Chapter 1:Partners

Harry's day started like any other day: Wake up at 4:30 am, go for a quick 5k run, come back to the flat and have a cold shower (Harry hated warm showers; the cold ones helped keep him alert). This was always followed by a quick breakie - three hard-boiled eggs and black coffee, then straight to the Ministry to report. Harry had maintained a strict diet and physical regiment since his early training days in the Auror Corps. At 32, Harry was in the best shape of his life. He had a job he loved and had quickly risen to the rank of Captain. Many outsiders had said that the only reason Harry had moved up in ranks so fast was due to the fact that Harry's godfather Sirius Black was head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Anyone in the DMLE, however, could tell you that was a load of bollocks. Harry was one of the best Aurors around. He along with his partner and mentor Nymphadora Tonks had successfully brought in many of Voldemort's remaining death eaters after the battle of Hogwarts. Harry's professional life was exactly what he wanted in life, his personal life on the other hand was a completely different matter.

"I'll be back in a weeks time Gin." Harry said.

"OK, I'll see you then, be safe." Ginny Weasley said without any hint of emotion, there was no warm smile, no approach with arms outstretched, just a meaningless glance up from her Quidditch magazine, on which she was emblazoned in her full uniform for the Harpies.

Harry sighed and left, he knew better that to expect any other reaction from his wife. Since they'd gotten married they had drifted apart. They were more like flatmates than a married couple. They no longer slept in the same bedroom, let alone had a physical relationship, they hadn't had sex in God knew how long. Harry had stopped counting long ago. Harry knew that Ginny blamed his job, the long hours, the travel, but most of all he knew she despised the fact that he was still partnered with Tonks.

Ginny had long suspected that Harry was having an affair with his partner. Harry had tried on several occasions to convince her that they were just friends, albeit, close friends. He had also suspected that Ginny had been having an affair with Dominic Crenwood, the trainer for the Holyhead Harpies. He had no proof but his intuition had never failed him.

FLASHBACK

"You know I could tail her and find out easily, so could you." Tonks said, with a full mouth of beans.

"No." Harry sighed. "If shes says shes not, then I believe her."

"You noble pussy." Tonks snorted sticking her tongue out at him, sans beans.

"Fuck off." Harry smiled.

"You know I'm right, Potter. I know that when you've had a hunch in the past it's always led us in the right direction. That's how we got here."

Here, was in the hills in the outskirts of Budapest. Nestled on a small outcrop of rocks they had a clear overview of a small village. A lone tent on the outskirts was where they had a small scope mounted on a tripod. Harry looked through the scope and made out their target. They'd spent the last three weeks tracking a lycanthrope by the name of Darius Konka, a Lithuanian thug who had committed a rather brutal and public murder of a British official. The murder had happened in daylight, and in clear view of hundreds of muggles. Harry and Tonks were some of the first on the scene and had been tracking Konka ever since.

"Get some sleep, I've got first watch. He wont be active after last nights full moon." Tonks said as she took another bite of their hearty meal.

"OK, wake me at dusk; we take him tonight."

"You know you deserve better, Harry." Tonks said grabbing Harry's arm as he made his way to their small tent."

"Do I?"

"You're noble to a fault, partner, I know that being a pureblood married to another pureblood makes it difficult to divorce, but neither you nor the Weasleys have ever given much credence to the notion of Blood Status and the like."

"Yeah, but I took a vow."

"Fuck your vow, Harry." Tonks said, feeling herself get worked up. Now was not the time and she knew it. They'd had this argument many time before and it usually ended with them fighting. Tonks cared too much about Harry and now was not the time to be arguing with her partner.

"Sorry man… I just…. you know that I care about you, right?" She apologised.

"Of course I do. There is no one else I trust my life with...and that would include Ginny. Wake me at dusk." With that Harry stepped into the small tent.

