A stopgap
As they watched the boys growl at each other, Greyback and the other wolves had to laugh at the antics of the two boys. Hermione looked at both of them, smiled and shook her head. "Boys!"
Greyback got himself back under control and looked at Hermione. "All right, we've got Potter. Now what?"
"Now, I start comparing symptoms to find any common ground between them." At his confused look, Hermione explained further. "Scabior was bitten, Harry was only scratched. Scabior has been infected since the start, Harry has only just started showing symptoms but he is already on the same level, it seems like, that Scabior is. I need to figure out why and how Scabior's case is so different from Harry's." She opened up a notebook and began two different reports, one for Harry and one for Scabior.
As she spoke, she kept a worried eye on Scabior. 'Why wasn't he more alert?' she wondered. After getting as hyper as he had, when Fenrir brought her then Harry into 'his' territory, now he was already settling quietly with a low rumbling growl directed at Harry. "I figured he'd be a bit more excited than this, especially with new faces showing up in front of him. Is this normal behavior for him? I seem to recall him being more, uh, rowdy."
Greyback patted Scabior's head roughly. "You're remembering right. He was rowdy. He's been getting quieter and more subdued the last couple of days. He's dying, Granger, that's why we've been trailing you. I told you that." Greyback patiently explained.
"So this behavior has only been this past two days. Before that, he was still as hyper as Harry is right now?" she wanted to clarify as much as possible. Anything could be a clue as to how to cure this infection going around!
"Yeah, his first week was the hardest because of the change but then he stabilized and he's been a rowdy boy ever since then, until now. It's why I'm glad we found you so fast. If you, Potter and Weasley only got in a day or two ago with Potter scratched, then it can't be too late for Scabior." Greyback watched his pup alternately growl at Potter and nuzzle Granger. His wolves were amused as Potter mirrored his behavior, growling back and nuzzling Hermione from the other side.
"Wait, change? What change?" Hermione blinked. She was recalling that he'd told her this before but she was so focused on the young Snatcher, at the time, she hadn't really processed what he'd said.
"When I bit him, of course. It effects people differently but the most usual route is they go through a period of having a high fever and pain burning through their veins. I've had several of my wizard boys tell me how the change effected them over the years. I told you, he'd wanted to be a wolf, remember, so I bit him." Greyback crouched down beside Scabior. As he did so, the sleeve of his jacket fell back, revealing his forearm, a clearly bitten forearm!
Hermione suddenly looked closer at Greyback. "Oh, my gods, you're bitten! Why didn't you tell me?! Greyback, why didn't you show me this earlier?! I could have had it treated sooner!" she lunged towards him so suddenly that both Harry and Scabior shied away from her. She grabbed the werewolf leaders arm, inspecting the bleeding bite mark.
Greyback stared at her quizzically. "Granger, this isn't the first time I've been bitten nor will it be the last time, I'm sure. Get your knickers out of that twist! Give it about two more hours, it'll heal itself." She stared at him in anger, then seemed to register exactly what he'd said.
"You, wait what? You've been bitten before? But how? I mean, every person I know who's been bitten has died! How are you not dead if you've been bitten several times before?!" Hermione was bewildered. 'How was this possible?!'
The girl looked so confused, Greyback had to pull her close while he laughingly told her. "Two words, Granger, werewolf venom."
Hermione stared at him in shock. Then she turned to Scabior. "That's, that's how he's still alive! When you bit him, the werewolf venom began fighting the infection, didn't it?!"
Greyback shrugged. "I don't know, maybe? You're the healer, you tell me. We just figured he must be immune. Isn't that what your Muggles call it?"
"Yes, they call it immunity but he isn't or he wouldn't have gotten sick to start with. Your venom stopped him from dying! Werewolves don't get sick!" Hermione was unaware that she still had a grip on Greyback's arm. Watching her puzzle through this new thought was fascinating and he wasn't about to break her concentration. Not when his two newest pups depended on her and he fully intended to claim Harry Potter as his newest pup!
"When you were bringing me here earlier, I told you Harry had been scratched. That was about twelve hours before you snatched me. We've been here about, what, an hour now?" he nodded confirmation. "When I left the Ministry about two hours ago, Harry still recognized me, he could still say my name. Now, it's like pure rage has taken over his mind and body. Was Scabior the same way? Did he still know you after the change? Did he recognize you at all? Could he still speak?"
"Yeah. He knew who he was, who I was and could say names and simple phrases right up until a day or so ago and then, like I said, he started going downhill and we began intensifying the search for you." He waited to see what she did with that piece of information. Apparently what she was going to do was get wildly excited! "It's the venom! I'm not sure if it's just your venom or werewolf venom, in general. This could be major, Greyback! We might have a breakthrough here!"
"I'm not sure either. You're the healer, though. You're more than welcome to test it out." Greyback shrugged. She chewed her lip as she thought. 'Greyback hadn't gotten sick from the bites! Neither had his natural born wolves! Only the wizard born wolves had gotten sick!'
"I need to do a blood transfusion on them and I need volunteers! I need to test a theory! Your venom or maybe just werewolf venom in general stops the infection. It's not a cure, it's a stopgap but it will keep them with us! It will keep them alive until I find a cure!" she looked intensely at him.
