Hi all!

It's been a while, but I hope you enjoy this. Very weird to write this, after so long, but it felt pretty good.

Let me know what you thought.

Thanks!

Warmth filtered through Harry's curtains with increasing intensity as the days of Spring passed, with even the Scottish highlands gaining some seldom-seen warmth, but he himself did not notice, the sole exception being that he dressed without a jumper.

Eikthyrnir, he could sense, enjoyed such warmth, though Harry had began to feel guilt over his friend. So engrossed was he by his studies that he had neglected the outside world almost entirely, his best friend included. He'd occasionally sit upon the waterfront and watch his friend dance upon the lake's surface, though in truth such occasions were short lived.

The great beast, these days, had attracted a crowd wherever it went, both human and animal alike. The attempts of some in studying him were quickly rebuked simply by his own manner. Frogs and toads flocked to his water as it ran so purely, in comparison to the rest of the lake; fish and merfolk followed his path with cautious fascination from beneath the water. Though, none of this compared to the way the bucks and does of the forest had began to watch him with unbroken awe.

The young fauns of spring, in graceful ceremony, were oft brought in front of Eikthyrnir, the wise beast's presence seen by the other deer as a blessing upon their children, their natural timidity forgotten, if only to meet this wonderful creation. And, as Harry had watched this, with his friend's antlers dancing like a jewelled crown, he did not question why.

Where Eikthyrnir's grace and purpose was so beautifully clear, Harry did feel like the fawn that were brought before him. With everything that Grindelwald had brought to the world, the chaos he wrought, for Harry he had brought clarity.

He knew that it would be difficult, but he simply could not use Charms as the rest of his peers would. It would be like asking the winter to be warm, or the days dark or the water dry. He had looked upon himself, and he knew that this ability did not exist there.

And, as he had let go of such an idea, clarity had began to return. With clarity came the Northern Magics.

There was a fluidity to their use that he'd thought on before, but had not truly cultivated. With heat and fire, he could before take in the warmth of magic's hearth and revitalise, but now, as he began to formulate a truer sense, the fire that lived within him, where once it was only his mind's meditation, grew more and more.

The fire burned in his bones and sinew, his arms energised, his mind strengthened and metal-hardened. He could carry around that very warmth he'd once conjured as if his very soul was wreathed in this glorious fire. With water, emboldened by Eikthyrnir's own grace, he too grew clearer, his own heart, once a place of worry, now became calmed.

Tonks spoke truly before. There had been a seismic shift within him, he simply needed the clarity to sense it. With this connection, this honesty he felt with his magic, just as humanity was brought into the world with fire, he too was brought into himself with it. And, just as water was our lifeblood, so too did it prove now for Harry.

The Earth, then, was to be his newest fascination. He did not truly know himself well enough to ponder its depths and its magnitude. He did not know the strength of his bones, of the age of everything that had brought him to where he was then.

The ground that he stood beneath, just as the trees that hung above him and the stars above them, where of an equal age. Each piece of the tapestry of the universe were brothers and sisters in the beginning of everything, united by time and being. The iron in his blood and the carbon in his bones were all of the same age. By the connection of life and magic, they were intertwined. Just as life and magic knitted together the molten rock that ran deep within to the blooming flowers that had began to sprout.

The Earth was alive, born just as he was, a child of the forces that were greater than any comprehension. And, that is how Harry accepted such a force into his own spirit. The Earth would outlast every fibre of him, but magic would outlast both of them. And, the fibres that brought together his being would live in the depths of the Earth, their existence tiny but still, they would live on.

That was how he began, to imagine the tiniest fibre of the ancient Earth, a long-formed and oft-forgotten stone, and to recognise its being. There was no majesty in it, no great value, and yet through the network of existence, when brought together with its peers, it could be truly formidable.

That fibre could live within the deepest ground, or within the palm of Harry's right hand, though it did not matter. If he could move one, he could move the other. And so, he did.

