Metamorphose Chapter 12
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make any profits from posting this fanfiction.
Summary: Non-Epilogue compliant. After the war groups of disgruntled Wizards and Witches terrorise England's magical nation, sending them to the brink of civil war and a war against the Creatures. Harry is in Gringotts when one terrorist faction attack causing Harry and other survivors to go into hiding. There is an interested repercussion of te potion they use to hide themselves and now Harry finds himself stuck in a foreign country, with people he doesn't know and living in a style he has never even dreamed to imagine.
Warnings: Gender change. Fem!Harry…after a potions accident. Name changes for characters. Hurricane Sandy (use of artistic licence over the damage it wrought)
Pairings: LM/HP. DM/AG. RW/HG.
(Chapter 12)
March 30th.
Henri wound her hands together, nervously changing her body weight from her left leg to her right leg. She shifted back again and paced a few steps forwards only to turn and pace back to her original spot. She repeated that a few times then stood still once more, fiddling with a loose string on her top and sliding her thumb into the pocket on her jeans then back out again. She bit her lip then released it. She flicked her hair back though it wasn't in her face. She shifted her weight to her left leg.
Two hands landed on her shoulders. Henri stopped fidgeting.
"Calm." Lucas said, mouth next to Henri's ear and body heat enveloping Henri.
"Easy for you to say."
"Yes it is." Lucas agreed. "However I cannot see anything for you to be concerned about. Your modelling friends will be comfortable here, you will have fun and will eventually crash out and sleep. There is no reason for you to be nervous about them coming here. I shall remain in the apartment, Zuza and Cosmo are on hand. A feast is ready and there is a whole cupboard full of alcohol for your friends to help themselves to. You have modern entertainment and no doubt seeing as most of your friends are girls they shall find their own amusement. My presence should be enough at least to stop them behaving completely irrationally therefore I do not see why you are excruciatingly nervous."
"It's the first time any of them are coming over. And I wouldn't exactly say all of them are my friends. Tori and Kanye are yes but then you have all the others! And Bibi…well Bibi is definitely not my friend." Henri babbled.
"I would be concerned if Miss Smithstrom was your friend. I deeply disapprove of her and her lifestyle." Lucas sneered at the thought but released Henri shoulders and moved around so she was facing him. Lucas was of course referring to Bibi's rather promiscuous behaviour. After the Swedish model had laid eyes on Lucas on Tuesday Bibi had been going on non-stop about him and linking any of her thoughts about him to sex and her past lovers. The other agency models had all been privy to her sex life all week. Unbeknownst to her, when Lucas came to collect Henri from work personally since he had been in the car when Wells was assigned to pick her up, Lucas had heard some of the steamy tails she had been telling. His reaction in the car to her was amusing but outdated. Lucas had embraced many things about modern muggle society since their emersion into the culture a few months ago however one thing had remained, no intercourse until you were married or at least promised in a binding and legal engagement.
"Do you see why I am nervous now? Who knows what she shall do and you know what she thinks of you. She thinks you are hot enough to melt a cliff face and are probably a sex god. She's been undressing you with her imagination verbally to the rest of us for the last four days. I can see her making some inappropriate comment or coming on to you and then everything blowing up because you and I both know what you are capable of!"
"Hush! My muggle baiting days are over and no matter what the vile little harlot confronts me with I gave my word to you as a gentleman that I would be civil and courteous." Lucas then laughed and rubbed his hands up and down Henri's arms. The touch seemed to melt right into her core. His blue eyes bore into her as he expressed his complete sincerity. "You have my word that I will remain calm and be unaffected by the temptation to lose control of my inhibitions in a surge of emotion."
That sentence sounded funny. Henri frowned. Lucas was smirking which was never a good thing. It usually meant that there was something going on that Henri had missed. She felt like huffing and sulking but instead she nodded.
"Okay. Fine. Just promise to stay around in case they all start doing something ridiculous and I go along with it because they have made me drunk."
"You, again, have my word. You know how to hold your liqueur. You have never .lost your sobriety with me. I have little doubt you will fail and lose it tonight." Lucas reassured but anything else he was going to say was interrupted by a bell going off and Zuza rushing forwards to answer the intercom.
"Yes Miss. Please come up, Lady Black is awaiting you." Zuza said then pressed a button to allow the people to come up to their apartment. Henri felt a rush of butterflies in her stomach.
"Ah I never get tired of hearing them refer to you as Lady." Lucas muttered jovially. Henri scowled. She wasn't used to being called 'Lady Black' or 'Lady Henrietta'. Still, Lucas seemed to lap up being called 'Lord Mercury' having inherited Lucius Malfoy's title too along with the remainder of the 'deceased' man's estates.
