Ye Old Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated milieu, characters, and situations are owned by J.K. Rowling and her licensees. This is a work of fan fiction, produced solely for enjoyment. No infringement of rights is intended. J.K. Rowling owns it all, I am just playing with the Story. No money is being made by me in anyway shape or form.

Special thanks to my Beta, Polegara, who has been absolutely awesome in her support and help. It's thanks to her that most if not all of my grammar and spelling errors, or in some cases not getting terms correct, have been fixed in the prior chapters and hopefuly she will continue with me. Thanks again!

Now, on with the story…

Chapter 8, Coffee and Chess

"So, you and Susan eh?" Tonks asked playfully.

Ever one with the intelligent comebacks Harry replied, "What?"

Rolling her eyes she gave him a cheeky smile. "Come on Harry, no secrets now. Just the two of you, all alone in some secluded place…" She let the sentence hang while wagging her eyebrows. Harry laughed.

"It's not like that Tonks. Besides, she's not my type. Yeah, she's a great person and I could do a lot worse, but it's not like that."

"Dunno, Harry. You guys looked pretty cozy earlier." Harry shook his head.

They were currently sitting in a muggle coffee shop enjoying the morning. Tonks had only just gotten back from dropping off Susan with her Aunt at St. Mungo's where her mum was undergoing treatments for the dark stunner she was hit with. Tonks though said she would be fine, it just did something strange to her nervous system that the healers were having a hard time fixing. Harry was glad that all of them had managed to get out alive, though he was still puzzling over how he managed it.

Taking a sip of his coffee he sighed. He really needed find a way to get a coffee pot to work in his tent, instant coffee was killing him. Maybe something with heating and conjuring runes… "She was with us last year when we were rebelling against Umbridge. Not only that but we had just survived a Death Eater attack. Besides, she looks too much like mum." He gave Tonks his own cheeky smile, "Don't get me wrong, Mums a looker, but because of her I could never do a ginger."

Tonks shook her head dramatically. "Ginny'll be depressed to hear that."

Surprise over took his features. "Gin? I thought she gave up on me. I was hoping anyways, she seemed loads better now. She's able to talk around me and I haven't seen her put her elbow in a stick of butter in forever."

Tonks chuckled. "So who does that leave then? This Luna maybe? You got another letter from her yesterday." She pulled the letter from her back pocket handing it to him. Harry's face brightened and tucked the letter into his jacket to look at it later.

"Dunno about that. Then again, Luna's crazy enough to date me knowing what it could mean. Not too sure how that makes me feel. That you have to be crazy to do it or that might be the only way to find a date all things considered."

Tonks threw her head back and laughed drawing a great many eyes from the non-gifted sitting around in the café. Not that they didn't attract a lot of looks anyways. Tonks was dressed in hip huggers with a black t-shirt two sizes too small showing off her stomach while molding to her frame to show her considerable assets. Not to mention the bright pink color to her hair. Harry was dressed the way he normally did when in muggle areas, biker jacket, faded jeans, blue glasses, violet headband, and fang earring. His own shirt was fairly loose on him. Tonks loved the attention from the stuck up and ignored the baleful glares they received. Harry did not like the attention they garnered but ignored it the same, he had years of practice.

"You're a great guy Harry. Hell, I would have shagged your brains out long ago had I thought you could survive the ride. You're a catch, and any girl who can't see it is plain stupid."

"Don't know about all that. Ask Katie, though I can't deny dropping me was the smartest thing she could have done. Cho didn't seem to see things the way you do either. Don't get me started on Parvarti. Though, to be honest, that was all me there." Harry said wryly.

Tonks frowned. "Like I said, if they can't see what a catch you are their stupid. You're a great guy, Harry. Trust me; I've dated loads of the bad ones."

Harry shrugged his shoulders not arguing. They had his talk more than once and he still did not see what made him such a good catch. He did have a crazy self-styled wanker out there trying to kill him. This was a tune they'd danced to on more than one occasion. Trying to move the conversation away from his non-existent love life he asked, "How's things with Remus? He finally coming round?"

