Harry woke up almost three days later. It was dark out, and he wasn't entirely sure where he was. He seemed to be okay, save for a pounding headache. When he moved, his muscles cried out, forcing him to let out a groan. "Right...post-beating, then..." He muttered to himself, knowing all too well that familiar sting.

No one seemed to be around and the house was quiet. After a few minutes of his vision adjusting to the lack of light, he remembered what had happened. He had been dragged off into another room by his uncle and beaten silly. He had then rushed upstairs, got his trunk, and hobbled off into the night. Which meant...

Harry sighed and, against his body's wishes, slipped out of bed. He was in a pair of black and green pajamas that Andromeda had made for him, he idly noted. He felt slightly dizzy, as well. An annoyance at most, but it was still troublesome. It meant that he had to keep one hand on something stable at all times - he wasn't very keen at falling
flat on his face. Showing up and passing out was embarrassing enough, even though he knew neither Tonks nor her mother would say anything about it to anyone.

Stepping out of 'his' bedroom - the Tonks women insisted upon dubbing it that, since it had been his for the better part of the previous summer - he crept into the hall, one hand on the wall for support. He looked to the end of the hallway, where Andromeda had an old clock hanging. Squinting, he saw that it was well after midnight – almost 2AM, in fact. That was troublesome, as well. Not only did he want to talk to someone, he was starving!

Figuring that Andromeda wouldn't mind him sneaking a bit of food in the middle of the night, Harry slowly made his way downstairs. It felt good to be in a place he felt secure. Especially after how he had been smacked stupid by his whale of an uncle. 'One day,' Harry thought as he rounded the bottom of the stairs and headed into the kitchen, 'One day they'll get exactly what they deserve... and I'm gonna be there, laughing...'

Harry knew vaguely of where Andromeda hid all of the sweeter things that she got when she went shopping. Tonks said that her mother wasn't aware that she knew the hiding places, either. As long as a large amount wasn't swiped at once, it was safe to nick a bit. Harry started to head for a cupboard that he knew had a fake back to it – Andromeda stored lollipops there, amongst other things - but his stomach derailed his plans. It hadn't had any food in it for awhile, and it demanded a more proper meal.

Slightly annoyed at both his stomach and his sweet tooth, Harry made for the fridge to inspect its contents. He didn't think that cooking eggs and bacon would wake the two Tonks women up. In any case, he didn't really think they'd mind. Probably worried about him, those two.

Less than half an hour later, he had himself a decent little meal set out. Eating a whole lot wouldn't do him good - he had gone without food for just a bit too long to start wolfing down everything in sight. Pouring himself a tall glass of orange juice, (he was dreadfully parched) Harry walked over to the table and sat down. Ignoring his stomach's argument about needing as much food in it as Harry could take, he ate sensibly.

It was the best food Harry had tasted in a long time. Harry was used to not having a whole lot to eat, but it had been a long time since he was outright starved. When he was finished, he gathered the plate and everything else he had used, and took them over to the sink. As he was carefully setting them back down, he heard a faint patter behind him. Figuring he'd better hurry and get everything out of his hands in case Tonks happened to flying tackle him into a hug, Harry sped up a bit.

Just as he was setting his fork down, he felt Tonks lean up against his back, wobbling ever so slightly. Her head pressed up against his shoulder and, for a moment, neither moved. Finally, Tonks lifted her arms and sleepily wrapped them around Harry, murmuring, "Was worried."

Harry frowned. This certainly hadn't been the response he had been expecting out of his friend. When he made no move to say anything in reply, Tonks asked, "How?"

"My uncle." Harry replied, his own voice quiet. "But...I think it'd be better if I explained when everyone was up... I only came down because I was so hungry..."

"No! No sleep..." Tonks said, her grip around Harry tightening. "No sleep... too many nightmares..."

Harry's frown deepened. "Tonks...? Tonks, c'mon... let's go back upstairs. We can sit up and talk, if you want..."

"No sleep?"