The next few minutes were a flurry of activity as eight models arrived, hugged Henri in greeting, gushed over the apartment and gave their flirty greetings to Lucas who tolerated it all with a polite smile. Bibi was the most outrageous with her flirty greeting, coupling the verbal flirting with flirty body language and the shortest skimpiest outfit Henri had ever witnessed in public. On the catwalks she had seen worse and certainly she had seen most of the models in nothing but their underwear for some of the photo shoots and during fittings.
Tori entered wither usual flair. Her attitude leaked off her as she marched towards Henri, swept her up in the equivalent of a bear hug, rocked her from side to side and shouted to all the rest of the models.
"I saw her first! She's my best friend!" Henri flushed at the clear mark of ownership then turned completely beat red with Lucas 'helpfully' added his two cents to the conversation.
"Actually I do believe I saw her first." Tori let go of Henri and they both turned to look at Lucas. Henri was gaping and completely embarrassed. Tori pushed her body weight into one hip, put her hand on her hip and pointed at Lucas with the other hand.
"You don't count. And you nearly lost her." Came Tori's retort, an accusation and a playful taunt all in one. Lucas smirked and inclined his head. He then glanced at Henri, that smirk still planted on his lips but humour in his eyes still.
"That is the joy of losing objects, eventually you find them again and their worth is far higher than their original worth." Lucas said sagely, expression full of meaning that Henri couldn't quite grasp before the man turned away and straightened up. "I shall leave you to settle in. I am sure between them Henri, Cosmo and Zuza can see to all of your needs. Good evening."
"Right then girls - "
"Hey!"
"-and guys." Tori rolled her eyes at the interruption and subsequent alteration of her statement, "let's get this party started!"
Once everyone was shown to the rooms they would be sharing they did indeed get the party started. The TV was turned on to one of the radio channels, the screen blank but the speakers blasting out music. The room was vibrating with sound and then with bodies as the various models began to dance and sing along. Bibi was really going for the dancing, showing off all her different moves.
Some of the other models started to pick at the food that Cosmo had provided and left on small trays on one of the side tables. The drinks were all laid out along the bar in the corner of the room, glasses lined up too. One of the male models shook two cups together with the liquid caught between then poured the contents of the cups into a glass. The liquid that came out was a hot pink colour. Henri turned her nose straight up at it, she did not like cocktails. She preferred her alcohol straight up.
"WOOOO! Gimme one of those!" A model called Isabella called out as she danced her way across the room to pick up the hot pink drink. She took a sip and smiled. "So GOOD!"
"Urgh." Henri rolled her eyes. Tori nudged her.
"What?! Just because you don't like them doesn't mean it's not good!" Tori protested then called over her shoulder to the model turned mixer. "Oi Roscoe, make me one!"
"Disgusting." Henri muttered but smirked when Tori nudged her again. Henri wandered over and poured herself a glass of whiskey. She downed her small glass of it in one then poured another. She was definitely going to need alcohol to get her through the night.
Once the alcohol started running the night began to blur by as everyone got progressively more drunk and ridiculous. They descended into a madness of dancing first, then began the screaming verbal spats which made Lucas appear in the rooms with his glass in hand and a scornful raised eyebrow. Henri hadn't even been one of the people screaming and arguing but she had felt herself blush at the look Lucas had gave everybody. She felt the embarrassment on her friends behalf as they were all too drunk to really feel anything other than the emotions at the forefront of their minds.
Still, Lucas' appearance brought a certain amount of calm to the group. At least it threw ice over the raging tempers. Instead it was suggested, by none other than flighty flirty Bibi herself, that they all sit down and play 'Never have I ever', a drinking game which involved sitting in a circle and taking it in turns to say 'Never have I ever' followed by a statement. Anyone who had done what was described in the statement had to take a shot.
The game had started simply enough. Bibi had stated clearly that never had she ever gone a week without showering. Oddly enough Henri wasn't the only person who took a drink to that statement which had then prompted a round of questions as to why they hadn't showered. Henri said because she had bathed in a river because there was no shower or bath where she had been stranded camping, omitting the whole truth considering she was surrounded by muggles. The other girls who had taken a drink said they had baths, not showers.
After a few rounds the game had progressively gotten more invasive and sexual. It had started simple 'never have I ever had sex with a man' a statement given by Kanye. Everybody except Kanye and Henri had downed their drinks, those who had needed to drink then spending the next few minutes ribbing the male models who had downed their drinks and Kanye and Henri who hadn't. Then came 'never have I ever kissed a girl' to which everybody had taken a drink. 'Never have I ever had sex with a girl' had Kanye, the other male models, Henri and Bibi all downing their shots.
