Dranex

"DRANEX."

Chapter two-Subjects

My left hand was badly burned. I backed away from the paddock whimpering.

"Hermione!" Harry cried as he and Ron rushed over to me.

"Let me see," Harry said as he gently pried my good hand away from the burned hand. It looked like it was a second-degree burn.

I had tears streaming down my cheeks.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare her or the Wompvert," Ian said, apologetically. He looked upset.

"Yeah well it's a little late for that," Ron said. "She's burned."

"Take her to Madam Pomfrey," Hagrid said.

Ron and Harry began helping me back into the castle. They helped me up to the hospital wing.

"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"A Wompvert burn," Harry said as he gently showed Madam Pomfrey my burned hand.

"Ah. That's easy to fix," Madam Pomfrey said as she went over to a cabinet and took out what appeared to be a white bandage. She came over and began wrapping it around my left hand. It felt cool against the burned skin.

"This is a Elcosx Bandage. It's used especially for Wompvert burns. It'll heal the skin in about a week. Once the week's over, come back and we'll remove it," Madam Pomfrey said.

She finished bandaging the hand. The hand felt better.

"You okay now?" Harry asked, watching me worriedly.

"Yeah. It feels better now," I said, smiling gratefully at him and Ron.

"Let's get back to class," Ron suggested.

We headed back to class. Immediately, Ian came up to me and apologized.

"I really am sorry. I didn't mean to scare you or the Wompvert," Ian said, softly.

"It's okay," I replied.

Harry was glaring at Ian as if he just insulted him. I glanced at the Wompvert. It was growling at Ian. It went to lunge for him, but was stopped by the railings. Ian backed away.

"I guess I'm not an animal person," he said, smiling. "I'm Ian Peterson."

"I'm Hermione Granger and this is my best friends Ron Weasley and Harry Potter," I said.

"Please to meet you," Ian said, holding out his hand to Ron and Harry. Ron shook his hand, but Harry didn't.

It was clear that Harry seemed to dislike him. He had his eyes narrowed at Ian and his arms were folded over his chest.

"Um, what house are you in?" Ian asked, clearing his throat.

"Gryffindor," Ron replied.

"How do you like Hogwarts so far? I know you've only been here for a day but what do you think?" I asked, intrigued.

"I think it's great! Adrentor Magic Academy isn't like this!" Ian said, brightly.

"Tell us about your school," Ron said, eagerly.

"Well, we've got greenhouses like this, and it's a larger castle. This is our school uniform," he said, pointing to the uniform he was wearing.

"Cool," Ron said.

"What about academic?" I asked.

"Well, we've got Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Matalort Studies, and DyphenNioArle Studies. It's more commonly known as DNA Studies,"

I perked up. "DNA? That's scientific studies that Muggles use for genetics!"

"That's exactly what we study. We study what makes a human...human. And we've also done a bit of testing. I'm afraid that' all I can say about that subject," Ian said apologetically.

"That's okay. Wow...that's really cool," Ron said, awed.

That bad feeling I had vanished. This was a normal boy after all. There was nothing odd about him at all. I was just being paranoid.

"Miss. Granger? Would you like to give me the tour of the castle?" Ian asked hopefully. "After all, I'm going to have to get to know how to get around here for a week."

I beamed. "Sure! We'll begin after Care of Magical Creatures,"

He nodded and smiled. I smiled back.

He was totally charming and...alluring.

Ron went back to the Wompvert's. I turned to Harry.

"What's wrong?" I asked, standing in front of him.

"I don't like him," Harry replied flatly.

I looked at him stunned. "Why?"

"I just don't like him. Something's weird with him," Harry said.

"He's a normal person, Harry. Why are you jumping to conclusions?" I asked.

"Because I sense something, okay?" Harry said, as he put his hands on my shoulders and put his face close to mine.

My heart pounded in my chest. His emerald green eyes were locked on mine and were bearing into me.

"Please, Hermione...be careful okay? I don't want anything to happen to you," he said, quietly.

I smiled. I knew he was just looking out for me.

"I will...I promise," I said.

He nodded and took his hands off of my shoulders.

After Care of Magical Creatures, everyone trooped back into the castle. I began showing Ian around. Ron had asked to come. Harry said he needed to go to the library. Ron almost fell over when he said that.

"This is the Potions dungeon," I said, showing him Snape's classroom.

