Veela Inheritance Problems

Author’s note:
1 - Sorry, sorry, sorry it took so long.

2 - One reader (You never gave me your name or return address, love) asked me if he/she could use my take on the Veela society to write a fic.

My Answer:

Sure, go ahead, but I demand a link so I can read it too… oh, and a nice little mention of V.I.P. and my name would be wonderful. (Yes, I’m vain, very vain)

Thank you for all the reviews and I’m sorry I didn’t answer some of them, and I have not abandoned any of my fics. I’m just working in one at the time because of the little amount of time I have free to indulge my passions.

3 – I would like to thank Dawn, who agreed to beta this chapter for me since Rose was on a trip. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I would go insane if I had to wait another two weeks before posting.

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Chapter 19


That afternoon, when all the necessary social dancing was done and over with, Theodore Phillips made his way to the Baudelle’s quarters. The wizard was not looking forwards to this conversation. For generations the Phillips had dealt with their family problems in private, unfortunately now there was another family involved and, quite honestly, he was worried about his recently found relative and what he had learned about the child’s home environment and extended family. The fact that the new extended family was also Veela and that they were very protective of their young didn’t do much to calm Theodore’s nerves either.

The news about the Veela blood was actually encouraging. The Phillips, although rich and influential, had no Veela blood in them. It would be a nice addition to the family, as would be the boy-who-lived, even if this last one proved to be a bit troublesome. The Phillips so far, had managed not to take a definitive stand on one side or the other on this war, but now the decision had been taken away from them.

Not that this would be a problem really, as the political gain would more than compensate the loss of neutrality and with the Veela, the Malfoys in particular, behind the boy-who-lived his victory was a sure thing. Yes, it was time the Phillips took a stand and it looked like they would be standing by the winning side, not a bad thing at all.

No, the problem was not the Veela genes or the high profile young cousin. The problem was his squib cousin and her muggle husband. Something would have to be done about them.

For generations now, the Phillips family had taken care of its own. All magical members of the family received their education in the family’s school only a few ever decided to go to Hogwarts. Even so, the tuition was paid by the family. Upon graduation, they also received a generous sum of money to help them get started in life and there were always letters being exchanged and family reunions… nobody simply walked out of the family.

Even the squibs. Although they didn’t receive as much money as the magical members of the family, they were still taken care of, helped to get their independence, and given a good education. The Phillips didn’t cast them out like so many other families.

Of course, there were fights, some small, some big, some were serious, some became a joke after a while, some were part of the family history and at least one of them caused a family member to turn his back on the family… Theodore could still easily remember the one between his father, the previous head of the family, and Richard Evans.

The man never accepted the fact that his family had all that money and almost none of it would come to him. The arguments got a bit better after Richard married Daisy Mihailov, a nice squib from a Russian family. For a few years they managed to live in peace with everybody else but then an argument broke off and things were said on both sides that made Richard Evans take his wife and children, Petunia, who was eight at the time and already insufferable and Lily, who was just too young to make an impression, and move to another city.

It had taken Theodore’s father years to find his cousin again and when he did Richard and Daisy had already passed away and Petunia had just gotten married to a man named Vernon Dursley.

That was when everything went from a family problem to family betrayal.

Once they found their lost relatives, the Phillips immediately took all the necessary steps to bring them back into the family, but the young couple refused. Petunia was angry that she would never be allowed to live in one of the family manors or receive as much money as a magical member of the family and resented all of them who had magic.

Oh, she took their money alright, complaining the whole time about the ‘petty cash’ they were handing down. She also took the house they were offering, making remarks about how small it was compared to any of the family mansions, how poor the neighborhood was, how she had ‘a poor excuse for a garden’… and for some strange reason never mentioning the fact that at that same moment her younger sister was in Hogwarts receiving a magical education. She simply never mentioned her sister at all, she said quite plainly that “the rest of the family had died” and they assumed she meant everybody.

Not a single word at all, not even with the contract she and her fat obnoxious husband signed in order to receive the house and the money. The one that said that she had the obligation to inform the Phillips of any magical children born on their side of family; the one that also stated the consequences of failing to fulfill that particular condition; the one that now would allow Theodore some measure of legal revenge against his envious cousin.

