I know, I know, I should be continuing my other Dramione story. Don't blame me. Blame the plot-bunnies.

Also, A FEW THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS STORY:

1) It is AU (obviously).

2) Set in 6th year.

3) The events of the war do not happen. Voldy is still plotting to rise somewhere, but will not be the main attraction here.

4) Then again, things could always change, it's not like I plan my stories!

5) Just a reminder, Snape is the DADA teacher, Slughorn potions.

I think that about covers it.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I did, this would have been my idea of an animagus.

Grey Howl

"Ow!" She muttered to herself as she stumbled between her walk. She needed to find one ingredient for her potions class and it had to be all the way out here, in the forbidden forest. She could've easily come here in the morning, with her mates, but after the tremendous amount of work that piled up at the end of the day she couldn't waste any more time. With a huge gratitude to Harry for lending her his invisibility cloak, knowing by the time she'd return it'd be way past curfew, she snuck out of her dormitory.

She reached her destination, knowing the ingredient she was looking for grew by the Black Lake.

Aha! She inwardly mumbled and wrapped the ingredient in a handkerchief and placing it in her backpack with the invisibility cloak. Hermione threw the strap of her bag over her shoulder and swiftly turned at the sound of deep growling. The young witch stiffened, and cautiously turned.

Her breath caught in her throat, allowing her mouth to dry from fear, as she found herself gawking across a dark-furred wolf, his bare teeth, coated in saliva, snarling at her with desperate hunger. Hermione swallowed and slowly reached for her wand.

The wolf stepped forward, inching closer by the second. By the time Hermione took a good grip of her wand the wolf instantly shuffled forward. Hermione reached out with her wand and yelled a spell that shoved the wolf backwards mid-air. The witch then made a hasty turn and ran back into the trees. However, that didn't give enough distance for her to get away. The wolf was still clinging to her trail.

Don't turn, she scolded herself, don't turn; you do that and the chaser will catch up. But when the sound of the growl was alarmingly close it was out of pure instinct that she wanted to measure the distance, intending to throw another spell. However, as she turned she hadn't anticipated the dangerously close proximity and found herself rushing to use her arms to keep the wolf from mauling her face. She fell backwards instantly; the wolf continuing to bark madly at her. She needed to use her wand, but all her strength went to keeping teeth from gnawing at her face. Using her left arm to attempt to keep the wolf at bay, she used her right hand to struggle for her wand a couple of inches away. The wolf's continuous gnawing was leaning in closer to her neck by the second.

The next thing she knew the heavy weight had been pushed off. Hermione stood instantly, making a grab for her wand, and found herself watching a fight that's about to commence between two wolves.

This wolf that had made a sudden appearance was physically the opposite of the one that had attacked her. This one had fur as white as snow and eyes of silver moonlight. He…or she, maybe…had just pushed the dark wolf off of her, saving her life. The revelation rendered her immobile, watching the two now biting at each other.

The white creature bit at the chin of his opponent, earning himself a small nip at his shoulder at the same time. The white wolf staggered momentarily, giving time for the black wolf to bite a leg. This caused the silver-eyed wolf to strike back with vengeance, until eventually chasing the assailant away.

Hermione panted heavily, watching the white wolf limping. They found each other in a match of an intense gaze, before Hermione stepped forward cautiously, intending to help the poor creature. But the wolf growled and backed away. Before Hermione could protest he (or she) disappeared into the trees.

Once she finally regained her posture she immediately headed back with the invisibility cloak around her, silently praying the creature that had just saved her would be okay.

xXx

"Which of you can tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and an animagus?" said Snape.

It was the morning after Hermione was almost mauled to death. Her hand had just risen, as it always did, an answer ready at the tip of her tongue. Everyone else sat in motionless silence expecting Miss Know-It-All to put an end to it.

"No one?" Snape said, ignoring Hermione and scowling at the lack of participation. "How disappointing."

"Please, sir," Hermione interrupted, hoping it would earn her points even if she did speak out of turn, "a werewolf has no choice but to transform. With each full moon, when a werewolf transforms he no longer remembers who he is. He'd kill his best friend if he crossed his path. An animagus also has no choice. The difference, however, is that he is in control of his actions. Furthermore, a person becomes a werewolf when bitten by a werewolf in wolf-form, whilst an animagus is caused by an unpredictable passing of genes through a bloodline."

Snape remained quiet for a few seconds, the scowl never leaving his face. "Tell me, Miss Granger, are you incapable of restraining yourself, or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?" he said coolly. "Five points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn."

Harry, who sat beside her, and the rest of the Gryffindor house within the classroom quietly groaned.

"Now, on page 394…" As Snape lectured into further detail of a werewolf's bite, Hermione continued to make notes; while her ears couldn't help but catch a conversation between Pansy and Nott on the table beside her.

"Where's Draco? He would never miss a DADA lesson with Professor Snape," Pansy whispered.

Nott shrugged. "Apparently, he's spending the morning in the infirmary."

Pansy gasped. "What? Why wasn't I informed about this?"

Nott rolled his eyes. "Because, despite what you think, Draco's life doesn't revolve around you."

She scoffed indignantly. "So why is it you know?"

"Blaise told me," Nott shrugged.

"Why does he know?"

"Draco told him."

"Why would-"

"So Blaise could inform Snape the reason of Draco's absence," Nott finalised, desisting the urge to add a 'doi' at the end.

"So I'm the last to know about this?"

Snape cleared his throat, making Hermione slightly jump and ultimately putting an end to the conversation. "Am I interrupting?" he seethed, a string of verbal staccato imprinted in his words.

Pansy flushed. "Um, no sir."

Snape raised an eyebrow and continued the lesson.

xXx

Lunch time had made its course in the day and everyone took a seat in their own expected tables. Hermione sat in a huff, leaving her bag on her left and placing herself next to Ginny, while Harry and Ron sat across from her.

"Hey," Ginny smiled. "Are you okay?"

Hermione sighed. "Yeah, I've just got a lot on my mind."

"There's a surprise," Ron lowly quipped, earning a piece of salami to the face on the account of Hermione's reflexes. Ron smirked and picked up the salami that fell from his face and shoved it into his mouth, chewing condescendingly.

Harry chuckled, Hermione smiled and Ginny curled her lip in disgust at her brother's piggish ways.

"I'm okay. It's just…" They all waited for her to continue. "I need to tell you guys something."

The bright witch began to explain the compelling events that had occurred the previous night. Looks of horror, awe and shock claimed refuge on her friends' faces and a few others, including Neville and Seamus, who had overheard the entire, exhilarating story.

"Blimey," Ron broke the silence that fell after.

"Are you sure you're okay, Hermione?" Harry gazed at her in concern.

"I'm fine," she assured everyone, including Ginny who had placed a gentle hand of concern on her shoulder. "It's that wolf that I'm worried about. The poor thing was injured and I couldn't do anything to help."

"Speaking of which," Seamus cut in, "tell us more about this intense battle. Was there blood? Did they chew each other's necks?" The boys grinned, waiting for an answer, while the girls frowned in disgust.

Before anyone got the chance to respond a voice squealed beside their table.

"Draco!" Pansy exclaimed, her voice comparable to nails on a board. A few onlookers lifted their heads to the direction of the person that had just entered the hall and was now limping towards the Slytherin table, a wooden cane supporting his weight. Pansy lifted her bag and tapped on a stool beside her. She continued, "I was going to visit but Madam Pomfrey just wouldn't have it. Are you alright?"

Malfoy carefully slid into the seat offered, eyeing his usual company. "I'm fine," he mumbled.

"What happened?" Pansy prodded on.

Malfoy shrugged. "I fell down the stairs."

"Oh, how awful," Pansy's hand made its way to Draco's forearm resting on the table. "You poor thing."

"It's nothing," he reassured everyone, half-tempted to smirk at the attention he was getting.

"Is it your leg?" Goyle asked.

Draco raised his eyebrow, his hand gripping on his cane. "Gee, how'd you guess, Goyle?" he added sneeringly.

Even Goyle suspected the question was directly rhetorical.

The Gryffindors, who had still been overhearing the conversation between the Slytherins, turned their attention back at their table.

"And he has the nerve to call me a clumsy idiot," Neville murmured, earning surprised and amused looks from his fellow peers. "I, uh…just saying," he shrugged nonchalantly; slightly embarrassed he had said all that out loud.

xXx

Nightfall streamed through the sky above the Hogwarts castle, the half-crescent moonlight flowing freely through the unblemished windows; one of which resided in the library where a sixth year witch sat beside it, finishing the last piece of puzzle for her Arithmacy assignment. Hermione Granger released the quill from her fingers and yawned, arching her back from the chair. She shoved all her items in her bag and made her way to the Gryffindor dormitory.

The corridors were silent, as they always were during supper time where the rest of the Hogwarts population dwelled within the main hall, chumming down their last meals for the day.

The strap on Hermione's shoulder began digging deeply into her skin. Realising her discomfort she decided to rummage through her bag to pull out a book to carry in her arms; although half-way through her search she noticed that her Defence of the Dark Arts book was missing.

Shoot, she mentally reprimanded, I must've left it during the first seminar. Hermione hurried the opposite direction and burst through the door of one of Snape's classrooms. She began searching her table, and then everywhere else when she couldn't find it. She sighed and inwardly settled that her professor must've placed it in the lost and found box in his office. Now she had to go all the way to the dungeons.

Holding onto the trap on her shoulder with one arm and holding her Arithmacy book in the other, Hermione started sprinting down the stairs that lead to her destination, unaware of a figure that was about to approach across from her. The two collided ungracefully and fell onto their backsides, both moaning in pain in the aftermath. Hermione looked up to the source of the louder moan, fully intending to apologise when she took in the familiar appearance of the student in front of her; not that she would've been able to get a word across in the first place with the vulgar protests he was throwing at her.

"You ditzy bint," Draco Malfoy growled and grabbed the cane that fell from his hand during the tumble, painfully making an attempt to rise.

Hermione rolled her eyes and half-heartedly apologised as she picked up her things. She would usually reprimand him for his uncalled for comments, but seeing the trouble he had standing she refrained herself; that and the fact that she was tired and hungry and just wanted to grab her book so she could get back to her friends.

"An apology isn't going to make you any less clumsy," he hissed, either out of anger or discomfort she wasn't sure.

"It's not like I did it on purpose," she replied absently while checking that everything was in her bag.

"Just get out of my sight." She didn't miss that low murmur of something about 'filthy mudbloods' as he pushed passed her, almost knocking her over. She had a right mind to put him in his place but she couldn't find the trouble to care enough in her knackered state. Instead, she focused on making way to the head of Slytherin's office.

Her fist was a second from knocking when she heard another voice from the other side of the room accompanying the DADA teacher. She recognised the Scottish accent of her head of house. Hermione settled to wait outside for a moment, letting her ear linger closely to the door in hopes of finding an appropriate time to interrupt. She gathered, after a few sentences, that they were talking schedules and other school activities for younger years. When they stopped for a few seconds Hermione deemed that this was the best time, until Snape stroked up another conversation, this time about the next Hogsmeade trip for sixth years.

"…permission forms will be handed…" Hermione half-heartedly listened. "We need extra chaperones…keep the certain mischief-makers at bay…" She couldn't help but smile at this.

"Speaking of mischief-makers," Hermione heard McGonagall continue, "how is young Mr Malfoy doing, Severus?"

"He'll survive," Snape replied in his monotonous approach. "Though his claims of falling down the stairs do strike me to be anything but the truth."

Hermione's interest suddenly peaked; she leaned closer for better hearing. "Poppy informed me he used a Disillusioned Charm to conceal a bite mark. What do you think he is trying to hide?" Her lips parted in bafflement, bite mark?

"Whatever it is-" She heard Snape suddenly stop when she realised that the door she had been leaning creaked slightly. She squinted her eyes and scrunched up her face, silently cursing at herself for being so careless. Without trying to leave too much suspicion she decided to knock.

"Enter," Snape's words seem to jab at her.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Hermione quickly stated.

"Miss Granger," McGonagall softly said in surprise.

"I…think I left my…book…behind…" she stammered foolishly, watching Snape opening his desk draw and pulling out a familiar hardback copy of a DADA book. She nervously made her way closer to the intimidating professor and made a gentle grab from the offer. "Thank you," she said and turned her attention to her head, "A good evening to you, professor."

"You too, Miss Granger," the professor smiled at her. "You may have to hurry to the main hall, curfew is drawing closer."

Hermione nodded and let out the breath she didn't know she was holding until she was out of the dungeons. She let the conversation she overheard replay in her head like a broken record.

TBC

This is the part where you review and tell me how awesome I am.

lol j/k

But really, do let me know of any mistakes. I didn't have this beta'd. And if there is any OOCness, let me know immediately as I take full pride in keeping them in character.

Thanks for reading!

Mrs-N-Uzumaki xx

P.S. To see the full official cover image visit: mrs-n-uzumaki . tumblr . com /post/58347743992/grey (REMOVE THE SPACES)