Where Wolf? aka Run, Remus, Run!

Where Wolf? aka Run, Remus, Run!

Ginny sat at the kitchen table in the Burrow drinking tea and trying her best to ignore Harry Potter. He was making it exceedingly difficult by sitting beside her and looking handsome while prattling away about the possibility of them finally getting together as a couple.

"Look, Harry, you know I love you," she said and set down her tea cup. "I really do, but I don´t want to be with you. Maybe when I was twelve if you would have shown me the least bit of attention, it might be different now."

"But Ginny," he said, looking surprised.

"But nothing. You´re so gorgeous it´s not even funny, and yet I can´t stand to look at you sometimes. You can´t ask me just because I´m a last resort."

"I thought we could at least be friends," he said and looked at her shyly from the side.

"We are friends, and being that we´re friends, I´m not afraid to tell you when you´ve made a royal mess of it. Now is one of those times, Harry."

"You´re just angry," he started.

"I am angry," she answered.

She was, too. Nearly everything was getting on her nerves lately, and that included her family and friends. Now that Harry decided to show her some attention, she just wasn´t having it. It simply wasn´t fair for her to wait so long for nothing and for him to expect her to come running as soon as he gave her the smallest notice. Ginny thought he deserved to suffer.

As she and Harry were talking, Hermione walked into the kitchen acting agitated.

"What´s your problem?" Ginny snapped at her as she got up from the table.

"It´s Remus," she said and gave Ginny a wide berth. Hermione sat beside Harry and looked at him sweetly.

Ginny noticed that Harry immediately covered Hermione´s hand with his and gave her a smile.

"What´s he done to get your knickers in a twist?" she asked Hermione.

"It´s the full moon tonight. I just can´t help him anymore," she replied with a nervous wringing of hands.

While Harry tried to comfort his friend, Ginny got to the point. "He´s a werewolf, Hermione. Get over it."

Annoyed at Ginny´s edge, Hermione shot back, "I know he´s a werewolf. I figured it out first, you know!"

"So what? It´s not as if you´ve ever really been comfortable around him. You nod and smile at all the right times, but he makes your skin crawl, doesn´t he?" Ginny felt like pressing Hermione´s emotional buttons. Another person suffering besides Harry was amusing.

"That´s not true!" Hermione said in defense of herself.

"Yes, it is," Ginny accused. "You, the great Elf Liberator, just can´t get over the fact that some magical creature makes you feel uncomfortable, so you´ve kept working with him out of pride. Leave the man alone, will you? And you can just stuff it, Harry," Ginny said before he could say something in Hermione´s defense.

"Who´s going to help him with his transformations?" Hermione asked.

"Conceited, aren´t you? He´s been doing them long before he met any of us, so I´m sure he doesn´t need you to change."

"Ginny, will you leave Hermione alone?" Harry hissed. "If you´re mad at me, don´t take it out on her!"

"Again the conceit reigns! It´s not as if you are the cause of every single thing I feel!" She rolled her eyes and went to walk out of the kitchen, but stopped at the doorway.

"Hermione, you stay here tonight and rest your delicate self. I will go take care of Remus. At least I don´t mind what he is," Ginny said with a look of disdain. She still wasn´t happy with the way Hermione had treated Ron and made him believe he was special only toss him away like yesterday´s newspaper.

"Maybe then you and Harry can spend some time together because it´s you he likes even if he doesn´t realize it." Ginny pointed at their clasped hands and gave one final sneer of general annoyance before leaving the room.

=

"Oi! Remus!" Ginny shouted loudly when she found him. It was during that nebulous time between sundown and moonrise, and he was pacing back and forth in the yard behind his house.

"Where´s Hermione?" he asked immediately.

"I gave her the night off," Ginny said airily. "I felt like I could rip her and Harry´s heads off, so I thought better to spend company with you."

"Wonderful," he said sarcastically. He hated nights of the full moon enough as it was without having the company of temperamental Weasley.

