A/N: Even though the chapter is titled Angels to Demons... there is a lot less angelic this XD Enjoy and Please review! Looking forward to your thoughts!

Ah. His angel was back. Snape mildly wondered if his mind had conjured the dream as a reflex to his recurring nightmares and decided he did not care. He saw warm coloured feathers fluttering around him, softly embracing him as a warm body pressed against him. He murmured happily and settled more comfortably into the embrace and smiled. It would be good if this was real, but chance were indeed dim. He pushed unhappy thoughts out as sleep, this time untroubled, came to him.

Severus Snape frowned at his coffee. He did not have strange dreams like that- nightmares, yes but warm fuzzy dreams? Where could he get them from? He glared down at the idiotic students whose lively chatter drifted to where he was seated at the high table. He sorely wished to cast silencing charms on the lot of them. Sobered by the thought, Snape recalled the vision again. More than an angel, it reminded one of a Phoenix. What relation did a mystical bird have to him or his dreams? Strange as it was, Snape was intrigued and a dozen questions popped into his head simultaneously.

As the bell rang signaling the beginning of another day of classes, he rose to get to his classroom. His thoughts shifted to the first class he had and he chuckled darkly. Weasley will learn not to cross him a second time.

"If you midgets are done talking…" As expected his tone had quieted them down. "Today, I expect you to brew another elixir whilst giving a full report on the uses of each ingredient. Individual assignment. You may begin" He watched the eighth year students scramble for their texts to find all the correct ingredients. He watched Weasley in particular, who suddenly seemed to understand what he was doing. Snape watched silently, careful not to let his sardonic mask slip. It simply wouldn't do if students were no longer afraid of him.

He watched granger gather up her supplies first. Of course she already knew what she was doing. He intended to fail those who did not finish and torture… punish… them later. He knew by experience that Weasley would be one of the lagging idiots. He simply had to ensure Granger did not interfere. It became apparent, however, that the girl was to transfixed on perfecting the potion and spared not a glance to either of his friends. Potter was struggling as usual, but Snape had no doubt he would pull through. The Horcrux hunt should have sharpened his brain at least a little, he thought wistfully.

Snape checked on each of his student's progress and settled down to observe his prey- Weasley- through lidded eyes. The lad's brow was furrowed and shone with a layer of sweat. The most astonishing fact was that he had not made a single mistake in the last five minutes. Snape watched curiously. He hoped secretly that hanging with Granger and Potter did not change the mental abilities of the boy. He was unsure as to whether he should feel glad that one of his slow students was doing well or angry that his prey was nearly getting away.

He watched with mixed feelings as Ron Weasley almost finished the potion perfectly. Unable to sit still, he walked around the room, pretending to watch the proceedings of the lab. His true intention though was to mess up Weasley's Potion. The lad was cutting the last ingredient carefully and paid no mind to him as he stood next to him. He peered as if ascertaining the correctness of the potion and stealthily slipped extra mandrake root into the cauldron. Even though it was an ingredient of the elixir, too much of the root would cause unpleasant side effects. Once the final ingredient was added though… Snape chuckled inwardly.

He had barely reached his desk in the front that a mild explosion occurred behind him. That would be Weasley's cauldron. He turned around in perfect imitation of a startled professor just in time to see and hear the boy in question uttering a string of colorful expletives. Even better, he thought.

"Fifty points off Gryffindor for language!" He hollered as the Gryffindors in the room flinched.

The mist around Weasley cleared to reveal a bloated head. Really, he resembled a red balloon, Snape though with much amusement. His thatch of red hair disappeared to somewhere in the back and his nose was three times its usual size. Snape almost laughed out loud but checked himself in time.

"You may want to visit the hospital wing, Mr. Weasley" He said dryly and turned back to his desk. He heard an irritated sound followed by shuffling feet leaving the room. He knew the effect was not permanent but it would irritate the boy for at least a day.

Ron could feel the waves of amusement and glee washing over him. He clenched his fists tightly against the flood but only barely managed to contain it. Snape was enjoying tormenting him. It was bad enough, he now looked like a talking balloon but he knew that Snape was the reason. He knew he stood there beside him; he was bursting with excitement, although his face probably was as impassive as always. His senses was trained on Snape. Ron was trying to impress his moody professor that day. He had studied the portion on Elixirs and for once knew what was going on in Potions. When Snape moved away his feelings reflected accomplishment and it had puzzled Ron. He had, unwisely, ignored it. Now, though, he realized Snape added something and reviewing his readings the previous day and recalling the absence of extra Mandrake root on his table, he came to the obvious conclusion. Snape sabotaged his potion by putting extra mandrake root in it when he wasn't looking. That he could be so devious was not as startling as it was irritating.

