Title: Veela Inheritance Problems.
Author: Sakya
Summary: The old pureblood families of the wizard world up hold many traditions and one of them is the "engagement season" where the families with Veela ancestry can match their young. Nothing that Harry should worry about, right? Wrong.
Rating: Oh, my! I'm horrible at this one… but I'd have to go with NC-17.
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Feedback: desired, craved and very welcome.
Characters: Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Lucius and Narcissa, Ron, Hermione, Blaise Zabini and a ton more…
Betas: The Great Sarryn was here first and The Wonderful Rose took over after a while. I love them both dearly.
Author's notes: It started as a one shot, I soon realized I would have to expand to a few chapters and somehow it got out of my hands. I was sure this would be over in five or six chapters - tops, it shows how much I control my muse. It will be slow but eventually we will see the end of this one.

IMPORTANT

ALSO, AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, this fic will be SLASH, might contain M-PREG and some VIOLENCE. Make sure it is what you are looking for before you start to read.

IMPORTANT

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine and not profitable… for me, that is. I've heard rumors that J. K. Rowling is doing terribly well, but she writes the originals, maybe it has something to do with that… Oh! And also, everything (but the misguided idea that originated this fic) belongs to her.

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Chapter 01

"It's just not fair, mate." said Ron for what seemed to be the hundredth time that afternoon wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

"I know, Ron, I know." answered Harry as he had done all the other times as well. Really, he knew all too well, but trust Snape to come up with a detention on a day off, and it was really not their fault! Nobody had told them... well, him - Ron had known all along what was going on, being pureblood and all that, but had forgotten to share with his muggle raised friend. Harry made a mental note to hit Ron before the day was over.

If you were perfectly honest about it, it was kind of ironic actually. It had all happened yesterday…

It was the last class of the day and emotions were running extra high. A lot of parents were coming to school, pureblood parents, and their children were staying with them instead of in the dorms. On the next day, there would be this big party on the gardens… well, part of the gardens. A strange fence had been built around a large area of the grounds.

It was made of lilac fabric tied to fancy poles. The fabric was stretched and tied at the top, the middle and the bottom of the pole, along with flowers and ribbons. It all looked very girly in the Gryffindors' opinion, and the color had been a surprise since it was mainly a Slytherin event.

Inside, if you looked from the windows of the school, you could see a few tents spread around as far apart from each other as they could be. Each was in a small clearing and the rest of the space was taken up by a section of the Forbidden Forest. How you would get to the tents was anybody's guess. And finally, a few days before the party, a spell had been cast over the whole area that made it impossible to be seen from the outside.

Hermione, like always, had all the explanations.

"Honestly, don't you people read?" she said more out of habit than anything, but was thrilled to have everybody's attention for a change. "It's the first matching party of the year."

"…"

Hermione sighed, looking at the blank faces around her; a few of the pureblood kids had a slight blush though.

"The pureblood families all get together… actually, the purebloods with magical creature ancestry…"

"What?"

"Way back when… it was considered a symbol of status to have at least one magical creature in the family, like Veela, vampires… you know, the ones that can interact in society, werewolves not being one of them - they are human, except for the three nights out of the month when they have absolutely no control over themselves. Anyway, that custom fell out of use, but the bloodlines are still around and that inheritance is very powerful. Thus, every spring the pureblood families with the purest descent-lines get together and let nature take over, so to speak. This particular party is for Veela descendants only."

"They have a… 'mating' party? Do they all mate together… like… together?" Harry asked with wide eyes.

"NO!" it was the answer from almost all the pureblood kids at once.

"Honestly, Harry. Can you picture any of the Slytherins… and their parents, for that matter, going at it like animals?" asked Hermione in her best I-am-more-mature-than-you voice. "They have these parties and all of the 'eligible' purebloods are invited; that is why we have people coming from all over Europe. They all have tea, or something, together. Then, at a certain point, the… well… the ones who can get pregnant…"

"The girls, you mean," Seamus interjected.

