Werewolves.
Ordinary human beings who, upon the rising of the full moon, become violent and deadly wolves.
As class XXXXX magical beings, ones that have more than a passing resistance to magic while in wolf form, the best course of action for any under-age witch or wizard that comes across a transformed werewolf is to immediately flee the danger area and contact the Ministry of Magic.
Unfortunately, for one Hermione Granger, the 'danger area' was right between her and the only door out of the swimming pool.
Hands trembling as she stared at the approaching werewolf, Hermione found herself wishing she'd thought to bring her wand, not having thought she'd need it for a simple late-night swim. As it were, she was defenceless against the werewolf that was only seconds from sniffing her out, unable to even skirt around the edges of the pool because of its speed.
Biting back a whimper as the werewolf froze, lifting itself onto its hind legs to sniff at the air properly, Hermione felt a brief moment of joy followed by guilt and dread as an echoing bang sounded from the other side of the swimming area. Eyes tracking the werewolf's, she cringed as she saw movement through the dark doors to the men's changing room, the werewolf dropping back down to all fours as it slunk around the pool towards the door.
Still standing frozen, hidden in the shadows of the woman's changing room door, Hermione could only watch in horror as a teenage boy stepped out into the moonlight shining in from the sky-roof over the pool. Arms stretching above his head to reveal a muscled chest, the lean dark-haired boy padded forward on silent feet, completely unaware of the werewolf creeping towards him in the shadows that the bleachers against the wall cast. Mouth opening and closing wordlessly, Hermione tried to move her paralysed limbs, part of her mind certain beyond belief that she was going to watch this teen die in front of her, terrified at the fact that she would watch him die without being able to lift a finger to help.
As the werewolf came even with both Hermione and the stretching boy, eyes almost glowing in the shadows, a frightened squeal escaped her lips, making two sets of eyes snap up to stare at her. Suddenly able to move again, she stepped out of the shadows and her hand flew up to point beyond the boy, trembling as she managed to find the words to scream "RUN!" at the top of her lungs. Her voice echoing through the pool, the werewolf's snarl was almost missed by both teens, as the boy spun around in time for the beast to launch itself at his chest.
And then the werewolf hit the water, the boy having vanished like he'd never been there at all. Hermione screamed as a hand grabbed her shoulder, spinning about and lashing out to strike the boy across the face before she realised it was the black-haired teenager not the black-furred werewolf that'd grabbed her.
"Ow," the boy deadpanned, pulling her back from the doorway slightly so he could peer past her at the werewolf scrambling and floundering in the water. "What the fuck is that?" he demanded seconds later, piercing emerald green eyes locking onto hers as he turned her around to stare at her expectantly. "Well?"
"Werewolf," she blurted dumbly, pushing down the urge to inform the boy that "You have pretty eyes… shit".
For a moment an echo of an arrogant smirk flashed across his face, before it vanished and gave way to the sceptical look that the boy sent at her with a blunt "Werewolves don't exist".
Tearing her eyes away from the boy's, Hermione instead found herself staring down at his chest instead, only needing a second before she was jerking her head back up to look at the lesser of two evils as she shook her head. "They do," she insisted nervously, eyes flicking over to where the werewolf was finally climbing out of the opposite side of the pool, looking like a drowned rat as Hermione turned back to the boy. "They do, and we need to run, now!"
Scoffing at her, the boy peered out at the werewolf with narrowed eyes before shaking his head. "Irish Wolfhound," he declared simply, "Rabid Irish Wolfhound," he corrected with a shrug, "But it's not a werewo-" at this point the werewolf moved to climb back up to its hind legs, the boy's mouth falling open in shock as they both watched it fix its glowing amber eyes on them. "I don't wear silver," he mumbled, turning back to Hermione with a lost expression, "It clashes with my skin".
Deciding to pretend she hadn't heard that last part (as well as pretending she hadn't just mentally agreed with him), Hermione just latched onto the boy's wrist and started running, dragging him towards the door as the werewolf tilted its head back to howl at the moon. Hearing the beast beginning to give chase, its claws clinking across the tiled floor as they ran, a feeling of horror filling her as she realised they weren't going to make it in time. In addition to horror, Hermione felt sick, as she had a dark thought that told her she could make it if she tripped the boy.
Pushing the thought from her mind before it could even fully form, Hermione glanced over her shoulder, time seeming to slow as the werewolf ate up the distance between them. The black-haired teen dug his heels in suddenly, time speeding up again as he spun and charged the beast instead, leaving her watching in horror as the boy vanished again and came shooting out of the wall to tackle the werewolf into the pool, vanishing again to appear beside Hermione, drenching her in the water that apparently apparated with him.
"You're a wizard!" she blurted accusingly, turning to slap her palm against the boy's wet chest.
The boy just blinked at her for a moment, "I- no," he denied simply, "I'm Harry. And we should run," he added with a glance towards the werewolf. Allowing long fingers to curl around her wrist, Hermione let 'Harry' led her from the pool, slamming through the doors and out into the reception area. "So, what are you even doing here?" Harry asked as he doubled back to shut the doors quickly, muscles rippling as he tipped a cupboard over to try block the door off, "I mean I thought this place would be empty".
"That's why you broke in?" Hermione realised, ignoring the werewolf she could hear splashing back in the pool area, "So you could swim?"