"So... what do I have to do?" she asked and looked around his property. It really was modest compared to the Black residence and small compared to the misshapen Burrow.

"Right now just make sure I stay in there." He pointed to a small shed with reinforced locks.

"Don´t you think this is the least bit degrading?" she asked as she looked at the shed Lupin used for his transformations.

"Extremely," he said with his face averted.

"Why don´t you just stay in your house?" Ginny suggested with detest at seeing the glorified cage Remus would have to use.

"Do you feel like handcuffing me to the bed?" he asked as he looked at her over his shoulder.

"Oooh, kinky," she replied with a light in her eyes, "but I don´t know you that well yet."

"That would be during the transformations, you nutter."

Laughing at him, Ginny replied, "I knew that. Really, I did."

"So the little shack it is," he said and started to take off his clothing while watching the sky for signs of moon activity. He´d already wasted too much time talking to Ginny, and his transformation would come fast.

"I don´t get undressed with an audience, Ginny," he stated after a moment when he realized she had been avidly watching him.

"Why not?" she asked saucily.

"Because you don´t have enough cash to make it worth my while," he said with an intense look at her.

"Well, bugger that! I´ll have to ask Fred and George since they´re rich now. Besides a few scars and man parts, which are funny-looking anyway, you´re an attractive enough naked guy." She waved her hands in the general vicinity of his man parts as she evaluated them.

"Thank you," he said as he rolled his eyes. This definitely wasn´t his normal full moon fare, which had once consisted of friends getting into mischief and lately the company of a prissy young witch.

"So when can I bring the money?" she said smiling widely.

"Maybe next month," he said with a dismissive wave of his arm before slipping into the shed.

Ginny charmed the lock on the door and sat down in front of it to wait.

=

When Remus transformed, he made sounds of obvious pain, and Ginny sat on the back steps of his cottage listening and grimacing in pain with him. Finally, when he made no more moans or cries, she thought he was finally the wolf. Though she´d berated Hermione, Ginny realized then that she had never been around him when he was in his wolf form.

"Remus, are you okay?" she asked as she approached the shed. She heard a growl in response, so she backed away.

She double checked the locks for security and then went inside his cottage to rifle through his cupboards for a snack. Once she was inside the house, she took a look in his bedroom to see if he did actually have handcuffs or any other interesting objects. What she did find in confirmation made her blush, and Ginny left the room quickly.

Walking back outside with her snack, she noticed Remus stopped his pacing and was sniffing at her.

"What? Didn´t you eat? I´m not going to share with you, you know," she teased him.

When the werewolf growled at her, she relented. "Fine, but be careful with the fingers," she said as she slid a morsel inside one of the metal pattern breaks.

He nipped at her fingers, and she shook her hand while saying a few choice words that would ensure the wrath of Molly had she heard them. Ginny went back to sit in a rocking chair and wait. As she started to doze and felt her head bob, she snapped back up to attention. She didn´t have the time to be tired or bored right now.

She saw Lupin´s wolf eyes looking at her through the holes in the metal door. He wasn´t doing anything, but it was clear that on some level he was thinking. A plotting werewolf was dangerous, Ginny wasn´t sure she liked where his thoughts could be going.

Reaching beside her she found a candy bar of his that she had taken from the cupboard. When she unwrapped it, that perked the werewolf up right away. He stood up, and his ears were at attention.

"Do you think I´ll give you a piece after you nipped my fingers?" she chastised. "Dogs aren´t supposed to have chocolate, anyway. It will make you sick."

He whimpered at her, and Ginny immediately relented. "This is why I don´t have a dog," she grumbled as she gave him a piece of chocolate. "And yes, I know you´re not really a dog."

His only response was to smile happily at her. After eating his chocolate treat, Remus went back on all fours and walked around in his small space. Ginny saw that he seemed to be okay, so she went inside his house to use the bathroom. It was then that the clever werewolf tried to make a break for it.

