Never In his Life

Chapter 9: A Date?

Maybe he shouldn't have drawn that, because now everybody knew. The "blame" was to put on Ginny, who thought of it as a huge surprise and passed it around. How could Harry face Tonks this way? To her, he was just a childish kid lusting after a pretty Auror. An older woman. But all of this above was what happened inside his head, without any doubt, Harry's mind was very wrong sometimes. For one, Tonks didn't see him as a child, nor did she treat him like one. At the same time, he wasn't lusting after her, not really.

There was a difference between love and lust. They would eventually figure it out unless none of them ever made a move, leading them to be friends for the rest of their lives. Hopefully, that was not going to come true. According to Hermione, the brightest witch of her age, Harry and Tonks were made for each other. They probably were, if not neither of them realized. And it wasn't the wrong time for love, although the Dark Lord's rising made the whole world a more dangerous place. If only they decided to try once, even it means they would end up with a breakup.

Harry seriously wanted to ask her out, but he had no choice other than to distance himself from her because of the drawing, "Hermione, what do you suppose I should do? I bet Tonks already hates me by now." he said, two days after the incident.

"Honestly, you didn't do anything wrong except that you ignored her for two days. I would have gone ahead and talked to her if I were you. Believe me, she isn't happy with the fact you're ignoring her."

He muttered "thanks" and went on his way. As Harry walked through the corridors of 12 Grimmauld Place, he bumped into a girl unknowingly. To his "horror", that girl was Nymphadora Tonks, the person he wanted to see least at the time. "Sorry, " he apologized, a little embarrassed. She grabbed his hand before he had a chance to leave.

"Explain why you are sorry, cause I don't think you really are."

"I didn't mean to ignore you. I thought you would hate me for drawing the picture, then I stopped talking to you. Of course, that was a stupid move."

Her eyes softened hearing his words, "Oh Harry, this makes sense, it's not illegal to draw a picture of someone, is it? In fact, Ginny said your drawings are very good! You know she was trying to be helpful, right?"

"Yeah, be helpful by informing everyone about my terrible drawing," but inside, he was not mad at Ginny, not a single bit. "So you have no problems with it?"

"Don't do this again, okay? You are not the type of people able to guess what I think of you."

Finally, things were back to normal, and Harry couldn't be more glad. Besides, this was the perfect time to ask our favorite pink-haired Auror out. Let's help him to gather the courage he needed, and pray that Tonks would not reject him.

"Can I ask you something?" he said without stuttering.

"As long as you don't ask me to do your homework, cuz I can't do that. Other than what I mentioned, yes."

"Anything?"

"Hmm...we'll see."

Harry took a deep breath, "Would you go on a date with me?" Perfect! He patiently waited for Tonks to reply. It was impossible not to get excited. Just as he was waiting, a second of nervousness went over him. The possibility of her saying yes was equivalence to her rejection.

Nymphadora Tonks, being a smart girl, didn't respond with a straight answer immediately, instead, she stared at him playfully as if it was a game, "How would you react if I say no?"

"Remain friends maybe? You have every right to do that and I won't force you into-"

"Stop right there, I never ever said I will reject you." She winked, and Harry quickly got the meaning.

"Wait, you agreed-?"

"It has been a while since I first laid eyes on you. I seeked advice from uncle Sirius no less than three times this summer." Dora winked, what an interesting plot twist in Harry's opinion.

"Unexpecting...I still can't get over the fact that Don't-Call-Me-Nymphadora Tonks agreed to go on a date with me."

"Then why are you call me Nymphadora knowing I hate my name? If you have a mother who gave you-" oops, wrong thing to say...

"My mother is dead."

"Merlin, I'm so sorry! Uncle Sirius once declared, Lily was the most wonderful witch at Hogwarts! Your dad was lucky to meet someone like her."

"Have you seen my parents before?"

"Actually, yes, when you were a baby. Lily allowed me to call her name instead of Mrs. Potter. I only remember her flaming red hair and green eyes. I'm glad you passed the emerald color to you," she said dreamily, "Anyway, where is the date to be set?"

"Voldemort is becoming more powerful, it's not safe outside. So why not here? In this very house?"

"Ohhh! That sounds fun!"

Harry nodded, finally accepting the date was real. How did it happen? It all started with Ginny telling everyone about his drawing of Tonks. He understood what Nymphadora meant, Ginny was trying to be helpful, by playing a matchmaker. If he didn't have a such amazing friend by his side...The chosen one and our dear metamorph would still be nothing. He made sure to thank Ginny right after.

A/N: A Honks one-shots book will come out in 2022. The picture above is from pinterest.