Title: Emergence of Heritage
Summary: Set in Harry's sixth year, Harry discovers that within his blood lies something that was
only thought to have existed in myth.. A Male Veela *No Slash*
Disclaimer: Don't own a damn thing. To quote another, "No money, No harm, No foul"
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Harry sat down into his usual seat at the breakfast table, the headache he had been experiencing since his sixteenth birthday still ever present. To make matters worse, he now had intense pain in both his shoulder blades. He was not, as you could tell, a 'happy camper'.
Groaning as he settled into his seat, he looked up and winced as he caught one of his best friends, Hermione, watching him intently with a worried expression on her face.
"What?" he snapped, not liking one bit being eyeballed this early in the morning.
Hermione flinched at the tone of his voice, and immediately let it be known she was upset. "You don't have to snap at me, Harry James Potter. It's distressing enough that you've had a headache non-stop for over three months. I think, as your best friend, that I am more than entitled to worry about you!"
Harry immediately regretted lashing out at her the minute the word left his mouth, but before he could apologize, Hermione had already gone off on her rant. "Sorry 'bout that, 'Mione. I don't think that I'm very hungry anymore." Without another word, Harry grunted as he heaved himself into a standing position before leaving the Great Hall to get his books for his first class of the day, Defense against the Dark Arts.
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Harry made it to DADA without another second to spare. The school-wide gong that signaled the beginning and end of classes had just sounded when he entered the classroom. He immediately made his way to his seat, between Ron and Hermione, with Professor Bastion eyeballing him the entire way.
"Now that we are ALL here," she shot a meaningful look at Harry (who had the good grace to at least look ashamed), "we can continue with our coverage of Dark creatures. Open your textbooks to page 429, to the chapter entitled 'Veela, Truths and Myths'." The class did so, and once everyone had the appropriate texts out, she began her lecture.
"Veela, by nature, are sexual creatures. Their magical traits include being able to induce attraction to themselves from the opposite sex through empathy, A bird-like form when angered, heightened magical power, and the ability to use fire-based wandless magic." She paused, waiting for the students taking notes to catch up.
"While the only documented Veela have been female, there have to be males as well. It has been proven that Veela cannot reproduce asexually, therefore male Veela must exist in order to have any pureblooded Veela at all. While the females of the species are defined by their striking long blond hair, males are theorized to have black, windswept hair, and a pair of black wings that are always present. Males are thought to not have the ability to take the wings back into themselves as a female would. Both sexes are also defined by having pale skin, striking eyes, height topping out about five foot eight or nine, and a subconscious need to be in the wind and air." She paused again, waiting until the tell-tale sounds of scratching quills stopped before continuing.
"As it would not be beneficial for a Veela-child to attract the opposite sex, their powers generally don't come into maturity until between the ages of fourteen and seventeen."
Hermione raised her hand. "Yes, Ms. Granger?"
"What would the Veela experience during this 'maturation'?" she asked, a curious expression on her face.
"From what little we know about developing Veela, they would be subjected to intense headaches while the empathic centers of the brain awaken, and body pains while the body adjusts to the new magic flows and physiology. Any other questions class?" No one moved. "I want you all to read chapters 26 and 27 on the Veela lifestyles and theories, with a 14-inch parchment on it due by class next Monday. You may use the rest of the class time to study and begin your essay."
As Harry listened to her description of what a 'theoretical' male Veela would look like, his mind began to fantasize about being one himself. When Professor Bastion went into detail on what the maturation would feel like, he actively began to worry that his 'fantasy' may be closer to reality than he originally thought. Staring at his text, but not seeing the words, he became increasingly more worried. He glanced over at Ron, who had already fallen asleep and was drooling onto his outstretched arm. Smiling and shaking his head, he turned to the other side where Hermione was furiously taking notes from the textbook, obviously getting a good start on her essay.
Just as he was pulling out some parchment to begin his own essay, he felt some sharp pains in the muscles in his back, like it was knotting up and releasing over and over. He let out a surprised grunt when it first started, and reached back to try and massage some relief into his painful upper back, squeezing his eyes shut against the pain. It helped surprisingly little.
