Chapter 10:
Molly was watching. Pretty closely, it turns out. Harry knew that the jig had been up shortly after he had flooed home on Saturday, but the full extent of Molly's knowledge of his situation was still a mystery. There was one unmistakable fact, however. Everywhere he turned, Molly was watching.
It was a steamy, sunny Monday afternoon. Ron and Harry were just finishing clearing up from lunch when Molly asked Harry to join her in the sitting room. Harry took a seat on an armchair trepidatiously as Molly continued to watch him; a stern look on the matriarch's face. As no one else had laid claim to the role of Mother in Harry's life – no one living, that is – it was Molly's responsibility to address some of the concerns she had regarding what she had seen on Saturday and Sunday.
"Harry, we do need to talk before you go over to Miss Tonks's flat this afternoon."
She paused a bit before speaking; this was, of course, no ordinary child she was addressing, and many of life's normal rules didn't seem to apply where Harry Potter was concerned. The Battle at the Department of Mysteries was certainly evidence enough of that. This was a young man who could handle himself; at least on the battlefield. Perhaps he could acquit himself with similar class throughout some of life's more mundane trials.
"As I told you Saturday, I do not stand for dishonesty from my children; and this does include you, Harry, so I will save you the pain of having to admit things I know perfectly well. I know that you and Tonks have a romantic relationship, and I know that you spent Friday night at her flat. More than that, honestly, is not mine to know, but one can certainly guess."
Harry let go an audible exhalation. 'I suppose it's not a stretch to go from mooning over the girl to spending the night to that, but Merlin, this woman is perceptive,' he thought. Molly continued.
"Arthur and I try to have a chat with each of our boys on this matter – and Ginevra's is not too far off, either – before they head off for Fifth Year. What with the trial and all that rubbish that went on last summer, I didn't have time to talk with you, Harry, so Arthur was going to sit down with you sometime after Ginevra's birthday. However, it seems as though recent events have rendered that discussion a bit moot, wouldn't you think?"
Harry was sitting up straight as an arrow. A chastened "Er, yes Ma'am" was all he could squeak out. Molly was unimpressed.
"Come now, Harry; for goodness sakes. If you'd like to get me to believe that you're mature enough to make choices like this about your life without any adult input, then you can certainly begin by not cowering like a schoolboy when I bring up the subject of sex." Molly toned it down when she saw Harry flinch at her strong words. She did want to impress on the young man the serious nature of what it was he was doing, but on the other hand she didn't want to scare Harry anymore than was necessary. "I simply want to know that you're making good choices for yourself, lad." The tension level left the room as quickly as air leaving a popped balloon, and Molly allowed time for Harry to realize that he wasn't on trial.
"How long has this been going on between you and Tonks now, Harry?"
"Saturday was the first – the only time something like that has happened."
"And you were… careful?"
"Yes, ma'am." Molly seemed satisfied that Harry was a smart enough lad not to wind up on a rather embarrassing potions regimen; or worse, bring a little green-eyed metamorph into the world.
"I'll trust that you can respect your body enough to be careful with it, Harry dear, but if I'm honest, it's the rest of it that has me a bit worried about you. What was with all this moping about we had around here on Saturday and Sunday?" Harry steeled himself. While talking with Bill or his closer friends was something he found helpful in processing what had gone wrong at Tonks's, he wasn't quite sure he would glean the same from a conversation with Molly.
"We, er, had a bit of a row right before I left," he said, and then his look said that there was nothing more he was going to add.
"A row, well, those aren't always bad. In fact, many relationships benefit quite nicely from a bit of tension." Molly looked wistful, almost reminiscing. Then she pulled herself back to the present.
"How long have you and Miss Tonks been romantically involved then, Harry?"
"It's rather difficult to put dates on that, Mrs Weasley. I'm not even quite sure if 'romantically involved' is the right term for whatever we have going on." Molly looked at her charge with a rather puzzled expression.
