Chapter 13 – An Invitation
The Quibbler, Special Flyer, Monday, November 25, 1996
Current Count of Suitors: 813
Excerpt from An Introduction to Veela, Chapter 5 - Community Organization – Villages & The City
Harry laughed as Lavender squealed in excitement at her winning of the weekly bet.
"How did you think of such a thing?" Harry inquired curiously once the girl had stowed away her newly won bag of knuts.
"What else would he get you after belts than buttons?" Lavender questioned innocently.
Harry shook his head in amazement. "I didn't even know such things existed. I've heard of cufflinks but I've never heard of temporary buttons and certainly not shirts with only buttonholes."
"It allows for greater accessorizing," Parvati said earnestly.
"Right," Harry said with raised eyebrows and again shook his head. He appreciated the four cufflink and button sets that he had received – and the accompanying buttonhole-only shirts of black and white that accompanied them – but it still seemed like an odd concept to him.
"My father has several sets of buttons," Hermione volunteered. "He uses them when he takes mum out to a fancy dinner once a month. I think he must have a dozen sets or so."
"Really?" Harry said then chuckled. His chuckle grew into a full-out laugh as he remembered the letter and thought that Hermione's father had nothing on Draco. Draco had admitted that buttons were his favorite accessory and that he currently owned over 200 sets, though he no longer wore many of the ones he had purchased as a child. He wondered what Draco would say to find out he had something in common with a muggle.
"What's so funny?" Hermione asked curiously.
Harry shook his head. "Just something," he said in amusement.
Hermione nodded and went back to her breakfast without comment.
Harry looked at her curiously. Her nagging and questioning had drastically reduced in the last several weeks and he was curious as to why. He didn't think it was due solely to the nagging of Lavender and Neville. "Hey, Hermione?"
"Yes?" Hermione said as she looked up from pouring another glass of pumpkin juice.
"Why aren't you nagging me anymore?" Harry asked.
Hermione raised an eyebrow and asked dryly, "You want me to nag you, Harry?"
Harry shook his head vigorously and said, "No, but I'm trying to figure out why you've stopped nagging me or at least not as much as you used to."
"Well," Hermione said, clucking her tongue, "You want the nice explanation or the ugly truth?"
Harry's lips twitched, as did Hermione's, and Harry said, "Why don't you tell me the nice version first."
Hermione smiled and said, "I had a nice talk with Neville. Did you know that one of his cousins earned the hand of a Veela girl?"
Harry was startled at that and glanced at Neville, who nodded at the implied question. "I didn't know. That explains a lot." It did, too, like how Neville seemed to understand him better than anyone else at school and why the other boy hadn't been afraid when confronted with an angry half-Veela. Only a truly enraged Veela would attack someone with whom they weren't actually angry.
"It does," Hermione said with a nod.
"And the ugly truth?" Harry questioned as he looked suspiciously at his friend's innocent expression.
"I cornered Neville and interrogated him ruthlessly," Hermione admitted blandly.
"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed in shock.
"What?" Hermione said with a grin. "You asked."
"I can't believe you did that," Harry said, shaking his head. Actually, he was quite able to believe it. It sounded exactly like something she would do.
"Well, when I was done he gave me the address to the Veela council and told me to buy myself their introductory book on Veela and then to read it before I said another word to you," Hermione further explained.
"Did you?" Harry asked curiously.
"I did," Hermione nodded. "I sent off for the book Saturday morning and received it the next morning. I had no idea there was an international mail terminal in Hogsmeade. Did you? Anyway, I spent all day Sunday reading it."
Harry scrunched his forehead a moment in thought and said, "I don't remember seeing that. I'm sure I would have noticed."
"I did it the weekend you were at The Rose Inn," Hermione said.
Harry's face cleared and he said, "Ah."
"So do you think we can start on the Mediterranean tonight?" Hermione asked hopefully.
Harry laughed in delight. It seemed he'd be keeping a friend after all. "Sure, we can start on the Mediterranean tonight."
