Harry let out a sigh as he leaned back against his seat on the Hogwarts express, staring out the window, enjoying the beautiful views that were passing him by. So far it seemed like that was his best option to pass the time as he wasn't really enjoying the company he was getting from Hermione and Ron. Ron had initially tried to keep the conversation going by challenging Harry to a game of chess but he didn't seem to understand the idea of Harry not wanting to play chess the entire ride, eventually the red head had settled into eating while reading a quidditch magazine of some sort, or at least he had done for a while. As for Hermione, she had originally started the ride by immersing herself into a few books but eventually she had put them down and was now trying her best to talk to him, what that actually meant was that she was trying her best to justify her actions to him.
"And I really was only trying to do what I thought was best for you!" Hermione said, seeming desperate for him to believe her.
"I believe you Hermione, but you still betrayed my trust and tried to send me back to my own personal hell." Harry grunted as he stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get some air." He said before walking out of the compartment. "I was only doing what I thought was best." He muttered in a passable imitation of Hermione's voice as he walked to the toilets.
'Why on Earth does she think she knows better than us?' Venom growled.
'She is pretty smart,' Harry admitted.
'She's also a thirteen year old girl,' Venom reminded him. 'Let's not forget last year as well, Miss Brains was too busy fawning over Lockhart to realise how much of an idiot he was.'
'True,' Harry agreed, thinking back on his second year, for as much as Hermione liked to accuse Harry and Ron for being idiots, she was hardly the perfect example of intelligence when she refused to admit that Lockhart was a fraud. 'Either way, it doesn't matter.'
'You're right, because now nobody tells us what to do.'
'Nobody,' Harry repeated before noticing Malfoy sitting in a compartment with Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson, the four hadn't appeared to have noticed him. Harry, not being in the mood for another yearly train visit from Malfoy, pulled his wand out and cast several locking charms on the door before walking past, he was pretty sure that none of them would know how to counter his spells since the spells he had used weren't taught until fourth year, one of the benefits of having Venom on his side was that his learning ability had improved vastly. He was already pretty smart, but with Venom he was never able to forget anything and was able to learn much faster than before.
'How long before you think they realise that the door's locked?' Venom chuckled.
'Hopefully whenever Draco needs the toilet,' Harry grinned while Venom started laughing loudly in his head. As Harry walked down the train he spotted a tall boy standing and talking with a small, younger girl. Harry would guess that the boy was a year or two older than him. The girl on the other hand, looked like she was a bit younger than Harry. She had straggly, waist-length dirty-blond hair, a dreamy look on her face.
"Are you serious?" The older boy snorted derisively, staring down at her like she was something that he wanted to scrape off of his shoes.
"Oh yes, the Crumple-Horned Snorkack is definitely real. " The girl said in an airy voice as she looked straight up at the boy, either not noticing or caring about the way he was looking at her. "My father and I are sure of it, we're going camping this year to try and find them."
"She had to have gotten her crazy from somewhere," The boy muttered to himself before looking down at the silver necklace the girl was wearing. "That's a nice necklace," He said in a conversational voice.
"Oh thank you," The girl managed to get out before the boy reached for it, she quickly took a step back. "Please don't touch it," She said quickly.
"Why not?" The boy scoffed, continuing to reach.
"Hey," Harry called, causing the boy to stop. "Back off of her." He said as he stopped next to them.
"Get lost, Potter." The boy rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to Luna, he moved forwards but didn't get to do anything as Harry stopped in front of him and stood between him and the girl.
"Take one more step and you're not going to like how this ends," Harry warned him.
"Oh really, and what are you going to do?" The boy asked challengingly. Harry narrowed his eyes and moved even closer, staring directly into the other's boys eyes.
"Do you really want to find out?" He asked in a low voice that seemed to echo slightly. The older boy stared at him for a moment before mumbling something under his breath.
"Better watch yourself, Potter." He whispered before turning and walking away.
"You okay?" Harry asked the younger girl.
"Hmm, I am, thank you, Harry Potter." She said with a dreamy smile, her head swaying from side to side.
"What's your name?" Harry asked.
"Luna Lovegood, though everyone calls me 'Looney'." She answered honestly.
"Right...well...I'm going to stick with Luna." Harry said after a moment.
