Ron was waiting for me with a bouquet of silver tipped red roses and a book on veela poetry when I came out of Robards' office.
"Er, if you're trying to win my affection so that I won't go after Draco, you're not my type," I said, eyeing him skeptically.
"No you dolt, these are for Malfoy. They're very expensive roses, so you owe me big time for this. Or rather, you owe George, because he bought them and you owe Angelina for picking them out," Ron replied.
"And the book?"
"Hermione likes poetry. I just went into Flourish and Blotts and ask for something with veela poetry. I hope it doesn't get you turned out on your tail, but if it does, don't blame me; I'm just trying to help. I've no clue if he'd fancy you waxing on about the elegant grace of his feathers."
"Thanks Mate!" I exclaimed, giving him a strong man hug.
"You're welcome. George said he reckons that with a Malfoy you're better off buying expensive jewelry, so if he doesn't like the poetry, we can go shopping tomorrow after the trial."
"You're really okay with this?"
"Well I think you'd be better off not mating with Malfoy, but it's your life. If Malfoy is who you want, then it's Malfoy I'll help you woo. I've got your back mate."
"Thanks. This means a lot to me."
"But if this doesn't work, don't make chasing after veela a habit."
"Will do," I replied. "Now let's get to Malfoy Manor; the trial should be over for the day."
Ron nodded and we started walking towards the lifts.
"Um, do you want me to go with you, or is this the type of thing you want to do on your own?"
"Er, maybe you should wait at the Burrow."
"Yeah, but you have to promise me you'll come and tell me about it afterwards, even if it goes bad. Mum won't have me letting you go back to Grimmauld Place and crying your eyes out."
"Hopefully it won't come to that," I replied. We were boarding the lifts now.
Then we were in the atrium and Ron flooed to the Burrow, while I came out the public toilet and apparated over to Malfoy Manor. Lacey the house elf greeted me when I knocked on the door and I had her send word up to the Auror on guard duty that I was here to see Draco. Lacey disappeared and then reappeared a few minutes later, waving me up the stairs, but she didn't follow. Draco, Narcissa, and Aurors Jackson and Sheffield were in the second floor parlor when I went up the stairs.
"Potter, what are you doing here?" Jackson asked.
"I'm here to see Draco," I answered. "I've got Robards' permission."
"Why? Wasn't last time with him screaming at you to get out enough?" Jackson asked.
"As a matter of fact, no, it wasn't. How come you didn't tell Robards that he's ovulating again?" I asked.
"He is?" Jackson asked and Narcissa and Sheffield gasped.
"Don't tell me none of you noticed! I haven't seen him in a month and all it took me was one glance and I knew," I replied.
"No offense mate, but none of us are as obsessed with him as you are," Jackson replied.
"Harry, what this young man is trying to say is that while you have been away a month, for us Draco's transition has been slow and gradual. I for one wasn't sure if it was beginning again or if he was just putting back on the weight he lost. He really is still rather slender," Narcissa said.
I took another long look at Draco, who was staring at me, silently daring me to act. He stood self-consciously with his arms folded across his chest, but I could still see where the small mound of his belly protruded from his robes. He wasn't nearly as fat as he'd been before the miscarriage, but he was heavier than he'd been during school.
"No, he's definitely ovulating, I can tell," I reasserted, avoiding the word fat. I had enough experience with girls to know not to call them fat and I didn't want to risk that Draco would react the same.
"Draco, is this true?" Narcissa asked her son.
Draco looked like he was going to deny it, so I thrust the roses forward. "Here, these are for you," I said.
"They are lovely Harry," she said, giving Draco a significant look. "They must have cost you a fortune."
"I'd consider it worth it if Draco would agree to talk to me," I replied.
"Draco, go darling," Narcissa urged.
Draco looked from me, to his mother, back to me, to the other two Aurors, and then back to me, before nodding and taking the flowers. He briskly led me down the hall, to the second floor study.
"We're not supposed to be in here; we haven't cleared all of the books and scrolls," I said, halting our progress at the door.
"There's nothing in here but children's books and old Hogwarts homework. This is my study, not my father's," he replied. "Now do you want to talk to me or not?"
