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 Five: In Which Bodhi Peverell attends Hogwarts and woe betide her enemies

A/N: Who likes Authors Notes? Everyone? Awesome. So, let me explain the length of my absence. It came be summed up in one sentence: I very nearly had to be hospitalized due to a large infection in the arm that's missing its hand... That meant I had to postpone a lot of things I was working on. Just in time for a pandemic to come along. So I'm back. I've got a little bit more for this story and then it's finished. After this, I have another story I did some preliminary work on. YLIATMIN is on a hiatus at the moment until I get a proper muse for the story. Stag and Flower is nearly complete and will be uploaded once I've finished the encounter I'm working on.

Dear Tonks,

Bodhi was sorted into Slytherin today. I bet Hermione and Neville a sickle that she threatened to set the hat on fire if she wasn't sorted with Draco (I think she has a thing for him). She sat in the boat with a girl named Romilda who apparently is another 'Harry Potter fangirl'.

Yay for me, right?

Anyway, Bodhi did threaten to drown her in the lake if she didn't shut up. This earned her the spot of 'first person in a century to lose House points before they were even sorted' according to Fred and George Weasley. Oh, I can't believe Sirius managed to keep it quiet, but Remus is our Defense Professor this year. Ron thought it was funny that Remus' robes were shabbier than his, which just further cements my dislike of him. I'm just glad he's stopped trying to be my 'best mate'.

I didn't break the mirror, by the way, I just figure that writing my letter to you at Hogwarts is kind of our thing.

If you can make it, come see us at Hogsmeade. The first weekend is the first of October.

James

Tonks folded the letter and put it on her desk. She'd finally finished with the Academy and was now a rookie Auror. She shared a small flat with Ismelda in East London, chosen specifically because no one paid attention to the weird girls. She smiled as she leaned back in her chair thinking about James.

Then she sighed and stared up at the ceiling. Why was it that her longest relationship was writing letters to James? Ismelda is practically a demon in human form if you made her angry and she has a boyfriend. She thought annoyedly as she looked through her open door to Ismelda's room where the rattling snores of her roommate made Tonks wish she was better at silencing charms.

Do I want to go to Hogsmeade? She thought as she rose from her chair and walked into the living area/kitchenette and opened the fridge. Peering in she selected a takeaway container from her favorite curry house. Pouring the lamb curry into a bowl she drew her wand and tapped it against the bowl, instantly the thick stew began to bubble and steam.

She grabbed a spoon and took a bite of her curry. Mad-Eye Moody, the Auror she was shadowing, was unpredictable. If she let on that she wanted to see James, then Moody would no doubt assign her something painful and humiliating. Aurors that look forward to their time off are distracted Aurors, and distracted Aurors are dead Aurors…Tonks could hear him growling at her as if the old man was standing in front of her.

She made her way back to her desk and plopped into her chair digging into the curry. Normally an excuse to see James was a welcome distraction. But it made her think about something her mother had brought up at her visit. Andromeda had mentioned in that 'casual yet judging you' way of hers that she spent more time talking about conversations she'd had with James than she spent talking about actual boyfriends she'd had. Her mother hadn't been pleased about it and had accused her of holding every man she met to impossibly high standards.

So, what if I've had a bad run with men lately? Tonks thought grumbling as she chewed on a piece of potato. It's like I have a crush on James, he's thirteen for crying out loud!

As she continued to eat, she continued to debate with herself if she was going to go. Finally, she settled on going but making sure that if James seemed too enthusiastic that she would let him down gently. She looked over at the small perch on her dresser where Hedwig slept, her head under wing. She waited until she finished the curry before going to her desk, digging out some paper and writing a quick response.

Wotcher Jamie,

Thanks for the invite to Hogsmeade. I'll check my schedule when I go in tomorrow, if I'm off then I'll send another message confirming it. For now, let's say I am off and that we should meet at the pub around noon-ish.

Tonks

P.S. If you get there before I do tell Rosie I'm coming and to mix up my usual, she'll know.

Tonks looked at her reply and nodded in satisfaction. It was the kind of thing she would expect any friend to write. Not too formal, but since she didn't write 'Love from' and there was nary a single 'X' or 'O' to be found she didn't feel it was too informal. Merlin knows if I sent a letter with 'Love From' at the end of it Mum would be back on that same troll-shit if she found out… Tonks thought rolling her eyes

Andromeda Tonks had been very concerned that Tonks was spending too much time on her friendship with James and not trying to meet people, especially men, her age. She had brought up an annoyingly valid point; Tonks spent more time with her mirror talking to Harry over the summer than she had with the young man she had been dating. Like it's my fault David turned out to be just like all the others and more interested in how big I can grow my quaffles! Tonks thought angrily as she reached into the drawer of her desk and pulled out a chocolate frog. Unwrapping it, she bit the head off of the frog and chewed before swallowing and finishing the frog. The problem wasn't her friendship with James, it was the fact that all the men she met seemed more interested in her abilities over her personality.

James Peverell was one of the very few who never asked anything of her. He didn't try to win her over by saying he 'wanted to see the real her', it just wasn't fair that he was thirteen. If he was my age…no stop that thought now. She frowned and shook her head, trying to banish the fact that if James was her age, she would want very much to get him off the market to the deepest part of her psyche.

