Harry Potter and the Link to Life
A/N: Thanks to Treck and Nedlin for checking these stories for me.
July 31, 1980
As with all new mothers, Lily Evans-Potter felt a special connection between herself and her newborn child, Harry James Potter. She and her husband James had just gone into hiding at their house in Godric's Hollow.
Due to the secrecy involved in their location their healer was none other than Madam Pomfrey, whom Dumbledore allowed access to their location to deliver young Harry while still maintaining their cover.
Due to the unusual circumstances surrounding their newborn son, the Potter's, mainly Lily, requested Albus Dumbledore to be present at his birth. Albus remained in the living room while the baby was being born and only arrived to great the family after both the baby and the mother were cleaned up.
"Albus, I have a request of you." Lily said.
"What can I do for you, my dear?"
"I want you to create a bond between myself and my son. I want to be able to make sure that he is always safe."
"You do realize the possible negative effects this could have as well, don't you?"
"James and I have talked this through and we both agree that the benefits far outweigh the risks." Lily exclaimed.
"If this is your wish, then I will grant it."
"It is."
"Ok, Lily. I need you to hold onto Harry." Lily reached over to her husband and he quietly handed his son to his wife.
Dumbledore withdrew his wand and pointed it at Lily's temple and started to chant in Latin. Neither Lily nor James were able to understand what he was saying but both witnessed the flash of white light the connected with Lily's temple and the beam that left her head and entered Harry's.
"The bond is complete. I wish you both the best of luck and offer my congratulations on the newest addition to your family. I will be in touch with you soon."
Section Break
October 31, 1981
"Step aside foolish woman." Hissed a cold and angry voice.
"No, you can't kill him. Please not Harry." Lily cried.
"I will kill you if you don't get out of my way."
"Please not Harry."
"Avada Kedavra!"
Voldemort was to busy in his task to notice the white light that emitted from Lily Potter's body after she fell to the floor lifeless. Nor did he notice the increasingly loud screaming of his next target.
"So you are the one who is supposed to defeat me?" He laughed maniacally.
"Tonight will mark my unhindered ascension to power. Avada Kedavra!"
Lord Voldemort watched with a sick sense of satisfaction and the green light flew towards his target. Just as the light impacted and should have killed the child, a blinding white light erupted from him and forced the green light back towards Voldemort.
As both the white light and green light impacted with Voldemort, Harry lost consciousness.
Section Break
July 1, 1996
Lord Voldemort sat alone in his study pouring over all of the books he had at his disposal. He had to find a way to separate the link between himself and the Potter brat. He knew that, while the link had its uses, it was also the reason that the boy was able to force him out of his mind and body when he tried to possess the boy.
He had sent what few death eaters he had left to scour the country for any books they could find about magical bonds. He was willing to put off all of his other plans and focus mainly on severing the link.
He was beginning to grow frustrated with his lack of success in locating a solution. He had been searching the books for days and still nothing had presented itself as a workable solution.
Until now.
"Wormtail!"
He paused in his thoughts as he waited for the sorry excuse of a servant to enter his study.
"Y-Y-Yes, my lord?"
"I need you to go to Hogwarts and fetch Severus. Give him this list of ingredients and tell him to brink everything he will need for a month's stay here." Voldemort hissed as he handed the book to Wormtail.
"W-W-What about the old man?"
"Tell Severus to be creative."
"Y-Yes my lord."
Section Break
Harry Potter woke up with a start from the first nightmare he had received since returning to Privet Drive. He couldn't remember any details of the dream. He only remembered that a potion was needed for something and that Snape was going to make it. Resigning to the fact that he wouldn't be getting any more sleep that night he crawled out of bed and sat at his beat up excuse for a desk. He pulled out a small book and opened it up to the first page.
He hadn't done anything like this since his third year at Hogwarts, and even then it was all made up. He had decided to keep a dream journal in case he ever had a dream of any importance. Since this was the first non-standard nightmare he had all summer, it would be the first entry into his journal. He wrote down as much as he could remember before gathering his clothes and heading into the shower.
It was almost 5:00 a.m. before he finished in the shower and was ready to go for the day. The Dursleys pretty much left him alone and didn't ask anything of him, other than to limit as much contact as possible with their family.
This was something that he happily agreed to and, in turn, had taken up running every morning. He would wake up before all of them and going running to the park. He knew they would never feed him anything and in an attempt to stay away from them for even longer each day, he had sent Hedwig to Gringotts' with a note to get some muggle money. He only hoped that she wouldn't be intercepted and lose all of the money.
