Blood Magic

Hermione Has a Hidden Gift

The Great Hall had filled up with silence.

Not a single person spoke a word, nor dared to move a muscle out of place.

Kingsley Shacklebolt had organized a large group of armed Aurors to file throughout the room, blocking every available exit. The older man spoke in a deep, authoritative voice that sent shivers down Hermione's spine.

"Draco Malfoy, you are being placed under arrest."

Her heart sank into her stomach. Mione raised herself slowly from her seat. "On what charges?" she asked in utter bafflement.

They all watched the Minister unroll what looked like this morning's Daily Prophet and toss it onto the table. The picture of Hermione losing her senses was flashed all over the front page.

"It's fairly obvious, given the circumstances that have been brought to our recent attention. Mr. Malfoy, here, has broken his agreement with the Ministry and bitten another human," Kingsley stated as if it were all fact.

Harry's brows knitted together in confusion. "What? Kingsley that's not—"

"Draco has never bitten me," Hermione said bitterly.

The energy that surrounded her crackled and split through the air like a personal hurricane. But it wasn't enough for any of the law enforcement officials to take her seriously. Some of the Aurors even had the audacity to snicker in response to her denial.

Kingsley, amongst them all, was the least convinced looking. He crossed his arms over his chest and cocked a skeptical brow. "Oh, really?"

He stuck his nose up in the air and sneered. "People just don't wake up one day with claws and a pair of growing eyes, Miss Granger," he tutted.

Hermione flinched from the inward sensation of her creature rising to the surface. Her organs felt as though they were rearranging within her. The back of her throat was filling up with a voice that did not belong to her.

Meanwhile, her anger sliced through her head like an ax. The pain traveled all the way down to the center of her being and spiked the fire that led to her eyes glowing through the glamor.

Many of the people around her broke out into fearful gasps and whispers.

"Well, I'm not most people, Minister ," she snapped back. "Draco, nor any other vampire has ever bitten me."

Kingsley stared at the young witch incredulously and with heavy dismay. "Then how do you care to explain your current state of being?"

A deep, animalistic voice tore from her chest and nearly sent her flying forward. Her claw-tipped hands gripped the wood of the table in front of her.

" That is no one's fucking business how I came to be like this!! "

Half of the Aurors standing around jumped back in shock from the violent rage that poured from her eyes. Everyone was slightly shaking in fear. All except Harry and Draco.

Malfoy tried reaching out to her by curling his hands under her arms. "Hermione," he whispered to her ear. "It's alright, love."

Another snarl slipped from behind her clenched teeth. "No! It is not alright!"

She grabbed at the newspaper and gnashed her teeth in disgust. "No one believes what Rita Skeeter writes in her trashy columns—least of all, Kingsley. Which brings me to realize that this entire show you've decided to put on is nothing more than some sick ploy to take Draco away."

The Minister visibly paled. His body turned stiff where he stood, his eyes widened. "Miss Granger that is a very severe accusation—"

"It's not an accusation if it's true," she countered. Her features darkened with venomous intent. "And I think you and I both know that it is, in fact, true ."