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For copyright and disclaimers, please see chapter 1
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18 – Classes, Week 28, First Year
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Tuesday, March 2, 1999:
Hogwarts, Great Hall, Slytherin Table
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"Post's here!"

I looked up, and one of the owls wheeled over me, landing with a thump. I detached the letter from its leg, and with a hoot, it flew off. I looked over at Sprink after reading it, and was surprised to see how exhausted she looked. I asked her, "Are you all right?" She nodded, and I continued, "I need to go to Diagon Alley. Want to come with me?"

"Na. Thanks anyway." She thought for a minute, and then dug into her pocket, asking, "Could you pick up some chocolate for me, though?"

"Sure." The bell rang, and we left the great hall, to head upstairs to the first floor History classroom.

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Professor Snape looked up from his own set of simmering cauldrons, and said, "Your boil-cure potion should be a light turquoise colour, and smell of cinnamon. One of you will take a goblet and test it. Miss Tonks, you are excused from testing, see me after class."

I was partnered with Charlie, we had flipped a Knut (I lost), and so he cast a furnunculus hex on my face, and then ladled some into a goblet for me. I toasted him, and he knocked wood as I downed the potion. With a series of popping sounds, the boils started to disappear.

"Full marks, Mr. Adams, Miss Wayne. Bottle and label a vial and leave it on my desk." He raised his voice, adding, "Miss Leeds, Mr. Morton's boils are not going away." He stalked over to their cauldron, and looked at it, adding, "You did not completely crush the snake fangs. Mr. Morton, take a goblet of Mr. Adam's potion, while Miss Leeds bottles a sample and cleans up." Looking disgruntled, he accepted the goblet Charlie handed him.

"Could be worse, mate," Charlie said quietly. "Look at Andrew." Sprink's hex had made his boils seep blood, and their potion had misfired too, although it hadn't exploded like the twin's had with the porcupine quills. Andrew made his way over with a goblet, saying, "I wonder why Snape didn't want Sprink to test the potion, she lost the coin toss."

"Dunno," I said. "Did she look all right to you?" Andrew shook his head, toasted us, and downed the potion, returning to his cauldron.

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I waited for Sprink as Professor Snape filtered a potion into a goblet for her. She winced at the taste as Professor Sprout walked in with Jeremy Slater, a fifth-year Hufflepuff. He sat down to rest as Professor Snape called, "Miss Wayne?"

I hurried forward, and passed him my letter, asking, "Can I go to Diagon Alley on Friday afternoon, sir?"

He pursed his lips as a third-year Ravenclaw came in. Nodding, he said, "If Professor Potter is willing to escort you, I have no objections. Take Miss Tonks, have her lie down until six thirty, and get some loose clothing for her. I will send a house-elf with a meal for both of you to your dormitory, and do not discuss this with anyone."

"Is she all right, sir?"

"She suffers from a medical condition, and that is all you need know," he said, turning his intimidating gaze on me. I gulped and nodded, and he added, "The two of you will meet me outside the Slytherin common room at a quarter before seven tonight." I nodded and left, as he turned his attention to Professor Sprout.

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I managed to get Sprink undressed to her panties and bra where she had collapsed, boneless on her bed. I poked through her trunk, and didn't really find anything loose, so I pulled some sweats and a Gotham Knights shirt from my own. I sat and did homework, keeping an eye on her as she snored. At six thirty, I shook her, saying, "Sprink. Hey, wake up and get a bite."

"Mattie?" She seemed to wake up a bit; then said, "Oh, Merlin! What do you know?"

"You have a medical condition, although I don't know why you're not in the infirmary." I tossed her the clothes, and added, "What's that potion? It looks nasty."

"It is. Back in a minute," she said as she staggered toward the loo. After a minute, she returned, pulling on the sweatpants and t-shirt. Barefoot, she picked up a bowl of oatmeal and started to wolf it down. Tossing the bowl on her desk, she picked up the goblet of water, and said, "Thanks for the clothes, but you don't have to stay."

