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Lunaticus Book Three: New Moon Rising	By : JBankai89 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Remus Views: 12595 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, I gain nothing from this but a way to pass the time.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
Chapter Eleven – Jaws Locked

As Harry had predicted, he did not see Hermione coming, and just as suddenly he was on his back, and his vision was impeded by a sea of bushy brown hair.

He heard Tavish's low murmur of reassurance to the beta, who likely had begun to panic at Hermione's pseudo-assault but Harry was too focused on his friend to offer up his own words of support to his courting partner—in particular how she was crushing his windpipe with the strength of her hug.

“Hermione—can't—breathe—” Harry choked out, and with a small yelp, she let him go.

“Oh, sorry, Harry!” she cried as she grabbed his forearm and tugged him to his feet smoothly, as though he weighed no more than Pekingese. “I forgot...are you all right?”

“Fine,” he rasped, “just...try to remember that your a little bit stronger than me, now.”

“And Ron,” she added with a small grin, and Harry raised his eyebrows.

“Oh God, what did you do?”

Smirking a little, Hermione dug into her robes and produced a slightly creased wizarding photograph, which displayed Hermione at the Burrow, grinning from ear to ear as she held Ron up over her head. His best mate looked to be yelling at his fiancée and whomever was handling the camera while he flailed in her grip, but apparently couldn't get down.

“Ginny helped me take it,” Hermione explained with a giggle as she tucked it back into her robes, “he wasn't exactly impressed with us.”

“I'll bet,” Harry replied with a snort, “walk? And we can catch up?”

Hermione looked over to Ulrich uncertainly, as though asking for his permission, and he nodded stiffly.

Keen to keep Ulrich's jealousy in check, Harry pecked him on the lips once before he turned to join his friend, and they meandered towards the edge of the treeline before either of them spoke. Like at the last moon, Harry noted how his werewolf instincts seemed to be humming just beneath the surface of his skin, clearly uneasy that he was near to a dominant werewolf, though this time because Ulrich wasn't nearby. Harry forced himself to ignore it—this was Hermione, after all, not some random dominant who wanted to ravish him at the earliest opportunity.

As they walked, Harry also couldn't help but note how different Hermione looked, and yet at the same time, she looked exactly the same.

Hermione was wearing a set of violet robes that he'd seen her in over a dozen times, but they were tighter than before—and not from fat. Her muscle definition was a little envious, and the scent of dominant that she exuded just added to the overall aura of strength around her now. Harry didn't like how instead of being proud of her for this, the overall impression on his submissive instincts made him nervous, despite the near-constant loop of this is Hermione, not some random dominant, that ran through his head.

“How are things with you and Ron?” Harry asked conversationally in an effort to distract himself from his thoughts, “any progress with...what you told me at the last moon?”

Hermione did not answer straightaway, and her gaze flitted from him to Jade and the other pregnant females. The sudden anguished and envious look in her eyes told Harry everything that he needed to know.

“Things with Ron are fine—the same. I think he's a little self-conscious about how I'm sort of stronger than him now—”

“—sort of,” Harry cut in with a snicker.

“—shut up.” Hermione smiled, “anyway, I think he feels bad about it, so he hasn't really said anything, but I can tell, you know?” Harry nodded his head once, and she continued, her tone troubled as she dropped her gaze to the ground. “And...no change, yet.”

Hermione's entire demeanour changed in that instance—her shoulders slumped, and her eyes gained a faraway, glassy look, and it was as though someone had suddenly placed a ten-ton weight against her back. “Ron says he doesn't mind—there's still so many war orphans that need a home, but...”

“...but you want it,” Harry finished for her, and she nodded.

Harry had no idea how to console her, or what he could possibly say to make her feel any better about the situation, and instead, whilst ignoring his protesting werewolf instincts, he pulled Hermione into a tight hug.

Immediately, his best friend's breath hitched, and a tiny sob escaped her as she hugged him back. Harry rubbed her back as she wept, holding onto him a little too tightly, while he tried to ignore both his submissive instincts positively screaming at him for having an unmated dominant so close, and the twin sets of eyes that seemed to be boring into him, both Ulrich's—and Remus's.

“S-sorry, Harry,” she sniffled as she pulled back, and roughly wiped at her eyes, “I just—I'm sorry.”

“Hey, it's okay,” Harry said reassuringly, and pulled her in for another hug, “Hermione, it's something you really wanted, and it's tough—I can't even imagine how tough. So you cry all you want, all right?”

Offering her friend a watery smile, she nodded.

