Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any affiliated characters. I just happened to come up with the plot for this ship. All credit to J.K for her amazing universe that she allows us to play in.

Warning: Rated M. Cursing, sexual innuendos, lemons and fluff ahead. Basically what you would expect from a romance novel nowadays.

Eternal love and gratitude to my Beta, Ihrin who is taking over this story for me. Thank you so much!

Music is my muse:

Song for this chapter: S.O.S, Cast of Mamma Mia
(The Movie playing as I edit this chapter.)
Lyrics: So when you're near me darling can't you hear me, S.O.S.

Love of a Mate

Chapter 5
Reunion

Draco was a bit late, but he was sure his mother and Hermione would already be seated by now.

Raul looked up at him and smiled widely. "Your mother said you might be here."

Draco grinned. "She is almost always right, that woman."

Raul chuckled. "And she has made Geoff's day. He is over there flustering the beautiful Miss Granger."

Draco sighed. "Well rein him in, will you? She isn't fond of being flustered, I assure you."

Raul's eyes widened as he took in Draco's changed posture. "Oh my. Is she?"

Draco gave a short nod and then a half shrug. "However, we haven't so much as spoken of such matters yet so, please, don't embarrass me."

Raul's smile was wide and full of mischief. "I would never."

Draco snorted. "You would, and I will not forgive you. So, what arrangement can we come to?"

Raul paused, then said, "You propose here, obviously."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "We can have our engagement dinner here, with both of our parents, and pictures taken- but I am not proposing in a restaurant, Raul. How cliché."

Raul threw back his head, laughing. "Done!"

Draco snorted, knowing that was what the man had been after anyway.

As he started walking, he caught the scent of his mate and almost froze in his tracks. It had been so long since he had smelt her and nothing had changed. She still smelled of cherry and almond, her shampoo-she didn't wear perfume- and she always had a hint of peppermint about her. The rest was a unique mixture that was simply Hermione. It wasn't floral or spicy, it was soft, sweet smell that drew him in.

He took a moment to prepare himself and nodded at Raul, dismissing the man who smirked as he left.

When he rounded the corner, the table came into view and his breath caught in his throat as he took in his beautiful mate. She was fuller; he could see the curves of her breasts as she laughed at something his mother said to her. Her hair was longer too, no longer a mess of tangled curls. It was now sleek ringlets that he wanted to run his fingers through and mess up. It was lighter too, as if she spent more time in the sun. Her skin was glowing and he knew it was from his venom. He could hear her heartbeat and knew the instant his pheromones hit her. It accelerated as did her breathing and she moved her hand up to cup the scar he knew was there. His mother's eyes followed her movement with a small, satisfied half-smile.

Draco knew that the scar would be burning her as his pheromones washed over her. That was why he had not allowed himself to get close to her over the last five years, as it may have broken the spell. He worried his lip a bit as he watched her eyes glass over. Would she remember everything at dinner? He didn't think so; he had read that it would take a few visits before the spell would lift from her memory. He hesitated a bit, unable to totally rise above his fear. She turned, and once his eyes met hers he almost fell to his knees.

Dear Merlin, he had missed her.

Seeming to realize that she had better steer this meeting in an appropriate direction, his mother cleared her throat. "Draco, how lovely for you to join us. I wasn't sure you would have time."

Draco had to tear his gaze away from his mate's to smile at his mother and then force his limbs to obey him so he could move forward to kiss her on both cheeks.

"Of course I would find time to meet you, mother. You are at my favorite restaurant."

His mother laughed and then said, "I am sure you remember Miss Granger, dear."

Draco turned and watched as Hermione seemed to catch her breath and held out her hand. "Hermione, please."

Draco almost groaned at the sound of her husky voice. She left him a bit weak with just two words. Of course the last word was please and he very much wanted her to say that to him again. Preferably naked, screaming it as he pounded into her.

Shaking himself out of that fantasy, he pulled her hand to his mouth and let his lips graze her knuckles, feeling the electric shock move through him as he touched her. Her pupils flared and he was happy to see that her nipples were hardening.

Good, he wanted her to suffer a bit too, because he might die on the spot from desire if she licked her lips again.

He gently let her hand go and took a seat. "I hope your shopping was successful." He said as he used the napkin to cover the bulge in his lap.

His mother let out a tinkling laugh. "Oh yes, very successful."

