DISCLAIMER: Warning! I make no claim to any property of J.K. Rowling's, and am in no way profiting by this. I do offer her my sincerest thanks for allowing us this garden of the mind in which we play. Further Warning! This story...and likely any I ever write…are dominated by gay themes and characters. That's how it is, if this in any way makes you uncomfortable...do not read further.

Bewitching Changes by Samayel

Draco sat in his room, sulking furiously. The only thing that kept from hexing all and sundry was the huge package of chocolates his mother had sent him. Being a Slytherin Prefect conveyed a certain status, and it granted certain small privileges, like a private room in which to sulk…if he so desired…and he did desire…so there!

He'd warded, hexed, and bolted the door, threatened horrifying death to his classmates and otherwise ensured his privacy by whatever means were necessary. It was time to bring out his emergency supplies.

On particularly bad days, like the day his hair hadn't turned out quite right and he hadn't caught it before he left, or the day a handsome boy had failed utterly to notice that he was passing by, Draco opened his trunk, after removing the eleven potent curses and issuing the nine separate command passwords, and withdrew his most treasured possession. It was the one thing that comforted all ills, and soothed away all sorrows.

'Grr.'

'Grr' was a small and rather threadbare stuffed dragon of soft green plush, with a red felt tongue and amber glass eyes. Since Draco had been three years old, 'Grr' had been his constant companion and confidante, even in the face of his father's protestations that dragons did not in fact go 'grr', but rather, 'roar'. Draco had hear a mastiff hound make the noise once, and he'd thought it very fierce, and since his dragon was his protector, a name that implied power and carnage befit him. Thus, 'Grr'.

Draco curled his dragon in his arm, and rooted through the package for another chocolate. He didn't care that he was getting his hands dirty, or his mouth smeared with chocolate, or even that Grr was developing some messy chocolate streaks upon his coat. He needed comfort, and comfort wasn't always pretty.

i'It's so unfair! They don't care about my feelings at all! Not even Mama. If they really loved me, they would have found a way out of this. I can't believe my first change happened in front of everyone! I hate it…I hate it…I hate it! This is so humiliating. My first week as an adult wizard and my Veela heritage pops out…in the Great Hall…during LUNCH! The whole class went bloody stupid in less than a minute! Everybody knows I'm a horrid, sick, gross, inhuman freak! I wish I could just curl up and die, or…better…I wish Grr was real and he'd eat them all so I never had to talk to them about it!/i

The worst had been Potter. All the others had fawned and groveled and sniveled about how wonderful they were, drunk on Veela Charm and ranting at random. It had been disgusting! Potter…Potter had been the lone standout. He'd been standing by the Gryffindor table, staring at Draco intensely, silent as the grave while Draco fled the room. He could always count on Potter to make a bad day worse, and he was never, ever anything remotely normal. Trust Potter to stare at him like the freak he was, when everyone else jabbered and drooled like morons.

Against all expectations, Draco's wards gave signs of collapsing under a massive assault! Someone was attacking his room! In the bloody heart of Slytherin! Draco couldn't bring himself to care. Likely it was Snape, ready to give Draco hell over disrupting the entire class and costing Slytherin points. Draco pushed another tear away from his eye and shoved another piece of chocolate into his mouth by way of consolation. Even if he was hauled off to detention, at least he could carry a few chocolates with him. Nothing else could possibly have made him feel happiness ever again!

The door crashed inward, blasted down by Reducto, and Draco started, looking up and sniffling, wondering why anyone would go to such lengths to see him. Snape would be furious when he saw the door. Then his gaze settled on two blazing green eyes, each of which bored into the very center of his soul.

Harry Potter stood, disheveled and sweating, at the edge of the doorway to Draco's suite. He was at the height of his power, almost crackling with magical energy waiting to obey his call. Draco felt his stomach flip, and completely forgot that he was in pajamas, smeared with chocolate, teary-eyed, and clutching a stuffed dragon for comfort.

Harry stalked forward slowly, blazing emeralds keeping Draco almost hypnotized, and paused only a foot from Draco, who felt himself shivering in the presence of Harry's smoldering power.

"You. I…heard…you. You called to me. I came."

"You…you heard me?"

"Draco…if we were on opposite sides of the universe, I would have heard you call for me. If I were deaf, a bell would have rung in my soul, and I would have come. If deserts or mountains or oceans were in my path, I would have leveled them or crossed them to find my way to you. You…I belong to you…for you…forever."

"Oh." It came out almost as a squeak, while Draco stared wide-eyed at the intensity that echoed off of Harry's very being. What he had spoken was unutterably true, and it resonated in Draco's soul with all the finality of a lock clicking into place.

i'On second though…bless my Veela ancestors for everything! This whole Veela thing…I suppose it has a few perks after all!'/i

-TWO HOURS LATER-

Draco lay curled in Harry's arms, thankful that he'd had the presence of mind left to spell the door back into place. Harry periodically plucked chocolates from the box, and fed them to Draco with exaggerated care and grace, lavishing his mate with all the attention he could give.

Draco was still in shock, albeit a very happy shock indeed. He'd been wooed, kissed, petted, stripped, shagged seven ways from Sunday, and cuddled and cosseted until there wasn't a mournful thought left in his head. In fact, his mate was still inside of him even now, and as long as they stayed cuddled closely, it seemed likely that Harry would remain there until he was ready to go again. In the meantime, Draco let himself curl into the warmth of Harry's chest and arms, and savored the bites of chocolate that were selected and brought to his lips. Nothing could have despoiled the perfection of this moment…nothing.

"Oh my God! Draco 'Malfoy Gaze Of Death' Malfoy has a stuffed dragon! That is sooo cute!"

i'He'd better get hard again…or I'm going to just kill him on principle…mate or no mate! Why? Why did it have to be Potter? Why?'/i

FIN!