Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything.

Author's Note: Okay, any mistakes you think you might see are because I'm an American and because I'm getting all my research information from which doesn't have every little detail though they do have daily Harry Potter news and plenty of information. No, I'm not doing advertising for them, I just really like their website, I visit it everyday I can. I need a hobby. Seriously. I love Sirius.

Chapter Eight

The full moon was Wednesday, December twentieth, and it was the day of departure for Hogwarts students. Hermione sat in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, waiting for Remus to return with their Wolfsbane potions. Harry, Ron, Ginny, and George had all left for the Burrow this morning, leaving Hermione to face the transformation with only Remus.

Hermione rubbed her shoulder, it was still a bit sore from a couple days ago; she just hoped that Remus wouldn't ever see the marks. Who knew what the protective werewolf would do if he did? The brunette was just about to start walking about to stretch out her legs when Remus walked in, carrying two containers of what looked to be disgusting black tar. She made a face and Remus laughed, "You weren't expecting white chocolate and champagne, were you?"

Hermione smiled in spite of herself, she knew both of them were pale, tired, and sore, her especially, yet Remus was still trying to make her feel better. "I was just expecting something a little less—nauseating."

Remus shuddered and passed her avail, saying, "And the looks are just half of its charm, wait until you taste it."

Hermione frowned and sighed, "Well, let's get this over with. Cheers." They clinked glasses and downed their potions. Hermione's hand instantly flew to her mouth. She groaned, "I feel sick."

The potion only made Remus grimace, and he rubbed her hand down the young girl's back, trying to soothe her, although he failed to notice her wince every time he passed the middle of her back. "You'll get used to it after a few times, just be thankful for that potion, it will save you from a lot of pain later."

"So the worst is yet to come? Thank you, Moony," Hermione replied, the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Remus dropped a light kiss on her temple. "Everything is going to be fine, Hermione Jane."

"Why do you call me that? I just noticed but you've been doing that for the last few days."

"What have I been doing for the last few days?"

"You've been calling me Hermione Jane, no one does that, usually it's just Mione or Herms," she answered, a sweet smile settling on her face.

"I happen to know you don't like Herms and aren't too fond of Mione, so I had to come up with something to call you, everyone else calls you Hermione. Besides, I happen to like the name Hermione Jane, reminds me of that old Muggle song. Yes, I do actually know something about Muggles, being a half-blood. My dad was always interested in learning about other countries; you would've loved my home, full of different things from all over the place."

"That must be where you got your love of learning from."

"Yes, Dad was always trying to ram things into my head, whenever I started to miss him, I would pick up the nearest book or whatever and start to read it. I once spent a good twenty minutes reading once of Sirius's magazines without realizing it. I immediately put it back and went to the library to get an actual book; I was embarrassing having to explain myself to Sirius when he asked about its movement."

"Why would lit be embarrassing? Sirius was your best friend, surely he would have understood."

Remus flushed a deep red. "Hermione Jane, this is Sirius Orion Black we are talking about, what type of magazine do you think he owned?" he questioned.

Hermione thought about it for a moment and when realization hit, she too flushed. Sirius was intelligent, and known for being a clever prankster, but he was more famous for being the Gryffindor man-whore.

Remus laughed, "Yes, and it was only ten times worse with James there, never did let me forget that."

"Just like Ron, I mean, I love him like a brother, but he will not le something go," she supplied.

"That's the point of older brother. They mock you, nag you, teach you, and protect you. I happen to like Ron quite a bit since I know he's keeping you safe."

Hermione shook her head. "Of course you like it; you're not the one dealing with his 'If Anyone Ever Touches You' speeches.

"No, I just try not to squirm while he gives his 'You Ever Hurt Her, I'll Castrate You with a Butter knife' speech."

"He didn't," Hermione groaned.

Remus shook his head. "Not yet. I'm sure he'd got one similar to it though, just like Harry and George probably do."

"Do me a favor, Remus, tell me when they give you their speeches, so I can give them one of my 'Mind Your Own Business, or be Prepared to Die' speeches."

Remus chuckled, and checked the sky out the window; it was almost time for the moon to rise. "You might want to take off those clothes, Hermione Jane, or else they're going to be destroyed." Then seeing Hermione's face, he added, "Don't worry, I've got a blanket here to cover yourself with, and I won't look. Promise."

Hermione got up form her seat and picked up the think blanket. I'm not worried about what you might see if the blanket is off, I'm worried about what you will see when the blanket is on, Hermione thought. She asked, "Will you be changing too?"

