Lots of Protective Draco in this chapter.
Draco was lying on his bed, his arm curled around someone's stomach. Her curly sweet smelling brown hair tickling his face and her back molded perfectly against his chest. She was turning toward him…
"Draco!" a voice rang through his wonderful dream, "wake up! Class starts in five minutes!" he crawled groggily out of his bed and charmed his clothes on, fixing his rumpled hair as he did so. Stepping onto his trainers her walked down stairs to find a disgruntled Hermione waiting for him at the bottom of his steps holding a muffin out for him. "Hey"
"Hey" he replied, taking the muffin and following her out of the room. "I'm sorry about yesterday."
She looked at him sympathetically, "It's okay, we all have times like that." She said smiling up at him, his heart melted. They walked down to Defense against the Dark Arts together, wondering whom the teacher would be. They'd had a sub until the visitors came and a new teacher had undoubtedly arrived. They reached the class last, which was becoming a bad habit with them, and the only two seats open were next to Ron and Harry. Draco walked first and sat right next to the one wizard he hated most at this time, protecting his mate from him.
Hermione looked relieved as she took her seats, Ron looked furious. He'd risen and had just opened his mouth to say something when a tall, regal looking woman with long black hair and deep blue robes entered through the office door.
"Yes Mr." she checked the roster in her hands, "Weasley. Is there something you would like to share with the class?" she asked in a clipped French accent that showed she was not a force to be reckoned with.
"No Ma'am." He said meekly, sitting down and glaring at Malfoy, who had an immensely satisfied smirk on his face.
"Good. No if we may get on with the class." She walked up to the front of the room. "I am Professor Charter. I will be your N.E.W.T. Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. Today we will be reviewing dueling. As you are all mature, responsible young adults, I expect you to behave appropriately. No unforgivable curses, no lethal curses and no curses that will permanently damage one another. I will select you in pairs to come in front of the class, you will duel and I will critic you and instruct you in ways you can improve." The class looked excited at the prospect of some real action, after the war, everyone was ready to engage in some fun combat. "Mr. Zabini, would you please come up here along with," she looked back down at her list. "Miss Brown. If I see any dishonorable conduct you will be given detention."
The duels commenced, each getting critiqued and no one sustaining any serious injuries. Neville cast an excellent bat-bogey hex on Theodore Nott that resulted in him being awarded ten points to Gryffindor and soon it was Hermione's turn.
Draco was deeply relieved when she was partnered with Potter, knowing full well that the scar-headed nitwit wouldn't hurt his best friend if his life depended on it. As Draco expected Hermione won the duel with a well-placed stunner. Soon almost all of the class had dueled.
"Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley please come forward." Draco grinned maliciously as the ginger rose to his feet and joined him in front of the class, he was going to make him pay, whatever the cost. "One, Two, Three."
Draco moved first, "Langlock!" he shouted. Ron grabbed at his throat, his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth. "Furunculous" large boils sprouted up across the boy's already spotty skin. "Densaugeo, Obscuro, Oppugno, Rictusempra, Levicorpus"The blonde boy was casting spell after spell at the redhead, slowly backing him against the wall while inflicting as much pain and humiliation on him as possible. Ron didn't have time to recover before he was cast with more, "Tarantallegra, Colposros, Reducto, Petrificus Totalus." Eventually the other boy collapsed under the sheer number of the spells he'd received but Draco didn't stop.
Professor Charter was attempting to stop him but no one could even get close to the angry veela and stunners seemed to be bouncing off him. Hermione ran forward, grabbing his wand hand in her gentle but strong grip. "Draco!" she shouted. "Stop, you're going to kill him!"
"Good." He glowered, raising his wand again.
Hermione held fast to his wand hand, her touch brought him back to his sense and he stopped cursing the other boy for long enough to let the teacher go and help him.
