CHAPTER 9: Where Is My Mate?

Author's Note: Hello everyone, this is another update to this story that I just cannot seem to complete. I definitely do not want to give it a half-baked ending like TheLadyBookWorm said some authors do. I love this story and I love working on it. Unfortunately, I have the worst luck ever when it comes to writing it since there is always something happening in my life.

As I mentioned in the last Author Note I had written for Chapter 8, my grandmother was terminally ill. After a 2yr long battle, she left us last year in June. Despite knowing it would happen, I was not prepared to lose her. I have no idea if this makes me delusional or weak or something but losing her hit me hard and a lot of things have been going downhill since then. But recently, I found a card she had once sent me with the following written on it "Fill your life with the memories of your loved ones and allow them to push you forwards in life, but do not let them hold you back." She knew that I was thinking of my grandfather (her husband) a lot ever since he passed away and this was her advice to me despite the pain she felt at losing the love of her life.

So now, I am trying to honour her teachings and her love for me. Trying to move forward one small step at a time and hoping that I find the light at the end of the tunnel one day. One of those small steps is to embrace my love of writing and fanfiction again and work on it little by little.

A big thank you for each and every reviewer out there, each and every person who took the time to read this small story even if you did not review or like or added it or me to your favourites. Just the effort you took to read my story is enough for me. Thank you very much, I appreciate all of it and I am thankful for it. My apologies for any mistake that I may have missed during the proof-reading.

Warning: There may be TRIGGER scenes so please read at your own risk.

Disclaimer: None of it is mine, only J. K. Rowling's. I am just playing with her work a little bit.

Happy reading everyone.

Sanyah


RECAP:

Several hours later, Theodore woke up as dawn crept on and looked down at the unconscious maid besides him. He had enjoyed her immensely. 'And, I'll have her again later on,' he thought with a satisfied grin on his face as he put on his clothes. Summoning a house-elf, he ordered for her to be taken back to the Residence.

"Wake her up once there and tell her to wait for me in her room. Stay with her until I come for her!" he ordered to the trembling elf. Nodding vigorously to the master, the elf whisked away with the maid.

CHAPTER 9: Where Is My Mate?

As Draco approached Malfoy Manor, his senses picked up a familiar presence.

'Father! Just when I need him...'

As he landed in the yard, he rapidly changed into human form and strode up to the house. As he crossed the space between the front doors to the staircase, he heard someone call him to his right. Looking there, he found his father settled in the small living room, with a book in hand. Immediately, changing his course, he went towards the living room.


Having felt Draco's turmoil ever since he had landed in the yard, Robert knew something was wrong. On seeing Draco coming in the house, he had called out to him and was relieved when the latter had not brushed him off to go lock himself in his room and brood.

Waiting for the house-elf to finish serving tea to his son, Robert continued to read his book. As soon as the house-elf left, he left his book and asked the most obvious question, "What's wrong?"

Draco stared at him. "Why do you think that something is wrong?"

Robert chuckled at his thick son and took a sip from his cup of coffee. "Apart from the fact that your face is like an open book...Well, I'm head Veela in our family Draco and you are my heir and my son. My blood runs in your veins and I will always know when something is wrong with you. It is the same as when you feel what your mate feels and you know when something is wrong with her. The simple explanation is that we are bonded."

Draco didn't say anything in response. He just concentrated on drinking his tea.

"So, tell me what's going on?" prompted Robert once more.

Draco stared off for a few seconds, as if he was thinking before letting out a weary sigh. The feeling of emptiness had not left him yet. "I didn't find my mate where she was supposed to be. She was not in her room when I went there. She didn't come in her room all night."

"Maybe her room changed," suggested Robert.

Draco shook his head, "No, her belongings were still there. Everything was where it had been before. Except my mate..."

"Perhaps she has been busy Draco. She is a maid after all. Her day is not a bed of roses. Maids have many things to do in a single day."

"No father, I didn't feel her presence in the entire household. She was not on the premises. I know this for sure.

And..." he trailed off, his voice wavering as he frowned in thought.

"And..?" Robert asked.

"And, I can't shake off this feeling father," Draco confessed, looking up at his father.

