"So much for your ‘I’m not a radio’ statement," Ron said sourly after Harry told the three of them what he just saw. Hermione bit her lip.

"What do you think Voldemort will do with him?" Hermione asked. Harry just shrugged.

"I don’t know, I think he’ll keep him alive, Voldemort said he was still useful, but..."

"He’s still a pureblood isn’t he?" Ginny spat bitterly, "he’ll probably need him to keep that status around, there aren’t many purebloods left these days."

"I still find it weird that Riddle isn’t even pureblood, yet he wants to kill all those who aren’t," Ron commented.

"He’s such a bloody hypocrite, that’s what he is" Hermione said. The other three turned to Hermione in utter shock, never having heard Hermione curse before.

“I think Ron’s rubbed off on you a bit too much Hermione,” Ginny said. Hermione blushed faintly, but was still looking angry.

“Well...I’m just angry...” Hermione muttered. Ron was looking at Hermione with wonderment, a faint smile on his lips.

Harry shook his head as if to clear the thoughts of Hermione cursing for the first time in his memory, and his mind wondered back to Draco Malfoy. Harry couldn’t help but feel pity towards the blond Slytherin. Draco had stumbled into Voldemort’s group not understanding the full implications of his actions, not realising that there would be no going back, that it wasn’t child's play any longer. He was just a common school bully, not a murderer. He was only seventeen, barely legal, still a kid really. Harry knew what the torture curse felt like and he wouldn’t wish that on anyone, not even Draco Malfoy.

"This is really not my day," Harry muttered. First his dream, then the attack, and now this. Voldemort was still very much at large, as much as he would have liked to deny it for a while. His scar was still stinging. He set his jaw and closed his eyes. A searing pain in his head confirmed that he was starting to get a headache, and he cursed under his breath. For a moment, he tried to block everything out and focus, but he opened his eyes a minute later, defeated. He turned to his friends.

"You should all go to class, there’s no point in you missing out on important lessons, you never know what you could learn," Harry said, pointedly looking at Hermione and Ron. They seemed to understand what he meant, but still looked hesitant.

"Are you sure you’re okay?" Hermione asked quietly.

"I’m not saying that, but that's besides the point. I’ll talk to Tonks and meet up with you later. I’ll be fine, honest."

After a minute of hesitation, the three of them started to leave, but not before Hermione hugged him and kissed him on the cheek and Ginny squeezed his hand muttering that everything would be okay and they would be back as soon as possible. Once they were gone, Harry immediately bolted to the bathroom and threw up. Five minutes later, he collapsed onto his bed.

If they die, its all my fault, Harry thought angrily. After several minutes of staring aimlessly at the ceiling, he swung his feet off his bed, carelessly grabbed his jacket and left. He walked to Tonk’s office in a daze, his feet carrying him to the familiar room. With a numb hand, he knocked on the door twice, paused until he heard Tonk’s voice, then entered. As he walked in, he saw Tonks embracing a man he recognised as Remus Lupin.

"Harry...the Order told me about your relatives," Remus said solemnly as he spotted him and released himself from Tonks’ arms. Harry suddenly became very interested with his fingernails, unable to look up at Remus for fear of what he would see. It felt so surreal. After a minute of total silence, Harry willed himself to speak. His voice was barely above a whisper and cracked terribly.

"Are they...dead?"

He risked looking up at Tonks and Remus and saw that they were both looking forlorn.

"I’m sorry, your aunt and uncle didn’t make it, but luckily, your cousin was at his boarding school at the time and so is safe for now. Kingsley has gone to collect him," Tonks said quickly. The pain in Harry’s chest lifted slightly.

"I need to go and get him," Harry said suddenly, surprising himself with his own answer.

"No, you need to stay here-"

"No, Remus, he’s my cousin and I want to see him. I’m seventeen now, I can make my own decisions," Harry said coolly, just barely keeping his temper under control. Remus and Tonks exchanged glances and then Tonks sighed.

"Fine, let me contact Kingsley," Tonks said, pulling out her wand, conjuring her Patronus, and sending it off.

"I’ll go and talk to Minerva," Remus said, pressing a kiss on Tonks’ cheek before rushing out of the room. Harry collapsed into a chair, suddenly feeling completely drained as he thought about his now deceased relatives. Even though they never treated him well, they were still his family and he had grown up with them. He couldn’t even imagine what sort of things the Death Eaters had done to them before they ended it. Was it like what happened at the World Cup, or even worse? He thought of Dudley, who was now an orphan like himself. A single tear slipped down his cheek and he hastily wiped it away. Just then, Tonks tapped him on the shoulder and he instantly stood up.

"We’re flooing to Kingsley's house, then Apparating to the Muggle school, Smellings or something," Tonks informed Harry.

