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Beyond the Pale	By : goldhorse Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 81362 -:- Recommendations : 11 -:- Currently Reading : 17
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does, lucky woman. I make no money from this, which is probably why I'm poor as a church mouse.

Chapter List
- 21
- 22
- 23
The club was filled with smoke coming from a muggle fog machine. It smelled faintly like vanilla and musk and created an interesting mix of flavors. The couple quickly found their meals for the night, a couple of men who couldn’t seem to get enough of each other. It didn’t take but a few sweet words from Draco to have them both in the bathroom, nearly drained and unconscious.

“Now then,” Draco said, looking at his mate with hot eyes. “About that little stunt in the great hall.”

Hermione’s knickers dampened. “I-I was just trying to get comfortable.”

“I’ll make you comfortable alright,” Draco purred, pushing her back against the wall of the loo. “I’ll make you so comfortable with me inside you, you’ll be begging me to never leave.”

Hermione quivered in anticipation. The lust rolling off Draco in waves mixed with her own and threatened to consume her. She had wanted him since they parted ways that morning. Who was she kidding? She always wanted him and he was more than willing to oblige her. What would they be like when there was no threat of Voldemort over their heads?

Draco moved slowly, deliberately, grabbing her robe and parting it so he could admire her uniform underneath. Hermione trembled under his heated gaze. He fingered her plaid skirt, chuckling as he lifted it.

“You have no idea what this uniform does to me,” Draco said, his voice going deeper and making her cream herself. “It makes me glad that you wear robes over it. For that matter, I’m glad I wear robes, else everyone could see how hard for you I am. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to walk around all day with a stiff cock between your legs?”

Hermione’s breath hitched. “No, but I’d like to.”

Draco growled at her blatant attempt to engage him and kicked her legs apart. He swiftly yanked her knickers to the side, and plunged two fingers into her hot core. He drilled them into her mercilessly, crooking his fingertips and hitting the perfect spot with each thrust. Just as Hermione thought she couldn’t get wound up any tighter, he lifted his thumb to rub circles around her engorged clit.

“Come for me, pet,” Draco whispered.

She broke apart, howling his name as he continued his relentless stroking of her walls. She didn’t know he’d undone his trousers until his cock replaced his fingers, hitting even deeper inside her. She was drowning in pleasure even as he hitched her up further against the wall and directed her to wrap her legs around him. The new angle was even more amazing than she remembered, his cock rubbing deliciously against the most sensitive areas of her core. Draco pounded into her, muttering a litany of swears, compliments, and terms of endearment.

“Fuck Hermione, you feel so fucking good. Your pussy is tighter than a fucking fist, did you know that? You’re the best fucking thing I’ve ever felt in the world. Gods you’re amazing.”

Hermione felt herself blush at the last one. She surprised herself with the ability to blush in the middle of the most intense coupling she’d experienced since they’d first mated. Still, he’d said dozens of things to her, but never that she was amazing. It seemed so silly, but those three words made her melt and then draw up tight, coming over his cock.

“Fuck yes,” Draco said, pouring on the power. “Let me hear it. Tell everyone who you belong to pet. Tell them you’re mine.”

“Draco, only yours,” Hermione panted, unable to talk any louder.

“Mine,” Draco growled and stepped backwards, kneeling and placing her feet on the floor so she had some leverage to move with him.

Hermione was quickly forgetting her own name. She had long since forgotten where they were or what they were doing before. All her focus was on her mate who was fucking her with gusto. For every thrust she gave, he snapped his hips harder, whirling them and reaching those spots she didn’t know existed.

“Again!” Draco ordered.

Hermione couldn’t believe it when her body tightened again and she fell off the precipice. Her muscles felt like jelly and she could have sworn that she was sweating, which didn’t happen very easily for vampires. She gave a shriek when Draco jumped up on his heels, falling backwards and lying up against one of the stalls. Her knees hit the floor sharply.

“Lean back and grab your ankles,” Draco ordered.

Hermione obeyed tiredly, crying out in shock when the angle put even more pressure on her sensitive walls. Draco jerked his hips up, causing a jolt of pleasure to shoot up her spine. She moaned and whimpered with each thrust, loving the way he was stroking her.

“Gods you’re beautiful,” Draco groaned and lifted his hands to her hips to guide her. “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you.”

