Work Text:
July 2005
Remus Lupin of Grimmauld Place liked to think he was a fairly decent man most days, thank you very much. On some days, he was the furthest possible thing from one, and he didn't mean the full moon either. Most of those days could be identified by the presence of a singular young woman that for some reason had the ability to bring out the side of him that he had hoped to suppress as much as possible - the wolf and his idiosyncrasies. Not just of the full moon type either.
"Teddybear!" Hermione beamed in delight at the sight of the little boy hurtling his way towards her like a pop rocket.
His hair was teal, his nose a little button and limbs getting a bit too long for him already these days. But the beaming smile that split his face whenever he saw Hermione was as bright as the sun itself.
"Mimi! I missed you!" He allowed himself to be lifted up into a hug, though he was already getting too fall for his age.
And what was Remus thinking as he leaned against the doorframe of the sitting room? Did he feel fondness for the sweet witch? Did he take pride and joy in his son as he talked about all his accomplishments over the past three weeks since he last saw her?
No. He was thinking none of those things. Instead, all he could hear from the depths of his mind were the pleased growls of the beast within.
She's round and healthy. We should make her even more round, with cubs…
Remus shuddered as the words passed through him, his gaze taking in Hermione’s plush arse, rounded hips and glowing skin. She was a vision in a soft cream dress that hugged her curves before flowing down to her ankles comfortably. She was the epitome of health compared to the skinny and depressed young woman hardened by war that emerged after the final battle. These past years have been good to her and by Gods did he notice far too much.
"Hello Remus," she smiled in greeting as she set Teddy down and leaned up to peck his cheek in greeting, overwhelming his senses with her delicious scent of rosehip and coconut.
She could smell like us instead…
Shut up, he warned the wolf and tried to recover with a lopsided smile. "Hello Hermione. Thank you for agreeing to watch Teddy. I won't be long," he promised.
"Nonsense, take your time! We'll be right as rain here," she promised and chuckled when Teddy dashed back to her and gripped her hand, pulling her toward the kitchen to show her everything he'd drawn.
He wanted to stay, wanted to tell her how beautiful she looked, but instead made himself walk out the front door and apparate before he could change his mind.
Coward… . The wolf growled before going silent.
August 2005
“That wouldn’t work,” Hermione shook her head as she checked the calculations.
“The equation is balanced,” Remus argued as he showed her the equitable result on the arithmetic scale.
This project had been both a blessing and a curse. When she first came to him with the proposal to understand the impact of werewolf mating cycles on the latest amendment to the Werewolf bill, he wasn’t quite sure what to say. The theory was sound - if they had empirical evidence on the positive impact on stabilising a werewolf’s condition after finding a spouse or a mate, they could introduce further fiscal and social benefits for werewolf households. He thought back to his own parents and the hatred they’d had for the their werewolf son and what a difference it could have made if he had grown up in these times, protected by law, his parents with additional funds to support his needs, social activities with other werewolves and regular children, and an additional stipend towards clothes that he had torn to shreds many a time due to his temper when he was scared as a small boy. There was so much they could do with this research, so much positive impact, and he was proud she had suggested it.
It did however mean working with her closely for over two weeks now and as the moon drew closer, he could feel the wolf within him coming out more often. He would find himself breathing in her scent as she walked past, holding onto her hip a little bit tighter when she came in and kissed his cheek in greeting. He had to actively fight his need to kiss her when she was so close. All it would take was for him just to turn his head and-
“Remus?” she asked, a frown of concern between her brows, her cacao gaze trying to read him.
“Sorry, I was just thinking of the equation and what could have been done wrong,” he offered the excuse though he saw her scrutinising him for just a moment longer as if trying to decide whether he was telling the truth. If she spotted the lie, she didn’t say so.
“As I was saying, the equation is too perfect, it’s tailored on two assumptions that may be a variable instead,” she pointed to the two points.
“Variable how?” he asked, looking at the points she was making.
“Well firstly this equation is for both marriage and mating but they’re not strictly the same thing, are they?” she pointed out.
He froze for a moment, looking at her in surprise. “How do you know that?”
She looked at him for a long moment before finally speaking. “Have werewolves never before married someone who wasn’t their mate?”
He felt the impact of those words like a punch in the gut. She couldn't know about Nymphadora not being his mate, could she?
Clever witch...she will make a fine mate... The werewolf growled, pleased at her thinking.
Shut up, beast.
He tried to answer despite the growling taking on a sinister tone in his head. “That is known to happen, yes. Not all werewolves get the opportunity to meet their true mate, so they marry someone they are fond of instead,” he conceded.
Like you did, forcing that woman onto us...the only good thing that came out of that was our cub…
Remus ignored the wolf and focused on Hermione instead.
“So what we then need is two different equations. One for mating and one for marriage. The marriage one is straight forward. The mating one may have another variable here,” she pointed onto the equation.
