I do not own Harry Potter or gain anything from writing this other than the opportunity of expanding on an already brilliant universe for my own entertainment, and hopefully yours.

CHAPTER 11 - RADIANT

Harry and Tonks left St. Mungos and made their way into Muggle London to have an early dinner. It was the first time they had ever done anything with each other that resembled a date. The most time they'd really spent together was their late night talks at The Burrow last summer.

They talked about love, their lives and them. Harry encouraged her to keep pursuing Remus as his life was far too unpredictable and uncertain for any kind of serious relationship. Tonks argued that it was a terrible reason but didn't press the issue too far. She still felt a little guilty for shagging an underage wizard after all.

Not guilty enough not to do it again however. They booked a room at a muggle hotel, kissing passionately before they'd even gotten through the door. By the time they had reached the bed they were mostly naked, Harry's trousers stuck at one ankle where he failed to remove a shoe. Tonks didn't notice or didn't care because the second she had him half lying on the bed she'd guided him inside her and rode him roughly. Some things were said about how incredibly sexy he was today and how she'd wanted to shove that Katie girl aside so many times and take him right there on her hospital bed.

She rode him like that to her own orgasm and was sated long enough for Harry to better position himself. He dragged her to the middle of the bed and gave her as good as he got, growling at the metamorphmagus in shock and arousal when she changed her features to look like first Katie and then Susan, returning to her natural features when Harry had her far too distracted to concentrate on anything but pleasure any longer.

'Fuck, Harry, that was intense,' Tonks breathed as they lay next to each other, basking in the events of the past hour.

'Have I mentioned how much I miss you when I'm at school?' Harry sighed.

Tonks snorted in derision. 'As if,' she said. 'You've got five girls there to keep you company. I'm all on my lonesome.'

'I do have fun,' Harry admitted. 'Doesn't mean I don't miss you, and not just for the sex.'

He ran a hand through her currently black hair. It was the colour he suspected was her natural one, not that Tonks seemed to know herself.

'You'll still be stationed at Hogwarts after the holidays, right?' Harry murmured sleepily. 'Is there any way you can visit me sometime? Or can I visit you?'

Tonks mulled that over for a moment, pursing her lips in thought.

'We're not supposed to interact with the students unless there's an emergency,' she said slowly, 'but I bet I can convince Dumbledore to let me visit you every now and then. Especially after the vampire incident.'

Harry smiled at the thought. It would be nice to meet up with Tonks every once in a while during the school year. Even if it was just for a chat.

'Hey, Harry …' Tonks said tentatively. 'You know that thing you did to Katie? Is it possible for you to do that for me?'

Harry sat up in the bed and smiled at the older girl.

'I was already planning to,' he said, reaching for his wand.

When he sat back down the white mark with the word Pokiehl was glowing softly.

'Want to do it right now?' he asked her.

'Sure!' she said excitedly, sitting cross legged in front of him the same way he was.

Harry held up his left hand and she took it with her right, lacing their fingers together. The fresh scars from the vampire's claws stood out bright white against his muscled arm. He took his wand and touched it to the glowing white mark on his chest, muttering the words quietly. Immediately it glowed brighter and the same heat as with Katie permeated from the mark.

By the time Harry moved his wand away from his chest he fell forward limp into Tonks' arms.

'Harry! Are you alright?' she cried worriedly.

'Uh, yeah,' he said weakly. 'Just … tired. Guess I shouldn't do that twice in one day.'

'Shit, Harry,' Tonks said as he straightened himself out a little unsteadily, 'maybe doing that isn't such a good idea at all.'

Harry waved her worries away. 'It's just like using really powerful magic,' he explained, feeling a little sturdier already. 'I just need sleep,' his stomach rumbled, 'and maybe some food.'

Tonks still eyed him worriedly but seemed somewhat mollified.

'The Burrow,' she said sternly. 'Molly will set you right. Think you can handle a side-along?'

Harry said he could handle it fine and the two got themselves dressed before Disapparating straight from their hotel room.

If Tonks wasn't holding Harry tightly he would have fallen outright as they arrived just outside The Burrow. It was already late evening by the time they got there and Tonks was fidgeting slightly because they were much later than they'd initially said. Not seconds after she knocked on the door, Molly Weasley appeared, swinging the door open wide and coming out to pull Harry into a hug.

