Two girls currently made their way through East Berlin. Even though it was vastly different from its Communist days, that did not mean that it was necessarily safe, and both clutched their wands hidden under their pockets just in case.
They had finally managed to get a meeting with the East German magical government to discuss being able to get inside Nurmengard prison in order to see Grindelwald.
The girl known as Susan - Susie only if you were Harry or you wanted to get slapped - was perfectly aware that this meeting was incredibly important... not to mention the fact potentially dangerous.
Having mingled among some of the populace she'd heard a few horror stories of people being arrested and never seen again by the Eastern Government, some for seemingly minor offenses. Just being a foreigner did not afford her a ton of protection.
This would require all of her diplomatic skills.
Fortunately, as she glanced over at her girlfriend Ariana, she had just about the best backup she could hope for.
A lot had changed on this trip between them. Not only had they grown much closer, but Ariana had literally grown... at least in her chest area.
While not quite as large as her own very prominent assets, they were certainly big enough to call her quite busty, even by her standards, big and beautiful.
Ariana was quite proud of them, as well as their affect on her girlfriend and usually proudly displayed them whenever they were alone in their hotel room.
However in order to appear more business-like for their meeting, they were currently covered up with a suit jacket and blouse.
Of course, Susan had loved Ariana even before her two recent additions, but now she found her irresistible.
Since she'd gotten the bigger boobs only recently she knew she wasn't that superficial, but what did bother her more was the love part.
She loved Ariana and she couldn't imagine life without her. Perhaps things might change later on, but she was honestly starting to consider perhaps marrying both Harry and Ariana.
It might seem weird or difficult to some juggling being married to both a man and another woman at the same time, but then again Harry was marrying plenty of other girls and he'd so far been able to handle all of them successfully.
In comparison it should be much easier for her.
However there were a few issues involved with that idea. Harry wouldn't be a problem she realized.
Even if he never did allow Ariana into his harem and heart he loved Susan enough to let her do anything that made her happy, including being with Ariana.
Besides it might take just a bit of the burden of keeping all his wives satisfied all the time off his shoulders a bit.
What was really the problem was the homosexuality aspect of it, and evidently Germany was a good place to find out just what kind of negative reactions to their relationship they should sometimes expect.
On two occasions while being out and about and after showing some kind of romantic affection, someone had accosted them and told them about the evils of what they were doing.
Ariana had been upset, but she'd finally managed to calm her down and get her to just leave with her.
It wasn't that Ariana could help being so sensitive sometimes, if she was her and after everything she'd been through she'd couldn't imagine ending up any better, but it was still hard on her.
Yet Ariana had grown a bit more confident of late, both because of the attention she got from her new boobs and also because she realized that she had a girlfriend who she loved.
She'd also admitted she found it very attractive to know that Susan wasn't at all bothered by the negativity that their relationship had garnered.
That wasn't entirely true, people judging her did bother her, but only because of the affect it had on Ariana. As for herself, she didn't feel that her sexuality was anything to be ashamed of. She liked girls, so what?
They were just now approaching the front of the entrance to the East German Magical government building.
The guards were still standing at attention in front, but she stepped up to the head guard and said, "We're here to see the Head of Magical Law Enforcement."
"Name?" He asked them, currently looking down not at their faces but their boobs.
To be fair she often got this treatment, but the guard really wasn't subtle about it at all.
Ariana, who had only recently been getting plenty of this type of attention usually seemed to rather enjoy it, but even she looked uncomfortable at the guard's gaze.
"Susan Bones and Ariana Taylor." Susan told him.
The guard looked down at his clipsheet before saying, "You'll have to hand your wands over before entering, but you'll get them back afterwards. We'll also have to do a quick search to make sure you aren't concealing any other wands or weapons."
While she considered it unnecessary since they clearly had nothing to hide, she went along with it, handing her wand over as Ariana did the same.
The guard began to wave his wand over her, checking her over for anything concealed.
He spent a long time hovering his wand just over her chest, far more than was necessary, but he finally moved on to Ariana, who received much the same treatment.
Gratefully, he finally finished.
"Are we done?" Susan asked him icily.
To her surprise he reached over and grabbed one of her boobs.
"Hey!" She insisted.
