A/N As my second Dramoine full story, I hope you guys enjoy it PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks!
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and some characters
The Company of a Shape-Shifter
Chapter 1
It was all coincidence when Hermione decided to take a jog one morning outside Hogwarts. She wore her comfortable blue tracksuit and plain white sneakers and headed out of the castle at 5am. It was still quite dark outside because it was still winter that side of the world. Nobody but Filch had seen her exiting the castle and since she baked him cookies every now and then and was practically the only person who bothered to be nice to him, he pretended not to notice her sneaking out every morning.
She grinned to herself at her silly little victory. She'd been getting away with it for about 2 weeks now and she wondered how long it would take for him to snap or for someone else to notice her. Slowly she started jogging past the Hogwarts school grounds to the spot where she always used to jog – right by the lake. She enjoyed the chirps of the birds surrounding her and noticed a flock of birds that flew past her in a hurry. Not thinking much about it she continued jogging and started advancing her pace, eventually running as she watched the sunrise on her left.
Another horde of birds came flying past at an immense rate, one flying so low and knocked her straight to the ground. Hermione fell with a sudden thud and looked down at the bird. It was small and gray with a little black ring around its beak and neck, it was huffing, and puffing with its eyes closed, clearly shaken. Hermione gasped. "Sorry little one..." she said in a low and gentle whisper and she picked it up delicately and carried it back to the castle. The bird wasn't moving much except for its fast and heavy breathing.
As she got inside the castle, she closed the door behind her.
"Sneaking out late to visit some muggle boyfriend, Mudblood?" a cruel and familiar voice came sharp and loud through the stillness of the morning and pierced Hermione's ears like thunder. "Shhh you moron!" she said in a loud whisper as she turned to look at Draco Malfoy standing with his hands folded across his chest. It took him a few seconds to realise that Hermione was holding a little bird in her hand that resembled a swallow. "What are you doing with that?" Hermione rolled her eyes. "First I'm going to snap his legs off and use them for a voodoo spell, and then I'm going to use the rest of him in a potion I've been planning to make to take wrinkles away." Draco's eyes widened as his jaw fell open. "I'm not serious you git! Now get out of my way, I need to get this poor thing a place to recover." She pushed past Draco who seemed to lower his guard a bit, not standing as stiffly with his arms folded anymore.
"Wait!" he cried loudly, his voice echoing. "Shut up!" Hermione said in a loud whisper again. "Is that an Oriental Pratincole?" Hermione frowned, extremely confused. "A what?" Draco walked up to her impatiently and held out his hand. "I know what to do, give the bird to me." "Like hell, I'll give the bird to you!" "Trust me." He said. Hermione almost choked on her own saliva when she cried "Ha!" at him. "Look, I'm serious - my mother used to look after these when I was a kid, it was sort of a hobby of hers. Oriental Prantincoles are almost extinct and I know how to help one that's knocked out."
It took Hermione a second to consider it. She had never seen Draco so... compassionate about anything, but she knew it could be a trick because he hated her so much. He'd probably pull a fast one on her and cast a cruciatus spell on the poor thing, just to show off.
"No." She said as she eyed him angrily. She turned her back on him and walked towards the stairs. "I'll give you my wand as a surety that I won't hurt the bird." He said desperately. Hermione turned back and looked at him suspiciously. "Malfoy it's just a bloody bird, let me sort it out, will you?" Draco sighed as if giving up. "It's not just a bird Granger - It's a shape-shifter." He said. She looked down at the bird, examining it from top to bottom. It seemed like a normal bird to her. "Those birds are extinct and only shape-shifters can change into them. Not even if you try to transfigure yourself or use polyjuice potion, can you turn into one of those."
Eventually Hermione walked back to Draco. She decided that if she had his wand he couldn't do anything to the bird that she couldn't fix. "Alright I'll bite. Wand please?"