Parley With The Queen

After an hour or so I hear footsteps coming towards me so I get up to greet them. I see it's the Veela Queen again but she looks much more tired than before with bags under her eyes. But this still doesn't take from her beauty.

"Is my sister okay?" I ask while approaching her.

She gives a small smile "She is. You can come to see her now… I see you healed your leg, do you want me to heal the scar?"

I shake my head as I begin to follow her "No, it's a reminder of my almost failure."

Her head tilts at me "But you did not fail, she is alive and safe. Probably even better than before."

I sigh "If I hadn't known about an illegal portkey then she would have died and there is nothing I could have done about it. Not to mention if you had rejected to save her, I wouldn't have been able to heal her magically infected wounds, hell maybe even madam Pomfrey wouldn't."

She grabs my shoulder "But those are only "what if's" the reality is that it did happen this way, and she is safe. If we only focus on what could have been then we miss out on what is."

I nod thanking her for the advice but step away as her touch makes me feel awkward. As I look to where she is leading me we approach a large cave in the side of a small cliff. As we enter the cave we walk through another barrier and what should be a cave opens into a large forest clearing full of what looks like 17th or 18th-century houses.

She points to the largest one near the middle "That one is mine, your sister is resting in the guest room." The house was two stories made of brick unlike the rest of the houses which were only one story and made of wood.

I ignore the stares of the other curious Veela as we make our way to the house. I'm careful to not stare at them back as to not get charmed.

Once we enter the house I notice that it has nearly no furnishings, unlike a regular house. There are a few soft chairs around a fireplace with some clocks on the walls but not much else.

Seeing my curious looks she speaks up "We don't furnish our homes here since the only time we spend inside is to sleep and eat. Your sister is in the room upstairs on the right, across the hall from the master bedroom.

She gestures to the stairs before heading into the kitchen. I head upstairs and enter the room she spoke of. As I enter I see Sis Dora sleeping on a bed that is much bigger than her. But I immediately notice that Sis looks different, she is really beautiful, not like she wasn't before but even more so now. I guess that's what you can expect now that she is part Veela.

I pull up a chair next to her bedside and sit down looking at her sleeping face. Her skin is now much paler than it was before, her hair no longer shifts color and is now just a solid blonde. Her facial features are now a bit sharper than they used to be. Like a more attractive version of Auntie, a terrifying thought.

I grab her hand and move a few strands of hair off her face "I'm so sorry I took so long to get there." I grip her hand tighter as I speak.

As I put my head down I hear the door open behind me, I turn to see the Veela Queen standing there with a teapot and cups on a platter.

"Come, we have much to discuss before she wakes up." She says glancing at Dora sleeping.

I nod and follow her out. The room we go to is just down the hall, it has two sofa benches facing each other with a coffee table between. She sits first and gestures for me to sit at the one across from her.

I sit down without meeting her eyes "I really don't know how I could repay you."

She waves a hand as she sits back, the teapot floats and begins filling the glasses. "You could begin with an explanation, what are you? I doubt a normal boy would be able to turn into a creature like that and be fine wearing a Lethifold as a scarf."

I look at her surprised she noticed Sin, I stroke Sin since it seems he got anxious as well. "I am similar to an animagus, but my form is a Dementor and it makes me possibly immortal."

Her brows raise "Your Dementor form is much bigger than what I hear normal Dementors are... To be cursed with immortality is a drastic side effect, why do you think you are immortal."

I ponder hard at her question, I only assumed I would be immortal because of Sid's speculation, what if I'm not? "I believe I'm immortal because someone once tried to become like me for immortality but he failed. I don't know for sure if I am but I believe his assumptions are correct, I am at least partially immortal."

She shakes her head "Then you have my condolences, being immortal truly is a cursed life. It goes against the very nature of things so you are bound to never have true happiness for long. I would know." Her gaze glazes over for a second as she stares into space.

I look at her a bit surprised yet again "You are immortal?"

Her eyes go back in focus as she gives a small nod and melancholy smile. "I am not a true Immortal though. My life is bound to all other Veela I have created, once they all die I can die again, but that is unlikely to happen. Maybe a few thousand years ago before I let my daughters leave the sanctuary but now… they have so many descendants I am practically forced to live."

"Life can't be that bad," I say a bit of sadness in my voice.

She looks down "It wasn't for the first thousand or so years, but every woman I've ever loved dies. They either die of old age, sickness, or tragedy. I wasn't kidding when I said Immortality is a curse, death haunts you where ever you go. The vampires plaguing this forest are the newest in a long line of threats." her face goes a bit red from emotions.

"I've had to protect my sanctuary from armies or men. Those who come for the tales of a land full of beautiful women that could all topple kingdoms. Magical creatures, muggles, wizards, they are all the same, beasts driven by lust." The years of pent-up anger and sadness leak from her voice.

I don't know what to say so I stay silent and look away. Noticing I'm being silent she straightens herself out and sits up grabbing a cup of tea.

"I'm sorry for the drab turn in conversation, I'm not really able to show those kinds of emotions around my daughters so I may have been a bit pent up. Since I have already made it awkward I'll make my request now so you can get on your way. I want you to clear out the Vampires in the forest." She says now calmly sipping tea with only a slight blush on her face.

"You seem extremely powerful, why can't you clear them out?" I ask a bit confused meeting her eyes.

She blushes brights staring at her tea "Magic Spiders." She says in a barely audible whisper.

"What?" I ask with genuine confusion.

She looks away from me "They have bred magic spiders knowing I fear them."

My jaw drops.

I look at her as she avoids my gaze with a blushed face, I sigh "I was already planning on taking out the Vampires so make another request." I take a sip of tea and my body suddenly feels refreshed. I'm not really surprised, magic and all that.

She regains a bit of composure "There isn't much else I need… How about we just call it as you owe me one. I'll call upon you when you are needed, is that okay?"

I may just be paranoid but I feel like she has an ulterior motive… I give an affirming nod nonetheless to which she again smiles forcing me to look away.

She giggles seeing my actions "Your sister needs a full eight hours of rest, can you clear out the vampires in that time?"

Without looking at her smile again I say "Yeah, do you know how many there are? When I was saving my sister I didn't have time to count them but it looked over 100."

"Hmmm, then it seems they have grown in number, last time I checked they had 95 vampires and around 30 spiders. While you are gone I will make you a port key to our sanctuary, to make things easy on you should I call on you" She says standing up.

I nod and stand up as well "I'll get a pair for it when I'm in Britain again, but for now I'll head out. It should only take me around 4 hours to clear them."

She isn't looking at me anymore and is instead fiddling with a book of some sort. "Why so long? Your Dementor form seems very powerful."

"I'm going to practice some magic," I say matter-of-factly as I walk out the door not waiting on her since she has already busied herself.

After saying goodbye to Sis I walk downstairs and walk out the door. Seeing all the Veela's eyes focus on me I disapparate from embarrassment and appear at the part of the barrier I entered. As I step out of the barrier my shroud surrounds and I vanish.