Disclaimer: Yet to get an email back. JK, if you're reading this, check your spam folder for my proposal to buy the rights to Harry Potter. Please.

Chapter 48

"So, what is on the agenda for Harry Potter today?" Sirius asked as Harry entered the kitchen on Thursday morning, almost a week into the summer holidays. "Writing another love letter?"

"I have about eight thousand Potions essays due before school starts up again, so I'm going to try and put a dent in those." Harry sighed, ignoring the latter of his godfather's questions. "That's assuming I can use my writing arm after that hellish workout this morning." He rubbed his upper arms with a grimace.

"Unbelievable." Sirius shook his head in amusement, grabbing an orange from the fruit bowl on the kitchen island and peeling it. "The son of James Potter, voluntarily doing homework for Snivellus Snape? I can't believe my ears right now. Do you actually want to do those?"

"Well, kind of. Plus, Hermione and I made these study schedules – "

Sirius let out a few coughs that sounded suspiciously like "whipped" before letting Harry continue.

"Why? Did you have plans?" Harry asked, grabbing an apple and taking a few bites.

"As a matter of fact, I did." Sirius smirked. "I want you to meet someone."

"Who?" Harry asked warily as he heard footsteps approaching the kitchen, followed by a loud crashing sound.

"She's rather clumsy. That was probably the umbrella stand." Sirius rolled his eyes before pointing to the doorway behind Harry. He whirled around to see a perfectly pleasant-looking woman standing in the doorway, her arms crossed as she leaned against the frame. She had short pink hair that reminded Harry of bubble gum, and she was sporting a knowing smile.

"Pleasure to meet you." She stood up straight and walked forward, extending her hand. "I'm Tonks." She seemed excited to meet Harry, her voice bubbling with enthusiasm.

"Tonks?" Harry repeated dumbly before shaking her hand. "Er, nice to meet you. I'm Harry."

"I'm well aware of who you are." She smirked.

"Her real name is Nymphadora." Sirius chuckled from behind Harry.

"Don't call me Nymphadora if you want to keep all your limbs." Tonks's tone shifted to one of deadly seriousness before she brightened again. "Oh, and Sirius, sorry I knocked over – "

"The umbrella stand, yes, I'm sure the whole neighborhood heard it." He sighed before going out into the entrance hallway to fix it. Tonks turned back to Harry with a smile.

"It's great to finally meet you." She beamed, sitting down at the kitchen table and gesturing for Harry to sit across from her. He did so, albeit a bit nervously. "I graduated from Hogwarts the year before you started. It was rather sad when I found out I wouldn't get to meet the Harry Potter. But here we are!" She leaned back in her chair, gesturing triumphantly to the two of them sitting across from each other.

"Here we are." Harry nodded slowly. "Erm…how do you know Sirius?" He said awkwardly as he heard his godfather go up the staircase, leaving him with a stranger.

"My mum is his cousin. He always said she was his favorite cousin. I reckon because they both got disowned." Tonks answered casually.

"Your mum is disowned?" Harry blinked in surprise.

"Oh, yeah. My dad's a Muggle-born, and her family was furious." She chuckled a bit. "I'm sure Sirius has told you all about their pure-blood ways?" Harry nodded nervously. "Well, for what it's worth, I'd rather be disowned than in Azkaban." She snorted, and Harry cracked a smile at that. "Anyway, Sirius owled me at the Academy and said you and I should meet and spend some time together."

"Why?" Harry asked automatically. "No offense, it's just – "

"None taken, I get it." Tonks shrugged. "I was surprised too. Of course, I didn't want to turn down a chance to meet Harry Potter. Plus, now I think I know why he wanted us to meet. And ideally become friends."

"Why is that?" Harry couldn't help but smirk at the thought of his godfather playing puppet-master.

"It's just a guess. And I won't say yet, because I'm still not sure." Tonks leaned back in her chair casually. "So, what do you – ACK!" She cried out in surprise as she leaned too far back, toppling backwards with a crash as she hit the ground. "I'm okay!" She said immediately, and Harry barely stifled his laughter. "I'm okay!" She repeated as she clambered to her feet. She picked up her chair and set it down at the table again, looking a bit flustered but still rather cheerful. "Sorry, I'm a bit…clumsy."

