Observations

Masquerade

-Cyrus Parker

When you find a person whose

Mind complements yours, you'll see

The reward was well worth the risk

Observations

"Yeah well, just don't look at me then." A voice echoed through the hallway and Hermione came to her senses. She pulled her lips from Draco's hungry claim. He looked down at her breathless, lips swollen.

"How am I supposed to do that? We work together." Haze's voice traveled through the corridor. Draco released her, but not before she swayed slightly, dizzy from their entanglement. He smiled at her offering a hand to balance herself. She straightened up and smoothed down her hair. Hermione couldn't fight the urge to let out a single giggle which melted him.

"We don't work together, you're a patient in this study." Taffy said annoyed as they entered the small lobby. Draco raised his hand to scratch his head. He was sure they looked guilty of something.

"Do patients normally do this much work?" Haze turned to Taffy. They hadn't even acknowledged them. Hermione glanced over at Draco; they shared a silent chuckle.

"Will you just shut up and get in the room." Taffy said irritated and opened the door.

"Anyone ever tell you, you're rude as fuck." He said, one hand holding it open. Taffy turned to Hermione.

"I'll be outside. We're still waiting on Elvin." She reported and turned to leave well passed irritated.

"Tonight's a good fucking night to wolf it up!" he shouted behind her and went into the room. "Chain me up!" he said from inside. Draco would have normally rolled his eyes or become quite annoyed at Haze's antics, but nothing could bring down his mood now as he looked over at Hermione who had started laughing into her hands. If possible she was even more beautiful than when the day began.

"What's so funny?" he said approaching the door to secure Haze.

"Oh nothing, except in about an hour, I'll be 20 galleons richer." She said patting his shoulder as she went after Taffy.

"Alright, let's recap for a moment." Hermione said as they stood before the medical kits and containment boxes. Draco hovered close behind her, he couldn't help it now, he needed the closeness and he wanted to touch her again. Taffy none the wiser and still irritated focused on a clipboard with a check list in front of her.

Hermione took a deep breath knowing she was distracted, but somehow that didn't matter, she had been preparing for this day for weeks and she knew everything would be alright.

"Everyone is secured. We'll do one room at a time, do brief observation upon entry, maybe just a minute, then we'll stun, remember the wand movement is more like a ladder forward and up, not sideways. The emphasis of the incantation-"

"Is on the first vowel. Don't worry we remember." Draco said finding he had to fight the urge not to caress her shoulder.

"Right, and we are focusing on just the blood and saliva. Miss Winterof you're-"

"Making sure I get measurements and a few photos. Got it. I think we are set. Do I have time for a quick run to the loo?" she asked. "I need to reapply the salve in some places."

"Oh yes, please do." Hermione waved her off and Taffy made her way across the office. Hermione barely had the chance to look down before she was whisked into an embrace and Draco was kissing her again. A giggle escaped through her lips.

"Oh my God, please do that again." He begged, his forehead leaning against hers. She laughed again softly. Hermione felt conflicted, on the one hand she wanted just this moment, but she was reminded that they were about to partake in very dangerous work.

"If you make me say it, then I'll be the one in control and I don't want to be that right now." She said softly, and he knew it was true. Draco knew it, but he was proud of her in that moment. Hermione had never been able to tell him exactly how she was feeling, especially without carefully considering her words. He knew she had revealed a pure unfiltered thought. She wanted him, he was enough, all he had to do was wait. He had to be an auror tonight. He took a deep breath and released her.

"You're right." He took a step back and circled the table taking a seat. "Ok, so you'll take blood like last time, and then I'll open their mouth, how many swabs are you taking?"

"Four." She answered.

They made their way through the hallway with the first containment box and medical kit. Taffy had stopped feeling irritated from her conversation with Haze and was now balancing feelings of excitement mixed with dread.

It had been about half an hour since they began hearing the clamor and howls of the werewolves from the main office. Normally they wouldn't hear them except they all seemed to be feeding off each other's energy. Hermione assured them that as they went through the rooms, they would leave them sleeping and things would calm down.

"Ok first one is. Winifred Honeyfields. Ready?" Hermione asked, Draco and Taffy nodded, wands raised, and equipment in hand. Hermione placed her palm on the door and waved her wand. This seemed to draw attention from the werewolf within as it began to pull against the chains in an effort to charge at them.

Taffy flinched, taken off guard at how very different this werewolf was from Haze. Namely it was much more aggressive and had barely any fur, only just patches of hair. The creature didn't even look like it was remotely related to a dog, but more like a mole rat with really long legs. It howled in their direction causing the nearby werewolves to react and answer in kind.

