AN: SO I did my internship at a freight forwarding company in air exports and it was really fun but a ton of work so when I get home I'm always so tired I just go to sleep. Hence ( I heart the word hence ) I am writing this in my lunch break WOOOOOOOOOOOO Also there is quite a bit of shouting in this chapter (among other things)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters, which you should already know if you've read my past chapters (and you should always read the author's note because it's witty and enlightening)
Warnings: Okay these you've probably figured out by now and if you haven't just go read the past warnings please…
"Oh! Harry you look horrible, what happened to you?" Hermione exclaimed, watching the boy walk into the great hall at breakfast looking like he just got run over by a train. His appearance was dismal and gloomy and his expression betrayed nothing but frustration and exhaustion.
"Ron." Harry replied simply, not bothering to sit down. He'd decided that with this much going on it wasn't fair not to tell Hermione anything since she had always helped him out. Besides, deciding to wait until he was sure of things to tell her was stupid, it wasn't like he was ever going to be sure of anything really. "Do you have a minute?" he mumbled then, stifling a yawn.
"Of course." The girl replied immediately, standing up. "How about the owlry?" she suggested, watching the boy nod in return, his actions delayed by his lack of sleep. With that they both started out of the great hall, walking at a slow pace since Harry was tripping over almost everything on the way there.
A few minutes and some scratches later (who knew the railings were so pointy?) they arrived at the owlry, closing the door behind them. Harry was greeted by Hedwig, the snowy white own with an attitude problem, which he proceeded to pet lightly.
"Well..." Harry started " You're pretty much the smartest person I know…so I know you've figured out a few things on your own, so…what do you know so far?" he asked, proceeding to sit down on the floor with another small yawn. He hadn't gotten any sleep because of Ron and now he was completely out of it, he was so tired that he was barely noticing anything around him, including crucial things like walls or stairs.
"Oh, well, I don't know about that..." the girl replied, flustered by the compliment. " But I did find out a few things…like the fact that Malfoy is a Veela and since you've been moved in with him I'm guessing that you're his mate.." she started, knowing that her guess was right on target.
"Wow." The Gryffindor mumbled, not even bothering to ask how in the world she'd figured it out. "Well, yeah, pretty much. He's not seventeen yet but I have to stay around him anyway because some powers apparently activated early or something like that…" he added with a small shrug, the topic making him frustrated again.
"Really...that's interesting, activated early? I'll have to look it up..." Hermione mumbled to herself, making a mental note to pass by the library in one of the breaks. She looked up however as Harry started speaking again. "Anyway, Ron thinks I'm conspiring against him with Draco and he's gone crazy and convinced Dumbledore to let him move in with us and he's purposefully driving us insane and this morning he was singing and Draco broke his arm and his nose and now Ron's in the hospital wing and Draco's arguing with Dumbledore and.." he was saying, thought the last few words came out slightly choked since he was running out of breath, saying all of that in one go.
Hermione stood still for a moment as all of that sunk in. " That IDIOT, he said he was going to try to apologize, when I see him he will be in so much trouble, I hope Seamus hits him again this time he really deserves it." She hissed out, pacing around the room, somewhat surprising the boy with the sudden outburst.
However, Harry just shrugged before drawing his knees up to his chest with a sigh. " I just wish he'd believe me…I mean, I've never given him any reason not to trust me…and if I tell him the whole truth now he'll just flip out." He mumbled, his expression grim. "Kind of hypocritical actually, I want him to trust me but I don't trust him enough not to flip out to tell him the whole thing..."
The girl's lips curved into a small frown as she moved to sit on the floor next to him, snaking an arm around his shoulders, noting for a moment how eerily thin he'd gotten over the summer. "You're doing nothing wrong Harry, he's being an idiot, we all think that…of course he should trust you more, you would never conspire against anyone, that's just ridiculous…We're going to go talk to him…all of us. Seamus, you, myself…and now Malfoy too of course." Hermione added, but at the mention of Draco Harry just flinched slightly before dropping his head gracelessly to his knees.
