The morning passed far to quickly for both boys. Breakfast was brought to them in bed as soon as they woke up -before they even called for it. When asked how they'd known they were ready for breakfast, the elf merely grinned and pointed at Harry before popping out. Draco looked at Harry curiously, but the dark-haired boy only shrugged and started eating. Draco knew that there was a lot that Harry hadn't told him yet, but he didn't feel like calling Harry on it. There would be plenty of time for explanations later, and he just wanted to enjoy the day with his dream partner before they had to go to Diagon Alley. He'd wrestle answers out of the feline-esque boy later. Right now, he just wanted to listen to Harry's gentle purr as he sprawled in the warm sunshine, lazily rining his fingers through Draco's longish silver-gilt hair.

They spent the rest of the morning curled up together, not properly awake, but not asleep either, just happily dozing. Draco was curled up against Harry's side as the other boy lay with his back in the sunshine streaming through the large windows that faced the sunrise, holding Draco tight against him, one arm wrapped around his waist, the other lying along his side, giving Harry access to his hair.

"Master Draco sir?" An elf's tremulous voice broke the silence suddenly. Draco jumped and glared at the elf who had disturbed them, while Harry merely opened one eye to watch it sleepily. "Master Draco sir, Mistress Narcissa orders you both must have lunch in the dining room with her." The elf looked frightened; Draco was not known for being accepting when things didn't go his way, or for his even temper. Harry laid a hand on Draco's arm to calm him, his purr cutting off at Draco's upset at this declaration, even coming secondhand.

"Tell Mistress Narcissa that we would be most delighted to join her for lunch," Harry drawled sleepily. Draco turned to look at Harry in shock as the elf hurriedly left to deliver his message before Draco exploded. Harry did not have the luxury of escaping though, not that he particularly cared.

"Harry, we would not be 'most delighted' to have lunch with her! I want to stay here with you until you have to leave!" Harry pulled the upset blond up against his chest and rubbed his back soothingly to calm him. It worked very well, to Draco's private chagrin.

"From your reaction yesterday, the elves won't go against your mother's orders. Therefore, we could skip lunch with your mother, but it would mean skipping lunch entirely. We might as well be courteous about it. C'mon, let's get ready." Draco pouted, but he knew that Harry was right, so he moved to allow Harry to slide out of the bed, taking the offered hand and allowing Harry to lead him through the room to the bathroom.

Half an hour later found them both clean and dressed, and Draco leading Harry to the dining room, Harry happily clinging to Draco's hand as they traveled the maze-like halls of the manor. Harry balked at the door to the dining room. It was huge; a formal room more suited for large dinner parties than a family lunch. Though Harry supposed that Narcissa was treating him like a guest. Still, it was a huge, formal room that Harry nearly feared to set foot into, reluctant to spoil the elegant atmosphere. He never had done elegant very well, though he was no longer clumsy since his inheritance.

"Draco, darling." Narcissa rose from the table to greet them, hugging Draco warmly. Harry growled softly at being ignored, however momentarily, by his mate, and his mate's mother. Draco hurriedly stepped back into the arms that Harry had lifted to reclaim him, and he was held firmly against Harry's body, as though the other boy thought to prevent him from escaping. He gently stroked one of Harry's hands, and his death-grip loosened, though he was not released.

"Mother, may I present Harry Potter?"

"Mr. Potter, a delight." She held out one hand for him to kiss, which he did reluctantly, to Draco's not-so-secret amusement. Half of Harry's protest to the action was that he had to release Draco to take her hand. His kitten was so possessive.

"Likewise, Mrs. Malfoy," Harry replied neutrally. He did not like Narcissa Malfoy, she was too cold -hard and icily elegant- and stiff and formal with everyone except maybe her husband and her son, but he'd be nice for Draco.

Lunch was rather stiff, Harry uncertain around Draco's mom, and Draco still pouting about having to come down to eat. He was used to having his own way, especially at home. Mrs. Malfoy attempted to make small talk, but her attempts fell rather flat, as the boys were more interested in each other than in what she was saying. She nearly regretted making them come downstairs, as she felt she was drowning in sugar more than once, but it was worth it to see her son with someone who he so obviously adored, even after this short amount of time.

