Chapter Nine

A Tale of A Forbidden Love

Harry Potter

*starjade*

Dark Creatures and

Curses

Hermione gasped, her eyes wide with shock as Harry and Ron stared at her in surprise.

" Hermione? What are you doing out here?" Ron asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

She hated the look in Harry's eyes, like he was connecting two and two together. Ron just looked angry, and Hermione knew why. She couldn't tell them, not now! They'd try to meet him, they'd think Drake was part of the dark art movement...

" Look, Ron, I was just-I was just, well, I was-" Hermione stammered, racking her brain for a good excuse. She wasn't good in these situations and for once, she wished she could lie on the spot like the Slytherins could do, or even the Weasley twins.

Ron growled, " You weren't out there with anyone, were you??"

Hermione's jaw dropped and was glad her anger could overtake her nervousness. " Of course not, Ron! How could you think such a thing? Breaking curfew and going into the Forbidden Forest just to meet some boy? Imagine what a reputation I would have!"

The idea horrified her and Ron relaxed just a bit.

Harry, however, was still watching her expression. " Then what are you doing out here? From the way you came out of there, you seemed like you knew your way around? How long have you been going in the forest? Most importantly , why?"

Hermione cursed Harry's questions and searched her brain quickly before spilling out, " I was- Well, I thought that since I didn't come with you the last t-time you were in the f-forest, I just thought I c-could find something about this m-monster on my own! You two mustn't have looked very carefully, so I just th-thought, you know, maybe I should, well, you know, look for clues??"

Her voice ended quite high and she hated the fact that she was lying. Stretching the truth a bit she could do, but outright lying required just a bit more finesse then she actually had. She prayed that Harry would buy it, but from the look in his criticizing green eyes, he hadn't totally bought her hasty explanation.

Ron, however, bought it all, hook and sinker.

" Oh, is that it? I never knew you had it in you, Hermione! Creeping out after curfew...to think of what should happen if the school finds out! Perfect Hermione, breaking the rules!!" He mock gasped and put a hand to his forehead as if he was about to faint.

Hermione giggled, trying to calm her rapid heartbeat. " You better not tell anyone, then!"

Ron grinned at her and then shivered. " It's cold out here...lets go, Harry, there's no point looking for the monster out here. If I stay out here any longer, my toes will freeze and fall off."

Harry was watching Hermione with suspicious eyes, but he nodded and they turned back to walk to the school. Hermione knew Harry was watching her and he knew something was up. Hermione tried to relax. There was no point in worrying...now, she'd just have to be more careful.

*******

Harry watched Hermione as they worked in potions. His emerald eyes held a thoughtful look as he looked his best friend over. A lot of things happened that made him quite suspicious. Hermione was acting quite weird lately and not in the normal, girlish way that would probably made him quite uncomfortable ,but another way...like she was hiding a big secret.

He had caught her many times sneaking out of the Gryffindor tower and he knew that she could be just going to the library to get some extra work done, but she always had that guilty look in her eyes. Hermione wasn't a good liar.

" Hey, Harry!!" Ginny said, her sweet voice jerking him out of his thoughts.

Harry turned quickly and Ginny kissed him on his cheek. His eyes brightened at the sight of his girlfriend and he wrapped an arm around her. " What's up?"

Ginny shrugged. " Nothing. Got another detention. I swear, Professor Snape hates my guts."

Harry laughed. " He hates all of the Gryffindors, Ginny."


They chatted for a couple more minutes, before Harry started to think , what if Ginny knows something about Hermione? They are quite good friends, if he remembered correctly. She should know something about why Hermione was acting so strangely.

" Say, Ginny, do you know what's up with Hermione these days? Is it only me, or is she acting quite...strange?" Harry questioned, his eyes confused.

Ginny thought for a moment. " You know, she has been acting a bit weird. She's always in the library and she doesn't talk with us as much. Besides that, she doesn't yell at us for not finishing our homework anymore and she hardly even cares if Ron steals her homework to copy off....yah, something is up with her."

Harry asked, " Do you know anything?"

Ginny shook her head. " I know absolutely nothing. She hasn't told me anything...." Suddenly, Ginny laughed and her eyes twinkled with mischief. " You know, Hermione always talks about you whenever we talk. I swear, if I didn't know any better, I'd say she had a crush on you!"

