(A/N: Way too long between updates.)

His Harry Little Problem
Chapter Four: The First Transformation

A week later, Harry woke to a pounding headache and a feeling of tiredness that he couldn't remember ever having. Coming down the stairs was a challenge for him, each step feeling heavier than he had ever remembered them being.

"Well, well. He finally wakes." Sirius greeted him, his voice lowered, knowing how Remus had reacted to the loudness of the Great Hall after his nights out, "How are you feeling?"

"Like I could sleep for a week." Harry answered, his head still pounding as he sat down, "Got anything good to eat?"

Sirius nodded to a plate with some rare meat on it. The intoxicating smell filled his nostrils, as he dug into the meal. Lupin joined them shortly after, looking worse than Harry.

"Remus," Sirius began, "We need to discuss what will be done for Harry once he returns to Hogwarts." Lupin sighed, rubbing his temples, "Can we wait until I have something to help me wake up and start moving past this headache?" Sirius grinned, passing him a cup of coffee, visibly adding a couple tablespoons of Pepper-up Potion.

After a minute to allow Lupin to recover from the headache, and really wake up, before he began the discussion again, "I've talked with Dumbledore a little bit and we should all sit down to discuss this." Remus nodded, his eyes unfogging.

"Watch your ears." Sirius said, moving to the nearby fireplace. Taking a handful of Flu Powder, he tossed it into the fireplace, calling, "Hogwarts, Headmaster's office." Dumbledore's bearded, aged face appeared among the flames, "Good morning, Sirius. I take it that Remus and Harry are now available to discuss how we will work around Harry's problem when he returns to school." Sirius nodded, and stepped aside as Dumbledore stepped through, a pair of his silvery-grey robes done up, as if he had been awake for hours already.

"Good morning to you all." Dumbledore greeted them, smiling, while Harry was struck by an urge to ask Dumbledore what exactly was so good about that morning, "Now, unfortunately, we must bring this immediately to business, as there are changes coming to Hogwarts, and our world, that we must prepare ourselves for."

"Now, I'm sure Remus can remember the way that we were able to keep him safe while he was attending Hogwarts." Remus nodded, while Dumbledore's face fell, "Unfortunately, this will be impossible in the coming year. Cornelius has become suspicious that I am amassing an army to oppose him and overthrow the Ministry. As such, he is preparing a mandate that a member of his staff would be attending Hogwarts, to 'act as a figure of proper authority'."

"Who will he be sending to the school?" Lupin asked, taking a sip of his tea.

"Senior Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge."

The effect was immediate. Lupin began to choke and cough, while Sirius jumped to his feet, "HE'S SENDING HER?!"

Harry clapped his hands over his ears, Sirius's yell exacerbating his headache."I spoke to him about sending someone else, but he was even more adamant after that. She will be taking over the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts." Dumbledore replied, his voice resigned.

"Why is she so bad?" Harry asked, surprised that even Lupin had reacted so negatively to the mention of this person's name.

"Dolores Umbridge," Dumbledore began, "is one of many individuals who-"

"She's a racist, and a bigot of the highest order." Sirius interrupted, his face livid, while a hand rested on Lupin's back, who had finished his coughing fit, "She has been working to destroy the rights of all those she considers to be lesser than herself. That includes veela, centaurs, and... werewolves."

Harry nodded, remembering news from the past couple years about new laws about werewolves and their rights. "So, what can we do instead?"

"We can probably not stop the mandate. Fortunately, we may have an answer to keep her from finding out that you are a werewolf. Though I will leave the explanation to your house-elf, Harry."

"Dobby." Harry called, still confused. A loud crack sounded and Dobby appeared. "Mister Harry Potter is calling Dobby, sir?"

"Yes, Dobby. Dumbledore said that there is a place that I can be a werewolf without endangering anyone else."

"There is the Forbidden Forest, sir."

"And if that is unavailable?"

Dobby paused momentarily, "There is always the Come and Go Room, sir."

"What is the Come and Go Room, Dobby?"

"Oh, it is a most wonderful room, sir. You must only walk in front of door three times, imagining what it is that you need, and the Room provides it for you." After Dobby's quick explanation, Dumbledore looked intrigued, "Could you perhaps show us this room?"

"Yes, sir." Dobby said, his voice rising in excitement at being useful. "I can take you all there now." One by one, Dobby brought each of them to the seventh floor corridor. Watching Dobby walking back and forth along the wall, Harry was confused, until a door appeared on the wall. Opening the door, Dobby invited them inside, showing a full forest, with the sounds of animals echoing around them. "This...This..." Lupin tried to say, as Sirius recovered, "This would have made our days so much simpler." He said, running his hand along one of the trees as if not believing it to be real.

Harry stood in the Room of Requirement, amazed by how the room copied the Forbidden Forest. There were the sounds of birds in the trees, the rustling of undergrowth. Tonight was the night. The night of his first transformation. He could almost feel the magic around him. It had to be soon, he thought, his skin seeming to crawl in anticipation. Then, his whole world erupted into pain.

Everywhere, there was pain. He could barely hear himself yelling over it. His legs grew and snapped, creating a second joint between his knees and his hind paws, his face lengthened into a snout, as his teeth grew in length. He felt new muscles grow, splitting his shirt and pants, his mind fading away…

The werewolf stood in the forest alone, making sense of it's new body. New, it was all new. New sights, new sounds, new smells. It could hear the creatures, but it couldn't smell them, couldn't trace their magic. There was too much ambient magic around him. It kept messing with his senses. Annoyed, he raced into the forest, trying to find the source of the magic, and destroy it…

Harry woke suddenly, naked and alone. Last night had been a complete blank for him. He couldn't remember anything that had happened. He could only remember pain… and then this forest. What had happened? Harry stumbled to his feet, using the tree for support. Finally waking up a little, he looked at the tree, seeing the deep grooves in the trunk.

"Amazing, isn't it?"

Harry whipped around, covering himself, as Lupin came out of the shadows, "Waking up after a transformation is honestly the worst part of it all." Harry couldn't agree more, trying to get the room to stop spinning.

Lupin conjured some clothes for Harry, who pulled them on as quickly as he could around the headache, "You didn't tell me that it would give me a killer headache."

"Some things you have to experience for yourself." Lupin smiled, "But, we should get back to Grimmauld Place. I know Sirius wanted to talk to both of us. Harry nodded, and followed Lupin out of the Room of Requirement, only to run into Dumbledore. "Ah, Harry. I take it that you don't remember last night?" He asked.

"No, sir. It was all just pain, and then, I woke up. But, I think, I think I remember something…" Harry said, his mind indeed remembering fragments of the night, "It was angry… Just so angry… There was too much, magic." He continued, trying to express the feelings, "It wanted to hunt, but it couldn't. All the magic just forced it into a rampage. I don't think we should do that again, not unless we are forced to."

Dumbledore nodded gravely, "I can concede to that. But, there are things we need to discuss. Things that should have been discussed long ago."

(A/N: Well, here's chapter 4. Give me a review about this chapter. Thanks to daisygirl529, who is my new beta.)