Bloodsucker

Waiting was horrible.

Absolutely horrendous.

It's not that Hermione though he'd never come back. If he didn't she'd leave the bathroom herself and find him. But it was more of the fact that she could hear everything going on outside.

She found herself standing by the door and listening through the cracks. She closed her eyes and imagined that she walking through the corridors with Harry and Ron. She imagined them all laughing at something stupid someone had did or her reprimanding the boys when they asked to copy her homework for the thousandth time.

The sadness comes back to choke her. She steps away from the door, turning back to the sinks.

What would she tell them? How would they react?

She could imagine Harry being understanding. Remus was a werewolf so he was no creature to being friends with magical beings. But Ron might not be so nice when he finds out that she has been the one to kill Lavender Brown.

Guilt washes over her once again. Hermione covers her face, sobbing into her hands.

She immediately regrets it. Behind the darkness of her eyelids was the fresh image of Lavenders body. It was all Hermione could see. The blood leaking out of her neck. The vacant look in her eyes. Hermione had drained the life out of her without even meaning to do it. It was a miracle that she hadn't done the same to Malfoy. She takes her hands away and sighs.

He was an entirely other problem. Of course she had to end up being blackmailed by the ferret of all people. Even if he pretended he wanted to help her.

She probably could’ve just killed him too. At least that would’ve been worth something.

A grimace takes over her face. She’d never really thought like that before. But the thought came rushing in easily. Not in a passing way either. Like a idea that could turn into an action. The reminder of what she could now do made her shiver.

She finds herself gazing down at her hands. She’d never really liked her hands. They were way too pale and her fingers were too long. She blinks and almost swears there’s blood on her hands. She can still feel Lavenders skin on her finger tips. The sheer strength that she now held was terrifying. She could hurt people now, with and without meaning too.

She shuts her eyes again. Lavender isn’t back there anymore but Hermione doesn’t count on the ghost to stop following her. The bathroom door opens again and Hermione quickly jumps, getting into a tense stance. Malfoy enters with his hands raised.

“It’s just me.”

He shuts the door closed with his foot and drops his hands. Only then does Hermione realize he has two books, both of them in his left hand. Her shoulders drop and her feet move from their fixed position. She can hear Malfoy let out a held breath as he walks to her.

“Found some interesting stuff. Here.”

Malfoy stops a few feet away, sinking to the floor. Who knew Draco Malfoy of all people was content to sit on the floor?

She watches him flick through pages in a thin red book before landing on the one he needed, handing it to her. She takes the book from him and joins him on the floor. Her eyes scan the words.

VAMPIRES AND DAYLIGHT:

Within the wizarding world, Vampires are notoriously known for being creatures of the night and slaves to the sun. Covens (see page 130) often exist in dark forests or any place away from modern society and sunlight.

While Vampires and covens registered under the Ministry have proven these claims wrong there are many rumors and stories, mainly in the American wizarding community, of Vampires being able to walk in the sunlight after a ritual is done involving a piece of jewelry. Though the jewelry must have lapis lazuli stone encased within.

When a witch (one who can cast wand-less magic) casts a spell upon a chosen piece of jewelry, they can then grant a vampire the privilege to walk in the sun. The spell needed to complete said ritual is unknown but many have said that it’s not necessarily a spoken spell at all and the incantation needed is mostly made up of runes and lost languages that only extremely powerful witches have been known to uncover.

Though these theories are intriguing, Ministry officials and a multitude of Vampire covens have confirmed these theories to be untrue and for said spell, if it ever existed, to now be lost somewhere in the world.

When Hermione finishes reading, she can feel gears turning in her head. The spell was lost? How would she find it without leaving this damn bathroom? How would she even get off of school grounds?

“Don’t think too hard Granger.”

She’s popped out of her thoughts. She looks up to find Malfoy smirking at her.

“Looks like it hurts.”

Her eyes roll easily and she slams the book shut. Somehow she manages to look even more smug after getting a reaction out of her. The realization makes her wanna choke him. She clears her throat and sighs.

“I’m confused. There’s a spell to make me walk in the sunlight but it’s basically lost to all of existence? How is this helpful?”

“Always the doubtful Granger.”

He makes a ‘tsk’ noise as he shifts through the other book in his hand. Hermione sets the book in her hands onto the floor next to her as Draco finds the page and passes the book to her. He drops the book and Hermiones hands almost crush under the weight.

Asshole.

She shoots him a menacing look and sets the book on her lap before reading the page beneath her. But she finds she can’t. The words are faded but very obviously in a foreign language and there are runes placed all over the parchment. Hermiones eyes widen as she realizes.

“H-how?!”

Malfoys hand comes into view, partially covering the page. His finger is held out and he points to the bottom of the paper, giving it alittle tap. Hermione looks to the spot he points to and almost laughs in shock. At the bottom on the page written in bold ink were the words Toujours Pur, the Black family motto. Of course, a Black witch made the damn spell.

