Their Room

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Chapter 2: Into the Woods

Hermione sat crankily at a table in the back of the Gryffindor common room; She was still trying to calm down after her meeting with Malfoy. "That self-centered prat," she muttered, crumpling up a piece of parchment with a fit of anger before realizing to late that it was her homework for Transfiguration. "Damn it," She grumbled as she tried to straighten out the sheet. The parchment was decidedly against flattening out though; with a deep groan she pulled out a new piece of parchment preparing to transcribe it all over again.

"Stupid Malfoy," she muttered under her breath, she had been unable to get his cruel smirk out of her mind since she had left the library.

She spent a few minutes writing, her mind wandered from Malfoy and happily immersed itself in her work. A cool breeze blew across the table from the nearby window, floating papers to the floor. As she pulled the window shut, something caught her eyes. Three figures were skirting the lake, dodging behind trees and rocks, heading towards the forbidden forest, towards Hagrid's hut. Hermione watched interestedly, wondering who they were. One figure, the leader, stopped and waited for the two larger ones. Hermione strained her eyes trying to catch some feature in the disappearing light. A shock of white blond hair got her attention, immediately she felt her blood start to boil.

"Malfoy," she hissed, her fists clenching.

If the leader was Malfoy there was no doubt about the other two, Crabbe and Goyle. Hermione jumped to her feet, turning to get Harry and Ron, she suddenly remembered that they were at Quidditch practice. Ron had been so delighted to land the keeper position on the Gryffindor team. He and Harry spent a great deal of time practicing now. She glanced around the room looking for anyone that could help. The common room was empty save Neville Longbottom and a few first years.

"Well, I'll have to stop them myself," Hermione muttered.

She slipped quietly up to the boy's dorm, finding it empty; she went to Harry's trunk and dug out the invisibility cloak. "I'll go warn Hagrid. I'll be damned if I let Malfoy ruin another class for me!"

Hermione darted back down to the common room and pushed through the portrait hole. Leaning into a dark alcove, she put the cloak on. Running as quietly as possible, she soon reached the main doors and was out on the grounds. Since she was invisible, she could cut right across the lawn instead of circling through the forest in order to stay hidden. She took a deep breath, pulling the cloak tighter, and began to run.

Hermione reached Hagrid's hut only a few minutes before Malfoy, there was no sign of Hagrid, however. There was no answer when she knocked on the door. She realized that Hagrid must have gone down to Hogsmeade. Suddenly she heard something. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle could be seen peeking through the trees at the hut, Panicked, she looked for somewhere to hide. She was pressed up against the hut wall; there weren't any bushes near her. Malfoy carefully crept forward into the clearing. Hermione's eyes darted around her desperate for some place to escape to. Malfoy glanced right at her, and then away, he didn't seem to notice her. Hermione stared at him in complete shock. "Idiot!" she hissed softly, smacking her forehead with the palm of her head. Of course he didn't see her; she was invisible. Malfoy, however, paused and looked in her direction again, he seemed to have heard something. He walked towards her. She sank slowly to the ground as he leaned forward to look through the window into the hut. Hermione thought her heart had stopped as she looked up at him, his hand rested against the wall only a foot above her head. But Malfoy was unaware of her presence and he drew back from the wall. Turning to look at where Crabbe and Goyle were hiding, he called out to them.

"That drunken oaf isn't home and he must have taken that brutish beast with him."

Hermione realized that Malfoy was right, Fang was nowhere to be seen, Crabbe and Goyle stepped tentatively into the open. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as Malfoy headed towards the paddock. It was only then that Hermione saw that it wasn't empty.

"Well would you look at that." Malfoy asked his voice seemed stunned,

"The things that half-giant thinks he can get away with. Well we'll just have to show him what happens when someone keeps monsters for pets." His voice was completely emotionless. Crabbe and Goyle stood nervously behind him, not wanting to get any closer to the monster.