Following their shared emotional moment, Hermione filled Harry in on the other new turns her life had taken. She told him how she had requested a transfer from her position with the Unspeakables to the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures office, to debating with Molly over colour schemes for her wedding, to Ron spending a lot of time with George in Harry's absence, which made his stomach twist with guilt. When she'd finished, Harry took his turn, his eyes flitting back to Ulrich as he spoke.

“Things are going...well,” Harry said, and felt his face grow warm at how wistful he sounded. Hermione giggled.

“Define well?” she prompted, and Harry grinned a little.

“Well, our activities together lately have caused Remus to break whatever he's holding when he sees us, so...”

“Oh, Harry, you're not deliberately antagonizing him, are you?” Harry turned back to face Hermione, and her expression had shifted to an almost maternal concern.

“No, of course not,” Harry said at once, his eyes wide. But even as he said it, he easily recalled the feelings of deep satisfaction that he felt every time Remus cast his heartbroken gaze their way. “I mean, not really,” he paused again as he thought of how to best explain it to her, and his gaze once more flitted back to the werewolves congregated in the main area of the territory, and his eyes easily picked out Remus. He was sitting a little off to the side, alone as always, his form still bigger and stronger than it had ever been while he was with Harry, but it had begun to show the hallmarks of his lack of access to full proper meals, and his cardigan hung off him a little more loosely than it used to.

“It just feels nice to be able to give Remus back a taste of what he put me through, that's all,” Harry said at last, and forced his gaze away from the pack's omega, and back to Hermione. “Is that wrong?”

“Yes it is, Harry,” she replied at once, but she was smiling sadly at him, instead of frowning. “But I also understand why you feel that way. Just...don't push him too much; if he snaps...you may not want to get caught in between Remus and Ulrich...again.”

~*~

After Harry and Hermione's private catchup, they rejoined the others, just as they had last time, but this time with the inclusion of Ulrich.

In the presence of an unmated (by werewolf standards, at least) dominant and the impending moon, Ulrich's acceptance of the situation was stretched to the breaking point. Harry was doing his best to calm his dominant as a result, and thus found himself perched on the edge of the log bench, with Ulrich sitting behind him, and his longer legs pressed against the outside of his legs.

Being between Ulrich's legs like this felt more comfortable than sitting in his lap, but it still felt very strange to have his boyfriend (which was a bit of a weird epithet to apply to Ulrich, but Harry had no idea what else he could call him) draped all over him like this in front of his friends. Hermione eyed Ulrich uncertainly, more from his attitude than anything else, but she seemed to at least partially understand why he was doing what he was doing, and offered up no word of protest.

At the same time, Hermione began to grill Ulrich on every tiny detail of his life, his personality, and everything in between. Her words were continually punctuated with idle threats, indicating that if Ulrich in any way hurt Harry, she'd personally curse his bollocks off.

“I promise, Hermione,” Ulrich said repeatedly with laughter in his voice, “you don't need to worry, I have no intention of hurting Harry.”

“Yeah, well, neither did R—” Harry glared at her, and she clamped her mouth shut at once. Ulrich's arms tensed around Harry, and they quickly descended into an awkward silence. Harry rested his hands over Ulrich's in an attempt to silently reassure him, though he was uncertain how much it actually helped.

“Well, I'm starving,” Tavish said suddenly, breaking the awkward silence, “dinner, anyone?”

“Yeah,” Harry replied, though he didn't exactly feel very hungry at the moment. “Sounds good.”

At dinner, Harry and Tavish were given their normal portion sizes, while Hermione and Ulrich's were close to tripled. It reminded Harry strongly of their fourth year, when Hermione was researching Elf Rights, and had taken to shovelling food into her mouth at breakneck speed so that she could spend their breaks in the library. She seemed wholly unaware of how fast or how much she was eating, too caught up chatting with Tavish and Ulrich to pay it much mind, while Harry looked on quietly. He also noticed that she was careful to sit a little farther from Tavish than Ulrich, though the reason for this was painfully obvious.

Across the circle, sitting and eating with Adina, Greyback was glaring suspiciously at Hermione. Though logically the alpha would know that Hermione had no interest in his sub, but so close to moonrise his mind was more animal than man, and could not make the distinction as clearly. To some extent, Hermione seemed to understand this, and thus was careful to both keep her distance and not touch Tavish directly, which Harry thought was a very wise move on her part.

Hermione's amiable mood dimmed somewhat when she finally caught sight of Remus, however.

“Harry?” she asked timidly, drawing his attention from the other two werewolves and to her, her tone shifting from neutral to uncertain.

