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Bonded chapter 34 -
🕑 Added 2023-03-04 15:55:10 +0000 UTCChapter 34 -
'Did you sleep good?' Venom asked Harry once he woke up.
'Not bad,' Harry answered as he yawned, he rubbed at his eyes before forcing himself out of bed.
He stood up and stretched a little before looking at himself in a full length mirror, standing there in just a pair of grey knee-length shorts. He took a moment to admire his abs and muscles before Venom appeared right next to him in his mirror reflection, towering over him in his big form but leaning down so his head was next to Harry's. Mirror Venom grinned at him before placing a large hand on his reflection's back, Venom's black goo spread over his reflection's upper body and created a black shirt for him. Harry looked down and saw that the real Venom had done the exact same since he was now wearing a black shirt.
'Thanks.' Harry said appreciatively.
'You're welcome.' Mirror Venom said.
Harry nodded at the reflections before he made his way out of the guest bedroom and to the bathroom down the hall, he yawned once more before quietly opening the door and finding a rather odd but definitely interesting sight. Tonks was in the bathroom, dressed in black shorts and a white tank top, her pink hair was now red and flowing all the way down to her lower back. She held her toothbrush in front of her mouth like it was a microphone, her eyes were closed as she stood in front of the sink and mirror. She was silently dancing, her hips swaying in every direction as her arms appeared to be moving randomly.
Harry stared at her for a moment before slowly entering and closing the door behind him, he silently walked forwards and stopped behind her, not that she appeared to notice, it seemed that she was lost in her own world, listening to imaginary music. Harry couldn't help but stare past Tonks's shoulder at her reflection, a smile appeared on Harry's face.
'She's beautiful.' He thought to himself.
'I like her,' Venom said simply.
Not really knowing what he was thinking, Harry started moving side to side, moving his hips just like Tonks was. Slowly, Harry ended up dancing along with her, not that she appeared to notice. It was about a minute later when Tonks finally opened her eyes, her gaze locked with the mirror and she saw Harry dancing behind her. Tonks quickly yelped and turned around before jumping, her back hitting the top of the sink.
"Harry?" She gasped, one hand going up and resting on top of her chest as her hair suddenly turned white. "Damn it, don't scare me like that."
"Sorry," Harry grinned impishly. "I just didn't want to interrupt, you looked like you were enjoying yourself."
"How long were you dancing there?" Tonks said, once her heart rate had calmed down enough.
"About a minute or two," Harry admitted. "By the way, your situational awareness is rather poor considering your choice of profession."
"Shut it," Tonks replied without any real heat in her voice, her hair going into shoulder length pink. "What are you doing in here anyway?"
"Well, it was my understanding that this was the bathroom and that it would be locked if somebody was using it and well...it wasn't locked." Harry shrugged.
"Right," Tonks sighed. "Well, I'm done in here anyway, so I'll let you get on with it." She told him before making her way towards the door.
"Thanks Tonks, hey maybe I can make you some breakfast as an apology?" Harry suggested, causing her to stop at the door and look at him.
"Breakfast, huh?" She asked, her lips curling up in a happy smile.
"I make a mean omelette," Harry said in a casual voice.
"Deal, I'll be waiting for you downstairs." She grinned before making her way out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her. A black tentacle shot out of Harry's back and locked the door for him before retracting itself back inside of him. Harry let out a happy sigh before he used the toilet to empty his bladder. Once done with that he made his way to the sink and cleaned his hands before picking up his toothbrush. As he began cleaning his teeth, a black tentacle popped out of each of his shoulders, the tips heading up to his hair.
'You've got to look your best,' Venom fussed over him as he began adjusting his hair for him.
'Thanks,' Harry thought back, idly wondering if this was what it would be like to have a mother living inside of you.
(.)
"You know, Harry," Tonks said, sitting opposite him at breakfast. "If all else fails, then you could at least work in some restaurant or something because your food is delicious." She said after finishing her own breakfast.
"Thanks," Harry smiled, nearly finished with his own. "I'm glad it meets your high standards of approval."
"You should be, if I was rich enough then I would've hired you as my full time cook."
"Cooking for you guys is the least I can do," Harry shrugged. "I offered to do chores while I was here but your mother shot me down, something about not allowing any guests to do chores."
