True to Sirius' estimate, the Potter-Blacks plus Hermione left Surrey exactly one week later, just a few days before Harry's fifteenth birthday. Much to Harry's chagrin, they took the Knight Bus to London – the Floo connection to Sirius' ancestral home was highly restricted, Apparating was impossible thanks to their vast amounts of luggage, and there was no way to park Lily's car outside an invisible house without arousing suspicion. Once they'd all been let in on the Fidelius Charm, travel to and from the house would be much easier, but that morning, they dragged their trunks to the front walk and watched as Sirius stuck out his wand arm. A brilliantly purple triple-decker bus materialized by the curb, and they climbed aboard.
In reality, the trip to London took no time at all, but it felt like forever to the unfortunate occupants of the bus, who were thrown forwards, backwards, and sideways as the bus jumped through space and hurtled down impossibly narrow roads. By the time the bus stopped at the end of a small cul-de-sac called Grimmauld Place, Harry, Draco, and Hermione were bruised, sore, and more than ready to never see the unsettling vehicle again. The conductor, an exceptionally pimply youth called Stan Shunpike, was very cheerful as he helped them unload their belongings from the Knight Bus, and he had just enough time to tip his hat before the bus vanished once more.
"Follow me," Sirius instructed. He glanced around the cul-de-sac before surreptitiously drawing his wand and casting a feather-light spell on their luggage, and he began to drag his own trunk down the street. He stopped on the walkway about halfway around the cul-de-sac and waited expectantly for the others to catch up.
"Read this," he said, handing over a slip of parchment. "Read it, and memorize it." Lily took the parchment from his hand and held it where everyone could see. In narrow, loopy handwriting were the following words:
The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.
Harry looked from the note to the row of houses before him and frowned.
"But Padfoot," he began, "there must be some mistake – there is no…oh, now that's cool…"
Harry's incomplete thought was due to the sudden appearance of a house that he could've sworn simply hadn't been there before. The house shouldered numbers eleven and thirteen to the sides as smoothly as if nothing had happened at all, and in an instant, the houses' numbering was sequential once more.
"Off we go," Sirius said, grabbing the handle of his trunk and pulling it up the front steps. Up close, the house was clean but shabby, with chipped paint and more than one cracked window visible, and a large knocker in the shape of a twisted serpent hung on the front door. Ignoring the knocker, Sirius placed his palm upon the door, waited a moment, and twisted the knob once they all heard the click of disengaging locks.
"Recognizes my blood," he said by way of explanation. "In you go, and stay quiet – the last thing you want to do is wake up my mum."
"Your mum?" Harry asked, looking confused. "I thought your mum was dead."
"Oh, she is," Sirius assured him. "Just get inside, will you? Can't stay out here too long or the Muggles will notice us disappearing."
The inside of the house was just as rundown as the outside. Old-fashioned gas lamps and a large chandelier flared to life as they stepped into the main hall, and a wide staircase with many landings led to the upper floors. Closed doors led to what they assumed were rooms, and a thick set of curtains covered an alcove to the right of the door at the foot of the stairs. A coat rack and umbrella stand, the latter shaped like a troll's leg, stood next to the banister, and a number of portraits covered the peeling wallpaper.
"Cheery place you've got here," Harry commented.
"Yeah, well, I never said I liked it here," Sirius replied with a snort. "Aside from a brief stint just before I moved in with you and your mum, I haven't lived here since I was sixteen. Now, let's see where we can put you."
Before they could climb the stairs, a door at the end of the hall opened, and three people emerged: Albus Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, and a young woman they didn't recognize, her short, spiky hair a vibrant shade of pink.
"Ooooh, they're here!" the woman said excitedly, moving forward to get a closer look. In her haste, she didn't look where she was going and ran headlong into the umbrella stand, which fell over with a crash, the hapless witch sprawled on top of it.
"Oh, damn!" she cried. "I didn't mean to, I swear-" Whatever else she meant to say, however, was drowned out by someone else.
"FILTHY HALF-BREEDS! MUGGLE-LOVING SCUM, BLOOD TRAITORS, GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE!"
The curtains over the alcove at the base of the stairs had flown open, revealing a life-sized portrait of a woman, who was shouting with all her might at the occupants of the hall. Her eyes narrowed with rage when she caught sight of Sirius.
"YOU!" she screamed. "HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE HERE? YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF BEARING THE NAME YOU DO, YOU ABSOLUTE DISGRACE-"
"Oh, shut UP!" Sirius growled. "With an almighty lurch, he wrenched the curtains back into place, the portrait they concealed falling into silence as soon as the gap closed.
"Mother dearest is dead, but certainly not gone," he said, cocking his head towards the hidden portrait. "Put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the damn thing, and as you've no doubt noticed, everything wakes her up – we even had to move the grandfather clock into the sitting room, didn't we, Dumbledore?"
