The Bond Of Fate - DracoxHermione

Chapter Eighteen

Draco was sitting at the Slytherin table having an early dinner when he felt a rush of anxiety shoot through his body. He shuddered instinctively and Zabini, who was stuffing his face with roast beef, arched his eyebrows questioningly.

He shook his head at him and returned his attention to Pansy and Dean, who were now whispering to each other between giggles. He looked away, slightly nauseated by the public display of affection.

Less than two weeks ago, Pansy had been sneaking into his bedroom whenever Hermione was in class and they had a free period, but now she suddenly seemed absolutely smitten with that dumb Gryffindor and couldn't even spare him a glance.

He wasn't jealous. Obviously. Pansy had never been anything besides a means to an end to him, simple fun and pleasure. But he was certainly annoyed that she had chosen to replace him with Dean bloody Thomas. Not only a Gryffindor but a muggle-born.

The day McGonagall had forced them to drink from the goblet and revealed the soulmate bonds, Pansy had whined for hours, she had refused to allow Dean into her bedroom and forced him to sleep in the common room. The thought of her soulmate being a muggle-born had felt like an evil joke to her and she had insisted to anyone who would listen that the spell in the goblet was bullshit. Claimed that this was the Ministry's way of punishing them for their parent's choices.

Malfoy had tried to agree with her, being bonded with Hermione Granger definitely felt like the universe's idea of a cruel joke, yet unlike Pansy and Zabini, he could feel the bond, and somehow knew that the connection they shared could not be a fabrication of the Ministry.

However, that didn't mean he wasn't going to fight it as hard as he could. 

Soon enough he had realized that being near Hermione seemed to intensify the connection, he had felt uncontrollable guilt and felt her trauma. After his breakdown in Professor Nutty's office, and again later the same week in their bedroom, he had realized he needed to put as much distance between them as possible.

Yet the bond only seemed to intensify with time, and he felt himself starting to change. He didn't feel as much rejection towards her as he had before. Granted, his feelings towards the Boy Who Refused to Bloody Die and his friends had started to shift a bit over a year ago, but that didn't mean he suddenly liked them.

Nevertheless, Granger had started getting under his skin.

He found himself watching her sleep, anxiously awaiting her nightmares. Being that close to her made his skin tingle, and every night he fought the pull that tried to drag him across the bed. Still, as soon as she started to whimper, he seemed to have no control over his body. In her sleep, Hermione would shoot fear through the bond, sometimes followed by excruciating pain, and Draco would pull her against his chest, holding her tightly until the nightmare passed.

At first, he'd told himself he only did it to stop her from sending her emotions down the bond and waking him up, but eventually, he was forced to accept that he did it because he wanted to stop her pain, not his.

He deserved every bit of pain she sent his way.

Even so, he refused to tell his friends about the nature of his bond or his shifting emotions and had them convinced that his bond with Hermione Granger was as simple and irrelevant as theirs.

But now, Pansy was ruining everything. He exchanged an alarmed look with Zabini as their friend began snogging the muggle-born at the table.

"Oi! Parkinson! I'm trying to eat over here," Zabini spat and Pansy detached herself from Dean long enough to shoot him a nasty glare.