Chapter 2

A Change in Plans

An awkward silence hung over the breakfast table as Harry and Tonks uncomfortably ate their food amongst the Weasleys and Hermione. Harry had the uneasy feeling that eyes were on him as he stuffed another forkful of pancakes into his mouth. He couldn't help but be thankful that Fred and George were still staying in the small apartment at their shop, knowing that if they'd been at the table he would have never heard the end of this misunderstanding. Because that's all it was, a misunderstanding. So now that everyone had grasped that concept, why was everything still so tense?

Mrs. Weasley suddenly cleared her throat and all heads turned toward her immediately. "I think I forgot to mention that Remus is coming by later today," she stated simply before standing up and clearing her plate with a flick of her wand.

Tonks seemed to tense up a bit at Mrs. Weasley's words. Everyone had discovered Tonks' feelings for Lupin the year before after she'd been pining over him for who knows how long, but Harry wasn't sure whether anything had come of it yet. All he knew was, she sure had seem much perkier these past few days than she had last year. So something must have changed.

He heard a chuckle from Ron's end of the table as he watched Tonks' reaction. Standing up, he cleaned up his plate and left the room. Less than a minute later, Hermione hastily got up and joined him, leaving Ginny, Tonks, and Harry remaining at the table.

"How are you, Harry?" Ginny asked, choosing to ignore Tonks for the moment.

"I'm alright. And you?" He sighed softly as he looked back at her. Though he'd been the one who initiated the break-up, it was hard to be around her. After all, the reason for their separation had nothing to do with a lack of feelings for her. In fact, it had been the opposite. He'd cared so much for her that he couldn't risk staying with her. And seeing her again now... it made it hard for him to stick to that decision.

"Good," she replied confidently. Ginny was never one to act weak or helpless. Even if she was feeling unhappy, she would never be one to show it.

"Tonks." Harry turned to the silent woman seated to his right as she devoured her food with excitement. Apparently something had happened with her and Lupin. "Would you help me work on some spells?" He still hadn't completely mastered non-speaking spells, and now that he no longer had Dumbledore to guide him through his search for the Horcruxes, he knew he'd need to be as strong as possible. Tonks was an auror. She could help him, couldn't she?

"Hm?" She looked up from her food that she had been so focused on consuming a moment ago. "Oh, yeah. Sure, Harry."

He could have sworn he caught a scowl from Ginny out of the corner of his eye, causing a slight tingling feeling to form within his chest. Turning toward her, he smiled weakly. He would have to spend as little time with Ginny as possible, or he knew he'd end up doing something he'd regret. "See you, Ginny." Taking his plate from the table, he washed it before heading outside to wait for Tonks.

- - - - -

The sun shone brightly overhead, its rays beating down on the two figures as they circled each other slowly. Harry's darkly colored hair seemed to be attracting a great deal of heat, as beads of perspiration had already begun to form on his forehead. They were soon wiped away by his sweaty palm before it returned its tight grip on his wand. He'd barely been able to evade Tonks' last stunning spell, and his inability to conjure any sort of spell without speaking was beginning to frustrate him. Grinding his teeth together, he tightened his grip on his wand – if that was even possible – and thought the spell over in his head again. "Stupefy" he thought forcefully, yet no spell came from his wand. How was he going to be able to kill the most powerful wizard in the world if he couldn't even manage one simple, non-speaking spell?

Tonks, on the other hand, appeared across from Harry to be completely calm. Not a drop of sweat could be found glistening on her forehead, and she stood with a loose and ready stance as she waited for his attack. A small smirk spread onto her face as no spells came. "Something wrong, Harry?" she teased, flicking her wand lightly as she sent another stunner his way. Once again, Harry barely managed to evade it.

If there was one thing that got on Harry's nerves though, it was being teased and ridiculed. Playful as Tonks' demeanor may have been, he felt a sudden tinge of anger at her words and wanted nothing more than to wipe that smirk off her face. "Well I am a little tired. I didn't really get much sleep last night," he said with a soft chuckle. As he had hoped, the smirk faded from her face and her cheeks flushed a light shade of pink. She seemed to be having difficulty determining whether he'd been making a joke, or whether he really hadn't gotten much sleep. "Stupefy." Harry thought once again with determination. This time a bolt of red light exploded from his wand, hurtling itself toward Tonks. To his dismay, she managed to avoid it narrowly, yet had obviously been hindered by the distraction his comment had caused her.

