Even though she had often dreamed about one day meeting her mother, despite Meri being in her life for the last few weeks, Nixie had yet to come around to the idea that her mother was suddenly in the picture. In fact, when Meri announced that she would be re-entering the waters again for a little bit, Nixie found herself relieved. Meri had been complaining about a persistent headache for the last couple of days and Henry urged her to return to the waters to have her feel better, although he looked physically pained at the idea of the two of them being separated again, even if they were only a short distance away from each other.

When Meri had been inside the household, thankfully wearing clothes after the initial incident, she tried so very hard to reach out to Nixie. Henry would leave for work, leaving the two of them alone in the house. Meri would ask Nixie all sorts of questions, asking about her likes and dislikes to try and get to know her daughter better. However, Nixie wasn't willing to give up much information, in fact, she would only give limited bits before excusing herself to her room.

It didn't help that everyone in the household was more than comfortable with Meri's presence, and by everyone, Nixie saw how much Henry and Bean appeared to be so happy to be around Meri.

"Come on, Nixie," she told herself one afternoon as she remained hidden away in her bedroom staring into her mirror, "you of all people wanted her to come home. You asked about her all the time, she's here now. So, just accept that! It's not that hard. So what if she's a mermaid? Could have been worse, she could have been a hippogriff, right? Imagine what you would have looked like then. Not to mention, Dad is incredibly happy and so is Bean. Everyone is happy except you."

After her short pep talk, Nixie decided that she was going to venture to the waters and try to spend some quality time with Meri, in hopes they could mend the strained relationship between them. Even though she hadn't seen her tail in quite some time, she had plenty of questions regarding her Seavish lineage and who better to ask than a mermaid herself? Opening the door, Nixie was about to step out of her room when she heard the arrival of two people in her home.

Immediately, Nixie froze in place as she heard Bean bark for a moment but then he stopped. She tiptoed out of her bedroom and made her way to the top of the stairs, only to hear the voices of her grandparents.

"Henry?!" Her grandfather called out in a loud booming voice. "Henry?! Are you home? Nixie? Nixie?!"

Not wishing to really see or spend time with her grandparents, Nixie took a few steps back to remain hidden. She figured they would just leave, assuming that Henry was at work and probably took Nixie with him. However, they didn't leave right away as she hoped, leaving Nixie to listen to her grandmother let out a heavy sigh.

"Well, at least that thing isn't in the home," she said, there was a sharp emphasis on the way she said 'thing' leaving Nixie to feel incredibly uncomfortable as she quickly figured out who her grandmother was referring to. "I can't believe she's back! Just when I thought we were in the clear with Nixie receiving her Hogwarts letter. Damn near fainted when I found out she could go. It would have been for the best to just pretend that she was just a witch!"

Bean suddenly growled as he passed the couple before he headed up the stairs. Upon seeing Nixie, he quickly made his way over to her and rested at her feet.

"And to hear that she received the acceptance letter from none other than Orion Black, that pompous arse! Henry couldn't even be bothered to tell us that but had no problem telling us when she came back. She's been a problem since they met, he completely changed after he met that sea bitch!"

Nixie clapped her hands over her mouth to avoid making any sound, never once heard her grandparents say such harsh things and the way they were bad-mouthing her mother, made Nixie feel even worse, knowing that they probably saw her the same way. It explained why they were so distant with her growing up, never showing any overly affectionate ways towards her even though she was their only grandchild.

Thinking that Henry and Nixie weren't going to be home any time soon, her grandparents left, and Nixie was left with horrible intrusive thoughts, wondering who else knew that she was half-mermaid. She had never heard of Orion Black before, but he suddenly had issues with her receiving her Hogwarts letter, just like the other men in her father's office that day she had been there with Remus. Was she even going to be welcomed at the school or was she going to be met with an angry mob of sorts?

Trying to rid her head of such horrid ideas, Nixie made her way down the stairs of her home with Bean in tow. She quietly made her way to the door that would lead her out to the waters, hoping that maybe her mother could offer her some supportive words.

Meri was absolutely beside herself when she saw Nixie approaching the water's edge. Careful to not scare her off, she remained calm on the surface and questioned if Nixie needed anything.

"I...I just wanted to spend some time with you," Nixie said softly, "if that's alright with you?"

If Meri had been capable of crying, she would have burst into tears, wishing that her daughter didn't feel the need to ask permission to spend time with her and also because she had been waiting for the moment for Nixie to come to her. There was a slight concern as to why Nixie looked somewhat miserable, but Meri didn't want to try her luck and invited Nixie to join her in the water.

