Mark of the Man {DracoxHermione}

Chapter 1

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"Have you looked over the McNulty case?"

He hummed, not even sparing a glance upwards at her. "Mm, yes. It's a clean case, a bad marking."

Her nose twitched. "I disagree."

"Of course you do."

"They're mates, Malfoy. Veela mates. You have to look at this with a wider scope."

"I believe my scope is perfectly fine, Granger. It was a bad marking. She didn't want to be mated with him."

"That's not true," she huffed indignantly, "She's not the one who filed the report, her husband did."

"As he should."

"Malfoy, have a lick of empathy will you? Veela mates are... are biologically meant to be. Or whatever the magical equivalent is to that."

"There is nothing magical about infidelity and rape."

"Rape?"

"Yes," he finally looked up at her. "Rape. In the simplest of terms. Veelas have their own biological traits that make them irresistible to their mate. And it's not love, it's a guaranteed fucking—"

"Crude—"

"In any case, she was a married woman. Happily by all accounts. She chose her husband and McNulty had no business interfering otherwise. Veelas aren't animals Granger, they can control their actions. And McNulty should have controlled his."

"Veela magic isn't controlling. She still had full autonomy. It's not about fucking as you say, it's about survival. Without their mate, a Veela will die."

He stood, knotting his tie tighter on his neck and brushing off his sleeves, "Frankly, McNulty should have sooner died from his Veela magic than ruin that poor girl's life. In any case, that's what I'll be writing on the report. If you disagree feel free to write your own."

He stalked out of the office, stacks of paper in hand, and Hermione sighed as she watched him go.

It was always like this, with him.

She didn't even know why he bothered to join the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He didn't even seem to particularly like magical creatures enough to warrant the job choice, or even her for that matter. But here he was still, five years later at the same desk in the same office with the same partner.

When they had been paired up their first week it was Hermione who threw a fit. Surely they couldn't expect her to do rounds with Malfoy or even possibly put the trust of her life in his hands. During her tirad, Malfoy kept his head down, only blinking upwards when their boss announced that the partnership was final and if they didn't want to forfeit their positions, they would learn to get along.

It wasn't a terrible first year together. And, really, if Hermione was honest with herself, any of the issues they had at that time was of her own fault and judgement. She expected Malfoy to slip up and so she looked for it, trying to catch him in a vulnerable spot so she could report back and get herself a new partner.

It wasn't until Christmas of their second year together that things had really changed for her. There had been a brombus spotted on the outskirts of a village and Hermione and Malfoy were called in to handle it. A protected creature by law, their job was to direct him away from civilization.

It was also Ron and Hermione's second Christmas together as a couple and she could remember the purse to his lips and the bite to his cheek when she told him she'd be missing Christmas dinner to spend the evening brombus-hunting with Malfoy.