AN: I thought this would end up being shorter than all the rest by a lot, but really it's only like a page less, and I didn't leave off on a cliffhanger! Go me!

Enjoy!

Chapter 8

Lucius' POV:

Lucius growled as he slowly began to awaken from his potion-induced sleep.

Last night had not gone anywhere near as well as he had hoped. The entire day had been the worst he could remember. First his mate showing up out of nowhere, finding him when he'd tried to hide, then there was that conversation at dinner as well.

Merlin!

How had he screwed that up so terribly?

"Do you remember what I said to you that day, during the final battle more than a year ago?" The veela asked.

Harry's eyes misted over as he seemed to replay the day in his mind. A frown of sadness overtook his face until he seemed to come to the part where he met up with Lucius. As the conversation played back bits and pieces of what he remembered at seventeen, his gaze softened, until he finally returned to the present to look back into Lucius' eyes.

"Yes. Vaguely." He responded with a small nod.

"Do you remember what you asked me?"

"I remember asking what I could possibly do for you." Was the reply.

"Do you remember my answer?"

Harry's eyes misted over again, and he glanced at Draco, as if embarrassed, yet he didn't blush this time. "You asked me to stay with you." He replied.

"Yes." Lucius nodded with a small sigh of relief, but things weren't over with yet. "Harry, I am a veela. Do you know what veela are?" He didn't want to seem as if he were patronizing the man, but he had to ask.

He had gone on to explain exactly what it was to be a veela, about the entrapping beauty, the people that flocked to them like moths to a flame, and, of course… the mates.

His reaction had not been one Lucius had planned for in the least. Harry had stared cautiously at him as he explained that he and Draco were such creatures –knowing that there must be some odd reason for Lucius to explain this to him. When he had finally gotten around to the explanation of mates, and had told Harry the purpose of his explanation, the dark-haired man had merely stared blankly at him.

Lucius had fought to keep himself from looking expectant, or worried, or anything other than dignified and indifferent, but it had still hurt. His mate's silence had ground at him like a wolf to still-bleeding prey.

How could his mate merely stare forward like that after Lucius had opened himself by revealing such a thing? It was truly a weakness now. Harry held a great deal of power over the blonde in that sense. He would be nothing without his mate, and he was sure that the eternal emptiness would drive him to insanity, if not suicide, though he wasn't sure his Malfoy pride would allow him to do such a disgraceful act.

Eventually Harry had stood slowly from his seat and turned, leaving the room. Neither Draco nor Lucius had had the courage to go after him. Both decided that it was better to let him sort out himself before they spoke again.

Lucius hadn't slept at all during the night. He had been so exhausted that he couldn't bring himself to sleep. He had been running on his nineteenth hour of wakefulness before he'd finally taken a potion to give him rest. He sighed grumpily. Even the Dreamless-Sleep Potion –that was a very potent concoction from the Manor's supply- had not been able to keep the troubled veela asleep for more than four hours.

Finally giving in to his inability to rest any longer, Lucius rose and went to start a bath for his tired body. When he came back from starting the bath, he noticed the nutrients potion on his bedside table that he had forgotten to take at dinner the night before. It had been a much too traumatic night for him to even consider digesting anything more.

He downed the drink in one long swig, then began shedding his clothes –which hadn't been removed after dinner the night before, before bed- as he stalked back to the bathroom.

As he approached his full-length mirror completely nude, he admired the effects of the last nutrients potion on his body. By then, it had taken complete effect and he was merely waiting for this second one which would be done by the next morning.

His skin held a healthier glow, and aside from the bit-too-visible ribs and slight shadows under his eyes, the blonde could find no flaw with himself. His new eating habits were beginning to show progress, but certainly all this better food he'd been digesting had also helped. He looked at his nails and noticed the color was fine, but they looked horrid. He needed them fixed, and his somewhat dry hands and knees could do with a bit of ointment to relieve him of the dry-look.

There was certainly plenty to do today.

Harry's POV:

"Good morning, Master Harry." A few house-elves greeted as Harry walked in to the kitchen.

Harry nodded his head to them in greeting because he didn't know many of their names yet.

