Harry Potter & the Veela That Wouldn't Go Away

By Darkmoore

"No, Harry," Thorgood said sadly. "If I died, then it would end the conditions of the charm and he would be free to walk the world again and do as he wished."

"Damn."

Chapter Twenty-One – The Coming of Narcissa Malfoy

"Damn."

"What is it Harry?" asked Hermione.

Harry, who was standing beside the window, was looking down at the main gates of the school watching a lone carriage being pulled by two thestrals made its way towards the castle.

"Harry?" asked Hermione again.

Turning away from the window and taking his usual seat at the fireplace, Harry sighed and said, "I think Narcissa has arrived."

Hermione rolled her eyes and took a seat beside Ron on one of the worn scarlet coaches that lined the room. Actually it was more like she took a seat on Ron, who was looking quite pleased with her actions towards him lately. Being caught snogging by Harry on said same coach had done wonders for her inhibitions.

"Come on mate," Ron said as he began to lightly stroke Hermione's thigh with his finger "You don't have to actually meet with her, you know."

"I know, but you know Malfoy. If I don't go willingly he'll hunt me down or ambush me somewhere and force me to meet with her." Harry paused for a moment before screwing up his face in distaste, saying, "Do you know he sent me a sample book for robes he wants us to wear to the bonding ceremony?"

"Yeah, I know," sniggered Ron, "Ginny's been looking through it all morning."

"I have not," replied Ginny dully from another chair by the fire with the sample book open in her lap. "I actually like this gold one though; it would look simply darling with your eyes, Harry."

With his mouth in a straight line Harry said, "Ginny, I am not GAY!"

"Maybe with a little practice…" Ginny began but trailed off as she, Ron and Hermione fell into fits of laughter.

"This isn't funny."

((Section Break))

Later that morning as the Gryffindors were making their way to the Great Hall to have lunch, Harry began to think twice about venturing out into the public areas of the castle.

"You know, guys, maybe I should just start eating my meals in the living quarters behind my office."

"No, Harry," protested Hermione. "I refuse to let that little ferret force you into hiding and spoil the holiday that you so richly need. You are going to go about your business as normal and have a well deserved rest, and that's final!" As if to prove her point, Hermione stamped her foot on the spot.

"You'd better do as she says, mate. I think she means business," Ron said with a grin on his face.

Shaking his head at his two best friends, Harry smiled in agreement. As he gazed at them, a wicked little stray thought popped into the Head Boy's brain. "You know guys, I just realized something very important."

"What's that Harry?" asked Hermione.

"You are both my best friends."

Ron and Hermione stared at Harry for a moment, before looking to each other and then rolling their eyes at him.

"You know, mate," Ron began, "I think we knew that already, but thanks for telling us again."

"I've not finished," smirked Harry. "Who am I going to stand up with when you two get married?"

Both Ron and Hermione stopped dead in their tracks, causing several people behind to bump into them. With wide eyes, they said together, "Married?"

"Yeah, married," Harry said and then continued on to the Great Hall with the other Gryffindors who were all giggling madly at Ron and Hermione.

"Oh, yes, I think you'd make the most delightful couple," giggled Parvati, while holding on to Dean's arm. Harry thought she was making a great impression of Pansy Parkinson by hanging on Dean like that. He wasn't jealous or anything. No, not Harry Potter, but even if he was it was in a manly way, of course.

"Yeah, Ron," said Seamus, slapping the prefect on the back. "I can just see it now: virgin white for Hermione, unless there is something you'd like to tell us, and Chudley Cannons Orange for you."

Harry had to bite back his laughter when he noticed Ron was looking like he was about to faint.

"Orange?" protested Hermione. "Not at my wedding, thank you very much. I want a simple and elegant ceremony, not some circus side show."

"Circus sideshow?" growled Ron. "Are you saying that the Cannons are a sideshow?"

"Oh Ron, don't start a row with me now," said a flustered Head Girl, who was doing an excellent impression of Ron's mother at that moment.

"Whatever you say … mum," spat Ron, jogging ahead of the group and making his way into the Great Hall in a bit of a huff.

"MUM?" Hermione said huffily, storming in after him.