Draco raised an eyebrow at Hermione who blushed and then said, "I am so thankful Mrs. Malfoy could make the time to accompany me. I fear I never would have found a dress without her."

His mother gave her a smile and then said, sternly, "Narcissa, dear. I insist."

Hermione nodded and then took another breath. Draco smirked, dipping his head. His pheromones were probably muddling her brain. His mother gave him a stern glare and he rolled his eyes and took a breath, himself, pulling back his desire for her so they didn't embarrass his mother in public.

Narcissa nodded at him and then poured him some wine. "Draco, she is telling me I cannot send over some jewels from our vault for her to wear Saturday night. Could you please change her mind?"

Draco almost laughed at his mother's audacity. Yes, he very well could change her mind. However she had just glared at him for using his pull over his mate so he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I don't think that would be fair." He said casually.

Hermione let out a small gasp and said, "It sounds like you think you actually could."

Draco grinned at her a bit rakishly. "Oh, I am sure I could find some way to talk you into doing so. However, I would not use my talents for any jewels my mother would be sending."

He saw his mother sit back happily. "Ah, yes. Excellent point, son."

Hermione frowned, sipping her wine. "That exchange just went over my head," she said, "What just happened?"

Draco laughed and sipped his wine, drumming his fingers on the table and not answering her.

His mother smirked at Hermione happily. "He is going to handle it his way, which will also serve my purpose, so I was thanking him."

Hermione shook her head. "Now I see why wizarding families' offspring are sorted into the same house. That's so very Slytherin of both of you."

Narcissa laughed and nodded at her. "Oh yes, that is very true. His father and I are both rather devious and ambitious and Draco took over those traits almost immediately. I swear, he learned to play me off his nanny by two weeks old."

Hermione smiled and her eyes twinkled as she looked at Draco. "What kind of a baby were you?"

Draco shrugged. "A perfect angel."

Hermione choked on her laughter while his mother slapped him playfully.

"He was beautiful, of course, but a terrible troublemaker, especially once he started , as a toddler, he was able to break out of all the magical gates we had put up to block him out of rooms. We had to ward the stairs he was so good at getting through our enchantments."

Hermione gasped. "You were doing magic as a baby?"

Draco nodded and then frowned at her. "Were you not?"

Hermione shrugged. "If I was, my parents didn't notice or blamed something else. I guess I used to turn things on and off on my own. I didn't do anything that had the Ministry at our doorstep."

Draco smirked at her. "Of course you didn't, you little goody-goody."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I certainly broke enough rules at school."

Draco snorted. "Now that is true enough. How were you not expelled?"

Hermione shrugged but frowned as if she had thought of that too. "I don't honestly know. Probably because it was all for the greater good or some such nonsense. I certainly hope, however, that if my underage child is ever trying to sneak past a three-headed dog in her first year, someone is at least sending me a bloody owl."

Draco almost spit out his wine as his mother broke into laughter. "What on earth were you doing around a three-headed dog, Hermione?" he asked, frowning at her.

She sighed. "Trying to save a bloody stone. Harry was insistent that Snape was trying to steal it. We tangled with devil's snare, a life-sized wizard chessboard, a room full of enchanted keys that tried to tear us apart, and I had to work through a potions test- created by Snape, nonetheless."

"I feel like I could be forgetting something," Hermione said, frowning thoughtfully.

Narcissa looked on in horror. "All of this in your first year?" she asked. Hermione nodded as she watched Narcissa go pale and say. "If that old man were still alive I would be calling for his resignation. What was he thinking to allow such a thing?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "I can only hazard a guess," he said to his mother. To Hermione, he said, "I assure you, the new headmistress would never allow such a thing."

Hermione laughed and sipped her wine, her eyes twinkling. "No. Minerva would never stand for her students to be in such mortal peril. She would have never allowed the stone to be housed at the school either, I think."

Narcissa nodded firmly and looked at Draco sternly. "This was just her first year. Can I stand to hear about her second?"

Hermione snorted. "I spent most of that year in the infirmary."

Narcissa's hand went to her throat and Draco frowned. "I had forgotten that. You were petrified."

Hermione nodded, her eyes twinkling. "And before that, I spent some time there for a potions accident."

Draco looked up, curiously. "We had potions together- I don't recall an accident."

