Wolf's Lullaby

AN: I don't have a beta so I'm sorry for the spelling I know I suck at it. Otherwise, enjoy!

Six Year: HBP never happened *Hypnotic eyes* Never happened…OoooOOOooo

Disclaimer: I also don't own Harry Potter and I'm not making money off of any of this

Wolfs Lullaby

The world is a dark and unforgiving place, full of murderers, thieves and creatures that would break you in half. The Wizarding world was worse, killers on every corner, magic that would torment you until your mind broke. There were spells that would freeze your very blood and people were cruel and unforgiving.

Magic at its purest, though, was neutral, just and equal. There were people who could tap into this balance, and those people were blessed and cursed. These people were far and few between and those who lived the ways of true magic were forced into the wilds, and that was where they stayed. These witches and wizards became the riders, men and women who rode on the backs of the Large Wolf. They were thought to have died out, but these creatures never do, all one needs to do is to tap into that balance, that single moment of realization and the world is tipped on its side.

The animals call for their chosen and everyone has a creature or familiar and they and their wolves are wild and free. Those wonderful, magnificent creatures were long killed, slaughtered by the Witches and Wizards who found them evil. The world will never see their like again and will always be tipped in a war against good and evil.

But as the world calls for a balance, the balance is made and these creatures, over hundreds of years will come back to the wizards who call for them. These animals need their humans and the humans will yearn for the wind in their hair and the sun on their backs, to hunt, to graze, to sing. When the sun sets, and the wild calls sing, the wars will be great and the balance will come forth in a gleam of fur and blood.

Chapter One

Hermione put her book down and sighed, her research on wild magic was getting tedious and her report was far longer than it needed to be. She had found the book on ancient beings and their magic and thought it would be a good read for a few more inches or maybe a foot more on her report but all she got was a bunch of gibberish and useless half facts.

Sighing she put the book down, the reading on these Riders had been fascinating and if she understood, everyone was a rider but not just anyone could become one. The point was to balance one's mind, soul, and body and magic to a point where you become some kind of creature, where the human body alone couldn't take the stress and relief of being completely balanced and your mount would then call for you. This of course balanced out humanity and bestiality as well, which was a blessing and a curse.

Hermione sighed and put the book aside before she looked over her homework and decided that maybe she annoyed her Professor enough with the extra foot of information in her tiny scrawled handwriting and set it aside. The young witch had to wonder though, what would it be like to be a rider, to sit on the back of the Great Scottish Wolf, to feel that fur under her hands and listen to the low, grumbling growls as it slept or basked in the sunlight.

What if it were to happen though, could someone gain this balance without a partner, was it possible? Hermione's brow knitted together at the though. She read that to complete the balance the bond was formed, so yes, the linked animal was needed to be there, but if one were to try would the animal appear to them, or would all that hard work be thrown away? The text said that the creatures had been hunted down, but there had been sightings of these great beasts, was it possible to mistake these wolves for normal animals? Hermione shook her head, ridiculous, the Scottish wolves were the size of Clydesdale Horses so there was no way could you mistake that, the pups maybe, but the wolf itself, not a chance.

Hermione yawned and looked over her work one last time before she rolled it up and set it back in her bag before heading up to the dorms. The image of the great wolf sat in her mind's eye as she climbed up the stairs and headed to her bed, sleep quickly taking over her mind, but before sleep completely took her, Hermione swore she could hear the distant howling drifting in the night.

The next morning had been tedious for Hermione, waking up was furthest from her mind, the sounds of singing wolves and the thrumming of drums had played in her dreams. Morning's light interrupted her dreams and in a moment she realized she was not only going to be late, but she was going to be late for Snape's class.

"For all the days for you to sleep in," Hermione hissed to herself as she used her wand to fix her mop of hair into a tight bun and then slipped on her uniform, spritzed on some body spray and grabbed her bag before bounding down the stairs and sailing towards the dungeons.

Hermione never felt so good in her life.

The run was making her heart beat hard against her chest and the slight breeze she was making was causing goose bumps to tingle on her arms. She giggled gleefully as she rounded a corner without breaking stride and then dizzily blazed through the dungeon steps before almost slamming into the Potions class door. Taking a moment to compose herself, Hermione wiped the smile off her face took some slow breaths and then tapped daintily on the door.

