7. Worried

Harry sat on his bed, feeling dejected. Two weeks have passed after he came back to Privet Drive, but there wasn't any word from his friends. He expected Tonks and Susan to write to him, but they didn't. After one week, he wrote to them but they didn't bother to reply. An irate Hedwig came back without a reply and making a huge racket, but he was too miserable to care. He wondered if Mrs. Tonks would indeed come to get him after one week. He didn't want to imagine what the Dursleys would do if she didn't show up.

The Dursleys weren't tormenting him anymore. They were ignoring him, which was far better than anything else, but after a year of magic, adventure and being close to friends, staying in his room was driving him insane. Dudley avoided him like plague. He was really looking forward to drop subtle hints about setting his room on fire or turning him to a pig, but he failed to show his face to Harry for more than three seconds in one go. Harry suspected Petunia warned him to stay away from Harry or maybe he saw what happened to his father's hand and just took the hint. Who knew?

He was staring at the bushes, wallowing in his own misery, when he noticed that it was staring back!

"Who is it? Show yourself!" he said with more courage than he felt.

"It is Dobby sir, Dobby the house elf." A creature appeared in front of him and introduced itself.

After ten minutes, a disbelieving and annoyed Harry was still arguing with Dobby.

"I don't care what you do Dobby, I will go back to Hogwarts, and you better give my letters back. I really hate people who try to stand between my friends and me." He said heatedly. The elf looked miserable.

"Dobby has no other choice Harry Potter sir. Dobby must do this for Harry Potter's own safety. Sir must not go back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." With that, Dobby clicked his fingers and to his horror, his trunk was on fire.

"Dobby is sorry, Harry Potter sir, but this was for Harry Potter's own good."

How he anticipated Dobby's next move or how he timed his own move impeccably, he didn't know, but with a skill that would make any seeker jealous, he snatched the letters out of Dobby's hand just as the elf clicked his own fingers and disappeared with a loud CRACK!

He didn't have time to glance at the letters or his burning trunk before he heard a POP sound behind him.

Mrs. Tonks was standing behind him and before he could say anything, she waved her hand and put out the fire. Then she turned towards Harry and asked in a slightly irritated voice, "What's going on here?"

Before Harry could explain anything, a barn owl came zooming in and dropped an official letter in Harry's lap. He opened the seal, which said 'MoM' and took out the letter. It gave him warning about using underage magic and said that doing it again would throw him out of Hogwarts. He looked pathetically at the woman who was still waiting for an explanation. Sighing, he started his story.

After ten minutes, Andromeda Tonks was furious. She had been worried sick about the boy for two weeks. Not just he had ignored Dora's letters, he didn't reply to his other friends' letters as well. She knew this because Susan Bones and Hermione Granger have written to Dora, expressing their concerns about Harry. She wanted to come and check on Harry many times, but Ted had stopped her. "Maybe he's busy or going through shock after such an adventurous year." He would say. But after two weeks, she couldn't stand it anymore. When she appeared in his room and saw him holding a bunch of letters, she felt annoyed. He had the letters and didn't even open them? And why on earth did he set his own trunk on fire? Was he touched in head? But after hearing the explanation, she felt furious at the filthy house elf. She was sure that it was sent by someone to scare away Harry or get him out of their way. Maybe it was a rival in the school, trying to get one over him. Taking a deep breath, she reigned in her temper and decided what to do. First she would deal with the ministry. She had a friend who could check the boy's wand and clear his name.

She apparated back home to find her daughter waiting for her anxiously. As soon as she saw her mother, she asked her, "What happened to him? Is he alright?"

Grabbing a quill and parchment, she scribbled a letter and sent it with the family owl before answering. "Yes, he is fine. It's a long story and I have to run before he is in more trouble. I'll explain as soon as I come home." With that, she disapparated with a POP.

