My name is Draco Malfoy. Bet you don't believe me either. No one else does. I really don't know why. I-
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" the boy screamed in agony. He clutched his head, clutched it hard as jolts of electricity buzzed into his brains. His backbone stiffened and he sat painfully upright. There was a ripping noise in his trousers and he felt… something… push out of the new hole in his trousers. His muscles suddenly tensed, and finally he could look away; he squeezed his eyes tight shut in pain as he felt bones break, crack; rejoin. He felt something spray out of his face and body, and suddenly realized he was on all fours. He felt his arms, legs and chest thicken, and the shirt and sweater ripped right off him as his torso grew larger.
He suddenly remembered something… someone, telling him never to look at the moon. A fleeting thought… then was gone as quickly as it came, as other thoughts took over, more dominant thoughts. Running, fighting, biting… inside him, something cried out in fear, but it was too late to be afraid, far too late.
Draco whirled around and snarled. He was hungry.
"Where is he?" Hermione walked through the corridors.
"I don't know, he was right next to me!" Ron said.
"Why didn't you keep an eye on him?" Hermione asked agitatedly.
"I did!"
"Then where is he?"
"I don't know!"
"You didn't keep a very good eye on him, did you?"
"I don't know… I was pulling him through the crowd and the suddenly he let go and ran off!"
Hermione ran a hand through her hair. "This is bad"
"I know…"
"He could be anywhere! He's not in Gryffindor, not in the kitchen… we've even checked Slytherin!"
"They were not too happy to see us," Ron said.
"Where can he be…"
"He's kinda smart, I don't think he'd go anywhere he shouldn't…"
"Yes, but the problem is he doesn't know where he shouldn't go!"
"Well how bad can it be?"
Hermione turned to look at Ron in the eyes. "The Forbidden Forest?"
Ron turned pale. "Ohhh crap"
"Exa-"
"Shh" Ron covered her mouth. He frowned. "Do you hear something?"
Suddenly a huge weight bounded straight onto his chest, slamming him down onto the ground. Hermione shrieked. Ron stared, terrified, at his attacker. All he could see were the eyes, two glowing, silver orbs. The eyes suddenly turned crystal blue, the terrified eyes of a human then changed back.
"Malfoy?" Ron squawked then quickly brought his arms up to shield his face as the thing forced its head down at him, jaws gnashing, salivating. He grabbed the mouth with his arms and pushed it up.
"OmigodRonwhatisit?" Hermione screamed.
"You're asking me?"
"Omigodomigod…"
"DO SOMETHING!"
Coming to her senses, Hermione quickly whipped out her wand and said the first word that came into her head.
"Rictusempra!"
With a surprised howl the creature was thrown off the redhead's chest and spun in a mini whirlwind until smashing against a wall. Now that it was in the light the pair could see what it was.
"A werewolf?" Hermione exclaimed. The creature got up shakily, unharmed, and looked at the two and snarled.
"Hermione…" Ron said shakily from the floor.
"Get up Ron hurry!"
Ron got up, his knees wobbly from fear. "Hermione…"
Hermione raised her wand again. "Stupe-"
"No!" Ron grabbed her wrist.
"What?"
"That… I think it's…"
The werewolf looked at the two and uttered a low, guttural snarl, before turning and bounding to another direction.
"I think that was Malfoy" Ron said with a breath. Hermione's eyes widened.
"But…"
"I know… but his eyes… they changed…"
Hermione started to run in the other direction.
"Hermione-!"
"Come on Ron, hurry! If there's a werewolf in the school we have to tell a teacher, be it Malfoy or not!"
Hermione… Ron…
The werewolf stopped and sniffed in the air. Its ears twitched. Humans. It moved quickly into the shadows where it watched intently as two girls walked by, both from Ravenclaw.
Food.
No… no…
The lycanthrope tensed its muscles, readied itself for attack.
A bit closer…
It leaped.
NO!
It halted in midair, paws skidding wildly on the floor. It scrabbled for the shadows, just as the girls turned to look.
Inside, Draco felt thankful. He had been so afraid earlier with Ron… he really had almost eaten him. The werewolf instincts were so strong… overpowering his mind… and Ron had smelt so good…
I must be stronger. I must take control.
But even as he thought these thoughts, he felt his body taking him elsewhere.