Madness then descended upon the group bringing up more and more absurd things like creating sex tapes, watching various porn, sex on a plane, sex in front of an audience, orgies…the list went on. Henri couldn't think of anything to ask relating to all those things and had stayed safe with her questions. The rest of the group hadn't cared very much for the 'never have I ever destroyed public property' or 'never have I ever sabotaged a relationship', the first statement of which Henri had taken a drink at her own words.
Eventually, after well over an hour of vulgarity, the sexual questions slowly disappeared instead being replaced with more sinister things like 'never have I ever set a house on fire', 'never have I ever wished pain on somebody I know' and 'never have I ever violently hurt somebody'.
Bibi then gave the statement 'Never have I ever killed somebody'. Everybody had laughed but Henri, with a nervous swallow, had gone to lift her drink. A large hand swooped down and lifted her drink before she could. With astonishment Henri twisted around to see Lucas standing behind her downing her shot. He slammed the glass back onto the table, placed his hand on Henri's shoulder and used his other hand to finger his cane. Everybody around the table was staring with shock and fear at Lucas who gave everybody an impassive look.
"I assume that self-defence counts with that statement." Lucas said quietly but his voice carried around the room. The coldness of his statement which was masked as a question pierced straight to everyone's ears. The models nodded their heads agreeing with Lucas, probably not even registering that the man had declared it, not actually questioned it. "Excellent."
Lucas then turned and paced coolly over to the cabinet where the whiskey was. He poured out a glass and tumbled the liquid around it before drinking it. Somebody cleared their throat and Henri looked back to her friends to see Tori licking her lips nervously.
"I think we should finish the round then stop the game. There are only three people left and we've come full circle." The other models agreed and solemnly went back to the game, filling up Henri's shot glass ready for the next round. 'Never have I ever been to Japan' was the first statement, nice and easy with no worry over answering. The next was 'Never have I ever wanted to be a model'. Henri downed her shot, as did Kanye who apparently had wanted to me a rockstar…or so the very drunken man had said.
Finally the last person had to ask their question. With a huge flurry of arms and words Isabella announced 'never have I ever died'. Of course they all sighed or giggled, relieved that the game was over or laughing because of the daft statement.
Until Henri lifted her glass and downed her shot.
Henri became aware of a lot of eyes on her as she returned the glass to the coffee table. She didn't meet anybody's eyes at first then bravely met Tori's enquiring eyes followed by Bibi's disbelieving ones then around the table one by one meeting her friends eye to eye.
"You died? Are you insane? Of course you did not die."
"You can't have died, you are still here."
Various protests sprang up around the room, some drunken shouts while others were more sober denials. Henri stayed quiet through it all, not wanted to bother to protest and try to speak against all the raised voices and people talking over each other. She was just going to wait it all out then explain when things were quieter. Then a large warm hand landed on her shoulder and a glass was held in front of her. She glanced up to see Lucas giving her an ironic look. She sighed and took the offered glass, the action bringing all of her friend's attention to Lucas.
"I believe you were officially dead for all of two minutes, isn't that correct my dear?" Lucas enquired, which silenced all protests immediately.
"About that yes." Henri acquiesced.
"Hm, therefore you had officially died for two whole minutes before you were resuscitated." Lucas verbally explained, giving credence to Henri's answer in the game. He gave a single nod then and moved his hand from Henri's shoulder to pull back her hair and stroke it down her back. "Now I do believe your game has finished. It is beyond three in the morning and while I truly admire your stamina I believe it is time for us all to retire."
"What?" Isabelle slurred, her body wobbling and her face scrunched up as she tried to make sense of Lucas' words. Lucas rolled his eyes heavenly then met her squint with a hard stare.
"It is time to sleep. You have been shown where your rooms are, I suggest you find them again and get some rest."
Grudgingly the models got up and went upstairs to find their rooms again. Some were grumbling loudly about how unfair it was that they were being treated like children. Bibi was professing her horniness for Lucas because he had sexy eyes, a sexy voice and the body of a god. Others were groaning about how they were so drunk everything was moving around. One or two of them were whinging about how they wanted their beds. Henri just sighed and put her elbows on the table, cradling her face in her hands.
"Merlin I thought it would never end." She moaned. A hand combed through her hair.
"As did I. Come, my dear, you should go to bed as well."
"The mess…?"
