3. Chapter
Modified Identities
They arrived in great entrance hall of Malfoy Manor. Draco still had Harriet pressed to his chest, trying not to move her body too much. As soon as his two feed were standing still on the white marble floor, he sped up and rushed, Harriet still securely pressed at his chest, to his own room. He didn't care whether his parents or his Godfather were following him, his first and most important priority was the girl in his arms.
He kicked the door to his room open, called for a house elf and with as much gentleness as he could muster, he laid Harriet down on his cozy bed, tucking her in. At that moment Binky arrived and asked her Master what to do. He told her to fetch some chairs, something to drink and to eat, a basin with warm water and a clean, soft cloth. Binky just nodded and disappeared to fetch the ordered things.
Draco wiped around when he heard the door of his room opening, but only sighed in relieve when he saw his parents and Severus had entered. Severus had immediately gone to his personal lab at the Malfoy Manor - he often stayed long enough over the holidays at the Manor to refer to it as second home - and had collected all kind of potions and draughts which they might need throughout the changing process of the small, fragile girl. Furthermore, he fetched some, which would enable him to treat to Harriet's wounds and injuries accordingly.
They set down on the chairs brought by Binky and Severus immediately began with the treatment of her injuries. Draco had fetched the washing cloth, which Binky had brought him and started to clean Harriet's face of the dirt and blood on it with soft, caring taps. Lucius and Narcissa stayed a little bit in the background to observe the changing process and Severus' and Draco's treatments.
After one hour the changes were nearly completed. Severus had finished with his potions and draughts and was now relaxing slightly in his chair. After Draco had finished with cleaning her face and the visible parts of her body, they now could see her face clearly for the first time. Only Harriet's wings had yet to appear. Lucius observed the still figure lying in the king-sized bed of his son next to him and took in every little change of her features, hair colour and body shape. Surprise was clearly written on his face, the wheels in his head doing its best to work properly.
He had to admit that Harriet Potter was a beauty herself and that he wasn't so sure anymore, whether it would be her pleasure being Draco's mate or whether it wouldn't rather be Draco's pleasure being her mate. A little glint appeared in his eyes. Of one thing he could be sure. Harriet would do the Malfoy name and reputation very good. She looked beautiful and wasn't spoiled like all these other pureblooded witches of Draco's year, a privilege they would come to enjoy greatly. But back to his observations.
"I have to admit, I have never seen a veela like her before.", stated Lucius, startling the other three occupants of the room.
An amused chuckle could be heard from the background.
When the three Malfoys and Severus spun around in search of the source of this sound, they saw Laurena Malfoy standing in the beautiful portrait of the landscape of France, who smiled knowingly at them. A chair appeared in the portrait and Laurena took her time to get seated. When she was seated, she just kept on smiling at them and let her gaze rest on the small figure of Draco's mate.
"Why were you chuckling, Mother?," Lucius asked.
He, like the others, looked expectantly at her.
"Because you are right, my son. You have never seen one of her kind before."
At their questioning gazes she explained further.
"There are different types of veelas, as you surely all know. You, Lucius, like your wife and your son are fullblooded light veelas. So, if there are light veelas, then there have to be dark veelas, too, haven't they? And this is what the poor girl in front of you is. Draco's mate is a fullblooded dark veela."
Silence remained, only to be interrupted by Draco's questioning voice.
"Than what would the children of a light and a dark veela be? Would they be called grey veelas?"
Laurena looked appraisingly at her grandson.
"Normally they would either be dark or light veelas. A pair of a dark and a light veela can have both types of children. But sometimes they get a mixture of both of their dominant genes. And these veelas are indeed called grey veelas, Draco. But this shouldn't your main aspect of interest now."
Her gaze once more lingered on the girl, before it returned to her audience.
"There is a big difference between dark and light veelas."
She cleared her voice and started her lecture.
"I am going to start with the light veelas. Light veelas are known for their cool, superior aura. They are always in control of their feelings and their actions. They are reserved, cool, in control of everything and have a superb self-control. Their disinterested and cold attitude attracts a lot of people, making it easy for them to manipulate them into doing things, they would normally never do. This is why light veelas are considered to be perfect leaders. They are strong, have self-control and get what they want. Well and then there are the dark veelas."
She paused to let them take in what they had heard.
