Beautiful Disaster

Title: Beautiful Disaster
Author: ashleyfanfic
Rating: NC-17
Chapter: 9/??
Summary: Veela!Draco discovers that his mate is the least likely person on the planet, a revelation that leads him and his father in new directions.
A/N: Big thanks to zephyr and del, without whom you wouldn\'t have the fic in front of you.
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.

Chapter 9

Hermione gathered her things in her bag a week later, getting reading for the prefects meeting and her eventual meeting with Draco afterwards. She had to say she was a bit nervous. He hadn\'t really said much else to her, just giving her casual winks every now and then. It was driving her mad. She had to admit she found him quite fascinating the more she got to know him. He had this presence when he walked into a room. It was as if when he walked in, he could take up the whole space. It was rather odd to feel that way about the boy she\'d despised since she\'d come to Hogwarts.

When she gathered the last of her things and checked her appearance one last time in the mirror, she finally decided that she was acting too much like a girl. It was Draco Malfoy, she reminded herself. She composed herself and made her way downstairs to find Harry waiting at the bottom for her, his broom in his hand. He smiled at her, \"Ready?\"

She nodded, \"As I\'ll ever be.\"

Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulders, \"Come on, Hermione. Let\'s get you to that prefects meeting.\"

She rolled her eyes, \"I\'d rather watch you guys play Quidditch.\"

He raised an eyebrow, \"You must really be dreading tonight’s Prefect’s meeting.\"

\"I\'m certainly not looking forward to it.\"

\"Relax and try not to kill each other. You\'re supposed to be the leaders of this school, it wouldn\'t do well for all the Prefects to be fighting in front of the students.\"

She rolled her eyes, \"Go to practice, already.\"

\"Bye.\"

\"Bye.\"

She turned to walk into the classroom and was stopped by a hand on her wrist. She looked down to find a perfectly manicured hand holding her. She looked up and met grey eyes, \"Still on for tonight, right?\"

She nodded, \"Yes.\"

He nodded and gave her a smile, \"Good.\"

He walked past her into the room, several people surprised to see him there early. She walked in and took a seat beside one of the fifth year Hufflepuffs and a sixth year Ravenclaw. Ron sat on the opposite side of the room, his arms folded over his chest as he glared at Hermione. She did her best to not look at him, but she could feel his eyes burning holes into her skull. She tried to focus her attention on Padma and noticed for the first time that Draco seemed to be taking interest in what they were talking about.

The meeting seemed to drag by, mostly because Hermione spent the better part of the time ignoring Ron\'s attempts to get her attention by sighing heavily. About midway through the meeting she noticed that Draco had started staring at her as well, but this was different from the looks she received from Ron. It was more inquisitive, and she knew that his question was somewhere along the lines of what was bothering her. She made a point to glance up at Ron, and she watched as Draco slowly looked over at Ron and found him glaring at her.

Draco whipped his head over to look at Hermione who was busy taking notes of the meeting. He was doing his best not to tell Weasley to look else where or he would blacken both his eyes where he couldn\'t see her at all. He didn\'t like the look in Weasley\'s eyes and he wouldn\'t put it past the other boy to try and do something to Hermione in retaliation for whatever rejection she handed him. Let the prat lay a hand on her. He was willing to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban for protecting Hermione from a git like him.

The meeting concluded without incident, which seemed to be a first that year. Hermione gathered her things slowly, hoping that Ron would leave and allow her to be left alone instead of picking the fight with her that she knew was coming. She shared a look with Draco, telling him she would be along in a minute, as she packed the rest of her things away. She knew that Draco was waiting outside for her as Ron finally stood from his seat.

\"Making eyes at Malfoy, now?\"

\"What?\" she snapped.

