THE CURE (Chapter 2)
Cornelius Fudge, Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Bromulus Henderly, Rita Skeeter and Harry Potter all sat in comfy chairs in one of the spare offices on the fifth floor of the Ministry of Magic office building. Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, was fidgeting impatiently in his chair. Dumbledore, who was there on behalf of the Order of the Phoenix, gave him a look that told him to either sit still or get fudged. Rita Skeeter kept sending cunning-disguised-as-friendly looks at Harry Potter, who tried to ignore her as much as he could. He had had rather bad run-ins in the past with Rita Skeeter. Unfortunately, Rita was here to write an article for the Daily Prophet, and her fluorescent green Quick-Quotes Quill was suspended in mid air, completely still above the parchment sitting on her lap. Bromulus Henderly, the Governor for Experimental Charms, checked his watch and cleared his throat. "When will the young lady be here, Albus?"
"I expect her here any moment, Bromulus."
Suddenly, Hermione rushed in, her hair flying around her face, clutching a small leather pouch to her chest. She panted, out of breath.
"S-S-so sorry I'm late, I took Muggle t-t-transport, and the tram and it-it broke down."
"Never, mind, Miss Granger." Dumbledore smiled at her. She smiled back, his warm gesture seemed to fill her with confidence.
"I trust you all know what we're here for?" asked Bromulus, whose office we were using.
"Just for the record," piped up Rita Skeeter, "could you please explain?"
"Today we are here to look into the possibility that one Miss Hermione Granger has found the cure to a werewolf bite."
Professor Snape, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly sniggered. If looks could kill, the look Hermione have him would have sent daggers through every inch of his body.
"Are you skeptic, Mr..." asked Rita.
"Snape. Professor Snape, and yes, I'm skeptic. Although Miss Granger was an extremely gifted student in the academic area in her schooling, I highly doubt, when the Ministry's own scientists failed, that she could have found a cure to being a werewolf." Rita's quill, which even before had been writing at a fast pace, seemed to go so fast Harry was surprised it didn't burn holes in the paper. Harry's cheeks glowed with rage at what Snape had just said, Hermione wasn't only good at academics, she was a genius!"
Hermione strode over to Henderly's desk, placing the leather pouch down. "You all know that I think I have found the cure to a werewolf bite, well, today we're going to see if I was right. In my occupation as a hacker..."
Hermione worked independently, as a hacker. When someone invented or improved a spell, she would be called to try to break it, or counter it, or even improve it. Not many people took up this occupation, and she was one of the best.
"In my occupation as a hacker, I have seen some interesting things. Well, one of my clients is a werewolf, who was trying to become an animagus as well, to see which one would be more powerful, but the wolf gene in his blood kept on killing the potion's purpose. So I tried to improve it, but something happened. The symptoms will be shown to you soon. Anyway, I took a blood sample and studied it, and found the cause. As you should know, on DNA ladders, Muggles have 46 chromosomes. Werewolves have 47, the extra being the one which was passed on by the attacking werewolf. I managed to put a 48th chromosome in the ladder, which defeated the wolf gene, leaving it simply and empty space. But after this occurred, something strange and unexplainable happened, which led me to the theory that a werewolf didn't simply have an extra gene in their chromosomal ladder, but a soul inside them. Simple enough, so now I'll show you."
Harry's heart pounded in his ears as he marveled at how well Hermione was speaking, explaining it all, so everyone could understand.
"Mr. Henderly, I believe you have a volunteer for me?" she asked. He nodded, and waved his hand. A mobile phone, the kind that muggles use, appeared in his hand. He spoke into it. "Yeah, you can come in now."
While they waited for the mysterious volunteer, Hermione got to making the potion. From that tiny leather pouch, Harry was amazed to see her pull out a small cauldron, her wand, a glass bottle of a murky liquid, and a small phial of a lavender purple colored powder. She put a spell on the cauldron and it became like glass, so we could see what was happening inside it. First she poured the whole bottle of liquid in, explaining as she went. "This is the potion – correctly produced and stored – that allows a witch or wizard to become an animagus. Now watch what happens."
She removed the stopper from the phial and poured the powder in. The water inside the cauldron bubbled and hissed, as the two potions seemed to be fighting each other. After a while of the mixtures swirling around inside, they gave one final hiss and a puff of smoke rose of the top and the liquid turned a fluorescent orange.
