"Are you sure you want this?" Johnny asked as his fangs extended from his gums, his eyes flashing red. Hermione hummed, guiding Johnny's head to her neck. Johnny let out a deep breath causing Hermione to groan.

"Johnny, you're turning me into a werewolf, not shagging me," Hermione complained jokingly, playing with the baby hairs on the back of Johnny's neck. "We can do that later."

"You're freaky as fuck," Johnny muttered, his part hardening as Hermione's breath hit his ear. Without a second thought, Johnny sunk his fangs into Hermione's collarbone, causing Hermione to gasp.

Johnny pulled away quickly and pulled out his wand, muttering the words, "Vulnera Sanentur," over Hermione's wound which closed up instantly.

"I'm guessing it worked," Hermione said with a smile, flexing her fingers which now had claws on the end of them. Johnny gently grabbed her head and made Hermione look at him. It truly had worked. Hermione had sprouted fangs and claws, and her wolf side had a brilliant set of vibrant purple eyes.

"Can you hear your inner wolf?" Johnny asked, his own inner wolf going crazy inside him as he stared into Hermione's purple eyes.

"Her names Pharaoh," Hermione whispered softly, watching as Johnny's eyes turned red. "I can hear her calling Mozart."

"Well one things for sure," Johnny whispered jokingly. "Our family will like their steaks on the raw side now."

"And we're off the human dinner party list," Hermione whispered back, the two werewolves engaging in a kiss.

As they entered March the weather became drier, but cruel winds skinned their hands and faces every time they went out onto the grounds. There were delays in the post because the owls kept being blown off course. The brown owl that Harry had sent to Jakob with the dates of the Hogsmeade weekend turned up at breakfast on Friday morning with half its feathers sticking up the wrong way; Harry had no sooner torn off Jakob's reply than it took flight, clearly afraid it was going to be sent outside again.

Jakob's letter was almost as short as the previous one.

Be at stile at end of road out of Hogsmeade (past Dervish and Banges) at two o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Bring as much food as you can. Tell Johnny I'm sorry.

"He hasn't come back to Hogsmeade?" said Ron incredulously.

"He has no reason to be sorry!" said Hermione angrily, her wolf side showing which Johnny quickly got under control for her. "Well it's true! He abandoned you, babe! He knew you were going through a hard time and he still didn't send you one letter!"

"I can't believe him," said Harry tensely, ignoring the wolf couple, "if he's caught..."

"Made it so far, though, hasn't he?" said Ron. "And it's not like the place is swarming with dementors anymore."

Harry folded up the letter. They approached the final lesson of the afternoon, Potions. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing in a huddle outside the classroom door with Stephanie Cattleman's gang of Slytherin girls. All of them were looking at something they couldn't see and sniggering heartily.

"There they are, there they are!" Stephanie giggled, and the knot of Slytherins broke apart. Johnny saw that Stephanie had a magazine in her hands - Witch Weekly. The moving picture on the front showed a curly-haired witch who was smiling toothily and pointing at a large sponge cake with her wand.

"You might find something to interest you in there, Granger! Oh, poor Johnny, ;eft heartbroken again!" Stephanie said loudly, and she threw the magazine at Johnny, who caught it, looking startled. At that moment, the dungeon door opened, and Snape beckoned them all inside.

Johnny, Hermione, Harry, and Ron headed for a table at the back of the dungeon as usual. Once Snape had turned his back on them to write up the ingredients of todays potion on the blackboard, Johnny hastily rifled through the magazine under the desk. At last, in the center pages, Johnny found what they were looking for. Hermione, Harry and Ron leaned in closer. A color photograph of Harry headed a short piece entitled:

Harry Potter's Secret Heartache

A boy like no other, perhaps - yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, writes Rita Skeeter. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Muggle-born Hermione Granger. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with personal loss.

Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for famous wizards that Harry alone cannot satisfy. Since the arrival at Hogwarts of Viktor Krum, Bulgarian Seeker and hero of the last World Quidditch Cup, Miss Granger has been toying with both boys' affections. Krum, who is openly smitten with the devious Miss Granger, has already invited her to visit him in Bulgaria over the summer holidays, and insists that he has "never felt this way about any other girl."

However, it might not be Miss Granger's doubtful natural charms that have captured these unfortunate boys' interest.

"She's really ugly," says Stephanie Cattleman, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student, "but she'd be well up to making a Love Potion, she's quite brainy. I think that's how she's doing it."

