"Wait, stop this madness for a sec." Harry said before he closed his eyes and focused. "Is my hair back to normal?" Harry asked Tonks.
"Yep." Tonks nodded, even though Harry couldn't see it. "Back to your usual messy self." She helpfully added.
"Thanks." Harry said with an amused snort as he opened his eyes.
"Yous be staying here." Flipsy said in a stern voice when it looked like the other elf was going to try and escape from here.
"Alright, you," Harry said as he pointed to the other elf. "what are you doing here? Fair warning, if you don't answer honestly then I will feed you to my snake."
"Flipsy is find this bad elf trying to steal Master Potter's letters." Flipsy said before the other elf could reply, Flipsy pulled out a trio of letters and held them in the air. Tonks quickly pulled her wand out and walked towards Flipsy, she cast several detection spells on the letters, once she decided it was safe enough she took them from Flipsy.
"Constant vigilance," She shrugged when Harry gave her a questioning look. "old Mad-Eye has been drilling it into me and the other aurors. I was just making sure that these letters weren't tampered with."
"Thanks Tonks," Harry smiled appreciatively, internally though he made a mental note to convince Tonks to teach him at least some of those spells. "so where were we?" Harry said as he turned to Flipsy. "You said that you stopped him?"
"Yes Master Harry." Flipsy said in a proud voice.
"Good elf, now push the other one into my mouth." Jet hissed.
"Yous be the great Harry Potter's elf?" The other elf asked in what was clearly an envious tone.
"Great Harry Potter?" Tonks repeated. "Looks like someone has a fan."
"Really? Harry Potter has fans? Would never have thought it." Harry said in a sarcastic voice before turning to the other elf. "What did you say your name was? Dobby or something?" Harry asked, remembering the fact that elves liked to speak in the third person and the fact that the elf had said it earlier.
"Yes, I's be Dobby sir." The elf said quickly as he nodded his head. "Dobby the house elf." He added.
"Why were you trying to steal my letters?" Harry asked while twirling his wand, Jet hissed at Dobby in a way that made it clear that there had better be a good explanation if Dobby wanted to leave this room alive.
"D...Dobby was trying to help the great Harry Potter!" Dobby said quickly.
"Help me how?" Harry asked as he stopped twirling his wand.
"It...it is difficult sir...Dobby is not knowing where to begin..." Dobby said in an apologetic voice.
"Look," Harry sighed. "why don't you just sit down and..."
"Sit down?" Dobby repeated before he suddenly began crying loudly.
"What the hell's wrong with him?" Tonks asked the room, everyone else just shrugged while Dobby continued crying.
"Flipsy." Harry spoke.
"Yes Master Harry?" Flipsy asked.
"Slap him."
"Yes Master." Flipsy said before delivering a quick slap across Dobby's face, causing an end to his crying.
"Thank you," Harry said to Flipsy before turning to Dobby. "what was all that crying about?" Harry asked.
"N...never has Dobby been asked to sit down...like an equal." Dobby sniffed as he wiped his eyes.
"R...right. Look, why don't you just tell me why you were trying to steal my letters?"
"D...Dobby was hoping that if the great Harry Potter did not get letters from his friend then he's not want to be going to Hogwarts." Dobby hesitantly answered.
"O...kay, why?"
"Because Harry Potter must not be going to Hogwarts this year."
"Why not?" Tonks frowned.
"There is a great plot, an evil plot." Dobby said, wringing his hands as he spoke.
"By who? Who is plotting them?"
"I...I..." Dobby's face took on a look that was best described as constipated. "...do not ask, do not ask Dobby. Dobby cannot tell!"
"That probably means his master." Jet hissed.
"Probably." Harry agreed.
"At least my master is better than his." Jet added.
"We don't even know who his master is." Harry reminded him.
"Yes, but I'm sure that you're still better. After all you're MY master." Jet said as if Harry was missing something obvious.
"Hold on a sec," Harry frowned. "Dobby, I know that name from somewhere."
