The Dragon of Hogwarts

The Dragon of Hogwarts

Chapter 3: Love Burns

Hermione jerked awake in her chair at the sound of the dorm door opening. She glanced out the window, and could see the clouds edged in pink and gold. Sunrise.

She turned her attention back to the doorway and could see Blaise's shadowed figure in the semi-darkness as he quietly closed the door.

He hadn't noticed her yet so she lit the lanterns with a wave of her wand, and gasped when the light hit his form.

It was definitely, Blaise, but he looked different. The first thing she noticed were his robes, which were hanging on his body in shreds. His skin had a decidedly green tint to it, and his black hair was much longer. But the most obvious difference was his eyes. Rich, deep, greenish gold orbs stared at her instead of the midnight blue ones she was used to.

"Blaise?" she asked, her eyes wide with astonishment.

He grinned at her, his lips pulling back to reveal razor sharp elongated teeth.

She gasped in fear and the smile left his face.

She heard him sigh as he turned and stumbled into his room, leaving the door open.

Hermione had a nice little argument with herself as she cautiously approached his door.

Blaise had promised not to hurt her, and McGonagall had vouched for him. That should be good enough for her, right?

She slowly entered his room, and saw that he was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor, and stuffing himself on a pile of food that had been left there for him. His shredded robes had been tossed into a corner, so he was only wearing a pair of worn out jeans.

Hermione sat down on the bed behind him to watch. His eyes had shifted to her has she crossed in front of him, but he hadn't said anything as he continued to eat.

She had suspected him of being a werewolf, and the only one who she could compare his behavior too was Lupin. But Blaise wasn't acting the same as Remus.

After Lupin's transformations, he always immediately reverted back to his human form, and passed out in exhaustion. The change itself was very painful for him. Blaise, on the other had, didn't appear to have been in any pain at all, and he was slowly changing back. Even as she watched, his long hair seemed to withdraw back into his head. Also, Remus Lupin was usually covered in scratches and bites, Blaise's skin was clear.

Hermione suddenly found herself kneeling beside him with her hand outstretched to touch his green tinted skin without realizing that she'd moved from the bed.

Blaise's eyes were now a swirling mix of blue, black, green, and gold as he fixed them to her warily. He didn't stop shoving food into his mouth, though. And when her hand touched the smooth, cool skin of his back he leaned into it.

He stopped eating and grinned at her again. She was relieved to see his teeth were nowhere near as sharp as they had been a few minutes ago, but they were still a little long.

"Scratch?" his rumbling voice was deep, and she could feel the vibrations in her belly.

"What?" she asked him.

"Itches," he said, pointing to his back with his elongated fingernails.

It finally occurred to her that he wanted his back scratched.

She gave a mental shrug, and lightly began running her nails over the smooth skin, afraid of hurting him.

"Harder," he said, leaning back toward her.

She obliged, and suddenly a loud humming noise like that of a muggle dishwasher erupted from him.

She jumped away, startled.

Blaise didn't seem to notice her distress, and leaned back even further in an effort to get her to keep scratching.

Hesitantly, she resumed scratching and the same noise started again, but this time she didn't stop.

If he'd been a cat, she'd have said he was purring. There was a look of serene pleasure on his face, so she was able to determine that he was not threatening her by that noise.

Maybe he had a different kind of lycanthropy?

He leaned back more, and she began scooting backwards, unsure of what he was doing. Suddenly her back hit the side of the bed, and he lay back against her resting his head on her shoulder.

"Blaise?" she asked, her voice mixed with fear and more than a little arousal.

She was very conscious of his naked back pressing into her breasts, and had stopped scratching his back.

He turned his head and blinked at her, his eyes almost completely back to their original color.

He took hold of her hand and placed it on his upper arm, rubbing it up and down. She obliged, and scratched his upper arms. He started his 'purring' again and she slowly scratched down both of his arms, and to his hands.

Hermione jumped when she felt his nose nuzzle her neck, his breath very hot on her bare skin.

She stopped scratching him, and tried to pull away, but he trapped her wrists with his hands.

Hermione only struggled for a second; it was senseless, as he was so much stronger than she was.

She turned her head to look at him, and gasped at seeing his face so close to hers. Their lips were less than an inch away from touching.

She pulled back a little, blushing furiously.

"Please don't go," he murmured, sounding like himself again.

He released her wrists.

A voice in her mind was screaming at her to get away, but she couldn't make herself. Not when he'd begged her to stay.

When Hermione didn't leave, Blaise lay back again with his head on her shoulder.

Hermione tentatively lowered her arms to his again, and just held him.

"Are you in pain?" she asked, softly.

"No, I'm just tired," he whispered, nuzzling her neck again.

"Does your skin still itch?"

"No, its back to normal now."

"And, this happens to you every month?"

"Yes."

"Blaise, are you a werewolf?"

