Thank you to wonderful Beta of this chapter, SongOfStars

Chapter Four- The Reveal

Severus wasn't completely sure what his plan was for when he got down to the classroom. The thought of strangling Remus popped in his mind a couple of times, he knew plenty of curses for an excruciating death, one that came to mind was Lingchi, or what muggles have come to call it Death of a Thousand Cuts, a spell that was invented in the year 900 B.C.. A spell that would allow him to keep Remus alive as he skinned him alive, he would be able to keep the man alive until he was nothing more than a beating heart, a fitting punishment in Severus' opinion.

He marched down the corridor. The torches had put themselves out hours ago as the pink morning sky shined through the windows, lighting the way with a pink hue. Severus turned the corner and stopped, staring at the door that held horrors inside. With a small flick of his wand the DADA door flung open. Severus approached slowly, staying close to the wall. There was no noise from the room, no growling or any sign of the wolf, just a chilling silence.

The room was destroyed. Curtains were torn to rags, slicing the morning light into shards that cut across the floor, reflecting off the shards of glass that scattered the floor from the smashed cabinet that held assortments of taxidermy creatures. The stone floor was littered with splinters, jagged stakes of wood from tables and chairs. The tanks and cages that usually decorated the DADA office were twisted and mangled to nothing more than scraps and the giant dragon skeleton that hung from the ceiling laid smashed on the floor. But that wasn't what shocked Severus.

What shocked him the most was the smell. The air was thick with it, the rancid smell of flesh and iron from the blood that painted the walls and floor. The stones were soaked with it, Severus hands flew to his mouth, trying to block it out, but it did nothing. He couldn't look away from the blood that was pooled and smeared across the stones. Too much blood, too much from one person and the thought that all of that blood belonged to Harry made it worse.

Harry's glasses laid in a pool of the child's blood, smashed beyond repair and the eleven inch holly wand laid three feet away, just out of the boy's reach.

Closing the door, Severus made his way further into the classroom, picking the child's wand up and placing it in the inside pocket of his robe. His eyes caught the prone human figure laying on shreds of torn apart desks and chairs. Remus' jaw was smeared with Harry's blood, his hands and body caked with it. There were gashes across his back from when Severus threw him across the classroom and into the stone wall. His face was the worse, where his left eye was supposed to be was a gaping hole, crusted with dark, bloody scabs. It stood out starkly against his pale skin. The man looked awful and Severus had zero sympathy for him.

Severus made his way over to the man, kicking over one of the remaining desks, causing it to smash the moment it hit the ground and not caring when it caused Remus to jolt awake.

"It's morning," Severus snarled before throwing a pair of sweatpants at the man that he brought from his chambers. It took everything he had not to curse the man right there and then. Remus had no clue how badly Severus wanted him to suffer. What Remus did would change Harry's life forever, forever Harry would have a monster inside of him, constantly wanting to get out.

Remus stirred, rolling over and trying to hoist himself onto his knees, only for Severus to dig his wand into his shoulder, stopping him from rising

"You're not going anywhere!" Severus spat as he pushed the man down onto the splinters of wood.

Remus turned to look at Severus and Severus recoiled at the sight of the man.

Remus struggled to sit up, using the sweatpants to cover himself as he used his good eye, sweeping through the carnage that was his office.

"Wh-what happened...?" Remus whispered, his eye locking on the pool of blood that was slowly soaking into the floor, leaving a memory of what happened. "Who's blood is that?" Remus asked in horror.

"You attacked a student. You are lucky that they are alive...for the moment!" Severus yelled, pushing the wand deeper into the man's shoulder, watching the shocked expression that washed over Remus features. "You should be thanking me that I found you with your jaw wrapped around the child's neck! If I wasn't around last night, you would have killed them. Poppy and I spent all of last night trying to save the child's life!" Severus snarled as he took a small vial of potion out of his pocket and threw it down in front of Remus. "For your eye, it can't be saved but it will help keep infections out while it heals. Three drops every hour until the bottle is empty" Severus explained. "It's the last thing I will ever do for you!"

"A-a Stu-student…" Remus's eye were still glued to the thick pool of blood coating the floor "Who-who was-"

"It doesn't matter," Severus said sternly. "You won't be seeing them again," and with that said, Severus conjured a pair of thick cuffs that wrapped themselves around Remus, with the man not even attempting to struggle.

