Title: Lessons in Lycanthropy
Series: Part I
Pairing: Dramione
POV: Draco
He woke up to a familiar gnawing in his stomach and he rolled out of bed, cracking his neck and stretching his muscles as he did so. His bones ached. They always did at this time of the lunar cycle. It was something he'd quickly learned to live with the last year and a half of his life. The pain, the mental switch flipping in his head, and the instincts he had that he couldn't fight were his new normal.
Fingers briefly fluttered over the scarred bite just above his hip, the thing that had changed everything. The thing that turned him into something else, something predatory. Sure, he was stronger now, faster, and was able to heal from most injuries in a matter minutes, but the moonlust, the transformation, and the insatiable appetite once a month put a damper on things. It all still felt a little wrong. And maybe it always would. Though the healing thing? He liked that. He'd never have another scar. From now on he'd only have the one. Of course that would be the one thing he couldn't heal.
He padded his way to the bathroom and ran some hot water in the sink, splashing his face with it to ease the tension. He looked at himself in the mirror and let his eyes flash the golden hue of a beta. He could do it on command now and he tried hard not to preen at the accomplishment, but it was difficult. He was proud of himself. He had made great progress with the partial shift, and while the full shift left something to be desired, he wasn't afraid of it anymore. Though, it wasn't all his accomplishment.
He should really thank her for that.
A knock pierced the silence, and then a soft voice called to him from the other side of the door. "Draco? I've got the cloak."
He opened the door to stare down into the chocolate brown eyes of Hermione Granger. AKA the only other person in this gods forsaken school who knew his secret. "About time, Granger." He drawled, opening the door wider and letting her in. "I was beginning to succumb to my loneliness."
He didn't miss the roll of her eyes as she passed him. "How are you feeling?"
"Oh, not bad." He replied lazily, dropping down on his bed once more. "Just the run of the mill full moon stuff. You know, the aching limbs, the excruciating headaches, and who could forget the craving for uncooked rabbit?"
"Hilarious, Malfoy." She said, but she was clearly unamused.
Theirs was a tentative friendship. One made out of necessity on his part. The moons he had spent alone were bad. It was only after she found out that things had slowly changed for him. The reasons she was helping him were still up in the air, but he suspected their former professor had a lot to do with it.
He still remembered vividly, the day the friendship forged.
It was just before his fourth full moon. He'd been irritable and feverish the whole week and was struggling to keep his wolf from showing. He'd given up trying to focus on school work and had opted to hide out in the restricted section of the library instead. He should have known the Gryffindor bookworm would probably have no qualms in venturing into that section at her leisure. Unfortunately for him, shed shown up at a particularly trying time. He'd tried to scare her off with a few well phrased insults but instead of making her run off in a huff, she'd furrowed her brows and stared at him.
"Something is off with you, Malfoy."
"Well spotted, Granger."
"Are you alright?" she'd reached out to touch his head and that's when it happened. He'd flashed his eyes at her. He felt the moment it happened and saw the golden glow in the refection of her eyes. His heart may have stopped briefly in that moment.
But she hadn't looked frightened. She hadn't stepped back in shock or fear. No. She just stood there, the hand that had previously been aimed at feeling his forehead dropped to the collar of his shirt and joined the other one as the witch pulled it down, exposing his neck like she was searching for something.
"Whoa! Whoa! What the fuck are you doing?" He batted her away from him but she ignored him, pulling at his sleeves and turning over one unmarred arm and then the other. He could have fought her harder, but the truth was, he was tired of carrying the secret of his affliction alone. He knew she knew. She was just looking for the proof. "Granger!" He yelled, grabbing her hands and holding them still. Startled, she looked up at him again. Neither spoke as he let her go, her hands falling her sides. "Is this what you're looking for?" He whispered, lifting the hem of his shirt up, exposing the angry red and pink marks the rogue alpha had left behind.
