Hermione could feel her cheeks burning as she finished speaking. She didn't know why she was blushing. Here she was, sitting across from a man who was head over heels, willing to walk through hell, in love with her and she was embarrassed to admit she was in love with him too.

Draco was staring at her with wide eyes, his entire face was frozen. He looked like he'd seen a—well, not a ghost. Because, really, who hadn't seen one? But something very unpleasant and surprising. Like—a resurrected Voldemort.

Yes.

That about captured his expression.

He looked nearly ready to fall over from shock.

It was not the reaction she had been hoping for.

"That's—that's not possible." He finally said, slowly.

She gave him a look.

"Draco, I wouldn't lie about this just to make you feel better. I've thought it over carefully."

He was very pale.

"But—we talked about this," His tone was firm but there was a barely discernible tremor beneath it. "You talked to my mother about this. Last week. You did not have any feelings for me then."

"Well. I don't remember what my thought process was at the time." She shot him a glare. Being obliviated was going to be a sore subject for her for a very long while.

She continued.

"But I don't think that, in the context of learning you were dying and that I needed to bond with you to save you, I would have realised it. I would have been preoccupied with research and trying to wrap my head around everything. I wouldn't have been focused on my feelings were aside from whether I thought I could do it."

Draco still looked doubtful and terrified. His eyes were huge as he stared at her.

"I mean, it's not like it was a conscious decision I made," she added defensively. "Really, it is very much against my better judgment. You're terribly mean to me most of the time. This probably says truly awful things about my self-esteem or something."

Draco made a choking sound. He looked about to pass out.

Hermione reached out and took his hand.

"Draco, when I came here last night, I was sure of it. Even though you've been about as friendly as a porcupine and never did anything but taunt me when we weren't working. When it came to all the things that mattered to me most; all the times that I needed someone most; you were always there. And—that made me fall for you. But I took you for granted so I didn't realise it—not until I thought you were going to leave and I felt like my heart was breaking."

"Say it," he said, pleading.

She leaned forward so that their faces were only a breath apart. Their eyes locked on one another.

"Draco Malfoy, I love you."

He shuddered at the words. As though something deep inside him had broken.

Hermione moved even closer to him, not caring anymore about holding the sheet up.

He didn't believe her.

Couldn't bring himself to.

She could tell.

In some ways she could hardly believe it herself.

Emotions really weren't her forte. Especially not romantic ones. But being in love with him felt different from any other feeling she'd ever experienced. Overwhelmingly certain. Perhaps because of the suddenness with which it had struck her. It hadn't been a conscious, growing thing that she'd had months and years to mull over along the way. It had been so secret and slow, and then all at once she just—knew.

And she desperately wanted him to know it too.

She rested her hands on his bare shoulders and pressed her forehead against his.

"Draco Malfoy, I love you. Against my better judgment. I love you. And I am sorry it took me so long to face it. I'm sorry you had hurt yourself before I could. But I'm so glad you're alive. I'm so glad you saved me so I could tell you."

He was shaking. She continued,

"When I was in that house, trying to stay conscious, wanting to tell you was part of what made me keep holding on," she whispered, tilting his face up so that her lips were just barely brushing against his as she murmured again, "I love you."

Then she pressed her lips against his, softly. It was chaste. As if it were their first kiss.

He was frozen for a moment before he choked back a sob and, tangling his hands in her hair, he kissed her back.

Hermione thought her heart might burst.

Realizing privately that she was in love with him had been shocking and, well, rather embarrassing. What kind of person went and fell in love the snarkiest, most unpleasant coworker they had? She'd tried hard to come up with another plausible explanation. But her mind was unrelenting, it would not allow her to invent a different theory just because she felt shocked or embarrassed.

Discovering that he also was in love with her had been a relief. She wasn't some lonely-hearted spinster who fell for someone just because they happened to be there. He had been there, helping her, because he cared too.

She hadn't had much time to absorb that revelation. But now, seeing how it affected him. She felt like she'd been dropped into a pool of Felix Felicis. She was so happy.

Fate was an odd creature, she mused to herself as she tangled her fingers into his hair and pressed her body against him so that he moaned against her lips.

Fate could be cruel, impetuous and secret, but somehow She had wound Draco and Hermione together.

And it was perfect.

It was everything.

Before they could break off the kiss Hermione became suddenly aware of a foreign current of malevolent magic invading the room. Tearing her lips from Draco's she turned just in time to see the door glowing red before it suddenly exploded toward them.

She heard Draco snarl and then felt herself snatched up as she went flying across the room until they struck the wall. Everything around her went black and she realised after a moment of confusion that she was surrounded by feathers.

Draco had transformed instantaneously and thrown them out of the blast zone. Peering out she saw that the bed, where they had been a moment before, was mangled with splintered, smoldering wood.

She wriggled through his wings as he crouched protectively over her. Pushing through his mirage-like feathers she gazed out, wide-eyed as aurors poured through the door, lining up along the wall opposite, wands aimed at them. There were at least thirty, possibly more. They crowded into the room so tightly it was impossible to count. Among them she saw Harry. His jaw was tense, his green eyes flashing.

"Harry?" she gasped in rage. "What are you doing? You nearly killed us with that blast. What kind of magic even was that?"

"Hermione," he acknowledged her shortly. She realised then that the wands weren't aimed at 'them.' they were aimed at Draco. "We're here with orders to apprehend Draco Malfoy under suspicion of coercing a magical bonding and using dark magic."

She stared for a moment.

"He didn't coerce me," she snarled. "I asked him to do it. He would never have done it if it hadn't been the only way to save me."

"You've been bonded to him now. That makes you an unreliable witness. His innocence will have to be established by a Ministry investigation and trial before the Wizengamot," Harry replied tightly.

"What is the law or precedent for this?" she demanded, snatching a throw up off a nearby armchair and wrapping it around herself. "As a head in the legal department of the Department for the Regulation and a Control of Magical Creatures I want to know what your legal basis is for this arrest. There are no laws restricting magical creatures from bonding in order to survive. And my testimony that it was not coerced remains valid whether or not I'm bonded. You can verify it with veritaserum if you doubt me that much."

Harry, she realised, did not appear to want to be there. He rubbed his forehead in frustration and, while still alert, Hermione realised that he did not have any of the skittishness that many of the other aurors exhibited.

"There is no legal precedent," Harry said flatly. "Because there hasn't been a full-blooded male Veela in over two hundred years. They're categorised as being mythical. That gives the Ministry good reason to suspect Malfoy of using dark magic and coercion on you, based on his personal history and the state in which you were brought to St Mungo's. You were under protective Ministry custody and you were supposed to remain in St Mungo's until you could corroborate his testimony and his innocence was established. But Emeliory Bogfeld smuggled you out with a portkey. She has been arrested on charges of kidnapping and suspicion of taking a bribe. By the time the aurors stationed outside realised you were here the Veela magic around this room was impenetrable. We were ordered to do whatever it took to get in."

Hermione stared. She wasn't sure she knew what a full-blooded Veela was. And Emeliory had apparently seen fit to leave out a great many details when she sent Hermione on her way. But, it wasn't as if she had even asked Hermione to go. Hermione was the one who decided it.

"Emeliory didn't kidnap me," she scoffed. "I demanded to go to Draco. We were already partly bonded. Trying to leave the magic incomplete could have had deadly consequences by the time the Ministry completed its investigation."

She glared at the room before her. Malfoy was still transformed, his wings arched protectively around her, his hands resting on her shoulders.

"Besides," she seethed, "none of that explains why there are over thirty aurors threatening us. If this is all done in the interest of protecting me, perhaps you should stop pointing your wands at the person my life is bound to."

Her voice was crackling with fury and her fingers itched for her wand.

Harry actually looked slightly annoyed with her.

"I don't think you fully grasp the situation, Hermione. No one knows what a full-blooded male Veela is capable of. There are almost no records of them even existing. The Ministry is dealing with a completely unknown type of magical creature who stands accused of kidnapping, biting, and mating himself to one of the most famous witches in the wizarding world. By Ministry regulation, given that I'm your friend, I shouldn't be here. But due to the situation they sent me anyway, in part because they are hoping as your friend you'll listen to me and convince Malfoy to cooperate."

Behind her she felt Malfoy shift with a sharp sigh. Glancing over her shoulder she saw that he had reverted back to human, standing behind her unapologetically nude. If the air in the room hadn't been so tense she might have been amused by how panicked looking the aurors seemed by it.

