Hey everyone :) My mind is running dry from school work and I AM continuing Loveless... just had to get this plot bunny out of the way... I'm so so sorry for making you guys wait :'( So, enjoy this little short. I may continue it if I'm in the mood to. It's just a little side story I'll update every once in a while. And another thing, italics went loco on me, and some words might not be spaced out... I corrected what I saw so yep. Enjoy, my friends!
Disclaimer: I want them for Christmas. Santa hasn't replied yet.
Oh bloody hell, Draco thought grudgingly. He was in his Animagus form, which was a sleek, pale wolf. A wolf that just damaged his foot by running through a snowy forest of fallen trees and things. Stupid wolf. Got him a twig in the front paw.
Draco limped through the forest, blood making a drippy trail behind him. Someone would find him soon. Someone would help him.
Or try to shoot him. Muggles did.
Unable to walk any farther, he settled under a massive tree, keeping his left front paw away from the frozen snow. His mind wandered, obsessing over what he should do. He couldn't turn back into his human form; the wound would look far worse and he would take days to get out of the bloody forest without a wand and fast feet. He could hardly find his way out as a wolf, anyway.
He had turned into his Animagus to send a message his father demanded be sent to his mother. He was doing great until fifteen minutes ago, when he spotted the darkening forest and his ego challenged him to a race there.
Bloody Malfoy ego.
Suddenly, he heard the crack of a twig to his left. He swiveled and tried to get into a hunter's crouch while keeping his paw levitated. His teeth bared and a growl rumbled in his throat. There was a murmured Lumos and a face appeared in the night.
Draco froze. It was the girl Weasley.
"Hermione," she whispered. "I found it; he's got a twig in his paw."
Another light appeared, the face it lit closer to Draco. He snarled and inched away from Granger, only to jump closer, yelping in protest as his injured paw hit the snow.
Merlin have mercy, Draco thought in agony as the cold shot through his wound. With that, Granger came close enough to be able to touch his fur and she observed the wound with intense eyes. Draco snapped at her. Dirty Mudblood…
"He has quite the attitude," Weaselette muttered.
"All wild ones do. Let's take him back," Granger said. "We can't heal him with magic; it'll mess up his paw." 'Take him back'? Draco thought. They're not coming anywhere near-!
He never finished his thought before Granger waved her wand over him and blackness invaded his mind.
OoOoOo
Hermione Apparated back to her apartment with the injured wolf, Ginny close behind. She levitated the unconscious creature onto the spare cot she always had for guests in the middle of her living room. Hermione kneeled next to the cot brushing a hand over the wolf's sharp muzzle.
"Get the purple potion, Ginny," Hermione commanded. Ginny ran out of the living room. Hermione gritted her teeth. Evidently, she would need to pull the sharp twig out. It would wake the wolf and either she or Ginny could be hurt.
When Ginny came back into the room with the potion, she told her to set it down on the coffee table for now.
"We obviously need to get this out first," Hermione said worriedly, gesturing to the grotesque twig. "I need you to hold him down…"
OoOoOo
Draco was pulled out of the darkness by a sharp pain in his front foot. He howled and pulled himself away from the hands hurting him. His eyes snapped open and he was met by two pairs of surprised eyes. He struggled to get out of what looked like a swinging bed and snarled at the two feminine bodies. He managed to hop out of the bed and limp to the corner of the living room.
Foul, dirty women! Don't touch me! For Merlin's sake! You could have just killed me with your soiled hands! Keep your bloody hands away…!
OoOoOo
The snowy wolf jumped out of the cot and made it into a corner of the living room, growling out what sounded like human profanity at the two witches. Hermione frowned at the wolf. What in bloody hell was wrong with it? Sure, she had healed other fierce creatures, but at least they were smart enough to realize they were being helped.
"Shut up! Just shut up!" She yelled out, frustrated. The strange wolf froze then bristled in anger. Then it let out a somewhat disgruntled mumble and limped back, settling three feet away from Hermione and Ginny. He glared at the gory twig in Hermione's clutches.
There was a sudden, shrill beeping coming from Ginny's pocket. Ginny pulled out her wand and looked back at Hermione in a regretful fashion.
"I'm so sorry, Hermione, I've got to get back home. James…" Ginny trailed off.
"It is fine, Ginny, go on," Hermione shushed. "I'll handle this one fine myself."
OoOoOo
'This one', Draco thought sneeringly. Making me sound like I'm not bloody human. Even told me to shut up!
The sane part of him reminded him quietly that he wasn't quite human at the moment, but the sane part was much too small to be heard.
"Now," Granger murmured. "Let's get you all sorted out."
