An: Not much to say beyond a big Mea culpa. Stinary was not able to work with me on this chapter, and I had more trouble than I expected finding another editor who would be up to the task and happy to help me out on so short notice, that said I did promise you a chapter sooner, and I did not deliver, So I will make every effort to get chapter three in the releasable shape by the end of this week, aiming for Sunday the 21st.

Anything good in this chapter is a shared effort between me and ArwenHermione, any rough edges and such are my responsibility alone.

Chapter Two

As they were sitting on the bus, Harry thought about the letter he read that morning before they set out. Tonks was right when she said that he would have taken off with her because pretty much anywhere but number 4 was better. But a letter in Siriuse's handwriting helped. Harry read it first thing after burning the hand-me-downs and getting his ass handed to him, even before watching Star Wars.

"Hello Prongslet,

I am good, and so is our feathered friend. Sorry for not writing more often. I am pretty busy working on the "Kill the hell out of Tom Riddle project." I am sorry, but I can not give you any details about what I am doing. I can give you some information about what you will be doing."

I want you to go with my cousin, Tonks. She will give you the letter. She is an auror with the ministry, but I do trust her with my life. Tonks is a metamorphomagus, Harry. That means she can change her appearances at will. This year, she mostly runs around with pink or purple hair."

Other recognisable traits are London slang, a fondness for food, and she is a lot of fun. But if you really need to be sure, ask her about the day you saved my life. I gave Tonks a full story so that you can ask anything from that night!"

I will try to see if I can drop by her place sometime next week or the week after. Harry, I am sorry I can not be here for you as a proper godfather, but Tonks and her parents are all my family, which makes them your family, too. Other than Moony and Weasleys, there is no one else I can trust to care for you. If you see Andy and Ted and Tonks forget it, please give them my love.

That's about it. Have a great summer, and I hope your "Kill the hell out of Tom Riddle" project goes well. If you need anything, write, especially if you want to talk about June. But please send letters to me for the next week or so to Ron. I am up to no good, have wand, will travel, thing.

Mischief managed.

Padfoot."

Harry smiled and touched the pocket that held the letter. He asked Tonks about Sirius's escape from ministry, and she gave all the right answers. That, along with her being all that Sirius listed, was, along with his gut feeling, enough for now.

He glanced at Tonks, who was amusing herself by making physics-defying chewing gum bubbles. She grinned at him. "Anything on your mind, mate, or are you still processing what actual Curry with real spices tastes like?" she said. Harry laughed, he thought he did know what curry tastes like. Aunt Petunia did order it a few times when the kitchen was being remodelled some years back. It turned out that what he ate then was "white people mild" curry.

Then he asked Tonks, "Have wand, will travel. What does that mean? Padfood put it in his letter." Tonks thought about it for a moment as they watched the afternoon peak traffic move at a snail's pace around them.

Then she grinned "It's an old show reference. This one was not only before my time but even before Padfoot's time. It's called "Have gun, will travel." It is supposed the main character is ready for anything. Did he mention sending his mail to Weasleys?" her expression turned more sober as Harry nodded, "Probably should not tell you this. Still, Padfoot is your family, so I think you can get the general gist. Padfood can use his supposed criminal record to get to some places that a respectable person like me would never get to. And that's as much as I know. So I can't tell you where he is shipping to or what he is doing even if I wanted to," she finished, her smile long gone.

Harry nodded and thanked Tonks for telling him at least this much. They rode the next three stops in silence while Harry was trying to figure out why Tonks told him even this much information; when they got out just a block away from Tonk's building, he said, "You told me what you could without breaking secrets, Tom already know's Sirius is ours, and he will have him hunted if he learns of him, whether he gets any of what you or Sirius told me out of my mind."

Tonks nodded with a smile. "Right, if I can give you information that's useful to you without risking other people's lives, other than me own, I will. Compartmentalising too much is just as bad as compartmentalising too little.

Harry frowned: "I don't want to put your life at risk." he was surprised when Tonks let that without reaction until they walked through the Leaky Cauldron and stood at the empty backyard.

The moment the doors closed, she turned at Harry, and her hair flared red. After three tries, she forced them back to purple and sighed, "Not wanting to put my life in danger. It's noble as fuck, but it has a catch. You don't put my life in danger, Potter. You don't get to decide if I do that either. Not in general, not in particular, for you. I do."

She tossed him her auror badge. "You know what this means? It means my job is to protect anyone, who so ever, that someone else picks as victims, and I don't get to pick my victims. If someone kills Bella Lestrange tomorrow, some auror will have to investigate that and nail her murderer. So getting to risk my life for someone who is as decent as it gets, it as good as being an auror gets."

Harry stared at Tonks with a deer-in-headlights expression. He nodded, and somehow, the brass badge felt heavier now than when Tonks tossed it to him. Tonks smiled, "You would be worth defending even if you weren't Sirius' godson, even if you weren't You-know-who's enemy number one. You are worth defending just because you are a right good bloke, now let's go, we have shopping to do and when we get home, we will watch Have gun, will travel!'"

