Veela Inheritance Problems

Disclaimer: See chapter 01.

Previous on Veela Inheritance Problems

'Damn. I’ll never hear the end of this one.' Draco could already see his mother telling this at family reunions, just like grandmother used to do with all the stunts his own father had pulled while trying to see his mother before they were married, but then he took one look at the raven-haired beauty in front of him with big emerald green eyes and understood the smile on his father’s face when those stories were told.

That kiss was worth all the teasing.

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Chapter 08

The D.A. meeting was over soon after the kiss. It was already getting late and there was no way to regain order after that with everyone asking questions or just plain giggling, so Harry thought it would be better to just called a night and get the meeting over with.

Draco and Nott were the first ones to leave, formally saying their good nights and shaking hands with Ron, who held Harry’s arm when he tried to extend his hands to Nott and Malfoy as well. The Slytherin pretended not to notice that and Harry sighed again as he realized there would be more rules to learn about this whole engagement thing.

The rest of the D.A. members lingered a bit longer forming groups for the game and discussing strategy before they too started to leave for their dorms. An unspoken agreement between the Gryffindors had them all going back together with Ron and Hermione taking the lead followed by Harry and Seamus going over a few ideas for the up coming war game and idly making a list of who they would call for their teams if they could choose from the whole wizarding world and the rest of their dorm mates behind them. It was Neville who brought Harry back to reality.

“Harry, you are not planning on taking part on the game, are you?” asked a wide eyed Neville.

“Yes, I am. Why?” puzzled Harry.

“Um… Harry,” started Hermione, “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“She is right, mate.” Added Ron. Who promptly started to elaborate seeing Harry’s look of confusion. “Harry, how do you think Malfoy will react? Do you really believe he will go easy on anyone who tries to chase you through a maze? The bond is too new for him to be rational about it. He will perceive it as a challenge on his… well… his rights over you…”

“He has no rights over me! He doesn’t own me!” Harry snapped.

“You are his mate,” offered Hermione, “he fought for you and claimed you. He is the only one who has the right to start a family with you, Harry. That’s what Ron meant by his rights over you. You are not a possession, you are a family member.” She tried to word it in a way that Harry would accept better and knew that using the ‘family card’ would win Harry over. As it was she was right and Harry came down a bit.

“Oh, all right then.” He said only to remember what had started this whole discussion, “but we could explain to him that it is not a bonding thing. There is no reason why I shouldn’t be on the game.”

“Harry,” Ron started putting his arms around his friends shoulder, “think about it. It’s still mating season for the veela, he has just claimed you, all his instincts are running a mock AND he has to stay away from you until the wedding. How do you think he will react if he sees a bloke running after you through a maze and trying to physically overpower you?”

Bits and pieces of the previous night flashed in front of Harry’s eyes and the full meaning of Ron’s and Hermione’s words sank in.

“That’s right,” said Hermione seeing the look on Harry’s face, “That is what he will think the person chasing you is trying to do and, if he allows it, it will mean he is giving up his rights on you and that is something he simply won’t do. He will rip the poor sod into shreds and won’t even go to jail for it… the mating acts are protected by law and everybody knows a bit of violence is to be expected.”

“She is right, mate,” Ron patted him on the back, “sorry, but you are out of the game since I don’t fancy dying at the hands of an over zealous veela.”

“This just keeps getting better and better by the minute.” Harry snorted as they climbed through the portrait hole leading to the Gryffindor common room. “And what with the no hand shaking back at D.A.? I thought I was supposed to be all civil to them.”

“Oh, Merlin, I predict a fun night of dos and don’ts at the boys’ room. Good evening everyone.” Said Hermione going to the girls’ dorm barely hiding her amusement. Harry could be so naïve sometimes.

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After a lot of explaining that left Harry’s head spinning and made him not so sure he understood everything, what he suspected could be attributed to the fact that all of his dorm mates were trying to give him tips of what was proper and what wasn’t – and some of those HAD to be jokes! He decided to called it quits and surrender to a higher power. Harry bolted out of the dorm and in to the common room.

“Harry! Where are you going, mate?” his friends all ran after him and watched as he threw some floo ponder in to the fireplace and called the Burrow, in a few moments the head of Arthur Weasley was greeting them over the fire.

“Hello boys. Is everything alright? Why are you calling at this time of the night?”

“Hello, Mr. Weasley, We are fine. It’s just that…” Harry hesitated not knowing how to break the news to the man he considered a member of his family.

“Oi, dad, remember how we told you the veela party was going to be at Hogwarts this year?” Ron cut in pushing Harry to fit in front of the fireplace with him. “Well… yes… you see, it turns out that Harry here is part veela, only no one knew and we all found out at the same time yesterday when all the dominants suddenly turned out in the forest where we were gathering potions ingredients and they started to run after Harry. He managed to call his broom and fly away but…”

“WHAT?” Mrs. Weasley voice was heard over her husband’s and his head disappeared from the fire only to be replaced with hers, “Harry, dear, are you alright? Did anyone hurt you? DON’T leave your dorm! Arthur and I will be there first thing in the morning to sort this whole thing and…”

“Actually, Mrs. Weasley, it’s kind of a done deal” Harry blushed.

