Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with anything that you've ever seen before. There that oughta do it.

Chapter Three: Bite of a Lifetime

The next week passed slowly, as if each second lasted an eternity. Cameron had never fought with Oliver in her life, and rather than try to avoid him in the Great Hall, she simply avoided the Great Hall. When Sunday had finally passed, Cameron found classes particularly hard to deal with. History of Magic was particularly difficult since she generally spent the period talking with Oliver. Today she sat on the opposite side of the class than she normally did, landing a rather delighted looking Hufflepuff girl next to Oliver. Eventually the week had ended and the exams were drawing near. At this point, Cameron was at a breaking point. After an entire week of no one to talk to, she had had a lot of time to think. As she analyzed the situation more and more, she began to see she was unhappy without Oliver, despite the status of their relationship. At least if she could talk to Oliver, they may be able to work things out before they graduated and left Hogwarts to begin their lives angry with one another.

After a quick trip to the Gryffindor common room, one of the Weasley's informed her Oliver had gone out to the Quidditch pitch. Taking the long way past Hagrid's hut and along the perimeter of the field to formulate her apology, she heard an odd sound. A sort of growling, snarling sound. In the distance, she could see two canine-like figures, battling in the light of the full moon. Cameron stopped, wondering what on earth was going on, when they began to charge at her. Eyes wide with terror, a wolfish figure advanced on her, fangs bared, dripping with saliva and blood. The wolf jumped on Cameron, knocking her to the ground within the forest she had been walking along. A moment of disorientation passed before she felt it, inch long fangs tearing into the flesh of her left leg. Pain seared through her leg and she screamed, hoping that someone would hear her to help her. Suddenly, a large black dog jumped over the last hill and chased after the wolf, steering it deeper into the forest.

Cameron lay still for a moment, all the strength in her body quickly seeping through the wound in her leg along with her blood. She knew, however, that if she simply sat there, she would greaten her chance of dying or that wolf returning. She tried to haul herself from the ditch she had fallen into within the forest, but her arms collapsed beneath her. She couldn't possibly carry herself back to the castle in this condition, but she feared for her life. Then she remembered the reason she had come out onto the grounds in the first place and began to call for her best friend and only hope.

"Oliver!" she called weakly at first, but slowly mustering all the strength that she possessed and yelling. "OLIVER!!!"

Oliver had just finished his fifth solitary Quidditch practice that week, hoping that Cameron would join him out of habit, and was on his was back towards the castle with his broom over his shoulder when he heard a snarling sound. He stopped for a minute to see what it was, but after he determined that it was coming from the Forbidden Forest, he started to walk faster. But as the snarling grew more distant, a new sound met his ears. The voice he had wished he could hear all week. At first he thought it was only in his head, but then he heard it clearly echo over the grassy hills.

"Oliver!!!" It was Cameron. Without thinking, he mounted his broom and kicked off, flying close to the ground towards the voice.

"Oliver," she called again, her voice beginning to fade, until finally she stopped calling.

"CAMERON!!!!!" Oliver yelled, but no response came. He dropped off his broom in the area of the forest where he had last heard her voice. He whipped out his wand and lit it with a simple incantation. He cast the wandlight over the floor, searching for any sign of his best friend. "CAMERON!!!" he called again. Then he saw her body, lying in a puddle of her own blood that was still flowing steadily from her leg. "Cameron!" he said as he lifted her limp body onto his broom and kicked off, flying as fast as he safely could away from the acursed forest. The last thing that Cameron remembered before she fell unconscious was the stale smell of the hospital wing and Oliver's panicked voice saying, "Is she going to live?"

