The morning of the Express departing the Gryffindors and honorary Gryffindors shared a large breakfast.

“Are you going back to Croatia?” Harry asked Frina.

“Yes. I miss my parents and they are worried about me. Oh, which reminds me. Opus!“ she called to the Durmstrang students huddled in the doorway. “Do you mind?” she asked Harry.

“Mind what?” Harry responded.

Frina pushed the platter of bacon aside, climbed over the table agilely, and sat beside him. “Peni,” she said as she reached around Harry and tugged on her friend’s robe to get her attention.

Opus had come over with a camera and now stood on the other side of the table checking its settings. Harry sighed and smiled as they leaned in close for the first picture. For the second one he relented and put his arms around the both of them. A warm feeling started up in him as he did this. He could feel it responding to the sense of their shoulders and even their arms against his sides. He stretched his neck and forced it out of himself.

“Oh good,” Penelope said. “My parents will finally belief me.”

“Why wouldn’t they?” Harry asked in confusion.

She shrugged broadly with an expression that said he would not understand the explanation.

Harry went home that evening. Snape had to stay at Hogwarts a few days longer to finish up marking and paperwork, but he pointed out that he could then stay in Shrewsthorpe until late Sunday if he did so.

Harry stepped out of the hearth at home and started when he found himself face to face with a purple-haired witch.

“Tonks?” he said in surprise.

“Hey, Harry,” she greeted him casually and balled up the parchment in her hand. “I can skip the note since you’re here.” She banished the note with a toss. “One of the old spells we left from last summer was triggered, so I came to investigate. Only the outer one was touched, so I suspect it was a neighbor kid crossing through your back garden.”

“Guess they don’t do that often,” Harry said, thinking it strange that it had not triggered before now.

“Your wall is pretty high and a little crumbly at the top. That would dissuade most people,” she said casually. “Every other protection is still in place, so don’t worry about it. If it hadn’t been your place, I probably wouldn’t have come right away.” She gave him a wink as she said this.

“Want some tea?” Harry offered, kind of hoping she would stay a little while.

She sighed and replied sincerely, “I really don’t have time, Harry, but thanks.” She put her stuff in her hipsack and sealed it with a spell. “I saw your application come in,” she said, sounding teasing.

Harry couldn’t interpret her tone. “Did it look okay?”

She laughed lightly. “Of course. We received a lot of applications this year. Good ones. Still trying to decide how best to handle them all. I think we should just make the admission tests harder. That would be to your advantage, anyway.”

Harry looked away, a little embarrassed by praise from this quarter. The post that had arrived in his and Snape’s absence was scattered over the table. He organized the envelopes as a distraction. Tonks stepped to the hearth, nearly knocking over the rack with the poker and ash shovel. She righted it and took out a leather drawstring sack of Floo Powder.

“What are you doing Sunday night?” Tonks asked him.

He shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Care to hang out in London with me for the evening?” she asked. “I need to get out and I’d love to catch up with you.”

Harry’s heart sped up as he imagined that. His jealousy of Ron’s freedom to explore London over last summer had not completely disappeared.

“I’d love to.”

“Clubbing all right with you? A little befuddlement charm will get you in past the bouncer at the places I like to go.”

Harry blinked at that stretching of wizard law. And Muggle law. “Sounds good,” he replied.

“Want to meet me at Trafalgar or Soho?” she suggested. Upon seeing his reaction, she said, “I’ll just come here and we’ll go together.”

“Great,” Harry said.

“I really have to run,” she said. “See ya.”

She stepped into the hearth and vanished in a column of green flame.

Harry fairly skipped up the stairs to his room with his overloaded book bag, feeling weightless. Sunday evening was going to take years to arrive.

An owl had arrived that morning from Snape saying that he would be delayed until Monday morning. Harry studied to pass the time and finished two long essays before Sunday lunch, as if to deserve these seemingly random turns of luck.

Not only could Harry stay out late, he would not even have to explain his ‘date’ to his guardian. He wasn’t sure what Snape would think, if anything at all, but he wasn’t taking any chances with his first time out in the London club scene. With a woman. With someone he liked a lot and a woman. The thought was almost overwhelming.

Sunday night, as Harry was dressing in Muggle clothes, he decided he should leave a note in case Snape came home earlier than expected. As he was folding the parchment over and writing Snape’s name on it, the hearth flared.