"No worries." Harry smirked as she sat down again. She moved to lean back once more but thought better of it, opting to rest her elbows on the table and cup her face. "You were saying?"

"I don't remember, honestly." Tonks smirked. "I suppose we ought to get to know each other, though."

"Uh…okay." Harry nodded. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I was in Hufflepuff. What house are you in?"

"Gryffindor."

"Got a favorite subject?"

"Defense."

"Mine too!" She beamed. "It's why I became an Auror. Well, I'm becoming one, at least."

"You're an Auror?" Harry asked, intrigued. He had only heard Aurors get mentioned by his schoolmates, and all he knew was that they captured Dark wizards and witches. "What's that like?"

"Well," Tonks had a rather pleased look in her eye, like she'd just accomplished something, "I'm in the Auror Academy right now. I'll graduate in a few weeks to become a legitimate Auror, though. Assuming I don't blow the final test."

"How long have you been in the Academy?"

"Since I graduated. It takes three years, and it's bloody grueling. But I love it. I know you've just finished your what, third year? But do you have any idea what you want to do after Hogwarts?" She asked, and Harry was surprised by the genuine curiosity in her tone.

"Erm…not really, to be honest. I haven't had much time to think about it at all." He admitted with a shrug.

"No worries." Tonks repeated his earlier statement with a wink. "Sirius told me you play Quidditch?"

"Yeah." Harry grinned. "I play Seeker."

"Ah, are you the one who took over for Charlie Weasley?" Tonks smirked. "He was in my year. After he won us the Cup in seventh year everyone was panicking that we wouldn't be able to find a Seeker half as good as him."

"Well, I don't know if I'm on his level yet, but we won the Cup this year." Harry grinned again.

"Alright, way to go Harry Potter!" She clapped her hands together excitedly. "What was that like?"

"Amazing." Harry felt a blush creeping up on his cheeks as he remembered his post-game celebration, particularly the one involving one bushy-haired witch. His lips curved into a nostalgic smile, and he heard Tonks inhale sharply.

"I know that look." She suddenly leaned forward even more, a mischievous glint in her eye. "I know that look when I see it. You're thinking about a girl."

"No I'm not." Harry said defensively, scooting backwards a bit. He knew his blush was betraying him, but he tried to stand his ground. "I just…really like Quidditch."

"What's her name?"

"Quidditch." Harry said defiantly, tilting his chin up. Tonks narrowed her eyes, an impish smile pulling at her lips. "I'm serious!"

"Don't tell me you're embarrassed! Is it a girl you fancy or is something happening?"

"Oh, something's happening alright." A familiar voice chuckled from the hallway. Harry groaned as Sirius walked silently back into the kitchen. "Sorry, forgot this." He picked up his wand off the kitchen counter before exiting. "Her name is Hermione, by the way!" He called out as he ascended the stairs once again. Harry buried his face in his hands, which only made Tonks laugh.

"Hermione? That's quite a name." She giggled. "It's not like I'm one to talk, though. Nymphadora. Honestly, I love my parents but I don't know what they were thinking." Harry managed to crack a smile at that. "Anyway, what's Hermione like? If you don't mind me asking. Which, you clearly do, because your face looks like a tomato. But I want to know anyway."

"She's brilliant." Harry answered, trying to ignore the heat in his cheeks. "She's the best in our year by far."

"You know, my mum once told me not to go for the geniuses, because they never want to sleep." Tonks smirked.

"I like that she's a genius." Harry shrugged. "She always wants to be reading and learning and stuff. Plus, if she weren't so brilliant, I'd probably have died a while ago."

"Oh?" Tonks blinked in surprise. "She saved your life?"

"Several times." Harry admitted.

"Do tell." Tonks grinned. Harry obliged, describing the troll incident, the detention in the Forbidden Forest, getting to the Sorcerer's Stone, her discovery that there was a basilisk, and every other time Hermione had bailed him out of mortal danger.

