Harry Potter & The Veela That Wouldn't Go Away

By: Darkmoore

Harry sat there, fuming for a moment, and thought to himself, 'That barmy old codger!' Then with a glance up to the head table, Harry saw that Dumbledore was looking his way. Instead of acknowledging him as he usually did, Harry stood up, grabbed his rucksack and stormed out of the Great Hall.

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Chapter Twenty - Confrontations

"Harry?"

Harry sighed. It had been a week since he stormed out of the Great Hall and refused to meet with the Headmaster, and now the aged wizard had cornered him in a hallway after one of his training sessions with Professor McGonagall. Harry was very tired, and wanted nothing more than to return to Gryffindor Tower and find a large bathtub and soak his aching body in it until dawn.

"Yes, sir?" asked Harry curtly.

"I wanted to speak with you. I think this is too long overdue," Dumbledore said, with a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"Many things are long overdue between us, sir, so why bother now?"

Slightly taken aback by Harry's cold manner, the Headmaster sighed softly and continued. "Harry, I think that you might have the wrong idea about me and what you saw in my mind that day in my office. I think we should talk about it and set the record straight between us."

Harry looked into the Headmaster's eyes, wanting to see the reaction he would get when he asked, "You mean how you are using me the same way that you used Tom Riddle, and how he eventually became Voldemort?"

Dumbledore calmly returned Harry's gaze and replied, "That is not what happened."

"What did happen, then?"

"Perhaps we would be more comfortable in my office? Let's retire there before we begin discussing this."

Harry sighed and thought to himself, 'You mean where you're more comfortable and in control,' but nodded his head and followed the Headmaster to his office.

((Section Break))

A few minutes later, Harry follows Dumbledore into his office. As the Headmaster walked over to his desk, Harry instead walked to the window and opened it. When Dumbledore noticed what the Head Boy was doing, he became curious.

"Harry?"

Harry ignored him, and stared out onto the school grounds. He didn't want to have this conversation with his longtime mentor, and he was beginning to feel increasingly trapped by the Headmaster's manipulations. Sighing deeply, he walked over and sat down in one of the seats in front of the Headmaster's desk and waited patiently for the old man to start talking. Harry was wondering if the straightforward truth would finally come out, or if Dumbledore would feed him more misdirection.

Twinkling at the Head Boy, Dumbledore began. "I know you think that I am using you as a weapon against Voldemort. I want you to understand that though we are training you to do battle with him; we do respect you as a person and want the best for you. If it were not for the prophesy that I told you about after your fifth year, you would not have been subjected to all the unhappiness that you have endured in your young life. Because the prophesy tells us that you are the only one who can defeat Voldemort, it is inevitable that you will have to face him, despite our wishes to spare you that task. I do sincerely hope that when you have defeated Voldemort, you are able to have a happy and peaceful life." Then with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, Dumbledore added, "Perhaps even with Mister Malfoy, if you so desire."

Harry made a face somewhere between utter disgust and the urge to vomit at the thought of being with Malfoy, which caused the Headmaster to chuckle appreciatively.

"Perhaps Ms. Patil would be a wiser choice for you, then."

Smiling at the thought, Harry nodded in agreement with the Headmaster. "Why were you training him to battle Grindelwald, if you weren't using him in the same capacity as you are me?"

Dumbledore summoned a tray of tea and biscuits for them and began to explain. "Tom volunteered to be a spy against Grindelwald, Harry. He chose to put himself in the middle of that battle, unlike you, who was forced into it. He talked me into teaching him Occlumency to aid in his deception as a spy, and I foolishly agreed to it. I thought if he went in as an acolyte for the dark wizard, he would be the key to gaining the knowledge we needed to turn the battle in our favor and defeat Grindelwald, so I taught him everything I knew. That was the memory you saw in my mind, Harry."

"I see," Harry responded, though not entirely convinced.

"Harry, surely you must realize that the fragment of my memory you witnessed can in no way be construed one way or another."

The feeling of guilt for not talking to Headmaster for over a month began to creep into Harry's thoughts. "I know, sir, it's just that..." Harry began, but he couldn't go on. He wasn't entirely sure himself why he was so angry with the Headmaster.

