ᵇᵃⁿᵏⁱⁿᵍ ᵒⁿ ʰᵉʳ ; ʰᵃʳᵐⁱᵒⁿᵉ

Chapter Eight

Chapter 8

Tonks wondered if today was the day where she crossed the line. Not that it would stop her, she fully intended to follow her charge when he went to meet his godfather. That Harry's godfather was the most wanted man in Britain, and she was an auror, were just mere details amongst the grander scheme of things. There was no way Harry Potter was getting out of her sight.

She had been pleasantly surprised how quickly she'd been accepted by everyone in the castle, professors and students alike. The better professors had fallen on Tonks' capabilities and used her like an unpaid teaching assistant. Since she was in the class anyway, the auror was only too happy to oblige. Charms, Transfiguration, Defence and Herbology were all fun classes for her, History and Divination though were a complete waste of time while, even though she was an auror, Tonks wasn't about to go anywhere near those things Hagrid was breeding. Potions had become a futile exercise in detente, Snape hated them, they hated the potions professor but neither could avoid the other completely.

Harry had also played it quite smart by inviting his friends back to his rooms, letting them see for themselves just exactly what was going on there. She did have to do a sweep after the Weasley twins visit, discovering a few little surprises they had deliberately left behind. Tonks was still waiting on an opportunity to return said items, it had to be public though and it had to be funny. It was all a matter of timing.

At least the Malfoy situation had calmed somewhat. Tonks was sure the little git must have received a letter from home by now, she would have given a month's salary to read it, or watch while Draco did. One thing a little pureblood git like him should have known, never mess with the head of an ancient and noble family.

Doing so could lead to sanctions that could seriously hurt the Malfoy's social standing, especially after Draco and his mother were cast from the Black family. Tonks would give up another month's pay from the Black family vault to have been a fly on the Malfoy wall the morning that particular letter was delivered.

Come to think of it, she was being paid twice over and not getting out the castle to spend any of her gold. She decided that was a good thing. At the end of this she just might lose her job, having some gold in the bank couldn't hurt.

-oOoOo-

Harry was also worried about today. Sirius may not have been there to look after him when he was growing up but his godfather seemed determined to make amends now. By signing his betrothal and appointing Tonks the Black family regent, Sirius had, knowingly or not, provided some much needed protection for both Hermione and him. He'd also provided another income for Tonks in case she lost her job over this, something Harry was very grateful for.

Now he was going to have to tell his godfather just what he was intending, not a conversation he was looking forward to. Would Sirius be disappointed with him, would he think this was a cowardly way out? Harry just didn't know Sirius well enough to make any kind of accurate guess as to how today would go. He was just glad Hermione was going to be at his side for this, Harry felt he was able to face anything with her support.

He did feel rather bad about Ron, or more so his own reaction to discovering that their friend also had his Hogsmead privileges revoked. He was relieved that an almost certain conflict had been avoided. There was no way Ron could listen in to what they would be discussing today and Harry hadn't been looking forward to telling him that they needed time alone. That idea would have been about as popular to Ron as one of Hagrid's blast ended Skrewt's.

They would just have to make sure they left some time to actually go into Hogsmead and visit Honeydukes. To return with nothing would appear suspicious, and some chocolate frogs would go a long way to easing Ron's pain at missing the outing. Their friend didn't seem to mind that Harry was once more elevated to the position as the student who had made McGonagall the angriest, it was amazing how quickly that story had flashed around the castle considering there were very few witnesses.