Hedwig had returned the second day of his stay at Privet Drive and dropped off the requested one thousand pounds. He sent her back out later that day with some money and a note to Eyelops' so she could pick up a bag of owl treats.
After his morning run through the park he headed over to a small diner about a mile away from Privet Drive. Since his reputation was only known on Privet Drive, he was welcomed into the diner just like everybody else.
He spent most of his day in the diner talking to his favorite waitress Sherry. She was an older lady, in her mid fifties, that was there almost everyday. She worked a ten hour shift five days a week. Even though it was more than most, she explained that she had to pay for two of her kids to get through college and the extra money helped.
The weekends he usually spent talking to another waitress named Helen. She was in her mid-twenties and was paying her way through college. She only worked on the weekends for a little bit of extra money. Her main job was working at the art school she attended.
All-in-all he couldn't complain about how his summer was going. He still missed Sirius, but it wasn't as bad as he though it would be. Tonks had started writing to him at the beginning of break. She said that she felt they had something in common.
He couldn't help but agree. He also wanted to talk to Moony, but apparently Dumbledore sent him on some sort of a mission for the Order to keep his mind off of Sirius' death. So he had taken to writing letters with Tonks.
In her last letter she said that she would visit him when she could, but she didn't think he would be at Privet Drive much longer this year.
In the letter he had sent the previous day, he gave Tonks directions to the diner where he spent most of his days. He had already explained his situation with the Dursleys and she understood the need for him to get away from them for a while.
"Do you want you're usual, Hon?"
"Sure thing, Sherry. How's April and Ben?"
"Their fine. Spending every last penny I send them though. Some day they're going to have to get their own jobs."
"Maybe you should tell them about Helen. They might appreciate money a little more if they knew how hard most people have to work to get it."
"Maybe. I'll be right back with your breakfast."
"Wotcher Harry." A voice whispered right into his ear.
Harry couldn't help his reflexes and jump forward as he tried to get out of the booth, effectively slamming his shin into the table.
"You're acting like me now? I knew you liked me but you don't have to copy everything I do." Tonks laughed.
"Shut it, Tonks."
"Nice to see you too, lover boy."
"Hi," he grumbled.
"Oh cheer up sport. Got room at that table for me?"
"I don't know, Nymph. Come over here and find out." He shot back cheekily.
"You're lucky there's muggles around here or I would show you what a fully trained Auror can do to a smartass."
"Nymph, I'm hurt."
"Call me Nymph one more time and I will ignore the fact that there are muggles here."
"I'd say were even now. You should know not to pick on somebody that has Marauder blood flowing through their veins."
"Fair enough. Scoot over." She said as she slid into the booth next to him.
"Why didn't you just sit on the other side?"
"Because I didn't feel like it. I also want to see what reaction I get out of that young lady that's sitting over there watching everything you do."
"What young lady?" He asked.
Tonks pointed out a pretty blonde woman in her late teens.
"Oh, her." He said in a tone that proved to Tonks that he could care less what she thought of him.
"What happened?"
"I've been coming here for a week now and for the first day or two she left me alone. It appears she spends most of the time during the day here too and wanted to 'get to know me' better."
"So? That's a good thing. Have a little fun in your life."
"It wasn't bad at first. She and I talked a lot and then two days ago as we were getting ready to leave, she kissed me."
"I still fail to see the problem here, lover boy."
"The next day when she showed up she told me she has a boyfriend and that she couldn't talk to me anymore."
"Oh. I'm sorry" Tonks said looking a little disheartened.
"Why? You didn't do anything wrong. I don't even really care. It's not like it ever could have gone anywhere. Once I leave here, more than likely, I won't ever be coming back."
"Enough of this depressing stuff. Want to go for a walk?"
"Can I at least eat my breakfast first?" He asked with a grin.
"Oh yeah. I forgot."
Harry ate his breakfast as quickly as possible. He had some help from Tonks who kept stealing the bacon off the side of his plate. He pretended not to notice but couldn't help the snigger that escaped when one the pieces fell on her shirt and stained it with grease.
"Oh bugger. I always do that." Tonks groaned
"Such a dirty mouth on a pretty young lady."
"Oh stuff it, Harry. Hurry up so we can go. I need to find an alley so I can fix this mess."
"Yes ma'am." Harry exclaimed in a false military voice while trying to keep his face straight.
Section Break
"Turn around, Harry." Tonks ordered as they entered a side alley close to the diner.
"Why should I?" He retorted.