"No sleep." Harry repeated, smiling slightly over his shoulder. It took a minute, but Tonks nodded against him and finally released him. She took a step back and rubbed at her eyes. Harry finally turned around and was left feeling a bit surprised. Tonks was wearing a pair of blue and black pajamas that seemed to be just a bit too big for her. The top kept slipping off of one shoulder or the other, forcing the girl to scowl and tug it back up. Her hair was long, curly, and very blue...and it seemed to be more than a little messy. Harry briefly had a mental image of Tonks standing on her head in her sleep. When Tonks looked up at him through still half-asleep eyes, he saw that they were as green as his own.

Harry bit down on his lower lip lightly so as not to say aloud just how utterly adorable his best friend looked. He smiled then, reaching out for one of her hands. "C'mon... there's some stuff I'm curious about, too..."

Harry had promptly brought Tonks back up to his room. On the way, she explained that the smell of food had brought her down. Harry got a chuckle out of that, remembering several mad dashes to the Great Hall during their first year at Hogwarts. Once upstairs, Harry adjusted the pillows on the bed so that the two of them could sit and lean back against the headboard.

Tonks settled herself in right beside Harry, causing him to blush slightly. It was a good thing that the house was still dark. Unsure of how to respond to such a gesture, Harry slipped a shaky arm around his friend's shoulders. This seemed to make Tonks considerably more comfortable, as she let out a sleepy purr of sorts and leaned her head over onto his shoulder.

"Um... so..." Harry began, his voice squeaking as he started to speak. "How come you guys... how come you didn't come and get me...?"

"We couldn't..." Tonks said, pouting. "Every time we tried, we kept feeling weird... like we forgot something back home an' stuff... we called up Dumbledore, eventually. Kept forgetting that the stupid house seemed to have wards all over it... but that was the night you showed up, so..."

"How long's it been?" Harry asked.

"Couple days...all you've done is slept. You haven't even changed positions or anything. You just...slept very, very still in the same position for days on end..." Tonks said, her voice far away. She seemed to lean into Harry a little more, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping an arm around them.

"The house repelled you, huh?" Harry said, his voice taking a dark tone. "I'm gonna kill that bloody elf...!"

"Elf?" Tonks asked.

Harry proceeded to inform his friend over what had transpired between him and Dobby the house elf. Both were feeling a bit more fired up when he was finished.

"That...that...!" Tonks sputtered. "You can't kill him, I'm gonna!"

"Ohhh no you don't!" Harry said, scowling at Tonks. "It's his fault I suffered, so--"

"Exactly! Which is why I'm gonna stuff his own giant head up his--"

"Nymphadora!" Came a sharp voice from the doorway that caused both Harry and Tonks to jump.

Looking over, they saw a half-asleep Andromeda leaning against the door frame, blinking sleep from her eyes. "Mind your mouth, young lady." She said, staving off a yawn that tried forcing its way out.

"Sorry, mum... how long've you been there, anyway?" Tonks said.

"Long enough. I'll relay all that to Albus, Harry, if that's alright with you?" Andromeda asked. When Harry nodded, she came into the room and sat on the edge of the bed. "You... had us worried. Nymmy's been in a right state."

"Muuuum!" Tonks whined. "Stoppit..."

"Now will you eat properly?" Andromeda asked, looking to her daughter now.

"She hasn't been eating normally?" Harry asked, also looking to Tonks.

Tonks blushed and lowered her head. "I spent most of my time in here with you..."

Harry blushed slightly, as well. "Oh... well... you should have eaten. I wasn't going to go anywhere."

Tonks turned and swatted Harry lightly on the arm before resuming her position of using his shoulder as a pillow. "Oh, be quiet... Mum brought my food up here an' ate with me... I just didn't have much of an appetite...that's all..."

"So a house elf was the cause of all the problems, huh?" Andromeda said, looking up at the ceiling in thought. "I really am sorry we didn't contact Albus sooner, Harry. But, as Nymmy said, we kept forgetting. Whatever that elf did, it must have been very strong magic."

"So it seems." Harry said, sighing. "Who fixed me up, anyway?"

"I did." Andromeda said, smiling. "I figured it couldn't hurt to brush up on my medical spells and the like. Just in case something like this ever happened."

"How did we all wind up talking on my bed in the middle of the night?" Harry asked, randomly. "It's all quite odd."

"S'your fault for wakin' me up." Tonks mumbled from beside him. From the sound of her voice, she was falling asleep.

