Chapter 10; Draco
Holding Hermione's shirt under his nose Draco inhaled the sweet natural scent that seemed to cling to anything his mate touched. Even as his body relaxed and he started to produce a soft purr like sound from his chest he knew that the bliss would not last long. Already the scent on Hermione's shirt was fading and just minutes ago she had promised that she would find out who he was, or rather the man in her dreams. Eventually he did want her to find out, but it would have to be on his terms and when he was ready. She seemed to be warming up to him during their shared meals but the dream had been a minor set back.
He had the most honest, brilliant and true mate a veela could wish for, but the traits that she exhibited were also the ones she expected others to exude. And while he was brilliant and loyal, honesty did not make the list of his better traits. What he was doing to her, and what he planned to do to her, were testament to that fact. He was withholding the truth from her, he was manipulating her and if his wooing failed he would entrap her. They only had a few months left and with their new responsibilities as professors Draco had been unable to make as much head way as he had hoped to.
Unable to sleep Draco rolled out of bed, pulling on a pair of black silk pajama pants and a bedroom robe he cast a disillusionment charm before leaving his room. Even though he was a professor it would be hard to explain to other professors why he was patrolling at 2am, let alone why he was far away from any of the students dorms. Besides there was certain amount of boyish fun in sneaking into his loves room, even if she was unaware and did not yet see him the same way. Thankfully it seemed that Filch and his infernal flea bag were patrolling the night time haunts of students rather than the remote hall on the third floor were Hermione's room was.
With a slightly more advanced unlocking spell the veela snuck into his mates room, shutting and locking the door behind him. On second thought he shot a silent acio to the sweat shirt he had swiped from Hermione's bathroom, catching the worn piece of fabric. Inside her room it was even more obvious how much the scent had faded off of the article of clothing and Draco was breathing deeply through his nose as if he couldn't get enough of it. Hermione was deep in sleep if the soft snores emitting from the curled up mass on her bed were anything to go by. Silently and carefully he moved over to her bed, it was smaller than his and she seemed to take as little space as possible on the mattress.
All that showed from her blankets was her hair and her face from nose up. Unable to stop himself Draco reached his hand out, his finger running from the bridge of her symmetrical nose to the cute upturned tip. From there his fingers drifted to her wild, curly hair. He had almost forgotten what it looked like long as she had been pulling it back in to prim buns while teaching, occasionally he would catch her rearranging it and tucking stubborn curls behind her ear. Draco loved her hair; it was silky, smooth and represented her perfectly. He couldn't wait for the time when he would feel it tickling his chest as she rode him, working both of them to the pinnacle of their pleasure.
Pulling back to focus on the reason he had come to Hermione's room Draco returned her sweatshirt to her laundry basket, this time taking a simple set of black robes that he had found to be unflattering on her as well as worn. He would send in for a new set for her to replace these ones, maybe two he mussed. It wouldn't do for him to let his mate want for anything and he certainly had enough money to buy her a country if she wished for one.
Folding the set of robes over his arm Draco set about completing his second task; finding the book he had previously left for Hermione. After looking over her book shelves, personal desk, and the end tables scattered about her room he figured that she had left else where; most likely her office. Walking back over to her once more he lightly kissed her forehead before leaving her room, locking the door behind him.
()()()()()
Shutting the door to his room Draco removed the disillusionment charm, taking off his robe and pants and instead wrapping the robe he had taken from Hermione around himself before getting back into his bed. If he went to sleep now then he could get in another two hours of sleep before starting his day. He had been able to get into Hermione's office the same way that he got into her room and from there it had taken him only seconds to find the book sitting on a table next to a large chair by the fireplace.
It made him smile to think of all the time his mate had wasted trying to open to the beginning of the book rather than just reading chapter seven like he had obviously intended she do. He wondered how she would react when only chapter 12 would open now. With the hints in that chapter she would hopefully figure out that the man in her dreams was not exactly a man but something more, and with that in mind would begin research to figure out what magical beings had the appearance of wizards but were something more.
