As the day proceeded, Draco and I went from class to class. Some of them were mixed between all the houses, some were with just the Slytherins, to my big despair, and some were with just the Gryffindors, to Draco's annoyance. All in all, the arrangement with us sharing classes went surprisingly well. Of course, once or twice we started bickering over some assignment, but on the whole, I was impressed with our progress. We had gone from in our fourth year being enemies, to in our fifth year mostly ignoring each other, to at the start of our sixth being almost friendly with each other. Dumbledore and his inter house relation project must have been dancing in joy.
And to my great relief, Draco did not try anything more than having conversation. Once or twice it looked like he wanted to, and he got that feral light in his eyes, but he always restrained himself and for that I was thankful. However, I quickly learnt what to do and what not to do around him. Pouting and biting my lower lip was a definite no no, that sent him licking his lips right away. Touching him was also a bad thing, something I discovered the hard way one time I accidentally reached out to him for support when I stumbled. He instantly took one step closer to me, his eyes heavy with desire, and I yelped and jumped at least two steps backwards. Taking a deep breath he was able to gain control over himself again, but I knew it had been a close call and I learnt my lesson. As long as I kept my distance and didn't do anything that could possibly be seen as sexy or flirtatious, we were ok.
After dinner I joined up with Hermione and Ron, and Draco allowed me to show them our rooms while he went to the library to study. I walked them through the labyrinth of hallways down in the dungeon, to the portrait of the Lady.
"'Allo, 'Arry, mon petit charmeur! Ar' zeze your friendz?" she asked, looking Ron and Hermione up and down. Ron shuddered visibly, obviously having noticed her fangs. I almost laughed before I remembered I had done the same thing. Darn.
"Yeah, they are. Ron and Hermione, say hello to Lady Sanguina," I said, smiling as they said their hellos.
"Lady Sanguina," Hermione mused out loud. "That wouldn't by any chance be Carmilla Sanguina, would it?" There is a reason why they call her a know-it-all. She really does know it all.
"Mais oui, zat iz me. 'Ave you heard abouz me?" Lady Sanguina practically beamed. Conceited as few that one.
"Of course! I read all about you in DADA last year, you bathed in the blood of your victims to retain your youthful appearance, wasn't it?" There was only one thing to say about that. Ewwww!
"Ah oui, zat I did." The Lady laughed, licking her lips at the memory of all that blood. "Naturellement, I cannot do zat any longer, but I did enjoy it while it lasted." Hm, I was slightly freaked out by this point.
Shaking my head, I said the password and led my two friends into the room. Hermione immediately began gushing about how nice it was, while Ron went to try out the soft looking couch. For a moment I toyed with the idea of telling him exactly what that couch had been used for the day before, but I restrained myself. I wouldn't want to have Hermione sent to Azkaban for murder.
"So, what do you think?" I asked, really rather curious.
"Oh, I love it! It is so nice and cosy here, would you mind much if I came over sometimes to do my homework here? I am sure it is much more quiet here than in the common room," Hermione said. Really, Hermione could bring homework into anything.
"Well, that depends, can you manage hanging around Draco for the time it takes to do all your homework?" I said teasingly.
Wrinkling her nose, Hermione sighed mournfully. "I suppose the library is rather quiet too," she said, making the both of us laugh.
While we had been talking, Ron had been checking out my bedroom. Sticking his head out from the door, he exclaimed. "Wow, this looks almost exactly like our room! You even have the same view!" Great abilities of observation, Ron has.
"Yeah, I know, I think it is Dumbledore's way to make me feel at home here. Although I must admit, looking down at the ground from my window when I know I'm actually under the ground, it is very weird." Hermione nodded in agreement, but Ron just looked at us as if we were completely out of our minds. I was guessing this was one of the times when Muggle-raised and Wizard-raised thought differently.
