When Harry walked into the kitchen the next morning, the first thing he noticed was that Tonks' hair was surprisingly dull and her eyes held a weariness that betrayed recent tears, and all energy appeared to be drained from her.
"Is everything alright?" he asked concernedly.
"Oh, Harry," she quickly rubbed her eyes as she looked up, "yeah, it's a little personal issue."
"Can I help?"
"No, thanks though," she gave him a half smile, "I think a hot shower should do me some good."
"Don't use up the hot water," he teased, trying to lighten the mood.
Tonks forced a chuckle as she walked out, though slowly and without her usual impishness.
Harry set about making his breakfast as he heard the water running what seemed like an absurd amount of time, he heard the sound of the water change from the bathtub facet to the shower head. As Harry sat at the table, he tried not to imagine Tonks in the shower, lathering her pale skin with soap, as the water poured down on her body.
He jerked his eyes up away from his bowl. Don't think about Tonks like that. He scolded himself, Yes, she's pretty, yes, she's been teasing me since she got here, but it's too bloody weird! Think of something: think of Quidditch. A few minutes of Seeker tactics and flight maneuvers, and Harry got his blood flowing properly his breakfast, he ran up the stairs to his was closing the door to her room as he reached the top of the stairs, wrapped only in a towel with a second one around her head, she said just as the door closed, "no peeking, Potter," her voice sounding livelier than earlier in the morning, but her hair that was peaking out form her towel, was still the dull mousey shook his head and continued to his plopped down on his bed and stared up at the let his mind wander, thinking of ways to spend his had guessed that Tonks would want to continue re-decorating the house but given her demeanor this morning he doubted that she would be pro-active. His musings were interrupted by a tapping. Hedwig was waiting on the window sill with a letter tied to her leg. He opened his window to the snowy owl. She stood by her cage dutifully holding her letter to him. Harry took the letter then put the bird in her cage, gave her a treat and stroked her feathers gently. Looking down at the letter, he recognized Hermione's script. Addressing him in blue, ball-point pen ink.
Dear Harry,
It's about time that you write to me! I have been worried sick all summer. I wanted to write you at least three times, but Ronald convinced me that you just needed your space. I'm not surprised that you inherited Grimmauld Place, Sirius saw you as his son, so of course you were his heir, who else would it be? Well maybe Tonks, I guess being as she is his cousin, but I'm digressing. Have you freed Kreacher yet? You really shouldn't be keeping him as a slave, Harry.
Living with Lupin should be interesting. He's such an intelligent man, I'm sure you will learn a lot just by being around him. Maybe he can help you with material for the D.A. just think about all the ideas he might have. How do you handle full moons? Does he transform in the house?
How are you doing with everything? Your letter was pretty brief. I know that there is more going on than you are letting on, and it's just not healthy for you to bottle up your emotions, Harry, don't keep me and Ron in the dark again. We are your friends and want to help.
Do you think Lupin will let us come stay the rest of the summer with you at Grimmauld Place? Or maybe you could stay at the Burrow for a while, Merlin knows that you'll go mad cooped up in Grimmauld Place all summer, that place is so gloomy.
Take care, Harry, and write back soon!
Hermione.
Harry put down the letter with a sigh, leave it to Hermione to complain that he wasn't opening up enough about his emotional state. Of course, her letter was just one long string of questions, most of which he either did not have an answer or did not want to answer. He placed the letter on his desk and rubbed the corner of this eyes with this thumb and forefinger. He realized he had not thought of Kreacher since he took over as the Elf's master. He had been quite content to not deal with the lecherous creature. Hermione would never let up about House Elves, she truly had taken up their cause as her own, and there was no way anyone would change her mind. Harry knew he could never free Kreacher while the war was raging; the elf knew too much about the Order, nor did he particularly desire to have the maniacal imp around him. Yet, he realized the need to make sure that he was not committing himself into Bellatrix or the Malfoy's service.
"Kreacher," Harry commanded into the air. There was a crack and the hideous, bald head and pointy ears of the Black family's House Elf appeared at Harry's feet.
"Master summoned, Kreacher?" the small elf grumbled.
"Yes, Kreacher, I did," Harry paused not sure what to say.
"Kreacher does not wish to be here."
"That doesn't matter, Kreacher, I'm you master, not Bellatrix or Narcissa, so I expect you to be here, not with them, understood."
Kreacher scowled at Harry, obviously trying to find a way around what he just said. Harry quickly put the kibosh on his schemes by adding, "in fact, Kreacher, you are not allowed to see, or speak to either the Lestrange's or the Malfoys."
Kreacher was seething at Harry's order, Harry was instantly convinced that if Kreacher was not magically prohibited from doing so, he would murder Harry in his sleep at the first opportunity. Harry quickly decided that he was done dealing with the wretched elf, "now go clean the attic or something."
The elf was gone with a crack, all too happy to leave Harry's presence. Harry sighed, he would need to think of a more permanent solution to the Kreacher issue, but for now this would do. He thought, not for the first time since Sirius' death, that the best thing to do might be granting the elf's wish and hang his head on the wall with the others of his family. He stroked Hedwig as he pondered the different ways to handle Kreacher starting with Hermione's request for emancipation all the way to drowning the elf in a bucket of Troll urine, still not coming up with an actual solution.
CRASH!
"FILTHY HALF-BREED FREAK! HOW DARE YOU DISGRACE MY FAMILY'S NAME AND HOUSE!"
Harry ran down the stairs.
"Oh, shut up, you Old Hag!" Tonks yelled back, picking herself up off the floor. Pulling the curtains closed, Harry looked over to Tonks. Her hair had changed back to purple, but it was not the vibrant shade she typically sported. He reached down and helped her stand up.
"Thanks, Harry,"
"No problem." Harry looked at the troll leg umbrella stand over which Tonks had tripped again, "do you want to get rid of that?"
"It's your house, Potter, I'm not going to tell you what to do with your things," she paused, "although it doesn't really fit the new look we're going for."
"Out it goes then," Harry picked up the stand, "it's actually heavier than I thought."
"Don't look at me to help lift it. I mean look at this body, sure it's sexy, but I'm small. I'm not really cut out for heavy lifting." Tonks put a hand on Harry's arm and lowered her voice to a husky tone, "but you, big boy, have lots of muscles."
"Ug!" Harry groaned as Tonks broke into peals of laughter.
"Alright, Harry, start a pile in the parlour of things to get rid of."
The rest of the day was spent removing items, from rooms and throwing them onto the pile. They left any of the possibly cursed items still in the house or anything magically stuck to the walls alone. By evening, the pile consisted of the Troll leg umbrella stand, four cabinets and all of their contents, two mouth eaten chairs, and five floor rugs.
"Want to go shopping tomorrow, Tonks?"
"Doth my ears deceive me? You want to go shopping?"
"I just don't want to have a big empty house."
"Aha, you liked shopping with me."
"No. I just–"
"You didn't like shopping with me? Is there someone you'd rather be shopping with?"
"No, Tonks it's not that, I want to go shopping to get new furniture. That's it, a quick trip into muggle London."
"Oh, Harry, didn't you learn last time? Shopping is never quick, especially with a woman." Tonks jumped up from her chair, stumbling as she did so, "on that note, I'm going to bed. Gotta be well rested for our adventure."
Ye Ol' Author's Note: Dear readers, sorry for the delayed in posting this chapter, I struggled finding an inspiration and settled for a bit of a filler I hope you enjoy it. I'll try to be more regular in future updates and make greater progress in the plot line. Until then, read on!