Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, any characters that you recognise belong to their respective copyright owners.

A.N. Greetings dear readers. This is my first attempt at fanfiction so don't expect anything too spectacular, I was inspired by Emosrockhard's 'Vampiric Harry Challenge'. I have proofread the first chapter myself and haven't found any errors but if anyone would like to beta for me that would be appreciated. Let me know what you think in your reviews. On with the Show...

Chapter 1

It was raining again. The people of Little Whinging, Surrey were confused by the large amount of rain they were receiving this late in the summer. All except one person. This person lived in the smallest bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive, his name was Harry Potter and he couldn't care less about the near constant rain, or the fact that he hadn't eaten in a week, or that his relatives had forgotten he was even there. No, Harry Potter only cared about one thing. His beloved godfather, Sirius Black, had died over a week ago and it was entirely his fault.

Sirius I'm so sorry. If I hadn't been an idiot and gone to the ministry none of this would have happened and you'd still be alive.

His fists clenched tightly, nails digging into his palms, as he thought of everything he could have done to prevent the death of his godfather.

If I had just tried harder in Occlumency, or if I had just listened to Hermione when she said it felt like a trap or if I had used the communication mirror that Sirius gave me I would have known that Voldemort was sending me visions and I wouldn't have charged in like a blind Gryffindor.

Harry continued his brooding for a while until he realised the rain had stopped for a time, so he decided to make the most of the opportunity and get some fresh air. Rather than risk confronting his relatives by going downstairs and out the front door, he decided to use his favourite exit to the smallest bedroom since the summer before his 2nd year at Hogwarts, when Ron and the twins come and rescued him with the flying Ford Anglia, and slid his window open, letting Hedwig out first to stretch her wings, before following suit and jumping out of the second story window, leaving it just slightly open behind him, and landing in a crouch in front of his Aunt Petunia's rose bushes.

He sighed as he straightened up and began walking down the footpath, caught up in his thoughts and not really caring where his feet were leading him, oblivious to the eyes watching him.

Nymphadora Tonks was not a happy woman. In the past week she had been fired, hired, reassigned and bereaved. Now to top it all off she was cold and wet, the constant rain and the dark clouds reflecting her mood perfectly as well as soaking her to the bone. As she shivered in the cold and watched her charge through his window she thought back to the events that had led to where she was now.

Dumbledore had just taken Harry and portkeyed out. Aurors and Ministry officials were crawling all over the place and Fudge looked like he was about to keel over. Tonks was helping Shack and Moody secure the atrium and guard the unconscious Death Eaters. The place was a war zone, the fountain had been demolished and there was broken glass and shattered stone all over the place. The air was still heavy with the residual magic from the battle between the Leader of the Light and the Dark Lord, every surface was statically charged and small arcs of magic jumped to anything they could. Tonks looked over at Moody and decided to break the calm silence that enveloped them inside their privacy bubble.

"What casualties are there?" she asked quietly

"Longbottom has a broken wand, nose and cruciatus exposure, Granger was nearly cut in half with an unknown dark curse and lost a lot of blood, the Weasley boy was hit with an inebriation curse and was attacked by some brain-things while the Weasley girl has a broken ankle and the Lovegood girl has fractured ribs" listed Mad-Eye.

Tonks frowned at his omission "What about Harry?" her voice sounded weak even to her own ears.

Kingsley put his hand on her shoulder before speaking in his deep bass voice "He followed Lestrange out here to the atrium before you were enervated. We don't know if he was injured further but You-Know-Who was in here and he probably has several cuts and cruciatus exposure at least."

"Why would he follow Bellatrix? He smashed the Prophecy didn't he?"

Kingsley sighed deeply before speaking again "Tonks, she killed Sirius. His body fell through the Veil. I'm sorry"

Tonks' face registered shock and her hair wilted from its usual bubblegum pink to a depressed, mousy brown. She clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut to keep her tears from falling, she felt Kingsley pat her on the shoulder sympathetically while she got herself under control. When her eyes opened again they were a cold, steel grey and her hair had bloomed into a dark, blood red. She looked up and scanned the room with her murderous gaze, as if expecting to find her insane Aunt cackling madly among the ministry workers. Failing to find her desired target she turned her attention to the closest outlet of her frustration and proceeded to kick the unconscious form of Rodolphus Lestrange. In the testicles. Repeatedly.

Just then, Fate decided that Cornelius Fudge needed to be punched in the face really, really hard. Fudge, being the good little pawn that he was, decided to go and make sure everyone knew he was still in-charge, even though he failed to realise that would not be true for very much longer, by blustering his way into the privacy bubble that surrounded Aurors Moody, Shacklebolt and Tonks and demanding to know just what they thought they were doing and why several upstanding purebloods were stunned and restrained like common criminals. This drew the full attention of the three Aurors. Auror Shacklebolt opened his mouth to say they had been captured while breaking into the Department of Mysteries, Auror Moody prepared to bark at the pompous fool that they are common criminals and were being treated as such, but neither of them could utter more than a single syllable before the fist of Auror Tonks, who had abandoned her abuse of Rodolphus' wedding tackle, connected with the left side of his face and sent him flying out of their bubble and sprawling to the floor. Fate, satisfied with her work, smiled and sat back to watch the rest of the show.

Fudge lay on the ground for a moment in stunned disbelief that someone had actually struck him like some common muggle, before picking himself up off the floor, his face turning purple with rage, and bellowing in the loudest voice he could manage "You are FIRED!"

Silence flooded the area as all movement ground to a halt.

BAM

Tonks' fist broke the silence and Fudge's jaw.

