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 Fourteen -

The fear strangled the breath in his lungs. He tried to keep away from her as he felt the Veela growing in strength inside him. But it was only six days. That was all he could stand before he reached out to her in desperation.

It took a couple of hours before he got a response. She declined a tea date as she was busy at the shop with the holidays coming up, but he was welcome to her flat at the end of her evening or tomorrow. That was all she could give right now.

But that meant waiting another six or so hours. Waiting was not his strong suit. Unfortunately, it never had been and this creature he was becoming only made it worse. Growling to himself, he forced himself out of his bed. His bones ached from the use and quickly dressed. Black and gray was all that seemed to be in his wardrobe anymore. Even the Slytherin Green was lacking these days. Everything was dull and dry anymore - except around her. He could see colors again. It infuriated him. It intrigued him.

A quick kiss to his mother on the cheek and he was making his way through the floo. He didn't notice his mother's lingering gaze or the lines starting to line around her lips and eyes. Worry deep in her bones as she watched him go. She knew that a mother's worrying never stopped but her heart ached as time started floating closer and closer to his birthday. Taking a breath, she reached for her tea and filed her worries away. For now.

Before he knew it, he was back in Diagon Alley. A notice-me-not charm placed over his person to keep wandering eyes away from him. Most people left him alone, but the looks were there. The looks of disgust. Of fear. Of hate. He could hardly stand to leave the manor anymore. The self loathing was building with time.

It wasn't long before he found himself at the front step of her bookstore again. He could feel her presence from where he stood and he took a moment to soothe the beast inside. With all the emotions churning within him, he was sure that he would scare her. The beast would crack through and then it would be over. He would sign away his life.

Taking the charm away from his person, he took a deep breath and moved inside. His eyes found her before he even stepped in the door. Her hair, surprisingly, was down and brushing across her back as she was helping a small person at one of the bookshelves. She was bent down speaking in hushed tones but he could hear her clearly.

Not wanting to bring attention to himself just yet, he moved toward the back and let the Veela feel content just to be in her presence. He found himself gazing around some of the books on the shelves. A few titles he recognized and some he didn't. Picking up an unfamiliar book on potion making, he walked his way to the back corner of the room where chairs were perched around for people's comfort and enjoyment.

The people coming and going were caught by the sound of the door and the smell, but he brushed it aside as he lost himself in the text of the potion book he had found. This writer, a potion master, had studied in several different countries and found ways to brew quicker using ingredients from other countries or different techniques. Before he knew it he had immersed himself so long that by the time he looked up, the sun was beginning to set. While the fall weather had the sun setting earlier and earlier, that meant he had been here for a couple of hours. As he stood to go purchase the book for his continued reading, he heard the door open and an annoyingly familiar smell hit him. Unsure as to where he recognized it, he paused to try and recall it.

Hermione glanced up from her book, her accounting book, where she was attempting to keep up with all the purchases from the day. The bell above her entrance rang bringing her attention to the newcomer. Just as she was about to greet the person, her eyes caught sight of the familiar red hair and her words were stuck on the tip of her tongue.

"Ginny. Ron." Taking a deep breath, she shut her book and placed it under the cupboard out of sight as she mentally prepared herself.

Draco felt his blood go cold when he heard her greeting. The smell - home cooked meals, musk, and dust - was the Weasleys. That was why he recognized it. A sense of possessiveness came roaring its ugly head up. The Veela was ready to charge and tear this redhaired git to pieces and while Draco felt the same, it didn't help that he knew that despite Granger's hesitation in speaking about her past with the second part of the trio, it would still hurt her all the same.

The Veela was angry. He'd felt the creature get mad, but this rage was unlike anything he had ever felt. It was clawing at its cage with renewed vigor. Trying and trying to get free, Draco felt its need. As he paused to listen to their conversation he started forward slowly.

"What are you two doing here?" Hermione asked as she started shuffling stuff on the register. She knew neither of them read. Ginny was with the Holyhead Harpies and Ron worked with his brother at the joke shop. Not that either of them had an interest in books even back in school. That had been what was so great about their friendship with Hermione. She helped with everything.

