Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. All characters and plots within were created and are owned by J.K. Rowling. I am simply borrowing them for fun and seek no monetary gain from this. Any original characters or plots are mine.

Authors Note: Okay first off I'll address a concern that A LOT of you have been commenting on. Harry greeting Tonks how he did well before he was supposed to have met her. I promise this was not a plot hole like many of you may have thought. I actually intended for this to be a plot point later on, but given how it seemed to be annoying you all so much I have decided to address it…a little in this chapter.

Please let me know what you guys think.

And to those of you that asked about Remus/Tonks…no not in this story.

I'll go more on depth with Harry's thoughts regarding this eventually, but I hope you can all be patient until I do. I'm trying to avoid using the classic "Info Dump" method of getting my characters motives and thoughts across. It's only the third chapter of what will most likely be a 50+ chapter story. I promise I'll get there in time.

I have been on a small little mini vacation the last three days which is why I managed to pump out 2 chapters in such a short time, but starting tomorrow I'll be back at work, so more than likely I will be going back to my planned schedule of one chapter a week.

Here's the next chapter…Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Keep My Hands to Myself

*UPDATED: 12/24/2015*

August 2nd 1995

11:30pm

Well that was a waste of a perfectly good speech. Harry thought as he languished on the large four post bed in one of the larger guest rooms.

Mrs. Weasley had tried once again to dictate the sleeping arrangements, but was disappointed when Harry asked why they were sharing in the first place when there were more than enough rooms on the 3rd floor for all of them to have separate sleeping quarters.

Remus had pointed out that those rooms had not been inspected yet and could possibly be dangerous to sleep in.

Harry had acknowledged the point, but a quick conversation with Sirius had the situation resolved.

Flashback [start]

"Dobby?" Harry called out.

Almost instantly the small house elf appeared nearly bouncing with excitement.

"The great Harry Potter calls for Dobby?" The elf asked rocking back and forth on his feet. "How can Dobby bees helping the great wizard Harry Potter?"

Harry smiled as he got down on one knee in front of the enthusiastic little house elf.

"Hello Dobby it is good to see you again my friend."

The tears that bloomed in the elf's eyes would have worried Harry if he hadn't been expecting it.

"The great Harry Potter sir calls Dobby friend?" The elf whispered in awe.

"Of course I do Dobby. Don't you remember? You saved my life only a few years ago." Harry reached out and placed his hand on the elf's shoulder. "If it hadn't been for you Lucius would have killed me."

The elf looked almost sheepish, tracing a crack in the floor with his toe.

"I have a request to make of you Dobby." Harry informed the elf.

"A request! Dobby would be delighted to help Mr. Harry Potter!" Dobby replied, this time there was no "nearly" about it. The little house elf was bouncing in place so fast his long ears looked like wings flapping in the wind.

Harry chuckled at the quick change in his small friend.

"Before I name the request, I must ask you a question." Harry tried to calm the house elf down.

Dobby stopped bouncing, instead nodding his head so hard Harry was worried he would give himself a concussion.

"Would you like to bond with me?" Harry's question shocked the whole room into silence.

A wide eyed Dobby looked to be in a bit of a stupor.

"Did…Harry Pot-Pot-Potter just ask Dobby to be he's house elf?" The house elf asked, stumbling over his words, his disbelief obvious.

"Yes Dobby. I will be having need of a house elf in the future and I can't think of anyone else I would want to take care of my family." Harry's smile seemed to snap the elf out his surprised state.

"Of course sirs! Dobby would be honored to Serves the Great Harry Potter!"

"Thank you Dobby." Harry said patting the shoulder he was holding before removing his hand. "How does the bonding work?"

"Mr. Harry Potter just has to be offering the request, House Elves magic will be doing the rest sirs."

"Well let's see…how about this; I, Harry James Potter, do hereby offer a bond of friendship and family to the house elf Dobby, on behalf of the House of Potter till a time when either party should wish the bond severed." Harry intoned as formally as possible.

Dobby stood as straight as possible as he listened to the words.

"I's, Dobby the house elf, accept and promises to always serve Dobby's family with honor and to always keep master's secrets." The little house elf bowed at the waist as he made his oath.

"Then with the acceptance of this oath, so mote it be." Harry finalized the oath with the customary words and almost immediately a bright glow surrounded both t wizard and house elf briefly before fading away.

"The bond being complete Master Harry." Dobby told him.

Harry considered asking Dobby not to refer to him as master, but looking at how proud his friend appeared to say the words he didn't have the heart to say anything.

"Ok Dobby I have already asked my godfather's permission. Please do me a favor and get started cleaning out this house. We need all cursed objects removed and placed in the office next to the library, please secure the door so NO ONE including elves may enter without Sirius's or my permission. Once that's finished all pests and dangerous infestations should be removed. Please start with the third floor guest wing."

"Right away Master Harry." Dobby replied eagerly.

"Once you are done with the guest wing please report to me before continuing with the rest of the house. If the Black Family elf gives you any trouble let me or Sirius know okay." Harry watched as the new Potter elf nodded before disappearing with a snap of his fingers.

Flashback [end]

Dobby had done a fantastic job. In less than 30 minutes he had cleaned out the entire 3rd floor and made sure all the bedrooms were ready for guests.

Harry had thanked his friend and given him further instructions.

He asked Dobby to stay out of the Black Family library. Harry wasn't sure what cursed books might be in there, but he wanted to take a look himself before they were disposed of.

And finally, he instructed Dobby to keep an eye out for an old silver locket embellished with a serpent in the shape of an "S". He was very specific to tell Dobby not to touch it, but to inform Harry as soon as it was found, but only when Harry was alone.

We can't afford to have it stolen again. I'll have to figure out a way to talk to Kreecher into letting me have it without alerting the entire order. He thought to himself. How in Merlin's beard would I be able to explain knowing about it without compromising my secret?

That question was what had triggered this time of self-reflection.

He had been dangerously cavalier with his attitude earlier in the meeting. All the emotions and memories being thrown at him in the last day had left him feeling disoriented and had compromised his self-control.

Luckily he hadn't done or said anything that couldn't be explained with a little clever wordplay.

He'd definitely raised a few eyebrows with his Fidelius prank, enough so that it had gotten the attention of Mad-eye Moody. He would have to be more careful from now on.

If that wasn't bad enough he'd also allowed his anger at the Weasleys to influence his actions.

How much was he willing to show them? He was not the naïve little teenager they were all expecting. A lot of his "changes" in personality could be attributed to the trauma he'd suffered during Voldemort's recent resurrection. If he wanted to play it that way.

Should he tone it down a bit? Follow along with what he knew was going to happen…maybe try and act more like the Harry Potter they were expecting?

….

