A/n: Oh my dear readers it has been a long time since we last saw each other. I apologize. For those that aren't in my facebook group, I had an amazing time in London, it was the trip of my dreams. Hopefully, the muse stays with me and I can continue writing for a bit since I feel pretty good with this story right now!

I would like to continue to direct you to my facebook group where you can get some fun information, see pictures from my trip, including a lot from the studio tour and previews for upcoming chapters. Go to /groups/mrsturtlesreaders to join the fun!

Huge shout out to my beta kanewolfe who beta'd this in less than 12 hours, you're a rockstar!

Sunday, 5 November

Hermione grasped Draco's hand tightly in her own, as she turned the key to the cage she was currently locking him in. He gave her a tight smile and squeezed her hand, trying to reassure her. "Draco, I hate this," Hermione murmured as she leant forward and rested her forehead on the bars of the cage. She had reread the letters twice and didn't believe for a moment that Draco would hurt her so to lock him inside a cage seemed unnecessary.

Draco's soft lips pressed against the top of her head, as he clutched her hands in his larger ones. He could feel the transformation creeping closer, making his skin crawl, and the hair on his body stand on end. Draco continued to hold her close, as much as the bars would allow. He took in deep lung fulls of her delicious scent that simultaneously drove him wild and calmed him.

Minutes passed, neither of them moving except to breathe each other in, words weren't needed as they each sought to comfort the other, as the moon rose still higher in the sky. Suddenly Draco's muscles tensed up as if his body was one large charley horse, magnified with the reformation of his bones. Grinding his teeth together he growled, "Hermione leave the room now, come back in a few minutes." Draco's hands then dropped hers, clutched at his side, as he slowly removed his clothes, even as the cracking of his bones began.

Hermione knew she needed to leave the dungeon, that Draco had told her he didn't want her to see him transform, but she couldn't tear herself away from the pain etched into the lines of his still beautiful face. She took a step back, away from the cage where he was now bare except for his pants, but his skin had started to change, growing thick fur.

With a biting growl, Draco shouted, "Go!"

Hermione's body moved, unfrozen from the scene before her, and she ran to the dungeon door. Shutting it behind her, she slumped down against it and wrapped her arms around herself, as the screams of her mate began, soon joined by the chorus of his screams were Addi and Ellis' from down the corridor. Shutting her eyes against the sounds, she knew she just needed to wait it out, that this was part of the transformation, while painful and horrible for them, would be over and soon they would be werewolves. She shouldn't be complaining either, she just had to listen, while they had to endure it.

After a minute of listening to Draco scream, she suddenly felt a long tingle up her spine, and a wave of relief wash over her as the screams from inside his dungeon cut out, replaced with low growling and panting. She catalogued her own reaction, especially since it had preceded the lack of sound from the dungeon, as she stood up and cracked the door.

Hermione's brown eyes quickly locked onto the lupine gold eyes of Draco's werewolf, and the sheer beauty of him struck her even in this form. While her job involved her seeing a lot of werewolves, it always happened between full moons, so outside of the few occasions she had seen her old professor, Remus Lupin, transformed, she hadn't seen many werewolves except in books. Her werewolf didn't fit any of the descriptions she had read about either.

Draco towered over her as a person, and the height seemed to go with him in his wolf form. Standing on four paws, she would guess if she walked right up to him, he was almost at eye level. His coat, instead of being the normal grey or black coat that she had read about in all of her books was a solid white coat except for a patch of grey on the top of his head. She took a step inside the room, letting the dungeon door swing shut behind her. As she moved closer to the large cage that dominated the room, she continued to take stock of Draco in this form.

Her eyes followed the line of his body down to his paws, that easily dwarfed her hands. His tail next caught her attention as it twitched when she took another step forward, and unable to control herself she smiled. "Draco?" her voice hushed, she called to him cautiously. She knew that he had taken his wolfsbane and should be in complete control of himself, and she knew he was when he sat down on the floor and cocked his head to the side, giving her a look that plainly said "Yes?"

Hermione now closed the distance between her and the cage. With a quick tap of her wand, she had already unlocked the door, when Draco's large form abruptly moved, faster than she could have imagined. She had been ready to join him inside the cage, wanting to curl up against him and maybe even get a good night's sleep, so his reaction caused her to step back. He was growling at her, his teeth bared and though she wasn't scared of him, Hermione was assuredly confused by his reaction.

"What's wrong? Don't you want me to come in there?" Hermione asked, for which she received one short bark that couldn't be mistaken for anything else but a no.

At this Hermione moved back to the cage door, her eyebrow raised and her Gryffindor courage well in its place. "Draco Malfoy, are you going to hurt me?" When he didn't answer, she continued, "I didn't think so. Now I have no plans of letting you sleep inside a cage like some rabid animal when you're clearly in control of yourself. So stop acting like a child."

