Disclaimer: JKR is the rich woman who owns HP and the gang, I wish I did but I don't, I have a plug nickel that you can have if you try and sue me.. hehehe.

A/N: Thanks Myk, excellent job :)

Posted: 4/18/03

THIS IS SLASH PEOPLE, BOY/BOY IF YA DON'T LIKE IT DON'T READ IT!!!

"..." speech '...' thoughts ~...~ Parseltongue, if used

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Chater 4

In the hospital wing, things were much calmer then they were in the Great Hall. Harry was on a bed and was starting to stir again. Draco was still at his side, as he had been since he arrived. Hearing the pronouncement of a fairly clean bill of health for Harry, Draco about snarled and foamed at the mouth when he found out that he was still underweight, from his low appetite, and because of the spell, that slammed him into the wall, he had a concussion. Other then those few afflictions, Harry was fine. When Harry stirred into consciousness, opening his eyes, he saw concerned silver-gray eyes looking at him. Shaking his head slightly to try to dispel the fuzziness only made his head pound even worse than it already was. His hands flew up to his temples and he groaned loudly voicing his discomfort to those around him.

"Shhh it's ok, Harry. You have a concussion, everything will be fine. I'm here Harry, just calm down, I know it hurts." Draco's voice was dripping with concern for his potential mate, his hands aching to smooth his hair down on his head in a comforting manner.

"What happened?" Harry asked, his voice slightly slurred.

"You don't remember? What's the last thing you remember, Harry?" Draco was now even more concerned for Harry and everyone present seemed overly worried as well.

Harry thought back to what he remembered. "I remember Ron going off on you and storming out, but that's the last thing I remember. Now please tell me how I ended up in here, again."

"Well, you were hit with the aestus* curse, which caused you to be thrown rather harshly into the wall, leaving you with a nasty concussion now."

"Oh, do we know who did this to me? I want to send them a little thank you note." Harry said, trying to be sarcastic, but because of the pain in his head, it came out rather pathetically.

"Harry, you don't worry about them, they will rue the day they were born by the time I am done with them." Just thinking about them made Draco seethe with rage, daring them to try again. "You just get better, that's all I want you to focus on doing. I will take care of everything else, Harry. You have my word as a Veela." Draco vowed, holding onto Harry's hand, making sure to keep eye contact with him. Harry saw and heard only truth and dedication in the promise. Then with a menacing grin the frightened Harry, in a very deadly whisper he said, "I will take care of everything." Draco then turned and walked out of the room. He knew Harry was safe and in good hands.

Draco made his way to Professor Snape's office in a rather surly mood. Banging on the door once, he then barged in, seeing only red by the time he got into the office. "Where are they?! I know your hiding them. Trying vainly to protect them from me. They hurt my potential mate and they need to pay," Draco said in a voice that was so level and deadly that there was no mistaking it to be anything close to calm.

"They are performing duties for me. They will be dealt with by me, and you will leave them alone, Mr. Malfoy. I understand your need to seek vengeance but it will not happen this time." Snape said to Malfoy, attempting to get his point across to the irate part-Veela that he would not allow harm to befall his students at Draco's hands. Draco only raised an eloquent eyebrow at his Potions professor, wondering if the man truly believed he could stop him.

"Oh? Is that so? Tell me since when do you dictate how a Veela defends their potential mate? Do you have any idea how bad I want to hurt you by simply telling me I can't hurt them for hurting my mate?" Cocking his head to one side, Draco didn't wait for any sort of response from his stunned Head of House before continuing his verbal assault. "You, Professor Snape, have no say in what I do, and do not do, as far as it comes to Harry. No one but Harry and I decide what shall or shall not be done. I will get what is due, for Harry, don't doubt that for a second. They will pay for what they did, in spades." Draco then turned and stormed out, but not before cursing Professor Snape's hair neon yellow with a bit of wandless magic.

Draco was heading back towards the Hospital Wing when he heard a noise coming from a unused classroom. He stopped to listen; he had barely heard the name Potter in the whispering. 'This is something that needs to be investigated,' Draco thought to himself. He stepped closer to the door when he recognized one of the voices, knowing that it belonged to Blaise Zabini. A wickedly evil smile crossed Draco's face. Pulling his wand from his robe, Draco burst into the room like a tornado, startling the room's occupants.

"So, planning more torture for my mate-to-be then? What shall it be next? I would highly advise you to steer clear of him, if," making sure to emphasis his if, Draco continued, "you want to remain in good health. Friend or not, Blaise, you will pay for what you did to Harry." Draco saw Blaise reaching for his wand, acting quicker than the other boy, Draco shouted, "Expelliarmus," and Blaise flew across the room, landing hard against the wall, while his wand went hurtling towards Draco, who caught it deftly. "I highly suggest you stop now while your still alive, Blaise. You too Crabbe and Goyle," he said, finally acknowledging the pair of gigantic young men that closely resembled huge bookends.

