A.N. Things that happened while I was away: A lot. Now let's move on.
I wrote a lot while I was away. My job right now is to go over every scene I wrote, bind them together into a cohesive chapter and rewrite if necessary.
The first time I wrote this chapter, I portrayed Blaise as a playboy but after re-reading and re-writing it, I decided to portray him this way. I understand that many of you think that Draco is an arse but he is an arse according to JK Rowling. I was also writing and rewriting the scene with Goldstein so IDK if it's too strong.
Special Thanks to mythzzrosenov, kyutiepie, .doctors, Elased, dutch potterfan, flower123, Blue Luver5000, DepressedAleera, lexicon63738, Imwaiting4myAliceandEdward, Connected-by-a-Semicolon, Amy Sanger, and Janie24.
Ch. 11
Draco Malfoy hired three different lawyers to assess the situation. It was difficult to find three different lawyers who specialized in Veela-Wizard relations but with his family's money and Blaise's family connection, Draco managed to track down the three best Veela lawyer in Europe.
Every single lawyer he hired agreed with Blaise, Hermione Granger was his soul mate. One of the lawyers he hired was baffled that he was talking to a lawyer instead of walking down an aisle with his undoubtedly gorgeous veela soulmate. He practically snorted at the idea.
It was not that Draco Malfoy never thought about marriage before. He was a pureblood after all, and one of the demands of pureblood society was dealing with expectations to marry a decent pureblood girl from a respectable family. Preferably, his future wife was a virgin. Hermione Granger, on the other hand, was a muggleborn whore.
While Draco had been dating many muggleborns lately, it was all to disassociate him from his Death Eater past. It did not mean that he would actually marry any of them. He still planned to marry a pureblood socialite as was expected of him.
The last thing he expected was….well this. He did not expect that he had a veela soulmate. He did not expect that his veela soulmate was Hermione Freaking Granger of all people. The last thing he expected was to find her screwing some other person when he went to follow her. He did not expect that she was dating another bloke who was accepting of her deviant lifestyle.
He told his lawyers about Hermione's relationship status and they all just waved it off as if it was no big deal. All of them just assumed that Granger would drop her beau to be with him, none of them even bothered to ask of Draco even wants to be with Granger in the first place. Draco visited Blaise afterwards in a sad attempt to find solidarity but he was not exactly sympathetic to his plights either.
"Veelas have a really high sex drive," Blaise explained. "Greek Veelas usually play around the field until they meet their mate. My nonna must have five different lovers before she found my nonno. Now that I thought about it, Hermione had the same hair as my nonna when she was younger. I should have known that she was one back at Hogwarts now that I thought about it."
"We would deal with your inability to detect veelas later. Right now, I need to talk to you about what to do next."
"What is there to do next?" Blaise said in a matter-of-factly tone. "You either go get your soul mate or you sit here and whine about it."
"It's not that easy," Draco said. "Even if I want to marry Granger-which I don't because I barely know the chit-I can't exactly just go out and marry Granger and live happily ever after with her."
"What's not so easy? You know who your soul mate is. Do you know how lucky you are? I have to look around and date a bunch of women just to see if they are the right person for me. Even if I enjoy one girl's company and date her for a while, I'm not sure if the one I'm with really is my soul mate."
"Don't pretend that you're not enjoying it," Draco growled. "You make it sound like you're running around chasing every single person that walks around in a skirt as a chore when you just want to sleep with whoever you want."
Instead of refuting anything that he said, Blaise laughed off the accusation.
"You can't blame me for trying to make you feel better," Blaise said. "Come on, you have to admit that it's pretty convenient that you know who exactly you're supposed to be with."
"Yeah, convenient." Draco scoffed. "What would make this even more convenient if my soulmate is a pureblood from a respectable family. Or better yet, somebody I already had a decent relationship with."
"Hey, you never know." Blaise shrugged with a smile on his face. "You two have not even talked to each other in a while. You two might have more in common than you thought."
