A/N: This chapter doesn't quite meet my standards but I'm posting it anyway to be nice and get rid of the cliffhanger from last chapter... Though you may all hate me at the end of this chapter... Just remember if you kill me, you'll never find out what happens next!
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Last Chapter: A sudden pop startled the two Malfoys, who, upon turning, saw a disgruntled looking Harry Potter being pulled towards them by a rather overzealous elf.
"I'm here now Dobby, so would you kindly let go of me! This bloody hurts my back, which doesn't need anymore pain at the moment!" Harry yelled.
The Malfoys exchanged a look. It appeared that their daughter was correct. It seemed wonders would never cease. Two thirds of the Golden Trio was definitely destined to be part of their family. Lucius looked at his wife and shrugged his shoulders. At least the boy had defeated Voldemort, this whole situation would have been a lot worse otherwise.
Narcissa stepped forward, "Dobby, you may release Harry." Harry turned to the Malfoy's, a stunned expression on his face.
"Why did you have Dobby bring me here? And why aren't you at the party? And where is Cyrna? I couldn't find her anywhere, and then Dobby showed up claiming that I must go with him immediately because she needed me, and--"
Harry was cut off as screams filled the air. He paled visibly, still panting in pain himself, as he recognized the source of the scream. "Oh Merlin, what are you doing to her? I thought you loved her! I thought you wanted a family!" Harry began to lunge at the startled Malfoys but stopped as another wave of pain washed over him.
Narcissa was torn between helping this young man and going to her daughter, who --according to the clock-- was turning at that very minute.
Lucius seemed to since her inner turmoil, as he said softly, "I'll go help her, you stay and help Harry and Draco. I'm not certain, but I believe that this may help them with their transformation. If they are together the pain should lessen a great deal." Lucius swept out of the room and Narcissa walked quickly to Harry.
"Harry, relax and try to breathe through the pain, and I'll explain everything." Harry nodded and visibly relaxed, sinking to the floor and taking deep gulps of air. "I don't think Cyrna ever told you, but the Malfoys have veela blood. Both of our children were to come into their inheritance as a magical creature on their birthday, at the exact moment of their birth. Cyrna is currently in the process, and Draco will begin in a few minutes. We had planned to bring the children back to our quarters during the party to aid them with the change, but upon our arrival here Cyrna became rather distressed, claiming that as Draco's mate you were going to go through your transformation too, and you were unprepared for it, not to mention in the Great Hall where everyone would be able to see."
Harry looked startled. "Draco is my mate? But how did she know?"
"I am almost possible that she is correct, Harry, and you know as well as I how clever my daughter is. She saw signs that even you missed." Narcissa answered, smiling gently. Her smile was quickly wiped away, however, as Harry began to moan and whimper in pain. "Harry, we have to get you to Draco." Narcissa said With a whispered Mobili corpus, Harry rose into the air and followed her into Draco's room.
Draco was writhing on the bed. His transformation was beginning. Narcissa sighed and brought Harry to him. "Darling, we brought Harry here, I don't know if you can understand through the pain, but he's not doing well, and I think maybe if you-" Narcissa was cut off as her hand was brutally brushed away from Harry's forehead, where she had been stroking gently in an attempt to relax him.
Startled, she looked down into vivid silver eyes, full of anger. "Mine" Draco hissed, barely able to speak, but desperate to keep his mate to himself. Narcissa nodded in understanding and backed out of the room. Lucius had been equally as possessive of her when they first met after both had received their inheritances.
Draco turned his eyes to his mate, instinctively knowing what to do. They were meant to go through this together, and only he could ease Harry's pain. Draco ripped Harry's shirt from his body to make room for the wings that were already beginning to rip through. His own shirt had already been taken off. He rolled Harry to his side and they faced each other, arms wrapping around Harry's waist.
Harry was stunned as the haze that had accompanied the vast amount of pain left. He opened his eyes to see Draco peering intently at him. The pain was still there, and he could feel his back ripping, but that did not matter. Nothing mattered in comparison to his mate. He knew now that Cyrna was right. He should have recognized his feelings from the beginning, but it would have been difficult. A submissive vampire was meant to find their mate after their mate had come of age, and not before.
Draco hardly noticed the pain in his back, he was so intent on his mate. Harry was the epitome of beauty and perfection to the veela. Nothing would ever tear them apart. Harry was his. "Mine," Draco whispered.
Harry smiled slightly, "yours" he hissed out as the pain increased. Draco leaned forward, and captured Harry's lips in a soft kiss. Both gripped the other tightly as the pain unfurled completely.
