Hello my dears!

FTT has officially reached 500 reviews, which is freaking insane?! You lot are the best, seriously you are. Anyways, exams are coming up and drowning me, so if you don't see any updates in the next few weeks that's why.

Thank you all for reading this story, really, it means the world.

Sidenote, I finished IWHGH (It Was Her Ginger Hair), I just thought I'd say that, because that still feels surreal to be honest.

A couple of the songs I listened to whilst writing were X&Y by Coldplay, and Flares by The Script if anyone was curious, I recommend either one whilst you are reading.

Please leave a review and let me know what you think ;)

My tumblr: indiebluecrown. tumblr. com

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, and only the story line and any OC's belong to me.

For Henny, as she is a constant light in my life xxx

On the outside, it looked as if the nothing between the Marauders had changed, as if they were merely joking about with one another. Looks can be highly deceiving after all.

Hermione knew better than to bring up them being animagi and keeping Remus company during Full Moons. It would cause her boyfriend to clamp up tighter than a clam, and then to swiftly exit that area to go off and be by himself.

The boys on the other hand were a completely different story.

They flicked him notes in class with animated drawings of their animals, they started calling each other by the nicknames they had come up with years ago now. They would pester him to and from classes when they were alone.

Remus blatantly ignored them, and only walked faster. His mouth a grim, thin line.

One day however, Professor McGonagall stopped Hermione and Draco after class and requested that she have a quick word.

Hermione knew that McGonagall knew as soon as she looked in the older witch's eyes. Her best guess is because their magical signatures had changed slightly. Especially since they snuck out to the Shrieking Shack at least thrice a week to spend some time in their other forms.

Hermione always had to resist the raw, primal instinct to rip Peter to pieces. It had taken a bit of time for all their other selves to adjust to one another.

James was always a bit of a nervous wreck since Prongs was overtly aware and on alert since he was surrounded by predators.

It was often why Wormtail would scale Prongs's body and nestle himself on Prongs's head, his tail winding itself around the stag's antlers.

Paws and Padfoot sometimes butted heads, growling at each other, which then led to what appeared to be playful tussling and tumbling; there were a few nicks and bruises that they had to rub ointment on, and glamour away, but otherwise all seemed to be good.

Even though Paws was smaller than Padfoot-who was massive-they established some kind of hierarchy at some point which made Paws the Alpha out of the two.

"Hello, Minnie, how may we help you?" Hermione grinned innocently, hugging a couple books to her chest as she approached the woman.

"I hope you lot haven't done what I think you have in order to be with a certain someone during specific time periods," McGonagall said with a wry twist of her lips, raising her eyebrows and slightly narrowing her eyes.

"You really need to be more specific, Minnie. I haven't the foggiest what you mean by that," Hermione said, brow slightly puckered, expression earnest and open.

McGonagall's lips twisted to the side, and she cocked an eyebrow at them. "You know exactly what I am referring to Miss Potter...and I thought I ought to mention that, hypothetically, if you have done it...then I must insist that you exercise due care and caution."

"But Minnie...we're always careful," Hermione grinned crookedly, tucking a shorter curl behind her ear.

Minerva cocked an eyebrow, and walked around her desk to the other side, tapping her wand against her open palm. "I am serious, Miss Potter. Look after them-" McGonagall tilted her head towards Draco, "-you as well Mister Potter."

"Of course, Minnie. We'll always take care of them, as long as we're able," Draco said softly, giving her a cordial nod before grabbing his bag from the top of the table behind him where he had rested it, and heading for the door.

"They're our family, Minnie," Hermione said gravely, her eyes flashing bronze, melting into copper before they returned to their natural warm brown.

Minerva watched as the two Potters left her classroom, Draco's fingers lightly touching the small of Hermione's back as they walked. A big part of her wondering if she was doing the right thing.

Saturday, September 20th, 1975

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Full Moon

"Moony, you're being ridiculous now...you need to get over yourself," Draco groaned as Remus stalked away angrily.

The two males were outside on the Grounds, heading directly for the Forbidden Forest at the rate they were going. The sun was almost finished rising, its rays peeking up and over the trees. A light breeze was blowing about, and tousling through Draco's hair.

Remus shot Draco a dirty glare over his shoulder. Rubbing his hand across his scalp, his hair was a little longer than it had been at the beginning of the school year, but not by much.

Draco rolled his eyes at the colour of Remus's eyes-amber and gold.

