Disclaimer: All rights to the characters obviously belong to J.K. Rowling , please enjoy :D

1. Coming of Age

Draco stood on the balcony together with his father enjoying the summer breeze, drinking fire whisky and watching the people below. It was a picture of relaxed enjoyment and no one but Lucius in sight to see it.

The Malfoy Manor shone in brilliant colors, wizards and witches jostled for positions on the crowded dance floor and a sweet mixture of perfume and sweat filled the air around. It was warm although the big glazings were wide open, building a strange contrast between the darkness of the summer-night and the reflection of the candles and magic lights in the hall. A dozen of tables around the perimeter of the dance floor ensured rest for older guests and those who preferred to sit a dance out.

This was clearly a celebration worthy of a Malfoy heir. Draco grinned content with himself and life. After Voldemort was defeated and no longer a threat to him and his family, thanks to their passive participation in the war, a few statements in their favor at court and some careful donations, the Malfoy name stood proud once more for prestige and money. The hardest part was already left behind them and the future seemed bright to Draco at that moment.

He closed his eyes, let the atmosphere flow through him and smiled a genuine smile.

"Draco." Lucius demanded his sons attention.

"Yes, father?"

"How are you feeling son?" Lucius Malfoy mustered his son and heir seriously.

"How am I feeling? Great. You excelled yourself with this party. Not only are here 200 guests of different ages gathered together, but they all seem to enjoy themselves nonetheless and I can brag later. 'Sides I'm finally seventeen today, meaning I can finally hex whoever I want after today, even outside school. What more could I wish for?" Draco grinned mischievously. He really looked forward to that previledge.

"Than you don't feel anything strange? Like a tingling sensation or I don't know, excitement?" Lucius pressed on.

"Emm, not particularly, no. Why?" Draco looked at his father worriedly. Why should he be feeling a tingling sensation?

"Oh!" His father sighed relieved and smiled at him happily. "It's nothing! Please forget it and continue to enjoy your party. Happy 17 Birthday, son!" Lucius hand fell on Draco's shoulder and he actually laughed.

"Eh? Oh, sure. Thank you father." Draco eyed the said father baffled and suspiciously. But before he could ask approaching footsteps made him turn around.

"Hi, darling." Narcissa Malfoy hugged her son fiercely. She looked at her husband.

"Alright. In one minutes time, exactly at 21: 28 sharp on the 5th of march our son will turn 17. Let's count down." Narcissa rubbed her hands nervously and looked at her wristwatch.

"What? But it turned 21:28 just now." Lucius came closer and they compared the time.

"Oh no, see... one of the watches is running wrong. I wonder if it had been 21:28 yet..." The parents eyed their son completely distressed.

Draco in return tried to stifle a laugh.

"You know, I appreciate you caring about the time I was born, but it would be enough to just celebrate the day. I don't particularly care about the exact time."

But the two remained quiet and continued eyeing him suspiciously.

"Do you feel anything uncommon? Somehow strange, Draco love?" Narcissa held her arm-watch close and continued looking closely at him.

"Why are the two of you asking me that? I'm fine and enjoying my coming of age party. At least I was a few minutes ago." The joy of the occasion was still in his features, but a frown was melting it all away fast. He clearly grew irritated at his parents strange behavior. Maybe the two of them had too much to drink?

"Alright. Do you feel anything, Draco? It's 21:28 sharp." The last part came out a bit strained. The two adults were bending over the wristwatch, looking between their son and the time back and forth.

"No! I don't feel anything! What's wrong with the two of you?!" Draco pressed through his teeth, irritation and anger clear in his voice. But his parents just continued staring at him, their concentrated expressions slowly softening up and Lucius smiling widely again. Was that disappointment in his mothers face?

"So it's a no huh? Well! Never mind! Happy birthday, my love!" Narcissa finally let her watch out of sight and hugged Draco again. Lucius slapped him on the shoulder again, grinning like a mad man and rubbed his hands joyfully.

"Well, now that the danger is averted, let's get something to drink! This calls for a toast!"

The two turned to walk back into the hall.

"Wait! You can't just up and leave! What was that...hah." His glass with a rest of fire whiskey fell out of his hand and shattered on the marble floor.

Once as a child he had decided to climb the old tree in the backyard. He didn't come up far as his foot slipped and he lost hold. The fall was short but it felt so long as his whole life. The thing that stuck in mind even after all those years was the hit. Not the pain from it, but the feeling of every last bit of oxygen being knocked out of him, till he was left with no air to breathe. His brain screamed for air, but it took him some long seconds of pure terror, till his body was finally able to react and fill his lungs with life again.