In an understanding manner, Dumbledore finished for him. "It's just that you have had quite a bit to deal with lately, and it didn't help that Voldemort decided to strike at you by torturing small children."

"Brianna Sloan," Harry said in a small voice.

"Brianna Sloan," Dumbledore repeated with a sigh. "Harry, I realize that I am treading on very thin ice by saying this, but you must put that poor girl's murder behind you."

"It's very hard to forget her when she died because of me," Harry admitted. "In fact, I owe her a favor, because Brianna makes it easier for me to do Occlumency."

Dumbledore sat there with his fingers steepled together and asked thoughtfully, "How so, Harry?"

"Ever since that night, any time that Voldemort attempts to force images into my mind, her face always appears. Remembering her gives me the strength to fight him," explained Harry, as he stared at the worn carpet under Dumbledore's desk.

"Perhaps she didn't die in vain after all. Perhaps she has given you the strength to fight off Voldemort."

"Perhaps, sir," Harry said. He attempted to smile, but it didn't quite reach his face. Then something occurred to Harry, something he had been thinking about for the past couple of days. It was something that had almost made him seek out the Headmaster and demand answers." I have a question for you, sir."

Smiling at his favorite student, Professor Dumbledore asked, "What would that question be, Harry?"

"How did you know where to find me?" asked Harry.

"Well, I knew that you having a private tutorial with Minerva tonight ..." Dumbledore began, but Harry cut him off impatiently.

"I mean on the night my parents were murdered," Harry said wearily.

"Well, Harry, your family has owned that house for many generations. I knew that you and your parents would be living there when James and Lily made the decision to go into hiding."

Harry nodded, having already thought of that alternative. "That is true sir; however, they were being protected by the Fidelius Charm. Since you claim not to have known that my parents switched secret keepers from Sirius to Peter Pettigrew at the last minute, I know that you couldn't have been told how to find them. The only way someone can find a location under the Fidelius Charm is if the secret keeper tells them where it is. Even if you had known where the house in Godric's Hollow was before, you would have forgotten when the charm went into effect. So, how did you know where to send Hagrid to get me?"

Albus Dumbledore sat there bewildered. He never thought that Harry would ask such a question, which pleased the Gryffindor to no end.

"Harry, once they had been killed..."

"Their deaths would not have ended the charm. It's placed on a building, not on a person. Sirius has been dead for almost two years and his house is still under Fidelius," Harry said quickly, before the Headmaster could think of anything else to say to confuse him.

"Once Peter had betrayed your parents and shared their location with others..."

Once again, Harry interrupted him. "You've told many people the location of Grimmauld Place, and the charm is still in effect. So Wormtail telling Voldemort where they were would not have ended the charm."

"Harry...."

Rising from his chair, Harry began to pace as he talked. "I think you knew all along that Wormtail was my parent's secret keeper, and that after he betrayed them to Voldemort, you allowed the wizarding community to think that it was Sirius instead. You wanted me with the Dursleys, and since he was my legal guardian, he would have fought you on that if he hadn't been sent to Azkaban. I think that Wormtail was the one who told you where my parents were long before he betrayed them to Voldemort, and that's how you knew where to send Hagrid that night."

"Harry," Dumbledore said, taking in a deep breath, "I assure you that I indeed had no idea that Peter was your parents secret keeper. I would have provided the Ministry with this information in order to keep Sirius out of Azkaban if I had known."

"How did you know how to find me then?" asked Harry. He was a bit calmer after the Headmaster's forthright denial, so he sank back into his seat and began to nibble on a biscuit.

Dumbledore began to explain. "When Voldemort attacked your parents, he did significant damage to the house. It was virtually destroyed, as I'm sure you noticed when you went visit it over the summer." He paused momentarily, seeing Harry's scowl at the mention of his visit to Godric's Hollow. The younger man was still very upset over fact that the Headmaster attempted to keep his inheritance a secret from him this past summer when he reached his magical majority. Taking a sip of his tea, Dumbledore continued. "When the house began to sustain severe damage, the Fidelius Charm began to fail. It was built on the physical configuration of the house, so when the structure failed, it could no longer support the charm. At the moment the charm failed, I suddenly remembered where the house was located. I knew that meant the Fidelius had been breached, so I dispatched Hagrid to the house immediately."

"I see."

