Chapter 8
Dinner felt awkward.
Hermione glanced around the table at her companions. Since there were only four of them, and since Malfoy was still too dosed up on hormones to reasonably sit anywhere that wasn't right next to Hermione, Ginny had been forced to sit next to Blaise. The silence between them strained uncomfortably and Hermione felt bad for her friend.
She was in a sticky situation and it hadn't been entirely unfair of Blaise to be hurt and argumentative over the fact that the history between Blaise and Ginny was a tangled mess of hurt feelings and conflicting emotions. They hadn't even ordered dinner yet and Hermione was already wishing they could all just go home.
The fact that Malfoy kept trying to put his hand on her knee under the table wasn't helping and the rowdy pub-goers weren't helping improve the mood. Ginny and Blaise had been forced to sit side by side, but they refused to even look at each other. Hermione couldn't tell if they needed to scream at each other some more or if they needed a good snog to get it out of their systems. It was driving her crazy.
"Malfoy, seriously, just stop," Hermione said when he tried for the fourth consecutive time since sitting down to put his hand on her knee.
"Are you always this much of a prude Granger?" He complained though he looked like he was only teasing her, "Maybe they should give you my dosage instead of triple dosing me."
"You'd prefer me slobbering after you?" Hermione asked him levelly.
"At least I know how to deal with you slobbering after me. This is new territory for me," He told her truthfully and Hermione raised her eyebrows when he actually managed to elicit a snort of amusement from Blaise who'd clearly been counting the seconds until he could leave.
"Do you mean you've never chased a girl before?" Hermione asked in surprise.
"Never had to," Malfoy replied evenly, his eyes still glowing gold as he peered into her face, "And more importantly, if I ever did have to, it would be because I wanted to rather than because they gave me too high a dosage, thereby making me want to lay you out on that bar and…."
Hermione muffled the rest of whatever he meant to say by clapping her hand over his mouth. She was already feeling the effects of the injection and the fact that he couldn't seem to keep his hands off her even when he tried wasn't helping matters. Hermione had already gotten him to try sitting on them but it hadn't worked, he'd ended up putting his hand on her thigh and then holding her hand when she'd pulled him away.
"You've really got it bad mate," Blaise commented, "Just exactly what did they put in your injection?"
"Something called Gonadotrophins, which increases ovulation and sperm counts, combined with a bunch of aphrodisiacal hormones and compounds, then they tripled the dosage they gave to everyone else to combat the werewolf immune system," Hermione answered.
"Couldn't resist knowing that either, eh Wifey?" Malfoy smirked at her and Hermione wondered if the injection was beginning to wear off or if it was getting worse.
"I like knowing things," Hermione retorted, "Anyway in addition to that there are a few things targeting gender specifically, meaning that in yours there was probably a bunch of stuff to make sure your swimmers are strong and healthy. In ours Ginny, there are also a combination of vitamins and pro-biotics to ensure that we're healthy for bearing children."
"Do we have to talk about this when I'm trying to think about food?" Ginny asked and Hermione fought the urge to roll her eyes, knowing the red-head was just mad at Zabini.
"Speaking of food I'm still starving, can we order?" Malfoy asked and Hermione gritted her teeth when he shuffled impossibly closer and leant towards her as though he meant to nibble on her while he waited for his meal.
"Do you know what you want?" Hermione asked before immediately regretting it when his eyes lit up even brighter and a wolfish smirk curled across his face.
"You laid out naked on a big soft bed while I….." Hermione covered his mouth again, muffling the rest of his sentence and glaring at him when he licked the palm of her hand.
"Gods Malfoy, stop it or I'm going to completely lose my appetite," Ginny complained, "This was such a bad idea Hermione. Can't we just go home? I'm sure Zabini can see Malfoy home without incident."
Blaise glared at her while Hermione hissed through her teeth when Malfoy began to snarl like a rabid wolf at the idea of Hermione going anywhere. He didn't seem to be able to help it even though he did seem to be trying to.
