THE ELF PRINCE'S MATE

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

RATING: R

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. That honor goes to JKR and the WB.

SUMMARY: High elf prince Draco Malfoy has just found his mate: a human named Harry Potter who is completely ignorant of his identity. Which is just fine with Draco because he does not want or need a mate. Right?

PAIRING: Draco/Harry. Will also have Ron/Hermione. Other couples to be determined.

AUTHOR NOTES: I'm baaacck. I bring another Draco/Harry fic to you. I'm sure you can tell this fic is going to be an AU by the summary. I'm not sure how long it will be yet. Might be as long as Matchmaker, Matchmaker but don't quote me on that. I'm kind of winging it right now.

Thank you everyone who reviewed The Perfect Proposal. That will be remaining a one-shot. I might do a fic about Harry's pregnancy but it will have to wait awhile to be written. I have a lot on my plate right now and two fics at once is about all I can handle and I don't know about anyone else but I hate it when authors take like two months to update so I refuse to do that. Three weeks is the max I will make anyone wait. Anyway, on with the fic:

PROLOGUE: THE HIGH PRINCE

If anyone had been looking at the cliff overlooking Surrey village they would have seen a most astonishing sight for humans: an elf. For everyone knew that elves avoided human settlements and humans all together if they could help it. In return, humans avoided them if possible. There were some rare cases where they interacted but for the most part the two races were happy to steer clear of the other.

The elf sat on an impressive black stallion that stomped one of his hooves impatiently. He was not used to sitting still and did not understand why his master was just looking at the village and not galloping like they usually did. He did not like just waiting.

"Easy, Nimbus," the elf said softly, patting the horse on his neck. "We'll be moving soon."

Like most elves he was tall and slender with muscles, waist length hair, and pointy ears. His hair was a startling shade of white blonde that sometimes looked silver in the proper light. He had intense grey eyes that looked over the village as if seeing something only he could see. His clothes were the usual noble finery: a silver tunic with his family crest embroidered on it, black breeches, and well worn black riding boots and he had pulled his long hair into a ponytail. Unlike most noble elves who liked to adorn themselves with jewelry, he only wore one ring on his right hand that showed his family crest once again.

That crest was the only sign that this simply dressed elf was royalty. Humans would not have known it by looking at him but elves would know immediately that this elf was the High Prince, Draco Malfoy.

"Your Highness!" a voice called out from behind him. Draco sighed, irritated at being interrupted, and turned to see his second in command trot his horse up the cliff. At first glance there was not much to Ronald Weasley. He was unusually tall, with waist length red hair, and blue eyes. He wore the uniform of the Elven army: black breeches and boots and blue tunic with the royal crest; his armor had been put aside since they weren't in battle. But Draco knew the man was practically a genius when it came to strategies, it was one of the reasons he had made it so far in the army.

"Weasley, I thought I gave strict orders not to be disturbed."

"Well, I'm sorry to interrupt your brooding, your Highness," the redhead said sarcastically. "But we are fighting a war here, and it would be nice for the high prince to be there when the officers decide the battle plans, seeing as how you're in command and all. Plus, your father is here and he wants to see you."

Had any other elf talked to him like that Draco would have made sure he regretted it. But he had known Ron since he was eleven; they had been in combat training together from day one. At first they didn't get along due to Draco being a bit of a snob back then, and Ron having a bigger mouth back then, not that it had improved much over the years. But as they went through knight training together they grudgingly started to respect each other and at around sixteen years old finally become friends. Ron was one of the few people that Draco actually trusted. So he just grunted.

Ron nodded at the village below them. "What's so fascinating about this village anyway?"

Draco sighed. "My mate is down there."

Ron's eyes widened. "Bloody hell, are you sure?"

The blonde gave him a look and he quieted down, all ready knowing the answer.

All elves were born with a mate. One person they were magically bound to their wholes lives. An elf automatically knew when they met their mate; sometimes it was tingle, others said their mates practically glowed when they first saw them. Ron liked to joke that he knew Lady Hermione was his mate because her voice shouted the knowledge in his head in irritation, knowing Ron's mate though, that was probably true.

