Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.
This story is/was posted on my other account, since I had trouble posting a new story on this account. Now that it is all worked out, I'm moving that story here, since that will be easier to manage all of my stories. The story is mostly the same as before, minus some mistakes or typos.
If there are still grammar or spelling mistakes, please let me know. English isn't my native language (plus I have dyslexia), so it is possible that there are still a few mistakes in my stories even though I edit them before I post them. I hope you'll enjoy the story.
The Change - chapter 6
Four days later, the Easter Holiday had started and Tonks and Harry were still in the infirmary. They had made a lot of progress physically and were able to sit in a chair as a change from only being able to lay in a bed. They were also able to eat on their own again and go to the toilet without assistance.
"Can you help me with something?" Harry asked Tonks, after looking up from the book he was reading.
Tonks was a little bit startled, as she had also been rereading a book from her auror training. She often like to reread a book to make sure she remembered everything that was important. "Of course" she quickly answered, as she knew that Harry wasn't one to ask for help that quickly.
"I would like to plan a little memorial for Sirius, I want to say goodbye in a proper way" Harry explained, a pained look on his face. It hurt to think about Sirius and how he had lost him, but he knew that Sirius would want him to keep on going. To do so, Harry wanted to make sure that he could say goodbye properly and to honor the life of his godfather.
"That's a good idea Harry, do you have something in mind?" Tonks questioned, liking the idea. It could give some closure to those who had been close to Sirius, herself included.
Harry nodded "There was something I did in primary school that I hope to recreate, to make lanterns and put them in the air"
"You mean such paper things with a candle in them?" Tonks asked, remembering she had seen such things once. Her father had taken herself and her mother on an outing to the Chinese neighborhood in London. They were celebrating their new year and paper lanterns were going up in the air.
"Yes, I just thought, since we can't burry him, we could say goodbye like that" Harry told her, fiddling a little with his sheets.
"When do you want to do this?"
"As soon as the both of us are able to stand up right for a few minutes" Harry grinned.
Tonks thought "Let's say Friday evening then? Still enough days to recover and prepare"
"Alright, we should contact professor Dumbledore to invite the Order and then Hermione and Ron. That should be everyone" Harry summed up, thinking about the people that meant something to his godfather, as he didn't want a public service, where most of the people didn't really know Sirius.
"Could I invite my parents?" Tonks asked. Her mother had kept in contact with Sirius, especially after he was disinherited by his parents. They were both the black sheep of the Black family. Tonks could even remember Sirius a little from when she was little. He would always play small pranks for her, to make her laugh.
Harry actually felt bad that he hadn't thought about them. He knew that Sirius was Tonks' cousin, so that meant Tonks' parents must have known Sirius as well. "Of course, they are family, sorry I didn't thought about them" he quickly rectified.
"Thanks and no problem, it's not like my family broadcast their connection with the Black family. If we ask Hermione when she comes by, she might be able to search a spell to make the lanterns" Tonks suggested, wanting to steer the conversation towards other topic.
"Good idea" Harry said with a smile and he was relieved that Tonks actually liked his idea. The fact that they were looking into a memorial service for Sirius already made him feel lighter. .
"Now you should study some more" Tonks told him with a wink.
"You do know I'm already past the OWL material" Harry repeated the argument he had used a few times with Tonks.
Tonks smiled "I know, but you should learn in advance, might come in handy"
Harry grinned "I already surpassed Hermione with the subject material and I've done multiple extra reading on certain subjects. If I continue like this I should be able to pass my NEWT's instead of my OWL in June"
"Exactly" Tonks simply stated, grinning from ear to ear, her hair even going through green and orange before settling back to her bubblegum pink.
This confused Harry a little, as he had no idea what Tonks was saying or what she meant."What do you mean?"
"I've been researching, there are a few possibilities for you so that you don't have to go back to your relatives. One is if you were emancipated, but you can only apply the moment you're sixteen, which means you would have to go back to your relatives for a month. I think we can both agree that that isn't a nice idea. Another would be to wait for Sirius' will to be read and hope he emancipated you, but that one only comes out three months after his death since they don't have a body, that would mean the second of July, but we don't know what is in his will. The third option is a law that those who are successful in getting at least four NEWT's are emancipated, no matter what age they have, with at least two exceeds expectations" Tonks informed him.
