I woke suddenly to Percy's voice and a loud banging noise that sounded like a cannon going off. "Up and at 'em firsties. Come on now, if you don't get up Ron I'm leaving you here and you won't get breakfast." I heard grumbling and yawns from my roommates and sitting up I pulled the curtain to the side. Seeing that no one was really paying me any mind I stood up and winched slightly at the cold floor. 'Would it kill them to put some heating charms down?' Grumbling along with the others I got dressed for the day. Since I didn't know what classes I had for today I just stuffed everything into my expandable book bag then a quick swish of the wand and my mouth was sparkly clean. All set for the day and seeing that everyone else was still getting ready I went down to the common room to wait for Rose. I saw Rose sitting down on one of the couches as I exited the staircase and I pulled one my sister's trademark as I plopped down next to her.

"Wotcher, Rose."

"Morning Tonks." She looked kind of tired and I commented on that.

"Did you get enough sleep last night? You look pretty tired right now." She shook her head and yawned.

"Everyone in the dormitory wanted to talk." A small grimace formed on her lips and I had a good idea on what they wanted to talk about. "Then I just couldn't fall asleep afterwards because we're really here at a school to learn magic!"

"I know! I had trouble sleeping as well. All the stories Dora has told me about this place kept me up. Did you get along with your roommates though? You'll be with them for the next 7 years."

She paused for a moment and then nodded. "It'll be fine. Hermione was there along with Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil and Megan Cloe." I noticed Percy walk past with my roommates in tow and nudged Rose.

"Let's follow along and go get some breakfast unless you want to wait for your roommates." She shook her head and we followed Percy along the confusing corridors to the main hall. "I really don't know why the stairs move. Seems like a falling hazard to me if you think about it." I commented to Rose as we reached the great hall. I could of sworn we went upwards for the last bit but somehow we reached the ground floor.

She shrugged as we sat down and plates of food appeared before us. I looked around and grabbed some of it before looking for some tea. "I wish I could have a good cuppa right now." Another plater appeared before me along with a tea cup. "Lovely," I commented as I poured a cup and took a small sip. 'Ah, tea has really grown on me since I was reborn here.'

"What just happened? Does the table grant wishes or something?" I looked up as I heard Hermione's voice and watched as she sat opposite from us.

"Um, no it was probably the House Elves."

"House Elves?" Both Rose and Hermione asked. I looked between them before taking a small sip of tea.

"Small magical creatures that love to cook and clean."

"But, what do you pay them?"

"Excuse me?" I blinked at the question.

"What do you pay them for cooking and cleaning for you?" Hermione asked.

"Magic." I said simply but continued as I saw her scowl at the semi non answer. "They feed off excess magic produced by us and the surrounding area."

"What? That's like slavery though. How can you not pay them?" Taking a moment I looked around at the surrounding students. Most of the upper years and purebloods were scowling at her question while the younger years and muggleborns seemed to agree.

"Hermione," I set down my tea cup. "You're trying to equate human values and morals onto an entirely separate race. House Elves feed off of our magic and love to cook and clean. Ask any of them what they want out of life and they'll say to serve. If you tried to pay them they would give your money back because they have no use for it." I looked over and saw that her face had settled into someone who was preparing for an argument so I raised my hands in a placating manner.

"Don't just take my word for it though. Try reading up on them and actually talking to them before you get in a huff about them. It's too early in the morning to have an argument." She deflated slightly and slowly nodded. Seeing that I had headed off a shouting match about culture clash I picked up my cuppa and took another sip. A tap on my shoulder though made me look over into the green eyes of Rose.

"Could we go see them sometime?" She had an expression on her face that I couldn't place and I nodded.

"Of course we can. They don't like to be seen while they work and I don't know where they gather but I'm sure that Dora knows. We can go ask her about it later." That seemed to mollify her and the rest of the meal was relatively peaceful. I did have to wrinkle my nose at the dreadful eating habits of Ron though. Chew with your mouth closed you cretin. No one wants to see your half chewed food and for God's sake stop talking with your mouth full and spraying food everywhere. The chap sitting across from him looked quite grim as he dodged food particles.

"Mr. Eros." I looked up to see Professor McGonagall standing over my shoulder holding out a sheet of paper. "Your schedule." I took it and spoke up before she could move on.

"Professor. Please just call me Tonks." I swear I saw a twitch on her lips as though she refrained from smiling.

"Of course Mr. Tonks." She moved on and handed a schedule to Rose. We both leaned together to compare our schedules as soon as she left.

"It seems like we have the same classes." She commented as I heard Ron moaning in the background about having potions first thing with those slimy Slytherins.

"Indeed. I don't really like the fact that Astronomy is in the middle of the week like that but it looks pretty decent with plenty of break time. Especially on Friday." I finished off the last of my breakfast as a swarm of owls came swooping in from the ceiling bearing letters and newspapers. I didn't seem to have anything and neither did Rose.

Standing up I asked her, "Do you want to go see Dora and see if she knows where the House Elves are?"

"Sure." She stood up and we walked over to Dora who was laughing at something one of her classmates said.

"Hey Dora. Can I ask you a question?" Dora turned away from the brunette woman and looked at me with a large smile.

"Of course lil' brother. What's up?"

