Harry's changes became visible after the first few days of sanctuary. The first few days after the first real encounter with Harry and Tonks were rough and tense. Harry, it seemed, kept blushing after they would see each other. Tonks wasn't, in all truthfulness, surprised. Not to sound to arrogant, but she did know she was unnaturally beautiful. But she also knew that things were not supposed to be the way they were.

For one, since it was Christmas, Harry shouldn't have to be babysit, as that's how Dumbledore and Harry themselves probably saw her. She sighed, frustration evident as her hair changed colors. It was her burden to carry. She watched in disdain as her hair mocked her mood, grey... saddened, burdened with the hardships her life threw her way.

She was, obviously, a metamorphmagus. The reason for her abundant beauty not her age and experience, but her magic. Men, she had long ago come to consider as few and far between. Why? Because men only see her outer beauty, or have her change to something more pleasurable to them.

Now, that the atmosphere had settled, she smiled, it seemed like the world was righting itself. She watched as Harry looked on in amazement at the beautiful home. His eyes had widened as if the sudden realization hit him that this place, this house was HIS!
'That's another reason it hurts' she thought. 'If I get close to a guy, I always get my heart ripped out...' She cursed the small tear that ran down her face. Meeting the eyes of the boy-who-lived she turned before he could say a word.

"Tonks", the silence was finally broken. She turned to Harry, who was making his way over to her. She tried to leave when a pair of firm but gentle hands touched her shoulder. The touch made her back arch and a shiver run down her spine. She turned to see, as if for the first time, a pair of amazing emerald green eyes.
"Yes Harry?" she asked, blinking away the tear as if nothing were wrong. He frowned a moment but handed her a letter that had come. She frowned and took the letter, as the feeling from his hand slipped away. She opened the letter and smiled, laughed outright. It was, after all, four simple words. Why are you crying?

Her eyes met his, judging him, as if to ask herself a silent question. She shivers as he steps closer. "What do you mean?"

He smiles and, in response, reaches and wipes away the salty tear. She smiles and says, in a shaky voice, "oh, that's what you meant." He smiled at her and nodded. She sat down upon the couch, obviously nervous and jittered. Harry, however, seemed in perfect calm. She took a breath,listening to the oxygen enter and exit her lungs and said, "Harry, answer a question for me and I'll tell you, alright?"

He nods. She sighs to herself. If there's one thing a certain Nymphadora Tonks hates, it's talking to anyone about her... changes. Breathing a large sigh, she gulps and begins.

"Harry, as a guy, what do you see when you look at me?"
He blushes and says, "My first response?" She nods.

He smiles an uncertain smile and says, "well, my first response would be a beautiful and vivacious woman that could and should have anything and everything she wants."

Tonks sighs, "That's what I thought would be your answer. Don't you see, Harry. Men look at me and see a... plaything. They see a magical creature that can change her apperance when it suits her. It's like you, and your scar. Everyone sees the scar but not the person behind it. Do you understand that?"

Harry nods. He is about to open his mouth when Tonks says, "the first time I changed, Harry, was when I was eleven. I was sitting beside my mum in a muggle store when, at the time I thought, a scary guy came into the store. He was looking for mum. When he found her, she was holding me on her shoulders. He grabbed her at the wrist and in her haste, i was dropped. When I hit the ground, my back hurt and my magic activated the Metamorphmagus effect.
Ever since then, whenever a person looks at Tonks, they see Nymphadora, the Nymph, who's main purpose is to be a concubine as the name suggests."

Harry was about to interrupt, to tell her that she isn't a concubine, but a human being, deserving of love when she said, "And don't try to tell me I'm more than that, Harry. All my life, I have seen men, boys in particular, fall under some spell like I was a veela whenever they look at me. It's not that I don't like the attention, in fact I think it's charming in a way, but when you have man after man after man ask you to do the same thing over and over and over again, you begin to think less of yourself."

Harry sighed but found himself on the receiving end of a tongue lashing. She had began again. "And it's not like I even consider myself pretty, Harry. What you see is what I have had to become to survive. People never dare look at my natural form.They believe the old rumors. You've heard them, right?"

Harry glares, trying to signify that he doesn't know. She blaunches. "Of course you don't. You weren't raised in our world. It's said that we Metamorphmagus keep our natural forms a secret, taking the one deemed most valuable when around people we don't feel comfortable around. After awhile, we loose ourselves in our new identities, so much so that, only our parent's know us by our looks. The old rumors, Harry, have everything to do with why I hate the wizarding world. Not because they're rumor but because they're right."

This caught his attention, she noticed. She smiled and said, "a natural form is... the biggest secret a metamorphs biggest secret for one reason. If I were to let you see my true form, you'd hold power over me, unless you gain the knowledge by unjust means. It's like... there are only three people who ever know a metamorphs true form, the mother, the father and the metamorph. Do you understand?"

He nodded. Finally he said, "Tonks..., how do I say it in a way that wont sound prerehearsed, or prearranged, men are... stupid when it comes to people's feelings. Speaking as a guy, I guess we don't understand sometimes why things happen the way they do. But, what you've got to understand is that not all men are the same way.

Yeah, I think you're a beauty on the outside, as I stated before, but... I thinkit takes more than physical beauty to hold a relationship together. Look at Cho and... well... me last year. It was... horrible. But, if I let that stop me, I'd never have a girl anyway, because most are just as bad in ways as she is. It's like the proverbial 'needle in a haystack' metaphor."

She giggled but nodded in understanding. Unlike in past cases, though, that was a sound Harry was slowly coming to enjoy. Maybe this Asylum wouldn't be bad after all.