I must apologise once again for this very irregular update, I was waiting for inspiration and it came in the form of someone who reviewed one of my old (horrible) stories and was so sweet it really touched me to see the ride my story took them on because it was exactly how I feel when I read great books. It got me thinking that maybe I'm not as bad as I think I am haha. Also, it was brought to my attention that I have switched between calling George Fred a few times and I wanted to apologise for that too. In this story Fred has already died, I will try to make sure it doesn't happen again!
Her body naturally swerved to avoid low-hanging branches and the gnarled roots of the ancient trees. Somewhere in the back of her mind she could feel normal Hermione and how in awe she was of her grace and agility. She was gaining speed and when she turned her head, she could see a blur of greens and earthy tones fly past.
She was aware of other bodies following just small distances away from her in the darkness, hidden by trees or separated from her by bushes, however she was focused on her goal of reaching whoever had been howling and found that she had no desire to stop and inspect the others. Her fur stood up on end when she heard another commanding howl from directly ahead of her which confirmed that she was running in the correct direction. She leaped to avoid a rather large fallen tree trunk and burst through bushes behind it and found she had emerged into a clearing devoid of anything other than grass for about 20 metres in each direction, somehow forming a perfect circle. No matter what edge she looked at she saw that the clearing descended straight back into the thick wildness of the ancient woods.
Her attention wasn't on the woods however enchanting they might be, her attention was on the silver blonde wolf standing in the middle of the clearing, she was immediately struck by the beauty of his fur which looked similar to the silk she had seen in Draco's room. She was also struck by how huge he was, even by wolf standards he was an extremely large wolf however she understood that this was commonplace for a true alpha. Other wolves has started to burst into the clearing from behind her and to both of her sides and yet when Draco turned to look at her and made eye contact she felt certain that she was safe as long as she was with him and so he didn't turn to confront any of the wolves. She mused idly that Draco's eyes hadn't changed with his transformation and looked eerily human on his animal form.
Draco huffed impatiently as more wolves burst into the clearing, obviously impatient as he usually was, and Hermione snorted at the trademark Malfoy characteristic which earned her an inquisitive cocked head from Draco. She assumed this was supposed to be the wolf equivalent to a raised eyebrow. Finally she could not hear anymore sounds of paws travelling towards them and Draco took a few steps towards her.
She turned slightly from side to side to confirm that the wolves were all sitting in a crowd facing Draco. He stopped a few metres short of them and eyed them all intensely. Hermione was getting impatient and sat back on her haunches, resigned to relax while Draco finished performing whatever kind of assessment he was performing. Draco travelled to the wolf near to Hermione's right side and was trotting in circles around the wolf who Hermione noticed had golden fur. He was sniffing the wolf and cocking his head in thought.
Hermione was getting sick of this game, she was bored. Her nose suddenly picked up a sweet scent and she perked up at this. She felt her mouth fill with saliva. Her stomach rumbled rather loudly and Draco's ears swivelled at the sound before he turned to look at her. She whined quietly that she was hungry. Draco turned and surveyed the group once more before turning and barking a few times to indicate that he was done with their inspection. He turned and ran from the clearing in the direction the smell was coming from and they all bound to their feet and chased after him.
Draco ended up navigating them to a herd of deer and everyone seemed to understand the strategy without needing to talk about it. Hermione felt like a part of her body and mind already knew these old pack strategies for taking down large prey and that all she had to do was tap into her instincts and she just knew what to do. Now that they were all in wolf form it also became clear to everyone where their position in the hierarchy of the pack lay. The pack was hunkered behind some bushes that hid them from the deer who were either grazing or sleeping. There was a sort of formation they assembled themselves into and like everything else it also relied on your stance in the hierarchy of the pack.
The wolves lowest in the hierarchy were closest to the deer since they would shoot out of the bushes first and chase the deer. After the deer started to tire out, more wolves would rush in from the sides to help direct which way the deer would run by limiting its options. They would then steer the deer towards the Alpha and the Beta's who would be lying in wait to ambush the deer. The Beta's would take the dangerous job of going for the deer's stomach whilst risking getting kicked with a hoof whilst the Alpha would wait for the deer to rear back and expose its neck so that the Alpha could deal the fatal blow.
Hermione noticed that Draco approached the golden wolf and nudged it with his muzzle in a move to indicate that the wolf should follow him. Hermione felt a terrible flare of jealousy rip through her body. She was angry that Draco was so interested in the other wolf. Almost as if sensing her jealousy, Draco turned and locked eyes with her. She huffed angrily and turned away from him, curling into an angry ball with her head facing away from him.
She heard a wolf approaching her and growled a warning that she was not in the mood to be disturbed. She felt a soft nudge at her back and huffed louder, inching away from the nudge. She then felt a much stronger nudge against her back which pushed her almost onto her feet. She was about to turn and snarl at the offender when she caught the scent of honey and freshly dug earth and caught herself. She turned and faced Draco who indicated with his muzzle that she should pass him and join the golden wolf. She considered him for a moment before heading past him. As she passed, her ear swivelled towards him and she heard him take a deep inhale of her scent. When she reached the golden wolf, she turned back to Draco to await further instructions, but he was still standing where she had left him, staring into the forest with his fur all puffed up anxiously. She yipped quietly to get his attention. He shook his head and turned to join them. He walked past them, brushing against Hermione slightly as he went. The golden wolf and Hermione fell into a steady trot behind him side by side.
Hermione turned her head while they were walking through the forest and noticed the golden wolf turn to return her look. She felt a jolt of familiarity as she looked into the silvery eyes. She took a tentative sniff of the wolf just to be sure and smelt the familiar scent of wildflowers and rosemary that she had come to associate with Luna over the last few months. Hermione hummed happily, her tail wagging eagerly as she nudged Luna with her shoulder. Luna licked the side of her face sloppily, her tail joining Hermione's in it's excessive wagging.
Draco came to a stop abruptly in front of a small space clear of rocks and mostly clear of tree roots. He hunkered down on the edge of it behind some bushes and turned to look at Hermione and Luna as if he was exasperated that they hadn't joined him yet. Hermione and Luna suddenly came to the same conclusion that Draco had selected them because he recognised, they were Beta's and thus they were meant to hunker down in front of him to join him in the ambush.
They took their places and waited. Hermione felt the thrill of the hunt run through her veins. It was almost painful to sit and wait for the deer to come to her as all her sense screamed to run, stalk, and rip her prey apart. She understood suddenly why it was so important to stay clear of humans when they transformed.
In the end they managed to take one deer down with minor injuries, one being that Hermione was certain she'd have a bruised back leg where one of the deer's hoofs had clipped her slightly. They waited for Draco to eat his fill first before eating their share and then letting other's take turns. Afterwards they all headed back to the clearing they had met Draco in, and all proceeded to either nap or tousle with each other playfully. Hermione laid down in a content ball, feeling warm and full of her kill. At some point in time she noticed a ginger wolf slinking around the edge of the clearing in the woods and then after looking for it she noticed glimpses of other coloured wolves and understood that the originally pack was watching over them during their first change to make sure everything went smoothly.
She napped for a few minutes before a brown wolf with spotting of red fur pulled on her leg playfully and had tousled with her goofily for a while and Hermione had been more than happy to indulge George for a while. She tousled and played with George, Luna and Angelina for an hour or so before they grew tired and curled up together to keep warm as they fell asleep. Hermione wasn't too tired yet but when she looked around, she noted most of the wolves had fallen asleep. She turned her head up to the sky and gazed at the moon. She felt the strangest urge to howl but knew her friends would never cease teasing her if they caught her literally howling at the moon. How much more stereotypical can you get? She thought to herself.
She saw that Draco, like her was sitting up as if watching over them. He saw her watching him and got up, turned and walked into the woods. Hermione, confused by his actions, followed him. When she got to the edge of the clearing where the woods began, she turned and looked back at her pack, her need to protect them conflicting with her curiosity about Draco. He reappeared from the darkness of the forest then to indicate Ginny and the other wolves with his head as if to tell her that her pack had plenty of protection for now.
She accepted this and followed him into the forest. Suddenly he stopped and turned to look at her of his shoulder. She stared at him, confused at whether he was trying to tell her something. His eye's softened and he turned towards her suddenly, raised haunches and his head to the ground, wiggling his rear playfully. Hermione would have laughed if she could of, Draco wanted to play. She instantly mimicked his stance and then he sprung and wrestled her to the ground. She wasn't going to let him win that easily though, so she turned and grabbed his front left leg in her mouth and tugged on it until it slipped in the dirt and he fell to his left. She pushed her body off the floor and whirled so that she was now the victor standing over him.
She then turned and bolted. He was it now. She could hear him following closely as she zigzagged, dipped, leaped over obstacles trying to lose him. She saw some bushes up ahead on the right of her intended path and looked over her shoulder to ensure she was out of eyesight for him. Then she dove into the bushes and waited, belly to the floor. He ran straight past her hiding spot and she burst out and bolted back the way they had come. She heard his make a surprised bark before turning and following her again. A few minutes later she tried to repeat her manoeuvre, but he was ready this time and turned and caught her leg when she jumped out of her hiding spot. They tousled for a little before he, victorious, had her pinned. She let out a disappointed growl and he snorted happily.
Hermione realised suddenly that they were really close to each other. She reached out a paw to his neck as if she couldn't control herself and pawed at the front of his chest, feeling how soft his fur was. He leaned closer to her, eyes locking intensely. Hermione felt like she could see a storm in his grey/blue eyes and had the sense that something was about to happen. He leaned closer and Hermione felt her heart rate increase rapidly. They were practically muzzle to muzzle now, inhaling each other's pants. There was a change that came across his eyes, but she had no time to register it because then he licked her across her entire face so quickly that she flinched from the movement being so fast. She made a frustrated sound as she raised her paws up over her face to attempt to wipe his saliva off her face. He gave her a goofy look, letting his tongue hang out and made a sound his in chest that resembled a chuckle and she snorted at his expression.
He let her up after that and they headed back to the clearing. On the way there they paused at a pond to drink some water. Hermione had a hearty drink but when she raised her head she saw her reflection and froze. She was a dark brown with streak of lighter brown on the top of her head. Her paws were also a lighter brown, giving the impression she was wearing socks. She had retained her golden brown eyes and her small stature as she was tiny in comparison to Draco. She also noted the blood spotting her muzzle from her hunt earlier. She saw that Draco dipped his face into the water, shaking his head lightly to clean his face of the blood and she followed his example. She sat and stared at her reflection for what felt like a long time just contemplating that fact that she was a wolf. Draco sat with her silently, staring at his own reflection the entire time. Finally he nudged her to indicate they should keep moving and not too far ahead was the clearing.
For some reason she couldn't shake the tight anxious feeling in her chest that had grown there when Draco had leaned his face close to hers back in the forest. Why had he been so nervous? Why did she feel like there was some kind of moment that had passed between them? And why was she so frustrated that he had ruined that perceived 'moment' with his goofiness?
She found her friends and curled up to them prepared to drift to sleep while thinking about all she had learned that night. She laid awake for a while processing all the information as well as she could with her wolf brain.
Hermione had learnt that night that even though she had not paid attention to the way everyone she knew had smelt when they were human, she instinctively recognised their scents in wolf form and was able to discern who was who. She has learnt that she was a Beta since Draco had chosen her to accompany him in the hunt. She had also learnt that she was almost unable to resist the urge to kill her prey earlier but had ultimately left it up to Draco out of respect. She had also learnt that Draco trusted her, why else would he choose her to play with? Her wolf side hummed in happiness at the fact that the Alpha had chosen her.
That morning she learnt that they would wake up human and more importantly, naked. She was grateful she was an early bird because that meant there were less people to see her naked body as she ran into the woods, rather clumsily, to collect her clothes.
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