A Little Goes a Long Way

First off, I\'d like to thank ladydeathfaerie and madamshark for getting me into this. I would never have posted if not for them. Again, a big thanks to you guys!

Secondly, there\'s only one character in this story that belongs to me. That\'s Tyler. The others I\'m borrowing from the Harry Potter universe. No trashing, ok?

Thirdly, I can\'t promise you anything on anything that will be in this story. I\'ve never done... Raunch... But I keep getting asked to try my quill at it. I just might. No promises.

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Chapter 1

It had been a year since Harry and his friends had graduated Hogwarts. Hermoine Granger had went home to be with her dentist parents for a year before continuing her witching education. She was going to go far, Harry was sure of it. Neville Longbottom had gone on to a school in Ireland for witches and wizards who have as much problems in controlling their abilities as he did. It was just what he needed. As for Ron Weasley... Harry didn\'t have to wonder what Ron had done because as Harry looked to his left, his flame-haired, be-freckled friend was just coming up Diagon Alley, two chocolate fudge sundaes gripped tightly in his slender hands.
Harry smiled at him as he approached and Ron smiled back. \"Look what I got for us at Florean Fortescue\'s Ice Cream Parlor! She said there\'s something special in these...\" Ron trailed off as he gazed down the Alley at something. Harry turned and scanned the strin tin the direction Ron\'s eyes were riveted. Instantly, he realized it wasn\'t something, but someone rather, that had caught his friend\'s undivided attention.
This someone was very pretty with long, straight burgundy hair. Harry thought it odd as to the shade of her hair, for it truly was burgundy. It hung to her mid-back and curled slightly at the ends while her bangs bounced just above being in her eyes. She was wearing a very simple, straight blue dress. So simple, in fact,t tht the only thing on the dress was a bit of cord on the front, starting just below her breasts and lacing up to the modest neckline. Her sleeves were short and just as simple as the rest of the dress. Her soft purple cloak was just as simple, hanging loosely about her shoulders and flowing almost to her feet, which were encased in equally simple black slipper shoes. As Harry continued to assess the girl from this distance, Ron let out a low whistle as he absentmindedly handed him his sundae.
Finally, taking his eyes from the girl as she entered the Apothecary, Harry looked back at Ron, who was still openly gawking after her, his mouth slightly agape. His eyes were slightly popped as he continued to watch her, muttering softly, \"Oy, she\'s a sight, huh, Harry?\"
Harry smiled, nodding a bit. As he pushed his unruly hair out of his face, he replied, \"Yeah. She sure is. Why don\'t you go talk to her?\"
This time, Ron\'s eyes did pop! He gulped, ripping his gaze, finally, from the girl as she entered Madam Malkin\'s Robes for All Occasions. \"W-what?\" He stammered. \"G-go talk to... to her? C\'mon, Harry... You know... you know I can\'t.\"
Harry chuckled softly. \"Yeah. Just because all you\'d be able to do is stutter at her. You need to loosen up, Ron, or you\'ll never get a girl.\"
Ron jabbed his spoon into his ice-cream. \"Easy for you to say,\" he muttered around a mouthful of vanilla. \"You\'re the famous Harry Potter. You don\'t have to do anything but smile. Me... I\'m just Ronald Weasley. Another Weasley boy.\" He harrumphed as he corrected himself, \"Just another guy.\" He spooned another mouthful of ice-cream as he commented around it, \"Besides, with looks like that, you just know she must already have a boyfriend. And if not, she\'s probably up to her ears in prospects.\"
It was Harry\'s turn to harrumph. \"You won\'t know that if you dt got go ask, though, Ron. You\'re such a wishy-washy.\"
Ron glared at him, his ears turning a bright red. \"I am not a wishy-washy! And besides, what would I say to her?\"
Harry blinked at the spoonful of strawberry ice-cream he had just ladled into his mouth. He took his fingers and pulled a fine silver chain from between his teeth. \"I think I found my surprise,\" he muttered. As he used the end of his sleeve to clean the ice-cream and saliva from the necklace, he red, ed, \"Maybe your name? That\'s usually a good way to start. It\'s the most common way, at least.\"
Ron gave Harry a side-ways look as he said, \"You know what I mean, Harry. There\'s nothing special about me. I\'m a Weasley, for crying out loud. And not to mention, I\'m the sixth Weasley to boot. She\'s not going to want to be seen with me. I\'m surprised you don\'t mind being seen with me. All I am is \'Harry Potter\'s friend\'. Or even, as I think about it, \'Harry Potter\'s faithful sidekick.\' There\'s nothing great about being in your shadow, Harry.\" As Ron said this, he saw the hurt in his friend\'s eyes and quickly added, \"Not that I mind. I mean, you\'re my best friend. I mean, well... Oh, Harry, I\'m sorry. I didn\'t mean it to sound like that...\" Ron trailed off, feeling horrid for what he had just said.
Harry shrugged. \"No... You\'re right. But it\'s ok. You\'re my friend. And that\'s all that counts.\" He put the now-clean necklace into his pocket and looked Ron full in the face. \"Would you like some help, then?\"
Ron nodded eagerly. \"You\'d do that?\"
Harry smiled. \"You know I would. After all we\'ve been through already... It\'ll be the easiest thing we\'ve done.\"
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Tyler Peddimoore was walking the streets of Diagon Alley, drifting in and out of shops in no particulrderrder. She was on her way to the Apothecary to pick up a few potion ingredients when she felt eyes on her. She was used to the childish eyeing of men, so she didn\'t even bother to look up. Quickly, mad made her purchases and made her way to Madam Malkin\'s Robes for All Occasions. Again, she felt the eyes following her. And again, she did not look up.
Once finished in Madam Malkin\'s, Tyler headed for Flourish and Blotts, her favorite place. The staring had ceased, but she didn\'t really notice. Tyler loved to read and she came to F&B\'s regularly for new books. She happened to be so regular that the manager and sales clerks looked forward to her visits. Today, however, was the exception.
As she entered, she was greeted by the familiar faces of Margerette Flourish and Timothy Blott. They were, however, not all smiles and greetings, as was usual. Tyler tilted her head in question, furrowing her brow stly.tly. \"What\'s the matter Madam Flourish, Sir Blott? What\'s happened?\"
The two proprietors gave each other worried looks, Mr. Blott was wringing his long knobby fingers together. After hesitating a little longer, he emitted a great, heaving sigh and replied, \"Tyler, dear... Marcus Middlecrow is no longer with us.\"
Tyler squinted her eyes in confusion. \"Where\'d he go?\" She blinked as she awaited an answer.
This time it was Madam Flourish who spoke. \"He... He died... Last night... In a freak accident. The newspaper said he was working on a new potion or something... Something went array and there was an explosion... They did everything they could... But... Whatever it was he had been working on... It finished him off, despite everything the mediwitches and warlocks tried. No one really knows anymore than that.\"
Tyler continued to blink, confusion blossoming into grief. \"Oh no... Poor Marcus... I should have tried harder to get him to stop that infernal experiment...\" She sank onto a nearby stool and began to cry. Through her tears, she sobbed, \"I told him it would kill him... I tried to warn him... He was so excited about it, though... He couldn\'t wait to finish it to show me... He... He was trying to prove himself to me... Like he needed to...\"
The older woman came over and wrapped her arms around Tyler in a motherly hug. \"I know, dear... I know... He really cared about you.\" She patted the younger girl\'s shoulder thoughtfully and looked down at her. \"What, exactly, had he been working on, dear?\"
Tyler pulled a small piece of cloth from an inside pocket on her cloak, and dabbed at her eyes, replying, \"I\'m not entirely sure. He would never tell me... Just that I\'d be proud of him... It could have been anything...\" She looked up and smiled sadly. \"I think... I think I\'m just going to go, then, ok?\"
Both nodded their agreement and walked her to the door. \"Be careful, dear. Owl us if you need anything. Anything at all.\" She nodded and stepped back into the Alley.
Once back in the throng of wizards and witches on the sunny street, Tyler lost herself in thought. She wandered aimlessly down the street, carefully avoiding people as she went. She was so caught up in her thoughts, in fact, that she did not see a black haired young man with circular glasses approach her.




