Draco lifted his eyebrows to the point they were in danger of disappearing under his bangs. Hermione was nervous and apprehensive to say the least. Her feelings were pouring through their link and his own apprehension was mounting. That dreaded line would make any man cringe, even if romantic notions were not involved. Of course he and Hermione were not involved. Nope, not a bit. The fact that Hermione lately had become most definitively female, especially in Draco's eyes, was simply because he had not had a good lay in a long time. Yep, that was it. She was female and his neglected libido was simply reacting, coming back on line after months of disappearing in face of his newer vampiric roots. He had almost gone to bed with the really busty woman at the bar, previous to meeting Hermione, but his cold skin would have raised far too many questions for him to be able to answer. Not to mention the lack of a pulse, no the thrill hadn't been worth it. Nor would he drain someone's mother. Honestly he was a Malfoy, not a murderer.
"About what?" came the dubious reply.
At that Hermione faltered slightly. "Well, I've been thinking a little."
"There's a surprise," Draco muttered to himself.
Hermione glared at him, but pressed on. "There is no cure for vampires. I'm stuck like this."
Draco's eyebrows only lifted farther up his brow, "And you were considered one of the brightest students at Hogwarts?"
"The brightest." Hermione corrected, agitation making itself known. "Shut up Malfoy, and let me finish!"
Draco lifted his hands in surrender and shifted his shoulders on the headboard. He set his hands in his lap, entwining his fingers and motioned for her to continue. "By all means."
Hermione leaned back against the door frame of the bathroom, leaning her head back a bit and closing her eyes with a sigh. Did he really have to keep his shirt off? He should put it back on, so she could concentrate. Composing herself, she began to speak, "You asked me to tell you what was going on the other day. It took me a while, but I've reached a conclusion."
Draco perked up a bit and nodded, "I would still like an explanation."
Hermione glared at his impertinent tone. "It's your fault. Don't get egotistical on me ferret face."
Draco's cheeks colored slightly and clenched his jaw. "Honestly, Granger, if you're going to insult me come up with something better than that."
The banter between the two was normal, comforting for the both of them, although neither would admit it at this point. In the swirling mass of emotions and confusions surrounding the two, something they were both accustomed to seemed almost necessary, especially with what Hermione had to reveal.
"You are familiar with a Sire and Childe bond?" she asked.
"Vaguely, only what I felt with my own Sire."
Hermione nodded, "Wouldn't you say ours is a bit more. . . Potent than that?"
Draco snorted, "I would hope, since I was Sired by a man!"
Hermione leveled a very famous death glare at the pale haired man sitting on the bed. "Not that! The emotional connection. What did you feel with your Sire?"
Draco drew his face in confusion. "I. . . It was more he felt me, than I felt him. Why?"
"Exactly! Our bond however is substantially different. I can feel you, as you can feel me! The Sire/Childe bond is still there, but it was overpowered by another!" Hermione grew quiet for a moments. "Do you know what a Mating Claim is?"
Draco only looked more confused.
"Right then," Hermione sighed, bringing a hand to the bridge of her nose and pinching it. Not only did she have the joy of getting to tell her arch rival that he had accidentally almost bonded them for eternity, no, she also got to tell him it would be quite a bit before the . . . Aftermath would fade. While the words were not there, the blood exchange had been. Hermione wasn't even sure the effects would fade. How she hated not having all the answers! And he was still shirtless!
"Granger," came the growl from the bed. "If you don't say something soon I'm going to have to do something violent to get it out of you!"
She lowered her head. "A Mating Claim is the strongest vampiric blood bond in existence. It binds the participants indefinitely. It cannot be removed once put in place. There is an exchange of words and . . . Blood. It binds the two together for eternity, not only their souls but their inner demons as well, which we acquire upon being turned.."
She felt Draco turn into a giant walking mass of panic. Trying to head off the imminent explosion she raised her hands as a signal for quiet. Despite his normal behavior, Draco stilled and stared at Hermione almost pleading for an answer. More specifically, the one he wanted to hear.
"Before you detonate! There was no exchange of words so therefore, if we are . . . Mated. The effects are not as strong as they should be and they might fade in time!" she said.
She felt a wave of anger from Draco so powerful it nearly knocked her over. "Might?! As in maybe?!"
"That would be a correct assumption," Hermione said, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth and worrying it. Nasty habit left over from her Hogwarts days.
Draco's chest was heaving with unneeded breaths. His feelings were changing so quickly she couldn't pin anything down. However, through all of it, his anger remained strong.
