Shifted

Sensible

They landed on the uneven sand with a slosh. Hermione felt the freezing touch of ocean waves soaking into her boots. She turned once slowly, working to undo the glamour that hid the cottage so expertly.

Malfoy was holding on with his arms around her neck and she staggered under his limp weight.

"Malfoy, please." She hoisted him up higher and slowly made her way to where she could see the glimmer of a false image.

As soon as her foot crossed the barrier, she was met with a wand at her throat.

Lupin was staring down at her with fierceness she'd never associated with his soft smile and calm demeanor. His gaze wavered once he recognized her, but his arm didn't drop. Flickering eyes landed on Malfoy, giving him a once over.

"What's going on?"

"I've done something and I—" Hermione readjusted Malfoy under her shoulder. "I need your help."

He hesitated a moment, wand wavering— deciding.

His arm dropped and he walked back towards the beach.

"Not inside the house."

He conjured a chair for her to drop Malfoy in and once he was sitting, chains and ropes immediately wrapped around his wrists and midsection.

"That's not necessary."

Hermione didn't like the way he looked tied up and helpless. It reminded her of the moments before she'd realized she couldn't kill him— limp; unconscious under a hole in the wall.

Her fists clenched at her sides.

"And why would that be?" Lupin asked sharply.

Hermione could feel the presence of his wolf harshly. It put her on guard, kept the aggression in her tone when she spoke.

"Look at him! Does that look like a man ready to sabotage and kill?"

"I thought the same thing about his sixteen year old self and look where that got us."

She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes.

She'd not been in the presence of another werewolf since she was bitten. She hadn't prepared for the encounter— hadn't been aware it would affect her so severely.

But Lupin wasn't family— he wasn't pack.

You don't have a pack.

The voice reverberated in her head. Unfriendly. Foreign. Not hers.

Hermione shook her head. Stay out of this and stay silent or I'll leave him here.

The voice disappeared.

"I assume you know now." She couldn't meet his eyes. She kept her gaze planted on the sand in front of her, wondering how many hundreds of millions of grains she was standing on.

His eyes burned into her, searing a hole through her mind.

"How long?"

"Yesterday was my second full moon." Her throat constricted suddenly and she wasn't sure she could get any other words out.

From the side of her eye, Lupin deflated. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Hermione shrugged, looking out to face the ocean and crossing her arms over her chest. "I can't say I've had the easiest time accepting everything that has come with it."

"Like a mate you have the power to entrance?"

Hermione's head shot up. Lupin stared with an intensity she hadn't seen in years. The light in his eyes had faded long ago with his exile to the beachside.