Please note - all mistakes are my own. I do not currently have a Beta/Alpha to help me correct my horrible grammar.

I do not own the characters created by JK Rowling, nor do I make any profit from this fanfiction.

This is all just fun for me.

Chapter Thirteen -

A few weeks passed with the occasional meet up. Draco attempted to remain distant, but the beast inside him could only allow a few days in between visits. So, in what he thought were not obvious excuses, he would attempt to see Hermione. Sometimes they'd meet up for coffee. Other times he would catch her at her job. And on the rare occasion, she'd invite him over on her day off. Draco found they could talk about anything under the skies and he couldn't remember another person he could do that with. At least without judgement.

Not that he would admit it, but it felt nice to have an honest, fresh conversation. Sure, they did not always agree but they did always listen to the reasons that the other would give for their viewpoint point. Sometimes that helped. Other times, not so much.

Recently, they agreed to meet at the coffee house for a quick brunch to discuss some of the "symptoms" that Draco was feeling. They had gone over some of the detailed notes Draco had kept in his little black book, but Hermione stated it'd be best if they kept going with the observations.

Draco tapped his finger against the small table he sat at inside the local coffee shop. He glanced at the clock on the back of the wall and let out a frustrated sigh. Granger was supposed to be here an hour ago. Her tea was sitting there cool and untouched. He had ordered it upon entering the building. He had taken his coffee and her tea to a little table located in the corner of the shop. His frustration mounted with every passing minute.

Shoving himself from the table, he left a few coins on the table and walked out of the coffee house. Grumbling under his breath he made his way down the street toward her apartment. It wasn't like her to skip without mentioning or sending him some sort of note. But perhaps she was just avoiding him. He had been around a little more than not. She now also knew his secret. Perhaps that made her uncomfortable, he thought to himself but shook himself. This was Granger, she loved to dig into anything new and exciting. And he was confident being a Veela, a male Veela, was something she was excited to research for herself. Or, he double guessed himself, it terrified her that something like that existed. But that wasn't an excuse to not show up for a prearranged meeting - a meeting that she herself set up..

He pushed his way through the main entrance of the building. He stopped at the elevator. Staring at the red arrow that pointed up, he reached toward it before abruptly turning toward the stairs. He couldn't do it. He couldn't get into a metal contraption and just shoot up into the sky with no control. Admitting that Muggles were rather intuitive and inventive, he still couldn't force himself into the elevator. So he took the stairs two at a time until he got to her floor. It wasn't until he got to the last door on the right that he tapped his knuckles against the door. He felt her magic protecting the entrance to her space, so he had been slightly surprised that he was able to touch the wood before him.

Tapping his foot, he waited. Moments passed and he attempted to listen – even with his Veela hearing he couldn't make out any sounds coming from within. He knew that it could be that her magic was silencing whatever was going on inside so he tapped a little louder and waited once more.

"Granger," he called through the hunk of metal. Leaning against the wall, he crossed his arms. One thing he did sense was her presence. It was becoming familiar to him. He hadn't realized when it started but he could feel when she was near. He knew that his bond was reaching for her.

It didn't take long that time before he felt the magic drop. The door creaked open but he was surprised to see her still in her night clothes. A loose T Shirt and tight black shorts encased her legs leaving a lot of skin showing.

He furrowed his brow as he stared down at her. "Did you forget about our meeting today?" He questioned, his tone coming out a lot gruffer than he had intended and he immediately regretted it as her eyes widened and tears formed.

"Oh Draco," she stepped back to let him in, closing the door behind him. He felt his pulse pick up at the use of his first name. They were always, very firmly, formal by calling one another by their last names. He felt the beast purring in the back of his mind in pleasure. Gritting his teeth, he forced his hands into the pocket of his trousers as he looked at her.

She leaned back against the door and rubbed her hand down her forearm where the scars were. He watched her as she rubbed gently over and over the raised skin. It wasn't often that he was exposed to her scar – she kept it hidden from view but when it was available to her, he knew she touched it like it comforted her when she was thinking. Currently her fingers were brushing back and forth like she was trying to keep herself rooted. "I didn't mean to miss. I forgot we talked about meeting for a coffee this morning. I should have sent a note but I truly forgot that we discussed it. I'm sorry for keeping you waiting." Her eyes were pointedly looking at the floor with her hair around her face, keeping her from his view. He heard her intake of breath hitch as she attempted to gather herself before his eyes. It didn't escape his notice that her fingers were trembling even as she attempted to brush them up and down her arm.

He took a step forward. "What's going on, Granger? Are you upset about something? Did I-" He stopped himself. He wanted to reach out to her, offer a hand, but the fear of the rejection kept him rooted to his spot. He wouldn't be able to handle her flinching from his touch. He knew it would kill a part of him that he wasn't sure would come back.

He watched as she sucked in a breath before slowly letting it out. Her fingers paused in their map across her skin. He tensed however when he could smell the saltiness of her tears. Panic set in him. He had made her cry. A piece of him ripped apart inside his chest. His hands clenched at his side as he tried to figure out some way to make up for having made her cry. That hadn't been his intentions and watching her was killing pieces of him off one by one. He had done this to her.

