3 July 1997
Hermione Granger stepped outside of the Burrow and sat on the front steps, watching the gnomes in the garden. The glass of water in her hand was cool, and she put it down next to her after taking a sip. As she thought, her fingers found the thin gold chain around her neck and fiddled with it. The door behind her opened and closed quietly, and a set of light footsteps made their way towards her.
Remus Lupin eased himself down onto the step next to Hermione. They sat in companionable silence for a minute, then Hermione broke the silence.
"It's always so loud in there. Sometimes I feel like out here is the only relatively calm place." She drifted back to silence.
Remus snorted lightly, and Hermione could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke. "I know exactly what you're talking about. Makes it hard to make any progress with the meditation, right?"
Hermione jumped. "How did you know?" She twisted to look at her former professor, who met her wide-eyed gaze steadily.
"I'm a werewolf, Hermione. I can smell the difference. Even without that, your behaviours are changing already. Just enough for those familiar with the process to recognize. You're some kind of canine, aren't you? No worries, I'm not going to stop you, or tell anyone." A different kind of smile, almost a smirk, graced his face, and abruptly Hermione was reminded that the man was a Marauder. She relaxed and took a deep breath.
"I'm a timber wolf. I started a couple of months ago, during the school year, when we were working with the mandrakes. It wasn't hard to pinch a leaf or two, and Harry and Ron are both to oblivious to notice." Hermione picked up her glass of water and inspected it, taking a sip as she avoided Remus' eyes.
Remus' light chuckle surprised her. "And everyone thinks that you're a rule-following prefect. Might I inquire as to why you're becoming an Animagus?" Hermione could feel his eyes shift away from her and to the garden, and she noticed his fingers begin to fiddle with the silver coloured band he wore on his finger.
"I follow the rules until they don't benefit me, or I work out loopholes. That way, when people realize that I've broken a rule, they think, 'Oh, she must have had a good reason,' and leave it at that. And I'm becoming an animagus for a few reasons." She paused there, readying herself and simultaneously trying to figure out how to say it. Remus' eyes shifted back to her. "We're in a war. People are fighting and dying. It's always handy to have every advantage possible, and not only is my form good to run or hide with, it's also big enough to fight with. Then there's…" Hermione trailed off, meeting Remus' gaze shortly, then ducked her head. "Ever since the Department of Mysteries, you've been alone, on the full moons. I know that they're easier when you're not alone, so, I figured, well, maybe I could help." She ducked her head, fighting down a blush as she fidgeted with her drink.
She missed the way Remus' face portrayed his surprise. "Hermione…" he said.
Hermione got angry, thinking that he was going to refuse her help. "No, Remus, you can't stop me. I watch you, after the full moons. I talked to Sirius about it, too! He's the one who told me how much it helps to have others around, even if what I've been seeing didn't convince me! He also told me how to become an animagus. So I'm going to continue, and help you, Remus Lupin, even if I have to come after moonrise and break in." Hermione met Remus' eyes, breathing heavy from her short tirade.
Remus looked astonished at her outburst, but then what she said fully registered. "Sirius started this? Were the two of you close? I got the impression that you were more acquaintances than anything else."
Hermione looked back down, her anger fading. "Sirius and I were friends. Not nearly as close as you and him, but friends all the same. I tend to spend time reading instead of sleeping late at night, and pretty early into last summer, I came down to the kitchen for a drink of water at about two in the morning or so. He was sitting at the table, head in his hands, stuck in a flashback, so I put my hand on his shoulder. He resurfaced slowly, and I hated seeing the look on his face, like he was broken.
"It was just the two of us awake, and we talked for a minute. I couldn't take it, so I transfigured our clothes into something acceptable for muggles, put a glamour on him and myself, and brought him to the all-night café around the corner for a cuppa and an escape. Since then, we were friends. I think I was just a support, a reminder that he was human sometimes." Hermione and Remus sat in silence for a minute, staring into the garden, until Remus swallowed audibly.
"Thank you." He broke the silence.
"For what?" Hermione looked at him.
"For helping Sirius when I couldn't." It was Remus' turn to fidget with his drink. "And for doing this. Becoming an Animagus, I mean."
Hermione smiled softly and looked out at the garden. "You know, the night before we went back to school that summer, Sirius asked me to do something." Hermione paused.
