Chapter 17
Draco swallowed the potion; it was not the most pleasurable of tastes, but over the last four years of taking it for a full week every month he had grown used to the taste and the unpleasant texture. Though, honestly, he was grateful to just even have it, the ingredients were very expensive and the potion itself was incredibly complicated to brew. The only reason Draco was able to brew it was because Snape had insisted that he memorize the exact recipe for it, and while he thought that it was a waste of his time his sixth year, he was immensely thankful to his former Professor; and not just for the potions. Snape had done a lot for Draco, and one of his biggest regrets was being too pompous to properly thank him.
Draco rolled his head around, all the muscles in his body were hurting and his joints cracked with every movement he made. It was like his entire body was clenching in anticipated agony for the night just to be over. "Draco?" His mother's voice approached him.
"I'm here, mother." Draco stood in the last cell at the end of the long dungeon that rested under the Malfoy Manor. The dungeon used to be the normal cellar but after the escape of Potter and the the other captives, Voldemort insisted that the cellar was converted in to proper dungeon with separate cells and every ward that they could think of to prevent such things from happening again. After Draco was bitten, this was where he spent his full moons, even when he was traveling abroad. Once a month he would apparate to Manor spend his nights there. He never stayed long enough to see his Mother or associate with anyone and ensured that he would not be bothered. He wasn't even sure his mother knew that he had stayed in this very cell while he was away. Before he left, Draco had altered the ward in this particular cell to allow him to apparate in and out of it unbeknownst to anyone else. It worked out well enough.
Narcissa looked through the bars at her son. "Darling, it's barely dusk, you don't need to be down here yet."
Draco chuckled. "I'm just preparing myself mother, don't fret."
Narcissa pushed open the cell door and approached her son. "My love, I will always fret when it comes to you." She cupped Draco's cheek softly. "You are my everything."
Draco smiled, his mother always wanted to be affectionate with him, but Lucius was a firm believer that to much love would make Draco weak, and yelled at his wife when he thought she was being to soft with Draco. Draco hated watching Lucius berate his mother, so eventually Draco just avoided his mothers affections, breaking his mother's heart, but it had to be done. Since Voldemort's downfall and his father's arrest, Draco slowly allowed his mothers affections again, it was a weird process at first but now it was natural to them. "I know, mother, I just feel more comfortable down here, where I can't hurt you."
Narcissa sighed. "You're not going to hurt anyone, you haven't yet."
Draco tried to not let guilt flash in his eyes, looking down at his watch to avoid looking at his mother. "It's approaching nine, mother. You should go."
Narcissa gave a weak smile, and stood on her toes to give him a kiss on the forehead. "You'll be fine, Draco, you've taken your potions and this cell can hold you."
Draco nodded. "Just remember if anything goes wrong use that coin I gave you."
Narcissa rolled her eyes at her son. "Draco, everything will be fine, you're so tightly wound this month. You were not this anxious last time." She paused for moment eyeing him. "Is there something going on my love?"
Draco had decided that it was best to wait before telling anyone of the Diagon Alley tail, this was only the first time he had seen them and it was possible that he just being paranoid. He didn't want to alert Hermione or anyone at the ministy over nothing. Theo urged Draco to tell someone. However, Draco didn't want to call more attention to himself than necessary. "No, mother, everything's fine. Now, please, go," Draco implored, the clock ticked closer and closer nightfall. His mother kissed his forehead again and walked out of the cell, closing the door and magically locking it.
"Goodnight," she whispered solemnly and left him alone.
He heard the dungeon door close and lock. He then stripped out of his clothes, placing them on the other side of the bars. Draco laid out the old blanket he brought for a little comfort, he sat down and started taking long meditative breaths, focusing on the rhythm of his heartbeat, losing track of the world around him.
Draco felt his bones scream as they lengthened and and contorted; he felt his skin searing with a rippling pain as it stretched to accommodate the new form. Sharp teeth ripped through his gums while his jaw and cheekbones jutted forward to create a snout. He let out a series of yells and screams that slowly, agonizingly, became growls and howls. The transformation itself only took a few minutes, going through it was excruciating, however, and that was with the potion to ease the some of the pain; without the potion, it was torturous.
He could smell everything, he could hear a rat scuttling around the floor on the far end of the dungeon, and he could almost taste the meat of the rat in his jowls, the scent was so overwhelming. All he could feel was the wolf. The wolf wanted food; the wolf wanted blood. The wolf began to pace frantically around the cell, it needed to eat. The smell of the rat was driving the beast insane. The wolf lunged at the bars, growling and howling to get out, but with no success. It went back to pacing, waiting for the opportunity to strike.
