DON'T FALL

The short, petite redhead padded silently across the carpeted floor, the walls of the tent ruffling from the heavy winds outside. She smiled, a near predatory grin, as she moved around the edge of the inner wall, bringing her out of the main room of the magical tent that held the icebox and back into the bedroom… her gaze catching a quick glimpse of his profile. Her eyes adjusted to the immediate change, the moonlight shining through, his already pale skin almost luminescent.

There was a slight turn in the dark, some part of his body she was able to discern even with the help of the near full moon outside. Most likely him turning his head or shifting on the pallet of blankets and comforters that he called a bed.

Victory, her mind cried out. Silently, becoming a apart of the shadows of the night again, she moved to step closer… It wasn't until the light reflected off of those emerald eyes looking directly at her that she realized he'd known she was there all the time.

"How?" She pouted, her lower lip sticking out.

"Harry grinned as he reached out and indicated for her to return to bed, his eyes traveling along the legs sticking out from underneath the shirt he'd discarded before turning in for the night. "Come back to bed, Dora… it's late."

Tonks rolled her chocolate brown eyes as she blew a wisp of Weasley red hair away from her face. Sticking her tongue out playfully, she pulled the shirt off and negligently tossed it over by the door, and slipped her small, freckled body closer to Harry.

She leaned in for a kiss, but saw a wondering look on his face. "What?"

"Just…" He paused, his hair even more mussed than usual, as he lazily ran his eyes over the lithe form of Ginny Weasley. "Do you ever…?"

She seemed to catch on to the unfinished question. "Does it bother me that I can shag your brains out and have you looking and touching and… well," She smiled naughtily. "Do other things… to someone else? Look like whoever you or I want?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

Tonks stretched out beside him, the skin of her body molding itself to his under the blankets. "No. It's me you're with, Harry. Me. Maybe if that's all you ever wanted… but the first time, you asked me for something that no one ever has… nobody that ever said they loved me or anyone else." She ran a finger across his chest, her head snuggling up on his shoulder. "Just you."

They'd been literally ripping their clothes off… not waiting for anything. Tears marred their normal features and there was a crazed look in his eyes that had matched hers. It had started as just comfort… Harry crying on Tonks' shoulder as he recounted everything that had occurred that morning.

She'd held him, much as she had during some of the many rows he and Hermione had endured… all the same, but it wasn't the same. He'd been in her arms as she rubbed his back and ran her fingers through his hair, listening to him spill out every insecurity and fear, every stray thought and painful memory… all of it. From the "I will not tell lies" scar in his hand to the scar on his lower back from the Horntail during the First Task in his fourth year.

None of it had broken him.

Not even when Voldemort had bled him to be reborn… killing Cedric Diggory for just being there… the visions of his parents providing enough of a distraction for him to escape back to a world that would call him a liar and unbalanced.

No. It had taken the stupidity of a girl he'd given his heart to… it had been love that had destroyed the man that Harry Potter was to become.

Tonks had known it was a mistake from the beginning when his arm had gone around her neck and he'd pulled her face close, his mouth suddenly over hers, demanding entrance. She could have stopped it, blamed it all on the tenseness of the situation, emotions running hot and wild. But Tonks didn't. Instead, she'd opened her mouth and met him with the same ferocity.

There on the couch in the middle of Grimmauld Place's living room, their kissing had turned into groping which led to stripping and then to sex. She'd known it was not right. A rebound for both of them… he, with the loss of his world… and she was still slightly hung over and not thinking straight.

Who was she kidding? Harry Potter was hot.

The fantasies she'd borne through while guarding him, the times she'd catch him and Hermione alone, their mouths and hands all over each other… Tonks had wished for it to be her. Sure, the daydreams had first of been Remus doing those things to her that Harry was doing to Hermione, but more and more… much to Tonks' embarrassment, it was the sixteen year old boy that she saw more and more.

All of which led to Tonks throwing inhibition and common sense out the window as Harry ripped the shirt from her, his fingers eliciting a gasp from her as the cool pressure of his fingers met her skin.

"Tonks…" Harry'd pulled his mouth off of her collarbone… his voice husky with his want of her.

"Harry…"

"No, Tonks…" It had been the higher note that had calmed her enough to look at him, her violet eyes meeting his green.