Her fingers once again found his skin and he trembled a bit when they came in contact with the bite. "How long?" She asked, "When did this happen?"
"Five months ago, give or take a few days."
She looked back up and removed her hands from his abdomen. "Who? Who was it? Bennet? Crawford? Abner?" She asked quickly, leaving him no room to wonder how she knew of these alphas. "Greyback?"
He frowned. "No. No. It wasn't Greyback."
A look of relief flooded her face. "Good. Ok. That's good."
"Why do you know so much about –" he trailed off, the answer dawning on him. "Lupin."
She nodded. "He has informed me of all the packs in the surrounding areas. For safety of course."
"Of course." He agreed suspiciously.
"So if it wasn't Greyback, who was it?"
"Hmm. You know, I didn't quite get to exchange pleasantries between the screaming and the maiming."
Hands went to hips and she groaned. "I'm being serious here."
He laughed half heartedly. "So am I! I have no idea who did this to me! One minute I'm out in the woods minding my own business and the next thing I know I hear a growl and this thing with red eyes and a drooling snout is staring at me from the bushes. I backed away slowly, like you're supposed to do with a wild animal but it didn't work. The thing came after me and I thought I was done for but all it did was bite me. I didn't figure out until later that it was a werewolf that attacked me." His breath was ragged and he had to sit down after spewing all of the information out like that. "Why does it matter who did it?"
"Believe it or not, werewolf packs have rules and laws to follow just like the rest of us. A respectable pack, a good Alpha would never turn a human unwillingly."
"Then I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that the one that turned me isn't respectable."
"No, I'd say not." She replied quietly. "But you're really lucky it wasn't Greyback."
His head shot up, a dreadful curiosity sparking inside of him as he asked, "Why?"
Her eyes flicked from his face to the wall behind his head. "He…he likes to play with his victims…and those he turns into betas…..well….it isn't pretty."
"Right. I'll count my lucky stars, then." His body had protested after that, tightening and snapping until he was panting at her feet.
She kneeled down, rubbing soothing circles into his back. "Tomorrow is the full moon. What do you do? Where do you go?"
"Forbidden forest. Far away. So no one gets hurt." Except him. He always hurts. He feels like he's dying.
"It will get better, Malfoy. It only feels that way until you have better control over the shift."
He'd said the last part out loud. "And how long will that take?"
"It's different for everyone, I've heard."
Wonderful.
After his tremors subsided and he could breathe again he thanked her. "You won't..you won't tell anyone will you? " The anyone in question being Potter and Weasley was left unsaid.
She shook her head. "No, Malfoy. I won't. It will be our secret."
"But I've been so awful to you!" He'd stuttered, shocked by her sincerity. "Why would you help me?"
"Everyone deserves a second chance, Malfoy." She'd smiled sadly. "Even you."
He watched her walk away until she was almost out of view. "See you tomorrow night!" She'd called over her shoulder, and for the first time in months, he hadn't felt so alone.
She'd been with him every full moon since. He'd been worried at first, not trusting himself to not hurt her, but she reassured him that she was a brilliant witch and was sure she could kick his furry arse all the way to France if she needed to.
She hadn't needed to. She helped him learn control, kept him a safe distance away from the school, and made sure no one else caught on to his predicament. She always knew what to say, what to do to make him understand what he was going through, what he needed to do. Apparently after learning Lupin was a Wolf, she'd researched the fuck out of it and even talked to some local packs , vowing to help them intergrade back into society and admen some of the anti-werewolf laws. She never ceased to amaze him.
He found himself watching her outside of their monthly arrangement, and was confused when she started watching him back. What started out as a helpful lesson in Lycanthropy, had turned into something else, something more. And the rest, as they say, was history.
"Ready to go?" Hermione asked, snapping him out of his memories. She held out the cloak, which looked like nothing but air, and motioned for him to join her. He got up and followed her lead, disappearing under the cloak.