The first thing Harry thought upon seeing Tonks was that he himself was hopelessly underdressed. Tonks was wearing shiny pants and a fuzzy yellow top. She read his expression and hooked an arm through his.

“You look fine. Guys never dress as well as women anyway at these places. Well, unless they’re trolling.”

They took the Floo into an upstairs parlor in Soho. When Harry arrived, the two well-dressed couples sitting around a table on the other side of the room were greeting Tonks like an old friend.

“Your date?” a woman’s high-pitched, nasal voice said loudly. “Let’s see him. Let’s seem him. Come on, he has to pass inspection since you clearly have no sense yourself. We know this, girl. Really.”

Harry stepped over to them and stood beside Tonks. They were paired by gender by the way they sat. The woman who had spoken had sharp yellow eyes and very short auburn hair. Her many large earrings clanked as she leaned forward in her seat to inspect him.

“What’s that? Lightening scars aren’t in fashion now are they?” she asked in dismay, rubbing her forehead as though considering what it might be like to have one.

“And no fashion sense at all,” the taller man said with a grimace. “Early eighties schoolboy,” he breathed in clear horror. “Dated!”

Harry looked down at his plain black trousers and crisp white shirt. Tonks put her arm around him.

“Ignore them. We’re leaving now,” Tonks announced melodically, pressing her fingers into Harry’s shoulder to turn him.

“Wait, wait,” the ear-ringed woman said. “He hasn’t passed a full inspection yet. What does he do?”

“He catches dark wizards,” Tonks said. “Let’s go,” she said to Harry.

“He’s an Auror then? Thought you guys weren’t supposed to date each other?” the other woman said. “Looks a little young, frankly.”

“He’s not an Auror, yet,” Tonks insisted. “And this is just old friends out for an evening.”

She gave Harry a push toward a closed door on the other side of the room.

“Shoulda said. We wouldn’t have wasted our precious energy in that case,” the ear-ringed woman commented loudly.

“Or wasted his ego,” the other woman quipped.

“His ego is just fine,” Tonks reassured them, patting Harry on the shoulder. “Right, Harry?”

Harry shrugged and let Tonks open the door since she moved to it first.

“Wait a minute!” the woman said, jumping up and striding over to them. “You aren’t really?”

“Really what?” Harry asked.

She peered at him closely. “This is just a Clandestine Charm, right?” she asked Tonks. “You aren’t really out for an eve with Harry Potter…are you?”

“She’s what?” the taller man exclaimed, spilling the black liquid he was pouring as he spoke. “Sorry ’bout the fashion comments, Mate,” he said quickly giving a wave of dismissal. “The Studious Ones never know how to dress,” he said in a stage whisper to his male companion.

“Or how to have fun either,” his companion came back with a nudge.

He held his glass out for a refill and nudged again when he didn’t get any.

“Well,” Earrings said as she took the door from Tonks and held it for them while leaning on it heavily. “Have a nice evening. We’ll have a nice drink and discuss He-Who-Shall-Be-Not-Named when you come back through.”

“Voldemort,” Harry supplied.

She flinched and bit her full red lips. “Yeah. That bloke.”

On the pavement outside, Harry adjusted his cloak and breathed out in relief. “Interesting friends.”

They walked along a tree-lined street. Ahead, bar patrons spilled onto the walk from the restaurants.

“Acquaintances really. They run that Floo node like a social parlor. Keeps them occupied and mostly out of trouble. Though who knows what they were drinking.”

They had dinner in one of the small, cramped places along a side street. Tonks, with her matching fuzzy top and yellow spiked hair, attracted more attention than Harry, which was a nice change.

After eating, as the sun set behind the buildings, they walked a distance to a place Tonks liked to go to dance. It was below ground and very large. It was also relatively deserted on a Sunday. The bouncer at the door paid them no heed beyond giving Tonks a nice hello that sounded insinuating to Harry.

Inside, ten or so couples gyrated on the dark dance floor, outlined by the changing colored lights behind them. With a grin Tonks led him over and cajoled him into joining in. The song shifted to another one. Harry counted out a swing rhythm and took Tonk’s hands.

“Where did you learn to dance?” she asked as they moved around the floor.

“I hate to admit it, but McGonagall.”

