Summary: AU, SSHG, Deep in the DoM, Manfred Morgan has his first child, and like most things born in the depths of the DoM, she's precocious and full of spunk— fated to tip the scales of the war before it even gets started.
Beta Love: Dragon and the Rose because she'll find me eventually…
Warnings: Oh come on, you know it's a Corvus story…
Outplayed
It could be a short story…
No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.
Julius Caesar
It was a dark and stormy night outside in the "real world" but no one was really paying attention in the depths of the cave of Manfred Morgan, where the centuries-old dragonbat was welcoming in his very first child.
Many were gathered, as was the norm for those who worked in the Department of Mysteries. The community was as tightly knit as one would expect of those who faced danger and happiness together with equal fervour.
Manfred's mate, Sabrina, was doing her best to stealthily groom her firstborn in the security of her wings even as everyone impatiently waited to get a glimpse of the rather record-breaking first spawn of the DoM's longest-living resident and his new mate.
However, like most things that parents wished to keep safe and hidden, a storm of wild curls and wings poked out from mum's warm wings and peeked over them, giving the world its first look at—
"Awwww—" came the group's rather united coo.
"What's her name?" An official-looking scribe asked, quill at hand.
"Hermione."
"Jean."
"Hermione Jean Morgan," the scribe muttered, writing all kinds of things down on his parchment.
Sabrina and Manfred exchanged glances, shrugging.
"And her outside name?"
"Granger," Alastor Moody said, rubbing the corner of his eye. "Got some good friends on the outside willing to be her outside-family if she ever needs one."
The young Auror next to Moody seemed really fascinated by the baby dragonbat. His eyes fixated on the curly-maned batling.
Hermione squeaked cutely and wiggle-pounced on the young Auror, snuggling into his neck and chest as any baby dragonbat would do, and the poor Auror came utterly undone as he wrapped his arms around her and cooed at her.
"Kingsley, you're hopeless," Alastor grunted.
The young Auror wasn't paying attention as the young batling sucked on her wing spur and clung to him tightly.
"Welp," Manfred said with pride, "she's a right little chip off the old block already. Look at all that animal magnetism."
One of the Unspeakables lured the little batling to them, and Kingsley looked rather put out over it.
She squeaked and cuddled and loved on each and everyone that gave her a hug, and, well, that was everyone.
By the time Sabrina had enough and snatched her baby back from the oogling crowd, Hermione was squeaking in protest, reaching out her little wings to return to ol' Alastor, who was trying very hard not to look like it was breaking his craggy Scottish heart to hear her calling out for him.
Manfred was smiling quite smugly, a rather unnerving sort of expression on the face of a greater dragonbat, as if he knew exactly what effect his progeny was having on the gathered crowd.
He ran his tongue over his fangs in eager anticipation of the fun that would undoubtedly ensue in the wake of his adorable wee batling's growth.
Wee not for long, Manfred knew.
They were dragonbats, after all.
Severus never thought travelling with his mum would be such a horrible experience.
People stared.
Whispered furtively behind their hands.
The ministry was a place of unfettered bureaucracy and busy-ness, but they all seemed to know his mum, and it clearly wasn't a positive sort of regard.
Betrayer.
Shameful.
She had left behind that which should never have been left—
But what?
"How dare you come back here," a man hissed as he rose from the desk. "You of all people."
The man was tall with a stern face that made any cold look his mum had ever given him seem kind.
"He had the right to grow up without stigma!" his mum protested.
Who? Me? Severus frowned. What stigma?
"You took him away from his father. You took him away from a healthy life!"
"Sequestered! In here?"
"Then why come back? Why return at all?"
"I have to! He's—"
"Oh, your precious little rebellion is showing the signs, so now you think that maybe he might be safer in here?"
Severus stood peering through a window that revealed a vast primordial forest that extended as far as the eye could see.
A forest… indoors?
How magical!
His mum was still arguing with the stern-man, and Severus didn't want to be there for it. It was too much like the arguments with his da— and his da… well, he never had anything good to say about him.
A dark form landed in the forest clearing, a long mane of glossy black hair framing a snarling bat-like face.
Severus pulled back, startled.
Squeak!
A golden-honey blur of motion landed on the tall creature and crowed victoriously.
"Ah! You caught me, my pretty young stalker! Look at how fast you found me!"
"Uncle Julius! Do you really think being stealthy will help me in the outside world?"
"Of course, Hermione," the fierce-looking creature said, fondly rubbing noses with her. "Just like our shape-shifting lessons."
"But— being me is so much cooler, Uncle!"
The scary-looking bat chuckled. "We are blessed with great and wondrous gifts, my little love, but not everyone can handle our glory without being burned. Much like the true face of Zeus upon his unfortunate lover."
"Now, show me what you have learned, so your da does not come and wing-pummel me about the head and shoulders for neglecting your education, hrm?"
The young batling screwed up her face in concentration, and her muzzle shrank and smoothly reshaped into the face of a pretty human girl with dark honey-coloured curls and warm brown eyes.
"Very good, Hermione," Julius praised, ruffling her curls. "Your da will be so proud of you."
"He's already proud of me," the now-girl said cheekily, smiling up at him.
"We all are, little batling," he cooed. He stood tall, and his body seemed to shiver and shimmer, wings and fur, claws and fangs were swiftly replaced by pale skin, dark eyes, and a long mane of silky black hair.
"Uncle, will my fangs be as cool as yours when I grow up?"
The black-haired man laughed. "Oh, my love, I think you'll have the perfect set of fangs made just for you. You needn't steal mine."
"But yours are so fangy," Hermione praised admiringly.
Julius chuckled. "The better to snuggle you with, my dear."
He snuggled the batling mercilessly, and she giggled and clung to him tightly.
Severus couldn't help but stare— not only because of the genuine warmth between the two obviously not-quite-human creatures, but also that this man, this Julius, looked remarkably like a taller, wilder version of his da.
Stronger.
More alive.
Real.
"Now, I must fly," Julius said. "You finish your lessons?"
"Of course, Uncle," Hermione said, wrinkling her nose.
"Be back home before dinner, pet," Julius said, giving her a fond lick on the forehead.
Hermione giggled. "I will!"
The taller man transformed and flew off with great beats of his wings with such a smooth movement that there wasn't even a pause between transitions.
Thump.
Severus startled as Hermione landed next to the window.
"Hi."
Severus stared, swallowing hard. "H… hi?"
"I'm Hermione."
Severus' face wrinkled. "Severus."
"Like the Roman emperor!"
Severus blinked. "You know?"
Hermione tilted her head. "Of course! Roman and Greek history is one of my favourite sections in the library."
"Y-you're a bat."
Hermione frowned. "No, I'm a dragonbat."
Severus frowned. "You say that like it's normal."
"It is normal," Hermione answered. "I wouldn't be me if I wasn't me, would I?"
Severus tried hard to digest that rather interesting bit of logic.
"You live here?"
"Of course."
"Do you— like it here?"
"I love it here," Hermione said, plucking a ripe pear off the nearby tree. She pushed it through the glass like it was nothing, offering it to Severus.
Severus grasped it with a gasp as her hand retreated back through the glass. "Thanks."
Hermione smiled, grabbing another fruit and biting into it.
"How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Move through solid glass."
"You can't?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"I—"
Severus stared.
Hermione put out her hand through the glass.
Severus placed her hand in his.
Hermione smiled and tugged, and Severus walked through the glass to join her.
Severus' eyes were wide with wonder.
"See! You can do it!" Hermione cheered. "Da says it's all about molecule memory."
"What-a-memory?"
"Molecule memory." Hermione grinned. "Your body remembers what it can do. You just have to show it the way. Like— your cells remember to move around the other cells."
"You make it sound so simple."
"I'm sure it's not, but it works," Hermione said.
"Are you sure it isn't magic?"
"I'm not allowed to do human magic until I'm older," Hermione replied.
Severus tilted his head, boggled.
"Why are you here? I haven't ever seen you before," Hermione asked.
"My mum brought me here," Severus said. "She said she needed to talk to someone about something important."
"Maybe— you'll be able to visit again?" Hermione looked hopeful. "Be my friend?"
Severus gulped. "I've never had a friend before."