"No, your stomach woke you up." Harry correct, grinning. Tonks made a feeble error to swat him, but her arm flopped down by her side.

"I think we should all get some sleep..." Andromeda said. This was, apparently, the wrong thing to say. Tonks' head shot up again, her eyes wide open, and she promptly latched herself to Harry, nearly causing him to tip over onto his side.

"No sleep!" Said the girl, staring at her mother, who blinked in surprise at her reaction.

"Why not?" Andromeda asked.

"Nightmares..." Tonks said. Harry felt her grip on him tighten for the second time that night. "A lot of 'em."

Andromeda hadn't missed this exchange and smiled quickly to Harry. "I still have some dreamless sleep potion somewhere... if you took that, you could sleep properly and not have to worry..."

But Tonks shook her head stubbornly. "Don't wanna..."

"Tonks..." Harry whispered. "I'm alright now... if you want, you can sleep in here. I'll probably stay up, reading, until dawn... or whenever we can floo Dumbledore without worrying about the time."

Tonks tilted her head to look up at him. He offered her a smile, which caused her to duck her head again. Finally, she looked to her mother and nodded slightly. Andromeda got to her feet and, without a word, headed off to find the potion in question.

"Sorry..." Harry said, once Andromeda was out of earshot.

"Sorry? For what?"

"Making you worry... and for your nightmares." Harry said.

Tonks frowned, squeezing him gently. "It's alright... like you said, you're fine now." She paused, then sat up a bit better and kissed him quickly on the cheek. "Just don't ever do it again."

This, of course, left Harry in a state of shock that was only knocked away when Andromeda returned with a tiny bottle filled with just a bit of liquid. Tonks detatched herself from Harry and took it from her mother, uncorking the top and downing the contents. Within moments, she was slipping down next to Harry, murmuring something incoherently.

Andromeda helped scoot her daughter to the side of the bed that Harry wasn't occupying, getting her tucked in. Harry watched, though his eyes were more focused on Tonks than her mother. He felt a distinct lack of warmth now that she wasn't pressed up against his side and couldn't help but want it back.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Andromeda asked, snapping Harry away from his thoughts. He looked from Tonks to her mother, nodding.

"I'm fine...I was a bit dizzy when I went downstairs... hope you don't mind me cooking a bit..." Harry said.

"Not at all. Any time you're hungry, feel free." Andromeda said, smiling and leaning over to give the boy a light hug. "I told you, you're like family. What good is saying that if you can't act like it?"

Harry blushed and gave the woman an awkward hug in return, murmuring a thanks to her. He was still painfully new to the whole 'being close to people' thing, after all. A year hadn't taken away very many of his poorer faults...and the time spent locked away at Number Four had only reinforced them.

"Your things are where they were last time. If you need anything, I'll be in my room... or maybe downstairs, getting some coffee ready." Andromeda said, heading back for the door.

Harry nodded, picking a book up off of the nightstand. It was just one of his first-year textbooks, but he enjoyed reading through them time and again just the same. Andromeda smiled again and said, "We thought we should set some there, just in case you woke up... well, in the middle of the night or something."

Harry chuckled quietly and flipped on the lamp that was on the table. Looking over to ensure that it didn't bother his sleeping friend, he settled himself back and opened the book to page 186 - the spot he had left off on the final day at Hogwarts last term. Andromeda watched him lose himself in the text for awhile before quietly slipping out of the room.

"...like I'm a pawn... Nothing special, just for show... and always, I'm the first to go. Moved around without a thought, through..." Harry, it could be said, never had a good life. Though it might seem like a simple matter of abuse on the outside to some, it ran deeper than it looked. He had never had any comfort when he was injured or beaten. He only had the spiders in the cupboard to keep him company. And, though he rarely ever got a chance, sometimes one of his relatives would have a radio on somewhere in the house. More often than not, it was Dudley. Vernon didn't care for music - at least the kind that was typically played nowadays.

Petunia didn't care for music at all, on the other hand. Even the old stuff that Vernon listened to once in a blue moon - usually only when company was over. From all of this, however, Harry had grown rather fond of music in all its varieties. To help himself during the more vicious beatings he had suffered over the years, he had started to hum and sing quietly. Soft enough that his relatives didn't hear, but enough to keep him from being in a dark silence.