Ron huffed all the way to the hospital wing. The strange phenomenon made his breathing difficult and made everything above his neck itch. Madame Pomfery had exclaimed quite loudly when he came in. She had cast some diagnostic charms and later gave him a potion to reverse the visual effects. She told him grimly that the itching and breathlessness will continue for a day and offered an experimental itch cream which Ron denied. Who knew, it might be another of Snape's trick.

Thinking of Snape, Ron tuned in to his mental state again as he rested like he was ordered. Snape was ecstatic and seemed to be looking forward to more excitement soon. Ron groaned; Snape had planned something else then. He mentally cursed the man and set about thinking a counter.

Harry was ignoring him. Well, not exactly. He did nod at him and looked at him but seemed intent on not paying much attention to him. Draco narrowed his eyes at the fool and glared. Even the open hostility he unleashed seemed lost on Harry. It was worse when the Golden Trio simply got up and left without considering him a part. He would not have expected anything different before but things had changed. Now, he expected Harry to at least smile at him or show some sort of emotion other than just uninterested expression gracing his face each time he spoke.

He followed them to class and noticed with more irritation that his mate reverted to sitting with Weasley and not him as he had thought. He knew he would have messed up today's potion if they had not already gone through the process before. He absent-mindedly cut and crushed while thinking if he had done something wrong since waking up in Harry's arms. He could think of no such thing. His potion was coming along just fine and he fished for his book to confirm he knew all he needed to write up the assignment.

Just then an explosion caused him to turn around. Ron looked like a balloon. He thought with irritation how stupid the git was. He glanced at Harry, who was next to his best friend showing concern and stopping stray laughter. However, try as he might, not even a look was spared towards him. He frankly didn't care about Ron's predicament at the moment. All he could think was if he should mess up his potion similarly to get Harry's attention. He shook his head at the idea- he had no intention of making a fool of himself or losing points in potions. He watched Ron leave in a huff and turned back to his work, thinking of how to tackle the problem.

By lunch time, his magic was throbbing to hurt Granger. He knew why but refused to acknowledge the emotion. He did not even bother to go to the Gryffindor table at lunch and sulked. He left early and decided to visit Ron. Just because a certain someone was being a jerk, he didn't have to lose a budding friendship. He marched through the corridors to the hospital wing.

"How are you doing?"

"Itching. More than that annoyed at Snape."

"Why Snape?" Draco was truly puzzled.

"He set me up."

"What? I think we need to get Pomfery to check for brain damage"

"I know what I am talking about, Malfoy." Ron glared. Draco figured he could at least listen to him and so waited.

"I am sure he dropped the extra Mandrake root into my potion while I was not looking."

"How are you sure? Though the addition of root would cause the side effect…"

"It was there before he walked by and disappeared before he moved on"

"That… doesn't explain it."

Ron sighed. "I felt it, okay?"

"Felt?"

"Yeah… um… I have the power to sense his emotions. He was planning something and then as he walked away it felt like… he was satisfied. And when he looked around to see the result of his meddling, he was positively ecstatic! He was gloating… in his head. I could almost hear him say 'serves you right'. I am convinced!" Ron looked a little red after the tirade.

Draco considered the information. He knew Veela had such powers so he believed Ron's experience. Most Veela had this power; maybe he was just one who didn't. How useful that could be right now with Harry! He snapped out of his thoughts before he started brooding again.

"So… What are you planning on doing?"

"I don't know… I refuse to let him off though."

"Hm… why not confront him?"

"Confront? I don't want to die!"

"I mean let him know subtly about you knowing his part. Shock him a bit and taunt him? I am not sure how he'd react but it will make him more cautious and more aware of you."

"Malfoy… do you have any ideas other than getting on Snape's nerves?"

"Yes… well get Excellent in Potions." Ron grunted. "Well that really is the only thing that would impress him. But I suspect you can pull it off…"

"Damn. Fine I'll think about it." He was still huffing in irritation.

Draco did not move for the next several seconds. Ron peered at him, silently questioning if there was something else. Draco tried to frame the words in a way that would not give away too much and let Ron wait.

"What is it? Just spit it out. It makes me nervous when people think around me." Ron grinned.

"It's… about Harry" Draco offered a small smile of his own.

"What about him?"

"Has he been… acting strange today?"

"To be truthful… he has been a little off for a while now. We, Hermione and I, were wondering what happened ourselves."

"What do you mean by 'off'?"

