Disclaimer: Anything to do with the subject Harry Potter belongs solely to J.K. Rowling.

What's In Your Head?

Harry stood before the window, looking out at the rain falling down on London. He was in his room; the meeting with Dumbledore had ended and the Headmaster had left to where ever the headmaster went to. Hermione and Ron had gone back to their own rooms. Draco… Harry didn't know where the man had gone. Harry had been the first one to leave the room when the headmaster had taken his leave. Draco hadn't said a thing when Harry had stood up and left the room. That was all right with Harry. What did he care what the man thought? He didn't care that the bastard hadn't even seemed like he was aware that Harry had left the room. It didn't bother him one bit.

"Harry?"

Shaking his head from thinking anymore of that, Harry turned to see Hermione standing behind him in the doorway. She stepped into the room and closed the door. "What's wrong, Harry?" she asked.

"What makes you think that something's wrong?"

Hermione sat down in one of the old seats that looked over a hundred years old. "How can anything be not wrong?" she asked. "Don't lie and tell that everything is fine with you. You've just bonded with Draco Malfoy."

"The bane of my existence."

Hermione smiled. "Really?" she asked skeptically. "Then why did it take you more than an hour to come down after I had left your room this morning?"

Harry blushed. Mortified, he sat down heavily in the chair across from her and put his head in hands, defeated. Hermione leaned forward in her chair and ran a soothing hand through his hair.

Harry sighed. Because he couldn't look at her he spoke into his hands. "We made love this morning," he whispered, his words barely audible.

Hermione looked down on his head sympathetically. "You're wondering how you can do such a thing with a man that you have hated for all these years," she spoke the silent question. At Harry's silent nod she smiled. "You shouldn't be ashamed, Harry. There's absolutely nothing wrong with what you're feeling for him," she said. "It's absolutely natural for you to be feeling this, especially so soon after your bonding. Don't you think there's something fateful about all of this?"

"The only thing fateful about this is that Fate is out to get me," Harry said darkly. He raised his head and looked at her exasperatedly. "Why did all of this have to happen to me?"

"Harry, my mother always tells me that everything happens for a reason," she said.

"Then what reason is making this happen?"

"No idea, but don't you think that you should at least try to make things work? You have to give Draco some credit for giving you a lot of space."

"Space?" Harry said disbelieving. "He is practically suffocating me!"

"Really?" Hermione raised a brow. "Then where is he now?"

"How the hell should I know! I don't care where the git is!" On a tiradeHarry jumped to his feet and started pacing around the room. "He could barely keep his hands off me this morning in the room and downstairs. But after this morning he didn't even notice that I had left the room."

Hermione watched him rant with an amused eye. "Why do you care?"

"I don't!" Harry cried. "I don't give a bleeding damn what the hell he does. I don't fucking care!" He broke off, a lump forming in his throat. "It's not fair," he whispered hoarsely. He blinked as tears started to well up in his eyes.

Concerned, Hermione stood up and walked over to him, a small frown on her face. But the door opened before she reached him.

"What is wrong?" Draco demanded as he crossed the room swiftly to his mate. He took in the unshed tears and the look of worry on Hermione's face and sighed. "Granger, would you mind giving us a few minutes?" He watched as Hermione looked at Harry for confirmation. She nodded at him when Harry gave a small nod. She walked to the open door and stopped in the doorway. She turned back and looked at Harry.

"I'll be waiting downstairs, Harry," she said. Looking at Draco, she gave him one last nod before going, closing the door behind her.

Draco waited till he was sure that she had walked a distance from the room before he stepped up to Harry. Slowly, he reached up and laid a gentle hand on Harry's cheek. When there was no objection from Harry he stepped closer to the smaller man. "What's wrong?" he asked softly.

Harry closed his eyes as he unconsciously turned his head, as if to kiss Draco's hand. When he noticed what he was about to do he froze. With out thinking, he jerked face away from Draco's hand and grabbed both of Draco's wrist. "Say you hate me," Harry demanded.

Draco stared at him in bewilderment. "What are-"

"Say it!"

"No," Draco said firmly, he reached up to touch Harry's face.

Harry, still holding Draco's wrist, pushed it both hands away from him. He stepped up closer to Draco, until there was only a few inches between them. The tears were starting to fall now. "Say it!" He nearly screamed it.

"No!" At his writs ends, Draco jerked his hands out of Harry's grasp and firmly held Harry's face in his hands. "No," he said quietly. "No." He shook Harry's head shortly. He wrapped his arms around Harry and pulled him into his embraced, holding as though he would never let him go.

Desperate, Harry threw his arms around Draco. The smell of him made him feel safe, and yet he felt like he wanted to break. When the sobs came out choked against Draco's chest, Harry tried to pull away, appalled at what he was doing.

"Shh. Go ahead, love. Let it out." With his hand, Draco rubbed soothing circular motions on the small of his mate's back. They remained that way until, finally, Harry's sobs subsided. The only sound was the soothing noises that Draco kept bestowing Harry's ears.

Harry turned his head slightly, so that his head remained resting on Draco's chest. For some odd reason he didn't pull out of the embrace, but stayed listening to the calm beat of Draco's heart. "Why am I feeling this way?" he whispered to no one.

Draco sighed. "It's the bond," he said. "You're bound to be feeling this way for a while."

"Why?"

"You're body's preparing itself for fertility."

Harry jerked his face up to stare in shock at Draco. "What?"

"Didn't you read about it that night in the book shop?" At the shake of Harry's head, Draco frowned. "I thought Granger would've told you-" He broke off and smiled. "Ah."

"'Ah' what?"

Draco just continued to smile and shook his head. "Granger knew about it. It's the first thing that is stated in every single book that we have on the Heirs. I suppose she didn't tell, because she didn't want to add more shocks at the time," Draco said.

"So, you're saying that I can get pregnant?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Well, in a sense, yes."

"What do you mean, in a sense?"

"It's not really clear when it comes to the fertility of an Heir's mate, Harry. The fact is, all we know is that they're just fertile. You're actually more fertile than the average woman."

"Do not, for the love of Merlin, ever compare me to a woman," Harry warned him.

Draco looked at him with amusement. "And if I do?"

"You don't want to know."

Smirking, Draco tightened his hold around Harry. Resting his chin on his mate's head, he sighed. "I know this is hard to accept, but please try to work with me here."

Curious, Harry asked, "Was it easy for you to accept?"

Silent for a moment, Draco considered the question. "Perhaps it was easier for me, than it was for you, because I knew about it since I could remember," he said thoughtfully. "Everything that was expected of me was taught since I could start processing what I was being taught. I thought nothing of this when I was young, but as I grew older and started realizing what this meant I started to hate the thought of it. The thought of helplessly falling for whoever my mate was to be was excruciating to me. I would spend months researching how I could avoid it. Then, one day, I was visited by the head of the Council. He taught me how to control what was going to happen. He taught me how to control the magic levels that my mate and I would acquire from our bonding. Eventually, the idea of getting stronger powers kind of overrode my negative views on this whole thing. And that," he said, "is how I eventually accepted my destiny."

"You accept destiny far better than I can," Harry murmured.

"Well…" Draco smirked. "You have to think about all the good things that you get out of it," he said. "Plus, you have to admit, the thought of getting stronger magic abilities is pretty cool."

Harry laughed.

Perhaps it was a new beginning.