"Who is this guinea pig going to be?" asked Rita.
"I presume that would be me?" asked a man at the door.
"REMUS!" squealed Harry and Hermione at the same time. He seemed surprised to see the pair.
"Why, Hermione! I never suspected it was you who thought up this potential miracle!" His face eased, and all nerves seemed to flee him.
"This won't be painful, will it?" he asked, but his question went unanswered. Out of the same purse-sized leather pouch Hermione pulled out a glass mug and filled it half way with the thick liquid. Lupin walked over to the desk and accepted it with a small nod of his head.
"Wait! Before you drink it, I apologise if this seems rude, but could I ask everyone else to possibly sit or stand near the back wall?"
Fudge opened his mouth to protest, but saw the look that Dumbledore was giving him and stayed silent. While the others moved their chairs or just walked to the back, Harry walked over to talk to Hermione.
"Are you sure he'll be okay? I mean, nothing bad can happen?"
"Don't worry, Harry, he'll be fine!"
"That's good." Said Lupin in his husky voice with a tone of relief. He stepped in front of the desk and raised the glass to his lips. Hermione pressed back against the wall, and Harry, feeling worried at what she knew, did the same.
Once the liquid was drunk, Lupin put the cup on the desk, and waited. He looked around, and Harry was shocked to see that Lupin's eyes had gone the color of the potion, but it didn't seem to be affecting Lupin at all. He staggered, with a confused look on his face. Rita's quill was ready to explode!
Remus stumbled to the center of the room, teetering now and then. He looked at his hands. Hair was sprouting all over his body, his fingernails were growing into harsh claws, and his head was changing shape. Rita gasped.
"It's alright," reassured Hermione. "This is part of the transformation."
Before long, Lupin was a fully transformed werewolf. Fudge looked confused, and so was Harry, considering werewolves usually only transform on the full moon. The werewolf-Lupin sniffed the air, smelling the human flesh and blood, deciding which person to attack.
Suddenly, his claws, paws, hands, whatever they were, flew to his head. He held his head and howled, as though in pain. He howled again, but halfway through the howl, he turned back into Lupin, screaming and holding his head in agony, but that only lasted a few seconds before he was a werewolf again. The werewolf used its long claws and started to scratch at its chest, as though trying to pry something out. Finally, he fell on his hands and knees, and tensed his back, like cats do when trying to cough up a fur ball.
"He's going to barf!" gasped Rita.
But it was different. Like before, the werewolf changed back into Remus Lupin, but he was still tensed, choking for air.
"You've got to help him!" I told Hermione, but she shook her head in a way that said just be patient.
Suddenly, the man Lupin gave a quick lurch, and something black that looked like a shadow flew out of his mouth. He collapsed on his back, panting and sweating, the gashes on his chest bleeding, but everyone else's attention was drawn to the mysterious black form.
It was changing. It became more solid, and turned into a wolf, not half-human, but a whole wolf. It glared at the people at the back of the room and bared its teeth, growling. Rita shivered in fear.
"Don't worry," Hermione addressed the others. "It can't hurt you." She went over and crouched down in front of the wolf, looking it straight in the eyes. It growled even fiercer, but Hermione kept her gaze.
"I don't think you should do that..." warned Harry. The wolf lunged at her throat.
"HERMIONE!" Harry yelled, jumping over the desk, but the wolf passed straight through Hermione, and then through Harry. He stood there, stunned.
"As I said before, I believe this animal is pure spirit, or soul. No spells work on it, except I kept it contained with an Impenetrable spell on all the walls. Within the hour it faded and disappeared."
Harry walked over to Lupin, who was still on the floor, but he was smiling.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked. Lupin jumped to his feet.
"Alright? I FEEL MARVELOUS!" He jumped over a chair and cart-wheeled to the other end of the room. "ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!" He went to straighten his shirt, but his hand became caught in a tear. "Although I could do with a new shirt."
Hermione waved her wand at him and he was suddenly attired in a cool white cotton short-sleeved shirt and smart black pants. "Thanks!"
"No, thank you." Said Hermione. "Without you, we wouldn't be able to prove anything. Now I know for sure.
Snape's icy voice echoed through the room. "That's all and well, Miss Granger, but are you sure that he won't change into a beast at the full moon?"
Hermione walked over to a window that Harry hadn't noticed before and pulled back the curtain, showing the nearly fully set sun. "You'll know soon enough."