"So to be emancipated and not go back to the Dursleys, my best shot could be passing NEWT's?" Harry asked.
"I think so, I also think you should be able to make it. You will need a recommendation from one of you professors to make your NEWT's" Said Tonks, remembering all the information she had found when she was researching to option for Harry to not have to return to the Dursleys.
Harry had to think for a while. He was almost at the end of the sixth year program, so with some effort, he might be able to pass his NEWT's. "I'll try" Harry eventually answered.
"Great, I'll help if you want, I have leave of the ministry until the end of June"
Harry smiled "Well, Madam Pomfrey already told me I couldn't play quidditch for the rest of the year, even though Umbridge is gone and thus hopefully her ban for me to play quidditch. So I'll still have enough time and we might get a good defense professor, so then I won't have to continue the DA"
"I hope I'll be adequate" Tonks answered him with a wink. "But I can't be worse than Umbridge I guess"
"You're not kidding me?"
"No, because of my injuries, I have to rest and can't do active duty for a while, so Dumbledore asked me to take over the post for that time being. It will give me the advantage of being close so I can help you with your studying" Tonks pointed out.
"I'm almost looking forward to it, the year can only improve with everything that has happened" and a sad look appeared on his face, thinking about the horrible treatment he had gotten from the pink toad, but mostly about the fact that Sirius had died.
"You're right, now get studying again. I know you've already done all the Defense material and more, so focus on the others"
Harry nodded and took out the textbook for Charms in sixth year. When he was done reading a chapter, he disappeared in his mind practicing the spell he had just read about. Tonks looked at him in fascination for a little while before she reached for her book as well.
In the five days before he memorial, Harry finished the sixth and seventh year Charms theoretical material as well as that of Transfiguration book. He had already skimmed those books in the past, so it wasn't all new information to him. Since he was acquainted with the theoretical side of those subjects, he only had to practice some more before he felt ready to do the NEWT. He had even practiced most of the spells while lying in the infirmary, with Tonks correcting him.
"Alright now we'll start with Transfiguration, do you know when Ron and Hermione are coming?" Tonks asked on Thursday.
"They should be here in ten minutes" Harry answered bit confused.
"Perfect, gives you time to do some conjurations. So give me a teapot" she told him.
Harry thought for a moment, before he conjured a teapot non-verbally that looked like an elephant, that automatically poured tea.
"That looks great, how did you do it so detailed?" Tonks asked.
"I have a lot of imagination, it helped with the Dursleys" Harry replied, thinking back to how his imagination helped him to ignore the pain he was in from the injuries he had gotten in their 'care'.
Tonks merely nodded, knowing partially what he meant and not wanting to delve in those difficult subjects. "Now vanish the teapot"
With a flick of his wand, the teapot had disappeared. And with another one he had conjured another one, a simpler one with a flowery print and then he conjured two teacups and some tea. "I thought it would be nice to have some tea while practicing"
"Do you think you're able to conjure an entire tea tray at once?" questioned Tonks.
Harry thought for a moment before he started to make an even more complicated pattern with his wand and a tea tray appeared with teapot, teacups, a creamer for the milk and even a sugar bowl.
"Nicely done, now vanish it and conjure me a chair" Tonks instructed.
"Alright" he vanished the tea tray and instead started to conjure some chairs. He started with a simple chair but then started to conjure other chairs that had a lot of detail and that were all differently shaped.
"You really are a show off aren't you?" Tonks teased.
Harry shrugged "Sorry"
"Don't apologize, if you show this level of aptitude at conjuration, you should at least get an Exceeds Expectations"
Harry smiled and started vanishing the chairs, with some help from Tonks. They were just done when Ron and Hermione entered.
"Hey mate, how are you doing?" Ron asked.
"Better and better" Harry answered "Madam Pomfrey even let me go to the bathroom on my own, with the walking stick of course"
"How are you doing Tonks?" Hermione questioned.
"I'm also doing better, I'm just getting tired of the infirmary, but I'm partially lucky that Harry's here as well. Would you mind helping him for a while?"
"Sure, what can we do?" Hermione said.
"Just take a chair and sit down" Harry said with a little smirk visible, while he conjured two chairs for them.
Hermione was looking at him with astonishment, but both she and Ron took a seat.
