The Protagonist System

72 Picking Up The Pieces

After seeing Voldesheep being chowed down on by a herd of griffon, my mood over Tonks breaking up with me was lightened. I was secretly glad that I had previously resolved to not take it too hard if she lost interest in me, in case I was just a phase for her. I apparently was and she pushed me aside to have a career.

It was just too bad that she didn't realize I would have happily waited for her while I fully supported her. Making rash decisions seemed to be universal, even though she believed I really did all of the adventures I had done in my books. Not surprisingly, most adults didn't believe it. Well, not all of it, anyway. It wasn't my fault they didn't investigate to find out that the stories were completely true.

That thought made me laugh and I went back inside the castle. I was halfway across the kitchen when Amy lunged out from behind the counter and tried to tackle me. I partially dodged, grabbed her arm and leg, and swung her around in a circle like a merry-go-round.

“WHEEEEEE!” Amy yelled as her long black hair flapped behind her. She laughed and laughed as I spun her a bunch of times.

Petunia sighed from the kitchen table. “Must you do that inside?”

I slowed down and carefully stood Amy on her feet, then held her steady as she wobbled. Her face was red and she couldn't stop giggling. “There's nowhere for her to ambush me outside.”

Petunia rolled her eyes and took a sip of tea. “That's not a good enough reason.”

Amy eased off her giggling and hugged me. “Harry loves me! He won't listen if you tell him to stop.”

I looked down and saw the smug look on her face and looked back at Petunia. “She's not wrong.”

Petunia shook her head. “Go jump in your piles of fan mail or something.”

“LET'S DO THAT!” Amy shouted and dragged me out of the kitchen. I glanced back just before the door shut and saw that same smug look on Petunia's face, so I knew where her daughter had learned it from. We passed Dudley on the stairs and he gave us a questioning look.

“Fan mail cannonballs.” I said and he laughed and turned around to follow us.

We always had a great time diving into the giant pit of fan mail that I had collected over the years. They were all spelled to not crumple or tear and the house elves had covered the pit with cushioning charms, so there was no danger of paper cuts or anything.

“Why do you keep all of this?” Dudley asked and jumped to do a half-gainer and landed on his back and sunk down a couple of feet. Amy laughed pretty hard and she did a swan dive and disappeared under the surface letters.

“So I can tell anyone that talks to me that I got whatever they sent and saved it.” I said and jumped from the side, did a backflip, and pulled my legs in to do an actual cannonball.

A pile of letters shot up into the air and fluttered all around us. When I surfaced, both Dudley and Amy were laughing.

“I have a master list of everything, too. Notes, cards, gifts, and things I sent in return.” I said and started to do a backstroke. Amy quickly joined me and we raced around Dudley as he technically floated in the middle. Cushioning charms were the best.

“You're really doing the whole best Harry Potter thing at your new school, too?” Amy asked me.

“Yep! I can't disappoint my fans.” I said and made a face at her as she passed me. “Hey! You won!”

“YAY!” Amy yelled and stopped moving. She sunk down slightly and started giggling as she slowly sunk out of sight and letters and cards flowed over her head.

“Ooo, Amy wants to play the submarine game!” I said and Dudley barked a laugh and rolled over onto his belly. The two of us slowly sunk down into the piles of letters to join her. The hunt was on!

Amy won, of course. She was too cute to lose to two big lugs like Dudley and I.

*

On my birthday, I was a little depressed again. I didn't have a second private birthday party at Andromeda's. I did have a pretty good laugh as I watched Hagrid pace back and forth on the other side of the street for half of the day. The aversion ward was still working, even with a sheep powering it. It made me wonder what Hagrid would think about a sheep holding him at bay and my depression faded away.

I received much more fan mail this year and spent the rest of the day opening gifts and cards and sent off thank you cards with added personal responses to the more notable ones. On the plus side of being single, I now had nothing holding me back from flirting with the fairer sex... not that I let that stop me before. I usually never took it too far, like I did that one time with Andromeda.

Damn, she had a nice ass. Her husband Ted agreed with me and didn't mind me copping a feel. He's a great guy for allowing it. Did me making him rich have something to do with that? Nawww.

