Beast Within - Chapter 6

One thing he had noticed was that Floo travel was incredibly easy now. He could step through without a problem. His balance was impeccable. Plus, the fire seemed to listen to his will. It wasn't perfect, but it was something to explore.

Andi had gone through first to let him know the address. Their house was closer to a Muggle home rather than magical. It was similar to the Dursleys while being completely different at the same time. This place exuded love and care instead of sterile and hostile. The furniture looked used, but well maintained.

"Welcome home." Andi smiled at him.

Harry felt a rush of warmth in his chest. He cleared his throat to remove the lump that had formed. Two words had practically broken him.

"Thank you." Harry flashed her a misty smile.

"Let's see if anyone is home." Andi rested an arm along his shoulder. "Ted! Nymphadora! Harry's here!"

Her voice was loud, but not so much to hurt. That was good. He still wasn't sure how he would adjust to life once he was back at Hogwarts. Remus was able to do it. Harry hoped that his level of control would come in handy.

"Mother!" A female voice called back. "I told you, call me Tonks."

A young woman with bright purple hair strode into the room from the hall. She flashed him a smile. Harry sniffed the air on instinct. She had a complex, multi-layered scent. It was like standing in an open field while the wind gently passed by. Wildflowers, rushing water, sunlight, and the smell of fresh rain whirled around her along with the undertone of familiar sweetness that he couldn't quite place. The dragon urged him to get closer. It called to him to bury his nose in her neck as breath deep.

"Nymphadora is a beautiful name." Andi sighed.

The sound of her voice snapped him out of his haze. Nymphadora stumbled a little but caught herself before it became more. Harry could have sworn her leg had lengthened for a moment.

"Wotcher, Harry." She flashed a smile at him. "Call me Tonks. Haven't seen you since you were an ickle First Year."

"We went to school together?" Harry titled his head to the side.

"I was a seventh year Hufflepuff. You were a firstie." Tonks replied.

Harry squinted at her. "You were a Beater!"

"That's me." She smiled brightly at him. "Glad to make an impression."

"I'd say." Harry returned the smile. "You about took my head off."

"What happens on the pitch, stays on the pitch." She shrugged.

Harry smiled at her. Nym smiled back. A rush of familiar heat flared. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. His focus needed to be elsewhere.

"Why don't you like to be called Nymphadora?" He asked.

"You get one free." She glared at him.

"I'm serious." Harry said.

"Seven years of people calling my Nympho?" She crossed her arms. "You tell me."

"What about Nym? Can I call you that?" He asked.

Tonks took a deep breath. She bobbed her head from side to side.

"Sure." She said. "Nym is fine for you."

Andi smiled as the two spoke.

"Is your father here?" She asked.

"No." Nym shook her head. "I haven't seen him."

"Hm." Andi sighed. "Did you want to show Harry around while I check in on your father? He's been working himself too hard lately."

"Sure." Nym nodded. "I'm off for the next couple of days."

"I love you." Andi said to her daughter. "I'll be gone for an hour at most. It's been a long day."

The Floo flashed as Andi stepped through the flames. Nym stared at him for a moment with an ever-present playful smile.

"Are you hungry?" She asked.

"The Weasleys had a 'welcome back' dinner." Harry blushed at the other thing that had happened there.

He had been out of the hospital for about three hours now. That brief stretch of time had been better than the entirety of the last year.

"How is the Ginger Storm doing?" Nym asked. "It's been a while since I've seen them."

"You know them?" Harry asked.

"Charlie was in my year. Until he got his apprenticeship in Romania." Nym looked like she wanted to say more but thought better. "Ready for the tour?"

"Yes." Harry nodded.

"This." She motioned to the room they were in. "Is the Floo Room. Can you guess why we call it that?"

Harry chuckled.

"Now, this is the important part." She led him over to the doorway. "The Floo is connected to the door. This door will shut if the Floo is accessed by an unknown party. It's enchanted to be strong enough to take a cluster of Bombara Maxima at close range."

"Because of the war?" Harry asked.

