Hermione rose from the Gryffindor table to go to class, with Draco following after her at a distance. Their schedules had been left on the coffee table in their room that morning. After looking at his, he'd glanced down to find Hermione had almost all the same classes as him. The thought had thrilled his Veela side, but his human nature scowled at the thought. He was going to get shown up in all his classes again.
Reaching the potions dungeon, Draco stepped in to find the room almost full already. He took a seat in the back, trying not to draw attention to himself, but the whispers had already started.
"I can't believe he came back."
"I can't believe they let him come back."
"He's a murderer."
"I heard he's as bad as his father."
Draco stared at the back of Hermione's head and refused to look around him. She was sitting several rows in front of him, and he couldn't see her face, but he could feel her anger mounting, and he wondered what was wrong.
"Now, class, I've decided we'll be in pairs of my choosing this year," Professor Slughorn announced, waddling into the room. The students groaned as one.
Draco perked up, his Veela excited. This must have been what Professor McGonagall had meant about putting him and Hermione together. He held his breath until their names were called. A huge smile broke across his face, which he quickly changed to a smirk. Hermione looked back at him and rolled her eyes, motioning for him to come forward. He gladly stood up and sauntered over to her, leaning down and whispering in her ear, "Miss me?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, but he didn't feel any irritation coming off her.
Out of the corner of his eye, Draco saw Ron stiffen. He was sitting at the table behind them next to a very disgruntled Pansy.
"Now that everyone is settled let's start!" Slughorn clapped his hands, and instructions appeared on the board.
"I'll grab the ingredients," Draco said, Hermione already flipping to the right page in the book.
Strolling over to the pantry where ingredients were stored, he stepped inside and was immediately stopped by an arm. "Not so fast," a voice growled.
Draco rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Weasel?"
"Why were you paired with Hermione?"
Draco stared at the man, his mouth open. He snapped it shut. "Because Slughorn put us together, that's why. Now move."
Ron dropped his arm but trailed behind Draco. "Whatever you're planning, stop. You aren't allowed near my girl, you slimy git."
Draco froze. Anger rolled through him, and he took a deep breath to try and get it under control. Through gritted teeth, he observed, "Seems to me like she isn't your girl at all, Weasel. Why aren't you together, huh? I'll I've seen since we've been back is you being a dick to her."
Ron's face turned as red as his hair. "There's been a misunderstanding," he hissed. "I will get her back."
Draco couldn't help remember the conversation he'd had with Hermione the night before where she'd told him she would stay with him. "She's never coming back to you; get used to it," Draco sneered.
"And what, she's going to come running into your arms, you Death Eater?"
Draco reared back as if Ron had hit him.
"How dare you, Ronald!" Hermione stormed into the cupboard and grabbed Draco's arm. Ron's eyes bugged out of his skull.
"You're touching him!"
Hermione glanced down to where their bodies met and sighed. "Obviously. Now, don't you ever let me hear you call him that again! We all know what he did for us! Or did you forget?"
"First, you break up with me for that thing, and now you're defending Malfoy? What's wrong with you, Hermione?"
She sniffed. "Absolutely nothing, Ronald. Some of us just don't have their heads up their asses." Turning, she stormed off, dragging Draco behind her. He glared at Ron, who was watching them with a look of total loss on his face. Draco almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
Hermione didn't say anything as they each started dicing the ingredients. Finally, Draco broke the silence. "Thank you."
Her hands paused. "You're welcome."
The rest of the class went by silently. As they were packing up, Draco asked her under his breath, "Five galleons that we sit next to each other in all our classes."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "We already know that's going to happen. I'm not going to waste my money."
"Drakey," Pansy purred, appearing at his side. "Let's go to class. We have transfiguration together, and I know we can sit together this time." She glared at Hermione. "So you won't have to sit with the trash."
Violent anger threatened to overwhelm him. He got within an inch of her face. "Don't you ever, ever insult Hermione in front of me again."
Confused, Pansy nodded. She seemed terrified of her friend for the first time in her life.
A wave of gratitude washed over him, and he glanced back to find Hermione half smiling. He smiled back, which wasn't lost on Pansy. She grabbed Draco's arm and yanked him away.
In Transfiguration, Hermione and Draco were next to each other again. This time he grinned when he slid in next to her. They started practicing turning a feather into a chicken.
"I guess we're even," she murmured.
"Huh?"
"I saved you from Ron, and you saved me from Pansy."
Draco glanced to his left, where the two offending people were sitting next to each other again. He sighed. "Pansy wasn't always this bad."
Hermione gave him an incredulous look.
"To me," he amended.
"What changed?"
Draco chewed on his lip. "She decided that she was going to marry me, and then she started throwing herself at me."
A white-hot flash of something pierced him, and it took him a second to realize the emotion was jealousy, and it surely wasn't from him. He smiled like the big bad wolf. Hermione was staring at her chicken resolutely, pretending Draco wasn't there. He leaned in close to her. "You know I felt that, right, Hermione?"
"Felt what?" she replied stiffly.
"You're jealous!"
"Am not!" she huffed.
"I think you are, babe."
She didn't design to respond, and Draco leaned back in his chair, thrilled he'd been able to both annoy her and make her jealous in one go. Both his human and Veela natures were happy.
They sat together in all the classes they shared together, much to Draco's delight. In the two classes they didn't share, he was restless and couldn't focus, not with his mate so far from him. After the final bell, Draco hurried off to dinner, hoping to catch a glimpse of his Hermione, even if it was just from across the room.
YOU ARE READING
Veela Love
FanfictionHermione spends the summer before her last year at Hogwarts in the hospital battling a deadly sickness. To her horror, she discovers her mysterious illness is actually her body transforming to accommodate her mate - her very Veela mate. No one knows...