"Granger?" he murmured next to her as he pulled on a robe from out of nowhere. "You came here before you spoke to the aurors?"

"I didn't know there were aurors," she admitted quietly. "The only people I saw were Bogfeld and the healer."

"Fucking Bogfeld," he cursed. "She always meddles. I assumed that you were here because the investigation had concluded."

"You were expecting to wait until after the Ministry finished an investigation for us to seal the bond?" she asked incredulously.

Malfoy looked annoyed and muttered.

"I didn't exactly have many options at the time. You were barely alive and the Ministry was very skeptical about how you had ended up nearly dead in my arms."

He pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"What exactly do you want, Potter?"

Harry came across the room toward them.

"Hermione's statement needs to be taken before the Wizengamot. And I have been told to take you into custody and hold you until you have been cleared of suspicion."

"Fine," Malfoy said stiffly.

Hermione was ready to explode with indignation.

"You can't arrest him because he saved me and brought me to St Mungo's when I was dying! What is your evidence that Draco has actually committed any wrongdoing?"

"As a former death eater Malfoy remains permanently under the Ministry's probationary custody. Any suspicious behavior is grounds for the Ministry to revoke his freedom. The only reason he wasn't already arrested was because he had cooperated fully at St Mungo's by giving his statement and consenting to be placed under a magical coma by stasis with auror supervision. But when he proceeded to ward this room and then—mate you, it nullified that Ministry provision by a long shot."

Hermione wanted to shake Harry. Even if he was doing his job, he didn't need to be such an obstinate heel about it.

"Granger, calm down," Draco chided her softly.

"It's not fair," she fumed. "You haven't done anything wrong. I'm the one who woke you up. I don't see why you should be arrested."

"It's not the first time I've spent time in a Ministry cell. I'll be fine."

That did not make Hermione feel any better. But Draco seemed to think that it settled everything. He dropped a kiss on her head.

"Potter," he said in a tense voice, "I'm trusting you that nothing is going to happen to her."

Harry met Draco's eye.

"You're not the only one who'd die for her, Malfoy. In fact, you're rather late to the party."

If the situation were not so fraught Hermione would have been tempted to smack Harry for saying something so ridiculous. But the reply seemed to satisfy Draco. He started move past them. Hermione grabbed his wrist and pulled him back.

"Draco," she hissed. "You can't just surrender yourself like this. They're treating you like you're a manticore or a nundu. They might kill you or keep you permanently restrained if they get the chance. You can't possibly trust that the Ministry actually intends to clear you of suspicion and let you go."

"I don't trust them." Malfoy admitted quietly. "But I trust you, and Potter. And I have a pretty good feeling that they won't be able to do anything to me unless I let them. I'm not going ask you to become a fugitive with me just because the Ministry is a bureaucratic swamp. Your friends are important to you. I can sit quietly in a Ministry cell for a few days while you and Potter get me out."

He slipped her hand gently off his wrist, holding on for a moment before he dropped it and turned away from her. Raising his hands over his head he casually strode toward the rest of the aurors.

"Gentlemen," he drawled, and then noticing a few females among them, "ladies. I'm all yours."

About ten stunners shot out simultaneously and struck him. He flinched but didn't fall. Hermione felt like she was going to be sick.

"Fuck that stings," he whined. "Can't you just chain me or something?"

Several of the aurors looked distinctly green. Harry hissed and stalked over. Conjuring up a pair of manacles he clipped them around Draco's wrists.

"Abbott! Collins! Take Malfoy in for booking," he barked, then in lower tone he muttered, "Malfoy, if you give them any trouble I will be the one that's called in to deal with you, and that will mean leaving Hermione somewhere. Understood?"

"Perfectly." Draco said shortly, allowing his arm to be grasped by a resolved looking young auror. His eyes rested on Hermione and he smiled faintly at her for a moment before vanishing.

Harry moved back to her side.

"Let's get this over with." she said in a tense voice. "I'm trusting that you will do everything in your power to make this happen as quickly as possible. I mean everything, Harry."

The other aurors were filing out and some of Harry's stiffness seemed to fade.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't a total madhouse out there. You were unconscious. The story about you both crash landing into St Mungo's has gone around the globe. The appearance of a full-blooded male Veela is international news enough, but having both you and Malfoy involved has it about a hundred times crazier." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Let's get you home so you can head to the Ministry in some actual clothes."

