Chapter Text
Hermione sunk down low, her powerful legs coiled so she could leap to either defend Draco or knock him down depending on what came through the door. Draco loomed over her, half crouched with one huge paw hovering just in front of her protectively as his rumbling growl filled the room.
Silver and Amber eyes stayed fixed warily on the door but the bare crack it was open didn’t widen, staying only slightly ajar. After a long moment Draco edge forward, Hermione cautiously following with her every sense working at its fullest to sense any danger. But the night remained still, only the occasional movement from their fellow werewolves breaking the silence. Draco stopped just short of the door and turned his head to look down at Hermione where she crouched at his feet with her ears twitching madly and a low whine building in her throat.
As soon as he stepped towards the open door Hermione suddenly knew that if he left the room it would be playing straight into the hands of whoever had spiked his Wolfsbane. Whatever they had planned obviously relied on Draco walking out of that door under his own power, otherwise there would have been further attack once the door was open. She knew that they were warded in, but she had her doubts they’d work if whoever it was had managed to get this far in their sabotage.
Hermione raged inside her own mind, desperately trying to figure out how to check on Harry, who still hadn’t moved, while keeping Draco from leaving the room. Her mind was stalled though, like she was half awake and groggy but simultaneously being overwhelmed all the physical sensations. She shut her eyes for a moment to try and shut some of it out, the whine becoming more present and higher in pitch.
Suddenly Draco was beside her, whining in duet with her as he nudged her with his nose. Hermione opened her eyes to see that he was crouched in front of her with his belly pressed against the floor. She could feel her fear and anxiety bouncing through to him and his own beginning to answer her, replacing his curiosity and desire to explore beyond the small room they were in. The thread pulsed like a living thing between them, stretching and writhing in time with their hearts.
Warily watching him for his reaction, Hermione lowered the control she was struggling to maintain over her emotions, letting her fear ramp up and thicken into something palpable. Draco’s reaction was instant, crowding closer to her and a growl building in his throat as he positioned himself protectively between her and the door. Moving carefully, Hermione backed away from the door towards the back of the room. She waited after every step to make sure Draco was coming with her, carefully picking her way back and trying to keep her fear to a level that would have his protective instincts close to her but not scared enough to have him searching out the source of her fear in a rage.
Draco thankfully was willing to follow Hermione the whole way back and curl himself around her defensively once she had backed all the way back into the far corner. She very carefully kept her actual body between Draco and the door, pressing into the circle of his limbs and tangling hers with his so he wouldn’t be able to leap up without throwing her off, giving Hermione precious seconds that she might need.
She couldn’t help but keep part of her mind on where Harry lay in the corridor, the sudden way he had dropped to the floor haunting her with images of injuries and hexes that killed. She couldn’t smell any blood, and was certain she could hear him breathing, but Hermione hadn’t been friends with Harry Potter through the last seven tumultuous years without developing something of a constant worry about his imminent demise.
Hermione strained her every sense, searching for any hint of whether someone waited in the hallway for one of them to venture out. But she couldn’t sense anything, not a single breath or whisper of scent. Nothing, like the door had opened by pure accident seconds after Harry decided he needed a very sudden nap.
Unlikely.
It took Hermione far too long to realise that she didn’t have to be the one checking on Harry, there were two perfectly capable adults on standby at the end of the corridor, ready to intervene if anything should go wrong. Like say, the door opening by itself and Draco being uncontrolled.
Carefully shifting her body so she was lying half on top of Draco, licking his muzzle when he peered at her curiously, Hermione turned her face towards the ceiling.
And howled.
Hermione had never made much noise under the influence of the Wolfsbane, so the eerie noise that filled the room shocked her. The howl warbled for a moment, and Draco jumped a little under her before raising his huge head and joining his voice to hers. The uncanny sound filled the doubled room, bouncing off the bare stone walls and swelling in an echoing crescendo. Suddenly Hermione heard a muffled howling join their own, warbling at a higher pitch than either of theirs. Then two more joined to chorus in quick succession. Barely had the chorus begun when the door at the end of the hall banged open and two sets of footsteps barrelled down the corridor.
Hermione had to pin Draco down, clamping her teeth into his shoulder when he tried to rise and shake her off, trying and failing to keep her fangs from piercing his hide. His deep howl broke off in a betrayed yelp, and Hermione didn’t try to suppress her feelings of guilt as she waited for Dani and Greenling to notice the open door.
