Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Warnings: Slash and beastality.

I laid there staring at the stalactites on the cave's ceiling. The calcium and lime deposits seemed to teeter on the edge of oblivion until they fell with a tiny plop to the floor. Ice was out doing whatever he did, probably hunting. Somehow, my lack of freedom didn't bother me much, and I had virtually no yearning to escape. I dwelled on my emotional breakdown earlier in the day, and how it really didn't bother that it was a bloody tiger that offered amenity to me. The tiger reminded me much of the possibly deceased Draco Malfoy, my former rival. By the time that he had disappeared, we had come upon a silent truce; as long as he kept his attitude in line concerning those I loved, I could handle the petulant prat. 'Course, there was always that hidden liking I held for him…

'Are you brooding?' I heard the self righteous voice of the tiger in my mind and I looked over to see the tiger with a doe dragging behind him. Suddenly, I was struck by a thought; Ice was a tiger. Tigers were native to Asia and Africa. How in the hell did one manage to get to British Isles?

"No. I'm just thinking." I replied, looking into the icy optics.

'Bout what?'

"Stuff…"

'Just stuff?' I felt Ice settle down on the furs next to me, observing me over his striped paws.

"Well, I was just thinking tigers are native to Africa and Asia, and I was wondering how you managed to get here, of all places. I mean, in the forbidden forest, for gods' sake."

'Remember when I told you that I used to be human?' I nodded, looking at him for him to continue. 'I was from this supposedly pureblood family of wizards, but somehow, on both sides of my family, there was veela blood.' he looked at me for measure, I guess to see how I would react. It didn't bother me much because I knew what it was like, being a magical creature. I myself had a bit of nisse blood on my mother's side because she wasn't really a Mudblood, just a descendent from a line of squibs. 'Course, it wasn't my seventeenth birthday yet, so my inheritance hadn't exactly come in yet. Remus had taught me what to expect; it was he I learned of my 'hidden' family line from.

"Go on," I urged, looking his eyes, even going as far as to trace some of the stripes on his paw with my finger.

'Well anyway, it's a little known fact that on our seventeenth birthday when we all get our veela attributes, we turn into whatever animal our soul calls to us and we stay in that animal form until we complete the three bonding steps.' he explained to me, but I knew most of this already through Remus' lectures. Veela and Nisse were very close in the ways that we mature and in our need for a life mate that it was already engrained into my brain. 'And I have yet to find my mate, so here I am.'

"Oh." I stared at his stripes for a moment, suddenly very interested in them. "See, that's what I'll have to do when my seventeenth birthday comes. I've got Nisse blood, though." I admitted to him truthfully. He had admitted his predicament to me, so I thought it polite to return mine.

'Really?' he looked at me with something like interest in his eyes before leaning closer to me.

"Yeah. Professor Lupin told me last year about it. I had to get ready for my 'transformation'. From what I hear, a lot of things about us are similar, but we don't get the bloody awesome thing that makes you able to manipulate people. I get to control nature. And talk to it, I hear." I explained, lamenting about the differences. The only thing above not being a veela is that we didn't have half the wizarding population trying to get into our pants.

'Humph. At least you don't have people trying to get into your pants as soon as you find your mate. And people touching them. And then turning into a bloody harpy when you get jealous because people are touching him.'

"Him?" I asked him confused, of course I knew that gender didn't matter to magical creatures like us, but did he already know who he was?
'Yes, him. I'm pretty sure I have an idea who it is.'

"Good for you. I wish I knew who my mate was. Or even had an idea." I sighed. Was that jealousy that I felt? I felt like I had some sort of weird connection with him. How many days I had slept before I woke up, I had no idea. All I knew was that the almost unbearable tiger was getting to me fast…

As I am sure you all have noticed, I have been lapsing in my posts. I still require a beta, and I would like to have one before I post the next chapter. I have also decided that if I don't get reviews, I won't post. There is no reason for me to postif no one likes it, right? Anywho, I'd like to thank MaraWeaves for reviewing so much and for the rest of you who have taken the time to review as well. :)