The school day went by relatively quickly. It was like slipping back into a second skin. As soon as she got back to her room Hermione drew herself a bath. While she sat in the warm water, she leaned her head back against the ceramic wall and sighed. She flicked open the large window to let in a breeze and picked up her new book to read while the bath oils soothed her muscles. Under the light of the moon by the window, she glanced at her arm holding the book and saw the ugly scar carved in. She examined it- it was a lot better than it had been a year ago that's for sure.

She skimmed her body and looked at the other scattered lines. She hated scars, memories she was forced to remember. There were some around the bottoms of her legs, a small one on her side from being hit with a spell, and one… Hermione tilted her head at the small mark on her right shoulder. She could only see a fraction of it but could feel it extend farther back. She ran her finger over it and felt how it curved. It must've been the one she had gotten when camping over the summer. She continued to follow it as far back as she could, but she didn't know if it collided with another scar on her back or if it came fully around. That's when she heard it, a bone-chilling sound that sent shivers down her spine.

A howl.

Hermione had thought all the wolves had left the forbidden forest- at the very least the parts closest to the school. She craned her neck to see beneath the window, the dark greens and blues of the forest were illuminated by the moon. The leaves bristled and flew as something under them ran around. She saw black silhouettes of birds flapping their wings and soaring off. The sound was unmistakable.

She slunk into the tub as memories flooded in of the savage Greyback and his band of cruel werewolves, hunting them, aligned with Voldemort.

No, she shook her head to cut the intrusive thoughts away. It wasn't them, they're dead. It had to have been a wolf. A wolf, they weren't nearly as bad as werewolves she supposed. No, she shouldn't think like that either.

Remus had been a perfectly fine man and was a decent werewolf. He had taken the necessary precautions and wolfsbane. She shouldn't judge an entire group based on a handful of them. Her look of somber shifted into a small grin as she remembered the cardigan-wearing, chocolate-eating man. Even more so as she remembered his puppy-like companion.

She glanced back up at the shiny full moon, begging to be stared at. A werewolf was a complicated, horrid thing she'd never wish upon anyone. Hopefully, they had a companion. Being a werewolf could be a lonely life for the poor soul should they not. Though maybe it wasn't too bad. Hermione was there, listening to their voice. And they had the beautiful presence of the moon. She tipped her book as a salute to the creatures roaming the forest, whether they were part man or not.

The week went by in a blur for Draco Malfoy. He had completely missed the first two days and was requested by the headmistress the day after. The conversation consisted of McGonagall reminding him of all the rules he was to follow and to be properly checked by the nurse. Thursday morning was Draco's first day physically walking around the castle and something was bugging him.

It was like he was forgetting something important like he needed to find something. The feeling pestered him, tapping at the back of his skull. He supposed he should thank the distraction, it gave him something else to think about while half of Hogwarts stared at him. People were either terrified, resentful, or disgusted as he walked the halls. No one dared to say anything though, something he didn't quite understand.

"Potter had made a speech the first day," Zabini explained as they walked to Charms class. "It surprised everyone. He had once again played the savior and asked everyone to not make attending harder than it needed to be. That we should try to enjoy the time they have here while they have it. That he didn't die and come back for nothing. Or something more sappy and heroic."

"Good to know his self-esteem has shot up since he left. Fucking God-complex he has now," Draco muttered in return.

He took a seat in the back left corner of the room with Zabini and waited for the small teacher to begin class. He took the time to look around the room. He realized Potter and his sidekick had neglected to come back this year. Now that he thought about it, his mother mentioned something about Potter becoming an Auror. As if defeating Voldemort wasn't enough. That hadn't stopped the other third of their trio from returning. Out of the three of them, she would be the most likely to continue her education.

He clenched his jaw returning to his notes. She just sat there, like nothing had happened like the entire summer was completely normal. He supposed for Hermione Granger, it had been, but that wasn't the case for Draco. His quill trembled in his hand as he remembered. The weeks after the war, the hearings, the night of the incident. He set his quill down and looked back up at the studious brunette. He owed everything to her now; to her and the dundering duo.

He remembered that day of his hearing. He had never expected any of them to speak up for him, least of all her. She had surprised him. It had been a few days after the full moon then as well. He still remembers how he could hear her heartbeat. His senses narrowed in on it out of everyone in that courtroom. It had skipped a beat.

He could hear her muttering to herself about the lesson the previous day. He watched in fascination how after every question Hermione's hand would still bolt up to answer. Some things never change. Sometimes she would even answer while still writing. She was facing the front, where he had a full view of her. Their class desks were arranged in a U shape.

