his head in the boy's lap. It was Tonks, who shot fierce glares at anyone who stared for more than three seconds.

"So why did you sock him when you could've used your wand?" Harry asked. "Probably wouldn't have drawn so much attention."

Tonk nodded, "But why use magic when Muggle solutions could work just as well? Besides, it isn't exactly prudent, shooting off Stunners in Muggle London. I'm pretty hopeless with Memory Charms, so covering it up would've been a task and a half."

"And your wand was out, why?" he put in.

Tonks snorted, very unladylike. "Don't be daft, Harry. That Muggle was thrice my size. I didn't expect to knock him clean out with one shot."

She laughed at his dazed expression and ruffled his hair with her good hand. "Remember Mad-Eye Moody: Constant Vigilance!" She winked and added, "Remember Ted Tonks: Always have three back up plans in mind, a fist in one hand and a wand in the other."

"Oh? And what were your other two back up plans?" he inquired with an amused cock-of-the-brow.

"Fake an attack, or run away, of course."

He couldn't help shaking his head.

"So, do we have any guesses as far as our stop goes?" he asked with a trace of hope more than he should have allowed himself. The look Tonks gave him made his heart sink. "And I thought that it would be easy."

"So did I," Tonk said quietly.

"You're all right, aren't you?" Harry put a hand on her shoulder, noticing how her eyes had lowered to the compartment floor.

"Not really," she admit. "I got us out here, without a clue where to go. I've let the Order down, and I've got you out here, in the middle of it all, when you're supposed to be in Surrey. I've let you down too."

"I'm the one who forced you to drag me out here in the first place," he pointed out. "If you hadn't walked in the door when you did, I'd probably be in Azkaban right now…"

He realized what he had just said, and for the first time since leaving Privet Drive, Harry's thoughts strayed to the horrible scene that had led to all of this. Or rather, to the horrible storm that had been brewed inside his head, and his heart by his aunt's words about Harry's mother. He knew what he would have done, what he would have said had Tonks not interceded.

"What'ya mean Harry?" Tonks asked. He avoided her eye, saying nothing. "Harry," she urged with surprising sternness. "What were you going to do?"

"Nothing," he snapped. He folded his arms against his chest and sat back in his seat, angry at himself, and at the tears that were forming in his eyes.

Too many tears. Would they ever stop?

He let out a bitter laugh that caught Tonks by surprise. She searched his face, an examination in concealment… an examination Harry was flunking.

"Harry, what's wrong," she pressed. "Come on, you can tell me. You've told me hard stuff before. You can trust me."

Harry said nothing at first, but merely looked at Tonks. The gentle concern was unusual; Tonks was one of the most carefree people Harry had ever met, save the Weasley twins, who too had shown little sorrow openly over the years Harry had known them. Even her voice seemed alien; it was too soothing to be Nymphadora Tonks'. But rather than cause discomfort in him, it made Harry relent.

"Only Dumbledore knows this Tonks. Not even Ron or Hermione know, because I knew then, and now, how they would react. Like they always do," he added bitterly. "It happened in the Ministry of Magic."

"Sirius?" Tonks asked immediately.

"Yes and no," he said. "It was after…" He had to take a deep breath to keep the lump from forming in his throat. "It was after Bellatrix murdered him. After she fled."

Tonks had been unconscious throughout this portion of the battle in the Department of Mysteries. Bellatrix Lestrange had knocked her unconscious, and by circumstance, Tonks had suffered heavier injuries as she had fallen from a considerable height to the stones below. She'd awoken at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries the next evening, to the news of Sirius' demise and Voldemort's escape. She hadn't known that Harry had pursued Bellatrix into the upper regions of the Ministry, nor how it had been Dumbledore who had protected him from Voldemort's destructive magicks.

Now Harry went futhur with the story and told her about how he'd used the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix Lestrange; how she'd recovered almost instantly, mocking him and Sirius in the same breath. He told Tonks about Voldemort's invasion of Harry's mind, how the Dark Lord had tried to trick Dumbledore into killing Harry, to stop the pain that he was inflicting into Harry. The pain that had made Harry pray for his death, to be freed, and reunited with Sirius. But this thought had brought with it the love that Harry felt for his godfather, and that emotion had expelled Voldemort from Harry's mind.

Harry didn't stop there. He kept speaking, without knowing it, and told her about what had happened in Dumbledore's office: the raw, unbridled fury that made Harry lash out and destroy several of Dumbledore's things, tear the room into ruins, and almost attack his mentor. He spoke on about Dumbledore's story, about how he blamed himself for Sirius' death, and how Harry had done the right thing after all; about how Kreacher, the Judas figure in the story, should not be hated, but pitied for his part in the tale. And lastly, Harry told Tonks what Dumbledore had told him, about the Prophecy, and why, fifteen years ago, Voldemort had tried to kill Harry.

He spoke for the better part of a half hour, in which time, the Underground made four stops, none of which looked right to Harry. By the time he had finished speaking, Harry felt no desire to move. He simply wished to remain where he was, unmoving, allowed to dwell on these things. But he was given no such luxury, as Tonks remained at his side.

He broke then, feeling the guilt of the last year spill over, dragging his anger and sorrow with it, and before he knew it, Harry was shaking violently.

He was in Tonks' arms before he knew it. She held him close, whispering his name in a calm, even voice, comforting him as best she could. Their luck had afforded them an empty compartment, as most of the other passengers had disembarked before Harry's breakdown. As the Muggle train sped along through the underground paths beneath the dark streets of London, she held Harry close to him as he finally let some of his grief forward.

He'd cried for most of his first week away from Hogwarts, but not like this. Simple memories had triggered those soft sobs, but retracing the steps leading to his current state forced out more and more until Harry could take no more, and fell into a dreamless slumber.

It had been a brief nap, he realized as he emerged. No more than a half hour had passed, he guessed, while their station likely had. Harry forced himself not to think about what had just happened and opened his eyes.

They were still moving, bumping ever-so slightly down the tracks. Harry lifted his head from Tonks' shoulder, and felt her head slide down onto his. She was breathing softly, quietly.

Had it not been for the fact that they were desperate to reach Twelve Grimmauld Place, Harry would have been content to sit as they were forever. He snaked his arm around Tonks' shoulders and sighed before acknowledging what he had to do.

"Wake up Tonks," he said in a hoarse voice. The talking and crying had taken a toll on his throat, but he worked around it. "Wake up, we have to get ready."

Tonks' eyes opened slowly, a touch paler than usual. He noticed that her hair, while having lost some of its color, had remained short and green. She'd merely been dozing, perhaps.

"Feeling better hun?" she asked.

"Much," he affirmed. Hun? He smiled.

"Thanks for letting me use your ear. It really helped."

Her smile was warm. She gathered him into a hug and said, "Anytime. You deserve a quiet listener."

The train began to slow. Harry's heart thundered as he got to his feet.

"We have to find out where we are," he said. "If we're on the wrong train, I'd rather find out sooner than later."

"Agreed," Tonks said. The train halted at the platform and the doors slid open. Harry, Tonks and Sirius emerged into a dingy platform that was only slightly more pleasant than the first. At least there was no stench.

"All right, we started here," Harry said, pointing to a dot on the route map they were examining. We're here…" he pointed to a highlighted dot, seven points to the left of the first. "So that means that we have three more before the train turns around and starts back to… wherever it goes."

"Brilliant!" Tonks cried suddenly. She jabbed her finger at a dot just beyond the one that they had started at. It was marked King's Cross.

"We walked to there from Grimmauld, remember? If we can get to King's Cross, we'll be close. Very close!"

"Tonks, you're a genius. If only you'd mentioned it before," Harry ribbed. Tonks flicked his shoulder.

"How long until the next train that way?" she asked, just as the lights overhead flickered and went out.

"No, no, this isn't happening," she moaned. Harry heard her shuffle around before muttering, "Lumos!"

From the tip of her wand came a ball of brilliant light that dimly lit the platform.

It did, however, brightly illuminate the face of the man standing directly in front of them.

He was broad in the chest, not very tall, although he had about a head on Harry. His eyes were firm and steely gray, which didn't suit his closely cropped orangish-blond hair. His face was strong, weathered, and friendly at the same time. At that moment, he was grinning benevolently at the trio.

Harry simply jumped back, startled by the sudden appearance of this man.

Sirius whined and toddled backwards, his tail between his legs.

Tonks gave a small shriek and dropped her wand, plunging them into darkness again.

In the moment after the light faded, Harry heard a distinct whisper from somewhere in front of them, one that faded into silence as it was spoken.

"You seeeee…"

Harry heard Tonks curse ("Snakeskin!") and drop to the ground, fumbling around in a mad search for her wand. She raised it again and snapped, "Lumos!"

More brilliant than before, light burst from her wand and illuminated the platform.

The man was gone.

"What in the name of Styx was that?" came her quivering voice.

"I have no idea," an equally shell-shocked Harry responded.

Sirius whined, laying down in piteous display.

"It wasn't just me then?" Tonks asked. Harry shook his head. "Good, because I could have sworn that I'd just seen somebody standing right there."

"I saw it too Tonks."

Too clearly too. Harry thought that he'd recognized the face from somewhere.

Not the voice however.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

He felt Tonks' hand find his, and he took in his grasp, twining his fingers in hers.

"I'm officially scared now."

He could hardly disagree with her.

They didn't move for several minutes. It seemed that the electricity must have shut off, which brought a terrible groan from Tonks.

