Disclaimer: Don't own it, only covet it.

A/N: Thank you for your reviews! They really do inspire me to write faster! Sorry about the long update time, but the Holiday Season is really kicking me in the arse this year.

Remus sniffed the air around him. He could smell something strong, something...wild. He went from room to room in the house, looking for the one person that could be making his senses go off so strongly. He finally found her in the upstairs library, looking like she was about to rip up the books she was sifting through. He knocked softly on the door, watching her jump and the look of relief go over her face as she realized it was only him.

"I told you already, there is no way out."

Hermione gave him a defeated look, but the determination in her eyes flared on.

"I brought you something," he said, walking the rest of the way into the room and over to her. He pulled a vial out of his pocket, filled with a light brown liquid. "Wolfsbane," he said. "It prevents the transformation, but nothing else." He watched her nervously take it from him, her leg bouncing up and down under the table.

"Thank you, I didn't even think about this evening."

"I know, that's why I brought it to you. I used to have Sererus make it, but it seems I am about to run out and, frankly, Potions was something I was never good at."

Hermione picked up the hint and gave him a nod. "I'll find the instructions and see what I can do for next month."

Remus gave her a sad smile before turning to leave again.

"By the way, how many nights..."

"3 total. The first is the night before the full moon, the second, tonight, is the full moon. And then tomorrow, the night after the full moon. Then it will be 26 days until it starts over again."

Hermione sighed. "Does it ever get easier? The only thing I remember last night before I...when I...well, it hurt."

"No, it will never get any better. You tend to build up an immunity to it though. Just don't think about it...think about something else. You have to seperate your mind from the pain."

"I don't understand."

Remus gave her a small smile. "I didn't expect you would. But you will, with time."

"It really does last forever, huh?"

He stood there and studied her for a moment. "You should try to think of a constructive outlet this evening. The sun will be setting soon. Take that now to get the full effect. It's not pleasant going through the night with hairy palms," he ended with a wink before leaving her to her thoughts.

"Hermione?"

Silence.

"Hermione?" once again, a little louder.

Silence.

"HERMIONE?"

Hermione jumped up, knocking the chair she was in backwards in the process.

"Bloody hell Ron, what was that for?"

"I just thought you might be hungry," he said meekly. "I called you several times before I yelled."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't hear you," she said, walking over to him.

"Mum wanted to know if you wanted dinner. She said you haven't eaten all day."

"I haven't?" she asked.

Ron just looked at her, worry on his face. "Are you alright? You've been acting weird all day."

Before she could answer, Harry walked in. "You two coming?"

"Yeah, in a second," Hermione answered.

"Hermione, you look ill, are you ok?" he asked.

"As I was about to tell Ron, I'm fine. I just need some sleep."

"Mum said you really need to eat though," Ron interjected.

"I think I filled up last night for about 3 days," she said with a snort. She was met with two confused looks from Harry and Ron. "Nevermind, sorry. Let's go eat, huh?"

The sweat poured off her body in gallons. If anyone could have seen her, they would have thought she decided to take a shower with her clothes on.

She turned over in her pallet of blankets and shuddered. A cold chill ripped through her as a night wind blew through Ginny's cracked bedroom window. Her body trembled with the effort of trying not to jump out of the window and just run until her heart burst. Her arms snaked their way around her chest and stomach, hoping to calm her jitters. It did her no good. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. She laid there for what seemed like forever before she felt more than saw the sun rise and chase the moon away.

Suddenly her jitters were gone and the sweat started to dry on her skin. She finally fell into a fitful sleep, dreaming of yellow eyes, sheep carcasses and his face.

Hermione cracked her eyes unwillingly, seeing Ginny in front of her face.

"You can't sleep in all day," Ginny informed her.

Hermione let out a grunt of annoyance before pulling the covers back up over her head to block out the sunlight. She, thankfully, heard Ginny walk out of the room. But it didn't take long for her to hear two distinct pairs of feet walking in to disturb her.

"Hermione, you never sleep in!" exclaimed a surprised Ron.

She grunted again and ignored them. She felt her covers being pulled off her head, and she protested, but it was no use. She shielded her eyes against the sun and made a sour face.

"I don't wake you two up when you oversleep," she complained.

"No, but mum is gonna come up here and drag you to breakfast if we don't do it first."

Hermione made another noise of protest before getting up and shooing the boys out of the room so she could change and go downstairs.

Hermione was vaguely aware of the disarray she was in. Her shirt was only half way tucked, her collar was up on one side, and her hair was a bushy mess. But this morning, she didn't seem to care.

"Good morning sweetie," Mrs. Weasley began as she heard Hermione walk into the room. She turned around and almost dropped the pan she was holding, staring in silence at the young witch just like the rest of the room.

