A/N: First of allI want to make it perfectly clear that Harry does NOT remember Tonks. It would be ridiculous if he did. Harry doesn't even remember his parents, let alone Tonks. But you will see in this chapterthat he hasn't totally forgotten her either. ;) Enjoy!

4. An Adventurous Chat

It was almost a month before Tonks met Harry again and thankfully there wasn't a troll around this time. In fact, Tonks found the situation quite funny in the beginning.

It was near midnight and Tonks had just sneaked out of the Hufflepuff common room. Edward had tried, as always, to talk her out of it but he, as always, failed. She morphed to look like a Slytherin girl who had offended her by calling her a 'cheap slut'. Her plan was to take her form and snog a few random guys as retribution. However, she was pleasantly surprised to see a panting Harry Potter running down the corridor towards her. He came to a stop when he noticed her. "Wotcher Harry." She said happily. Instead of replying, however, Harry looked at her suspiciously. Then she realized that she still looked like that Slytherin bint. She morphed back and Harry gasped as the blond, spotty Slytherin prefect turned to a pink haired Tonks before his eyes. She smirked at his reaction.

"T..Tonks? Is that you?" he asked uncertainly.

"The one and only." she announced in a proud tone.

Harry was still shocked but he managed to put aside his surprise for a more pleasant time. "Er… right. Listen Tonks, Filch is looking for me and I'm not supposed to be out if bed at this time-"

"Filch's after you? Shit Harry, you could've warned me or something! Let's hide before his awful cat finds us." Grabbing Harry's arm, she pulled him towards a secret passageway she knew was there. She stumbled over a few times but managed to stay on her feet. They waited in the dark silence for a couple of minutes and then they went (Harry followed Tonks, that is) out of the other side of the passageway. Tonks couldn't say exactly where they were so they quietly entered the next door. Tonks unlocked the door and entered, ushering Harry to come in. When he entered, Harry froze. A giant three headed dog was looking right back at him. Slowly he nudged Tonks and when she looked at what he was pointing at, she almost fainted.

After he dragged her out of the door, Tonks came back to her senses and was about to scream but Harry put an arm on her mouth before Filch could find them. When she calmed down a bit, he removed his arm and she mouthed 'Thank you.' Nodding, he ushered her to a nearby empty classroom and released the breath he was holding. Tonks followed him into the room and slid down to the floor. Looking at her, Harry asked the first thing that came to his mind. "How did you change your face back there?"

Tonks looked at him with a disbelieving expression. "We run across a three-fucking-headed dog and you ask how I change my fucking face? Are you a freak or something?" she exclaimed.

He immediately looked down and mumbled "Sorry." Caught up in her rant, she didn't immediately notice the haunting look in his eyes but when she did, she knew she said exactly the wrong thing.

Mentally cursing her mouth, she dropped down on her knees and said in a timid voice, "Harry, I'm really sorry. I wish I could blow off my fat stupid mouth, but believe me, I didn't mean a word. I was sort of freaked out after seeing that dog and I couldn't think straight and when you asked that I went crazy. So yeah, I'm really sorry about it."

Harry looked in her eyes and saw that her apology was sincere. Quietly he said, "It's fine, Tonks."

She was a bit intrigued by his strong reaction and couldn't help asking, "Umm… Harry, can I ask you something? You don't have to answer if you don't wanna, but why were you so upset when I… er… called you a… a freak?" Seeing the look on his face she quickly added, "I just don't want that to happen again, you know."

Considering her a moment, he said in a whisper "My relatives used to call me a freak all the time. I never knew my name was Harry before I went to school."

Tonks' eyes filled with tears. How could someone be so cruel to call a child freak all the fucking time? And that was exactly what she told him. Pulling him to a tight embrace, she murmured, "I'm so sorry Harry, if I knew I would kill myself before calling you that. I can't believe I'm such a horrible person!"

He felt bad for the older girl and despite feeling awkward he patted her back in an understanding gesture. "It's okay Tonks, you didn't know and you didn't mean it either." She released him and smiled at him. "Aren't you sweet dear! So about the face changing thingy, I'm a metamorphmagus." she announced.

"Er… come again?" he asked confused.

Resisting the urge to throw in a sexual innuendo, she explained him, "It means I can change my appearance at will. For example:" she changed her hair from bubble-gum pink to violet and Harry's eyes widened.

"You know Tonks, when I was younger I used to have a dream where someone changes their hair colour. Guess I knew someone like you before… you know… my parents died."

Tonks felt like her heart would burst any moment now. He remembered! "I don't think that is the case, Harry." He gave her a questioning look. She took a deep breath and said, "You just remember me."

Harry stood shocked for a moment and then laughed. He liked Tonks. She was sincere and funny… "You're kidding, right?" his laugh faltered when he noticed Tonks wasn't laughing. He stared at her for a moment and then whispered, "You… we've met before?" she nodded, tears in her eyes.

"When we went for a visit to Sirius, I met the Potters including you. I guess mum and dad already knew Lily and James."

"Wait, who's Sirius? And you… you knew my parents?" he asked, hungry for information. "How were they? I heard that I look like my dad with my mum's eyes, but I don't know anything else about them. I didn't even know their names until Hagrid came to give me my letter. Can you tell me about them please?"

Tonks' heart melted at the look young Harry gave her. She wanted to hug him so badly, but she didn't want to make him uncomfortable. She sat down with her legs crossed and started speaking.

