The Peverell Legacy

A/N: I own nothing, especially not HP. Welcome to another fanfic, Italics are for thoughts, Bold is for spells.

Epilogue Part Four: One Quiet Year

Dear Tonks,

This year is much better so far. Whatever you told the Weasley's seemed to have worked. Or maybe it was something the twins said to Ron because he hasn't tried to convince me to go by Harry Potter so far.

Thanks for the suggestions for next year's electives. I went with Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy. Neville and Draco are taking Divination instead of Runes and somehow Hermione wants to take them all-

Tonks laughed as she stretched on her cot at the Auror Academy and continued to read. Of course, that girl wants to take them all…She thought and shook her head. At James's request, she'd stopped teasing the girl as much, but it didn't change the fact that Hermione Granger was more full of herself than she should have been.

Quirrell got sacked as you probably heard. Turned out he'd spent his time off looking for signs of Voldemort and they found illegal dark objects in his quarters. Nearly Headless Nick told us he tried to curse the Aurors that arrested him over the summer. Too bad our new Professor is just as useless. Gilderoy Lockhart has to be the biggest idiot I've ever met and that includes that guy you were dating over the summer-

Tonks fought the urge to laugh again. Her roommate, Ismelda, had already thrown one of her books at Tonks for waking her once, she wasn't in the mood to dodge another one. She'd known that James had disliked her last boyfriend, but it still made her smile when he got all jealous.

Mum and Dad send their love, they want you to come visit when you get some off time. I'm coming home for Christmas break, want to come over and help keep Bodhi from sneaking back onto the train?

James

She smiled and folded the letter closed. As she drifted off, she started thinking about appropriate Christmas gifts for the Peverell family.

Scene Break

Harry and Padma stood at the station when James and the others arrived. Padma held her grin in check as she saw Neville getting off the train in conversation with Parvati. What surprised her was her counterparts' jealous look. She hadn't had a crush on Neville during her first time around. But this time the twelve-year-old Padma had a thing for him as well. Maybe she's jealous because Neville has some self-esteem now that Snape is laying off. She thought with a grin. Padma had found Tonks' approach to Snape hilarious, now he had Trelawney mooning over him which left him no time to harass the students.

Draco walked behind James and Hermione who were in deep conversation. Padma nudged Harry as she noticed Draco staring at Hermione. Harry's eyebrow raised at the sight. He leaned in and whispered to her, "Looks like his dislike is going away…" He laughed slightly and then leaned back up.

Beside them Narcissa watched her son walking behind his friends with a smile. She had been approached by the wives of Lucius' old cronies Crabbe and Goyle about their sons and the possibility of Draco being 'friends' with the new generation. That, she was pleased to notice, had not happened. From his letters, Draco had been approached as well but had refused them. She preferred his current friends, they were more intelligent and, she thought with a mercenary detachment, these were friends that would him shake off the stigma of his father's past.

"James!" Bodhi cried, rushing to her brother and hugging him tightly. Bodhi Peverell hated the school year when her brother was gone. He was her first and best friend and she did make other friends easily. She was nearly the perfect mirror of her mother, but she had the same vivid green eyes as her father and brother. Tall for her age the ten-year-old Bodhi was nearly the same height as James, "I missed you!"

"Missed you too," James murmured against her hair as he hugged her back.

"My turn short stuff." Tonks said hugging James once Bodhi stepped back. "So, breaking the girls' hearts or are you playing the long game with them?" Tonks grinned and looked over at Hermione who was glaring at her. "Or does Granger keep them away for you?"

Hermione huffed and looked more closely at James, "I'm going to meet my parents, they are waiting on the muggle side." She hugged him and walked to the barrier and vanished in a small group containing Dean Thomas and Katie Bell.

"Do you have to do that?" James asked Tonks as he watched her leave. "She's gotten a lot better about-"

"About being a know-it-all?"

"She's my friend Tonks." James said crossly.

Tonks winked, "and such a good friend you are. Very loyal, I told you that you'd have made a good Puff."

With that, they Peverell family, along with Tonks, departed for the parking lot on the muggle side of Kings Cross. Harry and Padma had bought a dependable family car shortly after Bodhi was born, a silver 1983 Citroën CX Prestige. As Padma had put it 'I'm not about to side along a fussy baby and wind up smelling like sour milk and spit up!' she'd went with Harry and glared at the salesman until they were the proud owners of their 'third baby'.

The trip along the A21 was normally just a relatively boring two-hour drive back to Rye. However today, James was trapped with a window on one side and Tonks on the other, talking animatedly to Bodhi about her most current date, "-so I said to him, no way is Portree going to win the championship this year, Kenmare is too good. He got all huffy and said that Kenmare's chaser line was sh- was bad." She hastily amended wincing as Padma shot a very sharp glare at her through the rear-view mirror. "Anyway, that one won't be getting within snogging distance again." Her voice lowered until only Bodhi and James could hear her, "Not if he wanted to keep his twig and berries where they are now."

Something in James' stomach twisted at the thought of Tonks kissing someone. It had never happened before, and he didn't want to think about the reason behind it. Instead, he thought about Quidditch. Quidditch usually helped him when he was thinking too hard about things. He and his father had been practicing each year, this year he had tried out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team and had been chosen as Seeker. "The Thimblerig Shuffle is a move used by Chasers to distract opposing players into thinking the ball is in the hands of a different player than the one who is holding it…" James thought as he did his best to ignore their conversation. He wasn't a Chaser, but the book Hermione had gotten him for his birthday last year had famous moves used by each position. The Seeker's most famous moves were still forbidden for him to learn under penalty of 'wish you were dead', his mother had told him.