He snorted, and she winced as his hot breath burned the skin of her neck.

"No," he said, almost laughing.

"Then what-"

He lifted a finger to her lips.

"I'm not ready to tell you. Can you just trust me, for now?" he asked, pleadingly.

Hermione thought about it for a moment.

"You will tell me though, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay," she said, allowing her body to relax.

It wasn't long before he fell asleep; the breath from his soft snores was so hot she was afraid it might singe her hair.

Hermione carefully pulled herself out from under him, and winced when he fell over, his head hitting the stone floor with a loud crack.

Blaise didn't even stir. His breaths remained deep and even. Hermione grabbed her wand from where she'd left it on the bed, and then went to examine his head.

She brushed back his hair so she could see his scalp, but even with a brightly-lit wand she was unable to see a mark.

Hermione shrugged and yawned, realizing that she hadn't got much sleep either.

She levitated him with her wand, and tucked him into bed. Blaise slept through the whole thing, his snores getting louder.

Hermione left his room, shutting the door behind her, and came face to face with Professor Snape.

"And just what is the Head Girl doing sneaking out of the Head Boy's room at the crack of dawn?" he asked with a sneer.

"Blaise is ill, I was checking on him," she said, stubbornly keeping her chin raised.

Snape narrowed his eyes at her, and she dropped her gaze from his, afraid he might use legilimency on her.

"And just what sort of malady do you believe he is afflicted with?"

"I don't know, Professor Snape. I'm not a healer," she said, honestly.

He glared at her.

"Is there something I can help you with, Professor?"

He allowed a few moments of tense silence to pass before answering.

"As you said, Mr. Zabini is ill. I came to check on him."

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" she asked, anxiously.

He gave her an evil smirk.

"I'm no healer, Miss Granger," he said sarcastically and then moved behind her to enter Blaise's room.

"Jerk," Hermione muttered under her breath once the door was shut.

She gathered up the essays she'd been working on earlier, and went to bed.

Thank Merlin today was Saturday, and she could sleep in.

Hermione slipped into her pajamas, and crawled into her four poster bed. She was exhausted, but ended up tossing and turning for almost an hour before finally slipping into an agitated sleep.

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It was lunchtime before Hermione made an appearance in the Great Hall. She'd looked in on Blaise before coming down, but he was still fast asleep.

"Where've you been?" Ron asked as she slipped into a seat across from him and Harry.

"I stayed up late studying so I decided to sleep in this morning," she explained, pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Studying on a Friday night?" Harry asked in feigned shock.

She flicked a grape at him, and he caught it in his mouth.

"There's only six months 'till the NEWTs," Ron said in his best 'Hermione' interpretation, which was actually pretty good.

The three friends dissolved into giggles.

Hermione turned her head to say hi to Ginny, and Harry gasped.

"What is it?" she asked him.

Ron snickered.

"If you were studying all night, how did you get that hickey?" he asked pointing to the burn on her neck.

Hermione quickly covered it with her hand and blushed.

"It's not a hickey!" she protested.

"No, it looks like a burn," Harry said, seriously.

Ron stopped laughing and reached across the table to push her hand out of the way.

"It looks like the burn Malfoy has on his arm! Did Zabini do this?" Ron demanded jumping to his feet.

"Ron, please sit down and lower your voice," Hermione hissed, dangerously.

He obeyed automatically but his face was still bunched in anger.

"Blaise is..." she stopped upon noticing a few curious stares in their direction.

She got to her feet.

"Let's go for stroll," she said, and walked out the door, not looking back to make sure they were following.

They ended up in the Room of Requirement, which now resembled the Gryffindor common room.

They settled themselves into three chairs close to the fire, and Hermione told them an edited version of what had happened that morning.

"So, he says he's not a werewolf?" Harry asked.

"No. And he thought the idea was funny."

"And, he breathed on you as you were leaning over to tuck him in? That's how he burned you?" Ron asked.

Hermione nodded, hoping that they would think her cheeks were flushed from the heat of the fire.

"Maybe he can breathe fire. Do you think he's some kind of were-dragon?" Ron wondered aloud.

Hermione shrugged.

"The thought crossed my mind, but I really don't have enough evidence," she admitted.

"Well, it seems to me that burning you was an accident, so he probably won't try to hurt you. He may not have even been trying to hurt Malfoy," Harry commented.

"You need to be careful, Hermione. Even if he wouldn't hurt you on purpose, he seems to be having a fair few accidents lately," Ron told her.

"Is there such a thing as a were-dragon?" Harry asked.

"Not that I could find in the library. I even looked in the restricted section," she told them.

"Maybe we could ask Hagrid," Harry suggested.

"No. Whatever Blaise's condition is, the teachers all know about it. Besides, Blaise promised he'd tell me all about. He's just not ready yet."

End Chapter 3