Disclaimer: Any characters you recognize from the first 6 books in the Harry Potter series by J K Rowling belong to the aforementioned J K Rowling. I am simply playing with them for my amusement, and to see what kind of reaction I can get.
(32) House Hunting
"Ummmm … well, it's a little bit complicated …" Hermione started.
"Simplify it!" Dan demanded, interrupting her hesitant response.
Harry inherited his title on his birthday, the title used to belong to his Grandfather. Goblin Banking Laws, because of our connection to each other, recognize me as Harry's … wife … spouse, whatever … when we arranged for his Passport he … we were given the option of going by Lord and Lady Gryffindor. I sort of talked Harry into it so there wouldn't be a specific record of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger leaving the country together."
You are going to need more than one piece of identification to get through Customs; do you have anything else that indicates Gryffindor?" Asked Emma. Hermione reached into Harry's pocket and pulled out two credit cards, passing them to her Mum.
Dan snickered, murmuring softly, "She's got a stranglehold on the family fortune already." Emma glared at him and he became quiet, but Harry burst out laughing, whether from Emma's stare or Dan's comment, only Harry knew for sure.
"These cards are for real … right?" Emma asked, wondering whether to try to bite the corner of a card to find out if it was real plastic. "Have you tried them out yet?"
"No actually, we only just got them, why don't you let me pay the balance on the tickets, then we'll all know if they work properly."
"There must be some limit on those new cards, it can't be enough to cover these tickets," said Dan in a concerned voice.
"Ragnok said as long as we didn't try to buy a yacht or a hotel there shouldn't be a problem. The travel agent you used, is that the one beside the real estate office over there." Hermione said pointing towards the kitchen."
"Yes," said Dan, "Why?"
"Harry and I have to go house hunting tomorrow, and we would like your help selecting a place." Said Hermione.
Both Emma and Dan looked disturbingly at the couple snuggling between them. Harry, realizing the problem, answered, "The flat is for my Aunt … not us. We've still got a year of school to go anyway. I don't know what sort of questions to ask or what price is reasonable, thus, your help would be appreciated." Hermione's parents both nodded in acceptance.
The Grangers had brought supper home with them in anticipation of the evenings long discussions. When the microwave chimed they made their way to the kitchen. It took Harry a few minutes to get moving as he had to wait to get some feeling back in his legs before they would support him. Hermione took pity and helped steady him on the short trip to the kitchen while Dan and Emma snickered.
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Saturday Aug 2
Last night before going to sleep, Harry concentrated on his hair, to have it longer and thicker across the front, and the sides and back lengthened to the level of his chin, which would keep it off his shoulders. The colour, he needed to change it from black, Weasley red was out, Malfoy platinum blonde was definitely out as was Luna blonde, he settled on brown, but much darker than Hermione's. Harry kept running this through his mind as he slept, as if repeatedly chanting a mantra.
In the morning, Harry suddenly awakened to a screaming Hermione as he was being shoved off the side of the bed. She had leapt out of bed, pushing him off the other side in the process; she moved away from him, her back to the wall and her wand, or something resembling it, which had somehow found its way to her hand, pointed in his direction. Harry thrashed around on the floor for a bit in panic, trying to untangle himself from the bedding, before he could poke his head up over the side of the bed. She was still screaming at the top of her lungs, and what a wonderful pair of lungs she had. They hadn't used a silencing charm last night, though their bedroom door was locked. A moment later Harry heard Dan and Emma stampeding down the hall and coming closer, undoubtedly in answer to Hermione's screaming. Harry waved his hand at their bedroom door to unlock it and it swung open just as her parents reached it.
Hermione's unconscious mind noted the strangers' actions, it would take a minute for the logic of the situation to reach her conscious mind and allow her to realize the stranger must somehow be Harry.
Her parents entered the room at full speed, Dan dove over the bed in an attempt to tackle the stranger whilst Emma rushed to Hermione to comfort and calm her. Emma had placed herself between Hermione and the stranger which didn't allow Hermione to immediately see what happened next.
Harry held out his hand, palm up, and Dan stopped in mid dive, suspended mostly above the bed. Harry rotated his hand, aligning Dan with the bed, petrified him and lowered him onto the bed gently. All Dan could do was move his eyes and breathe. Harry began to stand up and said, "Hermione, dear, what's the matter?"