Because her insatiable need to know everything, her intense curiosity, and her research skills he figured that it might take a week for her to figure it out. From there on out it would become a guessing game for her to figure out who he was, and by that point he hoped to have her in lust with the real him and obsessed with the dream him. Of course if all else failed he would still have the law to fall back on. Even with her scent surrounding him he found it difficult to concentrate, it seemed that maybe sooner rather than later he would have mate with her. His inner veela was becoming more insistent that they took what was theirs and that there was no need for either one of them to suffer when all they had to do was be together.
()()()()()
When Draco next woke his fathers impatient owl was hooting, quietly insisting that the letter attached to his foot was removed. Running his hand through his messy blonde hair he deftly removed the piece of parchment and sat down on the edge of his bed to read it.
Draco,
Your Mother and I have become increasingly worried about your progress with Miss Granger, with what we have heard from those who know you we are concerned that your health has begun to deteriorate. It might be in the better interest of you, your mate and your bond to invoke the law in order to seal your bond. Those who wait too long to bond with their mates have been known to have weaker bonds and their mates a more difficult pregnancy. I believe that your Grandparents may have been one of those cases, as we are both aware that it is rare for a veela to have only one child with their mate. Both your Mother and I hope that this will put things into better prospective and that this letter meets you well.
Your Father, Lucius Malfoy
Draco let the letter fall from his hands, eyes locked dejectedly on the carpeted floor before him. He wanted to wait for Hermione to be ready so that there would be no animosity between them in their bonding. He didn't want it to come at the cost to their bond or the health of her and their children, if that were to happen he didn't know if he would be able to handle it. At the same time he longed to strangle the person who had told his parents that he did not seem well, it was with that illogical thought that Draco stood.
Moving to stand in front of his window he placed his hand flat against it, breathing heavily and unsure of how to deal with his sudden anger. Malfoy's were many things but they were not this… emotional, so easy to shake, or so guilelessly open with themselves. Who ever it was that had told his parents that something was off with him were correct, he was becoming increasingly uncontrollable the longer Hermione and he went unmated. Soon, it would start to affect her, and with what appeared to be PSTD one could never know how she would react. Draco restrained a growl of irritation, no matter what he did he would cause harm to his mate. It was his job, his duty, to provide for her and protect her; that included making decisions such as these. As he struggled with his thoughts he began to get ready for his day, he would have his second, fourth and sixth year classes to day with a longer lunch. That would also give him more time to sort things out, and to see Blaise.
Hermione would be upset if she were unable to have children, he couldn't see her wanting more than a small handful but she would certainly want them. If she found out that by putting off their mating their chances of having healthy children would decrease she would want them to mate sooner. Even if she was upset now, over time she would forgive him and she would see that he didn't want it that way either but that it was for the best. Shrugging on his robe and looking in the mirror Draco eased the grown off his face; the next week would be critical for Hermione and his bonding and he would not let her know that anything was wrong.
Without a backward glance Draco left his rooms, simultaneously excited to see his mate and worried about how she would react when the seemingly inevitable future arrived.
()()()()()
When he finally made it to the Great Hall Draco was unsurprised to see that Hermione had beat him there, as he walked up to his seat beside her he took the chance to take her in again. It seemed that she had battled with her hair again before deciding that it was useless as she had it pulled back from her face in a pony tail rather then her standard bun. Looking closer he realized that she seemed to have more energy even if her skin was a little pale. A she took a sip of her morning tea, she noticed him a smile turning up the corners of her lips and her subtle grace seemed a lot less subtle to him.
"Good morning Hermione, you are looking lovely today. Could it be that you did something different with your lively hair?" The teasing lilt and words slipped easily from his lips as he took his seat, pleased when she began to pour him his tea just the way he liked it.
"Oh, you mean the bushy bane of my existence? I do believe I recall you teasing me for it in the past Draco." Her hand self consciously ran the length of it before she could stop her self, "It seems to have grown resilient to being confined. You look rather well rested yourself." Nodding his thanks for preparing his tea, he smiled as she ducked her head to hide her blush. He wondered how far her blush went before he could stop himself and prevent his growing problem.
He had done very well thus far in preventing himself from having thoughts that went along those lines until now, and he wondered if it was another sign that he was waiting too long. "Well I think it looks good down, but you should be careful so as not to attract the attention of some of the older boys in your classes. We have both been lucky so far, all of the students are too scared of either of us to cause problems."
