Never had Draco been in something as intense as a wolf fight before. Not even his roughest Quidditch matches. The only thing that came close was standing before the Dark Lord. It was a different kind of fear then, the death he would suffer before him would be quick. Painless. If he died now though, it would be different. Bloody, messy, and very painful.
A whimper escaped Draco as the blood ran down his fur. He locked his jaws around Light Paw's flank and tore, jerking his head hard. He tasted the fur in his mouth, having no doubt that he'd taken a chunk with him. He dropped the small amount of flesh before he could taste any blood. Spitting that out had been the perfect opportunity for the bigger wolf though.
Draco wheezed as Light Paw pushed him to the ground with his front pas. He felt the looming presence of the wolf above him. He was sure that this was going to be it, Light Paw let out a piercing howl though, a howl in pain. Draco flinched away from it. Light Paw began to snort, whimpered as he turned away from Draco. The young man opened his eyes, though with great difficulty, just to see the wolves running, running towards what he didn't know. Certainly not Hermione? 'I hope she got out okay.' Draco couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. He felt cold, colder than he had in awhile.
What seemed like a life time later, Draco heard a voice. Hermione? Why the hell was she here. He'd told her to get out. Draco tried to move, tried opening his eyes to warn her to get away, Draco found that he couldn't move though. He felt the wind rushing by him, felt the ground fall away from his back. It frightened Draco, he wasn't ready to die! Definitely not like this.
The two women sat in silence, sipping at the hot chocolate. Professor Langdon had spoke of pumpkin juice, Winky had insisted upon making them her special hot chocolate though. Saying that it had gotten her through the hard nights after Dobby.
"You be drinking that up Missus!" Winky instructed looking at Hermione. The little elf knew a frazzled girl when she saw one. "It'll help calm you. Makin you feel better yes." Winky dropped a dollop of whip cream into Hermione's cup, just to cool it off. Hermione, despite not liking the way House Elves were being treated couldn't help but smile at the elf.
"Thank you Winky." Hermione sipped at the hot chocolate, the stick of cinnamon winky had placed in it spiced it, making the chocolate delicious. "I like the new dress that you have." It resembled the blue one she used to have, only in a deep purple.
"Thank you Missus but it is being the same dress. Winky dyed it purple." Hermione noticed that the dress was indeed patched in the same place. Winky almost looked embarrassed at her next words. "Winky is always liking the color purple the most." She admitted before bustling about the kitchen, cleaning an already spotless table.
"It looks very nice on you Winky." Hermione assured the little elf putting her cup down, now devoid of any hot chocolate. She looked up at Professor Langdon, who hadn't said anything so far. Hermione's eyes narrowed as she looked at the woman. Even though Hermione knew she held part of the blame, something she still couldn't explain, Professor Langdon wasn't without fault. The woman looked up at Hermione's glare, wincing.
"Look, Hermione, something I want you to understand." Professor Langdon was silenced by her student, who held up a hand.
"What I want to know from you, is how this happened. Why wasn't there some sort of security measure taken? After all we were in a container with wild animals." Hermione felt the sneer on her face, she couldn't stop it though despite the hate she felt because of it. "This is a school."
"Young Lady, I'm sorry this happened but I am still your teacher and you will respect me." Professor Langdon only received laughter at her anger.
"With all due respect, Professor, I've seen more than you probably ever will. My respect is earned. Now, I want you to explain to me how it is that Malfoy ended up in this situation." Professor Langdon glared at Hermione for a moment, knowing that the girl was indeed correct.
"There is a reason people do not stay transformed as animals for very long. Being transformed into an animal is different than entering your animagus state. Wizards are warned not to spend more than twelve hours transformed as an animal." Hermione felt like she could have hit herself. She had read about this, though it had been quite awhile ago, back in third year.
"Of course, every minute a witch or wizard stays transformed instincts begin to take over and logical reason takes a back seat." Professor Langdon nodded. "Malfoy and I were literally, turning into wolves."
"As such they would have stopped regarding you as people, your scent would have changed, they would have seen you as wolves. Like them." Not wanting Hermione to yell at her again Professor Langdon quickly added. "Don't get me wrong, there were security measures in place. You blood, if spilled, became an acid like agent, burning whoever it touched."
It made sense to Hermione. Clever really, something she would have thought of herself. There was just once thing that Hermione didn't understand.
"Why were we in the container for more than twelve hours? Weren't you supposed to come and get us at nine o'clock this morning?" Hermione's eyes almost popped out of her head at the sheepish look Professor Langdon gave her, and the words that followed.
"YOU WERE GETTING DRUNK WITH THE HEADMISTRESS!?" A few elves scittered around the two of them, shooting the two women worried looks. Their cups had disappeared, being cleverly replaced by two cinnamon rolls, fat, and glazed with rich cream cheese.
"Now Hermione," Professor Langdon decided not to argue and instead diverted the woman's attention. ", I thought you wanted to go and check on Mr. Malfoy?" Professor Langdon took a bite of her cinnamon roll hoping the she'd provided a good enough distractions. Hermione gasped, quickly standing up as Professor Langdon smiled secretly, knowing she had indeed provided an adequate distraction.
"I almost forgot, come on." Hermione stopped, eyeing her cinnamon roll. With a second thought the girl grabbed it, before running off towards the Hospital Wing, worry etched on her face. As she entered the Hospital Wing, Hermione bit her lip. Madam Pomfrey was no longer bustling around Malfoy, but the curtains were drawn around his bed. Hermione presumed it was his bed, as no one else occupied the other ones. Madam Promfrey shot her a glare as she walked slowly towards the bed.
"If he going to be alright?" Hermione knew that the question was probably foolish, she couldn't help it though. Seeing her worry the woman stopped for a moment with a sharp sign.
"I've got him stabilized, given him a blood replenishing potion, and healed his wounds. He won't be able to move the same for a few days, he'll be sore, he might scar, an he will definitely bruise, but he'll live." Madam Pomfrey assured the girl. As she began to walk away, the woman stopped, looking back at Hermione. "He needs rest though. So I must ask you not to tarry." Hermione nodded hurriedly.
"Of course not, I'll only be a minute." Madam Pomfrey's lips pursed, she gave one sharp nod and left the girl alone. Opening the curtains Hermione looked down at Malfoy, his entire torso was wrapped, the bandages slightly pinked with blood. Madam Pomfrey had cleaned him up for the most part. Though his cheek had a shallow bruise on it, and his hair matted against his skull with dirt, and a streak of blood through it. Hermione felt the tears prick at her eyes again just looking at the boy.
"Scourgify." Hermione murmured pointing her wand at the boy's hair and face. The dirt and blood were gone, but it didn't make him look any better. Her bottom lip quivered and Hermione bent down, giving no thought to the kiss she placed on his forehead. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened, but I promise, I'm going to make it up to you." Hermione knew that Malfoy probably couldn't hear her, and would probably be angry at her for kissing him, for touching him at all, but she couldn't help herself. There was no doubt in her mind, Draco had saved her from something terrible.
"What the hell are you doing here?" The voice made Hermione jump, moving away from Malfoy quickly. Hermione blinked looking up at Theo and Blaise. "I asked you a question Granger." Blaise pressed his eyes narrowed as he looked at her. "What the hell are you doing here?" Hermione opened and closed her mouth, grasping at straws. Finally, settling on the truth.
"I came to make sure that Malfoy was okay." Theo was the one to speak up this time. His quiet voice, intimidating, his deep brown eyes narrowed.
"How did you even know he was in the hospital wing? We only just found out, as the Headmistress' came to inform us that he was attacked by a wolf." Hermione swallowed clutching her hands together in front of her. How did she explain this to Malfoy's friends?
"The Headmistress, is correct he was indeed attacked by a wolf. You see we were doing our animagus training and well, something happened." Hermione pressed a hand to her forehead. She still didn't understand what had happened to cause the wolves to attack each other so. "We woke up and Malfoy got into a fight with the alpha." Hermione sighed a little hating that she didn't understand.
"So you're the reason that he's in here?" Hermione blinked shaking her head at the accusation Blaise shot at her.
"No, no, I didn't have anything to do with this, at least." Hermione bit her lip. "I don't think I did. Malfoy woke up and he, he, he, smelled me, then he started licking me." Hermione shook her head. "It was all very strange.
"There are few things that men, or wolves fight about. Women is one of them." Blaise couldn't control his anger as he looked at the girl. She'd done this to his best mate and had the audacity to think she was innocent? Theo put a hand on Blaise's shoulder, well aware that his temper was getting the better of him.
"I just wanted to. . "Hermione felt the tears prickling at her eyes all over again, this time they watered obstructing her view.
"You've done enough Mudblood!" Blaise shouldering her away from his best friend. Theo looked at Hermione as she backed away from Malfoy's bed. His face in a stern line.
"You should go Hermione. He's going to make a recovery. I'm sure your friends want to know if you're alright." While Theo could be civil, he felt a storm inside as he looked at his best friend, laying unconscious, bandages wrapped about him, while she stood, not a hair out of place on her bushy head.
A/N: I would just like to take a moment and THANK those of you who've been giving me wonderful reviews. You are the reason I write, even after a long night of work! To the person who keeps giving me negative reviews anonymously. Grow up buttercup. If you don't like my story don't read it :D I can tell you really haven't read it as you don't realize that all the students are of age, not only that, they volunteered. Have a good day!