The days after our little chat in the library, I spent most of my time doing research with Remus. Hermione would have been proud. I soon found out that the feelings I'd experienced on my birthday were the feelings of my mate, and that he would also be able to feel my emotions when they were particularly strong. I also discovered that a male Veela could get just about anyone pregnant.
Including me.
Joy.
Normally a gay wizard would have to take an insane amounts of potions to be able to get pregnant, but no, not Harry Potter. Harry Potter is such a special boy, let's give Harry Potter a Veela mate so that he can bugger Harry Potter up the arse and then Harry Potter can go about spouting hoards of blond-haired children like another good little Veela housewife.
Shoot me now.
Well, as you can probably make out, I wasn't too pleased with the outcome of things. While most people in the wizarding world thought it very lucky to be the mate of a Veela, I was of an other opinion. Oh, don't get me wrong, I could definitely see the romantic aspects of the whole deal, I hadn't spent the last six years of my life around Ginny and Mrs. Weasley for nothing. The Veela would always love his or her mate unconditionally, and shower them with presents. It was the rosy red dream of any witch, but no matter how much I might look like one, I was not a witch! And in my mind, the downsides greatly outweighed the advantages.
One, I was expected to bond with a complete stranger, or else said stranger would die. Two, I looked like a bloody girl. Three, I would have to go through the whole pregnancy ordeal. Four, I looked like a bloody girl. Five, well, there wasn't really a five, but number four counted at least three times. I looked like a bloody girl!
You might be wondering why I was so much against looking like I did, I was after all still male. A small male with long hair and pouted lips, yes, but still a male. Well, the fact is that looking like I did hurt my male ego. I had some pretty strong ideas about what a real man should look like, and girly was not one of them. No, a man was tall, he had broad shoulders, a strong chin and fierce eyes. I know, it sounds a bit stereotypical, but sharing room with Seamus and Ron will do that to you. And I had been living with them for six years. No wonder I was screwed up.
Anyway, as I was saying, there were certain ways a male ought to look, and I looked none of them. Not that it had been much better before, but then at least I had the hope that I would grow into something remotely masculine. And I had short hair! True, it was wild, untidy, completely uncontrollable and a real pain in the neck, but it was short! Now my hair was past my shoulders, as flowing as a river in springtime and blatantly refusing to be cut. And trust me, I'd tried.
The second day in the Dog House, Remus had taken me to a hairdresser and I got a rather nice haircut, if I can say so myself. The next day my hair had grown out again. We tried again, this time with Remus doing the cutting, but the next day it was its old, curly self. After that Sirius brought out the big guns. We tried cutting, sawing, slicing, burning and pulling. Nothing worked. In the end we had to admit defeat, and Remus taught me how to tie my hair back with a cord, and how to braid it should that be necessary. I now make a rather mean French braid.
At any rate, life was a bitch and by the time September 1st popped around I was getting mighty sick of it. Come school start, I would do everything to stay out of everyone's way and donate all of my clothes to SPEW, because surely, that would make up for whatever hideous deed I'd done to deserve this? It had been a month since my abrupt change, and although I had stopped jumping a foot into the air every time I walked past a mirror, I still had not accepted it. If anything, it was the opposite. Remus had tried convincing me that I looked ok, but for each day I spent looking like a girl, I came up with a new way to kill my mate. Slow ways. Painful way. Really painful ways.
I had just come up with a new method involving shocking amounts of maple syrup, a garden gnome and a fairly sharp wall ornament, when I was brought back to earth by the voice of one Remus Lupin.
"Harry, we're here! Aren't you exited to get on the train?" Excited? I've known history classes I was more excited to go to. "I know you've missed your friends, since you didn't get a chance to spend time with them this summer. But think about it this way, now they'll have all sorts of interesting things to tell you from their trips to Romania and Greece!" Oh, joy. Listening to Hermione talk about all the ancient stone she's seen, it's the height of my year! "And you can tell them all about your ma –" at my angry glare, Remus quickly changed what he was going to say. "About your mad, mad godfather and his horrible partner!"
Snorting, I shook my head. "Nice try, Remus. I know what you were going to say, 'tell them about your mate, Harry'. Well, I guess I have to, Hermione will find it out anyway, but I'm not looking forward to it. And don't think I won't find a cure for this thing, because I will!"
"Of course you will, green eyes," smiled Sirius patronizingly from where he was unloading my trunk.
After that comment, I sulked for the rest of the walk to platform 9 ¾, although not many could see it, because I had made sure the hood of my cloak was completely covering my face. A sort of safety precaution you might say. The last thing I needed was someone noticing my new appearance and commenting in it. Sirius was bad enough, but if one more person made a wisecrack about me looking like a girl, there would be pain. Lots and lots of pain of the excruciating, highly illegal, much used by Dark Lords sort.
"Now Harry, promise me you'll behave this year," said Sirius sternly when they reached the platform and it was time to say goodbye. "No sleeping in your bed when you could be sneaking around the castle at night, no listening to the Prefects and absolutely no doing your homework instead of pranking Slytherins! Have I made myself clear, young man?"
Laughing, I nodded my head. "Crystal," I answered, even giving my godfather a hug for good measure.
"Oh, don't listen to that lunatic," chided Remus, also getting a hug from me. "Do your homework, be nice and polite, don't bother Madam Pomfrey too much and don't kill your mate."
"Spoilsport," Sirius and I muttered simultaneously, then grinned at each other before I grabbed my trunk and made my way towards the train. "I'll see you guys at Christmas, right?"
"Of course! And if Albus finds he needs the expertise of an ex-convict and his werewolf, we might stop by sooner too. And if not, you'll be getting letters! And sweets and all sorts of other things you're really not allowed to have, but that I will smuggle to you under Remus' nose, without him noticing it!" Sirius ranted, waving like a maniac. Remus only raised an eyebrow and sent me an amused look. We both knew that Remus would most definitely notice it if Sirius tried to smuggle me anything, but Sirius would pout and whine until Remus caved in and pretended not to notice to make the other man happy. It was an everyday occurrence in the Black/Lupin household.
Waving one last time, I made my way onto the train and found myself an empty compartment. By choosing one in the back of the train, I hoped beyond hope that I would be so lucky as to be left alone for the entire ride. However, unfortunately for me, having a mad Dark Lord after you year after year, being entered in the Triwizard tournament at the age of fourteen, and suddenly waking up one morning looking like a girl does not indicate much luck.