Stifling a gasp, Hermione gazed at a cage sitting alone in the paddock. Inside the cage was a manticore. She had never seen one, but not surprisingly, she had read all about them. They were very rare, and by all accounts, this was a good thing since they were very dangerous. It fit the description perfectly, the head of a man, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion. "This one must be a girl," Hermione thought, the manticore had a female face, a young female face not much older than them. It was almost beautiful, if you could ignore the claws and the scorpion tail that hovered behind it's back. Almond shaped eyes gazed at them through the bars, it didn't move at all. With a shock, Hermione realized that it was looking at her as well, it must be able to see through invisibility cloaks, or maybe it had heard her when she first entered the clearing. Hermione was amazed that Hagrid had acquired a manticore. Hippogriffs and dragons were one thing, but a manticore was known to be not only highly intelligent possessing odd magical abilities, but they were also known to associate with dark forces. As Hermione made eye contact with it, a deep chill ran through her and she felt an intense need to get closer to it. With a gasp she pulled her eyes away and stared at the ground.

Crabbe and Goyle were looking at each other warily; Crabbe finally seemed to get up the nerve to talk to Malfoy, "What does happen when you keep monsters as pets, Draco?"

Malfoy didn't turn to look at them; his eyes hadn't left the manticore's since he had reached the paddock. "Sometimes they get loose," he whispered.

Crabbe and Goyle seemed almost panic stricken, Goyle found his voice first though, "it wouldn't be a very good idea to let it out, right Draco? I'm sure that we can get rid of Hagrid some other way. It could hurt us, don't you think?" He seemed to be pleading with Malfoy, but the blonde boy didn't turn his head.

"I don't think it will hurt us." Malfoy responded. Hermione stared at him in shack, was he crazy? Manticores were some of the most vicious creatures found in the wild, as she watched Malfoy climb over the fence she tried to remember everything that she had read about them. They were long thought to be the same thing as a sphinx, but more modern research had proven that sphinxes were not aligned with the forces of evil like the manticores were. A manticore had three rows of long vicious teeth, and the scorpion barb carried a lethal amount of poison, Luckily enough far them, this one was only a juvenile. The young manticore stood only four feet high when it was on all fours, a full-grown manticore could reach as high as ten feet.

"Draco..." Crabbe and Goyle cautioned in unison as their leader placed a hand between the bars and touched the dark brown fur of the creature.

"See," he drawled in a low, soothing voice, as much to the manticore as to Crabbe and Goyle. "I told you that it wouldn't hurt us."

Hermione stared in horrified shock as Malfoy withdrew his hand and turned to the lock, a strange glint in his eyes. Pulling out his wand he whispered a single word

"Alohomora!"

Hermione watched with a horrible sinking feeling as the cage door swung open and Draco turned his back on the manticore to face Crabbe and Goyle. Both of them had taken several steps back, in a far distant part of her mind; Hermione was amazed at the astonishing level of intelligence that they were showing. What happened next went by so quickly that it was almost impossible to follow. One moment Malfoy was standing triumphantly in front of the cage door, the next moment the creature had come down upon him. Malfoy was knocked to the ground, his wand rolled out of his hand. The manticore bit deeply into his shoulder and lifted him up off the ground only to slam him back down again. Standing atop Malfoy it brought its long tail up above its head like a dagger and plunged it down into his thigh. Malfoy gave one quick cry filled with shock and pain but then there was only silence. Crabbe and Goyle looked at their prone hero and then turned and ran from the clearing leaving Malfoy to the beast.

Hermione had bitten her lip to keep back a scream when the manticore had attacked. She watched in horror as Crabbe and Goyle ran away. She stood now, watching the monster with Malfoy. The seconds slowed as time stopped. A part of her whispered in the back of her mind, "Turn around and leave, walk away, save yourself. He would never save you if things were in reverse. He asked for this and now he's getting what he deserves." She shuddered hard as the voice died away. Hermione turned away preparing to run and then stopped, "No one deserves this," She said firmly as she raised her wand and her courage and cried out at it

"Expelliarmus!"

The manticore dropped Malfoy hard; it turned to bring its gaze to Hermione's. She trembled as the almond eyes seemed to look deep into her. She shouted another spell at it before she could lose her nerve.

"Stupefy!"

The manticore didn't freeze however. The monster tensed its muscles preparing to leap. Hermione whimpered and tried to remember all the hexes that she had helped Harry learn the year before in preparation for all the Triwizard tasks but nothing seemed useful. The manticore was lunging through the air, closer it came, the wind whipping its fur as it neared her.

