Of Veela & Wolves v2 - Chapter 4 (Patreon)

NOTE:
This is one of the enhanced and expanded chapters. There is new content mixed in among the original. I've found I prefer this method going forward. Let me know what you think.

"Students," Dumbledore spoke up from his spot at the staff table. "Professor Moody will be unable to complete this year due to his recovery. We have been honored to have his apprentice, Auror Nymphadora Tonks, take his place."

The young woman that stood beside Dumbledore gave the old man a glare that would make Snape jealous. He didn't seem to notice or had done it on purpose. The Headmaster stepped aside then motioned for her to say a couple of words.

"Wotcher, everyone," The woman called to the students.

Harry chuckled as he saw Professor McGonagall shake her head.

"Call me Auror Tonks, or Professor Tonks," Her voice had a hard edge to it. "If that's too much, I'll answer to just Tonks. Some of you might recognize me. I graduated a few years ago and was a Beater for Hufflepuff the last time we won the cup."

That got a small cheer from the Hufflepuff table.

"See you in class," She shrugged and took a seat at the table beside Professor Sinistra.

Tonks scanned the students with a pleasant smile. It turned wicked when she found Harry. A jolt of dread mixed with something new sped along his spine.

§

"Hello, Mister Potter," Tonks gave him a bright smile. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Professor," Harry inclined his head.

"Stop with that professor rubbish," Tonks rolled her eyes. "We're family. Call me Tonks."

"We're related?" Harry asked.

"Sirius is my mom's cousin. My first cousin once removed if you want to get technical," Tonks replied. "He's your godfather, that makes you family."

Harry didn't have any time to think that over. Tonks snapped her wand at him, sending a chain of spells zipping through the air. Harry dodged, ducked, dipped, dove, and dodged through the swirling bolts of magic. He would have gotten hit a couple of times if it weren't for his enhanced reflexes.

He sprang at her as the first chain came to an end. She was already in motion.

"Show me your wand work, not your dance moves," Tonks mocked.

Harry rolled under a group of spells that singed the air as they went by. He came up with his wand at the ready. One good thing about spending the summer at Hogwarts was the fact that he was able to use magic. He was also given access to the library. Harry would never tell Hermione, but he was actually quite fond of the place now. While he had started out studying battle magic, he had been distracted by the vast array of Potion texts, of all things. The subject was amazing without Snape involved.

Unfortunately, knowing the proper way to prepare Lorax fur didn't help in a fight. Though he had made some good progress in silent spellcasting. He sent a trio of spells back at her. They were minor jinxes and a middling hex. Easy for an accomplished fighter to counter if the words were spoken.

"Silent casting," Tonks nodded as she continued to move even though her legs wobbled. "Good start."

Harry swapped from full on attacks to transfiguration. He had always had a talent for it. Over the summer it became something of a passion. He hadn't delved too far into life-to-life transfiguration. Instead, he found the elemental side of things more appealing.

He turned the stone between them into thin tiles and launched them up as a shield. Her spells turned them to dust with a quick twist of her wand. He pulled the debris back toward him. It formed on his free arms as a shield.

"Nice," Tonks cheered. "Creative use of magic is important in a fight."

Harry lifted his stone shield to intercept another chain of spells. They chipped away at it but didn't get through. He followed the sound of her footsteps and sent an overpowered cleaning charm to the floor where she was headed. Much to his confusion, it was him who ended up on the floor.

"Not bad," Tonks spoke from the other side of the room. "You've got potential."

"How?" Harry asked as he regained his feet.

"Misdirection," Tonks pointed her wand at him, and the sound of footsteps sped along his left. "Creating the stone cloud was a good idea. It broke the line of sight, which can work to your advantage. Where did you go wrong?"

"I couldn't see you," Harry brushed the lingering dust off his clothes.

"Got it in one," Tonks smiled at him. "We'll do this a few more time so I can get a better feel for you."

