[A/N: Taking a brief hiatus, just for a few weeks. Work is crazy. My kid's school is crazy. So I am crazy and need to reset!]

This was the second time Rory had been in Harry's bedroom this summer, although this time he was happy to also be there. Ron and Hermione were here too. Harry was easily having the best summer of his life today. He never imagined that he'd ever be somewhere that he called home where he could have his friends and his girlfriend come visit. He never thought he'd be somewhere he was encouraged to take up space and stay as long as he liked, and that he could always come back to if he left.

Rory had brought some photographs with her and Hermione was helping her put them into frames so Harry could have something to put on the walls. They were mostly of Harry and Rory, but there were a few of his parents, Sirius, and Ron and Hermione.

"If you want more pictures of your parents, Dad has tons. I'm sure he'll be willing to part with more of them," Rory said.

Harry knew this because she'd said it to him before when they'd first started school. They'd barely spoken first year, but she'd overheard him telling Ron how he didn't have any pictures of his parents and had taken it upon herself to send off for some from her dad.

She'd given him an envelope of about 20 photographs, mostly from his parents' wedding. She'd called it a Christmas present, left it at that, and spent most of the next two years not talking to him.

And then third year he'd sat with her and her dad on the train ride to school and everything had changed for both of them.

Now she was his girlfriend. Hopefully would be forever.

"Think there's enough pictures of the two of you?" Ron teased.

"Never," Harry said.

Rory turned to him and flashed him a smile.

"Do you think you'll have your birthday party here?" Hermione asked.

"No," Harry replied. "Since Rory's brother will be coming they want to meet him somewhere neutral so it'll still be at the Burrow."

"Plus, since I already volunteered to make dessert, I think Mrs. Weasley might actually murder me if we don't let her host," Rory said.

"Between you and me, I think she's a bit irritated that you and Harry got back together," Ron said. "I think she was mentally planning his and Ginny's wedding."

"I definitely got the impression also," Rory said with a frown. "Luckily she likes Harry more than she dislikes me so she will get over it eventually."

"Yeah, plus what's she going to worry about you for when she's got Fleur in her house?" Hermione said.

"Valid," Rory said with a roll of her eyes.

Ron scoffed. "Fleur's alright. Been kind of nice having her around. Right, Harry?"

Harry shrugged. "I could take her or leave her."

Rory quickly glanced over her shoulder, smirking a bit, and then went back to putting a picture on the wall.

"I get the feeling that you're pandering to me a bit, but I don't hate it," Rory said.

Harry chuckled. He didn't mind Fleur, and he knew that a lot of it was that she was part Veela so he couldn't help but be a bit enamored with her, but he loved Rory. He didn't think there was magic powerful enough to make him ever love someone else the way he loved her.

"Are you ready for dinner?" Theo asked appearing in the doorway.

"Starving," Ron said.

The weirdest part of living with Sirius was that he also lived with Theo. Not that there was anything wrong with Theo. She was perfectly nice, if not a bit anxious. She gave Harry his space and they'd had a few very nice chats.

But Harry didn't know if Theo and Sirius were a couple or something else. He didn't know how to bring it up. Rory was at a loss for what was going on between them as well, and with the weirdness between her dad and Tonks, she was hardly concerned about Sirius and Theo.

They left Harry's room and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Sirius and Remus were setting the table together, bickering about something. They always seemed to be since Harry arrived from Surrey.

"Trouble in paradise?" Rory asked as they entered.

Neither of the men seemed amused by her comment.

"Your mum wants to know if you'll be back after dinner, Ron," Remus said.

"Yeah," Ron said. "It's kind of nice with the house so empty now. I don't usually get to have my own room."

Harry nodded his understanding and took zero offense. It was nice to have your own space. Ron certainly was no stranger to that. Plus if Ron and Hermione didn't stay the night, he'd be able to talk to Rory tonight which he knew she'd like.

"Do you think I could come back tomorrow?" Rory asked.

"I don't see why not," Remus said with a sigh.

