Veela Inheritance Problems

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Author’s note:

IMPORTANT: I know it has been forever and a day but none of my fics are abandoned. They might be taking a long time plus a few days between updates but I will complete each one of them.

Thank all of you for your reviews, I do read each and every one of them even if I fail to answer some of them.

And a very special thanks to Jinx, who once more managed to kick my muse in to working. The first time with our ‘a chapter for a chapter’ deal and now with our attempt to write a fic together. Thank you, thank you, thank you, you have just became my good luck charm. I hope I can return the favor.

VERY IMPORTANT: Very important author’s note! I know what it looks like, but this is NOT just a taste of things to come. Put the baseball bat down, that is it. Good reader, good reader. No, do not pick up the pitch fork.

Chapter 16 is already written and being beta-ed as you read this. It should be posted by tomorrow… I hope. It’s all in Rose’s hands now, but she is the most wonderful beta and won’t make you wait a second longer than it’s absolutely necessary.

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Chapter 15

The past five days in the outside world.

In the five days the world as Harry knew it was being turned upside down, the rest of the Wizarding World was also feeling some of the effects.

The first two days were fairly uneventful for the rest of the Wizarding World even with the fact that quite a few people were following the news to find out more about the Veela gathering taking place on the school grounds. Many of them just wanted to know what the rich and famous were up to these days, but some had a more vested interest in the matter.

Some Veela families who elected not to take place on this particular gathering, for whatever reason, wanted to know about the new unions so to better plan for the next generation. It was never too early to begin forming alliances and future matches. Also, the ones with contacts in Hogwarts were receiving disturbing news about a mysterious very powerful submissive that showed up out of nowhere, the few who learned that this submissive was none other than Harry Potter had already begun research of their own to find out where his Veela blood came from, deeply frustrated by their previous decision of not attending the gathering.

The other members of the high society who happened not to have Veela blood wanted to know what possible changes could occur in their circles so they would know who to invite to each party, who should not be seated next to whom at the dinner table and there was, of course, the matter of how many robes to purchase for up coming weddings and participation balls. Some of them, who had children at Hogwarts were receiving disturbing news about Harry Potter taking part in the gathering. They began to wonder what that would mean to their little circle of rich and famous to have the son of a muggleborn amongst them. And how exactly did he manage to take part in the gathering? Would it be open to all the ‘good’ families from now on?

The social climbers wanted to know all they could as to better mingle with the higher circles and so become one of them. They all dreamt of one day being invited to all the parties and having their names in the papers as often and as effortlessly as the higher circles of their society seem to have.

And in an old manor in Little Hangleton, a certain Dark Lord couldn’t care less about the social comings and goings of overbearing parents and their obnoxious children as he poured over some ancient texts he had just acquired. His interest in the gathering boiled down to the fact that it was at Hogwarts which allowed him to have more of his people on the grounds although unable to do anything, and the fact that new alliances were being formed what would bring him more followers, maybe. Nothing that would need his attention anytime soon.

The third day began almost as calm as the two before it, but that was about to change. As the Wizarding World’s social columnists made their way to Hogsmead and prepared for the press conference, Snape discreetly walked out of the school wards and apparated to the Dark Lord’s lair. Hastily navigating through Death Eater filled halls, Snape knocked on the door of Voldemort’s personal study where he found the Dark Lord pour concentrating on an assortment of books and parchments scattered over a large table.

Snape sent a quick prayer to any deity that could be listening and dropped to one knee waiting for Voldemort to acknowledge him.

As planned, Snape pretended to believe that the engagement between Draco and Potter was part of a plan to which he was not privy and, once he was sure Voldemort believed his ‘innocence’, he carefully made the Dark Lord believe Lucius was the spy all along.

Snape returned to Hogwarts with the mission of keeping an eye on Lucius and Potter and reporting back to Voldemort. It would have worked beautifully and it would have bought them some time to plan better for the situation, but by the end of the press conference the Parkinson situation took them all by surprise and Harry Potter went missing.