"So…yeah." Harry concluded sheepishly. "She's pretty amazing."

"Quite." Tonks raised her eyebrows. "I want to meet her. She sounds awesome."

"She is." Harry laughed.

"So you really like her?" Tonks crossed her arms, scooting her chair back so she could put her feet up on the table. "I mean, you really like like her?"

"Yeah, I do." Harry blushed.

"So, Sirius says something is happening." Harry nodded reluctantly. "Are you two dating?"

"Yeah, we are." Harry nodded again. Tonks practically squealed, whipping her feet off the table so she could lean in close once again.

"For how long?"

"I…I mean, our first date was on Halloween. But we first told each other that we liked each other on August sixth."

"Wow! That'll be eleven months in a couple of weeks, won't it?" Tonks asked, and Harry nodded. "Have you kissed? You have. I can tell by your face that you have." She smirked as Harry blushed even deeper. "Where was your first kiss? Please tell me it was somewhere romantic."

"France." Harry smirked, and Tonks gasped, clapping her hands to her cheeks. "On a beach." The Auror across from him squeaked. "At sunset."

Harry thought for a moment that the woman across from him was going to faint, but she just blinked and squeaked incoherently for a few seconds before returning to the real world. "I'm so jealous." She finally said. "My first kiss was in one of the Herbology greenhouses. I mean, I didn't exactly have anything to go on, but I could tell the bloke was so bad at it I'd be better off kissing the Venomous Tentacula."

Harry burst out laughing, and Tonks followed suit. After a few minutes they managed to calm themselves down enough to resume their conversation.

"So you guys must really like each other to be dating for this long. Especially at your age. The longest third-year relationship I can remember from when I was your age was a couple of Slytherins dating for about three months." Tonks said pensively.

"I mean, we were best friends for two years, and we still are. Since we've started dating it's like we're still best friends except…well…"

"Except now you kiss each other?" Tonks waggled her eyebrows. Harry shrugged, his blush returning. "And what else? You said you've been on at least one date, was that Hogsmeade?" Harry nodded. "How many dates have you been on?"

"Erm…there were three Hogsmeade weekends, so three." Harry answered sheepishly. "I know three dates for eleven months doesn't sound great, but – "

"I guess that's to be expected when you're stuck in a castle all year." Tonks sighed. "Are you planning on seeing her this summer?"

"Hopefully." Harry brightened a bit. "I spent the last two summers with her and her parents so they know me and like me enough, especially her mum. But she sent me a letter the first day of the holidays and told me that her dad wants her to finish all her homework before she and I can visit each other."

"That's lame." Tonks huffed.

"I don't really blame him." Harry admitted. "Plus, she wrote to me this morning that she's almost finished so it might happen sometime next weekend."

"That's great!" The Auror beamed at him. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Er…no." Harry admitted. "I've been pretty busy with homework myself – "

"He's been insufferable!" Sirius hollered from what sounded like the second floor landing. "Every time I suggest we do something wild and crazy he says he needs to do homework!"

"Stop eavesdropping!" Harry yelled back. He heard footsteps shuffle away begrudgingly before he turned back to Tonks. "Sorry, he's a bit – "

"Oh, I'm well aware of the antics of Sirius Black." Tonks smirked. Harry gave a grateful smile. "So, Harry Potter, how often do you run?"

"Huh?" Harry asked, shocked at the sudden shift in conversation.

"How often do you run? I have to run all the time to stay in shape for the Academy and stuff and I haven't gone on my usual run today. Care to join me?"

"Er…I don't really run. Unless I'm being chased by something."

"All the more reason to start. Come on, I'll go slow." Tonks suddenly leapt to her feet and grabbed Harry by the arm, leading him to the door. "Sirius, Harry and I are going for a run!" She yelled out once they reached the hallway. Harry's godfather poked his head over the railing and gave them a thumbs-up.

"Tonks, I'm pretty sure I'm rubbish at running." Harry tried to plant his feet, but the Auror was surprisingly strong and tenacious.

