A/N: Sorry, I meant to get this out yesterday, but got locked on to another story and it consumed my entire day, along with watching the Jets lose (of course). Please let me know what you think of the Tonks-Ginny-Harry relationship, and if my portrayal of Tonks is good, as it's my first time really having her as a central role in a story. REVIEW, or Malfoy will run off with Ginny in the next chapter! (yuck).
The students of Hogwarts had soon settled in to the normal routine of classes and homework. For the sixth years, they were happily caught in-between the stress of the OWL's that the fifth years go through and the even more abundant stress of the NEWT's that the seventh years go through. Harry had quickly realized, and enjoyed the fact that, his training had more than sufficiently prepared him for sixth year. He had barely any work in class and finished his various scrolls of parchment far ahead of anyone else in the school, even Hermione.
Once again, Harry was returning from a visit to Hagrid's hut after he had finished his homework. He had special permission from the Headmaster that allowed him to wear his cloak through classes during the day. In the lit corridor, he was quite the striking figure, both swords still in their scabbards on his back. He smirked and his eyes twinkled underneath his sunglasses as a pair of first-years stared at him before diving to the side of the corridor and shrinking against the wall. Harry shook his head but ignored it quickly.
Harry reflected that, a couple years ago, he would have been fuming after seeing something like that. But the first part of his training had been accepting the fact that he would get reactions for his condition. It was even worse than the normal vampire or werewolf, because he was both and he was Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived. It was hard, but he eventually realized that ninety-nine percent of the wizards on Earth had absolutely no effect on him whatsoever.
Harry laughed out loud in the empty corridor remembering the first couple of breakfasts in the Great Hall, as Dumbledore was flooded with mail from angry parents chastising him for letting their children go to school with a 'dangerous animal and dark creature.' There had been more than one Howler that had berated Dumbledore for his disrespect of wizarding traditions and various other statements of rubbish. Dumbledore had Vanished them with a wave of his wand before raising an eyebrow at Harry. Harry had grinned and raised his goblet in a small toast to the rest of the world's stupidity. Dumbledore had chuckled and raised his goblet in return.
Harry returned to reality as he neared the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Prometheus." Harry smiled at the password. Head Girl Katie Bell had begged McGonagall to let her pick that password in honor of Harry's animals. The door opened and Harry stepped in to a war zone. The Common Room was almost empty, surprising on a weekday afternoon when it was normally full of studying and playing students. The remaining students were huddled by the walls except for two. Ginny and Tonks were glaring at each other from opposite ends of the couch. Papers were scattered throughout the room. They were on the floor, various chairs, even some atop the chandelier on the ceiling. Harry grinned, before seeing Dean and Seamus crouching under the boy's staircase. They saw him, shook their heads and nodded towards the two girls. Seamus mouthed, "mental" at Harry and he laughed. The sound broke the silence of the room quickly, but Ginny and Tonks apparently didn't notice. Both were absorbed with staring daggers at each other.
Harry winked at his roommates, before running over and vaulted over the back of the couch. He landed right in between the two girls and broke their eye contact. Ginny glared at him before icily saying "what are you so happy about, Mr. Werewolf?"
Tonks nodded her head, and added, "yeah Vampire Boy, what, you found a girl to shag you?" Harry grinned at both of them before putting his arms behind their backs and drawing them close to him. Despite their current anger, both girls melted slightly at his touch.
"Now now now, what has got my favorite two girls in such a titch? I seem to remember you trying to disembowel each other a few moments ago, and now you are yelling at me." With the reminder, both girls turned back to glaring at each other across Harry's chest.
Ginny spoke first. "This little shape-shifter here won't let me do my work. The teachers have already started piling on the work for OWLs and I need the room to organize my parchments." Ginny stared down her nose at Tonks, thinking that she had Harry on her side.
"Oh no you don't. Just because it's an OWL year doesn't mean you can rule this common room. Other people have to study too, little Miss Princess." Ginny's eyes flared and she reached out and grabbed a handful of Tonks' hair, and Tonks responded with the same treatment. Both girls screeched in pain, nearly deafening Harry, who was caught in the middle. A loud growl was heard as Apollo glared at them, before haughtily stalking up to Harry's room.
