THE ELF PRINCE'S MATE

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

RATING: R

DISCLAIMER: I don't own HP. Just this AU idea and plot so don't steal it!

PAIRING: Draco/Harry

SUMMARY: Harry takes the wounded prince to his home to heal him and Draco tries to figure out what to do and wonders about the enigma that is his mate while he recovers.

AUTHOR NOTES: Thank you all who reviewed! ;hugs review list and beams; Also, not that this: dmHPdm means scene change while this: dmHP means POV change.

Alexi Lupin-;nods; see, that's one reason I don't get all these Ron-as-evil-person stories.

jill4-They'll be a little shocked but get over it ;clamps hand over mouth before she gives away more;

Starrarose-;chuckles; Sorry I just have a little irritation with all these fics that have Ron betraying Harry or being a homophobe. I understand that some people don't like him and that's just fine but really, I don't see him turning evil.

kazillion-It's not really that clever actually. I just couldn't come up with any decent horse names having never owned a horse in my life ;sobs loudly because she always wanted one;.

inumoon-Elves just sort of automatically know who their mate is. I'll try to explain it better later on. There also will be no Mpreg in this fic, though there will be mentions of it in the epilogue and yes, of COURSE Harry will be the pregnant one. I'm a sucker for that.

CHAPTER 1: THE MATE

Harry Potter wasn't used to strangers.

In Surrey village everyone knew everyone. Occasionally there were travelers who stayed at the inn and tavern and told the latest news to everyone. But for the most part its life and people remained the same. Harry was well known among them for being slightly odd for living in the forest, but he was quiet and worked at the clinic so he was well liked. Well, his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin didn't like him, but the feeling was mutual there so it didn't make much of a difference.

Being a private person, he rarely had people in his home. He had no lovers, male or female, that he was seeing as he found most of the people his age in the village silly, unadventurous, and slightly dull. Most were content to lead the life his or her parents led and didn't understand that he wanted to seriously commit himself to a person before tumbling in the sheets as an acquaintance of his named Seamus Finnigan liked to put it.

So it was a bit understandable that he was nervous around this elf he found, or rather Firebolt found, on the nearby riverbank.

It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that the elf was stunning. Not that he didn't notice that, he wasn't blind, and he had excepted the fact that he was bisexual when he was thirteen and found himself attracted to guys as well as girls. Actually, the elf was more then stunning, he was bloody gorgeous. Tall frame; well toned muscles, that he could vouch for having felt them when he patched the elf's wounds up; perfectly chiseled face; and gorgeous blonde hair, and eyes Harry had felt himself drowning in when they had been open for that short time before he lost consciousness. If Lavender and Parvati had been here they would have been swooning the minute the man said hello.

'Not that I could blame them for doing so' he thought to himself as he stirred the stew over the fireplace. The raven haired man glanced once again over at the elf who laid on his bed on the opposite wall of his house. Harry couldn't help but blush at the fact the man had no shirt on. Even though he was a trained healer and had seen men without their shirts on, that still didn't prepare him for the flutters in his stomach when he had to take off the elf's shirt to tend to his wounded shoulder.

Harry didn't know what was wrong with him. He usually never got this flustered around men before, even ones he had been attracted too, such as his short lived crush on Seamus. But ever since he had looked into the elf's eyes he felt a pleasant tingling all over when he was near the other man that confused him and he'd had the craziest urges when he was patching up the wounds. Such as kissing the man's forehead when his face grimaced in pain or going over there right now and lay next to him, resting his head on that inviting chest. It was mad, he didn't even know the elf! He also didn't go in for that love at first sight rot.

He glanced at the elf again and almost jumped when he saw that the man was awake, sitting up in the bed, and looking at him. When their eyes met Harry thought to himself, 'Bloody hell, I think I just forgot how to breath.'

dmHP

'So this is my mate. Damn.' Draco thought to himself as he gazed at the attractive man across the room. 'Of all the times I could have found him, why now? When I die, I'm ringing Fate's damn neck.'

His mate was the first to look away from their staring contest. "Um, hello. You hungry?"

The blonde ignored the happy tingle he felt at hearing his mates voice for the first time. "Yes, a bit. Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Harry. Harry Potter. I hope you like stew, it's all I have until I can go hunting."

"Stew is fine," he said quietly, watching his mate ladle some into a bowl and walk up to him. Harry was a fitting name for the man, nice and simple to counteract the striking green eyes and black hair combination he had. "Thank you," he said politely as he was handed a bowl. His mother had always drilled in to him to be polite to strangers. If you got to know them and hated them, THEN you could be rude to them if you wished. Not that there was much chance of him hating his mate. Eating with one arm available but he managed it.

Harry looked at him in fascination, "I've never met an elf before."

"Not surprising, we don't have much contact with humans," he said. "I'm Draco, by the way."

His mate smiled shyly at him. "It's nice to meet you."

The blonde nodded at him and continued eating the stew, thinking up possibilities in his head. 'I'll need to get on my way as soon as possible. I'll endanger Harry if I'm found here. Father and Mother will be worried if I don't show up at the castle in at least two weeks.' When he tried to move he noticed for the first time that his left leg was rolled in bandages and a splint. He looked at Harry questionably.

