Witch? Wizard?

Witch? Wizard?
Chapter IV

Hermione
Granger patiently drew her wand and cast an Enervate on the wizard that
had come to be her partner over the past few months. It was surely
against St. Mungo\'s regulations, but other than a nasty bit of shock
and quite probably some twisted narcissism, she had no doubt that Draco
Malfoy was perfectly healthy.


As his eyes slowly opened,
Hermione couldn\'t resist giving voice to the thought that had been
running through her own head for the past few minutes. \"What\'s the
matter Malfoy, did you see yourself and faint from your own beauty?\"


She
was ignored, as Draco carefully stood, using his arms as leverage on
the cold Hospital floor. When he removed his wand to cast a cleaning
spell on his robes, Hermione couldn\'t help but roll her eyes. \"Honestly
Malfoy, there are two people laying unconscious that with our faces and
you\'re concerned about soiling your clothes.\"


\"How long have they been here?\" Draco asked, ignoring the witch\'s mocking tone.


\"They\'d
only come in five minutes before I flooed you,\" Hermione responded.
\"Ginny Weasley is one of the Healers and contacted me as soon as they
arrived, I in turn contacted you. \"You\'ve only been out for ten
minutes, so I imagine that they will revert in the next half hour.\"


\"Why didn\'t they give them the antidote?\" Draco demanded. \"And who are they?\"


\"Well,
it appears that your lover decided he wanted to try his hand at being
your girlfriend. When they cast the revealing spell on me, Blaise Zabini was the identity determined. You however must not be registered with the British Ministry. They were unable to determine their identity.\"


\"So
why didn\'t they just give them the blasted antidote?\" Draco growled
again, raking a hand through his hair as he walked over to look at his
doppelganger.


\"We didn\'t want to force their reversion
because both individuals have sustained serious injuries, as you can
well see on yourself,\" Ginny Weasley interjected as she walked back in
the room.


Hermione saw Draco\'s shoulders jump slightly as he
undoubtedly saw the recently mended scars running the length of his
arms and across his throat.


\"Blaise\'s injuries are not
visible to the naked eye, but I can assure you they were traumatic. It
is our hope that because they were done to the female organs of his
transformed body, that their effects will be nullified once the
Polyjuice Potion has run its course,\" Ginny continued as she used her
wand to cast this spell and that over the former Head Boy.


They
only had to wait fifteen minutes more before their forms gave way to
the owners actual bodies. Hermione and Ginny were surprised when Draco
gasped in recognition at his impersonator. \"Plamen Borev,\" he exclaimed
as the dusty grey hair and hard lines were revealed. \"He was one of the
lesser Death Eaters in Bulgaria. He deserted the cause with Karkaroff,
though because of his low status he didn\'t receive much press. My
father used to point them out to me in his old albums when he spoke of
loyalty.\"


Borev, as he\'d been identified by Draco, had
wounds, that, while significant were lethal. With the assurance that
Hermione would alert him as soon as Blaise awoke, Draco returned to the
Ministry to draw up the necessary reports to press formal charges.
Borev had never been significant enough in Voldemort\'s ranks for them
to find grievous misdeeds with which to charge him, however,
impersonating another without prior consent was a significant charge,
especially when another was lying unconscious in St. Mungo\'s.


Hermione
had been surprised to hear the soft moans coming from the bed that her
still form had occupied less than an hour ago. Turning to walk towards
the brunet wizard, she looked down into his indigo eyes, round with
what was undoubtedly fear. \"Where\'s Draco?\" Blaise whispered, his voice
hoarse as he winced in pain.


Despite their encounter the
previous evening, Hermione could not help but show concern for the
wizard. \"Which one?\" she teased lightly, before placing a hand on his
shoulder and smiling. She sat beside him on the bed when his shoulders
began to shake with silent sobs, his eyes shining wet with distress.
\"What happened Blaise?\" she urged gently.


Her heart broke as
Blaise retold his tale. How could a wizard as brilliant as he have sunk
to such a state? Anyone could take a look at Blaise, witch or wizard,
and know that he was truly beautiful. Undoubtedly, witches threw
themselves at his feet whenever given the opportunity. Yet, that was
not enough for him, as none of them were the one he wanted, the one he
loved.


Blaise\'s obsession with Draco had been much worse
than anyone would have imagined. The careful observer could see that he
was smitten with the wizard though the feelings weren\'t reciprocated.
Hermione had known this since their seventh year when they shared the
Heads quarters. And while he hadn\'t given her cause to care for the
fragility of his heart, she was surprised to find that she did.