"I'm going to practice some Human Transfiguration on you if you don't mind, it should just tickle and if something goes wrong, then Tonks can help you out" Harry explained.
"I trust you mate, go ahead" Ron told him.
Harry nodded and Tonks instructed "Why don't you make from Hermione a blond girl with blue eyes and change her skin tone a bit too"
Harry took a deep breath and started with the changes. To make an even bigger change, he shortened and straightened out Hermione's hair before he turned it blond. Then he gave her blue eyes and darkened her skin tone. To show off, he also changed some of her kin structure and scaled down her ears. Then he went on with Ron and changed his appearance to match Hermione's so they looked like siblings.
When he was done, both Hermione and Ron looked at each in shock, so Hermione voiced "What's wrong?"
Tonks didn't answer, but conjured a mirror and gave it to Hermione. She took it and looked in it, but didn't recognize herself.
"How did you learn all of this and when did you learn this?" Hermione asked, a little bit jealous.
"I've been learning and reading a lot Hermione, I thought you had noticed it" Harry merely replied.
"You're right, I'm just amazed by what you've been able to learn since Christmas break"
"I know Hermione" Harry sighted "I'm just really motivated to learn as much as I can"
Hermione nodded "You could probably take your NEWT's with what I've seen you do"
"That is what I'm planning to do. I wanted to tell you two when I got out of the infirmary, but I'll try to take my NEWT's at the end of the year" Harry informed them, the end of his sentence barely audible. He was a bit afraid for their reactions.
"Why would you do that mate? Are you mental?" Ron asked, already feeling the pressure of just his OWL's, so he had trouble understanding that Harry would willingly do those, plus NEWT's which he had to learn all on his own.
Harry had a wry smile "I just can't take losing Sirius and having to go back to the Dursleys. Tonks found a law that if I pass on four NEWT's, you can become emancipated"
"Is it really that bad Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, Hermione, they hate me, I just can't go back there, not after Sirius" Harry told flat out, not bothering to cover it up like he used to do if they posed questions.
Hermione let her head hang before she straightened herself out again "How can we help?"
"You can just understand that I'll be in my books a lot" Harry said "And I'm sorry, I would have preferred to have two more years with you two here…"
"Harry, if you say it's bad at your relatives, then we know it's really bad, we know you, you tend to understate things" Ron spoke.
"Just promise us that you'll write and try to see us on Hogsmeade weekends, then we'll help you prepare for June" Hermione told him with a smile.
"Thanks guys, you have no idea what that means for me… There is one thing you could do for me. Could you order the Herbology and Potions books for seventh year for me" Harry asked.
"Sure, we'll do that after we leave" Hermione assured him. "But could you now turn us back? It's strange having this conversation while Ron looks so differently."
Harry laughed and undid the transformation so that his friends looked like themselves again. They talked for another half an hour before Ron and Hermione left the infirmary.
On Friday, Madam Pomfrey accompanied Tonks and Harry towards the Black Lake, where the memorial for Sirius would be held. They needed a long time before they finally got to the lake, with multiple stops, but eventually they made it and took place in one of the chairs.
"Are you alright Harry?" Tonks asked him when she saw his expression.
"I don't know, it just hits me he's really gone" Harry explained. It was the first time that he went outside the confines of the infirmary and seeing the setting for the memorial, it made it all very real.
Tonks just nodded and squeezed his shoulder.
One by one, the members of the Order and some of Harry's friends from the DA arrived. When everybody had arrived, Harry got up from his chair with a lot of trouble and slowly made his way to the front.
He held himself to the little altar they had placed in the front and spoke "Thank you all for coming. It means a lot to me and I believe it would have meant a lot to Sirius too. I wanted to do this memorial, since we have no other way of saying goodbye… As most of you know, Sirius was my godfather and the only real father figure I have known in my life, even though it was only for two years. I wished he got to enjoy freedom after he escaped from Azkaban, sadly, he was only pardoned posthumously. I hope he's with my parents now, causing a lot of mischief over there"
When Harry was done speaking, he lighted the candle in a lantern and held it, until it started to go up in the air. After that, he made his way to his chair again.
Once by one, Sirius' friends and family said goodbye to him, saying something and lighting a lantern for him.
Albus was the last person to speak and after he had said his goodbyes, he said "I would like to invite you to the empty classroom on the first floor of the North wing, we have prepared some refreshments there.