"Hmm?" Remus asked.
She swallowed. "He asked me, that if anything happened to him, to make sure that you were okay. 'Harry's got all this support from the Weasleys, from the Order, from you and Moony,' he said, 'But Remus has really only got me, you know.'" Hermione sighed. "How could I say no? He felt so horrible, Remus, that you were alone for so long. 'I would have asked Harry, too,' Sirius continued, 'but he's got too much on his plate already. I know you've got a huge load already, but I know that you can manage it.' And he was right, especially since I never gave back this in the commotion of the end of third year." Hermione pulled on the thin chain around her neck, dragging out the time turner on the end, holding it up for Remus to see. "It makes things a bit easier." Hermione gave a half-smile, then tucked the device back into her shirt. She didn't meet Remus' gaze, looking at her knees instead.
"Is that a time turner?" Remus asked.
"Yeah." Hermione picked at a piece of lint on her pants.
"You really are quite the rule-bender, aren't you?" The Marauder smirk was back, Hermione discovered with a quick glance at Remus. Hermione let a similar smirk crawl across her face.
"There's a reason that I have a 15% share in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes…" she met his eyes.
"Oh?" Remus tilted his head, much like a curious dog would.
"I help them test and troubleshoot, and I add in a few of my own ideas."
"You keep surprising me, Hermione Granger," Remus said, then tilted his head back and closed his eyes. They sat in comfortable silence for another minute or two, then Remus spoke up again, letting his head fall back down.
"Do you want some help with the meditation? Sirius told me that they used to take turns guiding."
Hermione looked at Remus with one eyebrow raised. "You wouldn't mind?"
"No, not at all." Remus gave her a smile. "Exactly how far along are you?"
"All I've got left is the final transformation, but I've not been able to get past the final barrier."
"Good job. All right, where have you been meditating?" Remus asked, and Hermione saw as he shifted into his teacher mode.
Hermione responded by shifting into her student mode, straightening her posture. "I've been working at night after Ginny falls asleep. It's hard to do it during the day or elsewhere because I keep getting interrupted."
She watched as he considered this. "Sirius told me that it was easier for them to meditate and work in the Forbidden Forest because it was easier to tap into their animal sides. Where…" Remus trailed off, and Hermione stayed quiet, letting him think as she absorbed the information. "Would you like to try in a forest? My place is pretty deep in woods, so I don't have to worry as much about neighbours on the full moons. I can go tell Molly that I'm borrowing you to help with something if you'd like."
Hermione brightened at the idea. "I'd like to try that, if you don't mind."
"All right. Be back in a second." Remus stood up slowly from the step and turned to go inside, but as he put a hand on the knob, he turned back and asked, "You've your wand, right?"
"Yeah," Hermione answered, and Remus disappeared inside. Hermione stood up and stretched, sore from sitting for so long. She checked to make sure her beaded bag was still attached to her belt as it had been since the day before they left Hogwarts. Remus reappeared fairly quickly and held out an arm. "Shall we?" Hermione grabbed on, and Remus twisted, apparating away, pulling Hermione with him.
They landed neatly outside of a small cottage. Hermione let go of Remus' arm, and the pair walked to the backyard of the cottage. There were woods surrounding them, and Remus led Hermione to a small clearing not far into the woods. They sat down, facing each other. Hermione took a deep breath, inadvertently closing her eyes as she did, letting the scents and sounds of the forest wash over her.
"So, before we start, would you mind casting your patronus?" Remus asked. "It helps to start the meditation."
"Okay." Hermione closed her eyes, thinking of her happy memories. Laughing in the common room with Harry and Ron. Helping Fred and George with one of their products. Reading quietly in the warmth of a sunbeam in the Hogwarts library. Sharing stories with Sirius late at night in Grimmauld. "Expecto Patronum."
From the end of her wand, a bright wolf leapt out, jogging around the pair, then coming to rest beside Hermione, who gave it a light scratch behind the ears.
"Wasn't your patronus an otter?" Remus asked.
"It was," Hermione affirmed. "It changed when I started the Animagus process. I'm not sure why."
"Interesting," Remus commented. "All right. Close your eyes, and feel the patronus next to you." Hermione followed his instructions and felt the warmth and joy of her patronus wash over her. "Breathe out, and slide into the meditation." Hermione listened and felt her patronus fade as her concentration changed. She could feel the magic of the woods around her, the magic within herself, and the magic of Remus sitting across from her.
