It was 6:00 am when Harry woke up the next morning. He was not up that early because of the Durselys. In fact, they would not even think of getting up before 8:00. Harry wasn't sure how Uncle Vernon managed to keep his job like this, but Dudley had managed to solve the problem of missing an important TV show rather easily – he had wrecked the VCR in a fit of rage and had convinced Aunt Petunia that the new one had to be timer-activated.
No, Harry was up to train. As had become his habit, he quickly dressed in an old pair of Dudley's sweats (which were actually in great condition because Dudley hadn't needed them while they were his size) and carefully tiptoed down the hallway and stairs. He had this down to such an art that he was able to avoid every little creak or groan that might wake up his relatives.
Once he got outside, he began to stretch while he waited for Tonks to show. Originally, it had been the Order member on duty who accompanied him, but, after Mundungus had collapsed less than a ¼ of a mile into Harry's workout, it had been decided that Tonks, who was rather physically fit, would go out with him every morning. Harry didn't really care who came along, as long as no one tried to tell him that he couldn't go. Already in reasonably good shape from Quiditch, he'd been able to do a mile from the start, but, in the two weeks since, he'd managed to increase that to 2 ½ miles.
As he finished stretching, Harry hear the familiar POP! of someone apparating in followed by the similar noise of someone leaving.
"Hey Tonks."
"Wotcher, Harry! Ready to go?"
The first mile or so was completely silent. Harry was entirely focused on running and wouldn't have answered Tonks even if she had tried to talk to him as she learned early on. Instead, she just concentrated on keeping up with Harry, who ran like he was trying to escape from something. Even after that first mile, the only sounds were the neighborhood waking up and Tonks, gasping for air.
It wasn't until they were back in front of #4 that Tonks decided to try and get Harry interested in the outside world. Dumbledore had kept his promise to Harry and the Order had been told to inform him of any news from either the wizarding world or the Order. Often it was reports of raids, and of casualties on both sides. But today, Tonks had something that she thought might get a reaction out of Harry.
"The Weasley's are at Headquarters." She announced. "the whole lot of them arrived the day before yesterday. The twins are already causing trouble. Managed to switch Moody's wand with one of their fake ones. Molly blew a gasket..."
The Weasleys were at Headquarters. Well. That's nice to know. Would have been nicer to it hear from Ron. Neither of his friends had written since school got out. Probably a good thing, though. They're still healing. Both had sustained physical injuries much worse than his that night at the Ministry. Harry wouldn't have been surprised if Mrs. Weasley wanted him as far away from her children as possible.
"...and Hermione should be there by the time I get back. Ron turns bright red whenever Ginny or the twins brings it up. Ah, young love – "
"What!"
Tonks blinked. Well, that got a response from him. She began to speak very slowly, like she was talking to a small child. "Ron ... and ... Hermione .. are... going ... out. Not a surprise really. We all knew that it was only a matter of time. You could tell from the way they were always looking at each other when ..." She trailed off as she saw the look on Harry's face. He looked ... hurt. Oh, Merlin.
"Harry... didn't you know? I mean, surely they told you."
"I haven't heard from them all summer. I guess that's why." He gave a humorless laugh and balanced on one leg, holding the other behind his back. If Tonks hadn't known better, she would have said that he didn't care. But she did know better and his eyes showed his feelings. When I get back to Headquarters, so help me, those two won't know what hit them.
"I got a letter from Gringotts last night." Harry said as he switched legs.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Something about needing to see me about .... Sirius's Will."
"Oh. Oh! I'd forgotten!"
"Forgotten? How did you know?"
Woops.
"How did you know?!"
"Um..." Tonks sighed. "Harry, the reading was yesterday morning. We were told not to tell you because you can't leave here yet. It's not safe."
There was silence.
"Sirius was very generous. He left Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and the twins 5,000 galleons each. And he left the twins an old trunk of Marauders' gags. Arthur and Molly got 10,000 galleons as a thank-you for looking after you. And Remus got enough that he'll never have to work again. He even left something for me... said the Mum and I were the only blood family he ever actually considered family... of course you got most of it. There's enough there that your grandchildren will be well-off..."
There was still silence. Finally, after what seemed to Tonks to be an eternity, Harry spoke. "I need to go to Gringotts. They want to talk to me about something odd in Sirius's Will." Though he spoke calmly, but the look he gave her rivaled Snape's. "I suppose you know what that is?"
"Actually..." Tonks said slowly. "I don't remember them mentioning any peculiarities. I'll talk to Dumbledore about getting you there."
