Chapter 02

Harry quickly learned that the very last night of the cycle was always the worst. The young werewolf could feel his body at the brink of collapse after days of his magic fighting against itself, every bone, every muscle, every nerve on his body hurt and his hypersensitive senses made him feel like his head would explode, as the sounds and smells around him overwhelmed his still human mind.

But, the worst by far was the thirst. Harry's mouth and throat were so dry that he could feel the cracks on his lips and the burning on his nose. He was sure he couldn't talk if he tried. Even opening his mouth in order to breathe was painfully hard.

Harry was lying in the dark, on one of the corners inside the little deformed shack built at the Dursley's backyard, trembling in pain as his body tried to come back to normal. The first rays of sunlight coming through the cracks in the door and on the walls were not enough to illuminate the space he was in. The young wizard listened, unable to move just yet. First , the heavy footsteps over the drying grass, and then the heavy locker being unlocked from the outside. The door then opened with the same crackling sound from before inundating the place with light, hurting Harry's sensitive eyes, making him turn his head with a grunt. Harry took a deep breath and smelled it, a smell he had always known all too well, even before his enhanced senses took place. The same cologne, mixed with fat and sweat. The scent of excitement coming from the enormous man in front of him. It was nauseating, Harry felt even weaker, and tried to reach for the collar around his neck.

"Well, well, look at you…" Vernon Dursley said, Harry could almost feel his smile and the venom coming through his words. "I didn't think you could become an even bigger aberration than you already were… but, look at you!" The round man's breath sped up, as Harry listened to him pressing something on his hand, the smell of leather and metal hitting the young werewolf's senses. "You know, the other freaks, your friends, paid good money to get my permission to build this monstrosity here, in my house…" Vernon was rolling his belt on his hand now, breathing even faster. "But no one warned me about the noises… no sir… I couldn't get a minute of sleep tonight, with all your crying and howling." Now the big man was panting. Harry realized that he could smell the man's arousal, the kind of excitement weak men have when they get any kind of small power over others. "And poor Petunia, so scared… how could you, boy… that woman gave you everything… I think you deserve the buckle of the belt today, to learn a little gratitude, don't you agree?" Harry couldn't believe it, it had been years since he had been beaten. The young werewolf found some strength to look up with a defiant gaze, only to see a smile on his uncle's face disappear and his expression turn into a mixture of fear and resentment, before the belt came flying into his direction.

.oOo.

Fleur had just finished packing all the things she would need for the school year in two large turquoise trunks, the same one she had been using ever since her first year at Beauxbatons, feeling a little nostalgic, it was her last year at the school after all. One of the trunks contained her books, quills, parchments and other practical materials, like the potions kit and her broom. In the second, her robes, both for day to day classes and, more formal ones, for special occasions, an assortment of casual mundane non magical clothes (she always loved non magical fashion, specifically concerning lingerie and other undergarments. She found the "magical" ones a little outdated.) and for this year in particular, a bigger number of cold weather garments, as England, and especially Scotland, was famous for its winters. Completing the space, she was also taking some things she was sure Gabrielle would forget to take with her, as always, so they would not need to bother their mother with things like an extra jacket or a pair of warm socks.

Fleur closed and locked her trunk with a soft smile. The girl's mind once again wondered to the wolf, as it had been happening every time she was distracted, the dream kept coming every night now. Maybe it has some hidden meaning, it was something the older veelas on the conclave said could happen, but Fleur was never one to believe in such things. She was lost in thought, looking at nowhere in particular when a gentle knock came from the door. Fleur turned around and watched as Apolline came in, looking beautiful dressed with a perfectly fit white blouse and high quality knee high pencil skirt. Like her daughter, the older veela had a predilection for non magical clothing, and she had recently cut off her hair in a cute Chanel style as she helped her husband during the campaign.

"Everything packed, my little dove?" Apolline asked with a hint of sorrow, it was always hard for her to be apart from her daughters.

