"So I found out a couple of weeks before the start of the year about him being a Veela-"
"And you just believed him? Was there even any evidence that he was?"
Blaise shot Hermione a glare for interrupting him, but answered her question anyway. "Yes. I trust him. I trusted him not to lie about something like this, and I hadn't seen him since his 17th birthday anyway, so if there was something new about him, I wouldn't have known."
Hermione nodded. Not that she would've trusted him as easily as Blaise if she were him unless she'd seen as much evidence as she had now, but then again she reasoned, she wasn't as close to Malfoy as they were. She didn't ask another question, knowing that 17 years old was when Veelas came into their inheritance and 18 years old is when they is their possible expiration date.
"Now, no more interrupting otherwise it'll take hours to explain. And, besides, I think the Veela would be able to answer them better than me." Blaise took a deep breath and started again. "So I found out a couple of weeks before the start of the year about him being a Veela, when he Flooed me to come over immediately. He had just-" There was a pregnant silence for a minute as he seemed to struggle to find the words, before he just managed to say, "he had just come back from a Seer in Knockturn Alley to receive a prediction on who his...Mate is. I won't go into detail about what a Mate is and how they are discovered – that's something for Malfoy to explain – but you should know, before you have any doubts, that when it comes to predicting Mates, Seers are always 100% accurate.
We then came back for our Eighth Year, and decided to keep his heritage a secret, as I'm sure you'll agree, things wouldn't go down so well for the not-so-Pureblood Malfoys. Well, we had come to Hogwarts thinking that it was a secret, but Draco had found out that, in fact, the entire Magical Creatures department, the Minister of Magic and the whole Hogwarts staff know. However, out of the students, only I, Innes and Lovegood know – and of course, now you. The whole time we've been here, we've been learning about the traits of Veelas and their behaviours. Truly, I'm almost surprised that no one else has put any of it together – we haven't been very careful."
"No you have not, and now Mr Malfoy must pay the consequences," an old voice, which they quickly recognised as McGonagall's, said from behind them.
"Professor?" Blaise asked, standing up from his seat at the table. "What consequences?"
"Not that it is much of your concern Mr Zabini, but Mr Malfoy was warned a few weeks ago what would happen if there was another incident involving one of the students." She paused as her eyes roamed the common room before finding their way back to the two students in front of her. "And by his lack of appearance, I am guessing that he is unconscious in his room, in which case, I need you to pass a message on to him. Tell him to pack his bags for a few days. He leaves tomorrow morning. His parents will pick him up at the station," she explained.
"But Headmistress, in his defence, he was provoked. Jayson Innes from Ravenclaw, he – he – please Headmistress if I could just explain-" Blaise said frantically, trying to find an excuse for Draco to stay. He didn't want Draco to leave without explaining anything to Hermione – Blaise had decided as explaining some things to Hermione that there were some things that only Draco had to tell her, such as the important fact of their destinies. However, McGonagall held up her hand to stop him.
"I understand the factors in the fight Mr Zabini," she said, her eyes focusing on Hermione for a moment before sliding back to look at Blaise, "but the fact the remains the same. I shall give Innes detentions for a month because of the severity of the action, if it's any consolation, but Draco Malfoy will be going home."
Blaise opened his mouth to speak again, but he was silenced once again by McGonagall.
"I'm not debating this topic anymore," she said with a tone of finality, turning around and heading back to the portrait. Before she walked through the door in the portrait that Dorothy gave her access to though, she turned around and said to the both of them, "if you want him here to explain his...Veela heritage, then I suggest you get him up now."
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An hour later saw a groaning, unimpressed Draco sitting next to Blaise, opposite Hermione on the table in the common room. Luckily, no Eighth Years had shown up to come into the room, but Hermione had an uneasy feeling about it, as if something was wrong. Even Dorothy had an unusual disappearance from her portrait; especially since being created, she hadn't left it for even a short amount of time to go exploring around the castle.
Unfortunately, for her, her almost nervous look hadn't gone unnoticed by either of the Slytherins.
"Something wrong Granger?" Blaise asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Don't worry, contrary to popular belief, I don't bite," Malfoy said and tried to grin, though it came out more like a grimace. "Blaise, do me a favour and go get that bottle of Head Calmer before my head explodes. I don't know where you put it after you took it from me ages ago." Blaise sighed, but otherwise stood up to go and retrieve the bottle for Draco.
"I'm not scared of you Malfoy," Hermione retorted, schooling her features into nonchalance as she watched Blaise run up the stairs.
"Well you should be," he said smoothly, leaning across the table towards her, his eyes catching hers.
"And why should I? Especially when the charms on the common room mean that, when you're in here, you're just an ordinary wizard," she said coolly, also leaning forward.
Neither heard Blaise come back down the stairs, but neither even jumped as Blaise cleared his throat as he walked towards the table. Draco merely took the bottle from him, treated himself to a rather large spoonful of the potion, and then reluctantly had to hand the bottle back to Blaise. He clearly felt better, however, as he just leaned back on his chair and threw his feet on the table. They landed in front of Hermione's face with a thud and only met her glare as she too leaned back, with an amused smirk.
"Anyway, not that I expect much truth to come out of your mouth either, but as Zabini was explaining to me the "basic outline of what's what", there were some things that he obviously chose not to explain and then there were parts that he said you'd have to explain. So I'd like to hear it."
"Look here Granger; I'm not some 'pet' of that oaf Hagrid. You can't just research or observe me, take down notes, write an essay and then try pretend to understand or know me, or, Merlin forbid give me sympathy."
"If you think that I see you as something as defenceless as say, a House-Elf, then you are dearly wrong Malfoy. Seeing as you two have driven me half-mad over these few months with your Veela heritage problem, I thought that it would be perhaps, in Pureblood politeness, that you at least give a suitable explanation of what you've been doing or teaching me some things about Veelas would also be acceptable."
"It looks like someone is a closet Slytherin," Blaise muttered, though it was loud enough for everyone to hear.
Hermione only flashed him a fake grin. "When dealing with Slytherins, it does help to change your tactics in order to get what you want."
"Well, considering I'm not truly a Pureblood, the "politeness" that I owe you is cancelled out," Draco drawled.
"Fine then." Hermione said, standing up. "I'll just go and pay a visit to Innes and ask him what he knows about you. I mean, he obviously knows something – he did overhear you talking in the library after all – and I did notice that you, Zabini, weren't too happy on him telling me about the attack."
"The boy's a vengeful bastard who hates me and my family, how trustworthy do you think he is?" Draco said, also standing up.
"Well at least I have something in common with him," she remarked, but Draco's unimpressed look, she sighed and tried something else. "If you don't do some explaining, then I shall tell the Slytherins that you apologised, – though, ever the romantic didn't sign the note so that no one would know it was him - gave me a bracelet and a flower and Innes won't be the only one who hates you. And you know what? I might also accidentally slip in that their so-called Prince isn't actually a Pureblood, but a half-breed. Also I might sell this bracelet and give the money to the Weasleys."
"And how exactly, did you come to the conclusion that I gave you that?" He asked nonchalantly, looking at the bracelet on her wrist.
"Oh, funny thing that was. I was sitting in the common room the other day, fiddling with it, when I realised that only a rich Pureblood could afford such a thing like this and interestingly enough, there was one family that sprung to mind. I wouldn't have thought of them at all, if for the whole time that I'd been at school with him, he didn't brag about how he could afford anything; how he was the richest family." She gave a small smile to them, knowing that she had him cornered. "Now, shall we start? Or do you not mind losing your reputation?"
"Hermione Granger, it would be nice if you let someone else have a triumph for once," Draco grinned.
"Well, if you're lucky, once you tell me I'll leave you two alone. That's a good enough prize, is it not?"
"Very well." He looked away from Hermione and at Blaise and told him that he could leave, since there was nothing left that he needed to say. The only people who really needed to be there was Draco and Hermione. Blaise agreed, but before leaving, he sent Draco a look that hoped that he would tell her everything.
Then, still smirking, Draco launched into an explanation of everything. In the back of his mind, he was reminding himself that he had been forced into this so there was no reason for him to look even moderately amused. Nevertheless, he couldn't help it; Hermione was a girl after his own heart.
He felt that he should start at explaining the traits of a Veela. The fact that he had the rare trait of throwing fire and that he was a male Veela, obviously, so he had wings (though he left out the whitening part); the heightened smell, hearing, sight, taste and touch. All of which, Hermione listened to with rapt attention.
Once he finished that topic, a sense of panic started to creep in once he realised that the only other thing – the thing that everything in a Veelas life revolved around – was the Mate. Hermione was clever, no doubt about that after she had cornered them, she could easily piece things together, he thought. Was there a way to tell her briefly but so that she didn't have much information to work on? No, that just sounded ludicrous.
He released a slow breath and smiled calmly, hiding his true emotions. "That's it Granger. Everything you need to know."
"That's not true. There's something else," she said, looking at him curiously.
"Oh really? Like what?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, trying his best to look amused.
"Blaise mentioned that you'd explain about Veelas having a Mate."
Draco's eyebrows drew together in frustration at her curiosity. "No," he said simply, crossing his arms and sitting back in his chair.
"We had a deal Malfoy-"
"Show me the contract," he snapped, his mood quickly turning sour.
Hermione glared at him. "You've been cooperative so far."
"Not on this matter."
"And why not?"
"You won't like it," he said simply.
She stared confidently into his grey orbs and said, "Try me."
Draco stood up, walked around the table, and sat in the chair next to her, his eyes boring into hers. "Alright, fine," he sighed. "Have it your way Princess."
He then launched into that explanation. About how at birth every Veela has a destined Mate and that a Veela could go to a Seer and receive a cryptic prediction about who it was. They would have until their 18th birthday to bond with their Mate or they'd die – unless they lost days because of upsetting them -, and until then, they had a countdown on their chest of how long until they died. Though protected by laws, a Mate could not be forced into being with a Veela, and if the Mate died, the Veela would kick the bucket too. And although he had earlier said that the Veelas wings were black, he mentioned that the closer that one would get to their Mate, the quicker they would whiten.
From there, he didn't try to keep much a secret, since from the fact that he mentioned the whitening of wings her face had been the epitome of astonishment and the more he said, the clearer he saw understanding dawn on her face. He, however, never said outright that she was his Mate. Though she probably knew, he wanted to keep the confirmation to himself. Nevertheless, to her credit, she didn't leave as he had expected her to; she didn't interrupt either, just sat there and waited for him to finish.
He was barely finished, when he heard an angry noise outside the common room and the sudden reappearance of Dorothy who was frantically saying, "Not all at once! Not all at once!" A silence fell over the two as Draco stood up slowly, staring at the portrait, and Hermione watched him confusedly. Walking closer and looking a bit harder at the portrait, Draco could make out the bodies of the Eighth Year students, but most importantly Harry and Ron's - and by their facial expressions, they looked angry. As they came closer to the twister, Draco backed away, not wanting to be caught alone with the Gryffindor Princess; if Potter and Weasley see him alone with her, it might get him into trouble with the Golden Duo for no reason other than they really didn't like him, especially near Hermione.
Looking at the watch on his wrist, he decided that it was late enough anyway and he still had to pack for a few days at the Manor – well, mostly just everything that was of value. He didn't want to stay down any longer and look at Hermione, who was still sitting there quietly, barely even looking at him; and he didn't want to be accused of something that most likely wasn't even his fault by the Eighth Year cavalry. Not even nodding a goodbye to Hermione, Draco walked quickly up the stairs to his room and continued going even when he was hearing Hermione call his name, asking what he was doing. He was just opening his door when Ron and Harry dropped into the room and started shouting.
"Where is he? She said that he was here!"
"Did you know about this Hermione?"
"Know about what?"
"That lying ferret is part Veela and he's claimed you as his Mate!"
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A/N- So it's been about 2 months since I last update - so sorry for that! School was ending, there were important exams, I came close to having another asthma attack and had to stay in hospital a while. I wasn't really sure about how to go about this chapter as well. Originally, I was going to have Hermione guess that she was his Mate, to both their utter
Once again for the waiting time and the shortness of this, but please favourite and review!