It was a very fitful sleep that claimed her that night.

The weekend of the visit found Tonks at the Three Broomsticks waiting for James sipping a butterbeer. She had avoided her usual choice of Ogden's Choice firewhiskey since it was early in the day and she was most likely going to be breaking the heart of James. It's not like I asked him to fall in love with me…She thought as she looked out from her seat onto the streets of Hogsmeade. I guess I could have set more boundaries. I-

She was drawn from her thoughts by a very familiar form. James was making his way down the path from the castle accompanied by Hermione and Neville, who were walking very closely, and another girl that looked vaguely familiar. However, from this distance, she couldn't tell much besides the fact that the girl was wearing Ravenclaw robes. Tonks frowned without noticing when she saw that the girl was holding James' hand.

Tonks wasn't sure what exactly it was about the girl, but something told her that she didn't like her. Probably some little bint who thinks he's going to start being 'Harry Potter' for her. Tonks scoffed lightly at the idea, her hair moving from pink to a sickly green and then back. She stood and dropped a sickle on the counter for a tip and walked outside.

"Wotcher Jamie!" She called out waving her hand to get his attention. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Padma Patil, she's in my Ancient Runes class." James said with a smile, "Padma, this is Tonks, my best friend."

"I thought your best friends were Hermione and Neville." Padma said to him, "Or Draco for that matter."

"They are too. I just have four best friends. Tonks is my oldest friend."

"I can tell," Padma said with a grin.

At that moment, the undefined dislike for the younger girl had a name. Padma? The same name as his mother…oh, Auntie Pad is going to laugh her ass off at that. Tonks brought her attention back to the couple. "So, what is the plan then lovebirds?"

"Well, I wanted to see how you were doing. Your last letter before I sent mine said that Moody was riding you pretty hard."

Tonks laughed at that, some of the tension in her shoulders vanished, the tension she hadn't known was there. "Knowing him, he's probably here in the village using his cloak to spy on us." She then casually cast a revealing charm and then nodded in apparent satisfaction, "Okay, so he's not here, but I don't trust him."

"My dad doesn't like him. He used to come and inspect our shop for illegal potions since we served muggles." Padma said frowning slightly.

Tonks nodded, "Yeah that sounds about right. It's illegal to use potions on muggles, so any witch or wizard who owns a shop is subject to inspections. Keeps disreputable shops from selling love potions and stuff like that."

"Are you calling my dad 'disreputable'?" Padma glared at the woman now. James noticed the tension between them and put his hand on Padma's shoulder. She pulled away from him angrily and stormed off.

"I've got to talk to her," James said quickly, hurrying off and leaving Tonks standing at the bar.

Tonks couldn't believe it. One stupid comment and she ran off like I called her dad a Death Eater. She scratched her head trying to process what had happened as she saw James through the window of the pub running towards the turn that led to the school.

Scene Break

"So, she ran off?" Harry asked Tonks who had came from Hogsmeade looking much less happy than when she'd stopped in earlier in the day to say hello.

"Yeah," Tonks said sitting down at the kitchen table and grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. "I mentioned how the Ministry checks wizard-ran shops that serve muggles and she got all touchy." She mulled it over once it became clear that they weren't coming back to the pub.

Harry laughed softly, "If that Padma is like my Padma, and I have a pretty fair assumption she is, you inadvertently insulted her father. The best thing to do would be to send her an apology." He took an apple from the bowl himself and then placed it on the table. He tapped it and the skin from the apple began to slide off into a neat pile.

"Show off," Tonks muttered as she took a bite from her unpeeled apple. She chewed morosely before swallowing her bite. "Jamie is probably pissed at me right now. I hope he doesn't take it out on Remus."

The peel on Harry's apple had nearly finished sliding off when she said that. At the name Remus, his eyebrow raised, "Why would he take it out on Remus?"

"We're going to have dinner together this weekend. I-" She took another bite, "I'm pretty sure that Jamie saw me talking to him."

The apple jumped from the table at that and hit the ceiling with a wet thwack. Harry groaned softly and summoned the apple before using a spell to clean it. "So, you and Remus are going on a date?"

"Mum's right. If you tell her, I'll sic Auntie Pad on you," Tonks said watching him, unsure as to why that news would cause him to startle so badly that he messed up a spell she'd seen him do countless times. "Outside of the friends I made at Hogwarts I spend more time talking to Jamie than I do anyone else. Honestly, I spend more time talking to him than I do half of the friends I'd made at school. I need to make more adult friends and Remus is already a friend, so I figured why not?"

Harry shook his head. He and Padma had made a promise to each other that they wouldn't mess with the futures of their friends by telling them about the future they'd come from. It wasn't right, Harry had argued to interfere beyond what they'd had to do in order to stop Voldemort. Padma had called him a rude name for that. Her opinion was that if they could prevent something bad, then they should do it. But he'd held firm and eventually she'd agreed and made the promise not to interfere.

She's going to just love this… Harry thought darkly as he took a bite into his apple and found that he'd missed a spot in cleaning it and got an owl feather in his mouth.