Her smile widened and a light dreamy look came into her eyes. "He let me take him shopping like Sirius wanted."

"Poor guy, should I send a condolence card?" He quipped.

"Prat."

Harry's smile grew. It was not often that he got one over her, not with her personality. He chuckled at her discomfort while she changed the subject this time. "Where too now? Dumbledore's really reaching out trying to get his hands on you, even so far that we are now looking for Jessica. I have been taken off a few details though I am still allowed to attend Order meetings."

"Hermione's. I need to talk to her parents about a few things and I wanted to check on her progress. After that, Bills. Through him I can get word to Forge for a few 'custom' orders. Sirius would have left the instructions in the vault but I want to check on them. Bills place, well, I might get stuck there for a while. We have a few…projects to investigate."

Tonks expression grew serious. "This about what ever happened to the second floor of Bones Manor?"

"Fraid so. I have never heard of a Killing Curse causing an explosion like that before so that means it must have been the locket. I picked it up at Grimmauld Place so it could have been anything. Still, I have an idea that doesn't make sense so I want Bill to have a look at some of the runes to see if we can figure out what happened. I know I have seen some of them before but I don't know from where and it's bugging me, besides, I need to tell Bill about the change in plans."

"You're going through with it then?"

Harry nodded. He had decided that day he talked to Hermione. He was going to stand and fight. "Yeah. Right now, it's Neville, you, and me. I hope to bring Bill in, Fred and George, Ron, and Hermione. I have am considering a few others, but that is largely dependent on who they decide to side with." He took a deep breath and asked the question he was afraid of, "Moony…is a special case. If he can be pulled from Dumbledore, we can bring him in. I need to know where he sits, if push comes to shove. You can do it or I can. Either works." He hated asking, but time was slipping by too fast, they had already lost half the summer.

She blew out a breath. "That's a lot of watches." She looked at him showing nothing of her thoughts. "I'll talk to Remus. I made my choice, and it's at your side. And that was before you reinstated mum and me back into the Blacks. I don't think Remus and I can work if he can't see that." She gave him a genuine smile that warmed his heart. "Mum cried for two days and asked me to tell you she would like a dinner with her Head of House soon to affirm her loyalty. You made Dads year, he always regretted that mum chose him over family, if only because it hurt mum so much."

Harry returned her smile. "I am glad I could help. Like Sirius, I always thought it was shite you guys got disowned just because your mum fell in love."

It took them a few moments to continue their conversation. After a sip of her coffee and a nibble from her roll she asked, "So, I can find you at Bills then?"

"Unless something happens yeah, for the next week anyways. It's not a lot of time but I have other things to do so it'll have to do. Besides, I have to keep moving. Too long in one place and this whole thing comes crashing down. Dumbledore may be a prick, but he's not stupid. He'll catch me sooner or later unless I keep moving."

"Say hi to Fleur for me when you get there."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that, "Fleur's living with Bill? When that happen?"

Tonks smiled again. "Few weeks ago. She got a job at Gringotts to improve her English. Bills a cursebreaker, but Fleur studied wards almost exclusively and has been working as Warder for them. Bill's immune to her charm and I think that caught her attention. She's not use to people ignoring her."

"Huh, I haven't seen her since the Tri-Wizard. I wonder if maybe she can help me with some of my projects if she is as good as your saying. She'd have to be to get Bills attention, I swear he breaths runes. It's scary sometimes."

He got Tonks to laugh again which made him chuckle. She was always a riot to be around. "You should have seen him in school." Embarrassing stories of Bill were always welcome, he needed all the ammunition he could get.

They spent another hour talking back and forth about Bill and some of his antics at school before Harry had to go, it was getting on in the afternoon and he still had a half hour drive to the Grangers before he took off for Bills.

"Hey Tonks, don't forget to Neville's birthday is at the end of the month, I am thinking of renting out a room or something to throw him a party." Tonks nodded saying she'll be there. He bid Tonks goodbye, mounted his bike and took off into traffic to make his way.