Tonks sighed. For the last few days, she had been worried about Harry. She sent a letter just the day after they came home. Their owl Walter returned without a reply, though it looked irritated. She told herself that maybe Harry was busy and would reply later. After a week, she began to worry. Was it possible that Walter didn't deliver the letter properly? She didn't want to think that something bad might have happened to Harry. But unfortunately, Harry had a habit of attracting trouble to himself. When she received Susan and Hermione's letter, asking about Harry's lack of response, she became restless. What the fuck happened to him?

Now, her mother came back from his place and said that he was alright, but it still didn't calm her nerves. Damn Harry Potter! That boy is going to be the death of me.

While she was waiting for her mother, she noticed a white speck in the sky. Was it…

"Hedwig?" she shouted and immediately jumped on her feet. The snowy owl landed on her extended hands and she scratched her feathers where she assumed it would be comfortable. Hedwig hooted happily at the attention she was receiving. Harry has spoiled her. She thought fondly as she opened the letter.

Dear Dora,

How are you? Did you miss me? I know I missed you a lot. You are probably wondering why I am replying now. Thing is I got all the letters just an hour ago. Ask Mrs. Tonks, she will explain. Meanwhile, what have you been doing? The Dursleys are treating me fine, your mum's threat worked! Not that I'm surprised. Did you get your OWLs result? Reading your second letter, I guess you were worried about me. I'm really sorry. If I could, I would have replied as soon as I received the letter. I even sent one in the third day, but as I understand, it didn't reach you. It wasn't Hedwig's fault, just ask Mrs. Tonks. When I sent my letter and didn't get a reply, I became upset and wondered why weren't you replying. I know I was being stupid. How can my favourite girl ignore my letters? I'm looking forward to next week when I can get out of this place and see you again. Hope you are well.

Yours,

Harry.

A smile tugged on the corner of her lips. At least he was okay. She was a bit mad at him, though. Why did she have to wait for her mother to know what happened to Harry? Pouting a bit, she grabbed a quill and parchment and started to write her reply.

Harry,

I missed you like hell, sweetheart. And yes, I was worried about you, a lot. When Herm and Sue said they didn't get a reply either, I told mum. She pretended to be cool and calm but I know she was worried sick about you. Though I did kinda bit her head off, asking about you several times a day and what not.

No, my OWLs results aren't out yet. Remind me to spank you for reminding me of that blasted OWLs result again. Hestia has been here for a day, we had some nice girl time together but it was fun getting her to talk about Edward. Can you believe that they actually went to Madam Puddifoot's and afterwards they… okay, I'm not going to torture you by giving away the details of their activities, I have a feeling you won't appreciate it properly. Anyhow, mum's here so I'll go and pester her until she tells me everything. Take care, babe.

With love,

N. Tonks

Susan Bones was sitting under 'her tree'. She used to come here all the time since she could remember. Sometimes she just sat there, sometimes she fell asleep here and sometimes she would sing to herself. It was her own little world. No one bothered her when she was here.

Currently, she was pondering over a certain raven haired boy. One might think she had a crush on the boy, but that was not the case. Harry was more like a brother than anything else and she was sure Harry felt the same way about her. However, Harry wasn't answering his mail and that had her worried. At first she thought, with a pang of sadness, that maybe Harry hasn't opened her letter yet, maybe he is busy. But after ten days has passed without a response, she wrote to Tonks. Harry was more likely to keep up correspondence with the older girl. When Tonks said that her mail wasn't answered either, she was really worried. She didn't know much about Harry's home life, but what she gathered from his second-hand clothes and malnourished physique, it couldn't be very pleasant.

As she was deep in thoughts, our favourite snowy owl landed beside the red headed girl. Seeing no response from his owner's human friend, she let out an impatient hoot. Harry had work for her. She couldn't afford to wait all day.

Susan jumped in surprise. She turned to glare at the offending creature, but her frown dissolved quickly as she saw the beautiful white owl looking back at her.

"Aren't you a beautiful bird! I envy the person who owns you. You have a letter for me? From whom is it?"

Quite mollified at being praised, Hedwig stuck out her leg ad allowed Susan to untie the letter. As soon as she got rid of the letter, she flew off before the girl could even see who the letter was from. Carefully, she took out the letter from the envelope and looked at the name.

