A/N:
Hi, new chapter.
Thanks for sticking it out with this story so far, I'm still new at this type of writing and am continually trying to get better.
Let me know what you think :)
"Your Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum, up until now, has been incredibly disorganized," Professor Umbridge began. "Seeing as how you've never had a good teacher until now, I'm taking it upon myself to remedy your severely lacking education."
The fifth year students in the professor's first class of the year stared up at her, more compelled by her horrific taste for dress than her words.
"There are very few things that you actually need to know about the dark arts," she continued, "as the ministry has effectively rooted out the source of all dark wizards in Britain. For that reason, this class will primarily focus on theory, and the passing of your O.W.L. examinations. There is, however, one additional topic that I believe is worth lecturing on."
Harry watched with narrowed eyes as the woman walked to the blackboard, pulling out her wand as she did. Two minutes into her first class, and he was already positive that he wasn't going to like her.
She carefully used her wand to write on the board, spelling 'Dangerous Half-breeds' in loopy, rounded letters. A short list followed suit, which included Giants, Goblins, Werewolves, and…Veela.
Harry looked at Gabrielle, but she sat quietly and attentively, seemingly unconcerned.
"It has come to my attention, you see, that Hogwarts has housed and continues to house a variety of non-human creatures which can be a threat to the rest of the student body; half-giants can be quick to use excessive force, half-goblins have a penchant for scheming, and werewolves are unpredictable creatures that account for the deaths of several dozen witches and wizards every year. Despite this, these kinds of half-breeds regularly reside within the walls of Hogwarts, routinely holding teaching positions as well."
Hermione raised her hand, eyebrows furrowed. "Excuse me Professor, but-"
"Ah! There will be no interruptions in my classroom. Ten points from Gryffindor."
Hermione frowned. "But Professor, werewolves aren't-"
"What did I just say?" Umbridge cut in irritatedly. "There will be no interruptions in my classroom! Twenty points from Gryffindor."
"But werewolves aren't even considered half-breeds!" Hermione exclaimed in frustration, getting the words out in a rush. "Not to mention the word has been-"
"That's enough!" Umbridge squeaked, her high-pitched voice cutting through the room like a knife. "I am the teacher here, and you are the student! If you continue your attempt to usurp my lesson, I'll have no choice but to expel you from my class!"
That took the wind out of Hermione's sails, and while she still glared at the woman, she didn't try to speak again. Dolores gave her a satisfied humph, and returned her attention to the class.
"Now, where were we?" she asked, regaining her composure. "Ah, yes. While certain, ahem, 'progressive' members of the magical community would like to tell you otherwise, half-breeds are extremely dangerous. And while British wizarding law does not yet impose restrictions on their movements, I feel it would be remiss of me, as your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, to neglect informing you of these threats."
Harry tried not to react as the woman continued speaking, listing the crimes various 'half-breeds' had committed over the years and drawing robust correlations between the offense and their non-human heritage. Her claims were ludicrous and incredibly inappropriate, and Harry nearly jumped out of his seat as she began to talk about the 'inherent dangers of half-giants'. Hagrid was one of the gentlest people he knew, and the insinuation that he was an accident waiting to happen thoroughly destroyed whatever meager respect he had left for the teacher.
Surprising himself with his own willpower, he made it almost halfway through the class before his tolerance finally broke; when Umbridge began to speak about Veela, he decided enough was enough.
Gabrielle listened to Umbridge's lecture with a mixture of concern and amusement. Despite its many shortcomings as a school, Beauxbatons would never dream of hiring a teacher that spouted half-baked racist ideologies in the classroom. She wasn't totally sure why, but magical Britain seemed to have a higher volume of idiots than magical France.
"Veela and their progeny are proponents of adultery and corruption at best," Umbridge said, "and the total enslavement of men at worst. While many never come forward to discuss what has happened to them, let me assure you that countless innocents fall victim to their magical allure every year."
Gabrielle sighed internally; Veela allure was commonly misunderstood. Sure, a Veela could push their allure to potentially seduce someone attracted to women, but it didn't give them power over their mind, and serious physical contact broke the magic. If anything, a Veela's allure got in the way of more relationships than it made, if the stories her heartbroken relatives told her were true.
Besides, she thought, the allure isn't nearly as dangerous as the fire…
She was startled out of her thoughts as the boy she had been staring at all class raised his hand. Harry was given the go-ahead to speak, and he looked up at their professor with indignation clear on his features.
"But all of those things can be easily replicated by a witch or wizard using their wand," he said, a little frustrated. "It's not unique to Veela in the slightest. Amortentia can seduce anyone with the slip of a potion, and the Imperius Curse can dominate someone's mind completely. If anything, it would be harder for a Veela to do those things because everyone already assumes they would using their magic."
Umbridge gave him a scrutinizing glare, and Gabrielle felt her heart give an audible thud.
Had Harry just defended her?