At twenty one years old, Draco had yet to meet his mate, which was unusual for elves because they all pretty much knew each other. As a prince, he had been taken from elven settlement to elven settlement to see how the race fared, so it was odd that he hadn't met him yet. Yes, Draco knew it was a he, something in his heart told him that when he felt the overwhelming feelings from his mate over the years. Now he knew why he had yet to meet his mate: he was a human. Something Ron picked up on immediately.

"So that means your mate is a human. Well, it could be worse. Look at Hagrid; his fathers mate was a giant."

"Yes, I'm so relieved." the blonde said dryly.

"So, when are going to go down there and find her?" Ron asked.

"My mate's a male and I'm not going to find him."

The redhead stared at him. "What? Why aren't you going to go find him? He's your mate!"

"Yes, and I'm a prince who is in the middle of fighting a war. Do you know what Lord Voldemort would do if he found out that I now have a mate?"

Ron frowned. "That's still no reason not to go and find him. You could court him in private, not tell the public or something."

The prince snorted. "Ron, I'm royalty. You don't think the court would find it odd that I'm frequently disappearing to a human village. They'd find out and my Mum would insist on meeting him and Father would start planning for an heir. The whole elven race would figure it out in less then a week. Elves are gossips, remember?"

"Of course I remember, my Mum is practically the chief gossiper."

"Yes. Well, that's why I'm staying away for now. Besides, I don't need a mate." The idea of being bound to someone had never been particularly appealing to Draco, who had always had a very independent nature. When his father had taken him aside and explained about elf bonds when he was thirteen he'd rebelled against the idea. He'd even gone as far as to have sex with some other elves when he was of age. He stopped after the third time though as the guilt he'd felt for betraying his mate became overwhelming, even though he'd hadn't even met the bloke yet.

Ron snorted at him. "I'm sorry Draco, but if anyone needs a mate to look after him, you do. I know it would make my job a lot easier."

Draco glared at him. "Your job is to come up with battle strategies and help command the troops. Not to look after me."

The redhead rolled his eyes. "Tell that to your father and mother. Apparently in fine print at the bottom of my job description it says you will keep the high prince safe and out of trouble because if you don't, we will torture and maim you."

The prince sighed; his father and mother had always been overprotective of him. He hated being the only child, sometimes he wished he had seven siblings like Ron did so his parents wouldn't interfere with his life so much. His father wasn't so bad, but his mother...

"Let's go," he said to Ron, who nodded and trotted his horse down the cliff.

Draco paused before leaving and looked over the village his mate resided in once more. "I'm sorry. It's better this way," he said quietly, even though he knew his mate couldn't hear him and being human, probably had no idea he even existed.

dmHPdm

They had been ambushed.

Voldemorts troops came out of no where, almost like he knew where they had been planning on attacking. Even as he was struck with an arrow and fell into the river Draco knew that there was a leak. The words traitor flashed through his mind over and over again as he floated away from the battle and down the large river. The elf fell in and out of consciousness and barely registered when he drifted into a curved riverbank.

Then he became aware of a horse inspecting him curiously. Frowning and trying to stay awake the elf looked up at the creature noting it was a mare. A light brown quarter horse by the looks of her.

"Firebolt? What did you find, girl?"

The blonde tensed as he heard the male voice, footsteps, and a gasp of surprise. He tried to reach for his sword but then stopped as the person stepped into view and knelt down beside him.

The stranger was a human male who looked to be in his twenties. He was rather short with tan skin and a slender muscular frame. His cloths were old and ratty, threadbare brown breeches rolled up to reveal bare feet and an old white shirt that had a few patches on them. He was not remarkably handsome, but was not ugly either. But Draco didn't notice any of that, the part of him that was fighting to stay awake was drawn to the emerald eyes that peered down at him in concern and fascination.

All thoughts of battles and who the traitor could possibly be flew out of his mind as he saw this man. One thought came to him as looked into those startling eyes: MINE. This was his mate, he knew that as certain as he knew his own name.

"Mine," he whispered softly before finally giving into the darkness.

TO BE CONTINUED...

AUTHOR NOTES: PLEASE REVIEW! If anyone finds it strange that Ron and Draco are friends just remind yourself: AU, AU, AU. Besides, they're not best friends or anything; more like comrades in arms. I'll try to explain the elf bonds further in the next few chapters. Also, before anyone starts throwing accusations, Ron is NOT the traitor ;grumbles about all the Ron-haters;.