Chapter 53: The Beach
The beach.
We were standing on the beach, and I was quietly coming apart at the seams. There I was on the sand, surrounded by my friends and my mothers, with young women all around us, several of whom had apparently decided swimsuit tops were optional, and every one of them kept casting meaningful glances my way.
"Remind me, please..."
I closed my eyes for a moment.
"...why exactly did you choose this particular beach?"
"Because here we won't have to deal with overly persistent men."
Fleur shrugged.
"I see."
"And what exactly do you see?"
Penny Clearwater stood beside Fleur, and I could clearly see they'd chosen very different swimwear styles. Not that I needed them standing together to notice. I could say with absolute certainty that both girls looked absolutely stunning, and I was in no state to choose between them right now.
"That this is going to be hell for me."
"You think we are demons?"
"Only the most enchanting of succubi."
I smiled, and both girls exchanged a satisfied look before heading down to the water. I started setting up our picnic spot.
"I will help, my lord."
"Thank you, Daph."
I smiled as she joined me. While I handled the bulky items, setting up the awning, umbrellas, and lounge chairs, magic made the work considerably easier. She busied herself laying out a light spread.
"Excuse me, might I join you?"
A charm hit me like a physical blow. Though, thanks to Fleur and her mother's training, I was fairly confident I could resist that sort of compulsion. I looked up at the young woman who'd approached us and shook my head.
"I'm sorry, but we're a private party, and I'd rather not open it to strangers."
"Oh, come now..."
A sly smile touched the girl's lips, her eyes bright and intent, and the pressure on me increased slightly.
"...my friends and I would not be any trouble. Quite the opposite, actually. We could be very helpful."
"I'm sorry, but no."
Genuine surprise flickered across her face, and then something else, a kind of challenge.
"And if I offered to fulfill one of your deepest desires?"
She ran her tongue across her lips in a way that was clearly meant to be inviting. It had the exact opposite effect on me, like having a bucket of cold water dumped over my head. The revulsion was immediate. I understood perfectly well that I did not look nearly twelve years old, more like fifteen or sixteen, if anything, but even so, it was obvious I was a young boy, and the woman attempting to worm her way into my good graces was plainly somewhere around thirty.
"I am actually only twelve."
"I beg your pardon?"
She stared at me, clearly thrown off. I wasn't entirely sure whether it was my age or the flat, cold tone in which I'd delivered the information that had startled her more.
"I said I'm only twelve, and everything required to fulfill all of my desires is not yet in working order. Nor would I be particularly interested in fulfilling them with you in any case. Now, would you mind leaving us?"
"You..."
"Agassis, not again."
Fleur appeared at my side without a sound.
"The moment anyone in the community brings a man along, you try to draw his attention to yourself. Does it never get old? Have you not worn yourself raw by now?"
"Delacour... you think you have some kind of advantage here? In our coven there is a proper order of rotation for men, and you..."
"I'm afraid I don't quite follow. Since when, exactly, am I supposed to care about your rotation? I may be young, but I am a man, and I will decide for myself who I wish to spend my time with."
"Boy, stay out of this. You are doing well enough, and..."
"Right. So the hen has decided she is wiser and stronger than everyone else, has she? Very well."
I smiled slightly.
"...you are welcome to bring the full weight of your Charm down on me. But when you find you cannot make me submit, I will make you eat sand. Are we clear?"
"Draco..."
Fleur's voice carried a note of uncertainty.
"Stay out of it, Delacour. The boy chose this himself. And I have absolutely no intention of denying him his rather overconfident wish to become my little lapdog."
"We will see who ends up as whose lapdog."
The pressure crashed down.
For just a moment, barely a second, I wanted nothing more than to dissolve on the spot and tell the girl before me that she was the most magnificent creature in existence. Then the image of Fleur and Penny standing side by side on this beach rose before me, and the compulsion dissolved entirely.
"Boy, wouldn't you like to kneel?"
I drew my wand with perfect composure.
"What are you doing, boy?"
"Confundus."
I poured enough magic into the spell to turn the girl's eyes glassy.
"From this day forward, you're simply a dog. A bitch who does nothing but eat, piss, defecate, and bark. Off you go."
The girl promptly dropped to all fours and trotted away down the beach, barking cheerfully.
"Draco, wasn't that a bit much?"
Nymphadora, who had appeared beside us, asked with slight uncertainty.
"No. Too much would have been making her eat sand. This..."
I shrugged.
"...she'll bark for a day or so, and perhaps afterwards her brain will start working again. Incidentally, what was that about a rotation?"
"Ahem... don't trouble yourself. My mother spoke to the elders. They know you're simply a guest, one who has helped me enormously."
"Just a guest?"
I looked at Fleur carefully, and she turned slightly pink.
