Harry Potter: Don't touch

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The Hogwarts Express didn't reach London until nightfall. Due to the urgent, unexpected and obligatory parting from Hogwarts, many students did not pack in time and the departure from Hogwarts was delayed by two hours. On the train, the time dragged extremely slowly, with all the students discussing the murder of Daphne Greengrass and the possibility of the school closing. Harry didn't join in the conversation; he'd had a lot going on lately, and he didn't want to get involved in another story. He, like everyone else, hoped that Hogwarts would continue to exist, but he rationally realised that he wouldn't be too upset if it didn't.

After all, he had always studied more on his own than following the general school curriculum, he had only given himself to Flitwick's and Dumbledore's lessons... Well, Lockhart's too, but the latter had never told him anything useful. Besides, he had a home now, and even if the school closed, he wouldn't go back to the Dursleys, and there were plenty of unpleasant people at Hogwarts: Snape, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, Zachariah Smith... If Harry had his way, he would never meet them. Of course, there were plenty of nice people at Hogwarts, but no one was stopping him from socialising with them separately. Justin's place he could go to visit, Cedric was dating Tonks, so he'd be visiting on his own. Creevey? Ginny and Ronald Weasley? Well, he didn't know them well enough to visit them, he could just exchange letters.

Finch-Fletchley, on the other hand, was of the opposite opinion; he believed that if Hogwarts closed, he would be given to Eton, and he would like to continue to study magic. After telling Potter about his thoughts, Justin went to the next compartment to argue with the Slytherins that Professor Flitwick was the most likely candidate for Headmaster than Professor Snape. Harry, on the other hand, had just gone to bed.

Ernie woke him with the message that the train had arrived and it was time for him to get off. Harry looked around: neither Justin nor his belongings were anywhere to be found - apparently he had already left, having decided not to wake him. Potter picked up his suitcase and left the train. He spotted Tonks from a distance. Her yellow hair really stood out to him.

- Hello Tonks," Harry greeted her. - Are you alone?

- 'Hi, yeah, my dad couldn't make it. It's amazing how crooked that stupid train works. And how I never noticed before how long it takes to get from Hogwarts to London. In the time it took me to get to Hogwarts, to pretend with the rest of the Aurors that I was dealing with the incident, to paint Snape's office yellow and pink, to hit on the Minister of Magic with Moody, to get back to London, and to meet you at the station.

- You painted Snape's office?! - Harry cheered.

It was then that the rest of Tonks' words began to come to him.

- Wait, you were at Hogwarts? And Moody? You had a go at the Minister of Magic?

- Well... To put it crudely, Moody was the one who did the attacking, I just backed him up a bit. I think your name came up, I can't remember exactly when, but it was in a good context. Anyway, I've already told my parents everything anyway, so I can tell you right now, although I'd rather go home first, to be honest.

- Let's do it now," Potter asked. - I'm really curious about what happened there.

- Well, let's at least step back, because it's crowded... Well, I take it you know that Slytherin sophomore Daphne Greengrass was killed by a basilisk? Oh, Merlin, I've only been away from Hogwarts a year and you've already raised a Basilisk and you're siccing it on students.

- To-onks, get to the point! I'm getting more and more curious about what happened there, and you're not saying anything at all, let's not go into unnecessary details.

- Yes, I'm stretching the information just to keep it interesting. But if you want to be quick, Hagrid is in Azkaban, McGonagall is the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Lockhart wants to be her deputy, and Dumbledore has gone in an unknown direction.

- What?" Harry almost tripped and stared at Nymphadora.

- Wo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o," Tonks smiled smugly. - 'I told you-ah, you need details. And you didn't listen, so you'll never hear from me again.

- Hey!" Potter said indignantly. - At least tell me about Snape's office! And I'll tell you... Hmmm... Well, something interesting too!

- Something what?

From the look on Nymphadora's face, Harry realised that this was going to be a trade of information, and he should stock up on cool stories that might interest Tonks.

- About the first Quidditch match, for example, surely you know I'm on the Hufflepuff national team?

- You're on the team? That's awesome! Congratulations. Why didn't you tell me before?

Harry mentally knocked himself on the head. He could have traded this information for the story about Moody's conflict with the Minister of Magic.

