Veela Inheritance Problems

Chapter 17

Author’s note: Thank you so much for all the reviews, I hope this chapter lives up to the expectation. I did hope to have it ready for you sooner, but after a few days with the keyboard from hell (I have no idea how mom uses it), I had to give up and wait for when I could use mine again.

My muse would like to take this opportunity to inform that all readers will be body seached for clubs, baseball bats, pitchforks, torches and flame throwers. All cookies and chocolate goodies will be confiscated. : )

And so everybody has an idea of what I have in mind, I kind of picture Harry with a robe similar to the one showing in “Flaming June” (a painting by Fredrick Lord Leighton – you can google it if you are curious), only Harry’s had a few embroidments added.

Oh, and chapter 18 is ready and being beta as you read this.

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Outside the mating area

Lucius and Narcissa walked amongst the other Veela currently not involved in the chase. They were all in the smartly decorated reception room set up just outside the intricate gateway that led to the mating grounds. There was really very little to do now, only mingle and have polite conversations while waiting for the return of those Dominants who would not be mating tonight, hopefully, before night fall only one Dominant would still remain inside and they all would leave except for four representatives from the High Council who would be left by the gates with orders to alert them if anything happened. In the morning, everybody would return and have breakfast together while waiting for the new couple.

“Well, at least this time they are in the proper area,” said Glory Zabini, her son Blaise was taking part in the gathering again, “it is simply not a gathering without an outdoors breakfast.”

“Right you are, dear,” Narcissa smiled at her long time friend from behind her tea cup. There were no hard feeling between the two families, if the council had decided to void Draco’s claim, it was only natural for the Zabinis to participate in the new chase. The Malfoys were angry at the High Council’s decision, not at their friends for trying to secure the best submissive available to continue their line.

The reception area was pretty much the same it had been just a few days ago, the only difference was that now it was a bit bigger to accommodate all the newcomers and a dais was added in the back of the area. It was where the table for the High Council was placed.

The audience kept talking amongst themselves quietly while waiting for the members of the High Council to speak. As of now, they were all sitting in the high table apparently waiting for something.

A noise from the road that lead out of Hogwarts made a few heads turn in that direction. Two huge carriages were making their way into the school grounds at an elegant unhurried pace and came to a halt just outside the reception area, a few seconds later the door of the first carriage swung open to let the High Council Keeper of Records to exit followed closely by six assistants come out of the first one. The audience held a collective breath; the presence of the Keeper of Records could only mean one thing: they had found Mr. Potter’s Veela family.

Three figures came out the second carriage, the hood of their traveling cloak pulled over their heads shielding their identity. An aide of the High Council greeted them and led them to a table in the reception area while the Keeper and his assistants made their way to the high table and were formally welcomed by the chairman. The hall fell silently as everyone got up to acknowledge the entrance of the elderly man.

“The High Council bids welcome to the Keeper of Records. May our memory forever be preserved, may our inheritance flow into our children.” The chairman bowed to the Keeper of Secrets.

“The Keeper of Records recognizes the High Council. May our path be clear, may our roots be strong, may our future be bright,” answered the Keeper bowing to the High Council.

“In the matter of our past and the lost child recently found, what says the Keeper of the Records?” asked the spokesman of the council.

A podium appeared to the side of the high table and the Keeper made his way there. He sat his book on the platform before him and opened at a previously marked page.

“It’s our pleasure to announce, that after many years of grief a page of our history has been restored,” he said, “in the years of conflict generated by one Grindelwald and the muggle war and the chaos that reigned, many important documents were lost. It was only through careful and extensive work done by the record keepers that we were able to restore our records back to its former glory, or so we believed. It is now known that a small entry had been lost. That entry is now recovered.”

“Goddess, he will take all night,” Narcissa whispered to her husband who squeezed her hand in acknowledgement and fought down a smile.

“Allow him, it’s his moment of glory,” replied Lucius, but his attention was focused at the new arrivals a few tables away from them. Protocol prevented him from getting up and properly greeting them but he was startle when he recognized the newcomers. Michael and Hortencia Baudelle were known by their reclusive ways and were rarely seen outside their ancestral home on the north of France and the third person on the table was Theodore Phillips, head of the Phillips Family with whom the Malfoys had done business many times, they were rich, influential and powerful on their own right, but had no Veela blood as far as Lucius knew. ‘What is he doing here?’ Lucius thought.