"Do you Harry?" Dumbledore asked, concerned. "Lately you seem to be carrying far too much anger with you. It seems to be blinding you to some very important things in your life."

"Too much anger?" asked Harry bitterly. He just knew that the Headmaster was about to spin another web of misdirection.

"Yes, Harry. You have been very angry with me for protecting you."

"Well, your methods of protection have caused me more pain than not! If you would stop treating me like some delicate piece of china, then maybe things would be a little different. On top of that, you haven't done a thing to stop Malfoy from trying to mate with me all the time," Harry growled through gritted teeth.

"There are no rules about one student pursuing another romantically, Harry," Dumbledore said twinkling.

Suddenly the room was filled with a dark mist that solidified into the form of Professor Thorgood.

"Ah, Denholm, how nice to see you this evening," Dumbledore greeted the vampire pleasantly.

"Good evening, Professors," the vampire said. "Did I overhear Professor Potter complaining about a certain male Veela?"

"Yes," Harry said.

"Good, that happens to be my favorite subject," Thorgood said as he slapped his hands together and began rubbing them back and forth gleefully. "Now I think we should go forth, find him, strip him naked, bind his hands and legs together and then set him on fire."

Harry and Professor Dumbledore each stared at the vampire for a few seconds before turning to look at one another. A smile drew across each of their faces as they began to laugh at the idea.

((Section Break))

Sometime later, Harry climbed into the Gryffindor common room with only one thought on his brain: 'must reach bed.' As he stumbled through the room towards the stairs, he was stopped by the call of his name.

"Harry."

"Damn," Harry muttered as he turned to see his two best friends. They were sitting very close together on a couch near the fire, and looked quite disheveled. Smiling slightly, almost smirking, Harry said, "Were you two snogging?"

Blushing, Hermione sputtered, "Well... you see... we were waiting up for you! Where have you been?"

"Yeah, mate, we were," admitted Ron with a smile, as Hermione sputtered her defense.

"RON!" snapped Hermione as she swatted his arm.

Falling into a chair by the fire, Harry groaned as his muscles begged for sleep. "I thought as much. Glad to see you took my advice."

"Your advice?" asked Hermione, sounding oddly like Mrs. Weasley in the process.

"You didn't like it?" teased Harry, half asleep. "Well, I better tell him to not do it anymore, then."

Hermione relaxed and said, "I didn't say that."

Ron smiled and kissed her forehead. "Good."

Harry had no idea what was said next, as he had fallen sound asleep in the chair.

((Section Break))

The next morning, Harry woke up exhausted, his muscles still protesting from the night before. He thought about staying in bed, but knew he needed to get up or he would be worse off. Lying in bed would only serve to make his muscles feel even sorer than they did now. Finally Harry reached for his glasses and hauled himself out of his four poster bed, groggily making his way towards the bathroom.

"Morning, Harry," Seamus said.

Harry looked at the Irishman blearily and mumbled something that sounded like, "Morning."

Seamus snickered and followed Harry into the bathroom. When Harry had finished emptying his bladder, he stood in front of the mirror, looking at the dark circles under his eyes. "I desperately need a holiday," Harry said to his reflection in the mirror.

"Yes, my dear," the mirror replied, "You look as if you do."

"Thanks," Harry replied sarcastically. A moment later, he felt someone wrap one of their arms around his waist, while the other snaked up under his t-shirt and begin to softly tweak one of his nipples.

"I don't know, you look pretty good to me," Seamus cooed into his ear.

Now fully awake whether he wanted to be or not, Harry said, "Seamus, what the hell are you doing?"

With a smirk, Seamus said, "Harry, if you have to ask, then it's been way too long."

"You should know, you were there," replied Harry, carefully extracting Seamus' hand from under the waistband of his boxers.

"That's been far too long, then," Seamus said huskily, and attempted to nibble Harry's ear. However, Harry was having none of it.

"Seamus!" Harry said forcefully. "You know Malfoy can smell other people on me from across the Great Hall. I have far too much to do this morning to have to suck up to him in order to him to keep you alive. Please, just stop it and take a cold shower."

Pouting, Seamus said, "Aw, you're no fun this morning, Harry."

"Go pick on Ron, Dean or Neville," Harry said, exasperated.

