Tragic event-1

"Do you feel any different?" Draco asked the girl who lay beside him with her head on his chest and the crook of his arm pillowing her neck. The rhythmic beat of his heart almost put the girl back to sleep, but she fought the sleepiness with her strong desire to stay awake.

"Not especially." Hermione looked up at him from her position and asked, "You?"

In response, Draco hugged her closer, tightening his arms around her. "Just more in love with you."

His cheesy reply made Hermione visibly cringe, yet squeal mentally at the same time. In her mind, she was grinning like a fool, but showed a displeased expression.

She pushed him away with the palms of her hands. Though Hermione was unsuccessful in moving that giant mass of muscle, she made him let go of her however reluctant he was in doing so.

She rose and sat up on the bed and turned to face him.

"Since when did you become so, what's the word," she clicked her fingers, trying to find the correct word, " sappy?"

Draco moved his upper body and dragged himself closer to Hermione. He circled his arms around her waist and snuggled his head against her stomach.

"Since I literally lost ownership of my heart." His voice sounded muffled against her woolen sweater, but Hermione could make sense of it, and when she did, she slapped the back of his head with moderate force.

Draco continued undeterred by the violent yet tender action," Anyways, I think I have always had this silly side, just no one to expose it to."

"Just don't show this silly side in front of anyone else, and if you say any of that cringe stuff before someone I will put a spell on you to make you stay as away from me as possible."

A horrified Draco pulled his head back and craned his neck upwards to stare straight at her and see if she really meant what she said. He gulped, 'She does.'

"But it's fine to do so when it's only us because you like it, don't you?" His lips pulled back into his famous smirk that spiked up the pace of Hermione's heart. Just then, his eyes zeroed in on something, and he leaned closer to her to get a better look.

"Look, there is my heart, right where I marked you. My name is inked on your skin. There's no escape from me now. You are officially Draco Malfoy's mate Hermione Granger." Draco's happiness was unhidden in his exuberant tone, and his smirk grew unbearably arrogant.

"Huh?" Hermione asked stupefied. "What?" She tried to get up to run to the mirror to check what he just said.

Before she could, however, Draco held her back.

"But on a serious note Hermione," He turned sober and earnestly made eye contact with her, " I have no right over my heart anymore. It's yours now, while yours became mine. I don't know how I know this, I just feel like I have maybe read this somewhere but I don't remember exactly where, that if something ever happens to me, I will always have a chance for revival because my life, my heart, is you. But, if anything ever happens to you," His expression became grim as an ache invaded his chest. Even the thought of losing Hermione was terribly painful. "I'll be beside you as we cross together to the afterlife."

Hermione gently stroked the side of his pale face with the tip of her fingers, attempting to relax his tightened jaws. "Don't say things like that. Nothing will happen to you or me. We have survived one gruesome Wizarding war. What more could threaten us now?" Draco buried his face in the crook of her neck and Hermione wrapped her arms around him.

"I understand the unbreakable tie we share now. And I am not scared of it anymore, but excited to experience together whatever comes our way in the future. Also," she smiled strangely at him," there is this strange sense of security that I feel when I recall reading somewhere that 'Veelas don't feel any attraction towards the opposite sex except their mate. They are the most loyal and faithful partners one can find'. " She quoted the words from the book.

Draco nodded proudly once before pulling back with an offended face, " I would have the same fidelity even if I were not a Veela."

"Maybe, but then we would not have gotten together if you were not a Veela," Hermione pointed out.

He corrected her, " We would have still gotten together, it just would have taken a lot longer for that to happen."

Hermione just nodded, feeling what he said was probably true.

Suddenly her attention drew to the ray of sunlight pouring through a slight gap between the curtains, and her drowsiness disappeared. In alarm she shoved Malfoy away from her, making his face fall roughly on the soft bed, and climbed off the bed to stand up barefoot on the cold floor.

"How long have we been here? Do you know what's the time?" Hermione hurried towards the window as she finished her question and drew the curtains aside before peering out to spot the huge clock tower.

"It's lunchtime already? I missed Arithmancy!" She turned to her mate with a shocked face.

"On the bright side, you got to spend some valuable time with your handsome boyfriend instead of wasting it in making useless, long charts."

He realized his slip of tongue too late when Hermione gave him the stink eye and stomped out of the room in a rage.

'Even angry she is adorable.' The deserted half- Veela mused to himself.

___________________________________________

Upon her arrival Hermione found the great Hall to be in a state of uproar. The usual delicacies began to lose their warmth as the students used their mouths to talk more than eat.

Hermione frowned as she caught a few snippets of loud conversations whilst on her way to the Gryffindor table.

"I was so scared, it looked like-"

"so much blood that the floor turned red!"

"Unlike anything I have ever seen before."

She arrived near her friends, who had distressed looks of their own on their faces.

Ginny, who was listlessly picking on her food, perked up when she caught sight of her best friend.

"Mione!" Harry and Ron turned around on hearing her call the name of the girl they were missing.

Relieved, sober smiles blossomed on their faces as their tense muscles loosened a little.

Hermione arched her brows in question as she took a seat between Harry and Ron and across Ginny.

Only then did she notice a teary-eyed Neville sitting beside her.

"Where were you? Do you know how worried we were? You missed your arithmancy class? You never do that!" Ron asked in a scolding voice.

Hermione turned to him nervously, thinking of an excuse seemed harder than than ever. "I didn't feel very well, so I just returned to my room to rest. Of course I'll make up for my missed class later. You know how I am."

Ginny hummed slightly with a knowing look in her eyes. "Are you feeling better now? The medicine helped, right?" she asked.

Hermione nodded to her questions with a slight smile.

Harry and Ron turned, alarmed.

"Why? Did you hurt yourself somewhere? How? Are you better now?" Harry inquired, his gaze frantically sweeping across her form to check for any injuries. Ron did the same, and when they found nothing, they glanced back at the brunette with puzzled expressions.

Before Hermione could answer back, a voice calling from behind her interrupted them.

"Hermione? Where were you during arithmancy? You never showed up." Ivan asked as he sat down beside her, subtly using force to shift Ron to the side and take his place. The poor red head could only stare at the back of his head with a clueless expression as he struggled to finish chewing his food fast.

"Here, take the notes I made. They are not as good as yours, but I believe they could be of help." Ivan passed rolls of parchments to her.

"Thanks," Hermione replied, truly grateful as she took the notes.

"It was nothing, really." Hermione tried to clear the matter vaguely to both parties before hurriedly changing the subject.

"What happened here, though?" From the corner of her eye, she noticed something that caused her to turn her head in the particular direction to check and confirm.

"Almost half the teachers, including Headmistress McGonagall, are missing?" She questioned when she returned her gaze to her friends.

"You don't know?" Ivan asked, surprised. She shook her head in response.

Harry glanced nervously at the distraught Neville before leaning closer to Hermione and informed her about the tragic event of the day. " Hannah Abbott is in the hospital. Apparently she got attacked by some kind of mysterious spell."