A Veela Tale: Prologue

Harry

The war is over; it has been for two and a half years.

After fighting since he was 11; Harry couldn't face the idea of living a life as an auror, so he declined the offer of auror training and opened a Quidditch supply shop in Diagon Alley right next to Ollivanders.

He always has the latest, fastest brooms floating in the window for the students to drool over as they pass by. He also has a kiosk in Hogsmeade Village in order to attend the students during Quidditch season.

He and Ginny are no longer dating.

A month after Harry defeated the dark lord, Ginny found herself in the arms of Millicent Bullstrode. Neither girl expected the experience to be anything more than a drunken experiment, but it turned out to be something both witches enjoyed. They've been together ever since. They both play for the HolyHead Harpies and remain good friends with Harry, seeing as he is the only one from who they buy their gear.

Harry is currently crushing on one Pansy Parkinson. To him she is grace incarnate. She was often teased in school about her pug nose; however, playing quidditch one summer with Draco and Blaise a bludger hit her square in the face breaking her nose.

It was the best thing that could have happened to her.

Harry just happened to be in the hospital at the same time; a victim of one of Ron and George's pranks gone array.

It was love over bandages at St. Mungo's for Harry and Pansy.

They aren't 'dating' per se as she is playing hard to get … and he loves it. He's kissed her only once and she slapped him for it.

Turns out, he likes to be slapped.

She smiled at him after and traced her small fingers across his cheek in a soothing manner. His skin turned into a fire pit at her touch and he has been chasing her since – it's going on four months now; he sees her almost every day as she finds something to buy in the supply shop or sits at the café across the street and watches him from over the top of her latte.

Ron

Ron didn't want to bring in the bad guys without Harry so he picked up where Fred left off and joined George as Weasley's Wizard Wheezes shop proprietor right down the street from Harry's High-Flying Supplies.

George is dating Luna Lovegood and is planning to ask for her hand in marriage this month. He says she keeps him grounded, but anyone who knows the flighty blonde would think it strange that she is the one keeping him grounded.

Ron and Hermione only kissed the one time and they both chalked it up to stress of the moment and thinking that they were going to die in the next few minutes. By mutual decision they remained friends and nothing more.

Ron's hero status after the war gave him the attention he sought from the opposite sex. He is single and loving it. Though, he visits Lavender Brown more and more often; George suspects that his younger brother is falling for his Hogwarts sweetheart once again.

Hermione

Hermione took a position in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures: Head of the Being Division.

She splits her time between the Office for House-Elf Relocation and Werewolf Support Services delegating some of her responsibility for the Goblin Liaison Office to her assistant Pansy Parkinson, as Hermione doesn't get along well with the Goblin representatives.

In her short time working for the Ministry she's managed to change a few important laws regarding werewolves; designating a wooded land reserve in Ireland for them to roam without harming anyone and without worry for being harmed.

This, of course, required collaboration with the Department of International Magical Cooperation: The International Magical Law Division, which is headed by none other than Draco Malfoy. …we'll get to that later.

She was also able to get agreement for Ministry provided Wolfsbane Potion. Werewolves no longer had to pay for it out of pocket; they instead registered with the ministry and received the potion from one of three Potions Masters contracted to brew said potion.

This endeavor also required the assistance of Draco Malfoys division and Draco's long time buddy Blaise Zabini who heads the International Magical Trading Standards Body within the same Department Dracos division reports, because one of the potions masters was outside of the Ministry's jurisdiction.

Werewolves were also encouraged to organize and elect representatives to convey concerns to the Ministry and to solve any issues at the lowest levels without Ministry law enforcement involvement, for instance, if two clans had a violent disagreement, the Werewolf charters would handle it themselves – much like the Veela clans already do- but if a wizard, muggle or other intelligent species (Veela or Centaur) were harmed then an auror, a trusted and werewolf appointed liaison, would investigate the matter fully.

Hermione had designated Remus Lupin the task of organizing the werewolf clans and helping them articulate their concerns. She also requested that he helped them to educate their young as most werewolf clans kept their families close to home for fear of attack, death or shunning.

Remus was paid by her department and was grateful for the steady employment, challenging work and loyal friendship – something he had missed for a number of years.

She doesn't date; has never had a boyfriend. She has kissed two wizards, Viktor Krum and Ron Weasley. She is currently friends with them both.

Usually she is excited about her job, each and every day she is challenged and relishes in her accomplishments. She has been able to make life better for a number of beings, one of them being her close friend Remus.

She doesn't really have time to date and she doesn't think she is the type of witch wizards wanted as their dream woman.

She was studious to a fault, boring, too smart for her own good - Professor McGonagall said it can intimidate a wizard – and not very pretty.

Professor McGonagall became her surrogate mother after death eaters attacked and killed her parents. Bellatrix Le'Strange and Augustus Rookwood were killed during the battle at Hogwarts, so there was no revenge to seek after they were destroyed.

She was going to turn 21 in two days and although she knew in her head that she was very young still, it smarted that she had never had a boy/man see her as desirable or look at her the way that a wizard looked at a witch.

She never told a soul how she felt. Everyone just assumed that she went out and dated, but she didn't. She would travel alone or stay home and read, garden or what not.

Why is this bothering her now? She wondered.

The highlight of her day is in the mornings, she runs for exercise.

She gets up, puts her running gear on, throws her hair into a pony tail and brushes her teeth. She's out the door in ten minutes.

She runs for approximately five minutes when she passes the 'Y' in the path that presents another entrance onto her main path.

Draco Malfoy is always on time, entering the path right next to her. They never say a word and they never miss a day, just run together in silence enjoying the exercise. They round the large loop and after the hour it takes them to run it he takes his exit with a nod and a quick salute in acknowledgement; she runs the remaining five minutes home and gets ready for the day.

It's strange for them, when only three years ago they were enemies. They had only spoken a few times and most of those times were business. She finds him sharp as a tack and cooperative to her initiatives.

He finds her easy to work with and reasonable, which is not something he would have expected from the know-it-all-swot he knew in school.

He almost tripped and fell the first time he came across her running, but caught himself at the last moment. He decided to keep pace with her for some unknown reason.

It turned out to be …nice. They had been running together for a little under a year now; besides she had great legs and cute bum.

He turns 21 tomorrow. He's worried. He will come of age and it will start. His father has told him what to expect, but still… fear of the unknown.

He would soon know what his fate held.