AN: I have decided to continue. Thanks for the overwhelming support from both old and new readers! still figuring out the Voldemort/war plot and if it's worth truly diving into minor detail with it. basics might be enough. but I DO have plenty of ideas for this couple alone~ let us see what happens

OWTF…

Magical Connections - part 1 (chap 9)

Draco smirked, pressing his lips against her throat, feeling her hands grasp at the back of his head for more. "How amusing. You want me, with or without the potion." Chuckling against her skin.

Hermione ignored that comment, trying to clear her head for the moment, trying desperately to control herself. "We need to stop Malfoy; we'll be late for class and Harry will find us."

Long pale fingers threaded up through her curly brown locks, then roughly pulled her head roughly back and slamming her petite body against the wall again at the mere mention of Potters name. She winced at the pain and tried to suppress the shudder upon hearing her fiancé growl. "You aren't supposed to be attending classes today Granger." He reminded her, before snarling, "Potter won't know the difference." He paused, then grinned wickedly. "Potter won't be coming near you ever again."

She pulled her hands out of his hair, regaining herself as she pushed against his chest once more in anger. "You arrogant prat! He's my best friend! He cares for me and looks out for me."

"He wants you; he is only looking out for himself. I see the way he touches you, Granger."

"Malfoy wake up!" Hermione tried once more to shove him away. "You're being ridiculous. Look how you are touching someone you hate! You don't care what Harry Potter does either!"

"Yes," A slow smirk touched Draco's lips, his voice fluid, and pressing. "I do hate you, and I certainly don't care about Harry Potter. But I do care for what is mine and what belongs to me. And I certainly don't want Potter touching what is mine! He gets everything, but he's not getting you too!"

"We've been over this! I belong to no one, least of all you-" Draco cut her short, silencing her with his lips, locking her wrists above her head with his hands, pressing her body between his and the wall as he moved down to suckle on her throat. "Malfoy, please-"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up, Granger?"

Hermione looked away- willing the image of his dominating and lust-drunk eyes from her mind. Tears were spilling down her cheeks as she tried to calm herself but still couldn't contain the moan that escaped her lips as Draco bit at her collarbone. His mouth drove her crazy. He made her feel things she hadn't felt before, things she wanted to feel with someone she loved... things she never imagined herself feeling with him.

Why did it have to be him? Why did he have to make it feel so good? Why did he have to control her body like this? She didn't want him to control her; she hated him!

This side of Draco was beginning to scare her. This possessive, violent side. He was truly terrifying her. Why couldn't he ever be gentle with her? Why was he always so rough and commanding? Why did the symptoms turn him into a stranger?

She wanted this (whatever this was) to mean more than just "symptoms of blood." If she was going to marry him, she wanted it to mean at least something. Because this 'randomly making out against a wall while confessing their undying hate towards each other' thing was beginning to occur more often than it should and was by no means romantic. She wanted love. She wanted that safe feeling back, that feeling she lost the night Voldemort killed her parents.

She didn't want to be alone anymore. She wanted to hug someone and feel loved and protected.

To be cared for.

Suddenly, as if reading her thoughts, she felt his palm press against her tear stained cheek, his other arm anchored to the wall as he let go of her wrists to attend to her silent tears. His expression had changed while she was deep in thought. This was a different type of stranger. Cupping her face with his left hand, thumbing her tears away, his eyes searched hers.

Brows furrowed, angry at himself. She was scared of him; she was hurting, and he was hurting her. He was doing this to her. Maybe it was the symptoms again but he suddenly felt very protective of her, and the guilt was creeping its way in. He wanted to keep her safe.

Hermione could only watch him in silent fascination, unsure what to do with herself as she watched him sigh heavily. He leaned forward, pressing his forehead against hers. His eyes shut as he seemingly went into deep thought. She could feel his weight against hers as his fingers trailed down her cheeks to her shoulders.

"I'm sorry." He exhaled, she watched as his eyes fell shut for the moment as he struggled to tame his urges.

'For last night, and for now. I don't want to scare you anymore. But it appears I need you, Granger.'

Hermione gasped. Draco hadn't moved his lips; he hadn't spoken out loud, yet his voice was suddenly echoing in her ears. Did she imagine it?

"What-?"

"Draco? Granger?" Before Hermione could voice her confusion, a third voice echoed down the hall.

Blaise stood a few feet away staring at them in shock. He knew Draco had urges, but he didn't think it was this bad. And was Granger, crying?

