Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Seal the Deal and Let's Boogie

Tonks woke up to an empty bed and the smell of breakfast, specifically sausage, invading her flat. On one hand she was disappointed that she didn't woke up with Harry beside her but on the other hand the fact that he was up and cooking as he usually did was a very good sign that he slept soundly. She stretched her body, enjoying the feeling, and dragged herself out of bed and into the kitchen. Seeing Harry standing there looking much more relaxed than he had just a few hours ago brought a small smile to Tonks' face despite the lingering sleep that still plagued her.

"Morning Dora," Harry told her, sitting the food on the table. The young woman's response was a sharp nod as she sat down and started to fill her plate. Harry sat down opposite of her. "Thanks for last night. It really helped. And I understand why you want to take things slow between us now." That caught Tonks off guard.

"What do you mean?" she asked, nearly choking in her haste to swallow her food.

"When I woke up this morning it was all I could do to not wake you up too and snog you senseless." The look on the teen's face was completely serious so Tonks couldn't be sure, but she was fairly certain that he didn't just want to snog her. While she wasn't exactly opposed to what she assumed he wanted to do, it brought back the real reason they weren't together yet and it pained her. Still, she couldn't bring herself to have the conversation at the moment so she didn't say anything.

The rest of the meal was spent in comfortable banter, both falling back into their routine of trying to make the other blush. Since both were very comfortable with each other, and knew the other even better than they knew themselves, this always proved to be a difficult task. This little game of theirs was devised by Tonks when it took her nearly a month after meeting Harry before she caused him to do anything that remotely resembled a blush. He explained that having Sirius as his godfather had made him much less susceptible to blushing than most others his age and the young Auror decided to put it to the test. Ironically it was Harry who made her blush before she made him. Since then it had evolved into a contest between the two of them that usually had no clear winner.

Sooner than either of them would have liked, it was time for Tonks to go to work. She kissed Harry, lingering just slightly longer than normal, and walked out the door before turning on her heel and Disapparating, leaving the teen alone in her flat. He had already finished some of the homework he had mentioned last night so he took the opportunity to look around the place. He knew Tonks' flat like the back of his hand of course, having spent a lot of time there, and though it hadn't changed much since when he had first been there, it seemed that there was always something new every time he was there. This was really the first time he had had since arriving to actually look around.

Other than a couple of pictures of her and Harry that had been taken at Christmas and a picture of her and Sirius on the latter's wedding day, there was nothing new this time and Harry instead started looking at the other pictures. Though he had seen these pictures multiple times he never grew tired of them. They all ranged from pictures of Tonks by herself to pictures of the Metamorphmagus with family and friends. There were even a couple of her and him together, though the first picture they had taken together was currently sitting in the place of honor on her nightstand. One particular picture seemed to draw Harry's eye. It was a picture of a beaming Tonks with her equally happy parents just after she had graduated from Hogwarts. Seeing it brought back fond memories of his own family.

Harry and Rose were in the backyard of the Potter house practicing Quidditch. The two had returned from Hogwarts just a few days ago, Harry from his third year and Rose from her first, and the young redhead wanted to follow in the footsteps of both her father and brother and join the Gryffindor Quidditch team, preferably as a Chaser like James had been. She knew there wasn't much chance of her getting on in the upcoming year or two but she wanted to be prepared when she had the chance. Furthermore, she was hoping that she could persuade Oliver Wood to put her on the team as a backup in case one of the others couldn't play. If she had any hope of that happening though she had to prove that she was good enough.

Harry had offered to help her in her endeavor, though he admitted that he wasn't very comfortable handling the Quaffle. James had offered to help too but he thus far hadn't been able to. Nevertheless, Rose seemed to be just as much a natural as Harry and James and picked up things rather quickly. Harry was proud of his little sister, even if he would never openly admit it, and he was planning to do everything he could to convince Wood to accept her as a backup.

While the main focus of their practice was to make Rose a better Chaser, Harry had also stressed to her the importance of being able to expertly dodge Bludgers. Since they didn't have any of the aggressive, somewhat dangerous balls they could use, Harry had been using his wand to fling large rocks and pieces of debris at her for the past half hour. He wanted her to understand that she not only needed to be able to dodge and move quickly, she also needed to be aware of everything around her. To get his point across, Harry was throwing things at her from all sides, sometimes even having things come back to her immediately after she dodged them. It greatly amused him the first time he had a rock fly back and hit her just a few seconds after she rolled to avoid it.

