Claws. (5,998)

When Draco woke up, the room was filled with the light coming from the dusty windows. His vision was still blurry but he could make out the wood wall in front of him. He hardly swallowed as he closed his eyes again, feeling his body waking up too. He noticed that he was curled up on the floor. He took a deep breath as he opened his eyes again. He was thirsty and felt like he had slept for ten minutes only, he was really tired. He moved a little and felt a thin blanket covering half of his body. It made him frown and then he realized. He suddenly sat up and felt an acute pain in his right arm. He let out a sound a bit too high-pitched for him but he didn't look at it, he glanced around. He saw Lupin, sitting on the mattress, fully dressed. He was staring at Draco with a serious expression. Malfoy swallowed and glanced at the cover his teacher had put on him maybe an hour ago, or maybe minutes ago, who knew besides him? It was old and there were some holes in it, it wasn't soft and not really clean but Draco was glad to have this on him or he would have been even more embarrassed than he already was. He could feel Lupin's stare and he didn't like that.

"Can you look away?" He finally asked, hoarse.

"Can you look at your arm?" Lupin asked instead, still staring at Draco. This one frowned and slowly glanced at his painful arm. When it had hurt him, he had thought that it couldn't be because of the Hippogriff, he was already feeling better even if the cut had been deep. Needless to say that he was a bit shocked when he saw his forearm. The blood on it was dry but three long cuts were visible. Claws marks. Again, Draco hardly swallowed and took a deep breath. He felt like the more he was looking at it, the more it was hurting him. Finally, he turned his head when he heard Lupin getting up. He was trying to remember what had happened but he was too confused.

Lupin took something on the mattress before he approached Malfoy, it seemed to be clothes. There was his shirt and tie from the day before but it looked like Lupin had got him some new pants.

"Severus gave me those for you. I told him that you were still sleeping, so that I would come back and bring them to you myself", he explained. He crouched next to Draco who still wasn't saying anything. "It was hard to convince him," he kept on going, "He wanted to come directly, he seems to look after you a lot," he said as Draco looked down, clenching his fist slowly, which made his arm hurt again.

"Y-Yeah, he does that..." He told Lupin. It was still difficult for him to think about what had happened during the night, it was often like that. He had never suffered from a total memory loss but it was always taking some time to come back to him and he often ended up remembering during the day, which was making him feel bad enough for him not to concentrate on his lessons. He glanced at Lupin again as he muttered "thank you", nodding towards the clothes. Lupin gave him a kind smile again and Draco wondered what he was going to do with his arm. "What time is it?" He suddenly asked, realizing that Lupin had probably been awake for a while now, if he had the time to go back to the castle then in the Shrieking Shack again.

"Almost midday. The students are probably going to have lunch soon," Lupin said to make him understand that no one should be able to see him come out of the passage. "Do you remember anything?" He asked softly as he moved a hand towards his jacket's pocket to take some chocolate from it. "Here, you should have something in your stomach," he said as he unwrapped the chocolate and handed it to Malfoy. Draco took it, not looking at his teacher. Had Lupin attacked him during the night? Or had he done that to himself? He slowly shook his head, staring at the chocolate between his fingers. Lupin narrowed his eyes for a second before he almost whispered what had happened that night. "You attacked me."

Draco suddenly turned his head to look at Lupin, who was still kindly smiling. He didn't like that, why would he be smiling? Draco shook his head.

"I didn't..." He said, wary. Lupin snorted as he met Malfoy's eyes.

"You did," he said calmly as he pressed his hand on the left side of his chest. Malfoy frowned as he looked at Lupin's hand and he shook his head again. "You're kind of aggressive but it's fine, it's not..." He began to say before he looked at Malfoy's arm. "I can live with it."

"So you... scratched back?" He asked, a bit annoyed by the word he had to use. It was weird and it made Lupin chuckle. His teacher nodded as he kept looking at Draco's arm.

"I'm sorry," he then said. "It was enough to make you back out, though."

"Don't- apologize," Malfoy said shortly, uncomfortable. He didn't know what to say. It was his fault, he attacked him. And at the same time, he wasn't really feeling bad for Lupin, he couldn't even remember his actions. He didn't know why he would have attacked him either. With the potion, he shouldn't have done that. But did it really matter?

