Bella Tonks

Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of JK Rowling

Author's Notes: Eh, fudged the time line some, so Nymphadora Tonks is just a year younger.

"Avada Kedavra!" There was a flash of sickly green, as the sound of a body hit the floor. "Ah, and one less blood traitor in the world, would you agree, my dear Bellatrix?"

Stepping over the rapidly cooling body of James Potter, the man known as Voldemort offered a cold, twisted smile to the pale, but determined form of the newly widowed Lily Potter. Behind him, an eagerly grinning woman, almost a decade older than Lily followed the first man. Dark, wicked eyes gleamed with sadistic glee as she looked down at defiant woman.

"Yes, my Lord," the dark haired woman agreed eagerly, before her lips twisted down into a slow slight pout of disappointment. "But I didn't get to listen to him scream first."

"Plenty of that later, my dear." Voldemort spoke with a magnanimous gesture, his free hand sweeping back as he kept his wand leveled at the witch. "After we deal with the boy…"

Pausing a moment, he drew his lips back into a cold, thin smirk, eyes glinting in cool, sadistic delight. "I'm feeling generous tonight, little mudblood. All I'm interested in is the boy, in fact, I'll even leave you with enough to give the little halfblood and your blood traitor husband a proper burial."

"I'll Never Give you Harry!" Lily hissed her words out as she stood protectively over her son, wand gripped with white knuckles in her hand.

"And this, my dear Bellatrix, goes to show you, why we have to get rid of these filthy little creatures." The man sniffed disdainfully as he looked down at the defiant woman. "Give them a chance at mercy, and what do they do? They refuse it."

"Yes, My Lord!" Bellatrix hissed eagerly as slowly the baby began to cry out in his crib, while the elder witch thrust her twisting wand at Lily. "Shall I play with her some? Make her scream before she dies?"

"In a bit, my dear… in a bit." Voldemort paused, acting as if the furious, tear stained woman before him was nothing worth any consequence, "But first… Avada Kedavra!"

"NO!" That single word was screamed into the night, a defiance that sang with primal magics into the air. There was no spell, no incantation, no flick of her wand, only pure, wild magic responding to a single, selfless need: To keep her son safe.

In an instant a shout of triumph became a scream of surprise, of disbelief as a primal wave of magic erupted through the air. A life in its prime was freely offered up to the essence of magic itself, with only that one request. It tore through the body of the self styled Dark Lord, destroying his body, banishing away his soul before the disbelieving eyes of his most devoted follower. But the magic did not stop there, magic saturated the air, pulsing, screaming out as it churned around the crying boy.

Her lips drawn back into a disbelieving sneer, Bellatrix LeStrange Nee Black, approached the mewling child, his brow decorated in a single bloodied mark. Hissing more animal than human, she raised her wand and leveled it at the boy. It was then, as the boy released another keening wail into the air, that the magic reacted to his cry, and his mother's intent and struck.

A blinding light engulfed the room, and when it faded, the form of Bellatrix LeStrange no longer remained. Instead, squirming helplessly in the crib, a second, dark haired child cried in unison with the first. Each clinging slightly to the other as the boy's simple, instinctive urge to not be alone, and the raw magical energies in the air had reacted. It would be in this position, that Rubeus Hagrid discovered them both.

-o-o-

"Albus…" Minerva McGonagall's voice was soft as she looked over at the bearded wizard next to her. "I've heard…"

"It has been a most… eventful evening, Minerva." The Headmaster of Hogwarts spoke in a soft, subdued voice as he looked out across Privet drive. "Events of so many different kinds… Good, Ill, Unexplained, and even most Perplexing."

"Then, it's true that You-Know-Who is dead?" The stern woman's voice quavered slightly as she turned her head looking at the man next to her.

"Gone for the time, at a great cost, yes," Albus Dumbledore agreed, his eyes distant for a moment, before he continued in a soft, weighted tone. "James and Lily Potter were found dead at Godric's Hollow. Lily draped over her son's crib, Voldemort's body destroyed body a distance away."

