AN: The curse in chapter five roughly translates to: Spirit within consume yourself.

Alorkin: To be brief(good review by the way) I know it's been done time and time again but Harry and Voldemort share close(not exact though) to the same magic/DNA due to the ritual, I went with Rowling in that Dumbledore was kind of gay(for some reason I think of Velvet Goldmine when I think of young British boys) but he did find a woman he loved, most importantly Dumbledore is a man and not a god so he cannot expect to make everything happen how he wants, as for Hermione…well…a very erotic scene played itself out in my mind a few days ago, but that would probably get my story booted so it may or may not occur. Oh and the battlefield was toned down because I was too lazy to go over that scene again. I grew up on stories from Vietnam and Korea (My dad is a 26 year veteran.), so I know exactly how gruesome things get…and it helps that I am a very twisted person.

Inspiration: Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb

Chapter 6: In this bed, here I lie. Between these hearts, I learn to fly.

Harry pulled himself from his book and pushed back the dizziness from moving his head after reading for so long. He was mainly trying to distract himself but it was also an enlightening piece of literature.

Time to face the music, he thought to himself. He really didn't want to leave his room but knew that to not do so would cause more problems later on, namely a certain red haired families caring nature. He needed to be in a peaceful environment.

Arriving in the kitchen, Harry felt a sense of relief. Mrs. Weasley was cooking, Tonks was seemingly passed out with her head on the table, and Hermione was nervously squirming in her seat with Mrs. Weasley throwing the occasional disapproving glance at her.

Before he could ask what she did, the still form of Tonks began to talk into the table. "But why?" she groaned. "It was my only bottle!" From the sluggish tone of voice he assumed she was supporting a nice hangover.

Harry poured himself some pumpkin juice and gave Hermione a questioning glance. "I couldn't help it," she said. "I needed something to keep me awake!"

Tonks finally raised her head and glared at her. "And how exactly does that give you the right to steal the last of my Firewhiskey," she exclaimed. Harry began to choke on the drink that he took.

"Well excuse me for drinking that last of it, but at least I left you that last drink."

"What do…last drink? Where?" she cried desperately.

"Oh, you knocked it over when you were sleep walking," she mumbled while staring into space.

"I…I did?" Tonks looked ready to cry.

"Hmm?...Oh no, not really."

"You're drunk," Tonks said needlessly.

"Yep," Hermione bounced in her chair. "I believe I am."

Harry finally decided to speak up. "It looks like someone needs to get between you two before you start getting fired up and someone gets hurt."

Hermione looked at Harry, then Tonks, and back to Harry again. "No," she said. "I think Tonks wants to be in the middle"

Tonks eyes bulged. "Oh Merlin…I didn't…I said that out loud didn't I?"

She continued to mumble to herself. Harry barely caught the words: Celebrate, Odgen's, fired, and drunk.

Hermione cheerily said, "Yes. Yes you did. Harry! Tonks! Take me to bed!" With a thump, Hermione became the second female in the house to drink her self unconscious.

Harry heard Mrs. Weasley drop what she was doing and walk out of the kitchen muttering about children, alcohol, craziness, and hormones.

"I'll leave her in my room so she can get some rest," he sighed. At least someone would have some form of peace. Tonks followed him up.

"So, why were you drinking?" Tonks shrugged as they made their way up the stairs to the second floor and gave a nonchalant "Meh."

"Okay…Why don't you just buy another bottle?" He managed to open his door with the sleeping girl in his arms and gently lay her on his bed. She looked at the floor and muttered to herself.

"What was that?' he asked.

"I said I got fired." Tonks gave a sigh and climbed in behind Hermione. "And I fully intend on giving this witch hell for drinking my whiskey."

"I'm going to assume she was talking about a threesome earlier? What did you get fired for?" Hermione grumbled in her sleep, rolled to her side and faced away from them.

Tonks spooned the girl and patted the bed for him behind her. "I know you didn't sleep."

He gave her a look before shrugging. "Got nothin' to lose anyway."

Tonks turned to face him and with a crestfallen expression said, "Dereliction of duty."

Harry felt his chest tighten. "Tonks…you didn't…"

Harry was about to get up when a hand met his face, hard.

"That," she said. "Was for blaming yourself. And this," she said as she lightly pulled his face down to meet hers in a passionate kiss. "Is for caring and to prove that you have a lot to lose. I barely know you, Harry Potter, but when I care about someone, then they mean more to me than some silly job." Tonks turned back around.

"Now get comfortable and get some sleep."

(Four hours later. Approximately 1:00 PM.)