"I do, but why can't we talk in your bedroom?"
"Because it's inappropriate to have a wizard in my bedroom."
"I've been in your bedroom loads of times."
"That was when you were on duty; this is personal, or so I've been led to believe."
"Alright then. Er…" I said, trying to figure out where to start.
"Why'd you take my father's side in court today?" It was a demand for information, more than a question.
"Because I know how much he means to you. And well, everything I said was true. He didn't have a choice and he was trying to protect you. I don't think we should make him Minister of Magic or anything, but binding him to this house should keep him out of trouble. I know you and your mum wouldn't let him get caught up in something like this again."
"You seem to have a lot of trust in me."
"Yeah, well, you saved my life; both you and your mum did. When it came down to the end, the Malfoy family was on the right side."
While I talked, he put the flowers into a beautiful antique crystal vase, which filled with water on its own. "Self-refilling charm on the vase; I didn't use wandless magic," he said. He'd vowed not to perform any form of magic, even wandless, while on house arrest. Only accidental magic would be tolerated and then only if it was an isolated incident.
Vases with unknown charms on them were one of the reasons we weren't supposed to let the Malfoys hang out in this room. Sure it had passed a few basic sweeps for anything that could be dangerous or used in an escape, but it was still full of unknown benign magic. This meeting was important, so I chose to overlook the vase. "Do you like the flowers?" I asked.
"Yes. Why, may I ask, did you buy me flowers?"
"Because I know that I'm your mate and I was hoping that you'd grant me a date."
A date was the least of what I was hoping for. If going to save his life, we'd need to have sex and soon. I still wasn't positive how sex would work between the two of us, but I had since learned how sex goes between birds, which was what that specialist said veela sex was like.
Learning about bird sex had been much easier than learning about veela sex; all I had to do was walk into a muggle library and ask the librarian to help me find some information about bird sex. She'd shown me this new muggle invention called the internet and a diagram of two birds rubbing their cloacae together. With birds, there was no penetration, because neither sex had the equipment for that, which just left rubbing. Personally I hoped that Draco was willing to try regular gay sex, but if not, I'd settle for whatever it was that he's capable of.
"I told you before that you're not my mate," he said, but something in his voice sounded like he was about to give on this point.
"Yes, but you were lying then. I'm absolutely certain that I'm your mate. It has to be someone that you're in regular contact with or you wouldn't be ovulating again. That leaves just the eight guards you've had in the last few months and of them, I'm the only one who has saved your life. I know that saving a veela's life is very important when it comes to mate choice."
"I didn't pick you."
"I know, but I am picking you. I think you're hot and I'd be honored to mate with you."
"Forward much, Potter?"
"Come on Draco, this is serious: you're going to die if you don't mate soon. Is the thought of being with me and baring my child so repulsive that you'd rather die?"
"No, but you haven't exactly been courting me. I'm not some harlot that's going to surrender my knickers and let you do me, just because you've given me some flowers. I expect to be courted properly, veela or not."
"You can't be serious. Your life depends on this and you're refusing because I haven't courted you properly? You need to get your priorities straight."
"If you're not willing to win my hand properly, then I have no interest in acknowledging any alleged veela-based attraction to any four-eyed scar-headed gits I may or may not feel."
"Whoa, I didn't say I wasn't willing to do this properly. How much time do we have?"
"A week or more."
"Right and how exactly do I court you properly?"
"Bring me flowers and gifts and take me on formal dates."
"Will a poetry book count as a gift?" I asked, pulling out the book Ron had gotten for me.
"No, I hate poetry. I require jewelry for the first gift; you know, a watch or cufflinks would be appropriate."
"I'll work on that tomorrow. Any chance those flowers are enough to win me a date for the night."
"That depends."
"On what?"
"On where you plan on taking me."
"I can't take you anywhere; you're still on house arrest."
That was apparently the wrong thing to say, because he turned and took two long strides towards the door.
"Wait! What if we have dinner here? I'll get the house elves to make something fancy and we'll go out on the patio and have a picnic." We weren't supposed to leave the house with the Malfoys unless it was to take them to the Ministry.