With the wolf in control, he lost all sense of time, there was only pacing, pacing, pacing. Then there was a pop. The wolf stopped, perking its ears, there was a new smell. A human, not one that the wolf recognized, then he heard foot steps, and fear, oh the human reeked of fear. The wolf paced faster, he could hear the human's heart pounding, hot, delicious blood pulsing. Then the human stopped, but the wolf could not see them, he could smell them, hear them, almost taste them, but the wolf eyes failed him. The wolf let out a rumble of frustration, it wanted the blood so bad. Then the human said something, Draco heard it too, and it sounded like a spell, and suddenly there was a clicking noise in front of them, and then the human began to run. Oh, how the wolf loved to play chase. Eagerly, it lunged at the door again, this time the door gave way. Horror flooded Draco's conscious, but the wolf had no time for that and was loping after the human. The human had made it up to the steps and out another door. The wolf ran harder, it wanted the blood, then another snap, and the wolf couldn't hear the human anymore, but the scent hung heavily in the air. New smells flooded his senses now, he could smell meat, other foods and other heavy scents. Wait, there was something else moving too. The wolf could hear it, the wolf stalked towards the other sounds. There, behind the door, there were several living things clamoring about, the wolf leaped through the door. Draco's consciousness reeled back trying desperately to gain control of the wolf, trying to prevent to wolf from attacking the house elves. The struggling between consciousnesses gave the elves just enough time to apparate out of the kitchen and, much to the wolves frustration, they were once again alone.
Hermione heard a distant ringing, she was at the ministry talking to Harry. He was perched on her desk again and they were working on something together but the ringing kept getting louder. Hermione looked around for the source of the noise. Harry, what is that? She asked. Harry said something but it was muffled, as if she were hearing him under water. Hermione stood up looking for the noise. Harry? The ringing became deafening she whipped around the office searching for the source, but the room around her grew foggy and Harry evaporated like steam in front of her.
Then Hermione's consciousness caught on and she ripped herself out of bed, the coin one her bed side table was glowing bright red and screeching loudly. Hermione's heart stopped, that meant nothing good. She shot out of bed and dressed as fast as she could, dreading where the coin would take her. She threw on her shoes and grabbed her wand, her hair thrown up in to a ponytail, she touched the coin. As if someone grabbed her with a hook by her abdomen, she was thrown backwards, spinning, she worked herself out just in time before the portkey dropped her. Her heart sank, she was standing outside of the grounds of the Malfoy manor, the one place she prayed it wouldn't take her.
"Hermione!" Harry called, he was talking to a woman with long blonde hair.
Hermione was only slightly relieved to see Narcissa standing there. Narcissa turned to see her. "Oh, Hermione, I'm so glad to see you."
Hermione joined them. "What's going on?" Trepidation saturating her words.
"Well, apparently, Malfoy's loose," Harry said simply.
"I was asleep when the house elves apparated into my room, and the told me that we had to get out of the house. They didn't give me time to grab anything, and brought me out here immediately. When they told me that Draco was loose in the house, I told them that I needed to back for the coin to alert you. They wouldn't let me go so Tobby went back in a grabbed it, thankfully Draco was nowhere near that wing."
Hermione heart started to beat again, a loose werewolf they could deal with, an attack on Malfoy that was different. "Do we know where he is?"
"Well, the elves saw him in the kitchen last, but we have done flyovers and we think he may have traveled to the forest behind the manor," Harry informed her.
Hermione turned to Narcissa and the elves. "Okay. First things first, let's get you guys somewhere safe. I'll apparate you to my home where you can stay until we find and detain him."
"No, I wish to stay here and make sure he's safe," Narcissa insisted.
Harry grabbed Narcissa's shoulder firmly, "Narcissa, if you stay here we will have less people to search for him. I promise we won't harm him, we're only going to knock him out so we can put him back in his cell," Harry ensured her.
Narcissa's eyes were swirling with worry. "Okay. We'll wait at Hermione's"
Hermione nodded and took Narcissa's hand, apparating them to her flat. Once at the flat, Narcissa summoned all of the elves. "Now please make yourselves at home, but I need to get back to help," Hermione offered, but before she got a response she apparated back to a waiting Harry.
"Excellent. I have four Aurors searching the south and southwest part of the property. You and I will search the southeast. If we don't find him there we'll move east and west moving in pairs towards each other. Werewolves are extremely territorial so he's most likely to stay close to the manor. If you see anything send up red sparks and everyone will converge to take him out," Harry's voice was now authoritative.
Hermione nodded. It sounded like a solid enough plan to her, she stepped close Harry who wrapped an arm around her and then they apparated. The darkness of the forest was oppressing, even though it was a full moon the tree tops cut out most of the light. "Lumos," Harry and Hremione said almost in unison.
"Okay, you go that way, I'll go this way, stay in sight lines, and if you lose me send a Patronus," Harry instructed her. He then started walking off to the left and Hermione took to the right, staying just within each others vision.
