Disclaimer: I own nothing, all of it belong to J.K Rowling, I am just playing in her sandbox for a while.

Authors Note: AU: Its not my first fanfic but its my first Harry Potter, so I hope you enjoy it. The story starts at the end of the 5th Book.

Nymphadora rolled around in bed, confused, a tad hung-over and annoyed with herself. She had gone on a bender feeling sorry for herself, forgetting the entire time how much she must have hurt the person she called a friend.

How stupid could she have been to be furious at someone who had such a life-changing event? How could she even comprehend what went on in Harry's mind when he suddenly woke up as a girl? Even worse, Harry had been trying to cope with the death of his godfather as well, no wonder he wanted to run away from it all if given half a chance.

Suddenly as she rolled one way, the room shifted, depositing Tonks directly onto the floor. "What in the world. "

Grabbing her robe, Nymphadora started to run downstairs when a soul-rending sob, stopped her in her tracks.

"Alya?" Looking into one of the larger bedrooms, Tonks found her friend lying on the bed softly crying. "Are you OK?

Sitting up, the raven-haired girl rubbed her face. "My boobs are sore, my stomach hurts, and I feel like crap. How in the world you girls deal with this shit every month is beyond me."

"You have your monthly?" Nymphadora looked startled.

"Happy day," Alya grumbled, falling back into bed. "This sucks, I hate being a girl. What did I do to deserve this?"

Without a thought, Tonks crossed the room and climbed into the bed. Summoning a small pillow, she cast a warming charm on it, before handing it to Alya. "Hug it around your stomach. It will make you feel better."

Alya nodded, before closing her eyes enjoying the warmth of the pillow and the comfort of another human being close to her.

"I'm sorry." Tonks sighed. "I mean about last night and everything."

Slightly turning her head, Alya said. "Whatever for?"

"For yelling at you."

Alya turned back, giving a slight chuckle. "I'm sure I will be in store for plenty more."

"Is everything OK?" A startled Ted Tonks ran into the room then stopped, wondering why his daughter was in bed as well.

Alya made am an embarrassed face. "Sorry uncle, I'm a bit emotional."

"That was you who shook the house?" Tonks sat up surprised.

Alya nodded before hiding her face into her pillow.

"Alright, enough she needs her rest." Andromeda followed her husband into the room, in her hand a glass of water and a muggle bottle of pills.

"Nice to see you up, dear." Tonks mom smiled at her while passing Alya the glass and a couple of white tablets.

"What do you mean by up?" Tonks did a quick tempus charm, finding she had already slept half the day away.

"Perhaps you would like some lunch?"

Tonks nodded, seeing it wasn't a request.

Ted Tonks who still stood at the doorway asked. "Why the medicine? I thought you girls took potions for this sort of thing."

"You remember, dad." Nymphadora began. "The first period is usually the worst, so you have to go through at least one day…"

Raising his hands, Ted nodded. "Right…thanks. I'll be downstairs going through some paperwork if you need me."

"Coward," Alya called out half-heartedly, causing the other two women to laugh.

Leaning down to brush the hair from her niece's eyes, Andromeda said. "Rest, I'll bring up some lunch later with your other potions."

With a look from her mother, Nymphadora followed her downstairs into the kitchen. "I thought you were going to take her to St. Mungo's."

"You father stopped at the chemist first, but we have been home for over an hour."

"OH." Tonks slid into one of the kitchen chairs embarrassed but smiled as her mother set down a hangover potion and a couple of sandwiches. "How did it go?"

"She has been through quite an ordeal and is taking it better than most, I imagine." Andromeda made a face, looking up towards where Alya lay sleeping. "You know Mrs. Abbot spent time in the Muggle world learning their healing methods before joining us at St. Mungo's."

Tonks nodded, knowing the reason was that she had been at first unable to find a job as a healer in the magical world. Mrs. Abbot had started to work at St Mungos after her mother's promotion as Senior Healer.

"As a Muggle healer, one of the things she was taught was to look out for signs of child abuse."

It didn't come as a surprise to Andromeda that Madam Pomfrey had missed the signs. Although not unheard of, such abuse in the wizardry world was not very common.

"Abuse," Tonks whispered she knew something was wrong when she first met him Privet Drive.