"I feel as if something very wrong happened without me being able to do anything about it. I feel as if Hermione has been wronged and is in danger but I can't get any precise idea on it. It's probably nothing and just paranoia on my part but I still can't shake it off."

"Most probably not, son," Robert said, this time frowning too. "What you call as feeling is in fact your instinct...your Veela instinct. Our instinct is extremely important to us and you should never brush it off as nothing important. They usually turn up to be the most important of all."

Draco's shoulders tensed up and his eyes widened in fear as the prospect of his mate hurt somewhere without him able to do anything about it.

Robert felt the spike of fear that coursed through Draco. "First of all, we should stay calm and think clearly. If we lose our cool, it won't help your mate."

"How about we go to see mother?" suggested Draco suddenly. "She always knows how to locate someone and we need to locate Hermione."

"Yes, that's a good idea. She is at the outhouse today. We will have to floo to the Estate and then fly to the outhouse. Go and change. I'll wait for you here."

With a brisk nod, Draco got up and rushed upstairs to get ready. Robert settled back in his seat and resumed the lecture of his book while waiting for his son to come back down.


Far away from the comfortable living room of Malfoy Manor, a little, bushy haired maid was coming back to herself. Groaning, Hermione tried to sit up straighter but stilled her movements as a sharp pain started making itself known. Coaxing herself mentally to open her eyes, she discovered that she was in Master Nott's bedroom at the Residence.

'When did I get back here?'

On focusing on her surroundings, she realised that she was against the back wall of the room. The upper half of her body was leaning against the wall behind her and she realised how painful that half-reclined position was for her back.

'Either I lean back against the wall in this god-awful position or else I sit up straight as a rod and don't lean at all,' she thought, debating which option was the best in her mind. Finally, a pain free position won her heart and she dragged her upper body till she was sitting up straight. From then, she started taking in her surroundings slowly. She was trying to keep her thoughts at bay.

'Do not think! Do not try to remember now, Hermione. It's not the time. Focus on getting out of here.'

Keeping a good grip on these resolutions, she scanned her surroundings, not that she could see much. There was only a small streak of light from a window somewhere. The whole room was dark and she could hardly discern anything in this darkness. All that she was aware of was that she was currently all alone in the room and for that she was utterly grateful.

'Alright, now how about we get out of here?' she urged herself on, just not to allow her mind to wander of and think on past events. She knew exactly what would invade her mind and she feared that outcome only.

Twisting her body around, she tried to get up despite the pain wracking all her limbs '...anything to get out of here.'

As she turned around looking in the direction of the door, she froze and stared as the door slowly opened, creaking on its hinges as it swung open. Her heart full of trepidation, Hermione watched as a small stature of a person made its way towards her. 'Not a person...a house-elf.'

As the house-elf came near her, Hermione sat up straighter and tried to get the creature's attention.

"Miss is awake; Master Nott is being here very soon. Miss must stand or Master will be angry," the small creature urged her pleadingly.

'Why am I here?' she asked in a daze, trying to focus better on the elf. The house-elf's eyes snapped up to her at her question but quickly averted its gaze as it bent down to pull at her arms to get her to stand up. "No, why am I here? Who brought me here?"

The house-elf's ears twitched but it studiously ignored her.

"Please…Miss must get up or Master is being angry and punishes Miss and Blintsy. Miss should be up standing," the elf begged louder.

Hermione felt her heart pound faster in her chest and tried to stand up and talk to the house elf at the same time. "Please, help me. Just show me a safe way out of here," she pleaded as loudly as she dared to, for fear of being heard by someone. "He's going to hurt me more if you don't help me. He will never know you are the one who helped me."

The house-elf didn't say a single word and pulled her to her feet rapidly as they both heard Theodore's voice outside.

"Please, help me get out of here," she begged the elf again, tears streaming down her face.

In response, the elf grabbed its own ears and started pulling on them while staring at the door. At that moment, the door opened with a bang and in strode Theodore Nott with a wide smile. "Leave now, Blintsy," he ordered as he walked in, closing the door behind him.