Draco rolled his eyes. He doubted he had anything in common with Granger. What is there to talk with her about? Hey, we hated each other for years but we should ignore it because your veela hormones said we would make a good couple.
"Hey, you two seemed to like to screw around with other people. That's one thing in common," Blaise said with a smirk.
Draco cringed at the observation, which only made Blaise smile even wider.
"You knew very well that I'm a serial dater out of necessity," Draco said.
"'Serial dater'? Don't you mean a playboy?" Blaise said.
"You are assuming that I actually enjoyed the company of the women I dated." Draco drawled.
"If you're dating a different woman every week and you're not even enjoying it, you are not doing it right," Blaise said.
"I've been dating mostly muggleborns lately," Draco said. "They were not exactly raised to learn the arts of conversation and seduction. Some of them were good lays, though."
Blaise rolled his eyes.
"I'm sure Granger is the exception to the rule," Blaise said. "My nonna told me that her connection with my Nonno was like nothing else in the world. You two should hit it off quick. That is, one you two actually try to get to know each other."
"Talking about lack of class," Draco said, ignoring Blaise's advice. "Granger did not give me the courtesy to tell me that I'm her mate. I have to hear who my soulmate was from Potter of all people. She does not even have a good excuse for it. She said that 'I wouldn't have dropped everything just to be with her.'"
"Well, would you?" Blaise asked.
"Well... not now," Draco admitted, "Not when she hid something as important as this from me. She could not even be bothered to send me an owl or even tried to talk to me. Granger must be the most flippant veela in the world."
"Given her muggle background," Blaise said. "I wouldn't be surprised if she does not know the first thing what to do with a mate. Nobody is really around to tell her how it is."
"Don't give her any excuses," Draco said. "She should have told me some time after she found. She could have flooed, owled or even dropped by the Manor-"
"I thought she was tortured in your home-" onBlaise said but he was interrupted by Draco.
"There are a lot of ways to tell me what's going on but she chose to do nothing," Draco said. "She chose to live her life ignoring that I even existed and now every lawyer I hired expects me to drop everything and marry her as soon as possible? That's… that's laughable, ridiculous and I'm… furious right now."
Draco ended his rant and leaning back in his chair. Now that he said the word, Draco realizes that it was exactly how he felt. He felt furious about the entire situation.
He was furious at Granger for not telling him what was happening. He was furious at the fates, gods, goddesses or whatever or whoever it is that matches veelas with their mates. He was furious at himself for not watching his temper the last time he talked to Granger. Most of all, he was furious at Granger for having a perfect life without him.
He had felt helpless ever since the Dark Lord took over his ancestral home. At the time, his parents were in the middle of negotiating a marriage agreement for him and Pansy Parkinson. Their parents figured that since they were good friends, they would probably get along as husband and wife.
At the time, Draco did not mind. Pansy may not be the picture perfect of demure pureblood wife but he figured that it was better to marry someone he already knew instead of someone he did not.
Then the war came and went. The Malfoy family fell out of favor while Pansy Parkinson became the most undesirable bachelorette in England. Her outspoken suggestion to sacrifice Harry Potter right before the Final Battle left no doubt where her loyalties laid once the light side took over and made her public enemy number one in amongst her peers. Pureblood society was equally as eager to cast Pansy adrift.
Narcissa Malfoy canceled the engagement when she noticed that Pansy started showing signs of a young Bellatrix Lestrange if Bellatrix Lestrange spent her teenage years in Azkaban instead of Hogwarts. While Draco's mother loved his rebellious and…eccentric aunt dearly, his mother preferred to have a debutant as a daughter-in-law.
Once his parents announced his un-engagement, Draco felt free for once in his life. His family was safe, he sure as hell was not going back to Hogwarts, and he had no responsibilities to fulfill. To say Draco went crazy for a while was an understatement and it was so easy to do so because women were practically throwing themselves at him.
