Chapter 17: It's Me

An overcasting of clouds was blocking the full moon from view the following night. Ron wasn't exactly sure where this stretch of countryside Lavender had Side-Along Apparated him to was, but it featured wide open spaces and very few structures in any direction – perhaps a farm or two here or there. In the moment that he was getting his bearings, Rose and Scorpius appeared in thin air beside him and Lavender.

"The Scottish Highlands," Lavender revealed, to explain where they were. Mostly expansive farmland, rolling hills. I come here so I don't have to risk encountering people, while also finding reliable sources of food. She-wolf's gotta eat, you know." She actually smiled and winked at Ron.

"Have you ever….?" Ron measured his words as delicately as possible. I was a level of tact that two decades of marriage to Hermione had taught him. "Have you ever thought of using the tunnel under the Whomping Willow at Hogwarts? That's where Remus always used to go."

"I wouldn't want to risk encountering or harming any students who might be out of bed," Lavender explained. "Plus, that tunnel and the Shrieking Shack have always had a bit of a draw for daredevils."

"Except you wouldn't be a danger to students or any humans, so long as you've taken your Wolfsbane Potion!" Rose pointed out, sounding like a clone of her mother. Her blue eyes appraised Lavender with anxious concern. "You have taken your Wolfsbane Potion, haven't you?"

Lavender nodded. She bit her lip. "I don't trust myself," she confessed honestly. "Not to hurt people, even when under Wolfsbane. I never have thanks to the potion, but even after all these years…. It's traumatizing to feel like you're a monster, even when you're allowed to keep your human mind while in wolf form."

"You mean it never gets any easier?" Scorpius asked her gently. "Even after all these years?"

Lavender smiled sadly and shook her head. "Never." She turned her head and glanced anxiously to the clouds. "Hurry. You guys should find a good place to hide!"

"I'm not leaving you, Lavender!" Ron stated fiercely.

She beamed at him. "I know you won't. But I want you and the children to be safe."

"You could never hurt me!" Ron told her, even as he huddled Rose and Scorpius near him and began to hustle them backwards a decent distance away.

Lavender didn't answer – she simply bestowed on Ron such a warm smile that Rose suspected that, if her dad and this brave lady didn't eventually go for a shag in bed, then she was the Headmaster of Hogwarts. The idea of her father with someone new, someone other than her mother, was still jarring, but not as much as it had once been.

The clouds parted, revealing the full moon. Ron and the kids registered the moment that Lavender saw it. Her pupils dilated in the moonlight and her body suddenly stiffened. She doubled over.

Ron felt a powerful urge, against all rational instinct, to run towards her, not away from her. He felt helpless, and as much as it pained him, he drew his daughter and son-in-law back further still. "We'd better stand back…."

"You've seen this before?" Rose whimpered, watching Lavender with pained eyes.

"Once," her father nodded. "I was even younger than you, too. Just a third year. Seeing Remus…" he couldn't finish.

"Teddy's dad?" Rose whispered. He nodded.

About a hundred yards in front of them, Lavender was sinking to her knees in the windswept grass, still hunched over. By the light of the moon, they could see fur sprouting along her delicate, porcelain skin. She suddenly lifted her head, which was at the moment still human and a low, baritone bellow suddenly exploded from her:

"RUN! Get away from me!"

Ron and his kids remained frozen where they stood.

"Um…. Ron?" Scorpius asked his father-in-law. "What happens if she does try to attack us?"

Ron gulped. "Then you grab onto me and we Disapparate immediately." He felt horrible that this would be his last-resort action, leaving Lavender behind, but she would want him to keep the children safe if something went wrong.

Lavender was on all fours, her haunches lifted to the sky. The position wasn't at all unlike one that Ron and Hermione had tried when having sex, and the thought of making love to Lavender in such a position, rubbing his cock against her well-developed arse, suddenly aroused Ron. He shook himself awake. Now was not the time to be having such lustful thoughts.

Lavender's round, lovely face was elongating, and a snout formed. Hair follicles sprang up along her skin, transforming her finally into a full-fledged she-wolf. The she-wolf let out a few grunts, then lifted its eyes, trapping Ron and the children in its stare.

The wolf's eyes were the exact same shade of blue as Lavender's.

The she-wolf bit and scratched at herself, but she didn't move to charge the three humans watching from the shadows.

