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Hermione woke with a start. She could feel the sweat soaked sheets beneath her and the heat radiating from her skin. She opened her eyes and witnessed a blinding light before shutting them. Pain shot through her skull from the sensory overload. She slowly tried to open them again and her eyes started to adjust to the light. She was staring at the ceiling of a tent. The ceiling was a majestic shade of deep green and the fabric was draped in a way that seemed quite regal and royal, sort of like the ceiling of the yule ball she attended when she was in school.
She sat up, still disorientated from what felt like very deep sleep. She was in an unfamiliar place. As her eyes roved around the room, she noticed deep mahogany furniture and neatly stacked books and papers. It felt like a place of importance. She realised she was lying on a very large bed atop silk black sheets. Where the hell am I? She felt panic start to settle in her lower belly, her stomach churning with anxiety. She had experienced a lot during the war, waking up in an unfamiliar place with no recollection of how you got there was a decidedly bad thing.
She slowly became aware of how different she felt. She hadn't felt this rested in a long time. She felt a weight on her head that she hadn't felt in a while and reached a hand up to find very long glossy curls that cascaded down her back. Her hair wasn't shaved anymore as it had been when Luna cut it. She was very confused now. She spread her hands in front of her, the dream of Fenrir Greyback coming back to her. Not only were they not claws as she half expected them to be, but her fingernails looked healthy and long, not like the short bitten down stubs she had had before. Before… before what? She pondered.
She inspected the rest of her body and discovered she was wearing a white singlet and army green cargo pants. She lifted her singlet to find that she couldn't count her ribs anymore. What the hell? She slowly stood and made her way to an antique mirror hanging on the wall near the entry flap to the tent. Her face looked the same other than her eyes. She moved her face closer to the mirror and tilted it in different ways to view her eyes from different angles and found that it was not a trick of the light. There was a golden ring between her pupil and her regular chocolate brown eyes.
She looked back at the bed, lost as to what was going on and spied a glass of water on the bedside table. She was suddenly aware of how thirsty she was, her throat as dry as a desert, and practically ran to the cup and drank the water like she would never see any more again.
She stood there, empty cup in hand, becoming lost in thought when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching the tent. She instantly fell into a defensive position, realising for the first time that she didn't have her wand. Panic shot through her before she prepared to jump her attacker. The figure reached the flap and as they pulled the flap aside and stepped into the tent. Hermione growled before jumping at the figure, noticing as she did that it was a man. She caught a glimpse of his blonde hair before he reacted quicker than her, catching her arms in his hands and whirling her around, pressing her back into his chest as her feet had come up to kick him.
They stood like this for a moment, Hermione growling deep in her chest. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered that she was growling like an animal and that it wasn't typical of her but at that present moment, the forefront of her mind just repeated that she was in danger and that she had to protect her territory. However, she could not move a muscle other than her legs which wouldn't do her any good, the man had her in an ironclad grip, her arms crossing over her chest.
She felt and heard the man's deep chuckle and felt anger rise through her. He was laughing at her and that made her blood boil. "Calm down Hermione, it's just me," the man spoke into her ear, his breath making her shiver. His scent seemed familiar and so did his voice. She calmed her body enough to try and distinguish who the man was. She took a deep inhale through her nose, almost instinctively to get his scent again. For some reason she knew her sense of smell was her strongest sense at the moment. He smelled like the forest, like freshly dug earth and plants. There was also a hint of honey that for some reason made her feel warm and intrigued. She liked the smell of the man very much. He started to loosen his grip on her and turn her around.
She braced herself only to come face with Draco Malfoy. All the memories of the camp and the change came flooding back to her. She relaxed considerably, taking in his grey eyes that, although close to the colour of a storm, were quite grounding. He was wearing a navy-blue button up shirt and brown cargo style, fairly fitted pants. He then wore black combat boots. She could tell this was supposed to be a practical look but unlike her usual attire it still bore an upscale feel, the typical Malfoy luxury still came through in the quality of his clothes which kind of calmed her as it was a point of familiarity for her. How grimy he must think she looks, she thought before laughing at herself for thinking he would even care let alone take notice of the way she looked.
