Chapter 09

• Surprises •

The situation fell apart.

First Korina dropped her towel. She seemed shocked that Harry was standing in front of her. At the same instant she pushed away from Harry, screaming.

Harry stood, gawking, completely unsure how to react. The last time he'd seen her was when he'd woken up in her bed after a night of events that he couldn't remember. Now, she was staring into his face and… screaming?

Darrian, who'd only begun to open the door, stumbled backwards as Tonks rushed in, wand held high. Darrian had no where to go but down. He was pretty surprised when he heard Korina scream and he was quickly knocked off balance.

Tonks continued pushing herself forcefully in through the door. Between the Auror training she'd received and her reckless sense of protection she could do nothing else. Though, with Darrian stumbling in front of her, there was little place to go except over him.

And over him she went.

Having rushed in with such force, there was no way Tonks could stop herself. Her sense of balance was lost almost instantly and she flailed, trying to regain the stability she'd lost.

Harry was still staring at Korina, mouth agape, not quite sure what to do. He was completely oblivious to whatever it was that was going on around him. The problem was that, even though he'd probably seen her with nothing on, he didn't remember it. When he'd woken up she'd been partly covered by the sheet.

After tripping over Darrian, Tonks continued forward, arms flailing and struck Harry in the back. Harry was knocked forward right on top of Korina as she stepped backwards another step.

As Harry to tried to regain his balance by reaching forward he had an epiphany. When Tonks had changed his face it had been more than just a little - he'd felt the change. Whatever she'd done to him must have made him grotesque. So, he thought grimly, Korina was staring at a complete stranger, probably monstrous looking as well.

As Harry tried to regain his balance he had an epiphany: when Tonks had changed his face it had been more than just a little. He felt the change. Whatever she did to him must make him grotesque. Korina was staring at a complete stranger, probably monstrous looking as well.

There wasn't anything he could do about it now.

A few minutes later, when everything had calmed down, Harry could be seen sitting on the couch, eyes on the floor and feeling like a fool. Tonks had removed the spell that had changed his face and the rest of him too, so he was himself in front of all of them.

A few minutes later everything had calmed down. Harry was sitting on the couch, eyes on the floor. He felt like a fool. Tonks had removed the spell that changed his face and the rest of them too, so he was Harry Potter in front of all of them.

"Now I can at least put aside the thought that Harry Potter's a womanizer," Darrian laughed, trying to make everyone feel comfortable. "After the way you and Seona were at each other… and with what you did with Kor the other night, well I figured I still had a ways to go."

"The other night?" Tonks asked. Intrigued about what had happened.

Feeling the weight shift away as Tonks moved, Harry dared to look up at Korina. Tonks didn't know about the other night and he was pretty sure he didn't want her to know. For one, he might be on her bad side again and he did not like it when she was serious with him. For another, he felt strange about her knowing. Something Harry didn't understand inside him told him not to tell her.

The glance was not what he expected. Korina was also embarrassed at the comment and looked down at the floor. Harry couldn't look for long though. Almost immediately his mind pictured her naked. The picture was so deeply engraved in his mind that Harry could not see anything else when he looked at her.

No one said anything at first. Riana was sitting on the couch, arms folded in front of her and acting slightly grumpy. Tonks was sitting next to her, looking slightly uncomfortable. She knew she screwed up yet again and she felt really bad about it.

On the other side of Riana sat Korina, still staring at the floor, hair covering the smile on her face. No one had known it before except her. She knew it was Harry since he first met Darrian at their house. After the club she'd been quite aware of exactly what she was doing when she took Harry home. Some peopled that didn't understand her occasionally referred to her cold, she wasn't. Korina was only waiting for someone she wanted to be with. Harry was definitely one of those people.

One thing Korina was unsure about was Tonks. Korina had watched her with Harry at the beach before they came over. She certainly hadn't acted like a bodyguard; she acted like his girlfriend, even with the considerable age difference. Harry hadn't seemed shy either, not like today. He was quite forward, and Korina liked forward men even if they were only good for a few things.

Darrian was amused with the whole thing; he might've laughed louder if he hadn't got an hard look from Tonks. She still looked like Seona, and he didn't know she was any different. The crush was not diminished because of the way she was acting around Harry - in fact the feeling was even stronger than before. If Harry could have her, he should be able to compete for her. Losing one thing was enough.

"It's amazing," Riana said smugly, "that someone so popular doesn't know what to do with a naked woman in his arms."

Darrian laughed at the comment. "You know, he seemed to know what to do with one other night. I never heard Kor complaining at all. Seems to me you like him Ri."

