Chapter 16 – Revelations

Harry was wondering how waking up in the Hospital Wing had started to become a normal occurrence. It was the day after the Second Task and he was waiting for Hermione to stop by and tell her about his condition. His conversation with Madam Pomfrey had assured him that all would be okay, but not without some complications.

The infirmary doors burst open with a blur of brow hair, signaling the arrival of the Gryffindor bookworm. Heading directly for Harry, she wrapped him up in a fierce hug causing Harry to recoil due to his injured muscles.

"Sorry."

Harry chuckled at her antics. "Don't worry Hermione. It'll take more than a few Grindylows to get me." He rose up in a dignified manner, but his attempt at humor was sullied by a wince when it aggravated his injuries.

"What exactly happened Harry?"

"By what Madam Pomfrey's told me, I had an adverse reaction to the Gillyweed." The look on Hermione's face told him that she had already figured that part out. "At first they weren't sure whether or not the Gillyweed just wore off and I accidently transformed, or if it had caused me to transform."

"Well? Which was it?"

Harry was nervous about where this line of questioning would lead. He knew that it would lead to him revealing what was happening in his lessons with Lupin. He hoped that Hermione would understand his reasoning for it, but there was still a trickle of doubt about how this would affect their relationship. Seeing no way around it he continued on.

"It caused me to accidently transform. Afterwards, it was hard for me to control my transformations, but it's become a lot easier since then." Preparing himself for the worst, he pressed on. "She also said that my recent activities had made it more likely that this would happen."

The stern look he received from that announcement made him immediately regret bringing it up, but there was no point in worrying about it now. Hermione had continually reminded him that he needed to maintain absolute control and he tried but how he had achieved it was what he thought she wouldn't understand.

"Harry, we've been through this. You need to learn control!"

"I've been working on it Hermione."

"You've got to try harder. You got to get it under control. If something were to happen-"

"It's not about control Hermione!" his outburst had stopped her argument, the shock apparent on her face. Not allowing her to go any further, Harry revealed his secret.

~Flashback~

The First Task was only a few days away and Harry was starting to succumb to the exhaustion of his completely full schedule. From classes, to Quidditch practice, preparing for the task with Hermione, Harry wasn't sure his body could keep up like this.

Even his current lesson with Lupin wasn't going anywhere. They were trying to figure out how they could get Harry to control his shifts, but therein lied the problem. Harry was unable to even transform at will, which made it difficult to find a way to prevent it.

"Don't worry Harry. We'll figure this out one way or another." Harry found it difficult to remain as optimistic as his former professor. After weeks of meeting, their search had yet to turn up anything.

"Are you sure this is even possible Moony? I mean you can't shift at will and you've been a werewolf for a lot longer than I have."

"First off Harry, I can't shift without a full moon so I have no reason to learn control. Second, if anyone can figure this out, I believe you can."

He hoped that Lupin was right.

"Well… seeing as you're exhausted Harry, why don't we take a break for a while before coming back to it."

They sat in comfortable silence for a long time, neither individual speaking as they were deep in thought trying to solve this conundrum. Regarding Lupin, Harry was reminded that he was one of his father's best friends. He had so many questions.

"Hey Moon?" When Lupin looked up at him, he pressed on. "Why does Snape hate my father so much? I mean…I know he saved his life but that can't be the only reason could it?"

Sighing, as he had anticipated that this question would come up, Remus regarded the young man in front of him. He was once again reminded of his two friends as he gazed at Harry.

"No you're right, that isn't the whole story. It's mostly because Severus thought that James was trying to steal Lily from him." The startled look Harry gave him caused a chuckle to escape his lips. "You see, Lily and Severus were friends before coming to school. She was always friendly to him and James didn't understand it. They had remained close until fifth year." The look that crossed Lupin's face confused Harry further.

"What happened?"

"Severus hurt Lily. During a confrontation with James and Sirius, he called her a Mudblood in his anger. She never forgave him for that."

Harry's anger began to quickly rise because of that. He knew that Snape was a git, but the fact that he would call his mother such a thing made his blood boil.

"That git! I'll hex him next time I see him!"

Lupin looked up at Harry and his eyes widened in shock.

"Harry! Your hand!"

Looking down Harry saw that his nails had elongated into claws. Gasping he quickly tried to reel himself in but was stopped by Moony.

"Hold on Harry. How do you feel?"

Confused at the question, he actually paused momentarily to think it over.

"I feel fine."

"Do you feel out of control?"

"No not in the slightest."

The surprise was evident on Remus' face, as he nodded his head at Harry to allow him to compose himself.

"What happened Harry?"

Thinking about it, Harry, wasn't sure what exactly happened. He felt completely in control, but he would admit that learning about what happened to his mother had made him a little angry.

"I'm not sure. I guess maybe I let slip my control a little bit because I was angry. Why?"

Smiling, Remus gave him his answer. "I think we've just found out how you can control your shift.

~Flashback End~

-HP-

Hermione was shocked at what Harry had just revealed to her. It seemed that Harry was implying that control wasn't something he could have. She just refused to believe that.

"What exactly are you saying Harry?"

He sighed before he gave his answer. "What I mean is that it's not about gaining control. It's about learning how to let go of it. The way Moony described it, my shifts were like a damn. If you stop the water flow and it eventually breaks through, you won't be able to stop it, but if you let the water out in controlled bursts, it's more manageable."

"So you mean you can change at will?"

Harry closed his closed his eyes in concentration, his rising up to head level. His face scrunched up further as his nails grew longer until they eventually became claws.

