Hermione and Draco delved into Draco's veela heritage during their breaks whilst continuing to study for their classes. Poring over ancient texts often left them each with some form of headache, but they felt it was worth it for the Malfoy family veela secrets they were able to uncover. As they spent more and more time together their bond grew stronger as they navigated their ever-changing relationship and the rumours spreading throughout the students of Hogwarts regarding Hermione's transformation.
As well as the rumours regarding Draco and Hermione's evident relationship and whether Draco had influenced her negatively, whispers begin about the sightings of one Ronald Weasley conversing happily with Pansy Parkinson despite his earlier outbursts about his sister spending time with those with a checkered past in the war. Hermione is happy to find that sparks fly for her friends as they've been caught flirting on numerous occasions (whether or not they'd realised they were doing it). As their unexpected friendship blossoms, they tackle the challenges presented to them involving Ron's depression at the loss of Lavender causing their connection to strengthen as time goes on.
As Draco navigates his changing energies from the assertion of his veela blood he can often be found flying his broom down at the quidditch pitch to clear his mind and sort through the magical roller coaster ride that is his newly established veela psyche and his regular Draco thought processes.
This is where Hermione finds him the week of the Malfoy family ball.
"Draco!" She calls as she enters the pitch, spotting the blonde running cycles of quidditch plays in the centre of the space.
He flies down gracefully to her and jumps to the ground in one smooth move before leaning against his broom, the classic Nimbus 2000.
"Hey Mia, you okay?" he queries softly with a kiss on her cheek in greeting.
"Yeah, I'm just worried about you, what's been going on with you lately?" she asked, referring to his recent search for solitude.
"This veela thing is just a lot" he shrugged, a frustrated frown on his face.
"Well, do you want to talk about it? You know I'm here for you Dray" she smiled gently, placing her hand on his cheek, her thumb doing soft swipes just under his eye.
"It's just a lot to get used to" he began, taking her hand in his and placing a kiss to her palm, before leading her over to the stands so they could sit and talk. "It's like I have this other person in my head but at the same time it's me, just more possessive of you. And then I get so emotional for no reason other than a speck of dust on my clothes it seems. I just don't know what to do, I know my feelings for you are genuine, I've loved you long enough to know it's not from the veela imperative but at the same time there's this overwhelming need to be with you which feels oppressive and above everything else" he ranted, pacing back and forth in front of her.
"You love me?" she asked shyly, her hands twisting about themselves as her fingers twitched to reach out to him.
Draco stopped short, blushing furiously as he realised what had slipped out during his rant. He slow turned to face her once more, his right hand coming up to rub the back of his neck as he sheepishly said "well ... yeah".
"I... I love you too Draco" she grinned before standing and hugging him tight.
"Oh, thank Merlin" he breathed, burying his head in the crook of her neck and breathing in the fresh strawberry apple scent of her chocolate curls.
"Have you talked to your mother about this Draco?" Hermione then asked.
"What? About loving you?" he replied confused
"No silly!" she laughed "about your veela blood and how you're feeling".
"yeah" he sighed "but she said she can't be much help, male veela assert differently to female veela and even then, everyone is different, she's done research over the years but hasn't found anything useful to me, to be honest we found more together than she could".
"Veela are a very secretive species" Hermione agreed sympathetically. "Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?"
"Just be with me Mia, being with you... it's like coming up for fresh air from a cold deep dive... just stay with me and I'll be fine eventually, only a few more months until my birthday, I'm sure I could hold on by then with you by my side" he smiled, pulling her against himself by the waist.
"Always" she breathed "I feel the same with you, you're my person Draco, my shelter from the storm, I'm yours and you're mine" she finished in a whisper before kissing his lips and breathing him in.
The couple spent the rest of the week openly discussing their feelings, both for each other and about the veela influences on their relationship. As the air cleared between them a new fond understanding grew allowing the pair to deepen their relationship in ways they hadn't yet achieved. Despite the length of their relationship only having been a month long at this point they were confident in the knowledge that they belonged to each other. With this in mind they began preparations for the Malfoy family ball that weekend, ready to show wizarding society the strength of their love and dedication to one another.
"Hermione love! Are you almost ready? We have to be there early to greet the other guests with my parents" Draco called from their bedroom as she finished in the bathroom.
"Yep, all done" she smiled as she excited the bathroom. Her dress was a floor length black cocktail dress. The sweetheart neckline and dropped shoulders accentuated her chest and elongated her slender neck making her look regal and graceful. Added to that the high slit over her right leg to her hip added just enough sex appeal to make her feel desirable without becoming gaudy and uncouth.
Draco lost all coherent speech as she entered the room and simply stood there, mouth agape, eyes wide with a veritable pink tinge slowly ascending up his neck and face. He groaned softly as his eyes tracked from her silver heeled feet to her body tightly wrapped in the satin of the dress all the way past her edible breast to her beautiful face.
"Draco?" she queried softly "are you ready?" as she took two steps closer to him to stand directly in front of him, her chose heels for the night leaving her eye level at his nose.
" hm... hmm yes... yes I'm ready, gods Mia you look enchanting" he complimented as he grabbed her about the waist to kiss her soundly on the lips, keeping his hands low so not to disrupt the work of art she had made of her hair and make-up; the added grip on her arse was a delightful benefit to their position he wouldn't turn down if a wand was to his throat.
"mmm" she moaned "don't start something we can't finish" as he began peppering kisses along her slender neck and shoulders.
"Fine... fine... later" he growled as he reluctantly pulled away from the brunette before him. "Oh, I got you something....it is customary for a pureblood to gift his intended with jewellery, preferably a necklace, to display to others that he is serious. I know we're fated what with my veela, but I never want you to have to miss out because of me, even age-old pureblood courtship rituals... I'd .... I'd be honoured if you would wear this tonight as an example of my affection for you".
"Oh Draco" she spoke tenderly, reaching out for the offered velvet box he held out to her. She gasped as the lid lifted and revealed a silver necklace with a mix of Zircon and Aquamarine stones hanging softly from the chains in a waterfall of colour. "Oh, Draco it's beautiful" she breathed, stroking a finger of the stones in wonder.
"The stones mean Exceptional brilliance and the sea's serenity... I thought it a perfect description of how I see you and how you make me feel" he explained shyly, gently picking up the necklace and holding it out so that she could turn for him to place it on her.
"You look breath-taking Mia" he whispered as they caught their reflection in the bathroom mirror through the open door. He placed a kiss on the back of her neck as he fixed the clasp of the necklace before hugging her tight from behind.
"I love it Draco" she whispered, again stroking the necklace as it around her neck, the stones grazing her collarbone as they fell in a waterfall of blue and silver on her chest. "And I love you" she added as she turned in his arms to kiss him once more.
"I love you too Mia... now shall we go?" he finally replied once they separated, taking a step back to hold his arm out for her to lead her to their floo.
They were of course scolded by Narcissa for being late (five minutes in the end), but it was worth it for their moment together; Lucius rather enjoyed the show of his son being scolded as it gave him a break from his own telling off after stealing a quiche from the food table before the party had even begun.
The elder Malfoy thought it his right to steal the food from the table considering he was paying for the event his loving wife so dearly wanted to hold, but as a smart man and a Slytherin he kept any comments to himself. He did after all want to sleep in his own bed tonight, rather than the rather stylish, yet uncomfortable sofa in his office, as had been pattern in previous years when he had annoyed his wife during one of her events.
The younger couple began their greeting duties as soon as Narcissa had finished and soon began regretting not trying to sneak in with the rest of the guests. Finally, after half an hour they were released to mingle, eat and dance with the other guests allowing them to take a deep breath and take some time for themselves. Draco left Hermione to sit at a table as he went to retrieve a plate of food for them to share and a drink each.
"Granger.... fancy seeing you here" Blaise Zabini smirked as he appeared behind her.
"Nice to see you Zabini" she responded politely, "Draco's gone to fetch us drinks, he'll be back any minute" she informed him.
"Yes, I saw, he seems rather taken with you".
"As am I with him" she smiled.
"It won't last... after all you are just a mudblood".
Having caught the last of his former housemate's statement, Draco became enraged, dropping the food and drinks in his hands and lunging for the man he once called friend, his eyes black, fangs bared and face becoming red in rage.
"Draco!" Hermione gasped as he charged the other man and hit him square in the jaw.
Hearing her exclamation Draco slowly climbed off of the man and took a step back to reach Hermione and pull her softly against himself.
"If I ever hear you say another word against my mate you will get far worse than this" he growled, watching Blaise gingerly climb to his feet, a black eye forming on his right and a split lip adorning his once handsome face.
Lucius and Narcissa then came charging over, Lucius to drag Blaise from the room and disallow him from the party whilst Narcissa checked on the younger couple, accepting no apologies for the disruption from Draco.
"No apologies necessary dear, you're still asserting yourself. Males are known to be more emotional and aggressive, it's the testosterone" she explained "I found some old journals in the vault at Gringotts describing the symptoms of male veela assertion, they're in your room for you dear".
"Thank you, mother,".
Once Lucius returned it was announced that it was time for dancing, which essentially amounted to an order for the young couple, however it did mean that eventually the curious glances they were receiving lessened as other couples took to the floor.
The night progressed a lot calmer than the beginning with drinking and dancing and plenty of pleasant conversation, particularly with pansy and the Greengrass sisters, whom were also in attendance and dying to know what had happened with Blaise. Eventually the night drew to a close and the festivities dwindled as time wore on, leaving on Draco and Hermione dancing in the centre of the room in their own little bubble of joy.
"Draco" she whispered, "I want you to mark me".
"Are you sure Hermione? It's not something we can take back".
"I'm sure...tonight Draco.... Make love to me" she whispered in reply, placing gentle kisses along his neck to his ear.
He moaned at her attentions before speaking softly "Anything you want...mate" with a final growl he dragged her to the nearest floo and after hurried goodbyes to his parents, they landed in their room once more, ready to complete their connection. Ready to begin their life together.