THUD

The floor shattered them as he slumped unconscious.

Everyone in the atrium was staring at her in mind-numbing shock, everyone except Shacklebolt and Moody who were watching her warily and were the only ones close enough to hear her next words.

"You can't fire me" she whispered in a hollow voice "I quit."

Then before either of her comrades could stop her, she drew her wand and apparated through the shattered wards and back to Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

She had sat on her bed and cried until her eyes were puffy and red, until no more tears would come, then she passed into a fitful sleep from physical and emotional exhaustion.

She awoke next to the sound of a light knocking on her door and Mrs. Weasley whispering that there was a meeting and that the whole Order was downstairs, she did not know how long she had been asleep but she did not feel rested at all. Reluctantly she followed the Weasley Matriarch and sat down in the offered seat, not looking at anyone but just staring blankly at the table. That is until she heard the sound of the floo and the low murmurs around her turn to deafening silence. She looked up in time to see Dumbledore, looking every single one of his 158 years, slowly lowering himself into the chair at the head of the table. She was shocked that the night's events had such an effect on him when he was usually notoriously unflappable. If she was shocked at his appearance, it was nothing compared to how she felt when he spoke.

"My friends" he began slowly "tonight has truly been one of the worst nights in my long and quite considerable life." His opening sentence made sure he had everyone's full attention. "This day has seen the consequences of some of my most difficult decisions come to bear. I fear that this old man is not quite as infallible as he seems and that the repercussions of my decisions have far too many long reaching effects."

He paused here and looked around the table at the familiar faces of his most trusted allies and, seeing no anger or malice towards him, seemed to regain some of his old spark before continuing.

"I have done many things in my life that I am not proud of, but I always told myself it was to ensure that the world had a future, that I did what I did for the Greater Good of all. Perhaps, if I had been able to seek counsel with someone I considered wiser than myself, then many of my choices may have been made differently. Alas, back then the only people I considered more knowledgeable than myself were Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel" Here he gave a self depreciating laugh. "and they aren't really the sort of people you can floo call for advice."

The rest of the Order laughed at the Headmasters talent for understatements.

"However," His voice had lost all humour now "that does not absolve me of the choices I was forced to make and I have come to realise that some of my choices were terrible ones indeed. Had I not chosen to isolate and hide the Potters and Longbottoms but instead decided to keep them close and among allies they might still be alive and well, had I not chosen to ignore the facts when Sirius was brought to me in chains He might never have been sent to Azkaban and Harry could have grown up in a loving environment instead of with his muggle Aunt in the cupboard under the stairs where I was forced to send him for his protection, if I had not chosen to keep Harry ignorant of his Destiny for so long then Sirius might still be alive and Harry would not be in such pain as he is in now..."

Dumbledore's voice grew steadily louder as he spoke, until he came to the part about keeping Harry ignorant of his destiny, at which point his voice went soft and sad. The Order were gob-smacked to say the least, their great leader was as much as admitting defeat when they had just managed to counter one of his major plans and had thrown a large spanner in the works of all his others, surely that had to count for something.

"I feel that I know what you are all going to say, but without Harry, all our efforts will have been for nothing. I feel that now he is revealed, Voldemort" Everyone except Moody flinched "will begin increasing his attacks in an attempt to re-create the old fear of the 1st War. We must work harder than ever to make sure that he gains as little support as possible. You all have your assignments, the fate of things to come depends upon what we do here and now. You are all dismissed, stay safe."

Everyone looked at Dumbledore for a few moments longer before they slowly started to filter out of the room, all except Tonks and Dumbledore. When he realised that she was still present, he just sat calmly, his eyes gently twinkling, waiting for her to speak.

"Sir" she began quietly "After you left, the Minister… I… Fudge fired me. I'm not an Auror anymore and I don't want to be either, I don't know what I should be doing though." She looked up at her former Headmaster and gave him a frustrated look at her inability to convey her feelings, he smiled back at her and it seemed to convey that he knew what she was trying to say.

"You have no wish to go back to the Ministry, but you still want to contribute to the war. It just so happens that the Defence Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts was recently vacated and I find myself looking for a replacement. You wouldn't happen to know anyone who is currently unemployed that might be interested and has sufficient qualifications to teach the children to protect themselves would you Miss Tonks? An Ex-Auror would be ideal, but alas, such individuals are rare." His grandfatherly smile made sure that she caught on quickly and gave him a happy smile in return.

"I would be honoured Professor, thank you."

"Believe me Miss Tonks, I should be thanking you, I don't think the school could survive anymore Ministry interference. Now then, since you have no other duties to attend to I need you to guard Harry until his 16th Birthday, you will be his only guard as the other Order members have their own missions to complete. I will make arrangements for any equipment you need as well as emergency Portkeys should Harry or yourself be attacked. You are not required to be at Hogwarts until the 15th of August, I will have the defence professors quarters prepared for your arrival. If that is all, I shall bid you goodnight Miss Tonks."

With that, the old man stood and made his way slowly to the fireplace, grabbed a handful of floo-powder and said just loud enough for Tonks to hear, "I am truly sorry about Sirius", before tossing the powder into the fire and disappearing up the chimney in a flare of green.

Tonks sat there quietly, thinking about Dumbledore's parting words, before making her way back to her bedroom and crying herself to sleep for the second time that day.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Tonks completed her check of the perimeter wards and circled back to her observation post, only to see Harry jump out of his window and start making his way down the street towards the park. She cursed silently and fell into step 30 feet behind him. Had she known that she wasn't the only person following Harry Potter, she would have been less worried about stealth and more worried about which pocket her emergency Portkey was in.