For story info, see chapter one.
A/N: I just want to explain that Dumbledore, in the spirit of unity and all had decided to stop the inter-house competition and instead individual students are awarded points. He also dismembered the house Quidditch teams and made new mixed ones. So now Hogwarts has 8 Quidditch teams and their own little league and so each student can follow any team they wish based on who's playing there and not house loyalties.
F is for Feathers, Fairies and Flaming Homos-
Chapter Four
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Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:
(Helena, act I, scene I)
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Seamus could feel his eyes drooping shut and blinked hard to keep them open. This was utterly pathetic! He was only in the book collecting stage, he hadn't even begun writing his potions essay and already he was falling asleep…
Gods, he hated potions, and Snape, and doing homework on a Saturday night… but he had no choice. It wasn't like he could postpone it till tomorrow… No, because tomorrow was the 'match of the season'- Not that Seamus was such an avid sports fan, in fact, he hated every form of organized sport. All that shouting, and groaning and panting- and that was just the audience!
But tomorrow the Dragons led by the fierce and youngest-seeker-in-over-a-century Harry J. Potter were about to fly against The Phoenixes led by the courageous and not-playing-entirely-fair-but-no-one-was-able-to-prove-that-so-far Draco A. Malfoy. And since both were friends of Seamus he couldn't just give it a miss, no matter how boring he found Quidditch to be because then neither would ever talk to him ever again. The question of who to cheer for was moot, he never did anyway.
And so, instead of hanging around the common room, probably listening to Hermione going on and on and on about how important it is to get your homework done on time he was here, trying to do just that. Damn, this girl was rubbing off on everyone! Why couldn't she have been sorted into Ravenclaw?
Adding another book to his growing pile he sighed, his life sucked, majorly! Not only was he in the library doing an assignment for his most hated professor, but his love life sucked as well! He was never going to get Oliver now, not when he had to compete with Diggory… Seamus would have liked to think that he was backing down gracefully but even he knew it was stupid when Oliver didn't even know he was up for grabs in the first place.
"Finnigan!" A voice barked behind him and Seamus had to fight an involuntary flinch, his usual reaction to Weasleys. Well, to be honest it wasn't all Weasleys that made his skin crawl like there were slimy slugs covering every inch of it; it was just the youngest two. He turned around slowly, fixing the Weasley wench with a cold stare.
"What do you want?" The petite redhead bristled, her brown eyes flaring with anger,
"Don't you talk to me like that you filth!" She snapped and Seamus had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. Was she fucking kidding him? "I know what you're up to!" Seamus briefly contemplated answering her, but his previous dealings with her had taught him he didn't really have to say a word, she usually filled in the blanks on her own. She was one little chatterbox, too bad she never had anything nice or remotely interesting to say. "I know you had something to do with Ron getting stuck with the ass's part! You slept with Wood to make sure it happened!"
Seamus was quite speechless. He didn't really mind the profanity or the grudges she held against him from whatever reason but to be accused of fixing the casting? By sleeping with Oliver? After what he saw? That was plain mean!
"You think I slept with Oliver just to screw Ron over?" This was stretching it thin, even for her… And to think… If he had his wicked way with Oliver- he would never, ever not in a gazillion years think of anything remotely Weasley related! This was preposterous!
"You bent over for him to get your part, what's bending over a second time for you?" Right… Seamus shook his head, that girl was sad! And frankly, rather annoying and he had better things to do, or at least, things he actually needed to do, and talking to this despicable girl wasn't one of them.
"Whatever. Are you done?" He snapped, glaring at Ginny, trying to will her to go away.
"I'm watching you, Finnigan, don't think that this is over!" She hissed at him before spinning on her heel and striding away from him. Seamus had to fight the urge to stick his tongue after her retreating back. Hexing her was beneath him. Well, not really but knowing who her brother was he decided to give it a miss. He grabbed another book from the shelf, not really watching the title in his anger and strode over to the nearest table, dropping his book-load with a loud thud, earning himself a reproaching glare from Madame Pince.
