Disclaimer: All of the wonderful world and characters of Harry Potter belong exclusively to the wonderful J.K. Rowling!

Chapter 1

There was a light knock on the door of the room. Draco put the book he was reading down on the end table and stretched his arms above his head, enjoying the responding cracks in his shoulder blades. He strode over to the door and pulled it open.

"Yes, Mother?"

"Draco, dear, we have a guest. Would you please join us in the study?" Draco raised one graceful eyebrow in question, but followed his mother out of the bedroom. Before the war it was common for the Malfoy's to have guests, but given that the majority of their supposed 'friends' were now behind bars, any visitors were a rare occurrence.

Before the war… Draco thought to himself with a sneer. Before the war the Malfoy's were respected, even a little feared. Now they were considered the cowards who were only out of Azkaban because of the protection and pity of the wizarding world's great Golden Boy. Before the war they had money and privilege – now they were practically squatting in one small wing of their manor barely surviving on what was left of the Malfoy fortune.

But if Draco was honest with himself, 'before the war' wasn't right – before the Dark Lord would be more accurate. Before his family gave everything they had to a madman and dragged him along for the ride. His hand automatically went to his left forearm, feeling the damage through his shirtsleeve. Just another horrible reminder…

He followed his mother down the hall and into the small study. The tension in the room was palpable – Lucius was pacing agitatedly in front of the fireplace occasionally stopping and looking at the imperious woman who sat in one of the armchairs calmly sipping tea.

"Grand-mère?" Draco asked in surprise. The woman had been a constant fixture in Draco's young childhood, either staying at the manor or having the family come stay in her villa in the south of France but she and Lucius had had a falling out over his – darker – tendencies just before Draco went to Hogwarts.

"Draco, darling. And Narcissa! Oh it is wonderful to see you both again," She stepped across the small room, to place light kisses on both Draco's and Narcissa's cheeks in greeting. Her steel gray hair was pulled back into a fashionable chignon and she was dressed in simple flattering robes.

"Mother, is this really necessary…" Blanche Malfoy turned on her son with a glare.

"Be quiet Lucius and let me enjoy seeing my grandson and daughter-in-law for the first time in almost ten years! Now sit down. " She snapped before turning back around to Narcissa and Draco. Lucius stopped pacing and looking cowed and sat down in the other armchair. Draco joined his mother on the couch, barely containing his laughter at watching his father bend beneath Blanche's iron will.

"My, what a handsome young man you've become Draco dear." The rest of the family sat in silence as Blanche lowered herself into the armchair nearest to Draco and continued to slowly sip her tea. Lucius still looked agitated, his eyes jumping between his mother and Draco, as if silently willing something to happen. Finally it was Narcissa who spoke up.

"Although it is truly wonderful to see you again after all these years, I must inquire as to the purpose of your visit. I'm afraid we cannot offer you quite as nice a stay as we have in the past."

"Not to worry Narcissa, I am merely here to attend to a small family matter. I should not need to stay very long and I have arranged for lodgings at my favorite hotel in London." She smiled at Narcissa. Blanche was still an attractive woman, particularly for her age, but Draco could see in her smile that she must have been beautiful in her youth. A ruthless sort of beauty… Draco thought with a small smile. He had heard the story many times in his childhood – how Blanche had won Abraxas Malfoy's hand despite not being from an old or illustrious wizarding family.

"Draco, please give me your hand," He proffered his hand and she grasped him tightly by the wrist with one hand and quickly pricked his palm with the other.

"Ow!" Draco reflexively tried to jerk his hand away but his grandmother's tight grip kept it in place. A drop of blood welled in the center of his palm. She placed a small vial against his palm and tilted until the drop of blood rolled into the tube. She then removed another vial from her robes, this one filled with a small amount of clear liquid and combined it with the blood. She swirled briefly and then set the vial down next to her tea. Narcissa and Draco both stared at her in utter confusion, Draco rubbing at the small cut on his palm. Lucius merely stared into the empty fireplace as if trying to ignore the entire procedure.

"What was that?" Draco snapped. The cut hadn't hurt that badly but he was, in general, opposed to random drawing of his blood.

"Just a small test, Lucius underwent the same thing when he was your age. It should only take about ten minutes to get the results," She responded calmly.

"A test for what?"

