AUTHOR'S NOTE!
Thank you to all who reviewed! You truly made my day, and definitely gave me some ideas for future chapters! I really, really appreciate it! =]
hi – thank you so very much for being the first person to review this story!
monkey87- thank you for reviewing both chapters! You definitely uplifted my feelings towards this story =] and definitely gave me some things to think about! I had always planned on having Hermione be a vampire, because well I love vampires lmao but when you asked about whether or not she was a werewolf, you got me seriously thinking and considering it! But I decided to go in the direction of vampirism because in the long run, it would allow me to be a lot more diverse with Hermione's character; she wouldn't be restricted to just a few days out of the month to go crazy, she can be a loose cannon all the time ;) and among other things that I'm going to keep to myself to keep you all interested in the story =]
voldyismyfather- thank you so much! I'm glad you like it! =]
Sensula- yes, pansy is very talented! I went in that direction because Hermione needed someone that she would be physically and magically frightened of, so if she ever got too out of control, I could always depend on pansy's character to reel her back in =] and in regards to the potions, that'll be revealed soon ;) and thank you so much for the criticism about Draco's character in the first chapter! Seriously, I appreciate it so much! I hadn't realized that maybe I had made his character go way too far into the extreme without giving a solid explanation to back it up =] so thank you for giving me inspiration for chapter 4! =]
AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING! WITH YOUR HELP, I WILL DEFINITELY BE ABLE TO MAKE THIS STORY EVEN BETTER AND GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT TO READ! AND TRUST ME WHEN I SAY, THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING =] I AM ONLY JUST SETTING UP THE FOUNDATION FOR A VERY INTRICATE STORY THAT IM ABOUT TO WEAVE! =D THANKS AGAIN!
END AUTHOR'S NOTE!
….. ….. …..
Becoming Who We Weren't
Chapter 3
Hermione jumped up, and leapt away from the debris of the smashed bathroom stalls, and skidded over to where Pansy and Draco were. They all stood there quietly and listened, trying to hear where McGonagall had gone. Then they heard her voice not far from the outside of the door; every few steps she took, she muttered the counter curses to Pansy's Forgetfulness Charm and Repelling Curse, each second brought her closer and closer to them.
'Here it goes,' thought Hermione, 'the Slytherins will finally get what they've wanted for years: the expulsion or death of Gryffindor's-Mudblood-Extroadinaire. And they are about to accomplish both; my head will be on a spear in a few days, because neither wizards nor muggles tolerate vampires...' She gulped loudly as her mind continued to race, thinking about if by some off chance they didn't kill her, this was the still the end of her magical education.. After she had worked so hard for 6 years and had finally been awarded the position of Head Girl, to now have it ripped away from her because of something that she had no control over.
"Shit! The old hag is getting closer!" snapped Pansy, who had suddenly come to her senses, bringing Hermione's to hers as well. Pansy started flicking her wand around rapidly, trying to repair as much of the damage that had been caused to the bathroom as possible. First making the blood that was smeared all over the floor disappear, then repairing the cracks in the walls and the shattered tiles, and finally, turning the twisted metal in the corner back into bathroom stalls.
"Bloody hell!" groaned Pansy as she turned to look at Hermione and Draco: both of their hair was completely matted in blood. But it was Hermione's appearance that made Pansy's stomach drop: her arm was still mangled from when Draco had burned chunks of flesh from it earlier, and she was standing lopsidedly with her arms clutched around her midsection, nursing the ribs that Pansy had broken. But worse than all of that, was that Hermione's fangs were still elongated; the only way to force them back into her gums was to get Hermione to relax and calm down, so that her body would willingly take its defenses down. But there wasn't enough time for that because they only had seconds before McGonagall would come through the door. So Pansy did what she could, as fast as possible, to take care of the most crucial of things. She flicked her wand at the cracked sunglasses that lay in the corner, and repaired them in midair as they flew over onto Hermione's face, successfully shielding bright yellow eyes behind its dark lenses.
"Hide your arm!" panicked Pansy as the door started shaking. Hermione quickly repositioned her arms so that she could cradle her injured one on the inside of her jacket, where it laid hidden. She wrapped her arms around herself again in this new position so that she was still able to clutch her shattered ribcage, which continued to throb with every shallow breath she took.
"Whoever is in here is going to be expelled and thrown into Azkaban!" cried Professor McGonagall as she blew the bathroom door off its hinges. Draco, Hermione and Pansy drew close together and stood shoulder to shoulder, with the injured Hermione in the middle; they huddled together as they cowered away from her, hoping that there truly was safety in numbers.
