A/N. Look at me go! Two different stories updated in one day! Damn, I'm on a roll!
You all should go read Teddy Lupin:WWW if you haven't *winky face*
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter
…~oOo~…
Chapter Nine: A Change
Sirius could only watch as his sister marched out the same door James and Remus went through.
Hermione was furious, though. She could barely contain her rage. When she entered and locked the door behind her - hoping Sirius had the sense to go back to the castle - she found Remus destroying the room. It was only about twenty minutes until his Change now and his temper was in full force. The little bedroom was taking a beating, picture frames being broken in half, tables knocked over, and wardrobe kicked in. And James just watched, seeming resigned.
Hermione stood next to Prongs and said, "Should we let him get it out of his system?"
"The way I see it," James said, "is that if he doesn't let it out now…that mattress could be us."
The mattress was basically a pile of torn apart pieces with stuffing bleeding out.
Hermione couldn't let Remus continue, though. He was doing more damaged to himself than the furniture. His hands were bleeding from breaking a glass frame and he was bruised from all the ramming himself into wooden objects.
Slowly, but not afraid, Hermione approached where Remus was driving a hole through a wall with his fists. "Remus, love…" Hermione said quietly. "Remus, please stop hurting yourself…"
Hermione could practically see Remus's ears perk up at the sound of her voice. His head whipped to her and he stopped. Still gradual in pace, Hermione got closer and gingerly took his hand. She examined it and found it swollen and bruising.
"Remus, I think you've broken it," she said sadly. "Madame Pomfrey will have to look at it in the morning, okay?"
Remus wasn't paying attention to his hand, though - he barely felt it. He was looked at Hermione's face.
"I'm sorry…" he croaked softly.
"You have nothing to apologize about," Hermione told him firmly. "It was all Sirius's fault."
"But, Whiskers, I -"
"Shh," she murmured, hearing him get worked up. "Stop that. You always blame yourself for things that are out of your hands. Come here." She opened her arm for him and he accepted it, practically falling into her embrace, burying his face into her neck and hair while he breathed heavily. She stroked his hair and whispered comforting things to him.
Merlin, she smells amazing… Remus thought as his eyes drifted shut. He was always high strung previous to the full moon, but being cocooned in her chocolaty warmth made every muscle soften and his breathing even out.
And then he felt the tingle. The tingle that made every muscle wind up tight once more and his head go fuzzy. He jerked away from her and clutched onto a crooked bedpost. The pain hit and he started to whimper and pant.
Hermione hated seeing this part. Usually she and the other boys would wait in the next room - mostly for Remus's comfort. But there was no time to leave now.
Remus staggered backwards into a wall as his skin ripped open with a long, sickeningly wet noise. Remus screamed and thrashed, his nails gouging at his own flesh as they extended into claws. There were four loud cracks and Hermione knew they had to be his arms and legs reconfiguring. His shouts were of a man on fire. The fur began to push outward from his skin as his body continued to reshape. His screams of agony morphed into inhuman howls.
James and Hermione took this as their cues to transform as well.
Some might think Hermione was crazy for attending these full moons even when her Animagus was nothing but an ordinary cat, but Moony had come to rather like Whiskers. It took a few months at the beginning, but he treated her the same he did Prongs and Padfoot.
Moony lie in a heap on the floor, full Changed, and exhausted. Werewolves were like giant wolves, but with different tails and a longer snout. Also, the eyes remained human. So even as Moony, Hermione could see her good friend right there in his eyes, always. It was a nice reminder, even when Moony went mad and tried killing other animals.
Whiskers cantered over to the werewolf and purred at him, nuzzling his shoulder as if asking, "Are you alright?"
Getting over his exhaustion quickly, Moony got on his feet, towering over the cat, and bent down to give her a long, affectionate lick. Hermione knew of course that this wasn't Remus, but his wolf counterpart Moony, but couldn't help but feel the small embarrassment of receiving a kiss from Remus.
Moony let out a long, Shack-shaking howl. The panic of being closed in was taking him. He began clawing at the walls and howling and snarling and throwing himself into things.
Prongs, large and majestic, barreled towards him to shift his attention. The two began to fight-play while Whiskers sat, curled up, on top of the broken wardrobe and played referee. Her tail swung over the side like a pendulum. Her eyes drifted shut.
Then there was a long, high-pitched whine and her eyes shot open.
Moony, for some odd reason, was pacing in a small circle. Even Prongs looked confused at this turn of events. Moony was panting and pawing at his own head, shaking his snout and snorting over and over. His nose dropped to the ground and he began following a trail, dipped forward and sniffing a scent. He wound his way to the wardrobe and began pawing at it. He swatted the swinging tail and Whiskers quickly curled it up under her. She gave him a narrow cat-look that said, "Don't touch my tail."
Moony was gazing up at her, though, and scratching at the wood to reach her to no prevail. He howled again and the extremely loud sound made the wardrobe tremble.
Hermione had no idea what he wanted. Until she found out, she wasn't leaving her perch high up on the wall, though.