Scorpius winced. "I've always been of the general opinion that self-harm can't be good, for men nor beast!"

"Don't call her a beast!" Ron snapped, unnecessarily harshly, and he cringed as soon as he'd said it. Scorpius had just been making an observation; he shouldn't be too hard on the lad.

Rose hesitantly peeked from around her father's shoulder. "Well, it certainly looks like the Wolfsbane is working…"

Ron watched the she-wolf whom he knew contained a brave, beautiful woman within. Lavender was huddled into herself, crouched alone on this windswept plain. His heart twinged for her.

He decided something. "I'm going out there."

"Are you mad?!" Scorpius bawled.

"Daddy!... Daddy, for goodness's sake, don't do it!" Rose squeaked, whimpered.

Ron ignored his daughter, though he was amply cautious in his approach. Ironically, he actually remembered being scared out of his wits the night that he had seen Remus transform, and Hermione had approached the man-turned werewolf in a similar way.

Ron didn't stop until he was mere feet away from the she-wolf.

"Lavender?" he called softly.

The she-wolf responded to that name, her blue eyes lifting up and freezing Ron in its stare.

Ron smiled hesitantly. "Don't be scared. I'm not going to run. Not from you." He nodded slowly. "I know you won't hurt me. I believe you in, Lav. I believe in you, love."

He stayed awake all night, talking to Lavender, giving her confidence and telling her, over and over again, how much he believed in her. It wasn't quite whispering sweet nothings, but Ron still gave the one-way conversation that kind of tenor. He told Lavender how proud he was of her, how in awe he was of her. That she wasn't a monster.

Gray finally began to light the countryside. Glancing over his shoulder, Ron saw how Rose and Scorpius had actually fallen asleep in the underbrush behind them. He lifted his head to the heavens and took in the pinks of sunrise beginning to poke out and join the gray.

"Nearly there, love…. Nearly there."

It suddenly occurred to him that he had never before witnessed a werewolf transform back into a human. He wondered what it was like. He hoped, for Lavender's sake, that it wasn't as agonizing as the reverse.

Sunrise proper broke out over the horizon. Little rays of sunlight dotted the countryside.

The moment that this golden warmth hit Lavender…

The she-wolf began to rise into the air, until she was suspended a couple of feet off the ground. Ron stood and stepped back, watching intently. Behind him, he sensed his daughter awaken just in time to witness the spectacle, nudging her husband out of sleep.

A large paw reached towards the sunlight. Ron stared: the hair, the fur was disappearing! A hindquarter paw was similarly extended, the fur fading and the claws retracting, to reveal a human foot and toes.

The she-wolf spun faster, and an early morning breeze rippled through her illustrious mane. Then the fur melted away, the snout collapsed and with a final blinding flash of light, the face of a woman appeared.

Ron and the children watched, transfixed, as Lavender's body was gently lowered back to lie in the tall grass. Ron immediately ran to her, reaching out a hand to brush her gently.

"Lavender? Lav, can you hear me?"

Lavender Brown, returned to her human form, slowly sat up in the grass. She turned, her gaze fixating on Ron and her mouth agape, as though she couldn't quite believe that he had stayed all night with her.

Ron saw tears come to her eyes, and she smiled weakly. "It's….. it's me….."

Ron half-laughed and they embraced. Then, before he could second-guess it, before he could even give a damn that his daughter and son-in-law were watching, he drew this amazing woman close and kissed her.

He felt Lavender's lips part for his as an astonished gasp was torn from her throat. Then, her fingers wove and fisted themselves in the man's long red locks and closing her eyes dreamily, she happily kissed him back, purring in pleasure.

"Hmmmmm…."

Ron and Lavender sensuously broke apart as Rose and Scorpius approached. Meeting Rose's eyes, Lavender flushed furiously, as it dawned on her she had just been kissing her father. Glancing down to the ground, Rose gave a soft nod.

Ron and Lavender turned back to each other, smiling into each other's eyes, and they both giggled.

"I love you."

Ron blurted it out without forethought; from the way her blue eyes widened in amazement, it was clear that Lavender had heard him. She smiled back weakly.

"Ron, I…. I love you too." They lightly kissed again, chastely.

"Oh. And Ron?"

"Yes, love?"

"Um…. I'm naked. Naked as a wee babe!" Lavender's cheeks turned about the same color as her lover's hair.

Despite this, she, Ron, Rose and Scorpius still had a good laugh.