"What do you mean?"
Harry struggled for an answer. "It's just so… different than anything I've seen at Hogwarts. The kids there are dead serious about it all, you know. They're professing their undying love to each other at the drop of a hat and making a quick path to the br – well, they're, er…"
"Yes, dear. Even after all these years I'm still pretty familiar with Hogwarts courtship. But what is it then between you and Nymphadora? Do you care for the girl? Does she care for you?" Molly was now even more puzzled. She remembered Fourth- and Fifth- Year students bouncing from partner to partner seemingly monthly, but by the time they hit late Sixth Year and early Seventh, most of her class had either paired up for good, or their relationships were developing into more permanent arrangements. And by the time they were Tonks's age, well, the girls in her class destined to be married were either already there or engaged to be. She was getting rather worried about the young Auror's intentions where her Harry was concerned.
"And what should your behavior tell me, then? You show up on Saturday having spent the night at this woman's flat, and quite obviously not in separate bedrooms. You proceed to mope about the house for the balance of that day and most of yesterday… Harry, are you sure this is the kind of relationship you want to give your heart to? Are you sure this is the kind of woman you ought to give your heart to?"
With a bit of distance on the situation, Molly would have realized that this was not the wisest choice of words to say about the girl who caught the affections of a young Gryffindor. For his part, Harry was caught between his innate need to defend the honor of a friend and the woman who provides the only home – outside of Hogwarts – he's ever had. Harry being Harry, though, honor won out.
"Exactly what did you mean by that, Mrs Weasley?" Harry asked. "You've known Tonks for years – tried to set her up with every one of your sons save Ron, she's an Order member, by Merlin, and you're seriously asking if she's 'the right kind of woman? You might want to ask her if some twitchy sixteen-year-old with a compulsive and often fatal 'saving-people thing' is the 'right sort of lad' for her!"
"Easy now, Harry. I know she's a wonderful girl, that's not what I'm saying at all. It's just, well, it all seems quite fast and quite careless from my perspective, you know. How do you know, for instance, that she's the kind of woman you could make a life with, Harry? There are serious things to consider, you know, before you just go hopping into bed with some witch?" Molly was becoming more concerned for Harry's well being as the conversation went on.
"Besides her homemade tortillas, you mean?" Harry replied under his breath.
"Her what?"
"Never mind. Mrs Weasley, I'm not even close to thinking about 'making a life' with anyone. By Godric, I'm only sixteen, as I know you're well aware. This bulls-eye on my forehead doesn't provide me with much of a social life, you see, and these few weeks with Tonks have been, well, they've been some of the most fun I've had in my life."
Harry considered his last statement carefully. Then he became fidgety and anxious for a few seconds until he finally stood up.
"Mrs Weasley, thanks. You've been a terrific help here." He walked over to where she was seated and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I'm heading over to Tonks's before the others get there. Please don't worry, or for Merlin's sake please don't try to stop me. I think I have things figured out. I'll be back tonight, promise." Harry flashed the rather confused Molly a beatific smile. Molly stopped him briefly.
"Harry, wait. Take these." Molly handed Harry a strip of about half a dozen condoms. "Now, while I don't approve of or condone this relationship or how physical it's gotten, having seen Bill and Charlie's teenaged years taught me that there's precious little I can do to stop any of it. All I ask is that you are careful, both with your heart and your body, son. You do know what those are, Harry?" Harry gulped and blushed, but managed to answer.
"Er, yes Mrs Weasley. I'm, er, rather familiar with their usage. I'll, er, just be off now, then." Molly stretched her arms out and enveloped Harry in a tight embrace, which the young man wanted out of as soon as he got into it. He then popped into the floo and headed off to see his Tonks.