He threw his body against the wall several times until the building fell over. It didn´t matter that the door was locked because he walked out the hole in the bottom. He waited until Ginny came back outside, the light of the full moon clearly showing the shock on her face. The wolf barked at her and smiled. Then he turned and ran.

"Remus! Come back!" she shouted to the werewolf running away from her. As annoyed as she had been at Hermione and Harry, it would be even worse when they found out she let him escape. Ginny gave chase, making the werewolf run away from her even faster.

"What was in that chocolate?" she asked plaintively to his retreating back. When he continued to run, she wished she would have thought to bring a broom. Instead, she was running through the night chasing a chocolate-loving werewolf.

"I am never, ever going to give you chocolate again!" Ginny shouted after him. "When this night is over, I am going through your cupboards and taking everything you have!"

=

Remus continued to run away from Ginny. It was a great game for the werewolf who had too often been caged on nights of the full moon. He would run, but remain in sight enough for her to be tempted to follow.

The werewolf found a rabbit, and his attentions were elsewhere. Right through the brush he went, chasing his quarry. He found it and munched the bloody, furry mess in happiness. When Ginny came upon him, he growled at her, warning to stay away from him and his rabbit. She wasn´t stupid enough to come between the animal nature and his kill, so she watched from a distance.

When he was done, Remus walked over to her and head-butted her in the leg as a sign of him accepting her company again. Unthinkingly, she stroked his fur and looked around. They had gone farther away from his home than she expected.

"Let´s go home, Remus," she urged.

He rumbled in his throat, a sign that he was having nothing to do with that idea. Trying his previous tactic, the werewolf ran again. Ginny pursued, swearing the whole time.

"I am so going to hex you, Remus Lupin!"

He continued to run, wild and free, oblivious to the witch who was chasing him. He led her deep into the forest beside a rocky riverbed. When Ginny thought she had an opening, she dove for him and grabbed at his tail.

He turned to give her his first truly fierce reaction, and snapped at her as if to do damage. Because she had dove to catch him, she hadn´t landed surely. In reaction to his threat, Ginny naturally jumped backwards away from him. She slipped and fell on the edge of the high rocks.

Ginny was holding on precariously and tried to use her wand to transfigure something to help her. Instead of the desired outcome, Ginny dropped her wand and ended up hanging more dangerously from the rocks. If she tried to move, she was afraid she´d tumble down to the river bed below and possibly knocking herself unconscious or worse in the process. Tears stung her eyes, and she whimpered at the prospect.

She looked up and there was the werewolf standing above her looking haughty. He sat down with the annoying placid patience that the human Remus possessed. She begged his help with small moans and looks of her eyes.

Though he hadn´t made her wait long, the werewolf walked over to her at last, biting into her robes and pulling her safely from the rocks. Ginny didn´t have time to think of his animalistic strength. In her relief to be temporarily safe, she fell asleep for a few minutes.

When Ginny opened her eyes again, Remus was on the ground beside her, resting on all fours. She tried to sit up and stretch. As she did so, Remus licked her face.

"Don´t kiss me! You know I´m mad at you," she vented. Instead of obeying, he licked her again and gave her an open-mouthed canine smile.

She stood up and snapped a branch off a nearby tree in frustration. For once, he followed her, not making her give chase.

=

Ginny walked aimlessly. She was annoyed at Remus and annoyed at having lost her wand. She practiced brandishing the tree branch instead. Unexpectedly, she heard some male voices in the forest near where she was walking.

"Sam!" a man hissed. "Have you seen any werewolf tracks?"

"No," Sam answered impatiently, "and if you keep talking, you might scare any werewolves away."

Ginny stilled. Werewolf hunters were far from her mind when she had begun this adventure hours ago.

The men were on horses and carried crossbows with silver-tipped arrows. She noted several other implements of killing. In looks one man was tall and blond, while the other known as Sam was shorter with brown hair.

The blond kept talking until Sam hushed him. "Christian!" he said and looked like he wanted to test one of his arrows out on his companion.

Sam sat up in his saddle immediately, putting his hand in the air as he looked around. "Who´s there?"

