Beautiful Disaster

Title: Beautiful Disaster
Author: ashleyfanfic
Part: 12/??
Summary: Veela! Draco finds out that his mate is the least likely person on the planet, and the discovery leads him and his father in new directions.
Thanks: Thanks go to grrarrg who betaed this for me really quickly this morning! I appreciate it. Oh yeah, and it\'s my Birthday today!
Disclaimer: The characters held within are not mine but belong to warner brothers and jk rowling. I\'m only playing with them for a few minutes and will give them back virtually unharmed. There is also no profit being made off of this, so please don\'t sue.




Beautiful Disaster
Part 12


Hermione smiled on her way to the Great Hall. She’d actually enjoyed herself the night before and anticipated the next time she was with him. She’d grown fond of the few hours she spent with him in the privacy of his room. He seemed to let his guard down and became a person that she could see herself being friends with. He still had his moments when he was unbearable and annoying, but when he was with her, he seemed to be a different person, a person worth being with.

She made her way into the Great Hall and found the room eerily silent as she sat down. Several students down from her were pouring over a newspaper as she reached for the eggs. “Can you believe it?” Ginny said as she sat down beside her.

\"Believe what?” Hermione asked as she lifted her fork to her mouth.

“The Death Eaters attacked Diagon Alley last night.”

Hermione’s head snapped up and she looked over at her friend, “What?”

“Yeah. You haven’t seen the Daily Prophet have you?”

“No.” At that moment, her owl dropped the paper in front of her and she quickly opened it.

The capture of several Death Eaters was owed in great deal to several civilians who had stumbled upon the attack. When asked, Bill Weasley, a curse breaker for Gringotts, stated, “I’m just glad I could be of some help.”

It is unclear what the villains were after, but thankfully they were stopped before they could cause any real damage.

Hermione stopped reading the rest of the article, and looked around, seeing a few of the Slytherins looking very upset. She wondered idly if any of their parents had been captured. At that moment, the doors to the Great Hall slammed open and Draco strolled in, a sneer fixed to his face. She supposed that he was keeping up a front for those in his house. They all looked to him as he moved to their table. He gave them all a slight nod and it was almost as if a sigh of relief washed over the group.

It was then she realized how much the members of his house looked up to him. The rest of the school might have thought him to be a git and numerous other adjectives, but the members of his house looked to him as though he had all the answers. A reassuring nod from him and they seemed to visibly relax. Of course, it couldn’t hurt that his father was in Voldemort’s inner circle, and they might have thought that the Death Eaters would have their revenge.

Draco’s eyes caught hers in the quickest glimpse before he turned back to his breakfast. The note he’d received last night had been the tip off. That’s how people knew where to be. She’d been there. She’d seen Draco helping their side. She wished that she could tell everyone. She wanted everyone to know that he wasn’t the horrible person they thought he was. She wanted to do nothing but prove that he was an honourable person. She looked down at her plate and almost laughed. She wanted to defend Draco Malfoy to the world. That struck her as strange.

“Ron has shown everyone the article, telling everyone how his brother had a hand in capturing Death Eaters.”

Hermione smiled, “I’m sure.” She took a bite of her eggs, “But that’s really good that they caught them. Maybe they’ll be able to get some information out of them.”

Ginny nodded. “It wouldn’t hurt.”

They continued breakfast, talking about nothing at all. Every now and then Hermione stole glances at Draco across the Great Hall, resisting the urge to run up and hug him for what he’d done, even though it hadn’t been much, just delivered a letter. She knew better. It had been more than that. He and his father were putting their lives in danger by doing this. If they hadn’t known about the attack last night, innocent people could have lost their lives. Thankfully, it hadn’t come to that.

She looked up when someone took a seat in front of her. Ron looked embarrassed and nervous, two things that usually meant Ron Weasley was about to apologize. “I’m sorry. I was an arse.”

She nodded, “You were. But I wasn’t exactly…nice to you either.”

He frowned, “I feel horrible for what I said to you. I was just angry and thought that you wanted Malfoy more than you wanted me. You know how I get when it comes to that over-grown ferret.”

