Everything But Mine

A/N My darlings! Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I'm so happy you liked the first chappie. My muse was purring. Feed her more reviews and she'll make me write quick as lightning!

To answer some of your questions- yes, this is AU, Draco doesn't recognize her as his veela mind is all overtaken by the happiness of finding a mate, not bothering to ask for a name. And she looks a bit different from when he last saw her, too. Hermione is so sure of herself and her working methods, because according to the books she's been studying such reactions from him are possible. Don't we love out favourite know it all?


As soon as they had left the cell, Draco noticed that a bulky looking guard was following them. His first thought was that the guard might be either Crabbe or Goyle, but dismissed that thought, since the times of having his own thugs were over. Maybe he didn’t have his former grandeur, but he still had his pride.

He straightened his back, regaining his correct posture, and refusing to let anyone see him as someone below his true station. It felt so good to regain his old personality now as the veela in him was calmed. He noticed how small the woman who was dragging him along the hallway actually was; even with her heeled shoes she didn’t reach the top of his shoulders. However, her determination to move him along was fascinating. He really liked her slightly bossy character. She wasn’t annoyingly bossy, just enough to not be afraid of showing exactly what she wanted. He hated girls who were whiny and giggly, and who constantly tried to get into his good graces only to stab him in the back once they no longer needed him.

His Angel was perfect. Compassionate - letting him free to express his feelings, yet never putting him down. He knew he had let the veela take over the moment his Angel had entered and that his display of emotions might have scared her off, but then again- his mate would never taunt him. Perfection. She was prefect for him—and only him.

A comforting warmth had spread through him from the spot where her small hand was clutching his arm tightly, but not really painfully. Not that such a fragile woman could actually cause him harm. His veela side grew more content with every moment. The physical part of the relationship was very important. The veela needed to feel the closeness of its' mate, ideally through making love as often as possible. If that couldn’t happen, like when the veela still hadn’t marked and bonded with their mate, any kind of touching would be enough.

His mind went back to their first hug again. How good it had felt to hold her in his arms, feel her steady heartbeat, and soak up the warmth she was giving him. He had not wanted to let the hug end so soon, but he had to when she had gently broken the embrace. Draco remembered vaguely from a book he had read ages ago that a veela could calm their mate at any time. That possibly was the reason why she hadn’t jumped away and screamed for dear life.

However, he knew he couldn’t rely only on that power in future. He wanted her to be attracted to him, even if only the tiniest bit, and seek his company. He knew he used to have a lot of charm, back at Hogwarts all Slytherin girls were after him, no matter if they were a first year or a seventh year, but he had never felt real satisfaction with any of them. It was always a quick romp, never giving him a feeling of warmth and fulfilment. Yes, his mother had told him that any relations that were not with his mate would be rather frustrating, but he was then just a fifteen year old boy, and what did his mother know anyway? She wasn’t a veela. The veela part of his family came from his father’s side. The Malfoys had quite a long history of veelas in their family tree, no one knew of it, but it was the truth. Veela blood gave them unique magical properties, and of course, the good looks. It was weird how the percentage of veela blood varied in Malfoy generations, his father was only twenty percent veela, but Draco, according to the tests from his family’s private healer, had about seventy percent of veela blood coursing throughout his body. He never understood how or why the percentages were distributed this way. If his grandfather Abraxas had been alive, Draco would’ve been more comfortable getting ‘the talk’ from a veela and not from his mother, who kept blushing and stammering about it. After all, it wasn’t becoming for a properly bred woman to talk about such animalistic things.

But his mother had loved him so much that she even gave up her own life for him, and he loved her even more for it. When he had been on the run with Snape he had heard the news of his mother losing a duel with Bella. It had shattered Draco, but he had felt that his life ended when he was sentenced to five years in Azkaban, he understood that he had become the Ministry's poster boy for punishing Death Eater scum.