Absolutely Not! Harry's mind screamed.

He was not going to pretend to be someone he wasn't just to avoid uncomfortable questions.

His occlumency barriers were strong enough to protect his secret and besides outright telling them that he was from the future, what else could he possibly have to worry about?

The only means of time travel the wizarding world was familiar with was the time turner. The furthest those could take their bearers back was five hours and they had to recharge the same number hours they turned back before they could be used again. Thereby making consecutive trips was impossible.

The worst thing they could think was that his knowledge was some form of divination and Harry almost laughed at the thought of the wizarding world believing him to be a True Seer.

I've already prepared an excuse to explain my new skills if pressed.

He'd taken a little trip down to the Potter family vault after his talk with Director Ragnok. It had been very fruitful.

*Knock Knock*

Who could that possibly be at this hour?

Getting up from the bed Harry walked over to the door and slowly opened it a crack.

"Hermione?" Harry asked a little surprised.

"Hey Harry. Can we talk?" His "formerly" bushy haired friend asked in a whisper.

"Sure." Harry stepped back and let the girl in before closing the door and hitting it with a quick silencing and imperturbable charm.

He turned to see Hermione standing next to his bed wringing her hands. Harry walked closer, placing his wand on the bedside table and taking a seat on the mattress.

"Hermione what's wrong?" Harry asked eyeing the anxious girl.

"Well I had a few questions…and you said we could talk later." She answered while pacing back and forth next to the bed.

Harry smiled as he watched her work herself up into a fit.

"Hermione come sit down, before you wear a hole in my floor." Harry stated gently patting the blanket next to him.

Hermione froze for a second looking at the mattress hesitantly before releasing a sigh and doing so.

"Okay so what did you want to know?" Harry asked. Bracing himself for a tidal wave of questions.

It was a good thing he did.

"Harry what has happened to you!? Why do you look like you suddenly aged 4 years in only a month? How did you break the fidelius charm? Why did you say all those things to Mrs. Weasley? Not that I don't think you were right, but you've always looked at the Weasley's like family! You've been acting so out of character…" The young witch had taken to gesturing with her hands in her excitement.

"Breathe Hermione!" Harry ordered sharply.

The sudden command seemed to snap her back to reality as she took in a deep breath almost violently before letting it all out slowly, bringing herself back under control.

Harry treated her to a wide smile that forced a chuckle out of her.

"Sorry Harry. I've been holding that in all night and it all kind of just came tumbling out at once." She explained sheepishly.

"Don't worry, I figured that would happen, it's why I asked you to sit down." Harry smirked at the confused expression his reply earned him. "I didn't want to chance you passing out because of oxygen deprivation."

Hermione scowled for a second before sighing and deciding getting her answers was more important than her best friend's ability to judge her reactions so well.

"Start talking Potter."

"Okay let's start at the top." He replied. "First the sudden growth spurt?" He saw her nod. "I'm a metamorph."

That was not what she was expecting if the way her mouth was hanging open was any indication.

"But Harry…that's impossible! I've known you since you were eleven! I've never seen you show any indication that you were a metamorphmagus."

Harry was ready for that point.

"Actually you have…tell me Hermione, How many times have you seen me cut my hair?" He asked.

That confused her for a second.

"I mean have you ever seen my hair grow longer than it usually is?"

"Well no I guess never really put much thought into it but…."

"My hair has always been the same length since before 1st year. I never really thought about why I never needed to get my hair trimmed. It just always tended to stay the same length."

Hermione looked at him for a moment before accepting that answer.

"So what, you just came into your powers this summer and decided to make a few "small" changes?" She asked confused.

"Well I guess I…" Harry tried to respond.

"I mean don't get me wrong, I think you look great, I mean better than great actually..." She trailed off as she looked over his new form her eyes lingering on his chest and stomach, her cheeks darkening slightly. Quickly pulling herself together she finished her thought. "But why the older look?"

"Credibility." Harry stated.

"Credibility?" Hermione repeated.

"Yeah, people are going to be looking at me a lot in the near future. There are some things that I've discovered about myself beyond the situation with Voldemort that are going to cause some waves and if people see a kid when they look at me it'll be a struggle to get them to listen." His explanation came out with conviction.

"I guess I can understand that, but is that all?" She asked.

"Well to be completely honest I just feel more comfortable like this. This feels more like the real me." He figured he owed her a little bit of honesty.

Hermione looked at him for a second before leaning forward and pulling him into a 'Hermy Hug'. Her arms wrapping around his neck and squeezing almost to the point of suffocation. It was something he had dearly missed and had thought he would never get the chance to experience again.

"Well I for one think it suits you." She said as she pulled away.

"Thanks Hermione." Harry said with real gratitude.

She waited a few seconds as he unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck, before deciding it was time to move on.

"Okay so next question…" She prompted.

"Right, Fidelius Charm?" He asked. "How do you even know about that by the way?"

Hermione actually looked slightly embarrassed for a second.

"I..uhh..I might have overheard Dedalus Diggle talking about it after the meeting." She confessed.

Harry decided not to tease her about the habit of eavesdropping she seemed to be developing.

Maybe later…

"Well the answer is actually…I didn't break the charm." He told her.

"But I heard them saying that you figured out the secret and as soon as you said it out loud the charm lifted and allowed you inside." Hermione was quick to refute.

"The Fidelius Charm is not as fool proof as people believe Hermione. Tell me, when they revealed the secret to you, did they have you speak the secret out loud?" He asked.

"No they had me memorize the secret from a piece of paper and then told me to think about what I had just read." She answered.

"There you go." Harry answered smugly.

"Wait what…What do you mean there you go?" She asked confused. "How did you get passed the charm?"

"Hermione If I was to say to you the secret is 'A big pink elephant', what would your mind do?" Harry watched as she started thinking about his question.

"It would start picturing a big pink…Oh Merlin!" She exclaimed the last part in disbelief.

"Nope Harry Potter, but the resemblance is uncanny." Harry teased.

"Harry you defeated the Fidelius Charm, by forcing people already in on the secret to think about the secret in a way that triggered the charm?" Hermione almost seemed dazed at the very thought.

"Pretty much." Harry's response seemed to spark something inside her. He was very confused when she suddenly broke out laughing.

"Harry you…" she choked out while laughing, "…you just pranked everyone in the order with a partial example of Ironic Process Theory!?" Harry gave a small bow in reply.

"Well not that I knew that before now, but sure why not." His statement seemed to set her off again and for a few minutes Harry just sat back and let himself enjoy the sound of her laughter.

"Harry that was pretty clever, but there's still something I don't understand." Hermione said once she had managed to get control of herself.

"And what's that?" Harry asked even though he was pretty sure he knew what was coming.

