Ch. 1

Hermione sighed as she looked up from her book, placing her head in her hands momentarily and taking a deep breath. It was only a week into the term and she already had a tremendous amount of homework to do. Despite that, though, she felt relatively calm. But that was most likely because she was in her favorite part of the library, surrounded by all of the books.

"Erm, Granger?"

She jumped slightly and looked up. Draco Malfoy was standing at the opposite end of the table, looking at her awkwardly. He nodded towards one of the books off to her side and asked, "Is there a chance I could borrow that book when you're finished with it?"

Hermione stared at him for a second before nodding. He nodded in return and walked back to the table he had been sitting at with the other Slytherin, Blaise Zabini. They muttered something to each other before returning back to their work, Malfoy giving her a quick look before doing so.

She looked him over, noticing that his features were somehow more angular than they were before the summer. His hair wasn't stiff anymore, now flowing backwards as if he ran his hands through it a lot, and it was almost an icy white color. It was much brighter than it had been before, almost glowing. Any stress that had shown on his face before the war was gone, and he looked...attractive. 

She frowned as she went back to her book after what she pushed those thoughts away, continuing to write down notes for her Ancient Runes essay.

"I thought I might find you here!"

She looked up to see Ginny making her way through the tables to her, and she smiled at her friend. "Hey Ginny!"

Ginny set her stuff down at the corner of the table that wasn't occupied by books and sat in the chair next to Hermione, sighing. "How was your summer? Were you able to find your parents?"

Hermione's smile faded and she looked back down at her parchment. "No, I have no idea where in Australia they are. I was really hoping that I would find them, but I had almost no leads and I ran out of time. It's hard to search for them the muggle way, and I couldn't really just show up and start asking questions without raising suspicion."

She sighed and leaned back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling and fighting back the tears. Ginny reached over and rubbed her friend's arm, saying, "I'm sure McGonagall would understand if you wanted to take some time off to go find them."

Hermione shook her head and leaned forward again, giving her friend a small smile. "I need to complete my last year first."

Ginny shook her head and opened her mouth to argue but then immediately shut it, her brow furrowing as she looked past Hermione. "'Mione, I'm pretty sure Malfoy was just staring at you."

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head. "He asked if he could borrow one of the books I'm using earlier; he's probably just seeing if I was finished with it."

The red head seemed apprehensive of the answer but looked back at her friend. "Is it odd having to share a dorm with him?"

Hermione shrugged. Her and Malfoy had made Head Girl and Head Boy, much to everyone's surprise on Malfoy's selection. "We haven't even talked much, really. I've honestly been trying to avoid him thinking that he'll make fun of me again, but he doesn't say anything when we're in the room with each other. You know he would never miss a chance to make fun of me or call me names in the past."

"He hasn't done any of that?" Ginny asked in an astonished tone.

"Not once. He even called me by my last name when he asked for the book." Hermione shot him a quick look before turning back to Ginny. "It's odd. I mean, I'm not complaining or anything, but still."

"Yeah, that's so out of character for him. Maybe it's someone using a Polyjuice Potion." They both giggled and Ginny nodded towards the library door. "Come on, dinner's about to start and I'm starving."

"Okay, let me just finish this note really quick and then I need to put the books up," Hermione said.

She quickly jotted down the rest of the information she needed and grabbed the stack of books, going back to the shelves with Ginny following and helping to put the books away. She kept the one that Malfoy had wanted and quietly made her way over to his table, holding the book out to him.

"Here, I'm finished with it," She said.

He looked at the book and then up at her, his steel-colored eyes locking on hers as he took the book from her and gave her a small smile. "Thank you, Hermione."

She gave him a startled look before nodding at Blaise and walking away, confused. Did he just call her by her first name?

Draco and Blaise watched the two girls leave the library as they talked quietly to each other, slowly moving out of the boys' extended hearing range. When the doors closed behind them, Draco sighed and set the book down on the table, putting his head into his hands and breathing out a deep sigh.

"Look mate," Blaise started quietly, "It's only been a week. You need to be patient."

Draco ran his hands up his face and through his hair before sitting up. "I know, but it's hard to try and accomplish anything if she's actively avoiding me."

