Chapter 3: True Feelings
A/N: The book that Harry was reading? The author, Dee Fenjurselv? Defend yourself? Haha. Yeah, I made that up...
The next day, Dumbledore came by, wanting to know why Harry left his home and to where he went to."I went out for a walk, Professor. Surely, it isn't illegal?" Harry asked with a disdainful sneer at the Headmaster.
Dumbledore, in return, sighed. He knew the death of Sirius would harm Harry, but to change him this much..."No it isn't, but Voldemort is hunting you down with even greater fervor now. The blood wards is the only thing that is currently preventing Tom from reaching you. But now, I must-"
"Voldemort took my blood for the ritual, so how the hell are the wards protecting me?!" Harry yelled in frustration. Tonks was outside playing guard to Harry, while Bella was up in his room. Harry and Dumbledore were currently in the sitting room (A/N: I think this is the British equivalent of a living or family room) of 4 Privet Drive.
"That's not the point," Dumbledore replied, brushing away the question as insignificant. He started to go back to what he was saying, but Harry interrupted again.
"And wasn't one of stipulations of the blood wards that I had to call Privet Drive home in order for them to work? Because I have never once called this place home," he spat.
"As I was saying," Dumbledore exclaimed, totally ignoring Harry's recent outburst, "I must restrict you from leaving the house at all until school starts, and to enforce this, I'll convince Madam Bones to assign Nymphadora to your protection detail, since she's currently guarding you off-duty."
Dumbledore continued to ramble about how sorry he was for having to do this, but Harry was cackling with glee on the inside. Tonks was a good friend, so he could easily convince her to come with him to wherever he would go, and she was loyal to him more than the old man.
"...and now I must bid you a good day. Once again, I'm sorry Harry, but this is for your own good." Harry jerked up at this last sentence and arranged his face into one of unhappy reluctance.
Once Dumbledore left, Harry went back up to find his magically enlarged room empty.
"Bella?" he called out.
"In here," her voice rang from the potions lab.
He entered the lab to find her bent over a cauldron brewing something that looked particularly nasty. "What are you making?"
"It's a surprise," she replied happily.
A pop interrupted Harry, who was about to continue his inquiries. "Honey, I'm homeeeee!"
"Too much muggle TV shows, Tonks," Harry commented while shaking his head. "So anything of interest happen?"
"Yeah, I am now your official guard! Dumbledore convinced Madam Bones to assign me to you, so now I can get paid AND hang out with you, Harry!"
"And what am I, niece? Chopped liver?" Bella's voice rang out from the lab again.
"Alright, alright, hang out with Harry and Aunt Bella!"
"You can just call me Bella, you know."
"And you can call me Tonks. Not Nymphadora, not niece."
Their playful banter was interrupted by Harry, who informed the two that he still needed training. Tonks, being the playful Auror metamorphmagus she is, told him to just do some physical workouts in the tent. Bella said she'd join the two after finishing with her potion. The next two hours were full of weight lifting, running, and boxing.
When the trio emerged, Harry glanced over at the alarm clock next to his bed. The time read 2:05. "Stupid clock," he muttered. "It read 2:03 before, and now it's 2:05."
Tonks, who managed to hear Harry's grumblings, just suddenly remembered something. "Oh! I forgot to tell you this, but one hour in the tent is one minute in the outside world."
"And you just thought to inform me of it now?"
"Uhhh...sorry," she said sheepishly.
Bella, who was silent throughout this exchange, had an idea. "What if we do Harry's magic training in there? We can conjure up a dueling platform and bring in some books, and Harry can get in a lot more training that way!"
The month of July passed quickly, and Harry started to spend more and more time in the tent. With the passing of his birthday, his magical core expanded threefold. His spells became more powerful, and wandless magic was made easier, although he could only do the basic spells. He learned a lot of Dark Arts spells and Potions skills from Bella, and Tonks provided help in Charms and Transfigurations. His martial arts training, which he received from Tonks (all Aurors go through it in training; most just stop after graduating, she said), also improved to the point where he had to start teaching himself from books, and Tonks started learning from him. He also taught himself and the two girls fencing. Tonks showed no ability for it whatsoever, but Bella took to it like a fish does to water. During this time, Bella's potion was also finished. When she drank it, she seemed to magically decrease in age. The other two were astounded, and she explained that it was a semi-illegal potion that was very complicated to make, but any Potions master or mistress could do it (with enough time). Now, Bella looked around Tonks' age. A few days before his birthday, the two witches taught Harry how to apparate, and after practicing for several hours in the magical tent, mastered that particular skill too.
August 1st
Bella and Tonks were standing over Harry, watching him have a peaceful slumber in his bed. "Ready?" Bella asked.
"Yeah," Tonks whispered back. "On the count of three then?"
"One..."
"Two..."
"Three!"
"Aguamenti!" Twin streams of ice cold water sprayed the unmoving body of Harry. Nothing happened. The two had expected him to jump out of bed screaming, like he did last week. But now, he was just laying there...like a corpse.
Bella strode over to him and placed her ear near his head. "He's not breathing!" she exclaimed in a panic.
Tonks, in a manner that was unlike her, calmly walked over and performed CPR. A minute of CPR proved helpless, and the two watched helplessly while their favorite man passed on...
"BOO!"