Dumbledore stood up at the news.
"This is very serious… alright. Go back to Gryffindor, and tell everyone to stay in their dormitories. Do not come out, at any circumstance. I'll go and tell the rest of the teachers. Tell any students you pass to be on the lookout, and to return to their dorms"
He started to walk off.
"Uh… sir?" Ron said.
"Yes?"
"One more thing… I think the werewolf's Malfoy"
"I'm not sure of course," he added hastily. "But I'm pretty sure"
"How are you sure?" Dumbledore asked.
"I… I don't know, his eyes just… and Malfoy's missing…"
The headmaster frowned. "Alright. Return to your dorms"
Where am I going? Draco wondered. Inwardly, he marveled at the body of the werewolf. Every muscle was strong, powerful, and capable of stunning a human with one blow. The claws were razor sharp; Draco doubted if there was anything it wouldn't be able to cut. His eyesight was extraordinary. Draco could see tiny details that he wouldn't have seen were he human, and he could see a lot further off. Also, the dark didn't seem to bother him in the least.
Of course not.
What amazed him the most was the werewolf's acute sense of smell. Draco could move past a wall and with one sniff be able to tell who had leaned against the wall, and in some cases, he could tell what they had eaten for dinner.
He didn't know what he looked like, but he knew he was bigger than he had been in human form. After all, he had managed to slam Ron down onto the floor without effort. And… he scared people.
When Draco had looked into Ron's eyes… he had seen his own, reflected in them. It had scared him. He had never seen such a metallic sheen of silver for eyes in his life. Neither had he seen such fear in a person's face, and for a second, his own fear was reflected in the eyes of the other. He had never felt more relieved when Hermione had cast that spell on him… and it hadn't hurt either, just stunned him for a moment.
Draco mentally shook himself. Pay attention, don't let the werewolf take over!
He noticed he was in front of a wall, waiting in the shadows. For what?
He saw a boy walk up to a painting. Neville.
"Wormwood" he said. The door slowly opened and the boy walked in. Draco felt himself padding in after him, following sneakily in the shadows.
Why am I going into Gryffindor? he wondered.
Then he realized.
No no no no NO!
Harry sighed in bliss, letting the hot water roll off his hair down to his shoulders. After that long day, a shower had never felt better.
He didn't know what went wrong. That had been the longest Quidditch game he had ever had. It was just… he kept getting distracted… every time he saw the Slytherins…
He shrugged and smiled. It didn't matter. Gryffindor had won. The past… the past was the past, nothing to be dwelled on.
He lathered his hair and washed thoroughly, getting his fingers through every midnight curl, scrubbing at his scalp. He then stood with his back facing the shower and rolled his shoulders round, hearing the welcoming crack of weary bones. Harry turned the water on full blast and washed the remaining shampoo suds out of his hair, then got out into the steaming bathroom, toweling himself off quickly. He left his hair wet. Hermione always told him how bad it was for his hair, but tonight, he had scored a victory for Gryffindor and so didn't care what she said. He put on a pair of loose gray trousers and a light shirt then walked out.
And was slammed to the ground.
No no no no no!
Draco tried with every fiber of his mind to take the werewolf body back into control, but to no avail. He towered on top of Harry, tail lashing from side to side, jaw slavering, slobber drooling out of his mouth.
He smells nice… hungry…
NO!
Harry looked up at the werewolf, almost as in a daze.
Harry! Harry no! Look! Wake up! Stop me stop me stop me!
The werewolf suddenly lunged his head down, the way it had done with Ron. A pair of strong, bronzed hands flew up and grabbed it by the snout and lower jaw, holding the mouth wide open.
Draco almost sobbed with relief.
Harry curled his back under the werewolf, brought his legs in front of him and kicked as hard as he could. The werewolf flew off and skidded on the floor on its side but got up quickly, unharmed. It snarled again. Draco could feel it. This time it wasn't going to let its prey get away.
Harry, run!
The werewolf leapt again, but this time Harry was ready. He rolled to one side and the animal crashed headlong into Harry's study table.
Harry, hurry, take out your wand, do something…
Harry did nothing. He stood casually in the room, not even in a fighting stance, almost daring the werewolf to come at him. Draco could feel the bubbling anger, the bloodlust, and with a feral snarl he felt the werewolf leap again. Harry dodged, but the werewolf wasn't going to be caught again. This time it landed lightly on its paws and let its momentum carry it to the wall, then quickly used the wall to push off, flying straight at Harry. Again, Harry dodged, then stood, arms crossed, daring.
