Time Stood Still

Time Stood Still – Moonlight Dreaming Valentine’s Day Challenge

By April Grey


It all belongs to Rowling, except what you don’t recognize.


\"’Time stood still, the only sound now was the air that escaped their lips, and no one could quite believe what they had just witnessed’.\"

“What total bollocks! I wonder who writes this?”

I recognized the voice coming from the far end of the bar. I was ready to leave, having met my Order contact and transferred the dentsents, but then I heard her voice. It took a minute to place that it belonged to a former student. She was reading out loud from a book to a couple of rather bored on-lookers. She drank off a glass of something and slammed it back on the bar, ice cubinklinkling.

“Love. Hah. Sop for a bunch of idjiots.” She was as strident and sincere as she’d been as my student.

Still I cringed a little. It seems that my former student, (she used to be an Order member, friend of Harry Potter, I’d come up with the name in a minute I knew), was a trifle sloshed.

“Idiots and wankers. Telling us about love to get us softened up. They just care about sex-- S-E-X.”

I came closer. I would remember her name. Hmmm. Cared about the rights of House Elves. S.P.E.W. Now if I could remember that, I thought I should be able to remember her name.

I tapped her on the shoulder. “Umm. Miss…”

She turned around and her eyes widened. “Oh, Prof. Lupin.” She blushed. “I’m sorry.”

“No. Not a professor. Haven’t taught in a decade, really.” I blushed.

“Oh, then. Mr. Lupin?” She was swaying a bit and I steadied her with a hand to the small of her back.

“Remus. Please call me Remus.” I smiled politely.

“Ah, right. Hermione,” she stuck out her hand, “Hermione—“

“Granger. I remember you.” I sighed. Yes, it was coming back.

“Really? It’s been what, five years since Harry defeated old Moldy-voldy.” She laughed harshly.

I tried not to get my back up. I’d lost many friends in that war and I still felt my losses deeply. I knew that most people got on with their lives, but I didn’t have much of a life to get on with. So again I smiled. She was drunk, but seemed to be all right. Holding her own, that is, I amended to myself. I’d just leave.

She saw me start to go and she grabbed my robes. I confess, they were threadbare and the seam split.

“Oh, dear. I’m sorry, Remus. Here let me take care of that for you.”

“Oh, no. No, that’s all right.” I was trying to make a simple escape when she brought out her wand and all the portraits of the pub disappeared. There was a general outcry and I took her wand holding hand in mine. “We better leave.” I said, sensing a riot in the making.

“Ooops. Was that me?” She looked wide-eyed and innocent. I put my hand protectively around her shoulder and started to escort her out.

“Uh-uh. Are you picking me up, Professor?”

“I’m not a professor anymore, Miss Granger.”

“Hermione, please.” I reddened further at the idea she would even think that I would do such a thing.

We got outside to the sidewalk, just as the chimes were tolling midnight at the church on the square.

“Let me walk you home.” I said, trying to sound, what, gallant and not horny, I suppose.

“I’ll have you know that I’m not having sex with you.” She tittered.

I froze in shock. It took me a moment to accept that witches were much more forward in this generation than mine.

“That’s quite all right. That wasn’t my intention, Miss Gra- er Hermione.” I looked at her and realized that I didn’t know which route to take her. “Hermione, which direction should we proceed?”

‘You don’t want to have sex with Why Why not? You’re just like the rest of them.”

I began walking towards one of the main thoroughfares, assuming it would be practical. “You have me at a disadvantage. If I understood you correctly, all men, or Wizards for that matter, wanted was sex and romance is only bait.”

“Except for yours truly. I don’t get to have either.” And much to my consternation, she started to sniffle.

“Um, where do you live? I’ll be glad to…” Suddenly she was crying on my shoulder. My heart started racing. It was only two days before the full moon and even with potions to suppress the madness, my hormones do get a bit out of control. I attempted to neatly remove her, which only made her cling all the harder to me. “Maybe you need to eat something.” That seemed like a good idea; food to dilute the alcohol in her system. And we were only a few blocks away from my flat. I began to head there.

“Now, now. You are a lovely, young girl. Perhaps a bit intimidating when you are flashing paperback novels in people’s faces.”

“There you see. You don’t want me either.” She stopped and looked up at me, all red-rimmed brown eyes, managing to look rather beguiling in spite of the wet slickness all over his face. I fished out a handkerchief and she loudly blew her nose.

