Lady Tonks, Lord Potter

My spidey senses are tingling

"Great Gorznuk, that wind." Effie shook her head, once again reached into her coat for the parchment and this time successfully flattened out the roll on the back of the rock. "This is the current state of the village. As you can see the houses were not situated in any particular design, the streets were somewhat meandering and crooked. We could change that, but I feel it would remove part of the charm of the village. Too much change might..."

"It's fine with me. The streets." Harry nodded. "I've lived where everything is orderly and boring."

"Too true." Effie nodded and began speaking again rather quickly, hoping to keep those memories from surfacing for Harry. "There is a spot here that is the former location of one of the larger houses. Tradition says that it is the spot where one of your ancestors lived, but no verification of that legend has ever been verified. It is a rather nice spot for a house, the stream runs at the back of the property, you could have a nice garden, and it is in the middle of the village." She paused and turned to him. "Unless you'd like to build here, up on the hill."

"And look down at everybody?" Harry shook his head. "Nah, doesn't feel right. I don't want anybody to think 'Lord Potter' is looking down on them in any way." He paused. "I like it but I think I should talk to Tonks before making any decisions."

Effie chuckled as she rolled up the parchment. "You may only have been married a short time, Harry, but you're smarter than many new husbands."

"Thanks?" Harry shrugged. "Just seems the right thing to do."

"Remember that, that feeling. It will serve you well not only in your marriage but also in the future. Speaking of the future..."

Harry groaned. "Is this about Hogwarts again? I told you I'd go."

"No, it's not about Hogwarts it's concerning the meeting with the Ministry tomorrow. I've sent the information to the Lodge and the owl came back...have you read..." She looked up and saw his expression. "Harry, Lord Potter, you need to read your parchment. It explains what will happen. Why haven't you read it yet?"

"Uh..." Harry blushed. "Kinda forgot about it. Dora, um, ah..."

Effie bit her lip to keep from laughing. It was quite obvious to her why a newly-married Lord Potter hadn't read the information. "Yes, well, I'll speak to Lady Black about it." After stuffing the parchment back in her coat she adjusted her kerchief and motioned down towards the village. "Perhaps you'd like to go down and see how things are progressing?"

It was quite the sight for the workers below; walking down the hill, in close conversation, was a teenage boy and what looked like the world's shortest grandmother. Looks could be deceiving, though, as they all knew that Lord Potter was heading towards them with one of the most influential goblins in the wizarding world.

-ooo-

Once again Harry wished that the official 'Lord Potter' robes were more comfortable. With all the magic in the world why couldn't they not itch? It had to be the collar, which was, for some reason, very high and fastened with a gold insignia of his house, the griffon bearing a sword. Plus the bloody stuff was hot. He pulled at his collar again before Tonks elbowed him.

"Leave it alone."

"But the damn thing..." Behind them, in their seats along the side of the large room at the Ministry, Harry heard a very familiar sigh. He glanced back and was right; in her new, official robes Daphne Greengrass stood behind their chairs. "Hey Daphne."

"Complaining again?" She looked over and saw Tonks nod. "Let me guess, itchy?"

"Um, yeah." Harry nodded.

With a roll of the eyes Daphne took out her wand. "Sit still." One wand-wave later she saw Harry relax. Turning to Tonks she shook her head. "Still crap at the fashion spells, Nymph?"