"Y...you do?" Dobby asked in a nervous voice.
"Where the hell have I heard that name?" Harry frowned thoughtfully. "Wait a sec, I know, you're the Malfoy elf."
"The Malfoy elf?" Tonks asked.
"Yeah, I remembered Draco complaining about him." Harry explained before turning to the elf. "This plot that you're talking about, Draco's dad is behind it, isn't he?" Harry asked.
"Do not ask Dobby, do not ask Dobby!" Dobby cried, though he might as well have said 'yes'. "Harry Potter must not go to Hogwarts!"
"Harry Potter will be going to Hogwarts," Harry replied. "Hogwarts is my home."
"If Harry Potter doesn't listen then Dobby must stop Harry Potter, for his own good." Dobby said in a sad voice, only to jump when Jet began hissing threateningly jut as Harry's wand lit up.
"Do not make threats, Dobby." Harry said in a low voice. "I know who you are and I know where you live, any attempt to stop me from going to Hogwarts will result in me speaking to Draco about your disobedience." Harry warned.
"Please sir," Dobby cried, tears dripping down his face. "you must not go, you will be in danger."
"I have my wand and I have my familiar, I will be fine." Harry replied. "Now, I might consider it if you tell me what the danger is?"
"He cannot, Master." Flipsy replied. "He must keep his Master's secrets."
"Dobby is already being bad by coming here," Dobby admitted. "Dobby will have to punish himself later."
"Punish?" Harry repeated before realization hit him. Elves will punish themselves sometimes, if they don't behave properly or if they don't do their work good enough or even if their master tells them to. "You don't have to punish yourself you know, if your master doesn't know then he won't make you punish yourself."
"No," Dobby sadly shook his head. "Dobby must punish himself. Dobby must go now."
"Let him go." Harry said to Flipsy when he looked like he was about to stop Dobby. "If you don't try to mess with me and stop me from going to Hogwarts then I won't do anything to you," Harry added. "and I promise that I will do my best to stay safe."
"Please be careful great Harry Potter." Dobby said before popping away.
"That was nice of you," Tonks said to Harry. "you let him off quite easily."
"I have a soft spot for people with shitty lives, it apparently extends to house elves as well." Harry shrugged. "So, now that you've heard all of that, is there anything you can do about it?"
"Not much," Tonks admitted. "Malfoy is a pretty big name and people aren't going to act over the word of a house elf, but we'll tell Mum and Dad and I'll still tell Mad-eye and see if he can do anything about it."
"Solis flare!" Harry yelled out, a bright light and blinding light shout out from his wand, blinding Tonks.
Right now Harry could admit that he was exhausted, mainly because there was no point in denying it when he was sweating enough to fill up a bucket. Harry was currently dueling Tonks who was proving exactly why she had been recruited by Mad-Eye Moody the second she left Hogwarts, she was bloody good with her wand. So far Harry hadn't been able to land a single hit against her, he had lost count of how long they had been dueling. Although it felt like an hour, he was sure that it was probably just a few minutes.
Harry's bright light had succeeded in stopping Tonks from being able to look at him, Harry aimed his wand at Tonks and was about to fire off a disarming spell when Tonks suddenly dropped onto her back and sent a wind blast that pushed Harry down onto the floor. Tonks opened her eyes and saw Harry on the floor, she followed up with a quick disarming spell to cause his wand to fly out of his hand.
"Damn." Harry sighed as Tonks caught his wand.
"Nice try," Tonks grinned as she got up. "you did good."
"You did do very good." Andromeda said as she walked up to the two with Jet on her shoulders, it had been decided that Jet would stay with Andromeda while Harry dueled with Tonks. Unfortunately Ted wasn't here as he had been called into work.
"Really?" Harry asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.
"Yeah, you really did do good." Andromeda said as Harry pushed himself onto his feet. "It was very impressive for someone of your age." She complimented before waving a wand to get rid of Harry's sweat.