-END FLASHBACK-

Harry left their small flat and made his way to the Ministry of Magic. It was only a short walk for him. He had convinced Ginny to buy a small flat and save money. She of course wanted to spend whatever money they earned on a large house and extravagant material things to fill it with. Harry had only managed to convince her that it would be nice to own a flat in London and a place in the suburbs. Since then he had always avoided the topic.

Harry made his way past a large group of Muggles and turned down what appeared to be an abandoned subway entrance. Just like platform 9 ¾ it was charmed to only allow wizards and witches to pass through. Harry entered on the far end of the large atrium of the Ministry of Magic and made his way quickly through to the lifts.

"Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Auror Office and Holding Cells" Said the dreamy voice of Harry's close friend Luna Lovegood. It always made Harry smile that his school friend had become 'the voice' of Magical Britain. It all started after their Sixth year when Luna had taken over the Quidditch commentary. Since that day she'd been asked to do Quidditch commentary for her remaining two years at Hogwarts. Then she became the announcer for Puddlemere United and the Chudley Cannons (only because Ron had begged her). Once she started announcing for the national team her career really took off, She started doing radio announcements and jingles for anyone who asked. She'd made a fortune in just a few years and enjoyed that her work allowed her to travel and search for the many rare flowers and beasts she still thought to be real.

Harry made a sharp right after the elevators and pushed open the two large oak doors and strode into the Auror office.

Tonks looked up from the paperwork she'd been working on as he sat down at his desk opposite her.

"Half-day today?" she joked.

"Yeah, how long you been here, Nym?" Harry quipped back. he knew calling her that when they were alone was OK, but knew he could get a rise out her if he did it in public.

Her hair instantly turned dark black. Harry chuckled and she relaxed, knowing that he was joking with her.

"About 30 seconds before you walked through the door." she said sticking her tongue out at him.

There were only a few other people in the office at this hour. Both Harry and Tonks were early risers and hardly slept, one of the many reasons they worked so well as partners.

Harry took his seat across the desk from Tonks and started on the large pile of paperwork between them. Tonk looked at Harry for several seconds before starting her own paperwork.

They worked through all their reports in silence, neither feeling the need to talk. Harry loved that about Tonks, they could sit together for hours and never say a word or they could chat and have banter all night. Whatever they did he felt completely at ease around her.

After an hour of silence and rather dull paperwork Tonks was getting restless, she'd read the same passage over three times without taking a word of it in. She stood up and stretched her back knowing it was a weakness to Harry. She smiled when she looked through a slit in her eyes and sure enough, he was gawking, completely checking her out.

"Fancy a cuppa or need something stronger?" she yawned.

"I could go with a cup of coffee." Harry said quickly looking away from her chest.

Harry knew that she did it on purpose but he couldn't help himself. He'd had a crush on Tonks since he first met her. Back then he knew he was too young and just thought of her as his hot but, older, Auror friend.

After the war he was there for her to help her grieve over Remus. They finished off all the Firewhiskey in the Three Broomsticks, and then the Hogs Head. It was the only time they had shared a kiss. To call it a kiss was even a stretch - they were both so drunk that they could barely stand! They had finished the last of Hog's Head's supply, and stumbled out the door into the alley to finally make their way to the three broomsticks to sleep the night off.

Staring up and the ruins of Hogwarts they'd held back silent sobs. Harry turned to look at Tonks and saw tears running down her face.

"I am so sorry…he ...he was one of the best men I never knew." Harry spoke, quietly.

"He loved you like a son…you know that right?" she said, as her tears streamed down her cheeks.

"He and Sirius were the closest things I've ever had to parents."

"Will you just hold me for a minute before we go back to the bar?" Tonks said.

She had always thought Harry was a cute kid. In the last couple of years she had really noticed how he filled out. Quidditch and all his extra training had served him well in this regard.

But she had always just stored those thoughts away in her nighttime, Remus-was-away fantasy box.