"Mate. You're in pain and you're tired...you should have taken the potion I made. You wouldn't be leaping for joy, but you'd at least not feel like you're about to collapse any moment," Draco said with a heavy sigh.

Remus refused to talk about his condition since they had told him they had become animagi. He refused the Wolfsbane Potion that Draco made. Draco was getting tired of all the refusal.

"Fuck off, Draco. I'm not in the mood," Remus whirled around, growling and eyes flashing.

Draco merely raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. "I didn't spend years brewing a potion and trying to get it right, and years learning how to be an animagus for you to be angry with me.

I understand that you were pissed in the beginning, we kept things from you...we're best mates, we tell each other everything.

Yet we kept this from you, and you felt betrayed...but now you need to get over yourself."

Some of the steam fled from Remus's body, the tension slowly ebbed out of his body, and he sighed deeply, rubbing his hands across his face in frustration.

"I...I just don't want to hurt you. You guys are my family...I can't lose you," Remus choked out, his head tipped back to the sky, hands still covering his face, but Draco could hear that he was about to cry by the way his voice trembled.

Draco stepped forward, and pulled Remus into a hug. The werewolf lost it then, his body shaking as he buried his face in Draco's shoulder whilst clutching at the fabric of his shirt. Draco held his best mate, he simply held him, he didn't say anything-he didn't need to. Sometimes there was nothing to be said.

Draco patted the back of Remus's head, his fingers spread wide as he cradled it, "we'll be fine, Moony. I promise. Just...just let us help you...please."

Remus stiffened at that, and pulled back enough to look at Draco, sniffing loudly as he said, "did you just say please?"

"Sod off. Yes, I did," Draco scowled, pushing Remus away from him, "wanker."

A weak grin tweaked at the corners of Remus's lips, and his eyes returned to their natural hazel colour. He shook his head in amusement. "You said please," Remus laughed under his breath, and started walking instead in the direction of Hagrid's Hut.

"Where do you think you're going?" Draco frowned, following his friend, the distinct sound of leaves crunching under his boots.

"Hagrid's. Hopefully he's awake, he may want some company for an early spot of tea," Remus said a bit more merrily.

The two wizards walked in silence for a few minutes before Remus cleared his throat and said, "okay."

"Okay what?" Draco raised a brow, glancing in front of them and seeing that Hagrid had just opened the door to his hut-some long, spindly creature with far too many legs scuttled out of the hut and down the short, wooden staircase. Draco shook his head in disbelief for a moment, but then remembered the darn Blast-Ended Skrewts; thankfully he hadn't had to deal with the creatures really, that didn't mean he didn't recall what a disaster that was.

"You're a git, you know what," Remus snorted, raising a hand in a wave to the Half-Giant who was now awaiting them on his top step with a hearty smile.

"I know," Draco smirked. I hope I can keep my promise and make sure none of us get injured, Draco thought with a deep exhale as he trailed after Remus up the path. For everyone's sake.

"It's okay, love. We're here," Hermione whispered against Remus's temple.

The curly haired witch was seated beside him, and was holding Remus's head up and his cheek was resting against her breast.

The pallor of Remus's skin was worrying to say the least, this particular full moon was most assuredly taking a heavy toll on him-this was the worst they had seen him yet. Remus had had upheld a strong front for the entire morning, but it began to crack by the middle of the afternoon, and they had barely managed to get him out of the Common Room without arousing suspicion.

"I...I don't...don't want you..you to see me...change," Remus panted out, and Hermione's eyes squeezed shut, and nodded. She looked like she herself was enduring inordinate amounts of pain as Remus let out another agonised scream. She held him as his limbs seized, and then as his legs flailed, and when he screamed, again and again.

Hermione looked at the others, who were standing in the mouth of the room, unsure what to do, "shift. Now. You can't be adjusting to your bodies when he turns. You need to be in full control."
"What about you?" James asked, taking a step forward.

Hermione's eyes melted from brown to bronze, and when she blinked her eyes were flecked with copper. "I'll be fine. James, you and Peter need to stand behind Draco and Sirius. You are prey, and don't make any sudden moves," Hermione instructed firmly, stroking Remus's sweaty forehead; she frankly didn't care, right now she just detested how much he was suffering.

A small voice in her mind spoke then, it was a tinkly voice, like a bell, he'll suffer for twelve years after your brother dies. He'll suffer. Sirius will suffer. Your brother will be dead...and what did you do to stop any of it? Hehe.

SHUT UP! Hermione snarled mentally.

Oh, that's right. You'll go back to the future, and everyone you love will be dead or broken...irrevocably, and there will be no one to hold him when you're gone...twelve years...it was a whisper now, a hiss and Hermione involuntarily growled.

When she re-focused on her surroundings, she saw that everyone has shifted but Draco. They had backed into the shadows a little bit, presumably giving Moony as much space as possible.

"Shift. Draco," Hermione snarled, and her ears pricked at a sudden sharp noise. Bone breaking.

"Not until you do," Draco said stubbornly, the grey eyes that she loved, full of determination. Wait. That I...Hermione shook the thought from her mind, and turned to Remus once more.

"Go...Hermione," Remus said feebly, and she kissed his forehead quickly.

"I'm here, baby. I'm here," Hermione murmured against his skin, and then she carefully extracted herself from him.

Crack! Another bone breaking, and Remus's screams are all that filled her ears as she stood up, hurriedly crossing the room and meeting Draco at the mouth where the others were waiting. Padfoot's ears were flat against his head as he stared at Remus.

Draco made a soft noise at the back of his throat, and rubbed behind Sirius's ears-which seemed to help some of the unease, and Sirius's ears twitched before pointing upwards-he was listening. His grey eyes not leaving Remus.

"Okay, we're going to shift and then look away as he turns...let's do this," Hermione exhaled, relaxing her body and feeling the magic course through her veins, and then amplify and race across her skin.

She felt herself getting smaller, and smaller, felt fur sprout from her pores, and when she opened her eyes everyone except for Peter was much bigger than her.

She butted her head against Padfoot's foreleg, and looked into the tunnel-which was perfectly visible now that she had fully shifted.

Paws let out a soft bark, and Padfoot bowed his head, walking himself backwards, and then sitting back on his haunches. Prongs straightened out his neck, his head raised tall, and Wormtail was seated on the crown on his head in between his antlers-softly squeaking away.

Wormtail was a brown rat, nothing too extraordinary, aside from the white spot on around his left eye. He had a long pink tail that was almost constantly pointed up at a ninety degree angle-as if he was in a perpetual state of exclamation-aside from when he was scurrying about, then it practically dragged across the ground.

Prongs's antlers were long and majestic, the tips were razor sharp-they had discovered this when Sirius had played about just a little bit too much a week ago, and had ended up getting a long scratch along his ribcage because of it. His fur was an umber colour, with darker and lighter hints throughout, and instead of a white beard, his was raven black like his hair, and there were darker circles around his eyes that resembled his glasses.

Padfoot was a massive black dog, much like the grim that he was compared to in the future. His eyes remained the same colour as his human form, his thick, luscious black coat was reminiscent of his actual hair, and he almost took up the entrance to the Shrieking Shack all by himself.

Hermione wasn't sure if it was that the glamours that were now anchored to their cores didn't extend to all aspects of magical transformation, because Paw's coat was platinum white-the same as his trademark Malfoy hair. The Wolf was currently standing at the front of the pack beside her, stoically staring at the wall of the tunnel. His long tail swished across the dirt as he sat down, and when he turned to look at her, she saw his grey eyes, and the raven hair around his eyes and on the tips of his ears. Perhaps the glamours did work.

Foxy whined softly as she smelt the air-a different scent had replaced Remus's, though part of it was still the same-everyone had their own unique scene after all.

The screams had stopped.

Amber and gold eyes studied them carefully, belonging to the sandy blond werewolf ahead of them, with a shorter snout than that of the wolf beside her, and a tufted tail. Moony looked practically the same as a normal wolf, but they knew better.

Paws took a hesitant step forward and Moony snapped his jaws viciously, growling as his human-like eyes darting between Paws and Foxy, and then to their companions behind them. Moony must have spotted James, because he took a leap forward, snout wrinkled as he bared his teeth.

Foxy yipped at the others and let them know to take a step back, and then Moony's head snapped in her direction. Foxy's back arched, and her tail lowered as she tried to get as low to the ground as possible, whilst having the ability to dart away if possible. Foxy blinked and Moony was slowly moving towards her, and she let out a low growl, lowering herself further and further until she was practically laying on the wooden floorboards.

Moony stopped right in front of her, and she could feel his hot breath as he inhaled and exhaled, his snout brushed against her ear and the side of her head.

It was safe to say that things weren't going according to plan.