Taming the Beast
Chapter 14
Act In Haste...
Ron stared sightlessly at the ceiling above his bed. It was Saturday afternoon and he was amazed at what happened last night. "My God...I spent the night with Hermione." He tried to shrug it off, it was ,after all, her insistance, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he had crossed a line of no return.
Hermione lay on her stomach staring sightlessly at the floor of the Gryffindor girls dormitory. "I went to bed with Ron...pretty pleasant for our first time I think." The unpleasant nagging gnawed at her conscience again - what would her parents think? Her parents had always been pretty conservative, often active in the Church of England, and Hermione herself was a believer. "If giants and dragons and centaurs exist...why not a resurrection?" "Es gibt nix, was es nicht gibt." No fool, she had immediately researched Exodus 22:18 prior to accepting her position at Hogwarts. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live", translated incorrectly from the Latin "Veneficos (sive) veneficas non retinebitis in vita" by King James' scholars, It really meant that "Thou shalt not suffer a POISONER to live". Death penalty for MURDERERS, not witches in general. She sighed and asked herself; "so what happens to us werewolves?"
There would be a DADA class Monday. Lupin would be talking about werewolves, and would be using himself as Exhibit A.....and Hermione as Exhibit B. She giggled to herself at what the reaction might possibly be. "Think, I'll let the hair on my palms grow out just a bit." Showers were private at Hogwarts, a fact for which Hermione was grateful.
Hermione pretty much stayed in bed all day on Sunday, she had been feeling slightly sick to her stomach that morning, and after the lightest of breakfasts, she headed back upstairs feeling somewhat dizzy and fatigued. Ron came by to say hello and they talked quietly
Monday Morning, September 16th 1998. (OK, so it was actually a Wednesday, deal with it) Defense of the Dark Arts
Lupin entered the room. "Good Morning ladies and gentlemen, I hope everyone had a good weekend. Today we shall be covering a topic very near and dear to my heart, the natural history of the lycanthrope...the werewolf. As I'm sure you are aware, I'm quite familiar with the nature of this beast, but one can never be sure where one might be lurking in the shadows."
Ron and Harry were finding it damned hard to keep a straight face. Hermione looked over and winked.
"Well, we shall start with the basic history....." Luin spent a good 20 minutes regaling the class of the story of Licao, the King of Arcadia and how he was cursed by Zeus. "That is the legend part, the place where the line begins to blur between mythology and history is the tale of King Nebuchadnezzar in the Tanach. The first confirmed werewolves, as we know and love them today have been traced back to the villages of Transylvania and Carpathian mountains of Roumania. They spread all over Europe, and for better of for worse, there might be many more of us if not for the Spanish Inquisition of Torquemada. Give the Devil his due, Remus thought bitterly.
"Now onto the here and now of the lycanthrope. Lycanthropy is a genetic and blood disease caused by a virus, but with a touch of dark magic included. There is no cure. There are no vaccinations, no preventions except to avoid contact with the virus." Hermione raised her hand, "How is it passed on, Professor?"
Remus chuckled. That Granger girl was playing her part to the hilt! "The most acceptable way is that it is passed down from generation to generation. Like brown hair and brown eyes, it is a dominant trait, if either the father or the mother is a werewolf, all the children will likely be affected, occasionally it will skip an individual or generation. There is also dark magic that one can perform that will change one's genetic structure-why you would do this, I can hardly imagine, but I suppose they are acting out of ignorance. Any transfer of blood or saliva into the bloodstream will transmit the virus. I say this again, it has to be delivered into the bloodstream, so if your significant other happens to be a werewolf, you have nothing to worry about. Your children, however, might be questioning yiour judgement around their second or third years of Hogwarts."
Nudge nudge. The class found that very amusing. Hermione raised her hand. Remus sighed with mock exasperation. "YES, Miss Granger?"
"I was just wondering, Professor Lupin, could you tell us how a werewolf can be detected in human form?"
Lupin responded with a spot-on impersonation of Professor Snape. "Very well, Miss Granger, since you seem so keen on this subject, I will let you finish the topic!!"