With all this, he had almost forgotten his true veela heritage. It kicked in full force six months into the sentence. The need for searching for a mate was overwhelming and it literally drove him crazy. The veela in him was demanding to break free and start the search. He knew he might eventually die from the veela’s heartbreak and, though it may seem surprising, he was already peacefully accepting his fate. If something isn’t meant to be, it just doesn’t happen. He hadn't believed in prophecies and other such divination crap until today.

His Angel had descended from the heavens and brought the light back into his life. He didn’t mind that it sounded too fluffy, even in his own head, because it was completely true. Draco had lost all hope and just let the darkness and dirt surround him, but the moment she had stepped into his cell, it felt like he was thrown into a sun filled rose garden, feeling freedom and happiness. When he had leaned in closer to her, he could actually smell a sweet mix of flowery scents in her hair.

He stole another glance at her. Merlin, she was so beautiful. She had wonderful, curly, and obviously a bit unruly, golden-brown hair. He just craved to release it from the pins and run his hand through it, feeling the softness of this wild silk. Her face was very pretty, too. Long lashes and large, expressive brown eyes. There wasn't enough light in this hallway to see exactly what kind of brown they were. The slight flush on her cheeks invited a caress and her lush pink lips, shimmering with just a slight layer of gloss, were just waiting to be kissed.

Yes, Draco liked her look very much. It meant he wouldn’t have to worry about ruining the thick layer of beauty war paint and getting his hands sticky with several hair potions when kissing her passionately. The only question was- when could he do it?

The veela in him was almost giddy, trying to take over his mind and get their mate closer. Draco didn’t allow the veela free reign; he knew it would end in a disaster. He reasoned that if he had waited ages to even see his mate, he’d have to work to get her into his arms and bed. He was certain that in the end she wouldn’t be able to resist him.

To rest his curiosity, he let his eyes wander over her body. Even though she was wearing a rather modest outfit, he presumed it was meant to be a semi-formal suit of pale grey, he could still catch a slight glimpse of her cleavage. It wasn’t much, but even the hint of her milky mounds made his veela self purr. Further inspection of her looks continued his almost purring state. She did indeed have a very nice backside; Not too flat nor too fat, just the perfect curve to get his hands on.

A light cough was heard and Draco turned his head to see where the noise had come from. Of course, it had come from the guard, who gave Draco a brief, evil glare and then continued to ogle Angel’s perfect assets. How dare that lowly man even think of looking at his perfect mate? Draco wanted to rip the stupid guard into shreds for leering, but he knew he couldn’t do it. For one, he was weaker than the burly idiot, and Draco was quite sure that any incident of this kind would cause her to leave immediately. As he couldn’t bear this thought, he just growled a little at the guard, who jumped slightly at hearing this.

Angel had been quite oblivious to the interaction between the men; and was confidently striding towards her goal.

They stopped abruptly, making Draco stumble, but not fall, as a small arm quickly wrapped around his waist.

‘You okay?’ she asked, concern shining in her eyes. Now he could clearly see that her eyes were the colour of warm honey. Just gorgeous. And her closeness to him was even better. If only she’d hold him like this longer. ‘I shouldn't have stopped so suddenly, you must not have expected that…’ her voice was so sweet and full of concern, it filled his heart with a wonderful warmth.

‘I’m okay,’ he noticed that his voice was still husky from lack of use. ‘I should’ve paid more attention.’ He smiled at her, hoping that she’d smile back at him. And she did.

‘We’ve arrived at where I wanted to be. Come with me.’ She guided him to a smaller hallway, which looked much different from the others. It was tiled with white tiles and the air had the distinctive smell of the cleaning liquids used by the elves back at Hogwarts.

‘You can leave now; the guards’ lounge isn’t that far, if I’ll need you, I’ll press the call button.’ She said sternly, turning to the guard. The man didn’t move at first, still looking at the young woman.

‘Are you sure I can leave you with… with this thing?’ The guard pointed a shaky hand towards Draco.

‘I am quite certain I can handle Mr. Malfoy on my own,' she said and dragged Draco towards a small white door.

He didn’t know where they were heading, he just hoped it wasn’t another isolation cell, but even a moment more with his mate was worth anything to him. And he was so pleased that she treated him so nice, like a human being, not like all the guards who were pointing fingers at him and spitting him in the face.

The door closed with a thump, giving a loud echo to the almost empty room. Looking around he noticed two padded chairs, a low table and another door leading to somewhere unknown.

‘Why don’t we start improving your life right now? I think a nice warm shower would be a good step. What do you think?’ she asked and smiled at him again, melting his heart into a puddle at her feet.

He smiled back at her, feeling helpless to find the right words. He would do anything she’d asked of him. And he agreed that he really needed a shower. A vile smelling veela doesn't stand a good chance of attracting a mate.

She took out her wand and enlarged one of her packages. ‘Here, take this. It has everything you might need for your shower. Take your time, I’ll wait here.’ He took the box from her hands, wondering what was in there and why was she being so kind to him.

‘And no, I won’t come into the shower with you,’ she winked at him playfully, making him blush.

‘Now, go and you’ll feel tons better when you’re done with the shower. Later I’ll help you with your nails and hair, if you want, okay?’ She turned him towards the white door and he reluctantly walked into the other room, carrying the box with him.

The room he had just entered was significantly smaller, but with the same white tiles. A little window was in the corner close to the ceiling and a full-length mirror sat moulded into the opposite wall. Next to the mirror there was a wooden bench, where he placed his box.

The box intrigued him. What could be in there? He opened the lid slowly, looking for anything suspicious. However, there wasn’t anything dangerous there. A bar of soap, a shampoo bottle, and a sponge all laid over a neatly folded green-grey towel.

Tears welled in his eyes. No one had been this kind to him during the two years he had already spent here. And she cared so much about him, even though she didn't know that she is his mate. Maybe, even though it was a tiny chance, she had heard the veela calling out to her? It couldn't have been possible, as the bands on his wrists prevented him from using magic? He didn’t know the answer for this, so he decided that he needed to quit being so sappy and do something helpful.

Collecting the needed items, Draco slowly stepped into the shower stall, putting everything on the tray and letting the water run. The warm stream felt so good on his itching skin. He stood under the flow for a while, watching the dirty water seep into the drain. He hadn’t realised he had become so dirty. He soaked the sponge and soaped himself generously, letting the fresh smelling suds caress his roughened skin. He took extra care to clean every spot he could reach from the dirt he had accumulated during his mad stint in the cell. He tried hard to clean his back as well, but it was a rather tricky thing and he wished he had his lovely mate to help him clean his back. After she was done with his back, he’d make sweet love to her right up against the wall. Yes, the thought was extremely delicious, but he couldn’t risk having an evident hard-on when he had to get back to the other room in a short time. He didn’t want to scare her away from him.

Shampooing his hair was an almost impossible mission. His hair had gotten so long, going over his waist, but it had tangled so badly that the only part where he could run his hands trough freely was just to his shoulders. He’d have to ask her to cut the rest. He wanted to look his best for her. Didn’t a book say a veela’s hair was one of their most attractive assets? Yes, if it was soft and silky, not an icky matted disarray, he thought starting to feel unhappy. He washed his hair again; to be sure he at least got the mud and everything else out of it.

After he was sure he was as clean as he could get, he stepped out of the shower and reached for the towel. Stepping forward a little to see whether there was something else in the box, he stopped when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The reflection shocked him. True, he still had some muscle, mostly from the wild running around the cell when the need for mating overcame him, but other than that, his skin looked sallow, rough, and too pale even for a Malfoy.

With these looks he’d never attract his mate. Who would want a ghastly looking veela? He was a shame for both the veelas and the Malfoy name. His heart was breaking and the tears started to quickly fall down his pale cheeks. It didn’t matter what she’d think of him, she wouldn’t want him like this. He started sobbing so hard that he didn’t notice the door opening and quiet footsteps coming closer to him.

***
What do you think she'll do? I wanna hear your guesses.

Special thanks to my beta witch Lupinswolfie!