A Veela's Mate || Draco Malfoy

Hᴜʀᴛɪɴɢ

Iris slowly swam towards wakefulness. Something was telling her that she would not like what she would find once she opened her eyes, so she tried to remain in that state between asleep and awake for as long as possible. Unfortunately, her body had other ideas.

Cataloging the sensations she could feel, Iris felt somewhat reassured that she was somewhere warm, since that ruled out the Dursleys. Besides, she was laying on something soft, which definitely ruled out the Dursleys. And was that arms wrapped around her?

Frowning slightly, she tried to figure out who was holding her. The only person Iris knew who held her that tenderly was Draco, but Draco would never be holding her again. Not after... The frown deepened. Not after what? What had happened?

"I think she is waking up."

Iris smiled gently; yep, that was Draco all right. The smile died and the frown returned. Draco wasn't supposed to be here. The Veela was supposed to hate her.

"Good, it is about time, she's been sleeping for far too long."

That was Severus. What was he doing here? None of them were supposed to be here. They were all supposed to hate her, weren't they? Struggling to remember what had happened, Iris gasped as her memory returned as if a floodgate had been opened. She had been furious with Dumbledore and with Ron. And Draco... Merlin, she had almost killed Draco!

Opening her eyes, Iris was dismayed to see that the arms that were wrapped around her did indeed belong to Draco. Scrambling, she tried to get as far away from the blond boy as possible, ignoring the hurt look that appeared briefly in the Veela's eyes. Better he be hurt now than killed later, Iris thought grimly, almost sobbing with frustration as the hold on her didn't lessen. In fact, it grew stronger and she was dismayed that she could not break it.

"Shhh, calm down, love, I'm not going to hurt you," Draco said in an attempt to soothe.

Iris froze, staring at him in total disbelief. Draco thought Iris thought Draco was going to hurt her? Didn't he realize it was the opposite?

"You have to get away from me," Iris whispered, hoping to be able to talk to sense into the younger Malfoy since it seemed impossible for her to get away at the moment.

"No, I don't." Draco disagreed with a gentle smile.

"Draco!" Iris glowered, beginning to get irritated.

"I'm not letting you go, Iris," Draco said patiently, as if talking to a small child.

Iris bristled and tried to get out of the hold the other teen had on her.

"Listen to me, Iris, I'm not letting you go. You are my mate. You are my life. I love you, why should I ?"

Suddenly feeling beyond tired, Iris slumped to the bed. She could feel Draco gather her even closer, but she couldn't find the energy to fight him. Closing her eyes, she did the only thing she could think of, she began to retreat into her own mind. At least there, she would be no danger to anyone but herself.

"Oh, no you don't!" Iris could hear Severus say, and then a jolt of energy zapped through her, causing her to lose her focus. Snapping her eyes open, Iris turned her head slightly to glare at the Potions Master.

"You will not act like some foolish Hufflepuff! You will face what happened, and-"

"And what?" Iris growled, attempting to sit up so she could glare more efficiently at the insufferable man. "What are you all doing here anyway?" she added once she'd noted that not only was Draco and Severus with her, but the two elder Malfoys as well.

"Where else would we be?" Draco asked, somewhat confused.

"Anywhere but here!" Iris cried in frustration. "Don't you understand what almost happened earlier?" she demanded, rounding on the blond next to her. "I almost killed you! Any sensible person would keep as far away from such a threat as possible, not chummy up with it!"