We sat in companionable silence for a little while, but of course, as silences are wont to do, it ended rather abruptly. I was just sitting there, minding my own business, when suddenly the feelings were back. I'd felt them every now and then since my birthday, but it had never been anything like this. Up until now they had been weak, just a trickle of emotion in the back of my head, but this time they flooded my mind in waves upon waves. I felt happiness, pain, impatience and longing, and they never seemed to stop. As through a haze I saw Hermione screaming something to Ron, but I couldn't grasp what she was saying. All I could do was feel. Happiness, pain, impatience and longing, over and over again. It was rather like a broken record when I think back on it.I don't remember falling to the floor, but when the feelings suddenly disappeared, that was where I found myself. Hermione was sitting bent over me, holding my hand, and Ron was standing by the door, ready to run for help if necessary. When you're the best friend of Harry Potter, you quickly learn how to run for help.
"I take it he's on the train?" Hermione asked, and I looked at her in confusion, not understanding what she meant. "Feelings, that's what happened, right? You felt his feelings?" I nodded my head yes. "I thought so, and for them to have been as strong as this, he would have to be close. And seeing as we're on a train in the middle of nowhere, I would bet just about anything he's on the train with us." My eyes widened as I understood what she was saying. My mate was on the train! Oh bloody hell. "And not only that," continued Hermione, and I got the distinct feeling that I wasn't going to like what she was about to tell me. "Since the change was on your birthday and not on his, he has to be older than you, and that narrows it down to our year and the seventh years. The pursuit has started." And Harry Potter was proven right once again. I was so hooking up with Trelawney the minute I got to school.
At her words I felt a chill go down my back. I had spent most of my summer reasoning with myself that while I might be the unlucky mate of a Veela, the chances of said Veela living anywhere near me was rather slim. I mean, really, how unlucky would I have to be for my mate to actually be someone I knew? I had decided that while he spent the time looking for me on the other side of the world, I would spend my time getting used to the whole idea. In my mind, I'd have the time to get used to the whole idea. But if Hermione was anything to go by, and she usually was, the pursuit had already started and that meant that I was one unlucky bastard. Dammit, I wasn't ready for this!
As if reading my mind, Hermione patted my hand reassuringly. "I'm sure if you ask him he will take it slow, he won't do anything you're not ready for." She said, smiling down at me. I must admit, I did feel a bit better. The git was supposed to love me, wasn't he? If I wished to take it slow, he'd probably be all for it. Probably.
As you might have noticed, there was no doubt in my mind I would end up with the blasted Veela. In the beginning I'd toyed with the idea of refusing him, but as I thought about it I came to the conclusion that I could never do that. Although I badly wanted to. It was one thing to insult someone I didn't like, but to deliberately kill a person just because they couldn't help loving me? No, it was out of the question. After all, I did have a reputation to uphold.
Ron, having the intelligence of a flobberworm, did not understand what Hermione was talking about. "What do you mean 'something he's not ready for'?" he asked, making me blush and Hermione tsk.
"Ron, while I have no doubt sex is the only thing you think about, Harry has never even kissed another person before and might not be as willing to jump into bed with a complete stranger as you would," she said disapprovingly. Yes, Hermione, do go and proclaim my virgin state to the whole school, why don't you?
"Sex? What has sex got to do with… Oh." Ron instantly turned beet red and blinked several times. It looked very curious. "So you mean he has to…? Oh." Oh indeed. "But they're both blokes! How is that even possible?"
As Hermione proceeded to give Ron a lecture on gay sex, I took the opportunity to flee the compartment. I was quite sure my face would stay permanently red if I had to listen to another word of their discussion. Alas, Hermione's curiosity didn't stop at the Goblin Wars, and Ron, well, Ron was just Ron. The two of them and Seamus had spent many a night in the common room last year talking about partners, previous partners, experience and other things like that. Hermione had surprised quite many with the things she and Krum had been up to. To my virginal ears the word 'sex' was as good as taboo, and my knowledge of the castle's hallways rapidly increased that year.
Now I was walking silently down the train, looking out for any people I might know. Neville and Ginny was usually a decent pair, and Luna, although rather blunt at times, was at least better than Ron and Hermione. Unfortunately, I found none of them. I was about to admit defeat and return to my compartment, when I heard the most peculiar sound. It sounded almost as if someone was screaming at the top of their lungs behind a badly done silencing charm. It was sort of muffled, but I could still hear every other word. It was something along the lines of "Must find… need… must have… so close…mate." It was the last word that made me stop and really listen. Someone on the other side of that door had said the word mate. Knowing my luck, it wasn't a coincidence.
Now, any person with a shred of self-preservation would have bolted down the corridor the minute they heard that fatal word, but not Harry Potter. No, Harry Potter once again did the stupid thing, and reached for the doorknob. The door slid silently open, and the scene that met me was one I would never in a hundred years have thought I'd see.
There on the floor, thrashing and turning, lay none other than Draco Malfoy. He was being held down by Crabbe and Goyle, struggling against them to get free. Behind him sat Pansy Parkinson and she was desperately trying to shut him up and make him listen. "You can't get your mate right now!" she yelled, turning his face so that he had to look at her. "I won't let you jump some complete stranger until we know exactly who we're dealing with! It's for your own good, Dray!" Hm, forcing people to listen and restraining them for their own good, wouldn't surprise me if Parkinson one day ended up as headmaster. She certainly had all the qualities down.
"No!" snarled Malfoy, trying to bite Pansy's hands. "I need him, must have him, let me go!" He launched upwards and Crabbe grunted with the effort it took to hold him down. For one moment it looked like he was about to make it, and I gasped before I could help myself. Suddenly four pairs of eyes turned to me, and everything was dead silent. My eyes locked with Malfoy's and for a moment the world seemed to stop. He was panting and his lips were slightly parted. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes glazed and his blonde hair falling messily down his forehead. I had never seen anything more beautiful in my whole life.
"Mine," he whispered, and suddenly the spell was broken. I turned on my heels and ran down the corridor, slamming the door closed behind me. All the while that one word kept ringing through my head.
Mine.
Mine.
Mine.
Mine.