Chapter Nine: Relationships
His last class on Friday afternoon was with the seventh year NEWT students. Due to the fact that many students didn't return after fifth year, and not all of those took all subjects, the NEWT level DADA class was populated with twelve students, with representatives from each house. Ginny, grinning, sat next to Luna. Other than passing in the halls and one memorable moment after being dragged bodily into a broom closet on the fourth floor, it was the first opportunity Harry had had to see her all week.
He could feel his blood begin to pound just watching her eyes dance.
"Um... Professor Potter?" A Ravenclaw looked at him oddly. "Are you okay?"
Harry, gathering himself, shook his head and strode to the door. Closing it and setting locking and privacy charms, he turned back to the class, all of whom, other than Ginny and Luna, were looking at him rather strangely.
"Now, ground rules," he strode back and paced in front of his desk.
"Sir?"
"None of that in here," Harry said, stopping suddenly and spearing a Hufflepuff boy with a look. "Okay, I've wondered how I was going to deal with this. This isn't going to be easy."
"What is, Professor?" Ginny asked smoothly, without raising her hand.
"That... that," Harry said, pointing at her. "This 'Professor' business with you lot."
"But..." Luna began.
"Look, the staff... the headmaster has been most clear on the rules. But you lot... I don't think it's going to work with you."
The students were silent, watching him carefully.
"Most of you," Harry glanced at a couple of Slytherins in the back. "Most of you were in the DA..."
"Which is why most of us are still here," Ginny said quietly.
"Nonetheless, I'm still just Harry to you, got it? Outside, in the corridors, in front of the other students, the headmaster insists. But in here, it's like a DA club meeting, okay?"
There were nods and agreements from around the classroom. Harry was surprised when one of the Slytherin's hands went up. A boy, Harry thought his name was Garfield. Jim? Jack... Jack Garfield.
"Harry..."
"Yes, Jack?"
The boy looked surprised that Harry remembered his name, and faltered for a moment. "Um... I just... I just wanted to say that... well, some of us would very much have liked to be in the DA club, but..."
"I understand, Jack. But that's no longer an issue, is it?" Harry thought briefly of Malfoy, then dismissed him. Dead wannabe deatheaters didn't concern him. It was the live ones that were the problem.
"No," Jack Garfield nodded, turned to his housemate with an expression that clearly said 'See?' The classmate looked unconvinced.
Trouble, there, thought Harry. Have to watch that.
"So, now that we've got that settled, shall we get some work done?"
After dismissing the class two hours later, Harry was collecting his materials together in the small office off of the back of the classroom when he heard the door open, close, and locking and privacy charms laid down. Curious, he stepped out onto the small staircase that led down into the classroom and smiled.
Ginny.
"Well, hello, Professor," she looked up at him, tossing her bookbag on a nearby desk and heading towards him.
Harry swallowed.
"G-Ginny... I..."
"I have a problem that I need your help with," she said, coming up the stairs and passing him, entering his small office after running her hand across his chest.
"Ginny... you..."
"Get in here, Harry. Before I change my mind and leave."
"Ginny, we can't, not here!"
"Oh?" she smiled again, closing the door behind him as she pulled him in, and setting several more charms. "I've hardly seen you all week. We don't even get to eat together, you're busy tonight and tomorrow. I assure you, Harry, we most definitely can."
Later, much later, Harry walked with her down the hallway towards his quarters.
"I need to get ready, or I'm going to be late," he said softly. "Go and eat. I'll try to find you later."
"I could meet you here," she said, indicating the door to his rooms.
"Ginny, if you get caught in my quarters, Dumbledore will have no choice but to expel you," Harry said solemnly. "We do need to talk, but..."
"Where's your cloak, Harry?" she asked softly. "Give me your cloak and the password, and no one will ever see me, I promise."
"Ginny, you can't get chucked. Understand?"
"I understand," she agreed.
"Your parents would..." he took a breath. "I couldn't do that to them, Gin."
"I understand, Harry. Now, go and get your cloak."
Harry and Ron entered the Room of Requirement just a little before seven, to find Tonks, Kingsley and Remus all there. Moments later, Seamus came through the door with Dumbledore, and Neville jogged in two minutes late.
"You're late, Longbottom," Kingsley said.
"Sorry, sir... I..."
Kingsley straightened, a grin on his face. "Longbottom, relax. You're no longer a Hogwarts student. I was kidding."
"But..."
"Relax, Neville," Remus said. "Kingsley does have a sense of humor, even if it's not out much."
Tonks, surprisingly, was silent through all of this. Harry's attention was drawn to her, because normally, she would have been in the thick of it, teasing and taunting, and holding her own. But she wasn't. She stood off to the side, watching.
Kingsley began their lesson then, setting them against each other, showing them the basic auror moves for self protection, and then staging mock duels with each of them. Harry ended his session with Kingsley panting. He was good. Very good.