"Good." And, with that, Harry began to walk towards the front Door. Just as Tonks was about to disapperate, though, he stopped.
"So they're OK, then?"
"Ummm... Who?"
Harry sighed, his back still facing her. "Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna. Are they OK? I've heard from Neville. But the others ... There haven't been any problems in their recoveries, right?"
Tonks couldn't believe it. They never even told him that they were fine. Even though they knew that he'd be worried. Ooooohhhh! "Yeah they're fine. A few scars here and there, but nothing that won't fade away."
"Good." His shoulders squared and his step a little lighter, Harry disappeared into the house. Tonks just stood there for a few minutes, staring in disbelief at the door. It actually mattered to him. They can't be bothered to tell him themselves and it still helped to know that they were OK. It was quite obvious to her that Ron and Hermione didn't deserve him as a friend.
"TONKS!"
"What! Oh, hey, Dung. I'll be going now."
And, POP!, she was gone.
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The first thing that Tonks did when she entered Grimauld place was trip over a rug. Which was actually rather hard to do an required lots of skill. Or so she kept telling herself. And of course, right on cue...
"TRAITORS! HALF-BREEDS! BE GONE FROM THE HOUSE OF MY ANCESTORS...." As Molly ran from the kitchen to help her close the curtains on Mrs. Black, Tonks once again wished that they could figure out how to remove the horrible woman. Kreacher had taken care of himself and, once this painting was gone, the place would be rather livable.
"Tonks, can't you watch where you're going? That's three times in two days!"
"Sorry, Molly. Hey, Could you get the kids down here when they wake up? I need to talk to them."
Immediately, Molly grew worried. "Is it Harry? Is he alright? I knew that we shouldn't leave with him with those muggles that he calls family –"
"Harry's fine – or, he will be anyway. The muggles are treating him fine. His friends, on the other hand... well, you'll see in a minute." Mrs. Weasley had never seen such an expression on Tonks' face. Sure, she had been more subdued, more grim, since Sirius's death, but this was different.
"Fine, I'll go get them. Why don't you go get some tea? It's so cold this early in morning. I don't know why Harry wants to be out in this..."
It was an hour and several cups of coffee before the first of the teenagers entered the kitchen. Eventually, all of them were there, even Fred and George, who didn't really count as 'kids' anymore, but were curious as to what Tonks had to say. As Tonks look at the three under-aged Wizards in front of her, she couldn't help but feel a swift pang of sorrow. They were too young to be caught up in war, but they still were just because of who they are. But so is Harry.
"I'm disappointed in all three of you." She announced, surprising everyone in the room – especially Molly who immediately drew herself up, ready to defend her children. Tonks silenced her with a look before she could even say anything and continued. "Particularly, you two." And she looked directly at Ron and Hermione, who both looked very confused. "I was talking with Harry this morning. Telling him how things are going, you know? That you guys were here, that you were dating..."
"What! You told him!"
"Yes" she glared at Ron. "I told him. In fact, I thought that he already knew. I was wrong – I realized that as soon as I saw how hurt he was that you hadn't told him yourself. Of course, that would require that you were actually writing him."
"What do you mean? They write him everyday!" Tonks glanced at Mrs. Weasley as she said this. But before she could respond, Ron sighed.
"No, mum, we haven't. We haven't written him all summer. We just ... never got around to it."
"What on earth were you THINKING?!" everyone flinched as Mrs. Weasley started in on them. "That boy has gone through quite enough without his friends abandoning him! He probably thinks that you blame him for your injuries! That you don't want to be his friends anymore!"
"Yes, he most likely does" Tonks interrupted, feeling slightly sorry for them. "But, even so, he does care about you. He still asked how you all were. If you all had recovered. It seems that only Neville has written to him to let him know that everything's fine. None of you –" and here she glared at Ginny, who blushed, ashamed. "could be bother to even tell him that! But when he found out that you were fine, you should have seen him! He actually seemed happier. Not that that's saying much, what with only finding out yesterday that Sirius left him an inheritance and – You know what? Forget it. I have work to do." And Tonks walked out of the kitchen leaving behind three very sheepish teens and a very annoyed Molly Weasley.
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Harry sighed as he closed the door to his room behind him. But, instead of dwelling on things right away, he began the rest of his workout. Full of pride in Dudley's boxing skill, Uncle Vernon had bought him one of those all-purpose exercise machines. He broke it rather quickly and it had been deposited in Harry's room. It had only need some rudimentary repairs before it was back in working order (not that the Dursley's knew that). It wasn't until half an hour later when he was safely in the bathroom that he even began to think of again.