She felt herself begin to shrink back. "No?"

He grinned then, the pupils dilating. "What? No… no, I mean…" He let out a shaky breath, a fact she noted with some pride. "You're a metamorphmagus…"

She knew her face had fallen, her excitement dropping. He's going to ask me to look like Hermione… she'd almost pulled away, if she'd had any self-respect she might have, but she wanted him so badly. "Who do you want me to be?"

Harry had cocked his head then. "You. This is my…" He'd blushed then, his ears flaming. "I'm a virgin. Please… I want to be with you… the real you. Anything later is…"

Tonks had regarded him in silence, so many thoughts running through her head. She must have taken too long, as Harry began to pull back, but she'd refused to let him go.

Without a word, she'd dropped everything. Every glamour, every tuck and every enhancement. She didn't need to see a mirror to know that she was pretty. Not beautiful… not like her mother, a true Black… but was pretty. Blue eyes, though nothing remarkable… brown hair, nearly black like her mother's, but carrying too much of her father's mousy brown to keep the look. Average body… a nice face.

Unremarkable.

There had been enough space between them for Harry to look at her then, his eyes darting everywhere, memorizing all of it. She knew she was blushing by the time his eyes returned to hers.

"You're beautiful. Thank you."

And then he kissed her in way that she knew she'd never been kissed before. Everything that she'd ever bottled up, every personal victory and loss, all of the times she'd been asked to be something else, the walls she'd erected over always being somebody's second choice… all of it came out… her pouring all of it into his mouth, their kiss becoming something more than either of them could handle alone… but together? Maybe.

Harry's hand running along her bare back was pulling her back into the now, her eyes fluttering open. She tilted her head to look up at him, to see that he was staring at the ceiling, the reflected shadows from the tree branches outside the roof of the tent creating dark and foreboding patterns.

"Are you okay?"

"Hm?" He jerked slightly. "Sorry. Thought you were asleep again."

Playfully running her hand lower, she chucked. "You know, since you brought it up… what do you think of my being Ginny."

Harry smiled as he shifted, turning on his side so he could look at her directly. Tonks moved to match him, although she never let her hand be drawn form where it was. "Is this what Ginny really looks like?"

She quirked a small eyebrow at him. "Don't I look like her?"

"Well…" He grinned. "Does she really have a birthmark that looks like a butterfly on the inside of her thigh?"

Tonks blushed, Ginny's freckled fading. "Uhm, yeah… see… and I've never told anyone this…"

"What?"

"I can do perfect copies if I touch the person."

Harry perked up. "Really?"

She nodded. "After last year, I could do almost anyone at Hogwarts, professors included, though maybe not so many of Slytherin."

"And for those you don't touch?"

"I can make copies… good enough to fool on the outside, those things that anyone can see… but nothing else. Just like you asking about Ginny's birthmark, when my aura meets theirs when we touch, just a hug or a handshake… then I can do it perfectly."

"But you're avoiding my question." She asked artfully.

"What was it again?"

Tonks reached a small hand further down Harry's front, the object of her search suddenly discovered… she smiled as he flinched instinctively and gasped. Fluttering her eyelashes, she opened her eyes wide trying to put on an innocent face, coupled with Ginny's face… Harry groaned in obvious pleasure.

"Hmmm?"

"She-she… wow… She had a crush on…"

Tonks started moving her hand faster. "Has, Harry. She still has a major crush on you. Trust me on this."

Harry's eyes closed as he inhaled deeply, his shoulders tensing as he allowed Tonks to keep control of the situation. "No, huh? Nothing for poor Ginny?" Her voice changed as she shifted, her body changing. "What about this?

Harry opened his eyes to stare at Lavender Brown. He grinned as he shook his head. "I'd make love to you in almost any female form, Dora, but I know its you. As long as I have the real you, you can look however you want."

Moving her hand, she raised her leg so that she was straddling his hips. Tonks nipped at his lower lip as she moved her hand down between them, adjusting him so that he moved into her easily, a gasp of familiar pleasure filling her suddenly, even at the difference in her body. Instinctively, they began to move with one another, their bodies finding a slow, even rhythm.