"In the fifteenth century one of your ancestors, a young man by the name of Demetrius Malfoy, fell in love with a beautiful woman. However, his family did not approve of their relationship. Despite his family's objections Demetrius continued to court this woman. Their worst fears were realized when he first brought her to meet his family. Not only was this woman not a witch, she was also not completely human." She paused.

Draco was unsure as to what this story had to do with their current situation, but Blanche Malfoy was the type of woman where when she talked, you listened. After a sip of tea Blanche continued the story.

"Demetrius' family forbade him from seeing the woman but although he had stopped a formal courtship he continued to visit her. His family ignored it, instead attempting to pair him with more suitable women in hopes that he would forget his youthful fancy and settle down. Nearly a year passed and he continued to visit the woman as well as turn down the many potential brides his father tried to set him up with. One night Demetrius returned to the manor broken and disheveled and carrying a newborn child. His parents quickly arranged a marriage with a plain girl from a respectable family and covered up the entire affair. This woman raised the child as her own and no one outside the Malfoy family knew anything about Demetrius' affair. The child was a boy and therefore became the heir and eventual head of the Malfoy family. He never showed any signs of his maternal heritage but continued to pass his mother's blood down through the Malfoy line. It has become tradition to check every child born with Malfoy blood to see whether Demetrius' lover's blood has manifested. It is very rare but on occasion…"

All four occupants of the small room were suddenly distracted by the small vial on the tea table – its contents had started spinning independently, shining brightly, the light filling the room. The spinning slowed and the contents could be seen more clearly. It was still emitting light, but it was softer now, more like moonlight upon water and the liquid had a silvery sheen to it. Blanche and Lucius both stared openmouthed at the small vial. Under other circumstances it would have been comical to see these two refined people in such shock.

"Grand-mère – what does that mean?" Draco couldn't understand why his voice was shaking, surely this couldn't be that bad? Hadn't his life already hit rockbottom? What is the worst that the vial could mean?

"Well, dear, I believe –" She paused, "I believe that means you tested positive." Blanche said this slowly, almost in disbelief. Lucius had stood up and was pacing again, Narcissa looked nearly as scared as Draco felt.

"What does the mean?" Draco asked again, his voice a little more strained, "You said she wasn't completely human, what was she?" Blanche reached out and picked up the vial, holding it softly in her hands. She kept her eyes trained on the small vial, the soft light playing across her face and hands as she answered Draco.

"She was a veela,"

"But what does that mean for me?" Draco's voice was getting increasingly more panicky. It was more due to the reactions of everyone else in the room that he was so panicked. His grandmother seemed lost for words, which had never happened before, his father was acting like a caged animal and his mother looked like she was about to faint. They were not a weak family, especially after what they had been through in the past few years, and to have shaken his parents this much… the pit of Draco's stomach dropped.

"It seems that her blood, and therefore her magic, are particularly strong in you." His grandmother answered carefully.

"Has this happened before?" He locked eyes with Blanche, willing her to give more information, to explain what had his family so on the edge.

"Yes, as I said before, its rare but once every few generations there is someone in whom the veela magic manifests." She paused again, as if hesitant to continue.

"What happened to them? What's going to happen to me?"

"As far as I'm aware, there are several ways in which the veela magic manifests, increased magical strength, increased ability to, ah, attract males, as well as some others. There also seem to be a number of physical changes that occur as well, enhanced beauty being the primary one."

Draco laughed and sighed with relief, looking around at his family who did seem to find it nearly as funny as he did.

"So you're telling me that I'm going to become a more powerful wizard, become more attractive than I already am and the only cost is that I may have to bat off a few unwanted male suitors?" Draco leaned back in the couch, the knot in his chest loosening, but his grandmother remained tense and continued to speak in a slow and hesitant manner.

"A majority of the instances in which the veela blood has manifested have been young women, in which case the effect is what you have described. However, there have been a few instances when it has manifested in a male member of the Malfoy family, and in that case, well, this case, the physical effects are quite a bit more… severe."

Draco could tell his mother and father had reached the same conclusion by the pale, worried looks on their faces but he couldn't seem to wrap his head around what was happening. He tried to remember all he could about veela – he remembered seeing them at the Quidditch World Cup before his fourth year at Hogwarts, what had happened? He had embarrassed himself in front of Potter by nearly jumping off the balcony, and then there was that time later when they had started to fight with the leprechauns. He tried to remember more about the actual creatures but he couldn't come up with anything at all.

