Chapter 10: A Lesson on Werewolves

Hermione was so preoccupied with settling in and on not slipping up her cover story that she had no time to even look at her research for the horcruxes in the first few weeks. It took so much time and effort to analyse every conversation she had for inconsistencies that Hermione practically fell into bed each night.

This didn't last long because she would wake up every night with nightmares, always catering to the possibility that they would occur by silencing the curtains around her bed. Without Aberforth or his goat patronus watching over her, she felt much more alone and so they increased in frequency and strength.

Thanks to her reduced hours of sleep, she did manage to get out to run a lot, and fly when the sun hadn't risen yet. She may have fought in a war but Hermione was slightly embarrassed to say she was scared to be exposed on the ground when it was still dark. When it got light she was often joined by Marlene who also liked to run, and Hermione soon found out that she was part of the Quidditch team, alongside James and Sirius.

Her new friends were very welcoming and accommodating to her but she did not feel the same connection that she had felt with Harry and Ron. It was when her new friends would recall stories of their pasts that Hermione would feel a hollow space in her chest. She had shared experiences and traumas to connect her to her old friends, but these people would take a lot longer to grow close to.

On a positive note, Hermione did notice herself laughing more than she had in the previous timeline. I guess the promise of impending death can bring down the mood, whereas, in this time, the war was still there, but not so present. This meant that the exchanges she had with other people were generally much lighter.

Furthermore, the Marauders were really funny. Hermione often found herself not even realising that she was laughing for the majority of the time, and thought herself blessed that she could see this troublesome foursome at their prime. The only dark note was the constant feeling that she shouldn't be experiencing this, Harry should. He should be alive instead of her.

Harry would also have loved to see his parents fall in love, although not much of that was happening at the moment. Hermione had stuck to her plan to make Lily slightly jealous by sitting near to James whenever possible and striking up a conversation when Lily was in sight. The response she got was getting less and less subtle, because Lily had recently resorted to just slamming what she was doing down and making very loud sighs and grumbles, whenever she was in both of their presence.

In order for James to not get the wrong end of the stick, she sat them down in front of the fire one evening when she knew the girls were all upstairs. "I've decided to help you James," She began, and when their vacant stares and lack of response gleaned no further response she continued, "With Lily I mean."

"What do you mean, has she said something?" He immediately sprang to action while the others rolled their eyes.

"Not really, it's more what she hasn't said," At their continued sceptical looks, she added, "Surely you have noticed me hanging around James a bit more than the rest of you lot?"

At this, James nervously scratched the back of his head "Um yeah, and I'm flattered honestly, but the thing is…"

"Oh for goodness sake," this was like pulling teeth, she would have to spell it out for him, "I don't have a thing for you, I was just trying to make Lily jealous, and it is working!"

"Oh that's good, Sirius was getting rather jealous himself, being oh so devilishly handsome and you choosing me, but….." his head snapped up as he took in her last statement. "Wait, it's working? You can't be serious!"

She nodded and he jumped up as if to run to the girls stairs "I need to ask her out then, no time to waste!" Sensing as she had that that would be a bad idea, the other boys shouted and dragged him back down.

"Hold your horses, you can't just go in all guns blazing!" At their even more confused looks she decided to rephrase that very muggle statement. "What I meant, is that you need to change your tactics. From what I gather you have been asking her out every week for the past 4 years and it clearly hasn't been working."

"Well what do you propose instead?" Queried Sirius, very interested in making his friend happy, but still affronted that this new girl could parade in and immediately think she could order them around.

"Ignore her."

"What? That's preposterous!" They all laughed at her.

"No I'm not joking," she cut in, "Treat her like you would a friend during your time together, even talk about other girls whilst she's around. Just don't follow her around like a lost puppy like you've been doing, publicly embarrassing her. It's not attractive, I promise you."

He spluttered but she continued, "I give it a week or two before Lily gets so frustrated that she either demands to know what's going on, or she just shoves you into a wall during rounds and snogs the living daylights out of you."

