Hermione was very happy to fall asleep in the common room, curled up in Draco's arms. Every now and then, he would sigh contentedly and Hermione couldn't help but smile. Hermione was content when she finally did fall asleep but wondered if Draco would return to avoiding her or finally decide to talk to her.

She got the answer the next morning when she walked out of the bathroom. Draco had left three very visible hickey marks on her neck that she had to cover with a concealment charm. As soon as she'd walked into the common room, he'd pulled her to his chest and ran his fingers over where the marks would have been.

"You covered them up," he said, frowning at her. His fingers tickled her neck and Hermione shied away from them, smiling up at him even when he continued to frown.

"The whole school doesn't need to see them, Draco," she said. His frown deepened so Hermione stretched up to kiss him briefly. He immediately locked his arms around her so she couldn't pull away quickly and she gave him a look.

"I won't see you in first block," he told her as if that would explain his behavior. "I deserve more than that."

Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled away from him. She summoned her book bag from upstairs and grabbed Draco's hand, interlocking their fingers.

"If you promise to talk to me about this later," she said, motioning between them, "Then I'll kiss you more."

Draco's eyes flashed to silver for a moment, something they had done a lot of last night, but he nodded. He pressed a kiss to the side of her head and Hermione smiled.

"I'll see you in class," she promised. She left the dorm room for the Great Hall, leaving Draco to get ready on his own.

Ginny was, of course, waiting for her at the Gryffindor table with Neville. They didn't talk as they ate; instead, they listened to Neville talk about a plant he had read about recently and how he thought it might be a suitable replacement for cornish pixies in some potions.

"It grows in the same area the pixies live, but can be used without really changing the potion!" he said excitedly. Hermione smiled as she took a drink of her orange juice. Neville continued until they had to leave for their first class, but by then Hermione was sure he had to have run out of things to say.

The day went by quickly and before Hermione knew it, she was leaving the Great Hall after dinner. She'd seen Draco often that day both during and between classes, but he seemed to have disappeared right before dinner. She hadn't thought much of it until she heard someone say his name around the corner.

Part of her didn't want to spy, but the other part of her was too curious to keep going. She quickly tiptoed to the corner of the hallway and pressed her back against the stone wall. They were far enough from the Great Hall not to be seen or heard, but every time the door opened, Hermione struggled to hear what was being said just a few meters away.

"—have disappointed the Dark Lord," a familiar voice sneered. There was a thud and Hermione grimaced at the thought of someone getting punched.

"You could have killed someone!" Draco hissed back, "Werewolves in Hogwarts? That was careless."

"No, they were only there for you," a second voice hissed.

Hermione frowned. The werewolves had been sent by someone? To attack Draco specifically?

"You shouldn't have let a mudblood get in your head, Draco," the first voice said. There was some shuffling and someone—probably Draco, if Hermione had to guess—grunted. "You're lucky your father tried to advocate for you or the Dark Lord would have killed you."

"That would have been an act of mercy," Draco snarled back.

Hermione held her book bag tighter, wondering if she should call for Professor McGonagall or simply immobilise Draco's two attackers on her own. They had obviously been directly involved in the werewolf attack and there was no way Hermione could just let them go.

Before she had fully made up her mind, however, someone wrapped their arm around her chest from behind and muttered a silencing spell. Hermione had opened her mouth to protest, but her shout was silent as she struggled against whoever had grabbed her.

"Easy, Granger," her attacker said, tightening his hold on her. Hermione fumed and threw her head back to connect with the person's chin. "Fuck!"

Hermione twisted out of his arms, stumbling into the hallway and holding out her wand when she recognised Adrian Pucey. He rubbed his chin as he glared at her, but movement to her left caught her attention. She glanced over and almost dropped her wand in surprise when she saw Professors Alecto and Amycus Carrow looming over Draco while Montague pinned him to the wall. Seeing how little Draco was moving, Hermione guessed they had also immobilised him. Pretty strongly too, since werewolves tended to be harder to trap than wizards.

Still silenced, Hermione couldn't stutter out an excuse as they all turned to look at her.

"I knew it would turn up," Alecto sneered as she walked towards Hermione. Hermione wordlessly flicked her wand out of her hand and Professor Alecto glared.

Before Hermione could immobilise her as well, Amycus had his wand pointed at her and lazily drawled out, "Crucio."

Hermione couldn't scream as the spell hit her like a wall. Her eyes closed in pain as she let out silent screams and dropped to the floor. As pain that felt like a thousand knives cutting into her covered her body, she writhed on the floor silently. Her muscles constricted in on themselves and Hermione thought she would be crushed before it ended. Just as suddenly as it had come, though, the pain disappeared.

Panting, Hermione looked up from the floor to see both Montague and Pucey on the floor, and Alecto frozen in place. Draco was dueling furiously with Amycus, his eyes glittering silver. Neither had noticed Hermione slowly sitting up. Weakly, Hermione pointed her wand at Amycus and soundlessly immobilised him.

Draco continued sending curses at Amycus even though he could no longer move and didn't stop until Hermione managed to get his attention.

"Hermione," he gasped, leaving the Carrows and dropping down in front of her. He removed the silencing spell on her and gathered her in his arms. His eyes flickered between silver and grey as he glanced from her to the Carrows, debating with himself over what to do.

"Just leave them, Draco," Hermione murmured, closing her eyes tiredly. Draco shook her and she inhaled sharply as pain coursed through her body. "Stop," she hissed, grabbing his bicep to get his attention.

"Don't pass out," he said firmly. Hermione smiled weakly at him but kept her eyes open as he rushed them both back to their dorm. He didn't stop until he'd locked the door with several locking spells and settled her on the couch. "How do you feel?" he asked, crouching beside the couch.

"Tired," she answered. She was already feeling a little better than right after the curse, but her body was sore and exhausted.

"Yeah, that's normal," Draco told her. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and brushed her hair out of her face. He conjured a glass of water and helped her sit up so she could drink it. "Once you're done with this, I'll get you a pain relief potion."

"There are some vials in the top drawer of my dresser," Hermione said. Draco nodded but didn't leave her side while she finished the glass of water.

As soon as the water was gone, Draco scooped her up in his arms and carried her up the stairs to his bedroom. He settled her on the plush bed then darted across the hall to her room to find the potion. A moment later he returned and handed the potion to Hermione. Hermione drank the potion then laid down in Draco's bed. She'd seen the silver in his eyes and knew there was no way he would let her go to her own room; not after the Carrows had pulled a stunt like that.

"Draco?" she asked as he paced at the foot of the bed. He stopped abruptly and looked up at her. She didn't miss the way his eyes faded from an angry silver back to their usual grey. "Come here," she said, reaching a hand towards him.

Draco didn't hesitate to move to her side and sit on the edge of the bed. He grabbed hold of her hand, almost subconsciously, and Hermione smiled up at him.

"I'm okay," she told him. Draco glared at her and shook his head. "Yes, I am," she insisted. She sat up just to prove him wrong and Draco's face went from annoyed to worried in a split second.

"You should lay back down," Draco said, gently trying to push her back down. Hermione brushed him off and patted the bed beside her. Begrudgingly, Draco crawled over the bed so he was sitting at the head of the bed beside her.

"I'm just a little sore, Draco," Hermione said, grabbing his hand as a wave of pain moved from her head to her toes. "I'll be fine in the morning, but you can't be rash and try to hunt down the Carrows, Pucey, and Montague."

"Why not?" Draco snapped. Hermione rubbed his hand soothingly as his eyes flashed for a second.

"It's foolish and you'll just make things worse," Hermione replied. She glanced up at Draco to see him scowling at the wall. Reaching up, she pulled his face to look at her and smiled at him when his scowl dropped. "The best thing you can do is just stay by me if you really want to keep them from hurting me. Chasing them down will only make them want to attack me more."

Draco looked conflicted at her words, but he must have realised she was right because he nodded. He wrapped his arm around Hermione's shoulder and pulled her against his side. Hermione was more than willing to comply.

Nevertheless, Hermione could see that Draco was still thinking about what had happened in the hall and she tried to think of something to distract him.

"Draco?" she asked. She turned her head to look up at him and was a little surprised to find he was already looking at her. "Tell me what you and Remus talked about. Does it have to do with—" lacking the right words, Hermione just gestured between them.

Draco nodded but didn't say anything. If she had to pull the answers out of him, she was going to get very annoyed. She sighed and Draco ran his hand down her arm, something she was surprised to discover was actually rather soothing.

"Are you going to tell me?" she asked, looking away from him. "Or do I have to play twenty question—"

"You are my wolf's mate."