A Veela's Mate || Draco Malfoy

Pɪᴄᴋɪɴɢ Uᴘ Tʜᴇ Pɪᴇᴄᴇs

Draco felt like he was in heaven. He was with his mate. He was with his mate, lying on a sofa, holding her close. He did not care about the tears streaming down his face. All he cared about was Iris.

Iris who was sobbing into his shoulder.

"Love?" Draco managed to croak out.

"I though I'd never see you again, Draco. I thought... I thought you were gone for good. I thought He had gotten hold of you, and I was so scared I'd never see you again."

"Shh. I'm fine, love. I'm fine and I'm here and I am never going to leave your side again. You know how Weasley and Granger complained about you and me being joined at the hip? From now on, it is going to be the truth. I'll even search through the Hogwarts and Black libraries to find a spell to make sure it's true."

Iris chuckled weakly, punching Draco in the shoulder. "Prat."

"Just you wait. I will so do it, too! You just wait and see," Draco vowed, thrilled he had managed to lighten his mate's mood, if only a little. If he only could do something about his own mood. He hadn't known his uncle well. But his father had often talked about the mischief they'd gotten into growing up.

"Draco? What happened?" Iris asked tentatively, sitting up a little so she could look into Draco's stormy eyes better. She could sense that something had happened. Something bad, and she wanted to help. Only she did not know how to do it.

"She killed my uncle, Iris. And she almost killed my cousin," Draco choked out, feeling tears well up anew, and then spilling down his cheeks.

"Tell me," Iris whispered, allowing the Veela to pull her close. Taking a leaf out of Severus' book, she began to pet the silky soft hair, listening quietly to the horrors that had been unearthed that day.

~ ϟ ~

Iris lay listening to Draco's soft breathing. The boy had crashed once he'd told his story, quickly falling asleep while still wrapped tightly around his mate. It had horrified the brunet to hear about the horrors he had stumbled upon, and she found herself grateful that the children had sent that Portkey and that it had fallen through the safety net that supposedly was in place around them. Although Iris did wonder just how safe she and Draco were. So far, Dumbledore had done a splendid job of keeping them safe, as bloody usual. Did the old man use a different manual when it came to her? None of the other kids were ever subjected to the things she was, that was for sure!

Shying away from the mess that was her life, Iris latched onto what Draco had told her, and she couldn't help but shudder. How could people be so heartless? So cold? So... bloody unfeeling? Hadn't those two women cared at all about the lives they had destroyed?

Apparently not.

Thinking about the lives of the Malfoy brothers caused Iris think about her own family. How would her own life have been if her parents had lived? Before, she'd always envisioned a happy family. Her and her mum and dad and perhaps a few siblings, living happily together, much as they did in the fairytales.

However, each fairytale had one or more baddies, didn't they? Knowing what she did of her father and Sirius, would they have been tolerant of her and the choices she wanted to make? Would they still have loved her if she had been sorted into Slytherin? Would they have supported her when they found out she was Draco's mate? They had been bullies in school. Had they truly outgrown that trait, as most insisted they had? Sirius sure as hell hadn't grown out of his childish grudge against Severus. Of course, his godfather had the excuse of Azkaban to fall back on, but Iris couldn't help but wonder.