At first, he did not know what caused his sudden popularity until he dated a brainy French heiress. She told him that women wanted to date him because he had a reputation as the bad boy. Apparently, it was a common fantasy for women to transform a bad boy to a family man. He played up that image and soon not even the prudes could deny him of what he wanted.
While the French heiress was smart enough not to expect a relationship with him, he still took advantage of the little tidbit she told him to sleep with whoever he wanted. He went through so many pureblood women that his father sat him down and told him he needed to sow his wild oats somewhere or else he ran the risk of chasing off every pureblood family in Europe.
The idea of sleeping with anyone less than a pureblood made him cringe for a while; he did so anyway so he could have a lot more options once he decides to settle down and start a family. Moreover, there was the added benefit that the press started to believe he was slowly falling in love with muggle culture. The more he fooled around with people below his status, more people believed that he had "reformed". It was a win-win on his book and Draco felt on top of the world.
He had not even thought about Granger for years until Potter mentioned her. As soon as Potter told him about Granger, he wanted to confront her, demand the truth straight from her mouth but instead, he found her screwing another guy.
She was so wild and free. It was a different side of Granger he never saw before. She was so sexy, and he knew she was putting on a show just for him. Draco's dick was so hard that he was tempted to stroke it in public as he imagined himself spending long weekends locked up in a room with her. He wanted her to ride him like there was no tomorrow.
He figured that if Granger were going to tease him that way, he would pay in kind by flirting with his mother-approved "date". He did not expect that Granger would turn into a bird. Draco would have laughed at her jealous behavior if he were not so scared. He later learned that she was dating somebody else and the two of them seemed to be committed to each other because they were looking for investors for a long-term project.
Draco's visit to Granger's hospital room only confirmed his suspicions that she neither wanted nor needed him in her perfect little life. It felt like a slap in the face and a punch in the gut at the same time. He could not understand why Granger would avoid him as if he had a bad case of dragon pox when she was clearly attractive to him.
"I could see that this is causing you a lot of stress," Blaise said. "As your friend, may I offer my services to talk to Granger for you?"
"No, the last thing that I would want is to talk to her right now," Draco decided. "Even by proxy."
Perhaps it was for the best. They could move on with their respective lives and pretend the last couple of days never happened.
"But you do have to talk to her at some point about this." Blaise said diplomatically. "You two are soul mates. You two would have to address this sooner or later."
"I prefer that I address this later." Draco said without any hint of doubt. "I don't want to see that slut right now."
Blaise leaned back against his opulent chair; his eye was squinting as if he just bit into a lemon. Draco could already sense that he was about to give him a lecture and sat up straighter like a good little school boy. Blaise rarely gave him a lecture; Blaise probably gave him two lectures the entire time they knew each other since the first years at Hogwarts and each time Draco had to hang his head in shame afterwards.
"You should stop calling her that." Blaise said. "I understand when you said it during Christmas but it's been days since then. Witches do not like it when somebody calls them a slut. This might come as a surprise to you but they find it demeaning, especially from a guy who had a different girlfriend every week, you bloody hypocrite."
"You're the one to talk." Draco growled. "You are far from the picture-perfect gentleman when you have just as many notches on your belt as I do."
Blaise shook his head.
"Just because I slept with as many women as you, it does not mean that you and I treat women the same," Blaise said. "Unlike you, women don't sleep with me because of my 'save me, I'm a fallen man' act. Women talk to me because they actually like talking to me and I treat them as human beings. I never treat them as notches on my belt and I never ever call a woman a slut. Half the reason why women sleep with me in the first place is that I treat them better than all the other guys they slept with.
"You are one of the lucky few people in this world who knows exactly their soulmate are. If you want to squander away your opportunity to be with the one person in the world that was made for you, that is fine for me. However, I am getting tired of listening to you calling her that just because she did not jump your broomstick, as you wanted her to. That poor veela already had a lot to deal with having you as her mate. She does not need you to call her a slut after you parade one woman after another for the entire world to see."
"Well if she doesn't want to be called a slut, then she shouldn't act like one," Draco huffed.
