"Really mister Malfoy, you must calm down!"
"Calm down?"
We were in the hospital wing. Hagrid had taken us up to the castle, Malfoy and I still wearing his enormous shirts, and had woken Madam Pomfrey. After expertly examining our wrists, and for an odd reason our eyes, she declared that we had indeed been werewolf bitten, and admitted us to the hospital wing. She gave us a few potions and was going to keep us there to make sure we didn't develop symptoms of something she called 'saline overdose,' whatever that was.
Then she told us that our parents would be informed of what had happened.
And Malfoy was upset about that.
"You can't!" He yelled for the third time.
"Mister Malfoy, if you do not quiet down I'm going to sedate you," Madam Pomfrey warned. She looked bedraggled in her nightgown, her hair disheveled on one side from her pillow, and not in any mood to argue. But Malfoy didn't seem to care.
"Madam Pomfrey, please," he begged. "Don't tell them. Don't." I was watching him silently from the bed on his left. I'd never seen him so afraid. He was more afraid now than he had been when the full moon had begun rising.
"What do you expect me to do?" Madom Pomfrey asked, opening her hands. "It's school policy that parents be notified if their children develop any conditions, especially permanent ones. And your condition, I'm sorry to say, falls under that category."
Malfoy slammed his hand on his bedside table, sending his glass of potion crashing to the floor.
"I DON'T CARE!" He screamed.
I stared at him, shocked. I could see tears welling up in his eyes. What was he so scared of?
Madam Pomfrey just looked at him for a long while. I saw a look of pity in her eyes, only for a moment.
"Your parents will understand," she said quietly. She walked back to her office.
"No! Please!" Malfoy cried after her. She disappeared inside and shut her door. Malfoy collapsed back onto his cot, silently sobbing.
I didn't say anything to him. I adjusted my covers and turned away. I hadn't slept in two days, and I definitely had some rest coming to me.
VVVVVVVV
"Hey mate," came a familiar voice. I smiled and opened my eyes.
"Ron?" I looked up and saw his familiar grin, albeit blurry since I didn't have my glasses on.
"You're alive!" he laughed. I sat up and grabbed my glasses from my bedside table. When I put them on I found Ron and Hermione standing at my bedside.
"Oh Harry, we were so worried about you!" Hermione fussed. "What happened?" I glanced over at Malfoy. His eyes were open, staring at the ceiling.
I looked back to Ron and Hermione and told them everything, beginning when Malfoy and I got lost. By the end of it they were both pale.
"So… you're…?" Ron said.
In answer I held up my scarred wrist.
"Oh," he murmured.
"Harry, I'm so sorry," Hermione said. Her eyes were wet. I put on a smile.
"Hermione, it's okay. Really."
She nodded, swallowing.
Shhhiiing!
We all jumped. Malfoy had pulled his curtains closed around him.
Ron was still staring at my wrist.
"Ron? You okay?" I asked. He blinked.
"Oh yeah. Sure," he said. "It's just… a lot to take in, you know?"
Eventually they left for classes, promising me they would come back once they were done. Malfoy and I didn't talk at all for the entire day. I think both of us were trying to pretend that nothing had happened; that nothing was different.
That afternoon Crabbe and Goyle came to visit Malfoy. I tried to pretend I was invisible by turning over and not looking at them, but that made me even more nervous so I just laid on my back and watched them out of the corner of my eye. They chatted for a while, but then they got to the inevitable question: what happened to him?
Malfoy didn't answer them. But the answer was plain on his wrist. It took them a couple seconds to figure out what the scars were, but when they did they jumped back, covering their mouths like they were afraid of breathing the same air as him. They practically ran out of the Hospital wing.
By evening Madam Pomfrey deemed us healthy enough to go back to our dormitories. New robes were brought for us, and we got dressed and parted ways without a word to each other.
When I got back to the Gryffindor common room I found out that Ron and Hermione hadn't told anybody about what had happened. Naturally I got swarmed right when I stepped through the portrait hole. And I really didn't think there was any point in lying.