"He has been brooding. The other day, on Saturday, he walked off abruptly without giving a real reason. It's not like him."

"I see" He could imagine the cloudy state of Harry's mind that day; he was planning revenge. Revenge? Was this part of it? No but they had resolved the problems already. The way Harry kissed didn't show any resentment or anger left over. What was going on with him?

"Why are you asking anyway?"

"I… just noticed" Draco shrugged. "Well I should leave you to rest."

"Yeah."

"See you" Draco left to scramble to the next class.

The rest of the day went much the same. Harry's cold rejection washed over Draco in crushing waves. It became increasingly hard to resist wringing Granger's neck. He hung around them of course but Harry managed to make him feel shut out of the conversations. The conversations were not even important! Draco seethed and grew more restless. He had already snapped at Blaise and Pansy when they had noticed the signs of unrest in him replacing the cool mask he usually wore. They had looked scared, he must have snarled at them, and carefully left him alone. By the time the last class finished and dinner approached, Draco had had enough.

He made his way to the Gryffindor table in his carefully controlled walk where Ron had joined Hermione and Harry. They were chatting pleasantly about classes and other nonsense. He stood directly behind Harry, effectively stopping Hermione from finishing her sentence in favor of staring at him. He offered a bland smile at her and gripped Harry's shoulder as hard as he could and turned him around.

Harry's face showed mild surprise and his eyebrow arched in question. Draco could hear a non-interested voice asking him 'what?' The thought really hurt. Instead of doing something like punching the git, he snarled. What finally pushed him over was the amusement in the nearly unaffected gaze.

"You… Bastard!" He snarled loud enough that everyone in the Great Hall could probably hear him. Then he did something very un-Malfoyish; he Harry as hard as he could and ran from the hall without a glance back.

"Wha… Harry? You all right?" Ron managed to get the words after Malfoy stormed away.

However, Harry wasn't listening. Draco's retreating back and his sizzling anger was all he could focus on at the moment. He abruptly got up and followed Draco. No one lingered in the hallways as it was dinner time. Harry caught Draco in his room in the eighth year tower, as expected. He was sitting with his head on his knees, arms circling him. Harry's heart clenched at the sight.

"Draco?" He ventured into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Go away. Go be with Granger and Weasel and never bother me again! I hate you!" His volume rose with each word but his head was still bowed refusing to look at Harry.

Harry flopped down next to him and whispered "No"

That caused Draco to look up sharply at him. There were telltale signs of tears in his grey eyes.

"Why ever not? You had no problem doing it all day!"

"I… I'm sorry" Harry dared to extend his arm over Draco's shouldered and pulled him closer.

Draco struggled for a bit unsuccessfully and resigned himself to glaring.

"Go away, Harry."

"I won't"

"Why?"

"Because…" he drawled. "You belong to me"

"But you don't belong to me" Draco said, averting his gaze.

Harry grabbed his chin with his free arm and turned Draco's head so that he could look into the depths of his silvery eyes. The look there was desolate and nearly broken. He hadn't meant to hurt Draco. Just… a bit of revenge, pay back, tooth for a tooth.

"I do belong to you" Harry said sincerely

Draco's eyes changed into a softer and brighter grey. Tears fell slowly and Harry kissed them away before claiming Draco's lips. It was a slow kiss, meant to reassure and soothe away the pain he had caused. At first, Draco held still as more tears fell unbidden. After a tortuous moment though, he kissed back. The bitter feelings melted away and heat grew between them. Harry pulled away and wiped at the new tears. He simply wanted to look at Draco's beautiful face, lovely eyes and quivering, now red, lips.

"Why?"

"What?" Harry hummed.

"After yesterday… why did you… ig…" he couldn't finish the thought as something caught in his throat.

"Forgive me." Harry replied huskily. "I just… wanted you to understand… how it felt."

"Did you feel like killing Blaise and others?"

"Mostly Parkinson" Harry admitted. "But I wanted all of them gone and..."

"And you wanted to hurt me?"

"At first? No. Later, yes or at least wanted some reaction from you."

"Well then you succeeded in making me understand."

"Did I? But… I never meant to…"

"I know. It's okay now that you are here."

"No… it was childish."

"How did you get those?" Draco asked suddenly sitting straight.

"What are you gawking at?"

"Those… wait a moment."

Draco conjured a mirror which floated in front of Harry. There were four thin lines etched in blood on Harry's cheek.

"Look like… claw marks."

"Yeah… the cheek is swollen too."

"Now that I think about it… it hurts" Harry winced.