"Sounds good," Harry returned the smile. "Why don't you like to be called Nymphadora?"

"I'll let that go, once," She glared at him. "Get called Nympho by every idiot who thinks they're funny and tell me how you like it."

"I think it's pretty," Harry shrugged.

Tonks snorted. She flicked her wrist and her wand disappeared.

"How did you do that?" Harry asked.

"Hm?" She arced an eyebrow at him.

"Your wand," Harry motioned.

"Wand holster," She held up her arm to show a strap of leather than ran the length of her forearm.

"Sweet," Harry said. "I need to get one of those. Think it would stay on when I shift?"

"Shouldn't be hard to do," Tonks shrugged. "I've got a couple extra you could try out."

"Thanks, Nym," Harry froze, waiting for the curse to hit.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye. A sly smile rested on her lips. He decided that he liked the way that looked.

"I'll allow it," She said after a moment. "If I can call you Fluffy."

"No," Harry shook his head. "That name is taken by Hagrid's Cerberus."

"Hagrid has a…" She stopped herself. "That makes so much sense."

Tonks tapped her chin in thought.

"Go wolfy for me," She waved a hand at him. "That way I can name you properly."

"Uh," Harry looked around the room. "I can't."

"They said you could change on command," Tonks looked annoyed. "I'm a trained auror I can take care of one little werewolf."

"Thanks," Harry said flatly. "It's not that. My clothes will get ruined."

"Is that all?" Tonks chuckled. "There are ways to avoid that."

Harry blushed. His eyes went wide as she pointed her wand at him.

"What are you doing?" Harry narrowed his eyes.

Tonks chuckled, "No clothes, no problem."

"There has to be a rule against stripping your students," Harry couldn't help that his voice raised a little toward the end.

Her wand vanished once more as he finished speaking, "Good point. Strip."

Harry gawked at her.

"Please," Tonks chuckled. "It's nothing I haven't seen before."

Harry waited a moment to see if she would tell him it was a joke. He sighed as he began to undress. This wasn't how he thought he was going to spend his first training session.

"Sweet Morgana's Nipples," Tonks was beside him faster than he could blink. "Where did you get all these scars? You're on your way to be Moody the Next Generation."

Harry looked down at his body. Sometimes he forgets about the reaction it got from other people.

"Uh," Harry raised one arm then the other. "Werewolf bite, basilisk fang." He pointed to his collar bone. "Had to shave down some bone because I had an unknown fracture when I had to use Skele-Grow."

Tonks held up a hand, "Wait. Did you say basilisk?"

"Yes," Harry nodded. "I killed it with the Sword of Gryffindor."

Tonks stared at him for a long moment, "You killed a basilisk with a sword?"

"I couldn't kill it with second-year charms," Harry shrugged.

Tonks summoned a chair from the other side of the room and dropped heavily into it. Her eyes went distant for a few moments before something sparked.

"Right, I forgot about that," She said breaking the silence. "Mom was not happy."

Harry cocked his head to the side, "Your mother?"

"She's a Healer at St. Mungo's," She explained. "They had a full stock of Mandrake Potion, but the School Board wouldn't release the funds."

A growl rumbled through his chest.

"Anyway, did you harvest it?" Tonks hopped to her feet.

Harry furrowed his brow, "No."

"Sweet," Tonks smiled brightly at him. "Show it to me after we're done, yeah?"

Harry shrugged, "Sure."

"Great," Tonks clapped her hands. "Now strip, we've wasted enough time already."     

Harry looked down at his remaining clothes. He wasn't in a hurry to flash his manly parts to a professor. Sirius had bought him more cloths than he could possibly wear in the year. Harry had tried to argue, but it was clearly needed after his growth spurt.

He sighed and shifted. The sound of tearing fabric made him wince. To the credit of the tailor, the mending charms put up a valiant fight. He stood nearly eight feet-tall and his fur was so dark he was hard to see even in the lit classroom. His claws were sheathed at the moment.