Emma turned around, still shielding her daughter, to face the sound of Harry's voice, what she saw made her eyes bulge for a moment as she took him all in. Wearing only his boxers she could see impressive arm, chest and leg muscles … not nearly enough to make the covers of those fitness magazines, but then, they were ridiculous anyway. He must be Harry, but his face was all wrong until he put on his glasses, but still, he was wrong. It took her a moment to realize that his hair was wrong, the colour was a dark brown, not black and it was almost down to his shoulders. Hermione had struggled to peek around her Mum by this time and she too was gawking at the not quite Harry. Hermione recognized the body and the voice and while the glasses helped, his face was wrong, no the face was okay, the hair was wrong, it was dark brown, and much longer than last night.
Harry stretched out his arm and a robe came to him, he levitated it over to Hermione, she grabbed it out of the air and dropped it over her head in one smooth automatic motion, Harry then conjured one for himself.
Hermione summoned a mirror and levitated it over to … Harry? … then she asked. "Please explain yourself, you frightened me near to death … you almost got yourself killed too." Emma moved beside her daughter with an inquisitive look at the young girl … no … woman … she grudgingly admitted to herself. Hermione pointed her wand at her Father and gave it a swish, releasing him from the petrification charm.
"Oh … good … it worked." Harry voiced, "It needs to be combed, but that's what I had in mind."
"What do you mean 'that's what I had in mind', what were you trying to do?" asked Hermione.
"Well you said we should change our appearance for the trip, so we wouldn't be recognized." Harry answered.
"Yes … I remember … I assumed we'd use some sort of glamour charm … that's no glamour charm … that's real hair Harry!" She said angrily.
"I thought about changing my hair length and colour last night. I made a mental image of what I wanted it to look like in the morning and I concentrated on it overnight." Harry replied as if it should be utterly obvious. "Have you never done that?"
"No, I've never done that, no one can do that … except for …"and she stopped speaking abruptly.
"Tonks." Said Harry. "Oh my …" Dan and Emma were looking back and forth between their daughter and Harry.
Finally Emma spoke up, "Tonks is the one that can change her hair colour at will, isn't she?"
"That's not all she can change," responded Hermione, "She morphed into me once that I know of, and Remus and a pig and a goat and a hag … oh my God. When did you find out you were a Metamorphmagus? Daddy you can get up now."
"I am … I mean I didn't know … I knew I could grow my hair … sort of … I didn't know I could do it on demand. I've only done it the once before." Stuttered Harry. Dan was still looking back and forth between Harry and his daughter; he had no intention of getting up … this was too much fun to watch.
"Harry!" she exclaimed, her voice full of exasperation, "You only talked to a snake once! … before the Dueling Club … When did you grow your hair?" Demanded Hermione.
Harry felt he was back in courtroom ten with the entire Wizengamot cross examining him. "A couple of years before Hogwarts … that year … just before Public School was to start, Vernon had my hair cut so short I was almost bald … I was so mad, and embarrassed, that it all grew back in overnight … exactly the way it was before it was cut. You can't imagine how mad Uncle Vernon was when he saw me in the morning."
"And you never thought to … mention this to anyone, I suppose?" Hermione sounded quite sharp in her response. "Daddy, I said you can get up now."
"I don't want to … unless I'm in danger here?" Dan replied while he lay there.
"If you can grow your hair like that you can probably change or grow other things," said Hermione as her mind wandered over his body contemplating the idea. When her eyes reached his crotch, her mind went into overdrive just before shutting down. Her face became as red as a ripe cherry tomato and her parents could see where she was looking.
Both Dan and Emma were blushing almost as much as Hermione when Emma said, "Dan! … come with me, we're going to make breakfast … NOW! … move it!" Emma grabbed his arm, nearly pulling him off the bed as she marched out of the bedroom.
Hermione's mind eventually calmed down, though her heart rate was only just beginning to slow. "They didn't say anything about us being in the same bed with almost nothing on." Whispered Hermione. "We need to find Tonks and find out if there is some way to test you or find out what you can actually do … maybe Luna … no she might have only seen the one image of you as an animal and not realized that you could be so much more. Hermione had made her way to Harry's desk when she said, "Harry get showered and changed, I'll write a note to Tonks, maybe she can come by this evening … and we need to have a long talk … to find out what else you might be unaware of. You might be hiding 'The power he knows not' somewhere in your past."
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Later Saturday morning Harry and the three Grangers went out apartment hunting for Aunt Petunia. First they stopped at the Travel Agency, conferred with Carol, the agent that the tickets had been booked through. They made the required changes and Hermione pulled out her credit card to pay.