"Smeltings," Harry automatically corrected her.

"That's it. We’re using Minerva’s fire, it's hooked up to Kingsley's fire right now.”

Harry nodded.

Within ten minutes, they had flooed to Kingsley's house, then he Apparated (Ron and Harry had taken their test during the last part of the holidays and passed,) to the large building known as Smeltings Secondary School. They passed through the front of the school without paying much attention to the scenery. As luck would have it, a loud bell sounded almost as soon as they walked into the main building. It was followed by a stampede of children wearing the same uniforms Harry vaguely remembered Dudley wearing once. He didn’t fail to notice that everyone seemed to be watching them as they fought their way through the crowds of school children. He swore under his breath as he was almost knocked off his feet as people punched and shoved. When something hit him hard on the back of his leg and then on his head, he remembered Dudley's old Smelting stick, and winced. Finally, the two of them reached the office, the corridor there was deserted.

"Thank Merlin we got out of that hellhole. I thought Hogwarts was bad, at least they have wider corridors and extra secret passageways," Harry muttered to Tonks, who was looking relatively flustered. He also noticed that she was sporting shoulder length, brown hair. She let out a short bark of laughter and then rapped on the door.

"Come in!"

Tonks gestured for Harry to enter first. Swallowing, Harry opened the door. Before he had even managed to get in the room properly, there was a loud crash.

"You!"

Before Harry knew what was happening, he felt a blinding pain on the left side of his face and then again in the stomach. The doorknob was sticking painfully into his back as he was forced backwards. Angry blue eyes burnt into Harry’s green ones and he forced himself not to flinch. They were so close that their noses were touching.

"You did it! You killed them!" Dudley snarled, a crazed look in his hate-etched features. Harry was immobile, trapped between Dudley and the door which Tonks was rapping and jiggling, each movement sending sharp pains up his back.

"No, I didn’t," Harry replied, trying to keep as calm as possible even though inside, he felt anything but. He could hear voices shouting from all around him Then, using all of his strength, Harry pushed Dudley off and swiftly moved away from the door. When a furious Dudley went to charge at Harry again, they were all ready. Kingsley seized Dudley’s arms and with the aid of Harry, forced him into a chair.

"Get off me!" Dudley shouted furiously, trying desperately to get up, with no avail.

"Dudley, stop and let me explain!"

"Why should I? You killed my parents!" Dudley was getting more and more furious, his face had turned an alarming shade of red.

"I never touched them!" Harry shouted back.

"It was your kind that got them killed! They never wanted anything to do with you! Dad was right, you should have been chucked in an orphanage years ago!" Dudley yelled bitterly, his eyes filled with pure hatred. There was a great amount of outrage coming from Kingsley and Tonks, but Harry blocked them out.

"Whether Aunt Petunia liked it or not, her sister was a witch, she couldn’t change that. Hundreds of people are dying and have died because of the same monster that killed Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. You’re not the only person suffering, he killed my parents as well!"

"But they’re my parents! They weren’t meant to die. It's all your fault!"

"You can try and pin the blame on me, but I’m not the guilty one here. Voldemort is! It’s useless blaming me! Maybe you would like to know, that I’m trying to stop that monster!" Harry said, his voice sounding a lot stronger than he felt. Dudley had touched a nerve, but he couldn’t lose his temper.

"But that doesn’t make any difference! That won’t bring them back!" Dudley howled, sounding more upset now than angry.

"Will blaming me change anything either?" Harry asked. Dudley seemed to have lost his voice and was staring at the floor.

"Look, I’m not going to lie to you. You’re in danger. If the Death- people, find out you didn’t die, then they’ll come looking for you, they probably already are. You need to come with me-"

"No! I’m not going anywhere with you!" Dudley snarled, glaring at Harry.

"You don’t have much of a choice in that matter, because you are coming whether you like it or not, because I don’t want anything to happen to you, because no matter what, we’re family, and that’s what proper families do!" Harry exclaimed. Silence ensued that statement. Dudley was obviously trying to absorb all of the information. Harry walked over to Tonks once he was sure that Dudley wouldn’t be replying anytime soon.

"Are you alright?" Tonks asked. Harry nodded.

"I don’t know what to say to him, I can’t just leave him here, they will come after him," Harry said, glancing at his cousin. He immediately rushed over to Dudley as he started to make a sound.

"I’m not going anywhere, I’m staying here...not going with you," Dudley muttered darkly, glaring at Harry. Harry sighed.

"Remember those Dementors?" Harry asked. Dudley nodded, an unpleasant look on his face. "Well that’s nothing compared to what’s happening now. It’s a full scale war."

