Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Pretty Little Secrets ❯ Illness or Inheritance? ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Edited: This fic has been edited since May, 2007.

A/N: Okay. This is my first Harry Potter fic, so be nice.Flame me if you want to be I'll just ignore it if it's not true. This will be a Veela!Harry fic and a Harry/Draco slash. I've only read one Veela!Harry fic so I decided to give the lacking-in-stories idea a try. Hope you like it.

Full Summary: Veela!Harry fic with HarryDraco slash. Rating will go up in future chappies. How do you tell your worst enemy that he's going the love of your life? Is this dilemma going to be too hard for the great Harry Potter to face after his Veela inheritance demands he claim his mate...or die trying?

Chapter One: Illness or Inheritance?

The hot July sun was setting on the neat looking house of Number Four Privet Drive, casting a pinkish purple light through the window of the smallest bedroom in the house. The raven-haired occupant of that room shivered, despite the high temperatures that summer had brought.

Harry Potter snuck a peek at the digital clock by his bed and shivered- again. Sunset was in fifteen minutes, but he didn't need a clock to know that now-a-days. Since his strange 'illness' had come along a week ago, Harry froze in the light hours of the day and became feverishly hot at night.

"Maybe it's some sort of magical flu bug," He mumbled as he tried to rub his numb, gloved hands together. "I don't think it's normal to have a daytime temperature of fifteen degrees or lower and a nighttime one of forty-nine and higher."

Harry knew this because he had been checking his temperature twice a day since he'd been sick, with an old thermometer that his aunt had actually let him use. All of his relatives had stayed clear of his room since he'd gotten sick, afraid they'd catch his `freakishness.'

Ten minutes. He was actually stiff with the cold. Another weird part about his flu was that there were no other symptoms to say that it was the flu. Lately, meaning just today, Harry's lips had taken on a bluish tint, but other than that, helooked healthy.

"Maybe I should write to Dumbledore. Or the Order." Harry thought out loud.

Hedwig hooted in agreement.

Sirius would kill him if he found out Harry died after he fought through death to come back to him.

Two minutes. Harry knew that he should start taking off the layers he'd put on, but the cold was the worst right at its end. There'd be no transition between hot and cold, it was instantaneous.

Harry put the thermometer back in his mouth and waited.

Sunset.

The heat started at the tips of his toes, burning like fire. Harry bit back a scream as his body broke out in sweat.

`Great. I'll sweat like a pig and stink now!' he thought. `What a great way to spend my sixteenth birthday.'

Throwing off the blankets that had kept him warm, Harry began stripping, trying to relieve the intense heat.

The air in Harry's bedroom grew heavy with magic. The water that was frozen in Hedwig's cage melted and began to boil. The snowy owl shrieked in alarm.

"BOY!" thundered Uncle Vernon's voice from downstairs. "YOU'D BETTER KEEP THAT RUDDY OWL QUIET!"

Hedwig just shrieked louder. Harry shook his head and tried to calm his owl down.

"Come on girl! Stop it! I don't know what he'll do if you don't!"

The snowy owl slowed its screams to a low hoot. Harry sighed as a bead of sweat ran down his face and onto his bed.

The sheets under him burst into flames.

Harry yelped and put them out with some of the thicker blankets. The heat intensified and he felt queasy. The heat and his rolling stomach were just too much. Grabbing his trash can, Harry vomited into it. Most of the nasty stuff was red. Blood. Harry starred at the spew before wiping his mouth. More blood.

"I'm dying. There's no other answer. I'm gonna die." Harry whispered and Hedwig's screams started again.

The ailing wizard registered Aunt Petunia telling his uncle and cousin to go out and get some desserts. She would take care of the 'freak' while they were gone.

Although Harry still thought he was dying, the throwing up had made him feel better.

Footsteps alerted him of his Aunt's impending rant, but Harry didn't care. The heat was mounting. He threw up again just as his Aunt entered the room.

Whatever she was going to hiss died on her tongue as she took in the sight before her.

Her nephew sat in his boxers, flushed and sweating with his head in his trash can, being violently sick. His horrible owl was frantic in its cage. Her beady pale blue eyes focused back on the boy as he lifted his head up to look at her.

She gasped. His face was bloody.

"I'm sorry... about the mess," he whispered before passing out on his bed.

Petunia Dursley had always hated the Wizarding World. It was her dearbeloved sister's world. Not for normal people. But as she looked at the sick boy in her care, she realized that she would have to contact the man who had pulled her into this mess.

Swiftly, she crossed the tiny room and unlocked the owl's cage. She doubted that the boy's school would be civil enough to have a telephone.

