But the question remained, who were these witches? What did they want from him? Did Dumbledore send them, or Voldemort? He knew that there were allegedly powerful protections over the house that would prevent anyone who wished him harm from finding him, and if true that would suggest they were not a threat. Still, Harry wasn't sure. He knew they had passed every ten minutes, and if that was going to continue to be true he had less than five until their next pass and they would probably be coming from the same direction as the second witch. Harry decided to take the matter into his own hands and ran outside to hide behind a bush so he could observe the next person who passed by. As always, he had his wand with him and was holding it tightly in his right hand as he waited.
Exactly as he expected, a young woman similar in looks to the three previous witches passed by the house a few minutes later. This one had bright blue hair and was, strangely, wearing exactly the same thing the first witch had worn. As she passed the house the glanced up at it but unlike the others she stopped. She was looking right at the kitchen window where Harry had been standing just minutes earlier and he knew for certain she was looking for him. Harry sat in the bushes for a moment longer trying to figure out what he wanted to do. The witch, and he was quite sure now that is what she was, had her wand sticking out of the back pocket of her jeans. Harry briefly remembered Mad Eye Moody yelling at the class about how that was an awful idea but tried to put that out of his mind as he prepared to leap from the bushes.
"Don't move!" Harry yelled as he rushed out of his hiding spot. The witch turned in surprise at his sudden appearance but before she could react Harry had yanked her wand out of her pocket and was pointing both wands at her. "Who are you? Why are you watching me?"
"Easy there, kiddo!" the witch said, trying to calm Harry down. "No one's trying to hurt you."
"Maybe, maybe not." Harry answered. "Where are the others?"
"Huh?" the witch replied, evidently confused. "What others?"
"The other witches that have been watching me." Harry demanded to know. "Where are they?"
"Oh! Now I get it!" she said. "I'm the only one. Here, watch." The witch closed her eyes in concentration and a moment later her hair began to rapidly change colors, going from blue to green to yellow to orange to red and finally stopping on a shade of bright pink. After that her hair looked as if it were being pulled into her head until it was only an inch or so long, but then began to lengthen back to what it had been before.
"You're a metamorphmagus, aren't you?" Harry asked, still not lowering either wand.
"Got it!" the witch answered excitedly. "The name's Tonks. Nice to meet you, Harry." She offered her hand to him as if she wanted him to shake it but Harry only laughed and kept the wands pointed at her.
"Ok then, Tonks. Why are you here?" Harry asked.
"It was Dumbledore's idea." she explained. "Personally I think it's kind of silly. They tell you 'Come join our super secret anti-You-Know-Who army!' and what do they make you do when you agree? Watch a fourteen year old, that's what. I'm a trained Auror, there's got to be better things for me to do than this."
"Almost fifteen." Harry said a little defensively. "So Dumbledore has the Order of the Phoenix watching me?"
"Didn't know you knew about that." Tonks replied. "But yeah, he does. We've met before you know. I was one of the Aurors that came to find you after you saved those kids from the Dementors. And actually we were both at Hogwarts together for a year, but seventh year Hufflepuffs don't generally hang out with first year Gryffindors."
"I remember now, you had pink hair that day." Harry said as Tonks nodded. He finally lowered the wands and handed Tonks' back to her. "You really shouldn't carry that in your back pocket, you know."
"Damn, I'm going to hear all about it from Moody when he finds out aren't I?" Tonks replied with a look of frustration. "Or we could both forget to mention it to him? How about it, huh?"
"Maybe." Harry answered. "Why didn't he just send Sirius? I'm sure he wouldn't have minded."
"Well… I'm probably not supposed to know about this but good old cousin Sirius and Professor Dumbledore aren't exactly getting along with each other right now." Tonks explained. "I'm not sure what it's about, but Sirius has been pissed off at the old man for the last day or two."
"I bet I can guess what it is." Harry replied. "You're Sirius' cousin? He never mentioned he had a cousin named Tonks."
"Technically Tonks is my last name, but no one calls me Nymphadora and gets away with it."
"Nymphadora?" Harry said, grinning. "Yeah, I can see not liking that."
"That's your one freebie." Tonks replied, glaring at him. "Don't do it again."
"Fine, but aren't you supposed to be protecting me and not threatening me?" Harry asked. "Anyhow, I guess I'll go back in. Have fun staring at me for the rest of the day. Oh and can you tell Sirius that I'll see him in two weeks no matter what? I'd appreciate it."
"Sure thing." Tonks answered. "See ya around, Harry."
Harry nodded and walked back towards the house as Tonks walked in the opposite direction, presumably to find a good spot to watch the house from. Once inside Harry really began to think about what Dumbledore had been doing in the past few days. The prophecy explained why the old man thought it was so important that Harry remain safe, but the way he was going about making sure of that was clumsy and irritating. His actions were already making some people who should be close allies unhappy with him for no good reason. There were plenty of places where Harry would be safe, he knew, not just the Dursley's. Overall it was a frustrating situation, but Harry felt relieved by the fact that he knew this was one battle the great Albus Dumbledore would not win.
As the following days passed Harry realized he wasn't receiving any mail, an odd thing considering several people had promised to write him. He tried sending a letter but Hedwig returned a few hours later still carrying it. Harry felt certain that Dumbledore was somehow behind this, even if he didn't know how or why. If it weren't for Daphne's radio, which Dumbledore did not know about, Harry would have been almost completely cut off from the wizarding world. His one contact, that he guessed Dumbledore also didn't know about, was Tonks who he sometimes talked to during her shift as his guard. Apparently Harry was not supposed to know she was there and so she had neglected to report that Harry had caught her the first day she was watching him.
What he had learned was that in a few days the hearing to determine whether or not Peter Pettigrew would receive the Dementor's Kiss would be held, immediately followed by the election of the new Minister of Magic. In that contest Rufus Scrimgeour was expected to win, barring any major scandal in the next few days. Most of the commentators Harry had heard over the radio spoke positively of the man, but Harry knew better than anyone that the media was not always trustworthy. Much more interesting was Wormtail's hearing. His questioning had been interrupted during his brief trial the previous week but this time around Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore would control the proceedings and be able to ask all of the questions he wanted to with the aid of Veritaserum. Speculation was rampant as to who would be revealed as a follower of You-Know-Who and what other information the man could provide. Harry thought the situation was a little funny and wondered if the Malfoys were busy trying to get out of the country. He eagerly looked forward to the day when Lucius Malfoy would face judgment and only hoped he would be there to watch.
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