The Keeper of Records began talking again and Lucius forced himself to pay attention to the man.

“It’s now known, that the third child of the Baudelle Family, named Violette, daughter of Michael and Hortecia Baudelle, chose to leave her ancestral home and wed Andrei Mihailov, a wizard who had taken flight from Russia a few years prior. The young couple moved to England where they set residence and tried to live as muggles to avoid getting caught up in the Wizarding war. It was here that their only child was born. A girl named Daisy Mihailov, deceased, latent Veela, squib...”

The audience came alive with conversation. The Baudelle family was an old and respected one, very powerful in Switzerland and France, nothing happened in Veela Society without their say-so and Mihailov, although not particularly powerful or rich, was well known for his books on charms.

Ms. Baudelle’s break from her family had been quite a scandal back then, she refused to take part in any gathering and turned down any Dominants her family elected to introduce to her. Instead she chose to run away with a penniless wizard and was never heard from again.

The spokesman gently knocked a crystal goblet with a silver spoon at the high table demanding the audience to remain quiet.

“We ask the Keeper of Records to please proceed.”

“Thank you, the child Daisy was raised in the muggle world and eventually married Richard Evans, from the squib branch of the Phillips Family and together they had two daughters, Petunia Evans, squib, latent Veela, married to Vernon Dursley, muggle and mother of Dudley Dursley, squib, and Lily Evans, deceased, latent Veela, witch, married to James Edward Potter, deceased, wizard, and mother of Harry James Potter, Veela, wizard.”

One could hear a pin drop in the room. Not only Mr. Potter was a member of an important Veela family but also a pureblood wizard. Narcissa silently thanked the fates that these facts had only been known now. If that had come up yesterday, she had no doubts a few assassination attempts would have been performed in hopes to thin out the competition.

“Is that the findings of the researchers?” asked the spokesman.

“That is the findings of the researchers as it is documented in this report that I now present before the council,” one of the assistants walked forward and placed a stack of paper in front of the High Council.

“How were these findings verified?” The audience held its breath, if no discrepancies were found, this would be the last question asked in the record presenting ceremony.

“They were verified through the private records of the Baudelle Family, both muggle and magical records in England and through a genealogy potion using the hair of the late Daisy Evans. The findings are conclusive and state that Mr. Harry James Potter is a direct descendant of the Veela Family Baudelle through his maternal grandmother and with the Phillips Wizarding Family through his maternal grandfather.”

Mr. Potter’s status had suddenly shot sky high within the Veela and Wizarding communities.

“Thank you, honorable Keeper of Records,” the spokesman said after receiving a nod from the head of the High Council, “Your services are highly appreciated. Please join us for a cup of tea.”

And that was the cue the audience was waiting for. Inviting the Keeper of Records for tea meant that he would be available to talk to anybody present and private questions would be allowed. This translated as one thing, the findings were conclusive and Mr. Potter was all they claimed him to be.

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The Chase, part II

The young French Dominant, Jean, was at his wits end. Where could the little submissive be? His scent was all over the place driving every Dominant in the area insane and the fighting was getting rougher by the minute. The Dominants were at each others throats quite literally and so far none of them had seen their prize yet.

Not being the strongest amongst the Dominants, Jean knew that only cunning would allow him to claim the submissive as his own, but how could he do it when nobody had any clues as where the little morsel was? Looking around, Jean could not believe his luck; a few feet to his right he caught a glimpse of blond hair. The Malfoy heir! The blond Veela was not running around sniffing the air like all the others, he was determinedly searching for something else other than the origin of the scent and was making his way somewhere. Jean would be a fool if he couldn’t guess what was going on.

It was a widely known fact that the Malfoy heir had held the previous claim over this submissive before the High Council decided to ‘play fair’ and void the claim. Really, who were they trying to fool? There was no way a sweet powerful submissive like the one he could scent right now simply show up out of nowhere. They probably had it all set up ages before the gathering but they wouldn’t fool him. Oh, no. Nobody would fool him.