Harry wrapped his arms around her and she leaned into him. The Firewhiskey took over and she went to kiss him. He thought she was going to rest her head on his shoulder, never imagining that Tonks would want to kiss him. He leaned his head to the side and at the last minute realised what was happening and quickly turned his head. Their lips did touch but Harry had turned his head so fast that the impact knocked them both out cold. They woke up as the sun came up. Harry had a split lip and Tonks had a chipped tooth, though she quickly used her metamorph abilities to fix hers. They sat up and shyly looked at eachother.

"What a night, aye?" she winced as she stood up. The sudden rush of blood to her head made her nauseous as the full effect of her hangover kicked in. She quickly hobbled to a nearby bush to throw up. Harry stood up more slowly but fared no better. He joined her in a nearby bush to relieve his convulsing stomach.

Both of them remembered the awkward kiss but both claimed to be too drunk to remember anything. Neither had ever mentioned the time staring up at hogwarts since.

-Back in the Auror office-

"Well then, black with no sugar, right?" Tonks said as she made her way to the door.

"You know how I like it." Harry grinned, inadvertently and unhelpfully watching Tonk's backside as she walked out the door. She knew he was watching and made a show of moving her hips back and forth. This type of flirting had gone on for a long time. They both enjoyed it and knew that it was harmless as Harry was too noble to act on anything while he was still married to Ginny.

Before Tonks returned with their coffees, she ran into Sirius.

"I've got a new assignment for you and the pup." Sirius growled.

"Oh...where're we going now, and what are we going after? Who's the target?" Tonks quizzed nonchalantly as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Come to my office and I'll fill you in."

"OK, let me go get Harry."

"NO, not this time…just you." Sirius interrupted.

"Wha... why? Isn't the assignment for both of us?" Tonks said taking a more perplexed sip of coffee.

It was very unusual for Sirius to call them in seperately. Since he had taken over as Director of the DMLE he had always briefed them together.

"Not here." Sirius said looking around "Come, now."

Tonks followed Sirius to his office desperately trying to think if there was anything she did that could have gotten her or Harry into trouble. She knew sometimes she was informal and slightly inappropriate at work with Sirius, but he was her cousin for Merlin's sake! Their entire relationship was based on banter and pranks. For the most part they kept it professional, even more so in the past two years since Sirius had become Head of the DMLE. Maybe the werewolf they had brought in had complained, they had roughed him up a bit during their extraction from Budapest.

'Bloody werewolves think they can probably sue us.' she thought to herself.

"Look if this is about the werewolf being a bit bloodier than usual I can explain." Tonks said as soon as they were inside his office.

Sirius pointed his wand at the blinds and they closed with a snap and then muttered an incantation Tonks recognised as muffliato and another few she knew to be privacy charms.

"Must be important for all those," she said getting annoyed "Cousin, tell me what the fuck is going on." she snapped.

"It's about the pup, Tonks" Sirius sighed

"What about him?" She asked, taking a seat across the huge oaken desk that occupied most of the office. It was almost as grizzled as its current owner, filled with the burns and scars of an uneasy life.

"Well it's not about him directly but about…"

"Ginny" Tonks finished for him.

"What do you know?" Sirius said sitting down in his large and ostentatious chair.

"I know that they haven't been happy together in years. I know they don't sleep in the same room.

I know Harry suspects her of sleeping with her trainer. I know he's too fucking noble to let me tail her to find out for sure." She said putting a hand to her head and rubbing her temples. Thinking about Ginny and how she had treated Harry always gave her a headache, and she could feel the dull thud approaching already.

"That's exactly why I called you in separately." Sirius said calmly.

"Excuse me?" Tonks said sitting forward her interest suddenly peaked, and she failed miserably to stop the corner of her mouth from turning up into a rather salacious smirk.

"I need you to tail Ginny for a while, learn her schedule, what she's really up to these days."