After that, we went to Astronomy Tower, the Divination Tower, the Charms and Transfiguration classroom and the rest of the classrooms.

"Wow! When you first arrive here, the castle doesn't seem big, but inside it is!" Ian said, awed.

"Yeah I know the feeling," Ron said as we walked down the corridor.

Just then, we bumped into Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

"Crud," I heard Ron mutter under his breath.

"Well, the Weasel, the Mudblood and a new student," Draco sneered.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Ron snapped.

"What did you call Miss. Granger?" Ian demanded.

"A Mudblood," Draco replied.

Ian narrowed his eyes at Draco.

"Apologize to her right now," he growled.

Ron and I looked at each other. I don't know if Ron caught it or not, but when he growled "Apologize to her right now", there was a tint of in-humanness in it. It sounded funny.

I looked at Ian. His eyes had a strange gold color to them as he stared at Draco.

Draco just smirked.

"Right. That's the last thing on earth I would do is apologize to a Mudblood for calling her a name that is true," Malfoy said.

Ron pulled out his wand and aimed it at Malfoy, but Ian seemed to have beaten Ron to the punch.

He grabbed Malfoy by the collar and banged him against the wall.

"I think you'd better apologize," Ian snarled.

Ron and I looked at each other. We've never seen a fellow student act like this. It was a little unnerving.

Malfoy actually looked scared. "Fine. I apologize. I'm sorry,"

Ian let Malfoy go and he, Crabbe and Goyle headed off down the corridor with out looking back.

Ron turned to me he went to say something, but he thought the better of it and shook his head.

"I think we'd better get back to the Gryffindor common room. Ian, where are you sleeping? With the Ravenclaw's?" I asked.

"Would it be alright if I slept in the Gryffindor tower? The Ravenclaw's move too much during the night," Ian said, frowning.

Again, Ron and I exchanged looks.

"Erm, sure. I think there's an empty bed or two," Ron said, slowly.

"Great. Maybe we can have dinner tonight at the same table," Ian said, brightly.

"Sure," I said.

"I'm going to head to the bathroom. I'll meet you two back in the common room? Just show me where it is,"

Ron pointed out the way to the Gryffindor common room and then Ian headed off to the bathroom.

Ron pulled me aside.

"Blimey! Did you see how he handled Draco?" Ron hissed in my ear as we made our way to the common room.

"I know. I've never seen Draco actually terrified before...more or less be willing to apologize," I said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Something's not right," Ron said. "With Ian."

"You too? Harry said the same thing! But he's a normal person! He might have a bad temper but that's no reason to assume that he's abnormal,"

Ron looked at me. "Did you see his eyes?"

I froze. "You saw it too?"

Ron nodded. "Absolutely. They had a gold tint to them,"

"Maybe it was just the torches reflection. It might have been the orange glow cast from them," I offered.

Ron frowned. "That's possible. Maybe you're right,"

I smiled.

We headed back to the common room.

HARRY.

I found a book called Magic Schools of the Twentieth Century in the library.

I began flipping through it, looking for the Adrentor Magic Academy. I just didn't like Ian. There was something funny about him. I couldn't believe Hermione didn't see it. She was normally a good judge of character. I found the A section and began scanning down the list of Magic schools.

Abrev Magic School....Acronmolt Magic Academy...Adwenton Magic Institution...Benalor Magic School...

Weird. No Adrentor. I did a search in the index in the back. Adrentor was under Magical and Scientific Research Schools. Hmm...Ian did say something about a DNA course. I found the page and began reading:

ADRENTOR MAGIC ACADEMY

Where Science and Magic come together...

Adrentor Magic Academy offers classes in both Magic and Science. Muggle Science Studies are done specifically on DNA and Genetics.

Magic Studies are done with Transfiguration Classes, Potions and Charms.

Located in Manchester. Contact Headmaster David O'Malley

I slammed the book shut. So why would a magic school focus specifically on Muggle science and genes, along with Transfiguration, Potions and Charms? What were they doing in that school that would require those classes only?

I put the book back on the shelf and left the library. I headed to the common room where Hermione and Ron were already sitting and talking. I walked over to them.

"So, how did the tour go?" I asked, sitting next to Hermione.

"Okay...but something weird happened," Hermione said.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well, Draco approached us in the corridor. He called Hermione a Mudblood and Ian grabbed him by the collar and banged him against the wall. Ian's eyes had a strange color to them briefly. Draco was actually scared that he apologized," Ron said.

