Taming the Beast
Chapter 6
Signs
Hermione threw herself on the bed in shock. So it wasn't just one night a month? It wasn't only three nights a month. That bite would change her and show its effects every day as long as she lived. She stripped off her clothes and checked herself for any evidence of the change. "I'm beautiful, aren't I", she asked herself. The years had been kind to Hermione Granger, she had evolved into a quite shapely almost-seventeen-year-old, with the slightest hints of remaining baby fat. Putting on her nightgown, she decided it was time to take Dumbledore's advice and let Harry and Ron know. Well, she mused, maybe not tell them the whole story, just that you'd been in an accident, and we need to get together and talk things over. Two short notes, sent with lot's o' love courtesy of Hermione Granger.
She sighed with depression minutes later. Nighteyes was quite evidently uncomfortable around her.
Hermione usually started the day early just as the sun was rising in the summer morning. Typical of English summers, an early blanket of clouds darkened the sky. She enjoyed a brisk walk to get her blood flowing, and the fact that she now had Harry and Ron with her made it all the better. Harry was keeping pace, but Ron evidently hadn't been staying in shape, a shame if he lost his place on the Quidditch team if he couldn't move fast enough. Hermione quickened her walk to a jog, then to a run as Harry and Ron exchanged confused glances. She sprinted faster, wanting to leap over the 4 foot high stone fence a hundred metres distant. She leaped, sailing over the fence and 3 metres beyond. Harry and Ron watched amazed. Ron rushed over wondering what he had just seen. Hermione giggled as Ron approached the stone fence..then grabbed his throat with her fangs and tore it open.
Hermione awoke with a startled scream. It was 3.22 am. "Oh, PLEASE don't tell me I'm going to have dreams like that from now on", she said with exasperation. Relieved that she hadn't woken her parents or Remus, she went to the bathroom. She groaned when she saw that some changes had already set in. She usually kept her legs neatly shaven, but skipped a couple of days with all the confusion. The stubbly hairs she expected were there, along with newer, softer ones just peeping out, making three hairs per follicle instead of the usual one. Sighing shakily, Hermione examined her teeth. It was hard to tell, but maybe her teeth were a bit bigger. Certainly nothing like what they were before she had them reduced with a remedy for the Densuageo spell laid on her by one Draco Malfoy. She ran her hands through the unruly mop on her head. "Beautiful, bushy brown hair, eh Lupe?" Great alliteration if nothing else. Only magic could tame it before and she hadn't really enjoyed using it then. She was satisfied that enough people liked it as it was to not bother with it except for the occasional cut and usual brushing. Still, it worried her how she was going to deal with if or when it got thicker. She gave her teeth a quick brushing and went back to bed.
Crookshanks hid his stocky little body behind the phone stand at the far end of the hallway. Why in the world did his human have to start smelling like a dog all of a sudden and then have the audacity to bring a second dog-human in the house? He'd just keep clear as long as possible.
"Hermie, since you'll be changing at Hogwarts, I sent an owl to Dumbledore. We don't want to raise any more questions than we absolutely have to, so if it meets your satisfaction, they will arrange a special cell in the old dungeons. How are you feeling?"
"Mr. Lupin, I've already noticed some changes, and I had a nightmare that I killed my friend."
"Unfortunately normal, I'm afraid. Have you gotten in touch with Harry and Ron?
"Probably. I'm still waiting on their owls."
As it turned out, Hermione received three owls that afternoon. Harry and Ron had obviously contacted each other. It was up to her of course, but they thought it would be brill if they could get together in Muggle London for a week on the town, just before heading to Hogwarts. The third owl was the owl with the owl about OWLS. The owl had an owl telling her that she could pretty well count on a prestigious employment offer upon graduation, assuming that she continued to work at her ususal standards and didn't do anything ridiculous like getting killed by Voldemort or bitten by a werewolf.
Maybe she could get accepted to Cambridge?
She had looked at the calender again. It was August 8th. The next full moon would be Friday, September 6th. Figures as much, so much for that first weekend. Well, she had a whole two weeks to figure out how to tell her best friends what their little brainiac had managed to do over the summer.
Till then, she had a lot to learn. She learned that her lifespan would probably be shortened, but at 16, it really didn't register that he had about 33 years left to live. While she could be killed with a silver bullet, a regular one would work just as well. She saw how Lupin kept his index finger curled just enough that it wasn't obvious that it was unnaturally long. She looked at her own hands. No sign of any digits lengthening, but the nails had darkened. Remus suggested that she use nail polish to conceal it. "Hermione, forget it. Nobody will believe that you went Goth over the summer." She now had the beginings of hair growth on her hands and arms, something that could be explained as a sudden growth spurt, but the thick stubble she needed to shave off her legs at least once a day was depressing to say the least. A few tight curls were becoming evident around her belly button as well. Even more unnerving was the fact that she was getting more and more hungry for meat. "As rare as possible Mum."
