AN: I managed to write a chapter over the course of the week, so I decided to post early since I'm still maintaining the gap between what I've posted and what I've written. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 8 (Year 2)

Dora made her way into her apartment, bone tired from her two week long field exercise and a month away from home in total. Moving into her third term of Auror training was exhilarating, but it came with field exercises designed to help them prepare for actual investigations, stakeouts, and tracking targets over long days or weeks in possibly rough terrain, and to work on infiltration and exfiltration without using magic in order to hide movements.

While it was great doing more practical work, doing training that would help her when she actually started assisting with actual Auror missions in her third year, it was tiring and had severely restricted her schedule, though she would have some open time over the next month and a half, which would hopefully give her some time to check in with Harry.

She hadn't been able to see him since the summer break started about a month ago, much to her consternation, but she figured he understood. She'd sent him a letter mentioning her schedule. She'd been staying in the Auror Trainee Barracks for the past month due to their instructors wanting to keep eyes on them between the various field exercises.

Now that she had a break while classes resumed for the next month and a half, she was hoping to see Harry on weekends at minimum, maybe catch dinner or something some weekdays after work, and maybe even have him sleep over a weekend or two at her place. Plus, this was her chance to really get a feel of his relatives and how they treated him.

She went over to where she'd charmed for her mail to be delivered to while she was gone, and frowned seeing no letters were waiting on her. She'd expected Harry to have replied or sent her a letter mentioning his schedule so that they could find some time. She frowned slightly, a hint of unease creeping through her fatigue. She knew that his relatives didn't like magic. Maybe they were stopping him from replying? Or maybe he was just busy and hadn't replied.

She looked longingly at her bed, and decided she could go check on him the next morning. A little stop in shouldn't hurt anything. She was sure he'd be around, since he'd mentioned that he'd never been on holiday. Worst case scenario, he wasn't around and she just apparate home after her errands, and would send him a letter and check on him again another day.

**HP**

The next morning, Dora awoke later than she normally would, but she hadn't had a ton of sleep over the past month, so she figured her body needed it. She lazed about a bit in the morning before finally getting up, and thought about her day.

She knew she needed to clean her flat a bit, since she'd been gone for a while . . . and she wasn't exactly the cleanest person, nor had she really cleaned it before she left. She needed to go to Diagon Alley for some more potions ingredients, since they were starting Poisons and Antidotes on Monday. There were some books she should consider getting, though with her dwindling savings, she figured she'd have to acquire books a little at a time and utilize the public library for the rest as she needed. Her Auror Trainee Pay covered her food and rent, but it left little left over for savings or replacing her robes and things like that, so she had to be careful with her finances. It would be another year before she'd make Auror Second Class and get another raise which would finally make her more comfortable financially. Then, a year after that she'd hopefully make Auror First Class and really start making the galleons. Though money wasn't what attracted her to the position.

Other than chores, the only other thing she planned to do was check on Harry. She figured that's what she would do right after she tidied up a tiny bit. He might be interested in going with her to Diagon Alley and it would be fun to spend an afternoon with him. Plus, then she could stop worrying about his home environment.

She got ready quickly and then used some simple household spells to clear away the dust . . . mostly . . . and wipe everything down. Her household charms really weren't all that great, but she was good enough to get by. She just wasn't great at doing everything super neat. Still, it was good enough, so she figured it was time to go see Harry.

She looked through Harry's last letter to her and saw his address. Then she made her way to a map so that she could get an idea for where she was going before she threw on some of her muggle clothes and then she looked in the mirror and decided to change her hair to blonde and shoulder length. Perhaps his relatives would relax if she kept her hair more normal.

Deciding she was as good as she was going to get, she walked out of her flat and to her disapparation point and apparated away, appearing in a park near the end of Privet Drive, where Harry lived. Whistling merrily, looking forward to seeing him, she made her way down Privet Drive, checking the numbers before finally coming up to Number 4 Privet Drive.

Her first glance showed her a home that was well-maintained and looked as normal as could be . . . except for the one set of windows on the second floor that had bars over them. She frowned at that, knowing that the room had to be a bedroom with the size of the windows, and she couldn't imagine why a bedroom should have bars on them.

Feeling a bit worried again, Dora moved up to the house, noting that there was a car in the driveway, and she knocked on the door. After a moment, she could hear someone approaching and the door opened up revealing a large walrus-like man.

He frowned at her. "We're not interested in buying anything. Go away," and immediately started to close the door.

Dora moved forward and stopped him, causing his face to turn purple as he scowled at her, clearly not believing her nerve.

"I'm here to see Harry Potter," Dora said, frowning at the man's rudeness.