Hermione squealed when he pulled her down on top of him during a particularly sharp thrust, the sensation making her toes tingle. It wouldn’t be very long, she could tell. She was thankful that vampires had excellent stamina but at this rate, she’d have to meditate for a week to calm down.

“We’re going to have to cut this short, love,” Draco panted, drawing her over his length faster and harder. “I want you to come with me.” He slid his hand around to flick her clit. “Come!”

Hermione fell over the edge again, pure bliss flooding her veins. She could hear Draco’s feral snarl as he came, thrusting into her weakly, filling her with his seed. Their climax seemed to go on forever before it finally waned. She collapsed on top of him, sated and blissfully at peace. He allowed it for a time, gently stroking her hair as she meditated. It was easy to ignore the pounding on the door when she was in his arms.

“We have to go, love,” Draco said after a while.

“I don’t want to,” Hermione sighed. “I’d much rather stay here with you.”

Draco chuckled. “That’s something. You’d much rather stay on the dirty floor of a muggle loo with me than go on a mission for the Boy Wonder?”

Hermione sighed. “I just…miss this… miss you.”

Draco nodded. “Being so near and unable to touch you is killing me…but we have to do this.”

“I know,” Hermione said sadly. “I guess we’d better get up.”

“I’ll say. That muggle on the other side of the door isn’t happy.”

“Do we have time for a snack?”

Draco hummed and nodded. “Why not? He smells delicious.”

He canceled the locking charms he’d placed over the bathroom and stepped back as the angry muggle came barging in. He yelled about their conduct, the noise level, their morals, and more that they couldn’t even understand before they rushed him, drinking from him with gusto. When his heart skipped a beat, they released him, leaving him in a heap on the floor next to their first unconscious couple.

“Come, love,” Draco said, holding out his hand to Hermione. “Our mission awaits.”

The ride to the seaside proved nerve wracking for Hermione. She would have much preferred to ride on a single bike with Draco. Instead, she was forced to follow him with only minimal instructions which he shouted sporadically. Add to that the fact that it had begun pouring down rain and the scent of nightshade and anise that seemed to taint the air, she was beyond her limits.

Draco pulled to a stop on a beach some time later. “This is as far as we can go by bike.”

“How much further?” Hermione asked as she killed her motorbike and took off her helmet. She was annoyed by her clothes that were now plastered to her body but glad that the rain didn’t have the bite it should.

“We have to swim from here,” Draco said, taking her hand in his. His apprehension was palpable.

“I’m not a weak swimmer,” Hermione said in annoyance, thinking he was wondering about her strength.

“It isn’t you I’m worried about, love,” Draco said softly. “It’s them.”

Hermione closed her eyes in understanding. The smell wasn’t just in her mind. “I didn’t think they would smell the same.”

Draco hummed in agreement. He’d never smelled Zander, but he forever committed to memory that his scent was that of anise. “Grandfather said that all leaders and seconds smell that way.”

“Grandfather does not smell that way,” Hermione said vehemently.

Draco smiled. “I imagine it has something to do with the fact that he is family.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“I don’t see the problem. We don’t have to smell it.”

Hermione huffed but kept her mouth shut. He did have a point after all. Still, she wondered how one could tell their scents apart if they all smelled that way. Deciding to make a note to ask Severus later, she turned her attention to the task ahead. It wouldn’t do to go off half-cocked.

“Where to,” Hermione asked, drawing her wand and transfiguring her clothes into something that would be streamline in the water. It resembled a muggle wetsuit, covering her to her knees to protect from jagged rocks and such.

“Those caves on the other side of the cliff,” Draco said, pointing to a tiny outcrop beyond several clusters of boulders. “They would have hiked up the hills and gone down. However, the path has long been worn away and the landscape changed to prevent easy passage.”

“So, not a coincidence.”

“Definitely not. Swimming will be easiest.”

“Why not flying,” Hermione asked, not quite believing the words that were coming out of her mouth.

Draco chuckled and transfigured his clothes into a mock wetsuit. “Because I have a feeling that it will draw the smell.”

“Oh.”

“And…I rather like watching you swim.”

“Oh you,” Hermione chided and smacked her mate in the stomach.

