Draco was sitting alone in the hall now. He listened quietly as the gentle drip drop of water came to his ears from the walls of the dungeons. He smiled pleasently. Drifting slowly into deep thoughts, thoughts of things no one ever expected him to think of. He thought of the glistening Hogwarts lake. It's beauty entrancing to the eye of one staring at it's mystery. He thought of the night sky. The stars above dancing and twinkling miles away from where he was. He thought of the forest, mysterious and dark. Longing for his fears to dance away from him long enough to linger in it curiously.

As he drifted into these thoughts, an ecstatic smile overcame him and he sighed deeply as though he was falling asleep under soft, silky covers and sheets and the rocks of the wall were his pillow. Bliss. Wonderful serenity.

His thoughts were picturing everything he wanted, to be anywhere BUT the dungeons. No one knew that he snuck out every night just to admire the beauty of said Hogwart's grounds.

No one knew of his secret thoughts, his secret desires. No one knew that he had run away from home that summer. His father was the reason. Not only had his father been sent into Azkaban for being a Death Eater and wanting him to follow in his footsteps, but he had also said already that he was one. Always assuming that Draco wanted to be just like him, when in reality, Draco had never shown any affection toward his father whatsoever. In truth, he had never loved him.

And it always seemed vice verca with his father. Talking always of riches, and power. Maybe this isn't what Draco wanted. Did he ever think of that at all?

Still, popularity was nice. The fact that girls stared at him every way he turned and boys wanted to be him made him smile. His ego often took over. He now lived alone. No one knew. But if they did, maybe his popularity would grow? He opened his eyes and smirked. "How lovely." He murmured. He stared ahead and his smirk faded. Granger was walking toward him, or to the area to go past him, whatever.

"Get out of my halls Granger." he said. She ignored him and walked on out of the dungeon doors.

"Mudbloods." he murmured and stood up dusting off his pants and his robes. He headed out the doors as well and went out of the front doors. The air was crisply cold now. His hair moved slightly in the cool breeze. He seemed to be the only one outside. He looked left, then right, to make sure no one was around to see where he was going. He marched his way down by the lake and, with a last glance around, flopped down on the grass and stared up at the gradually darkening sky.

"Ah," he said. "The simple pleasures of life." And he thought...If only everyone else could understand...

Hermione was once again knocking on Professor Lupin's door. She waited a little while before he actually opened it. He looked around and made sure no one was around before letting Hermione in.

"What is this all about Professor, can you please tell me?" Hermione asked him, a hint of anxiousness imbeded in her voice. Lupin didn't answer, he only draped the windows and looked at her. The look on his face was mingled with sadness and contemplation. Something inside of him stirred and made him feel nautious for a moment before he finally decided to tell her.

"Hermione, please, sit down." He said motioning toward a chair. Hermione only stood there, holding the potion tight in her hands, eyes wide in expectation at whatever news he was about to give her. Lupin twiddled his thumbs and looked around the room before finally deciding to stand up straight and come right out and tell her.

"Everything you told me about Tru, happened to ME at age 16, before AND after my birthday. And I didn't know what it meant until my father told me." Hermione's eyes grew fearful and she thought she knew what was going to come out of his mouth.

"Hermione, Tru is becoming...a werewolf." Lupin finally said, a hint of a sob emerging from his tired lips.

Hermione's stomach lurched. She knew it. All along somehow. "That potion is what I use every month, before and after a full moon. You need to give it to her before tonight. I am asking you to do me this favor Hermione. I need you to slip that into her drink at dinner. And in the morning, I will explain everything to her. Please."

He had crossed the room and put a hand on either of Hermione's shoulders, tears in his eyes. A true pain became clear in his eyes. He didn't want his daughter to go trough the same pain and utter misery that he had for the past 23 years. Hermione could see this clearly and understood. She also wanted her best friend to at least have some kind of remedy for this, even if it wasn't curable.

"Yes Professor. I will do that for you. I will most certainly do it..for Tru."

Dinner was a restless event for Remus. His eyes kept traveling over to the Gryffindor table at Hermione and Tru. Hermione had the potion in her cloak and he knew it. They had discussed it before she had left his office. She would have Harry and Ron distract her and she would slip some into her drink.

When Hermione had told Harry and Ron, not only were they shocked, but mortified. They agreed to help in any way possible, this gave relief and some pride in Remus' heart toward them. He was glad his daughter had such good friends to count on especially at this time in her life..even though she didn't know it yet.

He kept glancing at the table with such anxiousness one would think he was spying on them all! Finally Harry signaled to Ron, who was a few seats away and Ron nodded. Ron jumped up on the table and slipped in a bowl of clam chowder. Everyone, including Tru, was staring and laughing. Remus eyed Hermione, and sure enough, she took the vile from her cloak, dumped the pumpkin juice out of Tru's goblet and poured in the potion, then adding some more pumpkin juice to add the illusion that it WAS juice.

Remus sighed in relief. "Thank you Hermione." he whispered silently. "Thank you."

Draco, who had been eyeing Weasley's stupid stunt, suddenly saw Granger do something to Lupin's drink. Was she putting something in it? like a POTION? or..a poison?

Curiosity overwhelmed him and he stood, moving across the room toward them. But the hall was beginning to empty and he was dragged out with the rest of the crowd. He would have to wait.

Tru, Ron,Harry and Hermione walked out of the hall together. Ron, Harry and Hermione kept looking anxiously over at Tru, who was pale, but her head was high. "How are you feeling Tru?" Ron asked out of nowhere.

Tru yawned and stretched as they entered the portrait hole. "I'm tired. I'm just going to go to bed alright everyone?" She nodded at them all and went into her dorm.

As soon as she got there, her stomach lurched...