"Are you ready for this?"

Remus squeezed Lydia's hand gently, and she found that she appreciated the calming skin-on-skin contact. In the back of her mind, she wondered if it would be different if she or Remus were human, but decided it didn't matter. Rather, the thought was engulfed by the tide of worry sloshing around her brain. Her senses were beyond anything she had ever experienced and her muscles felt like they were on a hair-trigger, ready to spring at the slightest sign of danger. The fingers of her free hand twitched across the uneven cloth covering on the Gryffindor common room sofa, catching on each individual thread, or so it felt. She turned towards Remus and forced a smile.

"No, but let's just go."

He kissed her forehead and then they got up to leave. Remus waved a lazy hand at the retreating common room and his three best friends, sitting around a table and playing snap.

Sirius and Peter nodded their heads at the couple in acknowledgement, and James looked at Lydia with a hint of concern. "You'll be fine. We'll see you in, like, three quarters of an hour."

"Thanks, guys. I appreciate you doing this for me, really." Lydia let go of Remus' hand to give James and Sirius each a brief hug, and pecked Peter on the cheek. He blushed a violent shade of red and the other boys burst into fits of laughter, punching him on the shoulder in a boys-trying-and-failing-to-be-men kind of way.

"Don't sweat it, Lunette." Sirius told her, grinning manically. "See you two later."

"Later, Pads."

Remus pushed the portrait hole open for Lydia to climb out, and then the two of them hurried to the hospital wing hand in hand. Madam Pomfrey was waiting for them when they arrived, tapping her foot impatiently.

"I said half an hour early, not fifteen minutes! I expected better, both of you."

Lydia cast her eyes down to the floor guiltily while Remus attempted a hurried placation. "Sorry, Poppy, we lost track of time. Lydia was a little anxious, you know?" He tried to make his eyes wide and trust-worthy, but the effect was somewhat spoilt by their wolfishly yellow colour so close to the transformation. Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes and sighed, but her expression was relatively good-natured as usual.

"Okay, come on then. Let's get going."

Remus and Lydia followed, still clasping hands tightly. By the time the matron had led them across the grounds as far as the Willow, her knuckles were bone white and Remus was biting his tongue against a pained gasp, which he did not think would be tactful.

"Immobulus!" Madam Pomfrey pointed her short pine wand at the thrashing tree, which froze when the spell hit. She ushered the two lycanthropes through the opening, keeping a weather eye on the moon as she did so. She estimated that the change would begin in about seven minutes, and this worried her more than she let on. "Come on, you two, no dawdling!"

"We know, we know, we're going." Lydia said with an annoyance not entirely her own. Remus was accustomed enough to pre-transformation tetchiness to know that this was more the moon talking than anything else, and made a quick save.

"If you go back now, Poppy, we'll be alright getting into the shack." Lydia could easily make out, even through the pitch darkness of the tunnel with her senses on such a moon-induced high, Madam Pomfrey's hesitation. "We'll be fine, go back inside and be safe."

She nodded reluctantly and hastily left the tunnel, leaving Remus and Lydia alone. He tugged her along at a running pace. "We don't have much time; we need to get inside now."

"I know. I can feel it coming, like sandpaper on my spine."

"Ignore it. That's the 'nice' part."

"Joy," Lydia deadpanned, passing through the open door that Remus pulled her through. She kicked it shut behind her, since that seemed like the right thing to do. "What about James and that?"

"They'll come when they can, but they can't cut it too close with Poppy about. It's probably better you don't have them listening into your first transformation anyway."

She shuddered, both from fear and the oncoming change.

He cocked his head in the direction of the stairs. "Bedrooms are up here, follow me."

She did, and a moment later she walked into a small and dilapidated bedroom, not the same one in which she had encountered Remus the month before. He pointed to an old chest of drawers in the corner. "You should leave your clothes in there if you want them useable in the morning."

Lydia whirled around to face him, her mouth agape. "I'm doing this naked? With four guys?"

