Author's Notes: Aaaaaaand WHAM! A meteor of fluff demolishes all dignity within my story. Well, not really. But I've got a feeling that people will start asking me why I had this chapter written so early in the story. Because it felt right.

Mind you, this one is chock full of anger and explanation too.

Unfortunately, I'm working full time now, and barely have time to get any writing done, so once again, I'm on hiatus, until I can muster some creative juices. I leave you with my (so far) favorite chapter.

Chapter Six
Love And Loss

The summer almost ended on a very sour note for Harry.

Hermione came to visit the week before their departure for Hogwarts, which brightened Ron's mood, as he'd been in a depression due to Harry's attitude towards him. Unbeknownst to Harry (or any for that matter, except maybe Ginny) Ron and Hermione had started showing affection for one another through their letters, to the point where Ron could not bear to wait until Hogwarts to see his new beloved (though he would be the last to call Hermione this). He patiently asked both Lupin and his father if it would be all right for Hermione to visit for at least a day, to which they both agreed, even allowing her to share a room with Ginny to stay the night.

Harry's response was more enthusiastic than Ron would have expected, considering his distance from his best friend the past week. It irritated him that Harry would rather spend time with Tonks or Buckbeak, and it didn't occur to him that maybe Harry was holding something of a grudge against him for his lack of communications throughout the summer.

Nevertheless, things brightened in Grimmauld Place the morning of Hermione's arrival. She arrived via Floo powder and embraced each one of them in turn (planting a small kiss on Ron's cheek out of sight of the others). Naturally, she was on the verge of chewing Harry out for his escape from his relatives' home, but Lupin interceded and told Hermione that Harry had already been chewed out enough. He winked at Harry as Hermione apologized.

After settling in, Harry, Ron and Hermione took to themselves for a few hours, chatting about this and that in a way that reminded Harry of the good times when they'd first met. He noticed that the two of them were arguing less than usual, and Ron was making Hermione giggle a fair amount.

"What's wrong with you two," he asked, only half serious. "You two haven't yelled at each other once today. The twins and I were making bets on it!"

Ron and Hermione exchanged a meaningful glance then, and Harry's suspicions were confirmed, to his delight.

"About bloody time you two," he said with a grin. "Took you, what? Five, six years? Prats."

"You're okay with it Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Of course I am! I've been waiting for you two to get it through your thick skulls that you're perfect for each other."

For the rest of the day, Ron and Hermione held hands wherever they went.

The next day brought a horrible row.

Surprisingly, it wasn't between Harry and Ron, as a few of the occupants of Grimmauld Manor had been betting.

It was between Harry and Mrs. Weasley.

"Any plans today you lot?" George had asked the trio as they emerged from their rooms that morning. "We'd like a hand at the Wheezes today."

"New items," Fred said with a malicious glint in his eye.

They could hardly turn the twins down, because it had been their plan to visit Diagon Alley that day anyway. Their booklists had come a few days before, and the three of them, with Ginny, were itching to get out of Grimmauld Place for the day.

"We'll need new quills," Hermione chattered. "And I'll need a few new phials for Potions, my old ones are getting too foggy. Ron's going to need a new robe or two—"

"Slow down Hermione," Ron groaned. "Talking that fast in the morning is illegal where I come from."

"Sorry, but there's just so much to do at Diagon Alley today," she said.

"Yeah, like nibble on some harmless animal crackers for a good cause," George put in from the other side of the table.

"Or write with a perfectly normal quill," Fred added airly.

"You know, like good friends-"

"-or a good brother-"

"-no such thing Fred-"

"-too right George… what does that make you?"

"A good business associate."

"Takes one to know one."

The twins high-fived, to a chorus of groans.

"I'd rue the moment I walked in their door," Tonks (wearing her hair long and dark blue) muttered to Arthur, who shook his head in silent laughter.

"I personally want to find that new Advanced Potions textbook," Hermione went on. "It's supposed to be chock full of difficult draughts, so I want to get a head start."

"You do that," Ron said. "Harry and I will content ourselves at the Quidditch shop, right Harry."

"Oh no he won't!"

Mrs. Weasley, standing with her hands on her hips, glared at Ron and said, "Harry isn't going to Diagon Alley, it's too dangerous."