The man, Harry's uncle, Dora assumed, scowled fiercely and his face even went more purple and a large vein in his head looked ready to burst.

"There is no Harry Potter here! You freaks leave us alone!" the man bellowed, and forced Dora back before slamming the door in her face.

Feeling all sorts of concerned now, Dora stopped and took a breath, trying to think what to do. Obviously she was at the right house, but had the Dursleys done something to Harry? Or were they simply lying even when he was upstairs? She thought about it. She could easily force her way into the building, but that didn't seem the thing to do by herself. She needed backup and another eyewitness.

"Homenum revelio," Dora said, and saw that there were four people in the house, which would lend credence to Harry still being in the House. One of the living beings was in the room that the bars were blocking the windows for.

Knowing there was only one person she could go to for this, she quickly disapparated appearing before Mad-Eye's House.

"Mad-Eye," Dora called out, making sure she was giving the paranoid man fair warning lest she have curses and hexes flying at her.

"Who did I tell you is your weakness?" Mad-Eye's voice growled out and she saw him come out his front door.

"Harry Potter," Dora answered.

Mad-Eye's wand lowered. "What are you doing here, Tonks? Haven't had enough training in the field?"

"I'm here about Harry," Dora admitted, and Mad-Eye frowned. "I went to his house because he hadn't responded to my letter, and his relatives basically slammed the door in my face and said he doesn't live there. I also noticed that they have a room with bars on the window, and there was a lifeform in that room. I think they have him locked up."

"You think Potter is being abused?" Moody said, already moving down the steps toward her, and she nodded at him.

"Some of what he said sounds like he could be," Dora admitted. "Could you come with me to do a welfare check?"

Moody nodded tersely. "If Potter's really being abused, this is going to be a shitstorm."

"If you want, I can side-apparate you there," Dora said, relieved he was coming with her.

"No need," Moody said gruffly. "I've been there once before, right around when Potter was placed there. I double checked the wards protecting him. Let's go."

Dora nodded and apparated back to Privet Drive, appearing near the Dursley home this time, not wanting to waste any time. Moody appeared not far from her, and she and he quickly moved to number four. Moody's eye looked up towards the barred window.

"Potter's in there, alright," he growled out. "We need to get in there now."

Dora unlocked the door to the Dursley home and she and Moody quickly entered, causing a woman to scream at them.

"Get out!" Harry's aunt screamed. "You're not welcome here!"

"Silencio!" Moody growled out, and the woman went silent. "We're here to check on Potter."

Dora looked around and saw a large whale of a boy who moved away from them, comically covering his behind.

"I told you freaks to leave us alone!" a man bellowed, and Dora saw the same walrus-like man making his way down the stairs.

"We're here for Harry," Dora replied tersely, leveling her wand at him.

"I told you. That freak isn't here!" the man bellowed back.

"We know he's here because I can see him upstairs in that room you have locked up," Moody replied nastily. "I suggest you get out of the way before I do something you'll regret."

His blue eye turned away from where Harry must be and focused on Dursley, who backed away nervously looking at Moody's eye.

"Get out of the way," Dora said harshly, leveling her wand at the big man, who looked like he was ready to start swinging, but finally thought better of it and moved down the stairs and over to where his wife and son were.

Dora moved up the stairs quickly and made her way to the bedroom that must be Harry's, and she noted the five different locks that had been placed on the door and the catflap. Concern and rage warred as Dora quickly unlocked all the locks and opened the door. She gasped seeing the state of Harry.

He wasn't wearing a shirt, probably due to the sweltering heat in the room, and she could see how little he must have eaten recently with how exposed his rib cage was. There was a foul scent in the room, mostly probably from Hedwig's cage which clearly hadn't been cleaned in a while. His skin looked feverish. He glanced at her, his eyes looking tired.

"Wotcher, Harry," Dora said, trying to sound comforting.

"Dora?" Harry said, almost looking at her in disbelief.

"I'm getting you out of here," Dora said, trying to contain her fury at how Harry seemed. "Where's your stuff?"

"They locked everything up down in my cup . . . the cupboard underneath the stairs," Harry muttered, looking downcast. "The only thing in here is Dudley's old . . . my clothes and Hedwig."

"Well, grab Hedwig, and we'll get your stuff, alright?" Dora said softly, trying not to think about Harry's slip of the tongue.

Harry nodded, and a bit slowly, threw on a shirt three sizes too big for him, that must clearly have once belonged to the whale downstairs, and then grabbed Hedwig's cage. Dora led the way down the stairs, where they found that Moody still had the Dursleys at wand point.