Pansy elbowed Hermione in the arm and hissed quietly, "Your fangs! Keep your mouth closed!" Hermione's eyes went wide and her hand flew towards her mouth, but Pansy hit it away and gave her a sharp glare that said 'don't touch them now!'
"What is going on in here?" screamed McGonagall.
All three of them just stared at her like wide eyed deer caught in head lights.
"Well? Who was trying to make the train jump its tracks?" demanded McGonagall, who was brandishing her wand at each of them. "Who was trying to kill everyone?" she screamed. Her eyes began to twitch and bug out from their sockets a bit, and her hair stuck out in odd directions from her usually perfect bun, as if she had yanked chunks out; McGonagall looked as if she had one foot in the door ofSt. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries; she was going mad.
Pansy gulped loudly, and was the first to step forward.
"Professor, we were only using the restroom when the train started going berserk. It wasn't us, we swear it!" but McGonagall just glared at her with pursed lips.
"Do I look like I was born yesterday, Ms. Parkinson?" she snapped. "There are two Slytherins and one Gryffindor in the same bathroom, and I'm just supposed to believe that you three weren't up to no good?"
Pansy slowly nodded, and Hermione stared at her in amazement; why wasn't Pansy giving her up to McGonagall? Why wasn't she trying to get her expelled? Yea, she may have been a vampire too, but it was Hermione who was standing there with the yellow eyes that were caused by the delay of the transformation, and a mouthful of fangs; she was much more obvious than the coolly collected Pansy Parkinson, who clearly had many more years experience in hiding her vampire qualities than Hermione did. For goodness sakes, she thought, even the smell of Malfoy's blood had driven her half mad with thirst! And the only reason she stood there now, grasping at her broken ribs instead of lapping up his blood, was because Pansy had the guts and the strength to hold her back. Hermione was the real threat here, not any of the others, because it was Hermione who was standing there, plugging her nose to keep from breathing in the scent of McGonagall's blood. It took all the strength she had in her pained little body to keep her feet rooted to the spot. But her grip on her self control was weakening quickly. So she grabbed hold of Draco's arm to try to keep from losing her sanity; she squeezed his forearm, praying for the added strength to get through this.
Draco flinched at the pressure Hermione was exerting on his arm, but he didn't push her away; he was too afraid to. He knew how dangerous she was right now, not only to McGonagall, but also to himself. If she were to lose control, she would go after everyone; not even Pansy would be able to protect all three of them at once. He had to do something! But what? So he did the first thing he could think of: he began to clench and release his fist, pumping the muscles in his forearm and causing them to expand and contract. He was hoping that the constant rhythm would help keep Hermione's mind in the present, and remind her to keep control of herself.
"So, it's just coincidence then that Ms. Granger is the one who is much worse for wear than you two?" asked McGonagall.
"Professor, Granger was in one of the stalls when the train started shaking, she got thrown around a bit more than Draco and I did" said Pansy, trying to reason with her.
"Its true ma'am" piped up Draco, without thinking.
'Malfoy is defending me too?' thought Hermione. 'And I'm holding his arm? When the hell did that happen?'
McGonagall shot Draco a glare, and then she too noticed that Hermione was holding onto his arm; she let go of it immediately, Draco to smirk. However, the physical contact between the two made McGonagall falter, and question whether the students really were telling the truth.
"Then answer me this," she went on cautiously, "why is Mr. Malfoy in the ladies' lavatories?" she asked, refusing to give up that easily.
Draco and Pansy froze in horror when Hermione was the one who stepped forward.
"Professor, Malfoy was in the hallway when the train started jerking around. He ran in here trying to find secure shelter.." muttered Hermione, who kept her head down and looked at the floor so McGonagall wouldn't see her fangs when she spoke.
"Be that as it may" scoffed McGonagall, "but you three will still be receiving detentions." and when no one argued this, she turned to leave. Hermione gave a sigh of relief and sank to one side from the pain in her ribs. But just then, McGonagall turned back to tell them something else, and Hermione tried as hard as she could to stand straight back up again but her body just wouldn't do it.
Draco noticed Hermione begin to slightly panic and the questioning look that McGonagall was throwing at her, so he quickly wrapped one of his arms around her waist and slowly helped push her up into an upright position, hoping that McGonagall push the matter and ask questions.
"One last thing," McGonagall added skeptically as she eyed the two of them, "I need both the Head Boy and Girl to meet me in the Head's Compartment in 10 minutes. I need to discuss something with the two of you." She said, speaking directly to Draco and Hermione.
"He's head boy?" cried Hermione after turning to glare at Draco, still trying to conceal her fangs. Draco glared at her and his grip on her waist tightened.
"Yes Granger, have a problem with that?" asked Draco, as he tightly squeezed her midsection until she turned bright red and softly squeaked in pain.