"I didn't break in, I teleported, big difference," Harry corrected with a sniff, "Although to be fair it's not like you have any room to talk".
"I have permission!" Hermione argued, "My uncle's girlfriend runs this place, she offered to let me use it at night since I don't like crowds. I have a key".
"Yeah. Cool, whatever," Harry dismissed, "What do we do now? Cos that? That ain't going to hold it," he explained, hiking his thumb over his shoulder at the door.
"I uh- I don't know," she confessed awkwardly, "I don't have an owl, so I can't contact the Ministry and let them know".
"There's a Ministry?" Harry blurted, blinking at her in shock, "How many werewolves are there?"
"I mean the Ministry of Magic," she explained, "Witches and wizards? Like us?"
"I'm not a wizard," Harry corrected, sending her a 'Don't be ridiculous' look. "I'm a teleporter. I've never pulled a rabbit out a hat, or… or turned someone into a newt".
"We don't do that," Hermione denied with a frown, "Well, not the first one".
Whatever Harry's answer was going to be was cut off as something large and heavy slammed into the door, making them both whirl around to stare at it. "You don't have a plan?" he asked slowly, backing away from the door to stand by her side.
"No".
"Huh… hold your breath," Harry instructed, making her blink in confusion, turning to face him just as he grabbed her and pulled her close, slamming her face right into his chest.
Then she was blind. She couldn't see, hear, feel, or even breath… for one second, for two seconds.
And then she was back again, gasping for air as music filled her ears, her eyes snapping back open to look around the flash looking apartment she was standing in. Mouth opening and closing silently once more, Hermione looked around at the décor and the things strew around the place, quickly coming to the conclusion that they were standing in the boy's apartment. "Where… where are we?" she asked hesitantly, before freezing and taking in the floating ball of metal on the table, "You are a wizard!" she yelled, pulling away from Harry as she slapped at his still bare chest.
Harry just sighed, shaking his head slowly, making her nod quickly. "Yes!" she insisted, "You apparated! And explain that!" she exclaimed, jabbing her finger at the hovering metal ball.
"I did what now?" the teen asked curiously, smoothly raising an eyebrow at her.
"You apparated! Magical teleportation?" Hermione exclaimed, raising her own eyebrows at him only for Harry to not even blink back. "And that? That's magical!"
The boy just sighed, vanishing almost silently and reappearing next to the table instantly. Picking up the metal ball and it's pedestal, Harry vanished once more, teleporting back to stand before her as he held the two objects out for Hermione to inspect. "It's not magic," he said slowly as she accepted the offer and snatched them from his hands, "It's science. Magnetic levitation, well, magnetic levitation".
"I… oh," Hermione exhaled slowly as he took them back and teleported back over to the table to put the metal ball back. "But… you still apparated?" she asked hesitantly, suddenly a lot more unsure her accusations that he was a wizard.
"Never heard that word before in my life," Harry admitted, shrugging as he stood there casually.
"Magical teleportation?" she repeated, making him shake his head. "Oh".
"I would say that magic doesn't exist," Harry began slowly, "But I'm a teleporter, you're apparently a witch, and that was a werewolf. So thank you for ruining my view on life".
"You're welcome," Hermione squeaked out, coughing gently so she could say "You're welcome," again without sounding like a prepubescent girl. "I'm Hermione," she added, introducing herself rather late as she glanced around his apartment again, absently wondering if his parents were going to come out to investigate their noise-making.
"Harry," came the simple reply, the boy not seeming to care that his chest was on full display, constantly drawing her blushing eyes back to it. The bastard knew he looked good, he had to, there was no other reason for him to be standing so… provocatively.
Noticing the moonlight still coming through the apartment windows, Hermione realised they had to still be somewhere in the same time-zone, moving over to the window after a glance at the clearly deep in thought Harry.
London… they were in London, she could see the London Eye in the distance.
"So uh…" Harry began, breaking through her thoughts and making her turn back to see him drying himself off with a towel, "Where do you live?"
"What?"
"Where do you live?" Harry asked again, leaving the towel over his shoulder as he moved over to open a laptop and turn it on. "I can just look up your place on Google Maps and teleport to it," he explained, "It'll be safer than dropping you off at the pool again".
It was nearly two in the morning when Hermione finally got to go to bed, having spent almost an hour trying to assure her parents that she'd be fine heading back to help fix up the pool in the morning, and that the werewolf hadn't touched her.
She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to tell her Uncle's girlfriend come morning though, especially since she knew that she had security cameras set up to stop people from breaking in, meaning she caught both the werewolf and Harry on film. Worst case scenario she'd have to Diagon Alley and find her way to the Ministry of Magic to report that the Statue of Secrecy had been breached.
Slowly taking off her jumper, Hermione shivered slightly in the cool air of her bedroom, emptying out her pockets before faltering as a small piece of paper fell out of her wallet and fluttered to the floor. Frowning as she picked it up and squinted at the writing, she could only let out a snort of disbelief before giggling, propping the note up on her bedside table as she climbed into bed.
Making herself comfortable, Hermione glanced over at the note, which was bathed in the suddenly much scarier moonlight.
"So… you ever had dinner by candlelight in Paris? Call me if you're interested - Harry ;)"
Jump
Based off my own 'Jumper' challenge, this idea was a little awkward to write since I just couldn't seem to get anything right. Hope you guys enjoy it more than I did.
I don't own Harry Potter.