While he carefully navigated the traffic around him Harry found his mind wandering a bit to the Grangers. He needed to talk to them about the extra coins they had and get that worked out without incident. The last thing he needed was for them to get the wrong idea on why that much money was in her vault, or why he had set it up in the first place. He would also have a chance to talk to Hermione which was always a good deal. He could spend a few hours with her and then make his way out to Bills place, which was a long drive from where the Grangers lived. If he was lucky he could make Bills by supper, though that depended largely on how long he stayed at the Grangers.

Driving on auto pilot he arrived and sat idling in the driveway for a few moments. He turned off the engine threw his leg over the great bike before unsnapping the saddle bag. In a move that was becoming a habit to him he threw the heavy bag over his shoulder and strode to the door to knock. He was a bit surprised to find the door answered by Hermione's father.

The older man blinked showing his surprise but gave Harry a slight smile. "Harry, didn't expect to see you today, come in."

"Hello Mr. Granger, Ms. Granger." Harry nodded and offered his own smile to them as he stepped. He noticed he had interrupted them putting a way a light lunch. "Sorry to interrupt. Is Hermione about?"

Ms. Granger shook her head. "Sorry Harry but I think she said she would be at the Burrow today, we're not expecting her until later this evening for dinner."

Knew I should have owled her. Well, that also did seem to answer the question of how well she was doing if she was able to be about. "O. Alright…well, I did need to talk to you if today's okay…"

His answer came from Mr. Granger who sat next to his wife holding his hand out to a seat across the small table form him. "Of course Harry. Does this have to do with a small mountain of gold in Hermione's new vault at Gringotts?"

"Yeah, that was the main thing. I wanted to explain that before you got the wrong idea but the last few days have been pretty crazy for me and I only just got back."

Mr. Granger nodded his head. "I think it would be a good idea to go over that then. Do you play chess?"

Harry blinked in confusion after he had sat down. "Er…I play wizard chess, been a while since I played regular chess."

Jake nodded. "I get us the board. I fancy a game now and then if you wouldn't mind indulging me?" Bemused Harry shook his head. "Aright, be right back then." He rose and walked out of the room while Ms. Granger was cleaning up the small table in front of them.

A few moments later Harry was sitting in front of a chess board laid out making his first move while explaining about the vault. Several moves went by during this time before Ellena spoke. "Well, that make sense I suppose and it is a better rate than we have been getting at the bank before. Still, it's a lot of money Harry."

He shrugged his shoulder. "Its only money. Besides, its stops the goblins from profiting from you and helps me since I have a need for pounds more than galleons right now."

Mr. Granger was frowning in concentration while he moved his bishop to take Harry's knight. "If you don't mind me asking, I can understand a need for some traveling money during your summer but do you really need massive amounts on hand?"

"No but I also don't want to rely on Gringotts for all my banking needs. I spend too much time in the normal world to not have some about.

What I would like to do is put the bulk into normal banks. I got this idea from my mum and dad, though I don't know which one came up with it. They set up a trust vault in Gringotts for me. Yearly costs, tuition, and the few withdrawals I have made get replenished from an investment vault. I don't understand a lot about that vault from the paperwork I got on it but the gist I do get is that the investment vault is something the goblins can play with. I don't really know what they do with it but I know the balance on the ledgers is different than in the vault. Anyways, the goblins pay for the privilege of using my gold and their payments are deposited into my trust vault to the maximum with any leftover going into the main Potter Vault. I am hoping that they got the idea from normal banks, or vice versa and I can put my regular money into normal banks with the same idea." Harry frowned when he realized he left an avenue open for Jakes bishop to rampage through his backfield. Unfortunately he caught it too late and that was what Jake was doing.

"Besides, I had a really hard time getting into Gringotts this last time so I want to spread my money around amongst different normal banks. That way, if by some chance they find one of the accounts I can move on to the next. Once I set it all up they will have a hard time stopping me from getting to my money the next time they try."

Harry didn't notice the concerned bewildered looks the elder Grangers were giving him or each other. His attention was mostly on board and trying to figure out a way his last knight, rook, and bishop would stop the tag team duo of Jakes queen and rook. They were tearing him to shreds. "You are right in that there are banks that can do that for you but, you're what, sixteen now?" Jake asked him before witling his forces down even more by removing his rook.