Rory grinned as she pulled out a chair. The leg of the chair bumped the table and a glass went tumbling to the ground. It shattered into a hundred pieces.

"Oops," Sirius said casually, waving his wand, magicking the mess away. "Guess we can tell you're related to Tonks."

Rory didn't answer. She was staring down at the ground where the glass had been, hand still holding onto the back of the chair, knuckles nearly white. She looked ashen, her eyes were empty and tear-glazed.

Harry put a hand on her shoulder and she practically jumped out of her skin. He pulled his hand away quickly.

"Sorry," they said in unison.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked.

She nodded, wiping tears from her eyes. "I just need some air."

Without another word she walked out the door, her dad in tow. The door closed and the room fell silent.

"Let's eat," Theo said. "She'll be fine."

Rory's pre-dinner panic attack had definitely brought the mood down. She had to add breaking glass to the growing list of things to avoid. She was glad that she wasn't taking potions the coming term so she could avoid the tiny glass vials that would surely set her off.

She felt completely rundown by the time she got home that night despite the relaxing day she'd had. At least she'd be able to chat with Harry since Ron and Hermione hadn't stayed the night.

"It'll get better," her dad assured her as they reached the floor of their flat.

It didn't feel like it ever would. Rory remembered how long it took her to feel normal after her ordeal with Crouch and Moody, even then she got pulled back into that darkness far too easily. This had been much worse.

Remus had his hand on Rory's shoulder as they walked down the hall. As their door came into view a curious feeling overtook her. And then she saw the things in front of their door.

"What's that?" she asked, stopping.

"The neighbor probably got packages," Remus said dismissively.

Rory shook her head. "No, that's our flat."

They got closer to the door and her heart stopped. There was a laurel leaf wreath hanging on the door, along with several more bundles of laurel branches and hyacinth plants at the foot of the door.

"What on Earth?" Remus started. Rory grabbed him and started to pull him away.

"It's them. The Servants of Pythia," Rory said. "The flowers and the laurel leaves—."

Rory didn't get another word out. Remus grabbed hold of her arm and the uncomfortable feeling of disaparating took over her. A moment later she landed on shaky legs outside of Sirius and Harry's house.

"Bit of warning next time," Rory said, her head spinning.

"Sorry," he replied walking her up to the door. They went inside where they'd been a few minutes ago. Sirius and Harry were still clearing the table. "I didn't want to keep you there longer than we needed to."

"Everything alright?" Sirius asked.

"We think the Servants of Pythia were at our flat," Rory said.

"How?" Sirius asked.

"They left a bunch of stuff outside of our door," Rory said.

"I'm going to talk to Tonks," Remus said.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "You sure that's wise?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "I'll be back."

And then he was out the door.

"What did they leave?" Harry asked.

"Hyacinths and laurel leaves," Rory said. "They're symbols associated with Apollo. That woman in Hogsmeade on Valentine's Day gave me the flowers."

"You mean they left, like, offerings?" Harry asked.

Rory nodded. "Creepy, right?" She was more unsettled by this than she was letting on, but she'd already made dinner uncomfortable. She didn't want to add to it.

"I'm going to finish tidying up until Theo gets back. Why don't you go upstairs," Sirius started. Then he paused and thought for a moment. "Leave the door open."

Rory openly rolled her eyes and Harry led her up to his room. She sat down on his bed and reclined against the wall. Harry sat beside her.

"You okay?" he asked.

Rory shrugged. "Today was great and then it all took a turn."

"I'm sorry," he said. He took her hand. "Can I ask you something?"

"About dinner?" she asked.

He nodded. "What happened"

Rory took a deep breath. "Breaking glass… It reminded me of the sound of those prophecies breaking. It was like I was back there all over again. I barely recognized that I wasn't even in the kitchen anymore once that glass shattered. I wasn't even in my body anymore."

Rory felt her hands start to get clammy and her chest tightened. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself. He placed a hand on the small of her back tentatively, and the warmth of his fingers seemed to radiate calm through her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked," he said.

