Okay so to address some questions I had because I love when you guys have questions and I get to explain a little, Luna does not actually know about Hermione's situation with the Alpha thing. Hermione just asked Luna what the connection was between how strong people felt the need to obey the Alpha was and their Hierarchy in the pack. Hermione hasn't actually told Luna about her predicament. However, Luna suspects something is up as she knows Hermione isn't weak at all so Luna is trying to figure out why it took her so long to change and has her suspicions. You will indeed find out why Hermione took so long to change as it is central to the plot. Hopefully you will like the twist her change brings 😊

As if Hermione didn't have enough to deal with getting accustomed to her new improved self, she now caught herself obsessing over the change. She had asked Draco to give her notes on what he talked about the previous day because even though she remembered everything he said, she felt more comfortable having these rules to obsessively pour over to make sure she got everything perfect.

"Give it a break Hermione, you aren't going to enjoy the change no matter how much you study," George whined from his position on the floor of their tent. He and Angelina were lounging on the floor next to their couch and Hermione and Luna were sat up on the couch. Hermione had her notes spread all over her lap, the arm of the couch and the coffee table. Hermione shot him a withering look. Angelina swatted his arm.

"Studying helps Hermione calm down and feel in control, leave her alone," Angelina spoke warningly. George just rolled his eyes but smiled down at Angelina lovingly. Hermione catching the exchange felt a small jolt of loneliness. The small girl from Hogwarts was still inside of her, yearning for someone to look at her like that. She tamped those feelings down immediately. War was no time for romantic endeavours anyway. She had thought Ron might be 'the one' but was sorely disappointed when he started flirting with her and she had felt all kinds of wrong. Not to mention the famous Weasley temper that was very off putting to her.

She shrugged off that line of thought and returned to the matter at hand. "I have to be as prepared as possible. I'm obviously weaker than all of you since my change took the longest," she spoke with a slight feeling of embarrassment at not being the best at something for once, "So I figure this is the way I survive this too," she finished uncertainly. Obviously, Hermione had no idea whether this would help or not, but like Angelina had commented, it made her feel like she was at least doing something and that she was at least a little prepared.

Luna looked up from the books she's been reading for the first time in an hour. "I don't think that's necessarily true," she spoke in a distracted voice, staring into space as she was apt to do. Hermione turned to shoot Luna a confused look.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked intrigued. Luna obviously was the most informed about werewolves out of all of them. If anyone knew anything about what was going on with her it was Luna. Luna snapped out of her thoughts and returned Hermione's look.

"Well there's old lore that suggests that the higher up in the hierarchy you are meant to be in the pack, the longer the change can take," Luna spoke slowly, as if she was trying to figure something out in her mind as she spoke.

Hermione realised for the first time that she didn't actually know how long it had taken for the others to change. She hadn't even thought to ask. She had just assumed they had taken the standard three days. Her mind reeling from Luna's information she looked at Fred who was sitting up with interest now. "If you don't mind me asking, how long did it take you guys to change?" Hermione asked, her eyes switching in between them.

"It took me and Ange three days," Fred answered readily, Angelina nodding from her position against the coffee table. They both turned to look at Luna expectantly and Hermione followed suit.

"It took me roughly four and a half days," Luna answered absentmindedly, having returned to staring into space.

Hermione sat quietly digesting this information. "So, what you're saying is, that when you turn the longer it takes, the more powerful you could be within the pack's dynamics, but if you're too weak you could also take a long time before dying. And therefore, it's hard to tell the difference, hence why they keep people alive past the standard three days," Hermione stated slowly, still processing the information herself. "So, they kept me alive hoping I'd turn and be a powerful asset, even though there was a chance I was the opposite and could have died a slow painful death?" Hermione asked with a hint of frustration colouring her voice.

The others shifted uncomfortably before nodding. "Essentially," Luna answered after a moment of awkward silence. Hermione sighed heavily. She couldn't truly get angry at the pack because they were her pack now and so her loyalty was first and foremost to them. This loyalty ran deep in her bones now, she couldn't fight it if she wanted to.

