Chapter 026

Harry was still shaking his head at the girl and laughing as they walked through the Great Hall and sat down at the Hufflepuff table. "Heh, I miss this place," Tonks sighed.

"You graduated recently?"

"Class of '91. Had a hell of time convincing the hat to put me with the Puffs though. Stupid thing wanted me to be a Gryff. Mental those." Harry lifted his eyebrows at her. "Ah crap. You're a Gryff aren't you."

He chuckled. "Doesn't mean I can't agree with you. Besides I had to argue with the Hat too. It wanted to throw me into Ravenclaw."

Tonks snorted and held up a hand. "Well here's to us, beating a stupid piece of clothing!" Harry high fived her. This girl was almost as much fun as Shiva!

As if summoned, Shiva walked into the Great Hall heading towards the Staff Table. She glanced around, noticed Tonks and Harry, nodded to them and kept walking. She made it another two steps before freezing with her foot in midair then twisted her head to stare back at the two bug eyed. Harry waved and Tonks saluted.

"Harry! Dorie!" Shiva ran over to them and pulled both into a hug. "Merlin's balls what the hell are you two doing here early? You all right Harry? Didn't get into another deathmatch with Two-Face did you?"

"Two-Face?" Harry questioned.

"Well I know you hate that I can't say his name easily – which I have actually been practicing by the way – and well…Quirrelmort did kinda have two faces so…"

"I like it, Shiva."

"You let him call you Shiva, Shiva?" Tonks turned to Harry. "What'd you get on her? I want the goods. I've been trying to get good blackmail on this girl for years."

"Never going to happen, Dorie!" Shiva crossed her arms and grinned. "Seriously though, what's a student and an Auror trainee doing here two hours early?"

"Auror?" Harry asked looking between the two.

"It's like the Muggle police. I got a badge and everything. See!" Tonks whipped out and proudly displayed her badge while Shiva just snorted.

"A trainee badge."

"Hey, I can still introduce myself as Auror Tonks, Shiva. I count it as a win," Tonks huffed with a pout.

"Considering I can't imagine how you passed the sneaking portion I can imagine."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Mistress of Destruction. Harry ran afoul of a recalcitrant barrier so I'm dropping him off. Bonesy said to wait in case we have to bring Ron Weasley in. I hope not, his brothers were cool and I'd hate for them to turn their pranks on me…"

"Recalcitrant barrier? Why would you bring Ron Weasley in?" Shiva turned to Harry and just stared at him. "Jeez, kid you didn't even wait til the term started this year."

"Hey it's not my fault a house elf has decided the best way to keep me safe is to try to destroy the best part of my life. Or that Ron's an idiot and can't wait five minutes for a better option."

Shiva worked her mouth for a minute before giving up and sitting down across from them. "Let's try this again. What the hell happened?"

Tonks shrugged and pointed to Harry. "First I'm hearing about the house elf."

"When I was back with the Dursley's a house elf visited to tell me that Hogwarts wasn't safe. He was trying to convince me to stay away. The little guy practically seemed to worship me. It was a little sweet in a creepy kind of way…" Harry shrugged. "When I kept refusing to stay away from here he decided the best way to keep me away was to launch a cake into the middle of my Uncle's dinner party." Shiva's face lost a lot of color at that but Harry just shrugged. "I have to admit that was a pretty good idea even if I wanted to strangle him afterwards. Uncle Vernon got pretty mad and then the letter from the Ministry certainly didn't help. You said you were in Law Enforcement, Tonks? Do you know Mafalda Hopkirk by any chance?"

"Hopkirk?" Tonks asked taken aback by the shift in direction. "I think so…older woman, bit of bitch?"

"Yeah that'd be the one. The Ministry blamed me for the hover charm Dobby – the elf – used. I'm not even good with that charm! A Float stone sure but not the stupid hover charm itself – they have completely different signatures. I tried to get it overturned a few weeks ago but after arguing for an hour she tossed me out. Stupid woman wouldn't listen to anything I said, refused to give me any of the truth stuff I asked for and then flat out refused to talk to her boss because 'it's just a simple case of underage magic, stop fighting this so much'. Don't suppose you could talk to her for me?"

"I'll talk with Bonesy about it," Tonks frowned. "If you had a legitimate excuse or weren't responsible she's supposed to bring it up with Bonesy anyway…"

"Typical," Harry muttered with a scowl. Shiva frowned further hearing that though Tonks looked lost in thought. Harry sighed and continued. "Anyway, I'd be willing to put money on Dobby deciding that if I couldn't get through the barrier than I wouldn't be able to get to Hogwarts. He…doesn't really seem to have the best logic."

"House elves can be a little weird sometimes," Shiva admitted. "What barrier are we talking about?"

"The one to Platform Nine and Three Quarters," Harry shrugged. "It was solid when Ron and I tried to get through. Ron panicked and decided to take his dad's flying car to follow behind the train. I just went to sit on a bench until someone managed to get back through from the other side. Tonks and her boss showed up before I got bored and sent you a letter telling you I was stuck."

Shiva's mouth had dropped open in shock by the end. She turned to Tonks. "A flying car?"

"Hence why I'm waiting here," Tonks said.

Shiva banged her head on the table and groaned. "Thank you for not going with him, Harry. I think I would've had a heart attack!" Harry reached over and patted her shoulder.

Shiva ended up pulling Harry off to the side a few minutes later while Tonks went to find some food. "Harry, you said your Uncle was…upset after the cake incident…" Harry stiffened but nodded. "Did he…"

"He stopped before he went too far," Harry said softly while giving Shiva a small shake of his head. "I didn't get to eat for a few days but he still gave me water so it wasn't too bad. I got a little worried for Fred when Uncle Vernon saw the flying car as the twins rescued me but we're all fine."

"That's not – " Shiva sighed and hugged him. "You shouldn't be starved for something that is not your fault, Harry."

"It happens all the time, Shiva. I'm used to it. It doesn't matter." He was finding it easier to relax into these hugs. At least when it was just Shiva and Hermione hugging him.

"It does and you shouldn't have to be used to it." She let him go and held him at arm's length staring into his eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't come visit over the summer Harry. I…my hands were tied – "

"How?" Harry asked, cutting her off.

Shiva closed her eyes and sighed. "At the end of the year I brought up the issue of your guardians with Professor Dumbledore and it turned into a bit of a fight. By the end of it we were both shouting and he threatened to fire me if I didn't drop the matter and stay away for the summer. Something about wards being renewed being critical to your protection. I've never heard of wards that would require that though. At least not ones that would apply in your situation..."

"He threatened to fire you?" Nearly the entire modicum of respect Harry grudgingly had for the Headmaster died a fiery death in that moment.

.

.

.

.

.

🎉The novel is available in PDF with more than 400 chapters, visit us in our Ko-Fi store🎉

🎉ko-fi.com/shihao123🎉