Chapter Thirteen of 'Temporary Mate'- Debates, Positions
Chapter Twelve.
Title: Temporary Mate (13/?)
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Pairing: Harry/Draco, past Harry/Ginny and Harry/Michael Corner
Content Notes: Angst, violence, creature fic (Draco is a Veela), action/adventure, Auror fic, minor character death
Rating: R
Summary: Escorting Malfoy on a dangerous mission in another dimension to speak to French Veela, Harry and his fellow Aurors are attacked and left for dead. Harry and Malfoy are the only survivors, and wounds the attackers inflicted have released Malfoy’s Veela heritage. Now he’s probably going to die unless Harry can successfully bind himself to Malfoy as a temporary mate-and they still have to survive the trek to reach the Veela stronghold.
Author’s Notes: This fic will be updated whenever I finish a chapter. It should be anywhere from ten to twenty chapters long.
Chapter One.
Thank you again for all the reviews!
Chapter Thirteen-Debates, Positions
“You must have something to say in the matter of your mate’s message.”
It was Elentaeri again. This time, Harry knew to keep the door closed and the woman outside of the small room he and Draco had started sharing, the one the Veela had given to him that first night. If she came inside and sat on or touched anything, her scent would be everywhere. Draco tended to prowl around the room and rub his cheeks on things and drop feathers and dust to reassert his claim to the room when another Veela came to the window as it was.
And his claim to me.
But thinking about that would make him blush in front of Elentaeri. Harry rested his elbows on the sill of the window and looked at her coolly. “Why should I?”
“You accompanied him as he carried it.” Elentaeri spread her wings further, somehow not disturbing the hover she was doing outside the window, and turned her head to the side. Harry had the idea she was trying to make her neck attractive. Too bad. He didn’t find necks attractive on anyone except Draco. “You risked your life to defend him.” Her voice lowered. “I would value any mate I had more than to leave him alone while I debated the matter with Caleigh.”
“So you would hover overhead and keep an eye on him every day? You don’t trust him?”
“Of course I would trust my mate.”
Harry smiled, both at the tremor he’d managed to introduce into her voice and the silvery-colored flush on her cheeks. “As Draco trusts me. He’ll tell me about the debate when he comes back. At the moment, I prefer not to be stared at by Veela who still don’t think that Draco and I are true mates.”
Elentaeri crossed her arms. “I know you’re true mates.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Someone can have more than one true mate. We have a range of people we’re compatible with, not just one. I assume it would be the same for humans. And that any Veela who was worthy of your devotion would let you choose if you wanted to stay with him or mate with someone else.”
“Of course he would. That doesn’t mean I want to. I want to be with Draco. I am. Go away.”
For a moment, Elentaeri’s wings shook so hard that he thought she really would attack him. But at last she broke the hover and soared off between the delicate towers. Harry shook his head. Veela were more stubborn than he’d thought, more stubborn than the ones he’d met the few times he’d been involved in investigations around crimes they’d committed.
“What makes her so drawn to me?” he muttered.
“Think about it,” Draco said, and slid through the window in such a rush that Harry was sure he’d been near enough to see Elentaeri leave. He didn’t pin Harry against the wall and maul his neck over it, though. He extended his wings and held them around Harry, sniffing him complacently. “You’re a pure human and a dangerous one. She won’t have met any here. You’re exotic.”
“You’d think she would be more worried about me being a dangerous human, instead of less.”
“No, that increases her belief that you would fight and even kill to protect your mate.” Draco stretched his arms out to the tips of his fingers and wriggled them, in a way that Harry knew he could never tell him he found almost unbearably cute. “You’re not good at figuring out when people want you, are you?”
“When, I have no problem with. It’s why. Back in our world, there are people who wanted to date me for the fame and the prestige, and paid no attention to how the papers abused me regularly. I mean. Why would they want to share my fame when that’s the price?”
“That’s going to stop when we go back home.”
“Of course I’m not going to flirt with them and encourage them! I never did-”
“I meant the numbers of people coming up and bothering you,” Draco said, and slid his cheek slowly over Harry’s neck and down onto his collarbone in a way that made Harry’s mind spark like the wheels on the Hogwarts Express. Meanwhile, Draco went on murmuring. “And the way that you talk about yourself.”
“I know perfectly well what I can do. I wasn’t saying I wasn’t dangerous. Just that other people are stupid.”
Draco drew back and looked calmly into his ears. “It’s only been two years since the war, and you’ve only had two lovers.”
“Well, yes? I’m pretty monogamous, Draco. And I’d think you would be grateful for that,” Harry had to add in a bit of anger.
“I never meant that.” Draco slid his splayed fingers gently down the side of Harry’s nose. “I meant that you could have had a lot more if you wanted. And I know you’re monogamous. But you didn’t immediately find another person the minute you split from one.”
