Initial Instincts

Hermione raced through the halls recklessly leading Draco by the hand. She knew if she didn't get him where she wanted him soon then she would lose her nerve. After all, she wasn't usually this kind of girl. Draco allowed himself to be pulled behind her cautiously, as though he wanted to give her time to change her mind.

"Granger…" he spoke her name desperately as they reached the portrait hole. There was a war going on inside him, one half of him couldn't believe his good fortune and the other knew he had to protect her from himself. "You don't want to do this" he tried again, attempting to plant his feet firmly outside the portrait hole. This time, however, Hermione felt she finally knew him well enough to see past his mask.

"You really should have learned by now Malfoy" she whispered, pulling him in, "no one tells me what to do" she pecked his neck briefly as she unfastened his tie. Sweet. Fucking. Merlin. Who was this seductress and what had she done with his bookish Hermione? he closed his eyes as he felt a stirring in his groin. How could she undo him so completely with just a peck?

"Hermione" he whimpered, hoping that the use of her first name would make her listen to reason. He couldn't have been more wrong, the witch before him took it as an invitation and fastened her hands in his hair, pulling softly and eliciting a soft moan from her partner. "Draco" she murmured against his lips. His body was burning for her now, there was a fire in his veins as he fell back onto their sofa, scooping her up onto him so she wouldn't fall. He stared at the angel straddling him. You have to stop this Draco!" his insides screamed. You'll never be able to keep her, you'll only hurt the both of you. It was if something had taken over his body, even as his insides protested, his hands moved of their own accord to unfasten her dress. He was selfish, wasn't he? A selfish Slytherin that would use any means to achieve his ends? And Merlin was she the end for him he thought as he watched her chest rise and fall heatedly against his. He didn't know what miracle had gotten him here but If tonight was all they had then he no longer had the strength to deny her. The best he could do was give her pleasure as she'd never known it before.

-Ron waited apprehensively in Kingsley's office, he still felt uncomfortable standing around in the Ministry of Magic, never having quite recovered from his brief stint as Reg Cattermole. His re-induction had to be kept quiet, so he was meeting the Minister just after midnight, along with the person that would supervise his probation. He should be feeling nervous he thought to himself, but after seeing Harry and Ginny at the ball he just couldn't help but feel as if his luck was changing.

"Mr. Weasley, early I see" Kingsley praised "do come in".

Ron thanked the Minister nervously and stepped across the threshold confidently, only to be rendered temporarily mute by the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He was reminded briefly of his insane crush on Fleur in his fourth year, something he hated to think of now that she had married his brother. This woman was even more beautiful he considered. She had striking blonde hair that was plaited down to her waist and silver-grey eyes that stared at him penetratingly. It took him a moment to notice that she was also wearing thick black Auror robes and seeing the fierceness in her stance did nothing to quell his attraction to the woman before him.

"Ron, this is Adelene De Jour, Senior Auror, she'll be your new supervisor" Kingsley instructed him.

"Bonjour Mr. Weasley," she said evenly, appraising him. Ron felt the bottom drop out of his stomach holy shit she's French!

No, control yourself, idiot! You can't mess this up.

"Hi" he finally managed to say numbly, offering her a hand to shake.

Hermione couldn't remember the last time Draco had let her come up for air, my God he was a fantastic kisser, she made a mental note to tell Ginny that the rumors were absolutely true.

"Are you seriously thinking of Weaslette right now?" he growled throatily "because if you are then I'm not doing my job properly"

"What" Hermione gasped, pushing him away from her. "Did you just use legilemency on me?" she cried indignantly.

"Of course not! You said that out loud!" he defended, surprised and hurt at the accusation that he would invade her innermost thoughts.

"No Draco…. I didn't" she said, stroking the mark on his shoulder where she had bitten him to muffle her calls of pleasure.

His eyes suddenly widened and became huge, he staggered back and looked at her as though he had never seen her before. "Impossible" he choked, wrenching his eyes from the half-naked woman in front of him and springing away from her as if she had stung him.

"what is it? what Draco?" she exclaimed as he turned away from her.

"Excuse me" he muttered, staring at her in a daze before racing into his rooms.

Hermione sat, stunned by the turn their evening had taken. She huddled the remains of her dress around her knees as the feelings of rejection began to take hold. Come to think of it why had she been so rash? She was usually so controlled, but every time Malfoy was concerned that seemed to go out the window. She had been behaving quite ludicrously around him since the summer, breaking into his home to apologize and then deciding to stay, their heated interaction on the train and the need she had felt to try protecting him from the veritas serum Harry had given him. Come to think of It, he had acted oddly around her too, he had persistently sought her out in the library that day despite it being dangerous for him and he could easily have just waited for her to return to the common room. He had been in such a hurry not to miss their time together in the room of requirement that he had carelessly made himself an easy target for Nott, who could easily have killed him. Then he had left the hospital wing for a dance they had initially been forced into doing. It was as though they had some sort of power over each other, even now she felt as if her magic was tugging at her to follow him.

