Disclaimer: I own nothing other than my original ideas; if you recognize it then it isn't mine.

Summary; this is going to be a powerful Harry, and a powerful Tonks story, some Dumbledore bashing, some Ron bashing as well, and maybe some others depending on how the mood strikes me. This story is set after OoTP and ignoring HBP all together. This is my first attempt at writing… well anything, other than parking tickets and school essay's so any and all advice would be helpful. Thanks.

Ships; Harry/Tonks, Ron/Hermione.

Harry Potter and the Trials of Myrddin

What makes a Hero, a hero? Is it that they strive to fight for what's right, not what's easy? Is it that they understand that with great power, comes great responsibility? Or is it something else, something deeper, yet far simpler? Maybe it's just the fact that they willingly risk their lives everyday to not only protect what we hold dear but our very lives as well. Some have said that in every man and woman there is a Hero or villain waiting to be born, and that you can only see them when they are pushed to their limits. In that instant what truly makes them special is laid bare for the world to see…

Chapter 1: Birds of a Feather;

June 28th

'… We thought we would just have a few words with you about Harry' said Mr. Weasley, still smiling.

'Yeah' growled Moody. 'About how he's treated when he's at your place.'

Uncle Vernon's moustache seemed to bristle with indignation. Possibly because the bowler hat gave him the entirely mistaken idea that he was dealing with a kindred spirit, he addressed himself to Moody.

'I am not aware that it is any of your business what goes on in my house -'

'I expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley,' Moody growled.

'Anyway that's not the point,' interjected Tonks, whose pink hair seemed to offend Aunt Petunia more than all the rest put together, for she closed her eyes rather than look at her. 'The point is, if we find out you've been horrible to Harry -'

'- And make no mistake, we'll hear about it,' added Lupin pleasantly.

'Yes,' said Mr. Weasley, 'Even if you wont let him use the fellytone, -'

Telephone,' whispered Hermione.

'- Yeah, If we get any hint that Potter's been mistreated in anyway, you'll have us to answer to,' said Moody.

Uncle Vernon swelled ominously. His sense of courage seemed to outweigh even his fear of this bunch of oddballs.

'Are you threatening me, sir?' he said, so loudly that passers-by actually turned to stare.

'Yes, I am,' said Mad-Eye, who seemed rather pleased that Uncle Vernon had grasped this fact so quickly.

'And do I look like the kind of man who can be intimidated?' barked Uncle Vernon.

'Well…' said Moody, pushing back his bowler hat to reveal his sinisterly revolving magical eye. Uncle Vernon leapt backwards in horror and collided painfully with the luggage trolley. 'Yes, I'd have to say you do, Dursley.'

He turned from Uncle Vernon to Harry.

'So Potter… Give us a shout if you need us. If we don't hear from you for three days in a row, we'll send someone along…'

Aunt Petunia whimpered piteously. It could not have been planer that she was thinking of what the neighbours would say if they caught sight of these people marching up the garden path.

'Bye, then, Potter,' said Moody, grasping Harry's shoulder for a moment with a gnarled hand.

'Take Care, Harry,' said Lupin quietly. 'Keep in touch.'

'Harry, we'll have you away from there as soon as we can,' Mrs. Weasley whispered, hugging him again.

'We'll see you soon, mate,' said Ron anxiously, shaking Harry's hand.

'Really soon, Harry,' said Hermione earnestly, 'we promise.'

Harry nodded. He somehow couldn't find the words to tell them what it meant to him, to see them all ranged there, on his side. Instead, he smiled, raised a hand in farewell, turned around and led the way out of the station towards the sunlit street, with uncle Vernon, aunt Petunia and Dudley hurrying along in his wake.

Harry didn't get too far outside the train station before he realized that he had no idea where the Dursley's had parked the car. 'Uncle Vernon, where is the car?' Harry asked as he scanned the car park in hopes of finding it.

The only response Harry got from any of the Dursley's was a simple 'Humph!' from uncle Vernon, before he took off towards a familiar looking car.

Harry put his trunk and Hedwig's car in the boot before hopping inside; Harry had decided when he was back at Hogwarts, to tell Hedwig to just meet him at Number 4, since he knew how much Hedwig hated traveling in her cage.

The car ride was long and, thankfully, uneventful, not one of the Dursley's would even so much as look at Harry the entire trip. Aunt Petunia sat staring out the windscreen, off into nothingness, Dudley was mashed up against the other side of the car as hard as he could, given his sheer size, that still didn't leave much room for Harry to sit comfortably. Uncle Vernon was the one that worried Harry though, He hadn't said one word to Harry since they had left the train station, Harry had expected his uncle to lay into him as soon as he was sure they were out of ear shot of the 'freaks', but so far he hadn't, though Harry did notice that as the trip progressed his uncle's face was slowly changing from the pasty white it once was, to the more familiar puce colour that it took whenever he was going to begin yelling. With no one to bother him, Harry, was left to think of the only thing that had been on his mind lately, Sirius, and how Harry had failed him, 'no' Harry thought 'I as good as killed him'.

Sometime later Harry was woken out of his musings by the car stopping at what would be his home, no his prison, for the next six weeks. As he looked upon the house he hated with every fiber of his being, he couldn't help but wonder what it was that made Dumbledore think that he would be safe here, sure the blood protection would have helped in the past, but now that Voldemort had Harry's blood running through his veins, would that even be enough. Harry didn't have long to ponder on this before his uncle again broke him from his musings, by slamming the car door and waddling up to the door step of the house.

As the three Dursley's wandered into the house, Harry was left to try and make his own way dragging the trunk and cage behind him, thankfully a few of the professors had helped him out before he left school, by casting a feather light charm on the trunk, allowing him to maneuver it on his own with very little problems. Harry slowly trudged into the house, up the stairs to the smallest bedroom at Number 4, once inside he collapsed onto the bed and fell into a restless slumber.