Harry reached out, and disengaged both girls' hands from each other's hair. He held them apart. "Silly old me, I thought you were fighting over something important, like me. Now. Tonks, this is an OWL year and Ginny is going to be nuts for the rest of the year. Just because I wasn't here last year doesn't mean I didn't take OWLs and they suck." Ginny laughed and stuck her tongue out at Tonks. "And Ginny, you can't clear out the common room every time you have to fix some notes. There are other people here and beside Hermione, no one is allowed to be that anal about their work." Tonks laughed and stuck her tongue out at Ginny.
Harry sighed and quickly grabbed both tongues and held them loosely but securely in his fingers. Both girls leaned forward, trying to release the light strain on their tongues. Both girls yelped and snickers were heard from around the classroom. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Dean and Seamus rolling on the floor laughing. "Now girls, if you can't keep control of these things, I am going to take them until you can. Now can you keep them in your mouths?" Both girls nodded and he released their tongues. Looking down at his saliva-covered fingers, he grinned and wiped them on the girls' faces. Both girls sat there in shock, as Harry rubbed Ginny's spit on Tonks' cheek, before repeating the treatment to Ginny. Both girls glared at Harry before turning to each other. With a quick nod, they leapt upon Harry and started tickling him mercilessly.
Harry fell back and Ginny slid out of the way, allowing him the length of the couch to lie on. Tonks and Ginny fell on him and kept the tickling going, forcing Harry to go in contortions. "Please…stop…guys…I can't breathe…stop!" Harry finally grabbed both of their arms and held them there.
Suddenly, all three of them realized where they were. Harry was lying flat on his back on the couch, in near darkness as the girls' hair draped over his head. Harry thought that the red and pink shades made an excellent curtain, as the space was darkened and quite romantic. The girls were lying on him, almost flat. Each girl was straddling one leg their faces were inches apart and both girls were staring intently in to Harry's eyes. All three of them were breathing heavily and Harry realized how much of their bodies were pressed on to him. None of them wanted to move, to break the feeling that lingered over them.
"Potter! Oi! Get off my sister! I mean, Ginny, get off Potter!" Both girls leapt off him, even though Tonks hadn't been mentioned. Ron pulled Ginny away and Tonks slid around until she was sitting on a different chair. Harry sat back up, and quickly calmed the blush rising to his cheeks. The common room had begun to fill back up and laughs echoed around them. Ron's voice continued. "Ginny what are you doing? You know what Harry is! He might bite you!"
All the voices ceased as Ron froze and Hermione stepped away from him. She clearly wanted no part of this. Ginny pushed Ron away from where he had dragged her and went back to stand next to Tonks who was gaping at Ron in amazement. Every head besides Tonks swiveled to Harry to see his reaction. He stiffly stood up, and fixed his robes and checked to make sure both swords were securely in place. Then he breathed in and turned towards Ron, who yelped and fell back against a chair. Harry's eyes were venom green and flashing dangerously. His glasses had fallen off in the tickling match and lay forgotten in front of the couch.
"Yes Ron. Watch out. I might bite." Harry stalked over to Ron and leaning over him as he shrank back in the chair. Harry reached out and put a hand on each armrest and, shifting his weight forward, leaned even closer to Ron. Harry bared his teeth and Ron whitened considerably as both of Harry's canine teeth elongated in to fangs that slipped outside his lower lip. The color ran from his face, making him look even more menacing. Harry stared at Ron, before breaking the connection and sitting back down on the couch. He let his teeth recede in to their normal places and size, before motioning to Ginny and Tonks. Both girls made their way to him, not casting a glance towards Ron's unmoving figure.
"C'mere girls. I have a solution. Ginny I have some time to tutor you, in let's say, Transfiguration and DADA, since those are my best subjects." Ginny sat next to him as everyone in the room slowly started moving again besides Ron who was still frozen prostrate to the chair. Ginny nodded and Tonks sat down on Harry's other side. "Tonks, what's your worst subject?"
She looked thoughtfully at him before answering. "Astronomy. I am an Auror; I don't need to know what the stars say! Dumbledore made me take it so I would fit in with the rest of the students, and because he said I need to learn new things. Ugh." Harry nodded and flashed a grin back at her, which made her stomach squeeze. "I happen to have been taught Astronomy by Centaur. Great at reading the stars, not great at coordination. Almost as clumsy as a certain metamorphmagus I know." He winked at her as she smacked him playfully on the shoulder. "OK, I can help you out in that. Alright girls, no more fighting. Now is everything okay?" Both girls nodded.
Tonks caught Ginny's eye and winked. "Now wonderful Mr. Potter, you deserve a reward for your diplomacy." She winked again at Ginny before both girls leaned in and kissed Harry's cheeks rather sloppily, leaving wet spit on his face. Harry sat in shock for a moment before grinning.
"Thank you my ladies." With that, he grabbed a handful of each of their hair in a hand and wiped off the spit with it. Both girls shrieked and pulled back their hair as Harry vaulted back over the back of the couch. The girls yelled after him as he slipped up to his room, laughing along the way and with his cheeks still slightly rosy from the double kiss that he very much enjoyed.
The next day, Harry was racing on his way back from his room after gathering his books for Potions. Cloak swirling, he made it in time to slip inside the potions classroom before Snape could yell at him. He set up his workstation, as Apollo and Artemis lay down on either side of him and Athena perched on his shoulder. Snape waved his wand at the board, making the instructions appear before gazing out at the collected students waiting for his signal to start. Harry breathed a sigh of relief before a voice broke his thoughts.
"Mr. Potter. Just because you make a grand entrance in this building does not get you different treatment. Please remove your weapons, and have your little personal zoo bring it back to your room. And make sure those mutts don't let fleas in my classroom."
The Slytherins laughed as Harry glared at Snape. All the laughing quickly died out as both wolves rose. Apollo stalked towards the Potions professor while Artemis did the same to the crowd of Slytherins. "Professor Snape, if I were you, I would apologize to Apollo and Artemis before they incapacitate you and lessen the number of students in this classroom. But then again, if I were you, I wouldn't have irritated two full grown wolves in the first place. Unlike certain Potion Professors, I happen to have common sense." Both wolves stopped just before their respective targets and continued growling.
"Mr. Potter. If you do not call off your attack dogs, I will take one thousand points from Gryffindor and have you expelled from this school." Snape's face was hard, but his voice and his eyes revealed his terror.
"Apologize." Harry's voice was icy cold.
"I will not apologize to you Mr. Potter." Snapes voice was getting higher and higher as Apollo stood there.
"Not to me. To Apollo and Artemis. They were the ones you insulted."
"I will not apologize to animals. I will not apologize to pets. Now call them off."
"Professor, you seem to be under the impression that I control these wonderful creatures. No, they are my friends, not my servants. I can not call them off unless you apologize. I may ask them, but they will not listen unless they want to."
Snape was about to voice his rebuttal when Apollo ripped a shard of cloth off of Snape's black robes. He blanched in fear, before muttering "I'm sorry." Both wolves growled once more, before returning to Harry's side.
Harry smirked at Snape before saying "Alright guys, head up to my room, or wait in the common room." The wolves took one last look around the room, pausing on the Professor and the Slytherin students before stalking out. Athena followed with a screech and zoomed out.
Snape regained his composure enough to sneer at Harry. "Your weapons Mr. Potter." He gestured to Harry's double swords on his back.
"Alas, I cannot do that. These swords must either be in their sheath or in my hands. And as the sheaths are magically stuck to my back, I do not know how I could do that and still make my potion."
Snape opened his mouth to reply, but just turned and yelled at the class, "Well? Maybe someone could attempt to begin the potion that they must finish today." All the students jumped up and raced towards the supply cabinet besides Harry.
He just called out. "Tonks my dear, can you open the supply door for me?" Tonks, standing in front of the cabinet shrugged and opened it wide so Harry could see the contents. Snape was staring at Harry, who stared right back at him. Harry raised his hand, and still staring at Snape, he snapped. All of a sudden, all of the necessary ingredients for the potion shot out of the cabinet and began to hover around Harry's cauldron. Harry smirked, and with another snap of his fingers, the ingredients started depositing themselves in to the cauldron, following Snape's instructions on the board exactly. Snape gaped at Harry for a second, before sneering at him. However, he couldn't find anything wrong with what was happening, so he just turned in a huff and stalked back to his desk to read his book. Tonks walked back to her cauldron, arms loaded with ingredients, laughing as Harry leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
A few days after the confrontation in Potions, Harry was sitting in the center of the couch, Ginny and Tonks on either side of him. Both girls had draped their legs over the side of the couch and were leaning quite heavily upon Harry's shoulders. Harry's head was in-between Tonks' head and Ginny's and he was casually tilting his head to rest on Tonks' while he read his Advanced DADA book that he had bought in Diagon Alley. It had become the favorite reading position for all three of them, and Tonks and Ginny had giggled quite a bit about it in their room. Unbeknownst to them, Harry looked forward to reading like this every day.
