Author's Note: I have had an idea like this for quite some time and I sort of just fell into it thinking about how I would be able to incorporate something really creepy and angst for this round. I hope you all enjoy it and know that just this chapter is my entry for the Dauntless Competition, but that I will update and add others!

Hot blood pooled from the claw mark that marred her porcelain skin and quiet whimpers fell from her paling lips. Her eyes lulled to the back of her head as portions of bloodied, sticky hair fell in front of her face framing it and creating streaks of fresh, warm blood. He grabbed her slender wrist between his pointer finger and thumb and frantically searched for a pulse. The gentle thumping against the pad of his thumb he knew was his own, but hers, he was not so sure of. His heart hammering against his chest, he pulled her up into his arms and cradled her to his chest. Blood flowed freely from her wound and onto the ground, leaving a crimson trail in their wake as he ran further into the woods.

Remus had told her not to come; told her that it was too dangerous to stay with him and that though he was feeling so down on himself, he did not need company. But something had been nagging at him that she would follow despite his attempts to get her to refrain. She was strong-willed and hot-tempered. She would be quick to support him because she was like that with everyone: kind and loving; motherly, even, sometimes.

"Why? Why would you follow?"

Tears spilled over from his eyes and onto her cheeks, her light brown hair falling over his arm as he continued to run. If he could just get to the water- clean her up, see how deep the wounds are...Asses if they were gashes, or more. If he had clawed at her than the St. Mungos would surely help her, but if they were bites? She would be a new werewolf. If the moon didn't fully fade by tomorrow night, she may even transform. They would not keep her. Remus had been in a separate ward at a specialty hospital when he had been bitten...They would be even worse at taking a case like this with the new laws and prejudices.

The Wizarding World was becoming darker than it had been in a long time. There was no acceptance, no room for dark creatures...And Remus was one of them.

Stumbling upon the river, finally, he crouched by the stream and held her hair dangling into the gentle stream, taking a cup full of water in his palm and drenching the side of her neck. The water turned bright red against his hands but as it washed away the blood flow for a moment, he was able to see the two large puncture wounds that contrasted against her pale, heated skin.

Remus was a dark creature- the darkest he had ever felt at this point in his life.

And Hermione would be too.