Chapter 4

A Night Out

Harry awoke feeling better than he had in weeks. Unwilling to move from his current position, Harry lay comfortably, taking in the light shining against his closed eyelids and the soft warmth curled against him. He lay there for what seemed like an eternity, enjoying the warm comfort, before slowly opening his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the mass of pink laying just in front of his face.

Harry froze, shutting his eyes again and trying to remember the previous night. As his brain started to re-engage he took in his surroundings. Tonks lay pressed up against him, still sleeping. He felt himself stir a bit as Tonks moved in her sleep, pushing her rear into him, but he pushed down those feelings. 'She's going to be mad enough as it is,' he thought to himself, 'I think It would probably be safer to go another round with Voldemort rather than have her wake up to me stabbing her in the back.' Managing to control himself, Harry continued to take stock of his current situation. He turned his attention to his hands, 'Alright, one under her head, that should be fine and the other... I'm so dead,' he thought to himself as he realized his right hand was currently reached around Tonks and cupped over her breast. Slowly, hardly daring to breath Harry loosened his grip and started moving his hand away, only to be stopped by Tonks as she grabbed it in her sleep. 'Yup, I'm definitely screwed here,' Harry thought to himself, 'How in Merlin's name am I going to explain this?' Thinking quickly, he searched, desperate for a way out of his current predicament, but his thoughts were interrupted.

"So Potter," Tonks said, turning over quickly to glare at him with a dangerous look in her eye, "what exactly do you think you're doing?"

Harry mind was running at a mile a minute, searching for some explanation that didn't end with him being hexed, "Tonks, I, uh, I was, umm..." he said, trailing off.

"You what Harry, thought you'd cop a feel while I was sleeping?"

"Tonks I'm so sorry," he said unable to pull away, due to the grip she still had on his hand, "I didn't mean to, I swear. I just woke up a minute ago and was trying to move away without waking you, it was an accident, you know I would never do that to you on purpose, right?" He was rambling, but he didn't care at the moment.

"Oh is that it Potter? What am I not attractive enough for the famous Boy-Who-Lived?" Harry could only stammer as she changed her form, "Does this one meet your standards oh Chosen One? How about this one?"

"That- that's not what I meant Tonks. It's just we're- we're friends and I- I didn't think that you were... you know..." he trailed off, watching her closely, hoping she would believe him. He gulped hard as he took in her livid expression, only to watch in confusion as a smile broke her stern mask. Before he could figure out what was going on she burst out laughing.

"Oh Harry," Tonks finally managed, wiping a tear from her eye as the worst of her laughter died down, "you should have seen the look on your face. Priceless." She burst into another fit of giggles.

"So, you're not mad?" he asked, hesitantly.

"Mad? Oh Harry, how could I be mad, you look like a scared little puppy. Besides I set you up," she said trying to calm herself down, "I woke up fifteen minutes ago and couldn't help myself, I had to see how you would react. I can't say I'm disappointed, that was far more entertaining than I ever could have hoped for."

His mouth hung open, "So, you mean you-"

"Yup," she said smiling, "after your little confession last night I thought I should help you get a little more comfortable around the fairer sex and all that. Getting a laugh out of it was just an added bonus."

"This was supposed to make me more comfortable?" He choked out, wincing as his voice came out in a sort of high pitched yelp.

"Well of course," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "to have any luck with girls, you need to learn to deal with embarrassment. After this, any other situation you run into should be small potatoes," she said before breaking into another fit of laughter.

Harry's mouth moved, but no sound came out as he stared at her in shock. He supposed he couldn't fault her on that logic as he didn't think it was humanly possible to be more embarrassed than he was right now. At the very least he desperately hoped he would never have to find out. Reaching over to his side of the bed he grabbed his glasses before looking at the clock to see that it was just after two. He turned back to Tonks, "So, what are the plans for today?" he asked, hoping to change the subject.

She gave him a look to show that she was aware of what he was doing, "Well, all of your clothes except the ones you wore here are gone. They were destroyed with the rest of your things, so I figure we need to go get you some new ones. Before that I'm thinking we'll probably go get something to eat, as I still don't have any food in the house."

"Really? And here I was worried that I would be under house arrest," Tonks looked down with a guilty expression on her face. Harry looked at her for a moment before realizing why causing a smile to cross his face, "I am supposed to be under house arrest aren't I?"