She said nothing, just gave Ron a smile. Harry took a seat beside Hermione and smiled at them both, “Everyone make up?”

Ron tilted his head, “Did we make up, Hermione?”

She nodded, and gave him a genuine smile, “Yes. I’ve missed you Ronald.”

“I’ve missed your nagging, Hermione.”

Harry smiled, “About time. Life is back to normal…or, as normal as it can get.”

Hermione chuckled at Harry, “You’re in a chipper mood.”

“I’ve got Qudditch practice later. Of course, I’m chipper.”

“I see the Golden Trio has made up. Let the school rejoice,” said an angry voice from behind Ron. Draco stood behind the redheaded boy, flanked on each side by his bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle. Hermione knew enough after seeing Ron that Draco didn’t need the protection.

“Bugger off, Malfoy,” Ron spat angrily as he stood, looking Draco in the eye. Hermione looked on in fear that Ron and Draco would get into another row.

She reached across the table and grabbed Ron’s arm, “Ron,” she said shaking her head, “He’s not worth it.”

Draco turned his attention to Hermione, “You stay out of this,” he hissed.

Harry stood as well; ready to defend both of his friends. “Go back to your table, Malfoy. No one wants you here to ruin our appetites.”

“You don’t tell me what to do.”

“No, but I do.” They all turned to see Snape lingering behind his Slytherins. “Back to your table. As for you two,” he said looking at Ron and Harry, “Using physical violence is prohibited, as is threatening to use it. Five points from Gryffindor.”

“And five points from Slytherin,” McGonagall said as she approached the students. “Your boys are just as much in the wrong,” she whispered to Snape as she passed him. “All of you, sit down, eat your breakfast, and then go to class.”

It amazed Hermione how the woman could strike fear into the hearts of everyone. She was truly her favourite professor. She watched as Draco and his cronies moved back to the Slytherin table. He gave her one last look and she frowned. She didn’t know what had possessed him to do such a thing, but she didn’t like seeing the old Draco.

“Finally, things are really back to normal. Malfoy is acting like the git he is and Ron is back in the fold.”

Hermione looked over at Harry and sighed, “Why couldn’t we have Draco acting like a nice person and Ron back? Why does one have to affect the other?” she said softly as she stood and left the Great Hall.

*~*

Draco’s leg shook nervously as he sat in the potions classroom waiting for the other students to arrive. He had a lot of nervous energy and he didn’t know what to do about it. He felt like he could run a mile. His entire body was tingling and he had no idea why.

The door to the room opened and the sound of footsteps behind him echoed through the silent room. He knew it was her without turning to look. She set her bag on the table beside him, making no effort to keep quiet.

“Why did you have to pick a fight this morning?”

He rolled his eyes and did his best to ignore her. He was in no mood to defend his actions or his dislike of her two friends. He may have wanted her, but he wasn’t going to go out of his way to make her overly happy when he wasn’t in the best moods.

“Are you going to answer me?” she asked as she put her hands on her hips, her tone laced with annoyance.

He looked over at her and back at the book in front of him, “What would you like me to say?”

“I asked you a question, the least you could do is answer me. Why did you try to pick a fight with Harry and Ron?”

He rolled his eyes, “I suppose you’re looking for a more in depth answer than I hate them?”

She narrowed her eyes, “Why are you being such a git?”

“Why are you being so annoying and asking a million bloody questions? Can’t we just sit here in silence?”

She sat beside him and began pulling books from her bag, “You want silence? You’ve got it,” she said angrily.

He didn’t know why he was picking a fight with her. He glanced at her as she pulled a book from her bag and slammed it on the table. She was angry with him and rightfully so. He was being a git. He was being mean to her deliberately, and he didn’t know why. He wished he could say that he was sorry, but he wasn’t.

He hated Potter and Weasley and to know that she’d made up with the guy that she’d nearly killed him with made him sick. Weasley had touched her, kissed her, and he hated him more than he could even put into words. Why should he celebrate their reunion when it posed a threat to what he had with Hermione? Of course, his own mouth posed a threat.

He heard her sniff from beside him and he glanced again and found her wiping at her eyes. She was crying. He made her cry. He felt like the biggest arse in the world. He sighed, “I’m sorry.”