"Sorry… it's my fault"

"All is forgiven between us Draco. Let's not bother with apologies." Draco nodded and smiled.

"But how the claw marks?" He wrinkled his forehead.

"Look at your hands" Harry said calmly.

Draco's hands had talons instead of his well manicured nails. They were slightly rounded with a silver shine to them, as if they would glow in the dark. Draco looked up in confusion.

"But… they look blunt?" For the moment, he forgot to freak at this strange feature.

"They were sharper when I came in. Probably worse when you punched me. By the way, it was a good much. Didn't know you had it in you" Harry grinned.

"Don't pull my leg…" he sounded unsure.

"Well why don't you try to make them sharper?"

"How?"

"Think of anger… killing someone."

"Uh… I'll try"

"What did you think of?" Harry asked as the talons sharpened.

"You asking that Asian girl out" Draco mumbled, marveling at his new weapon.

"That made you angry?"

"Of course. You ought to belong only to me."

"Of course" Harry smiled as Draco leaned closer and rested his head on Harry's shoulder.

They sat there for a long time; cherishing each other's company and glad for the individual rooms afforded them this year. It was only the loud chatter from the rest of the eighth years that finally separated them. Draco pressed a quick kiss just in time- a moment before the door slammed open to reveal Ron and Hermione.

"You are here?! Both of you?" Ron nearly screamed at them.

"Oh… Harry. Aren't you hurt? Let me heal you" Hermione rushed to Harry and muttered a few healing spells she had picked up. The swelling went down promptly but the gaping wounds from Draco's claws remained.

"Malfoy…" She growled as she fixed him with a death glare. "What fucked up curse did you use on him?"

They all stared at her for the use of uncharacteristic language while she remained blissfully unaware. Draco glanced at Harry and winced. He hadn't meant to hurt him irreparably. He hadn't even known about his claws. He glanced through his knowledge about Veela to find something that might help. A solution presented itself and he stepped toward Harry. Hermione immediately stood between them, glaring. Draco met Harry's amused eyes and saw him shrug.

"Hermione…"

"Don't call me that." She spit. It was going to be harder than he thought.

"Granger, then. I didn't curse him. I wouldn't…" He glanced at Harry again to make sure his mate believed him.

"Right. And vampires are my best friends"

"I understand you being defensive, really I do, but don't make me strangle you."

"Draco!" Harry shot him a warning glare.

"I… I just know something that might help… let me try it."

"And let you hex him some more?"

"Granger, we have been in this room for an hour without hurting each other… Don't be paranoid." He rolled his eyes. He wanted to get to Harry who seemed to be slowly, belatedly realizing the pain in his cheek. He watched as Harry grimaced. When he looked up his eyes were dull with pain. Draco stared at Hermione in irritation. Suddenly, he felt a tug in the middle of his stomach as he saw Harry slump towards the bed to support himself.

"Shit! Move Granger." He shoved her out of the way forcefully. "Harry! Shit… I should have done something earlier."

Harry mumbled incoherently. Draco ignored him and licked his cheek, hoping this would work. One of the most common Veela powers was the ability to heal, the effect only triple when the mate was involved. Sure enough, the wound started closing. He could hear Hermione screaming at him in rage, seeing as no hexes came his way, he figured Ron held her back. He stopped licking and realized that the poison might still be in there. He promptly attempted to suck the poison out. There was a bitter taste in his mouth which he spat out and went back to licking.

Harry came to few seconds after he had removed the poison and now seemed to struggled as Draco attempted to heal him.

"Hold still!" He growled at him and Harry muttered something about being embarrassed. Draco went back to work with a sigh and with a small kiss on Harry's now healed cheek, he pulled away.

They both straightened themselves and stood next to each other. Draco was arrogantly studying Hermione in anger while Harry stared at the ground embarrassed.

"What… I Merlin's name just happened?" It was Ron who finally broke the silence.

"What do you think Weasley?" Draco drawled in his usual all-important way.

"I… know what I think… just don't know if I can believe it."

"What are you talking about, Ron? Why aren't you angry at him?"

"Hermione, he healed Harry just now."

"It was him who did that to him in the first place! I am pretty sure Harry was poisoned."

"From Talons?" Ron focused on Draco again.

"Unfortunately… didn't mean to though." Draco swallowed.

"Ron?! Let go of me so I can hex him."

"Hush Mione. Care to tell us what happened today?" Ron's gaze was piercing, making Harry cringe even more. Draco rolled his eyes and nodded for both of them. He took his wand out and shut the door behind Ron and locked it. Just for precaution he weaved anti-snooping wards around the room. He nudged Harry, who looked at him like a lost puppy.