The forest was thick and dense, this area hadn't been bothered by humans in what Hermione assumed was hundreds of years. She walked slowly and carefully, her senses in high alert, waiting to hear or see anything that might be Malfoy. Every few minutes, she glanced to her left to see the faint glow of Harry's wand, relieved he was still there. Hermione never felt like she need protection, she was a very capable witch, she worried for Harry's safety. Harry had a tendency to launch into situations, and while his Auror training had helped with it, he was still known for his impulsiveness. Hermione was mostly concerned that Harry would hear something and run off without waiting for help, and, while Harry was an excellent wizard, taking a werewolf on by oneself was not a great idea.
Hermione checked again, Harry was still there, but then off to her right she heard a twig snap. Hermione froze and waited on baited breath, but nothing came at her. There were other creatures in this forest, surely it must have been something else; she pressed on. Then another snap, this time from behind her. Hermione whipped around, but once again saw nothing. Adrenaline was pumping through Hermione's veins now, she could feel her senses heightening with each beat of her heart. Hermione checked for Harry, her heart sank, she couldn't see the glow of his wand any more. Damn it Harry, she looked forward again to cast her patronus to send for Harry, but her breath caught in her throat.
In front of her stalked the werewolf, he was a pale version of Lupin's, his skin was was the color of ash while his fur seemed to be bone white. His eyes remained steel cold gray, there was a low rumble coming from him as he carefully and slowly stepped closer to her. Hermione's heart just about stopped, she was frozen. This beast could rip her apart in a matter of seconds and for every moment her body refused to move, the wolf inched closer. "Draco," She whispered.
Darco could see a frozen Hermione in front of him. He and his mind begged and pleaded her to move and run, while battling the wolf for more control. Though this time the desire was not to feed, no. Draco could smell every inch of Hermione, he could taste her essence, and while it didn't seem like the wolf wanted to harm her, Draco didn't want to take that chance of getting to close. A growl rumbled in his chest.
Hermione raised her wand, the werewolf was so close at this point that she could smell his musk in the air. She had one shot, she would hit him with a stupefy, which in his state would buy her a couple of moments to send up a flare then put some distance between her and the werewolf. She would wait for others to arrive and then they would be able to use multiple stupefys on him to knock him out until hopefully morning. She took a deep breath and yelled "Stupefy!" except the spell rebounded off of him. Shit. Hermione's heart sank and then sheer instinct took over and, before she knew what she was doing, she was running as fast as she could. Ducking and weaving between branches and trees, anything she could put between her and those teeth. Shit shit shit! Hermione's mind was racing. She needed help, how could she... I'm a fucking witch! Use magic! Her mind screamed at her, even living in the wizdaring world for thirteen years, her instincts were still very much muggle. She quickly sent up a flare, the charm turning the forest around her a blistering red in the dead of night.
The chase intrinsic was overwhelming and Draco was easily overpowered by the need to hunt. The wolf wanted to catch her, the wolf wanted to sink its jaws into her. The wolf took off after her, but she kept ducking over and under obstacles putting trees and foliage between them, slowing the wolf down. Then more pops and more human smells, the wolf smelled three other people now joining the chase. The wolf became excited at the arrival of new prey. The wolf lunged at a Human who suddenly appeared at his side. The human barely dogded his bite before disappearing again, but the wolf caught the smell of the female, directing himself towards her, seeking her once more.
Hermione heard the pops of the other Aurors, thankful that they had seen her flares. She dove behind a tree hopeful that the werewolf didn't see her. There was another pop and Harry appeared in front of her. "On three immobulus. One, two," he said, they leapt out from behind the tree together to find the werewolf just meters from them, "Three!" Harry bellowed.
"Immobulus!" They yelled the spell together and, this time, the spells hit the werewolf square in the chest. The wolf plowed heavily in to the ground, unable to use its body. Then four more pops and the rest of the Aurors arrived, then on the next count of three, all six of them cast stupefy to the knock the beast out.
"Well, that went well," Hermione huffed, trying to catch her breath. Harry couldn't help but laugh.
They bound the werewolf and levitated him back to the manor and in to a different cell. Once they were sure he was secured, they thoroughly checked his previous cell, trying to determine how he got out. "We can't find anything wrong with the cell, he didn't break out by force," Harry mumbled to Hermione, who was still standing in front of the cell with Malfoy in it.
"Do we think someone let him out?" Hermione whispered.
"I dunno, they'd have to be mad to come that close, if you ask me." Harry shifted, looking at the now unconscious wolf.
Hermione frowned, what was the point in letting a werewolf free other than to terrorize? And if it was to terrorize, the next question was, who did they want to scare? Malfoy said not many people knew he had been bitten, unless... "It must have been one of the Death Eaters that escaped."
Harry gave he a confused look. "Why not just kill him for being a blood traitor then? Why go to all of the trouble of releasing him?"
Hermione shook her head. "I have no idea. It makes no sense whatsoever."