Chapter 6: A Woman Can Love a Wolf
"I love you."
It had begun to rain again, but Hermione could not feel it, as she refused to move from Remus's side. Draped prone over his body in its werewolf form, she continued to weep, distraught that she would never again see his warm eyes open or see his cocky smile. Harry would be heartbroken, when he heard….
In the heavens, the clouds shifted away, revealing a full and glorious moon whose beams filtered in through the windowpanes of the Shack. The rain continued to patter down….
Then, the rain and air began to shimmer with magic. Little comets or falling stars, covered in dust began to cast down over the gorgeous witch and her werewolf. It took Hermione a bit to notice the light, coming in bright flashes. She didn't particularly care what caused it, at least until she felt Remus move beneath her. Lifting her head, her big, brown eyes widened in disbelief, her head scanning all around at the pebbles of light gathering on the floorboards around them. The shimmering rain was coming down in a torrent now, resembling a meteor shower. Hermione felt Remus shift under her again, an insistent updraft lifting him so that he sprang into the air. Lifted like a flower petal into the wind.
As Remus rose into the air, Hermione shrank back in fear and amazement, watching intently, gathering her cloak around herself. Shock prevented her from forming her confusion into intelligible, rational thoughts that normally served her so well. Her head was spinning. What is happening to him?, she wondered dazedly.
She watched as Remus's body was cocooned in his cloak, which had carried him into the air and flapped behind him like a banner. Twisting against the confines of the cloak, a gigantic paw broke free and reached for the heavens, bathed in the moonlight. Thunderstruck, Hermione observed as the fur and claws began to melt away, revealing Remus's calloused and firm, very human hands. A flash of light beamed from each of his outstretched fingertips.
The attractive witch staggered back a step, brushing her long chestnut tresses – now billowing behind her as the currents picked up – out of her face. What was happening? Hermione had seen Remus transform back into a man before, but never like this. Flashes of light had never been involved. There was nothing grotesque about the metamorphosis, and a strange…. permanence seemed to hang over this particular change.
Still levitating several feet off the ground, Remus's large forepaws extended into the beams of moonlight. Here too, the fur melted away, the claws retracting back, revealing bare skin and pointed toes.
The werewolf's body began to spin faster, the cloak still cushioning him. A gust of wind tickled the fur on Teddy's wolfish face before it melted away, the horns and fangs shrinking and disappearing until, with a final flash of golden light, the handsome and smooth, human face of her best friend's godson was revealed.
Hermione watched in awe as the cloak which encased Remus now acted as a parachute, gliding him slowly back to the cobblestones, cushioning his fall. The shimmering meteor shower of rain was coming down in a deluge now, the pebbles of dust causing steam to rise up from the stone of the balcony.
Cautiously, Hermione approached the sprawled body of this man whom she cared deeply for, hardly able to breathe or dare to hope. Remus's chest rose and fell suddenly, just then, causing Hermione to spring back in fear against the balcony railing, as this man in place of her werewolf took his first breath of new life.
Remus shakily stood on toned but ungainly legs. His back to her, he took in the smooth flesh of his hands in wonder before turning to face Hermione.
Hermione had a shaking hand to her mouth in bewilderment to stifle the gasp, her eyebrows knitted together in astonishment. Remus's hair was its luscious brown with the flecks of gray and tumbled down past his shoulders. He wore the same tunic, the same trousers, though these clothes were now hopelessly torn and shredded.
"Hermione…. It's me." He stepped forward and took her hand with an easy smile. Though she shrank back a bit, Hermione didn't let go of his hand.
Hermione looked at him. Really looked at him, tilting her head with a bemused smile. Skeptically, she slowly lifted a hand, hesitated, and ran her fingers through the locks of his hair. Shifting her head, she peered closely to gaze into his eyes…. They were a brilliant blue, like she knew them to be when he was well.
A beaming and radiant smile broke across Hermione's face as recognition dawned. "It is you!" she cried, reaching out a hand to cup his jawline. Smiling lovingly at her, Hermione trembled as she felt Remus's large hand brush her hair out of her face, nearly swallowing up her cheek. Heart pounding strangely, uncertain, she nevertheless felt herself lean into the touch of her own accord. Grinning into each other's eyes, Remus cupped Hermione's face in his hands, tilting it back. Hermione felt her heart beating wildly in a way it had with only one other person, and the blood thundered in her ears. Carefully, Remus lowered his face down to hers until they were only a hair's-breadth apart. Had she been thinking rationally, Hermione would have been terrified at the strange…. intimacy she now found herself in with this man nineteen years her senior. But her brilliant mind was so cloudy and dizzy, and with how overjoyed she was that he was alive, Hermione found herself tilting her face up to his, almost in a challenge, as she closed her eyes, her lashes fluttering as her eyelids sank shut.
Her hands found purchase on his broad chest, one of them curling and fisting the white fabric of his tunic. When Remus's lips finally met hers in a gentle kiss, Hermione gasped.
Lightning was sent coursing through her body. A sudden wind swirled around the couple, dotted with blue lights and Hermione felt Remus pull her closer. Flinging her arms about his massive shoulders, looping them about his neck, her fingers sank into his chestnut locks as she shocked herself by deepening the kiss, prolonging it. She felt Remus's strong arms encircle her slim waist, splay up along her back, tugging her flush against him. The blue inferno of light caused Hermione's chestnut curls to stand straight on end, the same gust sticking Remus's brown hair straight up.
As Remus Lupin and Hermione Granger embraced and kissed, a piercing shriek split the air as blue fireworks whizzed and exploded into the nighttime sky above the Whomping Willow.
Two years later, Hermione was in a white dress and beaming shyly as Remus lifted her veil upon Kingsley Shacklebolt declaring them man and wife. It had been a whirlwind romance, especially when Hermione and Remus took their case to the Wizgamot and succeeded in repealing the Wolfsbane Brewing Act. Much of the family, particularly Hermione's former in-laws, was shocked at her allowing Remus to court her. After a long talk with his father's old friend, a reluctant Harry gave him and his best friend his blessing.
Smiling happily into each other's eyes, Hermione leaned and kissed her new husband. The kiss quickly deepened, prompting cheers and wolf-whistles, as Remus attacked her mouth, holding his bride close, and Hermione could only grin against his insistent lips. Eyes fluttering shut, she cast her wedding bouquet aside, not caring and not looking to see where it landed. Her daughter, Rose, ended up catching it, sharing a look and awkward giggle with her now-fiancé, Scorpius Malfoy, their cheeks turning pink. Hermione's children had been surprised that their mother had fallen in love again, especially with a man they saw as a sort of uncle. But Remus had impressed both Rose and Hugo by asking for their permission to marry their mother.
Slipping Remus's hand into hers, Hermione dragged him across the lawn of the Burrow and they leapt into the old Ford Anglia, which now took to the air. Hermione grinned as her husband tugged her clear across the seat once he put the car in autopilot, the pair of them laughing and giggling as she swung her legs over to straddle his lap.
"I love you, Hermione."
She beamed. "I love you too…. Remus," and lowered her mouth to his.
And as Remus Lupin and his wife, Hermione Granger Lupin, embraced and kissed, the Ford Anglia disappeared into the cloudless sky…..