Wild Magic - Chapter 29

The goblins had been uncomfortably silent over the last couple of days. Harry wasn't sure if he should take that as a good thing or not. He had never heard of a goblin turning down gold, but then he wasn't exactly an expert on the people. Honor did seem to be a very important part of the magical world.

Today he didn't have the luxury of distractions. Hedwig had returned from the delivery to Emily refused to talk to him about it. She was not happy and that did not bode well. Harry had finally convinced Tonks to allow him to visit the girl.

Hermione waited for them at the exit to the Great Hall. She wasn't happy that she couldn't go with them. Still, she wanted to see him off. She wanted to see where he lived and maybe meet the muggle girl that caught Harry's eye. Not that she was jealous. She had made peace that she would have to share Harry. Physically, at least. She still wasn't sure how she felt about him. Did she find him attractive? Of course. Did she have a crush on him? Since first year. Did she love him? Yes. Was it love-love? She wasn't so sure. Sex was fun and she would walk into hell with him, but she didn't see them having a real long-term thing. School Sweethearts settling down together was a nice fantasy. They didn't work out nearly as much in practice. The Voldemort problem needed to be handled before any solid plans for the future were made.

"I can apparate us there." Nym offered. "We'll have to leave the Hogwarts ward though."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Harry asked. "I still don't know how I'll react to it."

"We'll just have to figure out a way to burn off the extra magic." Nym purred.

"I can't believe you're doing this." Hermione huffed.

"Luna was right about Amelia and Nym." Harry countered. "I'm not going to leave Emily alone in this."

"Because of you're saving people thing." Hermione grumbled.

"A little." Harry nodded. "There are literally people out there trying to kill me. They would jump at the chance to hurt me in some way. Emily is in danger even now. Plus, she's the mother of my child."

"You're too happy about this." Hermione shook her head.

"I want a big family." Harry shrugged. "This isn't how I planned it, but I'm not going to argue."

"I've heard horror stories about muggle childbirth." Nym shivered. "I'm not going to pass it up if I can help my sister-wife have a better experience."

"Sister wife?" Harry and Hermione said in unison.

"You're going to take responsibility, right Harry?" Nym fluttered her eyelashes at him.

"You didn't strike me as the marrying type." Harry teased.

"Are you calling me a scarlet woman?" Nym shifted her hair to a Weasley inspired red and her voice to an uncanny impression of Molly.

Harry shivered. Thank Merlin she hadn't been among the pregnant. There was a vast gulf between dirty talk in the heat of the moment and the real world. He would never forgive himself if he caused the Weasley family to fall apart. With more experience he could see how it had happened. He didn't know it at the time, but it was his magic reaching out to fulfill his desires that caused Molly to find him like it had done with Pansy. Of course, that had been sexually attracted to him before to be open to the influence.

Nym stopped on the other side of the Hogwarts wards. She held back her hand as she looked back at Harry. He sighed, closed his eyes, and took it. The incredibly uncomfortable being balled up and sent through a tube pressed all over his body.

He discovered that they were now in Privet Drive once he opened his eyes. Harry checked his watch. Thick yellow lines were starting to take over. The only thing preventing it from moving on to red was the fact that they were in a low-magic area. He'd have to keep that in mind.

"Aw." Nym looked at his watch as well. "I was hoping for a quickie."

Harry shook his head.

"Where does this baby-mama live?" Nym scanned the area. "Scratch that, how do you tell these apart? I grew up in a muggle neighborhood and it wasn't as bad as this place."

"You get used to it." Harry shrugged. "That's her house."

Harry strolled up the walkway with Nym by his side. He took a look at her from the corner of his eye. She was in her 'standard' form, which was a bit taller than him, sporty, and with shoulder-length pink hair. He knew he wasn't the tallest wizard in his year, but he had grown a lot over the summer. With the influx of magic repairing his body, not to mention the sex, and he had filled out. He had a lithe, athletic build that was perfect for a Seeker. Most magical folk didn't bother with physical activity unless their job required it. Duelists, Quidditch players, and a few other professions were the only ones that a magical person would need to be active. There were spells and enchantments to take care of practically everything. He was pretty sure that it was only through magic that most witches and wizards looked the way they did.

The meandering train of thought didn't make the short walk up to the door any longer. Harry rang the doorbell and waited for a sign.

His skin tingled with nervous energy as the moments stretched out.

"She could be at work." Harry offered when there was no answer.

"Where does she work?" Nym asked.

"She didn't say." Harry shrugged.

Nym muttered something and rolled her eyes. She took a quick look around.

"Use a locator spell." She whispered. "You'll suck up the magic if I do it."

"I better not get letter from the Ministry about this." Harry grumbled.

He drew his wand and cast the spell. It pointed them toward town. Harry looked up to scan the sky for any incoming owls. He let out a little sigh when he didn't see any.

"Looks like we're going for a walk." Harry started in the direction the spell had given.

"We need something more specific than that." Nym fell into step beside him. "You will need to cast that charm every few minutes to make sure we don't overshoot."

"Is there a better one?" Harry asked.

"Auror secret." Nym dropped her voice to a stage whisper.

