Tonks woke a few hours later not able to sleep any longer. She looked over at the boy across from her noticing how small and vulnerable he was when sleeping. She hoped today would go over well, and Harry would be fine. She would drop the boy off to his father and step – mom, and than be on her way, a five minute stay would be it, than she would take the taxi back to the train station and head on home, where she would go visit the Weasley's to let them know how it went and to reassure them that Harry was fine, however, she now could say she knew what Molly felt like, Harry had been a major part of her life, she should have dropped his case a long time ago, ever since she first dropped him off at the Weasley's, by than she got too involved and the role between family and case worker blended in together. She had assured the Potters during their interview that no one except for the occasional check by the local children's agency once a month would try to contact the boy. They would have Harry, and if James and Bellatrix felt it was ok, than maybe Harry would be able to see the Weasley's again, but for now they all needed to get adjusted to this change, it wasn't just going to be hard for Harry it was going to be a rough couple of months for everyone involved. She hoped that James would allow the Weasley's visitation rights later on; they were a part of Harry after all.

She remembered the day when she finally came face to face with the man that Harry was going to start calling Dad.

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"145 Hermitage drive, Morningside." Tonks read aloud as she glanced at the paper in her hands to make sure she got the address right. "Oh well here goes nothing and to this James Potter actually being Harry's dad." Tonks walked up the long drive and smoothed out her skirt before ringing the bell. While waiting for someone to answer the door Tonks got a good look at the neighbourhood. It was very clean cut, a bit more than modest houses lined the street. She could tell though that this was a family area, a few kids were playing in the street, while parents were talking amongst themselves, glancing back at her once in a while. She could picture Harry one day amongst these children, laughing having fun, she was broken by her thoughts when a woman with dark black wild hair answered the door.

"Yes?" She said, "May I help you?"

Tonks wanted to hurry and get out of here, the woman wasn't to appeasing, and maybe her first glance at the area was all wrong, Harry wouldn't be happy here, this woman before her was foreboding.

"I'm Nymphadora Tonks. Is James Potter here?" She said hoping her nerves weren't showing. She was a professional and she had to act that way.

"James isn't here he just stepped out on a quick grocery run, is this a business matter?"

"Kind of." Tonks answered not sure whether or not to trust this woman. She couldn't give out wrong information.

"What do you mean kind of, it's either a yes or a no, simple answer." The woman now said impatiently.

"I'm from child services, and I need to talk to Mr. Potter concerning a boy that we think may be his."

"Excuse me Miss Tonks, a child of his, I've been with him for nine years we have no children. How dare you come here and first accuse my husband of infidelity and than say he has a son, my husband loves me very much." The woman screamed, and Tonks noticed how scary this woman could be when she was extremely angry. She could have kicked herself for handling this wrong. She let her training go out the window, and now she was facing the consequences. She could see the children's mother's glancing at her is if mocking her for even thinking she was going to make it through this meeting.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Potter…" She tried again, hoping to calm the irate woman down.

"Lestrange, I kept my late husbands last name, I couldn't quite change it, it was all I had left of him." The now identified Mrs. Lestrange said her anger deflating and the look of defeat shone in her charcoal eyes.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Lestrange, but may I come in, it's just that this is a personal matter, and I don't think discussing this on the stoop is very practical." Tonks said, not wanting to go into any more information on Harry's personal life.

"Of course, I'm sorry please do come in." She said moving aside to let the much younger girl into her house.

Tonks entered the house, that from first glance seemed stuffy, but when you got a closer look it had that lived in feeling, there were pictures of a man and woman in different poses lining the banister, she didn't have much time to notice much more except that the two seemed so much in love, as she was ushered into the kitchen.

"Tea Ms. Tonks?" Mrs. Lestrange asked starting to boil the water.

"That would be lovely, yes thank you." Tonks said sitting down on a stool. "But please just call me Tonks, everyone does."

"Than I would appreciate to be called Bellatrix." The woman said not looking up from the kettle.

"How long have you and Mr. Potter been married for again?" Tonks asked, wanting to get the personal questions out of the way.

"Five years four months. I never thought it would come to this, I thought those late nights were just business meetings, he always said he loved me even with my faults, he said he was happy, and now a child. One that I could never give him. I guess he was that desperate." Bellatrix exclaimed.

"No you don't understand the boy that I'm talking about is nine years old. We've been searching for his father ever since he was two, but we never had any leads until recently."

"Nine you say. That means the time when James was in England, he did mention that time to me, but he said nothing came of that." Bellatrix turned around now a smile on her face. "We can be a family if that child is his. You see Tonks I can't have children, an accident took care of that a long time ago, but we've been desperately hoping for one, even checked out a few of the local orphanages, but all the red tape, you'd think that the people who run the place would be happy to give the children away to good homes, but the tape is harder to get through than airport security." She laughed at her own joke. "So we've been trying for the last several years, but so far nothing."