Now though, the smirk returned to her face, "Good. You're not quite as bad as I thought." Harry grumbled at the insult and took a few steps toward her. He suddenly became incredibly determined to win this duel, no matter what it took. The faint hint of anger within him had brewed into a stronger rage, as the fury and hatred towards Snape and Malfoy for Dumbledore's death had now simmered to the surface.

"Expelliarmus" To his amazement and content, Tonks' wand flew from her hand and rolled to a stop several feet away from both of them. His eyes made contact with hers before they both lunged at the wand, which Harry later realized was a stupid move when he should have just summoned the wand with his own. But it was too late for that now, and Tonks had just dove toward the wand, to which Harry's reaction was to pounce on top of her. He desperately reached toward her arm with his free hand, and pinned it to the ground just inches away from where her wand was resting.

Tonks managed to twist her head toward Harry as she wriggled beneath his weight. "Interesting tactics you're using there," she mumbled, trying to break her arm free from his grasp, but to no avail. Her comment seemed to quiet Harry's anger slightly, and he found his focus shifting now to Tonks' face, his thoughts no longer pertaining to the duel at all. Their close proximity and his newly discovered attraction for her made the situation much more difficult to handle, and the sweat on his brow was now due to nerves rather than frustration.

"Ok Harry, now this is beginning to get uncomfortable. I don't think I can feel my leg." Tonks groaned, doing her best to shift beneath his weight, but ended up lying with her back to the ground beneath him. Once Harry's gaze found hers, he wanted nothing more than to continue gazing into her dark, twinkling eyes, but of course, he was rudely interrupted by...

"Lupin!" Hearing footsteps, Harry had ungratefully torn his eyes away from Tonks, only to find her love interest standing a few feet away from them with his arms crossed and a puzzled look on his face. Quickly rolling off of Tonks, Harry abruptly got to his feet and brushed himself off.

"Remus?" Tonks gasped, sitting up once she was free of Harry's weight and turning to look at Lupin. "I... we were just... well... that must not have looked right. Why do I keep getting myself into these awkward positions?" She gave an exasperated sigh, then froze suddenly as she realized what she had just said. "I mean, I'm not always in these sort of positions." She was blushing madly by now, while Lupin merely laughed at her rambling.

"Interesting way of dueling." And that was all he said before outstretching a hand to help Tonks up. The two seemed to have forgotten that Harry was there, because they had soon wrapped themselves into a rather passionate kiss. Harry felt his stomach clench, and the grip on his wand tightened as he thought of how satisfying it would be right then to turn Lupin into a toad. Then again, that probably wouldn't be the best way to win Tonks over. Oh, what was he talking about? This crush was nothing but a small attraction he held for her; it wasn't serious enough to start thinking about an actual relationship. Even so, he wasn't too keen on watching his crush being snogged silly. Mumbling something about how they needed to get a room, he stalked silently back toward the house, hopeful that Ron or Hermione would be up to less intimate activities.

Harry was relieved to find Hermione curled up in front of the fireplace with a thick, leather bound book titled An In-Depth Guide on Defending Against the Dark Arts – a suiting choice considering the immense danger that currently plagued both the wizarding and muggle worlds. Though Harry had never shared Hermione's passion for books and the knowledge they contained, he had to admit that she always managed to draw out relevant information from them, no matter what was going on at the time.

"Where's Ron?" Harry asked, restraining himself from asking about Ginny's whereabouts.

"Well," she huffed as she stuffed a bookmark into the book and slammed it shut, "After he ranted on about how I read so much that it's unhealthy – which is absolutely untrue – he went up to his room claiming he had better things to do than join me. Why can't he realize that these spells are key to our survival with.. you-know-whos return? I'm not always going to be here to whisper the answers to him like I do in school." Crossing her arms, she furrowed her brows in irritation before she picked up her book and returned to her reading.

