- CHAPTER ONE -

A Whinging Summer

The summer holidays are supposed to be freedom from school, and they were for every child in the world, but not for Harry Potter. Harry Potter longed to go back to Hogwarts. Every year when the summer holidays started, he had to go back to the Dursleys, and every summer he hated it more than he did the last summer. This summer that same sentiment reared its head, but this summer it was different, this summer it was worse.

Because last year, Harry found out he did have family left over who weren't the Dursleys, and he's also found out more about his parents deaths. He now knew that Sirius wasn't responsible nor was he a follower of You-Know-Who. Peter Pettigrew had been the one responsible. He had pretended to be their friend whilst really being loyal to You-Know-Who. Pettigrew gave up the location of the Potters. As far as Harry was concerned, Pettigrew killed them with You-Know-Who.

But that wasn't the part that hurt Harry the most, it was that Harry had family out there. He had Sirius, and Sirius even asked Harry to come and live with him. But he couldn't, as much as he wanted to, go and find Sirius and stay with him. For a multitude of reasons, the first of which being that Sirius did not yet have permanent residence, and the second being that Dumbledore so strongly believed that he needed to stay with the Dursleys.

Harry pictured the conversation in his head, so vividly, just the way it had actually taken place at the end of his third year. 'But Professor –I' Harry said, as Dumbledore put his hand up.

'It is for your own good, Harry. That, I must stress.' Dumbledore said. 'You are protected whilst living with the Dursleys. We can never know if the protection would work if you left them and went to live with Sirius.' Dumbledore continued. 'But if it's just me the protection's on, wouldn't it follow me to Sirius?' Harry countered.

'The protection does not only protect you. It protects the Dursleys. Do you think Lord Voldemort is opposed to coming after you in the muggle world? If he could, he would either send Death Eaters after you or he would come for you himself. The Dursleys would just be…Oh, I do believe muggles have a term for this, Harry, though I cannot place my finger on it.' Dumbledore said, struggling to think of the word.

'Collateral damage, sir?' Harry said. 'Yes. The Dursleys would just be collateral damage to Lord Voldemort and his followers. This risk is one we cannot afford to take, my dear boy.' Dumbledore said. Harry begrudgingly accepted Dumbledore's will.

As Harry thought about that conversation from the unsafety of his tiny and most certainly undersized bedroom from No. 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, he accepted that Dumbledore was probably right and admitted to himself that he trusted the mysterious old man. Even if he did hold a lot back from Harry and keep him in the dark most of the time. And today wasn't actually a bad day.

The Dursleys were away visiting Aunt Marge. They had to go to her now, after what had happened last time she came to them. Marge was so traumatised by the events of that evening that she outright refused to ever lay eyes on Harry again, and said that if she did, that Vernon and Petunia wouldn't ever have to worry about him again. Dudley had a good chortle at this, and so did Harry when it was relayed to him by Vernon by way of a threat. Harry was amused by it, he'd like to see the fat crone try.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door, and then what must have been at least forty rings of the doorbell. Harry made his way downstairs and opened the door. It was a woman. 'Wotcher, Harry.' She said. Couldn't have been more than a couple of years older than Harry. She was pretty. Beautiful felt a more appropriate word to Harry. She had pink hair. Tanned skin. She was wearing a black punky overcoat with a hoody underneath and big, clunky, punky Doc Martens. His thoughts on her were cut short as she barged in past him. 'Close the door, Harry. Now.' She said, urgent. Harry did so and then followed her into the living room, catching her as she closed the curtains on the window and on the back door area.

'Who are you?' Harry asked. She finally turned to face him again.

'Nymphadora Tonks. At this point, the most you know about me is through passing mentions and stories from the Weasleys I'd imagine. Give it a year and we'll meet, well, you'll meet a slightly younger me, who cannot know under any circumstances that you already know me, and have done for a year at that point. Time travel's tricky like that.' Tonks said.