That state of breathlessness was exactly the same as right now. Nothing terrified him more, as his body bended over and his knees buckled underneath him, his lungs refused to let the much needed air inside.

"The potion, Lucius, the potion! Hurry! Draco.."

Then everything turned black around him.

When he came to not much had changed. The summer night enveloped him and a breeze caressed his hair.

"Draco?"

The voice seemed a bit distant but his squinted eyes told him that his mother was kneeling there right next to him.

"Mom..."

"Yes, yes darling. I'm here, please stay calm. You are alright for now."

Alright? No, Draco certainly didn't feel alright at all. He had just fainted for a moment hadn't he? Why was he left breathless all of the sudden? He was fine just seconds before only slightly irritated. Thats right, his parents did act strange just before. Did they know something? The questions were just swirling in his head, making him feel nauseous and weak. Just then Lucius came into his line of sight.

"Drink this, Draco. You are already over the worst part of it but you seem to need another potion to come to your senses. Here." And gently the older Malfoy helped Draco gulp it all down. It tasted horrible. Like piss and asphodel and bat blood... oh, he should stop thinking about the taste or he would throw up. Still, as bad as it tasted, Draco's head cleared up immediately and he sat up without help this time. His head had stopped spinning as well.

"What happened? What is this?! You know something don't you?!" He knew his voice sounded embarrassingly panicked but he couldn't help it really. That feeling of being left with no air was the worst feeling he knew and it instilled immediate terror inside him.

"Yes, we know what it's about, darling. Though this is really not the right place to talk and our guests would be very worried if they noticed you here on the floor, so let's go inside darling, alright? We can talk there. And no, you don't need to be afraid. Don't worry, it will be alright soon." His mother said softly and stroked her hand through his hair. This had never missed its desired effect and Draco started calming down a bit. Yet compared to other times, his heart continued to beat slightly faster than normal and uneasiness remained in his heart.

He hurriedly stood up, a bit shaky still and let his parents lead him away inside the mansion toward his fathers study. They always assembled there if there were important matters to discuss.

He slouched in an armchair and stared at his parents expectantly.

"What's going on? I probably need a doctor, not some books. My chest hurts and the ache is spreading throughout my whole body already..." Draco barely whispered. The potion had cleared his mind, but his body felt exhausted and every cell screamed. The walk to the study hadn't helped and he was breathing hard.

But the adults didn't seem as eager to begin their explanation of todays events as Draco was in hearing them. They each summoned armchairs for themselves instead and sat down slowly. He wished they would just spill it already, but there was no use trying to hurry it along. It would probably have the opposite effect as his dear mother would probably slow the pace purposefully instead, out of her sheer stubbornness.

"Well... Narcissa." Lucius looked at his wife hopefully.

"No! I told you right from the start that he was going to be one, but you wouldn't listen. You only have yourself to thank for the consequences."

"How was I to know!? It was better to wait than act prematurely. The chances of him becoming one were next to nothing!"

"Yes, but he is one and I was proven right! It was to be expected, after all you are nearly one yourself! It was pure coincidence that you were not in Draco's shoes!"

"Still, the chances.."

"I am what?" Draco couldn't restrain himself and interrupted both before a full scale war started in his household, at his birthday party, while he was waiting for some answers.

"Emm..." His father was at a loss for words again.

"Oh, get over yourself and be a man. Draco, darling, you are a Veela. Not a pureblooded veela but a veela nonetheless. It's in your genes."

The bomb landed and was met with acute silence. And it stretched on and on, till Draco exploded in return.

"Excuse me? I am what?!"

"A Veela! Listen to us Draco. It's not like it's our fault. You were born one. If you can't fix it, you gotta live with it!" Lucius retorted at once, looking sternly at his son.

"Oh, stop saying it like it's the end of the world, for god's sake Lucius! This was to expected after we tested his blood and found out, that he was likely to become one. Look at him! Well, or rather remember how he looked like ten minutes before! The white blond hair, the grey eyes, the beauty and charm that all girls fall for! You just didn't want to see it, Lucius, admit it!"

"So what!? I always only tried to preserve the hope that my son would be free and not compelled to grovel to some stranger!"

"Grovel?! How is finding true love related to groveling?! You should be happy your son got the gift we both miss and can find his soul mate! How many wish for it do you think?! But no witch or wizard had been able to attain that knowledge. A gift reserved to strong Veelas only!"

"Gift?! It's a curse! Don't sugarcoat it!"

"It's a gift and the envy of the whole damn magic realm, Lucius! You just don't-"

Draco felt compelled to butt in once more.