"Rose and I were wondering where the House Elves live because she wants to meet one."

She seemed to think about it for a second. "You have to go to the kitchen if you want to meet them. It's directly under the great hall behind a painting of a fruit bowl and you have to tickle the pear to get in. I can show you guys where it is this weekend if you want?"

"That would be great." Rose said and I nodded. It's always good to know where the kitchens are then you can get snacks if you want them.

"Great." Dora said and a mischievous look came to her eyes. "You know the entire family pegged you as a Ravenclaw but then you just blushed so brightly under the sorting hat and got sorted into Gryffindor. One wonders what happened?" Her words set off some excited whispering and I caught a few words like "love" and "romantic" from the surrounding people.

Rubbing the back of my head sheepishly was probably a mistake as it just increased the volume of the whispers. "Nothing important. Oh, look at the time. Come on Rose we have to get to class." I fled but stopped just outside the great hall doors because I had no idea where to go. A couple of seconds later Rose appeared next to me and out of the corner of my eye I could see she was blushing lightly. Clearing my throat I stepped up to one of the painting. This one was a group of knights galloping around on horses as they jousted. "Excuse me, sir knights."

They slowed and one of them lifted his visor to regard me. "Yes lad?"

"Would you happen to know the way to the potions classroom?"

"Of course. Go down two flights of stairs, hang a right, go up a flight of stairs, take a left and go down one more flight of stairs." I raised an eyebrow at that. Apparently going to Hogwarts is good cardio if I would have to traverse so many stairs everywhere.

"Thank you sir knight." He bobbed his head then set his visor back down as they resumed their jousting. Turing back to Rose I smiled at her intrigued look.

"How do magical painting work?" I hummed a bit as we started walking down the stairs.

"I'm not an expert on them but I know for self-portraits the witch or wizard has their picture painted before they die and they imprint their magic into it. When they die their magic is activated and the painting comes to life so to speak with their memories. Of course they're not really them and more of a collection of memories powered by magic. For group picture or animals I'm not quite as sure."

There was silence for a bit before Rose spoke again. "Do you think my parents made a portrait?" She asked in a small voice. I bit my lip at the subject and spoke carefully.

"I'm not sure. While the Potters are a Noble family and they do have a seat on the Wizengamot. It is currently in disuse until you come of age and what I'm trying to say from this is that most Noble families do tend to have portraits painted. You would have to check with the goblins for any property or family heirlooms in storage." She perked up considerably at that and I could almost feel the happy vibes coming off her.

"How would I do that?"

"Well I assume you don't want to wait for school year to end." She shook her head and I nodded. "If you write a letter to your account manager they would send you an itemized list along with your next accounting report in October."

"They do that?" I slowed to a stop and turned to face her. Whatever my expression was it made her start fidgeting.

"Yes." I said slowly. "They do and as heir apparent of the House of Potter you should have been receiving them." I tapped on my chin for a moment in thought. "In fact have you ever received any letters from the wizarding world?"

"Um, no, never until the Hogwarts letter came."

"Huh, maybe you have some type of ward redirecting mail away from you." 'Which was probably for the best,' I mused as we started walking again. I could only imagine the sheer amount of mail she would have received from fans along with cursed or poisoned mail. "I think after dinner tonight you should go talk with Professor McGonagall and get her to take you to Gringotts later. They might be pissed if you haven't been responding to bank inquiries."

"How badly pissed off do you think they would be?" I let out a humorless laugh.

"Somewhere between not at all and starting another rebellion." I felt a soft blow on my shoulder.

"Don't be a prat." I gave her a smile as we arrived at what I thought was the potions doorway. Judging by the other first years gathered around it I was pretty confident in my observation. It was interesting to see how divided Gryffindor's and Slytherin's were as each new person would stand next to their housemates and the only interactions between the two were snide remarks. After an uncomfortable couple of minutes the door to the room quietly opened and we all filed in. The room was filled with an assortment of bottled ingredients and tables in the center of the room along with a large chalkboard in the front.

Since the tables seemed to be meant for two people per table I sat next to Rose and after the last person sat down the door closed with a clang. As soon as it did so our Professor seemed to swoop in from another doorway, his cloak billowing out behind him, until he stood at the front of the class glaring down at us. The entire class was silent as his dark eyes surveyed us all.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but I caught every word, Snape seemed to have the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

I blinked at the last part. He had been doing such a good job entrancing us and then to finish it off like that? Why would he finish it like that? I didn't get my answer before he pulled out a scroll. "As I call your names you will respond promptly." He started listing off the names yet when he arrived at Rose's I saw his eyes flicker to her for a moment before he called her name out. "Ah, yes. Rose Potter – our new celebrity."

I saw Rose shrink slightly as she became the focus of the entire class. "Potter!" He said suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" She shrunk a bit further as I saw Hermione's hand rise into the air.

"I don't know, sir."

"Tut, tut- clearly fame isn't everything." He seemed to ignore Hermione's hand for the moment. "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"Um, in the stomach of a goat, sir." I grinned slightly at his taken aback look. Rose had wanted to see my mom create a potion and the first thing she had done was inform her of about being safe around potions because most of the things were poison to humans before they were mixed properly in a potion.

