Unexpected events

By Zakairen

Disclaimer: You people know the works: I don't own them, I don't make money with it, only the plot's mine.

Warning: English is not my mother language. There may be some spelling and grammar errors. Please point it out if something is seriously wrong.

Now before I continue with the story, there is something not so positive. I received my first flame, from The Silver Serpent. I hope you didn't think I would take this laying down? Now, for starters, let me analyze your review. 'who the hell wants to know about every article of clothing he buys and all the rest.' Well I didn't put everything he bought in the story and there seem to be plenty of people who wanted to know, not even talking about the fact that a lot of those things and events are needed for the continuation of the story. 'just get of with the friggen story, its not like cloths are going to have any relevence to the story' – well I beg to differ. The clothes do play a role, simply because Harry does need something to dress in and in accordance to his status. People are judged on the clothes they wear, the quality, the style, the fit and the match – if only subconsciously. You also seem to forget that insignificant little detail about character development. Harry shows a bit of style and self assurance that wasn't there in the poor orphan boy from before. The interaction with Padma is needed later on.

You also seem to have slept through the lessons about basic human psychology, better know as common sense: don't go biting the hand that feeds you. Insulting an Author to demand updates has normally the exact opposite effect of what you want. And how can I continue the story if I have nothing to continue with as it went down the drain in your oh so interesting world of shortcuts? 'also whats all that crap about books being evil and destoying them LMAO oh so you have harry who refuses to look at the books that voldemort probably knows about and thus not knowing his capabilities' – you didn't notice Harry buying Dark Arts books then? You forgot conveniently, that he has a link directly into the mind and memories of that psycho and was possessed by him? He knows Voldie and his capabilities better than any other living person, the only one who could come close is Ginny. You also didn't notice I said Black Magic and why the books were in the shop.

If Voldie already knew those, they would have been in his possession and he wouldn't have been reduced to a spirit. And Harry just wants to keep the knowledge from him and his cronies. Dark Arts is magic forbidden by the ministry, mostly because they aren't powerful enough to cast it. The other part is magic like the Unforgivables, which borders on Black Magic. It twists and corrupts the very nature of the universe, magic and souls, not to mention bodies around it. Therefore books on Black Magic literally ooze evil. 'i think you need a few years more of life experience before you write a story thats halfway decent' - just why the hell are you reading my story if it isn't even halfway decent? Nobody made you! Earlier you said, you wanted me to get on with it. You'll have to decide on one or the other, 'cause people normally don't read what they don't like. And the number of positive reviews I got tells me a totally different thing. Life experience? That's a tad bit ironic for someone to say/write, who hasn't even enough experience to know how to be patient and polite, doesn't pay attention to details or knows that a story needs details like this to base future chapters on. And no person acts completely like another, so experience isn't everything and a bit misplaced to call for. Maybe before you flame another person you should try and write your own story, huh? Gather a bit of experience? At least you had guts enough to sign you 'review' and didn't send it anonymous.

AN: Sorry, but I had to get that off my chest. Put me off writing the chapter for some time. I saw just now that I hit the 100 review mark and left it well behind. Thank you all so much, people. It feels wonderful to get positive reviews and questions. Makes me feel appreciated. Well, on with it.

"blah" - talking, 'blah' - thinking, italics - incantations, quotations and writing, "blah" - parseltongue

Chapter 6

Hours after Harry had gone to sleep, a tired and disheveled man stumbled up the path to an ancient castle. Tremors wrecked his body and his greasy black hair was in disarray. Small gashes all over his body oozed blood and he had to pause continuously to gasp for breath and steady himself as not to fall. He couldn't have gotten up again without help. As he reached the doors to the entrance hall of Hogwarts he leaned his body against it for a moment. Then he pushed them open. He was greeted by a stern faced woman with grey hair, who, at his sight, gasped sharply.