"Will be cleared away in the morning. Come." Lucas urged and helped Henri to her feet. As they walked over to the staircase Lucas held tight to Henri's elbow to steady her as she wobbled everywhere. His other hand rummaged in his pocket until he pulled out a small vial. He handed it over to her. "Here. Sobriety drought." He said by way of explanation.
Henri took the vial, unscrewed the top and downed the liquid. It was icy cold and almost gave her freeze burns in her mouth and throat. It reached her stomach and settled there like ice, the fridges cold fighting away the alcohol while at the same time rehydrating Henri. God she loved magic.
"Thanks." She mumbled and handed the bottle back over. "It's a shame nobody else can have one."
"My sentiments exactly. One bonus to that however is that your friends shall sleep in exceptionally late tomorrow, giving us all a quiet morning."
"Assuming none of them throw up in the night." Henri snorted.
"Yes, there is that."
They ascended the stairs quietly and calmly, Lucas still supporting her elbow although now she was sober she hardly needed it. The warmth of his hand spread heat radiating up her arm and into her body, something she was grateful for as the sobriety potion had alerted her to how cold she actually was. When they made it to the top of the stair case Lucas escorted her to her bedroom door, kissed the back of her hand then left to go to his own room. Henri couldn't' bring herself to move for a moment, not until the door to his bedroom was completely shut behind him. Then she turned and opened the door to her own room.
There on the bed, all dressed in their pyjamas were Tori, Kanye and Bibi. Kanye was face down on her bed groaning and grumbling about something or another, Tori was alternating between smirking at him and scowling at Bibi, while the blonde was bouncing on the bed and babbling incessantly.
"I thought you were going to bed?" Henri asked confused, bemused and disappointedly. All heads snapped round to look at her. Tori smiled apologetically and opened her mouth to reply but Bibi got their first.
"We are going to watch Dirty Dancing! Come on, it's a pyjama party!"
Henri frowned at the girl, she looked reasonably hyperactive which was completely different to the drunken Bibi she had seen a few minutes. Her eyes were no longer glassy and she wasn't using a drunken babble of lustful words nor was she in any way incoherent. She looked completely bright and refreshed.
"Don't worry she hasn't done drugs." Tori rolled her eyes. Henri startled then scowled at her.
"I wasn't thinking that."
"Mm well," Tori said disbelieving, "she had a small drink from a bottle she brought with her and somehow we have the normal Bibi back." Here Tori roled her eyes again and gave the Henri a significant look demonstrating her disdain. "Unfortunately there is no drug I know that comes in little blue bottles and smells the way hers did."
"It's a tonic passed down through my family for generations, it is not a drug. Now, Dirty Dancing?!" Bibi demanded with another bounce on the bed.
"You hadn't even heard of Dirty Dancing until two minutes ago and now you are super eager to watch it? Explain that to me?" Tori demanded but climbed off the bed and wandered over to Henri's flat screen television on the wall opposite her bed. Tori found the button on the side of the television that released the DVD tray from the rest of the screen and started setting up the DVD to play.
"You said it's about love and romance and about amazing dancing! Well I am all about love and romance and dancing!" Bibi declared as if that answered everything.
"No slut, you are all about sex and lust and using your unsuspecting victims to get ahead in modelling." Kanye grumbled and rolled onto his back. Bibi scowled at him and shoved him back over onto his front.
"I am not!" She protested. "I am all about love and romance. I cannot help being beautiful and people not being able to resist me. I descend from Veela. It is a curse on our family to be beautiful and sexy. I want my love and romance but I'm not a saint! I will use my natural advantages to get what I want."
Henri pinned her eyes on the blonde model. She had just openly admitted to being a Veela? Seriously? And was it true? Well she had all the looks for it, even resembled Fleur and Gabrielle and those other Veela Henri saw at the Quidditch world cup match. But Henri thought Veela were native to France, not Sweden? And as for the sex thing…Veela didn't tend to have sex often unless there were strong feelings attached to the one they were going to be intimate with. Then there were feelings of jealousy and…
"If by Veela you mean a family of sluts then I'd have to agree with you." Kanye bitched back and Bibi scowled darkly.
"Never insult my family." She clipped him over the back of the head hard. Kanye yelped and screamed out an 'OW' but Bibi just crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at the man. "I am no more of a slut than you are!"
"Oh yeah? And how many people have you had sex with this last week?! And only ten minutes ago you were lusting over Lucas downstairs when the man was clearly not interested!"
"I am allowed to view male perfection am I not?! I notice you were admiring him too!"
"Children! CHILDREN!" Tori yelled, her voice interrupting the bickering on the bed. Bibi and Kanye looked to the woman impatiently and slightly shocked.
