The Bond Of Fate - DracoxHermione

Chapter Fifteen

Hermione sat on the bed in her room, the bloodied handkerchief forgotten on the bedside table and a book open on her lap.

After Malfoy had left, Luna had managed to calm down Zabini, a feat that made Hermione respect her friend more than ever, and Dean had taken a fuming Pansy back to their room. Ginny had then proceeded to hit her brother on the head and thrown every profanity she could think of his way.

"You can't kill him you little imbecile! Didn't you hear a single word we said? Kill one of the mates in an Infinite bond and you kill BOTH!"

"Plus you'd end up in Azkaban," Harry piped in, clearly enjoying that Ginny's anger was directed at someone else.

Ron flushed red and glanced at Hermione apologetically, but she was still to stunned to comprehend, or even care about Ron's outburst.

Afterwards, when everyone had calmed down, she pulled Harry aside.

"What do you feel?" she asked him, "your bond with Ginny, what do you feel?"

"What do you mean what do I feel," he asked, confused. Hermione sighed, frustrated. She didn't know how to explain what she was asking without sounding absolutely insane.

"When you look at her, do you feel it? The bond?"

Harry frowned.

"I- I don't know if I feel the bond, I just- I don't know, when I look at her, it just feels right, deep down, somewhere inside of me something seems to purr."

Hermione sighed, frustrated.

"Why? What do you feel?" he asked, and Hermione looked away, avoiding his eyes.

"Definitely more than that," she muttered.

She was now carefully inspecting the book she'd taken from the library, testing other pages to see if there could be any more information sealed away. Nothing seemed wrong, so she decided to re-read everything written about the Bonds. She was halfway through her third re-read when the bedroom door creaked open and Malfoy stepped in.

"You're back," she said.

"Clearly," Malfoy said slowly, giving her a strange look. Hermione bit the inside of her cheek, cursing her stupidity.

"I meant- I just assumed Madam Pomfrey would make you spend the night."

Malfoy shook his head.

"Just a broken nose," he said under his breath. Without another word he stepped into the bathroom and Hermione pulled the sheets higher over her body.

She turned her attention back to the book; she'd been trying to decipher some runes she hadn't recognized before. She pulled out her Ancient Runes tome and started to decipher it.

She was still working, bent over the book, when the door of the bathroom opened, and steam poured into the room. Malfoy headed over to the dresser to look for his clothes.

Hermione's eyes flickered to him and then back to the book, but her cheeks flushed scarlet. He had wrapped his lower body in a towel, but his back was completely exposed and his hair was still dripping wet.

"What are you reading?" he asked casually as he turned around to look at her. Hermione looked at him through her lashes and her breath hitched.

"Just a book," she said, flustered, and Malfoy smirked at her.

"It's okay, Granger," he said, teasing her, "you're allowed to look."

Hermione ignored him; eyes focused on the book so intensely she wouldn't have been surprised if it had burst into flames. Malfoy chuckled as he walked back into the bathroom. When he came out again, he was wearing a pair of pajama pants, but still no shirt. He slipped under the bedsheets and Hermione shot him a murderous look.