Sadly Harry Potter and co. do not belong to me. If they did I would be one of the richest people in the world and I am obviously not. So I must make do with borrowing J.K's characters for a little playtime.

Through Hell or High Water

Pain Filled Days, Dream Filled Nights

"BOY!" A loud bellow echoed through the previously quiet house of number 4 Privet Drive. Harry Potter groaned softly before abandoning painting the shed like he'd been ordered to do by his uncle and wiping his hands on a rag. He shoved the rag in his pocket and walked through the sliding glass doors that entered into the kitchen.

"Yes Uncle?" Harry murmured looking down at his shoes. He had learned at an early age that looking directly at any of the Dursley's resulted in a harsh beating.

"What do you think you're doing, Boy?" Harry's uncle, Vernon, snarled, leaning in close to Harry's face to intimidate the smaller than average boy. Harry tensed, already fearing the worse, but otherwise didn't move.

"I'm… repainting the shed like you told me." Harry replied slowly.

"And do you have any idea what time it is?" Vernon growled menacingly. Harry, who was starting to feel a twinge of panic, looked towards the clock and felt his heart drop.

"It's 1:17, Sir" Harry whispered as he slowly started to edge away from his uncle.

"Exactly! My wife and son are starving while you're lazing about! Why haven't you made lunch?" Vernon hissed; face slowly turning purple in his rage.

"I was doing the chores! You told me I wasn't allowed to do anything else until they were finished!" Harry shouted in defense and then froze realizing the horrible mistake he'd just made. Vernon's hand shot out and grabbed a fistful of Harry's shirt, yanking him closer.

"You DARE raise your voice at ME you UNGRATEFUL BRUTE!" Vernon shouted in fury, mustache quivering and spit flying.

"I…I didn't…" Harry stammered in fear. He searched around for help and noticed his Aunt Petunia and Cousin Dudley standing in the doorway. Knowing from past experience that he would receive no help from either of them he turned back to his uncle and prepared for the worse.

"I'm sorry! I just lost track of time! It won't happen again! Please!" Harry pleaded with his uncle.

"You aren't sorry. Not yet, Boy. But you will be!" Vernon snarled.

Lifting a big, meaty fist, Vernon pulled his arm back before letting it snap forward burying his hand into the side of Harry's face. Harry yelped in pain, his glasses flew off his face smashing into the wall and breaking. He fell to the floor, his vision going blurry. Vernon lifted a foot and kicked out connecting with Harry's stomach. Harry groaned and rolled himself into a ball trying to minimize the damage to his body.

"You-kick-ungrateful-punch-bastard!" Vernon ground out punctuating each word with a blow or two. Unsatisfied with the minimal damage his fist and feet were causing Vernon unstrapped his belt and swung, letting the sharp buckle fall across Harry's back tearing his skin. Harry's screams and begs for mercy went unnoticed by the man who was savagely beating him into the kitchen floor.

"VERNON!" Petunia shouted. The large whale of a man looked over to his wife.

"What?" he panted, "I'm trying to punish the brat."

"Yes, but if you keep beating him so relentlessly we'll be out a servant. Let him alone for now. He's had enough." Petunia reasoned sternly.

"Fine." Vernon grunted. He turned to the broken, bloodied body on the floor.

"Get up, clean this blood. You are to stay in your room, no meals for three days." Vernon ordered. Harry stayed on the floor sobbing softly as his uncle waddled out of the room closely followed by his aunt and cousin. Ignoring the pain in his body as best as he could Harry dragged himself off the floor and began to sponge up his blood. 'I can't keep living like this,' he thought to himself as he got up the last of the blood. Harry forced his body to painfully climb the stairs to his room. He managed to close and lock his door before his strength completely left him and he crumpled to the ground, totally oblivious to the world as he passed out from the agony wracking through his body. That's when the dreams began.

Draco Malfoy was not in a good mood. In fact he could not remember ever being in a worse mood. And it was all thanks to a little thing called time. You see today was a very important day, or rather 12:00 midnight was a very important time. At that exact moment it would be his birthday, his sixteenth to be exact, and it was at that moment that Draco would receive his inheritance, his Veela inheritance. A Veela is an incredibly powerful magical creature. They were fabled to be the children of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, thus Veela were the most beautiful beings to walk the Earth. They had fair skin and blonde hair that was complemented by their grey, silver, or blue eyes. Veela also mated for life and upon receiving their inheritance came the Dreams. The Dreams were a Veelas way of tracking their soul mate. They would be able to catch sight of a significant physical trait that would help them start their search. Now it was currently 11:55 and the reason that Draco was so very angry was that it seemed to have been 11:55 for the past two hours! Draco glanced at the clock again and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank Merlin! The bloody time has finally changed!" Draco grumbled to himself before flopping back onto his bed. There was a soft knocking on his door and Draco immediately sat up.

"Come in." he called and waited for the door to open. Narcissa walked in and made her way over to her son, sitting beside him on the bed.

