Title: The Boys are Back in Town
Disclaimer: HP and Co belong to JK Rowling
Author's Notes: An experimental bit to see if I can properly blend some romance with the action of a caper story. We'll see.
-o-o-o-
Nymphadora Tonks groaned softly as she heard the banging smash of a fist hitting the door to her office and reluctantly lifted her head up from her impromptu nap. A shake of her head and her flesh immediately smoothed, flawlessly and her hair took on a slightly less mussed up look. Thought, it was a bit difficult to look completely professional when it was the color of magenta.
"Wot?" It was a bit more irritable than she meant it to be, but they'd intruded on a damned fine dream! Mr. June from that Yank fireman calendar, whipped cream, chocolate, and things that only happened in mind of over imaginative school girls. And really bored housewives. And really frustrated librarians. And… well, that line of thought was self explanatory.
"Something the matter, Madam Tonks?" The smug little smirk and the knowing grey eyes of one Tracy Davis asked as she half opened the door. "You seem oh so… frustrated."
The door snapped shut to catch the sudden barrage of hexes thrown at her, not to mention muffling the string of curses that followed. An instant later, the red head appeared again. "Now that wasn't very lady like, Madam, what would your mother say, hearing one of the DMLE's senior and most respected Aurors cursing like a common sailor?"
"Stick your head out just a bit more and I might let you find out what mum would say to me hexing cheeky little tart who doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut." Tonks snapped back with a growl as her eyes flashed crimson.
"Oh, no! Do I need to break out the paddle and knee socks?" Tracy's lips bowed as she put a thoughtful expression. "I saw the cutest little pleated skirt the other day, just perfect for a… proper reprimand."
Tonks stared back at the woman for a moment before groaning audibly as she hung her head in her hands, a slight whimper filling the air. "Wot in Merlin's name did I do to deserve a partner like you?"
"You locked yourself up in a chastity belt and turned into a frigid shrew when the war ended?" Tracy offered helpfully with a slight smirk. "And really, I can't imagine how uncomfortable that is, the chafing alone…"
"Davis. Do you have a reason to be bothering me, or do I need to remind you that though my name's Tonks, I've got a Black temper?" Tonks growled back as she glared back at the girl.
"Really, can't a girl have some fun?" Sighing as she mock swooned, Tracy started to turn around. "I just thought you'd want to know Potter's back in town."
Tonks paused. She then blinked, rapidly as the thought filtered through her mind. "… Harry's back?"
"Fresh off a portkey out of Italy." Tracy agreed with a nod as she held up a folder. "And hot damn, I knew he'd grow up to be tasty, but this?"
"Oi, that's Harry you're drooling over!" Tonks half glared back at Tracy and shook her head. "I mean, it's Harry!"
"Yes, well let's see about updating those mental pictures of yours, shall we?" Tracy dropped the folder onto the desk and flipped it open to reveal the first photograph, showing Harry Potter himself.
Tonks paused, before blinking slightly as she stared at the man smirking back at her in an untucked and well made black button up shirt. A buttoned up shirt that had a number of buttons undone, in a most inviting manner. When she caught the wink the photo sent her, she immediately stiffened up, jerking with a slight yelp of surprise.
"From a photograph? Really, Madam?" Tracy's lips twisted up into a smirk as she shook her head and slowly splayed out the remainder of the pictures.
Glowering back at Tracy, Tonks raised her wand meaningfully before she turned her attention back to the pictures. Following at Harry's back was the tall, lean form of Bill Weasley, long red hair pulled back into its usual ponytail with his dragon fang earring visible for all to see. Flanking him, were the twins, Fred and George Weasley, shorter and stockier than their older brother, their eyes still held a bit of the playful mischief they'd been infamous for when they were younger, though it was tempered by the turmoil they'd overcome.
Following them, Neville Longbottom was barely recognizable as he stood taller than the rest of his companions. The slight pudge of baby fat had apparently been burned off, leaving the man's visible arms corded and tightly defined. Calm, relaxed eyes had swept out, and met the photographer's for a moment, probably just as the photo was taken, before moving on.
"So, the boys are back in town." Tonks noted with an honest smile curling over her lips. "About bloody time."
"Boys?" Tracy's eyes were still glued to the photos. "In case you hadn't noticed, they're most definitely all men."
"Can't you keep your mind out of the gutter for five minutes, Davis?" Grumbling softly, Tonks snatched up the photographs before her junior partner could protest.