This of course confused the Gryffindor prefect who looked to him with concern. "It's not just Ron that's upsetting you is it….what did Malfoy do? Should I get Seamus to hit him too? Or…" she started, but was interrupted by Harry shaking his head. "It's not…he didn't do anything it's just…" he tried, but trailed off with a sigh. In that time, Hermione waited patiently, knowing that the boy couldn't express himself easily when he was upset. "Alright, I'll explain." Harry mumbled, feeling slightly fortunate for having her to talk to since she never got mad at him, but was always the first one to tell him if he was being an idiot.
"First, I had no choice in the matter, and I find it really unfair, I mean, be his mate or let him die? That's not really a choice, not for me at least. What if he's not…the right one, then what, I'm stuck with him and will never find someone I can be happy around?" he asked. "And he's...he's being so civil…I mean, there was no choice for him either so I expected him to be…mad. And he's being so nice and doing all these things, like bringing me a blanket when I'm cold and jumping to get me lunch and it's makes me feel horrible that he's just doing those things because the stupid Veela thing chose me as it's mate…He probably hates being forced into that and when I ask him something he always thinks before answering so as not to upset me…I feel like I'm just using him." He moaned, frustrated and beyond stressed especially with Ron being a git.
"Are you serious?" Hermione answered in disbelief, causing Harry to glance sideways to her, confused. "Oh Harry haven't you paid attention in class at all? That's not how it works for a Veela…now I don't know about Dragon Veela; I couldn't find much information on them but from what I gather things work almost exactly like they do for a regular Veela concerning the mate."
"What do you mean?" Harry mumbled then, raising his head slightly, more interested now. "There is no 'Veela thing' that forced him into this, the only thing the Veela genes do towards that is remove all prejudices or loyalties and whatnot and search for the one person that matches that Veela's wants and needs, the one person that could make them happy, their mate and then forms an early connection with them because Veela need that bond with their mate to survive." She explained, but sighed slightly at the other's clueless expression. "He was probably shocked at first to find out you were his mate, but unconsciously he was the one that chose you, and as he realizes this he'll of course try to win you over, to do nice things for you, not because he's forced to by something, but because he wants to." She added, letting that sink in before continuing.
Harry leaned his head back on his knees in thought. So…Draco wasn't forced into this like he was? "Now, you're right, the choice you have isn't very fair, especially for you because you could never just kill someone like that, but think about it, if you put aside how he acted before and just look at how he behaves around you, do you feel capable to like him?" Hermione asked expectantly. "I..." the boy started uncertain. "Yeah…I do…I do like him."
"There, and isn't it a bit comforting that that will only get better because he'll love you and never leave you because you are the one person that can make him happy, his mate?" she continued, to which Harry just blushed slightly now. "And, a Veela and their mate are connected through a magical bond because they are soul mates, so it works both ways. He is the only one that can make you truly happy, so even if you were given a real choice, why would you choose otherwise?" the girl finished in a sort of motherly tone.
After a few minutes Harry's voice broke the silence. "I'm being an idiot aren't I?" he added with a sigh. "Absolutely." Hermione responded, standing up. "Now...let's go, we have something to settle." She continued, reaching for the boy's arm to pull him to his feet. Harry grunted in protest, as it was quite a bit of work standing when he was so sleepy. "Where 'r we going" he mumbled, though he was already being pulled along out of the room. "Hospital wing."
Draco Malfoy couldn't have been more frustrated as he walked; more like plowed, down the corridors of Hogwarts, having just finished a three hour long argument with Dumbledore. Snape would have been helpful but he refused to get in the argument, calling Draco an over reactive teenager which almost resulted in him getting attacked. Really, today, Draco had but a sliver of his temper left. After much, much debating he'd managed to get the Headmaster to remove Weasley from his and Harry's rooms. What he needed now was to just sit down with a nice cup of expensive tea until the urge to kill someone subsided.
He wasn't exactly paying much attention to anyone around him, he figured they could see him coming and accordingly move out of the way but one figure didn't even budge and before he could slow down he'd already collided with the other, sending the other sprawling back. As he did, however, he caught a glimpse of the bright green eyes that could have only belonged to harry and reached out to catch him before he hit the ground, pulling the boy against him to steady them both.