"I get that it was disturbing, I wouldn't have attacked you myself if I had been in my right mind... It was weird, being in a room with another werewolf," Lupin said.

Draco shrugged, turning his head and looking at his arm again.

"I wanted to take care of it this morning but the night has been rough, I didn't want to wake you up. And I want to let you the choice..."

"What choice?" Draco asked quickly, glancing at his teacher.

"I'm pretty sure you can't wait to tell Severus what happened," Lupin said, perfectly knowing that Malfoy was capable of saying that Lupin had tried to kill him. He had already so many scars on his skin that they wouldn't believe Draco had hurt him first, and then his father would know, and it would be the end of a short stay at Hogwarts. "And if you choose to do that, we both know what will happen to me," he said. Snape would enjoy the story, there was no doubt about it. "I know what you did with that Hippogriff, so I wouldn't be surprised."

"You don't know me," Draco said coldly, metting Lupin's eyes again. And one more time, Lupin smiled.

"Well then, maybe you will prove me wrong. I just hope you'll be wise," Lupin said before he stood up. He glanced at the mattress. "You can take care of your arm with what's there, Madam Pomfrey was kind enough to give me what you need without asking any question."

There was an awkward silence. Maybe Lupin was hoping that Malfoy would tell him that he wasn't going to tell anyone. Or maybe he just wanted him to say anything, really. But no sound came out of Draco's mouth. He didn't look at his professor, he didn't move, he didn't talk. So, Lupin ended up leaving him alone to take the passage again.

The idea of telling everyone that their dangerous new teacher had attacked him was really tempting, when Draco was thinking about it.

He cleaned his wounds and started to bandage his arm as he imagined Lupin leaving the castle. He would be sacked and Malfoy would be by himself again, not attacking or being attacked, perfectly safe and seen as some sort of survivor. A smirk appeared on his face as he looked at the band on his arm. Behind his stretched hand, he got a glimpse of the blanket that had been on him when he had woken up and he started glancing around at the damaged room.

Slowly, his smile faded away.

.

Draco really came back in the school a few days later, after he had got some rest in the hospital. Having someone knowing his secret was really weird. And not only that but someone had seen him in his other form, had seen him turn and had witnessed his fear and his pain. When he walked in the Great Hall to join the students for lunch, he felt like everyone was looking at him. It wasn't the case, even if a few students and his friends had noticed him coming in. He had his splint again but this time, it was really hurting. As he walked towards Crabbe and Goyle, he glanced at the staff table. Lupin was sitting there, talking with McGonagall.

After a while, everyone heard the familiar noise of the owls delivering the letters. Draco looked up, hoping to see his eagle owl coming. He hadn't talked to Snape since the night of the cycle, and he was also sitting at the staff table, so he didn't know if his teacher had sent the letter. Apparently, he had, because Draco's owl came in the Hall, making him smirk. It landed near him, directly on Goyle's chicken and this one moved a little, glancing at the huge owl. Draco gave him something to eat before it flew off, one of his large wings hitting Goyle in the face. Malfoy didn't pay attention, he simply looked at his package. As always, his mom had sent him sweets and an envelope was attached to it. She knew that after the moon, she had to wait a few days before sending this to him, it had arrived just in time. He took the envelope first and opened it to take the letter, where his mom had well written an answer to his own words. He bit his lip as he glanced at the package, he had been right to think it was a bit heavier than it usually was.

Talking to his mom was easier than talking to his dad. He had to be very careful about whatever he was telling him, he was too afraid to upset him in any way. How would he react if he knew that he wasn't going as well as he was saying he was? What would he say if Draco kept complaining about the pain of the transformation? If he told him that he was afraid? Would he see him as weak? Draco didn't know, he had never complained to his father, he didn't want to disappoint him. Draco didn't want him to have a lesser opinion of him. Still, it didn't mean that he had clearly told his mom about what was going on lately. He had stated that there were some changes in the school, that it was making him uncomfortable and that he was... Not afraid, but preoccupied. He wouldn't say that he was afraid. He didn't need to. His mom was smart, she could read through the lines, she had sent him more sweets than usual. In her letter, she had reminded him that she loved him and that she was missing him very much, but also that he could tell her everything if he was feeling like it. He didn't smile, but he felt a warm sensation in him.