"Oh this is ridiculous!" Ginny snapped, her long hair beginning to crackle with magic in her agitated state, "I'm getting a drink, 'Mione what kind of cocktail do you want?"
"I've got a cocktail you might…" Hermione covered Malfoy's mouth again, cutting him off and realising she was going to need large quantities of alcohol to deal with any more of his lewd suggestions.
"I'm going to need several White Russians," Hermione replied.
"What are they?" Malfoy asked, managing to pry her hand off his face long enough to ask.
"Vodka, Kahlua and cream in a glass designed to make me forget this entire day ever happened," Hermione told him.
"You're right. That's what we need. Do you think if I smile really nice the bar-keep will make us several jugs of them?" Ginny said and Hermione didn't miss the way Blaise eyeballed his ex-playmate/new fiancé.
"Give it a go," Hermione grinned, "Tell them we're ready to order too."
"I can make you forget today ever happened," Malfoy murmured to her as Ginny stalked through the crowed pub and over to the bar where she began flirting with the cute muggle bar-keep while Blaise watched on looking moody.
"Then I'd need even more alcohol to forget whatever it is you have in mind to help me forget," Hermione told him. It bothered her a little that he was clearly so affected by the injection and it bothered her a whole lot that she couldn't tell if it was because of her own injection or because her body was simply reacting to being touched after so much neglect.
All Hermione knew was that come next Friday she wasn't going to care about the fact that they'd been enemies for ten years or that he was an arrogant, smug prat who'd been cruel to her at Hogwarts. If they kept dosing them both with so many hormones Hermione had no doubt that she'd be more than willing to jump his bones, especially if he kept making such lewd suggestions regarding all the things he'd currently like to do to her.
"Could you put a lid on it Draco?" Blaise asked grumpily just as Malfoy opened his mouth to no doubt suggest something improper.
"It's not my fault your witch is mad at you," Malfoy told him, "You're the one who called her a toy and then told her she used you like some harpy."
"She's the one…" Blaise began to snap before clenching his fist and closing his mouth, a muscle in his jaw beginning to tick.
Hermione watched him for a moment, not really noticing that Malfoy had intertwined his fingers with hers while she'd been trying to fight him off. Zabini looked royally pissed off, his eyes still fixed on Ginny who was giggling with the bar-keep while he mixed them up a jug of White Russian.
"Zabini, I'm not going to try and tell you how to feel or how to go about dealing with all this but you should know something," Hermione began, watching her friend to make sure she was still busy.
"And what's that Granger?" Zabini grumbled, "Do tell how a little know-it-all would deal with my situation."
Malfoy growled at him warningly and Hermione sighed wondering if that was a trait she was going to have to learn to live with.
"Ginny told me everything Blaise, and I completely understand that you're upset with her and if you're not ready to accept her apology that's up to you, but there are a few things she didn't tell you. A few things she would probably never willingly admit to you, in fact, but since the two of you are going to be married in nine days and have to spend the rest of your lives together - and are one of the few couples with a very real shot not just at happiness but also at being head over heels in love – I'm going to tell you them," Hermione said sternly, noticing that Blaise kept one eye trained on Ginny even as he turned towards Hermione, almost giving her his full attention.
"Do share," he said, still watching Ginny flirt with the bar-keep.
"When she was telling me about your past interactions, she told me that there was something about you that made her feel in ways no one else ever has. That no matter how upsetting things were or how stressed or worried she was, you had this way of making her forget all about all of it with just a look or a touch. She also said that she regrets having chased Harry for so long but that it had been something she'd been doing since the minute she met him and so felt it was expected. She said that she realised as you were walking away from her at the Final Battle, just how deeply she cares for you."
"If any of that were true she wouldn't have spent the afternoon getting drunk with you over the idea of marrying me," Blaise replied, clearly not believing her.