"Yeah." Her shoulders slumped. "My mom was kicked out of the Black family when she ran away and married my dad. They are Pureblood fanatics; my dad is muggle-born. Her entire family went dark so it was possible that one of them would pop in for a visit."

Harry winced.

"Exactly." Nym led him out into the hallway. "Ooky-spooky Dark Lord could hijack the Floo network too. He had people who could lock down Apparition. No way out, nowhere to run. That room seals if the wards are tripped too. We have other ways to get out of the house."

"Wow." Harry said. "That's impressive."

"Enough depressing stuff." Her smile returned. "This is the kitchen. We don't have a house elf, but it's open for you to use. Help yourself if you need it. Don't expect me to make you anything, I stick to the simple stuff."

"I can cook." Harry said.

"Sweet." Nym smiled at him. "You'll have to show me."

"Gladly." Harry flashed a smile back at her.

"That is the dining room, we only use it for holidays. There's a table in the kitchen that we usually use." She resumed the tour. "Next door is the living room and study. TV, Couch, desk, and couple of bookshelves. The usual."

"You have a TV?" Harry asked.

"This neighborhood is mostly half-blood and muggle-born." She explained. "You wouldn't know from the looks of it."

"Nice." Harry whispered.

"This is the door to the basement." Nym motioned to the door by the kitchen. "I'll save that for last. Mom said that you'll be spending the full moon down there."

"Yeah." Harry nodded. "You know about that?"

"Of course, you're going to be living with us." Nym chuckled. "That and Aurors are made aware of any new known werewolf as a precaution. Either to provide assistance getting them away from the public on the full moon, or possibly containing their rampage."

"Yikes." Harry muttered.

"Mom says you've got things under control?" Nym looked at him from the corner of her eye.

"I can even talk." Harry smiled at her. "Parseltongue, but it's something."

"That's true then?" She asked. "The Parseltongue thing?"

Harry nodded.

"Sweet." Nym bumped him with her shoulder. "That's old family magic. Like mine."

"Like yours?" Harry titled his head to the side.

Her hair went through a myriad of colors before settling on pink. Then her nose shifted from human to a pig and back again.

"I'm a metamorphmagus." She said. "Shapeshifting magic. It's old Black family magic. Like Parseltongue for the Potters."

"That's awesome." Harry whispered.

"So, you're like a were-lizard?" Nym led him upstairs.

"Dragon." Harry corrected. "It makes the most sense."

"How?" Nym chuckled.

"I'm a lizard-man that can breath fire." Harry shrugged. "It made sense to me."

Nym made an affirmative sound.

"The best I can figure it out was that the werewolf thing blended with everything else in my blood." Harry said with a shrug.

"Everything else in your blood?" Nym asked, her voice raised with each word. "You can just drop that and not tell me more."

"In my second year I was bitten by a basilisk." Harry explained. "Then I was healed by phoenix tears. I think that everything got all jumbled."

"That sounds impossible." Nym stared at him for a long moment.

"Welcome to my life." Harry shrugged. "Impossible is just something that happens."

Nym chuckled and shook her head. They arrived at the second-floor hallway.

"This is the bathroom." Nym motioned to the first door. "That's my room." The door opposite it. "And your new room." The door beside the bathroom. "The door at the end is the master bedroom. They've got their own bathroom too."

She paused. Her eyes narrowed.

"You better not hog the bathroom in the morning." She bumped him with her shoulder again. "I get grumpy if I don't get a hot shower."

Harry couldn't help but picture her in the shower. Her laugh made it clear she knew.

"Your room was the old guest room so It's kind of bland." Nym opened the door. "I'll take you to town to get you some stuff to make it homey. Your stuff should be here soon too."

Harry looked at the décor. It was a standard suburban guestroom. There was a queen bed in the center of the room that was pressed against the wall. It was covered in a flower-pattern blanket that everyone seemed to own. The dresser was a bigger than the barely-functional one at Privet Drive.

"Thanks." Harry flashed her a bright smile.

"Come on." Nym waved him back toward the stairs. "Let's check out the basement."

~~
AN:
This chapter is a little shorter than intended. I had some stuff come up & chose to stop it here rather than not upload today.