Ginny stepped forward with her smile showing her pearly white teeth. Too wide for her face, just like her brother, and the freckles splattered everywhere. Her eyes, a quieter blue than her brothers, spoke mischief.

"We came to invite you to dinner this evening! I'm making dinner over at Harry's and getting a few people together. Harry wanted me to make sure to invite you!" Her eyes slid to her brother before meeting Hermione's.

Hermione froze as she realized she was being cornered. Two against one. Ginny must have seen the hesitation because she quickly grabbed Hermione's wrist across the table.

"Please say you'll come. You've been so busy we hardly have seen you."

Terror hit her like a ton of breaks as she felt the littlest Weasley grip her wrist. A cold sludge slid down her spine as she felt the clammy hand wrapping around her. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened but words wouldn't form as she looked down at the pale fingers curling around to the other side. Pale in comparison to her skin.

Fear. That was all she could feel. She fought against the scream rising in the back of her throat as she tugged against the grip. Ginny only tightened her hand. Her vision started to darken as the irrational side of her rose inside her but just as she was about to release it a cold voice cut through to bring her back to reality.

"Weaslette - let her go. I need to check out and you are in my way." Draco Malfoy cut in. He had watched the exchange and had been surprised to see the fear on Hermione's face when the female Weasley grabbed her. He was even more surprised to see that neither of the red haired Weasley siblings could see it right in front of their eyes.

Ginny whirled around to face him and he watched her eyes narrow on his presence.

"What are you even doing here, Malfoy?" Ron cut in as his face reddened with anger.

"Well you see. This is a bookstore and at bookstores are books and books are what people read. I'm not sure that you've ever picked one up but you may think about it as it may help those few brain cells." He walked around the two of them and placed the book down in front of Granger whose coloring was returning. Her eyes looked up into his and he watched the mirth twinkle there. He smirked back as she went about checking the book out for him.

"That'll be three sickles," she said as she wrapped the book up and placed it in a paper bag. As she handed him the bag, she found him watching her with a furrowed brow. Courage rose in her as she saw the concern behind his mercurial eyes. Taking his money, she looked up again and smiled at him. "You coming over for dinner tonight?"

The silence was deafening. If she hadn't been watching him, she probably would have laughed at the twin expressions across the Weasley's faces.

The concern was then replaced with a humorous smirk. "I'll meet you there." He turned brushing past the two and making his way out of the shop. All three eyes on him as he left. While Hermione watched him walk past the window, the other two whipped around to stare at her.

"What the hell was that?" Ron yells.

Hermione turns her dark stare on him. "Do not come into my store and yell, Ronald Billius Weasley. You will use a civil tone or you can walk your ass out the door." Her gaze swept to the startled expression on his sister. "I apologize, but I have dinner plans tonight. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it tonight. But let me know about maybe in the next few weeks and I'll make it work." She pulled out her wand. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a dinner date to get to so I'll have to ask you to leave."

Hermione stepped through her front door and couldn't stop the smile that spread over her face as she found Draco sitting at her kitchen island with the book he had purchased earlier. His eyes rose to meet hers and she saw the hesitation in them.

"Thank you for earlier."

"I saw you get scared. I didn't think Gryffindor's were scared of anything with that fearlessness in them and what not," he commented as he closed his book to turn toward her.

"Unfortunately, scars from the war - both physical and mental - have made me have some irrational fears of things. Like having my wrists grabbed for one. It's probably from being grabbed by snatchers or something, but it puts me in a state of pure fear. I get stuck in my head and I just can't… breathe, I can't see anything." She shuffled about the kitchen trying not to look at him. She didn't want to see the pity. Not from him.

"Granger," she paused as she grabbed the fridge door. "I-I have an irrational fear of snakes." She heard him stand up. "After watching Nagini eat people, I just can't stand the site of snakes. I will hear them hiss and my stomach drops into the balls of my feet."