Proud black wings stood on Draco's back. They were magnificent, and would be as tall as he was when he stood. Harry's wings were a beautiful dark green. They were quite a bit smaller than Draco's, but looked infinitely softer, and so delicate.
A house elf rushed forward with a tray of potions, and Narcissa, who had been watching from the doorway, re-entered and whispered in Draco's ear that his mate was bleeding and in pain and would only heal if he took these potions. It wasn't quite true, as a vampire healed quickly on its own, but Harry would be in pain without the potions, and Draco did not have the benefit of vampire blood to heal him.
Draco immediately sat up, ignoring his own pain, and helped Harry to drink both a healing potion and a dreamless sleep potion.
His task done, Draco began to lie down again, but Narcissa handed him his own potions and told him sternly that he would drink them if he wanted to be able to see Harry again. At his furious look, Narcissa merely replied, "Honestly Draco, if you don't heal yourself you could die and leave Harry all alone. Now, I know you, and I know that you don't want Harry to go out and find another mate to replace you…" Narcissa trailed off, and she noticed with glee that Draco immediately downed the potions and sank into a deep sleep.
She chuckled softly, it was clear to see that Draco was already in love with his mate, of course once both boys were back to their senses there might be some difficulties, but at the moment they looked too cute together for Narcissa to care, Draco's arms wrapped tightly around Harry and his wings had extended to cover Harry and protect him.
With one last glance, Narcissa swept out of the room to check on her daughter.
Lucius hurried into his daughter's room. Cyrna was lying on her be, curled into the fetal position and whimpering in pain. She was already wearing her Kiangion and her wings were almost completely out, which was a relief. She didn't have her mate yet to take away the pain, or at least to distract from the experience.
Lucius stood close to the bed, watching as with one last burst of magical energy the wings came out completely. They were a beautiful pale gold and gave his daughter the look of an angel. He stared at the wings for a minute, before a rather loud whimper from the bed caught his attention.
"Elf, get those potions over here this instant!" Lucius bellowed, glaring at the house elf in the room, who instantly jumped to obey.
Lucius sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his daughter's shoulder. "Cyrna, I'm going to give you some potions now so you can heal. Everything will be fine when you wake up." He said soothingly.
Cyrna didn't reply, but seemed to understand, as she allowed her self to be sat up. Lucius tipped the potions to her lips and she swallowed dutifully, the pain evident on her face immediately lessening.
When she had taken the potions, Lucius helped her to lay down mostly on her stomach, so the wings wouldn't be in the way. 'I only wish that we hadn't found her so close to her 16th birthday. We just got her, and we already have to watch while she's in pain, and we can't do anything about it!' Lucius shook his head ruefully. He could remember the pain that accompanied one's transformation extremely well. He shuddered. 'At least the pain's only a one time occurrence' he thought. He smiled at his daughter, Cyrna really did look beautiful, but even so he knew that once she woke up things were going to get difficult. 'If Potter really is Draco's mate, that will make things a whole lot easier. I'll only have to help one child find their mate. And if Potter is a vampire as Cyrna claims it will be even easier, because he won't want to refuse the bond. But Cyrna, her mate could still refuse her. We could lose our daughter again!' Lucius wailed in his head. He took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down. 'We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it.'
A hand on his shoulder jerked Lucius from his reverie. "Darling, did the transformation go alright? How is she?" a worried Narcissa asked.
Turning to his wife, Lucius smiled, putting his fears aside. "She came through beautifully, and took her potions without any fuss. Her wings are beautiful though. Almost the same color as yours, but not quite as dark." Narcissa looked at her daughter, Lucius was right. Narcissa smirked triumphantly, wings that beautiful would make it quite easy for her daughter to seduce her mate.
Lucius broke the silence first. "And Draco? Is Harry Potter truly his mate?" Lucius asked worriedly. If the two weren't meant to be together, though he was almost positive they were, then bringing them together at such a moment could have been disastrous.
Narcissa smiled warmly. "Your son inherited your possessive streak!" she scolded. "He nearly bit my arm off for touching Harry." Narcissa attempted to look stern, but simply couldn't manage it. "They truly are mates though, and quite the beautiful couple. Draco was extremely protective, already showing himself to be the dominant in the relationship, soothing Harry's pain and hiding him with his wings. Any dislike they may have had for each other is gone, though it may take them a while to admit that."