"Did you consider the fact that she's spent the entire day worrying over the fact that you two are to be married and she's terrified you'll never forgive her? That she got drunk with me because I got stuck with this sod," Hermione nudged Malfoy, "And because she's been stressing over what she can say or do to make things right between the two of you. Did you ever think for even a moment, while you've been walking around carrying all these hurt feelings over the fact that you put her in a position where she had to choose not just between you and Harry but between you and everyone else she loves, that she's been dealing with her own conflicted emotions over this?"
"You're suggesting that the reason she chose Potter over me was my fault? Not just once, but twice she picked him and went running to him the minute he called," Blaise said, his tone icy.
"I'm suggesting that you chose a poor moment to ask her to make a decision regarding her feelings for you Zabini. My understanding is that the two of you had been messing around during her fifth year and that you brooked no argument when she and Harry got together over the summer between our sixth and seventh year. Things with Harry didn't work out for her, something she was confused and hurt over given the fact that Harry broke things off with her because he wanted to keep her safe whilst fighting Voldemort," Hermione said, hissing when Malfoy flinched and squeezed the hand he was holding hard enough to hurt.
Zabini shuddered as well and Malfoy growled softly under his breath.
"From there the two of you got back together when you both returned to Hogwarts, correct?" Hermione asked him seriously, eyeing Ginny who was still talking to the bar-keep while he fixed a second jug of alcohol for their table. Blaise nodded curtly.
"And you both got understandably tangled up in each other during the year leading up to the war, as was entirely reasonable. My point is that you brooked no argument with her the first time around when things between you came to a close. Is it so surprising that she was holding back? That she was denying even to herself how much she might care for you given that you'd let her walk away once already without batting an eye about it?" Hermione said, pausing as she tried to extricate her hand from Malfoy's grip when she noticed he'd lifted their joined hands and had begun nuzzling against the soft skin at the inside of her wrist.
Hermione sighed when he growled softly, eyeing her lips hungrily again.
"What are you getting at here Granger? How is any of this supposed to fix things? Either way she still picked Potter over me and she's only marrying me because we're being forced by this bloody law. She's not even spoken to me in years before today," Blaise told her grumpily.
"Did she not attempt to contact you and apologise? Did she not write to you saying she was sorry and that she'd like to see you?" Hermione challenged him, "And don't you dare shake your head at me Zabini because I know she did and you didn't respond in any way. Is it so surprising that she stopped trying when you rebuffed her? All she had to go on was a turmoil-riddled relationship – most of which was entirely physical – and the knowledge that you'd not once tried to fight for her or really indicated that you wanted to be with her."
"I asked her to come with me, didn't I?" Blaise demanded, "I told her to be safe, I even told her that I'd have given her everything."
"And you did so in the middle of a bloody war!" Hermione snapped growing exasperated, "You sprung the choice on her and it wasn't just that you said 'do you want me or Harry?' you asked her to turn her back on her beliefs and on her entire family and group of loved ones while they were in the middle of fighting for their lives. You asked one of the bravest women I have ever met to turn tail and cower, to flee and hide while her loved ones died. You picked the worst possible moment to spring the information that you love her on the poor girl, and you've been pouting about it since."
"I have not been pouting," Blaise snarled, "And I damn well asked her if it had always been Potter for her. She didn't deny it! And then she got back together with him!"
"You do realise that she fell in love with Harry when she was ten years old, don't you?" Hermione asked him seriously, "That she spent most of her time at Hogwarts pining after him, not because he's famous or good at Quidditch but because she fancied his personality. She'd spent years and years loving him and you're going to get you wand in a knot because she wanted to pursue an affection she'd been harbouring for years?"
"He broke up with her!" Blaise snapped, "Then she comes back to me like it was nothing. Am I supposed to just ignore the fact that for all that she 'loved' him, she gave her virginity to me? That she was more than happy to sneak around with me, no doubt knowing that if Wonder-Boy found out, he'd be furious? Then she just runs back to him as though everything she had with me was just filling in time waiting for sodding Potter!"
