A/N: I hope no one disagrees with my calculation of Tonks' age. If you think I've got it wrong, tell me where I've made the mistake. You may also wonder why Voldemort is healthy and kicking so short a time after his attack on the Potters, when according to canon the real attack left him so near to death he was "less than the meanest ghost".

Well, I have my reasons and explanations, but I cannot give them now. That would spoil the ending. Some of you may guess, but I probably won't be answering questions about it just yet.

Lost: Small Boy, Answers to Harry

--------------------------------

Morning broke. Harry wriggled in his sleep and, though his eyes remained closed, he was waking up. He could hear his mother's voice coming through the door, and waited for the smell of James' burned bacon and boiled eggs.

He woke up a little further, and remembered that it was not his mother's voice.

"…you don't get it, Ted! If they get even a hint that we're sheltering him – a hint is all they need – they will level this house to the ground to find him. They will kill us. We already have a daughter to protect, Ted, let alone someone else's children as well!"

"Anne, alright, don't get worked up about this. He can't stay here, okay, I understand. So we'll send him to the school, if you think that's where your cousin was meaning to go. Through the fireplace."

"No, no, they'll be watching the Floo network…"

"Well, Apparate them!"

"You can't. I just don't know what Sirius meant me to do. Obviously Hogwarts was his destination, but if he was being chased, why come to me? Surely the house of one of his auror buddies would have made more sense!"

"Look, Andromeda, there's no use worrying about it now. If you really think they'll find the poor kid here, send a letter to the headmaster of the school and then he can be off our hands tomorrow."

"Yes. I'll send Dumbledore an owl right now. Yes, that's what I'll do…"

There came a pause, and then the man called Ted said, "oh, Anne, don't cry! It'll be alright! You're a witch for God's sake!"

"Sorry, it's just…I feel awful about Sirius," Andromeda's voice sounded gluggy through her tears, "I used to watch out for him when we were at school, you know. He was always in trouble. And now…I wish there's something I could have done."

"You're doing everything you can by taking that wee boy in. Let's not talk about it now…"

The voices subsided and Harry rolled over. He drifted in and out of sleep, and dreamed of two huge red eyes that became mouths full of teeth.

"Breakfast!"

He jerked awake and sat up, blinking. A large pinkish blob was hovering somewhere to his right. The blob seemed to have a pair of blobby arms, which waved cheerily at him.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot!" said the cheery voice. The arms flitted away and then came back and lowered Harry's glasses onto his nose. The room came back into focus, filled with warm mid-morning light. A young girl was leaning with her elbows on the bed spread, watching him. She had a freckled, heart-shaped face rimmed by spiky golden hair.

"Good morning!" she said brightly, "come on and have something to eat. Food's in the kitchen. I said to mum that I could bring you breakfast in bed, but she was all like, 'no, Dora, you'll drop it' and she wouldn't let me. So, come!"

Harry pushed the covers back and got out of the bed. He followed the golden-haired girl through the house and into a large kitchen warmed by an enormous fireplace. A frying pan floating over the stove was making pancakes all by itself, while a calender on the wall showed a school of tropical fish which were swimming back and forth across the paper.

"Mum told me about you this morning," said the girl as they sat down at the table. She pulled out a chair for Harry and flumped down into one herself, "but I don't think she knows much herself what has happened. It's in all the papers, though!"

"What is?" asking Harry huskily, rubbing his eyes. The frying pan flew through the air and dropped onto the table with a clunk. The girl began serving up the pancakes.

"Well, you-know-who!"

"No, I don't," Harry told her.

"What? You know! He-who-must-not-be-named," she lowered her voice, "the Dark Lord."

Harry suddenly understood, "oh. Um."

"Have you been reading the papers? No, I don't expect you can read yet, can you? Well, they're saying he got beat up real bad. The ministry – the ministry is in bad shape – who am I kidding, the ministry is gone. The aurors are running things at the moment but Mum doesn't know how long they can keep it up. But they're saying that it was all a distraction for something else the death eaters were doing, and you-know-who came off the worst. Here!" she got up and brought a newspaper over from the kitchen bench and began to read from it, "you-know-who staying hidden from all but his closest followers…rumoured to be recovering from terrible injuries sustained in mysterious circumstances…" she turned over a page, "and here, 'Potter family murdered – mark absent'."