Harry's jaw dropped. " Ginny! What are you saying?"

Ginny giggled. " I know, I know! But before me and you were going out...I swear, she liked you. But how should I know, she doesn't talk to me anymore. Its funny, we hardly ever have girl to girl talks anymore. I wish I knew what was on her mind..."

Harry smiled but unbidden to him, a thought crossed his mind. Malfoy was always talking about Hermione's crush and Harry always found it weird how Malfoy's eyes would travel to him. No, that couldn't be true! Hermione's crush couldn't be on him...could it?

Nah...Hermione and Harry were good friends. They never had feelings outside of that...Harry shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He'll just ask her tomorrow who her crush was. She'd tell him, they were best friends! It would also clear his doubts..

*********

Hermione sighed, her eyes growing weary. The sigh echoed in the quiet library and Madam Pince shot her a glare. Hermione groaned. Even a sigh wasn't allowed in the library.

She was trying hard to finish up on her Potions assignment, for she was falling behind her usual standards. The assignment was due at the end of the week and usually, she would've finished it two weeks before. But now, all she was doing was searching for information on Drake.

What kind of a dragon was he? He spoke her language and didn't look like a normal dragon. He wasn't ferocious or blew fire every minute. He had a mind and he was intelligent. What kind of dragon was Drake?

Books were piled all around her, all describing the uses of dragon's blood, dragons, magical dragons, everything there was that the Wizarding world knew about dragons!!

So why was Drake so special? Why was he so rare that not one book knew anything about the type of dragon he was?

She flopped her head down on an open book, groaning. This wasn't working out for her. Pushing back her bushy brown hair from her face, opting to tie into a ponytail, she got out her pencil and went back to work, taking the page and flipping it.

Then she frowned and flipped the page back.

Dark Art Curses.

What the...

Hermione took the book and stared at the spine. A label on it clearly stated, Restricted, in big bold red letters. This book belonged in the Restricted section! So what was it doing out into the normal books?

She turned back to the Dark Art Curses page. Her heart began to beat hard as she skimmed the page, turning to glance at Madam Pince. She hoped Madam Pince wasn't about to walk over any time soon....

She found nothing of interest and flipped a few pages. Suddenly, a word on the page caught her eye and her eyes widened as she read the word. There, clearly in small but bold print said, Dragonkilas Curse.

Dragonkilas? What the hell did that mean?

Hermione felt her heart pound against her chest as she read the paragraph beneath it.

A dark arts curse, Dragonkilas has been illegal since the late 1500s for the toll it takes on the human being it is administered to. The Dragonkilas Potion curse turns a young man into a dragon at night. The curse is made two ways. One, by a potion, made of a dragon's tooth, dragon's blood and a dragon's scale boiled together with the boy's blood and one strand of a unicorn's tail. The other is if the human is born with the curse. Once in every century, will a person be born with this curse. The human who has the Dragonkilas Curse is sentenced to a lifetime of turning into a dragon at night. It was often used as a weapon or a punishment, due to the painful process that it takes for the human to change into the dragon and back. The only cure for the curse varies for every person. The blood of the person who has made the potion, true love, a phoenix's tears or unicorn's blood.

Hermione's jaw dropped. Shock coursed through Hermione's veins and she struggled to make sense of it. She wondered dimly why this specific book would be out of the restricted section at this certain time and on this certain page.

This couldn't...this couldn't relate to Drake...could it?

She tried to make sense of it all, but it was all so outrageous. Why hadn't she heard of such a curse? But of course, she didn't know half of the dark arts curses there were....there were millions , every one more deathly then the next. This one didn't seem quite deathly, but it was quite strange.

But Drake was a dragon! He was a creature that lived in the forbidden forest and he wasn't a human! Wouldn't Drake have told her already that he was actually a human? A human trapped in a curse for the rest of his life?

It couldn't be Drake....could it? All the signs were there! It must be...It must be! Hermione stared at the paragraph, wondering why she hadn't seen this before. No wonder, it wasn't in any of the dragon's books...the title was Dark Art Curses and Cures. But still, she berated herself inside.