"Draco, what has gotten into you, it's only Potter?" Crabbe stated rather dumbly, not really grasping the reality of the situation. Goyle was nodding his head, agreeing with everything the great oaf, Crabbe, said. Zabini looked at them like they were absolute lunatics.

"Are you two truly that thick you can't understand about part-Veela's and their potential mates? Even I know better." Blaise called out in total exasperation of their idiocy. "Now, Draco, listen to me now. I didn't know Potter was your mate-to-be, I honestly didn't." Blaise told Draco, all in earnest.

"I don't care if you didn't know, Zabini, you saw me sitting there! You should have taken the hint from that!" Draco growled out, eyes flashing angrily at the three other Slytherins. "You will answer to me for what you have done. Snape already knows, so don't think that he will save you. I answer to no one when it comes to defending and protecting Harry. Dumbledore isn't even fool enough to stand in my way." Snarling at the boy, he advanced on his stunned form. "You had better hope you do nothing else to him. It would be in your best interest to also spread the news throughout the other Houses, as well as Slytherin, that I will not stop at keeping Harry safe and unharmed. You don't want a piece of me, none of you do. Don't you ever forget I am part-Veela." With that said, Draco did some more wandless magic, throwing all of them against the wall, and left in a flourish to return to Harry's side.

When Draco got back down to the Hospital Wing things were crazy. It appeared that 'Snuffles' had showed up and wanted to know why the hell his godson was in the infirmary.

"Albus, explain it to me again. I'm not sure I quite understand what a blood sucking Malfoy has to do with my godson being in here," Sirius spoke in a low dangerously calm voice, gesturing wildly around the room. Draco entered and saw him trying to stare down Dumbledore with his fists clenched. Harry was still laying down in obvious pain, meaning his head still hurt him.

"Mr. Black," Draco said in a loud, deadly whisper. "If you make Harry anymore uncomfortable then he already is because of your yelling and speaking loudly, you'll have to answer to me. I will not have him inconvenienced any more then he already is." Taking on a silken quality to his voice, he then said, "Now your choices are thus, take it out of the Hospital Wing or calm down, so we can explain it to you like rational adults. Which, by the way, last I checked by your age, you are one. But by your current stance, and from what I heard from the hall, you are far from mentally being an adult." Draco then stalked over to Harry, his concern over riding his anger at the irate man. "How are you doing Harry?" Draco spoke in such a sweet and concerned voice that no one doubted he cared for Harry deeply. Draco's eyes scanned around Harry's face for signs of how he was actually doing, knowing that the words that left his mouth might not be the utter truth. Harry always had lied to people about his true feelings, always trying to spare them the pain of hearing about his own pain.

"I've been better, Draco. Thank you for getting Siri to quiet down; he can be a handful at times. Where did you go anyway?" Harry asked softly, loud voices still made his head hurt, his eyes searching Draco unconsciously, making sure he was all right.

"I went to take care of some things. I don't think you'll be harmed again, that is, unless people have a death wish," came Draco's quiet reply.

Sirius watched the whole display, not really comprehending what was happening. He had heard snippets of what Albus had said, but his main concern had been Harry's health and arriving to see Harry in a hospital bed had left him none too pleased. Now he had a little time to take in the situation.

"Harry, what's going on with you and Malfoy here?" Eyes floating between the two of them, Sirius seemed to be rather lost.

Harry sighed heavily. "Siri, Draco is a part-Veela, and he has, I guess, smelled me out as his potential mate. That's it in a nutshell." Grinning ruefully at his animagus Godfather, he continued on, "I'm in here now because someone cursed me in the Great Hall at breakfast." Turning his head in part-Veela's direction, he asked, "Draco, that's everything summed up, is it not?" Harry seemed to be very impatient, his head was really hurting and none of Madam Pomfrey's potions were helping it.

"Yes, Harry that sums it up quite nicely. Mr. Black, it's an honor to meet you, I'm Draco Malfoy." Draco said softly to protect Harry's head, not wanting to cause his mate any more pain. He held out his hand, offering it to Sirius who looked at him skeptically, then turned his gaze towards Harry who gave a small smile and nodded his approval, and then Sirius shook Draco's hand.

"Siri?" Harry said softly, almost broken from the pain in his head. "Can I request Mr. Padfoot's presence in the bed please? I hurt and I need you." Harry's voice was breaking, his headache was getting worse and he was near tears, barely able to discern anything through his haze of pain.

"Of course, Bambi, just a second." Sirius looked over at Draco, silently seeking permission to comfort his godson without the wrath of Draco. Receiving a nod and raised eyebrow, he transformed into Padfoot and jumped up on the bed, snuggling down next to the boy.