"Not until the end of the month, still fifteen."

Mr. Granger nodded. "That is going to make getting accounts difficult for you. You will need an adult to sign in with you as a guardian of the accounts until you make eighteen or become emancipated and are over sixteen."

"I know, it's the kink in the plan. I was emancipated by my godfather in the wizarding world but I am pretty sure Dumbledore will bury the paperwork. I might be able to talk my Uncle to signing my emancipation in the normal world but I am pretty sure I am going to have to bribe him to do it. We don't really get along. He hates magic, anyone not like him, and me, not necessarily in that order." Harry sighed, there was no way he could stop the bishop now.

"Jake." Harry looked up from the board to see Ms. Granger looking pointingly at her husband.

Jake nodded quickly after a moment of silent communication with his wife. He turned to Harry. "We could help with that if you wanted Harry. If you can't convince your uncle, Ellena and I would help you store your funds in the way you want. It's the least we can do for you after what you went through to heal Hermione. Checkmate."

Harry sat back a moment floored. More floored with their offer of help than his loss of the game. "That would be great thank you. I would be more than happy to pay for your help in this, its only money to me and it's more of a need to have it spread out so I can access it freely that I need to do this."

Mr. Granger waved him off. "Think nothing of it Harry. Like I said, we would be more than happy to help out. I am curious though why you are choosing this mode on doing things." They reset the board and started a second game while they continued to talk.

Harry nodded again thankful, he outlined how it would help him in his projects he was involved with and gathering the supplies he went through in his crafting. "I also have been checking in with jewelers and some other places of interest looking and comparing quality and cost between non-gifted products and wizarding products and which ones take better to different schemes. It might sound strange and normally you would not think there is any difference between them but I have found some. Notably their does seem to be some kind of hidden magic in handmade items vs. mass produced, though I am still experimenting to prove it." Harry frowned looking at the board. It was still early and already his king was coming under pressure.

"Schemes? Does this have to do with plots or something to do with magic?" asked Ellena.

"Magic. Er…don't suppose Hermione mentioned anything about her classes in Ancient Runes or Arithmancy?" Harry knew she would go on for hours if anyone let her get steam behind her at school. At least this year I might be able to talk to her about it since I was planning on taking classes if my O.W.L.s come back with 'E's.

"Some. We have gotten the impression that both are used uncommonly in your society. Runes being something like magic in written form and Arithmancy being something along advance mathematics." Harry's frowned deepen when he noticed the danger his queen was coming under. He moved his rook to flank a knight who was getting into position.

"Yeah, Hermione has been taking the classes since third year. During the summer of my third year I spent some time living in rooms at the Leaky Cauldron and got to know a couple of cursebreakers who were off the job at the moment and became fascinated by it. Not the subjects but the job. I thought it would be cool to be like Indy, hunting treasure and looking for ancient artifacts long thought of as myth. I knew only of Bill at the time as an older brother to Ron who was my best friend at the time.

Anyways, I took up some books looking to take the classes later but I never got in. Dumbledore never approved my application for the classes due to schedule conflicts. He decided I needed Divination instead, which shares class time with Runes. I decided a little while later to just study it independently. I got some books and thanks to the blokes I met and a few other things like a crafters kit for my carvings and started practicing and learning in my spare time.

Anyways, it was some time later I got stuck on something and I took a chance. I sent some of my ideas and where I was stuck to Bill asking where I went wrong and if he could help me. He took a week from his job and came home during the summer after third year. I had no idea what was going on but he liked the direction I was taking my projects and decided to take me on as his apprentice since he just gotten his Mastery. We spent a lot of time Owling each other and keeping in touch. He'd give me things to do and learn but leave it up to me to do it. His teaching style is pretty loose but when it comes to the work itself, he's worse than McGonagall. He takes his runes seriously."

Harry shook his head while Jake chuckled at him. He had lost mightily. Again. They reset the board getting another game going before he restarted his explanation.