Nym took a step away from him and drew her wand. She set a hand on his shoulder.

"Think about her. Her name, face, maybe how she looks naked." Nym teased.

Harry felt a small tickle just behind his ears.

"Oxenfree." She drew a sharp triangle then bisected it with a vertical line.

A beacon of light appeared in the air. It was in the same direction that his spell had shown.

"That's not subtle." Harry arched an eyebrow at her.

"We're the only ones who can see it." Nym tapped her wrist to signal to check.

Harry glanced at it. The yellow lines were thicker, but there were still slivers of green.

"Still good." Harry held his wrist up for her to see.

"Where does she work?" Nym asked.

"It didn't come up." Harry rubbed the back of his neck.

"What exactly do you know about this girl?" Nym asked as they started to walk.

"She was nice." Harry shrugged. "She wants to travel. Doesn't want to settle for a normal boring life."

"Wow." Nym snorted. "Deep conversation."

"I helped her with some groceries she spilled, we talked, and just hit it off." Harry replied. "The Dursleys tell everyone that I'm a delinquent. A bit of conversation was enough to convince her that I wasn't. If she was still around next summer I might have seen her again."

Nym just gave him a little smile.

"You've never had a one-night stand?" Harry muttered.

"Point taken." Nym inclined her head. "You forgot that I'm a responsible adult that uses protection."

Harry gave her a smug smile while staying quiet.

"Fuck off." Nym punched him in the shoulder once she realized why.

They made it to the town proper a few minutes later. The beacon moved quite frequently now. Luckily, it stayed to the same area, so she was probably just going through her shift. The beacon led them to a small strip of shops. Harry had been worried she had worked at the same place as Candy. That would have been an interesting experience. At least she wasn't pregnant too.

Nym walked into the shop first to find it was a second-hand clothing store. Emily was in the process of hanging up some clothing. She looked to be muttering to herself and hadn't seen them yet. Harry took a deep breath and walked over to her.

"Welcome to…" Emily started to say.

Her 'customer service' smile dropped when she saw it was him.

"What are you doing here?" She dropped her voice to a whisper.

"Looking for you." Harry gave a shy smile.

"It is not fair that you're so cute." Emily muttered. "Things have gotten really strange since I met you. This big owl tried to attack me, my period is late, and I'm having these weird dreams."

"Hedwig wasn't trying to attack you." Harry soothed.

"Hedwig?" She asked.

"She's my owl." Harry explained. "She was delivering a letter."

"That still doesn't make sense!" Emily snapped. "Did you hear the part about my period?"

"Yes." Harry nodded. "That's why I wanted to talk to you." He paused. "Is there somewhere we can talk in private?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. After a moment she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the back of the store. She locked the door before she turned to face him.

"What?" Emily crossed her arms, inadvertently drawing his eyes to her chest. "You said you went to a boarding school in Scotland. How are you here then? What else did you lie about?"

"I do go to school in Scotland, I was there this morning." Harry answered.

"It's not even noon!" Emily cut in. "There's no way you got here so fast. Do you have a private jet or something?"

"No." Harry shook his head. "I used magic."

Emily stared at him.

"You're insane." She rubbed a hand over her face. "Cute, sweet, and insane. Of course you are."

"No, he's not." Nym said.

Emily leaned over to see behind him just in time for Nym to close the door.

"How did you get in here?" Emily asked. "I know I locked that."

"You did." Nym twirled her wand along her fingers. "I unlocked it."

"Who are you?" Emily took a step back.

"Officer Tonks." Nym pulled a wallet out from her jacket and flashed a badge. "I'm with Harry."

Harry had only seen them on TV, but he was certain that they didn't usually have a wands in the design.

"Why?" Emily drew the word out.

"Long story." Nym chuckled.

"Listen." Harry cut in. "I know this sounds crazy. This is Nym, she's kind of my bodyguard."

"I'm his baby-mama too." Nym flashed her a smile. "We have that in common."

Emily gawked at her. She turned her gaze to Harry.

"Fuck." Emily groaned. "My life is ruined."

"I need to take you somewhere safe." Harry offered her his hand. "That way we can talk, and you can decide if you want to see me again."

"I'll get fired if I leave now." Emily shook her head. "I'm the only one here."

"I've been authorized to offer you an office job working for me." Nym cut in. "Our office run on a file system that's years out of date, and I hate doing paperwork."

"How much per hour?" Emily asked slowly.

"Give me a moment." Nym muttered to herself as she counted something off on her hand. "Triple whatever you're making now."

"You can do that?" Harry asked.

"Exchange rate." Nym replied with a nod.

"Exchange rate?" Emily asked.

"I can tell you more once we're somewhere private." Harry replied.

He tried to give her an encouraging smile.

"This better not be a scam." Emily sighed. "This job sucks anyway."

"Thank you for trusting me." Harry gave her a gentle smile.

"Is your car out front?" Emily asked.

"We didn't bring a car." Nym stepped up beside them. She slid a hand around Emily's shoulders and the other around Harry's waist. "Have you had lunch yet?"

"No." Emily scrunched her brow. "Why?"

"Good." Nym nodded. "Take a deep breath."

"What?" Emily asked.

They popped away.