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Harry Potter and the Paradigm Shift
Chapter 1
By Kinsfire
The pink-haired young woman watched as the boy she’d been minding these last few months left with his family, if you could call them that. "Remus, look at his face," she said quietly to one of the men with her. "He’d much rather be anywhere else. Hell, he’d probably rather be doing a detention with Delores Umbridge, that old toad!"
The gaunt, grey-haired man nodded sadly. "It pains me to watch that, but he needs that protection that Lily’s sacrifice gives him. If there were any other way, don’t you think that Albus would have used it by now?"
"I’m wondering more and more, Remus. What good do the blood protections do if he survives in a place where they make him not want to live? Do you really think that they’re going to get him the help he so desperately needs to get through his grief over the death of Sirius? You heard Albus — Harry blames himself. So what sort of counselling is he going to get?" Remus opened his mouth to speak. "Don’t answer; it was rhetorical. Something has to be done, damn it all!"
She stood scowling after the Dursleys, even though they were no longer in sight. Finally, she spun on her heel. "I need to talk to someone. I’ll see you guys later." With that she stalked over to the brick column between Platforms 9 and 10 and walked right through it. As soon as she was through, she Apparated.
Appearing at the Apparation point for the Auror department, she headed for the office of her ultimate superior, Amelia Bones. She ran into the woman on the way there. "Madam Bones! May I have a moment of your time?"
"Certainly, Auror Tonks," the middle aged witch replied. "I’m on my way back to my office. Why don’t we talk in there?" They engaged in small talk for the remainder of the walk to Madam Bones office. Once the door was closed, however, things changed. "Well, Nymphadora, this must be important if you jumped the entire chain of command just to speak to me," the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement said calmly, in a voice that threatened dire things for her career.
"I think it is ma’am — even if it means I never get promoted again. It’s about Harry." Bones eyebrows rose. "He’s back with those Muggles who raised him, and I think he’s in danger. He just watched his godfather die, and thinks it was his fault. He’s going to get absolutely zero by way of grief therapy this summer, or during the school year. He needs someone to talk to, and I’m volunteering to be that one."
"There’s more to this than simply being there to talk to him, isn’t there, Nymphadora?" Amelia Bones asked pointedly.
Tonks blushed quickly, but ruthlessly suppressed it. "Yes, ma’am. Potential suicide prevention. I propose to …" Tonks stopped and blushed harder. "I propose to move into the Dursley home with him, magically enlarging his bedroom to allow room for a small house, if you will. Plenty of room for two people, and room for him to be by himself without being completely alone, if you know what I mean."
"Why you, and not someone else, such as Remus Lupin? He’s close to the boy, and the boy respects him."
"Harry needs someone closer to his own age. I’m an adult, but I can understand the pressures that he’s going through, both as a recent student and as someone on You Know Who’s hit list." She sighed. "Let’s also not forget that he’s going through the grief of losing one of the best friends he’s had since he was eleven years old. They may have had that falling out, but when they made up, they were as tight as when they’d been children. His grief is still too fresh and too raw to inflict on Harry."
"Why not allow one of his best friends to move in with him?"
"Have they been given training in grief counselling? Don’t answer that, ma’am — we both know the answer. He needs someone with some general understanding of his pain. We both loved Sirius, ma’am. He was my cousin, once removed, and I loved him like the dickens. Harry found a father figure in him. I can approach him from a grief standpoint and from the standpoint of someone who isn’t really that much his elder. Six years is a hell of a lot easier to surmount than nearly four times that, as it would be with Lupin. Don’t get me wrong — Remus loves the boy to pieces, but he’s still got a bit of that professor thing going with Harry. Harry still calls him that sometimes. Me? I’m Tonks. Just Tonks. A girl he knows who can make him laugh sometimes, who ignores it when she catches him sneaking a peek at her." She grinned. "I can use that too. He’s too much the gentleman to ever say anything to me, but I’m betting I can get him to speak to me."
"Don’t break the boy’s heart, Tonks," Madam Bones said, and Tonks breathed a sigh of relief. If she’d returned to the Tonks appellation, that meant that Madam Bones was pretty well sold on the idea. "What does Dumbledore think of the idea?"
"He doesn’t know yet, ma’am, and I have no intention of telling him until it’s a fait accompli. He doesn’t truly understand what Harry has been through, and thinks that because Harry doesn’t say anything, everything is fine. I don’t want Albus discovering this until it’s a foregone conclusion. That happens to be part of why I came to you. You’re my ultimate boss, and can put me on this duty so that I don’t have to use up all my time just to do what I’m planning to anyway."
