A/N: I come bearing another Dramione Fanfic. Also listen guys I'm sorry for any grammar errors that happen. Sometimes I just let the grammar checker do its thing and I don't notice on the fourth time reading it. If you comment on here or my other fics I'll read it and fix it in due time. BUT IF ITS SOMETHING SMALL THAT HAPPENS ONCE... we can let an extra comma slide for a bit, it'll be okay. With Much Love, I hope you enjoy! ~ UnconsciouslyReading
Prologue
"I think it started when you were undressing me with your eyes in the prefect's bathroom," Draco said with a smug expression.
"Little work my eyes had to do Draco, you weren't wearing clothes," she shot back. "Anyways, that's not where it started. I think it started that first night you ran into me in the halls."
"No no no. Let's not forget the puppeteer master over here." Theo interrupted with his arms wide. He pulled up a chair to their table. "It started in potions class. Where I worked tediously to get you both to shack up together. Might I say I did very well."
Blaise wasn't too far behind him when he smacked his friend upside the head. He placed his gift in the middle of the round pastel yellow table.
"Right ring leader over here. I think it was just building up from all the Hogwarts years. Remember what I said about the forest? That would've never happened if the fates weren't at work way before." He said.
Hermione and Draco shared a look with each other. Blaise had a point. To say it started at one specific point would be dismissive of their entire relationship. However, that didn't mean that they should just ignore when they really DID start to develop interest in each other. No one would deny that a shift had occurred the year they went back to Hogwarts after the War.
June 29th, 1999 First Encounter
A scream shook the trees in the forest. The wizard's bones shattered and rearranged themselves like a jigsaw puzzle. His hair pierced through his skin, covering every inch of his body in fur. He fell onto all fours when his spine stretched into a tail. His face morphed into the snout of a dog and his eyes turned from a terrified icey grey to wild gold.
He panted heavily once the transformation was complete and set off to tread through the thick brush. He heard animals in the forest scamper away into trees and holes. The wolf flexed his paws and clawed at the trunk of a tree. Many wolves agree to take the wolfsbane potion less they lose their mind. What they don't tell you, is that you still don't have your mind completely. Your mind instead is that of a wolf. All wolf priorities become yours, as well as their instincts.
His ears perked up and turned toward the left. A branch had snapped a mile away. He looked toward the sound and stopped halfway there. The wolf raised his nose and sniffed the air. He smelled something...odd. It wasn't a rodent, bird, or beast he knew. He pushed his nose toward the ground and started tracking the scent.
He looked up and saw it. A human. Humans don't smell like that, he thought. He was a few feet behind her, hidden by trees. Grey irises swirled into the golden hues as he recognized the figure. It was on the tip of his tongue, especially with the thick brown hair. When she turned around he concealed himself behind the tree. She whipped her head each way and lifted her arm. The wolf shook his head and the gray disappeared.
He watched her. She looked at something on her wrist and then crouched to the ground to pick up the leaves that she had laid out. He sniffed in her direction. He tilted his head to the side like a curious pup, which he kind of was. He slowly stepped closer and closer to the female human. She was too busy sorting and humming to see him. He was directly behind her and she still didn't realize he was there. She had no natural instincts. He should eat her, he thought.
Why didn't he want to eat her? The wolf sat down confused. He decided to sniff her and see if that made him want to at least bite her arm off. He quirked his head again. She smelled...interesting. He put his nose closer and exhaled onto her hair. She dropped the last leaves and berries she had picked up and froze.
"Oh no," she whispered.
The wolf pulled back into his seated position and let out a little "boof". She turned around slowly holding a long stick in her hand. He was much bigger than this crouching human.
"Hi, please tell me you're just a regular white wolf who happens to be out on a full moon." She asked nervously.
He watched her point the stick at him and growled at it. He sensed it meant danger. Her brown eyes were level with his and if she wasn't careful he would bite her. He put his snout closer to her and sniffed her face. She scrunched up her eyes and tried not to move. He shook his head and circled around her.
"Hey!" She said while moving her tush away from him. He growled a bit but continued sniffing the rest of her.