The Quibbler, Special Flyer, Monday, December 2, 1996
Current Count of Suitors: 718
Excerpt from An Introduction to Veela, Chapter 6 - Economic System – Careers & Caretakers
Neville was reading his book on magical tiger-lilies when the door to the boy's dorm slammed open, startling him. He looked up to see Harry in bird form pacing back and forth agitatedly. "Is there still a common room?" Neville asked calmly.
Harry was shocked out of his pacing at the quiet question and turned to look at Neville. A few moments later he shifted back to human form with a heavy sigh. "The tapestry on the left wall is missing now," he said.
"That was the ugly one anyway," Neville said with a small smile.
Harry smiled slightly in return and closed the still quivering door before striding to his bed and flinging himself upon it.
"So was it Ron or Hermione?" Neville asked curiously as he placed a bookmark and closed his book.
"Not Hermione," Harry said with a sigh. "She's been wonderful since you guys had that talk and you had her buy that book. And it wasn't Ron either; I find him more amusing now than anything else with his petty childish insults – they're not even that creative! I just want to laugh in his face, sometimes. No, this time it was the Creevey brothers."
"What did they want a picture of this time?" Neville asked with a snort of exasperation. The Creevey brothers could really be annoying; though Dennis wouldn't be half as bad without the influence of his brother Colin.
"They want to try and re-create my destruction of the Hufflepuff table in the Room of Requirement," Harry said in disgust.
Neville frowned. That didn't sound like enough to set Harry off. There had to be something else. "And…?" he asked leadingly.
"They thought it was cool," Harry said bitterly.
"Is that what they said? That they thought the scene was cool?" Neville asked in disbelief.
"Yes, that's exactly what they said," Harry said angrily as he pounded a fist into his mattress. "I guess they completely forgot about the mortal insult that was dealt me."
"Obviously," Neville said, shaking his head in disgust. "Maybe they'll leave you alone now that they've had a fireball tossed at them. Did you at least singe their hair?"
Harry flipped around so that his feet now pointed towards the headboard and his head hung over the foot of the bed so he could see Neville. "It did, but I don't think it hurt them otherwise."
"Not even a few blisters?" Neville asked in disappointment.
Harry smirked and shook his head.
Neville sighed and said, "Too bad."
Harry laughed and sat up. "You're too much, Neville."
Neville just shrugged and didn't bother to hide a smirk.
Harry became serious again and said, "May I show you what I got today? Maybe you could give me some more of your good advice."
Neville raised his eyebrows then nodded and put his book on his nightstand. He watched as Harry retrieved his bag and pulled out the smallish box he had received just that morning from the suitor Neville knew was going by "D". He made room as Harry came over to sit on his bed then accepted the box when it was handed to him. At the encouraging nod, he opened it and looked over the contents in curiosity. There was a folded parchment in the lid of the box and a necklace in the main compartment that appeared to hold dozens of charms. He looked up at Harry in question.
Harry cleared his throat and held up his left wrist to show off the baby bracelet he still wore there. "Remember this?" he asked.
Neville nodded in confusion.
"That's his family," Harry said, gesturing at the necklace.
Neville's eyes widened in shock and he turned his head back to stare in stunned amazement at the necklace. "His whole family," he squeaked.
"Everyone over the age of seven except his parents," Harry confirmed.
"Seven?" Neville questioned in surprise.
"Because much younger than that and they don't really understand what's going on enough to give meaningful consent to make a charm that actually takes away a tiny piece of your magic," Harry answered. "At least, that's what he wrote."
Neville nodded and continued to stare at the necklace. Finally he looked up and asked seriously, "Why not his parents?"
"He doesn't get along with them very well and, in fact, neither does the rest of the family. Evidently his father is a bit of a black sheep," Harry said with a small shrug.
Neville nodded again. Both were quiet for several moments before Neville said reluctantly, "Harry, I didn't want to bring this up before, interference and all, but…"
"What?" Harry asked, curious as to what Neville was so uncomfortable about.
"I think I might know who "D" actually is," Neville admitted slowly. "With this necklace, well, he's awfully serious about this courtship – he got his family to agree to make the charms! – and maybe you ought to know who he is before it goes much further. At least before you meet him."
"Really," Harry said with a smirk. "Who do you think it is?"
Neville's jaw dropped for a moment before he sputtered a bit and finally exclaimed, "You know who it is!"