With a little more of a stretch, Moony reached her. When he opened his mouth, Hermione braced herself for a bite, but instead his gently took her by the nap gingerly between his teeth. He took her down and she hung there, unable to do anything, but curling her paws and tail on close to her and he carried her. Once back on the ground, he swung her onto his back and began running around the room aimlessly.
Freaked out at suddenly riding Moony, Whiskers held onto his back tight and closed her eyes. As if forgetting she was on his back, he went about doing his normal full-moon things. Running, tearing up stuff, howling and tussling with Prongs.
And all night long, he would not let her leave her place on his back.
…~oOo~…
Most of the time, James, Sirius, and Hermione all made it back to their rooms for a few hours before morning when they'd return to the Shrieking Shack to tend to Remus. That night, though, Hermione had at one point fallen asleep on Moony's back and didn't wake up.
James took it upon himself to leave, though.
Leaving Remus and Hermione alone to wake up the next morning in the Shack alone. James thought this would be amusing.
Remus did not find it amusing, though, to wake up on the dusty, grimy floor of the Shrieking Shack with a mound of furry kitty on his naked chest. Completely in the nude, he realized that there was no winning in this situation. The moment he moved, Whiskers would wake up and see him starkers. Even if he somehow managed to pick her up and relocate her before she woke, his only trousers were in shreds from the night before.
The only option was lying there away with Whiskers asleep on him until James or Sirius came back or wake her up and get over the fact she'd see him nude.
What awful choices, he thought.
He decided to prolong the inevitable and lie there for a little while. He considered the night before - or at least the parts he remembered of it - while absently stroking the sleek, short-haired, multi-colored cat on top of him. She purred in her sleep.
The entire episode with Sirius had gotten out of hand, he thought with a scowl. He'd completely lost it. Moony was in control at that point and he attacked his best friend.
Then again, Sirius had been acting like an ass, Remus tried to justify. He still felt wretched about it though. And what Hermione must think of him! Even if she had assured him that he wasn't at fault, he didn't believe her. Anyone would be angry if their friend attacked their brother - it was human nature.
Or, he thought with a smirk, cat nature.
He was still stroking Whiskers when suddenly the weight on his chest began to increase. Oh, no, he internally panicked. This can't be good. A few seconds later, the cat on his chest was a still-sleeping human Hermione, fully-clothed thank God, stretched out on him.
Remus had thought of Hermione being atop him many times - none of them, however, happened like this.
He could feel every soft curve of her body, even through her clothes, and all he could do was panic some more. If he didn't find a way to get her off of him without waking her soon there would be a significantly bigger problem.
Any normal boy was aroused in the morning without the body of a girl they'd been pining over for a year sleeping on top of him.
Especially when she shifted her knee right between his -
Remus hissed in a sharp breath and it was enough of a sound for Hermione to start to wiggle and shift some more…which wasn't helping his current situation down south. He started thinking very hard about Snape in woman's underwear and McGonagall naked. Anything not sexy…dead puppies…slugs and snails…Sirius being a prat…
WHY WAS NOTHING WORKING?
Hermione was rousing and blinking sleepily, seeming confused. "Remus…?" she muttered slowly. "What…why am I…?"
"I don't know," he answered honestly.
"But…did I fall asleep on you?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes and picking herself up slowly.
"I guess you did," he said, his mental state in shambles. He could only form short sentences at the moment.
Merlin she was gorgeous when she was just waking up. Her lips were parted and wet, her eyelids heavy and her gaze soft. Her cheeks had a morning rosy color to them and her hair was especially wild. Many times he'd heard her call it a tumbleweed stuck to her head in the mornings, but he liked it.
Then Hermione seemed to take in her surroundings and realize exactly where she was.
"Oh, g-goodness," she stuttered, pulling herself away. Instinctively she looked over him and her hands flew to her eyes, which meant she could no longer hold herself up and she fell crashing back down onto him. He let out an oomph as she knocked the air out of him. Frantically, she picked herself up off of him while keeping her eyes squeezed shut. "Oh, G-god, I'm s-so sorry, I'm sorry, Remus, I mean, I didn't mean to, oh dear, I'm so -"
"Hermione!" he said sharply and her eyes snapped open, meeting his. "Stop apologizing," he said. "It's not your fault."
They seemed to be telling one another that a lot lately.
Then Remus chuckled at the hilarity of the situation. Hermione tried to hold it back, but she followed suit and the both of them were laughing uncontrollably together. It was so ridiculous that the tension floated away and they just laughed.
Then the door opened an in came two dark-haired boys.
"Jesus Christ, you two!" James exclaimed, shielding his eyes with the pair of trousers he brought.
\
Sirius just stared, completely expressionless. His dark eyes were flat slats of stormy grey. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and he stared intently.
"Oh, please," Hermione said, still chuckling. "It isn't what it looks like."
"Of course it isn't," Sirius said dryly. "It never is with you, is it?" He cleared his throat and turned to James. "This was a bad idea, mate. I'm just gonna head to breakfast." He turned to walk out.
Hermione picked herself up off the floor and sprinted after him. She caught him before he could exit through the tunnel and snatched him by his shirt, yanking him back. "You're not going anywhere, Sirius Black, until you apologize to Remus," she hissed, all her anger from the night before flooding back.