Harry unclenched his eyes and glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention to him. No one had, at least that is what he thought, when he glanced over at Hermione. She was studying him, not with the look of worry like at breakfast, but with open curiosity. Suddenly, her brows knitted in thought and she went back to her text. Harry closed his eyes tight again, moving the massaging from his shoulders to his temples, trying to quell his pounding headache. He heard a high-pitched squeak after only a minute, and his head snapped to where 'Mione was watching him with wide-eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but thankfully Harry was saved by the gong signaling the end of class. He hurriedly gathered his book and parchment, and bolted towards the common room, not wanting to have the discussion that his friend wanted him to.
Harry ran into the Gryffindor common room and plopped himself down into an armchair by the fire, trying to simultaneously lessen both his headache and his back pains. He was pulled out of his thoughts by two warm, dainty hands running over his shoulders and gently rubbing. Harry turned his head to the left, looking over his shoulder, to where Lavender Brown was rubbing the aches out of his knotted muscles with a small contented smile upon her face.
"Um, Lavender, not that I don't appreciate it, but what are you doing?" he asked, VERY uncomfortable with the fellow classmate touching him intimately as she was.
"Trying to help you out, Harry. You do look like you are in quite a bit of pain, and massages ARE one of my specialties. Do you want me to stop?"
Harry battled within himself, but finally the need to be pain-free, for at least a bit, overrode any uncomfortable thoughts he might be having. "No, no. Please keep it up. That's starting to feel so much better." Harry reclosed his eyes, and moved his fingertips back to his temples, trying to quell the headache once again.
"Hey Lav, what's going on?" Harry faintly heard, but was too involved in his temple rubbing to pay much attention.
"Hi Patty! Harry doesn't feel good, and I thought I could help him out."
"Harry?" Parvati asked, and when he opened his eyes, she was kneeling in front of the armchair looking into his eyes. "Do you have a headache too?" she asked with a sympathetic look. Harry nodded, not trusting his mouth not to say 'What the hell is going on?'. "Here, let me try."
Parvati's small fingers came up to his temples and began rubbing slowly and gently, occasionally stroking his brow with her thumbs and his cheeks with her palms. She was leaning forward, giving Harry an eyeful down the front of her blouse showing her generous amount of cleavage encased in a lacy white bra. The entire time this was happening, Lavender had not stopped with her massage. Harry closed his eyes to prevent the temptation to ogle the Patil twin, and realized that between the two girls, he WAS beginning to feel better. It was almost perfect...
"HAROLD JAMES POTTER!" Hermione screeched from where she and Ron had entered the common room, upset that Harry had been avoiding her.
Spoke too soon..
Both girls jumped back as though they were caught doing something guilty. Harry's backache and headache came back less than a second later.
"Thanks a lot 'Mione. I was just starting to feel better. Good going." He spat out, before charging up the stairs to fume while lying on his bed.
Less than a minute later, the door to the sixth year boys dorm opened yet again, and the red-haired boy entered, walking right up to his own bed and sitting, which happened to be directly next to Harry's.
"Wow Harry, you are going to have to tell me how you talked the two prettiest Gryffindors into giving you a massage at the same time. That was one of the most unbelievable things I have ever seen!" he spoke with much excitement.
"I didn't DO anything. I was just trying to get rid of my backache and headache, and first Lavender offered to help, then Parvati did less than a minute later. The bad part is that the pains were just beginning to fade when Hermione charged in and scared them away. That brings us to now, where I am currently writhing on my bed in agony."
"Maybe you should go see Madame Pomfrey, Harry," Ron proposed with a worried look on his face.
"Do you have any idea how often I see that woman, Ron? By the end of the year I think that we'll be on a first name basis. No thank you, I'll deal with this on my own."
"You know, Hermione has this crazy idea in her head that you are some sort of Man-Veela." Ron spoke with the most incredulous look on his face.
"That's crazy, Ron. First, there has never been a Male Veela that anyone has ever seen. Second, if I was, then one of my parents would have to have had Veela blood. My mother was muggle-born, so she's out, and my father would have been a documented Male Veela were he to have any Veela in him at all. Right?"
"I guess you're right mate. But you know how Hermione is when she gets one of these ideas in her head. Good luck convincing her otherwise."
Harry, despite the pain he was in, managed a chuckle. "I think I am going to soak in the bathtub before lunch. Hopefully these aches will at least settle down. Can you keep Hermione off my case for a bit?"
"I'll do my best, but no promises, okay?" Ron pleaded.