"Please...make...it...stop... Stupefy!' She screamed as hard as she could, the tip of her wand pointing straight at the beast's chest. It knocked her to the ground and distantly she could hear the sound of a sickening crack. She lay stunned underneath the hulking monster, waiting for the searing pain to come, but besides a distant throbbing in her wrist and chest, there was nothing, the beast lay still. Hermione gave out a shaky sob and pushed the creature away from her, it was terribly heavy, but she managed to get out from under it. Hermione figured later that she must have been suffering from some sort of shock because she was overly concerned with making sure that Harry's cloak didn't get any blood on it. She carefully pulled it off and tucked it into her bag. She looked down at the manticore wondering how long it would stay unconscious. Hermione suddenly remembered Malfoy. She rushed to his side and fell to her knees besides him. Hermione shuddered as she looked at him, while not the squeamish type, the sight was almost too much to handle. The normally pale boy was almost devoid of color; only red remained. A large gash ran across his shoulder where he had been bitten and a deep hole was in his leg. Crimson blood was pooling around him, while an odd colored substance seemed to be thickening on his leg, Hermione figured that it was the poison. She desperately searched her bag for a handkerchief. She held it to his wound in hopes of staunching the flow.

"Malfoy," she whispered, trying to wake him up. There was no response from the prone boy. However, she could tell that he was breathing.

"Malfoy wake up!" she hissed, glancing behind her at the creature. It suddenly gave a disturbing jerk. She stared at it, terror beginning to build. She knew that the only reason why the spells had worked in the first place was because it had been surprised. It wouldn't be surprised when it woke up, it would only be angry. She wanted to run but she couldn't just leave Malfoy here to die.

"Draco please..."she pleaded, tears coming to her eyes. She didn't want to see him die, no matter how much she hated him. This seemed to do the trick though as deep, gray eyes gazed up at her.

"You said my name Granger," he whispered in a low voice. His eyes filled with sudden panic as things began to sink in. "The manticore," he cried sitting up.

Hermione felt very relieved, and very hysterical, but she knew that now was not the time to get any more upset. "It's unconscious, but I don't know for how much longer," The manticore gave another jerk and emitted a strange guttural sound. Standing up, she turned to Malfoy and grabbed his hand. He couldn't put much weight on his wounded leg so Hermione let him put an arm around her shoulders and they hobbled quickly from the clearing.

They were half way to the castle, moving as quickly as possible across the open expanse of green. Their pace was jolting; Malfoy was dripping blood and could barely walk. Hermione was becoming aware of the pain in her wrist, glancing down at it she realized that it was at a rather odd angle. More disturbing than her wrist though was a strange tightness in her chest. Her short breaths were becoming harder to draw. Despite all of these ailments, both of them were starting to get back their bad tempers.

"You know Malfoy, I just saved your life, doesn't that mean that there is some sort at special bond between us?" Hermione asked, knowing perfectly well that the idea of a bond with a mudblood would drive Malfoy insane.

"Shut up, if you dare mention this to anyone I will make to regret it." He hissed back at her through clenched teeth. He was having a very hard time concentrating on what he was saying; flashing pain was starting to fan up from his leg and into his chest.

"You know Malfoy, you aren't nearly that threatening when you're bleeding to death." Hermione snapped back, feeling suddenly guilty when she remembered how she had almost let him die back there, She wondered briefly if he still might die, his wounds were very bad. The pain in her wrist was becoming almost unbearable, and as the shock wore off, she noticed that her chest was starting to have shooting pains as well. They reached the doors at Hogwarts and with their last ounce of strength they pushed them open. Staggering forward into the entrance hall they stopped, Malfoy was unable to go any farther, he let go of Hermione and sank to the ground, unable to move due to the poison. Hermione stood uncertainly for a moment, knowing that she needed to continue, knowing that she had to get Malfoy to the hospital wing. "It'll be my fault if he dies, I should have acted faster." She thought miserably as she swayed. A sudden light appeared at the top of the stairs.