"I'll be your friend," Hermione said with a smile.
"But, you don't even know me—"
"Can't I get to know you when you're my friend?"
Severus' eyebrows knit together. "I guess?"
Hermione smiled. "Great! Let's be friends!"
She reached out her hand.
"Okay," he said, and he put his hand in hers. Warmth passed between them.
Hermione's body seemed to shiver, and she reverted to her dragonbat form.
Severus touched her wing gently, feeling the warmth of it.
"Severus!" his mom shrieked. "Get away from that thing at once!"
"Mum!" Severus protested, turning to block her sight of Hermione.
She jerked him practically off his feet as she pulled him out of the forest clearing.
Severus twisted his body around to look back—
Hermione's entire body drooped, and then suddenly she was gone as the forest seemed to swallow her up.
Severus felt the first true pang of pain-like emotion well up in his chest as the young dragonbatling left, her haunted expression shattering the warmth that had only just grown there with the happy anticipation of having his first friend.
"You're such a bloody hypocrite," the stern man hissed to his mum as she dragged him back out of the forest.
Severus tried really hard not to sniffle as the adults seemed to go at it again. For a moment, just a moment, he had felt wanted— not anxiously hovered over like his mum did, no. He had felt kindness and a strange tug, like the feel of her hand as she helped him walk through the glass.
"You don't get to tell me how I raise my son," his mum snapped.
"But you bring him here because you fear what he might become."
"I am not afraid."
"You— are a liar."
"Enough," a voice said, more like a growl than a word, and the stern-man seemed to pale and bow his head almost immediately.
Severus' mum stifled a shriek as she stumbled backward.
"You come here, to our home, and you fill our place of peace with your witless nattering and fear. Even now, you cannot look us in the face as you cower from both the future and the past."
Severus' eyes widened as a creature so large that it had a bit of difficulty squeezing through the "large" doorway. The body of a snarling dragonbat seemed to flatten in on itself as he pulled himself through.
Oh, but it wasn't hard to see what made the creature both dragon and bat— the snarling face was furry rather than scaled, ears large and funnelled. Yet there were scales and a long, sinuous tail as well as dagger line talons that matched the mouthful of stiletto-like teeth. A mane framed the creature's head and ran down its back only barely concealing the sharp angles of hidden spikes.
"You left us over fear, not your love for an unborn son, Eileen," the creature said, literal venom dripping from his jaws that left pock marks on the stone where it sizzled and ate away at the marble. "You could not get out of here fast enough when you realised your husband was just as dirty as the rest of us. You left because you feared it would rub off on you as if the gift of our existence was nothing more than a curse."
Severus boggled. He would have lived here? Tobias— wasn't his real da?
His mum— she'd said she left the magical world because of a marriage. She'd always implied it was arranged.
Wait—
That bat who was also a man that Hermione had called Uncle Julius—
Was that— his real da?
The strange dreams he'd been having lately, his mum's sudden rash of panic attacks—
Was this the reason?
Did his mum think he was—
You're nothing but a bloody freak, boy. You're no son of mine.
"You keep your secrets so buried. You tromp around with human faces making people think you're just like everyone else, but the truth is no one on the outside could ever accept that taint you call a gift. Who would condemn themselves to a sequestered life if they had a choice of freedoms?"
His mum sounded terribly bitter, angry.
"More than you might think," a woman said as she walked out into the lobby. She had a halo of wild honeyed curls that would have been the envy of any male lion on the Serengeti. She carried a young girl, perhaps no older than seven that clung to her like she was a backpack.
"Sabrina," Eileen hissed.
"Da!" the girl squeaked, hopping down from her mum's embrace and pouncing on the greater dragonbat with absolutely no hesitation.
Manfred's muzzle softened from snarl to tenderness as he nuzzled his offspring. "Hello, love," he said as the girl managed to snuggle him between his spikes. Acid dripped from his mouth, and his tongue practically basted her, but the young girl giggled with happiness, clearly immune to his caustic saliva.
"Your voice is all crinkly and mad," she said, rubbing his face as one would pet a cherished one. "Are you mad at me?"
"No, my little one. You have done nothing wrong."
She beamed, snuggling his head. "Okay." Just like that, she accepted his reassuring words. She bit her lip. "Do I have to close my eyes?"
Manfred eyed his progeny. "If but only for a moment, love."
She closed her eyes tightly as Sabrina leaned over and gave Manfred a loving kiss.
Eileen's expression was caught between frank horror and revulsion. "You— you let him—"
Sabrina gave her a very cool, disappointed look. "You once told me how very happy you were here. How wonderful Julius was. How ecstatic you were about having his child. I truly envied you. I thought, if only I could be so lucky."
Sabrina's scowl hardened. "He pined for you for years. You proved that you didn't deserve his love, his devotion."
"He lied to me!"
"You swore that nothing he could say could ever make you love him less," the other witch accused. "He told you the truth because he believed you."
Conflicting emotions swirled within Severus as he suddenly realised that his da wasn't really his da after all and that his mum's "love" was something decidedly less than love.
Warm brown eyes were watching him intently.
She was reaching for him, her small fingers outstretched in invitation.
I believe in you.
He didn't hear it so much in his head, no. It was like he heard it in his soul.
He felt it— the warmth of wings and pure unconditional acceptance.
For a moment, he was amazed to see himself through different eyes. He saw a future— a gangly black-haired man with a witch with a bushy headful of honey-coloured curls at his side. He saw— felt— a rush of summertime heat and the brush of warm wings. He saw a cocoon of the blackest of black wings unfurl to expose a sleeping companion, her wings carefully tucked around his body as she slept. He felt such—
Why don't you go play with that pretty neighbour girl, Severus?
Severus, go and play in the park, won't you?
He saw the flame-like red hair and piercing green eyes.
He'd watched for well over a year, but she had never approached him first, never invited him to her side.
Never once looked at him like she did.
Like he was worth something.
Like he was more than his scruffy, ill-fitting clothes.
Hermione was on the ground, having released her deathgrip on her da to invite him to her side.
He ached to answer that almost painful, agonising pull towards sweet completion.
He reached out for her, his pale fingers extended to touch hers.
The closer he got, the better he felt.
Hermione.
Yes.
This is what magic truly felt like.
This was real.
"You get away from that thing, Severus!" his mum shrieked.
Hermione's face twisted in pain— humiliation and shame. That smile turned inward, fading, dying.
Her glorious warmth—retreated.
Perhaps it was his mum's body or maybe it was her magic, but Hermione went tumbling away from him with a terrified squeak, her human form falling away in a tangle of wings and claws and tangled, wild mane.
Her true form.
Beautiful.
Wondrous.
His mum's wand appeared in her hand, and while Severus had never seen it before in his life, he knew what it was and what it meant. She whipped it at Hermione like she was a rabid dog. The pull of magic in the air signalled what was to come.
No!
NO!
And then he was on his feet, his body hot. Heat came off him in waves. Anger made him see red, green, blue, and every colour in between.
"YOU LEAVE HER ALONE!" he screamed, his body jerking, twisting, tearing out of the tangle of ill-fitting clothing. His teeth were suddenly much too big for his mouth. His hands tore free into bony talons. He screamed again as his body tore and pulled and shifted.
And his molecules— remembered.
He let out an inhuman screech that sent his mum tumbling backward arse over teakettle, and he covered Hermione's trembling body with his own, wrapping his newfound wings around her in a rush of protective fury.
And before his mum could even pick herself off the floor, what seemed like a bat-god from the very fires of hell itself landed before her, his great black wings unfurling as a wall between the batlings and Eileen, fangs bared as he let out a deep, marble-cracking screech of absolute fury.
Aurors were falling from the ceiling, or so it seemed, scrambling into the reception room upon the DoM's wards being triggered.
Creatures of all kinds were emerging from the forest— a teeming horde of them in widely varied states of humanity and some were clearly not even trying at all.
Manfred and Sabrina had shed any and all attempts at stifling their true forms or size, and they could barely fit in the reception room with a crowd of Aurors and one completely brassed off hell-bat of a father.
"Eileen," the man-bat snarled as one wing curved around the trembling batlings. "How good of you to bring me my son after fleeing like a snivelling coward from our marital bed.
