authorsnote: I honestly had a blast writing this and I'm so pleased to be keeping up with monthly updates!

I do hope you enjoy, do review, I live for them!

songrecs: I'm in love with you - the 1975 (honestly just harrys head around hermione perma atm lol)

"You asked James?" Sirius said in disbelief, a laugh sounding almost like a bark leaving his lips, even Lupin looked amused behind him, a Peter was smiling too, "That's like the blind leading the blind!"

"Hey!" Harry knew then some clobbering was going on, as he sighed and looked at his copy of Qudditch Through The Ages, he hoped it would comfort him, but nothing, two nights and not one opportunity (or rather a couple he'd chickened out of, Gryffindor courage deserting him for a few days), to talk to Hermione.

Or rather admit his undying love for her that he himself had just discovered.

Fuck.

"Asked James what?" Hermione interjected as James sat back down, tossing a hand through his hair as Sirius continued to laugh.

Though, he was a good friend as Harry stumbled wide eyed, and Sirius interjected, clearly giving Harry a reprieve by swooping a shrieking Hermione over his shoulder, promising to dump her out the window for not letting him copy her Potions homework.

"You've got to ask her mate" James said in a conspiratorial whisper, glancing over at Hermione who was telling Sirius she'd shove his homework somewhere if he dared try to copy off of her.

"I…" Harry stumbled, again face him off against Voldemort, or Acromantula, or really anything else, and he'd muddle through it with a determined expression, but admitting his feelings for Hermione? He didn't even know where to start.

Only it was worse because he did know where to start, he knew Hermione and he knew she'd be happiest if he were just straight with her, upfront and honest, Hermione had always valued honesty, as he did, and he knew that was how she would want to hear it, not any subterfuge or anything sneaky, just honesty and being straight forward.

He knew what to do, he knew really, he could do it, he was just terrified of what would come of doing it.

James had said their friendship would persevere, but Harry was terrified by the idea of it being awkward, uncomfortable; he and Hermione weren't and never had been like that, they'd always been so open with each other, Harry couldn't stand the idea of that going away.

"She'll find out" James said with a glance at Sirius who was dodging Hermione with laughter, "It's a miracle neither of you realised it yet"

"As oblivious as each other" Lupin chimed in with a grin and Harry bit down on his lip. He knew they were all right, he was already acting a little weird around Hermione and she was picking up on it, worried about him, even with excuses she saw through them, he knew he needed to tell her.

"Tonight" He said with a nod, looking deep into the fire, half wishing the old Sirius he knew would pop up into it to give him some advice, it hadn't always been sage advice from his Godfather, but he'd always appreciated it. "I'll do it tonight"

"Good on you" James said with a clap on his shoulder, "I hope you have better luck than me" He mocked but Harry did see him shoot a longing glance at Lily (which remained as weird to Harry as it had the day he'd first seen it, and a little grossed out; they were his parents after all, even if they didn't know it), who glared back, shot another searching glance at Harry before turning away.

"I don't think anyone could have worse luck than you Prongs" Wormtail joked, and they all laughed.

"What's funny?" Hermione asked rounding up on them, and they all burst out laughing again as Sirius grabbed her homework from her hand, starting another round of screeching.

Honestly it was tradition at this point.

His plan (which he promised himself he would not flake on), was slightly inconvenienced as come dinnertime Remus made a pained smile and told them all he'd be visiting his sick Mother tonight and would have to leave within the hour.

For a moment things were normal for Harry as he and Hermione shared a look. They both knew that excuse, they both knew the reason Remus would be making that excuse. Still, they said nothing, and both just nodded, as though it were normal, murmured sympathies even, especially as they knew the rest of the Marauders were watching them.

Harry was pleased how quickly he and Hermione had integrated with the Marauders and quickly become close friends with them. Harry and James in particular were close, and Harry wondered whether they were just alike, spending hours chatting about Quidditch (the other Marauders had even joked they were pleased James had someone to wax lyrically about moves to, even Sirius a Beater on the team wasn't as interested as James and Harry), or part of it was the bond they had as Father and Son, even if James didn't know it.

Hermione and Sirius had fired up an odd friendship as well. Teasing one another, Hermione nagging him, Sirius mocking her. It would have reminded Harry a little bit like Hermione and Rons friendship, only Sirius gave as good as he got and was hilariously good at riling Hermione up.