When no answer came from Ginny, he kept up his watch until Remus slinked off breaking several twigs under his feet. Ginny cursed the werewolf yet again, as Sam rode closer to her hiding spot.

"Come out, whoever or whatever you are," he said looking directly above her.

Ginny came out, holding both hands high though she still held the branch in one hand.

"It´s just a girl," Christian said while looking at her interestedly.

"What are you doing out here in the forest at this time of night?" Sam asked her.

"I was taking a walk, hoping to meet my boyfriend," Ginny lied to cover herself.

"It´s dangerous in the forest at night, Miss," Christian said kindly.

Meanwhile, Sam noticed something furry creep up behind Ginny. "What´s that behind you?"

"It´s my dog," Ginny said with a nervous laugh once she looked around to see that Remus was sitting behind her.

"He looks too big to be a dog," Christian said suspiciously.

"Well, my brother bought him off a Yank, so what can you do?" She tried to shrug nonchalantly.

"Are you sure he´s not a werewolf?" Sam asked.

At the same time Sam asked his question, Christian laughed. "Only a Yank would sell someone a deformed dog!" he chortled.

Ginny ignored Christian and laughed nervously at Sam´s accusation that Remus was a werewolf. "Whatever gave you that idea? You know that werewolves aren´t real!" Maybe if she would pretend to be a clueless Muggle they´d leave her alone.

"So what´s his name?" the brown-haired man asked again.

"Rem... Rambo. Those Yanks with crazy names."

At the moment "Rambo" was acting very polite like he knew the importance of behaving well. He sat very still trying to look as tame as possible like the deformed Yankee dog Christian thought him to be.

The men were talking in hurried whispers to each other while eyeing him cautiously. Sam finally asked, "He´s your pet dog, you say?"

"Absolutely!" Ginny bent down to pet him. He had a huge canine smile as he was looking at the men while she did it. He licked on her face once more for good measure.

"Can he do any tricks?" Christian asked.

"Tricks?" Ginny squeaked in response.

"Yes, tricks. Dogs do tricks. Werewolves don´t," Sam said with particular interest.

"I really don´t know where you got that crazy idea about werewolves. The next thing you´ll do is tell me witches and wizards really exist!" She noticed their uncomfortable look when she said that. They were either Muggles or very stupid wizards.

Looking around, all Ginny had was a tree branch in her hand. She offered a silent prayer and threw the stick hoping that Remus would get it. He looked at her and swished his tail in contempt as if he couldn´t believe she wanted him to something as degrading as playing fetch.

"Go get it, Rambo!" she urged in front of the men.

Lazily, he went over to get the stick and bring it back to her.

"We´re still working on the obedience part," she said to them with a grimace.

Again she threw the stick, and this time he went and got it more quickly. She noticed the men were still watching her and Remus, so she threw the stick again. He obeyed and brought the stick right back to her feet. Ginny rubbed the top of his head and hoped the ruse had worked.

"We´re sorry, Miss. You really shouldn´t take your dog out on nights like this because there are very real dangers in the forest," Christian said.

"Thank you, but Rambo will protect me and my boyfriend should be here soon," she said, inwardly thanking high heaven that the men were finally going to leave her alone.

Ginny reached over to hug the werewolf to her as the men turned their horses to go to a different part of the forest.

=

The rest of the evening was rather uneventful, and Ginny was grateful for it. She had walked across a clearing and Remus was beside her. It was mind-boggling to think that she was taking a moonlight stroll with a werewolf. Without questioning it too much, she tried to enjoy the moment.

In the darkest hour of night, right before dawn, Remus decided to try his wolfish tricks on Ginny again. He ran from her, and she raced after him. Feral werewolves were vicious eaters of human flesh, but so far he´d just been ornery and willful, which was not all that different from the human Remus, though that revelation would be a surprise to many people. While he hadn´t yet done anything truly horrible or irreversible, that didn´t mean it was time for Ginny to let him out of her sight.