"You love him, don’t you?" Amelia asked suddenly, and chuckled when Tonks blushed the brightest she’d ever seen. "Ignore my comments about breaking the boy’s heart. You’d never do that intentionally." The head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department sat back in her chair, and thought for a moment. Sitting forward again, she reached for her quill and some parchment. After scribbling for a moment, she handed it to Tonks. "Take this to your immediate supervisor. You’re on detached duty until it’s deemed that you’re no longer needed on that duty. Unlimited expense account, but remember that it does get audited. Take what stores you need." The woman paused, and then scribbled something else on another parchment. "This authorises you to teach him magic during the summer. The only person who can override this is Fudge, and given the current situation, I doubt he will." She smiled. "Treat him well, Tonks."
"I know I'm a pervert for falling for a boy who's only sixteen — well, sixteen in a little more than a month — but I actually did fall for Harry. I would never hurt him on purpose."
"Don't worry about the age difference," Amelia chuckled. "I was ten years old the year my husband was born. Six years is huge now, but in a few years, no one will care. Go, get yourself ready. Your mission starts today. Be aware I may extend it to have you continue to protect him at Hogwarts."
"Oh no — more years as a student," Tonks laughed. She let her eyes twinkled merrily. "At least I'll be able to check out some of those broom closets I never did first time around." She wiggled her eyebrows at Madam Bones, who laughed.
"Get out of here, you," she finally laughed. Becoming suddenly serious, she added, "Good luck with the assignment. I have the feeling you'll need it."
"I know I will. Grief's a damn tough thing to work through. At least we can work it through together. We both loved Sirius, and I look forward to the day we can drag Pettigrew before the Wizengamot and give him the trial Sirius never had."
Amelia Bones nodded. "If only someone other than Harry had seen Pettigrew alive, we could use that to clear Sirius."
"Damn," Tonks said. "The only other person who was an adult at the time was Remus, and they won't listen to him because he's a werewolf."
"Wait — Remus Lupin saw Pettigrew at the same time Harry did?" At Tonks nod, the head of the Magical Law Enforcement smiled the largest smile anyone had ever seen in that department. "Find him and ask him if he'd be willing to submit to Veritaserum to verify the existence of Pettigrew. If Fudge can use secret trials, I can use secret evidence to clear someone's name." She smiled a nasty smile. "Besides, when I finally get my hands on Lucius Malfoy, I can use him to corroborate that, not to mention what I think we’re going to discover about some Ministry officials." At Tonks quirked eyebrow, Madam Bones explained, "Minister Fudge has it set up so that all requests to speak to the Death Eaters in Azkaban must go through his hands."
"If you can promise him that it'll stay secret, I'm betting Remus will agree to testify to you."
"I want Sirius cleared as much as you do, Tonks. He may have been a right royal smart-aleck, but he was … a-heh … 'serious' about fighting You Know Who. Now get out of here. You have a job to do, missy," Amelia said, suddenly all business. The twinkle in her eyes told Tonks that she wasn't entirely serious in her complaint.
Tonks first visited the Underage Magic Department and did not leave until she had a signed verification that the order had been processed, and that Harry Potter would not be contacted if he was discovered to be doing magic this summer. She then headed to her own section, catching up with Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"Hey, Shack!" she said quietly. "Got an order here from the big chief. I'm on detached duty until further notice." She handed the order to him, which he quickly read.
"Harry, right?" the large black man's voice rumbled softly. When she nodded, he said, "Good thinking. He's in no condition right now to deal with the crap those Dursleys are going to heap on him. If it weren't for Albus insisting that he's safest there, I'd pull him out and do a Lockheart on those damned Muggles."
"Well, I'll be there to talk to him, and to protect him a bit. Might be fun to watch and hit them with the fact that no matter what Harry keeps saying in his notes to the Order, an Order member knows what really happened."
Kingsley chuckled quietly. "I like the way you think. Since you have Amelia's okay, get what you think you'll need from the quartermaster." He paused. "Not to be rude about it, Tonks, but make sure you take some contraceptive potions. I've seen you two looking at each other — you've both got it bad."
"Disappointed in me, Kingsley?" she asked a little despondently.
"Hell no!" he replied. "All I ask is that if it happens, could you at least wait until he's sixteen? Less problems that way."
"It really doesn't bother you that …"
"That you're sweet on someone roughly six years younger than you? Answer me this — would you be this worried if he were twenty and you were twenty-six?"
She thought for a moment. "No. But then he'd be an adult."
"True enough — legally speaking. Answer this one now — you know what he's been through. Emotionally speaking, is he an adult?"
