Thank you to my BETA: Malombra. She is great and has been patient with me when for a reason unknown I want to change and/or trash everything I had just written.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.

MY STORY IS AU.

ENJOY!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

As Ron and Draco left the young Veela's room and were walking towards the infirmary to meet up with Harry, Harry was sitting staring off into space quietly. Sin, who was taking the opportunity to watch him carefully without him noticing, took in his nervous demeanor, his barely seen blush, and the biting of his bottom lip. Clear signals that the young man before her was thinking about things he had never considered- mainly, Draco Malfoy. And the events from last night.

Rape was a serious charge in the Wizarding World and carried an understandably harsh sentence. A Witch or Wizard's power originated from their central core, or as some like to call it 'the soul', for a magical creature to be attacked like that was unconscionable. The person who had been attacked was in danger of their magic literally tearing them apart. Magic was an intricate part of any magical creature and as such the repercussions were deadly when that magic failed to protect. She had never seen it happened but she had been a woman in her young twenties when the first War had been going on, she had heard the horror stories. The suicides….something one even as young as she had been could understand that.

When Harry started to fidget, she knew the time for silence was over. He loved to play with the trim on his sleeve and all of his long sleeve shirts had frayed cuffs just enough to show the silver bracelet wrapped around his wrist. She gently set her tea cup down on its saucer and that quiet clink was enough to startle him from his thoughts. Small talk had been over for at least twenty minutes and she had sat and waited for him to speak. When he didn't, she knew it was time for her to take the initiative and bring up the events from yesterday. Before she had a chance to say anything Harry sent her a pleading look from under his too long bangs and said one small word that literally broke her heart from its heavy sadness and immense confusion.

"Why?" He whispered. The defeat in his voice brought tears to her eyes. She had never heard him sound so broken.

"I do not know, Harry." Aurora desperately wanted to reach out and touch him but she knew from long experience that that was not the way to go. The last time she had ended up with scorched fingertips. Harry had a tendency to leak his power when his emotions got too out of control which brought up the question of why the attack had even happened in the first place. Harry was not a tactile person so touching someone was usually out of the question. What had been going through his mind to not defend himself? She could see that he had a tight reign on his emotions but she didn't want to take a chance that could hurt them both. She didn't want to add the guilt of hurting her to his already overwhelming load.

Sin sighed and could not keep the sad look from her face. She knew the question he was asking her: did someone make Ginny do this or did she do this by herself? She had no straight answer for him so she answered in a way she knew he would understand, not like but understand. "We have to believe in free will. We have no choice." (1)

Harry smiled gently at her though that didn't cover the previous emotions. They often did this, talked to each other in quotes. Sometimes someone else's words could convey what you were feeling better than your own. "There is always a choice. Human beings in their thinking, feeling and acting are not free but are as causally bound as the stars in their motions." (2)

"If I wished to live in a civilized society I must act responsibly." (3) Oh no, this was worse than she thought. He thought it was HIS fault. The urge to lash out at the young woman who had done this to him was overwhelming. She wasn't sure she could help him through this by herself. She wasn't sure she was strong enough but she would do everything in her power to help him heal. Even play the bad guy.

"Einstein again. One of his greatest, I think."

"Harry…please. You know…"

"I know, Sin. It's ok."

"But it's not. I wish there was something…"

Harry smiled sadly and gave a slow shake to his head. "But there's not is there? And that's just the thing, or the problem, isn't it? It's just my luck, my crappy life, whatever."

Sin did not even try to hide her flinch at the bitterness in that last word, as it was loud and clear while his gaze was level and unflinching. She knew she had nothing to say, and she knew that he knew there was nothing to say. Well, nothing that wouldn't sound like she was trying to placate him (and she knew how much he would hate that). It was, after all, his life and living it had to be harder than experiencing it from the sidelines. It had to be!

"Please don't, Harry." Her voice was soft and pleading, tinged with her own sorrow and bitterness for what she had not been able to do for him.

"Don't!" Harry suddenly felt so irrationally insulted. Why, he was not sure, but he felt deeply insulted by her plea, heartfelt though it was. "You don't get to do that."

He jumped up and started pacing running his shaking hands through his hair, and obviously caring not one bit what he looked like. He took deep breaths trying to calm himself. As he paced the five steps back and forth in the small infirmary room the dreams he had been having came back to him full force. Was this what the dreams were about? Was it a premonition about Ginny or a longing for Draco? His mind was spinning and he couldn't grasp onto either concept right now. He didn't know what to do! The black anger he felt rising in him scared him more than anything, even the events of last night. He didn't know what was wrong with him!

Sin stayed as quiet and still as she could. It was always best to let Harry work out as much as he could by himself. She was always there to help though. She knew Harry's anger would fade quickly, as long as she didn't antagonize him even more. Of course, she was never able to gauge that too well. "Pity much?"

"What!?" Harry swung toward her, eyes wide in disbelief, voice wavering between shock and amusement. She had heard this from him more and more as he grew weary of his life.

"Oh, please. We've had this conversation too many times for the 'angst-y teen routine' to do much for me." Sin made the air quotes sign and grinned at the stunned teen before her.