Harry nodded and continued to smirk. "The handwriting mostly," he said. "You?"
Neville snorted in amusement. "Same," he said. "Since when?"
"Since the beginning," Harry admitted.
"Why did you accept him?" Neville asked curiously. "Even with you doing everything to be scrupulously fair, you still could have rejected him right away simply because of what happened during the feast."
Harry ran a hand through his hair and sighed before answering. "It was that first letter. I knew who it was from right away but it had really attracted my attention, what with a great huge bird landing in front of me. So I read the letter and it was just so different than anything I expected. I decided to let him try and show me his real self. I don't regret it."
"Well, good," Neville said uncertainly, still unsure how he felt about Draco Malfoy courting his friend and being one of said friend's favorites. A moment later he asked curiously, "What was in the letter this morning? You didn't look too happy when you read it and you didn't even read the whole thing."
Harry looked at Neville in disbelief. "Did you see it? It wasn't a letter, it was a book! There're 74 charms on that necklace and he wrote an entire page for each person! I wasn't going to read it there at the table."
"I guess that wouldn't have been the best thing. Still, I bet that Malfoy is full of angst over your decidedly lukewarm reaction to this week's gift," Neville said with a wicked grin.
Harry let out a surprised laugh. "I just bet he is."
"So why send this," Neville said, gesturing to the necklace.
"He's still nervous about revealing his identity," he said and shared a smirk with Neville. "He asked my indulgence to remain hidden but didn't want to insult me by not inviting me to come to his family's estates over the holidays to meet everyone. So, in lieu of that…"
"He's sent them to meet you," Neville said in understanding.
"Exactly," Harry said, nodding. "That parchment there in the top of the box is his family tree for the British branch of the Malfoys – though of course he doesn't identify them by name. Go ahead, take a look."
So Neville did. He pulled out the parchment and unfolded it to reveal an extensive family tree that had birth years, gender, and a nickname for each living person. He studied it for a minute then said, "You know, even though there aren't any names, you could probably figure out who each of these people were just from the birth years."
"I know," Harry said. He pointed to the top and the first male who was still alive and added, "All I would have to do would be to find a male born in 1811 whose father was born in 1786 and I'd have the family name. It might be a bit tedious but it wouldn't be that hard. I won't, though."
"Because you already know," Neville said with a nod and started refolding the chart.
"Because he asked me not to," Harry said with a shrug. "You have to admit that giving me this and then asking me not to do anything with the knowledge is placing quite a bit of trust in me. After all, Malfoy doesn't know that I know who he is."
"I suppose that's true," Neville said then asked curiously, "How long are you going to let him remain anonymous?"
Harry snorted in amusement. "Well, since he's really not, I figure for as long as he wants."
"Has he been to a meeting yet?" Neville asked. "Did he use a glamour?"
"I excused him from the meetings," Harry answered, shaking his head.
"But I thought you were testing for magic compatibility?" Neville said in surprise.
Harry lifted his arm again and waggled the bracelet.
"Ah, right," Neville said, flushing pink. "I forgot about that. Still, you're going on individual dates in the new year, right? Are you going to let him use a glamour?"
"If he wants," Harry shrugged indifferently. "There will be more important things to worry about during the date than what he looks like."
Neville nodded in understanding. "So what are you going to do with the necklace? Wear it?"
"I…don't know," Harry admitted uncomfortably. "The thing scares me, to be honest."
"Why?" Neville asked in surprise. "You wear his bracelet all the time."
"Yes, and I'm glad to. It really helps me sometimes when I'm getting too jittery from opening my magic during the meetings. It's been a godsend, really," Harry admitted as he ran a hand through his hair nervously. "But this…this is something else. I'm afraid to even touch it. I might like it too much."
"Too much?" Neville parroted.
Harry shrugged his shoulders and looked away, unable to express his thoughts.
"You're afraid it will end the courtships, aren't you?" Neville said with a sudden insight. "You're afraid that if you touch it, much less wear it, that you'll like it so much your Veela magics will choose for you and you'll be unable to decide against Malfoy in favor of another suitor, no matter what might happen with him or others. And then you'll be right back to your concerns about people claiming that you were taking advantage of the situation and not making fair evaluations."
