Chapter 4: Lupus Non Timet Canem Latrantem*

19 August 1997

12 Grimmauld Place

"Sirius!"

Moony clamped down on Hermione's shoulder as Padfoot barreled back into the room. The shaggy dog skidded on the floor before snapping his jaws at the werewolf in front of him. He bit at Moony's legs and scratched with his uncut claws, trying to steal his attention. Moony released Hermione and turned toward Padfoot.

Hermione's left side was covered in blood, blood that was now dripping from Moony's muzzle. Blood that was seeping into the carpet and matting her hair as she struggled to crawl away from the fighting canines. She blinked as her vision started to blur and darken.

Around her, Padfoot and Moony wrestled. Padfoot got a few good swipes in before a moment of hesitation allowed the werewolf to kick him into the wall. He made contact with a loud snap.

Then Moony stilled. The room looked disastrous. Blood marked the carpet and some splattered on the wall. Sirius lay in a heap beside the bookshelf, and Hermione was slowly and quietly trying to inch her way toward her wand, which had been knocked further from her grasp. Moony stood in the middle of the room, tail upright, teeth bared, blood and spit dripping to the floor, eyes on fire.

He was struggling to choose who to face next—the defenseless human or the canine who refused to submit. The wolf cocked his head from side to side. And then he began to advance on Hermione once again, his shoulders rolling with every step. Hermione stopped moving and stared directly into golden eyes. She shut hers, stopping a tear in her lashes.

This is it.

But suddenly, a bright red flash and a deafening boom erupted above her. With a painful creak, the enormous bookshelf separated from the wall and landed on top of Moony, barely missing the unconscious Padfoot.

Harry and Ron stood in the doorway to the drawing room, jaws on the ground. Hermione lifted her head to see them, tears pouring down her cheeks, but she made no sound. She glanced toward the felled werewolf. The bookshelf was made of iron, and added with its numerous tomes and artifacts, the weight had effectively knocked the wolf unconscious.

Breathing a shaky sigh of relief, Hermione turned to look at her saviors. Ron lowered his wand arm and looked away from her. Hermione followed his gazes to Padfoot who was still unmoving.

"Help Sirius," she said, her voice wavering. "You need to get him out of Padfoot's form. I need help. I'm going to pass out soon, and you all need to heal me. Quickly, please."

Harry nodded and silently walked over to his godfather.

The pain in Hermione's shoulder was fading into a slight throb. Her vision was filling with dark spots overlapping each other one by one by one until—It all faded to darkness.

"Enervate," Harry said forcefully. Padfoot stirred, shaking his massive head. He was weakened and hurt, but he was awake. "Padfoot, change back. We need to help Hermione. I-I don't know what to do."

The calmness in his own voice scared Harry. He was going into shock and soon would cease to be useful. From the look of Ron's pale face, it seemed his friend was already there. Two seconds later, Sirius stood in Padfoot's place, clothes ripped and skin bloodied. He took in the sight of the room quickly before rushing to Hermione's side.

"I'm so sorry, love," he whispered, picking up her limp body in his arms. "I'm so, so sorry." Sirius motioned with his head for the boys to follow, and with a final look at the room, carried Hermione up to her bedroom.

After laying Hermione on her bed, time seemed to start again. Sirius ran to the bathroom and grabbed towels, jutting out his wand arm to summon a bucket of water. Harry and Ron plastered themselves flat up against the wall, frozen in shock, each wizard remembering seeing Hermione petrified years before. As frightening as that episode had been, it in no way prepared them for the bloody mess of the girl that lay before them.

"Harry!" Sirius shouted as he tended to Hermione, trying to clear away as much blood as he could to get to the bite. "Where does Hermione keep the healing supplies?"

No response cam from Harry. Sirius jumped up from the side of the bed and crossed the room. He grabbed Harry's face and forced his godson's eyes away from Hermione's body.

"Your best friend has just been bitten by a werewolf. If you want her to survive it, you are going to start moving. Now!" He turned to Ron. "Don't make me yell at you too, Weasley!"

The boys blinked at Sirius, coming out of their shock as adrenaline flooded back into their systems. Harry ran down the stairs to the front door to get Hermione's beaded bag. Ron ran to the kitchen to search the cabinets, remembering how Hermione had set aside extras "just in case."

While the boys ran for supplies, Sirius dabbed a wet towel on Hermione's shoulder. He set the towel down and ripped her shirt apart, allowing more access to the wound. Hermione's head lolled to the side.

"Sorry about the shirt, love, but if you can get through this for me, I'll buy you a million shirts. Come on, Hermione. I know you can do this. You've done it before. Fight for me, please Pup." Sirius sighed. "It had to happen, Pup. I-I know it had to happen at some point, but I didn't know—I'm so, so sorry. If it could be any other way, I swear—I just can't. I'm too selfish. You've got to forgive me, Pup. I'm so sorry."

Sirius stopped talking as he heard Harry and Ron's footsteps returning to the stairs.

Hermione's shoulder was bandaged and a flight of pain potions stood guard next to her bed. Harry, Ron, and Sirius were taking turns sitting with Hermione and keeping an eye on Moony. Sirius had pulled himself away to join Harry, leaving Ron in the chair pulled close to her side. He held Hermione's hand, absentmindedly stroking her skin with his thumb while he hung his head and silently cried.

Harry and Sirius stood sentry downstairs, a foot or two outside the drawing room. Sirius felt like a failure. He could feel the anger rolling off Harry in powerful waves.

"You have to know I tried. I don't know how he got away from me. I had him in the dining room and then all of a sudden—I tried, Harry. I tried."