It didn’t help that Sandra Willian’s personal assistant was fetching her a cup of tea when the whole scandal broke off and was outside the great hall when Molly informed Remus of Harry not being in the Great Hall anymore and how she thought it was due to the Parkinson girl’s claim. Fortunately, she never said ‘disappearance’ or everything could have gone much worse.

As it was, every publication in the Wizarding World had something to say about how the Malfoy heir was engaged to Pansy Parkinson, something that would not have caused that much of a stir if not for Mrs. Willian’s article that added a few juicy details of how Draco Malfoy had played Harry Potter while producing the next Malfoy heir and how Harry Potter was spotted at the press conference wearing the traditional submissive’s robes and displaying a rather visible claiming mark on his neck but was now unavailable for comment. It was all it took for every eye in the Wizarding World to turn to the Veela gathering and Hogwarts.

The quiet and somewhat refined atmosphere in Hogsmeade set by social reporters was suddenly torn apart by the arrival of what seemed to be every single reporter in the Wizarding World and their uncle. It all boiled down to one simple and fundamental detail, no matter how you looked at it, Harry Potter always sold well.

The next two days were a political and strategic nightmare with all the representatives of the high council flooing in, ministry personal showing up and trying to take charge of the situation (something that the high council quickly made clear would not be happening), organizing and coordinating the search parties, keeping the students quiet, classes going and the press in the dark.

Even after Harry was found the situation didn’t calm down. The constant arrival of dominants after the decision of a new chase was made kept everybody on their toes.

Through all this, Snape and Dumbledore made sure to keep the Dark Lord fed with just enough information to believe Snape was being kept under constant surveillance and was unable to approach the Malfoys or Potter, whose location was unknown to him. Snape couldn’t help but to notice the irony of the fact that at least the last part was actually the truth.

Still Day 5 – Malfoy quarters.

Draco could hear the faint voices in the sitting room. His parents had visitors and that could mean news about Harry. Dropping the book he had been trying to read for the past two hours he rushed into the sitting room where he found his parents talking to Black, Lupin and Severus, by the look on their faces they did not have good news. Draco felt his blood run cold, if anything had happen to Harry…

“What happened?”

“Lupin here found Harry,” Severus answered in his usual serious tone, “he had a sprained ankle and was running a fever, other than that he was fine. Pomfrey is keeping him sedated in the infirmary for today.”

“I have to see him,” Draco bolted for the door only to have his path cut by his godfather, “What?”

“There is something else, Draco. Please remain calm as we explain it to you,” Severus started gravely.

“What is it?” asked Draco quickly losing his temper.

“The Council was worried,” Lucius prompted attracting Draco’s attention away from Severus before he had the chance get physical, “they think that Harry ran into the forest either in shock because of Parkinson’s revelation or in an attempt to get away from you because he did not want the bond.”

“That is preposterous! Harry had no problems with my claim, everybody could see that.” Draco snarled.

“Even so,” Lucius continued, “they have declared the claim null and that Harry is to be taken back into the maze. They have set a new gathering for the day after tomorrow when all the unmated dominants may try to claim Potter.”

Draco answered that with a growl. It started low almost too hard to hear and grew at an alarming rate as he bolted for the door.

Nobody tried to get in to his path, as they all knew that an enraged Veela would tear apart any obstacles to get to his mate, instead they wisely opted to stun the young Dominant from behind with several stunning spells. The first two had no affect what so ever, but the cumulative effect of five spells certainly did the trick and the teen fell unconscious just before he reached the door.

“That went well,” murmured Sirius attracting the disbelieving looks of all present, “What? It did go well. I though we would have to spend the next few days as guest in the hospital wing under Poppy’s care.”

“As much as it pains me to agree,” conceded Snape, “Black is right. The lack of physical injuries is a great relief.”

“What do we do now?” asked Lupin helping Lucius steer a floating Draco back in to his room.

“We keep him in here, convince him not to kill the other dominants and the Council members and take him to the maze at the appropriate time.” Answered Lucius with a frown. He was not happy with the Council’s decision but knew there was nothing he could do at the moment.

“There is one thing I don’t understand,” Sirius said sitting on the armchair near the tea tray and serving himself a cup.

“Only one?” jibed Snape, “That is quite an improvement, Black. I’m impressed.”

“Why, you dirty…” Sirius stopped mid rant when he felt Remus hand on his shoulder.

“Sirius!” Remus called his friends attention trying to defuse the situation, “what don’t you understand?”

“Well…” with one last nasty look at Snape, Sirius turned to Lucius, “Why were we able to stun Draco? I though a Veela could deflect any weaker spells.

“Usually that would be true,” Lucius agreed, “but I for one, didn’t send a weak stunning spell and the fact that Draco doesn’t have a family of his own also helps.”

Noticing the confused look on both Lupin and Sirius’s faces, Narcissa added to her husband’s explanation.

“As long as Draco is just our son, he will feel more at home with us than anybody else, which somewhat lowers his subconscious defenses, as he feels safe with us. He feels at home. That is how we were able to hit him just now.”

“But I stunned him before. The day we found him and Harry at the balcony. How was that possible?” Sirius asked really confused now.

“He was still with family,” Narcissa explained to her cousin, “not his family, because he doesn’t know you as family, but his mate’s family. You and Mr. Lupin are like uncles and Molly Weasley is like a mother to him. Draco wouldn’t kill a person that makes Harry feel at home since he can pick up on what Harry is feeling. Therefore their defenses were not as high as they could have been. They felt you as a threat to their mating but not a threat to their lives.”

“Oh.” It was all that Sirius could say. A strange knot was in his throat with the sudden certainty that Harry did think of him and Remus as family. The last two marauders looked at each other and shared a small smile, vaguely pondering on what the next few days would bring to their godson.

Day 7 – Hogwarts Infirmary.

Harry spent the grand total of thirty six hour in a potion induced sleep in the infirmary. He was vaguely aware of potions being forced down his throat and the muffled voices of Mme. Pomfrey and Mrs. Weasley but he really was not able to say if they were really there or if it was just wishful thinking on his part.

When he finally regained consciousness it took him a minute to realize he was in the infirmary and not still in the tree back in the Forbidden Forest. Carefully turning his head a little in order to avoid any pain, Harry found Molly Weasley was sitting in a chair near by knitting. She seamed to be paying attention to her knitting but dropped the needles as soon as he moved.

“Harry, dear. How are you feeling?” she asked in a concerned voice, “wait, let me call Mme. Pomfrey.”

“No, Mrs. Weasley, wait,” Harry called managing to hold the red-haired woman’s wrist before she could get away, “tell me what happened first.”

“Well…” Molly Weasley seemed a bit unsure of what to do, she did have instructions to call the mediwitch as soon as Harry showed any signs of regaining consciousness but she couldn’t refuse such a request from somebody she considered her eighth child, “all right, dear, but then I’ll call her.”

“Alright,” agreed Harry, “so… how did I get to the Forbidden Forest? And how did I come back?”

“What do you remember, dear?” Molly asked in her best motherly voice.

“Not much, I was paying attention to the press conference and Pansy Parkinson came to talk to me… everything got hazy after that,” Harry stopped for a moment trying to recall all the details that he could, “there was something in my pocket, a golden chain of some sort. I saw when my cloak ripped in the forest.”

“Hm… yes,” Molly took a deep breath to calm herself down and not scare Harry, it was a good think the Parkinson girl had left already, she wouldn’t be responsible for her reactions if she saw the girl right now, “it seems that Ms. Parkinson decided that she was the one meant to became the next Lady Malfoy and took upon herself to… get rid of the competition. The chain you saw was a bracelet with a confundus charm to make sure you got lost in the forest.”

Harry started to hyperventilate, that… that pug! She made him go away to be with Draco. Did she succeed? He tried to get up from the bed to check on his mate, “Draco…”

“Is fine,” Molly hurried to assure the petit submissive in front of her, “Ms. Parkinson married Ivanoff and they have left already.”

Harry felt his body relax and he fell back on the pillow. Pansy’s plan had failed, it was alright. Wasn’t it? A look on Mrs. Weasley’s face caught Harry’s attention. His chaperone was hiding something from him and if the look on her face was anything to go by, it was something very serious.

“Mrs. Weasley, what is it? I can tell you’re not telling me something. Please don’t do this to me. Tell me.” Harry begged her.

