Fallen For A Veela

by tati

Disclaimer:  I do not own Harry Potter.

Warning:  This is a SLASH romance fic.  There will be violence – there is ALWAYS violence in my stories.  Nothing you read qualifies as NC-17 because I have read much worse that still fit the rules, so no tattling!

Chapter 1 – Submission

"Boy!"  Harry groaned and rolled out of bed despite the early hour (four A.M.).  Grabbing his things, Harry clattered down the stairs and heaved his trunk into Uncle Vernon's new company car.  Said Uncle grunted and gunned the engine; driving his least favorite nephew to the London train station so the disgusting boy could return once again to his freakish school.  He eyed the boy in the rearview mirror, distaste plain on his face.  Where his Dudley was big, strong, and handsome, the freak was underweight, fragile-looking, and worst of all, looked like a girl.  The boy was pretty!  Of all the nasty things - ! Well, oddly enough the neighborhood girls seemed to adore the feminity (not a word) of his nephew.  Even more curious, the attraction was not love or lust but rather…motherhood.  He snorted.  The females coddled him!  Only one girl looked at Harry in that light, and Petunia had firsthand gossip that that child was lesbian!  All the other girls hugged him, or played with his hair; glaring at the Dursleys when they were forced to leave him be so he could do chores.  Even Petunia's bridge partners had dressed up the boy like some nasty childhood doll!  He snorted again and glared at the boy for good measure.  Harry shrank back from the venomous stare which made Vernon smug, but what the fat man didn't know was that his hate-filled eyes had reminded one Harry Potter of two other eyes: red, snakelike, and malevolent.  Harry shuddered, thinking of the eyes, the laugh, the man that haunted his nightmares: Lord Voldemort.  Harry frankly had no idea as to how he was expected to beat the man now.  He had brought him back; no one should trust Harry with anything again.  He was a murderer – and a target.  And he was in no condition to fight.  Ever since puberty had hit (around the end of fourth year) Harry could barely stand up to his own shadow, much less his domineering relations or Voldemort.  He sighed inwardly.  What had made him so…wimpy?  He was clueless, but he hoped it stopped soon.

The car screeched to a halt, and Harry got out with his things before Vernon roared away.  Harry rolled his eyes and trudged to the Hogwarts Express to take a nap; his body sagging with exhaustion.

````````````````````````````

Harry woke to Hermione shaking him.

"Ron!  Ron, I found him!"  Harry yawned as he came awake; shrugging off Hermione's hands he sat up.  Ron entered.  Harry gaped.

Ron had grown over the summer and now, at 6'3", was even taller than the twins, who were themselves eyeing Harry in a peculiar way from behind their younger brother.  Harry's best friend also had a tan and very obvious muscles.  Harry pouted.

"That's not fair!  I work all summer, don't grow an inch, yet you play Quidditch and get abs!"  Ron laughed – more deeply than Harry remembered – and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.  Hemione was looking Harry over.

"Harry, you're skin and bones!" she exclaimed, feeling his ribs through Dudley's oversized t-shirt.  "Oh, I knew that not sending you owl post was a bad idea!"

"Dumbledore's orders," reminded Ron, though he too frowned worriedly over his friend.  "If we had sent him food it might have been intercepted and tampered with.  Was your summer bad Harry?"

"Hell on Earth," responded the youth.  "Per usual.  Dudley's still on diet, and I still can't finish all my chores on time, which means the chances of food are zilch.  I'm all right though.  I'm going back to Hogwarts!  Did you get my new books?"

"Yeah, we got everything on this year's school list," said Hermione happily.  "And…your birthday presents!"  She, Ron, Fred, and George all handed him a small pile of gifts.  Harry touched the six packages reverently.

"Thanks!" he breathed; running his fingers along one of the boxes before ripping in.  The first package was from Ron.  It contained candy of course, and a birthday card.  Harry hugged his friend happily.

Remus and Sirius had sent a Dreamcatcher; a magical device that would record his dreams for later viewing.  The letter hinted that it was for smut purposes, but the gift sobered Harry as he thought of being able to replay his visions in all their gory detail.  Mrs. Weasley sent the usual sweater (this one black with a phoenix on the shoulder) and fudge.  The twins gave him some of their newest pranks, and Hagrid sent cake.  Hermione's gift was a practice snitch and a book on magical creatures.  Harry spent a good amount of time on profuse thanks and sharing candy before he turned to put his new goods away.  Ron sucked in a breath as he turned back.

"What's that on your face?"  Harry looked down.

"Nothing."  Ron touched his cheek gently, but his hand shook with anger.

"Your uncle hit you again, didn't he?"  Harry nodded.

"Why won't you tell Dumbledore?" pleaded Hermione.  "This has happened before, and it's not getting any better."  Harry squirmed.

"It's still legal.  A lot of people still hit their kids; so long as it's not full-out beatings it's not considered child abuse."

"But they starve you and make you work!"

"There's no law against it.  They're certainly not paying me for it so it's not like I'm an underage worker.  They just say it's my chores.  Or it's punishment; like being grounded."

"But still - " The compartment door slid open and Ron didn't even bother to turn around as he announced the new presence.  "Malfoy," he finished; whirling to confront their rival.  Harry took a look at the other boy and groaned.  Draco was as tall as Ron.

"This world is so not fair," he moaned sulkily.  His nose twitched.  Why did he suddenly feel like he should either grovel or run and hide?  He sniffed the air.  That smell…It was like… seeing the smartest, strongest kid in town while he was the tiniest and most pathetic.  He squirmed uncomfortably.  Why did he keep feeling so weak?!  He looked over at Malfoy, following his nose.  He blinked.

"Oh the world is very fair, Potter," sneered Draco, not picking up on Harry's odd behavior.  "It knows where power belongs – with those who will use it and appreciate it.  Unlike you."  He used his height to his advantage and towered over the smaller boy, cornering him so he couldn't stand up.  Harry rapidly lost color as the odd scent overwhelmed him.  Malfoy started to say something, but stopped, blinked, and sniffed the air.  His nose led him to…Potter?!  But, Potter wasn't a Veela!  What-?

Confused, Malfoy turned and left abruptly.  Ron shouted threats after him and the bodyguards (Crabbe and Goyle) seemed perplexed, but that was no different than their ordinary everyday facial expressions, so Draco chose to ignore them.  He had things to ponder.

