Veela

A **veela** is a canonical semi-human magical being looking like a beautiful young woman with blonde or white hair and very bright skin. They have the ability to mesmerise most men with their supernatural allure.

## Canonical information

Main article: **Veela** at *The Harry Potter Wiki*
Main article: **Half-Veela** at *The Harry Potter Wiki*
Veela are known to marry wizards; their children are known as *half-veela* (or more generically *part-veela*, especially in later generations). There is no support in canon for the existence of male full-blooded veela, but neither are they explicitly stated to not exist; if they do not, the mechanism for reproduction without involving humans is unknown. The only known male with veela ancestry is Louis Weasley, who has a single veela great-grandparent; it is not known if he, his sisters or any other third-generation descendant has inherited any specific veela characteristics, the way his mother and grandmother did. Both veela and part-veela tend to experience prejudice and discrimination, although it is easier for them than for other part-humans to pass as fully human.

While at least part-veela can use wand magic, veela have a type of wandless magic of their own; most of it has to do with their ability to attract and mesmerise people, but when they get angry they can also transform into a harpy-like form with cruel-beaked bird-like heads and long scaly wings, and throw fire from their hands. (It is not known if part-veela can do this transformation as well.)

Veela hair can be used as the core of a magic wand, although Garrick Ollivander is reported as having found it too temperamental to be of good use. According to some muggle legends, a veela will die if as much as a single hair is plucked from her head; it is not known if this is true, but presumably they do lose hairs naturally just like humans and any other being or beast with hair does.

## Non-canonical information

### *The Girl Who Loved*

* Here it is said that as long as they wear it down, "women of veela blood" – presumably phrased so to include part-veela – do not need to comb their hair; it will naturally fall right every time. If they do, it will likely be for the visual effect.

### *A Godfather's Promise*

* In this story it is said that veela mature differently from human women, staying childlike until they are mentally ready and then going through their whole puberty overnight. Fleur Delacour had an eight-year-old body until shortly before her fifteenth birthday, and then suddenly had a seventeen-year-old body.
* As Fleur explains it to Harry, there are no part-veela, nor any male veela: if a veela has a daughter, she is also a veela, but if she has a son he is a wizard.
* The origin of the veela, as told by the elders in the temples in Marseille, was in ancient Greece, were Aphrodite challenged Hera to a competition about who could create the most beautiful avian being. Hera created the peacock, while Aphrodite presented a flock of large doves which changed into beautiful silver-haired women rivaling even the nymphs. Hera, furious at being tricked, cursed the veela, turning them into burning harpies, but in doing so she also gave them magic; after training under the wise tutelage of Athena they were eventually able to control their curse and return to their fair forms. They settled in Cyprus, and from there they followed settlers to other parts of the Greek-speaking Mediterranean world, including mainland Greece and what is today Bulgaria and Marseille. Thus, even in the late 20th century, they still worship Aphrodite, Athena and Hera, and these names (as well as their Roman equivalents – Venus, Minerva and Juno – and the Celtic Belisama, equivalent with Minerva) are used similarly to how British magicals refer to Merlin.

### *Harry Potter: Neko's Mate*

* In this story it is said that veela are "sexual beings", yet they only ever take a single mate, known as a *life-mate*; their behaviour once they've found him is compared to cats being in heat, except that it is not a temporary thing. No mention of a distinction between full- and part-veela is made.

### *Ignore the Dementor*

* In this story there are male veela (and also male dryads), and it is common for veela (and presumably part-veela, although that term is not used) to attempt to pass as human to avoid discrimination (see Hogwarts Society of Magical Creatures).
* Once they have passed their magical maturity at eighteen, veela will find the mate their magic has chosen for them. While not stated outright, this seems to be a life-long relationship. (The text says seventeen, but also that it happens during their seventh school year – i.e. when they turn eighteen.)
* Instead of transforming into a winged form, veela seem to use glamour to hide their wings, which are said to be feathery rather than scaly; at least some have black feathers.

### *The Power of Seven*

* In this story it is said that veela blood does not dilute between generations – the only difference between the abilities of a full veela and those of her part-veela descendants (of any generation) is one of experience. Also, the child of a part-veela is almost always a part-veela as well. However, crossbreeding with humans brings fertility problems and only with a powerful wizard as partner can they hope to have more than two or – at the most – three children, even if they work at it for many years.
* Despite what is said above about fertility problems, both contraception and pregnancy tests are a lot less likely to work properly on veela, due to interference from mixing with their innate magic.
* A "coming-of-age book" for veela states that veela tend to "sample" men, often going through large numbers of suitors, until they find one their instincts can accept as a mate – at which time "their sex drive becomes exclusively focused on them." This focus is not impossible to break out of, but it takes time, determination and physical distance.
* Fleur is shown to have an extraordinarily sensitive sense of smell, including being able to tell from some distance in a crowded room not only that a person in bed has had sex in the last few days, but also the number of different partners they have had. She partially blames this for her inability to befriend Molly Weasley, since "even small differences in a meal could dramatically alter how it smelled and tasted". Her hearing may also be keener than a normal human's, at least when it comes to moans and gasps. While her sister Gabrielle has no difficulty recognizing the smell of sex, or even that of sex with Harry specifically, it is not clear whether she has inherited quite the same sensitivity.
* Veela are immune to the magical fire they can conjure, to the extent that they can use it to disintegrate the clothes they are wearing without their bodies being affected at all. Gabrielle also states that a bracelet woven of enchanted and hardened veela hair will grant the wearer a certain amount of fire resistance.

## Known veela and part-veela

### Canonical

* Apolline Delacour's mother (full)
* Apolline Delacour (half)
* Fleur Delacour (quarter)
* Gabrielle Delacour (quarter)
* Victoire Weasley (eighth)
* Dominique Weasley (eighth)
* Louis Weasley (eighth)
* Fleur Delacour's cousins (unknown ratio)

* Cassandra Vole's great-grandmother (full)
* Cassandra Vole (eighth)

### Non-canonical

* Matthew Bastien
* Aceline Hesop
* Aceline Hesop's father
* Aceline Hesop's mother
* Victoire

## References

1. ↑ *The Girl Who Loved*, Chapter 13
2. ↑ *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 4
3. ↑ *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 6
4. ↑ *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 15
5. ↑ *A Godfather's Promise*, Chapter 14
6. ↑ *A Godfather's Promise, Chapter 17*
7. ↑ *Harry Potter: Neko's Mate*, Chapter 16
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 *Ignore the Dementor*, Chapter 7
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *The Power of Seven*, Chapter 48
10. ↑ *The Power of Seven*, Chapter 43
11. ↑ *The Power of Seven*, Chapter 77
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 *The Power of Seven*, Chapter 61
13. ↑ *The Power of Seven*, Chapter 35
14. ↑ *The Power of Seven*, Chapter 59
15. ↑ *The Power of Seven*, Chapter 46
16. ↑ *The Power of Seven*, Chapter 62
17. ↑ *The Power of Seven*, Chapter 81