When the Slytherin had collided with him, Harry had no idea what had happened and by the time he could react with his slowed reflexes a pair of arms had already caught him and he found himself face to face with no other than Draco, who was looking to him apologetically. "I'm sorry." The blonde started. "Are you alright?" he asked before noticing the other Gryffindor with him. "Granger." He added, inclining his head. No one said he immediately had to be nice, but he supposed he should at least be polite. "Malfoy." The girl replied, returning the nod.
"It's a good thing we ran into you...or, you ran into Harry…we were just about to go kill Ron and it would be good if you could join us." She added, looking back to the raven hared boy that staggered to reclaim his balance. "I'm okay..." Harry mumbled then, running a hand through his hair and averted his gaze, being more than a little confused about everything at the moment. He wasn't sure if he should confront Draco about the whole mate deal, and he really didn't want to be facing Ron today either.
The Slytherin considered the offer for a moment, a hand still on Harry since the boy didn't seem to have much balance. "I suppose I could add killing Weasley to my day." He replied then, to which the girl smiled contently and grabbed hold of Harry's hand again to continue pulling his towards the hospital wing with Draco following closely.
The walk there was silent, during which Draco's eyes were practically glued to the smaller boy. He'd gotten up earlier so this was the first time he'd seen Harry today and frankly it worried him how tired and unresponsive he was. Since Dragon Veela barely slept anyway Draco wasn't suffering from any lack of sleep but it seemed it had affected his mate greatly…or...potential mate of course. Harry had made it clear he hated the idea, which only sent Draco into a series of depressing thoughts as they headed towards the Hospital wing. Truthfully, since the Dragon had made him realize that it was in fact him that had chosen this, it made him pay much more attention to Harry, his appearance, temper, behavior, everything, and the more he did the more he realized that he did want to be close to the other, if only he'd let him.
Inside the Hospital Wing, on a bed strategically placed away from any other patients or innocent bystanders, Ron Weasley was having a fit. He was screaming, all the while throwing everything in sight against the nearest wall, all with his uninjured arm of course. "That BASTARD, he attacked me, how could he all I did was try to help but nooo, he has to go all berserk and that Harry sided with him like some pawn." He was screaming out, saying Harry's name as if it was some sort of poison. It was about at this moment where the trio walked in, where Ron had just thrown an empty potion's bottle in the direction of the door.
Seeing the bottle fly towards them, coupled with the yelling Harry winced, jumping to the side, though the motion proved unnecessary as Draco snatched up the bottle from the air with inhuman reflexes, his eyes trained on the screaming boy with an icy glare. Hermione moved forward, opening her mouth to start yelling back but was stopped by Harry grabbling her arm. The girl turned and gave him a sympathetic look before letting him step forward.
"Gods, Ron why are you doing this?" Harry started, his voice distraught and somewhat fearful of the crazed teenager. "Why? WHY? Because you're conspiring against me with him, you sided with Slytherin, you betrayed me!" Ron started shouting as Harry let out a small gasp. "What do I have to do to get you to understand that I'm not? When did I ever give you a reason not to trust me? Why would you immediately assume that I'm pure evil and all my actions are meant to be against you?" Harry started, now close to yelling himself. At that, Ron hopped off the bed and towards Harry, pulling up his sleeve to reveal the bandages that wrapped his broken arm. "Oh really? If you're so trustworthy why would you sick your stupid pawn on me to break my arm then, how is that being trustworthy?"
"I didn't tell Draco to do that." Harry retorted. "Though, honestly, I'm glad he did, Ron you invaded our room and purposefully tried to drive us out, and stop using words like conspiring and pawn…Draco's a Veela…and I'm his mate, okay? That's why I didn't want to tell you anything, because you would flip like you are now." Harry cried out, causing a strange silence to befall the room. Hermione was silent because she was shocked that Harry decided to tell him, Draco was silent because the fact that Harry told someone that he was his mate would mean there was some hope that he wouldn't be rejected when he came into his inheritance and Ron…Ron was in pure shock.
