238 Chapter 238: Meeting His Match
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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.
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11 August 1994, Quidditch Trillenium Stadium, England
Harry woke up just after dawn. It was out of habit more than anything, due to his years of practising his Occlumency early in the morning. He got up and took a walk around the campsite.
Harry walked quietly, his footsteps almost silent against the dew-drenched grass, leaving shallow impressions that glistened in the early morning sun. The campsite, bustling and noisy at all hours, was tranquil now, save for the soft snoring of sleeping fans and the distant calls of waking birds. The sky was orange, bleeding into the pale blue of dawn. It was beautiful.
He passed tents of all shapes and sizes, each adorned with the colours and emblems of different Quidditch teams, flags limp in the stillness but poised to flutter once the breeze picked up. He found a small clearing with a view of the stadium in the distance, its massive structure impressive and imposing against the lightening sky. Here, he stopped and took a moment to appreciate the peace and solitude, feeling a mix of anticipation and anxiety for the day ahead.
He never really liked crowds or loud noises and for the first time since getting there, he finally started to relax.
The previous day was nerve-wracking. For all of Arcturus' fondness for his friends, they were very cunning and would take advantage of him without a second thought. Harry needed to think about every word he said in their company to avoid revealing anything accidentally and that was more exhausting than he thought it would have been.
He was also sure that Sebastien Delacour had specifically asked Fleur to come to their tent to see Harry's reaction to her. She seemed like a nice enough girl, prideful and talented, which was normally a bad combination, but she wanted to be seen as more than just a Veela, something that Harry respected. The bracelet she had enchanted was proof of that; she wanted to restrain her allure as much as possible, even if her looks alone would probably be enough to have a similar effect on most men and women.
He had been surprised that Fleur's father was a friend of Arcturus. He hadn't expected to meet her anytime soon, and that took him off-guard, if had to be honest. The stories definitely hadn't done her beauty justice. It was hard to describe but it was otherworldly more than anything, but outside of this, she seemed like a normal, if burdened girl. It was her father that Harry was wary of… Speaking with this man felt like swimming with a shark.
Thankfully, he wouldn't spend any more time with them. He had asked Arcturus to watch the match with his friends, away from the top box and the politics that will inevitably come with it. He dreaded the day he would be old enough or important enough, that politicking would be necessary to anyone.
His thoughts were interrupted by a voice, "I knew you would be here!"
Harry turned and smiled at the familiar form of his best friend, "Daphne," before turning to Tracy and Blaise, "How did you find me?"
The blonde grinned but it sounded forced for some reason, "You always like to take walks to quiet places whenever you're in a new place and I knew you always wake up early. This is the quietest place around."
Tracy, who definitely didn't become a morning person overnight, grumbled, "She also made us walk to three other clearings. She even woke up the muggles in charge of this place and asked them for the quietest places here."
"You could have said no… It's not like she could have broken into your tents, right?"
The dark-skinned boy looked half-asleep, "We both stayed with Daphne's family. Tracy came with them, and I asked them to stay the night in their tent. My mother is having guests and she's not big on silencing charms."
Harry winced, choosing not to comment on Blaise's last statement. The Black Widow was a known serial seducer and killer. The problem was that no one knew how she killed her victims. Every single person died of a different cause and there were other culprits responsible that were caught. You'd think that having seven dead husbands was an obvious red flag, but if there was something Harry knew for a fact, it was that men became idiots whenever a woman was involved.
Instead, he simply asked, "If you wanted to meet up, all you had to do was send me an owl. I'd have told you where I was."
Tracy cackled, "She wanted to catch you in the act!"
Harry's only answer was to tilt her head in confusion and Daphne hit her in the stomach. This time, Blaise, who had seemingly woken up asked, "Is it true that you were seduced by a Veela?"
Oh, they just wanted to know… Wait, what? What gave them that idea? Harry looked at him for a few seconds as if he were an idiot, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Seamus Finnigan saw you talking to this Veela yesterday. He told Lavender, who pretty much told everyone. I'm pretty sure half our classmates know about it," Tracy responded.
Harry shook his head, "Her father is a friend of Arcturus, she went to pick him up. We talked for like five minutes and they left."
"If her father is human, wouldn't she be a half-Veela?" the brunette asked.
Harry gave her a weird look, "There is no such thing as a partial Veela. Either a girl is a Veela, or she isn't. There aren't even male Veelas, so how would there be pure-blooded Veelas?"
He had researched intelligent magical beings out of curiosity. The truth was that Veelas were not a race of their own. They were humans, that had at some point been modified to be more attractive, both physically, and through the allure. They had a high affinity for fire magic, and for some reason, they grew wings and their heads transformed into that of a bird, whenever they became angry.
To be perfectly honest, the fact that the transformation was based on anger felt more like a curse than anything. Theoretically, whoever made the first Veela might have made an alchemical mistake, but that was unlikely, considering how the transformation was out of place compared to Veela's natural form. It was more likely that an angry witch cursed Veelas a long time ago, probably an incomplete blood malediction, for a Veela stealing her husband or something similar. He wouldn't know without studying someone.