"Severus! Oh Merlin, what has he done to you this time? Just a moment, I'll bring you up to the hospital wing immediately. Thankfully Poppy is here tonight. Can you walk for a bit longer?"

Tenderly she grasped the younger man and supported him on the way up the stairs.

"Really, Minerva. It looks worse than it is. I can walk alone. And I certainly do not need Poppy fussing over me. I need to talk to the Headmaster."

She didn't release her hold on him.

"Nonsense. You are barely able to stand, let alone walk. I haven't seen you with such an extreme post-cruciatus reaction for quiet some time. And Albus will have to come down to the infirmary."

They had reached the door of the hospital wing.

"Not to mention the blood your are losing at the moment. You should be quiet lightheaded. Now quit squirming so much. Poppy! We need you out here!"

The matron came bustling out of her office.

"No need to yell, Minerva. I'm not deaf yet. What did y… Oh my! Severus. You look as if you had a meeting with the knight bus. Frontal at that. Come over here, dear. None of that frown of yours. No, not the scowl either, you know better than that. Oh, I swear, apart from Harry, you are the most accident prone person I know."

She went into her office again to get some of the more rare medical potions. Giving him a smoky red one she put the others on the nightstand beside the bed he had been deposited on.

"Drink this. I'll just mend those cuts and then do a scan of the other injuries. He-who-must-not-be-named must have been in a right mood today. Sit still, Severus. Go on Min, call Albus down, you can use the fireplace in my office."

"There is no need for that, ladies. Severus, my boy, I thought I made it clear that you should come to my office straight away? I wondered where you might be when a portrait alerted me of your current location."

Calm blue eyes seemed to have lost their twinkle and where looking at the man over half-moon-shaped glasses, narrowed nearly to slits.

"Really Albus. Even you can't think the information he gathers more important than his health. To make him go up to your office. He couldn't even stand upright on his own."

Poppy Pomfrey shook her head.

"You should know better. If you just waited here for him, everything would be easier."

She looked at the scanning for curses and injuries she had just done.

"Well, Severus. There are a few hairline fractures and a good deal of bruising. Apart from that everything was repaired and I already lifted the lingering curses."

As he made motions as if to get out of the bed she continued.

"But you will still stay for the night. You haven't been exposed to that many Cruciatus curses in along time."

The white haired old man sighed into his beard. Why did they all have to get into his way? He was 162 years old and he knew what was best. Why couldn't they understand that a delay could cost human lives? If they only did what he told them to do, everything would fall into place. These younglings always had to be so headstrong, it only ever got them into trouble.

"Now, Severus, what did you do to get such a reaction out of Tom? He must have had a reason if he punished you so? I want to hear every last detail of this meeting. What are you waiting for?"

Behind him the matron and the Transfiguration teacher exchanges incredulous looks. This was not normal behavior for Albus Dumbledore. Sure, he was obsessed with control, trying to save as many lives as he could. But even on a bad day he didn't sound so snappish. But lately, his whole personality seemed to have changed.

'Or is it maybe only reverting back to nature, escaping his mask? We need to keep a close eye on him. He has been getting more demeaning and careless.'

Minerva McGonagall sighed.

'Alastor and I have known for some time now that something is wrong. Terribly so. He has begun years ago to play us Order members against each other. I never understood why he left Harry with the Dursley's to begin with. But to cage him there like an animal? He should have received extra training long before Hogwarts with the bouts of accidental magic he did.'

She shook her head.

'I need to talk to Alastor. Playing the good little puppy for Albus is one thing. But something has to have happened today, to make this behavior occur. He is treating Severus like dirt. I wonder if he has ever treated him differently. I also never understood why the Marauders weren't punished worse for what they did to him.'

She caught the eyes of the matron and indicated for her to keep an eye on the Headmaster and her patient. Then she unceremoniously left the infirmary and went back to her quarters. This was exactly why she had waited for her younger colleague in the hall. She pulled a small package wrapped in cloth out of her robe pocket as soon as she entered the small room in her quarters that didn't have a portrait or mirror and threw up a privacy charm. She pulled the cloth free of the small handheld mirror.