"You..." Ron started, stepping forward to stare at Harry in disbelief before his expression changed to pure disgust. "You disgusting monster! Merlin how could you do something like that…it's just…wrong, and horrible…you're horrible. That's the reason…that…that's even WORSE" the red hared boy yelled out, to which Hermione let out a gasp, staring horrified at her friend. Harry stood rooted to the spot, frozen in shock. "I...I thought we were friends Ron…what do-" Harry started weakly, but was stopped as Ron's fist collided with the side of his face, hard, sending him staggering backwards.
Seeing this, Draco rushed to catch his mate, placing himself in between the two and letting out a murderous growl as he tried his hardest not to immediately kill that boy. Hermione was also beside them in a split second, trying to hold Ron back. "Friends? FRIENDS?" Ron started. "I could never be friends with something like you, how could you? You…you…anything would have been better than this, I'd rather you were dead, Potter." The boy snapped, pausing to glare at Harry one last time before storming out of the room, Hermione running angrily after him.
The room that was filled with shouting just a moment ago was now deathly silent, Draco still holding the unmoving boy with a worried look. "Harry?" he whispered, just as he felt the Gryffindor slip between his arms to fall to the ground on his knees, silent tears starting to stream past his cheeks, replaying those words over and over in his head, what he'd just hear his best friend say. I'd rather you were dead, Potter. He vaguely felt Draco's arms hold him close as he knelt beside him, barely felt the Slytherin's fingers through his hair. Suddenly, as everything hit, it was overwhelming and Harry couldn't help breaking into violent sobs that shook his frail form. He cried, not being able to stop, to the point where he exhausted himself so much with the sobbing that he couldn't even stay awake anymore, and he was still sobbing quietly as he blacked out, feeling Draco's arms tighten around him as he succumbed to unconsciousness.
Midnight found Draco on his bed, still holding Harry's unconscious form, his expression horrified. Harry had been so hurt, and Draco had felt, was still feeling, so useless, not being able to do anything for his mate. He'd sat here with him since he'd carried him back from the Hospital Wing, refusing to let go. He didn't know what else to do. Seeing Harry break down, having him collapse like this made him realize just how much the boy meant to him. With another small whimper the Veela dropped his head to rest it on Harry's shoulder, the blond stands of hair twisting together with the raven ones.
It had been some time since Harry had woken up, but he hadn't moved at all, hadn't given any indication that he was awake, just leaned against Draco silently. Eventually, he broke the silence. "He wants me dead. I made him hate me." He rasped, meaning to whisper but his voice had been distorted from all the sobbing. At the sound Draco's head snapped up, startled. "Harry." The blonde breathed out, watching the boy straighten up. "No, it wasn't your fault…how could it be, it wasn't your fault." He started, hugging the boy close. Harry remained silent for a moment before continuing to speak with a sigh.
"Draco. What do you think of me?" he asked, leaving the blonde slightly taken aback by the question. "I think…that you're horrible in potions, that you're annoying…that you're bad at arguing, that you have this Gryffindor hero complex…but that you are kind, and selfless, and that you value your friends, that you've been through a lot, and that you've been judged a lot without reason…and that you absolutely did not deserve Ron saying that." Draco ended firmly, stroking the other's hair softly. Somehow, that collection of insults and statements made Harry feel…better, like someone finally understood him, and in that moment he made up his mind.
"Thank you." Harry said softly, looking to Draco intently before leaning in, close enough to brush his lips past Draco's, drawing a gasp out of the blonde. Harry was so close, his scent intoxicating and the feel of his lips a mesmerizing touch, driving the Veela's so needy of his mate's touch. "Harry...are you sure…this is what you want. If we kiss…we'll form the first bond, there's no going back." Draco chocked out, trying his hardest not to seize the other's lips just then. "Yes." Harry breathed out, closing the gap between them, drawing the other into a soft kiss.
AN: GASPETH, finally done…stayed overtime at work for this too, hope you guys appreciate it *glare* What I would apreciate would be muffins...the more creative the muffin the better, pelt me with muffins!