Hermione wanted to growl in frustration and shake the stubborn boy!
"She'd spent years loving Harry, you dunderhead! Of course she was going to try and make things work with him! Do you know what it's like to love someone for years and not even have them notice you for most of it?" Hermione demanded, relating very well to this particular part of Ginny's past due to the fact that she herself had loved Ron from third year onwards.
"Yeah, actually Granger, I do," Blaise replied, glaring at her, "Because I was damn well in love with her and she was too busy chasing Potter to notice me."
"Then you know how it feels like an incredible waste of time to just give up on that kind of dedication after spending so long chasing something," Hermione told him sternly, "So yes, when they finally had the chance to be together without the threat of Voldemort taking over the world and killing Harry and everyone else who opposed him, they tried it. You can't hold it against them!"
"Yes I can, because she should've realised that I'm better for her and loved her a whole lot more than he ever did," Blaise snapped.
"Perhaps you'll notice then that it didn't work out and that she's been single since?" Hermione narrowed her eyes on the stubborn idiot.
"Perhaps you'll notice I was single too and she didn't pursue anything with me," Zabini retorted.
"She wrote to you and you ignored her!" Hermione said raising her voice a little as she lost her temper with him, "You are justified in being hurt over the fact that she didn't realise sooner that you cared for her and that she didn't realise until it was too bloody late that she cared about you too. That's understandable. What isn't understandable is the fact that you are jeopardising your second chance with her by pouting like a teenager over a mistake she made four years ago! One you contributed to by not being honest with her sooner and by not understanding her feelings."
"So I'm just supposed to forget that at every turn she's found a reason not to be with me?"
"Maybe instead of focusing on the past you could try focusing on who she is and how she feels about you now. Obviously not right now since you stupidly picked a fight with her. For God's sake just stop holding your past against her!" Hermione commanded.
"You mean you want me to focus on the fact that she's over there flirting with that muggle and planning to get rip-roaring drunk in order to deal with the fact that she has to marry me?" Blaise asked sarcastically and Hermione had never want to throttle anyone so much in her entire life. Not even Ronald.
"You pissed her off! What did you think she was going to do, curl up in your lap and purr like some contrite kitten?" Hermione snapped at him, "You called her a sodding toy Zabini, of course she's over there trying to make you jealous so you'll snap the hell out of it! For God's sake Blaise you have to marry the woman and she's actually happy about that fact! So much so that when I suggested to her that I hoped this was all a nightmare I would wake up from, she told me that if it was, I had to tell her so she could hunt you down and get back together with you! Do you understand that? Everyone else has been completely screwed over by this fucking marriage law and instead of being sad about it that girl has been secretly fantasising all afternoon about the names you two will give your fucking children and what it will be like to snog you again! So I suggest you grow the hell up because if you two don't sort out your issues and I have to go home and listen to her cry into her pillow when she thinks I can't hear her, I'm going to curse a neck-tie into strangling you at the fitting tomorrow!"
"It's not that simple," Blaise argued, his voice low now and Hermione could see his mind working as he processed what it was that she'd just told him.
"Mate, you're being an idiot," Malfoy cut into the conversation and Hermione was surprised he'd been silent for so long, "You've just been told in no uncertain terms that the Weaselette is in love with you. What are you still doing sitting here while she's over there flirting with that muggle?"
"I'm not in love with her," Blaise replied tartly, "She can flirt with whoever the hell she likes."
"You're a liar!" Malfoy argued with him, beating Hermione to the punch, "If you didn't love her you wouldn't be sitting here arguing with Granger and pouting about this shite."
Blaise glared at both of them before a smirk curled across his face, "I don't like it when the two of you agree on things."
"It is strange," Hermione conceded, before turning to Malfoy, who had snuck his arm around the top of her shoulders and begun subtly pulling her into his side and adding, "Are you going to let go of me at all tonight?"
"Probably not," He admitted.
"I feel like the injection should be wearing off by now," Hermione said, "How could they have miscalculated your dosage this badly?"
