Death's Curse Undone

Chapter 1 - Realisation

Chapter 1 - Realisation

Draco Malfoy went to sleep as a wizard.

Draco Malfoy woke up as a Veela.

Needless to say, Draco Malfoy was NOT enjoying his 17th birthday.

Lucius Malfoy screamed accusations and imprecations at Narcissa, Cruciating her all the while. Narcissa begged for mercy. "I told you- I told you this would happen! Please! Please don't! Aaaah! It's - It's the Black curse, Lucius!" "My. Son. Is. Not. A. BLACK.", gritted Lucius, punctuating each word with a curse. "It's hap-happened to ev-eve-very child of the line! Even me!"

Long after his father was done, Draco approached his mother for questions. Kneeling down beside her he spoke quietly, his gaze turned away from her.

"I trust then, that this comes from you?"

"Yes, my son."

"Is it truly inescapable?"

"Yes. You would've seen it with your cousins if we hadn't been estranged from Andromeda and no other descendants of the bloodline bore children in my generation. At least, none that I know of."

"Who's bloodline?"

"Jacob Black. He was the first to be affected by this curse and it has passed to all his descendants. Legend has it that his mother was a full-blooded Veela who murdered her husband, her mate. He cursed her with his dying breath."

"What exactly does the 'curse' entail?" <apprehensively>

"You shall have the appearance of a Veela in their humanoid form. You shall also have their allure and their compulsion to find their mate. What you WON'T have is the capacity to turn into their bird-like battle-form and your allure will not work on your mate. In fact, your mate will very likely hate you and abuse you in every way. You will also always have to play the submissive to your mate."

"A submissive? Me? But my natural tendencies have always been to dominate." <turns to look at his mother incredulously>

"I was the same, my son. Until I met your father - my Veela mate. You will see. When you meet your mate you'll know." <meets his eyes>

"How will I know that he or she IS my mate?"

"You will be attracted to him. He will be unaffected by your allure. Actual touch - skin-on-skin contact will confirm it; establishing the bond. Once the bond is set, there is no escape. You will long for him, pine for him, and he will be repulsed by you. You will be the target of his hatred, his rage, his abuse; yet you must always treat him, court him and obey him as your Dominant. You must. If you seek to avoid him, every moment that you do so you will spend it in torment, in absolute agony... drifting ever closer to the shores of Dis yet never able to reach it." <reminiscently> "Do you understand, my son?"

Draco's face was paler than bone, yet set in lines of grim determination, when he replied, "Yes, mother."

Draco went to Hogwarts for his seventh year, resolved not to touch anyone. Narcissa had said that he'd know his mate by their hate of him; but everyone hated the young Death Eater. As frustrating as Harry Potter had been, Draco wished for his presence now. The boy would've challenged him as an equal. He would've been a beacon of hope, uplifting the morale of the school. With him, Draco would've been met with determined opposition, not sullen hatred.

Draco was weeping, crying, outright bawling... It was the Battle of Hogwarts and Crabbe was dead. Dead. Dead after attempting to murder Granger. Dead after casting Fiendfyre while not knowing how to stop it. Dead while he and Greg were alive. Alive because of Potter's mercy.

As he wept, he realised that something within him felt different. He panicked, searching frantically within himself. Fiendfyre consumed body and soul alike. Had he- had he been left with a mutilated soul? Forever incomplete? Instead, he sensed, bloody Merlin he sensed the bond. The Veela bond. The bond that spelt eternal servitude and damnation. He tested the cord, wondering. He hadn't touched anyone this entire year; hadn't felt any overwhelming attraction; he checked himself every morning, the bond hadn't been there this morn... and then he remembered a hand reaching through smoke as he had lain across Greg a few minutes ago, convinced of his impending death... he groaned. The first person he'd touched since his birthday and it was his bondmate. And it was Harry fucking Potter. 'Universe, why do you hate me?'

He set to work trying to rouse Goyle.

theOV"