"Dark veelas are the exact opposite of light veelas, as they are true creatures of the night. They are vivacious, passionate and sensual and have no problem with showing this openly. They don't have control over their feelings and act on their instincts. Their dark and enticing aura attracts all kinds of people, but is normally only reserved for their mates. Because of their compassionate and caring attitude dark veelas tend to become some kind of healer or teacher in the future."
They were all now looking at the sleeping girl, while Draco started to stroke her hair.
"The origin of the dark veelas lays in the south of Europe like Spain or Italy but normally and more surely the eastern parts of Europe like Russia and Bulgaria, while the light veelas are descendents from France, Great Britain and Norway or Sweden. There are differences in their abilities and affinities, too, as dark veelas normally tend to control fire and earth and have a big affinity to languages in general. From what I have heard from Lily Evans Potter, she was able to speak with and control all types of animals and beasts, so I would say that Harriet here has these abilities probably, too."
Draco just had to speak up again.
"But this is bad, as we won't be able to help her with these elements and her other powers. How will she be able to learn to control them, if we can't help her and we even can't ask her parents or other relatives of hers to train her as they are all dead?"
His grandmother was now smiling at him.
"You already care for her, don't you, Draco?", she asked.
Seeing that he was only blushing, she started to explain.
"That won't be a problem, my dear. Dark veelas, when they are fully transformed, gain the knowledge not only of their parents, but also of lots of other relatives of them. Her race was has been hunted down for years and this was the only way for them to ensure that their race would survive. When Harriet awakes, she will be able to train her powers, as she will already know how they are working. This is their biggest advantage. She will only need time."
Laurena started to get up, let the chair vanish and prepared herself to leave for her own portrait to take a nap. When she had finished, she once turned back and directed her voice at Draco.
"You will also have to think of a name, Draco."
Seeing his puzzled look she explained.
"It is common tradition between dark veelas that the dominant mate gives his mate a new name, to make her not only a new person but also to indicate that she is his and his only. In your case this will be very beneficial, as you will be able to change Harriet's surname and given name without any problems. After this, only her new self will officially exist, letting all traces of her former self vanish for good. No one will be able to claim her to be Harriet Potter."
With this she left and left them to think about their new possibilities and what other things they would have to do.
Something was tickling her. Whatever it was, it was tickling her right eye and was disturbing her peaceful and blissful sleep. She lightly shook her head, but the tickling wouldn't stop. With a soft sigh she finally raised her hand to vanish whatever it was that was disturbing her and opened her eyes.
Bright light hit her unprepared eyes. She groaned and closed them immediately. She let a few moments pass and then she opened her eyes slowly and very carefully again. This time the light didn't hit her as forcefully as the first time. She could even recognize her surroundings and startled greatly.
She wasn't at home anymore.
Carefully she turned her head to have a look around. She was lying in a huge, comfortable bed. Above it there was an enormous chandelier. On the other side of the room she could see a couch and three armchairs surrounding a small couch table. On the right there were servers full with books. Next to them there was a desk. On the left side of the room there was a wardrobe with a body-length mirror. The whole room was painted in white, silver and light green. Little snake figures completed most of the furniture.
She definitely was in a Slytherin's room.
Light snoring from her left startled her. She wiped around, prepared for all that might come and startled again. There, on the left side of the bed, was lying a boy, no, a young man. Two huge white wings errupted from his back and his platinum blond hair hid his face, which was resting next to her abdomen. Light but regular snoring could be heard from him.
Harriet started to giggle.
The sight was just too hilarious. This sound, however, seemed to wake the sleeping boy up. Slowly he raised his head, until his gaze locked with Harriet's. Blue eyes looked straight into emerald ones. Then suddenly he sat straight up, startling her greatly again.
"Harriet, you're awake. Thank God!"
Draco was exited and more than a little bit embarrassed. He had fallen asleep next to her on the bed, while dreaming of her. The images let his cheeks turn slightly red.
"Ahm, Malfoy, what exactly am I doing in your room?"
Draco immediately stopped dead in his movements. Slowly he let himself sink down on his chair again, his gaze never leaving Harriet's.
"I'm sorry, I should tell you what happened and start at the beginning. Well, as you probably noticed, I have changed. This change is natural and nothing to be afraid of. On my sixteenth birthday I came into my inheritance and transformed into a fullblooded light veela. Well, now to why you are in my room."
He tried to look her in the eyes, but he was too nervous and his gaze began to travel around his room, never meeting her eyes. What would he do, should she reject him? What would he do, should she start to accuse him of kidnapping her? He cleared his throat and began to play with his bed sheets.