He mutely gestured at her with his wand and she floated up to him, despite all her efforts to stop being air-borne. He let her settle down next to him, near the bed as the house-elf left with an audible pop. Slowly, he snaked an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in his embrace. Instinctively, she tried to pull away from him as her body started to shiver and her heartbeat started racing. She was slowly losing control on the tight rein she had maintained on her panic till now.

Theodore was the one making the rules and he intended to let this beautiful maid know the rules so that they can have more fun.

"No, no, no dolly...you stay right here with me. We don't want anything hurtful to happen to you, right?" he asked with a creepy smile, running his finger tip along her neckline.

A treacherous sob escaped Hermione as the barrier she had been using to keep her memories inside, crashed and last night's events came rushing back to her. A tear escaped her eyelid and made its way down her cheeks. Theodore noticed it and caught the tear with his finger.

"Oh doll...come on don't cry. Play by my rules and everything will go real fine. No need to worry. Just give me what I want and you will be ok. And you know what I want right?" he asked as he started trailing a hand on her thighs.

Hermione's body shivered as more tears rolled down. As he tried to lift her already badly torn dress; a reminder of last night, she shoved him away from her instinctively and tried to get up. She didn't get very far though as a hand came out of nowhere and slapped her hard; sending her sprawling to the floor. As she looked up at him, she saw him get up, a visible fury building up in him. As he reached down to grab her hands, she jerked her hand away and yelled, "NO! GO AWAY!"

This enraged Theodore more. "You dare say no to me? To Theodore Nott? No one says no to Theodore Nott! NO ONE! UNDERSTAND?"

Terrified, she nodded hastily; trying to put some distance between her and his fury.

Theodore let go of her arm, allowing her body to sag down on the floor. She sobbed quietly, trying to move away from him without him noticing.

"Now, here are the new rules which apply to you, my little doll," he started; crouching down next to her and grabbing her hair in a tight grip. "You will go and resume your chores. You do what you usually do in a day here. When I need your service, you are to come to me immediately. I have elves keeping an eye on you, so don't even try to run away from me. If you take your sweet time coming to me or if you push me away again, I will make sure that you regret it your whole life. If you have the bad idea of telling someone about our little secret, I will make sure to kill that person slowly and painfully and you, my dear will have the pleasure of watching me do it. Are we clear on this, doll?"

Hermione sobbed, nodding dejectedly as he laughed. "Very good, you will learn to enjoy this soon enough. Now, leave."

She scrambled to her feet, and ran from the room.


Up in the French skies, flying alongside his father, Draco's mind was in turmoil, sending pangs of guilt coursing through his whole body.

'I should have realised something is wrong with her...Why didn't I act on my feeling? What if something really bad happened and I'm too late?'

Just as he was about to start berating himself again, he felt a sharp pain flash through his body, building up in intensity as the seconds ticked by. Draco's breath stole away and he nearly dropped out. He caught himself in time and gritted his teeth against the pain.

'What's going on?' he wondered.

Right next to him, he noticed his father looking at him with a frown. 'He knows I'm in pain.'

Then, he felt a stab of desperation coursing his veins and then nothing. This time, Draco frowned too as the pain and the desperate feeling vanished without any warning. Robert was still puzzled at his son. 'One minute, he was clearly in pain and incredibly sad and now, nothing! This is not normal. We need to get to Narcissa quick. She knows Draco better than me.'

Several minutes later, they were both landing in the yard of the lavish outhouse Narcissa had recently acquired. Robert sensed Narcissa rushing outside to meet them. And true enough, a few seconds, an exuberant Narcissa burst through the doors and ran towards them. She was a far cry from the posh sophisticated look she showed to the whole world. With them, she resembled an enthusiastic young woman who enjoys life to the maximum. However, as she approached them, her steps slowed down and her wide grin along with her happy look gave way to a deep frown and a puzzled look.

'Great! She knows something is wrong. No wonder she picked up the tension,' thought Robert dejectedly. 'The tension radiating from Draco alone is thick in the air!'

Before she could say anything, Robert forced out a smile and countered any comments she might have fired out.

"Ah, hello my love. How about we all go to the living room?" he proposed.

