Once the Delacour’s left the Burrow, Harry had the choice and in the end opted to stay with Ron in his small, overcrowded room. A little over a week passed as they fervently prepared for the wedding. Harry was left with no time of his own as Mrs. Weasley employed all available hands in wrapping party favors, addressing wedding invitations, and placing candy in small pouches that were tied shut with a pretty bow. Harry and Ron agreed to never divulge their daily activities, particularly to Fred and George who they knew would tease them mercilessly if they found out. They were sitting at the kitchen table, Ron tying a pink bow to the pouch that Harry held shut, when three owls swooped into open window. Hermione was sitting on the floor readdressing the invitations that Ron had in her opinion ‘scribbled chicken scratch’ all over. When she saw the owls, however, she leapt up with a whoop causing the invitations to go cascading all over the floor. Ron also seemed to be expecting the owls as well and in his haste to get to them wound up tying his finger to the pouch Harry was holding.
Mrs. Weasley took a sharp breath in to steady herself, “That’ll be your OWL results, I suppose.”
With the pouch still attached to his finger Ron grabbed his letter and tore it open as did Hermione.
“BRILLIANT!” Ron yelled he jumped up clutching his letter causing the table to slide several inches, “Seven OWL’s! SEVEN! Hermione what did you get?”
Looking incredibly relieved Hermione beamed at them but seemed reluctant to tell her marks so Ron ripped the parchment from her hands.
“TEN OWL’S!!!” completely losing control Ron grabbed Hermione and twirled her around the kitchen.
When Ron let go of her, Hermione was blushing deeply but looking quite pleased. In no time the two were engulfed in a hug by Mrs. Weasley who congratulated them slipping in a comment about genius grandchildren that no one heard. Ginny silently appeared in the seat that Ron had occupied. She took the third letter from the remaining owl that puffed out its wings and looked pompously around before setting off. Slipping the parchment out of the envelope she silently read its contents; at last a smile appeared on her face. Emboldened by her happy reaction he looked over her shoulder at his OWL results.
“Six OWL’s,” she whispered to him, “Not too shabby.”
“SIX! MUM HARRY GOT SIX OWL’s!” Ron shouted through his mothers embrace.
“Oh Harry!” Mrs. Weasley ran over smothering him in a big hug, “Well done, dear!”
He could just make out Ginny smiling at him over Mrs. Weasley’s shoulder. Even though he had not done as well as Ron, he felt that six OWL’s was quite an accomplishment.
“Well,” Ron was saying as he scanned Hermione’s results, “Outstanding in everything,” he looked at her in a strange way, “You certainly are.”
Hermione blushed furiously at Ron’s unexpected compliment, or perhaps it was because of the way he was looking at her. She grabbed Ron’s results just as he had grabbed hers earlier.
“Outstanding in Potions, Herbology, and Astronomy,” she read aloud, “Exceeds Expectation in Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Charms!”
Ron somehow managed to get a hold of Harry’s results, “Harry you got outstanding in Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures…and POTIONS! You exceed expectations in Herbology and Charms. Snape’s going to lose it when he finds out we passed!” he predicted ecstatically.
Looking back at Ginny, Harry noticed that she was still wearing a stiff look on her face. He was perplexed by her reaction. Usually she was the first to join in the celebration. She caught him staring and forced a fake laugh.
“I suppose I’ve got a lot to live up to now,” she hinted.
He immediately understood her lack of exuberance as Ron had always been afraid of not living up to the standards his elder brothers had set.
He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “I don’t think you’ve anything to worry about.”
She cast him a hesitant smile and put some distance between them, he assumed, for Mrs. Weasley’s sake.
Before he could really think over her behavior she said, “Not a bad birthday present!”
He smiled; he was pleasantly surprised that she remembered his birthday was tomorrow.
“What’s this?” Hermione picked up a silver parchment.
“I have one too,” Ron noticed, “How about you Harry?”
He looked around but saw that he had not received a silver parchment.
“No nothing, I expect its prefect business,” he teased them.
“Erm, not quite,” Hermione looked torn between excitement and alarm, “I expected these would come…” she trailed off leaving him to wonder what she had expected.
“Oh,” a look of understand flashed across Ron’s face, “But where’s Harry’s?” he asked Hermione.
She didn’t answer right away. “It says for all Hogwarts students that will be turning seventeen this school year,” she pointed out to Ron, “He’s not turning seventeen this school year, is he?”
“Bloody hell, do you mean he’s not going to learn it till next year with Ginny?” Ron seemed to be growing angry at the unfairness of the situation, “Malfoy’ll have a field day with that.”
“With what?” Harry asked tired of being left out of the conversation.
Hermione visibly braced herself before turning to him, but before she could get a word out Ron brought him up to date.
“We’ve got to go one week early to Hogwarts for an Apparition course.”
“It’s for anyone who turns seventeen this school year,” Hermione hastily added.
“Don’t worry,” Ginny told her looking thoroughly bemused by Hermione’s trepidation, “He’s not going to bite your head off for something you have no control over. Besides, I’ll keep him company and we’ll see you on the train ride to Hogwarts.”
