For all appearances, Draco Malfoy only looked a little tense as he observed the petite brunette witch seated across him at the dining table in his family home, Malfoy Manor. On the inside he was raging. There would be no more escaping the suffocating presence of the queen of Mudbloods, Hermione Granger, or more accurately as of today, Hermione Malfoy.
He then glared at the person responsible for orchestrating this travesty- Lucius Malfoy. Now, at age twenty-three, his father's decisions would once more have a devastating impact on his life. Draco struggled to fight back the bitterness he bore towards his sire. Wasn't this the same man who had indoctrinated into him the Pureblood ideologies? Yet now the same man thought filth was good enough to be a part of one the wizarding world's most prestigious families?
As the meal progressed and everyone else continued with their polite conversations, unaware, this was in all likelihood the beginning of the end of the life he'd carefully orchestrated for himself over the past six years, it was suddenly all too much for Draco. Standing abruptly, he made his excuses and before anyone could so much as acknowledge him, rudely rushed out.
As Draco ran towards the nearest floo trying to get out and put as much distance as possible in the moment between him and Granger, the only thought running on a loop through his head was the question of why the fates had cursed him by making the most disagreeable and in every way unsuitable person in the world his mate.
Hermione friggin Granger, Gryffindor's princess and the most frigid of swots. He'd always suspected there was something to the way she got under his skin and riled him up which went beyond house rivalries and blood purity.
Theo had once foolishly suggested that perhaps Draco was secretly pining for her and was simply putting on an act to hide his true feelings. Theodore Nott, his childhood friend would've certainly thumped him on the back with a smug told you so, if he'd lived long enough to discover Granger was Draco's mate. He paused his restless pacing momentarily to squeeze his eyes tightly shut and push back the hurt he felt any time he remembered someone he lost in the war.
Of course, no one who had taken a peek into young Draco's mind would ever suspect the wizard of harbouring any kind of tendre for the bossy witch. Everything about her- from her dull looks to the desperate for approval hand raises in class, from her carefree smiles to her swotty mannerisms, from the way she was always prancing around with Potty and the Weasel while disdainfully sniffing at him- everything about her aggravated him. At times he found himself objecting to her simply breathing in the same air as him. He wasn't just being dramatic when he'd wished her dead in second year, he found her so infuriating.
Then just before Draco's sixteenth birthday, his mother had drawn him aside and informed him about his Black inheritance. He was expecting her to tell him about some forgotten vault in Gringots, instead what she shared helped him finally understand the nature of his impulse to engage Granger in verbal spats even though he couldn't stand the sight of her.
Naturally, he didn't take kindly to the knowledge he wasn't as pure as he was led to believe all his life. He almost dismissed it as a prank on his mother's part except he'd never known her to engage in such juvenile behaviour.
Draco was initially incredulous over the idea he was anything but pure, but then he quickly grew angry with the hypocrisy of everything he'd been raised to accept as true.
Astonishingly, it wasn't the Malfoy line that carried the Veela blood as many had suspected over the centuries due to the Malfoys distinctly pale colouring, so like full blooded Veelas.
Toujours pur, my arse! Draco thought.
Turns out the Noble House of Black wasn't so noble after all as one of the ancestors had bred with a Veela over a century ago. As a result the members of the Black family got to enjoy some of the Veela traits, even if they didn't turn into harpies with talons, beaks and wings like the typical Veela.
"So I won't turn into a bloody bird but it still means I'm not pure!" He raged at his mother. "I'm no better than the Mudbloods and Halfbloods you and father taught me to look down upon!"
"No! You are the last living heir of two of the oldest and purest magical families. Don't you dare compare yourself to the scum of our society."
Until then, Draco had never seen his mother, the Ice Queen, look so angry or distressed over anything he'd ever said to her.
"Having the blood of a magical creature like a Veela isn't the same as having muddy blood run in your veins. You were born with magic. Unlike the Muggles, you didn't need to steal it from some innocent child, making them a squib, just so you could wield a wand."
It was one thing to have read in books about how common an occurrence Veela and Wizard matings were in their society and quite another to accept it as part of one's own heritage. It took a while, but he eventually cooled down and accepted the truth of his mother's words. Nevertheless, it rankled. All his life he'd thought of himself as pure and to now discover he also had creature blood was shattering.
"I can see you'll need time to adjust to this. I should've told you sooner, but I was so worried about upsetting you I kept putting off telling you."
"So why tell me now?"
"Well, I couldn't delay it any longer. You're turning sixteen next week and I wanted you to have some time to prepare."
