Wild Magic Chapter 20

Dinner passed without issue. There wasn't an Order meeting, so things were rather dull. Harry went to bed. When he woke up Tonks had joined him at some point in the night. His watch was still green, which he had mixed feelings about. He would have loved to start the day with another stroke from Tonks.

Hermione had been acting weird since they had hooked up. Harry was too, but he didn't want to admit it. She hadn't said anything about them possibly dating, or doing it again, so he just let it be.

It did make meals a little awkward. The next morning the group gathered around the table with Hermione avoiding looking at him and Ginny trying to undress him with her eyes. Tonks was having a grand time watching them.

"I'm going to be staying with Harry." Tonks announced before tucking in.

"Certainly not." Molly snapped.

"It's not a problem." Sirius spoke up.

"It's not proper." Molly argued.

"Mrs. Weasley." Harry met her eyes, giving her a sly smile. "If you'd like we can discuss this in private."

Molly blanched at the offer. She shook her head and went back to cooking. Sirius shot him a confused look that melted away into shock. Tonks was practically bouncing in her chair.

"I get my own room." Ron sounded almost in awe.

"That you do, mate." Harry smiled at him.

"Are you two dating?" Ginny asked studying Tonks.

Tonks shook her head. "I'm on special assignment from Bones herself."

"And that means you have to stay in the room with Harry?" Ginny pressed.

"Gin." Harry kept his voice even. "Before Voldermort came back, my scar would hurt when he was near. I had strange dreams that turned out to be connected to him. Now that he's back, we don't know what will happen. If the head of the DMLE wants Tonks to watch me sleep, she must have a reason."

Hermione choked on her drink.

"Well said, pup." Sirius smiled. "Amelia knows what she's doing."

Tonks tapped him on the forearm. He looked to her, she motioned to his wrist. The watch had streaks of yellow in it. It had been green when he woke up, which was bit of a shock, and had stayed steady until now. Harry hoped that meant that he was adjusting to the ambient level of magic around him. He wasn't sure how they'd manage three times before lunch at Hogwarts.

"We should head downstairs to do some training." Tonks said.

Harry wondered if that was code for something. She stepped away from the table and made to leave.

"Come along, Potter." Tonks paused at the door.

"Be right there, Nymphadora." Harry teased.

Tonks had her wand out and sent a stinging hex at him with practiced ease. It faded before it could touch him. Her glare shifted to a wince when she noticed the watch turn a to a solid shade of yellow. Luckily, she had aimed it at his foot, which was still blocked by the table.

"I had to." Harry shrugged.

Tonks led the way downstairs. Oddly enough, Sirius was right behind them.

"I didn't know you wanted to watch." Harry stole a look at his godfather.

Sirius chuckled.

"We talked last night." Tonks spoke up. "We need to work on regulating your spell power. Even if using your magic doesn't help all that much, you still have to safely use it."

"I don't know." Sirius said thoughtfully. "I might be able to offer some tips if you want."

Harry stumbled a step. Sirius giggled.

"Didn't realize you were that type of Pureblood." Harry glared at him.

"We've only got a couple of days before the school year starts." Tonks spoke in a series tone, for once. "For the start, only you will be using magic. The mutt and I will just watch for now. Can't use the moving targets since they're magic too. Once you get the hang of that we'll start introducing external magic."

Harry didn't move. Neither did Sirius.

"What?" She asked looking from one to the other.

"I've never seen you like this." Harry shook his head.

"I'm not a total goof." Tonks rolled her eyes. "Get started, we'll start small. Nothing beyond first year." Tonks pulled a chair over to an empty space before him. "Lift it."

Harry flicked and swished his wand. The chair smashed into ceiling, reducing it to splinters before he even got the words out. He quickly contained the flying debris in a dome. Harry released the spell, only for the chunks to reform before settling back in place.

"The furniture is self-repairing?" Tonks asked Sirius.

"No." Sirius shook his head.

"Okay." Tonks sighed. "Try again, this time concentrate on how it feels when you're casting."

Harry did as instructed. The chair shattered and reformed once again.

"Well?" Tonks asked. "How did it feel?"

"It's like my magic is pressurized." Harry scrunched up his face in thought. "Like to moment it has an opening the full force just goes for it."

"Hm." Tonks started to mumble to herself.

Sirius and Harry watched. She didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

"Molly?" Sirius asked.

Harry avoided looking at his godfather.

"Harry." Sirius gawked at him. "She is a married woman. Your friends mum too."

"It just kind of happened." Harry shrugged.

"When?" He asked.

"Remember when I asked if you could talk to Hestia?" Harry asked.

Sirius nodded.

"She came up and started to lecture me." Harry continued. "She didn't ask me why I needed your help, or anything like that. Just started to give me grief. I needed an outlet, and she was there." Harry paused. "She seemed pretty into it too." He shook his head. "So was Hermione."

"Hermione too?" Sirius patted him on the shoulder. "Good on you, pup."

Harry rolled his eyes. Sirius laughed.

"Maybe it's like the Veela thing?" Harry continued. "An allure, right? That could be why women have wanted me."

"Again." Sirius shook his head. "Not my area of expertise. I do have some experience with Veela."

Harry gave him a flat look.

"I'll spare you the details." Sirius laughed.

"Thank you." Harry actually meant it.

"Listen, pup." Sirius' smile melted from mischief into a gentle, caring one. "Harry. You're a handsome chap. Not only that, but you've got a natural way with people. I'm shocked you didn't have a troupe of ladies when I saw you a couple of years ago."

"Breaks over." Tonks moved closer to them.

"I'm ready." Harry nodded.

"If we think about your magic like water under pressure, then narrowing your attention is only going to make it worse." Tonks spoke in a firm tone. "I want you to try again. This time, I want you focus on lifting the chair like you would without magic."

"I think I know what you mean." Harry turned once more to face the chair.

Harry raised his wand, visualizing picking up the chair with his hands. "Wing-"

The chair launched into the air. This time the frame shattered rather than the entire thing exploding.

"Nice job." Tonks clapped. "We're on the right track. Again, this time, instead of you lifting it, picture an elevator rising it."

That was an utter failure. The chair was slammed against the ceiling, flattening it. A few more tries and they stumbled upon the water imagery. Visualizing it being lifted by a fluid worked well enough. This method resulted in the chair being broken into chunks.

Spreading the spell out wider worked on slowing it down even more. The hard part was keeping his focus on only lifting the chair. Levitating everything in the room was easy with his magic spread out enough to keep the chair intact.

Harry was surprised to see the changes in Tonks once she went into teaching mode. She slipped a bit of humor in every now and then, but for the most part she was focused. Time passed at a shocking speed. Lunch was ready, and everyone was waiting, before Harry realized it.

Once he took a spot at the table, he looked at his watch. Working with his magic steadily for a few hours had managed to make a couple streaks of green appear. They quickly disappeared. The minor magic being used in the kitchen banished the green, returning the watch to a solid yellow.

"There's going to be an Order meeting after lunch." Molly said.

She gave her kids a stern look, letting them know there would be no arguing. Her gaze flicked to Harry before finding something else to keep her attention.

"Head back down and keep up the training." Tonks gave Harry a nod. "We'll pick it up after the meeting."

Harry nodded.

"What type of training are you doing?" Ron asked.

"Boring stuff." Harry replied.

Tonks stuck her tongue out at him.

"Can't be worse than cleaning." Ron muttered.

"You're using magic?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah." Harry nodded.

"But students aren't allowed to use magic outside of school." Hermione sounded like her old self. "The ministry already tried to get you expelled for Underage Magic."

"They can't tell who's using magic here." Sirius explained. "There are too many enchanted items and charms in the house for them to sort it out. Not to mention the wards."

"Then why are we cleaning by hand?" Ron spoke up.

"That isn't fair." Hermione said at the same time. "If I so much as cast a summoning charm at home I get a warning."

"You've gotten a warning?" Harry asked.

"That's not the point." Hermione blushed.

"Yeah." Tonks shrugged. "Same with Diagon Alley, or any manor for that matter."

Hermione fumed. Her attention turned to her lunch, her fork and knife clattering loudly with her plate.

"Easy." Harry soothed. "The roast beef didn't do anything to you."

Hermione glared at him. He smiled at her. This interaction with Hermione was a vast improvement over the last day.

"Finish up." Molly said. "The Order will be arriving soon."

Harry finished up and set his plate in the sink. He headed back downstairs. It wasn't until he heard the door lock that he realized he wasn't alone. He could actually feel spells being cast at the top of the stairs.

He waited for whoever it was to join him. Hermione arrived a moment later. At least, it looked like her.

"It had a chicken head with duck feet." He spoke.

"What?" Ginny froze. "Are you talking about dinner? Do wizards eat chicken heads? I think Mrs. Weasley is making turkey."

"Don't worry about it." Harry shook his head. "What's up?"

Hermione took in the room. She circled around, checking out the target area, and the dueling platform. She sat in the chair that Harry had spent the last few hours turning into kindling. It held, which he didn't expect.

"You're having sex with Tonks?" She gave him a shy smile.

"What makes you say that?" Harry tried to school his expression.

"She said she was on a special assignment." Hermione answered. "And you've been spending a lot of time with her."

"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell." Harry countered.

He summoned a chair and took a seat across from her. Hermione raised an eyebrow at the casual use of magic.

"You don't deny it?" She asked.

"Why would I?" Harry asked in turn.

"I wasn't sure you would." Hermione studied him for a moment. "When we were together it didn't feel like it was your first time."

"I think that's a compliment." Harry smiled.

"It is." Hermione blushed and nodded. "Was it your first time?"

"No." Harry shook his head. "I'm not going to give any more details than that."

They fell into an oddly tense silence.

"We need to talk about what happened." Hermione spoke softly.

Harry sighed. He ran a hand along his face.

"I'll start from the beginning." Harry leaned back in the chair.

He told her about the dementor attack and how he felt after. The names and details of his hook-ups were left vague, but he told her about all of them. He doubted that she would ever meet either of the muggle girls, it was the principal of thing. There were a couple he couldn't avoid, Tonks being obvious, and Madam Bones being the other.

"And this." He held up the watch. "Monitors my levels. Green is good. Yellow is caution. Red is danger."

Hermione studied him for a long moment. There was something in her eyes that he didn't recognize.

"We only had sex because you thought I was Tonks?" She finally asked.

Harry flinched.

"No." He shook his head. "I didn't hold back because I thought you were Tonks."

"When you said it." Hermione said. "Did you mean me or her?"

"Said what?" Harry asked.

"You wanted to do this for years." She blushed.

"You." Harry felt his cheeks heat up.

Hermione was out of her chair and in front of him before he knew it. She captured his lips into a deep kiss.

"Don't do that again." Hermione looked him in the eyes.

"What?" His head was spinning. "Kiss you?"

"You don't have sex with Tonks as me." She straightened. "If you want to have sex with me, you come to me. Got it?"

Harry nodded. He watched in wonder as she strode across the room. A moment later he heard the door open at the top of the stairs.

"What the hell just happened?" Harry muttered.