Lucius wrapped his arms around his wife. "I'm happy for him. Still a little surprised, but its not as if we weren't going to see a lot of Harry anyway. I think we may have already healed a great deal of the damage done to his relationship with our family simply by how we've treated Cyrna. He's quite the loyal friend from what I've seen. Not like that Weasley boy, running off like that! The nerve!" Lucius paused, horror crossing his face. "You don't think…"
Narcissa pulled slightly away from her husband and tried to determine what the problem was. "What don't I think Lucius?" she prompted.
"What if that horrible Weasley boy is her mate?" Lucius whispered. "What would she do? He's mad at her now, but they spent years as very close friends, maybe they were drawn to each other because they're mates!"
"Hush dear," Narcissa soothed. "Cyrna would have known if he was her mate, and she would have told us. I'm sure they were only friends. In fact, I think that Harry may have been drawn to her because she smelled similar to Draco, and Draco rather ruined his chances of Harry wanting to be around him with his attitude, necessary though it may have been." She rubbed circles on his back until his breathing returned to normal. "Now, I think that your over reaction is because we are exhausted both mentally and physically. Let's get some rest. The house elves will wake us if the children stir."
Lucius nodded slowly, and allowed his wife to lead him to their bedroom. It had certainly been one very long day.
Harry woke slowly, immensely enjoying the absence of pain. He couldn't really remember anything from the night before, only the pain, and then something that had soothed said pain away. 'Hmm… I wonder if I had another mate-related back pain last night. If so, my mate must be getting close to their birthday because last night was certainly worse than before.'
Yawning, Harry attempted to stretch, and realized that he couldn't move anywhere. Startled, Harry opened his eyes, meeting only darkness. 'What the bloody hell is going on!' He thought. 'Why is it so dark? And… wait a minute, are those FEATHERS!' Harry was almost screaming mentally. He began struggling against the force holding him down.
"unh…" a voice groaned, heavy from sleep. "Stop moving around, I want to sleep s'more." Harry found himself squeezed tighter into the embrace of his 'captor'.
'Ok… lets go through the basic facts of my current situation. I'm being held very tightly by some unidentified man, I'm completely covered by what appear to be said man's black wings, and last night I had a "mate attack". So, its probably safe to say that whoever is holding me is my mate, I mean, who else would it be? Therefore, the all important question is: WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT!' Harry sighed, despite his confusion, he was warm and comfortable. He didn't really want to leave, he simply wanted to understand.
'I was at Cyrna's birthday party, and I was looking for her. Dobby came up to me and said I had to come because she needed me. It was around this point, or perhaps a while before that my back started hurting. Hmmm… Dobby brought me to the Malfoy's rooms, but I only say Lucius and Narcissa… I think I remember hearing Cyrna's screams, and then something about Narcissa telling me they were all veela, and that… Oh Merlin!'
"Umm… Draco, would you mind letting go of me?" Harry asked quietly, pushing at the blonde's arm.
"Actually, I do mind, you're not going anywhere." Draco growled softly, again tightening his grip.
"Draco, I really think you should let me go, I don't even know where we are! Someone could come in!" Harry argued, clearly not whining despite what others might say.
Anything further that either boy may have said was cut off as Harry was proved correct. Someone was indeed entering the room. "Draco, Harry, I believe that you have both had a sufficient amount of time to recover from the effects of last night, and it is time for a family discussion." Lucius' voice echoed through the room before he left again. Harry shivered, Lucius didn't sound too angry, but he knew that he couldn't be too thrilled with the fact that his son was in bed with a boy.
Harry again attempted to wiggle of Draco's arms, and this time was released. He hastily shut his eyes as Draco took his wings down and shivered. He hadn't realized how warm and dark a cocoon those wings made, especially since he wasn't wearing a shirt.
"Draco? Where is my shirt?" Harry asked, embarrassed that he didn't even know when it had been taken off.
Draco smiled at Harry, who looked quite gorgeous without a shirt, especially with his wings out. "Harry, it might be kind of difficult for you to where a shirt with your wings out."
Harry blinked in surprise, and then glanced behind him at the beautiful green wings. They were quite small and definitively answered the question as to whether he was dominant or submissive. "I guess I'm definitely a sub then," he whispered.
Draco shook his head and looked back at his own impressive wings. "And I'd say I'm definitely a dominant, so we're good." Harry gave a small smile, and Draco could tell that his mate was embarrassed that he was the 'girl' in the relationship. "Do you know how to get them to go away?" He asked gently.