Greenling must have noticed the door before Dani, because Hermione heard him swear at the same time Dani gasped Harry’s name. Draco struggled against her as Greenlings cautious approach neared the open door. Hermione pressed down into him, focusing solely on thoughts of how badly she needed him to stay with her at the back of the room. His confusion halted him for a moment and Hermione thought she sensed a hint of his more human thoughts surfacing for a moment before submerging under his need to shield her with his own body, to attack the man who was reaching a hand towards the door and pushing it open.
Greenling pressed through with his wand sweeping the room, instantly registering the werewolves writhing in the corner. Hermione was barely able to keep herself on top and therefore in the position of power over the bulkier Draco by dint of Draco’s driving purpose being her protection, and therefore being unwilling to injure her even though her teeth were grinding into the flesh of his shoulder. Hermione tried to convey to the Auror what the situation was with her eyes, knowing it was hopeless even before she saw Greenling focus his attention directly on her rather than the white werewolf below her.
Hermione saw his face go curiously blank, every muscle in his face slackening like his nerves had been suddenly cut, and his wand come up. She knew something was wrong immediately, because his wand began moving in a diagonal slash rather than the smooth downwards motion of a stunning spell. Her golden eyes widened and her sudden terror caused Draco to buck under her, and she had to sink her fangs further into his hide to prevent him from throwing her off and charging the Auror.
Greenling didn’t even flinch at the sudden increase in the aggressiveness, his lips pursing together in the beginings of the spell and his eyes still chillingly flat. “BOMBA-”
Dani must have realised something was wrong, because Hermione saw her elegant brown hand dart out and knock Greenling off balance, clawing at his arm and killing the spell before he could get it out. Her arm disappeared for a moment and then came back holding a bottle of a potion that shone a sickly orange in the moonlight. Hermione heard Dani’s harsh breathing turn into a whispered apology, and then the Healer smashed the bottle and slammed the door shut in one fluid motion.
The bottle erupted into nothingness, not even a single shard of glass remaining, and the potion within spilled out as a noxious fog, rapidly blanketing the room and crawling its way into the werewolves lungs before they could react. Hermione and Draco choked on the astringent fumes, accidentally drawing more into their systems as the potion forced them to gasp for air. Hermione barely had time to remove her teeth from Draco’s flesh, whining at the bloody crimson taste on her tongue, before the edges of her vision began to go grey and the strength fled her limb.
Trembling and terrified, but thankful that Draco was in the same state and therefore unable to attack anyone, Hermione collapsed to the side and the grey overtook her.
-
Waking up felt distinctly unfriendly. Hermione’s lungs felt like they’d been sandpapered and the soreness she usually felt from her transformation back into a human was multiplied until she felt like she’d been run over by a lorry. She’d barely clawed back to consciousness when the pain drew a raspy groan from her as she tried to open her eyes and the light lanced into her eyes.
“Hermione?” Dani’s soothing voice came from directly next to her. “How are you feeling? Would you like a pain potion?”
Hermione didn’t want to nod with the way her head was pounding. “Please.” She croaked.
Glass touched her lips and the syrupy potion was tipped into her mouth for her to painfully swallow down. Thankfully as soon as the potion hit her stomach it began working it literal magic. Hermione felt her lungs loosen and her muscles unknot and sighed in relief. Once the pain in her head was to a manageable level she opened her eyes and blinked until Dani’s concerned face came into view, her deep umber hair escaping the confines of its covering and deep bruised circles under her eyes. Behind her there was a privacy curtain surrounding them, and Hermione recognised it as one of the ones that belonged to the Hogwarts Hospital Wing.
“Welcome back Hermione.” Dani said, trying to smile at Hermione but not able to do so through her worry. "How’s the pain?”
Hermione pushed herself up with the help of Dani until she was sitting up. “Better, bearable.”
Dani carefully inspected her eyes and then flicked her wand to cast a diagnostic, sighing in relief when it lit her wand up with a clear white light. “I’m sorry about the pain, we had to use a sedative to calm you down and to be strong enough to knock out an angry werewolf it has to be extraordinarily strong. How much of last night do you remember?”
Hermione swallowed heavily, her throat still feeling like it had been burned. “All of it up until you threw that potion. Is Draco okay?” She said hoarsely.
Dani’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Sorry, what?”
Hermione frowned back. “Someone had tainted Draco’s wolfsbane with sugar. He was uncontrolled.”
Dani inhaled sharply. “Oh Merlin.” She twisted around to look at the gap between the curtain surrounding Hermione’s bed, and Hermione could sense more than see that Draco was asleep in the bed on the other side.
Hermione leaned back a little and sighed. “You didn’t know?”
Dani shook her head, brushing back a tendril of hair that tickled her cheek with a quick swipe of her hand. “No. We were only able to get you up here ten minutes ago. We weren’t sure it was safe even with the sedative potion. Auror Greenling-“
Hermione bolted up with a gasp. “Where is he?”