"As a veela I have a mate. I come from a long line of fullblooded veelas and that is why my mate has to be a fullblooded veela, too. After my transformation I was searching for the girl, who was my mate, as tradition orders it. I meditated and while doing this, I found her. My Godfather Severus, my parents and I immediately left to retreat her. When we arrived at her relatives' home, her uncle was trying to kill her while beating her with a metal iron bar. Without asking further we rescued her, took her with us to our home, finally helped her through her transformation and treated her injuries. Now she is lying in my bed, looking exploringly at me."
Harriet's eyes wided a little bit and she kept on staring at Draco.
"It's true, Harriet, you are my mate."
A few moments of deafening silence passed between them.
"Just to get this right.", Harriet asked carefully. "You are a veela. I am a veela. You rescued me from my uncle. And finally, I am your mate?"
Draco only nodded. He mentally prepared himself for the screaming and cursing that was about to start. Hopefully he could calm her down before she did something stupid.
"Well, that explains a lot.", she whispers.
Draco just blinked.
"For example why feel a strange pressure at my back - these are my wings, aren't they? - or why I feel attracted to you."
Harriet blushed deeply. This wasn't what she had wanted to tell him. Draco understood her embarrassment and tried to help her.
"You really changed a lot. Perhaps it would be best, if you took a look at the mirror over there to convince yourself."
Harriet only nodded and carefully got of the bed. With light steps she walked over to the mirror, Draco's eyes never leaving her. When she stopped in front of mirror, she closed her eyes, braced herself and finally opened her eyes again.
She really did look different.
She had grown a few inches, but was still smaller than Draco. Her body was now very femininely shaped with big, nice breasts, feminine hips, a flat abdomen and long, nicely shaped legs, making her neither look too thin nor underfed.
Her skin was naturally tanned, looking smooth and creamy in the dimmed light of the chandelier. Bigger changes could be noticed on her face. She now had a small nose, sinful, pink lips, thin, dark eyebrows and high cheekbones, giving her very aristocratic features.
Her hair, now long and silk, varying from very dark brown to night black due to the light, fell to her hips in strong, sexy waves. The bangs she had had once, had grown out, exposing her forehead, on which no lightning bolt shaped scar could be seen.
Big beautiful eyes of a lively green which varied from a strong, light green to a dark, mysterious, forest green with little sparks of gold in them, surrounded by dark, long lashes observed every little change in the mirror. A small smile spread over her lips when her gaze fell on her back.
There were now two body-length wings with small to big feathers. Her wings weren't white as the ones of Draco. They were of an emerald green changing to black with some sparks of gold. All in all she looked like a dark vamp coming out of one's dirty dreams.
Draco had to agree with his Godfather, who had left him alone after he had finished his treatment and had exchanged Harriet's rags with a soft nightdress. The changes were dramatic. She still had the same eye colour and hair colour, but thanks to her face and the missing scar on her forehead, one couldn't prove that this beautiful, sexy creature was the former Harriet Potter. Dumbledore would be damned.
"You really look beautiful, you know?"
Harriet looked surprised at him. Draco, realising that he had told this out loud, blushed deeply red and started to fumble with the sheets of his bed. When he heard a soft chuckle, he raised his gaze and glanced at her. Harriet now was smiling lightly at him, looking a little shy.
"Thanks, Draco. You look great, too, you know?"
Draco blushed, too, and cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"My parents and my Godfather would like to meet you to get to know you. It is late afternoon and they will be expecting us for a joined tea. On the chair there you will find something to wear. Well, when you are finished changing just leave the room, I will be waiting in front of the door."
Draco was now blushing deeply and without looking back at her, he left the room, his eyes never leaving the interesting pattern of the floor. Harriet was still smiling lightly as she turned to the chair and inspected the clothes which Draco had mentioned. She put them on and inspected herself in the mirror.
Harriet had to agree with Draco, she really did look good. The forest green dress, which went down to her knees, was accentuating her eyes and wings perfectly. Glancing one last time back at the mirror she turned around and went to leave the room.
Outside Draco was waiting, leaning at the wall and tapping with his fingers. When she entered he couldn't suppress some drooling. His mother's summer dress really did look great on her. He offered her a reassuring smile, stepped nearer and held out his arm for her to take.
