"Wh-what?" Hermione spluttered. She looked at the both of them standing in front of her, their faces pure anger and disgust. Others dropped into the room, two by two, and stood behind Harry and Ron, some searching around the room in case he was hiding, but mostly they looked at her from behind the boys with similar faces. However, much to her distaste, some were staring with pity and sympathy. Was there even anything to be pitied for, Hermione wondered. She wasn't the one who was dying. If anything, she was probably going to live a long and happy life – well, she would be happier if she was with Draco during that time and without the thought crushing down on her that he had only so long to live. That's what worried her most; she didn't even know how much longer he had left. It could be mere months, weeks, days!

Anyway, what right did everyone else have to the knowledge of Draco being anything but what he believed himself to be most of his live – a Pureblood? What right did they have to accuse him of lying when they would've done the same in his situation? None of this even had anything to do with any of them! Only Harry and Ron were mildly involved due to them being Hermione's family, but anyone else – Lavender, Hannah, Susan, some other Gryffindor younger years that she was friends with that they had brought along, any other House or year that knew – should keep their nose out her business!

How did they even know? Blaise surely wouldn't have told anyone, and Innes was in for a long night at the hands of Madam Pomfrey.

Ron grabbed Hermione by her shoulders and looked her dead in the eye. He tried to calm himself down so as not to scare her, but his face still looked like thunder and you could hear the strain in his voice as he spoke, "He's claimed you as his Mate, Hermione. I should've seen it before! He's like Fleur!" Her eyes flittered around as much of the room as she could take in from the position she was in, people were everywhere, talking loudly amongst themselves, shouting across the room. It was chaos. It seemed that everyone had finished searching and had concluded that he was hiding in his room, the only place that they couldn't access.

"No problem, he can't stay in there forever. He's leaving in the morning, isn't he? We just wait and we'll see him later," someone called out from the doors leading to the balcony.

Ron's hands were still on her, and after listening to the suggestion, he looked back at her and started on the reassurance that he thought she needed to hear. He said, "Don't worry 'Mione. I remember what Fleur once said to Bill, she said that no one could force you to be with the Veela. You don't have to be with him Hermione."

The room suddenly felt suffocating to Hermione. There were too many people, too many bodies moving about, waiting for him to come out from his room like a gang of hunters. Too many people thinking that she felt things that she didn't even have time to think about or have the chance to feel. Too many people making choices for her and trying to rescue her from a situation that she hardly needed to be rescued from.

Ron was too close.

His hands were too heavy on her shoulders.

Everyone was too loud.

"He may have claimed you but-"

"No!" She suddenly yelled, catching everyone's attention, and throwing Ron's hands off her. "No, he hasn't claimed me! This was destined, this was fated! I was always his Mate; just no one ever knew it! And-and, how did any of you ever find out?"

She looked around at everyone's faces quickly to see them staring at each other guiltily, looking at her incredulous, contemplative faces and then there were others that were still looking angered. No one seemed to want to speak now, even when they were so okay with voicing their opinions only seconds ago, though they did mostly seem conflicted especially when they remember the things she could do when she was angry.

In the end it was Harry that spoke. He walked cautiously towards her, his lips pressed into a firm line and his eyebrows furrowed together. "Dorothy heard the three of you speaking in here-"

"The portrait told you?" She shrilled, taking a step back from Harry.

He stopped walking and stood still. Everyone was quiet as they listened and watched, though that didn't stop them from making faces that showed exactly how they felt. "Not directly. She was talking to another portrait when we passed by and heard your names. It seems that the others – portraits, that is – where listening in and since they had already spread it among themselves, they saw no harm in telling anyone who asked," he said calmly.

"Are you telling me that the whole school probably knows now, thanks to that nosy portrait?" She said in a deathly quiet voice.

He was still packing his suitcase after deciding that he'd rather do it the Muggle way, so as to occupy his mind as the argument went on downstairs.

He could hear them clearly, since it wasn't like they were even trying to be quiet, so though sometimes he may have wished that he had some of his traits still in use in the common room, this was one of the times that he didn't need it. He was as irritated as they sounded about the whole situation, though he was obviously annoyed for different reasons, but he felt an incredible surge of fury when he heard Weasley and even some others try to calm her by saying that they would fix it, as if that were the reason she was in that state. An emotion akin to relief and even pride flooded his being and calmed the storm inside him however, every time he heard Hermione defend him and defend herself.