His parents were affectionate towards each other and his mother was also very affectionate with him. She was always pressing her hand on his shoulder or his arm whenever they were crossing path, or she was gently caressing his back, like she needed to remind him that she was there for him. She was always giving him soft smiles and she was listening to him a lot. His father was listening a lot too, but Draco wasn't telling the same things to him. His father was more cold. He was more abrupt when it came to touch Draco somewhere, his grip was firm and not located in right places. While his mother was pressing his shoulder, his father was pressing the back of his neck. While she was pressing his forearm, he was pressing his wrist. While she was caressing his back, he was tapping it, often making Draco move a bit forwards because of his strength. It had always been different, but Draco knew that every time his father was touching him this way, it was to show him that what Draco was doing was good, or to tell him in a weird way that he was proud. That he was sharing the same feelings as his mother about him. It was just really awkward. His parents were only acting like that with him, they were very scornful with lesser people, and usually cold with almost everyone.

They had also been spoiling him since he was a little kid, always buying everything he wanted to make sure that he was happy and to show that they would always give him what he needed. Draco put the letter back in the envelope and put it in his pocket, thinking he would remind his mom that he loved her too when he would write back.

"Look who's back," Ron said to Harry and Hermione, pointing at Malfoy with his chin as the blond was putting the letter in his pocket. "Doesn't really seem to be feeling better," he said with a little smile, hoping that he was really sick. But even him was wondering what he had, it was just weird. Hermione looked at him for a few seconds before she looked at the staff table, where Lupin was. She narrowed her eyes for a second before she started to write on her parchment again.

"You don't have anything to say about it?" Ron asked, surprised that she wasn't saying that it was weird once again.

"No, you're right, it's stupid," she said quickly, not looking at Harry and Ron. The both of them exchanged a glance but didn't say anything, glad that she wasn't about to talk about Malfoy again.

And she didn't for quite some time. She was too busy to spend a lot of time with Harry and Ron, plus Ron was always angry because of Crookshanks so she was better off alone. So, the days went by, the months, even, they were soon in November. It was like a normal year, if you didn't mind hearing a lot about Sirius Black.

Draco didn't tell Snape or his father about what had happened with Lupin. He was very careful about not talking with Lupin, actually, avoiding him and often acting like he had forgotten something to be able to turn around without his friends following him when they were in the same hallway. He didn't know why he was doing that, though, it wasn't like Lupin was going to stop, wave at him and scream "I see you soon in the Shrieking Shack for our monthly transformation, you know, since we're both werewolves!" in front of everyone. It was stupid, really.

And it wasn't like Lupin hadn't tried to talk about what had happened the next time they were together there, in October, but Draco had started to be really cold with him again and had mainly avoided looking at him to be sure he wouldn't open any door for conversation. They didn't attack each other anymore either. It had been a one time thing, probably because Draco had been really anxious. He had been thinking about it often though, after it had come back to him. He could see Lupin attacking, really to defend himself. He could remember the growls, the howls, the entire night. And every single time he was thinking about it, he was shivering.

.

"Apparently, Potter has the Grim?"

Hermione looked up at Draco. They were in the library, once again during a lunch time. This time, she had been careful and was sitting at another table, hoping that he wouldn't start to bother her. When she had arrived, he had been focused on his work and she was sure he hadn't seen her, so she had sat silently and had started to work, only for him to notice her presence five minutes later.

She stared at him for a few seconds before she looked at her book again.

"It's been a while since the news is out, how come you talk about it now?" She asked, not really interested. Draco shrugged as he looked at his parchment.

"Should be funny enough," he said with a little smirk.

"Yeah, as funny as you and this whole fainting thing," Hermione said sarcastically. She heard Draco snort and she shook her head. "At least he had a real reason to feel bad, do you have a real reason to fake your pain?" She then asked, talking about his arm. Apparently, it would take at least three months for his arm to heal from Buckbeak's attack but Draco hadn't waste any time to let the trio know that he was just taking advantage of the situation. Of course, this was before Lupin had actually hurt him. "Besides being a jerk, obviously," she added. Draco tilted his head, staring at her as he narrowed his eyes. She looked at him too and they exchanged a long look, neither of them wanting to be the first one to look down.