"Alastor. Alastor, answer me."

The voice of the grizzled old auror came out of the mirror as his faces outline was revealed. "Yes, Minerva? What has you in such a state? Has anything happened?"

"Oh some thing happened, all right. Albus happened. He had the audacity to scold Severus for not coming directly to his office for a report after the Deatheater meeting. The lad was shaking in his boots from exposure to Cruciatus when I found him at the entrance. You should have heard him. 'What did you do that Tom punished you so hard? I want to hear every last detail.' Can you believe that man? There was a time I thought he could never do anything wrong. But after the last few decades… I think we will have to do something and soon. Did anything unusual happen today? His behavior was rather odd."

Alastor Moody's face had grown dark while listening to the Transfigurations teacher.

"Yes. It might have been my fault. It was about Harry. The lad went grocery shopping this morning, of his own free will and to be able to get edible food in good quantity, I might add. Actually asked me to come along. The muggle supermarket we went to was inside the wards, but as soon as Albus heard about it, he went on and on how Harry had broken his promise to stay inside the house and other crap. Molly was about to go on a rampage and I asked him if he had asked Harry to stay inside the house or inside the wards. We had talked about that shortly, you know. The more I see of the lad, the more I like him. He is absolutely nothing like his father in personality, even if there might be some mischief buried deep under. Not that I didn't like James, mind you. Keep an eye on Albus. He seems to act worse every time I see him and is likely to go off the deep end anytime soon. He is almost nothing like my old friend anymore. The Albus I remember was good natured and couldn't harm an innocent or subordinate, even if he had a ferocious temper when roused. His actions of late worry me a great deal. And the other Order members seem to follow him like mindless sheep, apart from a few special ones. Tomorrow after the Order meeting I'll talk to some of them. We need to be prepared if Albus cracks. I wonder if it is only the pressure, his obsession or something else entirely. We'll talk then, Minerva. Remember, constant…"

"… vigilance, I know, Alastor. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Sighing she wrapped the mirror again.

'It is as if he is trying to make Harry into a mindless puppet. Thank Merlin the lad is a bit more stubborn than Albus expected. Now what to do about Severus. This charade can't go on too much longer, it would break him entirely. But Albus has his claws in him and deep at that. If only he could let go of all that guilt. I thank Merlin everyday that Albus doesn't know that he is my half-sisters child. Otherwise he would never allow us near each other.'

She left the chamber and took a long look around her quarters. Soon she was on her way to the infirmary again. Severus was sleeping in his bed and Poppy was in her office. She knocked shortly before she entered.

"Poppy. How did it go?"

"As well as can be expected, I think. Albus behave rather like a vulture. Sometimes… even Fawkes isn't found in his company very often lately. Severus' report was interesting. It left Albus in a mood, though. Worse than before. I swear, he was only a hairs breadth away from cursing the poor boy. I don't understand why, really. If anything he should have been happy. It was like this…"

flashback

"He was in a very odd mood when he called us together. He even cursed that blasted snake of his for not getting out of his way fast enough. He never cursed Nagini before. It is unheard of. The anger he displayed was expressed in two bouts of Cruciatus for all of us without reason. He has had Lucius searching for some ancient texts on Black Magic and some powerful artifacts. Lucius didn't have any luck with the artifacts and only vague leads on the books. He was given to us to play with – after casting crucio on him, naturally. He wasn't satisfied with Lucius suffering at our hands and decided to teach us how to do it the right way."

Severus had to sip a bit of water to moisten his parched throat. He hadn't screamed like today in a long time.

"Well, get on with it. I don't have all day, boy."

The Headmaster was rather impatient. He needed information, not useless accounts of the Dark Lords temper tantrums. Even if it was good to hear that all those misguided people were punished extensively for their transgressions.