"What?" she asked as she noticed their stares.

"Dearie, are you feeling ok?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Just tired."

Not buying it, Mrs. Weasley ran over and put her hand on Hermione's forehead. "You're a bit warm. Why don't you go lay back down and I'll bring something up to you."

"Ok," Hermione mumbled before trudging back up the stairs and into bed. She didn't even bother to take off the clothes she had on. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

Hermione finally woke up when she felt a weight on the bed beside her. She looked up to see Remus staring down at her, his forehead wrinkled in concern.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"You didn't take the Wolfsbane when I told you to, did you?"

"No, I actually set it down to look up the ingredients for it first, why?"

Remus sighed loudly. "When you don't take it on time you don't get the full effect, like I told you earlier. One effect being sleeping for days at a time after a full moon. At least you didn't have to go through the third night."

"Days?" she said squeaked. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Thankfully, only one. Poor Molly sent me up here to see if you were still sleeping. She's been frantic really," he said with a small smile. "You would think you were one of her own." Remus had a wistful look on his face for a moment before he looked back down at the girl. "I think you should come on down and eat something. You're bound to be starved by now"

Hermione was about to say she was fine when she felt her stomach give a loud protest to being empty.

Remus left the room and Hermione stared at his retreating form even after it had gone. She thought for a moment she could smell...worry...on him. Shaking her head and scolding herself, she got up and changed clothes.

This time when she made her appearance her hair was brushed and her clothes fit her correctly. Her entrance into the kitchen was followed immediately a rabid Mrs. Weasley checking her forehead, and prodding her face to make sure she was ok. Hermione gave Remus a reproachful glance when she heard him bite off a laugh.

"I want you to take it easy today, ok?" Mrs. Weasley was telling her. "I don't want you back up in that library. It's got a terrible draft...probably what got you sick."

"But what am I supposed to do?"

"I know. Remus, you were going into Diagon Alley today for some potion ingredients. Why don't you take Hermione. That way she can get a little sunlight."

Hermione and Remus just looked at each other across the table.

Hermione shielded her eyes from the sun as they stepped out into Diagon Alley. She walked beside Remus as he made his way through the crowd and turned into the store they needed for the Potion ingredients.

"Here," he said, handing her a list. You pick these up while I get the Wolfsbane items."

"But-"

"They all know I'm a werewolf."

Comprehension dawned on her face. "Oh."

Hermione took the list and began to gather the ingredients. She saw Remus slip into a darkened room off to the side. She finished getting what they came for and she paid for the items and went outside to wait on her companion.

As she stood there outside the shop she leaned against the wall and stared off into space. Her thoughts wandered to her condition and how it was going to change the rest of her life. She thought about her family, her mother and her father. They would never understand anything this brutal. They accepted magic readily enough, but the fact it had caused their only daughter to transform into an untameable animal 3 nights a month was more than they could handle.

Her thoughts wandered to the Shrieking Shack and wondered if she could find someplace like that for times she couldn't take her potion. That thought made her begin thinking about her Professor. No, not Professor, she mentally chided. He hadn't been her professor for 3 years

Hermione sighed out loud. How had he handled it? With friends, she realized. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. She thought about how loyal they must have been while they were in Hogwarts, not thinking about things like Voldemort and the dark times that lay ahead of them. A sudden sympathy overwhelmed her for the shabby man that was now doing all he could to take care of her. He didn't have anything left in this world and he was still trying to get by, still trying to help.

Maybe she should tell her friends. After all, they did accept Lupin as a close friend, why would it change? Why wouldn't they still want to be around her if she was like him now. She leaned her head back on the wall and closed her eyes.

...and maybe there was more to her ex-Professor than she had realized.

Hermione smelled something in the air. She took a deep breath and her eyes shot open to see Remus walking out of the shop.

"i could smell you coming!" she said, somewhat shocked.

He just smiled at her. "You'll get used to it. It's actually one of the perks. Your senses are always...heightened. You feel things stronger than other people, smell things they can't, hear things they will never pick up."

Hermione suddenly stopped in her tracks. Her back tensed and she looked around into the dark shadows around them, her eyes finally spotting what she sensed. A pair of yellow eyes stared out of the shadows at her, and it sent chills down her spine. She finally came to her senses when she felt Remus's hand on her shoulder.

"You can sense your own kind too, although most aren't evil. They were forced into it as I was, as I presume you were." He placed his hand on her back and led her away from the shadows and into the daylight.

"Who was he?"

"That," he said with a heavy sigh," was Greyback. I supposed he's watching me, watching us."

"Why?"

"It's not every day Harry Potter's closest friend gets turned into something he can control."

o.0! NOOOO! I CAN'T LEAVE IT THERE!