Veela Inheritance Problems

Disclaimer: See chapter 01.

Chapter 04

The guests for the Hogwarts Spring Party, as the gathering was called, had dined together and were now retiring to their bedrooms. Many of the parents who had dominant children were still pretty upset with how the day had turned out. A small group remained at the small dining hall prepared for the occasion, since the parents would not appreciate sitting with the whole student body.

Lucius and Augustus sat at the table, each nursing a glass of brandy in their hands. They had already come to an understanding as far as a wedding between their grandchildren could be planned considering so many variables, especially since there were no grandchildren as of yet. And there was always the possibility of Blaise ending up being mated to an unsuitable person.

Well, the future of their families was as taken care of as it was possible to be. It was time to talk about their future.

“He won’t be pleased,” muttered Augustus.

“No, He won’t, but to lose such a mate…” pondered Lucius.

“Yes, that would have been a shame. Family comes first.” Augustus raised his glass in a toast.

“Family comes first.” Lucius raised his glass as well, answering to the old pureblood toast. It was true; their first obligation was to their families and the maintenance of the wizarding traditions.

Lucius and Augustus set their empty glasses on the table and looked at each other. They knew what had to be done and had waited until everyone else had retired for the night to take the next step. They noticed that they were the last ones in the room, along with their wives and Dumbledore, the official host who had just bid the Russian couple good night. It was time.

The two men got up and walked over to Dumbledore.

Narcissa and Glory noticed their husbands’ serious faces and lingered behind, saying good-bye to each other as the Zabinis were leaving for France within a week. No truly acceptable submissive had come to this first party, which was understandable with the threat of war and all, but that did present a problem for suitable matches. Maybe at one of the gatherings in France, or even Romania, the young Zabini would find his mate before the year was out.

It usually only took one season for a dominant to make his claim; there were cases like hers, of course, and every so often a couple of families would set an agreement (like the Malfoys and the Zabinis had been trying for years now) to mate their children rather than leaving it to chance, but the usual course of action was to attend a gathering, or all 12 of the ones held in a year, if that was what it took, and go through the process of natural selection.

The process, Narcissa smiled as she remembered what it was like the year she had participated, having Lucius come to her bruised from the confrontation with the other dominants and then fighting him herself… Narcissa shivered as she remembered the rush it was to be in front of her mate, to know he was the one, to let the senses take over and lose all restraint, to be taken in the most complete demonstration of dominance, possession and passion. Narcissa felt her blood run faster and she hurried to her husbands side as she notice the conversation with Dumbledore was about to end, it was time they relived their mating.

Lucius and Augustus had approached the headmaster a few minutes earlier with smiles on their faces; they knew what had to be done and had no remorse about it.

“Ah! Headmaster, a very nice gathering you manage to arrange here,” started Zabini.

“Why gentlemen, is always a pleasure to assist in such a joyous occasion.”

“No, please. It is our pleasure to be at Hogwarts of all places and in such nice company,” complimented Lucius.

“Indeed.” offered Zabini. “Even though some friends did expect us to take a walk with them tomorrow night.”

“Yes, but I don’t feel like going all the way to Whitehaven anymore.” added Malfoy.

“I see,” said the Headmaster with his trademark twinkle in his eyes. “That would be most unpleasant, I’m sure. Well, I’m sure your friend will understand your absence since your presence here is mandatory.”

“I’m sure,” “Of course” the two men agreed immediately. “Family comes first,” they added together and walked out of the room with their wives.

“Indeed,” muttered Dumbledore stroking his beard as he watched the retreating couples.

Dumbledore ran into Snape in the hallway to his office. 'Serverus is really getting the hang of being where he is needed when he is needed. Very nice quality for a headmaster. I wonder if he has noticed that he is being trained already? Hogwarts can be quite subtle with her hints when she wants to be.

“Good evening, Serverus, may I have a word?”

“Good evening, Headmaster. What’s on your mind?”

“I just had the most exciting conversation with Messieurs Malfoy and Zabini. Apparently, they are quite happy to be here for the time being, especially with the weather being so unstable. They said, in so many words, that is better to be inside and in such nice company than to spend the night walking around in places like Whitehaven, although they were expected to pay a visit with some friends there tomorrow night.”

“What? Are you saying they freely gave you information about an attack? Why would they do such a thing? It must be a trap.”

“No, my boy, I believe not. Young Mr. Malfoy is claiming Harry as his mate even as we speak. So, naturally, his father is making sure his family stays together at the only acceptable place for a Malfoy: the winner’s side.”

“If this is true, we will be not only getting a good amount of valuable information but also we will be able to stop the attack and shake some of his suspicion off me. The Dark Lord knows there is a spy in his ranks, and I was not informed of this attack, therefore, I can not report on it. This will lead him to believe the spy is someone else.”

“Yes, it will buy you some time. Come, Serverus, we must prepare to repel an attack,” called the headmaster as he made his way to his office.

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In the submissives’ quarters, Pansy Parkinson was worried. She knew she was in trouble. Big trouble. Her parents did warn her about her duties to the family, but really who was still a virgin at seventeen? Well, Potter was apparently. The stupid, good for nothing Gryffindor.