She opened her eyes and looked over to him. "Except I'm not going to be able to pretend things are fine forever. Sometimes nothing even happens, I'll just be in my own head and one thought will spill over to another and another and another and suddenly I'm back there again."

She couldn't help it and she started crying. Harry pulled her into a hug. She pressed her face into his chest and took a deep breath. She didn't want to be crying right now. She was over crying as much as she had this summer.

"I wish I could do something," he said. "I wish none of it had ever happened."

"Me too," she replied. She wiped her eyes and sat up. "Haven't got a choice though, have I?"

Harry reached out and pushed her hair back behind her ear. He wiped a stray tear from her face.

"I'm sorry I asked," he said.

"Don't be," Rory said. "Like I said, I can't keep pretending. It's going to keep happening. Not talking about it isn't going to help me."

"But is this helping?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Maybe confronting all the bad stuff might make it easier."

"Maybe," he said.

Rory slid her shoes off and pulled her feet up onto his bed. She tucked them beneath her and let her head rest on his shoulder. He put his arm around her and she scooted close to him.

"I was going to talk to you about it tonight when I got home," Rory said. "In the mirror."

"I was just going to be up to my usual antics and try to convince you to be inappropriate," Harry said.

Rory managed a laugh. She lifted her head and kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said. "And if I can be honest, I'm a little disappointed that you came back."

"Why?" she asked. "You're not happy to see me?"

"I'm happy to see you," he said, "but the odds of you doing something inappropriate actually decrease if you're here in my room."

Rory smacked him on the arm and laughed again. "Are you done?"

"Yes," he said. "I've got you smiling again. That's all I wanted."

She sat forward and kissed him. "Thank you for distracting me. I needed it."

"Why else would you keep me around?" he asked. She chuckled and he kissed her again, brushing his fingers back into her hair. "I can distract you some more."

Rory knew that letting Harry distract her was probably a bad idea in this venue, but she wasn't going to tell him no. Instead, she kissed him more. She let go of his hand and draped her arms over his shoulders. His hand came to rest on her waist and she resisted the urge to crawl into his lap.

She would've happily spent all evening snogging Harry, but a few minutes later there were heavy footsteps on the stairs. She and Harry pulled away from each other and Rory quickly ran her fingers through her hair to try to undo the mess he'd likely made of it.

Sirius walked into the room, cautiously, and seemed relieved to see them sitting there doing nothing. Rory was beginning to think he made a racket coming up the stairs just in case, which was probably a smart move.

"Theo's just got back," Sirius said. "I'm going to meet Tonks and Remus. I'm not sure when we'll be back, but Theo's going to make up one of the spare rooms for you."

Rory nodded. She knew this probably qualified as a crisis, but she was desperate for things to be normal. Her flat had been the most normal part of her existence. She had a sinking suspicion that it was about to be taken away from her.

"Try not to worry," Sirius said. "I'm sure things will be fine."

Again, Rory nodded, but she knew that things wouldn't go back to being fine ever again.

Tonks was sitting half asleep on her couch looking through files. She'd looked through them about a million times already but was always afraid she'd missed something.

She also needed the distraction of work. She'd spent every free minute before thinking about Remus and not much had changed, except now she absolutely did not want to be thinking about Remus. It was incredibly annoying that he kept being brought up at work. She didn't know why the minister of magic couldn't write and deliver his own letter, as if Tonks was the person who was going to get Remus to change his mind about anything.

There was a knock on her door and sighed. She was sure it was Moody checking in on her, again. She got to her feet and put on her slippers.

Tonks lived pretty simply, in a one-bedroom flat. She didn't even have a dining table and most of the time she slept on her couch because her bed often became overrun with files. She never had anyone over and last year since joining the Order she'd spent more nights at Grimmauld than she had her own flat.

"Alastor, I know you think that not being able to change my appearance has somehow left me defenseless, but I assure you that I am fine," Tonks said as she got to the door. She pulled it open and was stunned to see Remus there.

This was the second time she'd seen him today. He looked a bit panicked now.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I know you don't want to see me. I wouldn't have come if it weren't important," Remus said. "We're fairly certain the Servants of Pyhtia have been to my flat."