"That's all I ask" Harry returned.
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Harry stepped out of the tub, quickly drying himself off, then wrapping his towel around his waist to journey back to his dorm in search of clothing. The bath had helped a little, the roaring pain having lessened to a dull ache. He stepped out of the bathroom and took two steps towards the dormitory when he heard a voice speaking, also getting closer.
"..n't care, Ron, he needs to talk about this and I am going to make sure he does. Oh! There he is, Harry! Ha..Har... H."
Harry had turned around the instant he recognized the voice, bracing himself for the inevitable conflict with Hermione, but when she caught sight of him with only a towel around his waist, she immediately blushed and began gaping like a fish. She looked like she was embarrassed, but she wouldn't tear her eyes from his chest.
"If you don't mind, 'Mione, I would like to put some clothes on before you hit full lecture mode, if that is okay with you?" Normally, Harry would have been embarrassed beyond recognition being caught as scantily clad as he was by a girl, but for some reason it just didn't seem to bother him at all. He quirked an eyebrow at her, seeing as how he didn't get any recognition that she heard a word that he said. He looked over to Ron, who seemed just as clueless as he felt, then took a step towards her.
"'Mione? Are you okay?" he asked as soon as he was standing only a foot in front of her. Her eyes snapped up to meet his own emerald orbs, and her breath caught in her throat. She slowly reached a hand out to feel his muscular chest, but when she realized what she was about to do, she let out a squeak, turned, and ran down the corridor to the girls dormitory.
"What the hell was that, Ron?" Ron, however, had other things on his mind.
"Harry, have you been working out this summer? You didn't look like that last year at all, mate."
Harry threw up his hands in resignation, before charging back to his dorm to get redressed for lunch.
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The Trio's walk back down to the Great Hall was awkward at best. Hermione was looking everywhere but at Harry, Ron seemed really angry about something, and Harry was pissed at both for not listening to anything he had to say. The only thing that could have made Harry's day worse would be running into Malfoy.
"Hey, Potter!"
Speak of the Devil...
"What's amatter Potty? Fighting with your best friends? Awwwww, no one likes little Potty anymore, do they?" Draco drawled out, smirking as though he was the funniest guy in all of England.
Harry rolled his eyes and turned around, as did Ron and Hermione. He saw Draco, but unlike most times, instead of being flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, he had Pansy Parkinson hanging on his arm.
"Well, if it isn't the Mudblood, the Weasel, and the Potty. What's wrong? Thunder in Paradise?" she simpered.
Normally, Harry would have resorted to cruel words and curses, but something inside of him told him differently.
He locked eyes with the girl, and slowly approached, some could say stalked up to her. Her arm dropped from Malfoy's, and her eyes widened a bit while her breathing suddenly became labored. Harry reached up with his right hand, and caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers. In a husky voice, he said "You know, Parkinson, I really don't like it when people call my friends and myself names." Pansy closed her eyes and shuddered. "I think that we could be friends if you would be a little nicer to us, do you think you could do that, Sugar?" Pansy reopened her eyes halfway, and gave a heavy lidded nod, still not closing her mouth. Harry cocked his head to the side, and ran his thumb down her cheek, to her chin, where he removed the physical contact entirely. "Good, I'll see you around Parkinson." He turned to Malfoy, who was red, apoplectic, and at a loss for words, and simply nodded. "Good day, Malfoy." He then walked around the troublesome duo and continued his decent to the Great Hall, his shell- shocked companions joining him after a couple seconds recovery.
He heard their footsteps as they raced to catch up with him, so he stopped, but didn't turn around. "Not a word you two. I solved the problem, and no one got hurt. I'm going to lunch now." He then continued stalking down the corridors to lunch, leaving his companions behind.
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As he entered the Great Hall and made his way towards Gryffindor table, he noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye. Lavender and Parvati were waving him over, having saved a seat between the two for him. Harry made his way over to the two women, seeing as though there were no other open seats near them, therefore Ron and Hermione couldn't interrogate him over lunch.
"'Afternoon, Ladies." He greeted them as he settled in. Instead of the giggles that usually accompanied him trying to say something suave, they both blushed and turned away. He glanced across from where he now sat, seeing Ginny unabashedly staring at him with her mouth open and a slightly glazed look in her eyes. He quirked an eyebrow in amusement, to which she also blushed and suddenly found her food very interesting.