Harry swallowed a bite of pancake, feeling his throat constrict. He balled his fists, desperate not to cry in front of this girl, whom he liked despite her discourteous jabber. He asked, "what does that mean, 'mark absent'?"

"They think the family – the Potters – were killed by you-know-who, but the…" again she lowered her voice, "…the dark mark wasn't set in the sky. So if it was you-know-who, he must have left in a hurry, without finishing the job properly!" her eyes sparkled with the scandal of it, "which suggests that's where he got his injuries! And we know the job wasn't finished – because here you are, alive and well."

Harry stared at his plate, "I didn't know he was hurt. I don't remember where he went. There was a flash…then Sirius was there…"

The girl's eyes widened, "y-you really were there? You saw him?"

Harry didn't reply. The girl seemed to realise how tactless she was being and quickly changed the subject.

"I'm sorry, I completely forgot to introduce myself. Nymphadora Tonks," she held out her hand for him to shake, "awful name, isn't it? I'm going to change it one day," she rolled her eyes, "Mum just calls me Dora, but if you can't pronounce Nymphadora, you can call just say Tonks to get my attention."

"Harry Potter," he replied, shaking her hand.

"Pleased to meet you, Harry Potter!" she grinned, "guess what? It's my first day of school tomorrow."

"I'm not at school yet, either," Harry told her sympathetically.

"No, not just ordinary school!" Nymphadora laughed, "Hogwarts! I've already been through normal school. But tomorrow I'm going to Hogwarts for the first time!"

Harry had heard of Hogwarts. His heart leapt when she mentioned it: he knew that was where Sirius had wanted him to go. At last, he was on the right track!

"I can't wait to learn magic," Nymphadora continued, "but I already know a little bit. Watch this!" she screwed up her face in an expression of great concentration. At first, Harry couldn't see what he was meant to be watching: then he noticed that the girl's nose seemed to be longer than it had been a moment ago. As he stared in horror, her lips swelled until they were as large as yams, drooping down to her chin, while her nose hung like a wet sock. Overall, it gave the distinct impression that her face was melting.

"Dora, I told you not to do that in front of guests, it's disgusting!" a sharp voice said, and Harry looked over to see a tall, auburn-haired woman come into the room. She wore light robes with layers of soft, thin material and her hair was elaborately tied behind her head. This was Andromeda Tonks, Sirius' cousin.

"Good morning, Harry," she said, greeting him with a swift bow.

Harry had already spoken to her the night before, when Arabella Figg had brought him to the Tonks' doorstep. He had also asked her the question about the birthday present, and gotten a satisfactory answer.

"Don't be concerned if you see Dora's nose falling off. My daughter is a budding Metamorphmagus," Andromeda explained, sitting down in the chair across the table from him but not taking a pancake. She glanced at Nymphadora, who was now holding her nose out of the way while she tried to mould her lips back into shape with the other hand, "although she still has a long way to go," she added.

While Tonks tried to reposition her facial features, Andromeda turned to her young guest and said heavily, "Harry, you have to think. Do you know who Sirius planned to meet with in order to get you to a safe place? Is there anyone who was supposed to pick you up and take you anywhere?"

Harry shook his head, "he said you would take me to Dumbledore, that's all he said. And he said maybe Moony would be there – Remus, I mean."

Andromeda sighed, "alright. I suppose I will have to oblige as best I can. I've already sent a letter to Dumbledore to tell him what I intend to do. Who is Remus?"

"Remus Lupin," explained Harry, "he comes to visit lots. He looks after me when Sirius can't. He's un-um-ployed."

"I see," frowned Andromeda, "well, I'll tell you what we're going to do, Harry. We have to get you to Hogwarts, where Dumbledore will be. But we can't apparate there, or go by floo powder, and the journey by broom would be very long. So tomorrow, when Dora takes the train to Hogwarts, she's going to take you with her, alright?"

"I am?" Nymphadora's face was back to normal by now, and she jumped in her seat, bumping the table and knocking all the cutlery an inch to the left, "oh, wow!"