He frowned. “Why is the balance a problem?”
“Does all mating happen consensually?” she asked, her pen pointing to one of the books on the table titled ‘ The Beast Within: Mating Cycles of Werewolves ’.
Remus gritted his teeth at the filth that spewed from the wolf. As if she won’t be begging us to take her...she would be ours… claim her as we drink of her blood...
“Remus?” she asked again, holding his gaze steadily, uncowed by his darkening expression.
“No werewolf worth their salt will claim a mate that did not consent to mating,” he growled, his gaze flashing gold.
He could see her breathing picked up and felt shame at having frightened her, until a sweet scent drifted to his nose. She’s not scared...she desires us...let us have her.. The wolf pushed against his mind and he pushed back with panic, feeling the presence of the wolf growing so close to the moon.
He got up from his seat to put some distance between them, his chair clattering to the floor at the sudden movement that turned it over. “I have another appointment this afternoon. I’ll see you in a few days after the moon,” he announced and walked away despite her calls for him to return.
He would not give in, he was a good man. She was too young, too beautiful for a washed up old werewolf to claim her. She will not bear the brunt of this...disease. The wolf inside him reared at those dark, hateful thoughts and he had to lock himself in his bedroom before he collapsed onto his knees and dug his fingers into his sandy hair, clenching his fists tightly to get away from the torment of the wolf.
She will be ours...mark my words, human….
You will not touch her, beast, he spat back but knew that the wolf would howl for her when the moon rose to its peak.
Hermione Granger would not be cowed by a bit of aggression. If he thought his little lunar idiosyncrasies would get to her, Remus Lupin didn't know her very well. She could tell he was fighting the wolf, and worried about the impact it would have on him. No matter how much he tried to repress it, the wolf was just as much a part of him as his body and soul. He may think himself a man most of the time and wolf only three days per month, but some of the books she read, the reputable ones at least, were very clear - the man and the wolf are inseparable. She gathered the notes she made and the reworked equations, looking up to assess the time.
It was barely four o'clock and since it was the first night of the full moon, she had time to herself. Thankfully it was a Saturday so she could get on with her yoga and reading the new book she purchased. It was silly really, her love for historical romances, but she found it was the best thing to relax her ever-busy mind. She pulled her curls up into a bun and wrapped a bandana over her head to keep them in place, before changing into a pair of comfortable shorts and sports bra for her workout.
She was just making her way through the first few poses when her floo roared to life. Her gaze was confused only for a few moments before she realised the tall figure stepping into her flat was the very man in her thoughts.
"Remus! What are you doing here?" She asked surprised, already straightening up from her downward position.
He didn't answer her, instead stepped close, leaving barely a foot between them. It was only then that she noticed the golden sheen in his gaze.
"Remus?" She asked softly, something within her telling her to run because the man before her was a predator.
A soft growl rose in his throat. "You know who I am."
Her breath caught in her throat as she looked at the being before her. It was as if Remus' build had swelled. He appeared somehow taller, broader, he carried himself with a sure strength and confidence she had never seen from her ex-professor. And those eyes, those beautiful golden eyes could only mean one thing.
"Moony…." She whispered, stumped to see the man she knew and yet to hear and feel the wolf speaking through him.
Her hand reached up towards his cheek in wonder but paused when the rumble in his throat deepened. His slim callused hand grasped hers and he brought it up to his stubbled cheek, closing his eyes a moment at the contact with her.
"Clever mate…" he hummed before his piercing gaze captured hers once more.
They were such a contrast, tall and slim with sandy locks and a map of silvery scars across his features, pale as moonlight itself. And next to him she felt warm as the sun, her dark golden skin, curvy frame and wild hair, so alive and generous with movement and growth. She couldn't begin to grasp the gravity of his gaze on her and what she meant to him. But he was willing to show her if she would have him.
"Mate?" She asked, her teeth digging into her bottom lip to stifle any more hopeful words at the prospect of being a true mate to the man she had admired and hoped to love for the past three years.
"If you would have us. The human," his lips curled in distaste, "he sulks like a cub in the corner, knowing I am in control. He thinks me a beast and that I will claim you against will, as if he didn’t sense how much you want us to," he said in a matter-of-fact way she found both charming and shocking.
"And you wish to have me and mate me? Both of you?" She asked, her fingers curling a little to gently rake through his stubble which she's seen him scratching before.
He closed his eyes at the sensation and for a moment he almost looked lupine in his enjoyment of the scratches. "Yes. The human thinks you too young and pretty for us. I can smell how much you want us. But you have to decide whether you want to mate us," he explained in that direct way of his.
