Veela

Ignoring the drastic change in scenery I continue forward towards the souls. As I enter the barrier it closes up behind me with the crack slowly mending itself. When I get close to the lake I notice there is a group of women dancing on top of the lake like something out of a fantasy movie.

As I reach the shores of the lake the women stop their dances and stare at me. I realize they are all extremely beautiful with similar features to each other. They all have gold or white hair with a variety of eye colors ranging from blue to golden and pale skin.

The longer I stare the more I feel compelled to look so I quickly pull my eyes away. Even with my decrepit vision, I can still tell they are immensely attractive. As I force my 'eyes' away I set my unconscious sister on the ground softly.

'Please, I beg of you, save her.' My cold dead voice resounds in all their heads I no longer speak with my mouth.

I hear sloshing water as one of them walks towards me. I look up and meet her eyes, she is easily the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

Her skin is as white as chalk yet somehow still looks healthy. Her hair is more of a shining silver color, very different from the rest and her eyes are a glowing violet color. Her body is also different, the rest of the women are skinny while she has more of a 'motherly' vibe.

If it weren't for my distressed mind I would have fallen into her charms. I force myself to look back down again at Sis Dora on the ground still breathing heavily.

"And why do you want to save her?" I recognize her beautiful voice is the one that put down the barrier.

Realizing I'm still in my dementor form I shift out into my human form, as my feet touch the ground I fall to my knees as my injured leg can't support meme. I look at my leg and see it's still bleeding just like before I shifted I grit my teeth at the implications. I take a deep breath and look back up to her and meet her eyes, she seems very surprised at my transformation.

I have tears threatening to fall from my eyes as I speak "She is my family… my sister. I'll do anything, just please save her, I don't have the power."

She looks at me with pity in her eyes as she peers between me and Sis. "She will pass soon, it's not certain that even I can save her at this point."

I lower my head as tears start to fall "PLEASE!" My voice breaks as I yell. "If she dies... I don't know what I will do." I look up to meet her eyes, she flinches at my gaze.

I see a hint of fear in her eyes as she sighs "If I do save her... she will no longer be fully human when I'm done."

I don't even hesitate as I lean up straight and speak. "Please, just save her."

The woman nods "We will have a lot to talk about when she is safe." She turns to the other women. "Prepare the ritual."

The women start chattering but I don't listen to them and focus on Nyphadora's twitching face and ever-shifting hair color. She looks like she is in pain which caused my chest to tighten with anxiety.

I feel a hand softly touch my shoulder, "You should back away while we perform the ritual."

I look confused but still hobble a few steps back grabbing a pill from my bag and eating it. "Why?" I ask while chewing the disgusting pill for maximum effect.

She gestures back at Sis Dora and I see the other women already there starting to strip her naked. Which causes my face to go red as I quickly look away. As I look away the woman next to me giggles seeing my flustered face. I decide it's best to take a walk with this woman as the others prepare the ritual, she walks slowly to stay in pace with my injured leg.

"Don't worry about your sister, it is almost guaranteed that we can save her. As long as she is willing." She gives me a beautiful smile that causes my face to blush again.

Seeing my blush she laughs "Honestly I'm insulted how well you keep your calm even with me around."

I look at her confused "Why would I not keep my calm?"

"We are Veela. We can charm any man with a glance. I am the Queen, yet you keep looking at me without falling under my charm."

Her explanation confuses me more "What is a Veela? I've not taken Magical Creatures and Beings class yet."

She giggles again "We are just very beautiful human women I suppose, but we can turn into harpies if you make us angry."

I nod my head zoning out a bit "Will my sister be alright?"

She smiles at my concern "Seeing as you don't know about Veela I assume you don't know how they are made correct?"

I nod as she continues "Good because it's a secret. But I'll tell you since you are in my debt anyway. It used to be a muggle tradition for women who were disgraced or unhappy in their lives to walk into this forest and keep walking until they dropped dead of exhaustion."

"A rather barbaric form of suicide I know. But one lucky time a woman who was walking found this beautiful lake and decided it would be a much more suiting death. So she threw herself into the lake, but rather than dying she changed. She became more beautiful than any other, now she possessed magic flowing inside her and the ability to turn into a harpy."

"And that is the story of how the first Veela came to be. In the few thousand years since then, the woman took in any female she found wandering the forest in search of death. She took thousands of years making a barrier she thought impenetrable around her sacred lake. No man had ever stepped foot near the lake until one day a beast showed up."

"The beast slammed on the barrier while carrying a dying woman in its arms. Out of both pity and fear the woman let them in. It turned out the beast was a man… boy. So the Queen offered her aid to the pure soul who seemed to fear loss even more than her." She stops walking and looks at me with raised eyebrows.

My face again goes red with shame "I am sorry about my intrusion, but I would do it again to save my sister."

She smiles "It's fine we will talk about compensation later, for now, I should go help with the ritual. Wizards are harder to turn into Veela so I will have to personally help change her." Before she walks away she speaks up "She is a metamorphmagus yes?"

"Yeah, does that matter?" I say with worry.

She shakes her head "No, however, it will be much harder for her to shift after the change. You can wait in the garden, I will get you when the ritual is done." She gestures over to a clearing on a small hill.

I get up to the clearing and see the clearing is full of violets surrounded by a grove of trees. Seeing I won't have much to do until they heal her I use magic to heal my injured leg. It will certainly leave a nasty scar but it will probably work just fine as I was able to reconnect the muscles.

I lay down exhausted but am unable to sleep from anxiety so I stare at the blue sky instead. I raise my hand letting the rays of light shine through my fingers.

"What a day," I mutter to myself.