"You won't even let me have any fun will you?" Harry pouted cutely and crossed his arms in a convincing act of frustration as his anger faded as quickly as it had risen.

"No. Now sit down and behave. You can angst later." She gave an amused chuckle, "with Draco."

Harry snorted but sat. As soon as his backside hit the chair he sighed and the amusement quickly left his face. "My life really does suck, you know?"

"I know, Harry." Sin smirked and gave a chuckle, "we could look on the bright side."

"Bright side?" Harry blinked wide eyed at her, confusion plain to see in his brilliant green irises.

Sin pouted to herself a little and crossed her arms against her chest. She tried to make herself look as much of a young teenage girl as she could. She widened her soft brown eyes, tilted her head as if she didn't understand anything, and slouched, just so. "Hello…"she sang out with a slow flapping of her hand as if she was trying to wave a scent his way, "Draco. Veela. Veela love. Ring a bell?"

Harry stared at her not believing what he was seeing or hearing. It was totally unlike anything he had seen her do that he was speechless. He knew his jaw had dropped and his own eyes were probably about to pop out of his head. He also thought his reaction was completely founded. Cool, calm, collected Professor of Astronomy Aurora Sinistra was acting and sounding like a teenage girl. Logically, he knew she had been one at one point in time but he had never, ever thought to see anything like it first hand.

"Uhh…." was the sum total of his collective brain functions at this second. Her snort and then soft giggle, that soon turned into a full body laugh as the arms previously across her chest were now hugging her stomach, pulled him back from his scattered thoughts.

"Oh. My. God! Sin! You just…." Harry himself started to laugh.

After a few good moments when all they could do was laugh, Harry gave a final grin and then shook his head with a softly muttered, "thanks".

Sin smiled at him and reached out to press a hand lightly on his knee just enough that he could tell she was touching him but not enough to send his hackles rising. "There's only one thing left to do now, Harry."

Harry briefly let his hand flow softly over hers that was resting on his knee and looked at her with one eyebrow quirked in question.

"Pick a side: the side where SHE wins or the side where you get the chance to have everything you have ever dreamed of."

Harry blushed, "oh, that."

"Yes, that." Sin studied him for just a moment before saying seriously. "What are you going to do?"

"I honestly don't know." His tone was soft but the look in his eyes was not. Hard green eyes held a variety of emotions, shame, grief, determination, sorrow, and confusion. She was actually glad to see all of it too. Normally his eyes showed nothing. This might make or break him. She was counting on the making though, and she knew just the young Veela Lord that was going to do it, too.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a rundown castle in a remote Danish village, two men sat before a roaring fire. Although it was not cold outside, the night air had a bit of a bite to it and the man wrapped in a thick coat felt it all the way to his inner core. It seemed he was always cold now. The pasty white skinned man with the dull red eyes knew what had gone wrong with the ritual he had performed to get this disgusting body. It was too late to do anything about it now, though.

The problem had been gradual or he would have noticed it sooner he was sure. When his royal servant, Wormtail, had taken Potter's blood he had also taken the substance that had been coating the boy from his struggles during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. It seemed that the sap from the Devil's Snare plant did not bind well with the other ingredient's used in the potion that had brought him back.

His most brilliant Potion's Master, Severus Snape, was working on a new potion that would counteract the properties of the Devil's Snare in his system. It was only a matter of time now before he would be able to go back into the sunlight and not have his body attempt to shrivel up like a prune. He wouldn't have thought he would miss the sunlight as much as he did. Being corporeal and not being able to do things was one thing. He should be able to live his life in the most decidedly evilest way he could. But no… because of incompetence he was stuck living a nightly life that he found he hated with more passion than he hated the person who had made this existence for him real in the first place…Harry Potter.

Snapping his thought's back to what was really important he snarled out for the house-elf, Bipsley, to bring him another cognac. After taking a rather large sip of the warm brown liquor, he turned to his Veela companion, to restart the conversation his thoughts had interrupted.

"Now, Lord Stewert," Voldemort said in his most evil sounding voice, "this is what I will require of you."

The Lord of the Water Clan just listened impassively. Here was a chance to finally take control of the Clans and he would do what it took to that the Earth Clan down. Having the Lord be Lucius Malfoy only made this plan sweeter.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ginny snuck into the infirmary, her eyes only on the door at the back of the room. She was going to take care of that meddling nurse before she went to get Harry. As she swung the door open to what was obviously an office, a curse already pouring from her lips, she was plotting her next course of action.

Madam Pomfrey knew that someone had entered the infirmary by the small chime that had sounded in her head the second the door to the infirmary was opened. She walked around her desk and headed for the door when it was pushed open violently. A question was on her lips even as she heard the curse that the young girl before her uttered. She didn't have the time to scream when the light of the curse hit her square in the chest and she fell to the floor without a sound being heard.

Ginny quietly closed the door. She had not wanted to do that. She knew that Harry would be upset with her when he found out. But he would understand about doing what had to be done. It was what he always did.

