Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to J.K. Rowling and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: ...Hello, again! Sorry it's been so long since my last update. Life has been busy for me the past few months, and just when I thought I had time over Thanksgiving break, some sad family news popped up. Winter Break has now started, though, so hopefully I can get at least a few chapters cranked out between now and the start of the second semester. :)

Writing this chapter was a bit of an enjoyable experience for me, because it completely came out of nowhere and I wasn't expecting my mind to come up with it. But, I'm rather happy with the results, even if it means the time-skip is going to have to get pushed back to Chapter 23, instead of Chapter 22...Oh well lol!

Next chapter will hopefully be uploaded sometime next week.

Until then,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~The Chronicles of Mabon~

Harry Potter & the Secret of Life~

~Chapter 18: A Date With Tonks~

Monday, 19 September 1994
Hogwarts, Scotland, Great Britain

"Wotcher, Potter. You ready to go?"

Harry, who had been playing with his breakfast more than he had been eating it, blinked and looked up in surprise. "Tonks?" he asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

The pink-haired auror grinned. "Why, I'm picking you up, of course!" she replied cheerfully. But when Harry frowned, she tilted her head ever-so-slightly and said, "What? Didn't you know?"

"Know what?" Harry asked.

Across the table, Ron snorted as he took a drink from his cup of pumpkin juice. "He wouldn't know," the ginger-haired boy said. "He hasn't been reading the papers and Dumbledore hasn't told him anything."

Tonks scowled, before she suddenly leaned over the table. The action caused several other students to look over at her in interest, but then again, many of them had already been looking at her in the first place. After all, it wasn't often that an auror showed up in the Great Hall and started chatting with the students, much less an auror with vibrant pink hair.

"What do you mean he doesn't know?" she hissed, her voice sharp. "Surely, if Dumbledore hadn't told him, you or Hermione would have."

Ron flushed. "Yeah, well," he snapped. "You probably haven't but told, but Hermione isn't exactly on speaking termswith Harry at the moment. And I, well..."

He suddenly faltered.

Harry frowned. What was going on? Why was Tonks here? It wasn't like he wasn't glad to see her again – because he was, he very much was – he just didn't know what was going on. But apparently, both Ron and Tonks did. And also apparently, Ron hadn't told him about it.

"Tonks, what's going on?" Harry asked again.

The auror turned to look at him, a hard look in her eyes. "Sirius's trial is today, Potter," she said, her voice as equally hard as her eyes – and for good reason. "And you've been called to testify."

"Wait," Harry said roughly half an hour later.

The two of them were sitting in a coffeeshop somewhere in London, Harry wasn't quite sure where. The place was a little...lackluster, if the dirtied tile and the permanent scowl on the waitress was anything to go by, but Tonks, well...Tonks had insisted. Apparently, she preferred coffee over tea, and this place, despite how it looked, was one of her favorite coffeeshops in all of England.

Harry couldn't quite see how this was the case.

"Yes, Potter?" Tonks asked him, suddenly stirring him out of his thoughts. "What is it?"

"I – oh," Harry said, once he realized that he had stared off into space rather than asking her the question that he really wanted to. "I'm just...I'm just confused, that's all. I mean," he quickly added when he saw Tonks giving him a speculative glare over the muggle newspaper that she was reading, "Shouldn't I have...I don't know, heard about Sirius's trial sooner? Not just because I'm supposed to testify – some time to...prepare, I guess, would've been nice – but also because I'm his godson? Doesn't that give me..."

"...An advantage?" Tonks finished for him when he trailed off. When he nodded, she sighed, before she put down her paper and leaned forward. "Let me tell you something, Potter. You're operating under muggle assumptions. Now, that's not a bad thing, don't get me wrong – my dad's a muggleborn and my mum was blasted off the family tree when she became pregnant with me because of it. But it's also not a good assumption to make, because the wizarding world isn't like the muggle world. Especially not for matters like this."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

Tonks hummed. "Think of it this way," she said. "In the muggle world, if a minor over the age of fourteen is called to testify, they first have to decide whether or not the minor is able enough to give a sworn oath, right?"

