Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine. They're J.K. Rowling's, god bless her. The plot is only kinda mine, but I don't know who to give credit to.
The werewolf, known as Moony , lunged at Hermione, letting out a feral snarl.
Hermione screamed as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, preparing herselffor the first—and almost undoubtedly final—blow.
The werewolf's snarl changed into a whimper of surprise as Prongs, the stag, charged towards him, forcing him away from her with his antlers.
Hermione squeaked in surprise, looking at the stag with an expression between awe and thanks.
"Of course!" she gasped, mentally reprimanding herself for not thinking of it sooner. She concentrated on her Animagus form. Coyote…she repeated to herself over and over until soon, she felt the familiar sensation of her bones shifting into her other body.
Her body soon relaxed, her senses heightened from the transformation. She was nowfully in the shape of a smallish, brown canine. There were traces of gray throughout her fur, but the dominant color was a golden brown with flecks of the chocolate color that usually covered her head.
Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail all froze. Theyeyed Hermione with suspicion for a minute, before finally turning to Moony.
Moony appeared confused. He had seen human, he could still smell traces of human, but he saw no human now! He whimpered, scratching his muzzle with both paws. He sat back on his rear haunches, staring down at the four Animagi.
However, with no human around now, there was no need for him to be prepared for a hunt. The animalistic insanity in his golden eyes seemed to fade slightly, turning to a mellow daze. Soon, the need for Moony to hurt himself died down too, and he stopped scratching his face.
Prongs and Padfoot both relaxed, a lopsided grin growing on Padfoot's face. His tongue rolled out of his mouth and he decided to lie down at Moony's feet.
Moony sniffed Padfoot lightly before deciding that it was all right for his canine companion to rest beside him. Naturally, Wormtail, the small rat scurried around the floor of the Forbidden Forest nervously.
Prongs, however, walked back to Hermione and nudged her with his nose. Go, his eyes seemed to say.
Hermione let out a low whine, pawing at the ground and shaking her head clumsily from left to right. No.
Moony stood slowly, walking over to Hermione and sniffing her with interest. This was a new creature in what his wolf instincts told him was his forest.
Hermione sensed Moony's need to see that she was no threat, and rolled onto her back to prove it, belly fullyexposed.
Moony gave a soft bark of approval, inclining his head slightly. You're allowed here.
Hermione rolled back over onto her stomach, looking up at everybody (except for Wormtail, whom she looked down to) with a slight nervousness about her.
Moony and Padfoot both nuzzled Hermione with their noses, assuring her that all would be fine.
If only they knew what they were promising her.
Hermione gingerly rubbed her noseagainst Padfoot and Moony's noses, a sign of her thanks.
Prongs seemed to look at Hermione with suspicion, as if unsure of if she was truly not a threat. Moony seemed to think so, but that didn't completely reassure him.
Suddenly, Moony froze. All muscles tensed in his body as he let out a pained howl.
Four pairs of eyes snapped to the moon as Moony doubled over in pain. The moon was sinking below the horizon as the sun took its place.
Moony clawed at himself, trying to find a way to the source of the pain as his muscles throbbed and twisted themselves in the most sickeningly painful ways.
Prongs hesitantly walked over to Moony, rubbing his nose against his companion's shoulder. The pain will stop soon, he tried to tell him. We're here for you.
Moony's grasp on himself snapped, his claw reaching back and slamming Prongs into a tree.
Prongs collapsed to the ground, the tree scratching his back in several places and breaking one of his front legs.
Padfoot barked loudly, a warning to Moony to calm down.
Moony shook his head, clawing at his muzzle again. He knew he'd done something wrong, but the pain wouldn't stop. It wouldn't stop until these final moments of the transformation were over.
Hermione ran in front of Prongs, prepared to protect him if need be. She resisted the urge to transform back to her human shape and run to get help from a professor, knowing that a teacher would be useless in this situation.