"Bella where are you. I need a little hand with the grocery's, love." A voice came through the hall.

"In the kitchen James, leave the groceries for a few minutes, they'll be fine."

"Everything alright? I made reservations tonight for your favourite restaurant, so you need to change and we gotta be out of here in like five minutes." More shouting came from the corridor, getting closer as the man walked to the kitchen.

"James I think dinner can wait." Bellatrix exclaimed as she was pecked on her cheeks, and turned her husband around to see the strange woman sitting on one of their island stools.

"Oh excuse me, Miss, I didn't know Bella was having a friend around, I'll change the reservation for three instead, no reason to pass up a good night on the town. And I'll just invite Sirius over too, he hasn't been here for what three hours." James laughed at his own joke, while Bellatrix rolled her eyes, and Tonks just gaped at the man.

"I'm sorry I didn't catch your name." James apologized pushing his wife off the stool seating himself and than bringing her down on his lap.

"Nymphadora Tonks, child services." She said shaking her head, and bringing herself back to the present.

"Excuse me you said child services?" He asked, not really getting the meaning to all of this.

"Yes, Tonks from child services, London England. It's incredible, I can see where he gets all his facial features from now, except his eyes that must have come from his mother."

"Who..What..I'm sorry I'm confused, what's going on." James was so bewildered, twenty minutes ago he was just making a simple stop to get the groceries and now there was a strange lady talking about a child and him.

"There's this boy, we've been searching for his father for a long time, seven years to be exact. His mother was murdered when he was just a babe, and most of the foster houses weren't up to our standards, but he's in a really good one now, but still we always knew he had to have a father somewhere."

"I'm sorry, I don't see how this is any of my concern."

"It is Mr. Potter, because we believe he's yours, and just by looking at you, he's an exact mini carbon copy of yourself. His mother's name was Lily Evans." Tonks said waiting for the outburst, which never came, instead all Tonks could make out was a low whisper.

"Lily." James spoke ever so quietly. "How, why would someone murder Lily, she was the sweetest person?"

"Break in at the house." Tonks explained, there wasn't any need for any more information.

"And you believe this boy's my son?" James asked, his hazel eyes shimmering for a love long dead.

"Yes, Here's a picture of the boy. His name's Harry. Harry James Evans." Tonks said as she handed the picture of the said child over. It was a fairly recent one, taken on Harry's ninth birthday, which was just over a few months ago. Harry was pictured in the middle of all of the Weasley children, a huge smile on his face, as he blew out the birthday candles.

"He looks exactly like me. Except Lily's eyes, he has her eyes." He said in wonderment. "He's really mine isn't he?" James asked not wanting this to be a cruel joke. This child that he was seeing actually belonged to him. He never thought he'd see the day.

"Yes. He's really yours." Tonks smiled at the man. And when their eyes met, she could see the tears had been replaced with a mix of hope and longing.

Bellatrix who had been quiet up until now finally spoke up. "Let me see James."

James handed her the picture almost reluctantly. "Wow, he really does look like you." Bellatrix said shocked.

"I know." James whispered again. "We're going to have a son, Bella." James whooped in excitement. "I have to call Sirius and Remus. Than we have to go shopping, I wonder what he would like the best. A new cricket pitch or a go cart, what do you think Bella."

"I think that you're getting a little bit ahead of yourself." Bellatrix said laughing at her husband's antics. This is why she loved the man so much; he was always so full of joy, and wonderment, almost like a child himself.

"You're right. I'm sorry Tonks. How did you find me, we're unlisted you know?" He asked. He was very curious.

"We had you're name. A diary was found in Lily's home that she had been written during the months she was pregnant with Harry. You're name was one of the first things she had written down, but contrary to popular belief there are a lot of James Potter's in the U.K. you were the last person on our list. Every other person that we interviewed or went to was either too old or never heard of a Lily Evans. You're right as well, you're not listed, but we have special agents in our department that are good in tracking down people. They gave me your address, and well you know the rest, although my hopes weren't too high, that this was going to be the right place. There had been so many leads in his case, and everyone turned out to be another roadblock."

"Well I'm glad you came." James said. "I have to tell you so you don't think any less of me, I was planning on marrying Lily when I met her, we only knew each other for a short time, I was travelling you see, trying to find my place in this world. I had no commitments, no obligations, nothing, my parents were well off and I was able to do what ever I wanted. When it came time to propose, I took her out for a nice dinner in London, and we took a walk along the Thames, I was going to ask her to marry me by the Tower Bridge. I don't know why I did, but as soon as I got down to ask her I made it seem like I was tying my shoelaces, took her back to her house with a promise of another date the next day. And took off, but you've got to understand if I had known she was pregnant and carrying my child I would have been there for them, for him. I wouldn't have just left her. And if I still found later after Lily's death, I would have come claimed the boy as mine. My son." Tears now rolling down his face, as he thought of the time lost with his child. A child he had never known, and missed out on the first nine years of the boy's life. Well if he had it his way, he would make sure he wouldn't miss out on anymore time.

