TwinkelTrina – Draco's understanding of what is happening is actually fairly significant… trust me, you'll know what I mean soon ;)
Thanks to Bloody Love, knoxed, piedermorts*bodyguard, DazedPanda, and M1ssBlackNails for the reviews… hope you like this chapter.
Chapter 5
When Hermione returned to the Common Room after Divination, she was immediately cornered by Ron, who wanted to try out his training methods on Draco.
"Come on Hermione," Ron pleaded with the Gryffindor Prefect. "It's not like it's going to hurt or anything." He looked over at Harry, silently asking for help.
Harry caught his look and sighed inwardly. "Hermione," he said. "Ron's been reading those books for ages." Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Well," Harry amended, "Maybe not ages. But still, he was really looking forward to this and besides, you never actually said no." He finished in a rush.
Hermione continued to stare at the two boys. Then without warning, she unceremoniously dumped Draco in Harry's arms.
"There you go," she said in a brisk manner. "I'm going to write up my Divination notes for Malfoy."
Harry was taken aback; he hadn't expected her to agree. He watched as Hermione took a seat near the fire and took out parchment, ink and a quill. Ron followed her, taking a seat on the opposite armchair. "Come on Harry!" he called.
Harry walked over to where his friends were now sitting, carrying Draco with him. As he reached the fire, he placed Draco on the floor next to Ron. "There you go."
Hermione pretended to be absorbed in her parchment but snuck glances as often as she could. She watched as Ron grinned broadly and said, "Draco, sit."
The red-head watched with an expectant expression. Draco didn't move. Hermione attempted to hide her smile behind her notes. Harry, trying not to sound patronizing, offered some advice. "I think," he said thoughtfully, "that what you need to do is actually show him what you want him to do."
"What do you mean?" Ron asked.
"Well," Harry continued, "if you don't show him what sit looks like, he won't know how it's supposed to be done, will he?"
"You might be right Harry!" Ron said enthusiastically. "I'm pretty sure I saw something like that written in one of those muggle books."
Hermione declined to comment.
Ron stood up from the couch and knelt on the floor. He raised his hands his hands next to his chest, trying to imitate paws. "Draco," he said firmly. "This is SIT." He emphasized the last word loudly. "Now you try." Ron stood up again. "Draco, sit."
Draco promptly lay down on the floor and curled up at Hermione's feet.
The rest of the evening was spent by Hermione finishing an essay not due for another six days and by Harry consoling Ron who had wasted an incredible amount of time reading about dogs and training methods.
Around nine thirty, Hermione stood up, announced that she was tired and took her leave of the two boys. Ron watched in disbelief as Hermione glanced once at Draco, indicating for him to follow, and Draco padded after her obediently.
* * *
Madam Pomfrey watched silently as a lone tawny owl fluttered gently through the open window of the hospital wing's office, a small package clutched in its talons. She smiled wryly at the thought that Quidditch injuries were about to increase again.
* * *
The next day, Hermione found herself being reprimanded by the Potions Master. She had slept fitfully the night before; the strange dreams had been plaguing her once again. Her lack of sleep had caused Hermione to miss the fact that Pansy had been randomly adding extra ingredients to her potion throughout the lesson. However, Pansy's plan to cause problems for her Gryffindor classmate backfired. Snape had the annoying habit of changing whether or not students had to drink their own potions or their partners'. At the moment he had been making each student try out their own concoctions. Pansy was sure he would again, but when he gave instructions to the contrary she paled visibly. Hermione couldn't understand Pansy's apprehension; the potion was perfect. She understood immediately, when Pansy's ear lobes began to swell.
"That's your second blunder this term," Snape sneered, his eyes glittering maliciously. "Not quite as spectacular as the first however." He glanced towards the transformed Slytherin Prefect meaningfully.
Hermione's faced burned, but she bit her lip. Saying anything in her defence would only provoke Snape further. Then Snape uttered something that completely threw Hermione off balance.
"I will be speaking to your Head of House in regards to this matter." Hermione looked up in surprise.
"No doubt Professor McGonagall will wish to speak to you about this at some length."
The horrible git! He knows I wouldn't do that, even to someone like Pansy.
When her lessons were over for the day, Hermione returned to the Common Room, tired and agitated. Crookshanks leapt smoothly over and rubbed up against Hermione's legs purring loudly. "Nice to see you too," Hermione murmured, scratching Crookshanks' ears affectionately. Hermione looked round at the deserted Common Room. She smiled inwardly; she wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone right now.