"Hard to say — he's got so many reactions that are pure teenager, but then there are those times where he'll surprise people three and four times his age. Overall? Yeah, he's fairly mature." She laughed. "If I'm gonna be brutally honest 'bout it, he's probably more mature than me!"
Kingsley laughed outright. "I'm glad you saved me the trouble, Tonks!" Her scowl would have been a lot more effective if her mouth wasn't quirking upwards at the edges. "Now get going. You have a mission to deal with."
She hit her desk and wrote out a list — books for training, complete sets of various tools he would need such as a potions set, the contraceptives that Kingsley suggested — damn, why am I hoping so hard that I need them this summer? She blushed to herself as she realized that her knickers were slightly damp, and she knew damned well that she wasn't incontinent. She finished her list and went to the quartermaster's, getting a raised eyebrow at the size of her requested list. She began to get an argument from them, but simply tapped her finger next to the signature on the bottom of the parchment. Grumbling, they complied, handing her a very small case a few minutes later. She curtsied to them mockingly and left.
Ruddy bastards fight giving out supplies as if they were giving out their own stuff, she mused with some annoyance as she cleaned up her desk before leaving for Morgana only knew how long. Finally finished, she stood up to leave, and promptly tripped, knocking over her waste bin. She heard a snort from the door and heard, "Now that's a view many a man would pay to see."
She rolled out from the embarrassing position she was in, with her rear end high in the air, and scowled at the man in the doorway. She brightened almost immediately. "Remus! Just the man I wanted to see!" She pulled him into the room and closed the door. "Amelia Bones wants to talk to you. If you can testify that you saw Pettigrew in Harry's third year, she'll trust it and get Sirius a posthumous pardon, or more likely a full acquittal, since he was never given an actual trial!" As he started to look worried, she added, "She's promised to keep your identity secret. Fighter against Voldie, that sort of thing, I guess. She says that if Fudge can do secret trials, she can do secret witnesses."
"Okay. Can you get me in to talk to her?"
"Let's try." As they walked toward the office of the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she asked, "What brings you here, by the way? Other than the chance to admire my beautiful arse?"
He laughed. "I wanted to see if your idea, whatever it was, worked out. Probably not, since you're here in the office."
She laughed. "If you'd been another ten minutes later, I would have been gone. My idea was approved." She paused. "I'm moving in with Harry," she said with a smile.
He stopped dead in the hallway at that pronouncement. When she turned, grinning, he smiled back at her. "Almost had me there for a moment, Tonks. Really, what are you doing?"
She grinned back at him. "Living with Harry for the summer. He needs someone there for grief therapy, he needs a protector from the Aurors, and a certain group we know of shouldn't complain too much about a little added protection for him." She watched his eyes, and then said, "I'm serious, Remus. I'll be moving into his bedroom, enlarging it to the size of a small house, and we'll have privacy for him, a permanent guard, and someone to teach him over the summer."
"Are you aware of … um, how do I say this as to not offend you?" Remus had his hand on the back of his neck, wincing in embarrassment.
"The fact that we both want to jump each other?" she said. "I'm not going to force it," too much, she added internally, "but neither am I going to stop him if I find him getting amorous with me. It'll be a damn sight better than having him moping around all day wondering if he should just kill himself." She blushed furiously. "And if he gets amorous with me, at least he'll have a lover who actually loves him, not someone who wants to shag the Boy Who Lived." She smirked. "I’ll wait for him to make the first move — unless it’s obvious that he’s ready, but is just afraid to say something. Boys can be that way."
Remus smiled at her widely, a toothy grin that she hadn't seen in a long time, and was surprised to see this recently after Sirius's death. "Then, as your cousin might have said, 'Go forth and sin some more,' Tonks. I can see that you do care, and that was my biggest worry." He pulled her into a hug. "Thank you."
She found herself surprised to be sniffling when the hug broke. "Now let's get you to Amelia, and she can explain things to you." They continued the walk to Madam Bones office at a brisk pace.
She was surprised to find both Arthur Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt outside her office. "Oh dear — bad time for me to come to her office again, isn't it?" she asked with some worry.
Just at that moment, the door opened, and Amelia Bones said, "Actually, Auror Tonks, your timing couldn't be better. Gentlemen, Miss Tonks — please come into my office.
The situation was explained to Remus, who agreed to secrecy once it was pointed out that Fudge might overturn it if it were known that a werewolf were the informant, as opposed to "a brave individual whose name we must keep confidential for his own safety". Amelia had chuckled at that wonderfully pompous imitation of Cornelius Fudge, by Arthur Weasley of all people. By the time that word might get out that it was a werewolf who had given the proof, it would be too late for them to overturn Sirius's acquittal, especially since Fudge was getting dangerously close to a 'no confidence' vote before the Wizengamot.
