Courting Magic

Summary: "I'm a what?" "A Veela Miss Granger." Hermione's not-so-normal life has been turned upside down at recent news. Not only is she a Veela but she must find her mate in a school with well over a hundred students and be accepted by him. But, what if she's been looking in the wrong area the whole time? HG/SS

Hello everybody! who's reading this... I know, I know, there's a lot of Veela fics out there already but I'm just throwing mine in with the rest. (though I don't paticularily know of any others for this couple) Hope you enjoy it! Also, the chapters will be longer as this is just the prologue. We're going to have fun on this bumpy ride!

I should add that I just recently came across this couple and I love it. Courtesy of mychemicalrelapse's story A Yearning. If you haven't read it you should.

Thanks to worrywart for betaing the prologue!

Prologue

Hermione sat in the chair listening to a lecture on the War Between Faeries And Syunbeeks that had happened in of 902. The lecture was interrupted though when McGonagall strode into the room and asked for her, adding to that she should gather her things as she had a matter to discuss with her, and it would take some time.

The young Gryffindor got up from her chair after putting her scrolls of parchment and quill away. She quickly got up, getting a few glances from her Gryffindor classmates, but otherwise wasignored. After all, this was her seventh year, and it would probably just be about her career choices. She couldn't possibly be in trouble.

Could she?

Hermione shook away the thought, knowing she hadn't, done anything wrong and besides, McGonagall would have pulled her aside before class this morning if that was the case. Obviously it was something that had just come up while she had been attending her other classes and yet, she felt kind of flustered. The professor had spoken rather urgently, but it would only be noticeable to those in her house. It was really no wonder that the others had looked at her, wondering what was going on to put the teacher in such a state.

She urged herself to hurry since McGonagall had left the classroom immediately, obviously going to her office. With her hand, Hermione pulled a strand of hair out of her face while turning the corner to her classroom. She slipped through the open door.

"Please, MissGranger, close the door behind you," said McGonagallfrom beyond her desk, peering down at what appeared to be a letter.

Hermione She turned around and closed the door before setting her supplies at onthe desk where she usually sat and walked forward toward the professor.

"Now," McGonagall said, looking up at her student. "Pleasesit down."

Hermione flicked her wand, and a chair came forward for her to sit on so she could remain in front of the professor.

"This may come as a shock to you, but the Department of Marriages, Births, and Deaths has recently been going through their records and updating them. They found that your grandmother was," Hermione watched as McGonagall seemed to be gathering herself up for it, as if she was unsure of the words that needed to come out of her mouth. "You're a Veela."

Hermione stared at the woman in front of her. There was no sugar coating what Minerva had just told her; she just said it point blank and allowed her to figure out what this meant, leaving her to connect the dots of what the woman hadn't wanted to say. Her grandmother had been a Veela? She had never met the woman, so she couldn't personally confirm such a thing, but she knew what this entailed. Hermione closed her eyes for a moment, trying to wrap her mind around this. Just to be sure though...

"I'm a what?" she asked, thinking it was possible she had heard McGonagall wrong. That she must have heard her wrong.

"A Veela, Miss Granger."

This time the words sunk in deep. "That... can't be right. Professor?" She glanced up from her lap that she had found herself to have beenstaring at for the past minute. "Can I see the letter?"

"Of course." McGonagall handed it to her within the second as if she already knew Hermione would ask for it.

After looking at the letter and all the tests to confirm it over though thoroughly, she simply leaned back in her chair. Shock ran through her and she slowly put the letter and the other papers inside back on Professor McGonagall's desk.

"I know this must be hard to take, but as you are eighteen and the year is just beginning, you do have a decent amount of time to find your mate and for them to fall in love with you before you turn nineteen. I assure you, Miss Granger, it is possible to do."

"Find... my mate?" What if it wasn't Ron? The boy growing into a man that she had come to love over the many years, even with their misadventures. There were a lot of students at Hogwarts; could she really depend on the fantasy that her mate was even within these walls? It would take forever to find him, and ifshe didn't find him and turned nineteen, she would die. She shivered at the thought.

"Such things like this have happened at Hogwarts before," Minerva continued, "and five out of six times their mate was within these walls. When the mate was not here, they somehow found each other in Hogsmeade."

The words were reassuring, but fear still pounded through Hermione'sveins.

"With you being a Veela, we still have a few more matters to discuss, Miss Granger."

"Like?" Hermione asked even though she knew what was coming next. She had read enough about Veelas in her years at Hogwarts for purely recreational purposes.

"When you do find your mate, we will give you a separate room so you can be alone together. Of course this would be easier if your mate is in Gryffindor."

Dear gods, she didn't even want to think about her mate being in a different House. Okay, she wouldn't care if they were a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw,but a Slytherin had to be out of the question. She couldn't stand any of them, and her friends had told her countless times how accepting she was of everyone. I can hope, she thought bitterly.

McGonagall must have seen the look on her face for she stated another percentage of sorts. "Four out of six times the mate was in the same house."

This did ease her mind, and she sighed softly, feeling a partial weight come off her shoulders. Once she thought about it though, that was little more than half of the Veela cases at Hogwarts. Either could be possible here.

"I would also like to remind you, a Veela-once they recognize their mate-must have some sort of physical contact, not always sexual," McGonagall added, seeing Hermione's eyes flicker towards her in uncertainty. "to gain energy. I'm sure you know this from all the reading you do, but I must make sure you understand what is going on. Finding your mate won't necessarily be a walk in the park,and you will feel more tired than usual; of course, I'm sure you've noticed this already."

Hermione was aware of the sudden dull ache in her bones after her birthday, waking up to yawn each morning even when she had a full night's sleep. She hadn't thought much of it, but in all honesty, she should have realized it was a sign. Then again, she had never expected herself to be a Veela.

"I understand." she replied.

"When you do find your mate you will also be protective of them and jump to their defence whether they are right or wrong as is the nature of a Veela-"

"Professor?" she interrupted. "You said my grandmother was a Veela so that makes me a quarter Veela, right?"

"Correct." Minerva looked to the girl and frowned. "I'm sorry for pushing this all onto you at once, but I figured it would be best. What is it the muggles say... 'ripping it off fast like a plaster'?"

Hermione nodded, even though it wasn't the exact words muggles used for the phrase. It still meant the same thing, and she was glad McGonagall had done it this way so that she knew exactly what this entailed for her, how it would affect her life. She still had one question though.

"Professor McGonagall, how do I know when I find my mate?"

The Professor met her student's gaze steadily. "You'll just know."

Hermione stood up after this, so fast her head rushed for a moment, causing the room to spin and she grabbed onto the chair to steady herself. "Thank you for telling me immediately Professor." She turned, grabbing her book bag and left the room in a flurry of steps.

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