We sat down in front of the fireplace talking back and forth about nothing and everything, when suddenly I felt the feelings againI felt pain and agony in such amounts I almost fell to the floor. Minutes after, Pansy came running through the portrait hole and I looked wildly up at her. "Draco, I need to get to Draco!" I yelled and she nodded, leading the way out of the room.
"I know," she said. "That's why I came to get you."
"What's happened?" I asked while running after her. I was picturing everything from him lying in a pool of blood to him having accidentally broken a nail. Ok, so maybe I didn't imagine that last one, but knowing Draco, I could have!
"He's too bloody stubborn, that's what. He ignored the pull towards you when he first felt it, and now it has gone too far, and his Veela side is screaming for its mate. You remember Dumbledore saying Draco would become physically ill if he spent too much time away from you? Yeah, well, now he has." Pansy muttered, obviously angry with Draco for his stupidity. I didn't blame her, if I hadn't been so worried, I might have been pretty angry myself. Ok, maybe 'might have been' is the wrong term, it was more along the lines of 'would most definitely beyond question have been'. Yeah, that's the one.
Soon we reached the library and I saw Draco at once. He was lying on the floor by one of the tables, his face twisted in agony and his hands clutching his chest. Next to him Crabbe and Goyle were standing guard, fending off the people who hadn't taken the Veela resistance and tried to take advantage of Draco in his state of weakness. Really, Hufflepuffs can sink so low sometimes. Before I knew it I was sitting next to him on the floor, gathering him in my arms. "Stupid, stupid Veela," I murmured, rocking him back and forth.
"Harry," Draco whimpered grabbing one of my hands. "It hurts in here," he took my hand and moved it so that it was resting across his heart.
"I know, I know." I said, my voice low and soothing and my hand slowly stroking his chest, as if trying to rub the pain away. Surprisingly enough, it seemed to be working, and soon Draco was breathing easier and he relaxed in my arms. "Better now?" I asked, looking concerned down at the boy in my arms.
"Yes, much. Thank you," he whispered, leaning into my touch.
"Good," I said, and then made my voice sterner. "And don't you ever do anything as stupid again, you silly Veela!" I scolded, giving him my best reprimanding glare. It was pretty good, I had been practicing.
Draco had the decency to look ashamed, and he shook his head. "I won't," he mumbled and I helped him get to his feet.
As we were walking back towards our rooms, I brought out the courage to ask something I'd been wondering about for a while. "Draco, what do you feel for me?" Yes, that was one of the big mysteries of Harry Potter's life. Only second to 'how can Ron drink twelve butterbeers in a row and still don't throw up?'
"What do you mean?" he asked, furrowing his brow. Honestly, I would think it was an easy enough question to understand.
"Well, you've disliked me for so many years, and now you suddenly feel compelled to like me, surely that leaves you slightly confused?" Nice rephrasing there, Harry. Oh, thank you, I was rather proud of that one.
Pursing his lips thoughtfully, Draco finally shook his head. "No, actually I'm not confused at all, it is really very simple. I spent the whole summer searching for you, not knowing who or where you were, and the happiness of finally finding you outweighs any dislike I might have had for you. You saw me yesterday, you know how desperate I was, just being close to you has helped me immensely and I feel like I'm in control again." Here he blushed a little, and looked away from me. "Excluding the episode in the Potions hallway, of course." He muttered. "And about feeling compelled to like you, I don't just feel compelled to it, I really do like you. I know it's probably just because of my Veela side, but every new thing I learn about you makes me like you even more. I can't help it and I can't stop it, so I decided already on the train to let the past go and start over. Did that answer your question?"
I nodded slowly, thinking over the things Draco had said. To me it was difficult to understand that he could just change his opinion like that, but to the Veela it probably felt simple. And really, was it all that much different from what I'd experienced? I had also decided over the summer to accept my mate for who he was, and finding out it was Draco hadn't changed that. I had still agreed to the bond, and was acting just as friendly as Draco was. As I walked there in the hallway next to my mate, I realized I had truly buried the hatchet the day I saw Draco on the train, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I'm not even sure I wanted to.