Love Potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potters well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart on a worthier candidate.

"Always knew you had a thing for Harry," Johnny joked, causing Hermione to whack his arm.

"I told you!" Ron hissed at Hermione as she stared down at the article. "I told you not to annoy Rita Skeeter! She's made you out to be some sort of- of scarlet woman!"

Hermione stopped looking astonished and snorted with laughter. "Scarlet woman?" she repeated, shaking with suppressed giggles as she looked around at Ron.

"It's what my mum calls them," Ron muttered, his ears going red.

"If that's the best Rita can do, she's losing her touch," said Hermione, still giggling, as she took the magazine and threw Witch Weekly onto the empty chair beside her. "What a pile of old rubbish."

She looked over at the Slytherins, who were all watching her, Johnny and Harry closely across the room to see if they had been upset by the article. Hermione gave them a sarcastic smile and a wave, and she, Johnny, Harry, and Ron started unpacking the ingredients they would need for their Wit-Sharpening Potion.

"There's something funny, though," said Hermione ten minutes later, holding her pestle suspended over a bowl of scarab beetles. "How could Rita Skeeter have known...?"

"Known what?" said Johnny quickly. "You haven't been mixing up Love Potions, have you? Is this what our relationship built on?"

"Don't be stupid," Hermione snapped, starting to pound up her beetles again. "No, it's just... how did she know Viktor asked me to visit him over the summer?"

"What?" said Johnny, dropping his pestle with a loud clunk.

"He asked me right after he'd pulled me out of the lake," Hermione muttered.

"And what did you say?" said Johnny, who had picked up his pestle and was grinding it on the desk, a good six inches from his bowl, because he was looking at Hermione.

Hermione flashed her purple eyes at Johnny who calmed down.

"Does that answer your-"

"Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is. Miss Granger," said an icy voice right behind them, and all three of them jumped, "I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor."

Snape had glided over to their desk while they were talking. The whole class was now looking around at them; Draco took the opportunity to flash POTTER STINKS across the dungeon at Harry.

"Ah... reading magazines under the table as well?" Snape added, snatching up the copy of Witch Weekly. "A further ten points from Gryffindor... oh but of course..." Snape's black eyes glittered as they fell on Rita Skeeter's article. "Potter has to keep up with his press cuttings...."

The dungeon rang with the Slytherins' laughter, and an unpleasant smile curled Snape's thin mouth. To Harry's fury, he began to read the article aloud.

"'Harry Potter's Secret Heartache... dear, dear. Potter, what's ailing you now? 'A boy like no other, perhaps...'"

"'...Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart upon a worthier candidate.' How very touching," sneered Snape, rolling up the magazine to continued gales of laughter from the Slytherins. "Well, I think I had better separate the four of you, so you can keep your minds on your potions rather than on your tangled love lives. Weasley, you stay here. Miss Granger, over there, beside Miss Parkinson. Grindelwald, between Ms. Bullstrode and Ms. Greengrass. Potter - that table in front of my desk. Move. Now."

Johnny grimaced as both girls sent him flirtatious smiles. Johnny really hated being a Slytherin, and that's two reasons why. Hermione fumed her seat besides Pansy, and the two girls backed off Johnny when Hermione growled at them, flashing her fangs.

There was a knock on the dungeon door.

"Enter," said Snape in his usual voice.

The class looked around as the door opened. Professor Karkaroff came in. Everyone watched him as he walked up toward Snape's desk. He was twisting his finger around his goatee and looking agitated.

"We need to talk," said Karkaroff abruptly when he had reached Snape. He seemed so determined that nobody should hear what he was saying that he was barely opening his lips; it was as though he were a rather poor ventriloquist. Johnny kept his eyes on his ginger roots, listening hard.

"I'll talk to you after my lesson, Karkaroff," Snape muttered, but Karkaroff interrupted him.

"I want to talk now, while you can't slip off, Severus. You've been avoiding me."

"After the lesson," Snape snapped.

Under the pretext of holding up a measuring cup to see if he'd poured out enough armadillo bile, Johnny sneaked a sidelong glance at the pair of them. Karkaroff looked extremely worried, and Snape looked angry.

Karkaroff hovered behind Snape's desk for the rest of the double period. He seemed intent on preventing Snape from slipping away at the end of class. Keen to hear what Karkaroff wanted to say, Johnny deliberately knocked over his bottle of armadillo bile with two minutes to go to the bell, which gave him an excuse to duck down behind his cauldron and mop up while the rest of the class moved noisily toward the door.

