A/N: Yay! Chapter two! Happy reading :D

I woke up in the morning feeling different, yet strangely the same. Deep down in my stomach there was this strange feeling that I've never felt before. It was some kind of clawing, gnawing need. I ignored it as I swung my legs over the side of my bed and crossed my room in three lazy steps.

Wait, three? Usually it took me at least five to get to my wardrobe. I threw open the wooden door and took a look at myself in the mirror hanging on the other side. Instead of standing at a respectable 5'8 I looked to be about 5'11. My hair had grown past my shoulders and the sunlight streaming through the windows made it shine silver. My eyes, normally a very light blue, now held more of a grey hue. My skin almost seemed to sparkle in the sunlight.

As much as I'd changed, I still felt like the same person I'd always been. When I thought about Blaise there was no hatred that flared or disgust that turned my stomach. I still knew that I didn't want a soul mate, even though I knew that's what I needed to stop the feeling in the pit of my stomach. All in all, I felt like two different people trapped in the same body. It even seemed as if I were thinking two different things at once, like I had two minds whirring at the same time, each trying to outthink the other.

A knock at my door interrupted my internal war. "Dragon, are you alright?" My mother called through the thick mahogany. I chose not to answer as I tore my eyes from the mirror hanging on the door of my wardrobe. "Breakfast will be on the table in ten minutes. Your father and I would like to talk to you about school next year."

Rage filled the human half of my mind. What did she mean they wanted to talk to me about school? Surely they were not taking me away from Hogwarts.

If it will help find my mate then I don't care. The Veela thought and my hands tightened into fists around the robes that I had just taken from my wardrobe. My mind went to war against itself and I could feel a headache coming on.

Breakfast started out tense and silent. I used my fork to push my eggs around my plate. Several times my father cleared his throat but he never said anything. My mother kept looking from me to my father. Finally I set my fork down. "You wanted to speak to me about school?"

"Yes." There was another long silence. "As you know you have one year to find your mate. If your mate is not attending Hogwarts with you then you will be wasting valuable time there. Your mother and I are willing to give you three weeks there. If you have not found your mate by then your mother and I are prepared to take you out of school and travel with you from country to country until you find her."

I stared down at my plate. My father had it all wrong. For one, I didn't want a mate. It pissed my Veela off to no end but the human part of me would rather die than be forced into a relationship with someone. For another, it definitely wouldn't be a female. "Him, Father, until I find him."

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room. "How are you supposed to provide an heir?" My father whispered but the sound carried easily across the room.

"I'll find a way Father." The words came out of my mouth but it was the Veela talking. "But the most important thing to me right now is simply finding him."

As I finally shut the bloody Veela up, Father nodded. "Of course, I remember what it was like to be seventeen and longing for your mate." Mother smiled at me warmly from across the table but the rest of breakfast passed in uncomfortable silence.

Two weeks later I found myself in a compartment by myself on the Hogwarts' Express. Ever since I woke up the morning after my birthday, Blaise and I had been corresponding through letters. His birthday had come and passed a few days after mine. He admitted that he didn't feel any hatred towards me afterwards but now, meeting face to face, would be the real test.

The compartment door slid open and I looked up. Theodore Nott stood there with his trunk behind him. He smirked. For me, his silence said everything. He accepted what I was and how it had changed me and that was all I needed to know. Well, that and the fact that he wasn't my mate. As soon as he had opened the door I had known. His scent was just…wrong. Too spicy, not sweet enough.

Shortly after Theo sat down across from me, Pansy came rushing through the compartment door and threw herself into his lap. "Theo! I've missed you!" She started babbling on about the various countries she visited with her parents while I just sat back and watched with a smile.

Crabbe and Goyle arrived next. Thankfully, neither of them were my mate. They both sat down next to Theo and Pansy, who was still on Theo's lap.

My friends were all there, except for Blaise. The train began moving and Blaise still hadn't appeared. Theo was the first to say anything about it after he pulled his attention off of his girlfriend for a few moments. "Where's Blaise?" Crabbe and Goyle shrugged their burly shoulders. Theo looked at me. "Is it because of the…?"

I shook my head. "It shouldn't be." Just after I finished speaking, a horrible scent appeared in the air. I looked up and saw Blaise standing in the doorway of the compartment with a look of disgust on his face. "Blaise, you reek, what have you been doing?"

He laughed. "I reek? You smell as if you've been dipped headfirst in the Bog of Eternal Stench."

The two of us smiled at each other while our friends looked on in amusement. "Still friends?" I asked quietly enough for only him to hear.

"Of course." He whispered back and the Hufflepuff moment was over.

As he closed the compartment door, the most wonderful smell masked every other scent in the compartment. I rushed to the door and threw it open; looking up and down the hallway, but no one was there. Blaise came up next to me. "Was it him?" I nodded.

The rest of the train ride went without sight or sniff of my mate. When we arrived at Hogwarts and I stepped off the train into the crowd, I could smell him again. His scent was strong and sweet, it reminded me of apples and raspberries sprinkled with cinnamon. My Veela purred with excitement and glee. He was here, my mate was here and he was close.

A/N: Review?