AUTHOR'S NOTES:

This was my 2017 Hawthorn & Vine "If The Prompt Fits" Fest entry (dramione . org) entry. The fest is long over and reveals are out, so now I can post this for you here. This fanfic is finished. It is multiple chapters.

My prompt for the fest was: "Draco's under a curse that turns his hair black" and self-prompts of "Grimmauld Place", "Grim", and "Oh, how I've missed you, Granger."

Thank you to the Mods at H&V for running this wonderful fest!

DISCLAIMER:"Harry Potter" is the property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. This fanfiction was written entirely for fun, not for profit, and no copyright infringement is intended.

TIMELINE: Canon compliant up to the point when the trio go to Grimmauld Place to hide out in 1997 (Deathly Hallows). A/U after that.

MAIN CHARACTERS FEATURED (alphabetical order, last name): Hermione Granger x Draco Malfoy

SECONDARY CHARACTERS FEATURED (alphabetical order, last name): Andromeda Tonks, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Lucius Malfoy, Luna Lovegood, Narcissa Malfoy, Offspring, Remus Lupin, Ron Weasley

SUMMARY: A Grim is stalking Grimmauld Place... A Black family curse also becomes Draco's greatest gift, for it allows him access to the Order and to the girl he loves. But will Hermione recognise him, in either human or his alternate animal form, and will she understand what it is he's been trying to convey to her all this time?

RATING: MA (NC-17)

WARNINGS: Explicit Sexual Situations, Mild Profanity, OOC (out of character), Psychological Trauma, Secondary Character Death

BLACK DOG

By: RZZMG

There was a Grim stalking Grimmauld Place.

Or rather, a very large, shaggy black dog had parked its bum outside on the walk in front of the Black ancestral family home. Whether or not it was a magical beast was yet unknown, but Hermione saw too much intelligence in the dog's gaze to rule an Animagus out.

As she peeked through the front living room curtains to look at it again, she idly wondered if Sirius Black hadn't come back from the dead somehow. The man had been known to perform quite complex feats of magic from time to time—tricks he'd claimed Lily Evans had taught him.

"Still there?" Harry asked, creeping up behind her and giving her a small fright. He stood behind, looking over her shoulder to the street below.

"Mmm," she replied with a nod. "It looks just like him, doesn't it? Sirius, I mean."

Harry said nothing, and Hermione understood his silence. The loss of his godfather was a deep and abiding pain that lingered on the edges of his heart, taking slices out of his soul.

"Sorry," she offered. "That was thoughtless of me."

Harry's hand on her shoulder was an unspoken acceptance of her apology. "It does, though, doesn't it?" he asked, leaning closer to the glass. "I wonder who it is."

"Assuming it's not just a dog," she reminded them both, although she was beginning to suspect they both knew better.

"Aren't you?" he asked her, already knowing the answer.

Ron came in before she could reply, and Harry hastily removed his hand from Hermione's shoulder, jerking away from her as if burned.

It took effort not to roll her eyes and censure her best friend for persisting on the assumption that Ron and she would ever be an item. She knew Harry was hoping things would work in that direction, if only to give himself hope regarding Ginny, but the truth was she and Ron…that ship had sailed the morning of Fleur and Bill's wedding, when Ron had hastily penned Lavender Brown an invitation after learning Viktor Krum had RSVP'd that he'd be in attendance. That petty move had been the last straw as far as Hermione had been concerned, and she'd made it abundantly clear that same evening to Ron that they were going to remain friends and only friends.

Unfortunately, Harry hadn't yet accepted that little fact, and he still actively encouraged Ron's interest in her, despite Hermione's protestations.

She grit her teeth this time, telling herself that she'd have a little chat with Harry later that evening. For now, she was more curious as to the animal sitting outside the house, staring up at her as if he could actually see her through the Fidelius Charm.

"That dog still out there?" Ron asked, coming up alongside her and looking out on the street. He moved the Victorian lace draping aside. "Persistent bugger. I bet it's an Animagus."

Hermione yielded her hopes for the mundane with a heavy sigh. "The evidence certainly seems stacked in that direction."

"Should we find out?" Harry asked.

Ever since Dumbledore had fallen, a fire for revenge had been lit under her best friend, and he seemed more reckless than usual. At that moment, he seemed to want a confrontation.

Surprisingly, it was Ron who was the voice of reason. "Supposed to rain this afternoon, yeah?" He glanced up at the grey, cloudy sky far above. "Let 'im get wet. That ought to send him home with his tail tucked between his legs." He turned away without another thought, throwing himself down on one of the two settees in the room and rearranging the wizarding chess pieces on a board that sat on the coffee table in between. "Rematch, Harry?"

"Yeah, okay," Harry conceded, clearly disappointed that he wasn't going to get to scrap anytime soon. He went and joined Ron, sitting across from him on the other sofa and turning his mind towards a different sort of violence, one where he controlled the outcome through wit rather than fists.

Frankly, Hermione was relieved to have dodged that bullet. Harry's temper had been worse since the Death Eaters had attacked them at the wedding and forced them into hiding sooner than expected, and her input, which always urged temperance and logic, only seemed to irritate him further. Ron, however, had a way of taming their friend's volatile inner beast. It was, as Ginny had often pointed out to her, a 'bloke thing'.

Whatever the reason, it allowed her to turn back to the problem before them, to examine the puzzle of the black dog in her mind and find all possible explanations as to who it was and how they had found out about Grimmauld Place, and yet could not see the door. He or she clearly knew the place existed, but they weren't a Secret-Keeper, which meant they weren't part of the Order.

It had to be a relation of the Black family or one of their friends, and seeing as how all of them were all on the dark side of things…

"Who are you?" she mouthed to the dog.

He continued to stare up at the house as the rain started to fall, drenching his dark fur, and she could swear he was looking right at her the whole time.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's Notes:

Please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

XOXO,

- RZZMG