"Damn," Tonks nodded in appreciation. "Now I want to call you Snowball."

Harry huffed.

"You can't talk?" Tonks asked.

Harry sighed, "Bruoawa Arorrroowoo."

She giggled. He let out a heavy sigh.

"Don't be like that," Tonks chuckled. "Follow me, I've got a surprise for you."

She led him through the hallways out to the stretch of open ground near the Quidditch pitch. The empty portion of lawn was now filled with an odd contraption.

"It's an obstacle course," Tonks announced. "Professor McGonagall and her Seventh-year students as a class project. It could be controlled with a few simple commands to swap stations, change the speed, and make the ground all sorts of things."

She stepped up onto a podium where a raised box rested then flipped a couple of switches. He watched as the ground changed to a swamp, mud, sand, stone, and then back to the lawn. Harry cocked his head to one side then the other in examination.

"This will help you burn off extra energy and help with your control," She announced. "You're going to run it a few times before I make any changes."

Harry nodded.

"I got it!" Tonks clapped her hands. "Your name is Toto."

He let out a long-suffering sigh. A familiar scent caught his attention. He turned toward it to see Sirius approaching.

"Toto!" Sirius laughed. "Perfect."

Harry's head dropped. It was never going to change now.

"What brings you here, Siri?" She asked.

Sirius offered her a hug, which she took, "I wanted to check on this mongrel here. Is he behaving well? Do I need to get a rolled newspaper?"

Harry would have changed back to his human form to get a couple of his own jokes in, if not for the fact that he was nude. Thankfully, his werewolf form had a sort of pouch for his member when it wasn't in use. That and he had enough to hide it from view.  

"I'm here to deliver these," Sirius pulled what looked to be a pair of boxers from his pocket.

"Shorts?" Tonks asked.

Sirius shook his head, "I found these in France. They should maintain your mystery when you transform."

He tossed the shorts to Harry, who caught them easily. After a moment

"Come on, Toto," Tonks clapped her hands once. "Give it a shot."

Harry looked at the piece of clothing in his hand, then down at his body. He shrugged. Getting a pair of shorts on while transformed was almost impossible.

"Just change back," Tonks teased. "Here, I'll turn around."

She did. Harry shifted back into his human form. He spun the shorts around to face the correct way. That made it a lot easier to get them on.

"Ready," Harry said.

They both turned around. Sirius motioned for him to transform. Harry nodded. He placed his hand over his crotch before shifting back into his wolf-beast form. The shorts were intact and fit great. It compressed his fur but blended in well enough to his body shape so he didn't look strange.

"Aw," Tonks huffed. "They worked."

Harry shook his head.

"Ok, Toto," Sirius enjoyed the name too well. "It was nice to see you, I'm off to do Lordly business. Just need to stop by to see if Poppy has any extra Pepper-Up."

Tonks gave him a weird look, "You've got enough money to buy your own."

"Yes," Sirius winked at her. "But this way I get to flirt with a nurse."

Tonks laughed while Harry shook his head.

"Give it a shot, Toto," She pointed to the course. "Impress me."

The obstacles were inert for the first few runs. Tonks changed the ground to sand on the fourth turn through. He could feel himself settle more into this form with ease pass. The summer had been nice, but keeping his controlled shifting a secret meant he had to keep his time as a wolf limited to the full moon. Thankfully, the cycle was three days rather than a single night. Being cooped up in the Shrieking Shack didn't give him enough room to cut loose.

Harry slid to a stop in the sand as he heard multiple footsteps approaching. He followed the sound to find a group of younger students walking toward Tonks. They wore Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff colors, which meant he had no idea who any of them were.

"Line up everyone," Tonks called. "I'll introduce myself again. My name is Tonks. Just Tonks. I'll answer Tonks, Professor, or Auror. Anything else and you will get acquainted with how quickly I can cast a stinging hex."

A couple of students smiled. Most were staring at Harry. They were terrified. His enhanced vision picked out quite a few of them were shaking. He transformed back into his human form to ease their worries.

"Today we're having a practical lesson," Tonks continued. "Mister Potter here has agreed to assit."

"We're going to fight a werewolf?" One of the students screamed.

"No," Tonks replied loudly. "I'll save that for my NEWT students."

Harry glared at her without any real heat behind it.

"We're working on target practice," Tonks clarified. "Who knows the color-splash charm?"

A few hands went up.

"Great," Tonks smiled brightly. "It's a great spell to improve your accuracy. No one gets hurt, the motion is the same as a stunner, and it has a slightly higher cost than Lumos."

Harry stood there watching as Tonks went through the process of teaching them the spell. Quite a few stole looks at him when they thought they could get away with it. He wasn't in his wolf form anymore, but he was still Harry Potter. It didn't help that he was only wearing a pair of tight shorts.

"Now, Mister Potter is going to go fuzzy," Tonks pointed at Harry. "He is then going to run the obstacle course while dodging your Color-Splash Charm."

Harry's head dropped. That settled it. She was evil. The Color-Splash Charm wasn't going to hurt. Physically at least. His pride, on the other hand, took quite the hit.

"Toto, if you would be so kind," Tonks gave him a completely innocent smile.

He shifted back into his other form. Tonks changed the ground back to the normal lawn. At least he was going to get some exercise. The ground turned into a swamp at the start of his third run. He slipped and rolled through the much on his first attempt. It was embarrassing, but it did help the students relax. Seeing a literal monster slip like a cartoon made it hard to be afraid.

Half an hour later, Harry slid to a stop at the end of the course. He took a couple of minutes to calm his breathing before he shifted back to his human form. Transforming while out of breath as a wolf made him pass out. He learned that the hard way over the summer. His lungs were smaller as a human.

"Is this what the training is going to be?" Harry asked as Tonks approached.

"Hm?" Tonks arced an eyebrow at him.

"This," Harry waved at the course.

"Oh," Tonks smiled at him. "Nah. Our time overlapped with the Third-Year class, and they needed a moving target." She paused. "The weather is too nice to be inside."

Harry glared at her.

"I do have other students to teach, you know," Tonks laughed at him. "Give me two more laps, Toto. Lovegood is the only one who's tagged you yet."

They had amassed an audience as the class progressed. He didn't know if the other professors were letting students out to watch, or if they were skipping lessons to be here. The scent of old stone warmed by the sun meant that McGonagall was here. He could hear her talking with her students when he paused between runs. They were discussing how to improve the course. Angelina was there as well. She was attempting to convince the professor to let her run the Gryffindor Quidditch team through to keep their skills sharp.

There was a wild look in McGonagall's eyes that reminded him how much of a fanatic she was when it came to the sport. The transfiguration students were then tasked with not only improving the course but expanding safety measures as well as increasing the size to make it broom-friendly. Harry was starting to think that being unable to continue playing Quidditch wasn't the worst thing. He could still fly, just not compete. Being a werewolf meant that even his human form had faster reflexes, sharper eye-sight, and more strength. Most people didn't think being stronger did much for anyone other than Beaters. In practice, strength was important for better control while on a broom.

He was curious how much impact his 'condition' actually had on his performance. Getting a quick pick-up game going wouldn't be hard with the teams for every house chomping at the bit to play. How many seventh years are going to lose out thanks to this stupid tournament? Or second years that wouldn't be able to try out for the first time?

They really needed to do something about that. Harry shook his head at the thought. An idea sparked his mind. Sirius was a Quidditch fan, and he loved Hogwarts. He could probably pull some strings to get something for this summer arranged. They could make it a weeklong tournament for the House Teams. Similar to the world cup, but for the amateur division. McGonagall would be an easy ally to recruit. He needed to talk to both of them before he forgot.