It took a moment for Ginny’s words to sink in and wipe away the resentment he felt at being left behind at the Burrow, but they eventually did.
“I’ll just help train Ginny for that chaser position,” he pouted and faked a solemn sigh.
“And I’ll just pretend that I need training,” Ginny offered comically.
“You do that!”
“TONKS!”
In their jubilee, Tonks’ unexpected appearance had been overlooked.
“Right you are!” she said gleefully stabbing a finger into the air before being overwhelmed by Ginny and Hermione who clearly adored her.
“What are you doing here?” Ron asked over the squealing of the girls.
“Thought I’d join you for Harry’s birthday!” she explained.
“But that’s not till tomorrow.”
“You caught me,” she cast a guilty gaze at Harry, “I had some good news of my own to share…”
“What news?” Mrs. Weasley cut in, though she seemed to expect what was coming.
“I GOT THE JOB!”
Mrs. Weasley threw her arms around Tonks and they danced about the kitchen knocking the pouches he and Ron had been working on to the floor where they lay over Hermione’s forgotten invitations.
“What job?” Ron asked.
“I knew you could do it!” Mrs. Weasley yelled.
“What job?” he persisted.
“I told you, never you mind if he thinks you can’t…”
“Who thinks you can’t?” Ron asked getting distracted.
“Just believe in yourself and you can achieve whatever you set your mind to.”
“What job!?!” Ron bellowed.
Tonks clapped her hands together wearing a smile that went ear to ear.
“Hagrid’s right. Dumbledore is a great man.”
The kitchen was filled by the sound of shrieking girls as Hermione and Ginny seemed to understand. Ron gave up shooting Harry an aggravated glance. Once they had settled down Harry gazed very seriously at Tonks.
“Do you know which book you’ll be using Professor?”
At his comment Ron exclaimed, “You’re the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!”
“You can stay in Percy’s old room,” Mrs. Weasley swallowed extra hard at her son’s mention, “Lets get you settled in.”
Ginny and Hermione followed Mrs. Weasley and Tonks up the stairs leaving Harry and Ron to clean the mess that had been left in the kitchen.
“Settled in my foot,” Ron complained loudly, “Just don’t want us to hear them gossip.”
Harry nodded in agreement. It most certainly didn’t take four girls to empty the small overnight bag Tonks brought with her.
After Tonks had settled into her room she joined Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the living room where they were attempting to set their class schedules.
“So we’re agreed on Advanced Transfiguration?” Hermione verified.
“Harry and I are going to need it if we want to be Aurors.”
“We also have Advanced Herbology, Advanced Charms and…”
“Advanced Potions,” Ron grumbled throwing a dark glare towards Harry.
“Yeah,” Harry looked gloomily at the parchment in his hands, “No one said it was easy to become an auror.”
“You and Ron want to become aurors?” Tonks asked. “That’s so great! What about you Hermione? Want to be an auror as well?”
“I considered it,” Hermione shared, “In the end of my career assessment Professor McGonagall suggested that I might enjoy working for the Ministry of Magic to work for the rights of non-human magical creatures.”
Ron rolled his eyes at the mention of Hermione’s obsession with ensuring rights for all magical creatures.
“Are those the only classes you’ve selected so far?”
“Uh huh,” Harry nodded.
“Ahem!” Tonks coughed loudly.
Harry was confused for a moment before he understood what Tonks was hinting at.
“Oh right, Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts!”
“And don’t you forget it,” Tonks admonished them.
“Of course, we couldn’t become aurors without it!” Ron exclaimed enthusiastically.
“We also forgot to put down Advanced Care of Magical Creatures,” Harry reminded Ron.
“Whew, good thing you remembered!” Ron wrote onto his schedule. “Hermione, why aren’t you writing it down?”
“Well,” she looked around nervously, “You know I love Hagrid…”
“But…?”
“…but his teaching style is a bit unorthodox…”
“He’s great,” Harry felt the need to stand up for Hagrid who was the Advanced Care of Magical Creatures teacher.
“…and there were other classes Professor McGonagall recommended…”
“You have to take Advanced Care of Magical Creatures!” Ron insisted hotly, “Hagrid will be insulted if you don’t!”
Harry nodded vehemently agreeing with everything Ron said.
Hermione looked tentatively from Ron to Harry in an attempt to gauge their resentment, “Oh alright I’ll sign up for Advanced Care of Magical Creatures.”
“Good,” Ron responded looking very smug.
“What about Advanced Divination?” Tonks suggested lightly.
“NO!” they collectively replied.
“Just a joke,” Tonks retorted. “Anyhow, that’s only one, two, three…six courses,” she ticked off her fingers, “You each need two more.”
“I’ll be taking Advanced Arithmancy,” Hermione announced pompously, “I highly recommend it.”
However, the one glimpse of Harry and Ron’s faces was enough to confirm to Tonks that taking Advanced Arithmancy was something they were unwilling to do regardless of who recommended it, or perhaps because it.