“Because I didn’t want to spend time with someone who just wanted to be photographed and giggle about it!”
“Because part of you is worried about what happens when someone becomes your lover,” Draco corrected quietly. “Because you have to worry about kidnapping attempts, don’t you, because there are still people out there who think that’s the best way to get to you? And you have to worry about fabricated stories and people following you around in hopes of getting a picture that isn’t fabricated.”
Harry jerked his head back. He had felt that way, sometimes in the quiet of the night, lying awake and wondering why he couldn’t have been born a normal person that people could love safely, but he’d never told anyone that. And he knew Draco wouldn’t try to read it out of his mind without permission. “How-”
“It’s because I know you. I know you would feel that way.” Draco’s s fingers tightened in Harry’s hair for a second. “And you shouldn’t, but I know that you can’t stop feeling that way overnight, either. We’re just going to teach each other how to feel like we’re worthy to be loved.”
Harry closed his eyes and said nothing for a long second. His mind had been filled mainly with the bad things that would happen to them when they left the Veela dimension to go back to their world. The people who wouldn’t understand. The sneers. The repercussions among the Aurors, who would wonder why Harry survived when everyone else couldn’t.
But there were going to be so many good things, too. Harry hadn’t envisioned a mate, but he had envisioned someone who would stay with him for the rest of his life, and not care about the newspapers, and not care that they would have to share him with the public sometimes. That person had never worn a face. He couldn’t imagine the one who would stand beside him that easily.
But they’d always had a tone in their voice. And it had sounded like Draco’s.
“You look like you’re about to faint, Harry.”
Harry forced his eyes open, and didn’t have to force a smile. “It’s a little startling to watch your dreams all come true at once.”
Draco’s eyes widened, and his hand trembled this time as he reached out and touched Harry’s cheek. “I remember-reading one of those stupid dreadful articles when you broke up with Corner, about how unromantic you were. It was one of the things he complained about.”
Harry nodded with difficulty. Michael had only given one interview after they separated, and he’d apologized to Harry and not given another one. But Harry could remember every word of that one as if it was branded on his heart.
“I didn’t know Corner well in school.” Draco moved a step closer to Harry, his hand rising to cup the back of Harry’s neck. “But now I can say, with deep and focused consideration, that he’s a fucking idiot.”
Harry burst out laughing, and if the laughter was a little watery, well, Draco would understand and forgive him. Draco shaded him with his wings, smiling, and touched Harry with his feathers and his fingers and then his mouth.
“Come to bed,” Draco said softly. “We’ve resisted and overcome so many things. I think we can do this, too. But I don’t want to talk about it for a while.”
Harry nodded and followed him gratefully to the bed. And Draco showed him how it could be when neither of them were starving for it: slow, intense, beautiful, graceful.
Harry fell asleep smiling, knowing Draco would watch over him.
*
“We have considered the French Veela’s request. And I do not mind telling you, Veela Malfoy, that there has been considerable disagreement between us about whether we should admit any of them to our dimension.” Caleigh pursed his lips and gave Draco a long glance, as if he wanted him to ask questions.
But at the moment, Draco didn’t see anything to ask questions about. He was once again standing in the long room where the Veela had gathered in front of him and Harry and he had told them his message. He stood now with one wing around Harry’s shoulders. Harry needed to bend a bit to maintain the posture, but he didn’t complain.
“I can understand why it would be a matter of consideration.”
Seeming a little baffled, Caleigh looked around at his people. “In the end, we came up with two arguments. I shall now ask a major proponent of each view to present their side’s words.”
Draco held back his sigh as two people came forwards. One of them was Jenara, the woman who had questioned him and Harry outside the city. She at least looked calmer than the last time he had seen her, and walked with her head held high.
The other was Elentaeri. Draco knew her by her scent and the way her wings moved, and he gave a little hiss. She showed him a motionless face, with a flicker in her eyes when she stared at Harry. Then she faced Caleigh on the opposite side of his chair from Jenara.
“Jenara, you will present your side first, as the older Veela.”
Jenara only inclined her head, although Draco would have hissed at the insult. “Very well, Caleigh. I vote that we do not accept any of the French Veela into Asovima. Yes, they are our cousins, but very distantly. They will also have many people around them who will try to get their way as they must often have done in the human world, simply because they could use their gifts to manipulate the humans as they cannot other Veela. We are already having trouble making sure that everyone gets a sane amount of privacy and room in the towers. Do we really want to bring hundreds more people here?”
“A reasonable statement,” Caleigh said, nodding. Draco was surprised at how much he agreed. While he did hope that at least some of the French Veela would find a home elsewhere, he could admit Jenara had a point. “And Elentaeri?”
