A/N: Been a bit busy. That time of the year, sorry! Hopefully this chapter isn't boring and answers some questions.

Remember that this is Harry's story told from Harry's perspective, so his 'love-life' is a big part of life.

Chapter 29: The Burrow

"25,000 galleons?" Bill lets out a low whistle.

Following the somewhat fabled defeat of Fenrir Greyback, I was awarded an Order of Merlin, Second Class, and 25,000 galleons for the bounty, which is a sizeable chunk of money. Hedwig had been upset, but had brightened up a bit by the next morning after keeping a death grip on me all night. Her mood further increased when Hermione and Ginny showed up with Arthur Weasley in tow asking if I wanted to accompany them to the World Cup tomorrow as Hermione had told them that I had tickets too. We figured it would be nice to catch up with Fred and George, Hedwig is beginning to experience cabin fever even though I've said she's free to go into Diagon Alley. We took the floo to 'The Burrow', which is a fantastic place, and I met every single Weasley, Percy had to nip off to where ever swiftly after greeting me. We didn't have much interaction at Hogwarts, but he seems alright. Charlie is a burly and energetic bloke, full of smiles like the other Weasleys and the resident 'Dragon-man'.

I started talking to Bill when Fred, George, Ron and Charlie decided to play Quidditch outside. Luna, Ginny, Hermione and Hedwig sat in a loose semi-circle atop a hill a little way away whilst Bill and I sat at the edge of the 'pitch', leaning against a short stone wall. Luna is here just to visit, she isn't going to the cup.

"Not bad, eh?" I smile. Bill and I had hit it off pretty quickly. I asked him about his work and asked a lot of casually worded questions to hide my enthusiasm for what he does. Tearing apart wards, setting them up and picking enchantments to pieces is fascinating and not documented well in the Hogwarts library. From the Elder Wand and my parents' wands, I know a thing or two about a few dark ones and how to disable some stuff, but when it comes to the real work, even the Elder Wands' users weren't practitioners.

"Any plans for it?"

"I'll save most of it as I don't really need anything right now … might treat myself to a balcony for my flat though, I'll write to Gringotts sometime." A balcony – That would be cool. Bill slides away from the wall a bit and lies down, resting his arms behind his head.

"Well you definitely earned it. Fancy being an Auror after Hogwarts?" He asks. I snort.

"At this rate, I'll be one before I graduate." He laughs and nods.

"Sounds like it's heading that way."

"I think the hours are too long and I'm well acquainted with how much paperwork they have to do after living with an Auror all summer." I watch as Charlie does a particularly daring manoeuvre to dodge around Fred's attempt to steal the Quaffle.

"Ah yeah, Gin mentioned you were living with Tonks."

"More like she's living with me." I laugh. "Simple two bedroom flat, serves us well enough."

"Nice to have your own place I bet." He says. "What do you plan to do after Hogwarts? Assuming you don't get knocked off by a basilisk or whatever." He teases.

"The old cliché of 'travel around, see the world' I reckon. Machu Picchu, Pyramaids, The Amazon and whatever the hell is going on in China. There's so much out there, but maybe something more practical like ..." Brainwave! "A wandmaker."

"Wandmaker?" He looks up at me. "Sposed to be difficult."

"What isn't?" I grin. "I've been learning to figure out what wands are made of, which I reckon is the first step, y'know?" I lie smoothly. If I can coerce Bill into letting me peruse his wand, not only will I gain a lot of knowledge of his work, but also his duelling if he's any good. Oh, and I can tell him what the wand is made of to keep up appearances.

"You can do that?" He sits up, looking surprised. "Wanna give mine a shot?"

"Might as well, practice makes perfect." I shrug. Victory. It's not really a bad thing to do, right? I accept his wand with both hands. "Mmm … Beech?" I venture, screwing my face up in mock concentration. Bought it from Ollivander in 1982. "Err it looks like 10 and a quarter inches." He really is a remarkable person. His knowledge of wards and enchantments appears to be vast and, from what I've found out in the past, the Goblins actually respect him for all that he's done. He's got 127 Egyptian tombs under his belt and thousands of objects that he's stripped down. He gets paid for each one he does, so it's a side-earner for curse breakers. "I'd say unicorn hair." I hold out his wand for him. Mission accomplished.

"That was pretty cool." He grins.

"Thanks for letting me look." I smile.

After Bill is called inside by Molly, Hermione breaks comes over for a chat, hugging me tightly, or perhaps trying to strangle me.

"You need to be more careful. Fenrir Greyback is a murderer and you could have died."

"And I stopped-" She holds up her hand.

"Whilst I understand that you have almost no regard for your own well being when it comes to helping others, you need to think about how it affects those around you. I was worried about you, and I only found out after you'd done it." She sighs. "What did Tonks say?"

"She was worried, but glad I made it back in one piece." I explain. "She understands that I can't not help with things like this. I don't know if it's an obligation to myself, maybe because I have so much to offer, but I have to do it, even if it's dangerous. Tonks knows this and supports me, but also pulls me out of my funk when I stare into a cup of tea for 3 hours." I lean back against the wall and look into the sky.

"You love her, don't you?" Hermione asks quietly.

"You know I do."

"I mean you really love her and … and you're together now?" I look at her properly.

"How'd you tell?" She smirks and taps the side of her nose. "Of course." I shift where I sit. "Please keep it to yourself though. I'm happy, she is too, but the age thing, whilst it doesn't bother us, could be a problem if people found out. She could get into trouble or lose her job..."

"Is it worth the risk?"

"I asked her the same thing." I smile at the memory. "Know what she did? Slapped me, quite hard, then apologized because she meant it as a sign, not an actual slap." I laugh. "Err, where was I? Ah – She told me not to think like that."

"She slapped you too hard?"

"Underestimated her reach I guess, or strength." I shrug. "We're fine though, just need to keep the snogging out of the public eye." Hermione rolls her eyes.

"And out of my eyes too, please. I don't need you two getting frisky to haunt my dreams."

"Your wet dreams maybe." I mutter in a stage whisper. "Hey!" She slaps my arm.

"Prat." Her face grows more serious. "Now tell me what's wrong with Hedwig." I look over her shoulder at my familiar, currently picking at flowers with a smile as Ginny animatedly tells a story.

"I've upset her at a very strange time in her life." I sigh.

"Upset her?" Hermione prompts.

"Helping catch Greyback." I sigh. "She was distraught. Tonks had gotten back before me and tried to calm her down after explaining where I was. She cried and beat her fists against my chest as I hugged her. Called me selfish, then amended it to 'not selfish enough'." I fall quiet as I watch Hedwig for a while.

"Harry?"

"Sorry. Just thinking."

"About?"

"Hedwig's body. It's still changing." I add as Hermione starts to frown. "I can't just lay a hand on her and understand what's going on. I'm forced to use normal magic and some of the more deep reaching spells aren't really that comfortable to have cast on you, so I don't do it as often as I'd like. She's a person, not some subject to be scanned and categorised."

"You're frustrated by being limited to spells – You can't use your gift." I nod with a sigh.

"I'm scared that something will happen and I'll miss it. I have to piece together the puzzle from the identification spells, but when her biology shifts, I have to do it all over again."

"Is she OK?" Hermione looks over her shoulder.

"I don't know. Some days, her blood is almost acidic and a couple of hours later it changes again. The body she started with was entirely human, she's something else now and that's just the physical problems."

"Something's wrong with her head?" Hermione looks alarmed.

"What teenage girl doesn't?" Hermione slaps my knee. "Alright, Alright. She was an owl only a few weeks ago, so an owl's mind in a human body has to adjust greatly. Add to it all the hormones that come up, she sometimes breaks down crying or is as hyperactive as Tonks. Once she settles down, I hope she's happy."

"Just keep apologising and get her a nice dress, she'll come around." Hermione pats my hand. "She needs your support more than anything. If you're scared about her body's changes, then, if what you've told me is true, it's going to rub off onto her and she'll be petrified. Be strong for her."

"Thanks, Hermione." I smile affectionately at the not-so-bushy-haired girl. Her smile turns a bit more sinister. "What?"

"I've just figured it out."

"What out?"

"You, Tonks and Hedwig. You're being greedy, Mr Potter." She teases.

"How'd you know?"

"I've seen the way you look at her whilst you've been here. It's how you looked at Tonks when we saw her in Diagon Alley." Hermione smiles victoriously.

"You're too smart for your own good, but correct … for now." She frowns, but patiently waits for me to continue. "She might change her opinions of us. Not completely, mind you, just the more romantic parts. I'll still love her whatever she decides, I just want her to be happy."

"You can start by not moping over here, come and sit with us." She says, standing up. "And don't think I didn't see you with Bill's wand."

"I love to learn." I say with an innocent grin. She rolls her eyes.

Supper with the Weasleys is a hectic event, add in Hedwig, Hermione, Luna, and myself – The whole thing is a bit cramped. It's fun, but I couldn't do it every day. Floating gravy boats, lots of talking and laughter. I think watching Ronald eating more than a couple of times would put me off of the whole affair. When we finished eating, Hedwig and I fell back into a discussion with Bill, now much more knowledgeable. We would take it in turns to talk, I'd feed Hedwig relevant information for responses and background stuff at a slower, but continuous pace so she could get up to date with what I've learnt. She can't take the information as quickly as me luckily, nor does she wish to.

"When you finish travelling and fighting, you could always sign up as a curse breaker for Gringotts, seem to know your stuff." Bill looks surprised. Ah, I love cheating.

Hedwig grabs my hand and pulls me up off the sofa later in the evening as I was talking to Fred and George.

"We're walking Luna home, see ya in a bit!" She calls out. "And no, this isn't just an excuse for a snog." She adds into my head.

"Just? So it is partially?" I query as we meet Luna outside. "How's you summer been, Luna?" I ask as we start to walk.

"I've been well, thank you." She replies dreamily. Hedwig transforms and takes flight.

"Just gonna spread my wings." She relays to me.

"That's good, Looking forward to Hogwarts?" We wander through the field.

"Yes, it has been a bit dull." She hums.

"I'm fairly certain this will be an exciting year." I smile. Not everybody knows about the tournament just yet. "Does everybody live in wonky, tall houses down here?"

"Two out of two, so I suppose the answer is yes." Luna hugs me as we reach the end of the path leading to her house. "She's quite beautiful." She says, looking up at Hedwig. "And as a human she is pretty too."

"How could I not be when I'm this good looking as an owl?" Hedwig asks me pompously.

"She says thanks." I smile at Luna. "I'll see you at school, Luna." She nods dreamily and enters her house. "Race you back, Hedwig." I twirl into my animagus and start running.

"Not fair!" Hedwig shrieks and starts to catch up as I sprint beneath her. She dives at me and I swat at her.

"You almost clawed my eye out!" I bark at her too.

"You never set a rule against it." She says smugly, corkscrewing trough the air. She darts forward as I reach the longer grass. She's leaning against a fence, smirking, by the time I catch up.

"You played dirty." I say once human again.

"Don't pretend you don't like dirty." She tiptoes and wraps her arms around my neck. "Sorry for being a bitch lately." She elects to talk into my head whilst our mouths are occupied.

"You've just got some stuff to work through, I'm here for ya. Hermione says you deserve a new dress too."

"Can't argue with that." She smiles against my lips.

A/N: Harry is close friends with Fred, George and, Ginny, so i don't think it's absurd to travel to the cup with his friends. Ginny is Hermione's closest friend besides Harry and Tonks.

The idea of swindling Bill into handing over his wand for a pseudo-'examination' was too fun to pass up.

Hedwig will change, both physically and mentally. She is still settling into her human form and has lost some of the exuberance she began with.

I had a thought about Snape and Harry working out a ceasefire, if not forgiving each other completely. Thoughts?

Working on some secret stuff, so the world cup might be a bit delayed, Enjoy!