Before Harry had left Hogwarts for the term, he had lost his godfather in an ambush setup by none other than the darkest, vilest, slimy git on the face of the planet, Lord Voldemort. He and some of his friends had been lured there with the intentions of saving his godfather only to find out that Voldemort had implanted a 'vision' of his godfather being tortured. Near the end of the battle with Voldemort's Death Eaters his godfather, one Sirius Orion Black, had been hit in the chest and thrown through the veil, Harry still wasn't sure what that thing did or what happened to Sirius after he went through the veil, all Harry knew was that he blamed himself for allowing it to happen. Sure Harry wasn't the only one to blame for Sirius' death, Voldemort, Bellatrix, and Dumbledore all played a part in causing Sirius' death, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get past the fact that he had a hand in it too.

With the loss of Sirius came nightmares, horrible, mind numbing nightmares. Most nights, if he was lucky, he would get three or four hours of sleep before waking up from a nightmare, he would always see the same thing in his nightmares, he would see his friends getting hurt because of him, his godfather getting 'killed', because of him, and Bellatrix getting away with it. After almost two weeks solid of having the same nightmares over and over it was starting to take it's toll on him, he had dark circles under his eyes, which made his eyes look like they were sinking back into his head, his face had begun to loose its colour, and he was starting to loose what little weight he had put on during the school term, and now to top things off his illustrious Headmaster had decided instead of allowing him to be near his 'family' he was to be stuck in this hell hole for the next six weeks. Really though Harry wasn't sure he wanted to be around his 'family', mainly because they would feel they had to try and comfort him, and right now that was the last thing he wanted. He hated it when anyone gave him pity and no matter how hard he tried to rationalize it, that's exactly what they were doing, taking pity on him.

This night was no different than any other since Sirius' death Harry indeed had a night mare, only this one seemed to be even worse than normal. Something had changed in the dream, he wasn't sure what it was yet but he knew that this wasn't the 'normal' dream he had been having.

Dream

Harry surveyed the room, in one corner was Ron and Hermione, both covered in blood and not moving. In the doorway to the other room, was Nevelle laying face down, the lower part of his body missing and part of his innards out for the world too see, and finally he saw Ginny and Luna both seemed to be strapped to adjoining tables, crying. 'You failed us Harry, why did we trust you, YOU FAILED US!'

'No! I tried to save you, I tried, please believe me,' Harry cried out.

'You killed us,' Ron growled

'We trusted you, and you lead us to our death,' Nevelle groaned as he pulled himself across the floor towards Harry.

'No! Please god NO! I didn't mean to, I'm sorry… I'm sorry,' Harry whispered as his voice begun to give out.

'Oh the great Harry Potter is sorry that will make things all right,' Hermione said with such venom in her voice.

As Harry backed out of the room to try and get away from the site in front of him he tripped over a body and came crashing to the ground, it took him a moment to realize who it was he fell over, but when he did he almost screamed out in horror, there before him was Remus Lupin, with a large gaping hole in his chest right where his heart was supposed to be.

'You allowed that traitor wormtail to do this to me, Harry, he killed me because you couldn't protect me,' Remus moaned.

'No… No this can't be happening, you were all safe just today, this can't be happening,' Harry pleaded as he got up and ran from the room.

Harry ran into the next and what he saw caused him to skid to a halt and collapse to the ground in shock, there hanging from the wall was Tonks, her head hung limp to the side, she was cut all over and looked like she had been under the Cruciatus curse for a long time. Slowly she begun to stir and speak, 'why did you let them do this to me Harry, I tried to help you, I tried to be your friend, and you allowed them to do this to me, WHY?'

'No, No TONKS! Please god NO! This isn't real… Please god don't let this be real,' Harry begun to shake his head, 'all I tried to do is help and… this isn't fair, please forgive me,' he said as a tear ran down his face.

He was snapped out of it when he felt a hand on his shoulder, when he spun around he saw that he had stopped in front of the veil and it was Sirius standing behind him.

'You're a failure, you aren't worthy of my love, but rather than you dying I had to, I will never forgive you,' he said before he flung himself into the veil.

'SIRIUS NOOOO,' he screamed at the top of his lungs. With this the last of Harry's self control broke and he begun to cry, harder than he ever had before, it seemed to last forever before he heard it, something that would make every witch or wizard cringe in terror, a high pitched cackle, that seemed to surround him and reverberate right down to his very soul 'What lovely dreams your having, and too think you could have stopped them if only you had paid attention to your Occlumency, but you had to try and prove that he was wrong and you were right, you blame him for not letting go of old grudges when you yourself can't let go of them,' the voice hissed before it began to cackle again.

'Shut up!' Harry screamed.

Harry turned around and saw him standing there, Voldemort, laughing at Harry's pain and loss, taking pleasure in the sights that surrounded him. Harry knew that this wasn't the real Voldemort standing before him, because his scar wasn't hurting, but that didn't mean that all the rage he felt towards the man, if one can even call him that anymore, wasn't there.

'Whatever made you think you could stand against me? You are nothing but a helpless little child, do you really think you can beat me? Why don't we ask your friends?' Voldemort pointed over Harry's shoulder.

Harry turned to look over his shoulder and saw all his friends standing there looking at him, the entire DA, everyone he had met in the Order, the entire Weasley family, Even his mum and dad, 'What do you think? Can he beat me?' Voldemort asked.

'NO! He will fail like he failed to protect us!' They yelled back.

'There you have it, even they don't think you can beat me,' Voldemort hissed before he started laughing again.

'No… No… I have to beat you… I have to… I have no choice…' he cried as he fell beck to the ground, 'Please forgive me I tried my best to protect you all, please forgive me,' he sobbed to his friends and family.

Harry awoke from his dream to see his uncle raise his bear paw like hand above his head, before it came crashing down on Harry's face, 'SMACK'. 'Wake me up will you, I'll teach you, you little shit,' with that there was another loud smack as Harry was struck again by his uncle. 'Screaming at all hours of the night, I will not stand for your freakiness in my house, and there is nothing those freak friends of yours can do about it,' he finished before he hit Harry again.