"Good evening, Mother." Draco greeted softly.

"Good evening, Draco. Are you excited about tonight?" She questioned running a hand gently through Draco's blonde locks.

"Very, I just wish time would hurry the bloody hell up so that I may catch a glimpse of my mate" Draco complained shooting another irritated glance at the clock on his wall which now read 11:57.

"Have you finished reading the Veela book that your father and I got for you?" Narcissa asked looking to the book that rested on Draco's bedside table.

"Yes I have Mother. I do hope that I find my mate in time and that they do not reject me. The only unpleasant fact about Veelas is that we die without our mate." Draco shuddered at the thought, now openly glaring at the offensively slow clock. It now read 11:59 and he was praying silently for it to be twelve already.

"Do not forget the pain that comes with the transformation." Narcissa warned, Draco just waved his hand.

"I would go through any amount of pain for my mate." Draco replied absently. '30 more seconds!', he thought to himself.

"It is almost time now Draco. I must take my leave." Narcissa kissed her son's cheek lightly before sweeping out of the room. The clock struck twelve just as the door clicked shut. Draco fell back against the bed, screams ripping their way from his throat as agony race through him. It felt as if his bones were being stretched impossibly far. His back felt as if it was being ripped open and his magic was lashing out at anything and everything in his room. Draco could feel something tearing through the muscle and skin on his back. 'My wings' he thought dimly before the pain regained his full attention.

"AHHHH!" Draco screamed his back arching fully off the bed as the pain reached an all-time high. His screaming went on for what seemed like hours but was truthfully five minutes. As soon as the clock struck 12:05 his pain subsided. Draco slumped onto his bed mentally and physically exhausted. He fell asleep instantly and that's when the dream started.

Draco was lying in a bed with the softest silk sheets and comfiest blanket, both in the most amazing green he had ever seen. Draco sat up and looked around.

"Where's my mate!" Draco felt himself panicking. That's when he heard the sobs. Draco turned quickly and saw a person, a boy he realized upon closer inspection, curled up in the far corner off the bed. Draco crawled slowly towards them instinctively knowing that this crying boy was his mate. His heart broke and he wrapped his arms around the boy who jumped and tried to push him away. Draco tightened his hold but let go immediately at the whimper of pain.

"You're hurt!" Draco gasped, just now nnoticing the various cuts and bruises that littered his mate's body.

"Who did this to you? I'll kill them!" Draco snarled his silver eyes flashing in his fury. The boy finally looked up and Draco froze instantly losing himself in the most beautiful emerald eyes he had ever seen, that were filled with tears.

"Shush, I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe with me." Draco whispered slowly wrapping his arms back around his shaking mate.

Slowly his mate stopped crying and leaned into him. Draco allowed his newly acquired wings to wrap themselves protectively around his mate who sighed and relaxed more fully into him.

"I'm sorry. So sorry that I cannot protect you from whoever is abusing you so. I swear I will do everything in my power to find you soon." Draco whispered in his mate's ear.

"Who are you? Why do I feel so safe now?" The boy asked looking up at him with those stunning green eyes.

"I am your Dominant. I am meant to protect you and keep you safe. Do not worry for I will find you soon and you shall never hurt again." Draco reassured the smaller boy. His mate nodded once before laying his head down. They lay in silence for a while before some force started to pull them apart.

"NO! I am not ready! I do not want to go!" Draco shouted clutching his mate closer.

"What…what's happening?" His mate asked gripping his shirt tightly in fear.

"Our time is up for now. Quickly! Tell me your name!" Draco begged. He needed to know who his mate was.

"My name is-" His mate was cut off as the dream ended abruptly.

"Damn it all to hell!" Draco shouted upon waking up. He snatched a pillow off his bed and flung it across the room.

"What the fuck woke me up?" He snarled glaring around his room, which he hated with a passion at the moment. It was then that he noticed the constant knocking on his door. He stalked over and threw it open to see his mother, father, and his godfather Severus standing there.

"You woke me." He snarled.

"We were worried!" Narcissa said.

"You were asleep for so long that we thought something had-" Lucius was cut off by Draco's growl.

"You WOKE ME UP! You took me from my mate!" He shouted angrily.

"You were still dreaming of them? It is already 11:00!" Severus exclaimed in surprise.

"I don't care if it's been THREE DAYS!" Draco snarled, "You have no right to pull me from my dreams of MY MATE! They need me!"

"Who was it?" Narcissa asked.

"Was it a male or female?" Lucius questioned.

"What trait do you remember about them?" Severus added.

"I don't know. Male. The most amazing, beautiful, dark emerald eyes." Draco breathed immediately calming at the thoughts of his mate. Draco turned from the door, walked over to his window and looked out at the world. His mate was out there, somewhere, and he was hurting. Draco placed a hand on the glass as if he could feel his mate. 'I will keep my promise to you. We will be together soon. My mate." Draco thought to himself, ignoring completely the relentless questioning of his family.