Harry was working late in the library on his Potions homework. For days it had been his retreat of choice. Ron wasn't speaking to him, and Harry hadn't been in any great hurry to rectify their cracked friendship while Ron was still acting like a moron, so Harry had taken to avoiding his once best friend completely. That meant doing his homework in the library, the least likely place for Ron to go, rather than the common room. Frequently, Hermione would be holed up in the library with him, doing her own homework or keeping him company (when she wasn't in the girls' loo working on the animagus potion), which had been a salve to what might have been a painful schism between childhood friends. When she was across the table, right there if he only looked up, it was a reminder of why he was so angry at Ron in the first place. He'd look upon her face, vigilantly studious yet quick to smile for him, and he'd remember the way she'd looked after one of Ron's callous remarks.

Ultimately, it led to several late-night sessions in the library for Harry to be out of Ron's way, with the unanticipated benefit of improving his marks in class.

Harry would have thought their falling out with Ron would be a private matter, but it seemed most of Hogwarts was wise to the disruption. Of course, the more observant teachers noticed that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were no longer sitting together, three abreast, as they had since first year. Neville had spent about a day being overly friendly to Harry, perhaps trying to fill the hole left by Ron. It only lasted that single day, because Neville just wasn't Ron, and in fact the hole left wasn't so big as Neville must have at first believed, because Hermione was usually able to compensate for any gap resulting in Ron's parting. Harry appreciated Neville's gesture, but the fact was Neville wasn't needed. Hagrid had been a bit upset about the fight among his favorite students; in Care of Magical Creatures he'd tried to force a reconciliation by assigning the three of them to be a group to treat a wounded grindylow. Harry wasn't sure what Hagrid had expected, but probably not the grindylow getting its teeth in Ron's arm and the pair of them rolling around on the ground trying to out-scream each other before Hermione stunned the both of them. Ron hadn't seen that as quite the valiant gesture on Hermione's part that it was, to say the least. After that, the cold distance between them grew frostier still.

So it would seem the three were down to two. Considering Ron's recent behavior, Harry wasn't really sure it bothered him that much. Ron should have believed him about the Goblet of Fire. Every time he gave the situation with Ron any amount of thought, he came back to that. Harry had sworn he hadn't put his name in the goblet, but Ron refused to believe him. Hermione had gone on faith; she'd only had to be assured once that Harry hadn't done it, and she'd never given it another second's doubt. Ron should have been the same. He should have trusted Harry if he was the good friend he claimed he was.

So Harry had been spending his evenings in the library and nearly all of his spare time with Hermione.

It was getting late and most of the other students were trickling back to their common rooms. Harry was one of the last remaining in the library bent over his books. He could hear every rustle of paper, every little cough, every scrape of chair legs on the floor as someone got up to leave. It was amplified by the resounding silence of the stacks and tables. He'd come to appreciate the serene quiet of a library in the days since he'd started hiding away behind its doors.

He looked up from his book when a hand came to rest on his shoulder. He turned in his chair to look behind him. Hermione smiled down at him and he immediately smiled back. "Hey, Mione."

"Almost finished, Harry?" she glanced at his open book and scrolls of homework on the desk. She looked so comfortable… at ease. For all the world it didn't appear to Harry that Ron's fracture from them was negatively impacting her. For that he was grateful.

"Sure, let me put this away and we'll go." Where was at her discretion. Sometimes they went for a run that ended down at the Black Lake shore. Sometimes they walked up to the owlery only to turn back without ever having mailed a letter. Sometimes they headed toward the common room only to knowingly miss their turn and have to circle back. Mostly, it was an excuse to be in one another's company. It was a chance to talk… talk the way they had at the Grangers' over the summer.

Harry stowed his things in his bag and stood. Hermione smiled at him and took up at his side as they left the library and started toward the Gryffindor common room at a snail's pace.

"Did you see the notice about the Hogsmeade weekend coming up?" Harry asked after a moment of companionable silence.

Hermione nodded. "To be honest, I was kind of surprised they'd allow it, all things considered. No doubt they'll have security enough to make it look like the queen's come to visit."

"Yeah… so, you planning to go?"

A smile tugged at the corner of Hermione's mouth. "Well… there's this book I was hoping I could find…"

Harry laughed. "Isn't there always? If I promise not to whine too much, you think we could stop in at the Quidditch shop after the bookstore?"

Hermione slid close to his side, momentarily took hold of his hand, and gave his forearm a squeeze with her other. "Deal. And you don't whine."

"Really?" Harry asked with a lift of his eyebrows.

"No," Hermione moved back away to a more casual distance, "you shuffle and shift around like a toddler who needs to go to the loo, but you don't whine per se."

"I do not."

Hermione very nearly giggled and Harry gave her a gentle bump with his shoulder. Hermione reached out to steady herself and caught his arm. When she was sure on her feet again she forgot to let Harry's arm go.

They rounded the corner that would take them up to the stairwell leading to the fat lady painting and the Gryffindor common room beyond. Hermione suddenly stopped. Harry halted and turned to face her. "Hermione?"