A flicker of regret brushed across Andromeda's face, but she quickly covered it up, "yes, but you must remember that this is serious, Dora."

"I'll remember, I promise," Nymphadora brushed her mother's obvious concerns aside and leapt to her feet, "come on, Harry, we'll find you some clothes to wear. This is going to be a riot!"

---------------------------------

Sirius, like Harry, sensed the breaking of morning. In the darkness, he stirred and awoke. His head ached from the force of the stunning spell, and it struggled to remember what had happened and where he now was.

His eyes were bound loosely by a wide swath of material that smelled of motor oil. He moved to pull the blindfold off and aches shot through his limbs, his wrists screaming in protest. He was lying on some hard, cold surface, which felt like a thick metal slab – probably iron, with the purpose of repressing magic. His hands were tied above his head by tight wire which was cutting in the skin, and he flexed his fingers to try and get some feeling back into them. Hopefully, he tried to transform into his animagus form, but nothing happened. Either the iron bench he lay on was preventing the transformation or they had guessed he was an animagus and cast some hex to keep him in human form.

He suddenly remembered his last moments before he had been knocked out and he gritted his teeth in despair. His wand had been broken before he could release the message to Andromeda – his godson might still be waiting in that muggle department store, waiting for help that was never going to arrive. It would not be long before the death eaters retraced Sirius' steps and found Harry.

And even if by some chance, some friendly witch or wizard had smuggled Harry away, what would they do with him next? Only members of the Order of Phoenix could communicate safely with Headmaster Dumbledore. Any letter directed to Dumbledore would not be read by his eyes alone – there were spies intercepting all of Dumbledore's mail, as the Order had discovered the hard way.

Furious with himself, frustrated beyond belief, and also dead afraid, Sirius wriggled hopelessly. To his surprise, he felt the blindfold shift on his face. He rubbed the side of his head on his shoulder and managed to push the rough material up onto his forehead. A final shake of his head, and the rag slipped off and fell to the ground.

He blinked, his eyes adjusting slowly to the dim room. The only light was a thin slit shining from under the door. Sirius surveyed his prison unhappily. It was not much more than a few feet square, and was empty of furniture apart from a muggle hot water cylinder. The walls were concrete and windowless: it seemed to be nothing more than the cellar of some muggle apartment.

And there was someone lying on the floor. Sirius froze and strained his eyes in the semi-darkness. The man was lying on his chest, his head turned to the side. His eyes stared blankly at the wall, wide from fear: he was quite certainly dead. Sirius recognised him after a moment. It was the same wizard who had followed them into the department store, probably the same one who had cast the freezing charm in the street. His beaded grey hair fell across his face, as Lily's had. Who had killed him?

Footsteps outside: the sliver of light from under the door was cast into shadow. Sirius heard a muffled 'alohomora' and the click of the lock, then the handle turned and light flooded in, blinding him. He had to turn his head until his eyes adjusted once more. A man was standing silhouetted in the doorway, swaying slightly. His right hand clutched a wand which hung limply at his side. Sirius recognised his rough, ugly face: it was the second death eater, the wizard who had stunned him.

Sirius looked down at the body on the floor. There was no visible injury: he had probably been struck down by the killing curse.

The man in the doorway saw Sirius scrutinising his dead companion, "had to kill him, di'in't I?" he said. His words were slurred and the faint smell of drink wafted under Sirius' nose, "he lost your boy. Wanted to go to lieutenant…can't…cou'n't let him do it. I'm in Lieutenant's favour, see…can't be caught making mistakes…"

He took an unsteady step into the room, "thas' alright, though," he said, "'cos I got you, now. You gonna tell me where the boy went: Master needs to the boy. Can't let any harm get to him…see? Now you gonna tell me," he waved his wand threateningly and indicated the body on the ground, "you gonna tell me where you hid the boy, or you gonna end up like him, see? Only it gonna take longer. Gonna take much, much longer for me to kill you…"

Sirius realised his heart was thumping, but he couldn't control his fear. He saw James' staring eyes in his mind. Not like this… he thought, it's not fair for me to go like this…

The wizard gave a drunken bark and pointed his wand at his captive's heart.

-----------------------------------

TBC