HEY GUYS I'M BAK WITH A NEW CHAPTER! CRAZY RIGHT? WELL I SEEMED TO BE ATTACKED BY MY MUSE AND I'M GOING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE, WORKING ON THE NEXT CHAPTER ALREADY! THOUGH I WILL MAKE NO PROMISES ABOUT UPDATES.

I WANT TO THANK ROSE DAVIS MY AWESOME BETA FOR ALL HER HELP IN FIXING AND SHAPPING MY WRITING AND TO JENF97 WITHOUT YOU MY FRENCH WOULD BE OFFENSIVE!

I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER, I'M JUST A FAN!

Hermione woke with a slight groan, her body felt heavy and sore in places she'd never felt before. As she opened her eyes the memories of the night before rush to the surface making her blush slightly, all the things she had done and the wicked things Draco had done to her. He had woken twice during the night and turned to her with an unquenchable lust that both thrilled and frighten her slightly because of its intensity. She turned on her pillow to see Draco so sweetly innocent in slumber, his plump lips slightly parted and his face lightly flushed with his hair a tumbled mess around him he almost looked like an angel the sight making her smile. Tentatively she brought her hand to his face and with the tips of her finger carefully brushed his fringe back his hand shot up making her yelp from the fright.

"Are you ogling me?" He asked with his hand around her delicate wrist and his eyes still closed. She made an undignified snort and pull her hand away.

"Hardly." Before she could get out of bed however, he rolled onto her catching Hermione by surprise and pressing butterfly kisses on her neck and face, his morning stubbles ticking her and making her giggle. "You are crushing me you oaf!" She screamed trying to push him off, she could feel his hardness against her thigh and even though she felt a shock of awareness she was too exhausted to go another round with the former Slytherin.

"Liar." He said placing one last kiss on the juncture of her neck and shoulder making her shiver with the pleasure that spot brought her. "You were so checking me out, though I can't say that I blame you I am rather sexy." He deadpan staring at her chocolate brown eyes. She burst in to a fit of giggles and the beast inside him soared, he did that when he caused her state of happiness. Once she'd calmed down they stared at each other in silence for what seemed like an eternity until she spoke again breaking the carefree atmosphere that surrounded them.

"Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?"

"You muggle-borns have such strange sayings. I rather shower and have breakfast before we get serious once again." They heard a soft knock on the door and Hermione pushed him off her a little embarrassed that she had forgotten that Emma would be coming to help her get ready at eight like she did every morning. Draco laughed at her discomfort and got out of bed. "Don't worry, I'll leave through the en-suit and you shall remain perfectly respectable."

"Thank you."

"See you at breakfast, oh and by the way she's going to know you were a very naughty girl the minute she walks through the door. If your just shagged appearance doesn't give you away the love bite certainly will." He walk through the door that adjoined their rooms laughing evilly and Hermione wished she was strong enough to perform magic so that she could throw a stinging hex at his retreating form, Merlin he was annoying when he wasn't being a complete brooding arsehole.

"Come in."

OoOoOoO

"Finally! You fucked her didn't you? I'm not even going to ask how it was, it's pretty obvious by the shit eating grin on your face." Blaise roared through the green flames as Draco answered his floo call. Blaise in the mornings was more irritating than dealing with the mob of Gryffindore that was his future.

"Can I assume there is a perfectly good reason for this call?" Draco asked primly as he buttoned the white shirt he had put on. After a long shower he had time to analyze what had happened the night before and he wasn't sure how he felt about the whole situation, his beast was elated but the part that was still Draco wanted to break things at being pulled by he's emotions. He was beginning to wonder if split personality was something that veela's suffered from, that was another question he added to the list of things he wanted to discuss with Luna Potter.

"Yes, I was looking over the reports from the diagnosis we ran yesterday on the poison and while everything we found was the same I took the liberty of testing the quill as well and found traces of asphodel which is not a known ingredient for the little known poison or has been found in anyone of the other samples we have managed to get our hands on." That information made Draco reel on the spot, Asphodel? The root of Asphodel was commonly used for making Draught of Living death, though it made no sense to use in poison since as far as Draco knew the plant wasn't lethal. "Also I found traces of Belladonna."

"What? Only on the quill not the poison?" Draco asked as confused as ever, he had never heard of anything like this there was no known reason to mix asphodel and belladonna and why did those ingredients only appear on the object use to deliver the poison and not in the victims or the poison itself.

"That's correct, unfortunately I can't make anything out of this information."

"Neither can I honestly, I think we might have to get a second opinion. Can you run the same diagnostic on the quill that I'm running on the poison? That should break down anything thing that the quill is laced with." Blaise nodded and signed off without saying goodbye, which was typically rude of him although at this moment Draco didn't really care he was too consumed by the new information, looking up at the antique gold leaf clock on the fireplace mantel he noted the time and finished dressing knowing that he was late for breakfast.

He walked into the breakfast room to find Hermione sitting in her wheelchair looking tired and distracted, he made a mental note not to over tax her again it wasn't fair to her. She had a plate of steaming food in front of her but just moved her fork around making no effort to actually eat.

"Is the food not to your liking?" She startled at his words and turned to him a little sheepishly, she wasn't sure how to act around him outside of the bedroom. She knew that she had crossed an invisible line the previous night and they both knew she had used him shamelessly for her own ends something that the inner Gryffindore in her was currently battling with.

"No it's fine, it's just that..." She couldn't find the right words to express her guilt.

"It's alright it was inevitable, besides its not like I didn't enjoy myself immensely."

"But what about your freedom, didn't last night compromise that?" Her eyes looked so downcast and defeated that he couldn't help the way his heart stirred a little in his chest. All that guilt and all because she thought she had ruined his chances at an impossible dream.

"We have already done the second marking, so we might as well enjoy it now and I know you feel a little better after the intimacy and I won't begrudge you that. I've spent half my life trying to ease my pain." He sat next to her with a cup of tea in hand, he wasn't hungry just slightly weighed down by the new information and the development of his relationship with this virtual stranger. Draco sighed heavily missing the lighter note they had both awoken to, but the light of day always seemed to put things in a different perspective.

"Thank you for being so kind to me."

"Don't confuse self preservation with kindness or genuine love. The only thing I ask of you is please don't forget that when it comes to you I don't have a choice." His words were harsh but truthful and in reality there was no great romance between them just a sense of companionship that came from facing the same difficulties together, camaraderie even.

"Right." She answered curtly and they fell into an awkward silence Draco sipping his tea and Hermione toying with her food. "Can we stop pretending that we are having breakfast and do some useful like research?"

"Excellent idea, but first can you tell who Delphine is?" Hermione looked at him confused as if she had never heard the name before.

"Who?" She asked confirming his suspicions.

"Well, during the second marking you cried out for Delphine and again last night during your nightmare." She looked at him surprised.

"I was unconscious the first time and last night I don't remember my dream but I do remember being so very sad, and desperate." She confessed as she thought back to waking up crying on Draco's shoulder. He looked at her intently and took another sip of the blasted tea.

"où avez-vous appris le français?"

"Sorry I don't speak French. What was that?" She asked looking at him as if he was an idiot, as if she had not been screaming in French for the past couple of nights. Draco decided that his day was just getting more and confusing.

"Never mind, lets get back to your family tree."

oOoOoOo

"Hello again." Luna smiled as Draco's butler brought her to a lovely sunny sitting room.

"Luna, it's great to see you." Hermione exclaimed getting up slowly from her chair, she watched as the slim petite blonde walked towards her and engulfed her in a surprisingly strong hug. Luna smelled of rain and lavender and so familiar, she remembered being blind but always knowing when her friend's calming presence entered her room.

"How are you both?" She asked as she released Hermione and gave a startled Draco the same greeting.

"Fine, considering" Draco answered as he motioned for Luna to sit next to Hermione, the blond complied looking at them with her all too knowing silvery blue eyes. Hermione blushed slightly as she looked at the younger woman with her hair tied back into a ponytail with a bright yellow ribbon and her loose fitting cable knit purple sweater. She was surprised at how normal her eccentric friend looked, she wore no make up, regular knee high brown leather boots, brown tights and slim gold chain around her neck that held a tiny golden snitch.

"Do you mind if we get down to business?" Draco asked the pale woman who only shook her curly head and continued to smile at them. "Good, first I would like to know if all veela's are French?"

"Oh no, there are communities all over the globe though the only full blooded Veela's left do seem to come mostly from two very old world communities one in the south of France and the other is to the North." They were interrupted by Pennington bringing in a tea service and settling it next to Draco before he quietly bowed and exited the room agin. "Your family is French aren't they Draco? Perhaps the connection goes that far for you." She thought the doubt was clear in her voice.

"What aren't you saying?" Draco asked as he served them tea, "Sugar?" He asked Luna who shook her head no for Hermione however he made the tea without asking already knowing what she liked something that was not lost on Luna.

"Well, is just that I haven't seen a part Veela like yourself. For most people like yourself the veela blood is so weak and diluted that even though they have mates they can lead perfectly happy life with whomever they chose."

"Does that mean that Draco's veela blood is more pure?" Hermione asked taking a sip of her tea and absorbing all the information that was being said as well as the undertones for things that seem to be skirted around.

"I can't know for certain how strong it is, but from what I've seen in you Draco and Hermione herself being alive still I think you are no more than three generations apart from the pure veela in your family." That narrowed Hermione's earlier list to only three different Malfoy men Abraxas definitely being one of the candidates.

"Can it be that maybe there was more than one pure Veela in my family?"

"That is a likely possibility but it still would have to be no more than four generations if you added one more." Draco summoned parchment and quill and handed it to Hermione who quickly started scribbling notes.

"Have you always been able to do that?" Luna asked Draco intrigued as she watched him closely.

"Do what?"

"Wandless, wordless magic so effortlessly?"

"Honestly no, magic has been growing since the first marking and it got a strong bust after the second." He noted that Hermione scribbled furiously without even bothering to raise her head and look at any of them talking. It brought memories of them at Hogwarts and he wondered what a younger version of himself would think if he saw him now consorting with a muglge born know it all and Loony Lovegood. Draco smiled wryly and turned back to the perceptive witch, thinking that Luna had been sorely misjudged when Hermione was claimed the brightest witch of their age Mrs. Potter could certainly give the older witch a run for her galleons.

"That's very unusual of most part Veela's and most pure Veela's come into their powers as adults with or without the markings." Luna informed them.

"Is there a way to know how much Veela blood runs through my veins?"

"Yes, the ministry can perform the tests but they are not nearly as accurate as the ones performed by the high priest or priestess of a Veela order." Luna said sadly with a forlorn look crossing her face as if the thought had brought back painful memories for her, even Hermione looked up then hearing the sadness in her friend.

"Luna are you all right?" she asked the younger woman, concern clear in her voice, sadness was not an emotion she associated with the blonde.

"Yes, fine just a bit tired I'm sorry I came straight from the tea shoppe." It was a weak excuse and they all knew it but neither Draco nor Hermione dared push, Luna seemed so different and unpredictable even though she had been completely normal through the whole visit and earlier when Draco sought her out for help. "If you like I can send an owl to my contact in France, see if we can arrange a meeting with a their high priestess."

"Yes, of course! I would appreciate that very much." He was surprised that she would offer to that for him just as surprised as he had been when she had welcomed him and offered her help.

"Great, well I have to go. I've left Althea alone in the shop for too long. We are about to get hit with the afternoon mob." Luna said getting up from her spot on the couch and walking to Hermione and hugging her goodbye. "Keep an open mind, you'll need it." She whispered in the brunettes ear cryptically giving the other woman chills.

"I'll walk you out." Draco offered and followed her to the receiving room. "Thank you for all your help." He said as he helped her put on her bright yellow muggle coat.

"What are friends for?" She said looking at him intently, there was something in her eyes that his soul familiarize with, at first he couldn't see it but now it was clear as he stared at the dark bags under her eyes and the pale skin exhaustion clear on the younger woman's form.

"You are haunted too aren't you?" He asked her softly, she shifted uncomfortably in front of him and answered without looking him in the eyes, yes he knew now what was wrong.

"What, I don't know what you mean." She lied.

"Don't lie, I know that look. I see it everyday staring back at me in the mirror." She sighed deeply and he could almost see the weight of the world resting on her shoulders, he and Luna Potter where indeed kindred spirits they carried burdens that others who have never experience it could never comprehend.

"Be patient with Harry, he's stubborn but he loves Hermione and will do anything that he can to help her, even if that means working with you." She said effectively changing the topic, now it was Draco's turn to sigh heavily.

"He hates me."

"He doesn't hate you Draco, he hates what you remind him of. But he's coming around already, there is too much good in him not to do the right thing. He's conscience will never allow it." She smiled and walked in to the fire place tossing a bit of floo powder and vanishing in a roar of green flames.

Draco walked back to the sitting room, Hermione sat waiting for him a smug look on her face. "Don't even say it, Abraxas is not the creature lover I can promise you that."

"It's a possibility, I'm just saying." She teased looking rather pleased with herself, he was going to enjoy the moment when they discovered that he was right and the Veela mated with a different Malfoy male.

"It's not I promise. Would you like to go out to lunch with me?" She looked surprised at that and he could feel his face heating up a little with the flush, he's words had come out all wrong.

"What like a date?"

"No, not like a date like the canteen at St. Mungo's since you have an appointment with your new physical therapist at two." He answered grumpily.

"Ugh, do I have to? I hate physical therapy its pure torture." She whined very uncharacteristically, he looked at her sternly and she in turned gave him some very cute puppy dog eyes accompanied by a little pout. She looked absolutely adorable and that irritated him to no end.

"Yes, now stop whining and act like the Gryffindore that you are."

"Fine, wheel me upstairs so I can change since you are being a bully. However I require a decent meal at the Leaky Cauldron!"

"I can take you to the Leaky but a decent meal there? Ha! Even I can't work those kind of miracles." He chuckled as he pushed her wheelchair into the lift, she gave him a mock dirty look and stuck her tongue out at the insufferable git. How dare he make fun of her favorite pub.