Remus bit his lip and looked embarrassed. "Uh, yeah... Sorry about that, but unless you want to replace your clothes once a month, this is how it has to be. Anyway, they'll rip free in the night. We wouldn't watch, though!" He amended hurriedly.

"Okay, well fine. Fuck it." She started to undo the front of her blouse, then realised Remus was still hanging in the doorway. "You know, you can be such a guy sometimes Rem. Do you mind?"

"Sorry! Sorry!" He called, and ran off to the other side of the corridor where his bedroom was. He looked up through the cracks in the boards over the window to estimate his time. The sun looked only a few inches above the horizon, meaning he had about three minutes maximum. He cursed- he really needed to learn to leave earlier and avoid this. He quickly undressed, dumping his clothes under the old bed. When he was free of the scratchy material he called to Lydia.

"You okay, Lyd? Two minutes!"

"Yeah, I'm alright," She responded, sitting cross-legged on the floor self-consciously with her arms wrapped across her chest. "A bit colder than I would like, but I'm fine."

"Good, good." He replied. And now we wait.

The moon came quicker than either of them expected. Lydia felt it under her skin, an incessant itching that she could not scratch, so irritating it was close to pain. She tried to ignore it, but that proved impossible until another, far more unpleasant sensation took hold. Without proper warning, she was hit by a head-splitting agony that shot through all her bones like a lightening bolt, and then another. And another. Soon the pain was constant, and scream tore itself free of her lips. She fell backwards onto the creaking floorboards with another scream as the impact juddered through her re-forming bones. She had never felt a pain like this, inside her, and she never wanted to again. Another jolt, and her back arched off the floor. In the next room, she could hear Remus thrashing against the walls in the same way, yelling in pain. She clenched her hands into fists, but that only added further pain when the sharpening points of her nails slid into her skin like butter. The smell of her own blood filled her nostrils, stronger than any human sensation, and evoked a strange, sickening hunger. She tasted metal, and spat a glob of blood onto the floor.

The she smelt it- human blood, flesh. So close. She wanted it- no, needed it.

"Are you two alright?" Sirius called up from the lower floor.

Remus yelled with hoarse desperation, almost howling. "Change!"

Immediately the tantalisingly human presence was replaced with an animalistic scent that was unappealing and uninteresting. Lydia breathed a sigh of relief, as she felt parts of herself being pulled away. The itching in her skin was increasing and soon it felt as though she was caught in huge sewing machine, needles piercing every part of her skin. Coarse, russet hair broke out all over her, bristled and uncomfortable, not that it made much difference when coupled with the pain of the rest of transformation. She was on all fours now, unable to straighten, unable to think. There was hardly any her left to do the thinking; the mind of the predator, the wolf, had taken over almost entirely, pushing all her useless human thoughts to the side. Her teeth were long and clumsy, scraping across the hardened skin of her lips roughly enough to draw blood. Another spasm of moonlight shot through her barely human body, making her convulse like a wounded animal. Her head jerked sideways and-

-and she saw the moon, hanging in the sky like a perfect orb of light. It was so beautiful, it called to her, but she could not reach it. Why couldn't she? She ached to touch its smooth silvery surface, to bask in its glow. Why not?

Before she even knew what she was doing, she was howling up at the full moon as though her life depended on it, and she heard another doing the same. Who was that? What were they doing here? Were they prey?

The wolf bounded forward, a fluid blur of reddish fur and muscle, and Lydia slipped into obscurity.

Lydia woke with a pounding headache and a complete ignorance of where she was. She opened her eyes gingerly, trying to ignore the feeling that they had been cemented shut, and surveyed her surroundings. The marked wooden walls and dishevelled furniture quickly asserted that she was in the shack, and memories of the night before began to return. The transformation. She recoiled from the thought with a grimace. She did not want to remember that at all. She tried to sit up, and as she did so she felt deep lacerations twisting down her back. She reached behind her, and felt the harsh ridges of healing flesh there. There were three gashes, running diagonally across the small of her back. Absently, she wondered who had made them- her, Remus, or one of the animagi?