"Okay, now we're done." The guard said as he then laughed, earning laughs from the other guards.
While she didn't mind having her boobs touched, having this guard do so left her feeling violated.
However, she gritted her teeth, knowing that making a scene would likely prevent her meeting from going forward as she and Ariana hurried on inside.
Once the doors shut behind them, Ariana asked her worriedly, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Susan said, trying to look unfazed, "let's just get going."
The inside of the East German Magical Government building was rather different from its Western counterpart.
First of all it appeared to be much better kept, the walls with a fresh coat of red paint and many impressive red banners everywhere. The people themselves all wore smart and well kept uniforms, much different from the old and worn clothes that the Westerners had had.
Yet the people still seemed to have the same rather grim faces even as they marched rather than walked everywhere.
While it was tough to see, it was still rather interesting how different yet equally unhappy each of the people seemed to be, the West lacking money to be able to provide for themselves and the East lacking freedoms.
It struck her not for the first time since coming here just how lucky she was to live where she did. Sure Britain had its problems but certainly not like this.
She did not have to worry about how where her next meal was coming from nor worry that the government might arrest her for speaking out against them. It was oddly reassuring to her.
Once they reached the Magical Law Enforcement office, they had to get through yet another guard, but this one fortunately was just rather bored and after questioning who they were, let them through.
The Head of Magical Law Enforcement, her aunt's counterpart in this government she realized, was a
large man, smartly dressed in a highly decorated military uniform as he greeted them calmly, but not at all warmly, addressing himself as Comrade Karkov.
She suspected he might be just a little irked at having to waste time on two teenagers. It was probably a good idea to show immediately that they had powerful allies and were not to be messed with.
"I'm Susan Bones, and I come on behalf of my aunt, who would be your equivalent in our government as well as Narcissa Black, a well known and influential member of the British Wizengamot as well as entrepreneur of Black Industries." Susan introduced.
She then handed him her letter of introduction that Narcissa had provided her to him.
Karkov however seemed to wave the introduction away as he also set the letter down on his desk without reading it as he told her, "I'm already well aware of who you are, don't think I didn't think to do a thorough background check on you, otherwise I would not have agreed to meet with you. Please understand however that will only get you so far."
"Very well," Susan answered, "then with your permission, I'd like to go over just why we're here."
Karkov again seemed unwillingly to listen to her.
He grunted and then replied with, "I'm also already aware of why you're here, to be able to visit Nurmengard Prison and that fool Grindelwald. I don't really understand why, but I can't say I really care."
This wasn't going as well as she had hoped, as he was acting disinterested at best, but it couldn't be helped. She'd just have to find a way to convince him somehow.
"I realize that you are a busy man." Susan told him deciding to be make this conversation as brief as possible in order to avoid losing his attention completely, "Which is why I'd hate to take too much of your time. You obviously know what we want, just a small thing, a trifle really, only 30 minutes time with Grindelwald. After that we'll be totally out of your hair."
Karkov leaned in towards them as he remarked with a rather smug grin on his face as he remarked, "Unfortunately while our Great Communism persists here, allowing all to have what they need, nothing is ever truly free."
Susan looked at him with an expression of steel trying to show she knew how to handle this as she calmly suggested, "I would be happy to provide 1,000 galleons to you to be used at your discretion for any inconvenience we might cause."
"Unfortunately I cannot be bribed so easily." He insisted, "In any case there are a few things that concern me about you. First of all, like I said, I did a background check on you, and I found a few interesting things. First of all, you are currently betrothed to one Harry Potter as well as several other girls. That at least does not bother me, I have a couple of wives myself and even I've heard of the Great Harry Potter. What is however alarming is I've learned both you and your ladyfriend are currently in a relationship are you not?"
"I'm not sure how that makes any difference." Susan insisted, unnerved to learn he had somehow gotten
that information, but not allowing it to stop her.
Clearly he had the upper hand in the conversation, he had since the beginning, and even her own diplomatic skills seemed to be falling on deaf ears.
"If you were a citizen of this great country it would be a huge difference." He claimed, "You would likely be arrested for such a crime. However since you are not I am willing to overlook it. What does however bother me is the Blacks planning on expanding their business to West Germany."
"How should that matter to you?" Susan asked him.
Karkov admitted, "I am concerned it might draw away business my government currently enjoys. Naturally we'd like very much to see that deal not happen for just that reason. If you truly wish to get in to see Grindelwald, that will be what it takes."
She could exclaim that that wasn't fair, making such a huge concession for such a small one on his part, but that likely wouldn't do any good.
However she did now understand why he seemed to regard them with such contempt. Beyond their age, gender, and sexual orientation, he was concerned about the business deal that Narcissa had recently made.
There was no way though that she was going to agree to such terms. That deal was going to bring plenty of jobs to the West German government, jobs that they needed in order to be able to provide for their families with.
Narcissa had literally given them a lifelink and to take that away would be downright cruel.
At any rate, while they had been treated exceptionally well there, she wasn't sure they would be accepted nearly so well if the deal was canceled, they might even lose the support they needed from that faction in order to get inside the prison.
The cost was simply much too high for her to agree with him.
"I'm afraid that's not possible." Susan insisted.
Karkov's smug grin however did not fade as he said, "Well then I suppose you won't be able to get into Nurmengard, unless..."
"Unless what?" Susan asked cautiously.
"There's something else you could offer me." He answered as he now looked at them the same way that the guard outside had, a hungry, wanting look, "I get my fill of local girls, but lucky for you sometimes I'm in the mood for something a bit more exotic."
"No." Susan immediately said.
He frowned as he pulled out his wand, casting a quick silencing spell on the door before fixing it on her.
Had she had her wand she might have been able to do something, but as it was, he was the only one currently armed.
Karkov grinned maliciously at them as he remarked, "Unfortunately you have little choice in the matter, only if you're going to get something out of it or not. If you and your friend cooperate willingly I'll let you into the prison, if not well, I'll just have to force you then won't I?"
His tone made it clear he really didn't care either way... or have any problems with forcing them either.
Karkov placed his hand onto her arm.
That was all it took for Ariana as she suddenly snapped with a scream.
At first she thought she was going to hit him, instead she just held out her hand.
Immediately his head jerked back as his expression turned to looking like he was in absolute pain.
She realized she was using legilimency on him. Of course doing it with a wand was much easier but you could certainly do it without one, especially for someone like Ariana.
"You will not touch her!" Ariana insisted, more angry than she had ever seen her.
Karkov was continuing to writhe in pain as he collapsed to his knees.
"What are you doing?" Susan demanded in wonder.
"Making him remember all the bad things he's done." Ariana explained coldly.
So that was it, she was forcing him to remember all the atrocities he had committed, everything he somehow still felt guilty for doing.
"Make it stop! Make it stop!" He screamed.
Had he not already set a silencing spell on the door, his screams clearly would have been heard by the guard outside, but as it was, he could do nothing.
Ariana continued to look coldly at him as she continued to torture him and for that moment, for the first time Susan felt afraid of her girlfriend, afraid of what she could really do if she wanted, and more importantly what she was doing right now.
She looked downright evil actually, the only person she could compare her to in fact...was Dumbledore himself.
"Stop, Ariana." Susan urged.
Her voice was strong and firm, strong enough that it seemed to affect Ariana as she seemed to realize just what she was doing, now looking immensely guilty.
Finally she released him before telling him, now looking not quite as scary but still intimidating, "You will not touch either of us. You will not seek retribution in any way, you will not say anything to anyone about this, you will allow us into Nurmengard prison and to see Grindelwald, and you will swear an unbreakable oath that you will do so, do I make myself clear?"
Karkov looked up at her, seeming to be struggling to recover as he managed to nod.
It was not until Ariana had extracted everything that she wanted from him, including the oath and a letter giving express permission for them to enter the prison that she was satisfied.
Finally they left, Ariana still looking grim and determined.
As they walked out, it seemed even the people around them seemed to shy away from them, almost as if Ariana was still projecting an intimidating and scary aura around her.
Yet as soon as they got outside and were away from the entrance, Ariana finally seemed to lose that, suddenly just a weak, ordinary and fragile girl again as she began to cry.
"I don't...I don't know what came over me!" She admitted, looking absolutely disgusted with herself, "I can't believe I..."
She tried to put an arm onto her shoulder but Ariana drew back as she insisted, "Don't touch me!"
"I'm sorry..." Susan said.
