Made Expressly For You: Chapter 2
Authors Note- this is a Ron basher, by the by
Harry groaned as he sat on the edge of his bed in the room he was sharing with Draco and Blaise. His head was throbbing, and had been ever since that morning. It had steadily gotten worse as the day progressed, but now it was so bad it hurt to even think. Harry played with the idea of telling someone, incase he died overnight, but he figured it wouldn't really kill. He hoped.
The door opened with a bang and Sirius slid into the room. "Hi Harry. I needed to get away from your aunt and the twins. Do you mind if I…?" Harry shook his head. Even when he wasn't feeling on top of his game, Sirius' company was always welcome. Harry listened as his godfather told him about the way everyone one was reacting to having Petunia in the house. The kids loved her because of all the muggle things she was telling them, and the adults(himself included) thought that she was a most welcome houseguest. Sirius continued talking, but Harry zoned him out. His head was aching, and as much as he loved the other man, his voice was not making it any better.
Apparently, Sirius noticed something was off about his godson, for he stopped talking and, leaning over, asked if he was alright. Harry barely managed to shake his head- the pain was quickly becoming unbearable. He felt Sirius get up and heard him leave, and the cessation of noise was a godsend. Unfortunately, it didn't last, as Mrs. Weasley, Hermione and Tonks all came into the room. Harry felt Hermione kneel down in front of him and ask in a quiet voice, "What's wrong?" He could barely grind out the words, "My. Head."
The other two women started talking, and that was all Harry could take. As he slid into oblivion, he was thankful that at least there, it was quiet.
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Waking up the next morning was not a pleasant experience. The was sun shining directly onto his face, and his head was throbbing. Thank Merlin, it didn't hurt as much as the day before, but still. He sat up and automatically reached for his glasses, which he thought were on his face, but all his hand encountered was skin. He frowned. How was it possible for him to see clearly if he wasn't wearing glasses? Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he tried to get up, but a sudden wave of dizziness made him drop down onto the bed. Gritting his teeth, Harry stood up again, this time more slowly. That worked. Holding onto one of the posts on his bed, he carefully made his way to the door.
Using the wall as a support system, he paced carefully towards the stairs, and the kitchen, for he'd just realized his stomach wasn't just growling, it was screaming in hunger. As he made his way down the stairs, he heard people talking, but he couldn't care less. All he wanted was to eat, and right now. The conversation stopped as he walked into the room, but he ignored his friends questions and made a beeline for the fridge. Pulling it open, he stared into it before pulling out a nice, big hunk of steak from the night before, as well as a plate of chicken. He turned and kicked the fridge shut, then walked over to the table. Sitting in one of the hastily cleared seats, he started to eat his find, but realized that he didn't have any utensils. He sent an annoyed glance at the cutlery draw and smiled as it jerked open and a steak knife and a fork flew at him. Grabbing both, he started to chow down. The first mouthful of meat tasted like heaven, and he groaned as he devoured the rest of the meal in front of him. When all that was left of the steak was a bone, he drew the plate of chicken to him and started in on that.
When the void in his stomach was finally filled, he looked up to see the startled expressions of the other people in the kitchen. He started when he heard Remus' amused, "Well, now that you've finished eating…" Harry felt himself flushing. Looking around the rest of the room, he was a little embarrassed by the expressions on their faces. Hermione and Remus were amused, Blaise and Ginny slightly revolted, and Draco, Draco looked fascinated. Harry looked down and felt his blush getting even hotter. He'd come down in sweats and that was it! Then he stared. He'd never been this developed. His muscles were all bigger and more defined than ever, and there was not an inch of extra fat anywhere that he could see. The he frowned. This was not what he'd been wearing the night before.
He glanced over at Hermione, and said, "'Mione, what the hell is going on?" "Well, we were hoping you could tell us. But, apparently that's not gonna work." She humph'ed, than said, "I'm going back to the library." Harry watched her dart out of the kitchen, then turned to Remus. "What's happening to me? Wait," he said as Remus began to answer, "Why do these things always happen to me?" Draco chuckled. When Ginny glared at him, Draco said, "He does have a point, you know. The weird shit does always happen to him." Harry snorted in agreement. "Yeah. It sucks. Uh, what happened to my clothes?" Blaise answered. "Well, after you passed out, Remus fire called Hogwarts and asked Madame Pomphrey to floo over. When she got here, she checked you over and declared that you were fine, that you were going through a transition period. She changed your clothes, then she and Hermione disappeared into the library for a couple hours." Harry just shook his head. "Thanks for telling me, mate." He missed the startled gaze sent to him by the Slytherin, who was unaccustomed to hearing people so casually announce a friendship.
When his stomach growled, he looked down in astonishment. He'd just eaten, and enough to fill three people! But it had helped his dizziness go away, so… He stood to go to the fridge again, and that's when he finally noticed that everything was lower than it had been before. With a growl, he turned to Remus, who just hit six feet, and asked him to stand. When he did, Harry saw almost immediately that he was a few inches taller then the other man, which put him at roughly six two, six three. There were gasps from around the kitchen as people realized that he was seven or eight inches taller than he had been the night before.