He spoke of mating as if it were an inevitable fact, and she recognised that perhaps it was. Her crush on her professor at the age of 13 had only developed over the years to the deep respect for the ostracised man, and to a passion to ensure his well-being as much as she could. For both Remus and Teddy. But the love she also felt for him was not new, it has been there, simmering under the surface for the past few years as she worked and lived with him closely after the war.
“Is it safe so close to the moon?” she asked, her hesitation showing as she checked the clock again.
“I will not hurt you, mate. Once mated, I will be of no danger to you, in either form,” he promised.
A feeling of rightness and truth from his words settled over her and she smiled, her thumb caressing her stubbled cheek. “Then have me, I am yours,” she whispered and gasped when he claimed her lips a moment later.
He smelled of the earth and meadow honeysuckle and kissed her like a man without restraint, hungry and yearning. He leaned down to grip her generous thighs and pulled sharply, making her squeal as she clutched his shoulders and neck tightly in fear of falling.
“Moony! I’m heavy!” she complained as she reflexively wrapped her legs around his hips, her soft curvaceous body pressing against his lean frame.
“You are not heavy, you are round and healthy. Makes me want to give you cubs,” he grinned wolfishly.
She looked at him in surprise and her teeth dug into her bottom lip nervously. “I would like that but not just yet,” she said carefully.
He nodded and grinned. “One day mate, I will knot you and you will be full of my come.”
She whimpered as his lips fastened on her neck, sensual and biting kisses raising her own need. Her hips rubbed against him impatiently, and he could feel the heat of her quim and smelled her desire, enveloping his senses and driving his impatience.
He knelt down by the roaring fire and ripped the flimsy shorts and knickers with little effort, the material falling away as she started wiggling her way out of her sports bra. Her back arched and swelve chest rocked at the moment, drawing his greedy gaze until he latched his lips onto one dark stiff peak, making her groan as she rolled the tight material up over her head impatiently.
Undressing with equal hurry, they were both bare in no time and his hands urged her to roll over, sure grip on the curve of her hip drawing her up on her knees. She wanted to protest, to see his face and golden gaze, but her words fell away from her a moment later when his tongue traveled a flat moist line from clit to tailbone with a pleased growl. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, barely managed to whimper incessantly as his tongue plunged into her soaking folds, pressing deeply into her cunt, thrusting into her with quick jabs before returning to her throbbing clit.
She wanted to beg for more, the stimulation drawing her far too close to the edge very quickly but he was straightening up a moment later and a shudder travelled down her spine at the feel of the thick head of his length rubbing against he folds. The soft velvet feel of him was indescribable, and then he was pressing inside and her mind failed to function.
The pressure of his girth opening her up, stretching muscles that haven't been touched in months was far too delicious, and her fingers dug into the plush carpet to hold onto something, if not to her own sanity.
Moony grunted with pleasure as he thrust home the last couple of inches and her back hunched slightly as she quivered and tried to accommodate the pressure on her cervix. There was no time to adjust, to take the experience in, as he pulled back out nearly all the way before thrusting back home and taking away her breath once again. Soft pants and meowles of pleasure left her lips as she was taken by the man and the wolf and claimed thoroughly.
She felt her body climbing higher, building the pressure for her to come as he reached down for her shoulder and yanked her up into his arms, seating himself deep inside her at a new angle.
She cried out in pleasure and agony, the depth he was reaching and the stretch of his cock bordering on pleasured pain as he forced her back to his chest and continued the punishing pace of his thrusts.
She didn't even feel his lips on her shoulder, too carried by the pleasure pain of their joining to notice until his teeth bit into her flesh and a searing pain bloomed in her muscles as she flew apart and came with a silent scream.
He held onto her trembling body, his grip vice-like, tongue drinking of her bloody mating mark as he thrust home once, twice, and came deep inside her, his hot seed running down her thighs as her pleased and abused quim trembled through the last after-shocks.
The next thing she knew, she was laying in front of the still roaring fire, brought out of mindlessness by the sound of creaking. No, not creaking, cracking of bone and flesh, as the man she knew transformed beside her into Moony's true form. She realised with panic that the first tendrils of moonlight were streaming through the window and she was locked alone in her flat with a werewolf.
A ripple of fear ran through her as the werewolf shook himself off and his brilliant golden gaze fastened on her. She lay frozen in place, unwilling to startle the wolf, but he merely padded over and sniffed at her before his tongue licked her mating mark and he settled down beside her, one of his large paws pulling her closer. She settled with her back against the wolf's soft furry side, her fingers reaching up to card through the sandy blond fur at the wolf's neck, pleased to hear the warm rubble of a contented growl from him. She strangely found herself lulled back into comfort.
She was a wolf's mate and with the bite so close to the moon, likely a demi-wolf herself now. But something within her slotted into place, like a puzzle piece that was meant to always fit. Tomorrow would bring new challenges, but for tonight, she closed her eyes and rested with her mate, beside the fire and under the gaze of the moon.
Fin.