"Thank you," Harry said appreciatively. "I really did good? I didn't even get a single hit?"
"Yeah you did good," Tonks said, agreeing with her mother, as she continued speaking Jet moved himself from Andromeda's shoulders to Harry's. "you didn't beat me but you've got to remember that I am not only older than you but am also training under the best - and most paranoid - auror of all time. You did better than I would have expected at your age, have you been in many duels before?" She asked.
"A few." Harry nodded.
"Oh, who did you duel?" Andromeda asked.
"Every Slytherin in my year, and I joined one third year in a duel against two other third years."
"Wow, how did they go?" Tonks asked.
"I'd like to congratulate you, you're the first person to ever beat the 'legendary, great Harry Potter' in a duel." Harry replied.
"Really?" Tonks blinked before a large grin appeared on her face. "I guess that makes me better than you-know-who then." She said in a casual voice.
"Oh undoubtedly," Harry said, playing along. "he couldn't handle me when I was a year old and here you are, beating me when I'm eleven, you're too strong Tonks."
As the two continued their back and forth, Andromeda was smiling at them both. She was glad that the two were getting along with each other, it was no secret that Harry had a pretty horrible past, so she was happy that the two were getting along, it had been a great worry of hers that Tonks wouldn't like Harry or vice versa or both. But looking at them now, it felt like they had known each other for years.
Today Harry was in Diagon Alley with the Tonks family, he had just exited Gringotts with Ted after getting a sufficient amount of money, though not before wishing death via extreme constipation on the goblin teller's enemies. Harry and the Tonks family started walking through the alley to get Harry's school supplies, with all three of them recommending some excellent equipment for Harry to use. The family had really been encouraging Harry's love of learning, Ted had helped Harry with charms and taught him a few basic things about runes while Tonks helped him with transfigurations and defense against the dark arts. Andromeda, being the potions mistress in the family, had helped him with potions but also in defense against the dark arts.
"Okay, now we just need to get Harry's books." Ted noted just before they arrived outside of the book store, 'Flourish and Blotts'. "Hey, look at this." Ted said as he gestured to the sign outside of the shop that informed everyone that Gilderoy Lockhart would be signing books today.
"Who the hell is Lockhart?" Harry asked, in response he got a snort from both Tonks women.
"Lockhart is this 'great wizard' who has done many, many 'great things'." Andromeda said in a disbelieving tone.
"You know, I don't know why but for some reason I feel like you're trying to imply that he is not a great wizard." Harry idly commented. "Odd that, isn't it?"
"I take it that you haven't read any of his books yet." Tonks said.
"No, are they any good?" Harry asked.
"They're like romance novels but ten times more tacky," Tonks replied. "he might be a good wizard but I doubt it. He's too clean, if you have a trained eye then you can tell if someone has actually gone through half of the shit that he claims he has gone through. Let's just say that if he actually has done half of that stuff then I will buy a hat just to eat it."
"Right...so we're not letting you near any clothes shops anytime soon." Harry noted just before they walked into the store. It was packed full of people, opposite the door was a table and standing behind the table was Gilderoy Lockhart, a blonde man in gold robes with teeth that were so white that they were likely magically spelled to look like that.
"Alright, I'll go get Harry's books, hopefully we can make a quick getaway." Ted whispered to the others before he walked off to get the books.
"Bless my soul!" Lockhart suddenly blurted out upon noticing Harry. "It's Harry Potter!" He said, the whole shop went quiet as everyone now looked from Lockhart to Harry.
"Quick, come here." A photographer said as he reached out to grab Harry, only to quickly pull his hand back when Jet crawled out of Harry's collar and hissed threateningly at him. Jet climbed out of Harry's collar and was now perched on Harry's shoulders.
"You should learn to keep your hands to yourself, mate." Harry calmly advised the photographer.
"Come, Mr Potter, together the two of us would make the front page." Lockhart said as he gestured Harry to come over.
"I'm fine, thanks for the offer though." Harry replied, standing still in his spot.