"Indeed we did," Dumbledore said with a chuckle. "It would have been a shame to get rid of it – it's quite a lovely timepiece." He then glanced at the young woman, who was still draped over the toppled umbrella stand.
"My dear Tonks, I do believe you can get up off the floor now," he said, sounding amused.
"I'm sorry," the woman – Tonks, apparently – repeated, her voice muffled. She lifted her head and looked at them, her expression sheepish. "I just get so excited…"
"That you forget that it's there," Lupin finished, also looking entertained. Tonks stuck her tongue out at him before hauling herself up, and Lupin quickly righted the umbrella stand, sliding it as close to the staircase as possible.
"Wotcher," she said, winking at the newcomers. "How are you, cousin?"
"Well enough, thanks," Sirius replied, winking back. "Although I think that particular address might be more appropriate for this one here." He nudged Draco forward, and the blond immediately looked confused.
"What did you just say?" he asked.
"Tonks here is your cousin, Draco," Sirius said. "Her mum is your mother's sister."
"I didn't know that Aunt Bella had children," Draco said. Sirius shuddered visibly.
"I sure hope she doesn't," he said darkly. "Goodness, Drake, I didn't know you'd actually met that woman…anyway, no, Nymphadora-"
"Don't call me that, Sirius," Tonks interrupted, her eyes flashing.
"Just for clarification," he assured her. "Nymphadora Tonks – who obviously prefers her surname over other forms of address – is the daughter of your mother's other sister, Andromeda."
"She was disowned coz she married a Muggle-born," Tonks supplied helpfully, and Draco's look of confusion morphed into one of understanding.
"Oh…wow," he said finally, a small grin spreading over his features, "I have a cousin!" He felt a little silly saying it, but he was far more excited than he was letting on – Sirius might've been his mother's cousin, but Tonks was his cousin, and meeting such a close relative he hadn't even known he had was wonderful.
"And you'll find plenty to talk about, I'm sure," Dumbledore said. "For now, however, might I suggest getting these three upstairs to their rooms? I can't imagine we're all comfortable just standing here in your front hall, Sirius." Sirius let out a snort, nodded, and led the teenagers upstairs, where he found vacant rooms for them on the second landing.
"Make yourselves at home," he said, throwing open the doors. "Harry, Draco, you two can take this one, and Hermione, you'll be with Tonks next door. Ron and Ginny will probably join you whenever they get here."
The trio only took the time to unpack the bare essentials before setting off to explore the house. Sirius warned them not to touch anything if they could help it – while most of the Dark artifacts had been removed from the house when the Order took it over around the time of Harry's birth, he couldn't guarantee that everything was gone, and his mother had been known to set some pretty nasty hexes in her day. In spite of that restriction, however, there was still plenty to see, and Tonks, who had been living in the house for nearly two weeks already, supplied helpful stories about their finds whenever she could. Of particular interest was the gigantic tapestry in the drawing room upon which the Black family tree sprawled, the oldest names dating back to the Middle Ages and beyond. The golden thread shimmered slightly when the light caught it, and a number of holes littered the tapestry. At first, they thought perhaps the holes were merely the product of time, but when they looked closer, they saw that the holes were quite deliberate – there was a burn mark where Sirius' name should have been, and a quick glance to the side proved that Andromeda's name was gone as well. Tonks wasn't even on it at all.
"Well, Mum was disowned when she married Dad, so of course I wouldn't be on here," she said matter-of-factly. "Anyone who didn't conform to the Black family motto – poof!" She mimed cursing the tapestry with her wand, then gestured to the very top, where large letters formed the words The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black: Toujours Pur.
"'Always Pure' – what utter rubbish," she scoffed. "The family might be completely pureblooded until about halfway down the tapestry, but after that? There's no way – even the so-called 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' have to have half-bloods and Muggle-borns mixed in somewhere, or they wouldn't exist anymore. There simply aren't enough purebloods left."
"So is that who most of those burn marks are, then?" Harry asked, pointing to more spots a little further up the tapestry. Tonks shrugged.
"Maybe, but I doubt it," she said. "The motto alone should tell you that the Blacks were obsessed with keeping their line as pure as possible – Mum dared to marry a Muggle-born and I don't show up at all, so I think it's safe to say that only those who made 'appropriate' marriages managed to stay on the family tree."
"You're not on here, but I am," Draco said, running his fingers lightly over the thread spelling his name, his birthday scripted just below. The tapestry must've had a self-updating spell on it, as his mother's name featured both birth and death dates. Draco's name was off-center beneath those of his parents, and there was a large spot of something he couldn't identify marring the tapestry just to the left of it, but he didn't mind – however twisted it was, this was a record of his family.
