Chapter 6

June 5th 1998

Draco landed with a thud on the balcony outside his suits being careful not to jostle the sleeping witch in his arms. Folding his wings back into his body he opened the unlocked door to his room spotting his mother pacing besides his bed. Looking down at his mate and once more at his mother he growled not knowing if she would be a threat to the witch he was carrying knowing their past history.

"Draco," his mothered held up her hands in a peaceful gesture walking closer to her son. "Draco, is this the girl? You found her already?" Narcissa tried to take a step closer to Draco, straining her head to get a better look at the girl whose face was cradled into her son's chest.

"Yes, I found her. She is mine," Draco replied with a growl in his voice, still cautious of the women across from him. Turning away from her he walked over to the side of his giant bed. He gently laid his mate down on the bed, cradling her head as not to hurt her. He stood back and looked at his perfection lying peacefully on the bed, her head resting lightly on his grey-blue pillows, her hair surrounding her head as a halo. "I must mark her, she is mine." The veela spoke with desperation.

Narcissa realized what he needed to do and that he wouldn't commit such a personal vulnerable act with a threat still in the room. She slowly started to back away from her son, careful not to frighten him. She was thankful he had found his mate and had time to mark her before the human side of her son was able to fight against the veela side more strongly. From what she had heard about those cases if the human side took too long to come to terms with the marking process the veela had less time to live and was more likely to die of heartbreak.

Draco watched as his mother left his room. His black eyes never leaving her frightened face, not feeling a shed of remorse for scaring her. As soon as the door shut behind her his magic locked the door through wandless magic. If he had been thinking more clearly Draco may have been surprised at how easy it was to perform such a spell without a wand and without uttering the incantation, something he had never been able to accomplish simultaneously. Once the door was locked Draco's eyes shifted back down to the beautiful girl sleeping in his arms. He shifted her from her sleeping position so he could lay down cradling her in his arms.

As one hand slowly moved to touch her face he marveled in the sensation of touching his mate in a loving manner. He slowly tucked a strand of her surprisingly soft curly hair behind her ear and lent down to press a kiss to her jaw before moving along her neck. Hermione shifted in her sleep unknowingly elongating her neck to give her mate more access to her soft skin. Hermione moaned as she started to wake up from the amazing attention she was receiving and hearing the noise of pleasure from his mate Draco felt his erection straining against the sweatpants he had on. He felt his fangs start to reemerge and knew he had to mark the wonderful witch lying in his arms so the world would know she was taken and she was his.

"W-what? Where am I?" Hermione mumbled finally starting to more fully wake up. Her eye lids fluttered before she fully took in what little she could see of the room. Turning her head she looked into the dark eyes of the man who had been in her room earlier. "Malfoy what are you doing?"

Draco didn't even bother to respond before pressing a kiss to the top of her forehead and then returning once more to her neck. Draco moved his arms to hold his mate in place as she tried to move away from the attention he was supplying to the juncture between her neck and shoulders. Realizing she was becoming more agitated than comfortable Draco took a deep breath before biting down on the soft skin that was his mates. His sharp fangs pierced the skin and he knew his venom had entered her wound to begin that claiming process. His fangs disappeared as he leaned back to see his handy work. Enjoying seeing his mark on her he licked the droplets of blood seeping from the wound he had created. Instantly the venom from his tongue heeled the wound.

"Ouch! What did you do?" Hermione questioned finally removing herself from his hold enough to turn to face him on the big bed. Draco had just enough time to utter to words mine and mate before the venom truly entered Hermione's bloodstream and a blood curdling scream tore from her lips. Hermione's body instantly curled up, one arm going around her waist looking like she was trying to hold herself together while the other instantly went to her neck where the fire coursing through her body had originated.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Hermione screamed through the pain as her body feeling as if her own blood was trying to boil itself. She had already broken out into a clammy sweat and there felt like there was no end in sight. As the venom continued flowing to her heart in order to be pumped throughout the rest of her body Hermione gave another scream that seemed to be powerful enough to shake the entire estate.