"In order for that prank to have worked you would have had to already have known the secret.

Harry couldn't stop the feeling of warmth that blossomed in his chest when she pointed out the simple flaw in his explanation. He's always known Hermione was brilliant. Her mind constantly analyzing everything, using logic and her near eidetic memory to sort through all the information she'd ever come across and find patterns and explanations most would miss.

"You are absolutely correct." Harry told her with a proud smile.

"But how – ". She tried to ask, but was caught off when Harry reached forward and took her hand.

He had spent so long mourning her loss that he felt an almost pathological need to touch her and make sure she was still real and not a figment of his imagination. Harry looked at her for a moment silently debating what he was going to say.

"Harry what is it?" She asked confused.

Was there ever going to be another choice? He thought to himself. Lying to her was never going to be an option.

"Hermione I can't tell you how I knew the secret right now." Harry tried to explain.

"Harry you can trust me." She insisted.

"I know I can Mione. It's not a matter of trust. Something has…happened recently, too me." Harry confessed. "I want to tell you, but there are ways of stealing information from people's minds, and this secret CANNOT fall into the wrong hands under any circumstances."

Hermione just looked at him for a moment, the urge to know everything clearly at war with her trust in him.

…Her trust in him would always win.

"Well then how do I make it safe enough for you to tell me?" She asked getting right to the point.

The soft smile he gave her in response to her answer surprised her. His expression so full of affection that it almost made her start fidgeting.

She felt her face warm up as she coughed lightly to try and cover up her reaction to the look he was giving her.

"There is a branch of Mind Magics called Occlumency that is meant to allow someone to shield their thoughts and minds from external invaders." Harry explained. "I can teach you, if you'll let me?"

"How do you know to do that though Harry? Mind Magics are a beyond Newt level….Information about them is restricted by the ministry. The Hogwarts restricted section barely mentions anything having to do with them."

"Well in order to answer that I need to tell you something else first." He explained.

He waited for her to nod before continuing.

"I went to Gringotts earlier and claimed my inheritance." He revealed.

"Your inheritance?" She asked.

Harry lifted his hand up for her to see and willed the Potter Family Signet Ring to show itself. Her gasp let him know that she recognized the significance of having such a ring.

"I am now Lord Harold Potter of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter and as of the moment I put on this ring…an adult in the eyes of Gringotts and, by their own laws, the ministry of magic."

Hermione sat back stunned by this piece of information. Harry decided to just get all the revelations out of the way in one go.

"Having said that, the answer to your question of 'How did I know about Occlumency?', is by reading this." Harry grabbed his left sleeve and rolled it up all the way to the elbow. Sitting there on the inside of his wrist Hermione saw a small grouping of runes that looked like they had been tattooed into his skin. Lightly touching the runes with his index finger they started to shimmer faintly.

Hermione let out a small gasp as Harry proceeded to reach INTO his arm, all the way, until his entire hand and half of his wrist had disappeared into the rune. Showing no discomfort at all Harry appeared to be concentrating, and a few seconds later he grinned in triumph.

"There it is." He said.

Pulling his hand out Hermione was astonished to see he was grasping a large leather bound volume about the size of her copy of Hogwarts A History.

"Harry how did you – " She whispered.

"Dimensional storage array slaved to an intent based summoning rune modifier." Harry explained as if it was the simplest idea in the world.

Harry was too busy paying attention to the book he had just pulled out of "rune storage" to notice the impact his words had had on the witch hailed as the smartest of her generation.

It was the sound of heavy breathing that finally caught his attention. He looked up only to flinch in surprise when he noticed that Hermione had moved across the bed and was now less than foot away from him, her upper body leaning closer still trying to get a closer look at the runes on his wrist.

"Umm Hermione what –"

"Absolutely brilliant…the rune work is so complicated, but at the same time so simple." Hermione had at this point gently grabbed his wrist and turned it over so she could get a better look. "And look at the way the rune matrix is aligned – the storage rune pulls its power from an absorption sigil set to – absorb and store ambient magic. I see, it keeps the rune from pulling directly from your core. By using the ambient magic around you as its primary source of energy unless you happen to be in an area devoid of magic. But what about – ohhh a back-up blood based connection line that allows it pull power directly from you in case of an emergency and doubles as a security limiter that only allows you to activate it….."

Harry was transfixed as he listened to her deconstruct the rune on his arm from less than hands width away. Her eyes had dilated and her breathing had become erratic. He could see that the color in her cheeks had taken on a crimson blush.

Is she…aroused? By a rune? The bespectacled time traveler was completely thrown by this new facet of his best friend. He had always known she loved to learn, but….wow. He could feel himself starting to react to her proximity and had just enough rational thought left to realize that he needed to get some distance. IMMEDITELY.

"Umm Hermione are you okay?"

The sound of his voice seemed to get her attention. She looked up into his eyes blankly for a moment before the lack of space between them seemed to register and brought her back from the rune induced trance she'd fallen into. Harry could see the moment she realized how close they were and that she was practically hovering over him on her hands and knees.

She shot backwards so fast Harry would have thought she'd apparated if it wasn't for the lack of the distinctive apparition "crack".

"Ummm…I…Sorry about that I was just –"

"So excited by my storage rune that you couldn't control your curiosity?" Harry asked letting her off easy.

Hermione tried to hide her face in her hands as she mumbled an apology.

Harry just laughed it off, something she joined in on even if he could tell she was still slightly embarrassed.

"So what is that book you pulled out?" Hermione asked desperate to focus on something else.

"This is the book that taught me about the occlumency, and a whole host of other things." Harry held the book up for her to see.

The book itself looked hand bound. Its cover a soft black leather. Embossed on the cover, a coat of arms under the words. cum conlegisti Voluntatis et aperto corde.

"With an unbending will and an open heart." Hermione translated.

"My family's moto." Harry provided.

"The Potter family motto?" Hermione touched the book gently. "Harry what is this?"

"The Potter Family Grimoire." Harry told her his voice seeming to echo off the walls of the room.

Hermione sucked in a breath at hearing those words. She knew the significance of what he was showing her. A family grimoire was the compiled and sum total of a family's magical knowledge. The Potter family was one of the oldest in Britain. The Potter name dating back to around the founding of the Wizard's Council, the governing body that existed before the Ministry of Magic. The genealogy book she had discovered in the Hogwarts library had hinted that their surname might have changed at some point in the past and their magical ancestry might predate even the founders of Hogwarts.

This Grimoire might contain spells created in the time when Merlin was still advising King Arthur and fighting against Morgan Le Fay.

"May I?" She asked hesitantly.

"Feel free." Harry said as he handed her the book.