"After he had ranted a while, it came out that he had felt the most powerful of the books being destroyed. You know that those books are rarities, there is only one single copy in existence for each book. They were deemed indestructible by all but the most powerful magical beings, because they are so twisted in their nature that they resist all but the most holy magic and even if you know the right ritual you need an incredible amount of power to get through the protection around them. We can thank all the stars that he didn't get his hands on them. He couldn't locate them correctly, even if he can feel them and all but the minor ones seem to have vanished off of the market. He was furious that the most powerful book in Britain was permanently taken out of his reach. Not even Potters escapades have ever raised his temper this way."

Another sip. His throat felt as if it would crack open soon. In the background he found Poppy hovering with a sour look on her face. Directed at the Headmaster. Interesting.

"Would you try to concentrate, Severus. I'm not here to waste my time watching you drink water. Poppy can give you a voice restorative after we're finished, if that is necessary."

He drummed his finger on the nightstand. Nothing happened. He narrowed his eyes, fury burning in them, and grabbed the Slytherin Head of house by his collar, shaking him like mad.

"Do I have to repeat myself? The meeting, boy."

A gasp was heard behind him and he remembered belatedly that he wasn't in his office and they weren't alone.

"Albus! Release him this instant! How can he tell you what you need to know if you don't let him. This behavior is inexcusable." The matron separated him from the Potions Master and pushed him back into his chair.

"If you want to throw a tantrum, Albus, you are welcome to leave. Otherwise, mind your manners."

Severus Snape was shocked. Never before had the Headmaster treated him like this. He felt, as if he was dealing with a totally different person. He had never been so derogatory and violating – or had he?

"The Dark Lord wasn't too happy about the purging of the knowledge from this world. When Avery told him that there were problems with the recruiting of the werewolves and vampires as well as the giants and that the centaurs had refused him completely, he lost it. I thankfully escaped most of the curses he threw at us, but more than half of our numbers were unconscious after that. I've never seen anything like this display of magic, not even in your duel with him, sir. Afterwards he asked the remaining few of us about a shift in the ambient magic he had felt this morning, well – more like noon. He seemed frightened by it, if I read him correctly. But no one had felt anything and the five Deatheaters he had sent to investigate returned around that time. They hadn't found even one tiny bit of information. I think, Headmaster, you can imagine how well that went over with him. As he was satisfied with the potions and information I brought I got of rather lightly. It seems, as if there is a new player out there, sir. Powerful and allied to the light."

end flashback

The matron shook her head.

"Albus was fuming when he left. He mumbled something about everyone interfering with his plans and how he knew best and why they couldn't just let him handle everything. If anything, I think, he managed to shock Severus. He thought it was rather good news that something was able to shake You-know-who like this and we might have a powerful new ally. I put him to sleep afterwards. Albus was rather rattled, I think. Something out of his control getting in You-know-who's way. He immediately tried to put it off as another Dark Lord rising. It gets worse, Minnie. Albus behavior, I mean."

The deputy Headmistress nodded sadly.

"I know, Poppy. I talked to Alastor and he told me that Albus might soon not longer be acceptable as head of the Order or Hogwarts. Well – not in so many words or clear-cut, but… The Order seems bent on following him into the abyss. So many people in and outside of the Order look at him with awe. They think, that just because he is Albus Dumbledore, he has to be right. The more questionable of his decisions are waved away. They look at him as if he were a second Merlin. And he uses it against them. We were not much different, Poppy. The next generations are the same, apart from the majority of the Slytherins. And they don't really know him, they get an anti-Dumbledore image from their parents. I just don't know were it will end, Poppy. Sometimes I feel really guilty because I doubt him, you know? But I have been disillusioned a while ago."

"Yes, I know, Minnie. Looking at everything now, I'm rather glad we didn't talk to him about the changes or anything else he does. At the moment he trusts us to follow his every directive and we can keep an eye on him. We can't do anything about his deeds, though, rather than try and counteract them before they occur. It gets tiring, Min. I'm just happy Alastor is with us in this."