Oh, another pair of panties. I thought and put them aside. Black lace this time. Nice.

I wrote out a quick note and thanked them for thinking of me and that I appreciated it. I was not tempted to send them a pair of my boxers in response. Not only would that be in bad taste, it would be more fun to do that in person. I didn't recognize the name, so that idea was out. I put the card in an envelope and added her name, then put it on top of the outgoing stack.

I worked for quite some time to get them all done. I had just finished the last one when Hedwig flew in and landed on the edge of the desk. She had an envelope in her beak and she passed it to me. My breath caught on thanking her, because I saw that it was Andromeda's name on it. I gave Hedwig a pet and she softly hooted.

I opened the note and felt several conflicting emotions as I read it.

Dearest Harry,
I must apologize for my daughter's rash and shortsighted decision. If she spent even one moment thinking about anyone else but herself, she would realize cutting you out of her life like she did, was the second biggest mistake she has ever made in her life. Becoming an Auror was the first and it immediately caused the second.
Because of her choices, you can no longer use her as a substitute for me and I can no longer live vicariously through her. I've lost count of how many times I've intentionally interrupted your fun time together, just to make sure she didn't take things too far. I didn't want you to waste it on her, and in hindsight, it was the wisest decision I have ever made.
If she could toss you aside for her own ambition, not realizing that you could have helped her achieve it, then she didn't deserve taking that last precious thing from you, like she had with all of your other first times.
My final thought to share with you... please remember that you are only breaking up with my daughter and not her entire family. The afternoons you've spent here after we visit Sirius have been the best. Both Ted and I will forever regret it if you make the same mistake as Nymphadora and choose to toss us aside.
With love and wishes for a happy birthday,
Auntie Andromeda

I sat there and read the letter two more times before I realized she was right. I hadn't spent any time there when I dropped off the next trunk of stock for them to sell. I didn't even have the excuse that Tonks was there, because she had already moved out.

“Can you bring her a note back for me, Hedwig?” I asked my familiar.

“Hoot.” Hedwig said, clearly determined.

“Thank you.” I said and gave her another pet, then quickly wrote out my response. I needed a little time away from where I had made so many great memories that involved Tonks and reminded me of her. Now that I had, I could visit again without feeling bad that I was there and using Tonks as an excuse.

Hedwig took off with it before I could put it in an envelope and I chuckled at her rushing. It would probably prove to Andromeda that Hedwig came back as soon as possible and it should make her relax about the whole thing. At least, I hoped so. I had kind of screwed that up in my grief.

I thought about staying there to see if Andromeda would send something back, then chose to go to bed instead. Since our normal Azkaban visit was still on, she would be expecting me after breakfast in a few days and she could talk to me then. I would need to buy a tub of Chunky Chocolate Chip Ice Cream as an apology, too.

I went to my room and wasn't surprised to see Nanny there. I gave the house elf a warm smile as she helped me change and then she tucked me into bed. She only did that on the days she knew I needed reassurance and today was one of those days. She kissed my forehead like always and I went to sleep with a smile on my face.

*

It was disappointing that there was no such thing as parole in the wizarding world. Even when we tried to submit legislation to start changing the laws just enough for it to become an option later, it was shot down by the Light side, or the Progressives in the Wizengamut. They didn't want criminals out before they served their time, which the rest of the members reluctantly agreed with.

On the positive side of the political front, after years of hard work, Amelia successfully passed the bill for restricting 'mood altering potions' to authorized and licensed brewers. It had been an ingenious ploy on her behalf to monetize it and the Wizengamut eagerly swallowed it whole. If there was one thing that they all wanted more of, it was money. Being legally obtained made it that much better.

I gave her several very expensive suits and outer-robes for work and sent them to her inside a shrunken clothing cabinet that was expanded on the inside. It was a full dressing room with walls and walls of normal clothing for a woman to wear and they all had resizing charms on them to automatically fit her. One wall was all angled mirrors for her to admire herself, too.

