Flair for Trouble Chapter 1: A Foul Moon, a harry potter fanfic

A/N Ok. This is my first fic, so be nice, please. But being nice does not mean I'm open to critique. I just don't want any "I hate your story" kind of stuff. And I have read HBP, but I like Snape, so I discarded it and he still teaches, and Dumbledore is still thankfully alive.

Disclaimer Unfortunately, I don't own anybody –dies-. They're J.K. Rowling's. –sighs-

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When Severus Snape didn't show up at the Staff Table at the start of term feast, nobody noticed. In fact, not even the teachers seemed to notice. It was sad, really, that his presence wasn't missed. If somebody had noticed, they had most likely not cared. Chatter seemed to go on for hours after the Sorting and Dumbledore's few first words, telling the students a few rules and reminding them that the Forbidden Forest was off limits.

Hermione knew the reason behind Remus Lupin's absence from what she considered the high table. It was her seventh year, and she had known him long enough to know a few things about him that Harry and Ron overlooked. Moreover, she was more observant to pay attention to the state of the moon, which appeared quite full on the enchanted ceiling.

She was musing over her luck at becoming Head Girl when she overheard snatches of conversation from the direction of Ron. "Where do you reckon Lupin is?" he was asking Harry, who just shrugged.

Scowling, she pointed her finger up at the moon and scorned them, "Honestly, you two have the brains of a peach." Shaking her head as a look of apprehension dawned on the two boys faces; she sent another glance up at the staff table. "Wonder where Snape is," she commented off-hand. It wasn't like him to skip the first dinner; she knew from experience that he enjoyed glaring at the first years and scaring them out of their skins. "He's usually shown his face by now."

This comment was rather blatantly ignored by Ron and Harry, who seemed to have commenced into some sort of a fight: they were shoveling food into their mouths faster than the intelligent witch would have though possible. Gross, she thought to herself before contemplating the NEWTs that they would have to take at the end of the year; thankfully for her friends, she had actually dropped History of Magic and Muggle Studies after her OWLs, giving her two free blocks in which she could draw up study schedules.

Apparently, she must have had quite a look on her face because Harry and Ron were looking at her with a sense of dread etched into their features. "Hermione, tell me you're not already fretting over NEWTs," Harry stated rather bluntly, knowing that she would nod her head with impeccable timing, get up, and leave the Great Hall with an air of importance.

"Please…please say you're not going to force us to study with you," Ron continued with his concern for his mental well-being plainly evident in the tone of his voice. Studying did not mix with him, at least until there was an actual importance for it.

"I can't tell you either of those," she said briefly, before getting up to go find her quarters, "You know where I'm off too. I'll give you the password later, boys."

As she walked out of the Hall, they looked at her plate with disbelief. Somehow, she had managed to clear hers before they had even started on their second serving.

Hermione Granger was far from being prepared with the sight she was about to see, for as soon as she walked out of the doors, Lupin's eyes met hers. Silently cursing herself for her sudden and rigid fear at being gazed down by a dangerous werewolf, her breath caught. Nothing could save her now, nothing. The look in the monster's feral eyes told her enough. Those green eyes were hungry, and powerful. Before he came towards her, she had a brief amount of time to wonder how he got in here. Slowly, her eyes moved around the Entrance Hall, and saw none other than Snape, standing at the top of the stairs that led to the dungeon. With no extra surprise, she noted that he was in much the same condition as she, but far more disheveled.

The pair of humans stood still as stone, both fixated upon the wolf in the center of the hall.

A snarl from the creature brought him into focus, however, and as Lupin leaped for Hermione, he leaped for her as well, wand out. "LEVICORPUS!" he bellowed, with enough strength to force Lupin into the air, dangled by one ankle. The wolf was snarling and throwing a near tantrum, while Hermione had slowly slid to the floor in a dead faint. Snape couldn't blame her. After all, she was seventeen, and hadn't faced Lupin in close quarters for some time, if he was right about that night four years ago.

Before he could do anything more, the Great Hall doors burst open and out flooded Dumbledore, followed closely by the rest of the teachers and a few curious students (namely Ron, Harry, and Ginny). Dumbledore promptly lifted Hermione onto a magical stretcher using, what else, but more magic. Several of the teachers were stricken at Snape's rather bloody robes and haphazard hair, but most of them gawked unnaturally at the hanging form of Lupin.

Dumbledore would know what to do, but first, he told Snape quite clearly, "Take Miss Granger to your quarters, then see yourself to the Hospital Wing."

I know, I know, it prolly sucks completely

Review please! I can't tell you guys how much I would love for you to review!