Minerva gasped softly at the news, her eyes glistening immediately at the news of her former students' deaths. Forcing down the lump in her throat, she slowly dared her question. "And Harry?"

"He was found, safe, save for a wound on his brow," Dumbledore responded, his eyes growing distant for a moment before he continued. "But, it was most peculiar, he was found in his crib, next to another child, a girl, the same age as he is, with dark eyes and dark hair."

"The Potters only had one child!" The woman's voice immediately rose in surprised protest. "And I can't imagine either of them exposing another child to such danger…"

"Indeed," he immediately agreed. "However, the perplexing thing, were the empty robes, a woman's robes in fact, found on the scene. Along with the wand of one Bellatrix LeStrange. Yet, there was no sign of the woman herself, save…"

As the Headmaster's voice trailed off purposely, his eyes met her own as she gasped in surprise. "Surely you don't mean…"

"Yes, and no." Dumbledore responded, his words soft as the slipped past his lips. "Physically, she is Bellatrix. And yet, her mind is that of an innocent, a child no older than Harry himself. There is... something between them. Whatever was done, was pure, primal, unfocused. A wave that left nothing but muddied waters in its wake."

"What have you done with her?" There was a touch of uncertainty in the woman's voice as she eyed the man next to her with an uneasy wariness.

"She is being left in the care of someone suitable," Albus responded with a slight cryptic smile before he offered the woman a teasing wink, "Bellatrix Tonks has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"Oh, poor Andromeda." The woman struggled to keep her face straight at the irony of the situation. The cast out Black sister, raising her older, proper pureblood sister with her muggleborn husband. "I hear young Nymphadora is already quite the handful."

"I have every confidence that she can help to raise young Bellatrix to be an equal handful," the Headmaster held back a quirking smile from his lips as he responded airily.

"Are as certain that we should be leaving Harry here though?" The woman made a distinctly unpleasant face as she looked back across Privet Drive. "Those people... I've been watching them, Albus, they're the worse kind of muggles."

"They are the only family he has left, Minerva," the man chided softly, before pausing before he continued. "Would you rather cost him his chance at a normal life? In the wizarding world, they're already talking about proclaiming this to be 'Harry Potter' day."

"I know it's just… I watched their son, chasing and screaming at his mother, kicking at her down the street for sweets. I can't imagine the kind of life Harry might have."

"It is for the best, Minerva," Dumbledore responded with a soft, subdued voice as he lightly lay his hand on her shoulder. "It is for the best."

So, they stood there, talking quietly into the night, until the massive form of Rubeus Hagrid appeared, bearing two children in his massive arms. The boy, was left there, a letter on the basket in which he was lain. The girl, found herself taken to another home, presented to a bewildered couple with wide, disbelieving eyes.

It would be nearly ten years before the two again would meet.

-September 1st, 1991-

As Harry Potter walked down the length of the train, his eyes wide and bewildered as he still couldn't quite believe just how things had been panning out. Still, as he searched for a quiet, empty cabin to settle in, he felt a sudden, strangely familiar tug. A slight, gentle thing, it was more a feeling than anything, leading him to one of the compartments, where he shyly stuck his head inside and carefully looked about.

"Um, hi…" His voice was soft as he spoke, eyes still wide as he caught sight of a pair of girls, one his age, the other a good six years older. "Is… This compartment all spoken for? I, err…"

"Wotcher!" the elder girl spoke up, her eyes dancing playfully on her round, heart shaped face as her hair shifted to a brilliant bubblegum pink, "And nah, just me and the squirt here. Feel free to come in."

"Thanks." The boy smiled eagerly as he slipped into the compartment then collapsed on the seat. "Sorry, I'm still getting used to all this."

"Ah, muggleborn?" the younger girl asked, her dark eyes shining playfully before she stuck her hand out. "Bella Tonks, and the walking gumball next to me is my big sis, Nymphadora." Ignoring the glare her sister gave her the girl continued. "Just call her Nym. Or, Nymmie if you want to get on her nerves."

"Uh, not exactly, more… muggle raised I guess?" Harry responded with a slight shrug and a bit of a grin as he shook the girl's hand. "They tell me my mum and dad were magical, but, I never knew em. My name's Harry."

"Harry?" The girl dubbed Nym blinked a moment, before peering a bit closer at the boy before her eyes suddenly widened. "As in Harry Potter?"

"Uh, yeah…" The boy shifted slightly, obviously uncomfortable as he reached up, adjusting his cracked and damaged glasses. "Still getting used to all that…"

"Eh, don't worry about it." Bella spoke up, waving her hand dismissively with an impish grin on her lips. "Mum used to tell us about you, and your parents. Well, more your parents than you. No one would tell her what happened to you."

"She knew my parents?" Harry stared back at the girls, his eyes wide. "My aunt and uncle… They didn't really like them much."

"Don't see why not." Nym huffed slightly as she crossed her arms about her chest. "They were great to be around. Lotsa smiles and laughs, especially your dad." The girl paused a moment before looking down at Harry's face, her nose scrunching slightly. "Want me to fix up those glasses for you?"

"You can do that?" The boy's eyes grew even further before he quickly bobbed his head. "That'd be brilliant!'

"Eh, Nym's great at fixing things." Bella's lips quirked slightly before she leaned in, whispering against Harry's ear. "She has to be with how often she breaks em."

"Brat." The older sister grumbled slightly as she pulled out her wand, then made a slight flick and a gesture towards Harry's glasses, the cracked, taped up frames repairing instantly. "There you go!"

"Thanks." The boy smiled softly before he would look carefully at the older girl. "So, you knew my parents?"

"Mum's cousin was good friends with em, introduced us." The girl responded back, looking out the window for a moment. "They got along pretty well, probably considering how similar things were. Not too often that a pureblood marries a muggleborn."

"Dad's the muggleborn in our family, and he made sure we got great taste of it," Bella whispered conspiratorially to Harry. "He even got Mum addicted to going to the movies."

"Dad and your mum used to love to tease Mum and your dad about all the stuff they didn't know about the muggle world," Nym responded, before frowning slightly and shrugging. "At least, I think… Been a long, long time."

"Yeah yeah, we know Nymmie," Bella teased at her older sister. "You're positively ancient! I bet you're hiding your wrinkles and grey hairs under there!"

"Brat!" the girl responded before smirking as she shot her sister with a tickling hex. "You forgot, I can do magic here, which means I can hex you into next week!"

"Eeek!" Bella was giggling madly as she twitched and turned. "Nyyyyyymmmmmmie! Hehehe! Stop it!"

Harry watched the sisters with a smile of amusement on his lips as he leaned back against the seat. The laughter in their eyes and the smiles on their lips, it was a wondrous thing to him. Suddenly then, the door to the compartment flashed open and a pair of voices could be heard.

"TONKSIE!"

Cancelling the tickling hex on her sister, Nym looked up with an arch of her brow, as she beheld the red headed twins Harry had seen earlier that day, "Oi, what're you two trouble makers doing here?"

"What we can't-"

"-come and visit-"

"-our favorite-"

"Hufflepuff?" The twins shot back in a rapid back and forth succession.

"Harry, Bella, these two deliquents are the Weasley Twins, Fred and George," Nym said with a smirk. "The biggest trouble makers the school's known since the Marauders."

"Hallowed be-"

"-their names!" The twins responded reverently.

"Gred, Forge, this is my little sister Bella, and Harry." There was a sudden flash of red in the older girl's eyes as she glared down at the third year twins. "They're both off-limits."

"Well, we understand sweet, innocent, pure little Bella here…" one of the twins began, before giving the black haired girl a knowing wink. "But, what brings the out the legendary Tonks protective streak for this other ickle firstie. What do you think, Fred?"

"Well, it's a bit perplexing I'll admit," the second twin agreed, before blinking slightly. "Wait, I thought I was George? It's your day to be Fred."

"Is it? I can never quite remember honestly," the first twin admitted with a grin, before he leaned down, studying a nervous looking Harry. "Now, what do we have here, hmm? Black, messy hair, brilliant green eyes, glasses…Hmhmhm… Well, my good George, I do believe we have ourselves a bit of a…"

"Ahem." Nym coughed pointedly into her hand then glared at the two. "Harry's an old family friend. And my mother would be most displeased if anything happened to him."

Instantly the two pranksters paled, visibly , before they both immediately took to nodding their heads, speaking as one. "Whatever you say, Tonksie!"

"Nym just loves to boss people around for a change." Bella whispered to Harry as she snuck up next to him, her eyes glittering playfully as she pulled out her wand. "Watch this."

Her face scrunching up in concentration, the tip of her tongue poked out slightly from the corner of her mouth, the girl whispered something under her breath and gestured towards the twins with her wand. Instantly the two redheads were matching Nym's bright bubblegum pink hair color. Giggling softly, Bella winked at hair before quickly stowing her wand.

Nym's lips twitched slightly before she let off a soft giggle as she looked at the two third years. "That, and it's for your own protection really. Bella's a devious little brat."

"George, did we decide we were going to come as a matching set to Tonksie here?" One of the twins spoke up as he looked at his brother's head.

"No, Fred, I don't believe we did." George responded back, looking over his own brother. "Did you see her cast a spell?"

"Not a one," Fred responded with a sage nod of his head. "It would seem, we may have a protégé or two to work with this year."

"All we have to worry about is her ending up a snake," George agreed nodding his head.

"Indeed, then we'd REALLY be in trouble."

Bella simply smiled a brilliant, innocent little smile back at the two, while Harry grinned softly and spoke up. "So, um, what house are you two in?"

"Gryffindor!" They spoke in unison, grinning back at the boy before flopping down into the seat next to Nym. "What house does the ickle Tonksie think she's going to?"

"It's Bella," the girl shot back, lips quirking back into a slight smirk. "And probably Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. Can't see myself with my nose stuck in a book like a Ravenclaw, and no way I wanna be stuck in Slytherin with those stuck up ponces."

"Ah?" Harry blinked in surprise as he heard the vehemence in Bella's words.

"Don't mind Bella," Nym said with a wave of her hand. "She just had her first exposure to the Malfoys this summer."

"Ah." Harry nodded in understanding as he recalled his own brief encounter with a certain blonde boy.

"So, it's true then," a snide voice called out, and as if summoned by his name, Draco Malfoy filled the doorway in all his 11 year old glory, "Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts."

Glancing around the compartment, the boy sneered down at collection of people before him. "If I were you, Potter, I'd be more careful about the friends I made. Fools and poor blood traitors will…"

Whatever else the boy might've said, was cut off by four bursts of magic from four different wands. As he was thrown back across the hallway, Draco's hair turned a shocking neon pink, even brighter than that of the compartment's occupants while his robes changed color to match. A moment later, those robes shifted and shrank, suddenly appearing several sizes too small for the boy. The final bit, however, ended with his nose, mouth, and ears being replaced by those of a pig.

"Cousin," Nym's voice dripped coldly as she glared down at the boy, "You really do need to learn how to properly make friends. Now, run along."

As Draco scrambled off with wide eyes, Harry blinked in shock before staring at the girl. "He's your cousin?"

Nym and Bella both grimaced before replying simultaneously, "Unfortunately."

"I know the feeling," Harry responded as his thoughts drifted to Dudley and he shivered slightly.

-o-O-o-