"Ah camera shy," Lockhart grinned as if he had worked out a particularly complicated puzzle. "fear not Harry, fear not, I understand. Ladies and gentlemen," Lockhart said as he turned to the crowd. "when young Harry Potter came into Flourish and Blotts to purchase my autobiography, 'Magical Me', he didn't expect to leave this store with my entire signed works for free with no extra charge." Lockhart said as he helped up a pile of books just as the crowd cheered.
"For free?" Ted said, reappearing like a ninja. "That's a good deal, Harry." He said before leaning down to whisper in Harry's ear. "Apparently you need the books for school and I'd rather not pay for them." Ted admitted before he walked over and collected the books from Lockhart before walking back and handing them to Harry. "Alright, wait here, I'll go get the rest of your books."
"I'll come with you," Tonks said. "I'll pick up a few books for Harry to read." She said, she winked at Harry before walking off with her father.
"What are you doing here?!" A voice demanded, Harry turned to his left and saw Ron Weasley standing there along with the rest of the Weasley family. He knew the twins and Percy, with them was a short, porky redheaded woman who was clearly their mother. Along with her was a man with red, balding hair, he was likely the father. There was also a redheaded girl with them that looked to be younger than Ron, likely his sister, either that or the Weasley's had kidnapped a girl, Harry really wasn't sure.
"Eating ice cream," Harry said in a sarcastic voice. "it's a book store, what do you think I am doing?"
"Don't be rude, Ronald." The woman scolded, she tried to smile at Harry though it came out a bit odd since she also looked like she wanted nothing more than to run away from Jet.
"Mr Potter," The man said. "I am Mr Arthur Weasley, this is my wife Molly." He said as he gestured to the red headed woman. "And you know my kids." He said as he gestured to his children.
"Most of them, but I don't believe I know your name." He said, looking at the girl who blushed under his gaze.
"I...I'm G...Ginny, Ginny Weasley." She managed to get out.
"A pleasure," Harry smiled as he took her hand and planted a small kiss on her knuckles, causing her blush to increase tenfold and resulting in her brothers glaring at him. "I haven't seen you at Hogwarts, are you starting this year?" He asked.
"Um...yes, yes I am." She quickly nodded.
"Hey! Get off her!" Ron said as he yanked Ginny's hand out of Harry's.
"Ron," Mr Weasley said in a warning voice before turning to Harry. "Mr Potter, I would just like to apologize for the behavior of my children last year, I..."
"From what I have heard, your children don't seem to care about your apologies." Andromeda cut him off. "Their behavior at school certainly shows that."
"And who are you supposed to be?" Mrs Weasley frowned.
"I am Harry's guardian." Andromeda answered.
"I bet she's another snake." Ron said under his breath, though clearly not quiet enough as everyone heard him.
"As intelligent as ever, aren't you Weasley?" A voice drawled.
"Draco," Harry greeted as he turned around and shook hands with Draco who had walked up to him. "didn't expect to see you here today."
"Same," Draco nodded. "you doing your school shopping as well? Or just regular shopping?"
"School, maybe regular later." Harry answered. "I'm with my new guardians. This lovely woman over is Andromeda Tonks."
"Madam," Draco nodded to her. "Harry has told me that you are in fact my mother's sister."
"Yes," Andromeda nodded, a neutral look on her face. "we've had a few disagreements over the years but I do still consider her to be my sister."
"Wotcher Harry, what's going on?" Tonks said as she arrived, she was about to place an arm over Harry's shoulders but noticed Jet was currently occupying that spot. "Dad's buying the books for you." She added.
"Tonks, this is my friend, Draco Malfoy." Harry said as he gestured to Draco. "Draco, this is Tonks."
"Wotcher Draco." Tonks nodded to him.
"Hello," Draco said, sounding a little confused by her greeting. "your name is 'Tonks'?" He asked.
"Yep." Tonks nodded, her smile tightening slightly.
"What's your first name?" Draco asked.
"She doesn't have one." Harry said quickly, earning an appreciative look from Tonks and an eye roll from Andromeda.
"Why not?" Draco frowned.
"Because Tonks is a great name." Harry shrugged in a 'don't ask me' sort of way.
"Nymphadora." Mrs Weasley said in greeting.
"And there goes all my effort down the drain." Harry said under his breath just as Tonks scowled at Mrs Weasley.
"Don't call me Nymphadora." She said.
"It is good to see you, dear." Mrs Weasley said after a moments pause. "Are you working in your father's law firm?" She asked.
"No, I'm apprenticing under Mad-Eye Moody." Tonks said, much to the surprise of those not already in the know.
"Really?" Mr Weasley blinked. "The last time Alastor Moody had an apprentice they tried running away after the first month."
"He can't get rid of me that easily." Tonks grinned.
"That hardly seems like a safe profession." Mrs Weasley frowned, she was about to say more when Harry snorted.
"It's not her that I'd be worried about." He commented.
"What do you mean?" Draco asked.
"She's great with a wand," Harry said as he gestured to Tonks. "the last time me and her dueled I wasn't able to get a single hit in."
"What?" Draco gaped. "But you're like a damn dueling prodigy."
"Ladies and gentlemen, meet the defeater of the defeater of you-know-who." Harry said with a small clap before he gestured to Tonks.
"Stop it," Tonks laughed as she ruffled Harry's hair. "you'll make me blush."
"I still think that you could go into something more safer, dear, you're still quite young." Mrs Weasley commented. "I wish Charlie would do the same but the boy is still obsessed with his dragons as always, are you two by any chance..."
"Nope," Tonks said in a firm voice as she cut Mrs Weasley off. "not a chance." Any further response was cut off just as somebody else arrived.
"Draco," Lucius Malfoy said as he arrived, "making friends I see." He said before turning to Harry. "Mr Potter." He nodded before extending his hand.
"Mr Malfoy, " Harry said as he shook the older man's hand. "it is a pleasure to meet you, sir."
"Likewise," Malfoy replied. "I must say that it's a shame that I was not made your guardian."
"My apologies," Harry swiftly replied. "there was naturally no offence intended."
"Naturally." Lucius nodded, he glanced at Jet, a shiver spread through his body but he decided to ignore it.
"Lucius." Andromeda nodded in greeting as if it was common for the two to see each other.
"Ah, Mrs Tonks." Lucius replied. "how is that husband of yours?" He asked.
"Quite fine, thanks for asking." Ted said as he arrived behind Andromeda.
"Well, it's good to see you both." Lucius said with fake smile before turning to the Weasley's. "Ah the Weasley's," He said in an amused tone. "hello Arthur." He said to Mr Weasley.
"Lucius." Arthur said in a stiff voice.
"Busy time at the ministry, Arthur. All those pesky raids, I do hope they are paying you over time. though, judging by the state of these..." Lucius paused and picked up a book out of Ginny's cauldron, he examined it before smirking at Arthur. "I would guess not. Honestly, what is the point in being a disgrace to wizards if they don't even pay you well enough for it?"
"You and I have very different opinions on what disgraces the name of wizards." Arthur said, glaring at Lucius.
"Clearly," Lucius said as he returned the book back into Ginny's cauldron. "I..."
"Lucius," Andromeda spoke. "I trust that there are no problems here, after all I would not like it if Harry's day is needlessly ruined." She said, narrowing her eyes at Lucius.
"Of course not," Lucius quickly said, a small smile on his face. "come Draco, let's not waste anymore time here." He said to Draco before he turned and walked away.
"See you at school." Draco nodded to Harry before sneering at Ron just before leaving.
"We better get going too." Ted said before he ushered Harry and the Tonks women out of the shop.
"I'm sorry but was Draco's dad scared of you?" Harry asked Andromeda.
"He just has a 'healthy respect' for what I can do." Andromeda smirked.