And now was the time to clean up the mess. Quietly, of course, it was a family matter and it should be solved within the family, but the Baudelles were now family, at least where the boy was concerned. Theodore sighed, there was no way around this one. Raising his hand he knocked on the heavy wooden door in front of him. It was time to inform the other side of the family about the situation. They had the right to have a say in it too.

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Mr. Baudelle was in the middle of a long list of floo calls he had to make. They already knew how young Harry was related to them, but a lot of questions remained unanswered, like what had caused the untimely demise of his daughter and son-in-law? The fact that his grandchild was already dead, although it made him sad, came as no surprise, squibs unfortunately didn’t have the long life span wizards and magical creatures were graced with and the whole world knew how his great-grandchild and her husband had died, nothing natural on that but still a logical explanation, but his daughter was a witch and a Veela, her husband had been a wizard; they should still be alive.

There was also the matter of young Harry’s financial situation, The Baudelles were a very rich family and Violette’s share was now Harry’s. His surviving grand-daughter, Petunia, was only a latent Veela and her husband was a muggle so they wouldn’t be eligible to the Baudelle trust fund, but Harry would certainly want his beloved aunt’s future to be comfortable and Michael Baudelle was happy enough with how everything had turned out to see to that.

Mr. Baudelle was in a hurry to set things right, he was appalled with everything he had found out so far. Apparently the Dursleys were very poor. Young Harry didn’t even had decent clothes to wear and maybe not even enough to eat, judging by how thin the boy was in all his photos. To think that a member of his family could have been going through some rough times when the rest of the family had so much to spare was unconceivable.

Yes, a lot to do but the boy deserved nothing but the best, thought Michael Baudelle with no small amount of pride, his grandchild was mated to a Malfoy, a good family with strong Veela roots, a very good match indeed.

Hortencia watched her husband talking to yet another person over the floo. He looked fifty years younger now. Violette’s disappearance had hit him hard; Michael was a family man and not knowing the whereabouts of one of his children had been a nightmare he had never managed to put behind him. Finally knowing where she was, even if after her death, had brought a sense of closure to him and now they had a new submissive in the family. Michael was finally happy

Violette’s Great-grandchild was a powerful wizard, a powerful Veela and, according to the Council, a completely pure submissive before his first claim. A rare fact nowadays when teenagers would kiss, if not more, anybody at the first chance they got.

The Baudelle matriarch had to admit she would have preferred it if the first claim had been validated by the Council, but it had all worked out well. Harry had been claimed by the same Dominant, so it could be said that he entered the bond completely pure. Now, all they had to do was invite the young couple to spend a few months with the family so they could properly get to know Violette’s great-grandson. The Malfoys would not be opposed to that, they knew how important family was. Yes, everything would work out in the end.

A knock on the door brought her back to reality. That should be the young Theodore Phillips now, coming to talk about their newly found family link. Hortencia was curious about how that would play out. She waited for Michael who was taking leave of their cousin Marcel, the family representative in the council, and opened the door to let Mr. Phillips in. Time to know what the other side of young Harry’s family had to say, with non-Veela you could never know.

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Theodore Phillips took a deep breath and entered the Baudelle’s quarters when a house-elf dressed in the Baudelle colors opened the door for him.

“Good evening, Mr. Phillips, please come in,” said Hortencia gesturing regally.

“Good evening, Madame, Messieur” he greeted, kissing the submissive Veela’s hand politely before addressing the Dominant, “Pardon me for imposing, but I was wondering if you and your wife could spare a moment before dinner.”

“Mr. Phillips, please have a seat. Would you like something to drink?” the older man waved at a side table where a bottle of brandy and some crystal glasses could be seen.

“Yes, thank you, sir.”

There was a polite silence while the house-elf served the drinks and handed the glasses round before popping out of the room, giving the humans at least the illusion of privacy. There was no doubt that the little creature, even if not in the room, was close enough to answer the call of its masters.

Hortencia noticed that the young man looked troubled and was holding a leather folder rather tightly in his hands and she felt her heart get heavy in her chest. Would the young man try to take Harry away from them? No, it couldn’t be it. There was certainly something wrong but she couldn’t put her finger on it yet. Still, she prepared herself for any unpleasant surprises and kept her wand handy… just in case.

Silently, she looked over to her husband and with a knowledge that comes with years of life together, they decided what to do.