Luna returned to her book and she caught Fred mumbling something about him and Angelina going for a walk before they left. Hermione returned to religiously studying her notes.

Later in the afternoon the girl's tent opening was pulled aside and Ginny slipped inside soundlessly. Hermione found it a little eerie that she made such little noise, but she guessed that was just part of being a wolf now. You were designed to be a predator and so of course they would be light footed in order to stalk their prey. Luna looked up, sensing someone had entered their space and Hermione and Luna shot each other confused looks before turning to face Ginny with guarded expressions.

Ginny, who had looked so confident and sure of herself in all the meetings that had preceded the change, now suddenly looked very unsure of herself as she looked at them guiltily. Hermione noted that her posture insinuated that she was braced for some kind of impact, but Hermione and Luna stayed silent. They stayed this way for a few long, awkward moments before Ginny sighed. She ran her hand through her hair nervously.

"Go on then, let's get this over with," She spoke impatiently, though there was a slight tone of nerves in her voice.

Luna, ever the eloquent one was the one to respond, "Please explain what you mean Ginny, you're the one that came into our tent," she spoke with a deadly calm voice. Somewhere in the back of Hermione's head she noted that Luna's voice unnerved her. She had never heard Luna's chirpy voice ever sound so icy.

Ginny shifted between her feet, "I know you guys are mad- "She began before Hermione cut her off.

"Mad does not begin to cover it," Hermione spoke angrily. She was never one to really conceal her feelings well like Luna did. Hermione always lost her composure when it came to anger.

"Listen, I wanted to tell you- "

"Well you obviously didn't care about us enough to bother," Hermione spat her words out venomously, realising she was close to getting up and hitting Ginny. She was aware that this was the wolf coming through as she wasn't normally a violent person, but she just couldn't control herself.

Ginny just looked down at her feet in a defeated stance.

"We thought you were dead Gin, we mourned you. We blamed ourselves every day. You let us go through that and I can't believe you are this selfish! How could you not care! WHO ARE YOU I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU ANYMORE!" Hermione's voice rose with volume the longer her speech became, all the pain coming back to her freshly as if it was just yesterday, she had seen Ginny's broken body at the foot of the astronomy tower's steps. She was feeling all the pain and all the guilt she had buried for months now. All the mourning she personally had pushed aside because she deemed emotion too impractical in the middle of a war and now she mentally chastised her self for loosing control of her stony façade.

Ginny looked up sharply and met Hermione's eyes, Ginny's eyes blazed with a pain so deep that Hermione heard Luna gasp. "YOU THINK I DIDN'T CARE?!", she choked back a sob before continuing in a softer voice. "Of course, I cared, I thought about all of you every day damn day. I missed you every single day Mione. You and Luna and Mom and just everyone okay? If I could have told you don't you think I would have? How could you think that of me? I wanted to speak to you guys so badly you have no idea. But I wasn't allowed to. Greyback was still in charge, we were still under Voldemort's rule!" She spoke passionately, having stepped forward during her rant so that now she was gripping the back of the chair across the small table that Luna was seated at.

"Oh Ginny," Luna breathed in a sad voice.

"Don't Luna," Hermione breathed under her breathe as a warning. She could see Luna giving her a confused looked from the corner of her eye, but her focus was on Ginny who still looked pale and guilty and she knew exactly why.

"That might be all well and true but what about when Draco took over Ginny? Why not then?" She asked in a firm voice. She wished she didn't have to ask it because she wanted so badly to accept Ginny's answer. She wanted to forgive and forget. She wanted Ginny's friendship so badly, but she knew if she didn't ask the tough questions than it would always eat at her. She had found that Draco had been in charge of the pack for longer than she had initially thought when Remus had come in that day to be healed by her. Remus had been assigned a new mission a month before he was attacked and so Ginny had been under Draco's rule for at least a month to the date Hermione's plan had started to go into action.