“It’s not that. I just feel you’ve had a bit to drink and…” What was I saying? I wasn’t sure. Was I implying that I’d consider her if she hadn’t had too much to drink? I killed that thought and devised a plan. Get some food into her and send her on her way. I didn’t have much room at my place. It was only a bed-sit. I could, of course, just sleep on the floor while she slept it off. Or I could sleep sitting up, considering how cold and drafty the floor was.

“Where are we heading?” she suddenly asked.

“My place.” Suddenly I felt like a dirty old man, “I plan to cook for you.”

“Ah,” was all she said and we were finally there. We headed up the stairs and I felt ashamed. Suddenly, the clichés of the smell of boiled cabbage in the hallway and the screaming baby reminded me anew of the poverty in which I lived. I walked into the room that had a kitchenette on one side and my bed on the other. There was a table with two chairs and a wardrobe with dresser. It was not much, but I considered it my home and tended to it with pride.

Miss Granger sucked in her breath as she looked around in dismay. “This is it? This is where you live?”

I was sure that she didn’t mean to be rude, that it was only the alcohol talking and I began to prepare an omelet. I sliced some bread and put it on the plate along with some slices of ham. Though it wasn’t much, in fact, it actually represented two meals, since I usually made do with the eggs for breakfast and then the ham and bread for lunch. She settled in and I sat, watching her eat.

I couldn’t help but admire how she’d grown into adulthood in the space of a few short years. I barely recognized her, yet the intensity of her intellect and spirit still shone forth. I found myself licking my lips and shifting in my seat. When I had grown erect, I wasn’t sure. It may have been the sight of her mouth chewing slowly and surely. Her lips were so beautiful, but I knew that the feelings provoked were entirely inappropriate for one such as myself.

Once she had finished her meal, I was a bit embarrassed to stand up. So I asked if she needed tea to wake up a bit further up before Apparating home. I was hoping that my erection would settle down while I distracted myself making the beverage.

To my shock, she smiled and shook her head, “Unnecessary, Remus. I believe it would be better if I spent the night here.”

I tried not to gasp. Unfortunately, I was fully feeling the erotic effects of the full moon shortly to come. While I was thinking of what to say, she slowly rose from her seat and walked over to where I was sitting.

“Hermione,” there was something in her look and then in her walk that paralyzed my intellect. Suddenly, she was all grown up and my body was telling me it wame tme to… but no. As much of an animal as I may be, I believed that I still could still control my actions-- Then she sat on my lap.

“Please leave, child.” I said, embarrassed by the quaver in my voice. But she looked deeply into my eyes, and I found myself unable to resist her charms. I was lost. She placed her glorious lips over mine and kissed me.

“Gods, Hermione, if you don’t leave this instant, I won’t be responsible,” and she kissed me again. My heart was pounding and the throb in my penis was echoing the beat. As cold as the rooms were, the landlord rarely sent up heat, I felt beads of perspiration form on my forehead. I moaned, burying my face in her chest, taking in the scent of her soap and perfume, but also her arousal. She was awakening all of my animal instincts, and I feared for both of us as I felt my sanity begin to slip from me. I prayed to the Gods, that we would both survive this night.

“Remus, I’m not drunk, I just acted that way.” She was nibbling on my earlobe and had whispered into my ear.

“What do you mean?”

She nipped my neck and my cock jumped. I was scared, very scared that she’d be hurt. At this time of the lunar cycle sexual congress could be dangerous, and I didn’t have the words to warn her.

”When I saw you there in the pub, I realized that I really, really wanted you tonight. You disappeared after the war. So, I couldn’t take any chances. I pretended to be drunk because I knew you’d be a gentleman and stay with me.”

“Oh, Gods, do you know what you are risking, being here with me tonight?

She touched my chest and bolts of lightening coursed through my veins. “Yes, I do. I’ve read up on Lycanthropy after you left Hogwarts. I’m not afraid.” She whispered these last words and it was if some invisible barrier had broken. My self-control slipped its restraint and I knew that any hope I had of reeling in my passion was gone.

I grabbed her chin and pressed my lips hard against hers. My tongue insinuated itself into her mouth and I tasted the delicious warmth held within. I stood up with her arms around my neck and walked her over to the bed. I fell upon her, kissing and licking her. She was so delicious that the animal refused to be controlled and I found myself growling and tearing at her clothes. Part of me stood aside in horror as I then ripped my own clothes in a desperate frenzy to have naked flesh against naked flesh. It was almost painful as I found part of my own body undergoing transformation and my penis was no longer that of a man, but some strange cross between human and wolf. I was grateful that I had cast a silencing spell when first we arrived in my flat because I didn’t wish our voices to carry through the paper-thin walls.

