A/N: I know it's been almost one and a half years since I've updated this story, but I had an unpleasant run in with real life and I am only just now beginning to clear my plate. I'm going to try and get into a more regular update cycle, but to start making up here's an update. There were some concerns about the Tonks/Harry interactions in the last chapter, and I'd like to get them out the way. No, this is not a Honks pairing; and the reason that magazines couldn't be used for metamorphmagus training is because pictures are static, and harry needed to be able to see the entire transition as his features shifted. Thanks for all the hits and I hope you review. Now on with the story!
Harry slowly drew in a breath as he tried to change the length of his toes, faster and faster and Tonks looked on in silence. They both had cut ten minutes off of their morphing routine and it showed in the speed with which they did the smaller transformations. Like Harry, she too had begun working out and she agreed that it really did help. She was able to keep going through Auror training longer and it did help improve her metamorphmagus abilities, if only a little bit. Training with Harry also had some other benefits. As one of the few female Auror recruits, she had a hard time fitting in to the male dominated profession.
She had few friends there, and it seemed all the guys were only interested in her ability to change herself. It was nice having someone to talk to who didn't want her to become 'that actress in that move, or that supermodel in that magazine' or other such nonsense. While she had seen Harry reacting to her attire; or lack thereof, she knew it was just that: a reaction. He hadn't tried to come onto her, which would have been weird, and she saw it as a complement. She thought even he would agree that they were almost siblings, and there wasn't really any overt sexual attraction between them. Looking down at her own rapidly changing toes, she let a breath and turned to Harry
"Alright, we're done for today! Remember to keep practicing and we'll see if we can't get our fingers up to speed next time."
Harry started, he must have really been concentrating; and then, after sheepishly fixing his mismatched toes, stood up and put his shoes back on. Since they had only been working on their extremities today, there was no reason for them to get naked, thus they just stayed barefoot for the duration of the session. After also standing up and cracking her back from sitting in one place for such a long time, she too put on her shoes and began gathering her things.
"Hey Tonks, has there been any news on Sirius Black?"
"Nothing yet. You should concern yourself with that right now. As long as you stay around the Leaky Cauldron, there shouldn't be any problems. If anything comes up I'll be sure to tell you, but do me a favor and stay out of trouble."
"Have you no faith? I'm not an idiot Tonks, I'm not going to go looking for a psychopath that wants to kill me!" Looking down at his shirt, it said 'Carry your own emotional baggage!,' Harry had to marvel at the feeling of having clothes that actually fit him. "Thanks again for taking me shopping, it's nice to not be Dudley saggy seconds."
"Don't mention it, we still have to go get the rest of your wardrobe!" Tonks replied with a smile.
"Wait, what! We were out for four hours, and we're still not done? …its okay, I think I have enough, he he he he," Harry finished with a nervous laugh. While it was nice having new clothes, the thought of being dragged around the mall and being manhandled as a glorified dress up doll again… he had shivers just thinking about it.
"Enough? Poppycock! We still have to get you some winter and spring outfits!" Tonks had a smirk on her face remembering making Harry try out whatever she wanted… good times. "See you soon for our shopping trip!"
With that, Tonks exited the room as Harry grumble behind her. Smiling wistfully, she headed down the stairs so she could floo home. Maybe she could convince Harry to try some more *colorful* shirts…
Hermione looked out at the view over Paris from the view of the third, magical, restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. Located above Altitude 95, but hidden from muggles; how Hermione hated that world, L'Alexandre Dumas, was a quaint establishment that catered to the magical tourists that visited the monument. Both her family and her new acquaintances had decided to dine here to get to know each other better. Seeing a slight reflection of herself in the mirror, she remembered the last few days. After she left the museum she stumbled into the French version of Diagon Alley: Le Champs Enchanté, and had a look around. While looking for a present for Harry she bumped into a family of gorgeous blondes, and she could see why the Mona Lisa was jealous. Even she would admit that Apolline Delacour and both her daughters Fleur and Gabrielle were simply stunning. Fleur had seemed a bit full of herself, but her mother had been very generous when she noticed that Hermione seemed lost and offered to show her around.
When she mentioned her dilemma in choosing a gift, Apolline had come through again and suggested the perfect gift. Once the Delacour's realized who exactly her friend was they were surprised, and Gabrielle had started almost vibrating in excitement. She began hopping up and down spewing about a barrage of questions: asking if what the books said was true, if he really saved princesses while riding a Pegasus, and if he had a pet dragon; just the usual questions a 5 year old would ask. Apolline and Fleur pretended to not be interested, but they quietly listened as Hermione answered the little ball of energy. Over the next few days and while her parents were still meeting with the other dentists *cough* sadists *cough*, Hermione's sightseeing continued with some unexpected company: The Delacour's. They had decided to stick with her, not only to hear about her version of the tale of Harry Potter, but to try and get to know her.
