Kindle the Fire

Chapter 8

"I'm serious!" Ron shouted as Hermione, Harry, and Ginny continued to laugh. "It flew everywhere!"

Neville blushed as they continued to laugh.

Hermione, seeing this, said, "It's okay Neville, we all make mistakes." She smiled at him as he begun to laugh knowing they were just joking. "It's getting closer to curfew," she reminded her friends.

"Yeah," Harry said as he stretched, "'Mione's right, it's kind of a long walk to Gryffindor tower and even a longer walk for Luna." They all closed their books that were forgotten a long time ago.

"Do you want me to walk you to the Ravenclaw tower, Luna?" Hermione asked her blonde friend.

"That would be nice," Luna responded in a tone that would make others think it was merely a suggestion. Hermione knew that Luna would be okay with it.

"Great," she said and turned to address the others, "I'll see you tomorrow."

They exited out of the Head's common room, went down the stairs and divided. Harry, Ron, Ginny and Neville going left, Luna and Hermione going right.

~•~

Draco was walking down the dark and quiet corridor, not yet wanting to go to bed. He needed to walk. To clear his head. Of what, he doesn't know.

Maybe to wrap his head around the fact that it's now official that Granger is his mate, no doubt, or maybe the fact that he marked her without her knowing.

That now he has no choice but to actually claim her now.

There was three stages of mating for the Veela. There's acceptance, marking, and claiming. It doesn't matter which order they come in, its just once one if them is completed, you must complete the rest of the claiming.

The reason why Draco collapsed was because when she asked for him to forget about what happened on the train, it felt like she wanted to forget that she showed weakness in front of him. He comforted her, which means they bonded in a certain way.

For her to say that she wants to forget that bonding moment, felt like rejection to his Veela. That's why he bit her on her wrist, he had to mark her.

To make sure she couldn't reject him.

That's why Draco had to walk off his stress. He now has to convince Granger to love him, to accept him, to let him claim her.

~•~

"Goodnight, Luna," Hermione said.

With a soft smile, Luna responded, "Goodnight, Hermione." She closed the painting to Ravenclaw, leaving Hermione alone, outside.

She turned and started walking back. She could hear her footsteps echo against the ancient acoustic walls if Hogwarts. Knowing she was alone, she let her mind drift off to the "chat" her and Ron had the day before.

~•~

(flashback)

"I'm sorry," Ron blurted, and Hermione stopped abruptly.

"That's it then?" she asked in a strained whisper. "You can't just leave it like that."

"I love you Hermione, I really do, it's just that..." he trailed off.

"I'm boring?" She suggested.

"Oh, no, no. It's just that, I can't keep up with you," he said.

"That's-"

"Think about it Hermione, I'm not smart, I'm stupid-"

"You're not stupid Ron," she sighed.

"No, I guess not. But compared to you, I would have to carry a dictionary to catch up," he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I sort of realized something, that, I was hurting you, 'Mione."

"Ron-"

"And, I left you alone, crying, on the train. I break your heart over, and over again and all I feel is regret...but it's not the kind of guilt I should feel. I'm not thinking, I just broke my girlfriends heart, I'm thinking...what's going to happen to our friendship?"

They stood in silence. She couldn't say anything because, all she ever wanted out of Ron was feeling, other than anger which she constantly sees him express. And now she got it. Maybe that was why she was his girlfriend. To see if, just maybe, she could see something. What he looked like when he was experiencing feelings.

But then again, it lost purpose after war, because she witnessed all the emotions he possessed, show through. Maybe that's why they didn't work anymore. She found what she was after.

But that didn't make her feel better. Not. One. Sodden. Bit.

She felt like she used Ron. She's not that type of person. She never wants to be that kind of person.

Hermione felt Ron's thick arms wrap around her as she cried for many reasons.

"It's okay, 'Mione," he said, "I'm sorry."
When she was tear-free, she said what she felt. He said it was okay. He kind of used her too. He smiled and kissed her on top of her head, and brought her to her common room.

(End of flashback)

~•~

It was...confusing for her to find out how she felt about Ron breaking up with her. She, didn't feel anything. Not happiness, sadness or heart-break.
Relief maybe?

Hermione couldn't give it an extra thought as she turned the corner and ran right into someone.

In less than a second her wand was out, pressing into the throat of...

"Malfoy?"