"Morning." He greeted, then made his way through the bustling elves as they helped prepare food, or clean things –most of them rushing through the kitchen to get to the laundry room in the far corner to clean this or that.

With a calm slight arrogance that the dark-haired man had picked up from his Malfoy –perhaps you could even call him a- friend, Harry walked up to the only human servant in the entire Manor.

"Good morning, Master Harry!" The man called cheerfully to the taller brunet. The man was far too perky for this time of morning, in Harry's opinion.

"Morning, and stop calling me 'Master' anything. I'm not your master and I never will be." He snapped irritably.

"You don't have to be sore about it!" The man defended, though he really hadn't taken much offense to Harry's attitude at this time of day. "Bad night?" The graying man questioned as he flipped a perfect egg over to cook the other side.

"The food was good." Harry commented, knowing he would never want to insult the man that prepared his food. That was a definite 'no no' no matter where you went. "The company was terrible."

"I can't do anything about the company you keep." The cook responded with a smile. "I can, however, prepare the best oatmeal you'll ever taste though." He offered with a raised brow.

Harry smirked, perking up for the first time since he'd been up at five that morning worrying about this new situation. "That's sounds perfect."

"It's been over on the stove, waiting for you for about three minutes. You're early today."

"I know." Was the response as Harry made his way over to the pot of his favorite oatmeal with a warming spell over it. "Thanks, Alan." He called out as he started scooping oatmeal into a bowl.

Alan was a middle-aged, low-classed, pureblooded wizard who cooked for the Malfoys because Lucius had thought the Manor's food was marvelous until Draco had told him that the food at Hogwarts was better. Since then, Lucius had hired Alan and the man had been employed ever since then. He was the most fantastic cook ever, and was especially well taken care of for his skills in the kitchen. No house-elf could ever compare.

Draco's POV:

Draco walked down the last flight of stairs, finally reaching the bottom floor of the Manor. He headed immediately toward the Dining Room, thinking of all the delicious foods that were being prepared for him to eat, right that moment.

Last night had been a fiasco, just as he'd imagined it would be, but it was still possible to pull Harry around. He wasn't lost yet. It was merely a set-back for Lucius to have revealed everything so early in the game. Draco himself would have waited and seduced the savior before revealing the truth behind everything, but Lucius obviously didn't want to take any such chances that Harry might hate him later for the deception. In a way it had been intelligent, to be honest from the beginning, but in a another way, it was stupid to show your cards before the game had even started. They would see what would happen soon.

The blonde strode through the Dining Room before planting himself in his seat from the night before and calling for an elf to serve breakfast.

Just as Draco had begun to work on eating his meal, Harry walked into the room from its discrete connection to the actual kitchen in the corner.

The veela looked at the other man with a great deal of amusement as he ate his meal in a bowl without looking where he was going and accidentally bumping into the table, probably causing a large bruise to appear.

He'll feel that tomorrow. Draco thought as Harry cursed various words before settling down into his seat as well for breakfast.

Draco composed himself as a long silence began. It wasn't really too uncomfortable because Draco was not the problem at hand for the dark-haired wizard, Lucius was. Still, the stress on the long pause made Draco feel like Harry was angry at him for not revealing the situation sooner.

Gryffindors! Draco cursed mentally, then sighed and tried to think of something to talk about.

"Let's go riding."

Draco stared, wide-eyed, at Harry as he continued to eat his food without looking up from the steaming concoction.

"Riding?" Draco queried. "Why?"

Harry spared a moment from his meal to glare at Draco. "So now that I know you're a veela, you don't want to ever go riding with me again?"

Draco immediately realized that Harry thought Draco would now act different to him now that he knew of his heritage –that perhaps Draco might think he was even more superior than before, but that misconception could be fixed.

"You ass!" Draco replied coolly. "You think I would trust you with my horses by yourself? You must realize that I only come along on your stupid excursions to make sure you don't steal, or abuse my horses." He spoke snidely. "You are a Gryffindor after all, and everyone knows that Gryffindors can't be trusted… unlike Slytherins, of course, who are very trustworthy."