Ariana however said, "It's not that, I can't...not after I."
"You saved us." Susan reminded her.
She however seemed not to have heard her.
"I'm a monster." Ariana answered as she vomited onto the ground.
She didn't really know what to say, knowing that they had gotten what they needed, but at what cost? The truth was Ariana hadn't been herself and even she had been scared of her. Yet as she looked at her now, she saw only a sensitive girl who couldn't handle what she herself had just done.
DUELDUELDUELDUEL
Meanwhile back in Britain, Pansy and Su were currently having problems of their own.
Not really a problem so much as it was... well there didn't seem to be a problem.
They were still stuck at the Muggle boarding school, having ended up staying far longer than either them or Tonks had expected.
Pansy could already tell Su was getting antsy, practically bored out of her mind.
The problem was their target simply wasn't doing anything all that suspicious. In fact, if Pansy didn't
know any better she would have thought he was actually a rather nice guy.
At least that was how he acted in his Biology class, he was by far the nicest and best teacher they had. Not only was he a good teacher, teaching in a way that even she could understand, but his tests and homework assignments were quite easy in comparison to what their other classes were like, especially since he was always willing to help students whenever they needed it, both before and after school.
He even gave treats in class for Merlin's sake! He did not seem at all like some sort of evil Death Eater out to kill Muggles.
At first they figured that maybe it was just an act, like maybe he was brainwashing the students or the candy he was giving them was poisoned or something. Both had proven to be incorrect even after Tonks had come into the school, posing as a substitute nurse and inspected many of the students as well as had the candy tested for any foul play.
Both had come up negative.
As far his act was concerned, it seemed to be pretty good, he seemed to genuinely care about his students.
Multiple times she was tempted to just believe that he was reformed somehow and totally renounced his old life.
Breaking into his office as well as his personal quarters had not yielded any further information than that he apparently liked Muggle sport cars and making DNA sculptures out of sugar cubes, which was hardly criminal, unless wasting perfectly good sugar was a crime.
They had thought they finally figured it out a couple of days ago when they learned enough about computers to learn you could hide information there, but having Tonks even manage to somehow get someone who knew what they were doing sneak into the school and look over his computer had also yielded fruitless results.
From what she had gathered so far, all Simmons was now was an ordinary Biology teacher doing nothing wrong. If she had to guess, she would say he had simply gotten the rock, then disposed of it somewhere so he no longer had to deal with his old life.
At the moment, she was right now sitting in his class, learning about something called Mitosis.
"So as the cell splits," Simmons explained to the class, "the..."
At that moment the bell rang.
He looked up at the clock as he then said, "goodness me, look at the time! How it flies! All right, well don't forget to do your homework on Chapter 16, and do the extra credit if you think you'll need it. Also as you leave feel free to take a candy bar. Class Dismissed!"
As the students began to file out, she and Su lingered back, hoping to perhaps ask Mr. Simmons for help. The fact that they actually could use the help was merely an excuse for them to stay longer and study their target more.
Jason, unfortunately decided to linger as well.
Ever since Su had beaten Jason on their first full day here, Jason had become enamored with Su, constantly trying to talk to her and get her attention, not at all bothered whenever Su rejected him.
On the contrary it seemed to only increase his interest in her all the more.
The problem was to many, it was kind of hard to understand why. According to their roommates for example, Jason Behari was the hottest and most popular guy in school and they still couldn't seem to understand why Su wouldn't go out with him.
Pansy knew why of course. Su was totally and completely in love with Harry (not that she could blame her) but it was making things a bit difficult for them, and even starting to draw undesirable attention to themselves.
Finally in order to throw him off a bit and out of desperation, Su had told him that she already had a boyfriend.
Unfortunately that only meant for him that he needed to try harder.
"So Su," Jason addressed her, "when are you going to join the track team?"
He'd asked this many times but Su had always turned him down.
"Sorry I can't," Su replied, "I'm already failing most of my classes, I need all the time I can get to study."
Her failing most of her classes was actually true. While she'd managed to get Su to at least try and study as best she could, it was obvious that she really didn't care and her grades were rather abysmal as a result of it... not that hers were all that much better due to the fact that she had absolutely no idea what they were learning half the time.
