Changes of Life

Title: Changes of Life
Chapter: 5
Overall Rating: NC17
Pairing: Harry/Draco, Blaise/Seamus (on the side), others
A/N: Wowie. I wrote this entire chapter tonight. I know, I could have had it up way sooner if I buckled down on myself and wrote it on a night sooner, but I’ve been busy with other things. This chapter is a little more descriptive than anything else, but there is a side plot starting from this chapter. Anyway, here it is ^_^

Disclaimer: same as chapter 1

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The other three looked at Harry in confusion. That wasn’t a “human” growl. One of them opened their mouth to ask why he growled, but it was lost as Harry flicked the cigarette away and pushed himself out the window.

The boys’ confusion turned to shock and they rushed to the window. Draco, being the first one there, stuck his head out and looked for Harry.

“Well,” Seamus spoke up, “At least he’s not dead. You’d be in anguish, right?” He said to Draco.

Draco just nodded silently, shocked, as Blaise voiced his and the others’ thoughts. “How could he still be alive, from this height… he’s not even hurt, is he?”

“No.” Draco answered softly.

“How?” Seamus asked quietly, not expecting an answer, and trailing off as the three of them looked at each other.

Draco was suddenly reminded again of the summer. When he was trapped and in pain. Did that have something to do with this? “What… happened to you?” Draco asked quietly to no one.

***

Harry flew quickly, evenly, 6 feet above the ground, going straight towards the couple. It was only then that the couple shifted in appearance to look like Dumbledore talking to Tom Riddle. Harry only saw a glance of this before he flew right through them, getting a sudden chill. As if he was surrounded in ice. Before he could slow, he crashed into a tree. Odd… he didn’t see that tree there before.

As he slowly slumped to the ground, he felt himself almost subconsciously go back to his human form, as his mind numbed. “Just let me die.” He whispered quietly before his mind slipped, and darkness overtook him.

***

Blaise and Seamus had already left to sneak into Blaise’s room, more than likely for their own personal “welcome back feast”. So Draco was left, waiting to make sure Harry would continue to be okay. Wondering if he would come back up to this room. Wondering if he would get any answers if he asked about the jump.

Draco was about to shift in his position, sitting on the window ledge, when he felt a chill go down his spine. He jumped off the sill and looked around, narrowing his eyes as if he would be able to see any invisible, or near invisible creature that may have caused it. However, he soon found the meaning for the chill as Harry’s misery seeped into his mind.

Seeing how Harry would have to strongly feel something for Draco to be able to know it, at this stage, Draco knew he had to get to Harry. He quickly left the room, in search for his mate, still not knowing exactly what he’d do when he found Harry, but knew he had to do something.

He was only half aware of where he was walking as his instincts were yelling at him to find Harry and find him soon. He didn’t notice that he had opened doors, and was now running across damp grass. How he even knew Harry’s location was lost to him, but he didn’t care, as he saw Harry’s skin amongst the dark of the night.

Draco fell to his knees next to the raven haired boy, and only noticed slightly how his skin looked paler in the moonlight before lightly touching the boy’s arm. Shocked by how cold he felt, Draco ran his fingers over Harry’s face and stomach to feel that the rest of his body was also like ice. Draco moved to pick him up and was once again surprised. This time by how light he was.

Getting more and more frantic as his observations went on; he finally couldn’t stand any more and carried Harry to the infirmary as fast as he could. Kicking the door to the infirmary (as his hands were full) led to a half annoyed, half worried Madam Pomfrey opening the door.

Before she could even say anything, or even recognize who was there, Draco pushed past her and gently laid Harry on the closest bed, rearranging his legs and arms so he wouldn’t have a cramp when he woke. Draco dare not ‘if’ when it came to Harry waking.

It was then that Pomfrey noticed who was there, and what Harry looked like. She immediately set to work on checking over Harry. There would be times for questions later. She didn’t tell Draco to leave, for Draco had told her about him being a veela a long time ago, and when he knew who his mate was, he told her that too.

Draco had to tell her he was a veela. If he didn’t, she may do something to him that would be fine on a wizard, but hazardous to a veela. He told her who his mate was so that if he wanted to see Harry, she wouldn’t say no, and therefore wouldn’t be on the end of his anger and frustration.

Draco sat in a chair next to Harry’s bed stroked his arm lightly, letting some of his worries show. After what seemed like hours, Pomfrey glanced and Draco before asking him to turn Harry to lie on his stomach. She knew that if she were to try moving Harry herself, Draco would most likely lash out at her. After he did what was asked of him, Pomfrey lifted Harry’s shirt and examined his back.

Draco gasped at the cuts and bruises on his back. He idly wondered if these were anywhere else on his body. His eyes widened slightly in recognition, and he lightly traced one of the scars. These, he had realized, were done purposely. Draco knew Harry didn’t do it; he couldn’t possibly be able to reach here…

He felt anger welling up inside himself for whoever dared hurt Harry in such a way. He glared at nothing and controlled his breathing, being torn between staying with Harry, and going to Snape in a rage for another rant. For he only ranted when he was either alone, with Blaise, or with Snape.

In the end he decided to stay with Harry. He would find out if Harry was okay before trying to figure out who could have hurt him this way.

Pomfrey said Harry could lie on his back again, and Draco moved him again. Pomfrey then poured a potion, a little bit at a time, into Harry’s mouth, ‘massaging’ his throat so he could swallow it. “He has a concussion. I trust you will stay with him, and make sure to keep him awake when he does wake. It may however, take anywhere from a day to years for him to wake, so after tomorrow, I expect you to continue with going to classes. I will give him a potion every morning and evening to make sure his body temperature stays at its normal, that he doesn’t get worse, and to substitute… that which he would be lacking while in a coma, from not eating or drinking.”

Draco just listened and nodded, having calmed enough to take Harry’s hand in his own. The boy still felt cold, just not ice cold. “Is he supposed to still be this cold?” Draco finally spoke. “And is his weight okay?”

“His temperature is that which is normal for him.” Pomfrey said with a very small, reassuring smile before leaving the small room.

Draco looked back at Harry and with his free hand, brushed through Harry’s hair. “I suppose I should have dropped the act sooner.” Draco started whispering. “Maybe then some of the things that happened in the past wouldn’t have happened. But at least it happened eventually, I guess. I won’t tell you that I’m a veela, or that you’re my mate for a while. That’s what it was. I was trying to keep up that appearance. I didn’t want to make you feel like you were forced into anything… though Blaise always said you didn’t know the non acting me, so you had no room to see. I just guessed with the way you acted before, that it wouldn’t make a difference. Last year it changed though, and I found myself wondering if I should give it up.”

Draco just felt like talking now. Even though he knew Harry probably couldn’t hear him, he had to get it out. And why not now? “As for my family… heh… my mom’s the veela. We’ve always had a good relationship, but it’s gotten even better since I’ve found out you were my mate. We talk about a lot of things, though she only knows my mate is male. She’s the one who’s been there for me. Taking care of me. Father was always gone at *meetings*. To me, he could have just been a family friend, rather than my father. But Mum told me to make it look like we were the perfect pureblood family. That we had a reputation to uphold, and if it falters, my father would find out and punish us. So I did.

“In the beginning of my childhood, it wasn’t so bad. As I’ve said, he was away most the time. Sometimes for days on end. It was just me and my mom at the house. It was too big for us, and we had to make sure the house elves kept cleaning the other parts of the house we didn’t use. It took me a while to see that she spoiled me, my mom. She didn’t have anything else to do with her time. We had the house elves cook, clean, wash… everything. They like to do that, honestly. Well, except for one. Dobby… he was the odd ball out of the bucket. ((A/N: hehe, just a little phrase I made up, or maybe I *did* hear it before? *ponders*))

“The death eaters eventually did stop having meetings, once they figured out they couldn’t bring…. *him* back. That’s when Father got tied up with the ministry work, though he made it seem as if he wasn’t doing a lot. He would be in his office at the manor and look up something or another. To this day I don’t know what it was he did in there. All I know is he’d bring home papers, and then stay in there all night, without so much as a word to Mom or me.

“After *he* came back, father went to work on both. He was close to *him*, but not as close as people may think. When he got put in Azkaban, the truth was I never really felt anything. It’s not like it would really change anything except that he wouldn’t be sleeping at the manor anymore. He’s still not out, by the way. At least I don’t think he is. He never really did talk to me or Mom very much. The only times he did talk to me were mainly due to his worries of if I was upholding to the Malfoy name or not.

“When I saw you in the robe shop… back when we were eleven. I had known there was something about you. I think it may have been the hints of my veela half, even though I was still too young to know for sure. But I don’t know... something else intrigued me about you. Then you rejected my friendship, and I was annoyed. Because yes, I did always get what I wanted. But over time, I wasn’t so angry with you anymore. It was a new experience for me, that one who could have me, didn’t want me. Then it started to hurt. Especially after I found out for sure that you were my mate. But I kept up the act because… well, I told you why earlier.” Draco finally stopped for a while and sighed.

“I know… something happened to you this summer. What was it, Harry? What? Was it good? Bad? I know that anyone would think it was bad, but… sometimes things hurt, and it’s good, and… I’m just confusing myself now. I wish I knew what it was…” Draco stroked the unconscious teen’s cheek. “I wish I knew…” He paused, keeping his anger under control before continuing “… who gave you those scars. Gods, Harry, what happened? How did you survive that jump from the room? Why were you so far away from the castle only to be unconscious? Why…” Draco’s voice had quieted greatly from his already quiet whispering, “Why were you so miserable before becoming unconscious?”

Draco let his head fall to the side of the bed and pressed his cheek against Harry’s cool hand before kissing it softly. “And the thing is… the real me is still a bastard to practically everyone.” He smiled softly, just relaxing there, drifting into a light sleep.

**********

“Are you sure about that, Nathan?” Zachary asked, looking up from the papers on his lap.

“Positive.” Nathaniel replied and sighed, plopping down into a chair. “What are we supposed to do now?”

“I don’t know.” Zachary picked up the papers from his lap and put them on an end table in annoyance. “I’ve found nothing else. No extended information.”

“Will we…?” Nathaniel trailed off, not wanting to continue. Not wanting to believe it might actually happen to them.

Zachary sighed again and put his hand over his eyes, thinking, before suddenly looking at Nathaniel. “No matter what happens, we will always be together.”

Nathaniel paused, thinking about that sentence, before nodding. “You’re right.” He paused once again, now feeling as if being watched, but just passed it off as nothing. “Zack, I—“

“Shh. I know. But…” Zachary looked around a bit before lowering his voice. “I think the walls have ears now. Let’s get out of here.”

Nathaniel’s eyes grew wide a bit before nodding.

**********

Draco woke to a slightly lighter room. Looking around, he remembered where he was, and that it was just dawn. The thing he saw… it was his dream. But it seemed *so* real. He looked back down at Harry to find he was in the same position as he was the night before. Draco then noticed the pain in his neck and back from sleeping while sitting. He’d have to ask Madame Pomfrey about getting some pain relief potions when she’d come in.

Harry was a little bit warmer than he was the night before, but not by much. According to what Draco heard Pomfrey say last night, Harry’s internal temperature was supposed to be cooler than what a normal person’s was. So this didn’t worry Draco, though he was curious as to why it was normal for Harry.

About a half an hour later, Pomfrey came in, closing the curtains, and took out her wand to thicken them, shielding even more light. “Good morning, Mr. Malfoy, would you like anything when I come back with his medicine?” She asked, checking over Harry again to see if anything changed over the night.

“A pain relief potion for my neck and back, and some fresh fruit if possible…” Draco replied.

Pomfrey nodded and checked over a few more things before leaving.

Draco checked over his clothes, smiling slightly when his fingers ran against the distinguished box of muggle cigarettes. Yes, Draco too, had smoked. In fact, smoking for veelas was common. Tobacco, alcohol and drugs of any sort are normal for veelas. They can handle it. Their body composure was so different that it would not harm their body in the least, therefore the effects of it all was scaled down greatly. Draco was used to smoking at least once a day, and drinking every now and then. He did try some kind of drug or another last year, but just personally didn’t care much for it.

Obviously, veelas weren’t as pure in that area as some may think. For a long time in the beginning they were counted as evil creatures even. Quite a few things people thought about them were wrong. While veelas do have one mate, they can have infinite partners. Some veelas never find their mate. Veelas don’t die without their mate. A few might go insane, but that was about it. Draco had even had thought a couple times that his mom was having an affair with his potions master, Snape.

Pomfrey came back in with two potions and a bowel of mixed fruit. “I called one of the house elves to get you this.” She handed him the bowel, then the potion, and went to work on getting Harry to drink his potion again. When she was done, she looked at Draco again. “You can sleep here again tonight, but you have to go to classes tomorrow. I doubt you’d want to go today, and missing the first day already doesn’t look good.”

Draco just nodded, not in the mood to scowl at her for her, if somewhat small, lecture. He grabbed on fruit at a time, after she left. He tended to like the natural sweetness fruit had, and his stomach couldn’t really handle much more for breakfast or dinner lately. Lunch was fine for whatever though. Draco didn’t quite understand it, but he went with it.

Finishing up his fruit, he looked back to Harry and lightly kissed his forehead, giving his hand a light squeeze before walking to the window to smoke one of his cigarettes. He hadn’t smoked since the train ride and he actually wanted one since last night. The taste of the cigarette actually tasted slightly sweet on his veela tongue and he smiled at how refreshing it felt to him.

He let his mind wander a little bit and looked at Harry again, keeping his eyes on him.