This is for Round 10 of the QLFC.

Prompts:

1. An inter-species relationship

2. Word – Free

3. Word – Practically

Pain. That's all I felt. It wasn't a physical pain though. It was an emotional pain. It honestly felt like something was missing; like a whole half of me was missing. My mother had explained to me how I was part veela and that I was of age and transitioning. Apparently my father was part veela and in return, the gene got passed down to me. When I had asked her what the pain was she told me that it was from my mate. I have a mate, someone who is perfect for me in every way. At least that is what my mother told me. She was my father's mate and now I had to find mine within a year or, wait for it, I would die of a broken heart.

After a few days of just lying in my bed, I had asked my friend Blaise to help me search for my perfect girl. When I explained to him what I was and what would happen to me if I didn't find her, he offered to help me. We started by writing down all of the attractive girls at Hogwarts that we could think of. Most of them were Slytherin, Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass, and Astoria Greengrass. But there were also some from other houses like the Patial twins, Cho Change, and Blaise made me write down Weaslebee's sister Ginny because he thinks she is good looking. He mentioned Granger but there was no way she would be my mate. She is a muggleborn and a Gryffindor. The only thing that would even come close to being a match to me would be her grades, as we often battled for the top score in our year. Plus that awful hair on her head and she always hung out with the worst people. How someone like that could be my mate was just insane to think about.

Once we had a list of girls, we went down the list and invited each girl out to Hogsmede for a date to see if there was a connection. I didn't know what that meant, but my mother just said that I would just know.

All of these dates went on and on and I never felt any connection with any of them. In fact, I felt disturbed and practically disgusted with their presence. I sent them all away within two minutes of being in close proximity to them. This dating game had gone on for two months and I was almost done with the list of girls from Hogwarts. I was feeling discouraged and I will admit it, a little scared. I didn't want to die. I had asked my mother if it was possible that one of the girls I already met with was my mate, but she said no. I would have felt an extreme connection with her and want to be around her all of the time.

I had just finished a meeting with Lavender Brown and was so exhausted from everything. I started to walk towards an apparation point, when suddenly I got a whiff of something. It smelt like vanilla. I followed the sent and it led me to a bookstore. I walked up to the door and opened it, the sent got stronger. I knew my mate had to be in here. I followed the vanilla smell while not trying to attract too much attention to myself. The scent went up the staircase and when I reached the top, there she was. I felt extremely in love and I didn't even know whom she was. She had light brown curls falling just below her shoulders and such a womanly figure.

My eyes bulged in horror when she turned around. My mate was Hermione Granger, war heroine and one-third of the famous Golden Trio.

"Malfoy. What are you doing here?"

I just looked at her, trying to find disgust somewhere inside of me, but nothing. Nothing but love and desire for my enemy since age eleven.

"Granger. I know you hate me but I need you to hear me out. Would you like to go get a drink with me?"

She just stared wide-eyed and with her mouth slightly agar. "Um, I was not expecting that. I was expecting an insult, to be honest with you. But I believe that it is time that we all grow up and put the past behind us. A drink won't hurt anything."

She paid for her newest copy of Hogwarts: A History and we walked to The Three Broomsticks for a drink. She asked what the point of our little outing was and I calmly explained to her exactly what my mother had told me. She was shocked and a little weary about the whole thing. When I told her that I would die within the next ten months if she didn't accept me, her answer almost made me fall over in my chair.

"This is a lot to take in Malfoy. I don't hate you but I am not very fond of you. You and your goons put myself, Ron and Harry through hell. However, that is all in the past. I am not accepting this right away, but I also don't want to see you die. If you can prove to me in the next ten months that you are a good person and not the little shit you were in school, I will consider accepting you."

I could have hugged her and kissed her right there, but I wanted to do this right. We started dating and it was amazing. I was completely surprised at how happy she made me. Her smile was contagious. She eventually let me hold her hand and give her hugs. I could not have been happier with anyone else. She was the one for me, my perfect mate.

When the ninth month was ending, I got nervous and scared. I knew that over those past months, I was happy, but I didn't know if she felt the same way. We had gone on so many dates and had so much fun, but I still didn't know if she could look past all of the horrible things I did to her while we were growing up.

We were walking in a park at sunset, holding hands, when I stopped her and pulled her over to a bench.

"Draco, what's wrong?"

"I need to get this off my chest. I know that I have said I was sorry for everything I have ever done to you, but I have to say it again. I am so sorry Hermione. I was so horrible to you and your friends and I wish I could take it all back. I also don't want you to feel like you have to accept me just because you don't want me to die. F you are going to accept me, I want you to want to do it because you are happy."

She smiled at me, "Draco, these past months have been wonderful. I don't believe in holding grudges and or living in the past. You have shown me how even people who start off as bad can turn their life around. So, because of that, I am accepting you."

"Are you serious? Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yes Draco. I accept that I am your mate."

I grabbed her and pulled her in for the kiss. The moment our lips touched I knew. I knew she was, in fact, the one. I felt so free and so complete. The emptiness that had been inside me, was now filled. All because of one girl, my perfect mate.