As the next full moon approached, Draco began to once again worry about his transformation. For the last few weeks, he'd been able to live his life as normal, but he couldn't just forget about what would happen on the night of the full moon. Although it was especially hard to forget about it when a few days before the full moon, Greyback appeared at the manor with Voldemort. Harry and Hermione were already at the manor, and they joined Draco as he settled down to talk to the werewolf about his upcoming transformation.
"I'm assuming you still want to embrace your inner wolf?" Greyback checked.
"Yes," Draco replied determinedly. Even though he was worried, he knew Greyback's way was the best way forward for him. "I don't want being a werewolf to ruin my life. I don't want to live in fear and shame like Lupin did."
"No-one should want that, the man was a disgrace to our kind," Greyback replied with a snarl. "Trust me, Draco, if you embrace this you'll be nothing like Lupin. You'll be strong and powerful, not a weak loser like he was."
"So what's going to happen?" Lucius asked. "We didn't want to have to lock Draco up."
"No, locking him up isn't the answer," Greyback said. "Only people who are afraid of their inner wolf lock themselves up."
"But I am afraid," Draco said quietly. "I don't want to hurt anyone I care about."
"And you won't," Greyback reassured him. "You won't be exposed to anyone you care about until you're in full control of your wolf side."
"And how long will that take?" Draco asked.
"I can't answer that, it all depends on you," Greyback replied. "Personally speaking, I was in full control after a few months. Don't fight this Draco, and in a few months you'll have perfect control."
"I won't fight it," Draco said. "But what happens on the full moon? I might be going to accept this, but I don't want to risk hurting anyone."
"And you won't," Greyback replied. "No-one is going to be here on the full moon. What I suggest is that the wards around the manor are reinforced, so neither of us can leave the grounds. The place seems big enough for us both to have plenty of room to roam free."
"We have plenty of space, and I can make sure the wards are intact," Lucius said. "But what about the manor? Will we have to lock it up?"
"Unless you want to risk it getting trashed, I would make sure it's impenetrable," Greyback said. "Even though I've got full control on my wolf form, I'm not house trained. Draco and I aren't pet dogs, we're deadly wolves, and house aren't really the best places for us."
"I can assure that the manor is impenetrable," Lucius said.
"Even so, I would suggest vacating the manor for the evening," Greyback said. "I don't foresee any problems, but I think Draco will find the whole thing easier if he's not having to worry about his family being in close proximity."
"I will," Draco confirmed. "At least if no-one's in the house, I know I can't hurt anyone."
"And then he can focus on learning to attune his human and wolf side," Greyback added.
"The manor will be empty," Lucius confirmed. As much as he would have liked to have stayed around for his son, he could understand why it would be better for Draco if he and Narcissa weren't in the vicinity.
"One more thing," Greyback said, turning to Draco. "As I'm sure you noticed, the transformation ruins what clothes you're wearing. So make sure you're wearing clothes you're not bothered about, or strip off before the full moon rises. And I would also place some clothes somewhere for easy access in the morning."
"I can sort some clothes and put them somewhere in the grounds," Draco confirmed.
Greyback stayed another half an hour, discussing plans for the wards with Lucius and Voldemort, before he left, promising Draco he'd be back on the day of the full moon. While Lucius left to get started on the ward alterations with Voldemort, Draco, Hermione and Harry retreated to Draco's bedroom.
"So are you nervous?" Harry asked his friend as he settled down on Draco's bed.
"Yes," Draco confirmed. "But I'm also excited at the same time. I know being scared isn't going to help. I need to learn to control my inner wolf and accept that my life is different now. At least this time I know what to expect."
"I guess that'll help," Hermione said. "But just remember, it doesn't matter if you can't get control of yourself straight away. We can make sure you don't hurt anyone until you've got control."
"But when I've got control, you expect me to hurt someone?" Draco questioned with a chuckle, reading between the lines of his girlfriend's words.
"I guess that depends on how many enemies we still have," Hermione replied with a shrug. "But I won't deny, you could be useful if we need to deal with the last few members of the Order."
"Just don't count on me just yet," Draco warned. "I may be rubbish at this whole wolf thing. I might be a pathetic wolf."
"You couldn't be pathetic if you tried," Hermione said, smiling at Draco as she wrapped her arms around him and connected their lips.
"Excuse me, I'm still here," Harry called, wincing as he spotted Draco's hands trailing down to Hermione's backside.
"As if we could forget," Hermione muttered, slowly breaking the kiss with Draco and giving her nephew a mock glare. "Don't you have a love life of your own to be furthering?"
"Daph's busy today," Harry replied with a grin as he jumped to his feet. Moving over to his aunt and best friend, he squeezed himself in between them and slung his arms over their shoulders. "It looks like you two have drawn the short straw. You've got me for the rest of the day."
"Lucky us," Draco drawled, although he wasn't really unhappy with Harry spending time with him and Hermione. After all, Harry spent plenty of time with Daphne, meaning he and Hermione always had plenty of time together.
C.O.T.D.
Draco stood on the balcony of his bedroom, watching as the sun slowly got lower in the sky. Greyback had arrived at the manor less than an hour ago and he and Lucius were currently double checking the wards around the manor. Greyback was also getting a feel of the property and just how much space he and Draco had to explore. Earlier that afternoon, Draco had placed a fresh set of clothes in his childhood treehouse, and he was now changed into an old t-shirt and a pair of jogging bottoms.
Spotting Greyback and his father heading towards the house, Draco knew it was time. Heading back into his bedroom, he securely locked the balcony doors before leaving his wand on his bedside table and heading downstairs to meet Greyback. When he arrived downstairs, Lucius and Narcissa were waiting for them, their bags at the bottom of the stairs. They were heading to spend the night with Voldemort and Beth.