"Again, all the more reason to start." She noticed Harry's worried look and sighed. "I know an ice cream place around here. We'll just run there and I'll get you something, how does that sound?"

"It's ten in the morning."

"Merlin, what kind of teenager are you? Does your homework instead of doing crazy mischievous stuff? Doesn't want to eat ice cream just because it's the morning?" Tonks seemed genuinely shocked. "Harry Potter, I may be past my teenage years, but I'm going to show you how to be a proper teenager. But to do so…" She closed the front door behind them and gave him a wink. "You have to keep up."

And with that, she took off up the street. Harry darted his eyes between her and the front door before sighing and running after her.

"Didn't you say something about going slow?" Harry panted as he finally caught up to his new friend, almost three blocks away from where they'd started.

"This is slow, Harry Potter." She threw him an elbow before picking up some speed. Harry rolled his eyes before moving after her, feeling like he was sprinting more than jogging. It didn't take long for his lungs to start aching, even less for him to start sweating. When he reached Tonks's side she glanced at him and laughed at his exhaustion before going even faster.

"It almost feels like your running away from me." He gasped out as he leveled with Tonks once again. "How far is the ice cream place?"

"Oh we passed that five minutes ago." She winked before picking up speed once more. Harry groaned before running after her, ignoring the burning in his legs. Eventually, Tonks slowed to a stop at Pink Flamingo Ice Cream Shop.

Harry stood next to her, hands on his knees and panting furiously. "Do you…" He started, but speaking was particularly difficult. Tonks snorted at his predicament. "Do you like this place because it reminds you of your hair?" He pointed to the pink awning and the pink walls inside.

"Oh, please." Tonks grinned. Harry stared in amazement as her hair suddenly shifted to a long blonde mane, before turning to a black pixie cut, followed by her original pink hairstyle. "I'm a Metamorphmagus. It helps with the Concealment part of Auror training."

"Wicked…" Harry whispered, catching his breath and following her into the shop. They each ordered sundaes and sat down at a table by the window. "So, how does one become a Metamorphmagus?"

"You can't. Sorry, kid." She shrugged. "It's something you're born with. It's rather rare, not to brag or anything." Harry nodded. "But it helps loads from time to time. When I was in school I used to think this really mean girl was spreading rumors about me so I would stand nearby with a different hair color and style. Turns out I was right, and I hexed her so bad she went to the Hospital Wing and I got detention for a week."

"You sound like you had fun at Hogwarts."

"I suppose it's rather boring compared to your time so far, but yes. I enjoyed Hogwarts." Tonks beamed.

"I wish I had years like yours, to be honest." Harry admitted. "I haven't really had a normal year there yet."

"Well, are you happy when you're there?" Tonks asked, her tone shifting to one of concern.

"Well, yeah."

"So was I." Tonks shrugged. "You have friends?" Harry nodded. "You enjoy your classes? Well, excluding Potions. I know how much Snape sucks." They both chuckled at that, but Harry nodded again. "And you've got yourself a girlfriend. One that you clearly really like. As long as you're happy, that's what matters."

"Thanks." Harry gave a grateful smile. "Do you not like mint chip?" He pointed to the one untouched scoop in her sundae.

"I meant to switch it out for something." She rolled her eyes at herself. "You want it?"

"Sure. You can have the rest of mine." Harry slid his dish over and swapped it with hers, and they resumed eating. "If you don't mind my asking, why are you doing this?"

"What do you mean?" Tonks tilted her head in confusion.

"Sirius asks you to hang out with a kid seven years younger than you out of nowhere, and not only do you do so, but you get to know him and you take him on a run and you get ice cream with him. I don't know, it just seems a bit random is all." Harry shrugged.

"I don't have any sinister intentions if that's what you're asking."

"No, it's not that." Harry smirked a bit before pressing on. "It's just, you're being really nice. I don't know, I guess I'm just asking why?"

"Because you've never had a big sister, Harry, and you need one." Tonks said plainly. Harry blinked in surprise.

"You think you're my big sister?"