"Class Dismissed!" she cried to the room at large, everyone quickly escaped, still fearful of the enraged Slytherin. "You. Come with me." She said pointing at Draco, summoning a house elf to take Ron to the infirmary. "You too Miss Granger." She said leading them along, Draco refusing to release her hand.
She took them to Professor McGonagall's office and led them inside. The headmistress was sitting at her desk, reading some papers idly when they entered.
"Yes." She said surprised to see her two best students being escorted by a teacher.
"Mr. Malfoy, please explain to Professor McGonagall the events that transpired in my class this morning." She said in a dangerously cool voice.
Draco looked at his headmistress unapologetically and stated. "We were practicing dueling and I completed the assignment with Weasley. I do not see why this is a problem."
"You attacked him while he was unconscious!" the new professor shrieked. "You cast over ten spells on him before he could retaliate and continued even after he had lost."
"Is this true?" asked Professor McGonagall furiously.
"Yes, professor, but I believe the object of this assignment was to win the duel. I was merely trying to..."
"Enough. This is despicable behavior Mr. Malfoy, especially for a head boy. I can't imagine what caused you to behave so rashly."
"He hurt Hermione." He growled, his already black eyes darkening still. "He's deserved to suffer."
All three people in the room stared at him. Hermione spoke first, "Draco, you need to calm down!" she yelled. Draco turned to her and ensconced her in his arms, whispering into her ear. The professors watched this interaction with looks of shock on their faces. Hermione attempted to wriggle free of Draco's grasp and in a minute he reluctantly released her but refused to leave her side.
"Why is Miss Granger here?" asked McGonagall, still getting over the fact the previously mudblood hating deatheater was not only defending Hermione but refusing to let her go. "I do not see what she has done wrong."
"That is the strange part. She was the one who made Mr. Malfoy stop, none of our spells stuck and then she touched him and he suddenly calmed down."
"Miss Granger, you may go. I need to speak with Mr. Malfoy alone. Thank you." Hermione left and Draco followed her with his eyes until she was well past the door. "Ughm," The headmistress coughed, "Mr. Malfoy." he turned back to face her, sadness etched onto his face at her absence. "You are part Veela, correct?" Professor Charter gasped and stared at the Head boy.
"Yes Ma'am." He said stiffly.
"Do you know who your mate is?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes."
"Does she?"
"No"
"You may go, please attempt to control your instincts." He nodded.
As he was leaving she called after him, "Mr. Malfoy." He turned, "Good luck." She said. He nodded again and left the room, frantic to find Hermione.
He found her walking toward the Hospital wing, her face littered with conflicting emotions. "Hermione." He said softly, gently turning her toward him. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me."
She looked at him blinking tears away. "I don't know what to think Draco. One minute your sweet and nice and you act like you care about me, and the next you're threatening second years and cursing my friends. I thought you'd changed."
"I have! I'm so sorry!" he cried, attempting to get closer to her but she kept backing away.
"Apparently not!" she yelled, angry tears sparkling in her eyes and trickling down her cheeks. He reached forward to brush them away but she slapped his hand back. "Keep away from me Malfoy!" she yelled, running off toward the infirmary. He felt his heart split open in his chest, she hated him.
Hermione entered the hospital wing with tears streaming down her face; she reached into her pocket for a handkerchief and pulled out a soft silk green one. She renewed her sobbing and went to sit next to Ron who was still unconscious. The minute she sat down, the warning bell rang and she had to run off toward History of Magic. When she arrived Alexander was sitting there, saving a seat for her.
"'Ermione. Are you alright?" he asked concernedly, as she sat down.
She nodded half-heartedly then shook her head.
"Vat's wrong?" he asked, tracing light patterns on the back of her hand with his thumb. "Ez eet your Veasley again?" he asked scowling
"No, it's Draco. One minute he's nice and sweet and comforting and the next minute he's torturing Ron in the middle of our class. Why can't anything make sense anymore?" she cried in frustration. Alexander opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Professor Binn's entering the class through the blackboard. The class was exceptionally boring, as always and most of the students were asleep within twenty minutes. Hermione drifted off, leaning her head on Alexander's shoulders and all to soon she was being shaken awake for lunch. "Sorry." She said, looking up blushing. Alexander was smiling at her cheekily.
