I was standing before a house. Now this wasn't just any house. This was the house Tonks shared with her parents.

 

I had taken the knight bus here to preserve my stamina, one of my new skills took quite a lot of mental effort after all.

 

Saying one of my new skills implied I had more than four, heh.

 

Apparition (active) lv. 1 exp: 4%

user cannot do this soundlessly, can decrease noise created by concentration and time. Distance increases magic required.

 

I had struggled for almost two years to get this skill, oh, I had been making progress.

 

But simply nothing compared to the one week it took me to get the skill using the wand made for myself.

 

In a way I had completed 20% of the process in seven days.

 

Apparition was weird in a way.

 

It had no Incantation, no wand gesture.

 

It was like sorcery but channeled through the wand. I had tried using fire sorcery through my wand, which hadn't worked.

 

I often saw glimpses of the thing that was magic but I didn't think I would ever understand the whole thing.

 

I didn't really think magic was meant to be understood.

 

Remaining a mystery, never losing it's magic in a way.

 

I knocked on the door. It was opened half a minute later by Tonks who had forgone her usual attire in favour of a a skirt and cardigan combo. She looked quite fetching and by the expression on her face she didn't think the same about me.

 

Dressed in green shorts, sneakers and a brown linen shirt one noticed I did not dress to impress.

Tonks would probably start thinking I hadn't put any effort in the date because I didn't appreciate her.

 

Women.

 

We sat there looking at each other for what I felt about a minute her face growing redder and redder just as she opened her mouth to say something I interrupted her.

 

“You ready?“ I held out my hand, grimacing she took it and I apparated us away with a gigantic crack that probably woke her parents.

 

We found ourselves standing on top of a mountain in the scottish highlands, that alone drained me entirely but looking at her brightening face was worth it.

 

I watched as she took in the scenery.

 

It really was an amazing one, nature in its unaltered form. For those that had never witnessed it before it was quite breathtaking.

 

People often said that they didn't really want to visit these places, that they could just watch some photos.

 

Fools, muggles often lamented the lack of magic but completely ignored the magic right before their eyes.

 

“It's beautiful.“ Tonks interrupted my inner ramblings and turned to me.

 

When she saw what I was sitting on she burst out laughing. I knew it was funny seeing a grown man lying a bright pink picnic blanket but that was a bit of an overreaction.

 

I let her know of my thoughts about her behaviour by pouting and turning away. I felt more than I felt her sit down next to me.

 

She was quite fetching, in more than just one way, ever changing magic swirling inside of her body ready at any moment to change its shape.

 

“Why did you ask me on a date anyway, you barely know me?“ She sounded genuinely curious, kids these days, they took all the romance movies at face value.

 

“A first date is simply a way to get to know each other and find out if one wants to start a relationship.“ She hmmed.

 

“Proper articulation would help me understand your thoughts, I need eye contact to actually read your mind.“ She turned her heart shaped face to me and looked me in the eyes with a blank face.

 

“What does articulation mean?“ I groaned and she started giggling.

 

“Honestly I know Hogwarts doesn't actually have any classes on the english language but that is simply ridiculous.“ She gained a thoughtful expression.

 

“Did you go to Hogwarts?“ She asked. A question I was prepared for. I had prepared an entire backstory.

 

“No I learned most of what I know in different places in the U.S.A.“ She looked annoyed that she didn't know what the hell kind of a magical community the United States actually had.

 

The thing about the magical side of american was that no one actually knew what the hell happened there. The magicals there had been simply ignoring their non magical counterparts since basically the beginning of time.

 

And when the colonization of the americas started, not many magicals actually went there. Why would they?

 

Later for the sake of upholding the statue of secrecy and to gather the muggleborns the colonists produced the I.C.W established a Ministry of Magic there, formed mostly from the german, british and french immigrants. Controlling and keeping track of only those.

 

But the so called european magicals were only approximately 10% of america's magical population.

 

“Are you american then?“

 

“No i'm Yugoslavian.“ I watched as she grew even more annoyed at the name of another country she knew basically nothing about.

 

“Why are you in Britain then?“ I gave her a grin.

 

“Work.“ Mount Tonks was about to explode, I saw it by they way her hair changed to an angry shade of red.

 

I put on a serious face and looked her in her brown eyes. She calmed down and stared back questioningly.

 

“Something you should know if you want to start anything with me is that I can not tell you anything about what I actually do, I have summer and christmas vacation and I can visit a few times per month but otherwise I will be very busy.“ She didn't look particularly worried about that.

 

“Aren't you a wandmaker, well I'm starting the auror academy this september anyway we basically have the same schedule.“ My answer to that was.

“No i'm not a wandmaker.“ She looked annoyed again so I took her hand and entwined our fingers.

 

Looking into her brown eyes I slowly lowered my face to hers giving her time to pull away if she wanted to.

 

She didn't, we kissed.

 

Kissing was something I hadn't actually done in a while, sure occasionally I had sex with different people just to unwind. But kissing wasn't really involved.

 

Her lips were soft, I pulled up my hand to cup the side of her face. I opened my eyes and watched as she slowly did as well.