She paced around the room considering her options. Damn. Nobody told her they would all be able to smell her and she had been discreet; none of her lovers would say a word about it… and she did bathe quite often. So what was the big deal? She had a few lovers, who cared? Besides her parents, all of their friends and Draco Malfoy. Damn, that was not fair.

Pansy ran her hand through her hair in desperation. All her dreams were falling apart before her eyes. She always knew she would be the next Mrs. Malfoy--no submissive came from a better family than hers. And now, thanks to Potter, she could not even be picked at all. Damn. How was she supposed to endure the shame of not being picked? And at a gathering that had more dominants than submissives! It was shameful enough for a sub not to be picked when their numbers were larger than the doms, but at a smaller number? It was the public acknowledgement of the fact that they would rather go single for another year than to marry her! Her, a Parkinson! How dare they?

Well, something has to change, something will change, and she was just the woman to do the job. It was also fortunate that she knew what job had to be done.

Pansy carefully made her way out of the dormitories--not too hard since the wards were set not to let any male pass but paid no attention to the females. And went in search of the one person she knew she could persuade to help her. Slowly, she made her way through the dark corridors.

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At the Gryffindor Tower a small group of students were discussing over a dozen open books, all of them in the chapters dealing with Veela and Veela blood in wizarding society. Each person was contributing a bit to their research.

“Wow! It says here that they will actually beat each other up for a mate…”

“That is nothing; this one says that they will beat Harry up in order to prove that they can protect him…”

“What?”

“It’s not like that,” Hermione cut in before things got out of hand and the Gryffs decided to organize a search party to ‘rescue’ Harry from a fate worst than death. “If two or more doms chose the same sub…”

“Mione, SEVEN of then were running after Harry last time I checked,” offered Ron.

“Well, in that case, they will certainly fight over Harry, not with him.”

“So… they won’t hurt Harry, right?” a hopeful Colin Creevey asked from a corner.

“Well…” Hermione look at Ron for a mild way to put it.

Gallantly, Ron came to her rescue, proud that at least this one area, he knew more than Hermione, “You see, Colin, it’s a nature thing. The strongest suitor gets the most desirable mate.”

Colin looked at him clearly confused.

“Think of it as if we were in a Care of Magical Creatures lesson. The dominants chose their mate by scent; the more powerful mate will produce the more powerful offspring and will make their family stronger. You following so far?”

Colin nodded, a bit uncomfortable because of the comparison of his hero with an animal.

“When two or more dominants choose the same mate, they have to know who is the best suitor, and you can guess how that goes amongst Slytherins”--a few people chuckled at that remark--“they beat each other up and the winner gets the mate. Now, the mate is not convinced that is the best suitor for him, just because he won one fight. It doesn’t mean he is the best one available, just the best at the moment, so the submissive demands actual proof that his safety will be better under the care of that dominant than on his own. If the dominant defeats the submissive in a fight, he will prove that he is strong enough to protect the submissive and the family they will create together.”

“So one of them will beat Harry up,” finished Colin, holding to the one detail that had been bothering him.

“Harry will demand it,” offered Hermione. “It’s in his blood not only to accept a mate, but also to make sure that his mate is capable of protecting him.”

“But how can it be in his blood?” demanded Seamus “It’s Harry! Harry is not part Veela. He didn’t change at all.”

“Neither did any of the others,” remarked Hermione. “We actually wouldn’t know who would be invited if the Slytherin weren’t flaunting it around the school. And, if I may remind you, Harry did change, or can’t any of you remember him hitting Malfoy before the beginning of this school year?”

“But that is just him reacting to six years of taunting,” said Lavender.

“Oh! That was him reacting all right, but looking at it now, I think is more like he was reacting to Draco’s scent more than anything else,” pondered Hermione.

“Yeah!” Ron suddenly realized something. “Malfoy has been acting differently around Harry too… Oh. My. Goodness! He was displaying.”

“He was what?”

“Displaying himself, common behavior for a suitor; he was trying to show Harry that he was the best choice… even if he didn’t realize what he was doing,” explained Hermione.

They pondered for a few seconds before the boys in the room reacted at the same time.

“Eeeewwww.”

Ron just smiled and looked at Hermione; by the way she was looking at him she had just realized he had been doing the same thing towards her. He felt his heart skip a bit when she smiled back.

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Harry slowly drifted back to reality. He was warm and cozy, his bed had never felt better and he refused to acknowledge the fact that he was awaking as he lazily moved to get more comfortable and took just a peek to see if it was morning already, or if he had a little more time to doze. He was awake in the very next second.

It was not his room. It was not his bed. Where was he? He sat abruptly only to discover that his whole body could protest loud enough to make him lose contact with the physical world.

“Shh, Harry, calm down. You are bound to be very sore right now. It was a hell of a fight you put up last night. Here, let me call Madame Pomfrey. I’m sure she has everything ready for us.”

Harry turned his head towards the soft voice at his side and came face to face with a very bruised Draco Malfoy. A very bruised and naked Draco Malfoy as Harry could observe as the blond Slytherin got out of bed, wrapped himself in a blanket and made his way to the fireplace to call the medi-witch.

'Draco Malfoy! Why is Draco Malfoy here? The bruises… fight… last night… oh! Merlin, what have I done?' It was all Harry could think before the medi-witch stepped out of the fire carrying a silver tray with lots of potion vials on it.