"You've done enough damage. I told Albus not to allow you in this school. For the safety of the students, it's best you're kept restrained until the Ministry arrives," Severus explained.

Remus sat frozen, he didn't move or protest, just sat staring at the blood. If Severus was right, if he did attack a student then he deserved whatever was about to happen to him. Remus couldn't even understand how he could have done this. He always made sure to keep a close eye on the moon circles but if what Severus said was true, that the wolf had its jaws around a child's neck...Remus couldn't bear to think of what that child was going through right now.

Severus backed slowly from the room, not taking his eyes off the werewolf as he left. He shut the door, locking it and adding a few extra protections. Anything he could think of to keep the monster safely locked away, then he set off towards the Headmaster's office.

…

Severus stormed into the Headmaster's office, not even bothering to knock first or conforming to any of the niceties. "Tell me you already informed the Aurors that there has been a werewolf attack and that the wolf is waiting to be sent to Azkaban?" Severus yelled before Dumbledore even had a chance to greet the man that barged into his office. "You know the rules, Albus. Werewolf attacks must be reported. The man needs to be punished for what he did!" Severus said, he didn't want to listen to the man, he didn't want to hear any words of wisdom that the man felt he needed to disposed upon him. All he wanted to hear was that Aurors were coming and by the end of the day, Remus will be locked up in Azkaban for the rest of his life.

"Severus-"

"NO!" Severus screamed, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest, his hands shaking, voice quivering with rage.

"I bowed when you allowed that beast back into this school. I warned you it was a danger. That he was a danger. That Werewolf tried to kill me when I was a student. Now it has almost killed another. I spent the last eight hours stitching Potter back together. He cannot be allowed to stay, Albus. I will not allow it!"

Dumbledore took a breath. "Where is Harry?"

"In my chambers, safe, alive, though barely." Severus paced across the carpet, feeling Dumbledore's eyes watching every move he made. "Poppy is watching over him at the moment."

"Where is Professor Lupin?"

"Locked in his office," Severus replied furiously. "I didn't think it rises to keep him free."

Dumbledore nodded quietly, running his fingers through his beard before he spoke.

"Severus, you know the attack on you as a boy was not Remus's felt. He had no idea what James and his friends had planned that night. You must learn to let go of the past, my dear boy," Dumbledore spoke calmly. "But as of last night, I am afraid that something more is going on than meets the eye. Last night was not a full moon," Dumbledore revealed. "Remus should have never turned last night"

"Not a- wait, what?" Severus froze. Dumbledore was right, it hadn't been a full moon. The first quarter had only just passed, it was a new moon, an empty sky. Severus was supposed to start the Wolfbane potion the following evening. He had been on the way to pick the moonspoor flowers under the new moon, as he had been doing every month.

He hadn't even thought about that, the adrenaline and fear from the attack, trying to save Harry's life had completely distracted him from the time of the month.

"I didn't call the Aurors because…" Albus paused, if the Ministry ever found out that a werewolf changed when it wasn't a full moon, the wizarding world would have an uproar on its hands. Remus would be placed in a cage and experimented on, other werewolves would be captured, freedom would be revoked. This incident could set back the wizarding world back hundreds of years, back to when werewolves were hunted for sport, back to when they weren't even seen as human, no matter what time of the month it was.

"I would like you to send Poppy down so she can heal Remus' wounds. We will keep him confined until we know what happened and if it will happen again, but Remus will not be going to Azkaban," Dumbledore explained. "And don't tell him that it was Harry that he attacked. Remus doesn't need to know that, at least for the time being."

Severus blinked at him, his head spinning with a whirlwind of information.

A wolf turned on a new moon.

Harry Potter, lying cursed and dying in his chambers.

Poppy sent to heal and care for a monster that hurt Lily's child.

Severus gripped the Headmaster's desk. "Albus, he almost killed-"

"I'm aware, Severus. But there is more than just the moon at play here," Albus said, standing up and looking at Severus with that infernal twinkle in his eye. "Get Poppy to see to Remus. We shall discuss this more at length after I have visited Harry,'' Albus spoke, walking around the desk and out the door, leaving Severus grasping the edge of the desk. He looked at the fireplace burning in the corner.

He could call the Ministry himself? Do the right thing? Lock up the monster that had mauled a student, a monster that had mauled Harry.

Severus' eyes flickered to the door where Albus had just left, he took one last longing glance at the fireplace before following Albus out into the corridor.