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Chapter fifteen

Draco could only describe, in that moment, hearing Blaise's voice shattering whatever trance they had been in, like being punched in the gut. He was still standing only inches away from Hermione, who was staring ahead at the boy like he was a bloody centaur. She seemed too stunned by his instantaneous appearance to make any effort to move away from him, with a rosy tint starting to spread over her cheeks. He happened to glance in her direction as she unconsciously pulled his jacket tighter around her body.

He was itching to say how good she looked in his clothes, astounded at his own thoughts before he dragged his attention back to Blaise, who was currently bounding down the hill.

The boy had impeccable timing, that's for sure.

He was ready to tell him to piss off but was momentarily stunned into silence when he noticed a distinct blonde, bouncing along next to him.

"Is that Luna?" Hermione breathed, unable to cover her surprise. She had moved even closer towards Draco to get a better view.

"I- Fuck, I think so." Her hand had brushed against his when she had moved nearer. The sudden contact of her skin on his had caused him to stutter out his reply.

"What are they doing together?"

"That is a bloody brilliant question, Granger." Draco answered, his eyes narrowing slightly as Blaise came into view.

Draco was satisfied to see Blaise looking slightly guilty, as he glanced between the pair, his mouth dropping to the side as he finally made eye contact with Draco. Luna looked oblivious as ever as she smiled over at him and Hermione.

Blaise coughed awkwardly, and as if not knowing who to look at, he finally settled on staring at Luna as he spoke, "Sorry, man. You've been gone for hours and a few of us were beginning to get worried that maybe you had killed each other." He laughed embarrassingly as his joke fell on flat ears. He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck, finally meeting Draco's gaze.

"We've been gone for hours?" Hermione spoke up, her eyes widening.

"Yeah. Filtch will be out here doing patrols soon, so I thought- wait, are you wearing Draco's jacket?" He turned his full attention towards Hermione, unable to hide the smirk on his face. He quickly raised his eyebrows at Draco then Hermione's who face turned a beautiful shade of crimson.

"She was cold." Draco snapped, glaring at Blaise who continued to stupidly smirk at them. He wanted to punch him in the face. The reasons were now starting to mount up.

Hermione's hands flew to his jacket suddenly, her fingers shaking slightly as she tried to unbutton the top layer. Draco moved over to her, placing his much larger hand atop of hers. Her trembling hand froze underneath his own, and he realised abruptly, that her breathing quickened the moment he had touched her. Pushing away his own nerves, and ignoring the tingling sensation he felt, he forced her hand away from the button of his jacket. He was sure to keep a firm, but soft, grip on her hand until it fell back against her side. Hermione finally met his gaze, and he was amazed to see that her irises were slightly blown. He swallowed past the lump in his throat as he continued to stare into her endless chocolate eyes. He slid his hand up hers slightly, grazing his thumb over her knuckles softly, before he finally dropped his hand him her. The tips of his fingers were tingling like mad, and Draco's heart was beating frantically in his chest from the small contact. Hermione was staring back at him, her face flushing.

"Did we interrupt something or?" Blaise blurted out promptly, looking over at Luna curiously. Draco closed his eyes tightly, imagining hexing the fucking sod, before spinning to face him.

"What are you talking about, Zabini?" Draco muttered.

"Well, I mean- you know…" He mumbled awkwardly, nodding his head in the direction of Hermione's arm at her side, before looking back at Draco with a knowing expression plastered all over his face.

"I have no idea what the fuck you are on about."

"Malfoy, you know exactly what-"

The boys were interrupted by Luna laughing softly. She walked across to Hermione, linking her arm through her own, before smiling sweetly towards Blaise. Draco furled his eyebrows together, frowning slightly before everything fucking clicked.

"Well, fuck. Lovegood is your soulmate, right?" He turned to face Blaise once more, unable to hide the slight smirk on his face. Blaise only laughed in response, rubbing his hand along his neck awkwardly as he flashed the Ravenclaw a wink.

"Don't tell Theo just yet."

"What? Why not? Why haven't you told him?" Hermione demanded all in one breath, and Draco couldn't help chuckling slightly at Blaise's stunned expression. Well, that was the Hermione he knew well and truly returned once more.

"Damn, Granger. Take a breath before you pass out." Blaise muttered, grinning when she just scoffed in his direction. "We've not told him because he stupidly believes that Luna is soulmate. I'm rather enjoying watching him panic though." He added at the end, grinning at Draco.

