Reviews:

AshokaTheGreat : Glad you like it

The Durdens Wrath: Not yet.

Lucifer-Satani : Good luck on that, I'll give you this response, we'll see what your next one is. I don't know which movie that was from but it's inaccurate as snakes lay multiple eggs at a time. (You can see now why I don't get invited to many parties)

MrNeedsToRemoveAllFavs: Glad you enjoyed it.

Chapter 63 -

'You're grinning,' Venom pointed out.

'Probably,' Harry agreed cheerfully before entering the Gryffindor common room, once inside he was assaulted with a swarm of cheers from all of the Gryffindors.

"Go, go Gryffindor!"

"Go, Harry!"

"Potter! Potter! Potter!"

"Uh...thanks, guys," Harry said eventually. "I...I appreciate it,"

"Um...Harry," Seamus cut in. "What exactly happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Have you seen yourself?" An older Gryffindor asked before handing him a mirror. Taking a look, he saw that his hair looked like it had been in a storm, being ten times more messy than usual. He also had a fair bit of lip-shaped lipstick marks on his face and neck. To be totally honest, it looked like he had been attacked by a small crowd of fangirls.

"I'll wager a guess that the lovely Miss Delacour," Fred began in a teasing tone.

"Was a bit overenthusiastic," George continued in the same tone.

"With her thank you," They finished together, grinning at Harry. At once the common room quickly became divided between jealous looks and grins that Harry found to be completely irritating.

"You lucky bastard," One Gryffindor said, sounding rather put out. Something that earned him a slap from his girlfriend.

"His parents were married unlike yours, dumbass!" She spat before storming off. The Gryffindor boy gaped for a few moments before turning to Harry.

"Don't look at me, dumbass," Harry said, cutting him off before he could say anything. "You said that, I didn't make you. I literally did nothing wrong in this situation. Like most things in my life really," He added in a thoughtful voice.

"Hello," Tonks said, knocking on the door. A muffled invitation to come in was heard and she opened the door, and walked in, finding her mother standing by a desk with a book in her hand. A nearby table was set up with potions ingredients and equipment.

"Ah, Nymphadora," Andromeda smiled. "How are you, dear?" She asked, ignoring her daughter's grimace at her name.

"Fine, Mum," Tonks said with a small smile. "How are you doing?" She asked, walking over before plopping herself on top of a nearby desk.

"Just setting up for Harry's potions class," Andromeda explained in a pleased tone. "I'm going to have him start with making the 'Draught of Peace' today,"

"The Draught of Peace?" Tonks repeated in a stunned voice. "Isn't that a fifth-year potion?" She asked in a confused voice.

"It is," Andromeda seemed to shake with pride. "He's such a wonderful student, already advanced a year. It's an honest shame that so much potential talent was being wasted by a disgusting man who couldn't resist taking out an old grudge on his student."

"Yeah," Tonks frowned. "Wasn't really fair for him to take it out on Harry," From all that she had heard, Harry was apparently treated worse by Snape than the way the man treats regular students and that was already horrible enough. Snape had held a grudge against her for most of her Hogwarts career. Her first year he treated her like she was nothing more than a highly irritating pet that he had been forced to look after. That had all changed during her second year when he had walked in on her as she did what she and the rest of the classroom thought to be a rather funny and incredibly accurate imitation of the man. Snape clearly didn't believe imitation to be the most sincere form of flattery as he had docked points and assigned detention in a heartbeat.

After that he would always glare at her, make those irritating snide comments of his and turn the other way whenever one of his Slytherins did anything to her, nor did he ever correct her when she was about to make a mistake in potions. If not for her mother then Tonks had no doubt that she would have failed potions class and that would have definitely bombed her dream of being an auror. She could have lost out on her dream job because of one man who wanted to hold a grudge against her for one thing she did when she was twelve.

And apparently Harry got it much worse.

She knew that Snape had tried to read Harry's mind, and if he had done it once then who is to say how many times he had done it before? Arresting Snape had been quite fun for her, even though she knew it would yield little to no results, and she was right as Dumbledore had swept in and saved Snape, as he always does apparently.