I told them that I was a Werewolf. I told them an abbreviated version of how it all happened.
I'll never forget their faces; so many different reactions. some horror; some pity; Some had a weird sort of confusion or confliction. And those reactions, I noticed, were coming from the kids raised in Wizarding families.
People drifted away from me. It was odd to me that now people's eyes were flicking downward more often than up when they looked at me. Looking for a different scar.
Ron and Hermione gave me all of the homework I had missed – mostly a big essay for Snape about the Anti-Paralysis potion – and we all sat down in our normal spot by the fire.
Professor McGonagall visited entered the common room just as I was closing my Potions book.
"Potter, a word?" She asked, staying just by the portrait hole.
I got up and stepped over to her.
"Yes, Professor?" I asked.
"I heard about what happened. Are you all right?" She asked, looking down on me with eyes full of concern.
I slowly nodded.
"I'm okay."
She nodded in return.
"That's good to hear," she said. She straightened a little. "Potter, as you know your… new condition presents a little bit of a problem."
My insides turned to ice. Malfoy had sputtered about it, but I didn't think it would be true. Was I about to be expelled? Get sent back to the Dursleys?
"But Professor Dumbledore has allowed werewolves at Hogwarts in the past, and, particularly with the recent invention of the Wolfsbane potion, there is no reason why you cannot continue your studies just as if nothing had changed."
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"What's the Wolfsbane potion?" I asked.
"It allows you to keep your human mind when you transform," Professor McGonagall answered. "In essence, it makes you safe."
"So… do I just stay in my dormitory? On those nights?" I asked.
McGonagall shook her head.
"Heavens no. We can't have a transformed, unsupervised werewolf in the dormitories even with the Wolfsbane potion. You and mister Malfoy will be somewhere else on Full-Moon nights."
"Where?"
"Tomorrow at four-thirty go to Professor Snape's office. He will tell you everything you need to know."
"Snape? Why Snape?" I blurted out.
Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow.
"He's the one that makes the potion, Potter."
She left after that. I gathered up the rest of my homework and tromped up to my dormitory, leaving a mostly empty common room behind.
I changed into my pajamas and flopped onto my bed, feeling drained.
Werewolf.
Werewolf.
I was forever changed.
Again.
VVVVVVVVV
The next morning in the Great Hall I noticed there were more whispers than normal as I passed. I mean, I was used to it by now, but the whispering had gone down these last few months. And, just like last night, they were looking for a different scar when I walked by. Everybody at the Gryffindor table seemed to welcome me evenly enough, though, so I didn't let it bother me that much. I chose my normal seat next to Ron and across from Hermione.
"Hi."
"Good morning, Harry," said Hermione.
"Hey Harry," Ron said between bites of scrambled eggs.
Seamus leaned across the table.
"Hey, um, Harry?" I looked up.
"Yeah, Seamus?"
"I heard about what happened, last night, but I never got to ask – are they… well you know. Are you going to be staying… in the dormitory? When - ?"
I let out a breath.
"No. I'll be somewhere else."
Seamus looked visibly relieved.
"Ah. Good. I mean, I'm sorry that – yeah. Sorry for asking."
"It's fine."
I turned away from Seamus and looked across the hall. When I came to Hogwarts everybody had known my name. And, of course, there'd been a moment recently where most of Hogwarts had genuinely hated me. Namely for the one hundred and fifty points Ron, Neville, and I had lost for Gryffindor. But I guess the news that I was now a werewolf as a result kind of tampered that. Now all I was getting was this weird pity and awkwardness.
That's when I saw Malfoy.
The scenario at the Slytherin table was much different from mine. Apparently Crabbe and Goyle had spread the word well. Because on either side of Malfoy was a generous six foot gap that no one had sit in. It was like they were treating him as though he was contagious. He ate his food as fast as he could, shoveling it into his mouth and not looking at anyone.
I watched him for a few moments, then focused on eating my own food. I had missed a couple days of class, and things were beginning to wind down as far as finals go. I needed to keep my grades up.