"Merlin," Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Male magical creatures can become pregnant," said Ron, going as red as his hair.

"No way!"

"Wow!"

"Gross!"

"My uncle had a baby," said a small voice in the back.

"Yeah, well, as I was saying: once the… future mothers start to… well, they smell different and once they do, they are taken to the separate tents and the… well, future fathers, I suppose, have to wait for a while before going after them. They move through the designated area using their sense of smell and track down the one who will be the best match for them. If you are the first one to arrive at the tent, you can mark whoever is inside as yours and then you are engaged. If more than one… 'father' arrives at the same time, they fight and the winner takes the prize."

"Hermione, why do you keep hesitating when you say 'mother' and 'father'? That is not the way the books describe them, is it?" asked one of the fourth year girls.

"No, the books call them 'dominant' and 'submissive'… but I thought that would be kind of embarrassing, a few of us might get invited…"

"Ew, one of us might have to… mate with a Slytherin?"

"I wouldn't mind mating with that French girl, Nicole" said Seamus with a dreamy face.

"Wait, how come Fleur is not here?" asked Ron.

"She is probably already engaged or married. She is a few years older than us," Hermione responded with a serious look on her face as she considered the facts.

"Oh, Merlin!" exclaimed Lavender with an evil smile on her face. "Does that mean that Pansy Parkinson will finally achieve her life long dream and became the future Mrs. Malfoy officially?"

Most of the girls started to laugh while the boys shuddered at the thought of having to touch the pug-faced Slytherin.

"I very much doubt Malfoy will choose Parkinson," said Hermione with a knowing smile.

"Why?" asked Lavender.

"Well, there are two main factors a dominant uses to choose: power and purity. Not blood purity, mind you, in this gathering blood purity is a given. They look for body purity. The less touched you are, the purer you are. And, well, Parkinson is not the strongest witch I know by a long shot and she is quite the slut, if the rumors are anything to go by. The stronger the mate, the stronger the offspring; and purity is a matter of pride, so I just don't see her as Malfoy's chosen. He will want to improve his family not ruin it. My bet? He will go for the most powerful mate available even if they never met before."

"And he will be able to tell that just by the way she smells?"

"Oh, yes. And not only him, but his parents and all the others as well. It is a very obvious thing"

"But…" said Harry, "I thought the Slytherin all had arranged marriages?"

"They do; this is part of the arrangement, like a group arrangement. And this event is only the first step; after the couple forms, their parents will get together and work out the details of the official union on a more personal basis."

They talked about it some more before they all had to be someplace else. Harry and Ron had Quidditch practice and hurried outside, while Hermione went to the library, and that was when it all went wrong.

Harry and Ron took two steps outside and ran into Malfoy and Goyle, the latter had immediately snapped at them. One thing led to another and less then a minute later Snape found them entangled on the ground, punches flying everywhere. The Slytherins were sent to the dungeons and the Gryffindors were given detention, to be served on the next day at the Forbidden Forest…

"So, let me get this straight: they started a fight, we got landed in detention collecting potions ingredients in a dangerous place, and they get to attend a party to celebrate the fact that the most obnoxious purebloods we know are not even pure humans?" demanded Harry, while searching for the plants Snape wanted for his potions.

"In a nutshell, yes," answered Ron uncomfortably, which Harry noticed.

"What?"

"Is a big deal to get invited… for a wizard I mean. The Weasleys used to be invited, but I think our magical creature blood got too thin."

"Oh." Harry was at a loss and looked for anything he could say to cheer his friend up. "Too bad you won't get a chance to become engaged to Parkinson then."

"What? Ew, Harry, please don't say things like that. I'm trying to keep my sanity here." They laughed. The awkward moment passed, and they went back to work.

"So, you want to be part veela and be invited to the party?"