Harry noticed Carol watching Hermione's left hand when it dawned on him that there was no wedding ring there. "It's being resized, it was too large." Harry said, that seemed to ease Carol's confusion. Hermione looked at Harry for a moment before it dawned on her, exactly what he meant. Dan and Emma looked at each other and nodded. The transaction went through without a hitch, the tickets and Itinerary were printed out and the deal was done.
Going next door, they found Peter, the rentals agent. The four of them had gone over the pictures and information on the flats for Harry's Aunt the night before and in a few minutes they were on their way to view the first one. They narrowed their selection down to a flat and a small house. The final decision was based on location, Petunia, when she got back from her cruise, would now have a small house. With the insurance money she would likely get from the house in Surrey, she could decide whether to continue renting or not, the house was ultimately for sale. The owners had moved out long ago and the house had been rented on and off over the last two years. It turned out to be a long walk away from the Grangers home, but quite near some stores in a quiet neighbourhood. Harry had felt some magic in the house; it didn't feel dark so he didn't concern himself with it.
One of the nearby shops was an Optometrist; Hermione hauled Harry in there and got him some contact lenses to match the prescription of his glasses.
When they arrived back home, Hermione took Harry into the bathroom and proceeded to trim his hair in a few specific places, then handed him a mirror so he could see the changes she had made. That way he could keep the hair at that length and style by himself. With the longer brown hair and contacts, Harry looked completely different.
By suppertime Hedwig had returned with a response from Tonks that if it was alright, both she and Remus would arrive about seven o'clock that evening.
As the time approached Hermione was in front of a full length mirror in her bedroom with Harry and her Mum watching as she tried out some glamour charms to change her appearance.
You could never mistake Tonks arrival, there was a loud crash. Remus appeared behind the remains of the fallen garden shed that Tonks somehow managed to knock down again. As Tonks emerged from under the rubble, Dan opened the back door. Remus helped Tonks up and then pointed his wand at the remains of the garden shed before he muttered 'Reparo'. The shed was again restored.
Once inside, neither Tonks nor Remus recognized Harry at first until he greeted them. Tonks asked, "Where are your glasses Harry?"
"Hermione confiscated them and got me contacts to wear instead." He said. "Part of her idea to change our looks for the trip."
Hermione then enlightened Tonks on her wake-up fright this morning. Remus spoke up in sympathy with Hermione as he recalled several episodes where Tonks had morphed overnight to fit in with her dreams and he woke up to a stranger attempting to kiss him in the morning. The first few times it was frightening, after that it was still disconcerting. "Now I just go along with it. If I woke up with Delores Umbridge in our bed tomorrow morning, I would flinch for obvious reasons, but I don't think I'd jump away." Said Remus. Harry laughed while Hermione looked at them both in shock.
"Harry, have you ever had to shave?" asked Tonks.
"A couple of times back in fifth year I used a charm to remove the fuzz. I remember thinking it was rather of a nuisance and wishing I didn't have to bother with it."
"And you haven't since … is that right Harry?"
"I guess not, I forgot about it soon after that, no I haven't done it since."
"I don't suppose you've had a chance to read up on Metamorphmagi since this only came to light this morning. There have been various levels of abilities in the past. Some Metamorphs have only been able to change certain parts of their anatomy such as hair, head, arms, legs, skin colour and texture such as scales or fur. Some, like me, can morph their entire body into something or someone else. Tonks proceeded to transform into Crookshanks. The morphing process took about a minute since it was such a drastic change. The real Crookshanks, who was curled up on Hermione's lap, suddenly stood, back raised, tail straight up and fluffed, then began hissing at Tonks being an image of himself.
Tonks morphed again, this time into Professor McGonagall, except with pink hair, before continuing, "I've always liked pink hair," which sounded very strange coming from someone resembling and sounding like Minerva. "My Mother first suspected my abilities when I was just five, I had asked her to charm my hair pink the night before, but she wouldn't. Mom tried to explain that pink was just not an acceptable colour for hair. I was five, I liked pink, what can I say … in the morning I had a full head of pink hair. When Mom couldn't cancel the spell, she became suspicious, she knew there had been some Metamorphs way back in the Black family, years and years ago. Harry, you had a Grandfather named Charlus Potter, he married Dorea Black sometime in the late 1930's I think, so you could have some or all of the Metamorph genes in you too."
