Chapter 09. Fears & Discoveries.

Moody was sitting in the kitchen with the rest of the Order, his magical eye firmly locked on the students. So he saw Ron fly over to his sister and grab a startled Ginny before dragging her out of the room.

"HELP!" Ron bellowed at the top of his voice.

Without hesitating Remus and Sirius both all but flew out of the kitchen and up the stairs. When they reached the landing they saw Ron half dragging half carrying his sister further away from the room.

"Ron! Let go of me!" Ginny demanded.

"Hermione! Changing!" Ron gasped to Remus and Sirius.

Without waiting the two opened the door Sirius threw himself inside changing into his animal form as he went. Remus followed and shut the door behind him; Ginny had since went limp in her brother's arms. A powerful and terrifying howl rang out throughout the house and for once it silenced the portrait of Mrs. Black.

"Upstairs," Ron whispered. "NOW!" He ordered his sister.

Fred and George were waiting for them, both white faced and afraid for their favourite little bookworm. Ron and Ginny hurried inside and the twins wasted no time in shutting the bedroom door and sealing it off with every spell they could think of.

They were all in for a long night.

A week had passed since Ron had woken Hermione to the news that Harry had been attacked by some Dementors near his Aunt & Uncle's home and in that week Hermione had transformed through anger a total number of 12 times and every time returned to human form to find that she had destroyed several rooms of Grimmauld Place. After the third time of destroying the study, Hermione had went to Sirius and apologised profusely for having once again ruined a piece of his family home.

To which Sirius promptly burst out laughing hysterically.

"Hermione, by all means destroy all the rooms you want. In fact, if you can get the old hag off of the wall I might just marry you." Sirius had replied once he had gotten his laughter under control. His comment resulting in a big time blush and a sheepish smile from the young wolf.

In between destroying the Black family home, Hermione had taken to joining the four youngest of the Weasley children and Mrs Weasley in tidying up the place and making it more inhabitable. Though if they were being honest, they were mostly just cleaning up after her wolf's destructive behaviour. Despite spending all her free time with the Weasley children however, there was a great deal of tension between her and Ron. Whom, despite having had lengthy chats with both his parents as well as Sirius, Remus and even Professor Snape, appeared to be determined to ignore her still. With a shake of her head, Hermione returned to the bowl of ice cream she was eating in the kitchen and her thoughts to Harry. Despite the unsettling news of a Dementor attack on Harry and his cousin, Hermione found much to her growing anger that the Order seemed determined to leave Harry where he was. This alone was the course for many of the transformations and destruction of Sirius' home.

At the thought of what looks to be clear abandonment of Harry, her brother in every way but blood, Hermione felt her bones begin to break again. While she had gotten better at containing her screams of pain, she was yet to make any signs of improvement in controlling the transformations altogether. Throwing her chair back, Hermione staggered and stumbled across the kitchen floor and towards the basement.

"Not again..." she whispered to herself through clenched teeth.

Straightening up Hermione gripped the table, her finger nails turning into claws. Her mind trying to think about something else...anything else. Suddenly the memory of last Christmas came to her mind, even though the night hadn't ended on a happy note for the most part she had, had fun. The more she remembered those happy moments the calmer Hermione found that those parts of her that had already shifted were returning to human form. Something, as it turned out, was just as painful as turning into a wolf.

"How the fuck does Remus do this?" Hermione asked herself allowed.

A mock gasp erupts behind Hermione causing her to snap her eyes open and spin round to find Sirius standing there clutching his chest with his right hand.

"By Merlin! Hermione Granger dropping such a word! What would Molly say if she were to hear such talk?" Sirius cried in mock distress, throwing his left arm to his head as though he were a damsel in distress about to faint.

"You fix her kitchen yet?" Hermione asked, not bothering to answer the question. Both of them knew that Molly Weasley was giving Hermione an immense amount of freedom at the moment.

Sirius winced at Hermione's question.

"As a matter of fact we have." Sirius proclaimed happily, "It was actually the work of that bloody poltergeist that was responsible for destruction round two." He added as he sat down at the table.

Hermione sat next to him.

"So what have you been doing of at the Burrow this whole time?" Hermione asked, looking for a distraction what the pain left behind from stopping the transformation.