Draco instantly shot out of his position lying next to her and kneeled over his mate's shaking body. His eye's shot up in both surprise and concern for he had not heard of the pain his venom would bring his mate. He tried to place a calming hand on her but it seemed as if she did not even feel him near her. His heart began to hurt when he heard to sounds of his mate simultaneously screaming and crying. He could hear her muttering 'What did you do' in between jolts of paint and it broke him to know it was he that was causing this pain.

Feeling the temperature in her body rising steadily Draco jumped to his feet and ran to the door leading to the bathroom from his room. He grabbed a clean fluffy white towel from the closet and ran to the shower. He turned the tap on and made sure the water was a cold as possible before drenching the towel in the water. Once the towel was soaked through and very cold Draco rang out some of the excess water before running back to his crying mate's side.

Hermione opened her eyes for a brief moment when she suddenly felt the cold compress covering her body. She looked up just enough to catch the concern set so deeply in Malfoy's eyes. She opened her mouth to try to speak but was once again overcome by pain. Finally, after what seemed like days to the two mates but what must have been at most thirty minutes Hermione screams died down. The shaking stopped and the scar on her neck faded from a deep red to a still noticeable white. Too tired and overwhelmed to do anything more Hermione once more fell asleep in the arms of her mate still unaware of everything that had transpired in the past few hours.

Draco's eye's started to turn back to his normal grey-blue as his veela had accomplished everything he had needed to in the allotted time since his own painful change. He looked down at the women in his arms and felt a hurricane of feelings he didn't know how to separate. He felt scared, love, hope, despair, longing, fear, and so much more knowing he had a long journey ahead of him now knowing who his mate was.

Draco looked down at his sleeping mate once again and couldn't believe the sick joke the gods were playing on him. Hermione Granger… his mate. The girl he had mercilessly teased and put down, the girl who took down the Dark Lord and freed him and his mother, the girl who hated him. This was the girl he had to make fall in love with him. Draco could have laughed at the impossible mission set out for him knowing that there was now an even more likely chance of his death in the upcoming year. Sure he had stopped caring about blood long ago, even before he took the dark mark, but he hadn't let her know that. He hadn't led on that he had been fascinated with her since that time in third grade when she decked him so well in the face. Thinking about it he wasn't surprised the gods had given him the girl he had admired from afar, the same girl he knew he didn't deserve.

Draco suddenly was on high alert and jumped out of the bed and stood in between the door and his mate as the knob began to turn. Draco relaxed when he saw his beloved mother step into the room followed by Tiffy his house elf. Tiffy carried a tray with a steaming pot of tea and small sandwiches.

"Oh, is your mate asleep?" Narcissa asked her son hearing the steady breathing coming from the bed behind her son. She had so hoped to be able to meet the girl that had just become the most important thing in her son's life.

"Yes, mother, she is asleep," Draco replied. "Mother," he said his voice breaking. "Mother, I don't deserve her. She will never accept me as her mate," Draco muttered looking absolutely broken hearted.

"That's not true, darling," she tried to reassure him. "You deserve the world and I'm sure you can make her just as happy as she can make you. It's why the gods have given you to her and her to you. Do not question that."

"You don't understand mother," he continued, "she is pure. She is good and everything I am not. I do not deserve even a little of her affections after all this family has done to her and her kind."

Her kind, Narcissa though. She must not be of pure blood she thought. Though slightly disappointed at this news it wasn't a make or break issue for Narcissa as it would have been for her husband. Lucius would rather have had Draco die of heartbreak than taint the line. She hadn't truly believed in being better than those of inferior blood since the war but the thought of losing the Malfoy sacred 28 position was something she was going to have to come to terms with.

"Who is your mate, Draco?" She finally asked outright.

"Granger. My mate is Hermione Bloody Granger."

Hi Lovelies I'm sorry it has taken me so long to upload this chapter. I got surprisingly busy with the Fourth of July and then my company decided to send its interns on a business trip, which was both fun and tiring (especially given the cold I now have)! I have not given up on this story and I have a ton of ideas on where to take it so even I'm interested to see what happens. As always please review if you have any comments or questions because I love hearing from the readers! I'll try to update soon as long as life doesn't get in the way again!