9

3,778Chapter 9: Student Becomes Teacher

Chapter 9: The Student Becomes the Teacher

Dearest Regulus,

I cannot believe that father is harbouring a Kneazle in the house. Did you know that they are excellent judges of character? They are utterly like cats and rarely share their methods or reasons, but I can totally see father dotting on a kitten under mother's stern eye.

Do you remember father's old cat from the photo albums? That manky old cat that lost more hair than old Elder Baneberry? He loved that old cat so much, even though it was technically his mother's familiar. He was so… haunted when they found that cat in the public park. Grandmother didn't stop crying for months. That was the first story he ever told me on how cruel Muggles could be. I refuse to believe that all Muggles are like that. After all… whoever is causing all this drama at in my classes is a wizard or a witch, so apparently cruelty has nothing to do with whether you have magic. Magic, if anything, makes your being a arse even more horrible. So help me, Regulus, you are not allowed to be an arse. There are too many of those, and I haven't even reached my second year yet.

There have been odd instances lately involving our houses. I was half bucked off my broom during flying class. My friend Severus was bucked off his in the same class. A girl in my Herbology class got attacked by a Devil's Snare plant because she had somehow gotten covered by red palm oil of all things. How do you "accidentally" get covered in red palm oil? Don't answer that. I'm sure you and Sirius both did some horrible pranks together that I absolutely refuse to let you do once you are at Hogwarts! Sirius is bad enough. I'm not sure what's going on in his head anymore. He's my twin, but I think he's really trying to fit in with his Gryffindor friends. I want to have friends, you know? It's just… I don't know. Hard to see him be so… different. I couldn't stand it if you pulled away from me too, Regulus. It would break a part of me, and I already feel a bit broken without my twin.

Have you thought about what you want to bring to Hogwarts as a familiar, Regulus? If you say toad, I'm going to tickle torture hex you!

Last weekend was Hogsmeade weekend, but we first years are not allowed to go until third year. I'm so jealous. I think Sirius found a way to sneak out there. He and his friends had a load of candy from Honeydukes, but they weren't sharing how they got it. Sirius did sneak me a bar of chocolate though, so he's sort of forgiven. I will deny everything if you tell.

I'm looking forward to the Hallowe'en Feast. The big feasts are always exciting. I think you'll love them. I sneaked a few of the pumpkin tarts out of the Great Hall for you. I hope Sagacity doesn't eat them before he gets there! The only thing he loves more than frog legs and rabbits is our pastries!

All my love,

Hermione (her seal, the phoenix)

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Eaugh!" Lily moaned, squinting in disgust. "Must he eat that in front of us?"

Sagacity was tearing into a rabbit as he perched on the nearby boulder. He hooted at Lily.

Lily turned her head away. "That's so disgusting." Every time she looked towards the owl, two black bunny eyes stared back at her from under the owl's feet. She shuddered. "How can you two just… eat while he's tearing that poor bunny to pieces?" Lily whined.

Severus lifted a brow. "You do realise that overpopulation of wild rabbits does more damage to the fields of plants you so adore in Herbology than any other pest in the world, yes?"

Lily shook her head in denial. "They're so cute," she whined.

"Lily, are you telling me that if an invasion of overpopulated rabbits accosted your garden and ate all of your snow peas you love so much that you'd just calmly adore them to death?" Severus asked.

Lily flushed and turned her head to look away, realised she was staring at Sagacity eating his lunch, and quickly turned her head the other direction.

Hermione, in the meantime, munched on her grapes, trying to remain as neutral as possible, but it was exceedingly more difficult.

Lily decided to change the subject. "Did you hear that Madam Hooch found out that the brooms were jinxed? All of them were."

"All of them? Jinxed with what?" Severus growled.

Hermione's head shot up. For a moment, he sounded a lot like Alastor Moody, which had a habit of making her pay attention for something bad to happen shortly after.

"There was a notice posted on the broom shed saying that all the brooms were being dismantled, unjinxed, and certified again before classes would start again. People with their own brooms can use them, but since we are first years…"

Hermione curled her lip. While flying lessons weren't her most favourite of classes, she understood that many did find it to be the most fun. Whoever had done the jinxing had affected the entire first year population.