"Hmph, a lucky guess that anyone could muddle their way to it. One more then to see if you can get more than 50%. What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Rose was silent for a moment as though thinking while Hermione was practically vibrating in her chair with her hand held high.

"I think it's the same plant, sir?"

"You think or you know?"

"Know sir." He scowled at her.

"An adequate answer I suppose. For you information powdered asphodel with an infusion of wormwood creates a sleeping potion so powerful it is called the Draught of Living Death. While monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant it also goes by the name aconite." His gaze moved around the classroom and he sneered. "Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?" There was the sounds of shuffling papers and the scratching of quills as we wrote what he had said down.

Once Snape deemed that everyone was finished he picked up the scroll and resumed reading off the names. One he got to mine I spoke up. "Please just call me Tonks, Professor."

"A point from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn." He glared at me as though challenging me to speak again but I just remained silent. I had already said everything I wanted to say until I felt tendrils extend into my mind. Quickly, I ducked my head, breaking our eye contact and losing the sensation of my mind being invaded. I had been practicing for Occlumency for about a year now and the only thing I've managed to do is center myself, in regards to my emotions, and create a paper thin wall around my mind that only served to alert me that someone had come knocking.

'It would seem that I needed more practice if our teacher knew Legilimency.' I glanced over at Rose for a moment. I should probably help her get started as well but Occlumency was difficult to learn without someone trying to pry things from the outside and I had no wish for anyone to do so. My fingers tapped out a steady rhythm on my leg as I thought and Snape finished the last of the names on the list.

"Now," he said quietly. "The instructions are on the board. You will have an hour to complete the assigned potion, the boil cure, starting now." He swished his wand and detailed instructions for a boil cure potion were revealed as the chalkboard flipped over. Snapping out of my thoughts I quickly wrote down the instructions while the rest of the class scrambled to the sides of the room for ingredients except for Rose.

"What are you doing?" She asked me quietly.

"Writing down the instructions so that when the fumes start going up I can still read the instructions." She seemed to agree with my method and wrote down the instructions as well. As I was doing that I felt the gaze of our Professor on us but he seemed disinclined to comment on our behavior and let us finish.

After that the rest of the class went well for the most part as Snape stalked between the tables snapping out vitriol remarks when he saw anything wrong. Unfortunately, he didn't catch Neville's work soon enough and I saw his cauldron melt as the potion splattered onto his arms. "Stupid boy." Snape spit out as he glided over to the now crying Neville. "Added porcupine quills before turning the fire off didn't you?" He waved his wand and the remaining potion vanished. "Off with you to the nurse's office. Ask the portraits for help if you can't manage to find your way."

He turned towards Rose and opened his mouth before he seemed to think better of it and turned to Ron who was at the same workbench. "You, Weasley, why didn't you tell Longbottom not to add the quills? Were you trying to make your potion look better than his?" He peered into Ron's cauldron. "I can assure you that you've failed in this regard. The potion is worthless."

"What? No I-" Snape cut him off.

"A point off for not following directions and allowing your classmates to be in danger." Ron's mouth clicked shut and he gave a mulish glare towards Snape. They glared at each other for a moment before Ron was the first to look away and Snape gave him a sneer before looking around. "Well? What are you looking at? Get back to work."

The rest of the class passed quickly enough and at the end of it both Rose and I bottled a sample of the light green potion and presented it to Snape. He took both vials and labeled them before holding them up to the light. "Adequate, for Gryffindor's, I suppose." We walked out without saying anything even though I knew the potions were worth an EE at the least if not an O.

As soon as we had left the room and walked a little ways away I pulled out my schedule to look at. "Well he was a cheerful fellow wasn't he?" I commented lightly to Rose as I looked at the paper. 'History of Magic next.'

"I think he hates me." She said quietly as I rolled the schedule back up.

"I think he hates everybody equally. The only people Dora's heard him be polite to are his Slytherins so don't let it get you down." She nodded and we began to climb the stairs as we followed the crowd to the next class. It didn't take long to get to and as we sat down an ancient looking old man floated into the room and settled behind the desk.

"Good afternoon class. My name is Professor Binns and I will be you History of Magic teacher for the next five years." His voice was so dry and monotone it was kind of hard to pay attention to him. "Let us start off with the history of Uric the Oddball who was known for wearing a jellyfish as a hat…" Binns droned on and on as the class continued and I saw several students slump onto their desks, falling asleep in the middle of his lecture. I suppose I might have succumbed as well but I've had to deal with High School and then College courses so this was nothing. Glancing over I saw Rose head down and drooling slightly on her notebook. 'It would seem like I have to take notes for the both of us then.'

The lecture continued without pause as Binns didn't need to breath at all being a ghost and at the end of it only Hermione and I were awake to hear the bell toll signaling the end of class. Putting away everything I gentle shook Rose awake.

"Huh? What? Tonks, what happened?"

I grinned at her disoriented state. "You totally fell asleep with most of the class and drooled all over your book."

"Oh." Her cheeks turned red and she began scrubbing at her face to get all the drool off it.

"You missed a spot." I pointed at her book and she snatched it off the table and stuffed it into her bag.

"You saw nothing." My grin was too wide to be normal.