Draco snatched her hand and spun her around into a dip before kissing her thoroughly. She melted into a puddle of goo before he saw fit to release her, steadying her as she swayed a bit. He smiled, caressing her cheek for a moment before pointing to the bikes and muttering a silent charm. It would alert them to any presence and prevent their being tampered with. Then he gathered their cloaks, muttering the same charm before stowing them away in a saddlebag. Finally, he shrunk the satchel and placed a waterproofing charm on it before tying it to the motorbike and placing a sticking charm on it.

Hermione braced herself for the freezing cold water of the sea, only to let out a breath at her stupidity when it was warm. Of course it was warm. She was a bloody vampire for Merlin’s sake. How on earth could she have just been talking about it and forgotten that small little detail. She shook her head and walked further in, diving after Draco as he ducked under the waves.

The swim was fairly pleasant, despite the strong tide. It didn’t present a problem to the two young and freshly fed vampires who easily sluiced through the water. They crawled up on a small cluster of rocks that stuck out of the water to get a better look at their destination. The cliff side looked treacherous but they could see several dozen entrances to caves. It could take them a while to navigate every one. Dark magic might be easily scented, but the rising winds, torrential rain, and permeating scent of other vampires were affecting their senses.

“Where do we start?” Hermione asked.

Draco sighed and ran a hand through his soaked tresses. “I suppose at the end furthest in the sea. That gets the worst ones out of the way and presents an easier target to portkey to later.”

Hermione nodded. “Alright then. Beat you there.”

“You wish,” Draco said with a smirk and dove back into the water.

Much to Draco’s chagrin, Hermione managed to beat him. Her lithe figure cut through the water much better than his large frame, cutting seconds off her time. It hadn’t taken but a moment to swim there in the first place, vampire speed helping them in their endeavor.

Climbing up the rocky cliffs, however, proved more dangerous than they had anticipated. Sharp rocks bit at their hands, making climbing perilous; especially since they couldn’t afford to spend their precious recently consumed blood on healing. Having no recourse, they floated up on the air, careful to watch around them for signs of attack. They only relaxed a fraction when they were safely on the landing in front of a number of caves.

“Fuck, this is going to take forever,” Draco growled, gingerly climbing his way to the entrance of the nearest cave.

Hermione followed him, thinking the same but unwilling to voice her agreement. Closer inspection saw that there were over fifty caves, some not fit for a goldfish to fit in, others large enough to hide Nessie or another large kelpie like her. The first one they came upon was the latter, large enough for a muggle to explore for days without reaching the end. They zipped inside, taking care to keep one ear on the entrance and the other to hear any approaching danger from the cave itself. The cave didn’t particularly smell evil, but as large as it was combined with their other circumstances, they could easily miss it. Several hundred feet inside, the smell of vampires disappeared completely, letting them both relax, if only for a moment.

“I don’t think it’s here,” Hermione said after a while. They’d nearly covered the entirety of the cave.

“I didn’t think it was,” Draco admitted, “But it was just so large. I had to be sure.”

“I understand,” Hermione said, hugging him in the pitch black of the cave. Of course, they could both see just fine, but something about the lack of color was unnerving. She could almost feel the fear that those two children would have experienced in one of these caves with a vengeful Tom Riddle keeping their company.

The next cave proved just as fruitless, and the one after as well. Smaller caves were easily cleared, their scents and size giving away their inhabitants, or lack thereof. The small ledge they had explored came to an abrupt end, leaving a steep drop down to the next one. Both vampires jumped easily, landing with practiced grace most newborns hadn’t discovered yet. They, on the other hand, had excellent teachers who insisted on teaching them the mechanics of vampire movements. It proved exceedingly useful on this journey.

Around the twentieth cave, they were both getting irritable. The wind and rain had never let up, making their trek as miserable as possible. At least they weren’t going to freeze to death and they were thankful for that. It was the increasingly strong scent of other vampires that were making them agitated. The smell brought with it unwanted visions of an enraged Zander backhanding Hermione across the room and Lysander coming to stake his claim.

“It’s almost dawn,” Draco sighed as they cleared the current cave. “We best head back.”

Hermione nodded, thoroughly disappointed with their progress. They had explored more than any muggle could in a month and it still didn’t feel like enough. They had their orders though and an entire day of classes to attend before they could return. Perhaps the rain would let up then.

“Going somewhere,” a deep voice purred from around the next jut of rocks.