She laughed. “Poor Harry,” she said in humor. “You’re pretty good though.”

“I had a lot of practice at the Christmas Ball.”

They chatted about school. Harry asked about the apprenticeship, reluctantly, since he worried that if he got too tied up in it and was rejected, he would be really sunk.

The song shifted to a slow one and Tonks moved in close. This made it easier to talk over the music.

“So, how is it having a dad after all this time?”

Harry shrugged to buy time. He had not been required to answer that question for a while. “I like it. I like knowing if I need something, he can’t turn me away.”

“That’s what you like?” she asked in surprise. “You really haven’t had anyone to rely on, have you?” she asked in a gentle tone.

“Guess not,” Harry answered stiffly.

She frowned and changed the topic.

During the fourth song, Tonks tensed and watched something over Harry’s shoulder. Harry glanced that way, but didn’t see anything or anyone in particular. Tonks huffed in annoyance and steered them to another part of the dance floor.

“Someone here you don’t want to see?” Harry guessed.

“Ex-boyfriend,” she said darkly. After dancing for a while longer in a manner that Harry was certain was designed to keep them from being recognized, she said, “Let’s sit down. I’m thirsty.”

She took his hand and led him to a high side table with permanent stools around it. The bartender came around immediately.

“I’ll have a scotch and he’ll have a…an ale.”

The bartender glanced closely at Harry before stepping away, but came back a few minutes later with their drinks. Harry sipped at his. He thought it could have stood to have been sweeter, but it wasn’t bad. Tonks poured a dash of water into her tumbler of amber liquid before sipping it.

“I have tomorrow off. First day in two weeks.” After a minute of silence she added, “Being an Auror is too much work, Harry,” as though warning him off from the whole notion.

Harry didn’t reply. He was watching a man on the other side of the dance floor who was looking at Tonks’ back. Her hair was still spiky yellow, which really gave her away. Harry thought then that she should have turned it black or some other normal color.

The man approached, leading a young woman by the hand. They were both exquisitely dressed.

“Tonks,” the man greeted her unctuously when he reached their table.

His dark hair was styled foppishly and it flipped down when he leaned over and rested his elbow on the table facing her. Harry disliked him instantly.

Tonks gave no indication that she felt anything. “Hello Rick,” she said evenly.

“How have you been?” he asked, then didn’t wait for a reply as he said, “Have you met Tara?”

He pulled the fair-haired, tight-skirted woman closer to the table. Tara looked as though she wanted to resist but gave in and held out a hand in greeting. Tonks shook it with a touch of coldness.

Rick was going on in the same smooth tone, “Tara is working at the bank. Father and her actually get along, can you imagine?”

Rick leaned over the table, even more pointedly ignoring Harry, who decided that this was just as well. Harry assumed the man would bore of this game and leave soon enough, although the topics of the bank and father seemed to supply a lot of potential material. Harry automatically assumed they were Muggles, but a little magic was dropped through the conversation, changing that assumption, and really, they didn’t seem Muggle, despite the super nice clothes.

Finally, as though just noticing Tonks had a companion, Rick turned to Harry. “Oh,” he said in a kind of girlish way. “Name’s Richard, by the way. Richard Guilderchild.”

With deliberately slow, calm movement, Harry accepted the pro-offered hand. “Harry Potter,” he said, very evenly.

The man froze, which Harry resisted reacting to.

“Well, you are,” Rick said, sounding stunned. He turned to Tara and leaned close to her. She was standing with her lean arms crossed, looking like she wished she were elsewhere. “It’s Harry Potter,” he said to her, still surprised.

She blinked and found Harry’s eyes and presumably his scar. Tonks gave Harry a roll of the eyes.

“Well,” Rick offered, “why don’t we join you for a drink?”

Harry thought of saying, why don’t you not? as the man smoothly took one of the other stools and gestured for Tara to do the same, all while simultaneously waving to the bartender.

Harry shot Tonks an apologetic look and received a disbelieving one in return. “So,” Rick said breathily if not a little hungrily, “you are the, what does the chocolate frog card say…?”

“Destroyer of Voldemort,” Harry finished for him, wanting to rattle the man if possible. He definitely got the girlfriend with that one.

