Chapter 3 – Nighttime Thoughts

She sniffed at the night air, the full moon bright above her. Her ears pricked forward as she heard something crashing through the forest. Inhaling deeply, she caught the scent of her favorite prey; a human. Crouching low behind a bush, she watched as a branch almost directly in front of her was pushed forward and a tall, well-built teenage boy with jet black hair and a lightning bolt scar on his forehead that showed in-between his bang and stood out more than ever in the pale moonlight.

She sniffed at him again, and decided she couldn't wait. With a low, thunderous growl, she pounced, hitting the boy's chest with her front paws, knocking him off his feet. But the force of the leap had carried her too far and she rolled off him. However she was to her feet sooner then him, and before he could stand, she pounced again, this time sinking her teeth deep into his shoulder, relishing the feeling of his warm blood running down her teeth, and having absolute pleasure in hearing him scream.

Hermione woke with a start, Harry's scream still ringing in her ears, and the coppery taste of his blood faint in her mouth. It was a minute before she realized that her blankets were wrapped around her like a straight jacket. After a few minutes, pausing occasionally as her leg was still very sore, she managed to get free, and when she pulled the blanket off, she shivered as the cold November air touched her sweat-soaked skin.

Looking at the clock, Hermione saw that it was almost three. She sighed and fell back down onto her pillow. In just a few hours, she would be going to her first class in a week and a half. Now, you would probably expect a bookworm like Hermione to be excited about this, and she was, but it would also mean seeing somebody that she hadn't talked to since she was in the hospital wing. Somebody who also had a direct tie into this whole fiasco.

Flashback

Harry and Hermione were sitting in their private Head common room, Harry doing some last minute homework, and Hermione organizing what she would need for her classes tomorrow, since Madam Pomfrey told her to limit the time on her feet as much as possible.

"What's the first class tomorrow?"

But instead of answering, Harry had a question of his own.

"Are you sure you want to start classes tomorrow? I'm sure Madam Pomfrey would let you wait a few more days if you needed to."

"What's the first class?" she asked again with a don't-even-try look.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts."

End Flashback

As Hermione laid there, she could hear Professor Lupin's voice echoing in her mind, "Hermione, don't you understand?... Then you realize that you will be shunned from society for the rest of your life?... And you're okay with that?..." She had thought about this argument for a long time and had come to the conclusion that she wasn't okay with it. She knew she was a werewolf, and she accepted that, but she wasn't okay with pushing aside the only other person she knew who understood what she was going through. With a pang of guilt, she wondered if he was mad at her for what she had said.

'No,' she thought, 'He knows what it's like. I'm sure he could tell I just didn't want him to get sacked, and that I'm just stressed. I'm sure he understands.'

With that, she pushed this problem to the back of her mind, and her thoughts wandered back to her dream. She had dreamt it many times before, and had just taken it for granted that it was all a part of becoming a werewolf, so she never thought twice about it, but tonight was different. Never before, had she seen the face of the person she was attacking, and never before had she felt such pleasure course through her body at the sound of their scream and the taste of their blood.

'Maybe it's just because the full moon is getting closer,' she thought. Tomorrow was Monday, and the full moon was a week from Thursday.

"But why was I attacking Harry?" she asked herself out loud, "Why Harry?"