Harry nodded sharply and said, "Yes. But it's such an amazing gift that I can't let it pass without acknowledgement of some kind. I don't know what to do with it."
"When are you meeting your suitors' families?" Neville asked.
"Summer," Harry answered promptly. "At least, that's the current plan."
"Then you probably shouldn't touch these charms until then," Neville said thoughtfully. "You don't want to be accused of giving him an unfair advantage by meeting his family so much earlier than anyone else's."
Harry sighed. "That's what I figured, but still…"
"If it's too much of a temptation, maybe you should give it to your chaperone tomorrow to hold for you," Neville suggested as he closed the lid to the box.
"I…that's a really good idea," Harry said in surprise. "Why didn't I think of that?"
"Because you were too nervous over the whole thing to think clearly," Neville said matter-of-factly. "Sometimes it takes an outsider to think of the obvious things."
Harry shook his head in amused exasperation. "I suppose so. But that still doesn't tell me what to do."
"Read the letter, uh, book about his family and send a nice thank you note about how you appreciate the opportunity to get to know his family," Neville said and handed the box back to Harry. "He'll never know whether or not you touched the charms anyway."
Harry accepted the box and thought about the suggestion for a moment. He nodded absently as he stood. "I'll do that. Thanks, Nev," he said gratefully.
"No problem," Neville replied with a warm smile.
The Quibbler, Special Flyer, Monday, December 9, 1996
Current Count of Suitors: 634
Excerpt from An Introduction to Veela, Chapter 7 - Political System – Queen & Country
Pansy took her customary seat in the middle of Draco's bed and watched as her friend retrieved the envelope that he had received that morning from his great-grandmother. She began removing her textbooks from her schoolbag and arranging them around her as Draco opened the letter and read it's contents avidly. Draco let out a sigh of relief and Pansy said, "Permission granted, I presume?"
Draco grinned and nodded. "Yes, thank Merlin."
"Congratulations," she said with a smile.
"Thank you," Draco said sincerely. "I admit I was a little worried."
"I wasn't," Pansy admitted.
"No?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.
Pansy shook her head. "If he was willing to excuse you from the meetings he's holding after you sent him the bracelet, it was a foregone conclusion he would excuse you from a holiday visit with the charms from your family. In my opinion."
"Maybe so," Draco said agreeable. "He said thanks for introducing the family."
"That was nice," Pansy said as she pulled out quill and parchment. "You know, I'm surprised he's being so forgiving. He doesn't seem the type."
Draco looked at his friend blankly. "Forgiving?"
"Yes," Pansy said and frowned thoughtfully. "I understand about the holidays because it's most likely he would have turned down an invitation anyway. I suppose the whole hidden identity thing you set up with your first letter is even understandable as some sort of attraction to a mystery man. But I really don't understand why he let you get away with missing the meetings. Why would he excuse you? I just know that there were other tests he must have conducted. There've been rumors lately that part of the testing was how polite you were to Madam Puddifoot and your competing suitors."
"Are you saying that I would have been rude?" Draco asked in amusement.
Pansy waved a quill in annoyance. "No. But I'm sure there must have been other tests. Why did he excuse you? Did you appeal that much to his sense of forgiveness?"
Draco shook his head and replied, "I'm not appealing to his sense of forgiveness at all. I'm appealing to his sense of freedom and privacy."
"What?" Pansy asked in confusion. "How are you doing that?"
"Harry's never been free in his entire life to just be who he wants to be or do what he wants to do," Draco replied. "His family…nevermind that. The wizarding world demands he abide by some ideal of what the Boy-Who-Lived should be like. So by telling him that I'm afraid that he would judge me by my family name, that I'm required to act a certain way in public, that few people know the real me, I'm showing that I can truly understand not only the constraints he's been under as an unwilling public figure but the complete lack of privacy he's been granted. I guarantee that he wishes he could have the freedom of anonymity in his life, and the subsequent privacy it would allow, so of course he will let me have it if I ask nicely."
Pansy thought about what Draco had said for nearly a full minute. "So you think that you gained his sympathy by acknowledging your fear of rejection?"
