Chapter Text
Draco Malfoy wakes up one morning to an odd glow in his room. Looking around, he sees that the light is coming from a parchment on his desk: the Inheritance Test he got recently on his 15th birthday. He quickly calls a House-elf to get his parents before making his way over to his desk. The glow fades from the parchment as soon as he picks it up, and his eyes dart down to the “Creature Information” section of the Test.
Creature Information
Creature: Water Nymph
Role: Submissive
Mate(s): Hadrian J. Potter
Draco’s heart freezes upon seeing the name of his mate, where it had previously only read “Undetermined.” Potter must have just come into his inheritance for the information to have been updated. He didn’t know that Potter’s full name was “Hadrian,” but that is hardly what’s important right now. He’s scared. Potter rejected him before, back in first year, and they haven’t gotten along since. They have an odd sort of rivalry, and more than that, Draco has been a right prat to him and his friends. He’s scared that Potter will reject him again, and if that happens, he probably won’t survive; most submissives don’t. Draco resolves himself that he will do what he must to survive, even if he has to beg, even if he has to be perfectly obedient. Self-preservation is, after all, a Slytherin trait.
Before long there’s a soft knock on his door before it slowly opens. “Draco, darling,” his mother’s voice calls, “who is it?”
Draco can’t bring himself to speak so he just shakes his head, eyes still locked on the name of his mate. After a moment his father comes up behind him, placing a large hand on his shoulder. Draco knows the moment that his father reads the name on the parchment because his grip tightens, and suddenly Draco can’t hold himself back anymore. He turns and clings to the front of his father’s robes, burying his face in the man’s chest, shaking and shivering against him. “It will be alright,” Lucius comforts, gently prying the now-crumpled parchment out of his son’s hand. “Lady Magic must have a reason for bonding you together.” Lucius runs one hand up and down Draco’s back in a comforting motion while handing the Inheritance Test to his wife with the other.
“Oh, Draco,” Narcissa gasps a moment later and Draco finds himself sandwiched between his parents in an embrace. “Your Father is right. Have faith in Lady Magic, darling.”
After what feels like both an eternity and a mere moment, they all pull back. “We should head to the bank. Draco, we will be in the Floo room, join us when you are dressed,” Lucius instructs, and Draco nods as his parents leave the room, feeling a little better than he had before.
Hadrian is sitting in the Potter account manager Silvertooth’s office. It is the morning of his fifteenth birthday, and he came into a creature inheritance as a Dark Elf earlier today. After taking his Magical Signature and Creature Inheritance Tests he had been shuffled into a ritual room for a cleansing. Apparently he had been under a few compulsions to make him more reckless, as well as associating the Dark with being evil and distrust of Slytherins. The most worrying to him was the loyalty potion he had been given for Dumbledore and the Light, though luckily all such things have been cleansed from his system.
Currently, he is discussing family finances with Silvertooth, as going through his creature inheritance means that magic sees him as being of age, allowing him to take up the Potter lordship. There are subsidiaries to the Potter family that he now has a responsibility to take care of, as well as properties and shares in companies to manage. There is a knock on the door and Hadrian turns to look as a goblin enters.
“The Malfoys are here, Lord Potter,” the new goblin says.
Oh, right, Draco Malfoy is his submissive mate. This will certainly be interesting. “Take me to a meeting room, then fetch my mate. I will meet with him and no one else,” he instructs, before turning to Silvertooth. “I trust we can continue this conversation at a later time?”
“Of course, Lord Potter. May your adversaries cower under your power,” Silvertooth says, honouring Hadrian with a formal Goblin parting. He is one of the few Wizards to have earned such respect.
“And may your enemies’ blood run at your feet,” he returns before following the lower-ranking goblin out of the room.
Draco is waiting with his parents in the Gringotts Bank waiting area. The Malfoys had informed a teller of their business here, and they had been told to wait while someone checked with Lord Potter. The longer they are made to wait, the more nervous Draco becomes. What if Potter refuses to even meet with him? What if he meets with him only to say he wants nothing to do with Draco? What if…
Draco’s thoughts are cut off by the arrival of a goblin. “Heir Draco Malfoy?” the creature says, and he nods. “Follow me.” The goblin starts walking without even waiting for him to stand.
They walk down confusing, winding stone corridors that Draco could never find his own way through before stopping at a door. The goblin knocks twice before cracking it open, though Draco can still not see inside. “Lord Potter? Heir Malfoy is here, as you requested.”
Softly, muffled through the mostly-closed door, Draco hears someone say, “Thank you, please send him in. May your gold flow.”
