Chapter 8

Authors Note: Hi Everyone! Sorry it has taken me a little long to update with this chapter! It is a little (like very small amount) longer than my usual chapters so hopefully that makes up for it lmao! I just want to say thank you for everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed to this story! I can't believe it has almost 200 followers (I was unsure if anyone would read or like what I was writing)! I have been reading dramiones since high school and finally decided to write (I still read them all the time too) one of my own!

WinterWillows: I'm sorry about the cliffhanger (I'll probably still end up doing more *insert evil laugh*)! I hope you like what they talk about and where he took her though!

Snowflake Dazzle: Yes, Draco was definitely smart to think ahead, if only he had thought about that room! I'm glad you like the chapter and I hope you like this one as well!

Rupertdarling: Thank you so much for your review! I'm always a little nervous about my writing style but I'm glad you like it! Yes I want my characters to be upfront with each other… even if that leads them to trouble sometimes! Also I hope you did well on your exams!

Vane3131: Hi! Yes I thought it was cute that he put aside their past to make sure she was alright to! I Hope you like this chapter!

June 6th 1998

Draco looked down with worry at the girl still shaking in his arms. It doesn't even seem that she realized they were no longer in the room filled with too many bad memories. She just kept on muttering to herself about not having the real sword.

"Granger, it's okay. She isn't here. Look around we aren't there anymore. You will never have to step into that room again." Draco whispered in her ear and noticed that the mumbling stopped but still she did not unfold from her crumbled position and she continued to cry and shake in fear. Horrified at what he was witnessing Draco was mad at himself for not thinking before bringing her to his childhood home. 'Stupid veela is supposed to want to protect his mate no matter what and he brought her here. This is his stupid fault he should be the one to deal with this.' Draco thought angrily wondering what he could do to calm the girl in his arms.

Even with Draco angry at the part of him that was veela he could feel the animal side of him under his skin. Draco had a theory that the only reason the veela didn't fully break out when he heard her screams was because it was physically to exhausted after the day it had had yesterday.

"Grang- Hermione," Draco tried her given name sounded both familiar and foreign to him. "Hermione, please, you are okay. I'm so sorry I should never have let you in that room. I should have made sure you knew not to leave my room. I am so sorry for everything. I'll protect you I promise. I know you're hurt and confused but please be okay."

Hermione who had started when she heard her given name uttered from his lips slowly started coming back to reality. She was able to tune into the end of Draco's heartfelt apology and was shocked he was blaming himself, recalling his once extremely arrogant personality from school. She was even more in shock that he, of all people, would be promising to protect her.

Slowly Hermione started to uncurl from her bent shape. Draco was relieved when he noticed her starting to sit up and look up to his face. He gently took his hands off her shoulders and sat back making sure to keep eye contact and not make sudden moves, unless he frighten her again.

Then they sat there, starring at each other. Minutes went by that felt like hours but neither was willing to break the calm silence first. Both participants were stuck in their own thoughts. Draco was just glad that Hermione no longer seemed like she was going to break down at any second. Hermione on the other hand had a million thoughts running through her head from what she had just relived, to where they were, to why he was being nice to her, and to the memories of everything that had happened yesterday.

"Where are we?" Hermione questioned after she finally decided to ask the easiest question she had. She looked past Draco, finally breaking eye contact, to see they were sitting on a flat rock overlooking a beautiful lake. There was a small stream of water flowing over rocks on the other side of where they sat, looking like the world's smallest water fountain, providing a calming flowing sound. There were wildflowers, of all different colors, surrounding the water's edge. A little ways back from the water's edge and the beautiful flowers there were a thick line of trees, surrounding the water on all sides. In the woods the quiet sounds of nature could be heard; the leaves rustling in the wind, the sounds of bird's chirping. It all together gave the area a very pleasing and calming feeling. As if the bad of the world couldn't touch the tiny little oasis.

"We are in the forests that surround my house. This particular pond is a little past the boundaries of our land. No one knows this place exist so no one can hurt you out here. You have nothing to fear," Draco responds watching for Hermione's reaction. Hermione nodded but didn't show that she didn't believe him.

'I didn't forget what happened last night Malfoy,' she thought to herself. 'Just because we are the other two that can get to this lake doesn't mean I am safe. You kidnapped me and caused me a great deal of pain just yesterday.' Though Hermione didn't trust Draco she also didn't say any of her feelings out loud. For one she didn't understand what happened yesterday and for two she didn't want to make him mad when he seemed so calm suddenly.