"Something like that," Draco admitted with a nod. "He understands what it is to have people judge you based on some outside influence over which you have no control. How it feels to have people simply make presumptions about what you must be like without bothering to look deeper. Besides, it's not as if I asked for this favor without giving anything in return."
"The stories you tell about yourself," Pansy said in understanding. "Your name remains hidden, anonymous, but you yourself are not."
Draco nodded. "Exactly. We've all seen that he likes my letters."
"He does," Pansy agreed.
"So, anything else I can clarify?" Draco asked haughtily.
"Hmmm. He likes Egypt," Pansy said
Draco blinked at the non sequitur. "What?"
"Egypt. He likes Egypt," Pansy repeated. "Padma said that Parvati said that she overheard Potter asking Granger to get some recommendations from Pince about Egypt because he wanted to buy some additional books. And he liked the robe, pajamas, and slippers you sent. He's gotten a few other bathrobes and slippers, but he wears yours as often as any of the others."
Draco's eyes widened as he finally caught on to what Pansy was saying. He grinned widely and said, "Right. Egypt. Excellent. You'll still keep an ear out?"
Pansy rolled here eyes. "Of course. Are you going to tell me why you need to know?"
"No," Draco replied, still grinning.
"Damn it," Pansy mumbled.
Draco merely smirked.
The Quibbler, Special Flyer, Monday, December 16, 1996
Current Count of Suitors: 546
Excerpt from An Introduction to Veela, Chapter 8 - A Brief History: Domestic
"What are you going to do over the holidays, Harry?" asked Hermione as she watched her friend open yet another vial of bath oil and take an inquisitive sniff. "And I thought Veela hated scented things."
Harry shook his head and recapped the current vial – Cedar – and said, "No. It's just the stuff that wizards use that we hate and only because it's much too strong. These have been specially manufactured to appeal to Veela."
"Oh," Hermione said as she filed away that clarifying piece of trivia. "Do you like them?"
"I'm not so sure about the trees," Harry replied absently. "I like the flowers so far."
"With the way he's been dressing you, I'm surprised he sent you bath oils," Hermione said curiously. "It seems a strange change of pace."
"He said it's to help me relax over the holidays," Harry said with a small huffed laugh as he opened the vial labeled wisteria.
"What are you doing over the holidays?" Hermione asked again.
"Relaxing," Harry said with another laugh. "Continue reading about Egypt."
"You should at least try to read some of your textbooks," Hermione suggested mildly. "You've missed a lot of class."
Harry gave a small snort as he recapped the wisteria. "Maybe," he said, "but I don't see much of a point. I still won't have time to attend classes when I get back from the holidays as I have to start meeting with my suitors individually."
"Oh, right," Hermione said, flushing slightly in embarrassment. "I can't believe I forgot."
Harry grinned at her as he uncapped the sandalwood. "That's all right. I wish I could forget."
Before Hermione could respond, Professor McGonagall arrived and stiffly informed Harry that the headmaster wished to see him upon his return from Hogsmeade. Harry politely acknowledged her message then turned to gather his things to leave.
"Don't mind her, Harry," Ginny said from two places over. "She's just jealous."
Harry let out a surprised laugh, a great improvement from his resentful scowl, and said, "Jealous, huh? That's funny. Whatever her problem is, she shouldn't be taking it out on me."
"I think she's angry that you're neglecting your education," Hermione said then added hurriedly, "Not that you are! But I think that's why she's so angry with you."
"Well, if her boss hadn't made me into an icon then I wouldn't be having to neglect it, now would I?" Harry asked bitterly. "I'd be a nice normal half-Veela with only a couple dozen suitors who still had time for such trivialities."
"Oh, Harry," Hermione said sadly while others around her winced at Harry's tone and prayed that his temper held.
Harry smiled sadly at his friend without comment. He stood from the table and lifted his bag over his shoulders then put on his cloak. He paused for several moments to run his hands over the super-soft fur then turned and made his way out of the great hall without another word.
Despite knowing what he had to look forward to that evening, both the luncheon and the dinner went very well. Nobody was rude, tried to cast spells on him, tried to dose him with a potion, nor wore any offending scents. Overall, an excellent day.
