"I'm sorry, Malfoy said WHAT?!" Ron exclaimed incredulously, his mouth hanging open in shock.

"He told me he was sorry. You know. For what happened the other day." Harry repeated for the third time in about two minutes, slightly exasperated by this point.

The golden trio were all sat in the empty 8th year common room on a dreary Monday afternoon. It was drizzling, and everyone passing through looked thoroughly wet and miserable. It was the first chance Harry had had to tell the others about the events of the last bonding session, without being overheard.

"How did you respond?" Asked Hermione shrewdly, her expression not giving anything away about her opinion on Malfoy's sudden apology.

"I…" Harry bit his lip, before continuing somewhat sheepishly, bracing himself for Ron's reaction. "I told him I forgave him."

Ron did not disappoint. "I'm sorry, you told him WHAT?!"he asked, somehow sounding even more incredulous than before, and somewhat outraged, as if Harry's forgiveness was some kind of gross personal betrayal.

"I don't know, I didn't think, I just kind of… said it." Harry said, shrugging, trying to think of a valid excuse.

"Did you mean it?" Hermione asked, her face still impossible to read.

Harry opened his mouth, before stopping, changing his mind. He exhaled slowly before replying. "Yes." He said simply. And it was true. He hadn't planned to say it, but it had just seemed right at the time. And in all honesty, it was true. He didn't resent Malfoy for losing his temper, and he was too tired of fighting to hold such silly grudges anymore.

Hermione nodded, as if his response had clarified something for her, but Ron simply howled in shock and horror.

"Harry! How can you forgive that selfish git for what he did to you? He's a pompous arsehole, and he doesn't deserve-"

Hermione cut her boyfriend off mid-sentence. "Ron, leave him alone. He's not forgiving everything Malfoy's ever done in the history of ever, he's just being mature." Harry smiled, grateful that she was on his side.

"Anyway, Ron, we should go, we have double charms next, remember?" Hermione continued, changing the subject to avoid any arguments.

It worked. Ron groaned. "I don't even hate charms, but that bugger, Malfoy sits right in front of me and I don't particularly feel like staring at the back of his oily head for two hours."

Hermione rolled her eyes, smiling, and yanked the ginger- haired boy off his feet, towards the door. "Bye, Harry!" She called.

"Yeah, have fun with your three more free periods." Ron continued, grumpily.

Harry laughed, and gave him the middle finger.

The door swung shut behind the two lovebirds, leaving Harry completely alone with his thoughts. Having free periods was great, but not so much so when you had to spend them without any company. Harry sighed and stood up. He might as well head to the library and get some homework done.

Seated in his usual corner of the library, he was able to get all of his homework done, which is surprisingly not actually an enormous amount. Considering he only takes four subjects, and Hagrid in particular tended to be quite lax when it came to homework, two hours was plenty of time to get the work finished.

It was strange, the library being this empty. There were only a couple of students in there, as most of the lower school was in lessons, and there was quite a relaxed atmosphere. Even Madame Pince wasn't breathing down anyone's necks, and was instead stacking some books, even smiling slightly.

So, after lunch, Harry returned to the library, despite the fact that his homework was completed, because the quiet library was definitely preferable to the lonely feeling common room. Hermione and Ron were both in potions at the moment, and all the other Gryffindors were either in lessons or busy in some other way. So, he made a trip to his room, to pick up the books he needed to return, before heading back to the library.

Harry wandered the shelves aimlessly for a few minutes, before eventually ending up in front of the shelves that he knew contained books about veela. The information about them contained in the library was somewhat limited, and the room of requirement had more of them, but it was something to do nonetheless.

So, Harry grabbed a few from the shelves at random, before heading back to his table. He idly flicked though a couple, but for the most part he knew about most of the information already, having picked it up from Malfoy or read it in other books.

Suddenly, Harry heard the door to the library slowly creak open. Out of pure curiosity, Harry peeked out from behind the shelf, to see who had joined him in the otherwise silent room. His eyes widened slightly as he took in the fact that it was none other than Draco Malfoy himself, the enigma who constantly plagued Harry's thoughts at the moment. While the other boy was far away, his platinum hair and wings would be easily recognisable, even by someone who did not possess enhanced vision.

Harry fiddled with his ring as he continued to watch the other boy. Malfoy glanced around the library before entering properly, evidently having not seen Harry, tucked away behind the shelves. He quietly closed the door and headed over to a specific area of shelves, looking like he had a specific purpose in mind.

At this point, Harry started to move away, feeling silly for watching the other boy. He probably just wanted to get some homework done without getting pestered or bullied by other students. However, he quickly realised that, unless he was very wrong, Malfoy was looking for the shelves that Harry had been to, barely five minutes ago. Why would Malfoy be looking for books on Veela lore? He always seemed so confident in his abilities and knowledge.

Shrugging it off, Harry turned to his book, and kept flicking. One page in particular caught his eye. "The Alpha Voice and Bond Line."

Harry was already far too acquainted with the Alpha voice, but he didn't actually know too much about the Bond Line. I mean, he knew that it pulled D-Malfoy towards him when he was in distress, and it had happened during that Care of Magical Creatures lesson, but he didn't actually know about the technicalities – or even the basics really.