How in the bloody hell could this have happened?! He was partially mated, MATED, to Granger! It was a nightmare, a really big nightmare, that had to be it. His memories argued, since he had become a vampire, he hadn't dreamed at all. Almost like the gift of escaping his life for a moment, to a world in which he could touch sunshine was lost. Although a calming thought also followed. It was the claim that placed these feelings in him. He didn't really like Granger! A smile almost flitted across his face but was quickly stolen by the 'might' that had fallen off her lips, as lusciously kissable as they were.
"Define might," Draco growled.
Hermione shook her head, "Right now I don't have that answer. Ask me when I've spent sometime in the Hogwarts library. Right now, I just don't know."
"So that's what has been causing the random kissing and dry humping lately?" Draco asked.
Hermione cringed at his rather vulgar description but nodded her head nonetheless.
Standing up, Draco began to pace the room. This was not good. So, not good. He had, well in all fairness, they had unknowingly almost tied themselves together for eternity. Granger was engaged to the Weasel and best friends with Potter. Yep all bets were off, they were going to kill him. Just shove him out into the sun when he least expected it. Nice crispy Draco. Mhmm. Swearing he'd never touch another shot of alcohol in his entire unlife again, he sat down on the bed.
Hermione's eyes followed the brooding young man as he paced the room twice, mumbling to himself and running his hands through his hair. He was probably running through ways to get them out of this mess. Hermione ignored the pang of loss that ripped through her chest at the thought. It was the claim, thats all it was. Artificial feelings manufactured by an accident. She felt nothing for Draco Malfoy. Not a damn thing.
Snarling, Draco reached for his shirt and for the door.
Suddenly an overwhelming sense of panic slammed into Hermione and before she could stop herself she had grabbed her chest and whimpered. "NO!"
Draco stopped short as her feelings came through the bond. His own guilt for making her hurt adding to the mix.
"Please don't leave me," she whispered. Manufactured or not, the panic that had swept through her felt real enough and it had almost forced her to her knees. "Please."
Draco stood resolutely in the middle of the room, waring with his own emotions. His arms itched to hold her and his throat tightened in apprehension. She was crying, she felt scared and alone. He couldn't leave her like this. Draco clenched a fist. Oh yes, he would. Forcing himself, he finished his walk towards the door, opening and closing it with a final slam.
Hermione sank to her knees as a sense of loss and , godsend, it was almost physical pain. She cried out to him while curling up in a ball on the floor. He had left. He didn't want her. Her desperation, as she clawed at floor doing her best to ignore her tears, was sure to have filtered through the bond. He would feel it as she did. She knew he did. Yet he was willing to go through such pain to be away from her? Her soul cried out in agony as her mouth mimicked it's cry.
"Draco. . ."
Draco leaned up against the other side of the door trying to force coherent thought into his mind. The pain was almost unbearable and he felt her tears as if they were his own. Something within him howled at her pain, sharing and embracing it through their connection. Her thoughts were swirled and confused, bleeding over into his. His arms trembled and his legs almost refused to support him, only holding their weight to be sure he could carry himself back in the room and embrace her. Admitting defeat, Draco blindly reached for the doorknob and let himself back in. He sank to his knees beside the incoherent girl, gently lifting her into his arms. "I'm sorry," he whispered into her as she clung to him. "I'm so sorry. I won't leave again. Godsend, I'm so sorry."
"You can't leave me. I need you. Please, please don't leave me!" she cried, burying her face in his neck. Inhaling the scent that soothed her soul's anguish. His hands buried themselves in her hair, yanking her lips to his, his cool tongue taking possession of her all too willing mouth. She released his lips, needing the physical contact to assure herself that he had not left, her logical mind lost in the swirl of emotions his departure had educed. He blunt human teeth nipped at the scar she had given him previously that evening.
Draco moaned, unable to stop his hips from jerking forward into hers.
"You're here," she whispered against his skin. Her tongue snaking out to soothe her previous action. She climbed silkily into his lap, straddling his thighs.
"I am," he said, restraining a groan. Her thoughts had calmed, consumed by a need, the force of which he had never been privy to before. "Hermione," He groaned at the feeling of her thighs sliding up his lap and rubbing his erection through the material of his slacks. "We have to stop. We can't. . ."
"I know."
She gently placed her head on his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Stay with me tonight, please? Just don't leave me again."
Draco lifted her from the floor and moved them both to the bed. "I promise." Her murmured, laying down and stroking her hair. "I won't leave. You need to rest."
Hermione nodded complacently, wrapping one leg around Draco's and drifting off into a dreamless sleep, dragging her almost mate with her.
A. N. I hate to sound like I'm begging here, but please review, kinda lets me know how I'm doing :D Thankies and I hope you enjoyed :D
