Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
"Harry?" Draco was softly knocking on his door. "Harry, can I come in?" He tuned into his veela hearing and heard a faint sob. So faint, he thought he didn't hear it until it happened again.
He pushed the door open and sneaked inside before shutting the door softly. Harry was on the floor in the far corner of the room, wings wrapped firmly around him. The door had helped muffle the sobs, but Draco could see now that the wings were absorbing most of the sound.
"Harry?" he called softly. His feet whispered across the floor in his haste to give the boy some sort of comfort. He felt, rather than saw, the wings stiffen at his approach. "Oh Harry." He dropped to his knees beside him and gathered him in his arms softly, careful not to touch his wings too much. He knew just how sensitive they could be, especially when emotions run high, and he didn't want to cause more harm.
"I-I j-just don't k-know wh-what's w-wrong. I-I'm just s-so s-sad," He tried to keep talking through the sobs, but the sorrow eventually won out, effectively cutting his speech off.
"Would you let me in, Harry?" One of the wings opened just enough for the blond to fit through and quickly cut out the outside world again. Draco pulled Harry to him, holding him as sobs wrecked through his entire body. After a few minutes Harry's sobs had quieted somewhat and Draco took advantage of that.
"You're lonely." It wasn't a question, more of a statement. Harry's body had been so preoccupied with healing itself inside and out, trying to heal sixteen years worth of wounds, that the mate aspect of it all hadn't been something they thought to discuss. Normally it was a slow progression, the loneliness. It was supposed to be a gradual change, something that took a year or more to develop into a bond with their mate.
Harry seemed to be getting the brunt of the loneliness all at once, and none of the bond. A tear slipped down Draco's cheek. It had only been a few months for him and the hollow loneliness was already intense. He couldn't imagine getting a year's worth all at once.
Harry leaned into his embrace, clutching at his shirt for dear life.
"Shh, it'll be alright Harry. Everything's going to be okay." He explained his suspicions to him and Harry slowly quieted over time, letting small hiccups replace the sobs. "Father and I did some research on dark angels. The loneliness will be there until you're completely changed. Slow changes, mostly internal, happen over the course of a year. It's also believed to be the period in which a creature is meant to find their mate-to use the time to socialize as much as possible so it's easier to pinpoint who you're mat it later. Most, anyways. I believe that your magic finished with you much faster than everyone else's would have, and that's caused all the buildup for a mate to drop on you all at once.
"I know it hurts, believe me I know. Your mate is out there Harry." He gently ran his fingers through the boy's hair while he held Harry against his left side. "Either your mate hasn't met you yet, haven't turned sixteen, or they're like us and going through these changes as well. I can help you through this as best as I can until then." Harry sniffled and pressed closer into Draco's chest, relishing in the closeness. It was easing the pain, although not by much.
They didn't know how long they sat there, tied up in each other's embrace. Both were benefiting from the prolonged contact, experiencing the loneliness subside a little. It was like this that Lucius found them, holding each other under Harry's vibrant wings. Lucius softly closed the door, letting them be.
He spent an hour or so scouring his personal library, trying to find the book he had on mates and their bonds. When he finally found it, he cracked it open to the page he needed and started reading.
'When one is powerful enough to go through the change faster than a year, the loneliness will be overpowering. All of it will hit all at once, usually rendering the creature useless at everything including; self preservation, self defense, eating, and even walking is impaired. It is imperative that the creature have someone they trust completely to help them. Physical comfort from this person will help alleviate some of the pain and will assist in getting them to take care of themselves on their own.
In this case, it is recommended that physical contact length should be determined by the creature themselves. Only they are truly aware of how much pain they are in and if they can get through ten minutes or ten hours without the contact.
Oftentimes, their mate either isn't of age, or is another creature who hasn't gone through the complete inheritance change yet. The latter is most common, as bonds with underage wizards, witches and creatures will still form. There is only one case in which a mate bond didn't form due to being underage…'
Lucius skipped forward a few pages.
'I the case that the mate is undergoing an inheritance change, often outsiders will be the only ones to notice their bond strengthening and forming. The majorly affected will be too wrapped up in loneliness and despair to notice anything but the overpowering feeling of loss. The one undergoing their change still will notice a dramatically smaller amount of loneliness than they would have normally. The closer to their mate they are, the less lonely they will act. They will start to hover around their mate subconsciously, finding excuses to spend more time together.
In most cases, the one still completing their change will experience a harder time with using magic. If magic is refrained from being used, it will take one to two weeks for their bodies to complete their change. This will allow the mate bond to complete itself. Cautionary words for anyone surrounding the two: Once they find each other, the connection will be far more intense than normal. Depending on the power of the two, harmless sparks will fly off their skin as their magic hums in recognition. More extreme cases have yet to be recorded. As normal, both will reveal their true forms to anyone watching. Physical touch is most important at this stage. Skin to skin contact is highly recommended until their bond strengthens.