She realised then that they were staring quite intimately into each other's eyes, their faces a bit close for comfort. She took a step back and he let her, his arms falling to his sides. She saw a look of disappointment flicker across his face before it was replaced with his signature smirk. "I take it you like my room then?" he asked in a teasing tone.
She looked quickly around the room again. The furniture and the royal style of the room making sense to her now. "A bit posh for me," She responded in slightly raspy voice, her throat sore from disuse. She crossed her arms across her chest, and he raised an eyebrow at her in a joking manner.
"How long was I out?" She asked, feigning disinterest in her voice.
"7 days," he responded, avoiding eye contact.
"7 days!?" She repeated, shocked. "I thought Ginny said that you usually kill people who take longer than 3 days?" she asked in a confused tone.
"She just said that to reassure you guys that you wouldn't be in pain for long. We knew you out of all the others in the group would make it, so we decided to wait the extra days," He answered nonchalantly.
"Why am I here and not in the cell block?" she asked, still confused about the whole ordeal.
"I…. wanted to keep an eye on you," he answered after a beat of hesitation. She didn't quite believe his answer but didn't have the energy to push it.
"Come meet the others," he said before turning and leaving the tent.
She was a little irked at his expectation that she would just follow his demand but found a small part of herself instantly pushed her to follow him. This must be what it's like to feel the need to follow the Alpha, she thought to herself before sighing and following him.
He led her through the camp, the same way that Seraphina had led her the other day. As she walked, she noticed the other members of the pack stopping their duties to stare at her as she passed. It made her uncomfortable for a reason she couldn't pinpoint. It wasn't as if she wasn't used to stares, even back at the Order's compound people stared at her when she passed, but for some reason this was different. Somehow, she knew that they knew something she didn't.
They came to the clearing where the children had been playing when she had sat with Seraphina. Instead of children, the others who had volunteered for the change were sitting on the grass. Some were sitting up, some laying down with their eyes closed, letting the sun soak their skin. Luna and Tonks were sitting together pulling grass out of the ground, having a seemingly serious conversation. Luna's hair was back to it's long luscious locks before Hermione had cut it, she had also looked more healthy, her skin had a healthy pink flush to it. Tonks also sported longer hair as well, was this some kind of Werewolf growth hormonal thing? Hermione wondered randomly. Tonks old scars she had like the long one that used to trail down her right arm from a time she had accidently been close to Lupin during a change had disappeared. Hermione had heard of Werewolves incredible healing genetics since many wizards had tried to harness this quality over the centuries.
George was sitting up near them as well and seemed to just be listening to them whilst he played with Angelina's hair as she was laying in the grass with her head in his lap. Fred also had longer, shoulder length hair which seemed to be pulled back into a ponytail similar to the one his older brother used to sport. Hermione's heart ached a little at the reminder. Fred's family had faced the worst causalities throughout the war. He lost his mother only 3 months ago and his two older brothers had gone missing a year ago now. Fred had died in battle and Ginny had been thought dead from the Hogwarts invasion. It had really just been George, Arthur and Ron left, none of whom seemed to be getting along either. They were all still grieving and so seeing each other made it hard because they wee reminded of things they'd rather forget.
And so Hermione had become George's family after Ron had been a right git about her not wanting to date him. Harry had approved of her taking space from Ron. He'd told her that although he was close to Ron, he was really not the right bloke from Hermione and that she deserved someone less hot tempered. He has also been grateful that Hermione had taken up caring for George because Harry trusted Hermione like he trusted no one else and so George became one less person for him to have to worry about.
Angelina also looked well. Happier and more relaxed that Hermione had see her in a long time. Her hair which had already been quite long, now looked healthy and thick. The changes everyone had endured had been quite small, but to each other they were so noticeable, like neon signs. This was because they had all been so malnourished and dirty thanks to the way the Order was forced to live to avoid detection. Despite the whole ordeal, its warmed Hermione's heart to at least see these people looking healthier, even if the cause was not ideal.