Part of the purpose of the practice was to humble Rose as well, which was another reason for Harry being so hard on her with the "Bludgers." Just like her brother, Rose was somewhat overconfident from having a father who was such an accomplished player and she needed to get the idea out of her head. Harry had to learn the hard way that his father's abilities were not his and he wanted to spare Rose that same hardship. Being confident while at the same time having humility was an important trait to have and it was one that Harry wanted Rose to learn easier than he had. He knew that his actions may upset her but he decided that he would rather have a sister who was angry with him than one who had an inflated sense of importance.

It was only after Rose had numerous, and very visible, bruises on her body and a look that could only be described as pure rage on her face that Harry decided to cease his onslaught. He threw the Quaffle at her (which she easily caught) and flew over to the goals they had erected earlier. Harry wasn't a very skilled Keeper but Rose wasn't exactly a skilled Chaser yet either, so they were well enough matched for Harry to be able to help her improve. If it wasn't already obvious that Rose was angry with Harry being so harsh earlier, it soon became apparent when she threw her first throw. Though Harry was able to catch it, he definitely felt the power behind the throw when it hurt his hands. The two continued in this vein for nearly an hour, with Rose scoring as many goals as Harry saved, before James and Lily came outside.

"You're doing a good job Rose," James complimented his daughter, "but you'll only improve if you practice with someone better than you. Harry?" The temporary Keeper nodded and flew over by Lily to let his father take his place in front of the goals. The two stood by the sidelines watching as Rose tried, and usually failed, to get the Quaffle past James.

"You know that was too much earlier Harry," Lily quietly said to her son. "I know you want to help her but there are some things she has to learn on her own."

"It wasn't just about Quidditch, Mum."

"I know and that's what I'm talking about." Lily smiled at the incredulous look on Harry's face. "Don't look so surprised. Your father had a very inflated opinion of himself for most of his time at Hogwarts, especially when it came to Quidditch. You had the same inflated opinion when you first started playing Seeker two years ago, though thankfully that was the extent of it for you. I'm very proud that you haven't let your status as the Boy-Who-Lived go to your head.

"Apparently having an overly inflated ego about something runs in the Potter family. Your father had one about everything, you had one about your Quidditch ability, and Rosie's ego falls somewhere in between you two. You need to let her deflate her head on her own though. It will be better learned that way and having an ego isn't necessarily a bad thing. Your sister has a lot to live up to between the three of us and it's her ego and pride that will help her accomplish that. Do you understand son?"

"Yes Mum," Harry responded in a quiet voice. If he knew that he was going to be scolded for attempting to help his sister then he wouldn't have even bothered.

"I'm not upset with you Harry," Lily continued. Knowing her son as she did, she was fairly certain that he felt as though she was scolding him, which couldn't be further from the truth. It was important for him to understand that so he wouldn't be discouraged from continuing to help and look out for Rose in the future. "It makes me so happy to know that you want to help and look out for your sister but you have to understand that there are times when we try to help someone and we end up hurting them in the long run. If everything is handed to Rose on a silver platter then she'll never learn to do things for herself. She needs to suffer humiliation just as you and James have in order to really have her ego put in check."

Harry merely nodded to his mother and the two continued to watch James and Rose. After nearly a half hour of letting the young redhead attempt to score, James ran his daughter through common Chaser maneuvers, both for a group and for one person. Harry couldn't deny that he was impressed with his sister's tenacity, knowing that most people would have gotten frustrated and given up by now. While Rose was visibly frustrated, one look at her face and the jerky movements of her broom proved that, she showed no sign of quitting. This told Harry, more than anything else, that she was determined to find a spot on the team and he further resolved to do everything he could to help her.

Never one to give his children unfair treatment, after an hour James called an end to his and Rose's practice and turned to Harry. He had an almost maniacal gleam in his eye and it wasn't hard to guess what was on his mind.