She gave her last burst of energy and tackled the running werewolf, wrestling him down to the ground. When he tried to get away from her grip, she held him tighter without the thought of letting him loose. Ginny didn´t have to fight with him long. She noticed the rays of sunlight peaking over the horizon, and Remus started to change back into his human form. She let go of him while he completed his transformation.

When he lay on his back on the ground, Ginny pounced on top of him and held him down by the shoulders. "Remus!" she scolded.

"Ginny," he said blinking with some confusion. The red-head was on top of him looking quite disheveled. "What am I doing here? And where is here?" he said after taking a look at his surroundings.

"You ran away!" shouted at him.

He reached up to put his hands on her waist, but she said, "I don´t think so," and slammed his shoulders back down. "You´re one bad, bad wolf!" Ginny said in exasperation.

"I´m a werewolf, Ginny. Am I supposed to be good?" he asked with that familiar twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

Ginny looked down at him and realized she had a completely naked adult male werewolf between her thighs. The situation was absurd at best. Giving in to her own mischief she reached down to give him a thorough tickling. This time when he thrashed about, Ginny was rather proud of herself for causing it, so she continued to tickle torture him until she collapsed laughing on the ground beside him.

"You were supposed to have been a good Defense teacher," she laughed at him being incapacitated by tickling.

"I was," he said as he caught his breath. "Ginny?" he asked her after a moment of silence.

"What?" she said as she turned her face to him.

"Prepare to defend yourself!" Remus said before reaching to tickle her back without a trace of mercy. In response, she screamed with ticklish delight and flailed her arms and legs. She wiggled and squirmed until he couldn´t hold on to her any longer.

"How about a truce?" he asked after they stopped laughing. He smiled at her when she nodded her assent. Then he asked, "Are you ready to go back?"

"No. We can´t Apparate back to your cottage just yet," Ginny insisted.

"And why not?" Remus asked impatiently.

"You," she said while pointing at his chest, "made me lose my wand, and you´re going to help me find it."

"I did no such thing!" he protested innocently.

"You did, even if you were covered in fur at the time," Ginny said with amused exasperation. "So now you can help me find it when you´re covered in nothing," she concluded with a sweet smile.

=

Together they walked back into the woods near the rocky place where Ginny thought she had lost her wand. Several times during the walk Remus caught her spying glances at him.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked her.

"Nothing," she lied.

"You´re looking at my 'man parts,´ aren´t you?" he asked lightly, using her own expression from the night before.

"No!" Ginny laughed in embarrassment at being caught. "And so what if I was? You´re not my teacher any more, you know. I graduated years ago."

His mouth curved in amusement. "Still funny looking?"

"They´re always funny looking no matter whose they are." Ginny sighed at his idiocy. "But yours are yours," she concluded, hoping he understood the difference.

After they reached the rocks where Ginny had been the night before, they saw her wand on one of the low rocks just out of reach. There was no way to climb down without making more rocks slip and her wand possibly disappear under the rubble.

"Hold me by my ankles," Remus finally said after assessing the situation.

"What?" Ginny asked him as if he were insane.

"Look, I´ll reach to get the wand, but you have to keep me steady." He got down on the ground, showing her how he wanted her to hold his ankles.

Ginny did as he asked, noticing the free views of his naked form. She had never been around so much naked Remus in her entire life! It just didn´t match her childhood memories of him from Hogwarts or Grimmauld Place.

When he arched his back to reach over his head, Ginny couldn´t help comment, "Talented, aren´t you?"

"Oh, you´d be amazed at what I can do," he said confidently before snapping up with her wand in his hand and a huge smile on his face.

"Thank you!" she said, clasping his knees and flashing a bright smile back at him.

"My pleasure," Remus replied automatically before making a face to indicate that other things were higher on his list of pleasures.

With the wand safely retrieved, they Apparated back to Lupin´s cottage.

=

Her full-moon outing with Remus was finally over, and a great adventure it had been. Ginny realized she enjoyed his company in both human and wolf form, and she wanted to do it again. Before she could consider it, she had to ask something that had been on her mind.