"You can't blame her though," Blaise said, gesturing to nothing in particular. "You did treat her horribly in the past, and she clearly remembers it."

"You know I had to." Draco glared at him. "And don't act like you were a saint to the Weasley girl either."

Blaise returned the glare. "I said maybe a couple of things to her. I didn't make her cry like you did to Granger."

"I didn't want to make her cry!" Draco growled. "I tried to help her second year!"

"What, with the page on Basilisks you ripped out of the book? Yeah right!" Blaise rolled his eyes. "Did you forget all the times you made fun of her teeth? Or her hair?"

"Did you forget you called your mate 'blood traitor'?" Draco countered.

Blaise's eyes darkened slightly. "Did you forget you called yours 'mudblood' on more than one occasion?"

"Don't you say that word again!" Draco yelled.

"The two looked up to see Madam Pince glaring at them. "This is a library! Quiet down or leave!"

She walked away, leaving the two Veelas glaring at each other with dark eyes. They looked away from each other, taking deep breaths and soon calming down to their normal state.

Draco apologized first. "Sorry, mate."

"Yeah, me too." Blaise sighed and stood up. "Let's get to dinner."

Draco nodded in agreement and gathered his notes, the two of them leaving the library in silence.

"How do you think they'll react when we tell them?" Blaise asked out of the blue as they walked down the spiral staircase to the third floor.

Draco smirked slightly. "Well, I'm pretty sure that you'll get a nice punch in the face from Weaslette."

Blaise chuckled in response. "I'd rather her punch me than hex me."

"Ah, yes! Her infamous Bat-Bogey hex," Draco laughed. "Yeah, I think I'd rather have her punch me too."

"Yeah but you don't have to worry about Ginny punching you," Blaise said. "You only have to worry about Hermione."

"Well depending on which one is told first, I may need to worry about Ginny," Draco replied. "And Hermione's already got one hit in on me!"

They both laughed as they stepped through the Great Hall doors, walking over to the Slytherin table and sitting down in their usual spots. They started sitting next to each other facing the other tables so that they were able to both see their mates.

It was still odd to Draco, thinking of Hermione as his mate. He had always had feelings for her, and something about her just drew him to her. He had known he was a Veela practically all his life, as did Blaise. They were told at the same time by their parents when they were young, and were told that they would eventually have to find their mates after their Veela side truly awoken after their seventeenth birthdays.

Blaise's blood awoke first in April, with Draco's happening in June. They had no idea who their mates were at the time, but Draco already had an idea of his, which was confirmed when he first smelled her at the train station when they came back. Even now he could still smell her scent over the food, and he knew Blaise could smell the Weasley girl's.

He laughed slightly when he remembered Blaise yelling out at King's Cross when he first smelled his mate. He was practically running through the crowd trying to find her. But then he yelled again in frustration when he realized that she was still with Potter, who was seeing both her and Hermione off for their last year.

"What are you smirking at?" Blaise asked, nudging him and bringing him out of his thoughts.

Draco looked over at him. "Just remembering your reaction to finding out Weaslette was your mate."

Blaise glared at him. "Shut up. I panicked."

"Oh, I know," Draco laughed. "All of King's Cross knew you panicked."

Blaise growled and turned away. "Not my fault that I didn't know Potter was there with her. He's lucky I didn't rip his throat out."

"I think you're going to have a harder time with yours, mate," Draco said honestly. "She's still very much in love with Potter."

Blaise put his head down slightly. "Yeah, I know. I'm hoping to maybe talk to Slughorn and see if I can be paired with her in Potions. At least maybe be closer to her."

"That's not a bad idea," Draco considered. "Can you maybe ask for me too? Since you're a part of his stupid club and all."

"Still jealous about that?" Blaise teased. "It's really nothing. The dinners were incredibly boring."

"Whatever; just ask him for me, okay?"

"Will do." Blaise looked up as he saw the girls stand up. "Maybe try talking to her tonight."

Draco's eyes followed his mate. "Yeah, was already planning on it. I'll catch you later."

He stood up to leave, hoping to get to their dorm room before her so that he could catch her before she disappeared into her room again.