“Home,” Draco said sharply, discreetly pulling his wand from his suit. They might be good with wandless magic now, but it was not foolproof. Hermione followed suit, not wanting to be caught out again. This time, she had an arsenal of spells that would slow a vampire.

“Bit far from there, aren’t you?” A dark figure appeared in front of them. His long dark hair was tied back in a plait, giving them a good view of his squared jaw and narrowed eyes. He was not a handsome vampire, but he smelled very powerful.

“Which is why we’re leaving now. Must avoid the light, you know.”

“Oh aye,” the figure purred. “Which is why, to my great astonishment, I spotted you two out and about during the day. You were gallivanting around with humans none the less, ones filled with tasty blood and not once did you try to bite.”

“You are mistaken,” Draco growled. “Besides, when would you be able to view us if you are bound to the dark?”

“That forest outside your school is quite wondrous…and dark,” the vampire said. “It’s filled with many amusing creatures, most I admit I had only heard in the fairytales of my youth. Your school is another matter. Children of all ages, each tainted with the smell of metal. Oh, I can see why it has attracted such attention, even that of a werewolf, which is why I dare not get close enough to sense. Still, we have excellent vision, do we not, even if your appearance does change abruptly?”

“Who are you?” Draco asked with narrowed eyes.

“A humble servant,” the vampire drawled.

“Of,” Draco demanded.

“I think we both know,” the vampire whispered. “After all, you bear his calling card.”

Draco reached back behind him and grabbed Hermione, conveying in one simple squeeze of her hand what was needed. This vampire knew too much, especially if he knew they changed appearances. They had to find a way to subdue him and get answers. This one move might open them up for attack from others that were most assuredly there.

He struck quickly, throwing a modified incarcerous. Instead of regular ropes, these were spun with silver coating. It wouldn’t kill the vampire, but it would make him extremely uncomfortable and unable to break free. Hermione was on his heels, levitating him into the cave they had just came from and setting him down once they’d entered far enough to evade detection. Draco was quick to put a privacy spell up, in case others were listening.

“So, you have been watching, eh?” Draco’s tone was smug but Hermione could sense his unease. “It’s hard to believe you didn’t see that coming then.”

“I won’t tell you anything,” the vampire spat.

“Oh?” Draco asked. “Well, might as well stake you now then. We are on a schedule.”

Hermione followed suit, flourishing her wand in the air and conjuring a thick wooden stake. It was quite a bit bigger than necessary to do the job, but sometimes large gestures got better attention. She was strongly against murder of any kind, but this was war and she knew this vampire was a danger to themselves and everyone else.

“Wait,” the vampire said, his voice trembling ever so slightly when he saw Hermione getting ready to plunge the stick in his chest.

“Did your tongue suddenly decided to dislodge itself?” Draco asked.

“I don’t understand,” the vampire said in frustration. “You are his. Why are you fighting this?”

Draco snorted. “I detest people spying on me, especially ones who know my diet.”

“You’ve not told him of your gift.”

“Gift,” Draco said hollowly. “You see being a blood sucking creature of the dark as a gift.”

“Why do you not? We are superior now.”

“And yet we both bow to a man who seeks to use us as pawns.”

“You can’t deny the power he can grant us,” the vampire said slowly. “Imagine, free reign.”

“We have free reign now,” Draco snapped. “We can feed on whoever we want, so long as we evade detection.”

“That’s just it,” the vampire said with some modicum of excitement. “We won’t have to hide anymore.”

“And when he grows tired of us? What then? He will extinguish us, that’s what. We will have been exposed, no secrets kept.”

“You’re disloyal,” the vampire breathed.

Draco gave him a devilish smile. “So are you…to your own kind. I wonder what they would do, should they discover your treachery. Turning children is a crime in all circles. Turning them to be controlled by a human is blasphemous.”

The vampire’s eyes widened in fear. He began looking back and forth, searching for an invisible foe. It was obvious he didn’t know there was a privacy charm in place. Draco let him squirm a few moments before speaking.

“I see that your coven knows not of what you have promised?”

“I-I…they-it’s…I’m the leader!”

“I see,” Draco said. “So it is your second that we smell.”

The vampire nodded reluctantly, knowing his best bet was honestly.

“What does he know of your plans?”

“Only that we are looking for mates.”

