The last few months, Hermione had been trying more advanced magic. At the moment she was trying to become an animagus and since her patronus was an otter, she knew she’d be one. McGonagall offered her help to the witch, but she had helped where she could, the rest was in Hermione’s hands.
After various days of trying, she was about to give up, but with her last try, she felt a transformation through her body. The bed was suddenly bigger and so was the room. Hermione got off the bed and walked towards the mirror that stood in her room. She smiled back at her reflection. When she focused on becoming a human again, it didn’t work. She started panicking more and more.
Out of panic she ran out of the Heads’ room and towards the Transfiguration class. McGonagall sat behind her desk, grading essays. Luckily for her, it was almost curfew and not a lot of students were out of their common rooms. McGonagall didn’t immediately spot her, as she wasn’t the biggest of animals, so she climbed up on the desk. “Ms Granger! You finally did it! Can you transform back?”
Hermione tried it again and again, but due to her panic it failed every time. She shook her head while trying to fight tears. “Oh dear. I’m afraid I don’t know how to solve it. I think it is best if you went back to your common room. You’ll be excused from classes until this problem is solved.”
The girl nodded her little head, her eyes still glossy. The caramel brown otter walked outside the classroom and in the direction of her common room. The only problem was that she had no possibility to say the password to the painting.
“Is that an otter?” She heard a voice. She looked up at the sound of someone’s voice. The Slytherin Trio. Just the one she needed. “I’ve never seen one in this color. I’ve seen brown otters but this one is caramel brown. She reminds me of Granger.” Pansy snorted ,picking up the little animal.
“Everything reminds you of Granger, Drake.” Pansy held the animal tight, almost suffocating it. Blaise too, looked in wonder at the animal. She saw Blaise’s look, questioning what she had planned with the animal. “I don’t know what to do with it though. Maybe I can feed it to my mother’s snake?”. The otter heard this and bit in her finger, fleeing away from them. She did not want to end up as snake food.
“That’s just gross Pansy. War is over, stop being a bitch, even to animals.” Draco said, taking the otter back into his hands. He stroked the animal softly over the head, and before Hermione realized what she did she pushed her head up against his hands, begging for more.
“You know I was just kidding Drake. I’ve never fed an otter to my mother’s snake. I wouldn’t dare.” Pansy defended herself while Blaise reached out for the otter. Instead of accepting the attention, she climbed up onto Draco’s shoulder and hit behind his neck. Hermione didn’t know why, but she felt she could trust him at the moment.
“Smart beast. I think I’ll keep it.” Draco said, stroking its fur again. He started tickling the otter. Hermione didn’t know what possessed her but at his tickling, she licked his finger. Draco smiled at the otter and Hermione knew she would’ve gone weak in the legs if she was in her human form right now. “Anyway, I’m going to my dorm. Still have to talk to Granger. I have literally no idea how to tell her.”
“Just tell her mate, good luck!” Blaise smirked as he threw his arm over Pansy’s shoulder and turned, walking away to the Slytherin’s dorms.
On his way back to his dorm, Draco let the otter sit on his shoulder. Hermione just sat there confused. Who knew Draco Malfoy had a heart?
As Draco entered the common room, he looked around and called for Hermione. By her last name of course. There was no way the girl was already sleeping, because she always read til midnight and it was only 10pm. The otter came off Draco's shoulder and ran towards Hermione’s room. Draco was confused to say the least. The otter started scratching the door? Draco picked the animal up.
“That’s Granger’s room, come on, mine’s on the other side.” He walked to his room and unbeknownst to him with Hermione in his hands. Once in his room, he got ready for bed, he always went to bed early because he couldn’t get any sleep due to nightmares, mostly about what happened in the manor. As Draco changed into a loose jogging, Hermione laid comfortably on the bed, knowing she couldn’t escape. She couldn’t help but stare at his dark mark. He sighed.
“I really hate it. I wish I could get it off. I was never prejudiced, you know. I just had to act like it. Especially after my father almost found out about my crush, Hermione. She's a muggleborn you see. But now he’s gone so I need to tell her, otherwise I just might snog her senseless.” Draco started petting the otter to Hermione’s delight. “I just wish that one day she’ll know.”
Hermione wanted to hug him and assure him that everything would be alright but she was an otter. Draco stood up and walked to the common room to see if Hermione was there. When he entered his room again he was surely surprised.
“Granger, what are you doing in my room?” Without answering she walked over to him and kissed him. He kissed her back with the same passion. “What? I don’t-”
“I’m training to be an animagus and apparently you liked my otter form very much.” She said before she smirked. He looked confused for a moment, then smiled and kissed her again. Secretly happy he bumped into an otter today.
