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Chapter Nine

Later that morning, Hermione was feeling discontented. The scene from her dream kept playing over and over in her head, and she couldn't concentrate on anything. Her face was locked in a frown, and she had not turned the page in her book for at least five minutes. Draco was passed out on the couch, his head in her lap, softly snoring. The look in Susan's eyes hovered in her mind, as clear as the day it had actually happened. What disturbed her the most was the last bit. In the actual event, someone had stunned the Death Eater after he killed Susan, and freed her from the body bind curse. The way he had advanced on her, as if she was next, was scary. Her other dreams hadn't included that, and she wondered why this time was different. She shuddered lightly, then banished it from her mind. It probably meant nothing, anyway. Sighing, she resumed her reading, and absent mindedly played with Draco's soft platnium hair. It was soft against her fingers and very comforting. She relaxed a bit more and put down her book on the end table. She stretched, careful not to wake Draco, then settled back down in a more comfortable position, half lying down, with his head repositioned on her stomach. He made a garbled sleepy noise then shifted in his sleep. His head moved a bit, and ended up right beneath Hermione's breasts. She gave a little squeak, then wiggled uncomfortably. But Draco's head didn't move an inch. So Hermione was stuck. She did love him, but it was incredibly awkward to have a man who was unaware of what he was doing so close to a normally forbidden area. So she didn't move. He hadn't slept in almost two days, and she felt bad for him.

But then, she heard a faint noise coming from him. Peering closer into his face, she saw his eye lid twitch. He was awake! Within the second, she threw him off her, and breathed a sigh of relief that he was off. The blond man gave a startled noise as he hit the floor, then started laughing.

"Draco!" Hermione cried out, miffed.

"Oh, lovey, I couldn't help it. You were so unsuspecting." He wiped his eyes clean of his tears of laughter, and pulled himself back up onto the couch, next to Hermione. She turned her face away from him and turned up her nose, sniffing.

"Oh, don't be mad, darling. Forgive me?"

Her posture relaxed slightly, and Draco took this as a sign that she was not really all that angry. He scooted as close as physically possible to her and wrapped his arms around her, grinning. She wanted to stay mad at him, but she just couldn't not with him so close to her, acting so boyishly repenant. Sighing, she relaxed against him, leaning into his neck. She loved being held like this. Suddenly, she made her decision. She had researched veelas when she had first found out about Draco extensively, and knew that the marking process had two key components. He marked her with a bite, and she him. So, nuzzling his neck, she decided to initiate this encounter.

As he felt her teeth on his neck, he started, protesting she didn't need to do this yet, but she continued. Her teeth pierced the warm skin of his neck, and he made a small, animal whimpering noise. She stroked the back of his hair comfortingly, then pulled back. She had left a small cresent shaped mark, fresh red. Looking up, she saw his eyes were dark, and he was caught up in the moment, so long awaited. She gave a little squeak as he suddenly swept her up in his arms, and carried her into their bedroom.

They fell onto the bed as one, and began kissing with fervor. Draco's tongue flicked at her lower lip, begging entrance. She granted him his request with pleasure, and they began to explore each other's mouths. His mouth traveled lower, and Hermione was missed the contact, but then gasped as she felt his lips butterflying kisses down her jaw and down to her neck. He lingered there, licking and sucking, when she suddenly felt a sharp pain there. He retracted his teeth as quickly as he had put them in. She gave a little cry of pain, and Draco pulled her closer, soothing her. She felt no different, but only a bit closer to him emotionally, more affectionate. She brought his lips back to hers and looked into his pitch black eyes, seeing love and animal instinct clear there.

You know what happened next.

When Hermione came back to conciousness, the first thing she saw was the toned plane of Draco's pale, naked back, blocking the direct glare of the sun from her eyes. He was still asleep, and she was suddenly aware of how cold she was, she looked down, and saw that she too was as naked as the day she had been born. Blushing, though no one was in the room, she pulled the covers up over her womanly identifiers. Now, she was aware of a faintly throbbing pain on her neck. She reached up, lightly running her fingers over Draco's bite mark. She could feel it, and it had stopped bleeding. Looking over, she saw Draco had her bite mark on his own neck, and it looked the same as hers. She ran her fingers over his, gently. He made a soft noise in his slumber, and she immediatly took her fingers away. She decided that it was time to wake him. Softly, she shook his shoulder, and his eyes blinked open, confused at his surroundings. Then he caught sight of her, and gave a soft smile.

"Hello there, darling," he said sweetly. She grinned softly back at him, trailing her fingers along his strong back.

They were both completely blissed out. Hermione reckoned that last night may have been the very best of her entire existence. But there was something nagging at the back of her mind. Then, It all came back to her in a flash. Veela Draco, marking, illness... Had the bonding worked?

She voiced her question out loud to Draco, and he adopted a look of great thought.

"I don't know! I don't feel all that different..."

"We should try to move away from each other, to see if it puts you in pain," Hermione said.

Draco got a wierd look on his face. One that Hermione had never seen before. It was almost, dare she say, predatory? He rolled over so that he hovered over her in the bed, not putting any weight on her so as not to hurt her. She withheld an intake of breath at his sudden proximity.

"But what if I don't want to be far apart, hmm? Maybe I want you right here with me, all the time." He said this huskily, seductively.

She laughed, then closed the distance between their lips, softly brushing hers against his. He almost immediately deepened the contact. She gave a soft moan, and it seemed to drive him mad. Then, her mouth was ripped from his, and there was nothing beneath him. He fell onto the bed with a thud, in the space that Hermione had occupied only seconds ago. He scambled up, unsure of what had happened, when his better than average vision saw Hermione's long, curly, golden brown locks swing around the door frame. That little witch, he thought ruefully. She had outsmarted him once again. She wasn't near him, but he felt no pain, just a small longing to be with her again. Nothing unmanagable. Then, he gave a start as he heard something.

" Crap, I don't have clothes!"

It was Hermione's voice, but she had not spoken. It came from inside his head! Then, it came to him, and he remembered. All of the facts Hermione had told him about her reading on veela bonding were paying off. He remembered what had happened.

They were sitting in the living room of the flat, with Draco on the sofa and Hermione perched mostly in his lap, a thick book balanced close to her face. She was poring over the tome, completely entranced. Draco was sitting, content to just play with her hair and watch her. Periodically, she broke the peaceful silence in the room with a fact from the veela book she found interesting. One of these facts was about how after the bonding, occasionally the pair would be able to project their thoughts into each other's minds, like they were speaking without having to say anything out loud. He had made a comment about how it would be cool if they could do that, and she had said something alond the lines of ' you would be so annoying!', then laughed.

So that was what was happening! He realized that they must have to learn how to control what they projected to each other, as he doubted that Hermione had really wanted him to hear her worries about nudity right now. So he did what he was best at. Mocking.

Maybe if you hadn't run out of here so fast, you wouldn't be in this predicament.

Wha- Draco?

Hey there, darling.

How're you- Oh, of course, the book! Wow, we're a special couple!

Haven't we always been... I'm not in pain by the way. So your expierement worked, and you can come back now.

No! I'm naked! I'm not coming in there if you're going to ogle at me.

It's not like I haven't seen it all before. Hrmmph

Shut up, you bigoted idiot.

Oh, you know you love me.

Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since the last update. I've had a case of the writers block, but I'm all good now. I hope you all liked this chapter, and please review. It would make me happy...