"Harry!" He was pounced on by two large armfuls of girl, one of whom unknowingly hit the new tattoo on his back, making him hiss with pain. They pulled back hastily, looking concerned. He grinned at them, the sting from the tender flesh rapidly fading.

"S'ok 'Mione, Ginny, I'll tell you later. Where's Ron?" Said redhead walked up, grinning.

"Thought I'd give them the chance to greet you first, they've both been worried about you this summer."

"Ah. Well, let's go upstairs and talk, eh? I've been here all week." He led them up to his room, shutting the door firmly behind them. Hermione faced him, hands on her hips.

"Alright Harry, first thing I want to know is why you winced when we hugged you. If you're hiding injuries again . . .." He grinned reassuringly at her.

"Not hiding injuries. I swear. Take a look." He peeled his shirt off, revealing the new tattoo down the center of his back. A black panther with two cubs; the panther was chasing one cub up towards Harry's hair, and the other cub was playing with it's tail. "Once it's healed, it'll move, too. It's just that you hit it when you jumped on me." Hermione looked mollified, Ron looked impressed that Harry had actually gotten a tattoo, and Ginny exclaimed over how cute it was, but refrained from touching it.

"You just got it today?"

"Yeah, but I've been in almost every day discussing various styles and things with Charlie. We finally came up with the panther because he said that I reminded him of a panther." Harry laughed. "If only he knew. The literal translation is panther, y'know. Mysterious Panther." He laughed again. "Though why it's shortened to geheimnisvolle and not panthera is beyond me. Wanted to make sure everyone remembered we're mysterious, I guess." He sobered quickly, he didn't have much longer until Draco showed up; he hadn't found them until almost 7:30. "Anyway, guys, I have something very important to tell you." They sat on the bed, leaving him room to curl up in the corner, which he did.

"OK, Harry, we're listening."

"Remember when we were researching, and it said that we have mates?" They nodded, almost in unison. "Well, I've found mine."

"Oh, Harry, that's great!" Hermione jumped up to hug him, remembering at the last moment to be careful of his new tattoo.

"You think so now, but you won't like who it is." He looked at each of them; to his surprise, Ron was smiling rather mysteriously. "It's Malfoy."

"WHAT?" Hermione and Ginny exclaimed. A quick look at Ron, however, proved he retained his smile, seemingly unaffected by this news. Harry raised an eyebrow at him.

"I already knew, Harry. I've had a chance to get used to it, and I must admit that it does make sense. The two of you were always drawn together." Right. Harry often forgot that Ron was a Seer; he acted so down-to-earth and oblivious, unlike Luna, who he knew was also a Seer. He guessed that it didn't affect personality any. It was his gifts kicking in that had helped Ron to overcome his jealousy during the tri-wizard tournament fourth year, more than anything else. Though Hermione's impatience had likely come a close second.

"So why didn't you tell them? For that matter, why didn't you tell me?"

"You would not have believed me until you felt the bond for yourself, and it was not my place to tell them."

"Right." Harry still looked confused, but Ron had matured a lot over the summer, and he was just too lazy to fight with him.

"I'm sorry I freaked out, Harry. I was just shocked. Of course I accept whoever your mate is." Ginny nodded morosely behind Hermione's shoulder. He had told her he wasn't interested as soon as he realized it, but she had still hoped to be his mate when they had found he had one. Ron stood suddenly, stepping out the door, returning with Draco nervously -not that anyone but Harry could tell- following behind him.

Harry held out his arms, and Draco sat near him, trying to preserve his image, but Harry wrapped an arm around his waist and yanked him up against his body. The other three giggled at the startled look on Draco's face. Harry looked like he had just found the door to a creamery. His contented purr filled the room, causing Ginny to squeal delightedly.

"Awwww, he purrs!" she exclaimed excitedly. Draco made a face at her then curled up against Harry, obviously deciding to just ignore them. Harry pulled him close, stroking his hair softly. Hermione giggled.

