Disclaimer- All the canon characters belong to JKR. I only own the plot.
AN-Sorry for the long wait..Real life drama was unfortunately the cause. I made this chapter a little fun mixed with some drama (had enough insperation.) I can't help myself from writing kick ass Draco, he's so damn hot. Reviews keep me going ;)
Tap...tap...tap.
"Granger! Would you stop that insufferable tapping?" Draco let out a growl of frustration. Hermione immediately stopped her fingers. She couldn't help the nervousness that refused to go away. After their fight in the ally, something had snapped; for the first time, she realized that Draco could hurt her. She may be his mate, but when he got like that, he was... unstable. To think, a bit of jealousy could turn him into an animal. Perhaps, she should listen to him, if only for a short while.
The couple was situated at one of the many glass tables outside of the tea shop. Draco's father was more than a half an hour late, which left the couple in tense silence. Draco's nerves were still on end from Hermione's little 'outing' with Ackerley. Not to mention his that Beta was still locked in his room with his deranged mate. Hermione, on the other hand ,was twitchy. A habit she began as a child when she was being punished. To her, it certainly felt like she was being punished. She had sat silent and ramrod straight in her metal chair; so long in fact, that her left leg had been numb for over ten minutes. She continually stared at the chipping white paint on the rim of the table. The Gryffindor was afraid to look up, and the one time she did, she had gotten quite a nasty glare from her mate.
"You know, Hermione, I don't necessarily like punishing you, but it has to be done. You need to learn the ways of a woman in Pureblood society. What if Ackerley's intentions had turned volatile? He could have taken my little lapin away from me forever. We would never want that, would we?" His voice was soft and soothing. As he opened his arms out wide, he said, "Now come here, lovely, you know I love you."
She found that her legs had a mind of their own. At first, it was difficult to walk due to her leg, but she soon found herself in Draco's arms. She knew in her rational mind, that she should not be doing this at all. The man had just accosted her, but she had never felt so safe as she was wrapped in his arms. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and held on fast to the lapels of his black jacket. Hermione's senses were invaded by his familiar scent, which she gladly welcomed. Her mind was taken over by instinct as she said,
"You scared me. Mates are supposed to protect and love, not be harsh and severe." Her voice sounded small and timid, causing Hermione's inner lioness to roar at the show of weakness. Draco's arms tightened around her waist.
"I'm sorry I scared you so, my lapin. I would never lay my hands on you, not intentionally anyway. I love you more than I can speak. I never want to make you feel that way." She nestled her head further into his neck.
"Ahem," A voice cleared. "Are you two quite done?" The couple looked up to see the intimidating figure of Lucius Malfoy.
"Sorry Father, you know how mates can get," the younger Malfoy jested, as he untangled a reluctant Hermione. Lucius gave him a withering look and sat down in the empty seat across from them.
"So, it would seem. Lord Zabini has run into some trouble," The elder stated. It had never occurred to Hermione that Zabini was the Lord to his estate, seeing as he was the only Zabini male.
"Yes, Father. He claimed his mate in his wolf form. She has been acting batty since," Draco said.
"Here," Lucius said as he pulled a wrapped parcel from his cloak. Draco grabbed the parcel and hurriedly stuffed it in his jacket. They both nodded to each other and without another word, Lucius got up and walked away. Hermione looked up to see Draco had put on a mask of indifference and his eyes were hard.
"Come Darling, let's go to the Quidditch shop. I could use a new pair of dragon hide gloves," he said, standing up.
"We should buy something," she said. "The workers are giving us queer looks." Draco rolled his eyes and dropped seven sickles on the table, giving a pointed look to a waiter.
They opened the white painted iron gate and made their way through the crowd. Hermione didn't care much for Quidditch, mainly because it involved flying. However, she did enjoy watching her friends play. She did not miss the looks thrown their way by some of the other students, nor did she miss the whispers. As they approached the shop, she noticed it was filled with players and enthusiasts, all vying for the best deals. Draco held her tightly by the waist and forced the door open against angry shoppers. It was difficult to get to the glove section, but eventually they made it. After a few minutes of consideration, Draco picked out a black pair and as a last minute thought, grabbed some broom polish. Ready to leave, the couple started to push their way to the registers, only to be stopped by a rough hand to Draco's shoulder. Spinning around, the young Malfoy pushed Hermione behind his back to come face to face with the perpetrator. There stood Ackerley, stone faced and angry.
"When I came back from picking out quills, I found Hermione gone. Would you like to explain to me why you so rudely took my friend?" Ackerley asked.
"You would be wise to respect your superiors, Ackerley. In any case, it does not concern you." Draco's voice was hard, and his mask was in place again.
"Really, Malfoy? You may threaten me in a dark corridor, but here in front of all these people? You wouldn't dare, Death Eater," The Ravenclaw said spitefully. Draco tightened his knuckles until they turned white.
"All my charges were dropped, actually. I'm not sure you're one to speak though, if I remember correctly, you and yours fled to the states during the war."
"And you're a bit of a hypocrite, aren't you? Couldn't kill her," he gave a look to Hermione. "So you date her." Hearing someone even insinuate that he would hurt, let alone kill Hermione, made his blood boil.
"Darling, would you be a dear and hold these for me?" he asked Hermione. Hermione nodded and took the gloves and polish.