"See, the point here is that in school between third and fifth year that is all Runes and Arithmancy really is, writing magic and learning to translate it and a type of wizarding mathematics. Now, N.E.W.T.s change all that. Sixth and Seventh year we learn how to apply it into something tangible, malleable, and if your good enough, something enchantable. With me so far?" Harry looked up to see both Grangers nod, though uncertainly.

"First Runes. There are many different types of Runes available. Celtic, Egyptian, British, Japanese, Chinese, ect. Every culture has its own kinds of Runes so when you are talking ancient runes; you are talking the Latin of runes, the core from which all modern runes come from. Like Latin if you can understand and translate Ancient Runes you have a good chance to get the gist of the others, though really precision is the key to survival in curse breaking so it pays to be knowledgeable in the modern modes too.

Now when it comes to Wards think of a home security system. Instead of using electricity to power your system and alarms you draw from other sources and you have more options than just a loud alarm to give the thieves away. Wizards have a tendency to worry more that an intruder is there to kill them, not rob them so the system is more defensive.

Another use for Runes is enchanting objects. My motorcycle is enchanted to fly, be invisible, silent, and with charms to help with traction since we get so much rain." Harry sighed in frustration when he noticed how skillfully Jake had maneuvered his king into a corner. He flicked his earring, "This is also enchanted as a Dark Detector though the range is pretty limited. Since the fang is from a basilisk it has a better range than the jade stud I first started with. This one has a range of twenty yards. I have discovered in the last few months that the right components go a long way to fuelling the enchantment or increasing things like strength, range, or duration.

Arithmancy now, is the binding that makes Runes work. Really you can't do one without the other. If you want to build a ward, just lying down the runes won't do it. You have to use Arithmancy to bind the runes together."

Ellena who had been mostly silent while Harry talked spoke up, "I don't understand that, can you explain that to us in detail?"

Harry sat back thinking for a moment. "Maybe it would help if I gave you something you can see." Harry leaned over the chair pulling his saddlebag to him opening one side. "I keep a few things on hand if the mood strikes me to do some carving or to take some notes while on the road."

Harry pulled out an incense stand carved of ivory and set it on a cleared space on the table. Aside from the hole that one would normally set the stick on the far side it also had a small tripod looking inset. In this inset Harry pulled out a small crystal, not much bigger than a thumbnail. He also took out an incense stick that colored in a strange pale prucse. From his belt he took out a Zippo out of its case lighting the end giving it a few seconds to burn before blowing it out allowing smoke to trail in twining spirals up into the air. No scent could be detected.

After a moment he removed the fang earring from his ear and after muttering something set it within the smoke where it hovered a few inches from the burning ember. Both Grangers gasped at what they started to see.

The air above the earring began to shimmer and the smoke began to gather about it forming strange symbols, letters, and numbers forming a pattern in a sphere. At its central point one large glowing symbol could be seen with everything radiating off from it.

Harry used his finger to point out various things to bring them to their attention. "The center rune is an emulation rune that begins the enchantment. From here I used Arithmancy calculations to bind the runes I wanted to use. See how all the runes are linked by numbered equations and smaller runes? That is known as the 'binding'. The runes themselves call for the object, in this case the earring, to identify the properties that make up itself. Since the object is the fang from a basilisk that energy signature is Dark." Harry pointed out a few things moving around the smoke and glowing sphere calling attention to various different symbols.

"See here, here, here, and here? These are known as attraction runes. They create a 'pull', like a magnet to lightly draw the earring in the direction it detects its brother energy signatures. What that does is when something using dark energies, like cursed objects and I am hoping those carrying Dark Marks though I haven't proven that works yet, the earring begins trying to move in that direction. For me it creates a tug on my ear and will point to the direction it detects its fellow dark energies."

Harry pointed out a few other runes, which where glowing with a slight blue fire in the smoke haze. "These are draw runes. These runes draw magic whatever is handy, normally me, to power the device until I deactivate it. Again, notice that of all the runes I used everything is spider web connected using the Arithmancy calculations that make up the enchantments composition."