“Yes,” Rick said with more than a hint of pleasure. “So what are you doing with yourself now?” he asked, then ordered drinks for himself and Tara when the bartender appeared.

“I’m in school,” Harry said. “I’ve applied to the Auror’s program.”

“Ah, well, you are in good company here, then,” he said with a glance at Tonks.

Harry looked at Tonks as well, with a look he hoped conveyed some of his feelings. “Tonks is the reason I want to be an Auror,” he said honestly, his gaze not wavering. “She’s my inspiration.” Her lips curled into a true smile, making Harry very glad he had said it.

“That’s very sweet,” Tara said.

The drinks arrived. Rick accepted his and immediately began clinking the ice in it.

Harry turned to the girlfriend. “What do you do?” he asked.

She smiled lightly. “I work in finance at Bennett’s of London. We do a lot of cross Muggle-Wizard project financing.”

Harry nodded sagely in a way he hoped looked knowledgeable. He didn’t want to ask how that differed from accounting.

“Do you like it?” Harry asked.

“It’s interesting and sometimes a lot of work,” she said, seeming surprised to be addressed again.

“We are working with Goodley and Stevens right now,” Rick put in but Harry had no idea who they were. “Where do you live?” Rick then asked Harry.

“Shrewsthorpe,” Harry replied, wondering how to get rid of him.

Maybe they needed to finish their drinks and claim another appointment, he thought. He took a big gulp of ale to that end. Tonks had already finished her drink and waved for another. She seemed to be trying for a different kind of exit.

“Oh, you are very close to Riverden,” Rick said. “The Freelander Estate encompasses it. It is just lovely. I was there once as a boy,” he added as though this fact were important to share.

“We were there for Boxing Day dinner,” Harry said evenly. “It is a big place. The stables were bigger than our house,” he quipped to Tonks.

Rick froze at that. “You were?” He reassessed Harry at this point, seeming conflicted with his clothes and that notion.

Tonks said, in the air of one forced to participate, “He has a lot of horses, then?”

“Freelander only introduced us to the first twelve or so, but there were a lot more for just riding.” Harry decided to just pretend it was him and Tonks. “I’d thought they were like Thestrals but his steeplechasers are huge animals. And they aren’t magical, so how one controls them…” He looked alarmed at the notion.

Tara laughed. “They are usually pretty easy-going,” she said, then backed off on her bright expression.

“Really?” Harry asked her quickly, afraid she assumed she had insulted him.

Rick nursed his drink, standoffish and fidgety now.

Tara relaxed a little. “Depends on the breed. I wouldn’t have ridden my brother’s Arabian for anything…it was totally out of control. My Morgan was like a big kitten for personality.”

“Huh,” Harry said. “Does sound like fun. But not worth getting adopted for,” he murmured to Tonks, whose eyes went wide at that, so he gave her a mischievous grin.

Rick gave him a close one as though dearly wanting to know what he had said.

A slow song started up. Harry stood and held his hand out to Tonks. “I promised the next slow one, remember?”

She set her fresh drink down with a thud and jumped off her stool to join him. When they were out on the floor, she said, “You are better at socializing than I imagined. Sorry about him.” She laughed then. “You really knocked him with that comment about Boxing Day.”

“It was some big event. I didn’t realize when I accepted the invitation,” Harry complained a bit.

“You were serious?” she asked, amazed. “I thought you made that up.”

“No,” Harry said. “I wouldn’t make things up to impress Mr. Guilderchild there. Are you joking?” he felt vaguely disappointed in her assumption.

“I’m sorry,” Tonks said, “Of course you wouldn’t. One of the things I like about you. Of the many.”

Harry smiled and dropped his gaze.

“That and your humbleness, which always astounds me. You are the opposite of him. Totally opposite.”

“I hope so,” Harry said forcefully, making her laugh. He noticed in relief that the other couple were finishing their drinks and departing from the table. “So, I’m not sure the best way to ask this but…”

“What did I see in him?” she finished for him. At Harry’s nod, she replied with a strained expression, “I’m not sure. He impressed my parents. He impressed me at first, frankly, but that wore off. Once everyone around you keeps saying how great it is that you are on the right track finally, it gets hard to get off the train.”

Harry tried to imagine that and his face must have revealed something because she added, “When he turned his charm on just the right way, I could overlook a lot. And surprisingly few see past it, even though you weren’t fooled at all.”