For a moment there was nothing but silence between the two. A silence that Harry would break. 'Cup of tea?' he said. Tonks nodded. 'Thanks.' Harry entered the kitchen that was connected to the dining room and living room and began brewing two cups of tea. 'How d'you take it?' he asked, as Tonks took a seat on the couch. 'Milk, three sugars, please.' Tonks said.

'Take mine the exact same way.' Harry said, as he brewed the tea and brought both mugs over to the couch and armchair. Harry handed Tonks her tea and sat down in the armchair with his. 'Shouldn't we, like, go up to your bedroom to discuss this. Be more private.' Tonks said. Harry shook his head. 'Got the house to ourselves. The Dursleys are away visiting Aunt Marge. She used to come to us, but, I kind of ruined that.' Harry said, laughing to himself at the mere memory.

'What did you do, make her blow up like a hot air balloon?' Tonks asked, grinning knowingly at Harry. 'How did you know that?' Harry said, shocked. In his head he doubted this Nymphadora lady. His immediate first thought was that the Ministry or Dumbledore had sent her, checking to see if his sanity was still intact. But knowing about the Marge incident. Not even the ministry knew about that. 'You tell me in the future.' Tonks said, sipping her tea. Harry sipped his instinctively.

'You're sure about the Dursleys not popping back anytime soon?' she asked. Harry nodded. 'They're not coming back until after I've left for the Burrow. They timed it like that on purpose.' Harry said. 'Where in the future are you from? Why did you come back here? Actually, why did you come to me?' Harry asked. Tonks looked at him a certain way, the expression was one no one else had even looked at him with. It even felt different.

'Spoiler for in a year's time, you're still going to have questions. Actually, you're going to have even more questions, and things are going to get worse.' She said, pausing to sip her tea before continuing. 'A lot worse, actually. But that's why I came back here. I came back for you.' Tonks said. Harry sipped his tea before answering. 'Why, though. I don't understand. Is something bad going to happen?' he asked.

'Sort of. Multiple bad things are going to happen to you over the course of the next two years. All of them completely avoidable, all of them the Ministry's and Dumbledore's faults.' Tonks said.

'Okay, two more questions: What made you want to do this, and how did you even manage it. Time travel is outlawed.' Harry said. Tonks chuckled a bit. 'I came back from 1996, November, to answer your earlier question. I came back because of a conversation I had with other Order members about you.' she said, again pausing to sip her tea.

'Your life with the Dursleys came up, and then everything future you had been through over the last two years, and everything you're about go through over the next two years came up, and it all hit me so hard. What the Dursleys do you Harry, it's sick, it's inhumane.' Tonks said. Harry grimaced at the memories flooding his head. 'And the things that are in the future for you, it's a wonder to me how you'll still be here after they happen. And then I found out something infinitely worse.' Tonks said.

Harry sipped his tea, dreading what Tonks would say next. 'What?' Harry said. 'Dumbledore and the Order knew about the Dursleys treated you. They knew and did nothing to try and get you out of here. To somewhere safer. To Sirius!' Tonks said. Harry just smiled. 'What? What's the smirk for?' Tonks said. 'You're right. Dumbledore knows what the Dursleys are like, what they do to me, and whatever Order it is you're talking about probably does too.' Harry said. 'Order of the Phoenix. Secret society founded during the First War, to fight You-Know-Who.' Tonks said.

'Point still stands. Dumbledore knows, and he's always known. You have no idea how many times I've begged him to let me stay at Hogwarts over summer, or just anywhere else. But he always says the same thing.' Harry said, pausing before doing his best Dumbledore impression. 'The protection does not only protect you. It protects the Dursleys too.' Harry said, breaking out of the Dumbledore voice, and back into his own, as Tonks laughed raucously. '1. That is a fantastic impression of the cooky old man. We're making that a regular occurrence. And 2. While I do definitely understand his reasoning, it still isn't very good.' Tonks said. Harry nodded in agreement, quite enthusiastically, sipping his tea in the process. 'Exactly. I tell him I understand his reasons, even agree with them to an extent, but I say it's probably actually safer for them now, if I'm not around them. Voldemort won't come after them if I'm not there.' Harry said, beginning to enjoy Tonks' company.