“What do you mean a done deal, sweetie?”

“I’m… I mean… You see…” Harry looked at Ron begging for help.

“Draco Malfoy managed to claim him and now they are engaged. That is why we’re calling, Harry wants you, mom, to be his chaperone.” Ron blurted out in one breath. Now everything was out in the open and they would just have to answer the hysterical questions that were sure to shower upon them right after his outburst.

It took almost a minute.

“Care to run that by me again, Ron dear?” Molly Weasley asked sweetly trying very hard to keep her breath even. Behind her they could see a very wide eyed Arthur Weasley opening and closing his mouth without actually making any sounds.

Ron and Harry glanced at each other and braced themselves for a long floo conversation.

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Next morning Harry was woken by Ron and rushed to the same room he had breakfast with the Malfoys the previous morning. Harry noticed that Ron had his best robes on and looked a bit uncomfortable but stayed at his side the whole time even if he made sure that Harry sat by Draco – at a respectful distance, and did his best to be polite while talking to Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. The Malfoys on their part were very polite towards Ron and held a nice conversation the whole time.

Also during breakfast, Harry and Ron had a glimpse of how important the Malfoys really were, almost every person in the room came over to their table to say good morning, the exception being the few children present and a few of the young dominants, what Harry was very grateful for as they were still eyeing him as the last piece of chocolate cake at dessert.

Half way through breakfast Harry notice that there was another couple receiving compliments from the whole group on their engagement, including the Malfoys since Lucius and Narcissa had stopped by their table on the way in especially to offer the ‘Malfoys good wishes’ to the young couple, but nobody had said anything like it to him or Draco as far as he remembered.

“Well… um…” Harry felt at lost of how to ask about it, since he really didn’t want to be engaged in the first place but he was curious about this and he was sure Hermione would want to know everything that was going on.

“Yes, dear?” Mrs. Malfoy asked.

“Why is everybody complimenting that couple?” he opted for a more direct and safer approach.

“Their parents have just announced their impending marriage. The ceremony will be held tonight.”

“But… I mean…” 'I’m turning in to a stuttering idiot,' was all that Harry could think. Taking a deep breath he started again. “Why didn’t anybody say the same thing yesterday? To us, I mean.”

“Oh, I see. We haven’t announced it yet, therefore it is not formal. We can’t receive compliments for something that is not out there yet, can we?” Narcissa had a knowing smile on her face. She could see Harry trying to understand what was going on and was glad he was interested enough to ask.

“No, I guess we can’t.” said Harry still paying attention to the young couple a few tables over. The girl was wearing a robe similar to his with the same boat neck, the mark on her neck visible for all to see.

“Which reminds me, Harry dear, while Mr. Weasley here is doing a wonderful job,” offered Narcissa getting Harry’s attention back to her and smiling at Ron, who blushed with the compliment and bowed his head a little in thanks, “am I correct to assume that Mrs. Weasley will be taking over the role of chaperone from now on?”

“Yes, Mrs. Malfoy.” Harry hurried to answer, “We talked to her last night and she and Mr. Weasley shall be arriving later today.”

“Wonderful,” Narcissa beamed at them, “then we can make a formal announcement at the press conference this very afternoon.”

“Press… conference?” Harry and Ron gulped exchanging a glance. “What press conference?”

“The Malfoys are a very prestigious family, young man,” Mr. Malfoy answered with a smirk, “and you are the boy-who-lived after all, a union between us is bound to call attention and being hunted down by a horde of crazed reporters is not one of my favorite sports.”

“Now, dear, be nice, he doesn’t see the necessity of it” Mrs. Malfoy interrupted her husband offering a smile to the teens and continued, “if this engagement happened under different circumstances a formal announcement for the Daily Prophet would be the expected, followed by an engagement ball for you and Draco, but since we are at the gathering and a few more announcements have to be made, it’s only the proper thing to do to call for an conference.”

“And… and the ball?” Harry gulped thinking about the Yule ball from his fourth year, he noticed Ron’s freckles showing up more as his friends paled, that ball was definitely not one of their favorite moments.

Draco didn’t even need help from his veela senses to notice his mate getting nervous and it was quite easy guessing the reason why. It was a perfect moment to step in and start placing himself in front of Harry as a protective shield against the unpleasant aspects of the world - like the reporters that would be at the press conference. Especially since he knew Harry would fight tooth and nail against someone trying to protect him from anything as he would see as an attempt to keep him from throwing himself in to harms way believing it was the right thing to do – foolish Gryffindor.

“Maybe we could use that room of yours to practice dancing a little. I know I do need to brush off my skills” Draco noticed his parents giving him amused looks; maybe he was not as subtle as he had hoped to be?

“Yes,” Harry agreed with a shaky voice while Ron nodded in agreement, “practice would be good.”

