Author's Note: I'll save you the excuses and get on with writing this chapter. I never truly understood why authors could be out for weeks before and after exams. I can now.
Okay, so I'm sure everyone knows this but I'm going to say it anyway. Hermione is 17 when she is in her 6th year, while Harry and Ron are both 16. Ron turns 17 during the year, but then Hermione turns 18 in the same year. Do you get what I mean? Her birthday is in September, after the first year of Hogwarts would have started, so she had to wait for the next year. They get their letters on their eleventh birthday, and her eleventh birthday was after the start of term in September. Therefore she had to wait until the next year. Yeah? If not, please feel free to ask me to explain it better.
Thanks to my amazing beta, Nikki!
Disclaimer: Do not own it.
She'd been expecting it, really, she had. After finding a white tiger in the place of Draco, it shouldn't have been all that surprising. But still, it didn't dull the shock and fascination she felt as she stared at an elegant eagle perched in front of her.
"Blaise?" She finally whispered.
The bird hopped slightly from his position on the back of the passenger's seat.
"No, Granger, its my pet bird. I thought you knew about that." Draco said sarcastically and she jumped.
"You know, Malfoy, the best thing about you as an animal was that you couldn't talk." She said, though it lacked her usual conviction. Even though it had only been four days, five including today, she felt tired, dirty and hungry for some real food, and not the stuff they had picked up at odd places.
"I thought it was stroking me." Draco responded coolly, and she blushed at the double entendre.
It had been rather awkward in the morning when they woke up to eagle-Blaise's sharp cry. Draco had been kneeling beside the seat, his head resting on his hands. One of Hermione's hands had been weaved through his hair and when she pulled it away he let out a loud cry of pain.
"You were a soft tiger." She retorted and nearly sighed. It sounded quite pathetic.
"Thanks." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "We should get to driving."
"Do you want t-"
"No." He slouched to the seat beside the driver's and sat down.
"Fine." She said and took up the wheel. As they pulled out of the parking lot they were in, and she had no idea how they'd gotten there, Blaise hopped onto Draco's shoulder. "He makes a lovely eagle."
"Mm." Draco said boredly and turned to look out the window.
"I still want to know how they're doing this." She turned to look at him and he paled a bit when he noticed she wasn't looking at the road.
"How should I know?"
"I thought you might, since you've been an animal before." She said calmly and turned back to the front, much to Draco's relief. "Why are you so afraid of driving?"
"I'm not afraid of driving." He snapped. "I just don't like it when other people drive for me. Especially when they're unstable." He gave her a significant look. "Now that I think about it, its mostly you."
"But why is it so frightening?" She pressed, discarding the unstable comment.
"Think about it, Granger. We're practically in a big metal death trap. You can't jump off it, or move it, or make it change direction in a second. If you're going to crash, you can't really help it without going out of control."
"Would you drive a motorcycle, then? They seem more dangerous then cars to me." She asked, finding it immensely interesting that he would fly hundreds of feet in the air on a broomstick but was uncomfortable with the thought of someone else driving him somewhere.
"I like motorcycles, I have one at the Manor." He said nonchalantly and she snorted with laughter.
"You have a motorcycle?" She looked at his slim body, his haughty expression and perfectly manicured nails.
He looked indignant and opened his mouth to speak. "Yes, I do."
She nodded, pursing her lips together to keep from laughing. It really wasn't all that funny, but she was tired and the thought of Draco Malfoy driving, much less owning, a motorcycle was immensely amusing.
"What?" He asked, exasperated.
"I'm sorry," she gasped, "But you."
"Yes, me. I even have leather pants and a jacket." He said and she gaped at him, looking away from the road. "Sarcasm, Granger."
She chuckled and smiled at the road rather then reply. They both looked out their respective windows as houses flew by and the rest of the morning passes this way. They let Blaise fly above the car for awhile when they finally reached the edge of the large city they'd been driving through. As it turned out, and completely unsurprisingly, Blaise was a lot less trouble then Draco.
They stopped to buy sandwiches for lunch and as Hermione sipped her drink she watched Draco. "What was it like?"