There were a lot of things being said and Harry didn't know how to respond to them. Tonks wasn't an idiot and she probably had a pretty good idea what had happened already. Now he would have to explain it to her.

"It's not what you think." Korina said quietly. "What we did is private. Would you please not talk about it like that?"

Riana snorted. "Private, my ass! It was pretty damn obvious what was going on."

"You're just jealous that Kor got laid by a guy you wanted," Darrian said, sniggering.

A new voice spoke, "Quiet, both of you!" it snapped.

The whole room turned to the voice as it continued. "Darrian, you shouldn't treat Ri like that and Ri, I'm surprised at you. You know you shouldn't be talking like that at all. I expect you to act better when you're in my home, especially around guests."

"I'm Katrina," the woman said, eyeing Riana still, "Riana's Aunt. It seems you've met everyone else. Let me apologize for the behavior of these two," she said as she spoke directly to Harry, glancing between Riana and Darrian as she did. "They really should know better," she paused looking over to Tonks but her eyes returned to Harry. "You, I assume - unless Darrian's just making up another story - are Harry Potter."

Harry nodded politely. He didn't know if it was best to stay quiet or not, after all they were discussing him.

"And you," Katrina's eyes turned back to Tonks, "I know. Haven't seen you in a long time though,"

Enough was enough. Harry had to stop things before the progressed to much further. It didn't matter if this Katrina woman knew Tonks. He needed to speak with her alone for at least a minute or two.

"I… think… maybe… Tonks, can I talk to you for a second?" Harry asked.

Tonks nodded and stood, walking towards the end of the hall with Harry following. Behind him he could hear the others talking with each other about Tonks. Darrian still didn't know who Tonks was or why Harry was calling her by that name. Riana was watching Tonks suspiciously and Korina was still grinning unseen.

"Look," Harry said. He was still slightly defensive even though Tonks hadn't said anything. "The other night, when I came home in the morning… well, I didn't exactly tell you everything that happened. I'm not sure exactly what happened. At the club I acted a little out of character, I remember some of it. Afterwards, well, I'm not sure what happened."

Harry looked up to her, waiting for her to ask him to continue or to get angry, to do something. Nothing happened however, so he decided to continue.

"Well, see, I think Darrian asked me to stay, like I said, but I thought I said no. The next thing I remembered was I woke up next to Korina, naked. Really, I have no idea how I got there. I came home right away though," claimed Harry.

"So you left her in the middle of the night after a quick shag?" Tonks asked, smiling.

Somehow Harry didn't think that was what her reaction would be and he stared at her in surprise. "I told you, I don't remember."

"Sure sounds like every else knows what happened. Harry, you're a big boy, and popping your cherry isn't something that you need to sort out with me. So why don't we just get back into the room so you can get your prize?" she said, shaking her head with a smile.

It was still a surprise to him that Tonks didn't mind, so he followed her lead, mutedly.

"That's Tonks?" Riana demanded as Harry stepped back into the room. "I thought she was the old woman on the beach."

"Old?" Tonks snapped. Harry didn't think Riana had used the words on purpose, but she'd said it.

For about three seconds nothing happened, it was as if the whole room paused when Tonks had retorted. Harry watched Tonks's hair grow longer and change to a dark crimson color. Not one of her usual colors, but quite unusual still.

"But…" Darrian stuttered as he stared at her. "You're Seona, how did you… I mean… you can't be the…"

"One and the same," Katrina said from the couch. "It's been a while, Nymphadora."

Though Tonks was in front of him, Harry was sure that her face turned red. It was odd that she knew Riana's aunt. Harry didn't want to interfere this time though; it wasn't for him to ask right now. Maybe when they were alone later, Harry thought. When Harry's eyes started to drift across the room he saw Korina again and glanced away as the naked image of her returned.

"You're a morpher?" Riana asked stunned. Had Harry been watching he would have seen Korina's face turn to one of complete surprise. She covered it up rather quickly though, and no one noticed.

"A metamorphmagus?" Korina asked, her voice not betraying her surprise.

"Yeah," Tonks said, shocked. "Most people don't know what they're called, I'm surprised."

Korina smiled, "I've studied a bit about a lot, gives me an advantage sometimes. I haven't really decided on a career yet, but I've been looking. There's a few I've considered, but that doesn't matter for now. I'm surprised that Harry knows such a person, you're pretty rare."

"Yep," Tonks said and stepped forward. Her foot caught the corner of the table and she fell forward.

Reacting without thinking, Harry took a quick step forward and wrapped his hands around her waist to keep her from falling. Tonks laughed lightly and Harry found himself in another awkward position.

Quickly Harry withdrew his hands and put them to his side. The whole room seemed tense again.

"Alright, it's time I suppose," Darrian said reluctantly, breaking the tension in the room. Taking a few steps to the side he got a good running start and swung up into the hole. "Come on Sly, time to go and get your egg."

"Egg?" Harry looked towards Darrian, surprised. The prize for winning still hadn't been explained to him. And he didn't know what Signat 392 type: 7.3 - Bambi was. It seemed to be some sort of creature. "It's not a dragon, is it?" he asked quickly, not wanting to have to deal with one. He'd had enough of dragons between Hagrid and the Tri Wizard tournament. Dragon eggs were rare and expensive and it seemed like something Darrian would swindle off someone.

"Sly?" Katrina spoke up again.

"Yeah," Darrian laughed. "He pulled the wool over my eyes and beat me at Jack."

"Good. It's about time someone beat you. You know how much I disapprove of you playing that game."

Taking a step forward and grabbing the bars with both hands Darrian swung up into his room. "Yeah, yeah, I know," he said as he disappeared through the trapdoor.

Uncertain what to do, Harry stared at the bars. The way Darrian had talked it was as if he wanted Harry to follow him, but he wasn't sure if he could do the same thing Darrian did.

Finally he took a few steps back and took a running start to get enough momentum to swing himself up into the hole. He'd done things more stupid in his life. When he jumped he was barely able to get his fingers around the bar, but in the end he did. As his body started to swing he tucked his legs in as Darrian had done. Harry considered the possibility he might actually make it through. However, things didn't go well after that. As Harry's body was almost straightened out directly beneath the hole, something heavy dropped onto his stomach. Almost instantly, Harry lost all of his momentum along with his grip and dropped like a rock.

Lying on the ground with his head throbbing, Harry saw Darrian's face appear above him, surprised. "Sorry, didn't know you were gonna try that. Most people use the ladder."

In the upper regions of his vision Harry could see the ladder dangling almost to the ground. It had been the heavy object, which struck him.

Painfully Harry forced himself to stand up. He grabbed a rung of the ladder and slowly made his way up.

"Welcome," Darrian said, with an overzealous wave of his hands, "to my domain."

It was a completely different world it seemed. The only light in the room came from candles that appeared to be everywhere. Behind each of them seemed to be a poster of something. The people in the posters looked unusually ominous in the candlelight. None of them were moving though, save one, who was at the far end of the room. His green eyes glinted from the soft lighting and his hair dripped from his head.

"That's me," Harry said, astonished. He recognized where the picture was from, but he didn't know anyone had taken it. It was right after the second task. He'd been alone for a few seconds right as they announced the points. He was standing in the poster, wrapped in a blanket and smiling as if he'd just won the tournament.

There was another picture of him, a younger Harry, standing with Hedwig ready to set her loose. It was snowing and until Hedwig shook he didn't even see her. "And another," Harry said, overwhelmed. When it looked over to him, finally moving, it smiled happily. He wasn't sure how anyone had gotten that picture. He rarely went out in the storms like that, and no one else was around when he did.

They didn't know the truth. Everything had been good when those pictures were taken. They were before Voldemort had risen; before people had died; before Sirius was gone. Harry cringed, hating to think about Sirius.

"Yeah," Darrian said. "I couldn't get a signed copy, they don't exist. Seems you don't like signing much. There are a few things out there, but you can't come by them easily."

Harry frowned and looked away. He'd come here so he wouldn't be recognized and somehow he'd failed miserably. "Alright, I can sign something for you," he said quietly, getting the point. "What do you want signed?"

"This," Darrian said, tossing the same snitch Harry had handled the other day. "It's a one of a kind as it is."

Grabbing the snitch from the air, Harry looked at it and sighed as Darrian handed Harry a quill. "It's specialized for magical signing."

Nodding, Harry took it and carefully signed his name on its surface, then handed it back to Darrian.

"Alright, good, now for the egg," Darrian said, moving away from the pictures of Harry where the snitch was. Harry could barely see what was there, but as his eyes adjusted he tried to look away. Between the books, the posters, and other various mementos, there was almost a whole wall of things about him.

Harry spun, following Darrian whilst glancing at the rest of the room – it was just shelves and posters, all of it seemed to be slightly different in feeling. On the wall, mounted not far from his posters, were three broomsticks. Harry took a step towards them. "Wow," he gasped. "A Comet Fire, I thought they'd only made ten of those."

"Twelve. Two were destroyed in the fire that ruined the factory. That's the third one that was produced. Francisco Vallens even signed it sort of. He whittled his name into it while he was stuck in the fireproof room while the rest of the factory burned," Darrian said happily. It was one of his top prizes.