"Well THANK you Professor Lupin!" She strode up to the front of the classroom, trying to avoid the eyes of her boyfriend and Harry who were by now turning red with supressed laughter. "Mister Longbottom, would you tell us one of the signs of lycanthropy on an otherwise normal human being?" Neville thought hard, "Ah..er...Index finger as long or longer than the middle one?"
"Hmmm, I think that might be a good one. Professor Lupin, would you show Neville your hands please?" Lupin did so. "Well Neville, we know that Professor Lupin is a werewolf." She pointed to his index finger with her index and middle fingers, showing that they were indeed the same length. Wait a second, Neville thought, is Hermione's finger....? "Anything else, Neville?"
"The teeth are larger and sharper?" Hermione kneeled down and smiled showing her teeth. "You're sure about that Mr. Longbottom? Lots of people have sharp teeth, don't they?
What in blazes is going on, Neville was thinking to himself. "Y-yes, I suppose so..." Hermione replied, "Of course they do, but," she deliberatly scratched her nose with her two longest fingers, "they probably wouldn't have an extra long index finger either." She stroked his cheek with the palm of her hand, "good job Nevile!" "I'm going to stop picking on Mister Longbottom. Who else can tell me the signs?"
"Yes Parvati?"
"Eyebrows that meet in the middle?"
"That's one more. Anything else?"
"Hair on the palms of the hand?"
Neville jumped at this. His mouth opened wide.
"Excellent, Miss Patil. Let me shake your hand."
They shook hands. The stubble was impossible to miss. Parvati gasped.
"Neville, Parvati. You've done very well so far. Do you think there is some additional information we can impart to the class?"
They sat dumbstruck. "I can see that my performance has shocked Neville and Parvati. So let me just say that Professor Lupin, as of last month, is no longer the only werewolf at Hogwarts. So am I."
The class was silent. Ron and Harry sat quietly, respectfully.
It started with Seamus Finnegan, a gentle clapping. It soon spread and rose to a crescendo. Gryffindor had accepted her.
The House of Gryffindor was soon referring to Hermione affectionately as "our pet werewolf". By the end of the week it was common knowledge. And Hogwarts accepted and welcomed her.
With a few exceptions in green and silver of course.
Chapter 14
Act In Haste...
Ron stared sightlessly at the ceiling above his bed. It was Saturday afternoon and he was amazed at what happened last night. "My God...I spent the night with Hermione." He tried to shrug it off, it was ,after all, her insistance, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he had crossed a line of no return.
Hermione lay on her stomach staring sightlessly at the floor of the Gryffindor girls dormitory. "I went to bed with Ron...pretty pleasant for our first time I think." The unpleasant nagging gnawed at her conscience again - what would her parents think? Her parents had always been pretty conservative, often active in the Church of England, and Hermione herself was a believer. "If giants and dragons and centaurs exist...why not a resurrection?" "Es gibt nix, was es nicht gibt." No fool, she had immediately researched Exodus 22:18 prior to accepting her position at Hogwarts. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live", translated incorrectly from the Latin "Veneficos (sive) veneficas non retinebitis in vita" by King James' scholars, It really meant that "Thou shalt not suffer a POISONER to live". Death penalty for MURDERERS, not witches in general. She sighed and asked herself; "so what happens to us werewolves?"
There would be a DADA class Monday. Lupin would be talking about werewolves, and would be using himself as Exhibit A.....and Hermione as Exhibit B. She giggled to herself at what the reaction might possibly be. "Think, I'll let the hair on my palms grow out just a bit." Showers were private at Hogwarts, a fact for which Hermione was grateful.
Hermione pretty much stayed in bed all day on Sunday, she had been feeling slightly sick to her stomach that morning, and after the lightest of breakfasts, she headed back upstairs feeling somewhat dizzy and fatigued. Ron came by to say hello and they talked quietly
Monday Morning, September 16th 1998. (OK, so it was actually a Wednesday, deal with it) Defense of the Dark Arts
Lupin entered the room. "Good Morning ladies and gentlemen, I hope everyone had a good weekend. Today we shall be covering a topic very near and dear to my heart, the natural history of the lycanthrope...the werewolf. As I'm sure you are aware, I'm quite familiar with the nature of this beast, but one can never be sure where one might be lurking in the shadows."
