.
Their Destiny
by lookimacloud
Chapter
The Beginning of a Devine End
"Draco," his grandfather wheezed. "you know that you cannot deny your heritage forever. You need to take your mate."
"No. I refuse to curse her with this. I could never make her drink from the necks of animals to survive."
"If you don't, then you will die. I will kill you myself."
"I do not care Grandfather. You think you can threaten me with death when all I have ever wanted to do is die?" Draco looked deep into his grandfather's eyes. The eyes that had haunted him since birth. The color of his own.
To say he was terrified of the man was an understatement. Anyone in their right mind would be. He would even bet all of his family's fortune that Potter would be. But Potter wasn't cursed as he was. His pale skin lost a little more of it's color. He had forgotten about his mate. "Do not harm the mudblood." he ordered.
From the shadows of the room his own father laughed. "You have done an adequate job hiding who you are Draco. But it is your destiny. She has to turn on your seventeenth birthday. The Dark Lord wishes it as well."
Draco turned to face the far corner at which his father dwelled. "That is not right. Why would the Dark Lord even think that having her on our side would benefit us? She is everything that he hates."
"Ah, but she is close to Harry Potter. And once you turn her, she will be yours. And you are his." his grandfather said with an evil grin plastered on his boney face. "She does love you doesn't she?"
"Yes."
"Then do it."
"I have grown accustomed to her." That was all he'd admit in their presence. In truth, Draco had grown to love Hermione. It was a mistake that was not meant to happen. She was a mudblood. He hated mudbloods. But as they made their nightly rounds as Head Boy and Girl, he had gotten to know her. He had started to see something else in her. Something appealing. He glanced down at the unconscious girl at his feet. "I cannot do it. I will die first."
"If you don't, then we will kill her as well. Either way boy," his grandfather hissed. "you cannot win."
His grandfather was right. Draco knew needed time that he didn't have. But before he could think on what little time he did have, he had to get Hermione out of there. He reached down and lifted her into his arms, cradling her head to his chest. He would get her back to their rooms and then make his decision. He had until 10:34 that night.
"You take her and go." his father said. "If you don't turn her tonight, then she will be killed by the Dark Lord. We will be waiting son."
Draco apparated out of his home, The Manor, and into Hogsmead behind one of the shops. He set Hermione down and waved his wand to revive her.
Hermione's head hurt. She glanced up from her place at Draco's feet and saw that he looked a little nervous, almost, apprehensive. "Draco? What happened?" she murmured hoping he wouldn't talk to loudly and disrupt the steady amount of pain pounding into her skull.
"You fell and hit your head. Are you alright Hermione? Can you make it back to the rooms?"
Hermione nodded slowly, hoping her head wouldn't roll off her shoulders. Draco reached out to her and she took his hand to help herself up. He wrapped his arm around her waist and together, they walked toward the school.
"Are you sure that you want to be seen hugging me like this Draco? It would ruin your reputation."
"I don't care Hermione. I have decided that I care too much about you. More then I care about my reputation. I assure you of that."
Hermione grinned and rested her head on his shoulder as they walked the pounding was almost gone now. This was the first time they had shown open affection toward each other in public. It was going to start rumors for sure. The school Know-it-All caught in the arms of the Prince of Slytherin.
Classic.
Hermione shut her eyes against the sunlight and the curious faces of their fellow students. She breathed in Draco's scent. He smelt of peppermint candy, her favorite. Harry and Ron were going to flip when she told then that she loved Draco Malfoy. She hadn't even told Draco yet. Well, he hadn't told her he loved her either. Most of the time, he would just grunt and tell her to stop throwing her clean clothes all over the Head's common room. And then he would fold them and place them on the end of her bed.
He loved her. She was sure of it. He wouldn't sink to doing such chores if he didn't.
Hermione had spent the last several weeks hiding from her friends. She would always tell them that she was working on a major project, or that she didn't quite understand what they were studying in defense and she wanted to make sure that she could fight when she needed to. There was a problem with that though. Defense, was something all of her friends were good at. So, she had to tell them that she had blackmailed Draco into helping her because it was easier fighting against her enemies then friends. Of course, no one knew that when they studied, they were studying a whole different subject. And Hermione just hadn't been ready to explain that it was the anatomy of the human body.