"It's supposed to be simple from what I've read." Harry replied thoughtfully. "You just will them away, they're a part of you now, so you should be able to control them by thought." Harry closed his eyes in concentration, feeling out his wings as he would his arms or legs. He folded them carefully into his back and upon inspection, smiled over at Draco, who was watching him with his wings still unfurled.
"How did you do that so easily?' Draco asked, somewhat miffed.
"Cause it was easy. You just feel them out and pull them back in. It seems weird, but you have to remember that you're part magical creature, and the wings are basically just physical representations of the magical part of you. Magic takes them away even when it defies the laws of physics." Harry was glad that he had read so much on the subject. His understanding of the theories had greatly helped him with a great many of the aspects of his vampirism.
Draco tried, he really did, but no amount of imagining the wings away worked. "Maybe its different for veela," he growled.
Harry shrugged, "It probably is." He pulled on a shirt. "I guess you're just going to have to go out there without a shirt then." He headed to the door, but Draco was immediately at his side. Arms and wings wrapped around him protectively.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked, confused out of his mind. "We have to go explain things to your parents."
Draco growled, "You aren't going out there unprotected! Anyone could hurt you."
"Draco, I highly doubt your parents are that angry at us for being in bed together, especially since it seems like we're mates and all. They won't hurt me, you can let go." Harry sighed, hoping that Draco would release him.
"Mine!" Draco insisted, picking Harry up bridal style, while still shielding him with his expansive wings. How Draco managed to open the door while carrying him, Harry didn't know, shielded from the world as he was, but nevertheless they did make it to the common area.
"Draco!" Lucius' voice scolded. "Harry will be fine if you let him out of your wings. I'm sure he's very confused as to your behavior."
Draco growled, but Harry replied, "please Draco, just let me out. I'm safe here, and you'll be right next to me." 'Bloody over protective veela just coming into their inheritances.' Harry thought, somewhat irritated.
Reluctantly, Draco let his wings down and allowed Harry to stand, but he would not allow Harry to leave the circle of his arms. "I suppose this is better than nothing,' Harry thought, unconsciously leaning back into Draco's chest.
"Um, Mr. Malfoy, I really am sorry that I ended up spending the night with your son. I don't know what happened to tell you the truth, I-"
"Harry you have nothing to worry about. We brought you to Draco in the first place, and Narcissa gave you a Dreamless Sleep potion after she healed your back, so there was no way you could have left." Lucius replied kindly. "And its Lucius, you are my son's mate after all. You're family, no need for formalities."
"Thanks… Lucius. If you don't mind me asking though, where is Cyrna? Is she ok?" Harry asked.
"She's quite fine, Harry. Narcissa is getting her now, and showing her how to put her wings away. Something you seemed to have mastered on your own." Lucius noted with some surprise. He had expected to have to teach both boys how to control their wings.
"Oh, err I did a lot of reading when I found out I was a vampire. I read all the theory on how to do everything, it really helped. It didn't work for Draco though." Harry answered.
"I don't suppose that it would work. I doubt very much that Draco actually wants to put his wings away." Lucius answered.
"Why wouldn't he? As much as I love my wings, I don't want them out all of the time, and its bloody cold without a shirt on." Harry said, blushing slightly as he realized that he had just sworn in front of his mate's father.
"One of the main functions of wings for a dominant is to protect their mate, and as we saw from that little display earlier, Draco here is rather overprotective." Lucius laughed.
Draco growled at his father in a way that distinctly implied, 'I'm not overprotective' and extended his wings to partially cover Harry, thus proving himself wrong.
"Draco!" Harry whined. "I'm fine, let me go!" Harry didn't know why he was fighting so much, being hidden by Draco's wings felt good, but some part of him insisted that he was independent and didn't need to be protected by anyone.
"I think you're fighting a battle that you cannot win Harry. He has only had his mate for a day, it will take him a while to come back to his human senses. He's bound to be extremely overprotective during that time. Though, now that I think of it, he is my son, so he's bound to be rather overprotective after that as well, but hopefully it will die down enough for him to retract his wings." Lucius said, clearly finding the situation highly amusing.
Cyrna woke to the gentle voice of her mother. "Cyrna darling, its time to wake up."
Blinking against the light, Cyrna obeyed. She flexed her wings experimentally, and was surprised to find that there was no pain. Sitting up slowly, she stretched in a manner similar to a cat and extended her wings out as far as possible. She sighed in relief as she stretched out the tension that had been lurking in places she hadn't realized that she had.
