"Did you come alone, and did you bring the veritaserum?" Harry asked abruptly as he seated himself with his back to the café. Tonks too sat down, whispering an incantation to ensure that their conversation would be a private one.
She raised an eyebrow at his boldness, but nodded. "I did come alone, despite my better instincts; and you expect me to dose you with truth serum right out here in the open?" She had no qualms about lying to a teenager when it came to her safety.
Harry shrugged. "Better than a locked room with a wand in my neck. It won't knock me out, right?"
"No," came the reply. "But…Harry, explain to me why you want to be questioned with truth serum. Why did you leave Hogwarts? Do you really think the Headmaster is trying to kill you?"
Harry glanced around the busy scene, trying to spot anyone who was watching him. So far this was going well, but there was no telling when someone might spring a trap.
"I know he is, Tonks. Some, er, friends, overheard an argument that proves it. I started thinking about how much the old man has controlled my life, and I knew it was true. I had to run, or he was going to sacrifice me to Voldemort."
Tonks shivered a bit at the casual use of the Dark Lord's name, but was otherwise at a loss. "But…that doesn't make any sense, Harry. He had us protecting you from You-Know-Who all summer. Why would he 'sacrifice' you?"
"I don't know," said Harry, shaking his head. "Hermione—she's my, er, former best friend—seemed to think that my death would save the world, but that's just crazy. That's why I need help, Tonks. I need information, and I need you—or someone—to find a place for me that's safe from Dumbledore."
Tonks exhaled and sat back in her chair. She had been observing Harry for signs of imperious or compulsion potions, but hadn't detected anything. He seemed to be sincere in what he was saying, even if it didn't make sense.
"Alright, Harry," she said cautiously, "I don't know what's going on, but I don't think you're lying to me. Are you truly willing to let me dose you with veritaserum? You give me your permission?"
"Absolutely, Tonks," he said without hesitation. "You'll see that I'm telling the truth. Just one thing…don't ask me who overheard the argument between my friends, okay? If Dumbledore finds out, they'll be in a lot of danger."
"Harry," Tonks responded, gently. "I have to ask that question. What if your source was lying? What if somebody is trying to mislead you and get you captured?"
"Tonks," Harry hissed in irritation, "this is not a fucking game to me. I haven't been duped, and I'm deadly serious. If you give me to Dumbledore, I'll be dead within a week. And so will the people who know what he's doing."
"Harry," she returned, just as hotly, "you are accusing Albus Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard in Britain, maybe the world, of trying to kill The-Boy-Who-Lived, who is a teenager and his legal ward. Do you know how crazy that sounds?"
Harry sighed. "I know, Tonks, I know. But you have to believe me. If you don't, I'm dead. I want an oath that you're not going to turn me into the old man, and that you're not going to tell him who helped me."
Now Tonks snorted in surprise. "A binding magical oath? Are you nuts, Harry? I'm a member of the Order; I have to report to him."
"Then swear you won't report me for three days, Tonks. Look into it. Give me that much time. Find somebody, maybe another Auror, who doesn't like Dumbledore and will hear me out."
"Tell me who's been helping you, Harry, and I might swear an oath," she bargained, trying to get more information.
"No deal," said Harry. "I'm not being manipulated by some Death Eater, Tonks. Give me credit for some fucking common sense. I like you, and you seem like a decent person. But I'm begging you, Tonks, you have to trust me just a little, and you'll see I'm right."
Exasperated at the teenager in front of her but curious about his obvious desperation, she agreed. "Alright, Harry," she said, raising the tip of her wand to the edge of the table top, "I, Nymphadora Tonks, swear upon my magic that I will not turn Harry Potter over to Albus Dumbledore for the next…two days. Nor will I reveal who has been helping him."
Harry noticed her subtraction of a day, but breathed a huge sigh of relief at having received her oath. It didn't immediately occur to him that she could still take him prisoner without violating her oath. She made a discreet hand motion to her partner.
"Thank you, Tonks," he smiled, something that made him look incredibly smarmy in his glamour form. "Now I believe you have a potion for me?"
Tonks sighed, and removed a small vial from her muggle purse. "I can't believe I'm doing this, Harry. You better have something bloody interesting to say."
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