Ron and Hermione. No surprises there. Still, as expected as it was it still hurt that they didn't have any time for him. It's probably for the best, though. And, with that pleasant thought, he got into the shower to get ready for the day.
It was nearly 9:00 and breakfast was almost ready by the time the Dursleys showed themselves. It was a silent affair because the Dursleys were terrified that they'd say the wrong thing and get turned into toads or something (that's what Aunt Petunia had told Dudley anyway). Yeah, right. Harry snorted into his bacon, earning him a look from Uncle Vernon, who was not at all happy with things. Tonks, Remus, and Moody are much more creative than that. A toad is so cliché,
After everyone was done and the dishes had been washed, Vernon gave Harry his list of chores for the day. Harry knew that he didn't have to do them, but, in the interest of keeping things relatively civil, he was willing to do what they wanted – within reason, of course. Besides, if he didn't have anything to do, he'd just spend all day thinking about Sirius...and that would be bad.
The main chore of the day was to plant the new rose bushes that Aunt Petunia had just bought around the trellis that he also had to install. It was very tiring work and the coolness of the morning had given way to scorching summer day. Which is why, after the first hole had been dug for the trellis, Harry took off his shirt.
And was promptly met with a series of giggles. He paused for a minute, glanced around, and closed his eyes. Great, The Giggle Patrol. Sure enough, there was a group of girls sitting outside a # 7 doing nothing but whispering to each other and laughing. They had been doing this every day for nearly a week. Why can't they find some one else to bother? Because Harry couldn't figure out why they were so interested in him.
This was because he was completely clueless and hadn't look in a mirror in a while. All the training he'd been doing had had a very good effect on his muscles. That, and the growth spurt he'd had at some point during the last year (bringing his height to an even 6 ft) meant that he was nice to look at, something that all of the girls on the street had quickly realized.
Harry endured another hour of this background noise when his ears picked up something else. He groaned. Somehow, I don't think that the snickering is coming from across the street. And it wasn't. It was coming from the one tree in the yard – more specifically, from the invisible person in front of the tree. Growling in annoyance, he grabbed a trowel and walked over to the tree.
Bending down by the roots, he muttered "You're supposed to be discrete, you know." To which the Order member only snickered, this time from behind the tree.
"I'd heard about your admirers. Quite the ladies' man, aren't you?"
Harry immediately blushed. It was Bill, Ron's eldest – and coolest – brother. Of course it would be him. And wait –
"You mean, you talk about this at Headquarters?!?"
He could hear some uncomfortable shifting. "It's been mentioned. Anyway, I'm supposed to tell you to be ready to go to the Bank tomorrow morning at 8:00. Tonks and I will take you."
Harry laughed bitterly. "So I couldn't go to the reading because it wasn't safe, but two days later it's OK for me to go. Figures."
Bill sighed. "I'm sorry Harry. I don't make the rules. I just do what I'm told. If it's any consolation, I think that you should have been allowed to go and I told Dumbledore that. Mum was ready to kill me. She started ranting about 'not caring if Harry's safe'" He managed to mimic Mrs. Weasley almost perfectly. "Look, I'll try and get permission for you to do some shopping, since we'll be at Diagon Alley anyway."
"Sure. Great."
Bill stared at Harry, frustrated, as Harry went back to work on the other side of the yard. He's just a kid. Whenever he looked at he looked at Harry, he saw a scared, uncertain, alone boy, and that brought out all of his finely-honed protective 'older-brother' instincts. He could see why his mum was so protective of Harry – he had so much to deal, and most of it he shouldn't have to. But he did, and Bill was determined to help him if he could. And that started with a normal day out.
That night, Vernon was not pleased to hear that Harry would be leaving and then coming back. "We are not a hotel, boy. You have chores to do. You can't just go gallivanting off anytime you want to."
"I won't be gone all day, Uncle. Just the morning. I'll do my chores when I get back." Vernon still didn't seem satisfied, so Harry pulled the oldest trick in the book – well, in his book, anyway. "Alright, fine. I won't go. Only, I don't have anyway of getting in touch in time to let them know I can't go, so I'd have to tell them tomorrow morning when they come to pick me up. I hope that that's OK?" It clearly wasn't, so when Harry left the living room a few minutes later, he had permission to go.
AN- Thanks to LdyKiya and Vaneguard for their reviews. LdyKiya, I'll get to the 'complications' next chapter – I hope.