Tonks looked back up at him, wearing a mischievous smile, "Well I was just told to watch over you. Dumbledore never said where I was supposed to watch over you."

Harry was touched that she would brave Dumbledore's wrath for him, "Thanks Tonks, this means a lot to me. I'm so sick of being cooped up, it's almost as bad as being in prison. We'll have to go to Gringotts though, I didn't bring my money with me when I left the house."

Tonks shook her head, "We can't go to Gringotts Harry, in fact we'll be avoiding the wizarding world entirely. You'll have to replace your other possessions later, when we can have a few more guards to go to the alley. For today we are just going to buy you some new clothes and I'll take care of the bill," Tonks said, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and standing up.

"Tonks, I can't let you do that," he said, somewhat uncomfortably as he tried to look away from her with a blush, noticing that he wasn't only one that went to bed not wearing pants, "I'll just wait until I can go to the bank, I'm sure it won't be to long."

"Harry don't be silly, we can't have you wearing those," she said, pointing to his rather large and ragged clothing, "until we can head to the Alley. I have more than enough money to buy you some clothes," she looked at him and sighed, noticing how uncomfortable he was, "but if it really makes you feel better, you can pay me back later. Just consider it a loan."

Harry looked up at her uncertain, "Well, alright I guess, if you insist."

"That I do Harry. Now how about we shower and I'll throw together some disguises and we'll head out. Now would you like to go first or second?"

"Second is fine Tonks," he said leaning back into his pillow, "just wake me up again when you're done."

It wasn't long before they were both showered and almost ready to go. Tonks had changed her face and her hair to a dirty blond, before turning to Harry and starting to work. She placed a glamour on his forehead, hiding his scar and changed his hair color to a light brown. "Hmm..." she said, looking at him, "not bad, but the hair is still a little bit of a giveaway." She waved her wand over him again causing an odd feeling to come from the top of his head. He looked in the mirror to find that his hair now reached his chin. "Well would you look at that," she said, looking approvingly at her work, "apparently the trademark Potter bedhead goes away if you grow it out enough."

He took a good look at himself in the mirror, shocked at the difference he saw. With his scar covered up, and his hair both long and brown he hardly even recognized himself. Tonks took another look at him before pulling the glasses off his face and giving them a tap with her wand. They grew and subtly changed shape, no longer looking like they belonged to a child. He put them back on and smiled. No one would recognize him now. He could walk right past Ron and Hermione and they probably wouldn't look at him twice. He turned to look at Tonks and said as much, prompting her to put an arm around his shoulders and give him a squeeze in return.

"Well then, I suppose we should get going. You ready?" she asked. He nodded, holding on to her as she turned in place. The sensation of being drawn through a tube returned, though slightly less uncomfortable than the first time, before they found themselves in an alley. "Well come on then Harry," she said pulling him out of the alley and down the street before turning into a small cafe a couple blocks away. They had a quick bite to hold them over until supper before leaving to find Harry some clothes that fit.

Tonks pulled him into shop after shop and forced him to try on all sorts of clothes. Harry took it with as much grace as he could muster, but couldn't help blushing whenever Tonks would make him step out and model for her, usually with comments such as, "Oh, those pants sure make your bum look nice," or "That shirt definitely shows off your arms." He knew she was just trying to tease him, but by the time they had put together a basic wardrobe he felt as if his face would be permanently flushed. Leaving the last store, Tonks grabbed Harry's arm, pulling him into an alleyway before Apparating back to her flat.

Harry threw down the bags that were weighing down his arms and fell backwards onto the sofa. Turning his head to Tonks he said, "I don't know how girls enjoy shopping, that was exhausting."

Tonks looked at him with a smile on her face, "What isn't to enjoy? We get all sorts of pretty new things. Now up you get, we're going back out again as soon as you change."

"Again?" Harry groaned, "What else could I possibly need?"

"New glasses for one, though I think we'll wait and get those in the Alley. We're going out for dinner in case you forgot, unless you'd rather have stale bread and mustard for supper," Tonks replied, digging through the bags of his new purchases.

"Hey, I've had these glasses since I was seven, what's wrong with them?"

"Well if you were still seven years old, I would say nothing. You're about to turn sixteen Harry, they're old and too small for your face," she said while pulling some of the nicer clothes he had bought out of the bags and handing them to him, "Here, now put these on in the bathroom. I'm going to go change as well. I feel like going somewhere nice," she said before disappearing into her room to change. He groaned but did as he was told.