Harry glanced at Moody in a bit of surprise, likely taking in his scarred visage, but he didn't say anything. Dora moved to where the cupboard under the stairs was and scowled seeing the lock on the cupboard. She opened it up, seeing Harry's trunk on top of a thin mattress. Glancing at the cupboard, she could see all the signs that it had once been Harry's home. There were a few damaged toys that Harry must have salvaged, and there were scratches over the wall telling a story of what Harry wished for . . . stick figures of a family.

Dora cast a spell and teleported Harry's trunk to her flat. She then turned to where Harry was keeping his face down shamefully. She knew he wouldn't want anyone knowing about this. She glanced back at the Dursleys who were looking at her and Moody with a mixture of fear and hatred.

Dora made her decision right then and there.

"I'm going to get the paperwork together and you're going to sign your guardian rights to Harry over to me," she said firmly, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Harry's jaw drop as he stared at her. "Then we'll talk about whether we're going to prosecute you for child abuse or not."

"Prosecute us!" The man bellowed with a snort. "You freaks have no authority over us."

"First of all, we do," Moody growled out menacingly. "You are in charge of a young wizard, thus subjecting yourselves to our laws when it comes to his care. Regardless, our world works with yours. We'll happily turn over all the evidence we need to the local bobbies and you'll go away for quite a long time. A child is a child, no matter whether a wizard or a muggle."

"N-no, you can't!" the woman exclaimed, looking more fearful than hateful now. "We didn't want the freak! You lot left him on our porch with no say in the matter!"

"You were in charge of taking care of this boy!" Moody snarled, looking as angry as Dora had ever seen him. "I knew your sister. One of the finest women I'd ever met, and you are nothing but scum in comparison, Dursley. You broke the law. You could have given him to an orphanage. You could have contacted anyone in our world to take care of him. Almost ANYTHING different would have been better. I know Dumbledore left information for you to contact people in our world if needed. Do not tell us that he DESERVED what he got because he was given to you after the death of his family!"

The Dursleys cowered in the face of Moody's rage, and Dora felt satisfaction knowing they truly feared what could happen to them now.

"We'll be back this afternoon with the paperwork," Dora said sharply. "You will be here and you will sign the paperwork. After that, we'll be in contact. Understood?"

Vernon Dursley nodded tersely, looking like he wanted to keep yelling and eventually try to hit them, but he did also seem to have fear on his face.

"Come on, Harry," Dora said, and she guided Harry out of the house with Mad-Eye following.

"Tonks, come here for a moment. We need to speak in private," Moody said gruffly, and Harry took the hint and moved a little away, still shamefully looking down.

"What is it, Mad-Eye?" Dora asked a bit defiantly, having a good idea what he was going to say.

"Do you know what you're getting yourself into?" he asked pointedly. "Have you thought this through?"

"Yes," Dora defended herself a bit hesitant, and he scowled at her so she ducked her head. "Maybe not," she conceded, "but I'm not leaving him there with them," she said back fiercely.

"No, but he could go to a family. A real family that could help him," Moody said gruffly. "We could turn those bastards in and let Wizarding Child Services handle this, as would be proper."

Dora sighed. "He's my family. Maybe this isn't the smartest decision, but he's all I've got left, and obviously the same is true for him. I want him to live with me."

"Tonks, you can barely afford your place as is," Moody said firmly. "You're in the middle of training and are gone most days. He needs to be properly checked out by a healer. He'll likely have to take potions to make up for the clear signs of starvation that have probably been happening his whole life, not to mention that he should probably see a mind healer as well. He's not even a second year at Hogwarts. That's a lot of schooling that will still need funding and you currently live in a one bedroom flat, and it'll be at least another year before you can barely afford a two bedroom flat and would then find yourself in the same situation you are now, barely scraping by."

"We'll make do," Tonks defended herself. "He'll go back to Hogwarts in September which is when we start going back to the field, so I'll be home by dinner time each night. He's a teenager, so I don't need to watch him during the day. Also, since he'll be at Hogwarts for the year, we can probably make do with my small flat until I make 2nd Class. We'll find a way to make do. We might not live very well until I become an Auror in full, but it's better than this! Hogwarts has a fund for those who need help. He won't get new things, but again, it's better than being starved! We're family!"

Moody sighed.

"Alright, Tonks. Listen, I'll back your move, but I want you to talk to Potter and really think this through because it isn't just about you. I get that you really want him to live with you, but think about how it will affect him. Right now, I think you need him more than he needs you, and that's not necessarily in his best interest. I'll get the paperwork for the Dursleys to relinquish rights to Potter and I'll come by this afternoon for you to sign them and take control. Regardless of your decision, we should consider getting someone from WCS to help us dot the i's and cross the t's and help keep this quiet or you could lose Potter regardless of your intent. Plus, they'll be able to help you with some of the programs designed for families that could use a bit of help."