"Remus, why did you need Hermione´s help? You´ve got other friends who can help you."

"She´s good at keeping a secret," he said, "but now I know you are, too. Besides, you´re a lot more fun."

"So what does that mean?" she asked trying to control the hope she was feeling.

"It means bring your money next month. You´ll need it," he said with a wink.

"Can´t we just try the handcuffs?" she asked with an affectation of innocence. "I just firmly believe naked men should be in a bed, that´s all."

"Ginny!" he said, smiling as he shook his head. "You know that´s better done at other times of the month, anyway."

"You promise?" she answered with a lascivious grin.

He started laughing and they both walked into his cottage only find Harry and Hermione waiting there for them. Remus, who hadn´t dressed himself yet, quickly grabbed Ginny by the hips and pulled her hard back against him to hide his nudity from the eyes of the pair in his kitchen.

Harry cleared his throat before saying, "We came to check on you."

"Why?" Ginny asked sweetly as she stroked Lupin´s long naked leg beside hers.

Hermione´s eyes looked as if they were going to pop from her head. "It was your first night with a werewolf. We wanted to make sure nothing went wrong," she said looking at Ginny´s face in disbelief.

While Hermione was talking, Remus used Ginny as a human shield until he could get to his stairs. Then he went up to his rooms to bathe and dress while the others were chatting.

"What took you so long to get back?" Harry asked with some concern.

"Oh, nothing. We were just having a good roll in the grass," Ginny deadpanned while showing off several of the marks from her eventful night with Remus.

"You weren´t!" Hermione gaped with open mouth.

Continuing her charade, Ginny said, "After transformations, werewolves are hungry for more than food, you know. I´m surprised you didn´t already learn that one, Hermione."

Hermione blushed, and Harry shot Ginny a nasty look. While the trio waited for Remus to return to the room, Ginny started to prepare some food.

When Remus came back moments later, Ginny teased, "I liked you better when you were naked!"

He opened his mouth to say something cheeky, but merely smiled at her. "So how was your night?" he finally asked Harry and Hermione.

"Oh, fine," Harry said while holding her hand.

"Good," Ginny nodded. "You deserve each other." The others listening couldn´t tell if that was a good or bad thing.

Finding her Gryffindor courage, Hermione asked Remus, "Did you and Ginny... do anything irresponsible?"

He looked at the embarrassed expression on her face and calmly replied, "Not that I am aware."

Behind him, Ginny rolled her eyes and indicated that they should have known she was joking.

"So... um... you don´t mind Ginny working with you then?" Hermione asked with a grain of hope. "I... uh... seem to have other things I want to do during a full moon," she said will giving Harry a significant look.

Remus nodded and absolved her of all responsibility. "You and Harry have fun," he said with one of his benign smiles.

"We really should be getting back," Harry said as he started to leave. "You, too, Ginny or your mother will never forgive us."

"I´m coming," she said, "but let me say goodbye to Remus."

"He´s right there," Hermione indicated with a churlish nod of her head. "Say goodbye."

"Funny," Ginny responded dismissively. "I´ll meet you outside."

After the two left, Ginny turned to Remus who was picking at the plate of food she had prepared for him.

"Thank you," he said with his mouth full.

"You´re welcome," Ginny answered with a laugh. "Well, it´s been fun. I´ll see you next month."

"You don´t have to be a stranger, you know," he said after taking a drink of water.

"I´ll keep that in mind," she said with a nod.

Remus turned away to put the dish beside the sink, and Ginny put her hand on his shoulder. Just as she reached up to put a chaste kiss on his cheek, he turned his face to kiss her on the lips. She did a sudden intake of breath at the surprise kiss which elicited a smile from him. Before she could protest, he offered another kiss before breaking contact.

She stumbled back in dazed surprise. "Thank you. Well, goodbye!" Ginny offered quickly before trotting away to meet Harry and Hermione.

Remus gave her what could only be called a wolfish smile and waved at her as she left.