Chapter 6
Signs
Hermione threw herself on the bed in shock. So it wasn't just one night a month? It wasn't only three nights a month. That bite would change her and show its effects every day as long as she lived. She stripped off her clothes and checked herself for any evidence of the change. "I'm beautiful, aren't I", she asked herself. The years had been kind to Hermione Granger, she had evolved into a quite shapely almost-seventeen-year-old, with the slightest hints of remaining baby fat. Putting on her nightgown, she decided it was time to take Dumbledore's advice and let Harry and Ron know. Well, she mused, maybe not tell them the whole story, just that you'd been in an accident, and we need to get together and talk things over. Two short notes, sent with lot's o' love courtesy of Hermione Granger.
She sighed with depression minutes later. Nighteyes was quite evidently uncomfortable around her.
Hermione usually started the day early just as the sun was rising in the summer morning. Typical of English summers, an early blanket of clouds darkened the sky. She enjoyed a brisk walk to get her blood flowing, and the fact that she now had Harry and Ron with her made it all the better. Harry was keeping pace, but Ron evidently hadn't been staying in shape, a shame if he lost his place on the Quidditch team if he couldn't move fast enough. Hermione quickened her walk to a jog, then to a run as Harry and Ron exchanged confused glances. She sprinted faster, wanting to leap over the 4 foot high stone fence a hundred metres distant. She leaped, sailing over the fence and 3 metres beyond. Harry and Ron watched amazed. Ron rushed over wondering what he had just seen. Hermione giggled as Ron approached the stone fence..then grabbed his throat with her fangs and tore it open.
Hermione awoke with a startled scream. It was 3.22 am. "Oh, PLEASE don't tell me I'm going to have dreams like that from now on", she said with exasperation. Relieved that she hadn't woken her parents or Remus, she went to the bathroom. She groaned when she saw that some changes had already set in. She usually kept her legs neatly shaven, but skipped a couple of days with all the confusion. The stubbly hairs she expected were there, along with newer, softer ones just peeping out, making three hairs per follicle instead of the usual one. Sighing shakily, Hermione examined her teeth. It was hard to tell, but maybe her teeth were a bit bigger. Certainly nothing like what they were before she had them reduced with a remedy for the Densuageo spell laid on her by one Draco Malfoy. She ran her hands through the unruly mop on her head. "Beautiful, bushy brown hair, eh Lupe?" Great alliteration if nothing else. Only magic could tame it before and she hadn't really enjoyed using it then. She was satisfied that enough people liked it as it was to not bother with it except for the occasional cut and usual brushing. Still, it worried her how she was going to deal with if or when it got thicker. She gave her teeth a quick brushing and went back to bed.
Crookshanks hid his stocky little body behind the phone stand at the far end of the hallway. Why in the world did his human have to start smelling like a dog all of a sudden and then have the audacity to bring a second dog-human in the house? He'd just keep clear as long as possible.
"Hermie, since you'll be changing at Hogwarts, I sent an owl to Dumbledore. We don't want to raise any more questions than we absolutely have to, so if it meets your satisfaction, they will arrange a special cell in the old dungeons. How are you feeling?"
"Mr. Lupin, I've already noticed some changes, and I had a nightmare that I killed my friend."
"Unfortunately normal, I'm afraid. Have you gotten in touch with Harry and Ron?
"Probably. I'm still waiting on their owls."
As it turned out, Hermione received three owls that afternoon. Harry and Ron had obviously contacted each other. It was up to her of course, but they thought it would be brill if they could get together in Muggle London for a week on the town, just before heading to Hogwarts. The third owl was the owl with the owl about OWLS. The owl had an owl telling her that she could pretty well count on a prestigious employment offer upon graduation, assuming that she continued to work at her ususal standards and didn't do anything ridiculous like getting killed by Voldemort or bitten by a werewolf.
Maybe she could get accepted to Cambridge?
She had looked at the calender again. It was August 8th. The next full moon would be Friday, September 6th. Figures as much, so much for that first weekend. Well, she had a whole two weeks to figure out how to tell her best friends what their little brainiac had managed to do over the summer.
Till then, she had a lot to learn. She learned that her lifespan would probably be shortened, but at 16, it really didn't register that he had about 33 years left to live. While she could be killed with a silver bullet, a regular one would work just as well. She saw how Lupin kept his index finger curled just enough that it wasn't obvious that it was unnaturally long. She looked at her own hands. No sign of any digits lengthening, but the nails had darkened. Remus suggested that she use nail polish to conceal it. "Hermione, forget it. Nobody will believe that you went Goth over the summer." She now had the beginings of hair growth on her hands and arms, something that could be explained as a sudden growth spurt, but the thick stubble she needed to shave off her legs at least once a day was depressing to say the least. A few tight curls were becoming evident around her belly button as well. Even more unnerving was the fact that she was getting more and more hungry for meat. "As rare as possible Mum."