Ron and Harry were finding it damned hard to keep a straight face. Hermione looked over and winked.
"Well, we shall start with the basic history....." Luin spent a good 20 minutes regaling the class of the story of Licao, the King of Arcadia and how he was cursed by Zeus. "That is the legend part, the place where the line begins to blur between mythology and history is the tale of King Nebuchadnezzar in the Tanach. The first confirmed werewolves, as we know and love them today have been traced back to the villages of Transylvania and Carpathian mountains of Roumania. They spread all over Europe, and for better of for worse, there might be many more of us if not for the Spanish Inquisition of Torquemada. Give the Devil his due, Remus thought bitterly.
"Now onto the here and now of the lycanthrope. Lycanthropy is a genetic and blood disease caused by a virus, but with a touch of dark magic included. There is no cure. There are no vaccinations, no preventions except to avoid contact with the virus." Hermione raised her hand, "How is it passed on, Professor?"
Remus chuckled. That Granger girl was playing her part to the hilt! "The most acceptable way is that it is passed down from generation to generation. Like brown hair and brown eyes, it is a dominant trait, if either the father or the mother is a werewolf, all the children will likely be affected, occasionally it will skip an individual or generation. There is also dark magic that one can perform that will change one's genetic structure-why you would do this, I can hardly imagine, but I suppose they are acting out of ignorance. Any transfer of blood or saliva into the bloodstream will transmit the virus. I say this again, it has to be delivered into the bloodstream, so if your significant other happens to be a werewolf, you have nothing to worry about. Your children, however, might be questioning yiour judgement around their second or third years of Hogwarts."
Nudge nudge. The class found that very amusing. Hermione raised her hand. Remus sighed with mock exasperation. "YES, Miss Granger?"
"I was just wondering, Professor Lupin, could you tell us how a werewolf can be detected in human form?"
Lupin responded with a spot-on impersonation of Professor Snape. "Very well, Miss Granger, since you seem so keen on this subject, I will let you finish the topic!!"
"Well THANK you Professor Lupin!" She strode up to the front of the classroom, trying to avoid the eyes of her boyfriend and Harry who were by now turning red with supressed laughter. "Mister Longbottom, would you tell us one of the signs of lycanthropy on an otherwise normal human being?" Neville thought hard, "Ah..er...Index finger as long or longer than the middle one?"
"Hmmm, I think that might be a good one. Professor Lupin, would you show Neville your hands please?" Lupin did so. "Well Neville, we know that Professor Lupin is a werewolf." She pointed to his index finger with her index and middle fingers, showing that they were indeed the same length. Wait a second, Neville thought, is Hermione's finger....? "Anything else, Neville?"
"The teeth are larger and sharper?" Hermione kneeled down and smiled showing her teeth. "You're sure about that Mr. Longbottom? Lots of people have sharp teeth, don't they?
What in blazes is going on, Neville was thinking to himself. "Y-yes, I suppose so..." Hermione replied, "Of course they do, but," she deliberatly scratched her nose with her two longest fingers, "they probably wouldn't have an extra long index finger either." She stroked his cheek with the palm of her hand, "good job Nevile!" "I'm going to stop picking on Mister Longbottom. Who else can tell me the signs?"
"Yes Parvati?"
"Eyebrows that meet in the middle?"
"That's one more. Anything else?"
"Hair on the palms of the hand?"
Neville jumped at this. His mouth opened wide.
"Excellent, Miss Patil. Let me shake your hand."
They shook hands. The stubble was impossible to miss. Parvati gasped.
"Neville, Parvati. You've done very well so far. Do you think there is some additional information we can impart to the class?"
They sat dumbstruck. "I can see that my performance has shocked Neville and Parvati. So let me just say that Professor Lupin, as of last month, is no longer the only werewolf at Hogwarts. So am I."
The class was silent. Ron and Harry sat quietly, respectfully.
It started with Seamus Finnegan, a gentle clapping. It soon spread and rose to a crescendo. Gryffindor had accepted her.
The House of Gryffindor was soon referring to Hermione affectionately as "our pet werewolf". By the end of the week it was common knowledge. And Hogwarts accepted and welcomed her.
With a few exceptions in green and silver of course.