Harry, who had never really had much experience with the muggle government before, had never heard such a thing before. Still, he knew Tonks probably knew what she was talking about, so, he nodded and said, "Right."

"Well, you don't get that right in the wizarding world," Tonks continued once he had acknowledged her statement. "It's unfortunate, but it's true. If you are called to testify, then you are called to testify. No 'if's' or 'what's' about it. However, despite this being the case, the Wizengamot, when they call you to the stand if you're a minor, don't actually send the summons to you. They send it to your magical guardian. And since your magical guardian is Dumbledore..." she trailed off and shrugged. "He really should have told you, but knowing him, he probably wanted to give you time, and he probably figured you would've read it in the papers. Merlin knows the journalists have been speculating ever since Sirius turned himself in that you would be called to trial."

Harry scowled. For some reason, the part about Dumbledore wanting to give him 'time' really, really bothered him. "Time," he muttered. "Yeah, time. If he wanted to give me it, then how come he let Cressida Davis and the rest of them decide to get me married on October 29th?"

Tonks suddenly frowned. "Harry?" she asked, her voice taking a much kinder tone.

But Harry's scowl only deepened. "I just – I don't understand!" he vented, and then he felt awful because Merlin, why was he telling this to Tonks? Why was he telling this to anyone? But before he could even think about not telling her anything else, it was all suddenly spilling from his mouth. "All of this is happening to me, and yet I'm never the one who gets to make the choice! It's all Cressida Davis, or Dumbledore, or – or – "

"How long have you been feeling this way?" Tonks suddenly interjected.

Harry blinked. "What?" he asked.

"How long have you been feeling this way?" the auror repeated.

"Oh, I..." Harry began, his voice feeble. "I don't know...a few weeks or so, I guess..."

"So basically since all of this started?" Tonks surmised. "Officially, I mean."

"I...I guess?" Harry replied.

Tonks sighed, then ran a hand through her hair. "Great, just great," she muttered. Then, she stared at him with a determined look on her face. "Harry, regardless if you're getting married or not, you're only fourteen. You're not an adult. And while I full-heartedly agree that Cressida Davis and your other future in-laws should not have had as much say-so as they did, I also can't help but place myself in their shoes. I mean, even after you get married, you still won't be an adult in their eyes, legally-speaking and otherwise. Marriage doesn't automatically grant you emancipation in the wizarding world."

"...Of course you'd think that way," Harry muttered after a few moments.

"No, Harry!" Tonks snapped, just as her hair took on a reddish hue. "That's not what I'm saying! Let me finish! I'm saying that, while I understand why they and Dumbledore think this way, you don't necessarily have to continue letting them think so. Think about it. They're expecting you, as a child, to behave in a certain way – ignoring their daughters, ignoring your duties, ignoring the inevitable – and that's why they wanted you to marry their daughters so soon. Or, part of the reason, anyways. I'm sure the side-effects that Cressida Davis touted had something to do with it, too."

Slowly, all the anger that Harry was feeling dissipated. He hadn't realized that Tonks had known as much as she did, but she did have a point. If Cressida Davis and his other future in-laws had been concerned that he was going to act...immature, he forced himself to think, then he had done a very good job at doing what they had expected him to do. After all, he hadn't talked to Hermione or any of the other girls since all of this had started, hadn't read the news, and he hadn't even looked at those catalogues that McGonagall had said Dumbledore wanted him to look at. He hadn't done any of those things.

"So...what do I do, then?" Harry asked after a few minutes of him just sitting there, silently pondering what Tonks had said.

Tonks shrugged. "That depends. If you want to keep proving them right, if you want to keep letting them have most of the say-so, then I'd just keep doing what you're doing," she said nonchalantly. "But, if you want them to take you more seriously, if you want to feel less like they're controlling you...then I'd start acting responsibly.

"You don't have to do everything at once, of course," she added when Harry frowned at the thought. "You can take small steps first. Maybe, today, you think about something you wanted to do for one of your future wives. Maybe, tomorrow, you open one of those catalogues that I can see peeking out of your bag. And maybe, just maybe, you talk with Ginny this weekend. I'm good friends with her older brother Charlie, you know. He's quite worried about her. They all are."

