The next time Draco Malfoy saw the strangely beautiful Roanoke was at the Halloween Feast, but not for lack of trying. The eerily pale boy had tried, day after day since first meeting her to get in touch with her, or even just see her sitting at the Ravenclaw table. He still had not figured out how the girl was able to move from table to table, and not be attacked or get yelled at. Every time he had visited another table it had been to torment other students, but still, he had never, in all seven years of going to school at Hogwarts, seen a student who had friends in every house! At the Welcome Feast, almost two months ago, she had been able to sit at the Slytherin table without much trouble, then left, all of a sudden to go over to the Ravenclaws! They had seemed to know her, as the Slytherins had not, but still. Which house was her own?

"Maybe she is an exchange student," he thought, without much hope, "But then wouldn't she have introduced herself as such?" Draco decided with a frown. The girl would never make sense to him.

Somehow, his mind lurched from Roanoke to the subject of his heritage.

Surprisingly enough, he hadn't been jumped yet, despite his newfound magnificence. When Blaise had tried to seduce him though, he decided to tell his friend the truth. Together, he and Zambini had gone to the library and taken out every book on Veelas, even ones from the restricted section, with Snape's permission, of course. Supposedly, his Godfather had known the fact since Draco was small, and offered to help in any way he could. After researching Veela history, and reading every word on Veela mates, Draco went to Snape again to ask for an explanation.

)(FLASHBACK)(

"Severus?" The gray-eyed Adonis asked into the dank office.

"Yes, Draco? Can I help you?"

"Umm... Yes, I've been wondering, about this mate thing-" The mildly embarrassed teen was cut off by his teacher.

"Why you haven't found them yet?"

"Yes, sir," Draco confirmed meekly.

"It is possible that you have not met her, or him for that matter," Snape paused, and grimaced before continuing, "Or that they are not yet of age. But they are most likely at Hogwarts, where you've spent most of your life."

"So, they might be in another year?" Draco asked, and was answered by a curt nod. "But how will I know when I find them? The books I've read are mostly about the bond after one meets their mate."

"Do you have any unexplained birthmarks?" Draco blinked at the unexpected query.

"Uh... yes, sir," Draco replied, unsure what the potions-master wanted to hear.

"Good, very good," Snape reinforced, without giving justification.

"Sir?" Draco asked timidly, wondering what his birthmark had to do with anything.

"Oh," Snape looked up from the papers he had begun to grade, rather poorly one might add, and said, "If your mate has a rather obscure birth mark also, typically on an appendage such as a foot or hand, you shall forever mark each other." Snape finished in a bland tone, as though he found the whole thing quite boring.

"Sir, what do you mean by-" Draco was once cut off by Snape.

"I mean that you will acquire their mark, as they will yours," the professor clarified in a huff, "Now if you don't need anything else-?" Snape left the question open purposely, and blonde knew a dismissal when he heard it.

"Draco-"

"Hm?" The gray-eyed boy asked, confused.

"I want to go dance!" Pansy whined at the frankly bamboozled boy, who just then realized that he had been staring at the redhead talking animatedly to a few unidentified Gryffindors all through the duration of his flashback.

"Oh," the blonde in Slytherin green robes said mildly. Some wizarding band he didn't know the name of had been hired by Dumbledore to play for the feast. It was more like the Yule Ball than any feast he had ever been to, yet much more casual.

"Maybe later," Draco decided before walking toward the drink table, and consequently, Roanoke, leaving Pansy, pouting, looking for some idiot to dance with.

Draco tapped Roanoke on the shoulder, and she spun, astonished, and nearly spilled her Pumpkin juice over the both of them. The dress she was wearing was far too formal to be worn to a feast, and yet she somehow pulled off the electric blue gown quite nicely. Putting out his hand without a word, inviting her to come with him, wherever it was he was going, she submitted with just as few words, but a strange look, and followed him into the gardens that had been decorated with thousands of Faerie lights for the event. He got the surprise of his life when she slipped her arm out from his where their elbows had been locked, entwined her fingers with his, brought the back of his hand to her pink lips, kissed the knuckle of his left index finger and whispered,

"Good Luck!"

He was looking at her strangely still, but she paid the look no mind, hiked up her full skirt with her left hand to reveal bare feet, glanced briefly at him, and began to run.