Lionné Belle

Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Hermione/Ginny
Summary: A curse has turned Hermione into a lycanthrope. Harry has died, but the Dark still rages on, and a dear friend has become a traitor. She has become insane and feral, a killer who springs forth when she is pointed to a target by the survivors of the Light. To all others, she is dead. When Ginny finds her, can love heal all that\'s been lost?

Everything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling. The plot and such, to me. No money is being made.

Chapter 3: Loss

\"The loss of a friend is like that of a limb; time may heal the anguish of the wound, but the loss cannot be repaired.\"
-Robert Southey

Ginny whimpered in her sleep. She was having the same old nightmare. It was the only dream she had had for years now. Over and over again, the list of the dead haunted her and she saw their corpses once more. Harry with his slit wrists, Dumbledore with his skull crushed, her mother and father sodomized and covered and blood, her siblings (save Ron) reduced to bloody pieces of meat…gods, the list went on and on. Hermione was in her dreams once, but Ginny never knew how she did. But every night they looked at her with the same horror in their eyes and a question: Why did you survive?

Sometimes she didn’t know.

She woke up in a cold sweat, tucked under the white sheets of the hospital the Light had built. Or what was left of them. Ginny sighed. Only a weak resistance remained, and it didn’t do much good anymore. The Dark had won. It was only a matter of time before they were crushed under Voldemort’s slimy heel. The only reason she had investigated the boy’s death yesterday was to make sure he was really dead, rather than a traitor.

Ginny heard a low purr and looked down at the floor. Hermione was curled up in a ball by the side of the bed, protecting her. Too bad the girl couldn’t shield her in the world of dreams and nightmares. The werelion arched up in a fluid movement and opened her eyes, smiling as they turned to amber.

“Hello, Ginny.” Hermione jumped onto the bed, using muscles no human had. It was vaguely unnerving, but she had seen worse.

The girl suddenly buried her head into Ginny’s hair, and she immediately yelped and tried to pull away, but Hermione’s horribly strong grip on her shoulder made it impossible to move. With a smile, she pulled away. Ginny scooted over to the edge of the bed, suitably confused. “What the hell was that?”

Incomprehension filtered through Hermione’s lion eyes before she spoke, stumbling over her words. “Wh…what did I do?” She looked very confused, and strangely human in that one moment.

“You smelled my hair.” Ginny said, still a little disturbed. Hermione’s face turned very red. “I’m sorry. It was…instinct.” With a shiver, she said, “It’s alright, Hermione. It’s just not something that happens every day.”

“I can’t help it anymore. The beast in me rules now. I…” She clenched her hands into fists, her nails digging deep into her palms. “The only thing I can remember anymore is the forest. I haven’t used magic in years, and up until today I couldn’t even talk in complete sentences.” Her words ended in a deep growl. “And…” She sighed, “It’s hard to get my eyes to stay normal. I’ve shifted so much that not all of me turns back to human anymore.”

Ginny got off of the bed over to a cabinet on the other side of the room. She opened it up and rifled through boxes for a few moments before pulling out Hermione’s wand. She laid it on the sheets and looked at her friend. “Just try something simple. See what happens.”

With a small nod, Hermione picked up the wand and pointed at a bottle. “Accio medicine!” It immediately shot over into her open hand, and she smiled in triumph, but it quickly faded. “What’s the problem?” Ginny said, confused at her reaction.

“It worked, but I remember before there was a boundary to the power of my magic. Even when I did the simplest of spells, I knew that I had a limit. Now, I feel like I can do more if I change a little.” With a strangely wicked smile, Hermione let her hands turn to vicious claws once more and purred. “The more I shift, the more power I feel, Ginny. Of course, I can’t exactly hold my wand in full animal form, but perhaps I could shift halfway…“

Ginny’s eyes widened and she grabbed a hold of Hermione’s shoulder. “Let’s keep the magic to the minimum for now. You don’t know what if complex spells will react differently. I don’t want you hurt.”

She nodded, and put down the wand on the table by the side of the bed. “I’ll do some more later.” Hermione paused, and looked at Ginny. “Come here.”

“Why?” She answered, instantly suspicious.

Hermione growled softly. “Please, Ginny. I’m not going to rip out your throat.” The red-haired girl nodded and sat next to Hermione, as close as she was comfortable. She whispered, “Do you think I’m a monster?”

She shook her head, but Ginny felt a knot of guilt in her stomach. She had, but she was over it now. “I want you to watch me shift. Not all the way, but just enough so you can see what I’ve become. I don’t want you to be scared of me.”

Ginny began to protest, but Hermione’s eyes narrowed. “Ginny, don’t lie. I can smell your fear every time you see my eyes aren’t normal.” The witch blushed in shame. It was true.

“Now hold out your hand.” She did quickly, hoping to fix her earlier offense. Hermione smiled and intertwined her fingers with her friend’s. It was an intimate gesture Ginny wasn’t used to, but forced herself to relax.

“Ready?”

Ginny nodded, not sure what she was going to happen.

She felt the muscles in Hermione’s palm jerk, and she let out a small noise of protest. Her nails began to grow longer and the girl’s grip grew tighter. Ginny felt something…shift and looked down to see a bestial claw-hand. When she finally pushed past the knot in her throat, Ginny’s voice was soft. “How can you partially shift? It’s not even the full moon anymore.”

“I don’t know.” Hermione smiled, still holding onto Ginny’s hand. “I remember reading about how the alphas of lycanthrope packs could control their shape changing, but that was hundreds of years ago.” Her amber eyes dropped to the ground. “Thank you for letting me do that. I know how uncomfortable it made you.”

She saw no point in arguing that, so said nothing.

“I…you’ve always been there for me, Ginny. You didn’t forget me even when the others did. That means everything to me.” Hermione looked on the verge of crying. “Is there anyway I can repay you?”

“I don’t know.” On an impulse she didn’t understand, Ginny pulled Hermione close and kissed her with a hunger she had kept secret for years.

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Slight cliffhanger. Sex and violence coming next. And no it\'s not going to be all wonderful and fluffy love, because that is no fun at all.

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