Chapter Twenty Six

Sunday 13th September 1998

Eli

You're walking away.

Why are you walking away?

Our mate is behind you, Harry, you're walking the wrong-

Yes, I know, I get it.

Then why the fuck aren't you turning around?

You don't want a nest? You want to make our mate anxious and hate himself?

No, of course I don't, but-

Then shut up.

You're mad, and not at me, even if you pretend to be. You're mad we have to leave Draco and my 'Lexie, like I am. You bring the collar of Draco's cloak up to your face and inhale his scent until you're calm enough to keep going. I revel in the scent of my mate, but still. It's not enough.

You keep walking until you reach the common room. The portrait lady asks for the password, and you snap at her until she lets you in, grumbling about how rude you were. You don't care.

"Harry!" It's your friend - the witch with the bushy hair. "Where have you been, we haven't seen you all day! Hey, are you alright?" You've started to push past her, but she grabs your wrist. You growl viciously, and I hear someone whimper across the room and start to scent their fear; the submissive dryad, Ro-something. Hey, Harry, careful. Don't scare her.

Right, sorry, sorry.

"Sorry, 'Mione, I'm fine. Great actually, just not right now." I feel joy begin to creep in past the anger. "I found my mate."

"Harry! That's great!"

"Woah, congrats, man," says the ginger one I don't like - Ron, Eli, don't pretend you don't know - yeah, whatever. Anyway, he doesn't sound as enthusiastic as 'Mione. But still, I choose to ignore it.

"Who is she, Harry?" The ginger girl - Ginny - chimes in. She actually sounds interested, rather than jealous or mocking like I might expect. She did have feelings for you, right? But still, the use of female pronouns annoys me. Is she suggesting our mate should be female? That it's wrong to have a male mate? That Draco isn't good enough? Because he's more than good enough, he's perfect, and she can shove her 'she' up her-

"Draco."

"Malfoy? What about him?" I'm glad I don't have control - I might have broken your eyes from rolling them too hard.

"He's my mate." You're smiling, almost madly, just at the thought of him. No one else is smiling.

"Haha, funny, Harry. Who is it actually?" Ron says sarcastically. I growl silently, and you echo the sound out loud. All sound leaves the room as people turn to stare. I don't care, and neither do you.

"I'm not joking. I would never joke about this. He's my mate, and I love him, and I don't give two fucks about what you think of me. But if you say anything negative about him, I swear to Godric I will kick your arse."

He looks scared. They all do. Good.

"Harry, look at me," the dryad says from behind you, her voice meek. You turn, and sooth your features so as to not scare her. She's not who you're mad at, and you don't want to upset a submissive. "You found your mate? That's great, congratulations."

"Thank you." You hide a wince at how gravelly your voice is.

"How did you find him?"

You start explaining, and both of our moods lift as you do, at simply the thought of our mate. She must have led you upstairs whilst I was distracted by thoughts of my 'Lexie, because next time I'm aware we're alone, and in your dormitory.

You look around, realising where we are as well, and laugh. I'm not sure why; relief, maybe. Disbelief.

"You okay?"

"I'm good. Thanks, Romilda."

"No worries. I knew you wouldn't have wanted to hurt them, however dumb they were being."

"Well, you were right. I appreciate it, seriously." You hug her, and even though she's not my mate, just the scent of a submissive calms me. I don't even consider the fact that her scent might rub off on you, and vice versa.

She leaves after that, and you collapse backwards onto your bed. Bed, bed, bed. Not nest. My mood sours again, but yours doesn't seem to. Why? What could possibly make you stay happy when we're alone, without our mate, our sub, who is alone and-

We're not mated yet.

Exactly that's the-

Meaning we can still have mate dreams.

Oh. Oh! What the fuck are you doing still awake then? Go to sleep!

You grumble something about how you would if I would just shut up, but obediently tug your clothes off and shut your eyes.

My 'Lexie is already there by the time I fall into the dream. He's facing away from me, and I take the time to admire him. After the first mate dream I had, which was only a matter of days ago but feels like years, the dream made me forget what he looked like. But now, seeing him again, I can't imagine how anything could have rid him from my mind. He looks a lot like Draco - it's obvious they're the same person - but more delicate, more soft, more... Veela. He's beautiful, more so than anyone has the right to be, so much it quite literally takes my breath away and I have to remind myself to inhale.