Harry raised his right hand, his wand held firmly within, and from the floor came a pebble-sized rock of no great notion excepting its colouring, that of a pure white.

And, not for the first time, Harry was astounded by the beauty that his life, his magical life, offered him. What he had done was not remotely difficult. Any first year could conjure a stone; it was one of the first things they were taught to do. Perhaps that was the problem, though.

Harry raised his hand again, this time with thoughts of connectivity. If he could move one pebble, why not two?

If not two, why not ten or twenty?

Harry closed his eyes, his brow furrowing in concentration, and as he opened them again, a boulder had formed, floating an inch above his skin, heavy and yet weightless in the grasp of his own magic.

And that, that was the difference.

"They're arranging a party for me." said Harry, by way of greeting, as he slid into the booth, sitting across the table from Tonks.

By no conscious effort, it seemed that he and her had fallen into a routine. Unless something got in the way, they'd meet up in Hogsmeade together, Harry either arriving with his schoolmates or, if it was not a permitted weekend as it was then, by sneaking out underneath his invisibility cloak.

Tonks, it seemed, and her proclivities for rule-breaking, had finally rubbed off on him.

"And hello to you too," Tonks said, with a smile playing at her lips. "You know, most people would be excited about this."

Harry offered her a look.

"I'm well aware that you're not normal," she teased. "Might be an idea to pretend to be, though?"

"Why's that?"

"Because, if you truly hated the idea, you'd've dismissed it immediately, rather than telling me about it," replied Tonks, before she sipped her butterbeer, the foam lining her upper lip. "People that don't want to do things, don't talk about doing things. People that don't want to do things, don't do things. It seems to me that you want to do things."

Harry allowed himself the time it took to drink at his butterbeer to absorb her statement.

"Neville asked me to go," explained Harry.

Tonks grinned. "And you just want to do whatever you could for the beloved Boy-Who-Lived?"

"Something like that," he replied. Sirius' secrets were not his to tell, and Neville and he's…kinship was much too focused upon that to explain otherwise. "I owe him a favour is all."

"Well, if it gets you out in the real world, with real people, I'm all for it," said Tonks. Harry's eyes looked around the pub, and he noticed that he was not the only student to sneak out of the castle. There were a fair few seventh years escaping the torment of revision for a few hours, but they were not alone.

"Are you not real, Dora?" asked Harry. Tonks looked at him oddly, and he quickly realised he'd called her Dora; a name he hadn't used since December.

Tonks marched through it without a hint of awkwardness.

"Of course I'm not real, Harry. Whatever gave you the idea that I was?" Tonks asked, her voice laced in faux-grandiosity.

"You're real annoying," replied Harry, his eyes crinkling as he smiled.

"Look at you," Tonks said, her arms gesturing wildly at him. "You become mates with Neville Longbottom and all of a sudden you're Billy Big Bollocks. God, if you could see yourself now."

Harry laughed, and so did Tonks.

"You are going though, aren't you?" she asked, after they'd finished. Harry nodded.

"Probably," Harry said, before laughing. "I haven't been to the dorms for ages. Might see if they look any different now."

Tonks offered him a soft look, her hair becoming a warm blonde. "You're an odd one," she said, her returning to violet. "What are the Gryffindor dorms like anyway?"

"You don't already know?" asked Harry, surprised.

"Contrary to what you might think, I didn't get around that much," replied Tonks, her words sharp though her eyes kind. "Well, that's not actually true. It tended to be a bit too dark to get a feel for the decor, if you catch my drift?"

Harry's nose scrunched in distaste.

"Don't give me that look," Tonks said, barrelling onward, grinning up at him. "I'm sure you learned all about night-time rendezvous with Fleur."

Harry suppressed a flinch at the sound of her name, his leg beginning to fidget beneath the table.

Tonks caught the movement, despite his best efforts, her hand coming to rest atop his. "Sorry, I'm a dick," she said. Harry flashed a half-smile. For a moment the colour fell from her features, her hair becoming muted and her eyes a deep grey. "This isn't much fun to talk about, is it?"