"Not my problem, it's your lot’s war,"

"Oh, yes, it is your problem. It isn’t just affecting wizards. All of those disappearances and strange deaths are proof that it’s affecting the Muggle world as well. Voldemort doesn’t spare Muggles, in fact, he loves killing them. He doesn’t care if you think it’s not your war. You can’t escape this war Dudley, it’s too big. If Voldemort wins, then neither wizard nor Muggle will have a bloody chance," Harry said, gritting his teeth.

Dudley remained silent, a stony look on his face.

"So these people will come after me?"

This time his voice was laced with fear, which he was obviously trying very hard to hide, but failing miserably. Harry nodded gravely.

"If they realise that you’re not dead, they’ll probably try to find you, which I don’t think will be very hard," Harry said, feeling a bit relieved that Dudley’s original blinding rage seemed to have been burnt out and he was considering his own safety. Finally, Dudley dropped his gaze to the floor.

"Okay."

Behind him, he heard Tonks murmur.

"Thank Merlin, he’s seen the light."

Smiling slightly, Harry looked at Dudley

"Don’t worry Dudley, I promise I won’t let anything happen to you," Harry assured him. Dudley was still looking stony.

"Molly agreed to look after Dudley while you’re at school," Kingsley told him, also looking relieved.

"What? He’s staying at the Burrow? Can't he stay at Hogwarts? I’m sure there’s some space," Harry asked, suddenly realising after he said it, he sounded quite ungrateful. "It's not that I’m ungrateful, but-"

"I know but it’s against the rules. Muggles aren’t allowed to stay at Hogwarts, Muggles can't even see Hogwarts," Kingsley said gravely, shaking his head.

"Can’t you just try and bend the rules a bit-"

"I’m sorry Harry, but I can’t, not on this," Kingsley cut in, shaking his head once again.

"Who’s Molly? Where am I going? Where are you going? What’s going on?" Dudley demanded. Harry ran his fingers through his hair and then turned to his cousin.

"You’re going to have to stay with some of my friends, the Weasley’s. They’ll look after you," Harry explained. Dudley looked sceptical.

"I trust them with my life, you will be fine with them. I am quite certain that you will like it there. Mrs Weasley makes the most delicious food. Just stay out of the twins room," Harry said, trying to crack some sort of joke that only earned half a smile from Tonks and a very confused look from Dudley.

"Why, what’s in there?" Dudley asked, starting to look scared.

"Well, I don’t know exactly what in the twins' room, they have their old products from their joke shop. They run their own joke shop; I’m not sure they’re very safe. I don’t think any of us want a repeat of your enlarged tongue incident," Harry said, realising instantly that it was a completely wrong thing to say.

"So you’re going to go off and leave me in that house with those people?" Dudley spat.

"Don’t even think of insulting the Weasley’s in front of me, they’re as good as family to me," Harry said quietly. Dudley glared once again at Harry.

"Fine. Where are we going?" Dudley huffed. Harry rolled his eyes and turned to the others in the room.

"We’re walking to where I have a few Aurors stations and then they’ll take you to the Burrow," Tonks said, eyeing Dudley with a look of distaste.

"Aurors?" Dudley repeated, blinking with confusion.

"Wizard policemen," Harry said absently. Dudley then reluctantly stood up and stalked out of the headmaster’s office with Harry following. As they left, a loud bell sounded from the walls and Harry’s looked around, startled. Then he swore as people started flooding out of the classrooms.

"This is ridiculous..." Tonks murmured from behind him, trying to keep an eye on Dudley, who was shoving everyone out of his way as he charged ahead, a superior air about him as he walked past his peers. People started to rudely push past Harry and after almost getting smacked in the face once again, he snapped.

"Okay, everybody just move!" Harry shouted. Almost everyone around him froze and stared at him. He glared back at them and cleared his throat. Almost as if they were scared of what he would do next, some people made way for them to walk past. Whispers erupted everywhere.

"Look at that guy..."

"Who is he?"

"Why’s he here?"

"What’s that on his head? A scar?"

Harry sighed in frustration, realising that even in the Muggle world, his scar wouldn’t be left unnoticed. He tried to flatten his fringe and then glared at everyone who looked at him. They briskly left the building and made their way to the gates. Dudley didn’t speak or look at anyone, but kicked at stones as he trudged along.

"He’s not the friendliest person in the world, is he?" Tonks commented.

"Dudley and I have never really seen eye to eye, he’s grown up seeing me as a freak and well, I didn’t realise I could hate anyone more than him before I met Draco Malfoy," Harry replied. Tonks didn’t say anything, not that Harry expected her to. When they reached the gates, Kingsley took a sharp left and they all followed him. After a few minutes of walking, the hairs on the back of Harry’s neck suddenly stood on end.

"Something doesn’t feel right," Harry muttered his hand subconsciously his wand. He looked around and suddenly, he knew what was going to happen before it did.