Dora nodded slowly, but still looking determined. "Alright, Mad-Eye. Thank you . . . for everything. I'll talk to Harry and . . . I'll consider what you said."

Moody snorted before looking over at Harry. He nodded at Harry, who tentatively nodded back. Then he disapparated away.

Dora moved over to where Harry was still looking a bit ashamed. He glanced up at her briefly.

"Can you unlock Hedwig's cage? She's been locked in there for weeks and I think she'd love to fly," he said wistfully, "and get some real food."

Dora nodded, and with a quick spell, Hedwig was flying out of the cage. Hedwig briefly set down on Harry's shoulder, nipping him affectionately before she took to the sky again. Dora then sent Hedwig's cage to her flat.

"What has she been eating?" Dora asked.

"I've been sharing my meals with her . . . so mainly soggy vegetables from canned soup or half a piece of toast."

Dora felt anger shoot up in her, thinking about how Harry had been treated, but she pushed it down, seeing that it wouldn't win her any favors at this moment.

"Now that Hedwig's free, you should just send me back to the Dursleys," Harry said in a monotone voice. "I don't want to be a burden to you."

"What?!" Dora exclaimed. "You can't seriously think I'd EVER let you go back to those people!"

Harry glanced up at her, and she could see the vulnerable look. She moved over to him and grabbed his shoulders, kneeling down to his height. She forced his eyes to meet her own.

"Listen to me, Harry. You could never be a burden to me," she said fiercely. "Never! We really need to talk about all this . . . and the way forward, but I can assure you that you are not a burden to me, and you will go back to those vile people over my cold dead body."

"Really?" Harry asked hesitantly.

Dora nodded firmly, pulling him into a hug, and she felt some of the tension leave her body before she sighed. "The issue isn't whether I want you. The issue will be whether you want to stay with me."

"Why wouldn't I want to stay with you?" Harry asked, pulling back, looking confused. "I'm the one that would be a burden!"

Dora sighed again. "Let's go back to my flat to talk. Okay?"

Harry nodded slowly, looking at her worriedly, still obviously not believing that she was getting him away from those vile people he called relatives.

She extended out her hand. "We're going to travel by apparition," she told him, and he grabbed her hand tentatively, looking confused, so she thought of an explanation he'd understand. "It's basically teleporting."

Harry's confusion cleared away and he nodded, looking a bit interested and eager despite himself. Tonks smiled reassuringly and then turned, disappearing and taking Harry with her.

They appeared in the alleyway, just outside her flat, like she normally did. Harry looked queasy from the apparition, but shook his head and then looked around curiously and she smiled at him, before she pulled him slightly and led him to her building and up to her flat. They entered, and Dora felt her nerves rise as Harry started looking around curiously. She was proud of her place . . . but now that this place was potentially going to be Harry's home, she was worried he'd be disappointed in it.

However, it seemed her fears were groundless as Harry stared around looking impressed with her small little flat, smiling.

"It's not very large," Dora said, still a bit unsurely.

"I think it's wonderful," Harry said softly, smiling at her, and Dora returned his smile before she took a breath and guided him over to her couch.

"Alright . . . alright," Dora said, finding her confidence, knowing that Moody was right and that she should let Harry know what living with her could entail. "Harry, like I said, I really, and I mean I really want you to live with me," she said softly, and he smiled shyly at that, "but I can't provide for you like another family could," she finished a bit sadly. "This is all I have," she said, gesturing at the small flat.

Harry frowned at her in confusion.

"I don't have much in savings," Dora admitted. "I can certainly support you with me," she said firmly, before frowning, "but I won't be able to get you nice new things, give you your own room, pay for your schooling at Hogwarts . . . and provide everything you deserve, at least not yet. Being who you are, I'm sure another family could, which is why the choice needs to be yours. In another year, I'll hopefully be an Auror 2nd Class, and I'd be able to afford getting us a two bedroom flat, and maybe even have a little leftover to make things better for us, and a year after that, hopefully, things will be even better," Dora said. "You've suffered enough, and deserve a better life than I can provide at the moment, but I really do, admittedly selfishly, want you to stay with me. Most importantly though, I want you to be happy, so I want you to do what is best for you," Dora said firmly, "even if that isn't living with me."

Harry paused and then almost gave her an indignant look.

"No one else has ever given a damn to look out for me, to check up on me, to offer me a better home!" Harry said fiercely. "I don't care about having the nicest things or having my own room. You saw what my room used to be! A cupboard under the stairs. It was definitely all mine, and I hated it. I don't need you to help me through Hogwarts. My parents left me plenty of gold for that, and I had already assumed I'd be paying for all my schooling, since the Dursleys certainly weren't going to help out. I don't give a damn about what you think I deserve. The only person I would want to live with is you. Not some family who only wants me because I'm the bloody boy-who-lived. I want you!"

Dora smiled and hugged pulled him into a hug which he returned with a happy sigh.

"Alright, Harry. You're stuck with me then," Dora said with a happy grin before it faded. "Now, let's get some food, and you can tell me all about this summer. Eventually, you and I are going to talk about growing up with your relatives, but for now, we'll just talk about this summer."

Harry's face fell slightly but he nodded. Dora grimaced a bit.

"I don't really have much in my place, having been gone for the past month, but there's a Chinese place next door that's pretty good. How does that sound?"

"I've never actually had Chinese food," Harry admitted, "but I'd love to try it. The Dursleys didn't really like anything different or foreign."

"Well, then let's go," Dora said with a smile, and they went down to the little take out place, and Dora helped Harry order some food he'd like and then they made their way back to her place and sat down to talk.

Dora listened calmly as they ate, doing her best to keep her temper under control as Harry talked about how his summer had started out fine, with the Dursleys mostly ignoring him except for making him do his normal (large) amount of chores, and she could tell that they hadn't been feeding him like they should have been. That had all gone to shit when a House Elf named Dobby had shown up, ruined a dinner party and framed Harry to the Ministry, which showed his relatives that they could do what they wanted to him.

From there, they had locked him up, only letting him out twice a day to use the bathroom, and only giving him three scarce meals a day. In the morning he'd been given a piece of toast, and then for lunch and dinner, they'd provided two small bowls of soup, all of which he'd shared with Hedwig so that she wouldn't starve, but which had only worsened his condition.

All of that alone was enough, but what the House Elf had told Harry was worrying. If it was true, bad things were coming to Hogwarts. Someone was planning to deliberately cause problems at Hogwarts enough so that a rather deranged House Elf was trying to sabotage Harry from even going back and stealing his mail, trying to isolate him. On the flip side, it could just be a prank or something to keep Harry from going back for other reasons, or to make his life a bit harder for some perceived wrong that Harry had committed. Hell, there were a lot of wealthy pureblood Slytherins that probably weren't all that happy with Harry.

Regardless, Dora let Harry know that she would ask someone to look into Dobby and she would also make sure his record was cleaned, since he never had cast any magic to deserve a warning for. It was easy enough to prove that he hadn't done any magic.

It wasn't long before a knock at the front door signaled Mad-Eye's return. Dora felt her nerves rise a bit hoping that everything would go alright.

She let Mad-Eye in, and rolled her eyes, comfortably ignoring his grumbles about her not double checking his identity.

"Harry, let me formally introduce you to my mentor, Mad-Eye Moody," Dora said, as Mad-Eye joined them in the small living room.

"It's nice to meet you, sir," Harry said politely.

"Aye, lad. I knew your parents, and perhaps I can tell you some stories some day," Mad-Eye said gruffly, "but for now, let's get down to business," he said looking at Dora and Harry. "I've got the paperwork. Those damned muggles signed him away all too eagerly. Now what have you two decided?"

"Harry's staying with me," Dora said firmly, a bit surprised that Mad-Eye already took care of the paperwork part, and Harry nodded. "This is his home now."

Moody sighed, and then nodded. "Alright. Albus is going to be your biggest problem, but we can head him off by getting WCS involved. I know one person in that department that should be able to help keep this quiet but make sure it's legally binding."

"How quickly can you set up a meeting with her?" Dora asked.

"We have one in half an hour," Moody said with a snort, and Dora smiled, seeing that the old man knew exactly what she was going to do. "We're meeting her at the Leaky. Already have a private room booked with Tom. All we need to do is put a glamour on Potter here, so that nobody realizes who is in the place."

"Why not just have her meet us here?" Dora asked.

"Because this place might not pass her approval for letting you keep him," Moody answered and Dora grimaced. "We need to play up his desire to live with you, the close bond, so that they don't look too closely. Also, we don't want to advertise to anyone where he and you live. Yes, Ministry records would show it, but those aren't open to the public. He was with those vile animals because he needed protection. That hasn't gone away. I'll help you put some new wards on your place, but you need to be careful. That is what Albus will be most worried about."