Making sure to stay just far enough to pass unnoticed, Jean began to follow the other Dominant.

Draco Malfoy seemed to find what he was looking for after a few minutes. The submissive’s tent! But that made no sense to Jean. They had searched the tent already and the submissive was not there. The blond went straight into the tent, looked around a bit and came back out. Jean barely had enough time to dive behind a tree. What was the other Dominant doing? Malfoy was now looking around and appeared to be pondering about something.

Jean watched as the other Dominant seemed to reach a decision and started to go around the tent. The French Veela almost gave up; it was obvious that the other boy had no idea where the submissive could be. Still, just to be on the safe side, Jean decided to go around the tent too. You never know when lady luck will decide to strike.

The Malfoy heir went once around the tent and found nothing. Jean began to believe he was wasting his time when the blond Veela started to go a second time around the tent. Jean decided not to follow this time, he was just wasting time here. Malfoy had no idea where the submissive was and everyone else had a good head start on them. Time to get moving.

A noise behind him made him turn. It sounded like someone else was coming. Damn, just what he needed: to attract unwanted attention and even more unwanted competition. Whoever it was would want to fight him and get him out of the running. Jean hid behind a tree so see who was coming.

The French Veela cursed when a tall blond came into view. Morten, his very own Norwegian nightmare. The bloke was as big as a house with the firm belief that anything in life could be solved with a few well placed punches. Jean once more cursed the fates that made the two of them cousins, but the engines in his brain were already turning. A wicked smile grew on Jean’s face as a plan began to take shape.

Neither being the largest nor the strongest in the family did bring a fair amount of problems if you had cousins like Morten, but it didn’t mean this situation couldn’t bring something good either and at the moment Morten would be just the kind of distraction he needed. Just because he couldn’t hope to fight Malfoy and win, it didn’t mean someone couldn’t. And if he was really lucky Malfoy would cause just enough damage to his cousin to assure that Jean would come up on top in a fight later on.

“Morten,” Jean called as loud as he dared without being heard by Malfoy and the submissive.

“What are you doing here, Jean?” Morten’s eyes were already narrowing as he tried to find out why his weakling of a cousin would be calling out to him.

“It’s over, you know, the chase,” said Jean shrugging his shoulders.

“Why, little cousin? Are you saying you have claimed the submissive already?” asked Morten with a ironic smile on his face.

“No such luck,” Jean did his best not to rise up to the bait, “but Malfoy was just here and he seemed to have a pretty good idea of where to go. Since he had the previous claim, I imagine…”

“He was just here?” interrupted Morten, “Which way did he go?”

Jean pointed to the side of the tent. “He just around the back.”

“And you just let him go?” asked Morten not completely buying his cousin’s story, “why didn’t you try to claim the submissive for yourself?”

“I’m not strong enough to take him, you know that,” said Jean pretending to be upset.

“That much is true, cousin,” Morten agreed laughing, “Step aside, let me show you how it is done.”

Jean stepped out of the way as Morten rushed after Malfoy, the French Veela suppressed a wicked smile, his cousin was just too easy to manipulate. He made sure to follow his cousin for a bit, just to make sure his plan had worked the way he wanted before going back to the chase. If his luck held there would be two less Dominants in the chase.

Morten had made almost all the way to the back of the tent when he stopped. Eyes fixed up ahead and a slighted daze expression. Intrigued as to what could have happen, Jean picked around the tent to see what had caught his cousin attention in such a way.

The Malfoy heir was standing under a tree with his hand held up. He was smiling and seemed to be talking to the tree. Strange.

Suddenly, a green piece of fabric that seemed to be the exactly color of the tent moved in the tree and the most gorgeous creature appeared in front of them. Black hair, glowing light golden skin, soft musical voice and a smile that made the day turn brighter. He was beautiful, dreamy, perfect… and there was two very large Dominants standing between him and Jean.

Jean’s first impulse was to challenge both his cousin and the Malfoy heir, but his survival instinct took over at the nick of time. He had no chance in a fight like that; his best chance was to let one Dominant distract the other while he snatched his prize. Yes, that could work.

Since time was at the essence, Jean hurried to go around the tent and position himself behind Malfoy and the submissive. If he was fast he would be in the right place and in the right time to fool them both.