For the first time ever, Harry walked at Snape's side down the ramp and into the round room. He found it stranger than he expected. He had gotten so used to his panther senses that without them it felt rather like they were entering a lifelike painting and not the familiar common room. He could still smell the grass and sense the presence of his family, but so muted he had to work to understand what he sensed.

The room was more empty than his first visit had been; Harry had gotten the sense that the sphinx only all gathered together like that when summoned for a specific purpose like meeting a new clan member. Harry had only just processed this when he was approached by the very enthusiastic wind storm that was Neffy. She bounded towards him as a panther but just when it seemed they were about to collide she shifted, standing before him as a girl with long black curls.

“Harry!” she exclaimed, grabbing him in a hug, thankfully careful of his hurt shoulder. Harry glanced up towards Snape with a pleading look but the professor only snorted in amusement, leaving the boy to his fate. “You look good, hysenos!” Neffy continued excitedly, “You must be getting better now, and now we can explore properly and I can show you all around and everything!”

“Gently, musei,” Snape instructed, “Let him breathe. And remember we must go slow.”

“But he'll be leaving in a couple weeks,” Neffy answered, a definite pout on her face. Harry, who had been pouting slightly himself at being talked about like that, now found himself staring up at Snape again in surprise. This was the first time anyone mentioned to him that he would be leaving in two weeks.

“September, musos,” Snape answered the look, “Or did you not want to finish your seventh year?” Harry ignored the sarcasm in favour of the unfamiliar words.

“Why do you keep calling us moose?” he asked. Neffy giggled at his mangling of the ancient tongue.

“It means 'child' or 'cub',” she answered, “musei if you're a girl, musos if you're a boy.” Then she frowned up at Snape, saying, “I'm not so young, you know.” Snape merely raised an eyebrow, looking down towards her as though to compare her height to his. There was a significant difference, though not nearly so much as between Snape and Harry. If Harry had to guess, from a human perspective, he would have guessed her to be around eleven years old. He did not even want to think about how young he must look by comparison. Like a five year old boy, he imagined.

“More like four,” Snape said suddenly, startling Harry and causing him to glare; he hated when Snape read his mind like that. He could never even be certain if the man was actually reading his mind or just guessing his thoughts. “You are small for your age,” the man had the gall to add. Neffy giggled again. Harry noticed she did that a lot. At least it wasn't an annoying giggle like some girls he had met.

“It isn't that bad, Harry,” she said, “Just wait until you see a four year old cub. You'll feel a giant in comparison.”

“I was six feet tall,” Harry answered gloomily, “Finally. Do you know how long it took me to get that tall? Right up to my seventeenth birthday. And now I'm back at the starting line with hundreds of years until I'm tall again, it seems. I'll have to go through puberty all over again!”

“Puberty isn't nearly as bad a stage for the sphinx,” Snape informed him, “Probably because it happens so slowly. No growing pains, no sudden growth spurts or awkward limbs and the like. No menstrual cycles for girls.” Harry blushed at that, Neffy merely looked confused as though the term was unfamiliar, but Snape didn't seem to be finished. “Of course, you still get hair in new places. Though strangely enough it tends to be sparser than in humans. You'd think, considering the hairy nature of our alternate bodies, the opposite would be true.” Now, even Neffy blushed. “And you'll find the sexual appetite to be much less...”

“Sev!” Neffy shrieked, at the same time Harry cried, “I've heard enough!” as he put his hands over his ears. Far from simply being embarrassed by Snape's talk, he actually found the thought of sex to be, for lack of a better word, icky. And this was even when he had experience, if not with actual sex, then with the cravings and pleasures it could produce. Apparently being reduced in size had done more than just shrink certain body parts.

“Well,” Snape continued, clearly enjoying himself, “Let me just say that interest will be reserved for one's mate and leave it at that.”

“Can we go now?” Neffy demanded, “I want to show Harry everything!”

“All right,” Snape answered, with a sigh as though bereft, “If you must.” Then, in a more serious and alarmingly paternal tone, he continued saying, “But go slowly. And if Harry gets tired, or if his shoulder starts to hurt again, bring him back right away. Harry, tell her if you need to come back. I'll be waiting right here until you return.”

“Right, Dad,” Harry answered, rolling his eyes slightly in annoyance. He didn't care how young he looked, he maintained that he was seventeen and did know how to look after himself. At his words Snape looked startled, a strange look appearing. Then it was smoothed away into the familiar smirk.

“All right, child, go on then,” he said, making an elaborate sweeping gesture away from him before he shifted into panther form and glided towards Neffy's parents.

“Well, come on!” Neffy exclaimed, while Harry watched Snape walk away, “Let's start with the kitchen!” And she led him away at what could barely be considered a sedate pace towards one of the arched entrances to a hallway beneath the ramp. Harry allowed himself to be led, his curiosity overcoming his nervousness at parting company with the man. Besides, he felt comfortable in this place; everywhere felt like his family, even with his senses muted, and he was curious to know more than the bedroom and the common room.

“This way is all of the rooms we all use,” Neffy continued, “There's a dining room, and rooms to relax in or meet in and a potions lab and research room and the smaller boring library. It's all medical and law books. Upstairs above us are the warded rooms for those who are sick or just tired or want to let down their shields for a bit for whatever reason. That's where you're staying, obviously. The whole manor is kind of like a giant V, you see, with the gardens in the middle and parkland all around and the high wall around that, and all of it warded of course. The family rooms are all in the other wing, mostly up the ramp. In the other wing on the ground are the practice rooms and research and the fun large library, the one with books on history and culture and stories, and finally there's the game room.”

