Hermione woke up for a second time and this time she knew exactly where she was. She could just make out the Malfoy Manor peeking out from the top of the trees in the forest she was currently in. She was huddled at the base of a tree, her hands chained to the trunk, her wand nowhere to bee seen. There was no possible way of escape and no one would hear her cries this deep in the forest. She shifted and looked through the branches above her to see the sun start to set. She had no idea why Malfoy had brought her from the Manor to the grounds. He was going to kill her anyway, so why did the location matter?
A calloused hand roughly shoved a wand at her throat. Her brown eyes lit up with fury. Fenrir Greyback. With her wand.
"Enjoying the sunset?"
Hermione simply glared at him.
"I plan on staying right here with you so we can watch the moon together," he snarled, gripping her chin harder, so that she whimpered as his nails left half-moon slivers. Blood started trickling into the small crevices.
"Monster!" Hermione spat, and kicked out her legs as far as they would go before the chains snapped her back towards the dirt. Greyback snorted and grabbed both her legs, holding her helpless and slightly suspended in midair.
"You think I'm a monster now, wait until the moon rises. But you know all about moonlight-monsters don't you, Mrs. Lupin?"
"Remus is nowhere near the foul beast you are!"
"You won't be singing the same tune when he bites you tonight. If you're lucky, he or I may kill you."
That put the final puzzle piece in place for her. She had completely forgotten about the full moon. Malfoy didn't want to kill her himself, he wanted Greyback or Remus to finish the job for him.
"Remus," her voice faltered slightly, "will not touch me, even as the wolf."
Greyback let out a deep, howling laugh. "You say that now! He only married you because of that law, he does not love you."
"Then why do you assume that he will come and save me?" She hoped she sounded braver than she felt. She prayed Greyback did not have Remus captured as well. Even so, Remus wouldn't be foolish enough to save me tonight. Hopefully.
"He will not save you, of that you can be sure. Either I will kill both of you or you will have to kill him."
He pushed the wand a bit more forcefully into her neck and Hermione twitched uncomfortably. She was being stretched between a tree and a Death Eater as the moon climbed slowly higher in the dark sky and was becoming increasingly more desperate and annoyed.
"I can – hardly kill anyone – while you – have – my wand." She choked out.
"Well, my pup and I can hardly hold it as wolves, can we?"
"He's not – your pup!"
"I made him what he is! It is thanks to me that he is far stronger than a human. And like me, he will show you no mercy. So if he kills me, make your choice. It will be your life – or his."
" I will not hurt him."
He gave her an animalistic grin and then suddenly cast his gaze from her face to the nearby bush. Hermione heard it; something in the push was rustling. Greyback dropped Hermione's wand at the edge of her feet. She ignored the slight pain as the wand left it's suffocating position on her throat. A squirrel scampered out of the bush. Greyback chuckled coldly and rammed his foot down onto it. There was a crack as its spine broke, and it the otherwise silent night air, it sounded like a gunshot. Hermione shuddered, and pulled her knees into her chest.
Greyback picked up the squirrel by the tail, threw it in front of Hermione, and then disappeared into the bushes. The moon was minutes away from rising; the purplish hues of the fading sun quickly turning darker and darker. Despite the twinkling stars, the night could not have felt more ominous. She struggled to kick her wand closer to her. She tried Nonverbal spells, nudging it with her toes, and ended up screaming at, willing it to just move towards her. She found herself hysterically wishing for a book. Books always knew what to do. They had the information, they had a calming, comfortable presence in her life.
Her mother and father had read them to her when she was upset as a child. She had continued the practice during school, despite her classmates teasing. The books helped her escape the stress of school work and Voldemort's threat.
Hermione would read to Remus when he was weak after the transformations; even on occasion she would read to him in wolf form. They could not afford the wolfsbane potion, nor buy it legally, so Hermione would sneak down to where Remus kept himself caged up, and sit just out of reach of the wolf. The wolf would lay down by the front of the cage and watch her with the large, piercing amber eyes. Hermione could have sworn the wolf knew who she was a why she was there because when she slipped away before the moon waned, he would let out a piteous howl. Remus never remembered his memories as a wolf and Hermione never told him. He would have been furious to know. Ever since their third-year, Remus' fear of himself being a danger to others increased exponentially. If he knew Hermione was even on the basement stairs when he transformed he would be upset.