Is he MAD? Draco wanted to scream. Stop, please, stop, STOP!
The werewolf circled around Harry, now wary of its opponent. Harry wasn't going to just stand there and let the werewolf kill him. With a sickening realization Draco felt the werewolf thinking; go for the throat.
But how to do it…
Please, please, stop…
What, now? And give up my prey? No, this is too much fun.
This is murder!
Survival of the fittest, the wolf seemed to reply. Draco could feel the werewolf's thoughts… pounce at him? No, he'll only dodge again. Run? No. But… there has to be some way…
There.
The wolf uttered a low snarl at Harry then ran for his window and leapt out. If Draco could have, he would have screamed. But he couldn't. The werewolf seemed pretty confident though. It suddenly whirled around and dug its claws into the side of the castle, buying purchase on the rough bricks of the walls. Its muscles started to ache immediately; it was difficult to hold onto a castle wall by only its claws. Still, it crawled up, bit by bit, until it was directly under the window, only stopping once to purposefully kick a huge chunk of rock off onto the ground. Again, Draco had to marvel at the strength of the beast.
But what's the point of… OH.
Sure enough, a while later, Harry came to the window to see what had happened. And it attacked.
The werewolf pushed off with its powerful hind legs, and, using its front paws, pushed on the windowsill to get it horizontal again, resulting in it knocking Harry over so it was back to square one.
NO!
The werewolf snarled maliciously, a hungry glint in its eyes. Harry struggled and raised his arms up again, but the lycanthrope delivered a powerful hit to the Gryffindor's face, leaving a deep red scratch which started to bleed immediately. Inside, Draco started to cry, while the werewolf almost went mad with the smell, to gorgeous, tantalizing smell…
Blood. Warm, still coursing from the body…
It had to have it.
It lunged down, one more time, sure that now its prey was helpless.
NO!
The beast froze for an instant, and Harry saw, saw the immediate change in the eyes, from evil metallic silver to the scared crystal blue. And with the reflexes of a well-trained Seeker, he seized the opportunity.
This time, he didn't try to kick the lycanthrope off. He grabbed its jaws again, like he had done before. The eyes suddenly switched back to liquid silver and Harry knew that Draco had lost control. It didn't matter now. He let the werewolf press its mouth down to his face, wrestling with the jaws to keep them closed.
Then, when their faces were so close…
Harry didn't really know why he did it. He didn't mean to. He had meant to punch it. Or kick it in the chest and try to break its ribs. He didn't mean to do what he did.
He leaned forward and kissed it on the mouth.
A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter… 21 people, that's quite a record. Gave me heart failure when I opened up my e-mail the next day. Some people got it right, obviously. Yes Draco's a lycanthrope. ^^ And loads of people guessed why Harry's so pissed correctly. To 'Different Perception'… thanks for telling me about adding the punctuation thing. But, being the mad nutter that I am, I've already written and uploaded up to chapter… 6. So that even if I decide to take a break (like I normally do) I can still post chapters for you guys to read. Also meaning that I don't leave people on cliffhangers (literally) forever like I tend to do. Unfortunately, that means I hafta go through all the next few chapters editing, and me, being a lazy bum, can't be bothered. So… thanks again for that, and I'm sorry. I'll try remember that for later chapters.
As well as being a mad nutter and a lazy bum, I am also a brainless idiot. I didn't realize how many people liked eight-year-old Draco. And… well… eh.
Just wondering. If I change Draco back, how many people want me to write a kinda arc/different storyline thing with child Draco instead of teen? Cuz it's a bit too late for me to change it now. I don't mind, just that it'll take me longer to update…
One last thing. I've changed the characters a bit in the next few chapters. Minor things; mainly how other authors perceive the characters, such as Pansy and the relationship between Draco and Lucius (NOT in a slashy way) in particular. I'm experimenting with making my fic as unique as possible. So I'm not being ignorant; I have read the books and watched the movies, I'm just trying stuff out.
Okay, that was long. Sorry all. And yeah, another horrible cliffhanger. I've been reading too much Ender's Game. Don't kill me.