Harry couldn't take it anymore. Standing, he growled, "That's it!" Stalking over to the fridge, he reached in and grabbed the first thing he felt- a jar of peanut butter. Summoning another knife, he turned and bolted out of the room before anyone could say anything.
When he got to his room, he opened the window and stuck his head outside, twisting up to see what was above him. With a triumphant snarl, he stuck the jar and knife on the roof, then grabbed the ledge in both hands. Using his newly acquired strength, he lifted himself up until he could scramble onto the roof. Standing, he looked around. There were a lot of different types of angles, and he set about trying to find one as close to flat as possible. Harry found an acceptable perch on the other side of the house, and sat down, leaning against a chimney. Unscrewing the cap, he stuck the knife into the jar and pulled out a hunk of the protein rich treat. Licking it off the knife, he chewed-ah, chunky- and contemplated the bizarre morning he'd had. First, he'd woken up and not needed his glasses, then ate enough to fill a pig, then realized he was taller and more muscular, and now he was perched-perched!- on a roof. There was something wrong with him, and wasn't that a surprise. He'd have loved it if his life had gotten normal after the defeat of Voldemort, but nooo. Something was always going wrong with him. Usually to the detriment of others.
Harry sighed and placed his snack next to him on the roof. Twisting, he stretched out flat on his back, allowing the sun to loosen his tense muscles. Closing his eyes, he pushed all thought of this horrendous day out of his head, and concentrated solely on the feel of the sun on his skin. He drifted off, trying to ignore how weird his strange, new body felt…
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He woke up with a jolt. Aunt Petunia was mad, and it was never wise to ignore her when she was in that mood. Scrambling up, he snatched up what was left of his snack and trotted across the roof to where his window was. Screwing the cap on securely, he tossed it into the room, the knife right behind it. Grabbing the ledge, he dropped down and swung his body through the window, pausing only to pick up the jar and knife as he ran out of the room.
Harry stopped at the top of the stairs, then ran down them as he realized his aunt was probably in the kitchen. When he got there, he noticed that the rest of the household was there as well, but he only looked at his aunt. "Yes, Aunt Petunia?" he asked. Instead of answering, she turned to Sirius and gave him a smug look. "Told you that he would come when I called for him, Black. Years of habit, and all that." Sirius looked disgruntled for a minute, then shrugged and turned to his godson. "Where've you been, Harry?" He asked curiously. "We've been looking for you for over an hour."
Confused, he answered, "Ah, I was up on the roof. It was quiet, and none of you would have thought to look there." Hermione chuckled, causing everyone look at her. She shook her head, still giggling. They just ignored her. Harry turned back to his family and asked "Why did you need me? I mean, I was having a nice nap, before I heard Aunt Petunia call for me." Sirius snorted, then pointed a finger at Hermione. "That girl has to be one of the smartest people I have the pleasure of knowing. She figured out in about two hours what might be wrong with you. Hermione?"
She stood and made her way out of the room, the curious people following her. Hermione led them into the library, to a table that was covered in books, parchment, scrolls and assorted other documents. Harry looked at his friend in awe. Even though he was used to her research techniques, he still managed to be amazed by her tenacity.
Hermione cleared her throat, then started talking. "So, what I did was I started with a list of Harry's symptoms and checked them against a list of magical and muggle maladies. They matched none, so I started looking for what could cause such things as extreme growth, increased muscle mass, increased sensitivity to sound, and the craving for protein. What I found was a list of magical creatures whose inheritances are similar to the symptoms Harry has been exhibiting." Harry felt his eyes widen in shock. Magical Creatures?!
Hermione continued. "There are three creatures that go through this type of transformation. One is the Mysogenistic Telger, which has some of the physical attributes of tigers. Females live in packs of ten to twenty, and males roam in packs of two or three. They get their names from the way the males treat their mates, which they use as toys. That is the reason the females live in such large groups. However, it is unlikely that Harry is one of them, as they tend to live in climates above the artic circle, and never let their children out of sight, nor are they allowed to outcross their lines. Plus, Harry gets along with females." Harry could barely breathe. He might be one of those, those things? They'd learned about them in Care of Magical Creatures, and the entire class had been horrified by the lesson.
"Next is the Harcourrt Decour, which are creatures with the attributes of various birds of prey. Enhanced eyesight, the ability to grow talons, longing for heights, keen hearing, and a featherlike design on there backs." Here Hermione paused and looked at Harry before continuing. "As we can see, the only thing that Harry has in common with these creatures is the affinity for heights, and keen hearing. Because of the lack of the feathery markings on his back, its safe to say that this is also out of the running." Harry could feel the eyes of the entire room on him as they waited for Hermione to continue.
"There is just one more creature that fit's the criteria." She took a deep breathe and let it out before continuing. "The last creature is the Dominion Veela." The gasp that echoed through the room at her words caused Harry to flinch. He didn't know what exactly they were, but from the way everyone was reacting, it mustn't be good. Hermione continued. "There are three types of this Veela- one which can control and stimulate the growth of any plant found in the forest. The second controls the predators, and the last controls them both. The final determiner of which type they are occurs within two months of their initial transformation, whether as a natural reaction or as a response to a threat.
