Desperate Measures

Chapter 4 - Genetics

Tuesday morning saw nearly two hundred envelopes dropped on or near his plate. Harry sighed and went about the task of collecting them and placing them in his bag, gratefully accepting the help of his nearby housemates.

He staunchly ignored all the students frantically buying copies of The Daily Prophet, though he did find it amusing that those same students were also vying for the attention of the dozen or so owls that were carrying a package proudly blinking Harry Potter a Veela! Exclusive Interview! A bit of experimentation by the student body found that placing two sickles in the pouch on the owl's left leg would cause a miniaturized copy of The Quibbler to fall out of the box on the owl's right leg. An ingenious idea, Harry thought, taking a similarly blinking package off the owl that had landed in front of him.

True to his word, Mr. Lovegood had sent him a dozen copies of his own. Harry didn't know what he was going to do with all of them but was grateful for the thought nonetheless. He quickly flipped through the article and noted that Mr. Lovegood had kept his word about the contents and formatting as well, not that he had expected otherwise.

The sidelong glances and whispers started almost immediately. It was dead annoying but Harry had expected it and ignored them in favor of his breakfast.

"Good show, Harry," Neville said softly after reading the first column of The Quibbler. "That should take care of a lot of suitors. I imagine you'll still get a bunch of women, though, thinking that they can change your mind."

Harry turned towards Neville and replied to the only sensible comment he had heard yet in regards to the situation, "Probably, Neville. They're going to be awfully disappointed, though."

Neville nodded and said, "Good luck," then went back to eating his breakfast and reading the article.

"Thanks, Neville," Harry said sincerely and did the same. He managed to get halfway through his breakfast before the first question came.

"Why are you looking for a man, Harry?" Hermione asked once she was done with the article. "I thought you wanted your own children. You even say so in the interview. Are you planning on adopting?"

"No. I'll have my own children," Harry said and stuffed a large bite of pancake into his mouth. He was going to get as much food down as he could before he had to explain the whole I-can-have-my-own-babies scenario.

"A surrogate, then?" Hermione asked in confusion. "I wouldn't think that many wizards would be happy with that, especially since the child wouldn't be theirs."

"No, Hermione," Harry said. "I'm capable of carrying my own children as sired by my mate." He managed to hurriedly stuff two large bites of pancake into his mouth during the resulting stunned silence.

"What!?" Hermione finally managed to exclaim then added crossly, "Don't be ridiculous, Harry. That's impossible! Boys can't get pregnant! Not even in the wizarding world."

"True," Harry said with a shrug and shoveled a mass of eggs into his mouth.

"Then what do you plan on doing? And don't give me that line again about carrying your own children! I want a real answer," Hermione demanded in frustration.

Harry shrugged and chewed his eggs.

"He really can have his own babies, Hermione," Neville said quietly. "His Veela half is a girl."

"What!? What are you talking about? What do you mean his Veela half is a girl?" Hermione asked, her voice becoming more strident with each question and quickly attracting the attention of surrounding students.

Neville winced and looked away and Harry continued eating as if it was his last meal of the week. Hermione yanked the plate away from Harry and demanded, "What is going on? I want an explanation! You owe me that much."