It turned out that even shopping for muggle clothes included at least a trip to Gringotts. Harry smiled as they made their way through the enchanted wall behind the Leaky cauldron. 'This is home,' he thought as they made their way through a relatively deserted Diagon Alley. It was still too early for most shops to be open, but Tonks assured Harry that Gringotts was open at all times to serve their vampire clients.

That made sense, alright, so Harry did not pay any mind to it. The hall of the bank itself was not deserted, though it was the closest to it that Harry ever seen. He spotted an open window, and they both headed to it.

The goblin serving them also looked younger than any other Goblin Harry ever saw. He figured he was new on the job. He looked at Harry and Tonks. "State your business," he demanded.

Tonks nodded and reached into her bomber jacket, pulling out several stacks of galleon coins bound together. "I wish to exchange five hundred Galleons for muggle money," she said, apparently no more perplexed by Goblin's rudeness than she was earlier by Vernon's.

The Goblin pierced her and Harry with a look, then he nodded, "The bank does charge ten per cent commission on the exchange. Do you wish to exchange five hundred galleons? Or do you require the Pound equivalent thereof and will pay the commission on top of the five hundred?" Once the clerk started talking about his trade, some of the hostility disappeared.

"Just exchange the five hundred and take the commission out of that," replied Tonks and turned to Harry. "I doubt we will spend all that in a day anyway, but since we are fixin' a decade of Dursleys stinging on you, we can!" she said with a grin. Harry's jaw fell. He stared at Tonks as she stacked a bundle of fifty-pound notes in her wallet. He was not quite sure he knew how much muggle money that was, but he knew perfectly well it was a LOT.

They began making their way out of the bank hall. Just as Tonks stuck in the last roll of notes, they heard two of Harry's least favourite people, "Look, Mother, that is Potter and the half-blood cousin of mine? Do you think she is taking his money? You told me Aunt Andromeda is dirt poor…"

Harry would recognise that nasal ferret voice anywhere. It was a testament to Tonks's reflexes, that she grabbed his wand hand before he could curse Malfoy to the next week or even turn at him.

Instead, Tonks hissed at him, "Not worth it, neither of them!" and they made three more steps before they heard Draco speaking again "You already spent the money you stole from Diggory, Potter?"

This time, Tonks did not stop Harry from turning around, though she shook her head when his right hand jerked as if to draw. Harry expected to see Malfoy looking as if something had just died right under his nose. What he did not expect was Narcissa Malfoy holding Draco's right hand just above his wrist and glaring at her son.

Mrs Malfoy shook her head and hissed "Be quiet Draco, Malfoy's are respected clients of this bank since the mid-thirteenth century, you will NOT risk that standing in the course of one morning!" She looked at Harry and Tonks as if she had just notice their presence.

"Niece, Nymfadora," she said eventually in a voice that was not far from liquid Helium and nodded. "I have heard you made an auror and then that you got suspended over your connection to our side of the family. I would offer that I speak to Lucius to see if he can speak reason to some people who may listen, but, I know you and my dear sister Andromeda too well to even bother offering," Narcissa finished the sentence, shaking her head as if she was being reasonable and Tonks was being difficult.

Tonks looked at her aunt as if she was not believing what she just said for a few seconds, then the purple-haired Auror laughed so loud a few goblins actually turned their heads to her "And what would be the price of this little favour, Auntie Cissa, let me guess, a favour payable when one of your Pureblood friends gets in a jam? No joy. Now, I have one little favour to ask of you. When you talk to Aunt Bellatrix, tell her me and my Auror friends miss her and say wotcher!"

When Narcissa looked at her quizzically, Tonks added, "Wotcher means hello. Tell her Amelia Bones sends regards, say that me, Mad-Eye, and Kingsley say hello" With that, she turned to Harry and sighed. "Let's go. I'm so Adam and son with this part of the family." Harry was not sure what that meant, but he went along happily.

Narcissa and Draco were still processing Tonks's threats when Tonks and Harry left the bank. They did not stop anywhere in Diagon Alley, and not until Tonks found a cafe and got them a second breakfast consisting of ploughman sandwiches and tea.

"Sorry, Harry, I should've kept my temper better, just did not imagine we be running into my second least favourite aunt this soon in the morning," she said and took a solid bite of her sandwich.

"So both Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange are your aunts?" Harry asked in between bites. Tonks nodded, "Wanna trade?" she asked. Harry almost choked on his food. "No, thank you, I am good!" he got out. "Not even if I add a bottle of firewhiskey to the deal?" said Tonks, fighting off laughter. Harry shook his head resolutely. "Sorry, Nymphadora,"

Tonks frowned. "Harry, I guess you had to learn my crazy given name living with me all summer, but I hoped I could dodge that and do me a solid and don't use it."

