A/N: I do not own Harry Potter

Chapter 4

The next three days flew by for Harry as he waited in both anticipation and an ever-growing sense of fear, of his meeting with Tonks.

After finishing his letter from Tonks he had spent the rest of the evening working on categorizing the memories of his fifth year plus what had happened this summer so far, he then began working on his mind shields, he had been only been able to create a fairly weak shield but it was permanent which would allow him to strengthen it later without having to rebuild the shield. While categorizing his mind Harry created another category that was filled with useless information. This was useful so that anyone who was able to break into his mind would have to sort through useless memories allowing him more time to throw them out or redirect them.

The two days following Tonks' letter Harry spent working out and studying at a frenzied pace so his mind wouldn't stay focused on the upcoming meeting. In that time, he finally succeeded in summoning things of small to moderate sizes wandlessly, along with create a decent stunning spell; something that he was especially thankful for. He had also managed to get his hair to both change color and length simultaneously in what he felt was a decent amount of time. He had also made some progress with his silent casting and his progress in transfiguration was amazing since he was able to visualize the changes in great detail due to his metamorphmagus training.

His physical workout was going well too, he now had more stamina than before allowing the training sessions to go on for longer periods of time. This didn't mean he was able to box Dudley with any great success, it just meant that he was able to take a beating longer.

During this time he had also received a reply from Remus.

Dear Harry,

It was nice to hear from you. Don't worry about what you were like; you had a right to be upset too. You're right I knew him for longer but I had already been able to get over his loss once; the mourning process is easier this time. Besides I know for a fact that he died in a way that he would have wanted, he went out fighting. He also died doing something that he considered more important than his life, he died protecting you. He always considered you a son and would have done anything to protect you. Don't get stuck mourning his passing he wouldn't want us to; he would want us to continue to live life to the fullest.

You're Friend,

Moony.

Harry had felt strangely comforted after reading the letter, he supposed it had to do with the fact that he knew Sirius better than anyone; and if he said that Sirius wouldn't have wanted him to mourn his passing, he really should honor that and learn so that he could finally destroy Voldemort once and for all allowing him to finally move on with his life.

The last thing he had done before the meeting was go to the optometrist. There he had found that his glasses were old and the prescription was horribly out of date. He ended up getting a pair of contacts and glasses. The glasses he got because the doctor told him that he would need to have something to use when his contacts were being cleaned. He got contacts because he realized that his glasses were a liability in a fight, they could easily fall off or be summoned and then he would be unable to see his opponent to be able to fight effectively.

It was now Sunday afternoon and he had already done his morning workout and was now sitting in his room trying to read a book to distract himself from the fact that he about to have what he was sure was going to be a life changing discussion whether the other person knew it or not.

It was a nerve-wracking two hours before Tonks showed up at the house at three in the afternoon.

Hearing the doorbell ring, Harry opened his bedroom door to see who it was when he heard "Boy! Get down here!"

Harry came downstairs and, in the doorway, he saw Tonks wearing a fitting pair blue jeans, a yellow Weird Sisters shirt that hugged her nicely and her customary pink hair. "Hey Tonks."

"Wotcher Harry; can I come in?"

Still nervous Harry replied "Actually no. It would probably be best if went somewhere else. There's a small shopping center with a couple restaurants in it? We can go there."

"Sure, why not," Tonks replied, as she moved out the doorway to allow Harry to exit.

With a grateful nod Harry responded, "Thanks Tonks, my relatives are better this summer, but I don't think they'd appreciate having a witch in the house if they don't have to."

"No problem Harry."

For the next twenty minutes Harry and Tonks walked towards the center talking about innocuous subjects. All the while Tonks noticed that Harry was nervous, she just couldn't figure out why.

Reaching the restaurant they decided to eat at Tonks said "Relax Harry, were just here to talk, this isn't a date. I'm off the market remember?"

Not replying immediately, Harry allowed himself and Tonks, to be led to a table before muttering "I wouldn't be so sure of that."

With a look of surprise on her face Tonks said, "Why's that? I'm in an arranged marriage and unless you're the one I'm betrothed to, nothing can happen between us."

Just looking at her with a look of shock, and a little apprehension; Harry said nothing but Tonks was able to make the connection. "Oh god. Please tell me you're joking. You're only 15; I'm six years older than you… Wait you knew," Her tone changing from shocked to accusatory. "All this time and you knew. I wrote you those letters thinking you were safe and now I find out that you are the guy I have to marry." She said in a forced whisper to avoid the stares that they were drawing.