“Well, dear, you see…” she started but then found herself at lost of how to break the news to Harry. The impromptu arrival of Mme. Pomfrey, Headmaster Dumbledore and a man Harry remembered was from the Veela Council, Pierre something, took the decision out of her hands.

“You’re awake at last, Mr. Potter, good, good,” the mediwitch fussed over him for a few minutes in a very professional manner casting all sorts of diagnosis spells and checking the many potion vials on his nightstand. Finally she seemed to be satisfied and turned to the two men behind her, “you have ten minutes, gentlemen.”

“Hello, Harry,” the headmaster smiled at him, “good to see that you are awake at last. This is Messieur Pierre Raulli. He is here to talk to you about the gathering.”

“Hello, Mr. Potter,” said the Veela with a polite smile on his face, “it’s nice to see that you are better.”

“Thank you, sir. What is it about the gathering that you want to talk to me about?”

“Well, Mr. Potter, due to the recent events it was decided by the High Council to declare the claim of Mr. Malfoy over yourself null and void, and so...” the pompous looking men started only to be interrupted by Harry.

“Excuse-me?”

“Oh, you see, Harry,” the headmaster answered him since the other man seemed too shocked of being interrupted to speak at the moment, “when you decided to run into the forest, the council decided that, based on your previous history of animosity with Mr. Malfoy, it was a clear sign of your desire to break the claim…”

“But it wasn’t,” Harry hurried to explain, “I mean, it had nothing to do with Draco. It was Pansy Parkinson, she said something to me and slipped me a cursed bracelet, that is why I got lost. Not because of Draco. I got lost because…”

“Be as it may, Mr. Potter,” interrupted Mr. Raulli before Harry could go any further with his explanations, “the respect for our Veela traditions demand the utmost control. Being part Veela is all about control and Draco lost you for more than 24 hours. The Council sees that as a sign that he lost control over his submissive and considers that a breach in the claiming. That is why tomorrow you will be taken into the maze and things will proceed according to tradition. Have a good day, Mr. Potter,” and with that the strange French man turned on his hills and left the infirmary.

“Sir, is there anything that we can do about it? Can’t you explain to them that Draco never ‘lost’ me at all?” asked Harry turning his big bright green eyes to the headmaster.

“I’m afraid not, Harry,” said Dumbledore happy to notice how taken with his mate Harry was, “the council is in quite an uproar, they thought they knew each and every Veela submissive in existence. You were quite a surprise and they don’t like surprises. They have been working day and night ever since you were claimed to find out how you came to be what you are. I’m afraid this new claiming is just another way for them to know that they are in control, in spite of all that has happened.”

“That is so… argh!” yelled Harry, “just what I need, more people trying to control my life.” Dumbledore blushed a little at this outburst and let Harry continue to vent his frustration; it was the least he could do for the boy right now.

“Do they at least know where my Veela genes came from?”

“Not yet, I’m afraid.” Dumbledore sighed, “from what I understand, no baby boy went missing when you were born and no baby girl did either when your mother was born. They are looking into your grand-mother now, but we had a major war back them and many records were lost, both muggle and magical. It was during the war against Grindelwald and the Germans and it was fought both in the muggle and in the Wizarding World. Since your grandmother was cremated, from what I remember Lily telling us about, and no trace of her is left, it will be hard to discover anything conclusive.”

“Would a lock of her hair help?” asked Harry.

“Yes, that would be most helpful, Harry. Did a lock of her hair survived?”

“Yes, I’ve seen it at aunt Petunia’s document box. She keeps it in the attic.”

“That is most wonderful,” the headmaster was positively glowing with joy, “I’ll tell the council right away. You should rest, my boy. Go to your rooms and rest. Big day tomorrow and all that.”

Harry turned around to see Mrs. Weasley and Mme. Pomfrey talking in the corner and put on his best puppy eyes before asking the mediwitch if he could to his rooms.

“You may go, Mr. Potter, but make sure to get a good nights rest, tomorrow will be a big day and I don’t want to see you here unless I absolutely have to.” Mme. Pomfrey finally gave in.

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