The last few day of Hogwarts were full of mixed emotions for Hermione. Although her exams had been going splendidly at this point, she had been trying to keep her new "little furry problem" a secret. As it is at Hogwarts, however, where even the paintings gossip among eachother about every single student ever caught snogging in the bathrooms, it took almost no time at all for news of her condition to leak out. Mathieu Baker, a Slytherin student in the hospital wing for trying to enlarge his privates (a common injury among immature students), saw Hermione's bite while they were both in the hospital wing.
Baker, in a display of his immaturity, started gossip about Hermione as soon as his front end was corrected to a less comical size. He tried to keep it a secret at first, but his friends did not seem to care for his goal, and told many students about what Baker had seen.
The final visit to Hogsmeade of the year was filled with many rambunctious adolescents blabbering on about the news that had been floating around. Smart, pretty Hermione Granger- a monstrous beast? It sounded like something out of the Quibbler.
"Three Butterbeers, please…" groaned Hermione. Aberforth, the bartender and owner of the Hog's head, looked at Hermione with a concerned expression as he poured Butterbeer into three glass mugs. "What's up, young lady?" said Aberforth in a tone that seemed strange to Hermione. "Something appen'd at school, didn't it?
Hermione replied in a voice halfway between a groan and a monotone rant "Bitten. By a werewolf. Professor Lupin bit me under the light of the moon. It's only thanks to some centaur passing by that he scurried off." A centaur, of course, was not what drove Lupin away, but Hermione didn't want to expose Buckbeak's survival. "Rumors spreading about school like wildfire. Most of my classmates just look at me with this… expression…I can't actually describe it that well. Bigotry and fear in an emotional cocktail, I suppose." Hermione continued.
Aberforth replied "Right pickle you got yourself into there, little'un." Aberforth then explained to Hermione "You'll have to restrain yourself a bit more than normal, because according to my old Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher – Professor Zarenbolt, nice fellow - female werewolves are more aggressive than males. Even he, who had travelled to areas most infested with dark creatures and magic, could not explain this fact. Anyways, just enjoy your drink and get some rest. You look quite tired."
Hermione didn't respond, but simply winked at the aged bartender and slurped her drinks. Trying to avoid attention seeking third-years looking for a photo of the newly turned werewolf, she eventually wandered outside, to which Ron and Harry were both waiting for her.
"Drowning your sorrows, I guess?" Ron stated. "I mean, not as if that's really unordinary, I'd be doing that too if something that weird happened to me."
"Thanks, Ron," Hermione replied. "We should get back to the castle now, it's getting somewhat dark," she continued.
As she looked up at the stars, the slightly waning moon in the heavens gave Hermione a sense of dread for the inevitable. Her parents were Muggles for crying out loud, how were they supposed to deal with this?
Her only option for tomorrow on dealing with this was to visit Dumbledore's office. Sending an owl to Albus's office (as he was currently defending a third cousin of his who unintentionally made an Auror's nose fall off in the Ministry courts), she sent herself to sleep afterwards.
Most of Hermione's dreams usually involved Muggle television programmes or inventing new and unusual spells. But this one was different. It could be better described as a nightmare.
Hermione's line of sight was lower. She felt trapped inside her own body, or rather her wolf's body. Whenever she tried to scream, it would simply be turned into a growl, and the wolf would get faster. She was in the Forbidden Forest, or somewhere looking similar. Ron was in the distance, still wearing his Hogwarts robes and pointed hat. Hermione tried to prevent herself from getting closer, but the wolf resisted, and lunged at Ron.
"STUPEFY!" Ron shouted. "VERDIMILLOUS!" he also shouted. Sparks of red and green light flashed from his wand. It was no use. The wolf jumped onto Ron, and began tearing him bit by bit. Hermione could only watch in horror as Ron screamed in pain after having his arm torn into pieces. After what felt like hours of mauling Ron, Hermione heard voices. She couldn't understand what they were saying but the final word she heard in the dream was "monster."
Hermione woke almost instantaneously in shock.