Draco woke late in the afternoon on the day after Halloween. He rubbed his feet lightly on the soft cover sheet and rolled over to lie on his stomach. He slowly opened his eyes to find that small bright lights were shining upon the pillow and sheets. Draco gazed in confusion at the fabric, rubbing his hands on the sheet and bringing the material up to his face. Upon this further examination he found his entire bed to be covered in glitter. It was then, as he moved to lie on his side, that his arm lightly connected with Hermione Granger's body and he remembered the previous night's events.

His body seemed to ache in the memory of it all. The hours of torture, the stress of making sure she made it out alive, and the constant mind numbing ache at not knowing her fate. Currently, she was sound asleep next to him in bed, and for now that was all that mattered. Hermione seemed to emit a calming current into him when she was near. He was able to relax at feeling her next to him, something he had wanted from the first night he truly sensed her.

Draco's heart physically burned when he thought back to the night when her parents died. It happened so suddenly for him. He was crouched behind her fence and he had just sent the signal to the other death eaters that the Granger's were unprotected. All it took was for her to make a simple sighing sound and a move to lie on her back and watch the sky. It hit him then so suddenly he hardly had time to take it in before instincts over came him. Hermione Granger was his mate.

He was unsure what he was doing then, as he suddenly had chosen to save her. It was like watching someone else move. He was supposed to be the one to capture her once he found her location. He was to bring her back for questioning, and then ultimately death. The second he brought his arms around her to apparate her back to his manor, he couldn't do it. Instead they hid in the bushes until the other death eaters were out of sight and he apparated her somewhere safe.

Draco never regretted his decision. Even his choice last night, to make sure she got out of the manor safely at all costs. He did not regret the physical pain that was inflicted by Voldemort last night. It would always be worth it. From now on, she would always be worth it. He was in too deep now; his instincts were overpowering his rational. His Veela genes had given him the ability to see Hermione Granger as more than just a mudblood, friend of Harry Potter, and an obnoxious know it all. Now he could see the depth in her. The caring for the people she loved, her bravery, her constant will to fight. His Veela genes didn't care if she was pureblood or not, they allowed him to bypass his prejudice. Draco wondered briefly, that if he had not been raised the way he was, if he would have seen her as the person he saw now. He hoped that there was something more pulling him to her than just this instinct and want to be near her. He knew it would never be fair to her if it was hereditary instinct that made him love her. Sure there would always be that part of it, but he wanted it to be more, for her sake.

Hermione Granger didn't have to love him back. Or even like him back for that matter. There was nothing binding her to him. The fact that she agreed to sleep in his bed last night was something Draco never even let himself day dream as a possible reality. The fact was that he would always protect her and love her. But Hermione didn't have to do the same in return, she was not bound to him as he was to her, and it scared Draco more than anything in the world. Now that she was near, he knew it would be impossible for him to ever let her go from his mind. She could decide on another to spend her life with, and Draco would always give her that choice, but it did not mean that he would stop feeling for her.

Draco examined the glitter on his hands and smiled faintly. It reminded him of that night they sat in the common room and he promised he wouldn't erase her memory. She had been so beautiful that night. He had always found Hermione a pretty girl, even when he was teasing her to tears when they were children. But he never allowed himself to think of her past that, because anything more with her would never be possible as his future was to be a death eater.

But this Veela business changed things. It was allowing him to see her in a new light. A light he might have seen her in regardless of his genes, if he ever allowed himself to. She was so beautiful even now, as she lay next to him in a deep sleep. Her hair was sparkling in the sunlight from her costume from the night before. A faint cut was healing on her cheek from the frantic events of last night, but her face was calm, and it pleased Draco to see her looking so comfortable while so close to him.

Draco lifted a hand over to her and moved a piece of loose hair from her face and placed it behind her ear. She stirred at this movement and her eyes slowly opened to meet his.

She smiled slightly at him and then moved herself to lie on her back, brining her hands up to cover her face from him.