"Why? What happens when I turn sixteen?"
He was worried by the grim expression on his mother's face. She must've noticed because she patted at the empty space beside her and invited him to sit. He usually preferred to pace when dealing with bad news but could tell from the tension in his mother's posture she wouldn't continue till he complied with her unspoken command.
He settled himself next to her with a sigh.
"Sixteen is considered to be the start of adolescence for Veelas. So, the day you turn sixteen your body will be seized by a fever and you will begin to transform-"
"Transform?! I thought, you said I wouldn't turn into a bird!"
With a firm shake of her head she attempted to reassure him.
"No, you won't transform in that way. You'll grow more attractive to everyone around you. You'll grow taller, stronger, with heightened vision and hearing. Your spell casting will also improve in both strength and accuracy."
Draco kept nodding along. So far everything about this Veela business sounded great to him. He didn't see why his mother looked so concern.
"The fruits of the Transformation are sweet indeed, but the process is a particularly painful one. Even though you are only part Veela your body will mimic the Transformation process of a full Veela. Once the fever takes hold you will feel like every bone in your body is breaking and rearranging itself to accommodate the growth spurt you will undergo. The skin on your back will itch as if you have wings there just waiting to burst out. Your fingernails will feel like talons and you'll end up clawing everything around you to test their strength. Your gums will hurt with the phantom pain of fangs you do not possess. The fever may last for as long as a week, throughout which you'll feel like you're dying or at least wish you were."
Draco winced at the mention of pain. As the only child of an extremely wealthy family, he was spoiled rotten by his parents and was never given any opportunity to develop a tolerance for suffering of any kind. But, he supposed, he would endure it if it meant gaining a more attractive body in exchange.
Not like I have a choice either way.
Although he would never admit it out loud he was rather embarrassed by his scrawny built and how little he'd grown since his first year at school. He was shorter than all the boys and half the girls. Even Granger stood at eye level with him, which meant he had to tilt his head up in order to look down his nose at her. It was hard to look menacing when you were the littlest in a group- not that he didn't manage, mind you, he was a Malfoy after all, but still.
He also liked the idea of having witches throwing themselves at him because they found him attractive, not because they found the Malfoy galleons irresistible. So far the only witch to allow him as much as a snog and some over the clothes petting, was Pansy Parkinson and that was only because she was expecting to be Lady Malfoy someday. But otherwise he could tell from her fake smiles and faker moans she wasn't into him at all.
Surprisingly the only witch, who wasn't family, to ever touch him willingly of her own accord was the Mudblood when she punched him in third year. At the time he'd been outraged she'd dared to put her filthy hands on his person but over the years he'd developed some rather confusing reactions to the thought of her willingly touching him. This was yet another thing he was too ashamed of to dwell on properly.
For a brief moment Draco felt gratitude towards the Black ancestor responsible for making possible the Veela traits about to be bestowed upon him. That is till his mother explained to him about Veela and their mates.
"What do mean just one witch for life?" he'd demanded of his mother.
She of course simply raised a brow to remind him who he was speaking with.
Being more than just some insipid society wife, Narcissa Malfoy had raised her son to be respectful of witches and see them as his equal and partners, not playthings there for his amusement the way his friends were thought to think. Of course, Mudbloods were the exception since they weren't real witches.
Feeling admonished by her look alone he took a more diplomatic approach.
"I mean, why do I have to stay stuck with some witch I didn't even choose for myself?"
His mother gave him a calculated look, as if weighing the benefits of whatever she was about to share, before she proceeded to slowly explain.
"Your mate, is someone the fates created as the one person perfectly suited to you. Therefore your happiness is assured with this person. When you consummate your bond with your witch you will feel so content, you will not want to consider seeking anyone other than your mate."
He considered what she said.
"Does this mean that I could seek someone else if I wanted to?"
"Since you're not a full Veela, I suppose it is possible. But, it doesn't matter as you will lose interest in anyone else once you've claimed your mate."
"And I claim my mate simply by having sex with them?"
His mother shook her head.
"That's only a part of it. Both you and your mate need to truly accept and acknowledge each other publically as mates. The Black family changed their marriage rituals a few generations ago to include a simple handfasting ceremony where the couple publically claim each other as soul mates. This way the Veela bond is completed without anyone being wiser of the Blacks secret heritage."
Draco watched the smirk plastered on Narcissa's face as she explained how her family had hoodwinked the wizarding population for close to a century and wondered for the first time if he'd inherited that particular facial quirk from his mother rather than his father as he'd always believed.