"Take me out to the garden and for a fly on our brooms and it's a deal."
"You know I'm not supposed to allow you or your mum on brooms."
"That was when you were my guard; now you're my date. An entirely different set of rules apply."
"Fine, we can go for a fly, but we have to share a broom."
"Only if I'm in front this time." He was obviously referring to our escape from the room of requirement during the final battle.
"Deal," I conceded. I didn't mind being behind him one bit. A vision of his fit round bottom pressed against my bits flashed before my eyes and sent blood rushing south, before I forced the image away and tried to concentrate on something else.
"Good. I suggest you go down to the kitchens to discuss dinner arrangements," he said, before striding once more towards the door. And since I'd just won, I let him go.
The elves were all very eager to make an elaborate last minute picnic dinner for us. Lacey seemed to swell with pride when I addressed her by name and she was falling all over herself with suggestions on how to woo her master.
"And Master Draco likes rock music sir. He likes to dance. Master Draco is always asking Lacey to purchase the latest recordings," Lacey said in a high pitched squeak.
That was one of the more helpful suggestions, so I stowed it away in my mind. "Right, rock music. Got it."
As soon as I finished up with the elves, I went back upstairs for Draco. Dinner wouldn't be ready for forty-five minutes, but I figured he wouldn't be opposed to a pre-dinner stroll on the grounds. I must've been right, because he jumped at the offer and then spent half an hour showing me the garden. But the garden wasn't all that big and I didn't have anything to contribute to the conversation. Between herbology class and all those summers working in Aunt Petunia's garden, I knew a bit about gardening, but I'd never even seen the plants that he pointed out as his favorites. They were all extremely expensive looking magical exotic things with gorgeous flowers and some of them even sang.
According to my watch, we still had fifteen minutes to go until the elves would begin serving dinner when Draco ran silent. We kept walking, but we'd already been around the garden five times and if his silence was anything to go by, he thought it was my turn to contribute to the conversation. But what did one talk about when one was courting a veela who also happened to be a Malfoy?
"Er, it's lovely weather we're having," I offered.
"Tell me, Potter, why did you ask me on this date?" he asked.
"Because…" This question was a trap or my name wasn't Harry Potter. My first instinct was to mention that his life depended on it and cite the fact that I was his mate. But after the way he'd reacted the first time and the fact that earlier he didn't seem impressed with rational, logical argument, I thought that mentioning the veela thing wasn't the way to go. "I, er wanted to…ah…" I bit back that answer and stopped before it was too late. I was silent for a minute while I tried to switch gears and come up with an answer that would appeal to him. While I flounder, he stood there watching me and not bothering to help out in the least. Well that is unless you count the fact that he got bored and I caught him checking the appearance of his reflection in the peacock pond. That reminded me of his vanity, so I decided to try to appeal to that side of him. "Well you're hot, of course. I'd have to be blind not to see that and not want you."
"And what about me do you find attractive?" He was running his fingers through his pale blond hair.
"Your hair's gorgeous, really. And then there's your, um, face; that's gorgeous too. Then there's your fit body."
"So it's not just that I'm a veela?"
"Well I'd have to be crazy not to go for a veela; veela are the sexiest creatures on the planet, aren't they? But no, it's not just that. It's mostly you, Draco Malfoy, that I find attractive. And if you happen to also be a veela, well then I'll not hold that against you."
"That's very generous of you. In return, I'll try not to hold your Potter-ness against you."
"My Potter-ness?" I asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Your scar, your stupid hair, and the fact that you saved us all from a madman," he replied, waving his hand dismissively in the air as he spoke.
"You'd hold it against me that I defeated Voldemort? Are you serious?" I was incredulous now.
"No, I just said I wouldn't."
"Did that even need to be said?"
"My father would think so."
Bloody Lucius Malfoy was causing trouble from behind Ministry walls, it would seem.
"Right, so that's good then. I saved the world and you won't hold it against me. Good to know in case I end up saving the world again."
