Harry Potter and the Last Stand
A/N: Ok, so Harry is determined to win back Hermione. Please people R&R. Also, any one who wants to be a Beta email me or tell me so in a review.
Chapter 2: A Talk with Tonks
Harry was awoken by his uncle's screams. "BOY! GET DOWN HERE AND GET YOUR SICK FRIENDS OFF MY PROPERTY!!!!" he was enraged. Harry scrambled to his feet and threw on a pair of Dudley's old jeans and a T-shirt. He then ran down the stairs as fast as humanly possible, tripping on the sixth step and falling to the bottom in a painful heap.
"You ok there, Harry?" a familiar voice questioned. Harry looked up.
"Tonks?" he breathed. His nose was rather red and his right knee had painfully collided with the stair corner. His forehead was splitting down the middle in pain. The reason was obvious of course; he had landed on his face. Luckily, his nose had broken the fall.
"Wotcher, Harry," she said grinning. She had bubble gum pink shoulder length curls. Here eyes were blue and wide with happiness. Other than that, her usual round face was happy and as normal as ever.
"Well if you're quite finished, I would ask you to leave my property immediately," Vernon barley kept his voice below screaming. He was quite red in the face. He was very afraid that of all wizards.
"You would, would you?" Tonks scowled, turning to Harry, helping him up, "So your room where its always been?"
"Yeah-listen, what are you doing here?" he panted.
"Is that your greeting to your rescuer?" she smiled sarcastically at him.
"I'm leaving already?" he asked hopefully.
"Why wouldn't you be?" she questioned.
"Usually Dumbledore lets me rot here a few more weeks." He mumbled to the ground.
"Well actually, I'm here to spend the day with you and then we'll set off for Grimmauld place." She said rather knowingly.
"Er-Spend the day with me?" Harry was quite puzzled.
"You know, I'm taking you to Diagon Alley to get your books and things," she said, wandering aimlessly around the room exploring the various muggle `artifacts'."
"Oh," Harry mumbled, and then in a brighter voice, "When do we leave?"
"Right now actually," she smiled, flicking her wand and making all of his books and clothes, socks and robes, quills and papers fly neatly into his trunk. His socks paired themselves and flopped into his cauldron. "I've been practicing," she winked at him.
Harry laughed. Then he levitated his trunk downstairs and into the pale blue muggle taxi that waited for them. The journey to London would be a long one, and Harry wasn't much of a small talk maker. Luckily, Tonks broke the ice for him. "Guess what, Harry?" she smiled at him.
"Er-What?" he replied.
"Dumbledore had decided you need training in dueling. So I'll be your private dueling instructor for most of the year. It's like pre-Auror Training!" she added excitedly, "He also decided that since I would need to give you lessons at least twice a week, I will be the `golden trio's' body guard through out the year. I'll bunk with Hermione."
Harry stared at her for a few moments and a smile broke across his face, "Brilliant! What will we be learning?"
"Oh...er…um…" Tonks clearly had not thought it through all the way, "Basic Auror Training, then we'll move onto sequence spells. Then Dumbledore said that once you could beat me, you would continue your training with him so you would have someone to practice with who was in Voldemort's league."
The conversation died down. Harry was not surprised she had said Voldemort's name. Dumbledore had started forcing people to. Harry's thoughts turned to Hermione, and then he did something very peculiar. "Tonks, can I ask your advice?" he asked.
"Sure, go ahead," she replied, eager to start conversation.
"Well, there's this girl that's my really good friend. But well, I kinda want it to be more then friends with her." He said slowly, choosing his words carefully.
"I see, well how does she feel about you?" she replied, analyzing the situation.
"Well actually, last year she told me she felt the same, but I turned her down because I didn't want Voldemort to hurt her," he said, holding back tears.
"Is it Hermione?" she blurted out, looking surprised she had said it. "I'm sorry," she started, "Hermione and I are actually good friends and she told me about her feelings for you last year."