And he fell even more in love with her (not that he would ever admit it aloud) every time he heard her say that they were destined, that she was his Mate.

His. Oh how he loved that word. His, mine, the words tasted sweet in his mouth.

Draco snorted as he recalled a book saying that a Mate had a sense of curiosity towards the Veela. They forgot to mention that once the Whitening of the Wings had started, the curiosity would still be there, yes, but protectiveness would start to blossom too. He grinned widely just thinking about it as he placed Venus in her cage and locked it, though his slight happiness didn't stay for long since everyone was still yelling and now planning, against Hermione's cries for them to stop.

He sat down on his bed suddenly and closed his eyes as another flashback tore to the front of his mind.

Draco watched this scene unfold from a park bench in what looked to be the same Muggle park that he had once seen himself in before. He easily located his younger self, due to his bright hair, running (or waddling since he was a little chubby) towards a swing set with the blurred girl that he had met in another memory. He smiled as he watched him, much preferring these years of his life than any of the others, and, he couldn't deny that he looked cute, especially with his cheeky little smile. He saw the girl ask him if he wanted to have a go on the swing, but after being told many times already that Muggles weren't to be trusted, he denied her offer.

Even to this day, he wouldn't admit that in actual fact, he was a little bit scared as well.

Either way, the girl climbed on instead and instructed him to push her when she said so, so that she didn't fall off. Older-Draco grimaced as his young-self nodded to her bossy commands without so much as a second thought. He was whipped, Draco thought to himself, with a girl he couldn't even remember. He was quite surprised though, that he was able to push the swing quite high up since he was only a small child and every time it came back down, he was anxiously waiting for it to hit him in the face.

"Stop, stop!" The blurred girl cried as Draco pushed her higher and higher on a Muggle set of swings. "Stop Dragon! Slower!" Older-Draco saw himself grin mischievously, but never stopped as he knew that if her squeals of laughter were anything to go by, she was enjoying it despite what she said. Slowly he stood up from the bench and walked towards the two, moving out from behind the swings to in front so that he could try to see the girl who was now starting to sound familiar.

He didn't get close enough, unfortunately, and faded out of the memory with their laughs echoing in his head.

Draco sat on his bed for a while longer thinking about what he saw, before he stood back up and continued to pack slowly. The argument seemed to have died down by now, meaning that one of the Golden Trio must've left, but he had no doubt that the Eighth Years at the very least were still there, waiting him out. He sneered at his door thinking about how stupid they were. Did it just slip their minds that he had a broom or that there was a very purposeful large window in his room that he could fit through, with just a bit of effort.

He stood still for a few seconds as he thought about the window. If he wanted, he could sit on it and since his head would be far enough out of the common room, he'd be able to hear what everyone was saying downstairs. Nevertheless, the thought that was holding him back was whether he even wanted to know what they were saying. It wasn't like he cared what they thought after all, but if they were being rude about Hermione after what she was saying, then he'd march down there, drag them outside and made sure that they knew what he was capable of.

He had to swallow a growl that rose in his throat.

It was bad enough that they had him trapped up in his room but if she were brought into it...then there would be trouble in paradise.

He fisted his hands and walked over to the window, deciding to open it. He pulled himself onto the ledge and sat there precariously; hoping to Merlin that if he fell his wings would come out and he'd be able to fly instinctively – like a baby bird. He took in a deep breath of the fresh evening air since not having been outside all day, closed his eyes again and listened carefully, disregarding all the noises coming from the Forbidden Forest and the chatter among the students that he didn't want to spy on.

"What do you think she meant, saying that it was fated?" He heard Abbott say. "The way she said that she was always his Mate makes it sound like it's happened before, doesn't it?"

"Hannah, are you implying that they knew each other in a past life or something?" The high voice of Brown said.

"Maybe. What? It could've happened!" Abbott said defensively.

Draco rolled his eyes at the pointless conversation and hoped for something more interesting to come up.

"Well I think she meant that she was his Mate from the start of this year. I mean, Dorothy did saythat you would only come into your inheritance on your 17th birthday," Lavender said conspiratorially.

"You two don't seriously think that, do you?" Bones asked them.

"Well why ever not?" Brown said sounding a tad bit offended.

"Because it's Hermione you idiot! She would've told us if she were," Potter said.

"Exactly," Bones agreed. "They didn't really act like they were."

"Precisely! They could've been acting this whole time! Besides, who is to say that she is actually in her room and not his? Or whether he's been hiding in hers this whole time?" Brown said.

Draco frowned and itched to go murder the girl who was implying that Hermione not only lied to her friends but also spent her time with him. Not that he didn't wish it was true that they were together right now, but their thoughts were probably wondering in that moment about what they got up to behind closed doors and whether there were other things were being kept a secret from them, but if anything were to be a secret, Draco thought, it would be exactly that.

"She's in her room and I know because I escorted her there, Brown, and it would be in your best interests if you stop implying and planting false facts in people's heads," Blaise spoke threateningly.

His ears suddenly perked up and he felt pride once again at his friend defending himself and Hermione. With Blaise there, looking out for her, as he was now, Draco suddenly felt a bit lighter for having to leave this place temporarily knowing that she would be safe.

"Well you would say that, wouldn't you? You are their friend after all."

"Keep your nonsense to yourself and stop trying to change people's minds about Granger."

"It's an open discussion Zabini. Anyway, what are you going to do about it?"

"Whatever I have to," he said.

"Was that a threat?" Weasley demanded.

At that moment he ducked his head back inside the room before he had to listen to a full on war about whether Blaise was indeed threatening Brown, not that he blamed Blaise at all. In fact, if he weren't trapped in his room, he would've jumped to Blaise's side. This one, he decided, was for Blaise to fight himself, since he couldn't be there.

Draco packed a few more things before closing his trunk and falling back on his bed, exhausted. He couldn't be bothered to go down to dinner and see everyone, though he would be once again reunited with Blaise and would see Hermione one last time before he left for the Manor, he would also be coaxed into a fight that he would get into even more trouble for participating in and harming practically everyone involved.

Draco woke up early that morning, before the sun had even risen, and walked out of his room to see if everyone down there was still asleep.

Their plan to wait him out hadn't been as successful as they had thought it would be, Draco had discovered earlier, at around 2am, when he had woken up again and went down into the kitchens to have the House-Elves make him a snack. He even had a somewhat pleasant conversation with Dot. But on his way down there and even back up through the "living room" of the common room, none of them had so much as caused an alarm to say that he was there, they didn't even stir from their sleep.

He walked lightly down the steps again now, and peeked around the corner, his trunk levitating behind him and birdcage in hand. He swore that he saw something move in the darkness, but since whatever it was didn't wake any of the others up, he blamed it on his tiredness after having only a few hours sleep. Concluding it was clear, Draco walked down the rest of the steps and out the common room after glaring at Dorothy for a few precious seconds.

He had made it down halfway down the hallway before he started hearing someone's footsteps echoing behind him in a slow, light pace. Not fast enough to catch him or slow enough to lose him, but a gradual pace that would be needed to follow someone; and they were trying to be quiet too, so that he wouldn't notice they weren't there but each gentle step was a thud in his ears. He brushed off the thought that it was someone that was waiting for him because if it were, they would've pounced already and if it were a prefect they would've started shouting already and docking points. Draco inconspicuously slowed his steps as he rounded a corner and tried to work out who it could be. Once hidden behind the wall, the footsteps stopped, as if they knew what he was trying to do and Draco sank to the ground, tired and paranoid, and calmly reminded himself to breathe. As soon as he did though, he stood quickly and peered out from behind the wall.

He knew that smell.

And as the scent got closer to him, mysteriously making no noise as he figured they must've placed a Silencing Charm on their feet for the element of surprise, he tried to keep track of their whereabouts through half-lidded eyes. In addition, it seemed once he lost the view of them, that they had cast a glamour around them too, to make themselves invisible from his sight.

As a lop-sided grin spread across his face, Draco thought to himself how much he enjoyed this game.

Standing up straighter and moving his head so that he stared straight in front of himself, Draco watched the dimly glowing hall for a few seconds before shooting out an arm and wrapping his fingers around what seemed to be thin air, pulled it back towards him, trapping the invisible girl between himself and the wall.

"And what are you doing out here at this time in the morning Granger? You should be resting," He said with a teasing tone (he couldn't stay mad at this girl for long), though his face was completely serious. His breath hit her face and in the early winter morning, his breath and body was warming.