"We need to be going," Lucius said to his son. "Once you're in the back garden, we'll activate the wards and you'll not be able to get back into the manor until we come back in the morning."
Draco nodded, already knowing how things were going to work. Knowing time was running out, he quickly gave his mother a hug and ordering her not to worry, he headed into the back garden to meet up with Greyback. As he left the house, he heard Lucius shut and lock the door behind him, and when he turned around he witnessed the manor briefly being coated in a purple glow as Lucius activated the wards that would keep him and Greyback out of the house.
"This is it," Greyback called, drawing Draco's attention back to the werewolf. "Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Draco replied. "Will we be able to communicate in wolf form?"
"I've never been able to communicate with another wolf," Greyback answered. "When we're wolves, we don't have the ability to talk. I suppose we could try and communicate by growls and howls, but I really don't think that would work."
"Can you understand a human in your wolf form?" Draco asked.
"Once you're in control of your wolf side," Greyback said. "As I said, when I'm in wolf form I've still got my human mind and emotions. You should be the same, so I'm guessing when you're ready to be around people you'll be able to understand them."
"I hope so," Draco replied. He was thinking about Hermione, and how much easier things would be if he could understand her in his wolf form. Of course, before they could try that out he needed to be certain that she would be in no danger from him.
"It's nearly time," Greyback said. "I'm sure you can feel the pull of the wild."
"I've had this strange feeling all day, and it's getting stronger," Draco confirmed.
"That's your inner wolf waiting to come out and play," Greyback said with a grin. "When it happens, Draco, embrace it. Do what comes natural and don't worry about the consequences. We're safe here, and you can't hurt anyone. Enjoy it."
"I intend to," Draco said, finally starting to feel excited rather than nervous.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get ready," Greyback said.
Before Draco could react, Greyback had his shirt unbuttoned. Seconds later the shirt was thrown to the floor and Greyback shimmed out of his shoes and trousers. Clearly the werewolf wasn't a fan of underwear, and Draco got a flash of his family jewels as he gathered his clothes and placed them on the manor's steps.
"I don't have the money to ruin clothes every month," Greyback said to a shocked Draco. "I need to save my clothes."
Draco nodded as he averted his eyes. In time, he would more than likely go down the stripping off route, but he hardly knew Greyback, so he wasn't getting naked in front of someone he'd only just met. Greyback found Draco's embarrassment funny and the blond clearly heard the werewolf laughing at him. However, he didn't have time to be embarrassed as he felt himself beginning to vibrate gently. Turning to Greyback, he found the werewolf standing with a massive grin on his face, as he stared up at the night sky where the moon was just making his appearance.
Giving himself over to the experience, Draco dismissed his worries as he felt the change overcome him. The previous month, he hadn't been at all aware of the change, but this time Draco could feel everything. He could feel his entire body changing shape and size, but he was pleased to find his mind stayed perfectly intact the entire time. Draco was so caught up with his change that he'd forgot about Greyback until he let out a loud howl.
Out of the corner of his eye, Draco spotted a large, black wolf running across the manor's grounds. Without even thinking about it, he took off in a sprint after the black wolf. His body moved instinctively, and Draco found himself enjoying the freedom of his new body. It felt so natural to be running around free and wild, and he wondered what he'd ever been so afraid of. He'd never felt more free in his entire life.
Draco's entire night ran pretty smoothly, with him staying in touch with his human mind for almost the entire time. There were a couple of times when his mind went wandering, and when it returned he found he had no memories of the last few minutes. However, there were just brief incidents and for the most part, Draco was fully aware of where he was and what he was doing.
Although, everything wasn't quite what he'd expected, and he'd been rather overwhelmed by his bloodthirst when he caught the scent of a rabbit. The incident with the rabbit was one of the times Draco lost track of himself, and when his mind did click back into place, he'd found himself with the corpse of a dead rabbit, he'd clearly hunted and killed. The incident proved that Draco wasn't quite in control of his bloodthirst, and he would still need time before he could be free to be around other people in his wolf form. But on a whole, he was pretty impressed with his first proper night as a werewolf, and it was a view Greyback shared when day broke and the pair turned back into their human selves.
"I have to admit, I'm impressed," Greyback admitted. "You're a natural wolf, Draco."
"Not entirely," Draco said, telling his mentor about the rabbit incident.
"You'll get used to that," Greyback said. "Although, that will be the key to knowing when you're getting full control. The time you can hunt and kill without your mind going wandering is the time you know your control is building up. From there we should be able to talk about slowly introducing people into our moonlight adventures."
"Slowly?" Draco frowned, not quite sure what Greyback was getting at.
"Yes, slowly," Greyback replied. "We can't just suddenly have you going from being isolated to having lots of people around. We need to do this slowly, so that you'll not hurt anyone. But we'll talk about that in a few months. For now, we'll continue like this for the next few full moons."
"I'll be back at school for the next one," Draco pointed out with a frown. He'd never given a thought about school, and how this was going to change things for him at Hogwarts.
"I'm sure you can come home for the night," Greyback said with a shrug. "Now what time are your parents due home, I'm starving."
"I know what you mean, I'm famished. But my parents should be back soon," Draco replied as he checked his watch.
Settling down near to the back door of the manor, Draco and Greyback continued to talk about their night. The more he talked, the more Draco realised just how much he enjoyed himself. Something told him, he was going to enjoy being a werewolf. It certainly wasn't the curse Remus Lupin and other wolves led the wizarding world to believe.