Bloodsucker

He has to bite back a laugh as he watches her face morph into anger. He settles for a grin.

“Absolutely not!”

She sputters and his grin only growns wider. He had known she’d react like this. He’d prepared for it.

He holds his hand up and closes it into a fist. A yelp of pain comes from Granger as she jumps from under the sunlight. Her previously goldened skin was replaced with the dark dingyness of the bathroom. She looks to him in bewilderment but he only points to her chest.

“The witch or wizard who enchants a piece of jewelry like this also has the power to temporarily or permanently remove the enchantment.”

Granger scowls at his words. Draco folds his hands together infront to himself.

“If you wanna be able to walk in the sun, you’re gonna have to do what I ask. Or I won’t hesitate to let you burn.”

He emphasizes the last word for her to hear clearly. He can see her fists flexing by her side. Something jumps inside him. She was angry. He liked her angry.

He pushes the thought out of his mind as soon as it comes.

“What if I just get another witch to do the spell?”

Draco rolls his eyes.

“Granger, be serious. You’d need a powerful witch who has the spell, can translate said spell, can do wandless magic, and has lapis luiz stone. Plus you’d need to actually tell someone about your….condition.”

He sees her face soften with defeat. He watches her go through what looks like all the stages of grief before speaking again.

“Why exactly do you need me to spy on Harry?”

He wonders if he should tell her the truth. If she knew the truth, she might be on his side. But she’s only ask more questions or let her stupid Gryffindor pride get the best of her and try to save everyone herself. He settles to not tell her.

“That’s for me to know and for you to dot dot dot.”

He winks in amusement. Grangers fists flex again as she grimaces.

“I’d rather burn that be a death eaters slag.”

Draco can feel the shame crawling through him. Her words weren’t completely wrong. He wasn’t there yet but not far from it. But hearing them from someone like her? It hurt more than he’d expected.

But he had a plan and if Granger would just shut up and follow his lead, he’d think she’d quite like it. He lets the comment roll off his back.

“So cynical Granger.”

He hums in disapproval. She continues to stand there, eyeing him oddly.

Draco needed her to trust him, even if it was just a little. The mean and controlling approach wasn’t gonna work anymore. He decides to take another route.

“I already said I wouldn’t hurt Potter.”

“Or Ron.”

Draco scoffs in disbelief. It was gonna be impossible to not say something to the red git. But he reminds himself it’ll be worth it. He throws his arms up and scoffs again.

“Fine! I’ll leave Weaselbee alone!”

He can see her frown turn up into something resembling a smile. He can see her thinking again. He stops himself from making another comment about her thinking too hard. It genuinely did look like it hurt.

Her fists unclench and she runs both hands through her mop of hair. How the hell did she do that without getting in the way of hair knots? Did she use a charm or something? Her slim fingers just treaded through so easy. It almost made Draco wanna try it himself. Not in an odd way but more of a-

“I’ll do it.”

Draco blinks. Only then does he realize he’d zoned out while staring at her and thinking about her hair. He really needed to sleep more.

Granger is still staring at him with her suspicious eyes. She sticks her hand out to the sunlight next to her. It doesn’t burn. She takes it away, looking between the hand and him. Her fingers wiggle and flex once again.

Draco just continues to watch her.

“If you wanna hurt anybody…hurt me.”

Draco finds himself taken aback by her words. Hurt her?

“What? Why?”

“Because whatever you’re up to is no good. And unlike Harry and Ron, I can now fully take the punches thrown at me.”

He regrets not telling her the truth before. But he knows that she’d be stupid. He didn’t wanna risk her. She was too valuable now.

“Believe it or not Granger, I intend to do some good around here. Even if it’s not the Gryffindor way.”

Draco’s hands go behind his back and he straightens himself up. He needed to get down to business.

“Every morning I want us to meet here before classes start. Then we can decide from there if we’ll need to see each other at lunch again. During our time apart I want you to just gather general information about Potters plans and whereabouts. When we meet up I want a general report along with any questions I end up asking. Clear?”

Granger nods. Her hands fiddle with one another as she takes a step closer.

“This isn’t fair.”

Draco cocks his head. She continues to explain.

