Full Moon

Chapter 1: Biting

This is my first shot at a Harry Potter fiction! Please let me know what you think! Your feedback is SO INCREDIBLY APPRECIATED!

I do not own Harry Potter~

Pairings are up in the air~Though slight HarryxRemus

Please R&R~! Thanks so much! Enjoy~

oOo

"Hey! Freak! What d'ya think you're doing up there? You know what'll happen if you get home late again," a sneering boy's voice jolted Harry suddenly and unpleasantly from his thoughts.

Harry sighed. He thought he'd found a place where he could have a few more minutes of solace and escape from Dudley and Piers, but of course his cousin, only when it came to tormenting Harry, had a tendency to pull observational skills out of a hat Harry didn't think existed.

Maybe I'll just stay here and ignore him. It's not like Dudley can climb trees…

His cousin didn't seem to take kindly to being ignored, but for a second, Harry thought it was worth it, whatever would come later, seeing the shock and anger in Dudley's face at Harry's pretending to lounge back and go to sleep…but he hadn't, admittedly, expected the rock that then landed into him.

With a yelp, Harry lost his balance and only just managed to grab onto the branch he had been lounging on to avoid falling the seven-or-so feet to the ground.

Now he was in their range, however. With a nod from Dudley, Piers stepped forward and grabbed Harry's legs, yanking him down roughly, and an instant later, the two larger boys were smirking down at him, pressing sticks roughly against his throat.

"Think you're funny, freak? Well this is what happens," Dudley said, laughing, his whole face jiggling grotesquely-Harry would have found it almost funny, except that the sharp pressure on his neck forced him to take the big lob seriously.

"Hey Dudley," Harry started, making an effort to keep his voice casual and any fear-which he knew from experience his cousin would use against him-out of it, "Isn't that the ice cream truck?"

Harry had to laugh at his cousin's stupidity, and at his tendency to think with his body-most particularly his stomach-over any kind of common sense. The larger boy turned and stupidly said, "Where?"

And Piers, distracted by Dudley's distraction, also let up on Harry, and the messy-haired ten-year-old scrambled back quickly, jumped up, and began to run. To give them some credit, the other boys soon realized they'd been had, and that their captive had escaped, and began chasing him, but Harry was quite used to this by now. After years of running from his cousin, he had become quite a fast runner, despite his lack of muscle elsewhere. He knew he would pay for this later, but at the instant, he couldn't find it in himself to care. Dudley and Piers were screaming behind him, and Harry was laughing as he ran.

Not that he was running towards any safe haven-the Dursleys' house was certainly no safe house, but at least he could get some protection in his cupboard-and he preferred the idea of having a door between his face and Dudley's fist.

The boys continued to run, and Harry vaguely noticed that it had gotten quite dark out out, but the full moon was shining above them, so Harry could see where he was going pretty well.

They were close to home, but Piers and Dudley were gaining on him slightly, mostly due to his leg hurting where Dudley had hit him with that rock…so Harry took a little detour through an alleyway, and the others followed him. Harry grinned as he got to a chain link fence and scrambled over it quickly. He knew Dudley, at least, would sooner try to break the fence than climb it.

Tempted to turn around and make a victory whoop, Harry stopped as he opened his mouth. Rather than his own voice, a strange, mournful sound, like a wolf's howl, came from the entrance to the alleyway-from right behind Piers and Dudley.

Pausing and looking back, Harry gasped. Dudley and Piers were pressed against the fence, and a large, dark-grey animal was eying them, guarding the entrance, licking his lips and clearly stalking them.

Harry's heart flew out of his chest. Sure, he wasn't fond of his cousin and his friend, but it was his fault he'd led them into this alleyway. He had to do something, because that animal-wolf, bear-something…definitely looked like it meant business.

"Dudley! Piers! Come on! Just climb!" Harry yelled, but the boys seemed frozen in place, and just whimpered, staring at the large animal in fear. Making a split second decision, Harry said, "Hold on!" And ran around through a short-cut he knew would take him to the other side. When he was back at the alleyway's entrance a minute later, he saw the Wolf-for it was definitely a wolf, though what kind of wolf was over 7 feet tall on all-fours, Harry wasn't sure-was gaining on the two cowering ten-year-old bullies, and said bullies were now clutching to each other, huddled in the corner of the alleyway.

