Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series is the property of J.K. Rowling. I do not earn any monetary profit from this work.
Author's Note: This is a two shot about Harry getting tattoos as tributes. It has a bit of Harry/Ginny romance, and possibly other canon pairings, but it's mostly gen.
Chapter One: Dragons and Prints
"Hey, Ginny, how'd you know about the Horntail tattoo?" Harry asked that night, after their conversation on vexing Romilda Vane.
"Wait, you actually have a tattoo?" Ginny asked, an incredulous look on her face. "When did you get it?"
It was an average morning at the Dursleys. Harry was sitting in his room, moping before he would be bullied into performing his daily chores. The Department of Mysteries fiasco had occurred less than two weeks before, and Harry was still depressed over Sirius' death.
Harry's musings were interrupted by his uncle's strangled shout of, "Boy! Get down here, now!"
The young wizard quickly put on the pair of clothes he had that smelled the least and scrambled down the steps. Standing in the doorway was a tall, muscular man with dark hair and brown skin and with a scowl who looked to be very uncomfortable in his jeans and tee-shirt. Next to him stood a stunning woman with a golden complexion, sapphire eyes, and platinum hair wearing a flowing ivory sundress. Harry suddenly wished that he had put on nicer clothes.
"Fleur, Krum, what are you doing here?" Harry asked before he could stop himself. "Sorry, come in."
Uncle Vernon spluttered as two people, who were both foreign and magical, stepped into his home. Fleur and Krum paid him no mind as they moved into the entry way, and Harry was slightly amused.
"We were both in town for the Order and we wished to see our fellow champion," Fleur said, her English much better than the last time Harry had heard her, but still accented.
"Ve vanted to do something to honor Cedric, and we thought you vould like to come with us," Krum corrected.
Harry's throat tightened, as it always did when Cedric was mentioned, even a year later. He cleared his throat and said, "Of course. Should I change first?"
Krum shrugged, but Fleur replied in affirmative, so Harry ran upstairs to find his best fitting muggle clothes. Luckily, they were clean. He also grabbed his money pouch and wand, just in case.
When they walked outside, Harry saw an old BMW in the driveway behind Uncle Vernon's company car.
As they got in the car and Fleur started to navigate the roads with little effort, Harry asked, "Where'd you learn how to drive?"
"My father is, how you say, a muggleborn. He taught me after I finished the Tournament," Fleur said.
Harry wondered if someone would ever teach him to drive. Remus was a halfblood who spent a lot of time in the muggle world, so maybe he would teach him, or maybe Tonks. Harry knew that Sirius had had his license, but he stopped that thought with a pang.
"Where are we going?" Harry asked, as they drove into London after a few minutes.
"We're here," said Krum, looking queasy. Harry thought it strange that he could maneuver a broom so expertly, but got carsick.
They were standing outside a seedy building with multiple neon signs in the window. The one that said 'OPEN' was blinking ominously, and the cursive 'Piercings' was not comforting. Harry was intrigued, however, by the matching blue 'Tattoos' sign. Sirius had had many tattoos, and ever since, Harry had wanted one.
They entered the tattoo parlor to see a large man covered in ink and piercings standing at the counter, wearing a black vest and sunglasses. His name tag said 'Don'.
"Delacour?" Don asked.
"That would be me," Fleur said.
"Your friend is a little young," Don said.
Harry felt indignant. He had seen things that would make people twice, three times his age cower in their boots and come out alive. He was old enough to get a tattoo.
"He has fought dragons and You-Know-Who. I think he can handle some ink," Krum said, surprising Harry. Not only because he was standing up for Harry, but also because he hadn't known that the tattoo artist was a wizard.
Don nodded. "I got your request. I assume the dragons will correspond with the ones each of you fought?"
Fleur nodded, and Don brought out some designs. There were three different designs for each dragon. Fleur chose one in flight for her back, Krum chose one that twisted around his bicep, and Harry chose a roaring one, shooting flames. Harry would have chosen one for his arm, but he didn't want the chance that Hermione or Mrs Weasley would see it.
"Can I see it?" Ginny asked.
"Miss Weasley, are you asking to see my chest? I'm shocked at you," Harry said teasingly before he removed his robe to reveal muggle clothes beneath.
Ginny playfully smacked him on the arm before urging him to show his tattoo.
It was a masterpiece. An ebony Hungarian Horntail perched on one of Harry's ribs, tail sweeping across his stomach, blowing flames across his right pec. The dragon gleamed against Harry's slightly pink skin which the artist had just healed, and he was struck with one thought.
"That was nowhere near as bad as I expected," Harry told the tattoo artist, a young woman named Jay, whose arms were sleeved in ink.
"You took it better than I expected. A lot of people cry," Jay said.
Cry? Over a tattoo? Maybe if he hadn't experienced a basilisk bite or a few bouts under Voldemort's Cruciatus, but certainly not now.
"Anything else I can help you with? You'd look good with an earring," Jay said.
Harry thought about it. While Bill's earring was certainly cool, he didn't want Hermione to kill him, or Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon to throw him out. However, he had been thinking about another tattoo idea for a while.
"No way," Ginny said as she looked up from admiring the dragon on Harry's chest. "You have another one?"
Harry turned around to reveal a cluster of animal prints, one hoof and two paw prints, on his shoulder blade. Underneath them were the words "Mischief Managed" in flowing black script. It looked quite nice against his sepia skin.
"That's really nice. I assume the deer hoof is for your dad, the dog paw is for Sirius, and the wolf paw if for Professor Lupin?" Ginny commented.
"Yeah, Sirius had a similar one, but of course his included the traitor, and said, 'Marauders Forever' instead," Harry said.
"Harry, I don't want to talk about Sirius' tattoos right now," Ginny said, capturing Harry's lips in a strong kiss as she stroked the ink on his shoulder blade. The two teens lost themselves in each other for hours.