Narcissa smiled warmly at her daughter. "Your wings are simply beautiful Cyrna. I'm glad we chose that light blue for your Kiangion now, they look marvelous together." Cyrna smirked. She had had to practically beg her mother to get her Kiangion in light blue. They had wanted her to get some Slytherin green for the special robes, but she had insisted on her favorite color, knowing how important the robes could be. These robes allowed her wings to extended through without ripping the material, and according to tradition, each Veela female had a special one that they would wear the night of their transformation.
"Not that I don't love my wings, but how do I get them to go away? They aren't going to be very comfortable for sitting or laying down." Cyrna asked,
"It sounds odd, but you really do just image them away. Feel them out and pull them back inside of you, well, magically speaking, you don't physically pull them back into your body." Cyrna nodded in response, closing her eyes in concentration. Narcissa was quite pleased when the wings disappeared almost immediately.
"You're lucky darling, I'm sure Draco hasn't managed to retract his wings as of yet, since his mate is nearby. A dominant uses his wings to protect the submissive, so those wings are going to be around for quite a while." Narcissa laughed. After Draco's behavior last night she would be surprised if he eve managed to put his wings away.
"So I was right? Is Harry here now?" Cyrna asked, hopeful that her friend's search for a mate was over.
"You were correct, and Harry and Draco are most likely waiting for us with your father. We need to have a family discussion." Narcissa answered.
"Then I'll just go freshen up a bit before joining everyone," Cyrna said, "Wouldn't want to appear as anything less then perfect in front of my brother's mate," she smirked.
Cyrna headed into the adjoining bathroom as Narcissa made her way into the common room.
She laughed as she entered. The sight before her was quite hilarious. Her son had extended his large black wings around his mate and had his arms wrapped protectively around his waste. She could barely see Harry's face, but from what she could tell he was quite indignant at the thought of being protected. Lucius was barely stopping himself from right out laughing at his son, though she remembered that Lucius had been little better when he had claimed her.
"Why don't we all just sit down?" Narcissa suggested. "Cyrna will be out in a minute, she just wanted to clean up a bit before she saw everyone." Still smiling, she sat down on the couch, Lucius taking his place beside her. Both shook their heads as Draco examined the room for the safest place to sit with his mate. He finally decided on a rather large armchair facing the couch, shuffling both himself and Harry over. He whipped his wings out over the sides and sat, pulling a startled Harry into his lap.
"Draco, I'm perfectly capable of sitting on my own!" Harry cried indignantly.
"You're safer sitting with me," Draco insisted, holding Harry close to his chest. Harry sighed in defeat and snuggled closer. As much as he hated to admit it, he liked being protected by someone else for once instead of being the one to do the protecting.
Cyrna walked cautiously out of her room, inspecting the scene before her. Her brother and her best friend, cuddling with each other in one of the large armchairs, and her parents sitting on the couch and apparently trying very hard not to laugh at the boys judging by the strained looks on their faces. She sighed quietly. 'I'm the only one here who doesn't know who their mate is…' she thought dejectedly.
Shaking her head in an attempt to clear the depression, Cyrna headed over and sat down in the chair next to Draco, similarly facing the couch that her parents were sitting on.
Lucius smiled at his daughter. "Cyrna, I want to thank you for warning us last night about Harry. Things could have been worse for both of the boys if you hadn't interfered."
Cyrna blushed slightly, "The fact that we were so rushed trying to find Harry was my fault. I've known for a couple of days really. We could have sorted everything out ahead of time."
"Still Cyr," Harry cut in, "I don't even want to think about what would have happened if I'd gone through my transformation down in the Great Hall in front of all of those people. I'm glad that you cared enough to remember even though you were in pain too." He smiled genuinely at her as he was tugged even closer to Draco, who was growling again. "Oh hush you! Its not like I was actually down there! You can't get protective over a past event, that's just not fair!" Harry whined.
"He's right Draco," Lucius replied in Harry's defense, before continuing with a smirk, "besides, he's Harry Potter, then you'd have to get protective over all the attempts on his life. How many were there again? Lets see, there was that one as a baby, then that one in first year with Quirrel, and second year of course, and well, just about every year something happens. Not to mention how he had a Dark Lord out to kill him."
"Lucius! I can't believe you provoked your son like that!" Narcissa hissed. "Now look at him!" Draco had once again wrapped his wings in a very uncomfortable looking position around Harry, who had disappeared completely, seemingly folded into the veela's lap. Draco was growling over the top of his wings and glaring at the occupants of the room.