"Think you can catch the Snitch faster than your old man Harry?" The raven-haired teen didn't verbally respond, choosing instead to reply by mounting his broom and flying to his father's side. James looked at Lily, noting she had the small golden ball in her hand. "Let it go sweetheart." No sooner had the Snitch left her hand than Harry sped off after it, James less than a breath behind his son.

Harry smiled to himself. He had caught the Snitch the first time, despite his father's best efforts, and James managed to get to it the second time. They wanted to try for a third time, to see who the better Seeker truly was, but Lily had called an end to everything so they could eat dinner. They never did have that third time and Harry felt that it was long overdue.

Unsure what to do with himself now, as he had grown thoroughly tired of daytime television, he finally decided on continuing with his homework. He reasoned that at least he would be able to tell Hermione, Lily, and Rose that he was already finished with it this way. Despite what he told Tonks the night before, Harry really wasn't sure why he was still doing his schoolwork. Even if he did return to Hogwarts after Voldemort was defeated, he was sure that whether or not he did his homework from a year earlier wouldn't make a difference. There were many other things he could, and should, be doing, yet he was bound and determined to finish the work his teachers assigned.

The best reason Harry could come up with for this behavior was his attempt to cling to what was familiar. He would be lying if he said he wasn't scared and this gave him a weird sense of comfort. It let him know that despite everything that else that was happening, despite everything he himself was personally involved in, life went on for others. Even in the midst of a war with a sociopath who wanted to kill everyone he deemed unworthy, it was a comforting thought to know that not everyone had to directly deal with it. It was with this strangely uplifting thought that Harry delved back into his homework for nearly two hours.

After it became apparent that Harry couldn't stare at his Defense Against the Dark Arts book anymore (he liked Snape but there was no denying the man assigned a lot of homework), he decided his next course of action should be to go over what needed to be done. Pulling a new piece of parchment to him, the first thing the teen wrote down was the Horcruxes. He jotted down everything he knew about them and made some speculations as to where they could be. The next item in the list was to learn even more spells that could help him. Between his parents, Sirius, and Tonks, three of whom were Aurors, Harry already had more knowledge about dueling than most people his age but he knew it wasn't enough. He would need to be more prepared than anyone thought possible to face Voldemort. In essence, he had to attempt to learn half a century's worth of magic before he faced the Dark Lord.

The task before him had never seemed as daunting as it did at that moment. Though he had often thought about it before, it wasn't until then that Harry realized just how powerful Voldemort was. He had been so focused on finding and destroying the Horcruxes that he had all but forgotten that behind them lay an extremely powerful, extremely angry Wizard who was old enough to be Harry's grandfather. The idea to return to Hogwarts for another year and learn more had never been greater but the raven-haired teen pushed the thought from his mind. This had to be ended as soon as possible and that meant that he, Tonks, Hermione, and probably Orion would have to learn these things on their own. Of course, that didn't mean that he had to wait for them to start researching some of the things that could be useful.

Taking a quick break to stretch his legs, Harry made his way to the bookcase by Tonks' bedroom. While she didn't read just for the sake of reading (though she admitted that she could get lost in a good adventure book), the young Auror had numerous books on the Dark Arts and how to fight them, things that helped her become a better Auror, and spells. The last subject was the one Harry was currently interested in and he was soon seated back at the table with several choice spell books. He was in the midst of looking through one that was particularly interesting when the door burst open and Tonks came rushing in. One look at her appearance said that she was flustered about something and she was muttering darkly to herself.

"Where does she get off, talking to me like that? I don't tell her how to do her job. The bint's lucky I didn't Hex her."

"Er, Dora? What's wrong?" As though she just realized he was there, Tonks turned to face Harry and threw her arms around him.

"Hi love," she greeted with a kiss on his cheek. "Umbridge was in my office today and made some 'suggestions' as to how I could improve myself. Your dad stopped me before I could run my mouth off and Scrimgeour sent me home to cool off for a few hours."

"I thought Bones was going to get rid of that bitch."

"She's trying love but there's only so much she can do, even as Minister. Umbridge has enough power and influence that removing her from that job will take time. Merlin I believed you were telling the truth when she was at Hogwarts but I never knew it was this bad!"