He noticed her hand still grasped the long stick and with one swift motion, he yanked it out of her hand and ran.
"HEY get back here you- you rude wolf!" She shouted chasing him down. He didn't run at his actual speed, then she would never keep up. She was a fast human though.
He tried running through several trees and turned his head back to see where she was. When he didn't see her he turned his ears toward her direction. She was coming, so he went behind the tree and buried the stick. If wolves could smirk, this one would. He picked a similar stick and kept it between his teeth. He heard the running get closer and soon the human appeared.
"There," gasp "You—are!" She put her arms over her head and tried to breathe. He sat back down while he waited. "Oh, you think you're so funny stealing my wand don't you?"
He started swishing his tail. She groaned and stomped her foot. "You be a good wolf and give it back to me right now!"
He rose from his position and lifted a paw. She squinted at him. He put the paw to his side and bent low like he was going to pounce. "Nnn-noooo" He wagged his tail more. "Give. It." She gritted her teeth. The tension was thick. He got lower and when she moved to reach out her hand he ran away.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS!"
He knew she would chase him but he kind of wanted to do the chasing now. It's not like there were many other creatures in the forest out to play, so the good-smelling human would have to. He hid behind a bush and waited for her to catch up. She came forward panting.
"Please wolf or werewolf just give me back my wand." She begged.
Then he pounced in front of the bushes. She smiled. Not good, she needed to run. So he growled at her and started stalking forward. "Nice wolf," she said with her palms facing him. "If you want to keep it that bad, fine."
He didn't know what she was saying, only that she was scared. So he ran toward her. She ran back the way she came fast. Through bushes and twigs and leaves. It was thrilling getting to chase something. Once they neared the spot he buried her real stick, kicked it up a notch, and tackled her.
"Owww" she yelped when she hit the ground.
Humans were too fragile. He dropped the stick near her hand and jumped off her, swishing his tail in her face. She swatted it away with her hand and rose to her forearms.
"You have got to be the rudest wolf here. You're such a...well if you were a human you would be a prat!"
The wolf turned around to face her and dropped to her face. He had been a bit rough with her, but he was still a younger wolf after all. He wasn't fully aware of his strength. He licked the side of her face. "Thanks-thank you, that's enough," she said as she sat up. He stopped and moved to sit next to her.
"This isn't even my wand!" She screeched as picked up the stick. His eyes darted toward the tree. She noticed. "GO get it" she punctuated with her finger-pointing. He exhaled. "Don't hmph at me!" He moved when she swatted him with her bag.
Slowly he got up, went behind the tree, and dug it out. He trotted up toward her and dropped it in her lap. "Thank you," she said and reached into her satchel. Strangely enough, she had a treat to give him. He was a bit nippy, so he ate it from her hand. "Good boy".
He kind of liked this human. She smelled nice and gave him food. He circled around her and put his head in her lap. "Sure, just invite yourself" she mumbled. He snuffed and flipped to his side. His head was huge and covered her whole lap. She sighed and began petting his head and stomach. It was calming, he felt very peaceful and could have laid there forever. This was the first time he had someone by him during a transformation, and he was enjoying it. The wizard and the wolf both agreed, peace was something rarely felt. It needed to be appreciated when offered. His eyes slowly drifted shut.
Some time had passed when he felt something poking him. The human had lifted his mouth and began inspecting his teeth; then his ear, then his paw. Eventually, he flipped over and faced her. "Sorry, did I wake you?" she asked particularly blasé.
He lifted up his snout and licked her face again, knowing she didn't like it. Then he sat up and placed his chin on top of her head. After all, he was running the show. She didn't understand why he did that and started scratching his furry chest. He nudged her hand away with his snout, he enjoyed it…but that wasn't the point. He licked her one more time and put his paw on her shoulder.
"What, are you establishing dominance or something?"
He could feel the moon start to set so he had to think quickly. He wanted to find this human again. He leaped away from her, a fair distance. She was startled, but didn't make a move, just turned her head curiously. The moon was descending even further, and he could feel his bones wanting to shift. He let out a snarl he couldn't contain, that made the human scurry onto her legs. She picked up her wand and scrunched her eyes.