And so mission Jealous Lily began. It was quite hilarious seeing Lily looking around for James at every corner and then seeing her face fall and look equally confused and bereft when he wasn't there. If Hermione didn't know that it was for a good cause, then she would feel sorry for the girl. James would usually do things like commenting on how beautiful she looked at any opportunity, wait outside classrooms so she could walk with him, and pull out any chairs or hold open any doors when they got in the way. With him no longer doing that, Lily noticed how much she had grown to enjoy his company and was instead left with a dark feeling inside for whatever could be the reason he changed.

As time progressed and she noticed that this wasn't just a day or two off, she began seeking James out in order to make sure that Hermione wouldn't get to be alone with him. At times like these, Hermione quickly made herself scarce with a small smile at them both. This was pretty obviously a retreat, so Lily began to smile more once realising the smaller girl's mischievous movements in order to get the two of them together. They weren't quite there yet, but the two head students had begun a much more equal friendship, which often found them laughing together at various points around the castle.

The other Marauders were certainly thankful for their friend's improved mood considering how often they were helping her out, complimenting her, and saying thanks. Over time, Hermione was confronted with another harsh truth of this timeline that she had forgotten about; the full moon was fast approaching and you could notice.

In the week before his change, Hermione watched as Remus ran himself ragged around the castle, acting like a livewire, about to catch alight. Already used to the changing states of the transformation, Hermione knew that he would be brimming with energy before the change, with heightened emotions, senses, and a much shorter fuse. After the change this would flip on its head, and Remus would be left a walking corpse, dragging himself about, in pain, as his body sought to heal itself and refill his depleted magic reserves.

This was why she felt slightly apprehensive when she walked into Defence Against The Dark Arts two days before the full moon and saw that there was a lesson on werewolves on the board. Predictably, the Marauders all tensed as well and she overheard a whispered exchange offering for one of them to swap places with Hermione to sit with him. He shook his head and sat down.

At first, the lesson started with an explanation of why they were reviewing old content and then Professor Cribbs began to explain the savage and animalistic nature of werewolves. What was unexpected was the way that neither her teacher or the textbook distinguished between the actions of a werewolf when under the influence of the full moon, and with the rest of the month. Of course they described the terrifying and painful transformation, but it was described as if these experiences ate away at the human consciousness, and all that was left behind was a beast like human for the rest of the month.

Hermione knew that the textbooks during her time weren't that much better, but it seemed that the development of the Wolfsbane Potion in the years to come had really made a big impact on the general public feelings on the matter. She looked to her right at the tense and angry look on Remus's face and she knew that she had to do something.

She raised her hand when they got to a particularly lovely passage about how they preferred to attack young children. "Yes Hermione, do you not understand?" Professor Cribbs asked benignly. As all of the eyes in the room turned to her she suddenly realised that this probably wasn't the best idea if she wanted to keep a low profile.

"Well, yes I understand. It's just that you're wrong, and the textbook is too." A couple titters met her response, no doubt wondering how the new girl would cock this up as it was obviously true to them. Hermione also noticed how the breathing of her deskmate hitched, sure that she would condemn him further.

The professor smiled, "Care to enlighten us of my mistake?"

"It's just…" she began, staring around hesitantly before getting to the point, training her eyes on the teacher before she began one of her legendary rants. "Nearly everything you have said is a lie. Werewolves are not savage all the time, they are just like they were before, but with the odd mood swing or fluctuation in their activity levels. I'm sure many people could joke they're just like menstrual cycles, and they wouldn't be wrong; just much more painful and a bit messier!"

At this comment a couple people sniggered and Remus went red, but she wasn't looking at him, "There is absolutely no evidence that their time during the full moon affects their mental state, and no evidence that it could prohibit them from holding down a job. They can get married, have families, and live their lives just like you or me."

She breathed in, frowning as she tried to keep her temper, "By basing the study of an entire species on the select actions of one person, say Fenrir Greyback for example," Due to the quick gasps that she heard, Hermione could only assume that the man was as well known in this time as with her own. "We would be debasing a whole community of people who have done nothing wrong!"

At this impassioned ending, she noticed that the sniggers had died down and the whole room had gone quiet. Professor Cribbs had a strange glint in his eye and an unreadable face as he asked, "And what evidence do you have to back this claim of yours?"

