My first Harry Potter fanfic. I don't think it will be very romantic, but it will have Dramione undertones. He might kiss her, but nothing more. It won't be focused on it.
Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter or any of the characters.

There was no doubt that Draco was a smart boy. In fact, the only person in the entire school that could get grades that even compared were Hermione Granger's. She beat him by 2 points on one test. After that, Draco had decided she wasn't worth getting to know. His heart disagreed. He often found himself lingering on her and he thought of her more than he liked to admit. However, right now, he wanted nothing but to get as far away from her as possible. The reason? She was trying to teach him to form a Patronus.

"Come on Malfoy. I know it's hard, but at least try!" He shook his head. Hermione huffed in annoyance. About 36 of the 7th years had come back for their 8th year, their schooling interrupted by the war. Harry had come back, but Ron had decided not to. Ginny had come back as well. The only other Slytherins that had come back were Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. As he turned his attention back to Hermione, she was once again, demonstrating the correct wand movements. When she saw Draco wasn't paying attention, she threw her hands up and marched away. She came back after a couple minutes.

"Why won't you try?" She cried. Draco stiffened and turned away. Her expression immediately softened. She didn't know why, but Malfoy had changed after the war. He didn't rip on her every chance he got, and seemed a bit more closed off. She had watched him more carefully than normal, and saw a side of him she never imagined.

As the Head boy and Head girl, they talked and saw each other a lot. One of their duties, was to take care of a little first year Ravenclaw boy. His name was Austin McCall. He was a werewolf, having been bit while on a trip with his family when he was 9. Draco had been tasked with getting him in and out of the shrieking shack on full moons. He was gentle and kind on the way there, and sometimes carried him back when the poor boy was too sore to walk. She had seen the heartwarming scene while looking out her window. Ever since then, she tended to notice things not many others did. That's why she realized his mood had been off ever since the Patronus project had been mentioned.

Hermoine realized that it had been a minute of silence since she asked the question, and it hadn't been answered yet.

"Draco, you can tell me." He sighed in defeat. He brought up his wand and executed the spell with perfect accuracy.

"Expecto Patronum." A blue light zipped out of his wand, forming a huge Gray wolf with the ethereal glow. Her mind supplied random facts in her brain. The gray wolf is the largest currently living wolf. This one, was larger than an average extinct Dire Wolf. This one was almost 5 and a half feet long and looked like it was around 230 pounds. Her jaw dropped. The wolf danced around in the air, before disappearing back into his wand. Everyone was staring at the pair. Draco groaned and turned around, not wanting everyone to look at him. Hermione turned around and glared. The room immediately went back to normal.

"Draco, why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know I could." That stopped her in her tracks.

"How could you not know that you could produce that strong of a Patronus?"

"I can only think of four happy memories, and I didn't think they were strong enough to produce a Patronus." (He didn't want to admit it, but he was also afraid it would be a ferret.) Her heart reached out to the man, but he grabbed his things and raced out before he could be confronted again.

VERY LONG LINE BREAK.

That had been 2 months ago, and the two Heads had never mentioned it again. There had been a few rumors about it, but Hermione had quenched them with a withering glare in their direction. Hermione tried not to think about it, but how couldn't she? It was said that a Patronus represented your inner self. For example, her otter meant that she secretly liked to goof off and mess around. Which was true. Not all the pranks had been pulled by Peeves and The Weasley Twins. Harry's stag meant he was strong, but could be very gentle. So what did Draco's mean? She knew many people thought that it was because Draco had been a bloodthirsty death eater and would kill without a second thought. However, Hermione knew that there was another side to him. He was gentle, caring, and extremely protective. She thought that's why he conjured a wolf Patronus.

She shook her head. If she kept day dreaming, she'd be late to potions! She stood up and practically ran to the dungeons. She got there just in time and sat next to Draco. They had been partnered together for the entire year. Neville, despite blossoming into the attractive man he was, was still clumsy and downright adorable. They were making a potion that even Hermione hadn't even heard of with practically useless effects, but Neville still managed to mess it up.

Hermione didn't blame him, but she found her self as an otter, next to a monstrous Gray Wolf larger than the size of an extinct Dire Wolf. She didn't even know what happened. The potions professor sighed, being in the form of a skunk. Draco curled in a ball, trying to make himself appear smaller. It didn't work. He just succeeded in knocking over the table, getting some boiling potion on his back and paw. The wolf yipped and quickly licked the offending liquid off his paw, but couldn't reach his back. Hermione jumped on Draco's back and licked it off before she sat down. It took about 15 minutes for McGonagall, Madame Pomfry, and Professor Sprout to come running into the potion classroom. What they saw was every single person in the room transformed into some kind of animal.