Harry.

A wave of relief washed over her. Without wasting any more time, she started reading.

Dear Sue,

How are you? First of all, I'm sorry. I know you were worried about me (Tonks told me about your letter) and I'm so sorry about that. But I promise it wasn't my fault. From what I have learnt a few hours back, a house elf has been intercepting my letters. I know it sounds crazy, but then again, I should probably get accustomed to crazy stuff as I clearly don't do normal.

As I was saying, I got all your letters a few hours back and let me tell you I had to literally snatch them out of a disappearing house elf's hand. I admit, I was quite disappointed when I didn't get a letter from anyone, but I should've known better than to think you have forgotten me. Once again, I'm sorry. To answer your questions, my summer was okay. My relatives have been ignoring me, which is the nicest thing they have done in a while. You might already know that my relatives aren't the nicest people alive and maybe you are wondering why they are being nice now. Well, it was mainly because Mrs. Tonks scared them out of their wits. (That isn't saying too much considering that my relatives are quite lacking in wit, kind of anti-Ravenclaw, really) I'll tell you the details when I meet you again. My owl Hedwig must have disappeared as soon as she delivered the letter. Don't get offended by it. I asked her not to wait because I have to send a detailed update to Hermione about my progresses in my homework. I swear that girl would marry a bookshelf if she had her way. Anyways, I'll stop now. Hope to see you soon. Send my best to Sam.

Yours,

Harry

Smiling, Susan went back to the manor, feeling lighter than she felt all summer. Harry was alright and he was even joking. She poked an unsuspecting Sam on her way, causing him to squeal in surprise. She didn't bother to look back. She had a letter to write.

Meanwhile, at Number Four, Privet Drive, Albus Dumbledore was processing the information provided by Harry Potter and a slightly angry Andromeda Tonks. Truth be told, he was a bit scared of the woman. He had seen the Black sisters in school and if his information was correct, Andromeda was the scariest of the three. She didn't just show it often. He knew she was still mad at him for not being able to take Harry in and he hoped this mess wouldn't cause her to lose her temper. Bellatrix was a formidable opponent. He didn't want to evaluate an angry Andromeda's dueling skills.

"I admit I don't know any house elf called Dobby. Of course that doesn't say much as I hardly had the privilege to know much more house elves except from those appointed at Hogwarts. I assure you I have negated all the magic performed by our friend Dobby. Your mail can continue as usual."

Andromeda was not impressed. "I thought you said Harry was protected while he is here?" she asked coldly and was pleased to see the old man losing the twinkle from his eyes. He sighed before answering.

"I was foolish. The wards in this place are designed to block access to anyone with a Dark Mark. I never thought about someone using a house elf to spy on Harry."

"Spying? You are worried about spying? That house elf could've been ordered to kidnap him and seeing that it got inside his room, it wasn't bloody difficult to do. Was it?" she was yelling now. Dumbledore flinched.

"Now Andromeda, I admit it was extremely foolish of me to have left loopholes in my protection, but now it is fixed. No one with sinister intentions will be able to enter the wards until Harry is of age."

"But why can't you set up those wards at my place? The people who live here have more sinister intentions than a lot of Death Eaters out there."

Dumbledore tried to calm the angry witch before him. "I have already explained this, Andromeda. Lily's sacrifice means he will be safe as long as he is with her blood relatives, and Petunia was her sole remaining blood relative. And I'm sure she feels some affection for the boy despite what you are implying-"

Outside the privacy charm, Harry could only stare in shock as he witnessed Andromeda Tonks waved her wand at Dumbledore faster than he thought was possible and the old Headmaster stood in shock.

In place of his long silvery beard, a bunch of thin, greenish worms were hanging from his jaw.

A/N: Badass Andromeda! Do you like her? I know I do. Please review to let me know what you think.

Fulgrim: thanks for the help. I'm not a Brit nor American, so sometimes I tend to mix up different cultures.