Liking the game, Tonks shifted again. "How about something different…"

Harry looked up into the eyes of Padma. He shook his head as he leaned closer to kiss her. "I took her to the Yule Ball…never thought I'd get this far with her after how much a prat I was…"

"Really?" She pushed up so that her arms were extended between them, the Hindu Ravenclaw's body rocking back and forth. "Bad boy, were you?"

Grinning, he leaned forward and caught her around the waist, pulling her back down to him. She yelped in surprise as he quickly rolled her over, Harry now atop, his weight pressing into her. Kissing her deeply, he moved his mouth over to the side, his breath sending chills down her spine as he whispered. "For me… please… don't make me beg…"

At the word beg, she felt the rush of warmth explode between her legs as she hungrily brought his face down to hers. She loved changing while they were kissing… her own personal kink. She felt Harry shudder, his control slipping away as she released him, his face pulling back to look at her, his movements more frantic, losing the rhythm and becoming more a drive… a need for release.

Closing her eyes, Tonks ground her hips to meet each of his thrusts as best she could, the memory of that dark look in his eyes bringing her quickly over the edge again, her body shaking as she felt the rush of Harry spilling deep inside, the strength of his arms holding him above her failing as they feel into each other… the sweet, sticky smell of sex filling their nostrils.

Idly, she stroked the back of his head, his breathing slowly evening out as he started to drift back off to sleep... his still revering body desperately needing the rest. She loved to feel his weight pressed on top of her, even as Harry instinctively rolled slightly to the side, allowing for her to move if she needed to once again sometime before morning.

She closed her eyes. It was going to be a long day tomorrow… she moved a hand to brush back the long hair around her face, grimacing slightly as she shortened it, her body shifting to a more recognized form… one that wouldn't have most psychiatrists screaming about unresolved issues and treading on dangerous ground.

The things she'd do for love…

The though stopped her cold as she considered the implications. Love? Could she be falling in love with Harry Potter?

Sure, she lusted after him… they were great together. She was in awe of his dedications and selflessness in the hope of protecting others. But love? They'd only been together a little over two weeks… four days of that with either one or both of them laid up and unconscious.

Sighing, Tonks shifted slightly so that she could look at his face. He seemed so at peace while he slumbered… no nightmares to ruin his nights just as Voldemort did in the real world during the days.

Yeah, she finally admitted to herself. She was definitely falling in love with him.

Damn, Hermione…

O X O X O X O X O X O

At the sound of talking, Draco looked up from the Daily Prophet sitting on the floor in front of him, a look of disgust on his face after reading the headlines. Harry and Tonks stepped out of their personal room of the tent to join him in the common area.

"Decided to get up finally, eh?"

Tonks rolled her eyes at the Slytherin as she sat down across from him, reaching out to quickly pick up the pot of coffee and pour herself a quick cup while Harry moved over to the small, portable pantry and started looking through some of the stores picked up last night.

Apparently having found what he was looking for, Harry stood, his hand carrying a small box of powdered doughnuts. Seeing a smile on Tonks' face as he looked over at her, her eyes on him, he wiggled his eyebrows and moved over to join them on the center mat.

He still couldn't get over how nice tents in the magical world could be. It really shouldn't have been much of a surprise, really, when you considered all of the rooms he'd been in that were bigger on the inside than the room on the outside provided for… but just like when he stayed with the Weasley's for the International Cup, the idea of a tiny tent holding a four or five room living space just boggled the mind.

"Breakfast?" Harry offered the box to Draco, ignoring the sneer that seemed to automatically appear whenever Harry was nice to him. Shrugging, Harry pulled one out and started to take a bite, only to lose his prize as Tonks snatched it out of his hand and pop the tiny treat in her mouth, a self-satisfied smirk on her face as she chewed.

"Hey!" Harry griped, scowling at the woman next to him as he carefully pulled out another doughnut.

"Yeah… thanks." Draco reached out and took it out of his hand. He and Tonks shared a quick smile at Harry's expense.

Throwing his hands in the air, Harry glared at each of them before pulling yet a third one from the slowly dwindling box. He moved to pull it away when Tonks acted like she was going to take it, her eyes dancing as Harry growled at her. He was so adorable!

"What's the plan?" Draco drawled, slowly handing a cup of coffee that he'd poured to Harry. "You two just going to play hide the wand for the day or are we going to get anything accomplished?"