Harry cracked a small smile, thinking of the two girls beside him. He was brought out of his dazing state when a shadow crossed over him. He glanced up to see Ron standing uneasily in front of him. His eyes were nervously flitting back and forth between Harry and Ginny, who in Ron's eyes was touching Harry entirely too much. Harry smirked and casually placed his book on his lap, before lifting his arm up from behind Ginny who groaned, but smiled again as Harry draped his arm around her neck, rubbing her shoulder and she snuggled up to his chest, mentally dancing. Tonks realized what happened and frowned at Harry, who quickly did the same to her, and she snuggled up tight to him as well. Harry turned back to Ron, lightly running his fingers up and down both girls' upper arms, causing them to shiver in delight. Ron frowned for a second before feeling Harry's eyes on him and he quickly looked back at him.
"Um well Harry. I'm the Quidditch Captain, and just wanted to let you know that Tryouts are tomorrow. You're the best Seeker, but you still have to formally try out since you were here last year. You know, can't have the other seeker hopefuls complaining." Ron mumbled quickly before looking down at his shoes. Harry delighted in his discomfort.
Harry grinned before responding casually. "Sure Ron, let me know when I should be on the pitch and I'll win back the starting spot." Ron nodded and quickly shuffled away to Hermione, who was frowning at Harry and the two girls' beside him. He winked at her and blew her a kiss. She looked away and started speaking quietly to Ron. Harry smirked when he saw the blush rising up her cheeks.
The next day, the setting sun saw the much of the Gryffindor house out on the Quidditch pitch, and a group of them on the center of the field.
"Alright, returning from last year, we have myself as Keeper and Katie Bell as Chaser. Ginny was Seeker, but with Harry's return, she has gladly moved back to chaser. However, my brother Fred and George have graduated," and Ginny whispered loudly, "thank Merlin." Everyone laughed and Ron resumed speaking. "I agree with you there Ginny. So, as they are no longer here, we will need some good beaters to step in. Can everyone trying out for the final chaser stop step over here with Katie and Ginny? Can everyone trying out for the beater position step over to me, and anyone who wishes to challenge Harry for Seeker go over to him?"
The majority of the group went over to Ron and a couple went to Katie and Ginny. Harry had expected to be left alone, but was surprised to see a small first year step over to him. He smiled at her. She had dark hair that ran to just below her shoulders, and bright blue eyes.
She blushed before speaking. "Um, Har- Mr. Potter, I was wondering if you could watch me play Seeker and let me know how good I am."
Harry laughed. "Call me Harry, I'm not a professor, and I'm not mean. Except when Ron is being a prat." The girl giggled slightly. "Sure, I'll fly with you and once I graduate you can be a seeker. You'll be in your third year, so if you earn it, you can start for 5 years." The girl nodded eagerly before they both mounted their brooms.
As they rose lazily through the air, (they had as much time as they wanted, as Ron would take the better part of three hours for the beater selection) Harry turned to the girl. "What's your name?" She blushed a little bit before responding.
"Natalia Wright. I love Quidditch but I only want to be a Seeker. When I play with my family and friends, they all say I'm good at it." Harry smiled at the cute girl before taking out the Snitch and nodding. He released it and counted to three. As the 'ee' left his mouth, Natalia was off, zooming in the air towards the little winged ball. Harry was shocked, as she was playing on an old Cleansweep, but was going very fast and could turn in the blink of an eye. After only 45 seconds, she swept back to him with the Snitch in her hand, and she was flushed with excitement.
She handed him back the ball which he held tightly, as it tried to escape. "I am impressed, you were great! I have never seen that edition of broom go so fast and handle that kind of turning. Here's what I'll convince Ron to do. He'll take you on as a reserve Seeker, and you can play if I get hurt, which tends to happen a lot." Natalia giggled and he smiled. "You can come to all the practices, and wear the uniform on game day, and you can sit on the bench during games." Natalia stared in astonishment before whooping loudly and doing a quick loop-de-loop in the air. Harry laughed and released the Snitch again. "Go get it!"