"Hermione would kill me if I tried this with Ron. It'd be about the same as being hexed by Malfoy over messing with you."

Harry laughed, and Seamus took the opportunity to make another attempt at snaking his hand into his roommate's boxers once again.

"Seamus," said the Head Boy warningly. "What about Dean or Neville? Hey what about Colin? I think he plays on your team."

"I think I freaked Neville out last time I tried something with him, and Dean has a girlfriend now. I don't want to mess with that, he really likes Par..." Seamus quickly shut his mouth when he almost spilled a very important secret.

"Par? As in Parvati?"

Seamus looked stricken; all of the seventh years had kept that secret from Harry, knowing how much it would hurt to know that Parvati had another boyfriend already.

"It's all right, Seamus. Don't feel bad about telling me. I'm glad that she is happy, and Dean is a great guy," Harry said sadly.

"Harry, I'm sorry, Dean made me promise to not tell you. He was afraid that you would be mad at him."

Harry nodded in understanding, and then an evil smirk crossed his face. He grabbed Seamus roughly and hauled him off to the showers, throwing him under a showerhead and turning on the cold water full blast.

"HEY!" Seamus protested loudly.

Laughing, Harry said, "That should cool you down this morning."

"Gee, thanks," the Irishman replied through chattering teeth.

((Section Break))

After Harry had showered and shaved, he made his way down to the common room. As usual, Ron and Hermione were waiting in him.

"Good morning," Hermione said in between kisses from Ron.

"Not much good about it," muttered Seamus as he passed them on his way to find Dean and warn him that Harry knew about his relationship with Parvati.

"Cheer up Seamus," called Harry after him as the Irishman squeezed his way out of the portrait hole. "That shower wasn't that cold."

"Cold shower?" asked Ron with a confused expression on his face.

"Yeah," Harry said laughing, "he tried something this morning and I threw him into a lovely, ice cold shower. That cooled him off a bit."

Ron and Hermione laughed, and the trio made their way down to breakfast.

"So, Harry, where were you last night? We expected you back from McGonagall long before you finally showed up," Hermione asked curiously.

"Dumbledore ambushed me in the hallway, and we had a long talk in his office," Harry said He told them all the details of the meeting, including Thorgood's idea for Malfoy.

Ron sniggered at the idea, "You know flaming ferret-ka-bobs sound like a good idea to me."

"Ron!" Hermione said in her prefect voice. "You are a prefect and shouldn't think about such things."

"Malfoy is a prefect and look at what he has been doing," Harry pointed out.

"True," she admitted, as they entered the Great Hall and found their seats at the Gryffindor table.

Looking around, Harry noticed that Seamus was sitting beside his best friend and the two had their heads together, talking quietly. Then he noticed how Dean seemed to look a little awkward towards him.

"Hey guys? I have a question," Harry said. "When were you going to tell me that Dean and Parvati are going out?"

Most of the upper class Gryffindors froze on the spot, some with their mouths hanging open in mid-bite.

"What makes you think that, Harry?" asked Hermione tenderly.

"A little bird told me this morning."

"Seamus," Hermione growled as she glared over to the Irishman, who shrank back.

"Leave him alone, Hermione," Harry said. He swung his legs over the bench and walked over to Parvati. She was sitting beside Lavender Brown and looked very guilty. Sitting down beside, her he began to speak.

"Parvati, are you happy with Dean?"

"I'm sorry, Harry, but yes, I am," Parvati said sadly.

"Don't be sorry. You need to do what's best for you," Harry said sagely. He gave her a little kiss on her forehead and got back up to return to his two best friends. Along the way, he stopped in front of Dean and said, "You know, Dean, I think Parvati might need her boyfriend to sit with her this morning."

"You're not mad, are you, Harry?" asked Dean, hopefully.

With a little smile, Harry said, "No, not at all." Then he sat down and began to practically inhale his breakfast so he could get out the Great Hall as soon as possible.

((Section Break))

A few days later, as Harry was sitting in his office working on his Magical Law research project for Professor Nayland, he heard a knock on the door. Since it was the time he usually made available to help the younger students with their Defense work, Harry called out, "Enter," without even looking up.

It was not a first or second year that came into his office, but Draco Malfoy.

"Hello, Harry," he cooed affectionately.