She had been afraid that the Professor's words might turn Harry against her, or at least frighten him, but she should've known better. Her Harry wasn't that kind of person.
"And that's why both of those things are illegal," Umbridge said after a moment. "The ministry protects you from both Amortentia and the Imperius Curse, but you'll need to protect yourselves against Veela."
"But we need to protect ourselves against everything," Harry argued. "Amortentia still gets used all the time, and just last year Voldemort's followers used the Imperius Curse to enact the plan that got him resurrected! I think Veela, and the other so-called 'half-breeds' are the least of our issues right now."
Professor Umbridge's facial muscles twitched as she stared him down.
"While spreading misinformation and inciting public panic may be funny to you, Mr. Potter," she said quietly. "There will be no lying in my classroom."
"It's not a lie! I was-"
"Professor, I have a suggestion," someone said, cutting Harry off and causing him to hold his protest. "May I propose it?"
Umbridge reluctantly turned her glare away from Harry and towards the voice that had spoken. When she saw that it came from Gabrielle - their resident Veela - her eyes narrowed.
"Make it quick, child," she said shortly. "I have a lesson to return to, and further interruptions will not be tolerated."
Gabrielle nodded courteously. "Thank you. It's just, being part-Veela myself, I thought I might be of use in a demonstration. A limit-test of the allure you've been talking about, if you will."
The woman's eyes narrowed further still, but she seemed to be considering the suggestion.
"It'll be perfectly safe, under your supervision, of course," Gabrielle continued. "But it may allow you all the chance to see what you're up against."
Umbridge stared appraisingly at her for a while before eventually nodding.
"Very well then; show us what your kind can do. You can demonstrate on Mr. Potter," she added, "since he seems so convinced that Veela pose no threat to him."
Harry was still a bit taken aback from the rapid turn of events in the classroom, but he returned focus as Gabrielle turned to face him. He braced himself, as he wasn't sure what the girl was playing at, and he still didn't totally trust her. As much as he disagreed with Umbridge's claims, he hadn't forgotten the fact that his newest admirer was a Veela.
Gabrielle smiled and walked up to his desk, stopping just a foot away from him.
"I'm going to push the full force of my allure at you now," she said. "Is that okay?"
Harry nodded tentatively, and he saw a look of anticipatory glee on Umbridge's face, likely thrilled at the prospect of something going wrong. Gabrielle took a deep breath and started channeling her natural magic.
Harry was expecting the allure to hit him all at once, but it instead snuck up on him slowly. Time seemed to slow down, and the class held a collective breath as the Veela's magic flowed.
"Harry," she said, her words like honey to his ears. "Do you think I'm pretty?"
Her long silver hair fluttered slightly, swept by an unknown wind, and Harry felt her bright blue eyes pierce his soul. The words slipped out before he could help it.
"You're beyond pretty."
It wasn't that Harry couldn't resist her request, it's that he didn't want to; the pull of her magic made him want to please her. Which in hindsight, he supposed, was what made it dangerous.
Gabrielle smiled, and the genuine happiness in her expression made Harry's heart flutter.
"Thank you, Harry. Can you tell me more?"
Prepared this time, he expended his willpower to push down the little voice in his head that wanted to respond positively.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Gabby."
She raised her eyebrows in bemusement, but the corners of her mouth turned up in delight and a small laugh escaped her lips. Harry felt the intensity of her pull towards him increase, and passively noticed a few of their classmates almost falling out of their seats, caught in the crossfire. As she looked at him, he felt like he could see every detail of her with perfect clarity, and every piece came back flawless even under the harshest scrutiny.
Gabrielle was, he realized, the single most beautiful person he'd ever seen in his life.
"And if I asked nicely," she purred, "would you tell the class about the second time we ever met?"
Harry froze. The second time they ever met was when she killed Vernon Dursley.
Was she insane?
Her magic made him want so badly to follow her request, to tell the class about their second ever meeting, but if he did the jig would be up. Revealing Gabrielle's crimes in front of the class would at least cause a massive uproar of speculation, and at worst cause the girl's immediate expulsion. They were, after all, sharing a classroom with a ministry official who had a bone to pick with half-breeds.
In the end, he forced himself to shake his head.
"I'd rather not," he replied. "I was rather rude to you that night in the Great Hall."
Gabrielle smirked and let her magic drop, causing a simultaneous exhale of breath from around the classroom, Harry included.
"Well, as you can see," she announced, looking around the room, "that's about as much as a Veela can do – fish for some compliments. Harry was able to compellingly resist my charms even at the height of their powers."
She turned back to Harry and winked at him.
"In the end," she said, "I'm perfectly harmless."
While Umbridge had taken Gabrielle's demonstration as clear proof that Veela were veritable menaces to society, the display actually served to bring the girl's popularity at Hogwarts to new levels. After class, countless students had rushed up to Gabrielle to express their admiration for her magic or simply to speak with her. Two boys had even asked her out on dates, though both were promptly rejected.