He didn't really know the full versions of anything. He only had bits and pieces of songs, along with the stuff he sometimes came up with on his own. And now, as dawn quickly approached, Harry had absentmindedly started to sing under his breath as he read. The song had no real tune, aside from the one that Harry chose for it as he went. As such, it was currently a very soft piece - he didn't want to wake Tonks up.

"...A shield and weapon for the King... to use at will for anything..." Harry continued, half-nibbling at his lower lip as his eyelids grew ever heavier. He tried keeping the sleepiness from coming - he had slept for a good portion of the week already, after all. But the strain on his eyes from reading for so long was finally taking its toll on him.

"Do you really think that way?" Came a quiet voice from beside him.

Looking over and down at Tonks, who had made no effort to move from her curled-up position next to him, Harry asked, "I'm sorry... did I wake you?"

"Nuh-uh...jus' can't sleep past a certain point when I'm at home. Mum should be making breakfast soon..." Tonks replied, her face half buried in her pillow.

"Oh..." Harry replied, dumbly. Figuring now was as good a time as any to take a break, he closed his textbook and leaned back against the headboard. Letting out a yawn, he murmured, "Sleep well?"

"Much better." Tonks said, nodding just slightly.

"That's good..."

"Didn't know you sang."

Harry blinked. "I... I was doing that aloud?"

"Uh-huh."

Harry groaned. This caused Tonks to let out a sleepy giggle, finally moving to sit up. After tugging the shoulder of her pajama top back up onto her shoulder, she rubbed at her eyes and asked, "How come this is the first I've heard you doin' that?"

"It's not exactly something I want people to hear." Harry replied, shrugging. "Besides, I have a horrible singing voice."

"You weren't that bad." Tonks said, flopping against his side as she had earlier in the night. "Dunno the song, though... what is it?"

"Um... Something I just made up, really. Not very good...and there's not much to it at the moment." Harry said, truthfully. He knew he could trust Tonks with a secret. But just in case... "Don't tell anyone, alright?"

"'Kay." Tonks managed through a yawn. "Still wanna hear the whole thing sometime, though."

"If I ever finish it, I'll give you the lyrics." Harry said.

"Aww... don't get to hear you singing it?" Tonks asked, pouting slightly.

"No way... it's too embarrassing." Harry said, looking away. "And stop doing that!"

"What?" Tonks asked, grinning.

"You know very well 'what'!" Harry said, making a face. "Let's get up, want to? Go bug your mum to get some food going?"

Tonks' eyes lit up and, faster than Harry could follow, she was out of bed and tugging on one of his arms, trying to get him to do the same. "Works for me!" She said, grinning still. "Food! C'mon, Harry!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming! I'd be coming a lot faster if you'd stop trying to yank my arm out of its socket..." Harry said, nearly falling on his face as he was tugged off of the bed.

"Harry? Harry, what've you been doing up here all afternoon?" Tonks asked, walking into Harry's room a few days later. Harry was sitting up in bed and had a number of sheets of parchment laid out around him. He was holding a quill, sucking on the tip of it in what seemed to be annoyance, and had apparently been both drawing and writing on a number of the sheets. There was even a small pile in the nearby waste bin.

"Working out how I'm going to get my revenge." Harry said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Revenge?" Tonks asked, pushing aside a piece of parchment and sitting next to her friend. She reached for a random bit and held it up. On it was a fairly basic flood plan of Number Four.

"On the Dursleys." Harry answered in the same tone. "If they – or Dumbledore - think that I'm going to keep going back there year after year, they'd better think again. Dumbledore's gonna have to hit me with as strong a stunner as he ever has made to get me to stay in that house for another minute."

"Well, count me in on that... but what kinda revenge are you thinkin' about, eh?" Tonks asked, tilting her head as she took in the sight of a calculating Harry's face. His eyebrows were close together and he looked quite frustrated from the angle she was looking at him from.

"I dunno. I don't really care." Harry said, the corners of his lips turning down. "So long as they suffer for a really, really long time."

"Harry..."