After classes, feeling a little relieved that I hadn't missed that much, I took the familiar path down to the dungeons, where Snape's office was. I swallowed before knocking. Everything that had happened this year told me that I was now knocking on the door of the one who wanted the Sorcerer's Stone.
And who may have tried to kill me at the Quidditch match.
I heard footsteps off to my right. Malfoy appeared around the corner and was heading this way. I tried not to look at him. I don't know why. Something new about him was bothering me.
I knocked on the door again. This time Snape opened it, glaring down at me through the curtain of his jet-black hair.
"So, you're both here. Come in."
Malfoy and I stepped into his office. It was the last place I wanted to be in all of Hogwarts, I was sure. Shelves stacked with all manner of jars filled with floating, pickled things and sinister looking vials stood against both walls, and an ebony desk with silver accents stood in the center on the far side, facing the door. Parchment lay in organized stacks on top of it, and a black quill stood with its nib in an ink bottle.
Snape swept to his desk and sat down behind it. There were no chairs for us.
"Now, as I understand it I am to instruct you two of the new school procedure concerning werewolves, and am to add to my numerous duties the brewing of your wolfsbane potions," he drawled. "This is about as pleasurable for me as your transformations will be for you, so I shall be very brief. Hogwarts had a werewolf as a student here in 1971, before the invention of the wolfsbane potion, and so a place was created for him to be during his transformations: the shrieking shack."
Malfoy gasped.
"The shrieking shack?" He repeated, awed. "But I thought that was the most haunted place in Britain! Like, with ghosts-"
"Yes, that is exactly what everyone is supposed to think, Mister Malfoy," Snape cut him off. He rolled his eyes. "As I was saying, there is a tunnel from Hogwarts grounds to the shrieking shack, starting beneath the Whomping Willow. The Willow was put there to keep anyone from getting in and being mauled, bitten, or killed." Snape ground his teeth for a moment. "You will report to my office an hour before sunset on full moon nights to take your Wolfsbane potion. From there you will be escorted to the shrieking shack. You will receive an Owl on the morning prior to a full moon night to ensure you are not forgetful."
He pulled his quill from the ink bottle and started grading one of the papers on his desk, his bangs swinging down in front of his face. I figured that was as good as a dismissal, so I turned to go. Malfoy seemed to have gotten the same message.
"Before you leave," Snape interrupted us. Malfoy and I turned. Snape didn't look up from his paper. "I'm told by Madam Pomfrey that the week before your transformation you will become ill, similar to the effects of a strong case of influenza. She assures me that this is normal."
Malfoy and I left, again without speaking.
VVVVVVVV
"Here."
I looked up from my breakfast the next morning. The entire table did. Because Malfoy was standing on the other side of it, holding out an opened letter to me.
"What?" I asked.
"Read it." I stared at him, then looked to Ron and Hermione. Malfoy kept his eyes fixed on me. There was something behind them I couldn't really read. There was a mask. His jaw was tight.
I slowly took the letter from him and opened it. Ron tried to read it, too, but I quickly waved a hand to tell him 'no.'
Draco,
Your mother and I received Madam Pomfrey's message. Please inform her that any action she deems necessary to your health in this matter is acceptable to us. I will be enacting a full investigation into the methods of Hogwarts's discipline to ascertain how a detention of this sort was allowed, and mark my words: the appropriate people will be punished for this outrage.
As for you, I cannot express how disappointed I am that you did not manage to escape this situation. Details of your future, such as respectable marriage, elevation in society, and your employment upon graduation are now no longer matters with which you should concern yourself. I will discuss all of this with you when term is concluded.
Your Father,
Lucius Malfoy
I frowned at the letter and looked up at Malfoy.
"Why're you showing me this?" I asked.
"Because it's your fault!" Malfoy shouted, slamming his hands onto the table. The entire Great Hall went quiet. But Malfoy didn't seem to care. "If I hadn't been with you I wouldn't have gotten lost! I wouldn't have got bitten!" He lowered his voice to a whisper and his voice cracked. "Now they hate me."
I didn't know what to say.