Luna saw her first and a grin broke out across her face. The other's turned to see what she was looking at and smiled when they spotted Hermione as well.
"You're okay?" Luna asked as Hermione lent to sit cross-legged on the ground next to her. She looked up at Draco who nodded at her to stay seated as he made his way around the group.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered a bit clueless as to how she actually felt. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that she was indeed a werewolf now. She didn't fell any different and she wasn't sure what she had even expected in the first place.
As if reading her mind Luna leaned in towards her to speak. "We survived the change in terms of physically but in terms of mentally, the shift of when the wolf makes its presence apparent in your mind comes on your first full moon," she explained in a low voice. Hermione remembered Luna mentioning something similar when they had talked about the possibility of changing on the way to the mission initially. She wasn't sure if the idea of this 'wolf' scared her or not. Part of her reasoned that there was no point in worrying about it now, it's not like there was any going back. But the logical part of Hermione screamed that 'SHE WAS A WEREWOLF 'and was allowed to freak out if she needed to as it was a life changing event and that she was right to be scared of the idea of a wild animal taking up residence inside her brain.
She just nodded in response to Luna's explanation and directed her eyes up to the front of the group where Draco had joined an expectant Ginny standing with her arms crossed. They were too far away for her to make out what they were saying to each other, but Ginny nodded and they both turned towards the group to address them. Ginny stared straight at Hermione and she could have sworn Ginny almost looked relived and apprehensive at the same time.
"Congratulations on you all surviving the change," Draco began. Hermione felt the small voice inside of her demanding that she not just listen, but give her undivided attention to her Alpha. It was a small enough part that if she wanted to, she could have ignored it and so she merely turned her head slightly to hear him better. But she watched all the others turn their rapt attention to Draco instantly like they couldn't control it. She wondered if the urge to respect the Alpha was greater in some people. She pondered whether it had to do with status. Maybe some of them were already made to be higher in the hierarchy and so the pull lessened?
"It was expected you all would have survived as we did review the list Granger presented to us and only approved those, we thought would be able to withstand the process. The only person here who was not turned was Gabrielle Delacour but as she has been made aware, she is too young and will be turned at a later date. Now the Full Moon is tomorrow which means you will all experience your first change and the introduction of your wolf self so we have some things to instruct you on so that you can be as prepared as possible when the time comes," Draco spoke in a deep, confident and authorative tone and Hermione could see how this man had become the Alpha with his commanding presence. She bristled a bit at the fact that he called her Granger in front of others. Did he not want to acknowledge they were on a first name basis? She reminded herself that she didn't truly care anyway and turned to Luna instead.
"The Full Moon is tomorrow?" she hissed quietly to Luna who kept her eyes on Draco but nodded at her question. Before Draco could continue Luna had raised her hand.
Draco raised an eyebrow before responding, "Uh, yes Luna?" he asked in an apprehensive voice, obviously worried about how eccentric her question would be. Hermione laughed on the inside about how unsure Draco seemed to be when it came to Luna.
"You referred to your 'wolf self' and I was just wondering if you could elaborate on that part. I thought the wolf was a separate entity or a cohabitator of your mind, but you referenced it as though it is a side or part of yourself," Luna asked questioningly.
Draco smiled at Luna as if he had been waiting for her question. "Yes, many people mistake the wolf as being a separate entity or being that invades your brain and sets up camp but that's a misconception. The wolf is you. It's always been inside of you and its really just manifestation of your primal urges, your biological needs and wants and your basic survival needs. Because it is animalistic in nature and speaks to the nature of humans being at their core, animals, people labelled it the wolf self to differentiate it from the rational or logical way of thinking that you were probably raised with. Your wolf self operates on what it believes you need whereas your human self usually rationalises these thoughts and rules out what you absolutely don't need due to your moral. Your wolf self is unable to do this at the beginning to people became afraid of the things they did as their wolf self and grew hatred for that part of your life. But if you embrace it, you can merge both of your selves together and gain a modicum of control of your wolf self, kind of like wolfsbane potion except it's natural, permanent and not easy at all to do," Draco explained like the perfect teacher Hermione never had.
