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Desperate Times, Desperate Measures	By : Daye Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Harry/Tonks Views: 93097 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise. I make no money from the writing of this.

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Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

Summary: When the Malfoys dispute Sirius’ will, Harry needs to be able to claim a blood link to Sirius to claim his inheritance.

Rating: Adult+

Pairings: Harry/Tonks Author’s notes:

Based off an incomplete story ‘A Marriage Made’ on the Archive from 2005, which I would recommend as an interesting read, at least. I feel justified in nicking the basic plot as it was a Challenge fic but if the original author objects, it can be gone in a flash.

Chapter 1: The Only Solution

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, newly reinstated Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and newly reinstated Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot rarely swore but when he read what had been snuck into the very bottom of the Wizengamot’s next session, he was more sorely tempted to than he had been for the last half century.

ityem 22 – Disputed Legality of a Convict’s Will; Malfoy Estate Vs Sirius Black (p.h)

It was not an item that Dumbledore had ever considered coming up. He sorted through the vast swathe of paper work that they had sent him along with their ‘congratulations’ on his re-instatement until he found the official write up and summary of the case to be presented.

His blue eyes did not twinkle in the slightest as they zoomed across the parchment, long before he reached the end, Dumbledore’s brilliant mind was forced to come to the conclusion that The Order Of The Phoenix was in deep trouble. However this was not the realisation that brought a frown to Dumbledore’s face and crinkled his forehead. No, what did that a moment later was the plan that his deft mind had presented to him as the only solution to this problem…

~O~

Harry Potter, aged 15 years, 11 months and two weeks old, lay listlessly in his room at Number 4, Privet Drive, surrounded by his mess and the remains of his newspapers, despite a letter from Albus Dumbledore that assured him that Dumbledore would be personally arriving at Privet Drive at eleven pm tonight. In the end, it had seemed to Harry that it was too good to be true, that he could be allowed to leave this place a mere two weeks in to his yearly incarceration. He couldn’t face packing, not if he was going to have to immediately unpack again.

It came then as a complete surprise to Harry when, at precisely 11:00pm, the streetlight outside his window went out. Leaping to his feet, Harry started throwing random objects from around his room into his Trunk, until the Door Bell rang causing Uncle Vernon, who Harry had not told to expect visitors to object vehemently as he stomped his way to the front door, just as Harry desperately charged head long down the stairs.

“What the bloody hell do you want at this ho-” Vernon roared as he wrenched the door open, only to be stifled as he stared at the obviously and extravagantly Wizardly man on his door step. As he reached the foot of the stairs, Harry came to a careening halt as he too stared in surprise through the doorway.

Because Albus Dumbledore was not alone on the door step.

Behind him stood a tall woman, in black jeans, a Wimbourne Wasps T-shirt and leather jacket made out of red dragon hide; Nymphadora Tonks- an Auror and member of The Order Of The Phoenix was standing at Albus Dumbledore’s right side. Harry could only stare; surely Dumbledore was not need of extra protection? Yet he could think of few other reasons why an Auror like Tonks would be present. Harry smiled at her and nodded in greeting, but Tonks didn’t seem to notice, Harry frowned mentally, Tonks had always been very friendly on their past meetings, although Harry could hardly count her as more than an acquaintance that was only because their meetings were so infrequent. Looking at her more closely, Harry noticed Tonks did not look like her usually chirpy self at all. Her hair, usually vividly pink and spiky, seemed more subdued than normal; though still pink it fell around her head lankly. Tonks herself looked like she was under a lot of stress, Harry remembered that she’d been severely injured in the Order’s last fight, the same fight that had killed her cousin and his godfather, Sirius Black.

“Good Evening,” Dumbledore was saying. “You must be Mr Dursley, I daresay, Harry mentioned I would be coming for him?”

Vernon rounded on Harry, glaring at him and spluttering with inexpressible rage.

“Ah. I see plainly, that he did not.” Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled slightly at Harry. “Nevertheless, let us pretend that you have invited us inside and then I will attend to introductions.”

He and Tonks strode into the entrance hall and shut the door.

“That’s better, I find that it is not wise to linger outside in the present times,” Dumbledore said. “Now where was I? Vernon Dursley, this is Nymphadora Tonks, an esteemed Auror with the Department Of Magical Law Enforcement. Auror Tonks, this is Vernon Dursley, Development Manager at Grunnings Plc and more importantly, Harry’s Uncle and legal guardian.”

Tonks did not objection, or even react to Dumbledore’s mention of her first name, a topic which Harry knew usually annoyed her. His sense of unease grew immeasurably. Somehow drawing Petunia and even Dudley into their group, Dumbledore deftly led everyone in to the living room, depositing the Dursely’s onto their sofa and conjuring extra seats for himself and Tonks. Harry dropped on to the last remaining armchair, though he shot a confused look at Dumbledore.

“Err, Professor, aren’t we leaving?”

“Not immediately, I’m afraid I have a very serious matter to discuss with yourself and your guardians.” Dumbledore said. “But first, refreshments!”

He gestured with his wand and a plate loaded with a dusty bottle and several gleaming glasses appeared.

“Oak-Matured mead, Madam Rosmerta’s finest.” Dumledore said, filling half a dozen glasses and sending them zooming to each person present with a flick of his wand. Harry smiled and took a sip from his. Tonks on the other hand, seized hers and, taking no time to savour it, tossed the entire glass back in one shot and extended it back to Dumbledore to be refilled. Dumbledore did so although Harry could have sworn the older man gave her a warning look as he did so. The Dursley’s always hostile to magic simply ignored the flying glasses that hovered around their faces.