Two screams echoed through the room. Harry was glad that the silencing charms were in place. Otherwise, half the neighborhood would've heard the screams and would assume that "the crazy boy who goes to St. Brutus" killed two people.
Tonks and Bella spun around to find Harry standing there with his arms crossed, a large grin on his face. "Ha, I got you-"
Wham! Tonks went flying into Harry. She held onto his shirt like it was her lifeline, and cried into it for two full minutes. Harry, who was startled by the suddenness, awkwardly wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry for playing such a mean trick on you. I'm sorry, ok? I didn't mean it. I promise I won't ever do it again," he cooed into her ear.
Her wailing did not stop, and she continued to cry. When the tears began to stop, she mumbled. "I thought you were dead. I really thought you were dead. What would I do then? I never even got a kiss from you-" she stopped suddenly.
"A kiss?" Harry stammered, his face a Weasley red. Sure he was interested in Tonks, especially after the time the two spent together over the last month, but to find out that she was interested in him too? He was just a scrawny sixteen year old with messy black hair. Sure, his eyes was great, but that was probably the only good quality about him. Why would anyone like him?
"Yes, a kiss! I liked you since I met you when you were just one year old. It wasn't really love, but just affection for a small baby, and then when I "met" you again over the summer last year, I started to like you again. But now, with the month we've spent together, I think...I think..."
"Shh..." Harry said gently, placing a finger on her lips. He bent his head down and gently pressed his lips to hers. The feeling was wonderful. It was not at all like the kiss he shared with Cho. This was...simply magnificent. He could see why all the guys in the dorm were always talking about kissing a girl. His stomach fluttered with imaginary butterflies as she ran her tongue over his lips, begging entrance. He complied, and the two had an impromptu tongue wrestling match.
"Ahem."
The two sprang apart, totally forgetting about Bella's presence.
"As interesting as it is to see my master and my niece wrestle with their tongues, I believe we have some work to do? First off we must head to Gringotts so Harry here can receive his inheritance, and after that, we can take Harry to the Ministry so he can take his apparition test."
"Right, right," Harry said distractedly, as his mind was currently on the softness of Tonks' lips, how she fit perfectly in his arms, and how she smelled wonderful.
Snap! The snapping fingers in front of his face brought Harry out of the realm of horniness and he blushed at how the thoughts affected a certain part of his lower body. "Yes, let's get going then."
Two pops (Harry had to hold onto Tonks, since he wasn't legally allowed to apparate yet) sounded and the room was left in a peaceful silence.
The trio arrived at the apparition point in Diagon Alley and walked slowly to Gringotts. When they got there, they asked for Ragnok, so they could speak to him about an inheritance. The teller quickly scampered away, and Ragnok came back in a minute. He beckoned them towards his office with a single finger, and the trio immediately followed.
"I understand that you are here to talk about an inheritance?"
"Yes, I'm here for the Potter inheritance," Harry commented, pulling back his hood.
"Of course, Mr. Potter. I've been waiting for you. Now," he paused to pull out a scroll even longer than the Black scroll. When he unfurled it, it turned out to be at least 5 feet long! "Let's see...You have inherited approximately fifteen million galleons, and along with your Black inheritance, that puts you at eighteen million galleons."
"Wow!" Tonks exclaimed in awe. "That's a lot of money, Harry!"
Ragnok, who was interrupted, resumed reading off the list. "You have also received stocks in several businesses, ownership of one or two businesses, the Potter Manor, and a cottage in Godric's Hollow. So now, in terms of businesses, you own: one third of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, twenty percent of Madam Malkin's, forty percent of Slug and Jiggers Apothecary, sixty percent of the Daily Prophet, five percent of the Nimbus broom company, and total ownership of Flourish & Blott's and Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. Oh yes, you have a marriage contract too! How delightful."
And then our favorite black-haired, green eyed hero fainted.
Harry awoke to the feeling of a tongue in his month. Not his tongue of course, but someone else's. Mmmmmmm, how delightful. The head pulled back, and Harry moaned at the loss of the wonderful feelings he received from the other person. When he opened his eyes he found himself staring into Ragnok's eyes.
"You taste pretty good, Mr. Potter."
Just kidding.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring into Tonks' currently blue eyes. He flashed her a grin before remembered that Ragnok told him he had a marriage contract.
"Mar- marriage contract?!" he croaked out. "What do you mean?"
"Well," the old goblin began. He pulled out a second scroll, and opened it up. "This marriage contract says that the next head of Potter would marry the youngest female Black, and it's signed Harold Potter and Orion Black. It would've normally applied to James Potter, but since he refused to become the head of the Potter family when his father, Harold Potter, told him about the contract. I was told that he was quite smitten with a certain Lily Evans. Anyway, since he refused, you have inherited the title, and by rights, the contract. And guess what? It seems the youngest current female Black is young Nymphadora Tonks here."
"But she's a Tonks," Harry replied stupidly.
Tonks whacked him in the head. "Hello, my mother, Andromeda Black-Tonks?"
"Oh right," he said in understanding. "So that means...that I'm going to be marrying Tonks here?"
"Yes Mr. Potter," the goblin replied with what could be passed as a smile (if it wasn't for those sharp, pointy teeth).
A/N: Next chapter is out! Sorry it was so late. I would've preferred for it to have come out by December, but I had homework (yeah, over the break) to finish...
