Chapter 12 Discoveries

That night Draco reflected upon his ability to sense a possible deception on the part of Glasses and the unwitting and unnatural strength when they sparred. Though he didn't regret Glasses going down, these newfound abilities disturbed him. He recalled overhearing his mother talking about a veela heritage which could explain his and his father's tall stature and silver hair, common in veelas. While only female veelas were known to most of the wizard world, the rest lived in very secretive communities with little contact with the rest of the world. Within those communities, male veelas had to exist otherwise they couldn't perpetuate. Draco investigated his family's past to see if it could be true.

The Malfoy family kept extensive records of their lineage. During his research, Draco found out some things he never knew about. First, hundreds of years prior, to ensure the family name endured, Naoise Malfoy blessed the line so that the first two children born to each Malfoy would be males. That only confirmed his place in his father's heart as the family heir. He shook his head in disgust and moved on to other matters. Second, no record existed of his grandmother on his father's side, despite well-kept records of every family member for hundreds of years. Frequently in that history, every few generations, the wives were not recorded. Throughout his family's extensive library, not one book on veelas could be found, confirming his suspicions.

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The next morning, Draco received an owl from Hermione, cancelling their scheduled meeting that afternoon which he didn't mind since he wanted to do some research on veelas with a trip to the Hogwarts' library. Unfortunately, "Blackwell's Comprehensive Guide to Veelas" had been checked out prior. A few reference books contained sporadic information. An animalistic nature makes up a part of a veela's being. When threatened or excited, this animalistic nature can and often does take control. When a combat opportunity arises, they will succumb to that bloodlust. Physically, veelas possess superior strength and speed and have an acute sense of smell and hearing. He skimmed through more reference books and found another interesting tidbit. Veelas have an uncanny ability sort lies from truth.

Veelas mate for life. They protect their mates fiercely. Avoid confrontation with a protective veela at all costs. They choose their mates on a subconscious level based on physical attraction, spiritual admiration and intellectual compatibility. They will go to great lengths to prove to their mate they are worthy of them based on the levels of compatibility listed above. Veelas show tremendous jealousy when the opposite sex shows interest in their mate. Once their mate has fully bonded to them on the levels noted above, this jealousy lessens.

For veela to fully bond with their mate, they take a small fraction of their mate's soul into them. For their mate to achieve a completely blissful bond, they must have complete trust in the veela. This enables them to accept a fraction of the veela's soul. If they do not, they will never achieve total happiness. Veelas can force a bond that will bring them happiness but their mate will not be able to achieve complete bliss. The eyes are the windows to the soul. If a veela's mate dies or rejects them, they will die soon after.

On the matter of those with mixed veela heritage, this much is known. The more veela abilities are used, the more pronounced all veela traits become, up to a point depending on how strong the veela inheritance is. Though he accepted his veela heritage, he counted on using his abilities enough to further his career only and avoid the pitfalls to this side of him.

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Wednesday morning, Draco sat at a picnic table in the courtyard, tutoring several students when Bianca kissed his cheek and joined him. Then he noticed Glasses eyeing her. For some unknown reason, Draco' hatred of him welled up. With a few quick strides, he grabbed Glasses' sweater and lifted him straight into the air. "Keep your eyes to yourself! She's not yours."

Revus piped in from behind, "You're not good enough. She wouldn't want your sympathizer filth."

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That Thursday, Hermione joined him in the Malfoy lab with Crookshanks following to see which of the brewed potion Crookshanks hated the most in hopes that a werewolf would react the same. "Hermione, would you like some tea?"

"Yes," she muttered.

When Draco brought the tea, Hermione barely acknowledged him. "Look, I'm sorry about Mickey." After he put one cube of sugar in her tea, he placed it in front of her. "Do you forgive me?"

"Sure," she replied.

Together, they observed Crookshanks reactions to the various potions who decided that he didn't like one of the potions, a potion that Hermione sniffed to find odorless. "You know he's probably picking up a smell out of our sensory range."

"That is excellent reasoning." Even Draco couldn't smell it. They separated it from the rest of the potions. Unfortunately, it only affected Crookshanks at three feet away but no farther. "We need a catalyst that will enhance the scent without interfering." Draco sagged to a stool. "Unfortunately, I don't have a clue as to what that is."

"Neither do I," Hermione remarked. "Between our knowledge of potions from Hogwarts, not to mention all the research we've been doing, it might be safe to say, one doesn't exist."

"We can't give up." Draco paced around the lab. "Scents….scents…..distilling makes stronger," he muttered. "If the potion does work against werewolves, what would someone do?" As he paced more, Hermione did likewise. "Dab a little on their neck, like perfume…but a werewolf's reach would exceed the potion's scent range."

"Perfume! That's it!" Being in the muggle and wizard world served Hermione well. "Most all of the fine perfumes in the wizard world are actually muggle." Draco looked at her in disbelief. "The only difference is that in the muggle world one has to use more as opposed to in the witch world where one uses one drop total for the same effect."

"I believe you," he assured her. "I'm sure we have some books in the library on distilling perfumes the wizard way."

After an hour of research on distilling perfume, they found one ingredient in all of them that enhanced the scent without interfering: Biggle Berries. However, the berries could only be grown in the wild, took awhile to juice and the juice didn't keep but for only a week by itself. However, if biggle berry juice were mixed with other ingredients, it lasted several years.

Since it was evening, Hermione gathered her things. "We must get the biggle berries tomorrow."

"I won't have time tomorrow or Saturday. Let's go on Tuesday, our usual day."

"Biggle berries take three days to juice. We'll lose too much time." She paced a moment. "Since you're busy, I'll gather them myself."

"Wait until Tuesday and I'll join you. We have time." Draco knew they only grew in the wild and usually not in safe places.. "I forbid you to go without me."

Anger flashed in her eyes but disappeared instantly. "I understand and I respect your opinion."

"Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"I'm on a diet." In a snit, she bounded out.

Draco watched the back of her locks, swinging side to side. Must be her time of the month.