"I wonder who it was," Hermione said neutrally.

"As much as I would hate to give up on an opportunity to blame Potter for the transgression with the brooms," Severus grunted. "Would he be that stupid to sabotage the entire first year class out of flying lessons just to get at Slytherins?"

"Why do you say just Slytherins?" Lily said. "That's not very nice, Severus."

Severus narrowed his eyes. "Because the only people who had problems with the brooms… were Slytherin."

Lily frowned. "It's horrible you think that way. It could have been chance."

Hermione and Severus exchanged glances, seemingly realising that Lily still lived in a world where kindness overruled random cruelty and her sister would one day welcome her back with open arms and smiles on the holidays.

It was that same sort of naivety that was endearing, frustrating, and ultimately a part of the red-headed witch.

The trio looked up as a loud cry came from the paddocks and shelters Professor Kettleburn kept his magical creatures for his class. It looked like a class was gathered around one of Hogwarts' herd hippogriffs, and one of the students had leapt over the paddock fence in their haste to get away from one of the irate animals.

"That didn't look very encouraging," Severus said dryly.

"Oooo," Lily cooed. "A hippogriff! We should go look!"

"I have no desire to get my face kicked in," Severus grumbled.

"Sevvvvvvv," Lily complained, dragging out his nickname so far, she might as well have used his full name. "Come ooooon. We don't have to get up close!"

Severus tried to go back to reading his book, but Lily grabbed him by the sleeve and dragged him behind her. Severus looked back, giving Hermione a "help me, please!" look that went across his panicked face.

Hermione slumped and followed behind, feeling like no matter what time period she was living in that she was doomed forever to be part of some trio where she was being dragged long to prevent some sort of calamity. Thinking back to her "second" childhood as the sister of Sirius and Regulus Black… her hypothesis was turning into more of a theory.

Sagacity flew lazily behind her as if to bring up the idea that counting him made it four and her logic was invalid.

Hermione hustled to join her friends, shaking her head as she went.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Remus woke again in a bed in the hospital wing, which was nothing new. His parents had always confined him to bed after his changes with the same regularity that they had caged him every full moon. What was new, however, was not aching from countless self-inflicted wounds from his inner werewolf's frustrations with being imprisoned with no one to bite. Never in his life had he experienced that since Fenrir Greyback "gifted" him with his bite.

"Ah, are you up, dear?" Poppy Pomfrey asked gently as she carried a tray of food and drink to his bed, and for once, he was starving. Normally after a change the last thing he wanted was food. It hurt too much to breathe, let alone to eat.

With vague memories of waking up curled on top of a four poster bed, Remus remembered waking, finding his clothes, and stumbling out the tunnel to meet Madam Pomfrey in the morning. He also remembered a solitary phoenix that had kept him company both through his change and after it. His inner wolf had joyously shared his moon night with the mysterious visiting bird, and while Remus could not control what the wolf did, he had watched the goings on without the panic and despair that normally haunted three out of thirty-some nights of the month.

Remus attacked the plate of food like it was going to vanish if he didn't. His stomach growled as he stuffed it with lunch. His nostrils flared as his stomach decided to excuse him from the shovelling of sustenance into it. The scent of his night companion lingered on his own skin, merged with his own in a kind of harmony that was wonderfully calming. Water for a boy trapped in a wasteland…

The night would bring the change once more, and a part of Remus hoped desperately his unexpected bird friend would return. Perhaps the Headmaster had sent him a companion to keep him company? But what if it hadn't been? Keeping the phoenix a secret was probably best. If Dumbledore had sent it, he would already know. If he didn't, what would it hurt to have a secret friend to keep him company under the moon? Surely fate would be kind to him just this once?

Remus looked out the hospital window.

"Please," he whispered, placing his pale hand on the windowsill. "Please be there tonight."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Hermione stared off into the distance as the storm began to roll in, covering the night sky with dark clouds. She tilted her head as the wind picked up, sending her hair flying in many directions.

Thoughts darted through her mind like the clouds danced across the horizon, and she pondered who she could trust in a time where redemption and the Abyss teetered on the same rope of Fate.

The smell of rain was almost intoxicating. It always was for her, at least as far as she could remember. The energy of the Earth combined with the scent of petrichor in a way that was far more powerful than than simple scent.