Harriet blushed a little and shyly took his offered arm. Draco led them down to the saloon, where his parents and his Godfather were already waiting, sitting on the couch and the comfortable armchairs. When they saw them entering arm in arm they couldn't suppress a knowing and a teasing smile. Draco led Harriet to one of the armchairs, sat down on it and faced the other occupants.
Lucius was the one to speak up first.
"I would like to introduce my wife and myself to you. My name is Lucius and this is my lovely wife Narcissa. You already know Professor Severus Snape, of course."
Harriet took each of the offered hands, shook them and smiled politely. Severus had talked with all three Malfoy and had come to the decision that he would try to start anew with her. He was going to have to spent more time with her in the future. Better being on good terms with her soon. That was why he, too, offered her his hand.
"I would like us to start a new. I am Draco's Godfather as you probably already know. Please, call me Severus."
Harriet took the offered hand and shook it lightly, all the while smiling politely.
"Nice to get to meet you, Severus."
A house elf arrived and offered them some tee and coffee. While they were drinking in silence, Harriet observed her surroundings. The saloon was decorated in a soft crème white and furnished with pieces of dark wooded furniture. There was a big fireplace on the other side of the room. Large windows offered an imposing view above the neatly kept garden with flowers in all kind of colours. Portraits of former Malfoy heirs and heiresses hung between the windows and next to the fireplace.
"We have to discuss a lot of things, so the best would be start at once."
Lucius put his tea set down on the couch table and looked at Harriet.
"I think I should start at the beginning. Draco surely already told you that you are his life mate. What that means for the two of you, I think I will not have to explain. You gained your parents' and ancestors' knowledge and that should first of all be enough. You should talk about this later with Draco alone.
I am sure that you are aware of that informing Dumbledore or someone of the Order or anyone of your friends wouldn't be beneficial for your and our situation. At the moment you are officially absent from the wizarding world. The Prophet and some other newspapers create the weirdest ideas and reasons for your absence. Some think you ran away with your secret lover to just live your life, others think you have been kidnapped by dark wizards. But no one knows the truth.
You furthermore probably know that telling Dumbledore of your blood status and your relation to Draco would only cause damage to your new life. He will try to force you to separate from Draco or, even worse, try to remove your magical creature blood, risking to kill you in the process.
So the best would be to create a new identity for you."
Harriet took this moment to speak up.
"I think that won't be a problem, Mr. Malfoy. It is our tradition that the dominant names the submissive. Normally he only chooses a given name, because the submissive will share the surname of the dominant after the mating and the normal wedding. In my or better in our case we could make an exception.
Draco could choose a given and a surname for me. My former self will vanish, all traces of my existence will disappear and I will appear here in London as a complete new and unknown person. We would only have to create a convincing family background and references for me.
Furthermore, if it would be possible, I would like to retrieve all of my money and transfer it to a new vault that neither Dumbledore nor any other person except my family will be able to control."
Lucius was smiling proudly. His son's mate was not only intelligent, she was also thinking like a real Slytherin.
"I could help you with your new vault. If you would give me your key, I could retrieve all of your money without letting others know who took it, open a new vault and sign it over to your new name. And I will get you custody over your other possessions like Grimmauld Place and the other estates, which belong to the Potter and the Evans line."
"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. I would really appreciate this."
Draco was already thinking further.
"If it is all right with you, I would like to choose your name right now."
Harriet smiled and nodded.
"I was thinking all night about the things my grandmother was telling us about the name choosing and dark veelas. I was greatly intrigued by the fact that their ancestors came from Russia and Bulgaria. That is why I wanted to choose a Russian or Bulgarian name. But not just any name, I was searching for one with a nice and beautiful meaning. While I was searching I found two nice ones I really liked. The first is Dorina, meaning gift of God, and the second was Kiara, the one who gives with love.
What do you think, Harriet?"
Harriet was looking pensive.
"I like them both. But to be honest, I would prefer Kiara over Dorina as first given name. Dorina could follow as second. So that I would be Kiara Dorina. Would that be okay?"
She was looking shyly at the rest of them. Narcissa was trying to calm her nerves and smiled brightly.
"That will be fine, dear. Now we only need an appropriate surname."
There was a long moment of silence. Finding an appropriate surname would be much more difficult, as they would have to think of unknown relations, if they choose unwise. Finally Severus spoke up.
