Chapter 4
Authors Note: Sorry this chapter is a little on the shorter side than my past two have been. I thought about making it longer but it felt like a good place to start and I'm super excited to write what happens next! Thank you for everyone who has reviewed, favorite, or followed this story! It means the world to me! Have a great day and as always please review if you have any questions or comments or just liked what you read.
June 4th 1998
The heavy door swung open, twenty minutes before midnight, as Draco entered his rooms located on the second floor of the manor in the east wing. Kicking off his expensive, black, Italian shoes Draco started walking towards his closet while unbuttoning his white collared shirt and dropping it into the hamper for dirty clothes. His room was very large but not overly extravagant in decoration. He had a light blue and silver color scheme, picked out by his mother some years ago. On the center far wall sat his king sized bed with two nightstands on either side. He had two doorways leading to a master bathroom and a walk in closet. On the wall across from the bathroom he had a fireplace with comfortable chairs and a couch surrounding it and the coffee table in the middle was filled with the books he had been reading this summer.
Stripping out of his clothes he donned his usual night attire, sweatpants that hung dangerously low on his hips and a white tank top. If anyone else had been in the room they would be able to describe how easy it was to see that Draco was tense. Draco himself was cursing under his breath for he had spent the rest of the day and most of the night in the Malfoy library. He had spent hours looking for books regarding to veela. He started with his old defense against the dark arts textbooks and then found some books regarding veela. One thing was for certain, male veela were extremely rare. Draco found himself frustrated when a lot of the information he found pertained to the female veela. A few passages stuck out in his mind and they made him feel very unsure of himself.
Veela are an incredibly strong species that are fiercely loyal to those they love. It is very uncommon to find a veela that is 100% veela with no human blood. It is so rare for this to occur, that wizard experts in the field do not believe such a creature has existed in thousands of years. The majority of veela that are in existence today are female veela. Male veela are extremely rare due to the fact that the veela blood can, and often does, lay dormant in males. This is because the change to a male veela is extremely taxing on the body whereas the change for females is more gradual and natural.
Females with veela in their blood are certain to go through the change to become veela because the change is not based on the female's magic. A female veela can also go through the change to become veela at any point in their life and in most instances find it occurs between the ages of 13 and 22. Female veela are beautiful creatures that often leave wizards pining for them. Once the change occurs they are able to produce pheromones to attract that of the other species. They typically have very light blond to white hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. Of course, this isn't a given description because females with very little veela blood can have other characteristics and become very weak or tame veela. Female veela are able to grow claws when they feel threatened and are usually more in tune with their magic once the change has occurred.
Male with veela blood in their system do not always undergo the change to become veela. As stated above, this is because the change for a male is very dependent on the magical ability of the wizard with the blood. Males undergo the change to become veela on their eighteenth birthday because this the time allotted for the blood to determine if the wizard is strong enough to handle to long painful change. The change for a male veela is said to be excruciated and that the stronger the veela the longer the change. Characteristics of male veela are very similar to that of their female counterparts. Males that undergo the change always show very fair characteristics including hair color, skin color, and the color of their eyes. The male veela are considered to be very attractive to that of the opposite gender and can also give off pheromones. If threatened a male veela can have the following veela traits, fangs, claws, black eyes, and for the strongest of the veela black wings.
The main difference found between a male and female veela is their mating habits. Veela are very loving and loyal creatures and their happiness often relies on that of their loved one. Both genders will have a mate but it is less likely for the female to find theirs or be affected by it. A female will only know the identity of their mate once smelled. When this occurs the female will know the human considered their mate and can go about wooing them. Females are not dependent on their mate to live, unlike the male veela. The female veela will do everything in their power to attract that of their mate but if the mate does not accept them the female can move on. If the female is forced to move on they can find happiness in another but never true love, like that that they feel for their mate. Additionally, a female veela can go her whole life without ever running into her mate, therefore not smelling her mate. If this occurs the female is able to fall in love with another and learn true happiness.
Male veela and their mates are a very different story from that of the female veela. Once the change occurs for a male veela the veela will be in control of the male for a full twenty four hours after the change is completed. The first thing the veela will do is sleep due to the rest it needs after the painful process of the change. In the first sleep the male veela will dream of their mate and in the cases of the strongest veela the veela will bond the dream to that of the mates dream; therefore, causing the mate and the veela to share the same dream. After waking the veela will be able to unconsciously find their mate, as if an invisible rope is attached to their mate. The male veela will feel the need to make sure their mate is protected and mark them as their own. This is usually done by biting the neck or thigh of the mate.
Once a mate has been marked by a male veela they are not instantly bonded to the veela. The veela has one year to have their mate accept their bond. Once accepting the of bond that mates can complete the bond by having the mate bite the male veela in the neck, similar to the original bite the mate received, during intercourse. Once bonded the mates are in a bond stronger than any marriage bond created. The veela will do everything in his power to love and cherish his mate and can physically not do anything to cause harm to his mate physically. In some rare instances the veela fights with his own human side over the attraction of the mate. For example, the veela will know and willingly accept the mate when the human is still fighting the bond. In these cases the human side of the veela can still emotionally hurt the mate but it will cause himself pain to do so and usually it does not take long for the human to realize his love for his mate.
However, if the mate does not accept the bond during the allotted year, after the veela's initial change, the veela will start to fall ill. The veela will start to experience the signs of heartbreak and loss. This can and will kill a male veela, in most cases heartbreak can take up to six months to kill a veela. According to wizarding experts the stronger the veela the shorter time heartbreak has to kill them.
Draco shook himself from his thoughts once again and looked at the time, wincing when he noticed that he only had five minutes till his birthday. After everything he had read in the past few hours he was still desperately hoping that nothing extraordinary occurred on his birthday. He would love to wake up peacefully human tomorrow and tell his mother not to make him worry like that again. Fully ready for bed Draco jumped onto his lovely down comforter and crawled his way up to lay his head on his many huge pillows.