Sabrina scooped the batlings up in her wings, tucking them against her until their instincts drove them to cling to her body. She took off into the forest, practically taking out the door to get there.
"Manfred, you ruddy overgrown demon, shrink yourself the hell down so I can arrest that blithering ninnyhammer!" Alastor's voice bellowed, slightly muffled by a little of everything.
Manfred, looked under himself and had the decency to look a bit sheepish due to having inadvertently smooshed his good friend, shrank down to a much more manageable size.
However, when the dust cleared, Eileen Snape was nowhere to be found.
"Bollocks," Alastor cursed.
"They're sleeping, at last," Sabrina whispered softly as she sat down at the table next to Manfred in human form, cradling a steaming mug of tea like it was the ambrosia of the gods.
Julius sighed deeply. "I never once thought— I figured she had taken him somewhere far away. Another country. Another time. Anything other than remain here in England. I always blamed myself for driving her away— for foolishly showing her my true form."
"You cannot help that you wanted her as your mate," Manfred said, lapping at his tea from a very large bowl. "That you wanted her to share the skies with you. Feel your wings around her."
"It cost me my son—"
"You son is with us now," Sabrina soothed. "Safe."
Julius looked toward the dark cavern that connected to the living area. "Seems they found each other without our help. If only our fumblings would had been so easy."
Manfred looked at Sabrina. "Oh, I think I made a convincing mating argument."
Sabrina flushed, bat ears popping out of her human hair with a pinkish tinge.
"I apparently lack your rather convincing arguments," Julius said dryly. "Besides, it only took you how many years to convince her that all that hideous caterwauling that you call singing was meant for her?"
Manfred sighed. "Ah l'amore," he said wistfully. Once she realised it was meant for her, it did not take so very long, did it?"
Sabrina flushed a deeper crimson. "They are still so young. How could a bond exist so quickly?"
Manfred shrugged. "The males of our species tend to be protective of the females. This seems to be doubly so if the female is of interest to us in some way, not always is this a pair bond that leads to mates."
"So, it is a bond then?" Julius asked.
Manfred chuckled. "Most definitely."
"But what kind?" Sabrina asked.
Manfred smiled, all fang. "The kind that matters."
"Da?"
"Hn?"
"Why did mum not want to stay with you?"
Julius sighed deeply, pulling his wing around his son as they dangled from their perch. "Before you were born, we met while we were studying magic together. She, who had always been fully human, and I, who had been researching ancient human magics as a student at the same time."
"The DoM had many shared classes back then, so we took care to hide our true forms in order to coexist. Can you imagine our Manfred Morgan trying to teach a class of quivering humans in his true form?"
Severus shook his head, having seen the heavily muscled greater dragonbat easily fill a room, quite literally, in his wrath.
"Your mum and I— we met one day, and we quickly fell into what I would consider a fiercely passionate love. And— amongst those of our kind, you must understand, there is always a powerful focus. A fervor. A need. I fell for her so completely, and it seemed to everyone that she, of all people, loved me back."
"She was so wonderfully loving and compassionate. She had already befriended so many in the DoM. She was applying to become an Unspeakable. She accepted my proposal of marriage— swearing that nothing I could possibly say would ever turn her from my side, despite my repeated warnings. Despite my inner conflict."
"When I told her I was not human, she claimed that she didn't care, but when she became pregnant with you, I was driven to Turn her— to embrace her into our life— to gift her with the skies and the warmth of wings, and I knew that would show her the tremendous depth of my devotion. My love."
"I thought, with all she had seen in the DoM, that she would surely accept the gift and take her place at my side as my chosen mate—"
"Like Auntie Sabrina?"
"Mmhm. Just like your Aunt Sabrina."
"And Auntie Colleen?"
Julius chuckled at the mention of the spunky brunette Auror who hadn't hesitated to embrace the life of an overgrown vampire bat, much to her Uncle Alastor's great amusement, who said that he now had a bat-niece and liked to call her by the pet name "Chupacabra."
"Yes, like her too."
"But— my mum didn't?"
Julius sighed heavily. "No. She fled screaming from our marital bed and the DoM itself. I— was devastated. My heart lay in pieces. I had truly believed—" He looked toward the ground, itching his wing. "I thought I had pushed her too quickly. And so I blamed myself. I kept hoping, if I simply gave her enough time— but she never returned. Until you came to us."
"I was having nightmares. Mum said we had to come here to make the nightmares stop. That they came from here, but she wouldn't say why."
"I think, perhaps, my son, that she thought if I could halt your birthright— cut you off from your heritage— that the nightmares would stop, and you would remain what she wanted: a normal human boy."
"She never wanted me to—" Severus trailed off.
"Love is a very strange thing, my son. A part of me still loves her— what I thought we had. I am only sorry that you were caught up in it as well."
Severus snuggled close into his father's side. "I'm glad you're here, da."
Julius snuggled his batling son affectionately. "I'm so glad you are here too, Severus."
"Kingsley."
"Boss?"
"You seem to have a growth on your back."
Two sets of eyes looked up from their clinging spot on Kingsley's back.
"Correction. You have two growths on your back. Should really get that checked, might be cancerous."
The batlings squeaked indignantly and promptly pounced Alastor Moody, nearly knocking him flat.
Kingsley looked somewhat put out, but Alastor laughed out loud, twirling the young batlings around.
Alastor was laughing to the point of wheezing like an asthmatic as the batlings snuggled into him, driven to be close to him as they were to all their most "trusted" ones.
"Looks painful, boss," Proudfoot said.
"Might want to get that checked," Savage agreed.
"Oh, Merlin, NO—!"
Proudfoot and Savage down in a squeaking cyclone of batling enthusiasm.
Moody chuckled as he dusted himself off. "Serves you two right. Just wait until we get to the take down lessons."
Savage and Proudfoot groaned together. "I think they already got that covered, boss."
The loud clack of heeled shoes signalled the arrival of a pink-wearing monstrosity as she stormed into the Aurory.
Pfffff!
The batlings "disappeared" into thin air.
"Auror Moody! I demand that your office look into why my office is full of banana and orange peels!"
"I'll have housekeeping look into it, Ma'am."
"It's not about housekeeping! It's about them coming back over and over again!"
"I'll have housekeeping check more often, Ma'am."
"They aren't THERE when housekeeping checks!" Umbridge yelled. "Take care of it!" she screamed, storming off.
Pff!
The batlings were visible again, each of them working fastidiously on devouring a banana cluster between them. Each fruit was peeled exactingly, devoured, and the peel tossed into the waste bin.
Yet, when the peel hit the waste bin, it vanished almost instantly.
Umbridge's scream echoed from deep within the Ministry as mysterious fruit peels dropped on her desk from above as if by… magic.
Alastor narrowed his eyes at Savage and Proudfoot. "What have you been teaching the batlings?"
The two Aurors were the picture of innocence. "Not us, boss."
Moody's gaze flicked from Savage to Proudfoot to the batlings who were working on the banana cluster with gusto.
"I'll believe that when I'm dead."
Whatever Severus had experienced as a young child seemed like a hazy half-remembered nightmare in comparison to his new life at the DoM, and it seemed like all the stories his mum had once told him were just stories— untruths.
Aurors, for example, were some pretty good people.
Uncle Alastor would often share his packed lunch with them when he checked in with them (which was technically him checking in with Manfred and his niece Colleen) and he and Hermione would happily relieve him of his fruit and nibble on his sarnie with him.
They learned a lot of cool things with the Aurors, and Severus' da was an excellent teacher on the finer arts of stalking and hiding. Hermione's da, of course, was not holding back on life lessons, and both batlings would spend hours listening to his lessons, chasing him in the skies, and learning the nuances of how to fit into places that shouldn't fit something as big as they would eventually be.
Eventually.
That was a word Severus had never had embraced before.
The future.
And every time he looked Hermione in the eyes, he saw the future— something grand and wondrous and beyond belief. To have a friend. To feel her radiant warmth that always included him—
She was such a bossy little thing, often regurgitating her book knowledge from the DoM library like a shield, but considering how assertive her father was, he was starting to think it was a dragonbat thing. Gods knew that no one ever questioned if Sabrina would stand up for herself or her batling.
