Tonks didn't really ponder the kiss too much the night before. She was the one to start it after all. She knew that it was truly a minor step in the direction of what was to come. Obviously Harry was starting to loosen up around her. That was a good thing that she hoped to develop more in the coming days.
She woke up a few minutes before to find Harry watching her. He blushed a bit and got out of bed saying that he wanted the shower first for a change. Not that she was going to argue with him she just wanted to lounge around all day. So while Harry was in the shower she mused over her thoughts.
She didn't want her relationship with Harry to feel structured but no matter how she thought about it she knew it was. She knew that she had initiated the first kiss as a starter to their relationship. Harry had picked up on it and advanced it to a slightly longer kiss. Now she knew that it was only a matter of time before one of them had to advance it again. It seemed structured but at the same time it really was no different than any other relationship. The only thing that made it stand out is that the progression of their relationship had a deadline of sorts.
She had been involved with one guy for about a week and they had progressed to kissing a bit more intently than her and Harry had. The more she thought about it as long as Harry didn't show any signs of doubt or fear today she planned on taking their kissing a bit farther. She had no idea how far she would get but she wanted to get a bit more out of him then a short kiss on the lips. Her musings were cut short then when Harry reappeared in the room.
The interesting thing was he was only wearing a towel and seemed to be blushing a bit. He had a firm group on the towel around his waist and muttered something quietly about forgetting his clothes in his earlier rush. Tonks didn't want to embarrass him any more right now since she still wanted to go ahead with her kissing plan later on and knew that any embarrassing moments now would more than likely ruin any chances of that happening. She grabbed her clothes and told him that she would go take a shower and let him get dressed.
She did take the chance to at least glance at his body. She had slept next to him for 3 nights now and he only slept in his boxers yet she had never really gotten a chance to see him. He was always under the covers when she got in and in the mornings she is always the first out of bed and into the shower. He was just about an inch taller than her in her natural form. She noticed that he was thin but not sickly so and he really had no muscle mass either. His only form of physical activity other than dueling is quidditch and even then it is just flying on a broom. He didn't look too bad she figured it wasn't as if she was into dating bodybuilders or anything.
Harry took his time getting ready knowing all to well that it would be another half an hour before she returned. He wasn't worried too much about the day to come. He knew that they would be viewing Tonks memories up until her seventh year and that he wouldn't be required to relive his. He knew it was only a matter of time before Tonks asked a few more questions about his past. After his outburst he had given her an insight into his childhood but there was no doubt that it would only raise more questions.
Tonks arrived back in the room and they both had some eggs, bacon, and toast for breakfast with some pumpkin juice to drink.
"Do you want to go ahead and start with my memories right after breakfast or is there something else you want to do first?"
"I didn't have anything planned for the day, so if you don't mind I'd rather start with the memories."
"Sure thing let me get the pensieve."
"Whose pensieve is it anyway? You seemed like you knew who it belonged to."
"Dedalus Diggle. He bought it with the intentions of loaning it to the order. He thought it would be a way for him to help. Dumbledore shot the idea down though. He didn't want any information regarding the order sitting in a pensieve that could be stolen. He only had the thing for a short period of time and then decided it wasn't worth keeping around anymore. He was rather sad that his idea couldn't be of any use."
"No wonder he would have been so happy to find out that it had gone to me."
"Yeah. Ok then, why don't you do some rearranging in here while I empty my memories into the bowl?"
"What do you want me to move?"
"I want the two desks side by side behind the table and my wardrobe moved over by yours and the bed. We will need all of the table space we can get to go over wedding plans."
Harry groaned in response but started to move the stuff anyways. It took almost 20 minutes to move the wardrobe. She had all of her clothes in it and needless to say it was anything but light. He finally succeeded and only had to wait a few moments before Tonks was ready.
Tonks took Harry's hand and pulled him into the pensieve with her. They waded through most of her early childhood memories which were much like most kids, except Harry's. Tonks took the time to explain that things like going to the park, visiting Hogsmeade, and playing with other kids in the area were normal things for most kids. He, of course, had seen Dudley do these things with his friends, well except Hogsmeade. Harry was happy to see that Tonks had a relatively happy childhood. He rarely saw any of her memories were she was sad. He knew that she probably edited some of the memories out because they were unnecessary but he was happy to know she grew up with a loving family.
Tonks' childhood, prior to Hogwarts, was spent half in the muggle world and half in the Wizarding. She didn't venture to many other witches or wizards places except for Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. In the muggle world she spent most of her time around Holland Park. Harry did notice that Tonks didn't have many friends though and he asked her about it. She told him that it was hard in the muggle world to make many friends because her hair metamorphagus abilities were not controlled and she had to really watch her emotions or her hair and eye color would change without warning. Her parents even had to obliviate a few families when she got really emotional. So her time in the muggle world was not much fun. When she went into the Wizarding world she was more of an entertainment act than a friend. She explained that part of the reason she is so insecure and will not show her true form to anyone is because nobody cares about the real her. It was obvious that her lack of self esteem was formed at an early age and it only got worse with time and the jerks she had dated.