"She is her own woman, she could do whatever she wants to do," Blaise drawled. "Similar to how you are your own person."
Blaise looked at him with his piercing eyes. Draco could tell that he had a lot more to say and was just waiting to hear Draco's retort so Draco chose not to say anything else.
"I do hope you get over your little problem and try to talk to Granger sometime soon," Blaise said. "It would be a shame if you acted like an arse as Granger always thought you were."
Everybody knew that Granger and her entire crew of redheaded minions thought of him as an arse and Draco was not about to dispute his arseholishness. However, Blaise's wording implied a familiarity. Briefly, Draco wondered if Blaise was an agent of Granger's in a complicated game of seduction but decided against it because Blaise was not the type to get involved with anybody's love life. He also doubted that Granger and Blaise are close enough to learn about each other's parentage.
It lead Draco to conclude that Blaise's advice was out of genuine concern, in his own way, which only frustrated Draco because his so-called friend made it clear that he thinks Draco acted foolishly about the entire thing even if his responses were perfectly normal. Why can't Blaise just agree that Granger is the worst veela in the world? What kind of veela would just ignore their mate like that?
Then it occurred to Draco, the kind that does not have a very high opinion of their mate. Uppity Granger probably thought that she deserves someone better than him. Miss Not-So-Goody-goody probably wanted someone better than him, which only infuriated Draco.
The worst part of this realization was that Draco lost control over his emotions and acted like an arse towards Granger. Draco prided himself for mastering Occlumency at the age of sixteen and he did it because of his mastery of his emotions. He did not know what happened, but somehow Hermione Granger made him lose all that carefully crafted control.
Draco thanked Blaise for the talk and went home where he planned his next move. He really should do something about Granger's perception of him, Draco decided. If Granger was avoiding him because he was an arse, then the best revenge was to kill her with kindness, as cheesy as that may sound. No snarky remarks, no teasing, nothing but courtesy and charm his parents raised him with as a Pureblood. Any retaliation against Granger would serve as confirmation that she was right to avoid him like a plague. While any act of kindness would show how wrong Granger was.
One New Year's Eve, Draco bought a bouquet of white tulips and headed toward St. Mungo's to apologize to Hermione Granger. He hoped that the cheery occasion and the flowers would place Granger in a forgiving mood.
When Draco arrived in Granger's hospital room, he did not expect to find Anthony Goldstein was watching over Granger's sleeping form, which only irritated Draco. Was he always hanging around her? Wasn't he supposed to be busy somewhere else doing Healer stuff?
"Hermione is going to wake up any minute now," Goldstein growled. His face clearly showed suspicion. "I suggest that you leave. Hermione would not be happy to see you right now."
"I just came by to apologize to her." Draco said, showing him the bouquet of white tulips.
Goldstein still gave him a suspicious look, a vast difference compared to the last time he saw the man.
"I know I acted like an arse the last time I talked to her," Draco said. "That's why I wanted to come over and apologize."
"That's very nice of you Malfoy," Goldstein said. His face retained a hard look.
Draco crinkled his nose in response. What was his problem? Goldstein glared at him as Draco sat down beside Granger and patiently waited for her to wake up. Minutes went by and Goldstein never once let his eyes off Draco. Seriously, was not he supposed to be doing something else?
Draco focused his attention towards Granger instead. Draco never saw her so…still before. She was always so energetic, fiery about everything she did during their Hogwarts years. She was always busy doing something whether it was her homework of fighting You-Know-Who. It was odd to see her just lay unresponsively in a hospital bed.
He realized that her hair was no longer the bushy mess he remembered. Even as she lay on a hospital table, it was limp and lacked shine. Her skin was clear of any color. He tried to remember the last time he saw her almost a week ago, did she look as dead then as she did right now?
"Do you know what time she would wake up?" Draco said after it became clear that Granger would not wake up anytime soon. "I should go back here when she's actually awake."