There seemed to be something different about her too. Her hair had grown longer, falling past the middle of her back. The curls seemed to be more tamed than before. He couldn't tease her about the mass of frizz she called hair. When was the last time he had teased her? When was the last time he had spoken to her? His mother had urged him to write letters to the three to thank them for their testimonies. He had only managed to write one. He continued to watch her, not sure what he was hoping to find.

"Oi, do you have a death wish," Zabini whispered beside him.

Draco snapped back to reality and glanced at his friend. "What?"

"Why are you staring at the golden girl? I thought you said you wanted to keep a low profile. You can't go around reverting to old habits," he clarified.

Draco scowled and looked back at the teacher who was waving her wand over her hair and rambling on about colors or something. Whatever it was, Draco didn't care to focus. He scribbled some notes that Zabini had written down. After some time, his eyes wandered back to the bookworm. He supposed he was staring now. He became fixated on how she bit the edge of her quill while she thought. Her teeth seemed to fit her face a lot more than they had when they were younger. He watched as she tapped the quill feather against her lips. Her lips were a soft rosy pink color. Like the carnations in his mother's garden. He licked his lips distractedly.

"- Mr. Malfoy?" The professor called.

Draco whipped his head back to the teacher immediately. He tried to school his features back to passive engagement. She watched him expectantly.

"I'm sorry, what did you ask, professor?" He asked carefully.

She sighed and folded her arms. "Perhaps instead of staring at your classmates, you could pay attention to the lesson."

"Yes Professor," he replied with a bit of a growl to his voice.

She smiled and turned back to the board where she started to write the list of points Draco assumed she had been trying to ask him about.

"Nice going, really smooth," Blaise whispered.

Draco snarled at Blaise. The effects of the full moon hadn't fully worn off, he was still on edge.

Blaise scoffed. "Calm down pet, I'm just trying to help as you asked."

"Well stop helping, or at the very least tell me when the teacher is staring at me," he whispered back.

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Fine, but we're talking about your literal bout of insanity when we get back to the dorms."

"Fine," Draco snapped, turning back to the teacher.

Like an unmedicated kid with ADHD, it was hell trying to stay focused on the teacher. He could feel the wolf pacing in the back of his mind, insisting he had forgotten something. Or maybe it was that he needed to do something? Nevertheless, the feeling persisted. The wolf and his fixation on Hermione battled in his mind.

Thankfully the bell rang and Blaise helped direct him to their next class.

"So why the sudden attraction to Granger?" Theo asked abruptly, suddenly appearing next to them.

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked stiffly.

"Oh while you were staring at her I was staring right at you, my oblivious bottle blond," he cooed.

Draco groaned in response. "I wasn't staring. I was just…distracted."

"Hey, I'm not saying anything. Being a hero suits her. The girl has filled out quite a bit since last year, I've stolen a few glances too." he joked.

But something in his joke made Draco's blood boil. His lip curled in a snarl at his friend.

"Woah," Theodore said, raising his hands. "Come on Draco, I wasn't that serious."

Draco dropped the snarl, shocked at his behavior. "I–I know I'm not sure why…" but he couldn't finish his thought. He didn't understand why he reacted like that.

"Look, you're still getting used to your new…friend. You're probably just a bit more testy to Theo's general wanker-like traits." Blaise supplied an explanation.

Draco nodded and focused on getting to class. As they approached the door to the potions lab, something inside him told him not to go in yet. Draco looked around curiously, not seeing any reason why he shouldn't walk in. The last of the students were still filing into the class. He started walking in when—

Wait

That made him stop in his tracks. He looked around again and that's when a blast of magic zipped past his shoulder. A group of fourth-year-olds followed it blindly. Draco started running after them, not sure where this was going. That's when he saw Hermione walking toward the group. She was entirely focused on trying to grab a book out of her bag, barely glancing up.

Two of the boys were running faster now-weaving through the other students in the hall. He quickened his pace forward, already anticipating the next events. Hermione had just finished putting the last book away when Draco grabbed her by her arms and spun her out of the magic's path.

She gasped and instinctively placed her hands on his arms to steady herself. She looked back toward the noise and realized her mistake. The ball of magic slammed into one of the boys and sent them crashing back into a wall.

"Thank you," she said as she looked up. "Oh!"

He froze completely, staring into her brown eyes. He couldn't move, he felt memories flash in his mind. Hogwarts, the war, the courtroom, a forest.