"Yes maman." Answered Fleur, smiling at the nickname her mother had for her. The girl could notice her mother had something else to say though.

"Say Fleur…" Her mother continued, looking around the room about to be empty for many months. "I always try to stay out of your business, but let me ask, anyone in particular you are looking forward to seeing again this year?"

Taking by surprise, this was really not something her mother would ask. Fleur blushed for just a second, but answered with certainty.

"Only Regine maman, and as a good friend." Fleur said as Apolline sat beside her on the bed "You know I tried, but it was no good. The boys can't see past the damn allure, and most girls can't overcome their jealousy." The young witch shrugged. "Also, the preconceived ideas some people have about us are simply… disgusting. So no, I had fun for a while, but not so much anymore. But why ask me now?" To Fleur's surprise, Apoline just smiled.

"I know how hard it can be. It took me a long time to find your father" Apolline said, with a nostalgic smile.

"Ah, now we are getting to the point." Fleur thought to herself.

"I assume you already talked at length to your father." Apolline continued and Fleur nodded. The witch watched as her mother took a deep breath. "Then, here goes…" The older witch extended her hand, showing her daughter a magic photograph. "It is not without pain I give you this, it is something we try to move forward, but it is for the best now." Fleur didn't understand, but grabbed the picture f on her hand and looked at it.

In the picture, smiling and waving at the camera, Fleur could see her mother and father, and she was taken back but how much you her he looked. to their left, the young veela could see the man she had met earlier this month, Remus Lupin, and, to their right, there was another young smiling couple. Fleur thought the green eyes of the beautiful red haired woman looked familiar, and more to the right, besides the handsome man with glasses, the man she now knows as Sirius Black had a wide grin. But what really caught her was the kids. On the ground, side by side, smiling like she didn't even know she could, Fleur could recognize herself, and with her, a little boy, no much more than a year old, she imagined, with green eyes and messing hair. The veela looked into them, almost like she was hypnotized for a couple seconds.

"Why?" Fleur finally asked.

"My dear… let me tell you about when your father and I were young…" Apolline pulled her close.

.oOo.

"Here, the books you asked me." Daphne Greengrass said, giving Hermione Granger a stack of three very big books. The pureblood girl raised a very well done eyebrow, that just like her midnight hair, contrasted perfectly with her ivory skin and cold blue eyes. "I still don't understand what you want with it, as I remember you saying that the magical world and its laws are too backwards".

"Actually, they are for Harry," Hermione said, putting the books aside in her luggage cart. "He told me about this plan of his at the end of the last term…" Daphne was surprised by the revelation.

As strange as it looks to the outsiders, both girls had become friends over the previous year, after the broom incident that had divided the Gryffindor golden trio, they had learned during studying sessions that they had much more in common than being intelligent and doing the same classes, some of their ideas and morals very close. And, as much as it hurt, after this summer, said golden trio could be no more… Daphne looked worried at her, but Hermione just dismissed it with a wave.

The bright young witch looked around nervously, searching for Harry in the crowd of students and parents that flooded the station. The girl hadn't seen her best friend for almost three months now, as the headmaster chosen to keep him isolated until they figure out what to do about his new condition, much to Hermione's dismay Harry wasn't even aloud to visit the Burrow where she had hopes to meet him l. three lunar cycles, she mused, biting her bottom lip, the girl didn't didn't even know what to expect.

Hermione saw Hedwig first, napping inside her cage. Then she could see the mass of messy black hair and couldn't contain herself. The young witch ran in Harry's direction and dove into his arms, not carrying for anyone around them who could find such demonstration rude, tears rolling down her face, a warm feeling rushing over her as her arms squeezed her best friend. Hermione felt Harry's body becoming stiff in surprise and he tried to suppress a hiss, like something hurt on his back when she embraced him, but after a second, the bot hugged back and didn't let it go.