"I'm friends with a werewolf." She said proudly and with no fear, regardless of the gasps that broke out. Poor Remus if this was the treatment that he had to face everyday. "And with his wife," Considering the continued exclamations of surprise, Hermione could only assume that this was practically unheard of. She took great pleasure finishing her statement, "And son." At this final comment she noticed a slight movement from Remus, almost like he had just caught himself from falling out of his chair.

"That's impossible," The professor waved his hand as if trying to dismiss her and get on with the lesson. "No werewolf children have ever been born."

"That's right," Hermione continued with a smile on her face, "A werewolf baby wasn't born, a healthy human baby was instead." The tension in the room was palpable, "Maybe that's another thing you got wrong, seeing as this disease has long been considered infectious through a bite alone, rather than hereditary."

The silence that greeted her speech was soon interrupted by the chime that signalled the end of the lesson and Cribbs asked them to pack away their sketchbooks. She snuck a quick glance at Remus but frowned to see him staring furiously at the ground as he left. The professor asked her to stay behind.

"As much as I admire your opinions and beliefs, please could you refrain from interrupting the class," he began in a tired tone, as if he couldn't be bothered to have the conversation. When he saw her open her mouth to cut in, he continued, "I know you truly believe what you are saying, and you may have proof of your own, but I am just following the Ministry mandated texts that I have been given. If you truly want to change that, you might have to go a bit higher up."

Unsurprised by the close eye that the Ministry still seemed to keep at the comings and goings of the school, Hermione was reminded of her fifth year. Her teacher coughed and changed the subject, "Actually, that was something that I wanted to talk to you about. Have you made any decisions about your plans regarding next year yet?"

At her frown he continued, "When I first saw you duel, I knew you were holding back, so I thought about mentioning the auror programme to you after you leave. "He smiled as she gaped, she'd only been here for two weeks and she was already getting advice about where she'd do best after school?

He continued, "However, I can now clearly see that you have other things in mind, and if your speech was anything to go by, I think the ministry would be lucky to have you." She gulped, and fought to get past the lump that had formed in her throat.

Cribbs noticed, and added, "I am willing to help you with your reference and Defence marks, but if you want to get into the Magical Creatures department, I suggest that you talk to the Care of Magical Creatures teacher and possibly Hagrid, our Grounds Keeper. If I remember correctly, he has much better connections to those that didn't make it into the limited spec." He raised his eyebrows in a way that reminded Hermione of her experiences with Norbert, Fluffy and Hagrid's brother Grawp.

Hermione nodded in thanks and made her way out of the classroom in a daze, in her frantic attempts to make herself comfortable in this world she had forgotten that no one had heard about her and her many exploits. In her old timeline, she had assumed that if she lived past the war then she would have no problem getting a job considering her long time track record of working so hard. However, now no one associated the name Hermione with taking down dark wizards or with good school marks.

Resigning herself to working hard to get the job she needed, she felt touched at her new teacher's insistence that he help her. She came back to herself as she looked around her, surprised to see that she wasn't alone in the corridor. Remus Lupin was leant against the opposite wall looking deep in thought, his leg giggling with a mixture of nerves and energy for the newly approaching full moon. When he noticed her he pushed away from the wall and smiled.

Relieved, she grinned in return, "You didn't have to wait for me!" He shook his head at this and they began to walk down to lunch together in silence. It wasn't really awkward per say, comfortable with an underlying tinge of tension would be how she described it. Just before they made it to the Great Hall his arm brushed against hers and squeezed her wrist. If she didn't know what it was for she would probably have barely noticed it, but she saw it as a friendly acknowledgement of thanks.

By the time they made it to the Gryffindor table, everyone else had sat down, the girls and boys sitting together as they sometimes did. Hermione smiled at the boys as she sat down in between Remus and Lily, who were all looking at her a bit weirdly. "Is it true?" Marlene began, "You are friends with werewolves?"

She chuckled, "Just the singular one actually, he was a family friend back in France." Nervous to see how the other girls would respond, she and the other boys waited while they thought over what to say next.