Finally they got to her Hogwarts years. She made a few female friends in her first year. She had been sorted into Ravenclaw and became friends with two girls she said were Hannah Jones, Hestia's niece, and Martha Adler. They did pretty much everything together. Tonks did really well during school, while not at the top of her class; she never did poorly on anything. Harry did notice that Tonks never kept the same form for more than a year at a time, though he did not comment on it. She did get into a bit of mischief but nothing on the level that Harry had reached and she never got caught or punished either. Her life seemed to be pretty much average until her 6th year when she had her first boyfriend. Right before her 6th year started, she pulled Harry out of the pensieve for a bit of a break to grab some food and use the restroom.
After the fifteen minutes they dove back in. Tonks told him just before it started that he would see her first boyfriend, the one who started the rumors, in the first scene of the year. Sure enough while she was on the train a vaguely familiar person stepped into the train car and asked to sit down with her. When he introduced himself Harry almost fell over. His name was Sam Parker. It was the same arrogant asshole who sold him the fridge. He composed himself and brushed away Tonks' questions about what happened. He figured that if he was the one to cause Tonks so much trouble at school then he would have a chat with the twins and then pay him a visit. He wanted to reach out and strangle Sam while he watched him ruin Tonks reputation and shatter her self esteem to what appeared as an all time low. He would not stand by and let that act go without consequence, even if it was 7 years ago.
Tonks 7th year was packed with studying. She almost reminded him of Hermione with all of the books that she read. She claimed that she really doesn't like to read much but there was nothing else to occupy her time. Martha and Hannah had both gotten boyfriends over the summer and the three of them didn't spend nearly as much time together as they used to. She cut off the memories at the end of her 7th year and told Harry that there was no sense in starting out her next set of memories at the beginning of her 7th and that was why she just added it to end of the rest of her memories even though it overlapped his 1st year. He didn't really mind and was a bit surprised to see how he looked playing in that first quidditch match against Slytherin from somebody else's point of view.
"So you see my life was fairly boring in all reality. Nothing out of the ordinary happened except for Sam." She trailed off as she noticed Harry stiffen at the name. "What's wrong Harry?"
"Nothing Nym, just thinking about something."
"Nym?"
"Yeah. I figured that Tonks won't work for much longer since you won't be a Tonks' anymore. I know that you don't like your first name so I tried to come up with a variation. You don't mind do you?"
"No, I don't suppose I do. No one has ever called me that before. I kind of like it. Thank you, Harry." She said and leaned in to give him another kiss. She kept this one a bit longer than any of the previous and Harry didn't seem to mind. He stiffened for a fraction of a second when she didn't pull away but soon relaxed into the kiss.
Tonks pulled away after about ten seconds and opened her eyes. Harry still had his closed and his lips had turned up a bit at the ends. Figuring that it was enough of an incentive to proceed with her plan from earlier that day she leaned in again. This time Harry put his arms around her waist and Tonks put hers around his shoulders. There was nothing forced or unnatural about this kiss. They both got lost in the feelings of the other lips pressed against there own.
At some point Tonks felt the need to push a bit farther and continue to test out his reactions. So she slowly parted her lips and brushed her tongue against his lips. Harry nearly pulled away at first when he felt her tongue. He had never before kissed a woman like that. He was a bit nervous that his lack of experience would make this a disastrous event. Resigning himself to the fact that it would happen sooner or later and not really wanting to give up the incredible feeling of kissing Tonks, he slowly parted his lips as well and his tongue met hers.
Their tongues danced around each other for some time and they only pulled apart when the need for air became too much to withstand. Harry opened his eyes this time to see Tonks looking right at him. Both of them were breathing hard from the impromptu snogging session. Both of them were still flushed from the session and sat down side by side at the table. It was nearing dinner time and neither could believe that the memories and snogging could have taken a whole day.
Tonks was ecstatic. She had planned on kissing him, yes, but she hadn't planned on an all out snogging session yet. She was afraid it would scare him too much. 'Apparently I was wrong' She mused to herself with a smile. Realizing that they should probably get something to eat before bed she walked over and picked out their meal for the evening.
Harry for his part did not seem capable of coherent thought. He just kept mumbling things, but the small smile never left his face. They made small talk during dinner, neither mentioning the kisses, instead just sticking to discussing Tonks' memories. There really was very little to discuss about them because, as she had said, her life was pretty normal. The only thing that stood out was Sam and Harry had an idea about that.