\"You heard me. So, what is it? Use me to get to him?\"

She rolled her eyes, \"I really don\'t want to have this conversation with you right now.\"

\"Well, you\'re going to. How can you pick him over me?\"

\"I didn\'t pick him, Ron. I didn\'t pick anyone. I just...I don\'t think it would work out between you and I because of our friendship. If we had slept together it would have been a mistake, one I\'m not willing to live with.\"

\"So, I have to live with your rejection?\"

She frowned, \"I didn\'t mean to hurt you.\"

\"Well, you did. And now you\'re off gallivanting with Malfoy...\"

\"I\'m not doing anything with Malfoy!\"

Ron scowled at her, \"Don\'t act like I\'m stupid. He wants you, admitted it to me himself! I bet that just makes you fly over the moon, huh?\"

\"What does that mean?\"

The door to the room opened and Draco strolled in, seemingly surprised to find people in there. Hermione knew better, and was actually thankful that he had shown up when he had, \"What are you two still doing in here?\"

\"Talking. Get lost, Malfoy.\"

He rolled his eyes and walked over to the table and picked up his bag, \"Out.\"

\"What?\" Ron asked glaring at him.

\"I said out. No one can be in this room when there\'s no meeting.\" Ron furrowed his brow and Draco rolled his eyes, \"I have to lock up when everyone leaves, so out. Now.\" Hermione was quite surprised with the calm tone Draco had used even though she knew he was furious. She led the way out, Ron and Draco behind her. Draco used his wand to lock the door behind him and looked between Ron and Hermione. She had her head lowered as Ron glared at her, \"Weasley, don\'t you have rounds to make?\"

Ron whipped his head over at Draco, \"What?\"

Draco sighed, \"Had you been paying attention in the meeting, you would have found that your night has been rescheduled with another to allow the fifth years time to get together and study for O.W.L.S. So, you\'re on tonight. If you don\'t believe me, consult the piece of paper that\'s crumpled in your hand.\"

Ron opened it and found that he did, in fact, have to make rounds tonight. He looked to Hermione, \"You and I are going to talk later.\"

She sighed, \"Can\'t wait.\"

Ron stormed away from them as Draco tilted his head at Hermione. He wanted to drag Weasley back and beat the hell out of him for upsetting Hermione. She was visibly upset, but he wouldn\'t allow him to ruin his plans for the night. He took a step forward, \"Are you all right?\"

She lifted her head, \"Fine.\"

He sighed, \"He\'s an idiot, you know?\"

She frowned, \"I\'d rather not talk about Ron, if it\'s all the same to you.\"

He nodded, \"That\'s fine. Shall we?\"

*~*

It was two hours later and she was sitting in the floor of Draco\'s common room laughing hysterically. He\'d had the oddest thing planned when she got to his common room. When she entered she nearly dropped her bag on her foot at seeing a board game sitting in the middle of his floor, several large pillows laying around, obviously to sit on.

After an hour of playing, she realized that Draco was cheating. She wasn\'t sure how he was doing it, but she knew he was cheating. After watching him carefully for another hour, she found him slipping money out of the bank into his own stack. He tried to explain that he was collecting interest on the money he had in his pocket. It was then she called him a cheating prat and he only sighed and handed her four galleons of her own, agreeing that it wasn\'t fair for him to only collect interest. She\'d then called him a rotten game player, to which he had pouted.

She was now involved in a serious case of the giggles as she stared at him. He was smirking at her, finding her giggling amusing. Giggling usually annoyed him as it usually meant someone was having a better time than he was. He didn’t mind the sound coming from her, though. He rather enjoyed it and hoped that it continued as he didn’t think she did it all that often. He handed her the dice and sighed, \"I\'m bored.\"

She chuckled, \"You\'re just tired of losing.\"

\"I\'m not losing. If you look, I have more money.\"

\"Because you\'ve been stealing it!\"

\"Interest. It\'s called interest.\"

She shook her head, the smile on her face widened, \"You don\'t collect interest.\"

\"Why keep my money in a bank if I don\'t collect interest on it?\"

She shook her head, \"It\'s not in the bank. It\'s in your pocket.\"

\"That\'s crazy talk, Granger. Why would I keep all of this in my pocket?\"

She shook her head and giggled again. When did she start giggling? she asked herself. How was it possible that she was having a good time? She hated him. She didn’t like being around him at all and there she was, sitting on his common room floor giggling over his rotten sportsmanship when it came to board games. This was severely off-putting for her as she was almost entirely out of her element. She didn’t know how to flirt or what was even expected of her as she spent time with him, but she wasn’t certain there were any expectations at all except that she was to see that he wasn’t as horrible as she had him made out to be. She tossed her money onto the board and sighed, \"I\'m tired of playing.\"

\"Tired of getting beaten?\" he asked smugly.

She raised an eyebrow at him, \"No, tired of doing the beating.\"

He rolled his eyes, and with a wave of his wand, the game was cleaned up and they were left with the floor clean aside from the large pillows. She lay her head on one and stared at him, wondering what was going on in his head as he propped his arm on a pillow and lay on his side facing her, \"What now?\"

\"I suppose I could go.\"

\"I wish you wouldn\'t,\" he said softly.

She smiled, \"I must admit, I\'m surprised.\"

\"About what?\"

\"Tonight.” She offered him a soft smile and stared down at the floor, “After the meeting, I was sure that tonight was going to be horrible.” Her eyes met his again, “I\'m glad I was proven wrong.\"

He smiled, \"I like you being wrong. It shows that anything is possible.\"

She chuckled, \"We haven\'t really gotten to know one another, though.\"

He furrowed his brow, \"I suppose not.\" He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, \"You can ask me questions if you like. That might help.\"

She shrugged, \"What kind of questions?\"

\"You have a free range, but I also get to ask you the same question if I like.\"

She nodded, \"That\'s fair.\" She sighed, \"What was your childhood like?\"

\"That\'s the best you could come up with?\" he asked teasingly.

\"I wasn\'t planning to play twenty questions with you.\"

He sighed, \"Fine. I had a great childhood. I loved flying on my broom or listening to my mom talk about music...\"

\"Music?\"

\"Yes, I do know about music. Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Chopin, Schumman, Bach...she enjoys that.\"

\"Does she? What\'s your mother like?\"

\"I thought you wanted to hear about my childhood.\"

She blushed a bit at the playful look on his face, \"Fine. Childhood.\"

He smiled, \"I had every toy you could picture a wizarding child could want. I suppose some would call me spoiled, but it\'s not my fault that my family had the money to provide me with the things I wanted.\"

She smirked, \"Must be nice.\"

He looked over at her, a smirk on his lips, \"What about you?\"

She smiled as she thought of her parents, \"My parents were wonderful. My dad would sit and read books to me. My favorite being Winnie the Pooh.\"

\"Winnie the what?\"

\"Winnie the Pooh. It was about this bear that loved honey and had all these friends...\" she noticed the smirk on his face as she grew quite happy about discussing her favorite book as a child. She blushed a bit, realizing that she may have become over excited, \"Anyway, my dad would read anything and everything to me and my mom, well, my mom was always cautioning me in the motherly type way. Don\'t run in the house, take my dress and shoes off...\"

\"You were wearing her clothes?\"

\"I used to play dress up in her clothes. I\'d pretend I was the princess that wasn\'t rescued by the prince but who rescued him.\"

He smiled, \"Doesn\'t surprise me.\"

\"It doesn\'t?\"

\"No. You\'re very strong willed. I admire that about you.\"

\"Most people find that annoying.\"

He shrugged, \"I\'m not most people.\"

She smiled, \"I\'ve noticed.\"

He raised an eyebrow, \"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?\"

\"That you\'re not like most people?\"

\"Yes.\"

\"I\'d say it was a good thing.\"

He smiled and gave her a little nod. He watched her as she traced the pattern of the rug with her finger while she stared at it. The motion causing him to shiver as he watched the tip of her finger move against the celestial pattern. He wanted her to touch him with such fascination. He wanted her to just touch him period, but he was doing his best to have patience. It wasn\'t going as well as he expected in some instances. That night, however, he had maintained his distance, but the more she laughed and relaxed in his presence, the more he wanted to lie on top of her and run his hands all over her body.

He shook his head as he sat up. He faced the sofa, trying to control the sudden rush of hormones that were washing through his body at the thought of being able to be inside her, kiss her, touch her, taste her. It seemed so close but so far away. She sat up as well and slipped on her shoes. He looked over at her and realized that she was getting ready to leave, \"Why are you in such a rush to leave?\"

She looked over at him, a frown gracing her lips, \"I\'m not. I\'ve been here for two hours.\"

\"I know.\"

She sighed, \"I think I should get back to the common room before someone begins to miss me.\"

He raised an eyebrow, \"And what if I miss you?\"

She blinked several times, stunned into silence, \"Uh...\"

He shook his head, \"Forget I said anything, all right?\" He stood and held his hand out to her and helped her stand. He held her robe out to her and followed her to the door. He opened it for her and followed her out.

She stopped, \"Are you coming with me?\"

\"I was thinking about walking you back to the tower, if that\'s all right with you?\"

She bit her lip, \"I...well, what if someone sees you?\"

\"So, what if they do?\"

\"I mean, it wouldn\'t look good for you, would it?\"

He scowled, \"Who\'s reputation are you worried about here? Yours or mine?\"

She shook her head, \"Neither...I was just worried...\"

\"That someone could see you with me?\" he asked folding his arms over his chest.

\"I didn\'t mean it that way.\"

\"That\'s how it came out.\"

She sighed, \"I don\'t want to fight with you. We had a perfectly lovely evening, and I don\'t want to ruin it by getting back to what we were before we went in there.\"

\"And what are we now?\"

She shrugged, \"I don\'t know.\"

He began walking again and turned to see that she wasn\'t following him, \"You are coming, aren\'t you?\"

She quickly caught up with him. They walked along in silence, Hermione hoping that Ron didn\'t see her with Draco. She knew that it would set him off more than anything else and she didn\'t need him spouting off about what she could and couldn\'t do and with whom. She was her own person, despite what Ron or Draco might have thought.

They stopped outside the portrait, the Fat Lady eyeing them both suspiciously. She gave Draco a smile then leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek, \"Good night.\"

He smiled back at her, aching to grab her and take her back to his room, \"Night.\"

He watched as she muttered the password and climbed through the portrait hole. Over all, the night had been a success. She was actually laughing in his presence, due to something he\'d done. He enjoyed listening to her laugh. He enjoyed her company, the way she smelled, the way her eyes and nose wrinkled up when she smiled or giggled. He wanted her so badly that it had been extremely difficult not to touch her. He resisted the urge not to reach over and tuck a curl behind her ear or run his fingers over her exposed knee.

But there was progress being made. That had to count for something. She seemed to enjoy herself, which was a plus. She had been a bit reluctant at first to enjoy herself, and he wondered if that had something to do with her conversation with Weasley. But she loosened up and was having a good time with him. He found her laugh infectious and often couldn\'t contain his own chuckles when she\'d accused him of stealing from the bank. He muttered the word for his portrait to open, surprised he\'d made it back to his room so quickly. He looked down at the pillows in his floor and picked up the one she\'d been laying on, finding that it smelled like her hair. He closed his eyes, taking in the scent as he walked to his bedroom, the pillow still in his hands. If he couldn\'t sleep with her in his bed, he could at least fall asleep with the smell of her beside him.


*~*

A/N: Thanks to a kind person letting me know...AFF was missing chapter 5...I guess things got lost in the shuffle. So, I went back and added Chapter 5 as well as this chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Remember, read and review, even if it\'s a bad review...just let me know what you think.