She said nothing, just brushed the tears from her eyes, keeping her head down and turning from him as she did so. He caught her wrist and turned her to look at him, and he found her angry, her face red, “Why are you like this?” she asked.

“Like what?” he asked defensively.

“Why are you so rotten? Why do you have to be so mean? I asked you a simple question and…I’ve been defending you to my friends! I’ve been telling them that maybe you’ve changed and…and you haven’t changed! You’re still the right foul git you’ve always been, you’ve just been putting on a show for me!” He opened his mouth to say something and she pulled her arm away from him, “You stay away from me.”

“But…you’re my mate…”

“I don’t care. You can spend your life alone.”

He started to say something when other students started filling up the room. He knew that he had messed up. She’d been defending him to people; thinking that he had changed and now she thought he was no different than he’d always been. That wasn’t true. He cared what she thought. He may not have liked her friends, but he liked her. He really liked her.

Snape entered and class began. Hermione kept her head down and did her best not to cry. She could feel Draco looking at her every now and again but refused to let it get to her. She couldn’t show that she was actually disappointed in what had happened. She couldn’t let him know that she was actually hopeful for the future they were to share together. But she knew that he was aware that he’d hurt her. Whether or not he had meant to wasn’t the point. He had and there was no getting around it.

Potions passed by slowly, Hermione’s potion, even through her distraction, came out perfectly, and Draco’s potion, however, came out a dark green when it should have been a red colour. If he actually cared about his potion it would have come out right the first time. But he didn’t care. She was angry with him, and rightfully so. He was horrible to her and for no other reason than jealousy. He wanted to be able to bury that inside of him, not let her friendship with Potter and Weasley bother him, but it did. It bothered him in ways he couldn’t voice.

She was his, not theirs. The sooner she realized that, the better off they all would be. She could be close to them, if she liked, as long as they all realized that at the end of the day, she would be with him because it was supposed to happen that way. She was his mate, and that gave him some sense of satisfaction. He knew that no matter what she did, she would long for him. She couldn’t be with anyone because if Hermione was anything it wasn’t without heart. She knew that to be physical with anyone else would hurt him, possibly kill him. She wouldn’t want that on her head. He was somewhat reassured that she would have to forgive him if she didn’t want to live the rest of her life alone.

However, she was proud. It would be hard to convince her of such a thing. In fact, she would probably stay alone forever just to spite him. She might be that angry. For all he knew she felt betrayed, which, if he were honest with himself, she should be angry. He wasn’t a saint and pretending all the time that he was had begun to grate on his nerves. He didn’t care what others thought of him, but her opinion mattered. She was right in saying that it had all been an act for her. He wanted her and was willing to do anything to convince her of that.

Snape snapped him out of his thoughts, “Mr. Malfoy, see me after class.”

Draco closed his eyes as his potion let out the smell of freshly cut grass and he sighed. It was never good when Snape wanted to see you after class, even if you were a Slytherin. The rest of the students were dismissed, each of them turning in a vial of their potion and cleaning up their areas. Hermione didn’t even pass him a hateful look as she left the room.

He didn’t move from his seat as Snape took his place behind his own cauldron, “Would you care to explain your poor performance in today’s class?” he asked with a disapproving sneer.

“No, I would not.”

“You’re going to, whether you like it or not.”

Draco didn’t feel like discussing his feelings for Hermione with Snape, even if he was his favourite professor. “My mind wasn’t on the task at hand.”

“And what was your mind on?”

“That’s personal,” he grumbled.

“I see.” He was quiet for several moments before he spoke again, “What did you do to Miss Granger?”

“I didn’t do anything to her?”

“Oh?” he asked disbelievingly.

He sighed, “This wasn’t my fault.”

“And whose fault was it?”

“Potter and Weasley, I hate them and she doesn’t seem to be able to get that through her head and expects me to just be civil.”

Snape sighed, “I see.” He scowled, “I could imagine that it would be quite difficult to be…civil to two people as loathsome as the two of them.”