"Merlin, no. I just said it is a big deal, a status kind of thing, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"But it would also mean I could never get together with Hermione…" Ron said. Harry's eyes went wide. Ron had never admitted to having any feelings for Hermione before. "Do you think she would go on a date with me if I asked?"

"Oh, Ron, she has been waiting for it the whole year," Harry laughed. Ron just smiled and let the subject drop. They continued to work in silence.

By now they had been working for hours, and the day was unusually hot for this early in the year. They both had had to remove their robes and shirts ages ago and were still sweating like mad. The fact that they had to climb trees to collect a few of the ingredients and move a fallen tree trunk didn't help either.

They were so concentrated on their work that they never noticed a few forms moving through the trees and slowly approaching them.

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A few minutes earlier, Narcissa Malfoy was smiling at her son. He was almost an adult now, and before the day was over he would be engaged, hopefully. It could always take more than one of these parties… or more than a year. She always thanked her good stars that Lucius took two years to pick a mate. She knew she wouldn't be happy with anybody else, and Lucius had told her the same thing over and over. It still amused her how disappointed her sister Bellatrix had been, when he didn't go into the maze the year she had been there. But Lucius had already made his mind, even before his first year at the gathering, so it was only a matter of waiting for her… and not finding a stronger candidate, but Narcissa carefully avoided that thought.

She looked at Draco again and sighed. He didn't have a chosen one already, unlike his father. It would become a matter of choosing the best one available here, and she was not pleased with this lot. None of them smelled powerful enough or pure enough… some of them were actually quite pitiful.

"Not a good year, not a good year at all. Maybe I can convince Draco to wait a year or two… no shame in that. Or we could still try our good fortune and go to France; the Veela community is larger there. Maybe we could find a more suitable partner…" Her thoughts were interrupted by a faint odor.

Narcissa moved closer to the entrance of the fence. A sub, a very powerful one, was outside. Why was this one not invited? She could smell the sub perfectly now. It was not a pure Veela; it was someone with Veela blood… a very strong someone with Veela blood, very strong and very pure. A perfect mate.

She turned around to call Lucius and Draco - they had to know about this! - And noticed that a few others had become aware of the smell as well. She would have to act fast, not much time left.

She hurried to Lucius' side and whispered in his ear:

"Darling, get Draco and meet me at the entrance. I think you should know something."

Lucius excused himself from the conversation he was having and led Draco back to the entrance to meet Narcissa. However, before he actually got to her, he could smell it: a sweet scent, absolutely pure and very powerful. It smelled like flowers, fruits, wood, rain and magic - a lot of magic - and it was coming from the Forbidden Forest.

"My mate is in the forest," Draco exclaimed, his whole body going tense with anticipation.

"No, Draco, you're wrong! MY mate is in the forest; you had better hold you tongue," Blaise Zabini declared, before running strait into the forest. He was followed closely by Draco and four other young men.

"Oh, my! What happened?" inquired Dumbledore, who was sitting at one of the tables and holding a cup of tea and talking to an elderly lady he had known for over 70 years.

"There is someone at the forest. Very strong and very pure. How come this person was not invited to the gathering?" demanded Glory Zabini with a frown.

"My dear, I assure you that all pureblood students with Veela ancestry were invited, like the ministry required," Albus assured her.

"In that case, who is there?" asked Mrs. Parkinson. "Certainly this person won't be allowed to participate. All eligible mates must be inside the delimited area."

"That is a minor detail, dear." Narcissa smiled. (Like I would let Draco be tied to the likes of you daughter, even if there was no other option.) "If you insist, I suggest we find this person before our sons do and bring him or her here, so we can get to know a bit more about this mysterious mate before a bond is settled."

"Yes," Dumbledore agreed, "that would be for the best, but I'm afraid we must hurry or the boys will take matters in to their own hands."

All the grownups hurried to the Forbidden Forest. They all knew that, for a mate that strong and in a non-controlled environment such as the forest, the fight for the said mate would take a nasty turn and more than one young man would get seriously hurt, or even killed.