"I think we can all sit down first?" Draco suggested, levitating the two chairs toward Ron and Hermione while dragging Harry to sit on the bed. Ron let go of Hermione and arranged the chairs so that they faced the bed. Draco watched the girl cautiously; wary at the way she still held her wand.

"So… why did you punch Harry?" Draco looked pointedly at Harry. Even if he insisted on wincing, Draco was going to let him tell them.

"Well?" Ron prompted.

Harry cleared his throat in response and looked at his best friends with a show of the infamous Gryffindor courage.

"It… It was my fault"

"It still doesn't give Malfoy to poison you!" Hermione shrieked.

"He didn't mean to Hermione. He didn't even know he scratched me with his…" he trailed off, not sure if he should continue.

"With my talons." Draco finished for him.

"Merlin! What is with the talons?"

"Hermione, calm down. You are not helping" Ron seemed to understand the situation.

"You get what they are saying?"

Ron nodded and fixed the two on the bed with a very un-Ron-like gaze. "Only earlier you were worrying about him, and then you marched up to punch him. Do explain, Malfoy."

"That… Well, I had enough of his behavior."

"I… well I was ignoring him on purpose for… childish reasons."

"Prick" Draco mumbled.

"I said I was sorry! I won't do it again, promise!" Harry flailed making Draco smile.

"You better not… Next time, I…"

Harry took his hand and Draco had no choice but to look into Harry's eyes.

"There won't be a next time, Draco. I promise you, we will fight and argue, wrestle, hex each other and anything really…" Hermione bristled but was ignored and Harry continued, "…but we will always talk"

"Always?"

"Always" Draco leaned more into Harry and nearly snuggled.

"Stop it! Get a room!"

"We did… you two barged in" Harry said with a grin playing on his face.

Ron groaned. "Just tell me if I am right!"

"About?"

"Veela."

Harry watched Draco and he debated with himself. He figured it would have to come out soon enough but thought Draco would appreciate being given a chance to reveal it himself. Since the whole… healing session, it was impossible to hide anyway.

"Yes." Draco finally answered

"And your mate…?" Ron pushed.

Harry was sure his friend had got the whole story but a war caused you to need certainty about things. Draco looked at Harry as if asking permission. Harry closed his eyes halfway and smiled at him. He could feel Draco's nervousness. Telling Ron and Hermione was akin to telling the parents. Draco gulped hard before taking a deep breath.

"Harry" He let the name roll out with a sigh.

"I see. How long?"

"For a while now."

"I meant how long since you… um… got together?"

"Not long." Draco replied. He didn't seem to want to offer any details.

"Just a few days Ron. A rocky few days, I might add."

"So your distracted attitude…?

"Yeah… well we had issues to solve." Harry flushed a little remembering how they solved them.

"You mean to tell me…" Hermione had calmed down and had a thoughtful expression on her face. "You mean to say…" she repeated. "… that Malfoy is Harry's Veela?"

"Yeah and we were running crazy while we searched for them and they were having a cozy lover's spat."

The couple blushed at Ron's comment and concentrated on the red rug on the floor.

"Wow…" Hermione looked like she needed time to digest the information, but apparently not too long as she comment a few seconds later. "Fancy… having tow Veela friends"

"No kidding" Harry chuckled, still holding Draco's hand warmly.

"Well… next time you decide to fight… at least let us know… I would like to avoid bloodshed." Both Draco and Harry agreed with Ron and nodded. "And you two should know… McGonagall docked points from both houses for the… fight"

"Any detention?"

"No, she must have figured it was not necessary as it did not escalate." Hermione supplied.

"Speaking of detentions, I have to go."

"What? Where?"

"Leftover detention for Snape and probably extra for today." Ron got up to leave.

"Wait I am coming too"

"Why?"

"Well I spoiled my potion… thanks to a certain someone." Harry mumbled a sorry again. They all laughed although at Harry being awkward or Draco being bothered enough to spoil a potion or at the general situation.

"Well, I'll go do my homework then. Good night, guys"

Ron, Hermione and Draco made their way to the back. Draco hung back nearer to Harry. Hermione paused and looked back into the room and was met with a meaningful look from Harry. They chuckled quietly as she rushed out, face red.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't know I had poisoned claws… must have hurt."

"You healed me, so its fine. We are, however, going to work on controlling those weapons." Harry reached out and smoothed Draco's hair.

"Of course." Draco stepped closer and laid a chaste kiss on Harry's lips. "Good night."

"Good night" and they parted.

A/N: Review! Please?