With Tonks, Shacklebolt, and Arthur Weasley there as witnesses to the questioning, Remus was asked about that fateful night during Harry's third year. Tears leaked from his eyes as he relived that night, and the horrible transformation he had undergone that had allowed Pettigrew to escape and return to Voldemort. "I blame myself for the death of the Diggory boy. If I'd but taken my potion, as I should have, then I would not have caused the distraction that permitted Pettigrew to escape. A family has no son because I was lax."
"You are not at fault for another's actions, Mister Lupin," Amelia said gently. "Or are you responsible for You Know Who's actions?"
"Of course not," Remus said.
"It was He Who Must Not Be Named who caused the death of Cedric Diggory. He could simply have allowed him to leave, perhaps to tell the world that He had risen again. Instead, You Know Who killed him."
"I'm partial to calling him Lord Thingy, as our darling Minister does," Tonks quipped. "Treats the guy with the respect he's truly due, if you catch my meaning." Remus chuckled, and the admonition died on Madam Bones' lips with an amused smile. "You know," Tonks said. "Harry carries around that same guilt, Remus, and he’s just as culpable as you are. Which is to say, not at all. I think you and I will have to hammer that one home to him."
It was only a short time later when Tonks left the room to go on her mission, another piece of parchment in her hands. She had tears in her eyes — tears of happiness, tinged with the sorrowful knowledge that the man this had all been for would never know what had been done for him. She cleared her mind with difficulty and Apparated to her home.
Once there, she packed a large bag with clothing, everything from clothes to work out in to clothes for going out for a night on the town, and even one negligee that she was quite certain would cause Harry some blood flow problems. A moment later she shrugged and emptied her entire wardrobe into her bag, shrinking the thing down finally for ease of carrying.
Shrugging as she looked around the place, she Apparated into Harry's bedroom. She was greeted by a fist to the stomach, which was immediately followed by a knee to the forehead as she doubled over. As she hit the floor, gagging out "Good … reflexes," she heard Harry whisper, "Oh my God, what have I done?"
"Proven that you've got what it takes to survive, Harry," she wheezed as she tried to catch her breath. She took a deep breath and ignored the pain in her stomach. "If you were an Auror, Harry, I'd be putting you in for a commendation," she said, her voice gaining strength as she spoke. "You took advantage of an opportunity and incapacitated your target. Moody would be proud of you, and chewing me out for dropping my guard, as well he should."
"Yeah, but you don't hit your friends," he said.
"You do if they show up unannounced, knowing that you're also being chased by dark wizards who want you dead. If I was stupid enough not to send an owl ahead to say 'Wotcher!', then you should do exactly what you just did." She smiled. "I'm telling Moody what happened when I talk to him next."
"Please don't," Harry said, eyes pleading. "I don't want you getting a dressing down because you trusted me wrongly."
"Okay, stop right there," she said. "That's got at least two levels to it, and I'm gonna deal with 'em separately. First off, why did you lash out at me?"
"I had no idea who you were," he said.
"Exactly. I could have been a dark wizard bent on killing you, in which case you'd undoubtedly be standing over an unconscious person right now, since I know you wouldn't have stopped as you did when you recognized me." He nodded as he grudgingly agreed with her. "Now for the other one that I noticed immediately. I still trust you. You proved that I can, oddly enough, by doing exactly what you did. You struck out when you thought it necessary, but stopped when you recognized me."
She decided it was time for the truth. "Harry, I trust you enough that I'm trusting you with everything. I convinced my bosses to put me on guard duty with you for the summer. I'm going to be living with you in this room until September."
His eyes darkened. "Dumbledore's that afraid I'm gonna try something that he needs a minder that close to me?"
She laughed. "Old pointy hat doesn't even know about this yet. He won’t find out for a short while, by which point it will be too late."
"Why?" he asked, puzzled. "Why are you doing this, then?"
She shrugged. "Multiple reasons. As I told my bosses — it's about time you got some actual grief counselling, and I think someone who can actually understand what you're feeling is best." She paused. "Oh, before I forget!" She reached into her cleavage (surreptitiously watching his reactions and pleased that he seemed slightly jealous of the parchment) and pulled out the proclamation of Sirius Black's innocence. "This is completely legitimate," she said. "I was there for the testimony proving that Pettigrew was still alive."
Harry stared at it for a long moment before he finally said, "Isn't Remus taking an awful chance doing this?"
