Children of the Moon.
Prelogue.
Hermione flinched as she saw one of her own, just a Hufflepuff student, get hit by a Death Eater's curse. An unforgiveable one, and one the student would not be getting up after. Too late to do anything now, Hermione fought her way through the monsterous battle, trying to catch up to Ron and Harry who were now running to the castle after they had found Severus Snape. Hermione had always believed the silky voiced Professor had always been on their side. Unlike others she had noticed Dumbledore seeming to favour one hand and almost seemed frailer... She hadn't been oblivious. It was the least she could do in the end to give Snape anti-venom for his snake bite, as much other healing potions as she had, and then use an illegal portkey to send him to the mediward where Madame Pomfrey would be. If she could just save one person, all be it one who wasn't well liked, it would be worth it.
As she got into the castle a feminine scream came to her ears, and without hesitation the bushy-haired student ran towards it. It was probably the worst mistake she could have made, not that she knew it at the time, and sealed her fate for all eternity. What Hermoine saw was Lavender Brown being mauled by Fenrir Greyback who was in his lycan form. Her eyes widened at the sight and it was then she realised that Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle, must have forced a full moon through black magic. He was really going all for nothing wasn't he? Without a second thought she raised her wand and yelled the first spell that came to mind, sending the wolf-like creature off her fellow student. Even now in the heat of battle she could do a flawless Wingardium Leviosa. Of course it was not the time to dwell on giving herself a pat on the back.
"Lavender hurry! Run! I'll deal with him."
She yelled, sounding a lot more confident then she felt. Lavender, not being the most brave of Gryffindors despite her house, did as the book-smart Hermoine said and ran, abandoning a fellow student. This also sealed Hermione's fate.
It didn't take long for Fenrir to get up, his snarling jaws dripping with drool and blood, as he began advancing on her. Realising she suddenly had a fully formed adult werewolf infront of her, Hermione did what she told Lavender to do; she ran. It was probably one of the stupidest ideas she had but as soon as she had seen the werewolf approaching her all spells that could have done damage to him just couldn't come to mind. It wasn't like when she had been faced with Remus Lupin. She had been niave then and almost believed the fact Remus was a friend would protect her despite the animal being in control. Fenrir was nothing but a wild beast regardless of which form he was in. He had no problem in committing the most atrocious crimes in either form, and thus when faced with him in his stronger form in the heat of such an important battle... her mind had frozen on her. With all the intelligence she possessed and she still froze up like a first year facing a boggart.
Regardless of all this, she ran as physically possible of the castle and into the Forbidden Forest. A brief thought of luring Umbridge to this forest sparked in her mind as she crossed its threshold and it was then she realised something. She had instincts too and they had without her knowing it been drawing Fenrir away from the battle and other innocents. In that moment she knew most likely she was damning herself but if it saved others out on the battle field regardless of their alignment from Fenrir's wrath and his venom then it was absolutely worth it. Before she knew it though she had ended up entirely lost within the dark forest depths. Panting, she ended up coming to a halt in the middle of a dense copse of trees, her gaze going every way as she tried her best to hear over her beating heart for any signs of the werewolf.
At the last moment she heard a growl and spun round in its direction. Seconds later the huge black werewolf which ironically did have a greying back like his name, leapt out of the darkness and pounced on her before she could even direct her wand his way. The rough landing to the forest floor caused her to bounce slightly, her body hurting and her wand slipping from her grip until it rolled into the darkness of the forest - away from Hermione's limited reach. A second later razor sharp teeth sunk into her shoulder, a terrifying scream leaving Hermione's lips as it did so, and for what was the longest minute in her life Hermione could only feel Fenrir's teeth biting, chewing, and digging into her flesh.
She prayed for unconsciousness, prayed not to feel anything, and just when she thought she could take no more there was suddenly no weight on her. Realising she had closed her eyes, Hermione opened them only to see the most beautiful pure white unicorn she had ever seen... using its hooves to bash Fenrir's skull in. It took a few tries, Hermione realised with something like horror and awe, before the beast fell to the ground dead. The blood spatter on the unicorn's front hooves and legs for some reason did not hamper the equine's ethereal beauty and presence. However it did drill a bit of fear and an extra dose of respect at not only seeing such a rare and elusive creature, but having been saved by it as well as being in its company.
Blinking her eyes she watched as the unicorn then began to make its way towards her. Knowing how rare of a moment this was, she stayed completely still apart from the heavy breathing that was causing her chest to rise and fall rapidly. Almost absentmindedly she put her right hand over the wound on her left shoulder, flinching slightly at the unbearable pain - was she on fire?! - and kept her grateful gaze on the unicorn's eerie cobalt blue gaze. What happened next would stay within Hermione's memory forever. The white unicorn lowered his head and a single tear rolled down its cheek until it dripped onto the huge gaping hole on her shoulder. Hermione watched in shock as her wound seemed to heal, which was impossible - couldn't only Phoenix tears do this? - and then it looked like nothing had ever occurred.