"If you prefer," Luna shrugged, sounding quite unbothered by his decision to use her real name. "Anyway, I'll be going back to my compartment now. Goodbye Harry Potter." She said, waving at him before turning around and skipping down the train, humming as she did so.
'You humans are so weird,' Venom told Harry.
'Trust me, I know.'
"Mrs Tonks," Harry said as he approached Andromeda on the train station after giving his goodbye's to Hermione and Ron. "Hello, it's good to see you."
"You too," She smiled at him. "Where's your owl?" She asked curiously, noticing that Harry only seemed to have his trunk and an empty owl cage.
"Oh, Hedwig isn't really a big fan of staying in a cage for a long time, especially on the train ride so I let her fly instead." Harry explained.
"Where is she going then?" Andromeda asked.
"Wherever we're going," Harry shrugged.
"She knows where we're going?"
"She'll find us," Harry said confidently without a shred of doubt. "She can always find me." He added proudly.
'She's smart like that.' Venom said, equally as proud.
"Oh," Andromeda blinked. "If you're sure. Anyway, follow me to the apparition point. I don't think you've ever apparated before."
"Not really," Harry fibbed as he followed after her.
"So, you lied to me," Andromeda said once the pair landed in her back garden, the words escaping from her mouth not even a second after Harry took in the grass and wooden fences surrounding him.
"Huh?" Harry asked unintelligently.
"You said that you never apparated before, if that was the case then you would have at the very least been struggling to keep your food in your stomach, you look mildly uncomfortable at best and I reckon that's only because I'm the one that did it." She said with a small smirk. "You're not a bad liar though." She complimented him.
"Sorry, Mrs Tonks," Harry apologised. "I just...well...I did it once by accident when I was still in primary school and I've done it a few times since."
"You shouldn't be doing that, it's dangerous," Andromeda sighed. "You could end up splinching yourself."
"What's that mean?" Harry asked curiously.
"It means you leave part of yourself behind, the first time I tried it I ended up leaving behind a toenail which wasn't too bad in comparison to others, some people end up in hospital because they've lost entire limbs."
"Whoa," Harry blinked. "That doesn't sound great, but I think I've got it worked down, Mrs Tonks. I've done it plenty of times with no problems."
"Still, I'd prefer it if you don't do it again until you've had lessons," Andromeda sighed.
"Umm...Miss Tonks, won't the neighbours notice if we apparate into the back garden?" Harry asked, noticing the neighbouring houses.
"They will not, we have plenty of wards and spells all around the house. We can set off a small explosion in the living room and they wouldn't even hear it, trust me, Nymphadora has done so multiple times." She added with a shrug before she walked into the house.
"Oh, umm...is Tonks here?" Harry asked as he walked into the house after her.
"She should be, unless she's doing overtime at work." Andromeda answered as she guided him to the living room.
"Mum," A familiar voice called. A few seconds later Tonks walked into the room, Harry's eyes widened immediately as he took in Tonks who had apparently just come out of the shower given that she was seemingly wearing nothing besides a long towel that she had wrapped around her chest, her pink hair was still a bit wet and was clinging to her back.
'Don't stare dumbass!' Venom hissed into the head of Harry whose cheeks had turned red, the young wizard quickly ducked his head before turning around, suddenly finding the wallpaper to be very interesting.
"There you are. Mum, have you seen..." Tonks paused and trailed off as she finally noticed that there was somebody else in the room.
"Nymphadora," Andromeda spoke in an amused tone. "You remember Harry, don't you?"
"Harry, what are you doing here?" Tonks blurted out in a confused voice.
"Umm...trying to not look at the moment." He answered honestly.
"Huh?" Tonks blinked before taking a second to remember that the only thing protecting her modesty at the moment was a white towel. "Oh," She said intelligently before stepping back. "I think it's best if I get changed."
"Probably," Andromeda agreed in a dry voice. Tonks sent her mother a small nod before turning around and rushing out of the room.
"Well, that was a perfect amount of awkward, wasn't it?" Harry asked. "Anyway, where is Mr Tonks?" He asked.
"Oh, he's currently at work, you'll be seeing him later this evening." Andromeda answered. "Anyway, let's get on with the house tour."