After staring at the book stack he had brought with him for five solid minutes, Seamus sighed and started searching between them the ones whose titles sounded most promising for his essay. He raised a book, looking at it curiously, it's title read "Love potions, how to make that special someone love you back." Ok, that one was definitely not in the curriculum for seventh year potions... Cursing Ginny Weasley for messing up with his book search, Seamus was about to get up and return the book to its shelf. But instead he found himself staring at the title and worrying his bottom lip. Finally curiosity got the better of him; and Seamus opened the book and started leafing through it. Unlike the promising title the book had very little on the subject of concocting a love potion and all about the history and dangers of them.
This was no use, Seamus thought, besides, he never actually considered making a love potion to draw Oliver to him, for one thing, he was rubbish at potions and was more likely to poison the poor man than causing him to fall madly in love with Seamus. Seamus was about to close to book and return to his mind numbing essay when his eyes fell on a curious passage which was entitled- "Male Veela feathers". Looking around him to make sure no-ones attention was on him he began to read,
"For centuries scientists were baffled by the idea of Veela mating. Female Veela, though sporting the form of a human female (apart from their tendency to form into a giant bird of prey when angry) didn't seem to choose human males as their mates very often, which raised the question- where are the Male Veela?
It was the Austrian researcher, Ludwig Klut, who was the first to discover the existence of Male Veela back in the late 19th century. He tracked down and found a Male Veela, who was injured and therefore could not escape, and brought him back to his laboratory to be research. The Veela soon died of a broken heart due to his imprisonment but not before Klut found some interesting facts on the species.
Male Veela retain their wings throughout their lives, unlike the female of the species. This trait, combined with their ethereal beauty and rarity have caused muggles who were fortunate to spot a Male Veela believe they were angels. Wizards, knowing better of course, have tried to locate and capture Male Veela for centuries, hoping to use their magical powers to their advantages.
Contrary to popular belief, Veela blood does not hold any magical powers and is virtually useless in potions, unlike blood of other magical creatures. Their hair and nails hold no more magic than that of wizards and in fact the only magical part of a Male Veela's body is their wings. More precisely, their feathers.
Male Veela feathers, and only those of the male, contain a large amount of a substance known as Kluten, thusly named after its finder, Professor Klut. Kluten, or klutenium is a compound which can act as a very powerful aphrodisiac. In fact, in his studies, Professor Klut discovered that one single Male Veela feather can cause dozens to fall in love. It only takes one brush of the feather on the desired man or woman's nasal cavities and as soon as they inhale the Klutenium into their system they instantly fall for the first person they see- which of course doesn't have to be the person holding the feather. Because of that fact usage of Male Veela feathers was soon banned, as it not only brought a decrease in the number of individuals of the species but also an influx of unwanted desires. This law has been set in the beginning of the 20th century when the entire Veela species were declared endangered and therefore highly protected.
Humans who happen to engage in sexual contact with Veela of either gender will succumb to forgetfulness upon consummation. As Veela turned into wood dwelling creatures as a protective measure if a human happens upon their residence they will do all within their powers to seduce said human and cause them to forget their purpose and virtually everything about their homeland and lives. More often than not those poor souls will end up lost in the forest unable to find their way out and eventually perish.
"Male Veela, though solitaire in nature, had gradually learned to form colonies for better protection, usually in remote and heavily wooded magical areas. As the Female Veela are rarely interested in sex in general and only perform it for means of procreation the males have learned to satisfy their needs amongst themselves. They venture out of their safe colonies only around the mating season- which takes place every two years in the fall and seek out potential female mates. Once the copulation is complete the male return to their home and the female are left to raise the youngsters in their own colonies, known as 'Nurseries' aided by the other females.