"Your allure was impressive," Ron admitted once they had finally escaped the crowd. "Even I was starting to feel it at the end there."
It was a testament to their friendship that no one told Ron they saw him nearly faint under Gabrielle's pressure.
"Well anyway," Hermione said to Gabrielle. "It was quick thinking of you to distract Umbridge like that. Heaven knows if you left Harry to his own devices he'd have ended up in detention after his first class of the year."
"Wait, what?"
Hermione turned to Harry. "What, you didn't realize? Gabrielle interrupted you so you wouldn't keep arguing with the teacher."
"She did?"
Harry hadn't realized that, but in hindsight it made perfect sense.
Gabrielle shrugged. "She was clearly trying to provoke you, and I didn't know what her intentions were. Better to thwart her plans and redirect her attention than figure out what she was up to."
"Ah…thanks then," he said. "That was probably for the best. I knew I wouldn't be able to change her mind, but she was already really starting to get on my nerves when she called me a liar…"
Hermione scoffed. "Tell me about it. Denial about you-know-who aside, it's completely unacceptable to talk about other magical races the way she did today. In fact, I think we should tell Dumbledore."
Harry sighed, shaking his head. "I don't think it matters. Even if he had the power to fire a ministry employee from Hogwarts, he probably wouldn't."
"Why not? And either way, it's still worth a try!"
Ron shrugged. "I don't know Hermione, I think Harry's right. If anyone actually cared who taught at Hogwarts, we wouldn't have a ghost, a loony, and a bully as teachers. Honestly, a racist feels like a pretty natural inclusion to round out the roster."
And as much as Hermione wanted to argue that point, she realized she really couldn't.
Harry kept an eye on Gabrielle throughout the rest of the day, but her behavior continued to be startlingly normal. He hadn't forgotten that she had killed his uncle over the summer and snuck into his bed the night before, but apart from that, she at least seemed in control of her aberrant tendencies.
She was clipped but still polite in her interactions with the rest of the school, and she didn't display any excessive reactions to the people who whispered about Harry in the hallways. Even now, as he watched her twirl a quill between her fingers listening to a lecture, he couldn't help but wonder if she wasn't entirely more normal than he had initially thought.
Then what? Harry wondered, waiting for the bell to ring. She's a regular girl who developed a bottomless obsession with me after meeting me once? That doesn't make any sense…
She moved her head in just the right way to catch his eye and gave him a little smile. He turned away quickly as if he hadn't been watching her all class, and she snickered.
Only slightly embarrassed, her expression made his thoughts drift back to their Defense class earlier that day, and the way it felt to be 'under' her allure. Admittedly, it had been useful to quantify exactly how much pull her magic could have, but it also helped him realize that her attractiveness wasn't dulled in the least by the release of it. Gabrielle's allure made him concentrate on her beauty, but it didn't change any of the facts.
Not that any of that matters, he thought. Being pretty doesn't make her any less dangerous, and being friendly doesn't mean her uncompromising views on morality are acceptable. But still…if she promises not to do anything extreme, and her personality mellows out, she could be a valuable ally in the future… Maybe it's okay if I keep her involvement in Vernon's death a secret for now?
The bell signifying the end of class rang, and Harry was shaken out of his musings. Resolving to continue his mental turmoil another time, he packed up his things and headed off to join his friends at the door.
Later that night, in the Gryffindor girl's dorm room, a certain girl closed her curtains and took three dolls out of her bag.
"Meeting time!" Gabrielle said cheerily as she laid her friends out around her. "I just finished my first day of classes!"
"Yay!" Kate said in a squeaky voice. "Meeting time! How's it going with Harry?"
Kate's voice was cut off prematurely as Gabrielle squealed excitedly into her pillow.
"It's going great! I think he likes me! He's been staring at me all day."
"That means he likes you for sure!"
"I know!"
"And did you make any friends?" Kate asked.
Gabrielle put the doll down and tapped her chin. "Maybe? I mean, Harry, of course, but I also spoke to his friends Ron and Hermione, so they might be my friends now too."
"Tell us about the new friends!" Tigran encouraged her from the corner.
He started to fall over the weight of his own head so she grabbed him and propped him up against the bedpost.
"Well, Ron's kind of funny," Gabrielle said. "He's like a dog – pretty stupid, but predictable and loyal. As long as you feed him he'll fight for you. And you can probably take that literally."
"What about Hermione?" Jack asked, his head bobbing up and down as Gabrielle shook it to emulate speech.
She pursed her lips. "Well, she's definitely not funny. She's too smart for her own good, but she seems reliable and she definitely cares about Harry…"
There was a shifting in the shadows, and a fourth doll crawled into view.
"Is this 'Hermione' girl a rival?" Sammy asked.
The word 'rival' caused an uncomfortable stirring in her chest; it was the fear she hadn't yet had the courage to voice.
"I hope not…" Gabrielle said eventually. "It would be a shame if something bad had to happen to her."