Complications

"Well, Mr. Malfoy," Hermione began, "We can now have that 'talk' you've been so anxious for. What did you want to say?" She was looking at him almost sarcastically.

Draco breath in through his nose in attempt to calm himself. The entire vibe of their 'talk' was so wrong he could scream.

"First off, I think we should approach this like two rational people that are in a situation--not caused by either of them--that needs to be dealt with," he said crossly. "Stop blaming me, I'm just trying to make the best of...an unusual circumstance."

"Make the 'best' of it? We don't like each other! You seem to be going out of your way with this whole...thing," she accused. "The 'best' of it would be to leave me along until you have no other choice," Hermione responded, just as crossly.

They were in the Head common room after classes. Hermione was seated in the sofa and Draco was sprawled in a chair he had dragged over from his desk.

He straightened to face her. He could tell that he was getting too worked up. But then, she'd always had that affect on him. "What makes you think that I can leave you alone? What makes you think that it isn't painful that you're still sitting there unclaimed? What makes you think that your disapproval of me doesn't hurt?" he fair bellowed.

"What makes you think that all of this, that you don't terrify me?"

"I know that! I can feel it. That's part of what makes all this so hard!" his eyes flashed dangerously with the force of his emotion.

"Stop being so angry with me!" she burst out, turning away from him in what she hoped he would think was a sulk. She was mortified by the tears that gathered in her eyes.

"Hermione, I... What makes you think now that I have any choice but to comfort you?"

He crossed over to the couch and sat next to her, wrapping his arms around her. "And don't try to push me away now. You've read enough to know that we need each other."

"But we aren't supposed to need each other yet," she half-heartedly argued. "According to the normal veela time frame, we aren't supposed to need each other for a few weeks. It's supposed to be alright for us to avoid each other for the next week or so."

"Screw the time frame," Draco ordered, pulling her up against his chest. Part of him purred in delight when she allowed it. He had to bite his tongue to keep from adding, 'Better yet, screw me.'

Hermione, held calmly in his arms seemed to gather herself together. "Alright," she conceeded, "I'll agree that some physical contact would make things easier." She prodded his chest with a finger, "But no more than that, Draco. No kissing, no...demonic veela manipulation techniques, nothing. Just like this."

With great dignity she laid her head against his chest and he smiled down at her, already thinking of a hundred ways to bend the rules. He was a Slytherin after all, and the effect of her touch was calming the veela enough for the Slytherin to come out. Veela and Slytherin; two sides of Draco Malfoy, same objective. And anyway, strictly speaking, veelas were not demonic at all. Closer to faeries.

"Gah," muttered the girl in his arms, "Wretched mood-swings. I feel like I've been PMSing ever since I boarded the Hogwarts Express..." her mutter trailed off. A few seconds later she addressed him, "Now that we've gotten ourselves more or less in control, what did you actually want to talk about?"

"Well, our future, of course," Draco said. He tensed as Hermione's scent spiked in stress.

"Oh god," she whispered. "I'd been so caught up with the now that I'd forgotten that there was a...future. Don't remind me, please. I'm a bright witch, I can deal with things as they come. For now I have made the decision to hide from the future." She illustrated her point by burying her face against his chest.

"Hermione, we have to talk about this. Make sure we're on the same page."

"I have deliberately misplaced the book so I shan't be on any page," she said succinctly. "I still haven't agreed to this whole thing, Draco. I'm a young woman with a long life ahead of me. I'm going to find out exactly what I have to do for...this, and not go any further. We can both have actual lives. There! I've figured out our future. Do you feel better now?"

Draco rolled his eyes and tried a new direction, "How many children do you think?"

There was silence for a long moment before Hermione answered. "I'm not thinking, Draco," she sing-songed, removing herself from his arms and making a bee-line for her room. "Cuddle-time id over for today, I have homework."

She then disappeared from his sight with a little wave. Draco snorted. She was being silly.

He really hoped she wasn't serious about trying to minimalize contact between the two of them in the future. Ever since he set eyes on her again at the Hogwarts Express she had been his life, and he didn't really think that that was ever going to change. Forever, she was his.

Hermione went to supper that night having carefully removed her mind from the 'veela' situation, and ready to plunge into normalcy. She sat down with her friends, just like always, started to serve herself dinner, basking in habit.

"Hermione, is there something wrong?" asked Harry. He was obviously playing spokesman as Ron and Ginny were staring at her with the same question in their eyes.

She opened her mouth, couldn't think of anything to say, and closed it, mind racing.

"You've been acting a bit off ever since this semester started, and you were missing all morning the other day," Ron added.

"You know you can tell us anything, right Hermione? We're your friends," Ginny put in.

That they were friends was the entire reason why she couldn't tell them! She needed them to help continue her normal life while she still had one. Well, perhaps she'd tell Ginny later, she could keep a secret. And Hermione needed someone to talk to about it.

"I've just been tired, that's all." Well, it wasn't a complete lie. "I've been studying a lot, and Head duties on top of that... Lack of sleep can weaken your immune system, you know, I could be getting a cold, I suppose. She nonchalantly took another bite of the roast beef they were having for dinner. "How were classes today for you guys?"

"Oh, that's right! You won't believe what Seamus did in Charms!"

Ron then launched into a description of various antics throughout the day. And Hermione was so happy to be listening to Ron ramble that she missed most of it.

Draco stopped by Great Hall long enough to make sure that Hermione was okay and eating, then took his dinner to his room where he would be able to think.

No kissing? No veela manipulation? That plan simply wouldn't work for him. Draco's main objective in life was to get bonded. He realized that Hermione wouldn't be ready for it that night or anything, but he was going to make sure that it happened before the 'few weeks' from now that she thought was reasonable. it was perfectly unreasonably from his point of view. He needed her and it was only going to get worse.

So he wasn't going to just stop and let her get used to not getting the stuffing snogged out of her daily. It was good for her, helped hurry along the process of becoming mentally ready for bonding.

He scribbled down a bare 'snogging schedule' for the next day or two, then started off on actual schoolwork. He wouldn't be able to concentrate normally anyway, but it was a whole lot worse when she was actually in the Head dorm. And her scent was all over the library.

As soon as he finished his transfiguration essay his mind wandered back to the Hermione problem. When he actually kissed her, she responded with equal fervor. When she was asleep she was happy to cuddle all over him. But afterwards she always, always got angry at him. Which was simply unfair. How long would that be going on? Up till they bonded? After that? Forever?

Bad thoughts. Surely not, once Hermione got used to the fact that it was okay to be physical with him ('okay' meaning 'strongly encouraged by nature and magic') she would stay in 'wanting it' mode. He hoped.

After supper, Hermione asked Ginny to come study with her. However, instead of heading to the library, she lead her outside to the grounds.

"Where are you going, 'Mione?" Ginny asked with a raised brow.

"I need to talk to you, away from the boys. I'll explain when we get outside."

They walked over to a hill that overlooked the lake and sat on the grass. Hermione took a deep breath, "Do you want me to just come out with it, or do I need to impress upon you how important it is that this remains secret?"

"Just come out with it! What's wrong? It's Draco, isn't it? I'm right, right? Have you two fallen in love? A secret romance?"

Hermione cringed at the wording. "Well, Draco's involved, I guess. Now just let me explain..."

"...And I'm confused and sometimes I just want to give into him, but I don't dare," she finished.

"Wow," Ginny breathed. "What do you mean 'Draco's involvded'? He's pretty much the entire thing," she pointed out.

"Well?" Hermione prodded.

"You have my blessing, Hermione. Be careful, veela are tricky."

"But what should I do?" Hermione near wailed.

"I'm hardly an expert on veela courtship, Hermione. From what you've told me...get it clear in your mind what you are and aren't going to allow from him for now, and stick to it. But then...he's a male awakened veela and you're his mate. He could probably make you want just about anything as long as you're around him. But he's played the gentleman so far. His patience is really rather admirable."

"But Ginny, this entire thing has royally screwed up my life! I'm going to end up a 'Mrs. Malfoy' whether I like it or not. At this rate, I'm going to be a bonded woman before I even graduate. It's like...I can't aspire to anything now. Everything is in the hands of that wretched pureblood. Should I kill him?"

"No," Ginny answered quickly, "You wouldn't be able to deal with it. I don't know what to tell you. Well, unless the veela magic has royally screwed both of you over, you'll end up in love and have a happy life."

"But I'm afraid to fall in love with him, Ginny," Hermione whispered. "What if something happens? I can tell that if I let myslef fall for him, I'll fall hard. Then it would be so easy for him to hurt me, even if it isn't on purpose. I just...I don't want to have to deal with all this! And you see why I can't tell Ron and Harry, don't you?"

"Oh yeah," Ginny replied. "They'd go absolutely insane. Like Viktor Krumb ten-fold. Your secret is safe. Come and talk to me about this often, I want to know what's happening and it's good for you to talk about it." She stood and stretched," I need to go back and study, you coming?"

"No, thanks, I think I'll here for a while. The moon is pretty tonight," Hermione replied, pointing at the silver orb.

"Alright, see you tomorrow, Hermione!"

Draco had decided that he was at least going to give his mate a goodnight kiss every night. He sprawled on the couch, idly reading one of his potions books as he waited for her to get back.

He soon got lost in his book and when he next looked up at the clock, it was ten-thirty. The library closed at ten. All student were supposed to be in their rooms by then.

Another fifteen minutes rolled by with Draco anxiously stealing looks at the clock on the wall.

That was it. He closed his book with a snap and stalked off to find her, his heart quickening with worry.

He started at her spot in the Great Hall, hoping to follow her scent. That proved impossible, simply because of the sheer number of people that so often went in and out of the room. So he began worriedly wandering around, sniffing hard for any trace of her.

After thoroughly checking everywhere between the Great Hall, the Head dorm, the Gryffindor dorm, and the library, Draco was feverishly reminding himself that if Hermione was in any danger, he'd be able to feel it. He kept looking.

He was this close to going to wake up the professors for help when he made a last ditch effort and looked on the grounds. The wind brought him a whiff of her scent and he took off at a run.

He found her lying on the ground on a hill. She wasn't moving.

"Hermione! he called, approaching her. "Hermione?"

"Hmm?" she questioned sleepily. "I must have fallen asleep..."

"Fallen asleep?! Do you have any idea how worried I've been? No, you don't; you've been asleep." He scooped her up in his arms, "We're going back to the dorm now."

"I can walk you know," she intoned sleepily.

"No, you can't," he replied, "because I'm not going to let you. I was worried sick, Hermione."

"Sorry," she muttered.

When they got back to the dorm he placed her on the couch. "Now," he started, "I'm going to kiss you."

"What?" Hermione protested, "I said, no--"

"I don't care what you said. I'm the veela that you worried sick, and I'm going to kiss you." He started to lean in closer to her, "Because you're mine and I need to." He leaned in so their lips were nearly touching, "Your opinion is not needed in the matter."

He pressed his lips against hers and kissed her hungrily, not allowing her any control over the kiss. When her lips parted he dominated her with his tongue. He growled into the kiss and she answered with a low moan.

They parted with a smacking sound. They stared at each other for a moment, Draco looking wholly unrepentant, Hermione still somewhat sleepy, but wide-eyed from the kiss.

"Sorry I worried you, Draco," she leaned up to kiss his nose. "I'm going to bed now."

Draco was exhausted from his search and also went to bed. As he went to sleep he had one question on his mind; why can't she be like that when she's fully awake?

~*~

Yeah, you guys must have thought that I'd quit. Well, you were WRONG! I've just been out of town lately and idea flow has been really mad. I must have started this chapter half a dozen times.

Now, my computer doesn't connect to the internet anymore, but it's still where I do my writing. I couldn't find a zip drive so I actually...rescribed the whole thing onto here just now. And that's after having written nearly half that chapter today. And doing band practice. My hands hurt. I don't usually do this much keyboard-related activity all at once.

I'm sick of typing, a lot.

How about this, will everyone please tell me your favorite chapter or your favorite moment so far? I'd really appreciate it.

And I have a new story in the Original section, please check it out. So far it has new reviews... Two ratings though. I'd really, really love some feedback on that.

My hands hurt, my back hurts, my neck hurts... I'm gonna go to bed now.