Harry wondered how she managed to breathe, talk, and still keep up her half skipping as she led him down the hall. He doubted he would remember half of what she told him. Luckily, he didn't have to because she paused beside doors to show him inside on their way, and he had always learned best by experience so he knew he'd find his way around fairly well once he had seen everything. After all, the halls weren't nearly as confusing as in Hogwarts, there being only two main ones as far as he could tell, and an upstairs and a downstairs. She paused shortly to show him a room with a large table surrounded by chairs alternating with raised ledges tree limbs, he supposed as a place for panthers to lounge. This turned out to be one of the meeting rooms. Another meeting room was just as large but without a table and a lot more pillows. Then she showed him a closed door, informing him it was the potions lab but they weren't allowed inside, and next to that she briefly let him look in at the library. If this was the small library, Harry couldn't wait to see the large one. This one in itself was a large room crammed full with books all the way to the ceiling, and there was a winding ramp that led up to the second floor.

“Boring, like I said,” Neffy insisted, “They're all about healing or potions or law.” Then they went on and finally reached the dining room. By this time, Harry found to his disappointment that he was indeed growing tired. Neffy also finally noticed that he had grown rather out of breath and she obviously felt guilty that she apparently hadn't been leading him slowly enough. At least Harry was able to see the room properly, without being dragged away by his enthusiastic companion. Neffy insisted most of the rooms down this wing were dull, except of course the kitchen which was apparently one of the most fantastic places in all the house. Harry suspected she was feeling hungry.

The dining room, far from being boring, was one of the more interesting examples Harry had found of the difference between a human's needs and a panther's. There was a table, of course, a great round one that filled most of the large room, but without a centre. The table itself was of elegant design, and from the chair where Harry sat, his nose came right up against an intricate carving designed after a jungle. Though there were no gaps in the circle of the table, it was not entirely flat for there were two places where it was raised to allow easy passage beneath, assuming the one who wanted to pass was not particularly tall. It was obviously designed for a panther, in fact, and Harry was slightly embarrassed to realize he could probably pass under the arch without ducking his head.

All along the inner ring ran a sort of bench which would allow a panther to sit without difficulty in reaching their plate. And within the first table at the centre of the empty space there was a second table, this one solidly round, but lower as though designed with children in mind.

“We only eat here when he have a gathering,” Neffy informed him, “Usually we eat in the smaller dining room near our family rooms, or in our family rooms. Or in the kitchen if it is between meals. We are usually too few to use all this space.” Harry nodded his understanding. Once he felt he had rested long enough he stood up and Neffy took his hand again. As though to make up for before, she led him infuriatingly slowly down the remaining distance to the kitchen. It was on the other side of the dining room, which the hallway had ended in. Then she pushed open a small door and they stepped through. The moment they were through, they were beset by sudden noise and smells and Harry jumped, squeezing Neffy's hand hard.

“It's all right, it's always like this,” Neffy said to him, in what was meant to be a whisper, but because of the noise came out as a quiet yell. Harry nodded, feeling a little silly. As far as kitchens went, it looked rather similar to the one at Hogwarts, though with more fireplaces and no long tables. There were house elves, though, and Harry had a sudden vision of Hermione scowling down on them. He giggled at the thought without meaning to, and quickly covered his mouth and glanced around to make sure no one had noticed. It seemed no one had. Neffy was already speaking to the elves, who had come over to see what they could do for her with the usual house elf eagerness. Harry was rather alarmed to find himself close to their height. He avoided getting close enough to make certain which of them was taller.

“And who is this getting the elves all riled up when we're meant to be getting dinner ready?” a loud boisterous voice demanded, and the sphinx Harry recognized as Helen approached them, flanked by a silent and slumped looking Udro. His nice suit was now covered in flour and something red that could have been a sauce but smelled rather like blood. Harry remembered suddenly how Roo had ordered him into service and wondered if this was what he had meant. Udro looked utterly miserable.

“I was just showing Harry here around the manor,” Neffy was quick to explain, “He had grown stronger, see, and can change his form, and since it's his shoulder that's hurt and not his legs, Sev said he could walk about so long as he took it easy. So I took him here, but of course he is still kind of weak, and I thought it might help if he ate something.” Here she nudged Harry slightly, encouraging him to back her up. For once Harry didn't take offence at the weak comment, but played into it, looking up at Helen in what he hoped was a pitiable expression. It must have worked, because her stern expression melted away. She swept down upon him with smothering kindness, and elves delightedly set about making up a fair feast for them.

“Ah, musos,” she cried, “what has that man been feeding you?” Harry was thankful to know that she wasn't calling him a moose. Neffy seemed thankful that it was Harry being smothered and not her being scolded. The house elves seemed happy that they were allowed to spoil the children for once. Even Udro seemed more relaxed, if not exactly happy. It was nearly half an hour later before the children managed to escape, much fuller than before. Harry was so full, in fact, that he had to dart into the room Neffy had pointed out a as a restroom to be sick. He was slightly startled to find that, along with the usual toilet, there was a large pit of sand in the place one normally found urinals. Harry felt slightly better about having to use a litter box after that.

By the time they made it back to the common room where Snape was waiting, Harry was half asleep on his feet. Much to Neffy's disappointment, the tour of the rest of the manor would have to wait for another day. It was only sheer determination that had Harry walking back to their room at Snape's side, and not being carried, listening all the way to Snape's 'you should have taken it easy' speech. He was asleep the moment his head hit his pillow. When he awoke again, it was to the sound of an alarm wailing throughout the building.