A/N- Ah ha! So I've come out of my writers block! Thanks to everyone you commented or PM me with ideas, they, combined for your love of this story inspired me to write this chapter(although it's a bit of a filler...)
This was known as 'Draco Malfoy: Making Library Trips Interesting Since He Came Into His Inheritance' but that title was too long.
Some Blaise bashing going on in this one. I'm just going to say sorry now for the crap fight scene... Anyway, I don't want another long note...
So here it is!
"You go on ahead mate, there's no reason for me to go in there. It's your book after all." He said as he lent against the wall next to the library door and crossed his arms. Draco sighed heavily and seemed to mutter things about Blaise under his breath as he pushed open the door and stepped in. Blaise smirked. He could see Hermione, Hannah and Susan all gathered around a bookshelf by a table laden with books about Charms, Potions and Magical Painters of the 12th Century. 'This is going to be entertaining,' Blaise thought to himself. Draco seemed to freeze in the doorway as he took in the flowery scent that he had smelt the other day on the train; but Blaise wasn't having any of that, as he placed a hand on Draco's back and shoved him forward, closing the door behind him.
Draco wasn't sure what the book probably said about controlling the change of minds, but he felt as if by instinct that it must have something to do with putting up a good mental fight about who he wanted to stay in control. And that was exactly what he was trying to do, although it was giving him a bloody horrible headache. He wasn't even sure why his Veela was trying to take over, Ginny wasn't in there and apart from a couple seventh years and Hermione, Susan and Hannah, the library was completely empty. Not even Madam Pince was sitting behind her desk or re-arranging the books on the shelves. With a pounding head, he still tried to stay in control as he stumbled towards the bookshelf on Magical Creatures. The further away he went from the Charms side of the room (where Hermione's group was) the calmer his headache got, but it still felt as though somebody was bashing a brick against his skull; it was while this was happening that he wished that he could just pass out again to save him the pain. As soon as he got to the bookcase, he picked up the first book that he saw (Dragons From Around the World) and began to whack the hardback book against his head. He didn't feel any pain coming from the book; it didn't intensify his headache, nor did it quell it for whatever reason. When he realised that he was just tiring himself out, Draco promptly stopped and flicked open the book-not even bothering to look at the title-and began to read about the Welsh Green. He wasn't able to understand anything that he was reading though, because his headache was messing with his thoughts and just getting worse as if it was demanding his attention and he do something about it. He placed the book back, closed his eyes and tried to give his frame of minds the attention that they were demanding of him. He shook his head, as if the thoughts were going to fall into the right order, and took deep breaths, which only intensified his headache as his nostrils became even more filled with the sultry smell.
He had only sorted himself out for a couple of seconds, before someone else entered the library and made the air smell so strongly of his Mate that it felt as if it was suffocating him. He was practically clawing at his throat, trying to relieve himself, as he slid down the bookshelf to the floor, gasping for breath. Draco was stubborn-very much so-but trying to stay in his Wizard frame of mind was getting too tiring. If giving in meant that his headache left and the air in the room was suddenly less suffocating, then he was past trying to stop his Veela taking over. He shook his head once, quietly laughing bitterly, and before he gave up, he took the time to listen to what was going on around him.
'Is that Malfoy?' '...Told you he was good looking...' '...Back this year.' '...What everyone else thinks?' 'Why is he on the floor?' '...Is he doing?'