Uncle Vernon continued hitting Harry in the stomach, legs, chest, anywhere it wasn't likely to be seen. Harry didn't scream out in pain or even shed a single tear because he knew that would only serve to make his Uncle angrier than he already was. Finally it seemed that his Uncle was beginning to tire because he backed away from Harry, Harry was starting to relax until he saw his uncle take off his belt, and brandish it like a horse whip, buckle out. With each successive strike came a loud crack as the leather and metal met the skin of Harry's body, Harry tried to remain quiet but soon the pain was too much for him and he began to scream out in pain.

Shortly after the first scream left his lips Harry's heard the distinctive 'crack' of someone apparating into the room, he opened his eyes in time to see a blurry figure lunge at his uncle and scream 'Leave him alone Dursley! Stop that you're killing him!' The blurry figure made contact with his uncle only to be struck across the face with such force that they were flung against the wall and slumped to the floor. The voice had sounded familiar to Harry but with the pain he was feeling, not too mention he wasn't wearing his glasses he couldn't tell who it was. 'Shut up you bitch,' Vernon said as he started towards the body against the wall. In an instant Harry knew who it was, there was only one woman on his guard detail, who could apparate,

'TONKS, NO!' Harry screamed, as he jumped out of bed and threw himself between her and his uncle, his muscles were screaming in pain with each movement, but be dammed if he was going to let anyone else get hurt because of him.

'You will not harm her! I will not allow it!' Harry said in an icy steal voice, laced with power as he stared down his uncle.

'Get out of my way boy! I am going to teach that bitch not to come into my house, and if you know what is good for you, you will GET OUT OF MY WAY!' Vernon bellowed the last part as he made to hit Harry in the face again.

Harry ducked under the powerful hand but wouldn't move away, 'I will tell you one more time Dursley, YOU WILL NOT HARM HER!' as he screamed the last part, it felt like a shock wave washed over the room, the window exploded out, the plaster on the walls and ceiling cracked and began to fall down, and Vernon Dursley was thrown backwards across the room and into the closet doors, which buckled under his tremendous weight. 'I have given you warning Dursley, leave now and you may still live the night, otherwise…' He let the threat hang in the air as he made his way over to his now thoroughly scared uncle.

'Your… your n-not a-allowed to do th-that 'freakiness' outside of school, they will chuck you out like we should have done years ago,' Vernon said as he was getting off the ground, starting to get back some of his once lost 'courage'.

'Your right, so ask yourself this, does that make me more or less dangerous? Huh Dursley, what do you think?' Harry now seemed to have a predatory gleam about his eyes, almost as if he wanted his uncle to try again just so he could do something more to him. 'Besides they aren't going to 'chuck me out', as you say, because I am too valuable to them, and they wouldn't want to loose me.' He added with a sad sort of laugh.

'What do you mean your 'too valuable' to them, your nothing but a worthless good for nothing boy, who can't even pull his own weight, what would they need you for?' Vernon countered as he started to once again stalk towards his nephew.

'More than you know Dursley, more than most know, NOW GET OUT OF MY ROOM!' Harry yelled; you could almost see the pure power radiating off of him as he yelled.

'This is still my house you little shit, and if I think you need a good beating then I will give it too you, you hear me I will give it to you!' Vernon yelled thumping himself of the chest, just before he made to have another go at Harry.

Out of no where a yellowish coloured beam of light came shooting from Tonks' position and struck Vernon dead in the chest, causing him to fall to the ground limp with a loud 'thud'. 'Bloody hell!' Harry cursed as he spun around in time to see Tonks pass out again and drop her head back to the floor. Harry raced back over to Tonks, to check and see if she was ok, thankfully she was just sleeping now, though she still had a rather nasty looking bump on the back of her head from where she hit the wall. He carefully picked her up and carried her over to his bed, taking care to make sure the bumps and bruises she had wouldn't hit anything in the process, as he was laying her down he heard his aunt scream.

'W-what have you done to Vernon… you bastard, your killed him!' she screeched as she dropped down beside Vernon.

'Oh shut it you horse faced hag, he's just stunned, he should wake in a few hours, but if he ever so much as thinks about doing a repeat of what happened here tonight I promise, I will kill him… you understand me!' Harry turned to see a horrified look on her face, 'Now kindly get him out of my room, and shut the door behind you.'

'This is our house you little bastard, don't think you can talk to us that way, all your dam screaming started this, you had no right to do this to him,' Petunia Dursley said as she stood up. 'And don't think your little harlot is going to be staying the night, because I won't have it.'

Harry stood up to face his aunt, and she couldn't help but notice that the scared little boy that had once been there, even as late as this past afternoon when they picked him up from the train station, was gone. No longer did he cower from them, no longer was he going to be pushed around without fighting back, no this was no little boy, this was a young man, one who seemed to give off an aura of power that scared her more than she would care to admit, even to herself.

Harry spoke in a low deadly voice as he addressed his aunt, 'you will not speak of her like that, you hear me, you will treat her with the respect she deserves or you will be in no better shape than your worthless husband, do I make myself perfectly clear?' he said pointing towards the still motionless mass on the floor.

Petunia blanched and gave a little squeak before yelling for Dudley to help her move his father into their bedroom.

With the click of the door being shut, Harry moved to sit back down on the edge of the bed, and proceeded to gently stoke her Tonks' hair out of her eyes, and for the first time he noticed that sometime between when he first laid her on the bed and now she had changed her appearance, instead of the bright neon pink hair she normally had she now had what looked to be shoulder length or longer auburn coloured hair, her eyes had changed from a deep purple with flecks of pink to almost an ice blue colour, she still had her heart shaped face, but her body seemed to change as well. He couldn't be sure but he thought she had shrank an inch or two, her breasts seemed a little bigger than before, and her hips seemed to widen a little as well, all in all he thought she was probably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, then the thought crossed his mind 'I wonder if that is what she really looks like?' He pushed that thought out of his mind and laid down on the bed next to her and continued to stroke her hair, he wasn't exactly sure what it was that made him continue doing that, but he thought it might be comforting, as he knew it seemed to sooth him by doing it. All the anger he had not even ten minutes ago seemed to melt away in this simplest of actions, and it really amazed him that such a simple action could have such a profound effect on his mood.