"Merlin, Harry, how do you do that?" Kingsley came over to him, breathing hard himself.
"What?"
"That!" Kingsley indicated the duelling area they'd cleared. "That was bloody unreal!"
"Well..."
"You're all very good," Remus said, ending his session with Neville. "I think we can forget basic duelling and start showing them some more advanced moves, don't you, Kingsley?"
"Absolutely. Tonks, can you take Harry over there and begin to show him your flips? Remus and I will work with the others for now. I noticed, Neville, the way you hold your wand..."
Harry and Tonks moved to the other side of the room, where she began by showing him how to do a flip off the wall. Harry watched closely, highly doubting he'd be able to, but trying anyhow. Strangely enough, it wasn't as difficult as it looked.
When Tonks was certain that he had it down, she told him they'd have a short duel and he was to incorporate the flip in somewhere as an avoidance tactic. Harry didn't like the light in her eyes, but agreed.
A few moments later, Harry knew why he hadn't liked the look in her eyes. Tonks was fighting hard, and Harry was beginning to get a little frightened. Throwing himself into it, he finally did a flip off the wall and managed to disarm her. She stopped, panting.
"Tonks?" Harry handed her back her wand.
"Yes, Harry?"
"What the hell was that all about?"
Immediately, she turned to him and was about to begin when he saw the look on her face. She looked... upset.
"You okay?"
"I'm..." she swallowed.
"It's okay if you don't want to tell me," Harry said, not understanding what was going on. "You just seem upset. I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Remus and I..." she glanced over at the werewolf. "We've had a bit of a disagreement."
"Oh," Harry glanced at the older wizard and then back to Tonks. "You're okay, though?"
"I'm upset. He says..."
"What did he say?"
"He doesn't want... he doesn't want to..."
"Tonks, if this is something you don't want to talk to me about, then don't. I just... if I can help...?"
"He's just... I'm rather upset about his attitude on something, that's all."
"Well, then you need to tell him that, and then kiss and make up," Harry commented, glancing at Ron and Neville across the room where they were both duelling with Kingsley as Seamus and Remus looked on.
When he turned back to talk to Nymph, he was surprised to see her gone. Immediately, he saw her striding over to Remus, only to stop in front of him and say, quite clearly,
"Remus, it bothers me that you don't want to have a family with me. Children are important to me, but not just anyone's children. Your children. If I don't have kids with you, then I won't be having them at all, and I really, really, really want them. Lots of them."
And much to Harry's shock, not to mention Remus', she then proceeded to throw her arms around him and kiss him, long and hard.
Harry glanced at the others. Seamus and Neville were watching with their mouths open. Kingsley and Ron stopped in the middle of their duel to watch.
Remus, pulling away from her, looked down into her eyes, then around the room. "Um... Tonks and I will... we'll just be a minute..."
The other occupants of the room watched silently as Remus led her to the door and out.
"Alrighty then," Kingsley said. "Ron and Harry, Seamus and Neville, let's go. One on one. I want to see what you can do. Charms only,please!"
Tonks and Remus returned a few minutes later. Harry noticed that Tonks' eyes were red, and Remus had a look on his face... well, he looked strained. Harry sighed. They continued as before, but the class seemed to be over far too soon.
"I'll be back with a couple of others tomorrow," Kingsley said. "This is going to take rather less time than I thought. Keep up with Ron's fitness regimen..."
Neville groaned.
"Most of Auror training is physical activity and exercise," Kingsley grinned. "If you do as Ron has outlined, in addition to these classes, you'll be trained before you know it."
"What about the theory?" Harry asked. It was Ron's turn to groan.
"You've got most of that, Harry. You've been teaching it without knowing it to the DA club," Kingsley said as he packed away a few things in his rucksack. "There is a section in the library on it... check out what's there."
They were about to leave when Remus called out, "Harry... a moment?"
Harry paused, indicated that he'd meet the others in Ron's quarters shortly, where they were planning on having a drink and talking about their class before Seamus had to leave, and turned back. Once the door closed behind the others, Remus sighed.
"Harry..."
"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get involved. I had no idea that that was what your fight was about..."
"She told you?"
"She... Remus... I don't think she really had a choice," Harry admitted. During the remainder of the class, Harry had thought about it, and Dumbledore's warning had come back to him.
"What?"
"I..." Harry shrugged. "I didn't think. She was obviously taking out some heavy-duty frustration with me while we were sparring, and I asked her what the hell was wrong. She told me that you'd had a fight. I didn't think, Remus. I'm sorry... I just... I was frustrated at being used as a punching bag and kind of told her, rather than taking it out on me, to tell you what was bothering her and then kiss and make up. I didn't..."
Remus began to laugh.
Harry stopped, surprised. That certainly wasn't the reaction he'd expected.
"Oh, Harry..." Remus calmed. "I suppose I should have expected this."