Severus would challenge her to think outside the books, having spent his childhood having to come up with solutions with only the power of his own intuition, and strangely Hermione would listen attentively to him as if focusing on his voice. It was so odd to be listened to. To be valued.
It took awhile for him to ease back into a human form after his emotionally charged transformation, and he had to admit when he did he felt a bit naked without his wings and fur.
Well, technically, he was—
But his father got him his first well-fit (and enchanted) clothing that would not be destroyed by spontaneous transformations.
Now, nice new clothes that actually fit him properly? Amazing.
There were times, he wondered what happened to his mum, but he imagined she was likely back in Cokeworth with Tobias, living her life without magic. Knowing Tobias, things were probably better now that he was gone, he figured. All of the fights he had ever witnessed had been over him, after all.
His father had, after an appearance at the Wizengamot (scary!), taken full custody of Severus, and there was no longer the chance he could be legally taken from his new home. Even if his mum did try, he planned to make the biggest fuss ever if she did—
He didn't want to leave a place that actually treated him fairly.
Not that anyone believed his mum would confront the now hypervigilant Manfred Morgan or even his father—
Julius drilled the batlings day after day on keeping a human form until they could literally sleep in a human form and not revert. He instilled in them how important it was to always maintain control, and one of the biggest lessons was controlling their emotions— a hard sell for a young batling whose emotions were all over the place.
But, Hermione and Severus practiced together, and he found that he was willing to tolerate a lot of practicing things that he didn't like as long as he wasn't doing it alone.
It was hard finding the benefit of having to sleep like a human when a good old-fashioned wing snuggle was so much warmer and more comforting. So, in batling rebellion, the pair would sneak off and nap somewhere deep in the forest, snuggling into each other for the comfort they craved.
When they woke up with Julius' wing securely wrapped around them both, however, they realised that maybe they weren't nearly as sneaky as they thought they were—
Clearly, more practice was required.
Not that they couldn't pull the wool over that nasty toad-faced woman who liked to plague the DoM. She'd storm in, demanding to speak to the boss, irritate everyone in the place, and then back storm out.
They'd misdirect her. Get her hopelessly lost. Hide in the treetops and drop the fruit that had gone bad on her…
Oh there were so many things they'd think up.
The Head Boss of You, however, did ask them not to drop durian fruit on the Undersecretary again, however. Human craniums were so— touchy.
Amelia Bones, HBOY, and all around master eyes-in-the-back-of-her-head individual, was a highly respected person around the DoM, but it didn't take too long for certain curious little batlings to notice that Severus' da found her rather "more acceptable" than most. With Severus around, it seemed his father was now letting go of the past a bit better, and with that revelation, the outspoken, non-nonsense, seen-it-all Madam Bones became utterly fascinating.
The batlings had made a checklist, and Hermione had stuck many multi-coloured flags on it as they attempted to figure out if Madam Bones was actually good mate material. Widowed once, she was no longer married. Check! Able to keep up with the drama that was daily life in the DoM. Obviously. Liked food. Phew, that was a relief. How would they feed her otherwise? Liked Julius— well, that was getting more and more obvious.
He gave her wing cuddles.
You don't give wing cuddles to just anyone!
She liked batlings too! Check!
Batlings liked her. Check!
Heck, all of the batlings liked her, even the crankier vampire batlings.
They tried to imagine what she would look like as a bat, and everything seemed to check out perfectly.
No worries about her finding out Julius was a bat and running away, but Hermione did pre-plan for some sort of odd magic-induced amnesia in the sidelines, just in case they had to address that issue.
They'd insinuate themselves on her, clinging to her body until Julius came to fetch them, then as his wings wrapped around her to transfer the batlings over, the batlings would sneakily slip away and let Julius and Amelia snuggle.
It was a perfect plan!
It started out a bit awkward, as if Julius wasn't quite sure what to do with himself when he had a wingful of Amelia Bones, but then came the snuggling and the canoodling, and the batlings were confident that neither of the two would have to be woefully alone anymore.
Who wanted that?
Surely not.
Julius was lonely.
Amelia was lonely too.
It made perfect sense. Gosh.
So, when the batlings noticed a few of Julius' distinctive love bites on Amelia's neck, they smiled, knowing that everything was going to plan.
So, one night, Manfred picked up both of the batlings and had them come stay under "his roof". They spent much of the time learning about their eventual trip to Diagon Alley and schooling at Hogwarts. It kept them up half the night, but then they slept nestled under Manfred and Sabrina's warm wings, dreaming of the future.
They woke to find a new strawberry blonde bat in their life (and a rather smug and sheepish-looking Julius) and immediately pounced her with glee, snuggling with her tightly.
Mission accomplished!
Yay!
Hogwarts was a strange place, they decided.
First, they were away from the warm wings of their parents, and that along was discomfiting. Second, humans were loud creatures, and their children were even more so. They were used to the forest and sounds of beasts and creatures over the chatter of humans.
Having to get on a train was confining to them, and the batlings had huddled together in a single compartment as they attempted to put on their new uniforms and place the right enchantments on them so they didn't accidentally destroy them— just in case.
Wands seemed fascinating enough but perhaps they would learn more about why they needed them later on? Human magic was pretty strange.
Wand movements. Verbal components.
Intent and concentration seemed so much more logical.
They smirked at each other with the knowledge that Madam Umbridge would be getting banana peels and other fruity discards from all trash cans in the Ministry sent directly to her home and office— excellent.
When Severus locked eyes with a certain familiar green-eyed redhead, he instinctively herded Hermione behind him and kept himself between them. Memories of his mum trying to push them together brought nothing but frank suspicion to the forefront of his mind, and he didn't want Hermione hurt by it.
Thankfully, the red-head seemed much more interested in socialising with a large group of annoyingly loudmouthed children in the main car.
Much to his relief, Hermione happily snuggled into his side as usual and showed no sign of letting a traumatising train ride disturb their normality.
Now, the Sorting was an altogether different sort of trauma.
The Sorting Hat looked like it was going to spontaneously combust on top of Hermione's head.
Severus said he wanted to be in Slytherin. If that is where he'll be, then that is where I want to be.
Slytherin is not for you child. They will tear you apart.
They will try, but I will finish whatever they start.
Oh ho, so perhaps you do have the necessary ambition, the cunning!
"Slytherin!"
She took her place at the table as she caught the scared eyes of her friend.
"You must be related to Hector Dagworth-Granger eh?" one of the other students said, extending a hand.
Hermione, ever the flawless student of custom, allowed the boy to take her fingers and kiss the air above her knuckles.
"I'm Travis Nott. Welcome to Slytherin. The tall blond prince over there is Lucius Malfoy. Prefect. Supposedly perfect. We stick together here, Granger. We have plenty of enemies without even trying. Keep your nose clean and your spells amongst Slytherin. We don't share— the Gryffindor would just love to crow how superior they are, but what is the use of holding secret power when you show it off all the time? Slughorn is our head of house. If you do well, he'll invite you to his special dinners. You want to be, so do your best. He's a bit strange, but he's got serious connections."
Hermione nodded. "I'm Hermione."
"Slytherin!"
Hermione looked up to see Severus heading toward the table. She beamed brilliantly at him.
As Severus took his place beside her, she leaned into his reassuring warmth, the initial discomfort now gone.
The batlings found their rival in every class to be Lily Evans and her often partner in gossip, Marlene McKinnon. From potions to transfiguration, they would be head to head for points, one gaining then the other and often ending in a tie. Secondary on their rival, or rather annoyance list, was a gaggle of Gryffindor males whose entire purpose in life seemed to be annoying the hell out of anyone who wasn't in Gryffindor, and if that meant making Lily and Marlene come out looking better and smelling like roses, so be it.
The first and second year seemed to be everyone's struggle to find their place within Hogwarts, whether that be in the house itself or in whatever friends they found together.
Vacations brought the batlings home to the DoM, much to their relief, and they were happy to wash off the scents of Hogwarts and roll in the moss and forests they remembered much more fondly as well as shadow Uncle Moody and his apprentice around for more lessons.