"I don't know," Goldstein said. "A couple of hours? Days? Maybe next week? Her sleeping schedule has been dodgy and unpredictable at best since you last came. If you have somewhere else to be, it's best that you leave and come back at a much later date."
"Is she in dire condition?" Draco asked.
"No, thankfully," Goldstein said. "She just feels tired all the time and is in desperate need of bedrest."
"As a professional Healer," Draco said. "Can you tell me what her diagnosis is?"
"That information is reserved for family members and close friends." Goldstein said. "But you should be happy to know that she would feel a lot better if you're not around."
"I highly doubt that is the case seeing that her condition has worsened since I last saw her." Draco said as he gestured towards Hermione's sleeping form. "Perhaps my presence is exactly what she needs right now."
"I know you've been out of school for a couple of years Mr. Malfoy but you're confusing wishful thinking as a medical diagnosis Mr. Malfoy." Goldstein said.
Normally I would agree with you," Draco drawled. "However, seeing that Ms. Granger is a veela and I am her mate, it's not improbable that my mere presence could rejuvenate her from whatever ailment she's suffering."
Draco decided that he did not like Goldstein. The wanker was more a nuisance than a help to Draco right now and somebody needed to put him in his place.
"Excuse me if I found that notion laughable," Goldstein said. "There are no records of veelas healing simply because their mate is in the same room as them."
"Not according to the public veela accounts," Draco bluffed. "There are oral accounts of veela traditions and customs that are not on public record. I happen to know quite a few and I'm in contact with a couple of veela experts right now. Perhaps the reason such a renowned, experienced and accomplished Healer like you were having problems to treat her was because her malady was not common to those in the medical field."
"Perhaps." Goldstein said flippantly. "However, seeing that her condition significantly worsened right after your last visit, I have to say that your presence causes more distress than calm for Hermione."
"We just had a minor disagreement," Draco said. "Something that I intend of remedy as soon as Granger wakes up."
"'Minor disagreement'," Goldstein laughed. "Hermione avoided you for years. She strategically avoided you for years and even tried to kick you out when you tried to confront her. I'm sure she does not want to do anything about you. Even if you came here to apologize."
"What about you?" Draco asked. "You're always around her like a lost pup. Do you spend your time waiting for her to wake up when you come to work? Or do you peak into her room every chance you get to see if she woke up?"
"I did not know that concept of concern is not in your dictionary," Goldstein said with disdain "This is what serious partners do for each other. We watch out for each other. I'm sure that Hermione would do the same thing to me if I am in the same position as her."
Goldstein's harsh tone was really starting to irritate Draco. What was Goldstein's problem? Then Draco understood that Goldstein was looking at a bad copy of himself. Granger probably chose him because they had a vague physical similarity and Goldstein knew it.
"Are you sure about that?" Draco said. "From my perspective, Granger thinks that you are very disposable. She easily replaced you with one of the Weasley brothers for her own amusement. In fact, I do not think I saw you as her date during Potter's engagement party, or any important functions she attends. I would say that you are merely a placeholder for somebody better."
Namely me, he let the words hang over the head but Goldstein remained unfazed.
"Say what you want Malfoy," Goldstein said. "But at the end of the day, Hermione comes home with me. She is planning to start an entire field of magical medicine with me. I know her better than anyone else. So believe me when I say that she would not want to see you when she wakes up. While I appreciate that you are man enough to come over and apologize to Hermione, as a Healer at this hospital, I must humbly request you to get out from Ms. Granger's room as you are a stress trigger for her."
Draco glared at the man but chose not to retort. Instead, he left white tulips at the stand next to where he was sitting and wrote a quick note to Granger apologizing for what he had said and a half-hearted request to talk to each other face to face, simply because pureblood gentlemen are taught to apologize face to face.
On his way out St. Mungo's, he bumped into his old housemate Theodore Nott. Draco chatted with his old friend for a second and requested to grab a pint together sometime soon. The chat abruptly ended when one of the hospital's aids interjected himself between the conversations with the news that Hermione Granger just woke up after a week in the coma.