"What in the world, students out on the grounds at this time of nig..." The voice of Professor McGonagall trailed off as she came down the stairs. "Ms. Granger?!" She ran down the rest of the steps and over to Hermione. Hermione couldn't wait for her though, she sank down next to Malfoy, pain searing her body, it was becoming impossible to draw in a breath. She could hear Professor McGonagall yelling, but it was fading as darkness overcame her.

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"They're lucky to be alive Minerva," a hushed voice could be heard in the darkness.

Draco groggily opened his eyes and then wished that he hadn't. With his eyes now open, he was fully awake and he flinched as a wave of pain washed over him. Squeezing his eyes shut he sucked in a deep breath and willed the pain to go away. Lucius had trained him to ignore the affects of pain. After a few more deep breaths, the pain was far enough from his mind for him to open his eyes again.

The room was dark; a few rays of moonlight were shining through the window. He was trying to remember what had happened to the curtains that he had around his four-poster when he realized that he was in the hospital wing.

"The Headmaster has been notified?" the hushed voice whispered again, Draco knew that it was Madame Pomfrey.

"Of course Poppy," a new voice, that of Professor McGonagall, answered her. "He went with Hagrid to catch that infernal thing. I imagine that he will be very interested in just what Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy were doing out there."

"Why did they bring that wretched thing here anyway? I know that Hagrid has a soft spot for monsters but this is going a bit to far." Madame Pomfrey sounded rather vexed

"There was little choice in the matter Poppy, they had to bring it someplace for safe keeping until it could be properly disposed of and Hagrid is the only one that could handle such an abomination." Professor McGonagall said softly.

Draco could barely hear Professor McGonagall as her voice became more hushed, but at the mention of that beast, Draco started to remember the events that led him to the hospital wing. The walk out to the hut, the manticore, the attack, and something else, warm brown eyes filled with an emotion that he couldn't quite place. If Draco's father had been anyone other than Lucius Malfoy, he would have had no problems recognizing the emotion to be concern.

"The Mudblood," he hissed. She had been there, but why? He remembered how she had ... what had she done? The pain was starting to fog his memory again, "She saved me," he remembered out loud. An odd warmth seemed to flash through him for a moment, but he dismissed it as simply being a side effect of all the pain.

The voices had stopped and a sudden light shone across the bed. Madame Pomfrey bustled into the room, Professor McGonagall on her heels.

"You shouldn't be awake Mr. Malfoy," the nurse said softly as she came to his side. "You must be quiet, I don't want you to wake up Ms. Granger."

Draco carefully turned his head to look at the bed besides his. He found that moving caused a great deal of pain but years of experience let him hide it from the watchful eyes of the nurse, Sure enough, he could see Granger's bushy hair spread out on the pillow; framing her dead-white face.

"What's wrong with Granger?" His voice sounded harsh as it passed from his cracked lips. He couldn't remember her getting hurt.

"Ms Granger broke her wrist and suffered several broken ribs, one that punctured her lung." Madame Pomfrey's tone was trying to stay neutral.

"Will she be all right?" Draco was just as shocked that such a question could come from him as Madame Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall were. They both turned to look at each other, the nurse's eyebrows raised slightly.

"Yes, both you and Ms. Granger will be fine." The nurse told him, "however, you'll both need to stay here in the hospital wing for a few days. The poison should have killed you, but the manticore was too young to be lethal."

"What I want to know Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall was now glaring at him darkly, "is just what exactly were you doing down at Hagrid's Hut?"

"I...," Draco looked at Professor McGonagall's face, then glanced towards Granger again. "Gran...I mean Hermione and l had a few questions for Hagrid about his next Care of Magical Creatures lesson."

Professor McGonagall's eyes narrowed angrily. "Oh really? I don't seem to recall you and Ms. Granger spending much time together in class or out of it for that matter.

Draco felt his heart sink but he didn't let it show. He tried to hold his head a little bit higher, focus on a spot just below McGonagall's chin, and try not to think of what Lucius was going to say when he got expelled, He wished briefly that the manticore had gone ahead and finished him off, it certainly would have been a quicker death than the one that would await him at the manor.

"Professor McGonagall," a hoarse voice from Draco's right brought him out of his reverie. Granger had opened her eyes and was looking at Professor McGonagall.