"It's my parents' anniversary today." She took another deep breath. His heart froze in his chest. "They've been married for 25 years today and I'm not there to celebrate with them." She finally glanced up at him. "Not many people know this, but I-I took away their memories during the war. To keep them safe from-," he knew what she was going to say. "Well, anyway, it worked. They're safe."

Her hand was in his before he realized what he had done. The touch was soothing him so he could only hope he was able to reciprocate to her.

"Their memories are forever lost, Draco." her eyes met his and he felt the total despair resonate within his own body as they stared at each other. "The best healers in the world said that the damage was beyond repairable." A dark chuckle left her body. "The brightest witch of her age did the spell to complete perfection – no coming back from that."

Draco could hardly breathe. This witch before him had sacrificed her own family for the safety of the wizarding world. Her parents no longer knew that they had a daughter, a daughter that had saved the world from complete darkness. And here she was suffering because of her sacrifice.

A darkness crawled up into him, but it didn't stop him from saying, "You were right to do that, Granger, otherwise they would have killed your parents. It was one of the orders given to us by the Dark Lord."

Hermione felt her stomach drop at his words but as she glanced at him again, his head was bent toward his chest and she felt a sense of relief. His shoulders were tense and his free hand was clenched. Appreciation warmed in her chest as she realized the effort he was making.. A part of her heart was lost at his words though because while she knew she had done the right thing, she would forever be without her parents now. "Thank you."

His head whipped up and the confusion was in his eyes as she looked up at him. "It helps knowing what I did was worth it. I'd rather they had a chance to live the rest of their lives than be dead because I couldn't handle them not knowing about me." Feeling brave, she leaned forward and brushed her lips across his cheek. She pulled back though when she felt him tense. "Thank you, Draco."

Glancing at the boxed contraption in the corner he waved at it. "Are we going to watch one of those weird moving picture things?"

Hermione smiled and leaned back. "It's a movie, Draco. And I thought you didn't care for anything muggle."

"I'll give it another shot. But something not sad. Not today.." He stood up and took off his coat. Walking to the kitchen, he draped it across the back of one of her chairs that sat in her dining area around the kitchen island.. Shuffling around the counter, he cast a quick spell to heat the teapot resting over the stove. Grabbing two cups from her cabinet, he levitated them and the mug out to the living room setting them on the coffee table. Some sort of black and white picture was playing across the screen as he poured a mug for the witch and himself. She murmured a thank you as she sipped at the warm liquid.

Taking his own seat he leaned back and glanced over at her. Her eyes were rimmed red but they were entranced on the screen. She had her knees up to her chest with her arms around them holding her mug with both her hands. He wasn't sure he could sit like that for any length of time but she seemed perfectly content sitting that way while watching the screen before them. Her eyes never left the screen as she sipped from the mug every now and then. His heart would stop when he saw a smile slip past and even a chuckle at something that had happened. Not that he was paying any attention to the screen. He was entranced by the witch before him.

He didn't know when it happened but he didn't feel the hesitation at being in her company. Or the second guessing of their past. It was starting to feel natural when he spent time with her. Getting to know her, he found that he rather liked her sharp tongue and her quick wit. There weren't many he could sit down with and have an intellectual conversation about potions before the other party would get bored and change the subject. True, she'd always been rather studious in school but actually sitting down with her to have these conversations was a whole different ball game. Contentment sat in his soul as he finally turned his head to look at the pictures moving across the screen.

By the time the movie had finished, Hermione had fallen asleep. Her head was pressed against the armchair of the couch and a blanket was tucked up under her chin as she curled inward toward the back of the couch.

The television was still on in the background as Draco took a quiet moment to observe her. He found himself doing that more often than not which didn't help his situation at all. Her hair, a mess in a messy bun on top of her head, was starting to come undone as she rolled back to face the couch. Her legs stretched out, grazing against his thigh, were covered by a thin blanket. He noticed that she seemed to constantly be wearing those weird teeth t shirts for her slumber.

Remembering her comment about her parents being teeth healers, he furrowed his brow as he leaned forward to view the picture. Realization hit when the word "Granger" was printed in the title. While he didn't understand why a ratty t-shirt was worth keeping, he knew that this specific shirt meant a lot to her.

He felt the Veela under his skin begging him to reach out and touch her. The tug was strong and he had to physically push himself back against the couch. More and more, the Veela pushed and pushed. Fighting him was weakening him. His strength was waning and he could feel it. Fear was starting to eat him alive.

One question was keeping him awake and locked in his room at night.

What happens if the Veela breaks through?

A/N: I did NOT forget about you guys!

Here's this weeks update :) I feel I should warn you guys that there will be NO updates the month of November as I will be participating in NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month). For those of you who do not know what this is - it's a month of dedicating yourself to writing on a daily basis to reach 50k words in ONE MONTH. The goal is to write a novel in that month! My goal is going to work on Before A Veela Breaks You. So, come December I'll have lots of goodies for you all!