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Harry approached the burgundy haired young woman and smiled. He began to offer her his hand in greeting when he noticed that she was terribly preoccupied and hadn\'t noticed his approach. So, instead of pulling her from her thoughts, he stepped into stride beside her, never loosing step as they wandered up the Alley.
Finally, not wanting to get too far away from Ron, he cleared his throat politely. The girl\'s head snapped in his direction and he noticed that her eyes were the strangest shade of green. Almost the color of pond water. They were lovely, in any respect. He nervously cleared his throat again, offering her his hand as he said, \"Uh, hi. I\'m...\"
Before he could finish his sentence, she replied, \"Harry Potter. Yes. I know. Everyone knows who you are.\" With that, she began to turn away, not once accepting the hand offered to her.
Harry reflexively reached over and grabbed her arm. \"Wait! Wait...\"
The girl looked first at him, then to the hand enclosed on her arm, and then back at him, this time a deep scowl etched onto her features. For a split second she reminded him of his old Potions teacher, Severus Snape. He, quite frankly, was a little weirded out, and released his grip.
\"I just... I wanted to talk to you, if it\'s alright?\" Harry shifted from one foot to the other, rather nervous. Silently snickering to himself he thought, \'I might be nervous, but I\'m doing bloody well better than poor ole Ron would be.\'
The girl continued to scowl, but she turned to him, crossing her arms across her chest. \"Ok. I\'m listening.\"
Harry gulped. He suddenly felt very bad for Ron. \"Well, I... That is... You see... I have this friend. And he\'s very taken with you. But he\'s too shy to approach a tomato, let alone a lady as stunning as yourself.\"
He could see by the expression on the girl\'s face that a nerve had been struck. He wasn\'t quite sure what kind of nerve, but one of them. As he hoped she wouldn\'t turn him into a toad or something worse, he saw, for the first time, the puffy redness around her eyes, like she had been crying.
He looked at her a little closer and asked, \"Are... are you alright? Is there something I could help with, maybe?\"
The girl quickly wiped at her eyes again and shook her head. \"No. No one can help. And I\'m fine, thank you. By the way, I\'m Tyler. I suppose it\'s your sidekick, the red-haired young man hopping up and down over there, that wishes to speak with me?\" She motioned toward Ollivander\'s, where, sure enough, Ron was hopping up and down excitedly.
Harry chuckled and nodded. \"Yes. And he\'s not my sidekick,\" he added quickly. \"That\'s Ron. Ron Weasley. He\'s my best friend.\"
Tyler nodded. \"Yes, I expect he is.\" She smiled sweetly and waved to Ron, giggling softly as she watched him go almost as red as his hair. \"Charming fellow, I\'m sure. However, I\'m sorry to say I\'m incredibly busy right now... Not to mention terribly not in the mood for company of any sort. I just received some terrible news and don\'t feel like entertaining anyone. Tell him I\'m sorry, but perhaps another time.\" With that, she turned from Harry and began walking down the street, toward the magical entrance into the muggle world.
Harry nodded absentmindedly as he watched her walk away from him, her shoulders again slumped in thought. Suddenly he jumped as he realized he had never gotten her last name! \"Wait...,\" he called to her, but it was too late and she was too far away to hear him.