"Oh no no no. I can't remember where my base is… Come on, Hermione think." She mumbled.
The wolf didn't understand what that meant, but he knew she was afraid. She didn't need to be, she just didn't understand that this meant he liked her. The bite might hurt, but he would just try not to bite so hard. He leaned back on his hind legs and stared her down.
The human's eyes shifted around her. "There's no way I can run that far. I might…" Her voice drifted off.
Her eyes grew wide, as he started sprinting. She swished her stick around right before he jumped. He landed on the other side, drifting into the dirt. He whipped his head around to where the human girl was. The human was gone, instead was a medium sized brown shaggy dog.
The dog shook its head and then turned to face him. The wolf sniffed the air. The dog smelled exactly like the girl. He wasn't sure how, but he had a feeling the stick had done something. He stared at the brown dog's eyes. It was her. He felt it. Something about the dog just made him know that it was her.
Then the dog broke out into a wolf was right at its heels. They resumed almost the same path as before, weaving through the trees. As they were nearing the edge, the brown dog tripped over a root sticking from the ground. The wolf wasted no time. He tackled the dog to the ground. She let out a small yelp as they tumbled.
The back of his hair stood up. Not a second to lose. He reeled back and clamped his jaw on the dog's shoulder. She cried out in pain. He let go immediately and backed away from her.
The dog whimpered and scrambled away from the wolf. She barked wildly at him as she limped away. The wolf turned to follow, but stopped mid-walk. He let out a long howl, just as the sun began to rise. The werewolf fell to the floor of the forest. He cried out in pain as his bones began to shift, and his hair shed.
The dog was able to scamper away, just before the wolf became a man.
Somewhere in the forest a friend followed the call of the howl.
"Tsk Tsk," said the tan wizard above the knocked-out werewolf."Oh Drake, what are we going to do with you now?"
The werewolf was out cold, curled up in a naked ball. The friend laid out the robe he brought over his figure and tucked the wand into the pocket. He set down some slippers by his feet and was about to go back to his safe point until he heard a rustle of leaves. The wizard turned toward the sound of a woman groaning. He crept through the trees and found her propped up against one.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"Whose, there?" Hermione turned toward the voice with one hand on her shoulder, the other loosely gripping her wand.
"Don't worry, I'm here to help," he said calmly.
"Za-Zabini, what are you doing here? Please, help me up, I'm hurt. My study base isn't far from here." She struggled to rise while trying to manage her wounded shoulder.
He strode over to her, careful to mind her shoulder as he picked her up. "Where did you say it was?"
"I'm not sure, it's not too far from the eastern sign closer to the town. I think there's a stream before it? It shouldn't be much further." She winced as they walked.
Zabini waited till they were close enough to see her tent before speaking up again. "Hey Granger, what did you say happened in the forest again?"
She grimaced as she trudged along. "I was in the forest trying to gather some herbs and artifacts to study. It's part of a summer project I was working on with Neville and Professor Sprout. While I was there I… Well more like a wolf found me."
She swallowed hard and then looked away. She completely missed the grip he had on his wand.
"Oh, that's unfortunate. Did you see him transform?" He asked.
"Transform? You mean that wolf really was a—"
"Oh nevermind that." He swatted away. With a swift precision he pointed his wand toward Hermione's mind and spoke "Confundo".
Hermione's head knocked back. She blinked a few times, looking around curiously.
Wand still drawn, he walked around her and whispered "Velox Somno".
Instantly, her eyes shut and she started falling. He had already planned for that though, and was able to catch her. With a last wave of his wand, he levitated her back to her tent. He laid her onto her makeshift bed and summoned his satchel that carried his first aid supplies. He peeled back the collar of her shirt and winced.
"Oh Draco, Draco, Draco. Typical blonde prat. Always pushing too far," Zabini sighed.
He started to whistle an upbeat tune as he began applying Dittany, hoping to finish before the sun fully rose.