Harry was snickering before Draco was through, and the blonde was trying valiantly to keep a straight face.

"Fucking Slytherins and their fucking control complexes." He remarked.

Draco sneered at him, then they both laughed briefly.

"Fine. When will this little stroll in the park take place?"

"An hour." Harry answered as he finished his food. "I still haven't showered yet."

"I know!" Draco responded indignantly as he waved his hand elegantly over his nose several times, trying to brush away the smell.

"Ass."

"Veela." Draco corrected with a smile.

"Same thing." Harry snapped as he stood. "See you in an hour, Veela." Harry walked out of the room as he mumbled about how the word "veela" made him think of "veal", and how he wanted to try it one day soon, which inadvertently made him hungry again.

Lucius' POV:

Lucius was just getting dressed when he heard a knock on his door. Though it was quite foolish to hope it would be his mate wanting to speak with him, his heart still fluttered at the thought.

"It's Draco." His son's voice announced through the door, causing Lucius' blood to run cold. He sighed heavily with the disappointment and called for his son to enter as he pulled a shirt over his head along with a cloak to warm him, even in these water-steamy rooms. The absence from his mate's touch was beginning to wear on him again. Now that they were so close, and still so far from each other, the warmth was beginning to dissipate from his body, even in hot rooms. Even if he were to be situated right next to a fire.

Draco entered his sights wearing his riding pants and robes, with a warm cloak covering himself as well.

Lucius vaguely wondered if his son also felt the cold the way he did. He hoped not. He hoped greatly that his son would never be tortured the way he was right then.

"You're going riding." Lucius stated.

"Yes." Draco nodded somewhat nervously, then sighed, trying to keep himself from showing all of his discomfort and sadness. "Harry asked me to go riding with him." He announced as his father went to sit near the lively fire.

"It's foolish to think that he also wanted me to come, so why are you here, I wonder?" Lucius asked somewhat harshly through his warring emotions, and he prayed that his son understood his pain.

Draco never lost his cool as he nodded the affirmative Lucius' presumption. "I just wanted to tell you we were going for a ride. Just in case you went searching him out, or something equally as foolish." Draco snapped, though he also hadn't meant to let his own emotions out. That damn Gryffindor was truly screwing everything up! The man effected his father's emotions, which in turn effected his own!

Lucius waved his hand toward his son, slightly hurt, but in complete understanding.

"My apologies." Lucius whispered to him.

"Mine as well." Draco murmured back.

A silence overtook the room as they both stared wantonly at the fire.

Harry's POV:

By the time Harry reached the stables, Draco was already there, with his mount, Stiger, standing beside him, and a few saddlebags filled with food attached to the saddle to keep it from sliding.

Harry smirked at the blonde. "Your horse looks lovely." The wizard told him sarcastically.

Draco looked back at his mount to see what Harry could be commenting about, when he saw Stiger taking a dump.

"Just for you." Draco commented dryly back to the dark-haired man approaching.

"Did you get the food basket, Goldie-locks!" Harry questioned as he strode into the stable. The dark-haired man knew his blonde companion wouldn't get the meaning of his words like he had meant them, but that was okay.

"I have the food, you prat!" Draco responded as he watched Harry lead a beautiful Palomino out of her stall, and tack her up. Within minutes they were ready to ride.

Draco's POV:

They rode mostly in silence. First through the great gardens, then out into the forests of the Malfoy Estates.

Draco wondered if the whole ride would go by in this awkward silence. He idly noticed the dew collecting on the tips of the leaves –not yet dried away because the trees were so thick here that the sun filtered through the trees at odd angles and intervals, not always reaching all of the plant-life.

"So you're a veela?" Harry asked as they slowed to a walk from the gallop they had been racing in.

The blonde was slightly taken aback by the sudden topic of conversation. Perhaps Harry felt betrayed that he had never told him before, or perhaps the dark-haired man wanted to ask him things so that he could better understand veelas, and, more specifically, Lucius.

"Obviously." He responded.