As much as Harry knew that Hermione was right, he wasn't going to lecture Ron on the matter when he knew he himself was no better. With a slight shrug of his shoulder, he backed out of the room in silence and swiftly ascended the stairs to Ron's room. Thankfully his awkward encounter with Hermione had wiped the thoughts of Tonks and Lupin's snog session from his mind, and as he approached Ron's room all he thought of was how he was really in the mood for a game of chess.

- - - - -

The rest of the day consisted of several games of chess with Ron – in which he lost horribly – as well as lecturing from Hermione about common mistakes made by people trying to protect themselves from Death Eaters. Ginny joined them later on, challenging Ron to a game of chess that was quite exciting to watch and surprisingly ended in Ron's loss. Of course, he immediately demanded a rematch, which nearly lasted them until dinnertime. To Ron's relief he won, a thankful reminder that there was something he was good at.

"Kids!" came a shrill voice from the floor below them, "Dinner is ready!"

Ron hastily put his chess set away, not wanting to face the wrath of his mother should they let the food get cold. Harry got up from the spot he'd been sitting on against the wall and joined Hermione and Ginny as they descended the stairs to the kitchen, followed by Ron.

When they arrived at the table, Mrs. Weasley was seated at one end of the cramped table while Lupin and Tonks sat next to each other at the other. Harry held back a scowl as he took the empty seat besides Tonks. Ginny sat on his other side while Ron and Hermione took their places across from him.

Within a minute, everyone was settled and serving themselves food. As Harry dumped a heap of mashed potatoes onto his plate, he couldn't help but steal a glance toward Lupin and Tonks as they exchanged a secretive whisper with each other. A rather intimate one, he observed reluctantly. He sighed inwardly as he realized that these feelings he had for Tonks – whatever they were – needed to be put aside not only because it was unrealistic, but also because he had much more important things to focus on. Horcruxes. And although he would be stuck with Tonks for the next week, he wasn't going to take her with him when he searched for them, would he? So his feelings for her would lead him to nothing but misery and failure. With that thought in mind, he watched her solumnly for a moment longer before returning his attention to his dinner plate. His potatoes had suddenly become much less appealing.

"Ah, Nymphadora, I've set up another bed if Harry's room if you want to keep a watch over him again tonight," Mrs. Weasley said after swallowing a mouthful of green beans.

Tonks winced at the sounding of her name but managed a nod. "Thanks Molly, that should work fine." Harry caught the gaze her and Lupin exchanged following her words, but he tried not to think any further of it. Though it was technically Tonks' duty to sleep in the same room as Harry in order to watch over him, it was apparent that her preference was in Lupin's room. Though Harry had convinced himself it was necessary to get over his attraction for Tonks, he wasn't ready to think about her sleeping with Lupin. In fact, crush or no crush, he didn't think he'd ever want to think about that. Especially not while he was at the dinner table.

"Would you mind if I went up to my room now?" he questioned, suddenly having lost his appetite.

Mrs. Weasley's brow furrowed in concern as she looked at his half-eaten plate. "Of course dear. Are you feeling alright?"

He nodded as he stood up. "Yeah I just... I'm not too hungry and I'm... I'm pretty tired." Avoiding the curious gazes he was getting from the group, he turned and hurried up the stairs to his room.

Brainstorming time. The absolute importance of finding and destroying the remaining horcruxes filled him with nerves, fear, and anger. Why was the burden placed on him? Because he'd survived Voldemort's killing curse as a baby without so much as a choice, he now was left to deal with destroying the many pieces of him? "I'm tired of bearing the responsibility..." he grumbled, kicking one of Hermione's books off of the bed in frustration. But that was beside the point. It was pointless complaining about the burden he carried when it had already been given to him. What he needed to figure out was how to deal with it.

Visit Godric's Hollow

He scribbled onto his parchment under the first bullet. Though he was unsure of what he expected to find there, he figured it was a start. Dumbledore had pieced together the various parts of Voldemort's life in order to find the Horcruxes so he'd follow suit. After all, Voldemort had killed his parents and given him his scar in Godric's Hollow, which would definitely be considered a key event in Voldemort's life. Every part of his life had to be examined. But where else could he look that Dumbledore hadn't already?

Who has he killed...

Doodling the words on the parchment, he thought the question over in his head. If he investigated the murders Voldemort had committed, it could lead him to the Horcruxes he made through them. Just as he had begun to list the names he knew of, he heard the doorknob turn.

