The Secret's In The Telling by Sakuri

chapter 20

Draco, of course, fully intended not to take any notice – but the strangeness of such a warning made him frown at the other man. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Remus shrugged. "You're a werewolf now. A werewolf who has yet to find his mate, I may add."

The Slytherin scoffed, thinking he knew where this was going. "What? So if I go on one date it'll mean I've suddenly found a mate? That I'll be stuck with her for the rest of my life? I hardly think –"

"Of course not, don't be silly." Shaking his head, Remus paused to sip his tea before continuing. "No, we only ever have one mate, and I'm afraid we don't have the luxury of choosing. The problem, you see, comes with the fact that we're also perfectly capable of falling in love with others, if we're not lucky enough to find our mate quite promptly."

Confused, the blond scowled. "What?"

"Well, let's be hypothetical. Say you go out with whichever girl it is that's caught your eye. All goes well, the two of you hit it off, as they say, and eventually fall in love. You plan to marry her, possibly have children –"

"I don't want children, and I very much doubt I'm likely to fall in –"

"That's not the point. The point is that you're hypothetically head over heels for this girl. And then you meet your mate." Remus shrugged, his expression slightly sad. "Well, of course, you have no choice in the matter. Everything in you will be insisting to bond with this person, to stay with them and never separate. To love them. Both you and the girl you originally fell for will be devastated, but there'll be no help for it."

Draco was, by now, staring back with some horror. "But that's like… It sounds like Imperious or something!"

The Professor gave an odd little smile, one that was both amused and wistful. "It won't feel like it. It'll feel like the best thing that ever happened to you."

They were silent for a while as Draco thought about this, privately dismissing the idea. He somehow doubted that yet another situation over which he had no control could feel like the best thing that ever happened to him. Thinking this, he glanced over at Lupin. The scorn that had been rapidly accumulating over this thought suddenly deflated at the look on his face. Draco guessed that the other man wasn't even aware he was revealing that much of himself.

"You… met your mate, then?" he asked, annoyed at himself for not putting some disdain into his tone.

Amber eyes flicked up to meet his, slightly surprised. "I… yes. I met him during my first year of Hogwarts, actually. Not that I realised at the time that he'd be my –"

"Him?"

Remus blinked. "Uhm, yes. Sirius Black."

Draco's eyebrows climbed, despite his struggles to keep his surprise concealed. "But… I mean, I would have assumed… if only for the sake of… of… reproduction, that a mate had to be… well…"

Remus had to laugh. He couldn't help it, confronted with the Slytherin's discomfort. "What, female?" he managed to supply through his chuckles. "Not necessarily. You'll find most of our kind aren't much interested in reproduction, as you so clinically put it, for fear of passing on the disease."

"Oh," Draco muttered, intelligently.

Again they lapsed into silence as this latest rush of information was processed. The Slytherin wasn't sure why he was indulging this line of conversation – which, really, had gotten way too personal somewhere along the line – but it had piqued his curiosity. He was interested, in a morbid sort of way. For example, it was a revelation to learn that Lupin was gay – despite the side of him screaming in earnest that he could have lived happily without ever discovering that. And with Black, of all people. But wait–