2. First Day

"Potter, Harry."

"Did she say Potter?"

"Is it Harry Potter?"

"Oh my God, Harry Potter?"

"Seriously, it's Potter?"

"He's scrawny!" a girl complained.

"I don't believe it, it's Harry Potter!" another exclaimed.

"Blimey, Harry Potter!" a boy said nervously.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted.

The cheers that came from the Gryffindor table were ear-splitting. The Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and even some Slytherins looked disappointed.

"Tonks?"

No response.

"Tonksie-Wonksie?"

No response.

"Oi mate! What's the matter with you?"

Tonks turned around. Edward Becker, one of her best mates, was watching her impatiently. She didn't put up any fake expressions to fool Edward. Instead, she smiled sadly and said "He looks a lot like his father, y'know."

"You knew the Potters?" Edward asked with astonishment. He had been friends with her since their first week at Hogwarts but she never mentioned the Potters, as far as he recalled.

"Yeah. They were great people, especially Lily. She was beautiful and amazing. You couldn't meet her and not love her. And James loved her to the point of a fault. They were such a nice couple... Poor Harry." Her voice was almost a whisper now. Edward leaned in to hear her words properly. Tonks just put her head on his shoulder and sniffed sadly, dabbing at her eyes. Awkwardly, Edward freed an arm and put it around Tonks to pat her arms. Inside, he was totally befuddled. Tonks was never the type to cry. Over the four years of knowing her, he never saw her cry. If she was very upset, she brooded for a while and then went up to her dormitory to "let out the heat". These incidents were rather rare, and took place no more than twice or thrice a year. Usually Tonks was loud, dynamic and a little over enthusiastic at times. She devoted a big part of her time to causing mischief and getting away with it. She also happened to possess an extraordinarily nasty mouth and could make sailors blush during one of her rants. She blamed it on "being a Black", but didn't seem too bothered to change her habits. However, this Tonks was totally new to Edward. He guessed she was somehow related to the Potters, considering that seeing their son evoked such a reaction from her.

"What's the matter honey?" Hestia Jones, her other best friend asked quietly. Unlike Edward she had seen Tonks crying before (though never in public). It was extremely rare, but Tonks was a girl after all. A lot of people, especially Slytherins, picked on her and even insulted her for her rare ability. Tonks always got her revenge, ironically using the same talent they hated so much. No one threw shit at Tonks and got away with it, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Metamorphmagus or not, she was human.

"Tell ya later" Tonks said in a raspy voice and managed a small but genuine smile at her. Hestia and Edward exchanged significant looks; they needed to talk. In the meantime, Tonks managed to recover a bit and quietly started eating.

Meanwhile, at the Gryffindor table (which was the loudest as usual) Harry Potter was sitting between Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom, who he befriended on the Hogwarts Express. He liked both of them despite that Hermione and Neville were completely opposite (Hermione was a muggleborn, smart and somewhat bossy girl, while Neville was pureblood, a bit dim and seemed scared even of his toad). Further down the table, two redheaded twins were boisterously chatting with everyone nearby. A burly fifth or sixth year was boasting about the new broom he got over the summer; another redheaded first year, who looked a bit like the twins, was shoving food down his throat like there was no tomorrow. Beside him, two first year girls wrinkled their noses in disgust. The Gryffindor ghost was demonstrating how he was 'Nearly Headless' to a pair of first year boys. Harry was watching all of this lazily when he had the feeling that someone was watching him. Half expecting to see a crazy fan girl drooling (no, he's not being arrogant, he just got it a lot within the half an hour he was inside the castle) or something similar, he met two pairs of eyes. The first belonged to a blond Slytherin.

Harry's first meeting with Draco Malfoy had not been pleasant. For Malfoy, that is. The blond ponce, flanked by two faithful cronies, strutted into their compartment, insulted both Neville and Hermione (for brains and blood respectively) and held out his hand to Harry like he expected Harry to feel honoured and become his friend immediately. When Harry voiced his opinions about Malfoy, needless to say, he did not take it gracefully and settled for insulting all of them. That is when Harry had an idea.

"Hey Malfoy,"

"What Potter?" Draco sneered.

"You know that the headmaster appoints spies amongst students to watch out for potential troublemakers, don't you?" Harry said with a smirk. Malfoy's eyes widened; he knew nothing of that sort. Was it possible that either Potter or the mudblood was a spy? He decided not to risk it.

"Y...yeah, I mean of course I knew that Potter! How could I not have known? My father was one." He improvised in an attempt to intimidate Potter a bit. Harry was strained from trying to keep a straight face.

"Ahh... then you will know what I mean when I say it's not advisable to be in the bad graces of certain students." He subtly took a glance at Hermione (who tried to look like the story wasn't anything new to her). Malfoy noticed the glance and with an alarmed look, almost ran away from the compartment, Crabbe and Goyle followed stupidly. Waiting for a moment to make sure they were really gone, Harry burst out laughing and Hermione joined him. Neville, on the other hand, didn't get the joke and was nervously eyeing Hermione as if she would suddenly declare him unfit for attending Hogwarts. Seeing his discomfort, Harry explained that there weren't really anything like spies on the train and that he pulled that out of his arse to get rid of Malfoy. Neville visibly relaxed and joined in the laughter.

Draco, immediately after settling in the Slytherin table, asked a prefect if there were spies on the Hogwarts Express, but the prefect simply laughed. "Kids these days will believe anything you say" he said as Draco's face was flushed from embarrassment and anger. He kept glaring at the Gryffindor Scarhead with loathsome eyes.