It was hard for Harry to believe what else was in the room. Dumbledore's own collection was dwarfed by what filled the shelves here. He noticed a pensive near the brooms beside an open Quidditch box, and wondered what it contained. "Wouldn't go in it," Darrian said, following his gaze and shuddering. "I wish I knew how to clear out the damned thing. It's like a nightmare in there."

"So let's get to it then," Darrian requested, moving again in the darkness. Harry had a hard time following him. "You do understand that this is not something I'm just going to hand over. You have to make another oath with me that you'll take good care of her." he said, slowing as he neared the far wall.

"First, you have to be there when she's born. Seems she'll have a sort of parental attachment to the first person she sees. You've got to be that person. Also, I've gotta have reports about her. Every week, how she's doing and some things that are already on one of the scrolls I'll give you. I swore I'd keep her updated on how Bambi's doing."

Harry just nodded his head and wondered what this Bambi thing was.

"Alright this is everything about her," Darrian said as he dropped a thick stack of parchments and scrolls into Harry's hands. "She's named Bambi," he finished as he walked over to where he had stood a moment before, reaching down to unsnap the latches on a wooden chest.

"Touch on it, you have to swear you'll do everything you can for her."

A hesitant feeling filled Harry. He didn't even know what 'she' was. Before he could respond, Darrian had already grabbed his hand and touched his fingers. Harry reluctantly agreed to accept the honor (if it could be called that). "Take her then, put her in a cool place. If it's too warm she'll never hatch."

"What is she?" Harry demanded, tired of hearing everything he had to do to keep the animal alive. He was beginning to think that maybe this thing was something he didn't want to take on.

There was a pause and Darrian looked slightly confused. "Well," he said quietly. "It's not really anything. It's part dog, part Thestral, and…" Harry shuddered at the mention of Thestrals. He had enough experience with them; they didn't frighten him, but they did make him wary. "...Dragon. Don't worry," he added quickly when he saw the look on Harry's face. "She assured me that it wouldn't get big and wouldn't breathe fire. She said that she'd been completely unsuccessful in that, something to do with the cranial cavities not being the right shape."

"Who's she?"

"Adrianna Trueblood. She works at one of the Zoo's back home. She's a Breeding Maven and a good one at that. It took me a long while to make her lose everything she did. I had to spend weeks working her before I got Bambi. She had a lot of other things of course… but Bambi, well she's special. The only one that's going to live for longer than two weeks, I think." Darrian said. "That's part of the reason that Adrianna let it happen. She can only study them for two weeks before she's got to destroy them. Part of the rules she's gotta follow at the place she works."

Harry just shook his head. He didn't quite understand what Darrian was saying.

"Well you see," Darrian started again. "She breeds animals together for special purposes. All she's allowed to do is breed and study them when they're young. Bambi, well she's special. I'm not sure how she covered it up, but she did. Seems that she'd just tell 'em the egg never matured or something. She can't take 'em away herself because they're watching her. So, I don't think she minded letting me have one in the end, it just took a lot of convincing."

Slowly Darrian lifted the lid on the chest. It was dark, but Harry could make out a medium sized egg in the center. "That's Bambi," he said quietly. "She's yours now, and you'd better take good care of her or I'll hunt you down."

"You can take the chest with you. It shrinks so it'll fit in your pocket. But don't keep it shrunk for too long. It's not good for the egg.

"Umm, Harry!" Tonks voice rose into Darrian's room. Harry pocketed the chest that Darrian had given him and moved towards the opening in the floor. He dropped his head through and looked at her. "What's up?"

"Yeah, well…" Tonks scratched her head. "I think it's time to leave. Now," she said with a hint of extreme urgency and glanced out the window.

"You know how to get to the hotel, right?" she asked quickly.

Harry nodded.

"Go. Now! I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

There was a knock on the door and Harry looked up surprised. When he looked back to Tonks, her face was veiled in fear. "Now!" she whispered fiercely to him.

Nodding, Harry concentrated enough to make the hole and dropped through it, headed directly towards his hotel. He figured whatever it was Tonks was afraid of meant they would be leaving quickly. Keeping a careful eye on the outside of the hotel, he proceeded to pack everything he picked up over the few weeks he had been on the island.

When he was finished, Harry sat in the corner of his room with his now shrunken luggage in a pocket. In his right hand he held the wand he'd been using for the last several weeks. His own wand was concealed up his sleeve, just as Tonks had taught him. He didn't know how long Tonks wanted to wait, but after a few hours of doing nothing, Harry began to get nervous.