Tonks' eyes went wide and she ushered him in.

"What happened?" she asked closing the door behind him. She took off her slippers and walked over to her couch where her clothes from earlier today were draped on the back of it.

"They left flowers and plants outside of the door," Remus said. "Hyacinths and laurels."

"Offerings," Tonks said as she grabbed her shirt. Remus turned his back to her respectfully as if he'd never seen her naked before. Still, she started to change. "I'd ask if you're sure you've never run into any of them, but I doubt it. And I don't think you're going around giving your address out to strangers."

"I do try to avoid it if I can," he said.

She pulled on a pair of jeans and then put on her boots. She grabbed her wand and cloak and headed to the door. "Let's go."

They went to his flat. As he'd described, flowers and laurels were crowding the front door.

"Fuck," Tonks said. "Have you been inside?"

"No," he replied, pulling out his wand. He went to open the door, but Tonks stopped him and went in first.

"Homenum Revelio," Tonks said. Things seemed normal, so at least no one had been inside. "Looks clear."

Remus walked in behind her.

"Sorry I dragged you out here," he said.

"Better that you did," Tonks said. "I don't want to take any risk with Aurora. I think we can all agree she's had enough going on for a lifetime."

"Yes," Remus said.

There was a sound outside the door and Tonks turned quickly with her wand. Sirius stood there with his hands up.

"Simmer down now," he said.

"What are you doing?" Tonks asked as he walked inside.

"I went to your flat and you weren't there so I came here," he said. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes," Tonks said. "Doesn't appear they did anything more than leave gifts."

Sirius shuddered. "You know there was a time when I thought it might be nice to have people worship me, but seeing the other side of it has given me pause."

"How is Aurora?" Remus asked.

"When I left she was sitting in Harry's room pretending they hadn't been snogging so I think she's easily found the silver lining to this situation," Sirius said.

Remus rolled his eyes.

"I don't think you'll want to come back here tonight," Tonks said. "Or at all if I'm being honest. I'm not sure how your home was compromised, but I can't help but feel like I've missed something while investigating at the Ministry. I don't know how else they'd know where to find you. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Remus said. "There's no telling how far Levi's reach has extended."

"You're being awfully calm about this considering I just told you that you have to move," Tonks said turning to him.

"I've moved a lot, for worse reasons," Remus said.

Tonks nodded. He'd told her all about how he'd moved around a lot as a child whenever neighbors became suspicious of his condition. He'd even moved around a fair bit with Aurora.

"Grimmauld's empty," Sirius said, "I'm certainly not using it."

"I may take you up on that," Remus said. "That might make Aurora feel better about leaving here."

"I've had Theo make up the spare rooms for you both tonight. You can worry about all that tomorrow," Sirius said.

"I think it might be the safest option right now," Tonks said.

"I don't want her coming back here if she doesn't need to. I'm going to grab some of her things," Remus said. He walked off to Aurora's room.

"It's not your fault, you know," Sirius said.

"Doesn't feel that way," Tonks said. Right now, she literally had one job and it was investigating this stupid cult to make sure they didn't do things like this. "I mean, what if they'd been home?"

"You said so yourself these people aren't out to hurt her," Sirius said.

"That doesn't mean they're not dangerous," Tonks said. "We don't know what they want aside from Aurora."

"Not that I feel bad for him, but it's hard to put this together Levi dead," Sirius said. "Short of asking Aurora to look into it, which is practically unthinkable."

Tonks had no doubt that Aurora might look into it if she asked, but Tonks never would. Voldemort had asked her to look into the Servants of Pythia's motives, to figure out what that first prophecy was. There was no way asking her to do something like that would be reasonable, at least not now.

"She broke a glass at dinner tonight," Sirius said. He shook his head and let out a sigh. "It was like she wasn't even there anymore. Harry barely touched her and she looked terrified before she realized she was safe. She had to go outside with Remus and calm down for about 15 minutes before she came back inside."

