Made Expressly For You: Chapter 3
Dedicated to njferrell, without whom this chapter would still be sitting in my documents folder.
See? I posted!
The next couple of days passed in blur for Harry. He spent the time researching this new development, and avoiding Draco. He found a lot of information about Dominion Veela, including the fact that there are only twelve in the entirety of Europe, and of those twelve, four were Terren Veela, who controlled the earth, five were Nikella Veela, who controlled the animals, and three were Lords.
They were carefully monitored by the Ministry of Magic, because they were very powerful creatures, and if they weren't regulated, they could destroy the world. This, of course, was found in a Ministry pamphlet, and Harry snorted before ripping it up. Any people or animal was dangerous when provoked, surely the fools in the Ministry realized that?
Hermione cornered him in the library, a week after the day he found out what he was. He'd been reading a large, dusty tome on the habits of the Dominion Veela, and he suspected that more than half of it was wrong. He'd never felt the urge to rip out someone's throat before, and he doubted that he ever would.
She slid into the seat across from him, and stared at him until he sighed and put the book down. He looked at her and waited for her to start talking. It wasn't a long wait.
"Why are you avoiding Draco, Harry?" He raised an eyebrow. Well, that was a lot more blunt than he was expecting. He opened his mouth to refute the statement, but the look on her face warned him not to mess with her.
Instead of lying, he sighed and told the truth. "I don't know." She got a skeptical look on her face, and he pushed past whatever she was going to say.
"I really don't. I mean, he's been nothing but nice, and he…" Harry shook his head, frustrated. It seemed he couldn't get the right words out of his mouth to tell Hermione just what he meant.
Apparently, she knew what he wanted to say even though he didn't. "Is it because you're afraid of him?" At Harry's arched eyebrow, she hurriedly changed her wording. "I meant are you afraid of what he thinks of your new look?"
Harry thought it over, then slowly nodded his head. "That sounds about right." he said cautiously.
She let out a loud, exasperated sigh. "You know him better then that, Harry. He wouldn't reject you if you were part basilisk, and you know that."
"Yes, I know, but I'm not certain," he said, willing her to understand. "Of course, I know in my head that the stupidest thing he could do would be to admit to being disgusted by the fact that I'm not even fully human, because you people would rip him apart, but here," he rubbed his chest, above his heart, "I can't help but feeling that his acceptance is a temporary measure, at least until he is accepted back by the rest of the wizarding community."
Hermione sighed, rubbing her temple with the tips of her fingers. "So, this is more than just, 'I'm different, now people will hate me!'" Harry nodded.
"Harry," she began, " people have hated you for being different for as long as you can remember. Why is this any different?"
He shrugged, fidgeting in his chair. Hermione sat up straight and started counting out reason on her fingers.
"The first time, it was because you weren't a Dursley, and the child of the 'Hated Sister'. The second time, it was because you were a wizard. The third time, it was because people believed you to be insane, or in league with the Dark Lord. How is this any worse than those?"
He shook his head, struggling to put his feelings into words. "Its not that its different- hell, this is easier to accept than the other things, if only because it's purely my mother's fault. I don't want Draco to hate me, or put up with me, or tolerate my presence. I want…" He trailed off, frustrated.
He didn't notice Hermione slump back into her chair, eyes aglow with some new-found knowledge.
At least, he only noticed when she started talking, and he had to look at her. "Harry," she began carefully, "When you see, or think about Draco, do you happen to get anxious, and does your heart start palpitating?"
He thought about it and nodded. Hermione jumped out of her chair and ran over to the table that was still strewn with the materials she had initially used to figure out what was wrong with him. Harry watched her uneasily, not sure what exactly he was nervous about, but knowing that look in her eyes did not bode well.
Finally, she found what she was looking for, and came back over to the table. Thumping the thickly bound roll of parchment onto the table, she started flipping through it at a speed that had Harry raising his eyebrows. Usually she treated books better than that. She landed on a page, skimmed a little, then turned to an earlier page and started reading. After a few minutes, she looked up, her expression full of that 'ha, I found it!' look that scared anybody in their right minds.
She cleared her throat, then said, "Alright, so I found something that sheds a little light on the situation. According to this manuscript, the Lords among the Dominion Veela experience a similar anxiety right after their transformations, if a certain person is around."