Nervously, Harry nodded. Tonks had a point. He didn't have to start all at once. He could start small. He had wanted to get Hermione something for her birthday...which was today, he realized with a frown. Somehow, between his own birthday and now, he'd forgotten about that. He could get her a gift now, couldn't he? Although Tonks was supposed to take him to the Ministry of Magic so that he could testify for Sirius's trial, it wasn't time yet. It wouldn't be until she got a message telling her to do so – Merlin knows whenever that would be.

"...You're right," Harry admitted.

Tonks grinned. "I usually am, I'll have you know."

"I was wanting to get Hermione a gift for her birthday," he continued, ignoring her interjection. "Which is...today, and I forgot. But...I'm not quite sure what to get her. Can you help me?"

The auror's grin widened. "Why, Potter," she purred. "I never thought you'd ask."

After a quick round of apparition – which, as Harry had discovered earlier that morning, he hated just as much, if not more, as the portkey form of transportation – Harry and Tonks suddenly appeared in an alley in Diagon Alley.

"Wow," Harry said. "I didn't know you could apparate to here."

"Usually, you can't," Tonks supplied. "But I have special clearance, being with you and all that. Now, stay still. The press can't know you're here."

Harry did as he was told. A few moments later, it was Tonks and a boy with straight, light brown hair, blue eyes, and freckles that walked out of the alleyway, and both of them were trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

"Alright, where do you want to go first?" Tonks asked.

Harry frowned. Although last year and in their second year, he had gotten Hermione books for her birthday, seeing as how much she loved to read and all that, this year, it just didn't feel...right. Not when so many things had changed between them, anyways.

Not when they weren't talking to each other.

"I...don't know," Harry admitted. "What do you think I should get her?"

Tonks snorted. "I don't know her, Potter," she pointed out. "Merlin, I barely even know you. Would she like flowers and chocolates?"

Harry, knowing that Herbology wasn't one of Hermione's favorite subjects and that her parents were dentists, shook his head. "No, definitely not."

"Books?" Tonks tried.

"Already thought of that."

"Jewelry?"

Harry shook his head again. "No, I don't think so," he said.

But even as he said the words, there was a niggling of doubt in his mind. Would Hermione like jewelry? He didn't know – he had never seen her wearing jewelry before, unlike Parvati Patil and her twin sister Padma, and her ears certainly weren't pierced like theirs or Lavender Brown's. But that didn't mean that he couldn't get her some other kind of jewelry – not a ring, certainly! But...maybe a necklace? Would that do? A specific kind of necklace, maybe...one that could cover up the golden-green magic that was now permanently around her neck. Around all of his bonded's necks. And maybe, if he got her a necklace, then he could get Ginny one too, if he really did decide to talk to her this weekend like Tonks suggested...

"Actually, let's get her some jewelry," Harry declared, once he had made up his mind.

"Well, I know just the place for that," Tonks said with a wink. "Follow me."

The two of them walked down the road of Diagon Alley, past Madam Malkin's, Florean Fortescue's parlor, and even Ollivander's wand shop. Eventually, they came to a stop at a small store, which a sign at the top of the doorway said was called: Juvela's Jewelry & Gemstones.

Inside, the shop was rather airy, but also looked much like how the muggle jewelry stores looked, complete with the cases of jewelry. The only differences were that the floors and walls were covered with thick Persian rugs, and that the dark-skinned woman tending to the shop was obviously magical, if the shimmering of her ruby red robes was anything to go by.

"Ah, Miss Dora!" the woman exclaimed, her dark brown eyes glittering with delight. "How lovely it is to see you! And this is...?"

But Tonks only shook her head. "Can you turn on your privacy wards, Juvela?" she asked.

The woman, Juvela, clucked her tongue, but nevertheless waved her wand. Suddenly, there was a distinctive...shimmeringin the air, and the sign on the door, which had said that the shop was open, flickered to "closed".

"Thank you," Tonks said with a smile, before she gestured Harry forward. "Harry, meet Juvela Jaouhari, the best jeweler in all of England. Juvela, meet Harry Potter."