"I…I didn't know how. I know it was a…bad thing to do but I just couldn't and there's no explanation for it that could make this right. I know how much pain I put you and my family through, but I just didn't know how to… explain and part of me felt you were better off I guess," She finished in what was almost a whisper.

Luna looked to Hermione for guidance on the situation. Hermione knew Luna would follow her lead here, but she wished she wouldn't. For the millionth time Hermione wished the pressure wasn't on her to make the right decision.

"Get out," Hermione spoke in a neutral voice.

"Mione please" Ginny begged in an agonised voice.

"No how dare you presume what would be best for us. You mother, your brothers, Harry," she spoke his name with particular anger and Ginny flinched at the mention of her ex boyfriend. "They were broken. You don't understand, you weren't there to see what you're fake death did to them. How dare you even think I owe you a speck of time after that. Just get out!" She yelled her last words and Ginny flinched as if Hermione had physically hit her.

Ginny nodded mutely and left the tent quickly and as silently as she had arrived.

"Hermione-"

"Don't," Hermione cut Luna off. "Just don't."

Luna nodded silently and went back to reading her book, her hands trembling slightly. Hermione closed her eyes and sighed. Her fingers pinched the bridge of her nose and she processed everything that had just been said. She just couldn't deal with it right now. After all the pain and tears she had shed over Ginny she just couldn't come to terms with the whole situation. It was just too much. She felt betrayed and even though she understood where Ginny had come from, she couldn't shake off that feeling of betrayal. She didn't know if she could trust her again. She though of how shattered Harry had been. How he had changed and hardened into someone she barely knew who always threw his life on the line without a second thought anymore. She clenched her jaw angrily. She may feel uncertain about forgiving Ginny for what she had done to Hermione, but she definitely could not forgive what she had done to the entire family that had become Hermione's family since she had entered the wizarding world. Molly had been broken, Harry and Ron were practically suicidal, part of George had died with his siblings, Luna lost her innocent spark.

No, Hermione thought angrily, she would hold Ginny accountable for her actions for them at least. She had left a mess of half broken people for Hermione to nurse back to health and she wouldn't let Ginny just get away with that.

Luna interrupted her thoughts suddenly to remind her it was time to head back down to the clearing to begin the proceedings for the change. Hermione was almost glad she had this to take her mind of the situation with Ginny. Almost.

Hermione shrugged on the clothes she had arrived in to feel at least a little comfort. They still smelled like home and her heightened wolf sense could pick out all the individual smells. The smell of Molly's attempt at a homemade washing detergent still clung to her clothes. It had been a failure and had stained her clothes purple. She had had to magically alter them until they were back to their original colour. Hermione smiled fondly at the memory.

Luna finished getting ready and they nodded at each other mutely, the memory of Ginny's visit still fresh in their minds prevented them from talking much as they were both still digesting it. They had been instructed not to eat before the change as the wolves tended to gorge themselves on wild animals and then when they woke up, they would be so full they'd probably vomit it up if they also ate beforehand. "Believe me, firsthand experience" Draco had said jokingly to her when he explained, and she had scrunched her nose up in disgust.

It was weird had friendly they had become in such a short amount of time. She didn't quite forgive him for everything that had transpired in their past, but she was really starting to understand how much he had changed. And of course, he was her Alpha now, so she didn't have much of a choice in hating him and so she guessed that was why she felt so comfortable around him.

Hermione and Luna were the last ones to arrive at the clearing. They spotted George's red hair and walked over to stand beside him and Angelina.

"Okay," Draco spoke in a loud voice and just like that everyone had turned to give him their undivided attention. Hermione wondered how intimidating it would be to have everyone give her such intense attention. She had no idea what that was like since back in the order a lot of her ideas and speeches were dismissed by practically everyone. She huffed in annoyance at the thought of how Harry and Ron seemed to never listen to her. Draco raised his eyebrow at her but then continued with his speech.

"We are going to head into the woods and everyone will break off to find a private space to change as you will have to remove your clothes to do so in order to prevent ripping them so you can actually have some clothes to come back too," he chuckled dryly at what seemed to be a memory and Ginny's lip quirked up at the corner. Hermione couldn't imagine anything more humiliating than having to walk back to the camp stark naked in front of her friends and family.