“I see,” Draco said softly. “Well, unfortunately, you know too much. I would take you to my leader, but you pose too big a threat, even subdued. Therefore, I will ask this only once. What are your last words?”

“I-you would kill your own kind?”

Draco scoffed. “You are already dead. Besides, you won’t be the first vampire I’ve slayed. I have a strong doubt you’ll be the last. Now, your words.”

“I only wanted to help our kind.”

“Then do so by leaving this realm.” Draco said softly.

He took the stake from Hermione and plunged it into the vampire’s heaving chest. Blood spewed from the wound, covering them both in the sticky substance. The vampire’s face was one of utmost horror as his skin bubbled before turning to ash and exploding, covering them both in his remains. When he was gone, Draco merely scourgified the remains from himself and his mate.

“Are you alright?” he asked cautiously.

Hermione nodded, unsure of what she was supposed to think.

Draco sighed. “It wasn’t something I wanted to do…but surely you saw how dangerous he was?”

Hermione nodded again. She couldn’t argue with him. He really was a danger. It was just the calm cold demeanor that Draco had while slaying him that was bothering her. Did he think so little of life?

Draco pulled her into his arms. “Love, the one thing grandfather told me before we slayed Lysander was that you must not let your emotions play when killing a vampire. They will be the end of you. The vampire will smell it, use it, twist it and make it into pity or sympathy and ultimately turn it on you. I know it seems harsh, but I couldn’t afford that. Your safety was my only thought.

Hermione nodded once again and wiped the lone tear that had escaped her. “This isn’t the last one, is it?”

“I’m afraid not,” Draco sighed. “I have a feeling he will be the first of many until the Dark Lord is finished.”

“Then we had better get a move on,” Hermione said numbly and summoned the stake that was still lying there. She gingerly cleaned it and shrunk it down, placing it and her wand in her bathing suit. She had already begun compartmentalizing her thoughts. This slaying was necessary for everyone’s safety. There was no loyalty among rival covens of vampires and even less chance of one already in the employ of the Dark Lord. It would do no good to mourn him. He was beyond help anyway. The darkness had already claimed him.

“Well done,” Draco breathed and kissed her forehead. “I find myself more and more impressed and proud of you as the days go by. At this rate, I’ll be your willing servant in no time.”

Hermione snorted. “I’m sure.”

“Well,” Draco said with a shrug. “I’ll at least be your humble Dom, honored to have you for my own.”

Hermione shook her head at his antics and motioned for him to take the charm down. They had barely exited the cave when they were assaulted by a band of four vampires. By their techniques, it wasn’t hard to tell that these vampires were quite new and unskilled. Still, they packed quite a punch and posed a grave threat. They moved too quickly to pull a wand so Hermione and Draco had to resort to hand to hand combat, which they had not been well versed in.

The four newborns teamed up. Being all males, they easily had Hermione beat in the strength department. Three broke for Draco while the fourth tackled Hermione to the floor, viciously biting her and taking a hunk out of her shoulder before she was able to push him off and into a wall across the room. He was back on her in an instant, trying to sink his fangs in again. She muttered a stunning spell, pushing the magic through her hands and into the angry vampire on top of her. He yelped and stumbled away, groggy from the spell.

Draco was busy trying to move fast enough to evade the three sets of fangs that were coming at him. One had jumped on his back while the other two grabbed at his arms, pulling as hard as they could to keep him at bay. A piercing pain in his neck was the least of his worries as he felt his shoulders dislocate from the pressure on them.

Hermione didn’t think twice. She leapt up and yanked the vampire feasting on Draco’s neck away, neatly snapping his neck in two before he could retaliate. Her only thought was saving her mate. While she was busy dispatching the one, the two others had renewed their efforts. With a yell, Draco ran to the side and slammed one into the wall, forcing his shoulder back into its socket on impact. He spun the other around and gave him the same treatment.

Momentarily stalled by the pain, Draco wasn’t fast enough to avoid the next attack. The vampire Hermione had stunned ran into him with the force of a bludger, pinning him to the wall and tearing a hunk out of his chest with his fangs. His venom stung worse than Draco could have anticipated and caused him to freeze, allowing another hunk to be torn from his body.