Henri was still reeling from the 'Veela' comment but she seemed to be the only one. Apparently Kanye and Tori didn't know what it could mean but Henri did and Bibi obviously knew what it meant though Henri was sceptical of that because of how much Bibi reportedly slept around…and how much she actually slept around.
"Shut up and watch the film. If either of you start bitching at each other again then I swear I am going to…" Tori's eyes were wide, her jaw clenched and she stared at them meaningfully with a look of pure promise. Henri didn't know what sorts of horrors her friend was concocting but that vicious look on her face served as big enough warning, Tori didn't need to verbalise any more of the threat.
"Okay then."
"I will if he will." Bibi announced then her gaze flicked to Henri and she went opened mouthed in diva shock. "Henri! Get changed, come on! It's a pyjama party!"
Henri rolled her eyes but wandered over to her wardrobe to find her own pyjamas. She changed quickly and then hurried back into her bedroom as the intro to the film started. There was a family driving in the car and one of them was obviously named 'Baby'.
"She has the same name as me!" Bibi celebrated. Tori scowled at her as she plumped uip the pillows behind herself.
"No she doesn't you stupid bimbo, her name is 'Baby'?"
"Sounds the same." Bibi shrugged completely unconcerned and threw herself forwards so she was face down on the bed, feet at the pillow end of the bed and her head at the bottom of it. She rested her head on her hands so she could watch the television. Henri climbed onto the bed beside Tori as that was the only space left on the bed since Kanye was sat cross-legged at the bottom of her bed.
"You know I was hoping to just go to sleep now, not actually watch a film." Henri said with a partial whine. Tori batted away the protest.
"Shut up and watch the film. Consider it an education because I know you haven't watched this before and it's a classic! Patrick Swayze is to die for and their dancing is brilliant! Just watch it."
It took only an hour and twenty minutes for Kanye and Tori to fall asleep, seemingly their debate on how Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey had 'chemistry', were both 'beautiful people' and reminded both of them of Henri and Lucas wore them out. Especially since at one point they paused the film to properly hash out the debate. In the end they had decided that Henri was as tiny as Jennifer Grey, 'Baby's' character, and that Lucas had all the manliness and hotness of Patrick Swayze, or 'Johnny'. Henri wasn't sure she liked the comparison but had felt her cheeks heat up and embarrassment fill her when she found herself mentally comparing Patrick's naked torso to Lucas'.
Now though it was just Bibi and Henri watching the film. Bibi had a look of utter fascination on her face and Henri was half watching the film, part considering Lucas and part fretting over what to say to Bibi about the Veela thing. The final dance though completely drew her attention and Henri found herself immersed in the film as Patrick and Jennifer twirled, spun, did fancy footwork and then Jennifer got held up in the air like she was flying. It was brilliant.
Bibi got up and turned off the film once it had finished and it was as she returned to the bed, babbling about how wonderful those people were, how amazing that dancing was and how she really wanted to dance like that, that Henri inarticulately brokered the subject that had been plaguing her.
"So, Veela, huh?" Oh yes, completely inarticulate. Bibi's babbling stopped at that moment though and she froze in her mid-climb onto the bed. Bibi's eyes narrowed on Henri with suspicion and shock.
"You know of Veela?"
"Question is, you know of veela?"
"Yes. I descend from them. You?" Bibi said climbing fully onto the bed and kneeling opposite Henri. Henri pulled herself into a kneeling position too, relaxing back onto ther ankles but imitating Bibi;s posture so they appeared on equal ground.
"I knew some. At the World Cup and then some married into my extended family. Delacours, from France." Henri said, figuring the announcement was vague enough but would reveal a lot if Bibi knew of the wizarding world like she thought. Indeed, her suspicions were confirmed a moment later when Bibi's eyes went wide.
"Quidditch? The Delacours?! I went to school with Gabrielle! Beaubatons!" Bibi said with amazement then she grinned widely and happily and lunged at Henri enveloping her in a fast, hard hug. "Oh Henri! To know you understand where I come from! OH! I'm so happy! I have missed magic so much! I felt so alone! Oh!"
"Okay, it's okay!" Henri said calmingly. Then she felt the tears raining down on her shoulder and she frowned in alarm. Bibi was that relieved about Henri having magic too? "Bibi?"
"Oh I'm sorry." Bibi cried and clutched Henri tighter. Henri started to feel a lot of concern well up inside of her then. She brought her hands back and put them on Bibi's sides trying to push the girl away a little so she could see her face. Bibi refused to move at first but then allowed Henri to give them some distance even though she started sobbing more heavily.
"Bibi? What's wrong? You're okay, it's okay."
