A Veela's Mate || Draco Malfoy

Pɪᴄᴋɪɴɢ Uᴘ Tʜᴇ Pɪᴇᴄᴇs

Was what had happened to her, no matter how horrible it had been, for the best? Was she better off being an orphan than if she had grown up with her parents?

She realized it was useless to ponder. Her parents were dead and there was no point in going over countless 'what ifs'. Still, Iris found she could not stop; clearly, she was in need of a distraction! But what? Then it hit her. Tomorrow was Monday and she hadn't prepared the next prank yet. Perfect!

Detangling herself carefully from Draco's arms, Iris moved to sit up properly. Looking down at the sleeping face of her Veela, she reached up to tenderly stroke the nearest cheek. In his sleep, Draco looked so young. So sweet. Without thought, she leaned down and pressed a small kiss on the blond's forehead. Realizing what she'd done, Iris blushed a deep red and fled.

Draco stirred in his sleep. He could feel his mate move away and he wanted to protest. He was comfortable. His mate was safe, here, with him. He did not want that to change. Before he could open his eyes, or voice his protest, he felt a soft touch on his face. Holding his breath, he waited to see what would happen next.

He almost purred in happiness when he felt the kiss. Opening his eyes, he was in time to see Iris duck her head and blush before fleeing from the room. Getting concerned, he threw the blanket aside and sat up, intent on following the girl, not wanting her to retreat too far, the happenings of the day still too raw in his mind.

Before he could get up though, Iris returned, carrying an armful of Bertie Bott's. Raising an eyebrow, Draco couldn't wait to find out what his devious mate was up to now. At least he would be included this time. "Who are we pranking this time?"

Iris started, almost dropping the boxes she was holding. She hadn't noted that Draco was awake. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"No. Yes. I don't know."

"Well, that was conclusive." Iris chuckled. "Wanna help me? I figured it was time to harass Dumbledore some more. Or do you need to rest?"

"Nah, I feel fine. So, what are we going to do this time?" he asked, not wanting to dwell on his earlier breakdown. Iris seemed to sense this, as all she did, after giving Draco a searching look, was call Norabeth's diary to her, showing Draco the spell they needed.

The blond read it through swiftly, committing it to memory. However, before any spells were cast, he separated the beans, not prepared to sacrifice any of the edible ones. Not even to a prank designed to drive Dumbles to distraction.

~ ϟ ~

"So that's how you did it," Draco commented when they were on their way back to their rooms. He had envisioned the two of them sneaking around the entire castle, popping beans into the different armors. Hunting down Peeves to get him to do all the work had been a little bit of a let down.

"You almost sound disappointed," Iris noted with a small smile.

"In a way, I guess I am. I mean, after all that hard work, to just hand those beans over to Peeves..."

"What? You figured we'd sneak around the entire castle...? I suppose we could, but the risk of being caught would be much higher. And once we're caught, we won't be able to do this anymore. Dumbles will see to that. No, better to get Peeves to help us and use the time he saves us thinking up new cool things to do. So, any suggestions as to how to get back at Weasley and Parkinson? I've got a bone to pick with the Weasel, and that bone keeps getting bigger and bigger. He's gotten away with far too much lately."

"Hmm, put that way, I suppose I can forgive you for curtailing my fun. So the Weasel, huh? Him I can understand, but what has Parkinson done to you?"