Taking her arm he turned with a pop and they reappeared in Hermione's living room.

"I don't understand. What exactly is a full-blooded Veela that makes Draco so unique?" Hermione asked stiffly. "Male Veela may be rare but they're hardly mythical. I just bought a memoir by one last week and it wasn't from the eighteenth century."

"I can't believe there's something about magical creatures that you don't know." Harry observed. "I don't really know anything but what The Daily Prophet has been saying in their coverage on it, so take it with a grain of salt. Basically male Veela are rare and aside from the bonding, they're just average wizards. And half-Veela, and even pure Veela males, don't always manifest enough of the Veela magic to bond. That's part of why the whole species is so rare. But occasionally there's been a few of what they call full-blooded male Veela, and they're different. They don't have the entrancement the way females do, but they're able to transform, and the magical abilities they're supposed to have is why they were thought to be mythical. Most magizoologists didn't believe they existed because they're so rare and the stories of what they could do sound unlikely for a high intelligence sentient magical creature."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Well, you remember that fountain of the magical brethren that the Ministry used to have, where the goblin and the house elf, and the centaur are basically worshipping the witch and wizard? Part of the reason why wizarding folk are such a stuck up lot is because we have both reasonably high intelligence and a versatile type of magical power. When magical creatures are high sentience they usually have a specialised type of magical ability, like female Veela, goblins, centaurs, or house elves; it's limited to a specific branch of magical ability. According to what little is known about them, full-blooded male Veela can use their Veela magic however they want, just like wizarding folk, and it gives them a resistance to ours. The last record of a full-blooded male Veela was in Germany two hundred years ago, when his mate was murdered, he razed an entire wizarding city within minutes before dying."

Harry sighed. "The Ministry has no idea what they might be dealing with. And based on the records Malfoy is only a quarter Veela, that he could manifest to bond at all is surprising. Having him somehow turn into a full-blooded Veela makes the Ministry suspicious that dark magic was involved, especially given that you were almost dead when he brought you in. People are panicking. They think it's a bid to become a new dark wizard."

Hermione shut her eyes and sighed. Of course Malfoy would somehow end up being a special kind of Veela. Prat.

If she'd had more time to think it would have occurred to her that transforming into a giant bird was not something she'd ever heard of a Veela doing. Didn't females turned into scaled harpy-type creatures?

She felt as though she should probably feel a great deal more curious and surprised, but at the moment she just felt resentful over being separated from Draco. She wasn't sure if it was related to the bonding magic or just the injustice of his arrest.

Everything had felt so—perfect, for a bit. And now—

She slumped slightly against a bookshelf, feeling overwhelmed.

"Hermione," Harry said firmly. "I'm going to get Malfoy cleared. We will get him free. I'm sorry about how it happened. But I had to play my part and follow orders to make sure I didn't get pulled off the case or have my intentions questioned when I push for his release."

Hermione sighed in relief. She had assumed as much, but hearing Harry say it was comforting.

"It's just—a lot. I feel like I'm more in the dark about all this than anyone else. I don't understand why Bogfeld interfered and sent me off before the Ministry took my statement. I feel like everything would have been a lot simpler then."

"Her testimony is scheduled for tomorrow as part of the larger investigation. We'll find out then."

He hesitated.

"Hermione, they're probably going to dose you heavily with veritaserum. They don't know how the bond will have affected you. Everyone is going into this blind and it's causing the Ministry to act paranoid. I want you to be prepared for that. But I'm going to be with you the whole time, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

She smiled wanly up at him. As she turned toward her room she noticed a faint jolt of irritation through her bond with Malfoy. She reached out hesitantly.

It was like—brushing their minds up against each other. The wholeness to the connection was startling.

The feeling of feeling him and him feeling her, but also a clarity of insight into his mind. It wasn't like legilimency; there was none of the invasiveness, the prodding in and shoving through thoughts and memories. Instead it was like a conversation happening instantly; an immediate understanding of what was at the front of his mind.

He was fine, he quickly sent her a sense of reassurance. The Ministry was just full of dolts. How she could bear working there he couldn't understand.

The communication was like a gentle caress against her mind. It made her shiver. She missed him. She wanted him back with her.

She didn't mean to communicate it to him but she wasn't really sure how the bond worked. She sensed him feeling her melancholy, and it suddenly felt like he was hugging her in her brain. It was so—comforting.