"Whoa! I only said I'd overlook it this time; next time you risk your neck for the greater good I'll not be so forgiving. Grounds for a divorce, that is."
I groaned and wondered how serious he was.
"You joke, but you're proposing marriage and conception of a child here. You go running off to save the world, get killed in the process, and I'm the one left a widower with a child to raise on my own."
Well that certainly made more sense than what was running through my head. And with only a week to convince him to conceive that child he just mentioned, I really couldn't afford any setbacks. Thus I let my objections slide and returned to my earlier compliments. "I also like how smart you are. I'm not that brainy, so I'm definitely glad you're wicked smart. Our eggs are sure to take after you in the brains department."
He raised an eyebrow skeptically and let an awkward pause draw out painfully long, but I was spared from further awkward conversation by the appearance of our soup on top of a table set for two. I held out my arm hoping that was the right thing to do and was shocked beyond belief when he took it. Together we walked to the table and I pulled out his chair, like in one of those old romance films Hermione likes. I sat down opposite him and we tucked into our soup.
The main course followed and was finished out with dessert. The best part about the meal was watching him lick his pudding off of his spoon. He noticed me staring at his tongue and asked, "What?" pausing in his eating to stare back at me.
I could feel my checks heating into a world-class blush. "Um, er…" I stammered, trying to think how to reply to that. Then it hit me that words really were not the best answer. I leaned in, closing my eyes, and aimed my lips towards his. I was almost there when he pushed me away.
"What do you take me for, Potter? Some two knut street worker who you can have your way with? Just because you're the Savior of the Wizarding World and an Auror and I'm a Ministry prisoner doesn't mean I'm going to let you take advantage of me," he stated forcefully.
"Huh?" I asked, still in a daze and not understanding what he was going on about. It was just a kiss, after all.
"I expect to be courted properly, according to the highest standards of pureblood courting rituals. You can either do so or hit the road. That lane there connects to a muggle road after a few miles." He pointed to the long drive leading up to the Manor and his chin was set in a hard, sharp line.
"What?"
"Are you deaf or daft?"
I shook my head, regrouped mentally for a minute, and then figured out a coherent response. "I wasn't trying to take you to bed. I was just trying to kiss you. We had a nice date."
"The first kiss is not to occur before we've been dating an entire week and not before dinner is finished on the first date. Do us both a favor and get Weasley or Granger to explain pureblood courting rules to you."
I spluttered for a few moments, before saying, "Er, but we need to get to the part where we're having sex by the end of the week! We can't be waiting until then for the first kiss!"
"I'll not be having sex with you before we're married."
"You want to get married? By the end of the week?"
"No, I'll not accept a proposal until we've completed all of the steps of the courtship. That typically takes half a year or more."
"But you'll die if this egg isn't fertilized!"
"That so, I still won't sacrifice my standards."
"Then you'll sacrifice your life to uphold your standards?" I asked incredulously.
"No. I require only a sample of your ejaculate to survive. If you'll kindly provide it in a dish it will be sufficient."
"A dish?"
"Yes."
"Let me get this straight: you want me to ejaculate into a dish to conceive our first child, in order to save your life?"
"Yes Potter. Salazar you're daft. I knew Granger was the brains of your little outfit, but I didn't realize you were so completely lacking in the area. Should I compose a letter to Granger and have her explain this to you? Maybe you can only understand if it comes from her."
"No, that's not…Never mind. What are you going to do with my ejaculate once you get it?"
"Fertilize the egg growing within me, of course."
"Yeah, but how?"
"Same way birds do it."
"Which is?"
"Do you really require me to explain to you the birds and the bees?"
"Yes." I thought I had some idea of what he was going to do, but I didn't know, not really. Was he going to penetrate his veela bits with his fingers to deliver my sperm? Or was he not capable of penetration? If the latter, how did fertilization happen?
"When two adults love each other, follow the proper courting rules, and get married, they then have sex," he began.
I stared at him with wide eyes and a dropped jaw, not believing that he was going to start with a sex lecture fit for an eleven year old. What was this, first year all over again?
He must have notice my expression. "Oh do tell me you can follow simple explanations from someone other than Granger. Should I just ask her to explain the birds and the bees too?"