The largest Male Veela colony known to the magical world is based in France, deep in the forests near the Beauxbattons Academy. There are several known other colonies around the European continent but their location is kept a secret by the Office of Magical Creatures in their respective lands. Other large groupings can be found on the Island of Prince Edward in Canada and on the northern island of New Zealand. Solitary males are known to exist still but naturally their whereabouts are unknown."
The page ended and Seamus closed the book with a loud thump, his mind overwhelmed with the possibilities, a Male Veela feather… That was just… Brilliant! So simple, so… ingenious! It didn't require any hard to come by potion ingredients so he didn't have to try and sneak into Snape's store room, it didn't require any potion brewing skills, which was a good thing on its own because Seamus was pants at this and he doubted any of his friends who could brew a decent potion would want to make a love potion for him.
Besides, if this was true and Male Veela feathers were really capable of making one fall in love he could use them to help others, mainly- Harry, whose obsession with Hannah Abbot has long crossed into the realm of acute embarrassment, especially to those who watched from the side.
The only problem with the Veela feathers was how to get to France and get his hands on one…
It was time to go and ask advice and equipment from his friend, and more importantly the man who managed to break every single rule in the book of Hogwarts- Harry Potter.
"Harry!" Seamus burst into his dormitory room, "Harry!" The dark head popped from behind their bathroom door,
"What?" He cried, clearly vexed at being interrupted in whatever he was doing. But upon seeing the look on Seamus' face, Harry stepped fully into the room, a shiver of excitement running down his spine at the prospect of an adventure.
"I need to borrow your invisibility cloak!" Harry crossed his arms over his chest,
"Where are you going?" He asked with a smile, possibilities running through his head,
"France." Seamus deadpanned and Harry deflated. He was quite sure Seamus would say something along the lines of 'sneaking into Oliver's room and wait for him naked on the bed' or 'going to plant something smelly in Snape's office', France didn't exactly go into his range of ideas.
"May I ask why do you want to go to France, with my invisibility cloak?"
"It's a secret…" Seamus was wriggling his fingers, hoping to get out of this conversation with an invisibility cloak and without harming or being harmed by his friend,
"Are you asking me or telling me?" Harry asked suspiciously,
"Which one will be more likely to get me the cloak?" Seamus was looking either really guilty or very constipated, Harry wasn't entirely sure,
"Neither!" He cried, throwing his arms in the air and rubbing his forehead, "You're out of your bloody mind!" Stopping on his tracks he paused for a second, his face breaking into a small grin as if he finally figured out what was really going on, "If you want Oliver why don't you just wait for him in his room and confess when he shows up." Seamus looked up in surprise, was he really that transparent?
"Yeah… I remember that didn't go very well for you… Perhaps Hannah wouldn't have freaked out and hexed you so if you had just kept your cloths on…" He said nastily, mostly to cover for his own uneasiness at Harry of all people reading him like an open book.
"Ha ha! Don't be funny; this isn't about me and my less than orthodox methods of seducing girls this is about you trying to sneak off to another country to avoid the shame of watching Oliver with Cedric!" Seamus' eyes opened impossibly wide- fuck! Everyone knew about Oliver and Cedric being together? And no one thought of warning him sooner? Some friends he's got! "I mean, how are you even going to get to France in the first place?" The question caught Seamus a little by surprise, how was he going to get to France?
"I could… I guess…" He mumbled, realizing for the first time that night that once again his Gryffindor nature had prevailed and he was rushing into the situation blindly and without a plan.
"Ha!" Harry called triumphantly, a smug Hermione like smile on his face, "See, you don't even know how you're going to execute step one of your master plan. Even I know better than that! Look Shay, just forget about it- you're not getting anywhere near France in the foreseeable future." He patted Seamus' hand sympathetically as the enthusiasm drained from Seamus system and winded out the Irish boy,
"Great…"
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A/N: The way I see it the Veela have a social structure that is similar to that of elephants. The females form a herd, led by the oldest female (the matron) and the males roam around solitary, and sometimes form loose groups.
The male Veela groups are tighter together and usually when they form one they stick with it and not only for the mating season.