“Yeah?”

“Why isn't Remus eating?” she asked while she nodded towards the other dominant, who was sitting off to one side, alone, as always.

“Pack rules,” Harry explained softly, “since he's the omega, he isn't allowed to eat until everyone else has finished.”

“But—but that's awful! What about all that bollocks Greyback was spouting about how he takes care of those he turns?” she sputtered angrily, “that's not care! That's neglect! Harry, look at him, he's already lost so much weight, how can you just—”

“—shut up,” Harry hissed, and to his surprise, her jaw snapped shut. Her angry stare did not fade, however. Harry found himself rather shocked at her outburst, especially given that since Hermione was so knowledgeable about pretty much everything, he had no idea how she did not know about this aspect of the culture. When her alarmed expression did not change, Harry quickly launched into an explanation.

“Hermione, look,” Harry began again, well aware that Ulrich was listening in, despite his feigned conversation with Tavish, “this is just...how it is. Werewolf culture isn't wizard culture, there are different rules. Remus asked to come out here as omega in some twisted attempt at getting back with me, or paying his dues for what happened, I'm not really sure. He's hardly lost that much weight, it's not like Alpha would let him starve to death. It's just...how it is.”

“Harry, what happened to you?” Hermione asked, her tone laced with concern as she frowned at him. Harry blinked and stared back at her, mildly startled by the sudden question.

“What d'you mean?” he asked, and her frown deepened.

“You weren't like this before,” she explained, “you were never one to just accept that things were the way they were, you always fought. What happened? Why are you so content to just sit back and...let it happen?”

Harry did not answer her straightaway, but eased back in his seat, his eyes fixed on the crackling bonfire. His gaze flicked briefly to Remus, who had gotten up and finally accepted his share of the evening meal, then looked back at the fire.

“As terrible as it sounds,” Harry began, “part of me feels like he deserves it,” he said, and picked up a twig near the ground, fingering it for a moment before he pitched it into the flames. “He put me though absolute hell, I had to sacrifice so much to be with him, and just when things were starting to be just...so...so wonderful, his own issues—his unwillingness to deal with things properly just destroyed everything. So, yeah, I feel like he deserves what he's getting now. I just wish he was somewhere else.” Harry paused as he gritted his teeth, his anger at the whole situation flaring in him again. Ulrich, apparently sensing his mood, snaked an arm around his waist, but did not interrupt their conversation.

“The other part of it is that it's a different kind of culture out here, Hermione,” Harry said, repeating the point again in the hopes that maybe this time the words might sink in with her. “They—we solve problems with teeth first, words second. Maybe I'm just tired of fighting, I don't know, but I just have no desire to kick up a fuss anymore. I want to live in peace. I have a place here; it's maybe not what I would have initially chosen, but I have a place that's mine. I'm needed, I'm...” Harry trailed off and shook his head. “You're not here all the time, Hermione, so I don't think you really should be jumping to conclusions.”

Harry looked back towards her, expecting to see some sort of expression of understanding in her eyes, but instead Hermione looked as though Harry had slapped her.

“Fine,” she said, her voice shaking a little, though she sounded more hurt than angry. “But the Harry Potter I thought I knew would never be this vindictive, no matter what. I think you should be ashamed of yourself.”

Without another word, Hermione stood up and stalked across the area, and to Harry's complete surprise, she sat next to Remus and began talking with him.

Harry stared in shock for a long moment, then, swallowing the strange, niggling sense of betrayal, he turned back to Tavish and Ulrich. Ulrich tightened his arm around him, and Tavish offered him a small smile.

“You did well, Harry,” Ulrich said softly, then pressed a kiss to his temple, “don't let her attitude make you feel guilty.”

Harry grunted and leant into the embrace, but didn't answer.

~*~

As the sun bowed his head to the moon, a collective thrum of excitement hung over the territory, and Harry followed Tavish mechanically to where the other subs had congregated, all of them trying to keep the excited children from scampering off before the change came.

Hermione had stayed with Remus for the rest of the evening, all the while shooting glares at Harry, and he felt a hot sort of sense of betrayal at her attitude, though he had no idea how to address it.

“She'll get over it,” Tavish said reassuringly as Harry caught up with him, and he offered Harry a small smile. “She's only been in the territory a couple of times, she'll be slower than you in getting used to how things work around here.”

“Don't bet on it,” Harry grumbled as shuffled off to one side and began to shed his clothes, still a little uneasy about being naked in front of the others. Tavish followed him, but he let Harry have his privacy, and merely leant against the side of the tree that Harry hid behind. “She's got this track record of forcing her opinions on others when she thinks she knows better or something. I can't see her getting over this at all.”