"Nope. None at all." gasped Hermione, and then he relaxed the pressure he had had on her waist, causing her body to slump a little more into his.
"Good," said McGonagall, "and Granger, as soon as we arrive at school, you need to go straight to Madam Pomfrey. I'm afraid if I even dared try to mend you myself, she would have my head."
"Okay Professor" muttered Hermione, who was staring back at the floor again.
"And Malfoy can take you, since it seems you two can't keep your hands off each other." McGonagall's words made Pansy smile broadly, and caused Draco to quickly jump three feet away from Hermione, looking disgusted. Hermione staggered and tried to keep up right.
"Heads' Compartment in 10 minutes you two." chuckled McGonagall, as she turned and left.
Pansy turned to Draco and Hermione and laughed; Hermione bared her fangs and hissed at her.
"Yea! You heard her! Shut up!" yelled Draco from the other corner of the bathroom, in agreement with Hermione's hiss.
"Oh bloody hell, calm down" smirked Pansy, "anyways, you two need to go to the Head's Compartment. It's probably going to take awhile to get there too, seeing as this one can't even stand up straight" she gestured towards Hermione.
"I can walk!" she hissed, slowly wobbling to the door to demonstrate, and turned back and smiled them.
"…. Carry her." Instructed Pansy.
"Like hell I will" scoffed Draco, as he walked past the two of them and went straight out the door, without a glance back. Pansy growled and took off after him, leaving Hermione to waddle after them by herself.
Pansy caught up to Draco and grabbed him by the collar.
"I'm dead serious Malfoy, watch after her!" she hissed into his ear.
"Why do you even care about her?"
"I said do it! We've had an agreement for 2 years, partner." snapped Pansy as her fangs slightly elongated, and turned him around and pushed him hard towards Hermione, who was still struggling to catch up with them. She hadn't heard a thing the two had said to each other over her hard breathing.
Draco walked over to her, turning back a few times to throw Pansy dirty looks. He stopped in front of Hermione, towering over her and blocking her path; he glared down at her.
"Mudblood" said Draco with a nasty sneer, as he resentfully offered his arm to her; Hermione eyed it with distaste.
"Ferret" she finally replied, accepting his extended arm, linking it with hers. They slowly walked past a smirking Pansy, and headed towards the Heads' Compartment. Students kept poking their heads into the corridors as they saw the two walk past. Loud murmurs broke out all over the place; everyone was in shock. A Slytherin and a Gryffindor? Even more, Hermione and Draco? Together? Linking arms? What was going on? And why was Hermione limping?
Eventually the two finally made it to their lavishly decorated Compartment, complete with their own bathroom, a small full size kitchen and two Lazy Boy recliners that morphed into beds at the push of a button or the flick of a wand.
Draco dropped Hermione's arm and walked into the compartment and flopped down onto a recliner and stretched out. Hermione just stared at him; she couldn't help it. Not only was the smell of his blood completely intoxicating and making her mouth water, but the rest of him – his body – was making her yearn in a completely different way. Draco had turned into a rather large man: he was much taller than most men and had broad, muscular shoulders, and a well defined chest. And his mean streak just made him even more enticing; something even she had grudgingly admitted to herself a few times before.
"Like what you see Granger?" smirked Draco, as he looked up at her from under his wind-swept, platinum blond hair.
"Yes." admitted Hermione, as she watched Draco's smirk falter; he had clearly not been expecting that answer. Then she grinned and added, "I didn't know ferrets could walk on two legs, but they've trained you well."
Draco was about to spit a nasty comment back at her, but she pulled out her wand, and he quickly shut his mouth, thinking she was about to hex him. But then she pointed it at herself instead, and started muttering a few spells under her breath: she gasped in pain as her ribs began to snap back into their proper places, and a needle began to sew up the wounds on her arm and head. Once the pain began to lessen, her fangs slowly retracted back into her gums. She sighed in relief as the pain left her all together and she was finally able to relax.
Hermione muttered another spell that cleaned all the blood out of her hair, and cleaned her and her clothes up a bit. When she was all done restoring herself back to normal, she looked up and caught Draco staring at her with his mouth slightly agape. She watched as his grey eyes roamed over her chest, and then slowly slid down her waist, to land hungrily on her hips.
"You wish Malfoy" laughed Hermione, as she crossed the room in front of him, purposefully adding a bit more sway to her hips as she walked over to her own recliner and gracefully sat down. She turned to him with a seductive smile and winked. A slight bit of red flushed over Draco's cheek, and he turned away from her, closing his eyes.
"Shut up vampire." he muttered angrily.
AUTHOR'S NOTE –
I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER! PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT!