Three For All Chapter 1 Harry heard the knock at the door and answered it, despite his aunt's order that he was not to touch the door when no one was at home. He opened it to find a girl with spiked hair in a shade of blue that made Harry think of a nuclear reaction. She was wearing a spaghetti strap top and a skirt that almost demanded that Harry stare at her legs, but he was not going to fall for that. "Hey, Tonks! How are you?" Besides being rude, if I stare at her legs, she's gonna comment and embarrass the hell out of me. "Pretty good, Harry. How're you?" She gently pushed her way into the house. "So, ol' horse-face gone for now?" "Yeah, Aunt Petunia is out of the house for the day, and 'Dudders' is out wherever it … I mean he gets to. What's up?" "Nothing. Just doing the usual check-in, and it was decided that I would probably be best for it. At least if I show up, there can be talk of your girlfriend dropping by for a visit." She laughed. "People might talk if Moody showed up too often." Harry thought for a moment what she might be talking about, and then shuddered as he laughed. "Woo…people thinking he's my lover? Yeesh. I'd rather be linked with Malfoy than that !" Tonks laughed so hard that she fell to the floor, and the skirt rode even higher, high enough that he caught a glimpse of knickers. Blushing furiously, he looked anywhere else in the room. The ceiling; yeah, that's good. "Whoops! Sorry 'bout that, Harry. You can look now." He looked carefully to see her standing again, with the skirt safely covering where it should. He was surprised, however, when she leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You, sir, are a gentleman, and some ladies like that in a man." He snorted. "I'm still a child, even if I do want to be treated like an adult. Besides, I didn't want to be caught pulling a Dudley." At her amused look, he suddenly realized what she was thinking, and he quickly added, blushing, "I meant staring stupidly at you." He made a face of staring in slack- jawed shock. "I didn't think that baby blue knickers could stun a man into insensibility," she chuckled. "They can if he's never seen them before," Harry murmured under his breath. "Especially if they're on a particularly pretty girl." Her eyes twinkled merrily. "How about we leave a note for your aunt, and you and I go for a walk in the park, Harry. We need to talk, and I think you need more than a simple 'Hi, you okay? Yeah? Bye.' from us. If we're gonna smother you by watching every move you make, then we damned well ought to take your needs into account. You need friends, and I'd like to be one, if you'll let me." He blinked for a moment, and was surprised to find that tears were in his eyes. "I think I'd like that, Tonks. Ron and Hermione are great, but I'm getting a little antsy around them. I think it's just a matter of time before it becomes obvious how much of a third wheel I am around them." He laughed. "I think that if they haven't admitted it to each other when the school year starts, I'm going to bring it to a head." "Hmm?" Tonks asked in a voice that told him she knew exactly what he was talking about. "Tell me." "The way they argue? Everyone except them knows it's because they fancy each other, but each is afraid that the other one doesn't return the feeling. I'm just waiting for the day when they break in mid-argument and suddenly start snogging the hell out of each other." He burst out laughing at the imagery in his head. Finally, he said, "Let me leave my aunt a note, and we'll go." Aunt Petunia, One of my protectors came by to talk to me and see how the summer is going. We went for a walk in the park, rather than run the risk of them being here when you return. I'll be back sometime tonight. Harry Before he could open the door, she scowled at him. "You, Harry, need clothes of your own. Let's go to Arabella's and we'll go to Diagon Alley from there. Hit some of the Muggle shops around there." He looked down to see the oversized things of Dudley's he was wearing, and nodded. "Let's hit Gringott's first, then. I can get some cash from there." "I can pay, Harry. You'll owe me." He shuddered. "What?" "I just hate owing anyone, after the years of bitch … sorry, complaining from Uncle Vernon. 'After all we've done for you, boy! We let you live in that cupboard; fed you scraps; gave you Dudley's useless clothes – you owe us! '" Harry started in a surprisingly accurate imitation of Vernon Dursley. He shuddered again. Tonks was staring at him closely. "I'm not surprised you have a problem with owing people. Using that as a club. Vernon's a bastard." She grinned. "You're pretty good with impressions. Can you do Hermione?" He snorted as he thought, Not if I want to keep her and Ron from ripping off various body parts, I can't. "Mind out of the gutter, you. I meant an imitation," Tonks laughed. He cleared his mind from the laughter and said, "Okay, let me see. 'Really, Harry. You still haven't read Hogwarts – A History ? That tells you everything you need to know about the fact that you simply cannot Apparate on or off school grounds! Really!'" He laughed. "How was that?" "Better than you could know, Harry," she laughed. "Let's go out and get you dressed." A minute later, they were walking down the street toward Arabella Figg's house. "Doesn't it bother you to be going somewhere with a girl with blue hair?" she grinned. "Doesn't it bother you to be walking somewhere with someone in clothes as ugly as these?" he responded, avoiding the first response he'd come up with. She's an adult, Harry. She's not going to be interested in a child like you. Besides, she's just being friendly. Do not ruin the friendship by assuming that her friendliness means more than just friendliness. She laughed, but then said, "Why the scowl, Harry? What's wrong?" She looked around, and proceeded to trip over her own feet. Faster than either of them expected, his hand shot out and caught her before she could hit the ground; fast enough, in fact, that she could get her feet back under her. When she finally was standing again, her face was split in a wide grin. "Fast worker there, ain'tcha Harry?" At his puzzled look, she said, "Damn, you could have at least enjoyed it if you were gonna grab my tit!" He turned red, followed by white. "Oh my God! I'm sorry, Tonks – I never meant to …" "Harry! It's all right! I'd rather you accidentally cop a feel than have to fix a few scrapes and cuts. I mean, yeah, it's just a scrape, but I'd rather not have one anyways." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek again. "I'm sorry if my comment made you feel bad, Harry. I was just trying to make a joke about my clumsiness." She stood back up and melodramatically put the back of her hand against her forehead. "It must be the closeness of such incredible studliness." He snorted a few times before he broke down into outright laughter. "Are you trying to kill me, Tonks?" he finally said through his laughter. "'Studliness' my arse," he murmured. "That looks pretty good too," she said, grinning. "What?" he asked. "Your arse. It looks good too. Must be all that working out you've been doing this summer." She reached out and patted him quickly on his rear end. ##### Harry stopped dead on the sidewalk. He started to say something, and then shook his head, and continued onward. I think I might have a talk with some of the Hogwarts staff, she chuckled to herself. I’ve never run across someone before who didn’t understand the signals I’ve been sending him. Are you really sure you want to bed him? You know that’s exactly what your signals have been. You’ve basically been trying to let him know that you want to take him back to your place and screw his brains out. Is there anything wrong with that? If you don’t take into account that he’s the type who probably is not interested in a simple roll in the hay. You know him. He’s the type who wants love in his life, not something that can best be described as ‘wham-bam-thank you ma’am’. Would you hurt him for a chance to get your hormones back under control? No! I’d never hurt him intentionally! she thought indignantly. Then in a mental voice best described as small she added, I love him. What was that, Nymphadora? I didn’t hear that. I think you need to repeat it.. Shut up. You know I hate that name.