Harry excused himself after dinner saying that he wanted to write a few letters. Tonks followed him over to the desks and told him she had one she wanted to write too. Harry wrote to the twins, Ginny, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley, while Tonks wrote a letter to her mom.
Ginny,
I know that I did not get a chance to talk to you after everything with Tonks happened. I just wanted to make sure that you were OK. You seemed a bit better the next morning while Hermione was talking to you but I wanted to make sure for myself. So, how are you doing? I know that a lot has happened recently and it is a lot to take in. It is for me too. Just know that I do care, Gin. I love you too, it's just that I love you like a sister. You and Hermione are the sisters I never had. I hope that we can get past all of this and at least be on speaking terms again soon.
Hope to hear from you
soon,
Harry
Hermione,
I'm not sure where you and I stand right now. You seemed to be in a the most rational state of mind out of all of my friends after the last meeting but we never got a chance to actually talk. So I guess the point of this letter is to see how you are doing and how you feel about my marriage. I hope that you will still be my friend after all of this. I just want you to understand that I am doing what is necessary and I have no regrets whatsoever.
Hope to hear from
you soon,
Harry
Mrs. Weasley,
I know that it was always your dream for me to date and maybe even marry Ginny. I also realize that Ron is your son and I am nothing more than a friend of the family. What I am trying to say is that I understand if you do not support my decision to marry Tonks. You won't change my mind but I will still understand. I love your family as my own except for maybe Percy. Ron has always been my brother and hopefully after everything settles back down, we may be able to be friends again. The point is…I love you and all of your family and while I would really like to have your approval and support through this; I will not hold it against you if you chose not to.
Harry
Gred and Forge,
or Forge and Gred,
The letter I am sending you has two purposes. I will have to get through the first part for you to even consider the second. I think of you two as the brothers I never had, but I need to know where you stand on the situation with my marriage to Tonks. I hope that you guys will support me. It doesn't seem like anyone except Remus and her family does at this point. On to the second part of the letter, if you two do support me I have a business proposition for you. I need help to prank somebody that works in Diagon Alley. Tonks' first boyfriend was a real prick and he needs to learn a lesson. I would like to tell you more about it but I would rather do it in person. So if you are able to support me through this and wish to help me with some pranking, then send me an owl and I will meet you guys in your shop sometime soon.
Harry P
Tonks had just finished sending off her letter to her mother inviting her over to go over wedding plans and had used Hedwig to send the letter. She apologized for not having her wait until he was finished with his but he just waved it off. He had written the letters and that was the hard part. He would send them tomorrow morning. So, with that the two of them settled into bed for the night.
"Goodnight Harry."
"G'night Nym."
Hedwig flew to the window and tapped her beak against the glass to wake up the two occupants of the room. Harry woke first and Tonks mumbled something like "five more minutes please. I'm having a good dream." Tonks was facing Harry in bed this morning and figured that the close contact was the reason for his severe case of 'morning wood.' That was until her felt Tonks legs entwined with his and her knee rubbing against his crotch.
"Tonks." He stuttered. "Tonks, I think you should wake up now. Tonks?" he was a little uncomfortable in this situation as he wasn't exactly sure what to do. He figured the best idea was to get Tonks to wake up first. He reached over and shook Tonks to get her attention. He couldn't just crawl out bed since he was stuck up against the wall now that the room was rearranged. He feared he would only make the situation worse by moving.
Shaking her had the desired effect and Tonks stirred. "What did you have to go and wake me up for? Harry and I were just get…………." She trailed off as her eyes shot open and she realized were she was. Harry couldn't help the semi-smug look that showed up on his face at hearing her argument against being woken up.
Tonks was having one of the best dreams of her life. She and Harry had started snogging again. This time however the snogging led to feeling and the feeling led to more pleasurable pursuits. She had never really had a wet dream before but this could definitely qualify as one. Needless to say she more than a bit upset when she heard the owl tapping at the window. No letter was worth interrupting her dream over. She turned back to Harry in her dream and they continued on but all of the sudden Harry started to shake her and telling her to wake up. She started to protest when she fully realized that she WAS in Harry's bed and had her legs in a very compromising position.
"I…..I…..uh…….I…….." she stammered blushing crimson. Harry decided to take pity on her since she had the day before with him. "Tonks, it's alright. It was definitely one of the better ways I have woken up in the morning, I must say. It also seemed to me as if you were enjoying yourself too.
It's like you said. We need to get used to these types of situations. Chances are there are going to be a lot more of them." He finished with a cheeky grin. Tonks returned the grin finally loosening up a bit. She was still more than a little embarrassed. After all Harry had grabbed her breast the day before but that is hardly equal to a wet dream and rubbing yourself against each other. She was still a bit wet from her dream and decided it was a good time to retreat to the restroom.