They were also close with Remus, who though quieter Hermione loved to chat to about every subject, even a little infuriated when he outdid her in some of their discussions. The distance with Pettigrew had melted away at least for Harry and he found a funny boy who always had a smile and a kind word for them, Hermione was a bit frostier with him but not to notice.

And yet, they were still a little on the outside, not only were they not in on Remus's secret (at least the Marauders hadn't brought them in on it and didn't know they knew), but they also were not animagi.

But … Harry remembered a different time, in the Shrieking Shack James, Sirius and Pettigrew hadn't become animagi either … until their fifth year.

The year they had arrived in.

And it all clicked.

The Marauders hadn't become animagi yet, they'd only achieved it in their fifth year, and they hadn't made the Marauders map yet. Okay, maybe they had an idea or it or even a rough version, but Harry remembered something Lupin had said in the Shrieking Shack.

'We explored every inch of Hogwarts, we knew more about it than any student before us, and that was when we created the map'

The map hadn't been created yet, the copy upstairs in Harry's trunk was currently the sole one.

Which explained why Hermione hadn't been ratted out as Hermione Granger, not Blishwick yet, the map after all somehow had been charmed to know peoples true names, not their chosen ones, Pettigrew a good example.

Harry felt a pang in his stomach then, as he looked across at Remus, head bowed, eyes tired; he was still enduring full moons alone, still suffering them without his friends.

And Harry knew what they needed to do.

As dinner came to a close Harry stood, and nodded to Hermione. The Marauders let them be, James nodding and Sirius even shooting him a wink, but Harry wasn't pulling Hermione aside to confess to her, he felt even though he hadn't wanted to flake, right now there were more important priorities.

Especially as he didn't lead Hermione back to the Common Room but to one of the empty classrooms off the Hall, it was quiet and Harry quickly locked and silenced the door before turning to Hermione.

She was looking at him with concern and he felt an ache to alleviate it. For a second, he debated just blurting out his feelings and then trying to briskly move on, but he knew Hermione would never allow that, he fully expected the longest conversation of his life after he confessed how he felt (that or silence, which would be much, much worse), and right now there just wasn't time for that.

"They haven't done it yet" He said quickly before Hermione could ask him what was wrong again, as she had been ever since he'd been a bit awkward around her, he had been staying up later and later each night to avoid a before bed conversation with her.

"What?" Hermione asked, and then she gasped, clocking on as Harry had. He almost teased her that this might have been one of the rare times he reached a conclusion before she did but held off.

"They haven't managed it yet" Hermione said with a nod, and Harry could see her reviewing the conversation they'd both heard when stood in the Shrieking Shack with three of the four Marauders, and Ron, "Maybe not for months"

"No" He said with a shake of his head, "And they haven't made the map yet" He said, and glanced upstairs, as though looking up to Gryffindor Tower at his own copy. "They started mapping it in fifth year"

"Maybe that's why ours is intact" Hermione said, getting that look of concentration on her face, "I took out six time paradox books from the library and have only made my way through four-"

"Slacker" He teased, and she shot him a glare, but he could see a smile on her face, and for a moment it felt natural again, until Harry remembered why it had felt unnatural for the past few days, why he was being awkward, (and as an aside how much he loved Hermione's smile, how sunny it was, how incredibly Gryffindor, full of happiness and joy, and just … oh god he was far, far gone), and his smile dropped.

"Harry" Oh no, Hermione approached him, looking nervous herself, and Harry knew she was going to ask again, and went searching for something to say, something to interrupt, and he knew what.

"We need to become animagi" He said quickly, interrupting her, he felt bad for it, but he was always awful at lying to Hermione and couldn't now, not with her looking slightly wounded (and the confusing notion that he needed to fix that), and so he steered the conversation to something he knew she would jump on.

"Well yes" Hermione said with a nod, "That's why we got the books from Diagon Alley, and I took out four from the library as well" She said, "But it takes time, a long time actually, you read about it with me before, it takes months and months"

He remembered that, when Ron had left, sitting side by side on a camper bed, sharing a cup of meagre soup and a book on something exciting to distract themselves.

He remembered teaching Hermione every Quidditch Team just to quiz her so she could prove she could memorise everything and anything.

Remembered Hermione taking him through the basic principles of Arithmancy to spare the time.

Hours and hours spent bonding just the two of them, hours even when cold, wet and hungry, he remembered fondly.

Especially now.

Harry shook his head, "Not always, it doesn't have to"

And Hermione gasped again, eyes widening and shook her head, looking borderline terrified.

They both knew what he was referring to.

