Chapter twelve

Dumbledore watched as Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny came walking in the Great Hall. He wondered why they hadn't had a fall out already. The potions he had slipped in their drinks should have made that happen. It was, after all, only better for them if their friendship broke up. That way Harry could prepare for the war and the other three wouldn't be heartbroken when Harry had to die. There was also another piece of information regarding Harry. It appeared Harry had been taken in by an old friend of his dad. That couldn't stay that way. He needed to remove Harry and quick, before he became too attached. He watched as the young lad got a letter. It was unusual for him to receive those. He saw that Harry had a faint smile on his lips as he finished the letter, but then he wended towards Ginny and handed the letter to her. She gave him a hug as soon as she was finished, although she too seemed to be smiling at something. Dumbledore decided he would speak with Harry after dinner. In the meantime he hoped his potions were working well, it could only drive the boy further to him.

Harry left the Great Hall soon after receiving the letter. He was a little bit upset, they had hoped they could hide the transfer a bit longer from Dumbledore, but fate seemed to be against him. He wondered what kind of matter it was that had led to this discovery. Tonks letter was a bit a sad one, but he rather like the last comment. He was almost done finding his animal now. He hoped he could find him before Halloween, so that he would have progress in the transformation with Christmas. He could start teaching Tonks then.

His three friends followed him out the Great Hall. "Are you okay Harry?" Hermione asked. "I'm as fine as I can be right now. At least Dumbledore finding out has one good thing to it." Harry said. "What then?" Ginny wanted to know. "I'm going to go home with Christmas." Harry said, his eyes lighting up. "That's amazing mate." Ron said. "On a different note, your sister sounded a bit desperate in her Ps. Harry. How far are you?" Hermione asked. Noticing Hermione's switch to your sister Harry concluded someone they didn't want to know was close, most likely the Headmaster. His suspicions were confirmed when Dumbledore spoke up behind him: "Could I speak with you for a moment Harry?" he asked. Harry nodded and followed the Headmaster to his office.

"Take a seat Harry, do you want a lemon drop?" Dumbledore said as soon as they were in his office. "No thank you sir." Harry said. He really wanted to hex Dumbledore, but the man couldn't know how much Harry knew of his manipulating. "I must say Harry, I was surprised when I was informed of your change in guardianship. I hope you have been treated well?" Harry was raging with anger at the moment, but tried his very best to keep his head down. "I have been treated well." Harry said. Dumbledore went on: "Are you sure you don't want to return to your aunt and uncle's?" "If I wanted to stay with them I wouldn't have ran away." Harry said through his teeth. "Ran away, but Harry surely your aunt and uncle must have been worried about you." Dumbledore acted concerning. "I can assure you Headmaster, they were anything but concerned, I saw them the next day to sign the papers and they look rather disappointed that I hadn't died." "I believe that might be a bit exaggerating Harry." Dumbledore tried to persuade him once more. "It is anything but, Professor. Now if you will excuse me, I have a sister who is waiting on a letter." "A sister, I didn't know you had a sister?" Dumbledore tried to sound interested, while in reality he just wanted to make sure this person wouldn't have a big influence on Harry. "Yes my sister, she and I only came in contact a short while ago. Now if you would really please me, it seemed she had some boy troubles." This time Harry really got to leave the office, leaving behind a rather stunned Dumbledore.

"What did he want you for?" Ginny asked as soon as Harry entered the common room. "He was trying to persuade me into going back to the Dursleys. He was trying to convince me they had been worried about me. I didn't really buy it though. But I might have gotten a bit angry at the end and said something about wanting to write a letter to my sister." Harry admitted. "Did you tell who your sister was?" Hermione asked. Harry shook his head. "Well, then you only have to be careful with what you write. If I'm correct Dumbledore will be searching your mail now Harry." "Can he do that?" Ron asked. Hermione nodded "Yes he can, he can claim he expects a treat and let all your mail go through him, it's quite annoying." The other three quickly agreed to that and spent the rest of the evening writing letters and scolding at the headmaster.

Tonks was having a quiet day. She had spent the whole morning going over reports and the afternoon training. When she came home she had taken a shower and seated herself on the couch, exactly where Hedwig found her. She opened the letter, seeing it was from Harry.

Hi big sister,

I'm almost there with your boy or rather man problems. We had a lot of laughs at your ps. The comment about wanting to snog the hell out of him really did it. Does he know it though? When you think of it, isn't it a bit weird that I'm helping my ten year older sister with her love life? I don't care though. I hope to see you with Christmas. I might be able to show you my ideas then, until then, Keep hope sis.

It appeared you were right though, with your last letter. Only the comment on my head went a bit wrong, but I'm fine now. But let's not talk about anything of that now. I have three friends here urging me to finish my letter so we can do our favourite game. It appears that game is the same one you and I had a lot of fun with over the summer. I hope to see you or at least hear from you soon sis,

Take care,

Your little brother.

Tonks was smiling at herself. Harry really had put a lot of thought in this letter. This alone had given her a hint that it hadn't gone how they had hoped. The letter was far from understandable to anyone who didn't know them. She had to think about the game for a while before she understood it. She and Harry had spent a lot of time thinking of creative ways to get revenge on Dumbledore. It had went from letting him walk in the Great Hall with only his underpants, Remus had found that one very amusing, to conjuring a large mean dog and having it chasing him around the great lake. She snickered at Harry's comment about love life. She really hoped he would have a plan by then. Something he had been telling her since before he went to the Weasleys, she hoped it would work. She didn't think just snogging Remus senseless would help.

Remus was reading one of his books when Hedwig arrive. As soon as he took her letter she flew off to deliver another on, to Tonks he assumed.

Hi uncle Moony,

I really had bad luck today, I assume you know at least a part of it, since you are my guardian, and you can guess what happened next. Thanks to my sister's letter we were notified in time.(You should have read her Ps, it was about wanting to snog the hell out of the man she likes. Is it wrong from me to like to know the guy that my sister likes and that likes her?) There may be a problem with the fact I suddenly appeared to have a sister though. I don't think anyone knows her identity yet and we would like to keep it that way to prevent the press from finding out. If they ask about me having a sister, just tell them we aren't siblings by blood but we feel like we are. I hope it shuts them up.

This whole situation has one good thing to it though. I get to spend Christmas with you at home. That is, if you want me. I really hope to see you soon.

Take care old wolf,

Harry

Remus shook his head at reading the letter. It seemed Dumbledore knew of Harry having a so called sister. It was a master strike to hid her identity though. This way she could be hidden for a longer time and so still be a source of information. He chuckled a bit at the part regarding Tonks' Ps, although he blushed at Harry's implication of getting into the protective brother mode. He didn't think it would cause a problem since he was too dangerous for her. He would never forgive himself if something happened to her because of him. He really hoped she would see that. Remus didn't like it though: the fact Harry didn't apply any names had alerted him to the fact Harry thought someone was reading his mail. Something Remus didn't like, but he knew he would have to wait for Harry to be home. It warmed his heart that Harry called this place home. He quickly wrote a letter back to Harry, saying he was welcome and that he shouldn't even ask. Remus made a point to line out that this was now Harry's home too.


A/N: I just wanted to say that school has started again and that my updates will get a bit further apart.

Hope you like it!