"Yes?" I couldn't hear emotion in the voice, but it had to be Hermione. I walked around the couches and saw Hermione lying on the carpet. Her arms and legs were spread out far from her body, as if she was afraid of them and didn't want to have anything to do with them. Her short hair looked darker and she was also wearing the sunglasses, which shielded her eyes from my inspection.
"Hermione, what's wrong!?" I panicked, but her face remained saddened. She slowly tilted her head to look at me instead of the ceiling. By this time I was kneeling by her side. Her mouth opened a little.
"I'm changing." The simplicity of this statement dawned on me. Hermione was turning into a vampire. Her birthday was tomorrow afternoon.
"Do you want me to get Swell?" I asked. Hermione shook her head as a no, while she sat up to sitting beside me. I noticed that all of her actions were slow, cautious.
"Does it hurt?" Hermione took off her sunglasses and I looked on to her face with her eyes closed peacefully. Her left arm rose with an open palm and the curtains gracefully shut. I was now used to her use of this wand-less power, Swell had persuaded her in practicing it every chance she had. With the only sun source in the room shut out, Hermione opened her eyes. They were not the usual warm brown that I had grown so used to. Her eyes were pale but vibrant green. I gasped.
"It hurts a little. Everything inside me feels like it's on fire."
"And your eyes?"
"The books said that when vampires are created their inner energy causes a new physical appearance." I nodded and moved to help her up but she stopped me.
"Please. I don't want to hurt you." I was confused, how could she hurt me, and than I remember how Toma warned me about this. He had said that her powers would be just being awakened and that she cannot control them through these stages. I would not be able to withstand her grasp. She stood and I stood. We just looked at each other. Contemplating the being in front of us. I felt inadequate to be in her presence. She was a vampire hybrid with a sorceress's command of magical power. And I...I was just a pitiful human compared to her.
"Don't. Your so much more." She said this and startled me.
"What?" It was as if she could read my thoughts.
"I can finally see through your emotionless mask. Draco, please don't be afraid of me. You're the only one that is here for me. And I respect that." She moved towards me as if she wanted to touch me but pulled back with drawn eyebrows in a saddened expression. I didn't know what to do.
"How about we just sit down and talk?" I asked her as I took a seat on our couch. I was happy to see that she had taken the cushion next to mine.
"I am going to tell Harry and Ron tomorrow." Hermione was looking at the ground.
"If that's what you think is best." I wanted to show my complete support although in the back of my mind I was thinking how I always wanted to be the one who knew her only secret. I wanted to be bound to her in this way forever. If she told golden boy and weasel, I would be second hand to all the action.
"I've been lying to them for a long time. They deserve to know, especially since I will need their help to defeat Swell and Voldemort." She looked up at me. "And I will need your help most of all." She must have noticed the down cast look apon my face. I looked up into her changed eyes that still held the warmth Hermione was known for and smiled at her.
"You know, you're hair is becoming darker by the second." She laughed at me and smiled again.
