Blood Magic

Hello, flower

The moment Hermione had made a mad dash out of the classroom, Professor Chattox had eagerly dismissed the rest of the class. The man briskly rushed out of the room, no doubt to rush straight for the headmistress' office.

Both Draco, Harry, and the rest of the group had remained frozen where they had originally stood. Not a single one of them knew what to say in order to break the silence. Well, no one except a certain dark-haired Slytherin.

"So, no one's going to talk about what the fuck just happened with Granger?" Pansy questioned flatly.

They all turned their heads to stare at the daring girl who hastily held up her hands in quick defense. Blaise shot her a warnful glare while Harry and Ron shook their heads in silence. Ginny took her bottom lip between her teeth and brought her arms close to her chest.

"Malfoy..." She waited for Draco to at least lift his head up for continuing. "...We know that Hermione is changing. But, do you have any idea as to why she lashed out the way she did?"

The blond cleared his throat, still unable to look anyone in the eyes yet. He merely shook his head and shrugged. "I don't know," Draco said.

It was like they were all collectively recalling the scene in their minds. Hermione had stepped up to the wardrobe. The professor had opened the door and out came a stranger none of them had ever seen, yet Hermione appeared to have recognized the mimicked figure. Then it had shifted into an unsettling likeliness of herself, which then ended with the entire class seeing exactly what was growing within the soul of the poor witch...

They had all witnessed the demented exchange between Mione and the boggart's cruel exploitation. But within one quick moment, Hermione had gone from her normal, rational self to a completely different being all together.

The next one to break the silence was Neville. He snapped his fingers and gestured to Harry.

"I've got it," he stated. "The boggart—"

"Yeah, no shit, Longbottom," Pansy muttered. "That's obviously what made the princess lose her cool. So glad you were with us in class just now."

"Shove off, Parkinson!" Ron growled.

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Why don't you shove it up your ass, Weasley? Last time I checked, you weren't even speaking to Granger," she pointed out.

"Enough!" Ginny shouted angrily. She took in a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Neville, will you please say what you were going to say before?"

Longbottom nodded and took a step forward. "What I was trying to say was that the boggart had looked directly at Harry." They all glanced at each other with the same confused look. "Think about it, Hermione's boggart had shifted three times, yeh? Well, after its last shift, it had turned its head and stared directly at Harry, but instead of turning into what Harry fears most—it stayed the same."

"He's right," Harry admitted. "It all happened so fast, but it did look at me. It looked so vicious like—"

"Like it was getting ready to rip your throat open," Draco commented. Each of them turned their head to face him. "Hermione saw the frightened look on your face and her creature had immediately jumped in to protect you. Chances are, she may not even remember what happened today."

Ginny shot him a concerned look. "What do you mean?"

Draco rubbed the back of his neck and hissed through his teeth. "If and when I ever let my creature take control, I don't always tend to remember the events after they've happened. Believe me, it's not a pleasant feeling."

"Malfoy, we know that in her case the transition is occurring much faster than normal," Blaise started. "At the rate she's moving, this cycle will be completed before the damn winter."