"Dangerous!" Harry laughed. "In a crowd like that? Voldemort wouldn't strike there, he's not an idiot."

"How do you know that Harry?" Mrs. Weasley, decidedly cross, asked in a tone she'd never used with him before. "You-Know-Who is as unpredictable as anything, you can't be sure he wouldn't try to hurt you in Diagon Alley."

"Oh mum, be reasonable, Harry's been locked up almost all summer!"

"You be quiet Ron! You're lucky I'm letting you go at all."

"Wait, you're letting Ron go, but you're telling me I'm not allowed?" Harry demanded.

"You-Know-Who isn't set on killing Ron or Hermione," Mrs. Weasley said sternly. "I'd be a fool to let you go, wouldn't I?"

Harry was near the point of lividity now. He pointed down toward Mrs. Weasley and asked, "What gives you any right to tell me I'm not allowed to go? You're not my mother!"

"I'm the closest you've got though," she said coldly. "Since Sirius went and got himself killed—"

"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT SIRIUS LIKE THAT YOU COW!"

A moment of pure, tension ridden silence passed before Ron, equally angered, very quietly said, "You'll pay for that you prat. Take it back now."

But Mrs. Weasley, who was pale herself said, "No Ron, no. It's fine."

"It's not fine! He just—"

"Ronald."

Ron's jaw tightened, but he didn't say any more. He locked a fierce glare on Harry.

"Harry, I'm sorry," Mrs. Weasley said heavily. "I didn't mean that. Please don't think I meant any disrespect to Sirius."

"I know you didn't," Harry said, a hard edge on his words. "But don't act like you don't resent him a bit. I know you did, because he treated me different than you do."

"He treated you like you were your father Harry, like you were an adult."

"Aren't I close enough?" Harry spat.

"Harry—"

"I'm sick of you treating me like a child!" Harry sulked. He pointed across the table to Mrs. Weasley and said, "You're the worst of the bunch! You treat me better than your own sons!"

"Harry, stop it," Fred or George muttered from beside him, and Ron shot him a scathing look, but Harry ignored them both.

"When I was recovering from the Triwizard Tournament, you provided more comfort to me than I'd ever had in my life, and I liked it, don't get me wrong. But when the summer came, and when I came here the first time, you should have at least had the decency to treat me more as an adult than you did. Dumbledore be damned, I had a right to know what Voldemort was planning!"

"Harry, mate, cool it," the other twin whispered.

But Harry got to his feet instead, leaned down the table again, and said in a very firm tone, directly to Mrs. Weasley, "Don't treat me like the child I never was."

Unease filled the room. Nobody spoke, they simply looked at either Harry or Mrs. Weasley, both of whom refused to take their eyes off one another.

Very softly, Mrs. Weasley said, "Everyone, please let me be alone with Harry for a few minutes."

There were no arguments, no acts of defiance. Ron and Hermione left hand-in-hand, Hermione trying to calm Ron down as he let his hostility show. The twins, Bill, Ginny and Arthur each gave Harry a furtive look of commiseration. Lupin put a hand on Mrs. Weasley's shoulder, and followed Moody out of the room. Tonks cast a worried look toward Harry before she too left and slid the doors closed behind her.

After a few tense moments, silent Molly reached into her robe and pulled out a folded photograph, which she slid across the scrubbed wood for Harry to take. He unfolded the old, tattered picture and examined it.

It was Molly, no doubt. Years younger, no older than he now was. Her face was full of merriment and her eyes smile was as broad as it had been the day he met her on Platform 9 and ¾. On either side of young Molly stood a young man, an identical twin to the other. They both had the same steely gray eyes, full of good humor, as they sandwiched Molly between them jovially. Their orangish-blond haircuts were the only things that set one aside from one other. The twin on the left wore his long, much like Bill did; the right twin had his cropped close on the sides, a shade longer on top, like Charlie.

"Gideon is on the left," Mrs. Weasley said. "Fabian is on the right. That was taken just before I left for my fifth year at Hogwarts. It was my first year without them."

Harry looked down at the picture again and realized that these two were Gideon and Fabian Prewett, two members of the original Order who had been murdered by the Death Eaters.