Normal mating rituals can, and should, be continued once they no longer need prolonged skin to skin contact.
It should be noted that these conditions are very rare, and caution should be used when any similar situations arise.' Lucius showed the passages to Narcissa, and she gasped.
"Luke, you really don't think…"
"Come now Cissa, you've seen the two of them. You've seen how much happier Draco has become, how well he was handling the loneliness before we took Harry in. I think you should talk to him about it. The more informed he is, the more likely the two of them can heal faster. I do hate to see them in pain like that." She nodded, more to herself than anything.
"Draco?" Narcissa slowly creaked the door open and poked her head in. The two were still under Harry's wings, but she could see they were much more relaxed now than they were before. Draco poked his head up through the feathers.
"Yes?"
"Darling, would you be okay if I talked to you? The way we used to?" She was referencing the way they would communicate when Voldemort was near their family. Veela were natural mind readers, their abilities only strengthened by their mother-son bond.
They mulled over the information that Lucius had found and Draco let a small smile, full of hope, grace his face.
"Do you really think so?"
"Only you can know for sure darling. But it's worth paying attention to. Promise me you won't use magic for a few days." He promised and she left. Draco managed to lift Harry up so they could move to the bed. It was late, and they needed sleep.
As Harry was laying in the warm embrace that eased his hurting, he thought about Draco revealing himself as a veela. He couldn't remember much about it, only the brilliant silver glow that surrounded him and his eyes. He couldn't remember what his wings looked like.
"Draco? Can...would you show me your wings again?" His voice was small, much smaller than he remembered it being.
"You sure? I'll have to stand up." Harry nodded and sat up to watch him transform.
The effect was more powerful than Harry remembered. Draco's wings were snow white with metallic gold speckling them and a few sky blue ones here and there. The silver glow around him remained, although it wasn't blinding this time. Upon closer inspection, his eyes weren't just mercury. They had small pools of the bright sky blue floating around, almost dancing around in his irises.
Harry's breath caught in his throat, the loneliness suddenly backing away much more than before. It was still there, a very apparent ache. But that was less than the heart ripping pain he had endured earlier. He got off the bed and rushed towards Draco.
Draco welcomed him with his arms and wings open. They both encased Harry in a blanket of warmth. He pulled Harry back to the bed and they went to sleep encased in each other's arms and wings.
A few days had gone by, and already Draco knew he was almost done with his change. He left Harry, promising to return in a few hours, to visit his mother outside for tea in their gardens. Harry, who had been writing a letter to Hermione, nodded. He felt guilty enough as it was about taking up all of Draco's time.
Draco and his mother talked about school. She and Lucius had convinced the headmaster that Draco would need his own rooms due to his condition. Their original request was denied until Lucius threw it back in the headmaster's face that the Malfoy family had managed to kill Voldemort once and for all and had saved the wizarding world a lot of heartache had they waited for him to go about things his way. Dumbledore was much more accommodating after that reminder.
They talked about Draco's friends and their families, but that conversation didn't last very long. Narcissa was still trying to get into the good graces of many of her old friends from school and a lot of them were very cautious about letting her back in after the first war.
Eventually she paused and turned to Draco.
"Alright, I know you love me dearly, but I know you had to come down here for more than that since you left Harry in the house. What is it Dragon?" Hearing the childhood nickname again made him smile.
"You always knew me best. Look," he stood and transformed into his veela self, letting his wings stretch out beside him.
Narcissa gasped, smiled and hugged him in all her happiness. A tear was silently sliding down her face as she looked him over. "Dragon, you look wonderful! And you're glow is much healthier now than it was a few days ago. You've even grown a few inches! And your wings, they've grown out-they're at least three meters wide now!" Draco smiled at her obvious praises. "Oh my Dragon, remember when you used to worry you'd be the submissive and your mate would be the dominate? I think you can put those worries to rest." They sat back down and Draco told her how much better he felt even in the short time they had been having tea.
"Have you tried flying yet? I know you will love it. Who knows, perhaps that will trigger your bond to develop. Maybe it just needs to know you're done changing." Draco's eyes lit up at the thought of flying. He spread his wings and thought about how wonderful it would be to be soaring through the air…
...and then he was! The air felt good against his wings, the freedom was incredible. He flew around the garden, waved at his mother who was silently crying with happiness for her son, and he landed with a soft gracefulness he didn't think he was capable of.
He was beaming at his mother, and suddenly felt a slight tug inside him. He turned to face the manor, still radiating joy. His father was in the window of his study, waving and smiling with pride.
He looked up to the second floor and didn't see Harry but he felt the tug again.
"Draco." He turned back to Narcissa. "Close your eyes. Do you feel it?" He nodded. "Where is it leading?" He opened his eyes.
"Mother, I think we both know where it's pulling me." She waved him away and resumed her tea.