"Do I have to bond with this supposed mate?"
"You don't have to, but you will want to."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't explain it. You'll know when you feel the pull. Your mate will be the focus of your life, second only to any children you may have."
"So nothing bad will happen to me if I don't claim my mate like it does in those romance novels Mrs Parkinson and Pansy enjoy reading so much?"
As he understood, from Pansy's rather dreamy narrations- which he had to put up with as her boyfriend- the story usually involved the Veela finding their mate and fucking them senseless or risk dying. He was sure, his mother wouldn't appreciate that particular phrasing.
Narcissa gave her son an amused look.
"No, you won't die. Neither will your mate."
Then his mother grew pensive for a few seconds. "You'll be okay if you don't claim your mate. Both of you will go through life always feeling like something is missing, but you will live."
He found his mother's answers unsatisfactory. Upon consulting with some of the Black family portraits during his holidays, Draco discovered there was a lot his mother hadn't told him, either because she was too embarrassed about discussing sex with her teenage son or maybe because she didn't ever imagine Draco would be in a position where he'd have reason not to claim his mate.
"So how will I know who this mate is?"
"You will see her face in a dream when you complete your Transformation next week. But you may already have an idea who it is."
Pansy?
Sure, they were seeing each other and the Parkinson family name was only second to the Malfoys. He couldn't think of anyone else quite as suitable. Plus he thought Pansy was quite fit even if he did agree with the Gryffindors about her being a bit pug faced. All things considered, being with her would be no hardship even if she was with him only for his family name.
"Your mate will be someone you cannot ignore no matter what. You'll always pay attention to them when they're around and think of them when they aren't."
Not Pansy then.
He could easily tune her out whenever she went on about the trashy novels she read or the shopping she was looking forward to. He also couldn't stand her when she'd pretend to be some pure princess around him, even though everyone knew she'd let that brute Marcus Flint finger her after Slytherin won the match against Ravenclaw.
Had he really cared about Pansy, it would've hurt something other than just his pride when Marcus had shown up in the common room looking rather smug as he held out his finger for Draco to sniff so the Malfoy heir could know what his girlfriend's cum smelled like.
Draco had merely raised an eyebrow at Flint and then resumed his conversation with Theo as if nothing of consequence had been related. As it was Draco was biding his time and waiting for when they left Hogwarts to show Flint how difficult things could be for a wizard of his lowly station in life when one earned the displeasure of a Malfoy.
As far as Pansy was concerned. He'd suspected all along she was getting her itch scratched elsewhere since she never came to him. But, as much as he would've liked to dump her as his girlfriend, she was the only suitable witch available who'd shown any interest at all in him. So, he had no choice but to put up with her waiting for the time when she'd finally spread her legs for him.
Now that he knew it couldn't be Pansy, Draco made a mental rundown of all the witches he knew who could potentially be his mate. As he quickly eliminated one witch after the other, he began to panic when it started to dawn on his just who the witch might be.
His mother saw his expression and fortunately mistook it.
"Oh Draco, did you and Pansy have a falling out? Is she seeing someone else? What is it?"
Not wanting to be caught lying or telling his mother the truth about his suspicions related to his mate, he remained silent with his eyes cast down, letting her draw whatever conclusions she liked.
"You know, your mate will find it hard to ignore you too. And she'll never truly be happy with any other wizard. Even if she married someone else and has children with them she will always feel incomplete unless she bonds with you. The same goes for you."
Interesting.
Unlike full Veelas he wouldn't die without his mate and from the sounds of it he would barely experience any discomfort.
"So how will I go about initiating the bond with my mate?"
He asked, because the last thing he needed was to accidentally bond with an undesirable witch for life.
"Oh, don't worry about that, when you give in to the pull you feel towards your mate, your Veela instincts will guide you."
From the way his mother had blushed, Draco assumed some kind of kinky sex act was involved. His mother hadn't bothered explaining at the time about the mating heat that took hold of Veelas every month once the bond was triggered between mates. She certainly didn't speak of the consequences of ignoring the bond or delaying consummation once it was initiated. And she most definitely never gave him any reason to think all it would take was a kiss for him to end up tethering on the edge of his sanity.
WARNINGS: Mature content, Consensual Infidelity, Infidelity, Strong Language and Verbal Abuse. Secondary pairings of Hermione/Lucius and Draco/Astoria but the story is Dramione. This story is not suitable for young readers.
While this story may have great potential for drama and angst, I've tried to keep it light, lemony and Dramione-centric; if that's not your thing, you won't enjoy this fic.