"I'm assuming you are referring to being an animal?" He asked calmly, inspecting the drink in his plastic cup.
"Yes." She looked at him eagerly, it sounded as though he was going to answer seriously.
"Its strange, really." He said slowly. "Everything was louder, and I didn't see in color. I could smell emotions. At one point you were in a completely state of panic. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to adapt to hunting, though. It was simple."
"I'll remember that, then." She smiled unwillingly. "Could you understand our English?"
"Yeah." His brow furrowed. "I acted on impulse though. All the time. I didn't think about what I should or shouldn't do, or the consequences of my actions."
"Why is being impulsive wrong?"
He chuckled lightly and she got goose bumps from the sound. "You say that like you actually mean it."
"I do." She said, somewhat defensively. "What's wrong with being slightly responsive?"
"What's wrong with thinking about things before you do them?" He challenged, sounding slightly amused, as though she was some juvenile child who understood nothing.
"So you think everything over, then?" Hermione asked and took a gulp of her drink.
"No, it depends on who I'm with." He said and glanced over at her. "For the most part, I don't with you."
"You don't think when you're with me? The fact that you can think is a mystery to me, really." She said and smiled smugly. "Why?"
"I have to lower myself to your level of intelligence." He said with a sarcastic edge in his voice.
"It's a mark of yours that you misjudged which direction you're supposed to go to reach my intelligence."
"I think you have less direction then me." He replied.
"Why is that?"
"You just missed the turn."
"Oh sh-" Instinctively she slammed on the break and there was a loud screech, followed by a honking horn and the sound of metal on metal. She was thrown forward in the seat and heard a loud bang as Draco's head hit the window and the glass broke.
"Grangeeer!" Draco shouted as they spun forward and Blaise let out shrieks of protest.
Hermione screamed as the car flipped suddenly and it took one second full of absolute terror to realize they had just flipped off the side of what could possibly be a steep hill.
She couldn't measure the amount of time that passed, or when the sharp pain hit her. But she could hear their own screams until the entire vehicle came to an abrupt halt and intense pain pierced her side, joining that in her arm.
She couldn't hear Blaise anymore, only Draco swearing loudly and profusely before he cut off and took in a sharp breath. "Granger?"
Someone was shaking her and she let out a choked shriek. It hurt so much.
"Grang- Oh sweet Merlin you're joking." The shaking stopped abruptly and she heard a soft gasp. "Oh my God."
There was a bellow in the midst of the noise, coming from outside. For some reason this was a source of annoyance, she was trying to sleep. The edges of her vision were darkening. She heard the sound of a door opening and thought that perhaps she ought to get out of the car. It didn't hurt so much now.
"How many are in here?" A gruff voice.
"Two." That was Draco, sounding quite panicked.
"How hurt ar-oh God. You're head."
"She's worse, help her first!"
"Calm down, man. Stop moving!"
It felt like she was sinking into a thick, dark substance. Molasses, maybe? It was so dark.
Shouts.
Sirens.
Voices.
Blaise.
Where was Blaise?
And Draco?
She let out a low moan and shifted slightly causing her entire body to catch fire. Or so it felt, anyway.
"Everyone move! Paramedics!"
A murmured voice.
"I'm fine. Help her, she's worse!"
"We'll get her, just calm down."
"Look, she's in much wor-"
She succumbed to the darkness and let it overwhelm her.
-
-
"Calm down, Parkinson." Ron said for the umpteenth time as she jumped and let out a squeak.
"How are you not uneasy, at the very least?" She whispered, her eyes darting between Ron and the lion in the back. "He could eat us!"
"Harry won't eat us." Ron said firmly.
"What about when we're sleeping. He hates Slytherins, he might try to kill me." She muttered, eyes wide as Harry opened his large jaws and yawned.
Ron rolled his eyes as Pansy let out a shrill scream. "Calm down! I don't know how you've met it this far alive, you start at the littlest thing!"