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\"Well,\" cried Ron! \"Did you get her name? Where\'s she from?\" He was shaking with excitement as Harry sauntered over to him, letting out a sigh.
\"I got her first name... But that\'s it. She was in a hurry to get somewhere.\" For the millionth time that day, he pushed his hair out of his eyes and straightened his glasses.
Ron huffed a little, leaning against the wall. \"Well,\" he started, \"what\'s her first name? Part of a name is better than nothing, you know.\"
\"This is true,\" replied Harry. He shrugged and retrieved the rest of his ice-cream, which was rather thoroughly melted. \"Her first name is Tyler.\"
Ron slowly slid down the wall to sit on the cobblestone path, smiling goofily to himself. \"Tyler,\" he breathed. \"What a beautiful name. I wonder what she\'s like...\"
Before Ron could start fantasizing about the girl, Harry answered him. \"She\'s rather clippie. She doesn\'t like to be touched. When she scowls, she looks just like Professor Snape. She wasn\'t impressed with either of us. And she, I assume, lives somewhere in muggle London, or nearby.\"
Ron looked up at him from the ground, his forearms propped up on his knees, hands dangling limply from the ends of his wrists. \"What makes you say that, Harry?\"
Harry shrugged again, motioning to his ice-cream with a nod of his head. The ice-cream glasses magically floated from his outstretched hand, heading back to Florean Fortescue\'s Ice Cream Parlor. \"Well,\" he said, \"she was heading for the entrance to The Leaky Cauldron. You know that that\'s the inn that connects us to the muggles.\"
\"Speaking of which,\" Ron commented as he hoisted himself off the ground, \"it\'s getting late. We should be heading back ourselves.\" Harry nodded in agreement and the two friends headed toward the entrance to The Leaky Cauldron, a certain female on both their minds.