"Harry, where are your glasses? I thought that you were blind without them?" came a familiar voice from next to where he was observing Ginny fidget. He turned his head and met the eyes of Katie Bell, the sole remaining chaser from last year. The blond seventh year was leaning over the table, propping her head up on her left hand and giving him a quizzical look.
Harry reached up his hand to feel around his eyes, and sure enough, he had forgotten to put on his glasses after his bath. "I don't know, I guess I just don't need them any more. His brows knitted in confusion, before his left shoulder blade knotted up yet again. "Lavender?" he asked politely.
She blushed again, but still answered. "Yes Harry?"
"My upper left back just knotted up again, and since you did such a wonderful job on it earlier, I was wondering if you could just rub it a little while we eat?"
He didn't hear a reply, but did feel her hand come up to rub over the left side of his back. It had to look fairly intimate, seeing as how Lavender was sitting on his right side. Harry picked up his fork, and was bringing his first bite of food to his mouth, when he felt the knot begin to loosen. He groaned contentedly and set his fork back down onto his plate. After a few moments, he glanced over at Lavender, noticing that she had completely ignored her own lunch in favor of gazing in rapture at him. He proceeded to give the table a cursory sweep, and witnessed every female within eyeshot glaring at her with contempt. Figuring that it would be best to just deal with the pain rather than alienate her from the other girls, he gently thanked her and asked her to stop.
Lavender got a goofy smile on her face when he thanked her, and trailed her hand across his back on the return trip to her own personal space. Turning his attention back to his food and away from his aching self, he began to eat for the second time.
Halfway through the meal, he felt a bare foot sneaking its way up his shin, surprising him. He dropped his fork, making a loud 'clang' on his plate, and his head snapped up to meet Katie's sapphire eyes. One eyebrow raised in challenge, she continued to stroke his leg suggestively. At this point, Harry decided he had had enough. He stood, giving her a lopsided grin that was neither accepting nor denying her unasked question, and announced he was heading back.
On the way back to the dormitory, he heard the telltale signs of someone running to catch up to him, and inwardly he groaned. He began speaking while turning to face the approacher. "Look, 'Mione, I'm still not in the moo-.." He stopped when he noticed that it wasn't Hermione at all, but Ginny.
"Sorry, thought you were someone else, Gin." He flashed her his trademark impish grin.
She simply smiled back at him. "Obviously," she replied teasingly. "I was just wondering if I could walk with you back to the tower?"
Harry shrugged. "After you."
They walked amiably back to the tower, not talking, but Harry kept catching Ginny sneaking glances at him. Far from being annoyed, as he probably should have been, he found it rather amusing.
Warning bells started to go off in the back of his mind as they approached the corridor leading to the tower.
Harry's back felt like it was ablaze, the skin stretching and breaking. He fell to his knees, unable to support himself, and his eyes shut tight against the overwhelming pain. Suddenly, he became very hot and began to sweat. He loosened his tie, then reconsidered and removed it, while hearing Ginny repeatedly ask him if he was all right. Her voice, however, sounded miles away. He shrugged off his robe, then his shirt, now naked from the waist up. The pain actually intensified, and he doubled over resting his head on his knees with his hands pressed into the cold stone tile. He felt a tear down the sides of his spine, just before a light weight distributed itself across his back as the pain ebbed away. He finally opened his eyes, and found Ginny staring at him. No, not at him, but over his shoulder.
Harry turned his head to the side, noting the absence of his headache, and saw the tip of a large, black-feathered wing. Wide-eyed, he turned his head to the other side, seeing the same thing. Instinctively, he stretched them out then ruffling them, not even realizing that he shouldn't know how to move them at all, let alone the complex muscle control involved in stretching out his wings.
Realizing where he was, and that anyone could walk up and see, he quickly gathered his robe and cloaked himself, effectively hiding his new appendages. He hurriedly gathered his clothing under his left arm, grabbed Ginny's hand in his right, and began making his way towards the Headmaster's office.
"Ginny, can I ask you to keep this a secret?" he pleaded, but not stopping his trek across the castle.
"Of course Harry, but what is happening to you?" she asked, slightly in shock.
"I have a theory, but we need to talk to the Headmaster first to confirm it. I need you be with me for this, can I count on you?"
The youngest Weasley blushed, and nodded her acceptance.
