Animal Magnetism

Summary: Creature!Fic. When an accident leaves Hermione less than human, her entire world gets turned upside down. The worst part? An irrepressible need to mate... With Snape. Which side will win, instincts or fear driven by years of torment? What will Snape do? Warnings, slightly non-canon [then, so is the pairing] and brief mention of some character deaths. Dumbledore is still alive. Lots of graphic sex scenes after the first few chapters. 21 chapters done and still typing.

Pairings: some Harry/Hermione, but mainly Hermione/Severus

Disclaimer: I, sadly, own nothing of the Harry Potter 'Verse. I just like to play with them time to time. Especially Severus.

Chapter 1

Everyday the papers just brought more news of death and destruction throughout Great Britain and its' neighboring countries. It seemed like all they had to report lately. A gloom had settled over Europe and seemed there to stay. Even with the Ministry of Magic's heavy hand censoring the media and trying to pretend everything was either fine or in the process, outside source information was enough to keep people talking [and thus panicking]. With Voldemort making his presence known in both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds now, nothing and nowhere was safe. Except maybe Hogwarts. The increased bombings and slayings of late spring and early summer had people in desperate straits and most came back early.

Even if the survivors had another place to go, parents and guardians tearfully forced them back out of concern. Though some older students [like Ron Weasley] had tried refusing, prepared to stand by their families in this time of crisis, there wasn't much choice. His home, like many others', had been shelled out and his parents already lost two sons. The rest just plowed bravely on. Ron… Just the mention of his name was enough to bring tears to Hermione Grangers' eyes. After being 'M.I.A' for a little over three weeks post-battle, [and thank Merlin they even found him that fast] one of the Order members managed to track him to the basement hideout of a senior Death Eater. Where he'd apparently been kept drained of magic and in a near-comatose state, regularly starved and beaten.

In the two weeks since his rescue he was still incredibly weak [pale, magically deprived, etc], and quieter than anyone had ever known him. Even after his throat had been healed too, torn and bleeding from months of tortured screams, he didn't say more than a few words at a time… especially about his captivity. And it hurt to see her friend and one time lover in such sad condition, the empty eyes and broken body, then knowing as well there was nothing she could do… Wiping the rivulets of tears from her cheeks, Hermione shut her books of charms with a loud thud and slid it across the worn table, rubbing red eyes warily. There'd been so very many tears lately- from all of them. So much sadness and pain… Certainly more than any one person should bear alone.

It's aged everyone terribly. The ''Chosen One'' more than most. In typical Harry fashion, he blamed himself for everything that happened because of Voldemort, cursing his supposed weakness for not having been able to kill him before this. It didn't matter he'd been only one person, that he'd been just a kid before [and in truth could still be considered one in age]. He'd changed so much just in the last few months, worse than any prior changes. He'd become a virtual stranger- more so after they'd found Ron. In a way it was harder than when Remus had been killed, another father figure and his last link to his parents. The boy… man… had withdrawn, physically and mentally, from everyone and while Hermione knew it was partly out of grief and his extra training…

She also knew a large part was that he thought his distance would keep them alive. It broke what was left of her heart. His stupid determination to 'save the world' all by himself. He was working himself close unto death in 'preparation' of facing the Scourge. Over the summer Harry had shot up to about 6'0'', almost as tall as Ron and Malfoy, and had packed on a lot of muscle- but he was still [and likely always would be] on the thin side. Especially as he very rarely seemed to sleep or eat anymore- well, or do much besides research spells/hexes and fight. Nobody knew how he kept from collapsing on a day to day basis or what he ran on outside pure will and vengeance.

Hermione put her face in her hands, trembling with emotion. Harry… with his gaunt, ghostly hued face and dark burning eyes that about swallowed it whole, always so harsh and unfocused… And Ron, tortured and just as reserved, his broad framed laces with ghastly scars, and his once ready smile gone, and dull cinnamon eyes filled with untold pain… what had happened to her small family? Silly question. Tom Marvolo Riddle. The former Gryffindor Head Girl sniffed and brushed her hair back, drying her damp, wan face. Air. She needed air. Desperately. With another sniffle, she gathered herself internally, threw her heavy book bag over her left shoulder, and parted the library for the grounds.

And she sighed, aching from lack of sleep and too much stress. It was supposed to be their 8th year- their 'greatest year ever' as some had said. Then spring had come. To think she used to spend every spare moment reading and researching for fun. But then, even last winter seemed like a different age. What had she been thinking? So much time wasted. And where had her smarts gotten her? No further than anyone else. Nothing to show for it, besides a few marks on a piece of parchment. Why had it all seemed so important then? What had she been trying to prove? To who? None of that mattered now. And she thought she'd known what constant nervous tension was, the witch scoffed. She'd had no clue.

She felt several decades older just since then. Now… it was almost all she could do to just stick with it. But Harry still needed her. Despite his unnaturally ripe new desire to be all independent and 'go it alone,' he still needed her. At least to gather information- formulating spells/hexes, potions, plans for action or defense. Though he'd been getting eerily good at the first two lately, and Ron, for lack of all else, had been a brilliant strategist… Would be again if he could get past this tragedy. But her mind shied away from those facts. It's all the help she could get him to accept. And she couldn't speak for them all, but she'd be there whether he liked it or not. 'Stubborn fool,' she thought. Her eyes flashed. 'He could run off in the dark to fight, but I'd find him… I always do. He won't fight old Voldie alone.'

