A/N: Written for the Draco's Den Halfblood Prince Drabble Elimination Challenge in 2021! Thanks to the modmins for hosting this competition, it's one of my favorites!

No beta, only Grammarly. All mistakes are mine

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Summary: Daphne is punished for her father's sins before her sixth year at Hogwarts. A werewolf under a wizarding vow and unable to tell anyone, she begs Draco to help her brew Wolfsbane Potion.

Pairing: Daphne Greengrass/Draco Malfoy

Rating: T

Warnings: Werewolf, Wolfsbane

Broken Promises

"Draco, please," Daphne hissed, tugging on the sleeve of his arm. Her eyes were sunken. The last full moon had taken a lot out of her and the one coming up wasn't going to be much better.

"I told you, I don't have time," he snapped, tugging his arm from her. He looked as bad as she did. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought he'd been turned too. If he had, Greyback wouldn't be able to stop talking about it. Instead Greyback whined and complained that he'd been given a useless girl.

"Draco," Daphne said, the tears threatening to fall and her gods-be-damned bottom lip was quivering. She tried to pull it back in before he saw, but he whipped around to glare at her just before reaching the main corridor.

His eyes softened and he shook his head. "Fuck," he muttered and hurried over to her. He slipped a hand against her cheek, turning her face up to him and examined her closely. "I'll do it, but you have to help me. I can instruct you in the proper brew and hopefully you'll be able to make it on your own by the end of the year."

It sounded like a warning. "What's happening at the end of the year?" she whispered. His hand tightened into a fist at her nape and she braced herself for the worst, but he shook his head again.

"Don't worry about it. Just get through this next full moon. As soon as you're recovered, we'll begin." Then he removed his hand from her hair and stalked away.

Daphne felt bereft as she watched him go. The tears finally spilled and she sank against the wall. She wasn't sure if they were tears of relief or terror or some awful combination of the two. Everything was wrong this year. Astoria wasn't recovered enough to attend Hogwarts, and while Daphne had two successful transformations, they were so painful, so horrific that it took her days to recover from them.

Worse, she was forbidden by a wizarding vow not to reveal her condition to anyone. Draco knew, having been there when she received the punishment on her father's behalf. As did Snape, but nobody else. Snape, thankfully, shuttled her off to the Shrieking Shack each month, explaining to her that it had been purpose built for this exact scenario.

She wiped her tears and swallowed the lump in her throat. Transfiguration was in fifteen minutes and she couldn't be late. She was missing enough classes as it was.

Her third werewolf transformation didn't go any better than the first two. It still took her four days until she felt herself again. Though she was up and about two days after the full moon, she was so exhausted she found herself falling asleep in every class.

Draco had commandeered an old Potions classroom for their work, somehow coming up with all of the needed supplies. When she questioned him, he shook his head, refusing to answer. She hoped that meant that Snape knew what was going on and was offering what assistance he could.

Ever since she'd been bitten by Greyback, she felt as if her skin didn't fit her anymore. As if it were too tight on her frame and her bones too big. It was an odd sensation and she found herself rolling her shoulders to try and rid her of it.

"Stop," Draco muttered as he thinly sliced the aconite. Daphne stopped her fidgeting, though the itching feeling between her shoulder blades didn't go away. The base was already brewing and she found herself with not much to do. "Watch." Draco took another stalk of the plant that was now very poisonous to her. "Your turn." He handed her a stalk and his knife and picked up what he had sliced, weighing it very carefully first, before dumping it in the cauldron and giving it fourteen counter-clockwise turns with a glass stirring rod.

Daphne placed the stalk on the table before her and adjusted her grip on the knife, trying to hold it just like Draco had shown her as she slowly made some slices in the aconite. It was difficult, the plant was woody and resistant to slicing. Her dragonhide gloves were just a shade too big, making the knife slip in her hand.

Draco tsked as he turned the fire below the cauldron down and came around the workbench to stand directly behind her. His arms reached around her, holding both of her hands and guided her movements, slicing the aconite with ease. "See, go with the grain," he murmured. His breath was hot in her ear and Daphne struggled to focus. Even if Draco felt that way about her, which she was sure he did not, there was no way in hell he would ever tie himself to a werewolf. She was damaged goods. The betrothal contract between their families, should it ever actually come to pass, would undoubtedly be forced on her sister. If Astoria survived.

Without warning, Daphne was crying again, her tears dripped onto the plant with a sizzle. She pulled away from Draco and he backed away, but before she could bury her face in her hands he stopped her, gripping her wrists tightly.

"Take off the gloves first," he said, removing them. Then Daphne was crying harder as he pulled her into a tight hug. "We'll figure this out, Daph," he promised. And while that promise sounded like heaven, Daphne knew it was just as empty as any promise made to her by her worthless father. Promises were made to be broken. She should be mad at Draco for making one he couldn't keep, but just for a moment, she wanted to believe it, so she did.

~Fin~