"No, um, er…" I sighed in frustration. "It's just that I know this bit. I know how it happens in humans. I just don't understand how it happens in veela."
"Oh, is that all?"
"Yes."
"Well it's simple really. It happens the same way it happens in birds."
"Forgive me, but I wasn't able to find any bird pornography." The diagrams didn't count and even given what I'd learn about bird sex, I still wasn't sure how much of it was similar in veela.
He laughed at that. Suddenly the tension between us was diffused and I was laughing too. It was some time later before we composed ourselves and he finally answered the question.
"During copulation, the male veela ejaculates onto the surface of the female veela's cloaca. The female's body takes it up and transports it into the uterus where one sperm is then able to fuse with the unfertilized egg. Fertilization triggers growth of the yolk and albumin, or the whites of the egg. For the first three months the embryo and the egg grow and mature, until the yolk and albumin reaches its maximum size and a hard shell is formed around it and the embryo. The egg then leaves the female's body and continues to develop externally, provided that it's cared for and kept warm, for an additional year."
"And the hatching? How does that happen?"
"An egg-tooth. Several teeth erupt before the hatching and the baby will use one to crack the egg-shell. The shell is abnormally thick and it would exhaust a baby to saw through it, so the parents typically help it out once the initial crack has formed."
I nodded, deep in thought. That was a lot more information than I'd been able to gather on my own. I wanted to ask him how sex between a human and a veela typically went, but I was too embarrassed to ask. He'd told me enough of the details that I thought I knew the answer. It seemed pretty clear that veela cloacae weren't capable of being penetrated, and I figured exact details regarding intercourse could wait until he was actually willing to have sex with me. Merlin, the last thing I wanted right now was for him to go off on another pureblood chastity speech about how I was not to treat him like a harlot.
We were both silent for some time while I thought and he picked back up his pudding and spoon. My head was still spinning when he finished his dessert, so I pushed my untouched pudding over to stall him. I thought for a moment that he was going to refuse and rage about it, but he stuck to the one raised eyebrow, before taking the treat and eating it. That had the added advantage that I had more time to stare at his tongue, while I tried to figure out where this date was going.
It was getting dark and colder. I cast a warming charm and lit the candle that appeared before us, but there was still a choice coming up very quickly. Either I could offer to walk him back inside and deliver him to his guards, or I could keep him out on this date into the night. Extending the date would give us more time to get to know each other and that was a good thing given that we were planning the conception of a joint child in a week's time. But on the other hand, I didn't know if that conformed to pureblood courting rules. What if there was some rule about how long the first date was allowed to last? I now knew that kissing wasn't permitted, but were after dinner chats permitted?
I didn't know, so when he finally put down his spoon and looked up at me expectantly, I decided to risk it. "Care to go for a stroll in the moonlight?"
"No."
"Oh. Um, I'll just take you inside then."
"You do that and you can consider your chance of a second date null."
"Huh?"
"You promised me a broom ride. If you renege on your promise, I'll not be eager for a second date."
"Oh…oh. Yeah, er, yes. Let's go for a fly," I agreed. I could feel the corners of my mouth turning up in an uncontrollably wide smile. A fly might be even better than a kiss, especially because we were to share a broom. At least there was one good thing about him being under house arrest.
"I take it you know how to undo the wards on the broom-shed," he said, standing up and leaving his napkin on the table.
I stood too and nodded. He started walking in the direction of the broom-shed and I followed, adding, "Er yes, I do."
The Malfoy grounds were sprawling. The garden was in the front of the house, while the broom-shed was in the rear. We walked around the perimeter of the house, with him taking long, quick strides, and me on his heels trying to keep up. It wasn't that I couldn't walk that fast, but that I kept fumbling my steps, because I wasn't concentrating on where I was going and was unfamiliar with the uneven path. What I was focused on was his right arm and right hand, as they swung back and forth with his movements. I kept thinking that I should take his hand in mine or his arm; surely hand holding must be permitted for a first date. I must've reached out for him half a dozen times during the short walk. Our skin brushed a few times, but each attempt was foiled either by my nerves, his speed, the ground, or a combination of the three.