Harry shook his head. "No," he said. "But we're friends. We have to be able to talk about these sorts of things, like you said."

"I know," said Tonks, softly. She drank from her glass, offering herself a moment's composure. Harry mirrored her action. Tonks caught the eye of the barman, wordlessly asking for another round for the pair of them.

Silence hung in the air for a moment. Harry drew breath as if to speak, but Tonks began first.

"Could you not call me Dora?" she asked, worry in her throat. Harry understood immediately.

"Okay."

Silence fell upon them again, until they were served. Harry paid, offering the elderly man that brought them their drinks a thanks.

"Fleur and I never did anything," blurted Harry, his mouth working faster than his mind. He buried his face into his butterbeer, as if to cover the colour in his cheeks.

Tonks coughed. "Pardon?"

"We never, y'know, did 'it'," said Harry, though he did not understand why, or how, he was speaking. He felt as though his mouth was no longer his own. "I mean, we slept together, but we didn't sleep together."

"Right," said Tonks, with a swallow. A smile flashed, briefly, before confusion returned to her face. "Why?"

Tonks' eyes widened.

"You don't have to answer that if you don't want," she added, in haste.

Oddly though, Harry's mouth still did not belong to him.

"I didn't think I was ready for it," said Harry. "I really liked her, obviously, but I dunno. It didn't feel right."

"Then you're a far braver person than most," offered Tonks, softly.

"She was really nice about it," continued Harry, his eyes not meeting Tonks'. "Never pushed me into doing anything I didn't want to."

"I can't imagine it's a position she's used to being in," said Tonks, with a laugh.

Harry laughed, too. "She said as much, to be fair."

"Still," asserted Tonks, with a smile. "I'm proud of you."

Thankfully, that was the end of that. They finished their drinks quickly, leaving the pub behind.

"There's another thing I've been asked to go to, to," said Harry. "There's this party for the champions and their family."

"Bit awkward," said Tonks. Harry laughed.

"Yeah, a bit."

"Again, I'm just shocked that you're thinking of going." Tonks said, her eyes looking upward, into the blue sky above. Harry watched as her eyes matched the sky above, their colour startling.

"There won't be that many people there," explained Harry. "And it gives me an excuse to catch up with the Headmaster."

"Suit yourself," said Tonks. "Won't it be a bit difficult for you, though?"

Harry paused, for a moment.

"Just because I don't have parents, it doesn't mean that seeing other people with theirs is painful," said Harry, with a huff. "And it's not just going to be the families either. Viktor is bringing his girlfriend, and so is Cedric."

"Again, the more I learn about this, the more awkward it becomes," said Tonks. "A small gathering, which are always awkward, with everyone and their parents; awkward. Plus their girlfriends, while you're there with your ex? Triple awkward."

"If nothing else, it's bound to be fun to watch," said Harry, his eyes returning to look at Tonks. "I was wondering if you wanted to come?" Harry ran a hand through his hair. "As moral support."

Tonks laughed.

"Is it your sole intention to make this as awkward as possible for yourself?" she asked. "Do you have any idea how weird it would be if I came along?"

"Sounds fun though, doesn't it?" asked Harry. "I thought this sort of thing was right up your alley."

Tonks shook her head. "Oh, it definitely is," she said. "There's no better place to meet your best mate's ex than this. I bet Fudge is going to be there too, isn't he?"

Harry nodded, with a laugh.

"So, if anyone makes a tit of themselves, they do it in front of the Minister," Tonks said, a laugh escaping her lips. "Wonderful. Terrific."

Tonks would end up coming along though.

The gathering was held in the White Tower and the view that it offered was one of the more attractive aspects of the entire afternoon. Harry did not get much chance to see Hogwarts in the summertime and realised, as he took in the sight of its beauty, that he ought to appreciate it more.

He regretted then, that he hadn't drawn as much as he would've liked this year, especially in the recent months. Other things had obviously took priority, but art had been such a central part to his life; it was not something he'd wished to see wither away.

