Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. Just borrowing them for a story and my own imagination.

Chapter 6

Things moved fairly quickly after that. As far as anyone looking in on the house knew, the Dursleys had already left, so leaving by the front door wasn't an option. And since Harry still had the Trace, Apparating directly to the Forest near Lupin Cottage wasn't an option either. Instead, Remus would Side-along with Harry, and Professor McGonagall with Hermione, to where Remus had left his car, then drive to the Cottage along the scenic route.

Hermione had been surprised to learn that Remus had his own car, but Remus explained how it was easier for him to visit the Muggle village outside the forest if he had a nonmagical form of transportation. While she was satisfied by the explanation, Hermione felt sad that the older man had to hide himself away from most of wizarding society just because of a disease that he couldn't control.

Hermione continued to wonder about Remus' life since he was bitten, until she fell asleep in the car, lulled by the conversation around her. She eventually woke up to Remus gently shaking her, letting her know that they had arrived. Hermione blinked slowly, taking a moment to fully wake up, before getting out of her seat. Once the door was shut behind her, Remus cast a Glamour to disguise the car as a wooden stump, hidden carefully amongst the many trees of the dense forest.

The trek to the Cottage was quick and Hermione got to enjoy Harry's look of stunned bewilderment once the cosy home was revealed to him. He had barely set off the little bell announcing visitors before Padfoot came bursting out the front door, tackling Harry to the ground before transforming back into Sirius and pulling the younger man up for a crushing hu. Harry sort of melted in the tight embrace and Hermione averted her eyes, pretending not to have noticed the silent shaking of her best friend's shoulders.

While Harry and Sirius had been in contact regularly since Sirius returned from Beyond the Veil earlier that summer, this was Harry's first time seeing his godfather in person since that awful day at the Ministry over a year ago. Hermione figured that perhaps, to Harry, Sirius' return probably hadn't felt all that real until right that very moment. Hermione felt her eyes start to blur as she realized exactly how much Harry had needed the care of his family following Dumbledore's passing. With her own parents now gone, she understood how important it was to be with those you love, especially in times like these.

Hermione jumped at the hand on her shoulder, following it up to the softened eyes of her Head of House. The witch smiled kindly at Hermione, not knowing the full extent of her sorrow but reassuring her through it nonetheless. Hermione appreciated the Professor's gesture but she reigned in her emotions quickly, not wanting her mentor to see her so vulnerable.

Professor McGonagall didn't stay for too long after that. She bid the four Gryffindors farewell, then returned to Hogwarts via the Floo. While the teachers didn't normally spend summers at the school, in the aftermath of the sudden and unexpected death of the Headmaster, all the Head of Houses (bar the obvious) were left dealing with the repercussions and had deemed it necessary to stay at the school until a new Headmaster could be appointed.

Since Lupin Cottage was under the Fidelius Charm, the Floo couldn't be tracked by those not brought under the Secret and Harry's Trace was also not as much of a concern. As long as he stayed within its walls, Harry could freely use magic and have magic used around him. This certainly made things easier for the next part of their summer agenda: the full moon.

While the original plan had been for Harry and Hermione to head straight to the Burrow after leaving the Dursleys, they thought that it would be better to wait until after the full moon so that Sirius and Remus could join them too. Plus, this way, Harry got to spend some much-needed personal time with the Marauders before getting thrust into the middle of the wedding chaos at the Burrow. Hermione was also glad for the reprieve, not quite ready to deal with all the people just yet.

There wasn't much to do to prepare for the full moon at this stage. Lupin Cottage already had a magically reinforced basement that Remus could use for a safe transformation, one that he had already spent a greater portion of his adulthood in. Or as safe as the transformation could be, given that Remus was once again facing a completely raw transformation without the help of any Wolfsbane. Professor Snape had been the one brewing the potion all along and without him, Remus was forced to deal with the mindlessness of the wolf taking over completely unaided.

It wasn't an ideal situation, but Sirius would be keeping Moony company as Padfoot and plenty of new wards had been added to the basement to help protect the werewolf as much as possible. While it had been helpful for the werewolf to have had his friends with him for full moons in their youth, Hermione was doubtful that that would be the case this time, considering that Moony had not seen Padfoot in well over a decade, and might not take kindly to the intrusion of another canine. But Sirius brushed off her concerns, so desperate was he to provide some modicum of relief to his friend.

It was only after the moon had already started to rise that Harry and Hermione realized with growing horror that they had all forgotten one crucial detail. No one had thought to soundproof the basement. This meant that suddenly, all the two young adults could now hear were the agonising screams of Remus as he transformed, before being replaced by the unearthly howls of the pained wolf.

The next couple of hours were brutal. Hermione did her best to block out the sounds from the basement, but the snarling and furious scuffles of the two canines fighting it out below them would probably be ingrained into her brain forever. Harry sat next to her on the sofa in the library, gripping her hand tighter with each thud and thump from the basement below, until Hermione was sure that her hand would break under the force.

It wasn't until well past midnight that the basement grew quiet, the fighting having finally settled down. Still, Harry and Hermione stayed where they were, still holding hands, too tired now to move. Harry was the first to nod off, and Hermione just summoned a blanket to pull over them both, not bothering to go all the way to her bed. She would need to wake soon for dawn anyway, to help fix up the injured Marauders, so she let herself lean on the Boy-Who-Lived, before drifting off into a quick and dreamless slumber.

Author's note: Hi everyone! So, surprise, I managed to get out another chapter within a reasonable time frame. Yay me! I know it's shorter than normal, but I had to break up this chapter into two parts so that it wouldn't get too unreasonably long. Does this mean that I already have the next chapter ready to go? Not exactly. I know exactly what will happen next, but I have yet to put any actual words down on paper. Or screen, I suppose. I'm planning to have the next chapter up within the fortnight, but I'm sorry for whatever delays might show up. Life has been full of twists and turns lately and finding time and motivation has been a challenge. I wish there was a way for me to keep you updated more frequently, but I don't know of a way to do that directly from this site. Instead, I'll leave my handles in my bio for you to follow. I do post bits and pieces on there, so if you're interested, please follow along. Thank you, everyone, for all the love and attention, I truly appreciate each and every single one of you.