"Wotcher Harry." Tonks smiled cheekily as she entered the room and made her way toward the second bed that Mrs. Weasley had put into the room. As she flopped onto the bed, she paused and frowned as she noticed Harry stuffing the quill and parchment under his bed.

"Hey Tonks," he mumbled, mustering a small smile as he tried to sound as normal as possible.

"Oh, don't give me that cheesy fake smile. What are you hiding?" She obviously knew him better than to wait for whatever lie he was going to come up with, and instead sped over to him and grabbed the parchment from beneath his bed. Of course she was being invasive, but she was his bodyguard, so it was all in a day's work. Plus there was the fact that she was nosy and enjoyed prying into other people's personal affairs. But ever since Harry stole whatever scrap of a social life she once had, she'd begun to consider his personal matters her own. "What is this, an itinerary?" She chuckled, then stopped abruptly. "Harry... what are you planning?"

Harry rolled his eyes and pondered the question. What was he planning? He hadn't told anyone besides Hermione and Ron about the Horcruxes, just as Dumbledore had advised. But now that he was gone, it was up to Harry to decide who should know about them, wasn't it? He trusted Tonks. How could he not? And although he felt like telling her about the Horcruxes would be a betrayal to Dumbledore, there was another part of him that was positive it was the right thing to do. Sitting there looking at her, it did feel like he should.

"If I tell you this... you have to swear to me you won't tell anyone about this..." He spoke slowly, each word deliberate and spoken forcefully. There was no way he was going to let his words turn into a misunderstanding. "Not even Lupin." He added seriously.

Tonks' cheeks flushed slightly, but she nodded firmly. "Harry, you can trust me."

- - - - -

It had taken over an hour for Harry to tell Tonks the whole story. Despite her shock, disbelief, or rage at certain points in the story, she managed to hold her tongue. He seemed to have gotten his point across: this wasn't to be taken lightly. By the time he finished, she'd managed to come up with several questions for him which he willingly answered. The last one, however, wasn't so simple.

"So you're going to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes... by yourself?" Her voice seemed almost timid, as if she feared that what she'd said was the truth. No, she knew that what she'd said was the truth. It wasn't a question, more of an – are you crazy? She wanted to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't let her as much as he wanted to. He wasn't letting her send an army of Order members with him on the mission or worse, to do it for him. Besides, she promised she wouldn't tell anyone, so she couldn't suggest such an idea.

"Well... yes. I just have to." He pressed his lips together tightly, trying to keep his emotions bottled up inside him. He couldn't let her know how scared he was. She couldn't know how much he feared death. How much he feared failure. There were too many people relying on him to count, and it seemed inevitable that he would fail them. On the brightside, at least he wouldn't live to see their disappointment.

"No, you DON'T. Stop trying to carry this whole burden when you don't have to."

"But I do!"

"Then why?"

Harry paused as he searched for an answer. "There... there isn't one answer I can give you. I just know... I just know I have to."

"Well guess what?" she spat, stomping over to her bed and climbing under the covers. "I know better, and I say I'm coming with you." Flicking her wand, the lights went out. As Harry sat there in disbelief, staring at the darkness where he knew Tonks lay, her voice returned. "You need me Harry... trust me. Now goodnight."

And they don't get much bossier than that. Trying to ignore the fact that his heart was pounding, Harry pulled his blanket over his body and stared up at the ceiling. Despite the importance of what Tonks had just declared, he couldn't help but bask in the fact that she'd shown him that she actually cared for him. The way she'd spoken, it didn't seem as if it would matter whether or not he decided he wanted her company. If he survived this ordeal, he was going to write a book. Maybe then people would understand how much easier it is to face Voldemort than to win an argument against the stubborn metamorphagus sleeping across from him.

"If you tell anyone... I'll kill you." He whispered, trying to hold on to an ounce of dignity after losing the battle with her.

He heard a soft giggle come from her bed. "Bring it on."

- - - - -

A/N: I thoroughly apologize for taking so long to update. It's been a busy summer but for those of you who are impatiently awaiting an update to my other story as well.. I promise I'm working on it now! I hope you enjoyed this second chapter, though I have to admit I did hurry through it in an attempt to get something posted.