"So, Mum," Tonks asked as they sat by the dinner table with a plate of chicken pasta each. "Why is Harry here? Not that I'm complaining," She said, adding the last part to Harry who was sitting opposite her.
"Let's just say that his relatives were unable to look after him so I offered him the chance to stay with us for the summer, I hope that's not a problem?" Andromeda said, giving Tonks a questioning look.
"If it is then I will be perfectly fine staying somewhere else," Harry quickly cut in.
"No, it's not a problem." Tonks said quickly, not wanting Harry to think she didn't want him here.
"Are you sure? Because I honestly don't mind if you want me to..."
"Harry, I promise you that it's fine, I'm just surprised that you're here to be honest." Tonks replied. "Though, truth be told, I am glad that you're away from those relatives of yours. I can tell that you don't like them."
"If you met them then you wouldn't like them either," Harry snorted. "I honestly am surprised that other muggles like them."
"Harry," Tonks said, in a slow voice. "I...well...I just wanted to let you know that if your relatives have ever done anything to really hurt you then you can tell me, you can tell us. If you want then I can have charges set against them, could probably get them sent to jail.
"Hmm," Harry hummed, a thoughtful look on his face. He obviously wasn't going to admit that the Dursley's were done but knew that he had to at least act like he thought that they were still alive. "Can I think about it?" He asked in a quiet voice.
"Of course," Tonks smiled at him before bringing a forkful of pasta into her mouth. "Hmm!" She moaned appreciatively. "That's good."
"Congratulations." Andromeda told Harry before turning to Tonks who looked confused. "It was Harry who cooked this up for us."
"Oh, really?" Tonks asked Harry.
"It was nothing," He said dismissively. "It's just a little thank you for letting me stay here."
"Harry, if you keep cooking like this then we're keeping you here for life." Tonks grinned before putting another forkful of pasta in her mouth.
"A bit early for a marriage proposal, don't you think?" Andromeda asked in an amused voice, resulting in Tonks choking on her food.
"Evening," A voice said just as a brown haired man in a blue suit walked into the room. "Rough day at the office and...oh...you must be Harry." He said, upon noticing Harry sitting at the table.
"Um...yes, Sir," Harry said quickly as he stood up and extended his hand. "I'm Harry, Harry Potter."
"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Ted, and I know exactly who you are," The man grinned. "You'd be my wife's favourite student."
"Oh," Harry blinked, having been expecting something about him being the boy-who-lived. "Umm...does she have many students?"
"Not really, though I have had a few over the years, and I must say that you are by far my absolute favourite." Andromeda smiled warmly.
"High praise," Ted said, playfully nudging Harry. "Please, Mr Potter, sit down. No need to stand for me." He said while walking around the table to plant a kiss on his wife's forehead and then ruffling Tonks's hair before sitting down opposite Andromeda. "Please, sit." He said, gesturing Harry to sit down.
"Thank you, Mr Tonks." Harry said as he sat down.
"Please, call me Ted." Ted told him while Andromeda got up to go and get a plate for Ted.
"Thanks, please call me Harry, when people call me ;Mr Potter' it makes me feel like I'm in trouble."
"Do you often get into trouble?" Ted asked, sounding more curious than judging.
"Not on purpose," Harry answered before frowning. "Mostly anyway. For the most part I just try to get through my school year as quietly as possible."
"I often find myself wishing that others tried that," Ted said, shooting an amused look at Tonks who maturely stuck her tongue out at him.
"So, can I ask what you do, Ted?" Harry asked whilst taking a bite of pasta.
"I'm a lawyer," Ted answered. "The company I work at mostly works in the muggle world but they also operate in the magical one." He added just as Andromeda placed a plate full of pasta in front of him. "Thanks dear," He said before taking a forkful of it and eating it. "Hmm, that's brilliant."
"You'll have to thank Harry for that," Andromeda smiled as she made her way back to her seat. "He's the one that made it."
"You made this?" Ted asked Harry with an surprised look on his face.
"Yes, I did," Harry nodded. Ted stared at him for a moment before he turned to Tonks.
"Marry this boy," He whispered to her.
'Impressive,' Venom said inside of Harry's head. 'You have managed to impress both the mother and the father, we're one step closer to claiming Tonks as our own.' He added, causing Harry to blush alongside Tonks.