"Poltergeist has developed a rather Peeves like nature all of a sudden, so Molly's been sending me over there to keep rebuilding the place. To tell you the truth I'm half in mind to take you round in wolf form to sort the little bugger out." Sirius replied honestly.

Hermione giggled at Sirius' plan.

"For now though I've got Kreacher over there making sure there's nothing overly dangerous given that this latest fit effected the twins room." Sirius added, the damn poltergeist really seemed to be taking liberties at the moment with an empty house.

"Sirius, you can't do that!" Hermione stated outraged.

Sirius rolled his eyes at Hermione's never changing attitude towards House Elves.

"I'm not going to get into this with you again, Hermione. So for the sake of your bones and my throat, let's just agree to disagree and leave it at that." Sirius suggested before wincing at his choice of words. "Sorry, that was tactless of me." He added.

Hermione shrugged half heartedly.

"At least you're not ignoring me." Hermione replied sadly, confirming something that Sirius already knew.

"He just needs time to wrap his head around it, not that's any excuse not to check on you of course. Git," Sirius stated.

Hermione took a deep breath and changed the subject.

"When are we going to get Harry?" She asked. "He can't stay there any longer, not after what happened." Hermione pressed.

Sirius's jaw tightened.

"I know, unfortunately Dumbledore is keeping the whole thing very close to his chest. But if Harry's not here by the end of the week I'm going to Private Drive myself." Sirius replied determined.

Hermione looked at him shocked.

"Sirius, you're still a wanted man. You can't just go strolling up Private Drive and demand the Dursleys hand Harry over to you, on the other hand that would work." Hermione began to reprimand before realising that it would in fact work. She had heard from Harry himself say that his aunt and uncle didn't care for him in the slightest. "But that's not the point. The point is you'll end up back in prison and Harry would feel awful!" She finished.

Sirius dropped his shoulders.

"I know...still don't like it though." Sirius agreed feebly.

Hermione gently took Sirius's hand and smiled sympathetically to him.

"If it helps, Harry's family are terrified you'll come up the drive and murder them in their sleep. He may have 'forgotten' to mention that you're innocent." Hermione said with a evil smirk on her face.

Sirius let out a bark of laughter.

"Once the war is over I'll have to pay them a visit then," Sirius replied with a gleeful look on his face.

Hermione giggled at the thought of Sirius turning up at Private Drive and the horrified looks of the Dursley family. Before either of them could say another word however, Ron strolled into kitchen before stopping dead in his tracks at the sight of Hermione sitting there.

"I'll...er..." Ron mumbled before his face flushed and promptly ran back out of the room.

Hermione bowed her head, sadness and shame engulfing her.

"His afraid to be anywhere near me now." She mumbled as tears exploded in her eyes. "I've l...lost m...my b...b...best f...friend..." She sobbed and crumbled into herself.

Sirius, while admittedly uncomfortable at having a crying woman on his hands, rushed out of his seat and to her side. Taking Hermione into his arms and held her as she cried all over his shirt. All the while making a mental note to sort Ron out at the earliest opportunity without making Hermione feel worse than what she already does. Which was going to be all the more difficult with her new found werewolf abilities? There were much of Hermione's true origins that are still unknown, for example would silencing spells work on her hearing? Would she be able to tell the difference between a real persona and someone that is on polyjuice potion? Hearing footsteps approaching, Sirius looked round and found the Weasley twins coming towards the kitchen before freezing at the scene in front of them. The older man watched as the twins expressions darkened and without another word hurried off back the way they came and Sirius knew they were going to go speak with Ron.

"Want to practice transforming some more?" He asked Hermione suddenly, knowing that she will continue to obsess over it until she is able to keep her transformations under control.

Hermione managed a water smile before she visibly paled.

"What's Harry going to say when I tell him?" She suddenly asked her voice barely above a whisper. "I've already lost one best friend...what if this is too much for Harry to handle and I end up losing the only brother I'll ever have?" She continued her voice growing in both volume and hysteria.

Sirius grabbed her by the shoulders and made her look him squarely in the eye.

"I promise you this right now, Hermione Granger. My Godson is every inch his parents. Harry has James's talent for trouble, Lily's compassion and empathy but the one thing he has from both of them is loyalty. So let that be the one thing you will never have to worry about. You're stuck with Harry Potter as a brother for the rest of time." Sirius told her firmly but also gently, resulting in Hermione throwing herself into Sirius's arms and crying with relief.