Harry walked into the bathroom and pulled the door closed behind him before pulling off all the tags and changing. With one last look in the mirror he walked out of the bathroom with his old clothes in hand. Tonks walked out of her room at the same time and Harry couldn't help but stare. He'd always thought Tonks was pretty, as long as she avoided the animal noses, but right now she was completely stunning. She had kept the blonde hair she had from their shopping trip and put on a tight blue dress, giving a hint of what lay beneath. Harry swallowed hard, "Ah, you- you look great Tonks," he managed to stammer out. 'Smooth Potter,' he thought to himself, 'now she probably thinks you're hitting on her.'

Tonks just smiled, "Thanks Harry, you clean up pretty nicely yourself," she said while looking him up and down. "Are you ready to go?"

"Almost, I just need to know where I should put my old clothes," he replied gesturing to the bundle in his hand.

"Here, I'll take care of those," she said, quickly throwing them in the fireplace and setting them on fire with a quick incendio.

Harry stared at her for a moment before smiling. He had always hated Dudley's hand-me-downs that he'd been forced to wear. Harry grabbed her offered hand and quickly found himself in another alley, different than the one they had left not too long ago. Tonks quickly pulled him out onto the sidewalk, hurrying past people walking in the opposite direction. They had only walked a few blocks before she pulled him into a building. Harry looked around for a minute as his eyes adjusted to the dim light. It was a nice place, full of couples smiling and talking over their dinners. A waiter came over briefly before leading them to a table in the corner.

After the waiter left Harry couldn't help but look around. To think, yesterday he had been stuck in Privet Drive and now-. His memories of the previous day came crashing down on him once again, wiping the smile off his face. To think, here he was enjoying himself, when less than 24 hours before people had died because of him. Because they had the misfortune of living near him. Tonks saw the look on his face and reached across the table to grab his hand. "Harry, what's the matter? You're at a fancy restaurant with a pretty girl, you should be on top of the world right now."

He couldn't look at her so he kept his eyes on the table instead. "Sorry Tonks, it's just... People are dead and it's my fault. Yet here I am having a good time. I just-"

Tonks cut him off, "Harry I told you, it isn't your fault. You-Know-Who is the one that murdered your relatives and the Death Eaters are the ones that killed the rest, blame them."

"I know that, it's just that if I hadn't lived there-"

"He would have just murdered the people close to wherever you did happen to live."

"But if I had been there-"

"Then you would have died with them. Harry look at me," she said in a demanding voice. Harry looked up slowly. "You had no control over what happened. You did the best you could. Feeling guilty won't accomplish anything, especially since it isn't your fault." She looked into his eyes and softened her tone, "It's okay to feel sad, but you can't let this get to you, that's what he wants."

Harry nodded at her, knowing she was right. If it hadn't been Little Whinging, Voldemort would have attacked somewhere else. Nowhere was safe until he was stopped. Until Harry stopped him. He noticed the waiter coming back towards them.

"Are you ready to order?" he asked.

Harry made his order, before Tonks did the same, and added a bottle of wine. The waiter returned quickly, placing the bottle on the table before disappearing again. Harry looked up at Tonks, "Tonks, I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"Oh, you mean besides rescuing you from You-Know-Who?" she said, a smile on her face showing she was teasing him in an effort to lighten the mood.

He decided to play along, "I'm not sure I do know who, but if you mean Voldemort," Tonks managed to contain her flinch this time as she'd obviously expected it, "to be fair, that was right after I saved you, so I figure we're even."

"And after I bought you a whole new wardrobe and took you to such a snazzy restaurant?" she asked, still trying to ruffle him.

But Harry wasn't going to let her get to him that easy, "After you told me I didn't have a choice in the matter. Besides I'm going to pay you back."

"Well then, what about after I let you get to second base for the first time," her smile widening as she saw that she had finally managed to trip him up. Harry felt his face go red as she continued, "Of course, I enjoyed that almost as much as you did, so I guess it wasn't really a favor. Has anyone ever told you that you have strong hands Harry?" Harry felt his mouth move up and down, but once again no sound came out. He could only stare at Tonks as she threw her head back and laughed, "Oh boy, you look like a fish out of water. It's almost as funny as the one this morning," she managed through gasps for breath. Harry clamped his mouth shut as Tonks continued laughing for a full minute before finally calming down. She looked back up at him taking a deep breath, "Sorry Harry, I had to, it was too perfect. Now what sort of favor did you need?"