Harry shook his head. "So you want me to stick to your last name forever?" he said, a bit confused. Tonks nodded, and then she thought about it. "You do have a point, given you will live in my place for weeks. I think I can live with Dora, but next time you use the full name, I'll have you run the laps for it!" she did not look like she was joking, so Harry just nodded and returned to his sandwich.

"Never had one of those," he observed after a while, Tonks grinned: "Means you've never been to London properly. Yes, you can get hamburgers or cheeseburgers, but Ploughman is the sandwich to eat in London. Before you are back in school I'll show you all kinds of London food, the classics, the imported stuff. Man, you look like you can use every calory I am stuffing into you!"

"I guess I have never been to any other part of London than Diagon Alley, Kings Cross, and three years back in Knockturn." When Tonks heard, she gave a whistle. "Just like that? What were you looking for? Poison for Snape?"

Harry looked up in surprise, and Tonks shook her head, laughing. "Harry, I had Potions with Snape my last four years of school. The last year, he got even more moody than usual because of a Gryffindor firstie; you would know nothing about that, would you?" she asked with a grin.

"We were in Hogwarts at the same time?" Harry asked, matching the grin. Tonks nodded. "Yeah, I got to see you snatching the school cup from Slytherin back in 92, a pretty good thing to see my last day in the school."

Harry looked a bit embarrassed. Tonks laugh. "Thinking if you should remember me? Forget it, I probably never wore the same face for two days, and besides, you did not have any reason to pay much mind to the Hufflepuff seventh-year students. The one thing that bothers me is I lost the map to Filch…"

Harry nodded with relief. Then he caught the last part of the statement. 'Could it be the same map? There is only one way to find out.' He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Marauder's Map, sliding it over the table to Tonks.

Tonks looked at the folded bit of parchment dubiously. Harry nodded. "If you had it, you know how to use it," he said and watched for what Tonks would do.

She checked if any of the three other patrons in the cafe paid them any mind and then drew her wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good!" she said and tapped the map.

The familiar lines sprung out from where the tip of the wand touched the parchment, and Tonks grinned like she just met an old friend. "Harry, how did you get it? If you tell me you raided Filch's office, I may just kiss you!"

She laughed out loud when she saw Harry turning beet red. "You OK, mate?" she asked and tapped the map again with "Mischief managed."

Harry nodded. "I'm alright, just did not expect that. And I got it from the Weasley Twins." he finished his sandwich in three big bites.

Tonks nodded. "I knew little George and Fred would amount to something!" she said proudly. "I might have helped them with a prank or two…"

Tonks paid for the food, and they left to get on with their shopping list finally. She first directed Harry to a sports shoe shop. When Harry started looking at the price tags, Tonks shook her head. "Ignore the price. You can cheap out on anything else, but not shoes. That is not healthy!"

Harry nodded. "Just a bad habit, Aunt Petunia…" Tonks's hair flashed bright red "Aunt Petunia abused you, mate, you forget everything she ever told you, and you treat yourself right!"

Four hours later, Harry had two pairs of running shoes, four pairs of jeans, a jeans jacket, a few new hoodies, A few sets of gym clothing, a new suit, a suit coat and T-shirts beyond counting. When he asked why Tonks insisted on getting him a muggle suit, she said, "It is on the newly minted Auror shopping list, I only needed mine about four times, yesterday included, but I used the list as a basic for today's shopping. And it is better you have it and never need it, than the other way around!"

Tonks grinned, "So probably the last thing you really need is a supply of underwear. I suppose you can get that without me, though if you insist, I'll tag along?" She laughed at Harry's reaction. "Mate, you look like you've seen a basilisk in a mirror!"

She handed Harry a stack of notes. "Here, your Fenners, you go buy yourself what you need. I have something I want to get, a surprise if you will," said Tonks. Harry looked at her quizzically. "Fenners?" he asked.

Tonks chuckled. "That's Cockney for money. In Cockney, you substitute a word or phrase that rhymes, and to make it more difficult, sometimes you can use the part of the phrase that does not rhyme as a stand-alone. A ten-pound note is a tenner, so you can call it Jim Fenner, Fenner, or Jim…."

Harry took the explanation in, "So when you said you are Adam and Son with Malfoy and Lestrange parts of your family, you were done with them?" The young Auror nodded, "Learning fast, yes, that's it."

"What is the Cockney for Galleon?" asked Harry after a moment. Tonks frowned and thought for a moment, "I don't think there is one. Maybe we can invent it… Hmm, if we go from the same root as Jim Fenner, maybe the Profi, because of Leon the Profi?"

When Harry gave her a blank look, she shook her head. "Of course, you would not know it. It came out only last year, and you ain't going to the movies. We could watch it when we get home."

Forty minutes later, they reconvened in front of the store, and Tonks waved an envelope before sticking it into her jacket pocket. "What is it, Dora?" Harry asked as he stuck the underwear into his new backpack.

Tonks shook her head, "Ain't telling Harry, just dont plan anything on the first Saturday in August," she made a theatrical gesture, locking her mouth and tossing the key. "Now come, I am starving, and neither of us is cooking today, so we eat out before we go home!"