"I'll help you study then, you can't join the team failing classes anyways." Jason offered, "How about a study date tonight? You can even bring your sister if it would make you feel more comfortable."
"Not interested, I already told you Jason, just give it a rest." Su insisted.
She watched Su's fingers twitch as if itching to slap him or perhaps knee him right in the groin.
In order to save the situation, she said, "Well actually Jason, if you're in the helping mood, perhaps you'd like to help Hazel. She could probably use it."
Hazel had been on her way out but upon hearing her name walked back in, giving her a thank you smile before looking at Jason, trying to look as pretty as possible to him.
"Yeah, that would be wonderful." She told him.
Jason however wasn't having any of it as he told her, "Oh, actually now that you mention it, I don't
think I can. I have to get in some extra running practice."
It was a lame excuse and Hazel seemed disappointed but at least she had tried and gotten him off Su's back for now.
Hazel, however, nodded.
Just as Jason turned around to leave however, his backpack ended up sliding into a glass beaker sitting on a table.
It began to fall and would surely have broken yet instead of hitting the ground, it seemed to hover in midair for a second before falling and hitting the ground with a clatter but without breaking.
She immediately recognized it as magic.
A quick shared glance with Su told her it wasn't her and when they looked over at Mr. Simmons he was still looking down at some homework assignments he was grading.
"How did?" Hazel asked as she looked down at the beaker in wonder.
It was clear she didn't know how she had done that.
Before she could get another word out, they dragged her out of the room.
While they needed to talk about this, they needed to get her out of there. They were quite lucky that Simmons hadn't noticed.
As soon as they were outside however, Su asked, "Do you think she did that?"
"I can't think of any other explanation." Pansy admitted, "No one else could have done it, but I don't think she even knows how she did it."
"Surely she must have noticed by now," Su concluded, "if she's just an undiscovered muggleborn, her powers would have manifested long ago."
"Maybe she did notice but never put two and two together?" Pansy suggested.
"Could you please talk as if I'm actually here and tell me what's going on?" Hazel demanded.
Pansy felt guilty. She was probably freaking out a little.
Taking pity on her she said gently, "There's a few things we should probably talk to you about."
DUELDUELDUEL
Harry had rather enjoyed the last few weeks spent inside the Veela City.
After a bit of a rocky start, things had turned out rather well. In addition to his future mother-in-law, he also learned a great deal about Fleur and Gabrielle, about the culture and heritage that they had as Veela, which was surprisingly rich and interesting.
They seemed to have opened up more to him, no longer having to hide secrets as they looked and felt genuinely free.
Perhaps their look of freedom was partially because of spending time here too. He was sure they wouldn't admit it, but he felt like they had enjoyed it as well, getting to know other Veela as well as reconnect with their mother.
However when the time came, which was drawing ever nearer, he knew they would want to go back with him.
Their time was not always enjoyable however. The Queen made sure he was learning a lot and studying on his own.
Fleur and Gabrielle tried to teach him what they knew, but for many things they were learning the same things he was.
Fortunately Giselle had helped them out quite a bit, exchanging her help in exchange for learning about what life was like outside the city.
She seemed genuinely fascinated by everything, having never left the city that had always been her home.
At the moment, however, they were currently in their room with him writing a letter while Fleur and Gabrielle played some Veela game that involved using Veela magic to move the pieces.
He'd managed to play the game himself using the wand that was made for him with their hair, but not being a Veela himself it didn't work nearly as well.
The wand might have something to do with it, but while it wasn't as good as his own wand, he still found it to be good enough to learn the various Veela spells he was learning.
Just as Fleur let her piece drop, causing her to lose the current game, he heard a knock at the door.
Going to answer it, he found Giselle there.
"Hello Giselle." Harry greeted warmly.
"Hello Harry," She answered, still looking down at the ground, "this is just a social visit."
"Come in, come in." He invited as she then stepped inside.
She looked over at both Fleur and Gabrielle as she greeted them with, "You practically glow with your Veela mate's strong sexual power."
Giselle often greeted them that way for some reason.
"Yes, we know." Fleur said with a smile.
The Veela guard looked at Gabrielle for a second as she said, "Yours is particularly strong today."
Gabrielle laughed at that as she said, "Yeah, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised by that. This morning was wonderful."