"No problem." He said helping her to her feet. They left for the Great Hall together. "See you tonight." He said as the reached the Hall, when she looked puzzled he clarified, "Astronomy."
"Oh, right." She said blushing furiously. She walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down across from Harry and Ginny, both stared at her questioningly as she loaded up her plate with chips and chicken. "What?" she asked them incredulously.
"Would you care to explain why Malfoy went psycho during class?" asked Harry in the slow tone one used with invalids.
"Don't mock me Harry." She said irritated, "I don't know. He just had an issue." She said, circumventing the topic.
"That doesn't explain why none of the spells worked on him and you touching him made him stop." They pressed on.
"I was reading this book," they both groaned, "Anyways, I was reading this book and it said that sometimes a wizard can have a great surge of power that can make them temporarily invincible to mild offensive magic." She lied, counting on their assumption of her knowledge to get them to drop the subject. It worked.
"Okay." Said Ginny, "Are you coming with us to see him later?" she asked, worried about her response.
"You don't know what he did, do you?" she asked, looking at them skeptically.
"You mean apart from being a cheating bastard?" asked Ginny, as Harry scowled at her insults of his best friend.
"Yes. He kept trying to apologize…"
"Well you should have let him." Outburst Harry without thinking.
"I wouldn't listen to him right away." Hermione continues, ignoring the interruption. "So he grabbed me and kissed me against my will." She finished quietly.
Their reactions were identical, a mixture of shock and fury.
"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Harry, "Is that why you didn't come to Herbology?"
She nodded silently as Ginny growled in sympathy. "I know that's wrong, but what Malfoy did is still worse." She said finally. "Do you know why he did it?"
"No." Hermione said, "I mean, we kind of friends know but…"
Harry stared at her like she'd just expressed a wish to marry the giant squid. "Since when are you and Malfoy friends?" he yelled spitting out the name of the Slytherin like a deadly poison.
"Well," she said, suddenly defensive, "He's not horrible to me anymore, and he helps with homework." She half-lied, silently pleading Ginny not to speak.
Harry was convinced by these justifications and they dropped the subject.
"The first quidditch games on Saturday." Said Ginny excitedly, obviously changing the subject toward less dangerous waters, "Gryffindor versus Beauxbatons."
"That's great." Hermione said impassively before zoning out for the remainder for the lunch. Hermione and Harry soon left for Charms as Ginny headed off toward Care of Magical Creatures. They arrived in the spacious room to find each desk had a mirror atop it.
The rest of the class filed in, including to Hermione's displeasure, Malfoy who luckily didn't get a seat near her, and Professor Flitwick began. "Today we will be learning dimensional refractor charms. These are very complex and difficult spells that will most likely come up in your N.E.W.T.'s. We will only be practicing the most basic version today. The dimensional refractor charm is a spell that can be used to transport an image of oneself through an object to another person with a matching object. Rather like those, what do you call them? Tell phones? Muggles use. We will be using mirrors today because they already collect an image and so it will be easier for the image to transfer. Please turn to page, two hundred and seven and read the chapter on transfer charms. When pairs of you finish I will ask you to attempt the charm, remember when you do so to concentrate fully on the person you are transferring to, if your mind strays you can send your message to the wrong person or worse."
For the next ten minutes or so the room was full of the sounds of turning pages and idle fidgeting. As expected, Hermione finished reading first and was soon followed by Malfoy.
"Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, could you please stand on opposite ends of the room. Thank you. Now on the count of three say Dimensio Feroculos while concentrating fully on your partner." Malfoy focused on her with such intensity he was surprise she couldn't feel his gaze. 'One, Two, Three."