Elentaeri glanced over her shoulder as if she wanted to make sure Harry was watching. Harry was, of course. Elentaeri simpered. Draco thought of rolling his eyes and telling her that she was an idiot given that Harry of course would watch the source of the action, but he didn’t bother. Nothing was going to get through the skull of a young Veela who tried to disrupt a perfect bond.
Elentaeri spread her wings as if that would make her even more attractive instead of annoying, and spoke in a wispy voice. “I think those Veela can be valuable to us for their very differences. We all know how few young Veela in the last few years have found a perfect match-”
From the way Caleigh stiffened, that was something he would prefer that their visitors not know. Draco only raised his eyebrows a little. Maybe it could be perfectly shattering to some of the Veela cities here, but it wouldn’t mean anything back in his world.
Unless I have to carry a certain kind of message back.
“And importing more strangers who are not as closely related to us could help with the problem that might be a problem of too much shared blood.” Elentaeri lowered her eyes and stood there, fanning her wings demurely. “Of course we would need to make some room for them. But there might be enough of us then to found another city. Don’t you think there’s at least a chance of that?” She clasped her hands together and glanced around as if support would come swelling on currents to bear her up like wind.
Also a reasonable statement, if the person she was coveting at the moment was a stranger Veela instead of my mate.
“There is much in what you both say,” Caleigh said, and sighed. He struck Draco as the kind of Veela who would like everything to go one way, to be spared the agony of a decision. “Very well. We will vote. Who agrees with Jenara that bringing the French Veela here would be costly and dangerous for us?”
What looked to Draco like most of the Veela raised their left wings. On the other hand, he couldn’t see all of the room from where he stood. He arched his eyebrows a little. If there really were young Veela here who couldn’t find perfect mates, he would have expected more to agree with Elentaeri.
“And those who agree with Elentaeri that we can make a life with these strangers, and they may even benefit us?”
This time, there was more of a rustle as more wings rose, and Draco realized there were more people standing behind him. He gritted his teeth so that he could keep calm. He didn’t like the thought of them attacking his unprotected back, but Harry was there, and he would have his wand ready. Draco wasn’t truly unprotected.
And it seemed as though his message had achieved its hoped-for task, and the French Veela would receive invitations to Asovima.
Good. The sooner we can leave here and I can carry good news back to the Aurors, the sooner we can start dealing with the troubles of the world we understand again.
“Thank you for your arguments, Jenara, Elentaeri,” Caleigh said, and again he sounded a little harried. “Will you please make one final statement about your perception of the vote?”
“I cannot be surprised that it’s mostly the young who support such a risky plan,” Jenara said, shaking her head so her silvery hair tumbled about her face. “The young do like to take risks and fall from a great height. I can only hope that our towers and our traditions will not fall with them.”
“How typical of an already mated Veela to not understand why we want a greater variety of choice in our possible partners.” Elentaeri’s neck twitched for a second, but she didn’t turn and look back at Harry, something that really surprised Draco. He hadn’t thought she would have that much self-control. “I will make sure that our towers do not fall in our quest to continue our traditions.”
“Thank you both.” Caleigh nodded to both of them, and Jenara turned and walked back to her mate. Elentaeri turned around and sought Harry’s eyes.
Draco followed her gaze, to find that Harry was already looking steadily at Draco himself. Harry’s mouth twitched a little, and he cocked his head. “Do you want to go back to our room, Draco? And when do you want to leave Asovima?”
“Excuse me, Veela Malfoy and-and mate,” Caleigh said, sounding a little flustered again. Probably because there’s no title that’s the equivalent of Veela for a human, Draco thought, turning back to him. “We still need to discuss timelines for this. And how many Veela you intend to bring back at a time. And when you yourselves will be returning to Asovima, to help them settle in…”
Draco wanted to groan. He would prefer not to come back to a place where people pitied him and plotted to steal his mate. But he nodded, because that was the mission, and said, “Yes, we should discuss that.”
Harry squeezed his hand. Draco found himself straightening enough to take his wing away from Harry’s shoulders. Well, Harry would know all about that sense of mission, having been on enough of them for the Aurors.
“I think you could use my help,” said Elentaeri, sounding like a feathery cat as she came swishing around in front of Caleigh’s seat. “After all, I was the one appointed to speak for the side of those who want our cousins to come to this dimension. And I am afraid that we will not be free of opposition yet, for all that the majority clearly wants the chance to acquire new mates.”
Draco turned and looked at her. She paused mid-step as she got a clear look into his eyes. Then she swallowed and turned the step into a backwards one.
Caleigh was either oblivious or wisely pretending to be. “You are right, of course, Elentaeri. Would you mind having dinner in my tower this evening, Veela Malfoy, and Elentaeri, and-your mate, Veela Malfoy?”
“Of course,” Draco said, his eyes lingering on Elentaeri. He was sure that Harry, next to him, was glaring as impressively. “We should always get to know our allies.”
Chapter Fourteen.
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