'Oh, merlin,' Draco thought to himself, 'Please don't be a veela. Please don't change.' Three minutes to go.
'I don't need any more craziness in my life.' Two minutes to go. He knew the silent commands he was given to his body would not made a true difference but it did not matter to him. With one minute to go before his official birthday Draco could feel that he was going to go through the change. He had been trying to deny it all day but there was no denying that he felt like his body was preparing for something. Something big.
That's when it hit him. Pain like he had never felt before. A horrible, gut wrenching scream tour though his lips, a scream that could be heard through the whole house. Draco's body shook with pain that he knew was worse than any pain he had felt before, worse than the few times he had been forced under the cruciatus curse. Draco didn't even register the door to his room opening or his mother running to his bedside, followed by two house elves. He didn't notice her putting damp clothes on his forehead. There was nothing but he never ending stream of pain as his genetics changed in each one of his cells.
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Narcissa was still worrying ordering the house elves to fetch clean buckets of cold water every hour. To get her fresh clothes and to rub her son's spasming muscles. Though Draco would occasionally pass out from the pain he would often wake screaming as a fresh set of pain hit him. Narcissa had been keeping very close track of the amount of time the change had taken for she knew the most powerful veela known to wizards had taken thirteen hours to change. When Draco his hour ten she started to worry he would go insane from the amount of time under pain.
Finally after eleven and a half hours of watching her son in excruciating pain Draco's screams subsided and his spasms stopped. Draco opened his eyes and looked directly at his mother. Narcissa gasped when she saw the color of his eyes for they were entirely black.
"Mother," Draco coughed out, rasping through the pain still lingering in his throat, due to all his screaming. Before Narcissa could even reply Draco's black eyes closed and he entered into a fitful sleep, unaware he had caused his mate to enter the same dream he had just entered.
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Draco was walking the halls of Hogwarts feeling so very peaceful. He was walking through the halls with a purpose he knew not. Lifting his nose into the air he smelt that he was still traveling in the right direction. He had woke up this morning and everything had seemed perfectly normal. He woke up, took his morning shower, changed into his impeccable black wizarding robes made from the finest silk and waiting in the common room for his two best friends, Blaise Zabini and Theo Nott. When they final joined him in the common room they had all made the way to the slytherin table, which like the rest of the great hall was mostly empty as they were the one of the first students to enter.
Breakfast was a normal affair. Theo and Draco had been teasing Blaise about his latest conquest in the broom closet the night before. As it was a weekend no one in the friend group was in a particular rush. They all discussed what they were going to do for the rest of the day and it wasn't a surprise when Draco said he was going to go fly on the quidditch pitch. Realizing the three had spent quit a long time in the great hall they all got up and were leaving. It was at the doors that Draco smelt the smell.
Once his nose picked up on the faint but there smell his whole body froze. He knew it was her; it was the girl he had been searching for. He remembered saying a quick sudden goodbye to his friends before following the scent. Draco turned another corner heading up a flight of stairs when he thought about the scent and the morning events some more. He knew that his mate must have entered the great hall after him and left the great hall before him for he didn't smell her coming into the hall. He just wished he knew who he was so he could go and claim her for himself.
Stopping at a door he entered the room he though his mate may be in. He was surprised to see he was standing in the library. The room was beautiful with all the books lined up on rows and rows of bookshelves. Not having time to look through the books like he usually did he searched the library for the smell and realize though his mate had been in here she was no longer. Frustrated he left the room and started searching for the sent again. He took his time and really enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. Finally, the sent took him to the massive doors that led out to the gardens.
The scent was stronger here and Draco could feel the excitement coursing through his bones as he knew he was getting closer to his mate. He walked passed the quidditch pitch and walked in the direction of the black lake where the giant squid lived. Getting close to the lake Draco could feel himself reaching his end when he didn't see his mate but could smell that she was nearby. He quickly walked around a boulder and saw the back of a female sitting on a blanket reading a book.
His heart stopped when he realized who he is was looking at. This must be his mate. She had gorgeous brown curls that wildly fell down her back. In the sunlight he could see all the different colors ranging from auburn, to dark and light brown. He slowly lowered himself to his knees behind her and placed his arms around his mate's small figure. He nudged her wild hair gently out of the way and rubbed his nose against the length of her slender neck. Inhaling he was overcome with arousal at just the smell of his wonderful mate. Lavender, mint, and a touch of ink and parchment filled his nose as he continued breathing her in. He placed an open mouth kiss on her neck and he became incredibly hard as he heard her moan.
And then she was gone. Draco shot out of bed, his eyes the color of the darkest night. The veela in him was overjoyed with finally knowing who his mate was. He jumped out of bed with and landed lightly on his feet with the agility of a cat and ran passed his mother who had fallen asleep on the chair by his bed. He sprinted to the doors leading out to his balcony and pushed them open so hard they flew open smacking against the sides loudly.
"Draco!" he heard his mother yelling at him from the other room. "Get inside, where are you going." Draco growled at her, mad that anyone would stop his quest to find his mate. He gave her one last look before stepping onto the balcony ledge and jumping down to the soft dew covered grass below.
Draco felt a pull and with the speed of a wolf took off running in the direction he knew his mate was. He ran and ran and he knew exactly where he was going due to the pull to find her. Find his mate. And even though he didn't see her face in his dream Draco would know that crazy wild hair anywhere. It was the same hair he had made fun of for years as a child. That hair belonged to the one and only brightest witch of her age. That hair belonged to the witch he was going to find now, find and mark, and that witches name was Hermione Granger.