'To which I bet he says.' Tonks said, motioning to Harry. Harry cleared his throat and put on his Dumbledore voice again. 'There is always the chance he or his followers will torture them.' Harry said, breaking back into his own voice. 'He sounds pretty certain Voldemort's going to come back.' Tonks said, trying to hide the knowing look on her face, but Harry was too perceptive for her and caught it. 'He's coming back isn't he. The look on your face gave it away.' Harry said. Tonks nodded sadly. 'Yeah, he does. End of this coming school year, actually.' Tonks said. 'So you came back to save me?' Harry said. Tonks nodded again.

'In a way, yes. Everything I heard in that conversation broke my heart, Harry. I was sickened that they knew what you were going through in the muggle world and did nothing to help. I was sickened that they knew all of what you, at that point, had gone through and are, at this point, still yet to go through, and the thought to talk to you or be there hadn't even crossed their minds. The only ones who were even trying for you were Sirius and Remus, Molly and Arthur too, but you know what Molly's like. Overall you were still getting ignored and pushed out. It was breaking you. I couldn't bear it another second.' Tonks said. Harry smiled, uncontrollably this time. He didn't know how to respond to someone caring so much for him.

'The smile is uncontrollable. I never know what to do when someone actually shows concern or love for me. I just…feel…weird, I guess. But still, bit heavy to do that for a kid you don't really know that well. Unless you and I are close in the future?' Harry said. 'We are close. We meet, well, we did meet when I came with Mad Eye and the other Order members and rescued you from the Dursleys. After that, you and me, we never stopped talking.' Tonks said.

At some point, the conversation moved from the living room to Harry's bedroom, with fresh cups of tea. Harry was sat on the small desk, whilst Tonks took the bed. Harry was completely silent, having just been told about a few of the things he was going to go through in his impending year at Hogwarts. Tonks was waiting, hoping for him to say something, anything. 'Harry?' she said, nervous as hell.

'So, there's an exceptionally dangerous tournament coming up and I'm too young to enter, but due to things beyond anyone's control I end up competing in it, and then I have recurring dreams which are actually peaks into Voldemort's mind and one of the men in said dreams comes to Hogwarts disguised as one of Dumbledore's friends and rigs the entire tournament to get me to a graveyard for a ceremony with Voldemort. And then I have to watch Cedric Diggory die?' Harry said. Tonks could see the full weight of it all hitting and coming to rest on his shoulders.

Tonks nodded slowly, trying to gauge Harry's reaction to being told of all the trauma he is going to endure over the next year.

'You travelled back in time, right?' Harry said. Tonks nodded. 'Well, yeah, but Harry, it broke when I got here, and it can't be used again. I can't get back to my own time except for taking the slow path.' Tonks said. Harry looked at her, darkly serious. In his head he already had an idea of what Tonks used to travel back through time, but he didn't want himself to be correct. He hoped to god he was wrong.

'Tonks, what exactly did you use to travel back in time?' Harry said. 'Time Turner.' Tonks said. 'Hermione and I used one of those last year, to save Sirius and Buckbeak. Hermione got rid of hers after it, though.' Harry said. 'Yeah, they all get destroyed in the future. Big fight at the Ministry. You and your mates versus Lucius Malfoy and couple of Death Eaters.' Tonks said, before realising what she had said.

'Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater? What's a Death Eater?' Harry said. Tonks squirmed. 'Tonks. Tell me.' Harry said. 'Death Eaters are Voldemort's followers. Lucius Malfoy is one of the elite. Always has been.' Tonks said. Harry took a moment to think about everything Tonks had told him.