In his room, Draco was oblivious to Hermione and her spiraling thoughts, the contents of his room were flying around him as he waved his wand manically, frantically trying to summon every book he owned. They were the only possessions he had bothered to recover from Malfoy Manor. He had made sure to secure every book in the extensive Malfoy library to his name before he was disinherited. As a child, he had locked himself in away from his father for hours at a time and reading had become his escape. There was one book in particular that came back to him now, Flames of The Soul by Cadence Cattell.

He seized the small ancient pamphlet and rifled through its delicate dusty pages until he found the passage he was looking for:

"Unlike the phenomenon of Soul Mates, who magical studies have long shown to be perfect matches for one and other, the Twin Flame is what you could call one's perfect mirror. They are opposites in every way and yet at their core they are the same. Relationships are known to be intensely passionate and often spontaneous attachments, although they can also be intensely painful for both parties if forced apart or never pursued. Studies have been scarce, but literature indicates that the two halves will be drawn to each other once they reach maturity. For many, this is never noticeable as the likelihood of being within meeting distance of your flame are near impossible. However, it has been documented that young wizards have been struck with sudden ambitions to make major life changes, in some cases moving to different countries, only to coincidentally find their flame.

Once a connection is forged, the minds and souls of the partners will be irrevocably twinned on an emotional, mental, physical and spiritual level. For those fortunate enough to find their twin flame, they will be your best friend, lover, and teacher in this life. He or she will be the catalyst for their emotional and spiritual growth and the mirror of their hearts deepest desires, needs, and fears."

Draco lay on the floor of his chambers shaking and hyperventilating. Granger was his twin flame, he knew it, so much made sense. How could he have let them open the connection? He furiously buried the small part of his brain that was overjoyed to find that Hermione must be feeling something too. It was supposed to be just one night of pleasure for them both and then they would eventually leave Hogwarts and pursue their separate, completely incompatible lives. Hermione would go on to change the Wizarding World and do amazing things and he would…oh, Merlin what had he done?

How was he supposed to tell her that she was chained to him now, emotionally, mentally, physically and at the very spirit of their magical core? In Alchemy their attachment was considered superior to marriage! She would be ostracized, her reputation and prospects destroyed, that was how it would be if he stayed with her, but if he forced himself away from her then they both would be in immense pain and unable to truly love anyone else.

Salazar why him!

When Draco finally did emerge from his chambers it was well past midnight and he was pale as The Bloody Baron. Hermione was not sleeping, she was too busy trying to analyze what could have happened to cause such drastic behavior changes from them both. She was however determinedly not ready to face her would be seducer, so she allowed herself to simply pretend.

Draco knew even as he watched her breast rise and fall that she was not genuinely sleeping. He felt guilty for knowing it, intrusive even, but he knew. He also knew that he had probably hurt and embarrassed her with his abrupt departure earlier and that he couldn't force her to talk to him until she was ready. He gently stroked a tendril of her hair that had escaped in the heat of their kisses and placed his lips to her temple gently. Hoping that his bookworm's curiosity would get the better of her once again, he placed Flames of the Soul gently in her lap. "goodnight beautiful" he whispered, cursing himself for his lack of self-control the second the endearment left his lips. He wanted so badly for her to know what tonight had meant to him, even when he had thought it would be a one-off event he had wanted to freeze the image of her as she had been with him, and no matter what her decision, he knew he would never forget it.

Back in the great hall Blaise watched, punch in hand, as the other couples danced around him. Pansy had managed to find some poor soul to inflict herself on for the evening, after all, so he had wound up going stag, which was fine by him. Despite being one of the best-looking boys in the year and having the Italian accent working in his favor, Blaise had never been interested in having a steady girlfriend, not that the Slytherin girls hadn't tried. He had even taken several of them to Filches broom cupboard but in the end, to be blunt, they all bored him. He didn't want to date someone with shallow societal aims like Pansy and most of the Slytherin girls, nor did he have the energy to be in a fiery, snarky attachment like the one Draco and Granger were forming. Put plainly, he just couldn't find a girl that could keep him interested beyond the physical aspect.

"Zabini" a female voice acknowledged as she reached for the punch bowl "on your own as well tonight?" she asked politely.

He turned to see Hannah Abbott serving herself and eyeing him warily. The two had partnered on assignments occasionally and he had no issue with the girl, but they had never interacted socially.

"Abbott" he nodded back and giving her a once over. "You look nice this evening," he told her politely. "What happened to your date?" he asked and quickly regretted it, he didn't want to pry, nor did he particularly want to have such a conversation but he had to admit he was curious, he had never seen a girl go to a dance dateless by choice unless it was to make some bold feminist statement and Abbott definitely didn't seem like the type.

"Oh!" Hannah blushed at his directness "well I was waiting for one particular person to ask me and then he, well, he didn't" she lamented. Blaise watched her eyes skate over the dance floor until finally, she gave herself away as her eyes settled on Longbottom, dancing with Lovegood.