I looked at them shocked. "Really?"

Hermione and Ron nodded.

"Weird...it might be useful having him around though...to scare Malfoy," Ron grinned.

I looked at Hermione. She was biting her bottom lip.

"It was more than likely the glow from the torches lighting the corridor," she replied.

"Yeah. We reckon it was just our imagination playing tricks on us," Ron said.

"Probably was. Hey, listen. I found some interesting information on Adrentor Magic Academy," I said, leaning forward.

"What?" Ron asked, eagerly.

"They focus specifically on Muggle Science and Genetics along with Transfiguration, Potions and Charms for the Magical Studies,"

"Bloody weird," Ron breathed.

I turned to Hermione. "What do you think?"

"That is strange...but maybe they're training witches and wizards in specific fields?" Hermione mused.

"I don't know, but to me, if they were training witches and wizards in different fields, wouldn't they have a variety of classes besides those five?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Realization formed on Hermione's face. "You're right. Like us, we have Divination, Astronomy and Care of Magical Creatures, along with Charms, Potions and Transfiguration,"

"This is really freaky," Ron said. "I think we should keep an eye on Ian for a bit."

"I agree," I said.

"But it might just be the way the school runs the curriculum there. It might not mean anything," Hermione protested.

I ogled her. "Are you serious? You don't see that there's something funny with him?"

Hermione shook her head. "I did before, but then realized that he was just a normal person. Why are you so quick to assume that he's bad?"

My lower jaw dropped.

"I'm not saying that he's necessarily bad...I'm just saying that something is definitely wrong. It doesn't feel right,"

"I agree," Ron said. "He might not be bad, but something's...funny with him,"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at me.

"I would think you of all people would give Ian a chance. I thought you'd be willing to get to know him better. I guess I was wrong," Hermione said as she angrily walked past me, jostling me when she headed back out of the common room.

I sighed. I really hated it when Hermione was mad at me. I felt guilty. I hurried out after her.

I jogged to catch up to her. She was walking briskly down the corridor. I finally caught up with her and gently grabbed her arm just above the elbow. I spun her around to face me.

"Hermione...I'm really sorry. I didn't mean anything. I just feel...funny about him," I said, apologetically.

"Harry, what hurt me more is the fact that you didn't even give him a chance!" Hermione said, as I saw a faint glimmer of tears forming in her honey brown eyes. "You were ready to jump to the conclusion that just because his school teaches subjects that we're not used to, it means that something is wrong with him."

I looked deeply into her eyes. My heart somersaulted slightly. I decided to back off and give Ian a chance.

"Ok...I'm sorry. I promise to give Ian a chance," I said, smiling.

She smiled back. "Thanks,"

She put a hand on my arm before continued down the corridor. I had felt a tingle running down my spine when she had touched me.

"Where are you going?" I called.

"To the little witches room thank you," she called back laughing.

I laughed too and did an about-face and headed back into the common room.

A few minutes later, Hermione returned, followed by Ian.

"Look who I bumped into," she grinned.

"Oh yeah...we forgot to tell you. Ian's spending the nights with us in the Gryffindor tower," Ron said.

"That's great!" Hermione said happily. She checked her watch. "Well, it's time for Charms."

We left the common room and went down to Charms class.

We learned about the Hadryax Charm which, was used to summon articles of clothing. After that, we headed to Astronomy and then it was time for dinner.

We all trudged up to Gryffindor tower ready for bed. Ron, Ian and I headed into the boy's dorm. Before Ian went, he kissed Hermione on the hand before following Ron. I glared at him, but then remembered my promise to Hermione. I was going to give him a chance.

She blushed and then I gave her a wink before following Ian. She smiled back at me.

HERMIONE.

I headed to bed and eagerly climbed in. Ian was so charming...but I immediately thought of Harry.

I dozed off happily dreaming of Harry. Around two o'clock AM, I needed to use the bathroom again. I got out of bed and decided to head down to the kitchen. I left the dorm and cut through the common room. I walked down the corridor. When I turned a corner, my feet caught something and I was thrown forward. I turned over and propped myself on my elbows to see what I had tripped over. I scooted back on my rear end and screamed. It was a student from Ravenclaw. Her throat had been torn and she had been mauled. I screamed again and raised my eyes. I saw two gold eyes peering at me from a dark corridor. I heard low growling. I screamed again and scrambled to my feet before tearing back to the Gryffindor common room.