Hermione groaned and leaned her head on her lab station, and Draco chuckled behind her.
"You know, you wouldn't feel so bad if you hadn't drunk so much last night."
"Oh shut up, Malfoy. No one asked your opinion."
"Touchy, touchy." He tsked from a few feet away. After a second, something cold thwacked her in the arm. She was about to snap at him again when she realized he had floated over a hangover potion. She gruffed out a 'thank you' and downed it in one go. Merlin, magic was a godsend.
When she felt the raging migraine finally seep away, she smoothed out her lab coat and began setting up equipment. "I spoke with Charlie."
"Umphm?" Draco's response was muddled by the wand he held between his teeth. In each hand was a stack of cell culture plates, tipping precariously. Hermione straightened the towering plates with a flick of her wand and continued. "Yes. He said he has some dragons that might be showing the symptoms we're looking for, dragons he believes were cursed under suspicious circumstances. There's just one issue."
"Oh?" Now Draco was using his wand to levitate himself upside down to look into the microscope. Sure, it was probably easier to see through the lenses that way, but the sheer impracticality of it equally amazed and vexed her. She shook her head to clear it.
"Yes, well," she rushed, "the issue is we have to sneak out of school and apparate to Romania to obtain the samples."
Draco twirled back down to his feet and scowled at her. "You're worried about skipping school? What about the greater good, and all that other Gryffindor nonsense you love so much?"
She frowned back at him, crossing her arms. "I just don't like breaking the rules! When Charlie explained it, it sounded exciting, but now I'm not so sure."
"Granger," he spoke slowly, "correct me if I am wrong, but I think you've broken more rules singlehandedly than anyone in the history of Hogwarts."
"Well–"
"Chamber of Secrets ring a bell?"
"Yes, I suppose that did require a bit of sneaking–"
"Dumbledore's Army?"
"That was to fight against injustice–"
"Oh! I know," he interrupted sarcastically, "breaking into the Ministry of Magic?"
Here she paused. "Alright, yes I see your point. From start to finish, that particular escapade was a lot of rule-breaking."
"And my personal favorite, when you used the confundus charm on McLaggen."
"I–" she stopped abruptly. "Wait, how do you know about that?" He smirked and grabbed a chair, sinking into it gracefully. "You're not the only one who sneaks around. I saw you. At the time, I only meant to see Weasleby embarrass himself, but watching you do exactly what you accused me of doing in second year was an added bonus."
Her mouth opened and shut a few times before settling on an intelligent, "Huh?"
Draco gave her a pointed look and crossed his arms primly, giving an exaggerated impression of second-year Hermione. "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in."
She rolled her eyes, even though it was a good impression. "Fine. I get it. You joined quidditch unfairly, and I helped Ron join unfairly. We're both liars and cheaters and rule-breakers. Happy?"
He grinned. "Very. When do we leave?"
***
The two of them apparated in jumps. The first jump was the most tiring–from Scotland to Belgium. After that, Hermione insisted they pop into the eastern tip of France before stopping in Austria. Draco argued for a good ten minutes that it was more fitting to go through Germany rather than France, and it was only after he admitted his favorite bakery was in Munich that she shut down the idea.
"Oh my gods, Draco! This is not a holiday!"
"Apfelstrudel!"
"No!"
"Apfelstrudel!"
"No."
They went through France, much to Draco's dismay.
From the very edge of France, Hermione had them apparate through Austria and Hungary (to which Draco muttered he was very 'hung-ary' and Hermione pretended she had lost all hearing), and finally, they landed in Romania. Hermione checked the time. Half-past three in the morning, exactly one hour before she had agreed to meet with Charlie. She sank to the ground in exhaustion.
They decided to rest for as much time as they could, and toward the end of the hour, they each downed a pepperup potion. She didn't expect any trouble tonight, but it was best to have their wits about them. She quickly stood and stretched before looking at Draco, who was much more subdued than he had been the rest of the night.
