His Veela Heritage by RiverWriter

chapter 4

Hermione couldn’t help it, she erupted into hysterical laughter because Draco Malfoy had just revealed to her that he was a veela and then, even more unbelievably, had implied that she was his mate. Her impressive mind was floundering and laughter was the only way it could respond to such an assertion. It was ridiculous, right? Maybe she was hallucinating. That was as good an explanation as any, wasn't it? Certainly more plausible than she and Malfoy, of all people, being destined for each other.

Her laughter probably would have continued for a while longer had the waitress not arrived with their meals. She got herself under control, wiped her eyes, and finally turned back to Draco. He looked...rather hurt, so, maybe not an hallucination. She instantly felt guilty.

“Oh Malfoy, I’m sorry! I really am! It’s just that, if you’re right about this then the universe has one hell of a sense of humor.”

He just stared at her, stony faced.

“There is no if, Granger,” he practically spat her last name, “you are my mate. You can do what you want with the information, but it's fact,” he sneered.

She sat back in her chair and stared at him, contemplating her response.

“Oh good,” she quipped cooly after making him wait for few long minutes, “he’s back.”

“Excuse me,” he drawled sardonically, “to whom are you referring?”

“The real you,” she said, “the smug bastard I went to school with. Honestly, I’m relieved, the fidgeting and the nervousness were really starting to freak me out,” she said sincerely, a little quirk to her lip that she hoped took some of the sting out of her harsh comment.

Who’d have ever thought she’d be happy for a reminder of his propensity for prattishness? His lips twitched in return and he let out a breath, running a hand through his hair.

“Me too,” he admitted.

“Are you-” she cut herself off and studied him carefully, “are you afraid of me?” she asked incredulously, once she considered his behavior and its possible implications.

She was now seriously regretting the laughing, it wasn't like her to be so insensitive. He sighed and ran another hand through his hair, at this rate it was going to be as unruly as hers.

“Hermione, you can’t possibly understand how much power you have over me now. I’m not a fool, I remember how horrible I was to you for years. I know how much we used to despise each other, how much Potter and Weasley still do, and you’d step in front of a killing curse for either of them. I know what the chances are of this going well for me, I considered not even approaching you because of it; hence the fidgeting and nervousness, as you say.”

Her heart lurched. Wait, what? Where had that come from? Draco Malfoy was not supposed to have any effect on her heart. She just had a slight crush, one that she fully intended to get over. Except that crush was on a man who was now claiming to be, essentially, her other half. Oh, dear. She took a deep breath.

“I think you need to explain this to me, how you know that I'm supposedly your mate, and what it means exactly,” she said firmly, she'd survived a war by staying calm and using logic, she could get through this too.

She could tell he wanted to argue about her use of the word ‘supposedly’ but he visibly bit back a retort.

“Do you remember what happened at the event on the summer solstice?” he simply asked instead.

“It would be pretty hard for me to forget it, you practically ran out of the room, I spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what I’d done to offend you!” she said with a little laugh, though at the time she'd truly been worried.