"Shut up, Weasley." She snapped and let out a large puff of air. Harry stood up and lumbered to the front and she practically dived over the side of the seat and into the back. "I'll be gone!"
She dashed into the confession box and slammed the door tightly behind her, breathing heavily. She sat down on the chair in the middle of the room and turned to look at the Wcube screen.
What she saw made her feel like she was going to faint.
"Weasley! Weasley! WEASLEY! Come here now! Their car! They're going to-to die!"" She yelled and gripped the edges of the chair. The car stopped and Ron came to the room, no where near as quickly as she would have liked.
He froze and then lunged forward. "Oh my God."
They stared at the screen for a long time, watching the screen hungrily as they waited to find out how their friends were.
-
-
"Miss Granger, can you hear me?"
Her eyes flickered open and immediately closed as a brilliant light shone into them. The pain that had been coursing through her body had now dulled to a low buzz, and she felt quite sleepy.
"Good, you're awake. You have a broken wrist and a dislocated shoulder. A large piece of glass was imbedded in your upper right hip. All these injuries were on your right side, the driver's side. You have no internal damage other then the breaks, and your head is fine, save a few bumps and bruises. You have a cast on your arm and it's in a sling, and you've already had your side taken care of. We've put stitches in and wrapped it. Any questions?"
She shook her head with great difficulty, trying to pretend she'd taken all that information in.
"Excellent. I know this is overwhelming so soon after the accident, but I need you to answer a few questions. What's your name?"
"Hermione Granger."
"Your age?"
"Seventeen."
"Birth date?"
"September 19th."
"And the names of your parents?"
"Chris and Jane."
"Good." She heard a pen scribbling. "We don't have any medical records for you, but you did have identification in your pocket and this matches it."
Identification. If I had died, that is how they would know it's me. And suddenly her situation hit her. She was in a muggle hospital, their car was probably in ruins, it could have been days since she'd been brought here, James ad Sheila obviously didn't care about her situation because they hadn't come and gotten her, and she had no idea where Draco and Blaise were.
A sound of distress escaped her.
"Don't worry." The nurse assured her, mistaking the reason for the noise. "You're fine. You've only been out between five to seven hours. With a week or two of rest, you don't exert yourself and take these pills as prescribed," she gestured to several bottles on the table beside Hermione, "You'll be feeling great. You'll also need to schedule appointments with doctors and such to check your healing, but that can be figured out in due time."
"Malfoy?" She forced the word from her lips.
"The boy who was with you? Blond hair, fair skin, petit frame? He's just across this divide." She pointed to a thick curtain cutting off half the room. "He got off easy, just a head injury and a sprained wrist. We thought it was best to keep you together, because we don't know who you are and you're from out of town."
"Blaise?"
"Who?"
Her heart sank drastically. "My bird…he's a pet. An eagle."
"Sorry, darling, but they didn't find anything in the wreckage. It probably didn't make it out."
She felt the buzzing in her head crescendo and fell back into the open arms of darkness.
-
-
She next awoke to Draco's voice, whispering her name. "Granger? Come on Granger, wake up."
"Mmm?" She groaned and opened her tired eyes.
"We've got to leave. The car is in the parking lot. Do you need any medication?" He spoke urgently and she clung to the sound of his voice.
"Yeah, those." She tried to gesture with her right hand and couldn't. Instead, she used her left and made a waving motion in the direction of the table. He picked up the bottles and shoved them into the pockets of a sweater he'd picked up.
"You've got to get up."
"Blaise?" She croaked, not sure she could get up.
"Is fine." He took a step towards her and slowly lifted her, wincing slightly and adjusting his hands so his left wrist carried less of her body weight. "Anything else?"
"No." She murmured and he slowly crept into the hall. The halls were silent and moonlight shone through the windows, casting an eerily tranquil glow on the whitewashed walls and tiled floor.
She was drowsy, and the only thing keeping her awake was the slight throb that stabbed her right hip every time Draco stepped forward. Despite her haziness, she still felt surprise when she saw their car in perfect, gleaming condition.