Nixie appeared surprised by the request to go swimming but walked into the water without hesitation. She didn't stop until the water reached her chest before she turned and looked over in her mother's direction.

"How come my tail doesn't appear like yours?" she asked. "It only appeared in the bath that one time. Why?"

With a tilt of her head to the side, Meri shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, sweetheart, I wish I did."

"But you're a mermaid." Nixie's brows furrowed together. "How could you not know?"

"Well," Meri rested on her back with her tail breaking the water's surface with a small splash, "because I was born with a tail. I was born in the sea. Both of my parents were seavish. In your case, sweetheart, well, there's no one like you that I'm aware of. You were born on land, but you grew your tail the day you were born when I introduced you to the water. Your father says that it hasn't shown itself consistently over the years, it's appeared but you probably don't remember it. I'm not entirely sure what it takes for your tail to appear."

It was not the answer that Nixie wanted to hear, especially when her mother made the point that she was probably the only one of her kind.

Sensing the awkwardness that overcame them, Meri glanced over to see Nixie looking down at the water. It was the first true conversation the two had alone and Meri already hated herself for not having the answers that her daughter was looking for.

"Is something else wrong, Nixie?" Meri ventured to question. "Are you worried about going off to school?"

"What if my tail appears when I'm in class? What if other people find out I'm half-mermaid? What if people there already know? No one is going to want to be friends with a nasty little half-breed- "

"NIXIE!"

The silence returned as Meri hissed her name paired with the sharp whistle of her seavish accent piercing Nixie's ears and causing her to clap her hands over them.

"Don't you ever call yourself that, do you understand me?!" Meri's hands came to rest over Nixie's arms, holding her in place, physically demanding that she look her mother in the eye. "Do you understand me, Nixie? Don't ever say those words again! I don't even know where you even picked that up! "

"Probably from the men at Dad's work!" Nixie spat back at her as she finally lifted her head. "Or that Onion Black man! Or maybe from my own grandparents! Maybe it was your mother who called me that! You don't want to hear it, but that's what I've been called already! That's what people are going to call me! And they're right, aren't they? I wasn't supposed to be born! You said it yourself, I'm the only one of my kind!"

Meri shook her head, completely bewildered by the emotion that seemed to come off in waves from Nixie.

"You were supposed to be born," she told Nixie, "You were the biggest blessing to your father and me. Those people are wrong, they are bigots, disgusting people. They were raised with outdated beliefs- "

"But it doesn't feel right being like this!" Nixie started crying hysterically. "I don't feel right. I'm afraid that my tail is going to show up when I don't want it to. I'm afraid of other things happening to me. You can't even tell me what's going to happen because even you don't know! And no one wants me around, only you and Dad. Everyone else is going to think I'm a freak if they don't already think so. My grandparents don't like you or me, your mother didn't like me...We can never be a normal family."

Suddenly, Meri's hardened expression softened drastically, especially as she reached her arms out and pulled Nixie into a hug. Nixie didn't fight her but instead continued to sob into her mother's shoulder.

"I started to believe that things could be fine, waking up in the house with both of you there. But then you had to come back to the waters. I know you can't stay out of the water forever and then I find myself wishing that we could join you in the water. But it doesn't work out that way. No matter what side I choose, I can't have both of you there."

"Sweetheart," Meri tried to soothe her as she ran her hand over Nixie's hair. " I had no idea you were feeling this way. Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"It wouldn't have mattered anyway," Nixie said pulling away and wiping at her face," there's no point because nothing can be done. There's nothing you, Dad, or I can do about this."

"Nixie, if you want to enter the waters with me, I can figure out a way, we can talk to someone about your tail and how you can get it to appear on command. I know a few-"

"I don't want to live in the waters!" Nixie snapped, suddenly pushing Meri away and making her way towards the land again." I mean, in some ways, I would because I love the water. But what about Daddy? I can't just leave him behind, it's bad enough that you already did!"

"Nixie!" Meri gasped watching as Nixie turned away from her and started up the small path towards the Dover home. "Do not walk away from me!"

Nixie did pause for a second, however, it was clear that she had no plans of listening to her mother's demands.

"What are you going to do about it?" Nixie questioned bitterly over her shoulder. "Come after me?"