Draco waited for some of the chuckles from the gathering to die down before continuing. "After you change you will hear me howling and I don't really need to give you any more direction as you will listen to me anyway after you turn. You'll be able to understand each other and the language of wolves so you will know what I'm trying to tell you to do. You will be drawn to my howl and when everyone is present after the change then we will proceed from there. Any Questions?"

There was a moment of silence as the nerves started to really set in for everyone. This is it Hermione thought. "Okay then let's head out, do not start breaking off until I say so," Draco finished his speech and turned to walk into the surrounding woods. They all followed him with the reality of the situation causing absolute silence throughout the group. It was eerie Hermione thought, how they were all just soundlessly following Draco into the woods. She felt like every nerve in her body was buzzing with anticipation.

The trees and bushes grew wilder the further in they travelled until they were forced to walk in a single file. Hermione kept looking back at Luna who was treading quietly behind her and Luna kept shooting her reassuring smiles. Hermione had never been more grateful for Luna's calming presence before in her life. They all instinctively avoided the tangled roots and rocks that littered the floor of the forest like trained dancers and Hermione felt a small smugness at the fact that at least she wasn't excessively clumsy anymore. She heard Draco from the front of the line indicating that the people at the back of the line should break off to find somewhere to change. Hermione and Luna were at what was the midpoint of the line which Hermione appreciated as for some reason she wanted to keep distance between her and Draco. Every few meters he would give the same order to break off until it reached Hermione and Luna's turn and they stopped walking, gave each other one more reassuring look and went in opposite directions.

Hermione found a small space between a few trees and two large bushes to change. She stood awkwardly for a moment, not sure where to start. She looked up towards the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of the stars or the moon between the closely-knit treetops. She saw a sliver of moonlight before a sharp pain twisted in her stomach.

She gasped, holding her hands to her midsection like she had been punched. She then felt a hot trickle down her spine. She panicked and started ripping off her shoes and pants. She took her pants and underwear off and then her bra. She realised she should have taken her singlet off first but her routine of taking her bra off first was so imprinted in her mind that she just automatically did it. As she went to pull her singlet off her fingers burned and claws shot out of her fingertips. She screamed and tried to pull her singlet off which she managed after some struggling. She then felt her knees break and fell forward onto her arms crying out in pain. She heard panting and groaning as if from a distance before realising it was herself making all the nose. Pain rolled down her spine in waves and she was sweating profusely. Her bones were shifting and moving. She felt sick as she watched the bones in her arms move and transform into that reminiscent of a dog. She tried to breathe through the pain as she remembered in her notes Draco had mentioned that fear and holding back would just lead to an unnecessarily long and painful change. He had said she would have to let go and embrace it and it would be like ripping off a very painful band aid in that it would be over with quickly.

She focused her hearing onto the other bodies in the woods around her. She could hear the others changing, struggling and crying out. She then became aware of other sounds like the hooting of owls, the sounds of small animals running through the forest and the sound of water trickling nearby. She found that this concentration calmed her, and the change grew much faster. She felt rather than saw the fur burst out under her skin and she closed her eyes.

She was still panting when it was over, she was aware that her pants where not human pants but instead the deep rough pants of a big wild animal. She arched her back in a stretch, testing out her limbs and muscles and found that she felt no pain or weirdness that she thought she would. She opened her eyes and found that she could still see all the colours her human eyes could see. She could now smell rather than hear all the animals and people around her.

She trotted towards on opening in the small space she had gone into to change and had to wiggle her way out through the narrow bushes. Her wolf self-seemed to be bigger than her human self but not by much. She emerged from the bushes and tilted her head as she listened for the sounds of the nearest being. She smelt something familiar on the wind that swept through the trees and started in that direction curiously before she heard a deep, loud howl from her left that echoed and resonated into her very being. She heard other answering howls and raised her head to howl back before running in that direction. She didn't know why but she just had to find out who was making such a racket.

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