Be My Wings {drarry}

Chapter One

Friday 5 June 1998

Draco

I took every single precaution I could to prepare for my inheritance, and it rather abruptly becomes apparent that there is no precaution I could have taken that would have prepared me for this.

I thought I had felt pain before. I thought that with the Dark Lord living in my house and torturing me and my family on the daily, I would have understood what pain felt like. I was wrong.

This feels, very literally, like I have burst into flames. As if my blood has turned to lava flowing through my veins, melting my skin like candle wax. Every breath I take feels as though I'm inhaling acid which is corroding my lungs until there is a gaping hole in the centre of my chest. This feels like a hundred scalding hot knives are being thoroughly acquainted with my back, slicing through the skin so much there won't be any left.

This is pain.

But, to be quite honest, this is worth it.

Because after this short period of agony- because what is half an hour, really, in the grand scheme of things?- I will be a real Veela. Not the enchantresses that most wizards consider Veela to be (they're not wrong, just ignoring the fact there are three Veela species), not our close half-bird relatives, but a Royal Veela, which is, in my (completely not biased, you shut up) opinion, the best kind.

I'll meet my Veela half, my brother, my best friend, for the first time. I'll have the body I was born to have, with wings and talons and scent glands. I'll have power; as a dominant, I'll finally feel in control, strong. But, most of all, best of all, I'll find my mate.

For these things, I'm willing to go through the half an hour of pain that comes with a dominant inheritance. But suddenly, inexplicably, the pain goes, leaving only darkness and quiet in its wake.

---

When I wake up, my vision is swimming, and my head is pounding.

Hi! I'm Alex, I'm your Veela, oh I'm so excited to meet you! Are you alright? You were passed out for ages, longer than I was expecting. But it's okay, you're awake now! We can go out and fly around! Can I meet our family, they're here right?

What... what is happening?

Was I rambling? I'm sorry, I was excited, I should give you a moment, you just woke up and all...

Um, no, no, it's okay. I shake my head, to try and clear it, but it simply makes it ache more.

"Draco?"

Draco, is that your name? Oh, that's so cool, you know it means dragon in Latin! And it's a constellation!

Yeah, yeah I know what my name means. I've had it for eighteen years.

Right, of course, you do, I... I'm sorry.

It's, uh, it's fine.

"Draco?" I realise it's my mother's voice, and I'm drawn to it more than I usually am. It makes me feel warm and safe.

I manage to blink my eyes open, and immediately slam them shut again as the light almost blinds me. Daylight has never been this bright, Merlin. I try again, slowly, and am greeted by Mother sitting on the edge of my bed, smiling widely, wings flittering with excitement behind her.

That's our mother? She's so pretty, I can't wait to meet her!

"Mother?" I murmur, blinking up at her.

"Hi, sweetheart. How are you feeling?" She leans forward to stroke my hair, and a contented twitter flies out of my mouth. It takes me a second to realise that I made the sound. I blush, and instead of leaning into her hand like I want to, I bat her away.