"You are indeed very lucky." Giselle said a bit jealously.
In order to cheer her up a bit, Fleur suggested, "Perhaps you can go find a Veela mate of your own someday?"
"Perhaps..." Giselle agreed, though somewhat reluctantly.
While she was curious about the world outside the city, she was rather scared to leave.
Gabrielle, who was now looking down at the gameboard said, "Care for another round Fleur?"
"No," Fleur groaned, "you've beaten me like 6 times in a row."
Her younger sister smiled as she said, "I guess today is just my lucky day."
"Why don't you play against her then Giselle?" Fleur suggested.
"I'm afraid you've met your match then, Gabrielle." Giselle admitted, "I never lose at Gauchok."
Giselle went over to the other side of Gabrielle to play. As she did, she asked, "Are you excited about the festival?"
"We sure are!" Gabrielle agreed, "It should be fun."
"I know we've even got a small part in it." Fleur added.
The festival, known as the New Veela Festival, he'd found to be a pretty big deal for Veela, even ones from abroad outside the city were coming to it, including Fleur and Gabrielle's cousin Roxanne, the future Queen of the city.
They'd reconnected with her when she'd arrived yesterday.
As for the festival itself, it was evidently a festival that celebrated newness, an important aspect to their culture. Children that were born during the time since the last festival last year would be accepted, Veela that came of age would also be accepted as full adults, and Veela children would go up another grade level in school. Many other things would also be done including a retelling of the first Veela story and Fleur was indeed correct: they did have a small part as well. He was being accepted as their new Veela mate.
"Yes I know, congratulations." Giselle said respectfully.
"Thanks." Fleur answered.
"I also might have a role." Giselle admitted to their surprise.
"Really, in what way?" Gabrielle asked as she tried to keep Giselle's gamepiece from destroying hers.
"I am hoping to be found among this year's expectant mothers." Giselle explained.
"You're pregnant?" Gabrielle asked in surprise.
Giselle frowned a bit as she admitted, "I am not sure yet. Every year a week before the festival as many Veela as would like may choose to take the pregnancy potion. At the festival it is then revealed by the Queen for who the potion has taken hold. Most Veela become pregnant right away the first time, but for others..."
Giselle looked rather forlornly at the ground.
"They just have to try again next year?" Fleur surmised.
"Yes, sometimes it just takes awhile." Giselle replied, "You are free to keep trying as much as you'd like, but sometimes...well it just never takes hold."
"I'm sure that won't be you." Gabrielle said reassuringly.
Giselle however had a grim look on her face as she confessed, "This is my 5th year in a row trying. I don't hold out much hope."
He felt bad for her, but he still asked, "Isn't there other ways besides taking the potion?"
"Of course," Giselle answered, "just because the potion doesn't work doesn't necessarily mean that you are barren or cannot ever have a child. Actual intercourse of course is still by far the best and preferred method but in the event of not having that or the potion you can opt to adopt or allow another mother to become impregnated before transferring the child to you."
"I'm afraid I don't understand." He had to say.
"If a Veela has just gotten pregnant, say only a week old, she can opt to have the fetus transferred over to another Veela's womb using magic." Giselle told him, "Its optimal both in order to provide another woman with a child that they could not have themselves or if they have a history of difficult pregnancies or complications and don't want to risk going through that again themselves."
It sounded kind of weird, but he wasn't going to tell Giselle that however.
Before anything else could be said, Gabrielle exclaimed, "Hah! I win."
Giselle grinned and said, "Not quite."
Suddenly one of Gabrielle's pieces were destroyed as Giselle said triumphantly, "I do believe I win."
"Ah man..." Gabrielle exclaimed unhappily.
"You did rather well...for a novice." Giselle told her with a teasing smile.
While the two young women played, Fleur decided to draw him off into the opposite corner of the room.
She whispered, "So have you figured out what you're going to do about Ariana?"
He'd thought a lot about it and he finally gave her an answer, "Yeah, I think I'm going to give her a chance...that is if she still wants it. Who knows just how close she and Susan might have gotten in our absence?"
"I don't think that would deter her." Fleur pointed out, "Although I think you might be right about them getting close."
"Hey, as long as they'll let me watch sometimes I'm okay with it." Harry joked.