'I am sorry pure one. The curse cannot be reversed, but with my tear you have healed and shall always heal, giving you immortality. For something freely given by us to someone who is equal in our pure bodies and hearts, will be given the ultimate gift. Do not tell of this to anyone. The curse is yours to handle, I have done what I can. You should return to your friends. They shall need you now the battle is over.'
A magical voice said within Hermione's mind and she knew it could only have been the unicorn before her. With the words said the magnificent stallion turned and left the witch alone to find her way back through the forest with bloody rips on the shoulder of her shirt. How she'd explain that she didn't know but Hermione returned to the battle scene and to her relief saw Harry rising from the ground where Lord Voldemort lay, dead.
All was right with the world. This should be the end, but then why did Hermione feel like this was just the beginning for her?
It had been hard to hide her lycanthropy from everyone, especially Remus when he did visit which was uncomfortable, but she managed it.
Severus ended up surviving, and although he'd never let her call him by his first name he did manage to give a stiff nod which she took as an apology and a thankyou. Hermione in true Hermione fashion got top marks on her NEWTs, making her the highest scoring student at Hogwarts - EVER! She was pleased, and had even been offered an apprenticeship along with a future job offer at Hogwarts, but she turned it down. Her side project came first. Not that anyone knew what this side project was of course. All they knew was that she had managed to create a spell to make her laptop work at Hogwarts, and had ended up holed up there most of her extra school year - her last year did have to be repeated thanks to the Battle of Hogwarts - and so this wasn't out of the ordinary for the young witch.
With magic books at her fingertips and a mortal laptop, Hermione managed to find something that made excitement flush through her veins once more. Her wolf side needed a pack. Despite brewing the Wolfsbane Potion she still ended up with the wolf instincts, just her mind in control of the whole experience, and her wolf wanted a pack - as well as a mate (not that Hermione would ever give into that. She was not loosing her innocence for anything other then true love. She had eternity now thanks to that one run-in with Fenrir and the unicorn. Okay, it hadn't been her first run-in with the werewolf but it had been her last.) Hermione was willing to find a pack however. Unfortunately the only packs she knew in England was the one Fenrir had run - no thankyou - and then there was Remus - again no. She wasn't going to bring her friends into this curse so she had started to explore where any more where-abouts of Werewolf Packs could be. Going through the Ministry wasn't possible. They were still prejudiced to Werewolf kind, so any information there would be tainted or she would be tailed just incase she ended up finding one. Now, she was good at magic but no one was ever perfect at it. Not even her. Everyone made mistakes, and Hermione was not going to risk it.
With the use of her magic, the books at Hogwarts library at her disposal, and the internet on her laptop Hermione found gold - the americans had something similiar to their Werewolves. They called them Children Of The Moon however, and apparently were being exterminated by vampires, or at least the vampires were trying (and had got a good lot of them) but some still exsisted. There was some sort of rumour that somewhere in Seattle there may be some protecting something called a Renesmee - Hermione did hope that wasn't a girl's name but considering how odd her name sounded to most people she knew there was a high chance it was. Poor girl.
So, a month after she had finished her last year Hermione had packed her bags, seen her parents who were so very happy under the memory spell she had put them under so she left them as is, and sorted out the human legalities to inherit everything. Hermione had also sorted out all her loose ends in the wizarding world. She didn't want to be seen as dead or have trouble going back should she want to or need to, but she also had to make sure that no one would follow her or find it odd she had disappeared off the grid. It wasn't long after that Hermione she England for America. For the first time in what seemed like ages she was taking a muggle airplane to do so.
The second she stepped onto american soil in Seattle, Hermione had made things roll into motion that she couldn't even comprehend.
Somewhere in La Push a russet coloured wolf felt a faint tugging in his chest.
For Hermione her adventure had only just begun, everything before it would end up as merely the backstory to her greatest adventure yet and this time Harry Potter wouldn't be the lead. This time she would be respected, liked, and not shunned due to her intelligence or eagerness to learn. It would be her heaven, and she had just begun to dig herself out of the hell she had been forced to endure to get there.
Of course, even in heaven nothing ever does go smoothy...
Disclaimer: Okay this is a pretty short prelogue but it says everything you need to know. Don't turn away just yet! I own nothing, although if I did I would have kept Severus alive for my own personal enjoyment!