“Now Harry, a difficulty has arisen that I hope you can help us with. In this context ‘us’ refers to the Order of The Phoenix, Sirius’ will was discovered a week ago. He left you everything.”

“Oh right,” said Harry, nonplussed. He wondered were the problem came in.

“Now this would appear to be straight forward, you add a significant amount of gold to your account, and gain all of Sirius’ personal possessions and, of course, the property of No. 12 Grimmauld Place.”

“Look,” said Harry, “If this is about the Headquarters you can still use the place…”

Dumbledore inclined his head slightly, “That is very kind, Harry, but unfortunately, Grimmauld Place is not yet yours to give.”

“But..” Harry frowned, “You just said Sirius left me the place.

” “I did,” Dumbledore agreed, “According to his will. A will, I’m afraid that the Malfoy Estate has thrown into question. They have petitioned to the Wizengamot, that as Sirius was a convicted criminal at the time the will was made, it should be invalid and that the Black estate should be awarded via the old traditions of blood inheritance, arguing that Draco Malfoy is the clear heir.”

“That’s absurd,” Harry said forcefully, his voice rising, “Sirius wasn’t convicted, he never ever had a bloody trial!”

“While I agree with you, Harry,” Dumbledore said, in his maddeningly calm voice, “It is a fact that the Wizengamot has yet to recognise. Even with Lucius Malfoy in Azkaban and Cornelius Fudge out of office, I’m afraid the Malfoys still retain far too much influence with the Ministry and the Wizengamot’s own prejudices predispose them to accepting the Malfoy’s blood claim. I’m sure I needed remind you, the effect The Death Eater’s had with only the mildest of Kreacher the house elf’s knowledge. If the Malfoys gain the Black Estate, they will possess all of his knowledge about the Order, along with a great deal of money and the House itself which would provide them with many examples of the Order’s magics that we cannot quickly remove. It is hard to say but the deleterious effect this would have upon The Order’s ability to defeat Lord Voldemort is difficult to overstate.”

Harry struggled through Dumbledore’s speech, remembering, with a flush of shame, that Kreacher’s information had been used by the Dark Lord to lure him into the Department of Mysteries and ultimately lead Sirius to his death there as well. His mind clung to one tenuous lifeline: Dumbledore said he was here to ask for Harry’s help.

“But there’s a way to stop this right? You have a plan?”Harry said.

“I do,” said Dumbledore, but didn’t say anything else and he gave Harry such a reluctant look, that fear began to grow in Harry’s belly. What could be so terrible that Dumbledore didn’t want to tell him?

“And that would be?” Tonks interjected, though in such a disinterested tone, it was clear she already knew. With Dumbledore’s attention fixed on Harry, she had snagged the bottle of mead and was filling her glass with liberal quantities of the alcoholic drink.

“The Malfoy’s claim of inheritance, strikes a deep chord with the majority of the members of the Wizengamot. They are all from old families and so they like the idea of things being passed from generation to generation via the bloodlines. In fact, it has become so ingrained in them that they can hardly conceive of doing it another way. To prevail, we must present you as both the rightful benefactor of Sirius’ will and as having a direct blood link with him. Giving them no reasonable recourse on any grounds to deny you.”

Harry drew a blank, he sat back running his hands through his dark hair.

“So.. umm.. How on Earth do ‘we’ do that?” He asked.

“I need you to marry Tonks,” Dumbledore said, in his unflinching tone.

“What?” Harry said.

“You need to marry me,” Tonks giggled slightly, now just taking a swig from the mead bottle until, with half a glance and flick of his wand, Dumbledore vanished it to whence it came, giving Tonks a reproachful look. Harry on the other hand, felt like he needed another drink himself.

“As soon as possible actually!” Tonks continued with a sodden glare at Dumbledore.

“I’m sorry, Harry,” Dumbledore said, “This is not something I ever thought to ask anyone but it is the only plan that I can conceive of with anything like a reasonable chance of success. As you know Tonk’s mother is Andromeda Tonks nee Andromeda Black, the middle of Sirius’ three cousins along with Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy.”

“Look, I like Tonks well enough,” Harry said, “But she’s half a decade older than me!” (“Are you calling me old?” Tonk growled angrily her voice overlapping with his) “Besides I’m 15! Is that even legal?”

“There is precedence for such early marriages in the magical world, though I will concede that most of those were concerning young witches.” Dumbledore said gravely, producing a legal looking piece of parchment “which is why I have chosen to have this talk in the presence of your Aunt and Uncle, as your legal guardians, I need them to sign this parchment to give you permission to marry.”

Predictably, Uncle Vernon leapt at the opportunity, ink spotting his hands as he took the parchment and Dumbledore’s proffered quill and signed the form with almost indecent glee.

“I assume this means that we’re getting rid of him?” He growled happily.

“Actually,” Dumbledore said the reluctance back on his face, “Given the recent increase in The Dark Lord’s activity and its exceptional deadliness, I cannot permit Harry to leave the protective blood ward in this house. Both he and Tonks will have to return in three days after the wedding, until the Hogwarts term starts in September.”

There was a beat. Not only did he have to marry a woman five years older than him, for the cause, they were both going to be trapped with the Durselys All Summer?! A mighty uproar filled the house. Even if the occupants had not been deafened by it, it would have been hard to tell if Vernon or Harry was shouting more loudly or more angrily.

[a/n: Reviews are most welcome Edit (30/5/2010)- Thanks to everyone who reviewed so far! Salon Kitty has a good point though, this chapter needed a damn good proof-read. So many missing, wrong tensed or just plain wrong words! Surprise anyone got all the way through. Hopefully a bit better now... Next: Awkward Fumblings.]
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Desperate Times, Desperate Measures