"I know you would have." Tonks said reassuringly.

"Is he being taken care of well, is he happy?" James asked, wanting to know if his son was well cared for."

"He's a very intelligent boy, shy, quiet, a little reserved around strangers, but will open up once he feels safe and comfortable. I can advise you too never push him when he's like that, the boy has been through a lot in his life. The family like I've told you in the beginning of our conversation loves him as if he were one of their own. He can be wild and playful, and like any child he does have a good tantrum every now and than and he's also very stubborn, when he gets an idea, he sticks with it until he sees it through. His favourite colour is red and gold; he loves playing pranks on people. Takes after the twins, and he's also very protective of those he loves. Over all he's a very good boy, and he is very happy."

"When can he be placed in my care?" James asked. Wanting the child in the house where he could make sure that he was safe, he didn't like that his son was living with another family, even if they did take good care of him, he would have to think of a way to repay them for their kindness, but right now his mind was on getting his son into his custody.

"You need to sign these papers, confirming to the fact that you are his father, and I'll go and retrieve Harry from the Weasley's tonight, so I should be bringing him over by this coming Friday."

"That's good, it will give me a few days to set up a room for him. C'mon Bella baby there's a lot of work to be done." James said pushing her off of his lap.

Bellatrix shook her head, and made her way out of the kitchen. "I'm going to start preparing the guest room, that can be his. Thank you so much Tonks. This is the best news we have gotten in a long time." Bellatrix said, as now tears started rolling down her face, some for the memories of James' long lost love, and how she felt that she wouldn't ever compare to her, she had of course heard the stories, but now it felt like a wound being reopened, as if she was the second choice, and the rest of the tears for the little boy that she would soon be calling son.

"I'm going to have to talk to her after. Lily was always a sensitive subject." James said in way of apology. Giving Tonks a smile, and handing back the signed papers.

"James I was just wondering, you see the Weasley's are really good people, and they love Harry very much, do you think it would be possible for them to have visits with him. Harry considers them family too, and trust me it is going to be a trying time for all parties involved." Tonks said.

"I never thought of the other family, really. I'll consider it." James said. "I'm not trying to be mean or anything like that, it's just that I think it would be best for all of us, if Harry had no contact with the Weasley's at least for a good six months, just until he gets used to us and vice versa, give us some time to heal, and get to know one another, than I'll consider it. I don't want to hurt Harry. That's the last thing that I want, but I do want to try to be a family with him."

"That's all I can ask for James, thank you." Tonks said getting up. "I'll be in touch to let you know how things are progressing. Like I said by Friday I should be able to get Harry here. Can't guarantee the time though."

"Tonks, do you think Harry will ever forgive me for abandoning him? I would have stayed, I would have." James said new tears forming in his eyes, and this time he let them fall, clutching the photo in his hand.

Tonks made her way over to him, and wrapped her arms around the older man who needed some comfort. "Yes." She said. "He will not be mad for abandoning him though, but for making him leave the people he calls family. But with time, you guys will become a family, and the Weasley's an extension, because he will never let them go either James. But the hurt will vanish in time, and the healing will start as soon as he enters this house. I know, I have a pretty good feeling about this all."

"Thanks Tonks." James smiled getting up tears still rolling down.

"No need to get up I can find my way out of here. See you in a couple of days." And she made her way out of the house.

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"Tonks are we almost there?" A small voice called out, shaking her out of her reverie.

"Soon Harry, very soon. Go wash up, and than by that time breakfast should be here."

"Alright Tonks." Harry said leaving the compartment to head for the washroom.

When Harry came back he noticed there was some bacon and eggs waiting for him, with a tea. He didn't realize how hungry he was until the smell hit his nose, his nervousness forgotten for just that one second.

"Good to see you eating again, but save some for me will ya?" laughed Tonks as she helped herself to some of the bacon.

"You still have all those sandwiches." The protest came through a mouthful of food.

"They're still not as good as this breakfast."

"True."

"Looks like we're pulling into the station. You grab a bag and I'll grab the rest." Tonks said handing Harry one of the suitcases and taking the remaining ones."

She could see the tears start forming again, and felt her heart breaking for the millionth time. "Hey kiddo, things will be good, right?"

"Right." Harry stated, trying to sound brave. "Dad always said things happen for a reason Tonks."

"They do Harry. It may not happen the way we want things to, but usually in the end it usually turns out right. Time to go." Tonks said as the train came to the stop at that moment and the pair made their way through the bustling station.

They found a taxi shortly after, and got them both settled in.

"Where to Miss?"

"145 Hermitage Drive, Morningside." Tonks said patting Harry's hand comfortingly.

"No problem, we should be there in half an hour, hardly any traffic today." The driver said as he pulled out of the lot.

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A/N: Thanks to all the reviewers and supporters out there, I can not express my gratitude. Please review and let me know what you think :)