"I just spend the night in Draco Malfoy's bed." She muffled from behind her hands.

Draco allowed himself a simple laugh at her priorities.

"The head girl sneaks out of Hogwarts, breaks into a death eaters home, escapes narrowly with her life, sneaks back into Hogwarts, heals two bleeding men, manages to escape with minimal injuries, and yet here you are worrying about who's bed you slept in last night. You're impossible."

"Well when you put it that way, it does seem a bit ridiculous. Then again, last night I broke into a death eater's home, a death eater helped me escape, I healed a death eater, and then I slept in a death eater's bed. When I put it that way it doesn't seem that ridiculous."

"Fair point," Draco said grinning at her from his side of the bed.

"It's Saturday, isn't it?" She asked after a moment of silence.

"It is."

"Good. I couldn't handle a day of classes today. There's too much to do."

"Like what? After all that I think you need to just stay in bed all day and rest."

"I can't possibly do that. First, I need to shower because…wow…I just need to shower. Second, someone needs to explain to Harry what the hell happened last night. Third, I need to explain to Ron that he's a complete coward, that he abandoned me and Harry, but that that doesn't mean I don't love him. And lastly-"

"I think lastly you and I need to have a chat." Draco interrupted, upset that he had not heard his name mentioned once in her daily plans.

"Yes. Yes, I was going to say that as well."

"Tonight then?"

"Yes, I suppose that could work. We can't ignore this forever."

"No. I tried that…I could only ignore it for at most thirty seconds."

Hermione smiled at the idea that someone like Draco Malfoy couldn't go half a minute without thinking about her. She didn't particularly like the guy, but something about him was pulling her slowly in. She knew from her research on the subject of Veela mates that Draco was someone to trust, as impossible as it sounded. He would never harm her intentionally, of that she was sure. Normally this situation would have been a bit humorous given that his goal in life before this seemed to be to make her life miserable. However, they were at the tipping point of a great war now, and they were fighting on completely opposite sides. Draco was connected to her now, even if she didn't want to admit it. This was no laughing matter, and something that needed to be hashed out as soon as possible.

Draco looked up at his window with the sound of an owl pecking at it. He smiled sadly at her at needing to leave and he pushed the covers off him, walking to open the window. To his surprise, two owls flew in. One dark as night dropped a letter at Draco's feet and flew out the window once more. The other, was the snowy white owl, Hedwig. She dropped a letter on Hermione's lap and followed the other owl out the window.

"It should be illegal to send owls so early in the morning," Draco groaned. He picked the letter up off the ground.

"It's two in the afternoon, Draco," Hermione said, rolling her eyes as she slit open her letter and read the message.

They read their separate letters in silence for a moment, and when they were done, soft moans came from each of them.

Draco looked at her questioningly.

"Friends. Both want explanations. Harry will get one, but I need some time away from Ron for awhile, but he at least deserves to know that. What about you?"

"Father. Wants to know what the hell happened last night. It's the usual stuff. I messed up, I'm in trouble, and if being tortured to near death wasn't enough, now I get a lecture."

He came back over to the bed and laid back on top of the covers.

"What are you going to tell Potter?"

"The truth. If that's okay with you."

"I figured you would. I don't see what else you could tell him. It'd be hard to lie about what happened, and I wouldn't ask you to do that."

"I won't tell Ron though. I trust you more than I trust him right now. I'll make Harry promise not to tell anyone either, okay?"

"Fair enough. Personally I don't think you should ever talk to Weaslby the coward ever again, but that's just me."

"It's more complicated than that. I might have overreacted. Harry did tell us to apparate out at the first sign of trouble. Ron was just following his orders."

"Still."

"Yes, still."

"Well do what you have to do. You know better than I do about your friends." Draco said giving up. "Harry's wand is in my cloak by the way, give it to him will you? I snagged it off the ground without anyone seeing."