Harry looked at her confused for a moment before remembering. Between the embarrassment of being reminded of this morning, along with the pleasant memory that had come with it, Harry had forgotten what he was going to ask her. "Well," he said after a moment, "when we were in the park it sounded like you knew what proper Occlumency training should be like. I was wondering if you could teach me, along with anything you learned during auror training. I know I can't do magic right now, but there has to be some things I can work on over the summer."

She looked at him surprised, wondering why he would come to her of all people for help. "Harry, I'm really not sure I'm the best person to be teaching you," she said hesitantly.

"Please Tonks," he pleaded, "I don't have anyone else I can turn to. Dumbledore ignores me, Snape couldn't care less what happens to me, most of the others would rather throw me into a padded cage until I come of age. You're the only person I know that will help me learn to protect myself."

Tonks looked at him for a moment before responding, "I don't know Harry," she said hesitantly before seeing the disappointment on his face, "Alright, I'll help as much as I can."

"Thanks Tonks," he said, just as their waiter returned with their food.

Tonks noticed their bottle of wine and uncorked it, filling both their glasses, "Take it easy with the wine Harry, I expect you don't have much experience drinking."

"None actually," he said smiling again, suddenly cheerful, "but I suppose there is no better time to learn than the present."

OoOoO

They ate slowly, avoiding talk about the war. It was significantly later when they pulled themselves away from the table, feeling full, light headed and generally much more content. Tonks grinned to herself as she felt him throw his arm around her, stumbling as they headed towards the door. As soon as they left the restaurant she felt him fall against her, "Sorry Tonksie, sidewalk moved on me. Since when do Muggle sidewalks move?" he asked, in a slurring obviously drunk voice.

She laughed at him as she dragged him towards a nearby alley, "Come on, let's get you to bed." As they reached the alley she looked over at him, "Are you ready Harry?"

"'M always ready," he slurred. She shook her head and held on tightly to his arm before disappearing from the alley and reappearing in her living room. Tonks felt him tear his arm away as he made a mad sprint to the bathroom. She laughed softly to herself as the sound of him emptying his stomach greeted her. While he was definitely in for some pain in the morning, for a change it was a pain common to someone his age. Harry wasn't able to act like a teenager very often, so she was glad she had been able to help him do so, even just for one night. He stumbled out of the bathroom a few minutes later, "Sorry Tonksie, that chicken must have been bad. We should go back and complain," he mumbled, staggering as the world seemed to shift of it's own accord.

"Maybe tomorrow Harry," she replied, holding back a laugh, "come on, let's get you to bed." She gripped his arm and gently pulled him into the bedroom. She helped him into some of his new pajamas and then into bed, before making her way to the other side of the bed. Looking back at Harry, she opened her mouth to tell him to face the other way so that she could change, only to find him snoring softly. Chuckling to herself, she changed and hopped under the covers opposite him before quickly falling asleep.

OoOoO

Harry woke up early to a pounding headache and someone gently shaking him. He tried to pull away and bury himself in his pillow, but whoever had been shaking him refused to let up. He groaned and rolled over, intending to rid himself of whoever was bothering him and return to the sweet caress of sleep, when he felt himself suddenly being thrown off the bed onto the floor. "I said up you get Harry,"

Harry groaned again, opening his eyes to find Tonks leaning over the edge of the bed to smile sweetly at him. "What was that for?" he asked sleepily, trying to shade his eyes from the sunlight streaming in through the open window.

"You were taking too long," she stated matter of factly, "we need to get moving if we're going to get started today." With that she jumped off the bed and began trying to pull him up. Harry was confused for a moment, trying to figure out what it was that they were going to get started today before it clicked in his head. He recalled their conversation from the night before when she had said she would help him learn to protect himself. He let her pull him up, but had to stop and put his hand to his head as the entire room seemed to spin. She smiled at him again, handing him a vial filled with a oily greenish-gray potion, "Here drink this, it will make you feel better."

Harry stared at the potion in his hand for a moment grimacing, before closing his eyes and downing it in one gulp. It tasted even worse than it looked, if that were even possible he thought, almost gagging as he forced the potion down his throat. He coughed a few times before handing the empty vial back to Tonks. "Yuck, that was disgusting," he said, even as the room stopped its slow spin and his headache began to recede, "though it seems to be working, so I guess I shouldn't complain. Thanks Tonks."