"Of course I can." The woman huffed irritably as she crossed her arms about her chest, before grinning back at Tonks. "But why should I? It's filled with hot, half naked men and all kinds of delightfully wicked things."
"You're bleedin' bonkers, you are." Tonks muttered softly before shaking her head. "So, they're back. There a reason you're telling me all this?"
"You mean besides the ICW stating they're persons of interest in at least a dozen unsolved thefts and improprieties?" All manner of laviciousness bled out of Tracy's voice as she stood a bit straighter. "We've been asked to take up local surveillance of the suspects."
"Harry? A person of interest?" Tonks' face twisted slightly as she stared back, incredulously at Tracy. "Now I know you're bleeding bonkers. This is Harry Potter we're talking about here."
"Harry Potter, aka James Black, aka Sirius Evans, aka Dudley Dursley, aka Ivan Dumperlittle, aka…" Tracy began to read off the list of aliases from the file.
"Ivan Dumperlittle?" Tonks lips quirked up in amusement at that one.
"The list goes on and on and on." Tracy tossed the file over to Tonks and shook her head, her lips quirking up slightly. "Apparently the Boy-Who-Lived turned into the Man-Who-Steals." There was a pause before she allowed a smirk to cross her lips. "Allegedly at least."
"They do realize he never even graduated from a magical school, right?" Tonks' grinned in amusement back at Tracy, who gave the woman a flat look in turn.
"Since when does that matter when it came to Potter?" Tracy shot back and snorted a bit. "But, yes, they're aware of it. Just like they're aware that he was taking on a Dark Lord at the time." There was a pause as she warily glanced around. "And I did a bit of discreet checking."
"You, discreet?" Tonks sardonically gave the woman a look.
"I'm very discreet, thank you very much." Tracy huffed lightly before her lips quirked up again. "When it doesn't involve a man."
"Didn't you just say Harry was a man?" Tonks interrupted again as she smirked back at the woman.
"And you know I didn't mean involved in that way." Tracy managed a half hearted glower back at the woman before she shook her head. "Anyway, apparently each and every one of their marks is suspected of having dark leanings/ties. Or were found to have them after investigation."
Tonks paused a moment, before canting her head to the side. "So, what're they expecting us to do?"
"Officially?" Tracy flipped through the folder a moment before pointing out a line. "Surveillance and observation."
"And unofficially?"
"What makes you think that…" Tracy couldn't help but laugh at the look Tonks leveled at her. "Right, apparently they've developed a bit of style. The ICW just wants to see copies of the aftermath."
"They expect us to just let them get away with any crimes they might commit?" Tonks frowned slightly at that.
"It's Harry Potter." Tracy answered back evenly. "No one really expects us to try to do anything like that to him of all people."
"Huh. They really think Harry and the boys did all of this?" Tonks tilted her head to the side as she slowly began to leaf through the folder, her eyebrows progressively rising higher and higher up her face.
"You know, it's really creepy when you do that," Tracy stated with a shudder when Tonks' eyebrows reached three quarters of the way to her hair line.
"Hmm?" Tonks looked back up at her before shrugging her shoulders as a smirk curled across her lips. "You know you're jealous of the wondrous-ness that is me."
"Yes, because we all know that I'd so cherish giving up my absolutely bloody fantastic sex life to be an old spinster who'd rather shove her wand..." Tracy's dripping sarcasm was cut off with a yelp, then a muffled squeak as a Tonks' wand flashed out and suddenly she found herself unable to move.
Well that wasn't quite true. She could wriggle just a little bit, as she found herself encased in a seemless bag of stiff black leather from her throat to her toes. Her arms were bound, helplessly behind her back, and she could only bend her legs with an extreme amount of effort as she teetered back and fell gracelessly on her ass into the chair behind her. Her voice was further muffled a hollowed out ball gag that stretched her jaw just short of painfully open.
Nodding in satisfaction, Tonks returned her attention back to the file, as she lightly thumbed through the file, before an appreciative whistle left her lips. "Well, damn. Harry possibly stirred up quite the bit of trouble in Ukraine. And he's the one suspected to have been behind the Volkov and Kozlov jobs?"
Casting a wicked grin over at her glaring partner, Tonks stood up and tucked the folder under her arm. "I think I'm going to have to go have a little chat with him, to make sure that I don't have to worry about any similar... incidents cropping up on his native soil."
"Mmmph! MM!" Tracy twisted, roughly, glaring back at Tonks as a string of inarticulate syllables slurred out of the gag in her mouth.