Severus found himself soon expecting a baby sister or brother, and both batlings were super excited at the prospect of a new compatriot in mischief, much to Alastor's chagrin and Manfred's eternal amusement. His parents seemed a bit sheepish about it, as if they didn't expect mating to produce batlings.
Silly parents. Where else were batlings supposed to come from?
Hermione wondered if Sabrina was going to have another batling, too, but if she was, her mum wasn't telling just yet.
The third year brought on a rather renewed fervor of pranks set against Slytherin, only batlings rather enjoyed being buried in fruit. They scooped up the spoils and happily made off with it, much to the pranksters' total frustration.
Being suspended upside down only had Hermione and Severus opening up a book and reading peacefully until the Headmaster stumbled across them, dispelled the enchantment, and then traced it back to the pranksters, earning them a whole month of detention.
Idiots.
Trying to set a batling upside down.
What exactly was that going to prove?
When the self-dubbed Marauders seemed to get a little too annoying in the finding-them-wherever-they-were department, Hermione and Severus took it as a personal challenge to find better places to hide in plain sight.
Batlings, after all, could easily fit themselves in tiny spaces and crevices.
So, said batlings watched with great amusement as the ragtag team of miscreants tried to find them, all pointing at a piece of parchment like it shouldn't have lied to them only— Hermione and Severus simply weren't there.
After the gang passed them by, they would continue on their way (but not after casting some amusing flatulence-inducing magic upon their stalkers to make them very hard to miss in any crowd.
Oh, the amusements after that!
Well, at least for anyone not in Gryffindor.
From what gossip said, they kicked the boys out of the tower and made them sleep on the stairs until the farting stopped.
Poor things.
Not.
The Slytherin had taken to enjoying picnics out on the green near the lake, using enchanted paddleboards to play "dodge the squid" and water games made up by Rafael Zabini and Melody Davis. They had quite a knack for making up fun games that didn't require brooms, and water was the element of Slytherin, afterall.
Jaxon Greengrass was a level-headed bloke who had a real gift for charms, much to the distress of the Marauders who tried to catch him unawares and ended up ringing jingle bells for an entire week every time they so much as twitched.
Curtis Crabbe, oddly enough, turned out to be quite the devious strategic thinker. His plans to foil the Marauder's attacks ended up with the horrified Gryffindors finding themselves glued to a few statuaries and sets of armor, artfully arranged in rather lewd positions. Also, with their trousers down and their tongues stuck fast to the stone and metal in the most humiliating (not to mention highly incriminating) detention-inducing positions possible, all the blame was flying at any house but Slytherin. Everyone knew Slytherin wouldn't do such a thing being all prim and proper stuckup arseholes.
The Marauders said it all the time. It had to be true, right?
The other houses were starting to feel more comfortable about hanging around Slytherin due to their ability to stave off the pranks. Soon, Ravenclaw and the ever-nervous Hufflepuffs were socialising with Slytherin while Gryffindor suffered social shunning.
Everyone knew that Gryffindors were notorious pranksters.
The Marauders were pulling stuff all the time, so it had to be true.
And when the Headmaster looked Hermione and Severus in the eyes, how could they have known that he would end up with a head full of himself gorging on a jackfruit with his hands covered in sappy latex and his face dripping with ripe fruity goodness.
What was he doing trying to rifle through their minds anyway?
That was so rude!
Uncle Moody said so, so it had to be true.
That year, Slughorn's parties gained a lot of new Slytherin attendees.
Fourth Year was the rise and fizzling out of Lord Voldemort.
He rose quickly—
Until Hermione and Severus started an after hours anagram club for fun and discovered that the "I am Lord Voldemort" flyers some people were being sent rearranged to "Tom Marvolo Riddle"- a halfblood student from back in 1938.
And promptly fell when the purebloods realised that a "halfblood" egging on the pureblood movement was a match made in damnation.
Besides, the Slytherin children were doing very well, and people were happy.
It was said, at least in the depths of the DoM where people "knew things" that Voldemort had a rather impressive temper tantrum when people didn't want to flock to his banner anymore. He'd attempted to take out an entire section of Muggle London with spells (and the Muggles who lived there) and then fled by flight only to have the Unspeakables dispatched and Master Manfred Morgan arrive to snatch him up in mid-flight, rip off his limbs, cauterise them with acid, and deliver his still-alive (but gods only know how) body to the Aurory.
And so ended the (embarrassingly brief) reign of the Dark Lord Voldemort.
There was much rejoicing.
Oops?
Not a bad fourth year, all and all.
Fifth year was the year of the O.W.L.s and it was no surprise that Hermione and Severus spent ninety percent of their time studying for what everyone said they didn't need to study for.
Obviously, they needed to study!
The teachers had all decided that the students should have a group project for the houses as well, so each house had to come up with some sort of way to fulfil a need at Hogwarts. Hufflepuff wanted to upgrade the greenhouses. Ravenclaw chose to expand the library with better shelving and more comfortable seating. Slytherin decided to create an aquagarden that could be seen through the dungeon corridor walls. Gryffindor decided to make a great statue of Godric Gryffindor.
But, while those in Gryffindor struggled to accomplish their chosen task on their own, the friendships fostered in the years before had Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw all working to make their projects great together.
The heads of houses clucked in approval as the projects became practicums for skills they needed in herbology, charms, and potions. The Hufflepuffs and Slytherin played amongst the squid as they built the aquagarden, attracting fish to hide amongst the new growth and eat the insects that found the expansive new growth so utterly tasty and irresistable. Ravenclaw researched the best balanced plants native to the area and which fish and plant life were invaders. The older students charmed the bricks to be transparent, giving the dungeons a stunning view of all their hard work.
When the Hufflepuffs focused on their greenhouses, Slytherin helped with the architecture, giving the new areas gold and black arches to honour the house but provide the best structural support. Ravenclaw researched the best angles to use the sunlight to best advantage and which shelves would be best placed for which plants, and the Hufflepuffs dutifully kept record of what plants needed the most room and the expansion the most. They also moved the Venomous Tentaculas into their own area so students wouldn't be attacked by a cranky, bitey plant.
Finally, when Ravenclaw took to the libraries, it was Slytherin who created varied protections for the existing books so Madam Pince wouldn't burst a blood vessel, Hufflepuff who created charms to maintain the quiet despite their work, while Ravenclaw carved out new spaces, moved others, and crafted new shelves and seating to make the Hogwarts library the pride of the school. By the time the O.W.L.s (and N.E.W.T.s for the seventh years) came around, the three friendly houses were enjoying the fruits of their labours from relaxing views of the aquatic gardens, comfortable seating in the library, and classes in the greenhouses that did not require being groped by a frisky Venomous Tentacula.
The gigantic sculpture of Godric Gryffindor, however, was still missing considerable detail from the chest up— and an ear as well.
Hermione and Severus utterly obliterated their O.W.L.s, and no one was surprised about that at all.
Sixth year was the year of confusing emotions, and Hermione simultaneously wanted to snuggle and have space at the same time.
Severus had the same issue, but they never seemed to sync up. Slytherin struggled to keep the walls from falling in when they rowed, and then they wondered if they were completely insane. Then, when the two made up again, they wondered if the pair had developed multiple personalities.
The two had been thick as thieves for years, after all, so it seemed really strange to everyone who knew them.
If anyone male tried to get close to Hermione, Severus was so protective that Hermione would explode, yelling at him to give her some space, but when Hermione tried to snuggled up to him again, things quickly turned awkward and uncomfortable for Severus, which left Hermione feeling confused and hurt.
Worse, when Albus Dumbledore asked Severus to help tutor Lily Evans in potions after a two week bout of Faerie Fire Pox, catching a whiff of Lily Evans' designer perfume all over Severus caused Hermione to flee into the night, using her best disappearing act to escape the castle before the tears started.
Severus, feeling a welling agony pooling in his chest, felt a part of himself demand he go out and find her, wrap her up in his wings, and never let her go, and then the other part of himself knew she wanted to be alone. She'd pushed him away, after all.
It was so damn confusing!
What happened to the time she welcomed his touch no matter when or where?
Why was he so bloody angry when any other bloke so much as looked at her?
Why did she push him away?
It was so—
So—
ARRGHHH!
He let loose a flurry of sneezes and his eyes widened as he suddenly realised he smelled like a ruddy perfume bottle.