"Malfoy," Harry said curtly as he put his homework away. "Is there something you needed?"

"Other than making love with you on an hourly basis, not really," the love starved Veela admitted with a smile. "Now, before you start in on how you aren't my mate, let me explain why I've come to talk to you."

"All right."

"Well, you see, Harry, mother wants to come and visit during the Easter holidays next week. She wants to meet with you while she's here, since you are my mate and we will need to plan the bonding ceremony and everything."

Harry's eyebrows disappeared into the fringe of his hair and asked, "Bonding ceremony? What bonding ceremony? We are NOT going to be bonding anytime soon, Malfoy!" Thinking about what he had just said, Harry corrected himself, "We are NOT bonding ever, Malfoy!"

"Harry, stop teasing me like that," Malfoy said. "Mother is really looking forward to you becoming a part of the family."

"I am not becoming a part of your family, Malfoy. I am not bonding with you, Malfoy. I am not gay, Malfoy, I like women," Harry repeated this mantra to the Veela. Then something occurred to him, "Is she being nice to me in order to get her hands on the Black Family Trust?"

"Harry," Malfoy said, scandalized. "How could you ever think such a thing about my mother?"

"Easily."

Malfoy frowned at the Head Boy and continued. "You know, Harry, she is going to be your mother-in-law soon, and I think it would be nice if the two of you got along."

"I don't think she and I will ever get along," Harry said, unaware of the foreshadowing in his simple statement. "Besides, I thought that you and Zabini were getting along rather well these days."

Looking slightly disinterested, Malfoy asked, "What makes you say that?"

"Well, from what I've heard through the grapevine, you and he have been sharing a bed for some time now. I think he would make an excellent mate for you."

"He is just a means to an end; he means nothing to me. You are my mate."

"Really?" asked Harry with some satisfaction. "You mean it means nothing that lately he has been seen late at night wearing baggy clothing and a set of round glasses and calling you his 'beloved mate'? You know, I even heard, or is it just a rumor, that you have actually called him Harry?"

"I have needs that you aren't fulfilling, and I need some outlet for them," Malfoy said, completely unashamed.

"And I never will."

((Section Break))

"Is there something bothering you tonight, Professor? Your mind doesn't seem to be on your training this evening."

Harry sighed and said, "No," but then changed his mind. "Yes," he said, and then changed his mind again. "Maybe."

Thorgood smiled. He sat down on a nearby desk and said, "Anything you want to talk about?"

Taking a seat beside the vampire, Harry began. "I've thinking a lot about things this week. Parvati has a new boyfriend. Malfoy's mother is coming to the castle and he wants me to meet with her. Voldemort tried to break into my mind again last night. It's all just so draining."

"At least you and Albus made up, so that's one less thing to worry about," Thorgood said sagely. "However, I do understand what you mean, at least about Voldemort. I've been thinking quite a bit about Vresserick lately myself."

"Why? Surely he can't do anything to harm you after all these centuries."

"Oh no, he's still trapped in his prison of stone," Thorgood said. "As long as I live, he can't escape. It's just that I haven't seen him in such a long time, and I'm worried that Voldemort may have found a way to communicate with him."

Harry looked confused. "What does one dark wizard have to do with the other?"

"Don't you know?" asked Thorgood.

Harry shook his head 'no.'

The vampire continued. "I must have forgotten to tell you, then. You see, Harry, one of the reasons that I came to Hogwarts was because the Death Eaters came and removed Vresserick from my possession. I have stood guard over him for over eight hundred years, hiding him from other dark wizards who would have benefited from his magical knowledge. When they took him from me, I knew I had to do everything in my power to stop him from joining forces with Voldemort."

"From what I remember from Professor Binns class, Vresserick was not much of a team player. Why would Voldemort think he would become an ally to him?"

"That's the question, isn't it? Vresserick would not think twice about using the Death Eaters against me in order to destroy me and end the cycle of damnation. You must remember that I used the Charm of Making against him, and subsequently, against myself. His fate was mine, and as a result, my fate would be his."

"I don't understand. If you were destroyed, then wouldn't he die as well?"

"No, Harry," Thorgood said sadly. "If I died, then it would end the conditions of the charm and he would be free to walk the world again and do as he wished."

"Damn."

To Be Continued ...

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Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed.

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