Hermione Granger had once sat on the back porch of her parent's house on many a stormy night, listening to the crackles and booms in between the drops of rain. The scent had always carried the loam of earth mixed with leaves and flowers. It was, in many ways, her favourite scent.

Hermione Black, however, had sat on many a stormy night in the park across from the family home, nestled in a small stone park shelter as the storm attempted to beat sense into the ground and serenade her with thundering booms.

It had been there that Orion Black trudged out into the storm to find his wayward daughter hiding out in the Muggle park, surrounded by flowers, rain, statuaries, and fountains. It had become her hiding place when her mother became too hard to bear with her demands of proper behaviour at the "perfectly acceptable age of five."

Orion, however, knew his daughter's heart beat with the flow of magic, to magic she would always return—Earth magic, perhaps, the purest of all. He would sit beside her silently, often watching the storm with her together, or waiting until she crawled into his lap and cried, depending on which situation had brought her there.

Hermione Granger had heard the worst of stories about both Orion and Walburga Black—stories that had even condemned his younger brother as a treacherous Death Eater. Sirius had died before he had ever found out the truth about his younger brother, and Sirius had died before he could really explain why the photos in the old albums had seemed almost normal despite his horror stories of his family. She did not doubt that Sirius' falling out with his family had been dire, but Regulus had been nothing but the most doting of little brothers who worshipped the ground his older siblings walked upon.

Had Sirius truly been so blinded by hate of the Slytherin House that he broke the bond between he and his younger brother so easily or had something intrinsic changed in the Black Family dynamic with the addition of one Hermione Black?

Orion, while stern in many ways of the public image that the family had to adhere to, held much compassion in his heart for his children, and despite the shaking of his head when his wife went on her tirades about one thing or another, he loved her too.

Hermione loved her father, she knew in her heart this was so, and both Hermione Granger and Hermione Black agreed that Orion was a man who did everything possible to insure his children had every opportunity to succeed, even though some of those opportunities were squandered and wasted on Sirius, who, like the pun of his name, didn't always take his life seriously in the slightest.

While Hermione had learned to bow to her parents' wishes with most things to keep the peace, her twin seemed to make a point of doing the exact opposite. He desired a type of freedom that his bloodline did not offer him. He wanted to stand by his own merit instead of the name. It was all perfectly well, until he tried to hock one of his great great great grandfather's antique clocks at a Muggle shop for some yet unknown purpose. Orion had dragged the boy back, rescuing the poor clock before it could be sold, and Walburga's shrieking had sent Hermione and Regulus hiding in the wardrobe with Kreacher for the rest of the evening.

When she thought about it, that was probably why Kreacher had so little respect for her twin. The house-elf was perfectly fine with Regulus and Hermione, but gave Sirius about as much respect as one would give mountain troll. There was a certain respect for his power, being a Black, but that was where it stopped. It was Kreacher that soothed Hermione and Regulus as they hid away until Orion had eventually come to "rescue" them and put them to bed. Kreacher had always had to clean up the mess of the elder son of the Black family. It was no wonder that the house-elf had no respect or trust for her twin. To get such a thing, one had to give the same, and the two of them seemed fated to be at each other's throats for as long as they drew breath.

Trust. Who could she trust now that her life was so very intertwined in this "new" life? She would have to embrace her inner Slytherin and make both allies and friends to stand beside her in the time to come. A part of her whined that it didn't matter if someone was a friend as long as they were useful, while the part of her that remained truthful to what was once Gryffindor snarled at that part of her to shut the front door.

"You have that look about you," Severus said as he flopped down beside her.

Hermione turned her head to the side with a smirk. "Oh?"

"That far off gaze that says you are thinking very hard on something has nothing to do with the most obvious of topics," Severus said, looking at the storm clouds with her.

Hermione chuckled. Not even a year into Hogwarts and the boy knew her well. "You are probably right. Where is Lily?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "Off bonding with her Gryffindor female friends," he said. "She said they were going to try and brew some new hair conditioner. The last time she invited me for that particular project, my hair ended up looking like this. I refuse to humour her this time."