“You seemed troubled, Mr. Phillips, may I ask what seems to be the matter?” asked Hortencia with a calm voice.

Theodore was not fooled. He had seen the look the older couple had exchanged between them and knew that Mrs. Baudelle was the one asking just because they had agree that is was the best course of action. The younger generation always bought the “we are safe and caring” façade much easier if presented by a mother figure. He was perfectly aware of that, but it didn’t make the rest of the conversation any easier.

“I have just finished reading the files on our young relative…” Theodore paused, lost on how much he could tell the couple in front of him, how much was private to his family and how to break the news on what he had found out, “allow me to take the long way around. Please understand that under any other circumstances we would take care of it within the family, but it so happens it concerns your family too…”

“Mr. Phillips,” Michael decided to intervene before the younger man lost himself, “as far as young Harry is concern we are family. Whatever it is that you have in that folder of your, we will deal with it, but you have to tell us what is the matter.”

“Yes… Well…” Theodore took a deep breath and opened the file, “as you are aware, Daisy Mihailov, daughter of Andrei and Violette, married Richard Evans, a squib cousin of mine.”

The Baudelles just nodded, allowing the young man to proceed.

“The Phillips have a tradition of taking care of every member of the family, even the squibs. We set up a trust fund for each member but the amount of money differs according to a number of circumstances. A wizard will receive a large amount to get started in life, a witch a bit less since she will be taken in by the family she marries into and a squib will get even less, since they will probably settle in the muggle world and life there is not as expensive.”

The older couple nodded in agreement, that was not an unusual arrangement in a wizarding family.

“Well, Richard didn’t agree with that; he was quite vocal about it as a matter of fact. You see, if he was to receive the same amount as a wizard, he would never have to work a day in his life and he thought he deserved that. I’m sorry to say that he squandered away your grand-daughter’s inheritance from her parents trying to maintain the life style he thought he deserved. Needles to say, the family was not pleased with him. We value work and individual achievement, even with the trust fund our magical relatives always managed to stand in their own two feet, but that never set right with Richard.”

Michael held Hortencia’s hand during the explanation. It was not easy to hear of problems their grand-daughter had faced, even if it was decades ago.

“Finally, it came to the point where a confrontation was inevitable. Richard’s demands reached an all time high and… to be honest, they were invited to leave the manor. They did, Richard, Daisy, Lily, who wasn’t even two at the time, and Petunia, who was eight or nine. You see, we were almost certain Petunia was a squib too and Lily was just too young for anybody to tell, but we thought she was one too. I mean… what are the odds…”

“Mr. Phillips… Theodore…” Hortencia took the younger man’s hand in hers, “we understand… perhaps more than anybody else in the world right now, we know how a family problem can be blown out of proportion. It’s not your fault that Lily went by unnoticed…”

“Oh, no,” Theodore snapped his head up to look at the older couple, “that is not the problem. We did lose contact with them for a few years, but we got in touch again less than twenty years ago. That is what I’m trying to tell you. Petunia never told us about Lily, she lied to us and from what I can tell nobody told Lily about us either, and not only did she never tell Harry about us, but apparently she mistreated him his whole life.”

“What?” Michael was suddenly on his feet.

“Here, let me show you.” Said Theodore opening the file in his hands, taking a few documents out and spreading them on the small coffee table in front of him. Making his mind up, he picked up the contract signed by the Durleys, that was perhaps the best place to start the explanation.

Sometime later, the sound of the dinner bell found the three of them deeply in discussion about what to do next. Officially the Malfoys would only be family in the morning, when the new couple would be publicly acknowledged and even afterwards, whatever offence had occurred, it had happened before the bond.

“Whatever we decide to do, it will be done after dinner.” Hortencia decided getting up from the couch.

“But…” Theodore started to protest but was cut off before he could actually say anything.

“No, dear,” said Hortencia, “we are expected at dinner and it would raise too many questions if we missed. This is a family matter and it will be kept in the family.”

“Yes, of course.” The younger man agreed. The offence had not been done today, it had happen over a long period of time, it could wait another day or so.

“First thing after dinner,” added Michael holding the door for his wife, “we’ll call our lawyers. I believe some measure of legality is in order.” And they proceeded to the dining room talking about amenities and greeting the other guests present at the school.