"Oh Harry!" Hermione started, sobbing into his chest "I am so sorry, I tried to call several times, but your aunt would not pass you the bloody phone! It's not right to leave you like that!" The girl finally left his arms, a little blushed, and looked carefully at her best friend.

"Language, Hermione!" Harry joked as she took him in. The boy was a mess. Harry looked thinner than his usual, with big black bags under his eyes, and he was pale, too pale, Hermione thought… but his smile was the most sincere and warm thing the girl had seen in months. "How can you be a fucked up like that and still be this beautiful?" The young witch caught herself thinking and blushed even harder, but couldn't take her eyes off him.

"Please, don't look at me like that Mione." Harry said looking away from her eyes, Hermione bit her lower lip again, and could notice shivers going through the boy's body. "You know I had some bad nights, not much sleep… I will make up for it on the train, don't worry. Have you seen Ron?" Hermione frowned at the name, and Harry took the clue. "Never mind, let's find a cabin on the train". He finished with a raised eyebrow.

Both teens entered the express and moved quickly to their favorite cabin on the back. The Weasleys were late and Hermione for once was thankful for that. Harry helped her with the luggage, and Neville joined them a couple minutes later. They started with some small talk about the summer and what to expect from the new school year. It didn't take long for Hermione to feel Harry's head leaning against her shoulder and realizing the boy was sleeping deeply with a heavy breathing. A warm fuzz ran through her body, and before the girl realized, her hand moved and was running through Harry's messy hair, cuddling him. That was the moment Ron opened the cabin's door. The red haired boy looked at the scene with wide eyes, his face becoming almost the same color of his hair, and then he turned around and stormed away. Ginny entered the cabin with a confused expression and looked at Harry .

"He doesn't look too well…" Ginny said in a low voice.

.oOo.

Harry woke up, or rather was awakened by Hermione one hour before the arrival.

"Believe it or not, I am actually feeling much better," The werewolf said to the other occupants of the cabin, while putting on his robes, and some color had actually come back to his face. "Where 's Ron?" Ginny and Neville shrugged, and Harry noticed that Hermione actually scoffed at the question.

The group exited the train and got to the carriages, the sun already low at the horizon as the students flocked through the station. Harry could finally see Ron some feet away, with Seamus and Dean, but red haired haven't see him . He was about to ask Hermione if something had happened when they heard a loud voice to their right.

"Arry my lad!" They could see Hagrid approaching them, towering over everyone else in the platform with a smile as big as himself. "So good to see ya!" The giant of a person gave Harry a big hug, sending the boy into a world of pain for a couple seconds, but only Hermione seemed to notice his discomfort. Hagrid finally released the teen and continued with his friendly tone. "I am getting carried away, I'm here to pass ya a message from the headmaster. He wants you to meet him at his office to discuss your new… eeeer… condition?" Neville and Ginny looked worried at Harry, and the boy nodded his head to the groundskeeper as if saying "later".

"Also." Hagrid carried on, sounding almost like a child, clapping his huge hands together. "We will have a biiiiiig surprise for y'all this year!" He said with a wink, before moving to collect the first years.

As they entered the carriage, Neville asked:

"What do you guys think Hagrid was talking about, I mean, the surprise thing?" Harry noticed how the boy had grown a lot over the summer, but still a little rounder of the edges.

"I don't know." Harry said with a shrug. "I just hope it is not something that tries to kill mehain!" The werewolf said with a grim.

"Prat" Hermione said, slapping him on the shoulder. Harry knew it was her way to show she was worried.

The great Hall was all laughs and greetings, friends meeting each other after months, and stories about the summer. Hogwarts was a prison alright, but at least a good one, Harry thought as he looked at the ceiling, where the stars danced and illuminated the entire hall with colorful lights. Harry complimented his colleagues both from Gryffindor and from other houses with the same enthusiasm, after a long and solitary summer, he had decided this year he would try to make some changes on his behavior, if his new condition allowed. To hell with house rivalries, the boy remembered the Heir of Slytherin fiasco all too well and how it opened his eyes. It was an uphill battle, but one he was willing to take.

