While Tonks was busy upstairs looking for games for Harry and her to play, Harry was down in one of the lower rooms with Hermione as she went over the different lessons. "And this one from Defense was really tough," Hermione pointed to the question. "What spell would come from the motions of a half circle counterclockwise turn followed by a z formation and a jab." Despite the lesson plan having been made by the impostor Mad-Eye, it was still homework that the students would have to do, she knew she asked McGonagall.

"Bone Fragmentor, Ossum Divisarum," Harry numbly answered.

"How did you get that so quickly," Hermione said in amazement. "I had to check four different texts to find that answer."

"Tom used it on me, made sure I knew what would happen if it hit," Harry replied.

"Oh," Hermione pursed her lips as she realized that asking her friend about the dark arts would only remind him of the last few days. "How about we switch to herbology then?" she chuckled nervously.

"Whatever works for you Hermione," Harry slumped into the small table.

"None of that," Tonks said loudly as she stomped forward with a large box. "I found this upstairs." She slammed the wooden chest in between the teens. "Firesticks, Fountains and Fairies," she smirked. "I loved this game, we'd have huge tournies in the Hufflepuff Den back at Hogwarts."

"How do you play," Harry asked as he started to sit up, interested in anything not related to homework.

"It's easy, we'll just need a few more people," Nym smirked, she leaned over and gave Harry a light peck on the cheek. "I'll go see if the red headed terrors want to join." She disappeared back upstairs looking for the Weasley kids. She passed by Dudley on his way down the stairs as he slowly scanned the room before entering.

"Hey Dudley," Harry called out to his cousin. "We're going to play a game, want to join?"

"Me," Dudley pointed to his chest.

"No one else here by that name Dudders," Harry smirked. "Come on, at least me and Hermione have never played it, so you won't be the only one not knowing what you're doing."

"I dunno," he nervously replied unsure if he should get involved in any of the magical stuff. Taking a deep breath, he came over and sat next to Hermione. "What's it called?"

"Firesticks, Fountains and Fairies," Hermione said as she opened the box. "A game for all ages, three to three hundred. Made by Hamley's, interesting," Hermione said in confusion as that was a decidedly muggle company as far as she knew.

"Huh," Dudley commented as he looked in the box. "Looks, normal," he said as he picked up one of the pieces. "How do you play?" he asked.

"Well my fine fat friend," Fred said.

George chimed in, "It's quite simple my tough teen terror."

And it was not simple, the kids who didn't grow up in magical households had no idea how this game was played, it was a mess of dungeons and dragons, monopoly and parcheesi. "Uh so, my half-goblin banker," Harry mumbled. "Loses fourteen hit points to Hermione's ancient golem and I have to pass through Gringotts and pay a fee of thirteen galleons," he continued as he tried to comprehend the sequence of actions.

"Children, it's getting late," Molly called out from the kitchen.

"Oh thank Merlin," Harry said as he stood up with groan. "Well that was, a game," he smiled weakly as he looked at the board, his pieces had been utterly demolished once Hermione had started to figure out the rules.

"You are a natural," Tonks smirked at the brunette, tapping the box with her wand, which packed away all the pieces. "I think you might be a ringer down at the Friday FF&F that's done in Flourish and Blotts. If you'd like to join us?" she offered.

Hermione smiled at the compliment. "That sounds wonderful, I might take you up on that offer."

The group of young adults headed up the stairs to the higher floors of the old house. Harry and Nymphadora said their goodnights to the group and entered their room. "How am I this tired," Harry yawned as he stripped out of his clothes.

"You had a busy day," Tonks answered as she removed her robes and climbed into the bed.

Harry not a moment behind her got under the sheets and pulled Tonks close to his body. In seconds he was asleep, and Tonks could just smile as she watched his face and listen to his soft breathing. "He's so young," she whispered as she snuffed out the lights in the room. It took her a little bit longer to fall asleep than Harry, but she hadn't been potioned or had as much going on in the last few days as he did.

Much later in the night, down in the den, Sirius had Vernon and Petunia on a couch. "Okay Dursley, spill, what happened," Sirius demanded. "Why did you come back from your home in a panic and why did Harry look so damn pissed off?"

A few minutes later all but two occupants of Number 12 Grimmauld Place had been awoken by Sirius' angry shouting.

"What the bloody hell are you doing Padfoot," Remus shouted as he stormed into the parlor where Sirius was ranting and raving.

"Me?!" Sirius exclaimed. "I'm not the, they did, I swear if I had a wand then I'd actually be in Azkaban for murder this time."

"Patience, patience," Dumbledore said calmingly was he entering the room. "Sirius, it is very late, please, tell the rest of us why you have decided the entire building needed to be awoken," his voice carrying as he motioned showing that only Tonks and Harry weren't present.

"They bloody abused my godson," Sirius pointed accusingly at the Dursleys.

"They did what!" Minerva exclaimed as she pushed past the others in the room. "Petunia Evans, how could you, your own flesh and blood," she hissed. "Oh if Lily were alive to see, oh wait, she likely did see because Harry said the spirits of his parents were released from Voldemort's wand after their duel."

"Now hang on, hang on," Shacklebolt said as he pulled back the irate professor. "As much as we trust Sirius, we have not heard their side, no sense throwing accusations around and then not letting them defend themselves."

"Okay," Mad-Eye shrugged as he pulled out a couple of vials. "I got veritaserum right here, we can get answers from them easy enough."

"That's a controlled potion," Remus narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, I am in control and now I will potion people," Mad-Eye barked out a laugh. "I had been planning to dose Snape and the twins to get information out of them. But this should be just as fun."

Fred and George gulped in sync with each other before sharing a glance. "He's joking right?"

"Do we want to take that chance?"

"No, no I don't."

"Agree to not eat anything we didn't prepare ourselves?"

"Do you think that would really work?"

"Don't take away what little hope I have."

"Wait, you can't be serious about this, Professors," Hermione pleaded. "Is this really how we are going to go about getting answers?"

Dumbledore sighed. "No, there should be a better way to do this, but alas, I cannot think of one."

"Really," Ron said in amazement. "Can't think of any other way to find out what happened to Harry?!" he added forcefully. "Who is here, upstairs." He finished pointing at the ceiling.

"Oh right," Arthur snapped his fingers. "We could just ask him, yeah couldn't we."

"Good idea Ron," Ginny said before pausing. "That sounded wrong coming out of my mouth."

"Hey, I'm allowed good ideas every now and then," Ron rolled his eyes.

"Where is Harry, you'd think he'd have come down with the rest of us," Molly commented as she looked around and didn't see him or Nymphadora.

"Oh right, his room is soundproof, no noises in or out," Sirius smirked. "Didn't want anyone interrupting him if he and Tonksie decided to play hide the wand," he said proudly as he waggled his eyebrows.

"And not a good idea Ronald," Hermione said. "We've known Harry for four years, if he didn't say anything about abuse to us, his best friends, then he either was never abused or doesn't want to talk about it. We couldn't even make him if he didn't want to since he'd just avoid talking about it."

Mad-Eye coughed and waggled the vials of veritaserum in his hands.

Shacklebolt rolled his eyes before snatching those from the retired auror's hands. "Give me those," he said in annoyance. "These better not have been pilfered from the DMLE, Amelia would shove a Nimbus up your backside and mount you on the wall if you did."

"Of course not, they were purchased," Alister denied.

"That doesn't help, you can't buy this from a legal vendor," Shacklebolt hissed at the man.

"It was ages ago," Mad-Eye waved off the concern.

"You were going to use expired potions on people," Molly exclaimed.

"So they get a little stomach ache, it's perfectly fine," Moody started to talk before Sirius yelled.

"We are getting off topic, Dursley, did you or did you not, abuse Harry," he demanded to know.

"Yes," Vernon answered loudly. "Since you'd probably poison the food, I'll just come out with it now, we did," he said firmly.

"Why?" Albus asked, his tone weary and his face deflated. "Why would you do that?"

"Because he was magic," Vernon folded his arms. "You just dumped the boy on our doorstep in the middle of the night with no regard to our lives."

"Your lives," Sirius snarled at the couple. "Oh the poor muggles had to feed another kid, raise their own blood," he said sarcastically as he paced around the room.

"How would you like it to wake up one morning and find a child on your porch that you now have to raise?" Petunia asked as she looked around the room. "And then to find out that your sister had just been murdered that night, all through a letter. You coward," she said angrily as she glared at Dumbledore. "You couldn't have bothered to say it to my face, to look me in the eye as you passed the boy onto us."

"I didn't even know magic was real until the blasted boy teleported right out of his crib," Vernon grumbled. "I had no context to all of this, I thought I was going mad, until I told Petunia what I was seeing and she explained it to me. The amount of fires his magic started, he nearly killed Dudley," Vernon waved his arms dramatically.

"Wait, Harry almost killed me," Dudley asked his father.

"You should be too young to remember sweetie, but when you and Harry were playing one afternoon a toy he was playing with broke, and he cried and cried and cried," Petunia told the story. "The house shook like there was an earthquake."

"Wait I remember," Dudley answered. "Is that why you have that scar dad?"

"Yeah the boy lost control of his magic, all the glass in the house exploded, but it was when he started throwing things around the room that it began really dangerous, his magic grabbed a knife and had I not smacked it out of the air then it would have been stuck right through your gut," Vernon answered.

"We were not ready for a child with magic in our home," Petunia said exasperatedly. "I knew just enough to make all the wrong decisions, and I had no one to turn to, I couldn't get to that Alley or even find that bar anymore, so I couldn't go buy an owl to send any of you a letter and I didn't know where to find any of her friends," Petunia said as she sobbed, finally venting all the frustrations. "Not as if they'd talk to me, since you made it illegal to talk to people like me in the first place."

"We had nowhere to go for help and no one to turn to, did we overreact," Vernon spoke. "In hindsight, yes, very much, but we didn't know what to do and we were afraid."

As the Dursley adults finished their piece, the rest of the witches and wizards in the room who had previously been furious with the muggles started to understand that while what Vernon and Petunia did was reprehensible, they could see how much of a struggle it must have been. "He's not going back to your home," Molly said fully prepared to keep Harry at the Burrow rather than sending him back to Privet Drive.

"Deal, all those bastards who wanted him dead are dead, he's got no reason to stay with us anymore," Vernon agreed.

"Soon as all this legal situation is squared away and Amelia gets me my freedom, you'll sign a document granting me custody of Harry," Sirius demanded. "Then you all can get the hell out of my house and we'll pretend like we never met."

"Get me a pen and I'll sign it right now if you'd like," Petunia nodded. "Can we all go to bed now," she asked the room.

"Fine," McGonagall said as she stormed out of the room, followed by many of the others who felt their presence unnecessary.

The next morning when Harry and Tonks rolled out of bed and managed to make their way to the breakfast table they noticed that the adults were very tense, yet no one seemed to be able to look him in the eyes. "Did something happen last night?" Harry asked as he poured some syrup on his pancakes. He only received grunts and noncommittal answers as replies. Sighing he looked over to Ron who just gulped and looked at his plate of food. "So no one is going to tell me then?" he said dejectedly. "Which means it's about me," he said out loud as he worked through the problem. "Course, that means it can't be good or they wouldn't not talk to me."

"Ugh, will you pillocks just tell him already," Tonks said in annoyance as she really did not enjoy how they were treating Harry. "What more is going to be put on his shoulders that you don't think he's ready for?" she demanded to know.

"Harry, you've been abused," Hermione quickly spat out as she looked at Harry who seemed frozen upon hearing those words.

Slowly Harry's lips turned into a grin and he started to chuckle, before the only sound was Harry's loud laughter filling the room. "Oh, you, you, oh wow, that's bloody bril Hermione," he said as he wiped a stray tear from his eye. "I was worried for a second that it was something serious." Harry turned back to his meal and forked another bite of food into his mouth.

"It is serious Mr. Potter," McGonagall said as officially as she could. "What they did to you," her finger pointed at the Dursleys. "Was wrong." Her tone trying to convey as much caring as she could feel for the young man.

Slamming his fists on the table startling everyone at the outburst. "You think I don't know that!" Harry shouted at the top of his lungs. "You think I grew in a tiny cupboard under the stairs and thought that was normal, that it was okay?!" Harry snarled at his professor. "I knew it was bad, but there was nothing I could do about it. I knew how Petunia and Vernon loved Dudley and despised me was wrong," he said as he stabbed his finger in his relatives direction. "I knew that the way they used me as cheap labor, was wrong. I knew at eight BLOODY years old, that I had NO ONE who loved me, and you want to know what I did? I accepted it," Harry's voice turned harsh and thin. "I had no other choice, it was accept that this is wrong and I couldn't do anything about it or try, try, try, try and BLOODY try to get them to look at me with anything other than disgust and hatred. If I chose the other option, I'd have probably killed myself before I even got that fucking letter."

"So yes, I was abused," Harry slowly calmed himself down. "Yes I know they were awful people for doing it, and no I don't rightly give a rat's ass about it anymore, because despite everything, it made me who I am today, and the me now, is actually happy with what he has," Harry said as he stepped away from the table. "Nym, I'm going for a walk," he said to her as he left the room. "I'll be back for my meeting at noon," he said as the sound of a door slamming signaled that Harry had left the building.

"Merlin that was scary," Fred said to George as everyone started to pick at their plates.

"How can he be okay with all of that," Sirius quietly asked. "He didn't deserve any of it and he's, he's." he stammered trying to find the right words.

"Strong, that's what he is," Nymphadora answered for him. "Everything that he's been through, from the abuse, to fighting Voldemort over and over, the giant beasts, it made his strong enough to survive."

"So what do we do, you seem be about the only one who knows how to handle him these days," Dumbledore inquired.

"Let him come to you, he's so tired of everyone thinking he needs help," Nymphadora explained. "When he's ready, he'll talk, but don't be surprised if he doesn't want to talk about this, for him, this is the past, it's over, he doesn't have to deal with it anymore." After saying her piece she quickly went up stairs to throw some clothes on and to grab her cloak.

As Harry stalked through the neighborhood he was looking for anything to take his mind of his uncalled for outburst. "I was a stubborn fool, they were only asking because they were concerned. I shouldn't have exploded on them like that," Harry sighed as he found the pizza place from earlier. As he stepped in the cashier looked up from stacking new cups.

"Hey, welcome back," she said. "I was hoping you'd come back," she said as she pulled an envelope from under the counter. "Your grandpa really overpaid us, it was only twenty pounds and he gave us a fifty, it wouldn't seem right to take advantage of the elderly like that, so we put the rest in here for you.

"How'd you know it was me?" Harry asked as he took the envelope.

"Well your big sister was kind of a 'unique' individual," she giggled as she pointed to her hair, causing Harry to remember that Nymphadora typically wore bright colors as her hair.

"Yeah I guess you're right, but she's not my sister," Harry smiled.

"Cousin?" The cashier asked only for Harry to shake his head. "Friend? Coworker? Boss?" her guesses becoming more unsure.

"Girlfriend," Harry smirked, proud to say that word to someone.

"Really, darn." The cashier snapped her finger. "The hot ones are always taken."

"Sorry," Harry shrugged.

"Seems a bit old for you," the cashier questioned, giving Harry a look over.

"Hey you said it yourself, she's hot," Harry chuckled.

"Well I can't fault you there." the cashier snorted as she joined him in laughing. "So what can I do for you?" she said as she raised her notepad.

"Is advice on the menu?" Harry asked as he remembered why he was walking about.

Looking around at the empty parlor she waved to her boss in the back. "Buy a couple of drinks and I'll try," she smiled.

As the two sat in a booth. "So, girlfriend troubles?" she inquired.

"No, actually that's about the only thing going well right now, Nymphadora is amazing." Harry smiled. "Got some 'legal' trouble, family and friends are around a lot and it's just super busy and I kind of exploded on them earlier," Harry sighed as he tried to give what he could without cluing her into who he really was. "It wasn't even there fault, they only asked because they were worried about me."

"That's really tough," the cashier replied. "Honestly, the worst I got was a row with my mum about her finding some girlie mags under my bed when I was fourteen," she said. "But, what I did know was that no matter how mad she was at me, I was her daughter and she loved me. It took time, she wasn't all that comfortable when I brought my friends around."

"Dad was giddy as could be, knowing that he didn't have to worry about any boys sneaking over," she snorted back a laugh.

"What I'm trying to say is, they did that because they care about you, so don't hold that against them."

"You're right," Harry sighed as he listened to her advice. He took a sip of his drink as he looked at the clock. "Well I have an important meeting to get to in a couple of hours, so I should get back and let them know I'm okay, maybe apologize for yelling. Can I just get a some pizzas to take back, there's, Vernon, Ron, Fred," he started to count off all the people. "Jeez, seventeen of us, no eighteen," Harry added on as he remembered Creecher. "You know what better make that enough for twenty-five people," Harry said as he remembered that Arthur Weasley was at work and that there might be more people coming by later in the day.

"Wow," the cashier said. "That's gonna be like seven large pizzas."

"Here's this back and I got some extra to cover," Harry said as he passed another fifty pound note to the cashier. "Just keep whatever is left over, you really helped me out today."

"Hey boss, you need to make seven pies!" she called out to the back.

"Seven?! That little twerp is gonna eat seven of my pies," the boss scoffed.

"Nah it's for his family and friends," she called out. "He's got over two dozen people to feed."

"Two dozen," the boss laughed. "Now that, is a real Italian get together, course I'll do it," he said as he started tossing the dough around.

"Well that'll be a bit. So Nymphadora, that's a unique name," the cashier asked.

"She's a unique woman," Harry smiled. "I meant it, she's just about the best thing that's ever happened in my entire life, and the only thing I haven't managed to screw up yet. She's there for me, she cares, she, makes me feel loved," Harry said softly. "I need to do something special for her."

"Mmm, what does she like?" the cashier said as Harry looked at her confused. "What, I like girls and am a girl, I'm the perfect person to help you with this problem. So come on, I'll help you plan a great surprise for her. If it all goes well, maybe yo lucky," she winked.

Chuckling nervously Harry blushed and looked away for a moment. "Music and board games," Harry answered.

"Good, a concerts always an option, if she likes games, then you could always take her to the UKCAC it's on September thirtieth to October first, it's got all these nerdy comicbook guys and game people showing up."

"That's a good idea, maybe she'd like to go to that," Harry mused.

"What about her job, maybe surprise her at work?"

"I think I caused enough surprises at her work," Harry chuckled as he realized how insane the magical world must be going right now.

"Oh where's she work?"

"Aur-, um police officer," Harry corrected before he said a job that didn't exist in the non-magical world.

"Scandalous," the cashier squeal. "Does she have handcuffs?"

"Yeah," Harry answered.

"She ever use them on you?" the cashier asked seductively.

"No!" Harry sputtered as he answered.

"Maybe give her a reason to," the cashier said with a wink.

"Alright, stop harassing the poor boy," the boss said as he laid out the stack of boxes on the counter. "Get on out of here," he waved to the door.

"Thanks, and bye," Harry said as he headed out the door to go back to Grimmauld Place.

"Good bye Harry Potter," the cashier sighed as the door shut. "And good luck," she added on as she pulled out her copy of the Daily Prophet.

"So pizza then," Tonks said as she revealed herself by pulling off her invisibility cloak.

"Merlin," Harry shouted as he jumped away from Tonks, nearly toppling over as he carried the pizza boxes. "Don't do that Nym, you nearly scared the life out of me."

"Sorry," Nym apologized. "Wait, no I'm not, that was hilarious," she laughed loudly into the sky.

"You mind taking a few of these," Harry grunted as he adjusted the stack of boxes, with seven pizzas, plus a little weight from the boxes, it was about twenty pounds he was carrying in his arms.

"Fine, fine, it's the least I owe you for spooking you, and eavesdropping," Tonks said as she took the top three boxes.

"Thank you, wait?" Harry paused. "Eavesdropping? You were listening to my conversation?!" he exclaimed in shock.

"Yup," Nymphadora smirked

"Uh how much, exactly did you hear," Harry asked as he was already prepared for the worst.

"All of it," Nymphadora's lips parted into a large smile. "I didn't know you thought so highly of me."

"I do though," Harry replied. "What I said back there, about you being the best thing to happen to me, I meant it." Harry said as they walked along the sidewalk. "You know for a while magic was that, I found out I wasn't a freak, I had a place that I might belong, somewhere I could make friends and better life."

"You said was?" Nymphadora looked over at Harry.

"Yeah, then it became this new place, where I trained to just survive til the next year. The past always coming back, the constant threats," Harry explained why his attitude towards magic changed. "It was only just better than staying with the Dursleys. But you," Harry said as he closed his eyes. "You're different, the threats don't matter, the Dursleys don't matter. The only thing that matters is what I feel about you and what you feel about me."

'God damn, you sweet, lovable, idiot-boy,' Tonks swore to herself as she realized that she was genuinely falling for Harry. "Harry, that's beautiful," Tonks said.

"Those are just words, you're beautiful," Harry smirked, proud he had come up with a good line for once.

"You're such a softy," Nymphadora giggled as they walked up the steps of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

After shutting the door behind them, Harry called out he brought pizza with him, much to the confusion of most of those in the magical world who had no idea what pizza was, Harry set the food on the table and cleared his throat. "I want to say something," he called out to get everyone's attention. "I'm sorry. I know you only brought it up because you cared, I shouldn't have yelled at you all."

"Harry," Sirius said as he pulled his godson into a hug. "It's okay. Nothing's broken, we're here, you're here, it's going to be okay."

"Thanks Sirius," Harry said as he wrapped his arms around his godfather.

"What is this?" Fred asked as he sniffed the pizza.

"Really, you've never had pizza before?" Hermione said as she pulled a slice out of the box and took a bite.

"Oh thank Merlin," Remus happily shouted as he grabbed a box and took it over to the coffee table. He nearly wept as he took a bite of the cheesy Italian dish. "No offense Molly but if I had to keep eating stew after stew, I was going to lose it."

As the occupants started to enjoy their lunch, Nymphadora pulled Harry off to the side. "Hare, I just wanted to," Nymphadora said as she took a deep breath.

"Yeah?" Harry questioned.

"Close your eyes," Nymphadora requested.

"Sure," Harry said as he complied with what she wanted him to do.

Harry felt Nymphadora gently place her lips on his own. Slowly Harry's hands snaked up until they were resting on her back, holding her against him, deepening the kiss.

After a few seconds they pulled apart. "So, yeah," Nymphadora licked her lips. "That's for being so sweet."

"Wow," Harry said as he stared into Nymphadora's eyes. "I think I really like that."

Before they could continue further Sirius stuck his head around the corner. "Oh, well," he said as he say that the two were holding each other with flushed faces. "Sorry to intrude, but Cissy is going to be here in an hour and you need to get ready."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"You need to look like the Man-Who-Conquered, really show her your new position and attitude in life. Right now you kind of look like, slightly classy hobo," Sirius waggled his hand in the air.

"It's not that bad is it?" Harry replied as he pulled at his shirt.

"Harry, the only good looking thing on you is Tonks right now," Sirius said. "And that's not going to impress or intimidate Cissy, maybe arouse," He teased as he saw the pair blush. "Don't worry I got an old suit you can wear, you'd probably fit it with some adjustment and you'll clean up real nice." Sirius promised as he took Harry further upstairs to prepare for his meeting.

Meanwhile at the Ministry of Magic, officials were scrambling from department to department as they had all read the morning paper.

"Where is that report?"

"I need copies of any letter the Ministry has sent to Mr. Potter, five minutes ago."

"Who's that fellow who's children are friends with Mr. Potter, Wethersbee, Wimbly, oh toss."

About the only two people in the entire complex who weren't scrambling around was Madame Bones, who had all her ducks in a row and Arthur Weasley ,who had expected the chaos and was sitting at his desk eating a sandwich watching everyone else panic.

"I am the Undersecretary to the Minister," Dolores shouted. "You will all cease this nonsense and get back to timely work, it's all a sham." she tried to say over the noise, but no one was going to listen to her, not with the prophet showing the bodies on the front page and with dozens of owls arriving every minute asking for more information.

"We need to call an emergency session. Where is the Minister?!" someone shouted.

In the office sitting under his desk holding a bottle of fire whiskey, the Daily Prophet's pages strewn about the office with an open folder full of a copy of Amelia's report in it, sat Cornelius Fudge. He was rocking back and forth with his eyes closed. "No, it can't be true, it can't be," he moaned to himself trying to deny the truth in front of him, because if he acknowledged it, he'd have to accept that he was in very hot water.