Harry rolled his eyes. She always made everything so mysterious. "Well?" he asked. "What does it mean?"
Hermione narrowed her eyes and replied. "You always take the fun out of things. What it means is that the person the feelings are centered around…" she trailed off, and Harry only barely resisted the urge to lean across the table and strangle his best friend.
Apparently, she could read his feelings in his eyes and she quickly continued, ignoring whatever was making her want to draw the moment out. "It means they're your Mate."
Harry's eyes widened. So not what he was expecting, and that was a fact. He shook his head, and said, "Could you repeat that?" She smiled, and expounded on that life changing statement.
"Your body, and your very nature is telling you that this person is the only one who can save you from insanity, and those two forces want to make certain that you do nothing that could screw up your chances with the Mate. The heart palpitations are a physical expression of your natural reaction to the presence or thought of your Mate, and the anxiety is to prevent you from doing anything to damage your relationship."
Harry had listened to this explanation with his eyes closed. He opened them again when she stopped talking. "You know," he began, "if you had told me this a few days ago, I would have flipped my lid. But, I find I'm okay with this because of all the research I've been doing over the past couple of days."
He took a deep breath, then said, "So. Draco Malfoy is my Mate. I have fifty-one weeks in which to convince him to accept me before I go bonkers and destroy the world?"
Hermione's amusement faded, and she nodded grimly. "That's right."
They stared at each other, both of them thinking about the possible consequences of a rejection. Then Harry frowned and said, a quaver in his voice, "Aren't Draco and Blaise, you know, an item?"
Hermione inhaled, eyes wide as she considered the possible repercussions. Harry continued. "Because, you know, I'd hate to ruin my friendship with Blaise by killing him, and I somehow doubt that would endear me to Draco."
She managed a small smile, even though she knew Harry was serious. "I doubt it will come to that. After all, being the Mate of a magical creature is said to be the best thing that could ever happen to somebody. All pureblood family's harbor a hope that their children are the intended of one type or another."
Harry frowned and said, "What?"
Hermione explained. "It's a largely held belief that Magical Creatures are possessed of purer blood than many wizarding families, and that by crossing the lines, you increase the status of your own family. Of course," she continued, ignoring Harry's dark look, " that won't matter as much to most people now that the Dark Lord is gone, but..." she shrugged.
Harry let out an exasperated sigh. "But I don't want him to want me because of some half-assed idea of blood purity!" he growled. Hermione leaned across the table and laid her hand on his wrist, face full of pity.
"Well, we'll just have to do things one step at a time." Harry snorted. The girl ignored him and continued.
"First, Ginny or I will determine whether or not Draco and Blaise are together. If they are, we'll tell the adults. If they're not, you have a fair shot at Draco. Second, we will research the effects of being separated from Draco, so we know what to expect when the school year starts. Then, we're are going to try to determine just which type of Veela you are. That way, we know what kind of conditions you're going to need."
Harry interrupted her with- "Conditions? What does that mean?"
She cleared her throat and answered. "If you're a Terren Veela, you are going to need to be surrounded by plant-life. If you are a Nikella Veela, you are going to need to spend time, and a lot of it, in the Forest with the wildlife. If you're a Lord, you are going to need to do both, though to a lesser extent."
Harry closed his eyes and thumped his head onto the table, groaning. Hermione chuckled. "Don't worry- it's not as complicated as it sounds. The hardest part may be having to talk Blaise into backing off."
"Talk him into- Gods, Hermione, you have no idea how hard it is to not go looking for him and kill him, do you." He laughed, a hoarse sound that sent shivers up and down Hermione's spine.
Even though it hadn't been a question, she answered anyway. "Harry, darling, don't worry. Even if you do lose it and try to kill the poor boy, there are several fully trained witches and wizards in this house. You'd never get close enough." Harry barked out a laugh, a real one this time, too surprised at Hermione not to.
"Oddly enough, that was just what I needed to hear. Thanks, 'Mione."
"No problem."
… … …
A/N- Short, I know, but I figured it was a needful chapter, and that it was important for it to be in its own category, and not shared with anything else.
TTYL!
ManhattanWitch