"There's not really much chores to do anyway," Tonks informed him. "Sometimes we do things by hand just so we don't get lazy, but for the most part we'll just magic away all the dust and grime."
"Hmm, benefits of living in a magical household I guess," Harry said just as a knocking sound was heard from the front door.
"I'll get it," Andromeda's voice called before either of them could get up.
"Wonder who that is," Tonks frowned. "It's rather early for visitors,"
"Maybe its just your neighbours or something," Harry replied. "By the way, where's your dad?"
"Work," She sighed. "Unfortunately, money does indeed make the world go around."
"I once heard that it's the root of all evil,"
"Anything that can force a man or woman to get out of bed before seven is indeed extremely evil," Tonks agreed.
"You can't just show up unannounced!" The two heard Andromeda say.
"She doesn't sound pleased," Harry couldn't help but notice.
"Wait, you can't just come in like that!" She said, Harry and Tonks both pulled out their wands just before none other than Albus Dumbledore walked into the kitchen.
"Hmm, hello Professor," Harry said, trying to sound polite but unable to keep the annoyance out of his voice. Truthfully, he was expecting the old man to show up but he was more than a bit annoyed that the guy couldn't at least wait a week.
"Dumbledore!" Andromeda snapped as she followed behind him. "I do not know what you are teaching in your school or what you were taught while in school, but I feel like I should remind you that entering someone's house without permission is not what we call good manners!"
"Harry," Dumbledore said in a serious voice, ignoring Mrs Tonks in favour of staring directly at him. "I have some important news that I must inform you of."
"I am eating breakfast," Harry pointed out.
"I'm sorry, but this is important." Dumbledore insisted. "May we please have the room?" He said to Andromeda and Tonks, though it was worded as a question, it clearly was not.
"Anything you want to say to me you can say in front of them," Harry said before either woman could respond.
"Harry, what I am about to reveal to you is very important information that cannot be spread about and..."
"I trust them," Harry said, cutting Dumbledore off. "Completely," He added when Dumbledore opened his mouth to object.
"Very well," Dumbledore said with a deep sigh before he walked over to the table and pulled out a chair at the head of the table where Ted would usually sit. He sat down in it and faced Harry. "Now, I am sorry to inform you of this but..."
"Before we continue," Harry interrupted him. "Don't you think you have something to do first?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I beg your pardon?" Dumbledore asked.
"Professor Dumbledore, you very rudely entered this house without Mrs Tonks permission and you ignored her when she spoke to you," Harry pointed out. "You are the headmaster of Hogwarts, and quite frankly, you should be setting a better example." He said, before sitting back in his seat and giving Dumbledore a pointed look.
'The balls on this guy!' Tonks thought to herself as she looked back and forth between Harry and Dumbledore. She couldn't ever recall any student standing up to Dumbledore, everyone from the muggleborn to the purebloods respected him or at the very least pretended to in front of him. Even in the ministry, not many would openly call out Dumbledore, it just wasn't done. The only people she could think of that would stand up to him that weren't death eaters were probably her boss, Amelia Bones and her mother, plus Mad-Eye Moody, but that was it. She could certainly see why Harry was qualified enough to be a Gryffindor.
"You are right," Dumbledore admitted, sounding quite tired. He turned to face Andromeda who was standing with her arms crossed and giving him an unimpressed look. "You have my utmost apologies, Mrs Tonks."
"If anything like this ever happens again then I will be reporting the matter directly to the ministry," She warned him. Despite her seriousness, both of them knew that would just be a huge waste of time.
"Once again, I am sorry," Dumbledore said sincerely before turning his attention back to Harry. "Firstly, I would like to ask why you did not return to the Dursley's for the summer."
"Because I don't want to," Harry said bluntly. "I am tired of living there and I'm tired of asking you to help me get away when all you seem to do is want to force me back there. Well, you know what? I don't care what you say, I'm not going back there. If I can't stay here or in the Leaky Cauldron and have to stay homeless for the rest of the summer then so be it." Harry said emphatically. "I am not going back there."
'Nicely done,' Venom complimented him.
"Mr Potter, I cannot think of a delicate way to say this." Dumbledore said in a grave voice. "You will not and cannot go back to the Dursley's, not now, not ever."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Harry frowned, looking convincingly confused. It was much easier to do so with the help of Venom adjusting his facial muscles for him.
