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Chapter 8

Hermione sits, again with her hand stuck in Draco's, on a dark brown couch in a room in the east wing on the first floor of the Manor. She still feels nauseous, though she hasn't eaten much, and is now watching uncomfortably the two people before her. Blaise and Pansy are actually mimicking their posture. Pansy's hand is also safely tucked away in Blaise's, but with a minor detail - she doesn't seem to mind it one bit.

After dinner, Lucius had excused himself and Draco had taken Hermione again up to their personal wing. Pansy and Blaise had followed them and now they are in the sitting room with an uncomfortable silence.

Hermione is silently waiting for the bomb to drop. After a few minutes, Draco does it. "Somehow I always knew."

Hermione turns her head to stare at him in wonder. A smile is playing on Draco's lips again. Before today Hermione had never seen him smile, today he couldn't stop. "From the moment I met you, you had some kind of spell over me." Slowly he strokes his fingers through her hair.

"You would keep on talking about her for hours. Of course you would never say anything proper, because she was a Mudblood, but I always wondered what that shimmer in your eyes was," Blaise says, shifting Hermione's attention from Draco to Blaise. "When you asked me how we knew you, Sophia, suddenly it all made sense that we didn't notice for all these years. It's really a shame."

"What I do wonder, is how she did get into Gryffindor?" Pansy intervenes.

"Well of course she couldn't be a Slytherin. She believed she was a Muggleborn and Slytherin, of course, doesn't allow Muggleborns," Draco answers.

Hermione has somehow lost her tongue. Did he really just say Muggleborn instead of Mudblood? What happened to him? And why was she enjoying his touch so much? She doesn't even feel like herself anymore.

"And Gryffindor is the best after Slytherin." Hermione is even more surprised to hear Draco say this. Has she really fallen into the rabbit's hole?

Hermione's favorite story has always been Alice in Wonderland. Somehow she can't help but feel like she is Alice who has fallen into the rabbit's hole but instead of ending up in Wonderland she ended up a world where she is not who she had always thought she was - the mate of a Veela, which she has never heard of before. Not only is all of that bad, to her it is even worse that the Veela turned out to be Draco Malfoy. And it unnerves her endlessly that she enjoys his touch.

"I do wonder why she doesn't remember anything?" Pansy wonders again.

"Maybe because of the trauma she chose to forget" Blaise answers. Hermione seems to find her tongue again, finding it irritating they are talking like she isn't sitting right here. Shaking her head, she answers Blaise. "If it were trauma I would only have forgotten one memory, not all of them."

Draco smiles at that. "Very right, my love." He places a little kiss on her forehead.

Hermione's breathing staggers. It is the first time he's kissed her, though not a real kiss, but still she feels something warm concentrating from that spot. Again, it unnerves her again, so much so that she loses her tongue again.

"Okay, I need a drink," Draco says and gets up. Walking to the liquor cabinet, he asks, "Anyone?"

"Yeah, thanks mate."

The silence stretches while Draco pours drinks in glasses and he returns with four drinks.

"Here you go, love," he says as last, giving a glass to Hermione and again sitting next to her. His arms casually drop over the couch and thus around Hermione's shoulders.

She stares into the glass at first. The drink he has given her is a deep orange color and has a really strong odor.

"What is it?" she asks, looking up at him. She doesn't want to drink anything –well, actually, she prefers not to drink but had thought that she could maybe use it –she doesn't know.

"Firewhisky, love," he answers before taking a huge swig out of the glass.

She wrinkles her nose at him calling her love again. It just doesn't feel right.

A few minutes pass in silence. Emptying the glass, Draco magically makes it disappear and the silence stretches again. It is like they are all waiting till she says something. Hermione is still trying to wrap her head around everything. She really cannot remember the last time she had been shocked into silence. When Draco places a light kiss at her temple something snaps inside Hermione. She jumps up and walked around the couch. Getting to the back at of the couch she turns around again and looks at the people staring at her.

"I can't do this," she says, throwing her hands up in the air. "This is just too much. I can't do this."

Draco looks behind him at Hermione, surprised about her suddenly getting up so frantically. "I can understand how this must feel…" He doesn't get any further. Hermione shakes her head. "No, you can't. Did you ever get to hear that everything you thought was right in the world isn't? Or that your destiny is already decided for you and you can't choose a thing, let alone get used to it? Because the clock is ticking and there are only a few days left! I just can't do this!" She is taking deep breaths now, trying to calm herself. She has tried to take everything in calmly but she can't do that anymore.