"You broke it," Harry said, understanding his look. "I don't have the proper bandages here; I'll have to go to the clinic to get them and a crutch for you to walk on. I didn't want to leave until you had woken up first though."

"Oh," he said neutrally. 'Damn it! A broken leg and an injured shoulder! I'll be here a month at least.' Part of him couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of being near his mate for a long time though. He looked at Harry. "You know about healing?"

The man smiled. "I ought too, seeing as how I am a certified Healer."

For a moment the blonde just stared at him. His mate had smiled at him! He felt an enormous mount of giddiness at this knowledge and then felt extremely stupid. God, was this what Ron had felt when he first met Hermione? No wonder he had been impossible to talk too when he was seventeen.

He was in big trouble.

dmHPdm

Harry had left a little while after he got Draco settled to get bandages and real crutches from the clinic he apparently worked at. Since Draco had no money to pay for a room at the inn Harry insisted he stay with him. Unable to refuse such a tempting offer to be near his mate for awhile the blonde accepted the offer. Now that he was alone though, he berated himself for being so weak.

It would be much better for Harry if he didn't stay here. No doubt Voldemort's scouts were out looking for him along with Ron and whoever had survived the battle. If Ron had made it through, he had fallen in the middle of the battle so he didn't even know who had won it or whether or not his troops had been forced to retreat.

The blonde sighed, hating the feeling of stranded helplessness that had come over him.

Draco glanced at his surroundings simply because it was the only thing he could do at the moment. Calling this place a house was stretching it just a bit in Draco's opinion. It was more of a one room structure with one window and a door. The bed he sat on was in a corner next to the only window in the place from which he could see a thick dense forest surrounding the small clearing the house stood in. In the center of the room was a long table with four chairs cluttered with old books in piles. All along the wall opposite of the bed were shelves that were filled with more books and several odds and ends. A makeshift fireplace and cooking area was in between the bed and shelves against the wall. Various supplies such as a hammer, bow and arrow and a small dagger leaned against the corner in front of him.

To someone who had lived in a castle his whole life this house seemed very primitive to Draco. The blonde silently wondered how his mate was able to stand living in such small quarters. It was going to be even harder with two people. Where on earth would he sleep? An image came to him of him and Harry sharing the bed curled up around each other. He roughly pushed the thought away. Now was not the time to think of such things.

Unable to stand sitting any longer, Draco took the two makeshift crutches Harry had put together for him to use until he came back. The long staffs weren't very stable, but they helped him move at least.

The elf hobbled to the front door of the house and opened it, taking a look outside.

What he found was a circular clearing around the house. An outhouse stood on his left, while a small vegetable garden was planted next to it. On his right was what looked to be a small barn for a horse, though he saw a few chickens clucking around as well as a pig basking in the sun. Obviously Harry was used to taking care of himself. Draco idly wondered how the human was going to react when he found out he would have an elf taking over that job from now on.

As Harry's mate his first priority was making the man happy and keeping him safe. When they eventually made the bond complete, it would be the same for Harry. That was assuming the human believed him about the bond. Elf bonds were not common knowledge among other races. Most didn't even realize an elf's mate didn't necessarily have to be an elf. Some were human. In rare cases they were giants or even dwarfs but that usually only happened about twice a century.

Most likely the other man was feeling tingles whenever they touched. It was part of the bond and only natural but being human Harry probably didn't know what to make of it. The tingles would grow and eventually Harry would be able to feel what Draco was feeling but that wouldn't be for awhile. Draco himself could all ready tell that Harry felt nervous, shy, and curious around him. It was slightly amusing to the blonde, seeing a grown man blush and ramble on like a teenager who had been caught doing something bad.

He was just about to turn back to the house when a bird cried and he started when he was narrowly attacked by a white snowy owl.

"Hedwig, stop that!" his mates voice came from behind him and Draco felt a sense of relief at hearing it. The white owl made an irritated noise and the blonde turned to see it flap over towards the small barn as if saying, "Fine then!"

He looked at Harry, who was still on top of his horse, with a raised eyebrow. The human smiled apologetically. "Sorry, she doesn't trust strangers much."

"Perfectly understandable," he replied. He watched in silence as Harry hopped off Firebolt and led her to the barn. "Does it always take this long to get to the village and back?"

The other man shook his head. "No, but I stopped by the river and caught a few fish for dinner. Hope you like trout, it's the only kind in the river." That's when he noticed the fish in question hanging from strings on the saddle.

"Trout's fine. Thank you."

Inside though, he felt like frowning. He was Harry's mate. It was supposed to be his job to gather food or in the prince's case ask the palace cooks to make a meal. It was part of the courting process. But he couldn't court Harry properly now. He was injured and in the middle of the war. Courting would have to wait. But it still wasn't proper for his mate to provide for them.

As he watched Harry take out the supplies from the sacks he couldn't help but feel a lot of the things about his mate and their relationship weren't going to be proper.

TO BE CONTINUED...

AUTHOR NOTES: Boy, once again, writing the first chapter was hard. I had about three different beginnings written out to choose from. But I got it done. Huzzah. PLEASE REVIEW!