What he was sure about was that Tonks had been afraid. Almost as afraid as when the Death Eaters had come for him. Now she had gone missing. To top it off she'd told him to wait for her. Surely there was a time limit. Another hour dragged by and Harry's eyes began to droop even with the threat of someone coming after him. He stood and walked around for a short while, getting his blood pumping. However, the moment he sat down, his eyes began to drop again.

It took a while, but Harry soon nodded off. For the first time in several months Harry began to have visions again. It was more than just a dream. Try as he might, he had no way to keep it from happening. It started unlike any he'd ever had before. It was nice. He was standing in a meadow somewhere in the mountains, white and pink flowers all around him. Someone approached in the far off distance, a mere dark shadow for a while. When the person finally started to take shape the ground under Harry began to slide away, moving the man away slowly at first, but quicker and quicker until he'd was lost in the far off landscape.

Harry didn't understand it at all, but he didn't want to go towards the man. He'd been tricked once before, and wouldn't let it happen again. In the next instant Harry found himself in a familiar room, something that began to overwhelm his thoughts. Sirius was standing on the far side of it, grinning down at him.

"Wake up you git, you're about to get the both of us caught," he said in a strange voice. Harry shook his head, not understanding what he was saying.

"GET UP!" he shouted, but in Tonks's voice.

A harsh chill made Harry sit up quickly, not quite sure what was happening. Someone had their hands on his, and he yanked it away, going for his hidden wand.

"Don't!" Tonks shouted at him.

It took Harry a minute, but everything cleared up. Tonks was tugging on him, trying to get him to wake up. "Hurry up!" she said, shaking him again. "We really don't have much time. Never mind, just don't let go. You're not going to like this," she finally muttered.

A hard gut-wrenching feeling passed over him as Tonks grabbed a hold of a Portkey.

"Stupid Aurors," Tonks muttered again as she stood up and brushed herself off. "Do you know how much trouble I'm in?" she groaned looking over to Harry.

Being completely in the dark about what was happening Harry shook his head, uttering a soft 'no'.

"Well, seems that the Minister's ordered you brought in and made an allowance for excessive force. Every Auror available is scouring all of England for you, and now they know we were on Icaria. Somewhere between my magical usage and a picture of you got them all the way to Darrian's house. I'm sorry about sending you off like that; I didn't know if you'd even make it; must have been able to get away just before they erected the apparating barrier. I would've got to the hotel sooner but I had to play it safe. Didn't work anyway, I never even saw them following me."

"Why are you in trouble then? And why is it so important to bring me in?" Harry asked. He didn't understand what Tonks meant.

A wind blew by and Harry shivered. He hadn't worn much on the island because it was warm. Here it was quite chilly. "Never mind that, where are we?"

"Just wait a minute, let me get my bearings. I think my Portkey didn't quite take us to where it was suppose to," she said as she looked around. When Harry looked at her with disbelief she raised her hands defensively. "I'm sorry. It was the first Portkey I've ever made. I'm surprised I even made it to London."

Harry looked around and laughed nervously. Whatever area of London they were in was far worse than Grimmauld Place. "Alright," Tonks said. "We're going this way," pointing down a street. She began at a fast lope down the street. "We need to get away from here as fast as possible. That Portkey was illegal, it'll take them a while, but they'll figure out it was to here."

"Where are we going then?"

Tonks looked around once more and changed streets, heading down an even darker one. "It's a safe house, well as safe as we can be for a while."

After three more dark roads the atmosphere suddenly changed. They were in a nicer area of London. "Alright," Tonks said finally, "I know where we are now, it's just this way."

Harry followed. He learned from being with Tonks that it was best to do what she said and not question her unless things started to go wrong.

They came to the building Tonks was looking for. Tonks concentrated for a minute, her face changing slightly. "Can I help you miss?" a doorman asked as they walked inside. When he saw Tonks, he smiled. "Ah, 703 then?" he asked, not bothering to look at Harry.

Tonks nodded. Harry felt slightly out of place in his wizarding robes, but besides a few people on the road, no one had commented at all. The lift took them to the seventh floor and Harry kept both wands up his sleeves, ready to use. It wasn't that he didn't trust Tonks; he wanted to be ready just in case.

At the door marked 703, Tonks knocked twice and waited.

Behind the door Harry could hear a muffled noise. One of the concealed wands slipped down into his hand.

The door cracked open slightly. Harry could see a brown eye taking them in. It slammed shut a second later as a commotion broke out. Tonks had grabbed a hold of the handle before it closed completely and she threw herself against the door, swinging it open again.

"Howdy boys!" she said, not bothering to be quiet about it.

•