"As am I, Poppy. I talked to Dippets portrait, you know. It seems there are spells on all of the portraits in the office, barring them from spilling secrets to anyone. Dippet told me about a very interesting fact Albus hasn't shared with us. After the ministry-incident Harry was up there with him. It seems, Albus knew the wording of the prophecy and told Harry. The portraits couldn't hear anything, but the lad destroyed a good part of the office because of whatever Albus told him. Harry is weary, it seems. He was never one to do as told just because it was told by an adult. I wonder how soon we can get him out of that house. It can't be good for him to be away from his friends and Remus now. Not that Headquarters would be any better. I just hope Harry is okay. Severus is on guard in a few days. Hopefully he won't antagonize Harry. That could get really ugly. It's a shame he only sees James in Harry and never Lily."

She sighed and stood up.

"It's late. We should get some sleep, Poppy. I have a feeling we will need our energy in the days to come. Good night."

"Good night, Min. Sleep well."

The matron looked after her friend for some time, before checking her charge and going to bed herself.

The next morning dawned bright and sunny, and Harry decided, after letting his past self out of the back-door, to do a bit about the remodeling and furniture on the ground floor. If Moody looked now, he would know something wasn't right. His relatives absence could be explained – sometimes, that is. A nearly empty house could not. Had the ex-auror memorized the layout? Hopefully not. But in the end, everything would come out despite his precautions, he knew that.

He would need some of the books he bought yesterday. A doubtful look at his new trunk later he entered it. To just go careening through the books he bought would be foolhardy. Better to sort them out from the beginning. He collected everything he would need in the storeroom and put it into his backpack. As he entered the library something he hadn't noticed before struck him. He could see in his trunk, it was as bright as daylight in here. Thankfully. He took the boxes and bookcases out of his backpack and enlarged the boxes, stacking them in one corner. In the trunk manual he found the appropriate charm to further enlarge the room, which he promptly did. Then he enlarged the bookcases he got in the family vault.

He had to enlarge the room another two times, because first he couldn't fit all the cases and then he remembered that he would need to make new ones for the rest of his books. When he had all the bookcases against the walls he noticed the portal wasn't in sight. He sighed and began to relocate the cases until he found it. It was in one of the long walls and he promptly removed all bookcases from that wall. A sudden idea had struck. He had found the catalogue and the manual while placing and fixing all but one of the bookcases with a sticking charm to the walls. After leafing through the manual Harry stepped towards the last case and touched it with his wand.

"Duplexus bookcase."

A new case materialized next to him and he repeated the process several times. Most of the cases were put into aisles and stuck to the floor, their backs facing each other and a label 'new books' was put on them. Setting the wards to accept new books was the last step.

Having done just that Harry walked over to the boxes and began to unpack them magically. It was easier that way. He directed the books towards the new cases in no particular order. First the load from 'Flourish and Blotts', then the ones from 'Ciels'. He began a new case for the later, labeled accordingly. After that he changed the wards back to normal. Then he walked towards the free wall and snatched the catalogue up. He found the section for new books that had been created as he labeled the cases and changed 'new case 1' to 'Transfiguration' and tapped it decisively with his wand, to be sorted from beginner over average to advanced (the wards provided the author, title and a summary) and by author. Harry did that for all the normal new cases, the books from 'Ciel' could wait a while longer. In the back of the library books were flying from one case to another and sometimes to a third and fourth, until each had found its place in Harry's system.

Harry put the catalogue into the nearest case and walked over to the back of the room, to find the books on remodeling houses and decorating. As he went back to the portal to go and get some samples from the wooden planks he took a look a several cases still located in the middle of the room. They were filled with muggle books and had been left on purpose. Those would make up the library in the basement of Nr. 4 Privet Drive. The spells for the creation of permanent selective portals was found in the trunk manual, so the connection of both libraries should be easy.