 

We moved aways from each other but didn't break eye contact.

 

She initiated the kiss this time.

 

-/-

 

Harry Potter entered my shop on one of the last days it would actually be my shop.

 

He was a small kid, messy hair, brilliant green eyes that were hiding behind a pair of ugly glasses and dressed in clothes fit for a beggar.

 

He had a more powerful connection to magic than I did at my rank of D-, the little shit.

 

Whatever, time to make an entrance.

 

I apparated right in front of him, he of course jumped away like a frightened cat staring at me with widened eyes.

 

“You here for a wand boy?“ I gave him a disinterested look. That actually seemed to comfort him, probably because I wasn't trying to get a look at his scar or maniacally shaking his hand.

 

“Y-yes.“ This stuttering kid was supposed to beat a dark lord who had almost taken over a country?.

 

Prophecies.

 

I stared at him, he averted his eyes to the ground almost immediately.

 

I think we stood in that position for more than ten minutes before he seemed to muster his courage and spoke.

 

“Do you need something first sir?“ Damn, I hadn't been referred to as sir in a very long time.

 

“No.“ I just continued to stare at him.

 

He fidgeted opened his mouth closed it again, I heard the bell jingle signalling another customer when the boy finally opened his mouth to say something.

 

“Can I please have a wand?“ I didn't stop staring at him as I wandlessly summoned the 11 inches holly and phoenix wand that chose Harry in the series. Red sparks flew out of the thing as soon as he grasped it and almost set fire to the carpet.

 

I extinguished it before it could start.

 

“Interesting, that will be nine galleons.“ He shoved the money in my left hand took the wand out of the other and literally fled the shop almost bumping into the frankly intimidating woman standing behind him.

 

The woman came forward and revealed a bushy haired girl standing behind her. That would be Hermione Granger I guess.

 

Mcgonagall opened her mouth but I rudely interrupted her.

 

“A wand for the young lady?“ The teacher narrowed her eyes at me probably wondering if she had ever seen me at Hogwarts.

 

“Yes, do you happen to be a Weasley young man?“ She had taught five Weasleys at this point, she would recognize the resemblance.

 

“No, you wouldn't be the only one that has made that connection in Britain though. We do look alike I guess, I've met William but i'm Yugoslavian so I don't know how a relation would be possible.“ She suddenly looked at me with pitying eyes.

 

Yugoslavia had a bit of a history in the magical world.

 

“I understand.“ I nodded in acknowledgment at her words and wandlessly summoned Hermione’s wand.

 

“10 ¾ inches vinewood and dragon heartstring.“ She stared at me with widened eyes and blurted out.

 

“How did you do that?“ I gave her an evaluating look as if considering if she was worthy of this arcane knowledge.

 

“In the magical world you will find that hard work is rewarded far more often than in the muggle one.“

 

Cryptic, I loved being cryptic you could say complete bullshit but if no one understood it in the first place they would simply nod along trying to look like they knew what I was talking about.

 

The girl didn't immediately blurt out another question like I almost expected her too. She thought about what I had said and asked what I considered one of the smartest questions ever.

 

“Why?“

 

“Because in the magical world your reward for hard work is the ability to reprogram reality itself, in the muggle world however, the rewards are not so high.“ She looked like she would think carefully about that once she got home.

 

Great, a bit of good old thinking never hurt anyone. Mcgonagall shoed her outside before she could ask more questions, but turned to me one last time with an inquisitive look on her face.

 

“I've never seen anyone match a wand to a witch so fast.“ To which I gave her a pleasant smile.

 

“The only wandmaker in britain is Ollivander, that is not a really big enough pool to form an opinion on, Goodbye.“

 

-/-

 

After closing hours I wandered the streets of london.

 

I had a theory, I knew legilimency for almost two years now, but I hadn't gotten a skill.

 

But I had also never used the spell to its fullest potential. Always reading surface thoughts, breaking shields. I'd never accessed deep memories.

 

Today I would do that. I was simply walking through the small alleys waiting to be mugged.

 

And there was test subject 1#, before he even said anything I pointed my wand at him and cast the spell.

 

Born too a middle class family in Kent. Finished school at the age of 19. Couldn't find a job got pulled into crime and now 43 years old he haunts the streets robbing drunks. He also liked ponies.

I blinked at that last piece of information.

 

The Mind Arts (active) lv. 1 Exp: 67%

Delve into things unseen

 

Legilimency used by someone average at it like me almost always left traces, but nobody would care if the victim was some criminal hobo. I walked over to the catatonic muggle and knocked him out with point blank stunner.

 

I apparated home and looked at the time. It was fairly late but still too early to go to sleep so I went and sat on my couch just to notice Tonks sleeping on it.

 

She had probably fallen asleep waiting for me, she had been spending more and more time at my place recently, we did only have a few more weeks together.

 

I gently picked her up and carried her into my bed, when I wanted to leave her there I noticed that she apparently didn't want that.

I did some mental gymnastics with my inventory to undress myself and went to bed as well.

 

Sleeping with someone in your arms was cathartic.