"You mean to tell me the Ministry is going to use one of it's top Aurors to tail a pureblood woman from a very respected family, on the suspicion of infidelity?" Tonks asked taking another sip of her coffee. It was way too early to be getting a headache because of Ginny-fucking-Weasley-Potter..

"Not quite just infidelity, but…" Sirius started and then stopped midway through his sentence, deciding how much to tell his young cousin whom he knew had a quick temper.

"Well?" Tonks said growing impatient.

"I got a tip that Ginny has been trying to find a hit wizard to kill Harry." Three horrified and agnoising seconds went by, on 'two' the light drained from Tonk's eyes, on 'three' Tonks was at the door, wand drawn.

"I'll fucking kill the bitch!" She spat.

"NYMPHADORA TONKS YOU WILL SIT DOWN RIGHT THIS MINUTE!" Sirius barked. "Don't you think I had the same fucking reaction?! I wanted to storm up to her and tear her throat out!"

"She's gonna pay so fucking hard." Tonk fumed as she made her way back to the chair. Her hair was jet black. Her head was spinning at a million miles, her rage felt like boiling hot bile rising from her stomach. Sirius knew from his talks with Harry to tread lightly. When Tonk's hair went that dark she was like a ticking time bomb.

"We need to be smart about this, cousin." Sirius said softly. "We need to play this by the books."

Tonks just glared at him but allowed herself a breath, and Sirius noticed that her hair slightly changed colours, to a burning deep amber, like hissing coals in a fire.

"If we just go in wands blazing and don't get the evidence she could walk. Worse, if I'm wrong and we accuse her of something like that, how do you think Harry would react? What do you think he would do?"

Tonk's shoulders slumped as she processed what Sirius said.

"You're right, sorry I lost it. What do you need me to do?"

"Like I said, I need you to tail her for a few weeks, find out what you can and report back to me when you have something, and you must not be seen." Sirius said with more authority and professionalism than Tonks could have ever thought possible of her cousin.

"You wanna see Harry?" she asked.

"Please."

Tonks stood up and walked to the door.

"She better hope to Merlin that that tip turns out to be false, and I solemnly swear that I'll be up to no good."

"For her sake I hope so too." Sirius said. He didn't believe it though, His informant had proved to be reliable many times in the past.

_chapter end?_

Tonk walked slowly back to her and Harrys desk, a million questions buzzing through her mind.

"What took you so long?" Harry asked, focusing on an ink blot on the parchment in front of him, trying hard not to watch her walk in.

She slumped down in her chair.

"Didn't you go to get us coffee?" Harry asked.

"Wha-? Oh. Ah. Err, Sirius needs to see you." Tonks said without making eye contact.

"New mission? Does he want to brief us both?"

"No, he already spoke with me, he wants to see you now." Tonks said, again without looking up.

"This isn't about the werewolf is it?" Harry asked standing up quickly.

"No." Tonks said, still trying hard not to look up at Harry. She knew if they made eye contact she would lose it. She also knew that Harry could read her like a book most of the time.

"Something wrong, Tonksie?" Harry quipped. He used another of his pet names for her trying to get a rise. Tonks looked up and before she could say anything she threw herself to her feet and scooted past Harry before he could see the fear and anger in her eyes.

"Just go talk to Sirius." She called over her shoulder as she made her way to the loo.

Harry watched her leave, sighed and stood up from the desk.

'Wonder what the bloody hell that was about' Harry thought to himself.

Harry made his way to Sirius' office in a daze. He had only seen Tonks act that way one other time during their friendship and that was after Remus had told her they couldn't be together.

'had she been seeing someone?' Harry thought he could feel a slight twang of jealousy rearing its head in his chest, which to him was fairly unexpected, but strangely not unwelcome.

'No, I would have noticed, she would have said something…' Harry thought to himself as he knocked on the large door emblazoned with ornate gold lettering:

SIRIUS ORION BLACK:

Head of The Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"Come in, pup" Sirius said. "I've got a new assignment for you."

-Chapter end-