He chose then that, after this year ended, he'd redouble his efforts. The summer would be the perfect time.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Tonks, as she caught him looking out onto the ground. "You know if you jump, Dumbledore will just catch you and you'll still have to attend this thing, right?"

He told her of his thoughts and, for a brief moment, her hair took on a violent red.

"It was always one of the cooler things about you, to be fair," Tonks said, after her hair returned again to its light brown. "Without it, you're just a bit tragic. No offence."

"None taken."

They arrived late into the 'official' parts of the gathering; just late enough, in fact, to have skipped the speeches of Ludo Bagman and Minister Fudge, much to Harry's pleasure.

"-And Now, to discuss the final task of our champions, Professor Albus Dumbledore," finished Minister Fudge, drawing the Headmaster into the centre of the room.

"Thank you, Cornelius," he said, before turning his attention to the those before him, some twenty or so people, including the four Triwizard contenders. "Now, your final task is to be a maze. You shall go in alone, save for your wand and your wit, and your task is to gain access to the centre of the maze, where the trophy will be. The first champion to lay their hand upon the trophy will be the winner. You will encounter…obstacles in there, but it would not be a challenge if you did not," he smiled. "The best of luck to you all."

Harry caught Dumbledore's eye and the older man ushered Harry to join him. Wordlessly, Tonks left him, searching out her old head of house. Harry, privately, thought it wise, for she'd never truly forgiven him for allowing him to become a part of the tournament in the first place.

Dumbledore smiled in greeting. "Ah Harry, I must say I'm shocked that you're here," he said, with a chuckle. "I'm all the more shocked that Miss Tonks is here with you. I'd thought that you two had, to use a phrase far too modern for my own tongue, split up."

Harry offered the older man an odd look.

"We were never together," he explained. "She said that I was too young."

"That is odd," Dumbledore said. "You are one of the more elderly teenagers I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Miss Tonks, on the other hand, could live to my age and never grow out of being a child."

Harry laughed.

"I think she meant legally." he explained.

"Then I worry for the state of our auror force's education," replied Dumbledore, with a sigh. "England, much as every other country within the IWC, has a legal age of fourteen, provided their partner is under twenty-one. That is something that Professor Binns ought to have taught you that."

Harry hmm-ed thoughtfully. "Well, all the better that he leaves his post after this year."

Tonks approached him, and Dumbledore was soon whisked away by the French diplomat.

"What were you talking about?" she asked, not bothering to disguise her distaste for the Headmaster.

"Nothing important." said Harry.

Hermione caught his eye then, and it took him a moment to recognise her. Her hair was the same as it had been for the Yule Ball. Harry wondered, for a moment, as to whether or not he was supposed to dress smartly, though he found he really didn't care.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" she asked, her eyes switching between he and Tonks, before remembering herself. "That's not what I meant!" her cheeks reddened. "What I mean is, I didn't expect to see you here, or with company."

Harry turned to Tonks, who offered him a bemused look.

"I'll let you two catch up," Tonks said smiling, amused. "I think I just saw my boss and I reckon if he gets drunk he might promote me."

Harry waved her goodbye, only to be accosted immediately by Hermione.

"What's she doing here?" Hermione whispered, a harried look upon her face, her eyes wide.

"We're friends," said Harry, easily. "Given we're allowed to bring people, I thought I'd be allowed to bring one."

"That's not the point, Harry," replied Hermione, her forehead scrunching in frustration. "I thought you didn't want anything to do with her, after what happened."

"What, that I liked her and she didn't like me?" Harry asked, offering Hermione a pointed look. "Yeah, I've no idea how you could ever be friends with someone after that."

Hermione sighed.

"It's hardly the same, is it?" Hermione asked, her cheeks tinted red.

"I think it's pretty similar," replied Harry. "We're friends. I didn't particularly enjoy what happened, but it was my own fault, and now that things are settled I don't see why we can't keep on being friends."