"That's ridiculous. Anyone with half a brain cell can see that he's in love with-"

"Daphne, yep." Blaise interrupted, nodding his head at the glaring Gryffindor. "Turns out your best mate is quite an investigator. She quickly figured out that what Theo had saw had actually been about Daph, and vise versa. He has no idea though." He finished with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Why have you not already told him?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrow at the burly Slytherin. He merely winked.

"Because it's funny, Granger." Draco answered, turning slightly to catch her eye. She looked ready to tell him off but pursed her lips instead. He laughed at her reaction, and Draco was satisfied when she turned her head away from them to hide her grin.

"Come on Hermione, Ginny and Daphne have been asking for you." Luna spoke softly to Hermione, pulling her a little as she made her way past the boys, "Oh. I forgot to say to you, I borrowed your shampoo the other day." Draco turned to Hermione as Luna continued to drag her away, watching as she just rolled her eyes at him.

When the girls were out of earshot, Blaise turned towards Draco, a smug grin plastered over his face.

"What?"

"Don't what me, Malfoy." Blaise laughed loudly, "What exactly happened out here?"

"I don't know what you mean." Draco deadpanned, turning to walk up the hill, and away from Blaise. He heard his laughter as he followed up the hill, quickly following into step with him. Draco could see Hermione's hair being thrown about in the wind, and his stomach tightened when he seen her hand reach out to hold his jacket more tightly around her shoulders.

"That is exactly what I'm talking about!" Blaise bumped his shoulder into his, indicating his head in her direction. "She was looking at you the same, mate."

Draco just shook his head at his friend, trying to ignore the way his body reacted to his words. They continued to walk up the hill together in a comfortable silence, Draco's mind clouded by chocolate eyes and wild curls, before Blaise spoke.

"Look, this isn't anything to do with me- but, don't fuck it up, alright? Just remember that the spell doesn't force you to feel things." He raised his eyebrow at him, before turning to watch the girls disappear into the entrance of the castle. "I have found my soulmate. I know what to look out for now- how people might be acting, or what they will be trying to hide."

Draco didn't answer for a few moments, willing his expression to remain blank. He knew what Blaise was implying. "She's not my soulmate." He finally answered, surprised at the hint of disappointment in his voice, which didn't go unnoticed.

"Stranger things have happened, mate."

…..

Draco's head was a mess. He had tried hard to involve himself in conversations between Theo and Blaise that night, even trying to distract himself by helping Daphne with a potion essay she was struggling with. She had been so appreciative when he had approached her, but even that wasn't helping. He kept catching himself glancing towards the curly haired witch who was curled up tightly on a loveseat in the common room, a constellation book held within her grasp, as Ginny, Harry and Ron played Wizard Chess next to her. Sometimes she would catch his eye, smiling softly, before her attention was snapped away from him. He watched her laugh wholeheartedly with Ginny and rolling her eyes at another of Ron's childish outbursts when he lost again to Harry. He noticed the way she gently turned the pages of the book as if not to damage the paper. He watched her as she pulled her wild curls up into a bun on her head, adverting his eyes as the baggy jumper she wore, raised slightly to flash just an inch of her waist.

He could still feel his fingers tingling.

"You seem distracted tonight." Daphne mused, flicking up to look at him briefly before returning her attention back to her work.

"I've got a headache coming on." He wasn't lying.

"Hmmm." She mumbled, scribbling something onto the paper with her quill, "Have you being feeling any weird sensations lately?"

"Define weird?" Daphne raised her eyes to meet his once again, finally dropping the quill and stretching at her wrist.

"It's hard to explain. Like, I sometimes feel a warm sensation in my stomach- kinda feels somewhere between butterflies or like I'm going to throw up. Other times I feel like my whole body is tingling."

Tingling.

Draco hadn't realised he was holding his breath until it blew out in one long huff. Daphne watched him curiously but didn't try and speak again. She watched him intently with a slight raise of her eyebrow.

"Yeah, I guess I have been," He admitted, careful that Theo and Blaise were distracted and not eavesdropping.

"You know, I can help you out if you want? I mean, with what you saw under the spell," She added hastily, smiling slightly when Draco laughed, "You don't have to worry about me telling the boys. You can trust me."