She could see Luna was drinking in the information the same way she was. Although both of them had been studious in Hogwarts and had taken notes as any normal student had, they truly hadn't needed to, information just seeped into their brain and never left because they were always so thirsty for knowledge.
After Draco confirmed no one else has questions, him and Ginny began to explain important parts of the change such as the pain, the fact that they would be aware in their brains after they had changed but that they would be experiencing their wolf selves. That they would remember everything from the change after the night was over. They informed George that no, they wouldn't die if someone shot them with a silver bullet and everyone stifled giggles. They covered important before and after care to minimise pain and the wards they had set up so that the wolves wouldn't wander into territory of other magical creatures that resided in the forest or wander into Hogwarts. They also informed the group that there was a high chance that they would hunt or eat a wild animal whilst changed, and that yes its gross but it was just the way of life for them now, and that they would in fact change completely into wolves and not some hybrid of man and wolf that you saw in movies and read about in fantasy books. Most of them knew this information from textbooks and common knowledge but it still felt reassuring hearing this information confirmed from a reliable source.
They were dismissed after this conversation and Hermione and Luna headed to their tent where Hermione spied that several more tents had been erected for the newcomers. "So, what was it like?" was the first thing Luna asked Hermione as soon as they got into their room.
"What was what like?" she asked confused.
"Draco's room," Luna laughed, waggling her eyes suggestively.
Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled, "It was very… Malfoy. A lot of green," she mused jokingly.
Luna giggled at that, "Of course, don't know what I was expecting," she joked back. Luna filled her in on what had happened with the others and how out of the entire group Angelina had struggled a lot with the change but still obviously made it. Hermione was honestly over the moon that everyone had survived. She had known there was a high chance of this as reliable people had viewed the list and she trusted them, but still she had had her concerns.
They lied down on their beds but continued to talk late into the night about the weird things they had experienced like their heightened senses and random urges. Luna talked more than Hermione as she had obviously had longer to adjust.
"Do you get strong urges to obey Draco or is it more of a suggestive thought?" Hermione asked Luna after talking for hours.
Luna pondered the question for a minute before replying. "I get a pretty decent urge to obey but I feel like I could also disrespect him if I wanted to as well. Like the urge is pretty strong but I feel like if I really wanted to, I could fight it. Some of the others have experienced varying degrees of the feeling though. Some feel the complete compulsion to obey," she elaborated for Hermione.
"Okay, I was just wondering that's all. Do you think the variation between the strength of the compulsion to obey stems from the hierarchy and our place in it?" Hermione asked curiously.
Luna answered immediately "I know for a fact it's because of that. Those who feel less compulsion are often much higher in the hierarchy and therefore need to retain their unique problem-solving skills. I'm not sure but I feel that I may be a Beta," Luna admitted quietly.
Hermione mulled over Luna's words. It sounded to her that Luna felt he compulsion a bit more than she did. For her it was more of an after thought or a little voice suggesting she obey at the back of her mind, but not a demanding voice. She wondered what the hell that meant. She also mulled over the fact that maybe Luna was just explaining it badly and they were feeling the same, thought she had never known Luna to explain anything badly, she just didn't want to be a freak, again.
"Is there a level between Beta and Alpha?" Hermione asked stumped.
Luna scrunched her face up in thought. "I don't think I've ever heard of one. I mean the closest thing to what you're asking would probably be like an Alpha's mate but that's about it," Luna spoke slowly, clearly unsure of the validity of her information. Hermione scoffed at the thought and decided she was most likely meant to be a Beta or something. There was no way she was Draco's mate. A werewolf's mate was for life, it was literally their soul mate and werewolf's were possessive over their mates, something Hermione never had and never would see from Draco Malfoy because he was definitely not her mate.
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