"Sorry to hear that," Blaise said truthfully, realizing a response was expected. He had no vested interest in Abbott or Longbottom's happiness, but he hadn't missed the jokes circulating about Longbottom attending with his two closest female friends. From his point of view, the guy had missed out on a good thing, Abbott wasn't his type, but she was nice, fairly intelligent and not unattractive. Longbottom is an oblivious idiot he concluded. "Why don't you just ask him for a dance?" he suggested, "I've heard they're just friends".

"Who do you mean?" stammered Hannah nervously as Blaise raised a very sarcastic eyebrow at her as if to say do you think I'm stupid? She gave a heavy sigh, realizing that he had figured her out.

"It's not in everyone's nature to be so forward as you Zabini" she accused, thinking of his reputation as the Slytherin playboy. "Besides, I don't want to spoil the evening for Luna" she looked at her friend who was smiling and doing a sort of twirl-hop around Neville's confused form.

This is why Hufflepuff's get so much stick thought Blaise what's the point in being such a brilliant and moral person if you're too nice to go after anything you want.

"Come with me Abbott" he extended his hand to a very surprised Hannah.

"What are you doing?" she asked, looking at his hand apprehensively as though it would come to life and attack her. Blaise dropped one arm to the witches' waist and led her steadily towards the dance floor.

"We're going to make that oblivious oaf see reason, you get to make Longbottom jealous and I get to get under the Gryffindor's skin, everyone will live happily ever after" he grinned as a new song set in.

It wasn't long before Blaise's true intentions came to light, you would have had to have been living under a rock for the whole of Hogwarts to not know the Zabini's were skilled dancers. It was a key part of a Pureblood child's extra-curricular education, along with other things such as musical instruments and foreign languages. It would have seemed confusing, to anyone watching them then, that Blaise was turning Hannah in a repetitively unskilled and clumsy manner. It was almost as though he was trying to...OOF!

There was a mess of arms and legs and grunting noises as Blaise gave Hannah a particularly intense spin and allowed himself to topple right into Neville, causing both of them to fall.

Hannah: "Blaise!"

Neville: "Hannah?"

Blaise: "Longbottom"

Luna: "Neville?"

Hannah had run back towards him and put an unintendedly convincing hand on his shoulder in concern as he lay sprawled in mock discomfort. Truthfully, he was watching the expressions flit across Longbottom's face as they switched rapidly between embarrassment for himself, concern for Hannah and Blaise and furious confusion as to why the two were together.

"No harm, no foul Longbottom" Blaise said dramatically "you only got me, and our ladies are fine" he extended a polite hand. He watched Neville's eyes narrow considerably at the words our ladies. "Tis a shame though, I'm not sure I can dance another one and Hannah and I had only just got the chance. Sorry doll" he winked at her, hoping that she was keeping up with the charade. "why don't you stay and dance with your friends? You're all friends, right?" he pretended to be clueless before limping off to the punch table once more.

A lofty voice approached him a few moments later, "that was very clever of you Mr. Zabini" she said airily "You were a bit obvious of course but Neville didn't seem to mind" Luna told him, directing his gaze towards the remaining pair who were now dancing happily. Blaise noted triumphantly that Neville was positioning himself far closer to Abbott than he had Lovegood.

"What's it to you Lovegood?" he smirked, bringing back the Slytherin bravado. One dance with a Hufflepuff was enough, he didn't need everyone thinking he was best friends with Luna Lovegood as well.

Without warning, the blonde leaned in towards him and said something in his ear that rooted him to the spot. By the time he had recovered, she had disappeared back into the crowd of dancers. Blaise shook his head with intrigue as he thought about the words she had spoken.

"non è un crimine essere gentili, sai, sei davvero bravo a farlo" she had whispered serenely.

It's not a crime to be nice you know, you're really quite good at it" Blaise translated mentally, she had said it in perfect Italian. He was even more impressed that she had gotten his dialect correct. Interest peaked, his eyes roamed the hall for her for the rest of the night.

A woman had finally captured Blaise Zabini's attention, and she had done it without him even realizing.

Authors Note:

I have been dying to write this chapter introducing the twin flame concept.

Also, who remembers who Adelene De Jour from Chapter 12: Auror Potter? ;)

Now that Nott has disappeared Blaise is really trying to make up for the last couple of months (and I think he carries some guilt towards the other houses from before that) the 8th years are, after all, all grown up :'(

A quick note to GOOSE who left a review last chapter, I couldn't respond directly to you as it was a guest review. Hopefully, you decided to continue reading because as the last chapter showed Ron can absolutely be forgiven and I love him as a character so he will absolutely be getting his happy ending too. I think the important thing to remember is that Draco has already acknowledged he was wrong and that he is trying to make up for it. Even then most of the Wizarding World isn't ready to forgive him. You have to work hard to be forgiven when you screw up. Until the last chapter, Ron had yet to see Ginny let alone apologize to her. Now he is getting his chance to try and earn his forgiveness. I hope that explains why the story has gone the way it has so far but if you still don't ship this particular fandom then this probably isn't the story for you.