"I'm sorry, Um…" She hastily took her hands off of him and brushed her palms on her skirt.

His hands were tingling with some type of magic. Something in his chest started to ache. She looked at him expectantly as he gave her a wary stare. He finally remembered his grip on her arms and slowly dropped his hands. None of this made any sense to him. He started breathing a bit hard, trying to gather himself.

"Sorry, my bag was stuck in a corner of my potions book. I wasn't paying attention." She said, shaking her head with an awkward smile. "Thanks for moving me Malfoy."

He blinked and nodded his acknowledgment.

"Alrighty… I should get going to class," she muttered as she continued toward her next destination.

Draco followed after her, keeping pace. He flexed and squeezed his hands as he walked. Her figure felt like a ghost on his fingertips. He shook his head, trying to forget the interaction they just had. Without thinking, he reached for the door and held it open for her. She furrowed her brows but still slid past him.

The door opened with a breeze that blew her scent toward him. His eyes rolled back a bit. He wondered why he hadn't noticed it before. Whatever she had on was intoxicating. It was sweet and warm. He inhaled a bit more as she walked past him. He was about to ask her what she was wearing when he remembered himself.

How fucking weird would it be to ask what perfume she was wearing? Why would he even ask, he wasn't planning on wearing it. He never cared what a woman was wearing even if it was mildly pleasing. Still, that scent… It set something on fire within him. It was intoxicating, addicting. He'd do anything to smell that again.

Blaise stood out in the hallway calling him to their class. He snapped him out of his trance. He must be losing his mind. There's no other explanation. He followed Blaise's voice to his class, his mind racing. Thankfully she wasn't in this one. He could ruminate on everything that had just happened.

What was that? The wolf had never shown that kind of power before. Sure, he had only transformed a handful of times, but nothing like that had ever happened.

The memories, the memories were the worst. There were so many memories between him and Gryffindor. What was that glimpse of the forest? He had never run into her there. He tried to think about it as the professor scribbled away on the board. It felt odd, like a dream rather than a memory.

Draco tried to focus on the curriculum for the Potions class to no avail. He felt like Sisyphus and that damn rock. He seemed to fight with himself to focus on class rather than the wonderfully smelling witch. Now that he had encountered it, he could smell it even from his seat. He chanced a glance toward her and froze. Warm amber eyes locked in on his own and he felt his heart skip a beat. She blinked a few times, a tint of pink appearing on her cheeks before she looked back down at her notes.

Now his heart was hammering. He shook his head. This was not good. This was not normal.

He glanced again at the witch and seemed to catch her just before she looked away. Again, his heart seemed to flutter. This was not normal, Draco Malfoy did not act like this, but neither did Hermione Granger. Why was she looking at him now? Was it just because he was looking at her? Did she feel something too? Could she feel this strange need that seemed to be forming in his mind?

Draco sighed and brought his arm to his desk to rest his face on the palm of his hand. He chanced one last glance at her, but this time she was focused on Professor Slughorn. His chest began to ache. This was ridiculous. Of course, she was focusing on Slughorn, he should be too this was a fucking class. She had probably felt nothing before, she couldn't have known about how something in him was begging him to look at her.

"Psst, Drake," Blaise whispered next to him.

Draco grumbled as he had to tear his eyes away from the witch. "What," he snapped.

"I am almost certain Slughorn will call on you for the next question. Seeing as he's already glanced at our table twice," he replied.

Sure enough, Slughorn looked back at their table and called on Draco to answer. Thank Morganna, it was a review question on the ingredients of drought of the living dead. Draco answered confidently, pleasing the old and stout professor.

Draco snuck a glance at his current fixation and preened when he saw her watching. The professor went back to droning on about potions and his transfixation went back to studying. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to indulge in this one strange habit he was forming. No one was watching other than Blaise. He was probably just feeling the effects of the full moon. Maybe the werewolf was just really interested in the perfume she was wearing. It was sweet and almost flowery. When he focused on it it gave him the strangest feeling.

The blond werewolf wasn't paying attention when a small airplane poked his arm. Draco looked at it curiously and unfolded it. Inside was a picture of him with heart-eyes and he assumed Granger. The words "obsessed much" right above him. Draco scoffed. Her hair wasn't that big anymore.

He looked at Theo, recognizing his scribbles. Theo smirked at him and bounced a brow toward Hermione's general direction.

Fuck. He'd been caught. There's no way he could dismiss Nott's assumptions now. He scrunched up the note and sneered at his nosey friend. His friend chuckled and turned back to the professor.