"Come with me, you filthy bird! I need you to deliver a letter to that horrible school."

If an owl could look surprised, the white beast was. She hopped out of her cage and flew over to her master. He didn't wake.

Petunia hurried down the stairs and into the kitchen to write a quick letter. Wrapping some tape around it, she turned to the bird and gave it the letter.

"Now I want you to give this letter to the first person you see at the boy's- Harry's- school. You got that, you little pigeon?"

The snowy owl just grabbed the letter- making Petunia yelp in fright- and took off out the open window. It was a long flight to Hogwarts.

Draco Malfoy scowled as he watched another House Elf drop his trunks. His father, Lucius Malfoy, let a tiny sigh escape his lips before walking through the door of Hogwarts. Draco's godfather, Severus Snape, followed the blond older man, his cloak billowing as usual. Both men had been found out to be spies among Voldemort's followers and were currently hiding out at Hogwarts.

"I tell you, House Elves can't do a single thing right." fumed Pansy Parkinson, who was supervising the unloading of the luggage on Draco's right. "Remind me why we still use them."

Blaise Zabini chuckled on Draco's left. "Because if we didn't it'd be you who was dragging your own luggage into the castle? You'd also have to cook for yourself and clean too. They keep us lazy."

Draco sniffed. "A Malfoy is never lazy," Before smiling, "We just have no interest in manual labor."

"I thought you Malfoys detested labor of any kind." came Theodore Nott's voice as he walked up to join the group.

Blaise laughed. "Hey Theo. You here hiding out from the crazy, evil tattoo artist too?"

Theo nodded. Voldemort had been furious when the 'next generation of Death Eaters' chose to not become the next generation. Voldemort's return had brought many of his followers' views for the future into the open. He was a madman obsessed with killing Harry Potter and ruling the world. His ideas about how pure bloods were the best were just a line to get you into his little circle. One you never got out of.

"My parents had to leave the country." Theo said as the group sat under one of the oak trees by the doors of Hogwarts. "Dumbledore offered to take me in here, and I needed to finish my education."

Pansy nodded. "Same here. But I just want to stay with my best friends and see that maniac die." Pansy's older brother, Patrick had been murdered by Voldemort while he was in one of his moods. Her family had turned from the Dark Side since then.

"Who else will be coming here?" Draco asked. Many of the families once faithful to the Dark Lord had switched over when Draco's father had declared himself loyal to the Light, and the neutral families had turned with him also.

"Adrian Pucey is being sent to Drumstrang, and so is Andrew Bletchley." Blaise said, his violet eyes dark.

"Matthew Flint is coming. He took the death of Marcus hard. Malcolm Baddock is gone to France, the dirty traitor. Bulstrode and Bole too. Terence Higgs and Greg are coming, but Crabbe is in Drumstrang. Luis Montague will be also be arriving today." Pansy rattled off.

"Eight families off the Dark Lord's call list. Not bad." replied Draco. "He still has the mad, violent psychos though. Fitting, I guess."

Blaise was just opening his mouth when an owl's screech stopped him.

"What in the bloody hell was that?" asked Pansy, forgetting ladies don't use such language.

A snowy white owl came speeding toward the four, a letter clutched in its claws. Draco frowned.

"That looks like Potter's owl. Why is it flying like the hounds of hell are at its tail?"

Hedwig landed on the ground before the Slytherins with a hard thump, before tossing the letter at Draco's feet and flapping around, hooting frantically.

"What's Potter doing writing you a letter, Drake?" asked Theo as Draco took the letter and magically ripped off the plastic stuff.

"I don't know." Draco answered honestly. "Let's read it."

The four crammed in closer to read the neat ink.

To whom it may concern,

I hope this letter reaches someone at Harry Potter's school as I, Petunia Dursley am writing this letter on his behalf. Please tell Mr. Dumbledore that the boy is horribly ill with some sort of disease I can only connect with your kind. I fear for the safety of myself, my husband and child. I request that you send someone to pick him up from my place of residence as soon as possible. If there is any doubt that he is indeed incredibly ill, ask yourself if it is normal to have a temperature of forty- nine degrees and to vomit blood.

Please tell his godfather that we are taking care of his godson and that he is still a wanted man in my world.

Yours Truly,

Petunia Dursley

Pansy looked at the others, clearly shocked before grabbing the letter and running toward Hogwarts.

"Come on! We have to give this letter to Professor Snape! He'll get it to Dumbledore!"

A/N: There you go. I hope you like the first chapter. Will Snape believe that note or not? And what is up with Harry's illness? Read and Review! PLEASE

S. Tangerine!