These were the thoughts Harry kept in mind as he sat in a squat, gaudy, overstuffed chair in the Headmaster's office waiting for the old man to speak. Eventually the headmaster would realize that Harry was perfectly willing to sit all night waiting for the other to start the conversation. Harry had an idea what the conversation might be about and wasn't planning on giving an inch, and that included showing the headmaster that he wasn't going to become impatient, uncomfortable, or intimated by the old man's silence and slightly disappointed looking gaze. Harry was determined that Dumbledore would be the first to give in, thereby setting the tone of the conversation.
Eventually Dumbledore gave Harry an even more disappointed look – which Harry ignored – and said, "You stated in your October interview that you would stop holding group meetings after the 20th and will start individual meetings on January 6th. Will you be pursuing other courting related tasks during that time?"
"No," Harry admitted easily, his suspicions about the meeting's topic starting to be confirmed. "I'm going to take a break from all my courting tasks over the holidays."
"Do you have other plans, then?" Dumbledore asked.
"Relaxation and fun. Just like every other student," Harry said pointedly.
Dumbledore ignored the slight barb – as Harry had expected – and made his first foray into the real topic of the meeting. "I've spoken with the Dursleys and they tell me that for the last two summers you've locked yourself up in your room and refused any familial interaction."
Harry said nothing and merely looked at the headmaster indifferently. He knew for certain now where this conversation was going and planned on making it as difficult as possible for the headmaster to get his answers. After all, actually being direct in his questions and speech would have to twist something in the old man's brain, wouldn't it?
Dumbledore's disappointed look deepened and he asked sternly, "Were you at your relatives' house over the past two summers, Harry?"
"Yes," Harry answered honestly. The question wasn't about how long he had been there, now was it?
Dumbledore looked down his glasses at Harry disapprovingly as if he could actually sense the lie or the hiding of the truth. "Did you live there for a significant amount of time, Harry?"
"You already know the answer to that, Headmaster," Harry said blandly, "Why ask me?"
"I'd like to hear it from you, Harry," Dumbledore said seriously.
Harry wondered what kind of reaction his answer would garner as he said, "I think I've spent maybe two whole days there over the last two summers."
Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly in surprise before he once again controlled his expression. "That is much worse than I had thought, my boy. You need to spend sufficient time there to power the wards."
Harry shrugged his disinterest. He didn't care about the wards.
"To let them fall would be irresponsible," Dumbledore said tightly. "The wards protect your relatives as well as yourself."
Harry gave a small snort at that and shrugged again. He definitely couldn't care less if his relatives were protected.
"You need that protection for when you face Voldemort, Harry," Dumbledore admonished sternly. "As you've let the wards diminish so greatly over the last two years, they will need your presence longer than just summer to fully recharge. Since you've agreed that you won't be pursuing courtships during the holidays, you will be spending that time with your relatives. I've already made arrangements."
Harry raised his eyebrows at the fact that Dumbledore was getting to the point of the conversation so quickly; he'd expected at least another ten minutes of pointless conversation. "I will not stay with the Dursleys," he said.
"Yes, Harry, you will," Dumbledore said firmly. "You need to recharge the protective wards that you've been willfully neglecting for so long. In addition, for the best effect on the wards, I'm afraid that while you're there that you will not be able to leave the house at all."
Harry merely blinked at Dumbledore's pronouncement.
"If you hadn't been so irresponsible over the last two summers this wouldn't be necessary," Dumbledore scolded. "Make sure you are packed for Saturday morning. You will be taking the Hogwarts express to King's Cross with the other students where your uncle will meet you."
Harry said nothing. He most definitely wasn't going to go to the Dursleys for the holidays, but he'd let Dumbledore have this little apparent victory.
"Do you understand, Harry?" Dumbledore asked sternly.
"I understand," Harry said, "May I leave?"
"You may go," Dumbledore said, watching Harry's reactions intently.
So Harry left, all the while fingering the small silver pinky ring that he'd worn continuously for the past year and a half. It was a nervous habit Harry had acquired over that time that everyone had witnessed upon several occasions, so Dumbledore thought nothing of it.