Harry snorted. "Oh, yes. I should have gotten that fact. How else could you be so fucking gorgeous without the veelas genes in your blood?" There was a great deal of sarcasm and hurt in the other man's voice, and Draco flinched slightly from it. "You probably would have turned out butt-ugly otherwise."

Even through the slight hurt, the younger veela could tell that his companion was having fun with him.

"Prat." He responded.

"You're so ugly," Harry went on with a great deal of sarcasm and a huge smirk on his face, "that you should shave your ass and walk backwards. Might give people something nicer to look at."

Draco's attention snapped to Harry with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. "I'll have you know that my ass is not, nor shall it ever be, hairy, Harry!"

Harry laughed so hard he had to stop his steed before he fell off.

"You bloody git!" Draco cursed, biting his lip angrily. He had just been insulted, yet he was very amused that Harry was joking so well with him.

When Harry finally came under control of his laughter, he sat upright again. "How about we stop for lunch in that clearing up ahead?" He asked with a bright blush to his cheeks from all of his laughing.

"Sounds fine." Draco grumbled as he kicked his horse into a trot.

After tying their horses loosely to a tree limb, both men pulled out a large blanket to sit on and whatever food the house-elves had packed for their journey.

As they began eating the fruit, sandwiches, cookies, deserts, and drinks, Harry continued their conversation.

"How much of you is veela? Was your mum veela at all?"

The first time Harry had visited the Manor, he had expected Narcissa to be there, but to his surprise, Draco informed him that his father and mother were divorced. The blonde had then threatened Harry that if he ever told the papers such a thing, then he would cut off Harry's unmentionables and send them to the papers as well. It was from then on that they never spoke of Narcissa again.

Draco shook his head. "No, Mum wasn't veela at all. I only received my heritage from Father. I'm enough of a veela to desire a mate, but not enough to crave their touch, or feel cold all the time when I'm not in contact with them." He decided to throw in the extra couple of details, just so Harry would know something of how his father was feeling, and perhaps ask about it.

"So you have a mate?" Harry asked curiously, completely ignoring the comments that had been thrown at him.

Draco tried not to sigh heavily. This conversation was turning more toward himself, than it was his father, but perhaps he could still help educate Harry.

"Yes. I thought it was Blaise for the longest time, but because I'm not mostly veela, I couldn't be sure. I don't feel a pull like Father does. It could be that I will never discover who my mate truly is, but it won't eat at me like it does him. I could go through my whole life without my mate; he can't."

"So…" Harry bit into a sandwich as he began to think. "Shouldn't you be out meeting people? Don't you want to find your mate, whoever that is? Do you know if it's a guy or girl?" He persisted.

The veela let out an agitated sigh. "I don't want to go out and meet people. The more people I meet, the more possibilities that roam around in my head. It nearly drove me crazy wondering if Blaise was the one! I don't even know what gender it is, or race! I can't handle all that searching. It's too painful for me. I don't know how people ever get married. This person could be the one, or that one, or that! There's always someone you meet later in life that could be the one! How do you know!" He shouted in exasperation, all of his frustrations surfacing.

Harry ruffled the blonde's hair in the silence that followed and Draco felt as if the other boy were his older brother, trying to quell his worries.

"I have a feeling." Harry whispered to him with a secretive smile. "I think you're going to find your mate, and I don't think it will take that many years for it to happen." He added.

Draco just looked at him dumbly. "What? How can you be sure?"

"Like I said…" Harry smiled warmly and Draco felt better for the comfort in those eyes. "It's a feeling."

The blonde smiled too. "Okay." They continued eating and drinking, until Draco suddenly remembered a question he'd been thinking of for a while. "How long are you here for?"

Harry shook his head, his long locks flying this way and that way with him. "Dunno. Probably not much longer. A few more days perhaps. I needed to get back to Hermione and organize a few things. I'm supposed to be going on a mission for long while."

"How long is a while?" Draco asked casually.

"A year, I think." He shrugged.

Draco nearly choked on his food. "Year!" He coughed a bit more. "When are you leaving?"

"Not for another two months. Or, actually, less than that. It was two month a week, or so, ago."

"So, you'll be staying for another month or so, right?" Draco asked trying not to seem too urgent, though it was.

