The following morning, Hermione and Tonks walked down the stairs together to the main entrance hall, two minutes before the grandfather clock that had shot bolts at anyone who walked by before they'd fixed it a week after Hermione had arrived, tolled eight times.
As planned, they had skipped breakfast to avoid having to spend any more time than absolutely necessary around any of the adults of Grimmauld Place, knowing they would be able to eat once they got to Potter Manor. Hermione had considered having one of Harry's house elves go ahead and take her trunk over to Potter Manor as well so she wouldn't have to roll it down the Grimmauld Place sidewalk with her, but she thought it might look suspicious that she didn't have her trunk with her, and someone might begin to have an idea of how she would be traveling, which could lead to an increased chance in someone guessing where Harry might be, something she wanted to avoid as best she could. So she floated her trunk down the stairs next to her, letting it land with a soft thud on the floor when they reached the entrance hall and the door to freedom.
Unsurprisingly, the Matriarch was there lying in wait on them, glaring at both Hermione and Tonks as they walked down the stairs. Lupin and Sirius were also there, looking much less like they might explode like a volcano at any moment.
"Stay safe, and Tonks, we'll be expecting a message from you letting us know you've made it safely as soon as you do arrive," said Lupin, giving Hermione a hug.
"Don't do anything I would, and tell Harry hi for me," added Sirius as he hugged her as well.
Then they undid the locks to the door, and Hermione and Tonks stepped out into the morning sunshine, the first time Hermione had been allowed outside since she'd been taken there weeks before.
As the two of them walked off down the street, Tonks muttered under her breath, "Hestia Jones in the park across from us, and Sturgis Podmore at the street corner ahead of us."
"Keeping walking, we'll get several streets away before we duck into an alleyway for our ride," muttered Hermione back.
They had been walking for about five minutes, when Hermione spotted an upcoming alleyway that she thought looked like it would work well, and slightly slowed their pace as she thought in her mind, Plinky, Tonks and I need a quick apparation to Potter Manor without being seen by the wizards tailing us, because I don't want them to know house elves are involved, at least not for sure. We're about to come up to an alleyway, please be waiting there for us, and as soon as we duck in we'll grab your hands and you take us out.
Trusting that the house elf had heard her, when they got up to the alley, Hermione grabbed Tonks' hand and quickly pulled the older girl into the alley, where they found Plinky waiting for them as Hermione had hoped. Hermione and Tonks each grabbed one of Plinky's outstretched hands, Hermione's other hand holding onto her trunk so it would come along for the ride as well, and a second later they were twisted into darkness.
Seeing their targets disappear around the corner into the alleyway, Hestia and Sturgis sprinted down the street to get an eye on them again as quickly as possible, but when they rounded the corner and could see down the alley, there was no one there despite it being a dead end.
"Think Tonks side-by apparated them?" asked Hestia.
"Don't know what else could have happened," replied Sturgis, as they both reluctantly turned and headed back towards Number Twelve to report that they'd lost the targets.
~HP~
Meanwhile, across the country, Hermione and Tonks landed in the entrance hall of Potter Manor.
Harry was standing there waiting for them, and as soon as they saw each other, he and Hermione rushed towards each other, hugging tightly and kissing.
"I've missed you so much," breathed Harry when they broke apart.
"Me too, Harry," whispered Hermione back, cupping his cheek in her hand. "It's been a really long three weeks without you."
So before they could start kissing again, and probably making out, Tonks cleared her throat where she stood on the other side of the room watching them and asked, "So where is this place? Oh, and by the way Harry, I'm Tonks, your godcousin. And your girlfriend offered to let me stay here for the rest of the summer — just thought you should know."
Finally letting Hermione go, Harry walked over to Tonks, saying, "Pleased to finally meet you. Hermione's told me all about you in our letters over the past few weeks. And this is Potter Manor, one of the several houses the goblins told me I own, and of course you're more than welcome to stay. Hermione and I would be delighted to have you here with us."
He held out his hand for her to shake, but she surprised him and closed the small gap between them instead, hugging him tightly.
When she let go and stepped back, Harry said, "Hermione told me you two were planning on skipping breakfast at Grimmauld this morning, so if you'd like to follow me, we can head to the kitchen for something to eat. And Hermione, a house elf will take your trunk to your room for you, and Tonks, you can send a house elf to Grimmauld, or anywhere else, to get your clothes and stuff."
As they were eating breakfast a little while later, Tonks looked over at Harry and said, "I've been wondering, since you've always had a full vault since you learned you were a wizard, and now you have all this, what did you do with your Triwizard winnings from last year?"