Harry was sitting in the Gryffindor common room with Rose, who was eying her older brother with wariness. He had just had a confrontation with Professor Umbridge and he was seething. It was all Harry could do to stay in his seat and he glared or snapped at anyone who came too close. He would normally have Ron, Hermione, and Ginny with him as well but the former two had Prefect duties and the latter had detention with the very same teacher who had roused Harry's ire. The young teen would typically turn to Professor Dumbledore for advice in a situation like this but he hadn't been seen since disappearing from the castle a couple of months ago. This was something Harry definitely didn't need to deal with at the moment; OWLs were approaching in about a month and he needed to focus on that.

"Why don't you just owl Tonks?" Rose suddenly asked. Harry was so taken aback by the question, and the possible implications of it, that he forgot to snap at her.

"Why would I do that?" Harry's tone was cautious and reserved.

"Oh come off it Harry. I saw how you were acting around her at Christmas. I know you fancy her and I think she fancies you too. According to Sirius, she talks about you all the time, or at least that's what Severus tells me. What does that matter right now anyway? You won't talk to Mum or Dad, you won't talk to Sirius, you need to talk to someone outside of Hogwarts about this. You can't keep letting her get to you!"

"This isn't exactly something I can just put into a letter Rose. Besides I'm pretty sure she's still trying to check my mail."

"So use Umbridge's fireplace and talk to her by Floo. Or better yet you could always use that mirror Sirius gave you over the holidays. I'm sure he'll be glad to let her use it."

"And what will he think when I ask for her?"

"That you miss the girl you fancy and you want to talk to her. Is that so fucking hard?" Harry blinked at his sister's answer, trying to process it. It was so simple that it was easy to overlook and yet it was probably the truth. If Sirius knew how Harry felt about Tonks (which he was sure of, since his godfather somehow knew everything about him) then that's exactly what he would think. Not knowing of any other response, the teen said the first thing that popped into his head.

"You're too young to use language like that Rose."

"So it's alright for you to say fuck but it's not alright for me?"

"That's fucking right," he called back as he began climbing the stairs to his dorm, acutely aware that Rose was right on his heels. He knew that she wanted to see Tonks too. His sister had taken a shine to the young Metamorphmagus, seeing her as the older sister she never had. Though he wanted to talk to Tonks alone, Harry could hardly stop Rose from accompanying him so he did his best to quash his annoyance. It only took him a minute to find the mirror he used to talk to his godfather buried under everything else on his bedside table.

"Sirius." It took only a couple of minutes for the Wizard to appear on the glass, looking like Christmas had come early.

"Harry! What are you doing kid?"

"I was actually hoping to talk to Tonks, if she's around."

"Yeah she's here. Why do you want to talk to her? Miss your girlfriend already?"

"You're lucky I'm not there or I'd Hex you to oblivion right now. I've gotten a lot faster this past year."

"So I take it your group is going well then?" The slight shaking of the mirror told the two siblings that Sirius was currently walking.

"It was until Umbridge found out about it."

"How'd she find out?!"

"That bitch Marietta Edgecomb," Rose replied.

"You shouldn't say things like that Rosie," Sirius responded, a light chuckle escaping him. "Here's Tonks, before you say anything else that might end up getting me in trouble. It's Harry and Rose," he added, apparently talking to his young cousin.

"Hi Rose," Tonks greeted evenly, flashing her a friendly smile. "Harry! Can't get enough of me? You just saw me at Easter and you already miss me?"

"You're one to talk, if that smile is any indication" the teen cheekily responded, referencing the smile that now threatened to split her face.

"Would you two quit making eyes at each other?" Rose burst out. "You're making me nauseous! Harry just talk to her already!"

"Seems we're making your sister jealous Harry."

"Looks that way doesn't it? In all seriousness though I do need to talk to you about Umbridge. Are you alone?" At Tonks' nod, Harry immediately launched into his tale of what Umbridge had put them through that year, leaving out the part about the Blood Quill. Her trademark smile had quickly vanished and her face was becoming stonier with everything he told her.

"Now I know why you lot were so eager to come home for Easter," the young Auror began when Harry finished speaking, "and I have a feeling there's more that you're not telling me." She gave Harry a pointed look that told him they were going to talk about it later and he would tell her everything then. "I understand your predicament though. If you fight back then you make yourself a target and if you do nothing then she continues to make your life miserable. It's not an easy fix unfortunately. Give me some time to think of something. Why did you come to me about this though Harry? Why not your parents or Sirius?"

"Rose would you give us a minute?" Harry asked his sister.

"Sure," the young redhead responded as she stood up. "Bye Tonks!"

"I wanted to talk to you because I don't want anyone else to know," Harry continued as soon as Rose left the room. "I know Mum, Dad, Sirius, and Remus all mean well but they're too overprotective and I don't want them to do anything. Aside from that there is the obvious reason."

"We'll have to see what we can do about that reason," she responded with a grin. "Until then though I'll see what I can come up with about your situation with Umbridge. Oh bugger, I think Sirius is coming back. I've gotta go Harry. Be safe."

"You too Tonks. Bye." The Metamorphmagus' heart-shaped face left the mirror and Harry went back downstairs to find Rose waiting in the chair she had just vacated.

"Why didn't you tell her about the Blood Quill?" she asked her brother when he sat down.

"I'll tell her after we've dealt with her. You and I both know that she'll try to march right into Hogwarts and Curse Umbridge if she knows about it. One thing at a time my dear sister. Now, how are your skills in Occlumency coming?"

"She either doesn't realize that Bones is trying to sack her or she doesn't care," Tonks continued, her hair a flaming red that nearly matched Rose's.

"Or maybe she knows and she's trying to do as much as she can before she's gone," Harry pointed out. "We know she isn't very smart, she's manipulative, and her only loyalty is to power. Maybe she hopes that if she can prove her worth to Bones that the Minister will let her stay."

"Maybe," Tonks agreed with a shrug of her shoulders, her hair beginning to revert to its trademark pink as she anger started to subside. "I'm starting to get hungry love. What's for lunch?" Harry laughed at the question. Tonks was the only person he knew who could go from seething mad to hungry in an instant. He stole a quick kiss and started making their lunch.

The next few hours were enjoyable for both despite the events that had led to them. Tonks seemed to have put her anger behind her and entertained Harry with some of her funnier Auror stories. Harry added to it by doing some rather convincing impersonations of his father. He also contributed a few of his funnier stories from that year at Hogwarts, though they were few and far in between. According to Tonks, the best one was when he and Rose "accidentally" locked Mrs. Norris in one of the broom closets.

"I swear we didn't even know she was in there when we shut the door. The next thing we hear is a lot of screeching and swearing then the door flew open and the damn cat came rushing out followed by Ginny and Dean. They apparently didn't like their snog being interrupted like that."

"And this was all just an accident?" Tonks managed to gasp out despite the tears of mirth rolling down her face. Harry could only nod in response, his own laughter not allowing him to actually say anything. "I really wish I could've seen that. It looks like it's about time for me to go back to work love. Merlin I'm going to be there forever tonight."

"Alright," Harry responded, rising to his feet and pulling her into a tight embrace that she willingly returned. "Bye babe. I promise your flat might still be here when you get back."

"I promise that if it's not, your bits won't be either." Harry visibly paled at the threat causing Tonks to let out another of her infectious laughs. She pulled him into the longest kiss they had shared in the past week and only reluctantly parted. "Bye love. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Be safe," Harry responded as she walked out of the room. As soon as the door closed, the teen fell back onto the couch with a sigh of frustration. Though her anger was apparently abated, Harry knew that Tonks would be mentally drained after dealing with Umbridge (at least that's the way he always felt). He wanted to do something special for her, something to lift her spirits but he wasn't sure what. He really wished his godfather was there at that moment. Sirius was the only adult he had ever felt truly comfortable talking to whenever he had romantic troubles.

Harry sat at a table with Ron nursing a butterbeer. The two of them were at the Potters' along with the rest of the Weasleys, Hermione, Sirius and Serene, and Remus for a last meal together before the kids had to go back to school. The ginger was still going on about the Quidditch World Cup (choosing to gloss over the Death Eater involvement of course) but Harry was discreetly watching Hermione. The brunette Witch was with Ginny and Rose, laughing at a joke that Ginny had just told.

Ever since the incident at the World Cup just over a month ago Harry had been seeing his friend in a different light. He wasn't sure what exactly the cause of it was but he no longer saw Hermione as just his bushy haired intelligent friend who he could always count on for help. Now she was Hermione, a beautiful young woman who was so much more than just a bookworm that was full of knowledge. The raven-haired teen wanted to do something about these newfound feelings but he wasn't sure what. He didn't want to do anything that might destroy their friendship. Normally he would go to Hermione whenever he had a problem like this but seeing as his possible feelings for her was the problem that was out of the question. Making up his mind Harry stood up from the table, leaving Ron in mid-sentence.

"Sorry mate," he apologized, doing his best to sound sincere, "I need to find Sirius. There's something I need to talk to him about." Ron gaped at his best mate for a moment before nodding and Harry took off, intent on finding Sirius as quickly as possible. It didn't take long for him to find his godfather in the sitting room laughing about something with Remus. "Hey Sirius could I talk to you about something alone?" The two best friends looked at each other for a moment before Remus stood up.

"I'll make sure no one disturbs you two," he announced before walking into the adjoining room.

"Gotta love Moony," Sirius said with a smile before turning to Harry. "So what do you need kid? What's so important that you can't talk to James or Lily about?"

"It's too embarrassing to talk to Mum about this. As for Dad, well I know you'll probably take the mickey out of me too but I don't live with you so it's a little easier." Sirius' eyes widened as he realized what Harry was talking about.

"Oho, it's about time you started noticing girls kid! So who is she?"

"It's Hermione. Only she's not the same Hermione I've known for the past three years. I don't know what to do about it Sirius."

"Ask her on a date." Harry snorted at his godfather's advice.

"If only if was that easy. What if she says no?"

"Then she says no," Sirius responded with a shrug. "You know Hermione won't take the mickey out of you and she won't tell anyone else. Just ask her to Hogsmeade sometime."

"Yeah because we've never done that before."

"It's all about the intent kid. If you're straightforward about wanting it to be an actual date instead of just going as friends and she reciprocates then it's a date, simple as that."

"But what if we get together and then decide that it's not going to work out? I don't want to lose my friend over this!"

"You'll be able to tell before it gets to that point and you should end it. Besides Hermione's smart enough that she won't let it get to that point either."

"I don't know Sirius, there's so many things that could go wrong."

"Of course there is Harry but it's the same way with anything in life. You have to decide if the consequences will be worth it. What's life without a little risk kid?"

It hit him like a lightning bolt and suddenly Harry knew just what to do to make Tonks feel better. He knew this would work and, though she may be upset with him at first, by the end of the night she would love it. At five o'clock he took a quick shower and pulled out some of his better looking clothes. He dressed and fought with his hair in an attempt to make it lay somewhat flatter. Despite the fact that it fell down to his shoulders, the extra weight still wasn't enough to tame it and Harry ended up pulling the back into a ponytail, leaving the bangs free to fall around his face. It was just after seven when Tonks finally arrived back home.

"Oh I'm glad that day is over!" she exclaimed as soon as she walked in, not even taking notice of Harry's appearance.

"Did Umbridge still give you a hard time?"

"No there was just a lot of fieldwork. I love my job, really I do, but I can only take so much running around in one day."

"Well I hope you're not too tired."

"Why is that?" Tonks looked at Harry properly for the first time since coming home and finally noticed his state of dress. "Are we going out?"

"As soon as you change." Tonks looked torn, obviously liking the idea but wanting to keep him safe. It took a few minutes of well-prepared arguments but Harry was able to convince the young woman that it would be alright if they went out for just a few hours. Tonks changed as quickly as she could and walked back into the sitting room to see Harry pacing back and forth.

"So where are we going?" she asked as she pulled out her wand.

"You'll see," the teen responded, pulling his own wand out of its holster.

"You're going to Apparate us there? Are you bloody mad Harry? Have you forgotten about the Trace?!"

"What about it?" Harry challenged. "We're allowed to use magic in an emergency and I think I had to defend myself from Death Eaters just now, don't you? Besides what's life without a little risk?" Tonks wanted to say something responsible but she found his defiant attitude to be rather sexy.

"So then is this a date Potter?" she asked instead, a flirtatious grin on her face as she grabbed his hand.

"It is if you want it to be."

"I do."

"Good, 'cause I do too." With that, Harry turned on his heel and Disapparated the both of them.