"You're only on there coz whoever did all this blasting died before your mother handed you over to a Muggle-born," Tonks replied with a wink. "Face it, cousin, you're a proud member of the 'Blasted off the Tapestry' Club." The teenagers howled with laughter at Tonks' proclamation, Harry even going so far as to suggest they make an official banner for their new club.
"You could join too, Harry," Tonks reminded him. "Somewhere along the lines, a Black married a Potter, but your branch of the family isn't on here."
"Well, Mum's a Muggle-born," Harry pointed out, chuckling a little.
"We'll get the Weasleys in on it too – both Molly and Arthur are related to Sirius somehow, but since they're basically the biggest bunch of blood traitors to ever exist, they're not on the tapestry."
"I'm starting to feel left out," Hermione said with a mock pout.
"Oh, come now, Lotte – you know you're practically a member yourself," Draco said. "Someday down the road, I'll get myself blasted off for real for marrying a Muggle-born and make it official, but for now, consider yourself in." Hermione turned scarlet and buried her face in her hands as Harry and Tonks burst into raucous laughter, and Draco took advantage of their hysteria to give Hermione a kiss on the forehead and a whispered "love you".
Late that afternoon, Mrs. Black's portrait started shouting again as the Weasleys poured into Grimmauld Place. Nobody bothered to close the curtains until the hall had cleared out, since they were all making such a racket that it wouldn't have made a difference. Ginny and Ron added their trunks to Harry and Draco's and Tonks and Hermione's rooms, while Fred and George were given space on the next landing up. The addition of the six Weasleys – Molly and Arthur were staying at headquarters as well – meant the house was rather crowded, but nobody seemed to mind, and dinner that night was a lively affair. The basement kitchen housed a wooden table more than large enough to accommodate all of the house's occupants, plus Dumbledore, Lupin, and a tall black man they learned was called Kingsley Shacklebolt. Kingsley, as it transpired, was an Auror, as was Tonks, and the assembled teenagers listened with interest as they told stories about their time on the job. It was very late indeed when everyone went upstairs to bed, and even later still when they finally fell asleep.
On the last morning of July, Harry was awoken by someone pouncing on the end of his bed. He blearily opened his eyes and yelped when he noticed the unfamiliar figure of a witch perched by his feet. The witch had bright blue hair that fell to her shoulders and deep brown eyes, and she wore a mischievous grin that Harry thought he'd seen before but couldn't place.
"Wotcher, Harry," the witch said with a wink, and Harry's mouth fell open in recognition.
"Tonks?" he stammered in disbelief. His disbelief gave way to shock as the witch's hair started receding and changing color before his eyes – within seconds, it was once more spiky and bright pink, and her eyes were back to the lighter brown shade he recognized.
"How did you do that?" Draco asked. He'd woken just in time to witness the transformation and was now gaping at his cousin.
"Metamorphmagus," Tonks said, flashing her signature impish grin. "It means I can change my appearance at will – I was born one, you know. Dead useful in the Stealth and Tracking part of Auror training…and for playing pranks," she added cheekily. Harry immediately chucked his pillow at her head, hitting her full in the face.
"Looks like your chameleon skills don't stop you from being solid," he retorted playfully. Tonks immediately picked up the pillow and shoved Harry back onto the mattress, tussling with him until he finally relented.
"You were saying?" Tonks asked. Harry was too busy laughing to answer.
"I thought so. Anyway, breakfast is almost ready, and the post just came – your Hogwarts letters are here." Tonks pulled three envelopes from her robes and tossed them in the general direction of their owners. Ron, who had somehow managed to sleep through the pillow fight, grunted and pulled his blankets further over his head, muttering something unintelligible as he rolled over.
"BREAKFAST IS ALMOST READY!" Tonks repeated quite loudly, and everyone laughed as Ron predictably shot upright at the mention of food.
"See you in a few." Tonks gave them one last wink and left.
"Wonder what we need for books this year," Harry remarked as he broke the seal on his envelope.
"Just two," Draco replied, his letter already open on the bed. "The latest in the Standard Book of Spells series, and what I'm guessing is a book for Defense."
"So I guess Dumbledore found us a new teacher, eh?"
Draco didn't answer. When Harry glanced over, he saw his brother was staring at something in his hand.
"Drake? What's up?" In response, Draco tossed the object in his hand towards Harry, who caught it easily thanks to his Quidditch-honed reflexes. Upon closer inspection, Harry saw that the object was a small silver badge, a block letter 'P' superimposed on a serpent – Harry had seen that particular image on Draco's Hogwarts robes more than enough times to recognize the emblem of Slytherin House.
"You're a prefect!" he said in awe. "Drake, that's great!"
