Snape's Quarters, Slytherin Dungeons, Hogwarts Castle, Wizarding World...
The last thing that The Potions Master had been able to recall was meeting with the unfortunate round of curses at the end of The Dark Lord's wand. He shifted in the center of his large black four poster bed the black sheets of rumpled cotton beneath him covered in a moderate layer of sweat. His throat had been dry and he immediately sought relief in the form of a pitcher of water that had been left at his bed side. In his confusion he had recalled the scent of Hermione Granger lingering all about his private quarters, a recent thing of course as he noted she had not been present. With a slight yawn, he had managed to shake off some of the grogginess that had a hold of him.
Some effort had to be applied before he had managed to get out of bed and immediately he felt dizzy.
Stumbling, as he made his way toward the front room, via grasping the cold stone wall, Snape noted how considerably cold it had been given his state of undress. He had a few new scars, though they had appeared to have rapidly healed and his joints ached. It was clear that he had run a muck the previous night given the amount of dirt between his fingernails and the ache in his jaw.
He had been about to help himself to a bottle of firewhiskey to take the edge off his superior senses when he heard the all too familiar knock at his door. Knowing that it could only be one person, Snape decided to take his time spelling on his trousers as he made his way to answer it. He had been surprised to find his godson Draco Malfoy standing where the blue eyed Headmaster should have been.
The Potions Professor glared rather annoyed at the sleek blond haired wizard.
"Draco, do tell what possessed you to venture to my private quarters of all places." he said with his arms folded across his pale cheek.
Draco had never seen so many scars on one person before, let alone a person as pale as his godfather.
"Are you feeling alright uncle?" asked the inquisitive young Slytherin. "You've missed most of the day, and you weren't in the Great Hall during breakfast."
Snape took the boys words into consideration. It seemed he had awoken in the middle of the afternoon.
"As you can see boy, I am doing just fine." he replied in his usual snark.
Draco arched a skeptical eyebrow at this.
"I don't believe that for one second." he said then bravely invited himself into the half dressed wizard's quarters.
Snape glared murderously as the junior Malfoy did his best imitation of his Governor father and sat down on the green old style sofa near the dour wizard's private desk. The numerous rows of books all neatly preserved in their shelves, most likely in alphabetical order had been more or less along the lines of what the younger Slytherin expected to be in his godfather's private quarters.
"Something's going on with you Godfather." said Draco with a serious face. "And I have a feeling that it has a lot to do with those contemptible Gryffindors."
Snape rolled his eyes as he shut his door and ventured toward his desk. The last thing he needed was for his godson to start nosing about, and possibly give away his current condition of Lycanthropy to the dark lord or his father for that matter.
"Draco, I assure you there is nothing the matter with me." replied Snape in a cool tone. "I simply attended a private affair and came back rather late in the wake of it."
Draco narrowed his gray eyes as if he had been trying to pick-up on some sort of lie. Yet all he could register had been the truth, his godfather had been summoned, about like his father had by the dark lord. Still, the man had never missed half a day of class before.
"H-He must have really been angry." said the sleek blond haired wizard with a measure of concern in his tone.
"He was." admitted Snape leaning back in his chair. "And there is no doubt that he still may be angry."
Hearing this Draco's gray eyes widened briefly as he noted how casual his godfather seemed when speaking of torment at the end of the dark lord's wand.
"I'll be fine Draco." replied Snape with a smirk. "I did not get to become the Head of Slytherin house for nothing."
Draco seemed to accept this and nodded. He had been sure his godfather could take care of himself, he had after all been doing it for a good number of years before he came along.
"Very well, Uncle." he said still not letting go of his suspicion of the Gryffindors. "I will leave you to it then."
Snape stood on his feet as Draco dismissed himself without much fuss.
Once the boy had left, Snape sighed unable to keep down the small node of panic that filled him at the thought of this young Slytherin getting an inkling about his condition. If he could notice it, then surely a more adept Slytherin could.
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The Forbidden Forest, Wizarding World...
Dusk had been upon them as Hermione Jean Granger made her way tactfully across the courtyard. She had special permission to be out this late, a kind of assignment from Professor Snape in case the squib Filch or any other Professor stopped her in the halls. The staff had been quite aware of Hermione's research with Severus concerning the newly acquired River Mist Plant. This had merely been seen as an academic pursuit from their standpoint, of course that had not been entirely the truth of her current venture. It had not been common knowledge that she and her Potions Professor had been lovers since the end of the last summer with her reveal of using a time turner to advance her age in a bid to make their union possible from a legal perspective.
The night air had been chilly giving her goose-pimples as she headed toward the edge of the forest. The bushy haired witch had not seen Severus since he had been put to bed in his quarters following the summons to Voldemort. It had been her understanding that he gave a full report to Dumbledore once he recovered well enough to venture the castle and request her presence here of all places.
Unbeknownst to Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy had been spying on her for quite some time coming to the conclusion that she was the reason his godfather had been acting rather strangely. He had not known what the Gryffindors had done to him but he was intending to prove that they had done something.
He managed to acquire an invisibility potion and made his way out to the grounds when he noted that Hermione had not intention of returning to Gryffindor tower once she had finished her studying in the library. He had been following her for a few moments, careful to dodge her many attempts to flush him out in a bid to keep her secrets.
This only served to increase both Draco's suspicion and determination to uncover what this strange muggle-born witch had been up to. He dared not address her in the other term for fear of his godfather's wrath. The first time had merely been a slip of the tongue. One he paid for in spades in the wake of his Uncle Sev's fury.
It stunned the young Slytherin to see Hermione meet up with his godfather when they believed they had been a good distance from the castle. Snape himself cast a few detection hexes to ensure she had been alone, he had not wanted to take the chance of Potter or Weasley following her again, he nearly killed Harry the last time he had been in his werewolf form, and given his apparent ability to spontaneously transform without the full moon, it was an understandable precaution.