There are two other things you all should probably know about these types of Veela. They were the basis for some pagan gods, such as Morgana of the Celts, Herne the Lord of the Wild Hunt, Diana, Artemis, most versions of the lord of the hunt or of the forest, some versions of the god of death, and Echidna, the mother of all monsters. Second is that the Veela who can control both forest and earth, referred to as Lord, are required to find their mates within the first year after their transformation, or else they go insane. The lesser two Veela do not have permanent mates, although they often settle down with one partner. If they should go insane, the other Lords will gather together to destroy the rogue before it can do any permanent damage."
Harry dropped into a chair, trying to absorb all that he'd just learned. He couldn't believe it. With a groan, he dropped his head onto the wooden table in front of him. "Why does this always happen to me?" he asked plaintively, for the second tine that day. There was a grim chuckle, which ended abruptly when Hermione cleared her throat. "There's, ah, one last thing." She said nervously. "What now?" Harry asked wearily. "I was looking through your family records to see where in the tree the Veela blood first came from, and I couldn't find any unexplained branchings. So I looked further down, and I found that, uh…" She trailed off nervously. "Just spit it out, 'Mione." Harry muttered. "Alright." She took a deep breathe, then continued. "Your name is not on the Potter family tree as a blood relation, but as an adopted member of the family. You are listed as a blood descendant of the Evans family, though, so what I think happened is that your mother had an affair with a lesser Dominion Veela and then asked your father to adopt you into the Potter's when she found out she was pregnant."
Harry could only stare at her, dumbfounded. That was not something he was expecting to hear. That his grandmother had an affair, yes, he could see that, but his mother? Abruptly, he stood, sending his chair skidding backwards. He gave Hermione as quick, if shaky smile and a bow, then turned and stalked out of the room. He didn't see the worried glances traded behind his back as his friends and family looked after him. He didn't care where he was going, didn't care that he was wandering into a part of the house no one had been in for a while. All he wanted to do was get away from the lived in part of the house to somewhere no one would find him.
He found himself standing outside of Buckbeak's old room, and went in. The place smelled musky, and dusty, but also comfortably like animal. He snorted dryly. That the smell of an animal should comfort him in light of what he'd just learned struck him as ironically funny. Pacing over to the window, he stared out at the light of the fading day.
Draco P.O.V.
Draco traded a concerned glance with Blaise. Why weren't they following Potter? Blaise must have read the question in his eyes, for he just shrugged. With a quick look at the rest of the room, who were arguing about what to do, he stood and slid out. Right before he closed the door, he glanced at Blaise. The boy nodded- they'd done this in school many times. Draco left, satisfied that his housemate would cover for him. Standing in the hallway, he glanced left, then right. Left led to the kitchens, and the inhabited portions of the house, while right led to the unused, abandoned part of the house. He turned right.
He wandered around, looking into random rooms. He finally came to a room where the door was ajar. Since all the other doors had been closed, Draco figured that Potter might be in this one. Peeking in, he looked around the room, curiously. There were feathers on the floor, and several old ripped up blankets. A small motion by the window caught his attention, and he saw Potter leaning against the frame. Draco's eyebrows rose as he took in the sight before him. Potter was bathed in a warm glow from the dying sun. His features were cast in gold, and Draco caught his breath. He'd thought that Potter had looked magnificent this morning, clad only in sweats, but even wearing the button down he'd picked up at some point, he looked fantastic. Strong, handsome, almost godlike in his presence, he was simply glorious.
He stepped into the room, and the sound made Potter's head whip around like a striking snake. He relaxed when he saw who it was however, and went back to staring out of his window. Draco felt like he had been given a gift, in the form of Potter's trust. "Why are you hiding out up here, Potter?" Draco asked, more to get his mind off Potter's body than anything else.
Harry snorted. "Why else? It's quiet, and I need to think about this." He glanced at the other man as he answered the question. Draco was peering out the window, so Harry took the opportunity to look him over. The summer spent with friends, without the demands of the Dark Lord, had been kind to Draco. He'd gained much needed weight, courtesy of Mrs. Weasley, and his frame had filled out nicely. His hair had grown out, and now brushed his shoulders. Harry traced the line of his strong jaw with his eyes, and when he realized what he was doing, forced his gaze to the window.
"Why are you here, Draco?" Harry asked abruptly. "Were you sent to keep an eye on me?" Draco laughed shortly. "No. No one knows I came after you. They were standing there, bickering, and I had Blaise as a cover, so I came to find you." Harry lifted a brow at that, and Draco regarded him with a cool expression. They stood that way, staring at each other, until they heard a shout reverberate through the house. "Harry James Potter! Where are you hiding this time?" Harry cringed, hiding his sudden blush from Draco's sharp gaze. "That's Aunt Petunia. I better go." He was halfway out of the room before he turned to Draco and asked, with a pleading expression, "Please don't tell anyone that you found me here?" He waited for the nod Draco sent him, then flashed a smile and was gone.
Draco stood there for a couple more minutes, until the bells rang for dinner.
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