After patting her on the back for a few moments, Sirius gently pried the crying teenager off of him and gave a smile.

"Now, how about that practice? We can use whatever room in the house that you like, believe me when I say your transformations will be a vast improvement on whatever room you chose." He told her, causing Hermione to giggle.

"How about we just use the basement. Trying to transform at will makes me strangely hungry afterwards." Hermione replied.

Sirius let out a bark of laughter as the two of them got up and headed for the basement.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING TO YOUR BROTHER?" Mrs. Weasley's voice suddenly bellowed out angrily causing Hermione to bend over in pain clutching at her ears and even snarl at the pain caused by Mrs. Weasley's shriek.

Without thinking or ceremony Sirius grabbed Hermione and hurried her into the basement, which he had soundproofed magically for her.

"I'll be right back, I promise." Sirius told her before closing the door.

Hermione was left alone in blissful silence, though she couldn't help but wonder what Fred and George had done to Ron.

Sirius on the other hand didn't have to wait long to find out as he barged into Ron's room, his mother's wailing at his back, and stopped short at the sight. To call it a sickening sight would be an understatement as it would appear the twins had put their legal age status to use. Sirius could also safely say that he may never know what spells had been used on the young man but Sirius now knew to never cross the Weasley twins.

Ever

Once the sight before him had sunk in, Sirius realised that Mrs. Weasley was still very much shrieking.

"MOLLY!" Sirius barked at her in anger, silencing her instantly.

Taking a deep breath, Sirius forced himself to calm down. He wasn't exactly happy with Ron's behaviour lately either after all.

"I know that you're in the middle of parenting your boys at the moment, and far be it from me to intervene this magical moment, but would you mind doing it at a more quiet level. There is after all a new werewolf downstairs with hearing far finer than our own and your shrieking is giving the poor little pup one hell of an earache at the moment." Sirius reminded Mrs. Weasley sternly.

Mrs. Weasley suddenly paled and looked horrified.

"Oh, Hermione. The poor thing...I'm so sorry Sirius, oh and I've gone and woken your mother too. I'm so sorry, I'll go and apologise to Hermione as soon as I'm done here." Mrs Weasley said shamefully while throwing vicious glares at her boys.

"We were only getting back at Ron for Hermione because he's being an even bigger insensitive git than normal." Fred told his Mum angrily.

"Yeah, you've seen how his been behaving lately. He completely ignores her! I mean, I know it's all a bit of shock and everything for the bonehead but he hasn't once stopped to think about how Hermione is dealing with all of this." George added, now fully glaring at Ron and painfully reminding Sirius of the phrase 'if looks could kill'. Ron looked down at his feet under his brothers' glares but Sirius was wondering if it was out of guilt over ignoring Hermione or just from the very menacing looks from his brothers that spoke of a deep passion to actually harm their younger brother. Either way, Sirius was relieved that the glares weren't aimed his way.

"Wait...Ronald you've still been ignoring your best friend?" Mrs Weasley questioned her youngest son in shock, her eyebrows looking as though they're threatening to vanish beneath her hair.

Sirius notices that Ron's ears are now turning red before finally looking up.

"I'm scared of..." Ron admitted, everyone could hear the shame in his voice as he spoke the words.

A pain filled gasp sounds behind them, Sirius closes his eyes as he knew that the gasp belonged to Hermione. Ron's eyes erupt in tears.

"Hermione...I'm sorry...I'm really sorry...It's not that I think you'll hurt me or anything. I know you'll never do that..." Ron tried to explain but Hermione interrupts him

"You just said you're afraid of me! Was that what you were about to say?" She demanded, Sirius spun round and braced himself. If worst came to the worst, Sirius would have to transform and challenge a fifteen year old girl that would become the most dangerous species of werewolf in the magical world. It wasn't something he was looking forward to, especially given he'd already went several rounds with Hermione already, but he was prepared to do it if it meant protecting Hermione from deadly consequences that would break her soul.