"When you're ready, reach for the wolf inside of you. Embrace it, and let it flow through your veins. Let it merge fully with your magic." Remus' calm, steady voice reached her as though he was at the other end of a long tunnel. She grasped the wild piece of magic that lay dormant within herself, and let it wash over her. Intuitively, she knew that she had succeeded in passing that final barrier and that she was probably in her animagus form.
"Congratulations, Hermione," Remus' voice echoed to her. She pulled herself out of the meditation slowly and opened her eyes. The world around her was dampened in colour, but the smells and sounds were highly amplified.
Hermione felt her tail (she had a tail!) wag as she looked around. Remus had a grin on his face as he watched her. She stood up from the sitting position she had been in, and walked slowly around the clearing, sniffing and getting used to working four legs instead of two. It was surprisingly easy, and soon she was loping gently around. After a few laps, she stopped and trotted to Remus, who was still seated in the centre of the clearing.
"Here." He said and transfigured a large mirror. Hermione looked at herself. She was bi-coloured. Her back was dark brown, the same colour as her hair, which faded into a bright white towards her belly and legs. Her eyes were a dark amber, different from her normal brown. After a minute of self-inspection, she tilted back her head and let out a howl. It echoed through the woods around them, and as it died away, Hermione transformed back into her human form, a huge grin on her face.
"If you're going to help me on the full moons, there's only one more thing you need," Remus said, the Marauder smirk on his face. Hermione cocked her head, silently asking what. "A nickname." His smirk widened, as did hers.
He stood still for a minute, thinking, then his eyes flashed. "Slip."
"What?" Hermione asked. She liked it but wasn't sure where it came from.
"Wolves are quiet hunters, they slip from shadow to shadow silently. So, Slip." Hermione nodded her assent, a smirk like Remus' spreading across her face.
"And, with an expression like that, you're a Marauder; congratulations."
The smirk dropped from Hermione's face and was replaced by surprise.
"Really?"
Remus' smirk mellowed into a smile. "Of course. The Marauders were based on three principles, eventually. Pranking, rule-breaking, and helping me on the full moon. So, please do explain your confusion."
"No, I get it now." Hermione's mouth stretched into a smile.
"Right. So, in order to celebrate your initiation, we should pull a few pranks." The Marauder smirk was back, and Hermione suspected that Remus' was mirrored on her own face.
"I have an idea," Hermione said, and Remus tilted his head inquiringly at her. "Take everything in the boys' room and put it on the ceiling."
Remus considered this for a second, and then a predatory grin crept across his face. "Slip, I do believe that idea would work quite nicely. Sticking charms?"
"Sticking charms, and a disillusionment charm to sneak in. Flip everything, then sneak out and come back in normally, Moony?" Hermione could tell that Remus' grin was once more mirrored on her.
"And the twins will most likely take the blame…" Remus said.
Hermione said nothing in response to this, instead tapping her wand on her head to disillusion herself after quirking an eyebrow at him. Remus followed suit after offering her his arm, and the Marauders disapparated back to the Burrow, sliding in unnoticed. Ron's room was empty, as was Percy's, and it didn't take long for the pair to flip everything. It was going on late afternoon at this point, and when they re-entered the Burrow, nobody suspected anything.
By some stroke of luck, both boys went into their rooms at the same time. Hermione and Remus listened, amused, as the two had minor freak-outs before running back downstairs. They enjoyed the aftermath of their prank, and they were correct; the twins took the blame, even though they vehemently denied participating.
AN:
Hello! Thanks for giving my story a chance. Please drop me a comment if you liked it, if you have questions, recommendations, whatever! I don't normally bite. (I promise.)
Disclaimer: Nothing that you recognise in this story is mine. I simply borrowed events, timelines, and characters from our dear JK Rowling so I could play with them.
As for an updating schedule, I don't really have one. I have a bunch of pre-written stuff, but I write when I feel like it, otherwise I basically hate the product. So, therefore, updating schedule will be when I feel like it. Sorry if that's not what you want. I am a first year in university, so I should be able to write often-ish (or at least that's what's been happening).
Stay tuned if you want more!
Remus
