The moment she saw Harry, a huge grin formed on her face. She rushed to him, throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed his cheek, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she kept repeating while hugging him.

Harry laughed and hugged her back, waiting for her to calm down a little. After several moments, and many more ‘thank yous’ Tonks finally calmed down a little and moved away from Harry, settling down in the couch next to him.

“So I take it things went well?” asked Harry with a teasing grin.

Tonks grinned again, “and how!” she laughed.

“Good for you!” said Harry, “So, tell me details! What happened?”

“Well, when you told me he was in that room, I immediately made my way there” she said.

“He was just sitting in a corner, deep in thought. So deep in thought that he didn’t even notice me walking into the room” he said indignantly, thought she started to laugh a moment later, “You should have seen him jump the moment I put my hand on his head”

Harry laughed along, imagining the scene.

“Anyway, he seemed rather surprised to see me, so I told him how I had talked to you about our situation and how you told me to go talk to him, figure everything out” she said and with a cheeky grin said, “He told me to tell you that he’ll get you back for playing him like a fiddle by the way”

“What!?” yelled Harry, “I helped him!”

“Haha” laughed Tonks, “Anyway, we got to talking and he told me everything he’s been worried about so we discussed how to work around all of those issues and after hours-” sighed Tonks tiredly before continuing, “-and hours of talking, we finally decided to give it a shot”

“That’s good” said Harry with a smile, then with a confused expression asked, “Then how come you guys didn’t show up for dinner?”

Tonks immediately turned red, extremely red. “We were - confirming - our relationship” she said, he voice growing softer and softer as she spoke.

Harry cocked his head for a moment before he understood what she was talking about. He coughed awkwardly, turning his head away. “You could have just said you were talking” he said exasperatedly.

“I didn’t want to lie to you!” she yelled defiantly, “You’ve helped me so much, I don’t want to hide anything from you!”

“That’s sweet - I think” said Harry shaking his head.

A lull followed in the conversation, though the awkwardness dissipated and they were able to just enjoy the silence.

“This is odd” said Harry, softly.

“How so?” she asked, curiously.

“Well, it feels like I can be very natural with you, no need to hide how I am - if that makes any sense” said Harry, eliciting a grin from Tonks, “I’ve never had any siblings, maybe this is what it feels like to have a sister?” said Harry, an embarrassed smile on his face.

“Ahw, that’s so sweet!” Tonks said, hugged Harry again. “You really do feel like a younger brother, even helping your older sister fix her problems” she said with a laugh.

“Haah” sighed Harry dramatically, “I can’t believe I ended up with such a clumsy older sister” he shook his head even more dramatically.

“What did you say!?” Tonks shouted. “Oooh, my younger brother seems to be getting cheekier by the day”

The two looked at each other and burst out laughing. The mood turned brighter and very natural.

“Thank Harry, really” Tonks said suddenly, “I really don’t know what I would have done if things continued the way they were”

“You’re welcome” Harry said with a smile, “though knowing you, you’d probably would have bulldozed your way to this result yourself, given enough time”

“Can’t say you’re wrong” she replied sheepishly.

Harry laughed and soon they relaxed together on the couch, discussing various matters, both serious and casual.

‘Oh wait!’ thought Harry suddenly, his face brightening up, ‘I could ask Tonks to help me with the Fudge problem. She can change how she looks after all’

“What’s the matter Harry? Your expression turned weird suddenly” asked Tonks.

Harry took a moment to get his thoughts in order before he started speaking.

“Do you like Fudge Tonks?” asked Harry.

Tonks snorted furiously, “Who even likes that man!?”

“I don’t know, Umbridge seems rather fond of him” chuckled Harry.

“Oh please, what that toad likes isn’t Fudge but his post. If it were a cockroach as Minister, she’d be trying to woo it as well” said Tonks, incensed.

Harry laughed at the comparison before continuing.

“Well, if I said I may have a way to get Fudge out of office, would you help me?” he asked.

“Are you thinking of killing him?” she asked with one brow raised, “Not that I’m saying no, just wanted to know”

“No no, no killing” Harry replied hastily. “Even if we did kill him, Dumbledore would end up with all the blame and it would make it that much harder for people to believe him”

Tonks nodded, agreeing with Harry.

“So, what I was thinking is, we could give him a taste of his own medicine” said Harry.

“What do you mean?” Tonks asked with a confused expression.