Why hadn't she noticed the weird things that happened whenever she was around Drake?

Little things raced through Hermione's mind. First of all, he knew how to speak English. He had a mind and was as intelligent as any other human. She only saw him at night, since Drake had insisted she come only at night....He wasn't like any other dragon either. He knew about human things, and Hermione was surprised he knew all about Hogwarts and the standards and classes they had there.


She also remembered that first time she had collapsed....she had woken up in front of the Gryffindor portrait! How had she gotten there, unless.....unless Drake was a human!

Drake was a human boy, who came to Hogwarts. She was sure of that. He must be a student here. He obviously didn't know anyone in her year, so he must be younger. He must be in Gryffindor as well, otherwise how would he know where the portrait was?

Excitement pumped through Hermione's blood and she leapt up from her chair and ran out of the library, looking forward to tonight where she would finally find out who Drake really was. She hoped that Ron and Harry wouldn't hold her up and she could see for herself what Drake was and always had been.

*********

Hermione crunched through the pathway through the forest, her footsteps echoing in the silence. Her heart was pounding against her chest and she wondered what Drake would say when she confronted him about it.

Would he get angry? Would he be relieved? Would he tell her to forget about it?

Hermione wondered once more about the cures. Blood of the Maker, Phoenix's tears, true love or unicorn's blood. To drink unicorn's blood would be a curse on its own. That left true love and phoenix's tears as well as the blood of the maker. Hermione wondered if Drake had been born with this curse...

Or maybe she was all wrong. Maybe Drake was a dragon who had accidentally drunk some potion that allowed him to speak English. Nah, that was preposterous! Or maybe, like Drake had said, there was some rare race of dragons that spoke English and no one knew about the race.

It wouldn't hurt to ask...would it?


Finally, she reached the clearing and with a deep breath, pushed the bushes aside. The moonlight was one more pooling in the center of the clearing where the large, enormous dragon slept. His scales shined with a silvery glow and Hermione felt her heart soften at the sight of him.

Drake was so nice to her...He listened to all of her problems and he was always there for her. He heard her complain and cry and shout in anger and defiance and scream her problems out to the world. He had become such a good friend over the weeks...

Hermione hoped hard that Drake wouldn't get angry. She approached him silently, but the dragon had good hearing and once she reached his head and sat cross legged near by, he popped open a silver eye.

" Come for some more counseling?" The dragon asked, his eyes watching her.

Hermione giggled. " No. Actually, I just wanted to ask you a few questions."

Drake's eyes skimmed her face quickly and then shut his eyes once more. " Shoot."

Hermione smiled and then she reached over and touched the dragon's smooth scales. " I trust you with my life, Drake. How much do you trust me?"

The dragon seemed to jolt at her touch and he moved his head away. " I dunno."

Hermione sighed. " Well would you trust me enough to hear me out while I ask you...a couple of questions?"

The silence between them stretched out and Drake narrowed his eyes at her and shifted his body. " What are you talking about?"

Hermione looked uncomfortable and she searched her brain for the right way to ask. " Drake, I've...I've figured it out."

Drake's eyes widened and his whole body tensed. His wings unfurled and Hermione felt the wind from the expansive wings push against her, sending her bushy brown hair flying into the wind.

" Figured what out?" He said slowly, enunciated every word. Hermione felt a cold edge to his words but she was too far in to stop now.

" I know...I know that your not really a dragon-" Hermione was cut off by a roar.

Hermione's eyes widened as Drake got up and blew a puff of hot fire into the air. Hermione fell to the ground with the force of Drake's anger and had to close her eyes to slits in order to protect herself from the sparks of fire coming from Drake.

" Drake, calm down! Please! I was just reading a dark arts book and I fell upon it accidentally and it seemed to match your situation and I just wanted to say-"

Drake snarled, " YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR! GO, before I do something that will seriously make sure you never come back!!"

Hermione felt tears rise to her eyes and she shouted, desperately, " I just wanted to say that I can help you! I can help you cure it!!"

Drake suddenly let out a rumble of disbelief. " Just GO! I said GO! LEAVE, you pathetic girl! LEAVE!"