Lily's perfume.
Oh no.
No, no, nonono.
He ran straight for the lake and dove headlong into it, clothes and all, shivering with the horrible shock of it all. Eugh. Now, he smelled like water and lake weed. He used his wand to rinse off, and his hair framed his face in wet, dripping curtains with just his nose sticking out.
Really?
Gods…
He looked skyward as if it would somehow help him out, but the moon was only barely peeking out from a dark cloud almost as if the answers were hiding from him too.
Glorious.
He closed his eyes, trying to calm his mind and emotions and reach for that familiar presence that had always been Hermione.
So many hours playing hide-and-seek.
So many more playing hunter-seeker with the Aurors.
So many lessons with Julius on tracking—
Hermione.
His Hermione. His beautiful she-dragonbat.
Surely it would not go on like this forever—
Surely she would understand there was no one else but her in his heart?
But was it true for her? His traitorous heart questioned. What if she doesn't feel that way for you?
What if you're just a friend?
What if you're just Severus?
Just good old, reliable Severus?
Severus shook his head, his heart threatening to escape his chest and leave without him.
He took off up the path, following the sense of the one who mattered.
The only one who had ever mattered to his soul.
She was stupid.
So stupid.
It was stupid of her to think that a bond shared as children would last when they grew up.
Stupid.
Presumptuous.
The sticky, floral scent of perfume had hung around Severus.
He'd always hated perfume— before.
Obviously, that had changed.
He'd found someone else he was interested in— someone who could accept him as he was. Someone who could be— a mate.
Who was she fooling?
She was a dragonbat.
He was a bat.
They weren't even the same species—
If he took a mate with a human, they would be the same species.
Perfectly compatible.
Hermione slumped, her heart aching.
It had always been Severus for her.
Her friend.
Her protector.
Her partner in adventure, in learning.
She had presumed too much.
Taken him for granted.
She'd always believed he'd be there.
Stupid. Stupid Hermione.
She wanted nothing more than to curl up in his warm wings and stay there forever. Human magic was interesting and all, but when it came down to it, she missed the skies, the forest— the feel of the wind across her body.
The feel of the chase between the trees.
The feel of his tender licks as he groomed her ears and face after sharing fruit—
He loved someone else.
He didn't need her anymore.
She sniffled and rubbed her nose with her sleeve. It was time to grow up and embrace reality. It had taken her father how many centuries to find her mum?
With that track record, she was doomed to spend a long time looking.
But if this was how it was meant to be, then why did it hurt so much?
"Beautiful night, kitten," a voice broke into her thoughts. "Would be a shame to waste it."
Hermione narrowed her eyes.
Sirius Black opened his hands in a peacemaking gesture.
"Simply a good night for a walk," Sirius said. "I do walk from time to time. Completely on my own."
Hermione, finding it doubtful that Sirius Black ever travelled somewhere alone without his gang, turned her head and scowled.
"Fancy a walk?" Sirius asked. "Pity to waste such a nice night."
Hermione frowned.
"Just a walk, kitten," Sirius coaxed.
Hermione sighed, standing up. "Fine."
"That's the spirit," Black said, smiling with that disarming smile he was well known for.
Hermione wrinkled her nose in distaste. He smelled strongly of some type of expensive cologne, and it made her nose wrinkle from the inside out.
She walked with him across the green, but gave him a wide berth. The scent of him was decidedly less than comforting even if he was physically attractive to most witches in the school. The walk, however, did her some good in giving her something other than her pathetic love life dying before it could even start.
She wanted to go for a fly, though— and that required being free of this exceedingly smelly wizard.
"Thanks for the walk," she said politely, eager to be free of him. "I'll find my own way back. I have some thinking to do."
"Alright then," Black said. "Don't miss curfew."
Hermione snorted. "I wouldn't."
"No, I suppose not," Sirius said. He picked a fragrant nightbloom off a nearby bush. He sniffed it delicately and then tossed it at Hermione.
Hermione, instinctively, caught it.
Suddenly, everything went black.
As Hermione crumpled to the ground, Sirius grinned maliciously. "For six whole years you've been the bloody bane of our existence. Time to have a little fun."
He took the rope that he had carefully hidden amongst the brush, looking skyward to see the full moon. He tugged on it, hearing the latch give way as the trapdoor creaked open. He smiled as he heard the howl, the scratching of claws, and the distinctive thump of a body hitting the ground.
Sirius let his canine Animagus form swallow him up as he tore away from the scene—
THUMP!
SCREEEEEEEEE!
Sirius yelped loudly as hell and damnation descended upon him with fiery eyes and death dripping from a mouth filled with jutting fangs. Giant ears swivelled as teeth were bared.
SNAP!
YELP!
The dog was seized by the neck and violently shaken… shaken… shaken like a rag doll and flung headlong into the Whomping Willow.
There was a strange click as the dog hit the hidden switch, and the willow came alive again, proceeding to beat the everliving shite out of Sirius and then fling his severely beaten carcass back and forth from branch to branch like a tennis ball at Wimbleton.
The irate bat snarled viciously, wingwalking towards where Hermione lay paralysed.
Severus nuzzled her, crooning softly.
He cradled her in his wings, nuzzling, nosing, whining.
Hermione's hand twitched. Her eyelashes fluttered. "Severus?"
Her hand touched his muzzle, weaving gently through his mane of tangled black hair.
I thought I had lost you. Hermione. Hermione. Severus smashed his head against her chest.
Hermione looked up into his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Severus."
Whatever for? His muzzle wrinkled in confusion.
"I feel such strong feelings for you, but I waited way too long to tell you. I took you for granted. And now I've lost you."
Stupid girl, Severus breathed, his pain dripping from his aura. You're wrapped so tightly around my heart, I cannot even imagine a world without you. It hurt to think you did not want me. You fled from me— I only just realised you smelled Lily's perfume on me. Dumbledore asked me to tutor her after she was sick all that time. I swear that is all it was. I was only giving you the space I thought you needed. You kept pushing me away. I thought—
"Love is such a mess," Hermione sighed. She pressed her face into his soft black fur. "Please forgive my insecure— my stupid heart."
Severus wrapped her snugly in his wings, pulling her close. My heart is yours alone. Always. There can be no other. There never was.
There was a growing heat between them. Urgent. Needy.
Hermione let out a ragged breath. "Severus."
She pressed a kiss against his muzzle, and suddenly he was in human form, cradling her to the ground as their tongues tangled, hands struggling to touch, caress, and press skin against skin.
"Browl?"
Hermione and Severus turned to see a confused-looking werewolf staring at them, his head tilted to the side.
The werewolf sat down, his tail wagging in greeting.
"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Severus said, lips curled in a scowl.
"Browl!" The werewolf panted and tail wagged. He picked up a nearby stick in his mouth and shook it playfully.
Severus' eyes narrowed as he grabbed the stick and threw it back towards the willow. The werewolf promptly tore after it, dodging willow branches as he ran.
"Severus!"
"Oops?"
They resumed their heated snog until a muffled scream came from the direction of the willow— a human scream.
Thump, thump, rustle, rustle, thhhh—browl!
The werewolf was back, tail wagging, the stick in his mouth, but a bit of blood dripping from his muzzle.
"Is that—" Hermione said slowly.
Severus sighed. "Yes," he replied, his nostrils flaring in confirmation.
"We should probably—" Hermione said.
"Browl!" the werewolf said, snuffling and trying to crawl into Hermione's lap. He licked her face as his wagging tail smacked Severus in the face.
"That bastard tried to get you killed by a bloody werewolf," Severus growled.
Hermione sighed. "I think we need to send a Patronus to our das and Uncle Alastor and let them know what happened here tonight. We can't leave a werewolf to roam around. As long as we're out here, he'll stay with us."
Severus sent out the Patronus with a sigh, the dragonbat zooming off toward the DoM.
"Browwwwlll!" Moony howled, rolling on his back to expose his vulnerable belly for rubs, please, if you would, thank you.
Neither Severus or Hermione could resist the lure of the werewolf's soft and furry belly.
The moment their fingers touched the werewolf's soft fur, the pair of them wobbled, eyes rolling back, and they collapsed together.