Then he looked at her, with sad eyes. 'You're stuck here, Tonks. You can't get back to your own time, with your version of me and your friends.' Harry said, their eyes locked on each other. 'Yeah, I am.' Tonks said. 'You're okay with that?' Harry said. 'Have to be.' Tonks said. 'You gave up everything to help some kid you're kind of close to? No. It's more than that, isn't it?' Harry said. Tonks let out a sad laugh. 'Should've known you'd be as perceptive as ever, Harry.' She said.

Harry clapped his hands together, their cups of tea long finished. 'Hungry?' he said. 'Actually, yeah, starving.' Tonks said. 'Yeah, Time Travel's hungry work from my experience. Fancy a chippy? There's a good one nearby.' Harry said, as Tonks laughed, nodding at the same time. 'How can you go from being all serious about Time Turners to happy-go-lucky about chippies?' Tonks said, laughing.

'Honestly, I'm surprised I still have my sanity.' Harry said, letting himself laugh with her. Within time, Harry found himself walking to the chip shop with Tonks, the conversation continuing to flow.

'I'm guessing, from what you've said, that I'm still living with the Dursleys in two years time. Still haven't escaped them.' Harry said, inquisitively. Tonks nodded, slow and sad. 'Sorry, Harry.' Tonks said. Harry just shrugged. There wasn't much he could do, and he was used to the Dursleys at this point in his life. 'No, it's fine, really. Not much I can do, is there? And I'm pretty much used to the Dursleys at this point.' Harry said.

'I know. Doesn't mean you should be.' Tonks said. Harry could feel the anger vibrating around Tonks. 'I'm sorry for what you've had to go through because of the Dursleys, I'm sorry for what they've done to you. All that is over now. When we leave for the Burrow in a couple of days time, we're not ever coming back to Privet Drive. Dumbledore can kick up a fuss all he wants, but I'm not ever letting you come back here. This place is hell for you.' Tonks said. All Harry could do was stare.

Sure Ron and Hermione cared about him, and would get him out of Privet Drive permanently if they could, but they couldn't, and Harry understood that perfectly. But nevertheless, he'd always longed for, yearned for, a permanent escape from Privet Drive, and now it had finally come. Tonks, of course, caught Harry staring. 'What?' Tonks said. 'No one's ever gone this hard for me. No one's ever put their foot down and said no for me. I've always had to do what other people thought was best for me.' Harry said. 'You never have to do that again, Harry. You're free now.' She said, smiling at him.

It was then that Harry felt his heart jump in his chest, and his stomach light ablaze with butterflies. '"We"? As in when I leave for the Burrow with the Weasleys, you're coming with me?' Harry said. He didn't want to admit to the piece of hope that now rode his heart. Tonks nodded happily. 'Well, let's see: two years in the future, I was part of a conversation about you and what happened to you over the last two years. The conversation broke my heart and out of impulse and being close to you, I snuck into the Department of Mysteries before they cleaned up, found the broken pieces of a Time Turner, repaired it with a half-arsed and unstable repairing charm, came back here, Time Turner broke, there's another version of me here that I can't ever met, soooo…yeh. I'm stuck with you, and you're stuck with me. How about that? The Wizard and the Metamorphmagus.' Tonks said.

More time passed, and Harry and Tonks were back at the Dursleys house, eating in Harry's room. 'Sooo come on then, Harry. Tell me. Any crushes at Hogwarts? Any girls you fancy? Any girls who fancy you?' Tonks said, winking at him. Harry couldn't hide much she made him blush with just a wink. Tonks saw him blush and let out a small giggle. 'I doubt there'd be many girls looking at me twice. So probably not, no.' Harry said, as he threw a chip into his mouth. 'Oh, come on. There must be someone you fancy. Unless you're gay and secretly madly in love with Draco Malfoy.' Tonks said, laughing as Harry made retching noises.