"Sirius is my cousin and your parents' friend. He was your godfather too. When you were one, we went to his house and met you all there. I was only five so I don't remember all the details, but I remember that I absolutely loved Lily. And you were so little and so cute" he blushed at this, but Tonks continued on. "One time your parents left you with us for a while and you practically ordered me around to keep changing my hair. Not that I minded to have such a cute baby after me." She smirked and he blushed deeper, somewhat embarrassed at his younger self's behaviour. He tried to picture a younger Tonks patiently changing hair colours for him, but he could faintly remember his old dreams which were pretty much the same except that Tonks enjoyed it as much as he did. Grinning, he asked "What was my favorite then?" Instead of answering, she turned her hair flaming red. Curious, he asked her if she knew why he preferred that instead of more childish colours. She hesitated for a moment and then said in a low voice, "It was Lily's hair. Sometimes you would jump up and down in your cot if I didn't make that hair. Lily thought it showed how much you loved her. I think James was a bit jealous, but Lily always pointed out that your first word was 'dada' so they were even," she finished with a smile.

Harry was filled with emotions.

He was unbelievably happy because he knew his parents had loved him, and they loved each other, and they were a happy family. With the Dursleys he sometimes wondered if his parents loved him at all. Why would they leave their child to people who treated him like vermin if they really loved him? Why did they have to drive while drunk? Sometimes, when it was unbearable, he wished he had died with them. At least he would get to know them that way. But now he knew his parents really loved him like any other parents, even possibly more than other parents, and they died fighting a dark wizard. He didn't know if someone could be more proud of their parents than he was.

He was also incredibly sad. His loving parents, who had a full, lovely life ahead of them, were killed because they decided to do the right thing. He, Harry, had to grow up with the Dursleys and when he did well in school, instead of being hugged by his mother or praised by his father he was slapped hard for being better than Dudley and locked in a cupboard for the weekend. And what hurt the most was he would never even know what his parents looked like. Or maybe he could…

"Tonks, can I ask you a favour?" he asked very quietly, afraid that his voice would crack any moment. "Sure Harry, name it."

"You… you remember my mum and dad's faces? Can you show me please?" Nodding slightly, Tonks screwed up her face in concentration. A moment later, the face of Lily Potter looked at Harry with a loving smile.

"Mum…" the boy whispered in wonder. Unaware of what he was doing, he reached out a hand and touched her face. Suddenly he realized it was just Tonks and he retracted his hand quickly, muttering a hasty apology, but he was cut off by a crying Tonks who was now pulling him to a fierce hug and Harry did something he'd never done before: he hugged her back and cried on her shoulder.

Both of them cried for a long time. The girl for people she loved like family and the boy for the family he never had. Eventually, they calmed down and Harry felt embarrassed to have broken down in front of a stranger… but he couldn't consider Tonks to be a stranger. She showed him how his mother looked like and told him about his parents, she sure as hell wasn't a stranger to Harry. He realized that he didn't even know Tonks' last name. A bit ashamed at his self-centeredness, he asked, "Hey Tonks, what's your last name?"

"Tonks is my last name, I don't want to be called by my first name." she replied indignantly. He was taken aback by this.

"Why'd you not want to be called by your first name?" he asked curiously.

She sighed and replied, "Because I don't like it, it's a stupid name."

He knew it was rude to pry, but his curiosity was too high. "Okay, I won't call you by it, but can you at least tell me? I don't want to feel stupid if someone refers to you by your first name and I don't know who they are talking about." He threw in a puppy dog look to make sure she told him.

Muttering something like 'could do well in Slytherin' she took a dramatic breath as if preparing to announce her own death notice, and grumbled, "Nymphadora Tonks."

The expected laughter or snigger didn't come. She opened her eyes to see Harry looking at her curiously. He asked after a moment, "That's actually a nice name. What does it mean?"

Surprised and pleased with his positive reaction, she said, "It means Gift from the Nymphs."

"That's kind of fitting. I never felt so much happy when you showed me mum's face. I think you really are a gift, for me at least." He said, smiling. Tonks' had a grin that threatened to stretch her face permanently. She bent down and kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly.

"Thanks Harry, it really means a lot to me. But still, don't call me Nymphadora. Okay?" he nodded. He really liked Tonks a lot.

"Now, to business. Why were you roaming around the castle after midnight?" she asked, trying to look stern, but the smile at the corner of her mouth ruined the image. When Harry pointed out that she was out too, she huffed and glared at him. Sighing, he admitted that Draco Malfoy challenged him for a wizard's duel at midnight in the Trophy Room. Half expecting a mild scolding or something, Harry was pleasantly surprised to see Tonks looking proudly at him. "Way to go Harry! You're finally starting to break the curfew. I'm so proud of little Harrikins." She dramatically wiped away a fake tear.

Together they laughed for a while before Harry remembered the three-headed dog. They wondered what it was doing there, each guess wilder than the other. Finally, they agreed that it was getting late and both needed to get back to their beds. They had small conversations about Hogwarts, studies, teachers. Harry learnt that Tonks was particularly good at DefenseAgainst the Dark Arts, but they both agreed Quirrel was a worthless pile of crap (well, Tonks said that and Harry agreed that he was a bad teacher). When they reached a trick stair, Tonks didn't notice and was stuck. Harry helped her out for which Tonks kissed his cheeks and declared that Harry was her hero which made Harry blush and Tonks, busy laughing at him, tripped on a stair and now it was Harry's turn to laugh as Tonks just pouted.

When they reached at the base of the two staircases leading to the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff common rooms, Harry said, "You know Tonks, you shouldn't hate your first name like that, it's a part of who you are."

"But it's stupid" she said stubbornly.

"It's not stupid. But if it upsets you, how about we call you Dora for now?"

The words hit her like a speeding truck.

A/N: I enjoyed writing this chapter. Perhaps you would be kind and let me know how you feel about it, what you liked and what you didn't? A review would be great!