…Took five Death Eaters, Moody had told him. They fought like heroes.

They were Molly's brothers.

"Mrs. Weasley, I had no idea."

She shook her head and said, "Not many people did, not many do. Maybe it's better that way."

She stood from her seat now and walked over to the window that overlooked the garden. Harry's eyes wandered with her and he waited for her to continue.

"They were three years older than me, but that didn't stop me from growing fond of them and their antics." She smiled sadly then. "I remember when they were eleven, and Fabian was afraid that he might be placed in Hufflepuff instead of Gryffindor, because he was more serious than Gideon, and more hard working than he was daring. He would've been the first Prewett in two centuries not placed in Gryffindor, and couldn't bear to think of how our parents would react. So when he and Gideon left for Hogwarts, I was worried that they would be separated, and that Fabian would feel shame for it."

She laughed aloud, and wiped at her eyes before turning back to Harry and continuing. "We got a letter from Hogwarts on the morning of the second of September, telling my parents that Fabian had loudly threatened the Sorting Hat, in front of the entire school, with promises of "lots and lots of fire" if he wasn't put into Gryffindor. Naturally, the headmaster, Dippet, was mildly upset while the rest of the school embraced Fabian and Gideon as true-natured Gryffindors."

Her expression fell as the story ended.

"They proved themselves Gryffindors until they died."

Harry was at her side, hugging the Weasley matriarch before the tears fell from her cheek. Harry felt shame burn in his face at his insensitivity, and immediately he apologised to Molly, who sat again, blew her nose on her handkerchief, and shook her head.

"You don't understand Harry. Being an only child, you may never understand it. Had you known your mum and dad, you would, but you never had that chance.

"Gideon and Fabian taught me more than our parents did, simply because my brothers understood me better. They were young, and they didn't like the old customs my parents tried to force on us. Don't misunderstand me," she said quickly, "I loved my parents, and they were good people. But they just didn't know how to raise the three of us. Gideon and Fabian took that job out of their hands, and so I depended on them."

Molly picked up the photograph again and stared long at the faces of her long dead brothers. Harry couldn't bear it.

"Gideon and Fabian meant everything to me, Harry, and I meant just as much to them. When I lost them to V-Voldemort—" She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. "—I told myself that I would never let anything like that happen again. Especially to somebody who depended on me as I did my brothers. That's why I've put so much effort into you, and why I seem so stern with my boys and Ginny." She smiled again at the thought of her own brood.

"Arthur and I made sure that we gave them all more freedom than our parents had. But at the same time, we knew that we would have to set some discipline in them, or else they might turn out wrong. From the looks of it, Arthur and I did the right job."

"You did," Harry said quietly, understanding for the first time Mrs. Weasley's stern yet loving maternal way. "Even the twins turned out well."

"I know, and maybe I'm too hard on them," she admit, "but I look at them, and I see their uncles in them so clearly."

"Shouldn't you be proud then?" Harry asked.

Molly tried to argue, but found no voice. She closed her mouth and thought on Harry's words.

"Gideon and Fabian died trying to protect the world, didn't they? Through their humor and disregard for the rules, they had courage that impressed even the likes of Moody. They braved the Death Eaters, didn't they? I know Fred and George pretty well Molly." He surprised himself by that, and judging from her stare, her as well. "They would do the same thing as your brother; they found fight against Voldemort himself until their dying breath, if they knew that they could save just one life."

"They would," Molly agreed. "And that's what I'm afraid of. I don't want to lose them."

Harry remembered the Boggart that had overpowered her the previous summer. It had shown her what she feared more than anything else: her children, her husband, dead. And Harry dead, as well.

"Then who would fight Voldemort?" he asked.

Molly met his gaze, but didn't answer him.

"Things are all right now?"

Harry looked to find Tonks in the doorway of his room. He nodded and motioned for her to come in.

"I found out why she's so protective of Ron and them, and of me," he said. "Her brothers—"

"—Fabian and Gideon, I know. Moody told me and Lupin." Tonks put a hand on Harry's shoulder and said, "Does it help you understand?"

Harry sighed and put his hand over Tonks'.