Dani blinked and backed up a little. “Sam? He should be finishing up briefing the Headmistress soon, then he’ll be heading back to the Ministry to update the Head Auror, we sent a message but they’ll need more information.”
Hermione ignored her still protesting muscles and her swimming head and swung her legs over the edge of her hospital bed, scrabbling for her wand on the side table and clutching it in her hand as she lurched towards the gap in the curtain. “We have to get to him before he leaves.”
Dani followed her, just missing her attempt to grab her back. “Why? What’s wrong?”
Hermione had reached the door and launched through it just as Madame Pomfrey exited her office to see what the commotion was. “Something was wrong with him last night, we need to make sure he doesn’t get back to the Ministry.”
Dani’s longer legs couldn’t keep up with Hermione’s reinforced musculature and she was already panting with effort. “Hermione, wait. I know he wasn’t in the best mood, but-“
Hermione snarled, the feral noise nearly making Dani trip over her robes in shock. “That is not what I’m talking about.” She rounded a corner and started charging up the stairs two at a time. “I think he’s under the Imperious.”
Dani stopped running for a moment before hiking up her robes and following Hermione in her mad dash to the Headmistresses office. “I won’t argue with you, but how do you know?” She wheezed as they reached the top of the stairs and turned down the hallway that would lead them to where Greenling was hopefully still talking to McGonagall.
“Barty Crouch jr taught us about it in fourth year.” Hermione reached the guardian statue and skidded to a halt, Dani not far behind her. “Calico. I recognised the symptoms when he tried to Bombarda us. I don’t know which one of us he was aiming for.”
Dani made a horrified noise low in her throat. “Oh Merlin. I- I can’t…”
It wasn’t the first time that Hermione had had an adult react like this when they were reminded that Hermione’s teen years had been particularly fraught with danger. Even people as familiar with her as Dani often forgot the details of what Hogwarts had been like as Harry Potters best friend. So she just guided Dani onto the staircase with her and readied her wand.
Hermione’s knees nearly went weak with relief when she heard Greenlings rough voice talking from the other side of the door at the top of the staircase. Carefully keeping Dani behind her Hermione gripped the door handle, turning her head to hiss a warning at Dani. “Stay behind the door, I don’t know what else he’s been instructed to do.”
Hermione didn’t wait for Dani to agree, throwing open the heavy door with a bang and barrelling in wand first. Her enhanced eyesight saw Greenling near the fireplace before his trained Auror reflexes could kick in and she levelled her wand at him with a firm downwards motion. “Stupefy!” She cried, dropping her wand and raising her hands as soon as Greenling crumpled to the floor in a graceless pile.
“Miss Granger?!” McGonagall cried, her own wand warily pointed at the now unarmed witch. “What is the meaning of this?!”
Dani rushed in to the room now that the danger had passed and shielded Hermione with her body, one hand held behind her to keep Hermione there and one outstretched towards the Headmistress with her wand dangling limply from her fingers. “She thinks he might be under the Imperius. She said she can recognise it.”
McGonagall’s lips tightened into a firm line and her fingers tightened around her wand. “She can.” She said curtly, and then swept over to the fallen Auror, shifting him into a more comfortable position with a wordless flick of her wand. Once she had him laid out on his back she held her wand to the skin directly between his eyes and then drew it up in a careful line to the crown of his head.
“Revelatur Vincula.” McGonagall’s wand shook in her hand and the path she’d traced with it shone a bright silver before settling into a dull cinnabar. “Well.” The Headmistress stood back up and moved away from the prone Auror, flicking her wand again to bind his limbs carefully in black rope. “It appears that Miss Granger has the right of it.”
Hermione stared helplessly at the friendly Auror lying bound on the rug, the fading adrenaline and after effects of the gaseous sedative potion making her tremble. Sam Greenling was too kind under his gruff exterior to be used like this, like a blunt tool to trap Draco while he had no control over himself. Hermione’s mind churned through all the ways the plan could have gone, the ways that Greenling could have been used while he was trapped in his own mind. Suddenly she felt like vomiting.
“Miss Granger? Do you have any idea who would have done this? Or why?” McGonagall asked, watching carefully as Dani inspected Greenling to make sure his fall hadn’t hurt him.
Hermione’s golden eyes snapped away from the tableau and she knew she must look positively wild, from the way McGonagall raised a thin eyebrow at her.
Hermione willed herself to stand up straighter and turned to narrow her eyes at the Hearth. “Oh, I have a pretty good idea.”