"Of course. Shall we go get some lunch then? I'm starving." Right on que my stomach let out a rumble and I laughed. "See. My body knows what time it is."

We stood and made our way down to the great hall where we had a quick lunch and then it was back to learning again. For our next class we had charms with Professor Flitwick. The Professor himself was short. He stood about the height of a goblin and had a filled out mustache along with a long nose. He stood at the front of the room on a huge pile of books that might have had a desk underneath them at some point. As he got to Rose's name he let out a squeak and nearly toppled off his stand of books before barely recovering in time to avoid falling.

Everyone let out a laugh at his antics and I liked him immediately. Anyone that would make a fool of themselves to take the pressure off Rose I liked. After he finished rollcall he started off with a short speech. "Welcome, everyone, to your first lesson in charms. Today we will be going over the fundamentals of magic." He extended his arm and his wand snapped to his waiting grasp. "Witches and wizards use foci such as wands and staves to work their magic upon the world. We do this by saying a word that directs our focus. For example, Avis," a flock of birds shot from his wand and started flying around the room. "Avis meaning bird in latin which focuses my mind on the image of a bird which I can then conjure forth through pushing my magic through my wand." He waved his wand and the birds vanished.

"As you can see though magic is possible to do without words but that will wait until you're older. For now let us try something simple. The word lumos is latin for light and saying it will cause a light to form on the tip of your wand like so." He demonstrated and a bright light formed. "If I want to put this out I would say nox which means extinguish. Now, pull out your wands and try it for yourselves."

My wand snapped to my hand and even though both Rose and I had already tried, and succeeded, at this before it wouldn't hurt to practice. "Lumos," I quietly intoned as I heard some of my classmates almost yell out as though yelling would make it work better. A bright light formed at the tip of my wand and I looked over to see the same thing with Rose's wand.

"Excellent work you three. I think an additional three points for Gryffindor is in order. Now, try to extinguish the light." I blinked and looked around to see that Hermione had also formed a ball of light as well. Shrugging it off I cut off the flow of my magic and practiced turning the light on and off again without saying anything. Since this was one of the easiest spells it should be simple to silently cast them.

By the time the end of class rolled around I still hadn't gotten the hang of it but I was getting there. After a short walk over to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom we sat down and waited for our teacher to arrive. There was almost a cloying garlic smell that permeated the entire room and I was actually getting a little nauseous just sitting there.

The door to the front of the room opened and Professor Quirrell walked through it with his purple turban draped around his head and a nervous tick on his face. "Good morning class." He stuttered out so badly I had to translate it in my head. "Today we will be learning the stinging hex which will produce a red band and cause swelling around the area. The incantation is ictus and is a straight jab like so." He shot out a light blueish color from his wand. "Please try practicing now."

I felt a headache coming on from trying to translate what he was saying and the smell of garlic. It would seem Rose had one as well because she winched and started rubbing her forehead. "Are you all right?" I whispered to her.

"Fine. Just a headache." She pulled out her wand and started casting. Seeing that she did seem to be okay I pulled out my own and did the same. Class couldn't end soon enough and as soon as the bell tolled both of us almost ran out the door. Rose seemed to take a deep breath and then turned to me. "We have break until dinner right?" I pulled out my schedule to check and then nodded. "What do you want to do until then?"

"We could start on our potions homework or I suppose we could go see if McGonagall is available at the moment." She seemed to consider it for a moment before deciding.

"Can we go see if McGonagall is available?"

"Sure." We followed the directions of the paintings to her classroom and a quick peak inside showed it to be empty. There was a door further back in the room that I assumed led to her office and I motioned towards it. "Do we just go and knock on it, you suppose?" She shrugged helplessly at me and with nothing else to do we entered the room and knocked on the door.

"Yes?" I heard her stern voice as the door swung open. "Oh? What can I do for you two?" I nudged Rose forward.

"Um, Tonks was telling me about how magical portraits are made and that made me think that maybe my parents made one." There was a desperate kind of hope in her voice as she said that. "So then he told me that the goblins would know if I did because they oversee the Potter family stuff and I was wondering if I could go see them over the weekend if it's not too much trouble." As Rose was talking McGonagall's face had eased into an expression of pity.

"Could this not wait for your next financial accounting in October?"

"That's the other thing. I've never gotten any of those or any other letters from the wizarding world until my Hogwarts letter arrived." McGonagall froze for a moment and then muttered something I couldn't hear.

"Very well. Saturday morning after breakfast I can take you to Gringotts."

"Thank you so much." Rose surprised both of us by moving forward and hugging her. I blinked at the sight. That was the first time I've seen her initiate physical contact with anyone so this must be a really big deal to her. I just hope she doesn't break if her parents aren't there. "Could Tonks come with us?" Rose's question dragged me out of my thoughts.

"Um-" I started, but McGonagall cut me off.

"I'm sorry, but this is a private matter between you and the goblins. I also could not take a student from Hogwarts unless their parents permitted it or it is a personal matter such as this."

"Oh." Rose stepped out of her hug and hung her head. Seeing this she let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry Rose, but those are the rules. Now if that is all I have a class coming in any moment now." Indeed, I could hear the chattering of students outside the door.