'Oh, Harry dear where have you been?' Mrs Weasley said, fussing over him. 'We were so worried.'

'Ah, sorry Molly,' Tonks said nervously. 'We got caught up visiting his friend at the hospital.'

'It's just been so long since I've seen her,' Harry said convincingly. 'I didn't mean to worry you all.'

'Oh, it's alright, I suppose,' she said, though she tossed Tonks a brief look that indicated it wasn't quite as alright for her.

'You two must be starving,' Mrs Weasley added suddenly, moving back inside and calling back to them. 'I'll have something warmed for you right away.'

Once they were alone Tonks exhaled and gave Harry a significant look.

'It wasn't all that bad,' Harry said, laughing.

'Just you wait,' Tonks said darkly, 'as soon as she has me alone I'll be lucky if I'm only deaf in one ear.'

'Then stay close to me,' Harry said, winking. 'I'll protect you.'

'Shut it, you,' she said as they walked into the Weasley home, changing her voice to a whisperer. 'You're feeling alright? If you go passing out on me I'm sure I won't be making it out alive.'

'I'm fine,' Harry said easily, 'but how are you? Feel any different?'

Tonks looked at her own hands, turning them over a few times, a smile growing on her face.

'Now that you mention it I feel fantastic,' she said in fascination. 'I can see why that Katie girl was bouncing around all excited, I'm so full of energy. You said this'll make me more powerful with magic too?'

'That's what Hermione said, yeah,' Harry confirmed as they walked into the dining room.

Fleur Delacour was working over a hot stove while Mrs Weasley stood beside, looking agitated.

'You can let me do it dear,' Mrs Weasley said in a slightly harsh tone of voice.

' 'Arry!' Fleur said, sweeping over to give him two kisses on his cheeks, ignoring Mrs Weasley fully. 'Eet iz so good to see you again.'

'You too, Fleur,' Harry said, taking her waist and spinning her gracefully on the spot, eliciting a surprised giggle, 'and I must say you're looking more beautiful than ever.'

'Oh you must stop zis,' Fleur said, though she didn't sound like she wished for him to stop. 'I keep telling Beel 'e needs to watch out for tois. When my seester gets here for ze wedding you will have her in a right state, I zeenk.'

Fleur moved back toward the stove only to find Mrs Weasley bustling away there, so she gracefully took a seat.

'She is always talking about ze time 'Arry Potter saved 'er,' she said with an over dramatic swoon.

'Where is everyone?' Harry asked, taking a seat next to Tonks.

'Everyone is still at work. Charlie is with the twins at their shop,' Mrs Weasley said, glancing worryingly at her clock. 'Right, Ron and Ginny are upstairs.'

Mrs Weasley marched over to the stairs and called loudly for Ron and Ginny then went back to the stove to find Fleur had taken over again.

As Fleur set down bowls of stew for Harry and Tonks, Ron and Ginny entered the room.

' 'Bout time, Harry,' Ron said, serving himself some stew. 'Where have you been?'

'Visiting Katie at the hospital,' Harry said after swallowing a mouthful of hot stew. 'She's doing loads better, they sent her home tonight.'

Ginny gave him a strange look at that but Ron gave an exuberant whoop.

'That's brilliant,' Ron said happily. 'Now we can kick Dean back off the team.'

'And what's wrong with Dean being on the team?' Ginny asked heatedly.

'Well besides the fact that he can't keep his hands off my sister,' Ron said, glaring, 'he's not nearly as good as Katie. You should appreciate that more than anyone.'

Ginny huffed and turned away. Just then Mrs Weasley jumped up and ran for the door.

Harry glanced over at her special clock where the hands of Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George were all at Traveling.

'Bet you twenty galleons the first thing out of Fred or George's mouth is "Harry Potter, Vampire Hunter",' Ron said, grinning.

'Harry Potter, Vampire Hunter!' Fred said a moment later as he entered the kitchen with a flourish.

Ron held his hand out to Harry with a satisfied smile.

'I didn't even agree to it!' Harry yelled indignantly.

Ron just grumbled some profanities and returned to his stew.

'Oh I must say the Prophet actually got it right for once,' George said, throwing a copy of the Prophet down in front of Harry.

The front page had those very words plastered along the front with a large picture of him at the Christmas party chatting with a laughing Gwenog Jones.

'Slayer of vampires and harpies?' Fred sang in an epic voice. 'Is there nothing our Chosen One can't do?'

'What was she like?' Ginny asked excitedly, leaning in.

'She was alright,' Harry said, then was interrupted to greet the other male Weasleys who'd come into the kitchen to get some food.

Fleur was already up serving the men, planting a heavy kiss on Bill when he reached her.

'She hated McLaggen,' Harry continued. 'So she's good in my books.'

Ron laughed uproariously at that then went off to get some more stew. Harry took the opportunity to lean in very close to Ginny to whisper in her ear.

'Don't tell Ron, I don't want it to affect his game,' he whispered, 'but I mentioned you and Katie to Gwenog. She's going to be sending a scout from the Harpies to watch you play the next two games.'

Ginny immediately leapt to her feat, wide eyed and in a sudden panic.

'Oh my God!' she squeaked. 'Oh Merlin! What? I have to practice!'

Harry calmly grabbed her arm and pulled her back down into the chair next to him.

'No, you don't,' he chuckled. 'Go flying around in the dark and we'll be down a Chaser again. You'll do great, I'll practice with you after Christmas if you want.'

Ginny was absolutely bouncing in her chair, letting herself smile in excitement. Then she suddenly squealed and tackled Harry into a crushing hug, with apparently no plans to let go.

'You're the absolute best!' she cried.

'You seem to be getting that a lot lately, Harry,' Tonks said with a wink.

'What's all this about?' Ron asked, sitting back down and digging into his (at least) second helping.

'Nothing,' Harry said nonchalantly, 'Ginny's just realized she's head over heels in love with me.'

Ron glared at him and Ginny finally let go, sitting down red faced with a big goofy smile.

'So tell us about this vampire, Harry,' Bill said as he finished his stew.

'Not much to say,' Harry said, running a hand through his hair. 'I saw him leading a girl away. She was acting strange, so I confronted them. Then he attacked me.'

Harry rolled up his sleeve to show the long scars along his forearm.

'Well according to the Prophet you stunned him,' Bill said curiously. 'Which you can't really do to a vampire.'

'You can if you use about thirty stunners,' Harry said, shrugging. 'It was either that or kill him. I tried to bind him first but he broke out of it when I was checking on Daphne. How I got scratched.'

'I would've just killed it,' Charlie said thoughtfully. 'How'd you manage hitting him with thirty stunners anyway?'

'Banish, stun, stun, stun, repeat,' Harry shrugged.

'When you told me the story there was a bit more to it than that,' Tonks commented thoughtfully. 'Who's Daphne by the way? The girl?'

'Yeah,' Harry said, rubbing the back of his head, 'Daphne Greengrass.'

'You saved that snake?' Ron asked, confused. 'I'd have let her go.'

Harry had a sudden violent urge to take Ron out back and see what would happen to a human if he was hit with thirty stunners but squashed it quickly. It's not as if Harry ever told him about his friendship to the two Slytherin girls. Even if it was an incredibly bigoted comment. When he realized that was exactly the kind of comment Daphne would make about Ron, he forgave him completely.

'Ronald Weasley!' Mrs Weasley scolded. 'That is a horrible thing to say!'

'She's a Slytherin,' Ron said, giving a shrug that indicated that's all that needed to be said.

'A gorgeous Slytherin,' Fred added.

'Though we're sure Harry's intentions were only pure,' George threw in.

'Out with the vampire.'

'In with the vagrant.'

'On to the bedroom!' they finished together.

'Boys!' Mrs Weasley scolded again. 'You know that Harry is not that kind of person.'

Harry grimaced and pointedly avoided looking at Tonks. He could feel her smirk.

'Oh, I don't know about that, Mum,' Ginny said traitorously. 'Harry's become quite the playboy this year.'

Harry turned a glare at the red-haired girl who was smiling at him innocently.

'What happened to being the absolute best?' Harry ground out.