"Dimensio Feroculos" the both said in unison. All at once there was a blinding flash in both their mirrors and each appeared in the others. Flitwick walked over to Hermione.
"Well done, you've done it." He congratulated. "You may keep the mirrors if you like." He said then hurried off to help Neville. Hermione and Malfoy retook their seats, Hermione glaring at the Malfoy in her frame, Draco staring at her apologetically.
"I'm sorry.' He said again, hopefully. " Can I come and talk to you?"
"No," she replied childishly, but did not put away the mirror, "I just don't know what to think anymore."
"What do you want to think?" he asked, sadly.
"I just want Ron to go back to the way he was before, and I want you to be the nice sweet guy you were a few days go, no the aggressive monster you were today."
He looked like he'd been stabbed in the chest; she thought he was a monster. How. "I'm sorry." He said for the umpteenth time, "I just wanted to protect you."
"Why though?" she asked frustrated. "Why do you want to protect me, you hated me."
"I never hated you." He said softly, looking at her beautiful face. "I told you, I can't bear the thought of anyone hurting you." She looked at him, stunned slightly by the sincerity in his voice.
"Okay." She said, more softly still. "Just promise me Draco, that you'll stop hurting people to defend me." She pleaded.
He nodded slowly, knowing that if she needed his protection he wouldn't hesitate break this promise. After class was over Hermione headed over to Muggle studies glad to finally have a class away from any drama.
When she returned to her common room, laden down with her homework she saw Draco sitting on the couch, staring at the door expectantly.
"Hello" She said slowly, looking at the blonde haired boy with concern, "Are you alright?" she asked. He was staring at her, his eyes roving every inch of her, as if they were attempting to memorize every molecule of her existence. He looked at her eyes, and saw the concern mixed with fear in them.
"Sorry, zoned out he." He said, standing to help her with her load. "What's all this?" he asked, carrying the heavy bag over to the couch and sitting down.
"My muggle studies homework." She said, sitting down next to him and removing her things, "I need to research automobiles and build a miniature one, no magic." She groaned leaning back onto the cushions. "At least we've got this period free. I love astronomy." She said.
"Yeah, it makes you feel free doesn't it, being out there with the stars." She turned to him and smiled.
"Yeah."
A quarter to eleven they were reaching the top of the astronomy tower. Hermione saw Alexander waiting at on of the telescopes in the shadowed portion of the tower; she walked over to him and set up her equipment.
"Hello." He said slowly, placing his hands over hers and helping her mount her lines in the chilly wind.
"Hello." She replied breathlessly. "How are you?" she asked, turning to face him and finding him only inches away. Though Hermione couldn't see it, Draco was gripping his telescope so hard the glass had started to crack.
"Vonderful." He said, leaning in slightly before turning back to his papers. "Zee stars are almost are beautiful az you." He said, smiling at her reddening cheeks.
The rest of the lesson was passed in furtive notes between the partners as well as icy glares from a certain Slytherin that neither noticed. When class was dismissed the Bulgarian purposely held Hermione back, attempting to get her alone
He looked at her deeply, holding her there with his eyes. "I vas vondering, " he said uncharacteristically shyly, "Iv you vould like to go to zee Halloween Masque, wiz me?"
Cliffhanger! Well I hope you like it. I will update no later than next weekend, and Happy New Year!
m0ckingbird77: Thank you for reviewing, I don't plan on anyone dying but you never know.
Hallifer777: Thanks; I've found there are two Draco veela stories, ones with him a horny jerk and ones with him a sweet guy who will do anything to make her happy.
anna0728: Thank you!
alexis24842: Yeah Draco's thick but now… I love writing him as the little puppy-loving boy. It's so cute.
Darknessxinxyourxheart: Thank you for reviewing, yeah I was concerned about the amount she cried but I needed to give Draco a reason to comfort her, which I'm pretty sure he enjoyed, haha.
CherryBlossom7w7: Thank you for reviewing and no, in the books they are both co-ed. That's just another thing they messed up in the movies