Talking with the Delacour's was also an enlightening experience. Monsieur Delacour worked at the French Ministry of Magic and in contrast to the rest of his family, he was a black haired, plump, but very amicable man, if a bit in the short side. He frequently regaled the group of his dealings with the incompetent English Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and his pompous, short-sighted views of the rest of the wizarding world. It was when Mr. Delacour brought up the prejudiced views of Fudge's Senior Undersecretary Delores Umbridge that the heritage of the blondes in the house came to light. Apolline and her daughters were half and quarter Veela, respectively. Hermione could understand a bit of the bigotry that the English Purebloods showed them, being a victim of it herself; and she believed that Fleur attitude was a defense mechanism used to prevent her true feelings from showing. After learning that Fleur's female friend had left her out of jealousy of the interest all the boys were showing to her because of her Allure, Hermione resolved that she would do her best to not let it affect their newfound friendship.
As she returned to her family's meal with the Delacour's, he wondered if Harry might be able to come over to France the week after his birthday…
Xenophilius and Luna were trekking through Central Park in New York City in full safari gear amidst the inquiring looks of the locals. Xeno, with a wooden pipe and wearing khaki hunters hat shaped very much like Elmer Fudd's, was moving along in the same exaggerated way as the cartoon character on the prowl made quite a sight. Besides him, Luna was happily skipping along in bright pink and red, camouflage jogging suit. They had come to look into rumors of a Spider Man that lived in the city and they thought that the place they would be most likely to find such a creature would be the place with the most vegetation. While hunting for jackalope in Yellow Stone, they caught a glimpse of the being on one of the muggle picture boxes while passing by a building called 'Blockbusters?' Disappointed that they couldn't get proof of jackalope's they were trying this angle so that they could save the story of Minister Fudge eating Goblin mince pies; it was such a find! Getting back to the matter at hand, he again focused on the hunt. Maybe this Spider Man was a wizard who botched the animagus transformation, and hadn't been caught by the local Ministry?
Looking up from the latest letter from Hermione, Harry just had to shake his head. He was somewhat jealous of all the vacations she seemed to go on with her parents and the fun she always had. The Delacour's seemed like an interesting family, and he wondered if his Occlumency training would give him at least a resistance to the Allure. When Tonks came over the weekend, he hoped she could be convinced to accompany him to France; so that no one could complain that he wasn't being protected from Black. He had never left the country and he was excited at the possibility; maybe they could even spend a week sightseeing?
Setting down the letter, he settled onto an exercise mat that he purchased in London. He was finally starting to see some results with his attempts at wand-less magic. Instead of a slightly glowing hand when he used a 'lumos,' he could create and sustain a half-sphere of light in his palm. There was also some progress with some of the other simple spells he learned at the beginning of first year. He could levitate things up to the weight of his desk chair, though for only a short time with the heavier objects, and could change a matchstick into a needle with heavy concentration; it seemed that transfiguration would be a harder branch to learn to do without a wand. He had partially succeeded in one of his other goals: he could use a mild wand-less sticking charm. When he tried to walk over the walls like the ninjas in the film he saw, he ran into another few problems. While he could stick his feet to the wall of his room, he had to cancel and reapply the sticking charm every time he took a step which was very draining. The second problem he found was that even though his feet were stuck to the wall, the rest of his body was still subject to gravity. He either had to find a way to fight that, maybe make himself lighter, or continue wall crawling like Peter Parker did in the Spiderman comics Dudley read. Either way, he needed to up his workout to strengthen his core and upper body.
While exploring Diagon Alley, he had found a few lesser alleys branching off from it apart from Knockturn. Branching off from between Eeylops Owl Emporium and Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions was Aesthetic Alley, which held shops dedicated to appearance. Along the alley were shops that sold clothes, gardening supplies, paints, and other similar stores. Harry ran into two things that he had been looking for; an Optician and at the end of the alley, a small park. At Opulent Optics, Harry was able to purchase a new pair of glasses that more accurately fit his prescription; they would be ready to pick up the week of his birthday. While the glasses he had always worn still worked; because he hadn't gotten an eye exam in years his prescription had changed and his glasses had begun to blur.
The park at the end of the alley was very peaceful. Harry had seen a plethora of small magical creatures running/flying around, and he'd seen people having picnics and little kids buzzing low to the ground on training brooms. To help with his workout, Harry had started running the path in the mornings. He couldn't run for that long but like his workouts he's been slowing working up to a decent time. It was now a common sight to see him coming back to the Leaky Cauldron drenched in sweat in the early morning. Few people were awake, but he made it a habit to try talk to those that were up setting up shop. On one such day, the last Monday of the month, he cleaned up and helped Florean Fortescue open up his ice-cream parlor. As a thank you, he'd gotten a free banana split which he finished before starting his Occlumency Exercises.
He had finished categorizing his memories and was now moving his more important memories and the secrets he wanted to keep to the center of his mind. Around these memories he would keep everything else in order of decreasing importance with the farthest memories from the center being the most inconsequential of things: like his meals and potions homework. This was another time consuming part of Occlumency but he hoped to be finished by his birthday on Saturday. That reminded him; he needed to find a present for Neville who was only a day older than him.
E/N: I'm finishing up the next chapter, which I'll post in a few days.