"No…no it's not. But you…you aren't from America are you. You are English, you escaped just like I did."
Oh dear sweet merciful Merlin. Shock, horror, fear, disbelief, anger…everything welled up inside of Henri.
"I think perhaps we had better go downstairs and chat. Tea?" Henri offered and began climbing off the bed making sure to keep a hand on Bibi so she wasn't losing the human contact, the comfort or the feeling that Henri wasn't going to let this whole issue go. Bibi climbed off the bed with her and clutched at her hand though so Henri carefully led the still crying girl down stairs.
What followed next was a gruesome tale of Bibi's life over the last few years. She had attended Beaubatons to complete her Newts then in April last year she had been abducted and sold to a Zacharias Smith as his wife completely against her will and under the influence of Amortentia, the strongest love potion around. It was all because Zacharias was going to help the terrorist group known as 'Liberty' only if they got him a Veela to be his wife. Since he got Bibi, whose name at the time was Beata Smith nee Eldstrom, Zacharias joined the terrorists and helped them gain access to more ministry files, and more specifically handed over personnel files of people at the ministry which contained information on people's magical ability, magical signatures, political power, allies and even enemies. The files also contained information on their daily routines hence the reason Kingsley was able to be assassinated, because he always ordered the same drink every day at the same time every day.
Zacharias, Bibi explained, was also responsible for helping to re-write policies and documentation relating to law to help restrict and punish pure-bloods. He helped write the small print to trap purebloods in and to give muggleborns far more rights in certain situations. He also, it seemed, had a hand in writing the new Creature laws. All the while Bibi was under the love potion and drugged into loving a truly despicable man.
Bibi said that she had not known she was under a love potion until she fell pregnant and had a miscarriage. It was then during that depression that her veela started to pull through and she became more aware of it than ever. She explained how she started to fight Zacharias, how one time she had fought him in bed but had lost. That was the worst moment of her entire life. She then noticed Zacharias slipping potions into her food but by then it was too late, the Veela had caught on. After living in fear of tripping up and accidentally ingesting Amortentia and having to pretend to be under its influences and shower love and devotion on a man she hated Bibi said she finally let go of control of her Veela instincts. One night in bed she unleashed all her rage in a huge blast of fire. She said Zacharias screamed and leapt out of bed awake at once but he ran around on fire screaming. A house elf appeared and magically put out the fire on Zacharias and Bibi fully transformed into a Veela and started attacking him.
She didn't go into any more detail there, just said that Zacharias fought back but she won in the end. She said he was still alive but kept at St Mungo's unconscious while they try to heal his wounds. She got arrested straight away and they tried to imprison her but since the Terrorists hadn't yet changed all the laws she was still protected by Veela law which said she was within her rights to attack her husband, a man who essentially raped her, because he tried to seduce her without being her mate or her chosen. After the trial she fled England. She changed her appearance using a a series of cosmetic potions which are aimed to help women magically improve their bust size, waist size, eye colour, hair colour, hair length, skin colour etc. She said she spent about 500 galleons but now looked nothing like Beata anymore. She then changed her name after using her allure to get some officials at the ministry to forge her different documents then obliviate them so they wouldn't remember. She went from being Beata Smith nee Eldstrom to Bibi Smithstrom, single woman from Sweden. She chose to merge her married name and her maiden name because she wanted to never forget the atrocities done to her but also to remember how she had survived and she had prevailed.
Once all that was done she fled to America, registered at the Salem Ministry who gave her a full Muggle Visa because American Wizards weren't as picky as Muggles as to whom they allowed into the country. From there she used her natural assets to get herself a job. She had no qualifications so naturally she used her looks, becoming a model was easy then. Her allure translated to the camera too and muggles were easy to bewitch. She rose quickly in the career and ended up in New York with Henri.
Henri debated how much to tell Bibi of her story. Should she explain what they did to escape? Try to hint at who she really was…or really used to be? Should she explain that actually she was living with an ex-Death Eater? Should she come clean about everything?
In the end Bibi yawned and rubbed her eyes.
"You know, I am tired. Could we talk more tomorrow?"
And that was that. Thankfully.
"Sure. I might not be here when you wake up tomorrow though. Lucas and I have a house viewing at 12noon and it's a few hours' drive. I will talk to you when I get back though. Maybe you could come over for dinner in the evening that way Lucas and I can explain what happened to us."
"Excellent. So Lucas used to be a pureblood then?" She said as they rose and made their way to the stairs.
"What makes you say that?" Henri asked frowning curiously. Bibi gave an enigmatic smile and cocked her head to the side.
