The Protagonist System

68 Time Waits For No Wizard

Gilderoy Lockhart was surprisingly easy to memory wipe. I had been tempted to be selective with it and started to rummage around for more stories, only to find his degeneracy as he obliviated several teenage girls after using them. So, his whole life had to go. I removed his magic as well and stored his wand.

When I checked his finances to see that he had almost nothing left after his travels, I emptied his house of everything it had inside and had him sign over the deed to me, then I dropped him off at a muggle mental institution with a small monetary donation of 10,000 pounds. It was more than enough for his ongoing care, which the receptionist was more than happy to accept.

Since it was still New Year's Eve and not long before midnight, and I was already out anyways, I teleported over to Andromeda's house and walked over to the back door. A quick magic detection spell told me that only Nymphadora was home, which meant Andi and Ted were out partying.

There was an alert ward on the door if anyone passed through, so I cheated and teleported inside to the living room. I held in my laugh as I crept through the house like a thief and went up the stairs, silencing them when the wood started to creak. I could hear a television playing the countdown and was very tempted to teleport into Nymphadora's room when it reached zero, then decided to be a gentleman about it and knocked instead.

The bedroom door opened almost instantly and Nymphadora gasped and then blushed. “Hi, Harry.”

“Hi!” I said and pointed to the television. “Here for that!”

Nymphadora gasped again and her face turned the color red, because she immediately understood what I meant. She stepped back and let me enter her room. There was about thirty seconds left and she looked both embarrassed and full of anticipation.

I couldn't disappoint her, so I hopped up onto her bed and patted the spot beside me. She sat down beside me and our height difference wasn't as noticeable like it was when we were both standing. It was still significant, so I motioned to her pillow.

Nymphadora nodded and we moved back and laid down our heads on it as the television reached ten seconds. We ignored the screen and looked into each other's eyes as we counted down.

“Six... five... four... three... two... one.” We said at the same time and the people on the screen cheered.

I smiled at her and leaned in close. “Happy New Year, Tonks.”

“H-Happy New Year, H-Harry.” Nymphadora whispered and leaned in the rest of the way.

Our lips touched as the fireworks started on the television, which was very appropriate. Once again, we kind of lost ourselves in our own little world and the closed-mouth kissing went on and on, much longer than a normal New Year's Kiss should have. Neither of us minded at all.

Nymphadora put an arm around me as she moved her lips, almost instinctually, and I put a hand on her head and petted her hair as I moved my lips, too. Her hair went through the colors of the rainbow for the several minutes we laid there kissing each other. It was a surprisingly enjoyable experience, even though my body was so young, and it gave me a bit of an outlet for the emotions that I had to hide most of the time.

When we eventually ended the kissing session, Nymphadora looked extremely happy and her face was only red from her blush and not the color red. After a few moments, her smile faded slightly.

“H-Harry, um... well... I... um...” Nymphadora's face went to the color red again. “Do you wanna be my boyfriend?”

I was a bit thrown off by that for several seconds, then giggled my baby laugh. “Kay.”

Nymphadora beamed a smile at me and leaned back in to keep kissing me. “I can't wait...” *kiss* “...to tell my friends...” *kiss* “...all about you.” *kiss* *kiss* *kiss*

I had a hard time not giggling about her friends probably making fun of her for dating a boy nearly six years younger than her. If we were older, it would make no difference. As children and teenagers? She would get a lot of teasing for it. Then again, maybe I could alleviate some of that.

I created a kind of license card and took it out of my pocket. “Here. Proof.”

Nymphadora moved back a little as she took it and blinked her eyes several times as she read it. “What... what... is this real?”

“Official Harry Potter Girlfriend!” I said and tried to do my hero pose, which looked even more ridiculous because I was laying down, and I lost my balance and rolled over onto my face.

Nymphadora snorted and laughed.

“Meant to do that!” I said and pushed myself back onto my side and she kept laughing. I decided to help her and started to tickle her sides. She laughed and laughed, squealed a little, and kicked her legs as she squirmed around. She didn't try to get away or made me stop, though.

I did after about ten seconds and she calmed down. “Tonks pwetty.”

Nymphadora's face went red again. “H-Harry...”

“Me hafta go.” I said and sat up.

Nymphadora took a deep breath and sighed. “Do you have to?”

I looked down at her pyjamas and back at her face. “Be wight back.”