Harry sat down at his usual place at Gryphindor's table, Hermione quickly sat at his right side, and the sensation of their legs touching felt really good, as it was becoming the norm every time the girl touched him. The bushy haired witch smiled at Harry, but Ron decided to sit at the other side of the table, with Seamus and Dean, leaving his left side empty. Harry sighed, another uphill battle ahead, something had happened between his two friends during the summer.

Angelina and Katie were passing behind him at that point, giggling and talking very animated when Katie suddenly stopped and took a deep breath. Angelina looked confused, while a big grin appeared on her friend's face.

"Hello Harry…" Katie said, touching the boy's shoulder, before sitting at the empty space on his left, very close to him, to his big surprise. Sure They had been friends and played quidditch together, but this was something new. As Angelina sat on the other side of the table, just in front of them, looking somewhat amused by the shy boy she saw almost like a little brother, Katie took what to Harry seemed like a really deep breath in his direction and continued. "I am betting you had a really, really interesting summer."

"What do you mean Katie?" Harry asked, a little confused, but not so secretly enjoying the attention. The brunette was beautiful, her black straight hair cut short, framing the nice bone structure of her face and her lips were very red, although she was not using any make up. and there was something in her eyes that Harry couldn't identify, but he liked nonetheless.

"I don't know Harry, you… look different…" Katie said, looking closely at Harry, and then at a confused Angelina and a somewhat bothered Hermione. "So, this year's championship…" Katie changed the subject and let the conversation flow but Harry could notice how much attention she was giving to him, and especially, that the chaser stayed very close to himself.

After the sorting, Harry took a good look at the professor's table. Up on his feet, in a corner close to the table he saw the weird old man, full of scars, holding a strange looking walking stick, like an old worn out soldier. But what really caught his attention was the magic eye rolling on his socket. The eye stopped at Harry, looking directly at him, and the man took a sip from a small bottle, without breaking eye contact.

.oOo.

Hermione couldn't hear the headmaster as he started talking, she was trying to make sense of what was happening right in front of her. The girl knew Katie always had a crush on Harry, she overheard the older girl talking to Angelina and Alice once or twice about it, but the same was true to many other girls in the school. Hermione knew the reason, but what made the chaser suddenly act like that, with so much courage was the mystery, and although she would not admit to herself, Hermione was a little envious of the other girl. Katie was practically leaning on Harry's shoulder now, and Hermione was pretty sure, by the way the boy was tense, that the girl's hand was on his knee or thigh. But it was over when Harry and Katie, as well as Angelina and many others in the great Hall said almost in unison "WHAT!" bringing Hermione back to reality.

"Yes…" The headmaster continued. "Unfortunately, there will be no quidditch championship this year, as Hogwarts has been chosen to host the Triwizard tourney!" Some people cheered, others just looked confused as the old wizard moved on to explain about the tournament. As most of the things wizards did, most of it sounded unnecessary, convoluted and dangerous to Hermione, but the prospect of getting to know students from other magical schools around Europe was fascinating to her, as she pretty much stayed out of the magical world whenever she travelled with her mother or father.

After the initial shock about the quidditch tournament, Katie turned back to talk really close to Harry, and Hermione thought he was very cute, all clumsy and blushing while Katie clearly hit on him. No! Hermione was the only one that knew what happened to Harry and that he needed help. Library first thing tomorrow!

.oOo.

Fleur seated at her studying desk after organizing her things in her dorm room in Beauxbatons. It was a cozy double bedroom, with mirror sides, each one with a big window that let the sunlight enter during the day and each side consisting of a four post bed with a trunk at its foot, a big closet and a writing desk, all the furniture was done with very light hues of beige and blue. Fleur had the side with the window and her best friend, Regine Jones, had the door's side. On the opposite side there was also a small door that leads to the common upper year girls' bathroom.