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Summary: Set in Harry's sixth year, Harry discovers that within his blood lies something that was
only thought to have existed in myth.. A Male Veela *No Slash*
Disclaimer: Don't own a damn thing. To quote another, "No money, No harm, No foul"
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Harry sat down into his usual seat at the breakfast table, the headache he had been experiencing since his sixteenth birthday still ever present. To make matters worse, he now had intense pain in both his shoulder blades. He was not, as you could tell, a 'happy camper'.
Groaning as he settled into his seat, he looked up and winced as he caught one of his best friends, Hermione, watching him intently with a worried expression on her face.
"What?" he snapped, not liking one bit being eyeballed this early in the morning.
Hermione flinched at the tone of his voice, and immediately let it be known she was upset. "You don't have to snap at me, Harry James Potter. It's distressing enough that you've had a headache non-stop for over three months. I think, as your best friend, that I am more than entitled to worry about you!"
Harry immediately regretted lashing out at her the minute the word left his mouth, but before he could apologize, Hermione had already gone off on her rant. "Sorry 'bout that, 'Mione. I don't think that I'm very hungry anymore." Without another word, Harry grunted as he heaved himself into a standing position before leaving the Great Hall to get his books for his first class of the day, Defense against the Dark Arts.
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Harry made it to DADA without another second to spare. The school-wide gong that signaled the beginning and end of classes had just sounded when he entered the classroom. He immediately made his way to his seat, between Ron and Hermione, with Professor Bastion eyeballing him the entire way.
"Now that we are ALL here," she shot a meaningful look at Harry (who had the good grace to at least look ashamed), "we can continue with our coverage of Dark creatures. Open your textbooks to page 429, to the chapter entitled 'Veela, Truths and Myths'." The class did so, and once everyone had the appropriate texts out, she began her lecture.
"Veela, by nature, are sexual creatures. Their magical traits include being able to induce attraction to themselves from the opposite sex through empathy, A bird-like form when angered, heightened magical power, and the ability to use fire-based wandless magic." She paused, waiting for the students taking notes to catch up.
"While the only documented Veela have been female, there have to be males as well. It has been proven that Veela cannot reproduce asexually, therefore male Veela must exist in order to have any pureblooded Veela at all. While the females of the species are defined by their striking long blond hair, males are theorized to have black, windswept hair, and a pair of black wings that are always present. Males are thought to not have the ability to take the wings back into themselves as a female would. Both sexes are also defined by having pale skin, striking eyes, height topping out about five foot eight or nine, and a subconscious need to be in the wind and air." She paused again, waiting until the tell-tale sounds of scratching quills stopped before continuing.
"As it would not be beneficial for a Veela-child to attract the opposite sex, their powers generally don't come into maturity until between the ages of fourteen and seventeen."
Hermione raised her hand. "Yes, Ms. Granger?"
"What would the Veela experience during this 'maturation'?" she asked, a curious expression on her face.
"From what little we know about developing Veela, they would be subjected to intense headaches while the empathic centers of the brain awaken, and body pains while the body adjusts to the new magic flows and physiology. Any other questions class?" No one moved. "I want you all to read chapters 26 and 27 on the Veela lifestyles and theories, with a 14-inch parchment on it due by class next Monday. You may use the rest of the class time to study and begin your essay."
As Harry listened to her description of what a 'theoretical' male Veela would look like, his mind began to fantasize about being one himself. When Professor Bastion went into detail on what the maturation would feel like, he actively began to worry that his 'fantasy' may be closer to reality than he originally thought. Staring at his text, but not seeing the words, he became increasingly more worried. He glanced over at Ron, who had already fallen asleep and was drooling onto his outstretched arm. Smiling and shaking his head, he turned to the other side where Hermione was furiously taking notes from the textbook, obviously getting a good start on her essay.
Just as he was pulling out some parchment to begin his own essay, he felt some sharp pains in the muscles in his back, like it was knotting up and releasing over and over. He let out a surprised grunt when it first started, and reached back to try and massage some relief into his painful upper back, squeezing his eyes shut against the pain. It helped surprisingly little.