"Satisfied?" asked Hermione with a smirk.
Snape rolled his eyes.
"One must always exercise caution." he replied.
Draco had barely managed to keep himself concealed and dodge his godfather's hexes. He stayed silent and went on observing the two of them. At first it appeared that nothing out of the ordinary had been happening. Hermione was simply being the overachieving chit she always was. Then the junior Malfoy saw his godfather make his way over to the apparently busy young witch and scoop her up into his arms.
The air of familiarity had not been lost of Draco but the shock had been yet to come as he witnessed his godfather began to undress the bushy haired witch kissing her exposed flesh as he did. The junior Malfoy couldn't believe it, he couldn't believe that his godfather was engaging in a sexual relationship with Granger of all people. She was his student! More importantly she was a Mudblood!"
Although he had been confused Draco continued to watch them wondering if he had indeed been imagining things or they had been on to him and simply wanted to toy with him. That however, had not been the case when he witnessed Hermione Granger cast warming charms and his godfather spelled off both his frock coat and long sleeve white shirt.
Snape kissed Hermione about the neck and laid her down onto the makeshift pallet he had spelled mostly for her benefit. He had wanted nothing more than to spend time with the bushy haired witch, when it became clear that Draco's meddling would make that impossible to pull off within the castle as well as the meddling of the headmaster, The Potions Master had planned ahead it seemed.
"I've missed you witch." he said nibbling at her exposed neck.
Hermione could do little but moan in the wake of her lover's antics.
The gray eyed wizard had never even considered the possibility that Hermione Granger had even been anything other than a walking encyclopedia of useless facts and drivel. This side of the contemptible Gryffindor witch had him thinking along the lines of a perfectly manipulative vixen. How had she managed to gain the attention of a Slytherin Professor, much less his godfather whom had never showed any vested interest in a student before now. Then again he had never before showed a vested interest in Granger.
As Snape attempted to continue his little rendezvous with Hermione but there had been a foreign scent that had caught the beast's attention.
Beast Mind:
Something dares challenge for the female!
Something must pay!
AND PAY IN BLOOD!
The beast warred against the confines of it's fleshy prison. The foreign scent overpowering even that of it's mate. The feeling of eyes falling over it's body had only increased the fury that churned within. The low howl erupted and with one well timed thrash, the beast broke free racing passed it's lover and toward the scent that had infuriated it so.
Blood.
The visions of blood had been so overwhelming.
It wanted to hunt.
It needed to hunt.
Hermione had been startled as Snape suddenly backed away from her. The familiar signs of his were-beast form had begun to show causing her to scramble to her feet. She gripped her wand tightly in her hand and surveyed the scene. There had been nothing out of the ordinary until her keen focus picked up a faint shimmer amid the trees.
It seemed that the semi-transformed Snape had picked this up as well.
"SEVERUS!" she shouted fearing that the shimmer had indeed been Harry Potter.
The beast had already set off chasing behind the shimmer as it zipped through the trees. The chase only enticed the beast all the more. Hermione followed after hastily spelling her clothes back on. She had hoped she could reach Snape before he did the unthinkable.
The sound of snapping trees and downed logs echoed through the forbidden forest. There had been no stopping the Alpha when he gave chase, his blood lust much too powerful to ignore.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" came the scream.
A slightly familiar scream that only served to increase Hermione's pace as she too zipped through the trees.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" came the scream once more followed by a snarling that sent chills down her spine.
The bushy haired witch arrived just in time to see a bloodied Draco Malfoy fall unconscious as his godfather contorted into his human form. Quickly she ran to Draco's side as Snape let out a series of mournful howls before he too collapsed. The second he regained consciousness, Snape made his way over to Draco cradling the blooded young Slytherin in his arms.
"D-Draco." he said frantic.
Hermione had never seen him so worried.
"Draco...I...I'm s-sorry." he said brokenly. "Draco..."
The young blond wizard remained unconscious as Snape scooped the limp teenager into his arms and made his way toward Hogwarts castle. The look on his face had been evident that he feared the worst for the younger wizard's condition.
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Snape's Quarters, Slytherin Dungeons, Wizarding World...
Snape cleared away the table containing various potions ingredients and empty phials. He gently lied Draco Malfoy on the table and spelled away his view constricting robes and clothing. There had been a good deal of blood but what Snape had been purely interested in was the deep blood soaked bite mark about the younger wizard's left shoulder.
"Shit." said Snape having confirmation of his worst fear.
He grabbed an armful of healing and pain potions to reverse the damage he had done but he could do little about the enzymes of his wolfish saliva getting into the boy's blood stream.
It would only be a matter of time before the infection set in. And by that time he would know if the boy had indeed become a Lycan or simply carried the traits of one.
"Stupid boy." muttered Snape as he continued to bandage the unfortunate Slytherin lesser. "Couldn't just leave well enough alone...you had to be as nosy as Potter, have I taught you nothing about dangerous impulses!?"
His words had fallen on deaf ears as Draco remained unconscious.
Snape sighed.
He would have to keep a closer watch on the boy, and of course he would need to inform Lucius and Narcissa that their son had been possibly infected. Perhaps they wouldn't be too enraged when they learned that it had been he that had bitten the boy. Then again Lucius had a full prejudice against werewolves ever since he found out about the incident with Severus and Lupin.
The Potions Master flicked his wand in the direction of an opposite wall and his quarters expanded. With the impressive bit of magic a second bedroom had formed and he lifted the unconscious young Malfoy off the potions table and carried him inside.
It seemed the young Slytherin would be spending a good amount of time here in his quarters if the already rising suspicions prove correct.