Hermione's mouth opened in protest and she wondered why the question had hurt him so badly. He was mad and he was angry, and no matter how much she tried to ignore it, Drake had all the dragon qualities that could kill her right then and there.


Despite Hermione's best efforts, tears had already started to trail down her cheeks as she left quickly. She didn't know Drake was going to be this mad! But....but Hermione could help him find the cure! She could help him turn permanently into a human!

What if he didn't want to be a human anymore, said a quiet voice in her head. What if he wanted to be a dragon forever?

Hermione was too tired to even contemplate an answer. She brushed away the tears and hurried blindly through the pathways. It was getting dark and she ran and ran until she could no longer hear the angry roars of the dragon.


She would never see Drake again.

He hated her.

He hated her.

God, she didn't know it would hurt so much! But Drake...Drake had become such a good friend and she didn't want to lose him.

Brushing away the fresh tears she looked around herself, trying to figure out where she was. She wasn't on the normal trail anymore...She felt something wrap itself around her ankle and she looked down and screeched.

The plant nearby had wrapped itself around her ankle and Hermione tried to shake the plant off. Finally, she took out her wand and said a spell under her breath that shot a spurt of fire at the plant, which finally let go.

Sighing, she looked up again at the place she was stuck in. And then let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Large creatures, covered in sticky goo had surrounded her in minutes. Hairy and huge, they had long arms and three eyes and an open, large mouth.

" AHHHHHHHH!" She screamed as one of them reached for her. She turned back and ran for her life, her heart pounding in her chest in fear. But they had grabbed her around her waist and she felt her blood run cold and she screamed again and again, trying to reach for her wand which had fallen onto the ground in her fright.

Pure ice traveled down her spine and she scolded herself for being so stupid, for not watching where she was going, for letting her emotions get to her once again. Fear was taking over her heart and she knew that if she didn't do anything right now...


She heard the sounds they were making and dimly she wondered why Dumbledore had such creatures in the Forbidden Forest.

She felt the goo slide down her arm and she shuddered and screamed as the goo burned her deeply.

" HELP ME!" She yelled as the creature holding her brought her closer and closer to the huge mouth. Why did she drop her wand? Why was she so foolish? Now, she was going to die...

Letting out another weak scream, she felt her body numb with shock as the creature brought her closer.

Suddenly, she felt herself fall. The creature had let her go, and she fell, closer and closer to the ground. She might not die from the creatures but now she would die from falling. She shut her eyes tightly, not wanting to see the hard ground come closer and closer.

But she never reached the ground. She opened her eyes and she felt herself lurch backwards. She was on top of something....that she distinguished easily. Fear exploded in her heart as she felt herself jerk back and forth and she had to cling to the creature so she wouldn't fall. What was this creature? Was she to be taken away to some cavern so she could be eaten? And why was she so...high from the ground?

Desperately wishing for her wand, she shut her eyes and hoped this was all a dream.

Suddenly, the thing she was on top of gave a mighty shake underneath her and a fire ball exploded around her.

She screamed in fright, wishing it was all a nightmare that she could wake up from. Her arm was killing from where it was burned and she couldn't tell what was happening. She gripped onto the smooth scales of the thing beneath her and held on tight as the thing's wings flapped and the body contracted and retracted beneath her.

" God, you are really heavy," Said a familiar voice. She jumped, shaken and let out yelp.

" Wh-Who are you? Wh-What are you? Where are you taking me? I don't taste good, trust me!" She whispered, her voice raw from screaming, her nerves on an end.

The thing let out a rumble. " I'm the one and only talking dragon and how would you know if you tasted good or not?"

Hermione gasped. " Drake?"

And then screamed as the dragon launched itself higher and higher into the sky.

a/n: Hello, my faithful reviews. Thank you so much for the reviews so far, they really inspire me! I hope you like where the story is going, if ya dont tell me and if you have some suggestions you'd love to give me (I'm open to everything)

SO pleeease click on that button down there that you know ( all of you know) will make my day as long as you dont say nothing that is related to , you suck. lol! I know, the romance is like a speck of dust floating in air right now, but its coming! oh its coming...(evil laughter in the background)

REVEIW! I love you all! Honestly!

See ya latez,

*starjade*