"Ready?" He nodded and reached for her arm. Hermione had been to visit Charlie once before, so she planned to apparate them right to the edge of the facility. Charlie would meet them in the shadows and quietly lead them to the correct sector before scampering off to make sure no one bothered them. He assured them that the dragons should be asleep, or at the very least docile under tranquilizers, so they should be able to obtain the samples and apparate away directly. With a steadying breath, she apparated them into the dark.
They appeared with a small crack, and after taking a moment to become oriented in the dim lighting, they pressed themselves back into a large stone wall. This was the south wing of the facility, far from sleeping quarters. Draco rapped her curls with his wand, and she felt a disillusionment charm slide over her; she nodded a quick thanks. Before Draco did the same for himself, she saw him gazing at the space she had disappeared into with an odd expression; she didn't have any time to overanalyze it though. Just as the last sight of his shoes faded from view, Charlie slipped around the corner.
"Hermione?" He whispered.
"Here. Me and Dra–my partner–are here." She responded quietly. Charlie flipped her a thumbs-up and beckoned for them to follow. The three of them trudged through a long, muddy trail for at least a kilometer. Every few minutes, she could hear Draco sniffing in distaste and it took all of her restraint not to throw her own soiled shoe at him. Unfortunately, she probably would have missed when he was disillusioned, and then she would be down a shoe, which really wouldn't help anyone. She settled for splashing in every puddle, hoping it would douse him. If the hiss that just left his mouth was any indication, she had just been successful. She beamed at the darkness in front of her.
They reached a tall, barbed-wire fence, sizzling with magic. Charlie warned them never to touch it–the spell they used was magnifica electrum, holding more than enough energy to stun a dragon and fry a witch or wizard. He instructed them to silently levitate themselves over the tall fencing and drop onto the ground on the other side. Hermione assured him they would be fine, and planned to disapparate immediately after collecting the samples. Charlie bid them good luck, and hurried back down the long pathway they had recently taken. Once gone, Draco lifted their disillusionment charm and raised his eyebrows, waiting for instructions.
Hermione dug into her newly charmed trouser pockets. Over the years, she had grown rather fond of the undetectable extension charm and applied it to almost everything. She carefully pulled out ten straight-stick needles, a bundle of gauze, antiseptic, and ten collecting tubes for the blood draw. After a moment of consideration, she put the gauze and antiseptic back in her pockets. They needed to work quickly, and cleaning charms would be more efficient than muggle sterilization methods.
"Alright," she explained, "the plan is to identify ten dragons and complete a venipuncture on them to obtain a blood sample. We are aiming for the ventral midline, between two scales. That shouldn't be too difficult, as the scales on these dragons are massive. I will insert the needle, quickly draw blood, and move on to the next. While I do that, you stay alert in case anything goes wrong. To be honest, your spellwork is much better than mine, so I trust you to watch my back from the ground."
Malfoy nodded. "I didn't understand half of that, but I'm gathering that you'll do the pokey pokey, and I'll protect the fair maiden."
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, that about covers it. Let's go."
"Wingardium leviosa."
Draco effortlessly levitated the two of them high into the air before gently gliding them to the ground on the other side of the buzzing fence. Hermione was genuinely impressed, but she spotted the first dragon and froze in place.
"Easy, Granger," Draco whispered. "I'm right behind you." She took a deep breath and carefully stepped toward the beast. Each one in this sector was meant to be quite ill, but she needed to examine them for precisely the right symptoms for them to be prevalent in their research. She edged forward.
The dragon before her was a dusty red, with patches of bare flesh where it had scratched the scales right off its massive body. Even laying down, the reptile was overwhelmingly large. Hermione suppressed a shiver. She had always hated dragons. She had hated the stories she read as a child with fiery beasts flying overhead, destroying villages, but her dislike had grown during the Triwizard tournament. Watching Harry barely escape with his life amplified the fear, and being this close to a dragon now was petrifying. It was only Malfoy's steady gait behind her that urged her forward.