"Draco! All that is in the past!" Harry said softly but firmly. "I'm safe now, I promise. I'll tell you if I'm in danger and I want to be protected. You can't protect me from my memories." He whispered. He reached up and lightly stroked Draco's cheek, hoping that the gesture would calm him down. Luckily it worked far better than expected. Draco relaxed into the touch, rubbing his face against the hand. His wings fell down, re-exposing Harry to the room, and his growling became rather faint purring. Harry nuzzled into his neck, rejoicing at the feel of his mate. "I guess I know how to calm you down." Harry whispered into Draco's ear.
Draco shivered. He loved Harry, he had known even before his inheritance that there was something between them, but with his human side agreeing with the basic instincts of his veela side, he was losing the battle and throwing himself into his relationship with Harry. His mate.
Lucius cleared his throat loudly. "I believe that it is time to start our little family meeting." All four of the others in the room respectfully turned their attention to Lucius. "It seems that our family is going to be quite busy in the coming months. We need to make sure that Draco and Harry are bonded before Sanguine Season. There will have to be a proper wedding before the bonding, as is tradition. Narcissa, I believe that you would be best suited to take over the wedding plans, if you would be so kind?" Lucius asked politely.
"Of course Lucius," Narcissa replied, smiling evilly at her son and his mate. This was going to be fun!
"And of course, we'll have to begin the search for Cyrna's mate. It is important that we find him as soon as possible, though once we do we'll have another wedding to plan." Lucius sighed. "Cyrna, I love you, but if you're mate isn't a bloody normal human I'll be furious! We don't need another rushed wedding because you pulled a 'Draco' and chose a mate with magical creature blood who just happens to have a mating season that they go crazy for their mate in!"
"Don't worry Father, I'm sure he'll be a normal wizard. After all, the only reason Harry is Draco's mate is because he had to fulfill the requirements of being the Boy-Who-Everything-Seems-to Bloody-Happen-to and not only be a vampire, but a submissive one with a veela mate. What's that Harry? Like a one-in-a-trillion chance?" Cyrna smirked in reply.
Harry continued stroking Draco's cheek. It seemed that Draco had greatly calmed down for a few minutes ago a comment like that about his precious mate would have sent him off his rocker, joke or no joke. "You're both lucky that I've figured out the secret to keeping him from attacking people. Though if you continue to make fun of the charming nickname that the wizarding world has christened me with I may stop doing so." Harry joked back.
Draco smiled at his mate. He could slowly feel his human senses returning to him. He knew that even though his father and sister were making fun of his Harry they wouldn't intentionally harm him, even if they were only doing it with words. It helped that Harry was so close, and was still touching him. Draco leaned into Harry's hand, purring again, though he refused to admit that he was. Malfoy's did not purr!
Narcissa turned her gaze back to her son. "Now boys, you are not to do anything even remotely close to bonding until AFTER the wedding. Is that clear? We don't need Harry getting pregnant before the two of you are properly married."
Harry blushed a bit, but nodded. He wasn't too sure how he felt about bonding right away anyway. He knew that his vampire side needed the bond, and was in fact demanding that he bond right now, but the urge was quite easy to put aside because of his fear. He knew what bonding meant to a vampire. Well, at least a vampire who had inherited his attributes. He hadn't needed to drink blood yet, though he did have a mild craving for it, but once he was bonded, the craving and the sheer need for it would come in full force. He would need blood to survive, and the blood that he would need would be that of his mate. He wouldn't need a great deal, simply a taste of it every day, the larger the amount the longer he could last without it again. It all seemed simple enough, but still he was scared of what it would mean. He would finally have to admit that his entire life was different, and he wasn't prepared to. 'I'll come to terms with it by the wedding,' he promised himself. 'And I'll find some way to hold Draco off from bonding until then,' he continued, somewhat amused. Draco was eyeing him with lust-filled eyes.
Narcissa must have noticed this as well because she admonished, "Draco! Did you hear me?" Which finally succeeded in bringing a response from Draco who growled deeply.
"Yes, I heard you, and I'll agree, but I'm not happy about it." he nuzzled against Harry. He had hoped that his parents wouldn't directly forbid them to bond before the wedding. He knew that he couldn't go against his mother's wishes, he'd been on the receiving end of her disapproval before. He shuddered deeply, he definitely didn't want to go through that again.