Watching the two go ahead of them, the rest of the Gryffindors hung back for a moment. Taking the Head Boy's arm, Ginny asked, "Harry? What have you done?"

"Well, I've either started a war or provided the rest of us with entertainment for the holiday. I'm not sure yet which it is though."

The other Gryffindors laughed as they marched into the Great Hall.

((Section Break))

By the time lunch was over, Ron and Hermione weren't speaking to one another.

"Oh, come on you two, give it a rest," Harry said, exasperated. "I was only winding the two of you up! I didn't expect you to break up over this."

Ron and Hermione scowled at each other as they all left the Great Hall, and Harry sighed. As the group made their way through the entrance hall toward the stairs that lead to Gryffindor Tower, they were stopped by the one person Harry had wanted to avoid.

"Harry, my love, can I have a word?" asked Draco Malfoy sweetly.

"Damn," Harry muttered under his breath as he turned to face the Slytherin. "Malfoy, I am not your 'love' and what do you want?"

"Harry, stop teasing me," Draco said with a mock pout. "I wanted to invite you to my mother's suite so that we could get reacquainted and discuss plans for our bonding ceremony."

Harry sighed as Ginny giggled at him, "Malfoy, I've told you before: I am not going to bond with you and there will be no bonding ceremony. I AM NOT GAY."

Malfoy waved off the proclamation of his heterosexuality without a second thought. "Harry, that doesn't matter. You are my mate and we will be together for the rest of our lives. Now, come on and meet with mother; she is dying to see you again."

"I have plans right now, so it will have to wait until another time," Harry said hurriedly, slowly stepping away from the Veela and attempting to escape up the stairs to the safety of Gryffindor Tower, or perhaps his office.

However, it wasn't going to be that easy for him to escape. The Slytherin simply grabbed his arm and began to direct him towards the dungeons and his awaiting mother.

Looking back over his shoulder, Harry silently pleaded with his friends for help, but they could do nothing but stand there and helplessly watch as he was dragged off to the dungeons.

((Section Break))

"Mother!" Draco announced jovially as he entered Narcissa Malfoy's guest suite. "I've brought him to meet with you, mother."

Smiling at the two teenagers, Narcissa Malfoy said, "I can see that, my darling." However, her smile did not quite reach her eyes. "Why don't you two have a seat, and we can become better acquainted."

Shoving Harry down on the couch, Draco plopped down beside him and attempted to take Harry's hand into his own.

"I told you before Malfoy, no hand holding," Harry said sternly. He disengaged his hand and tried to move down the couch to get away from the lovesick boy.

"Oh Harry, stop teasing me."

"I'm not teasing," Harry said. "I mean it."

Rolling his eyes at the Gryffindor, Malfoy turned to his mother and said rather dreamily, "Don't mind him mother, he is always having me on like this."

Chuckling politely, though not convincingly, Narcissa replied, "I can see that, dear. Now, why don't the two of you stop fussing and we shall begin talking about the ceremony."

"I am NOT being fussy," Harry said strongly. He abruptly moved away from the teenaged Veela and stood. "I am not going through with any bonding ceremony either."

"Now Harry, Draco has told me how much you dislike publicity, but surely you couldn't really object to a simple and elegant bonding ceremony?"

"Yes, I can," Harry replied. "I have no intention of bonding with Malfoy what-so-ever. I am not his mate, I am not meant for him and I AM NOT GAY!"

"I can you see that you're not happy, young man, but there is no need to be rude about it," snapped Narcissa waspishly.

"No, mother," Malfoy added helpfully, "He means that he is a heterosexual and only finds females sexually attractive."

"Oh," the Malfoy matron stated. "Well, that can be overcome in time, so there's no need to worry about that now. What we should concentrate on is your bonding, and perhaps even a grandchild for me to spoil."

Suddenly Harry's mind was filled with images of himself barefoot and pregnant, slaving over the stove in some Muggle-style kitchen while looking like death warmed over. The thought was not appealing to him at all.

"I … WILL … NOT … GET … PREGNANT!" said Harry through clenched teeth.