"I've been giving each of my classes a speech before we do anything, and moving them around so they can not divide themselves according to houses. You wouldn't believe how many times I've had to explain that the war is over to some of them." Watching as she took a delicate bite of her porridge, Draco allowed their conversation to wane as he ate a few bites as well.
A few minutes latter he watched curiously as an owl landed next to Hermione, there was nothing special about it but from the way she feed it a piece of her toast he figured that she new the owner. After untying the letter she gave an apologetic sigh to him, "I know that they are well trained but I hate that they come during meals. I don't think I will ever forget when Earl, the Weasley's owl, crashed into the table flinging food everywhere when Molly sent Ron that howler. I couldn't eat breakfast for a week after that…"
Draco remembered that day, he and other Slytherins had made jokes about it for weeks and it still made him smile. He still noticed how her smile faded at the mention of the youngest Weasley boy, he had forgotten how close all three of them had been. In the papers it was always Hermione and Potter with some other Weasley, all smiling with each other or remaining stoic when they realized the photographers were there. The group never did answer the reporters questions and if anything one of them would distract the reporters while the other two would take Hermione else where.
Reaching out Draco placed his hand on top of Hermione's, "You miss him don't you? Weasley, that is. After the war he sort of just disappeared and it was just Potter, you and two of the other Weasley boys."
"He had a horrible temper, always ate with his mouth open and never did his homework till last minute. I think I mostly miss what we had; after everything was over he couldn't handle it. Leaving was his best choice. If he ever wants to he knows that he has Harry and I to come back to." She didn't pull her hand away, though she seemed to be looking every where but at him.
"Yes, and you have people that will be there for you too, whether you realize it or not." Draco's ice grey eyes met her warm amber ones and wouldn't let her look away.
()()()()()
Cursing under his breath Draco stormed through the halls of St. Mungos, ignoring the calls of a medi witch following him. As soon as she had told him that Blaise was working in one of the experimental labs he began walking towards them. After breakfast with Hermione his day had rapidly deteriorated beginning with two sixth year Slytherins who thought that it would be funny to charm a Huffelpuff girls ingredients to float around the room. In the end he had to dismiss the class early and gave both boys a weeks worth of detentions in addition to docking 25 house points apiece. Not only that but he was having a harder time relaxing when he couldn't see Hermione, which brought him back to replying to his fathers letter- something that he was loath to do.
Still ignoring the calls of the huffy witch behind him Draco knocked on the office door that was labeled Blaise Zabini, offering an roll of his eyes when the mousey witch behind him gasped for breath as she attempted to explain things to Blaise.
"I ," gasp, "tried to-"cough, "stop him sir," pause, "but" gasp, "he wou-"
Blaise interrupted her detachedly, "I'm sure you did Clara, everything fine now though so you may go back to your desk." Not waiting to see if she left the pair entered his office and he promptly broke into a smile. "If you had owled ahead I could have told the receptionist that I was expecting you and saved her the trouble of trying to prevent you from finding me."
"If she didn't want me to find you she shouldn't have said where you were, she must have been a Huffelpuff to be that dense. She was practically asking for someone to do that to her." While Draco took a seat Blaise proceeded to pour them both a small glass of fire whiskey.
"That isn't why you came though, if this was purely social you would have just flooed into my drawing room latter tonight. What is it you want Draco."
Accepting the glass Draco took a sip, welcoming the burn as Blaise sat down. "I was wondering how your work with integrating muggle and wizarding healing techniques. Hermione said that you have enough results in your treatment of PTSD that you could easily start using it on those who are suffering from it if Kingsley would just approve it."
"Hermione told you that? She really did a lot of the ground work on the project, but so far she has been pretty shut lipped about it. Not even Kingsley knows, even though she has sent enough owls to him about it that he should have figured it out by now." Blaise shook his head taking a slow sip of his fire whiskey, "We could help a lot of people if he would just sign off on it, we've done more for those patients in three months than those who haven't received it in the last six months."
"We talked about it yesterday, do you know why she is so interested in it?" It was Draco's Slytherin way of asking if he knew that Hermione suffered from PTSD, he hadn't yet decided if he intended to tell Blaise if he didn't already know.
