Arrangement

Draco shuffled into the Head Dorms, marking exactly a week since he had last seen his mate, one Hermione Granger. He absently wondered if she even came to their dorm anymore, trying to distract himself from the god awful pain all of his body was going through. Walking was a pain. Eating was a pain. Writing was a pain. Hell, even thinking was painful. It didn't stop, it didn't even dull at any point. Draco was pretty sure he groaned in his sleep too, half sleep as it was.

He huffed as he reached the hearth and flopped onto one of the couches. He'd have to rest here before he could move again, the thought of climbing all those stairs gave him a terrible feeling.

'I've become such an old man,' he mused, not cheered at all.

Draco wished he could talk to Granger, maybe ask her just to be his friend. If she didn't want to be near him that badly, he could at least respect her wishes and have as minimal contact as possible. He couldn't let things stay this way though, he'd die from the mass of agony his body was becoming. As a veela, it was unacceptable that his mate was found and yet he was living without him having even seen hide or hair of the person in question for an entire bloody week. Only the fact that an impromptu meeting wouldn't please her in any way gave him an iota of restraint. He wouldn't go after her but he'd wait here. She knew he'd be here so he only had to wait for her to come, on her own terms. This was one thing in life Draco was determined not to bungle up.

It was somewhere in these thoughts that time slipped away quietly and the Head Boy wasn't even aware when the shadows had engulfed him, as he sat unmoving by the hearth, the place not being chilly enough to need the warmth of fire. He was jolted into alertness by one of his spells detecting two people coming towards the Head Dorms. For a split second, a violent hoped flared that it was Granger who was returning, but Draco ruthlessly squashed it to spare himself heartache. Preparing for the inevitability of having to move, he thought of deducting points off of whatever idiot had decided to disturb the Heads at this ungodly hour, even if he himself was unaware of exactly what the hour was.

So busy was he distracting himself that Draco physically jolted when his senses zeroed on one of the persons as indeed being his elusive mate. Mouth hanging open, he was hardly ready to face her. He wasn't presentable, he didn't know what to say yet, was his hair okay, oh Merlin she'd think he was stalking her or something…

The door opened and a voice floated to his ears, her voice, all warm and kind, bidding away Potter

"Honestly Harry, I can get up to my room just fine. Now go! Shoo"

Draco could hear her friends' chuckles as she turned and spotted him, her smile immediately dropping and her demeanor becoming cold as ice.

"Malfoy," she acknowledged, her voice holding no inflection of addressing someone who had confessed his undying, everlasting love for her person.

"Granger," he returned, his voice uneven despite his trying. He was hearing and seeing her for the first time in a whole goddamn week and gods was she beautiful and melodious, loving and kind and gentle… Draco did not notice his thoughts spiral off into a haze as he stood oddly before her. He also didn't notice her scrutinizing him with sharp eyes. He was too far gone in elation and didn't snap out of his happy high until she began to move.

"Granger, wait"

With an odd feeling of déjà vu, Hermione turned to face him, an eyebrow raised in question. She did not comment on his unusually warbly undertone and she certainly didn't stare at him, even as he looked like a drained man who had walked the length of the desert. She didn't.

"I wanted to ask something of you," he said hesitantly, as if she'd be offended by his very speaking. Laughable, that.

Hermione did not answer however, and the veela must have taken her choice to remain standing as an assent to hear what he had to say, for he blurted out a question rather hurriedly at her and she had to frown in concentration as she figured out what he had said. Her eyes went wide when she realized he had asked her to be his friend at least.

"No!" her voice came sharp and cruel, like a whip at a dumb horse. Draco felt himself flinch inadvertently and she must have seen it because the lines around her eyes softened at the edges, but she repeated, nonetheless, "I don't want us to be friends Malfoy"

"Then, what do I do?" He found the question slipping between his teeth before he could clamp down on it and let her be, like she wanted. She would hate him now and be even more angry.

Surprisingly, instead of leaving him to his pitiable misery, the Gryffindor princess stood and observed him, tilting her head slightly in a bird like motion. For his part, he tried to stand still, squishing down any tremors and let her find whatever she was searching. He hadn't noticed before, but even being in his mates' presence had helped him. Draco could feel relief slowly seeping down to his bones, steadily dripping in to fill the hollowness that had filled him since he had last seen her. It was as if he was an addict, being given a whiff of his drug and luxuriating under its feel. It was a worrisome thought.

"Meet me here before breakfast," Granger said and then immediately left. He didn't stop her, watching as she climbed the staircase to her room, glimpsing a mixture of grey and brown as she closed her door on him once again.

….

The next morning, the one after that and several more, Draco met Hermione before breakfast at exactly the same time. He was always seated, waiting for her to come down each day. She on the other hand descended on exactly the same time, spending precisely fifteen minutes with him before taking off to breakfast. She didn't talk to him, nor did he initiate any in fear of being deprived of even the tiny privilege he was being granted. She noticed that he became better and didn't stand as if he was in agony, his pallor improving. He noticed that she wasn't as cold around him as before, even if she didn't talk to him, she didn't glare at him either. Neither noticed or could foretell the effect the little arrangement would have on them together.

There we are, finally some snail pace movement with these two. Oh Draco, you have yet to suffer the worst. Poor guy.

Moving on, thank you to everyone who reviewed, we jumped from 10 to 21 reviews in the space of two chapters! It makes me SUPER happy! Bear with me as I make some more suffering before we get to the nice parts. Next chapter: Harry!

Stay tuned

Teal~