```````````````````````

"Harry, are you okay?" asked Hermione, turning worriedly to her pale friend.

"Yeah, Malfoy didn't do anything to you, did he?" growled Ron.

"No," said Harry faintly, still huddled in his corner, "but he smelled…"

"He smelled?" asked Fred, puzzled.

"Did he smell like a ferret?" questioned Ron eagerly.  Harry shook his head.

"It was a scent, but I don't think you guys smelled it.  Or you would have reacted like I just did…Something happened over the summer.  I grew a bit and my voice cracked, though it's not much deeper.  And all that's normal, but…"

"Fred, George, would you mind leaving?" asked Hermione absently, looking closely at Harry.  The twins nodded, sensing the seriousness of the moment and left.  Harry continued.

"But…at the same time I just got really…wimpy, I don't know how else to put it.  I do whatever I'm told; I can't stick up to anybody for the life of me.  And to me…Draco smelled…like… well, it was like seeing Dumbledore when he's mad."  His friends winced.  "It was something powerful and it told me to either run and hide or obey and hope to get away alive or with…with something; I don't know exactly what the last thing was."

"Well, that makes it sound like a Veela, but even a submissive of that species don't feel that weak, not even around the dominants.  Though they do submit completely it's out of choice until they've mated and been marked."

"Veela?" asked Ron, clueless.

"Yes.  Draco is part Veela, with most of the powers and definitely a dominant.  The scent Harry described sounds like he smelled that dominant aspect, but the question is why.  Harry's not Veela.  Veela are beautiful and make people lust after them.  And they're blond.  While Harry's certainly beautiful, I feel no attraction for him, and neither does Ron.  And he's not blond.  He's about as far from that hair color as one can be."  They looked Harry over critically.

"So why's this happening?" asked Ron.

"I don't know," said Hermione pensively.  Harry shifted under their intense stares.

````````````````````````

"Harry, are you okay?" asked Hermione for the billionth time as they got off the train.

"Yeah."

"'Mione, leave him alone!  That's the, like, two-zillionth time you've asked him that!" shouted Ron in exasperation.  They started bickering.  Again.

"You guys, we're going to miss the carriage ride," said Harry gently, nudging them.  Per usual they whirled with a 'stay out of it!', but this time it scared Harry and the newly timid boy complied hastily, dashing into an empty Thestral-driven carriage.  A few seconds passed and the door opened and shut again.  Harry sat petrified.

"Hello, Potter," sneered Draco Malfoy.

*

A/N:  I can't wait to show you guys the next chapter of this!  It's great, really!  Unless of course you don't like Harry terrified out of his wits…

      Um, yeah.  I'm trying to find an ending to my next chapter of The Next Aibou, and I'm typing up Chapter 6 of HPEO.  Childhood Was For Fantasies, my new story, has a lot going for it, but I would like any feedback or suggestions for my plotline.  I might use them.

      Thanks to all my reviewers, especially Kochan- to- Yachan for that really long one (I had fun with it).  I'll try to update more often in the future, and gomen-nasai for making you all wait so long.

      Review soon!

      ---- tati