Jake shook his head barley keeping up with what the young man was saying. He got the gist though. "Is there a reason why you use smoke to show the diagram? Isn't there a spell or something you could use?"

Harry nodded his head smiling sheepishly. "Yeah, I can't cast the spell that does it. I have tried to learn it but I haven't gotten the hang of it yet. Bill though found the incense potion ingredients in an ancient grimmore from an Arabic wizard who died trying to raid a tome in Egypt thousands of years ago last year and turned me on to it. I been brewing it and using it since then."

Ellena frowned. "I don't think I get that, is the spell that difficult to do?"

Shaking his head he replied. "Not really, I know Hermione can cast it and has been able to since third year. But she is just that good and I don't know half the spells she does, and she knows some wild spells. Of the spells we do know, she always gets them quicker than I do. I think it has something to do with her meticulous nature, I am a bit more on the fly, nowhere near as studious as she is." Harry noticed both parents backs straiten in pride at their daughters accomplishments. Harry understood, he was proud of her too.

Jake though was the first to speak, "Is what we are seeing your design or something you copied?"

"Both actually, the theory was based off of the runic scheme for a dark detector. I altered it a great deal by bypassing some of the more dangerous scapes using a basilisk fang. It's like I was saying earlier, components matter in these things. I tend to use jewels, gems, shards, things like that since they hold to magic's amazingly well but in things like this you can get away with a lot if you can find something that has a close kinship with what you are looking for. If I were looking for, say, Crookshaks, I would use something of a keazle may be powered by something from Hermione's.

A lot of things can change how a construct reacts. What I use to carve the runes matters as much as how I carve them. If I am crafting a ward, it matters even more. I am of the school of thought Bill uses, my only limitation is what I can't imagine. I have learned a lot from him, mostly I have learned a lot of what I can't do and have had to find work arounds to get the same results. Hermione is a purest, it's by established procedure or it won't work. Makes trying to get her to see my points difficult at times."

Ellena asked, "How long did it take you to make that?"

Harry furrowed his brows in thought. "It took Bill almost a year to figure out how to shrink the fang which was due to the magical properties inherent in basilisks. Three months for me to work the Rune scheme and a few weeks to apply the scape. Over all a while for the project to be considered done. The scheme on this earring is a lot different than the one in the jade stud I worked first, that one had a calculation to apply to the identification rune which comprised of the magical breakdown of the fang. That took me almost two months to work out so it was a long term project to get to the finished product. If I was to make a new one, it would go a lot faster now since all the groundwork had been laid out and done."

"Now, we don't know a lot about mythical creatures but isn't a basilisk a dangerous snake that can kill with a look?"

Harry nodded solemnly. "Worse. Their skin is highly magical resistant, they have heightened sense of smell and taste and are highly intelligent being on par with humans. That is not even taking into consideration how horribly poisonous they are. They are also animalistic and as evil as it gets living for thousands of years passing the time in hibernation if they chose. Over all almost impossible to kill or fight." Unless you happen to have a rooster, a sword, a phoenix, and more luck than Abundanita.

"Such things must be hard to come by, how did you get one?" Jake inquired.

Harry fidgeted a bit and mumbled, "That was easy, pulled it out of my arm." Harry cleared his throat at the strange looks he was getting from the Grangers. "I happen to come across a dead one so it was pretty easy." He hated lieing to the Grangers but it wasn't really a lie. Not really.

Clearing his throat again Harry looked down at his watch noticing the time. "I should go, let Hermione know I stopped by please. Next time I come by I'll introduce you to Wizards Chess, just don't tell Hermione, she'll be convinced I am trying to corrupt you." His comment got a chuckle from Jake while Harry packed up his things and headed for the road again.

Authors Note:

Thank you all for reading and Please Review. I am very honored by all the reviews and responses to the story. Hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as you have enjoyed the others. Updated: 5/17/11

Updates include some fleshing of the chapter, some grammar and term corrections, and a few other small things. If there are any interested Beta's out there, I really could use one to help out with this story. Thanks.