"What? It's just the new entrapment spell that the Unspeakables came up with. You know, to help subdue more... troublesome individuals?" Tonks paused as she lightly tapped on her lower lip with her wand. "Though, I might've made a few... tinsy little improvements. It should wear off in no more than a couple of hours."
Tonks paused as she pulled her cloak off of a brass hook on the wall and smiled encouragingly back at Tracy. "And I'm sure I got that pesky little tendency for it to turn your clothes into baby oil out. Really, that almost never happens anymore. Toodles!"
Tracy let out an angry scream as Tonks shut the door behind her, before slumping down and glaring at the door.
-o-o-o-
Harry Potter leaned casually back in his chair as his eyes rolled over folded over newpaper in his hand as he took a quiet sip of tea. After the better part of a decade after the end of a war, the Prophet had apparently decided to return to its tried and true roots. Rumor mongering and gossip, with no small amount of slanting one way or the other.
Still, he had to admit, they kept a vigilant eye on the comings and goings of "high" society. Especially the long slew of parties that would be coming up in the near future. Parties thrown in the wake of the anniversary of the Dark Lord's defeat. Parties, he noted, thrown by families quite intent of "proving" they had nothing to do with Voldemort's reign.
"Yes, because we all bloody well know that the Notts had nothing to do with Tom's little rampage." Harry muttered lightly under his voice as he made one particular note.
"Mr. Dumperlittle." The voice was a harsh feminine tinged with a noticeable Eastern Bloc accent as it cut, icily through the air. "I would like to have a word with you."
A light tension quickly tightened Harry's shoulders, but he made no move to respond to the woman's voice as he continued to quietly sip his tea and read over the pages.
"Mr. Dumperlittle, I am not going to just go away because you wish me to." The voice seemed to grow even colder as a slender, calloused hand reached out and plucked the paper out of his hands.
"Oi, I was reading that!" A huff of annoyance left Harry's lips as he turned his attention to the woman and arched a brow behind his wireframe glasses as he set his tea cup down. "And I thought you were looking for some bloke named Dumperlittle?"
"Please do not try to pretend to be someone else, Mr. Dumperlittle, it might have taken us some time to catch up with you, but we are not so easily dissuaded." The woman's features were as harsh as her voice, high prominent cheeks, with a sharp nose. Her bland brown hair was pulled back into an exceptionally tight bun, with coal black eyes staring back at him from beneath thick black brows.
"My name is Harry Potter, lady." Harry shook his head and snorted a bit. "Ask the Ministry if you don't believe me."
"Please, do not play these games with me, Mr. Dumperlittle. Do you know what kind of enemies you've made for yourself?" The woman crossed her arms about her chest and glared back down at him.
"Everyone knows what kind of enemies I've made for myself." Harry muttered sarcastically as he glared back up at the woman. "Like I said, I'm Harry Potter. It's been rather publicized since I was only a year old."
"If you are going to continue this ridiculous charade, Mr. Dumperlittle, I will be involving my local counterparts." The woman inclined her head, her eyes narrowed into slits as she glared back at him.
"Please do. I happen to have quite a few old friends there who will be happy to verify my identity." Harry's voice had gone as frigid as hers as he glared back at her.
"Very well, Mr. Dumperlittle." And then, the woman's face suddenly melted, growing heart shaped and attractive as her bun exploded into magenta locks. "Wotcher, Harry!"
Harry stared at her for a moment, his mouth hanging, before working, wordlessly as he tried to form words. As the woman's lips broke into a victorious smirk, he finally let out a groan, as he caught his face in his palm. "Wotcher, Tonks."
"So, you just gonna sit there, or you going to offer a girl a seat?" Grinning, she cocked her hips to the side and rested a hand just below her waist.
Pausing a moment, he looked up at her before gesturing to the chair across from him. "Go ahead, take a seat. I'm just going to sit here, and see how long I can fight down the urge to beat my head against the table top."
"Sure thing, Ivan." There was a pause, before she lightly tilted her head to the side, her grin growing. "Or, should I call you cousin James? Or, maybe Mr. Evans? Or, how about Dudders?"
"Oh, bloody hell." Harry's groan only grew as he carefully moved his plate of scones to the side then introduced his forehead to the table.
"I'm sure you can do better than that." Tonks casually produced her folder and began to leaf through it. "I mean, from what I can tell, you've become quite the little charmer in these long years out in the cold, away from jolly old England."
"This is because I didn't come to t he wedding, isn't it?" Harry didn't quite look at her, missing the way her whole body went tense at the word. "I'm sorry about that, I really am. I was just a bit... tied up around then. How's Remus?"