The thank you letter I received in return for that was almost blush-inducing. She heavily hinted that Susan would be more than happy to express her thanks on her behalf, if I was open to the possibility. I sent a quick note back full of flirting and innuendo as I expressed my regret that she didn't want to express her thanks to me herself. I wasn't surprised that she didn't write back to accept. She was a highly respected lady, after all.

*

On September first, I donned my Harry Potter costume, with the expensive cape and fake glasses, and formed the scar on my forehead. I went downstairs to the living room as my cape billowed out behind me and Amy giggled when she saw me.

“That's not pretentious at all.” Dudley said with a laugh.

“Do you like it? I spelled it to billow when I move.” I said and turned around and the cape billowed out behind me.

“At least it's stylish.” Petunia commented.

“I thought Nanny made you fancy robes for today?” Amy asked me.

“She did. I'll put them on when I reach the platform to greet my fans and the press.” I said and turned back to face her and posed in my hero pose. “Tadaaaa!”

Amy laughed and poked me in the chest. “Don't do that in front of the cameras. You want them to like you, not make fun of you for being foolish.”

I pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead. “Wise advice. I'll keep my poses solely for important people like you.”

Amy hugged me back and sighed. “I'm... I'm really going to miss you.”

“I don't see how. I can teleport back here whenever you want as soon as I set up a teleportation circle at Hogwarts.” I said and gave her a squeeze.

“Then stay here until tonight.” Amy said.

I chuckled. “I have to go there on the train first. It's tradition.”

“That takes all day!” Amy countered.

“Yes, it does. It lets us meet new people and the other students to meet up with the friends they probably haven't seen all summer.”

Amy pouted and looked up at my 5 foot 8 inches of height. “I don't care about anyone else. I just want my cousin to never leave me.”

I knew exactly what to say to that. “Amy, I may be leaving home for a while to go to school; but, I am never leaving my family.”

“Never?” Amy asked, her voice full of hope.

“Never ever.” I promised.

Amy smiled slightly and her face changed to show determination. “Then I'll wait for you, Harry.”

I opened my mouth to thank her and she stood up on her tippy-toes and kissed me right on the mouth. It only lasted for a second and she broke the kiss, blushed to a bright red, and ran out of the living room. The shocked looks on Vernon's, Dudley's, and Petunia's faces, matched mine. As far as I was concerned, that had come right out of nowhere.

It took Petunia a few moments to shake the shock off. “I'll talk to her.”

“Y-yeah. Thanks.” I whispered.

Petunia put a hand on my shoulder briefly as she passed me and followed her daughter.

“Well.” Dudley said and then smiled at me. “That just happened.”

I sighed. “Dudley...”

“No, I didn't know. I knew she liked you. I just didn't realize she liked you liked you.”

“Please don't tease her about it.” I almost begged.

“Hey, don't tell me how to do my job.” Dudley said as his smile grew into a grin.

“Bloody hell.” I said and rubbed my forehead. “If you leave her alone and don't make this whole thing worse, when you turn 16 and get your license, I'll buy you the sports car you like.”

“You gonna enchant it, too?” Dudley asked.

“Of course. I won't put you in danger just because you want to drive a deathtrap.”

Dudley chuckled and slapped my shoulder. “Bribe accepted.”

“Thanks.” I said and watched him walk away. I practically felt Vernon stand up and approach me, even though I wasn't using my magic detection spell.

“Harry.” Vernon said and his tone of voice was so low that it rumbled.

“I promise nothing happened.” I said and held up my hands as I looked back at his face to see his glare. “I've only ever been the best second brother that a little sister could have asked for.”

Vernon's glare changed to a blank face. “Maybe that's the problem.”

I sighed and had to nod. “I think I have to agree with you. I never suspected... I would have...”

Vernon sighed, too. “I can't tell you to stop.”

“No, you can't.” I said and took a deep breath. “I can't stop, either. She'll think it's her fault if I do.”

Vernon nodded and kept that blank gaze on me.

“I need to go.” I said and left the room. I felt his eyes on me all the way to the floo room. The feeling didn't fade until I called out Grimmauld Place and disappeared in the flames. King's Cross Station was within walking distance of that address and it was the easiest way to reach the train without trouble instead of trying to teleport near a crowded station.