Granger leaned to the right and seized a bubbling thing in a bottle off her coffee table. She swished the contents of the bottle round then leaned back towards Draco. Draco shifted his paw slightly so Granger couldn't snatch it. Granger rolled her eyes and took the paw gently.
"Oh, hush," she said. "It's just a pain-relief potion."
She poured half of it onto his paw and the reprieve was overwhelming. Draco couldn't control the rumble of contentment bubbling in his chest. Granger shot him a smug look. She then conjured a long bandage and wrapped it tight around Draco's paw.
OoOoOo
"There," Hermione said, tightening the bandage. The wolf looked determinedly away from her.
Peculiar wolf,she thought mildly, getting up from the floor to get him something to eat. She didn't actually know what wolves ate. That could be a problem.
She tried raw fish and ended up with a stinking mess on the carpet.
She tried cat food and almost had the wolf injured again when an orange mess of fur called Crookshanks pounced on him and started trying to tear his pale coat apart. Apparently, Crookshanks is possessive of his food.
Cooked meat worked, at least.
OoOoOo
Granger was really pushing it. If she didn't have a wand right now and he had his, he would have turned back into his human form and given her the worst bloody hex he could think of… and a good thirty minute rant.
Yeah. Moving on.
He felt ashamed; he had to scratch the door to ask to get out. Worst yet, he was not let out.
"You're not going to get out there and almost kill yourself again," Granger scolded, making herself comfortable on the sofa with a fat book. "You'll have to stay here for a while."
Draco grumbled and seethed, but it was no use. Granger was a stubborn woman. He rolled his huge eyes and lumbered away from his cot and the couch. He went exploring in her house, finding a bonanza of intimidating Muggle gadgets. One, he recognized, was used to polish some kind of thin, cylinder tube of grey-ish powder. Granger once used the tube to write a message to someone. Another was some kind of electrical box. One half of it contained a long, black rectangle, but when you poked the numbers on the second half, the first half lit up and showed a picture of Granger with a woman that looked like her mum.
Draco wandered, finally coming to the door of what looked like Granger's room.
And right there by her bed was that cursed cat.
OoOoOo
Hermione was pulled from her book by a sharp yelp of complaint somewhere in the left side of her house. She threw the book down onto the sofa and sprinted towards her room.
When she ran into the hall of her room, her alarm vanished and laughter overpowered her. Crookshanks was hissing and circling the wolf, which stood his ground, his fur bristling, but he made no move to get Crookshanks out of the way. She picked up Crookshanks, who hissed one last time before turning to his master and mewing ingenuously. Hermione, who was still shaking with laughter, almost dropped the furry pet.
OoOoOo
The little procession marched from the hall back to the living room, Draco leading with a pout on his face. He had tried so hard to resist the temptation to smash the cat into pieces; Granger would hex his arse off if he had, wolf or human. And after trying so hard not to kill her cat, all Granger did was laugh at him! The bloody witch…
Granger was still chuckling when he threw himself onto his cot. He turned away from her while she put her cat outside. He knew he was being a child, but he just couldn't help it; Granger was so unfair sometimes!
Someone opened and shut the back door, and Draco couldn't help but look; Of course it was Granger. She still had a smirk on her face. Draco grumbled, dropping his head down to his paws and wrenching his head away from her. Granger came up to the cot and folded herself on the floor next to it. Her hand rubbed his furry ear. And he didn't pull away. It actually felt okay.
"I'm sorry, wolf. Forgive me, then?" She asked playfully. Draco turned to her, an irritated growl at his throat. He went to bite her fingers, but had no intention of hurting her. Hermione laughed, picking herself up off the ground.
"You did forgive me," she teased. "Stop hiding it."
Draco rolled his onyx eyes, but made no attempt to retort in his wolf-ish ways. Hermione pattered away. His ears pricked at the sound of cheerful pans clinking together in the kitchen on his right. There were splashing sounds. Washing the mess from, ahem, supper.
Hey, it wasn't like it was his fault he couldn't eat wolf food. He was an aristocratic and intelligent wizard for crying out loud! They don't eat such rubbish as raw fish and cat food! It was that woman's fault. Some brightest witch of the age.
Crookshanks crept back into the house and plopped himself by the fire, his ear twitching in rhythm with the banging pans. He watched the skinny wolf that was moving to drape himself across one of the living room couches. Crookshanks felt wary; the wolf was no good. He would take his mistress's heart away. Even Crookshanks couldn't help admitting to himself in his cat ways that this animal was more handsome and striking than the others his mistress had brought in.
Draco watched Granger's moody cat from the corner of his eye. The cat cocked it head at him for a moment before yawning and stretching just as the brunette witch finished cleaning up and entered the fireplace-warmed living room. She smiled and scooped up the drowsy cat.