She took it into her hands almost reverently. Cradling the book as one would a newborn. She inspected it from all angles. The leather was soft and supple, but well made. The binding was some kind of thread she didn't recognize.

She took a deep breath and slowly opened it to the first page.

Only to stare dumbfounded at the shapes and swirls of a language she couldn't recognize let alone begin to translate.

"Harry can you read this?" She asked showing him the page.

"Yeah the penmanship is a little spotty, but don't worry it's all legible." He told her.

"Harry I can't make heads or tails of this." She said as she handed the book back to him disappointed.

"What, but….Oh." Harry shoulders drooped. "So that's what that meant."

"What?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"Here on the inside front cover. There's a line here. 'Only blood or bonds of magic shall perceive the truth.'" Harry translated.

"So it's enchanted to only reveal its contents to members of the Potter family." Hermione guessed. "Makes sense I suppose."

"I'm sorry Hermione." Harry apologized.

"It's okay Harry. I'm just happy to have gotten to see a family grimoire. Most old families keep these locked away."

"I found it in the Potter Family vault when I visited Gringotts. It's where I got the runes." He offered her a smile.

Dismissing her disappointment, Hermione smiled and started asking as many questions as she could.

They spent the next several minutes discussing some of the things Harry had read about in the Grimoire with Hermione wrangling a promise out of him to share any new esoteric spells he happened to find in the future. Harry agreed without too much trouble.

He figured it was the least he could do.

Slipping the book back into his rune storage Harry looked at her and the last question she had asked him sprang to mind.

His hostility towards Molly Weasley.

Harry thought about telling her a part of the truth. Maybe outlining some of the pieces he'd put together over the years that pointed to Ron and Molly's intentions to steal his inheritance, but decided against it for now. He didn't want to get into the habit of telling half-truths with her. He would explain all of it later once she had managed to master enough occlumency to stop someone from stealing thei secrets.

Faking a yawn was all it took in the end to distract her from the topic. Hermione took one look at the time and decided they should both get to bed. Picking up his wand again Harry escorted her to the door, flicking his wand to dispel the charms he'd placed on it.

"Goodnight Hermione." Harry said, surprising the witch with an impromptu hug. He had never been one to initiate physical contact in the past, something he had decided to fix when it came to the people closest to him. The embrace lasted a little longer than could be considered normal for a casual hug between friends.

"Goodnight Harry." Hermione replied. The new height difference between them becoming even more obvious as she gently rested her head on his shoulder. Something that would have been a little awkward to try just 2 months ago. She stood there for a few seconds just enjoying the feeling of his arms around her.

Harry had always made her feel safe. His presence fortifying her confidence in almost any situation since she knew he would always stand in the way of anyone trying to hurt her. Not that she thought it was something exclusive to her alone. Protecting those he cared about was a fundamental part of who he was. It was something she had always secretly enjoyed, but never thought too much about. That feeling was coming out in spades now and Hermione took a moment to bask in it. Knowing that she had to eventually get some sleep she gave herself a few seconds to enjoy the feeling of comfort he provided before they would have to go their separate ways.

Giving him one more squeeze she stepped back out of the embrace. Smiling as his hands trailed across her shoulders as if reluctant to let her go.

"Night." He offered as he opened the door for her.

With one more smile she turned and made her way down the hall and into her own room.

Harry stood there a little while longer just gazing at her door. Before sighing.

"Did you have something to say or were you just planning to stand there and observe me all night." He asked out loud.

A muffled snort came from a shadow further down the hall.

Tonks stepped out into the low lighting, smirking at him.

"I was just on my way to bed when I saw Ms. Granger exiting your room." She said, her eyes lighting up with mischief. "A little midnight rendezvous Mr. Potter? What would Molly say?"

"Not that it would be any of her business regardless, but we were just catching up. We haven't had a chance to talk since the end of last term." He replied, ignoring her teasing.

"Oh so that's what you two were doing behind closed doors this late at night." Tonks commented, "What a shame…and here I thought you were up to something…a little more fun."

"Sorry to disappoint Tonks, but you'll have to get your vicarious thrills elsewhere." Harry yawned for real this time.

"Oh you're no fun." Tonks pouted.

"Story of my life." Harry said as if it pained him causing Tonks to laugh lightly in response.

"Well I hope that changes soon, but for now I'll let you get some sleep." Her teasing tone disappearing as she turned to walk away. "Night Harry."

Watching his fellow metamorph walk away Harry couldn't help but admire her confidence.

"I hope so too Tonks. I really do."

# # #

Tonks leaned back into her bedroom door as soon as she had closed it behind her, the smile she'd been wearing slipping from her face reluctantly.

What is your secret?

The image she'd built up of Harry Potter in her head from all the talk she'd heard from The Order was nothing like the person she'd been getting to know over the last few days.

He's so different from what I was led to expect.

She didn't doubt that he was who he claimed to be. If she was like Moody, the paranoid retired auror, she would have already tied Harry up suspecting polyjuice potion, but Tonks had been in his presence for over an hour without any signs of a potion dose being taken so she was pretty confident that was not it.

Not that Harry not being Harry had ever really been a serious consideration to her. Especially now, not after witnessing the almost palpable emotion in his eyes when he'd seen Sirius for the first time, not to mention Hermione. You couldn't fake something like that.

But there were things bothering her. So many little tells that she'd seen that just didn't seem to add up.

She'd asked around earlier. Sirius, Remus, the Weasleys, anyone from the order he might have had contact with at any point the last year or so.

No one had ever mentioned her to him, even in passing, or so they claimed.

How did he know who I was?

This wasn't the only question she'd been asking the last few hours, but she had no idea how to get the answers to anything else without straight up asking him.

Not yet. I need more before we go that route.

In truth Tonks didn't know what to do. She was definitely confused, and more than a little suspicious, but whenever she was around him most of her concerns just vanished to the back of her mind. He brought out the playful side of her she'd been keeping under lock and key since joining the auror corp. She knew no one would ever give her any awards for maturity normally, but the way she felt around him…

That was scaring her a bit.

Mostly because it feels so natural. The pull he exerts. I feel so drawn to him, especially now that we look almost the same age.

Tonks was not stupid, and she wasn't naïve, unlike what most people thought.

She knew she shouldn't be flirting with a fifteen year old, but merlin help her she couldn't seem to stop. She'd had a few crushes in the past, but none that had ever made her feel so…comfortable in her own skin.

Maybe it had something to do with him being a metamorph. She couldn't dismiss that as a possibility. Full metamorphmagi were beyond rare. Up until this week she'd been almost positive that she was the only one living in all of Europe. Knowing now that in fact that wasn't the case, the idea that there was someone right there in front of her who could really understand what it was like to be her…to have their gift. It was a powerful draw.