"Well of course not, silly boy. Veela are the one who carry the baby, not wizards."

Harry stood there for a moment, stunned, and judging from the giggles coming from Malfoy, he must have looked it as well.

"I thought … Malfoy said … I don't …" sputtered Harry incoherently.

Narcissa rolled her eyes at her son and asked, "Draco, darling, did you not explain these things to him when you came of age?"

"Harry said he was too young to make babies yet, mother," Malfoy explained. "He said that he didn't want to have children while we were still in school, I and we haven't spoken of it again since. I thought he understood that I would carry the child and was concerned for my welfare and my upcoming N.E.W.T.'s." Turning to face the Head Boy, Malfoy added, "It made me love him all the more that he was thinking of my best interests."

"I was thinking that I didn't want to make babies with you."

Thinking quickly, Narcissa said, "I completely understand that you have many things on your mind right now, Harry. From what Draco has been telling me, you're the Head Boy, you've been teaching two classes and you've both been studying very hard for your upcoming examinations. So, I dare say you are exhausted with the workload that you are carrying. Children are a very large responsibility, and I think you are wise to want to wait until you are older to have one."

Harry said nothing in response to her statement. He was too busy thinking of ways to get himself out of this situation and into either Gryffindor Tower or his office so he could hide from the Malfoys for the remainder of the week. As he was looking around the room for an escape route, a thought suddenly came to Harry's mind.

"Mrs. Malfoy," Harry began, "I must admit that you are nothing like I expected you to be when Malfoy here said you were coming to visit for the holiday. You seem so warm and understanding."

Narcissa's eyes flashed coldly, while her son beamed at the Head Boy for being so nice to his mother.

"You know, at first I thought you were only interested in gaining control of the Black Family Trust. Since Veela, or rather a part- Veela in this case, ensnare their victims…er, I mean mates, with their natural charms, I assumed that you thought my mind would be so clouded over by your son that I would hand over control of Sirius' sizable estate into your hands without a second glance."

Narcissa sat there, expressionless, while Harry continued.

"Now that I've met with you and have seen how much you love Draco, I see it differently. I mean, no one who knows how warm and caring you are would think that you would allow your son to be partners with one of Voldemort's greatest enemies just for financial gains, especially an enemy who has the ability to throw off the Veela attraction."

Smiling serenely, Narcissa replied, "I have Draco's best interests at heart, and I would never do anything that would make him unhappy. He obviously picked you when he came into his inheritance, which is something that I could not have influenced him about no matter how much I might have attempted to do so."

"I never said otherwise," Harry politely reminded her. "However, you can understand why I would have thought what I did."

"Yes, Mr. Potter, I do believe that I understand you very clearly."

"I thought you would," Harry replied curtly. "Now if you two don't mind, I do have some essays to mark and some studying to do for my own N.E.W.T.'s."

((Section Break))

"Harry?"

Harry stormed into the Gryffindor common room, and ignoring Ron and Hermione, he headed straight up the stairs to the dormitory room that he shared with his fellow seventh years. Becoming worried, they followed him up. A few moments later as Ron and Hermione barged into the dormitory room, they found Harry standing there wearing only his boxers as he stripped off the last of his clothes.

"Harry, what's wro…" Hermione began, but stopped when she saw her friend standing there mostly naked. "Oh."

Quickly covering his girlfriend's eyes with his hand, Ron said, "Oh is right! What's going on, Harry?"

"I need a shower, guys. I feel dirty after my afternoon visit with Malfoy's mother."

Dropping his hand from Hermione's eyes, Ron said heatedly, "Mate, if they touched you in some way that wasn't right, it's not your fault. We can contact the Ministry and have them arrested."

Both Harry and Hermione stood there looking at Ron oddly.

"What?"

Shuddering at the mental image he now had, Harry said, "Ron, trust me when I say I was not gang banged by Malfoy and his mother. I was pawed by him a bit, but it was his mother that I need to wash off."

Ron and Hermione took a seat on Ron's bed and waited for Harry to explain further.

"She was banking on Malfoy using his Veela charms to boggle my mind in order to gain control of the Black Family Trust, even if it meant loosing her only son in marriage to me in the process."