Juvela, who had smiled and flushed at Tonks's words, suddenly turned to look at Harry with wide, awed eyes. "Harry Potter," she breathed, while Harry shifted uncomfortably. "The Boy-Who-Lived, and England's most-eligible bachelor no more! Such an honor it is to have you in my store, young sir."

"Err...it's no problem," Harry said.

"Juvela," Tonks interjected, before the other witch could make him feel more uncomfortable. "Harry here would like to get one of his future wives something nice. Something like a ring – "

"Not a ring!" Harry interjected, his eyes wide.

"Not a ring, then," Tonks corrected with a nervous glance his way. "Maybe a necklace, then? Or some earrings? I don't know, but – "

"I know just the thing, 'akhtaa," Juvela said as she gently squeezed Tonks's hand, before she turned to look at Harry, an expectant look on her face. "Mr. Potter, are the rumors in the Prophet true? Do your future wives truly have those...bands of magic around their necks?"

Once again, Harry shifted uncomfortably. "They do."

Juvela nodded, as if she expected this answer. "Then, come here," she said, gesturing him to come over to a specific case.

Harry followed after her.

"In the wizarding communities of the Inuit, Aleut, and Yupik peoples," Juvela began. "They do not exchange rings for marriage like you magical Europeans do. Rings aren't exactly well-suited to the arctic terrain, after all. Instead, when a wizard proposes to a witch, when he asks if she wants to be betrothed to him, he gives her this. A betrothal necklace."

Harry blinked, before he stared down at the necklace she was holding in her hands. It looked...more like a collar, really, he realized with a clench of his stomach, but also...not. Not like the bands around his bonded's necks, anyways. Because whereas those were skin-tight and could never come off, the necklace in front of him looked loose and...comfortable. In fact, he was even willing to bet that the fabric of the necklace itself was made from some fancy magical fabric, which Juvela confirmed a moment later when she said:

"Now, usually with the Inuit, Aleut, and Yupik peoples, the fabric of the necklace is made from reindeer fur or sealskin, while the pendant that you see is made from bone. But these components, while making sense for those wizards to use, aren't really...suitable for wizards here. Or, at least, I think so, and I'm sure you'll agree. So, instead of reindeer fur or sealskin, the fabric you see here is black acromantula silk. And instead of bone, the pendant is made from royal silver, which is only found in siren coves. Rather magnificent, don't you think?"

"Yes," Harry agreed as he stared at the pendant in particular which, although obviously made from silver, also had an opalescent or pearlescent quality to it. The way that it shined made that obvious. But, also while he stared, the wheels within his head were turning. An idea was occurring to him. "Miss Juvela," he said formally, but also kindly. "How many...how many of these could you make for me?"

Juvela smiled, and once again, her dark brown eyes glittered. "However many you would like," she replied. "And I can make them whenever you want. Now, later...it does not matter."

"And the pendants...they can all be personalized?" he asked.

The dark-skinned witch nodded.

Nervously, Harry sucked in a breath. Although he didn't really know if any of his bonded liked jewelry or not – except for Daphne and Astoria Greengrass, maybe, or Gabrielle Delacour – he did know that they couldn't have liked the stares that they were getting, just like he was. And although the stares directed his way were probably a lost cause, he couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, if his bonded had a way to cover up the undeniable, then things wouldn't be so bad. For them, at least.

So, with these thoughts in mind, Harry turned his head and looked up at Juvela. "Miss Juvela," he said. "I would like eighteen of these...betrothal necklaces. Two for now, sixteen for later, as needed. Is that doable?"

The smile that Juvela gave him in response was absolutely radiant. "Yes, Mr. Potter. Barak Allah bek."

Word Count: 3,058

Next Chapter Title: Testaments Pt. 1

Ending Notes: Yes, I was particularly punny with Juvela's name. Yes, I totally just threw the betrothal necklaces from Avatar: The Last Airbender into this story. I hope you don't mind. The latter just...completely made sense, all things considered. Also, I am not a native speaker of Arabic, and the Arabic that is in this chapter came from Quora. If something about it is wrong, send me a PM and I'll fix it!

Until next time,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis