A/N- Ah, okay, so I'm not entirely sure that I like this chapter, but I hope that you do. I just don't tend to like the things that I do.

Also, thanks to Chester99 for the ideas!

Anger.

Pure, white-hot anger coursing through his body.

Anger for being so caught up in himself that he didn't hear the door close; anger for not being as careful as he should've been with his new traits; anger at Hermione for following him; anger at the first Veela that married into the Malfoy family and condemning them all to a horrible life. Out of everything in the world that has been ruining his life since the goddamn day he was born until now, he found himself unable to put much blame onto Hermione. Putting all the blame on his life however, now that was easy. Why did he become so at ease with the witch when he'd hated her for years? He wasn't meant to be acting like that with her and she definitely wasn't supposed to be talking to him like that either! He said sorry to the woman but he didn't mean it! He was just comfortable with her that all this nonsense about hating her slipped away.

Okay, fine. When he saw the blood on the floor the other day he decided that all the remarks about 'dirty blood' was utter crap. Her blood was exactly the same as his – no cleaner and no dirtier – and he couldn't be bothered to hate it when he wanted to have her blood so badly (but like he'd said before – not in the Vampiric way). It just didn't make sense even to try hating her for it. Now, though - now that the Mudblood thing was out of the way, he had no other reason to hate her – well, apart from how annoying he finds her.

Anyway, back to the rant about why this Veela thing was getting out of control and how it was now affecting the beloved Wizard part of him that he'd hoped would stay on his side against Granger for the rest of his life.

It was almost as if he'd never said anything to hurt her before, as if they'd were just being closer than acquaintances – even their little arguments weren't damaging to any relationship that they had – whatever their relationship was. And her little burst of obsession over knowing what was going on with him made him concerned that it was actually all his antics and involvements in her life recently had caused her to just snap completely. Like, seriously, going around cutting people after seeing that their skin magically healed once just to prove that there was something magical and secretive going on with him – that was just horrendously psychotic. Moreover, just thinking about this made him wonder why on Earth had she gone for those questions, surely with this much curiosity she'd have asked why he was so friendly with Luna when she stumbled upon him the other day. He'd have been happy to answer that question, especially since he'd be happy to believe that her curiosity was actually jealousy.

He'd believe anything if it meant it seemed that he had more of a chance at living.

However, putting himself into denial wasn't really the point of all this.

The real point of all this was Draco Malfoy, Prince of Slytherin, Ex-Death Eater, Returning Eighth Year, Part-Veela and Mate of Hermione Granger, was fucking furious.

Somewhere in the back of his mind did he register the fact that she was saying something or had said something, but detailsof whatever she did say wasn't important to him anymore. He couldn't care less about what she said or did through the rage.

He raked a hand through his hair, messing up what he'd tried so hard that morning to perfect, as his chest heaved from his erratic breathing caused by the stress. He didn't need to think twice as his feet swung his body around (he couldn't even remember when he had turned away from Granger) and stalked towards her. Anyway, even if she was talking, she stopped when she caught sight of him.

Hermione's eyes widened as she caught sight of Draco coming towards her. She had never seen someone so enraged – she didn't even understand how he could even be that livid over what had just happened. Even the famous Weasley temper couldn't hold anything to him and that was saying something considering the amount of times she'd seen Ron, Ginny and Molly shout – and Draco hadn't even said anything yet. She remembered seeing him angry before - during that trip to the library – but compared to now, he looked relatively docile.

It was only when Malfoy was a few feet away from her and still coming forward like a steam train, did she realise that he wasn't going to stop. She mustered up all her Gryffindor courage and made herself as tall as she could be; waiting bravely for whatever impact was to come her way. She didn't know why, but she almost knew that Malfoy wouldn't dare to hit her. Purebloods were traditional, they believed in acting like ladies and gentleman and, though half of them were Death Eaters who performed the Killing Curse and unnecessary torture on Muggle-borns and Muggles, she was sure that even they looked down on abuse to women. Still, Hermione flinched when she felt his fingers wrap around her upper arms and lifted her up (apparently, being no heavier than a feather again) so that she was at the same eye level as him, only to be pushed back into a wall. He wasn't hurting her – much. I mean, it wasn't as if she was slammed into the wall but neither was she pushed into it gently, she was sure that there wouldn't even be any bruises on her back from it in the morning. Although, she couldn't say the same for her arms; she could practically feel the red fingerprints on her skin. When she actually looked into his eyes however, she wasn't as shocked as the others had been to discover that they were black, her mind was much more caught up in the fact that his nose was only millimetres away from hers and there was a strange sound coming from him. It...It sounded like he was ('But no, he couldn't be...could he?) growling.

Sure it was hard to keep his Wizard in control when Hermione was so close to him and her luscious sent was filling his nostrils - not to mention the sexiness of her being pushed up against the wall – but if he really cared about her at this moment, he wouldn't be holding her so tightly, now would he? Truth be told, he felt the same way that he did six days ago when he transferred some of his pain into her, he felt that she deserved this treatment. If she wanted to know about him so badly then so be it - she could face his consequential wrath. He was surprised though, to find that she wasn't even trying to wriggle free of his grip, that she was just taking all of this. Nevertheless, it didn't mean that there wasn't any anger in her over it, oh no, there was definitely a spark of it in her eyes, despite the fact that her face remained almost impassive.

His hot breath hit her face in pants but when he spoke, it was in a deathly quiet voice that made her a bit more nervous than a loud Draco would've done. She didn't know why, but it did. "Listen here Granger," he snarled, putting extra emphasis on her name as if trying to prove his own point to her. "I don't know what the fuck you think you're doing, but in case you've forgotten we aren't friends and we never will be, so next time you want to know something about me – just forget about it or do what all your little friends do and not care. You have no reason to be in my life more than necessary, so butt out of it."

Hermione's eyes narrowed and she pushed away from the wall as much as she could, trying to look at least a little bit intimidating, though from how she was being held (by both his arms and body), she couldn't move very much. "I'll have you know Malfoy," she spat, "I, in no way, see you as anything close as a friend – not even as a confidant. All I want to know is what the bloody hell has been going on with you since September!"

Draco chuckled mockingly, though his eyes were locked onto hers and showed no trace of any other emotion than rage. He pushed Hermione back further into the wall from where she had come forward, and pinned her there more firmly with his body. "You shouldn't want to know anything about me! If I've changed since the War then hooray for me, but as I said, you shouldn't care nor should you have even noticed. Okay? My life isn't your business!"

"I don't want to know everything! I just want to know what's wrong with you! Why-why you heal like that!"

"What's wrongwith me? What's wrong with me? You shouldn't care what happens to me! Don't you get it? There isn't anything wrong with me – there's something wrong with you!"

She spluttered indignantly, offended by the accusation. There was absolutely nothing wrong with her, thank you very much! "No, don't you get it?" She sneered. "I don't want your life to be my business but-"

"No! No 'buts', 'ifs' or 'howevers'! Granger, I swear if you ever dare to attack me again or accuse me-"

"Rightly accused!" Hermione protested, struggling a little in his arms when his grip tightened even more. "You were rightly accused, Malfoy."

"I don't care!" He roared. "I don't fucking care! More to the point, why do you even care? Why are you so suddenly obsessed with my life – with what I do? What drove you to do something so bloody psychotic?"

"I just want to know, okay? Is it such a problem for you?" She snapped.

"What, can the Gryffindor Princess," he spat the word as if it were poison in his mouth, "not stand not knowing something?" Hermione's cheeks reddened slightly from embarrassment despite her best efforts form trying to keep her blush down and despite her growling 'shut up Malfoy', pushing up from the wall as best as she could again, he burst into derisive laughter. "Merlin, it's true! Well, I'll tell you this," He leaned forward and for a terrifying moment, Hermione thought that he was going to kiss her their faces were so close, however that was not the case. He brought his lips close to her ear and his breath tickled the back of her neck as he spoke. "If I ever find you in the library trying to research something that has anything to do with me - if I ever even hear you talking to someone about me or this nice little meeting we're having I swear, the next time I'd see you, it'll be worse than this. Much, much worse."

He was going to threaten to kill her, but he felt that that might have been crossing the line. Besides, being close to her was calming him enough as to not have fire coming out of his hands or wings out his back, but he was still pretty infuriated. Pulling his head back away from her neck though, he realised that her scent was most potent there and much to his annoyance, he felt his Veela close enough to the front of his mind to make him nip a part of her neck as he completely brought his head back to face her. He heard her gasp, though it was so quiet that he shouldn't have in normal circumstances, but, then again, when had any of their lives ever been normal?

He grinned at her, showing off his white teeth, his eyes now twinkling with slyness. It seemed that his anger had left him almost entirely, if not then he was at least pushing it down and hiding it for some reason when only minutes ago he was happily displaying it. Hermione's brow furrowed in confusion and silent outrage. How dare he threaten her! How dare he even bite her and then look at her as if he were daring her to say something about it or do something about it. Really, though she would never admit it to even herself, she was angry that the stupid little gesture from someone she didn't give two damns about - from Malfoy – had managed to make her heart speed up. She couldn't even begin to comprehend why her body would even respond to that! Luckily, she was able to keep her blush down this time with great effort – it was already bad enough that he could probably feel how fast her heart was beating. "What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing?" She whispered harshly.

"How many times do I have to tell you to not care about what I do?" He said irritably. "If – if, I even do this," he moved his head round to the other side of her neck and brushed his lips against the skin by her ear, light enough for it not to be considered a kiss, but for Draco it was something just as forbidden for his Wizard. Hermione shook her head from side to side, trying to get herself away from his lips, getting more irritated by the man by the minute and the godforsaken butterfly flapping about in her stomach. However, it wasn't as if moving her head made any difference to what was happening, especially when he shifted his body so that it was now also leaning on one of her arms, so that he could use his spare hand to hold onto her chin and keep her still. He was looking back at her, with the same manic grin, only seconds later. "You shouldn't think twice of that now or even hours later. Whatever I do means nothing."

She wriggled in his grip again, but his hands were as firm as iron and with her legs placed either side of his body, she saw no way of escaping him. She had tried kicking him from where her legs had been placed, but that had resulted in her legs being more or less wrapped around his waist, and that was a position she did not want to be in under any circumstances. Loose bits of hair fell into her eyes, which she had to unsuccessfully blow out of her face, but it didn't matter to Draco – it just made her look sexy. "Ah, okay Malfoy. I don't care what you do to me if I interfere in your bloody life again, but I swear that if you put that disgusting mouth anywhere near me again then I won't hesitate to-"

"You won't hesitate to...what? What can you do Granger - you're trapped." He said, amusement laced into his voice but not enough to draw her attention away from that maliciousness of his comment. His eyes glinted darkly in the corridor and for a moment, subjected to his mercy, Hermione became worried about what he could be possibly thinking in that ferrety head of his. Was he was just going to let her go with his last words in mind? A part of Hermione doubted that that was going to happen though; most likely, he was just going to display just what kind of power he had over her again. He was probably going to use his mouth to do it, just because Hermione told him not to. Draco, of course, was considering doing something but injuring her just simply wasn't appealing anymore. He wasn't sure when his Veela side had taken control of most of his mind, but he suspected that it was because of the feeling of his lips against her bare skin. He didn't even know what he was doing anymore really, he thought - somewhere in the back of his mind where his thoughts weren't mainly aboutwhat he could do to her – that he was showing her reasons why she shouldn't care about him. Maybe it was also a thing about power; that he was better than she was and he could do what he wanted. He could do what he wanted to her and she couldn't stop him. Yes, he now thought, yes this was definitely about power. If he wanted to (and dear God did he want to at that moment) he could...

Draco focused his thoughts back onto her and his eyes to look straight back into hers, which were glaring at him. Just to annoy her, he decided, though he also wanted to look at what he couldn't touch as well, he let his eyes wander down her face, taking in every detail until his eyes reached her lips. They were turned down into a frown and he could imagine that her eyes were also narrowed, but still, her pink lips still looked perfect and plump. Soft too, he thought. Soon, he found himself wondering what would happen if he did prove his point by kissing her. It certainly was tempting. I mean, she was right there; pinned up against the wall in front of him and pressed against his body. He could undoubtedly do it, all he had to do was lean forward a couple of centimetres and they'd be kissing. However, he didn't exactly – as kinky as it was – want her biting him. After all, she still had full use of her mouth to do whatever and it would be extraordinarily surprising if she actually – of her own free will – joined in. She couldn't head butt him though, he still held her chin in his hand, so it was just her mouth that he was wary of.

Of her own free will...

The phrase kept repeating in his head and after a moment, it finally clicked. He remembered what Blaise had told him when he was trying to get him to plan his funeral. Hermione didn't have to have free will – Draco could take it from her. Just for a moment, at least. The possession (or Veela Charms) took the exact same process as it did when transferring his emotions, except that he had to focus his mind entirely on Hermione, although that wasn't that difficult considering most of it already was. In addition, the Charms would work as long as he was maintaining contact to her, which he would be and already was. Once he did that, it would be as if she was under the Imperius Curse. Briefly, Draco wondered whether it was exactly like the Imperius Curse and whether she'd remember what happened afterwards. He shrugged it off only seconds later, if she did remember, it'd only mess with her mind even more.

Yes, if Draco were going to kiss her, he would've preferred it if it was of her own free will - but on the downside of it, he felt that it would be unlikely that he'd ever have the chance before he kicked the bucket. So, yes, he was going to take the opportunity whilst it was there. She was up against the wall for Merlin's sake! How could he not kiss her!

He smirked, looking down at her lips again then back to her eyes and Hermione felt her stomach sink. Oh Jesus, he's – he's not going to – no, no, he wouldn't – he won't. She gasped from relief and surprise when his hands loosened their grips on her arms instead of kissing her, as she believed he would. However, that relief didn't last long as she felt all thoughts slipping away from her head and she desperately tried to keep hold of them, scared about what was happening. Soon, it was as if her brain had been put on mute and Hermione was watching what was happening from a distance.

A lazy smile was on Draco's face as he focused on nothing else but Hermione and watched, entranced, as her eyes darkened from light brown to black – matching his own colour. It was when they were wholly black that Draco allowed himself to be smug at how well he managed to put her under his control. He watched her for a second, just taking in every detail without a frown marring her features; what her coppery lashes looked like in contrast to her light skin as they fanned her cheeks and how she had a dusting of freckles so light, that you could only see them when you were up close.

He leaned in then, stopping when their noses touched, pausing to see whether there would be any reaction from her at all. From the closeness, he couldn't really see her smile, but from how the corners of her eyes creased and her eyes lit up, he could tell that she was. He smiled back at her, feeling almost relaxed (something that he hadn't felt in a while) and without a second thought, tilted his head and closed the distance between them.

Draco found his heart stammering when their lips finally touched. He could almost hear the air around them crackling with energy as he moved his hand from her chin and, none too gently, weaved his hand through her curly locks, trying to bring them even closer than they already were, as all his self-control began to slip away. Her lips fit perfectly against his and he groaned when she wrapped her arms around his neck and he felt her tugging at his hair.

It seemed that she wasn't completely void of emotion and could still react, unlike she'd be able to during the Imperius. Perhaps the Charms only numbed her mind, made her stop over thinking everything – made her stop thinking about anything at all and just allowed her to be his Mate. After all, it was Blaise who told him and it wasn't as if Blaise was a Veela and therefore had no experience or true understanding to what the Charms actually did. Then again, Draco wasn't so sure that anyone really knew what happened – it definitely wasn't the Mate seeing as they had no idea what was really going on.

She was driving him crazy and she wasn't even totally there in the head. He couldn't get enough of her as he wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him, which she responded to by wrapping her legs around his waist. He softly prodded her lip with his tongue, asking for entrance. Hermione gasped and Draco once again took advantage, deepening the kiss.

Draco broke away only seconds later when he heard a few footsteps echoing in the corridor. In his clouded mind, he couldn't tell how close they were or how many people it could've been, but he knew that he had to go before whomever it was found him like...Well, was there any other way to describe what he looked like? It was pretty self-explanatory really. He didn't want to end such a good couple of minutes on someone finding him looking as he did, and he especially didn't want to risk looking at Hermione and how alluring her swollen lips and messed up hair was and forget about ever leaving. He pushed her legs off from around his waist and then let go of her completely and took a large step back, distancing himself from her as the Veela Charms slipped away and her eyes went back to normal, showing that she was in her right state of mind once again. She looked confused at first, as if she had woken up from a vivid dream in a strange place, but as she took in Draco's dishevelled appearance, realisation began to dawn on her face and a myriad of emotions crossed her face (mostly horrified and seething), Draco was suddenly feeling that it wasn't a particularly good idea. She took a threatening step towards him, her arm raised and finger pointed at him and though her hand wasn't positioned in a way to slap him, Draco remembered that she didn't look like she was going to hit him in Third Year and he didn't want to risk it again. Quickly – a whole lot quicker than Hermione had time to react because of his new speed – he whipped out his wand and cast the Confundus Charm on her. She shuddered as the spell hit her and her arm dropped lifelessly and she looked around herself in confusion; confused about how she had gotten back to the Tower and why Draco Malfoy was standing in front of her.

Draco rocked back on his heels a few times, observing the effectiveness of the spell, when he heard the footsteps coming even closer. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it with an audible snap and just as Granger was about to say something, he turned briskly around, muttered 'Granger' as a goodbye and left as quick as he could.

XXXXXXX

Her daze didn't last for long, Draco didn't intend for it to anyway, only long enough for him to make his escape. When the confusion finally lifted, she sunk to the floor in humiliation as what just happened flashed through her mind. Hermione tried to go back through her memories, as she ran her hands through her hair (which didn't do anything to help her appearance), to try work out what had happened, what was going through her mind that caused her to actually respond to the ferret. Of course, she was still...disgusted that he had taken advantage of her when there was nothing that she could do to stop him (especially when she had not yet mastered the ability of wandless magic), and she was even more disgusted with herself when she felt her cheeks heating up every time she thought about it. She even went as far as shuddering as she remembered the feeling of his hands on her.

