Harry Potter awakened the next morning refreshed, sun streaming through the windows into his room. These beds sure are comfortable, Harry thought.

He had been given one of the Delacours' many guest rooms, all very luxurious. They were in the mansion of Louis Delacour after all, and he certainly seemed to be an important fellow, at least in France. Just how important is he? Eh, it really doesn't matter. No need to pry I suppose. He'll tell me if he wants to.

Harry stared at the ceiling for a while longer, enjoying the softness of the bed and sheets before finally rousing himself to get dressed and ready. A few minutes later, he walked down the curved staircase and came to the kitchen where the Delacours were eating (He was quite fortunate to have been given a room near the landing closest to the kitchen so he couldn't possibly get lost).

"Good morning, Harry. You slept well, I trust?" Louis greeted, pausing from spreading the butter across his baguette.

"Yes, I did, and again, thank you so much for your kind hospitality." Harry said, taking a seat next to him. Fleur and Gabrielle

"Think nothing of it. Staying with us is nothing compared to the debt I owe you for saving both of my daughters." Louis replied with a grateful seriousness. "But on that topic, saving my daughters entailed being bonded to them, which I'm very grateful you were willing to carry out- it is a lifelong burden after all… But I must tell you that, as you might've guessed based upon our reactions afterwards, that something interesting happened in Fleur's bonding. " Louis paused to take a breath, and Harry leaned in, intrigued as to what Louis could add further on the subject. Harry also took a quick glance at Fleur to see that she had stopped eating and had a slight blush on her face, staring at the table.

"I've already described what the effects are to him, Fleur, don't be so self-conscious." Louis said, seemingly to ease her discomfort. It had quite the opposite effect, as Fleur stiffened in surprise, and blushed crimson red, sending Gabrielle into a slight giggle, and Apolline into a carefully neutral expression, though the corner of her lips were tilted upwards with an eyebrow raised at Fleur.

"You explained everything!?" Fleur asked, shocked.

"Well, no, not explicitly, but I left it so that I'm sure he's been trying to imagine it. I wanted to wait until you were awake before finishing my explanation." He said, trying to hold his laughter as Fleur nearly died of mortification.

"I'm just joking, Fleur, I'll leave it to you to explain it to him when you see fit." Louis said hurriedly when she opened her mouth to voice her indignation.

Turning to Harry, he said with a frank voice, "I trust you not to grow overly curious. It's clearly a rather erm… difficult subject for her. Nothing too close with Gabrielle until she's of age. Fleur, well, she seems to trust you enough, so I'm sure she'll explain what she's done, though I'd hope she'd have enough sense not to demonstrate…you're not exactly of age and all. I trust you not to pressure her to do anything, got it?"

"W-What?! The thought of such things never crossed my mind! I'm underage, as you say, so how could I possibly think of pressuring her to do such activities." Harry stammered out.

"Oh really? Do you mean to say that you find them unattractive and unappealing, even at your age, when hormones run so high?" Louis said, evidently enjoying teasing Harry as much as he had Fleur.

"Papa!" Fleur exclaimed, unable to keep her silence any longer. "Come, Harry, let's leave the room until my uncouth father regains his senses."

"Oho! Fleur, are you making your move already? That was quick. You should be thanking me for that excellent setup."

Fleur proceeded to run out without a reply, fleeing as quickly as she could, her face on fire, not bothering to look whether Harry followed or not.

"Wait, Fleur!" Harry said, chasing after her.

Back in the kitchen, Louis yawned. "I really do hope he waits at least a few months. I don't want anything of that sort disturbing my sleep in the house for as long as I can help it."

Apolline glared at him for saying such things at the breakfast table, chiding him, "Not at the breakfast table, dear. And not in front of Gabrielle either. You really do need to regain your senses."

Gabrielle laughed as Louis took on a distinctly serious demeanor as he faced the prospect of facing his wife's wrath.

Fleur had fled into her room, and was sitting very stiffly in her chair, facing the wall behind her desk as if it were some horrible being, clearly trying to calm her embarrassment. Harry entered quietly, making his presence known by sitting on her bed within her peripheral vision. He really was burning with curiosity as to what were the specifics, and…why she would do it in the first place.

"…Do you think you could enlighten me as to what some of the specifics are?" Harry asked tentatively.