"You mean you don't know? Looking at houses together is an old Pureblood courting ritual. If they get the ancestral home then the potential bride to be is introduced to the house. If there is not home and the pureblood intends to buy the marital house then the couple looks and chooses together." Bibi patiently explained still with that confused look on her face. Henri felt her face flame immediately and she stuttered to respond.
"W-W-We aren't m-married!"
"Of course not, otherwise you would already have your home. How long have you been together?"
"We're not!" Henri spluttered shaking her head and holding her arms up in front of her like a mini surrender. "We aren't together, we never have been."
"But you obviously like him and he seems to adore you so why not?"
"Because…because…it's not like that!" Henri couldn't think of what to say and her pathetic response was met with a level stare.
"Well it should be. Look, you are obviously really close, you have an amazing relationship and the attraction is there in spades."
"What are you talking about? What attraction?" Bibi gave Henri another level stare one that clearly questioned her intelligence.
"The attraction! You have chemistry, magic and desire between you! Even if I wasn't a Veela, which I am, the allure between you two is amazingly strong! How do you think Lucas was able to resist my allure earlier? It's because he has an allure to someone which is stronger than the magic I let out." Bibi sighed then at the floundering look on Henri's face. She put her hands on Henri's shoulders and made direct eye contact. "Look, it is obviously all beneath the surface and you haven't realised it yet but believe me when I say that he is infatuated with you and that on some level you have deep feelings for him too. So, think about it and consider. You are obviously happy with him here, but you could be happier with him."
Henri's mind struggled to keep up. Her ears heard the words but they didn't quite compute in her head. She stared at Bibi trying to understand, trying to comprehend, something that had never before even attempted to cross her mind? Attraction? Her to Lucas? But he was…and she used to be…and his age…did she even want to be with anybody now she was a girl?
"You…but I…" She stuttered again unable to articulate the thousand thoughts running riot in her mind. Bibi huffed this time and flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder before fixing Henri with a stern look very reminiscent of McGonnegall.
"Have it your way then!" She intoned purposefully and sharply. "Imagine him with somebody else."
With that she turned and harrumphed off to her room, shutting the door behind her and not sparing Henri another glance.
Henri didn't know how long she stood in the hallway for before she eventually zombie walked to her room and climbed into her admittedly crowded bed. Tori was snoring in a very un-lady like fashion and Kanye was making a strange whistling sound every time he exhaled through his nose. It was no different to dormitories when Henri was a boy at Hogwarts.
When Henri was a boy…that's right, she used to be Harry! Attraction was so much easier when she was Harry. Harry had liked Cho then he had liked Ginny. Both athletic, funny, caring and talented girls. He had liked girls! He had been a typical bloke fantasizing about having intimate relations with a girlfriend, in brief moments he hadn't been worrying about Voldemort. He had kissed girls and he had hugged girls and…and that was about it but it had all been towards girls.
Now he was the girl…she was the girl.
Did Lucas like her then? Bibi thought he did and if Henri thought back to all the times he had spent with Lucas when they weren't arguing there was always warmth there…his eyes always shone with affection. He had bought her presents too and paid her compliments reasonably frequently…something Harry had done to Ginny because he was too nervous and tongue-tied to do the same to Cho. He spent time with her, seemed to enjoy her company. She enjoyed his company too. She liked chatting with him, liked being around him, liked the comfortable and homely feeling being around him created. Homely feeling? She hadn't noticed that before…she did feel at home with him. New York was her home now…was it just that she was at home and Lucas happened to be with her? Or did he make New York a home for her? What would it have been like if he hadn't of been there with her? Would it still have felt like home?
No. No it hadn't. When she and Lucas had fallen out over that awful Van Der Burgh woman Henri hadn't felt comfortable in New York at all! She had felt out of place, uncomfortable to the point of a nervous breakdown from stress and over work. She had felt lonely and isolated and in a strange unfamiliar place. She had hated it. When Lucas had finally figured everything out it had been a gigantic relief to finally feel at home once more, to have Lucas back once more.
But that was just companionship, friendship, surely! It didn't say anything for attraction! Was Lucas attractive? Physically, morally, emotionally, intellectually? Henri had never considered it before.
Physically he was tall, well-muscled, toned and strong. He had curly blonde hair, bright eyes and a strong jaw. He looked every bit the rich man and his looks gave him an air of warmth which totally contradicted the majority of his personality which was cold, shrewd, ruthless, sneaky and cunning. His moral sensibilities and ethics weren't gold and shiny, he had no compassion for what should happen to others he used or pushed aside to get to where he wanted to go, however he had a strong commitment to his family and ensuring they were healthy, safe and well cared for. His other morals and ethics were slowly changing too, a welcome and necessary change that pleased and impressed Henri as the once iceman Lucius Malfoy was disappearing now and in his place was an evolving, emotionally developing man who showed compassion, showed empathy and demonstrated happiness, tenderness and a general enjoyment of life. His changed were good changes, very good changes. Henri was proud of him, she respected him a great deal too!