Moony snuffled, yawned, and curled up next to them, licking them dutifully. "Browl!" His eyes glowed a bright gold, echoed under the lids of his two chosen "people" as the familiar bond snapped into place.
When a thunderous Alastor Moody stormed into Hogwarts with two Unspeakables in tow along with a furious-looking HBOY of the DoM, Dumbledore immediately knew there was a problem.
When Sirius Black showed up in the infirmary as a beaten and bloodied dog, he realised there were certain other issues going on as well.
When Peter Pettigrew arrived in the infirmary missing an arm, or rather carrying his severed arm, Madam Pomfrey ended up summoning a trauma healer from St Mungo's to help quickly stabilise the terrified young wizard.
"A werewolf at Hogwarts," Amelia said grimly. "This is hardly a safe situation."
The student in question was only dangerous for three nights a month," Dumbledore objected. "I provided a safe place for him to transform away from the other students and other people."
"A secure place that was deliberately breached by unregistered Animagi!"
"The only reason the werewolf is protected now is because of a freak familiar bond, Headmaster— and it is the only thing that is protecting Mr Lupin from being thrown into Azkaban for attacking Hogwarts students. Students who also happen to be unregistered Animagi who lack the control to maintain it when faced with dangers like a raging werewolf."
The Unspeakables removed their hands from each of the moaning student's heads. They spoke, but the voices came out only as whispers that could not be discerned.
"Both boys are Animagi," Amelia said, her voice grim. "And their friend, Pettigrew, who remains in the infirmary is also one."
"Surely the focus should be on protecting the students who are out there with the actual werewolf," Dumbledore protested.
"Two of our own non-human agents are with them, Headmaster. I've been told the familiar bond is very strong. If anything, this is a blessing to Lupin, for he shows no violence with the bond superseding the drive to bite and maim others or himself. The werewolf is a very lonely beast. Take that loneliness away, and they become quite stable. And, since he is not bonded to an unstable sadistic pack leader, there is actual hope for Lupin's normal life to be unaffected."
"This will not go away, Headmaster," Amelia said as Moody grunted agreement and scribbled in his notebook. "But seeing as these gentlemen have purposely been loosing the werewolf on the grounds, the blame is not fully on your shoulders as much as I would like it to be. I also need to speak with this 'Prongs' they have been speaking of. James Potter."
Albus sighed wearily. "I will have Minerva summon him."
Hermione pounced her father with gusto, clinging to his head like a young batling and giving him a desperate snuggle.
Manfred chuckled as the wide-eyed werewolf promptly tucked his tail between his legs and piddled in fright at the very sight of the huge dragonbat. "Hello, my love," Manfred said. "Your mum has been terribly worried about you."
Hermione hung her head. "Severus and I were fighting."
Manfred nodded. "She told me. I take it this matter between you has been— suitably resolved?"
"Almost," Severus said under his breath.
Manfred chuckled lowly, his voice shaking the ground. "Oh, child. The drive to have our mate is incredibly strong but I assure you, you will not die just yet."
He pegged his daughter with his tongue, his acidic drool cleaning the dirt from her face. "So, werewolf?"
"Browl?"
Hermione smiled sheepishly. "He kind of adopted us."
"I suppose there are worse familiars. You could have wanted a toad or some other short-lived amphibian."
Hermione looked horrified, her nose wrinkling in distaste.
"This will be an odd thing, my daughter," Manfred said. "Werewolves are extremely loyal creatures, and that will transfer to the human side the rest of the month. You will, of course, have to spend the moon days with him to keep him from reverting to his original behaviour. As of the human part— there may be some resistance at first as the human comes to terms with the wolf's choice."
"And the fact that he was used as a weapon by his own mate," Julius said, attempting to extricate himself from his son's happy hug. He gave him an affectionate ear grooming in return. "That cannot end well for a friendship. Being used is sometimes an unfortunate dynamic in friendship until maturity sets in. Being used as a murder weapon, however, is not something one easily forgets or forgives."
Moony brought Manfred a stick, tail wagging hopefully.
The dragonbat laughed, took the stick in his talons and flung it.
Zoom!
Moony went tearing off after it joyously, tail held high in the air.
"The trio apparently studied to become Animagi," Julius said. "It kept them safe from the werewolf— if but as long as they remained in their animal forms. Alas, their natural forms are human, and humans enrage the wolf. We are not sure why this is. Why the werewolf can tell you are not human even though you appear to be human— yet it cannot tell the difference between an Animagus and the human it truly is. It is a mystery of the curse. Often debated, hard to prove. It is not like anyone would wish to willingly throw themselves into a cage with a werewolf in order to prove a hypothesis."
Severus wrapped Hermione into an embrace, sniffing her curls. "I've never been so glad to be— not human."
"People will wonder, of course," Manfred said. "How the werewolf bonded to you and not his three supposed best mates— but it is said that the familiar can only bond to the real person, and there are some that believe the Animagus form is but a mask. Others say the Animagus form is the true reflection of the soul. Neither of these theories have been proven."
"And by luck or not," Julius said, "he will not be prosecuted— as it truly wasn't his fault his best mates were miscreants. The one with his arm removed had a very damning sort of tattoo on what was left behind. There was some magic in him. Latent. Time altering. He was probably much older than he appeared to be. The other— well, he tried to commit murder via werewolf. No one will be standing up for him anytime soon. As I understand it, the Black family is none too happy with him already for a laundry list of reasons."
"You know the Blacks?" Hermione asked as Moony bounded back over, dropping a slobbery stick in her lap. Hermione's gaze softened and she ruffled the werewolf's scruff, earning her slobbery licks and tail wags.
Julius nodded. "Some of the Blacks are level people. Worth knowing. Others are so inbred that insanity seems the lifeblood of their family unit. I do know Orion, however. Before his paranoia of his own family struck, he was one of the most decent blokes to visit the DoM. He would not have taken his son's activities well."
Severus fidgeted. "I did not— control myself well with Black."
Julius' muzzle softened its creases. "My son, we are a protective species. All the more so when our cherished ones are endangered. He is lucky you did not rip him to shreds— doubly so that Manfred hasn't done so in your stead."
The dragonbat shrugged. "It is a job I do well."
"So the Dark Lord found out," Julius mused.
"Fortunately, the Headmaster is not aware of our true nature," Manfred said. "While he knows that an inhuman team has been dispatched to check on you, your aunt and uncle are keeping him from tromping down here and possibly get infected with lycanthropy himself."
Moony harrumphed, setting his head down on Snape's knee.
"We will let our Lady of the Stern Countenance and Head Boss of Us and good old Alastor set things right for now. The rest will wait until morning. For now, rest, and let the bond between you settle and Julius and I shall ensure your safety."
Hermione and Severus snuggled under Manfred's wings as Julius perched in the nearby tree, keeping watch. Moony whinged that he wasn't as close as he wanted to be and buried himself under the wing too so only his tail was sticking out. The young bats used Moony as a furry pillow, falling into a comfortable sleep under the familiar embrace of Manfred's wings.
Remus woke to a stick in his mouth, drool all over himself, lying quite naked out on the green.
"Do cover yourself up, Lupin," Severus said, his mouth curled into a sneer. "No one wants to see your naked hide."
Remus quickly did so, thankful for the pile of clothes nearby, even as his eyes darted to see a bushy-haired witch curled up next to the reclining Severus Snape. Snape eyed Remus with the same unveiled disgust he normally wore for him ever since he had thrown himself in with James, Peter, and Sirius.
Granger, he recalled.
Lily talked about them often, seldom well, due to their rivalry in class for points and achievements.
Of course, Prongs, Padfoot, and Wormtail hated them both, blaming them for setting the school against their pranks.
Remus had tried to tell them that their insistence on pranking was what set the school against them, but they hadn't really believed it.
"I, uh—" Remus started to say. "Ermnm."
"Eloquent," Snape said.
Granger hummed, wrapping her arms around Snape. She mumbled, her stomach growling.
Snape was not, Lupin noted, an attractive sort. He was a gangly wizard who seemed all leg, and his hair hung around his face like protective curtains. His nose was prominent on his face, and his pale skin made him look like a vampire.