Hermione's arms wrapped around her lean, deceptively fragile-looking frame, in a world of her own. The chill, born of the soul not of the wind, would never fade, but small comforts could go a long way. Even if she had changed, she'd always been a strongly opinionated person, a 'pushy, mother hen type,' as Ron once liked to call her. But she took it in stride, like everything else, with a wry quirk of lips. Or tired to. But this year had added a band of steal to her core like she'd never known- made her strong and fierce. Forged in the fires of hell, ever last one of them. Survivors, ragged but true. Like her parents were. Before Voldemort had them ripped to pieces in front of her. Another tear rolled down her cheek in remembrance and she hurriedly dashed it away, and paused to look at her hand in the moonlight.

Long, thin, pale like the rest of her. How she's changed… Even her parents wouldn't recognize her. But it wasn't all bad. She'd filled out more in the last eighteen months. Even added some muscle. Her teeth had been fixed since last year too- what hadn't shifted naturally was finally changed with a spell like Harry's poor eyesight. Her hair, while still frizz-prone [how she hated the word bushy] always worn in a clever up-do to hide it. Out of the way. She was vainly proud of even that much. She didn't know why those still stuck out at her so badly, still hurt her- all Snape's snide comments over the years. Her meditative state was broken as a shrill scream perforated the silence of the night, and her big, too serious coffee-colored eyes were suddenly shot with panic.

Her first thought was that it was another Death Eater attack. Then, as that high-pitched noise was all she heard, her second thought as she relaxed was that it was just an animal. Then it sounded again, long and tortured and way too human. "Somebody help! Please!" And Hermione, perhaps foolishly, jolted into action. The losses of that year were too fresh on her mind and she couldn't run back inside and potentially cause another one because of the delay. 'Where…?' she thought with frustration, running. "Anyone! Here!" Re-directing herself at the faint call, she headed rapidly towards the forest… by Black Lake, where it was coming from.

Nothing else entered into her mind but that she had to help this person, who sounded like a child in trouble. And she prayed that she could save them. Out of breath, the witch reached the shore- in time to see a shadowed figure trapped and bleeding on the island… just above a thicket of thorny Snapper vines, which could tear a person to pieces as quick as a hungry piranha as the vines dragged you deeper under. Oh Lord. "Text books… text books… damn, you! Remember…" she muttered, desperately looking for another way across the water and up the cliff-face. "Screw it! No time!"

She tossed aside her book bag and outer robes, casting something close to a stasis spell from a distance in attempts to stop the pods as she waded through the first layer of muck around the shoreline. Then, as she fought with herself on the proper course of action and decided to try and swim out, she cast again to blast away some of the thick growth and shield herself from whatever lay in the brackish gray water. It looked like a first year, she noted as she sped up her strokes, examining the elevated rocky formation she'd potentially have to climb. "How the hell…" Hermione wondered aloud as she sought purchase on the miniature island. "Please… I'm so cold," the girl sobbed again. Steeling herself again as the craggy surface bit into her flesh, she panted, "So close…"

Blood dripped down from the long scratches and she was getting light-headed. She almost wished she'd thought to use a levitating charm, but it was dark and who knows what she could've come across- receiving a better view as she scanned it manually and then not having her hands free as she discovered it was safe. Finally, though, she reached her target after what seemed like a small eternity. "There, there…. It's okay… I gotcha. You're safe now." as the child started sliding on the rock with a panicked yet almost hopeless look, Hermione leapt to grab her despite twisting an ankle in the process. But she saw the young girl shake her head and say in a tinny voice, "No… we're not… None of you are safe." As her words registered, the last ending in a dark tone, shock played on the older one's face.

"What-" She barely got out when the 'child' grabbed her back, nails turned into talons digging in and blood gushing out as they tore through her, mingling with the would-be victim's. Merely keeping contact was like shredding her own flesh and she fought it but found it impossible to escape, especially if she wanted to keep her arms, and it followed with an agonizing itching under her very skin. She was suffused by the pain as whatever it was spread through her system like a virus. One with a paralyzing agent. Simultaneously, the child's visage changed, aging to even seem a few years more than Hermione's eighteen, fangs transforming the mouth, making her look even crueler.

"Nobody is safe," the words came out guttural and biting, and Hermione's whole body seemed to light up like a hydrogen bomb. Hot… So very hot… She was surprised her flesh wasn't starting to melt away. Head spinning, she only half-noticed as her body started to slip too… the talons climbing higher as if using her for a ladder, bringing more poison with them. "But I really ought to thank you… I was getting awfully hungry, and this body just isn't what it used to be…" Then those fangs sank into her, and all she saw was darkness beyond the rock in her flickering vision… cold laughter following her as she fell and fell and fell…

A/N: There's definitely more to come, so stay tuned! And don't forget to review! It might make me post updates faster… lol.

Next Chapter: "She was too hard-headed to die. Right? How he hated the doubt that crept in as he reached to release the straps the cut into her tender wrists and give her a calming draught in attempts to ease her. Yes, she would make it. She had to. People needed her. Her friends needed her."