Draco exchanged a look with his parents. No, his mate was oblivious to the fact that he had just been maneuvered in to accepting close contact with his mate, sure their chaperones would be there as well, but that could be used to his advantage, Harry would have to accept his touch and behave.

Draco could be many things in life, some of them not to be said out loud, but he was not a fool, he knew Harry was fighting the bond, not physically, but fighting none of the less. The way he refused touch, the way he inched away not looking at Draco… Harry had not been raised to the knowledge that one day he would have a mate and now was rebelling against it, he had to act fast or this unconscious rebellion would became conscious and that would not be pretty.

It was imperative to make Harry comfortable with Draco’s touch before having to rely on a more violent approach. In their union, Harry was the warrior and he was the diplomat and that was the way he liked things.

On the other side of the room, Pansy wished she could burn holes in Harry’s skull with her eyes.

'Look at him, sitting there like he is some sort of blushing virgin. Everyone knows he is not a virgin anymore and he goes blushing all over the place. How dare him? It should be me sitting there. It would be me sitting there if he didn’t use some nasty charm to pretend to be a veela. There is no way he is one of us! But I’ll take care of him pretty soon, he will curse the day he tried to fit where he didn’t belong. I’ll take care of him and Draco will marry me like he was suppose to do and I’ll wipe the smirk out of the face of every single one of these harpies – not pure enough! I’ll show them.'

Unfortunately she had her hands tied at the moment. Her mother was not pleased with the fact that she had not made a match and all the other families had already made clear that the gathering was over, all the matches that could be made were done and over with. An insult, since Pansy and another girl from… some country, were the only subs not taken. And that girl was so ugly, she was practically deformed! So her mother was taking her to some other gathering on the continent… officially that was, in reality Pansy knew would be taken home and her mother was going to write a few people, by the time she came back to school she would be engaged to some guy she never saw before and having to pretend to be happy about it.

Unless she did something about it and did it fast.

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The whole breakfast ordeal was over not a moment too soon in Harry’s opinion, although he did suspect Ron was sorry to see all the excellent food go, it was better than the everyday breakfast food they got at Hogwarts – and that was saying something.

As a group the Malfoys plus Harry and Ron got up and made their exit, nodding to a few acquaintances on their way out. Harry felt like he was part of a royal parade, they were certainly being treated like it. Once outside the dining room, Lucius and Narcissa went to their rooms while the teens went to their classes, Ron in his chaperone duties had to skip his class and attend the one Harry was in, since ‘it would be inappropriate’ for Harry to be unescorted. That fact alone kept them busting in to fits of laughter the whole morning.

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Lucius was reading the Daily Prophet while Narcissa was busy writing a few letters when there was a knock on the door. Snip, a Malfoy house-elf brought on this trip to attend the family’s primary needs answered it and announced that Professor Snape requested an interview with Mr. Malfoy. With a glance, Lucius sent Narcissa in to the other room so he could talk to his fellow Death Eater. He was dreading the conversation.

“Good day, Lucius. I hope you are well.” Greeted Snape.

“Good day, Severus. Please make yourself comfortable.” Snape sat at the armchair Lucius had indicated to him and prepared himself to a very delicate conversation with his long time friend.

“You know, Lucius, your friendship is one of the few I value and in respect to that friendship I will not pretend you don’t know what is going on or the implication of the latest events. We are both fairly intelligent men and I think perhaps it would be best to go straight to business. Don’t you agree?”

“Ever the practical man. One of the traits I admire in your personality, Severus.” Lucius smirked “straight to business it is. You want to know if I’m still faithful to our lord. Let me reassure you…”

“How much information do you have on tonight’s attack? Last night we manage to successfully defuse the attack on Whitehaven, and even though I know there will be a new one tonight I was unable to disclose the location of it.” Snape interrupted Lucius abruptly.

Snape knew he had just put all his cards on the table. It was an all or nothing moment, but the thought of maybe being able to keep his friend after being sure they would have being on different sides of the battle field for so long had keep him up all night and he simply could not wait any longer.

“You are the spy!” understanding shone on Lucius eyes. “Voldemort did suspect you, but he wasn’t sure. It’s a dangerous game the one you’re playing, my friend.”

“Did I just forfeit my live?”

“A couple days ago, yes, you would have. Today, however, the circumstances have changed. The boy is Draco’s mate, and we all saw how powerful he has become. Nothing can fool the veela senses.” Lucius paused looking deep in to his friends eyes, “no, my friend, your life is safe on my account. We are on the same side on this war.”

“I’m glad to hear it, Lucius.” Said Snape getting up and walking to his friend, pulling him in to a heart felt hug, “It’s very good to hear it.”

Narcissa pocketed her wand, quietly stepping away from the doorway from where she was watching the conversation, ready to jump in to the frame and protect her husband. Harry had turned out to be a very powerful wizard, Dumbledore was powerful, but she had known that already. Discovering that Snape was on their side, him being a force one had to acknowledge in a fight, she was more convinced than ever that they were finally on the right side of this war.