Harry was surprised at the information. He started to ask her about it, but they had arrived at the leaky cauldron. They got out of the car and levitated Harry's trunk into the bar. "So, what should I do?"
"Tell her, she deserves to know, and don't forget to explain why you turned her down in the first place." Tonks said, eager to help, "Tom, keep hold of this for awhile, we'll be back in a couple of hours."
She handed him the trunk, struggling with the weight.
"But…it's just that, I don't want to hurt our friendship," he said slowly, his head to the ground so that she would not see his tears.
She thought for a moment and then gave him the best advice he had gotten in a long time, "If it's really a friendship, then it will last no matter what you tell her, but love, you can never keep something as complicated as love bottled up inside. It'll destroy you from the inside," she said rather sagely. She seemed very wise for a moment, until she tripped over a bar stool and fell over, knocking over three chairs and breaking a glass.
Harry stifled a laugh. Tonks and Harry made their way through Diagon Alley. They stopped in several stores and filled their pockets with merchandise. They got everything Harry needed for school, and stopped in several extra ones, until they came to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.
"Awww, it's closed," Tonks sighed, pointing to a sign, "Shame you can't see their defensive items."
They moved on and stopped at several more places, until it was late in the afternoon. They were weighed down by merchandise and Tonks had bought something in secrecy while they were in the Quality Quidditch Supply Store.
They left Diagon and got Harry's Trunk back from Tom, then got in an ordinary muggle cab, and made their way to Grimmauld Place. On the way there, they talked merrily about Quidditch and the latest brooms. Nothing had beaten the Firebolt yet. When they arrived, Tonks made sure the cab was well gone before telling Harry the same thing he had learned in 5th year. He thought silently to himself. "The headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix may be found at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, London."
The house appeared out of thin air, pushing aside the two houses on either side to make room. Harry stepped inside, only to find darkness. Then someone's hand brushed past his pocket and removed his wand. He threw a punch in the direction that it came from, hitting nothing but air.
A creepy chill was sent down his spine, he wasn't alone. "Tonks?" he questioned the darkness.
A cackle was all that was heard. Then there was a voice, "Please Potter, did you think you would live to see your friends?" He recognized it as the voice of Lucius Malfoy.
A second voice cracked the silence. "Oww, is little Potty baby scawed?" it said in a mock voice. It was Bellatrix Lestrange.
"What are you doing here?" he questioned, trying to keep his voice straight.
A laugh spread across the room, there were a lot of people here. "Have you forgotten what day it is?" Malfoy asked. The lights flashed on, revealing at least 50 death eaters. They all cackled evilly. Then Malfoy repeated his question, "Have you forgotten what day it is?"
Harry looked at the figure the voice was coming from. Funny, I remember Malfoy taller then that…
"ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!" the crowd threw off their hoods revealing all of Harry's friends and Order members. A wave of relief spread over Harry. Some people laughed, he looked over to where Malfoy's voice had come from to see Tonks, doubled up in laughter. She could mimic voices.
"Harry, Happy Birthday Mate!" Ron had appeared wearing black robes; "this was actually Hermione's idea. She didn't want to go through with it because she was afraid you'd get mad." Ron looked at him hopefully.
"No, this was bloody brilliant!" he said, halfway between a laugh and a smile. The party was amazing. There was food and many faces to become acquainted with. After everyone had eaten and talked themselves sore, they sat Harry down and presented him with gifts one by one. Moody had given him a belt attachable wand holder so that he wouldn't "blow off his arse" as Ron so adequately put it. Lupin had given him a book called "The History of Lycanotrophy" which had a detailed history of werewolves and how the first one had been created. Ron had given him a knife just like the one Sirius had given him so long ago. Ginny had given him some hair-care products and the Weasley twins had supplied him with a package full of every item invented by them. Including all of their magical defensive explosives and such.
He received a lot but he was a little detached from the party for a long time. He only waited for Hermione's gift. But it never came. He couldn't find her anyway. She never came to the party. He asked Ron where she was.