He didn't know when he fell asleep that night, all he knew is that he had the best sleep he'd had since before Sirius had died and began to think what it was that caused this. He had a strange tingling sensation in his left arm, he went to move it, to get the blood flowing again, but found that for some unknown reason he couldn't, he also took notice that there seemed to be something soft yet firm in his right hand and a strange yet comforting warmth all along the front of his body. As the memories from last night came rushing back, he remembered that he had laid Tonks on his bed before he had fallen asleep, instantly his eyes shot open, and there in front of him was a mess of auburn hair draped over the pillow next too him gently snoring. It took him a minute or two to figure out what exactly it was that was in his right hand, all at once it hit him that he now had her breast cupped in him hand, he made to slowly extract his hand from it's current position hoping not to wake her in the process, and perhaps save himself the slap he figured he was going to get. As he was moving his hand downwards to a more 'safe' position in his mind, she gave a little whimper and proceeded to wiggle her but up against his crotch, causing his already strained member to react on its own accord, which caused his eyes to roll into the back of his head and a low moan to escape his lips.

Tonks for her part wasn't sure what was going on, the last thing she remembered was hearing Harry scream last night and coming to see if she could help, only to find that ape of a man beating him. She knew she was foolish to lunge at the man as he had a good 100 kilos on her but in the spur of the moment she forgot that she was a fully trained witch and could use magic, all she really knew at that moment was that she wanted to rip his face off for hurting her Harry, 'my Harry? Where the hell did that come from? Sure he is cute and incredibly sweet, not too mention caring and loyal, but he couldn't be interesting in me, I am too old for him, and I am sure he has hundreds if not thousands of girls lining up to be with him…' she was broken out of her musings by a strong hand slowly moving across her breast, which caused her to whimper a little and wiggle her but into the body laying behind her, causing it to give out a low moan. Suddenly it hit her, she hadn't had a date in close to six months, and it had been even longer since she had shared a bed with someone, 'so who is it that's behind me?' she thought as her eyes shot open, all of the sudden her head started to hurt, she just as quickly shut her eyes and began to think again for a second, 'where am I and what the hell happened?' as the memories flooded back to her she realized that when she jumped at Dursley, he had thrown her at the wall, 'that would explain the headache,' she thought. Then she remembered waking up for a moment to see Harry and his uncle arguing, she also remembered casting a stunner at the fat pig, but that's it. She opened her eyes, slowly this time, and took a look around the room, and realized that she was still in Harry's room… in Harry's bed, all she knew at this point was she felt safer than she ever had and she had the best sleep that she had gotten since Sirius had died. She knew right now that she never wanted this to end, but if there was a chance to get out before he, or anyone else saw them like this then she would have to take it, no matter how much she hated to do it.

Tonks gradually began to move away but suddenly froze when Harry spoke to her, 'um… Tonks…' She slowly turned over so she was facing him, so now their noses where only inches apart, she looked into his deep emerald green eyes, and instantly lost any and all will to try and get out of the room, all she wanted to do was stay where she was forever.

When Tonks rolled over Harry took a look into her ice blue eyes and was lost, he couldn't think of anything else other than how much he wanted to stay where he was at the moment, right now he was sure he didn't care if Voldemort himself was storming the house he wasn't going to move. Harry wasn't sure what it was that possessed to kiss her, all he knew was that that was something he had to do, no matter what happened after, he just knew he had to. The kiss was a sweet soft supple kiss at first, after the initial shock had worn off it began to deepen, and quickly became and very heated and passionate kiss, slowly his hands began to move of their own accord and chose to explore her back and butt gently pulling her closer to him, while she was running hers through his hair and down his back. When they finally came up for air a couple minutes later the first words out both of their mouths where 'wow!' which caused both to start to giggle.

The silence from the kiss only last a few seconds before Tonks spoke with a devilish grin on her face, 'what was that for? Not that I am complaining mind you.'

'Well to be honest, I am not sure, I just looked into your eyes and I lost myself, and it just seemed like the right thing to do.' Harry said with a small sheepish grin while the blush slowly crept to his face. 'Your not mad are you?' The smile left his face as he asked this.

Tonks noticed the smile waver on his face and the instant look of fear come into his eyes as he asked her if she was mad at him, she wanted to tell him that she had wanted to do that since the first time she met him, that all she wanted to do every time she looked into his eyes was snog him senseless, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to admit that to him…yet anyway, she took and cupped his face with her hands and giggled as she spoke, 'No I am not mad, but I will be if we don't do that again.' She slowly began to kiss him again, this time trying to pour all her feelings that she had kept bottled up into it, hoping against hope that he understood that she meant it. The kiss lasted for a good ten minutes before they finally broke a part for some much needed air, both grinning like idiots.

They laid there for a few minutes just enjoying holding one another, Harry broke the silence this time, 'Tonks, can I ask you something?'

'Sure you can ask me anything, what would you like to know?' she responded.

'Well…' Harry hesitated unsure of how to ask this, 'um, is that what you really look like?' his voice quivering as he spoke, while a look of worry flashed across his face.

Her eyes shot wide open and it would have almost looked comical, if Harry hadn't been so worried about how she would take the question. She jumped from the bed and ran to the mirror that was on top of his dresser to see what he was talking about, when she looked in the mirror she blanched and dropped to the ground and proceeded to cry. As soon as Harry saw her drop to the ground he jumped out of the bed and raced over to her just as she started to cry, 'What… what's wrong?' he asked in a worried voice.

'You think I am ugly don't you?' she managed to get out between sobs.

It was Harry's turn to grow pale and drop to the ground in front of her, he stared at her for a moment in disbelief, before reaching over and gently lifting her chin, 'Tonks look at me please, how could you ask me that? Of course I don't think your ugly, why would you think that?' he asked in a soft caring voice.

'Because… because…' she tried to start but couldn't seem to get the words out before she started crying again, she finally managed to compose herself enough to answer a minute or so later, 'every guy I have went out with since I started at Hogwarts, has always wanted me to be their 'dream girl', they never wanted me, they always wanted me to be someone else,' she started crying again as soon as she was done speaking.

