Shoot, Hermione's head was spinning as she read the text. Shoot, shoot, shoot. I totally forgot about our dinner tonight. We were planning to discuss wedding plans afterward too…
She had to call it off. She had to explain to Ron that she could not be anywhere near him, because these flowers were going to make her think and do crazy things that she would not want to think and do when she was around her fiancé. Her mind was already filling up with thoughts about sitting at Brews and Stews with Draco, discussing wedding plans with him instead…
"Stop!" Hermione screamed at herself. "Ugh! I hate this! Why is this happening?!" She instantly called Ron on her phone. When he picked up, she spoke as quickly as she could before her impulses drove her to say anything horrible and unintentional. "Ron! Hey, I'm so sorry…this is super urgent. But something terrible's happened. Malfoy—ahh!"
She felt something whack against her back, and was instantly knocked to the ground. Her phone fell a few feet in front of her.
"Hermione?! Hullo?!" Ron's voice was faint from the phone.
Hermione looked behind her and saw a dark-hooded figure in black robes, standing there with a Cobrazor wrapped around his shoulders. The Cobrazor had whacked her with its tail (thankfully, not with the three-pronged tips).
"Wha—who are you?" Hermione gasped. She couldn't see the face beneath the shadows of the dark hood.
The figure didn't speak, but the Cobrazor on his shoulders raised its head and let out a loud hiss, causing its neck flaps to rattle. There were no silver flowers on those flaps, so it wasn't Forktongue, and the hooded figure was most likely not Draco.
Hermione noticed the figure was holding something in one hand. A glistening, sapphire wand. Hermione's eyes widened. It was the Organink Wand.
"Wh-what are you doing with my Organink Wand?!" Hermione cried. She whipped out her wand and pointed to the figure. "Expelli—"
The hooded figure whispered something that Hermione couldn't understand, and instantly, the Cobrazor's tongue extended and jabbed her between her eyebrows, interrupting Hermione's disarming spell.
Hermione let out a scream. Blood started trickling down the bridge of her nose. But before the Cobrazor was able to do anything else, another purple three-pronged tail whacked at the hooded figure, causing him to fall on his side. Hermione looked to her left and saw another lean, shadowy figure with a Cobrazor on his shoulders. This Cobrazor's neck flaps were rattling with a silver flower on each.
Draco. And Forktongue.
Hermione suddenly felt nauseous. Pain, horror, anger, and captivation surged through her all at the same time.
"Get 'em, Forktongue!" Draco shouted, stepping out of the shadows and into the moonlight, closer to where Hermione and the dark hooded figure were lying.
Forktongue was about to whack at the hooded figure with his tail, but the Cobrazor blocked it with its own tail.
Hermione heard whispers come from the hooded figure. The figure raised an arm, holding a wand. Then instantly, the figure and his Cobrazor disappeared. They had disapparated.
Hermione remained in her position, lying on her stomach while gazing over her shoulder, wide-eyed with shock. She flinched at the sound of Draco's voice.
"Getting yourself into trouble, Granger?" He was standing beside her, looking down at her with a concerned frown on his face.
Hermione stared into his silver eyes. She was transfixed. She wanted to badly to tell him that she had been attacked out of nowhere, as well as thank him for saving her, but he was too beautiful. Especially when she looked up at him with his head in front of the moonlight. She could not get herself to speak. "Mmm…" was all she could say.
Draco raised his eyebrows and a smile cracked his lips. "Wow. Are you that crazy about me that you can't even tell me what just happened to you?"
Hermione shook herself. "I….ugh…I…." she was shivering, restraining herself from jumping at Draco and kissing the daylights out of him.
Draco heaved a sigh and looked at the spot where the hooded figure had been standing. There was a black-and-silver substance in its place. Forktongue's tongue extended a few feet forward and hovered above it, sensing it.
Draco raised his eyebrows, listening to the Cobrazor's series of hisses and spats. "Hmm. Well, according to Forktongue, that stuff is Organink."
At the sound of that, Hermione jumped up. She regained her senses. "Organink?! Oh my gosh…I also saw him holding the Organink Wand as well."
Draco blinked. "Wow. I bet that thief is planning to write his own stories with Organink and bring them into this world, using the Organink Wand."
"I bet he was the same person who broke into my lab and used the Organink and the Organink Wand to release the Cobrazors. Except now that he actually stole both the potion and the wand now, who knows what kinds of creatures he could release into this world?"
"You should tell M.B. and the people in your lab," remarked Draco. "I'll be sure to report this to the Ministry of Magic, as well as all the other Aurors in the Auror department with me. At least we know this thief is a wizard."
Hermione turned to Draco. Suddenly, her head was throbbing and her heart was aching for him again. She found herself grabbing his hand and pulling him close to her so that they were face to face, nose to nose. "Don't leave me," she murmured in a rather seductive tone. She started stroking his hair. "We must work together to stop this thief. Together, we would be….unstoppable."
Draco's eyes were wide as he looked into hers. Before he could say anything, Hermione instantly gasped and pushed him away from her. She grabbed her head and screamed.
"Argh! What's wrong with me?! I hate you, I hate you, Malfoy! Do NOT get any wrong ideas! Anything I just said, it's all in the power of these damn flowers! AAAAGH!"
Forktongue hissed, and Draco gave a soft chuckle. "Geez, Granger. Someone's got a case of Borderline Personality Disorder."
"IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Hermione shouted, forcing herself to keep her angry eyes directed toward the ground, so that she wouldn't be transfixed by Draco's silver eyes again. "You let Galvin's stupid Yapillon give you these seductive powers, and then you listened to him when he told you to use them on me! YOU'RE AWFUL!"
Draco stepped up to her and grabbed her chin with two fingers. He softly tilted her head up so that she was facing him, though her eyes were still directed away. "You know, Granger, there's a reason why I agreed to strike you."
Hermione was shaking with rage and fear at the same time. She was struggling to keep her gaze directed to the side, even though her face was directed toward Draco's.
Draco continued to speak in a steady voice. "I struck you for a reason. It's not just because Galvin told me to. You know I don't like to follow orders, especially from someone who's not even a wizard."
Hermione spoke through clenched teeth and with a shaking voice. "A-are you trying to tell me that y-you struck me because y-you're in love with me?"
A few seconds of silenced passed before Draco responded. "I've been in love with you since 4th year, actually," his voice was quiet. "I was so furious with myself about it, too. I hated myself for having these…uncontrollable feelings of attraction for someone I've despised and insulted for so long. The feelings just seemed to come out of nowhere, specifically after seeing you at the Yule Ball."
Hermione's head was throbbing. She felt tears in her eyes. It was getting harder and harder to keep her eyes away from his.
Draco sighed. "I continued to be the horrible git that I was toward you, just to hide how I was really feeling about you, Granger. I thought eventually those feelings would go away over time. But they never did." His voice became quieter. "So ever since that ball, I've been trying so much to suppress those feelings for you…so I totally get what you're going through right now, Granger. I know what it's like to have feelings for someone you really don't want to be falling for. And I've felt the agony that develops when one tries to suppress such feelings. I know you're hurting terribly."
Hermione's eyes slowly shifted to meet his. Brown eyes met silver eyes.
"I apologize for choosing right now to tell you," said Draco. "But now that you feel the same way about me, the way I had been feeling about you since 4th year, I believe this is the best time the both of us can just…just…"
"Release the tension and stop suppressing our feelings for each other?" Hermione finished for him.
Draco nodded. He never took his eyes off her.
Forktongue let out a hiss.
Hermione blinked, still locking her eyes with Draco's. "Oh….Draco….that thief and his Cobrazor…we must report him as soon as possible. It can't wait…he can bring so much danger to the world."
"You're right…" Draco gently brushed a strand of her hair away from the bleeding wound between her eyebrows, where the thief's Cobrazor had stabbed her. "But…I honestly don't think either of us could function productively if we continue avoiding each other like this."
Hermione bit her lip. "Should we…should we do a quickie?"
Draco smiled. "I don't think a quickie is possible. If we start, we won't be able to stop."
Hermione huffed. "Okay. Let's…let's go all out then. We can take up the rest of tonight. Then tomorrow, we'll report everything we saw about this hooded figure, first thing tomorrow morning."
"Sounds good to me," Draco replied. "Apparate to my apartment?"
Hermione found herself smiling. "Absolutely."
The next thing she knew, she was at the door to Draco's apartment. She watched excited as he took out his keys and unlocked his door.
The door opened, and a figure was standing before them.
It was Voldemort. He looked the same way he did before Harry had defeated him.
Before Draco or Hermione could make a sound, Voldemort raised a wand and aimed it at both of them. "Avada Kedavra!"