"I'm sorry Tonks, no joke," he said while pantomiming for her to calm down. "Tonks, I didn't really find out all that long ago. I mean, I went to Gringotts last Saturday and found out that I'm in an arranged marriage. I would've told you sooner but this really isn't something that I could put in a letter."

"Yeah but still you knew, were you even planning on telling me any time soon, or were you just gonna let me not know while you kept this information to yourself?" she said angrily.

"Yes, fine, I knew, but not for long and I was planning on telling you when I got to Grimmauld place where I could talk to you in private. This wasn't exactly what I had planned on either. I've only been on one date, which was a disaster by the way, and now I find out that not only am I getting married but to an older woman, but one that I hardly know. Its not like I planned this, I was just as shocked as you were when I found out that my parents had arranged a marriage for me.

"Look Tonks, I have a copy of my parents will in my room that I can show you later. But among other things it basically says that my parents and your parents arranged a marriage between us."

Overcoming her shock and anger momentarily she finally said "Why Harry? From what I heard your parents would never have done this to you. Your father went against pureblood tradition to marry a muggleborn just like my mum did. Why would they do this?"

"Why did they choose your family or why did they arrange a marriage?" Harry asked, with a calm voice realizing that he would need to lead this conversation as Tonks was still in shock.

"Both."

"My parents chose your family because they were still technically from an old family, even if your mother had been disowned from the Black family. And because my parents trusted Sirius and knew what your mother was like. As to why they arranged a marriage for me; it's a little more complicated, you might want to get comfortable," Harry said.

After she settled down to listen he continued. "Essentially my parents are the ones that asked for the arranged marriage in the first place. It turns out that my mother was not really a muggleborn. She was the descendant of a long line of squibs that descended from a very noble and previously thought lost family. When she was in her seventh year she did a family tree of the person who was credited for making that family famous. She was able to trace that person's heirs to the current time. She found that she was the only surviving heir to that family and when she went to Gringotts to claim anything that was left; she found she had entered a binding magical contract that said her first child would have to be involved in an arranged marriage with an old family. My mother was not specific in the will as to why the marriage was a must; just that it was something that had to be done."

"So because your mother claimed the right as heir of the unnamed family, she was placed in a contract that would force her to put you in a marriage, and they chose my family. Right so far?"

"Yes…"

"So who was your mother the heir of?"

"You were part of her house in school." Harry said instead of a direct answer.

"My house in school? I was in Ravenclaw, so that would mean that you are the heir of…"

"Rowena Ravenclaw," Harry said with a slight smile.

"Your not joking are you?" she said in a slightly stunned voice.

"No, I'm completely serious."

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit; this is a lot to take in right now."

"I know, how do you think I felt when I found out?"

"What do you mean?" Tonks said.

"I learned of this last Saturday, when I went to Gringotts. I mean, I didn't even know there was a will that needed to be read. I show up wanting to get some money from my vault so that I can buy some stuff this summer and I'm told that I have a will reading to go to. Once there I find out that not only did Sirius leave me the bulk of his estate but my parents had a will. Then their will goes on and says that, not only am I the Potter heir but also the, Ravenclaw heir, and I'm suddenly in an arranged marriage with someone that I had only met last summer; and even then I hadn't talked to her very much."

Somewhat mollified, she said, "Yeah ok, but you still knew while I was writing you about that marriage. Why didn't you say anything?" she said grumbling still not wanting to let go of her anger.

"I knew of the marriage, but like I said in the letter this isn't really something you put in a letter. But if it makes you feel any better I do think I'm getting the better end of the deal?"

"Oh yeah, why's that?" she asked in a petulant tone.

"Well all you get from this is me; a skinny boy with a dark lord who likes to try and kill him. I get a woman who is smart, funny, not in awe of me like most people, your not afraid to tell me I'm being an arse; obviously, and last but not least you're a very beautiful woman."

"Yeah you and every man think I'm pretty, but just like them you will ask me to change after a while," Tonks grumbled while looking at the floor not intending for Harry to hear and still being upset over this whole thing.

"A lot of men have asked you to change your form?" With a small amount of surprise. "Well they're stupid. You're very pretty as you are. But if it will make you happy, how 'bout we make a deal?"

"What kind of deal?" she said still not looking up.

"I won't ask you to change your form if you don't ask me to change mine." Harry said.