"Yes, I don't have many cloths and I want to keep all that I have. I understand if this makes you uncomfortable, you can go in my office and change if—"

Hermione cut him off, "No, it's fine. We'll just turn around and change then tell the other when we're finished so we know it's safe to turn around. Sound okay?"

Remus nodded and turned around, removing his clothes as Hermione did. He had just taken his shirt and jumper off when a question popped into his head. "Hermione Jane, how did your parents take the news?"

Hermione froze and though hard before replying, "They said they understood why I wouldn't be coming home for the holidays this year. Just told me to be safe and have fun."

Remus was shocked. "They didn't say anything else? Did you tell them everything?"

"I told them the basics, didn't go too much into detail though, I didn't want to overload them with too much information at once. They are Muggles after all," Hermione replied, folding her clothes neatly, then noticing her arm and stomach, cursed herself for once again forgetting her wand in her dormitories."

"I suppose that make sense then, they don't understand the full consequences of it all. It's good that they understand the basic concept though," Remus replied, wrapping a blanket much like Hermione's around his waist. "I'm decent," he concluded.

Wrapping the blanket around her shoulders and the rest of her body, Hermione turned around, saying, "Me too. Moony, you don't happen to have your wand, do you?"

Turning around, Remus suppressed a chuckle. "Hermione Jane, I'm not going to ravish you, don't be so worried. And yes, I do have my wand, it's what I used for the silencing and locking spells, can't have some little first year running in here wondering who was screaming."

"Good, could I see it?"

"Course, why do you need it?"

"Remus Lupin, can I just see the bloody wand?" Hermione snapped.

Remus stopped mid-reach for his wand; any chances of getting the wand flew out the window with that. "No, not until you tell me why. There shouldn't be any reason for you to need a wand, not unless you're trying to hide something from me, Hermione Jane."

"I'm not hiding anything from you, Remus."

Remus turned around again, now facing the wall. "Hermione Jane, move your blanket so that it's wrapped around your chest the way mine is around my waist. I want to see why you're so worried about keeping your arms and shoulders covered," he ordered.

Hermione did as she was told, there was no point in arguing with the older man, he was stronger, more experienced, and if forced to, could use wandless magic. She repositioned the blanket so that the bruises were evident, and then said, "All right, I'm decent."

Remus half expected to find Hermione as he left her, everyone knew how stubborn she could be, but his jaw nearly dropped at seeing his Hermione Jane covered in dark splotches, many of them looking like handprints.

"I only covered the ones on my face and legs, they take longer to heal when they're concealed," Hermione said, as if that explained everything.

"Who did this to you?" Remus asked when he finally seemed to regain his senses.

"Who do you think? Those Slytherin members of the pure-blood supremacy."

"Have you told anyone? Or did you just let them get away with this?" Remus growled.

Hermione shook her head. "No, that would raise too many questioned. I did take away four hundred points though and give them all detentions every night for two months."

"You know Severus is going to let them all off the hook for it if you don't explain yourself. When did this happen?"

"Monday."

Remus sighed and shook his head. "You should have told me, Hermione Jane. What's the point of going through all the hell of dating a professor if you can't take it out on the other students? You're just lucky that I'm used to healing people like Sirius and James so they didn't have to go to Poppy and get in trouble for fighting. But tomorrow, before we set out for the Burrow, we're going to have a nice little chat with Albus about those students."

"I can take care of myself, Moony. I'm a big girl."

"Well, come here then, Miss Big Thing. I'm supposing these things are all over your body?" When Hermione nodded he continued, "I'll heal the ones I can see, but then we'll keep some for proof. Poppy can heal them after that."

"Thank you, Moony," Hermione said. "I thought you were going to be angry, but you're actually taking this rather well."

"Glad you think so, because you're spending the next two weeks with me in detention. I'm also giving George, Harry, Ron, and Ginny permission to defend you in case anyone tries to attack you again."

"W-What?" Hermione stuttered. "You can't do that!"

"Actually, yes, I can. Failing to report a fight to a professor give you detention, and I feel that this might happen again, so I am assigning you a protection unit. I still am an authority figure in Hogwarts, Hermione Jane."

"But then Harry will just look for a fight with them, I mean, one bad look and they'll get hexed into next week. And what do you think the others are going to do? Harry's usually the peaceful one of the group."

"Next week?" Remus seemed to ponder that for a moment, as he tapped one of Hermione's bruises, making it disappear. "I knew there was a reason I loved that kid."

"Moooonnnnnyyyyyy!" Hermione howled, bending over in pain.

