HERMIONE GRANGER AND THE EROTIC CURSE

CHAPTER ONE: RETALIATION

Hermione Granger was furious, and everyone who knew her was definitely aware of it. Just a month ago, Hagrid, who was now the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, showed his first class a hippogriff named Buckbeak for their lesson. He had explained that hippogriffs are very proud creatures and should never be insulted unless someone wanted to suffer almost fatal injuries or death. She had watched Harry ride Buckbeak after being able to pet him and then the worst happened. Draco Malfoy, the idiot he was, walked up to Buckbeak and, as always, didn't listen. "You're not so bad at all, are you, you great ugly brute?" Buckbeak didn't take his insult very well and slashed his arm with one of his large talons.

A couple of weeks later, Hagrid went to the Ministry of Magic for a hearing with the Department for the Control and Disposal of Magical Creatures. Lucius Malfoy was there representing Draco while Hagrid represented himself, though Hermione begged him to find someone that would represent him like Dumbledore, but Hagrid was determined to do things his way, which now led to the letter that Hagrid had received from the Ministry. She, Harry and Ron went to visit Hagrid when he told them. "Lucius said that Buckbeak is a menace and very dangerous. He asked for the worst, too."

"You're not getting sacked, are you?" Ron asked.

"No," said Hagrid, "I'm not gettin' sacked." He started to cry and said, "Buckbeak's been sentenced to death." There was a dark silence in the air as neither of them spoke. "I just received the letter from the Ministry. They're sendin' the executioner here at sunset tonight."

"We'll be there for you, Hagrid." Harry said. "You know we will."

"I can't have yeh do that, Harry." Hagrid said shaking his head. "The rules are yeh can't be out after hours, and yeh've done that too much as of late." Harry sighed. "Besides, I don't want yeh to see all that. It would be too hard for yeh to handle." After a cup of tea, the trio went back to the castle for a while until they decided to comfort Hagrid before the executioner got there.

On the way to Hagrid's hut, the trio found Draco Malfoy and his two bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle standing by a rock and looking toward Harid's hut. "Look who's come to catch the show, Draco." Goyle said pointing a thick finger at the trio.

"You!" Hermione shouted pulling out her wand. "You foul, loathesome, evil little cockroach!" She held the tip of her wand to Malfoy's neck. He was flat against the stone he was currently standing near and he looked afraid.

"Hermione, no!" Ron yelled. "It's not worth it."

Hermione lowered her wand and turned to walk away. Instead, she turned back and punched Malfoy hard in the face making him stagger back into the stone. With his nose bleeding, Malfoy and Crabbe and Goyle ran toward the castle. "That felt good." Hermione said feeling much better than she was a moment ago.

A few days later, Hermione was walking down the ground floor corridor near the Middle Courtyard to Transfiguration. She was almost five feet from the classroom door when she felt a strange sensation wash over her. It felt like a blissful warmth flooded through her body. Just as it started, the sensation ended, leaving Hermione confused about what was going on. During her Transfiguration class, Hermione's mind began to wander as she began reading the chapter assigned for the day and taking notes. It wasn't a daydream, but she found herself glancing at a few boys in the classroom. One of them, to her surprise and disgust, was Draco Malfoy. He looked up at her when he noticed she was looking at him and gave her an evil grin before returning to his reading. "He's up to something," she thought to herself.

To keep her mind off of Malfoy, she looked around the classroom and her eyes fell on Dean Thomas, who was writing frantically in his notebook while reading the chapter. She looked him up and down, admiring his athletic body and wondering what he looked like naked. The bell rang and Hermione glanced at her own notebook in disappointment. She had not written anything for the chapter they were reading. She packed her books and parchment in her school bag and walked out of the classroom with the rest of the class. "What the hell is wrong with me?" she asked herself as she splashed cold water on her face in the girls' near the library. "Why was I just thinking about Dean naked? I'm not attracted to him." She thought about the strange sensation she felt earlier and decided it was time to talk to someone about it. It was either Lupin or Snape that she needed to talk to and she hoped Lupin would have an answer. She walked to Lupin's office and knocked on his door.

"Miss Granger?" said Lupin in surprise. "What can I help you with?"

"I have a small problem, sir," she said and walked into the office with him. "I'm not sure what happened, but I believe I was hit with a spell or a hex."

"What are the symptoms?" asked Lupin.

"I keep getting hot flashes," said Hermione, "and I'm thinking strange thoughts about boys. It's like no matter which boy I see, I fantasize about them."

Lupin was flipping through a book on his desk as she talked and said, "Are your fantasies of a sexual nature?" She nodded. "It's the Eroticus Curse."

"What's that?" she asked.

"It's a curse that is basically like the most powerful love potion but can do much more damage than the potion itself." Lupin explained. "There is a way to cure it, but it will take some time. I'll have to talk to Severus about brewing this potion."

"How long will it take?" she asked.

"At least two months." Lupin said bitterly. "The recipe for this potion is highly complex and needs to be exact or the consequences will be castastrophic." Hermione sighed and asked what he suggested she do. "I would suggest trying to go about your daily life."

"What about the curse?" she asked. "You said it's like the most powerful love potion, but you didn't specify what it does."

"Just like the potion, this curse causes the victim to have an increased need for sexual satisfaction," said Lupin. "If you don't give into those needs...well, you won't like the results."

"Tell me." Hermione said. "I need to know."

"If you don't act on your needs for more than a day, you will go insane and probably kill yourself." Lupin said darkly. "So, you will need to have as much sex as you can until the potion is done. I will let you know when it happens." Hermione didn't like that news, but she had to accept it.

Later that evening, Hermione was in the common room reading Hogwarts: A History by the fire while Harry was reading his favorite book Quidditch Through the Ages and Ron was already in bed. "Harry, can I borrow the map for tonight?" Hermione asked him.

Harry looked taken aback. "I thought you wanted me to turn that in?" he said giving her a skeptical look. "You're not going to take it to McGonagall, are you?"

"No, I need to use it." Hermione said. "That thing comes in handy, really. I may not be fond of it, but I at least consider it a valuable tool." Harry looked relieved and showed her how to use it properly. She kept it with her for the night and went to bed for a while.