"Huh?" Tonks said as she finally looked up. "What do you mean?"

"I'm a metamorph Tonks, just like you. I found out only a few days ago when I was reading a book about them," Harry said trying to keep his voice low during this part as the waitress was coming up.

They took a moment to place their order before continuing the discussion. Tonks continued, "So that's what you meant in the letter."

"Yes."

"Are you sure? Have you tried any changes yet?"

"Yes," he said while extending his hands so she could see him change the length of his fingernails.

"You're serious aren't you? How did you find out?"

"Of course I'm serious. I found out when the book I was reading said that a common identifier was that the person could grow or re-grow their hair and make it permanent. When I was little my aunt cut off all my hair, and then when I woke up the next morning I found all my hair had re-grown."

"I saw something on your hand though. What was it." she asked curious about the lines she had seen on his hand.

"What?" Harry asked as he started to pull his hands off the table so she couldn't see the scars.

"Harry let me see? I'm an auror; I'm trained to see things. Your hiding something." She said going serious.

"No I'm not, it's nothing, just some scratches."

"If they were just scratches then you wouldn't be hiding your hands from me. Now let me see. Look for better or worse we're going to be married. We need to be able to trust each other."

"Fine," Harry grumbled while bringing his hands into sight so she could see.

Looking at his hands she saw marks on his hands. After looking at them for a while she saw that the marks formed words. Able to read the words after a while she murmured "I will not tell lies. What? Harry, why are these words here?" she asked while still not letting go of his hands.

Saved from answering for a moment the waitress arrived with their food.

"Harry?" she asked still not letting the matter drop.

In a quiet voice Harry answered "I got them in Umbridge's detentions. She made me use a quill that used my own blood to write lines into my hand."

Gasping she said, "Harry, are you telling me she used a blood quill on you?"

"I guess. If that's what they're called," He said still using a quiet voice.

"Harry, what she did was illegal. Using a blood quill is classified as torture. How many times did she do this to you? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"She did this to me every detention, I had several a month. I didn't tell anyone because I thought Dumbledore would already know, as he seemingly knows everything that happens in the castle, besides he wouldn't even look at me last year. And the first time I was given detention and sent to McGonagall with a note, she told me that I had to keep quiet because Umbridge had the power and that we all could get in trouble for speaking out."

"Harry, even though they said that you still should have told someone. I'm not excusing what they did, what McGonagall told you was wrong. She's old enough to know that there is a difference between doing what's right and what's easy.

"Harry, I need to go into auror mode right now, ok?"

"Ok…" he said hesitantly.

"Did she use this on anyone else during the year?"

"I know she used it on at least one other person in Gryffindor, but I'm not sure about the other houses."

"Ok Harry, when we're done here. I'm going to need to write this up. She needs to be charged with this, she did something that was incredibly illegal and she did it on children."

"No, I don't want anyone to know."

"Harry, she needs to be brought to justice, otherwise she'll continue to be able to do this. If not for yourself then do it for the others that have been hurt by her."

"Fine. Just leave me out of it."

"I'll try Harry but I may need you to testify against her if we can't find anyone else willing to testify."

"Fine," Harry grumbled looking upset.

Coming out of his depression slightly he changed the subject "Back to the whole marriage thing. I know you probably don't want to talk about it but I think we need to."

"What about it?"

"Well, I know next to nothing about you, and hardly anything about me that's public knowledge is crap anyways; so I was hoping we could start getting to know one another. I was hoping we could do this by having you train me in my metamorphmagus abilities. Also don't worry about having to marry anytime soon. We still have a little over a year before the ceremony has to take place. The last part of the contract says that we have to be married by my seventeenth birthday, so there's still some time."

"Good to know, the letter from Gringotts said nothing about when this would have to happen, so yeah I guess we can make a go of this."

"So you'll help me with my training then too?" Harry asked relieved that she was taking this so well and that they were getting away from their previous discussion.

"Your metamorph training? Yeah I'll help you with that"

"I have some questions though. Where does this leave us? I mean yeah we'll be married in a year but what about now? Do I tell people about us?" Harry asked.

"You can tell your friends about us if you want but I would prefer this to remain quiet. If people find out then they'll want to know why. I don't think you want people to know about being Ravenclaw's heir, if they did then you'd be given even more publicity than you get now. But same question to you; do you think I should tell anyone about this?"

"I wouldn't object to you telling your friends as long as you think they can be trusted not to tell anyone. But be careful who you tell because Voldemort is still after me personally, and if he finds out about you then he will try to get you."

"Why would he try to get me? Or why is he after you for that matter?"

"You really don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" she asked genuinely confused right now.

Silently debating whether or to tell her about the prophesy, he came to a decision and asked "What do you about what the Order was guarding last year?"

"All we were told was that we were guarding a weapon that You-Know-Who wanted."

"That's partially true. What you were really guarding was a prophecy that was made shortly before I was born. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies… Dumbledore knew this all along. Voldemort wanted this because he only heard the first part and he thought it would tell him how to kill me. He marked me as his equal with this scar on my forehead. He knows the first part and knows that by failing to kill me I will become his equal."

When he finished Harry looked over at Tonks to see her mouth hanging open. "Bloody hell Harry, so you're the only one who can kill You-Know-Who. No wonder he's always coming after you. But wait, you said Dumbledore knew about this all along?" seeing a nod in confirmation she continued. "Has he given you any extra training? I mean if you're the only one who can defeat You-Know-Who, then why are you here, shouldn't you have been learning to become more powerful?"

"Probably, but Dumbledore decided it was in my best interest to not tell me until right after Sirius died. He said he wanted to give me a 'normal childhood.' Although, how living here, where I was forced to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs until I got my Hogwarts letter, was considered a normal childhood I'll never know."

"W-what?" she stammered.

Not really wanting to discuss this right now, but knowing that if they were really going to make this work he would have to be honest with her. "You can't tell anyone about this Tonks, I'm only telling you because you said we needed to trust each other. Ok?" he asked. After getting a nod in acceptance he continued, "My whole life, after Voldemort died the first time, was spent as a servant to the Dursley's. I slept under the stairs. I cooked, cleaned, did all the chores, basically did the work of House Elves until I got my Hogwarts letter. All the rumors of me having a perfect home-life, all the stuff that Snape wants to believe about me being a spoiled brat are all bullshit. I have been given nothing since I was sent there. The clothes I was wearing until a week ago? Were all hand-me-downs from Dudley. I've never had anything new for myself, at least nothing that I didn't have to buy for myself. While my cousin was spoiled beyond belief, I never had a birthday party, or a gift of any kind from them except a dirty sock or other trash." Harry said as it just poured out of him. It was strange, he had never told anyone about it before and now that he finally had, he felt free, like he was no longer burdened.

Horrified at what she had learned, she was unable to talk for a while, so Harry just sat there and ate his food. When the ability to talk returned to her she said, "Harry why didn't you tell anyone? Why not tell Dumbledore?"

"I didn't want or need anyone's pity. As for Dumbledore I wouldn't doubt it if he knew. He was the one who put me there and then left me there. He didn't even come to check up on me. He's also the reason I have to come back every summer. He said I'm safe here."

Still too shocked to say anything she simply lowered her eyes and concentrated on finishing her food. The rest of their time was spent silently eating and contemplating everything that had been said during their conversation. Finally the meal was over and they left the restaurant after having paid for their food.

After walking for a few minutes Tonks finally broke the silence "I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean to drag all that stuff up. I never knew."

With a drawn out sigh Harry replied, "It's ok Tonks, you never could've known. So don't worry about it."

Nothing was said after that for a while until Tonks looked over at Harry with a mischievous glint in her eyes and said "So Harry, you said something about disastrous dating adventures?"

Groaning Harry blushed and said "Tonks I really don't want to talk about how bad my previous date went."

"Ah, come on Harry. It couldn't have been that bad. Please?" she said with big pleading eyes.

"Argh, Fine but you have to tell me about yours dating life too."

"No problem mate."

Harry told Tonks about his date with Cho, and got laughed at for what he did. After which he had learned that she would rarely date as all the guys she had gone out with acted as the perfect boyfriend for the first week or two and then would ask her to change her appearance to anything; from the newest singer or even once this guys mother (talk about Oedipus complex).

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Harry and Tonks walking the area of Little Whinging and talking about anything and everything slowly learning about the other person.

Going to sleep that night, both Harry and Tonks fell asleep (separate houses, they aren't that in the relationship yet) with a little smile on their face, thinking that maybe, just maybe everything would work out for the both of them.

A/N I know I said that Harry was doing better than this in the physical training but after some reviews I came to agree that he was progressing too quickly in that area.

Also wanted to thank cjcold for the ideas and Yenom and danielc as my betas.