Once she explained her actions she was confident that the man she loved would no longer be upset with her. After all, forgiving is a key element in love, isn't it?

As she neared the door to Harry's infirmary room her step was light and her smile confident and soft. Or so she thought. Had she really known what she looked like in that moment she would have been scared of herself. She reached out with the hand not holding her wand to knock softly on Harry's door. It was the polite thing to do after all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I panicked, Sin. Me! I can kill with a word, incapacitate with two fingers, but a young girl managed to get the slip on me."

"Get the slip on you? Since when did you become invincible? Harry, you are seventeen years old. You were unconscious and then hexed unmovable! What makes you so sure you can defeat everyone? Especially when that someone is a person you implicitly trust?" Their conversation had been light for a while but as usual it turned to more serious matters.

"It shouldn't!"

"Why? Because you're Harry Potter? Please, you're nothing but a very scared young man who has to face something that would make most grown men cry. You have faced more in your life than anyone I have ever met AND you're still sane! Harry…" Sin stood and walked to Harry where he had been pacing on the far side of the room, and took his shaking hands gently in hers. "It's okay. It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay."

"It's not me I am worried about, Sin."

"Son, I know." The woman pulled the young man she considered as close to a son as she would ever have into a tight hug. "You will always worry about others, Harry. It is just who you are but please," here she pulled back from the hug and looked intently into Harry's face, when he tried to avoid her gaze she made him look at her with a gentle touch and a more gentle smile. "Please, remember that you are human and are just as susceptible to the damages that life can cause as the rest of us."

Long minutes passed as comfort was given and accepted; as close to accepted as Harry could get anyway. It took longer than either of them thought for Harry to calm down enough to pull away. Sin had been surprised when he had trembled at her touch but had not pulled away.

"Thank you." Harry whispered quietly.

"You are very welcome." Sin whispered back just as quietly.

Neither wanted to break the silence that remained, it was a good silence Sin thought. She could tell that Harry was wrestling with himself. That he was trying to work things out in his head was a good thing, she knew.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Both Sin and Harry heard the knock on the door and turned as one to see who it could be. Harry expected Draco and Sin expected the Headmaster. Neither expected someone who was suppose to be locked up and far, far away from there.

Their decision was made in the split second that they had to react and both hoped it was the right one. As they had practiced many times both dropped into a fighting stance, wands at the ready. The spell Ginny cast ricocheted off the protegro spell that Sin had cast. As it hit the ceiling another spell came from outside of her shield.

When it hit the whole room shook and the backlash threw everyone to the floor and had their ears ringing. No one could see anything because of the dust and the rubble. It took a few minutes for Sin's eyes to adjust to see the young girl laying in the corner of the room, unconscious once again. She didn't even try to stop the flare of contempt. This girl had tried again to get to Harry. But this time he hadn't been alone and she had protected him, just as she had always said she would.

Sin moved her head when she heard a sharp cry but all she saw was a glimpse of clouds and strangely, a bird flying by.

The whole wall of the infirmary was gone, blown away by the force of the backlash taking Harry with it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco pulled Ron into a standing position and both of them ran down the corridor. Both of them instinctively knew that this had something to do with Harry and prayed they would get there in time. Draco stumbled to the floor as a pounding rage filled him. Harry! His mind screamed out that he needed to get to his mate as soon as possible. Ron yanked on his arm to help him up but paused at the look on the young Veela's face.

"Draco! Is it Harry?" Ron shouted at the stunned Veela, shaking him as well.

"Harry…" Draco whimpered as his knees buckled. If anyone but Ron had been looking they would have seen the outside edge of his body was fading and quickly disappearing.

"Come on!" Ron yelled as he started to drag the half-conscious boy with him.

As Draco and Ron scrambled around the last turn to the infirmary all they heard was an anguished, "Harry!"

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Quotes:

(1) 'We have to believe in free will. We have no choice.' Isacc Ashevis Singer

(2) 'Human beings in their thinking, feeling and acting are not free but are as causally bound as the stars in their motions.' Albert Einstein

(3) 'If I wished to live in a civilized society I must act responsibly.' Albert Einstein

A reviewer asked about the language. The Veela Language is made up by me. I took a word I wanted to use, like my (a'a), and used the doubled form of I (a) to set it up. I set the basic words and built from there. The Veela Language is in Chapter 6, if you are interested in reading it over again. To speak the Language just remember the declaring mark. A'a (my) would sound as ah-ah.

I was going to update quicker than I would normally because you all waited so patiently for the last chapter. However, a chance to go to a CCM class in Utah, US, came up and I could not pass it by. Unfortunately me and ice do not mix well and I fell. I was in hospital for over a month.

Since I stupidly forgot to take my notes for the story I had no outline to work with. I did come up with four new stories that I would love if you all checked them out. One of them 'Moving Twilight' is something that I have never done before, a crossover with Harry Potter and Twilight. It has a main pairing of Harry Potter/Edward Cullen. Please, check it out and let me know what you think.

Hope this answer's questions, and, as always, asks more.

Does anyone know what FanBox is?

ENJOY!

LMG