She glanced over at him with wide eyes. His own face was shadowed with worry and she saw the hesitation was back. "You're messing with me."

"I wouldn't." He grabbed her hand. "I'm honest to a fault. Just know that… your fear. It's not irrational. We all have monsters we are fighting in the dark. You're not alone and I will never laugh at that fear when I know I have my own lingering." Dropping her hand, letting that single touch soothe the creature, he stepped back and took his seat back.

"I-," she paused. "Appreciate that more than you know." She turned back to the fridge. "Okay, I've got lasagna from last night. There's plenty for two, or I can make grilled cheese?" Glancing back, she saw the furrowed expression.

"You just grill the cheese? Eat cheese?"

She grinned and turned back to the fridge. Grabbing the block of cheese and butter, she turned back and started setting up. "No. It's a sandwich. So," she pulled out the bread. "You butter the bread and crisp it then in between the bread is cheese that melts to perfection and you have this warm piece of perfection to eat!"

The skepticism on his face only made her that much more determined as she went about preparing their meal. The two exchanged a few words but mostly, he watched her make this weird meal. He was dubious about this so-called "piece of perfection". The house elves never made this for him as a child but he found that he hadn't experienced a lot of things living under the Malfoy Manor that normal children experienced.

When she set the contraptions before him, he hesitated on how to eat it. Glancing over at her, he watched as she took it into her hands and took a bite out of it. A slow hum of content slipped out from her and he had to fight the smile trying to form. Turning back to his meal, he copied her movements and took a bite.

Heaven. Sweet delicious heaven.

Hermione ended up making two more for him before the night was through. Though he tried to hide his excitement, she watched the spark of life seep back into his eyes with every bite. She wanted to laugh at the childlike humor but knew that would not only stop him but embarrass him as well. By his third one though, she made him take it into the living room so she could work on her books.

He sat beside her eating in the quiet periodically watching her and the other part of the time taking a look around her place. The books, while he had seen them before, were seeping from every crevice. It seemed to have grown in the short time he had last been there.

"I apologize for the scene with Ginny and Ron," she murmured from her spot on the floor.

He looked over at her. "Nothing to apologize for. Glad to be of service."

She looked over at him with her thumb nail running back and forth across her lip before she dropped her hand to her lap. "Service? Draco, I wasn't just inviting you to dinner because of them and if you felt used, I'm so sorry. That was NOT my intention at all."

"What were your intentions then by publicly announcing us having dinner to your ex?" He hadn't meant to ask the question but it slipped out. The hurt and the jealousy slowly slipping through.

She sighed heavily. "Truthfully, my intention was to claim you -" His heart picked up with speed as his eyes napped to hers. "As my friend and that they could not continue their childhood grudge against you."

Disappointment hit and the Veela felt a little hurt, but Draco shoved it aside as he scoffed. "I'll never be able to put aside our 'childhood grudge'' as you call it, with them. Weasley is scum - for more than one reason."

"To be honest, I can't blame you." She sighed heavily and leaned back against the couch. "Ron - well he's… Ron."

"I am surprised to hear you say that. I know he's your ex, but i assumed the three of you would have a lifelong bond."

"Oh we will, but Ron's stuck in the past and what people expect from him, expected from us." She turned to glance at him. "I changed after the war. I wasn't the same and I think that - that changed us. He wanted me to be someone I wasn't. He still hasn't accepted the ending of us."

"Hmm," he commented but left it at that. Hermione turns back to her books.

Before she knew it, Draco left and it was well past her bedtime. Sighing heavily, she picked up her books and dragged them to her bedroom with her. Crookshanks was already curled in the center of the bed and made Hermione wiggle her way around him to get comfortable. Picking up one of the texts on Veela Lore that now sat on her bedside, she turned to the page she left off on and started reading again before her eyes could no longer stay open.

Veelas are very protective of their mates… they have to constantly be touching them until the bond is sealed… they can sense their mate…. Sense when they are in danger…

A/N: No real note today. Enjoy! Thank you for the love and reviews! It helps encourage me to keep writing :)