"What's so urgent?" he heard Snape hiss at Karkaroff.

"This," said Karkaroff, and Johnny, peering around the edge of his cauldron, saw Karkaroff pull up the left-hand sleeve of his robe and show Snape something on his inner forearm.

"Well?" said Karkaroff, still making every effort not to move his lips. "Do you see? It's never been this clear, never since -"

"Put it away!" snarled Snape, his black eyes sweeping the classroom.

"But you must have noticed -" Karkaroff began in an agitated voice.

"We can talk later, Karkaroff!" spat Snape. "Grindelwald! What are you doing?"

"Clearing up my armadillo bile, Professor," said Johnny innocently, straightening up and showing Snape the sodden rag he was holding.

Karkaroff turned on his heel and strode out of the dungeon. He looked both worried and angry. Not wanting to remain alone with an exceptionally angry Snape, Johnny threw his books and ingredients back into his bag and left at top speed to tell Harry, Ron and Hermione what he had just witnessed.

They left the castle at noon the next day to find a weak silver sun shining down upon the grounds. The weather was milder than it had been all year, and by the time they arrived in Hogsmeade, all four of them had taken off their cloaks and thrown them over their shoulders. The food Jakob had told them to bring was in Harry's bag, as Johnny outright refused help his father; they had sneaked a dozen chicken legs, a loaf of bread, and a flask of pumpkin juice from the lunch table.

They went into Gladrags Wizardwear to buy a present for Dobby, where they had fun selecting the most lurid socks they could find, including a pair patterned with flashing gold and silver stars, and another that screamed loudly when they became too smelly. Then, at half past one, they made their way up the High Street, past Dervish and Banges, and out toward the edge of the village.

"Well Hermione and I don't want to see him," Johnny argued stubbornly.  Then they turned a corner and saw a stile at the end of the lane. Waiting for them, its talons on the topmost bar, was a very large, black Raven, which was carrying some newspapers in its beak and looking very familiar....

"Hello, Jakob," said Harry when they had reached him.

The raven sniffed Harry's bag eagerly, then turned and began to fly away from them across the scrubby patch of ground that rose to meet the rocky foot of the mountain. Johnny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione climbed over the stile and followed. For nearly half an hour they climbed a steep, winding, and stony path, sweating in the sun.

Then, at last, Jakob slipped out of sight, and when they reached the place where he had vanished, they saw a narrow fissure in the rock. They squeezed into it and found themselves in a cool, dimly lit cave. Tethered at the end of it, one end of his rope around a large rock, was Buckbeak the hippogriff. Buckbeak's fierce orange eye flashed at the sight of them. All four of them bowed low to him, and after regarding them imperiously for a moment, Buckbeak bent his scaly front knees and allowed Hermione to rush forward and stroke his feathery neck. Johnny, however, was looking at the Raven, which had just turned into his father.

Jakob was wearing ragged gray robes; the same ones he had been wearing when he had left Azkaban. He looked very thin.

"Chicken!" he said hoarsely after removing the old Daily Prophets from his mouth and throwing them down onto the cave floor.

Harry pulled open his bag and handed over the bundle of chicken legs and bread.

"Thanks," said Jakob, opening it, grabbing a drumstick, sitting down on the cave floor, and tearing off a large chunk with his teeth. "I've been living off rats mostly. Can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade; I'd draw attention to myself."

He grinned up at Johnny, but Johnny returned a harsh glare.

"What're you doing here, Jakob?" Johnny said, making Jakob flinch.

"Fulfilling my duty as godfather and father," said Jakob, gnawing on the chicken bone in a very doglike way. "Don't worry about it, I'm pretending to be a lovable stray."

"You don't give a a flying fuck about Johnny!" Hermione exclaimed, causing Jakob's, Harry's and Ron's eyes to widen as they never heard Hermione swear. "Your son has been through so much, yet you haven't bothered to check in on him once! It's Harry this, or Harry that!"

"L-look, I'm sorry," Jakob stuttered, trying to approach the werewolf couple, but the both of them flashed their fangs dangerously.

"You don't get to be sorry," Johnny snarled, repeating Hermione's words from the other day. "You're not my father, you're just a sperm donor. Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, grandfather, Luca Scaletta. They are real father figures, Jakob. Not you!"

"Goodbye," Hermione waved sarcastically, grabbing Johnny's hand and leading him back down the mountain.