Harry unclenched his eyes and glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention to him. No one had, at least that is what he thought, when he glanced over at Hermione. She was studying him, not with the look of worry like at breakfast, but with open curiosity. Suddenly, her brows knitted in thought and she went back to her text. Harry closed his eyes tight again, moving the massaging from his shoulders to his temples, trying to quell his pounding headache. He heard a high-pitched squeak after only a minute, and his head snapped to where 'Mione was watching him with wide-eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but thankfully Harry was saved by the gong signaling the end of class. He hurriedly gathered his book and parchment, and bolted towards the common room, not wanting to have the discussion that his friend wanted him to.
Harry ran into the Gryffindor common room and plopped himself down into an armchair by the fire, trying to simultaneously lessen both his headache and his back pains. He was pulled out of his thoughts by two warm, dainty hands running over his shoulders and gently rubbing. Harry turned his head to the left, looking over his shoulder, to where Lavender Brown was rubbing the aches out of his knotted muscles with a small contented smile upon her face.
"Um, Lavender, not that I don't appreciate it, but what are you doing?" he asked, VERY uncomfortable with the fellow classmate touching him intimately as she was.
"Trying to help you out, Harry. You do look like you are in quite a bit of pain, and massages ARE one of my specialties. Do you want me to stop?"
Harry battled within himself, but finally the need to be pain-free, for at least a bit, overrode any uncomfortable thoughts he might be having. "No, no. Please keep it up. That's starting to feel so much better." Harry reclosed his eyes, and moved his fingertips back to his temples, trying to quell the headache once again.
"Hey Lav, what's going on?" Harry faintly heard, but was too involved in his temple rubbing to pay much attention.
"Hi Patty! Harry doesn't feel good, and I thought I could help him out."
"Harry?" Parvati asked, and when he opened his eyes, she was kneeling in front of the armchair looking into his eyes. "Do you have a headache too?" she asked with a sympathetic look. Harry nodded, not trusting his mouth not to say 'What the hell is going on?'. "Here, let me try."
Parvati's small fingers came up to his temples and began rubbing slowly and gently, occasionally stroking his brow with her thumbs and his cheeks with her palms. She was leaning forward, giving Harry an eyeful down the front of her blouse showing her generous amount of cleavage encased in a lacy white bra. The entire time this was happening, Lavender had not stopped with her massage. Harry closed his eyes to prevent the temptation to ogle the Patil twin, and realized that between the two girls, he WAS beginning to feel better. It was almost perfect...
"HAROLD JAMES POTTER!" Hermione screeched from where she and Ron had entered the common room, upset that Harry had been avoiding her.
Spoke too soon..
Both girls jumped back as though they were caught doing something guilty. Harry's backache and headache came back less than a second later.
"Thanks a lot 'Mione. I was just starting to feel better. Good going." He spat out, before charging up the stairs to fume while lying on his bed.
Less than a minute later, the door to the sixth year boys dorm opened yet again, and the red-haired boy entered, walking right up to his own bed and sitting, which happened to be directly next to Harry's.
"Wow Harry, you are going to have to tell me how you talked the two prettiest Gryffindors into giving you a massage at the same time. That was one of the most unbelievable things I have ever seen!" he spoke with much excitement.
"I didn't DO anything. I was just trying to get rid of my backache and headache, and first Lavender offered to help, then Parvati did less than a minute later. The bad part is that the pains were just beginning to fade when Hermione charged in and scared them away. That brings us to now, where I am currently writhing on my bed in agony."
"Maybe you should go see Madame Pomfrey, Harry," Ron proposed with a worried look on his face.
"Do you have any idea how often I see that woman, Ron? By the end of the year I think that we'll be on a first name basis. No thank you, I'll deal with this on my own."
"You know, Hermione has this crazy idea in her head that you are some sort of Man-Veela." Ron spoke with the most incredulous look on his face.
"That's crazy, Ron. First, there has never been a Male Veela that anyone has ever seen. Second, if I was, then one of my parents would have to have had Veela blood. My mother was muggle-born, so she's out, and my father would have been a documented Male Veela were he to have any Veela in him at all. Right?"
"I guess you're right mate. But you know how Hermione is when she gets one of these ideas in her head. Good luck convincing her otherwise."
Harry, despite the pain he was in, managed a chuckle. "I think I am going to soak in the bathtub before lunch. Hopefully these aches will at least settle down. Can you keep Hermione off my case for a bit?"
"I'll do my best, but no promises, okay?" Ron pleaded.
"That's all I ask" Harry returned.