Tonks took a bit more time in the restroom that morning than she had before, Harry noticed. He decided it was best not to comment on it considering he had a good idea as to what she was doing in there. The same thing he would have been doing if he hadn't had to get out of bed to let Hedwig into the room.
Hedwig was more than a little annoyed at having to wait, but with a little attention from Harry and some treats, she was good as new. Harry asked her if she would mind delivering his letters now or if she wanted a break. She just stuck out her leg in response and Harry attached the letters. He told her to go to headquarters first as most of them would be there and then go to Fred and George's last.
Harry left the letter on the table and chose breakfast and had it all set out by the time Tonks returned. He motioned to the letter when she sat down and offered her a smile. He did not comment of the event of that morning and Tonks had no inclination to bring it to light either. Tonks read through her letter and had a giddy look on her face.
"My mom is coming over today. She is going to bring some magazines she bought and we are going to go through and look at dresses and bridesmaids gowns. It's gonna be sooooo much fun." She was practically jumping up and down. Harry had to smile looking at her so happy. Harry took off to go take his shower and left Tonks to get her stuff together for when her mother arrived.
They spent the morning lazing around and not really accomplishing anything. Tonks mother was supposed to be there five minutes ago but had not shown up. Harry guessed that Tonks may not have given very good directions. They had gone outside to wait for her to show up since they didn't want her ringing the doorbell and disturbing Aunt Petunia. Andromeda arrived ten minutes later.
They exchanged formal greeting and headed up to Harry's room where they were surprised to see Remus waiting for them. Remus told them that he wanted to borrow Harry for about two hours as he had some business to discuss with him. Neither one of the ladies seemed to mind and Harry was a bit relieved. He felt a bit better toward Andromeda after seeing how she treated Tonks growing up. It was apparent that even loving parents say some hurtful things sometimes. That still did not mean he completely trusted her. First impressions leave a lasting one.
Remus took Harry to Arabella's and floo'd them to Grimmauld Place. He promised Harry and Tonks that he wouldn't keep him long since he was needed there to replenish the blood wards.
"I made the arrangements for tomorrow night. It's at a restaurant called The Belvedere." Remus had a friend that works there and was able to squeeze them in to a last minute cancellation. "This is one of the more romantic restaurants in the London area. It is located Holland Park. You can take the underground and get off at Kensington station or you can take a cab. I will apparate over tomorrow afternoon and give you the ring. Make sure that she is not in your room at 5:30 exactly. I will drop it off and then get out. Your reservation is at 7:15. It is an all muggle restaurant and once you are in London it will take about 25 minutes to get their either way you decide. I suggest leaving here, and taking the knight bus to London so you don't get soot all over your clothes, at 6:30. That should guarantee you to be there on time."
"Thanks Remus. You have no idea how much this means. It is even in the perfect place. She grew up and used to spend some time in Holland Park. Thanks again Remus." Harry gave the old wolf a big hug.
"No problem cub. Now if memory serves the Weasley twins are waiting for you in the kitchen."
Harry went over to the kitchen and found not only the twins but all of the Weasley's minus Ron, and Hermione. They all told him how sorry they were about how they had reacted and that Ron would come around eventually.
Mrs. Weasley pulled him into a hug and kept apologizing for acting so childlike, Hermione came over and gave him another hug and told him that she would always support him and knew that he was doing what he thought was right. Ginny came up next and stood before him. She hesitated for a second and then gave him a hug too. "I'm happy as long as you're happy…..brother." She finished with a smile. There were still tears in her eyes but she seemed to accept the fact that he had made his choice and she would stand by him as long as he was happy.
Both Bill and Charlie remained in the background and nodded their approval to him. He had never really had a conversation with either of these two Weasleys before. He only really met them in passing. The twins were the last to come up and they both looked strangely serious, which unnerved him a bit. Once they saw that he was panicking they broke out in grins and started hitting him on the back and giving his congratulations.
The rest of the Weasleys filtered out of the kitchen as well as Hermione and the three of them got down to business. Harry explained the whole situation to them and then gave them his ideas. "Here is what I would like to do..."
Harry returned to Privet Drive shortly afterwards in a much better mood. He had made up with most of his friends and family, he had the dinner for the next day all set up, he would have the ring tomorrow, and he was going to exact revenge on Sam for Tonks.
Harry and Nym, she liked it when he called her that, talked about their days. Tonks had narrowed the field of dresses down to 25 and seemed quite proud of it. He couldn't imagine having to choose anything out of more than 2 or 3 choices much less 25. Harry had to give an abridged version of his day leaving out the plans for the next day and the plans for her ex-boyfriend. They kissed a bit more and enjoyed each other's company. Harry knew without a doubt that their relationship would change drastically the following day.