Hermione's eyes widened as she realised that Severus' hair looked so shiny that it almost looked oily. The subtle satin sheen of his normal hair had transformed into something reminiscent of the old "greasy" description she remembered from her past. She had to bite down on her lip to keep from laughing.

Severus waved his hand as though it didn't matter, but she knew he was irritated with his red-headed friend.

Hermione tentatively reached out to touch Severus' hair and realised it was silky and light to the touch despite it's appearance. "At least the conditioner part worked?"

Severus snorted.

Hermione sighed and shook her head. "You know how Professor McGonagall is an animagus, right?"

"Mmmhmm," Severus said noncommittally.

"Ever wonder what you'd be if you studied for it?" Hermione asked.

Severus sniffed. "What I would want and what I'd be would probably end up being completely different."

"Do tell," Hermione said.

Severus looked skyward, nostrils flaring as he took in the scent of the distant rain. "I…" he struggled to say what he both wanted to share and keep secret at the same time.

Hermione waited. Befriending Severus had been something she knew the old Hermione Granger would have balked at. Yet, at the same time, she would have marvelled at the chance to know the true Severus Snape… something his death had not allowed and his portrait had only given a shadow of a relationship.

Who she was now, however, had befriended him easily, starting with the innocent childlike question of "will you be my friend?" Severus had shown none of the inclination to be anything but the most dutiful of friends, tolerant of Lily's eccentricities, and silently supportive, even if he couldn't express himself in epic prose or moving speeches, but then again, what eleven year old could? Well, short of Sirius, who made it his life to speak in epic prose and speeches to anyone who would listen. It made what Severus did say, however, special.

Severus, the portrait, had once speculated what it would have been like to have a friend that stuck by him to the end. He had confessed, sombrely, that what he had as a student, save Lily, were not truly friends as they were House alignment allies, and "back then" House alignment had been the key to survival.

Hermione's being here, however, had changed the dynamic. In her, he had gained both a House ally and a true friend, and Hermione did not disapprove of Lily. He did not have to make a choice between them. While Hermione hoped it would not be so, she hoped that if it came down to the act that caused Lily Evans to make the decision to repudiate her childhood friend forever for his words said in anger and humiliation, that her friendship with him would remain to temper the loss.

"I wish I could fly," Severus admitted. "I've dreamed of it ever since I was little. I would stare out my bedroom window as I listened to my father bellow… wishing to be free of the ground, but in my nightmares, I am flying only to realise I'm a snake, and I fall to the ground to my death."

Hermione raised her head, the storm winds were kicking up, filling her nostrils with the scent of rain as her hair flew in multiple directions. "I could teach you," she said into the wind. A flash of emotion flickered across her eyes.

"You are pants at brooms by your own admission," Severus said dryly.

Hermione quirked her lips. "Not by brooms. Never by brooms." She looked up. "I wouldn't have to be… so alone anymore."

Severus looked at her, perhaps finding something kindred to his own heart echoed in her expression of half pain. "You're not… alone," he said softly.

Hermione looked at him sadly. "Sometimes you can be alone surrounded in people," she admitted.

"I know it," Severus replied, his black eyes shimmered with his own past… the kind of past no child should have to experience at any age, least of all at the age of eleven.

"What if I could give you wings for a time, Severus?" Hermione whispered into the storm. "What if I could teach you to gain your own?"

Severus's expression was guarded, anticipatory, excited, and yet suspicious all at once. "What would you wish of me in return?"

Hermione smirked. So Slytherin, even now. "Nothing," she said almost sadly. "Nothing you haven't already given—your friendship."

Severus was clearly struggling inside himself. Hope was for people who hadn't been hurt in his mind. Hope required a certain trust in the unknown, and he had a hard time with trust with the known. His hunger for knowledge was fierce and Hermione could sense its power like the encroaching tide. That hunger would drive him reach beyond the present and reach towards that unknown future.

Severus swallowed hard and reached out his hand. "I would like that."

Hermione looked at him seriously, her grey eyes were so light they were silver. "Will you keep my secrets, Severus?"

"I swear it," he said hoarsely, awkwardly. It was the second confirmation since their sitting on the lake and she had asked if he and Lily would be there for her till the end.