Draco leant back on the chair, biting the inside of his cheek as he contemplated his options. He was getting nowhere fast. He knew that his soulmate was a Gryffindor that smelt of ink and coconuts, but that was really all he had to go on. Oh, and a Leo constellation near his own, but he reasoned that was another Gryffindor clue. The reactions he was having every time he was near Hermione was also driving him mad. He reasoned that it might be worth having another person to help him out, and he surprisingly did trust Daphne not to blab to Theo and Blaise.

"Okay, "He relented, leaning his arms on the table as he cleared his throat. "I could use some help actually."

"You can maybe help me work out mine as well." She grinned, and Draco struggled to keep his expression blank at her words.

Oh, he most certainly would not do that. He would pay good money to watch Theo make a fool out of himself, until he finally clicked that the he girl he had been crushing on for years was his soulmate.

Not that he would admit that to Daphne though, so he just nodded his head at her in agreement.

Draco noticed the common room emptying as students dispersed for the night. He glanced up as Hermione bide goodnight to Harry and Ron, Ginny at her side, before she met his eyes. He ran his tongue over his bottom lip, watching as Hermione dropped her eyes to ground, before she turned and left the room with Ginny. He turned his attention back to Daphne, who was simply staring at him with her head propped up on her hand.

Draco cleared his throat, "So, do you want to talk about yours f-"

"No, I'd much rather hear yours first." She interrupted him, pushing away her potion's homework.

Draco felt nervous but pushed it aside. He wanted to get to the bottom of this more. "Not sure where to even begin." He admitted.

"Just tell me everything that you saw."

Draco was surprised when he opened his mouth and it all just came tumbling out in one hurried sentence. "I was in the middle of a forest- I didn't, and still don't recognise it. I saw a tent beyond the trees in the distance and a girl laughing. I could smell coconuts so strongly; the smell of it completely took over my senses, and then I smelt ink- like from a quill. "

Daphne was nodding her head for him to continue, her expression giving nothing away.

"Then the forest began to pulse, the sound of the girl's laugh disappearing into the distance. Just as I was being sucked out the forest, the scene changed. I couldn't really see anything this time apart from a girl reaching out to touch my arm. I couldn't see her face, or anything identifiable, apart from her robes." He swallowed loudly, clasping his hands together on the table.

"What house?" Daphne asked.

"Gryffindor." Draco breathed, feeling a weird sense of relief at finally admitting it to someone.

"Did you see anything else, or was that it?"

"I dreamt the other day about the same forest, but this time before it vanished, I could see the night sky." Draco noticed that Daphne sat up a little straighter in her chair. "I could see my constellation in the sky, along with the Leo constellation."

"Makes sense," Daphne was nodding her head at him, as if the information he had just shared was completely normal. "Leo constellation is a lion."

"Yeah." He mumbled in agreement, staring at the girl and wondering why she hadn't reacted in anyway at his admission of his soulmate being a Gryffindor.

"You got it easy," She laughed at him, her eyes sparkling with an emotion Draco couldn't place. "You literally saw what house she is in."

"Yeah, speaking of that- why are you not surprised?" Draco narrowed his eyes at her slightly. He had almost thrown up at the realisation, and here Daphne was, not phased in the slightest.

"I couldn't imagine anyone else apart from a Gryffindor being able to handle you." She mused, chuckling slightly as rolled his eyes at her.

"I'm not that bad." He reasoned.

"No," She agreed. "So, tell me about these sensations you've been having then?"

Draco was just about to finally admit about his weird reactions around Hermione, and how he couldn't explain, nor control them, when he common room door creaked open. Both Daphne and Draco snapped their heads up to see Luna Lovegood come waltzing in. Draco breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of her, his heart thundering in his rib cage at the close call.

"Hi, Luna," Daphne greeted her, "Is everything okay?"

"Good evening Daphne," She smiled sweetly at her, before turning her attention towards Draco. "Hi, Draco."

He nodded towards her.

"I actually just came around to see if you could give this to Hermione for me?" She began to reach into the pocket of her robes, pulling out a slender bottle and handing the object to Daphne. "I had to borrow it for a potion I was working on. I needed coconut and Hermione is the only person I know that uses coconut shampoo. Well, goodnight guys!" She smiled sweetly again at them both before she turned and walked back out the door.

There was a stunned silence, before Daphne raised her eyebrows at the pale Slytherin sitting in front of her. He was staring at the bottle in her hand like it was about to blow up.

"So, what was that about a coconut smelling Gryffindor?"