Harry woke up the next morning feeling unusually warm. Trying to locate the source of this he tried to roll over in bed and came face to face with Tonks. He had no idea as to when or why she ended up in his bed. He desperately hoped that nothing had happened between them last night, not because he didn't want to do anything with her but he had no recollection of anything after going to bed. He at least wanted to remember his first time. He was careful not to wake her as he gently lifted the covers. He was relieved that he was still dressed in his boxers and Tonks had on a really long shirt.
He remembered asking her about the shirt the night before. She had gone to the bathroom to change while he stayed in the room and stripped to his boxers. He was in bed by the time she came back into the room. The shirt she was wearing seemed to be a man's shirt that went down to mid thigh on her. Harry specifically remember how much of her it covered, or didn't for that matter, as he had to roll onto his to keep the evidence, of how much he noticed, hidden.
Tonks sat down on her bed and was letting down her hair for the night when Harry voiced his question.
"Where did you get the shirt Tonks?" He tried his best to keep the nervousness out of his voice but by the smirk on Tonks' face he had failed miserably.
"Why, Harry? Do you like it?" She asked, standing up and making a show of modeling it.
"N-No. I mean yes. I like it. I was just wondering where you got it. It looks familiar." He regained some of his composure towards the end, after her little show was finished.
Her face fell a bit as she answered. "Yeah, I suppose it would. It was Sirius'. Growing up I always used to like to be comfortable when I slept. So I would steal some of my dad's old shirts that he hardly ever wore."
"After he realized that I would steal his shirts, he started giving them to me when he no longer needed them. I have slept in shirts like this one since I was about 15."
"The reason I am now using this one is because after his death we decided to pack up his things. Remus and I spent two days going through his room and boxing everything up. We each took one item from the boxes to keep with us as a reminder that he won't be forgotten. We were going to let you go through them and choose something too once you were there for the summer."
"Anyways Remus chose a book on the marauders. It was a book that they had apparently written while still attending Hogwarts. Who knows what kind of information is actually in there. He said he wanted to go through and remember everything before he passed it on to you."
"As for me, I chose this shirt. He wore this shirt the last time I saw him before that night. It was the last time I saw him happy. This shirt reminds me of how I saw him that night and I have worn it to sleep every night for a week now." Tonks had tears in her eyes and Harry looked sad as well. He wanted to be able to go through Sirius' things and get something to remember him by too. Then he remembered that Tonks was staying with him until they moved back to Grimmauld Place. He would be able to choose something once he was back there again. Until then he would be able to remember him every time he saw Tonks dressed for bed, and that would do for now.
That was the last they spoke before they turned in for the night. He was surprised that Tonks never asked anymore about his relatives. He could see the questions in her eyes when she looked at him and he was happy that she had restrained herself from asking them so far. He figured that he would not last another day without providing some answers.
After replaying the previous evening through his mind he still had no idea as to why she was in his bed. He figured he would get his answer when she woke up and since he was in no hurry he closed his eyes and fell back asleep.
The second time he woke because he felt the bed shifting. He turned over to see Tonks staring right back at him. She gave him a smile and asked how he slept.
"I slept great, but I do have one question. Not that I am complaining or anything, but why exactly are you sleeping in my bed."
"You had better not be complaining. You're going to have to get used to it pretty soon. Come to think of it I will too. The reason that I was sleeping her this morning was because I woke up early this morning and you didn't seem to be sleeping very soundly. You almost appeared to be having a nightmare and I decided to comfort you. It served two purposes. The first purpose was that you settled down after I laid down next to you, and the second for the obvious reason that we will have to adapt to this sleeping arrangement in about three weeks anyways. At least, if we want to act like a normal married couple."
"What do you mean?"
"I thought Remus already discussed this with you on Saturday. When a man and woman are married they usually have sex with each other. Now don't get the wrong idea, I am not trying to have sex with you right now. I actually prefer to remain a virgin for my wedding night. Anyways, you are only 15 right now. You won't reach the age of consent until the end of the month."
By the time she was through with her little speech Harry looked like all of the blood in his entire body was centered on his face. She had never seen a face that red before and was rather amused that she was the cause for it. Then again she figured it may have had something to do with their current state of undress as well.
She had not actually seen what Harry wore to bed the night before but she didn't see a shirt on him when she climbed into his bed this morning nor could she feel pants rubbing against her legs.
Harry rolled away from her so his back was too her while she pondered what exactly he was wearing. He had not responded vocally to any of her comments about normal married couples, but the bright red blush in his face said it all. Not to mention what she felt brush against her leg when he rolled over. This caused her face to almost match his and she decided that they should probably move the topic of conversation to safer grounds.