"Excuse me!? A veela here, waiting for some answers! Would the two of you please concentrate."

The couple puffed and huffed as if they had run a marathon, only remembering the presence of their son at that moment. Red colored their cheeks and Lucius coughed slightly to overcome his embarrassment. This was clearly not the first time they had that talk.

"Yes, well. You see, pure-bloods are bound to have some magical creature in their bloodline as their magic is the purest and strongest on earth. We overcome that with other advantages, but cannot escape the truth that some become compelled to begin a relationship with them. And it just so happens that it is a veela for us." Lucius broke off not knowing how to continue.

"You see, darling, back in the days some of our ancestors married veelas, because they were their soul mates. And that strengthened our bloodline and magic. As well as increased our beauty." The last part was added with a smile and a wink at him from his mother as she continued on. "And well, not only has your father veela blood but me as well, though much less concentrated and less powerful. You being our child inherited both bloodlines and were born a Veela. Now our controversy...well, it is linked with the pain you had felt on the balcony." And here his mother broke off and looked invitingly at her husband.

"Yes. Our controversy has no worth at the moment, because for the better or the worst, which I think, you were born exceptionally strong. And not only did you inherit some traits like the blond hair, but also magical power. And as we found out at 21:28 sharp, the exact moment you were born and now turned 17, you also inherited the curse, excuse me, gift to know your soul mate. It always reveals itself at the coming of age moment of the veela. The pain you felt moments before indicates that your own soul has found him and is now calling out to you to find your mate. The potion we gave you only contains that call temporarily and it has to be taken every two hours to work. There is also the problem that your body has already begun building antibodies against it and the potion will begin loosing it's effectivity soon."

Lucius Malfoy decided to stop there and let his son digest the shock. It's not everyday you get told there is your destined soul mate waiting for you somewhere.

"It's not gone."

"Pardon?"

"The pain, it's not gone. Only number." Draco lifted his head to watch his parents freeze in shock.

"Damn! This is bad! You should have told something sooner Draco!" It was rare to see his mother swearing. She usually felt herself above it.

"Why? It's not normal?"

"No, it's not. I should have suspected something when you fainted! This means that your mate is far away. Usually the mate is born somewhere near, it just happens like that, because you belong together. Accordingly the pain gets greater the further you're apart..."

Narcissa was clearly panicking. As if searching England for one person wasn't hard enough. Now the whole world was open for the hunt. It's like searching for one special grain of sand on a beach!

"So then... my mate is outside the country?" Draco barely whispered. He really needed a drink. Or two.

His parents nodded uneasily. Drago tried to proceed the information again.

"So to sum it up: I am not any wizard, but a veela, strong to boot and apparently I even have a soul mate destined for me. And the pull in my chest that is driving me crazy is actually an indicator for me, that my so-called soul-mate is not even in England. No I have to search the whole world for him. Oh, not to forget that the damn potion isn't capable of stilling the ache and is gradually begin to lose it efficiency. Something else you would like to inform me about? Maybe how I can actually find said mate or switch it to someone else or EVEN BETTER GET RID OF IT ALTOGETHER!? PLEASE DO ADD SOME MORE SPICE TO MY BORING LIFE!"

Drago was getting into stride, speaking faster and faster with bitting sarcasm as he listed the new rules defining his life anew, until he finally snapped and started screaming. He wanted to bash and hit and scream at anybody. The quivering in his body was getting stronger as the two potions wore off and soon he wouldn't even be able to rely on them anymore, as they were losing their efficiency with every intake. But the worst part was the longing. Yes longing. Not an hour has passed, but everything before already felt like another life.

A life where he was content with himself and the world. A life without this pain and anguish. Without veela or soul mate in it. He was as mentally stable as anybody in his surrounding, relieved at the end of the war and happy.

Now however, every cell in his body screamed. And he knew it screamed for his soul mate, somewhere out there, not even in England. He wanted to go to that place, he wanted to be near his soul mate even more than he wanted this ache to stop and that frightened him. He hadn't even met that person yet and still he was yearning for him. How would it be when he finally found him? His father called it groveling, but Draco was sure that no Malfoy grovels before another.

How come he had to be born a veela? And how come no one had considered it necessary to give him some prior warning? Something like 'Draco, you are a veela by the way and soon you will be going crazy with the need to go to your soul mate' would have been nice. He, Draco Malfoy, a veela!

Life truly was messed up at times.

**A reviewer made a good point: there can't be a 3/4 Veela. So let's just go with active Veela blood. Dracos heritage simply resurfaced strongly inside of him - genetics and all that - so he is not a pureblood veela but it's quite strong in him nonetheless.