Draco Malfoy was in a good mood, it was the summer holidays, he had spent the day practicing quidditch with Crabbe and Goyle and furthermore his birthday was tomorrow and his father had promised that he would be getting a gift beyond his wildest dreams. His mind full of racing brooms and a new wardrobe Draco made his way to his room and flopped down on the bed, rolling over to stare at the ceiling,

"Maybe father has planned a holiday to some country for the rest of the break," he mused to himself and grinned.

Lucious Malfoy was not the kind to let his son coming of age pass unnoticed, he probably had something very grand and exciting planned for Draco's gift. Narcissa Malfoy, may she rest in peace, had never really been one for birthdays, she felt that he should know she loved him all the time, so it fell to Lucious to make his birthdays special, Narcissa had been in charge of the rest of the year. He looked at the clock beside his bed, only one minute to midnight, Draco could feel his excitement rising, soon he would be seventeen, of age and able to do any magic he wanted! The clock began to chime and Draco felt a grin break over his face, a grin which quickly turned to a grimace as he felt an indescribable sensation sweep through his body, it almost felt as if the blood in his veins was on fire, the sensation spread further through his body reaching the tips of his fingers and toes. Suddenly the feelings running through Draco's body became unbearable, it felt as though poison was running through his veins, destroying everything in its path, his entire body stiffened in pain and, throwing back his head, Draco began screaming in agony.

From his bed Lucious could hear his son's screams and smiled in satisfaction, the change had begun; soon his little boy would be in command of immense power. Draco wouldn't be under the control of a mad man like he himself was; he would be able to make his own decisions. Lucious suddenly frowned, unless of course Draco managed the impossible and found what he would now intrinsically seek, relaxing again Lucious smiled, there was no need to worry, like father like son, Draco would most likely follow his father's footsteps and Lucious had never found the answer to his search. This allowed him to be his own master, make his own choices, albeit Lucious would be the first to admit that they were foolish ones. His son's screams suddenly stopped and Lucious smirked, in the morning there would be a lot of changes about the manor, and he couldn't wait to see the difference in his son.

Draco woke late the next morning and stretched his sore muscles with a tired groan, he felt like he had been pulled every which way and then put through a meat mincer. As he moved to get out of bed he was suddenly hit by a wave of dizziness, pausing to let the vertigo pass he let out another groan, though he hadn't eaten much the night before he could feel his stomach churning. Draco noticed that he could feel a something deep down inside him, a sensation that he was not whole, a feeling that he needed something or someone to be complete; there was a … want – deep down inside him. Putting one foot, then the other onto the floor he attempted to stand but once again a wave of dizziness hit him and he stumbled, he couldn't be sure but he felt that his centre of balance was off, he felt… taller. Pausing to gain his balance he noticed that his pyjamas were suddenly too short, both in the leg and the arm.

"Something is going on here" he muttered.

Draco moved over to his mirror and gasped in shock, a completely different reflection to what he had expected was staring back at him. While he still had light colouring, with silver blonde hair and silver eyes, his physique was vastly changed. Before he could almost be described as delicate, not he was anything but. Still slim and fine boned, his figure was muscled to perfection, his arms, legs and torso longer than they had been last night. While Draco had never been, in any way, ugly, he was now gorgeous. Coming to an abrupt decision, Draco spun on his heel and left his bedroom making a beeline for his father's study.

"Father?" Draco called with just an edge of Panic to his voice.

"Father!" he called again hen there was no reply.

"FATHER!" he finally bellowed when he found that the man he was searching for was nowhere to be found.

"Yes Draco? What is it?" Lucious enquired stepping out of his bedroom,

"Ah never mind, I see. Happy Birthday son!" He exclaimed with a wide grin.

"What?" In light of the recent events Draco had actually forgotten that today was his birthday. "Oh right, thankyou. Dad, do you notice anything different about me?" he asked.

"It's Father, Draco, if you don't mind. And yes, I did notice your changes, isn't this a wonderful gift?"

"Well Father" Draco began, "I am not sure whether I would call this a gift, what in Merlin's name is happening?"

Draco stressed the title father in annoyance. While Lucious was a perfectly relaxed and caring parent in the manor, he maintained a strict policy of the appearance of obedience in public. With terms of address, Lucious insisted on Father, for it would not do to have a feared and loathed Death Eater being called something as nice as Dad in public.

"Its kind of a long story son, lets have a nice breakfast and then I will tell you all about it" Lucious replied, feeling he needed a bit more time to be able to get his facts in order before answering his sons many questions.

"Right, breakfast is over, it was very nice, it was VERY long, and now it is over. Do you have anything you would like to explain now father?" Draco asked in sarcastic politeness. He was of age now and could do magic out of school legally, and was currently fighting off strong urges to hex something.

"Ok, well, to quote some asinine muggle song, let's start at the very beginning. It all started with your great, great, great grandfather, Brian, when he fell in love with a very beautiful woman, Amelinda. Of course, being a Malfoy he pursued her, married her and got her pregnant all in the space of a year. No-one could ever say a Malfoy did not get what he wanted; it was a blissful marriage with no problems so it wasn't until Amelinda was pregnant when she and Brian first fight. Amelinda displayed some… interesting characteristics when she got angry, it was found that she was actually a veela."

Draco raised his eyebrows, "A veela?"

"Yes, a veela. Now, since Amelinda was a veela but Brian was not, their child, Wolfric, my great grandfather only displayed some of the characteristics of the veela. He came into his 'inheritance' when he was seventeen, his body took on the characteristics of a veela and he held the gift of attraction. After Wolfric the first born of each successive generation have inherited the same traits, my grandfather, my father, myself and now you."

"So let me get this straight, I am a part veela? And you haven't told me this before, why?" Draco asked.

"It's tradition Draco! The child who receives the gift does not know about it! I didn't know before my seventeenth birthday!"

Draco had had quite enough of everything he had just been told and wanted to vent a little. "Well that is just fine and dandy isn't it? You hide this momentous fact about my life and expect me to be thrilled? Come on Dad!" At this Lucious' lips pursed in disapproval but Draco did not notice, "My entire life has just been turned up side down! And what in bollock's name is this ache inside of me?"

"That, son, is your soul searching for its mate."