She walked slowly towards her room, opened the door and entered, waiting only a few moments to allow Crookshanks inside. Crookshanks had finally got used to Draco being around, and as a result, was allowed back into Hermione's room. Hermione threw herself face down on the bed and buried her face in her pillow, inhaling the clean scent of her shampoo. Soon after, she fell into a deep sleep.
~*Dream*~
It was the same girl she'd seen in one of her original dreams. The Hermione look-alike yawned silently and shook out her hair with a toss of her head. It looked a lot more like Hermione's own hair this time, though it's smooth and sleek texture highlighted a major difference. The eyes were still as her own, a warm chocolate brown.
"That's not very ladylike, you know," a male voice noted.
"I don't have to act like a lady in my own chambers," the girl retorted playfully. Turning towards the speaker, she flashed a smile. Hermione watched as the girl dashed towards the figure, wrapping her arms around his neck. She also managed to block Hermione's view of his face in the process.
Hermione noted with interest that the man was wearing clothing that would have been very similar too those worn by the Ancient Greeks. There were subtle differences however. The robes were much more flowing than those worn by your typical ancient Grecian. They reminded Hermione greatly of Wizards' robes.
"Miss me?" the man said, imitating the girl and wrapping his own arms around her waist. The girl laughed and answered by brushing her lips softly against his.
~*Reality*~
Hermione rubbed her eyes in an attempt to clear the sleep from her fogged mind. Stupid dreams… Blinking slowly, she looked over to her desk which was next to the window. As before, there was a piece of parchment lying on top of the stacks of text books and essays. Hermione reached for her wand from its resting place on her bedside table. "Accio parchment," she murmured. The parchment soared into Hermione's free hand and she scanned the text, returning her wand to the table.
Dear Miss Granger
Madam Pomfrey has advised me that the antidote to the charm which was accidentally placed on Mister Malfoy is now available for use in the Hospital Wing. She has also advised me that it would be in his best interest if his transformation back to human form took place in familiar surroundings.
I ask therefore, for you to accompany him back to his own dormitory and remain there until the antidote has proven to be successful. Professor Snape will arrange for you enter the Slytherin Common Room. The password for Draco's room is 'Leviathan'.
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster
Hermione placed the letter back onto the desk. "Typical," she muttered. "It would have to be Snape."
* * *
"Now, this may sting a little," Madam Pomfrey said in warning to Draco, before emptying the contents of a blue potion bottle liberally over him. Draco whined in protest, at the smell coming from the bottle as well as the stinging sensation. Hermione watched in interest as the potion dried up almost immediately.
"That's it then Miss Granger," Madam Pomfrey told her. "You can take him back to his room. All we can do now is wait."
* * *
Later that day, Hermione found herself standing in front of the Slytherin Common Room portrait, in the company of Severus Snape and his favourite student. The latter was attempting to nibble the back of Snape's robes. Hermione had trouble keeping a straight face as she watched Draco as she was reminded very much of Ron's comment of training Draco to bite Snape.
Snape muttered the password, and the door sung open, allowing them inside. Many pairs of Slytherin eyes followed them as they progressed through the room, towards Draco's own room. Snape ignored his students and indicating quickly with one gesture where Draco's room was, left Hermione alone, in a room full of Slytherins.
Noticing the obvious glares that were thrown in her direction, Hermione quickly murmured 'Leviathan' and swept into Draco's room.
The room, she noted, was much like her own, only in green and silver, rather than red and gold. It seemed less personal too, somehow. There were no personal effects lying around. Hermione had stuffed animals, a couple of photo albums – Draco's room was bare. There were the usual things that were found in a Hogwarts students' room, but nothing of real sentimental value. The realisation of this left Hermione feeling cold. She walked over to the four poster bed and sat carefully down, holdings her arms out to Draco instinctively. He loped over to the bed and clambered up next to her. "Oh well," Hermione said to him. "Soon you'll be back to normal and we'll loathe each other again. It was nice while it lasted."
Two hours passed. Hermione sat in silence, with Draco curled up next to her. She settled back, trying to get comfortable, but found it very difficult, in such an impersonal environment. She was about to give up hope that the antidote had worked when Draco gave a little twitch. She watched in astonishment as the twitching grew more violent. Draco leaped off the bed, onto the green carpeted floor.
Hermione watched amazed, at the transformation taking place before her eyes. The silky white-blonde fur was rapidly disappearing, leaving creamy skin its wake. The stout, furry legs were becoming more elongated and Hermione could now see traces of humanity on the creature's face. The fangs retracted, the muzzle melted away and Hermione found herself gazing into the silvery depths of Draco Malfoy's eyes.