"Why should I?" he growled. "We each did damage. I'm not the only one in the wrong."
"Yes," she said darkly, "you are. You provoked him. You lied to him. You're the reason he went feral."
"He was still a human at that point, mind you," Sirius defended. "He wasn't an animal quite yet."
"It was less than an hour before his Change, you idiot!"
"Why are you always babying him?"
"I'm not babying him! I'm making sure that idiots like you don't make a hard life harder on him!"
"He's practically a man, now, Hermione," he said sharply. "He's already turned sixteen. He can take care of himself. If you need someone to mother, make it James, but not Remus or me. Because let's face it, love. Neither of us see you as a mother…or even a friend."
"Oh, so I'm just some girl that cleans your rooms and does your homework?"
"Please," he groaned. "Stop playing dumb! You know how he feels about you and you know how I feel about you! So if neither of us have a chance, then at least don't string us along!"
"How am I stringing you along?" Hermione demanded, her voice raising in pitch. "You're my friends! Maybe I should just stop being friends with all of you so that way none of you 'misinterpret' my purely friendly actions and not 'string you along'!"
"Perhaps you should!" he screamed back.
"Perhaps I will!" She marched out towards the tunnel and called back, "You can tell Remus and James yourself why I won't be around anymore! But knowing you're nothing but a coward, you can't even admit you've done wrong, you'll just lie!"
"DON'T CALL ME COWARD!"
"THEN STOP BEING ONE!"
…~oOo~…
Christmas holiday came quickly. The first Quidditch game of the season came and went and from his broom, Sirius could see that Hermione's usual spot on the bleachers where she normal cheered him and James on was empty. Not even Remus was there. It had been a windy, rainy, morose affair.
Now they were in their cabin on the train. The only reason Hermione was sitting with them was because everywhere else was filled up. Remus was there for the same reason.
Poor James had been torn through this entire conflict. He tried to spread out his time with each friend but it wasn't as if they made it easy. They were always avoiding one another, and by default, unintentionally avoiding him. He hadn't done a thing wrong - he was just a bystander and refused to take sides.
On the bright side, Snape had gotten a few easy weeks. Sirius was too out-of-sorts to hex him as of late. Padfoot was taking Hermione's distance hard. He barely slept and when he did see her, his gravity unconsciously shifted so that he tried to get closer, but then remembered the situation and held himself back.
Seeing Sirius without Hermione-cuddle-time was downright pathetic.
Remus and Hermione still spent time together, though. When they did it wasn't for a long amount of time and it was usually quiet. Hermione was detaching herself from the boys in every way possible. It broke her heart to do it, but she was beginning to think that Dumbledore's portrait had been wrong about her making her way into the Marauders' group. She should have just ignored that part of the instructions and went Horcrux hunting from the get-go. Now she had wasted years of time and needed to basically start over by taking herself out of the Marauders and finishing her job.
The silence of the cabin was broken, as always, by Sirius. "Aren't you going to give me that back?" He nodded pointedly to her left hand.
"Of course not," she said with a cool casualness. "It's not as if we're actually engaged. It's just a ploy to save your hide."
Sirius rose an eyebrow. "So you're still pretending to be my fiancée?"
"I don't see why not," she said simply. "It isn't as if anything has changed where that is concerned."
Hermione couldn't break off the fake engagement anyway. It was part of her plan. Walburga would most certainly hold an engagement party and attending would be the newly-engaged Narcissa with her fiancée Lucius and his parents, leaving Malfoy Manor empty.
If her calculations were correct, at this time, Tom Riddle's diary was being housed at the Manor.
And Hermione had already collect the ring and the diadem.
The Rowena Ravenclaw's Lost Diadem was found in the Room of Requirement last year. It'd been the easiest to find and the ring was found when she enlisted Dumbledore's help and finally explained the nature of the reason behind her time travel. He had been the one to fetch it from the Gaunt Shack.
But seeing as the Sword of Gryffindor had not been used to defeat the Basilisk slithering beneath the school in this timeline, it was not impregnated with Basilisk venom, thus making it useless with the Horcruxes.
So the Diadem and ring were currently being held in the jewelry box she brought with her from the future. She was keeping them together and in a safe place until she could destroy them all at once, using the only other method she was sure would kill them all: FiendFyre.
She was already taking private lessons with Dumbledore in how to use and control FiendFyre so that she could kill the Horcruxes when the time was right.
After retrieving the journal, Hermione only had to find a way into the Lestrange vault - again - for the Hufflepuff Cup and then somehow get Slytherin's locket.
She definitely had her work cut out for her. She was just grateful that Nagini was yet to exist. But at the same time, the pressure to have all of them destroyed before Harry could become one was crushing.
…~oOo~…
A/N. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
Challenge: 1. Favorite line and part of this chapter? 2. How do you think Hermione is going to get the Horcruxes? 3. Were you surprised to find out that she already collected a few Horcruxes? 4. Do you think Sirius should get some Hermione-cuddle-time next chapter or does he still need time to think about what he's done?
~ So Long And Thanks For All The Fish ~