"Would you invite any other of your friends as your plus one, to an important event?" Hermione asked, her voice poignant though still quiet. "Because I don't think you would."

"I wouldn't, though that's because I don't have any other friends," said Harry. "And also, this party isn't important."

"The Minister is here!" Hermione exclaimed, pointing to the rotund figure of the leader of the land, his mouth then filled with brandy.

"A Minister who is both inept and about to be overtaken this summer," replied Harry, a smile on his face at the thought. He sighed. "I really don't see this as a problem."

Hermione threw arms out in frustration. "Fine!" she said. "If you don't see the problem then neither do I. I hope you have a great afternoon with her."

Harry smiled, bemused.

"How's Viktor?" he asked, changing tact.

"He's anxious, with his father being here," she explained. Harry watched the worry bleed from her, her hands frantically smoothing the non-existent creases from her dress. "He's worried about what they might think with us being together."

"Are you worried?"

"Not really." Hermione said, though her hands did not still.

Soon, Viktor swept her away, his only interaction with Harry a nod in greeting that Harry returned. Harry liked Viktor and, from Hermione's melting to his side, so she still did too. Harry quickly let them be, finding Tonks in animated conversation with the only other person wearing an auror's uniform.

Tonks' eyes widened, her hair almost glowing in its redness, dragging Harry toward her by his shoulder. "Harry!" she exclaimed, rather oddly. "This is Head Auror Scrimgeour."

Harry turned to face her boss, finding his stature to not greatly exceed his own. He was neither tall nor broad, though his hair was long and his beard was too, though not unkempt in style. He was ordered and measured in appearance, his face thin, his lips pressed thinner.

"Mr Potter, is it?" he asked, his voice neither soft nor harsh. "Congratulations on your efforts. I'm sure, in the future, our ranks will no doubt have a place for someone of your aptitude."

The auror then left the two of them.

Tonks grasped his arm once more. "Thank you for getting me out of that," she said, with a sigh, her hair returning to a more ordered fashion. "Do you ever have a conversation with someone where you can feel yourself acting like a tit, but you just can't seem to stop yourself?" she ran a hand through her hair, in a manner not unlike Harry imagined he would. "Like it's almost an out of body experience. You just can't stop yourself."

"That bad?"

"Put it this way," she began, walking the pair of them over to get a drink. "I'm never getting promoted for as long as he's alive. He might even stick around as a ghost, just to make sure I never become a Senior Auror."

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Harry soothed, grateful then that she was there. With Tonks, she seemed to suck so much of the oxygen from the room, so it was impossible for anything else to notice anything other than her.

The problem, then, was that Fleur walked in at that moment, and he felt like he was suffocating.

She was alone, no doubt waiting for her family to arrive. Harry looked around, searching for a glimpse of the silver hair of her sister, but she was not there. In the interim, however, Fleur had found him, and by proxy, the then-ruby-coloured hair of Tonks, whom stood stock still beside him.

"Oh fuck," she said, simply, before Fleur came toward them.

Fleur wrapped her arms around Harry, which Harry returned, albeit slowly. She never looked at him while they greeted one another.

"'Arry," she said, her voice taken by a very unfamiliar tone to Harry's ears. "I did not expect to see you here."

"I just wanted to find out about the task at the same time as the rest of you for a change," Harry joked, though neither of the two laughed, nor noticed him at all. He coughed, awkward.

"You should introduce me to your friend, 'Arry," spoke Fleur.

"I thought you'd already met, but okay," he said, his hand running through his hair. "Fleur, this is Tonks. Tonks, this is-"

"Fleur, yes," said Tonks, quickly.

"You are his date for the evening, I presume?" Fleur asked, her face free of emotion though her voice thick with it. "Or is he your carer?" she smiled, beatifically. "I only ask as, in France, ones as old as you aren't allowed out without a kind, young man to take care of them."

Tonks bristled beside him. Harry wished, dearly, to sink into the floor. He'd hoped Fleur would simply ignore them.

