A Veela's first wave began as all horrific things did - quietly and innocently.

This horrific thing started with a small, thin, sickly nine year old boy simply wrapped up in a thick blanket attempting to ride out what seemed to be a nasty cold. Draco curled in on himself in the ancient arm chair beside the fireplace in his family Manor's oversize library and shook. The hot and cold flashes had started a bit over a week ago and had only progressed in severity since. From any other child the repetetive quick tempeture drops would have been enough for a one way trip to Mugo's healing center but Lucius Malfoy insisted otherwise. His father had stopped bringing his son to the hospital for such things a few years prior claiming it would only further progress the othering of his son in the future. Even at eight years old however Draco realized he was different from the other children due to how often he got sick and the severity of his suffering but this felt different somehow.

The small blond huffed as he felt a small tickle at the back of his cold nose and rubbed roughly. He hated being sick with all his might. No matter how much he begged and pleaded when he was sick he was forbidden from any activity other than reading and sleeping. With a tiny sniff he twisted in the chair to open his book again and began reading once more, allowing himself to be sucked into their world. When he was young his mother read it to him before bed countless times as she curled around him in his childhood bed and stroked his hair. This book had also been the first he had ever read all by himself as a child and continued to read it every time he got sick. It was the story about a Veela princess Marionette and her private knight Pruet who turned out to be her faithful mate. Sometimes when his father was too loud and the visitors his father brought by the house were too cruel he wished to switch places with her

He shook his head at the silly idea and shoved his blanket to the floor suddenly too warm for the deep green fleece. He frowned slightly when the heat didn't subsided but instead continued to steadily grow. Draco uncurled himself in the chair and placed his feet on the floor only to realize when he looked down he was badly shaking. His breaths began to grow quicker and shallower as the heat began to rise higher in his chest and began burning at the tips of his ears, nose and fingers. His breathing temp reached the point of hyperventilation when the heat began to burn at his chest like a fire. This had never happened before. Draco didn't know what to do.

"M-Mummy," the boy whimpered as he pushed himself out of the chair shakily.

He only managed a few steps before he collapsed onto the hardwood floor as the burning heat surged under his skin. The blond rolled onto his opened his mouth to scream only for it to be caught in his throat. It was as if he had swallowed an ember only for it to catch light inside his chest to roast him from the inside out. Tears spilled over his pale cheeks as he desperately struggled to cry out for help.

"Mummy please!" Draco sobbed, writhing on the floor in pain, "Mummy help I'm on fire!"

Draco continued to scream and sob to no response for what felt like years to him but was only 3 mere minutes of hell to the house elves who listened on from outside the large doors. Dobby imparticular had wanted to enter but Lucius's instructions to leave the boy alone had been clear before he had left. The elves all jumped when they heard the telltale sound of the floo going off and Narssica Malfoy's heels clack against the floor. The young Malfoy however couldn't hear and began to lose hope causing him to sob even more uncontrollably as even the house elves left him.

Immediately as Narssica Malfoy stepped out of the floo she felt that something was terribly wrong. Before she could even step out of the large fireplace to investigate however she heard a loud sob from within the Mansion and froze in fear. The second scream however caused her to fly into action. She walked quickly out of the floo, her dress robes billowing behind her and her discarded bags hitting the floor loudly. Her walk slowly became a jog and then a run before becoming a full on sprint as she searched for her baby boy with in the large Manor. Her husband had placed sound scattering spells on the Manor years prior to confuse an intruder in case of attack but it had completely backfired in this moment. The woman grabbed the arm of a nearby house elf as it tried to run past her and pulled it to face her roughly before leaning down to it's level.

"Where is my baby?" She hissed terrified and also angry that the house elf had tried to avoid her.

"T-The library Madam Malfoy," it squeaked, shaking something fierce.

She let go and ran to the library and hefted open the oversized doors before stilling at the sight. There on the floor of the Manor library next to the roaring fireplace lay her baby boy writhing and sobbing in pain. As he let out another moan she surged forward and dropped to the ground beside him and pulled his shaking body to her own. She cursed quietly under her breath as she rocked him in her arms. It was all too obvious now what had been happening these last three weeks leading up to this point. If it hadn't been for her fear of her husband's retaliation she would've called in Snape earlier who would've diagnosed and given him a pain dulling potion for this exact moment. Alas she had done no such thing leaving her nothing to do but to attempt to comfort the sobbing boy.