Looking down, Harry gathered some stones up, and then whistled, yelling "Hey! Leave them alone!" And threw a stone as hard as he could at a tree across the street, hoping to get the wolf's attention. The animal paused, and looked back, but then seemed to decide the two boys shaking in closer proximity were still more appealing, and continued to approach them.

Oh no, what can I do? Harry frantically looked around for something else, and then, in a moment's inspiration, tried to make a sound like a wolf howl to distract the animal, and then threw another rock down the street. This time, the wolf did stop, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief…for an instant, because the next instant, the animal had knocked him down, roughly, onto the sidewalk, and was growling at him, holding his chest in place with one giant paw.

"H-help," Harry spoke softly, almost certain no help would come, and tried to think of anyway he could get out of this-if only he had a stick to poke the animal's eye or something. "It's okay," he tried. "I'm not going to hurt you, wolf, so can you let me up?" It sounded absurd to his ears as he said it, but the wolf seemed to find this to be an invitation, and bent down, sniffing Harry and growling hungrily.

Then Harry noticed that Dudley and Piers were sneaking from the alleyway, and had begun to run again. Unluckily for them, the wolf noticed also, and leapt from Harry to chase them once again.

"N-no! Stop!" Harry yelled, stumbling after them, and then, somehow, the wolf was thrown to its side, away from Dudley and Piers, as if some invisible car had rammed into him. Harry stopped, staring in shock, and even Dudley and Piers paused to see what was happening. But the moment of hesitation was just enough for the wolf to recover, and, his attention effectively refocused, he leapt at Harry, and bit into his side.

Harry screamed out, the pain so sharp and intense and…he'd never felt anything like it. It felt as if his body were tearing apart, and as if some deep venom were seeping through him, most obvious and sharp where the wolf's mouth pressed into him, but not limited to that spot.

Harry's head swam, and he collapsed. The pain was just too intense…the last thing he was conscious of was the wolf howling and running away into the woods, and the frightened screams of his cousin and his friend as they ran away.

"W-wait," Harry tried, desperately, but it was no good. He passed out, and was alone.

oOo

Harry woke up, and the pain was intense, but he somehow…wasn't dead. Considering how deep he felt the bite must have been, this surprised him, particularly when he looked down and saw the pool of blood he was sitting in…definitely his own, as his grey hand-me-down shirt was soaked and completely deep red. The pain wasn't as sharp as it had been, but it was still very obviously there, and Harry was surprised that he could even manage to stand up. He just wanted to find a bed, and wake up to find this had all been a bad dream. He would wake up, and the pain will have been an illusion. He assured himself of this.

He wasn't sure where he found the strength-probably pure adrenalin, assuming this were NOT a dream-but eventually he managed to limp his way back to privet drive. He vaguely wondered what their perfect neighbors would think to see him, covered in blood and sporting a vicious animal bite, limping along like this…but all he wanted was a place to sleep, and perhaps a hot bath. He knew more than to expect some pain medication…

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he made his way up the drive and struggled with the door, finally managing to press the doorbell before collapsing onto the grass below.

The door was wrenched open, and his aunt Petunia's face turned from hot anger to horror in an instant, and she shrieked.

"You! What did you do? Don't come in here looking like that!" Her face was livid, and as red as he had ever seen his uncle's become.

"W-wolf…bit me…" Harry tried, gasping. The pain was threatening to make him pass out again.

Petunia looked very much like she wanted to tell him to fend for himself outdoors, but then, making nervous glances at the neighbors, hurriedly hissed, "Well get in! Hurry up! And don't you dare mess up our carpet! Vernon! Vernon!"

Harry was too exhausted and pain-dulled to do anything but drag himself through the door, and onto his feet. As the unnatural hall light hit him, Petunia finally saw his state clearly, and she paled. Despite herself, she pushed him roughly into the bathroom, demanding he wash up before anything else. Harry nodded numbly, and then found himself on autopilot until he was finally soaking in a hot bath, the water dyed bright red from his wounds.

Harry sighed, and tried to wash his bite. "I guess it just bled a lot," he thought outloud. He couldn't figure out any reason, otherwise, that he was able to function as well as he had been doing, with something like this in his side. He tried to soap it, but it stung far too much, and he, instead, just made to towel himself off, and then looked in the full-length mirror, glimpsing it fully for the first time.

His eyes popped. It was bad-and huge. It had stopped bleeding, but there were large, gaping holes in his side, dark holes he could almost imagine he saw his internal organs through. Almost matching wounds were on his front and back. Harry wondered, once again, why he was up and walking. From the looks of it, he should have been down for the count, but…he stared. As he looked, a new layer of skin was forming over the holes. He rubbed his eyes. Impossible!

But there it was. The wounds were still there, but they weren't as deep anymore. Red-black, but not gaping, and not bleeding anymore. The pain had receded, too, leaving only a dull ache throughout his whole body… Reaching curiously to touch the wound, he yelped. Okay! So it isn't healed! Note to self, don't touch it.

He grimaced. Great. Now he had large scars to go with his weird lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. He could only imagine how much fun Dudley would have tormenting him about this at the swimming pool…

With a sigh, exhaustion washing over him again, he dried himself, made sure to clear up any blood he'd dripped, and slipped out and over to his cupboard, putting some clean clothing on.

As he was moving, he heard whimpering in the kitchen, and peaked in to see Dudley being hugged by his parents on both sides. He was crying, talking about 'Those horrible yellow eyes!'

Harry paused, and then crept in. He knew it was a long-shot, but he wanted them to know, just in case they wondered, that he was okay.

"Um, Dudley? Aunt Petunia? Uncle Vernon?"

The look they gave him, however, effectively disposed of any preconceived notions that they might have been interested in his well-being. Vernon leapt up and said, face reddening quickly. "Boy!" He barked. "You led Dudley into a dangerous alleyway! You're lucky we're not chucking you out to the streets!"

Harry found his throat drying up quickly, and anger he wasn't aware he had bubbled fiercely in him. He pressed it down, though. He knew it would do no good arguing with them…

Petunia was still pale as she eyed his shirt where she had seen the wound earlier. Harry noticed and smiled slightly. "I don't know how, but I'm okay, I guess. But um, do animal bites normally close up that quickly?"

"What?" She barked.

"Well," Harry began, feeling suddenly nervous at the stares they were all giving him, "I was watching the wound, and the skin just kind of re-grew over it. Is that normal?"

Harry blinked. He had expected a lot of different expressions on their faces-he hadn't been expecting relief, exactly, but surprise and perhaps some modicum relief at not having to take him to the emergency room…but anger and horror?

"That's crazy," Vernon growled. "Don't talk about such nonsense in my house, boy! Get to your cupboard and go to sleep NOW!"

Harry stared, and could barely say anything. But the absurdity of it all hit him and an odd strength surged up in him. Glaring at his uncle, he said, "Who cares how it happened! At least I'm not dead! At least Dudley wasn't bitten by the wolf! You should be thankful!"

But the glare his uncle gave him at that silenced him. "Don't you dare," he began, quietly and threateningly. "Don't you DARE tell me what you think I should feel, boy! Are you threatening Dudley?"

"What? No, I-"

But before Harry could say anything else, Vernon had grabbed him by his shirt collar and had stuffed him, forcibly, into his cupboard. "Now STAY THERE! Stay there until you learn never to lead my son into such a dangerous situation again!" He screamed.

"Fine!" Harry yelled back, earning him a kick at the door from his uncle after he'd slammed it.

With a heaving sigh, Harry collapsed back on his, for lack of a better word, bed. The cupboard, of course, was too small to fit a real bed, but the moth-eaten blankets and pillows which made up his ramshackle sleeping situation, as sad as it was, felt like heaven to his exhausted body.

As he lay there, his mind attempted to process just WHAT was going on. The almost supernatural-looking wolf, the strange bite and the awful pain…and its crazily fast healing…but another thing was on his mind as well. Maybe he'd just reached the breaking point with his aunt and uncle and their unfair treatment of him.

He knew they favored Dudley, but this was just ridiculous! You'd think they'd care that he, showing up at their house with a wound which should have meant certain death or at least a long recovering period, was actually fine…but they'd been angry with him!

But what was on Harry's mind was not as much his aunt and uncle's reactions, but his own. He was so used to it, he thought, that he didn't usually let it bother him so much anymore. Sure, it depressed him, made him feel lonely and unwanted, but tonight he had felt so…incredibly angry. He had felt, without a doubt, that he shouldn't have been made to feel that way.

And he had actually talked back to his uncle! He had defended himself! And it had felt really good, despite the extra punishment it had landed him in…

Harry continued to think about these things as he drifted off to sleep…

Thanks for reading! The next chapter will be up tomorrow! Hope you're enjoying it so far!

Again, feedback is MUCH appreciated!

Thanks~

tess4aria