Disclaimer: Harry Potter and co. belong to JK Rowling etc etc amen.

Warnings: Slash, melodrama, over-use of lyrics

XoX

Chapter 8: Extended Family

Dumbledore smiled at the couple that sat in front of him. "Are we agreed then?" he asked.

The female stood and brushed off her elegant, if understated, dress. "We are," her mouth turned down at the corners as she surveyed Dumbledore's office, "and do make sure one of your house elves clean this horrendous room, Albus –Merlin knows you have a whole castle full."

"Of course, my dear," he agreed happily, "I'll get Dobby on it right away."

The women snorted, obviously not believing him, and turned to leave his office in a swirl of skirt and robes that would have made Snape proud.

After a moment the male of the couple turned to Dumbledore andoffered a brief apology before leaving as well.

XoX

Draco woke the next day with puffy red eyes, a pounding headache and bright sunshine blinding him through the heavy curtains of Grimmauld Place.

"Draco!" Narcissa cried, walking into the room, "Why ever are you still asleep? It's a beautiful… oh." She ran to her son's side as soon as she saw the lost expression on his face, "What can I do, Draco? What do you want?"

"I want my mate!" he said petulantly, pouting and crossing his arms miserably.

"Of course you do darling, every veela worth their wings does." Draco and Narcissa's heads snapped up to snarl at the uncaring woman who had entered the room.

"Who the hell are you?" Draco snapped, eyeing the stranger.

The women clucked her tongue, "Now Draco darling, is that any way to talk to your grandmother?"

XoX

Harry didn't know what was going on. When he'd entered the kitchen of Grimmauld Place there'd been an old, bald man shoveling food into his mouth like there was no tomorrow. Spotting Harry, he'd paused to ask, "You Draco?" and only waited long enough for Harry to shake his head 'no' before he started eating again.

Ten minutes later Harry realized he was staring and turned to his own food.

"So," the man said, wiping off his mouth with the back of his hand and turning to Harry, "if you ain't Draco who are ya'?"

"I – I'm Harry Potter," he stuttered.

"Well that certainly explains the eye thing, don't it? I didn't think Draco'd have black hair."

"Eye thing?" Harry questioned, "As in me suddenly having mismatched eyes? Do you know why I have them?"

"Edward!"

The shrill call echoed through the house and both Harry and the man winced.

"Ah," said the man, "I'm afraid duty calls, my boy."

And with that the man – Edward? – left the kitchen and bolted towards the source of the call as fast as he could.

XoX

Draco sat facing the woman who claimed to be his grandmother and suppressed a shudder.

She was a regal old bird, reminding him of an English McGonagall in her own way, with grey eyes and a fierce gray bun on the top of her head like some sort of weird hat. Her dress was plain and high collared but elegant, the superiority of the extremely wealthy radiated off of her almost visably.

"I," she said after surveying him for a moment, "am your father's mother. You will treat my mate andI with the utmost respect and we will teach you what you need to know about your heritage. Understood?"

Draco nodded quickly.

"In addition, your mate will be subtly groomed to meet my standards. I understand that for reasons beyond my comprehension you've not informed him of your impending bonding – I will respect your decision and teach what I can without arousing suspicion in him."

"Thank you… Grandmother," Draco said as respectively as he could given the unusual circumstances, "but how on Earth do you know any of this?"

The old women smirked and Draco belatedly noted that his smirk might have been genetic after all.

"Draco, my mate and I recently had a very… informative conversation with Albus Dumbledore. That should tell you all you need to know."

And, frighteningly enough, it did.

"Bethy?"

Draco's Grandmother winced and she turned to face the man who'd walked into the room. His bald head shone in the candlelight and Draco stared at it in morbid fascination. The man's eyes sparkled merrily from beneath heavy, gray brows and he held a half chewed sausage in his hand.

"Edward," Draco's Grandmother hissed out stiffly from between clenched teeth, "what on Earth are you doing?"