"She wouldn't," exclaimed Hermione.

"Well, she did," Harry said, as he grabbed his towel and shower kit from his trunk and headed off to the boy's bath. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to wash up, and I have the feeling Ron doesn't want you to see that." However, Harry stopped and turned back to face his two best friends. "Are you back together again?"

Blushing, Hermione admitted, "Yes, Harry, we are."

"That was quick."

((Section Break))

Several hours later, Harry had finally finished venting his anger and it was time to go down to the Great Hall for dinner.

"No, I am not going down there!" Harry said forcefully. "Those … those … people are down there waiting for me to try to entrap me into some kind of sick marriage thing."

"Harry," Hermione said exhaustedly, "Everyone will be there. The teachers, the other students and we'll be there to back you up."

"Just like you did this afternoon? No thanks. I think I'll sit up here and starve to death," Harry said with a pout. Of course, it was sexy, virile, manly pout and not a whiney, child-like pout. Well, that's what he told himself anyway.

"Oh, that's really mature of you," Ginny said. She rolled her eyes at him, causing Harry to glare at her in return. It was at this point that Seamus decided to enter into the conversation. "You know, guys," he said in that sexy Irish accent of his, "I think Harry's right. He shouldn't be forced to go down and deal with Malfoy and his mother."

"Thanks, Seamus," Harry said, happy to have at least one person on his side, He gave a look of triumph to his friends.

Of course, Seamus being Seamus, he took advantage of the situation and once again attempted to snake his arm around the Head Boy's waist, which caused Harry to jump back and the girls to giggle at him.

"Alright Hermione, you may have a point. Let's go eat."

((Section Break))

In the Great Hall, the seventh year students took their normal places at the Gryffindor table. As he sat down Harry felt someone staring at him. Reluctantly, he looked around to see who it is, although he had his suspicions.

"Damn."

"What's the matter now, Harry?"

"Malfoy is staring at me with those 'lovey-dovey' eyes again. I think he's still plotting against me."

Hermione and Ginny giggled at him, while Ron said with a smile, "You know, mate, I think you're starting to get paranoid." Then the red-headed prefect turned to look at the Slytherin in question and amended, "Then again, you may have a point."

Before Harry could comment further, he was stopped by a familiar voice that was speaking to him from behind.

"Is there something wrong, Professor?"

Turning to face his advisor, Harry noticed Professor Thorgood looked concerned for him.

"You could say that, sir," replied Harry. "I had a formal meeting with Malfoy and his mother this afternoon about my non-existent bonding ceremony."

"How ever did you escape from them?" asked the vampire with a chuckle.

Harry smiled at his favorite teacher, replying, "Through cunning, trickery and pure determination."

Pretending to look impressed, the vampire asked, "And how did you accomplish this?"

"I walked out."

Everyone chuckled, and the sound of his friends' laughter helped lighten Harry's mood. Despite feeling a bit better, he still had concerns about the Veela's next move lurking in the back of his head.

"Well, Professor," Thorgood began, "I truly wish I could help you out with this problem, but as you know that Veela are relentless when it comes to their mates."

"You know, sir, if you truly wanted to help me out, you could just suck all the blood out of him and give me some peace and quiet in my life," Harry said lightheartedly, not truly meaning it.

Smiling the Defense teacher replied, "You do know that Veela are quite resilient against vampire attack, don't you Potter? Do you actually know how much suction I would have to generate to even make him light headed?"

"Well, you know sir," Seamus said in his sexy Irish accent, "I could give you a few pointers if you needed them."

"Mr. Finnegan, I assure you, I am quite well versed on the topic."

((Section Break))

The next morning, Harry woke up to the sounds of his dorm mates moving about the room.

'Damn curtain,' Harry thought, 'You'd think they'd have silencing charms on them just for this reason.'

Suddenly his curtains were pulled open and Seamus was standing there. "Rise and shine, sleepy head! You can't stay in bed forever. That is, unless I can crawl in with you."

Grumpily Harry said, "Bugger off, Seamus."

Smirking, the Irishman replied, "Well, that was the idea."

"Okay, I'm getting up," Harry said quickly.