She reached out and stroked my wolfen erection, and I saw no pity, fear or disgust. A howl broke from my lips and I roughly pitched her under me, shredding her underwear with nails too long to be human, but too short to be wolf.

I never had sex this close to the full moon and the transformation had been brought on in small ways, mostly in those areas in which humans show themselves most to be animal. I tried hard not to damage her as I plunged my non-human cock into her ripe wetness. Within seconds the knot at the base of my penis began to swell, locking me into her. Part of me was ashamed, my own anatomy proving what all the bigots said about werewolves, that we were indeed only animals pretending to be human. But that part was muted by need and I continued to thrust into her remorselessly, sobbing in ecstasy, unable to stop. She pushed her hips backwards in rhythm to my driving into her. I heard her cry out and my mouth went dry in fear that I might have injured her. I felt so helpless, much as I did in those years before Wolfsbane Potion had been invented when I could do nothing but give into the monthly insanity. I howled then as the sperm tore out from my body and flooded her. And still I could not stop jerking into her, like the animal I had semi-transformed into. My body was shaking with the strain and my tears dripped onto her back. She cried out again and I felt her muscles gripping the knot in my penis and I continued to helpless spasm into her in response to her contractions.

Then I passed out.

When I awoke she was holding me, stroking my cheek and whispering endearments. I was cold in the room under the thin blanket and I worried that she wasn’t warm enough. And then I remembered the insane act we had just committed. My penis was raw and sore and I could only begin to imagine how much pain I had inflicted on that sweet girl. I began to cry in a most unmanly way. I had never felt such shame and humilia in in a life, which had been filled with naught else. I willed the earth to open up and swallow me whole, and she held me, rocked me and granted me solace. Hiccupping, I cried myself to sleep on her gentle bosom.

When I later woke, the sun was shining through the windows and I felt quite warm. That surprised me since warming spells never did much good in my flat as the drafts tended to dissipated them. Then I realized that the bed was not my own. Hermione had Apparated us. I was impressed. Dual Apparation was a skill only for a powerful witch or wizard. The bed was soft and warm and the duvet had a butterfly pattern. She came into the room.

“Ah you’re up. I thought I heard you.”

“Hermione, about last night. I’m sorry.”

She sat on the bed. “I’m not. You were wonderful.” She said in a voice that seemed to purr.

“I didn’t hurt you?” my voice seemed to catch in my throat.

She leaned down over me and brushed her lips over mine. “I loved every second of it.”

I didn’t know what to make of the girl. She had to be mad. I was Remus Lupin the cursed. I lived by my wits taking odd jobs here and there, hounded by those who discovered my difference and feared and hated me. I didn’t understand. She was, quite simply, incomprehensible to me.

“You are staying here.” She said in a voice that brooked no argument.

“I can’t. It’s nearly the full moon. I have to go to the Ministry lock-in.”

“You can’t tell me they force you to go there. That’s inhuman.” Ah, she was still so much that child I had taught-- so idealistic and determined to right the world’s wrongs.

“Without Wolfsbane Potion, I have no choice.” I shook my head sadly, remembering back to the days at Hogwarts when Severus Snape would brew this most difficult remedy that allowed me the freedom to not be chained up, as I now had to be in the Ministry’s vaults. “I should leave now.” I said, trying to keep the bitterness from my voice.

She smiled. At that moment, I felt that I had been graced by the presence of an angel. “Anything Snape can brew, I can brew better.” To my shock she took a book from the table, which I recognized as the one that contained the recipe for the Wolfsbane Potion.

“Hermione, are you sure?” I didn’t want to insult the child, as I did remember her to be a rather remarkable witch.

“It will be ready by the time you need it.” She sat on the bed next to me.

“You taught me, Remus. Last night I experienced something that long had been a mystery to me—and it can’t be explained to the intellect. You showed me a side of myself that I didn’t know existed and have taken me places that no man ever has.”

I became uncomfortably aware that I was naked under the covers and her closeness was again calling to my darker self. She slid her hand under and touched my thigh and then my misshapen animal-like member. She removed her clothes and we went at it again.

And again.

And again… Even as the full moon waxed and waned.

I confess this time I felt no shame, only the joy that here was one woman who seemed at peace with me and welcomed me exactly as I was. That first day was a revelation, being the first day that I neither despised my condition nor myself.

That was five years ago. We have since married and produced two wonderful children, both born without the curse. I admit it is strange to be so kept by a woman, but you would have to understand my extraordinary Hermione to know why I swallowed my pride that day and have since never left her side.

The day hadn\'t exactly gone to plan but, all things considered, they were twenty-four little hours that would remain seared into both of our memories.


Many thanks to Andrian for all her help!