"Yes and no. I mean, yes, I understand why she doesn't want to be involved with the Order, why she doesn't want the twins to join. What I don't understand is her blindness to the fact that they may be the only ones that can help me through this, to defeat Voldemort once and for all.

"I also don't think that she should be worried if Fred and George turn out like Fabian and Gideon. They were brave, funny men who died fighting, and Fred and George are the same. They'd defend the rest of the wizard world until they fell, and probably continue from there if they could. That's something to be proud of."

"It is, but she's a mother. And she's the victim of a great loss."

Harry squeezed Tonks' hand, grateful for her words.

"At least she and I settled things…" He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I really blew it with Ron, didn't I?"

Tonks shrugged. "You've known him longer than me. I couldn't tell you."

"I'm surprised he even talked to me when he got here."

"What do you mean?"

Harry explained the lack of letters on Ron and Hermione's part the summer before and recently. He also told Tonks about his own grudging treatment of Ron.

"Harry, did it occur to you that maybe Ron was trying to do something right for once?"

Harry stared at Tonks as if she were mad. "Right? You call half-ignoring your best friend right?"

Tonks bit her lip before elaborating. "Ron may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he can work things out for himself you know. Don't you think that maybe he knows how you feel about being coddled? I think he wanted to let you deal with everything on your own for once."

Harry said nothing, but knew that Tonks was probably right. That still didn't make it seem all right though.

"He'll come around. You'll see. Hermione'll talk some sense into him."

She slid closer to him and put her head against his shoulder.

"You're a brilliant person Harry. Even if you don't act perfectly… or like a prat." She smirked. "But at least you stand up for what you think is right, and in this case, you were right, and you were wrong, but you knew that you stepped the line. Don't let anyone tell you that you're not a good person."

He stroked her hair and slid his free arm around her waist, letting his eyes close as a serene warmth filled him. That familiar sensation in the pit of his stomach resurfaced. working out into his arms and down his spine.

I've been feeling it since the summer, since we first started talking. I can't deny it. There's no point.

To his surprise, the Nag whispered, Then don't. If you feel something, do something about it before it's too late. If you miss a chance, you could miss out forever.

Harry pulled his arm away from Tonks and faced her. She met his eyes with a curious gaze and sat up.

"Tonks?"

"Wotcher Harry, what's up?"

"Tonks—I…"

His mouth opened and closed soundlessly before he tried again.

"I—I… Tonks…"

"Yes. Tonks." She pointed to herself. "You. Harry." She poked him in the chest lightly.

"Very funny," he growled. "Look, just listen, ok? I just… uh…"

She didn't seem to mind his continued stammering; in fact, she quirked a bluish eyebrow as she realized just what was going through the poor boy's mind.

"I… I… oh boy."

"Harry?"

He snapped to attention. "Tonks?"

"I know what you're going to say… well, what you'd eventually say if your brain wasn't mush."

He stared at her, slack in the jaw and wide eyed.

"You like me, a lot, which was not obvious whatsoever. And you have no idea how I feel. Does that sum it up?"

"Uh… yeah?" he said meekly, red faced, and surprised that he hadn't started sounding like Uncle Vernon.

She stared at him for several seconds before demanding, "Well?"

"What? Well what?"

"Aren't you going to ask me how I feel about this?"

"S-should I?"

Tonks could only grin and say, "Oh, shut up and kiss me."

With that, she pounced on him and had him pinned to the bed in three seconds flat. Before he could try and fight back, Tonks whispered into his ear something that he would never forget.

"And I was worried that you fancied Ginny."

Relief washed over Harry like a tidal wave that broke him from his shell-shocked state. Strength renewed, he turned the tables and rolled a bewildered Tonks onto her back, pinned her to the bed and smirked. He leant down to her ear and whispered, "And I was worried that you fancied Remus."

He felt her rumbling with laughter beneath him before she could no longer bear keeping it in. She laughed so brightly and soon he'd begun to as well.

They stopped after a short time, radiantly red in the cheeks. Harry gazed down at Tonks, whose eyes stayed on his for several seconds. The icy blue that had shone under the sunlight streaming in through his window was fading, paling, as were her hair and her eyebrows. Her irises lost all color, becoming almost pure white, save a few shocks of blue just around her pupils, and the black outlines of her irises. Her hair was a snowy white and fell to her shoulders, matching her light, creamy skin better than the pink or green ever had.

Harry smiled softly. He thought that she looked incredibly beautiful, especially as her grin melted away into a warmer, loving smile of her own. She reached a hand up to his cheek and delicately traced her fingers along his jawline. She sobered, and an inquisitive, almost worried look dominated her face.

"Tonks…"

"Harry," she said softly, "call me Nymphadora. Just once."

He swallowed before starting again.

"Nymphadora?"

"Harry?"

"I… really do like you. A lot."

"I know. And I really like you too. A lot."

His heart seemed to stutter momentarily. To hear her say those words…

"Nymphadora?"

"Mmhmm?"

"I think that I'd like to kiss you now."

"Harry?"

"Mmhmm?"

She hesitated for a moment (Harry's stomach clenched), then said in a very quiet voice, "I think I'd like that."

He couldn't hold back. He lowered his head, his eyes locked on hers, and took the plunge.

Their lips brushed, barely touching, and yet the sensation was the most intense experience in Harry's life Even the Cruciatus Curse paled in comparison to the chill that shot from the base of his spine and spread upwards, through his arms and legs. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and goosebumps arose over his arms.

"Tonks…"

Tonks pulled him in and deepened the kiss.

If a planet were to explode anywhere in the universe, the power behind such a catastrophic event would barely equal that which flowed between Harry and Tonks in the two minutes of their phenomenal first kiss. Nothing could have prepared them for the surge of pure emotion they received from one another through this contact. Nothing they felt for the rest of their lives (aside from one other equally sensational moment) would be able to compare to what they felt as their lips parted for one another.

It exploded through them like an electric current, passing back and forth through any portion of skin that touched another: from Harry it coursed through his hand, his fingers, through his skin into hers. It traveled through the small of Tonks' back, up her arm and out through her fingers, which dug into the back of his neck. The sensual energy ran rampant as another stream of intensity took form.

Emotions, raw and untamed, arose in Harry and fed into the passion that linked him to Tonks through their kiss. At the same time, Tonks felt the same thing within her trembling body: emotions as pure and intense as wild horses surged out of her and toward a point where they collided with that which Harry had bled out. These two energies writhed and merged, fusing into one greater body that remained whole, centered around the point where their furiously locked lips met, and divided as their lips parted after what seemed like a robbed eternity.

The were both breathless in the aftermath of the act. Harry could barely believe the feeling that was slowly dissipating, the absolute raw pleasure that had coursed through him. And he could barely comprehend the fact that a part of him knew that Tonks had felt the exact same thing.

Their eyes were locked again, sharing the same wonder and desire, and fuelling the intense emotional storm that had formed between them, comprised of his and her emotions, now split into two equally intense parts that left a trace of Harry in Tonks, and a trace of Tonks in Harry.

It took several silent minutes for Harry's mind to start up again, in which he stared deeply into the stark, electric white eyes of the young woman who he was now hopelessly in deep, mad, wonderful love with. And this was true for her as well. She found the emerald fire of his eyes too enticing to break away from and hoped that she might be allowed to stare into them for all of eternity. The love that was rising in her should be made to blossom untouched by the hands of the world around.

At last, Harry found his voice, and spoke the word that hung in the air between them, waiting to be heard.

"Wow." he breathed.

"Wow," Tonks agreed.

They felt an odd calm settle over them before Tonks pulled Harry in again and the two met with the same shocking flames of passion between them, and melded into one soul for a mere moment of time.

The Last Fable - Heh, I like that line too.

I know. It may seem odd, as Tonks is older than Harry (some people seem to think that she's ten years older than him, I tend to see her as being maybe 22 or 23). I like them though, because Tonks is the sort of girl I'd date.

I see the trio distancing because of Harry's inner turmoil, and also because of Ron and Hermione's budding relationship, along with Harry and Tonks'.

The reason I made it so that Harry was about to use the Cruciatus Curse on his aunt is because since Sirius' death, the Unforgivable Curses have been weighing heavily on his mind and his conscience, especially because he used the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix. As well, he's somewhat angrier than he was before, only he's hiding it (I really, really hate writing angsty stuff like OoTP). And Petunia really pissed him off.