"I think she has been trying to self medicate herself. If what I think are symptoms are then I'd say she has it herself, I'm almost positive she does. If she doesn't it would be a miracle; she spent years submerged in a war that was first fought in secret and then openly and more violently than before." Skulling the rest of his drink he stared pointedly at Draco.
"She's the one. I've known for months now, we are both starting to show signs of strain from not being mated but she's not ready for it yet." Imitating his best friend Draco swallowed the remainder of the fire whiskey. "Why hasn't she come to you for help?"
Blaise appeared to be unsurprised, nodding his head again. "She spent a lot of time taking care of Weasley and Potter, it's hard for her to accept help after being the one to always offer it. I've thought about trying to do an intervention but she has Potter and the Weasleys convinced that she is handling everything."
"She's not though, I've been trying to get her to eat more and for the most part it seems to be working. She might have put on three pounds since coming to Hogwarts." Draco stood up taking Blaise's glass with his own and pouring them both refills.
"Doesn't matter, what ever she is doing is only going to help temporarily. She hasn't acknowledged that she has a problem and until she does she won't get any better." Blaise promptly took another swig when Draco handed him back his glass, he really shouldn't be surprised that Hermione was his mate; after all they were academically matched, their personalities would compliment and they were both beautiful people. He felt a pang of jealousy; he would never be as sure of his love as they would be of each other.
"Do you think that together we could get her to accept help? I had to pull her out of a night terror a couple of nights ago, I'm pretty sure they were commonplace before I started dream weaving for the two of us." Draco imitated Blaise taking another deep drink from his glass.
Blaise shrugged his shoulders, a long time habit he had yet to break, "Maybe once you two are closer, when I tried to approach her she disappeared for a week and wouldn't talk to me for a month. I don't think you want to take that chance just yet. After you're bonded she will listen to you more."
"What can I do to help her now then?"
"Make sure she is sleeping enough, keep her eating, try to get her to talk about things even if she is under the impression that it is to help you. She will be more willing to talk that way." Mentally making a list Draco spent the rest of his extended lunch drinking with Blaise and talking about what he could do to help his mate.
()()()()()
Moving briskly through the halls looking like a more handsome and pale Severus Snape Draco just barely over heard the conversation between the same two boys he had reprimanded earlier that morning.
"I'd like to string the mudblood up by her hair, the nerve of her to tell us that we must sit next to someone from another house. There is a reason we are Slytherins; we are superior. McGonagall must be daft if she thinks that the school board will stand to have the swot teaching us."
"String her up by her hair? I'd much rather cut it off and hang her by an ankle, that would put her in the place damned Princess of Gryffindor or not-"
Draco pulled out his wand casting a non-verbal silencing spell on the pair before waving his wand and sending them flying into a stone corridor wall. "You are imbeciles." Another wave of his wand and they went flying to the other side of the corridor. "If I ever hear you call her that again I will have you expelled." Flipping his wand in the other direction and the pair somersaulted in opposite directions before crashing into each other on the way back after bouncing off a wall.
So enthralled in exacting his revenge Draco failed to notice when a student ran off to find another professor or that his veela side was in control, his eyes turning storm cloud grey and skin growing paler. "If I ever hear you threaten her again I will kill you." With that the boys were dropped about three feet to the ground.
"Draco, what on earth are you doing?" Spinning around Draco faced his mate, her face pale, horrified and disappointed. As he came back into control of himself he moved just quickly enough to catch her before she hit the floor.
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Well. That wrote it's self. I don't think it followed my outline at all, in fact I'd say my outline was flushed down the toilet. I posted this one day early in thanks to everyone that has reviewed; chapter nine got 16 reviews, the most of any chapter other than the first. I don't count about half of those though as they came after other chapters were posted. Anyway, thank you everyone who has reviewed and told me what they think about poems. Also this is my longest chapter yet, nearly 4,000 words, quite a leap from the barley over 1,000 from chapter one. Again this chapter has been edited by no one but me so most of the errors that I have missed will be grammatical, something that spell-check does not catch for those of you who seem to think it does. In fact, it has been known to be wrong on that sort of thing. If anyone is interested in beta-ing please let me know, as many of you have noticed I certainly need one.
I hope you enjoy this installment of I Will Have You, relentlesslybrash