Grabbing his wife's hand and sending her a pointed look that said 'Play along with me, please,' he gestured to a grim looking Draco to follow them inside.

Once well settled in the living room, Robert turned to his wife.

"My love, Draco and I haven't been exactly truthful to you. We need to talk to you about something very important. Something concerning Draco..."

Narcissa smiled shrewdly at her lover and interrupted him, "Is it about Draco's mate?"

Robert stared at his mate in shock and judging by the number of times he opened and closed his mouth, Draco was perfectly impersonating a goldfish.

Narcissa chuckled ruefully at the two most important men in her life. "Robert, he's my son. All his life, he's spent it with me. And I am the matriarch here in a way. So, I will know when a new female is about to enter our household. Don't forget the Ancient Ties that exist in Veela bloodlines, my love."

Robert smacked himself mentally on the head. How could he have forgotten the Ancient Ties?

"Ancient Ties? What's that?" asked a curious Draco.

"I'll explain later," replied Narcissa, still smiling. "For now, tell me everything about this girl. Come on!"

"Darling, there is something else," Robert said gravely.

Narcissa's smile evaporated into thin air as the tension from her son and her lover percolated in her soul. "What is it?" she asked in a slightly shaking voice. She had never learnt to deal with tension.

"We have reason to believe that Draco's mate has been taken away. That's she is in danger," Robert said in a grave tone. "Draco went to meet her last night and she was not at the meeting place. He could not locate her at all in the house where she lives and this is very unusual."

Narcissa tried to downplay it all by waving airily and saying, "Oh come on. You two scared me for a minute! She is a young woman and women often have late nights out. I am sure she must be fine!"

"No, love," Robert contradicted immediately. "Draco's instincts are telling him that she is in danger. His veela instincts cannot be wrong and you know that honey. Remember the time when my instincts told me you were in danger?"

Narcissa blanched visibly. Oh, yes she remembers. She'll never forget that period. That night, Lucius had been drunk, extremely drunk and had wanted Narcissa to give him the carnal satisfaction he wanted. She had refused politely, but her husband had not taken her refusal very well. He ended up nearly beating the life out of her...literally. If it had not been for Robert's intervention, she would have died that night.

"It was my instincts which warned me about you being in danger that night, my love." Robert pressed on urgently, "We cannot wave off Draco's instincts concerning his mate."

"Yes, you are right," admitted Narcissa with a pensive look.

"Mother," Draco intervened getting impatient to find a solution as rapidly as possible. "We need your help to locate Hermione. Please."

"That's what her name is?" asked Narcissa with a clear interest.

As Draco nodded his assent, Robert remembered something. "Son, what happened up there when we were flying here?"

Draco look startled at being asked this question. He had thought that his father had forgotten about that already.

"I...erm...I don't know how to explain it," he stuttered as the way he had felt came back to him, along with the guilt and dread he has developed ever since he started getting these feelings.

His mother frowned at him. "Did you feel something Draco?"

Draco once again look baffled at his parents' uncanny ability to point out exactly what was wrong with him. "Well...yes, as a matter of fact, I did. At first, it was a deep sharp pain, as if my soul and my self-preservation failed me. That I had failed at protecting myself. It was a physical pain mingled with emotional pain. Then, after that, it was a desperate feeling. I felt as if there was no hope ahead for me. But, then after a few seconds, it was gone. I felt as if I was falling in a void of nothingness. Then, it just stopped as suddenly as it started"

"They were not your own feelings?" asked Narcissa unnecessarily.

"No, mother. They were not mine," Draco objected. "They felt as belonging to someone else. Someone close to me though. It was the same way like when I first..." he trailed off and his eyes widened as realisation hit him.

"When you first what Draco?" Narcissa pressed on as her lover observed their son closely. He had seen that expression before.

"Like when you first met Hermione at Nott's place?" Robert asked Draco softly.

Draco looked up at him with a horrified look as he came to the same conclusions in his head.

"Father, this means they were Hermione's feelings!" he exclaimed a few seconds later.

"He is right." Narcissa conceded. "They haven't properly bonded yet and this is all new to you Draco. You could not have known what these feelings are. And for you to feel her like that, she must have been close."