She knew she was being selfish, but deep down she felt hurt that Harry hadn't confided in her this piece of information. Hadn't she supported him throughout this whole tournament? Especially when everyone else turned their backs on him. She couldn't understand it.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Harry immediately looked crestfallen, like this was the most painful thing he ever had to endure. "I wanted to tell you, I really did. But I couldn't." She didn't think it was possible, but his disposition worsened even further as he continued on. "Every time I wanted to tell you, I kept seeing the look in your eyes after the First Task."

Hermione knew exactly what he was talking about. When Harry had lost control while facing the dragon, she was afraid. She knew she had nothing to be afraid of, but the rational side of her brain told her that it was possible that it could happen again. She had hoped that he hadn't noticed, but it was now painfully obvious that he had.

"I'm so sorry Harry." He waved it off as if it was nothing, even though she could see that it bothered him terribly. Little did she know how much that truly did bother him.

"I know you've noticed some things. Lie how the moon bothers me more than it did. The problem was that I tried to hold off my changes when I should be embracing them."

"Why would you embrace them Harry? Don't you want to be free of this?"

"I do. Believe me I do Hermione. It's just that I might as well get used to it because this thing doesn't look like it's going away."

Hermione felt a little more hurt at that. She had been searching for a way to cure Harry ever since she found out about his infection. The fact that he had seemingly given up on finding a cure, giving up on her hurt her deeply. If she was honest with herself it wasn't just this that had her upset.

The fact that Ron was Harry's hostage and she wasn't bothered her slightly. Wasn't she a much better friend to Harry than Ron had been earlier in the year? Slight twinges of jealousy came with that train of thought. Why was Ron more important than her? Not wanting to confront where these feelings were coming from, she redirected her anger at the only thing she could think of.

"Well I'm still gonna keep looking for a cure for you," she said hotly, "I won't stop until I find one!"

"And I'm grateful for that Hermione but I need to be comfortable with my powers, you understand that?" Even with his admittedly reasonable explanation, she couldn't come to terms with the fact that he had given up. Her mind was in a complete blank, she could only focus on one other thing.

"So what have you been doing with Lupin since you found out?"

"We've been working on increasing how much I can let go at a tie before it becomes too much. Since he's already a werewolf, if I go too far it won't really matter."

Finally getting frustrated at his dismissal of his situation, she gave him a hasty goodbye, before turning and leaving the hospital wing.

-HP-

As Hermione was angrily making her way away from the Hospital Wing, she passed one Fleur Delacour, who was in turn heading there herself. Wondering briefly what caused the bushy-haired girl to leave in a huff, she quickened her ace slightly to the infirmary.

Inside, she scanned the beds for Harry, finding him in a bed off near the corner of the room. As she got closer, he observed her questioningly, not sure of what she was doing there.

"Bonjour, Monsieur Potter."

"Bonjour, Fleur. What brings you here?"

She chuckled at his attempt at the French greeting, but was shocked at how his immediate dismissal of why she was there.

"I wanted to zank you for rescuing my seester."

Blushing at her thanks, he immediately tried to maneuver his way out of this. "It was nothing Fleur. Anyone would've done what I did."

"Non, zat's where you are wrong. You were the only one who even made a move to rescue 'er. For zat, I zank you." She then leaned forward and kissed him on both cheeks. The blush on his face grew an even deeper shade of red, which Fleur found very amusing.

"You are different from ze ozzers I 'ave seen. I would like it if we became good friends after this 'Arry."

"I think I'd like that too."

They chatted idly for a few more minutes, before Fleur decided to broach subject that she knew would be a sensitive one.

"'Arry, I want you to know zat I know that you are different from everyone else."

A mixture of confusion and worry crossed Harr's face. "What do you mean Fleur?"

"I saw your eyes and your claws when you came out of ze lake."

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about."

Raising her eyebrows, she decided to play along briefly. "Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"Zen what may I ask is up wiz your 'and?"

Harry looked down and saw that his hand still hand claws protruding from it and quickly tried to reel himself in and return it to normal. "Okay so you know about my secret. You're not going to start avoiding me and tell everyone are you?"

"No 'Arry. I understand what it is like to be different from everyone else. You're secret is safe with me." He smiled at her, unable to understand at the moment why she was so understanding about his condition. "Remember 'Arry, I am also considered a 'creature' by your government'.

With that, Harry now had a friend that he felt could understand what he was going through perfectly. Looking at her a thought came to his mind.

"How do you deal with the way people look at you?"

"You don't." The coldness in her eyes frightened Harry slightly. It was obvious that thi was something that Fleur was quite familiar with dealing with. "Zey will zink what zey want to and zere is nozzing you can do about it. Ze best thing for people like us to do is try to move on wiz it and ignore it." Though she didn't outright say it, her body language told the story of someone who didn't quite accept their own words. The air around them was beginning to feel tense so Harry decided to drop the topic.

Fleur stood up to leave, thanking him once again for his heroism by kissing him on the cheek again before leaving. As she turned to leave the infirmary, she failed to notice his hand moving up to where she had kissed him, as well as the goofy grin that crossed his face.

Author's Note:

So, I hope that the revelation that Harry has to learn how to let go of his control is a satisfying one. Everything is not perfect right now between Harry and Hermione but let's see where this causes the relationships to head as we progress further in the story.

I know some people may think that Hermione is OOC with how she's reacting to the news about Harry. My only argument is that the sixth book clearly shows that sometimes, she can be as irrational as everyone else. Not only that but when she does, she's even more irrational than everyone else.

I also want to answer a couple of private messages I got here in my AN. Some people asked why I waited so long to cover Harry's lessons with Lupin or why I don't discuss his transformations during the full moon since the beginning of term. To answer the questions, nothing interesting has happened in either of those scenarios. The lesson in this chapter is the only one where anything interesting happens and since few people know that Harry is a werewolf, there aren't any complications with his transformations

As always, Thanks for reading!