The gang all came down the stairs. Tonks dressed in some of Harry's better clothes. She might have to pretend to be him, but she'd be damned if she were going to dress in his cousin's old hand-me-downs. Though, Harry now wore Regulus' stuff, they were trying to make it as believable as possible, so some older stuff was called for.
When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she morphed into the Boy-Who-Lived. These past weeks had made this a smooth process. The hardest part of it all, was Harry's scar. It took days for her to get it right. Even though the boy's scar was nothing but a white line now, no one outside this house knew that.
"Looking good, Tonks," Harry said, teasingly.
"Don't you know it," she said back, winking at him.
"Wait, before you guys head out, who made prefect this year?" Harry asked, a bit shocked that neither he nor Ron got a badge. He was completely floored that Hermione didn't have one either. Even if she wasn't the smartest girl, which she totally was, he didn't see either Parvati or Lavender being responsible enough for that position.
"Oh my, with all that's happened, I forgot that that was this year for us," Hermione said, grabbing her letter out of her purse.
"Yeah, me too, until just now," Harry admitted.
Ron was looking at his letter as well. "Well, it's not me, I don't think," he grumbled.
"Good job, that," the twins said, patting him on the back proudly.
"Bugger off," the youngest male snapped.
"Language," said the three females.
"Leave him alone, you two. It's not nice to rub it in like that," Ginny said, standing up for her brother.
"We're just taking the mickey," Fred said, smiling and holding his hands up in surrender.
"Yeah, just playing," his twin agreed, grinning like a fool.
"Oh, there's a postscript on the back. Professor McGonagall says that there's a dispute about the Gryffindor fifth year male prefect, so it will be announced at the feast," Hermione said, reading the small note.
"Probably because I told her what Tonks and we are up to," Sirius said thoughtfully, rubbing his goatee.
"Oh, does that mean it would have been Harry," the bushy-haired girl asked, her face brightening.
"Well, I don't want it, even if I was going back. The last thing I want is that type of responsibility. I mean, I get enough crap from being on the Quidditch team since first year," Harry groused, remembering all the flak he got for being a teacher pet, or some shite. It wasn't like he asked to be on the team. He didn't know anything about Quidditch then, only what Ron had told him on the train. "Besides, I can see it now, 'he only got it because Dumbledore believes his lies', or something along those lines," he added, his face taking on a full scowl.
"I'm sure it wouldn't be that bad," Hermione said, biting her lower lip like she didn't completely believe that. "I wonder who the fifth-year girl is," she said, looking around the room like the walls would have the answer.
"I'm sure you got the badge," Ron said, smiling at his best female friend. "However, they're probably right, and it was Harry, until he went and ruined it for them. So sad," he added, mockingly pouting at his other friend.
"Too right," Harry said, nodding like it was not made in jest.
"Well, now that that's settled," Tonks said, giving a meaningful look to Sirius, which looked strange since it was Harry's face.
"Right, let's get going," the dogman said, heading to the Floo.
A great deal of happy murmuring was heard as the teens, Sirius and Tonks went the fireplace. It only took a matter of moments for the room to be empty of all but Harry. Remus was in the library, and the other members of the group were scattered about doing either their jobs or watching Malfoy manor.
Harry sighed and went to join Remus. He thought again that he hoped nothing happened.
Meanwhile the group of teens were chattering happily as they went about getting their school supplies. They made a great game of testing Tonks in her role. She did a great job of being Harry Potter. Right down to the exasperation of those that either were staring at her like she was going to go postal, or coming up to her telling her that they believed her and what a nice 'boy' she was for saying those nice things about Cedric.
It was a trying time, they had to got through all that in every store they entered. Tonks' acting skills were getting quite a workout. She was just glad that Malfoy or his cronies weren't around. She wasn't sure if she could stand up to that with this big of an audience. On the train it would be different, the others would do more about taming the little git, then she would. She was going to play wounded hero, and sulk most of the trip.
They hurried as much as they were able, going in and out of each store as quickly as they could. It made it easier that Sirius would tell each cashier to charge it to his account. Putting his key on the receipt, and then moving on.
Each of them took Sirius' advice and got the grade five defense book. Hermione bought the other one, so she could read it and tell the others what it said. Just in case there was a pop quiz, or something.
They were just finishing their purchases in Flourish and Blotts when it got very cold. Sirius shivered, and huddled to the ground, until the twins came to him and lifted him up. They stayed by his side giving him words of encouragement, but he was completely blanked out, until Ron shoved chocolate in his mouth. Then he shook his head and looked fearfully at the window. It was dark, like clouds had come and covered the sun.
The teens, now that Sirius was feeling better, ran to the windows to see what was happening. They knew what it was, by Sirius' reaction, but they needed to know if anyone was stopping the Dementors from feeding. There wasn't. some were trying, but not succeeding.
Tonks, still as Harry, was going to run outside to stop the Dementors that she saw was about to kiss a man. The man next to him did get a mist Patronus off, but it only held the creature back.
"Tonks, wait," Hermione hissed, while grabbing the metamorph's elbow, making her glare at the younger girl. "Do you know the Patronus?" she asked quickly.
"Yeah, Harry's been teaching me," the Auror said back, pulling herself out of the other girl's grip.
"Is it a stag?" the bushy-haired girl asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"No," Tonks said slowly, then realized why Hermione asked. "Good call," she said as she rushed to the store's loo. She quickly transfigured her clothes, morphed into herself, then ran out to go deal with the Dementors.
Many people were running into the stores and only a few were trying to keep the five creatures away. They were having some luck when Tonks came to the scene. She immediately fired off her Patronus and soon had them flying away. It was all over in less than five minutes, but she had to stay until the on-duty Aurors showed up, so she could give her report.