“May your vaults grow,” the goblin replies, shocking Draco momentarily, as Wixen are never given such respect by the goblins. The goblin turns to face him. “Well, go on then.”
As soon as Draco is through the door it slams behind him, and he jumps slightly. When he looks up, Potter is the only other person in the room. He’s leaning against the arm of a couch, managing to look both casual and intimidating. His black hair is falling in his face, and his green eyes shine from behind it, observing Draco in silence. Draco avoids the other boy’s eyes and bows his head slightly, trying to show submission.
“Are you going to come in?” Potter says, and though it is phrased as a question it feels like an instruction. Draco realises that he is still standing right inside the door and moves a few steps further into the room, towards this boy who has been his rival all through school. “Come closer. Let me get a look at you.” Draco gulps, not really wanting to but not daring to disobey. This time, he stops about an arm’s length from the black-haired boy, eyes firmly on his own feet.
Hadrian, meanwhile, is observing the blond curiously. He is acting submissive, obedient, and almost timid. This doesn’t line up at all with what he knows of Malfoy, as the boy usually has an air of confidence about him even when he’s not showing off, seeming comfortable in his own skin. The boy in front of him now is nothing like that. Hadrian decides very quickly that he doesn’t like it.
Reaching out slowly, hoping not to startle the boy, he uses one finger to gently lift Malfoy’s chin so he can meet his eyes. Hadrian can feel the boy tense, but he doesn’t try to pull away.
Draco finds that once he meets the other boy’s emerald eyes, he can’t look away. He feels a calmness and a sense of safety wash over him, his creature instincts telling him to trust his mate. However, these feelings cannot override the fear he feels that his mate will not want him and will send him away. He forces his eyes away, looking over the taller boy’s shoulder because he can no longer bow his head with his chin still being held gently.
Hadrian also feels instinctual emotions when their eyes meet, telling him to protect and care for his mate. He can also, somehow, sense that the other boy is terrified right now. This worries him, and his creature wants him to wrap Draco in an embrace and make all of his worries go away. He senses that Draco would not be very receptive to that at the moment, however, and decided to address it his own way. “Draco,” he says, voice as gentle as he can make it. The blond’s eyes dart to his at the use of his given name. “You’re scared. Why?”
Draco’s eyes dart away again. “I’m not scared,” he says quietly, though it wouldn’t be convincing even if Hadrian couldn’t feel Draco’s emotions right now.
“I can feel your fear, Draco. Please don’t lie to me,” he says, pleading.
Draco continues looking over Hadrian’s shoulder, but he answers, which Hadrian counts as a win. “I’m scared that you’ll reject me. That you don’t want me and will send me away. It would kill me; I’m not strong enough to survive it. I- I would understand why, after how- how horrible I’ve been to you. I’m s-so scared that you w-won’t even give me a chance.”
Draco’s shoulders are shaking, and Hadrian realises that he’s crying. It breaks his heart that his mate is feeling this, and it makes it even worse that he caused it. He moves the hand that is under Draco’s chin to stroke his cheek, wiping away a tear. “I’m not going to reject you,” he promises, voice barely above a whisper. Draco flings himself forward to bury his face in Hadrian’s chest. The black-haired boy is startled, but wraps his arms around his shaking mate without hesitation. He brings one hand up to cup the blond’s head and wraps the other around his waist, whispering comforts in his ear. “You’re okay. I’ve got you. You’re safe,” he says over and over in different ways while holding the sobbing boy tight to his chest. At one point he even finds himself saying, “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
After a while, the sobs soften to sniffles and Hadrian lets the flow of words stop, but keeps his arms tightly around Draco. He doesn’t let go until he feels Draco start to pull back. Draco steps back, a hand coming up to wipe his eyes. “Sorry,” he mumbles, avoiding Hadrian’s eyes again.
“Don’t be,” Hadrian says softly, but with a firmness behind his words that shows he’s serious.
“But-” Draco can’t seem to think of an ending to whatever he was going to say, so Hadrian jumps in.
“I’m your mate,” he reminds the blond. “It’s my job to take care of you.”
“You accept me?” Draco asks, eyes wide and voice still a little unsure. “As your mate?”
Hadrian sighs. “Of course I do. Now come, you should sit down. You look tired.” Draco nods and allows himself to be led to the couch. When Hadrian goes to move away, Draco grabs his arm.
“Stay with me?” the blond asks, seeming shy still.
“If you want,” Hadrian says, sitting down next to Draco and tucking the boy under his arm. “Anything you want.” He watches fondly as his mate drifts off to sleep, and knows that it’s true. He would do just about anything for this boy in his arms.