She was set down in the back seat and welcomed the comfort of pillows and blankets warmly. Blaise was perched on the driver's seat, and just seeing him there was enough to make her sigh. "What happened?"
"We rolled down the side of a hill. Blaise had some sort of protective magic on him, so he didn't feel anything and managed to follow us to the hospital. They took me to some emergency room and inspected my head, put a mask on my face and the next thing I know I'm waking up and they're telling me they stitched my head. Then they were asking me all sorts of questions, which I refused to answer and told them that whatever money they wanted, my father would pay." She snorted softly. "That probably wasn't the brightest idea, but I wasn't thinking straight! Then they were whispering about my having brain damage or being delusional. They left me alone for awhile and an owl delivered a letter explaining everything.
"Our car and everything inside it is in the exact same condition and place it was left. Apparently there were charms on the car that protected it from actually being destroyed, so when we fell down the hill only the glass broke and the muggles saw an illusionary image of a destroyed car. They took the files that the muggles in the hospital had on us, and by tomorrow any trace of us will be gone."
"Oh." She said and her eyes flickered closed. "So we're okay?"
"Yeah. We're okay."
-
-
The next day was horrible.
Hermione had been turned into a cat and couldn't move, only drifted in and out of consciousness.
That aside, though, her hearing and sight was tripled, but she was color blind. There was also a magical glow about her, almost like a visible aura, and she wondered if this was the kind of protective magic that had been on Blaise.
"How are you feeling?" Blaise was asking Draco softly.
"Fine." Was the stiff reply.
"Liar." Blaise hissed and she could feel the worry on his voice. "Go lie down by Granger. I've driving anyway."
There was a long silence. "Alright."
He came back and lied down slowly and then slowly ran his fingertips over her fur, careful not to put too much pressure. She purred loudly and was eased into sleep.
-
-
She let out a large cry of pain when she next woke. Her entire body was in agony, and her first instinct was to shift, to move, but it only increased the pain beyond the border of bearable and not.
They couldn't give her pills, because that would involve finding the right dosage, grinding it into powder and somhw getting it into her. And the medication was designed for humans, not animals.
Light fingers were stroking her again and she dropped back into a fitful sleep.
-
-
"-idn't let her drive." Blaise was saying, amused.
"It was an accident." Draco was lying beside her still.
"You were very worried." Blaise stated calmly. "Freaking out and all."
When Draco spoke, it was in a measured and careful voice. "Everyone knows Granger is smart. They're always saying, 'Granger will be great. She's going to help save the world, or she's going to save lives and be a brilliant scientist, or Healer, or Auror or whatever she wants to be.' We all used to say we wanted her dead, I hate-d her. And then we're put in this house and told to just have fun. We're all in the same position. When I saw her there…that was Granger. Of everything I thought she would die of-of old age, an explosion from her own experimentation or fighting to protect people, or-or even from carrying to many books and falling and being squished or something. It was such an insignificant way to die.
"Think of it, Blaise. Hermione Granger, best friend of Harry Potter, smartest witch of our age, most likely to be successful, dies in a car accident because she was forced to be on a show against her will. Doesn't that seem sick?" Draco released a long puff of air. "It's pathetic. That would be like Weasley finding put he's not fertile, or Longbottom becoming the Potions professor, or Dumbledore dying from a misfired spell, or Potter falling down stairs and breaking his neck when everyone knows he has to fight-"
"Draco." Blaise cut in sharply and he stopped speaking. "I understand."
Draco nodded absently, flushing when he realized he'd just ranted about how Granger could have died insignificantly when she 'was supposed to be great.' "And I didn't know what the hell happened to you."
"It couldn't be helped." Blaise said simply.
Draco nodded and changed the subject. "When we get back, we're going flying first thing."
Blaise groaned. "I hate flying."
"No you don't." Draco told him, "You only pretend to hate flying."
"No, I really do." Blaise answered, and Hermione didn't get the chance to check and see if he was serious, before she was asleep again.
-
-
The next time she woke she lay there, staring ahead with her increased vision. Draco and Blaise were talking casually and she ended up listening to their conversation about whether or not they'd be allowed to go to Diagon Alley.