Hermione quietly muttered the reversing spell and reappeared in front of Draco as if a blanket that was covering her had been pulled away. "I thought that I might walk with you to the station, since it's partly my fault that you're going home," she said innocently.

Draco raised an eyebrow and studied her face. He knew she was hiding something since she didn't exactly make her presence known; it seemed that she was more likely going to follow him to the station. He didn't even want to wonder about whether she was just going to sneak on the train with him for some absurd reason. He, however, decided to humour her. "No. No, you aren't leaving this floor," he said firmly as he let go of her arm and set her back down on the floor. He gathered up his things and started to walk down the corridor with her trailing after him, but she soon caught up and walked in step with him.

"And may I ask why not?"

"Because those idiots back in the common room already think that you've been lying to them and Merlin forbid that they actually believe that you've been spending all of what free time you have with me in my room," he drawled.

He looked over to her to see her scrunch her nose in disgust and let out a small laugh. She looked over to him in confusion but her face loosened up slightly to see him without some troubles for the time being and loosening up even further when he remembered how happy he was that day with Luna, though she still had no idea what they were doing. "Well it's nice to know that they trust me," she said sarcastically.

Draco could tell that she must feel quite let down by them and so, against his pride and will, he said, "If it means anything coming from me, from what I was eavesdropping on, Potter sounded like he had quite a bit of faith in you."

Her shoulders slumped a bit, probably at the mention that Ron wasn't so into trusting her, but deep down she knew that she shouldn't have expected him to – not with his temper. Nevertheless, she said thanks.

They walked in content silence the rest of the way, neither knowing what to say, but Draco relishing the time he was with her, even if it was a compelling feeling that might've brought her here tonight, although it couldn't have been a feeling that woke her up so early. Once they got to the stairs, Draco started to walk down and though he told her that she wouldn't leave this floor, he should've expected that she wouldn't be told what to do. He stopped on the third step down, looked over his shoulder at her, and said, "Granger, you know I can and will carry you back to the common room if I have to."

Hermione crossed her arms and sighed. "You're insufferable Malfoy, you know that?"

He laughed again, placed his owl and trunk on the step beside himself and turned around to face her. "What's wrong Granger, you're acting as if you're going to miss me," he teased.

"You wish."

"No matter, I know you won't miss me anyway. You'll hardly notice that I'm not there."

"And why is that?" She asked curiously, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Because," he started in a hushed tone, as if sharing a secret, "You know that bracelet that I gave you? I close my eyes and I can see and hear everything you hear as long as you wear it and if you get hurt, the bracelet is laced with Healing Charms, mainly for when I'm not here to do it. I'll be in your dreams, I'm sure of it, so we'll be able to talk. And I'll be sending you owls which you bloody better reply to."

"Why are you telling me this?" She said, leaning slightly away from him.

"Why, that's simple. Because I know you'll think of this conversation and since Fate has indeed picked you out as my Mate, and now you know of it as well as the whole school, I have nothing to hide and only 226 days to live out as well as I can," he said simply. He then took a deep breath and murmured, "I don't want to die Granger."

Draco looked up at her to see her looking back at him thoughtfully. He smiled again and leaned towards her wanting to kiss her once on the lips without the Charms, but she figured out his motive and moved her head so that he was facing her cheek. "I think you've kissed me enough times," she said lightly. His smile didn't falter and he reached up to grab her anyway. She was the same height as him on the step above, so he didn't need to pull her up or down, he just held her hips firmly and pulled her towards him, their bodies crashing together. He ghosted kisses on her cheek in a line towards her ear and he heard Hermione breath out a small, happy sigh.

"There'll be a price to pay if I come back without any of my owls being answered," he whispered softly into her ear, making her shiver slightly.

"Is that a threat?" She replied quietly.

He pulled back and picked up his things again, looking at her with black eyes that unnerved her slightly. "No, that's a promise," he said and quickly moved and stole a kiss from her lips with his Veela speed.

He chuckled darkly as he descended the rest of the staircase.

A/N - I'm happy that I've updated again, although it took me basically all day to write this!

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And also if you could check out a story that I'm doing with Chels-Chels18 called The Cursed! Only three chapters up so far, and there would be more, but she needs reviews to be motivated!