“Well, you know how Fudge and the Prophet have been doing their very best to defame Dumbledore and me? Making us look like jokes?” asked Harry, his tone turning slightly venomous.

Tonks flinched and her expression showed hints of anger, “Yeah, of course”

“So, I thought we could do the same to him. Make him look absolutely insane. In front of his colleagues, the press and even in front of the entire wizarding community” said Harry.

“How in the world do you plan on pulling something like that off?” she asked in wonderment.

“I have a few ideas, most, if not all, involve me having to be near Fudge” said Harry with a sigh. “Which brings me to what I need your help with”

Harry paused for a moment, “Basically, I need you to morph into me and take my place whenever I’m out messing with Fudge”

“Wa-wait, why? Can’t we just use polyjuice potion?” she asked, a little flustered.

“I thought about that but polyjuice potion would need too long to make and I have less than 10 days to finish all this” said Harry with a sigh. “Plus, I need someone I can really trust and there are too few such people”

“Wait, you trust me?” she asked with eyes wide. “We’ve only really known each other for a few days, Harry”

‘If only you knew that I’ve known you so much longer’ thought Harry. “I do, oddly enough. I trust my gut a lot and it’s telling me that I can trust you, so I’ll go with that”

Tonks blushed a little, “That’s really sweet Harry. You already know that I trust you a lot right?”

Harry laughed, “Of course, why wouldn’t you trust your little brother”

Tonks giggled as well, then quickly turned serious. “If I’m turning into you, then I’ll need to do something about my work as an Auror and an Order member”

“Sorry for asking so much of you” said Harry, feeling a little guilty. “I know this would really inconvenience you”

“Nah, what’re you saying?” Tonks said, shaking her head. “What we’re doing will ultimately help the Order and the Ministry so I really don’t mind”

“Thanks, Tonks” said Harry.

“Don’t worry about it. Though, honestly speaking, you know how clumsy I am. Are you sure it’s a good idea to have me be you?” she asked warily.

“Don’t worry, if they ask later, I’ll just joke about it, no one would take it too seriously” he replied confidently.

“Though I’m kind of worried about whether I can handle this myself” she continued.

“Actually, you don’t need to do this alone” said Harry. “Sirius is basically a co-conspirator for everything I’ve been doing lately and I think if you explain things to Remus, he should be able to help you out as well. With those two supporting you, even if you slip up, they can help cover it up. Plus you don’t have to worry about lying to Remus right after starting to date”

“Oh thank god!” she said, with a heavy sigh of relief. “I’ve been worried about that, to be honest. I really didn’t want to lie to Remus a day after we finally got together”

“I wouldn’t want you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with Tonks, you know that” said Harry with a gentle smile.

“You’re right” she replied. “Alright! I’m on board! Let’s get the moron off his pedestal!”

“Shh! Do you want everyone to know our ‘secret’ plan?” Harry asked in exasperation.

“Hehe, sorry about that” she smiled sheepishly.

They ironed some more details out and finally, seeing Tonks yawn, Harry stood up.

“Alright, it’s late and we both need sleep, so why don’t we meet in Buckbeak’s room tomorrow and we can discuss this with Sirius and Remus? You bring Remus along and I’ll make sure Sirius is there” said Harry.

“Al-alright Harry, good night” she replied, stifling a yawn.

“Good night Tonks” he said and exited the drawing room, making his way to his bedroom.

Opening the door, he saw Ron sprawled out on his bed, snoring away.

‘Sure is sleeping peacefully, even after what happened, the jerk’ thought Harry with some irritation.

As he took a few steps into the room, he heard some flapping sounds causing him to look up.

Hedwig landed on his shoulder and immediately started rubbing her face in his and nibbling affectionately at his ear.

“Hehe, that tickles” said Harry, stroking Hedwig’s back. He made his way to his bed, held Hedwig in his arms and buried his face in her body while stroking it.

This was a habit he had formed over the last several days. He wanted to make sure he would show Hedwig every possible ounce of affection he could. The first day he did this, Hedwig just stared at him quizzically, possibly wondering what he was doing.

The next few days went by much the same but eventually, she seemed to realise that he was showing her his affection, and soon she started participating as well, nibbling at his ear or pecking at his hair. She was so happy with him showing such affection that she would fly over to him the moment he entered the room.

Harry smiled gently as he watched the snow-white owl settle down comfortably in his arms, closing her eyes and letting out a soft hoot every now and then.

‘In this life, I won’t let anyone take you from me, Hedwig’ thought Harry as he caressed her lovingly.