A large howl echoed through the forest. A flurry of disturbed black silhouettes of bats and birds went flying out of the trees above her, their wings covering up the sound of four paws approaching. Greyback was fully transformed. He was a massive, hulking seven foot beast covered with coarse grey fur. He was identical to Lupin in his wolf form, except for the eyes. Lupin's were somehow warmer, a honey colored amber that were wolfish and fierce while still clinging to his human personality. Greyback's were gleaming yellow, the same as those in muggle horror movies that were the last thing the useless beauty saw before they were attacked.
Greyback bent down and tossed the squirrel into the air and caught it in his mouth. His teeth ripped it apart in no time, spattering Hermione with warm flecks of blood and splinters of bone. He started to approach her as she kicked and struggled, but with no luck. The werewolf knelt on both her legs, and his weight was no match for her human strength. He knelt in closer, his mouth opening wide, and Hermione bit back vomit at the stench of dead squirrel and the sight of squirrel remains.
Greyback's ears suddenly flicked backwards. Another werewolf came running from Hermione's right and knocked Greyback off of Hermione. She caught a flash of familiar amber eyes. Still stuck to a tree however, and with Greyback was still mobile she watched helplessly at the two werewolves locked in mortal combat.
Greyback regained his posture and stood up to his full height. Lupin imitated him, and the two beasts circled each other menacingly. It was almost comical, like two old western stars in an old muggle shoot out. The wolves both let out ear-piercing howls, not of pain or desperation like Hermione usually heard, but a powerful war cry.
They both suddenly charged at each other, knocking into a tree; fragments cascaded down upon the pair. The two became an indistinguishable tangle of furry limbs with the occasional glimpse of amber and gold eyes and the whitish-yellow of teeth and nails visible in the moon's dim light.
Hermione sat silently, afraid that her cry would attract Greyback, or even Lupin back to her. Every thought was centered on her fear that Remus would be murdered and she would be sitting there uselessly watching. She couldn't even distinguish between the two werewolves; most of the time they were entangled so closely together in the heat of the fight.
Unexpectedly, Greyback raised his elongated snout towards Hermione and ran away from his battle Lupin and started to charge toward Hermione. Lupin retaliated and with one long swipe, his claws cut deeply down Greyback's shoulder, drawing a considerable amount of blood. Enraged, Greyback turned and sank his teeth into the other's wolf's shoulder. He cruelly yanked his teeth out of Lupin's flesh and left the wound shining crimson, drenching the fur. A scream rose out of Hermione as Lupin whimpered and then felt sideways, one of his paws scratching at his wound.
Greyback turned his yellow gaze back unto Hermione once more and drew so closely that she could see his muzzle matted with blood. Despite being previously unsuccessful, she launched out at Greyback with both feet, and this time she hit him square in the chest. He reeled backwards in front of Lupin. Lupin quickly rose and picked up Greyback with inhuman strength and threw him against the nearest tree. He lay motionless.
Hermione watched Lupin with a new fear in her eyes. She was sure Remus would kill himself before he harmed her, but as a wolf she wasn't as sure. She fervently hoped Greyback was not telling the truth about werewolf mates. Lupin padded over to the tree she was chained to and started ramming into the tree trunk. He did this several times until the tree finally gave way to the wolf's strength, and cracked in two. Hermione closed her eyes and pulled her face close to her chest. The braches whipped across her face as the tree started to fall. It fell with an earth-shattering thud and Hermione clumsily stood up, pulling her chained arms above the stump.
"Thanks Remus," she whispered.
He watched her with those eerie eyes, and then his ears pricked up. He dashed to her, shoved her down with his to front paws and then continued to run past her, where an irate Greyback was rising from the ground. Taking the opportunity of Greyback being distracted, Hermione crawled awkwardly on her knees to the area she had last seen her wand. She stood up and felt around for it with her foot until she came across it. Kneeling down, she bent over at an odd angle in order to grab and freed herself from the manacles.