I shook my head. "Professor Snape asked me to make sure you were outside the common room in (I checked my watch) … fifteen minutes. You want to talk about it? Why aren't you in the infirmary if you're sick?"

"Because there's nothing Pomfrey can do for me, and if I were in the infirmary, I'd endanger other people," she said slowly. "Look, I appreciate the loan of your clothing. I'll replace them later, but…"

I waved this off. "Look, Sprink, we're best buds, friends to the end, right?" She nodded slowly, and I offered, "Look, this is a big secret you've got. I'll trade you. Remember at the beginning of school, I got a message from home?" She nodded slowly, and I said, "This is what that was about." I unlocked a compartment in my trunk, then whispering the decrypting charm and passing her the sheets from Who's Who.

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"I don't understand. Your family are Aurors?"

"Close. We're manhunters," I said. "Where the cops or whoever can't find someone, we can, or if the quarry is just too dangerous, we'll do it, all very unofficially. As a matter of fact, outside the Clan, you're only the sixth person on this planet to know, all of them here at Hogwarts."

"Who else knows?"

"Dumbledore, McGonagall, Potter, Snape, you, and Prince Harry figured it out. That's all." She passed the sheets back to me as I added, "That information is worth serious money to all sorts of criminal organizations. The total bounty on my Dad's head alone is close to seventy million dollars, or about ten million galleons."

"Merlin! That makes my problem seem … well, it explains why you're so good at fighting." I snickered, and she said, "Well, um. Y'see, I'm a werewolf."

"Thought it might be something like that," I admitted. I glanced at the clock, and said, "C'mon, we're running late!"

Sprink jumped up, grabbing her nightgown and robe, and said, "Take your books if … if you're gonna wait for me. It's going to be a long night."

"Twit. Of course I'll wait for you. What do you need done?"

"My charms homework?" She passed me a quill, and said, "It's charmed for my handwriting." She stopped, turned, and took me into a fierce hug, saying, "Thank you, Mattie."

I returned her hug, then said, "Come on, you silly twit. Let's go."

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"You are late, Miss Wayne," Professor Snape said.

"Sorry, Professor. We were talking," I said. "Family stuff."

"I see. Miss Tonks, do you …"

"I want Mattie there, if … well, she's willing."

"I already said I was, you twit! Let's get going."

"Typical Yank," the Professor said with a small smile. "Always in a hurry. This way."

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"This is the statue of Paracelsus, one of the foremost alchemists of the Middle Ages," Professor Snape said. "Pull his beard to open," which he did. A small chamber was open beyond this, with a heavy wooden door standing open beyond. Sprink ran past it into an antechamber, as I turned to look. The back of the door was plated in silver; small portholes, about six inches in diameter set with heavy silver bars were installed in the sides of the gate. "Are you sure you wish to do this, Miss Wayne? It will not be a pleasant evening." I glanced at Sprink, and nodded.

"Very well. Miss Tonks, Mr. Slater and Miss Johnson will be in that cell when they transform," he said. "Since they have taken the potion before two witnesses, they will retain their minds; however, there are several safety precautions. This door will be closed and barred, confining you, Miss Michaels, and Mr. Lacombe in the anteroom. You will not be able to open it from this side; furthermore, the corridor entrance cannot be opened from this side. It will take all three of you to remove the bars on the cell door. A house-elf will be on duty to furnish food or drink, but is under strict orders NOT to open the door for any reason until dawn." I swallowed, and he said, "One final precaution. Filius?"

Professor Flitwick came forward, handed each of us a gun, and told me, "In the event they escape the cell, Miss Wayne, these have silver bullets. Shoot to kill."

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Sprink came over, and asked, "Mattie, please. This is bad enough, please promise me you'll … well, you'll kill me if necessary." I looked at her, and the other two about to enter the cell. They looked at me, and nodded. Sprink twitched, and said, "Its beginning." She gave me a quick hug, pressed her wand on me, and ran inside the cell. The heavy wooden cell door was closed, and the locking beams put in place. The antechamber door was closed with a boom, and I looked at Michaels and Lacombe.