She had helped him pack on the way to Grimmauld Place. From what she remembered there were no photographs; nothing that said another child lived in the home. Even the twins mentioned the bars on the windows, but everyone thought the twins were just being the twins.

"She wasn't particularly forthcoming, although from what Christine said, she wasn't surprised," Andromeda said unhappily.

"Did they?" Tonks remembered what Alya had said about the broken arm the night before.

"No, from what Alya said, it was mostly emotional. " She sighed unhappily; emotional abuse could be as devastating as physical.

Tonks told her mother of rumors she had heard about the Dursleys before Andromeda continued with how the rest of the visit went.

"So it's real, all of it, Harry's actually a girl." Tonks sighed before taking a bit of her sandwich and a sip of pumpkin juice. "She is healthy, otherwise?"

"Yes, although Alya still will be taking several different potions to help reverse the damage caused by malnutrition. "

"She didn't seem partially pleased that the two of you started her monthly." Tonks couldn't help but snicker.

"No I imagine not; however, we wanted to make sure that there were no unforeseen complications. It's not like this is a normal occurrence." Andromeda said. "Now I am telling you all of this because she will need your help this summer."

Tonks sat back startled. "Of course; I mean I still have my job but…"

"I understand, your father and I both plan on spending quite a bit of time here, however; if possible I would like you to move in here until she goes back to Hogwarts."

Tonks frowned. "Does Alya know?"

"No, I plan on bringing it up tonight. She will need a friend to help her with things that she might be uncomfortable talking to me about."

"She has other friends."

"True, and she plans on writing to them soon, however…."

"They are not Blacks."

Although still a bit confused about everything, Tonks was happy that her mother had accepted Alya into their lives. Of course, if anyone in this house knew how Alya felt about losing a family, it would be her.

Although she didn't speak about it often, being disowned by her father had hurt Andromeda immensely. With the Black family's rings returned, Tonks knew her mother would protect Alya with her life if necessary.

"Also my dear, what are your intentions towards our Head of House?"

"Mom" Tonks starts to whine but realizes the seriousness of the look. "Trust me; nothing is going on between us, we just kissed; nothing more."

"Are you sure?"

Andromeda raised an eyebrow causing the pink haired Auror to squirm. She was sure her mother would be perfect in the interrogation room back at the Ministry. They wouldn't even need to break out the Veritaserum, just that one look and criminals would break down tell her everything.

"Fine, maybe it was more, but now." Tonks shrugged. "I don't know… so much has changed."

Andromeda cupped her hand on her child's face. "You know, neither your father nor I will be judgmental on any decision but think through it first, please. Alya has enough worries as it is right now. "

"So, does that mean Harry…I mean Alya still likes girls?"

Andromeda gave a small smile. "Healer Abbott was very thorough in her exam including the list of her usual questions."

Nymphadora cringed; knowing her mother's friend, she would have wanted to know everything in exquisite detail.

"Sorry if I'm disturbing you." The girl they were just talking about walked into the kitchen, wrapped in a warm looking sea-green robe.

Nymphadora frowned, wondering what if anything she had overheard. "I thought you were going to sleep?"

Shrugging her shoulder, Alya wearily took a seat. "I'm still a bit knackered, but a stupid owl woke me up."

"I thought I saw you walking by." Ted followed his niece into the kitchen taking a seat by his wife. "I have papers for you to sign."

Nodding, Alya reached over for one of Tonk's sandwiches before looking at the documents. She shook her head angrily, although getting information about the Blacks was easy enough, anything about the Potters wasn't.

"We'll need to go to Gringotts."

"I'll set up an appointment."

"So who's the letter from?" Tonks asked, leaning forward to get a better look.

"Narcissa Malfoy," Alya said before taking another bite of her sandwich.

"Did you…"

Alya grinned at Tonks. "Constant Vigilance, don't worry checked it before I touched the bloody thing."

"Language." Andromeda murmured before setting down another platter of sandwiches.

"From your reaction, you expected the letter?"

"I expected something, uncle, especially after it became known who took down those Death Eaters in Diagon Alley." Alya gave Tonks another look.

"Wasn't us." Tonks objected then reluctantly admitted. "Well not officially anyway."

Nodding, Alya opened the letter, looked it over before passing it over to Andromeda. "Looks like Aunt Narcissa wishes to meet with me."

"Could it be a trap?" Tonks said as her mother passed her the letter.

