Draco, desperate and with nothing left to lose, followed him for a while, when suddenly he heard a mournful wolf's howl.
Werewolf!
The full moon emerged completely from the clouds.
Draco's face turned ashen. He quickened his pace, just as Crookshanks quickened his.
He prayed silently: Merlin, please help me find Hermione quickly. Merlin, please do not let her cross paths with the werewolf.
However, then he saw it.
Under the full moon, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, a ferocious werewolf was closing in on a pale-faced girl.
Hermione. She was all alone.
She stood forlornly before the werewolf, the hand holding her wand trembling.
In an instant, his heart and lungs seemed to twist together, and he could not breathe.
Where were Harry and Ron?
Why had they brought her to a place like the Forbidden Forest during a full moon?
Why had they abandoned her, leaving her to face all of this alone?
Why was she always surrounded by danger?
Draco was furious.
She had been gone only a short while, and already the werewolf had found her!
They could not protect her at all!
How many times had her safety been so carelessly overlooked?
How could he have been so foolish as to think she would be safer with them than with him?
How could he have been so foolish as to think no one but him could ever harm her?
Perhaps all that restraint and distance had been nothing but foolishness!
He should never have let her go!
Draco stormed towards her without hesitation.
The werewolf was baring its teeth, which gleamed with a chilling light.
He rushed forward and firmly placed himself between the werewolf and the frail, frightened, trembling girl.
"Hermione Granger, I have finally found you," he said frantically, his voice trembling.
The werewolf's eyes gave off a sinister glint.
He was not sure whether it was Lupin. Its eyes held no trace of humanity, only savagery and brutality.
The werewolf was enormous, even more ferocious, powerful, and merciless than it had appeared from a distance.
He pointed his wand at it, quickly trying to think what spell to cast, when he heard Hermione's voice tremble behind him.
"No, Draco, it is no use, wands are useless against it... Professor Snape has already been defeated by it..."
This news shocked and terrified Draco.
Everything seemed to be falling apart.
Was Professor Snape still alive?
Such a powerful wizard, capable of killing Albus Dumbledore, yet unable to defeat a single werewolf.
Draco lost half his confidence, but still tried Incarcerous on the werewolf, which only enraged it further, and it knocked his wand from his hand with a swipe of its claw.
"Draco!" Hermione screamed behind him, clinging tightly to him.
He was now unarmed and could only smile bitterly in despair... werewolves, with their thick hide and tough flesh, were truly the bane of wizards!
Perhaps this very moment was the final destination he had been heading towards ever since his rebirth.
He was unwilling to accept it, but he was helpless.
So many things I never had time to do, so many words I never had time to say, so many regrets I never had time to make up for...
The werewolf closed in again, cruelly raising its sharp claws, poised to strike.
"Draco..." she called after him, clutching his robe in a fearful voice.
In that split second, Draco saw no other choice.
That is enough. Let it end here. These three years felt stolen anyway.
Draco turned around, wrapped his arms tightly around the girl, turned his back to the werewolf, and set his expression into one of resolve.
This was the only ridiculous, rudimentary protection he could offer with his own life.
"I am sorry, please forgive me," he said in a trembling voice against her ear, his eyes tightly shut against his own overwhelming fear.
Muggles say that in the moment before death, every sense is heightened.
Perhaps it is true.
He could feel her body trembling too, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist.
He could feel the frantic beating of her heart against his chest, just as she could feel his.
Her cold cheek pressed against his, and warm tears silently slid down both their faces.
"Draco..." she called his name in a heartbroken, desperate voice, the pain in it almost tearing his heart apart.
His Hermione. His dear girl.
She still smelled of his favourite green apples.
In his past life, he had foolishly lost her.
In this life, just as he was slowly finding her again, just as she was on the verge of giving him a chance...
But they were going to die here.
To die holding her like this, it was truly heartbreaking.
Just then 'distant howl' of a wolf echoed out... the tearing pain Draco had braced himself for never came.
At the last moment, the werewolf seemed to be drawn away by the howl, and suddenly turned and ran off.
They were safe.
In some incredible way.
But they still could not bring themselves to let go of each other.
Overwhelmed by fear and the sheer relief of having survived, they sank to the ground, like two drowning people clinging to a lifeline, embracing each other tightly, trembling.
"It is all right, Hermione, it has gone," he said, finding his voice hoarse.
"Draco," she buried her face in his shoulder, her teeth chattering, her voice trembling with tears, "it was so frightening..."
Her tears quickly soaked a small patch of his shoulder.
"There, there, you are safe now." He gently patted her thin, trembling back, rising and falling rapidly, his fingers shaking so badly they would barely obey him.
She must have been terrified.
Hermione held onto him so tightly. She clung to him, as though trying to bury herself in his arms.
The air was squeezed from his lungs, and his ribs felt close to breaking under her grip.
But he did not care.
She was still alive, and holding him close, and that was enough.
Merlin, how many times in a person's life can they escape death, and how many times can luck erase a mistake and let one begin again?
Since she had curled into his arms and no one else's.
Since the warmth of an embrace could ward off the chill of death.
Why was Draco Malfoy still hesitating?
For the first time in his life, he embraced Hermione Granger with unwavering resolve, clarity, and closeness.
He held the girl close in return.
He trembled as he held her, who trembled just the same, and never wanted to let go.