"Malfoy, it wasn't my-"
"Incendio!" Malfoy screamed, pointing his wand at the letter. It burst into flames and I dropped it. It was ashes before it even touched the table. Malfoy stormed out, his footsteps clacking in the silence as all of Hogwarts watched him leave.
VVVVVVVV
The next few weeks went by without much incident. But after a while I began to notice something. Hogwarts had changed. It wasn't anything outright – but whispers were following me down the halls again. It was like first term all over again. And I heard more than one snide comment about 'werewolf.' What made my skin crawl was that every single one of them, I knew for a fact, came from pure bloods.
What helped me, for the most part, was that my fellow Gryffindors basically didn't care. After a couple weeks they treated me just like they always did. Like I had predicted, all hatred for losing one hundred and fifty points had faded. On top of that Malfoy had lost any clout he would ever have. During every meal or study hour in the great hall he had a good ten foot gap around him where no one would sit. It almost made me feel sorry for him.
Lucius Malfoy was true to his words. He was on the Board of Governors, as Malfoy had let us known countless times, so within a few days an investigation had been launched – it was all in the Daily Prophet now. Right in the front page article: POTTER – THE BOY WHO LIVED – WEREWOLF-BITTEN. Immediately, it seemed, Lucius Malfoy was trying to use this to get rid of Dumbledore. Then, when that wasn't looking promising, Hagrid. But in the end it all boiled down to who had designed the detention itself. And so, with much pomp and circumstance, or else massive amounts of cheering in the Entrance Hall as we watched, Filch was sent packing and left Hogwarts with Mrs. Norris under one arm.
Just like Snape had predicted, on the third weekend I started feeling sick. If I accelerated too fast during Qudditch practice I got queasy. If I turned my head too quickly waves of dizziness would flash through my brain. I lost all the color in my face. I could tell Malfoy was feeling the same – I could see even his little bit of color was gone as I passed him in the corridors. He was always looking down, at the floor. He wasn't bothering to slick his hair back anymore; his white-blond bangs dangled in front of his eyes, shielding them from view.
On the last day before the moon I was too dizzy to go to class. I managed to drag myself to the Hospital Wing, but Madam Pomfrey said there was nothing she could do for me. So I staggered back to my dormitory and flopped down on my covers, shadows of hot and cold waxing down my skin like sickeningly contrasting breezes.
I lay in my bed, my own sweat drenching my pajamas and running down my pale skin for the entire day. Hermione and Ron came to check on me every once in a while between classes, but I think Ron was starting to get scared of me for some reason. I guess I wasn't very good company, because eventually they let me be miserable by myself. I was grateful.
VVVVVVVV
When the sky began to turn fiery outside my window I knew it was time. I pulled myself out of my bed, got dressed in my robes, made sure to take my wand with me, and tried not to fall down the stairs.
"Hey mate," Ron called from the couch down in the common room. "You, um, goin'?"
"Yeah," I managed. Hermione was looking at me, her eyes wide with concern. She got up from the couch and came over to me, grabbing my arm and helping me walk to the portrait hole.
"Everything's going to be fine, Harry," she assured me. I nodded and swallowed.
"I can make it from here," I said, letting go of her at the portrait hole.
"See you, Harry," she said as a goodbye, wringing her hands a little. I pulled up a small smile, then pushed the portrait of the fat lady open and stepped out into the hall.
I stumbled down to the dungeons, frantically hoping that I hadn't come down too late. What would happen if the moon came up now, and I transformed right in the middle of Hogwarts? Would I kill someone? Surely not. Surely I could control myself…
My heart pounded harder.
I had eaten a deer that night. And I normally don't do that sort of thing.
What was I capable of?
VVVVVVVV
Malfoy was already there when I arrived, leaning against the wall by Snape's office, his eyes closed, his face pale. He was breathing deeply.
"Hi."
The word flew out of my mouth before I knew I'd said it. Malfoy didn't open his eyes.
"Potter," he said quietly. Then nothing else. I glanced at him, then knocked on Snape's door.