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Harry stepped out of the tub, quickly drying himself off, then wrapping his towel around his waist to journey back to his dorm in search of clothing. The bath had helped a little, the roaring pain having lessened to a dull ache. He stepped out of the bathroom and took two steps towards the dormitory when he heard a voice speaking, also getting closer.
"..n't care, Ron, he needs to talk about this and I am going to make sure he does. Oh! There he is, Harry! Ha..Har... H."
Harry had turned around the instant he recognized the voice, bracing himself for the inevitable conflict with Hermione, but when she caught sight of him with only a towel around his waist, she immediately blushed and began gaping like a fish. She looked like she was embarrassed, but she wouldn't tear her eyes from his chest.
"If you don't mind, 'Mione, I would like to put some clothes on before you hit full lecture mode, if that is okay with you?" Normally, Harry would have been embarrassed beyond recognition being caught as scantily clad as he was by a girl, but for some reason it just didn't seem to bother him at all. He quirked an eyebrow at her, seeing as how he didn't get any recognition that she heard a word that he said. He looked over to Ron, who seemed just as clueless as he felt, then took a step towards her.
"'Mione? Are you okay?" he asked as soon as he was standing only a foot in front of her. Her eyes snapped up to meet his own emerald orbs, and her breath caught in her throat. She slowly reached a hand out to feel his muscular chest, but when she realized what she was about to do, she let out a squeak, turned, and ran down the corridor to the girls dormitory.
"What the hell was that, Ron?" Ron, however, had other things on his mind.
"Harry, have you been working out this summer? You didn't look like that last year at all, mate."
Harry threw up his hands in resignation, before charging back to his dorm to get redressed for lunch.
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The Trio's walk back down to the Great Hall was awkward at best. Hermione was looking everywhere but at Harry, Ron seemed really angry about something, and Harry was pissed at both for not listening to anything he had to say. The only thing that could have made Harry's day worse would be running into Malfoy.
"Hey, Potter!"
Speak of the Devil...
"What's amatter Potty? Fighting with your best friends? Awwwww, no one likes little Potty anymore, do they?" Draco drawled out, smirking as though he was the funniest guy in all of England.
Harry rolled his eyes and turned around, as did Ron and Hermione. He saw Draco, but unlike most times, instead of being flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, he had Pansy Parkinson hanging on his arm.
"Well, if it isn't the Mudblood, the Weasel, and the Potty. What's wrong? Thunder in Paradise?" she simpered.
Normally, Harry would have resorted to cruel words and curses, but something inside of him told him differently.
He locked eyes with the girl, and slowly approached, some could say stalked up to her. Her arm dropped from Malfoy's, and her eyes widened a bit while her breathing suddenly became labored. Harry reached up with his right hand, and caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers. In a husky voice, he said "You know, Parkinson, I really don't like it when people call my friends and myself names." Pansy closed her eyes and shuddered. "I think that we could be friends if you would be a little nicer to us, do you think you could do that, Sugar?" Pansy reopened her eyes halfway, and gave a heavy lidded nod, still not closing her mouth. Harry cocked his head to the side, and ran his thumb down her cheek, to her chin, where he removed the physical contact entirely. "Good, I'll see you around Parkinson." He turned to Malfoy, who was red, apoplectic, and at a loss for words, and simply nodded. "Good day, Malfoy." He then walked around the troublesome duo and continued his decent to the Great Hall, his shell- shocked companions joining him after a couple seconds recovery.
He heard their footsteps as they raced to catch up with him, so he stopped, but didn't turn around. "Not a word you two. I solved the problem, and no one got hurt. I'm going to lunch now." He then continued stalking down the corridors to lunch, leaving his companions behind.
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As he entered the Great Hall and made his way towards Gryffindor table, he noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye. Lavender and Parvati were waving him over, having saved a seat between the two for him. Harry made his way over to the two women, seeing as though there were no other open seats near them, therefore Ron and Hermione couldn't interrogate him over lunch.
"'Afternoon, Ladies." He greeted them as he settled in. Instead of the giggles that usually accompanied him trying to say something suave, they both blushed and turned away. He glanced across from where he now sat, seeing Ginny unabashedly staring at him with her mouth open and a slightly glazed look in her eyes. He quirked an eyebrow in amusement, to which she also blushed and suddenly found her food very interesting.
