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Disclaimer: I don't own this and I am evidently making no money from it so if you sued it would be rather pointless.

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Chapter Ten: The Veela Boy

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"Lady, your tea" A pretty blonde waitress placed the cup of tea in front of her, along with Malfoy's order. "Enjoy"

"Yeah thanks" Hermione muttered distractedly, her attention across the aisle at the two women opposite her.

"I can't believe he is late, the nerve of him" one snapped in a high shrill voice that reminded Hermione of a chicken, but her looks more than made up for it. Although her startling green eyes were narrowed and her brown styled hair was coming undone as she fidgeted, she still looked like a Greek goddess.

"Well he is our husband, and we, as dutiful wives must wait with baited breath for his return" The woman sitting opposite her spoke in a whisper and indeed looked as beautiful as the first, but also looked as though she were hiding a death curse behind every word.

"Danielle hold your breath a little longer and do us all a favor" the first woman snapped as Hermione looked at her tea pretending not to be listening to the conversation that the whole café could hear.

"Christine why do you always try to lure me into your little verbal fencing matches?" The woman called Danielle asked as Malfoy appeared again in the doorway across the room.

"Because I don't have a real sword handy" Christine snapped as a man appeared at the door beside Malfoy.

"Ah Leonardo" Danielle smiled standing up and hurrying to embrace the man. Christine got there first and delivered a dignified slap across his face.

"Your late" she snapped as Leonardo smiled.

"Ah ladies, nothing you could do today, could put me in a bad mood" Leonardo cried as the women looked at him apprehensively and Malfoy sat down across from Hermione.

"And why would that be darling" Danielle ventured as Christine scowled.

"Because we are getting a divorce" He roared joyously as woman looked as though they had been burned. "Now let us go finalize the process hmm"

"Mudblood" Malfoy muttered under his breath earning a scowl from Hermione.

"What?" she asked taking a sip of her tea ignoring his childhood insult.

"Not you, him" Malfoy said off handedly as the two witches who were looking scandalized stormed out of the café bickering with each other again.

"How do you know Malfoy, you have never even met him"

"Purebloods are bound into wedlock Granger, by strong magic, there is no such thing in the civilized wizarding world as a divorce"

Choosing not to comment Hermione continued with her tea. Malfoy pushed the pie towards her.

"I'd eat if I were you Granger, because you won't get another chance till tomorrow at least" Malfoy said gesturing to the piece of pie. "And I don't want to have to hear you complaining for the rest of the night"

Hermione hadn't realized how late it was until she looked out the window and saw that the moon hung with stars rather than the sun.

"I am not going to help you Malfoy" she said pushing the plate away. "You may be stupid enough to think that you could march through the front gate of Azkaban prison and stroll back out again untouched, but I have brains"

"Granger it is as simple as this. You comply, or I kill you"

Hermione was not shocked by his response. This was Malfoy after all.

"You wouldn't kill me Malfoy, for three reasons"

"Really? I can't think of any"

"One, I am the top of the grade at Hogwarts, as if you could kill me"

"Of common magic Granger, I doubt you studied the dark side in as much depth as me" Malfoy smirked as her smile faltered a little.

"Two, it would be your neck, if you killed me... you would end up in a cell next to your father"

"There is more than one way to kill someone and I would only be in trouble if they found out I did it Granger, and you won't be alive to tell them"

What he said was true. She hadn't told Harry, Ron, or even Dumbledore where she was going. Only Kingsley knew, but how could he prove Hermione hadn't bumped into someone else?

"Three, our agreement, you guaranteed my safety, you promised and purebloods don't break promises do they"

It was said as a statement but Hermione meant the question. Purebloods were bound by a lot of things, were promises one of them?

Malfoy's smirk disappeared as he leant back in his chair and pretended to examine his nails arrogantly.

"True Granger, Purebloods don't break oaths, but I didn't promise anything" Malfoy's eyes gleamed as he looked at Hermione who stared back defiantly, But with no more effect than a kitten would have, while staring defiantly at a lion.

"But you answered yes, we made a deal –"

"A promise is a promise, but a deal can be compromised" he said and she knew he meant it.

"Malfoy please don't make me do this" she sighed. "I will be breaking a promise"

This wasn't a lie. She had promised Harry and Ron that she would never follow Harry on another suicide mission and would never walk blindly into danger ever again. If this didn't count as danger than she didn't know what would.

"And I should care?" Malfoy sneered. "Granger I am freeing my father, I thought you, the bleeding heart of the dream team would care enough to help"

"I sympathize, if my father was in Azkaban, I would probably do the same thing but I won't do something this stupid for you Malfoy, your father is in there for a bloody good reason"

"Fine Granger, what ever you say" Malfoy said as he smiled, the most unnerving thing she had ever seen. He reached across the table and took the little owl out of its gift box, and jabbed it with his wand before he held it out to her. "If you don't want to help, here take this portkey, but you are going to regret this later"

"Whatever Malfoy" she said snatching the owl off him. "And don't think that I am not going to tell Dumbledore or the others about Bellatrix and Azkaban!"