Moony made no move towards her or Prongs. Hemerely doubled over and howled in pain.
The howls slowly turned into moans and whines of pain. Moony was now a trembling, sore boy named Remus Lupin.
Padfoot and Wormtail immediately shifted back into their human forms, revealing Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew.
As Hermione shifted from her animal shape, her human instincts returned with her body. She could immediately see why Sirius had been known as a playboy in his teen years.
He was rather tall, with a slightly muscular build. His shaggy, black hair dangled a little past his chin, framing a pale face and playful gray eyes. His lips were a little full for a man's but not to the point that it was unattractive. Everything about Sirius seemed to radiate fun and excitement.
Or, at least, it would if he didn't look so panicked.
As Sirius rushed over to Remus to help him out, Hermione took the opportunity to look at the younger Peter. He wasn't quite as disturbing as she'd anticipated, although still chubby and unattractive. A mop of blond curls rested on top of his head, a few dangling in his small, brown eyes. His face was very round, as to be expected, and he was pale with splatters of freckles on his face.
Hermione felt Prongs shift back into James beside her, groaning in pain. He looked up at Hermione with wide, frightened eyes. "You!"
"Yes. Me." Hermione frowned. "And I can keep a secret."
She looked over James's appearance for a moment, letting out a small sigh. Merlin, she thought. He really does look like Harry! They both were rather tall, with pale skin, jet-black, untamable hair, and large, round glasses. Beneath those glasses laythe only difference; James had brown eyes while his unborn son had green.
Hermione's gaze drifted over to the fourth Marauder but quickly looked down for modesty's sake. She'd forgotten that Remus's transformations left him naked for a moment, although she felt that she mayhave looked away even if Remus was covered. There was so much blood, so many scratches and bruises that Hermione wasn't sure if even she could stand to look at them all.
"James, Peter," Sirius directed, "take Remus to the Hospital Wing. You." He snapped his head towards Hermione. "Come with me."
She gulped. Shit! she panicked, realizing that even the slightest thing could have the most horrific changes to the future. "I-I promise that I won't tell anybody! I'm good at secret-keeping!"
"Doesn't matter," Sirius protested, grabbing Hermione's arm and pulling her towards the castle.
"I swear!" Hermione gasped. "I've had to keep loads of secrets before and I've never told anybody!"
He snorted. "You're a girl. Is there anything your kind does besides gossip?"
"Quite obviously, considering that you just saw one of my many secrets," Hermione sneered.
"Oh look! A secret revealed! I'm right, see?" He glared at her, pulling her even faster.
She let out a cry of pain as Sirius tugged a little too hard, nearly popping some joints.
"Sorry 'bout that," he muttered, slowing down only as much as necessary.
Soon, the two teens were inside the castle, heading towards what Hermione recognized as the path to Dumbledore's office. "Why are you taking me to-?"
"I think you know why."
For once, Hermione actually didn't know. "No, I don't, Sirius."
Sirius froze, turning around to face her. "How do you know my name?"
She paled. "Umm…One of your friends said it and I…uh…I-I…"
"I know that none of them ever said it!" he snapped. "And I've never seen you at this school before. How. Do. You. Know. My. Name?"
At that moment, they arrived at the staircase. "Ginger Snaps," Sirius mumbled and the eagle at the entrance turned, revealing the stairs to Dumbledore's office.
Sirius tugged her up the stairs quickly. "Professor Dumbledore!" he called. "You have to-"
"-I don't have to do anything, Mr. Black," a familiar and comforting voice said.
Both teens raised their eyes to see Professor Dumbledore slowly make his descent down the stairs towards them.
"I assure you that Miss Granger doesn't need her memory erased. She will keep Mr. Lupin's Lycantrophy—as well as your Animagus statuses—a secret."
A/N: Thanks once again to my AMAZING beta MysticMarauder. Chapter Three should be up soon.
Thanks for all the reviews so far! Keep 'em coming!