"As if we don't have enough to deal with, now we're stranded here? What do the Fates have against us now?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "But I do know that if we start walking now, we might be able to make it to the King's Cross platform in an hour, if we press ourselves."

Tonks nodded and the two of them, praying to whatever deity that might still like them that they would not be squished by a sudden arrival, climbed down into the tracks and started on foot through the barely lit tunnel. Sirius, fearing separation from Harry, leapt down and scurried to catch up to them.

It was slow going. Harry's trunk, still in his pocket after all of this, was now weighing down on him. Tonks kept urging him to hurry, but he had little choice in the matter. Finally, Tonks took the trunk herself and tapped it, uttering a charm that lightened it considerably, then tossed it back to Harry, who pocketed it.

"Now you can hurry," she declared, and broke into a jog.

They met a train along the way.

Luckily, it was dead on the tracks, stuck in the middle of the dark tunnel. Harry could barely imagine how the passengers were reacting as he, Tonks and Sirius squeezed along the side of vehicle. It was dark inside every compartment, and Tonks, not wanting to arouse suspicion, was forced to extinguish her wand.

As soon as they had made it past the train, she lit the tunnel up again and pushed a hard pace.

Little more than an hour later they reached what they assumed was the platform they were looking for. They'd counted the platforms along the way, and this one happened to be the eighth along tunnel.

Harry boosted Tonks onto the stone floor of the platform. She in turned pulled him up (with Sirius dangling by his teeth from Harry's trouser leg) and they collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"We - made it alive," Harry gasped.

Tonks nodded, a serene grin spreading on her face.

"Alive," he repeated, chuckling.

"Alive," she confirmed.

Sirius barked loudly, bounding between the two bushed adventurers, licking faces and panting dog-breath in their faces.

Harry didn't rest long. He made for the route map, studied it under the dim, faraway light of Tonks' wand and saw that they were indeed at the King's Cross platform.

He pulled Tonks to her feet, reminding her that they were close, to which she muttered, "That's what we thought when get got into London."

The corridor leading to the stairwell was still dark, and empty, a good sign. Harry found himself more relieved that they'd met nobody along the way than the fact that they were still alive. On the other hand, there was that man that they'd seen back at the far platform.

"I'm sure I've seen his face before," Harry told Tonks as they emerged onto the sidewalk just across from the King's Cross Train Station. This heartened them, and Tonks led the way through the now familiar landscape.

"Are you sure Harry?" she asked, turning another corner. "I mean, we only caught a glimpse of him.

Harry described everything he could remember about the man's appearance, which was more than Tonks' recollection.

"All right, so he was familiar. Maybe he was Ministry worker looking for you or something."

"He didn't take me into custody," Harry pointed out.

He also pointed out the whisper he'd heard just before the man had vanished, which Tonks hadn't seemed to hear.

"'You see' ? What does that mean?" she asked. Harry had no idea though.

He wracked his brain, trying to place the face he'd seen, the voice he'd heard, but to no avail. Frustrated, Harry kept walking on after Tonks had stopped.

"We're here," she told him. Relief washed over them, and seemed to spread to Sirius, who yipped. "Hold him, Harry, then think the pass-phrase."

Harry gathered Sirius in his arms, then closed his eyes, recalling the text that he had read in this very spot, perhaps exactly a year ago.

The Headquarters of the Order of The Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

Opening his eyes, Harry found a door appearing between numbers eleven and thirteen, as they had the last time he'd come. They didn't wait to watch as the windows appeared out of nowhere. Tonks tapped her wand against the door knob, to which a quiet din of clicks and rattling arose as the door unlocked. Tonks pushed it open and pulled Harry and Sirius inside.

danielc - You're right about the voice thing.

Dark-Syaoran - I'm glad you're enjoying it.

I thought that Vernon's break down was funny. Maybe not everyone, but I personally enjoyed writing it.

Thing is, Jo never specified what curse Bellatrix hit him with, but we can assume from the general reaction that it was the Killing Curse. Nobody said what the archway was all about, so we can't really draw a conclusion from it.

It is both ways for the trio. You'll find out more about the distancing between them all in furthur chapters, mostly chapter six. Ginny hasn't written him a whole lot either for a few of the same reasons Ron and Hermione haven't, which you'll find out later. As for Neville and Luna, they're going to become good friends of Harry's.

Sorry, but Fred and George don't have a huge role, as the story takes place mostly at Hogwarts. Check out my other fic, I Must Not Mess With Mr. Lee Jordan for some Gred 'n Forge.

SiriusLeeBlack09 - Well, yeah, it was sort of expected. There isn't too much you can do with them on bikes. But I really liked the scene in Room 12. Gave you a better look at Tonks from my perspective. Hee, I live for the deadly fluff.

Unfortunately, I think that a lot of the chapters are going to have slow moments, especially the next two or three. Hopefully I'll be able to work through it. I need a fight scene of some sort.