'If that ever happens, please kill me.' Harry said. 'But seriously. There's no one at Hogwarts. No one at all?' Tonks said. Harry tried to act coy about it, but his eyes told a different story, and Tonks caught it. 'Oooh, I know that look! There is someone!' Tonks said, excitedly. 'What look?' Harry said. 'The look that just splintered across your eyes. Spill it, Potter. Who is she?' Tonks said, throwing some chips in her mouth.

'…Cho Chang…' Harry said, reluctant, but defeated. 'Is she pretty?' Tonks said. 'Try gorgeous.' Harry said, eating some smoked sausage. 'Alright, Romeo. Does she know how you feel?' Tonks asked. Harry shook his head. 'I only started liking her last year. I never really got much time to talk to her, on top of hunting Sirius, dodging Dementors, and being taught Defense Against the Dark Arts by a Werewolf.' Harry said, nonchalantly.

'See, that's what it is for me. How can be so nonchalant about what you've been through? Most people would have either developed some pretty heavy coping methods, or would be on some serious medicine.' Tonks said. Harry shrugged. Truth be told, he didn't know either. 'I actually don't know either. I just, no matter what, keep myself moving. I don't dwell on the bad things. I accept that it happened, and I move on. I keep going forward.' Harry said. 'I bet loads of people have told you this, but you're really wise for your age, Harry.' Tonks said, looking at him thoughtfully.

Harry didn't know what to do with the compliment, so he steered the conversation to Tonks. 'Right. Come on, then. I've told you about my love life. I want to know about yours. Have you got your eye on someone in the future, or rather, did you?' Harry said. 'It's complicated.' Tonks said, grinning mischievously at Harry.

Harry let out a groan. 'That is such a cop out answer. I told you about Cho, I haven't even really told Ron and Hermione yet, I mean they pretty much know, but still!' Harry said, grinning back. Tonks grunted, feigning a sense of begrudging. 'Okay, if you really want to know.' She said, as they both finished their food. Tonks took out her wand and burned up the food wrappers, taking a seat right next to Harry on the bed.

'It wasn't just one for me, like it was for you. There were two men who caught my eye. But I s'pose now, looking back on it, and where I've found myself, only one of them really stole my heart.' She said, carefully and thoughtfully. 'Who were they, the two blokes?' Harry asked. Tonks grinned, wild and mischievous. 'You'll figure it out, eventually.' She said. Harry and Tonks talked the night away. Harry was surprised at how easy everything was with Tonks, how natural it all felt.

'Where are you going to sleep?' Harry asked. Tonks chuckled, as she dug into her bag. 'Sleeping bag.' She said, as she pulled out said item from her bag. Harry shook his head. 'You're not sleeping on the floor. You can take Vernon and Petunia's bed, or you can take Dudley's, but not the couch or the floor.' Harry said. 'So much choice. Sleep in Mummy and Daddy pig's bed, or in baby pig's bed. Where to sleep?' Tonks said, as her eyes came back down to Harry. 'Unless…' she said, as Harry suddenly felt a spotlight on himself.

'What?' Harry said, as Tonks moved closer to him. Almost too close. 'I could sleep in your bed, with you.' she said. 'I do like to have someone to cuddle with when I sleep.' She said. Harry blushed uncontrollably, his cheeks reddened more than they ever had done before. He could see that Tonks was loving this as she giggled, the sound of which made his heart flutter.

'D'you get off on this sort of thing?' Harry asked, embarrassed but trying to hide it. Tonks nodded as she giggled. 'Pretty much, yeah.' She said. 'I'll take Vernon and Petunia's bed. Night, Harry.' Tonks said. 'Night, Tonks.' Harry said, as she exited the bedroom.

Harry spent the rest of the night thinking about Tonks before he dozed off. He didn't know this Nymphadora Tonks very well, but there was something about her that just felt…safe, and right to him, he thought to himself as he dozed off into sleep.