She rolled out of the bed and told Harry that she was going to go take a shower. 'A cold one.' She thought to herself. She told Harry that he needed to pick out something nice to wear and she would inform him after she was done with the shower so he could take his.
Tonks took almost 45 minutes to get ready and there was no hot water by the time that Harry got to the shower. He finished his in 7 minutes flat so that he would freeze in there. He came back into the room wearing the jeans that fit him the best and his nicest shirt with the least amount of stains. Tonks just quirked an eyebrow at him as if asking him if he was joking.
"Tonks, you have seen the clothes that I wear. This is all that I have. These jeans fit the best out of all of them after I had Hermione cut off the bottom two inches and sew a new hem in them last year. I still have to wear Dudley's old belt that I modified by poking my own holes in it and cutting off about 12" so it doesn't wrap around me again. Not to mention the fact that this is the only t-shirt I have that isn't completely ruined by stains from his poor table manners."
"Don't you have any clothes that were bought for you?"
"I have my Hogwarts' uniform, but I didn't think that is what you had in mind."
"No, it wasn't. But neither is this for that matter. I was going to take you with me Diagon Alley to do some looking around. I figured it would be good to be out of this house as much as possible. Now we have a specific reason to go there." She finished with a frown.
"And what reason is that?"
Her frown instantly disappeared to be replaced with almost child like glee. She was jumping up and down at the idea. "Shopping!"
Harry looked simply horrified at the though of spending an entire day shopping with a woman. He had endured shopping with Hermione in Hogsmeade for the last two years and that was bad enough. They didn't even have the entire day to spend in Hogsmeade, unlike today. He thought it highly unlikely that he would be through shopping before nightfall.
"Why the long face? Shopping is fun."
"No its not."
"Sure it is. Come on haven't you ever done any shopping to buy things for yourself?"
"The only shopping I have ever done besides school shopping is following Hermione around while she shops at every place in Hogsmeade while Ron and I maybe get to go Zonko's and the quidditch store for half an hour."
"Then you have never been shopping. Come one. Pllllllleeeeeeeeaaaassssseeeeeeee? I promise you have fun. I won't drag you to the boring stores. Come on." She really was starting to sound like a teenage girl. Not that she really cared about that and it didn't appear to bother Harry either.
He caved in at that point. He had no real reason to not go shopping. He was finally going to get some clothes to fit him. It wasn't like money was an issue. He had his trust fund that was hardly touched except for school supplies. Not to mention the fact that he was going to inherit the Black's money. He really needed to get some idea of what this inheritance entails. Mrs. Tonks seemed shocked about it; maybe she had some idea of what he would get.
They set off to Mrs. Figg's house and she answered the door to let them in. She appeared to not be expecting any visitors. She was in a bath robe and had her hair in curlers. That was an image that Harry wanted to forget yet knew in the back of his mind that it would always be there. She told them that she would leave a key for them by the back yard under the flower pot for them to get in if she wasn't there. They thanked her and floo'd to Diagon Alley.
Harry came out first this time and was brushing himself off when Tonks came through. She was much better at floo travel than he was. She managed to only get a few smudges of soot on her clothes and landed firmly on her feet despite the clumsiness she usually displayed. The more he thought about she hadn't tripped or fallen once since they had really started talking to each other.
"Tonks?"
"What's up?"
"I just noticed something. Last year whenever I saw you you were always tripping over something or knocking something over. What's changed? I'm not trying to be rude or anything but it caught my attention."
"The clumsiness was just an act. I first started doing it after I graduated from Hogwarts. It falls into the same category as to why I kept crying about the 'whore' comments before. During my school years I always changed the way I looked with my ability. Nobody other than my parents has ever seen my true form. I wanted people to like me for who I am and not what I look like. I toned down my appearance at Hogwarts to help me achieve this."
"As you know that didn't work. So, after Hogwarts I had a chance to start over again. I joined the Auror training academy with my new 'standard' form. Of course they all knew I was a metamorphagus too since it was on my list of special abilities so I needed a new way to blend into the crowd and hope people look past what they see on the outside and see the real me. I chose a rather annoying habit of being clumsy."
"Most people would stay away from me if they had anything of value. That was fine with me since it was obvious that they were shallow people and would never try to get to know what I am really like. It kept most of the jerks away but a few of them were willing to risk it anyways, but their true colors always surfaced before long."