Hermione was enraged. How dare that bastard mar her mate. She charged, taking the vampire out in a muggle style rugby tackle. It earned her a broken elbow and a deep gash on her side from where the vampire clawed her to get loose. Her body was running entirely on instinct now, thoughts of destroying in any fashion running through her mind. She had just sunk her fangs into her attacker’s neck when the two other remaining vampires dove on her back, biting and scratching and ripping. She felt her neck rip open, ribs crack and hips shatter.

Draco’s feral cry made everyone freeze. His anger seemed to fill the cave as he dove into the fray, ripping two vampires off of Hermione and flinging them into the walls of the cave before tenderly lifting her off the third. He proceeded to snap his neck before turning on the other two and ripping them apart with a speed and fierceness that many seasoned vampires didn’t develop. When he was done, he didn’t so much as spare them a glance before he flicked his hand and set them all on fire.

“Hold on, love,” he whispered frantically as he picked her battered body up and ran out of the cave before the flames licked at them. “We’ll be home in just a moment. Hold on please.”

“Dr-k,” Hermione gurgled, holding onto her neck which was still profusely bleeding.

“Shhh,” Draco said shakily and applied a sealing charm to her neck. “I’ll get us there.”

He sniffed the air before deciding it was too risky to fly and dove into the water feet first. He kept her body on the surface so she could gasp for breath. Hermione had never wished for the numbing cold of the water like she did in that moment. Just when she thought they were home free, terror struck again. Draco was quickly pulled under water, taking her with him.

She opened her eyes, looking for a vampire assailant and found herself face to face with a sickly green creature with green teeth and small pointy horns. Its long fingers were wrapped around Draco’s neck trying to strangle him.

“Fucking grindylow!” Hermione shouted under the water, her voice coming out garbled but still clear to Draco, who reached up and snapped the brittle fingers. They swam to the surface, both grabbing a lung full of air before returning below to fight the small cluster they seemed to run upon.

It took only a minute, but they wasted precious moments of time and blood fighting the horrid little water demons. Draco, being the less injured of the two, barely managed to stand when they reached the waist high water before he screamed and fell to his knees. It looked like a piece of driftwood had decided to take a hunk out of his ankles but Hermione knew better. She held out her hand and stung the creature with a hex. It shrieked and ran away.

“I didn’t think dugbogs were on beaches,” she said weakly.

Draco snorted and stood again, swaying on his feet but refusing to let go of her. “Only you would deign to think right now.”

“Inigo?” a female voice carried on the wind. The strong spell of spearmint followed.

Draco tensed, wondering what else they were about to get in to.

“Is that you Inigo?”

“No,” Draco called, quickly pulling his wand out of his wetsuit and unsticking the satchel Severus had given them.

“What have you done with him?”

Hermione looked up to see a tiny woman hovering under a small copse of trees by the shoreline. She didn’t look much older than fifteen but her glowing eyes and elongated fangs didn’t lie. She definitely a vampire, most likely the mate of one of the five they had slain a short time ago.

“I’ve never met him,” Draco said, digging through the bag. He didn’t want another fight, not when they were so weak.

“You killed him!” the woman screeched.

“I defended my mate,” Draco said tersely and deftly yanked their robes out of the saddle bag on the motorbike. He slung them around himself and Hermione before shrinking the bikes and throwing them in the satchel.

“I smell him on you!”

“All I can smell is a traitor,” Draco said coldly and held the quill between his fingers, making sure Hermione had a good hold on it.

The woman let out a howl that could put a banshee to shame before she flew full force at them. The sickening pull behind their navels did little to reassure them that they had escaped. Their fears proved true when they landed in a heap atop her writhing body. She began kicking and biting the second they caught their breath, catching their tender skin and ripping it further, spilling their blood across the grounds.

They tackled her together, paying no mind to the host of injuries they’d already sustained in their previous fights. She managed to rip chunks out of Hermione’s abdomen before Draco threw her across the grounds of Hogwarts and into the forbidden forest. Her arm was still in his hand as the rest of her flew into a tree. A deep growl met her, the amber eyes of Remus locking with her own before a steak was driven into her heart.

Draco let out a sigh of relief before falling to his knees. She had cracked a few of his ribs before he’d thrown her. Hermione’s muffled whimpers met his ears and he frantically pulled her to him, pulling back her robes to reveal her mangled stomach. His cry of anguish probably drew a few curious eyes but he didn’t care. His mate was gravely injured.