"Miss Winterof, let's focus." Hermione said carefully next to her. Draco kept his wand pointed at the creature that was about 6 yards into the room. Taffy got to work recording measurements and taking photos. Once she was done Draco walked a bit closer and lifted his wand to stun it.

"Zalisma!" the spell hit the creature squarely in the chest and dropped to the ground immediately. "Woah." He said feeling the power of the spell. "That was different." He looked over at Hermione.

"Imagine casting that on a dragon the size of a building." She raised her eyebrows. "Like a miniature earthquake." They got to work, she opened her medical kit to grab the syringe and began to collect it's blood. This time the werewolf didn't even budge. It was fast asleep, Draco even stared at its belly for a moment to make sure he hadn't killed her. Getting the saliva was easy as the creatures mouth hung open breathing deeply. The first one was over quickly as they organized all the samples into the containment box and made their way back toward the office.

Hermione had originally estimated about half an hour for each werewolf, but as they went along, they became more efficient. Her and Draco seemed to find focus each time they entered another room. It helped to remember that one mistake could cost them a permanent change in lifestyle. The second volunteer was pretty similar to the first, with minor differences in appearance. This one had more fur, especially around the face and even more pronounced ears.

The third one was a bit snappier; Taffy took note that this was Gregory Elvin, the man who had bombarded Hermione with questions and had request an ongoing update from Draco this last week. It was her turn to stun him as they wanted to make sure no one of them would get drained out. He went down but fidgeted a lot causing Draco to cast a stupefy for good measure halfway through.

They decided to take a short break around midnight having only Haze and 1 more volunteer. Hermione wanted to take more time with Haze to test how much control he actually had. They sat at the tables, two containment boxes remaining before them.

"You think they'll remember any of tonight?" Taffy said taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Well, it's been reported that they remember most of what occurs during their transformation. It should be directly proportionate to the quality of their wolfsbane potion. Since they all took from the same batch, it's safe to say we'll have a good pool of responses to analyze." Hermione answered removing one of the dragonhide gloves and massaged her neck.

Draco was leaning against the wall and couldn't help but notice her ongoing discomfort through the night. They had fought their urges to be closer to one another for the most part, but now he thought about massaging her shoulders. It didn't help that she had looked up at him as he thought it. That was something they were having a difficult time with. He was so used to staring at her and being unnoticed, but with increasing frequency, she would look back at him.

Most times, their eye contact was accompanied by hints of smiles, but then there were moments like this that were more intense, wanting. Suddenly there were possibilities of more, and they both seemed to know it.

"Ahem." Taffy cleared her throat rather obviously then, causing them both to blink out of their daze. "Are you guys fighting again?" she looked from Hermione to Draco. Hermione laughed and Draco rolled his eyes. Did they fight that often?

"Oh, he's just upset he lost a bet." Hermione said slyly. Little minx. Draco thought to himself, but he would gladly make that bet over and over again if it meant he could kiss Hermione Granger once more.

They entered the circular lobby surrounded by iron doors. The last werewolf had calmed down considerably since the others were stunned and asleep still. Haze made idle howling sounds, but nothing as dramatic as the others. While Hermione and Draco got ready to enter, Taffy stood on her toes and peeked into the small window into Haze's room out of curiosity. He was huddled in the center of the room, tail swishing back and forth as if he was bored. It hit her then just how much he looked like himself, his eyes and even the subtle shake of his head. The wolf seemed to sense her eyes on him because he looked up at her.

The fear started to creep in again. She recalled the memory of them standing in the courtyard at Hogwarts. While he looked at her in that way that he did, piercing through the air at her. She remembered how it felt to have her lungs squeezed together from the inside. She remembered the feeling of her skin getting hot like flames lighting just between the layers. Taffy had nightmares about it when they slept just one level apart in Grimmauld place.

Now she looked at him and found herself waiting for it. She couldn't make sense of it. She knew she was scared of Haze and blaming her curiosity wasn't enough this time. Taffy watched him as he stood up on all fours then, eyes looking at her in the same way, but nothing happened. She could breathe easy; she could feel her nerves tingle as she placed a single hand on the iron door.

The wolf paced within the length of the chains twisting his head to keep her gaze. He whined softly and she began to feel guilt over how she had treated him. He shook his head, his ears snapping on the side of his head as he huffed. She placed a single hand on the windowpane and leaned her forehead next to it. She'd need to apologize when all this was done. He huddled back on the floor as she stepped away to join the others.

*Where has all the magic gone*

In the next episode, they are almost done, so far so good, but this next one is pretty vicious. Our trio will learn the hazard of working with deadly magical beings. Will Haze be able to help them out of this, or will he prove to be just as deadly?