"At Hermione's suggestion, actually, I gave it to the twins to start their joke shop," answered Harry.
"All of it?" asked Tonks in surprise. "That was a lot of money."
Harry knew better than to ever let Ron hear what he was about to say, but he knew Tonks would understand how low his wealth was on the list of things that really mattered to him.
"It was a lot, but initially I felt too guilty about Cedric's death to want to keep it, but when I tried to give it to the Diggorys, they refused to take it, saying it was mine and that I had earned it. Then on the train ride back, the twins were telling Hermione and I about how Bagman had screwed them over on the bet they'd made on the World Cup since he was in trouble of his own with the goblins, and how they'd lost all their earnings because of it all, and Hermione had the brilliant idea of giving them the TriWizard gold since I didn't want it anyway.
"Because as bad as this is going to sound, it was pocket change compared to what's already in my school vault in Gringotts. And certainly never tell Ron that, as he would only be even more jealous of me than he already is with the wealth and fame he already knows I have, but it's true. I didn't have any particular use for a thousand galleons, and as much as the Weasley family could use that money — especially after spending nearly all of the seven hundred galleons they won two years ago on a trip to Egypt instead of on things like clothes, wands that chose the wizard for all their kids and not just Ron since his was broken, and schoolbooks, or saving it to have when they needed it — Mrs Weasley certainly would never accept it, and even if Mr Weasley was willing to accept it against his wife's preference, he'd have a hard time explaining how a thousand galleons suddenly showed up in their vault, so I'm sure he wouldn't have accepted it either, and anyway I had no way to ask. But what the twins are trying to do, even if Mrs Weasley disapproves, or maybe because she disapproves, is worth something. If they can use the money to make the world a little brighter, bring a few laughs into what's doubtlessly going to be dark times ahead, it's worth whatever amount of money."
Tonks chuckled lightly, shaking her head at him. "That was really kind of you — both of you," she said, reaching over and resting her hand lightly on Harry's arm. But after a second, she turned more serious, and asked slowly, "So just how much do you have in your vault? — If you don't mind me asking."
"A little over sixty-thousand galleons in the school vault alone," answered Harry. "The amount in the main family vault is only a little more since no one can actually use that much gold at one time anyway, but there's supposedly well over a hundred-thousand galleons worth of things like jewels, jewelry, and other artifacts in there as well — I can't actually visit it until I'm seventeen, so I haven't seen it myself yet. And then there's a massive amount of business, land, and house holdings in Potter Estate as well, that's worth way beyond that."
"Kind of makes me wish I was the one who'll be marrying you instead of Hermione," smirked Tonks with a slight shake of her head. "That, and of course the fact you're really cute and I'm pretty sure I've got a crush on you just from talking with your girlfriend about you over the past few weeks, even without having ever met you yet."
"Oh, Hermione and I aren't engaged!" exclaimed Harry, but Tonks cut him off.
"Oh, please. You two are clearly meant for each other," she waved off dismissively. "It's only a matter of time before you're together forever. I mean, you can't even go three weeks without seeing each other without practically making out as soon as you see each other again, and I'm pretty sure the only reason you didn't is because I interrupted you before you could get started."
Harry and Hermione both blushed at this, but couldn't deny her statement so they didn't say anything at all.
But after a second, Harry did say, "You know, if you do need any money —"
Tonks quickly cut him off. "Oh, no! No, I don't need anything! I mean, I don't have this opulent lifestyle except for the last remaining weeks of summer, but I'm far from lacking anything. My mum may have been disowned by the Blacks and not have access to any of that wealth, but she and dad are what I guess would be considered upper middle-class in the wizarding world, and while being an auror isn't the highest paying job of all time, I don't need anything more than I have."
She paused for a second, with a slightly contemplative look, before smirking, "Although, if you absolutely insisted on paying something for having personal auror private security for these few weeks, I wouldn't say no to a Firebolt — my Comet 260's starting to get outrun by all the newer brooms on the market."
"Absolutely!" smiled Harry. "Anyway, I need people to practice Quidditch with in the backyard over the remainder of the summer before Hermione and I go back, especially since I can't practice magic here because of the Trace — and I can't have any of my training partners on subpar brooms trying to keep up with my Firebolt."
"Actually — you can use magic here now," replied Tonks. "At least, whenever I'm here. I'm an of-age witch, which means as long as I'm in the house, the Trace won't work. But I still want to play Quidditch with you guys, and do all the flying I can."
~HP~
Once they had finished breakfast and talking, Harry led them both to the wing of the manor his bedroom was on, for them to pick out their own bedrooms. But first, he showed them his own bedroom he'd been sleeping in so they'd know where he was in comparison to all the other rooms.
Tonks had just stepped in to take a look around, when she pointed at a trunk sitting next to one of the dressers and said, "Um, Hermione? Isn't that your trunk?"
Hermione stepped into the room as well, and replied, "Sure looks like it," before turning to look at Harry with a raised eyebrow.
Harry threw up his hands in defense. "I didn't do it, or tell a house elf to do it."
"You did say a house elf would take her trunk to her room, though, when we first got here," smirked Tonks.
"Yeah, but I thought it would be taken to one of the rooms on either side of this one, and Hermione could move it elsewhere if she preferred a different room," defended Harry. "I didn't expect the house elf to bring it in here."
"It's fine, Harry," said Hermione walking over and resting her hand on his upper arm. "And if you're okay with it, and Tonks over there promises not to tease us too much if we do it, I'm okay with staying in here — but only if you're okay with it, too."
"I certainly enjoyed our two nights in the hospital wing after the third task," replied Harry. "So if you're sure…."
"I am," answered Hermione with a soft smile, leaning up to peck him on the lips.
"And I in no way whatsoever promise not to tease you two to no end," interjected Tonks from the other side of the room where she'd taken to exploring while they had their brief moment before she interrupted it.
"And here I thought you wanted a Firebolt from me," Harry retorted playfully, rolling his eyes at her.
"You're too nice to back out now," smirked Tonks in reply, walking back over to them and running her hand through Harry's slightly less woolly hair than it had been most of the year before, before playfully pouting, "You wouldn't deny a cute girl her gift, now would you?"
"You better be glad my girlfriend likes you," sighed Harry, shaking his head in mock exasperation. "Now come on, you need to pick out a room as well, and it's definitely not this one."
"Aww, but you look so cuddleable," teased Tonks as she led them out of the room.
She eventually found a room she liked — the one directly across from Harry and Hermione's to no one's surprise — and Harry and Hermione left her alone in there to tell one of the house elves where to go get her clothes from. Or more specifically, to go get her already packed trunk from Grimmauld Place, as even though she hadn't told Hermione about it, she had already packed her trunk since Hermione had promised her that Harry would be happy to have her stay.
~HP~
After a scrumptious lunch provided by Harry's house elves, Harry, Hermione, and Tonks had another one of his house elves apparate them to Diagon Alley.
Their first stop was at Quality Quidditch Supplies to buy Tonks and Hermione Firebolts. Hermione had insisted she didn't need a broom that fancy, or even a broom at all as she didn't really like flying, but Harry had insisted, promising her that she would like flying a lot better once she tried out a broom that wasn't a beat up school broom, and that even with a Firebolt she still didn't have to fly if she didn't want to, and anyway it was also kind of a backup to his own broom should it ever have an unfortunate encounter with a Willow of the Whomping variety like his Nimbus 2000 had. So Hermione grudgingly excepted it with minimal token complaining, and they headed over to Flourish and Blotts immediately afterward for her to load up on things more to her liking.
As none of them had any further shopping they needed to do in Diagon Alley that day, they soon headed back home, so Tonks and Hermione could try out their new brooms.
Tonks was of course quickly zooming all over the spacious grounds of Potter Manor, testing out the limits of the nicest, fastest broom she'd ever had the privilege of flying. Hermione, however, was much more reserved. But after flying for just a few minutes, she flew up next to where Harry was just sitting on his broom in midair watching both of the girls.
"I have to admit — this is much more enjoyable than it was in class first year," she said as she came to a stop next to him. "Still not my favorite thing in the world, but really not bad on a broom this nice."
"You can always just use it to fly up into the air to read," Harry smiled back. "But seriously, glad you like it. Flying's a lot of fun when you get used to it."
They continued to fly around for several more hours, Hermione even daring to begin pushing her boundaries after a while, until dusk was soon falling around them.
Harry and Hermione had just landed on the back porch of the Manor and were sharing a kiss, when Tonks flew up as well.
"I would kiss you thanks as well, Harry, but I figure your girlfriend wouldn't appreciate it," smirked Tonks as she landed next to them. "So instead I'll just have to give you a much more mundane hug."
Which she promptly did. After she had done so, the three of them headed back inside for supper, the end of the best day any of them had had in a while.