She smiled a bit and closed her eyes, letting their deep, soothing voices wash over her.
-
-
I'm back.
She smiled and made to sit up, only to squeeze her eyes tightly and lay back down. She was back, yes, and she was also in pain. She tried to speak, but the only thing that came out was a raspy sort of growl. She tried again.
"Malfoy?" The word was only barely distinguishable, but she succeeded in making noise and both males turned to her.
"I suppose she needs pain medication?"
"Yeah, I've got the bottles." Draco got up and moved back to her, sitting on the very edge of the seat. "Sleep inducing…pain reducing…pain relief…numbing…"
She supposed he found the one which would be best and handed her a small, red pill and a bottle of water. She sat up slowly and Draco supported her back with his good wrist as she took the pill and then eased herself back onto the seat.
"How many days have we been gone?" She murmured, the words sliding easily from her throat after the cool water had soothed it.
"We should be reaching the meeting place, I supposed you could call it, today." Blaise replied from the front, not looking away from the road.
She nodded and smiled as the drugs began to take hold of her system.
A little while later Blaise spoke, his voice excited. "We're here."
"Really?" She gasped, sitting up and craning her head to look out the window.
They were facing the most beautiful hotel she'd ever seen. It was ten stories high and had rivets and turrets like a castle. Creamy colored bricks built up the walls and a wide, glass double door led up to by stairs that flared out marked the main entrance into the building. In tinted glass was the title, 'Queen's Palace'.
"Its beautiful." She murmured and the two males agreed.
Draco helped her up and then, when she wobbled on her legs and nearly fell, ended up carrying her bridle style. They walked briskly through the parking lot, looking around for another car like theirs and didn't find one. Did that mean they'd won the first half? Hermione didn't think that was quite possible, they'd been set back hours.
They hurried to the doors and Blaise reached out. The sun caught the glass and reflected the light into her eyes, and then they pulled the door open.
-
-
"Hurry up!" Harry said to Pansy as she walked beside him up to the doors leading into the 'Queen's Palace'.
They looked around, searching for the other group's car and didn't see it.
The pushed open the door.
-
-
They lost.
-
-
Author's Note: I know, Hermione's turn was probably NOT what you expected.
I'm SORRY! It's been what, two months? God, I'm the worst updater ever! I feel really bad, I really do. Like, seriously bad. And then I left you with a cliff hanger, because you don't know who it is who said they lost...
Okay, so I have to address a review from Xonthespot. And don't worry, I'm not going to freak out and yell at you and say you ruined my writing dreams.
'ilike the story really i do but there a few things wrong: 1. Pansy's hair
is black NOT blonde 2. Pansy's always all over Draco, ALWAYS 3. no way no how
is Hermione is that up tight, in all the books she's been able to cut loose! ur
Hermione is completely unrealistic!'
Well thanks for your honesty, you gave me stuff to consider. Hm… 1. So Pansy's hair is black? I've always thought it was blonde. 2. I really only got the impression that Pansy was all over Draco in the third book, when she was thirteen. In the sixth book she merely seems smug that she has Draco in a possessive sense. Here, she is seventeen (because her birthday is in the year) and so to me, her childish infatuation with him is over. That's just my portrayal of her. 3. Okay then. My Hermione is completely unrealistic. There really isn't anything for me to do about that, because that's her in this fic.
So thanks for your opinion, I do appreciate it.
Hm… I've got a story recommendation for everyone.
Tangled Up by Hannah Longbottom
So it's about Hermione when she finds out Ron and Lavender are going out, and the relationship turmoil following that with Ginny/Dean/ Harry and Hermione/Ron/Lavender/Seamus. It's a really good fic so far, you should definitely check it out. XD.
Umm…Well I put up a new poll. Please vote. XD.
Um… I don't think there's anything else for me to say, except I am REALLY sorry for this lack of updating. I do feel guilty. I even feel guilty for asking you to review, because of it. So anyways, sorry x infinity!
Oh, and I have an new poll up, please vote!
Review review review!