"Ok," Dora said with a nod. "Thanks, Mad-Eye."

"Thank you," Harry echoed.

Moody nodded and then grumbled. "Alright, Potter. Hold tight while I put a glamour on you."

Paranoid as ever, it was nearly ten minutes before Moody considered Harry's disguise to be enough, now that he looked blonde haired, with brown eyes, and his hair was longer and easily covered his scar. From there, Moody made sure that Dora herself didn't stand out too much, so any focus would be on him and not on the two of them and they departed for the Leaky.

Moody walked in first and Dora and Harry went in a minute or so behind him, and saw him talking to Tom, who handed him a key. Dora guided Harry over to where the stairs to the private rooms were and up the stairs where they waited for Mad-Eye who came up only a minute or so later. From there, he guided them to another room where they entered and then sat and waited, in a slightly uncomfortable silence, though that was likely more attributed to nerves on the part of Harry and Dora than anything.

After a few minutes, there was a light knock on the door and Moody used his wand to open the door, which admitted two women, one of whom Harry recognized.

"Madam Pomfrey?" Harry said in confusion.

"Potter," Pomfrey greeted though Harry could see a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"Mr. Potter, my name is Karla Warburten," a middle aged, brown haired woman introduced herself kindly, and he shook her hand. She then proceeded to shake hands with Dora, and nodded at Mad-Eye. She then turned back to Harry, running a critical eye over his clothes and body. "I understand that your family hasn't been treating you very well," she said. "Madam Pomfrey is here to help document proof of mistreatment and update your medical files."

"I haven't been injured," Harry said. "I'm not sure there's anything to update."

Pomfrey shook her head. "Potter, I'm going to run a few different diagnostic charms on you which will tell me more of your medical history and overall health throughout your life. These are charms I don't generally run on students, even ones I see as often as you, because my job is to treat injuries you suffer as a student. Unlike many muggle treatments, most magical potions and spells do not require knowledge of previous injuries for treatment. In addition, I've been told that your family wasn't feeding you much. I didn't interact with you until a few months into your time at Hogwarts, at which point you'd had meals courtesy of the castle. While I certainly thought you were skinny and small for your age, it's not uncommon as everyone grows differently. Now, though, I'll use a few different spells to get an idea of your eating habits this summer and since you were dropped at your relatives home."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," Harry said, with a hint of trepidation.

"While she's doing her charms, I thought we would talk a little bit, Harry," Warburten said. "Can I call you, Harry?"

"Um, yes ma'am," Harry responded. "Good," she said with a smile. "Please just call me Karla. Now, can you tell me a bit of what it was like to live at your relatives home? It can be as broad or condensed as you feel comfortable with. I'd like to get an idea of their treatment of you."

"Well, um, I don't really know where to begin," Harry mumbled.

"DId they ever hit you?" Karla asked.

Harry frowned. "Not a lot . . . or at least not my aunt and uncle a lot. They generally let Dudley be the one to beat up on me, with his friends. If they had a bad day, my aunt might smack me a bit, or I guess there was one time she threw a frying pan at me after I burnt breakfast."

"How old were you when you burnt breakfast?" Karla asked in concern.

"I don't know," Harry said. "Maybe seven?"

"You were cooking it all by yourself?" Karla asked.

"Pretty much by about that time. Special meals, my aunt would still help out, more to save her reputation than to help me out," Harry muttered.

"What about your uncle?" Karla asked.

"More often, but still not a ton. Mostly smacking me around after a bad day or he'd grab me and throw me into my cupboard," Harry said. "He did break my arm once by accident though."

"Your cupboard?" Karla asked, and Dora frowned, wondering how she'd moved on from the broken arm, but a quick look over at Poppy confirmed that physical injuries were being documented by her.

"Up until I got my Hogwarts letter, I lived in the cupboard under the stairs," Harry said with a shrug. "They didn't want to give me Dudley's second bedroom, and it was easy for them to lock me up in the cupboard."

Dora felt her temper rising, as she was ready to go back and curse those ruddy muggles, and she got a warning look from Karla and Mad-Eye, and she realized her hair was turning red and that Harry had noticed. She reined in her anger, and continued to listen to Harry's sad tale.

He outlined how his cousin made sure he had no friends, how his relatives sabotaged his ability to do well in school and spread rumors throughout the area making sure everybody thought the worst of him. They made sure he was rarely fed, never had any gifts or toys, was constantly belittled, called 'freak' or 'boy' and emotionally and mentally abused. She wanted to cry listening to him. Finally, he seemed to have withdrawn into himself slightly and stopped talking, and taking a nod of approval from Karla, Dora moved forward and pulled Harry into a soft embrace from the side, trying to provide the comfort and love he had been so deprived of.