"You're late," Snape's voice sounded and Hermione flinched before she opened the door, "Well, well, well, ever the studious student finally shows some of her Gryffindor pride, tell me Miss. Granger, what is your excuse?"

"No excuse sir," Hermione said simply, "I was up late doing my homework and I slept in."

"Sit," Snape snapped, but he was obviously in a better mood since he took no points, he did however give her detention and Hermione took her seat with Harry.

"What was the real reason?" He muttered as they started their potion. Harry had been amazed if not completely shocked that he passed his OWLs exams and actually got an E, allowing him to get into the advanced potions class. Snape was an even bigger pain in the ass but Harry found out why when a Hufflepuff girl put in the wrong ingredient, blew up half the potions lab and everyone was in the hospital wing for second degree burns or worse. Snape's hands were still a bit pink and he hadn't done any of his own brewing for days. Harry kept his eyes on his Potions from then on and kept his tongue between his teeth when Snape snapped something at him, in fear he might accidently do the same thing.

"I wasn't kidding, I slept in," Hermione spoke softly as she watched her cauldron simmer and flipped through her book to the page Harry was on. Harry gave her a glance and grinned before he carefully went through his things and started chopping some roots and measuring insect wings. The class room fell quiet and for a moment everything seemed to be working rather fairly, Snape did his rounds, checking on potions with his pink hands folded in his robe but as the moment's passed Hermione felt the hairs on the back on her neck raise. Something wasn't right, she felt like she was being watched and for the hell of it all she couldn't figure out who it was. Snape was looking over Harry's shoulder, Malfoy was paying attention to his potion and the rest of the class was too absorbed in their work to worry about burning holes in the back of her head.

"Granger!" Hermione gave a yelp and jumped, slamming her knees into her desk and almost toppling her potion. Snape was standing behind her with a glare that could kill and Hermione took a look at her Potion and immediately knew why. She had burned it; the soft moss green that it was supposed to be was now a dark swampy yellow and gave off some rather ghastly fumes. Hermione cursed a few times under her breath and smacked her forehead onto the table with a loud thud, making the entire class look her way. "20 points from Gryffindor" He said "See me after class Granger," Snape hissed as he waved his wand, disposing of Hermione's failed potion and leaving the girl sitting there with her head on the table.

When class ended Hermione sat at her desk with her hands folded on her lap, if her day got any worse she would honestly skip the rest of the day and finish it in the library with a good book. Snape scraped a chair from one of the other desks over and took a seat across from her.

"Well?" He drawled smoothly. Hermione looked up and blinked rapidly as Snape and found herself looking into a pair of very exhausted looking eyes. Snape was tired, he looked tired, his face was shallower and his eyes sunken in with dark circles forming. She didn't want to point out to the man that he looked worse than she ever remembered but she couldn't help but just stare at him, he looked like a bloody wraith. "Granger!" He snapped

"Sorry, I'm just, Sir have you ever heard of the Riders?" Hermione blurted out and Snape raised an eye brow at her, "It's what I was reading last night and I haven't been able to get it off my mind."

"You mean the Great Riders?" He asked smoothly and watched as the young woman picked out a large tome from her bag and set it on her lap and flicked through the pages as if she was on a mission. "I know all about the Riders Granger, the rode on the backs of wolves and lived in the woods, a bunch of myth and fairy tales."

"But sir, it says here that they had been alive until they were slaughtered and killed off," Hermione insisted and handed the book to Snape. The black haired man sighed and took the leather bound book and looked at the page. Upon it was an illustration of a huge wolf, the size of a horse, standing with a wild looking man. Severus blinked at the picture and skimmed through the writing, one long finger gliding against the inked surface as he read.

"Fascinating, where did you find this?" Severus asked and looked up at Granger for a moment before he went back to the book, his curiosity intrigued by this new information.

"The restricted section of the library, Professor Lupin gave me a note," Hermione muttered as she watched Snape read the words with care, "Sir?"

"You are dismissed Granger, I will see you at detention, I'll give you your book then," Snape drawled and Hermione nodded before she got up and left her Potions Master with her book and raced for her Charms class.