He spins around, either scenting me or hearing my breath, and his eyes light up when he sees me, with more joy than anyone has the right to feel at the sight of me. Well, apart from him. He deserves to feel all the joy in the world. But I made him look like that. I made him that happy. My heart soars.

I hold my hand out, scared that if I speak it will come out choked. He grins wider than I would have thought possible, before quite literally flying into my arms, his wings lifting him off the ground before he barrels into me.

"I missed you, mate mine," I murmur against the skin of his neck, where I will place my mark when we mate. I inhale the scent of him; of sugar and pine and citrus. "My mate, my 'Lexie."

"Eli." His voice is practically a whine as he falls limping against me, practically melting into me until I don't know where I stop and my mate begins. He starts chirping as I start grooming my fingers through the feathers at the base of his wings and rubbing them down the space of back between them. He's mumbling something, over and over, and I realise it's my name. Eli Eli Eli Eli Eli-

"I'm here, darling, I'm here."

"Missed you. You left." I don't mean to, but I growl. 'Lexie whimpers and flinches, but his scent doesn't change; he's not scared. Good. I would die if he was scared of me.

"Didn't want to. Wouldn't have. Harry made me." He whines again, nuzzling deeper into my neck. I refrain from purring. Wolves don't purr, thank you very much. "Hey, it's okay, it's alright, love. This means you get to make me a nest, right?" I physically feel his mood lift astronomically.

"A nest?"

"That's right, love. I hate being away from you with everything I am, but I wouldn't do it if there wasn't a reason, you know that, don't you?"

"I- yes?"

"I would never ever do anything to cause you pain if it wouldn't make you happier or safer in the long run. Never."

"Never ever?"

"Never ever. I can't stand the thought of you suffering, 'Lexie, net alone because of me-" I pause here because a growl rumbles it's way up my throat.

"I know, I know." My breathing slows, and I suddenly realise it had been accelerated. I inhale a deep breath of 'Lexie's scent, calming me more.

"You're so good for me, 'Lexie, mate mine. So good, such a perfect sub, good boy." At the praise he quite literally collapses against me, half falling, half jumping into my arms. I almost fall over, and have to lower us to the ground.

"I'm good, I'm good?" He says between chirps. I realise this is probably the first time he's gotten praise like this from anyone. From what I gather from Draco, their home life wasn't great and they were under a lot of pressure. They were also so convinced we wouldn't accept them, and I can't imagine the inner turmoil that must've brought. They had Zabini, sure, but I never noticed him praising them exactly. And even if he did, he wasn't their mate. And with 'Lexie and Draco being more submissive than most, they would crave praise more than anyone.

"Of course, mate mine. So good, so perfect, such a good sub for me. So beautiful, smell so good. Can I groom you, my love?" His head snaps up, eyes wide in disbelief, lips slightly parted, hope etched into every inch of his face.

"Do- you- I- groom- do you- you..." I place a palm against his cheek to calm him from his manic stuttering. "Yes."

I didn't realise you didn't know what grooming was when you did it in the woods. I forgot that sort of stuff doesn't come naturally to you like it does to me, and of course Re wouldn't have taught you about Veela customs. But I know that to groom one's submissive Veela is a big step. And this is different than before because he wasn't awake then, and it was just to clean him. But for a Veela, being groomed is practically a rite of passage. A ritual between mates. It shows the dominant cares enough for the submissive to take the lengthy time, great care, and patience it requires to groom properly. Some consider it almost akin to mating. In any case, I know how much it means to my 'Lexie, and even though it won't make any real difference to Draco's waking body, it will make 'Lexie happy. And that's all I ever want to do.

I start running hands through his wings, and he immediately starts keening.

"Feel good?"

"Mhmm. So good."

"I'm glad," I murmur into his ear. 'Lexie whines. I don't stop. I comb through feathers with my fingers, untangling and smoothing when they're messy, removing the dead ones, massaging the muscles underneath them. It takes a while, although dreams contort the time, but it never gets boring or monotonous. The whole time I'm marvelling at how lucky I am that I am able to do this with someone I love so much.

And someone who, I think, I hope, loves me too.

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