"That's... between you and me. And Penny, perhaps."
"Pfft."
"Yes, yes. Though it's precisely because of that absurd little habit of yours that I'm willing to consider you at all. Consider..."
"Simply consider..."
"Yes, yes. And I only think about you because you're a little bird."
The two girls exchanged a look that could have drawn blood.
"Right, that's enough. Let's actually eat something."
That distracted everyone from the budding argument, and after the picnic we all went for a swim.
Some time later.
"So, how did you find it?"
Jean looked at me with mild curiosity over supper, and I simply shrugged. We were at their manor house now, and after a full day in the sun, despite the various tanning and sun protection potions I'd applied to the girls' backs, returning to the house felt like a gift from Merlin himself.
"Well, I confess I wasn't expecting an invitation to a private beach for Veela. But at least one could cast freely there."
"I knew that would be the part you appreciated. And the beach itself?"
"The beach was lovely, but... certain visitors..."
I shook my head.
"...were rather excessively clingy."
"Were there problems?"
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"...I rather think not, at the moment. Though there may be in the near future. I did, after all, compel one particularly persistent individual to behave like a dog."
"I'm sorry?"
"Confundus."
"Ahem..."
Jean tilted his head slightly, and I could see the amusement in his eyes.
"...and? Did it actually work?"
"It actually worked, Papa. That awful Agassis woman got down on all fours and went tearing across the beach, barking, even at her own friends, who'd been looking forward to her bringing them a new victim."
"Hmm... something just occurred to me."
"Yes?"
"What exactly was this 'rotation' she was talking about when she was the one trying to use her Charm on me to keep me for yourself?"
"It's not a simple system, but briefly: after she was done with you, she would have passed you on to the coven and earned points for it."
"Earned points, you say."
Bellatrix frowned.
"And it never occurred to her that we would not forgive that, and would hire people to..."
"There is no need."
Apolline interjected.
"...none of that would have happened. We wouldn't have allowed it. Fleur and Gabrielle were both there, and even if that... differently gifted young woman had managed to charm Draco, Fleur would have sent word immediately. We could have reached that beach within minutes, and what followed would have been punishment enough... perhaps slightly less colorful than what Draco arranged, but punishment nonetheless."
I shrugged.
"She brought it on herself. I asked her to leave several times."
"No objections whatsoever. We simply need to contact the elders this evening after supper and make it clear to the more... enthusiastic members that attempting to use compulsion on a guest under Delacour protection..."
Apolline shook her head. Her displeasure was evident.
"...is not acceptable."
"My dear, do try to keep your temper in front of our guests."
"Oh, I wouldn't mind seeing it."
I couldn't help but smirk, and Jean looked at me with a mixture of shock and disbelief.
"Well, they do say that if you want to know what a girl will be like when she's older, look at her mother."
"Oh... you're already looking that far ahead?"
Apolline calmed down immediately.
"More like I'm keeping my eyes open. I'm not even twelve yet, and making any serious moves on that front would be rather premature."
"Even a declaration of intent?"
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Penny go rigid.
"Well..."
"I rather fear that at this rate, I'll have acquired a collection of such declarations by the end of the third year."
"Hmm?"
Apolline raised an expressive eyebrow.
"I'm not a philanderer, but I already care about two girls, your daughter and Penny here. I don't want to hurt either of them, which means if I were to make that kind of declaration to Fleur, I'd have to make the same one to Penny. And from there...
I tapped my fingers thoughtfully on the table.
"...I'll almost certainly meet more girls who catch my attention, and by the time I'm finally forced to choose, that choice will inevitably offend someone."
"Hmm. And what does the young lady herself have to say about it?"
"I... I don't know. It's all so... on the one hand, it would be to my advantage, and on the other hand...
She shook her head.
"...it's all..."
"I understand. You haven't sorted out your own feelings yet. You know you like Draco, but you haven't decided in what way. You want to say 'as a future husband,' but you're not certain."
Penny went crimson, so deeply that I half expected steam to come from her ears.
"Maman, stop embarrassing her. And Penny, don't mind Maman. She simply can't resist playing matchmaker occasionally."
"Hmm... well, perhaps I really ought to...
Apolline surveyed Penny with a thoughtful eye.
"...find you a nice boy? Someone who will adore you and treat you like something precious."
"Oh... thank you, that's very kind, but no... I think I'd rather manage on my own..."
"As you like."
Apolline shrugged and changed the subject entirely, and I glanced mournfully across at Jean, who looked back at me with perfect understanding. We had another week of living among this female company.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
It was going to be a difficult week. Then again, if I thought about applying suntan lotion to the girls' backs...
It was going to be an extremely difficult week. Perhaps I ought to consider holy orders.
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