Tonks quickly wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "It's just so nice to find a younger man that understands you, isn't it?" she asked, tucking her body against him, much to Fleur's ire.

"I would be careful," warned Fleur. "I'm sure if an Auror saw you as you are, you would quickly find yourself in Azkaban."

Tonks huffed. "Oh, get over yourself!" she exclaimed, forgetting where they were. "We are friends. That's it."

Fleur rolled her eyes, before turning to Harry for the first time. "You know, Harry, I wish I had friends like you. Truly, I wish I was as close to my friends as you are to yours," she began, raising her arms, as if to take in the sight of the two of them. "I've never seen a pair of best friends like you two."

"How've you been, Fleur?" Harry asked, instead of responding.

"I am wonderful, 'Arry. Simply wonderful," she said, her voice high. "Only made better by seeing my ex-boyfriend, with the one who is the cause for him being so."

"I didn't break up the two of you," interrupted Tonks, her voice unsteady. "If you're relationship was so great, it wouldn't have been broken up by Harry being friends with me."

"Harry being friends with you was not the issue. Harry could've been friends with anyone in the world and he and I would still sleep in the same bed," Fleur said. She drew a breath, to steady herself. "It is that he was, and is, and no doubt always will be, in love with you. And I pity him, because he will no doubt live the rest of his life sad, only because you are too stupid to release it."

Harry could not breathe.

Fleur walked away then, out of the tower and down its steps. Oddly though, Tonks followed her out. And, even more oddly, so did Harry.

"Come back here!" called out Tonks, her hair wild, flowing as though it were being whipped by an unseen wind, her voice wobbly.

"Why did you follow me?" Fleur asked, her blue eyes ringed in red. "Did you not already hurt me enough in coming here?"

"I hurt you?" asked Tonks, throwing her arms into the air. "You screamed at me, just for being friends with someone and for them inviting me here. How have I hurt you?"

"Because you, without trying, earned love from Harry that I could never even begin to get," spoke Fleur, her words heavy in her throat. "He looks at you as though you are the world. Even now, he looks at you in a way that he would never look at me."

"That isn't true," said Harry, though he could hardly recognise his own voice.

"It is, 'Arry, it is," insisted Fleur. "And I feel sorry for you, because your heart has chosen an awful person to love, as she will never love you as much as you love her. And you will spend your entire life searching for reasons to leave anyone you might love, as they can never be your beloved Tonks."

Harry knew what she said to be true. He'd said as much himself, before.

That did not mean that it did not hurt. Even then.

Harry looked toward Tonks, a question in her eyes.

"Please, tell her," said Tonks. "Tell her that this is not true. Tell her that we're friends. Tell her that she is wrong. Tell her that you don't love me that way."

"We're friends, Fleur," Harry said, his eyes aimed at the floor. "That's it."

"Now Harry," began Fleur. "Can you look Tonks into her eyes, and tell her, honestly, that you do not love her?"

Harry paused for a moment.

He'd imagined, after the winter, that how he felt for Tonks would disappear. He'd told himself half a thousand times that he did not love her, and he'd almost began to believe himself.

But, as he looked at her then, he realised that he'd been lying to himself. He knew that, in his heart of hearts, nothing had changed. He felt the exact same way that he'd done on the night of Christmas. He felt the exact same way he'd always felt about her.

He loved her.

Undoubtedly.

"I'm sorry, Dora," he said. "She's right."

"And so our entire relationship was for nothing," said Fleur, with tears pooling in her eyes. "You blame me for ending something that had no hope of beginning, and yet you destroyed our chance together."

"I loved you, too," spoke Harry, quietly. He heard Fleur's breath hitch. "I promise, for as long as we were together, I loved you too. I know it isn't what you wanted to hear, but I did."

"And yet that love was second to how you felt for her."

Tonks sighed.

"Harry, I thought we were friends," she said. "That's all this has ever been."

Fleur laughed, humourlessly.

