Chapter 2

Hermione woke up the same as every morning, stretched, did a few exercises to get the blood flowing, grabbed her favorite cinnamon scented shampoo and headed off to the shower.

Tomorrow she would be off to Hogwarts and then a little while after would be her seventeenth birthday! Finally free of the trace and a fully fledged adult. In addition she was made House Head. That would look amazing on any internship she applied for. Harry and Ron had gone straight to Auror training but she wanted to finish out her education. Plus, Ginny was having trouble sleeping and dealing with the aftermath. She was the logical choice to look after her.

She mused over her relationship with Ron as she let the water hit her. It had never really taken off. They had tried. Longer than they should have for his parents sake, but when she left for Australia to bring back her parents memories and the Ministry had insisted on sending two Aurors with her, they had a heart to heart. They had both agreed it just wasn't going to work. He would be in training, she would be at school, and they just were not sure they felt that way about each other. She encouraged him to try dating in a normal healthy way. When she returned a month later he and Lavender were dating and she was very happy for them.

The water felt amazing on her back. Soaping her hair and body she spent time just enjoying being in the moment. She was never fully awake until she had finished her shower and had a strong cup of tea, so perhaps she could be forgiven for not noticing a few peculiarities sooner..

She stopped to brush her teeth looked in the mirror and let out a piecing scream. There was a stranger in the mirror! She had left her wand in her room and did not want to leave the woman alone in what was clearly a portal while she went to grab it.

Objectively she had to admit the woman was beautiful. Long platinum blonde hair, the palest blue eyes, they looked like a clear blue pond set in her face. And her face was perfectly symmetrical. No one feature too large or small perfectly straight pearly white teeth. Breasts Hermione would have killed for. But who was she?! And … why was she wearing Hermione's robe? She lifted a hand and so did the intruder. She touched the mirror and so did the intruder. Almost like a normal mirror…

Her father rushed up the stairs and in to her bedroom in a panic. He was a smart man, her father, he knew whatever made his daughter scream she would need her wand for. He had a bat.

Tossing her wand to her which she caught mechanically he looked around frantically at whatever had attacked or frightened his baby girl and then noticed her appearance. Oh. This. So soon? They were supposed to have a few more weeks…

"It is alright sweetheart…" David started.

"Alright?! Look at me! I did NOT look like this last night! I have been cursed or charmed or bloody HELL I don't know what but someone did without asking me!"

"Language Hermione! I know how upsetting this must be. Please get dressed and come downstairs so your mother and I can speak to you."

She got dressed grumbling "Take down one of the most dangerous dark wizards to ever live and I can't even say "hell" in my own home."

"I heard that!" called her father, amusement in his voice. She threw a sock at the door.

None of her jeans fit her; she had also grown about five inches. None of her tops or bras fit her; she had gone from a solid B cup to what must surely be a D cup.

She finally settled on a kaftan she had picked up on vacation. At least her feet seemed to be the same size!

She made it downstairs where her mother had her tea ready.

Jean looked at her daughter "I am so sorry we did not tell you earlier but we thought we had more time. "

"Tell me what? What is happening to me? She was nearly in hysterics.

"Hermione, calm down, it is not as bad as you think. You happen to be a veela. A shape-shifting strain. Your true form does not normally emerge until your seventeenth birthday. It can only happen early under times of extreme stress, everything you have gone through could have triggered an early transformation, or perhaps the breakup with Ron has affected you more than you realize."

A veela, how… what…no…

"Mother I CANNOT be a veela, subhumans are carefully documented. I would know. I am listed as muggleborn!"

"That listing is… was Dumbledore's doing. You would have been in danger had anyone known what you were. And it has been updated I believe you will find…"

"In DANGER?! Mother I have spent the past 6 years in danger! How could this have been any worse?"

"In danger of death, not of being kidnapped brainwashed and being used as a broodmare."

Ok, that actually sounded a lot worse. "But how? We don't even know any veelas besides Fleur and Gabriele."

"Your grandmother was a veela, so that makes you a veela." Explained Jean.

"Wouldn't that make me like... a quarter or less? How can it still be strong enough to do" she waved a hand up and down her body "THIS"

"There are no quarter or half veelas. At least not with this strain, I am not an expert in the field, you either are or you are not." Her father piped in with this one.

"There is more" continued Jean "veelas have mates. You will need to find yours. I am assuming it was not Ron or you would never have broken it off with him. You need to find your mate before your eighteenth birthday or…" her voice broke.

Hermione knew what happened to veelas who did not find a mate. They wasted away until they died and eventually became vengeful spirits who haunted water areas and tried to drown people. Great.

"How will I even find my mate?"

"You will start dreaming of him. The dreams will be very vivid, they are not actually dreams, your spirits have left your bodies and met on an ethereal plane, usually in a place familiar to you both. He will be someone you already know and…"

Hermione gasped. No. No way. She was as good as dead.

"What? OH! You have already been having dreams of him! This is wonderful! That is probably what triggered your transformation; he must have been undergoing something similar!" She hated how excited her mother sounded.

"Mother… you don't understand, even if he is my mate, he would sooner let me die."

"He can't, not if he is also transforming, that would mean you are also his mate he would face very serious consequences himself to deny you."

"I promise you, he would rather die."

David laughed "Give the poor boy a chance Hermione, most of us a perfectly horrible little boys, but we do grow up."

That night she was not surprised to find herself at the lake. She sat by the water's edge and hugged her knees. She could hear him approach. He sat down behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She wanted to weep. The boy who hated her was the one she literally could not live without. But she could keep this for a while longer.

She leaned back in his arms. "Draco" she breathed.

"Hello love" he whispered against her neck. He could feel the tension in her. "What is it? Wht's wrong?"

"When we first met, I thought I was just dreaming about you…" he smiled into her hair "were they at least good dreams?"

"mmmm…. Very good dreams." She wrapped her arms around his.

"But now?" he sounded concerned.

"These are not dreams Draco, we are actually here. This is the ethereal plane. I now know you are having the exact same dream…"

He turned her around to face him "Why does that sound like it frightens you? I thought you liked being with me?"

"I do, more than you will ever know. But dreams don't last and when you see me outside of here…." She worried her bottom lip.

Women, he sighed "I promise, I will find you beautiful no matter where we are. If you know this much, then you know you are my mate. I cannot exist without you. I don't even want to."

She smiled sadly at him "I know you feel that way now…"

"You are not worried about how you look are you?"

"No."

"Do you know you have never told me your name?"

"I know. And I … won't now."

He frowned "Why?"

"Please Draco, if you care about me at all don't press me on this."

"OK. But I have to call you something."

"Do you remember the first morning we met? There was a star in the sky?"

"The morning star, yes I remember."

"Danica means Morning Star, call me that."

They both woke up.