Chapter Fourteen: Dumbledore's Intervention

"What is wrong with Severus?" Hermione asked tentatively, gauging the matron's reaction.

"He has digressed. I don't know why, but his condition is worsening rapidly from the last time we check." Hermione rattled through her own brain.

"Remus, the full moon is three days from now, correct?" He nodded his head in consent. "I will need to extract more blood from you when the day comes. Now that we have the potion, I need that ingredient."

"I am all yours. And this time I hope you will take enough for me too."

"Yes, of course." Hermione nearly laughed at the absurdity of such a question, but was feeling to worried to do so. She quickly left the room and rushed back to Hogwarts. She needed to find a different method of locking Remus down so she could extract the blood. She knew that she couldn't just use the Lycanthrocorporatus charm because she wasn't strong enough.

When she stepped through the floo in the Room of Requirement, she saw Albus Dumbledore sitting on the couch, twiddling his thumbs.

"Headmaster!"

"Albus, dear. I hear that you have found the cure."

"It's true, but Severus is in a bad condition and I must brew more potion so I can save him."

"That's going to be an issue then, isn't it?" Hermione scowled impatiently at her former headmaster.

"Yes, well, how many times have you tried to extract blood from a werewolf?"

"I can't say I've tried, but I do have some advice for you, if that is what you are asking?" Hermione looked on him curiously. How the man always had the twinkle in his eyes, she did not know.

"Well?"

"You can't have the blood of Remus altered, correct?" Hermione nodded. "Well then you should look for a potion that will effectively disable him, but won't affect his blood."

"But how is that possible? The potion works because it runs through the blood stream."

"Yes, you're accurate in your assumption." She could see the twinkle shining more presently as he was on the verge of giving information to the girl. "But first it is absorbed through the walls of the stomach, correct?"

"Yes."

"Let's say you could make a potion that was ingested and affected the drinker, but never absorbed through the walls of the stomach."

"Master Noah, of course!" She began babbling on about how Master Noah had created potions that didn't pass through the lining of the stomach but worked effectively, and Dumbledore just smiled on at the intelligence of his student.

"Yes, I will leave you to your thoughts now Hermione. I know you will figure out what to do and Severus will be up and scowling once again," he said as he floo-ed back to his office. Hermione was left digging through pages of her research books, finding the articles Master Noah had written.

When the day came for Remus to get comfortable in his dungeon cell, Hermione was more than confident she was going to be able to extract the blood. She only felt foolish that she hadn't figured this out sooner, because she wouldn't even have to worry about gathering the ingredients quickly for Severus' sake.

She gave Remus the vial of orange fluid and told him to take it as soon as he can to when he was going to transform. She knew it would only last three hours and she needed a fully transformed werewolf and time to collect the blood.

When she saw Remus' werewolf form lying still in the enclosed room, she walked in and took out her syringe. She extracted close to a pint of blood, trying not to weaken Remus any. When she left the room, she went straight to her potions lab, entrusting Filch to watch the room as to assure that Remus did not find his way out, somehow.

She worked until the wee hours of the night, producing close to twelve batches of potion. One was for Remus, one for Rupert Flemmon, whom she promised she would tend to once she figured things out, and one for Severus. She would keep six of the vials for each of the Lupin kids, to ensure that what happened to Charlie would never happen to them. And the last one, she would give to the ministry so they could elect who should receive it, at least for now.

The cure was so important to her in many ways, now that it was finished. She thought of all the lives she would be helping with this cure. She was overwhelmed by how much it was going to change everything. When Remus finally awoke the following morning in his original form, she slipped him his vial of potion and let him take it, trusting that the next moon, he would be normal again.

At eight o'clock in the morning, she floo-ed to St. Mungo's where she knew Severus was. The matron said that he was still getting worse, but when Hermione pulled out the readied potion, she knew everything was going to be okay. It just had to be. When she uncorked the vial and poured the liquid down his throat, she waited and waited for some sort of reaction.

It felt like hours later when she was awakened by her own gasp as seeing Severus' eyes open. She reached her hand forward to caress his cheek and felt him smile underneath his touch.

"Hermione."

AN: It's as if I have sort of become obsessed with slight cliffies... I will try to update asap... smiles.