A bright light out of the darkness. Her body felt oddly heavy but she felt better than she had a few days ago, although she still felt fairly weak. She tried to collect her memories and the last thing she could remember was Oliver asking if she, Cameron, would live. There was a tone of fear that Cameron had never heard before and never wanted to hear again. Was she dead now? Where was she? She struggled to open her heavy lidded eyes and slowly everything came into focus. She was laying in a white linen hospital bed, but the room that surrounded it was not the Hogwarts Hospital Wing. As her eyes scanned the strange room, she found a familiar figure. He was perfectly still except for the sharp, impatient tapping of his foot, the sign of a very anxious Oliver. Cameron smiled as she gazed at him, and after a few moments he looked up at her, then looked down. When his eyes finally relayed the message to his brain that she was awake, he jumped up from his chair.

"You're awake!" he said loudly, and was quickly shushed by the Healers in the ward.

"Where am I, Olly?" Cameron asked, her voice cracking slightly.

"We're in St. Mungo's," Oliver said.

"Is it that serious?" Cameron asked. "Madam Pomfrey couldn't mend it?"

"I'm afraid there's no mending it, but she said that they had counselors to help you deal with it here," Oliver said. Cameron looked confused, but Oliver hadn't noticed because one of the healers had just arrived with a goblet of steaming liquid for Cameron. She skillfully forced it down her throat

"You may leave whenever you feel ready. You're more than welcome to visit our counseling center here in the Creature-Induced Injuries Ward," the healer said.

"Counseling for what?" Cameron asked, still very confused.

"Dear, haven't you told her?" the healer asked Oliver. Cameron looked at Oliver, expecting a prompt answer. He didn't say anything.for a moment. "I'll leave you to it then," she said before leaving to care for her other patients. Cameron looked at him expectantly.

"Well?" she prompted.

"You were bit by a werewolf," he said directly. Cameron just stared at him, unbelieving, but not saying a word. Her green eyes met his hazel eyes, but he could not bare to see the terror in her eyes and looked away, feeling uncomfortable under her gaze. "Turns out Lupin's a werewolf. He didn't drink the potion that he usually drinks so he transformed that night. He told Dumbledore about it, but no one else. Everyone else thinks it was just a close call, so you can go on living without people knowing if you like," Oliver continued, but Cameron wasn't listeing. She was a werewolf. How could this be? She couldn't be a werewolf. How could she possibly face her family? How could she face Oliver, her only friend in the world, knowing that he could be in danger? How could he be so blase about the whole ordeal?

"They say that you can live a normal life most of the time if you just drink this potion called the Wolfsbane potion before and during the full moon. Then you're just a wolf and can be safe around people. If we keep it quiet among people outside of our families, you should be able to go into the Ministry like you wanted to. Oh, and–"

"Oliver! Shut up!" Cameron said. Oliver was taken aback. "This is horrible! How can I possibly live a normal life?! I'm not safe! I'll just go live in the forbidden forest I guess. Perhaps Dumbledore will send me food from the kitchens," Cameron said.

"Don't be stupid, Cam. You can live a perfectly normal life with just a few extra precautions. I haven't even told you the best part! Puddlemere United owled me! I'm going to play Quidditch for them!" Cameron normally would have been very excited for him, but given the situation she just glared at him.

"How can you think of Quidditch at a time like this?! I've just been transformed into a monster and you're off signing contracts with Quidditch teams?! I can't believe you!!!"

"Cam, you're not a monster, and they want you too. They owled us yesterday saying they want us to play Quidditch for them. I wasn't sure if you'd want to or not, since you were going to work in the Ministry, so I didn't reply for you, but–"

"Olly!" Cameron said in a warning sort of tone. He just kept rambling when Cameron was trying to decide what to do next.

"Cam, listen. Professor Lupin is a werewolf. He managed to hide that from us all year! You could do the same thing just as easily. All you have to do is drink a potion a few times a month and then you'll be perfectly fine. You won't be a monster, you can go to work, you can even play professional Quidditch! This is only a minor set back. It's no big deal," Oliver said. There was a sincerity in his tone that instantly calmed her. She nodded to show that she finally understood. Oliver hugged his best friend and she pulled him close to him.

"Thank you, Oliver. I don't know what I'd do without you. And I'm sorry."