"You're not…upset about that?" Draco asked, accepting the badge back and lightly tracing the engraving.
"Why would I be?" Harry wondered, looking perplexed.
"Did you get one, then?"
"No," Harry said, tipping his envelope upside down to prove it, "but why would me not being a prefect make me upset that you are one?"
"I dunno, I just…hey, I'll bet I know why you didn't!" Draco said suddenly.
"Why's that?"
"Because you're probably the next in line for Gryffindor's Quidditch captaincy, that's why. From what I understand, it's really rare for someone to be both a prefect and a Quidditch captain, because of the amount of extra work both positions entail – there really has to be no other acceptable candidate for them to give both badges to the same person."
"You think I'll be Quidditch captain?" Harry asked in shock. Draco rolled his eyes as if the answer was extremely obvious.
"Of course you'll be Quidditch captain – you're only what, the youngest player in over a century? Not to mention you're brilliant at it. One of your Chasers will probably get it this year, since they've been on the team longer and everybody knows that giving the Weasley twins any sort of power is a terrible idea, but I guarantee it'll be you next year."
"God, if one of my brothers got picked as Quidditch captain, I'm not going back to school this year," a sleepy Ron managed to say.
"Why's that?" Harry asked, trying not to laugh at Ron's thoroughly disheveled state.
"Coz Draco's right – giving either of them an authority position is akin to signing your own death warrant," Ron said.
"Ronnie dear, you wound us." The boys looked up to see Fred and George, who had stuck their heads into the room in time to hear the end of their conversation. "Your lack of faith in us is astounding – and what's this about Harry being Quidditch captain?"
"Well, I'm not this year," Harry corrected them quickly, "but Draco seems to think I'll get it next year."
"Probably," Fred agreed. "The only other person left will be Katie, and she's always been more of a follower than a leader, so I'd say you have a fair shot. And did I hear talk of a prefect's badge?"
"Yeah – Draco's got one."
"Ah…guess we'll have to watch our step around young Mr. Black from now on," George said seriously.
"And myself, it seems," another voice chimed in. Hermione had joined them and moved across the room to sit on the edge of Draco's bed. She reached out her hand in a silent request, and he handed her his badge. She then opened her other hand to reveal her own, identical to Draco's save for the lion in place of the serpent.
"Hermione too?" Fred moaned. "George, our pranking days are over!" He clutched a hand to his heart and proceeded to 'faint' dramatically onto Ron's bed, earning a yell of protest from his youngest brother.
"What about you two?" George asked, gesturing to Harry and Ron. "Did we get the other Gryffindor badge as well?" Ron snorted.
"Yeah, right," he said. "My marks are nowhere near good enough – and I know they consider other things, but there's no way." He slit open his own envelope and shook it as if to prove his point – no badge.
"And it's not me either," Harry added. "I wonder who got it, then?" Hermione shrugged.
"Guess we'll just have to wait and see," she said. She handed back Draco's badge and squeezed his hand in congratulations, Draco returning the gesture.
"Oh, keep it to yourself," Ron grumbled, rolling over so he didn't have to face the couple. The others laughed, and they soon made their way downstairs for breakfast.
The adults were all very proud and excited when they saw the badges, and as such, they organized an extra-special dinner for that night in joint celebration of Harry's birthday and Draco and Hermione's selection as prefects. A number of Order members they hadn't yet seen dropped by, including Professor McGonagall, who congratulated both of them warmly, and Professor Snape, who gave Draco a nod of approval and even managed a positive look in Hermione's direction. Mrs. Weasley concocted a gigantic cake in the shape of the Hogwarts crest, and Fred and George spent the afternoon crafting two enormous, colorful banners to hang in the kitchen – one said Happy Birthday, Harry!, and the other, Congratulations Draco and Hermione, New Prefects! The banners sparkled in the candlelight and let off the occasional whistle or puff of glitter, much to the delight of the guests.
The highlight of the day, however, was Tonks and Ginny's birthday present for Harry. Tonks had told Ginny all about their examination of the tapestry, and the two girls had made yet another banner, along with a badge proclaiming Harry the official first member of the Blasted off the Tapestry Club. Harry laughed heartily when he opened the gift, and he insisted that everyone sign the banner before they hung it on the wall next to the tapestry itself. If the past few days were anything to go by, the remaining month of their summer holidays was definitely going to be a fun one.
A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope 2015 is good to all of you. In honor of the occasion, here's chapter 2 - this one was a fun one to write, I love Tonks. (It also took me like 10 times longer than normal to write due to my attempt to watch the Rose Parade while writing...haha)
Thank you to everyone who has followed/faved/reviewed/read this story so far! Hope you'll stick around.
JKR owns all things Potter, I just play. Please leave me your thoughts, & enjoy! :)