"Mr Potter, it has recently come to my notice that the Dursley's have fallen victim to an unfortunate attack," Dumbledore began to explain.
"What kind of attack?" Tonks asked.
"Did they both get heart attacks or something?" Harry asked in a quiet voice.
"No, no they did not," Dumbledore shook his head. "It was a very different cause of death, I'm afraid. The muggle authorities believe it to be some sort of animal, as do the magical ones, truth be told. Though they obviously have different opinions on what sort of animal." Dumbledore answered, looking Harry directly in the eye. "It is my unfortunate duty, Mr Potter, to inform you that your uncle and aunt have perished in the attack."
"What? You're saying they're dead?" Harry said with disbelief in his voice, playing his part well.
'Ha!' Venom laughed in his head.
"Yes, they are." Dumbledore confirmed.
'Ha!' Venom laughed again.
"Fortunately, your cousin was not there. Sadly, he was later found and his memory was modified so he has no knowledge of the wizarding world as is standard procedure in cases like this." He said in a disapproving voice before shaking his head and putting his attention back onto Harry. "Your cousin is aware that you used to live with him but no longer remembers that you have magic. This was done since it was determined that he was a risk to the statue of secrecy, given that he kept blaming the whole thing on the magical world." Dumbledore added, choosing not to point out that Dudley's exact words were 'This is all the Freak's fault!'.
"So, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon are dead?" Harry asked once again in a slow voice.
"Yes, it is a shame that we don't know what exactly did it," Dumbledore replied, sounding disappointed with himself.
"I did it! I did it!' Venom said gleefully.
"Well..." Harry sighed. "It's about time."
"What?" Dumbledore blurted out as everyone in the room stared at Harry with wide eyes.
"I mean, they bloody took their time, didn't they?" He asked rhetorically. "I thought that Uncle Vernon at least would have bit the bullet years ago, the guy's overweight as fuck. Where the hell was his heart attack?"
"Mr Potter, this is a serious matter!"
"I know, the dickheads should have died years ago." Harry said in a disappointed voice.
"Harry, they're your family!" Dumbledore said, a pleading tone in his voice.
"They are no family of mine," Harry said firmly. "They were horrible people and I'm glad they're gone." He said, meaning every single word. "I really don't get you, Dumbledore. Did you think that every time I begged you to let me stay in Hogwarts was because of the fun of it? That I just wanted to be different? You want to ignore what's in front of you because you want to live in your pretty little world where everyone plays happy families? Then that's your problem, not mine. They were a blight on this world and I'm just upset that they didn't die sooner. Heck, if I ever find whatever killed them then I'd reward it with a big fat bar of chocolate."
'Oh shit, really?' Venom asked hopefully.
'Yeah, later though,' Harry confirmed.
"You truly don't feel anything for them?" Dumbledore asked, sounding almost defeated.
"Unlike your favourite member of Hogwarts, I don't waste time holding grudges against the dead." Harry shrugged. "I will hate them forever, but now they're dead and not my problem. So," Harry said calmly. "Is that all, Professor?"
"I..." Dumbledore continued staring at him for several moments, apparently at a lost for words. "...Well, there is the matter of where you will be staying for..."
"Respectfully, Sir, that is not your concern," Harry cut him off once again. "For this summer, I will be staying here. Maybe even for next summer, if not then I can stay in Diagon Alley, either way it'll just be like this until Sirius is well enough to take me in."
"Very well," Dumbledore said with a deep sigh, something that surprised Harry as he expected the old man to fight him on the issue and force him to stay somewhere else. "If you are sure." He added as he stood up. "I shall see myself out." He told them all before he began walking away, deep in thought. 'It can't be, can it?' He thought to himself.
"Are you okay?" Tonks asked once Dumbledore was gone.
"Never been better," Harry said simply before returning his attention back to his food.
Comments
Christian Jeffress
Loving, venom, more and more with every new chapter, he’s just the absolute perfect companion for Harry. I also enjoyed Dumbledore‘s reaction to Harry’s nonchalance, showing that he’s a bit out of touch. Anyway, thanks for another enjoyable chapter.
Erinnyes
Super fun chapter, Bonded is one of my favorites of yours for good reason