"If you are friends, then stop hurting him as you do," she said, pointing away. "Leave. Leave him be. Let him heal."

"No, don't go," said Harry, his voice quiet. "I want you to tell me something," he heaved a sigh. "If things were different. If you weren't an auror and we met, would you love me then?"

"Harry, this isn't a good ide-"

"No, you need to tell me," Harry insisted. "You need to tell me why it is that you don't love me back. Could you have ever loved me back, if things were different?"

Tonks swallowed, her hair white.

"I don't know, Harry!" she exclaimed, her words desperate, a tear falling onto her cheek. "I have no idea! Maybe, maybe in an ideal world, where we're the same age and it wouldn't ruin my career, we could've been together. Or we could've been friends, like we are right now. Why can't that be enough?"

For the briefest of moments, her words did not feel as though they were directed at Harry, but at herself too.

Harry's shivered. "Well thank you for caring."

Tonks bristled, her hair turning red. "I care about you Harry," she asserted, her words sounding odd to Harry ears through the pounding headache he had, with holding back the tears in his eyes that threatened to fall and destroy him completely. "I care about you so much. You're my best friend. You are the one person I trust more than anyone in the world. I love being with you. Isn't that enough?"

"Then why do you not love me?" Harry asked, and for a moment, he felt smaller than he'd ever felt before.

Tonks sighed, tears freely falling.

"You are too young for me," said Tonks. Fleur scoffed.

"That isn't true," said Harry, his eyes flashing up, the tears there shining in the light of the castle. "That isn't true and you know it."

"Then why is it, Tonks?" Fleur asked. For a moment, Harry had forgotten she was there. "If you adore being with him, what is it?" Fleur approached Harry, then. "It cannot be for the way that he looks; he is beautiful. Or that he is not clever enough, as he is far more clever than you will ever be. So why?"

Fleur wrapped squeezed Harry's hand, her touch reassuring.

Tonks face was red as tears fell. "Could you leave, please?" she asked of Fleur. Fleur nodded, leaving up the stairs and back to the party, offering a squeeze of Harry's hand before she left.

Silence hung heavily between the two of them.

"I was scared, Harry," Tonks began. She sighed heavily. "I am scared."

"Why?" Harry asked, scarcely believing the words he heard.

Tonks sat down upon the steps of the White Tower, as did Harry.

"Because, Harry," she began, their shoulders knocking against one-another, before she took a breath to settle herself. " Because I've never even thought of loving someone, or being someone else's. I never thought someone could care about me enough for that to happen and the idea that it would happen terrified me. Then you came along, and you're so unbelievably good, and kind, and you made me so happy and I was just so scared of letting myself believe that I could be loved by someone else."

"Then why didn't you just tell me that?" Harry asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"Because I'm a coward, and you deserve better than me," she said, her voice tiny. "You deserve better than someone afraid of loving you."

Harry reached down and took hold of her hand, his other hand coming to her chin and raising it so that their eyes met.

"Tonks, you are what I want," he said. "I don't care about anything else. All I've ever wanted is you."

Tonks bit her lip.

"I love you." she said, quietly. "I'm sorry that I was too scared to tell you sooner, and I'm sorry that I hurt you. I'm sorry for everything I've done in-between, for all the pain I've caused you by being so scared. I know I don't deserve your love, after all that, but I love you. And you deserve to know, after everything."

Harry looked at Tonks. At the woman he'd loved for as long as he had known her. At her beautiful face. At her eyes, that swirled in infinite beauty, and her hair, that glowed with warmth, and change, and transformation.

She was, and always had been, the most beautiful person he'd ever seen. She was beautiful. She was the only thing he'd ever truly wanted.

And she loved him.

"I love you, too."

Then she kissed him, the soft skin of her fingertips resting against his cheekbone, her soft lips pressing against his.

And he felt as if he had returned home. A home that he could not believe was his.

They kissed for quite a while after that, too.

A very long while.

Bet you didn't expect that, did you?