She slipped around the side to take a look at the large maw. Ugly, jagged teeth poked out of the mouth, and she almost screamed at the red dripping onto the ground. For a moment, she imagined herself locked between those powerful jaws, being punctured again and again, blood spilling out as she was devoured. After her initial panic, however, she heard a slight sound and couldn't help but lean in. The breaths were coming so slowly she hadn't registered them at first but there it was: a stomach-churning gurgling with each inhale. Her eyes darted back to the cracks between the teeth, and she watched more and more blood drain through with every exhale. All at once, her fear drained away and was replaced by a crushing pity. This dragon was dying, and slowly. He was drowning in his own lungs, expelling blood with every breath. The clinical part of her brain recognized him as a perfect subject for experimentation, and the compassionate side of her wanted to cry.
She felt a warm hand squeeze her shoulder. "Come on, Hermione. It's time." She closed her eyes and crept backward, looking for a patch of belly with flaking scales. It would be the easiest site of entry. Once she identified a good spot, she carefully applied a cleaning charm. In less than thirty seconds, she performed the venipuncture, secured the tube, and stored the sample in her pocket. On to the next.
Draco stayed close, wand at the ready. So far, the animals hadn't stirred, but they didn't want to push their luck. Hermione quickly collected three, four, and five more samples. After the seventh, she was in a fantastic mood. The excitement to run back to the lab was filling her, and she turned to grin at Draco. He met her eyes and grinned back, and for a moment she couldn't look away. His eyes were so lovely when they were fully blue...she remembered a day, months ago when she had been even closer to him than this, gazing into his brilliant azure eyes before he crashed his lips into hers. Heat rushed into her cheeks and she quickly looked at her feet. What was wrong with her? When she glanced back up, his expression had darkened, replaced with a familiar coldness. Her mouth went dry; she didn't know what to say or do around him sometimes. He was so difficult to read, so incredibly irritating and endearing all at once. He was nothing like Theo. She had begun inching backward to put some space between them when a deep rumble shook the ground.
Draco's eyes snapped up. "Hermione–"
Whatever he meant to say was drowned out by a furious roar. Dawn was coming, and a faint aura of light haloed the beast stomping toward them. The dragon was massive, and by the looks of it, fighting through its dose of tranquilizer. A large rip sliced through its left wing, oozing fluid. In anger, presumably from being woken by a pair of teenagers, it attempted to scorch them with flames. Before either of them could think, its colossal mouth opened and heaved an angry breath their way. Hermione winced, preparing to be burnt to a crisp, but instead of fire, the beast only spat out blood. Liters and liters of it, drenching her and Draco. Somehow, it was more horrifying than the heat she expected. Draco pulled out his wand beside her and set himself in a defensive stance, but Hermione leaned over and vomited. The smell was stuffing its way up her nose. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe.
"Granger!" Came Draco's panicked shout. She assumed he meant for her to get herself together so they could apparate out, but really it had been a warning. Angry at its failure to kill the pesky humans, the dragon swung a clawed limb toward Hermione. The impact winded her, and she felt her body fly meters before crashing into the dirt. Her lungs didn't want to work, and her sight flickered in and out. That was painful. Somewhere in the distance, she heard Draco shooting spell after spell at the beast, but they mostly ricocheted off of the tough scales. Hermione lifted a hand to her chest and felt the cuts from Ron's hex reopening. She couldn't tell where her blood started and the putrid dragon's blood ended, but she expected to pass out in the next few minutes. They needed to leave, ten samples or not. She took an agonizing breath and twisted onto her side. She couldn't stop the whimper that left her mouth. Hermione shakily raised her wand at Draco's darting body. She only had one shot.
"Locomotor."
The dirtied boy flew backward and flopped onto the ground at her feet, and the dragon roared again before charging after him. Draco looked over at her injured form and paled.
"Do it," she grunted. They needed to get out of here now.
His hand started shaking and he looked between the beast and her. Three seconds until they were dead. Three.
"I–I can't, what if I splinch you–"
"Do it Draco!" she yelled, clenching her chest. Two.
"Hermione," he pleaded. The dragon was three meters away.
"Now!" One.
Draco apparated them away into the night, and Hermione screamed as she felt her insides being ripped to shreds. Then there was only darkness.