She knew that what she and Draco had was rare. Very rare, in fact. They had hated each other since the first day of Hogwarts. But suddenly, none of that mattered. Their late night rounds had been interesting and they had learned so much about one another. She was very fond of Draco. It started out as mutual friendship. But when he had had a night terror about vampires killing him, it had changed. They slept in the same bed the rest of that night. And they hadn't slept apart since.
"So what are we doing for your birthday Draco?" she asked his neck as she buried her cold cheeks into his shoulder and her chilled body into his side.
"Don't know." he muttered stiffly.
Draco maneuvered them around a gawking Loony Lovegood and into the front doors of the castle, ignoring everyone they passed along the way. Including a stunned Weasley and Potter.
"Maybe cozying together by the fire all day, skiping meals, and making love." she whispered. "I can barrow a few things from Harry and we can go and get food later in the kitchens. I have some money on me so I can pay the house elves for it."
"Sounds good" he croaked. He could feel Hermione's grin. Once inside their shared Head's common room, Draco pulled Hermione even more tightly against him and buried his face in her hair. "You smell good."
"Humm. You do too." There was a long pause in which both of them were content to stand in each others arms. Then Hermione spoke again. "I guess it is out in the open now isn't it?"
"I guess so." Draco agreed. He knew that his relationship with Hermione was going to cause problems. But he didn't care anymore. He loved her and the Slytherines would treat her well once they learned that this was the Dark Lord's doing. Once they learned of the real purpose behind him even coming close to her. Once they learned that she was his mate. But the question remained, could he do it?
"Draco. What about Ron and Harry? I should tell them before the school does."
"They already know. We walked by them on our way here and my bet is that they are going to tear you to shreds at dinner tonight."
"Then lets not go." She reasoned.
"They'll just come here afterward."
"So they will. But technically it's your birthday today and not tomorrow anyway. So let's just stay here and be together here. Then we can figure out what we are going to do about this you little ferret."
Draco chuckled. "Insufferable know-it-all." he countered, using Snape's nick-name for her.
Draco lifted Hermione with ease and sat down on his favorite chair, placing her ceremoniously on his lap. Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and twirled his hair around her fingers. "Draco, why do you celebrate your birthday tomorrow instead of today?" she asked.
Draco groaned. He had hoped that she wouldn't ask that question. It was now or never. He was going to lose her either way. She would die if he didn't turn her. She would never forgive him if he did. Draco did not want to spend the rest of eternity with his rare condition and only his father and grandfather for company. But could he spend it with her hatred?
"Draco you've gone pale. What is wrong? Are you sick?"
"No of course not. I'm just really hungry and I don't want to ruin the moment." Which was true. In a sense. He was hungry for blood. He hadn't eaten since last Monday and it was now Saturday. Hermione was very tempting. But he would not kill her and he couldn't turn her. So there he sat. Hungry.
"I'm hungry too. But that is not the reason you're pale. Tell me Draco. Please trust me. Why is your birthday celebrated tomorrow?"
"Because I don't acknowledge my birthday being today. That's why. It is for reasons that I do not wish to go into right now."
"Don't you trust me?" she asked in the angriest voice he had ever heard her use. She stood off his lap and started pacing. "Here I am, about to tell you that I love you, and you can't even tell me what is bothering you. Why Draco? I know you don't care if I am muggle born, or that I am friends with Harry. But you can tell me what is bothering you. Coward." she accused, still pacing back and fourth. "I walked down that hall with you today. I ruined my image as well as yours. Is that it? You are still ashamed of me? Maybe I should be ashamed of you as well. What do you say we go into the Great Hall right now and start fighting like we used to? That will solve any confusion." Tears rushed down her cheeks and she tried to hide them. Draco always managed to make her feel so insecure about herself while he gave nothing. She was tired of it.
"Hermione come here." he ordered.
"No." she said. "You never tell me anything and I am tired. I just want to go back to hating you. Why won't you let me? It is obvious that this relationship is only one sided."
"Stop working yourself up Hermione. You are doing this for no reason. And why are you crying? That isn't the Hermione I know." Draco stood and latched onto her arm to stop her frantic movements. "What has gotten into you?"