Draco started pacing in between the chairs, looking like he was about to start pulling at his hair any second. "I should have known, Merlin! I should have known it was her all day long. I knew it before. Why did I ignore them?! Damnit!"

Robert grabbed his son's arms to stop his rant. "Son, calm down. What are you talking about exactly?"

He guided him to sit back down on the chair, looking worriedly at his mate as their son looked lost and anguished. Narcissa reached and touched Draco on the shoulder gently. "Darling, talk to us. Let us help."

Draco looked up at her with sadness etched across his face and a lost expression in his eyes. "I felt her before…before today I mean. I was at the Manor and I knew all along that it was not me but her. I have been having this bad feeling niggling at me since this morning but I chose to ignore it. I should have known it was about her, mother. What if something awful has happened to her because I ignored my feelings? I am supposed to protect her!"

Robert patted his son's shoulder in comfort, knowing how hard it is to feel like he has not protected his mate; he went through the same thing when he has taken Narcissa from Lucius. He had blamed himself for months on end because she got hurt.

"Son, I understand how you are feeling," he said softly. "Our Veelas in us feels responsible for their mates. A Veela's mate and family is the most precious thing in this world for him or her and it is our duty to protect them at any cost from even the smallest of hurt."

"I failed her already, Father," Draco said, despair evident in his eyes.

"No son, you are just learning to understand your Veela heritage. You have not had years of practice and coaching with other experienced Veelas. It will take time, experience, doubts, failures and most importantly; proximity with your mate to learn to recognise these feelings right away and know where and who they come from. It will also take bonding with your mate intimately for it to be easier to identify her feelings and act on them."

"But right now, it is not the time to ponder on all this, son," Narcissa said gently. "We have to find your mate."

"But how will we know where she is?" wondered Draco.

"You said that you met her at the Nott's for the first time?" asked Narcissa curiously.

Draco nodded glumly. He was beginning to think that all this will lead him nowhere.

"Maybe this won't have any connection at all to the problem at hand," said Narcissa pensively, "but the Nott's have a country house in Britain. A small mansion you could say, that they rarely use. Theodore's mother told me about it and said that Theodore is the one who uses it the most. They do not have any other properties as far as I know as they lost most of it to pay for late Lord Nott's gambling debts."

Draco bolted from his seat and rushed to grab his mother's hands, startling her in the process. "Where is that mansion mother? Hermione is there, I am sure of that!"

"Draco, calm down!" Narcissa said, shocked at his behaviour. "Why would she be there?"

Robert rose from his seat. Taking Draco by his shoulders, he made him sit back on the couch. "Your mother is right. You should keep your calm, son. However," he said, resuming his seat too, "Draco is right too. Hermione must be there. She works for the Notts and Theodore must have tricked her into following him there. She was not in the house or else Draco would have sensed her. If they have only these two properties, she could very well be there."

"But why? This mansion remains empty most of the time. Lady Nott said so herself." demanded Narcissa.

Draco scowled and said nothing but the anger that roiled off him was palpable.

"Because Hermione has been at the end of rather unwanted and unpleasant attention from Theodore Nott lately," Robert explained.

Narcissa nodded in comprehension. They all knew how Theodore Nott was with women. "If he tries to get her alone away from anyone's attention, then this would be the perfect place. We should try and get your mate out of this web of a mess very quickly Draco," she concluded pensively. "However, we need to be careful in our search. I do not know where the mansion is exactly and the Notts have not really maintained contact with anyone we know. We need to know exactly where it is and be tactful or else Theodore may hurt her irreversibly if he thinks we are trying to reach her."

"I can always try to talk to Theodore and get some information under some pretence of some kind," Draco suggested, receiving nods in approval from both parents.

"We should also research more on the laws concerning Veela mates here in Britain and how to get his mate away from that house as safely as possible," interjected Robert. "I do not know if the laws are as protective of magical beings here as it is in my country and in America."

"Let's start searching for answers then," said Narcissa, standing up and leaving the room. "Come along then, let's not waste time."

Robert and Draco stared for a few seconds before hurrying after her; Draco at the same time sending out a prayer to Merlin to keep his mate safe until he could get to her.


Sanyah