My knuckles sent a resounding clunk through the ancient wood, and then the door clicked open of its own accord. Snape was behind his desk, scratching something onto a piece of parchment with his black quill. On the side of his desk stood a cauldron, currents of steam spinning out of its mouth.
Snape didn't look up. He waved his wand and two goblets appeared on his desk.
"Fill it to the brim, drink it all," he commanded. Malfoy and I walked to his desk and did as he asked. I dipped the goblet sideways into the cauldron, filling it as much as I could, then stared apprehensively into the goblet's bowl. The potion was slimy, with gobs of who-knows-what floating around it. It had about the same consistency as watery cement.
I pinched my nose and drank it, trying not to throw it back up as I did. Malfoy made a gurgling noise behind me. It tasted worse than anything I have ever put in my mouth. Like clay and rotten carrots, with something unmentionably horrid mixed in.
Once we had both downed the awful drink Snape stood up from his desk, laying down his quill.
"Come with me," he intoned, sweeping from behind his desk and striding out of his door, leaving us in his wake.
He took us out of the castle, leading us down the paths of the grounds towards the familiar, threatening form of the Whomping Willow. A sharp wind whipped across the mountains, making our cloaks billow around us and making me shiver from the cold.
The Whomping Willow bunched up its branches like fists as we got closer, as though daring us to pick a fight. Not even slowing in stride, Snape whipped out his wand and waved it at the tree. Immediately the branches and leaves froze like stone. Snape's step quickened, and Malfoy and I had to jog to keep up. We strode right to the base of the tree. Now that I was this close I could see a hollow in the roots where you could slip through. Snape stepped confidently down into it and disappeared. I quickly followed – who knows how long the freezing spell would last? – Malfoy right behind.
As soon as Malfoy passed the roots the tree started moving again, swishing its branches, trying to catch us. Snape stood further away from us as a black figure in the dark, his robes nothing but formed shadow, his face and hand lit by his raised wand.
He turned and led us down a tunnel, the walls flat and creviced, as if river had formed them. For a long while we walked in the dark. Then the stone and moss beneath our shoes became wood. And we found ourselves at a simple wooden door with a tarnished silver handle and lock.
Snape pointed his wand at the doorknob and the door clicked open, swinging outward on its hinges with a low creak, like a tired, old voice that had been silent for years.
On the other side of the door lay a dank and dreary room covered in inches of dust, devoid of any pictures on the walls. Thousands of scratches had bored themselves into the grey wood. Bars guarded the windows, and a rickety staircase faced opposite us, leading up into the ceiling. The floor was strewn with bits and pieces of wood, stuffing, and scraps of the floral print you find on old chairs.
Malfoy and I silently entered the room, looking fearfully around, our shoes clacking on the creaky wooden floorboards and dust wafting up around our ankles.
"This is where you will be for Full-Moon nights," Snape murmured behind us. We both turned to him. He stood by the door, his glowing wand still raised, his black eyes boring into us. "Remove any clothing that you do not wish to be ruined by your transformations. One of you may use the other floor for privacy." He fixed a glare at me.
"Your minds will be your own tonight, thanks to the Wolfsbane potion, and as such any rule breaking will still be counted against you. Do not let me catch you stepping one…paw outside this door, or you will dearly regret the consequences."
With that Snape left down the tunnel, and with a wave of his wand the door swung closed behind him.
Silence.
I shifted my weight on the wood and the floorboard I was standing on creaked.
I glanced at Malfoy and shrugged a little.
"Well, here we are."
Malfoy didn't look at me. He gritted his teeth and said nothing.
We waited.
Malfoy disappeared up to the second floor.
I took off all of my clothes and laid them in a pile in the corner.
And waited.
There was no way to tell time – the windows were all boarded up beyond the bars.
Then-
A shiver of power flashed through my nerves. All of my muscles stiffened.
Fire enveloped my right wrist, and the bones in my hand crunched.
My heart pounded.
The second moon was here.
VVVVVVVV
Thanks so much for your awesome reviews! Please, write more! Now that I've got the stupid site crash and spring break out of my way, I'll be much more regular with updating.