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I jumped at an agonized scream, with the sounds of ripping cloth. Abby Michaels looked up, asking, "You can't hear that in the Slytherin dorms?" I shook my head, and she said, "That's a hell of a silencing charm on that statue."

"I just wish I had known about this before," I fretted. "I thought Sprink was just an insomniac, or sleepwalking, not that she was a …"

There was a loud howl, and Peter Lacombe twitched; then said, "A werewolf? It's better now that the Wolfsbane potion's been developed. When I first started doing this, after they changed, they'd start to fight. The thing is that…" another loud scream sounded, "… werewolves can't be killed by normal means. There's only two ways to kill them, by decapitation when they're human, or with silver." He nodded at the guns we all had.

"What … what do they look like?" I asked, nodding at the door.

"Morbid curiosity?" I nodded, and he said, "You use a silver wand, don't you?" I nodded again, and he said, "Keep it in your hand, and don't put your fingers through the bars. Are you bleeding anywhere, or have any half-healed injuries? They'll smell the blood."

I shook my head, and Abby said, "I'm just coming off my period, which is why I'm staying back here. They have extremely acute hearing and smell; they can hear and understand us talking, even though they can't reply."

"Thanks," I whispered. Standing, I peeked in the dimly lit cell, and saw three large wolves. "Sprink?" I asked, and the smallest one finished lapping water from a trough, then ambled over to me, stopping a couple feet from the door. "Are you all right?" She cocked her head, and then snorted. Giving me a doggy grin, she found the shredded Gotham Knights shirt I had lent her, holding it in her teeth, she stood, propped it against the silver bars, then rested her forepaws on it, tongue lolling out of her mouth. I stuck two fingers through the bars, and she licked them.

"Oh, Sprink," I sobbed, "Why didn't you tell me?" She snorted again, and then bounded back into the cell, making a small nest with the sweatpants and shirt. Another wolf looked at me, gave a small 'woof', and then went over to nuzzle Sprink. Peter came and walked me over to join Abby as I cried.

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"I understand why you put your fingers through the bars, Mattie," Peter said. "I did the first time, too, but if Sprink had bitten you, even the smallest nip, you'd be in there at the end of the month." There was a small 'yip' from the cell, and Peter added, "There's a blue moon on the 31st. That's the second full moon this month."

I sniffled, then said, "There's no cure, is there?"

Abby hugged me, saying, "No. There's no cure."

I sniffled some more, then said, "Silly me, I thought I could get some homework done for … for Sprink." Abby hugged me again, and someone barked in the cell. Peter called, "Right-o, you three. Go to sleep and let us get some work done here!" There were answering barks and yips, which I could swear had a sarcastic tone.

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"Oy, out there! Wake up, you wankers and let us out!"

"Go chase a parked lorry, you flea-bitten mutt!" Peter called, and then nudged Abby. "Oy, who's the house elf out there?"

"Minnie is the elf, Master," I saw a house-elf peek through the bars. "Are Masters and Mistresses well?"

"We'll find out in a minute, Minnie," Abby said. "Is it dawn yet?"

"Minnie will see, Mistress," she replied before she disappeared with a pop.

Peter helped Abby and myself up, then called in the cell, "Oy, you three, show yourselves!" We each peeked in the window, and saw three mostly-naked people standing there, stretching to get the kinks out. Abby looked at Peter and myself, and then moved to shove on the first locking bar.

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I passed my gun back to Professor Flitwick, and shouldered my bag as Sprink pulled her housecoat on. I hugged her, and she said, "How's the homework?"

I chuckled wetly, "You mangy idiot, I only got a foot done for … "

" … for my assignment, Miss Tonks?" Professor Flitwick asked, with his normal good cheer. "Turn it in by Friday at five o'clock, would you? Now all of you, off to the Infirmary! Poppy wants to see you!"

"Oh! Just a minute!" Sprink darted back into the cell, coming out with the scraps of clothing she had slept on. She flushed, and said, "Um, Mattie, could you … could you sleep with these? The scent … it really helped me to know, that you …"

I gave her a brief hug. "No problem, Sprink. No problem."

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