"A very good friend of mine came from Russia. His name was Balgakow. He was my age but died last year in an accident while searching for some special type of potion. His wife died not long after him. Nobody knew of their private life. We could pretend that Harriet was their daughter or better, she was adopted by them, not knowing her real parents. We could say that she went to a magical boarding school in Russia, only staying at her parents' or friends' houses during the holidays. We could easily fake reports and qualifications. Unfortunately you would need to learn Russian during the holidays to make it look convincing."
But Harriet only waved her hand dismissively.
"That won't be a problem, Severus. My best friend in elementary school came from Russia. She hardly spoke English and that was why I learned to speak Russian. Anastasia was my only friend during this time. When she had to retreat to Russia with her parents five years later, I was able to speak Russian nearly perfectly. I still speak it pretty well. I even know how to correctly pretend to have problems with speaking proper English, if it is deemed necessary. Dumbledore would be easily fouled."
Narcissa smiled happily and clapped her hands in contentedness.
"So, we have got it. We have a given name as well as a surname and a convincing background story. You are going to be Kiara Dorina Balgakow. Congratulations, Kiara. Lucius will give you the necessary documents for you to sign tomorrow, so there won't be any more problems."
Kiara shifted a little in her chair. Now she would have to speak about the one thing which had frightened her the whole time. She could only hope that both Draco and his parents would be understanding and wouldn't try to force her into doing it differently. An uneasy smile appeared on her face.
She had to clear her throat, as it was suddenly very dry.
"There is one last thing I would like to speak about. I really appreciate your help and your generous offers and I hope you won't think I am impertinent. I know it is tradition that the mates are to be married as soon as possible, normally two weeks after the transformation. It is tradition and it has its perks.
However, there lies my little problem."
She paused to take another deep breath and to calm her nerves. Hopefully they would take it well.
"For me, marrying in two weeks would be too soon. You surely know I shared not the best life at my relatives' home and these experiences make it difficult for me to trust people. I know I can trust you and you would never try to harm me but still, the thought of marriage frightens me a bit. This is why I wanted to ask if a courting of one year would be acceptable for you. Draco and I would still be engaged, but we would have the possibility of getting to know each other better, before marrying. It would make me feel safer and more assured of my new life."
Draco was the one to answer her pleading, a small smile on his lips.
"For me it won't be a problem. I have to admit, I wanted to ask the same thing. We hardly know each other, only those things our houses think they know about us. While courting, we would build up a relationship of friendship and love, before finally making the big step of marrying. It shouldn't be a problem, should it, father?"
"No, it shouldn't. You would formally be engaged, so there would be no harm done. I would like to see you courting, it should be interesting."
Lucius, Narcissa and Severus were suddenly smiling openly, something rarely being done by the esteemed Potions Master. There was something off, they were missing something. Kiara looked confused, while Draco raised an eyebrow questioningly.
Narcissa finally showed compassion and explained.
"As in a formal courting, we would have to supervise your meetings for the first times. You would get to know each other, while an adult has to observe, whether all actions are appropriate or not. By the time you are going to be in Hogwarts, you to may meet without supervision, but still there will be some rules.
Once a week Draco will have to plan something for the day to spend quality time with Kiara, the next week Kiara will have to do the same for Draco. Furthermore, Draco would have to please you in every way possible, not only by spending time with you, but also with little gifts and surprises. Kiara on the other hand will have to act like a proper lady, talking, acting and thinking like one, as not to damage the Malfoy name and reputation. As Lucius said, this should be interesting to watch."
Draco and Kiara had both paled a little, but neither of them said something against the rules. Kiara felt tired, her body ached and she only wanted to go to bed to sleep. She tried but couldn't quite stifle a yawn. Lucius saw her struggle and showed compassion.
"It is late. It has been a strenuous day for all of us. Tomorrow there will be the documents for Kiara's new identity and for your courting to sign. Go to bed now and don't be late for breakfast tomorrow morning."
Draco and Kiara said their goodnights, both kissing Narcissa's cheeks and nodding to Severus and Lucius, before Draco finally led Kiara to his rooms.
They would be staying in his room, as the guestroom wasn't prepared yet. Draco would, like every gentleman, sleep on the couch while Kiara would sleep in his bed. They changed in separate rooms, quickly saying their goodnights before finally turning the lights off. Some minutes later Kiara was sleeping soundly in her mate's bed, while Draco slept contentedly on the couch.
Little did he know that when he would wake up the next morning, a major change will have occurred.