If Tavish had been preparing a response it never came, and an instant later, Harry understood why.

The change came suddenly, much more quickly than at his first moon, and Harry grunted as he fell to his knees, and pain lanced through every part of him as his flesh grew, ripped, and he transformed.

Harry felt as though the change was a little easier this time, despite the suddenness of it, and when he stood back up and shook himself, he felt none of the painful aftershocks that he had felt at the last moon. Beyond his tree, he could hear the soft stirring of the pack, and Harry turned to slip out from his hiding spot.

Harry immediately nearly collided with Tavish, and just like last time, Harry felt a panicked sort of unease at how small he was compared to many of the other subs in the pack. Tavish butted his head against Harry's cheek affectionately, his way of showing him that he meant no harm, and Harry's tail lifted a little as he relaxed, but he could not help but still feel a little nervous.

Across the territory, Harry could see a large, tawny and grey dominant before Alpha on his back, exposing his belly and throat to the much larger wolf. Harry's wolf mind recognized this new wolf as pack, but his presence also made him uneasy, and Harry felt a sudden compulsion to hide from this newcomer, though in his current form, he could not articulate why.

Alpha accepted him readily, and slowly the dominants began to spread out, while Harry tried to shift closer to his companion, but he had already begun to trot towards Alpha, leaving Harry alone and exposed.

Thankfully, a dark, dusky grey dominant that he recognized at once had begun to approach Harry, and his scent was calming—familiar. Harry moved to step towards him, when suddenly a solid wall of unfamiliar fur blocked his way.

Harry yipped indignantly, the new dominant blocking his path to the beta, and snapped at the dominant before he could think better of it, but the tawny-grey wolf ignored him completely.

Beyond the new wolf, he heard his courting partner growl. Harry stepped back, and not a moment too soon, as in that instant the two wolves lunged at each other, teeth bared.

Harry yet out a high whine as the two dominants became a blur of differently coloured fur, and he hurried forward in an effort to break up the fighting wolves, but he was stopped almost at once by a set of teeth sinking into the scruff of his neck.

It wasn't even hard enough to bruise, but it pulled another yelp from Harry as he struggled against the hold. He could smell that it was the alpha that had stopped him, and he yanked on Harry hard, dragging him away from the two dominants, then dropped him and stood in front of Harry in a clear message—do not interfere.

Harry continued to whine as he paced back and forth before Alpha, who was watching him with keen, narrowed eyes. He didn't try to bolt past the larger wolf, and he was so large that Harry couldn't see what was happening. The snarling, interspersed with the occasional pained yelp, combined with the sharp, metallic tang of blood on the air did little to calm Harry's nerves.

It was less than two minutes before Alpha stepped aside, and Harry saw his courting mate standing over the new wolf—Moony, the human part of his mind supplied suddenly—panting hard, while the omega exposed his belly to the other wolf.

Ulrich looked up and caught sight of his courting mate. Harry took a few uncertain steps forward, his ears flattened against his head as he regarded the dominant, but Ulrich let out a low, rumbling growl closer to a purr, and the dominant closed the distance between them in two strides of his long legs. He butted his head against Harry affectionately, a gesture which Harry immediately returned, his tail raising a little as his anxiety receded.

Moving on instinct, Harry scented his dominant, and sought out the minor wounds. Scratches on his flanks, a nasty bite mark on his shoulder, and his muzzle was very bloody, but the scents were too confused for Harry to tell whether the blood there belonged to Ulrich or Moony.

Harry butted his head lightly against Ulrich's side and the larger wolf huffed, allowing himself to be ushered away by the sub, and lay down to let Harry tend to his wounds.

It felt so natural to Harry to tend to his courting partner in this way, and the sharp tang of blood on his tongue, though unpleasant, also made Harry feel a little giddy. It felt so right—instinctual, even.

While Harry worked, the other dominants had gone off to hunt, and as he had finished, the dominants had already returned, dragging two does and a stag behind them.

The huge meal available was thrilling to Harry, and after Alpha and his mates ate, Harry was able to eat with the others much more comfortably this time around—a benefit of having the protection of the beta wolf at his side, he was thankfully not excluded from the meal.

Full and comfortable, Harry was getting ready to go off with his courting mate and sleep, when a high, keening cry cut through the peaceful quiet of the territory.

Harry jerked up, his ears perked high, and he smelt it immediately.

One of the pregnant subs had gone into labour.
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Lunaticus Book Three: New Moon Rising