Draco growled pressing ever closer, pushing Hermione into the wall, blocking her from the intruders view. He didn't want Blaise to see Hermione like this. He glared back over his shoulder at his best friend. "Leave Zabini."

Blaise arched a brow. Draco rarely called him by his last name... unless he was angry. Blaise decided to press his luck. Taking a few long strides, he stood in front of the couple against the wall, his expression stern. "Alex told me to make sure Granger get's back to the common room for rest. Per Dumbledores orders."

Draco finally moved off of Hermione for the moment, but caught her left hand with his, grasping it tightly lest she tried to run away. "I'll take her." Draco's voice was quiet - as if daring Blaise to challenge him further.

Blaise watched Hermione quickly wipe away the remaining of her tears, before catching Draco's glare again. Challenge accepted. "We need to talk."

Draco scoffed before turning on his heel to drag Hermione down the hall with him. "We can talk later."

"No." Hermione felt Blaise grasp her right wrist, tugging her back - suddenly finding herself caught between the hold of the two Slytherins. She could only look back and forth between the two friends suddenly glaring daggers at each other. "We talk now. You are not acting yourself Draco."

Draco's scowl deepened, noting how Blaise tightened his grip about Hermione's tiny wrist to keep her in place. "Take your hands off my fiance, Zabini, I will only warn you this once." She felt Draco tighten his grip on her other hand.

Lunch would be over soon; they had no time to be standing here making a scene. She saw an image of Draco punching Blaise right in the mouth flash through her mind, she couldn't explain how she knew, but she could feel it. She needed to stop this before a fight actually happened - she needed to calm her mate down.

'My mate?' Yes, this was part of the mating ritual of Veela. He would fight off any male threat that came near her. Even his own best friend. This was why Draco was so jealous of Harry; she couldn't let it ruin his friendship with Blaise too. He didn't have many real friends, but Hermione knew Blaise was one worth keeping.

She squeezed Draco's hand back, catching him off guard as he glanced down at their hands - her fingers intertwining with his. He noted the instant calming effect she had on him was new, just like moments before when she stopped him from fighting Harry in the Great Hall. She gently pulled out of Blaise's hold. "I'm okay, Blaise, really. You guys can talk after dinner, I already asked Malfoy to take me back to our common room. I have some things to discuss with him too." They all knew this was a lie but it seemed to pacify the other Slytherin for the moment.

Draco looked up with a smug expression, "Let's go then."

And with that he had spun on his heel and tugged her along, leaving Blaise Zabini standing alone, confused and cross-armed in the corridor - unable to do anything but watch his friends disappeared around a corner.

Draco was seething.

He had a free period and was hoping to get in a free snogging session in before Potions to soothe the symptoms - but instead the moment they got back into their common room Hermione had instantly found and stuck her nose in that stupid History of Veela and Valkyrie book again. She hadn't moved or even acknowledged him for the past 30 minutes as she read. He glared across the room at her from his seat, arms crossed and scowling. Wasting his precious free period just glaring at his bookworm fiance.

After another 10 minutes, Draco could no longer hold his impatience. "I thought you wanted to talk! What is so important in that book that you need to ignore me after bringing me here?!"

Hermione finally closed the book with a frustrated sigh. She should have read the entire book earlier, but their symptoms kept distracting her. Though, she supposed, reading it all wouldn't stop what was happening to them. Her eyes leveled on the sulking Slytherin. "Let's just ignore the fact that you told Blaise that you would take me here for Alex." She reminded him coolly. His glare hardened but she continued, "I had my suspicions earlier, but I needed to confirm some things about this Veela business, to be sure..." She trailed off as if trying to choose her next words carefully.

It had Draco on edge. "What are you talking about Granger? Just spit it out!"

'Besides, how much worse can it get?'

"Much worse." Hermione sighed out loud to his thoughts.

Draco balked as Hermione caught his gaze with hers. "What-?" He choked.

"We are bonding, Malfoy... That is to say; we are imprinting on each other with the help of that magical contract your parents and the Valhalla's set up. I am starting to hear and see your thoughts and feelings, and if I gather correctly, sometimes our dreams are connected too."

She wasn't making sense. "Wait- what are you-?"

She cut him off. "You wanted to punch Zabini back there." It was a statement, not a question. "I saw it. You wanted to hit him in the mouth to shut him up." Hermione sighed in defeat at the realization. "Even though he's your best friend your instincts make you want to fight him."