She'd thought for a while that maybe Remus….that maybe his situation would give him some insight into what it was like…being different, but now, having met Harry, she realized she'd only been fooling herself there.

At the very least she could thank Harry Potter for opening her eyes to that eventual disaster waiting to happen. If she'd let herself get anymore invested in that crush there was no telling when she would have realized the truth or how hurt she would have been when she eventually did.

Remus was a good man. She would never say otherwise, but hating yourself, the way that man did? There was no way a healthy relationship could start with that as its foundation. How can you love someone else if you're not even capable of liking yourself?

She paused that train of thought for a moment as she tried to recall how she'd felt earlier that night.

The broom race they'd had and how it had felt to be in Harry's arms after he'd saved her from her almost, not so refreshing, night time swim. She'd felt like the classic damsel in distress for a brief moment, not a feeling she'd ever thought she'd enjoy.

Nymphadora Tonks had never fantasized about being a princess or a damsel wanting to be saved by a white night on a shining steed, her childhood had been more about racing brooms and muggle sports games with her dad, but for a brief second, in his arms, she'd felt she could start to understand the appeal. Even looking back on it now invoked a smile from her that she couldn't suppress no matter how much she tried.

Merlin I'm in trouble.

Lightly hitting the back of her head on the wood behind her in frustration she tried to clear her thoughts.

I'll figure you out Mr. Potter. Whatever it takes, I'll figure out what you're hiding.

Moving away from the door she proceeded to get ready for bed.

"Vicarious thrills my arse…cheeky bastard."

# # #

August 3rd 1995

9:05am

Harry and Sirius were sitting at the dining room table enjoying some morning tea. Not a drink Harry was used to, but one that he had dearly missed in the future.

He'd been up since 6am. Having meant to get a light bit of training in, before realizing that he had no idea if Grimmauld Place even had a training room. He was sure one had to exist, but he'd forgotten to ask Sirius with all the drama that had unfolded the night before.

He'd found Sirius sitting at the dining room table looking worse for the wear, nursing a glass of what Harry expected to be firewhiskey. If the bottle nearby was any indication.

Flashback [start]

"Alright there Sirius?" Harry asked as he sat down across from his god-father.

Sirius looked up in surprise not noticing his approach.

"Morning pup. I'm fine." He finished the rest of his whiskey, a small bit of steam escaping his ears as he did so. "Couldn't sleep."

Harry took in his god-father's haggard appearance and the empty bottle of firewhiskey next to him.

"Nightmares?"

Sirius looked at him for a moment as if considering how much to tell him.

"Yeah." He said with a sigh. "Been getting better the last year or so, but they do flare up occasionally."

"Sirius I'm going to get you your day in court and when I do and when they finally exonerate you, would you make me a promise?" Harry asked his god-father seriously.

"What sort of promise?" Sirius asked wearily. His time as a marauder making him hesitant to blindly agree to something like that.

"Check yourself into Saint Mungo's." Harry replied.

"What? Why? Harry I'm fine. Nothing a few months of rest and relaxation can't cure." Sirius protested.

"Sirius don't." Harry placed his hands flat on the table in front of him. "We both know that's not true."

Harry paused as he thought about how to say the next part.

"Sirius you went through hell. A hell that drives most men mad in a fraction of the time you spent in there. Yes your animagus form shielded you from the brunt of it, but bloody hell Sirius you were in there for 12 years. The cumulative effect of all that dementor exposure alone has to have done some damage."

Sirius looked down at the table. Harry could tell that he wanted to refute what he was saying, but the certainty in his voice made it hard to say anything.

"It does not make you less of a wizard or less my god-father if you at least go and get examined." Harry insisted.

"But what if there's something wrong." Sirius quietly replied. "I mean…pup I just…"

"Sirius If there is something wrong, not knowing about it is always worse. If we know something is wrong than we can take whatever steps are needed to fix it." Harry kept his voice firm. "I need you healthy padfoot."

The use of his moniker seemed to jar the sleep deprived man. He looked down at the empty glass he was rolling between his hands as he considered Harry's words.

"Alright Harry I'll do it."

"You promise?" Harry quickly reminded him.

"Yes, I promise I'll go get checked out by Saint Mungo's once it is safe for me to do so."

"Thank You Padfoot. That makes me feel a lot better." Harry smiled for the first time since sitting down.

Flashback [end]

Right after that Harry had made them both a cup of tea and they had spent the rest of the morning reminiscing about their time at Hogwarts. Harry telling him all about some of the less important events that had transpired over his first four years and Sirius telling him more about his parents and some of the pranks he and his father had pulled on the slytherins back in the day.

"So McGonagall was standing there, her robes flashing through every color in the rainbow, looking more furious than I have ever seen her and Dumbledore strolls in as cheery as the sun is bright, takes one look at her, and says," Sirius paused to breathe and then continued on in a fairly decent impression of the Hogwarts Headmaster. "My dear Minerva, where did you get such fantastic robes? You must tell me, I've been meaning to update my wardrobe for the longest time."

Remus who had just walked into the room snorted as he remembered that prank.

"That was one of your better one's Padfoot, but I seem to recall you spending the next week helping Filtch clean the owlery – by hand." Remus grabbed a cuppa for himself and sat down next to his friend and fellow marauder. "Morning Harry."

"Morning Remus." Harry smiled back the same twinge of irritation from last night hitting him, only not as fiercely.

"So what's on the agenda today Pup?" Sirius asked as he sipped his tea.

"Well I think I'm going to see about running a few errands in Diagon alley." He replied.

"Harry I'm not sure Dumbledore will approve of that." Remus said carefully.

"Well then it's a good thing Dumbledore has no say in that I do." Harry responded back cheerfully.

"Harry I understand if you're feeling upset about being kept in the dark this summer, but he's still your headmaster and magical guardian." The werewolf tried to remind him.

"Okay first off, it's nice that someone has finally bothered to let me know that I actually had a magical guardian, and second –", Harry lifted his hand up and allowed his Potter ring to show, "It no longer matters."

Remus and Sirius stared at his hand for a moment before his god-father dissolved into fits of laughter. Causing both Remus and Harry to worry for a moment that he had lost his mind.

Sirius waved his hand to brush aside their concern as he continued laughing.

"Harry you claimed your lordship!?" Sirius asked trying to bring himself back under control. "When did you do that?"

"Yesterday, Tonks and I went to Diagon Alley and I stopped in at Gringotts while we were there." Harry told them both.

"Yesterday, but that was before the Dementors attack." Remus commented.

Harry only smiled in response. That seemed to sober up Sirius.

"But the trace on you marking you as an under-aged wizard should have broken the moment you put that ring on. How did they…" Sirius trailed off.

"Isn't that something." Harry agreed.