"Harry, where are your glasses? I thought that you were blind without them?" came a familiar voice from next to where he was observing Ginny fidget. He turned his head and met the eyes of Katie Bell, the sole remaining chaser from last year. The blond seventh year was leaning over the table, propping her head up on her left hand and giving him a quizzical look.
Harry reached up his hand to feel around his eyes, and sure enough, he had forgotten to put on his glasses after his bath. "I don't know, I guess I just don't need them any more. His brows knitted in confusion, before his left shoulder blade knotted up yet again. "Lavender?" he asked politely.
She blushed again, but still answered. "Yes Harry?"
"My upper left back just knotted up again, and since you did such a wonderful job on it earlier, I was wondering if you could just rub it a little while we eat?"
He didn't hear a reply, but did feel her hand come up to rub over the left side of his back. It had to look fairly intimate, seeing as how Lavender was sitting on his right side. Harry picked up his fork, and was bringing his first bite of food to his mouth, when he felt the knot begin to loosen. He groaned contentedly and set his fork back down onto his plate. After a few moments, he glanced over at Lavender, noticing that she had completely ignored her own lunch in favor of gazing in rapture at him. He proceeded to give the table a cursory sweep, and witnessed every female within eyeshot glaring at her with contempt. Figuring that it would be best to just deal with the pain rather than alienate her from the other girls, he gently thanked her and asked her to stop.
Lavender got a goofy smile on her face when he thanked her, and trailed her hand across his back on the return trip to her own personal space. Turning his attention back to his food and away from his aching self, he began to eat for the second time.
Halfway through the meal, he felt a bare foot sneaking its way up his shin, surprising him. He dropped his fork, making a loud 'clang' on his plate, and his head snapped up to meet Katie's sapphire eyes. One eyebrow raised in challenge, she continued to stroke his leg suggestively. At this point, Harry decided he had had enough. He stood, giving her a lopsided grin that was neither accepting nor denying her unasked question, and announced he was heading back.
On the way back to the dormitory, he heard the telltale signs of someone running to catch up to him, and inwardly he groaned. He began speaking while turning to face the approacher. "Look, 'Mione, I'm still not in the moo-.." He stopped when he noticed that it wasn't Hermione at all, but Ginny.
"Sorry, thought you were someone else, Gin." He flashed her his trademark impish grin.
She simply smiled back at him. "Obviously," she replied teasingly. "I was just wondering if I could walk with you back to the tower?"
Harry shrugged. "After you."
They walked amiably back to the tower, not talking, but Harry kept catching Ginny sneaking glances at him. Far from being annoyed, as he probably should have been, he found it rather amusing.
Warning bells started to go off in the back of his mind as they approached the corridor leading to the tower.
Harry's back felt like it was ablaze, the skin stretching and breaking. He fell to his knees, unable to support himself, and his eyes shut tight against the overwhelming pain. Suddenly, he became very hot and began to sweat. He loosened his tie, then reconsidered and removed it, while hearing Ginny repeatedly ask him if he was all right. Her voice, however, sounded miles away. He shrugged off his robe, then his shirt, now naked from the waist up. The pain actually intensified, and he doubled over resting his head on his knees with his hands pressed into the cold stone tile. He felt a tear down the sides of his spine, just before a light weight distributed itself across his back as the pain ebbed away. He finally opened his eyes, and found Ginny staring at him. No, not at him, but over his shoulder.
Harry turned his head to the side, noting the absence of his headache, and saw the tip of a large, black-feathered wing. Wide-eyed, he turned his head to the other side, seeing the same thing. Instinctively, he stretched them out then ruffling them, not even realizing that he shouldn't know how to move them at all, let alone the complex muscle control involved in stretching out his wings.
Realizing where he was, and that anyone could walk up and see, he quickly gathered his robe and cloaked himself, effectively hiding his new appendages. He hurriedly gathered his clothing under his left arm, grabbed Ginny's hand in his right, and began making his way towards the Headmaster's office.
"Ginny, can I ask you to keep this a secret?" he pleaded, but not stopping his trek across the castle.
"Of course Harry, but what is happening to you?" she asked, slightly in shock.
"I have a theory, but we need to talk to the Headmaster first to confirm it. I need you be with me for this, can I count on you?"
The youngest Weasley blushed, and nodded her acceptance.
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