Harry looked down at the floor for a moment and couldn't help but think to himself 'Bloody stupid gits, if they can't see how completely and utterly beautiful she is they must be complete nutters,' what he didn't realize was he had said it out loud until he looked back up at her and saw she was staring intently at him with a piercing gaze, he was starting to become unnerved under her stare and was about to ask her why she was doing that when she pounced on him, drawing him into a hug to rival a Weasley hug and kissing him fiercely.

When they broke for air she asked him, 'do you mean it? Do you think I'm beautiful?' for a second a flash of worry crossed her face but in a second it was gone.

It was then he realized he didn't just think that, he actually said it out loud, he began to blush and said, 'you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and I mean that, if the other guys couldn't see that then they are fucking stupid or crazy or both, because any guy would be lucky to have a woman as beautiful as you.'

It was Tonks's turn to blush now, she pulled back and gave him a playful punch in the arm, 'your not half bad yourself you know,' she said with a sly grin on her face.

As they were getting up off the floor Tonks, for the first time, noticed the state of the bedroom, 'what the bloody hell happened here, it looks like a bomb went off?'

Harry led her over to the bed and began to retell what happened the night before, by the end of it she looked white as a ghost and had her hands covering her mouth, as soon as he finished speaking she jumped off the bed, her features and body changing to look more feral as she grabbed her wand, 'where are they? I'll kill them, they were told to treat you right and… I'll fucking kill that fat pig! I'll gut him six ways to Sunday for doing that to you' she spat.

'No you wont, for the time being I have to live here, if you hurt them it will only make it that much harder to deal with, please, for me, let this go for now, please,' he almost begged.

'But… Harry… He shouldn't do that to you, he…'

Harry silenced her with a kiss and then pulled her back down to the bed before he started talking again, 'I know, they are nothing but a bunch of assholes and someday when I get my chance I will leave, on that day they will know some of what I have had to endure over the past 14 years, but please promise me that you wont tell anyone else about this, and that you wont do anything about this until then.'

'I… I… I don't like it Harry,' she hung her head dejectedly, 'but if that's what you want then I guess I will have to live by it… for now,' she finished with an evil glint in her eyes.

'Now Nymphadora, what would I do, if you went away to Azkaban?' he smiled at her knowing that she hated her first name, he was shocked though when she didn't cuff him one for saying it, instead she looked down and blushed again. 'What's up?' he asked.

'Well you know I hate my first name… but for some reason when you say it… I kind of like it… though if you call me that in front of anyone I will be forced to hurt you,' she finished in a mock stern voice that sounded similar McGonagall.

'Ok if your going to keep coming around here you have to promise not to do that anymore,' he said with a smile.

'Oh, you think just because you kiss pretty good and managed to cop a feel or two, that I am going to keep coming around here, do yah?' Tonks said in the same mock stern voice.

'I… we… um… I… err… assumed… that…. um…' Harry blanched for a moment and tried to speak but all he could mange was to stutter, before Tonks took pity on him and began to laugh.

'Harry, of course I will be coming around here again, you didn't think you could just snog me senseless and throw me to the curb did you, nope now that I have got you I am not letting go, so humph.' She finished with a proud smile on her face and crossed her arms, before breaking off into another fit of giggles at the look on his face.

She was still laughing when he pounced on her and started tickling her; he continued to tickle her until finally she gave up and promised to not use her 'McGonagall' voice again. They sat and talked for better part of an hour, just about the little things in life, steering clear of anything big, like Sirius' death or the prophecy, they were just getting to know one another sharing stories about school and what they liked and disliked, what surprised them was that they both really like quidditch, and that they both had a knack for DADA. Finally Tonks' stomach gave a growl to let her know that she was hungry, she blushed at it, while Harry gave a small chuckle asking, 'why don't you take a shower and I'll go grab us some breakfast then I can grab one after.'

Tonks shot him a mock hurt look and asked 'what do I smell or something?' then switched to a playful grin before asking, 'we could always take one together you know.'

Harry had enough decency to blush at this before he answered, 'we could but I think I had better feed you before you wake the neighbours,' He said before kissing her and jumping out of her reach.

She looked at him for a moment then began to bounce around like a little kid, 'feed me, feed me,' she chanted.

'Only if your good, my dear,' she started to pout until he leaned in and whispered with a cheeky grin, 'though it would be more fun if you were bad,' before kissing her neck, which ended up with him getting a playful slap on the shoulder and a kiss on the cheek.

As Tonks pulled away she had a thoughtful look on her face which lead Harry to ask, 'what's up?'

Tonks looked hesitant for a moment then voice a question that had bugged her since she awoke, but that she had forgot about when Harry told her that he thought she was beautiful, 'Harry, um… what happened to your bruises? I mean I saw… well you know, and you should be covered in them,' Tonks looked at the sheets afraid she had ruined their happy moment by bringing up the events of last night.

It was Harry's turn to look thoughtful for a moment before, 'I don't know, I guess I have always been a fast healer, I just never gave it much thought, I always kind of assumed that it was something to do with me being a wizard and all, I am sure you can do it too… right?'

'Well yes I can do it, but that's because of what I am, it's not something that the normal witch or wizard can do without a potion to speed up the process… has anything else happened like this before?'

'Well the last time I had a hair cut, they really butchered it, left me almost bald really, and when I went to sleep I wished it would grow back, and when I woke up it had… aunt Petunia wasn't happy about it either, I got a beating for that too,' he added in a small voice.

'How long ago was that? Was that the only time?'

'Well since that was my only hair cut yeah, I think it was 7 years ago, why what does this mean?'

Tonks was now bouncing up and down on the bed clapping, all the while grinning and chanting, 'I've got a partner, I've got a partner.'

Harry couldn't help be happy even if he wasn't sure what she was talking about, just before he was going to ask her about it, he noticed that with each bounce she was moving closer and closer to the edge of the bed, on the last bounce she slipped off and started to fall to the ground, if it wasn't for Harry's quick seeker reflexes she would have crashed onto the floor. As he pulled back onto the bed she was blushing like mad, he took this opportunity to ask her what she was going on about, 'ok so what does that mean? You've got a partner?'

