Weeks passed since Hermione apologized to Chiara, and things were more perfect than ever. Chiara was gaining more confidence in their relationship and felt more secure each day that Hermione was reciprocating her affections. The only problem was the growing moon. Each night, Chiara found it more and more difficult to keep her thoughts while in Hermione’s presence. The vivid images that flashed in her mind before she could rouse them out grew more often. 

It wasn’t just Hermione that entered her mind, she could immediately know when Lucas was close. Even the vaguest particular scent of Lucas sent her mind abuzz with sick hunger, and she could tell Lucas had similar feelings. To keep their minds they had to stay further and further from one another. Hermione was considerate, constantly looking out for Chiara, and warning her if she saw Lucas anywhere. However, with each night her ability to stave off Lucas’ constantly growing intoxicating presence, or hold herself back from jumping into Hermione’s arms, weakened. 

On the day before the full moon, Chiara was sitting in the library with Hermione. The scent of parchment and ink helped quell the urges inside her directed at the girl just beside her. She felt she was enveloped in Hermione’s familiar scent, the overwhelming natural perfume that Chiara’s mind associated with Hermione herself calmed her. Even if only holding Hermione’s hand, she felt as if she was encompassed in her embrace. She just rested her head on the table, holding Hermione’s hand against her cheek. With closed eyes and a large smile, Chiara couldn’t help but slowly nuzzle Hermione’s hand.

Hermione chuckled a bit under her breath at the ticklish action, holding Chiara’s hand tighter. With each hushed giggle, Chiara felt more comforted and relieved that despite her lack of control, Hermione happily stayed by her side. She was accepted by the one she held affection for. As a chair pulled away from the table opposite of them, Chiara glanced up to see Luna sitting down with the smallest of frowns. “Hey Luna.” “How are you feeling?” Both Hermione and Chiara greeted her gently, knowing Lucas had begun pulling away.

“Lucas asked if I could give you this…” Luna answered back, her light tone now slightly dimmed. She placed a small vial of purple potion on the table, and Chiara instantly sat up. It was the very same potion Luna had described Lucas had begun taking to avoid needing release. The only problem is it would instantly knock out the drinker once administered. Luna had mentioned Lucas continued to see her in secret and discuss magical beings, even still being close to her in private. However, he needed her to relieve stress less and less, almost as if he cured his own mating season.

It was clear to Hermione and Chiara that Luna was somewhat missing those nights of passion that still entered Chiara’s mind every now and then (More so now that she was closer to transformation). Shaking away the images, Chiara gingerly grasped the vial, careful to not break the seal. “Why does he want me to have it?” She asked, leering at the liquid inside for any understanding of its ingredients. “It’s to sedate your transformation…”

With those words, Chiara’s eyes widened in shock, snapping her gaze to Luna. “You mean-!?” Chiara started to yell in shock, but quickly reigned herself back in, whispering with her body arcing across the table. “You mean like, stopping the transformation?” She whispered in disbelief, only to be proven true by Luna’s shaking head. “No… It can only reduce urges from the beast inside… Since this is both your first transformations in mating season… Lucas thought it would be good to help stop you from losing yourself even after taking your medicine…”

As Chiara silently sighed of her upturned hopes, dashed, Hermione spoke up with a deepened frown. “What do you think?” Chiara glanced towards her best friend in confusion. Hermione, noticing Chiara’s expression, explained her question further. “You only mentioned what Lucas thought. What do you think about this stuff?” She asked again, grabbing the vial between her finger and thumb. Chiara only then noticed Luna’s wording, and glanced back to the aloof girl, still staring at the vial herself.

A few moments of silence passed as Luna blinked seemingly absentmindedly, despite both Chiara and Hermione knowing that to be the furthest from the truth. “I don’t like that potion…” She finally started, a tiny pout grew on her face as she spoke to the vial. “Nothing good can come from continuously shutting out one’s urges by passing out… Use of it for nights of transformation may be okay, but Lucas is going against nature…”

“Aren’t curses already violations of the natural order of things?” Hermione rebutted, not truly taking a stance against Luna, but unsure if Luna’s stance wasn’t slanted with her own inclination. To her surprise, Luna instantly shook her head, not a moment of hesitation in her actions. “Not like this… The curse of Lycanthropy is hardly understood… I have no proof… However, that energy that bleeds into his being can’t disappear…” Chiara gulped, looking over the vial of purple liquid with much more wariness. 

***

Taking a deep breath I loosened my necktie, and undid the few top buttons of my shirt. “Was it always this hot down here?” I asked, glancing at Gaynor who was hanging from the ceiling, playing with thread between her two front legs. “No? I like how this home is nice and cool all the time. Are you feeling sick?” She asked, worriedly descending to the ground, feeling my face with her multitude of legs. I chuckled a bit at the ticklish action, pushing her legs away between chortles to explain. “No, I don’t feel sick. Maybe it’s just because I’m close to transforming. Speaking of which…”

We had already gone through this plenty of times, and Gaynor was quick to understand the meaning of my words. Instantly, she darted back towards the massive stone carving of Salazar Slytherin, and crawled up above its head. Hundreds of thousands of threads curled into a large tube above him, giving him a slightly amusing depiction of wearing a white wig. It was true that my beast didn’t hurt Gaynor, but I always had her rest far above me to start off, making sure that she didn’t fully trust my beast when waking up.

Taking a small breath, I readied the bottle of purple liquid to sedate my beast for the night. Uncorking the bottle, I took a small sniff of the lavender brew like usual. However this time, the scent of the mixture sent waves of revulsion that nearly compelled me to expel the contents of my stomach. With a retch, I dropped the bottle onto the floor, the potion spilling with each second I slowly regained my composure.

“Lucas!!?” Gaynor yelled in shock, hurriedly skittering over to help in any way she could. “No! Get back!” I screamed, holding out my hand to keep her distant, watching as the last vestiges of liquid fell onto the floor. I glanced at Gaynor to see her whole body shrunk into a ball, clinging to the ceiling. My hands left shaking, I buried them inside my robes, rattling the myriad of bottles I had stored under my cloak. 

“C’mon… C’mon… C’mon!” As my trembling hands attempted to seize the correct bottle of Wideye potion, I muttered with anxiety until I lost my patience. Ripping off my robe as well as my shirt to ease the sweltering heat, I fell to my knees in search of the bottle amongst my clothes. With each passing second, my mind grew more hazy and simple, only the desire to drink the contents of the vial remained while my nails slowly turned to claws. “Hah!” I yelled, mid-pant. Finally, after throwing my robes around a few times did I manage to find the vial.

Grasping at it, I bit at the cork to break the seal. However, in my haste and lack of control, the vial burst apart in my hands. Growling in anger, I sucked the drops of potion between my fingertips in some measly attempt to stay sane, the fear of what I might do overwhelmed me as the growing sound of footsteps clicked against the stone above me. Snapping my head to the sound of knocking on the chamber door was that remained before complete blackness.