“I mean, I get you charmed my necklace and I’m thankful. I really am. But now you want me to be your foot soldier in exchange for one small act?”

He immediately snaps back.

“One small act that’s keeping you alive.”

“And what if I’d rather die?”

“I won’t let you!”

The words come out harsher and more desperate than he’d meant. He clears his throat and adjusts his collar in an attempt to recover.

“You’re too valuable to me now. Besides, when I said I was gonna help you, I meant it.”

Draco hated the idea of helping her. He truly truly did. But the Slytherin in him hisses at the lack of eye for an eye. Sure he could be selfish, but even Malfoys knew the weight of proper and equal exchange.

She raises a brow, promoting him to speak.

“It’s apparent from the spell that a lot of what we’ve learned about vampires is wrong. I’m sure you’re just as interested as I am to try and test your limits.”

She nods again.

“Exactly. I know for a fact that at some point today you’ll find yourself at the library doing more research about all this. So when we meet tomorrow morning, I’d like you to bring any books you can find on vampires and we’ll see if those garlic myths are actually true.”

She actually smiles at his joke but it’s gone as fast as it comes. The girl never could smile around him, could she?

Draco takes the books from the floor and tucks them into his robes. He turns to the door and makes his way to it. He pushes on the wood, coming out into the corridor. He can feel Granger watching him as he holds the door open for her.

“Aren’t you late for class?”

He beckons her over. She slowly approaches the door. When she’s close enough he realizes that some blood he hadn’t seen before sits underneath her mouth. His eyes travel to her sleeve. It’s covered aswell.

She’d probably wiped away as much as she could before he’d gotten there. But she wasn’t in her robes so the blood didn’t blend with the dusty pink top she was wearing. He mutters Tergeo as she stops in the doorway.

Granger looks down at her clean sleeve and then at him.

“Thank you.”

Draco just gestures to the outside again.

She shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath as she steps out. Draco lets the door slam closed behind her. She watches her jump at the sound and slaps her hands over her ears. Her eyes open and she’s immediately scowling at him.

“Don’t do that!”

Draco’s face just morphs into confusion. She removes her hands from her ears and leans in alittle to whisper.

“I have super hearing. I can hear across the entire school and I can definitely hear that door slam.”

Draco’s eyes light up. She had superhearing?! Oh the fun he was gonna have.

He can see the regret come immediately onto her face. She runs her hand through her hair again and makes nefarious attempts to smooth down the wild curls that had emerged. He almost laughs at her continued failed attempts until she eventually stops.

The corridor is empty. He didn’t even know what period it was. He would probably try and find the other Slytherins during lunch. They’d have questions and be even more suspicious than before but he didn’t want to deal with their antics just yet.

The silence is deafening. Granger stands next to him, visibly unsure of what to do. She doesn’t even look at him. Draco can’t help but feel the exact same.

After what felt like forever, he finally moves. He steps infront of her and eland in like she had before.

“Remember what I said. Get information and meet me here tomorrow.”

She just nods again.

Draco begins to move back but stops himself. He leans even more towards this time, their noses barely touching. He doesn’t mind the odd chill that runs through him as her slight gasp. He continues.

“And please don’t kill anyone else. The whole Lavender thing is already a close call. We don’t need more.”

He doesn’t move. He waits. She had to say something. Anything.

“How am I supposed to eat?”

Draco fights the disgusting look that comes with the image of Lavenders body. All she needed was blood right? Maybe she didn’t have to kill anyone to eat. Maybe she could just drink and go. But who would he find for her to drink from?

He runs over all the people he knew that could be willing and eventually draws a blank. There was no one that would and even if he had to obliviate them, it would still be obvious will all the bite marks Granger would probably leave.

Draco sighs deeply before giving her an answer.

“Me.”

Hermione can’t even hide her shock. Her eyes shoot open and she inches herself away slightly. They were still close but Granger had set some healthy distant probably hoping that he’d think straighter without close proximity. He doesn’t budge.

“Malfoy-“

“I’m not asking Granger. Realistically, there’s no one else who can do this. So….I’ll be your blood bank.”

She doesn’t respond. Once again, the fateful nod comes from her and she pushes past him. He watches her scurry away and fights an urge to follow her.

Draco turns himself in the opposite direction, running off to find him friends.