"I think Sirius wanted me to be your big sister." Tonks explained. "But after knowing you for a whole," she checked her watch, "hour or so, I wouldn't mind being that."

"Really?"

"You're a decent kid." She smirked. "I mean, you're pretty rubbish at running but I can fix that." Harry rolled his eyes. "People go to big sisters for all kinds of stuff. Advice, pep talks, you know." She looked around before leaning in and whispering. "Girl stuff too, you know."

"Bloody hell, I – "

"I'm messing with you!" Tonks grinned. "Although I fully expect to be the first person you come to if you need advice about this Hermione girl. If you go to Sirius you absolutely deserve whatever hellish outcome results from his advice."

"Duly noted." Harry nodded with a laugh. "But, no offense, I think I've done well for myself so far."

"Uh-huh." Tonks leaned back and pursed her lips. "When was the last time you got her flowers?"

"What?" Harry blinked. "Oh, erm…well…"

"Have you ever gotten her flowers?"

"Well…in second-year I got her a periwinkle – "

"Merlin, Harry, you weren't even dating her then. Come on." She threw a tenner on the table and stood up. "There's a florist down the street. We're going there now."

"What?"

"You're going to get a nice bouquet of flowers for your girlfriend and you're going to send them to her." Tonks said matter-of-factly, crossing her arms. She saw Harry's hesitant expression and rolled her eyes. "Take it from me – someone who was a teenaged girl fairly recently – she'll be ecstatic. Seriously. The next time she sees you I'll give you ten Galleons if she doesn't thank you profusely for sending them."

"Oh…alright then." Harry nodded slowly as he stood up. "I'm holding you to that, though."

"That's fine, because I won't lose any money." She winked before motioning towards the door. After entering Floral and Hardy, the florist shop Tonks was referring to, they spent half an hour examining all kinds of different types of flowers. He eventually constructed a bouquet he was rather proud of: some purple Clematis flowers, white Camellias, several red roses, a few violets, and in the center a single Periwinkle flower.

"What do you think?" He asked Tonks once they exited and he paid for them.

"I think she'll love them." The Auror beamed at him. "Let's head back. I have another idea I think you'll enjoy."

"Is it going to take all day? Because I have…homework…" Harry trailed off, realizing how monumentally stupid that sounded.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." Tonks smirked before they began walking back towards Grimmauld Place, Harry holding his bouquet with a proud smile.

An hour later, after a nice walk through London and a lunch between Sirius, Tonks, Remus, and Harry, the youngest two individuals in Grimmauld Place found themselves in the drawing room. Tonks had cleared out most of the furniture in the middle of the room, leaving plenty of space.

"You can't be serious." Harry deadpanned as he pulled on a pair of boxing gloves. Tonks raised her eyebrows as she held up a pad. "You cannot be serious."

"Scared?"

"No." He said defensively. "Just, aren't you training to be an Auror? Which means you're like…really good at dueling and stuff, right?"

"What if I don't have my wand on me?" Tonks fired back.

"I…you can't be serious." He repeated, to which Tonks popped him in the face with the pad. "Ow!"

"Oh, that didn't hurt. Come on, let's see what Harry Potter is capable of." She smirked, steadying the pad. "Give me a right jab." Harry obeyed. "That was pathetic. Try again." Harry scowled but obliged, hitting the pad much harder. "There you go! Now with the left." Harry did so, and Tonks grinned. "Alright. Right left right."

POP POP POP

"Right right left right. Keep doing that combo until I tell you to stop."

POP POP POP POP

"Jabs are good." Tonks explained as Harry repeated the order of punches. She slowly began walking in a circle and Harry was forced to do the same. "If you're going against someone with a lot of confidence, hitting them with a few jabs to show off your speed will rock them to their core. With enough training you can hit them with a few punches before they can even blink."

"Did you do a lot of fist-fighting at Hogwarts?" Harry smirked as he kept after the bag.

"Why? You got some classmates you want to rough up?"

Draco Malfoy's face flashed through Harry's mind. "Perhaps."