"I'm hilarious," Draco ended up saying, narrowing his eyes a bit more. Hermione just looked jaded before she sighed, finally looking at her book again.

"You usually have better comebacks, is it because you're sick?" Hermione asked, still very curious about the reason Malfoy was missing a lot of classes. She was also surprised that he hadn't called her a "Mudblood" once that day. But it was only the middle of it so there was still plenty of time for Malfoy to retaliate.

"I'm not sick," Malfoy said shortly, still staring at her.

"Really convincing," Hermione said, staring at his very pale face. He had been doing ok for a few weeks and now, he was again looking dreadful.

The door of the library opened and Hermione looked up to wait and see who was coming, the door being hidden by the shelf near the tables. After a few seconds, Harry and Ron showed up to sit near Hermione, not without noticing Malfoy's glare. He didn't even pay any attention to Harry, didn't mock him, didn't look at him, he kept staring at Hermione until she was hidden by Ron, who sat in front of her.

He didn't leave, then, even if he was bothered by the trio's presence. He was way too behind in his classes and needed to keep his grades up. He was the second best student after Hermione and it was already infuriating enough to be beaten by Granger, so he wouldn't let anyone else achieve better marks than him. But the fact was that if he had thought that having to share a room to study with Hermione was annoying, he quickly found out that sharing it with the three of them was even worse.

"Won't you shut up already?" He snapped when Ron complained for the umpteenth time. The redhead suddenly looked at the table behind him and Hermione and Harry both looked up too, staring at Draco as he suddenly closed his book, pushing it in the middle of the table before he stood up and took his bag. "Then they ask me to stop complaining about my arm... You stupid-" He mumbled as he walked away to leave the library, his words being at some point inaudible, leaving the three of them totally stunned. After they heard the door being closed and a few seconds of silence, Ron slowly turned to look at his friends.

"Ok. Is someone going to tell me what is wrong with him this year?" He asked slowly, still taken aback. Harry shrugged, as surprised as they were. Hermione was still looking at the bookshelf next to them.

"Why did you have to wait until now to believe that something is wrong?" She asked, finally looking at Ron. "It's not like I didn't tell you! And for once, he's right, stop complaining." She said shortly. Ron was sure she definitely wouldn't help him with his homework.

It's not like they weren't used to Draco being aggressive or just rude but here, it was somehow totally different. He didn't laugh at any of them, he didn't try to provoke them, he had stayed in silence and had tried to work before he had suddenly snapped, not even insulting them directly.

Hermione knew that he was really late for some of his homeworks, it wasn't a surprise because they had a lot already and he had been missing a lot of classes. Well, clearly, they didn't have as much as she had, she could barely keep up, but she knew the work Harry and Ron had to do. Even if Draco had been missing classes like that during the last two years, they had more work than before. She pursed her lips and tried to focus on her work again. She couldn't tell why she was so worked up about all of this. After all, Malfoy was nothing more to her than a rude and mean spoiled prat, so why would she care? She had so much on her mind already, why would she even take some time to try and find out what was going on? It was ridiculous.

.

At some point, as Christmas was approaching, Harry got his hands on the Marauder's Map thanks to Fred and George. For him, it was a real treasure. He could know where everyone was at any time of the day, as long as he wasn't caught with it. He could use it to go to Hogsmeade and he used it quiet a few time to get back at Malfoy, which was always funny.

He was also often looking at it at night, just because it was entertaining, in some weird way. And lately, it was also less fun to annoy Draco, since he was spending a lot of time in the library or his common room. It reminded him a bit of Hermione with all of her weird work. He and Ron were still wondering how she could put up with all her classes but they had stopped asking questions, knowing she wouldn't answer them.

That night, he couldn't sleep, he had way too many things in his head. He couldn't wait to start learning the Patronus Charm, he was wondering a lot about Sirius Black's whereabouts, Wood was following him a lot to talk about Quidditch and he was just basically anxious about a lot of things. He thought that he would be able to sleep during the week-end but it didn't happen, and the next day would be Monday and he was still really tired. Still, he sat up and took the map.

