A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any characters/locations related to the franchise. That all belongs to J.K. Rowling. I hope you enjoy the only thing I do own...the plot. Also M rating for language and possible sexually explicit scenes (really just wanted to be safe with the rating).
Three hours later Draco found himself sitting in a familiar booth in the back of an old pub. It had recently been redone since the war. Gone was the stale scent of ale mixed with old vomit. Now, as Draco glanced around the room his nose was hit with the soft smell of fresh shepherd's pie, and chips. The floors were clean, and Draco often wondered if they were always made of stone underneath all the years of built up dirt. The old barkeep had been replaced with a young witch named Penelope, or Penny to the regulars.
When Draco had arrived, he flashed a bright smile over to Penny and held up two fingers, indicating he would need two drinks. She nodded, before bringing three cups - one for herself - over to him and filling it with her personal stash of Ogdens before hauling a chair up next to him. The bottle she brought was already partially empty, but was an excellent year.
"How are you, Draco?" She asked over her own glass. "Haven't seen you around here in a few months." Draco gave her another smile. For years she had played this game of trying to convince Draco to go home with her, but she had yet to catch him. Not that she wasn't pretty enough. Her hair was a deep auburn, and her eyes almost glowed green like fresh grass after a rain. She had a curvy figure that she accentuated under fitted robes. She was just…not his mate. Under her relatively pleasant scent of lemongrass and air dried laundry was a scent that was just wrong. Still he smiled and gave her a wink, not missing the pink blush that graced her pale skin.
"You know I always come back. This is one of my favorite places. It has some of my favorite witches," He let his face tilt up into a flirtatious smirk, "Just been busy these past few months." He sipped his drink, letting it warm him up from the inside out. "How about you Penny? Been busy?"
"Yeah I have. Though I would always make time for my favorite regular if he needed it." She gave him a lascivious smile, but the sound of the door opening pulled them from their banter. The flash of fiery red hair caused Penny to clear her throat before excusing herself. She knew that once the Weasley arrived, conversation between Draco and anyone else stopped.
"Malfoy," Bill grunted before lowering himself into the seat. It had been this way since Lupin had died in the war. Bill had agreed to look out for Draco before the older wolf was killed, and had kept up with the promise over these past few years. Bill had reached out to Draco after the battle of Hogwarts, letting him know he would be there if Draco needed to talk. They had disliked each other the first few years, but slowly old prejudices faded away and a reluctant friendship took its place. Now, Draco could easily say that the older wizard was his best friend.
Bill pulled the bottle of Ogdens over to his side of the table, poured himself a generous amount of the slightly smoking amber liquid, before sliding it back to the younger wizard. Draco followed the example and they both took a long drink before conversation began. "What's got you so worked up?" Bill asked after several moments of thick silence.
"I saw her today." Draco sighed, he kept his eyes on the older wizard. Bill scrunched the skin between his eyes in confusion before shrugging.
"You see her every Tuesday." Draco took another long sip before shuddering as the alcohol crept down his throat. He gave the redhead a wane smile. Bill was right of course, Draco did see her every Tuesday, and usually that wouldn't warrant a meeting between the two wizards.
"Today she needed a favor." Bill cocked an eyebrow in question, "Potter informed me that the Department of Magical Cooperation needs a place to hold a grand gala." Draco allowed his voice to take on his aristocratic sneer. One that he tried to bury in the ground, right next to his father.
"Let me guess, Malfoy Manor is the only place that will do?" Bill's voice took on a teasing quality, smirking playfully over his glass of whiskey.
"Got it on the first try, Weasley. Want a prize?" Draco poured himself another, before raising his hand to Penny to let her know they would need another bottle. She nodded, having a server bring them another from the secret stash and take the empty bottle away. "Tell Penny to keep an eye out, we might need another bottle before the night's up." The young blonde serving-witch nodded, her blue eyes sparkling. When neither wizard returned her flirtations she humphed, turning on her heel to do as she was asked.
"What's wrong with her borrowing the manor?" Bill examined the bottle before nodding his appreciation for the drink and uncorking it.
"Borrow-It's not a blasted broom!" Draco growled, "You can't borrow a fucking house."
"You know what I mean wanker." Bill laughed, his face already turning red with the whiskey.
"I just don't like feeling like my condition manipulates me into doing things I wouldn't have otherwise done." Draco grumbled.
This had happened before.
More than once he had donated money to a charity that the bloody witch was heralding. More than once he had bought something from a silent auction at four times its normal asking price because she was the one who set up the event. He had even attempted to free all his damn elves. The bloody creatures had fought him at every turn, so instead of being 'free', they now received pay and several days off. He had gone through all of this effort because she had been the champion for their rights. Sure, each of these deeds had made him feel good about what he had done, but a part of him wondered if he had done them because they were the right thing or if because she had wanted it.
"Fucking codswallop." Bill grunted, before downing his drink.
Draco glared at the redhead, "What was that?"
"You may not realize it, but you treat her differently because you are scared this fucking disease manipulates you. How many different Ministry departments have you allowed to use the manor?" Bill demanded.
"I'm not su-" Draco started, but was quickly cut off.
"At least four," He began counting on his fingers as he named them, "You let Kingsley hold his ball there when he was elected, you allow the Auror's to use it every Christmas for their end of year bang, you've allowed the Department of Magical Games and Sports to hold their start of season banquet there for the past two years, and you let the entire Ministry have their All Hallows Eve ball there every year."
Draco opened his mouth to protest, but Bill pointed his finger at him and kept talking, "The only reason you are second guessing your choice in allowing the use this time is because it is her. I don't think she should have to jump through hoops for you, especially when she doesn't know why you fight her at every turn." Draco began to protest again, but Bill still spoke on as if the blond wasn't attempting to cut him off, leaving Draco gaping like a fish. "It's come up you know? She has asked why you seem to be fine with all of us, but still avoid her like the plague. Have you thought to wonder why Harry asked you about the use of the Manor instead of her asking you directly?" Draco stared gobsmacked at Bill for several seconds.
"What do you mean?" He finally asked. The redhead snatched the bottle and forgetting the glass entirely, just pulled a long drink straight from the container. It was harder for those with Lycanthropy to get drunk, so it usually took a couple of bottles for Draco to feel anything. The wizard on the other side of the table had a higher tolerance, but even with that he was creeping up on having too much to drink. His face was redder than usual, a mixture of the alcohol and the yelling, and his eyes were now slightly glassy.
"She thinks you fucking hate her." Bill hissed, "She thinks she has done something wrong, because why else would you go to dinner with Harry and Ron, but only if she isn't there." Draco stared silently at the redhead as he rushed on, "If you don't want to be with her fine. But, you have got to stop treating her like a damn pariah." Draco flinched. He hadn't meant to ostracize her, he just wanted to keep his distance. In keeping his distance, he had often asked her friends if she would be at social functions and ignored them all together if she was.
In reality he had realized that people would assume that he still hated her, and he had just never bothered to correct them, because it had fit his needs. He figured that he could just maintain that he hated her, without ever correcting it, and nothing would ever come of it. They never hung out together anyway, and he had planned to keep it that way. He just never took the time to consider that she would think that he did. She was always so unassuming and factual. He had figured that she would make her own conclusions based on the facts, and since he had stopped being mean to her that she would assume he just didn't care. Now, with the reality that she actually thought that he hated her being pushed into his face, his heart dropped like a stone into his stomach.
"She-I-why does she even care?" Draco sputtered. He began to cling to the glass of Ogden's in front of him like a lifeline. His wolf growled in his mind, the feeling of failure flooding his veins as he thought about the possibility of causing his mate any discomfort. After that painful Easter, Draco had sworn never to cause her pain again. Which resulted in him going to these extreme lengths to avoid her all together.
"She cares because she is Hermione. She cares about everyone, you fucking git. She can't stand the fact that you still hate her, and she is convinced it is because of her blood status," Bill ignored Draco's sharp intake of breath and continued on, "Why can't you fucking accept-"
"Why do you care? She is marrying your brother." Bill flinched a little before averting his eyes. He took a deep breath through his nose before staring up at Draco with eyes alight in fury.
"I care because she will never be completely happy with him. He will be able to tell that he can't please her, and he will feel like a fucking failure as a husband. She will never understand why-" Draco stood up quickly from the table and slammed his hands down on the hard dark wood, the glasses rattling from the force. A few people at other tables glanced over at them, but Draco ignored their hushed whispers, his heart hammering in his chest.
"They will be fine. Your brother is too dense to notice if she is not happy. But none of that matters because she will be! She loves him, and he loves her, and Lupin said that we could live happy lives without each other. I am the only one that has to fucking deal with this loss." As if on cue, he felt the ache in his chest at the thought of her being with someone else, but he rushed on, "She doesn't even know something is missing." Chest heaving, Draco snatched his cloak from its place on the booth and threw it around his shoulders.
It didn't fucking matter.
They would be fine, and he would be alone and it would be fine.
The truth was that he realized how close he was to being in love with the stupid witch years ago. Right after the war, when they all had to sit together during banquets because of their newfound 'friendship'. Having wanted to show a complete and true turnaround of ideals from both sides, it had made sense for the Golden Trio to invite Draco to sit with them at the many celebratory functions. Draco, also wanting to show that he no longer held prejudice inside of his dark heart, accepted but sat as far away from her as he could, while still being at the same table. It didn't stop him from taking an interest in her every time she smiled or laughed.