"The interesting part is that it served another purpose that while unintended proved very useful. You see, everyone underestimated me at the academy. I would keep up my act but I would always win duels when they lowered their guard. None of them thought of me as a threat. I was always too clumsy to shoot straight or something like that. I soon proved my worth in the academy though but I was instructed to keep up my act when facing an enemy so they would lower their guard as the others did."
"That is why I acted that way last year. It wasn't that you were an enemy so much as anytime I was around someone new I would act like that. There isn't much use for the act anymore. I will have to be able to act normal around you and the Death Eaters now know that I can fight since they all saw me at the ministry. As soon as they are released from Azkaban and report it to the others it will no longer serve its purpose."
"Enough talking about me for now. We have plenty of time to share history about each other. Right now we are going shopping. First stop Gringotts."
First they went to Tonks' vault which was closer to the ground level than Harry's vault. Tonks took out about 200 galleons. Harry noticed that her vault was about a quarter the size of his vault. The next stop was Harry's vault which Tonks asked if she could go in too. Harry didn't care. He was a little worried that she might be angry that he had more money than her but he squashed that idea. His money was her money and it wasn't exactly like he went around flaunting it to everyone. He never bought anything for himself except a few joke products and sweets while at school.
The goblin opened up the door to Harry's vault. I looked exactly like it had when he first came. He couldn't even tell where he had taken the money from. It looked just as full now as it did when he was 11. His expression must have given away his question.
"It accumulates interest while it sits here." The goblin commented.
Harry nodded in response and turned to Tonks to ask how much he should get. Tonks was just staring around the room taking in the massive amounts of gold. There had to be two or three million galleons in here.
"Where are all of the family heirlooms?" She asked
"What do you mean Tonks? What heirlooms?"
"A family as old as the Potters must have had some items other than gold in their vault."
"No, miss. This is not the Potter family vault. This is Mr. Potter's trust fund that was set up in case something happened to his parents. Most families do that nowadays. This was set up for him to live on until he reached the age of majority at which time he would inherit the money his parents had."
"So this isn't all of the money my parents had?"
"Not hardly Mr. Potter. This trust was designed to take one percent of the Potter family vault and set it into a trust fund in your name in the event of your parent's death. Their vault has not been opened since then except to add the interest it has earned."
"When was I going to be informed of this?"
"It was stated in the will that Albus Dumbledore would tell you sometime before you reached the age of 17."
"Will I be able to see what's in the vault? I don't want to take anything yet but I would like to see it."
"That is not an option right now Mr. Potter but you may take it up with the Head Goblin if you wish. I doubt he will let you in either but it is within his authority."
"I would like to meet with him as soon as we are finished here."
"How much money should I take Tonks?"
"I think that if this is your budget we should just have them give you a magical bag that is tied to your vault so you can just take the amount of money you need right from it. I have never had one but I have heard my mom talk about them from her school days."
"What do I have to do to set this up? I also want Tonks to be able to get money from here."
"Harry….."
"No, Tonks. This will all be yours soon anyways. It's not like were gonna spend it all today or even before the 1st for that matter."
"Harry. Tha-"
"No Tonks, it's final."
"I was going to say that's sweet of you." She replied dryly.
"Oh."
"If you would follow me back to the cart we can get the bags taken care of and get you an appointment to meet the Head Goblin."
The ride to the surface was rather quick and the goblin arranged for them both to get their money bags in whatever color or pattern they wanted. Harry chose a blue bag since it was his favorite color and Tonks chose one that could change colors to match the holder. She figured that would be the best since it would match whatever color her hair was on that particular day.
The goblin came back after setting up the appointment and told them to follow him and that the Head Goblin would meet with them immediately. He explained that this was extremely rare to have happen. It usually took a month before anyone could meet with him and even then only under extreme circumstances. The Head Goblin did not generally deal with the day to day dealings of the bank.
Smithook greeted Harry and Tonks and offered them both tea the same as last time. Harry decided to get right to the point.
"First I wanted to let you know that we are going to go ahead with the wedding. We will be married on my birthday which is the day before the reading."
"I'm glad to hear that Mr. Potter. I supposed congratulations are in order for you and Ms. Tonks. I realize that the reasons for the marriage are not 'normal' but nonetheless I wish you the best of luck. Now, what other business did you wish to discuss. I was told it had something to do with the Potter family vault."
"Yes. I would like to visit that vault. I know that I cannot take anything but I would just like to see the contents."
"That is not possible, I am afraid. But" he continued as he saw Harry's face drop. "You will be able to access it the day you receive the Black inheritance. With your marriage being completed that makes you the head of a family. As such you will be emancipated and given full access to everything that belongs to you as well as removing the restriction for underage sorcery."