"I wouldn't know. You weren't the only one that didn't show up," Tonks answered back evenly as she looked away herself. "I haven't seen him since."
"Wait, what?" Harry's head snapped back around and he stared at her, his mouth hanging. "Remus..."
"Left me at the altar." Tonks fought down the urge to let her fingers fidget about the file in her hands as she gave him an empty smile. "Just told me he couldn't do that to me, then up and ran off like a coward."
"Oh, bollucks." Harry winced lightly as he immediatedly shut his mouth with a click. "Tonks, I'm so sorry, I…"
"Not your fault." Tonks shook her head quietly. "After what happened at the Burrow…"
"Yeah, the Burrow." Harry hung his head for a moment before glancing off into the distance. "All things considered…"
"You just wanted to be out of there." Tonks nodded her head in understanding. "Remus wasn't the same after all that. Not after all those missions he went on for Dumbledore, doing Merlin know what in the aftermath."
"None of us were the same after that," Harry said quietly as he slowly brought his attention back to her. "After everything… After the…"
"I know," Tonks said quietly as her eyes grew distant, remembering the smell of roasting flesh burning magic filling the air.
"I still can't believe he'd do that to you though." Harry cut back in as he looked at her. "I mean… He's Remus! He shouldn't have just…"
"We all made our choices since then, Harry." She offered him a slight smile before slumping back into her chair. "But, Merlin knows I don't think either of us want to talk about this morbid shite."
He nodded his head thankfully. "So, still an Auror I take it?"
"And you're a dirty little criminal." She arched a brow back at him, before her lips curled into a smirk. "Having fun being a bad boy, Harry?"
"I have yet to perform any criminal act that anyone can prove." Harry lifted his head and smirked back at Tonks. "And every crime I've been tried for, I've been acquitted of. Remember?"
"Right." She gave a definitely unlady-like snort and fixed him with a look. "Really, Harry, try that on someone who doesn't know about so many of those escapades of yours before you went abroad."
"I'll remember to try another line when I see Ron and Hermione," Harry noted dryly, before letting his eyes roam over her body. "I'd ask how you keep in such fantastic shape, but I figure you cheat."
"Liberally," Tonks agreed without even an ounce of guilt in her voice. "Benefits of being what I am."
"A cheeky bint?" he asked with an entirely innocent expression on his face.
"Prat." She lifted her nose and gave a delicate sniff. "I'll have you know I'm a highly refined woman of impeccable manners and refined elegance."
"About as much as I am," Harry said back with a grin.
"Why, I never knew Harry was short for Harriet! Tell me, what do you use to hide yourself? It's almost entirely convincing! If it weren't for your feminine voice, those big green eyes and pouty lips, I'd never have suspected!"
"I do not pout." Harry crossed his arms about his chest as he settled a glare back at Tonks.
"Whatever you say, Harry Pouter."
"People in glass houses, my dear Nymphadora," he countered with a light rebuke. "You know what they say about stones."
"Well, considering the talk in the office and the speculation I keep hearing about the size of yours and what they go with…" Her eyes had narrowed only slightly, only slightly in response to his use of her full name. "Should I start introducing you to them so they can conduct a proper investigation?"
"Only the cute ones," Harry agreed with a grin, before pausing a moment and glancing around. "Well, the female cute ones. Sorry, but I'm just not a poofer. I know how horribly disappointed some of you girls are at that, but I only like birds, not blokes."
"The fantasies of many a lonely witch will be shattered I'm sure," Tonks said with a chuckle before leaning forward, her eyes twinkling. "So, when did you learn how to be all charming Harry? I remember the stumbling boy who couldn't string two syllables together when a pretty girl smiled at him."
"Well, I didn't really have much choice, it was sink or swim, and well…" Harry shrugged a bit and grinned lightly back at her. "You know how I am when I get in those kinds of situations."
"You manage a miraculous stroke of luck just before you bollocks it all up?" Tonks' eyes were dancing as she said the words.
"Exactly!" Harry agreed with the same unrepentant grin Tonks had worn earlier. "As it happened, I ended up this time, being saved by a bored widow with more time and money than she knew what to do with, and well…"
"My, seducing older women? I never knew!" She playfully gasped out the words, half covering her mouth with her hand. "Should I be worried?"
"Ah, but my dear, dear Nymphadora, in all these years, and all these women, I still only have eyes for you." Harry leaned forward, catching her hand and bringing it to his lips. "And alas, I can no longer deny it!"
