Recap
"We're going back to Dumbledore's office," he snarled. "You're not sharing a common room with that perverted sick freak."
Hermione was wide eyed still and had no choice but to follow him as he still had her arm. In a way she was glad Malfoy had followed her. She didn't know if she had of had the courage to ask for another room by herself or even what could have happened with Blaise. But since Malfoy was here, she kind of felt... safe.
"Malfoy," she said tentatively. "Don't you think you were overreacting just a little bit?"
"No." he stated without looking at her.
"I mean, maybe he's used to walking around the house in his briefs at home and thought I'd still be in the hospital wing after the feast?" she tried to reason with the angry Malfoy.
Malfoy stopped walking and turned to look at her. "Granger, he was intentionally in his underwear, almost naked. He had intentions to seduce you," he told her.
"But how do you know that?" she questioned.
"I could smell it," he said as he turned away from her and continued walking. The further away from the Head Dorms they walked, the more Malfoy relaxed until eventually he let go of Hermione's arm. They reached Dumbledore's office and Hermione went to walk up the stairs but Malfoy stopped her.
"Just wait here," he told her. "I have something else I need to talk to Dumbledore about in private. I'll be back soon."
Hermione normally would have argued but she was tired, plus she had been pretty rude to Malfoy lately. So she just nodded and leaned against a wall and slid down until she was sitting on the floor. She saw the back of Malfoy's figure retreating up the spiral stairs.
Maybe I have been a bit harsh on him. She thought to herself, after all, he has done a few good things for me within the last couple of days. But it's not as if I don't have reason to be rude to him... flashbacks of being called mudblood appeared in her head. She frowned at this image. I need to do research on veela mating, I knew they mated for life but I didn't know they died if they didn't bond with their mate. Well I suppose being a veela it would be impossible to get rejected, what with all the super sexiness powers. Hermione wondered to herself why Malfoy simply didn't entrance her to be his mate. It seemed like the simplest solution considering how hard it would be for him to 'woo' her.
Then she thought about what it could actually be like if she accepted Malfoy's mateship. Would they continue to argue for the rest of their lives and live unhappily? Would they call a truce at least and co-exist for the sake of both their sanities? Or could they possibly actually get to know one another and maybe even be friends... lovers?
She didn't want to be responsible for his death; in fact she didn't want anyone to be responsible for his death. She tried to think of a world that didn't contain Draco Malfoy and the image just seemed wrong. She knew that she was his mate, but was he her mate?
Hermione shook her head, not wanting to know the answer to that. The sound of footsteps filled her ears at that moment and she looked up to see Malfoy frowning.
"So, what happened?" she queried.
"Dumbledore said that since Blaise didn't try anything then there are no grounds to prosecute him," he replied, still frowning.
"But you really believe he was intending to... do something bad?" she asked him, looking him in the eye to see what he truly believed.
He looked back at her, never taking his eyes off of hers, "Yes."
She frowned at this. It wasn't so clear to her what Blaise's intentions had been but Malfoy seemed pretty darn sure of what they were. He could 'smell' it apparently. Smell what exactly? Then it clicked in her head what it was that Malfoy could smell on Blaise – arousal.
"Do I really have any other choice but to go back to my common room?" she laid the logic out in front of him.
He looked at her in disbelief.
"You're not going back there," he stated. "Especially not tonight, maybe after I've given Zabini a talking to."
Hermione's eyes widen at those words.
Malfoy continued, seeming not to notice her worried expression, "But for tonight I'll walk you to the Gryffindor common room. I'm sure they won't have removed the extra bed in the girls dorm."
"Malfoy," she said softly. "Don't you think this is just a little bit drastic?"
"No, Granger. I don't." He curtly responded. With that, he turned on his heel towards the Gryffindor tower, expecting her to follow. And for some reason she did.
He was always a half a step ahead of her. She found it odd that he was leading her to the Gryffindor tower. His steps always matched hers though, when she walked faster so did he, when she slowed, he mimicked this too, always half a step ahead of hers. That's what dogs do to show dominance, she thought to herself.
Eventually she found herself outside of the Gryffindor tower. She lifted her head to see Malfoy staring at her, penetrating her eyes with his. There were a million things he had to say to her, but they both knew that for the moment, anything he said would not have any effect on her.