"Anyway … I guess Mom talked to some people or looked something up, because much later that day we started playing what I thought was a game. It started with changing the colour of my fingernails and toenails, then the shape. By bedtime I had four different shaped toe nails and my fingernails were all different colours. When she tucked me in, she suggested I change my hair colour to green or purple for the morning.
I couldn't make up my mind between green and purple, I didn't really like either colour that much. The next morning I woke up with hair that was streaked green and purple and still had pink tips, it was grotesque, although by today's standards all I would have had to do was spike it with some mousse and I'd fit right in with the teenage Muggles." Most everyone laughed.
Harry was listening to Tonks and when she was done talking about the fingernails; he thought he'd try one. He picked the fingernail on the smallest finger of his right hand and concentrated on it. He immediately decided that pink wouldn't show up very well so he concentrated on light blue. After a while, nothing seemed to be happening so he put his hand down and went back to concentrating on Tonks dissertation.
Tonks rambled on for several minutes before divulging that initial changes to her fingernails took up to an hour and with practice, lots of practice, her body became used to the process and it became much easier and faster. "It takes time to morph, much the same as Polyjuice potion takes a minute or so to change someone's appearance."
"Talking about changing appearances … Harry was taking a longer time than the rest of us to change into his Animagus form." Hermione then asked, "Could it actually be a Metamorphmagus form?"
Tonks Queried, "Harry has an Animagus form?"
"And who is 'us' … you, I know about … do you mean Ron, Luna, Ginny and Neville as well?" Asked Remus. Hermione silently nodded her head.
"Yes … please don't tell anyone … if we're forced to register then Voldemort will find out, and any advantage of surprise is lost." Hermione asked in a hesitant voice. Remus and Tonks cringed slightly at her use of the name Voldemort.
"Six unregistered Animagi," Remus wheezed, "and Harry might be a Metamorphmagus … oh, there will be hell to pay at the end of all this."
Tonks talked for a few minutes on the differences between an Animagus a Metamorphmagus and Polyjuice. Dan asked what would happen if he were to take Polyjuice potion. Neither Tonks or Remus knew for certain, but they did agree that the results could be bad.
When Tonks appeared to be finished Harry again looked at his fingernail and he could just see the pale blue starting to infuse into it. Harry held out his pinkie finger towards Hermione stating, "I think it's starting to turn blue."
Tonks reached out and pulled Harry's hand over to herself, so she could examine it. "You were thinking baby blue … correct?" she asked.
"Well … light blue, yes." Was Harry's response.
"Hermione, it took me a couple of years to be able to change as fast as I do, so the more practice he gets the better. Another point, I was at the age of five when I started, I had no preconceived ideas that some things were impossible. Try having him put little dots of colour all over himself, like a bad case of full body pimples. If there are any areas that he can't colour that way then they are unlikely to be able to morph either. That ought to keep you two busy until school starts. There is only one book on Metamorphmagi in the Hogwarts Library. It's pretty good … anything you can't find in there, I should be able to answer. This could be fun to have two Metamorphs around." Tonks started to morph again, this time into Harry, with his glasses and normal length hair, except in pink.
Remus said, "Don't expect me to kiss you when you look like that." Which prompted Tonks to Morph into a toothless, wart faced Hag approximating the look in Muggle children's fairy tales. Remus shook his head sadly, then spoke to Hermione, "Do you have any idea what could be in that can of worms you just opened up?"
As Tonks and Remus were about to leave Harry mentioned, "We've found a small house for Aunt Petunia that's near here. If you could bring her belongings there and expand them for her this week that would be appreciated." Remus said that he would have some time after the Will reading on Monday, then he and Tonks left for home, watching someone become polka dotted was not their idea of fun.
Harry was fascinated by his new possibilities, however, it was Hermione that took charge and took a lot of the fun out of it by keeping track of every little coloured dot. That proved to be the fun part and they spent most of the daylight hours in the backyard pool while Hermione helped Harry learn to swim. Harry insisted that turnabout was fair and that he should be able to make sure that none of his coloured dots were contagious and appearing on her.
Over the course of the weekend there were a fair few family discussions as Harry or Hermione would bring up some of their lesser adventures or her parents would ask questions. The weekends discussion topics also brought up their annual holiday, which this year turned out to be in Belize. What with the teens busy schedule over most of the summer the topic of holidays had been assumed, but never came up.