"You do that Granger" he said activating the portkey. "If you survive"

A sudden recognition flashed through Hermione's startled brown eyes a moment before she disappeared.

"Have fun" Malfoy muttered sitting back into his chair and picking up his Latte. Pulling over the pie, he smirked. Have fun.

~*~

"Oh Merlin" Hermione whispered as she appeared in a pitch black clearing. There was no snow, so this wasn't the forbidden forest. He hadn't sent her back to Hogwarts.

"Malfoy I am so going to kill you when I see you next!" she whispered under her breath bitterly.

"Don't count on it Missy" Drawled a voice from behind her. Spinning around she almost feinted with terror. "Because darling, you won't be seeing anything beyond today"

"Come now Greta, are you really that hungry" Another voice from her left growled as another one stumbled up beside her. "Eyeballs are not that appetizing"

"Greta may not be, but Markl is" Another creature stumbled in to her right, indicating to something that was behind her, panting horridly.

"Greta didn't say she wasn't hungry, Skrink did" The first one growled again as Hermione pulled out her wand. The four women that were standing around her, if that is what you call them, were some of the ugliest things Hermione had ever seen. That was saying something, considering that she had been schooled with the Slytherins. The women were covered in ugly grey feathers and had wicked talons for feet and wings for arms. Dried blood caked their claws and faces and they had vicious yellow eyes.

"You're Harpies" Hermione whispered as the one named Skrink moved closer to her.

"Yes and you are the enemy of the Veela boy" she said smiling wickedly.

"You mean Malfoy?" Hermione asked as Greta dropped a feathery arm over Hermione's shoulder and Hermione had to hold her breath to prevent throwing up. She doubted they would like the gesture very much.

"The Veela boy gave us directions as to what to do with you precious" the one named Markl panted. So Malfoy had expected this from the start! His voice filled her ears as she remembered what he had said moments before; 'There is more than one way to kill you'

"Are you to kill me?" Hermione gulped as Skrink and Greta flew into the air.

"No precious, we are going to leave that for the Mermaids" Skrink shrieked as she gripped one of Hermione's arms with her talons and Markl grabbed the other. Together they both flew straight upwards. Hermione moved her wand so she could aim at Markl, but then saw she was already thirty feet up; if she struck them from this high she would fall to her death.

"You won't be needing that where you're going" Greta said snatching Hermione's wand out of her hand. Now she wasn't just scared, she was terrified.

'What a stupid thing to do!' she mentally scolded herself. This was the last bloody time that she trusted Malfoy! Why had she trusted him in the first place?

The country side was going past in a blur as the harpies took her further from where ever Malfoy's portkey had dropped her. The harpies made it particularly difficult for Hermione as they kept dragging her through clouds, soaking the skintight robes and cloak. Combined with the wind she was freezing.

"Do you talk with 'The Veela boy' often?" Hermione asked Greta through chattering teeth. She held the little owl in her hand tightly so she didn't drop it, as her hands shook with cold and terror.

"Only once" Greta said thoughtfully. "Brought us meat"

"Right and will there be any chance that you will see him anytime soon?" Hermione asked as Markl and Skrink dragged her through another cloud.

"Yes, confirmation that we didn't kill you personally"

Despite the situation Hermione rolled her eyes. 'It would figure'

"Well next time you see that slime ball tell him from me, that he is going to pay for this when I get my hands around his throat, whether it be in this life or the next"

"Optimistic attitude" Skrink snorted as she looked at Markl. They were flying over water now.

"Beautiful company, but you must be leaving now" Greta smirked as Shrink and Markl let go of her.

Hermione was surprised that she didn't feel overwhelming panic. She felt scared and sick at the thought of what would happen when she hit the water but the last thought that went through her head was a complete surprise 'Malfoy you are dead when I get my hands on you'

"Harpy Devils!" roared a voice from somewhere above her as she felt herself impact on something solid, and her head collide with a hard skull.

"Princess, we shall protect you, fear not" bellowed a voice next to her as she felt strong hands pull her onto an air steed properly. Dazed she felt her wand pushed back into her hands and the beast beneath her that sounded a lot like a horse, gallop towards the ground.

"Princess?" she asked as whatever she was riding make contact with the ground with a jolt and she was lifted off the steed into more arms. She had obviously been caught by a group of people with the amount of voices around her.

"Tend to her; I go to slay the Harpy devils!" The voice she had heard a moment ago cried as she felt herself being carried away. Opening her eyes and trying to focus, she noticed that she was being carried by two women, who seemed to shine when she looked at them. Looking past them she saw they were taking her into a forest glade that shone with thousands of tiny lights.

Woodwind instruments filtered soft music from the trees, unperturbed by the commotion in the air and the forest looked like it had been decorated for a great party. Hardly anyone was paying attention to the shrieking harpies above them. The people around her were a burst of colour. Women were all dressed in long silken dresses, and the male's, in flowing shirts and pants.