- Didn't Cedric tell you?

- No, we had a bit of an argument," Tonks said sadly. - Did you tell him he was a bastard, by the way?

- Я? I won't tell him! You tell him about Moody first!

- That won't do," Nymphadora didn't compromise. - You tell me about Quidditch and Cedric, and I'll tell you about Mad-Eye, and I'll think about it.

- All right, then. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work," Potter shrugged and concentrated on the road.

In the time they had been talking, they had managed to get a decent distance away from the station. Where they were going, Harry never bothered to ask. He was sure Tonks was bluffing, her terms were too dishonest, so she had to give in and tell about the Mad-Eye conflict. And really...

- Wow! - Nymphadora was surprised at such a cunning move on Harry's part. - You've grown up, haven't you! You wouldn't have done that before... Or what have you got there? Is trading a compulsory subject?

Harry ignored the question completely. He continued to pretend he was concentrating on the road.

- Okay, consider this round on you," Tonks gave up. - 'I'll tell you everything, but you're next! A large group of Aurors were sent to Hogwarts to look for the basilisk, and Moody came with us. Well, he didn't tag along, he was called. Even though he's retired, he's still regularly called upon to do the most unpleasant things. Anyway, to make a long story short, his participation in the search ended with this psychopath casting a basilisk illusion on himself and attacking the Aurors!

- Awesome! - In his head, Harry had a rough idea of what it looked like from the outside.

- It wasn't fucking cool! I was among those Aurors! Anyway, one Moody in the form of a basilisk defeated all of them, that's when he sort of mentioned you by the way, he said to look up to you, like you'd notice his approach beforehand. Then he gave another lecture on constant vigilance, and I found I had already memorised about a third of it... Okay, I'd better get to the conflict. Lucius Malfoy announced that the Board of Trustees had suspended the Headmaster, and then made fun of Dumbledore's actions in defending Hogwarts from the Basilisk... I'm talking about the roosters around the school. Moody couldn't take it anymore and attacked Malfoy, declaring that the former Death Eaters opinion was being multiplied by zero. If anything, I was standing right next to him there, so I know everything in such detail. And Cornelius Fudge, who had recently defended Dumbledore and was himself holding back from bewitching Lucius, announced that Mad-Eye had no right to attack respectable members of society, no matter what they said. Well, Moody, not being a fool, launched a stunner at the Minister, and if it wasn't for Dumbledore's intervention, Alastor would have been in big trouble...

- What am I talking about," Tonks continued after a short pause. - Moody and big trouble are synonymous. I still don't understand how he's tolerated in the Aurorate. Even after he's retired, he's regularly called in for all sorts of important operations. And he takes advantage of his need to amuse himself by scaring the Aurors. I'm told he's always doing vigilance checks. He's had all sorts of reports filed against him, and Mad-Eye's been like a pea on the wall. How is he still alive? Everyone hates him: Death Eaters, criminals, Aurors, all the employees of the Ministry of Magic - after the story when he brought aggressive Festrals into the Ministry, and now the Minister of Magic himself. Only Dumbledore, and perhaps you, respect him for his quirks.

- And you?

- No, me too," Tonks said, suddenly embarrassed. - I respect him and everything, I don't think I hate him, he's taught me a lot, it's just that I didn't put it that way... That's not what I meant to say... I just don't agree with his methods... Oh, hell, he's fucking insane. Why would he put a giant spider on me when I was 11 years old? Why would he do that? What was he trying to do? That I'd take him down with Avada Kedavra? If I'd known how to use a killing curse back then, I'd have launched it at Moody rather than the spider, because I was less afraid of the insect.

- Did they find the Basilisk in there or not? - Harry was quick to change the subject.

He had touched a deeply personal string in Tonks's soul.

- We didn't find a damn thing," Nymphadora waved her hand. - We just sat there, chiselling at the walls with wands. The only good thing is that I was assigned to investigate the dungeon, so I went to Snape's house to visit...

Tonks was silent for a moment.- Perhaps I shouldn't have done it again, but I can't help thinking about the way he treated students... Well, now it's your turn, tell me what's going on with the Quidditch match. You know, everything. What's going on at Hogwarts? Emmelina told me that Hufflepuff was leading the school championships, how could you, was I the problem?