He looked at it for a while and when he glanced at his watch, he saw that it was already two in the morning. He thought that maybe it was time for him to try and sleep again when he noticed that Draco was still up in his common room. Harry frowned, not thinking too much of it, it wasn't the first time it was happening. Plus, Malfoy had just been sick the last few days, he was probably catching up, nothing to worry about. But before he could say "Mischief managed", he saw that Snape was walking towards the very same common room. Now, that was surprising. He watched his dot enter it and stop, probably talking with Malfoy and they both left the room. Harry's heart skipped a beat. Maybe it was all about what was going on with them and Lupin? Maybe they could finally know what was going on? He knew that he had to follow them, or at least that he really wanted to, even if it was risky.

He glanced at Ron's bed and wondered if he should wake him up. In the end, he decided to get up, take his cloak and leave the dormitory by himself. He was pretty sure that Malfoy wasn't important enough for Ron to get him to wake up in the middle of night. He would tell him all about it a few hours later anyway.

It took less time than he thought it would to get close to them, they were heading for the kitchens, apparently, from what Harry could see on the map. They had to cross path at some point and Harry waited. He didn't hear any voices when they approached, just footsteps. Then, he followed them, hoping that he was as silent as he thought he was. But they didn't notice him, so he probably was. They all walked towards the kitchens and Harry hurried to go past the frame before it closed behind Draco after him and Snape had walked in the room. He stayed near the frame at first, looking around. It was the first time he was seeing the huge kitchens and it was empty, no one was around besides them. After maybe a minute, Harry heard something which made him think of a plate and he walked towards the source of the noise. He heard noises of cuttery and tried to see who was eating, hiding behind a shelf, even if he had his cloak.

He narrowed his eyes, seeing Malfoy sitting at a table with a plate in front of him. Then, Harry remembered that he hadn't been there for the feast. Still, it wasn't explaining why Snape was feeding him at two in the morning. It's not even like they were talking, Malfoy was just eating what looked like rare meat and Snape wasn't far away, behind the table, staring at Draco like he didn't need to blink. He had a really serious expression on his face.

Since they weren't saying anything, Harry took his time to examine Draco. It was weird to see him in something else than his uniform and his black cloak. He had black pajamas pants and a slightly lighter black t-shirt, even black socks. He still had a band on his arm, which made Harry roll his eyes. Oh and for once, he didn't have his Slytherin ring on his hand.

After some other long minutes, during which Harry's legs started to get tired, Malfoy started to talk.

"You know that I really need to work, right?" Malfoy asked Snape, who still wasn't saying anything. He kept staring at Malfoy until this one stopped looking at his plate to look at him.

"How did it go?" He finally asked when he was able to meet his eyes. Malfoy stopped eating, even chewing, as he stared back. "When I told you that I wanted to know, "fine" was not what I expected from you."

Harry frowned.

"Can I go back? I'm late for this essay already," Draco said, looking at his plate again. Snape took what seemed to be a giant step really smoothly and quickly to be closer to the table. He put his hands on the edge and didn't need to use verbal magic to attract the plate towards him.

"How. Did it. Go?" He asked very coldly and slowly. Malfoy didn't look at him. He knew that he wasn't talking about only the last time he had turned, which had been three days before. He knew that something had happened because even if he wanted to, Draco hadn't been able to act natural. If nothing had happened, he would have probably complained about Lupin, but Draco hadn't told him anything. He just kept avoiding any meetings with him, even with their eyes, and just told Snape that everything was fine. But Draco couldn't fool Snape. So, he sighed and got up, taking a step towards his teacher as his left hand became busy with the bands on his right arm. This time, Harry wasn't the only one who frowned, as Snape wasn't able to hide his surprise.

It was the moment Draco didn't want to face. He could lie. He could tell him that Lupin had attacked him and he would be sacked, but he realized something that he didn't know until then. Every time he was thinking about accusing Lupin, he was imagining it as satisfying, but the feeling he had in him wasn't reflecting those thoughts. As soon as he had let Snape see his forearm, he knew why. He didn't want Lupin to go, not now. Not when he could actually have another werewolf around.

From where Harry was standing, he couldn't possibly see Draco's arm. His back was facing Harry and he could only see Snape. But it was enough for him to know that what Draco had on his arm was serious. It couldn't be Buckbeak's fault, Draco had been deeply cut but was clearly fine. He was just faking it. It had something to do with that thing that went... Fine. If it went fine. Harry narrowed his eyes, trying to catch everything they were saying. Now that they were closer and apparently talking about something important, they had started to speak lower, like they were aware that they could be heard. Like it was an automatism.