He would never understand why Hermione would want to be friends with Ron still. He'd thought that after that night he had to tell Ron to leave her alone that it would be over with them. He shuddered to think what Ron would have done if he hadn't been there that night. Not to mention that last night he left Hermione alone in the manor to fend for herself. Even though it disgusted him to think it, his dislike for Potter decreased a small bit in that he requested Hermione to leave if there was danger.

"What are you going to do today?" Hermione asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"Sneak back out of Hogwarts. Endure possibly hours of painfully boring lecture. Then come back here to meet you later. How does eight sound?"

"Draco!"

"What?"

"You can't go back there! What if he's there?"

"Don't worry. He got it all out of his system last night. I'm forgiven."

"Draco…I don't think it's a good idea."

"What? Are you worried I'm going to slip up on some information about you and your friends?"

"No." She said softly, placing her hand in his and squeezing hard. "No, I'm worried something else will happen to you."

Draco looked up at her quickly, just to make sure he had heard her correctly. The sincerest look in her eyes proved that she was being completely real with him. He could tell from her heart beat, which pulsed through her hands and into his, and in sensing her emotions with him so close that she truly did not want anything bad to happen to him. In that moment, Draco Malfoy let himself hope that maybe, just maybe someday Hermione Granger could care for him the way he cared for her. He pushed his feelings down with some effort in order to answer her in a believable way.

"Hermione. Nothing is going to happen to me, I promise. He won't even be there. My father just wants to have his say in lecturing me on what happened last night so he can feel like he did something productive. There's nothing to worry about. I wouldn't go if I knew I was going to be in danger, okay?"

"Okay." Hermione said, giving his hand one last squeeze and letting go promptly. She moved the hand into her other hand and wrung them together anxiously.

"I promise." He said again, more fiercely than before.

She sat up in the bed as he was now, and she reached across to give him a quick hug. He was warm, and the motion felt right to Hermione. She was still unsure as to what this all meant, but she could not deny that she was feeling something for Draco Malfoy in that moment.

Draco felt as if he was on fire. Nothing felt more right to him in his life than having her in his arms for just those brief seconds. She fit perfectly with him, and he knew in that moment that it was no mistake that his unconscious mind chose her as his mate.

Hermione pulled back slowly and smiled, looking down at her hands.

"We definitely have to talk about this later."

"Yes," Draco said. It was the only thing he could seem to eject from his mouth. His body was still in shock at what she had done.

"I better get going," she said. Hermione pulled herself out of his bed and into the bathroom.

Draco heard the shower running a few moments later, which woke him from his trance.

He had just lied to her, that he knew for sure. The letter was in fact from his father, who did request to speak to him at the manor. However, Draco was sure this wasn't going to be just a simple sit down talk. There was bound to be more torturous beatings involved for his stupidity and shame he brought on the family. His body groaned at the thought, but his mind was clear and ready. As long as Hermione was safe, he could take anything.

…

…

…..

When Hermione was out of the shower and dressed she snuck back over to Draco's room to say goodbye, but he was gone. A small note was placed on the now made bed. She walked slowly over to it, reaching down to grab it in her hands.

Good luck today. I'll be here at eight, as promised.

-Draco

Hermione smiled faintly, as she folded the note up and placed it in her pocket.

It was a long trek up to Gryffindor tower with Harry's wand in her hand. Hermione contemplated the things she wanted to say to Harry and Ron. She mumbled the password, and the Fat Lady let her inside. The first thing she saw when she entered the common room as Ron sitting on the couch staring into the fire. A few other younger students were playing wizard chess in the corner but other than them they were the only people in the room. Ron looked up in surprise as Hermione came to sit on the other side of the couch beside him.

"Is he okay?" She asked immediately.

"Hermione…yeah. Yeah he's going to be okay." Ron replied, looking as if he wanted to say more, but wisely refraining.