Tonks had seen it before, in Aurors, Hit Wizards. Dealing with Dark Wizards was no joke. Aurora was lucky to be alive, she knew it.

"With all that going on, it just seems unfair to tell her she has to leave her home," Tonks said.

"I know," Sirius said. "But she's got you on the case. You figured out they were looking for her in the first place. Don't doubt yourself."

Tonks knew when she went to work and updated her team about this it was only going to cause Scrimgeour and Robards to press her even more about trying to get Aurora to talk to them. She was not looking forward to being told that she wasn't taking this seriously.

"So once you get into Auror mode does it ever shut off, or can I expect you to be this contemplative at Harry and Aurora's birthday party as well?" Sirius asked.

Tonks looked at him and frowned. "Hopefully I'll have made some headway on this by then, but I'm also not coming."

Sirius scoffed. "Sure."

"I'm not," Tonks insisted. "I'm only here right now because because I have a moral and professional obligation to be here."

Sirius let out a sigh. "The kids will be disappointed. Aurora was disappointed you didn't stay this afternoon. She'll ask why you're not there. She likes having you around."

Tonks liked being around Aurora too. Part of the reason she'd spent so much time in this flat the last few weeks was to not just see Remus but to see Aurora. It broke her heart a little not to see her as much, but Tonks felt even worse just being in the same room as Remus.

"You saw how uncomfortable it was at dinner, and then earlier today at Molly and Arthur's. I can't keep doing this," she said.

"He'll see sense," Sirius said.

Tonks rolled her eyes. "Yes, but until hell freezes over, I'd like some space."

Sirius frowned. "So that means I'll be seeing less of you too, then?"

She shrugged. "Sorry your friend is an idiot."

"This is idiotic," Sirius said.

"You think I don't agree?" Tonks asked. "I would much rather spend my time with you lot and not be sad and miserable at home by myself, but—."

Remus emerged from Aurora's room carrying a bag. Tonks looked to Sirius who nodded.

"I get it," he replied.

"All set," Remus said.

"I'll meet you there," Sirius said. He walked out of the flat and disapparated.

Tonks looked back to Remus.

"Sorry, again, for bothering you this evening," he said.

"It's no bother," Tonks said. "It's my job. And it's Aurora."

"I know," he said. He looked like he wanted to say more but let out a sigh instead. "Thank you."

"Of course," she replied.

"Dora, I—."

She held up a hand and corrected him. "Tonks." She would not let him call her that again. She didn't cringe at the sound of hearing her name on his lips, even now she didn't. But it made her ache in a way she'd never known she'd been able to before hearing it now.

"Tonks," he said, his voicer quieter, "I never got the chance to thank you for what you said at dinner the other night."

Tonks raised an eyebrow. "With your father?"

Remus nodded. "We have a complicated relationship. I'm sure you're at least semi-familiar with his research. Saying that all werewolves should be exterminated hasn't exactly helped us foster a healthy relationship."

"No, I imagine it hasn't," Tonks replied. "Regardless, I might think you're an ass hat, but you're a good father. You raised a brilliant, responsible young woman, and her boyfriend admires the hell out of you. No offense, but if your father thinks your greatest failure in life is that you're a werewolf and that it would undo any of the other incredible things you've done, especially raising Aurora, fuck that guy."

He relaxed, his expression softened. He clutched the bag in his hands a little tighter.

"Tonks," he started.

But she didn't want to have this conversation again. It was exhausting. She had to shut it down, and she did it the only way she could think to do it.

"Aurora wants to be on birth control," Tonks said quickly.

Remus stumbled over his words. "Sorry. What?"

"At dinner, when I had that chat with Aurora, she said that she talked to you about Harry, and that even though you have a no questions asked policy when it comes to all that she would still rather die than have the conversation with you. So this is me telling you, that she wants to be on birth control, just in case her thoughts turn into action presumably," Tonks said.

Remus was a little flabbergasted. "That's not what I was expecting you to say right now."

Tonks shrugged. "Nice to be on the other side of that for once." He frowned. "What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing, I suppose. I have no argument."