Trust Draco Malfoy to keep that punch third year to himself until it suited him. Today in the dungeons, he'd called her a Mudblood yet again, and she had pulled her wand on him, just in time for Professor Snape to walk around the corner. Malfoy had immediately covered his nose with his hands and started wailing, much to Hermione's dismay. When Professor Snape asked what had happened, she told him about the slur and pulling his wand—all the truth. Draco then threw in that she had punched him—a year late, of course—and Snape had bought it. Except if it had been last year, there would be blood pouring from that snotty little nose.
In a surprise move on Snape's part, he had assigned them both detentions with Hagrid—removing fifty points from Gryffindor for fighting in the corridors and ten points from Slytherin for Draco being beat up by a girl. This, at least, made Hermione smile. While she may have detention for something she felt perfectly justified doing, at least Draco was being punished, too.
The walk down to Hagrid's was quiet—Draco arrived at the front doors at the same moment as she, and the air between them crackled with animosity as they walked down the hill. He cleared his throat as if he was going to say something, but the murderous glare she gave him kept him quiet, for once.
They arrived at Hagrid's hut, and he set them to work feeding his Blast-Ended Skrewts. Hagrid gave them protective gloves and goggles and set them to work with pieces of lettuce and shrimp, as he was still not sure what they ate. Knowing he could at least trust Hermione to do what she was assigned, and assuming she would keep Malfoy in line, Hagrid went to work at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, telling them to send up sparks if something went awry.
Draco immediately began whinging. "What if it burns me? My nose already really hurts!" A glare from Hermione. "My father will not be happy about this."
"Oh, just give over already and get it done, Malfoy. The sooner we "feed" these things, the sooner we can leave."
Malfoy scowled. "And how do you suggest we do that, Granger? The males have a stinger and no mouth, and the females have a sucker and no mouth. What are we supposed to do? Shove lettuce and shrimp up its fanny?"
She barely stifled her giggle. Since when was Malfoy funny? Not wanting him to know he'd actually amused her, she affixed a supercilious sneer on her face. "I suggest you figure that out before it burns off one of your precious eyebrows… Ferret."
She attempted to feed the animals, trying to do what she had been instructed. In the end, she knew she would end up Vanishing the foodstuffs when Malfoy wasn't looking and then claim to be done. It wasn't very noble, very Gryffindor, of her to consider doing, but honestly, these things didn't eat! As she turned, she heard him mumbling behind her, a high-pitched nasal sing-song she assumed must be a poor impression of her.
"I suggest you figure that out, Ferret" he jeered. Then, in his normal voice, "Bet you haven't even figured it out yourself, Mudblood."
She turned abruptly, her wand yet again pointed between his eyes. "Malfoy, if you continue to insist upon calling me that, I will continue to have to maim you. And this time, there's no one around to hear you scream…"
She couldn't believe she'd just said that. She watched way too many bad action movies when she was home…
Yet the cliché line seemed to work on Malfoy—his eyebrows shot up and his face became even more pale and pointed. He began stuttering and trying to say anything, when an explosion from behind them knocked Hermione forward, poking her wand into his eye and sending them both tumbling to the ground.
They heard the satisfying squelch of one of the Skrewts hitting a tree, sliding to the ground and landing with a lifeless thud.
She quickly became aware of the fact that she was on top of Malfoy, straddling him, her face buried into his shoulder in fear. And his arms were around her.
A second explosion rocked the ground, and she found their positions flipped, Malfoy stretched over her, attempting to wrap his cloak around them both. They heard the sound of a whimpering Skrewt—at least they hurt themselves when they exploded and not just everything in a five-yard radius.
Several seconds went by; they lay nose-to-nose, gulping in deep breaths to try to still their hearts.
After an uncomfortable amount of time passed, Hermione could no longer stand it. "Malfoy, why are you still on top of me?"
"Cloak has an Anti-Flammatory charm on it. I'm not sure what's on fire around us, and I'm waiting for it to burn off."
"Malfoy, you're a wizard—just cast Aguamenti on the whole area and we can go home," she shrieked, angry that this situation was continuing.
"Look, Granger, those animals are a hybrid of Merlin knows what. We don't know if water will make it better or worse. Just stay here for a second."
"Well then at least cast Lumos or something—I can't see a thing!"
He complied, looking down at her, smirking. She could almost hear his thoughts—how he couldn't wait to tell Crabbe and Goyle about the compromising position he had got Granger into. She frowned. It was becoming hot under the cloak, and she was none too pleased at her proximity to Malfoy. He chuckled as he saw all of these emotions play over her face.
"Oh, come now, Granger. It's not that bad. Besides, no one will believe I ever saved you, so you don't have to worry about me talking. As if I would ever save someone like you."
"Then why did you 'save me,' Malfoy?"
"Because, even my father couldn't get me off for allowing another student to be incinerated. Which, with that rat's nest you call hair would have happened almost instantaneously. That much kindling in one place is certain to have started a brushfire that would have gone miles." He grinned, taking most of the malice from his words.
And she found herself grinning back—hating herself for being amused by this boy—who was still on top of her, cradled between her thighs, looking at her curiously, as if seeing her for the first time.
The evidence of his curiosity was currently pressing hard into her thigh.
"Draco! What in Morgaine's name is wrong with you? Let go of me at once!"
"Oh come on, Granger. Could be fun. I'll never tell a soul." That smile sucked her in, and she couldn't stop staring. Suddenly, his face began changing, growing slightly broader and longer. His body lengthened, and she felt his chest widened and become more muscular. A more handsome, adult version of Draco Malfoy was now looking down at her, his intent clear. He leaned down and kissed her. She opened her mouth in shock, and he took advantage of the movement, sliding his tongue into her mouth, coaxing her to kiss him back.
And she did. Merlin knows why, but she did. As his hand began to travel up her leg, skimming under the edge of her skirt, she screamed.
~~&&~~
She woke up moaning in her sleep, Ron's concerned face looking down at her.
"Shh, it's okay, love," he crooned, trying to calm her down. He'd had plenty of practice calming Granger women down from nightmares—Rose had nightmares at least twice a week about Twiddlepants, the resident monster in her closet.
Hermione was jarred—usually she knew when she was dreaming, and never did she dream about Draco bloody Malfoy.
"Want to tell me what it was about?" he asked, pushing her damp hair away from her forehead."
She shook her head, in an attempt to tell him no and to shake the memory from her brain.
"I'm just going to get a glass of water, I'll be right back."
Sensing his duty was complete, Ron rolled over and quickly began snoring. She sighed and walked to the bathroom, stopping to quickly grab a new pair of knickers from the bureau.
AN: This story was written for dynonugget, who won my help_haiti auction. her prompt was "Draco and Hermione and the Blast-Ended Skrewt." I hope this complies. Thanks to my lovely beta, tonksinger, for the love and support she has always given me.