"You're a natural born werewolf, right? Both parents were wolves?" he shook his head. "Both parents have lycanthropy. My dad was the one who transformed." Hermione frowned, "Oh, ok. But still, I'm going to assume that some of these wolves are also natural born? Or are they all wizard born?"
"At the moment, I have five wizard born wolves. None of whom are allowed outside this building. I did have nine. Four who had been with me for years, they were attacked on a supply run. They were extremely worse than Scabior, much, much worse. And this was with them already being wolves! They had to be put down. We staked them and burned the bodies. My natural borns have been attacked several times, same as me, they have, none of them, gotten sick yet. Whatever it is you think you're looking for, it won't be in the blood of a wizard born werewolf." Greyback said firmly.
"All right, then I need you and another natural born to let me take blood from the both of you. I can't take it all from you because that would sap too much of your strength." He looked around, then motioned. A younger werewolf who looked eerily similar to him came forward. "This is Philip. My oldest son. Leader of the second pack in this room. And Scabior's best friend."
"Second pack? I thought they were all your wolves." Hermione cocked her head at him. Greyback shook his head. "No, look around closely and you'll see older and younger males scattered around here. All the older ones are my pack. The younger crowd belongs to my son. His uncle is my Beta. Philip's Beta was supposed to be Scabior.
"Nice to meet you, Philip. Wish it could have been under better circumstances but beggars can't be choosers, right?" Philip let out a small chuckle. "Actually, Granger we have met before. You might not have paid too much attention that day, though. I was the one holding you when Scabior came to talk to you." She gasped as she remembered the seemingly freakishly strong boy who had caught her that day for Scabior. "Actually I do remember you now."
She removed a variety of needles and vials from her bag. After carefully prepping two needles, she took blood from both Philip and Greyback. She labeled two vials and Greyback saw why she'd taken a large amount from both of them. "I need a workspace, somewhere I can set up a potions labs. There is a cure and I'm betting that werewolf venom plays a role in either slowing down the effects or helping kill the infection altogether!"
After finding a long, low table in a corner of the room, she began emptying her bag onto the table. She laid out the two vials and began preparing the shots for Scabior and Harry. She had them bring Harry and Scabior over. Both immediately latched onto her arms again, growling menacingly at each other. She laughed and shook her head. "Ok, boys, now c'mon! You both need meds and I can't give them to you if you're hanging onto me!" Greyback and the wolves were amused as she tried to reason with the boys. They were going to step in, though, if the boys got too rowdy.
Both boys visibly drooped as she gently extracted herself and she had to smile at them. She pulled them close, crooning into their hair. "It's ok, I'm not mad at either of you. I just have to have my hands free for just a few minutes to administer these meds to you. I don't mind holding hands with you but let me get these meds into your systems first, ok?" Even knowing they likely couldn't understand a bit of what she was saying, Hermione didn't care. It made her feel better talking to them; besides, who knew when the day would come when they'd actually answer her back!
The Snatcher and the Boy Who Lived winced and tried to jerk away as she took blood from each vial and injected each one. Knowing that Fenrir was the one who had bitten Scabior, she used his blood for him. Philip's blood was injected into Harry. Then they sat back and waited. It wasn't long before Scabior suddenly snarled and took Hermione down again. This time, he didn't let go. He wound himself around her and glared angrily at the surrounding wolves. It took Greyback, Philip and another natural born werewolf to get him untangled from her. She was actually laughing as they freed her. "There's my Scabior. That's the rowdy boy I remember!"
Suddenly, "Hermione?" a muffled voice came from behind her. She turned and looked into the bright green, confused eyes of Harry Potter. "Harry, you know me?" she laid her hand on his cheek. He nodded and nuzzled it. She grabbed him into a hug and burst into tears. The wolves were astounded. Scabior was snarling and growling, trying his level best to break free, his blue eyes snapping as they focused on her. "It worked! Greyback, it worked! It's not a cure, but it will stop them from getting any worse. We just have to monitor them. Whenever it looks like they're getting worse or relapsing, we give them an injection of blood. It will keep them alive while I'm looking for the cure. If nothing else, I'll MAKE a cure! Harry's already speaking again. We just need to get Scabior back to this point!"
She prepped another needle and approached Scabior again. He saw the needle and lashed out. They held him still as he was injected once more. Then they waited again. Scabior looked up, blinked and stopped fighting them. They slowly let him go as Hermione approached him again. He looked at her, pulled her close and sniffed her hair. As she moved back, she looked up at him. He bent until his mouth was even of her ear and whispered in a raspy, broken, muffled whisper, "Hello, beautiful."
Greyback had to admit. Hermione was definitely living up to her title, 'brightest witch of her age.' He'd laughed months ago when he'd heard the Malfoys talking about her, calling her that. They had been trying to convince the Dark Lord that the best way to stop Potter in his tracks was to find and rid him of Mudblood Granger. Now he saw the two men had been on the right track, after all. It actually made him glad now that he'd broken the alliance with the Dark Lord. There was a new player in town, its name was werewolf, and it already had two thirds of the Golden Trio in its numbers.