"I don't know, she is here but I don't know, try her and Ginny's room." He replied, a little tiredly.
He found her in her room. Sitting alone on the bed looking at a picture. He opened the door quietly and made his way over to her, sneaking slowly so she wouldn't hear him. He snuck behind her and looked at the picture she was staring at. It was a picture of him and her. Walking alone with his arm over her and her head resting on his chest. Both of them laughing quietly. It was splotched with tears. Her tears. "Why did I expect you to love me?" she cried.
Harry put his arms around her and whispered in her ear, "Because I do."
She looked around wildly to see him there, sitting with the most incredible look in his eyes. She stared into them and saw no fear. She saw regret, and hope, and a longing, for what she did not know, but she saw love. Harry felt his chest constrict, and an invisible force pulled at his chest, like a steel cable connecting his heart to hers. He brought his fingers up to her face and stroked her cheek, the longing in his heart now apparent through his emerald eyes.
The force connecting them surged more and he knew she felt it too. His hand moved to her hair stroking it gently. "Why do people call it bushy?" he thought, "Its so beautiful and flowing, not at all bushy."
The force surged again drawing them closer. Hermione's tear shining cheeks shined as the light reflected off them. They were inches away now. She looked so beautiful this close, he thought.
The force surged a final time, stronger than ever before. Harry leaned in and kissed her. Gently, but deeply. Her lips were soft and warm, a little moist, without lipstick, but with her own natural flavor. She tasted of vanilla and cream. So clean and pure, untainted by anything. His tongue brushed across her lower lip and she opened and allowed it entrance. They were locked together now. She ran her hands through his hair. He held her around the waist and pulled her closer to him.
Then she pushed him away. It stopped and the connection broke and no longer surged. "Harry," she started, "Do you really mean it? Do you really love me?"
He was not hesitant, "Of course I do, I love you with all my heart and I want nothing more than to be with you. And believe me, I never wanted to tell you no."
"Then what made you?" she asked hesitantly, her eyes shining with hope and heartache at the same time.
"I didn't want you to get hurt," he said quietly his eyes on the floor, "But I understand if you have moved on." He stood to leave, his eyes still on the ground. She moved to him swiftly, and before he could take a step she pushed his chin up. "Harry, I love you and I could never move on."
Then she reached up to him, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him again. His lips were soft and smooth, with an innocence that still maintained there even after the evil things that had plagued his life. They tasted like marshmallow and sugar, sweet and alluring. And his scent filled her nostrils, entrancing her even more. He smelled of soap and of a Quidditch field. He smelled like meadow rain on a fresh spring day with a hint of lemon. She had her hands on his chest and she never wanted the connection to end.
Too bad for her, stupid Ron did. "FINALLY!" he said loudly, causing them both to jump, he grinned and ducked as Harry chucked a pillow at him. Harry waved his wand and muttered, "colloportus."
The door slammed shut and clicked, signifying that it was locked. Harry then realized how tired he was and collapsed onto the bed. "That's my bed, you know," Hermione's voice played music within his ears.
"Well I'm not moving so you can just climb in with me," he grunted, his voice muffled by the pillow his face was buried in.
"Gladly," she said, lying down next to him. Harry moved his head to face her. They stared at each other and then he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her to him. She put her hands around his waist and buried her head in his chest. She never wanted that scent to leave her mind; it was her heaven. Harry bent down and kissed her forehead, "I love you, Hermione Jane Granger."
"I love you too, Harry James Potter," she said sighing with passion. They both drifted into sleep, neither moving from their embrace. For once, they both felt eternal bliss.
A/N: Awwww. I made myself cry. This really made me happy. I wasn't planning on making them come together soon. Bet you weren't expecting that part with the death eaters? AND I bet you thought Ron would be angry! But no, Ron is with Luna. Next Chapter: a look into R/L probably from Ron and Luna's POVs. And something extra special when Harry forgets to buy something at Diagon and has to make a trip back. With a full escort…hint hint.
-->