"Mmm," Tonks said. "I can get used to this." She was currently trapped between two people in a very big bed. They had turned sometime earlier and Tonks was now spooning Harry with a protective arm over him. She looked down to find an arm coming from behind her.

She felt Harry stiffen. Tonks heard a light sniff before he swiftly extracted himself from the bed and then the room. She was about to follow when the arm around her mid-section stiffened and pulled her back. She could feel the girl, no young woman, behind her quietly sobbing.

Tonks turned to face the tear streaked person behind her. She pulled Hermione into a hug and asked her what had caused him to leave.

Hermione began to cry in earnest. "Hu…huh…he's d-dying," she choked out. Tonks buried her face into her bushy hair. "And…and I d-don't t-think I can s-save him…"

"I'll help," the former auror said with resolve. "I'll help anyway I can."

(Three Hours Later, Library)

The two young women sat at the single table in the room. Mounds of books were on the table and the surrounding floor.

"This is useless," Hermione said. "I was hoping that it wouldn't come to this but…" Hermione was biting her lip. "Do you think you could sneak me out of the house?"

Tonks just looked at the younger witch.

Hermione seemed to deflate. "Right, well, didn't think so…"

"Know how to apparate?" Hermione's head shot up.

"Strictly speaking, your not supposed to know how to apparate until your of age," the younger of the two said with a smirk. "But seeing as how I'm the best friend of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley…What are a few rules to be broken?"

Hermione stood from the table and started for the door, but the ex-auror grabbed her before she could make it. "Uh uh…there little miss eager. We're doing this my way. Ever hear the term 'in cognito'?"

Hermione gave her a withering look. "I could explain its roots to you if you want."

Tonks just laughed and said, "As if I didn't already know. Now let's find our favorite green eyed wizard and borrow his favorite cloak."

They searched every room in the house that they thought he would be in but couldn't find him. They Weasley's: Molly, Arthur, Ron, and Ginny were beginning an early dinner in the kitchen with a newly arrived Remus Lupin.

"Anyone seen Harry?" Tonks questioned the group. All of them said no.

"I would say check his room," Ron said stiffly. "But the door only opens when he wants it to."

The girls nodded and walked off before they were forced to join them by the mothering Weasley woman.

They made their way to his room a second time only to find to empty.

"So…" Hermione began.

"How often does Harry do insanely crazy things that potentially endanger his life?" Tonks was staring hard at a pair of shoes beside the bed that were sticking up with their toes in the air.

Hermione sighed. "Whenever he can…I'm going to assume that the growth on the carpet is actually his hair and the shoes are still on him."

Tonks sighed, too. "Yep…I thought he wasn't supposed to do magic."

The young woman's hair darkened slightly from its usual shade pink.

Hermione's face fell when the implications sunk in. "You know?"

The ex-auror gave the girl a glare. "To top it off this looks like it was done wandlessly."

Hermione's concern grew. "Oh…you stupid, stupid hero…How can you tell? You haven't cast any spells?"

Tonks pointed to nightstand and began to move toward the trunk at the bottom of the bed. "Wand resting on nightstand, invisible boy, excluding hair and shoes on the floor, and…if you know enough about magic then you don't always need spells per se."

Hermione gave the woman a calculating look. "Your what? Twenty-five? And you mean to tell me that…"

Tonks silenced her with a glare. "Two and I have a brain, too, you know."

The girl flushed in response.

Tonks continued as she searched through the trunk. "Most 'gifts' are really just natural talent coming out and can be learned. Seeing is difficult but if you're determined is possible to learn."

"Tonks?"

"Yeah?"

"I think you're my new best friend."

Tonks straightened and closed the trunk after pulling a silvery cloak from its depths. She quirked an eyebrow in response to Hermione's statement and said with a wave to the floor, "Oh, really? What about suicidal lover boy here?"

The bushy haired witch deflated slightly. "It's not like that."

"Could have fooled me. You can't tell me you haven't thought about it."

"Harry doesn't want a girlfriend. He's to afraid they wont see him for him."

Tonks gave Hermione another glare as she guided her out of the room "Forgive the pun, but you and I both know that this boy is dieing to find someone to devote himself to."

The younger witch cast one last glance at Harry's door before they descended the staircase.

"Some young, pretty, intelligent girl with a strong moral base that would always be loyal to him…" Tonks said with a far away look.

Hermione gave Tonks a smirk before pulling the cloak over herself. "You know that you just described both of us."

"I'm six years older than him."

"We are very mature for our age. That might make up for you," came a playful disembodied voice.

The foyer door opened on its own.

Tonks stood staring at the empty entryway with a lost look and the words 'we are' echoing in her head.