The … traditional method to becoming an animagi, that he was sure the Marauders were following (and thus took such a long time with many, many conditions and required tremendous magical skill in Transfiguration and Charms), was long, took over a month (at minimum) and they simply didn't have time for, but there were other methods.

Specifically, a spell.

An old spell, that was no longer cited as a way to become animagi because it was difficult, dangerous, often didn't work and required tremendous magical power, in particular incredible skill in Transfiguration and focus.

He and Hermione had read about it from some of the old books that had contained information on horcruxes. It wasn't dark magic, it was just incredibly dangerous and so the Ministry had tried to bury information of it and were quite firm on only registering animagi that could show proof of the … official way, but he and Hermione were hardly planning on becoming registered, and so Harry didn't see that as a barrier to them doing it this way.

The … well technically illegal way.

"We could be with Remus tonight" Harry said, his voice going a touch soft, as he thought of the man that would have been his Uncle had Harry been raised by his parents, as he should have been, as they'd come back to ensure, and the thought of him suffering alone, it hurt Harry greatly. He remembered Remus's face when he'd spoken of transforming alone, no Wolfsbane yet, it had been agony.

"And using the other method can take years Hermione, the Marauders have already been at it for two, we don't have the time, they transform this year, we need to as well" He knew he was right, but he also knew the spell method was very dangerous.

Also, rumour had it that when using the traditional method there might be two or three animals a wizard could chose from (not always, in fact it was rare, but not so rare it wasn't worth trying, in other circumstances), but in the … well, the illegal method (for that was what it was), the individual would transform instantly into one animal, and have no choice.

There was also 10x the risk of partial transformation, pain, maiming, and a higher chance of agony and death, but Harry was trying not to think on that.

"I…" Hermione stumbled, evidently torn between her usual desire to follow the rules, and the fact they so rarely did, "It's dangerous Harry so dangerous"

"Less dangerous the more powerful the spell, and technically we're seventh years in Transfiguration and Charms" He said with a nod, "And we have the Elder Wand, and you know, you're you" He said in an attempt to be charming and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"And you're you" She insisted back, "You have the Elder wand?"

He'd never put it in his vault, the thought of not having it nearby had made him nervous for some reason, he'd even placed it in the vault before scooping it back up. He still used his Holly wand day to day, the warmth of it never leaving him, the comfort, and yet…

He had mentioned to Hermione how his Holly wand, though always his boyhood wand, had (ever since the battle) started to feel just like that – a boyhood wand, that felt limiting. Harry didn't claim to be as powerful as Dumbledore wielding it, but he had won its allegiance fair and square. He'd never be able to use it at school for fear of getting caught, and yet the idea of using it at all sparked something inside of him.

"You're comfortable using it?" Hermione asked, with a knowing look in her eye. They had discussed this, and Harry nodded without hesitation.

"It feels like this one" He said holding his aloft but then he crinkled his brow, "Well no, it feels different, but it still feels like mine" And there was the truth of it.

And yet, he knew the Headmaster held the Elder Wand now, were two in existence? He shuddered to think he might need to read a few books on temporal paradoxes, it was a bad sign when Hermione found a book to be a slog.

"Its still risky" Hermione said with a frown, but then he saw that determined glint in her eye, "But I agree we just don't have time to do this properly" She frowned further at that, and Harry smiled, he could tell she didn't like saying that.

"Just me though" Harry said quickly, "I'm the one suggesting the risk…" His old martyr habits coming out again.

"Don't be stupid" Hermione scolded him then, and Harry had half expected it in truth, "If you're doing this so am I, you know we're always in it together"

Harry nodded, because they were, always had been and always will be.

"Okay" He said with a nod, and something like excitement fizzed in his blood, with a healthy dollop of nerves but he'd be lying to say he wasn't excited, being an animagi was something he'd thought about more than once, and he could see, with a grin, there was some excitement from Hermione too, though she looked more contemplative. "How do we do this?"

"Well" She took Harry's wrist then to glance at the time, on the battered old watch the Weasleys had given him that he never took off, "Eight would be best, in numerology the number eight supports success and the moon will be rising which is significant for transformation but we'll have time to get to Remus" She frowned further, "I just wish I had the text on it…"

"At least we know the spell" Harry interjected, they'd both memorised it, never knowing if they'd used it, but wanting to be ready in case they needed to. "And that is really all there is to it"

"I know" Hermione said biting down on her lip looking nervous, "There really is not much more we can do to prepare"

Harry nodded, honestly that was probably not a bad thing, more often that not their plans got thrown out the window. "So, we wait"

Hermione nodded, and again he was reminded of that time in 3rd year, in learning all about the Marauders, about werewolf's and animagi, and how that had changed his entire life in more ways than one.