Fleur sighed, blushing lightly again, before inexplicably blushing deeper, before finally recovering and taking a deep breath to reply, "I suppose it is better that I inform you than that uncouth savage downstairs or innocent Gabrielle….You have more… control of me, I suppose is the way to put it, than regularly bonded veela. Gabrielle will reach this stage too, if she simply lets you do so. This as far as you can go, at least for regular humans. You being a male veela may be different, I'm not entirely sure, as our history tries avoiding that subject as much as possible, not to mention the fact that they're rare to begin with. If a veela were to submit to an ordinary human, this is what would happen, at least." She said, her voice getting smaller and smaller as she finished."

Fleur paused and raised a hand to shush Harry as he opened his mouth to interject, clearly intent on finishing her clarifying. "For me, I think you can communicate with me mentally…and you can control my body as I would control it, with no resistance."

Harry nodded, "I see. Thank you. This…honestly doesn't sound that bad though, and certainly would not be something to be that embarrassed about?"

"Erm…That is because those are the more relevant consequences." Fleur said, flushing a deep crimson (again). Upon looking at the very curious Harry, Fleur gave deep sigh, and continued "There may be some…effects upon the bonded veela during…mating as well as other activities."

Harry, having his suspicions confirmed, intelligently said "Ah." He was, of course, still rather frustrated that she had told him basically nothing beyond what Louis had not very subtly hinted at. He gave a mental sigh and noted to himself that perhaps it would be best if he stopped inquiring further upon this subject.

Fleur smiled in gratitude, a bit of her embarrassment fading away now that the not-very-awkward-but-quite-potentially-and-was-indeed-somewhat-awkward conversation ended. And the fact that he had sidestepped the rather obvious question of why she had chosen to do such a thing helped quite a bit too. She wasn't entirely sure herself- a mixture of gratitude for her sister and herself and perhaps because she didn't mind him…existing? Doing certain things?. She shook her head lightly and turned a shade redder as she thought of what those things might consist of.

Harry, unaware of her inner turmoil and wishing to clear the air of the remnants of the conversation, asked. "So, Fleur, what do you think we'll be doing today?"

Fleur, gladly seizing the change of subject replied eagerly, "Today, Louis has planned for us to go for a shopping trip, to restock, and partly," Fleur eyed Harry's dirty clothing from the previous evening, "to get you refreshed and presentable. Of course, we will also purchase any things that may be necessary for the trip back, as precautions."

Harry saw the appraising glance and grimaced, "Yeah, I really do need some new clothes. At least I managed to take a shower…"

Fleur did not reply but simply nodded, and after a few more minutes of comfortable small talk, she left to go speak with her father about his erm… conduct this morning.

Harry relaxed for the rest of the morning, getting a brief tour of the house and grounds with Gabrielle, which was pleasant although she did behave a bit oddly – blushing a bit when their eyes met. Maybe it had something to do with me siphoning energy from her in that fight against Voldemort? I should go ask Apolline about this later.

Louis called the family back in at around eleven o' clock to depart for the shopping trip, albeit in a rather subdued manner- evidently Fleur had given him a good speaking to about his conduct. Taking a sleek black car with an uncanny amount of room to the center of town, Harry once again found himself wondering what exactly Louis did for a living.

"So, Louis," Harry started, after they'd been on the road for a few minutes. "Out of curiosity, what exactly do you do for a living here in France? You seem to be quite well-off; I should say."

Louis and Fleur paused their rather heated whispered discussion (Fleur really was trying to guarantee her father would not repeat the incident this morning ever again – Louis, on the other hand, seemed to be suing for only "once every now and then"). He coughed a few times before finally getting himself in the appropriate demeanor. "Ah, I was wondering when I'd have to explain. Well, let me reintroduce myself- You should be honored, filthy peasant, to make the acquaintance of the esteemed Louis Delacour, a member of the haughty French better-than-thou nobility that are required to participate in stuffy balls and drink their teacups with pinkies sticking up whilst spending hours and millions of dollars sitting their discussing the various shades of one's own hair and who has the best variety- who also happens to be Prime Minister of those useless people."

Louis managed to say this in such a serious and posh tone the car burst into laughter, even Fleur, who was trying her level best to look annoyed and not at all amused. Harry nodded, his curiosity satisfied, and continued to talk with the Delacours, finding himself to enjoy their company.

They arrived at a village where, to Harry's surprise, wizards and witches were openly casting spells and people zoomed along what appeared to be a track while riding broomsticks. "Is there no Statute of Secrecy in France? How can they be doing all of this in, well, the open?" Harry asked, even though the village did seem to be somewhat isolated on a hilly section of the countryside- no cities or anything of the like in sight!