"Oh Merlin…This…this is going to be….You know I kind of wish I could be there to see the look on Fudge's face when he discovers that little fact." Sirius stated glumly.

"Don't worry padfoot I'll make sure to preserve a copy of the memory for you." Harry assured his god-father. "But if you'll both excuse me I have some reading to catch up on before I get ready to go."

"Summer homework?" Remus asked. "I can help if you're stuck on anything."

The offer brought Harry up short. The irritation he felt in the man's presence diminishing slightly.

"No thanks Moony I'm good for now." Harry told him.

Seeing both older men nod Harry quickly turned and made his way back to his room.

That brief interaction with Remus had caused a bit of a confusion for Harry.

The last time he had spoken to the werewolf in the original timeline was when he had basically thrown Remus out of Grimmauld place after the man had revealed that he planned to abandon his wife and unborn child.

All because he couldn't accept his lycanthropy.

Harry had been beyond furious at the man. As a kid that had grown up not knowing his parent, as someone who would give anything to see his mum and dad again, the idea that someone he had come to think of as an uncle would willing put his child through that…Harry had refused to speak with him from that point on.

Even after the kid was born and Remus had attempted to reach out to him, Harry had turned him away. His anger still too strong.

Remus and Tonks had both died before he'd had another chance to speak to either of them again.

Reaching his room Harry closed and sealed the door against eavesdroppers and removed his Family's Grimoire from rune storage.

It truly was an irreplaceable treasure. When he had first found it in the Potter vault he had pinched himself in disbelief. He'd never had a chance to read it in his previous life, he'd never even known it existed. The goblins had said they'd seized all magical items in his vault. Claimed it was a part of the penalties he had incurred for the Potter Family breaching their terms of contract with his Dragon Riding.

He's been furious at the time, but had decided against fighting the goblins since he'd been allowed to keep his properties and a quarter of his liquid assets. According to the long standing contract all account holders agreed to, "Any overt act of war or loss of goblin life in an unprovoked attack on the Goblin Nation will see all holdings of the offending party forfeited."

Frankly it was only his explanation of what he was after and the long history of favorable relations the Potter family had with the Nation that saw him getting to keep as much as he had.

But if he had known the Grimoire existed, he may very well have gone to war to retrieve it. Almost fifteen hundred years' worth of magical knowledge, either discovered or perfected by his ancestors, was stored in its magically expanded pages. He'd only lightly skimmed through the first dozen pages and already he had found theories and spells that he could not wait to experiment with. Nothing truly awe inspiring, but interesting none the less.

Several hours passed while he was reading without him realizing it. Glancing up at the clock on his wall he saw that it was nearing lunch time. He needed to get a move on if wanted to get any shopping in.

Maybe he could convince Hermione to go with him.

# # #

August 3rd 1995

12:36 pm

"I don't think we should have just snuck out like that." Hermione said for probably the third time since they'd floo'd to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Hermione, again, we did not sneak out. We told Sirius and Tonks where we were going and when we'd be back." Harry told her with a role of his eyes.

"But I'm not sure Professor Dumbledore would have agreed."

Harry turned to Hermione and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Hermione do you trust me?" He asked.

"Of course I trust you Harry." Her answer was immediate.

"Then come on. I promise everything will be okay." He took her by the hand and led her down Diagon Alley.

"I trust you to get me into trouble." Hermione said with what he could swear was a pout.

Harry smirked at her, but otherwise ignored the comment.

"I figured we could start at Flourish and Blotts. I figured you could use some new reading material."

Hermione froze for a moment, her lingering desire to respect the headmaster's wishes directly opposed to the more immediate promise of new books.

"Well…what will it be Hermione? I have a money pouch here dedicated to books and book related purchases – should I put it back?"

Nearly getting his arm wrenched off as he was dragged into the book store was entirely his own fault he admitted to himself. Anyone who's known Hermione Granger for any length of time knows to never tease her with the threat of taking new books away from her.

Thus the next forty-five minutes found him obediently following his best friend through the store staring in amazement at the stack of books that had started to form in his arms.

The girl was on a mission. A mission to realize her lifelong dream of owning a magical library that could rival Hogwarts.

For Harry, seeing her smile and having such a good time was more than worth the aching arms and sore back. It wasn't until he started losing sight of her behind the pile of books that he felt the need to pull back the leash a little.

"Umm Hermione, don't you think we have enough for now?"

Not even bothering to look at him Hermione continued to scan the titles on the shelf in front of her.

"I mean we can always come back for more later." He suggested hopefully.

"But were already here Harry. Besides I'm only getting a few." She replied pulling a copy of "Elemental Magic: Mastering Mother Nature in 4 Easy Steps!" off the shelf.

"A few…uhh..are you sure about that." He looked at her incredulously.

"Of course I'm sure, what are you – oh." Hermione had glanced over at him in confusion and finally recognized his plight.

"I'm sorry Harry. I seem to have let myself get a bit carried away." She apologized embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it." Harry told her with a smile.

"I suppose I should try and put some of them back." She said chewing her bottom lip as she thought about which books she could or could not live without. Completely unaware of the effect her actions were having on her shopping partner.

"Let's just get the lot." He suggested clearing his throat as he tried not to stare at the lip she was STILL chewing on.

"Harry there are way too many. How are we going to get them out of the store?" She fretted.

"Hermione are you a witch or not, just shrink the bag." He stated his answer like it was obvious.

Hermione sent him a glare even as she blushed in embarrassment from having forgotten such a simple solution to her dilemma.

"Sorry for not considering magic as an option." She crossed her arms as she sent him a mocking glare. "Not all of us got emancipated this summer Milord."

"You know I think kind of like it when you call me that." Harry replied with a grin.

"You know I think all those new muscles are starving your brain." She said with a huff of annoyance.

Her comment on his new build reminded him of something he had meant to say earlier. Her chosen outfit had really drawn his eyes to her, tight jeans and a well fitted T-shirt definitely showed off her form in a much more effective way than the bulky school robes he was used to seeing her in.

"That reminds me Hermione. I forgot to mention it before we left, but you look really nice today. I really like your hair like that."

Hermione, who had been about to reply to his teasing about the Milord comment, almost choked on her words.

Did he just compliment me on my looks?

And even more important than that.

Did he notice that I tried that new spell Tonks taught me to control my hair?

Her first question left her blushing, but the second left her dazed. Since when did her best friend notice things like that? Since she'd known him he'd never been that observant when it came to those types of things.

This was the boy who, she knew for a fact, had absolutely no idea that more than just a few girls at Hogwarts, and not just in his year group either, had been holding regular meetings for the Hogwarts chapter of the "Harry Potter All Girls Fan Club".

"Tonks showed me a few spells that helped control it." She explained. "You really like it?"