"I'm not entirely certain it's just the dosage," Malfoy told her, glancing at her sideways for a long moment that made Hermione's inside wiggle uncomfortably.
"Meaning what?" Hermione asked him, lowering her voice as she noticed that Blaise had returned his attention to Ginny, who happened to be weaving her way through the crowd toward them.
"Meaning you smell really good," Malfoy murmured, taking advantage of her obvious need to discuss the situation privately by tugging her closer until he could mutter into her ear, giving her goose-pimples.
"I'm certain that's to do with the injections they gave us," Hermione replied, "It's not as though you're all of a sudden attracted to your of your own volition."
"Well aren't you just little Miss Self-Confidence?" Malfoy asked her, smirking now.
"So I've been thinking," Ginny began as she reach the table and began passing out glasses before pouring herself a glass of White Russian and downing it in one, "Why is it that all of a sudden thanks to these injections, Malfoy's exclusively attracted to you 'Mione? I mean, I know you're beautiful, but if these injections only increase libido and fertility levels, why is he lusting after you like you bathed in a broth?"
Malfoy gave her a look that seemed to say 'see I'm not the only one thinking this' and Hermione kind of wanted to laugh.
"Maybe he's a little barmy," Hermione suggested, leaning away from Malfoy to pour herself a drink.
"Nice try, but no dice. You've been smelling better and better since we left the hospital," Malfoy told her, taking the glass out of her hand and drinking it before Hermione could protest that he didn't need anything else affecting his judgement.
"It is weird that he's all over you Granger," Zabini cut in, "I mean, you're pretty, but this is Draco Malfoy we're talking about. There's no love lost between you two and he hasn't been able to keep his hands off you."
Hermione bit her lip, glancing at Ginny innocently for a moment, not really wanting to explain the other key ingredient in the injections. Ginny seemed to misinterpret her look.
"It seems strange to me that the Ministry would order a marriage law and dictate the pairings only to send us all wild with lust. How can they guarantee we're going to lust after each other? What's to stop anyone from shagging around with spouses they'd prefer to be with?" Ginny said thoughtfully.
"I suspect that if anyone were to try they'd get sick in a hurry," Hermione told them, taking a sip of her drink and enjoying the burn of the alcohol in her stomach. It was a nice change to the tingling of werewolf DNA toying with her genetic make-up.
"But still, it seems strange that Malfoy would automatically and apparently unabashedly start lusting after you exclusively when the two of you clearly dislike each other," Ginny said and Hermione wanted to hex her for being an idiot. Hermione looked at the contents of her drink to avoid Ginny's probing gaze, feeling Malfoy fingers whispering against her collarbone beneath the neck of her jumper in the same spot he'd been nipping at and sniffing and licking since they injected him.
"What do you know Hermione?" Ginny asked, her voice accusatory.
"I know lots of things," Hermione replied, shrugging in a way that she hoped looked nonchalant, "Comes with the territory of being a know-it-all."
"You're dodging this topic, and that's not like you 'Mione" Ginny told her and Hermione wanted to throw her glass at the red-head, "Why aren't you offering ideas about the reason that Malfoy's all over you? For that matter, why are you accepting it so easily? It's not like you to allow so much touchy-feely nonsense, especially in public and especially from Malfoy."
Hermione glanced around guiltily and found all three of her companions staring at her expectantly.
"So I might've neglected to mention the fact that there's one extra ingredient in each person's injection," Hermione began, looking between the three of them.
"Which was?" Malfoy asked with just a hint of a growl threatening in his tone.
Hermione bit her lip and sighed, seeing no other way around this than to tell them.
"They took a blood sample from each of us, partially to do some testing and make sure we're healthy, but Healer Underwood told me they add a small fraction of our DNA to each other's injection to ensure we're only attracted to each other," Hermione explained.