That slight interest he had developed-and promptly tried to bury- bloomed into a full-blown crush when they would sit at the same lunch table so he wouldn't be hexed while trying to eat during their seventh year at Hogwarts. The crush continued to grow into a quiet infatuation when she helped him pick up his books after he had been tripped nearly daily in the halls going to class. The infatuation molded itself almost to unrequited love when she had taken to walking near him-not next to him because he would walk too fast for her-but near him so the others would sod off and leave him alone.
Eventually, he had distanced himself further to prevent it from becoming true love. He wasn't sure if he could continue to ignore her if that had been the case. So, now he watched her at a distance, and forced himself to be happy for her. Even if she never knew that he was.
This stupid fucking witch had wormed her way into a secret place in his heart, and he couldn't stand it. He still didn't want her because he couldn't trust what he was feeling was genuine. How much of this was based on the fact that the wolf wanted her? He didn't know and would never be able to tell. That was why he still fought this. That was why he still lied to both himself and anyone who knew that he was not in love with her. That he would never be in love with her. That and the fact that she was in love with another wizard. He would never risk her happiness for his own, because she deserved happiness and he…well he didn't.
"I felt it." Bill's whisper stopped Draco in his haste to leave. Taking Draco's pause as permission to continue, Bill spoke on, "We met each other, Fleur and I, one time during your fourth year. Right after the Triwizard Tournament." Bill's eyes shined brightly as he spoke, "She was gorgeous. She told me how my little brother saved her little sister and when she laughed it was like the sun found its brightness in her." A small smile crept over his freckled face as he spoke, the scars running down his cheek lifting with the grin.
"When she left, I felt like a piece of me had been torn from my body. Like my soul was split in two, but I didn't know where it went. I buried myself in my work, I found fault with every girl I took on a date. I tried to fight it. I didn't even know what it was. I thought I was going crazy. Until she walked into Gringotts. She smiled up at me, and my soul stitched back together." Draco had slowly sunk back into his spot in the booth, the bottle of Ogden's perched in his hand, as Bill recounted his tale. His voice low, his secrets breathed across the wooden barrier between them.
"I didn't realize what we were until I was attacked by Greyback. Until the pull came from my side too." He let out a low, dark chuckle. "I was so furious with her when I found out. She had told me it was her Veela side, and that she couldn't control it. She was too young to claim me when she first felt the pull, but I was the reason she came to Gringotts. She wanted to court me first." He pulled his shirt to the side, revealing two small pinprick scars that reflected in the low flickering flames. Marks of a Veela's fangs. "She claimed me right after the attack, I hadn't even left the hospital yet."
Draco's throat felt dry, and he pulled two large gulps in from the bottle and leaned back against the booth. There was no way Granger was feeling the pull from her side too. She would have said something. They saw each other frequently enough that she would have confronted him about it if it felt at all like Bill described. "It must have been a side-effect from the Veela pheromones. Werewolves-I am different. I don't emit those pheromones, it's just me that feels the pull." Draco knew he was reasoning with himself more than with Bill, especially when he looked up and saw pity in the deep blue eyes of his pub friend. "She will be happy with Ron." He said the words to himself, taking another swig of the bottle.
The two stayed together long into the night, and the early morning. The moon kept them both up long after they should have gone to sleep. After the short argument, they talked about safer subjects. Bill asked Draco if he would like to come to dinner in a few weeks which Draco hesitantly agreed to after much strong-arming from the redhead.
When a man came to the table posturing and stirring trouble late in the night, the wolf emerged making Draco's eyes reflect bright silver for a moment. He was able to insult Draco once about being a Death Eater before Draco stood growling low in his throat. Bill flicked his wand, stunning the man without even flinching. The man was then quickly and efficiently awoken by Penny, before being tossed unceremoniously onto the street for disturbing her customers.
This was why Draco loved drinking with Bill. The man understood. The man knew that Draco couldn't control the wolf all the time, and the Weasley accepted that. He had needed this. He needed to be reminded that he could let himself relax around someone. Not to feel like he constantly had one hand on his wand to protect himself, and the other on a leash to protect everyone else.
By the time they were done, Bill had helped Draco home through the floo, as they were both too drunk to apparate, before crashing on his floor. This wouldn't be the first time Bill had stayed in the Manor, and his mother was pretty used to the Weasley by now. Draco allowed the world to stop spinning for a brief moment before taking a deep breath and letting the alcohol drop him to blissful unconsciousness. The wolf went quiet for the first time in hours.