Before too long they were pulling off of Watchbell street and onto the gravel driveway of the Peverell home. Tonks slid out behind him ruffling his hair as she started towards her parents' home, "Don't forget, Mum and Dad want you lot at our house tonight for dinner!" She called out, waving back as she left them. James heard a thud and muffled curse and knew that Tonks, as ever, had hit the toe of her boots on the iron lawn jockey that acted as the dividing line between the Peverell and Tonks homes.

"You like her."

Bodhi stepped beside her brother with a grin on her face. Teasing her brother was the thing she most missed when he was at Hogwarts. Bodhi's smirk didn't fade a bit as James glared at her, a reddish tinge touching his cheeks, "You like her, don't you?" The grin in her voice grew stronger as James did his best to ignore her, "You like To-"

James put his hand over her mouth, "Shut it pipsqueak!" He hissed at his sister, a sister he noted that hadn't stopped grinning, "I don't like Tonks like that!" He moved his hand from her mouth, "For one, she's eighteen and I'm twelve. For another-"

"Yes?" She said stretching the word teasingly.

"- just, just shut up!" James huffed and stormed into the house. Bodhi laughed and walked in behind him.

Scene Break

Dinner at the Tonks house was a noisy affair that evening. Harry and his family arrived finding Narcissa and Draco already there. Sirius, Remus, and the Lovegood's arrived after them, filling the guest list as well as the dining room.

James did his best to not look at Tonks, Bodhi's taunt still rang in his ears You like Tonks! James stabbed into his turkey with more energy than it required, So, what if I did like her? It's not like I'm going to spend the next four years moping after her! He chewed his food, adding 'not looking at Bodhi', who he was sure was still smirking, to the list of people not to look at.

Tonks found herself laughing at a story Remus was telling, it wasn't the funniest story, but something about the man-made her find him fascinating. Maybe it was the scars, she had always found scars attractive. Makes sense, my first crush was on my 'uncle' Harry. Her crush on Harry Peverell had been part of the reason she'd always went for men older than her. The latest, David Jackson, a man she'd met on a visit to St. Mungo's to see her mother, had been a full six years older than herself. Is that why I keep ending up with dumbasses? As her mother had ever-so-helpfully-pointed out she'd never had a relationship last longer than a few months. That can't be it, she thought as she poured gravy onto her turkey.

"So, how is the Academy going, Dora?" Ted asked noticing the look on his daughter's face. He was sure that her current thoughtful look had nothing to do with her studies but knew that if he gave her an outlet it would spell less annoyed cursing at night and, he hoped, less of his precious chocolate cereal stolen before she left again.

Tonks looked up from her plate, "It's been boring so far. Mostly just Hogwarts again, next year will be the fun one. That's when I get my mentor." She took a bite and chewed slowly, "I hope it's Moody, he's the best in the game."

"He's the craziest too." Sirius said with a laugh, "When we were in the Order together, he cursed Moony here for sneezing."

"I got better." Remus said dryly.

"You had tentacles growing from your face for a week." Sirius with a wink aimed at Padma. He knew she still didn't like Remus. Him either most likely, but she had been willing to be more open to Sirius spending time with his godson- er godsons…he mentally added, thanks to Harry.

"Moving on from your love of bringing up my pain and suffering." Remus said before looking at James and then Draco, "How is your second year going?"

"Most of my classes are fine. Defense is a joke again though." James said, "Gilderoy Lockhart is the biggest liar I've ever met."

"I think it's wonderful they let him teach," said Luna from beside her mother, "I just wish they'd let him teach us how he manages to be in two places at once."

"He isn't. He's just lying." Draco said to Luna, "He said he was in two different places on the same day thousands of miles apart. Even magic isn't that good."

"It could be," Luna said simply, "That's why it's magic."

"He was the only one who wanted the job." Narcissa added her two knuts, "Apparently Hogwarts had the devil's own time filling the position this year."

"You should apply Moony," Sirius said, "You had the grades for it."

"I- I don't think that would be for the best." Remus replied staring hard at Sirius, "I rather doubt the students want to learn from- from someone like me."

A tension overtook the table. One that normally was reserved for Christmas dinners that featured political discussion. It took Ted clearing his throat for there to be any noise at all at the table apart from scraping utensils. "I think," Ted said looking to Andromeda, "that it might be time for the pudding?"

Pudding, Luna would tell anyone, fixed everything. Andromeda rose and used her wand to levitate a large plum pudding into the dining room. A flick from her wand and the pudding split itself into equal pieces for everyone. She began to pass slices down the table so that each person got one and once served the party began again.

Much later, in his bed, James looked at the small package Tonks had slipped into his hand as they left that evening. She'd winked at him and whispered 'open it tonight' before letting him leave. Now, with everyone asleep he did so.

Inside was a small silver mirror and a note in her handwriting that read, 'say my name'. James frowned in confusion and then shrugged, "Tonks?" James said in a whisper. The mirror darkened for a moment and then cleared again, but this time it wasn't his reflection, it was Tonks'. "Tonks?" James said, "How did-"

"It's a communication mirror. Sirius had a set when he was your age. I 'borrowed' them last time I went over. I figured this would be quicker than waiting on your owl each time." Tonks smiled at him and continued, "Now when you want to chat with me you can say my name and the mirror will vibrate. If I have something to show you, I'll say your name and the mirror will do the same. I'll try to keep it after classes though."

"Thanks, Tonks." James said with a smile, "This is great."

The pair continued to talk until James began to doze off. When he blinked the mirror was still again and a glance at the window showed that it was very nearly dawn. He placed the mirror in his drawer and then closed his eyes. The strange feeling in his stomach had been replaced by a different feeling and, while still unwilling to think too hard about it, he knew this one was much more comfortable.