As soon as he said that he face lit up like a child who just found out that Christmas has come early, 'Harry, do you have any idea what this could mean?'

'Um, no Nymphadora, really I don't,' he said laughing at her joyfulness.

'Well Harry,' she took a steadying breath as if she was going to tell him some big secret, 'You could be…'

'A what, Nymph?'

'A Metamorphmagus," she screamed and launched herself at him, gathering him into another Weasley style hug.

'What! You're kidding me, really?'

'Well we would still have to run a couple tests to make sure, but if what you tell me is right then, yeah most likely you are,' she kissed him hard and passionately, 'then I could train you and oh we could have so much fun,' she said starting to bounce around again, this time when she went to fall she pulled Harry down with her, they landed with a none to graceful 'thud' on the wood floor.

"You would do that for me?' Harry said in shock, while still lying beside her on the floor.

'Of course, who else are you going to learn from? I am the only one in the UK… well at least for now anyway, this is great I get my dream guy and a partner all in one day, YAHOO!' she yelled throwing her arms over her head.

'Your dream guy eh? Is that so, interesting bit of information there Nymph,' Harry teased.

Tonks turned three shades of red when she realized what she just said, then to have Harry tease her about only served to deepen the blush further. Harry saw the level of blush on her face and began to chuckle which earned him a small glare, 'you're my dream girl so don't feel to bad,' and kissed her on the cheek.

She threw her arms around him and snogged him senseless for a good 15 minutes, before realizing that their hands were starting to work their way under each others clothing. They were brought out of their snog fest by a tapping on the bedroom window, Harry untangled himself enough to see that two tawny owls were sitting on his windowsill, He got off the floor and padded over to the window to let the owls in, as soon as he opened the window one owl stuck it's leg out for him to relieve it of its burden while the other swooped down to Tonks for her to do the same, once both owls had finished their delivery they took off without waiting for reply.

Harry looked at his letter and noticed that it carried an official seal of Gringotts turning it over; he opened it and began to read.

Letter

Dear Mr. Potter;

We at Gringotts would like to send you our deepest condolences in regards to the death of one Sirius Orion Black. We are writing to inform you that the will reading for the for mentioned Sirius Black, will take place on July 31st at precisely 1 Pm, I ask that you arrive an hour ahead, because there is some other details which we must discuss before the official reading is to take place, this letter will is a portkey which will activate at precisely 11:55 Am and will deliver you directly to my offices here within Gringotts.

Should you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to owl me and I will see what we can do.

Ragnok

Chief Goblin, Gringotts

London, England.

This was the last thing Harry wanted to think about right now, he finally got the girl who he had been dreaming of for the past year, and now Gringotts has to send him a letter, reminding him of Sirius' death. Then the thought hit him hard, the thought that he had forgotten about Sirius, for however brief a moment, he had forgot, forgot all the pain, forgot all the blame, he had been so happy to have his new relationship that Sirius hadn't entered his mind since he had woken up. Harry cursed himself for being so stupid, for forgetting about Sirius and vowed that it wouldn't happen again, that no matter if he survived the war or not he would make those responsible pay for Sirius' death, even at the cost of his own life.

Tonks was sitting on the floor still, reading her letter from Gringotts, telling her that she had to be at the bank for 1 Pm on July 31st, when she looked up to see how Harry was handling the news, she saw the change of emotion sweeping over his face. First there was shock, then grief, then finally an awe inspiring, if not a little intimidating, steely glint of determination, 'Harry…. are… are you ok?' She asked as she stood and moved over to him, while pulling him into a tight hug.

'I'm… I'm… really not sure anymore,' Harry said with a sigh, 'I mean I was great till this dam letter arrived, but now…'

'Now you thinking that you're not respecting Sirius' memory by enjoying yourself?'

'Yeah,' he whispered while turning to look at the ground.

'Harry look at me,' she demanded gently, while lifting his chin to face her, 'you know Sirius wouldn't want you to be moping around morning him, he would want you out enjoying life and raising a little hell along the way.' Seeing he was about to object to what she was telling him she placed a finger softly on his lips to silence him so she could continue, 'now I am not telling you that you should forget about him, because you never will, what I am telling you is to remember him but don't forget to live while you're at it.'

'How can I move on and enjoy life when I am responsible for him being dead?" Harry asked slightly annoyed, 'if it wasn't for me he would still be here, if I had just put aside my loathing for Snape and practiced my Occlumency, I might not have gotten that bloody vision and he would still be here,' Harry looked back at the floor, gave a cleansing sigh and then continued, 'I know I am not the only person to blame for his death, hell I might even have the least blame out of all those at fault, but that still doesn't remove the fact that I still played a part in him dying, no matter how much I wish it wasn't true.'

'Why is it that he should have so much burden, he is only 15, when I was 15 the biggest thing I had to worry about was what colour my hair was going to be the next day, while he has to worry about some psychopath stalking him and trying to kill him, it's just not fair,' Tonks thought. Tonks slowly directed them over to the bed where they could sit, since she figured this was going to be a long conversation by the time they were finished, 'Harry, you can't let this get you down, you need to find a way to channel some of this frustration you have into something healthy, I have seen aurors who let guilt get the better of them, and you know what happens to them,' seeing Harry shake his head no she continued, 'They die, those that can find an outlet are the ones who survive, and I want you to be one of the ones who survive.'

'But what am I supposed to use as my outlet? I am stuck here for another four weeks at least?"

'Well I could help you train, not magically of course, but physically. We could go for runs in the morning and we could even look at setting up some type of training schedule, maybe even including some weight lifting if we get a chance, and I will talk to Dumbledore at the…'

'No fucking way, we can do everything else, but I don't want the old bastard knowing about you helping me,' Harry spat with such venom on his voice that Tonks was taken aback for a moment, she had never heard of anyone speak of the headmaster that way, she wasn't sure what it was about it that upset Harry so much, but she needed to find out before they could continue.

'Harry what's wrong with involving Dumbledore? Does it have something to do with that Prophecy he told us about?' she asked hesitantly, fearing another famous Potter blow up, she had never been on the receiving end before, but from what she heard last year while he was staying at Grimmauld place, she knew she didn't want to be either.