"That's kind of funny. You're the cat, and you're petting him."

"Well, as a cat, I know that petting is good, and I'm uninhibited enough to not care that people think it's funny," he replied absently. Draco blinked as he picked out the important parts of the exchange. They hadn't been comparing him to a cat; they said he was a cat.

"What do you mean, he's a cat?" he asked, not moving from his position against Harry.

"Harry! You didn't tell him?"

"I hadn't gotten around to it. We've had rather a hectic time of it." Hermione looked like she was going to protest.

"Don't lecture him 'Mi, he's telling the truth. He just hasn't got around to it yet. You know how lazy he is." Ron sounded calm and matter-of-fact, and as Hermione backed down on his say-so, Draco added that to his list of questions.

"He's a Geheimnisvolle Panthera." Ginny said from the other end of the bed. Draco looked confused; he had never heard of them. "It means 'mysterious panther' because most of the attributes are of a panther, though there are things from other types of cats, like the purring, since I don't think panthers can purr. Not a whole lot is really known about them. Just that they are very catlike, get more so when strong emotion is involved, and have a mate. Which would be you."

"That much I knew." Draco murmured, thinking this over. "I just didn't know what he was." Harry looked up at him with scared green eyes.

"OK?" the question held multitudes of meanings, yet Draco found that the answer to all of them was yes. He nodded and felt Harry relax beneath him. He ran one hand over the smooth chest beneath his head –Harry never had put his shirt back on, and he was lying at an odd angle, keeping his back off the bed and wall.

"Next question: what did you do to your back?" Harry jumped.

"I forgot! You haven't seen it!" He pushed Draco off of him, sliding off the bed to display his tattoo. "Whatcha think, Drake?" Draco ran a gentle finger along the outline, millimeters away from the actual tattoo.

"It's nice." Harry pouted at him, having hoped to get a more enthusiastic reaction out of him. "I was thinking of getting one too, actually, simply because it's something my father would never have allowed. What do you think?"

"A dragon curled around your arm." Harry replied immediately.

"Silver," Hermione added.

"A flying dragon, not a Chinese dragon." Ron added.

"Ooh, I can see it!" A shimmer appeared over Draco's right arm, under the cap-sleeves of his t-shirt, curling around his bicep. A moment later, a transparent image of a silver dragon, wings proudly extended, was visible on his arm, the tail wrapping several times around as it curled towards his elbow, head nearly resting on his shoulder.

"Ooh, nice! Can you make that permanent?" She shook her head. "Can you at least show it to the guy who did Harry's so he can do it?" She nodded happily; she'd love a chance to visit Charlie. Last time he'd gotten injured, their mom had thrown a fit and insisted he choose a less dangerous profession, so he decided to follow his first dream -which his mom had disapproved of, thus leading him to work with dragons in the first place- and become a tattoo artist.

"Tomorrow. He's closed up by now. Any other questions?"

"I've got one more. What's up with yon redhead?" He gestured at Ron, who smiled serenely.

"I'm a Seer," he replied, as the others all looked at each other, unsure what Draco was talking about.

"Ah. No offence or anything, but that's kind of a surprise." The smile turned into a grin.

"I'm probably the most short-tempered Seer you'll ever meet. I drive everyone who knows crazy by refusing to act how they expect me to. Except for these guys, they knew me long before anyone knew I was a Seer. Most people expect me to act like Luna or something." He shuddered as Draco nodded slowly. It made sense to him, whether it did to anyone else or not was anyone's guess. Harry politely kicked everybody out, and returned to Draco, curling around him, falling asleep seemingly as soon as his head hit Draco's shoulder.

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well, there we are. the next chapter. i hope you like it, there's some explinations for you curious people. i realized after i posted the last one that i could have made it longer and made this one the short one, but what the hell. i'd get complaints either way, right? just a matter of when. XD

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and as usual, i require at least 15 reviews to assure me that you really are reading and understanding the story before i put out the next chapter.