A/N: This is non-epilogue compliant. It is compliant with the rest of DH. It is going to be Harry/Gabrielle, though they both will be female (at least after the first two chapters), so leave if you don't like Female/Female relationships. And yes, I do have a plot planned out, even if it's not obvious from the start. Hopefully future chapters will be longer, but this seemed like a good stopping point.

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Chapter 1: Captured

It was just another day for Harry Potter. He woke up early in the morning before his live-in girlfriend and fiance, Ginny Weasley. Harry had never needed an alarm clock. Living at the Dursley, being up on time was a survival skill, and there was no way in hell they would have gotten something so "dangerous" for the "freak."

He crept out of bed, and went downstairs to fix his breakfast. As he was finishing up, Ginny came down the stairs. "Morning," she said after a long yawn.

"Morning. I might be late at the office today. The Minister wants to be fully debriefed on the current status of the investigation into the locations of the Death Eaters still at large. I'll try to get home as soon as I can, but there are no promises."

"That's fine. I'll probably visit Mum today. She's lonely with everyone moved out. And it's not like I can do much until the results from the tryouts are released." Ginny had just tried out for the Quidditch team, Hollyhead Harpies, tough she wasn't expecting much. Maybe a minor league Quidditch team at best.

Harry put on his Auror robes and kissed Ginny on the cheek. "Love you, Gin," he said and left the house.

Dread washed over Ginny, as if she was seeing her husband for the last time. She shook off the feeling. "I'm just being silly," she convinced herself, "It's not as if he's doing field work today, it's just a meeting." Ginny would never know the reason Harry never returned that day.

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When Harry awoke he was in chain and shackles in a damp, dimly lit dungeon. The last thing he remembered was being hit on the back of the head on his way to work. He figured he must have passed out.

"So, our prisoner awakes," said a female voice Harry immediately recognised.

"Fleur, where am I? Why am I chained to a wall?"

"You are at the ancestral home of the Delacour family. You are chained to the wall merely as a precaution. We would love to treat you as a guest, but Gabrielle thinks you might try to run away. And her worry is not without merit. You have been known to do rash things in the past."

"What do you plan to do with me?"

"Do you remember the second task of the Triwizard Tournament, Harry?"

"Of course. The merpeople held several prisoners captive. You never showed up, and I, being a thick head, thought the prisoners were in real danger, so I saved your sister for you."

"That is, for the most part, correct. However you got one small detail wrong. Most of the prisoners weren't in danger. However Gabrielle is a veela. The merpeople and the veela have had a blood feud since ancient times. If you hadn't saved my sister, I fear what would have happened to her."

"If the merpeople were going to kill her, why hadn't they already?"

"I think they were waiting for the rest of the contestants to show up and leave. After that, she would have been dead, and the merpeople could claim ignorance, saying the charm keeping her alive must have failed, being up that long."

"But how did the merpeople know that Victor, Cedric, and I would show up before you?"

"They didn't, but they did there darnest to make it happen that way. Tell me, did you feel like you found the merpeople city a little too easily?"

"Yes, a little."

"Krum said the same thing. It was almost as if he was being lead there. According to some of Cedric's closest friend, he also expressed similar concerns. Meanwhile sea creature after sea creature was coming after me. Do you think simple Grindylows would have stopped me if I had not been already worn down?"

"Now that you mention it, it is kind of strange. But there is still something wrong with that story. Why would Dumbledore have given your sister to the mermaids if it would have put her in any sort of danger?"

"He most likely didn't know. Long ago, under a temporary flag of truce, the veela and merpeople made a pact. We would keep this a blood feud a secret from other species. This made sure that this would not become an inter-species war with vast alliances. This is why I could not go to Madam Maxime, Dumbledore, or any of your ministry officials about my concerns. That is also why the merpeople would have had to make it look like a tragic accident."

"But why would can you tell me?"

"Because, Harry, in a few moments it won't matter anymore."

"What does that mean? And what does all this talk about the second task have to do with you chaining me up anyways?"

"Harry, you saved my sister from certain death. I can never thank you enough, or at least that's what I would like to say. But when I say it, it's just an expression. It seems kind of hollow compared to my sister, for whom literally can't thank you enough."

"Is this how you thank people? By chaining them up? And what do you mean by your last statement anyways?"

"As I've said before, the chains are just a precaution. As for my last statement, ever since you saved Gabrielle's life, she's owed you a life debt. Now I know yo wizards have something similar. I've never been quite clear on how you collect upon such a debt though. For veela though, what must be given in the case of a life debt is set in stone."

"And what is that?"

"For a veela to another veela, it is simple, a life long servitude."

"But I don't want a servant."

"I wasn't talking about you. You are not veela, so that doesn't apply. For a veela to another species, that veela must give them the greatest gift we have to offer."

"And what is that?"

"The gift of being a veela themselves."

"Wait, let me get this straight. You are going to turn me into a veela?"

"Not me, Gabrielle. She's the one who owes you a life debt."

"Right. And how is this going to happen?"

"There is a ritual for it."

"Why couldn't this ritual be done by anyone to turn themselves into a veela?"

"One of the ingredients of the ritual is blood of a veela given expressly for this purpose."

"Furthermore, why are you bound to the rules of the veela? You are only a quarter veela! I heard so at the weighing of the wands. You said your grandmother was one."

"Harry, you obviously have no idea how veela genetics work. The veela trait is a dominate gene that is only significant if the baby is female. Therefore normally when a veela has a child, there is one half chance it is male, three-eighth chance it is a female veela, and a one-eighth chance it is a normal female. These probabilities can differ slightly based on the parents' genetic makeups. My sister and I both fall into the female veela category, as does my mother."

"But you look nothing like the veela at the world cup. I was ready to kill myself to impress them. No offense, but I've never felt that way around you."

"Of course not. Those veela had their aura up full blast. Most veela learn to control their aura at a very young age."

"Okay second thing. You said the gene doesn't make a difference in a male. Then won't this ritual leave me unaffected?"

"That would be true, Harry. At least if it wasn't for the fact that the ritual also makes you a female."

"IT WHAT?"