Lucius watched his son shudder, and couldn't help but agree with him. Narcissa in a temper was not something that one wanted to have to deal with. He knew, unfortunately, from a great deal of first hand experience. "Now that the boys are settled with that decision, the same goes for you Cyrna. If you find you mate you are forbidden to bond till after the proper wedding, should he agree to the bond."
Cyrna nodded. "How will I find him though?" She asked, unable to keep the despair out of her voice.
"For the submissive veela it's a scent thing. He'll smell like the most heavenly thing on earth, and all you'll want to do is throw yourself into his arms and stay there forever. There's a deep attraction that you simply can't ignore. It overpowers you completely, but in such a way that you're begging for more." Narcissa answered, smiling faintly at her husband as she did so. "Trust me, you'll know who it is."
Everything was moving so quickly and yet not fast enough. All she really wanted was to find her mate, but it seemed as all of the other stuff was taking precedence to her real desire. She had only known that she was Malfoy for three days, and already she was talking about getting married. There really wasn't anyway around the wedding, or at least the bonding, but she couldn't help but be nervous. Despite her family's optimism her mate could be someone who didn't want to marry her. 'Relax, you've read the books on mates before for Harry. Stop being so sill about everything! Mates are destined for each other! And its not a one way street. They'll want me too, and if they're reluctant at first, then that's what the veela charm is for.'
As if her father was reading her mind he said, "You'll both have to practice with the veela charm. Draco should be fine for the most part, as he already has his mate and won't have to use the charm to draw his mate to him, but Cyrna you'll have to be very careful. Until you find your mate the charm will try to run wild, drawing everyone to you so you can, er, inspect them to see if they are your mate. Once you determine who that is however the charm will simply direct itself towards them. Its going to be very dangerous for you until you find out who your mate is." Lucius looked at her sternly, trying to convey how important it was that her control of her powers not slip. "If you let too much of the charm loose in desperation you'll have half of the student body attacking you for a rather unpleasant reason, at least for you."
Cyrna gulped. Having all of the boys in the school attempting to rape her was not exactly her idea of a fun day. She could already sense her charm. It was similar to the way she could sense her wings, and it had almost a physical presence. It was almost as if there was a remote control for it in her head, and she could turn it on or off at will, adjusting the level. She chuckled silently to herself, the one good thing about being a magical creature was the magical instincts that told you how to do the things inherent to your nature.
"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure I understand how to use it."
Lucius nodded. "Still, I want the entire family with you the first time you leave these rooms. There's no reason to tempt fate, we'll make sure you can keep the charm off before we leave you alone." The rest of the family nodded their agreement, and though she felt somewhat babied, Cyrna knew it was for the best. Images of being jumped by Crabbe or Goyle flooding through her head. 'I'm not going to complain about who my mate is at all as long as it isn't one of them!' she shrieked to herself. 'I need to work on this whole vivid imagination thing… its definitely causing some problems.'
Cyrna's thoughts were disrupted by a knock at the portrait hole. Draco immediately began growling and hid Harry behind his wings again. "Maybe its not the best idea to let anyone in here right now," she giggled.
Narcissa and Lucius had both moved to the portrait and opened it despite her warning. "Hello Professor Dumbledore," Narcissa said politely.
"Good morning Mrs. Malfoy, I trust last night went all right."
"Yes, everything was fine. Won't you come in and have a seat?" Narcissa ushered him into the room and lead him to an arm chair between the couch and the other two occupied chairs.
Dumbledore looked rather amused as he saw Draco with his wings still unfurled. "Hello Draco, I would have thought you would have put your wings away by now. I've been told its rather easy to do so." Dumbledore said kindly.
Draco's wings moved somewhat tighter around Harry, who was completely hidden from sight. He glared at the Headmaster and growled low in his throat.
Harry called loudly in an attempt to make himself heard, "He's only doing this because I'm here. Just assure him that you won't harm me so I can calm him down again, its not working right now."
Cyrna smirked. She had never seen Dumbledore so surprised. She had always thought of him as being rather omniscient, but he seemed to have no clue that Harry was Draco's mate at all.
"Oh, of course my dear boy." He finally managed to splutter. "Draco, I promise that I will not hurt Harry in any way if you take your wings down. He's quite safe here."
Draco loosened his hold somewhat, and Harry used that opportunity to stroke his cheek again, whispering reassuring words to let Draco know that he was alright. Slowly, Draco's wings went down again, revealing a smiling Harry to the room.
"Hello professor. What brings you here this morning?" Harry asked rather sheepishly.
"I came to make sure that everything went as expected with Cyrna and Draco's transformations. It seems there were a few surprises then?" Dumbledore asked, raising an eyebrow.