"Malfoy and I are Arithmancy partners. We were talking about Care of Magical Creatures in the library and we decided to go get Hagrid's opinion on a few things, I know that it was to late to go out, but I didn't think we'd be gone long," Granger closed her eyes with a grimace. Draco couldn't believe his ears. What was she playing at? She could easily get him expelled, why didn't she? What did she want from him?

Professor McGonagall looked suspiciously at Granger, probably wondering the same thing as Draco. She opened her mouth to ask more questions, but Madame Pomfrey pushed her aside.

"That will be enough questions Minerva, both of these children need to sleep." With these words she deftly caught Draco's chin with her hand and poured part of a potion down his throat. He watched her walk to Granger's bedside with the potion, his eyelids felt heavier and heavier. Granger turned her head to look at him, their eyes connected for a moment, and Draco felt a strange emotion pass between the two before he slipped into sleep.

Draco was awakened by voices sometime later; He had obviously been sleeping for quite sometime because sunlight was streaming through the window near his bed. The voices were coming from the other side of a curtain that had been put up between his bed and Granger's. He identified the voices as belonging to Potter and Weasley. He remained silent, listening to their conversation.

"What in the world were you thinking? Going to Hagrid's with Malfoy? How could you go anywhere with Malfoy? Have you gone daft?" Weasley's voice sounded furious, but the anger couldn't mask the obvious concern.

"Ron, I'm sure that Hermione had a good reason for being with Malfoy, right Hermione?" Potter, always the mediator, was trying to calm his friend.

"All right, all right. So why were you with Malfoy? And don't tell us that it was about class, Malfoy hates Care of Magical Creatures." Weasley's voice drifted through the curtain.

"Look Ron, Harry, I really don't want to talk about Malfoy. I don't want to think about Malfoy, or look at Malfoy, I've had quite enough of him. Please, can't we talk about something else?" Granger's voice pleaded softly.

Potter quickly changed the subject from Draco to the manticore. "Why did Hagrid even have one?" He asked.

"I'm not sure, Professor McGonagall said that they had to bring it here until it could be properly disposed of. But l don't know who they are or where the blasted thing came from. Do you know if they caught it?" Hermione had obviously been awake and listening to McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey last right too.

"I certainly hope they did," Weasley's voice cut in, "as if there weren't enough nasty things running around in the Forbidden Forest, now we have a manticore to watch out for."

"Hey Ron, we have to go to class now. We'll bring you your homework Hermione. And we'll come back in and see you during lunch, all right? Try not to let Malfoy bother you." Potter told her.

Draco could hear them saying good-bye to each other and then feigned sleep as Potter and Weasley came out around the curtain and walked to the door. Draco waited a few more minutes to make absolutely sure that they were gone before he climbed carefully out of bed. He gingerly tested his leg and found that while it was still sore, he could walk. He looked around for Madame Pomfrey and saw that her office door was closed. Draco took a deep breath and then pulled the curtain back. He was pleased to see Granger jump back with a tiny cry of surprise. He advanced on her quickly and grabbed her arm before she could slip off the other side of the bed away from him. His grip on her arm was so tight that she couldn't get up. He leaned down so that his face was only inches from hers.

"Why?" he asked.

"What?" Granger whispered, her eyes wide.

"Why are you lying to protect me, what do you want?" He hissed angrily at her, careful to keep his voice low so as not to attract the nurse's attention.

"I...I don't want anything from you Malfoy." She snapped back, anger quickly suffusing her face.

Draco tightened his grip on her arm; "I never pictured you as the type to blackmail, Mudblood." He twisted his hold slightly, watching her face pale.

"You're hurting me," she said softly, pain evident in her voice.

Draco immediately let go of her arm and stepped back. He could see where his hand had been, there would probably be bruising later. Granger reached up with her other hand and gingerly touched the white marks that his hand had left.

"I...I'm sorry, I hadn't meant too." He apologized, surprising both of them. He stood there awkwardly for a minute, not quite knowing why he had apologized or why he was even still standing there.

"How is your leg?" Granger asked him, breaking the strange silence.

"What do you think? it hurts," he snapped at her.

Granger didn't say anything else to him; she turned over onto one side to face the wall. Draco stood for another moment, just looking at her, before he went back to his own bed and drew the curtain between them.