"What happened here?" Neville, in the form of a meek lion cub, padded forward, small head hung in shame.

"Neville Longbottom! What happened?" When he tried to answer the headmistress, nothing but a small squeak of a roar came forth. Madame Pomfry inspected him, finding nothing wrong. Professor Sprout seemed to be thinking, reading the potion's name on the blackboard. The headmistress filed everyone out, having them stand in the hall and had Madame Pomfrey check everyone for injuries. They were all fine. Draco tried to say something, but it came out as a deep bark. Everyone turned to him. Draco gave what looked like the equivalent of an embarrassed smirk.

"Yes? Which 8th year are you?" Draco stood up and started to draw something on the floor, scratching it into the stones. it read:

MALFOY TURNED INTO PATRONUS

Sprout jumped up.

"I know! The potion they were brewing can be confused with another, that changes magic-folk into their patronuses or their spirit animals. It seemed Mr. Longbottom stirred instead of shaking the potion. This, however, is not a simple potion to reverse, so they might have to stay in their animal forms for another week." This elicited shrieks of despair from the animals. Hermione jumped back onto Malfoy's head, and chattered in dismay.

Students were surprised, so say the least, when almost 40 animals came marching down the halls during passing periods to their next classrooms. When the largest wolf anyone had ever seen came into Advanced Transfiguration with an otter on it's back as well as two book bags, everyone stopped and stared. Professor McGonagall sighed and had them sit in their normal spots. The entire class burst into conversation, but were quickly silenced by the teacher's glare.

"Quiet! As some of you have heard, there was an accident about an hour and a half ago involving the 8th year potions class. They were all turned into their patronus animals and will be so for at least a week. Please help them out as very few have opposable thumbs. Miss Granger does, but Mr. Malfoy does not. They will need help with their class work. Now..." Draco stopped paying attention. He sat on the floor, head over the desk. Hermione stood perched on her chair, taking notes with her opposable thumbs, occasionally chittering in annoyance when it was hard to get the quill to move to form the correct letters. Draco looked to the 4th year sitting next to him. The girl was staring at him in fright. He cocked his head. She flinched. He sighed and sat his head on the desk. He'd get Hermione's notes.

Once the class was done, the 4th year rushed away, almost leaving her things. Draco grabbed his book bag with his mouth and Hermione jumped on his back. He grabbed her book bag too. There would be teeth marks in these. He looked at the clock at the wall. They would be late to their next class unless he hurried. Not used to his new form, he ran as fast as he could, and he was out the door almost before he could blink. Hermione had fallen off. She chittered angrily. He tried to say sorry. She got it, but wanted happy and jumped back on his back. She held on to his fur, and he raced off again.

As they ran through the halls, knocking over students, Hermione grinned. She would have said something in otter speak, but was too preoccupied with holding on. They raced through the halls at 40 miles an hour, and were in Care for Magical Creatures in no time. Hermione hopped off, swaying a bit as she ran to sit on the grass at the front. Her hair was wind ruffled. Draco followed her, making a couple of students muffle screams. He set the bags down, and flopped down next to her. Hagrid came out a couple minutes later, the class waiting for him. A stag raced to the class just as Hagrid was about to begin. A growl formed in Draco's throat. He had a sudden urge to eat Potter. He shook his head. Where had that come from?

By the end of the class, Draco was dying to run. He had stood up and paced during the lesson, ignoring Hermione's adorable glare. As soon as the class had been dismissed, it was time for lunch. Hermione hopped on his back and he grabbed the bags. He tensed, getting ready to run. Hermione grabbed his fur tight. Hagrid watched, excited to see him run. He took off, easily passing the stag and horse walking side by side, causing many students to be flattened to the ground. He raced around the lake, before heading towards the castle. He slowed down to a fast trot as he walked through the crowded halls. They arrived in the banquet hall. Draco dropped her bag by the Griffindor Table before trotting over to the Slytherin table. He hopped up on a bench. He couldn't help but glance at Hermione's tiny hands picking at her food. It was really cute.

After lunch, they had charms. Draco couldn't see why he still had to go to classes. He couldn't even hold a wand. Besides, in his new form, he could hear what everyone was saying behind his back. As the duo walked past, he heard people whispering as if they'd been shouting.

"Who knew Malfoy had a patronus."

"What do you think it means?"

"He's a bloodthirsty death eater. What else would it mean?"

He did his best to tune it all out, but it was hard. It may not look like it, but those comments hurt him. He knew that not very many people liked him, but it still hurt. He stared straight ahead, not listening to it. He held his head up, and Hermione and Draco walked into charms together.

To be honest, I was not expecting this to turn into this at all. I thought this would be a one shot. It's probably going to be 5 to 8 chapters, but don't take my world for it. Yeah.