"Well then." Tonks chuckled. "Stop." Harry did so, panting a bit. "Jabs are for speed, for keeping an opponent on their toes. If you want to knock someone's lights out, you need a good hook."

"Show me, O Wise One." Harry grinned, to which Tonks popped him in the face with the pad once more.

"Watch your tongue, grasshopper." She smirked. "If you want your opponent to hit the deck as fast as possible, you have to have all your weight on your back foot. Granted, this is going to be difficult for you since you're a twig that weighs about five kilos."

"Hey!"

"Your punches are going to feel like butterfly kisses until you actually get good at this." Tonks continued as if he hadn't said anything. "Now let me have it." She held up the pad, and Harry did as she said, leaning on his back foot and punching the pad as hard as he could. Tonks actually stumbled a bit, but her mischievous smile didn't break. "Alright. Not bad." She admitted. "But you need some pointers."

A few hours later, Harry was sitting on the ground, his back pressed up against a sofa. Tonks was lying on her back a few feet in front of him, staring up at the ceiling. Both were breathing heavily, and Harry could barely lift his arms.

"That was hell."

"Come on, it wasn't that bad."

"My arms feel like lead."

"That means you did it right!" Tonks turned her head to face him. "For what it's worth, you tired me out too. You caught onto boxing pretty quick."

"Guess I never would have known without my big sister." Harry smirked. Tonks rolled her eyes before brightening.

"Speaking of big sister things, I have another idea." She sat up suddenly, swiveling to face Harry. "You're fourteen, right?"

"I turn fourteen in a month."

"Close enough."

"Why?" Harry asked warily.

"I was fourteen when I first had this. Now I'm not going to let you get wasted because that's horribly irresponsible of me, but everyone I knew who had an older sister got it for the first time from them." Tonks said innocently, grabbing her bag and pulling out a bottle. "I'm going to assume you've never had Firewhiskey?"

"Are you giving alcohol to an underage wizard? That's definitely illegal in the Wizarding World, right? It's super illegal in the Muggle world." Harry's eyebrows shot to the ceiling in surprise.

"And here I was thinking the great Harry Potter wouldn't be a total loser." Tonks teased, waving the bottle menacingly in front of him.

"Are you peer-pressuring me?" Harry couldn't help but grin. "Can you even peer-pressure me? How old are you again, thirty-eight?"

"Oh, you little punk!" Tonks lunged and just missed grabbing Harry as he rolled out of the way, snickering at his joke. "I'm twenty!"

"You don't look a day over thirty-one to me, Tonks." He smirked as he stood up. The Auror leapt at him again with surprising speed, this time pulling him into a headlock.

"I'd apologize if I were you!" She growled.

"Please don't beat me up." Harry said, weakly patting Tonks's arms. "I'm sorry I made fun of you for being old."

"Tonks!" Sirius wrenched the door open, gaping at the scene in front of him. "What are you doing to my godson?"

"Nothing!" The Auror squeaked, releasing Harry and shoving him away. "He was being mean."

"What on Earth is going on in here?" Lupin appeared next to Sirius. "Is that Firewhiskey?" He asked, glancing between the bottle on the floor and Tonks. "Nymphadora, what were you – "

"It was here." Harry interrupted, gesturing to the drawing room around them. "It was in the room already. We knocked it over a while ago while Tonks taught me how to box."

"Oh?" Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Well then." He walked forward and picked up the bottle, examining it. "Moony and I are going to go determine if this is in fact, Firewhiskey, or if it is some sort of foul substance left behind by my foul mother. Shall we, Moony?"

"We shall." Lupin nodded. "Tonks, please refrain from beating up the young one."

"I will." Tonks's voice was still squeaky, but she was somewhat calmer now. The two Marauders nodded before exiting the room. The moment they were out of sight Tonks turned to Harry and beamed at him. "That was cool of you."

"Guess I'm not a total loser, am I?" He smirked.

A/N: Harmony happens next chapter, don't worry. Hopefully a Harmony-light chapter doesn't deter you, but I really wanted to write this chapter. I had most of it written out before I even published Chapter 1 lmao.