Massaging her wrists, she got up with much more balance and cautiously approached the still battling werewolves. She raised her wand, but hesitated, afraid to hit the wrong one. She sent red sparks at the jumbled pair and both growled fiercely and sprang apart.
"Stupefy!"
A shot of light hit Greyback in the chest, but he still remained upright and began to cautiously move forward, stalking his prey. Hermione tried the spell unsuccessfully several more times all in vain. Lupin was watching fearfully from a distance. Desperate, she shot a burst of flame at Greyback. The flame licked the grass at his feet and started to ascend his legs. Desperately yowling he fled, leaving trails of gently smoking grass.
Hermione walked around, eyeing Lupin carefully. He was lying on his side panting, his eyes half closed. She put out all the small patches of fire. The last thing she needed was the fire to consume the forest while they were in it. Once she was done, she cast a few simple protection charms to prevent the unlikely return of Greyback.
"Expecto Patronum!"
A shimmering silver otter burst out of her wand.
"I found Remus, we are in the woods behind the Malfoy Manor."
The patrounus took off into the night, and Hermione sadly watched it leave, taking the protective light with it. Lupin let out a pitiful whimper. Deciding that he was in no condition to attack her and most likely wouldn't anyway, Hermione sat down next to the wolf. She couldn't tell the extent of his injuries between the fur, the dirt, and the poor light, so she illuminated her wand. Lupin opened his eyes and pounced forward, snapping her wand in two. The light went out and a satisfied werewolf lay back down on the ground.
"Okay! I guess now I can't help you! There's not much I can do now I suppose, I can't leave here with you, and there's still Death Eaters around I'm sure. Oh, this is hopeless."
She resignedly accepted that there was nothing she could do further and after a few more minutes, she was dozing lightly, Lupin still watching her to make sure she did not try to cast any more spell. She awakened to what felt like a short time later to human like howls. The moon was vanishing, and Lupin was transforming back into a human. Awful, heart-wrenching cries issued from him as hair sprang back into his chest, his bone and face structure shrinking. The snaps of bone breaking and reforming were too much for Hermione who turned away with revulsion and pity. He had always forbidden her to watch him transform, and now she knew why, it was absolutely horrifying.
When the screams stopped, Hermione turned around. Remus Lupin lay naked, curled in a fetal position, and breathing heavily. He had massive gashes running across his legs, chest, arms, and face. The deeper ones were still trickling blood although some of the smaller ones had clotted. His bottom lip looked almost torn away. Dirt was all over him: in his face, his cuts, and his hair. The spot Hermione was most worried about was his shoulder where Greyback had bitten him, but when she looked it had disappeared. I'm positive that he got bit there! What happens when a werewolf gets bitten again by another werewolf?
"Remus?"
He looked up at her feebly.
"You didn't get bit? I didn't hurt you?"
Hermione laughed weakly.
"You're lying there all bloodied up and you're concerned about me? I'm fine, you never touched me, you saved me actually."
"Greyback?"
"Umm…I he seemed impervious to all my other spells so I set him on fire once you had freed me. I set up a few protection wards and sent out my patronus."
Remus chuckled and then groaned.
"Oh! I'm sorry! Here I am talking and…I could have healed that; but you snapped my wand," she gestured sadly at the pieces that lay next to him.
"I'll buy you a new one. I'm so sorry I-"
"It wasn't your fault, you thought I was going to curse you like I did to Greyback. And we should get you out of the dirt before those cuts get even more infected."
Hermione gently lifted moved Remus so he was sitting in her lap with his head resting on her collarbone. He inhaled sharply as she accidently touched one of his cuts.
"I don't have anything to cover you with, I'm afraid," Hermione said apologetically, "this is the best I can do. I'm not a hospital bed, obviously, but at least it's not dirt."
She started stroking his hair. He was going to tell her off; tell her he was fine, and didn't need to fuss over him like she always did, but he gave up, a small comfort in this haze of pain was worth a little of his pride. He eventually fell into a fitful sleep, his head resting sideways on Hermione's neck. She eventually fell asleep.
A/N: This was originally posted as Angel of the Dawn part 2, and I finally stopped being lazy and merged them together.
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