They spent the remainder of the practice chasing the Snitch and Harry's first impression was proven correct as Natalia showed that she could make a great seeker one day. She wasn't as good as him, but a small part of Harry's mind responded well who is? They landed quickly and Natalia said a quick goodbye to Harry before rushing off to her friends. Harry shook his head when they saw her, and quickly surrounded her and peppered her with questions about him. He strode over to Ron who was conferring with Katie and Ginny. He told him about Natalia and Ron agreed to take her on as a reserve Seeker. Harry listened quietly as they decided on the remaining spots. Harry nodded as they decided on Demelza Robbins, a fourth year girl, as the final chaser, and Colin and Dennis Creevey as the two starting beaters. After the decisions were finalized, they quickly changed and headed back to the castle.
Quidditch practices started up and Harry was pleased to see the team doing well, and had a lot of potential. Tonks and Hermione both came down to watch every practice, though they didn't sit together or talk. Tonks would wait until Ginny and Harry were finished and they would walk back to the castle together. Hermione would slightly wistfully watch them go back while she waited for Ron to leave the showers. Classes started getting more intense and even Harry had a significant amount of work to do, even if it wasn't the most intellectually stimulating material he had read.
One day, as Harry, Tonks and Ron headed down to Care of Magical Creature, they were shocked to see Professor Grubbly-Plank talking to a few of the Ravenclaws, with whom they take the class.
Harry turns to Tonks, frowning. "Where is Hagrid?" Tonks pulls him aside, away from some of the other students.
In a low whisper, she says, "Dumbledore sent him to go speak to the giants. We're trying to get them on our side for the oncoming fight. It is dangerous, and Dumbledore was really reluctant to go but Hagrid is our only hope of connecting to the giants." Harry looked down shamefully, and Tonks put a hand on his shoulder. "What's up Harry?"
Harry looked up at her and glanced over at Grubbly-Plank who was absorbed in the small, boring animal she was supposed to teach that day. "C'mon, I have to tell you something." He grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the castle and pulled her in to the first empty room he could find. With a snap, he cast a Silencing and Locking charm on the door.
Tonks grabbed Harry's shoulders, and looked him straight in the eye, after removing his glasses. "Harry you can tell me anything."
With a sigh, Harry conjured a soft couch and pulled her down next to him. "Okay, here goes." He quickly told her about the Prophecy and what it would entail, looking at his feet the whole time.
As he finished, he shyly looked up at her to see tears in her eyes and her hand clamped over her mouth. He sighed. "If you don't want to hang out with me anymore, I'll understand."
She looked at him in shock, before launching herself at him and grabbing him in a fierce hug, her head digging in to his chest. After a moment of hesitation, he quietly wrapped his arms around her and rocked her slowly as she sniffled in to her body. He told her that Ginny and the rest of them knew it and she nodded sadly. After a couple minutes, he stood up, pulled her to her feet and wiped her cheeks free of drying tears. She pulled him in to another hug and they left the room with his arm around her shoulders, and hers around his waist, and walked back to the common room slowly.
Ginny was in there reading, and when she saw Tonks, she asked him what happened. Grimly, he said, "I told her the Prophecy." Ginny nodded, eyes tearing up and led them back to the couch, where they sat and both Harry and Ginny sat with Tonks until she regained her composure.
The next week, Harry was surprised to see Hagrid back teaching in front of his hut. After the class, he grabbed the half-giant and pulled him aside. "What did they say?"
Hagrid looked around, trying to act innocent of all knowledge. "What did 'ho say, 'arry?" Harry raised an eyebrow and waited. Finally, Hagrid sighed and told Harry that the giants had flatly refused Hagrid's offer and had officially joined Voldemort. Harry thanked Hagrid and walked grimly back up to the castle, looking out across the lake, before the doors closed. He turned and went to tell Ginny and Tonks the bad news.
A/N: Well, this was originally supposed to be only ½ of this chapter, but it grew out of control and the chapter would be about 10,000 words if I don't stop it here. I apologize about Hagrids speech; I am so bad at writing it. The way they read in the common room seems like such a cute little pose and if I was Harry, I would love it. What do you guys think?