Henry had only arrived home five minutes before Nixie came storming into the home. He had set his belongings down on the little table by the fireplace and called out to Nixie and Bean. When he was greeted by neither of them, a slight bit of panic erupted in his chest, but he was quickly soothed as he looked through the window that faced the water and caught sight of Nixie in the water alongside Meri. Bean was also there, watching them from the shore as if he was guarding both of them. Not wishing to disturb any potential bonding moment between them, Henry decided he was going to take it upon himself to start dinner prep.

He had just begun boiling some water with his wand when he heard the front door open and slam shut causing him to jump. There was the stomping of footsteps through the hall, leaving him to abandon the pot and see what all the commotion was.

"Nixie?"

It was unlike Nixie to storm through the home in such a manner, but when he didn't get a direct answer, he remained silent listening to the sounds of her grumbling near the front door. As he made his way over to the doorway and poked his head out, he could see Nixie drying off her hair, a scowl visible on her expression.

"Are you alright?" he called out to her, only to be met with a dark glare as she whipped her head in his direction. Her eyes were a solid black in colour for a moment before they returned to their usual blue. She looked close to saying something initially, but it appeared she was biting back her own tongue as she dropped her hands down to her sides.

"I'm fine," she answered in a curt manner. " Just fine."

"Did you have a nice visit with your mother-"

"Why a mermaid?!" Nixie suddenly shouted bringing Henry to jump again. His usually bright-faced, sunny child had vanished in a matter of seconds, replaced with a girl that looked fully prepared to breathe fire despite just coming from cold waters. She was nearly going for his throat, leaving him entirely puzzled and unable to even process what she had questioned.

"Wh-what?"

"Why a mermaid?" she asked again, this time her voice was softer as she looked to the floor. "Why couldn't you just have fallen in love with a witch or something?"

Attempting to remain composed and understanding, Henry approached where she was standing. "Nixie, where is all this coming from? Yelling and all this... This isn't like you."

"You were wrong," she told him. "Those men at your office, they were right. Even Grandad and Nan said I was better off pretending that I was only a witch."

"They were here? When were they here?"

"They came earlier looking for you! They were so angry because some Onion Black man told them about me getting into Hogwarts- "

"Onion... you mean Orion?"

Paying no mind to her father's confusion, Nixie continued with her rambling. "They said Mum changed you and that she was a sea bitch! And if that's what they think of her, that's what they think of me!"

"Nixie!" He stopped her before she continued to become hysterical, he placed his hands gently on her and brought her to sit down in his armchair after directing her into the room

"None of what they said is true, sweetheart. Listen to me, it doesn't matter if you're a part mermaid, part dragon, or even part hippogriff, no one would ever make fun of you. Do you know why? Because you're delightful to be around and people are going to notice that first about you."

She was practically shaking in the chair where her father sat her as she looked up at him. Her lower lip trembled, and her eyes were watery with tears that were threatening to fall no matter how hard she fought to keep them back. "And what if they don't?"

"Well, that would be their loss now, wouldn't it? They would be missing out on having a friendship with the most amazing person I know," Henry reassured her.

Nixie wanted to believe his words but still, the insults and the words of the others were stuck in her mind. "But-"

"I already told you those men are nothing for you to pay any mind to. And as for my parents, they are wrong, wrong about everything. They didn't like the fact that I started making my own decisions instead of blindly following them. They wanted someone to blame, so they chose your mother. But they are wrong. They had no right to say those things to you-"

"They didn't say them to me," she said, "when they showed up, I hid upstairs until they were gone."

"Regardless, they had no right to say those things even if no one was here to listen."

"Daddy," Nixie said to him as she wiped her eyes, "I'm afraid to go to Hogwarts. I don't want to."

Henry knelt down in front of her, leaving her no option but to look at him. "You don't have to be afraid, Nixie. If anyone says anything to you, you just let me know and I'll be sure to handle it personally."

Her eyes flickered with a hint of amusement as she looked at him. "What would you do to them?" She asked curiously.

"I'll show up and place a hex on them!" Henry called out in a dramatic voice while waving his fist around. He let out a high-pitched cackle which finally brought the smile to return to Nixie's face. He didn't stop until he earned a giggle out of her before he smiled to himself in triumph.

"There's that smile and laugh," he said poking her in the cheek until she pushed his hand away, "now, why don't you go and get cleaned up? I'm going to start dinner, maybe we can bring our plates down to the water and eat with your mother."

"I don't think she's going to want to eat with me, let alone ever talk to me again. I said some mean things to her."

"Your mother is not going to hold that against you, Nixie. All she's ever wanted is to be there for you, a little argument isn't going to stop that. You just have to give her a chance."