Harry was silent. He was fighting with some unknown force within himself, and it looked like it was winning. "I want to kill him, Sirius. I want Remus dead. But I know that's crazy. He's our friend. He's Hermione's friend. He didn't mean to hurt her. It wasn't his fault. I know that, but I still want to kill him."

Harry stared at the fallen werewolf before turning to face his godfather. The anger had disappeared from his face, now replaced by fear. Sirius hardened his expression so his face wouldn't betray what he was feeling inside. This was why Lily and James had picked him to be godfather, for the impossible moments like this.

"Harry, we can't think about what we want right now. We need to be able to help Remus and Hermione through this. Tomorrow they're going to wake up, scared and angry. Remus will no doubt try to get himself killed, either by you and Ron or Hermione or even himself. Hermione is going to be overwhelmed with emotions and feelings she won't be ready to comprehend yet. And Ron is probably going to have a hard time accepting what has happened to his friend. We need to be the strong ones, Harry. We can't let them face tomorrow alone."

Harry nodded and looked down at his feet. He knew Sirius was right, but he still couldn't completely shake how dark and murderous he felt. He was tense with the effort to restrain himself from launching violently at the werewolf.

"This is what makes a true hero." Sirius put his arm around Harry's shoulder. "It's not someone who is brave for themselves, but someone who is brave for others."

"We left her, Sirius. She told us to go, and we just left her. I don't even know what we were thinking. We're supposed to protect each other. It's what we've always done. B-but we failed this time. Ron and I failed her. I don't know how I'm going to face her."

"You'll do what you lot always do. Be strong and lean on each other."

Sirius turned away and headed back upstairs to relieve Ron of his duty. In a way, as Sirius left Harry alone with Moony, he was telling the boy that he trusted him, that he believed he was good. And Harry remembered for the umpteenth time how thankful he was for the bit of family he had left.

As Sirius made his way back up to Hermione's bedroom, he braced himself for this coming talk with Ron. He knew the Weasley boy had a temper to match his hair and honestly had no idea how Ron was going to react. He slowed his steps as he reached the door.

"I know you're scared, 'Mione," the redhead whispered softly to his sleeping friend. "I mean, I'm scared. And we both know Harry and Remus are going to go absolutely mental over this. And we both know Sirius is just as freaked out. Seems like I'm the only one who remembers that it's you lying here. Huh, brightest witch of our generation, and they're probably all downstairs thinking you're going to fall apart."

Sirius stood, dumbstruck, in the doorway and waited.

"I know, I know. Don't need to tell me twice. You're the only thing keeping us from falling apart. Just do one thing for me, 'kay? Just get through the night, and wake up tomorrow. Just be okay, please? And I swear, I won't even say anything when you go all crazy in the library looking up every single book with the smallest mention of werewolves. I promise. Just wake up tomorrow, and we'll take it one day at a time. It'll be okay, 'Mione. I promise."

The drawing room was slowly put back together. Harry had taken to cleaning the room after Sirius went to relieve Ron. He cleaned the Muggle way, without his wand, and somehow it had made him feel better about Hermione. When Ron traipsed back down, he cleaned alongside Harry, neither saying a word. They avoided the bookshelf, leaving it to pin Moony down until Sirius could move him. But Hermione's blood. They scrubbed it from the room like they were trying to erase the past, still leaving behind a faint stain on the dark patterned rug.

They'd returned to Hermione's side while Padfoot dragged Moony to the basement. No one was in the room when Remus changed back, but Sirius had cast a Silencing charm on the drawing room so his cries wouldn't wake Hermione.

When her changed back, the first thing Remus noticed was that the ache consuming his entire body. Not too usual when he didn't have wolfsbane, but something felt different. The second thing he noticed, however, sent a shiver up his spine. A dark, coppery taste flooded his senses, and there was something familiar there. Remus racked his memory and froze when he found it.

Hermione.

Remus jumped to his feet, shouting at the pain that shot through his aching muscles. His right calf was bleeding from what looked like a dog bite. Remus ignored the pain and climbed the stairs in search of Harry, Ron, Sirius, and Hermione. Alive, alive. He had to make sure they were alive.

Following his nose, Remus found himself outside Hermione's door. She was lying on her bed, shirt torn exposing her bra and bandaged shoulder. It was covered, treated and already healing, but he knew what lurked beneath the blood and gauze.

My bite.

"Shit!" Remus shouted, hitting the wall. His outburst woke Sirius who was asleep in the chair not five feet from Remus.

"Mate, shut up," Sirius grumbled, clearly exhausted and half-asleep. Remus glared at his friend, grabbed him by the sleeve, and hauled him out of the room, shoving him up against the wall. Remus' body cried out in pain, but he welcomed the penance.

"Sirius," Remus growled. Despite every inch of his body begging for rest, his mind was completely awake. "What the hell happened?"

Sirius was fully awake now, his face steeled over and his brows set. "Moony, get ahold of yourself. We both knew this was going to happen. It was just a matter of time. You got over it before, so don't give me anymore shit this time. I'm too bloody tired after dealing with you and Pup all night. We didn't want it to happen like this, but it did. It's over. Just get some rest, and be ready to explain to Hermione what's happening to her tomorrow."

Remus remained in shock. Of course, he knew Sirius was right, but that didn't stop his heart from racing. Sure, yes, Remus had dealt with this guilt before, but it had actually happened this time. He had not only hurt Hermione, but…

She's going to hate me. I can't have her hate me. It might actually kill me.

Chapter Title Translation: *A Wolf is Not Afraid of a Barking Dog