Severus sat there with the book in his lap, never moving from his seat as he skimmed the lines with honest curiosity. He was never one to believe in myths, being a very logical man and he usually ignored anything to do with wolves. He stood, book in hand, and continued reading as he headed for his desk and perched himself up on it, carefully examining the words printed on parchment.

How fascinating, to be in such a balance that one would not have to worry about the Wizarding world, to live off the land and sleep under the purest of stars. No wand, no limitations, just to bask in the realization that you are one with everything and everything is one with you. Severus played with the idea in his mind and then shut the book and ran his fingers over the leather cover.

"To be free," He whispered softly to himself and his head jerked up as he heard a howling in the distance, as if he were sitting outside and not in the dungeons. Severus could feel his heart beat hard against his chest and his head twisted this way and that to find the source of the sound only to find himself still sitting on his desk with the book in hand. "Now I'm hearing things."

Hermione wasn't all that happy that Snape decided to use detention as a time to force his students to collect his herbs for him. She was currently on her knees trying to dig up a rather creepy red flower before Snape came back to check on her progress, there were four students under his tender loving care that night and none of them wanted to ruin the docile mood he seemed to be in.

"Miss. Granger," Snape's voice sounded and Hermione looked up, the dark man was watching her from a higher view point and she stood and dusted off her knees, "Hurry up Granger."

"On my way sir…" Hermione's heart stopped when the sound of howls echoed through the woods and she eeped and ran for her teacher, he was better equipped to deal with werewolves than she was. She made her way up the hill, basket in hand, and stood by her professor and he gave a nod, his own eyes shifting through the trees before they headed off to collect the rest of their party. More howls sounded and Hermione felt her blood rush through her veins and Snape was looking to the sky.

"It's not the full moon," He whispered and Hermione looked up and followed his view point to the half-moon riding the sky.

"So what's howling?" Hermione asked they both ended up pausing, if it wasn't a werewolf than what else would be making such a noise. The creature gave another call and Snape took a faster pace with Hermione close on his heels.

"Weasley!" Snape snapped and Ron looked up with a yelp and collected his things quickly and rushed towards Snape and they moved on without a word, collecting the others and hurried their way towards the treeline.

"Professor, something is following us," A young third year said with a shaky voice. Snape took a look around and saw a shadow in the distance and his hand tightened on his wand as the younger students gathered close and the two older flanked their Potions Master, wands at the ready.

"Sir what is that thing," A young Ravenclaw girl asked as the creature moved towards them, it's giant head lowered to the ground as the small group backed up as the animal advanced, growling larger as they moved.

"Looks like a wolf," Ron said, "But it's not the full moon."

"Good job Weasley," Snape sniped, "So it rules out werewolf, anything else obvious about the creature you want to tell us?" Snape snarled, he was mad for two reasons, one, his night just got worse, two, he, like the students, had no idea what the hell the thing was, except that it was huge!

"Way too big to be a normal wolf," Ron squeaked as the creature kept on advancing, it's paws crushing things under it and it's great amber eyes seemed to glow. Hermione could hear her heart pounding in her ears as the animal kept walking forwards, its fur now glinting in the moonlight, a soft black against a deep grey throat. Snape was starting to look pale and everyone was shaking now as the animal persisted.

"Why doesn't it just charge?" Hermione asked.

"Wolves hunt in packs Granger, if this thing is a type of wolf it is either forcing us into a trap or it wants us to scatter so it can pick off the slowest of the group," Snape hissed.

"Nice knowing you Ron," Hermione said and Ron gave her a death glare. Snape was impressed, who knew Granger had a cruel sense of humor, but now was not the time for sadistic jokes. Snape kept the smaller students close as the animal advanced, large eyes peering at them but they Caught Severus' and the man stopped dead, caught by those eyes. The creature stared, molten pools of gold looking into the vast depths of black and for a moment, the world itself stopped and Severus felt his heart pause a beat.

"I have chosen," The words echoed in his mind like some deep baritone before the animal tilted it's great head back and howled. The students all covered their ears, Severus was still hypnotized until his mind decided now would be the perfect time to shut down. The last thing he heard before his vision failed him was Granger and Weasley crying out his name.