"Yay!" Seamus replied, clapping his hands like a big princess.

"Seamus, why don't you go bug Justin, or someone else?" said a defeated Head Boy.

"Justin went home for the week to attend his cousin's wedding."

"Then why me? Why not one of the other guys?" sighed Harry as he flopped back onto his pillow.

Grinning, Seamus explained, "Because Dean and Ron have girlfriends, and it freaks Neville out too much when I do it to him."

Grunting in annoyance, Harry dressed and made his way down to the common room to find Ron and Hermione and head down to have breakfast.

"Good morning, Harry," Hermione said cheerfully. "I thought you were going to a bit of a lie in this morning?"

"Seamus had other ideas. Let's go eat."

Hermione gave Ron a knowing look, which made them both smile and the three went to breakfast.

After a quick walk through the castle the trio sat down at the Gryffindor table, where Harry and Ron decided to have a bacon eating contest. Ron won by about seven strips when Harry couldn't eat anymore.

Burying her nose in a book and trying to ignore the spectacle in front of her, Hermione shook her head and muttered something that sounded like, "Boys."

Harry smiled, but was quickly distracted by the morning post owls swooping down from above to deliver their packages and letters to the students in the hall. After spending a few moments looking for a flash of Hedwig's white moving among the brown and gray owls and finding nothing, Harry returned to his morning orange juice, while Hermione placed a knut in the pouch of the owl that just delivered her Daily Prophet.

"Anything good in the paper this morning?" asked Ron.

"Umm… no," Hermione said tentatively, not able to tear her eyes off the front page.

Harry and Ron shared a look at one another. 'This can't be good,' Harry thought. Then he asked, "Is there anything in the paper that I should know about Hermione?"

Looking like she did not want to answer that question, the Head Girl replied, "Umm… maybe."

Harry felt his stomach drop as she handed him the morning edition and he read the headline

"Boy-Who-Lived to Wed the Heir of the Malfoy Fortune"

Harry's eyes narrowed dangerously as he began reading the article. He read the exclusive interview given to the reporter from the Daily Prophet only the night before by Draco Malfoy. The article was all about how they've been planning the announcement and ceremony for months and have been engaged since just before Halloween.

Harry dropped the paper onto the table. He had a feeling of pure rage and hatred boiling up from inside of him, and it showed on his face.

"Now Harry, don't do anything rash," Hermione said with a pleading tone.

"Yeah, mate, everyone is in the hall. That's too many witnesses," Ron added.

"RON!"

"What? It's true," the Gryffindor prefect defended himself.

However, Harry heard none of the argument that was breaking out between his two best friends. No, his mind was firmly concentrating on a certain blonde haired Slytherin. Said Slytherin was currently eating his kippers with a great smile of satisfaction on his face, as if he had won a great prize or something.

Harry also failed to notice that the teachers and many of the other students who were aware of the article were watching him closely to see how he would react to the headline in the paper. They were all waiting with baited breath to see what would happen this morning.

No one but Harry had been watching Malfoy as he looked up to see Harry staring back at him with a pensieve look on his face, and then he realized that Harry must have read the announcement already. Standing from his place at the Slytherin table Malfoy cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention.

"As I am sure that many of you have read in the paper this morning, I would like to announce my forthcoming bonding ceremony to Harry Potter. I am certain that many of you wish us well, and I would like to invite all of you to attend the ceremony and witnesses this joyful event."

As if the entire population of students and teachers were of one mind, they all turned in unison to watch Harry and see what he was going to do. As Harry stood up from the Gryffindor table, he was shaking with pure fury.

"Is there anything that you would like to add, Harry my love?" asked the beaming, oblivious Malfoy.

With the barest nod Harry indicated that he did indeed have something to say. Then, as a hush of silence fell over everything in the Great Hall, all hell broke loose at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

To Be Continued...

((Section Break))

Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed.

Author's Notes #2: After my comment about having hard nipples due to the fact that I have 85 people who have me on their favorites list and have 170 people who have me on their author alert lists, I have had many reviewers comment on that. I am so glad that everyone has taken notice of my nipples. I feel so special now!