He arrived in the same spot outside that he had left from. It had taken him a bit more than an hour to partially organize the books. He collected his lists and plans for the remodeling of the house. Now Harry was on his way downstairs, to finally bend the interior of his house to his wishes. The strained normalcy his relatives had tried to achieve would have to go. He laughed delightedly. It would finally be his home not just a place of residence where he wasn't even tolerated. He skipped down the stairs, jumping the last few and entered the livingroom. Walking over to the window he scanned the drive and finally saw Arthur Weasley under an invisibility cloak.

'Huh. Shouldn't he be working? Oh, right. It is Saturday. Well, at least he isn't looking in here. But I really wonder why nobody noticed the missing curtains and furniture. But that just shows that they are only interested in a weapon and not in me personally. Their loss.'

He stepped into the shadow besides the window as to be invisible to any person staring in through the window. Then Harry sat down on the floor and placed the books, papers and wood samples beside him, but took a hold of the remodeling book and began to read. At first he had wanted to cut through everything he didn't need, but decided it was better to just read the whole thing. That would ward of any mistakes out of missing knowledge. The better he understood the whole process, the easier he would be able to convert it. The fist step seemed to be to settle on a basic design for a room, like he had with his trunk. He knew he wanted things a bit different from normal English design, but he didn't want a purely Asian design either.

'What to do? I know. I'll go with the flow. Just take everything that feels good and everything I like, mix it together into my style and decorate accordingly. First to do that scan of the foundation, then to change the floor into hardwood floor. Easy to care for and to clean. With the right charms I get it to be self-cleaning and impervious to scratches. There are special spells for such changes to make them permanent and put the basis under as not to get creaking floor boards.'

He looked back at the book.

There are different spells for different kinds of wood. To make it easier, you van just put a sample of wood in the middle of the room you want to change and choose the general spell. In that case you have to cast from outside of the room and there should not be any other things left on the floor in the room you seek to change. The incantation is 'Tellus mutare argumentum lignum dato'. To finalize the spell you need to speak the incantation 'Cautus' and protect it with a password. A normal 'finite incantatem' will not revert the floor back now. You will need to use a reversal spell found at the end of the book together with the password.

'Sounds easy enough. If it goes wrong I can always change it back before I secure the changes.'

Harry took his papers and books as well as the wood samples and took them into the kitchen and left them on the table. He selected the beech wood, brought it into the livingroom and placed it on the floor in the middle of the room. Then he walked right back into the kitchen an aimed his wand at the livingroom floor.

"Tellus mutare argumentum lignum dato."

And then he watched in fascination as the spell shot out of his wand in form of a light brown light, towards the wood sample. The sample sank into the floor and his chosen wood began to spread to the corner of the room, floor board after floor board. When the change had finished he walked out into the livingroom again. Absolutely no creaks. Wonderful.

He fetched the trunk manual he had also brought and leafed through it for the dirt-repelling charm, an auto-cleaning charm and the impenetrable charm the carpenter had used on his trunk. He was sure that he had heard of them in school, but couldn't for the life of him remember them. There. Perfect. Casting them in quick succession, followed by a polishing charm he was impressed. Quickly he secured the changes with "Cautus livingroom." It was a dull password, but there was not a chance in hell that he could possibly forget it.

A tiny smirk graced Harry's features. The floor was perfect, not too light, not to dark. Now to fix the walls and ceiling, enlarge it and put the furniture in. The plaster on the walls was charmed in interchanging tones of light green, then fixed to look like a forest clearing with shrubbery and trees. The ceiling was charmed light blue in the same manner, with tree crowns sticking in from the sides and occasional clouds drifting about. Satisfied with his work he secured it. Later he would maybe go and paint some animals manually and add an illusion charm for people he didn't want to see this.

'This book is a treasure chest of ideas and tools. I didn't think it could be this easy to make such advanced changes. But that's magic for you. Always expect the unexpected. This is loads better than doing it by hand. No smelling paint, no splatters marking the floor, no waiting for the paint to dry.'