Apparently Snape had some issues with Harry's dad, so naturally, the man-child had decided to take it out on Harry, the bloke hadn't even been born when Snape had met James Potter and knew barely anything about his father. Yet the first time Snape and Harry had met, Snape had decided to jump straight into arrogant dickhead mode and the bullying continued until Harry had decided enough was enough and started using back. Something Tonks admired, she had never done that, at least not to the level that Harry had.

"I don't think many things in Harry's life are fair," Andromeda said with a matching frown. "The thing I've heard, well...let's just say that young man surprises me. Lesser men would have 'turned dark' as the ignorant masses like to say,"

"Yeah," Tonks sighed, hesitating for a moment before asking her mother an important question. "Why do you call Harry a man? Why not a boy or a child?"

"He's not that much younger than you, Nymphadora," Andromeda shrugged. "Besides, I've met children before, dear daughter, he is no child."

"So I've been told," Tonks said, sighing once more.

"Dear, is there anything you want to tell me?" Andromeda asked, staring curiously at her.

"Yeah," Tonks let out a deep breath, slumping forward slightly. "You know my dating history has been...well...it's been..."

"Abysmal?" Andromeda offered. "Horrible? As good as a wit-sharpening potion for a headless inferni?"

"I was going to say 'not the best' but sure, let's go with that," She said, sending a mild glare to her mother who was naturally unphased by it. "It's just, whenever I try and meet a guy, it doesn't work out well. They all seem nice in the start but it doesn't really take long for them to show their true colours. Usually when they ask me to change mine,"

"A lot of men are jerks," Andromeda said in a voice one would use to state what was a widely agreed-upon fact. "Has there been one that's been particularly bad to you lately?" She asked, a dark look on her face.

"No, well...a few, but I handled them," Tonks replied in an odd mixture of pride and sadness.

"Ah," Andromeda nodded in understanding. "There's been one that's been very good lately,"

"Maybe," Tonks said, looking down as her feet lazily swung back and forth.

"Well, what's stopping you?" Andromeda asked.

"I kind of already rejected him," Tonks huffed, her hair turning into a mousy brown.

"Why did you reject Harry?"

"Well, it's because...wait a sec!" Tonks demanded. "How did you know I was talking about Harry?!" She blurted out, her hair and face turning a Weasley shade of red.

"My dear daughter," Andromeda said in a suffering tone as she stared at Tonks like she was being particularly dense. "It was quite obvious. You two spent a lot of time together at home, it was the most happy I had ever seen you. Harry clearly enjoyed spending time with you as well, he never once looked like he was even remotely bothered when he cooked for you or picked up whatever you had dropped on the floor. I saw the way the boy looked at you, your father used to give me that look when we were in school," She said with a smile. "He still does, thankfully."

"I...Harry's a nice guy, really, he is." Tonks jumped off the desk and started pacing in front of her mother. "But he's too young, isn't he?" She asked, her hair starting to revert back from red to brown.

"Honestly?" Andromeda said with a rather unlady-like snort. "We're not muggles, Nymphadora. The average wizard lives to at least a hundred and ten, well...before the wars at least. He's not that much younger than you, after a few years it wouldn't make much of a difference. Besides, who says that you need to go all the way? I'm sure you can wait a few years."

"That's not the point!" She said, her hair turning back to bright red again. "What will the people say?"

"Since when did you ever care for proper appearance?" Andromeda said with another uncharacteristic snort.

"I don't give a damn what everyone thinks about me!" Tonks said in a frustrated voice. "People have been spreading rumours about me since I was old enough to come to Hogwarts. I care about what people would say about Harry. He's been through enough as it is, I didn't want him to have to deal with the papers and all of his friends teasing and mocking him for being in a relationship with someone like me."

"Someone like you?" Andromeda repeated in a cross voice as she glared at Tonks. "There is nothing wrong with you, Nymphadora, besides your inability to notice what a fantastic name your brilliant mother has given you. As for Harry, the boy will be in the papers regardless. He is the boy who lived, like it or not, everything he does will be under scrutiny until the day he dies. Besides, as long as you're not breaking the law, the only two people who should matter in this relationship are you and Harry."