At the thought of her boyfriend, she began to worry. She swept her eyes across the room, but found she was alone and, she realised with a feeling of mingled embarrassment and annoyance, very naked. That, no doubt, was why they had left her alone to transform back, as Remus had promised. She gritted her teeth, noting dully the coppery blood taste of her tongue and deciding not to think about it, and got up. Luckily, she was in the same bedroom that she had left her clothes, though she suspected she may have been herded back there as dawn loomed. The thought made her smile as she hurriedly pulled out yesterday's clothes and put them on. While she was doing so, she checked the rest of her body, but other than a few shallow nicks on her right ankle, she was fine.

Now fully dressed, she went out onto the landing. The door to Remus' room was open, but when she poked her head around the frame, it was empty. She tiptoed down the stairs as quietly as she could, and soon caught sight of the four boys, sprawled out on the floor. Remus lay on his side, snuggling in towards the back of the sofa, a loose spring tangled in his hair. She realised with a rueful smile that this was the first time she had seen him sleeping, and took a mental picture. He looked so peaceful; with hardly any resemblance to the secretive, haunted boy she had grown to love.

Purposeless, she sat down at the foot of the stairs with her head resting on the palm of her hand, staring into space. After a while, she heard someone stir and looked up to see Sirius sitting up and stretching sleepily. He opened his eyes and spotted her, then pulled a cushion off the sofa to cover himself self-consciously. He gave her a tired smile, and she returned it. "Morning,"

"Morning," he groaned in reply, glancing around at the other still-sleeping boys. "How're you feeling?"

"Good, yeah. I don't really remember anything, and I've only got a few scratches."

He grinned. "Sorry 'bout that: you were trying to attack Remus, so I pulled you off him. Must say though, I think you came off best from that one." He moved the cushion to expose the side of his stomach, where there was a bloody ring of bite mark. Lydia's eyes flew wide with horror.

"I did that? But... won't you... turn?"

Sirius gave a short bark of a laugh and shook his head. "Nah, I'll be fine. The amount of times Moony's bitten me while I've been a dog... you should see the scars!"

Lydia nodded, trying to ignore the guilty feeling that washed over her. "So what about the others? Were they okay?"

Sirius glanced back briefly. "Yeah, reckon so. We didn't have too much to do- you and Moony were too fascinated with each other to need much distracting." He smiled wickedly, his tongue flicking out between his teeth provocatively.

A heavy weight dropped in the pit of Lydia's stomach. "Oh my god." She said simply, too shocked to think of anything else to say. After a pause, she squeezed her eyes shut and dared to ask The Question. "Did we...?"

Sirius gave his bark-laugh again, eyes glittering. "Not quite! Wormtail got all freaked out, and Prongsie's staring was disturbing so we had some play-fight thing."

Lydia blushed with relief and embarrassment. Thank the frigging lord.

"Wassgoingon?" A sleepy voice asked and James raised his groggy head, his hair even messier than usual. "What did I miss?"

"Lunette's up," Sirius replied simply, and James cursed and rolled onto his stomach, hastily groping for something to cover up with. In the end, he sufficed with making a dash towards one of the curtains and hiding behind that, attempting to look suave.

"Morning,"

"Barely," Lydia replied, glancing out at the orangey sunlight of early morning. The boys sniggered tiredly.

"What time is it anyway?" James inquired, yawning.

Lydia glanced down at her watch, twisting her wrist around since she had managed to put it on upside down, then replied: "It's exactly four minutes past five."

James and Sirius groaned. "Pomfrey'll be round soon,"

"We should go..." James trailed off and bit his lip as he looked at Lydia. She rolled her eyes, smiling.

"We'll be fine, you guys go ahead." She pointed at a motionless lump in the corner. "Best take Peter with you too, though."