“Fuck,” Remus breathed as he hurried over to him. He jumped back when Draco hissed his warning. He held his hands up in supplication. “I only want to help. Let me take her inside.”

“No,” Draco snapped, struggling to lift her without jostling her too much. He fought to his feet and swayed a bit before marching across the grounds as quickly as he could.

Remus easily caught up with him in his weakened state, casting several patronuses and sending them off to alert the Headmaster and their parents of their dire condition. Melody met them at the front door, her eyes wide with fear as she began casting dozens of spells in succession to repair the damage. They were met by a very pale Severus and ushered into the hospital wing where they were stripped and set on cots.

“What in the fuck happened?” Melody shrieked as Severus poured potion after potion into Hermione’s gaping wounds.

“Another coven,” Draco growled, hissing when she cleaned the bite mark on his neck. “Leader knew too much so I staked him. His coven retaliated.”

“So that woman with you?” Remus asked.

“Mate of one of them, someone named Inigo?”

“Inigo?” Alex asked in shock. He had wisely stayed back despite his urge to help.

“That’s what she screamed,” Draco hissed and groaned when Melody jabbed her wand into his ribs, pulling them back into place.

“I would have never thought,” Alex said sadly. “Inigo was once an ally to small covens, craving intimate connections and solitude.”

“And now he’s dead,” Draco said darkly.

Alex nodded. “For the best, I think. How is my granddaughter?”

Severus sighed and dumped yet another potion over Hermione’s stomach, wincing when she screamed in pain. “It will mend, but she will be quite weak for a few days. She needs to feed again.”

“You both do,” Melody said, mending the last of Draco’s wounds before turning back to Hermione and healing some of the bite wounds she’d sustained.

“Not gonna happen,” Draco said sadly. “It’s day.”

“You bet your fucking ass it is,” Melody hissed. “I’ll take you myself.”

“But our classes-“ Hermione gasped.

“Can wait.”

“Headmaster,” Severus said with a small nod before tipping another potion down Hermione’s throat.

“My word,” Dumbledore breathed when he saw the amount of blood.

“We’ve searched almost half of the caves in the area,” Draco said, his voice devoid of emotion. He felt numb and helpless as he watched Hermione struggle to heal. “No sign yet.”

“I see,” Dumbledore said with a frown. “Well, I’m afraid we must postpone the search then. I will continue on this weekend.”

“No,” Hermione said. “We’ll be well by then.”

“But Miss Granger, perhaps-“

“No, she’s right,” Draco said softly. “Only our kind could navigate those cliffs with any efficiency. I just wish we could apparate. It would make it much easier…and safer.”

“Then perhaps, once you are healed, you would join me in my office?” Dumbledore said quietly. “I believe I can help you there.”

“Thank you, sir,” Hermione ground out, gritting her teeth against the pain of resetting her elbow.

“Of course,” Dumbledore said, his eyes a bit misty. “It’s the least I can do. Severus, I’ll cover your class this morning, if you want to go with your children.”

“Thank you Headmaster,” Severus sighed. “I believe I will take you up on that offer.”

“Very well,” Dumbledore said with a nod and made his way out of the hospital wing.

“We’re going to have a hell of a time explaining this one,” Melody sighed and healed the last of Hermione’s wounds with a flick of her wand. She sat heavily on the edge of the bed, the sheer amount of magic expended taking its toll.

“I believe the best explanation is none,” Severus said softly. “Come, let us be off. We’ve got to get some nourishment into these two…Nancy as well.”

“Oh, I’m not-“ Nancy protested. She’d been sitting still as death watching her beloved family scramble to heal.

“You’ll be fine for this,” Melody said. “Besides, you need to keep your strength up.”

“But what if I?”

“No buts,” Severus snapped. “That bracelet will only strengthen when we are out of the castle. You will be fine. Now up with you.”

“Mind if I tag along?” Alex asked.

“I expected no less,” Severus said.

“We can discuss this Robert character you two came across while we stalk,” Alex said, grabbing onto his daughter and his mate.

AN: Poor little vampy couple. They just can't get ahead, can they? So, I got this one out on time too! I'll try and keep it up. As always, thanks to everyone for your amazing reviews. They keep my insecure inner child at bay. Keep them coming and let me know how I'm doing. Until next time... love you guys.
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Beyond the Pale