Draco feels his heart pound hurtfully at seeing her so distressed and panicky. Needing to feel her, he gets up and moves around the couch towards her. Taking her hands in his and brushing lost hairs away with his other, he makes her look at him. "Sophia, everything will turn out right. We can take as much time as you need and whatever you need to know, you can just ask any one of us. I understand that now is a stressful time for you but know that in the end everything will turn out right. This is the right thing, otherwise it wouldn't be destiny."

Hermione bites on her bottom lip when crystal-clear tears start filling her eyes again. She has already cried so much today and it seems as though she might still have a lot of crying to do. It almost breaks Draco's heart, seeing the tears fall from her eyes. He can only imagine how he will feel when the bonding has taken place. Then he will be able to feel her and the emotions will be even more pronounced.

Shaking his hands off her and taking a few steps backwards, she shakes her head again. "I don't believe that. You make your own destiny. Your destiny isn't chosen for you." Taking a deep breath again and steadying herself the tears disappear from her eyes and she walks over to the window, trying to calm herself. Everything had finally been right. Everything had finally been good and falling into place, until that letter from Dumbledore, explaining who she is. A few days later, her picture had appeared in The Daily Prophet and then everything went wrong again, then Zabini abducted her. How could everything go so wrong in just a few days? It's like the whole world was turned upside down and she is the only one thinking everything is wrong.

Having calmed down enough, she turns around and faces the people in the room again. Blaise and Pansy are still sitting on the couch and seem to be discussing something but when they notice her they quiet down and look at her. Both have concern on their face for her, which she still thinks is strange.

Draco is leaning against the back of the couch, facing her and watching her quietly. Though he aches to go to her and touch her he fights against it, knowing it would only make her more upset.

Leaning back with her hands on the window-sill, she decides to be honest to them, like they have been with her.

"I can't do this because I have a boyfriend." She is calm again, having gotten over her temporary breakdown.

Pansy gasps in surprise and holds a hand to her mouth. Draco's nose wrinkles in disgust and a grim line settles around his mouth. "Yes," he says, crossing his arms in front of his chest, the grim line still around his mouth. "I have already noticed that."

Surprise takes over Hermione and her mouth –again- drops open unattractively.

"You did?" This time her attention is focused only on Draco.

"Of course I did. I can feel everything, my love. Every time he kissed you I was in agony! But I am curious as to who I need to hex into next week, because nobody touches my girl." A possessive glint shimmers in his grey eyes, which Hermione notices now seem a lighter shade than before. Taken aback by the sudden possessiveness in his tone and eyes, it takes Hermione a while to answer.

In the meantime Blaise and Pansy are throwing uncomfortable looks between the two and while Hermione is composing herself Blaise coughs and pulls a little attention to himself. "Maybe we should leave?" It isn't a statement but more a question.

"Why should you? You two are like brother and sister to us. You know we share no secrets. You can stay Blaise, it is no problem. Sophia will come to her senses anytime now," Draco says to Blaise. It makes Hermione furious. "Come to my senses?" she shouts, standing up straight. "What, do you think that you can just boss me around? I have had enough of that Draco Malfoy and if you even want me to consider ever accepting you as a mate I would certainly not talk about me like I'm not even here. And to answer your question, my boyfriend is Ron Weasley and I would very much like to see you try to hex him into next week. It won't even take long because from the moment he finds out that I am here he will come and save me. Don't worry about hexing him into next week, I'm sure he will hex you even further - maybe even out of this universe. And if he doesn't, which I doubt, I sure will."

An angry glint sparks in Draco his eyes, making Hermione take a step back. Not being armed with a wand has always made her slightly uncomfortable. It isn't that he is visibly getting angry, it is the tiny details she notices in his face which show his anger. It makes him look even more dangerous. He breathes deeply, in and out.

Suddenly the door opens and in barges Severus Snape, his black robes billowing behind him in the same manner when at Hogwarts.

Hermione's mouth drops open and she stares at him in shock. He is a spy for the Order! What is he doing here? Deciding it is best to keep quiet, she closes her mouth and watches the scene unfold before her.

AN: Again a great thanks to Sarah Liz B, who without her help this story would be full of mistakes =)

I hope you liked this chapter! ^^ Don't be afraid to leave a review and let me know what you guys think, it doesn't have to be long! If you send me a smiley it will make my day, and will help for the next chapter =)