"Well I was eatin' breakfast downstairs – what a dump this place is, eh? Ran into Draco's mate though, he seemed a little out of it."

"I thought," Draco's Grandmother ground out from beneath clenched teeth, "that you were going to clean up your act and create a good impression for young Draco."

The man shrugged and flung himself into one of the two chairs in the room. "I figure he may as well learn ta know me now, this is how I am and I can't be nothing else, Bethy." He took a pointed bite from his sausage

Draco found himselfsimultaneously repelled and impressed by his paternal Grandfather, anyone who could stand up to his Grandmother had praise worthy bravery. He winced at the thought; perhaps Edward had been a Gryffindor.

"Edward, I would rather you call me Elizabeth as it is my given name, and will you at least put on some decent clothes? We're guests in Mr. Potter's house for the next little while."

Edward rolled his eyes, "Well he's Draco's mate, ain't he? That means it's Draco'd house too."

Draco was having trouble believing these two were actually mates – he didn't think he'd be able to survive a fight with Harry now, let alone hold his own in it.

"Don't be stupid!" Elizabeth snapped, "The boy has no idea Draco's a Veela, let alone that he's his mate!"

Draco decided that sneaking away for breakfastwould be prudent.

XoX

"Hello," Harry said mildly as he spotted Draco walking into the warm kitchen, "sleep well?"

Draco froze, feeling immense sadness well up in his chest – was Harry trying to kill him?

"Guess not," Harry added after a moment, taking in Draco's closed off expression. "Do you have any idea who the old guy is? Did you meet him on your way down?"

Draco smiled half-heartedly and nodded, "Dumbledore's brought in my father's parents, Elizabeth and Edward."

"Huh," said Harry, "Edward asked me if I was you."

"Really?" Draco grabbed some bacon from the buffet spread out on the counter of the kitchen and slumped into a chair across from Harry, "He's never seen me before but I would have thought he'd recognize you."

Harry nodded his agreement; it was a pleasant but seldom experienced situation to have magical folk ask him his name. "He said something about my eyes, confused the Hell out of me – what would my weird eye thingy have to do with you?"

Draco gulped in a way he sincerely hoped wasn't audible and shrugged.

XoX

"Draco!" Elizabeth called from the doorway of the kitchen, "What on Earth are you doing? We have lessons to go over young man!"

Draco groaned and swallowed the lump of bacon lodged in his throat. "Do I have to?" he whined, "I'm hungry."

Elizabeth frowned. "Draco," she said, "how do you expect to understand yourself and your heritage if you run away?"

Draco shrugged miserably and slumped in his seat. "Grandmother, meet Harry Potter." Draco waved a hand in Harry's general direction and desperately hoped that the prospect of meeting his mate would take his Grandmother's mind off of his lessons.

"Oh," she said spinning and smiling at the other boy, "how wonderful!"

Harry stared at the previously stern woman in wonder. It was almost like watching the McGonagall of fifth year – mean as hell one moment and sweet the next.

"Harry dear," Draco's Grandmother said, sitting down next to him, "why don't you join us in our little lessons, hmm? Albus suggested it when we talked to him earlier."

Harry shrugged, if Dumbledore wanted him to learn about Draco's ancestors who was he to argue?

"Excellent!" the old woman exclaimed, "You two hurry up and as soon as you're finished meet us in Draco's bedroom!" And, before anyone could stop her, she patted Harry on the shoulder.

Harry shuddered, wrapping arms around himself and barely staying upright as a sort of jealous flare rose in his chest.

"Harry? Harry?" somewhere off in the distance Harry could here someone – Draco's Grandmother – calling his name.

It's alright, Harry thought, hoping he could pass the sentiment on to the other boy, it doesn't matter if she touches me – I only want to touch you.

The pain subsided and Harry gave a grateful sigh before slumping forward onto the table, unconscious.

XoX

Author's Notes: After much deliberating I finally decided to end this here. It's actually the other half of the seventh chapter. More could have (and probably should have) been added, but this seemed an appropo ending.