"Thank you." Rose said and then walked away as I followed her. She was quiet all the way through dinner and after we had retired back to the common room and finished our homework for the day she sat in a pensive mood. As she was doing that I was writing a letter to my mom about our first day and how it had gone. Just as I had finished Hedwig fluttered down and landed on my shoulder startling me.

"Blimey, that took years off my life there, Hedwig. Give a bloke some warning next time, will ya?"

"Prek." She screeched at me in what I swear was a laughing manner before holding out her leg as though gesturing for the letter.

"Wait really? Rose, your bird is bloody smart." She smiled and reached over to gently stroke her chest feathers.

"I know she is." Hedwig preened and playfully nibbled at her fingers.

"Would it be okay to send my mum a letter with her?"

"If she's up for it then sure." Hedwig bobbed her head up and down settling the matter so I rolled it up and attached it to her leg. "Have a safe trip girl." Hedwig screeched at us once more and then took flight, soaring out an open window and into the night.

"Scary smart." I muttered to myself before I turned back to Rose. "So how do you think your first day of school went?"

She seemed to shake off whatever mood she was in as she answered me. "I think it was brilliant. Professor Flitwick is my favorite so far."

I smiled at her. "He's mine as well. My least favorite class was with Quirrell just because the garlic scent gave me a headache and his stuttering didn't help."

"I know…" We spent the rest of the time before bed just talking about how the first day went and wondering how next would be and by the time Rose went off to bed she seemed happy. 'Which was good enough for me,' I thought as I slipped beneath the covers after setting an alarm.

The next morning I woke to my wand buzzing against my skin and a quick tap made it stop. Hopping out of bed I winched again at the coldness of the floors. 'Got to learn a heating charm for that.' Getting dressed and ready didn't take too long and I waited in the common room for Rose to come down.

As soon as she came down and was ready to go we made our way downstairs to the great hall and had breakfast. Hedwig hadn't returned yet so I was forced to wait for the book I wanted for the moment. After that we had another headache inducing lesson with Professor Quirrell but after that we had our first Herbology lesson out in the greenhouse.

As we made our way over to the greenhouses Professor Sprout, a plump cheerful woman, was waiting for us and after rollcall addressed us. "Good morning class. As you can see behind me there are 7 different greenhouses that become progressively more dangerous. On my far right is the least dangerous and everything past the third will be locked for you safety so please do not try to get in them." She smiled at us as some of us shifted in place at the mention of danger.

"If you follow me to the first greenhouse we will be studying the properties of aconite." 'Huh, Snape's question wasn't meant to be that difficult I guess.' The rest of the lesson continued without hassle although the greenhouse did smell a little weird which I suppose came from the dragon dung they used as fertilizer.

Following that we had lunch which we stayed for a bit too long and we had to practically run to make it to the History of Magic class where Rose made a valiant effort to stay awake, but ultimately succumbed to the sweet embrace of sleep along with most of the class. I had to shake her awake once more after the class had ended.

After that we headed off to our first Transfiguration class where there was an orange tabby cat sitting on the desk. We sat down and pulled out our books as we waited for the class to begin. The bell rang as the last stragglers ran in and the cat jumped off the desk to transform into McGonagall in midair. I heard the gasps of surprise, mine included, as she did so. 'It's too bad that a metamorphmagus can't become an animagus but I would take the former over the latter any day.'

"Welcome students to your first day of Transfiguration. A word of warning before we begin. This type of magic can be extremely dangerous because it is not permanent. As such, if I catch anyone giving transformed food or drink to another person you will be dismissed from my class without the option to rejoin." She looked over the crowd of children as though willing to impart how serious this was.

"Can anyone tell me why it would be dangerous to eat a transformed piece of food? Yes, miss Granger."

"Because it would revert to whatever form it was before when it was in you." She nodded sharply.

"Exactly. Say you eat a piece of meat that has been transformed from a block of wood. Sometime after you have consumed it the block of wood will revert and you will have to be immediately rushed to the hospital if you don't die immediately to have the foreign object painfully removed from your body." There was silence after she finished her speech as we each considered what she said.

Finally she spoke up again. "That is my warning but do not be afraid of transfiguration as it can accomplish amazing things." She waved her wand at her desk transforming it to a pig and then back again to a desk to the merriment of the class. "Now. I will pass out these matches and your job will be to change them into a silver needle." She went around the class placing a match before everyone and after she was done she stood at the front of the room. "The wand motion and word are like so. Now off you go."

There was a flurry of yelling as each of the students started to try to change the match. I looked down at my match and I felt my magic flow as I said the words and my match changed to a silver needle. I blinked and then looked at my wand. That was honestly the easiest thing I've ever cast before. 'Perhaps it's due to my nature?' Glancing over I saw that Rose had gotten a silvery sheen down but it wasn't quite a needle yet, no, wait, now it was.

"Excellent work miss Potter and mister Tonks. You seem to take after your father miss Potter if your talent in transfiguration seems to be any indication and mister Tonks I would expect nothing less due to your nature. 5 points to Gryffindor and if you manage to transform the needle back into a match by the end of class you will be exempt from the homework for today's lesson."

'Well that answers my question.' I thought as I saw Rose seem to glow at taking after her father. 'Time to be exempt from homework for today then.' Changing the needle back into a match proved to be just as easy as it was the other way around and Rose accomplished it a few minutes behind me.