"No. I don't care what kind of blood magic is protecting that house. It didn't do a very bloody good job of keeping even a house elf out of it. I know those things have strong magics of their own, but the fact remains. Dumbledore told me I would be safe. 'From anyone who might do harm to me,' he said. I suppose Dobby got through because he didn't do anything to me, physically. He toyed with me and let my bloody relatives do the harming." Harry said, eyes narrowing as he spoke.

"And then he went on to tell me that he had written them! And they claimed not to cause me problems anymore. Hah!" Harry continued, his hands shaking slightly.

Tonks reached out and places one of hers over one of his. Harry's body temperature seemed to be raised quite considerably, as he was practically burning up. "Harry? You alright? Calm down, mate... not gonna do ya any good to get in a foul mood here..."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment before taking in a deep breath and slowly releasing in. His shoulders slumped and he shook his head, staring down at the parchment in front of him. "Sorry... didn't mean to go off on you like that. But really... for someone as supposedly powerful as he is, can't he set up a guard or something for me? Or at least something to warn him when one of the Dursleys hurts me? If they keep this up, I have a bad feeling that I may end up cursing them before I'm of legal age...if I survive that long..."

"Don't talk like that." Tonks said, her voice quiet. "Not after how you turned up here..."

Harry winced. "Sorry... again. It's just... difficult. I could stop them if I used my wand... but then I'd wind up getting expelled. And then where would I be?"

"Right here with me?" Tonks suggested. "Not like I'd suddenly stop being your friend and turn you away if you hexed those stupid Muggles into a booby hatch... And look at it this way - you wouldn't have to worry about any adoring fans leftover!"

Harry chuckled, flopping backwards into a laying position, stretching out on top of the parchment and lazily twirling his quill. "That's always a good thing, I guess. But even so, I'm not going back to Number Four. Ever."

Tonks moved to lay next to him, on her side and with her head propped up in one hand. "And if Dumbledore says you have to?"

"He'll have a fight on his hands."

"That'll only draw attention, you know. 'Boy Who Lived Duels Dumbledore' would be on every wizarding newspaper in the whole of Europe."

Harry sighed, slipping his eyes shut. "Or maybe I'll just root myself in the Tower and not come down. Or just wander back here. I was able to this time, right? I'll go back with those... those idiot relatives of mine and sneak out under my cloak the moment their backs are all turned!"

"That's the spirit!" Tonks said, patting Harry on the shoulder.

Smiling faintly, Harry murmured, "Hey, Tonks..."

"Hm?"

"Whatcha think Leon's upto?"

"No idea. Hey, do you think we should see if we could visit him next summer?" Tonks asked.

"Don't see why not." Harry replied. "...You know, he's never really told us much about himself OR his home life..."

"True... And maybe then we could work out what's wrong with him, eh?"

"That, too." Harry said, nodding. "It's bugged me and bugged me and bugged me... and I'm still no closer to working it out. You'd be surprised how many illnesses - wizarding or otherwise – include symptoms similar to Leon's... I've given up working out things that way..."

"They are pretty vague, aren't they?" Tonks said, looking thoughtful. "...Oh well. First time we see him, let's ask."

"Yeah. Hey, Tonks?"

"Yeah?"

"I've been practicing..."

"Practicing what? ... Oh, you mean your Metamorphmagus stuff?"

"Yup. Want to see?"

"Sure!"

Harry sat up, leaning back on his arms. Shutting his eyes, he let his hair go through a small cycle of colors. From black to red, from red to blonde, from blonde to silver, from silver to maroon, and then back to black once more. When he opened his eyes, they were a golden color, which promptly cycled through a number of colors, as well. Tonks watched, her grin spreading with each new color that came up. When Harry was finished, she practically tackled him backwards in a hug.

Laughing, Harry tried prying her off of him. "Hey! Stop that! Your mum would have a fit if she saw us!"

"Oh, she has fits constantly, anyway. Who'd notice a change?" Tonks asked, giggling into Harry's shoulder.

"Ahem."

Tonks' eyes snapped open and she froze. Under her, Harry promptly dissolved into giggles at the sight of one Andromeda Tonks. She was standing in the doorway, hands on her hips, with an eyebrow raised in their direction.

"Well," She said, rolling her eyes. "I was going to say that we'd be having some cake later... but I guess I'll just have to toss the whole batch of angel food cake out..."