"Is he safe to be around though?" Alice bravely began, "They've been teaching the same content for decades, surely they can't be that wrong?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Wizards have been arrogantly believing that we are the superior species for centuries, unable to stop and understand other groups that don't fit in with us." She breathed in deeply before continuing, "It's werewolves this time, but what about goblins, elves and even Muggles. Lily, you've seen what they teach here about Muggles, right?" The girl nodded, "Isn't the majority of it complete bollocks?" She nodded again.

Hermione noticed the slight look she passed Remus's way and correctly assumed that the clever redhead had already worked out her friend's secret, and so moved onto everyone else. "It's the same story no matter what country you are from," or time apparently.

Sirius butted in, knowing how important the topic was to his quiet friend, "What you said about having children, is that true? They're healthy and human?"

"Yes," she affirmed, "They only have some more wolfy tendencies like liking their meat more rare, having mood swings, and heightened senses. It's the same for anyone who is bitten by a werewolf when it's not full moon and for their partners."

"Their partners?" Mary asked quietly, whilst Hermione took in the way that Remus's concentration focused on her. Maybe that crush wasn't so one sided...

Hermione blushed, "Um, when they get a bit….frisky, shall we say," Remus blushed bright red, not liking where this conversation was going. The rest of the Marauders noticed this, and sly smiles sprang up.

She continued, "They tend to get quite possessive and forceful over their partners. They would never harm them of course, but I've heard they like to bite. It demonstrates their claim over their chosen partner."

All of the girls also blushed, "Did you find this out from your friend's girlfriend?" Marlene continued. Hermione reddened as she remembered Harry's 17th birthday, when Ginny had got curious and asked Tonks. She hadn't been able to look Professor Lupin in the eye all afternoon.

Remus went to take a sip of pumpkin juice and the boys' smiles turned gleeful at the plight of their friend. "Yes, she joked that sex was never dull and certainly rough and inventive," Hermione chuckled under her breath when she noticed that Remus seemed to choke on his juice and some came out of his nose.

Knowing that the chance was too good to miss, she continued talking to the girls, feigning ignorance to Remus, who was still sputtering away while Peter patted him on the back. "She also mentioned that he was practically insatiable close to the full moon, taking her on any available surface. Apparently it was the best sex she had ever had!"

At this point the Marauders had all broken into laughter at the plight of their very red and embarrassed friend. Lily was speechless, trying incredibly hard to not look at the boy that Hermione had secretly been teasing. The other girls were looking on in shock at Hermione, surprised at her candor and also confused over the behaviour of the boys.

"Well sign me up for some of that then!" Mary said quietly, before clapping her hands over her mouth in shock. This quietened the boys and simultaneously made all of the girl's break into peals of laughter.

"Don't worry Mary, I quite like the sound of some kinky, werewolf sex as well after that description!" Marlene stated candidly, after seeing the embarrassed face of her shy friend. "I'm not so sure I could deal with the possessiveness though,"

"Same," Agreed Lily and Alice, "If anyone wants to get into a relationship with me, they need to know that I do what I want, when I want, and with whomever I desire. Doesn't mean I'm going to cheat on you though, I just don't like someone else dictating what I do." Lily continued with this statement loudly so that the intended recipient could get the message.

Mary contributed quietly, "I'm not sure, possessive doesn't necessarily mean controlling, just that they're protective and get jealous easily. I'd love to be adored and seen like the centre of someone's universe." The other girls hummed in assent.

"My Frank does get jealous occasionally, which I find cute mostly," Alice cut in, "But he trusts me and I trust him, for example, the last time I saw him…" Suddenly the girls were all sucked into a conversation talking about Alice's long time boyfriend and it was like the previous conversation had barely happened.

Hermione turned back to the Marauders and took in their happy and teasing faces as they chatted amongst themselves quietly. She could only imagine what they were saying considering the continued blush that took up Lupin's face as well as the smug smiles that Sirius and James possessed. Hermione couldn't help but break out into a smile of her own when the sandy haired boy glanced over to the girls, or one girl in particular, with a questioning but hopeful look on his face.

Up next is Chapter 11: You Give Some, You Get Some