"Oh yeah. Right." Sirius promptly walked across the floor to the Peter-lump, and gave it a swift kick. The plump boy yelped, rolled onto his hands and knees and scurried under the table, his nose twitching. Sirius bent double to see eye to eye with his friend. "It's morning, Pete. We've got to go."

"Mmmkay," Peter mumbled sleepily, and pulled himself out.

"See you two in a bit, 'kay?" Sirius waved to Lydia and the still-sleeping Remus.

"Yeah, see ya later. Thanks."

"Anytime, Lunette. Anytime." Sirius wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her again, James sniggered, and whilst Lydia didn't really get what the innuendo was in that sentence, she decided it was worth giving Sirius a sharp kick in the skin for anyway. "Fine! Fine! Leaving!" He yelped, then left with another wave in Lydia's direction. James laughed and gave Lydia a kind of sarcastic salute before following. Peter mumbled something, but otherwise ignored her.

Then Lydia was left alone in the shack with only her thoughts and unconscious boyfriend.

Thus, she decided to remedy the situation by ensuring that the boyfriend was no longer unconscious and therefore much less boring.

She crouched down beside him, and gently poked his arm. "Remus," she hissed.

"Feel like crap. Go away."

Lydia sighed, and thumped down on the floor beside him. "I thought you were a morning person." She quipped.

"This is not morning. This is an unholy hour and I intend to sleep through it." Remus muttered into the back of the sofa.

"Oh, you are so annoying when you're tired."

"Thank you."

"Welcome."

Lydia lent back against the old sofa next to Remus' head, and looked him up and down. His skin was patterned with scars, old and newer, but nothing seemed to be particularly fresh apart from a tapered scratch along his jaw line. She kissed the end closest to his ear almost as reflex, and carried on down the bloody line until she met his lips, and kissed him properly.

He sighed good-naturedly and sat up. "Alright, I'm awake. How are you doing?"

She shrugged. "I'm fine- I'm not tired or anything. You had me worried with all your doom-gloom talk!"

"I guess it's just better with two- the first was awful for me."

"Lucky Lunette," Lydia said, trying for a proper smile.

Remus rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "Sure. 'Lucky' is not quite the word I'd use, but whatever. You like the nickname then?"

"I guess so. It is kinda clever, in an I-am-Sirius-and-I-English-good sort of way."

Remus chuckled, and made a mental note to inform Sirius of this development later. "How were the others?"

"They are okay- they said so, anyway. I," she hesitated, feeling that guilty feeling wash over her once more. "Bit Sirius. But he says it's okay, because he was a dog at the time. He will be okay, won't he?"

Remus nodded, and slung his am affectionately over her shoulder. "Don't worry about him- he knows more than any of us really give him credit for."

"Thanks, Rem." Then she added, "Sorry for waking you up."

"Meh, it's not a problem, Madame Pomfrey'll-"

There was a loud knock on the door, then the handle turned and the plump matron stepped into the shack.

"Speak of the devil," Remus muttered, and Lydia grinned.

"There you are! And you're both alright? Well, yes, I suppose I can see that. Remus, would you please put some clothes on? Lydia's managed it!" Madame Pomfrey bustled, half to herself and half to the two teenagers at her feet. She looked around the shack and tutted loudly. "The state of this place- It's a wonder it's still standing! I shall have to speak to Dumbledore- this simply isn't appropriate!"

"Poppy, it's fine." Remus interrupted delicately, struggling with the waistband of his trousers. "We don't need anything else- we'd just destroy it anyway." With a triumphant expression on his face, he stood up and slipped his feet into a pair of shoes. "Shall we head back up to school?"

Madame Pomfrey looked up almost surprisedly, then replied. "Yes, yes, of course. Right you are! Silly me. Do follow me, children."

Remus rolled his eyes again, and looped an arm around Lydia's waist. She nuzzled into the nape of his neck. "Come on," he said, jostling her slightly. "Let's get back to reality."