Everybody started to get up to leave, but Madam Pomfrey held back Harry and Tonks.
"You'll be getting there another way, the trip here was already exhausting enough"
That moment, Albus came to them with Fawkes on his shoulder "Fawkes has kindly agreed to flash you two to the castle, since he can feel your exhaustion"
Harry smiled and held out his arm for Fawkes. To Albus' surprise, Fawkes went to sit on his arm, and Harry started to stroke him "Thank you Fawkes"
A soft note escaped from Fawkes as a reply. Eventually Albus said "If you would each hold a feather, then he'll bring you there"
Tonks and Harry did what was asked from them and a second later, they were engulfed with flames and arrived in the classroom they had set up. Fawkes dropped them off in one of the sofas that had been places before he flashed away again.
"That was different" Tonks remarked.
Harry smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes "It certainly was, thank you for helping me with the memorial and thank you for what you said, he would have appreciated it"
Tonks hugged him while she said "I'll miss him too…"
They sat there like that for a while, until they heard voices come over their way. Harry saw that a man and a woman he suspected to be Tonks' parents coming over their way.
"Hey mom" Tonks said while her mother stooped to give her daughter a hug.
"How are you doing?" her father asked her.
"I'm getting there… I would like you to meet Harry, Harry these are my parents Andromeda and Ted Tonks" Tonks introduced him.
"Nice to meet you ma'am, sir" Harry told them, shaking their hands.
"Nice to meet you too, but those titles aren't necessary, call me Andromeda Harry and I believe Ted would be preferred to be called by his name too" Andromeda expressed, which Ted confirmed with a nod of his head.
Harry nodded, not knowing what to say.
"It's good to see you both doing better, I heard from Nymphadora that you were even in a worse shape than her" Ted said.
"I was unconscious for three days after the fight" Harry told them honestly.
Ted gave a nod before Andromeda asked her daughter "You never wrote us what happened Nymphadora"
Tonks pointed to the opposing sofa so her parents would go and sit down before she explained "Harry and two of his friends were kidnapped by three death eaters because they wanted him to retrieve something from the ministry for Voldemort. They managed to get away briefly until reinforcement came, and Harry managed to stall until we arrived. A fight broke loose and I had the pleasure of fighting with Bella"
A shocked look, followed by anger appeared on Andromeda's face before Tonks continued "She fought with me and got a lucky shot throwing me against a wall. Unfortunately, you know Bella, she didn't leave it there… I was placed under the cruciatus curse before she saw Sirius and fired a shot at him. That is when I lost consciousness"
Harry looked at Tonks who nodded at him, so Harry finished the story "Sirius fell through the veil as a result of that spell. I managed to follow Bellatrix to the Atrium, but she was not match for me. She quickly had me under the cruciatus curse, only stopping so Voldemort could take over after he had arrived. A few curses later I passed out, Dumbledore fought him and after that Voldemort apparently tried to possess me after that, but it didn't work because of the Occlumency Tonks taught me"
Ted and Andromeda were silent for a long while before Andromeda said "I'm really sorry for my sister"
"You aren't at fault for your sister's deeds Andromeda" Harry tried to convince her. He knew as well as everybody that family could shape you, but you could still make your own choices. If he hadn't himself, he would have gone to Stonewall High, trying to fit in.
Andromeda gave him a small smile "I know Harry, it's just hard to know that family could do such thing"
"It aren't blood ties that makes one family" Harry pointed out, thinking about his family that wasn't related to him by blood.
"Sadly that is true, now on another note. Nymphadora, what was the news you needed to tell us?" Andromeda asked.
So Tonks started to explain she would be the DADA professor for the coming three months, while she was recovering.
In the end, Harry had talked with almost every Order member and the people that had shown up from the DA, before he and Tonks slowly made their way back to the infirmary. Once there, they both just needed to feel the softness of the bed to fall asleep, only to wake up the next day.
During the last week of the vacation, Harry was still confined to the infirmary, while Tonks could have left the Thursday of the second week, but she had stayed to keep Harry company and also since she didn't have anything else to do.
On Sunday, Harry got to leave the infirmary, so he made his way to the Gryffindor Tower. He was still slow and he also needed to use a cane to support him a bit, but he wasn't exhausted anymore after a few meters.