She had to break the silence, his gaze was overpowering her senses and she felt that if she didn't speak soon, she wouldn't be able to ever again. "How'd you know where Gryffindor tower was?"
He gave a momentary look of surprise at the question, then he smirked at her, "I'm a Slytherin of course, you can't honestly tell me that you don't know where the Slytherin common room is?" he raised an eyebrow at her.
She grinned at him sheepishly, because after all, she did know where the Slytherin common room was. "I need to get my stuff for class tomorrow," she pointed out. "How am I supposed to do that with my entire inventory located on the other side of the castle?"
"I'll come get you at 6 o'clock, you can get ready in your dorms without Zabini's hassle." It appeared that this year was going to be more difficult than most for reasons other than NEWTs.
"I will speak to Zabini during the day," he added hesitantly. "This will just be a once off. You'll be able to go about your routine without my constant interference."
Hermione sensed a general feeling of dejection from him as he turned to walk back to his own rooms. Just as he took his first step in the opposite direction from her, she quickly leant forward to grab his hand.
He turned around and looked at her curiously. She hastily dropped his hand and discovered she had contracted a case of bashfulness, which was terribly unlike herself. She bowed her head, making the following words hard for Malfoy to hear, but not impossible, especially with his increased hearing.
"Thanks for doing all this, you didn't have to," she muttered.
"But I did," he replied in a voice so softly that made her look up at him. He reached his hand forwards and gently tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. She shivered involuntarily at the contact. "Like it or not, you are my mate, and I will do everything in my power to keep you safe. I might not be able to keep you entirely happy considering our past, but I will try my best for both our sakes."
She stared at his face trying to conclude whether this soft spoken, caring person in front of her was really Draco Malfoy before he added, "I don't like you Granger, you're a bossy, buck-toothed, know-it-all, control freak." Ah there was the Malfoy she knew and hated. "But for some reason my magic won't let me forget that I love you." Before she could say anything, he walked away.
Not that she would have had anything to say back. She stood there for ages, wondering if she really had heard what she thought she had. He loved her. She realised at that moment that there was no alternative for Malfoy if he had accepted the fact that he loved her. She knew that research would be useless, because undoubtedly Malfoy had already searched his trapped, little heart out, because as he had just admitted to her, he didn't like her.
Of course she didn't love him, not yet. She shook her head at herself. Yet? She recited the password to the fat lady who gave her that annoying, suggestive look. She stepped into the Gryffindor common room and saw that there was no one left standing and the fire was starting to die out. She checked her watch and holy dooley, it was nearly midnight.
She found it strange that her watch hadn't given her that feeling tonight. Normally her watch gave her a constant nervous feeling that she was running out of time or going to be late for something. She hadn't felt that tonight.
She walked up to the girls dormitory, deciding to just see Harry and Ron at breakfast in the morning. She walked into the room to the light snoring of the other Gryffindor seventh year girls, though none of them would willingly hear a word suggesting that they snore. Hermione noticed that Malfoy was right; her bed had been left unoccupied in the dorm. She stripped down to her undies and shirt, not having the energy for a shower when she knew she'd be up at ten to six in the morning.
~~*~~
Hermione woke with a start, it felt like someone was shaking her awake. For a fleeting moment she was confused as to her whereabouts. She realized she was in the Gryffindor seventh year girls dormitory. The shaking sensation she felt was the spell she'd cast on herself before falling asleep to ensure she would wake up on time.
She looked at her watch and realised she only had about 3 minutes to get down to the front of Gryffindor tower to meet Malfoy so she could get her school books and get ready for her first day of classes. A bit of excitement swelled in her chest at the thought of classes.
She jumped out of the bed and rushed downstairs as fast as she could without running. She had to get ready. She needed her timetable and her books, oh and of course her Head Girl badge. She stepped out from behind the portrait of the fat lady and saw Malfoy leaning against a railing.
"Granger," he nodded at her.
"Malfoy," she found herself smiling at him. She was only smiling at him because she was excited for classes.
Silently she found herself falling half a step behind him as he led her back to her dorms. As usual their trip was in silence.
When they reached the portrait entrance to the Head Dorms, she entered and turned her head to see that Malfoy had followed her. Blaise was not in the common room.