Alya shrugged. "Could be, still, shouldn't be too much of a surprise for her wanting to contact me after my becoming the new Head of House. But you're right, Tonks, better to be safe than sorry."

"How about Gringotts?" Ted said.

"Good idea, I'm sure Bogrod could set up a room for us to have this meeting."

"Make it for the middle of the week, Ted," Andromeda said to her husband. The way she said it left no room for discussion.

Alya opened her mouth to object but then nodded. "You're right; I don't much feel like dealing with anyone right now, much less a Malfoy."

"I guess You-Know-Who wants something from you."

Alya gave Tonks a mischievous grin. "Oh, I'm sure Tom had all sort of plans for me but don't worry, House Black has plans for him as well."

++++++++++

Among the three Black sisters, unlike the scarily smart Andromeda, or the rebellious Bellatrix, Narcissa had simple life goals. Upon entering Hogwarts, using skills learned on her father's knee, she planned to place herself in a position to marry into a powerful and influential family. After being sorted into Slytherin, like all good Blacks, she even spied her mark, the beautiful but slightly older boy Lucius Malfoy.

Still even after her plans came to fruition, a small part of her remained jealous of her sisters. Headstrong, they both fought against the norms of pureblood society. Andromeda, who had no desire to be a typical pureblood wife, planned to become the first female head of St Mungos. While Bella who many considered the epitome of a good pureblood daughter, was anything but. She had political aspirations, wanting to change the world and embrace the new.

However, at the end of Narcissa's second year, everything changed. Andromeda had disappeared, after refusing to become the wife of Macomb Nott. While Bellatrix, who Narcissa thought never wished to become a "respectable pure-blood wife," entered into a marriage contract with Rodolphus Lestrange.

She was proud how her sister gave up her dreams for the good of the family; however, it came at with a price. Bella appearance changed, her eyes had become dull, and her infectious mischievous laughter became dark. Like all good pureblood wives, she followed her husband without question, and in the end, it was ironic. The one who'd wanted to change the old world became its most fearful champion.

"Bella?"

Narcissa knocked on the door to her sister's bedroom at the Malfoy manor before stepping inside. She was worried, something happened inside the Department of Mysteries making the always-virulent Bellatrix a little less predictable.

Opening the door further, Narcissa almost fled at the sight in front her. Bella sat cross-legged on her bed, whispering almost chanting to herself while cutting into her arm with a long-handled knife.

At the sound of the door opening, Bella's head suddenly snapped up causing Narcissa to stumble backward at the view of the dead, soulless black eyes.

Gather her courage, Narcissa stepped forward whispering. "Trixie?"

Like a shadow passing over the moon, Bellatrix eyes cleared for a moment before the darkness descended once again.

"Don't call me that. Anyway, what do you want?" Bella suddenly looked down confused, realizing what she had been doing to herself. With a shrug, she quickly cleaned herself up before turning to her sister again.

"Well?"

"I'm about to leave for my meeting with Alya Black."

Spinning her knife in her hands, Bella slipped it back into her boot. "Good, I assume the Dark Lord has given you explicit instructions?"

Narcissa nodded, explaining what Voldemort demanded, which was for her new Head of House to swear loyalty and make available the enormous financial resources for the Dark Lord.

"Don't fuck this up, little sister." Bellatrix cackled. "You can't afford it after your husband's little screw-up."

"I know." Narcissa understood that this was a second chance, to undue her husband's failures. "What about Draco?"

"What about him?"

"He's too young." Narcissa feared for her family. She knew the Dark Lord had plans for her son as well, plans that would most likely cost him his life.

"Nonsense, I was his age when I joined, you should be proud," Bella said. "Do you still want your meeting with Snape?"

"Yes, after I speak with Alya Black."

"I assume the Dark Lord has given you explicit instructions when speaking to our Head of House?" Bella repeated herself, but her voice sounded different.

Narcissa now frightened could only nod.

"Good, don't forget what father told us when speaking to our Head of House." Bella continued as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.

"I remember," Narcissa whispered.

"Good luck then little sister, now go away." Without another word, Bella's knife made its way back into her hand.

Narcissa fled the room, but it wasn't until she was halfway out of the manor before she realized Bella had been cutting into the Dark Mark.

*Edited 4/14/17 Elsbeth*