Draco's glare did not affect Harry. He could almost hear Malfoy's mind screaming for revenge, and he decided he'd face it when he had to. So he turned his attention to the other pair of eyes that were on his back for quite a time. The girl was a Hufflepuff, probably fourth year. The most noticeable aspect of her appearance was her violet hair. It reminded him of some new fashion among muggle teenagers that his Uncle thoroughly voiced his disgust at. At first Harry thought she was one of the numerous students who were goggling at his scar, but something told him that wasn't the case. Her face had a sad look that confused Harry. It was quite unsettling, like he was supposed to know something but he simply forgot it. His thoughts were interrupted by Dumbledore's closing speech and after singing the school song, they all went to their respective dorm rooms, where Harry met his roommates Ronald Weasley (The Boy Who Ate), Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. He was already friends with Neville, so all his dorm mates were pretty friendly, though they all peeked at his scar when they thought he wasn't looking. All in all, when he climbed into his four-poster bed in a magical castle hundreds of miles away from the Dursleys, he felt that he was, for the first time in years, at home.

The next day was, in a single word, chaotic. Harry couldn't find the way to his classes, and it didn't help that Hermione was informing him of the traps and trick stairs all around the castle (Harry was sure that Hermione's roommates had to listen to her reciting extracts from Hogwarts: A History in her sleep). After a disgusting Potions class (why did Snape hate him so much?), a tricky Charms class and an extremely difficult Transfiguration class, followed by a quick lunch (it had been a great accomplishment to have finally reached the Great Hall), they were off to their flying lesson.

Tonks was in her Charms class when Professor McGonagall entered and took away Oliver Wood. Before the door closed, Tonks caught a glimpse of a very scared looking Harry Potter standing behind the head of Gryffindor. She wondered why McGonagall wanted Wood to meet Harry. She could think of only quidditch where Wood was concerned, but how would that involve Harry? He was a first year who'd just started. Did he even know how to play quidditch?

Her musings were interrupted by the tiny Charms Professor. "Miss Tonks, let's see your cup then." Startled, she looked at the cup. She was supposed to make it dance. Waving her wand, she shouted the incantation. However, instead of dancing, the cup jumped from her desk and smashed on the floor.

Oh bugger.

Dinner at Great Hall was never a quiet affair and today was no different. It was just another evening for the students of Hogwarts who were having a great dinner after an exhausting weekday. A certain raven-haired wizard, however, was feeling quite dizzy with excitement. He was recruited to the Gryffindor quidditch team as a Seeker, not to mention the youngest one in the century. Neville and Hermione were both surprised, to say the least. Neville was in the Hospital wing when he outflew Malfoy and was eventually seen by McGonagall, but Ron's detailed description caused poor Nev to stare at Harry in awe. Hermione, on the other hand, was being a right pain in the arse. He loved that girl, no doubt, but she had a tunnel mind when it came to rules and regulations. She did not understand that losing a few points was far better than losing one's pride. She still thought it was wrong of Harry to fly after Malfoy after Madam Hooch clearly forbade them to. It wasn't until Harry asked if she'd rather he was in detention instead of having dinner that she left him alone. The Weasley twins came and congratulated him quietly and three other girls, led by Oliver Wood, came towards him and introduced themselves. Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet were, apparently, his teammates. When they went back to their seats, Harry felt a sense of happiness. He really loved flying and his teammates looked quite friendly. Quidditch is going to be awesome!

His happy thoughts were interrupted when Hermione nudged his side. He looked at her questioningly and she leaned towards him to whisper, "You don't happen to know that pink haired girl from the Hufflepuff table, do you? She seemed very interested in your movements." Harry looked at the girl, who was looking anywhere but at Harry. Her looks just screamed 'I was looking at you until you looked back and now I'm pretending that I did not look at you.' Harry felt he had seen her somewhere, but he did not remember seeing anyone with pink hair at Hogwarts. Then suddenly he realized that this girl looked awfully similar to the one staring at him at the opening feast. Talking of which, he couldn't see the violet haired girl anywhere on the table. Maybe they were twins, he thought, like the Weasleys and Patils. It still did not explain why there was only one of them at a time. Shrugging to himself, he turned his attention back to his food.

On the next table, Tonks was cursing herself. She had gone back to staring at Harry and was caught almost red-handed in the act. She saw Harry frown at her and then return to his dinner. She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. He probably thought she was a stalker.

Fucking great!

Harry considers you a stalker now. Good job Nymphadora, have a biscuit.

Her sour mood thankfully didn't last long. A deep voice called from her back. "Hey, Tonks."

Eddie Carmichael was standing with a grin. She smiled back brightly. "Wotcher Eddie. What's up?"

Eddie offered an easy smile and replied, "Yeah, all fine. So how was your summer? Did something crazy?"

Tonks laughed and said "You bet I did. What about your summer?"

"It was okay, nothing special. Listen, you know there's a Hosgmeade weekend later this month?" She nodded and he resumed. "I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?"

Tonks offered another bright smile and replied "Sure, why not? It's a date then. What hair would you like?"

Eddie snickered and replied "Veela blonde would be nice if you don't mind."

Tonks mock-glared at him and growled "Careful, Carmichael. Just because I agreed to a date doesn't mean I can't hex the hair off your head. Laughing at his slightly alarmed expression, she waved at him and paid full attention towards the plate in front of her. Well, at least something went right today.

With that thought in her mind, she reached for her goblet and accidentally knocked it over her plate. As Edward chuckled beside her, she scowled at the offending goblet.

A/N: I apologize if the chapter seems rushed. I didn't want to waste time in already-known events. Review please?