"It was a bit rough, as you can see," Draco began. Finally, Snape stopped looking at the three cuts on Draco's arm. "But it was my fault, I've never been... With another one before, it was weird and I didn't really like it."

"What did you do with that? Did you show it to Madam Pom-"

"As if," Draco interrupted him, shaking his head. He received a glare from Snape and fell silent again. Harry frowned. Of course, he had shown his arm to Madam Pomfrey, what was that all about? He needed to see what was exactly on Draco's arm.

"So, what did you do with it?"

"I took care of it myself," Draco almost whispered.

"With what?" He asked. Draco didn't look at him, he just stared blankly at his injury. Snape wondered if Draco had stolen what he had needed in order to heal himself or if he just wasn't saying that Lupin had helped him.

"He brought me what I needed but I did it," Draco finally sighed. He couldn't lie to Snape easily. His professor narrowed his eyes as he slowly grabbed Malfoy's wrist between his fingers.

"Did you hurt him?" Snape asked, still staring at the wound. Draco made a little face before he shrugged, his left hand sloftly pressing his right forearm. He didn't want him to look at it too much, it was already annoying him too much. Snape finally looked up at him.

"Don't really know, don't really care..." He said, looking away. He had hurt him, yeah, but could he tell him? After a few seconds of silence, he slowly raised his hand to put it on the left side of his chest. "There, I think," he said, actually sure of it. He could still feel the sensation of him cutting Lupin on the tip of his fingers. The memory was vivid. It had been the first time he had been with another being during a cycle, it had also been the first time he had attacked another being. He had actually been really shocked when he had remembered it clearly. Again, Harry narrowed his eyes. He needed to tell exactly what they were saying to Ron and Hermione, they absolutely needed to know what was going on.

"And-"

"Can we talk about this tomorrow or... I don't know, some other day," Draco said shortly, clearly annoyed. "I really need to work. Unless you'd rather have the old McGonagall taking points from the house because I didn't do my essay?"

"She knows the circumstances," Snape said coldly.

"Yeah and she knows how easily you take points away from Gryffindor so I don't think she will mind," Draco said sarcastically, "especially knowing that I've never handed my homeworks late because of that before."

"Dont talk to me like that," Snape said as he took a step towards Malfoy. They were now even closer and even if Harry couldn't see Malfoy, he didn't think that he was actually looking at Snape's eyes. He was sure that he wouldn't be able to sustain Snape's cold gaze if he was standing so close to him. But Draco was looking at him right in the eyes. Because Harry didn't know that Draco had met Snape when he was still a young kid, he didn't know that he was a close friend of Draco's father. Draco knew that he shouldn't go too far when talking to Snape, but he also knew that Snape wouldn't do anything to him, not ever.

"I'm just saying, you wouldn't want her to think I'm using all of this as an excuse," Malfoy articulated slowly. Snape kept staring for a few seconds before he glanced at his arm again. He ended up backing away.

"Go. You will come see me tomorrow between classes."

Malfoy nodded before he turned away, ready to leave. At some point, he stopped right next to Harry. This one didn't move at all, staring at Malfoy's pale face, afraid that he might have noticed something. As Draco turned around again, Harry tried to take a look at his arm but failed majestically.

"Did you hear? About Umbridge?" He asked Snape, already more calmly. He looked worried as he bit his lip.

"I did," Snape said. "Lucius sent me an owl," he added, surprising Harry. His voice had changed a little and when Harry dared turning his head to look at him, he could see that Snape's expression had changed a little too but it was unfathomable. Snape had always the same serious expression on his face, when he wasn't smirking, he was really intimidating. But somehow, here, he wasn't as much as usual, and his voice wasn't as cold as usual.

"Yeah, Father told me about it in his last letter too... " Draco said as he looked down for a second before he shrugged. "He said that I don't need to worry about that any way, given my situation. I don't know, I just think it sucks."

And without adding anything else, he turned around to leave. Harry didn't wait, knowing that it would probably be his only chance to take the passage once again to leave the room without being noticed. Snape didn't follow. When Harry glanced behind him, he was still looking at Malfoy, right through Harry, with the same weird expression on his face.