"Now we wait"

The waiting didn't last long.

The hours seemed to fly by. The Marauders disappeared at 7, and Harry knew they'd gone off to hide in an empty classroom to discuss their own attempts at turning, perhaps trying, but he didn't think they'd be successful yet. Following the official method could take many tries, and so nervous as Harry was, he was glad to skip all the bother.

Though the much higher risk of death, pain and loss of limb did muddy the issue.

Before Harry knew it, it was time.

Harry was glad it was just the two of them, they didn't have to make excuses and instead hurried away without question.

They'd spent the evening in the common room, Hermione pouring over a text on time paradoxes. Harry had tried, got a chapter in, and declared the whole thing headache worthy before tackling his Potions essay, Hermione had just smiled and ploughed on, the minutes ticking by and by, even she had admitted it was 'challenging'.

His essay finished, half of the text, and a "That was interesting" from Hermione, and a "Really?" From Harry (and a shove from Hermione), and they made their way out into the corridor.

They needed to be outside to transform, the effect of the moon only potent there, but knew making it out into the grounds would be tricky, and so decided to risk the Astronomy Tower, silencing, and warding the entrance this time as they set up, curfew wasn't until 9pm but they hardly wanted anyone wandering in on what they were doing, Astronomy classes didn't start until 11pm so they had time.

As Hermione had said, there was little they could do to prepare, the set up was really just lighting candles at the point the moon would begin to rise, eight candles to be exact. Harry held the Elder Wand in hand, each would need to cast the spell on themselves, that was the only way it worked.

It was nice in a way, not to overthink it. Less than half a day had passed since they'd decided to do this, and Harry liked the fact they were diving in, if they stopped to think just how dangerous this was (and probably foolish), they might hesitate.

They couldn't afford to hesitate.

They had to go for it and transform. How they'd transform back was less of a concern, apparently it would be 'instinctual' and in truth Harry hadn't quite thought that far.

He knew Hermione had, but she was trusting him, and he trusted her completely, it was a risk but a calculated one, and how many of those had they made in their time? They had all worked out … in a sense.

Gryffindor recklessness indeed.

"Who to go first?" Hermione asked, and Harry held the wand to himself. His watch showed 7:57pm and he took a breath, the nerves really hitting now, but not enough to override his determination.

"We'll be fine" Hermione said, more to herself he thought, "You'll be fine" And he smiled.

"We will" He said, he'd faced far worse than risking partial transformation and pain and a potentially awkward question from Madam Pomfrey, and they needed to do this, for Remus, for the Marauders. For his Dad and the men that would have been his Uncles. "But Hermione, you don't –" He began, she had far less personal stake in this but the roll of her eyes stopped him.

"You know I won't let you do it alone' She huffed and shook her head, before taking his hand, "Together?"

"What about the Elder wand?" He asked as she reached for her own.

"It's not mine" She said with a shake of her head, "And I think … something in me is saying I need to use my own wand"

"Should I use mine then?" He asked, reaching into his pocket for his Holly wand, but Hermione just kindly shook her head and then nodded to the Elder Wand.

"You are"

It was his turn to nod as he pointed the Elder Wand at his heart, as the spell instructed and Hermione mirrored him. They intertwined their fingers, holding them up, and Harry glanced again at his watch, 7:59pm.

"Together?" He said, and Hermione nodded, smiling, his mirroring hers too, even as the nerves came to him, he knew, with Hermione's hand in his, he could do anything.

He would tell her, he decided there and then, when they transformed back, he would tell her. But for now…

"Together" She said bringing him back to the present, and his wand hand struck 8pm, he nodded, and they spoke in unison.

"Transform me natura!"

The Elder Wand flared, Hermione's vinewood flashed.

And then, two sounds echoed off the tower.

One of a loud purr, but with an inflection that was not quite naturally cat sounding, and then another of a rumbling squark, for a creature far bigger than a normal bird.

Two creatures neither had ever heard of anyone transforming into, and not even creatures.

Beasts.

so...

love declarations imminent, but first we have two creatures, any guesses?

LOTS happening next chapter, this story is speeding up, do let me know watcha think

also had to mention I was googling some aspects of this chapter and one of the ideas someone had commented on a thread saying 'this only appears in bad fanfiction' lol and that if anything made me want to include it lol