Cyrna blushed slightly then answered, "Ever since Harry found out that he was a vampire, we've all been on the look out for his mate. I noticed how he was behaving towards Draco, always watching him, and Draco was the same. It was really quite obvious that they were mates. I admit that I was looking forward to their reactions, and I overlooked the practical aspects of the situation. I didn't realize that Harry would be going through his transformation at the same time as Draco and I until we were already back here and the process had started. I figured that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for Harry to transform down in the Great Hall with all those people so I informed my family and they were able to get Harry up here in time."
"And as you can see, Draco is the dominant in the relationship and quite possessive and protective of Harry." Lucius finished, smirk firmly in place.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled brightly. "This certainly is a wonderful surprise. I'm sure the transformation was much easier for both of you since you were together."
Harry smiled, "I believe it was. I don't really remember a lot of it, but whatever happened, Draco at least got me through it alive."
Dumbledore turned back to Cyrna. "Do you have any idea who your mate might be?"
"No, not at all. I haven't gotten the chance to leave these rooms, and I wasn't drawn to anyone before now. Maybe I haven't met my mate at all yet." She mused.
Lucius cut in on her thoughts. "Its almost breakfast time now, perhaps now would be a good time to expose you to the rest of the school. That is if Draco thinks that he can compose himself enough to let go of Harry."
All eyes in the room turned to Draco and Harry, both of whom were looking at each other and completely oblivious to all the attention.
"Draco, do you think you can put your wings away now?" Narcissa asked softly.
Harry gave him an encouraging look and Draco let out a long suffering sigh. "I suppose I could try." He closed his eyes, concentrating on the fact that his Harry was safe, and still in his arms. He willed the wings away quickly and was rewarded with a hug from Harry.
"I knew you could do it," he whispered in Draco's ear.
"Wonderful!" Dumbledore called, eyes twinkling. "I shall see you all at breakfast," he said politely, leaving the family alone.
Narcissa smiled at her family, "Why don't we all get dressed and meet back here to go down in a half hour?" Seeing the nods of acceptance, she grabbed her husband's hand and led him out of the room.
Harry squirmed out of Draco's lap and grinned. "We better get going, can't go to breakfast without a shirt on!" Harry and Draco quickly exited the room. Cyrna shook her head. She wanted the closeness her parents and brother had with their mates. They all seemed so happy. 'I hope that I find my mate today…. Wait a second! I could find my mate now! They could be down there waiting for me!' With that happy thought, Cyrna headed to her room to get dressed as well.
A half hour later found the happy family heading down from their quarters to the Great Hall for breakfast. Draco's arms were firmly wrapped around Harry's waist, though thankfully his wings were still retracted. Cyrna was wearing a robe similar to the Kiangion, though it lacked the ceremonial importance of her actual Kiangion. If she did indeed find her mate at breakfast there was a good chance that she would lose control of her wings, and she really had no desire to have her clothes ripped off in front of the rest of the school.
Cyrna followed her family as they made their way over to the Slytherin table to sit down. The hall was as noisy as usual, and everything seemed quite normal. Most of the school was in attendance, despite the fact that it was somewhat late in the morning. It was, after all, Saturday and most of the school tended to eat later.
She willed herself not to immediately stare at everyone in the hall, instead taking calming breaths before inhaling deeply. She searched the air for the scent of her mate, desperately hoping that… 'Oh Merlin! I smell him, my mate! He's here!' She looked up, following the direction the smell seemed to be coming from/ Her eyes locked with him. She knew he was her mate. She wanted to run to him, throw herself into his arms.
She felt herself beginning to stand up.
"Cyrna, what's wrong? Sit back down!" Lucius hissed quietly, not wanting to make a scene in front of the entire school.
"My mate." She said quietly. "He's here, and I know who he is."
A/N::cackles: Why must I stop it here? Because I'm evil, and because this chapter is like 7,500 words long, which is about 15 pages, lol. Its my longest chapter ever, and it led to quite a nice little cliff hanger if I do say so myself. I find myself at a bit of a cross roads though. I never really decided who to have as Cyrna's mate… the other part of the reason why I stopped right there, so all of you lovely readers can leave a review with votes as to who you want her mate to be. I'll pick whichever one gets the most answers, though I do have two limits: One, it cannot be Ron, I've already thrown out that possibility, and Two, it has to be a guy. I state quite specifically that her mate is male, so you'll all have to deal with it! Lol, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to review!