"Who are you?" Hermione asked one of the women that were carrying her. "Where are you taking me?"

As the woman looked at her, Hermione had to hold back a gasp. The woman didn't look any older than nineteen, but her eyes told a different story, they were a vivid green and were wizened with many ages. Her skin was milky pale and her clothes were not silk as she had thought, but made of nature. Out of her back hung beautiful, semi transparent wings.

"You're a fairy?"

"Indeed, I am lady, my name is Shirley, and this is my sister Barber"

Hermione considered this for a moment. Fairies were not meant to be and bigger than her palm, so what were they doing as tall as a human?

Putting it down to an engorgement experiment gone wrong or genetic mutation, Hermione turned back to her problem at hand "Right and where I am?"

"You are in our enchanted glade"

Hermione didn't bother asking any more questions as the two tall fairy folk sat her on a chair and set a goblet of water in front of her.

"What is your name child?" Barber asked as Shirley smiled "Your grace gives you the disposition of a lady and your strength, the wild sprit of a warrior"

"My name is Hermione" she replied blushing modestly and smiling as Shirley looked at the wand in her hand.

"You are a witch?" Barber asked as Hermione set her wand in her lap and nodded. "Why did the Germ attack you?"

"Germ?" Hermione asked puzzled.

"Harpy colony, it's called their Germ" Shirley said passively, her eyes still on Hermione's wand. "there are at least nine Germ's in this forest, they compete with the Garou"

"Garou?" Hermione had read of the Garou, but didn't think she would ever find one. "There is a Garou colony in these woods?"

"There are many colonies in these woods, Garou, Kindred, Wyrm and Germ all oppose each other, and are the most common, to the east, there are Dragons and to the North, the Sidhe, our kin, weave their Magic, west are the trees of the dark and to the south, the Centaurs and Nymphs collect and tend air beasts"

Hermione doubted very much that the forest that she was in at the moment would be plotted on any map. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Barber had just described a utopia for magical creatures. The pages of the books she had read night by night, came flooding into her head as the commotion above quieted and the sound of galloping came to her ears once again.

"are their Veela in this Forest?" Hermione asked suddenly as another piece of information snapped into place.

"Only two"

"Only two Veela, and is one a wizard?"

"No, the kindred, Wyrm and Germ believe there is a Veela boy, but he holds no Veela blood"

Hermione nodded. "Of course"

Malfoy prided him self on being a pure blood, so of course his lines wouldn't be mixed with any other creature's blood. Although his looks were enough to confuse an outsider that wasn't in touch with the earth, he didn't have the power of the Veela.

"And the two Veela, what are their names?"

Suddenly there was an almighty roar from the forest around her.

"What now?" she groaned as the fairy's that were standing before her leapt into the air. She stumbled to her feet and held her wand tightly as the she found herself grabbed by two enormous clawed hands and thrown up into the air by something with as much strength as an elephant. She had barely started falling when more powerful claws grabbed her and she felt whatever had caught her start flying. She had only enough time to recognize that the creature holding her was a griffin before she was falling, a moment later becoming soaked to the bone as she impacted on shallow icy water.

She felt it were very fortunate that she were under water at that particular time, or people as far away as Australia, or perhaps as close considering she didn't have a clue where she was, would have heard the curse she swore in the name of Malfoy. As Slimy hands gripped her arms and legs and began dragging her deeper beneath the water, she didn't scream or panic. Her past encounters had more than readied her for what ever was about to jump at her, and it came as no surprise that the creatures were mermaids.

"You are Mudblood?" One that was gripping her ankle unnecessarily tight asked, as she tried to kick free. As the others tightened their grip she just let them pull her. She couldn't be bothered fighting, her lungs were burning too much with want of air. She had her wand, but couldn't move her hand enough to cast a spell, even if she could think of one. "Then you end here"

Her mind flew back to the fourth year as she tried vainly to think of something that she could use. What had the members of the tournament used? Harry had used Gillyweed, but she doubted that the merpeople would have a spare piece in a concealed pocket somewhere. Krum had half transfigured himself into a shark, but had neglected to tell her how, which was an awful lot of use now as her brain decided that holding out for oxygen wouldn't suit it anymore and started trying to breath through the water.

As she started choking and her mind ebbed into darkness she tried to remember what the others had used, but couldn't even remember who the others were.

"Veela boy sends this" Hermione didn't know where the sound was coming from but felt a rough object pushed into her hand. As the last of her consciousness left her she felt an all too familiar jerk before plunging into darkness.

~*~

A/N: hey, just a note, if some people noticed that some of the names of the
creature colony's weren't from Harry Potter I'll just write a quick
disclaimer for the words. The Garou, Kindred, Wyrm and Sidhe are all communities of particular creatures, and I will explain what they are and where they come from in the future. Thanks for reading, and please review.
Oh just another note, I still need a beta reader, so if anyone would be willing to help out that would be great. I apologize for grammatical and
punctuation errors. I am hopeless with both of them.