"I've always thought you were pretty, but the hair definitely frames your face nicely." Harry gave her a gentle smile as he said that.

He knew she'd struggled with her self-image in the past and he had been a pretty lousy friend to her by not letting her know that he didn't agree with all the "Plain Jane" comments she and others had made about her looks.

His silence might as well have been confirmation in the mind of teenaged girl / young woman that he agreed with them. He was definitely not going to be making the same mistakes from now on.

"Thanks Harry I…that's nice of you to say." Hermione said uncertainly.

"I'm nNot just saying it." Harry told her as he carefully set the books down on the floor next to him and reached out to take her hand to try and show his sincerity. "I'm sorry I've been such a git over the years. I know you've had people give you a hard time about your looks. I should have spoken up before now, told them all to bugger off, but I was too caught up in my own teen angst to really understand well...anything related to girls." She chuckled at his self-depreciating remark. "I've always been confused about the things I've heard them say. I don't understand how they seem unable to see the same beautiful girl I see when I look at you. I think a lot of the girls are simply too blinded by their jealousy of your intelligence to see anything else and the rest are just repeating the garbage Malfoy spews."

"Do you really think so Harry?" Her words were hard to make out. She had lowered her eyes and was using one hand to pick at the fabric of her shirt. The other still caught in his grasp.

"I really do." He gave her chin a gentle tap so she would look him in the eye. "You were absolutely stunning at the Yule ball. I'm pretty sure every boy there was wishing they'd asked you out when they saw you enter with Viktor."

The atmosphere had grown thick and without either of them realizing it Hermione had taken a step closer to him. She also didn't seem to notice when one of her hands came up to trace her finger tips over his shirt. Harry could feel his muscles twitching at the contact.

"Every boy?" She asked hesitantly.

"I'm pretty sure." Harry smiled.

"Even – ". She was interrupted mid-sentence and the atmosphere around them was shattered as a shopkeeper assistant appeared behind them clearing her throat to get their attention.

"Excuse me, but are you planning on buying these?" She indicated the pile of books at their feet. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we can't have merchandise just sitting on the floor if you don't intend to purchase them."

Stepping away from Hermione and releasing her hand Harry focused on the shop employee with an annoyed look.

The young woman gulped and shuffled her feet anxiously under the wizard's intense gaze.

"We'll take all of them. Please have them rung up at the register and ready for us. We shall be there in a moment." Harry cordially replied looking back at Hermione with concern as she had yet to move and was instead clutching her hands in front of her.

"Well umm sir we don't really –."

"Thank You." Harry's eyes snapped back to the assistant and for just a moment he allowed himself to use an old trick he'd learned about in the future. He tapped into his magic and instead of directing it into a spell he simply pulled it out and set it running through his body. This cause a whole bunch of effects that he had found to be useful in the future, but right now he was only interested in what it could do to his eyes. It made them glow.

The reaction was instantaneous.

"Of course sir I'll have them waiting for you. Take all the time you need." With that the assistant hastily levitated the book pile and almost ran to the front of the store.

Reigning in his power he felt himself calm down as he returned his attention to the girl in front of him.

"Hermione are you –." It was his turn to be interrupted as Hermione flung her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. He felt her shoulders shake as he slowly and hesitantly wrapped his arms around them.

She's crying.

Panic started to course through him as he started going over everything he had just said to her. Had he said something wrong? Did he say too much? Had he scared her?

He was just about to risk asking her when he heard her speak, the words slightly muffled by his shirt.

"Thank you."

Well I was definitely not expecting that.

He decided against saying anything for the moment and just settled with lightly rubbing her back with one hand. It seemed to be the right thing to do as her tears seemed to subside after a while.

Almost a minute later Hermione seemed to have regained enough control that she stepped back with only a brief sniffle.

"I'm sorry I broke down like that Harry." She said.

"I don't care about that Hermione, I just want to know what caused it. Was it something I said?" He asked.

"Well kind of – yeah." She replied with a smile.

"Whatever I said to upset you I'm sorry, that wasn't my intent." Harry tried to apologize only to be even further confused when she laughed.

"Oh Harry no I'm sorry, I'm a mess of confusing signals right now. I promise those were not sad tears."

"They weren't? So what were they?" Harry asked. Almost one hundred years of life experience and he still had no clue as to how a girl's mind worked.

To be fair, he'd only been married for a few of those years and it wasn't exactly a "normal" marriage. The rest of his time had been spent tracking down Dark Wizards and waiting for Voldemort to re-emerge every so often.

He might have been a bit of a workaholic.

"They're happy tears Harry." She giggled as she caught him silently repeat the words under his breath. "It's just…No one has ever said anything so…nice to me before. I guess I was just overwhelmed for a second. Your words meant a lot to me. Thank You."

"I meant every one of them. You are a beautiful girl Hermione. Don't let anyone make you feel like you aren't." His eyes were serious as he tried to reinforce those words in her mind.

"I won't." She let out a watery laugh as she wiped her face clean. "Let's get going before I start crying again."

"Okay, there are a few more places I need to stop at before we finish up. You want to grab a late lunch at the Leaky Cauldron before we head back?"

"I would love to." She replied with a wide smile.

As they were walking to the front of the store Harry suddenly remembered something Hermione had said before they had gotten distracted. When he asked her about it she gave him a funny look out of the corner of her eye, like he should know better.

"Harry you suggested I perform magic back at the store." She commented.

"Yes and…" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"I'm underage Harry, I'm not allowed to perform magic outside of Hogwarts, Not if I don't want to be expelled."

Harry merely chuckled at that. Seeing her narrow her eyes he quickly went on to explain his amusement.

"Hermione, the ministry doesn't track underage magic in Diagon Alley for a reason, for more than one reason actually." He told her.

"What do you mean? How do you know that? What reasons?" She was staring at him wide eyed as if his answers were the answer to every Hogwarts test she would ever take in the future.

It actually made him kind of nervous.

"The ministry's official reason is because of Mr. Ollivander's Wand Shop. They say that if they tried to monitor the alley for underage magic they would be sending out letters every few minutes with kids trying out new wands during the summer. Which okay I guess that makes a little sense…somewhat…but that's not the only reason. It's not even completely accurate, but that's not important. What is important is that there are more reasons than they choose to reveal."

He watched as she seemed to hang on his every word.

"First reason why they don't is that they're actually not allowed to. All of Diagon Alley sits on land owned by Gringotts and per the peace treaty the ministry signed to end the last goblin/wizard they are not allowed to monitor anything coming from Goblin owned land in anyway except through goblin approved channels."

"And the second reason?" Hermione prompted.

"They simply can't. Their monitoring devices won't work. The ambient magic in the air around the Alley and Gringotts in particular is so strong, that any magical signature produced nearby gets completely scrambled. Too much Magical interference."

For a moment Hermione just stared at him before shaking her head.

"I don't know where this Harry Potter has been hiding, but I think I'll keep him."

Harry smiled at that and took off towards his next destination. Next up on the list; the previously mentioned Ollivanders.

He needed to ask the man about a wand holster.

# # #

As Harry and Hermione were getting ready to pay for their purchases a woman with blonde hair leaned against the shelf in the next aisle over in shock.

"Mon seigneur ... What was that?" The surprised witch asked as she placed her hand to her chest as she tried to calm her breathing. Only to pull it back in surprise as the fabric of her blouse started smoking.

She glanced down at her hand to see her palm glowing a bright red.

She needed to speak with her maman immediately.

# # #

August 3rd 1995

2:45 pm

After having enjoyed a simple lunch at the Leaky Cauldron Harry and Hermione took the floo back to Number 12, with Hermione going first and Harry following after with all their purchases securely placed in his rune storage.

To say Hermione was still jealous and would be making him show her how to create one of her own soon was like saying the Arctic Circle was just "a little chilly".

Harry stepped into the floo, taking extra care to clearly state his destination. He had always had an issue with floo travel, even in the future.

Half the time it was as simple as walking from one room to the next and the other half the time it was like being shot from a cannon. He had mastered both Apparition and Portkey travel, but for the life of him he could not figure out why he still had issues with the floo.

This would prove to be one of the later cases unfortunately. Instead of arriving at a slow walking pace, he was instead, violently expelled from the fireplace like a rock from a slingshot – directly into a very startled Hermione Granger.

The impact sent them rolling across the ground, Harry doing everything he could to shield the witch he has just plowed over from being hurt.

When the world finally stopped spinning Harry stopped breathing as he took notice of the rather – compromising position they'd found themselves in.

Harry laying stiff as a board on his back with a very ruffled Hermione granger laying on top of him. He had one hand on the back of her head, the other curled around her waist. Hers resting on his shoulders.

They looked at each other for a moment both too stunned to move.

Feeling his lungs start to protest Harry took a deep breath through his nose, unintentionally drawing in the scent of her strawberry shampoo. His entire body twitched in response and he felt her unconsciously dig her nails into his shoulders a little bit.

Their faces were inches apart. He could feel her breath against his face as she exhaled softly. He unconsciously applied a little more pressure to her waist as he felt the fingers of his other hand slowly start to thread their way deeper into her hair.

She released a small gasp, but the sudden sound was enough to break through his daze and Harry's eyes widened as he realized how close they were…a small part of him, which was slowly growing larger, was kind of curious to see how she would…

"Harry…Hermione is that you!?" A voice called from the other room, causing both of them to roll away from each other in panic.

"It's us Tonks!" Harry called back as they jumped to their feet.

"Alright I was just making sure!" Tonk's head appeared through the doorway at the far side of the room, her normal smirk greeting both of them. "Can't be too careful these days."

Harry and Hermione both chuckled self-consciously.

Tonks eyed them for a second, almost like she was suspected them of something.

"Did something happen?" She asked, her eyes moving to Harry's to gauge his reaction.

"Nope just a long day of shopping." Harry wasn't sure how he managed to keep his voice even, but he was thankful he did. The last thing he needed was Tonks finding out what had just happened.

She would never let him live it down.

"Okay well dinner isn't scheduled for a few more hours so I was thinking of checking out the training room Sirius claims this place has. Either of you feel like joining me?" The auror offered.

Harry instantly forgot all about his embarrassment at the mention of training.

"I'll take you up on that. Hermione?" He looked at the witch next to him.

"No thanks, I'm a little tired. I'm going to go lay down for a bit." She answered with a smile.

"Okay then. See you in the main hall in five minutes Harry?" Tonks asked. Getting a nod of acceptance she pulled her head back and let the door close.

"Well thanks for coming with me Hermione. I appreciated the company." Harry looked down at his feet as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

He was shocked that instead of responding with words she stepped up in front of him and leaned in to softly place a small kiss on his cheek.

"No thank you Harry. I haven't had that much fun in a while. Hopefully we have the chance to get out and spend some time together more often." She smiled shyly and Harry felt his cheeks grow warm.

"I think that would be great." He said. "We don't spend enough time together...just the two of us. I think it could be fun if today was any indication."

"Great…well…you better not keep Tonks waiting."

Harry gave her a quick nod and went to leave the room only to realize that in his haste he had nearly forgot to get her books out of storage for her.

He quickly pulled the bags out and handed them over.

"Here's the books we bought. Let me know if there's anything promising that we can go over together later."

Hermione grinned, whether at the prospect of getting to look through her new books or the thought of sharing her findings with him later he did not know.

Knowing her propensity for creating study groups. It was anyone's guess.

Harry left the room soon after that, making his way towards the main hall wondering if Tonks would be up for training with him.

He hadn't had a good sparring partner in quite a while.

He'd have to hide a lot of his abilities and skill, but he didn't see that being much of a problem.

Thinking up ways to ask the young auror to spar with him he walked into the hall and found her standing there waiting.

"You finish saying goodbye to your girlfriend?" Tonks said with a smirk that for some reason made him kind of nervous.

"Hermione's not my girlfriend Tonks, we're just friends." He told her uncertainly. Her hair was a darker shade of pink than usual. Was she upset about something?

Tonks held up her hands in surrender.

"Alright sorry I just assumed when I came in and saw you guys looking around all guilty like, I figured I'd interrupted a quick snog." She explained.

"No I screwed up the landing coming out of the floo, knocked her over. I was just helping her up when you popped in." Harry told her hoping she would buy the toned down version.

"Hmm Okay. None of my business anyway." She seemed to dismiss the topic. "You ready to check out the training room?"

Harry sighed in relief that she was willing to drop the subject and gave her an enthusiastic nod.

"Absolutely! I wanted to ask you for a favor if we do find it." At her curious look he continued. "Would you mind sparring with me a little? Maybe helping me run through some drills?"

Harry was not ashamed to admit that her answering smile made his blood run a little cold.

"Oh I would love to."

To be Continued…

Author's Note: Okay guys here we are another day another update. Like I said up top, this will be the last update for about a week. I am going back to work tomorrow so I will not have the same amount of time to dedicate to writing.

My hope is to get a chapter out at least once a week or maybe every 8 or 9 days.

Hopefully you all be patient with me in that regard.

I also hope that you guys liked the scenes between Harry and Hermione. I absolutely love writing Tonks, but I wanted this chapter to focus more on the Harry/Hermione relationship.

I actually really like how it turned out, but I might be a little biased.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Until Next Time!