Tonks blushed, brightly for a moment, before her fingers gripped, tightly upon his hand and suddenly pulled him forward so her lips were hovering above his ear. "Well then, I've always wanted, my own little boy toy, should I break out the whips and chains, then, love?"
When Harry gave out a startled squeak of shock and his face turning a brilliant shade of red, Tonks let go his hand and smirked back at him. "And thus, you learn, don't mess with the Mistress!"
"Horrible, evil woman," Harry muttered softly as he continued to fight down his blush.
"Heh, if you think I'm bad, you should meet my partner." She laughed softly, before blinking a bit as she tilted her head to the side. "Oh, that's right, you've already met her, she was in your year at Hogwarts. Davis. Tracy Davis."
"Um, never really talked to her." Harry furrowed his brow in thought as he thought back to those years. "She was in Slytherin though, right?"
"Right," Tonks agreed with a nod, before grinning wickedly at him. "And that's probably a shame, from what I understand, she would have made you a very, very happy Boy-Who-Lived."
"If she'd tried, I probably would have either frozen up, or run away screaming," Harry admitted with a wry chuckle. "Not to mention the earful I would've gotten from Ron… not to mention the lecture from Hermione."
"I'm pretty sure she'd only have taken it as a challenge." Tonks barked off a laugh as she shook her head. "But, then, I'm not sure what she was like back then."
"I don't really remember myself, she always seemed to hide in the background from what I remember." Tilting his head lightly to the side, he grinned back at her. "But of course, what could she compare to the luminescent beauty that is you?"
She snorted again as she leveled him with a look. "Save the sweet talk for a some of those simpering, empty headed witches that will throw themselves into your bed at the drop of a hat."
"Heh, they're not the ones worth the sweet talk though." Harry threw her a wink then settled back as he brought his cup of tea up to his lips. "Would you like a cuppa?"
"Wouldn't object to one." Tonks inclined her head agreeably as she settled back into her seat herself and her expression shifted ever so slightly. "What are you planning, Harry?"
"Well, that depends. Who's asking?" Harry smiled back at her as he took a sip of his tea and arched a brow. "Nymphadora Tonks, the Senior Auror, or, the other Nymphadora Tonks?"
"The other Ny-," she started to say, before breaking off with a scowl and correcting herself, "The other Tonks?"
"Oh yes, the one that was always tripping over that troll foot umbrella stand, and broke into the Ministry of Magic to fight Death Eaters and save a group of school kids," Harry said with a half wave of his hand and a twinkle in his eyes. "You know, the one that went against the Ministry to help take care of falsely accused, innocent…"
"That was a completely different scenario, and you know it," Tonks interrupted, still glaring at him. "This Ministry…"
"Let how many Death Eaters go?" Harry asked as he stared back at Tonks. "How many murderers and worse?"
"Do you really want to go down this path with me, Harry?" Tonks tilted her head to the side, and looked at him with suddenly hard, heavy lidded eyes. "Do you want to play the game of right and wrong?"
"The question, my dear Nymphadora, is do you want to play that game with me?" He tilted his head to the side, emerald eyes suddenly boring into her. And for a moment, they were no longer seated there in that café, on that warm summer day.
For a moment, suddenly they were back in a dark, cold place. Flashes of sickly lights flew around them and over head, highlighting flashes of grinning skull masks set on dark cloaks. Chaos bore down on their ears and the hounds of war nipped at their heels.
In that moment, as she stared back into his eyes, it was more than his gaze staring back at her. There was Molly, and Mad-Eye. There was Ginny and Charlie. There was Cedric and Amos. There was her father and of course Sirius.
All of them were staring back at her with that same look and intensity in their eyes.
That heavy weight was more than she could bear and quickly her gaze broken beneath it and she looked away and she spoke in a soft, whispered voice. "And what, Harry? We're just supposed to turn our backs on what we're supposed to stand for?"
"What are we supposed to stand for? The Law? The Ministry?" Harry asked as anger seeped into his words. "Upholding Ideals no matter what? I never stood for those things. I did what I did for my friends, not for the Law, and not for the Ministry."
"And what about what you're doing now?" she asked back as she look back up at him. "Who are you doing that for?"
"There are so many reasons…" He paused and shook her head, before smiling, meaningfully at her. "I'm sure you can figure some of them out."
"You're playing a dangerous game, Harry," she said softly as she finally lifted her eyes and looked back at him.
"Ah, but it's one I finally figured out I aim to win." He grinned back at her, his eyes twinkling merrily.
"I really think you do." Tonks shook her head and stared back at him. "I really think you do.