"I need some space away from you Ron. You're one of my best friends, and I trusted you to be there for me. I would have never left you or Harry behind in that place, no matter what you had told me to do. I get that we're different people, and I also get that Harry requested that we both leave at the first sign of danger. I get that. I don't want to never talk to you again, I didn't mean what I said last night, I was just in shock. I just went through all of that and it was…traumatic. I needed you Ron, and you weren't there."

"Hermione, I-"

"Let me finish." She said, taking a deep shaky breath. "You have surprised me in more ways than one this school year. You never listen to me. I say no, and you think it means yes. You are overly insistent when you know my answer will not change. You left me and Harry alone…you aren't the person I thought you were. But I think that's my fault for expecting too much from you. Despite all that, you're still Ron, and I still love you. I just need some…time, and distance. If you want to be my friend you'll respect that."

"I respect that."

"Thank you," Hermione said quietly. "Is he upstairs?"

"Yeah he's up there."

Hermione got up without another word and she walked up the stairs to the boy's dormitory, wiping a few stray tears from her face as she went. She quietly pushed open the seventh year boy's door and found it empty of life, except for a broken boy who lived lying on his four poster bed in the corner.

"Hermione," he croaked, as his eyes met hers.

She walked over to his side quickly.

"Are you okay? How are you feeling? A bit queasy probably, blood replenishing potion will do that to you. Can I see your stomach? Are the holes healing? What about your leg? Are you feeling dizzy at all? What about your-"

"You talked to Ron didn't you?" Harry said, interrupting her.

"What?"

"I can tell. Every time you two fight, you always distract yourself obsessively with something else."

"Oh, yes. I talked to Ron."

"Hermione you can't be too upset with him. He did what I told him to do. I know it's a bit…disappointing from your perspective of having nearly escaped torture and death. It's hard to tell what you'll do in a situation like that though. Ron got scared, which is understandable. He did the first thing that popped into his head, which was me telling him to apparate back. I'm sure he didn't make the decision lightly."

"I know…things with us haven't been that great since the beginning of the school year anyway. This just really pushed things over the edge. I told him that I didn't want to not be friends, I just needed some time away."

"What did he say?"

"He said he could do that for me."

"That's good." Harry said, smiling.

"I've got your wand," she said grinning and placing it in his hands. "Well, Draco did anyway."

"That's amazing. Thank you, or thank him...I guess."

They sat in silence for awhile. Events of last night playing in each their minds.

"It's too bad we didn't find the cup." Harry said. "It would have made the homecoming a bit better don't you think?"

"Yes, it definitely would have," Hermione said, contemplating. "I don't think it was there."

"What makes you think that?"

"I don't know. I just had this feeling when we got inside. Like we were headed in the wrong direction."

"Yeah I got that too. Back to square one then."

"Yeah, I guess so," Hermione sighed. "I owe you an explanation still. About how we escaped."

"Ah, I was wondering if you were actually going to tell me, or if you were just humoring me last night."

"You know me better than that!" Hermione said hitting him lightly on his uninjured arm.

She took a deep breath to steady herself; he wasn't sure how Harry would react to this.

"Can you promise me you won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you Harry? A least not yet. No matter what. Even Ron."

"Promise."

"Okay. I need you to be very…very….open minded about what I'm about to tell you okay?"

She looked over at him, and Harry nodded.

"I wasn't lying last night. I mean when we were in my backyard, and I was telling you about my parent's death. You said that my silver eyed savior came, and I said that he had, and then that Draco Malfoy saved my life."

"I don't underst-" Harry began to interrupt.

"You see, Draco Malfoy has this very interesting trait about him. He has some insane Veela genes in him, passed down in his family. Well, one interesting thing about Veela's is that when they're in moments of intense feeling, their eyes can change color, and well, Draco Malfoy's eyes turn bright silver."

Hermione looked over at Harry to see if he was following along. His face was contorted in shock, but he laid his head back against his pillows and motioned for her to continue.

A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews!