DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter. Nope, not me. She's in England somewhere.

AN: I hope you like this chapter, it's almost sixteen pages long! (see authors note at the end for more babbling)

Enjoy!

"'S getting dark, Harry, we should go in," Ron called up to Harry, who was chasing muggle balls which Oliver Wood had enchanted to help him practice.

Harry privately agreed, he didn't want to be caught out after curfew, but he really wanted to get that last ball….

Just a little bit further…

His new Nimbus 2000 could reach an amazing speed…

Almost got it…

Just another inch…

AHA!

Harry could hear Ron clapping from down below.

Doing a loop-de-loop, Harry made his way back to the ground and landed smoothly next to Ron, who was leaning up against a tree that had strayed away from the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"That was excellent, Harry!" He exclaimed, excitedly, "Absolutely the best flying I've seen since Charlie left for Romania! That was so… Wow!"

Harry grinned as he packed away the balls in the crate Wood had left for him.

"Thanks, Ron. You've really got to try this some time. It is so awesome!"

"Oh, I've been flying loads of times, just… not…" Ron's sentence was left hanging and the Weasley looked noticeably uncomfortable.

"Well," said Harry, breaking the uncomfortable silence, as the two Gryffindors made their way up to the school, "you really ought to give this model broom a go. I think you should see the view from up there! It is absolutely amazing! You can see so much and it makes you feel so free…"

Harry drifted into silence, but this was less uncomfortable than the last.

As the two made their way up several staircases, Harry broke the silence once again, "Where did Hermione go, again?"

"Dunno," answered Ron, "Library, I expect, where else?"

Harry shrugged, "Think we should go get her and tell her to come up to bed? She does tend to lose track of the time when she's studying."

"Nah," replied Ron, stifling a yawn, "she's probably already up there."

Hermione looked up and started; it was already getting dark out!

Hurriedly, the muggle-born girl collected up her books from the library table and stuffed them into her bag.

Grabbing said bag, she began to race from the library, hoping to get to her dormitory before curfew.

When she had gotten halfway down the first corridor, Hermione remembered the notes she had been taking and she skidded to a stop. Adjusting her bag, she skirted back along the corridor and nearly missed the door back into the library.

Hurrying to the table she had been sitting at, Hermione lost her balance and went tumbling over a chair.

For a minute everything was silent, except for Hermione's rapid breathing.

Carefully, Hermione sat up and crawled to the table. Using the table and another chair to prop herself up, she managed to grab her notes and stuff them in her bag which was, miraculously, still hanging on her shoulder.

More slowly this time, Hermione walked from the library. Now she KNEW it was after curfew and she thought it prudent to be more careful than speedy.

The young witch had one foot on the first step of the staircase leading to the Gryffindor Common room when she heard what would have been an ear-shattering scream coming from the bowels of the castle. Startlingly the sound was muffled slightly and Hermione could tell it was a long ways off.

One split-second decision later, Hermione Granger was racing down flights of staircases and in the direction the noise had come from.

Becoming a werewolf was very painful. Although the wolfsbane potion was designed to calm the effects of the wolf mentally, it did nothing for Remus Lupin physically and there was nothing to distract him from the pain.

As he felt millions of rough hairs poking through his skin and inch-long teeth piercing his gums that were bleeding afresh, he let out a scream of pure pain. His bones were now bending, crunching, and sliding into the shape of a wolf. He screamed even louder, wanting to let out all the troubles of the past.

Hermione sprinted down the corridors, toward the dungeons, where fresh screams were heard, followed by a series of howls.

She stopped right outside a door that was locked with a singular spell, and hesitated, before pulling out her wand.



Remus' now very sensitive ears heard movement outside the door of the room. He turned around to see the door click open.

His human side was brought forward exceptionally (how did Hermione get in here!?) before feeling the wolf force its way forward. He growled, baring his teeth.

Oh no! This was not good. 'Time to begin the inner struggle.' Thought Remus before concentrating hard on not eating Hermione.

But she was young and fresh! It would make for the perfect first meal in… EVER!

Unless you count that squirrel in second year… And NO he would not let himself eat an innocent first-year, especially because she had been helping him figure out what was going on with Sirius… er… Black.

Human blood, here I come!

NO!!

He lunged forward at the girl and bowled her over, the 'inner struggle' got ever more fierce.

But she is so fresh! Crunchy and munchable…

I will NOT eat her!

Oh, but I will!

NO!!

Hermione screamed and stood up, backing against the wall and picking up her wand, thinking fast.

Come on, Hermione, think of something! Stupefy me… dang, you don't know the spell!

The wolf was winning, and Remus was panicking.

'You stupid girl! Why would anyone come in here!?' thought Remus

No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!

YES!!

The wolf moved forward for the kill.

Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment and set it on fire with blue flames, holding it out in front of her.

'No, get it away from me,' thought the wolf, backing up.

'YES!' thought Remus, 'Good job, Hermione, wolves don't like fire!'

The wolf made a growling sound, viciously thinking, 'I'm not scared of fire! I don't 'Dislike It',' it then placed itself between Hermione and the door.

'NO!' Remus thought, not taking the time to wonder why the wolfsbane potion wasn't working, 'I will NOT eat Hermione!'

"P-p-please don't h-hurt me," the girl whimpered.

'I'm trying not to!' Remus thought, vainly trying to push the hungry wolf away from the surface.

"I d-didn't mean t-to d-d-disturb y-you. Please, p-p-please d-d-don't hurt me!"

The wolf leapt forward.

"Stupid girl!"

"What does she think she's doing?"

"Hasn't she read how dangerous werewolves can be?!"

"Poor Remus, he'll never forgive himself if he kills her or turns her into a werewolf."

"And we're not there to help!"

"Fight the wolf, Remus!"

"Don't do it! NO!"

"GAH!"

James and Sirius were miserably watching their werewolf friend as he first advanced on the poor first-year student and then bowled her over.

"I wish we could DO something!" James yelled.

Sirius was thoughtful for a moment, "James, we still don't know how you are able to talk to me."

"Obviously not." James groaned, "So?"

"We should try- er, I mean, you should try- to talk to him!" Sirius said enthusiastically, "Get into his head and stop him from eating that poor girl! Help him fight the wolf!"

"I…" James paused to think about this,

"It's possible, isn't it? I mean we'd be closer during the full moons than we would be otherwise, right? You could talk to him!"

"I," James repeated, thoughtfully, taking a deep breath, "I could try."

Hermione leapt backwards and met the wall hard. She fell to the ground, but didn't quite lose consciousness. Bravely, her head spinning with bright colors, she stood up to find the wolf backing away from her again.

He was shaking his head and rubbing it with one of his paws, as if pushing a fly from it.

The werewolf growled then grew silent, his ears pricked as if listening. Hermione inched toward the door.

The animal jumped up and then ran in a circle, as if chasing his tail. He yipped, then he whined.

Hermione felt the handle of the door beneath her hand. Gathering her courage once more she flung the door open and barreled through it, slamming it shut and locking it behind her.

Remus was so close to the girl, he could almost taste her. Then a sudden, unexpected sound made him back away again.

It was his pack! Two of his pack members!

"DON'T DO IT!"

"Did he hear you?"

The wolf rubbed his head, trying to scratch the loud voices away.

"I have no idea."

"Try again!"

"DON'T EAT THE GIRL! IT'S A VERY BAD IDEA, REMUS!"

"He's backing away! That's good, maybe he heard you."

Remus recognized that voice. That of the dog who used to play and explore with him during nights at Hogwarts. He growled. That voice had killed his friend.

He recognized the other voice too, but it had been so long since he had heard it. It took him a while to place it.

It was his friend!

The wolf jumped up and down and ran in a circle, happily. It was the friend that had been missing for so long! Prongs! The wolf yipped cheerfully.

But wait… the stag was the one who had died… how could he be talking to him now?

The wolf whined in confusion.

"Oh, poor Remus. He looks upset."

"Probably because you're supposed to be dead, James."

"Oh, yeah,"

Remus heard the door slam shut and turned to see that the girl had managed to escape. He was glad, but the wolf was decidedly unenthusiastic about it.

"Oh, look, the girl got out!" That was Padfoot.

"Yeah, Sirius, that's what we were planning on accomplishing," retorted Prongs.

"I know that, but I didn't know it would actually work."

Remus listened to them and then to the silence that followed their conversation.

The wolf whined, wondering where his pack was. He could hear them, but where were they?

"Oh. James, what should we do about Remus. I think he can hear you. You should tell him… erm… stuff."

"Oh, yeah, wonderful, Sirius. Stuff."

"Well, tell him something, he's still got a lot of time 'till moonset."

"You're right, Sirius."

Remus and the wolf waited impatiently.

"What should I say?"

"I don't care, anything! What would Remus want to hear you say?"

"I dunno, that I'm only mostly dead?"

"James, you ARE dead."

"I know that!"

The wolf whined again.

"He's whining, James, say something!"

"Alright, alright, keep your fur on!

"REMUS, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

Remus and the wolf yipped.

"That means 'yes,'" said Padfoot's voice.

"I know that."

"ERM… HOW'VE YOU BEEN DOING, LATELY?"

"That's lame, James. We know he's been doing awful."

"Better than us."

"No, not as good as us. At least we have each other's company."

"He's been hanging out with those kids quite a lot."

"Yeah, but would you be satisfied with hanging out with a handful of kids instead of your lifelong friends?"

"Well, if one of them was my son…"

"James, keep talking to him, he's bored and he's still got all night."

"But he didn't answer my question."

"I don't think he can, horn-head!"

The wolf yipped.

"See? He can't do anything more than yip, and I can't remember what each yip means. It's been too long," Padfoot stated, "I only remember 'yes' and 'that's mine!' and 'what are you doing in my forest?!'"

"You remember how he says 'what are you doing in my forest?"

"Well, it was more along the lines of 'this is my property, get out of here before I eat you' but that's too long to say."

"You just did,"

"Oh, yeah,"

"Say something to Moony, James,"

"Alright.

"SO, YOU'VE BEEN TALKING TO MY SON…"

"Excellent, James, you've probably just confused him more."

"How'd I do that?"

"How's he supposed to know we've been watching his every move for the past-"

Remus howled loudly.

"Shut up, Sirius.

"ERM… WE'VE BEEN WATCHING YOU LATELY. LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE NOT DOING TO GOOD."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what he wanted to hear!"

"Well, sor-ry," Prongs' voice said sarcastically, "What do YOU think I should say?"

"Explain who, 'we' is."

"Okay:

"SORRY, I MEANT TO EXPLAIN THAT 'WE' DEFINES ME AND SIRIUS.

Remus nodded, though even more confused than he had been at first.

"AND, I MEAN, ERM…"

"Tell him you're a puddle."

"I'M A PUDDLE… Sirius, why in Merlin's name did I just say that?! That'll make things a LOT more clear for him!"

"Oops… sorry 'bout that, Prongs."

"Apologize to Moony, not me."

"I don't think he can hear me, James."

"Well try it. He might be able to."

"CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

Remus snuffed scornfully and then yipped, just loud enough that Sirius and James, wherever they were, would hear it.

"I think he can, Sirius!"

"SORRY TO CONFUSE YOU, MOONY!" Padfoot's voice said.

Remus didn't know quite what to think.

"What else should we say?" Padfoot wondered.

"That you're innocent," replied Prongs, directly.

"I'M INNOCENT!"

"Nice and subtle, as always."

"Thank you."

Remus decided that this made no sense whatsoever and began to howl at the moon.

"I think we've managed to thoroughly confuse him."

"Oops."

Sirius and James sat in silence, but for the howling coming from the puddle in the corner of the cell in Azkaban.

"He's a good singer," Sirius said, abruptly.

James made a bewildered sound and said, "You, Padfoot, are the strangest person I have ever met."

"I'll just take that as a compliment, then," Sirius replied cheerfully.

"Well, what now?" Asked James.

Sirius thought for a minute, then replied, "Let's join him."

James made to answer, but he only got out, "Wha…" before Sirius began to howl along with the werewolf.

James, wondering if being dead prevented you from getting a headache, eventually joined them.

Anyone passing by Azkaban would have thought that the singular occupant of a certain cell had finally lost it.

"H-H-Harry! R-Ron!" gasped a girl's voice, after the door to the boy's dormitories was thumped open.

Ron only turned over and mumbled something to the affect of, "No, mum, I swear I didn't turn Bill's hair blue with your cooking dye, it must have been Fred and George," but quite a bit more like, "Num, zwear didn'd urn Billzare bloo wiffur cookindie, must've been GrednForge."

Hermione, ignoring the sleeping Weasley, walked up to Harry's bed and shook his shoulder.

"Harry…Harry!"

Harry moaned and grudgingly opened his eyes, squinting through the dark to see who was standing over him.

"'Ermione?"

"Yes, Harry! Oh, you'll never believe what just happened! I was so foolish!"

"Hermione why are you in the boy's dormitories?"

"I needed to talk to you."

"Can't we talk tomorrow? I'm still asleep."

"But, Harry," Hermione whined, pitifully, "I really need someone to talk this through with now."

"Hermione, I was just practicing Quidditch, and I'm all worn out! I won't last until you're done."

Hermione looked downcast.

"I'll talk to you in the morning," Harry said, sleepily.

The girl frowned and turned away. Stepping towards the door she said coldly, "That won't be necessary," but Harry was already asleep.

By the time the howling died down the moon was beginning to set.

Sirius and James were still watching Remus, both of which he was able to hear as well.

"Hey, James, d'ya think he'll be able to remember anything when he's finished transforming?"

Before Sirius had finished speaking though, the werewolf had stopped walking and sat down, unmoving.

"I have no idea, I've never done this before, leastwise to a werewolf."

"What's he doing?" Sirius asked.

"I'm not sure, maybe he's just-"

The werewolf let out a loud whine which ended in an agonizing howl.

"Oh, he's turning back into himself!"

"Time to sit and wait, then."

"You're a puddle, you can't sit."

"No, but I can pretend I'm sitting, can't I?" James retorted, then added, "I thought so," before Sirius could answer.

In the spare room that Dumbledore had provided him, Remus rubbed at his throbbing temples. He'd had the singular worst full moon experience since James and Lily had died.

For some reason, most of the night was fuzzy. The only part he remembered was Hermione wandering into the room, before the wolf-and-man struggle started.

Now that Remus was fully himself again, he had the time to wonder why the wolfsbane potion hadn't worked.

He had ruled out the possibility of it being Snape's fault. He wasn't the type to make a mistake on a potion and he wouldn't dare make it wrong on purpose directly under Dumbledore's nose.

Perhaps it had been tampered with, so the wolf was there more than with the potion, but a small amount less than without.

Remus was still pondering the options when a knock sounded at the door.

He waved Hermione in and she took a seat.

Tentatively she cleared her throat and opened her mouth.

She seemed to think for just a moment, before deciding that whatever she was going to say would not be the best way to start a conversation with this werewolf, and shut it.

Finally, Remus waiting patiently, Hermione opened it again.

"I'm sorry I… you know… walked in on you last night."

She looked uncomfortable.

"I just heard you… and… and… I wasn't sure…"

Remus rubbed his temples again.

"It's alright, I must not have cast a strong enough silencing charm on the door."

"Silencing charm?" Hermione asked, startled.

"Yes," the werewolf replied, "I didn't want everyone hearing my transformation, so I put a silencing charm on the room."

"But there weren't any charms on the room, except the locking charm, I would've noticed."

"What do you mean?" Remus asked, "I put three locking charms and a silencing charm on the room."

Hermione looked puzzled, "No, there was just the one locking spell. I undid that with 'Alohamora,' There wasn't anything else."

"But…" Remus stuttered, "I'm sure I did them right! I must have done them a hundred times before, I wouldn't have messed all three of them up!"

"When I checked for additional spells I found none. I learned how to do that last week. 'Magical Methods for Detection and Recognition,' said that this one can recognize most simple and quite a few complicated jinxes, charms and spells."

Remus made a face, "You sound like me. And my friends said I sounded like a book."

The two occupants of the room fell into silence, both looking thoughtful.

Since nobody else had heard the transformation, both people came to the same conclusion; someone either wanted Hermione dead (or turned into a werewolf) or Remus to have a guilty conscious. Or perhaps both.

The weekend passed quickly, Harry and Ron barely finishing their homework in time for the next week's classes (Hermione had finished them days before).

Halloween was finally approaching, and they were due to start working with more interesting magic, now that they had finished the basics and theories behind it all.

Two days before Halloween, Harry began to wonder why Hermione was being so distant.

Sure, you couldn't have called her, Ron and Harry friends, by any means, but she was being particularly cold and Harry found it quite disturbing.

That morning he approached her about it.

Hermione was reading the Daily Prophet over her bread and jam.

Harry sat down across from her. She made no sign that she had noticed him.

"Hi," Harry said.

No recognition.

"Erm… Hermione?"

The young witch finally looked up, but her eyes were frosty and she slid her plate away from the edge of the table, picking up her bag.

"Wait a minute," Harry said, worried that the girl had only decided to leave because he was trying to talk to her, "Hermione, why are you doing this?"

She made a 'tuh' sound and turned around, walking out of the Great Hall so fast that Harry couldn't be sure he hadn't imagined her brown hair whipping out of sight behind her.

Ron plopped down in her place.

"Mornin', Harry."

"Hullo, Ron," Harry replied, poking at his breakfast with a silver spoon.

"What's up, Harry? You look like you've been kicked off the Quidditch team."

"Just Hermione," sighed Harry, throwing down his fork, "She won't talk to me."

"Well what do you want to talk to her for?" Ron wondered, in an effort to cheer up his friend, "She just a sour grape who loves homework."

Harry looked at Ron and saw how earnest he was about forgetting the girl and nodded, solemnly.

Thx to all you reviewers!

I am gonna put up an interlude soon (hopefully) and I will attempt to write more quickly come summer.

I'm not quite sure if the story is coming to a close, you can leave a review with what you think.

I also have about six plot bunnies (or otters, or mearcats, or something) running around my head, trying to get me to start new stories, but I dunno if I should.