Ginny covered her mouth to stifle her laughter, turning red with the effort.

'What do you mean, dear?' Mrs Weasley asked suspiciously.

'She means that he's snogging half the girl's in the school,' Ron said dryly.

'Now that is an exaggeration,' Harry said, turning to his best friend, his mind working furiously to think of any clues he could have left about him and Hermione.

'Luna,' Ron said amusedly, counting her off on a finger, 'Katie, Susan, Hannah.'

Harry let out a breath at the exclusion of their mutual best friend.

'I have never snogged Hannah,' he said in triumph.

'You realize you basically just admitted that you're snogging the other three don't you?' Tonks said, grinning.

Harry glared at her, but then an evil smirk emerged on his face. Tonks' eyes widened and she went pale, slightly shaking her head. Harry raised an eyebrow at her and she grimaced, nodding once.

The silent exchange seemed to go unnoticed by everyone else, which was surprising because most people were looking at him.

'Ah, to be young again,' Mr Weasley said longingly. 'Why I remember when your mother and I were at Hogwarts ...'

What followed made every child of Mr and Mrs Weasley turn a distinct shade of green.

Then something about the night of the Christmas party popped back into Harry's head.

'Hey, Fleur,' Harry said curiously, 'I wonder if you know anything about soul magic, or just souls in general.'

'I cannot say zat I do,' Fleur said with a furrowed brow. She looked over at her fiancé questioningly but he simply shrugged with a mouthful of stew. 'Why do you ask?'

Harry pulled out his wand and cast the Soul-Seeing spell on Fleur and her eyes lit up as she looked at all the people around the room.

'It's pretty wild, isn't it?' Tonks commented.

'Zese are souls?' Fleur asked in awe.

'Yeah,' he said, casting it on the rest of them in response to their curious looks, 'what you're seeing is everyone's type of soul. You're Fire, as are the majority of the Weasley's. What I was curious about is regarding your veela heritage.

'Before I fought the vampire, instead of seeing his soul there was just a grayish cloud. That's because this spell is to see human souls. It made me wonder if I would be able to see a full veela's soul as well or if it only works on you because you're a mix.'

Fleur looked taken aback by all the information as she inspected her own Fire soul.

'I do not know ze answer to zis,' she said thoughtfully. 'If you teach me ze spell I will be more zan 'appy to find out. Zere will also be full veela at ze wedding.'

'Great,' Harry said, internally questioning if he'd be alive that long, 'just curious really. To be honest, it's something Hermione mentioned. She had the idea that if full veela have the same souls as humans, then it's a point to argue for them to get equal rights as witches and wizards. Same concept for werewolves and other magical beings.'

Fleur beamed at Harry with a watery smile. 'I 'ave always zought zat 'Ermione was magnifique,' she said. 'As are you, 'Arry.'

Harry just shrugged before tossing Fleur a wink. Fleur nudged Bill and said 'See what I mean?' making him laugh.

'This is quite fascinating, Harry,' Mr Weasley said, studying Harry's forehead and chest. 'Why is it that you have so many colours though?'

'I'm just a little special is all,' he said, smiling.

'Why's Mum's all dark and evil looking?' George questioned.

'It certainly explains our poor treatment over the years,' Fred said in a hurt voice.

Mrs Weasley looked like she wanted to berate her sons but was torn with looking at her own soul in concern.

'I've found that Dark souls, and Light souls for that matter,' Harry said, gesturing to Tonks, 'are more common in pure-bloods. Slytherin house at school is almost all Dark and Light. It doesn't have anything to do with character. If it bothers you, Mrs Weasley, you should know Professor Dumbledore himself is a Dark soul.'

'Really?' Molly said, looking mollified. 'Well I suppose that's not such a bad thing then, is it?'

'Of course it isn't,' Mr Weasley said easily, 'I've always thought you looked marvellous in black.'

The further actions of Arthur Weasley along with his wife's girlish giggles once again returned the Weasley children to that same shade of green. All but one. Ron Weasley was eyeing Harry's forehead with an intense look. When Harry caught his eye and gave him a slow nod, Ron shut his eyes and turned away, not wanting his best friend to see that look of pity he hated so much.