Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 1558: Mrs. Tonks
Harry quickly thought of the protective charm his mother had left on him — a spell that had been mentioned repeatedly over the past year. It was precisely because of this spell that he returned to the Dursleys every summer, even after Dumbledore was gone, because it was the most complete form of protection for him.
The powerful magic his mother had left behind could shield him from Voldemort’s harm. But something didn’t add up. Before they set out tonight, Sirius and Moody had clearly told him that the moment he left number four, Privet Drive and parted ways with the Dursleys, the magic would cease to work.
By that logic, his mother’s magic should no longer be protecting him.
Harry was puzzled as to why his wand had just reacted automatically and repelled Voldemort.
Wandlore was a deep and complex branch of magic, far more intricate than most imagined.
The reasons why Harry had been able to repel Voldemort tonight were numerous and complex, and they would not be easy to figure out in a short time.
However, one thing was certain: this would only arouse Voldemort’s suspicions.
There was one thing Harry didn’t understand: why was Voldemort so furious when he appeared? What had happened to him?
His head felt muddled, and before long he found himself unable to think clearly. He needed to see Evan, Sirius, and Moody, and tell them everything.
The situation before him didn’t allow him to keep dazing off — something hot and wet was trickling down his chin and from his forehead.
It was blood! He felt like he was dying.
Harry crawled out of the pond and stumbled toward the great dark mass on the ground that was Hagrid.
“Hagrid? Hagrid, talk to me —”
Harry pushed hard, but the dark mass did not stir.
“Who’s there? Is it Potter? Are you Harry Potter?”
A strange voice sounded not far away. Harry instantly raised his wand. He didn’t recognize the man’s voice.
Then a woman shouted, “They’ve crashed, Ted! Crashed in the garden!”
Harry’s head was swimming, and he felt like he had lost too much blood.
“Hagrid,” he repeated stupidly, and his knees buckled.
The next thing he knew, he was lying on his back on what felt like cushions, with a burning sensation in his ribs and right arm. His missing tooth had been regrown. The scar on his forehead was still throbbing.
“Hagrid?”
He opened his eyes and saw that he was lying on a sofa in an unfamiliar, lamplit sitting room.
His rucksack lay on the floor a short distance away, wet and muddy. A fair-haired, big-bellied man was watching Harry anxiously.
“Hagrid’s fine, son,” said the man, “the wife’s seeing to him now. How are you feeling? Anything else broken? I’ve fixed your ribs, your tooth, and your arm. I’m Ted, by the way, Ted Tonks — Dora’s father.”
“Dora’s father!” It took Harry a moment to realize he was talking about Tonks.
Then he sat up too quickly: Lights popped in front of his eyes and he felt sick and giddy.
“Voldemort —”
“Don’t say that name, son,” said Ted Tonks, placing a hand on Harry’s shoulder and pushing him back against the cushions. “There’s no You-Know-Who here. That was a nasty crash you just had. What happened, anyway? Something go wrong with the bike? Arthur Weasley overstretch himself again, him and his Muggle contraptions?”
“No,” said Harry, as his scar pulsed like an open wound. “Death Eaters, loads of them — we were chased — Hagrid and I managed to get away, we were right above your house, but then You-Know-Who appeared — he attacked us!”
“What d’you mean, Death Eaters and You-Know-Who?” said Ted sharply. “I thought they didn’t know you were being moved tonight, I thought —”
“They knew,” said Harry.
He didn’t mention that Voldemort had only been able to find him in the end because of the soul connection between them.
In that moment, Voldemort, in his fury, had broken through the magical restraints, determined to find Harry at all costs. Even if the connection damaged his soul, he didn’t care.
Harry was completely bewildered. What had happened?
If he had known about the battle between Evan and Voldemort, he might not have been so confused.
At that moment, Ted Tonks looked up at the ceiling as though he could see through it to the sky above.
“That was close, but we know our protective charms hold, then, don’t we? They shouldn’t be able to get within a hundred yards of the place in any direction.”
Now Harry understood why Voldemort had vanished; it had been at the point when the motorbike crossed the barrier of the Order’s charms.
He only hoped they would continue to work: He imagined Voldemort, a hundred yards above them as they spoke, looking for a way to penetrate what Harry visualized as a great transparent bubble.
Harry swung his legs off the sofa; he needed to see Hagrid with his own eyes before he would believe that he was alive.
And he needed to see Sirius and Evan, preferably right away.
He had barely stood up, however, when a door opened and Hagrid squeezed through it, his face covered in mud and blood, limping a little but miraculously alive.
“Harry!”
Knocking over two delicate tables and an aspidistra, he covered the floor between them in two strides and pulled Harry into a hug that nearly cracked his newly repaired ribs. “Blimey, Harry, how did yeh get out o’ that? I thought we were both goners.”
“Yeah, me too. I can’t believe —”
“Yeh saved me, Harry, yeh saved me life!”
“I didn’t really do anything, it was my wand —” Harry broke off. He thrust his hand into his pocket for his wand, but it was empty.
“Your wand’s here, son,” said Ted, tapping it on Harry’s arm. “It fell right beside you, I picked it up.”
“Thank you!” Harry took the wand and immediately pointed it at the woman who had followed Hagrid into the room. “You!”
“Oh, don’t be nervous, son, that’s my wife,” said Ted hurriedly.
“Oh, I’m — I’m sorry … I’m just a bit on edge,” said Harry, still staring at Mrs. Tonks.
As she moved forward into the room, Mrs. Tonks’s resemblance to her sister Bellatrix became much less pronounced: Her hair was a light, soft brown and her eyes were wider and kinder. Nevertheless, she looked a little haughty after Harry’s exclamation.
Andromeda Tonks, Sirius’s cousin, was a dead ringer for her biological sister, Bellatrix.