"Don't expect me to do the same though," Fleur replied, "That kiss between me and Gabby was a one time thing."
"Oh, I know, but it was still incredibly hot." He answered.
"So, back to Ariana." Fleur suggested, changing the subject, "What are your plans then?"
"I'll just give her a chance and see how it goes," He told her, "I owe her that much. If there are any feelings that exist between us, I'll figure it out then."
"Okay." Fleur agreed.
They heard Gabrielle scream in triumph.
"It looks like she just won." Fleur realized.
As they came over, she was proven correct, Giselle still trying to figure out how she lost.
DUELDUELDUEL
Several hours later as they began to file in to find seats before the festival took place inside a huge stadium, Harry was amazed at just how many Veela there actually were in one place.
Of course he'd seen plenty since arriving here, but not all at once.
There appeared to be thousands of them, all coming to congregate here.
However they all appeared to be different, reflecting many different forms of beauty, the most common being like Fleur and Gabrielle with very curvacious bodies and silvery blonde hair, but even that varied.
Some had a very exaggerated pear shape while others were incredibly buxom like Fleur and Gabrielle's mom. A few had just lithe and limber forms and some were actually quite fat.
Hair color also varied with every imaginable length and color including weird ones like purple or blue, but those were very uncommon.
Height also was different, with some almost dwarfish in size to others being over 7 feet.
He'd once asked Fleur why it was that they could all be so different and she'd explained that it depended on their version of beauty while growing up in addition to other factors such as the appearance of their mother or father if they had one.
As he continued to look around, one might have thought that he was already slightly delirious from all the many beautiful women all around him, the only male there, but he wasn't. He was already deeply in love with both Fleur and Gabrielle and they were the only Veela he needed.
Giselle fortunately came over and decided to sit with them, partly because the Queen had asked her to explain to them what was going on as it happened.
She sat on the left side of him while Fleur sat to his right and Gabrielle sat to the right of her sister.
Finally when it became time to start, the Queen got up and began to speak, her voice magically amplified so that everyone in the audience could hear her.
"Assembled Veela!" She began, "Residents of this city and non-residents alike, I Queen Apolline welcome you to this year's Newness Festival!"
Immediately the crowd cheered as one.
Once it had quietened down, she began to give an impassioned speech, covering both what had happened during the previous year as well as what her goals and hopes were for the coming year.
It was truly magical the way she spoke, clearly having practiced this speech as well as speaking in front of such a large audience before.
He tried to imagine what it would be like having Fleur or Gabrielle do what she did as Queen, but he couldn't. It just wouldn't have been them.
After she was done however, a group of v=Veela dancers came out onto the stage as they began to dance and twirl like the way he had seen at the Quidditch World Cup. Likely many of the same dancers were here as well.
Their dancing however didn't affect him in the least, not that he had been worried.
"She'll do things based on the level of progression in a Veela's life," Giselle explained quietly to his left, "She'll start with the expectant mothers since the lives inside them will only just now be forming, then accepting the newly born children, then the children entering school, and so on. Your part will be near the end while mine will be next."
When they finally got done with the dancing, Queen Apolline got up again.
He had been expecting her to call the Veela who'd opted to take the potion, including Giselle to come up, but instead she just stood there, not saying a word.
As he looked around however, nobody else seemed bothered by her not seeming to do anything.
"What is she doing?" He whispered.
This time Fleur answered as she said, "She's drawing in all of her power and using it to cause those Veela who are now pregnant to be revealed. Those who are will emit a whit glow to them."
With that now in mind he kept his attention now on Giselle, hoping to see her start to glow.
However she continued to remain just the same.
A young Veela probably in her mid-twenties just in front of him however started to emit a very beautiful white glow around her, exclaiming quite happily at finding out this news, receiving congratulations from likely friends or family around her.
Giselle however could only say dejectedly, "Maybe next year."
She however did not carry much hope. If the potion hadn't worked by now, it probably never would. There was a possibility she had even already been exploring other options.
As engrossed as he was in looking over at Giselle, he failed to notice what was taking place just to the right of him.
When he heard Fleur exclaim in shock "Gabby" however he turned to look.
What he saw shocked him just as much.
Gabrielle was currently glowing with a bright white glow of her own.