But was he attractive to her?
She hadn't considered that.
Was she attractive to him? Did she want to be attractive to him?
She was the embodiment of everything Lucius Malfoy used to hate, she was his enemy! She was the complete opposite of him, fought for an opposite side in the war and had a completely different sense of moral alignment. However he had changed and she had changed so maybe that didn't matter anymore? Should it even matter anymore?
On the surface of things she knew she was attractive to look at. How else would you get a modelling job and succeed? She was pretty and she was attractive physically. Emotionally…Henri didn't even know what to consider as attractive. She had her faults, everyone did, hers especially being that she had a bit of a hero-complex and didn't always take care of herself. She had a lack in self-confidence as well, something which had developed since turning into a girl. Lucas had, on many occasions, pointed out her lack in confidence.
He had demonstrated his own lack in confidence too though at times. He could be very self-depreciative, she had noticed now that she thought about it. He put himself down and put down his actions in the war. Rightly so, many would argue, because his involvement with Voldemort was appalling and should be severely disparaged. Still did he recognise the massive change in personality and morals? It was nearly a paradigm shift in alignment…nearly.
He was still very interested in power, be it magical or monetary. The apartment they lived in, the lifestyle they afforded and the house Lucas was going to buy for them were all indicators of how much he was still a noble man at heart, still a wealthy man interested in accumulating more wealth and items to demonstrate to the world how powerful he was. Henri was powerful too, monetarily and magically. Maybe that was attractive to Lucas? Her power was great enough to defeat Voldemort after all and she had often been praised for how gifted she was with Defence. Would that make her attractive to Lucas though?
Did she want him to find her attractive? She couldn't imagine a relationship with him, had never even broached the topic in her mind! She hadn't contemplated even the barest sliver of a thought that she would have a relationship now, now she was Henri! It hadn't even occurred to her. Should she have a relationship as a girl? Shouldn't she be trying to return to being Harry? Did she want to? No…no she didn't. It was equally complex to be Harry as it was to be a girl. Wasn't that a depressing thought?
But that was beside the point! Could she have a romantic relationship with Lucas? Could she imagine holding his hand, kissing him, hugging him, sleeping with him…having sex with him? The thought was absurd! She couldn't even dare to think on it! The whole topic was big and scary and new and…and…unreal.
Besides, she still wasn't sure she liked him like that let alone want to consider all the connotations of being with him romantically.
Imagine him with someone else!
Bloody hell!
That thought came from nowhere but immediately brought images of that conniving, vicious snake in the grass Van Der Burgh! Evil, wretched woman! The animosity, distrust, hatred and jealousy immediately sprang up inside of Henri and she almost saw red. That woman had tried getting her nasty viperous claws into Lucas and had torn the man away from Henri and thrown him back into his Lucius Malfoy façade. Lucas had returned to that cool, calculating robot of a man and Henri had lost the warm, tender and strong man that was Lucas. Never again would that woman come near Lucas and nor would any other of her ilk.
Oh dear Merlin!
Henri gritted her teeth, flung open the little drawer on her bedside table and pulled out a small dose of dreamless sleep. She didn't want to think on this anymore! She uncorked the small vial and downed its contents before putting the vial back into the drawer and closing it, feeling the magic snap back into place so it wouldn't allow anybody other than her to open the drawer. She waited for the potion to kick in doing her best not to think any more on the subject. Her face was flushed red with embarrassment and anger, reminiscing the memory of Marion Van Der Burgh and also the physical representation of her jealousy of the woman getting close to Lucas.
The dreamless sleep took all those thoughts away for a while letting her get some blissful sleep. She didn't want to worry about it anymore…not yet.
Authors Note: So another chapter and the slow realisation of some feelings for Lucas. This is only the start…we have a little way to go yet but still, a start is at least have learned a little something about Bibi as well which has linked us back a little to what is happening in England. Originally Bibi was going to be somebody Henri hated, you can see hints of that at the beginning of this chapter. They did not like her at all! However, somehow I couldn't keep her like that, she was just a girl having problems and being that beautiful she had to be a veela. When I wrote this chapter I went back and altered some bits about her in the other chapters before I posted them to fanfiction - did anyone catch my hints in the previous chapters about Bibi being a veela?
I hope you liked this chapter, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