Shh shh Dragon… my dear Dragon. You're going to be okay," she smoothed her hands against his flaming hot cheeks attempting to wipe away the tears streaming down his face.

"Mummy I-I'm on fire," he sobbed, his throat raw and voice raspy from his own screams.

"It may feel like it but it's not true," She shook her head and smiled sadly at her son, "No no my Dragon your soul is seeking out It's match. You my baby boy are a Veela."

"V-veela?" He whimpered, looking up at his mother completely confused.

In the past he had heard his mother and father arguing about Veelas and read about them in his books but hadn't realized it was in the realm of possibility for himself. He was just a normal wizard like Blaise and Pansy wasn't he? He couldn't be a dirty mixed blood his father denounced at least one a week after a dip into the liquor cabinet. Draco shook his head weakly and whispered a small 'no' as tears tumbled down his cheeks even harder.

"Yes my Dragon. You are a Veela. Just like Marionette from your favorite story, remember? She had a first wave just like you. You're going to get a mate just like her my Dragon" she stroked his cheek softly thinking to herself bitterly about how sweeter and less painful the waves were meant to be in the books he loved to read.

He thought of how Pruet loved and protected Marionette and could hardly believe her, couldn't believe that he really got to have that, "Really? I get a mate like her? Are you sure?"

She nodded looking down at her sweet boy sadly knowing the chance that he would never get to be with his mate was higher than she would like to admit in the moment. He smiled slightly at the prospect of having someone love him like Pruet loved Marionette before his face once again curled into a terrifying silent screaming horror. She pulled him closer into her chest partially to comfort him but also to hide the terror of a look her son wore.Her little Veela had come into his first wave earlier than she had ever heard of before and it had already lasted much longer than usual which were all signs of how strong he and his mate would be. It was amazing to see and would be for the best in the long run but his body was already weaker than most to begin with. She hadn't even had a chance to warn him. The older Malfoy shook her head and refocused her attention on studying the boy's gestures only to realize he was beginning to clutch at his chest.

"Dragon, my Dragon you have to listen very closely okay?" She turned his face to look at her and stroked his hair, "In a little bit there is going to be a really hard pull on your chest. You have to let go okay? You have to promise me to let go or it will only hurt worse okay?"

He nodded weakly trying his best to manage his short gasping breaths. She apparently had not told him a moment too late as only seconds after he gasped loudly his eyes all but bugging out of his head. Draco's back arched like a bow up to the sky. It was as if someone had reached into his chest and was attempting to steal his soul while he was still breathing. The room was filled with a horrible scream that he didn't even recognize as his own but knew it must be by the way his already raw throat screamed back at him in pain. All he could remember in that moment was soul snatching pain.

And then the pain stopped

Many things happen at once after this. Draco slumped helplessly in his mother's arms and all but passed out. Narssica Malfoy on the other hand jumped into action by grabbing her son's wrists to check them. All Veelas got a temporary mark after their first wave of their mate's initials. It would be on their wrists most commonly or in unusual cases it would be located somewhere around their neck. The mark would last as long as it would take for their mate's soul to accept the Veela's meaning it was a toss up on time. Most times it took at least a good half hour but already her son had gone against all expectations so she acted as quickly as she could. The older Malfoy near rolled her eyes when she came to the conclusion that the mark had appeared on his neck making one more thing that was unusual about it all.

She unbuttoned his top two buttons quickly and pushed his head to the side grimacing as his head lolled almost lifeless like to the side. She gasped when she found the insanely quickly fading mark knowing that it was yet another telltale sign of an extremely strong bond. By the time it had been found the first letter had completely faded and all was left was a faint 'P' that was leaving as well. She swiped her thumb over it and leaned to look closer but by the time her thumb had passed over and she had blinked it was gone.

She sat back and leaned on her elbows trying to steady her heart beat. Mentally the Malfoy went over every last name she knew starting with a P that could belong to a child around Draco's age. 'Maybe Parkinson?' she thought before stilling and looking down at her boy in pure fear. 'What if it's… no. It can't be even an option' she shivered and made up her mind.

Draco Malfoy's mate had been chosen - and in more ways than one.

-xx