He supposed that served him right. He didn't even know why he was doing it! There was no reason he needed to be ogling Granger like that. What was he, some lovesick third year? No, he—he wasn't. He didn't even like her. He was just… just…

Well, he wasn't sure how he would describe it. Nevertheless, there was nothing between him and Granger…The obsessed blond let that thought swirl in his mind; making his chest ache.

There was nothing between him and Granger.

Well, that wasn't fully true. There was a lot of animosity between them and that was something. Draco shook his head and then checked the clock. He had spent nearly the whole hour thinking or looking at Hermione Granger. Maybe he was a bit obsessed.

Ten minutes till, Slughorn cleared his throat and announced that they would be working in teams this month to construct a potion of their choosing. Along with the potion they were to create a five-page report with the usages of the potion throughout history and its most dangerous forms.

Draco sighed and wrote the assignment in his journal. He turned toward Zabini but noticed he wasn't there. Warning bells went off in his mind, he instinctively searched for Theo. He saw his dirty blond hair and mischievous smile at the far end of the classroom.

Oh no.

Draco saw him dragging Zabini to a pretty Ravenclaw girl who seemed too eager to pair up with him. The blond wizard panicked, knowing immediately what he was going to try to do. Draco jumped to his feet, trying to cut him off, but the other wizard leaped around the desk! Theo was racing to the left of the classroom. He grabbed Neville just before Hermione had finished writing the instructions off the board.

"Longbottom, I heard Abbott wanted to work with you on this," he heard him say smoothly.

And like a love-sick fool Longbottom believed him. For some miraculous reason, the gods were on Nott's side. Hannah was all too eager to pair with him. This left Susan Bones and Hermione Granger as the last two without partners. Draco's feet stuck to the floor. It was too late. Theodore gave his charming pureblood smile to Bones who was only slightly hesitant to be his partner. It only took a few more of his words for her to agree.

He was going to murder Theodore in his sleep.

"Oh Miss Granger, hurry now we may still find you a partner," Slughorn ushered in his sing-song voice.

But as the teacher looked around, he noticed almost everyone had paired up.

"Oh no. Here, does everyone have a partner?" He asked a bit louder.

"Malfoy doesn't!" Theo was too eager to shout.

Cold blood, with his bare hands, he thought. Better yet, he could just bring him with him on the next full moon.

"Ah, yes it appears so. Come, Mister Malfoy, you will be partnered with Miss Granger on this," he said.

Draco's feet dragged of their own volition. He tried to calm his breathing as he walked over to the empty seat next to her.

"Good good," the professor directed his attention back to the whole class. "Please remember these seats for the next class. You will remain there until the month is over".

Draco swallowed hard and looked at Hermione. She looked back at him warily. He was going to be sick.

"Right, well. I suppose we should do the potion first and then the essay right?" She asked.

Draco nodded his head lamely. He felt his heart pounding against his ribcage. The scent of her swirling around him with every breath. He felt the memory of her arms on his fingertips.

"Great, well you probably want to finish this as soon as possible. Do you have any plans after the potions class? We can plan how we are going to divide the work then."

Again, Draco shook his head in response. He would have to see her after class for the rest of the month. He could hear her heartbeat now, steady compared to his own. He swallowed hard, tasting her scent on his tongue. He felt the pull in his mind pounding now. It was beginning for him to do something, to say something.

"Oh…Kay. I'm just going to go write our names on the sign-up sheet for potions class use. I'll let you know what week I pick." She said with a sideways glance at him.

As she got up, another piece of parchment floated around the classroom. Draco reached out and let out a cool breath. He quickly wrote their names along with the draught of the living death. The last thing he wanted to do was get stuck with something ridiculous.

He passed the list along and scratched the back of his neck. Something was wrong, sure he'd never liked Granger before, but his body had never reacted this way. This wasn't something that had ever happened after his transformations. He clenched his hands and looked for her in the crowd at the front. From across the room, his feelings felt completely normal. Maybe it won't be so bad. It was just a random fascination, a fad. Maybe his body was just getting used to being back in school.

She made her way to their seats with a polite, tight smile. Draco leaned back in his chair, trying not to look her way. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail, fanning herself with the other hand.

Draco almost groaned at the motion. Her smell radiated off her, as she pulled her hair back. His breaths were short. He felt something in his canines tingle.

As soon as the professor dismissed them, he scurried out the door, bolting toward the nearest exit to the outside. He didn't even spare a glance at the confused Gryffindor who looked at the door with a frown.