Hermione laughed. "No, I had secretly brewed Polyjuice Potion so that we could sneak into the Slytherin dorms and see if you were the Heir of Slytherin."

Draco looked amused. "My family pedigree is well known, Miss Granger, you could have just consulted a book."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? Everything I need to know about your pedigree is in a book?"

Draco flushed as he realized that indeed, not everything was. His mother laughed and said, "Well, certainly an ancestor as famous as Slytherin would have been."

Hermione broke eye contact with Draco and said, with a small laugh, "That was far too simple for us to rely on, Narcissa."

Draco cleared his throat. "So what went wrong with the potion?"

Hermione shrugged. "Nothing with the potion, per say. It worked fine for Harry and Ron to morph into Crabbe and Goyle. I, however, managed to grab a cat hair instead of Bulstrode's and had a less pleasant experience."

Draco sat with his wine glass paused halfway to his lips as he stared at her in utter shock. "You used a cat hair in Polyjuice Potion?"

Hermione flushed and drooped her head, while Narcissa attempted to not laugh. "I did," she admitted.

Draco's eyes widened and then he threw back his head laughing while his mate glared at him. Narcissa, ever the diplomat, said, "You successfully brewed Polyjuice Potion as a second year?"

Hermione still looking at Draco, who was trying to rein in his laughter, sighed and said, "I did, indeed."

Draco was shaking his head. "You are right, Hermione; your parents should have gotten a bloody owl for that."

Narcissa chuckled at this but then frowned. "Were they ever informed of your antics?"

Hermione paused, thinking about that, and then sighed. "No, never. I used a time turner third year and they never knew. That same year, I was attacked by a werewolf."

Narcissa went pale and looked to Draco, who was frowning. "I thought that was just Potter?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, Ron and I were with him. Twice actually. We used the time turner to go back and save Sirius Black."

Draco was watching her now with narrowed eyes. "You did save the blasted bird, didn't you?"

Hermione sat up and glared right back. "Of course I did."

Narcissa was watching with wide eyes, and then she said, "I would have pulled Draco out of school!"

Draco snorted and sipped his wine. "Which is why father never told you all this happened. Dumbledore at least kept most of the details of their antics quiet. I only heard rumors."

Hermione smirked. "Fourth year was mostly Harry in mortal peril."

Narcissa shook her head again, her face flushed with anger. "Allowing a child so young to participate in that tournament... I questioned his sanity that entire year."

Hermione nodded. "As did I. That year was brutal."

Draco was back to glaring at her, his eyes flashing with malice. "You spent that year cozying up to Krum."

Hermione sat back, giving him a haughty look. "So what if I did?"

Narcissa smiled into her wine glass. "I remember that being all over the papers. Was that true then, dear?"

Hermione snorted. "I spent time with him, we went to a ball, and he tried to kiss me a lot."

Draco growled and Hermione gave him an exasperated look.

Narcissa smiled. "I am afraid to ask what happened the next year. I admit, I have mentally blocked most of Draco's childhood."

Draco rolled his eyes and said, "She headed a resistance group against Umbridge within the school. She learned defensive spells, perfected her patronus, and charged off into the forbidden forest and the Ministry itself to try and kill herself."

Hermione sat up, affronted. "I did not charge off! Harry was-"

Draco waved a hand at her. "A total wanker who thought his godfather was in trouble, which if he had listened to you, he wouldn't have been."

Hermione sat back in shock. "How do you know that?"

Draco frowned at her and then paused before he said. "I was watching you by that point."

Hermione glared at him bristling with anger. "I know! You bloody well almost got me expelled that year."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Dumbledore never would have expelled you and I had a part to play by that point as much as you did."

Hermione huffed out a breath and then flushed as Narcissa cleared her throat. "Well, I think dinner is almost here, perhaps we should finish giving me vapors another evening?"

Hermione did smile at that before she said, "I will get you a calming draught before I get into how we broke into Gringotts."

Narcissa nodded firmly. "I will need it. Do your poor parents know all of this?"

Hermione smiled but then shrugged. "I am not an idiot, of course they don't."

Draco threw back his head laughing at her as Narcissa nodded shrewdly.

Notes:
I know sorry to leave it on a cliff hanger, but dinner got too long.
I will update soon I promise. I hope you enjoyed the banter.

Up Next: More Draco and Hermione...

Cjean