Hermione stepped into Harry, stood on tip toe to bring her face to his, and just when Harry was sure his heart was going to jump into his throat she laid her cheek lightly against his and whispered with her lips brushing Harry's earlobe, "Full moon tonight, Harry."

Harry's eyes widened and he looked sharply at Hermione when she pulled back and watched his face. Her face was flushed with excitement, her eyes bright, her lips fighting a grin and trembling faintly with the effort. Harry blinked and had to clear his thoughts. "Full… so… we do it? Tonight?"

Hermione nodded and had to bite her lip to stop the exultant smile that was bursting to lay claim to her face. "Meet me at midnight in the common room? And bring your invisibility cloak."

Harry nodded mutely and followed, speechless, as Hermione walked off in the direction of the common room again. What with everything that had been going on with Ron and Sirius lately, Harry had lost track of the days and of the impending full moon. Tonight. It was daunting to think of all their preparations for months leading up to this night. He had a feeling the hours until midnight would feel like both the longest and shortest hours in his life.

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Harry stole out of his dorm room at ten to midnight. Everyone else was fast asleep and had been for hours (if Harry could judge by the length of time Ron had been snoring), but Harry had been enclosed in his bed practicing the animagus spell a thousand times as he marked the hours until he would meet Hermione. He could already say it backwards and forward, but knowing that tonight it would be put to the test made him anxious to do some last-minute cramming. When he crept down to the common room he found Hermione waiting for him, her familiar black bag slung over one shoulder. She needlessly pressed her finger to her lips. Harry approached Hermione, draped the invisibility cloak over the both of them, and together, hunched over to stay fully covered by the cloak, they crept to the portrait hole. The fat lady stirred and snorted when her painting swung open for no apparent reason, but she quickly enough went back to sleep and Harry and Hermione were left to traverse the deserted corridors alone.

Harry didn't know where Hermione had in mind for them to go, so he let her take the lead. Bent nearly double as they were to scuttle along under the cloak, he found it easier to keep them tightly side by side without any potentially revealing bobbles to wrap his arm around her waist and hold them practically bound at the hip. Hermione hugged her bag before her and took them to a side entrance to the castle. Without a sound they snuck out on to the moonlit grounds. With a full snowy moon hanging high in the sky, it was easy to see in the night, every structure and feature gilded in silver light. Crickets were the loudest sound outside where normally the voices of schoolchildren would have been prominent, and Harry and Hermione's breaths were barely-there wisps of white leaving their lips.

Hermione patted his hand that was curled around her waist to get his attention and started forward again. Harry was perfectly in step with her and they left the castle behind.

It wasn't until they had crossed the grounds, slipped into the edge of the woods on the shores of the Black Lake, and come to a halt in a small clearing that one of them finally spoke. It was Hermione who broke the silence. "This should be far enough from the castle that we shouldn't be seen. Close enough to the lake, too."

Postponing the moment when they'd no longer be scrunched together under the cloak, Harry asked, "What does the lake have to do with it?"

"Well, think about it, if you turn into a fish then you'd be in a spot of trouble if we weren't near any water, wouldn't you?"

"Oh."

Harry reluctantly removed his arm from around her and drew the cloak off of them. Hermione looked up immediately at the moon, as though to double check that it was indeed full and luminous. Harry balled up the cloak and set it at the base of a tree. He was surprised to find he was unspeakably nervous. "So… what now?"

Hermione blinked at him, swallowed as though she were just as nervous, then grabbed for her bag. "Uh… right. Well, should get right to it then, don't you think?" She reached into her bag and drew out a sealed jar. Inside was a grey, gravy-like liquid with odd shapes and lumps inside. Harry recognized the shaft of one of Hedwig's feathers amid the goo and guessed it was the potion containing his tokens.

"I think you should go first," Hermione said.

Harry felt his pulse jump. "Me? Why me?"

Hermione chewed on her lip and studied him closely. "Because tokening came more naturally to you than it did to me. I think if only one of us were able to change tonight, it would be you."

Harry wished he had a good reason to forestall being the first one to actually try the transformation, but Hermione's logic was too sound. As usual. "Uh… okay. So, what am I supposed to do?"

Hermione handed him her bag and opened the jar with his tokens. "First, we need to build the frame. We have to lay out a pentagram pattern on the ground, at least one token at each point of the star. You'll stand in the center, and the magic that binds the tokens together will engulf you." Hermione moved a pace away, reached into the jaw, and withdrew Hedwig's potion-soaked feather. She laid it on the ground at her feet. A soft glow emitted from the point on the ground and the feather stuck where it had been laid. It didn't even flutter when a breeze wafted through the clearing. Harry stood back and watched.

Hermione went to the remaining four points of the unseen pentagram and laid a token at each juncture, each point glowing softly. Then she returned to the topmost point, the first point, and started again. She walked the same path, laid a new token each time, until she was down to the last two tokens in Harry's jar. The left-over tokens, since Harry's number of tokens and not been divisible evenly by five, she placed at the top point of the star. When she stepped away a pentagram was glowing on the ground before them. The points were the brightest, almost like a lumos, very nearly matching the pale glow of the moon, but when all the tokens had been added faint, misty, milky lines shimmered between the points. It created the familiar star shape, as well as boxing that five-pointed star in a polygon.

Harry's heart was racing. "So, I get in the middle, then?"

Hermione nodded, paused, and looked sharply over at Harry. "Oh…" she gasped when something abruptly came to mind.

"What?" he asked in concern.

"Oh, bugger, I should have thought of it! I can't believe I was so stupid." Hermione's face darkened in the moonlight. "Harry… I don't know how to say this. The animagus transformation… well, it only acts upon the physical witch or wizard who's changing. To take objects into the transformation requires practice. Things like wands… and clothes."

Harry froze. "Are you suggesting I…"

Hermione nodded miserably. "I'm sorry, Harry! I was so worried about getting the potion done in time it completely slipped my mind or else we could have brought a blanket."

"What about the cloak?" Harry started toward his invisibility cloak maybe a bit too eagerly.

Hermione caught his arm. "It's enchanted, otherwise it wouldn't be able to turn anything invisible. You can't introduce a foreign magical entity into the initial transformation process." Hermione stared hard at the ground and chewed on her lip in intense concentration. Harry willed her to think of something. "I suppose one of us could run back to the castle and get a blanket," she said haltingly.

Harry looked back toward the castle. Through the treetops he could see the spires of the castle towers in the distance. They'd stopped a good distance from the castle purposely. "I suppose… would chance that person getting caught, of course."

Hermione tapped her fingers against the jar's side in time with her racing thoughts, her face screwed, then she gave an exasperated sigh of surrender. "Oh, honestly, we're both mature, rational people, we should be able to handle a bit of nudity."

Harry's eyes widened nearly to the roundness of the overhanging moon. "You want us to… naked?"

Hermione gave him an apologetic smile. "If it makes you feel any less horrible about it, at least we'll be even. I'll have to strip, too."

Harry opened his mouth to protest… when a little voice inside him snagged fervently on the concept of 'Hermione naked'. It suddenly felt very warm in the night air, but Harry couldn't say with certainty that it was a flush of embarrassment. "Well… I guess… I mean, you're right, we're both mature enough."

Hermione nodded. "Exactly. We'll just accept the fact I'm going to see you naked, and you're going to see me naked, but that's all it is. No reason to lose our wits about it. It's just skin. And besides, we're friends, so it won't be like it's some stranger getting a peep."

Harry had to wonder if Hermione was talking about Myrtle. "Right."

They stood, unmoving, staring at each other.

Hermione broke the stale-mate first. "So… you should…"

Harry was sure this time that the heat in his face was a blush. "Umm… right." With stilted movements, he toed off his shoes and pulled off his T-shirt. Hermione stood off to the side, trying to seem inconspicuous and uninterested in the whole process. Harry dropped his glasses and wand to the pile he'd begun of his articles of clothing, and it was slightly better when he couldn't clearly see. He slipped off his pants and felt quite the fool standing in the middle of the forest in just his boxers. He paused there. Hermione had seen him in a near enough state to this when they were swimming. Actually skinning down to his birthday suit in front of her, though... that was a roadblock of terrifying proportions, and the difference of a single bit of clothing.

Harry glanced toward Hermione and saw her watching from the corner of her eye. He was almost tempted to ask her to turn around, but that would be silly. She'd just turn back around and see it all anyway. Still, it felt oddly like he was going to be judged or evaluated once he had nothing left to hide behind.

With a deep breath to steel his courage, Harry dropped his boxers and was standing in all his bare glory in the middle of the woods. The rather cold forest, he noticed with a shiver.

"Okay… now, uh…" Hermione flicked darting glances at him from the corner of her eye, trying to talk to him without looking at him but trying not to look like that's what she was doing. It was jarring and distracting and Harry sighed in resignation. "It's all right, Hermione, you can look."

Hermione took in deep breath and turned to face him. She locked her gaze on his face at first, almost fiercely determined to meet him eye to eye, but it seemed she was unable to help the swift glance down. Her eyes flew back up quickly, but not before Harry felt like a specimen in one of Hagrid's classes. "Go… uh… stand. In the middle, there."

Harry nodded and stepped into the pentagram on the ground, painfully conscious of the view of his backside Hermione was getting. Turning back around to face her wasn't much better.

Hermione approached Harry where he stood in the star and stopped just inches from him. Harry almost drew back, self-conscious and twitchy, but Hermione mustered a smile that did wonders to help ease some of his crushing humiliation. She dipped the tip of her wand into the remaining grey potion in his token jar. When the wand came in contact with the liquid the points of the pentagram glowed brighter and the encased potion became luminescent. Hermione pulled out the wand, tipped in glowing potion, glanced up into Harry's face, then ran the tip of her wand down the center of his chest, tracing his sternum. Harry jumped, nervy, and a wave of gooseflesh followed the tip of her wand and spread to the rest of his body. Hermione smiled again at his shiver. "It will focus the power within the frame on you." She stepped out of the pentagram, capped the jar, and said, "Now go into the meditative state you do when you token, but instead of completely voiding your conscious thoughts, concentrate on the spell. Know it."