Draco's mouth clamped shut as he glared at the beautiful girl in front of him. She wasn't wrong. That was exactly his next move! If only she hadn't stopped him with her distractions- "Then, you-?"

"I distracted you on purpose, yes."

"Stop that Granger! Stop reading my mind!" Draco was livid as he got to his feet to pace the room. It was bad enough dealing coming of age symptoms (and no potion to help!), now he was mentally bonding with her?

"That night, after our fight in the common room. I had a dream..." Hermione trailed off at the memory.

'Was that an apology?'

'No, this is...'

His lips were so real. The dream kiss made her hot and...

"Stop!" Draco was staring at her, wide-eyed and flushed red with embarrassment and lust. "That..." He struggled to find his words as Hermione stared up at him with an equally red face. He figured it was just a wet dream at the time, just another symptom - but she just showed him with her own thoughts...

She showed him their dream.

"The book says-"

That was it. That was the last straw. He crossed the room in an instant and pulled her up from the couch to kiss her hard on the mouth. Passionately, his hands wrapping themselves protectively around her to bring her closer. The book slipped from her fingers to their feet with a loud 'THUD'. He exhaled into her mouth as she squeaked. "No more books." He hissed against her lips. "You can't just show me that and go off onto one of your brilliant tangents."

"I needed to be sure." She whispered back, her hands settled on his heaving chest. "The book says it starts with connected dreams, followed by subconscious thoughts or urges and then-"

He cut her off again with another kiss. Only, this time, it was gentle and drawn out. He needed her to stop talking about that wretched book. It was driving him mad, learning about their 'problem' in such a logical way. None of this was logical to Draco, but he knew Hermione was using the book to cope in her own way. It was his turn to distract her.

Breaking the kiss momentarily, Draco turned on his heels and fell back to sit on the couch, bringing Hermione down with him into his lap. She gasped as she fell forward, her hands clamping down on his shoulders as he pulled her down to straddle him, his hands locking at the small of her back - their faces once again inches apart. "I said no more books, Granger." He reminded her, only this time his voice was calm and gentle.

But it was Hermione's turn to shock him. Instead of fighting or jumping away she leaned forward - her forehead pressed down against his much the same way he had done to her earlier in the corridor. She didn't speak, but now she didn't have to.

'Draco...'

He nearly jolted hearing his first name for the first time in her voice echoing in his ears, without it ever slipping from her lips. She had shut her eyes tight as if afraid to look at him for her next thought.

'Can we do this for real?'

"What-?" This girl had a true knack for making Draco speechless.

Hermione ducked her head and pressed it against his collar so he couldn't read her expression. "If we are already bonding, I know there is no escaping this contract. Even if we could - once Veela's find their mate, they mate for life. I've read everything I could..." Her voice was muffled against his robes - but it was less unnerving having her voice this out loud, than hearing it as her intimate thoughts. He felt her clench his robes in her fists in fear and frustration.

'I don't want to fight anymore. I'm so tired of fighting.'

This Draco understood better than anyone. He knew what she meant. Not just the mundane arguments she and him had over the years, and all the pent up anger, or fighting over the holidays - but fighting their attraction, fighting their hatred, fighting their symptoms, fighting their friends, fighting their parents, fighting ...the dark lord. He glanced down at her shoulder where he knew the Dark Mark hid beneath her robes. They were both so tired of all the fighting, he understood this to the bone.

'Hermione, look at me.'

She jolted hearing her first name, just as she had heard it in her dream the other night, only now it was clearer than ever before. Draco's hands found her face and cradled her cheeks, lifting her up to meet her gaze. "We don't have to fight anymore. We can stop now." The promise in his voice nearly broke her, as tears streamed down her face - she could only nod back in reply.

Then Draco did something he had never done before; he hugged her. Not out of sympathy or lust like before, he truly embraced her this time. Hermione could feel it, as his arms wrapped around her protectively, pulling her back down to him, his lips pressed against her forehead and his hand gently patting the back of her head as she cried herself to sleep softly against his chest.

Draco never did get that snogging session.

He didn't mind this time.

AN: Super short update, why? This chap is solely Dramione veela issue-centric... Because its taking me awhile to figure out the second half to this chapter... so i rather share what I have now to keep you guys interested! better than nothing right? Next chapter/Part 2 will really get plot heavy on the Voldemort side of things, just figuring out details before I write and post! Also, this new magical connection plays a big part in the chapters to come! Thanks for the great new reviews and readers! much love xoxoxo