"How do you know it was him?" she asked.
"Be honest. There are only two who know that Pettigrew is alive, and the other one would rather have his balls stapled to a flag and then be hoisted into the air before he did anything for Sirius, dead or alive." He suddenly realized that his outburst had been aimed at a female, and blushed furiously. "Um, I'm sorry about …"
"I'll have to remember that description and quote it to the Order next time he's there," she laughed. "We're friends, Harry — never you mind about offending me."
"Still, it was a crude thing to say in front of a lady."
"I’m no lady, Harry — you know that." His face underwent the look of someone trying very hard not to say the first thing that came into his mind, and she smiled to inwardly. He’s not completely depressed. Either that, or he’s really good at masking his true feelings.
Finally, he cleared his throat, blushing furiously. "Um, you talked about living in this room with me. It’s a bit small for that, Tonks. That bed is barely big enough for me."
She wiggled her eyebrows at him and put on an over-the-top smoky voice. "Sounds perfect for the two of us, then."
She got the response she wanted when he laughed, still blushing hot enough to light a fire, and responded, "I suppose so, if you get turned on by having an elbow up your nose in the mornings."
"Oh baby," she purred in the same over-the-top voice before bursting into her signature braying laugh.
They silenced immediately when they heard Vernon pound up the stairs and throw the door open. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?" he bellowed. "GET OUT!"
Harry winked at her quickly, mouthing "Play along," and said, "I’m sorry, Uncle, but you can’t do that. The Order decided that I should have round-the-clock guarding, and the best person to do that was my girlfriend. Since we’ve been sleeping together already, it was decided that she’d be the best one to guard me, since I’m so used to her presence already." He put an arm around Tonks and pulled her close.
Vernon cycled between puce, purple, and some unnamed shade that threatened to be mauve before finally settling on red as he bellowed, "I’LL NOT HAVE YOU SHAGGING SOME TROLLOP IN MY HOUSE — UNDER MY ROOF …" That was as far as he got, because Harry had lifted him off the ground and slammed him against the wall.
"I’ll not have you insulting any woman in my presence, Vernon, unless it’s your own wife, who truly deserves it." His knee came up and impacted just to the side of the heavy man’s groin. "I won’t be as gentle with you next time." He carried the gasping man to the door of his room and threw him out into the hallway. "I’ll also not be troubling you this summer. I’ll be here, but there will be no contact between us unless I wish it. And that is not a request." He slammed the door on his stunned aunt and cousin.
"You didn’t have to do that, Harry," Tonks said, unaware that her voice was throbbing with emotion. "You’ll have got in quite a bit of trouble with your uncle."
"Pardon the language, but screw him." He paused and then shuddered. "On second thought — ewww."
Tonks laughed. "Seriously Harry, you really didn’t have to do that for me. I can defend myself."
"I know, but I wanted to do it. You’re putting your career on hold to guard a teenaged boy for a summer. It’s a small way of thanking you."
"Wrong, Harry. I’m spending the summer with a good friend of mine. The fact that I can also get paid for spending a summer with my friend, being there when he needs me — well, that’s just icing on the cake, so to speak."
"All the more reason to do it. It’s bad enough to call a woman he hardly knows a trollop, to her face, but when that woman happens to be my friend? He’s lucky this time. If I could do magic during the summers, he’d have had a permanent problem."
She whistled tunelessly and pulled another parchment from her cleavage. Handing it to him, she watched as an evil grin crossed his face. He grabbed his wand and murmured, "Oh Vernon?" before setting it down. He frowned suddenly. "Um, Tonks? I know I asked you to play along, but I really shouldn’t have … well … that sleeping together comment. That was out of line, and I’m sorry for that."
"Why?"
"Well, for one thing, it led to Fatty Senior calling you a trollop. Second, well … um … I wouldn’t … uh …"
"Why not? Seeking for the other team?" she asked with an impish grin
"No!" he shouted, although she had to admit that it sounded more like a squeak.
"Then no harm done, Harry. We’re friends, and friends joke with each other, and sometimes get each other involved with practical jokes." She grimaced. "Which sometimes backfire …" She grinned again. "Is the concept of sleeping with me so distasteful?" His furious blush told her all she needed to know.
He finally shook his head to clear it and asked, trying to change the subject, "So, how are we really working this summer’s scenario?"
Tonks grinned and pulled out her own wand from the same place the parchments had been, and saw him mouth "Damn, I wish I could be that lucky." She began to wave the wand around, saying, "Watch and learn." As he saw what she was doing, Harry’s mouth dropped opened in surprise.