"Thank you very much for talking to me, Harry," Karla said softly. "Now, I understand that the woman next to you wishes to obtain your guardianship. Is that amenable to you?"

Harry nodded firmly. "Yes, please. She's really family . . . not like my relatives."

Karla nodded. "What do you want to do about your relatives?"

Harry looked at her.

"WIth what you've said, and what Madam Pomfrey has, we have more than enough evidence to convict them of child abuse," Karla clarified. "However, the choice will be with you."

"I just want to move on," Harry said quietly. "I don't want everybody knowing about this . . . and they will if we arrest them."

Karla nodded in agreement, though Dora wasn't so sure that she agreed with letting the Dursleys get off scot free. She'd think about that, but she stopped as Karla turned to her.

"Miss Tonks, you certainly seem to be caring, and Harry here wants to go with you, so that checks most of the boxes in my books, but I do need to know a bit more before I'm willing to help push these adoption papers through. First, what is your profession?"

"I just completed my first year of Auror Training," Dora answered, and Karla nodded.

"And you're unmarried?"

"What does that have anything to do with it?" Dora asked a bit stiffly.

"Because you're very young to be taking over as a guardian," Karla responded. "You're only seven years older than Harry. In addition, you have a dangerous and demanding job as an Auror. You have no family to help you if things get hard. Are you able to support yourself and Harry here? I know you'll be able to in a year or two, but can you support him now?"

Dora faltered slightly

"Maybe I am young," Dora responded honestly, "but I've known Harry since he was a baby. He's family, and I will do right by him. I can support him. I won't say that everything will be easy, but I'll be there for him everyday, regardless of my career. He's my first priority."

Karla nodded and smiled. "Good. With Mad-Eye's endorsement, as scary as that can be sometimes," Karla said, and Dora and Pomfrey snorted in amusement, "Harry's desire and your word, I'll get the paperwork sorted this evening, making it official. You will officially be the guardian of one Harry James Potter."

Dora smiled widely and Harry grinned and they hugged happily before Harry pulled away slightly.

"Can we keep this quiet?"

"This is no business of anyone else," Karla said firmly. "Nobody will find out unless you want to tell them. Anyone else who pokes around and reveals this will face full prosecution for stealing privileged information about a minor and endangering his safety. Mad-Eye will be the one to conduct regular health and wellfare checks for me over the next couple months, and assuming nothing comes up, you'll be fine."

Harry smiled gratefully. Karla bid her farewells, and then left, leaving them still with Pomfrey.

"Now, we need to talk about your physical health and welfare, Mr. Potter," Pomfrey said, and Harry gulped slightly at the stern look on the matron's face. "You have had several injuries in the past beyond just the broken arm, and I do believe it would be worth you taking a dose of skelegrow to help strengthen your skeletal system and repair some of the damage that didn't heal correctly. In addition, your body has suffered extreme malnutrition throughout your adolescence. I'll write you a prescription, but you really need to get on a regiment of supplement and nutrient potions that will help your body recover and hopefully offset some of the development issues you might have suffered. It is imperative that you take these potions, am I understood?" Pomfrey said, glancing at both Dora and Harry, and both nodded at her. She smiled wanly. "Good. Let me get those prescriptions and then I'll be off, and I hope that I won't see before the start of the new school year, Mr. Potter, but don't hesitate to call on me if you need assistance."

The school matron smiled, pulled out some parchment, wrote down several prescriptions which she handed off to Dora, and then got up and left, leaving Mad-Eye, Dora, and Harry alone.

"Well, Albus will be waiting for us at my place, so we should go there next," Mad-Eye said and Harry and Dora both gaped at him in surprise. "What? It's much better to be open with that man rather than try and get one over on him. It's damn near impossible to hide things from him."

Dora and Harry both nodded, ready for this to be over, Moody reapplied the glamour charms, and they made their way out of the Leaky and then Mad-Eye side apparated them both back to his place. On the front porch of Mad-Eye's home, sat Albus Dumbedore, sipping on tea in a plush chair.

Mad-Eye undid Harry's glamour and then hobbled up towards Dumbledore, and Dora was a bit surprised to not see him questioning if Dumbledore was actually Dumbledore, but then again, she doubted anyone would do something as Dumbledorish as sit on a porch in a squishy armchair and drink tea.

Dora and Harry followed, both feeling a bit nervous even if the law was on their side. Dumbledore was a powerful wizard with great influence.