Harry gingerly rolled onto his side, curling around the huge dog that was now in the bed lying down. After Harry closed his eyes, but before falling asleep, the blonde haired, overly protective part-Veela, heard a very soft "Thank you, Draco," before he followed the path into the abyss of sleep.

Draco's concerned eyes met with Padfoot's anxious eyes. They were both wary of each other, but also knew that both would be needed in Harry's life. Sirius could see the love and concern in Draco's eyes as he looked at Harry. It practically radiated off of him in discernible waves. Draco walked to the side of the bed that Harry's back was on, thus allowing it so Harry would be between Sirius and himself. Starting to lightly massage Harry's head, Draco tried to help lessen his Gryffindor mate's pain. He massaged at his temples causing Harry to let out a sigh that sounded like it was in relief and gratitude. Draco gave a soft smile when he heard the sigh, he was glad to help Harry. Seeing the dog look up at him, Draco could also see the relief in his eyes as well. Harry would be fine, and they would work together to make sure of it. It was also understood that if Sirius Black's scent was on Harry, Draco wouldn't care. They made a silent treaty then and there; Harry was to be protected at all costs, and they were the ones to provide that protection for him.

*aestus, us (archaic gen. aesti, Pac. 97 Rib.; rare form of nom. plur. aestuus). m. [kind. with aestas and Gr. v. aestas] , an undulating, boiling, waving, tossing; a waving, heaving, billowy motion. ~~Fin Chapter 4... am I evil or what.. next chapter "Girl Talk".. hehehe, only it's Harry and Hermione.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ R/R responses:

ray -- Thanks!

BJ Jones -- Hope you enjoy this one as well.

Myk -- sux about your puter I know they can be pills.. hehehe.

Maizeysugah -- NO, he's not dead ;) But he does have a nasty headache.

asaroth69 -- Hehehe, not as lethal as you'd expect, but just the same, Draco is still concerned for Harry, this is far from over.. hehhe.

Crystal*Fantasy --Thank you!!! Hope this is soon enough for you.

darkanglefrmhell -- Don't ya just hate that?

starstorm -- hehehe, that will NOT be pretty....

Marmo -- we aren't done with Ron yet, this is gonna get ugly with him before it gets any better and Herm may have to choose sides.. ooohhhh the drama

me -- glad you like it!!

NayNymic -- Ron get his head out of his ass?? but then it wouldn't be Ron would it?? hehehe

Daily Prophetess --*kisses* I am so glad you like it!!

Tramill De Laxson -- *takes a bow* Of course there's more.. hehehe

Jewelclaw Lady of Wind -- Thanks.. and just so you know my beta already has chapter 5.. hehehe.. I am starting on chapter 6

jlilies -- not too bad, yet anyway, no one ever said he was done with him.. hehhee.

Cleresta -- I find your review to be warm and fuzzy.. *giggle* Thanks!!

Tiger of the Fire -- Aww Thanks, I have been with Frizzy since Apologies and past mistakes, I think she is a great author.. hehehe..EVEN IF SHE DOES ONLY UPDATE ONCE A WEEK!!.. but that's ok, I can live with that... I hope ;) coke-iz-yum -- Thanks, and no one said Dumbledore won't get involved.. hehehe, only Draco says, but who is he??? hehehe

Dark-One Shadowphyre -- ==Raises eyebrow== No one said Pansy was even on school grounds at the time now did they??? MWAHAHAHA... she's off grounds for a family emergency, but she WILL be back and OOOOO this is going to be uglier, hopefully, then Frizzy's "you little cow" scene (my fave by the way) It's a well known fact throughout all of Slytherin that Draco is part- Veela. They had been warned a couple of months prior to the inheritance.. so no biggie there, just Crabbe and Goyle, UGH what am I to do with those 2 idiots? hehehe, hope you enjoyed this one.. Cheerio!

jammies2000 -- well I already finished chappie 5, Myk has it in her hot lil hands and is helping me with it, it's BIGTIME sappy, you get the whole "girly talk" between Harry and Herms. Nice and fluffy chapter 5.. hehehe. I had fun writing it.

KittenBabyGirl, --LOTS of fluffiness to come, but you have to deal with it between Harry and Herms first, then we'll get some more between Harry and Draco. Maybe even a kiss or two...

frizzy -- *bows down to the master of the part-veela from which I copped* Your praise means BUNCHES to me!!! I am SO glad you like it, I hope I am putting enough of a twist to make it my own but I believe that i am. THANKS SO MUCH for letting me steal it!!! cherish chang -- gotta have a cliffie every once in awhile, makes you readers come back.. hehehe. Very Slytherin of me I should think.....

Claudia -- Thanks, I am writing more i promise. Just started Chapter 6!! Saya -- As you wish!