"It's lovely, but why are you being nice to me Malfoy? Why did you kidnap me from my home and what did you do to me last night it bloody well hurt?" Hermione questioned quietly. Though she asked the question calmly Draco could hear the quiet fury increasing with each word, especially when she remembered what had happened the day before.

"Well?" Hermione demanded after too much time had passed without an answer to any of her questions. Hermione was taken aback when Draco's calming demeanor evaporated and his stare quickly turned into a glare, all emotions hidden behind the wall he had spent so long building throughout his childhood. He once again looked guarded and annoyed with her questions and Hermione quickly realized that she wasn't going to get the answers she needed if he shut her out.

"I'm sorry," she relented to the surprise of Draco; he didn't think he had ever heard her apologize to him before. "I am just terribly confused, you must understand. I don't understand what is happening and I just want some answers." Hermione looked quickly into Draco's eyes, her eyes pleading him to understand what she needed. He was thankful to see his glare softening a bit.

"You're right, Granger, you deserve to know. Honestly, this news will hopefully change your life as much as it has changed mine. Please hear me out before you interrupt." He paused and waited for her to nod showing she agreed to not interrupt him until he had finished explaining what has happened. "I don't know if you are aware but my birthday was on June 5th. My mother made me aware of some family inheritance that may affect me based on my blood. At first I was so angry that she hadn't told me earlier that there was a chance of this happening."

"Of what happening?" Hermione questioned when Draco paused in his speech.

"I had enough of the blood that I went through the change. I have veela blood in my system and I had enough of it to change." Draco quickly stopped talking when he heard the gasp that came from his mate.

"A male veela! I've read about veelas. Male veelas are extremely rare. They are able to change more fully into the veela counterpart than female veela."

"That's correct, ten points to Gryffindor," Draco tried to joke. "I don't know if you know what I'm about to tell you next about male veela because it has been kept very quiet from the veela due to prejudice against them. Male veela, after their long painful change, will fall into a deep sleep. They will dream of a partner who will make their lives whole. This is a person who they will love and cherish forever because they are their mate. In some of the texts I read it was sad that the mate will also have the same dream as the veela, almost like a warning of what is to come."

"No. No, no, no, no, no!" Hermione exclaimed. "Are you trying to tell me that I am your mate? Is that why I fell asleep studying, I never do that. It's why I had that dream that I was at Hogwarts and someone found me studying by the lake. It was you?" Draco started to get nervous when he realized how worked up Hermione was getting herself.

"Yes." He simply stated. "You are my mate. I had the same dream you did except from my perspective. It's why the veela in me led me to your house and why I had to get you back to safety, I realize that the veela should not have thought the manor would have been a good idea for you. You are my mate, the one woman who can both make me happy and save my life, it if for this reason that I marked you as my own."

Hermione was silent for a while. She bit her lip and looked out over the lake to think about what was happening to her life. Malfoy was a slimy git and he was trying to tell her that they were supposed to be made for each other.

"You must be mistaken," Hermione stated with excitement thinking she had solved all of her issues. It made sense to her that the veela must have been confused when picking her, of course they couldn't be mates they have hated each other for years. "You're veela accidently thought that I was mate. I can't possibly be the girl that is supposed to make you happy because it's simple really. We hate each other. Not to mention that you aren't allowed to sully your bloodline with a mudblood. You must try to find your true mate so that you can find true happiness and we can just forget that this whole thing happened." Hermione finished looking at Malfoy expectantly. When she used her bossy bookworm voice most people saw that she was bright and listened to what she had to say. She started getting nervous when Malfoy just looked at her sadly not seeming to change his mind.

"Don't call yourself that," Malfoy growled angrily. "Granger, if you weren't my mate but I still infected you with my mating venom, as I did yesterday when I bit you, you would be dead right not. I know it forced you to be in a great deal of pain but you survived and that could only mean that my veela was correct."

"You're positive I'm your mate?" Hermione questioned to verify that there was no way out of this. Dread filled every ounce of her body when she watched Draco look directly into her eyes and nod his head in confirmation. Hermione ever determined to tackle a situation rationally nodded to herself. 'Okay Hermione. Maybe this isn't going to be awful. You testified for Malfoy so you know he isn't the same git he was in the beginning of his school years. Maybe he has changed and you have been a little lonely living in the empty house. But what if he hasn't? What happens to him if I don't accept the bond? Am I allowed to reject it? Do I have to make my decision right now?'

