Title: Silver and Cold

Pairing: Draco/Harry

Rating: Overall NC-17

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K Rowlings unless otherwise noted. It is for entertainment purposes only.

Warnings: spoilers for books 1-5 just to be safe. Eventual non-con. OOC for most characters as I'm not too good at writing Snape or Dumbledore to well.

AN: Thanks to Artificer for beta'ing all 7 chapters at once!

Chapter 4

"No! Uncle Vernon no more! Please! I won't go back! I promise! Please, stop! I won't go back! I won't! I won't! STOP! NO! NOOOO! AGHHHH!"

Draco shot up instantly, looking around, trying to figure out what happened. He looked over to his bedmate to see Potter was yelling, sobbing, and pleading for someone to stop. He was having a nightmare.

"Noooo... please... won't go back... won't..."

Draco watched, unable to comprehend at first as his life-mate continued to cry softly, too weak for anything louder. Draco slowly moved closer to his mate. "Potter? Wake up. You're dreaming," Draco whispered softly, soothingly. He laid a tentative hand on Potter's shoulder.

Harry shot awake, blinking his eyes rapidly. He tried to look around the room, but it was dark and he wasn't wearing his glasses. The last thing Harry remembered was being tossed into the cupboard under the stairs after a severe beating and the door being slammed shut. Harry remembered hearing the lock slide into place and being surrounded by darkness. Harry had sat in the small, enclosed space, feeling even more claustrophobic than he had as a small child.

All Harry thought about was how he should have run away when he had the chance. The Dursley's had been late in picking him up from King's Cross. An hour after the train had left Harry had had a brief and wild thought. What if he ran away from everyone until the fall term?

Sirius had told him all about life on the run long before Harry lost his godfather to the veil. Harry was sure he could handle living as a run away; it wasn't as if he had no money. Plus, Harry had the advantage of not being a convicted criminal. He only needed to keep low until his birthday and then he would legally be allowed to do magic outside of school, but then the Dursley's arrived and Harry didn't give his fantasy a second thought.

Harry refocused on his current surroundings. He wasn't at the Dursley's; the obvious soft bed underneath him told him as much. That left him with another question, where was he? He reached over to the side of the bed, in hopes of finding his glasses, but flinched when a light snapped on. He looked around frantically; he was afraid that Death Eaters might have taken him.

"You're at Hogwarts, Potter," a voice that Harry was sure he must have misheard informed him, answering his unspoken question.

Harry turned to look in the direction the voice came from, and saw yet another a blurry image. "Malfoy?" Harry croaked out in confusion. There was something different about the blonde and Harry couldn't figure it out through his freshly awakened haze.

Harry tried to sit up in the bed, but discovered that he couldn't. "Malfoy? What's going on? What'd you do to me?" Harry asked nervously.

Something deep inside was telling him he shouldn't talk to Malfoy in such a manner. It wasn't until Harry began to feel the stirrings of attraction towards the blonde that he began to get scared. "What did you do?" Harry added in a whisper.

There was a feral grin on Draco's face that would have sent chills down Harry's spine had he been able to see it clearly. "I've got one word for you Potter. Mine," Draco growled possessively.

Harry could feel his heart pound loudly as his face grew hot. "What do you mean?" He asked hesitantly.

"I'm half-Veela, Potter. Three guesses on what that makes you and no help from your little mudblood friend," Draco sneered, but it was lost on a Harry without his glasses.

Harry didn't react to the insult, he was too busy squinting in Malfoy's direction trying to see, but growing frustrated that he couldn't. "Where are my glasses?"

Draco scowled at the mention of Harry's glasses. "You won't be wearing that pathetic piece of plastic any longer. Once Madam Pomfrey clears you, you're getting your eyes fixed. I don't know why you never bothered before, but you'll not be seen with me wearing those horrid things," Draco stated haughtily.

Harry frowned trying to make sense of everything he'd learned since he'd woken up. It was all happening so fast. Yesterday he was bleeding in the cupboard under the stairs and today he woke up in Draco Malfoy's care. Something had to be wrong, didn't it? "You're part-Veela, right?"

"Yes, Potter. We covered this five minutes ago. Do try and keep up," Draco snapped without really meaning too. He knew Potter had to be confused, but he his Veela instincts were becoming more and more frustrated.

Something inside of Harry seemed to shut down. His face became withdrawn and emotionless. He turned away from the blonde and kept his head straight. It was clear that, despite his heritage, Malfoy did not care about him. He was merely forced into a situation same as the Dursley's were. Harry gave up hope that he would ever be treated with love in his life. Malfoy may keep him better dressed than the Dursley's, but he would still be nothing but a burden.

Draco frowned as he saw Potter tense and then turn away from him. He didn't like it. Potter was his mate; he should be reveling in the feelings being a Veela's mate engenders. He should be fawning over Draco's every word.

"That werewolf is here at Hogwarts," Draco spoke after a few tense moments. He didn't know why he mentioned that tidbit, but he almost instantly regretted it. Potter's face lit up in delight as he turned his head towards Draco. Potter looked happy and Draco was extremely jealous that it wasn't over him.

Harry looked in Malfoy's general direction happily. He had been afraid Remus would stop caring about him since Dumbledore had denied Remus's request for Harry to spend the summer with the werewolf. Remus had informed Harry that he thought of him as an honorary godson, no matter what anyone else said about him he wanted Harry to know that.

Draco growled in reaction to his jealousy. "You're mine! You're not leaving here until I allow it." When Potter didn't respond, Draco scowled, but didn't say anything else.

Mine. My mate. Mine, Draco thought fiercely as he fought his instincts to pounce on his life-mate. Potter still needed to heal before he could complete the bond. Everything else would wait. At the moment there wasn't anything more important than his mate's healing.

Draco kept a careful watch over his life-mate, intentionally making Potter uncomfortable. Soon. I will have you soon, and no one can take you from me.

Edited Jan. 06, 2006