Harry enlarged the room until he deemed it well and did another check for the plumbing and the electric lines. Everything was just as it should be: normal and intact. He fetched a slightly darker wood sample, enlarged that too and began to cut out boards in various shapes.

'Who would have ever thought that all those chores for the Dursley's would have a positive side effect. I certainly know my way around paint and tools, as often as I had to repair and set up furniture.'

He knew precisely what he wanted, having a clear picture before his minds eye.

When Harry was finished he had several shelves for books, CDs and DVDs, as well as for a stereo and a small table for a TV. A low table was placed in the middle of the room, its round shape anchored to the floor by one massive leg in the middle. Magically enhanced to stabilize it, he had charmed it to be able to rotate and to be adjustable in height. The shelves he stuck on the wall with password protected charms. That hag that had been Sirius mother had had some rather good ideas after all, he decided.

Then he went to get some of Dudley's old clothes to make an armchair or two and a sofa. Upstairs he also took a look on one of the TVs and got the new stereo system out of his trunk. He repaired the TV and carried everything down, where he set the electronic items up and stuck the boxes high up on the wall, sinking them about halfway into the walls and hiding the cables totally inside them.

'The wonders of magic. A muggle couldn't have done that so completely without a good deal more of expenditure.'

A few wand waves later he had some extremely comfortable and durable pieces of furniture to laze about in, read, listen to music or watch TV. The covers were in a darker green than the walls, but still quiet light and the cushions he made were of a soft cream color.

Satisfied, Harry took a long look around, before he grabbed the remote control and switched on the TV. Switching quickly through the channels he found one that played music that he liked and left it on. Than he moved into the kitchen and selected other wood samples to do the corridor and entrance area, as well as the staircase. Humming silently to the music, he set to work. After that he decided to give the tiles in the kitchen a once over. Before enlarging it slightly to have more space to move around while cooking and more room fore the table and some comfortable chairs. He had to adjust his earlier transfigurations of the table and chairs a bit, but was finally happy with the outcome. As it was already past noon, he began to cook something for himself, rice and some vegetables and some hot sauce to go along worth it.

When it was ready, Harry was alerted by some unusual sounds. Outside he could hear the Order guard changing through the window he had opened before. The stumbling, cursing and scolding was unmistakable. After he heard the loud pop of Mr. Weasley apparating away, he decided to do something very idiotic, even in his own opinion. He opened the window fully and addressed his new guard.

"Hello Tonks. You are on guard duty again today? You can stop playing dead, you know. That human shaped indention in the grass is a dead giveaway. I will have to mow it out there in the front too, like I did yesterday in the back, for that to be deceiving. Would you maybe like something to eat? I heard you saying just now that you didn't get to eat something because of a delay in the ministry. I wanted to eat just now and there is more than enough to feed you and feed the Dursley's this evening. No answer? I can hear your stomach growling, you know? Just come into the back garden, I'll bring two plates and forks and we can talk a bit. The Dursley's aren't here at the moment. Aunt Petunia decided to visit one of the neighbors for a bit of gossip over tea and pie."

With that Harry closed the window and put some rice, vegetable and sauce on two plates. Grabbing the forks and calling himself a dunderhead over and over again he walked to the back-door, and switched the TV off on his way. But he wanted to really talk to Tonks. She was Sirius cousin and he wanted to know how she was really doing. He had the slight suspicion that she moped around quiet a bit, which caused her clumsiness to increase beyond the usual level. She was even more noisy than before, but less noticeable and easier on the eyes without al those vibrant colors. Hopefully he hadn't made the mistake of his life and given his situation completely away. On the other hand, he had seen that a distraction worked wonders yesterday. If he could fool Moody, he could fool anyone.

'I'm getting arrogant. That isn't good. It causes mistakes and just thinking about being only a little like Malfoy makes me sick.'

Upload date: 05-06-05