Nevertheless, I shouldn't care what he did, he said as much. That-that kiss was just proving his point. It means nothing. He's – he's Draco Malfoy, he's been with loads of girls. Right? Right. I remember what he was like with Parkinson.

However, Hermione still couldn't help but dwell on what happened. So far was she gone into her thoughts, that she didn't notice when Blaise had showed up. He didn't make his appearance known straight away, preferring to observe the Gryffindor Princess who was slumped on the floor. He smirked to himself, satisfied that Draco was certainly getting along with Granger, perhaps a whole lot better than Blaise had thought he would. In a way, he was almost disappointed that he didn't see the momentous moment of when Draco just decided to 'succumb to his desires', as Blaise liked to call it. Truth be told, Blaise had actually been sent to go find Draco seeing as Potions had finished half an hour ago, and he had yet to return for his things and Cassidy wanted to speak to him; but stopping to talk to Granger probably wasn't going to delay him, maybe she even knew where he went. He kicked her foot lightly and by the widening of her eyes as her snapped towards where he was standing, he could tell that he startled her. The smirk on his face didn't falter as he crossed his arms and made a big display of looking her up and down (to which she blushed at again, though glared at him for doing it), and said, "Well, well, well Granger. Did you ever even make it to the Hospital as you were meant to? Or did you get too distracted along the way?"

"Shut up Zabini, I'm not in the mood," Hermione snapped, getting up off the floor and brushing the dust off her skirt.

"Seems like you were 'in the mood' a couple of minutes ago..." Blaise muttered under his breath, but in the silence, it was loud enough for Hermione to hear. She fixed him with a deathly glare, fighting down yet another blush.

"What do you want?" She huffed, frustrated.

"Oh, I was just wondering where Malfoy had gotten off to. Perhaps you've seen him?" He tried to keep the amusement out of his words, but he couldn't do it and started sniggering seconds after the words left his mouth.

"Hilarious. How do you know that-that he even did this to me anyway? It could've been anyone." Hermione said, crossing her arms and looking him directly in the eye.

"Anyone? Really Granger? Everyone else was in class and obviously; he was with you the whole time because he didn't come back to the dungeons. Besides, you look like you just had the life kissed out of you and you honestly think that Malfoy would let anyone do that to you?" Blaise shook his head in disbelief. Did Draco not explain anything? Surely, he didn't do something as stupid as not tell her that she was his Mate before or after his kissed her. If he did, Granger should know what Blaise meant, but maybe she was just playing dumb to keep Draco's secret. She didn't know that he knew after all.

To Blaise, the only way to explain the sort of reaction that Hermione had to what he'd said was that she looked like she had the wind knocked out of her. Then, in the complete absurdity of everything that had happened in the wholeday (first the gift, then the incident in Potions, waking up in Malfoy's arms and kissing in the hallway) and now the ridiculous statement from Zabini, Hermione burst into hysterics. Blaise looked at Hermione as if she'd completely lost her mind, though it seriously looked like she had. He couldn't even see anything funny about the situation. His friend was dying and Granger didn't even believe Draco's loyalty. "It's true," Blaise insisted, causing Hermione to sober up just enough to give him a pointed look.

"Uh huh. Hm, listen, Zabini. Draco Malfoy and I hate each other. What reason would he have to care if someone else kissed me?" Blaise was about to interrupt, but she didn't give him a chance. "Exactly. There is none. I do admit that your reasoning is perfectly sound, but the only reason he did this was-was because he was trying to prove a point. Look, you wouldn't understand, I'm not even sure I do entirely. I mean I can't even begin imagine why I would-" She broke off, shaking her head and sighing. She didn't mean to release that much information to him. She probably only needed someone to talk to, and Blaise wasn't such bad company. He was a whole lot less insufferable than most Slytherins.

Blaise gave her an odd look but she couldn't understand what she did to warrant such a look directed at her. What Blaise still couldn't understand though, was what the hell actually happened? Granger didn't seem to know anything. Sure, Draco never said that he'd ever tell Hermione, only that he'd try get along with her, but why would he kiss her and not tell her anything? "Alright then," he sighed himself, running a hand through his black hair. "So you don't know where he is?"

Tiredly, Hermione raised a hand and pointed towards the opposite side of the corridor that Blaise had come through. "He all but ran in that direction," she said wryly. He smiled and nodded curtly, before taking off.

He needed to have a serious talk with Draco.

A/N- I understand that I was quite repetitive in this (as well as the kiss being sudden), but yeah. I was just having 'One Of Those Days'. Hopefully though, this should start to cause Draco and Hermione to come together!

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