Draco frowned, “But I have to try, don’t I? If I have any chance of having anything with her, I need to find someway to tolerate her relationship with the two of them. She’s furious with me because I picked a fight with them this morning and…” he sighed, “I don’t even know why I did it! I just saw her talking to Weasley and I wanted to stop her from doing it. I don’t trust him with her, Professor.”

Snape shook his head, “You’re looking at this the wrong way. Miss Granger isn’t going to do anything with Mr Weasley, as repulsive as the thought may be. She was made your mate and is therefore yours. You need not worry about anyone taking her from you, and should someone try to do so by force, you would know it and could prevent it before anyone else.”

He scowled, “He’s already tried! I don’t like that they’re so close, that she tells him things she doesn’t tell me!”

“Would you rather be just friends with Miss Granger?” Of his look, Snape answered, “I thought not. That’s all Mr Weasley is and ever will be with Miss Granger. She’s yours Draco and he can’t take her away from you. It’s part of the Veela charm. She won’t be able to want anyone but you and you will never want another except her. You might need to let go of your anger to make amends with Miss Granger.”

I would rather eat puss covered glass every morning for the rest of my life than be civil to Weasley.

Despite that thought, Draco realized the importance of what the professor was saying and sighed. It was important to let Hermione know that he could get along with her friends if he had to. He didn’t like it, and he would nearly choke every time he had to say something to them that wasn’t putting them in their place, but it had to be done to secure his relationship with Hermione.

“Thank you, Professor.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Malfoy.” Draco put his book into his bag and stood. “You’ll finish this potion on Monday.”

“Sir?”

“I’m not going to allow your grade to slip just because you are a hormone driven teenager. Be here on Monday night to complete your assignment,” he said as he picked up his quill and began writing, allowing Draco to know the conversation was over.

He stormed from the room and made his way to his common room. Snape had never made him finish an assignment before. He didn’t know why he was making him now, but he had a hunch that it had to do with Hermione being the reason for his distraction. The Potions Master confused him sometimes.

As he opened his common room door, he was immediately aware of her. He found her gathering a few books and shoving them into her already too full bag. She didn’t look up as she did so, and there was nothing Draco hated more than being ignored.

“Hermione.”

“Don’t talk to me.”

He sighed. “Let me apologize.”

She shook her head and closed the bag. She didn’t look at him as she started to walk towards him to get out of the room. He frowned, and tried to hold her by the shoulders, “Don’t…touch me.”

Draco rolled his eyes and moved out of her way, “Fine, run along then.” He knew how to manipulate her into staying and fighting with him. He only hoped that she would rise to the bait.

She turned to him and put her hands on her hips, “Run along? That’s all you have to say to me?”

“I thought you weren’t speaking to me?” he asked with a hint of triumph in his voice.

She shook her head and glared at him, “I hate you. Don’t talk to me, don’t look at me, and don’t even think about me. You no longer exist.”

She turned for the door, “See, that’s where you’re wrong,” he said from behind her. “No matter what you think, you won’t be able to ignore me.” He sighed dramatically, “I’m your mate, just as much as you are mine. You’re mad at me now, but you’ll get over it.”

She turned to him, and he saw the book in her hand only seconds before it went flying at his head and caught him in the forehead. He didn’t remember much after that. The next thing he did remember was Hermione was holding his head in her lap, tears streaming down her face as she muttered something unintelligible.

He groaned as the pain in his head throbbed. He brought his hand up to the spot where the book had hit him and he remembered it all clearly now. She’d thrown a book at him out of anger and apparently felt badly enough about it to sit and make sure he was okay.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered.

He shook his head; “You threw a book at me.”

“I know.”

“And you hit me in the head.”

“I know,” she sniffed.

He started to sit up and stopped quickly. He felt slightly dizzy, but continued up the rest of the way when the room quit spinning. He frowned, as he looked at her, “Why did you do that?”

“I was mad at you.”

He sighed, “Are you going to hurl a book at me every time you’re angry with me?”

“I didn’t mean to hit you! I thought you would move out of the way!”

“Well, I didn’t.”

She frowned, “I’m sorry.”

They were both silent, the only sound in the room was the sprinkling of rain outside his window. “I suppose I deserved it though.”

She nodded. “You did.”

“If I deserved it, why are you still here?”

“I was afraid…you might be really hurt,” she admitted. She frowned, hating to admit that she cared about him after the way he’d treated her. He didn’t deserve for her to care about him at this moment. He’d been cruel; he’d made her cry, again. She was tired of crying over him, because of him. She was ready to be happy and he seemed like two different people and it pissed her off.

She’d gone straight to his room after class. She wanted to get all of her books out of there, unsure of how she’d left so many. But when he walked in and started ordering her about in that tone he often used to make her feel small and insignificant, she wasn’t able to control her anger. She threw the book and watched as it caught him in the head and he quickly hit the floor, hitting the back of his head on the stone floor as he fell.

She’d felt so horrible for actually hurting him that she decided to stay and make sure he woke up, if not send for Madam Pomfrey should he not. But, his eyes had blinked open several minutes later and relief washed through her as she realized that he was fine.

“I’m not. I’m fine.”

She could see that his eyes were having a bit of a problem focusing and decided to test him. “How many fingers do you see?” she said as she held up one finger.

“Two,” he said seriously before rubbing the back of his head.

She stood and took his hand in hers, “You’re going to Madam Pomfrey.”

“Like hell I am.”

“You are. You might have a concussion.”

He rolled his eyes, “I’m fine.” He stood and began wobbling as he did so, “Maybe…I’m not fine. Why does the back of my head hurt?”

“You hit it when you fell.”

He nodded as she released his hand and led him to the infirmary. He stopped short behind her once or twice to hold onto the wall, finding the room was spinning and shifting a bit more than he liked.

When they finally reached the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey looked at the two of them, “Well, you both look well enough to walk in here on your own. What happened?”

“Well…” Hermione started, but was interrupted.

“Granger was practicing levitating spells in a corridor, an empty one, and a book caught me in the head.\"

“And you walked here?”

“Yeah?”

“Sit over there. Miss Granger, you should be more careful about where you practice spells.”

“Yes ma’am,” she said as her cheeks blushed. Ten minutes later and Draco was resting on a cot waiting for Madam Pomfrey to release him after he’d had one of the foulest healing potions imaginable. Hermione was seated at his bedside, afraid to leave him, and also feeling incredibly guilty for being the one to injure him. “I’m really sorry.”

Draco shook his head, “Nothing to worry about.”

“But I hurt you…and I feel badly about it.”

“I hurt you too,” he said softly. “Can we call it even?”

She shook her head, “No. Because no matter what I did to you…you haven’t changed and there’s no sense in pretending that you have.”

Draco rolled his eyes, “Why do I have to change? Why can’t you be the one to change?”

She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Madam Pomfrey, “Mr. Malfoy, you’re free to go. You should be fine.”

“Thanks,” said as he stood and they walked out of the hospital wing.

She folded her arms over her chest, “What exactly is it you’d like me to change, Draco?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know. But I think it’s pretty unfair to ask me to change who I am when you haven’t made the effort to do so either.”

She shook her head, “Why am I even surprised?” She asked as she stormed away.

He shook his head, “Why do I keep doing that?” he asked himself. He followed her to his common room and once inside he sighed, “Look, I don’t want you to change. I like you the way you are but you have to understand that…I don’t like Potter and Weasley. They don’t like me. Why should I have to change that? I mean, how I feel about them doesn’t change anything between us. I still like you whether or not I like them.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want this to be a huge thing when they finally do find out. Can’t you see that? I just want to keep the peace and that’s impossible as long as you continue to pick fights.”

“So…what? You want me to promise that I won’t fight with them anymore? That’s a lot to ask.”

“No…just…civil. Can you be civil?”

“To Potter and Weasley?”

“Yes. To Potter and Weasley.”

He sighed, “I make no promises, but I’ll try.”

“That’s all I’m asking for.”

He smiled, “Forgive me?”

She shrugged, “I haven’t decided yet. You really hurt me…”

“I’m sorry.”

She nodded, “You’ve said that.”

“But it’s true.”

\"Look, you hurt me and it’s going to take time for me to forget that.”

“How much time?”

She lifted her bag onto her shoulder and sighed, “I don’t know,” she said before she left.



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