I teleported out of her room to land on the teleportation circle in the backyard and heard her shocked shout. I giggled and used the circle to go back to the castle. I went to my room and changed my clothes into my own pyjamas, had Nanny substitute me for a plush doll in my crib, and went back to the teleportation room. I jumped back to Andromeda's and then teleported back into Nymphadora's room.

“HARRY!” Nymphadora gasped. “How did you do that?!?”

“Magic.” I said and gave her a peck on the lips before I climbed under the blanket on her bed. “Nighty night.”

Nymphadora gave me a pointed stare for several seconds before she shook her head and climbed in with me. She cuddled me and kissed my face several times as she hugged me. “Thank you.”

I hugged her back and we drifted off to sleep. I knew that I would wake up early like always, so I would be back home long before Petunia was up to make breakfast. I didn't hear Moppy popping in to take a picture of Nymphadora and myself snuggled up together under the blanket.

*

It wouldn't be until the next month I visited to take Andromeda to the prison that I would find out about the picture. She teased me pretty hard about going after her daughter because she was happily married and I couldn't have her. I stopped myself from telling her that if I had even a lick less morals, I would make her eat her words when I was old enough, because I knew she would laugh at me.

Sirius still refused to end his self-punishment, so we exchanged the tupperware containers of food for the empty ones we left the last time, after letting the guard eat some of the food to test it for poison. That joke still made me laugh and Andromeda had a pleased smile on her face when the guard complimented her again for the great tasting food.

Nymphadora was waiting for us on the back step when we teleported back to Andromeda's. Surprisingly, she didn't mention us suddenly appearing in her sight as Andromeda walked from the corner of the yard.

“Harry!” Nymphadora shouted and ran over to us. “Can you stay for a while?”

I checked the invisible clock in my head and nodded.

“Yay!” Nymphadora cheered and plucked me out of Andromeda's grip and sat me on her own hip, easily copying her mother. “There's so much I need to tell you about what I did all month!”

Andromeda chuckled from right behind us as Nymphadora carefully walked back to the house and carried me inside. When I glanced back, I saw the surprise on her face because Nymphadora hadn't stumbled or tripped once, even with my weight hanging off of her hip like I was.

I didn't tell her that when I healed Nymphadora that I used some Karma points and paid off her 'Clumsy' trait that she had for being a full metamorphmagus. It was the best 100 points I ever spent, because I remembered how in canon she would always trip over everything and make noise when there was no reason for her to.

I would wait until later to tell them that I stabilized her ability and gave her full control, too. She wouldn't lose control of her abilities anymore, like her hair changing colors when she was upset or angry, unless she chose to. It would still take her some practice to keep it a normal color, though.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in her room as Nymphadora regaled me about her friends and how she was glad she had that license I gave her, because no one believed her that she had a boyfriend. That was when Andromeda entered the room with a huge smile on her face and handed Nymphadora the picture of us in bed together.

“EEEEE!” Nymphadora squealed and hugged it, then hugged me. “They have to believe me now!”

“Maybe a few more pictures might help?” Andromeda asked and took out a camera.

“YES!” Nymphadora shouted and it was suddenly dress-up time.

Andromeda had a ball directing us into various clothes, costumes, and poses, all while making sure they didn't reveal that I was so short. The last picture taken was a close-up from the side and we had our lips puckered way out and barely touched them together. That one ended up being Nymphadora's favorite and she swore she would show everyone and rub it in their faces.

It made me laugh and Andromeda looked pleased as well. I could tell she was thinking it was just a phase that her daughter was going through and I didn't discourage that. As far as I knew, it really could be. Nymphadora might eventually lose interest after a while and I resolved to not take it personally if that did happen.

*

Time moved on and I taught Petunia how to study and told her not to rush herself. There was a reason magical education was spread out over so much time. The body and mind needed to adjust to using more and more magic on a regular basis. She learned the household charms right away, since they were the easiest and cheapest spells for her to cast.

On my second birthday, Petunia used her wand and lit the two candles on my cake at the same time, out of sight of Vernon, of course. Both Dudley and I clapped and cheered for her, which made her blush and look proud. It was a great party and I had several nice presents that I thanked them for and the cake was delicious. I complimented Cookie for it and she blushed as well.

When I was put down for a nap, Nanny switched me out for my plushie and I used the teleportation room to go to Andromeda's. I had a second private birthday party with the Tonks family and kissed my girlfriend, enjoyed more cake, and opened more presents.

Every month, Andromeda and I kept being disappointed in Sirius. Even with the regular food deliveries that he devoured, he refused any other help and chose to keep punishing himself. The worst part of it was that he wasn't under any compulsions and it was just grief over losing his best friend and being betrayed by Peter.

The guard enjoyed our visits more than Sirius did. He ate some good free food, had some great conversation, and liked seeing someone else's face. We brought fast food disguised as homemade the last time and he scarfed down the burger and fries faster than Sirius did, which made Andromeda and I laugh pretty hard.

Vernon was doing wonderfully at work, because he was always relaxed and not under any pressure. His body becoming increasingly fit also made his life a lot easier. He was still a fairly big man; but, it was becoming all muscle instead of bulky fat.

Needless to say, Petunia soon became pregnant with a little bundle of joy. Both she and the elves were quite happy about it, too. There was lots of money for everything the family needed and no one went without. That didn't mean anything was wasted, though. Outgrown clothing was washed and cleaned and donated to the needy.

Nymphadora received a travel trunk for her eighth birthday and I had gone all out making it and enchanting it. It had an entire two bedroom apartment inside and both Andromeda and Ted were shocked by it, until I told them that they could go camping and travelling in style with it and would save hundreds of galleons on room rentals by taking it along.

I also slipped Andromeda and Ted a business contract to run a business in Diagon Alley for Harry Potter merchandise. This surprised them more than the trunk had, because they could earn a lot of money for selling official Harry Potter items.

It didn't take them long to agree and Andromeda handled the contracts with the various businesses in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade and Ted handled setting up the seller's license and Ministry registration. I also gave them an expanded trunk full of different things I had come up with to sell.

I had smaller plushies of me, autographed pictures, children's picture books based off of Gilderoy's stolen stories, fake glasses with a fake scar, and various muggle children's toys with my likeness on them. I even changed some muggle board games and card games to be magical with magic references to make them acceptable by wizarding society.

Barely a month later, Harry Potter merchandise hit the shelves and everyone loved them. Everything was bought out almost immediately and Andromeda and Ted were run ragged as they scrambled and replaced everything using the massive amount of stock I had given to them. That sold out as well. The exclusive businesses, the Tonks family, and I made a bunch of money.

This gave me the excuse to introduce Petunia to Andromeda and the pair hit it off like they had always been friends. Both had stern personalities when it came to anything besides their families and their families they loved with all their heart. Of course, me being who I was, I had to tease them that they loved me, too. I was the best Harry Potter after all. They laughed and smothered me in kisses.

My third birthday was nearly the same as the last one and I had a great time, because the Tonks had come to the castle and joined us. I also planted the idea of taking a trip to Africa in Andromeda's ear to show off how versatile Nymphadora's travel trunk was. They had been working hard selling my merchandise and she and Ted deserved to take a vacation, now that they could easily afford it.

Surprisingly, Petunia and Vernon offered to come, too. They hadn't gone on vacation for a long time and she would be having the baby soon and wouldn't be going anywhere for a couple of years, so that's what we did. I had to make another travel trunk for us to use, modified for more people. We had the house elves come with us, to their delight. They had never travelled before, either.

We travelled the muggle way on a plane to reach The Democratic Republic of The Congo, because portkeys were too dangerous to use with Petunia so far along. It was a great trip and both families got to know each other well, especially during the safari we went on. Dudley loved seeing the giraffes and elephants the most and Nymphadora learned a whole bunch of new animal faces to make.

She made everyone laugh when she gave herself a small elephant trunk and squeaked instead of making the same deep honking noise that an elephant did. It was hilarious! I did my best to give her a kiss with the trunk in the way and everyone kept laughing, because she squeaked again and blushed hard.

At one point while everyone was asleep, I sneaked off and made a teleportation circle and added a bunch of protections like I did in the dungeon to protect it and keep things away. I couldn't take the chance that it would be broken or destroyed by passing animals like a herd stampeding or a grazing rhinoceros. It cost a lot more magic to connect it, since it was on an entirely different continent. Using it was still cheap, though.

During the trip home, there were stopovers in Egypt and Italy, mostly because Petunia decided to play tourist with the main vacation over. The Tonks didn't mind and I couldn't resist making teleportation circles in out of the way places and gave them the same protections.

They also gave me access to future book events that would happen in the next few years. I was kind of looking forward to fighting a mummy in one of the tombs, after raiding it of course, and dealing with a poltergeist in Rome. First up next year was dealing with the Nundu and that was going to be fun, too.