"Angel food cake?!" Tonks squeaked, hopping off of Harry and zipping over to give her mother puppy dog eyes. "Where?! Don't throw it out!"

"You're making it?" Harry asked, sitting up.

"I was." Andromeda confirmed, smiling. "I know I can whip them up with magic if I needed to, but... well, my mum taught me to cook when I was a little girl and I always did like baking cakes the best..."

"Are you gonna teach me someday, mum?" Tonks asked.

"I'm not sure." Andromeda said, her voice quite dry. "I'm scared you'd make nothing but cake and wind up a blimp..."

"MUUUUUM!" Tonks whined, following her mother as she left the room.

As they went, Andromeda called back, "Dinner's going to be ready in about half an hour, Harry!"

"Alright!" Harry called back.

Once they were downstairs and in the kitchen, Harry turned his attention to the bits of parchment surrounding him. With a sigh, he gathered them up, crumpled them into one big ball, and lobbed it into the trash bin. Setting the quill down finally, he then stood and stretched. If there was going to be cake with dinner, he had better get washed up and head down early.

After all, he had stayed there the previous summer. And he knew very well of the speed in which Nymphadora Tonks could put away a cake if left to her own devices. Before meeting Tonks, Harry had never witnessed anyone downing a whole cake on their own before - not even Dudley. But then, Petunia often regulated the amount of cake that Dudley could have in any given sitting. Tonks had wound up alone in the kitchen with a fresh angel food cake. Harry had been forced to floo Andromeda at work and ask if she could come home to fix the severe stomachache that was plaguing the woman's daughter.

It had taken half an hour for Andromeda to get off of work – Harry personally thought that she dragged the time out a bit to teach Tonks a lesson - but the problem had been resolved. Tonks had then promised solemnly to never eat like that again. Harry knew she hadn't done anything like that since... but just the same, it was better to be safe than sorry.

And, at the moment, Harry desperately thought he could use a nice, warm slice of something tasty to get his mind off of plans of revenge.

Author's Notes: See, I didn't drop the project. Actually surprised I got THIS out as fast as I did. So anyway, here's the new chapter 2! It's not as angsty as the old one AND it features a plentiful amount of Honks fluff. That oughta help ease the pain of a semi-restart of book 2. I hope you guys don't mind, but I'm gonna hold off on reading reviews until after I'm done, I think. That way I won't skew away from my plans again. I hate doing that, as I really love reading reviews, but I think things'll turn out for the better if I don't accidentally get a stray idea wandering in my brain.

I was told that maybe I should slow down chapter releases slightly to give myself more time to actually plan things better... and I really think that's a good idea. Over the past... what's it been? Half a year since I started TPS:R? It was in August, so... around thereof... Anyway, since I started, I've been really trying to crank out at least one chapter a week... and I suppose the wear and tear of that has really put a strain on me. With everything else that's been going on in life lately, I guess I was just feeling pressured to squeeze chapters out regularly, rather than taking the time to make a better final product.

I'll leave the notes here fairly short, but I do have one reviewer to reply to before I try and cut myself off from reading reviews... something I really doubt I have the will to do for very long, truth be told...

randllee: I happen to LIKE slash/shounen-ai, thank you. Harry/Draco and Sirius/Remus being the top favorites, of course. Some day I might try and rig up a good, believable H/D fic - I've seen WAY too many horrifyingly bad ones to mention, sadly... - but it won't be today, and it certainly won't be here. This will be a Harry/Tonks story all the way. Though don't be surprised if I have Angsty!Remus following the 'werewolves mate for life' way of thinking after Order Reassembled. Nothing wrong with that kinda fic... though I have to admit staying far away from student/teacher ships - I still can't see why Hermione and Snape are so fairly popular... but that's just me.

Not to say that the Slytherins won't spread rumors about seeing Harry snogging Leon in a broom closet somewhere, mind. Gotta have rumors flying about poor, poor Harry, now don't we?

Until next time - which hopefully won't be too far away - I thank all of you for sticking with this through all the crap I'm subjecting you to. I'll go ahead and change my profile again, since it's obvious that I just can't leave this project alone. I blame all of you guys for making me feel like I'm NOT a totally crap writer. So nyeh.