Chapter 2
When Harry woke up the next morning, he took a second to appreciate how well he was feeling before he opened his eyes. The pain seemed to have mostly subsided; except for a bruised, achy sensation all over, he felt almost back to normal.
Harry got up and went into the bathroom where he took the first shower he had taken in a few days and the amount of relief that came from something as simple as a shower was wonderful. When Harry got out, he glanced into the mirror to find that his gashes had healed almost one hundred percent and the bite marks, though still visible and healing much slower than the rest of his injuries, were still a far cry better than before. Harry noticed that his skin was still paler than usual and his cheeks were still flushed but his face no longer gave off the impression that he was dying.
As he made his way downstairs he heard Sirius and Lupin talking in the kitchen. Considering how far away he was, it seemed unusual but under the circumstances, it wasn't very shocking.
"But I just want to make sure he's well enough to go to school tomorrow. He was just bit a few days ago and was in rough shape when he got here," Sirius whispered to Lupin. When Harry walked into the kitchen he smiled at his godfather.
"I feel fine," Harry said in a cheerful voice as he grabbed a muffin from the counter and sat down at the table.
"How are the bites?" Lupin asked, obviously aware that werewolf bites heal slower than any other injury. "Upon arriving at Hogwarts, I want you to have Madam Pomfrey take a look at them. She can't speed up the rate they heal but she can make sure they're not infected."
Harry ate his muffin and watched quietly as Sirius began stuffing things into Lupin's trunk.
"I'll be going with you, Harry. It's all set with Dumbledore. In addition to you being allowed to bring me, he's allowing two other students to bring their pet dogs as part of a pilot project to see if dogs are acceptable pets at Hogwarts... And to draw attention away from when you arrive with me on the train," Sirius said causing Harry to smile happily. As long as the things he'd heard about Sirius' reputation, they'd be able to have some fun this year... Malfoy wasn't going to know what hit him!
"I see that look in your eye and whatever it is, NO!" Lupin suddenly said.
"What?" Harry said with a shrug.
"Don't give me that! Your father had the same expression when he was scheming; Sirius, get that smirk off your face! I don't want to hear about you being caught stealing from Severus.."
"Hey; that was for the poly... nothing," Harry muttered quietly.
"Tell me you weren't about to say polyjuice potion," Lupin said in a surprised but the smirk on Sirius' face earned him a smack.
"You can look at it negatively, or you can be excited that we mastered the potion and didn't kill ourselves," Harry said in a quiet tone.
"You made a polyjuice potion last year?" Sirius chokes.
"No! That was second year!" Harry muttered.
"Ha! You are James' son!" Sirius muttered but upon getting a glance from Lupin. "Harry, that was very wrong and you could have been killed... But seriously, where'd you pull it off!"
"Sirius, keep in mind, you're coming to keep an eye on Harry, not handing him potion ingredients so he and his friends can turn all of Slytherin gold and red," Lupin said to Sirius who merely shrugged.
"You weren't so against it when you were helping us sneak into Slytherin with that potion!"
"Someone had to keep an eye on you!"
"Guys, I just want to get through this year without any massive disaster. I'm still trying to figure out if I'm going to tell Ron and Hermione what happened to me," Harry whispered. "I'm not even sure how to tell them."
"Give it a few months and Hermione will figure it out for herself... Honestly, just tell them on the train, don't beat around the bush and be ready for their reactions." Lupin was right of course. It had taken Hermione only a few months to figure Lupin was a werewolf... It'd probably only be days or weeks before she figured out Harry was a werewolf, as well. Especially once she finds out Harry had been staying at Lupin's house since the full moon.
"What can I expect? On the full moon," Harry asked. "Is it going to hurt?"
"I'll be in the other room," Sirius said stepping into the living room, shutting the door behind him.
"Harry, yes; it is going to hurt. The first time will be the worst and hardest to recover from. You'll probably spend the next day in the hospital wing. Professor Snape has already been alerted that he's making a second wolfsbane potion. Sirius has made it clear that he's going to be there for the full moon and I will also be there," Lupin explained.