"There is a magical barrier around the whole village of Elbourne, so muggles simply do not notice this swath of countryside- it's quite lovely, no? There are several such wizarding communities throughout France, though this one is my favorite."

"It is very nice indeed," Harry had to agree. They headed into the village, with Louis casting a few quick Glamour charms over everyone before entering (Don't want people letting Voldemort know where you are, and also don't want people asking who's travelling with the Delacours), so they could shop in peace. Louis took Harry aside to do help him with his shopping, politely declining for Harry Apolline's offer to do so before Harry could respond.

"You really don't need to go shopping with that woman. I'm doing you a favor here, Harry, so think of something to save me if she even contemplates asking me." Louis whispered to him once he was out of earshot. He, evidently however, was not out of earshot and was rewarded with a rather annoyed "I heard that," from Apolline along with a silent glare that promised his punishment was coming.

Harry snickered at Louis' misfortune, but still accompanied the rather dejected man with his shopping, successfully getting several new outfits to replace his distinct lack of a wardrobe since coming to France. They stopped at a nice, quiet café for lunch to regroup before heading back to the mansion.

"Ah, we should really be getting back soon. It's already 2." Apolline said to Louis, pushing her plate away, leaning back into her chair with a satisfied sigh.

"We really should, dear." Louis curtly replied, not seeking to give her any additional cause to be angry (while secretly hoping she would forget about his transgression earlier in the day).

Apolline merely gave him a sideways glance that clearly stated that she knew exactly what he was trying to do and that it would not work.

Harry took the opportunity of the brief silence to pose a question that had been burning in his mind- 'So, do you think there's any way I can find out what exactly a male veela is capable, and if there's any sort of unique things they can do other than succeed in becoming the dominant one in a bond? Besides experimenting, of course. I…don't want to put Fleur or Gabrielle in danger, and there might even be repercussions for me as well." Harry added after seeing Louis and Apolline's defensive stance at a conversation that could lead to him asking for permission to experiment on their daughters.

"And why, exactly, do you wish to know of this subject? Idle curiosity is not enough to warrant me answering this question. Our race was enslaved by this race before, and I would like to avoid a repeat of that…" Apolline asked somewhat coldly.

"I feel that knowing of the effects might be better than possibly causing harm to someone by accident. During my fight against Voldemort, I think I used some of my male veela powers. I reached out to Gabrielle for aid when I was losing, and in desperation, took some and used it as my own. I don't know if it had any adverse effects on her, but I would not want to put her in danger because of my actions, and would also want to know whether or not I have to do something in order to prevent me from automatically stealing energy from Fleur and Gabrielle." Harry explained. And especially since Gabrielle seems to be acting rather oddly around me since that event, He thought to himself.

At Harry's words, Gabrielle blushed, and said "I-It doesn't have any adverse effects…though too much would definitely be bad…"

The family and Harry were rather surprised at her reaction, not expecting her to blush so profusely. Louis and Apolline said "Taking energy from Gabrielle? I cannot take energy from Louis if I tried…It probably is a male veela-unique trait." Apolline mused. "I see your reasoning now…it could quite possibly be dangerous for Fleur and Gabrielle. But fortunately, this has not turned out to be in this case. But what exactly was the effect, Gabrielle?"

"U-Um…that is…it…" stammered Gabrielle, face turning redder, before covering her face with her hands and quietly muttered something under her breath.

The other Delacours and Harry were too baffled at this reaction to even make fun of her, and instead simply questioned her "Well?", Apolline asked for the collective group.

"I-It…uses up my energy and makes me feel… weak, and it becomes harder to walk. It's a…hard to describe fatigue." Gabrielle said, blushing all the while she said that.

They still remained confused by her behavior, and were mildly suspicious of the validity of her statements. Harry shrugged, and said, "That seems intuitive. I'm just glad that it wasn't something more bothersome."

Apolline, paused for a while staring at Harry, evidently debating whether or not to bring something up. "Ah, very well, Harry. To tell you the truth, I have told you about everything I know of the Male Veela, but… I know a city where you could probably find all you wanted to know on the subject- Lavilleev, the capitol of the Republic of Veela."

OOO a "Republic of Veela" (sorry I couldn't think of anything creative). Aaaaandddd, that's the end of that chapter. Rather abrupt ending, again, but more chapters will follow! Eventually!