"I didn't know your family was friends with "The Boy Who Lived"" Regine said after getting up from her bed and looking over Fleur's shoulder.

"Do you know them?" Fleur asked.

"Here." Regine pointed at the photography the veala was holding. "Those are your mom and dad right? Those two here are James and Lily Potter, their faces are very famous in England, and I assume those beautiful kids are you and Harry Potter!" Fleur nodded and looked at the picture once again, she couldn't remember that day. Regine had family in England and spent some time with them almost every year, so the blonde veela decided to inquire with her friend.

"Do you know what he's like?" Fleur asked.

"That depends if you believe the English media or not…" The dark skinned witch said after a while, studying Fleur's face with curiosity. "Some say he is a mentally unstable boy, with delusions of grandeur and attention seeking issues…" Regine could see by the looks on her friend's face that this was hitting close to home for her, which made the veela suspicious. "My cousin plays quidditch with him at school…" She continued. "Angelina always talks about him with some kind of awe, she said that almost nothing the tabloids had written about him is true, that he is a passionate and courageous person, an incredible seeker, and if half of the things she thinks happened really happened to him then he is more incredible than people can even imagine. She says he even killed a basilisk when he was twelve or thirteen "

That is a little hard to imagine, no?" Fleur said with a smile.

"True, but Angelina says this boy had gone through hell and back, and for things he didn't even choose, I mean, if you believe my cousin and her friends" Regine finished, laying back down in her bed. "It is incredible that your father didn't use this in his campaign, people would kill for this kind of connection with the Potters."

"Friendship and respect were always more important to him." Fleur said, a little annoyed with the idea of her father using his connection with a tragedy to win votes.

"I know, that is the reason he will win." Regine finished.

Fleur thought deeply for a while, looking at the picture, there was something there, she wanted that smile she had in the picture back… then she got a piece of parchment, a quill and started writing.

.oOo.

Albus Dumbledore watched the boy entering his office with attention, looking for any external signs of the curse running through his body and magic.

"Good night, dear Harry, would you like a lemon drop?" The headmaster said, gesturing at the bowl full of candy in front of him with his long fingers.

"No, thank you headmaster." The boy answered with a tired tone, just like Albus expected.

"Please, take a seat Harry". The headmaster looked at him over his glasses, with a grandfatherly expression on his face. "First of all, let me apologize for the somewhat clumsy solution we had arranged for your this summer, we had to do it in such a short notice, but rest assured is only a temporary measure for you own safety, also, I understand that you got upset about losing the quidditch world cup, but being the smart boy you are, I believe you understand the reasons." Dumbledore said in a rather patronizing tone that he could see have annoyed Harry.

"I do understand, professor…" Was all the boy could answer.

"Good, Harry. Now, Remus has studied at Hogwarts for seven years, and we never had any dangerous incident related to his condition, and I wish to keep this clean record. All the relevant professors had already been informed of your… new requirements…" Dumbledore said, and Harry sighed. "I am also glad to inform you that here at the school, you will at least be allowed to run free during the cycle, all the school wards have been updated, you will not be able to enter any building during those nights, of course, so that the other students are kept safe. Also Hagrid will be the one responsible for monitoring you during and after your… changes… and Severus will provide you with wolfsbane every first night." Harry was astonished with that much information. "Well, any doubt we can discuss later, people are perfectly capable of living and doing great things with this curse Harry and you will be able too."

Harry directed himself to the door, but turned his head back at Dumbledore before opening it.

"Professor, what about Sirius…"

"It is being taken care of, my boy."

Harry nodded, and finally exited the office. The headmaster leaned on his big, comfortable chair. The boy looked tired and defeated, he may have even lost some weight during the summer, in other words, he looked exactly as Dumbledore expected.