Malfoy takes the book from her lap and shrugs.

“I found it in my trunk. My family has been around for ages. I remembered that I’d nicked an old grimore from the Manor a few summers ago. No one had touched it in ages and my father waved it off suspiciously. I had done some digging afterwards and found out that apparently an ancestor had fallen inlove with a witch from a coven of vampire witches. They called themselves Heretics. She’d shared all there was to know about the coven with said ancestor, which led to this.”

Malfoy rests his hand ontop of the book and offers her a small smile. Hermione bites the inside of her cheek, thinking. Malfoy shakes his head.

“What did I just say about thinking too much?”

Hermiones teeth let go of her cheek and she waves him off.

“Alright well, can you do the spell?”

Malfoy nods tensely.

“And how are we gonna find lapis lazuli jewelry for me?”

Something in Malfoys face shifts. But it’s gone before Hermione can try and guess what it is. He nods tensely again, retrieving something from within his robes. Hermione watches at holds up a silver necklace with a diamond drop sway that held a square lapis lazuli at the end of it. Her eyes widen as she takes in the necklace.

“When and where did you get this?!”

Malfoy snickers and places the necklace on the floor infront of him.

“Old family heirloom. Apparently its magic wasn’t “dark enough” for the witch it was gifted too. My mother dispelled it and gave it to me to give to my future wife one day.”

Hermione raises a brow and Draco shrugs again. His eyes stare down at the page she’s just looked at.

“This seems more important than wasting it on some stupid courtship to a woman I don’t even love.”

The words roll off her tongue before she can stop it.

“Aww, you’re inlove with me Malfoy?”

She finds herself batting her eyelashes like she’d done when she’d backed him into a wall barely two hours ago. He’s silent, his eyes still stuck on the book. He holds his hand out over the necklace and Hermione can hear faint whispers coming from him. She can feel the energy of the room shift. Magic pulsating around her. Protecting her. The feeling makes her shiver.

She could still feel magic?

The thought is interrupted by the sound of Malfoy making a humming noise at her. She blinks and sees the necklace dangling right infront of her. She takes the necklace, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

“Thanks.”

She whispers quietly and unclasps the necklace. The slips the chain around her neck and fiddles with the clasp again. Her fingernails weren’t keeping a grip on the lever to pull open the clasp. She continues to try to push down until her fingertips hurts.

“Let me help.”

Hermione pauses and peeks up at him. His face was still stone-cold blank but his hand was open towards her. She takes a breath before moving towards him.

He moves forward swiftly and takes the necklace out of her hands. She turns herself around and sits before pulling her hair up with her hand. Malfoys hands graze her skin as they slip the chain onto her neck. She can feel herself jump and prays he didn’t notice. He claps the ends together with ease and drops the rest of the chain.

Hermione lets go of her hair and adjusts the necklace on her neck. She begins to stand when two hands grasp her shoulders. She freezes again. He leans close to her ear before he speaks.

“I’m not inlove with you. But if you keep jumping like that, I might start thinking you’re inlove with me.”

His voice was all teasing causing Hermione to scoff lightly as he backed away from her. She immediately turns herself back around, a scowl on her face. She’s alittle taken back at his standing position, him towering over her.

“Don’t get a big head ferret. Just because I jump doesn’t mean I’m scared.”

Malfoy doesn’t budge. He just offers a hand to her. Her eyes glance at his hand. The golden Malfoy signet ring sits on his finger. It glistened in the sunlight.

She takes his hand and stands from the ground. He gestured back to the beam of sunlight she’d been burned by before, giving her a nod of encouragement. She hastily walks over to the beam. She pauses right before the light would hit her face. Instead she holds up her hand, slowly bringing it closer to the stream of light. She takes one final deep breath and shuts her eyes before sticking her hand out fully.

She winces. But there’s no moan of pain or screaming. She opens her eyes and stares at her hand. She sees it laid out in the light, perfectly normal. No burning or smoke. Just regular human skin.

Hermione laughs in delight. He’d actually fucking done it. A wide smile spreads across her face and she can’t contain her excitement. She turns back to Malfoy, the smile still on her face.

“Thank you.”

She finds herself sounding so very grateful. She was grateful. But this felt different. She didn’t allow herself to dwell on it.

Malfoy nods.

“Now,”

His words boom through the bathroom.

“Would you like to know the task I need you for?”

Hermiones faces drops and she sucks on her teeth. She crosses her arms over her chest and nods.

Her eyes thin at him. He looked devilish. She knew that whatever he wanted from her, it wouldn’t be good. He clasps his hands behind his back as he’d done before and straightens up his posture.

“I need you…”

Hermione finds herself slightly, almost barely, leaning into hear. Draco’s smirk becomes a full grin, just like hers. Her heart drops.

“To spy on Potter for me.”