Hermione made her way to the bathroom of The Leaky Cauldron and changed back to her human form. She looked down and realized that while luckily she was wearing clothes, they were very much muggle clothes. She had of course worn muggle clothing to Diagon Alley before but she was now worried she would stand out. She took a moment to collect herself and realized that it was just the unfamiliarity of her human body making her so jumpy. Her first instinct was to be afraid. She walked out of the stall and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair had retained some of the cat's healthiness. It was still puffy but it was shinier and much less frizzy. She decided that it must have been the cat food. She let some warm water run into the bowl and washed her face. Surely, Harry and Moody would be here by now. She opened the door, looked around and spotted them sitting at a wayside table. She walked over and Harry stood up and hugged her.
"Hermione," he said with some relief. "Hi Harry, hello Alastor." Moody smiled and motioned to a chair. "Sit down, Granger. Now tell us in a bit more detail what you've found out." Hermione suddenly felt very guilty, she had not found out very much at all. She spent most of her time with Draco. She cleared her throat and began to explain. "Well, Lucius doesn't talk about very much at home, and he doesn't write anything down either. I did catch him saying something, but I couldn't make it all out." Harry looked at her, "Well?" "Does the name Grindelwalde ring a bell with anyone?" Moody looked very grim all of a sudden. "Granger, Grindelwalde-" "-is the dark wizard that Dumbledore defeated in 1945," Harry cut in. Moody looked at him and Harry smiled, "It's on his chocolate frog card." Moody nodded. "He was the worst dark wizard there has ever been, he was before my time. Voldemort is bad, yes, but not as bad as Grindelwalde. This is very bad news." Hermione's stomach had sunk. She had heard the name before but she had been hoping it was merely someone less powerful. She sighed but Moody pressed on. "What did he say about her? We need to know more." Hermione nodded, "He said something about getting him back. I assumed it was someone in Azkaban."
Moody shook his head. "This is not good news, Granger. We need more information and soon. Is there any way that you could go with Lucius? I brought my extra invisibility cloak in case you needed it. You have to be very careful." Hermione smiled, "Don't worry Alastor; your cloak will be fine." Moody shook his head, "No, Hermione, I meant you. Lucius Malfoy would kill you as soon as look at you, and will." Hermione nodded and looked at Harry, who looked very pale. "Hermione, after Ron…you're…please be careful Hermione." She nodded grimly and stood up. Moody handed her a small bag that she slung over her shoulder. She hugged Harry again and promised them she would report within the next week. She wished Harry luck with his auror training and went to the bathroom. In the stall, she changed back into a cat.
When she had managed to push the door open she came face to face with Draco, who scooped her up immediately. "That's where you've been you silly cat, I was getting worried." Hermione saw that he had a bag from Flourish and Blotts. She scrambled up his arm and settled herself around his neck. He walked them both to the grate in The Leaky Cauldron, took a handful of floo powder from his pocket, and stepped into the green fire. As soon as they stepped out of hearth in the Malfoy manor, he hid the bag under his bed. He then went and put his cloak away and then went to the bathroom. While he did, Hermione quickly changed back and stowed her bag in the closet. She had just changed back again when Draco came out of the bathroom. "Did you hear something cat?" She looked around and meowed at him. "You're such a smart cat. I know what I should call you." He began to blush pink and Hermione watched him, "I'll call you Hermione. There's a girl at my school called that."
Hermione looked at him, waiting. She was not sure what to think as a cat or as a human. She meowed at him experimentally. "Is she as pretty as you? Sorry, cat she's prettier than you." She wanted so much to change back to her human form and kiss him but she could not. She could of course put a memory charm on him but she did not feel right. She felt she was already executing the biggest lie of the century by not revealing her identity, and she felt even worse when she had to erase his memory, it just was not fair. When she was ready to leave, she would reveal herself to him and make him choose. Ultimatums were not her favorite way of delivering choices she had to admit but it was her only choice.
He looked down at her quite sad. "But I haven't been very kind to her at all. In fact I know she hates me." He put his hand to his cheek, clearly remembering the time that she had slapped him. Hermione had felt guilty afterwards but it hadn't lasted very long. Draco had been an utter prick and he was long overdue a good smack from someone. Hermione did not believe in violence, and when the anger and adrenaline had worn off she had begun to cry. Now looking at Draco she realized that when she struck him was the first and only time that she had touched him. He was clinging onto that memory as his only bodily contact with her and fresh feelings of guilt surged.
In her head she knew that he thought he loved her. He had spent no time getting to know her and had no experience of her personality except in class. But she had to admit to herself that her pity was turning into a kind of fondness. His cruelty seemed to have subsided, washed away by the wave paternal violence he was experiencing every week. Tomorrow Draco would be hauled off again with his father to god knew where. She had to prepare herself mentally; she didn't have time to think about feelings. Draco was looking away so she rubbed her head underneath his hand, and he came out of his trance. He smiled at her and picked her up, taking her to his bed. After putting a locking charm on his door (it would alert him in time to hide the book if anyone came to the door) he pulled out his bag with F&B on the side and pulled out both the red and blue books. Hermione meowed at him, and he scratched behind her ears. "I know, I just couldn't decide so I got both." He began to read the blue book and Hermione climbed up next to him and read over his shoulder, pretending to be asleep if he turned around to check on her. Eventually she drifted off into kitty sleep with Draco's warm body next to hers and she was uncharacteristically relaxed when she woke up.
(A/N: I tried to make this chappy a weensy bit longer. I know that this story has not lived up to its R rating as of yet. Quite honestly, I just rate everything R because what is acceptable to me personally is not what is acceptable to most people (I'm quite the hippie). There will be some graphic-ish violence coming up in chapter 5, and maybe a little semi-sexualness a little later on, I am not sure how far I want to go with that. Thanks for reading everyone, Chapter 5 should be up in mid-week at the latest, [I hope].)