The teens didn't join her, on the advice of Sirius. He held them back at the store when they wanted to fight.
"No, there's too much political bullshit right now. If you guys get involved, that will just make it harder for what you have to do at Hogwarts. More people will be watching you and you wouldn't have time to do what's needed. Remember, you're our eyes and ears at the school. Don't go blowing it now for something Tonks can easily take care of," he lectured, making sure they stayed put.
He was still shaking; he knew that he may never get over his fear of Dementors. But, by Merlin, he was going to find out how the hell sent them to Diagon Alley, when it was full of families. If he had it right, it was that Umbridge bitch. He was going to gut her, and make it look like and accident.
Well, probably not, but by Merlin if it was her, he was going to blow her cover sky high. She would never live down the damage he was going to do to her. Maybe, he could find out where her father was. It would be a nice family reunion. But where… in the Great Hall, the atrium of the Ministry, or even right here in Diagon Alley during the Yule/Christmas shopping. Decisions, decisions.
The teens did stop and think, they hated to admit it, but he had a point. They had no idea who would come to the scene. It could be someone in Malfoy's, Fudge's, or Dumbledore's pocket. It was too big of a risk.
Sure enough, a few moments later, someone that was beholden to each of those factions was there. Making a mess of the crime scene, and generally be a nuisance of themselves. Tonks and Shacklebolt were having a rough time getting the witness reports, with everyone trying to be more important than they were.
Seeing that they weren't going to be asked anything the group finished their shopping. Tonks, when she saw they were leaving, just gave a quick nod to Sirius that she would fill them in later, and then she left with the Aurors.
Back at the house, Harry was starting to get worried. He wondered if he was going to feel like this the entire time the others were in school. He knew that if something happened, he was going to blame himself for not being there. It was one of his faults that he was working hard on correcting, but after being blamed for everything that went wrong in the Dursley's house all his life, it was going to be hard to kick.
"Harry, sit down and quit pacing," Remus said, putting the book he was perusing. "They'll be fine. They've all gotten good enough to avoid trouble. Besides, Tonks and Sirius are with them. If you were there, there would be more issues. Tonks can duck out at any time. Don't worry about her." He was one of those that was tasked in helping him get over his 'survivor's guilt' problem.
"I know, I just can't shake the feeling, is all," Harry said as he thumped down into a chair. He grabbed a book, looked at the title then threw it back on the pile. "I can't concentrate," he grumbled.
"Why don't you go down to the basement and do some spell work," the werewolf suggested, picking up his cold tea and making a face when he sipped it.
"Sirius and the others don't want me down there by myself," the boy whined. It wasn't that they didn't trust him, it was the fact that he tended to train himself incorrectly. Then they had to break him of the bad form and retrain him. He didn't understand why that happened, but since it did on a regular basis, he complied.
"I'll go with you. I've pretty much tapped out of what I can find here," the other man said, putting the disgusting tea down and standing. He was working on how to get into the Malfoy manor. They had plans to get to the house, but they were working on what wards to throw up so that they could trap those in the house. Bill had some great goblin wards, but was barred from showing them, or even using them, under his employee contract.
The Black wards tended to hurt the victim and the caster, since they required some sort of sacrifice. That was not something any of them were willing to do. However, they were hopeful that there was something in this library that could be helpful.
Moody was going through all his old books and notes. He remembered something, vaguely, and was trying to find it.
All in all, they were going to be prepared come hell or high water.
This was the Darkest of Dark Lord in centuries. They weren't going to take any chances. When the kids were in bed at night, they all tended to spar. The first time they did it, it was an eye-opening experience. Most of them sucked, big time.
All but Kingsley and Tonks were out of practice. Him, because he never thought he needed it. Sirius because of Azkaban. Moody, because he spent a year in his trunk. Bill was okay, but he spent more time taking down curses than fighting, so he needed it as well.
"Alright," Harry sighed, making the werewolf come back out of his thoughts, putting his hands on his knees and standing as well. "I'm on offensive stuff now," he added, a bit hopefully.
"What year?" the older man asked, leaving the room.
Harry followed right behind him. "Well, we're not really doing so much as which year, cause we're starting from year one, but doing all the stuff they don't teach at Hogwarts. So, I guess, maybe, year four," Harry said, thinking hard on where he and Sirius and Tonks had stopped last night.
"I can work with that," Remus said, leading the way down the stairs. "I talked with Sirius the other day. I owe you an apology," he said softly, paying particular attention to a spot on the wall in front of him. Like he didn't want to see the expression on Harry's face.
"About?" the boy asked, knowing what it might be, but wanting to make sure.
"When I taught you in your third year, I was told by Dumbledore that you had expressed your opinion that it hurt too much to talk about your parents. I took him at his word. Even going so far as to ignore the way your eyes lit up whenever I mentioned your dad," the werewolf sighed, still looking at the wall as he walked.
"There are times I hate that man. I mean, who the hell does he think he is, putting words in my mouth," Harry said, balling his hands into fist.
"I know, and I am sorry. I figured it was hard for me to talk about your folks, so it was not out of the realm of possibilities that it was hard for you as well," Remus explained, stopping at the bottom of the stairs and turning to look at Harry.
"I guess I understand that. Sirius says it's hard for him too. He said, the more he talks about them, the easier it is. But in the beginning it hurt," the teen said, looking at the floor.
Remus tilted his chin up and smiled. "Well, now that we know that, we'll just have to talk about them more often, yeah?"
"Yeah," Harry said, a smile splitting his face.