Ginny and Blaise both looked a little grossed out by the idea of being injected with each other's blood, but Hermione didn't pay much attention to the look of horror they shared. She was too busy staring sideways at Malfoy. His fingers had stilled against her neck and he was staring at her with a little frown creasing his brow.
Hermione jumped when he suddenly leant forwards, tugging her sideways and nosing her hair aside as he buried his nose against her neck just below her ear. She wondered if the whole pub heard the sound of him taking a long deep breath in through the nose, breathing in her scent. Hermione fought against the quiver that overtook her body at the feel of him pressed so close against her and goose-pimples exploded on her skin when he slowly breathed warm breath back out against her sensitive flesh.
"This is why you smell so good," Malfoy told her, pulling back so that he could look directly into her face, "Because you're beginning to smell more lupine, like me."
Hermione nodded weakly, noticing that Blaise and Ginny were both looking at her with concern.
"You knew about this Hermione?" Ginny asked her quietly.
"Healer Underwood told me about it when I asked her what was in the injections and how they proposed to increase the sex-drive of the entire wizarding population while still ensuring to maintain these carefully constructed pairings they're so set on," Hermione explained, her voice low so as to avoid drawing the attention of any of the muggles in the surrounding pub, "They informed me they're doing so by adding the DNA of each couple to the injection mixture. I suspect they wanted me to keep it quiet, given that the Ministry is already interfering so much in our lives, they don't want to actually be seen to be dictating our emotions too."
Hermione glanced around at all of them, her gaze settling on Malfoy when she noticed that for the first time since they'd been given the news that they were to be married earlier that morning, he looked deadly serious in spite of the still lupine glow in his eyes.
"Are you aware of the effect my DNA is going to have on you?" He asked her, his voice low and serious. Hermione could tell that he was actually concerned by the impact that the werewolf genetic make-up was going to have on her and she felt a little bit of the resentment and dislike she harboured for Malfoy melt away.
"I'm aware of the repercussions this will have on me" Hermione replied.
"Are you aware of the effect it will have on me?" He asked, still just as serious.
Hermione slowly raised her eyebrows, wondering what he meant.
"I doubt my DNA is going to affect you all that much Malfoy. I promise you're not going to suddenly be considered a half-blood or anything else ridiculous" Hermione replied drolly.
Ginny snorted in spite of the serious situation when Malfoy's brow furrowed in confusion.
"What? What are you talking about Granger?" He asked, "That's not what I meant at all. I meant are you aware of what you being effected by my DNA and getting a little lupine is going to do to me?"
"Erm… nothing?" Hermione asked, "I know plenty of werewolves who have spouse's that they accidentally nip who are all just fine. It's not like you're the one who's going to start craving raw steak."
"You know plenty of werewolves in this situation that are solitary and therefore don't have to deal with the effects of the wolf being awake while around the person they've infected." Malfoy corrected her and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I'm not infected," She told him.
"Yes you are," he replied.
"Are you really trying to tell me that just because your wolf is always awake I'm going to turn into a werewolf every full moon just like you do?" Hermione asked him reasonably even though she could feel her heart beating a little faster with fear at the idea of becoming a werewolf.
"Don't be ridiculous," Malfoy told her, sounding more and more annoyed as his voice grew gravelly and snarly. Hermione glanced at Blaise and Ginny questioningly but both of them shrugged their shoulders at her, indicating that they weren't sure what Malfoy meant either.
"Ok then, well explain to me what me being effected by your werewolf genes is going to do to you?" Hermione said softly, holding Malfoy's gaze and imploring him with a look to tell her.
Malfoy clenched his jaw, causing the muscle there to tick rhythmically even as he looked up at the ceiling as though he was reaching for control again the way he had at the hospital. Hermione felt a flicker of nervousness when he slowly reached for her empty glass and poured her another drink.
"You remember earlier when I suggested that we get drunk?" He asked her as he handed Hermione the glass. Hermione nodded, an icy finger of dread running down her spine, "We're going to need stronger stuff than this, because your life pretty much just went to hell in a hand-basket."
