Title: What Act, That Roars So Loud?
Fandom: Hamlet
Rating: G
Length: ~800 words
Content notes: Hamlet, Gertrude, Polonius, Claudius, werewolves.
Author notes: Counting towards the Cracksmith and Lightning Strike badges please!
Summary: The closet scene, except with a werewolf.



"My lord, your mother wants to speak with you."

Hamlet hardly heard the words, so wrapped up was he in his own plan and in the discovery that he now knew that Claudius had killed his father. He remembered his father's ghost's instructions to be nice to his mother, however, and slunk off to her bedchamber.

"MOTHER!" he called out and flung the door open so hard that it hit the wall.

What he saw in the middle of the room made him freeze mid-movement, and the door hit him in the face on the way back. Instead of his mother sitting at her dressing table, there was a creature in the middle of the room, half-human, half-wolf. It sat amid a pile of shredded clothes. Hamlet recognised the dress that his mother had been wearing to the play - and just as he recovered from his shock enough to focus his eyes on the creature more closely, there was a loud snap and a pearl necklace fell off the animal's neck, causing pearls to roll around wildly on the ground.

He had been on the point of drawing his sword, but he refrained now from doing so. He'd only been pretending to be mad, but Elsinore was clearly turning the tables on him with that one.

Hamlet had heard fairytales of strange creatures, men who could transform themselves into animals at will, of course, and he had only yesterday become acquainted with a ghost.

He held on to the door and tried to lock eyes with the wolf. "Mother?" he asked. The wolf grunted, then snapped her teeth in his direction.

It was clearly not possible to reason with her in this condition, so Hamlet did the only reasonable thing to do: he left. Rather, ran, back to his own room.

Polonius emerged from behind the arras and looked at the wolf, then threw down two dog biscuits from his pocket. "Your Majesty," he said and made a mock bow. The wolf snarled him out of doors. He left at a leisurely pace. He'd come across the Queen's strange bouts before. As long as she didn't decide he was dinner that night, he wasn't hugely perturbed by it. Having to carry around treats for the wolf at all times did rather damage the lines of any tailoring he happened to be wearing, but that was a small price to pay for not being eaten by your employer.

Claudius had heard the sounds of snarling and running and came to Gertrude's chamber shortly after Polonius had left. He found Gertrude picking up the pearls of a necklace he'd given her.

"What has happened? It sounded like a wild animal was in here."

"I heard nothing."

"Are you sure?" Claudius looked around him nervously. The door behind him fell shut with a click.

"Well, now that you say it..." Gertrude looked at him icily, then locked the door in one fluid movement. Claudius lunged toward her but caught only thin air.

He stared at the wild animal that had taken his queen's place in complete disbelief. The wolf growled and snapped at him until it had him backed into a corner.

Five minutes later, Gertrude transformed and wiped blood off her mouth in a nonchalant gesture. She pulled on a casual shirt and trousers and went to find her son.

Hamlet had retreated into his own room and was sitting on his bed with Horatio by his feet. Gertrude entered without knocking.

"Are you going to sit there all night, or are you going to help me get rid of a body?"

Hamlet stared at her, then jumped into action and did as he was told.

***

"So, does that mean I'm king of Denmark now?"

Gertrude lowered her eyes and looked at him across the fresh grave. Hamlet jumped. She bared her teeth in a quick parody of a smile before she spoke. "I don't think you really want that, do you?"

Hamlet glanced sidelong at Horatio. Gertrude sighed.

"You've been mooning over that boy for as long as I can remember you knowing him. Your only wish a couple of days ago was to go back to university so you could be together. Do yourself and him a favour and do whatever it is that you want to do, and leave the governing of the country to an adult."

"Who is also occasionally a wolf," Horatio said, which prompted both mother and son to stare at him.

"He does that," Hamlet said, then shyly took Horatio's hand.

"There's a good boy," said Gertrude and started walking back towards the castle.