"Because I am going to take off my shirt so I can aim my wand at it properly, and I don't want to give you a show."
"What if I want to see the show anyway?"
"When did you become such a flirt, Mr. Potter?"
"Yesterday, today, what does it matter?"
"Whatever! Just turn around and make sure nobody looks back here."
"Fine."
"Tonks?" He called over his shoulder?
"What?"
"I have a serious question to ask you."
"Shoot." She said as she finished the spell and slipped the shirt back on.
"I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but what makes you clumsy?"
"I should be insulted by that question…but I'm not. I guess, it boils down to the fact that I am a metamorphmagus."
"Why would that make you clumsy?"
"Because, Harry, I am always changing my form. My body never has the chance to become accustomed to my current form's center of balance. The result is that I can't balance correctly and I trip and fall a lot."
"Oh. I guess that makes sense. What do you want to do today?"
"I thought we already decided on a walk."
"If that's what you want to do…by all means, lead the way, fair lady." He said with a mock bow and butler voice.
"Why thank you, kind sir."
Section Break
July 26, 1996
Harry was getting all of his things packed up for his trip to Grimmauld Place. He wasn't sure that he was really ready to head back to the house of his late godfather but he took comfort in the fact that Tonks would be there.
Over the last month they had become really good friends and talked together almost everyday. On her days off, which didn't happen often, she would come and visit with him and whenever she couldn't; they managed to talk anyways.
Since letters were still unsafe to send, Harry had told Tonks about the mirror that Sirius had given to him as a gift. He told her that Sirius had the other mirror somewhere at Grimmauld Place. She had searched all through his room and finally found it at the bottom of his sock drawer.
Harry took out the pieces of his broken mirror and Tonks repaired it, with some help from Professor Flitwick, whom she had to learn the charm from.
Once the mirror was fixed, they talked every night. Tonks was never able to inform him of what was happening in the Order, but she did tell him that she had made a new friend while staying at Grimmauld Place that summer.
Tonks refused to give any information about her new friend other than to say, "You know this person and I think you might be surprised when you see them again."
He was truly grateful for the friendship that he had formed with Tonks and knew that if she liked the person then he probably would like them too.
His only reservation about the friendship he had with Tonks was that she was a very attractive older woman. He couldn't help but notice her looks matched her personality and that he liked what he saw. He tried to act as nonchalant as possible when he was around her but it was getting a bit more difficult.
He couldn't help but smile slightly as he remembered the one time that summer he almost lost his composure, and it was only that morning.
After seeing Harry sitting with Tonks a few times at the diner, the nameless Blondie, as Tonks called her, brought in her supposed boyfriend. It was obviously a move to try and make Harry jealous but he couldn't care less…apparently Tonks did care and thought it was hitting below the belt.
That morning when she arrived to escort Harry to Grimmauld Place, she met him at the diner one last time.
Nameless Blondie was there with her 'hideously ugly' boyfriend, another description courtesy of Tonks. Tonks leaned into Harry and whispered to him to play along and of course, being Harry, he had no clue what was about to happen.
Out of the blue, Tonks leaned over and captured his lips in what felt like a death grip. She proceeded to snog him senseless right there in the diner in front of everybody. Nameless Blondie was heard huffing as she drug her boyfriend out of the diner amidst his protests at not being able to finish his food.
"What was that all about?"
"She tried to make you jealous but you didn't fold. Women don't like that, but they still consider it a success because they have somebody and you don't. I took that away from her and obviously made her jealous in the process." She finished with a smirk
"And I thought Voldemort was evil." He muttered.
"Women are the epitome of evil and the sooner you learn that the better off you'll be."
"Thanks for the warning."
"No problem. Hurry up. We need to get moving. You haven't even packed yet and we need to get a move on."
Section Break
"Are you ready yet?" He snapped out of his 'pleasant' memories when he heard Tonks yell from downstairs.
"Yes!" He yelled back as he started to lug his truck towards the staircase.
"Grab hold of this. It will activate as soon as both of us are touching it."
He reached out to grab the coat hanger and felt the now familiar pull behind the navel as the portkey activated.
They landed in a heap on the sitting room floor of Grimmauld Place. Harry untangled himself from Tonks and stood up.
He held his hand out to help Tonks up and she gratefully accepted it.
"Thanks Harry."
"No problem Tonks. So, when do I get to meet this new mystery friend of yours?" He asked. Tonks only smiled as she saw her new friend walk into the room.
"'Arry?" He whirled around to face the source of the new voice.
"Fleur?"