'He… He… told you about the prophecy? When? How much of it did he tell you?' Harry anger quickly deflated on hearing that others knew about the Prophecy, but was starting to rise again when he realized that he might have been the last one to know about it, it hurt even more considering it was about him. 'Just one more thing the old man has kept hidden from me,' Harry thought.

'He only told four of us, your guards for the summer, and he only told us it was about you and him, as for when he told us, that was last night before I started my shift here, why what is it about?'

Harry considered for a minute or two, if he should tell Tonks the prophecy or not, on one hand she would be in more danger as soon as she knew its contents, on the other hand she would be in just as much danger by just dating him. Seeing the emotional battle that was going on across his face Tonks decided to speak, 'Harry, if you don't want to tell me, I wont be mad, I sure you have every reason not to want to talk about it.'

'No… No you need to know it before we can go any further,' his voice was edged with sorrow at the chance he could loose the one good thing left in his life after only having it for a short time, though he knew it was only fair to let her make her own decision about it.

'The one with power to vanquish the dark lord approaches.

Born to those who have thrice defied him

Born as the seventh months dies

And the dark lord shall mark him as his equal

But he shall have power the dark lord knows not

And either must die at the hand of the other

For neither can live while the other survives the one with the power to vanquish the

Dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies'

They sat in silence for a while allowing each to come to terms with what had just been said, it was Harry who broke the calm as he began to speak again, 'basically it come down to the fact that I am the only one who can defeat him, that in the end it will come down to either him or me, that either I have to kill or be killed,' Harry's voice was barely a whisper when he finished and he had yet to take his eyes off the floor in front of him. 'Dumbledore, he told me less than an hour after Sirius fell through the veil, he had known for 17 years, but he didn't think I was old enough to handle it, if he would have just told me last year I would have worked harder on the Occlumency, and then maybe I would have known that it wasn't a real vision…' Harry's voice finally trailed off and for a while they sat in silence, he was startled when he felt her hand take his and give it a squeeze, so much so that he actually jumped a bit before turning to look at her.

'He told you then?' Tonks said with almost as much hatred as Harry had voiced a few minutes before, 'what the hell was he thinking? Waiting until then to tell you, and then sticking you with Snape to learn Occlumency, he should have known better than that.' They were silent again for a few moments while the both assimilated this new information, Tonks again was the one who broke the silence, 'Harry this only proves that you need this training more than ever, I wont see you die, not if I can do anything to stop it, I am still going to go to Dumbledore,' she saw he was going to interrupt again, but quieted him by taking her other hand and running it softly through his hair and gently cupping his face while rubbing her thumb on his cheek, 'I need to speak to Dumbledore because one I will need a break from missions in order to help you, and I would like to see if he can remove the age restriction for you at the ministry, if so then we can also work on your magical training,' she finished.

'Tonks, why are you doing this for me?'

'Because I care for you and I don't want to see you hurt, and if training you will ensure that then so be it, I am willing to do it,' Tonks answered while staring into his eyes. 'Besides what's the point of surviving this war, if I don't have my dream guy beside me to share it with,' she started to giggle before leaning into him and kissing him soundly for a few minutes.

When they finally came up for air Harry realized he still had the letter from Gringotts clutched tightly in his hand, after looking at it again for a moment he looked up at Tonks and asked, 'Tonks will you come with me to the meeting before the will reading? You know more about the wizarding world than I do and it would be nice to just have you there with me.'

'Sure I'll come with you, what time is your meeting set for?'

'Well according to this letter, it will become a portkey at 11:55 Am on the 31st, and it is supposed to take us right to a Mr. Ragnok's office at that time,' Harry said as he passed Tonks the letter for her to read.

As Tonks was reading over the letter Harry got up from the bed and headed down stairs to grab some food for Tonks and himself, what he saw when he entered the kitchen surprised him to say the least, on the counter was a note from the Dursley's saying that they had left for the day that there was food for him in the fridge, what really surprised Harry was the amount of food the Dursley's had left for him in the fridge, there was enough there to make a fair meal, nothing compared to what he would have gotten at Hogwarts, but still way more than he was used to seeing with his name on it, in their home. Harry quickly set to work making Tonks and himself some breakfast, he decided on eggs and bacon with a side of grapefruit, and two glasses of orange juice to wash it down.

Tonks had read over the letter three times before she noticed Harry had left and gone downstairs, she was amazed that Harry had gotten a letter like this, even her letter was just the basic letter telling her that she was to attend the will reading, while Harry's was more personal in nature, what really made her think about it was not really what the letter said but who it was from, Ragnok, Ragnok wasn't just the goblin in charge at Gringotts, not he was also the leader of the goblin nation, he was the most powerful goblin in the world, and here he was writing to a teenager. she had never thought of Harry as being anything more than just that, Harry, but now she had to wonder if maybe the goblins saw him as something else entirely, she was sure that Harry was wealthy, hell Dumbledore had said as much at one of the first meeting she had ever attended, but even wealthy people never got a letter like the one Harry just got, let alone from the lead goblin. As she was mulling over this new information, she decided that it was time to go and have a shower before breakfast was ready, so she padded softly across the hardwood floor and into the bathroom across the hall.

Tonks didn't take long in the shower, training had a lot to do with that, while in training you were expected to be able to be up showered, dress and out the door in under ten minutes from the time your wake up call came, it was a habit that she never got over since she finished her training only a year ago. Sure she liked to take a longer shower after a long day or if she was sharing the stall with someone, but those times were few and far between anymore, 'though maybe not for much longer,' she thought as a mischievous grin found its way to her lips, 'sure Harry and I haven't been even going out for a full day yet but that doesn't mean a girl can't dream does it?' she asked herself before exiting the shower and grabbing a towel to dry herself off, and then wrapping it around herself she grabbed her clothes and headed for the bedroom so she could cast the cleaning spells on her clothes and get changed, she wouldn't have done this normally, but seeing as she had no clean clothes here and she wasn't aware that the Dursley's were out for the day, she didn't want to tie up the bathroom any longer than she needed to.