'If they're wondering what I'm doing now, they'll be even more intrigued in a minute.' He thought to himself. Sitting on the floor, he slowly gave in to instincts and felt his sanity slip away. Once his Wizard was long gone, he felt peaceful and calm again and he had to wonder why he didn't want to change in the first place if it felt this nice. Then, when his body picked itself up and started to walk towards the tables in the middle of the room, he remembered exactly why. Panicking, he forced himself to stop; but to the outside viewer it looked more like someone in an invisibility cloak was holding onto his legs so he couldn't move. His black eyes looked around the room and landed on Ginny, who was frozen on the spot on the opposite side of the room, looking like a deer in the headlights. She backed away slowly and ran down to the corner furthest away from Draco and his penetrating stare. His eyes followed her the entire way there, but as they passed over Hermione, they seemed to get fixed onto where she was sitting. He was sure that she felt his eyes on her, and when she looked up from her book and made eye contact with him, it took all his strength to tear his eyes away after a few seconds. His body was still facing her even if his eyes weren't looking (he instead chose to focus on Ginny who was ducking behind a bookshelf), and his nose was picking the delicious smell once more but it was coming from the complete opposite direction of Ginny. He didn't need to move his eyes to know who was ahead of him, he very clearly remember having only broken eye contact with her a minute ago. He was more drawn to this smell though it was the same as Ginny's, it felt purer and a lot more natural. He wanted to go to it, but he was forcing himself not to move. It was Granger after all and that wasn't right; he should be going the other direction to Ginny. Two sides of his mind was arguing with each other about where he wanted to go, if one side tried to make him move, the other would stop him. His headache was back but this time, other than it feeling like a herd if Hippogriffs were stomping on his head, his head was spinning. His hands flew to his head and tugged at his blonde hair as if it'd help and made loud groans of frustration. His blood felt like it was burning red-hot and he knew he needed to calm down, before he completely lost what little control he had.
'You want to go over to Hermione.'
'It's Granger not Hermione and no I don't. I want to go over to Ginny.'
'Why do you want to go over to Weaslette when Hermione smells much better?'
'It's Ginny not Weaslette, and I just said that it's Granger not Hermione.'
'It doesn't matter what you call Hermione, she's still better smelling than the runt of the Weasley family!'
'It's some kind of trick! Ginny told Granger about what happened on the train, remember over hearing their conversation? She must've come up with a plan to throw me off her trail and got Granger to help. She couldn't say no to her friend. I'm not stupid, I know exactly what they're trying to do and it won't work!'
'Like Weaslette even knows you're a Veela. Unless she knows, she wouldn't come to the conclusion of throwing you off her scent.'
'She probably does. Didn't her older brother marry a quarter one anyway?'
'Go to Hermione.'
'Go to Ginny.'
'Hermione.'
'Ginny.'
His blood was boiling now, and he could feel the pain that told him his wings were trying to come out. It was just too much for him; the scent, the two of them, being cursed with being a Veela- everything. 'It has to be a trick; my mate could never be bloody Granger.' Draco stubbornly repeated in his head like a mantra, ignoring the glowing or heat coming from his hands. He was so much in his head, Draco didn't notice two whisky coloured eyes looking at him. The scene in front of Hermione was an odd one; to her it looked like Draco was having a mental breakdown in the library. Her eyes saw his face and could tell he was in pain but also saw anger. Her eyes looked around the room to see what could have caused it and she was met with the eyes of Ginny.
I was looking through the glass window of the library door, watching Draco as he tried to fight off his instincts. It was quite amusing to say the least, all he had to do was stop fighting it and he'd be with Hermione in no time, but of course, he was too stubborn for that to happen. I felt a small amount of pity for him when I saw him pick up a random book and start attacking his head with it. It looked rather painful and hard, if it were anyone else I was sure that they'd have been unconscious by now. My attention, however, was suddenly drawn away from Draco when I caught a strong whiff of perfume.
"Weaslette," I said smirking as I saw her drop her hand from the doorknob and turn to face me. So she was going to go into the library? I predict that sometime in the near future there's going to be a very confused Veela. I wasn't worried though, surely his Veela was smart enough to know that it wasn't really Weaslette; moreover, I don't think he could hold off the strength that his Veela mind possessed for much longer. Besides, it wasn't as if she even smelt like Granger, although I wasn't even sure how Draco managed to mistake her for his Mate in the first place.
"Yes?" She said, annoyance in her tone.
"You wearing enough perfume there? Going to suffocate everyone in the library with it?" I drawled sarcastically.
"Shut up," She snapped. "It's not mine anyway. I rather liked the smell so I decided to wear it-not that it's any of your business."
"Weasley's been stealing, eh? Whose is it then?"
"Why should I tell you?" She placed her hand back onto the doorknob and made to open it, but before she could fully, I threw my weight on to the door, keeping it closed.
"Because, there's no way you're getting in there unless you do."
"Look Zabini, I have a lot of work to get done before I go to my next class. I am in no mood to play games."
"So just answer me and you'll be able to get your work done."
"Fine," She chirped with false cheerfulness. "It's Hermione's. Happy?"
"G-Granger's?" I spluttered. "How did you get into the common room?"
"The common room? I didn't need to get in there. I borrowed it off her yesterday." So she smells like Granger now, but how did she smell like her on the train? This was going to confused Draco even more than she was already. "I've answered two of your pointless questions now. I think it's your turn to hold up your end of the bargain. Let me in." I huffed in annoyance and moved away from the door to let her in. Draco was going to be confused, but it could still be funny. Unless, he started to get angry...
Moving back to the door's window, I watched Draco and his reaction to Ginny entering the library. He seemed to be going more crazed since the smell had doubled. I watched as he sunk to the floor in what seemed like defeat. Next thing I knew, he was up again and staring at Weaslette, who ran away from him in terror-probably not wanting to relive the train ride. He started to tug at his hair and any idiot could tell that this was a sign of frustration, and what came with frustration was...anger. From my view of his back, I could see the smallest of bumps forming from underneath his shoulders. "Wings..." I muttered to myself. Before even looking at his glowing hands, I knew that this had gone far enough. I may be feeling selfish to him at the moment, but I wasn't this selfish to let him just transform in front of anyone. I was making up a quick plan about how best to remove him from this tricky situation, but that all fell apart when I saw Granger approaching him. Without a second thought, I threw open the door and shoved her out of the way. I knew that if someone so much as shoved her out of the way, his Wizard side wouldn't so much as stand a chance of staying in control, and I knew that Granger being attacked meant that his Veela would first and foremost want to exact revenge before returning to her.
"Help me get out of here." Ginny mouthed to Hermione, looking panic-stricken. She nodded her head. Ginny was right about Malfoy going mental, but before she entered the library he seemed perfectly fine and normal-albeit whacking a book against his head. She slowly slipped out of her seat and cautiously approached him. She had only made it a couple of steps towards him, when the library door slammed open. She whipped round to see who it was but all she saw was some black robes before she was thrown out the way. She landed awkwardly on the floor, but luckily, she didn't break nor sprain anything. Suddenly a roar sounding quite close to her made her snap her head towards Draco. What she saw made her compare it to two wild animals. Blaise and Draco were continuously latching on to each other and were trying to throw them on the floor or gain the upper hand to gain control. Books toppled off the bookshelves as they slammed into them, but neither seemed to take notice; not even when a particularly heavy tome hit and cut the side of Blaise's head. In one false move though, Blaise was grabbed by the front of his robes and thrown on the floor. He didn't stay down long as Draco roughly pulled him back up by his robes again and started speaking over the hiss of pain that was coming from Blaise's mouth. Hermione couldn't hear what he was saying; all she could make out was that it was a dark, low voice that held promises of carrying out any threat that might've been said. Blaise didn't take it as threatening, instead as soon as Draco seemed to pause; he seemed to rile him up more. He put his hands on his chest and pushed him backwards. Draco faltered slightly and Blaise was able to free himself from his grip. Pushing him back more so he stumbled into the bookshelf, Blaise sounded like he was whispering menacing things back to him. This got Draco angrier than his previously was, but Blaise was laughing and walking backwards towards the door as Draco stalked towards him.
"If you know what's good for you Granger, you'll stay down and mention this to no one." He hissed as he passed her on the floor as she was starting to get up. He then raised his voice, "Or I might just have to Obliviate you!" Hermione knew he was joking by the playful tone in his voice, but she stayed down purely for the reason she didn't want to be caught in the middle of their fight. At that point, Blaise turned around and ran out the door, followed by Draco; who as soon as Blaise opened the door, jumped on him and tackled him to the floor outside the library. Blaise kicked the door shut and the last thing anyone in the library saw was Blaise throwing Draco off him and rolling away.
Draco immediately tried to attack me, but I fought back admirably because there was no way that I was just going to let myself get beat up. When a large hard-covered book hit my head, it made me confused and I moved too slowly and clumsily to grab the front of Draco's robes, and before I knew it, I'd been slammed onto the floor on top of the large book that cut my head. I groaned in pain, but Draco wasn't going to leave me there without injuring me badly. He picked me up so that my heels were off the ground, but his hands were so hot, they were going right through my robes and burning my skin. I hissed in pain, but Draco was too far gone to see that his friend was hurting.
"You hurt her?" He growled darkly. It didn't sound like an accusation though, more like a statement. Of course he knew that it was I who shoved her, he saw me coming towards them after all. "I'm going to kill you. By the time I'm done with you, you won't see the light of another day. How dare you touch what is mine! You could've hurt her! You could've broken what belongs to me!"
"But she's not even yours yet, is she? You don't even think it's her, do you? You think it's Ginny Weasley." I stated smugly. His threats made me nervous, but I wouldn't let weakness show. He seemed to falter slightly at the truth of what I just said; I took this to my advantage and started to push him backwards until he hit the bookshelf, which made him lose the strong hold he had on the collar of my robes and I managed to free myself. "So, tell me, is it Granger or is it the youngest Weasley? Tell me Draco-who is it really? Tell me now mate, or I might just date the wrong one. Granger looks pretty tempting." The angry look on his face was priceless and had me laughing, but it also struck a small amount of terror. I backed away from him, knowing that he'd follow me and attack me again, for what I said. As I passed the spot where Granger was lying on the floor, I saw the she was weakly pulling herself back up; probably to separate the fight, to go back over to her friends, to leave, to get help? If she moved now she could get herself in trouble. ""If you know what's good for you Granger, you'll stay down and mention this to no one." I hissed to her making sure that she knew I was serious. It wouldn't be good for her to think that she could do whatever she wanted, especially if she didn't know what she was dealing with. "Or I might just have to Obliviate you!" I raised my voice at this, so that Draco could hear that I was threatening her, to get more of a reaction out of her. I turned and ran to the door as fast as I could and flung it open, but I didn't get much further than that as Draco tackled me to the floor. I kicked the door shut, so that no one from inside could see what was happening. I threw Draco off and rolled away from him, pulling my wand out of my robe pocket at the same time as I stood up, ready for the next attack. He lunged at me, but I dodged his attack with the finesse of a Chaser and shot a Stupefy at him, but it only just missed him as he lunged for me again. This time I was too slow at moving out of the way, and he threw me to the floor again. My head thudded against the stone floor and eyelids felt like they were drooping. I wiped away the blood that was trickling down my face and blurring my vision, and jumped to my feet, shooting another Stupefy at him that hit him square on the chest before he jumped on me again. The stunning spell slowed him down momentarily, but he still moved faster than other Wizards did. Using Draco's slowed speed to my advantage; I grabbed his arm and swung him to the floor. When his body hit the floor, it didn't make a thud like it did when I was thrown; it only made a noise a bit louder than a tap and it looked like that's all it felt like to him when he spent no time in picking himself up. I backed away quickly from the small flame that now flickered in his hands; the wings that were sprouting in his back looked like they were going to burst free any moment. I knew he'd never been this close to throwing fire or growing wings before-I would've seen it-but as he put his hands together and rubbed them, the flame grew and next thing I knew I was creating shields and ducking out of the way of the small fireballs he was throwing as if he'd done it countless times before. With each one he threw that missed, he got more annoyed and the wings looked as if they were getting bigger and were now making him look as if he was some sort of hunchback. Draco threw another fireball, which singed my robes sleeves, but before he could be proud of his achievement, he let out a tortured howl and outburst from his back, two, feathered, midnight black wings.
The bottom tips of the wings just about skimmed the ground, while the curves at the top, arched slightly above his head. Draco was a remarkable sight and seeing him for what he was, was terrifying because I knew that this was dangerous. My wand was pointed directly at his chest, and stopping my hand from shaking a little from the dizziness that was affecting my mind from the slight amount of lost blood and concussion, I shot another two Stupefy's before he recovered from the pain of growing the wings. Draco shuffled his wings about a bit, staring curiously at them, but his eyes didn't linger for long as they quickly snapped back to where I was standing and, staggering a bit as if he was drunk, he came after me again. Shooting one last Stupefy, he collapsed on the floor unconscious. Once he wasn't awake, his hands cooled down quickly and his wings disappeared back into his back; leaving the only clue that he grew wings was the gaping holes in the back of my robes that he was wearing. I was doubled over trying to catch my breath and wiped the rest of the blood from my face. I was just finishing repairing the gash on my forehead when a gasp coming from in front of me, made me stop and look at the library door. Weaslette was standing frozen in the doorway with a look on her face that suggested that she just saw a murder. Her eyes snapped away from Draco's body on the floor to meet my gaze; letting out a strangled cry, she ran as fast as she could down the corridor, away from us. I watched her run away until I could no longer see her, completed the healing on my cut, picked Draco up from underneath his arms, and began to drag him back to the common room.
I laughed dryly. 'Didn't even get the bloody book.'
"Oh Merlin Hermione! Are you alright?" Susan said worriedly as she, Hannah and Ginny finally left their spots and ran over to where Hermione was still lying on the floor.
"Yeah...I'm fine." She said distractedly as he accepted Ginny's hand to help her get up. "What happened?"
"Well, Zabini just kind of burst in here without warning. I don't know what you were doing before that Hermione, but you were in his way to Malfoy and you were just thrown aside like a piece of rubbish. All I could understand after that was that they started wrestling and then...just left." Hannah said slowly while Susan nodded beside her. Hermione looked around the room at the few seventh years that were in there. Some were watching her, others were still staring at the door in shock and there was one person who just went back to reading as if the fight was no more interesting as watching paint dry.
"Oh, well," She breathed. "I'm OK now, I promise. Why don't you just go back to finding what we came here for, I'll join you in a minute. I need to have a talk with Ginny." Hannah and Susan nodded, albeit hesitantly, and returned to their table to look through the books that they'd gathered. Hermione and Ginny walked behind a bookcase away from all the students and hidden from view of everyone. "Is this what you meant by mental?" Ginny nodded her head frantically as if words couldn't express how truthful she was being.
"Did you see him?! Are you sure we shouldn't just phone St. Mungos right now?" Ginny stressed.
"I'm sure. There must be something to this...He can't-he wouldn't-just start attacking his friend for no reason, and neither would Zabini."
"I think he could. I doubt Slytherin's even have friends-if they were looking for a fight I don't think any of them would refuse. No matter any of that self-preservation crap they go on about. I mean, it wasn't like Malfoy was even getting hurt, I'd be more worried about the well-being of Zabini."
"I wonder what they were saying to each other...Scrap that, what I want to know is why they even came to the library. When we left, they were still in the common room." She wondered aloud.
"Well no doubt you're going to find out what's up with the two of them." She commented dryly. "Anyway, class is in a couple of minutes and I have to find Luna and copy as much of her homework down as quickly as possible. I may just start ranting to her and she'll eventually know what the bloody hell is making me so paranoid about Malfoy. Who knows? Maybe one of her imaginary little creatures is affecting him." She waved goodbye and left the library quickly. Hermione turned back around and headed back over to Hannah and Susan who looked like they might've found something.
'Just forget about it Hermione,' She thought to herself as she sat back down on the chair between the two of them. 'You have more important things to worry about besides Malfoy and Zabini.'