Remus's sight ran to the window, and he caught sight of the moon. He dropped his wand in pain, trying not to cry out as the pain engulfed him. His muscles were changing, bones popping and rearranging, his skin was growing fur. It was nearly unbearable and made you almost welcome death.

Finally, it subsided and Remus rested on the ground, trying to catch his breath. Everything had changed, his senses had improved even more than usual, and he was able to tell every little thing. He spun around to see another werewolf lying on the ground, whimpering softly. Remus made his way over to the other creature and licked its snout. The eyes opened to reveal a soft brown, and Remus sat next to the body, patiently waiting for her to gather enough strength to stand. Once Hermione was upright, Remus backed away and began walking about the room, showing the girl how to move in her new form. Hermione was finally able to join Remus at his side after falling several times; forgetting that she now had four legs to synchronize into a pattern.

Remus gave a wolfish grin and nodded. He was too busy showing Hermione how to do various tricks, like sitting, jumping, and crouching, that he didn't even notice when a group of people snuck into his classroom.

Hermione had just discovered her tail when she caught sight of the three boys and girl. She wagged her tail and started toward her friends, only to be cut short my Remus's barks. Hermione moved to join him by his side, albeit reluctantly.

"Come on, Moony. Hermione is not going to hurt us. You've both taken your Wolfsbane, at least I assume that's what that potion was that you were carrying," Harry stated.

Remus growled and stood a step forward, bearing his teeth. Harry shook his head and stuck out his arm. "Moony, you can't scare me off, I know you're harmless. But if you want to bite me, go ahead, you have my permission."

Hermione barked and Remus stood his ground. He opened his mouth and moved forward, as if to really bite his nephew, but couldn't do it when he saw that Harry didn't so much as flinch. The boy trusted him completely, and that fact both made is heart swell with pride and tear at him.

"See?" Harry commented, covering his arm once again. "You can't do it. I know the only time you're really dangerous is during your actual transformations, Moony, and I'll make sure we're long gone before then. You aren't going to hurt us. Now, can we stay?"

Remus stared at the young boy in front of him; finally, he gave up, did a little shrug of the shoulders and lay down. Hermione stood and licked his snout, trying to get him to lighten up, he didn't budge though, and Hermione made her way to the small crowd.

"Hey, Hermione, Moony's going to stubborn then?" Harry asked.

Hermione just nodded her response.

"Wicked," Ron commented. "Hey, Harry, how do you know which one is which?"

"Easy, I know how to tell the difference between a girl dog and a boy dog."

Hermione stared at her friend, causing George to laugh, "Well, I would stop doing that if I were you. Do it again and Hermione might castrate you, or worse, make you marry her."

Hermione snapped at George, only causing the boy to laugh harder.

"Well, what do you expect us to do, Mione? If you or Remus decides to move, we're not going to be able to tell who is who," Ginny stated.

Harry thought about it for a minute, before thinking of something. Quickly, he took off his belt he was wearing with his normal jeans and shirt, causing those around him to look at him strangely. "What? We'll transfigure it into a ribbon and then tie it around Hermione's tail, that way, even if Remus decides to join us, we'll know who we're talking to."

Hermione grinned and nodded, happy with the idea.

Harry quickly cast a spell transform his old belt into a pink silk ribbon before tying it around Hermione's tail with his wand. He was afraid to touch his friend at this point because of the predatory looks his uncle was giving him that no one else seemed to notice. It was strange how they could be so blind about some things.

Finally, Harry commented, "You know, Moony, I love Hermione, but like a sister. You're the only one she's fancies."

At that, the werewolf got up to join Hermione with the group.

George grinned, "That's the spirit, Moony."

Remus smiled as well and nodded toward Hermione's tail.

Hermione saw this and glared at the other creature. When he simply stared back at her, she bent down and bit his tail. That created a game of Spin between the pair, each holding on the other's tail and running around and around in a circle while their friends laughed. It was Hermione lost, letting go of Remus's tail first, too dizzy to see straight.

Ron then had the idea of playing fetch and transformed a book into a ball before throwing it across the room. Neither Hermione nor Remus moved. Ron went to go fetch the ball himself, mumbling, "Stupid dogs, haven't got the sense of a rock." This just earned him a bark from Hermione and more laughter from the others.

The six continued to fool around, though Hermione and Remus refused to do anything too dog-like, which included fetch, roll over, and beg. True to his promise, Harry and his friends left before it go too late and long before their transformations. The rest of the werewolves' time was just spent sleeping, resting and relaxing while trying not to think of the upcoming pain.