"Remus," Harry sat down on one of the desks and looked at the floor. "I've got to tell you, I'm not too pleased."
"What?"
"This... Tonks' doing what she did."
"She did nothing but declare something that was already there, Harry. I honestly believe she'd go through fire for you."
"I know. But now she's... she's bound to it, and I don't..."
"Harry..."
"That should... that kind of devotion should be reserved for you, and I don't want to be..."
"Harry, relax."
"But..."
"I knew she was doing this, Harry, and I have to admit that... well, perhaps I had an underlying motivation in encouraging her to do it."
"What?"
"Harry, I can't give Nymph what she needs. I don't want her to devote her life to something that I can't give her. I wanted her to have... something else. Something of hers. Something to show her that I wasn't..."
"What?"
"Nymph can be very... focussed."
"Uh... yes," Harry remembered her sparring earlier. "I had noticed."
"And lately, she's been focussed on me."
"So?"
"And I don't know how comfortable I am with that."
Harry stared at the older wizard for a moment.
"Don't, Remus," he said in a low voice.
Remus looked up at him to see the coolness in Harry's green eyes. "Harry?"
"Don't play with her feelings. Don't... don't treat her like that."
"Harry... I..."
"If you don't feel about her the way she feels about you, that's fine, but you have to tell her. If you do..."
"I do. That's what frightens me."
"If you care that much about her, Remus, you won't let anything stand in your way."
"Harry, I don't want..."
"Not even that."
"What?" Remus looked confused.
"You know what I'm talking about," Harry's green eyes met Remus' watery blue ones with a very level, meaningful look.
"Harry..."
"You can't use your condition to push her away, Remus. Not now. You've gone too far."
"But..."
"She loves you. Don't you see that?"
"Yes," he sighed. "Maybe I just... I just don't understand why."
Harry shrugged. "You're obviously worth it. Tonks isn't an idiot. But..."
Remus looked at him.
"But understand this," Harry slid off the desk and faced him. "She's my friend, and she's shown me something that I didn't think was possible. She's declared, in the most unbelievable way possible, to stand by me, and protect me and mine, no matter what the consequences for her. I'd be remiss if I didn't do the same for her, Remus. No matter what the cost."
And with that, he silently left the Room of Requirement, leaving Remus to think on it.
There will be one more chapter this week, then I'm breaking for the weekend. So you know, NEXT weekend is Canada Day here, so I will be taking Friday off.
As for my little challenge, I was quite surprised at how few people seemed to know what a Scouser is. Carolyn House came through with it first, but Gerie got it, as well. Esssentially, a Scouser is a person who was born in Liverpool, UK.
Aerri: SICK OF HP? Heresy! Heresy! You know, you can be hung, drawn and quartered around here for saying that, but I appreciate the sentiment ;-
SabineStrohemMoss: Heheh, Hermione with secrets. What IS the world coming to?
Kordolin: Aww... you're so sweet!
CharminglyHolly: What can I say? I get an idea and the muse keeps me awake writing until silly hours of the morning.
Jouve25: I'm glad you're enjoying it that much!
Shotgunn: I'm going to have SO many new ideas after the new book. Either that or I'm going to be left totally without inspiration. We'll see. Knowing JKR's writing, I suspect it'll be the former.
Manatheron: Yes, Harry does have some adjusting to do. He just quite realize it yet, poor boy.
RyougaZell: Now, see, I asked that, too! One must imagine for themselves, I suppose, what the magical equivalent of a Phys Ed teacher would be. (And yes, I AM shuddering here...)
Gerie: Yes, well, we couldn't have him not freak out a student or two, hmm?
BrittSchrick: They're not training outside, just doing morning runs and such with Ron. That can be easily dismissed as friends taking the opportunity to spend a bit of free time together. Helping Ron with Quidditch, etc., would follow, I think – especially Harry giving the students some pointers with flying. All their auror training is taking place in the RoR.
Trixie7: She's incapable of removing anything. Her vows prevent her from doing it.
Weselan: You're in Oz? For some reason, I had thought you were in the US somewhere. Lucky you – the kids and I will be lining up at the bookstore for the midnight release.
Wolf'sScream: "Scouse" the dish, is a kind of thin beef stew, heavy on the spuds. I don't know about baked, I've only ever known it to be made on the stovetop. It's the official dish of Liverpool, thus the nickname for the inhabitants. Who knows where Ron picked that particular phrase up? Possibly from a muggle student, or more likely a teacher – I know my husband yells it at the kids when we're late getting somewhere!
Heartofgryffindor89: I've struggled with that one. Many people have commented, so apparently it's not coming across as I mean it to.
JapaneseJew: The Hermione part will clarify in time, I promise.
Froboy: I know what you mean. I think I'm going to have to buy multiple copies for my kids and I, or I'll never get to read it!
YelloWitchGirl: Don't you just HATE being on the road? I'm with you in spirit.