As soon as Harry heard the water shut off he began dishing out the food he had prepared on to the plates he had ready, then leaving the pans in the sink, he headed up stairs to take Tonks her breakfast, if he had been a few seconds quicker he would have seen her padding across the hall in only a towel and would have waited until he was sure she was dressed, but since he didn't see her, he just assumed that she was dressed and continued up the stairs, the sight that met him, once he entered the room almost caused him to drop the plates, there standing at the foot of his bed dressed only in a towel, while swishing her hips ever so slightly as she cast the cleaning charm on her clothes, was Tonks, for a second he thought his heart had stopped, his breath caught in his throat and he was riveted to the floor unable to move or speak, hell at this point he would have sworn thinking was impossible. It wasn't until she had finished cleaning her clothes, and was starting to untie the towel that he found his voice, 'breakfast is served,' he croaked out.

Tonks gave a start and spun around to see Harry standing there with two plates of food, one in each hand, and staring at her like he was a lion, and she was some hapless gazelle, the look in his eyes was that of pure lust and it took all of her will power not to pounce on him at the moment. Sure she wasn't going to rush things, but that didn't mean she couldn't tease him a little more, 'do you like what you see?' She asked in a low sultry voice, as she padded across the room towards him, her hips slowly swaying from side to side as she moved.

All Harry could do to respond, is nod numbly, the sight of a nearly naked Tonks, not only alone in the room, but alone in the house with him, having taken away not only his voice again but was enough to make him loose his will to move out of the room, what made matters worse was when she started to move closer to him, causing his eyes to gradually wander over her, taking in all he could see, and imagining anything he couldn't, he could feel his heart racing, his palms were getting sweaty, and all he knew was if he didn't get out of that room right away he wasn't sure if he could hold onto whatever self control he was still managing.

Tonks closed the gap between them in a few steps, when she finally was down to the final few feet, she reached out and started tracing his jaw line with one finger, lightly drawing it across his jaw and down his neck and then across his shirt covered chest, drawing lazy circles when she reached his chest, sending a series of involuntary shivers through Harry, she brought herself still closer, laying her hand flat on his chest, before kissing him gently and taking the two plates out of his hands, 'now be a dear and leave so I can get changed, then we can enjoy this wonderful breakfast that you have prepared,' she whispered with a small smile on her face, before retreating farther into the room to set the plates down on the small dresser next to the bed.

As Harry watched her move off towards the other side of the room, he was forced to give himself a mental slap and bring himself back to reality, he quickly realized that she was in fact teasing him and decided, no matter how awkward he might feel about it, that he had to tease her back. He slowly walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her tight to his body, then after lowering his head down to just beside her ear, he whispered, 'now that wasn't very nice, now was it, getting me all worked up with no place to go,' his warm breath cascading across the nape of her neck and tickling her ear lobe, causing a series of shivers to flow through Tonks' body, he leaned in even closer and kissed her neck, causing her to tilt her head to allow him better access, stopping himself before he got to carried away in these new sensations, he turned around and strolled out of the room, pulling the door closed behind him, leaving her standing there, head tilted, and with a blush and a dreamy smile, slowly creeping to her face.

Tonks stood there for a few moments after she heard the door close, just allowing the sensations to flood her senses, before whispering to herself, 'he is good, very good, this could turn out to be fun, and very rewarding,' she smiled to herself as she started to get dressed. She was still smiling when she went to open the bedroom door to let Harry back in, he was leaning against the wall directly across from his bedroom door, he had a wistful look in his eyes and a contented smile on his lips, she knew he was thinking about what had just happened in the bedroom a few minutes before and was pleased to see that she had that much of an effect on him, she walked up to him and kissed him squarely on the lips, which broke him out of his thoughts, 'we should eat soon or it will be too cold,' she said, while flashing him a smile, as she grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the room. Tonks pushed Harry down onto the bed then went to grab their food from its current resting place on the dresser. They ate in companionable silence, when the meal was finished Harry took the plates and walked back down stairs, Tonks took a second to check and see that she hadn't overlooked anything in the room, before fallowing him into the kitchen.

No sooner had they entered the kitchen when the clock on the mantle of the fireplace began to chime, Tonks took a second to see what time of day it was, and almost fell over when she saw it was now 11 Am, 'Shit!' she cursed, 'please tell me that's not the proper time.'

'Yeah, it the correct time, why?' Harry was more than a little confused as to what the big deal about it being 11 am was, but he figured it must be something important for her to react in such a way.

'Shit, Shit, SHIT!' She cursed again, 'I'm late, really late, shit, sorry love but I have to run, I am an hour late for my meeting with the order, shit, there is going to be hell to pay if I don't show up,' Tonks ran over to Harry and kissed him hard, 'I'll stop by later,' she promised before she apperated away.

A/N: Well there is the first chapter, I ask that you review regardless if you like it or hate it, mainly so I can improve my writing skill. Though if there is something you hate give me a reason why you hate it please, as it will make it easier should I ever decide to change it or write another fic.

Also I know people are going to complain about the fact that Tonks and Harry seem to be moving too fast to be real. But think of it like this their world has just been shaken up by Sirius' death. So they have had to sit back and reevaluate what is important to them, as it is in stressful times we tend to latch onto people who are like minded or share a similar pain. So while I am not saying that their romance is something that is a passing thing (because it is the pairing for the story). I am saying that it is off of this that I based the fact that they were willing/able to let go of those things that would otherwise hold them back normally (i.e. fear over age… which really isn't that big of a difference to begin with, fear of rejection, etc.).

Also to those out there that are going to say that the characters are too out of character, well frankly this is my take on them and how they would handle the situations I am placing them in so with that in mind they aren't really acting all that out of character. I know that is a cop out, and that some of the diehards are still going to complain but really it comes down to one thing. Does it interfere with your enjoyment of the fic? if so then I would suggest you stop reading and move onto something else, if not then you might just enjoy it… saying I don't screw it up too royally that is.

Also I am looking for a Beta to help with the fic, since as you can likely guess by now my grammar isn't the best. Thanks for you time and I truly hope you enjoyed it thus far.