"NO!" Ron shouted pain and despair in his voice and suddenly Sirius understood why the young man had been avoiding her. "I could never be afraid of you, okay that's not exactly true you scared me long before you became a werewolf, you're wickedly smart you know. I'm afraid for you. What if You-Know-Who finds out about you? What if you become so enraged at school that you explode into a werewolf in front of Malfoy? He already has it out for you because you're muggle-born, correction thought you were muggle-born, but if Malfoy finds out he'll more than likely try and kill you or worse enslave you to You-Know-Who's will." Ron babbled out in a rush.

Hermione said nothing but watched Ron wearily, Mrs Weasley was crying while the twins looked at their younger brother like he was the biggest idiot on the planet. So much so that Fred actually smacks the back of Ron's head.

"Idiot" The twins stated as Ron rubbed the back of his head.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but quickly closed it before turning round and fleeing everyone in the room. Sirius threw a look at Ron that clearly stated he was an idiot.

"Excuse me, duty calls. You and I will be having a little chat later Ronald Weasley." Sirius said simply before hurrying off to talk to Hermione.

"You're such a prat Ron!" Fred spun round and spat at his brother. "Do you realise that this entire time Hermione has been sitting in this house thinking you both hate and fear her!" He continued.

Ron winced at Fred's words as remorse appeared thick and fast on his face.

"Molly," Sirius called softly from the doorway before she could scold her boys. "Albus is here, he needs to talk to Hermione about some things. She asked that you be there." Sirius told the Weasley matriarch softly before heading back downstairs.

"This conversation isn't over Ron," Mrs Weasley told her son before looking at the twins "or for you two." she added before hurrying off after Sirius to find out what Dumbledore wanting to discuss with Hermione.

"Just so I haven't misunderstood, some man dumped me on their doorstep and told them that there was a spell to keep me from changing until either my 21st or this wizard died which appears to be the case. Correct." Hermione repeated what Dumbledore had just told her.

"That is what appears to have happened, my dear." Dumbledore confirmed, causing Hermione to get out of the kitchen chair and pace around the room.

"Appears being the key word here, what or who is to say that they're not lying through their teeth?" Hermione put to the room at large.

Dumbledore looked at the brightest witch of her year with pain in his eyes. Dumbledore was a headmaster whom viewed all his students as his children and he loathed to see any of them in any kind of pain or suffering.

"Have they said anything else?" Mrs Weasley asked the headmaster, her eyes brimming with sadness.

"Not yet but I'm sure Alastor will continue to investigate until he has every last detail of the story." Dumbledore answered, never taking his eyes off of Hermione. "I am sad to say that I must ask a difficult thing of you, Miss Granger." Dumbledore began softly causing Hermione to stop pacing and look at her Headmaster.

"Which is what?" Hermione asked.

"I know that you have every intention of informing Mr Potter as soon as he arrives of the truth of your parentage but..." Dumbledore began but Hermione and Sirius knew exactly where it was going.

"You want Harry kept in the dark about Hermione's parentage." Sirius filled in for him.

Dumbledore nodded.

"Why?" Hermione demanded. "Harry is my best friend, more than that he is my brother in every way but blood." Hermione added angrily.

"Dear I'm sure Professor Dumbledore has his reasons for asking you this." Mrs Weasley told her gently.

"Then it's a reason I deserve to hear if he expects me to lie to my brother." Hermione threw back firmly.

"Forgive my intrusion but I believe a meeting is being held this evening." The voice of Professor Snape sounded in the kitchen, cutting off any further discussion on the matter.

Without another word Hermione turned on her heels and left the kitchen heading to the upper floors where she could stew and hopefully get an answer from Dumbledore before Harry arrived.

Which was hopefully tonight.

"Miss Granger!" Dumbledore called after her, causing Hermione to go back into the kitchen. "There is one more thing I must tell you, something that you need to know and there is no easy way for this news to be broken." Dumbledore began, genuinely afraid of how his student would take the news.

"What is it?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"Since that night I have had members of the Order keeping watch over your childhood home and an hour ago there was a development. A group of men entered your home, Remus identified them all as the same werewolf species as yourself and through his hearing, Remus heard a troubling conversation. One of the men voiced an urgent concern to find you as you are his...betrothed." Dumbledore told Hermione softly.

Betrothed!

Hermione found herself rooted to the spot.

"Oh..." She whispered before collapsing into a dead faint.

Sirius, Snape and Mrs Weasley all but flew across the kitchen to see if she was okay.