\"I\'m
sorry,\" she murmured after learning that in an act of desperation to
feel love from his beloved, Blaise had taken hairs left on his robes
from their encounter in Knockturn Alley to a Polyjuice Brothel.


\"Why?
You should be pleased,\" Blaise retorted carefully. \"After all, it was
you who told Draco to keep his \'girlfriend\' locked at home. Yet again,
you have shown that you really do know-it-all.\"


Hermione\'s
eyes gaped as she saw the disdain in Blaise\'s eyes. He looked
positively defeated and the hatred geared towards her was ten-fold that
Draco had ever directed towards Harry even at Hogwarts. \"I didn\'t
mean.... that night... I mean, I couldn\'t....\" Hermione stammered,
wanting to convey the misunderstanding, but unable to without putting
her, Draco, and God knows who else at jeopardy. \"Look Blaise, I can\'t
talk about it. But please believe me when I say I did not mean to hurt
you in anyway.\"


His eyes closed and Hermione simply sighed.
When Ginny walked in to run more tests, Hermione was relieved to hear
that the injuries he suffered during his transformation had not done
any damage to his masculine form. Disappointed when Ginny refused to
tell her what was wrong in the corridor, Hermione walked back in the
room, hopeful that Blaise would answer her questions. To her surprise,
she didn\'t even have to ask.


\"He wanted me... you... for parts,\" Blaise said softly as Hermione entered.


Hermione\'s face crinkled as she tried to comprehend Blaise\'s soft-spoken words. \"What do you mean for parts?\"


Hermione
sat quietly as she listened to Blaise\'s dispassionate unraveling of the
case that she had spent months on. Their deduction that the Muggle and
Muggleborns disappearances were related to a desire to increase the
birthrate among purebloods had been accurate. But what they hadn\'t
realized was that a small organization had successfully perfected a
magical medical procedure in which they could transplant the healthy
ovaries and uterus, or testicles of a donor into a compatible
recipient. Dozens of people thought missing, their bodies used for
their reproductive organs before they were brutally killed and left to
add another to some muggle cities death count.


\"I just
wanted him to look at me the way I imagined he looked at you. I wanted
to know would it feel any different for him to love me as a woman,\"
Blaise admitted softly, before his shoulders shook and he felt
Hermione\'s embrace enfolding him, her kind words easing his pain, the
gentle rocking calming in its effect.


When Blaise had calmed
and fallen asleep with the aid of a sleeping draught, Hermione strode
purposely through the halls until she was safely at the entrance to St.
Mungo\'s where she Disapparated.


Arriving at the Ministry,
she made her way down to the Aurory where she was directed towards
Draco Malfoy. \"You are an insensitive bastard. Some might think you\'ve
changed Draco Malfoy, but I can see you still hold no consideration for
the feelings of others. He nearly died to have you look at him and love
him, even if he had to settle for some cheap imitation in a brothel.\"


Draco
was caught off guard when the fiery witch stepped up to him and started
lambasting him with reprove. He had no idea what could have happened to
warrant such an outburst, the last he had seen her she\'d agreed to
contact him when.... \'He nearly died to have you look at him and love him, even if he had to settle for some cheap...\' The venom in her words sliced at him as surely as a blade would have, though years of careful training masked the injury.


\"Granger, what are you going on about. I was to meet Blaise last night, surely you don\'t mean to blame this on...\"


\"Shut up,\" she bit out through clenched teeth. \"For once in your life, just shut up. Fucking

someone is not the equivalent to loving them. I will not pretend to
care whether you soil your bed sheets for love or sport, but I will not
stand by and watch you do this to him. Whether you know it or not,
being a wizard does not make one immune to love. And Blaise is obsessed
with you in a way that could kill him.\"


Draco\'s eyes
narrowed as Hermione stood there lecturing him with the same passion
that she had used when promoting the liberation of House Elves. \"How
dare you presume to know what is best for Blaise. I have been his
friend for years while you sat with your precious friends, assuming the
worst because of his House.\"


Hermione considered his words
carefully, before lowering her voice, her temper cooling. \"That might
very well be the case Draco, I might have misjudged him. But I can
assure you; friends don\'t do to one another what you are doing to him.
What he needs now is someone who wants what\'s best for him, and believe
it or not, I do. Leave him be, lest you wish to find yourself on the
other end of my wand.\"


With those final words, Hermione walked out of the Ministry to return to Blaise\'s side.