"Alastor," Dumbledore greeted pleasantly, but he looked at Dora and Harry with a hint of concern. "Nymphadora, Harry, good to see you two are able to spend some quality time with each other over the summer holidays."

"That's actually what this is about, Albus," Mad-Eye said. "Today, Tonks and I rescued Harry from his relatives, and we just had WCS officially remove him from them. Tonks is now his guardian."

Dumbledore's face froze for a moment, his face looking unhappy and grave.

"Before you ask any questions or say anything, here is a report from Poppy, and here are a light summary of Harry's recollection of events while he's lived with his relatives," Mooday said gruffly, and Dumbledore took the papers from the man, and started looking through, his face growing steadily unhappier, an angry glint appearing on his face.

After he was done, Dumbledore's eyes closed for a moment, and he looked much older than normal, his face weary, but he looked at Harry sadly. "Harry, why didn't you bring this up at school?"

"I thought you knew what my life was like," Harry muttered. "My first letter was addressed to the Cupboard Under the Stairs, and Hagrid had to get me, and then you mentioned that I was placed there for protection and that I had to go back for that same protection. I just assumed you either never checked up or you did check up on me and decided I needed to stay there."

"Harry I never would have condoned you being treated like this," Dumbledore said sadly. "I or others did check up on you, but that was only for your first year living with your relatives. It was seen that your cousin was favored, but at that point, there had been no sign of abuse. I knew that I wasn't giving you as happy a childhood as you deserved, growing up unfavored and possibly a bit neglected, but I would have intervened if I'd known about your actual treatment. As for your letter, those are done with a self-addressing charm, so we generally don't see those addresses except in the case of muggle-borns who we hand-deliver to."

"Oh," Harry said, feeling a bit foolish, but also a smidge happy to know that Dumbledore hadn't actually known about his home life.

"The protections, however, are important," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "I feel we must get you back to your relatives, but I can talk to them, and we can try and set up some internal protections to help you while you're there."

"NO!" Harry and Dora both said at the same time, Harry feeling a bit panicked to think about going back there when he'd finally gotten away, Dora absolutely livid that Dumbledore would even think of sending him back.

"He'll go back to those animals over my dead body, Headmaster," Dora said angrily, putting herself between Harry and Dumbledore.

"My dear, you don't understand," Dumbledore said wearily. "Those blood protections are more powerful than anything I could conjure up. Voldemort is not gone, and he will come for Harry if he can."

"I don't give a damn if the protections are that good," Dora responded heatedly. "We can set up protections with me, and when he's not at school, I'll protect him."

"Albus, this argument is moot," Mad-Eye said with a dark chuckle. "The wards at Privet Drive have already fallen."

"What, so soon?" Dumbledore said in shock.

"Those filth that he calls relatives signed him over in a blink of an eye and said he's not welcome there anymore. In addition, Potter has already committed to living with Tonks. The only protections at the Dursley Residence are the other basic protections that you and I added."

Dumbledore's eyes closed again and sighed wearily. "Well, we must hope that this does not come back to haunt us then." He turned and looked at Dora. "Your place is protected?"

Dora nodded. "It's got basic protections on it, and it's in a muggle area, so it would be hard for anyone to easily attack it."

Dumbledore nodded slowly, and then pulled out his wand. A quick flick and he was holding two gold phoenix pins. He waved his wand at the two pins before he then handed one to Dora and then one to Harry.

"These are emergency portkeys that will bring you to the gates of Hogwarts. They are password activated, and the password is Phoenix. Say the password twice to activate them in case of emergency. I will have to hope that your protections are enough. If anything goes wrong, we'll have to discuss relocating you to a place where strong protections can be raised. Are there any objections or questions?"

"No, sir," Harry said, taking the pin.

"No, Headmaster," Dora said, taking the pin with a nod of thanks. "Thank you."

Dumbledore nodded and then smiled. "Now, it is time for me to prepare for an ICW summit in Ecuador, so I will bid you all a fond farewell."

Not a moment later, a bird flashed in and landed on Dumbledore's shoulder. Harry gaped at it in shock and wonder and Dumbledore smiled.

"This is my phoenix familiar, Fawkes, Harry," Dumbledore said, and Harry looked at the bird with wonder. "Perhaps we can find some time for you to properly meet him this next year."

Dumbledore nodded one last farewell and then they disappeared in a column of flame.

"Wicked," Harry muttered, and Dora smiled before she turned back to Mad-Eye.

"Thank you, Mad-Eye," Dora said gratefully, and Harry nodded and added his thanks.

Mad-Eye nodded, and then started moving back into his house. Dora grabbed onto Harry's arm, and when he looked ready, she side-apparated him back to her- their - apartment.