Not your usual Veela mate

The Loss of a Friendship

Day 11: Thursday

Draco Malfoy woke the next morning feeling extremely happy and content. Mindful not to wake up his mate, he snuggled closer to Harry and he tightened his grip on the brunet slightly. Last night had been a dream come true in more ways than one. To have Harry understand and accept his edginess was a godsend. The other boy had understood and done what he could to help Draco settle his Veela side, and hadn't merely sent him off to bed with strict orders to get some sleep. Instead, they had spent hours together in the library, allowing the Veela inside the blond to calm on its own in the soothing presence of his mate, while the human part of the blond had been ecstatic about the books he'd found in the library, settling that part down as well while reading up on a few interesting things. It had also given him a chance to build up new and better memories of being inside that dratted trunk.

Speaking of interesting things, he had found the most intriguing potion, and it would be perfect to pay Pansy back with. All he needed now was to find a way to talk Severus into helping him make it, not to mention finding some Tiger Eye Orchids. Maybe there was still some growing in one of the Manor's greenhouses?

Draco's musings were cut short when Harry stretched lazily beside him. He watched with tenderness as green eyes blinked open and a small happy smile graced rosy red lips. "Morning," Harry murmured, burrowing down under the covers, clearly not ready to face a new day.

Moments later, the head popped up again. "Draco?" Harry asked with some confusion. The last thing he remembered was putting away the Time-Tuner after having used it to give the two of them a few hours to sleep before facing the new day. No matter how he strained his brain, he could not remember leaving the trunk or getting into bed.

"Morning, love." Draco grinned. "Thank you for one of the most interesting nights of my life."

As expected, the other boy promptly blushed a fierce red. Then the blond found himself whacked with a pillow. Laughing, he battled it away, giving his mate a mock scowl before launching a tickling attack.

Several minutes later, two winded boys lay panting and laughing on the rumpled bed. Draco was the one who regained control first, and he reluctantly climbed out of the bed. Oh, how he wished he could stay and do other things to have Harry withering against him in ways that utterly strained his self-control. Only the knowledge that his mate wasn't ready for that level of intimacy enabled the Veela to put some space between them. He could wish though, right?

"Come on, lazybones, it is time to get up," he stated regretfully, pulling ineffectively on a foot in an attempt to get Harry to do something besides just laying there, looking delectable.

"You go ahead, I'm still tired. I'm going back to sleep," Harry stated, rolling over on his side, curling up into a ball, pulling the covers back over him.

Draco blinked. "You can't still be tired!" he exclaimed when it became obvious that Harry meant what he had just said.

"Why not? We didn't leave the library until six o'clock this morning!" Harry complained, curling up deeper under the covers, leaving only a tuft of dark hair visible.

"That was before you used the Time-Turner!" Draco stated sternly, grabbing hold of a corner of the bedding, attempting to pull it off his mate, the way his father had always done to him the times he had tried to remain in bed as a child. Unfortunately, he didn't get the same results as his father, or Harry had a stronger grip than him, because all that happened was that he ended up in a fruitless tug-of-war, which Harry was winning.