Asking for such a promise from someone so young was asking a lot from someone who could just as easily have a new lot of friends the upcoming year. Perhaps it was the adult and hopelessly Gryffindor Hermione that believed that people should be able to know in their heart what they wanted to put into a friendship and the younger one that believed it should be possible to make a promise at the age of eleven and keep it till their dying day. Surely, the dual Hermiones could meet up somewhere in the middle and shake hands and have tea together?

But when Hermione looked into the vulnerable eyes of Severus Snape, she knew that a friend to him would be guarded like dragon on treasure. He, unlike Ron had unfortunately proven to be, valued what Hermione was offering because of what he had already been through. He had already learned to mistrust his blood family, and Hermione was offering him the opposite. She was offering him both power and knowledge with her friendship. Neither things, in her mind, had to be mutually exclusive.

Hermione clasped Severus' hand and placed her other on top. "Then, I will teach you. Starting now."

Severus' free hand came to rest on top of hers, and unbeknown to them both, tiny silken threads of a magic older than choice wove a cord between them, binding them together as surely as an unbreakable vow.

Severus was huddled in a corner, his head cradled on his knees as his father screamed at his mother about something. Suddenly, Hermione was there, in his memory, arms around him as he wept. He wailed as he had never allowed himself to do before, bathing her neck in tears as he realised his father would never love him, and his mother would never free herself from the yoke of his father's drunken abuse.

Hermione was huddled on the floor of Grimmauld place, crying into her arms after one of her epic fights with her mother over Sirius' "dishonourable actions." Her mother screamed at her that one day they wouldn't be there to protect her from the world, and Hermione had visions of her father's death. Her sweet, loving, sometimes overprotective, compassionate father who would sit with her in the gardens during the rain would one day be gone. Child Hermione couldn't take it. The world that had given her such wonder would, in turn, take it away. It wasn't fair. She ran to her room and slammed the door, wailing as the tears ran down her face. Severus was there instead of Sirius, arms around her in her memories, and she cried into his robes.

There was a surge of warmth between them, like the sun peaking between the clouds of a storm as they parted from each other's most painful memory. Yet, a part of each remained with the other, guarding the other's pain.

A childhood promise had become something more. How much more, however, remained to be seen.

Hermione smiled at Severus as she pulled out her wand. "Trust me, Severus," Hermione whispered. It was a question, a plead, and something more.

Severus' dark eyes met hers with a haunting echo of his older self.

"Always."

Come what may, the die was cast.

Hermione's expression was triumphant as she pointed her wand at Severus. "Fiam est aquila."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Severus burst from from the top of the storm clouds with a scream of eagle glory, his huge wings pumped with awkward but steadily growing grace. He spun in the air as Hermione shot up beside him, her wings flared upon to catch the sun as the storm clouds below them rumbled in protest of their enjoyment.

Hermione sang to him, and the notes burrowed into his very soul, resonating with some emotion deep within, giving him courage.

Severus gave off an eagle scream, barrel rolling in the air, and gained altitude, then dove down to glide beside Hermione, following her wing beat by wing beat upon the rising thermals.

For hours they had played this game, showing no sign of tiring as they chased each other through the canopy of trees and clouds, over Black Lake, through the spires of Hogwarts, and beyond. With childlike acceptance, he took his transformation in stride as easily as he accepted that his friend could spontaneously change into a phoenix. There as no commonly spoken social norm that told him this was unacceptable, and they were both happy, so Severus embraced the change, revelling in the feel of the wind between his feathers.

Severus was finally gaining enough confidence in his skill with what had been until that point, no skill in using wings, and he had slowly learned conscious control over banking, rising, catching thermals, and dodging tree branches as he chased the more experience phoenix through the skies.

He wondered if it was normal for pure-blood children to know their possible animagus form long before most ever learned it possible. She was Hermione Ankaa Black, after all, her name was the very epitome of the phoenix. Had her parents known that when she was named or had some other higher power revelled in the irony? Her seal was the phoenix. Surely her family had known all along. A part of him wondered what that made her twin, Sirius. Perhaps her twin brother was fated to be his namesake: a dog.

Severus shook his head, choosing to pay attention to his friend's lessons on the wing. Flying was everything he dreamed it would be, and the spell that she had used to grant him the freedom was the ultimate gift. He had no doubt at all that he would study hard to take his own animagus form. She had promised to teach him, and she had yet to go back on her word.