Snape pulled a mango from his robes, and he skinned it with his teeth, pulling back the leathery skin carefully to expose the ripe fruit within. He nuzzled Hermione's temple, bringing the fruit to her mouth.
Hermione let out a grateful squeak as she tore into it hungrily. Her eyes went wide after a few hungry bites, and she shared it with him.
Snape chuckled, a rumble of amusement that seemed like a purr. He shared the mango with her—
And Remus had never seen something so intimate in his life—
It felt like he was watching something private— more private than catching Sirius with one of his witches.
And the look Snape gave her was so intense and powerful that it sent shivers down Remus' spine.
To see that sort of look on someone you cared about? People would kill for less.
Hermione snuggled into Snape with drowsy contentment, far more focused on Snape than giving Remus more than a fleeting glance.
Remus thought that if Lily gave James even a fraction of that kind of trust and focus, the wizard might spontaneously combust in rapture, and it wasn't as if the pair wasn't getting on well.
Suddenly, a man dropped seemingly out of the sky and stood nearby. Remus startled, having never been taken so completely off guard. He was used to hearing things approach or, after the change, smelling things others didn't.
The man was tall with a mane of wild almost unkempt black hair, alabaster skin, and a demeanor that brokered absolutely no nonsense.
"Come, the meeting with the Headmaster awaits."
It was then and only then Remus recognised the emblem on the man's cloak: the Department of Mysteries.
The man extended a hand to help Severus up, and then Severus helped Hermione up. They took off up the path to Hogwarts.
"You too, Mr Lupin," the man said, gesturing toward Hogwarts. "You've had a very. Busy. Night."
Remus paled as he realised Snape and Granger had been there in the morning after his change. His mind raced. They had been so calm. If they knew, how could they possibly be so calm? Why hadn't Madam Pomfrey come to get him? Why had he been out on the green? What happened to the sh—
Remus yelped as the tall man pointed to Hogwarts, an eyebrow raising on one side in silent inquiry.
He hurried up the path as if the hounds of hell were after him.
Sirius Black Sentenced to Detention Centre for Juvenile Delinquents After Attacking Fellow Student With Forbidden Magic!
A dangerous but currently undetailed incident at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has seen Sirius Black expelled for a Ministry regulated program until he is of age. While the details of the incident have been closed, it is believed that he engaged in some sort of forbidden magic that led to the endangerment of a number of fellow students.
The incident, which also led to the discovery of a supposed sixteen year old classmate being severely injured, uncovered remnants of magic tied to one Tom Marvolo Riddle— a branded tattoo called the Dark Mark that marks the faithful of the Dark Lord Voldemort. Time magic was found encrusted within his very bones, and healers have guessed his actual age to be decades older than he appeared. This student, known only as Peter Pettigrew, managed to not only deceive the school's magical record of properly aged children, but every teacher and student of the school into thinking he was just another magical child.
Pettigrew will be sentenced by the Wizengamot, but his case is still being heard. Many believe his next destination will be interrogation by Unspeakables followed by Azkaban.
The only information this reporter has been able to glean is that Mr Pettigrew had likely encouraged and instigated a number of offences at Hogwarts including illegal, unregistered Animagery and increasingly deadly pranks amongst his gang of mates.
As for the other students that may have been affected or involved in this shocking series of events, their records have been sealed to protect them as intervention, help, or punishment is determined by the school.
Rumours are swirling that Headmaster Albus Dumbledore is being asked to step down in light of these unfortunate events or be demoted to his previous position, professor of transfiguration, as Deputy Headmistress McGonagall takes up interim duties of Headship until the investigation has been concluded.
James Potter found himself minus his three best mates in the aftermath of the one evening he'd chosen to spend alone with Lily instead of watching over his werewolf friend, Remus, as Prongs.
He couldn't quite decide if he felt lucky or cursed.
His parents were making him feel like he was going to be grounded until he was as old as Dumbledore for dishonouring the family with his illegal Animagus status— something they could have easily supported and paid for had he not been so determinedly clandestine about it.
He found out Peter was some creepy old bloke pretending to be a student— and he was also a Death Eater, one of the Dark Lord's minions.
He found out Sirius had gone round the twist and tried to use Remus as his instrument of revenge against Hermione Granger just for "being a right pain in his arse for six bloody years."
It would be a miracle if Sirius could ever walk again after he'd apparently been savaged by some wild animal and then beaten nearly to death by a brassed-off willow.
Oh, and Peter's attempt to help Sirius back to the school had led to him being savaged by Moony…
He wasn't even sure if Peter was actually his friend so he could quite decide if he should care about that particular fate—
Remus was refusing to talk to him anymore, having decided that if Sirius thought it was perfectly okay to use him to try and murder someone, that his taste in friends had obviously been severely lacking from the very start.
The only one he had left on his side now was Lily, and even she was wondering what else he might be keeping from her after she found out he was an unregistered Animagus.
At least the other stuff had remained under wraps for now— by some sodding miracle.
He didn't want to lose her too.
Seventh Year brought on the N.E.W.T.s, and after what the sixth year had brought them, Severus and Hermione settled on thinking studying like maniacs for tests seemed perfectly tame and acceptable.
Of course, no one believed either of them needed to study, but neither Severus or Hermione were going to slack on something as important as their N.E.W.T.s.
Three nights a month, they now had to babysit a werewolf, much to Remus' mortification that he was familiar-bound to two people he'd actively attempted to avoid for the past six years.
He had to be sworn into the DoM, oath bound, magic-bound, and Unbreakable Oathed to keep its secrets before he could even step in past the main doors, and then he had come to terms with why his wolf had not attacked Snape and Granger on his moon-nights.
And their parents…
He'd practically piddled himself upon meeting Julius, and he had piddled himself upon meeting Manfred.
Manfred, of course, just smiled. All fang.
Remus had promptly passed out, much as expected.
But—
Being surrounded by so many fellow non-humans had given him a strange sort of freedom that he had never experienced before. He could now turn and not fear hurting anyone!
He'd never realised how wonderfully comforting that could be, and he now felt as if he'd been missing out on something very special when his father had preferred to make him "go away" rather than face up to his condition.
So, as their final and seventh year at Hogwarts ticked away, Remus found himself becoming friends with the two Slytherins— something he'd always thought impossible.
Hermione and Severus found themselves actually liking the reformed Remus— something they hadn't thought possible, either.
Remus just had to be very clear on boundaries with Hermione because Severus was always watching, and he'd seen for himself what Severus had done to Sirius in a single bout of protective rage.
No one else might know the truth, but Remus wasn't about to become another casualty of rampaging stupidity.
No thank you.
Nope.
Just… no.
When the results of the N.E.W.T.s came in, no one even bothered to ask Hermione or Severus how they had done. They just assumed (rightly) that they had obliterated them. Still, Hermione seemed rather put out that no one congratulated her outside of Severus and Remus, but Severus just grunted that he was glad he was done jumping through flaming hoops.
As Remus held his results in his trembling hands, he had to take a calming potion just to open it.
After all he'd been through— graduation had seemed but a distant dream.
Sixth year had tried to take it all away, but for some twist in fate that had bound his sanity and life to two of the most human non-humans he knew.
With still-trembling hands, he opened the scroll.
And promptly passed out.
Severus smacked his lips and shook his head as he looked over the scroll. "Oh good, he passed after all."
"Severus!" Hermione chided. "He worked very hard for that!"
"Hn," Severus muttered. He then turned to Hermione with a heated look, his tongue flicking across his teeth. "I believe I have the perfect way to celebrate our upcoming graduation."
Hermione's eyes widened, her pulse racing as Severus' mouth covered hers in their first, so-often-interrupted, finally-for-the-love-of-the-gods kiss since he had rescued her that night.
"Marry me," he growled against her ear, his mouth trailing across her cheek to latch onto her neck.
Hermione froze in place, her entire body still.
"Hermione?" Severus asked, concerned.
Hermione pounced him with a loud squeak of "YES!" as she instigated the mother of all snogs that made Severus' brain shut down in favour of sweet bliss.
Remus, meanwhile, remained blissfully passed out cold on the ground.
End of Chapter One
A/N: Back to work tomorrow *sob*, thank Dragon and the Rose for staying up past the pumpkin hour to beta this chapter.