When Harry got to the fireplace of Tonks's London flat, the young auror was at her desk catching up on some paperwork. She rushed over to the floo, helped Harry up and held on to him with all her might. His embrace was similarly charged with regret, with apology and with the fervent desire that they not let silly things like emotions come between them again. Harry and Tonks walked over to the couch, still in their embrace, and began to place small kisses on each other's lips. These pecks became more and more lingering, and as Tonks found her fingers winding their way in-between Harry's t-shirt and the waistband of his blue jeans, she also heard him mutter something between kisses that made her sit up straight as an arrow.
"Mrs. Weasley knows."
"Oh!" Tonks exclaimed, quite flustered. "Oh dear. How did that happen? Are you alright? Did she lay into you for hours? Is she coming over here with torches and pitchforks?"
"No, she rather assaulted me with these," Harry replied, and dropped the strip of condoms on the couch while hiding his face in his hand.
"Oh. Well, that's… that's rather sweet of her, I suppose. Just wants to see you're safe and all…" The two shared a hearty laugh over Molly's ham-handedness which became a pleasant segue for returning to their snog. They luxuriated in each other for a good ten minutes before Tonks couldn't stand not talking about the weekend for one more moment.
"Harry… Harry, stop. Get your hand – stop! The others will be here in half an hour. Merlin, what's wrong with you?"
"S'your fault. Earlobes too tasty."
"Harry… Harry! Look, last time we got started like this it ended up very unpleasantly for both of us. I don't want that to happen again, so do you think we can try to figure out what – Harry, I'm trying to be serious for a moment here!" Harry straightened up with a smirk on his face and looked dead at Tonks before replying
"Not really too much to talk about, is there?"
"You can't be serious. You stormed out of here not three minutes after getting your leg over, you have these big long heart-to-heart discussions with Merlin knows who while I'm sitting at mum's convinced I'd stuffed it completely, and now what? I let you cop a cheap feel and all's well that ends well?"
"No, Tonks… hold on. Right. Well, there's nothing to talk about because it isn't even in question. I acted like an idiot – like a blushing schoolboy. We haven't put any names on what we're doing together, and quite honestly I'd rather keep it that way. I just can't help remembering what you said to me before we started all this – that you were bound and determined to help me have a fun summer. Now, moping about over the nature of 'relationships' isn't too terribly fun, is it?"
"No, I suppose not," Tonks answered, warily.
"Unfortunately for Saturday, one of the things in this world I'm best at is bloody moping. Couple that with my rather unfortunate level of experience with girls at all, and you had the makings of a complete fiasco."
"It wasn't too bad before you left, mind," Tonks gave him a wink and a smile.
"No, I don't suppose it was." Harry's tone became markedly less animated and more somber as he continued. "But look, we've no business mucking about with trying to determine the nature of our feelings, love. There's a war on, after all, or there soon will be, and we're pretty much both fated to play a part in it." He looked at Tonks with a decidedly determined smile. "Let's just have some fun while we can, and if we get out of this intact, then we'll worry about titles and labels and things." Tonks seemed unimpressed.
"How's that soliloquy coming, Potter? Almost finished, then?"
"All done, actually. Why?" Tonks leaned over and placed a long, full kiss on the young man's lips.
"Because conversation isn't the first thing on my mind at the moment…"
Harry cut her off at the pass.
"All that and you've nothing to say in response?"
"Not really much to talk about, I suppose," she said with a cheeky grin, doing a fairly decent impression of The Boy She Was Snogging, which got them both chuckling a bit.
"You're right, after all," she continued. "But I really don't want to think about a war right now, not with only fifteen minutes left until the others show up. Now, if I remember correctly, you had your hand right there, and…"
Author's Note: Thanks for those who've stuck with this, and I am sorry that it took so long to get an update out. Blame Mollywobbles for that – getting her bit at the beginning right was what took so long.
Welcome to the couple of dozen new folks who've signed up for e-mail alerts – I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. Fibinaci, the "homemade tortillas" reference was for you.
Reviews are outrageously gratefully received – good, bad or otherwise. And they'll all be answered.
-Christopher