Hermione led him to the strongest thermals, teaching him how to use them like invisible elevators. She taught him how to break free of them, and how to skim so close to the water of Black Lake that their wingtips touched with each flap and their talons dipped into the water.

Severus nipped at her golden tail feathers, grinning inwardly as they let off the heat of her flames. She thwacked him once upside the face with her tail, diving down through the clouds back to earth, and he gave a playful cry and followed her, his black-toned body poised in a dive as he gave chase.

Hermione had landed on the top of a house on the far outskirts of a small down he vaguely recalled as Hogsmeade. He knew that it wouldn't be until his third year that either of them would be able to visit the town on the designated weekends.

Hermione was perched on the lip of a chimney and was peering down it curiously, making soft chirping noises.

Severus landed beside her, their bulk fairly evenly matched. She was much longer in tail than he, but their proportions seemed quite similar otherwise, including the span of their feathers. Hermione was staring at the hole of the chimney, looking as though she were evaluating it. She chirped at him.

Severus looked down into the chimney, seeing the floor down below. Unlike a fireplace set to be used, it was bare down below. Surely she didn't mean to do what he thought she did?

Then, as if to answer his question. Hermione hopped into the opening, the sound of her claws scraping against the sides of the chimney to cushion her descent followed shortly after.

Severus peered down the chimney with wide eyes.

Hermione stared up at him from down below, giving an encouraging chirp.

Severus scolded her in eagle-ese.

Hermione sang to him sweetly.

If eagles could scowl, he'd be doing it, but instead, he took a breath, pinned his wings to the sides, and did the most unnaturally un-eagleish thing to do, and jumped down the chimney.

By the time he got to the bottom of the chimney, Hermione was already preening his feathers into place, which Severus begrudgingly accepted. He pecked her. "Why the hell did you have us jump down a bloody chimney?" he thought at her as he stared into her eyes.

If she actually understood him, he had no idea, but it felt better in his head to ask her the obvious question.

Hermione tugged on his wing with her beak gently, and moved her head in a "follow me" gesture. She talon walked into the next room.

Severus, awkwardly, attempted to walk on his talons, and discovered it was was about as dignified as attempting to walk on one's hands in human form—too much claw and talons to balance to make it comfortable.

In the next room, Severus saw a boy sitting on the side of the bed. Light brown hair was cut short to frame his face. Warm and friendly green eyes peered out behind the curtain of his hair over his face. "You came back…" the boy whispered. "Thank Merlin… I thought… I thought I'd be alone tonight."

Hermione chirped and sang a few notes. The boy pet her back and her wings. There were tears rolling down his face as he hugged her to him.

Hermione seemed to be okay with it, curving her neck around the boy's arms, her hooked beak resting upon his wrist.

Severus tried to remember if he had seen this boy before. The boy was sporting a distinctive lack of clothing, which made Severus a bit uncomfortable. The storm was raging outside, he could hear the rain beating on the side of the house. The colder wind was making its way down the floo of the chimney, making the inside of the house a bit cool as well. Why hadn't the fireplace been lit? Why was the boy here, in his skivvies all alone? Better yet, how had Hermione known?

"You brought a friend," the boy said sadly. "I wish I… I would… could… have friends."

Hermione chose that moment to peck the boy on the arm, and the boy yelped and soothed her apologetically.

"Don't be mad, please?" the boy said despondently. "I meant human friends," he said sadly. "Friends I wouldn't be driven to kill three days out of the month."

Hermione took his finger in her beak and squeezed it, but released it.

Severus tilted his head. What was wrong with this lonely boy who seemed convinced that friendship was so elusive. Severus had to admit, he knew the feeling well. Had it not been for Lily and Hermione, he would have been on that same bitter boat.

Hermione chirped encouragement, and finally Severus fluttered up onto the bed next to the boy and Hermione.

Black eyes met green ones as boy and eagle evaluated each other.

"My name is Remus," the boy said, "named after the mythical Romulus and Remus of Rome, suckled by the she-wolf Lupa and fed by a woodpecker until the shepherds found and raised them to adulthood. The irony is not lost on me. I've had a few years to ponder that irony since my father insulted Fenrir Greyback. Greyback saw to it my father was punished by making his child a monster."