People often had idealized notions of Veelas. They were not sex goddesses, they did not like seducing married men. They took advantage of their abilities, but that was a given. Who wouldn't? It was undeniable that being attractive, even without any supernatural enhancement, was a boon and people often took advantage of it.
At the end of the day, Veelas were just witches who were different, nothing more, nothing less. They were driven off from Britain mainly because of the impact of their magic on their children. The child of a Veela was very likely a girl, that was also a Veela, which overwhelmed any magical crest or any attuned magics. Unfortunately, young heirs tended to be easily seduced, and Britain had prided itself on its old magic. In the end, the Wizengamot banned any magic with Veelas and introduced a lot of taxes, which got them to leave.
Harry's pondering was broken by Daphne, who sounded visibly calmed to his Arcane Hearing, "Well, I'm glad you weren't taken advantage of."
"Daph, I spoke about enchanting with a Veela for less than five minutes, a Veela who also happened to have made a bracelet that blocked her allure. It was pretty interesting how she did it. It was ingenious to see how the French tied up their charms…"
That seemed to satisfy her, but Blaise interjected, "Let me get this straight, a Veela, one of the most attractive women in the world, just spoke to you, and you talked about magical theory and the enchantments on her bracelet… Are you mad?"
Tracy hit him with her elbow, "Are you sure you don't want to retract that statement?"
"I do. Forget I said anything," he wheezed out.
"Good boy…."
Harry smiled, amused by their byplay, before asking, "I think the shops are opening up. Maybe we should look around before it becomes too crowded."
That seemed to cheer up the girls and Blaise gave Harry a grateful look. They went towards the shop districts. Apparently, a spot there had cost a veritable fortune, but the sellers all but won it back in sales. Daphne and Tracy had a green luminous rose each, supporting Ireland, while Blaise had bought an animated red scarf, a small collectable of Victor Krum riding a tiny Firebolt. Harry just bought four Omnioculars for the match. They would still be useful after the match, before realizing that it was almost match time.
They had agreed before, that the four of them would sit together, far away from their parents. Blaise who didn't want his mother to meet Tracy, had put the measure forward. They had bought tickets that weren't the best, but good enough to watch the match. The stadium itself was a giant structure built to house over a hundred thousand wizards and witches.
Harry had nothing particular to say about the match. As he expected, Ireland won while Bulgaria caught the snitch. It was a pretty close thing; Krum caught the snitch a couple of seconds after one of the Ireland chasers scored their final goal. Harry might not like Quidditch all that much, but he had agreed that Krum was very graceful in his flying. That Wronski feint of his was masterfully done.
The Veela dancers at the start were pretty controversial, to say the least. For one thing, the dancers had toured all over Europe, for years, and the tickets to their shows were ludicrously expensive. The Bulgarian Ministry must have offered them a veritable fortune to do their act in front of the whole world. It was impressive the fact that they were able to synchronize their allure to affect an entire stadium, and the way they enchanted their song with their allure was masterful, to say the least. It had very little to do with being a Veela and a lot to do with at least a decade of practice to pull it off. Their little dance alone had increased the number of Bulgarian supporters significantly.
Tracy ended up hexing Blaise during the dance, and the Italian boy kept saying that he was simply showing support to his team. Still, for some reason, Daphne kept looking at him during the Veela dance. She was probably worried for him because of the few idiots around them that almost jumped off the stage. Or at least, they would have if it wasn't for the security charms…
That said, the leprechaun gold afterwards honestly paled compared to the magic the Veela displayed. Temporary conjuration of a golden metal in the shape of Galleons wasn't all that difficult, but Harry pitied the people who would inevitably try to buy stuff with it…
At the end of the day, the match was slightly entertaining. Harry still maintained that Quidditch was far too chaotic and unpredictable for him to like, but the ending was pretty exciting all things considered. They returned to their camping site, in good moods. There were a few fights along the way, but it wasn't unexpected in a sporting event of this magnitude.
All in all, it seemed like Fudge's gambit had worked. This event alone would enhance the British magical economy, with new investors, new friends, and perhaps even international companies opening branches in Diagon Alley.
Of course, that was when everything went to shit.
Harry knew that the possibility of an attack by Death Eaters was there, but he didn't expect a fucking Vampire Lord to come out of the shadows to stab him and his friends. Thankfully, he was able to create a wall of fire to protect himself and put on a few protective charms around his friends.
He looked around and noticed an entire hoard of Vampire thralls ready to attack at any time, and their Lord looked oddly more feral compared to the ones he had killed in Grindelwald's base a few months prior. Slowly, the madness receded, and he spoke in a cultured voice, "Harry Potter. If you give yourself up, I will spare your friends' lives."
Why did this stuff keep happening to him?
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Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.