So, he read:

The Bond Line

The Bond line is a somewhat physical representation of a bond between two veela (NOTE: Somewhat is referencing that it can be sensed and felt by both veela, and consciously and unconsciously interacted with by the submissive of the pair). The bond line has no set form, but some veela have reported theirs being reminiscent of rope, or ribbon, whereas others suggest it is more like handcuffs. The veela who experience the Bond Line as something negative often have had bad relationships in the past which have not yet been amended. However, the shape can change over time, depending on the interactions between the veela.

The Bond Line is special, as it cannot be influenced by the Alpha Voice, and is completely controlled by the submissive. For example, if the dominant were to demand the submissive to use the Bond Line, the submissive would not be obligated to follow the command.

The Bond Line, as well as being this representation of the bond, also has a specific function. It is often used to allow the dominant veela to protect the submissive from any issues or dangers that may arise in day to day life. It pulls the dominant towards the submissive, usually very quickly to allow immediate action.

This action is usually reflex, and happens when the submissive senses danger, or is particularly agitated. However, it can also be purposely controlled by the submissive, for different intents and purposes.

That was the end of the page. Harry flipped over the page eagerly, hoping for instructions on how to control the bond line. However, the next page instead moved on to discuss a different topic.

Still, this would be brilliant if he could learn to manipulate the line, it would allow him to get his own back on Malfoy if he used the Alpha Voice, and there wouldn't be anything he could do about it! Ecstatic, Harry pulled out the other books, scanning the contents pages for anything related to the bond line.

Several books contained more information, but none of the ones he had gotten out had the information he actually wanted.

Harry sighed, and glanced furtively over towards the shelves containing the other veela books. He contemplated going to get more, but Malfoy was over there, and he didn't want the other boy to have any forewarning of what he was trying to do. Plus… it would probably be pretty awkward.

Where else could he get books on this stuff? He could always wait, Harry supposed, but by then he might have missed an opportunity to use it. But there was nowhere else…

Of course! Harry rolled his eyes at himself, and quickly shoved his things in his bag. The room of requirement would almost certainly have information on this somewhere! Harry left his books on the table, praying Madame Pince would never find out that it was him, and hastily exited the library.

Behind him, Malfoy blinked in surprise as a short boy with black hair appeared from a bookshelf and hurried out of the library. He remained motionless for a few seconds, mulling it over, but quickly decided he didn't want to know.

~oOo~

Harry paced in front of the room of requirement, as he had so many times over the last few years. He wasn't sure what the exact words McGonagall used, but he could just wing it, it would probably be fine.

"I need the veela room from before."

"I need the veela room from before."

"I need the veela room from before."

Sure enough, the same door from before appeared. Harry entered, grinning triumphantly, and walked past the dummies and other apparatus, and towards the bookshelves.

Where to start?

Shrugging, Harry dumped his stuff on the floor, and reached for the same book as last time. "I'm a Submissive Veela – what now?" was still as patronising as last time, and unfortunately, did not yield what Harry needed. Neither did the next (Dealing with life as a young veela) or the third (I'm a fuckin' veela, dude!). The next one didn't have it either, though that was hardly surprising considering it was titled "Two Veela, sittin' in a hot tub".

Finally, Harry pulled a rather heavy looking book off of a shelf entitled "The Veela how-to guide". Not feeling particularly hopeful, Harry opened it to the contents page. Had he been sitting on a chair at the time, Harry probably would have fallen off said chair in shock upon reading the words "How To Use the Bond line!"

Hardly daring to believe it, Harry turned to the page number listed.

The first step to using the Bond Line effectively, is realising and visualising its presence. This can be done by closing your eyes and focusing on the energy around you. You should be able to pick up on its presence. The next step is to physically feel it, and then to picture it based on that. If you keep a firm hold on it, you should be able to clearly see it.

Having come this far, Harry decided to follow the instructions. Feeling slightly silly, he closed his eyes, and tried to "focus on the energy around him," whatever that meant. Strangely though, he did pick up on… something. It was focused around his stomach, and he reached out to try and make contact with it. He gasped slightly as he felt it, but his hand passed straight through it. He focused even more, instinctively, and it began to take shape under his hand. It was soft, and… wait, was that a leaf?

Without even thinking, Harry opened his eyes. From beneath his shirt, some kind of vine emerged, and disappeared from sight, out of the door. Gaping, Harry unbuttoned his shirt. Roots and vines were wrapped around his stomach and appeared to grow into his skin. Feeling weird Harry closed his eyes and removed his hands from it, and, thankfully, it disappeared.

Well. Not completely – he could feel it still, as a kind of omnipresent energy, but it wasn't physical any more.

He exhaled and buttoned up his shirt.

That was extremely weird.

I'm back (after another long break… sorry about that…)! I actually wrote most of this a while ago, but I only got around to editing it this week, when I was staying in Southampton! I know, I'm sorry, it's kind of a short chapter, but I'm pretty excited for the next one so that should be a little longer, and the one after that is also going to be good (I hope).

On a side note, while I've been away, I've been reading a lot of phanfiction, and I really want to start writing another phanfic, but im not sure whether to rewrite my other one (and finish it) or start something brand new. If you like phan and have any suggestions, maybe let me know by leaving a comment!

Okay, I'm done rambling, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you in the next one!

~ Sera xx