And then we were at the broom-shed. "Well, have at it then," he said, indicating the wooden structure.
"Ah, yes, alright then," I said. "Er, could you turn around? I'm not supposed to tell you what sort of wards we use."
He huffed out a put upon sigh, but turned around. I concentrated and cast the nonverbal counter spells to remove the wards.
"Alright, you can turn back now."
He did and then reached out to open the shed. A huge smile graced his lips when he turned the door handle. Then he was reaching inside for his black Nimbus. He straddled the broom, ready for takeoff, but waited for me. I climbed on behind him and wrapped both of my arms securely around him, pulling my chest flush with his back in sort of the opposite of our configuration during our escape from Fiendfyre.
"Ready?" he asked.
I was and we were off, shooting into the night sky with the wind in our faces and our bodies pressed flushed. His skin was burning hot underneath mine and his cloth covered body was warm as well, especially compared with the chilly night air. We'd left the warming charm behind at the table, so I cast another one now. It kept off the worst of the chill, which worked out to my disadvantage because he shifted his body slightly away from me now that he didn't need me for warmth. But it grew colder as the night grew older and soon the warming charm was not enough to stave off the wind. It was then that his body once again pressed flush against mine and I clung all the tighter to him, in the guise of preserving body heat; hypothermia wasn't a pleasant way to conclude a first date after all.
From the back of that broom, I watched the setting sun and the rising of the moon as dusk fell, while he flew loops in the sky. We went up and down, through loop-d-loops, and around in long figure eights. As we flew, the sky turned dark and the moon came out, so that our journey was lit only by the moon and the stars. I was worried then that we might crash in the darkness, but he stuck to the clearing in back of the house and I could see that we were well away from the black of the encroaching forest. He seemed to know his flight paths like they were engraved on the back of his hand. But then this was his house where he'd grown up and lived all of his life, so perhaps they were engraved in his brain.
We flew for hours, stopping only to wave at Harper when he came out to check on us. There must've been a shift change while we were out and he was probably checking to make sure Draco hadn't escaped with me. Unlike Jackson, Harper didn't seem content to let me watch his ward without supervision, because he stayed out back on the porch watching us fly. We might've stayed out there all night, but after a time I realized that I couldn't feel my fingers, which were numb from the cold. I reached out and felt first the skin on Draco's arms where they reached out from his sleeves to grip the broom handle, and then the skin on his face. Both were as cold as my hands.
"I think we better call it a night before we freeze to death," I said into his ear.
He leaned his head back into my lips and the warmth was intoxicating. His ear was cold, but it was hot in comparison to the wind.
I couldn't hear him agree with me, because of the roar of the wind, but he pulled the broom down for a landing. As soon as we were on solid ground again, I pulled him into a warm embrace and held out the broom for Harper.
"Lock this back up for us Harper; I'll take him inside and wait for you," I said.
Harper complied, taking the broom, while Draco led me in the back door of the Manor, straight into the kitchens. It was late at night, but the room was still pleasantly warm from the earlier cooking activity of the elves. There was a fire lit in the hearth and he led me over to it, reaching out his hands to warm them in the flames. I reached out too, but kept my body wrapped around his. He started shivering and I took advantage of it by rubbing my hands quickly up and down his arms, trying to warm him up with the friction and with my body heat.
"Another warming charm please," he requested softly, turning his head slightly back towards me.
I murmured my agreement into his ear and cast the charm, before tucking my wand back in my robes. Our time by the fire was interrupted by Harper, who had finished with warding the broom-shed and followed us into the kitchen. He held his hands out to the fire, turning our party of two into a party of three. That ruined the mood, so it was only a moment after that that I suggested we go upstairs. I dropped Draco off in the parlor with his mum. I thanked him for a lovely evening, but didn't move to kiss him.
"You're welcome and goodnight," he replied, inclining his head in a dismissive gesture.
I nodded back and took my leave.
Author's Note: It is snowing again, so there is the first date. I hope you liked it! Up next will be more of dating, but more importantly, the conception.
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