"Hermione?" Harry's voice broke into her thoughts. "Are you alright? You've been staring at the wall for over a minute."

She roused herself.

"I'm fine, Harry," she said firmly. "I was just—worrying about Draco."

She went to her room and shut the door. When she had dressed she came back out and found Harry reading on her couch.

"When did you get all these books on Veela?" he inquired. "You must have checked out the entire library's collection on bonding."

"What?" She looked at him in confusion.

Harry pointed toward a heap of books lying on the floor beside her desk. She stepped over and stared. There on her living room floor were all the books she'd gone looking for at the library the week before.

She made a strangled sound of disbelief as she gaped at them; remembering that she'd vaguely noticed that pile of books when she'd found half of the WRA on her desk Wednesday night; and then she'd shoved all of them on the floor Saturday when she'd been reviewing her arithmancy notes, minutes before she'd left for the library; and how she'd repeatedly cursed the inconsiderate person who'd taken them all.

"Brilliant, Hermione," she murmured to herself as she knelt down and sorted through them. "You might be the most unobservant witch in all of wizarding history."

She picked up a large, thick volume entitled, "Veela, a Verisimilitude of Information on a Very Veiled Vein of Magic." The small, cramped, scholarly text was very promising looking and it had several appendices in addition to the delightfully large bibliography in the back.

As she stood up, Harry suddenly muttered, "Oops. I forgot to give this to you earlier." He pulled a tiny satchel out of his pocket and enlarged it. "Your wand's in there. We recovered it in one of the rooms in that house you were taken to."

Pulling her wand out it felt—foreign. As if her magic wasn't compatible with it anymore. She swished it experimentally. It felt like a dam at the tip of her fingers, as though she had so much magic flowing inside her that the dragon heartstring inside couldn't accommodate it all.

"Incendio ," she said mildly, pointing into the fireplace. A large fireball exploded from the tip and crashed into the brickwork.

"Sweet Circe!" Harry yelped. He shot her glance. "Maybe you shouldn't use any magic when we're at the Ministry."

She nodded.

Flooing into the Ministry Harry led her over the lift. It was midday and the Atrium wasn't very busy. But a few journalists and Ministry workers noticed them and approached quickly.

"Miss Granger, are you bonded to Draco Malfoy?"

"Did he force you?"

"Was Draco Malfoy responsible for your kidnapping from Diagon Alley?"

Harry warded them all off and moved her quickly to the lift without replying.

As they rode down the lift to the 10th floor Hermione asked.

"Harry, what exactly happened after I disappeared?"

He rubbed his forehead over his scar.

"Malfoy was at the WRA party and we were all waiting for you to arrive. And then he suddenly just turned white and gasped something about something happening to you before he bolted out. We weren't sure what he meant but we tried to follow him. He vanished as soon as he got out of the building. We contacted the Ministry and then heard the DMLE had been notified by the tea shop, asking if you were alright and wanting to know what to do with your things. When we arrived we found your bag and the drugged tea and heard that Pansy had taken you to St Mungo's."

The doors to the lift opened and, as they walked down the quiet halls toward the courtroom, he continued,

"But when we checked you had never arrived at the hospital. We weren't sure where to begin looking for you. We realised based on the residual magic in the tea shop that you had been portkeyed somewhere. So there were specialists trying to analyze it to try to get any sense of where you'd gone. And someone followed up on Pansy and found out that she'd vanished and her flat and Gringott's vault had been emptied. But that still didn't give us any idea where you might be. Then Malfoy's patronus appeared saying you were in an unplottable manor near Belfast."

They were standing outside the doors of courtroom eight. Harry sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"We mobilised there with portkeys within thirty minutes, but when we got there we found the wards shredded, door blasted down, and a huge pool of your blood. We were still trying to find you then we got word from St Mungo's that Malfoy had showed up there with you. You were nearly dead and it appeared you'd been bitten so he could transform into a full-blooded Veela. He said it had been to save you. But there was a lot of fear and skepticism. So, he was supposed to be kept subdued until you could corroborate what had happened. But then, well, you know..."

He fell silent. Hermione was staring at the courtroom doors, trying to prepare herself for what came next. He gave her a minute before asking,

"Are you ready, Hermione?"

She nodded. Harry pushed the door open and they walked inside.