"You have. And now I am scared. More scared then I ever have been in my life. Draco did you just hear what I said? I love you."
"I heard. And I love you too. But what just happened to you?" He asked when she managed to calm down somewhat.
"Oh it's the baby. I don't know what is going on but I have been getting like that a lot lately in classes."
Draco was stunned for a minute there. "Baby?" he asked in a strangled voice. Realizing what she'd just said, Hermione gasped and backed away with her hands to her mouth.
"I wanted to tell you Draco but I wanted to wait to see where we were going. I wanted you to love me for me."
"And if I never told you I do love you?" He questioned as harsh as he could.
"I-I still would have told you. I was planning on telling you tomorrow."
Draco released her arm and fell back into the chair. The stakes had just gotten higher. And the sun had almost set.
"Draco? Can we talk about this?" Hermione asked in a worried voice.
"Come here love. I need to tell you something." Hermione came. After slight hesitation, she sat on the arm of Draco's chair and stared him in the eyes. "I am so lost Hermione." he began. "I have no idea what to do. I guess I should start out with the most important parts. I do love you for you, and I am a vampire."
No hysterics. No gasp. Not even a blink. Hermione just looked at him. Waiting.
"Are you okay? The both of you?"
"I knew Draco." she said.
"What?"
"I've been waiting for you to tell me. To trust me. I've known since our third year. The same year I figured out that Professor Lupin was a werewolf."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It is personal. I thought I would let you tell me when you were ready. And now you have."
"Well that makes this easier then." he said.
"Makes what easier?"
"Hermione, you are my mate. And my father wants me to claim you tonight before my birthday is over or he will kill us both."
She blinked. She gasped. She went into hysterics.
"No. That can't be right Draco. You can't do that. He can't do that. Why does he want me to be your mate anyway? I am muggle born!" she cried out, now pacing once more.
"Hermione I'm not doing it." he whispered.
"What?" she stopped pacing.
"I love you and I can't do that to you. And I won't take you by force. You are free. But you have to run. Run and hide. My father and I are both Death Eaters. As well as my grandfather who came in to town just to make sure I succeeded. But I can't."
"They will kill you?"
"Yes. And they always know where I am. I am a vampire born to them. They will never lose track of me. But you can get away. Go far away and have our child."
"But, if this baby is a vampire too? It is inherited. Even if it is rare. You are the third in three straight generations."
"I am the fourth. But that is not the point. You will have a chance. I'm giving you a chance."
"But, I love you."
"Go to Potter and Weasley. They will find a way to protect you and our child."
"How long do you have?"
Draco stared into the fire for a long while. Then he looked at the clock on the wall. "About three and a half hours."
"Oh Draco." she cried. Hermione rushed toward him and threw herself into his arms. "I don't know if I can live without you Draco."
"You can if you get away from me."
"W-what?"
"Get away. I haven't eaten in a while and I can hear the blood in your veins."
"If you bite me will it kill the baby?"
"No. But the baby would be a vampire. Just like us."
"Would I still be myself? Have my own mind?"
"Yes. But you'd be mine. It is like a marriage. One that never ends."
Hermione thought for a minute. Draco could feel her thoughts right down to her pending decision. But she had still not moved away from him. And if she didn't move really soon he was going to take that away from her.
"We would be together and alive right?" she asked.
"Yes. But we would be evil. Or we would be murdered."
"By Voldemort?" she looked terrified but he wouldn't lie to her.
"Yes. By the Dark Lord himself."
"Why did you do it? I know you are not evil. If you were then I wouldn't love you so much and this wouldn't hurt so badly."
"Get away Hermione."
"No. Do it." she ordered. Decision made.
"Forget it. I will not ruin your life like that. You were born to be good and to be Harry Potter's friend. As much as I hate Potter, I will not let you destroy yourself this way."
"I will not betray Harry. I will only be with you, and our baby. I will become like you and play both sides. We will stay alive and we will be double agents for The Order. We can go to McGonagal tomorrow. But right now just do it."
"Do you really want to be forced to eat animals the rest of eternity while knowing that you will only get what you need by drinking from humans? Is that what you want? Do you know that while pregnant, vampire woman drink to kill and need humans to stay healthy? The stakes are too high Hermione. You would need to kill humans to survive."
