Need [ dramione ]

Chapter 7

27 October 1998 - Eight Days before the New Moon

Draco knows he fucked up. That had been abundantly clear within five minutes of speaking to Granger, and completely forgetting to inform her that he is aware of the fact that she's a werewolf. He had known, in that moment, that he had screwed up, and yet... and yet, he had waited seven days to say anything. Waited, as though some other opportunity would present itself.

It hadn't. And now... Now, he knows that tomorrow, she's likely going to take a botched Wolfsbane Potion, made with inferior ingredients or by someone inept at potion making, which would then poison her, meaning Draco will once again be forced to watch through a window as she destroys herself.

Wolfsbane Potion was supposed to subdue the wolf, make them tired, relaxed, calm. Not... not, whatever he had seen. She had been tortured, ripped apart, and the transformation... she had fought against it, once the poison was out of her, and he-

He can't forget the screams. Even when he wakes up with his cock in his hand, fresh from having yet another sex dream where he can't see her face, but he can feel her all around him... he can't forget the screams.

She has to take the potion, the one he spent all weekend brewing. She has to take it, because otherwise... Otherwise, he'll have to listen to the screams again.

And yes, he knows he can just... ignore it all, sit in his room, knowing she's alone, but he-

How many times had he sat alone at Malfoy Manor, staring out the window, hoping his friends were okay, hoping that Potter was still alive so he could kill the bastard, hoping that his parents didn't do anything to upset the Dark Lord, hoping - hoping it would all just end.

A part of Draco fears that she had brewed the potion to poison herself on purpose. And if that's the case...

He'll force his Wolfsbane Potion down her throat if he has to. She might be a werewolf, but he can't go back to that. He can't go back to listening to the screams. He just... he has to have peace.

Except... he knows he waited too long.

Tomorrow morning, early, she'll have to take her first dose of Wolfsbane Potion. It's a bit off, given that the moon would be full in the morning of the fourth of November, but that means the night of the third, she'll be in the shack. He did extensive research, to know exactly when she had to take the potion... Her final dose needed to be 24 hours before the moon was full, which meant...

If he waited until breakfast in the morning, she would have already taken her first dose.

He watches as she rises from her seat in the library, stacking up the books, and he knows... he knows, if she leaves the library, he won't be able to catch her, which means...

It would be for nothing. It would all have been for nothing.

"Granger," he says, forcing the word past his lips.

She looks up from her books, and he glances around quickly, glad that no one else is nearby. Most of the younger years had already gone to bed, and it was mostly the older students that were still doing final edits before class the next morning.

She looks at him cautiously, and he can feel the vials in his robe pocket, the weight heavy. He has to do this, he has to-

"Can I speak with you privately?" he asks, the words a bit rushed out.

She looks him over, and he thinks she might be reaching for her wand, but instead -

Instead, she simply picks up her books, and pushes in her chair.