"No. I'll need a month to myself, so I'll only be here another week… maybe two at most." Staying at Malfoy Manor was like a short vacation for Harry every time he visited. He was taken care of and practically pampered, though he didn't enjoy the pampering so much. All that attention made him feel bad for the house-elves.

Draco frowned worriedly as he began thinking of all the things he would have to tell his father. This was not a good development. They had to make the most of Harry's time there, or they would never be able to convince the man to stay and not go on this mission. What if he didn't come back?

As they finished their meal and packed up, the atmosphere was much less tense –even with present news being taken into account- and there seemed to be nothing wrong with the world for those few minutes.

"You know that damn snake…" Draco was ranting as they approached the stables again.

"Ceres." Harry added, announcing the snake's name.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, your bloody snake…" He continued on, but Harry was tuning him out easily.

"Take Arena back to the stables for me, will you?" Harry queried as he dismounted, though he wasn't waiting for a response as he left Draco with the reins and turned the other way, appearing to be heading through the gardens back to the Manor.

"You asshole! You can't just leave me like this!"

The dark-haired wizard didn't even appear to have heard him in the slightest.

"Bastard." Draco hissed as he tugged Harry's horse along with him toward the stables.

Lucius' POV:

Lucius gave up on the book that he had been trying to read. All of this rubbish he had been trying to read about couldn't even begin to distract him from his mate.

Damn! He cursed.

He stood elegantly and exited his personal library.

As he strode down the hall toward the main corridor he flipped a casual insult toward the portrait of his aunt and was rewarded with a strain of curses following him all the way down the hall as she ran through other portraits, rudely shoving their occupants aside to catch up with Lucius' longer legs.

"… you half-breed slut!" She shouted, ending her rant as she ran out of portraits to hurtle through because Lucius had made it to the main staircase.

He whistled a tune softly, trying to irritate her further as he went, though his thoughts were on other things quickly.

He needed to think. No. He needed his mate. That needed no thought, but he also needed some sort of plan.

As he stepped out one of the back doors, and into the gardens he smiled at the lovely day. It was a nice day for riding. Too bad Draco would be too tired to ride again, and his mate would not want to ride with him.

He sighed sadly as he walked through the thick gardens.

He heard a voice hiss and it startled him greatly. With the grace of any veela, Lucius swept behind a growing willow tree for cover. Its branches were not yet long enough to grace the ground, leaving him the ability to look out and see most of the garden easily, yet still be covered in shade.

His heart caught in place for a moment before picking up pace quickly.

There his mate sat beautiful on a small grassy incline beside a path when a bench was only a few feet away. He wore Muggle clothes, but also a cloak that accentuated his beauty exquisitely.

A snake slithered around in the grass beside him, basking in the sun and hissing at him.

Lucius became protective, immediately thinking it would attack his mate, but as his mate turned and spoke calmly back to it, he understood what was happening. Harry was having a conversation with the snake.

Why was there even a snake in the gardens? All such creatures were kept out by the powerful wards! Had the wards failed somehow? He could still feel them with his magic, so that was impossible, but… then how?

For a moment, the veela couldn't bring himself to care. The beautiful sight before him caught his eye and nullified all thoughts.

The gorgeous creature that was his mate, stretched lazily and leaned back onto his elbows, absorbing the sun happily with closed eyes, as if he were in bliss in that moment. A light layer of sweat glistened from his tanned skin as he smiled peacefully.

Through all of this, an inconspicuous golden butterfly flew hazardously around the area of his mate before landing softly on one of the protruding locks of ebony hair that shot out from Harry's head as he leaned back.

How adorable. Lucius thought with a gentle smile as he watched the scene continue. He suddenly didn't feel as cold as he had only moments before, and it was a feeling that he would do anything to hold on to.

AN: I'm very sorry, but it's so late right now, and I just don't have the time for reviews if I'm going to get up in the morning and not the afternoon tomorrow, but I DO love you ALL so much! Thanks for your reviews and encouragement's, and thanks for your suggestions. You were all a great help!

Review if you love me… please? Or… even if you don't…