"I have a lot of questions Malfoy."

Suddenly Draco's face lit up. "I brought you books so that you could research what a male veela is and what it means to be ones mate. You can of course still ask me questions and I will answer them to the best of my ability."

"Okay I'm gonna ask you the questions now but I would appreciate reading the books later. My first question is do I have a choice in accepting or rejecting the bond?" Hermione noticed that Draco's face dropped when she asked this question. She was confused on why he would look so hurt but she still had to know the answer. Draco on the other hand understood why she would want to know if she had a choice but still couldn't shake the feeling of hurt knowing his mate might want to reject him.

"Yes, you definitely have a choice. I started the process yesterday buy biting you and giving you my venom. At any time in the next year that we decide to complete the mating ritual we can do that."

"What is the rest of the mating ritual? What happens to us if we do not complete it?" Hermione continued with her questions.

"As I said we have one year to complete the mating ritual. The rest of the mating ritual is similar to what I did to you yesterday except it is you doing it to me. If we decide to mate then the first time we have sex you will have to bite me, you'll know when it feels right. If you decide that you do not want to complete the mating ritual nothing bad will happen to you and you can continue on with your life and pretend this has never happened." Draco laughed to himself when he noticed the lovely blush that took over Hermione's face when he mentioned the two of them having sex. 'She really is pretty,' he thought to himself and lost himself in his thoughts while admiring his mate. 'Granger really is not the worst choice for a mate. Sure she can be annoying and is often bossy but she is also confident in her intelligence, kind, and has an understated natural beauty.'

Hermione quickly hid her face by looking down to the ground and letting her wild curly hair make a shield as soon as he mentioned the two of them having sex together. 'He wants me to bite him during…. That?!' After the beginning shock of hearing what the mating ritual was Hermione realized that Draco didn't answer her full question. She had asked what would happen to them if they didn't complete the bond and he only told her that nothing would happen to herself.

"What happens to you if we do not complete the bond?" She questioned

"It's nothing that you need to worry about Granger. If we do not complete the bond then I'll deal with the consequences." Hearing Draco's response Hermione was angry. He could tell by the way her hands balled into cute tiny fists and that her face instantly blushed red with anger.

"Malfoy you will tell me what the consequences are! You want us to start giving each other a chance to find love and happiness and you want to start by withholding the truth from me. If you think you can dominate me in a relationship then you surely have another thing coming." Draco was listening intently to her reasoning and could see her logic. He also felt a great sense of relief hearing that she was willing to try and see if they could find happiness. He had already made up his mind to tell her when he heard her last statement. Instantly Draco started thinking of all the ways he would love to dominate his mate and none of them were in the same context in which she was thinking.

"Malfoy, are you listening to me?!" Hermione growled when she noticed Malfoy getting lost in his own thoughts. He quickly turned his face to hers and Hermione admitted to herself that he had the most beautiful grey-silver eyes.

"Yes sorry, you're right. You do have a right to know all the consequences of not accepting the bond but I don't want you to feel forced to make any decisions you do not want to, do you understand?" Draco waited for Hermione to nod at him before continuing. "Male Veelas depend on their mates to keep them alive. If by my nineteenth birthday we are not mated I will start to feel the effects of a broken heart. A broken hearted veela will feel the shock and heart ache of knowing that they weren't good enough for their mate and that there mate did not want them. A broken heart can kill any male veela within six months of their nineteenth birthday but the stronger the veela the quicker the death. Unfortunately, I am a strong veela, it's why I had such a long change and why marking you last night caused you so much pain. But again you don't have to worry about this now. We have time to get to know each other's real selves and if you don't think I can make you happy my veela won't let you mate with me just to keep me alive because that would hurt you emotionally for the rest of your life."

When Draco finished his long rant he waited with bated breath for his mate to say anything. She just kept looking at him with different emotions flashing through her eyes so quickly he couldn't pick up on one before it was gone and another appeared.

"Malfoy are you saying that if I don't fall in love with you within the year then I'm going to be the reason you die?"

Authors Note: Ahhhh another chapter done! I can't believe that I wrote one chapter let alone 8! I hope you guys enjoyed what I wrote throughout this past week and as always I truly love to hear reviews from the readers. Reviews are the reason I continue to write! Hope everyone is having an amazing summer!