Draco turned around again and punched Ackerley square in the jaw, knocking him into a magazine rack. After a few seconds, Stewart got back up again, though with a small cut under his left eye and a bloody lip, and tackled Draco to the ground. By now a crowd had formed around the wrestling pair. Draco was on top and repeatedly punched the other man. Eventually, Stewart rolled on top and tried to punch down, but Draco turned his head. A sickening crunch could be heard, as the Ravenclaw's fist connected with the unyielding floor. With loud exclamations of "Ouch!" and "Bloody hell!" Ackerley stood up and clutched his hand. Being a Slytherin, Draco took full advantage of the man's pain, and kicked his legs out from under him. By now, Ackerley was in too much pain to do much else but whimper. Malfoy gave one least kick to the Ravenclaw's gut before ending the fight. The shopkeeper had watched the whole thing from behind his counter, and being too afraid of the Malfoy's, had said nothing. Everyone was silent as Draco fixed his mussed hair and straightened his jacket.
"Hermione, would you be a dear?" he asked as he pointed to his split lip. Hermione nodded and ran her thumb over the wound.
"Episkey," she added as an afterthought, "Scourgify. Reparo." Immediately, the blood vanished from his white shirt, and his button was sewn back onto his jacket. With a kiss to her forehead as thanks, the crowd parted and the couple made their way to the counter to pay for the polish and gloves.
After they left the Quidditch store, Draco declared that he was in need of a drink, and so, they made their way to The Three Broomsticks. Once inside, they learned that gossip had spread faster than they thought possible. The tables were full of students and villagers alike, all whispering and pointing. The only table that seemed to be acting normal was the one harboring Theo, Goyle, and Pritchard with their mates. They motioned over and made room for the Alpha and his mate. Hermione sat to Draco's left, away from the door, and next to Tracy Davis. Draco waved his hand and a server appeared. Draco ordered a firewhisky and a glass of Goblin made wine for Hermione. As everyone knows, it's not proper for a woman to drink anything stronger in public.
"I heard you gave that wanker Ravenclaw a good beatin'!" Goyle said proudly, patting Draco on his back. Malfoy smirked into his glass.
"Of course, would you expect anything less of your fearless leader?" Hermione had never heard Draco talk so freely with his friends before. She supposed he was Alpha at school, and Draco on the town. It also alarmed Hermione that the table smelled... nice, pleasant even. She would never have guessed that Goyle would actually smell good. It made sense though, all of them had similar pheromones, Draco's were just particularly dulcet. However, it appeared that Tracy had put on some flowery, saccharine perfume that made her need to sneeze. Hermione took small sips of the spicy wine, trying to defuse the smell of the perfume. Draco's version of the Quidditch store story was a little biased, and some of his moves exaggerated.
"You really made him cry?" Theo asked, astonished.
"Sure did," Draco said. The Gryffindor noticed Luna was twisting some sort of string together.
"Luna, what are you doing?" Hermione asked. Luna didn't look up but answered,
"Oh, just making a SpringleHorn catcher. Teddy has been having some bowel problems." The whole table was quiet for a few moments before laughter erupted, save for Luna and Hermione.
"She calls you Teddy? Teddy?" Pritchard teased. Theo turned red from his hair line to his neck.
"Forget about the nickname! You're having shitting problems?" Goyle asked rudely. Now, Theo looked like he may die from shame.
"Shut your traps! Do you want the whole bloody place to hear you?" Theo asked.
"Well... yes, yes I do," Pritchard said, standing up. If Draco had not pulled him down, he would have announced it to the whole village.
"Luna, did you really have to say that?" Nott whined. Luna momentarily stopped her busy fingers, to look up.
"Do what, Darling?" she asked in her dreamy voice, which made Theo drag his hands over his face. They all ordered a second round of drinks as Pritchard entertained them with a story of his summer in Egypt. Apparently, it's frowned upon to try to slide down the pyramids. Four more rounds found Hermione, Pansy, Tracy, and Luna with drunken men on their hands.
"What do we do now? I can't very well drag Greg," Pansy pouted.
"We could pay someone to do it," Tracy suggested.
"Greg spent all our money on drinks."
"We could just levitate them," Luna said. Everyone turned and looked at her, startled.
"That's not a bad idea," Pansy said, pulling out her wand. "But they'll wiggle too much. We'll have to cast a sleeping charm." Thankfully, the streets were rather empty, and the students were all returning to the castle for dinner. After the charm was in place they all began to walk back, with their mates in front of them.
"Hey, watch this," Tracy said, mischievously. She moved her wand and Graham followed. She made it look like he was dancing with Greg. Pansy caught on and moved Goyle to dance with him. Before long, all the boys were performing a complicated ballet, with Draco as the star. All the girls were laughing hysterically, and making the mistakes of holding their sides, all the boys fell to the ground with a thump.
"Oh, gosh!" Luna exclaimed. "Teddy has a goose egg!" They all laughed harder.
"Draco has a black eye!" Hermione yelled, rolling with laughter.
"Good thing my man has enough padding," Pansy said, affectionately patting his stomach.
"Graham's bleeding!" Eventually, the laughter died down and they all regained composure. Healing the minor injuries, they all made their way back to Hogwarts without another mishap. They made it all the way into the Slytherin common room before Hermione said,
"I don't know Draco's password." Pansy and Tracy gave her a weird look.
"Silly, we don't use passwords for our private rooms. It's too unreliable. Here, I'll show you." Pansy motioned, the girls followed her to Greg's door. They watched as she used her wand to cut a small incision on her left hand, and press it into the door.
"We use blood down here, only Draco's and yours will open the door," Pansy clarified. They all went to their respective doors and repeated Pansy's actions. Hermione laid Draco on his bed, took off his shoes and jacket, and undid the first two buttons on his shirt. Gently, she placed her hand on his forehead, pushing his hair from his face.
"You're not so bad, are you?" she whispered.
"No."