"Well done you two. You are exempt from this homework assignment. For the rest of the class you can practice the spell or start reading ahead but don't try any of the spells you find." We nodded and Rose started practicing the spell while I started to read ahead a bit. By the time the class was over only Hermione had changed the match to a silver color while the rest of the class seemed to be struggling with it. For some reason I saw a spark of jealousy within her eyes as the class ended and I could only equate that to us getting the spell before her which was a bit silly in my mind but different things for different people I suppose.

As dinner was wrapping up I saw the white feathered beauty that was Hedwig soar in and land in front of me. "Oh, who's a beautiful owl," Rose cooed at her as she feed her a bit of chicken. I took the small parcel from her leg as this was going on and enlarged it with my wand before thanking her by gently rubbing her chest feathers.

I would read the letter later in a more private place as well as give the book to Rose later. The rest of dinner seemed to drag on and on the way back to the dorms I pulled Rose into an unused classroom. The look she sent me was questioning and I drew out the book entitled, A Beginners Guide to Occlumency then handed it to her.

She looked between the book and me for a moment. "What's this about?"

"This," I tapped the cover of the book. "Is a book about the art of protecting one's mind from foreign intrusions."

"Wait. People can read my mind? Why haven't you told me this before?"

"Yes they can and you honestly didn't expect to learn everything about the Wizarding world in a month did you?" She looked sheepish at that so I continued. "I felt a mental probe from one of the teachers and I thought you should practice this so that you can at least feel when someone tries to intrude in your mind."

"Oh, a teacher did that?" I nodded and she looked back down at the book. "How good are you at this?"

I grimaced slightly. "Honestly not very good at all. I'm only really at the point where I can feel when someone is trying to get into my head and my best defense right now is to just break eye contact with everyone. I recommend reading that book and practicing the exercises in them at night before you go to bed."

She looked down at the book for a long moment before nodding and tucking it away. "Alright." Giving her a smile I opened the door back up and we spent the rest of the night talking in the common area before bed time. As I laid in bed getting ready to go to sleep I opened up my mom's letter and read it. There wasn't much to say about it other than the fact that both of them were surprised about my sorting but they were fine with it. With that done I set the letter aside and went to bed for the night.

Wednesday went much the same, although staying up for Astronomy was a drag, but on Thursday when we were supposed to fly for the first time our group of first years huddled at the entrance to the castle watching the rain pour down and lightning flash across the sky. Our flying instructor Madam Hooch let out a sigh at the sight and turned to face us. "I'm sorry children but our first flying lesson will be canceled today due to the weather. Please consider this time your own and I will see you next week." I raised an eyebrow at that.

'Wouldn't it make more sense to teach us proper technique or something inside instead of just letting us run free?' Looking to my side I could see that Rose was looking quite disappointed at the missed opportunity to fly, the adrenaline junkie. I nudged her gently in the side. "What do you want to do now?"

She looked around the milling crowd of people who were breaking off in small groups and shrugged. "Don't know, explore the castle maybe?" Not having anything else to do I agreed and we set off. I'm not quite sure how it happened but as we went up and up the stairs we somehow managed to end up in the dungeons.

"Brilliant," I muttered as we looked around. "How does that even work? We only went upwards."

"Magic." Rose said blithely and I let out a snort at her cheekiness. Spotting what looked like a passage way I motioned towards it.

"Let's go that way." As we walked along the passageway it turned more and more natural looking as the carved stones became unhewn rock. I took a deep breath and my nose wrinkled at the smell of decaying fish and I could hear the sounds of lapping water further onwards. "I think we might be going under the lake soon and I'm not even sure if we're in the castle proper anymore. Do you want to keep going or turn back?"

"We've come this far. Might as well keep on going." It was getting hard to see so I lifted my wand and cast a lumos with Rose following my example. After a good ten more minutes of walking we came to a large chamber that contained a large pool of water and the remains of many fish. As we were looking around the water started to ripple and tentacles burst from the murky depths before the large body of what could only be the giant squid emerged.

I heard a gasp from Rose but I wasn't afraid of the giant squid. Dora had said he was friendly and Hogwarts, A History said that in the entirety of its history the squid had never attacked a student. "Hey Steve." I called out as I gave it wave. Several of its tentacles waved back as I heard Rose almost hiss.

"Steve. Its name is Steve?"

"Of course. What else would he be called?" I looked at Steve for a moment. "Maybe Tim but I think Steve fits better." Steve seemed to nod at me and I looked around the cavern. "So this is your home then?" He nodded again.

"It's nice, suits you well. Sorry for barging in though." He seemed to dismiss it as inconsequential. A quick tempus told me it was almost time for dinner. "Well once more sorry for dropping in like this but we really do need to be going. Have a lovely rest of your day." Several more of its tentacles waved at us as we retraced our steps away from the giant squid although Rose had a death grip on my left arm the entire time.

As soon as we were far enough away Rose whispered to me. "Let's not go back here."

"Why not? Steve's a great guy, er, squid."

She sent a glare my way. "I just don't want to okay." I made a placating gesture.