They danced another song, a faster one, without separating. Harry was deciding that he really preferred slow dancing better. He and Tonks were exactly the same height, so they moved with surprisingly little awkwardness around the floor.

Several songs later, Tonks was dancing even closer, which was starting to affect him. The room felt too warm and the gaps where they moved apart felt too long. He pulled her closer without thinking, which brought a sharp look from her, a surprised and calculating one.

Harry dropped his arms and turned to walk back to the table since the song was winding down anyway. At the table, his ale was too warm. He drank a big gulp of it anyway, feeling the need for anything that might calm him down.

Tonks didn’t comment, but she did have a very small smile on her face. They finished their drinks in silence.

“Another round? Or do you want to go?” she asked.

“Maybe go,” Harry said. He checked his pocket watch. It was just before eleven.

As they passed the bar, Tonks waved to the bartender and tossed a Muggle note on the bar. The bartender nodded goodbye with a wink. Out on the street it felt fresh and quiet, letting Harry relax. It was chilly now, making him glad he had worn his warm cloak.

“It’s still pretty early,” she said, sounding reluctant to quit the evening. “How does tea and biscuits sound to you?”

“Pretty good,” Harry conceded. “Somewhere quiet?”

“Sure.”

They walked back to the parlor where they had used the Floo incoming. It was empty this time for which Harry was grateful. He was tired of verbal jousting. Tonks stepped into the Floo and gave a location followed by a password. When she was gone, Harry followed.

They landed in a small flat with shelves lining the walls with all kinds of things on them. An owl fluttered in a cage in the corner.

“This your place?” Harry asked.

“Yep,” she replied. “You said ‘quiet’.”

“I did, didn’t I,” Harry said, feeling his nerves perking up. He took a seat at the small table near the stove as she made tea.

She eventually placed the pot on the table and opened the biscuit tin. “Help yourself.”

Harry, feeling hungry despite the big dinner he had had, accepted eagerly. The tea steeped and she poured out cups for each of them. Harry sipped his gratefully. The sudden silence was still ringing in his ears and the ale had made him groggy.

Two cups later, Tonks stood to clear things away. Harry had relaxed now, feeling less anxious about being at her place. She brought a few things back over from the shelves. One of them was a picture of her in surprisingly dull black robe and cloak, finishing the Auror’s program. Harry looked at her glowing smile in the photo. As the photo moved, a middle-aged man put his hand around her shoulders proudly.

“Three years of training goes fast,” she said wistfully.

“How many people apply normally?”

“Six or so take the tests. More apply but are rejected. I think you’ll do fine on the tests.”

She held up the other thing. It looked like a large glass marble with swirling colors. It was a little dusty.

“What’s that?” Harry asked.

She handed it over. It had many balls inside one another each floating in a clear liquid. When shifted, it clunked inside as the spheres bumped.

She replied, “A Promise Ball, which it occurred to me that I could break now. Severus fulfilled it for me.”

“What was it?” he asked, handing it back.

“A promise I made to myself to get you away from your aunt and uncle the first chance possible. I actually yelled at Dumbledore after the rescue, which stuns me even now to remember. He finally explained why you had to be there, which didn’t help much.” She tossed the ball in the air. “It bothered me a lot, like a whole lot, thinking of you there, so someone suggested using one of these to ease my mind. It worked. It magically binds you to take action when you can so you can relax and not obsess in the interim.”

She stood and tossed it into the hearth where it smashed in a bright white flame. The shards crackled and fell through the grate. As she stepped back to the table, she put a hand on Harry’s shoulder from behind.

“It’s good to see you doing so well.” Her hand shifted to trail through his hair. “Everyone says that, you know, comments on how well you are doing.”

Harry sighed in embarrassment and crossed his arms. She bent over to reach swiftly around him and forced them uncrossed, holding his wrists so he couldn’t lift them. Her cheek was pressed against his from behind as she held that position. When she did move, it was to bend down to kiss him on the neck lightly.

Harry couldn’t seem to draw a breath. Maybe that wasn’t too much of a surprise as his chest had turned to putty. His will had gone. He held still and waited for something else to happen.

Tonks pulled him to his feet and kissed him fiercely, pressing him back over the table. Harry found he did have will, at least to pull her tighter.