Remus' eyes were haunted. Pain lived in his eyes, and it was something Severus knew well.

My parents tried everything to find a cure, but there was none. And now… Dumbledore swore to me that I could attend school like a normal person. Make friends. Live my life, but who… who wants to be friends with…"

Remus doubled over in pain, crying out.

He clutched Hermione's body to him as his body trembled in agony. Bones were popping, shifting, re-aligning. His teeth clacked together as they sharpened and tore out of his gums into fangs as a muzzle pushed outward. Foam flecked around his mouth as gray fur sprouted over his skin, and his eyes bled from green to wolfish yellow.

Remus screamed in pain, his voice twisting into whines and howls, and his arms and legs locked, snapped, re-lined, and reformed. A long tail formed from his spine, and dark grey hair sprouted along it, looking like a tuft. Claws grew out of his hands and feet as they twisted into paws.

Severus startled, flying to the nearby wardrobe, staring down at the transforming werewolf with a combination of horror and pity. The pain had to be excruciating, so unlike the spell that changed him into an eagle.

Remus whined, panting heavily as he lay on the bed, but even as he slowly gained his bearings, he slurped the phoenix beside him with his long tongue, apologetically licking her feathers helter-skelter. His tail weakly beat against the mattress.

Remus suddenly engulfed Hermione's head with his mouth, covering the phoenix's head as though to bite it off.

Severus dove off the wardrobe, talons out, determined to stop whatever the werewolf was going to do.

But the werewolf released her head, tongue lolling, tail beating against the mattress. Hermione, now half covered in werewolf drool, dripped.

Severus landed in a flurry of wing beats, slightly unsure what the proper reaction to this change of events was.

The werewolf stared at him with yellow eyes, but they were not maddened or wrathful. His tail beat upon the mattress with abandon, and he whuffed lowly. A long pink tongue emerged from his jaws and slurped Severus upside the face. Werewolves, without the lack of human stimuli, were perfectly inclined to saddle up into your personal space and give you a tongue bath. Who knew? Was that lonely looking boy, Remus Lupin, still in there somewhere?

Hermione took that moment to preen Severus' drooled on eagle-self, and Severus returned the favour. The pair of them attempted to preen their feathers back into order only to have Remus slurp them all over again. He bowed down on his forelegs and wagged his tail again.

Hermione tugged Lupin's tail.

Remus spun around and snapped at her playfully, bowing again.

Severus, seeing a certain tufted tail wagging in front of his face, snapped at it, tugging it and letting it go.

Remus spun around again, snapping, but Severus dodged, fanning his wings somewhat awkwardly.

Hermione hopped on his back.

Rumus spun around.

Hermione flew off. Severus hopped on, and Remus took off around the room carrying Severus like a pony at the race. Then, it was back to the snap and avoid game.

It went back and forth a few times before Lupin's jaws closed around Severus' back, pinning his wings to his body. Severus froze, torn between panic and the desire to struggle and go for the eyes.

Remus however carried Severus back over to the bed, hopped up on it, and deposited the disgruntled eagle onto the mattress and began to groom him back into disarray.

Hermione flew over and attempted to distract him, tugging on the werewolf's ears, tail, scruff, and even nailing him once on the nose, but the werewolf continued to groom his new friend until he was throughly moplike before releasing him. He then pulled Hermione to him with his mouth, deposited her down between his front legs, and proceeded to make her look just like Severus.

Hermione seemed to slump resignedly, which was, Severus admitted to himself, comical on a phoenix.

Job done, Remus flopped on his side, chest rising and falling as he rested peacefully.

Severus tilted his head. Not that he was an expert on werewolves, per se, but what he knew about them now was quite contradictory to what he thought he knew. The few things he had picked up from books in the library seemed pretty convinced that werewolves were mindless slavering beasts that lived to bite and infect others. While he had no doubt that Lupin would respond differently to a human than the way he did to a non human, none of the books had said anything about what happened when a werewolf was around non-humans.

As far as he was concerned, this Remus Lupin was an unfortunate and lonely boy who believed he could have no real friends that could also share his secret. Arguably, it was quite logical to think so. Most people would probably stop at werewolf and be doing far worse than social shunning. Hermione seemed to think that this boy was worth comforting in a time of need, and that was enough for Severus. She trusted Severus, after all, enough to share her rather significant phoenix secret with him and introduce him to her secret werewolf friend. She offered him knowledge and power, but asked for little in return. Wasn't that worth a little faith on his end?

Realising that he was, quite quickly, trusting more to this particular witch than what he had to Lily in all the years he had known her, he pondered what that meant for him—this having of more than one friend, different relationships between them, and yet being able to share their company simultaneously. Was this normal? Was it how friendships were supposed to be?

Remus snuffled him and gathered both Hermione and Severus to him, cuddling them towards his warm belly, and then curled his tail and head around them both with a contented sigh, guarding them like treasure.

Hermione snuggled up to him, tucking her head under her wing, and Severus laid his head across her back as his eyes closed and sleep dragged him under.

When Hermione and Severus arrived at the breakfast table with their hair looking like they had both lost the battle against static electricity, the Slytherin on their side of the table stared at them with wide and curious eyes.

"Long night," Hermione snapped, drinking her juice.

"You two need to stop falling asleep in the library," one of the other students recommended, passing down the biscuits and gravy.

Severus snorted, chewing on a piece of bacon as he stared towards Lily who was looking at he and Hermione with so much curiosity that it could have drowned a cat.

Merciful Merlin. What was he going to tell Lily?

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Dearest Daughter,

I was gladdened to see the photo of you with your new Master, and it fills me with pride to see the mark of your new station so proudly emblazoned upon your collar with both the mark of our House. Your mother had framed it, placing it upon the mantle in all its glory, and had told the elves to insure it is properly taken care of. The house-elves seem to approve of it, keeping it dusted every morning.

Have your classes been keeping you busy? I'm sure between them and the work you do with your Master, that there is much you have been doing and little time in which to do it. I cannot help but think, however, that your being buried in knowledge gaining tasks does nothing but make you happy.

Regulus tells me that my secret is out. Yes, I am harbouring a four legged menace by the name of Denebola whose star shines in celestial Leo. The furry menace roams the house like a Gryffindor rampant, rubbing his scent upon the vases and statuary like everything is his own. I fear you may have competition in the house for the chair you love so much in the library. Your mother has tried to be rid of him on multiple occasions, but he reappears inside after she leaves him outside. I think they have finally come to a begrudging peace, but only because she realises that the Kneazle is dealing with the gnomes in the garden with ruthless precision.

I thank you for asking about company for the Winter Break ahead of time, my chick, as it will probably take me that long to whittle down the defences of your mother about having company. Regulus, however, is ecstatic about getting to meet your friend. I am sure I can count on him to help in the persuading of your mother. Officially, I cannot say if your mother will approve of the invasion, however, unofficially, do tell your friend he is welcome to join us for the holidays during the break since he is confident that he will be staying at Hogwarts over the holidays if he will not be staying with us. I have received no word from your twin on if he desires the same for any of his friends. He is, as usual, communicative as always.

I have sent you cookie bars and a figgy pudding as per your mother's orders. She says you are to share the cookie bars as to not promote jealousy, however, the pudding can be devoured guilt free. Regulus adds that you should be very guilty. He was thinking that figgy pudding was meant for him the entire time it was baking.

I wish you the best, my chick. Give my best regards to your Master.

Your father,

Orion Black (his seal, the belt of Orion)

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: As I was writing this, I was watching Practical Magic on TV where Is This Real? by Lisa Hall is playing.

"And I know, yes I know, but is this real?"

Fate, as always, is a fickle Mistress, and much like Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap (as one of my beautiful readers hinted at,) Hermione is bound by Fate to change the world, not by huge actions, but by repairing things that should have gone right the first time, but somehow did not.

But, at the same time, Fate was not so unkind to her as to not give her something in return for being Her Instrument. What a young Hermione Granger wouldn't have given to have a devoted friend that could understand her back in her own 1991 long before hardship and Voldemort tied her together with Harry and Ron…

I will also admit that I had an emotional tearing writing part of this chapter. I'm such a sap! *tear*