"Fine. It's a little smelly anyway." That seemed to mollify her and we made it back in time for dinner. During dinner Hedwig swooped down and stuck out her leg to Rose.

"A letter to me? Who would write to me?" I kept my face neutral as I eyed the letter wondering how it got around the wards that seemed to be keeping all other letters away from her. Rose picked it up without a care and read it. "Oh, it's Hagrid. He's inviting me to tea tomorrow at 3:30. Do you want to come as well?"

"Sure." She sent a blinding smile my way before scribbling something down on a piece of parchment which she then attached to Hedwig.

"Can you take this to Hagrid for me girl?" Hedwig nuzzled against her hand for a moment before she took flight over to the teacher's table. I saw Hagrid take the note off her and then give a big thumbs up to Rose. With that nothing else exciting happened for the rest of the day and I went to bed later.

Double potions the next day wasn't terrible but Snape seemed to be hovering near us just waiting to take any points off or berate our work. Luckily we didn't make any mistakes worthy of his ire which seemed to irk him terribly. After a quick lunch and a delightful charms class we made our way down towards the Forbidden Forest where Hagrid's hut sat near the edge woods. Rose knocked on the large door and I could hear barking on the other side.

"Back, Fang, back." Hagrid's loud voice boomed out and as the door opened a black blur shot out, impacting my chest, and sending me sprawling on the ground. The dog's hot, stinky breath was of secondary concern to the fact that he seemed to be trying to lick my face off. "Hey now." I felt the dog's weight lifted off my chest. "Sorry, bout that. Fang just gets a little excited to meet new people."

Rose was giggling off to the side as I tried to wipe the excessive amount of drool off my face and failing miserably. "No problem, but could I have something to wipe my face?"

"Sure. Come right on in and I'll get ye something." Hagrid kept a firm hold on Fang's collar as he guided us in and I felt like a child sitting at the adults table as I sat down. "Here you go." He handed me a slightly damp towel and I used it to get the remaining slobber off my face as I felt Fang's setting his head down in my lap.

There was a whistle of a tea pot and I heard him start bustling around as he set everything up while I cleaned my face. Once I was satisfied that everything was slobber free I set the towel to the side and picked up the waiting tea cup in front of me. Thankfully it was not Hagrid sized because his cup looked more like a tankard than a cup and I didn't fancy drinking that much tea in one sitting.

We talked about how school was going and such before Rose seemed to spot something that sparked her curiosity. "Hagrid, why do you have a clipping of a Gringotts break-in?" She looked at the article a bit closer. "Actually, wasn't that the same vault we visited when we went to Gringotts?"

"Never you mind that. That's Hogwarts business right there."

His warning didn't seem to faze Rose at all now that her curiosity was peaked. "But what could be so important that someone would try to steal from Gringotts? I thought it was the safest place in the world?"

"Look, just leave it alright? Whoever it was won't bother us here because Hogwarts is the safest place in the world." I could see the pieces clicking together in Rose's mind and she gave Hagrid a smile but didn't say anything more about it for the rest of the evening.

As soon as we left and were a bit of a distance away she did turn to me though. "I think whatever was in that vault they brought here. What do you think it is?"

I hummed in thought. "I don't know what it is but it's probably in the third floor corridor." I paused for a moment. 'Did I ever mention that in my letter about dying a horrible death if we went to the third corridor? I don't think I did. How curious and worrying.' Shrugging it off as unimportant for now I continued. "Kind of defeats the purpose of hiding it away but I suppose it might deter the thief if they got in." We continued to walk towards the castle as it began to grow dark.

"Enough of that though. Tomorrow you'll be going to Gringotts." Her face lit up and we spent the rest of the evening talking about how excited she was about that and the fact that she was growing more than a little worried as well. I tried my best to dispel her worries and after breakfast the following day I saw her and Professor McGonagall off.

With nothing else to do and feeling lonely not a minute after she had left I went to go find my sister. It took me an hour to find her in an out of the way unused classroom sweating as four manikins flung what looked like stinging hexes at her as she ducked and dodged. Seeing an opportunity for revenge I quietly strode into the room and at the critical moment screamed, "Dora!"

She let out a yelp as she missed her next step and bolt after bolt hit her causing her to let out even more yelps until she yelled, "Stand down." The four manikins instantly stopped and moved to attention as she whirled around to face me a glare on her face. "What was that for?"

"For teaching Rose that forbidden look. With her eye color it should be labeled as a sin. Nothing should be that adorable." I said the last part in a grumble and she let out a laugh as she conjured a cup before filling it with water and drinking it. "So was this for training to be an Auror?"

She finished drinking before nodding. "Yeah. This was training to work on my reflexes before someone disrupted it."

"Eh, think of it as in the field training because there might be something that distracts you out there but you have to keep your mind in the game. If anything you should be thanking me for finding a flaw you need to work on."

She looked thoughtful for a moment before conceding the point to me. "I get the first part but you won't hear a thank you from me for the second. Stinging hexes hurt you know." She looked around the room for a moment. "Where's Rose? I promised to show you guys the kitchen today and I haven't seen you guys apart yet."

I sighed as I found a chair and sat down in it. "She's at Gringotts because apparently she never received her quarterly financial statement ever and she's also checking to see if there were portraits of her parents made before they… you know. She wanted me to go with but McGonagall denied that, something about it being against the rules."

Dora let out a sigh as well as she found a chair to sit in and her face showed pity for Rose. "Poor girl. Hope she finds what she's looking for." There was a bit of a stretch of silence as we each had our own thoughts about her situation. "How's your first week been going besides that?" Taking the subject change gratefully I launched into how my week had gone and then caught up on her week as well. It was nice just catching back up with my sister but in the end she shooed me away and went back to training.

As I was leaving though I felt a stinging sensation on my butt and as the door slammed shut I could hear her laughing. Rubbing the sore spot and muttering darkly I went to the main hall and settled down with a book to pass the time. When Rose came back she would have to pass by the hall and hopefully she would see me.

A couple of hours went by and there was still no sign of Rose so I had lunch as I waited. It took a few more hours before Rose walked in and saw me. Observing her carefully I saw that she had been crying recently but she was practically glowing with happiness now and one hand was clutching some kind of necklace. She raced over to me so quickly I swear she teleported and dragged me out of the hall.

I was dragged along until she pulled me into an unused classroom and shut the door before turning to me with a huge smile. "Tonks, I want you to meet my parents." She opened her hand revealing a golden heart on a chain. A tap of her wand later and it floated away from her and enlarged to the size of a large book. Then a hidden seam formed as the heart opened revealing two people standing next to each other. There was a man with messy black hair and glasses holding hands with a woman with piercing green eyes and red hair.

"Hello there." Lily said kindly. "We've heard from Rose that you're her first friend?"

"Um, yes. My name is Eros Tonks and I do have the pleasure of being her friend." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rose smiling widely at that and Lily nodded slightly.

"Tonks, you wouldn't happen to be related to Andromeda Tonks, Sirius' cousin would you?" James asked and I grimaced slightly at Sirius' name. Mother threw a fit whenever anyone mentioned that name and they seemed to catch it.

"Yes that would be my mum. I also have an older sister named Nymphadora Tonks."

"I remember her. She was a cute little thing running around with her hair flickering to any old color. Sirius' called her his little Nym." He frowned at me. "Why do you keep grimacing when I mention Sirius? Do you not like him or something?"

'Crap.' I looked back and forth between the portrait and Rose. "Look, I don't want to spoil our first meeting so could we drop this for now?" James frowned at me and looked back and forth between Rosa and I.

"Wait does Sirius not approve of you being near Rose? Are you Dark, because if you are you can –" Rose's voice rose above his and the question silenced him.

"Who's Sirius?" Both James and Lily turned to her looks of disbelief apparent on their faces.

"How do you not know Sirius? Who raised you?" James asked.

She shrunk a little and took half a step back as though she had done something wrong. "The Dursleys."

"You mean my bitch of a sister took care of you? How? The last time I saw her she was screaming that I was better off dead because Death Eaters killed our parents and how it was my fault that they got dragged into the Magical World. Where was Sirius, Pettigrew or even Remus?" Rose just looked lost and almost as one they turned to me.

'So much for a happy family reunion.' I sigh and scratched my cheek. "I don't know anything about Remus but I know that Pettigrew died after Sirius betrayed you to Voldemort." A flash of white hot rage flashed across Rose's face with such intensity that I took half a step back while both James and Lily looked lost and confused.

"No, no he wouldn't do that. Sirius was my brother in all but blood. You didn't say he died so where is he now?"

"Azkaban for the last 10 years. May I ask when you were made?"

"Right before we went into hiding." Lily said distractedly and turned to James to start whispering in his ear. That went on for a few minutes before James nodded and turned to Rose.

"Are we correct in assuming that you didn't know anything about the Magical world before you came to Hogwarts?" Rose nodded dejectedly and James turned to me. "Then can I ask you to stand by her side?"

"I already am and I always will." I said formally to the, although deceased, head of house, James as he asked for my loyalty to Rose.

"Then I name you Friend of the House of Potter." There was no flash of light to signal my vow, no pulse of magic to bind me, it was simply a matter of formality practiced by the Noble families. Anyone who had sworn such an oath and broke it would be branded an Oathbreaker and their word disregarded by all who knew. He turned back to Rose. "You can trust Tonks in all matters. These revelations have shaken us though and while we love you dearly we would like a moment to come to terms with them."

"You're leaving already?"

Lily smiled sadly at her. "Not leaving. We're always with you and you need only pull us out again to see us. We love you sweetheart."

Rose sniffed and I could see the first hint of tears forming in her eyes. "I love you to mum and dad." They both gave her a smile before the locket closed and shrunk down into a small golden heart which settled around her neck once more. I'm kind of clueless on what to when people cry, but something inside me demanded action so I stepped forward and wrapped Rose into a hug.

I felt her stiffen for a moment before she returned the hug with what seemed like all her strength. "Thank you for letting me hear that my parents loved me." I heard her whisper in my ear and I just hugged her tighter. Somehow this just felt right.

Omake: Steve the giant squid

As numerous tentacles burst from the water I turned to Rose. "Shit. I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going. Glad I'm not a girl."

There was an adorably innocent expression on her face. "Why would that matter and can't you turn into a girl?"

"…Shit, run!"