Tonks went red at the blonde-haired prat's words while Harry was suddenly busy staring at the dark liquid in the mug in his hands, maybe looking to divine the answers. Wait… no… that was tea. Not coffee. Finishing her own cup of coffee, she set the empty mug down in front of her and reached to grab the pot. "Not all day…"

Harry almost spit out the coffee he was drinking. Draco just smiled. "Well? What's for the rest of the day? Do I get a go?"

Tonks shuddered. "Ick. No."

Harry cleared his throat. "How about we start a list of where the last one could be. We got Slytherin's locket; Hufflepuff's Cup; Voldemort's diary; Morvolo's ring…"

"We know that his stupid snake is one." Tonks offered.

Malfoy was nodding. "And then there's the evil git himself. That's six."

"We need an idea of the last one." Harry sighed. "And since he did one for his days at Hogwarts with the diary and the ring to represent his family…"

"Two of the four Founders are left. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw."

"But which?" Tonks added as Draco finished.

Looking at the two people he was relying on, definitely not the people he would have expected… two that if last year you'd made such a prediction, he'd have laughed aloud. "Draco… if it was you?"

"Me what?" Draco looked up, ice blue against emerald green.

"If you were Tom Riddle… you looking to make these damned things. Which would you have chosen… Ravenclaw or Gryffindor?"

"Me? Creating something like this…" His words faded as he went deeper into thought. Instinctively, Tonks reached out and grabbed Harry's hand.

Draco finally looked up. "Neither." At Harry's look, he smirked. "I'd have chosen something of yours."

"Mine." Harry's eyes were wide. Draco nodded and Tonks moved to ask a question, but Harry suddenly stood, his mug of coffee nearly spilling at his feet but for Draco's quick reflexes. "Mine." He repeated.

"What are you on about, Potter?"

"Harry?"

Harry was shaking his head. "Not Godric. Not Rowena. Dumbledore."

"What!" Both Draco and Tonks shouted together.

He grinned at them, his eyes now alight, a raging inferno. "Tom would have used something of Dumbledore's… a slap in the face. Against the one wizard he feared above all others."

Draco sighed. "It fits."

Tonks now stood, her own face animated. "You know, Dumbledore was a Ravenclaw… possibly the most famous and powerful since Rowena herself. There's a good chance something he owned might've belonged to her, as well."

"He was Ravenclaw?" Harry looked up. "I thought he was Gryffindor."

Tonks shook her head. "Nope."

Draco scowled at Harry. "Why do all the heroes have to be sodding Gryffindors for you? The other Houses not good enough for you?"

Harry looked startled. "I never said that…"

"I'm Hufflepuff." Tonks smiled proudly, though it became a frown when Harry and Draco together rolled their eyes. "Hey!"

Smirking, Harry shared a glance with the Slytherin before moving over to take her in his arms. She resisted, but eventually allowed herself to be coaxed into a hug. "I like you being Hufflepuff. I need that renowned loyalty." She smiled.

"Oh, please."

"Draco, shut up." Tonks tightened her arms around Harry. "We're having a moment."

"Yippee." Draco sipped at his coffee. "You know… its going to take some time to figure out what it could be…"

Harry nodded. "Yeah… Dumbledore had a lot of stuff."

"Well, he was over one hundred fifty years old." Tonks supplied.

Groaning, Harry let Tonks put her head on his shoulder as he ran his hands along her back. "We need to do research."

At the word research, Tonks tensed. Research had always been Hermione's forte. Taking a deep breath, she pulled back and looked up at him. "More than that, Harry… we need something to research through."

Draco frowned. "Hogwarts is the best shot… that's where most of the old man's stuff will be, not to mention a library that rivals most of the larger collections in the world."

Harry closed his eyes. Hogwarts would have the ghosts of Dumbledore, the scars of the fight with Deatheaters… Professor Snape's betrayal (no matter what Draco said to the contrary). Worse, Ron would be there… and Hermione.

A tug on his arm made him look down at Tonks, her face worried. "I'll stay with you all the way." Silently, she added that she'd stay with him forever if he'd let her.

To his side, Malfoy nodded as he poured the remaining dregs from the coffee pot into his mug. "Me, too… if we can figure a way, that is."

Harry nodded. "Guess I'm going back for seventh year after all."