She thought for a moment. Then, "Do it." she ordered placing her neck within biting range. "Do it or I will wait until you are so far gone with hunger that you can't resist me. And then it will be you who hates me for all eternity. But I wont care because I will have and eternity to make you love me again. Just save the us both the trouble and do it. I will feed from whomever Voldemort kills that we cannot stop him from killing."
Draco growled low in his throat. He couldn't. This was his Hermione. He couldn't hurt her like this. It would be permanent. But if she were telling the truth, then she would be his anyway. Why not do as she said and just take her? Take her…take her. She and the baby would belong to him. His brave Hermione.
And he did. Draco reached around her throat and clasped it so hard it made her gasp. But she didn't protest in the least. It was as if she knew that one small move would bring him back to his senses and he would leave the room. Leave her. Forever. Draco yanked at her neck and pushed the rest of her bushy hair aside. Hermione fell onto his lap with a thump but sat stick straight.
The door came crashing open just as Draco sank his teeth into her flesh, gaining what nutrients he could from her blood. Drinking from her as if she were his own private watering hole. He'd heard her gasp. He'd felt her momentary retreat before she leaned into him. Letting him.
"Get your filthy hands off her." he heard in the background. Draco felt strong hands trying to pull him away. But he wasn't finished. She had to be within an inch of her life first. Draco released her and stood only long enough to push Potter and Weasley against the wall, nocking them dizzy. He only knew that he needed to finish what he'd started. Hermione was sitting on the floor in a daze where he'd dumped her off his lap. He sat back down and placed her back where she belonged. In his arms. She stared at him for a minute before she understood and moved her hair again, exposing the two tiny bite marks.
Draco kissed her suddenly very pale lips before he continued feasting on her.
Hermione stared at her two friends in wonder. Why were they here? Why were they trying to stop this? They must know that she would be fighting Draco if it were something she hadn't accepted. They must know…she was very dizzy. Very dizzy indeed. Images kept floating in her mind of better days. Days with no worries. Her friends having fun. Getting a perfect grade on a test. Ron and Harry were fading. There were many of them. They were angry. They, they, darkness.
Draco picked Hermione up off his lap and set her in the chair so that she lay resting, legs over one arm.
"What the hell did you do to her Malfoy?" Weasley asked in shock.
"Nothing that she didn't ask for. Beg for. I will protect her Weasley. She belongs to me now."
"Why you son of a-"
"Words Weasley. Words." he hissed. Both Weasley and Potter looked like he had suddenly grown another head and two sets of horns. He guessed that Hermione hadn't ever told them about his being a vampire.
"Draco?" Hermione murmured. "Where are you?"
"Holding Potty and Weasel at bay. Are you alright Love?" he answered.
"Yes. I'm just a little dizzy is all."
"Love?" questioned Potter holding out his wand with a ready stance.
"I love Hermione and she is mine now."
"What do you mean she's yours you bloody bastard. What did you do to her?" Weasley demanded walking over to stand next to Potter with his wand at the ready.
Draco flashed his fangs at him before retracting them so that he looked like his normal wizard self with perhaps a bit more color to his usual, sickly pale, cheeks. "She is a vampire now. She is mine. We will be going if you don't mind. We need to be at the Manor before 10:34 to finish the ceremony and brand Hermione."
"Brand her as what you filthy ferret?"
"As my mate, wife as it were, as a new member of my family, and as a Death Eater."
"Death Eater?" Ron stuttered. "You think Hermione will become a Death Eater?"
"I will." Hermione said. "It is the only way. I still love you both though. And I will never betray you Harry. Never. You have my promise. We will work for the light side. As double agents. Draco has already agreed to it. It really is the only way." She walked over to them and hugged them tightly before stepping back to stand with her love. "We must go Draco. I can feel the pull. Is it your father calling to us?"
"Yes. He knows it's done."
"Then we must go to him."
"Hermione?" Harry asked in a strangled voice. "What are you doing?"
"Embracing my destiny." With that, she wrapped her arms around Draco's torso and together they walked out of the room toward their destiny.
Author's Note: Please review the story with critiques!