Harry went into great detail about the events of his second year. The only thing he didn't mention was Snape's potion and the snake tongue.

- Man, you're lucky, you've had more cool things happen to you in half a year than I've had in three!

- That's not all," Harry thought for a moment and decided he could trust Tonks. - It turns out I can talk to snakes. And I was the one who first discovered the basilisk you were after today.

- Really? - Tonks was surprised. - Say something.

- Erm. I don't really know how to speak it, to be honest. It just sort of comes out of my mouth when I see snakes.

- All right, well, you can show me later. So, shall we go home?

- Where have we been going all this time? - Potter asked.

- Just... Walking.

- Walking?! - Harry was outraged. - I thought we were walking to the car! How are we going to get home?

- What car? I don't even have a licence, and if I did, I'd have to report it. We can apparate home any time we want, I just wanted to talk to you. But if you're in such a hurry, give me your hand and we can go.

- Wait, Dumbledore said you can't go until you're 14.

- Oh, I don't care! He cares too much about safety. Dad took me on my first apparition when I was eleven. And as you can see, nothing happened, so give me your hand.

In all honesty, Harry trusted Dumbledore's judgement more than Tonks' experience, and he would have been more than happy to ride the Night Knight, but it's pretty hard to resist under Nymphadora's pressure. So after feeling an unfamiliar and rather unpleasant sensation, he found himself outside Tonks' house.

- How's it going? - Tonks asked.

She didn't seem to be particularly affected by the apparatus.

- It's like being stretched and squeezed at the same time," Harry tried to describe what it felt like. - It's disgusting!

- But it's better than wasting a lot of time on a long journey. And you get used to it after a while, I can tell you that!

- I guess," Potter had to agree. - It doesn't feel unpleasant enough to drive halfway across the city instead.

- Well, that's what I'm saying... Shall we go inside?

- Yeah, although-" Harry suddenly realised that he didn't know where Mad-Eye was right now, and this was the perfect opportunity to try out his powers with the snakes. - You wanted to watch me talk to snakes. Watch this. Serpensortia!

A snake flew out of Potter's wand. Harry was so used to it by now that he started talking before it even landed.

- Check the house, discreetly. See how many people are there, and then come back to me. Just make sure you don't get spotted.

- It's a deal. Just don't kill them.

- You can summon them too?! You've learnt a lot! - that scene clearly made a huge impression on Tonks. - I didn't learn how to summon snakes until fifth year, I had a little trouble with transfiguration... Ah! I see! You're studying transfiguration spells so you can learn Aguamenti and then wake me up. You weren't that vindictive!

- Yeah, you guessed right! - Potter lied.

He had already managed to forget about Nymphadora dousing him with water on the first of September. Though the idea of learning that spell really wasn't a bad idea, water you could drink without fear of being poisoned and put out a fire.

- Why did the snake come to our house? What did you say to it?

- I asked it to check if Moody was home," Harry answered honestly.

- Clever," Tonks approved. - 'But I don't think it'll work, you underestimate the power of his paranoia. I've been told that Alastor once accused owls who carried messages within the Ministry of Magic of spying. They were replaced with paper aeroplanes and things seemed to settle down, but one day one of those aeroplanes launched a killing curse at him. So anything that can walk, breathe, or move at all is a potential danger to Moody.

- I told him to keep his head down, maybe he wouldn't notice... Oh! There she is!

- That was quick. What is it?- Harry asked as the snake crawled closer.

- Three people: two males and one female.

- Where?

- Two on the ground floor, the third I didn't see, just felt somewhere on the first floor.

- Good. You're free to do whatever you want.

- What's up? - Nymphadora asked curiously.

- Moody's on the first floor! I guess... I mean, he's definitely in the house, but he's probably on the first floor.

- You know it's very strange looking, don't you? You're hissing at each other, and then you give out incredible information that you couldn't possibly know... Okay, you go in first, I had nothing to do with it, it's an idyll: one of you does tricks, the other gets caught in them. And they both love it!

- Good, just don't attract your parents' attention just yet, we don't want Moody to know we're here. I'll try and get him this time. Let's see how vigilant he really is..." saying that, Harry conjured a magical shield in front of him and walked into the house.