The End's Intent

Chapter 17

It had taken several minutes and a better explanation for Hermione to fully process what Draco had said. When she froze after he'd said she was his mate, he'd rushed to tell her what Remus had told him and why they'd come to that conclusion. He stumbled over his words slightly when he started to tell her how the wolf felt, but with a red face, he managed to tell her more or less what the wolf thought whenever she was around. Her face heated up when his eyes turned silver partway through the explanation and she knew the wolf was clearly enjoying telling her how badly he wanted to take her whenever he saw her.

There was a part of her that wanted nothing more than to let Draco's wolf do what he wanted, but the realistic part of her knew better than to test it. Based on what Draco had told her, he already had little control when he kissed her. She didn't need to make it harder on him.

When Draco finished explaining, the room went silent. Draco stared straight ahead at the wall, refusing to look at her even when Hermione kissed his collar.

"Draco?" she hummed. Draco glanced at her and when she gave him a small smile, he didn't look away.

"I don't want you to do this because you think you have to," he said. He didn't pull away from her, but he certainly didn't relax against her.

Hermione looked up at him and frowned. Is that what he thought she was doing? That would explain why he seemed so reluctant to be around her sometimes. It was just like him to try and leave if he felt like he was forcing her into something.

"Draco, that's not why I'm here," she told him. She shifted on the bed so she was facing him and ignored the way her body ached at the movement. Draco's hand shot out to her side and she smiled at him. "Believe it or not, I may actually feel the same way about you. Wolf or not, I want this too," she said, reaching up to gently brush a stray hair off his forehead. "You're my best friend, but you can't tell Harry or Ron that because they'll throw a fit. Is it really that hard to believe I could want this too?"

"I'm not a safe choice," Draco said. Hermione rolled her eyes, but he squeezed her waist to get her attention. "My family is full of Death Eaters and I'm one too. Now I'm a werewolf, as if I wasn't a big enough threat."

"I happen to have sought out threats since first year," Hermione reminded him. Draco's eyes narrowed as he took a moment to remember just what sort of problems Hermione had gotten into since attending Hogwarts. "The point is," Hermione said, purposely interrupting his thoughts, "I want this too, so you should stop bullying yourself into leaving me behind. I'm here whether you like it or not."

Draco smiled and gently pulled her to his chest. It was a bit of a strange position as she'd been kneeling adjacent to him, but she didn't pull away. As soon as Draco let her go, though, she pulled him down so he was lying on the bed beside her and easy to curl around. Her body was still sore and part of her worried about tomorrow's lesson with the DA, but that would be a problem for the morning. At the moment, she was too busy enjoying Draco's warmth and the feeling of being wrapped up in his arms.

* * * * *

Hermione discovered much too late in the morning that Draco's possessiveness was going to cause a problem when it came to leaving for the DA. He'd had the house elves send them breakfast while she showered as an excuse not to go to the Great Hall ("I'll slit their throats if I see their faces," he said as another excuse). When Hermione tried to leave the dorm under the pretense of meeting with Ginny, Draco wouldn't let her go.

"Draco, I have to go, okay?" she said, trying to slip out of his arms. Draco wasn't having it and reached for her hand quickly.

"They're still out there, Hermione," he said, glancing at the door as if mentioning their names might bring them to the dorm. "Can't Weaslette come here?"

And such went the debate for almost half an hour before Hermione knew they would get nowhere if they continued. Draco's eyes had turned silver at some point during the conversation which told Hermione this was more of a wolf problem than a Draco problem.

It may have been only a second, but Hermione felt like the decision took longer to make. While Draco argued the Carrows could attack her in the hallway again, Hermione quickly debated whether she should tell him about the DA. He'd never given her reason to not trust him before and despite being a marked Death Eater, Hermione could see it was killing him.

"—if they know you're with Ginny and they still try—"

"I'm not actually seeing Ginny!" Hermione blurted out. Draco stopped in the middle of his sentence and Hermione reached for his hand. "I'm not actually going to see Ginny, but before you get upset—don't do that," Hermione said, glaring at him when his eyes turned silver. "I have a perfectly valid reason for not telling you but before I do, I need you to sign a parchment for me, okay?"

Draco looked at her skeptically as she conjured the DA's charmed parchment for Draco to sign. A quill appeared beside the parchment and Draco took it. He glanced at her again before hesitantly signing the parchment. As he stepped back, the ink glowed then sank into the parchment before disappearing entirely. Hermione sent the parchment back to its hiding place and took Draco's hands.

"During the time Umbridge was here, Harry started his own defense class," she started, breathing deeply. "We named it Dumbledore's Army, the DA for short, and on weekends, me, Ginny, Luna, and Neville teach the younger students defense spells they aren't learning from the Carrows."

Draco opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione plowed on before he could.

"The parchment is charmed so you can't tell a soul about it," she said. She didn't tell him all the spells she'd put on it, but she did mention that if he tried to tell a professor or other adult, he'd immediately forget everything about it. "The other spells are less extreme, but I'm not going to tell you what they are. You know why I couldn't tell you before, right? I just—Ginny will kill me now that you know, but I think I can persuade her to listen. Just promise me this wasn't a mistake, telling you about the DA."

"It wasn't," Draco promised, squeezing her hands tightly. He smiled at her and pressed a kiss to her cheek before saying, "I'm jealous, actually, that you've been doing something to help the younger students while I've been useless as a Head Boy. If there's any way I can help, I want to."

Hermione wasn't sure that was really the best idea considering everyone else in the DA thought Draco was a Death Eater. She knew Ginny would believe her as she'd often lamented about how Draco was being forced into it against his will, but the others were a different story. It was unlikely they'd trust him.

"You can't come with me," she told him. Draco attempted to argue, but she shook her head. "It's already suspicious to have so many kids meeting on the seventh floor. The Carrows are clearly keeping an eye on you."

"Only because they were in charge of sending the wolves at me," Draco grumbled. Hermione nodded as the conversation she'd overheard the night before replayed in her head. "They'll watch you now too, closer than ever. They saw us hugging the night I left with Snape and think I'm attempting to change sides. Of course, they're not wrong but I hate that it's made you even more of a target."

"I'll watch my back," Hermione assured him. Draco still looked too uncomfortable to let her leave, but she knew time was passing quickly and she needed to meet in the Room of Requirement soon. "I promise I'll be okay. I'll have Ginny and Neville walk back with me and if anything happens, they're sure to come here."

"I'll be worried until you return," Draco said. Hermione gave him a grim smile and bit back a comment about how she wasn't going to war. Instead, she kissed his cheek and told him to go find Blaise instead.

"He really was worried about you the other night," she said before slipping out of the dorm and hurrying off to the DA.