"Time for bed, then?" She cooed, stroking the flat-faced furry in her arms. She went to put Crookshanks to bed in her room then came back to change Draco's bandages.
"I guess you'll have to sleep here," Granger apologized. "Unless you're too afraid. Then you can come with me and Crookshanks if you like. Just know you might wake up with some claw marks on you."
Granger chuckled as Draco harrumph-ed. He didn't move from the soft, pale couch he was drooped over. Instead, he turned his head away from Hermione and tried to sleep. He heard the quiet swish of a wand and the room darkened.
OoOoOo
As their lives went on, after he laid claims on one of Hermione's living room couches, Draco was slowly starting to get used to the Muggle-born and even her stingy cat. And Draco found himself slowly admiring Hermione. Her laugh. Her wild curls. Her almond gold eyes. Her… lips. Just as he fell harder, his chance was taken by that freckled weasel thing. And his un… human… ish state. Speaking of said circumstances, Draco was starting to fear staying as a wolf all the time. He was starting to adjust and get used to the ways of the animal. He felt he no longer wanted to be haughty and mean or sneering and emotionless or…
Like Draco Malfoy.
And slowly, with his human instincts, Draco felt his darkness slipping away.
OoOoOo
It was a late but bright Wednesday morning. The birds seemed to be performing a concert outside, each one spotlighted by buttery sunrays. Crookshanks and Draco were settled on Draco's couch, the former batting playfully at the latter's swishing tail. Granger had left for work a few hours ago, leaving breakfast along with the animals' afternoon meals. Everything, from Draco and Crookshanks's perspective, seemed set for a happy day. Neither was aware anything was wrong.
OoOoOo
Meanwhile, on Hermione's end of the line, things were chaotic. Everything seemed to go wrong at once. There was a new Death Eater scandal; Rudolphus Lestrange had caused some kind of ruckus in Gringotts. Lucius Malfoy driven into madness and murmuring about messages and his wife, who moved herself to France. A Ministry hacker found the key to the Veriteseruam cabinet and there wasn't a drop left. A minuscule band of dark wizards who called themselves the Devil's Apprentices struggled to cause trouble in the Wizarding world; they had only succeeded once, but had caused much damage. And last…
Draco Malfoy had gone missing. This last bit had stuck to Hermione like it had been smacked onto her skin with a Permanent Sticking Charm.
Malfoy…
Malfoy…
Malfoy was missing…
Why did it seem so important? She wondered as she pushed her office door open.
As soon as Hermione had her bum seated in her plush chair, Harry had come in and smacked a bulging file folder onto her desk, ranting angrily about everything going wrong on the same day. It took him approximately twenty minutes to get it all out of his system before he tried his best to explain the situation to Hermione calmly.
"Malfoy has gone missing," he said, slightly breathless. "I need you to locate him and find out why he left and everything. This is all the information we have on him… Well… what I could find. There are still some missing spots but… it'll help. Ron's team is also working on this."
Harry turned sharply and walked out of Hermione's office. Probably going to take his frustration out on someone else, she thought. She focused on the pale folder, flipping it open and revealing a picture of Draco's rotating face, showing off all of his features. She had to admit, she fell hard for his adult look, which had completely pushed the attractive, Hogwarts Draco off the scale. The mature Draco had let his hair loose of the thick gel he used to smear into his hair and it gave him a naturally handsome look; Hermione couldn't admit she liked it a whole lot. She flipped through all the identity sheets that had been done on him each year, all explaining pretty much the same thing about his wealth, his appearance and such. The Hermione came across a thicket of papers that were stuck together with a charm; the title on the first page was a scrawl Hermione recognized. She ran a finger across Harry hurried writing.
List of Stuff on Draco Malfoy
Hermione laughed at his vague attention to sounding official. She flipped to the next page, coming to a long list of "stuff" on Malfoy that Harry claimed would help.
Blonde hair
Hermione shook her head. Did Harry really need to waste the space?
Grey eyes
Sometimes onyx… or blue, Hermione added mentally. How did she know these things…?
Six foot something
She applauded Harry silently for his attention at detail and for digging out a sort of valuable asset.
A Black family heir
That wasn't completely hard to guess. Considering Hermione had gone to the Greatest and Most Noble House of Black several times and had observed every inch of their family tree room and found the Malfoys' connection to the family right away. No, not very hard…
Family blackmailed by the Dark Lord
So the rumors were true…
Worked as a robes assistant before being fired for enraging costumers
Hermione chuckled, but it wasn't something she didn't expect.
Currently works as Head Healer at St. Mungo's
Hermione rested her chin on her hand, wondering when the information sheet would get better. News had gone out so quickly about Draco Malfoy that none of the above situations surprised her.
His family pet dragon was the one guarding Gringotts until early 21st century
Hermione wondered what Harry was thinking when he wrote all this down in his chicken scratch… How was this random fact going to help her? Sure, she remembered the half-blind beast; it was pure terror for her when it started flying.
Animagus
Animagus. He was an Animagus. That rang a dim bell.
Unknown animal
She tried to suppress her suspicions, but she couldn't help checking. Hermione flipped forward to the page that gave all the information on when Malfoy had vanished.
Three weeks ago.
She found that wolf three weeks ago. The really strange one that liked to act like a human. An aristocratic human, at that. Could it really be him? Impossible. He would have changed and hexed her by now. Called her a Mudblood or some kind of foul name. Draco Malfoy would never get along with her cat!
But…
The wolf was being pretty nasty to Ron the day he came over. And he was muttering something like foul names when she and Ginny first found her…
Hermione stacked the papers neatly and quickly, hugging the folder to her as she stumbled and tripped out of her office and headed for Ron's to compare information.
When she burst through the door, the scene that met her eyes was not one she anticipated. Her boyfriend. Ronald Bilius Weasley. Half naked. Stripping off Pansy Parkinson's revealing shirt. Pansy saw her from over Ron's shoulder and she screamed and pointed towards her with a clawed finger.
Hermione turned robotically and marched out of his office. She heard Ron protest behind her, but she didn't care anymore. That bastard! She was done!
OoOoOo
Draco was startled awake from his fuzzy nap at the sound of someone wrenching open Hermione's complaining door. He leaped agilely off the couch, preparing to confront the intruder as the distressed door slammed shut. Only Merlin knew how perturbed and shocked Draco felt when he peeked around the corner and saw Hermione Granger ripping her socks off angrily and sending them flying across the room. Draco glanced quickly at the rudely ticking clock atop the door. Eleven thirteen. He knew she was quite passionate about her work and got up as early as four thirty on a regular day. And the earliest she would ever be home was seven at night.
Draco gave a curious whine, trying to get Granger to notice his snowy head popped around the corner. She stomped angrily past him and crumpled herself into a ball on the corner of her couch. Draco hopped on easily, poking her shoulder and making quiet yelps. Crookshanks was nowhere in sight.
One poke.
Two.
Paw on the arm.
Draco even tried to dig his head between her arm and chest. She slapped him with her head still down.
"Stop bothering me," she said in a muffled tone. From the sniffling noise she made, Draco knew she was crying. Damn, what could he do? He hopped off the couch in search of the orange fur demon…
OoOoOo
Hermione sniffed loudly. It wasn't the wolf's fault. He was comforting her. Maybe he was right about Ron.
At that moment, she heard an inhuman shriek that sounded strangely like her cat. When she lifted her head, she was greeted by the sight of Crookshanks being carried in by the nape of the neck, hissing what seemed like cat profanity. The wolf dropped the furry next to Hermione and Crookshanks instantly worried himself with Hermione's tearful face. He mewed and squeezed himself to her chest, licking her face in concern. Hermione laughed, though her voice was still dampened with slight sadness. She turned to Draco with a tiny smile lighting her face.
"Thanks, wolf," she said quietly.
Draco made a strange huffing noise back, showing a dangerous, toothy grin.
"I know you meant well. Though… I wouldn't risk the grabbing by the neck trick again… You wouldn't be able to live this long," she teased.
OoOoOo
Granger reached over to stroke his thick fur and sighed.
"I'm just… so depressed over Ron," she said. "He was cheating on me… this morning. With Pansy Parkinson. Maybe you were right about him."
Sick.
Bastard.
"I'm over him," she comforted him as he started a stream of growls. "I really am."
She sighed again.
"Maybe I shouldn't have left," she decided. "I need to work on Malfoy's case anyway."
Draco didn't stop growling, afraid to reveal himself. Inside, he was going nuts. Malfoy's case. His case.His disappearance. Of course! And she just happened to receive it in the Department of Mysteries! Oh God. She probably already knew it was him! They had his Animagus records… they would notify her.
He would have to leave.
When he actually thought about, his heart protested. He needed her. Her comfort, her care, and her heart. Even her stinking cat made him feel at home.
Home.
He'd never actually had one until now. And after weeks of having the warm feeling… he was forced to leave. She would hate him if he revealed himself. They were enemies, he thought sadly. They couldn't be friends.
On the outside, he showed a goofy countenance, rolling closer to Hermione and allowed her to pet him just a little longer…
"What's the sudden friendliness?" Hermione asked with a smile. She had to admit, the wolf made her feel better beyond measure. And she felt relieved to cross him off the Malfoy suspect list. After all, where could Malfoy have found such a heart?