"Severe?" He asked quietly, terrified of what his grandmother might say next. Blanche leaned forward and clasped his hands.
"Draco, dear, veela are exclusively female," That was when Draco broke. He started laughing hysterically, frantically looking around at his family. The laughter subsided into panicked gasps.

"You're telling me what? That I'm a girl? I can assure you I most definitely am not."

"Draco, I know, but…"

"So what, I'm going to turn into a girl? That's impossible, I'm a man. So the test must be wrong."

"It's not. This test should have been done when you came of age, but for obvious reasons that wasn't really possible. If the test had been done then it may have been incorrect but now that the magic has been manifesting for nearly two years… there's no chance. As soon as the magic finishes manifesting the physical changes will begin."

"No. It's impossible! NO!" Draco stood up and left the room, running out of the house and onto the grounds. He kept walking until he came to the edge of their property, the bank of a small lake, where he collapsed head in hands. Its not true… its not true… its not true…

For the next few days Draco did what he was best at, he became cold, he locked away any panic, and he refused to talk to his family. His mother kept trying to talk to him, his grandmother stayed in England and visited every day. It was easier to avoid his father – Lucius wouldn't even meet his eyes, let alone try to talk. He spent most of his days out of the house, either wandering the grounds or around London. He was able to convince himself that it was all a farce. For the first time, about a week later, he was able to fall asleep without thoughts of his grandmother's first visit keeping him awake.

Draco's eyes shot open; there was a bright flash of lighting followed immediately by a roar of thunder that seemed to shake the house. He tried to flip around and ignore the storm that raged outside but a painful spasm shook his body. Feeling bile rise in his throat Draco pulled himself out of bed falling on the floor as another spasm shook his body. He dragged himself across the floor, the flashes of lightning illuminating the room and into the bathroom as the spasms started to come more quickly.

He had never known pain like this, nothing compared, not even the Cruciatus curse. He collapsed halfway on the tile floor of the bathroom screaming in pain, back arching off the floor, every muscle pulled tight until it passed. Draco begged for someone to come help him, for the pain to end but his pleas were drowned out by the storm. He pulled himself up onto the toilet and puked violently as the next spasm rolled through his body. It felt like every single piece of his body was being turned inside out, rewritten, remade. When the next spasm hit it felt as if he was being torn in two and as the pain reached levels Draco didn't even think were possible everything went black.

When he came to the storm had ended and soft morning light filled the bathroom. Draco lifted his cheek from where it had been resting on the tile floor. He felt extremely weak and barely had the strength to pull himself up off the floor. The movement caused his head to throb – pinching his eyes shut he brought one hand up to his temple, the other he kept gripped tightly on the edge of the counter. Something tickled the back of his hand.

His heart started beating faster, keeping his eyes shut he slowly moved his hand up past his temple. Hair, too much hair… the smooth hair kept going far past where Draco knew his hair ended. His hand dropped and gripped the counter equally as tight as the other. Slowly he opened his eyes and met those of his reflection in the mirror.

The reflection was definitely Draco – same gray eyes, same aristocratic cheekbones and nose, same graceful eyebrows. But the reflections lips were pinker, its eyelashes thicker and longer, the angles softer - everything about the reflection was distinctly feminine. Long blonde hair fell down both sides of her face, almost to her waist. As Draco followed the straight locks down his eyes rested on something in the reflection that caused his already sporadic heart beat to speed up even more.

Releasing his death grip on the counter Draco stumbled out of the bathroom and stopped in front of the full-length mirror in the corner of his bedroom.

No… very slowly he brought his shaking hands up to the collar of his pajama top. He started undoing the buttons one at a time, taking shaky breaths as each movement revealed more. Several buttons down the top slipped off one shoulder and then the other. Two more buttons and the shirt was all of the way off, forgotten on the floor as Draco's breath caught in his throat.

The girl in the mirror was beautiful. She had a graceful neck, slender waist and perfectly proportioned breasts with light pink nipples. Draco's hands explored the figure, feeling the curves of her waist, the weight of her breasts, the angle of her cheekbones. She was perfect,except for… except for her scars. One crossed from her shoulder, between her breasts, down to the opposite hipbone.

The sectumsempra scar and then… Draco watched as the figure in the mirror slowly rotated her left forearm forward, revealing…

"Its me… I'm a…" Draco couldn't even finish the sentence. She pushed down her already loose pajama pants and screamed.

A/N: Hope you like! First go at actually publishing some fan fiction - I know the "Draco is a Veela" concept is a little overused but hopefully this will be an interesting twist on an old story.