She wrenched open the cage door and walked to the massive wolf that was Draco, the werewolf, her mate. Hermione wrapped her arms around his large neck, breathing in his familiar scent again. She only broke away when this elicited a soft whine, stepping back she looked up into his gold eyes, damning their inability to communicate right now. With the distance created between them, Draco pushed his nose into her stomach and pushed against her, attempting to back her back out of the cage.

Hermione knew his strength would win out, so she did the only thing she could think of. She enveloped him by the neck again and lifted herself off the ground, hugging her body to him, effectively melding herself to him. "Draco, stop. You won't hurt me, and I'm not leaving you."

Draco let out a short gruff but stopped moving, waiting for Hermione to lower herself back to the floor. He watched his stubborn witch as she eyed him sceptically. While they were both stubborn, he knew she would win in the end. He had every intention of staying locked in this cage all night, where he couldn't hurt her, but if she wasn't going to leave, he would pose a greater risk to her in the cage then if they were out. Without waiting for her or giving any indication of his plan, he walked out of the cage and laid down in front of the couch that had been brought down, like a common house dog.

He watched as his witch walked out of the cage and shut it with a firm slam that rang in the small room before she walked over to him and laid down next to him. She turned to look at him, her brown eyes moving from his own to look over his wolf form, as her fingers laced themselves into his fur. Draco couldn't argue with the fact that this was much better than the previous night. It felt more like the nights he had spent before Hermione had walked back into his life, except with a feeling of completeness and also the urgency that he assumed went with his mate being unmarked.

"I brought a book to read aloud if you want to listen until I'm ready to sleep," Hermione said, sitting up and summoning the book in question to her. He barked out a laugh when he saw that she was re-reading Pride and Prejudice, and with quiet contentment, he closed his eyes as she began to read.

Monday, 6 November

Hermione had fallen asleep wrapped around Draco, his soft fur acting as the warmest blanket she had ever felt, and if she was perfectly honest, it was the best sleep she had experienced in years. She opened her eyes slowly, and without a clock or windows she couldn't guess the time, so she decided not to care. Rolling towards the source of warmth at her back, she looked into the stormy grey eyes of Draco Malfoy.

Her eyes didn't remain on his for long though, as they were drawn down his body, taking in the lack of fur, paws and general human appearance. A smile crept onto her face as her hands moved of their own accord, moving to the abdominal muscles that for the first time were bare for her eyes. Hermione couldn't help the sudden heat that spread from her cheeks all the way down to the junction of her legs, causing her to grip them tightly.

"Morning," Draco said, his voice rough, although if it was because of the morning or the screaming from the night before, she wasn't sure. He was desperately trying to remain calm, even as the scent of her desire filled the small room, causing his wolf to pant hungrily. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her flush against him, hoping that having her in his arms would keep his hands from moving down her body.

Hermione stretched, rubbing against the length of Draco's lean body as he held her tight. "Good morning. I can't believe I slept through your transformation. Did you somehow silence yourself?" She asked after she had finished, and was laying against him once again.

Draco shook his head. "No, in fact, I tried to wake you for a while before the moonset, but you wouldn't wake, and even as the transformation took me and the screaming began I was sure you would wake and be mortified by what you saw, but you slept on."

Hermione couldn't help but smile, unable to shake the peaceful feeling that a night of restful sleep managed to bring her. "I can't even begin to tell you how many years it's been since I slept through the whole night. Since before the war at least."

Draco looked at the witch in his arms, and suddenly he was thankful for whatever comfort she had gained from laying next to him in his wolf form the night before. While he couldn't say he had gotten much sleep, he had instead spent much of the night studying her features without interruption or judgement. As the night had worn on, and she had sunk deeper into sleep, he had been allowed the entertainment of the light snores she elicited, that had made even his wolf form bark with laughter.

Leaning forward, he began to slowly pepper kisses from her chin all the way up to the spot behind her ear, causing her to giggle lightly. He traced the outline of her ear with his tongue before nibbling on her lobe and moving back down her jaw, leaving longer kisses along the way. Moving his mouth beneath her jaw, he pushed his mouth against the soft skin, sucking on it lightly, before moving down her neck.

His hands began to move from her back to grasp her backside, pulling her up to him. As his lips hovered over the spot on her neck, where he had bitten down on her yesterday, she groaned, clearly aching in the same way that he was.

"Please Draco, please," Hermione moaned, unable to do anything but lay there pliant in his arms. His lips continued to tease the spot that even now she wished he would bite down on, and with her last ounce of patience breaking, she moved. Her hips thrust forward, and she ground herself against his growing erection, rutting herself against him.

As Hermione teased him he lost all control, and his mouth opened wide, his teeth exposed, and he bit down. He had intended to be gentle, but her grinding had made him lose all restraint. He had pinched the delicate flesh of her neck between his teeth, and letting go, he licked and sucked on the tender skin softly. Draco then kissed her lips lightly, before he stood, pulling her up with him, "Let's go have breakfast and get changed," Draco said, and he wrapped her in his arms, "Then I need to rest a little today, and hopefully you'll join me."

To be continued...

Again pants are underwear. In case anyone was confused.