"Ironically enough, Harry, you are being emancipated under the same set of laws that has led you to get married in the first place. I won't go into the details, but the short version is that in the event that all of the legally adult members of a family are dead; they did not wish their children to suffer at the hands of the Ministry. This law was set up to keep their children and vaults from becoming Ministry property."
"So rest assured that you will have full access to the Potter and Black vaults in addition to your trust fund the moment the marriage is completed and the binding is verified. Now I am sorry but I must ask you to leave if you have no further business to discuss. I have a great deal of things that I need to complete."
"Of course, Smithook. Thank you for your time." Tonks and Harry walked outside the office and met the goblin that brought them there. He led them back to the lobby.
"You handled that very well Harry. Sometimes I forget that you are only 15. Some of the Aurors I work with are twice your age and wouldn't have handled it any better."
"Thanks, I guess. Where to first?"
"Madam Malkin's."
Tonks informed him that they would get him some nice robes that he could wear whenever they went to someplace in the Wizarding world but would have go into muggle London to get his everyday clothes. She told him the Wizarding world had their own clothes but unless they had to do with a quidditch team or band then they stuck to robes.
Madam Malkin's immensely enjoyed the free reign she was given to get Harry set up with a good wardrobe. She picked out 10 everyday robes for him. 5 blue ones, 3 black, and two green. These were plain robes with no designs on them. Next she picked out 3 formal robes for him. One was Black with silver trim. The second was dark green with a light green trim. And the third was maroon with gold trimming.
Tonks insisted on battle robes which Harry readily agreed to get on the condition that Tonks get some for herself too. She figured she may as well. It turned out that Dumbledore had decided to make the school a bit of money and had sold the dead carcass of the basilisk before the Chamber of Secrets was sealed. No one had every chosen the skin for robes because it was incredibly expensive. Basilisk hide was stronger than any dragon and it stops most low and medium level curses. While it may not save them from dark magic, they don't have to waste their magical energy on blocking small curses like stunners and such. It could save them enough time to ensure a victory in a fight.
The robe shopping cost him 4,000 galleons. The next stop was muggle London. Tonks wanted to grab some food at the Leaky Cauldron before leaving. They had a quick meal of fish and chips and were back on their way. If Harry thought the measuring at Madam Malkin's was bad then the muggle world was torture. They actually had sales girls that would go around and help pick out clothes to try on. Tonks didn't need any help with that to begin with but welcomed the help.
She did notice one of the girls eyeing Harry in a way she didn't like after he had tried some new clothes on. She may not be the jealous type but they were going to get married. She figured that they would have to somehow signify that they were together.
It was 6:30 when the arrived back at the Leaky Cauldron. As soon as they were inside Tonks instructed Harry to place all of the bags on the ground so she could shrink them. She shrunk all but one bag and put the other miniature bags inside the regular one. She wanted to go to one more place before they returned to Privet Drive.
The reason she had come to Diagon Alley to begin with was to find out how much a pensive costs. Ever since walking in on Harry's family she was really curious about his past. He never spoke of his childhood and from what she had learned the day before it was for good reason. She had refrained from asking him about so far but figured she would have to explain the reasoning behind wishing to buy a pensive.
They headed to Wizard Surplus to search for a pensive. Harry was not happy to be looking for one ever since they had arrived and she explained why she wanted it. He understood that she wanted to know about his past and in all honesty she had every right to know about it. He did not like to talk about growing up with the Dursley's but he figured that at least this way he wouldn't have to explain everything she could see for herself. It was that reason combined with the fact that she was willing to show him her past that had him looking for a pensive in the shop.
Tonks found it first and called Harry and the clerk over.
"How much for this?" She asked holding it up.
"300 galleons miss." Was the reply. "That one is a real deal to get it so cheap. The new ones usually run around 1000 galleons. This one was bought by a wizard a few years ago and he never used it. He decided he wanted to sell it and left it here with his asking price."
Tonks looked over at Harry. He seemed indifferent about it so she figured she may as well get it.
"We will take it. Wait till I tell him that Harry Potter bought his pensive. He will be ecstatic."
"I would appreciate it if you wouldn't mention my being here to anyone at all. I will even be willing to pay extra for the silence. I don't need my enemies knowing that I have a place to store memories. That would be very harmful information in the wrong hands." The look on the clerks face proved Harry's tone and lecture had hit the mark. 500 galleons later they were on their way back to Privet Drive.