"No problem Harry," she replied, sighing wistfully as she reminisced on old times, "I still remember my first time drinking. I would have killed for one of those potions. I usually keep a couple around now just in case, though the taste does tend to get worse the longer they sit," she smirked at him, but he just shook his head in response. As bad as it was, he would take the potion over the headache any day. "Now I have to go to work in a couple hours, so I figured we should get started now. You said you wanted full auror training, or at least as much as you can do without getting in trouble for underage magic, right?" Harry nodded his head. He wanted to learn anything that would help him survive in a fight or help protect his friends. Tonks continued, "Alright then, the first thing you're going to need to do is run."

Harry felt his mood drop, "Are you trying to tell me I shouldn't be getting in fights Tonks? Trust me, I've tried that, it doesn't work," he went to move past her, unable to contain his anger, but was stopped by a hand on his chest. She had said she would help him. He shouldn't have believed her, she was just like everyone else, treating him like a child that couldn't take care of himself. Hadn't he proved that he was capable? He had escaped Voldemort yet again, for the fifth time since he had started school, and yet no one thought he should be taught how to defend himself properly.

"No Harry, I'm telling you the first part of your training is going for a run," she said, trying to calm him down, "endurance is an important part of fighting, so we are going to start by working on that." That stopped him in his tracks. It seemed he had been wrong, she was taking him seriously. He opened his mouth to apologize but she stopped him, "No Harry, don't worry about it, I probably should have phrased that better. I know you think everyone treats you like a child and I didn't think of how it would sound. Now go put on some work out clothes and we'll get going." He opened his mouth to try to apologize anyway, but stopped as she gave him a stern look and pointed to the bathroom.

It didn't take long for him to find some clothes suitable for a workout from the things he had bought yesterday and he changed in the bathroom into a blue t-shirt and pair of loose gray shorts. He looked into the mirror to find his hair the same length it had been the previous night. When he was done, he walked into the kitchen and took a seat by the door to wait for Tonks. He let his mind wander, wondering what else she might teach him when he was interrupted by her voice. "Are you ready to go Harry?"

He looked up in surprise, having not heard her leave her room and felt his mouth go dry. Tonks was standing in front of him with the same hair and face that she had worn the day before, wearing a tight pink tank top and an even tighter pair of black shorts. He stared at her for a moment, before nodding, not trusting himself to talk at the moment. Tonks grinned at him, "What's the matter Harry, cat got your tongue?"

He swallowed hard, trying and failing to stop himself from flushing red, "Uh, yeah I'm ready Tonks, just need you to change my hair color and cover up the scar."

Harry had no idea where she pulled her wand from, but she tapped it twice on his head and had it back in it's place before he could think too hard about it, before turning to the door and leading him out. Harry followed her, trying to keep his eyes from drifting down to her backside as they made their way out into the sunlight.

Their run lasted almost half an hour, with Tonks setting the pace. He had kept up until the last five minutes, when he had started to lag behind. While he hated slowing her down, there were definite benefits to following behind her, he thought. They slowed to a walk a few blocks away, stopping at a small grocery store to cool down and pick up some things for breakfast. When they got back to the flat Tonks began showing him the stretches that she normally did after a workout, smiling and watching his face grow red as he watched her. 'Merlin,' he thought to himself, 'at this rate Voldemort won't have a chance to kill me, I'm likely to die from embarrassment before he gets another chance.' After they were done stretching, Tonks went to shower to get ready for work, while Harry started cooking breakfast. He had just about finished when she came out of the bathroom. "Breakfast will be ready in a minute," he said.

Tonks thanked him quickly, before disappearing into her room to change. She came back out shortly after, fully dressed and carrying a book. She sat down at the table, pushing the book across at him as he pushed a plate back at her. "So, the next item on our agenda is going to be your Occlumency training," she said. Pointing to the book she continued, "This is the book I was given to learn Occlumency. It explains the fundamentals of how to organize your mind and erect your barriers. You should start reading it while I'm gone and if you have time start organizing your mind."

They ate in silence, Harry read the book she had given him, while Tonks was busy trying to eat quickly. He had just finished the summary when Tonks stood up.

"I need to go or I'll be late, try not to work too hard," she waved before disappearing into the fireplace, leaving Harry alone. After cleaning the kitchen, taking a shower and digging out some of his new clothes to wear, Harry settled on the couch to continue reading.