"I just..." Tonks let out a defeated noise as she wilted and leaned against the desk that she had originally been sitting on. "...I just wanted to protect him. I didn't want to hurt him, I was only trying to keep him safe. I was trying to tell myself it's all for the best, but now...now I don't know. I feel like I lost him,"

"Because he's in a relationship with that French girl?" Andromeda asked, raising an eyebrow. "You do know that British laws do allow polygamy?"

"Only for men, I know," Tonks said, too tired to even protest how stupid and/or sexist that was. "But I'm not going to just go up to Harry and say 'Hey, I know I rejected you and all but now that you're in a relationship with that stunning French bird, perhaps you'll consider letting me join in,' that won't work. Especially since I don't know if his current girl would agree."

"You'll never know if you don't try," Andromeda shrugged. "Still, I think you two make a great couple. Certainly better than some of the other boys you've met over the years, like that lad with the Cyclops tattoo, what was his name?"

"You mean Tyson?" Tonks asked. Before Andromeda could respond, a knock came from the door.

"Come in," Andromeda called, a second later Harry walked into the room.

"Hi guys," Harry greeted as he walked over.

"Hi Harry," Tonks said with a sad smile before she frowned. "Um...Harry, you've got a bit of red on you," She informed him before pushing off the desk and walking to the door. "Anyway, I'll...um...leave you both to it, see ya later," She said awkwardly before exiting the room.

"Red?" Harry asked Andromeda.

"The lip-shaped red on your head," She answered, pointing at his forehead.

"Damn it," Harry groaned, he had hoped that he had wiped it all off. It was hardly his fault that Fleur had decided to catch him on the way to class. However, he wasn't really complaining as he very much enjoyed the high amount of affection that the French girl seemed determined to give him. Turns out, saving a veela's close family member yields immense and highly enjoyable benefits. Who knew? Still, he would appreciate it if she could time it better.

"There you go," Andromeda waved her wand and cleaned him up.

"Thanks," Harry said with a small blush. "I-"

"I was also young once," She cut him off with an amused smile. "No need to explain,"

"Ah, well...still...thank you," He said, scratching the back of his neck. "Should I start preparing my ingredients?" He asked, blatantly trying to change the subject.

"You do that," Andromeda nodded, Harry nodded back and went to the potions desk. "Though, if you could indulge me, I'd like to know something. If you don't mind, that is?"

"Um...sure," Harry shrugged before starting to organise everything in front of him.

"How much of that did you hear?" Andromeda asked bluntly. Harry blinked before looking up at her, he stared at her and met her knowing gaze for a moment before he answered.

"Everything from 'what will the people say?'," Harry told her honestly. He hadn't actively been trying to listen in, but Venom had been and good luck trying to stop him. "I've got to ask though, a cyclops tattoo?"

"The less said, the better," Andromeda rolled her eyes. "Her past choices in suitors leave a lot to be desired. But...she was lonely, she thought they wanted her for who she was, instead they only ever saw her for what they wanted her to be."

"I know the feeling," Harry frowned.

"I'm sure you do," Andromeda said softly. "I meant what I said, I think the two of you would be a good couple. But I won't interfere in your lives, that's between the two of you. Follow your heart, Harry. That's my final say on the matter, now, shall we continue with our lesson?"

"Please," Harry nodded.

'And are we going to discuss Tonk's obvious desire to be your mate?' Venom piped in.

'No, I want to concentrate on this lesson and...and then I want some time to think,' Harry said firmly.

'If you say so,' Venom replied in an agreeable tone, understanding that this was hard for Harry. Still, he considered himself to be Harry's family, and family as far as he knows are supposed to help each other.

Venom could admit that he was starting to grow fond of the veela girl, she wasn't irritating for him personally and Harry seemed to enjoy her company. Her affinity for fire would have at one point bothered (not terrified or scared, thank you very much) him but he was no longer worried about that. The more people Harry had in his corner, the more powerful he and Harry would become, and Fleur Delacour was no lacklustre witch. Venom also enjoyed the delicious emotions Harry gave off in her company, the boy truly did like her, just like Tonks. These humans were far too complicated, if not for his connection with Harry then he honestly couldn't fathom why they were so against having multiple mates. That's what you do when you don't have an exactly identical population of males and females, right?

Either way, Venom did want to help out Harry, but he wasn't sure how. Hmm, maybe he should ask Carnage/Hedwig, she'd probably have some good ideas.