A/N: This is set midway through sixth year so all characters are over sixteen. Voldemort's gone. Unless expressly stated, it's pretty safe to assume that everyone is still alive. Oh, and this has nothing at all to do with Collar Mark, it's not a sequel or anything like that. Characters have the potential to be OOC, but I have tried my best. Oh and this is slash. Obviously haha. Enjoy!

CHAPTER ONE

It was a month after Voldemort had been defeated and the last of the curses he'd cast in his dying moments had just come to fruition in the hospital wing.

'Hermione, I have cat ears!'

Harry was standing in front of a mirror staring at his ears and clutching a long black tail in his right hand. Hermione, Ron, and Madame Pomfrey stood behind him, staring as well.

'Harry, do you know what your animagus form is at all?' asked Pomfrey.

'No.'

'Well I think we can hazard a guess that you would have been feline in nature.'

'Feline? Wait, what do you mean would have been?'

'It appears that in his final moments one of Lord Voldemort's curses produced this result. He seems to have trapped you half-transformed. I would hazard a guess that the changes are permanent and you will be unable to ever complete your animagus transformation. I'm sorry, dear.'

Harry sank onto one of the hospital chairs.

'Permanent?'

'I'm sorry.'

Hermione and Ron pulled up chairs on either side of Harry and rubbed his shoulders.

'You'll be alright mate.'

'It's not that uncommon to see magical people with animal attributes. Some people consider them quite fashionable,' said Hermione.

'I don't. God, I just look more like a freak.'

'Oh, Harry, you don't. It's really not that unusual.'

Harry shrugged and let Ron and Hermione hug him before they all headed to their first class.

It took most of their walk to the dungeons for Harry to figure out how to stop his tail from tangling in his legs as he moved. As they reached the door to the Potions class, Harry forgot about his tail, there was something in the air and it was…intoxicating.

He forgot about that too, though, when he stepped into the classroom. Snape raised his eyebrows briefly but was mercifully silent. The other students, however, were not so discreet.

'Bloody hell, Harry, what happened to you?' said Seamus.

'I think they're cute,' said Lavender.

'Can you hear from them?' said Pansy.

'Silence, you babbling plague of pubescence,' snarled Snape.

Harry flushed as the room fell silent and the other students dropped into their seats, leaving him standing alone. The only free seat ended up being next to Malfoy so he hurried to the front of the room, willing his face to cool down.

He set his books on the desk and tried to pay attention as Snape began talking. Unfortunately, the second he took a breath, he caught that smell. Instantly his ears perked up and his tail started flicking back and forth, thudding heavily against Malfoy's hip.

'Bloody hell, Potter, control yourself,' muttered Malfoy.

'I'm trying,' snarled Harry.

He ended up grabbing his tail, watching it squirm in his hand. Malfoy glanced over at it and rolled his eyes.

'What even happened?'

'Voldemort. It's only just come to fruition.'

Malfoy whistled softly. 'Rough.'

'Yeah.'

They were silent for the rest of the lesson, working on their potions. When there was barely ten minutes left, Malfoy spoke.

'Have you found your mate yet?'

Harry jumped a little. 'What?'

'Have you found your mate? It usually happens quickly in these situations.'

'What? In what situations? How common is this? And what do you mean by mate?'

'I always forget you were raised a muggle. Really Potter, it's so droll. I thought Granger would have told you everything by now.'

'It only happened about half an hour before class.'

Draco just rolled his eyes. 'Your situation is really not all that uncommon. Usually it's an accident, but sometimes a curse or a transformation gone wrong. In any case, the victim always ends up with a mate, a life mate, that they can sense.'

'Oh. Right. How do they sense them?'

'It varies but generally a desire to impress or take care of the person, and always their scent.'

'Their scent?' Harry's voice rose embarrassingly.

Malfoy frowned at him. 'Yes, Potter, their scent.'

Harry nodded and they spoke no more as they packed away their things. When they left the class, Hermione and Ron caught up with him and they walked together to Charms.

It wasn't until their break before dinner that the trio got to speak properly. They locked themselves in the boys' dormitory and piled onto Harry's bed.

'So what happened in Potions? I saw you and Malfoy having a bit of a chat.'

'Well he has changed a fair bit since his Mother was killed and his Father escaped the Imperious Curse,' chided Hermione.

'I know, Hermione, but what were you talking about?'

'He asked about the tail and then he asked if I'd found my mate yet. Then he had to explain what mates are because I didn't know.'

'See?' said Hermione. 'I told you it wasn't that uncommon.'

'I know, I should have learned to never doubt you, Hermione, but the thing is, I think I have found my mate.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, Malfoy said that the scent of a person was meant to be a marker and when we went down to Potions, well, I could smell something that was pretty amazing.'

'Really? Did you figure out who it came from?' asked Hermione.

'No, don't tell us. It was Malfoy, wasn't it? I'm going to have to be nice to that git, aren't I?' bemoaned Ron.

Harry laughed. 'Sorry, Ron.'

'So it's Draco?' Hermione's eyes were huge.

'Yeah.'

'Well come on then,' Hermione stood up, 'We'll have to tell Dumbledore.'

Ignoring their protests, Hermione dragged Ron and Harry all the way to the Headmaster's office.