I am so so so so so sorry for the long wait. I have nothing else to say here, except I own nothing. Enjoy.

Chapter Five – Wolfsbane

Once Thursday rolled around, Hermione could definitely feel the wolf inside her trying to claw its way out. Even Harry could tell that there were many behavioral changes in her. Like being able to hear him coming when he's not even at the entrance to their Head dormitory.

By the afternoon, even Hermione noticed she couldn't seem to concentrate as they struggled through their last class of the day, Double Potions. Even when the bell rang, she still had three hours left until her meeting with Lupin (which would be the first time she'd spoken to him since Tuesday, as she didn't have DADA Wednesday or Thursday).

Knowing the time wouldn't move any faster no matter how much she willed it to, after dinner, Hermione just settleddown in her and Harry's common room with her homework. Soon she was surrounded by open books showing complicated rune translations and number charts, diagrams for turning a flamingo into a chair, and an essay with the ink still glistening about Lethifolds for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Mione?" Harry said after a while.

"Hmm?" Hermione said, not looking up, but continuing to fill out her number chart.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"There's a clock right over there, Harry."

"I know, but to you know what time it is?"

Hermione, sighing exasperatedly, looked at her watch, gave out a yelp, and jumped to her feet. She only had five minutes to get to Lupin's office before she was late.

"Thanks, Harry" she said quickly, limping toward the portrait hole and stumbling through it, swearing under her breath.

It took her ten minutes to get down to the third floor, and shearrived just as Lupin was leaving.

"Ah, Hermione, there you are," he said spotting her, "I was just about to come and look for you."

"Sorry, I'm late, professor. I guess I just lost track of the time."

"Quite all right," Lupin said, reopening the door to his office, "Come on in, and sit down. You should give that leg a rest."

Hermione smiled gratefully and entered his office where she immediately spotted two steaming goblets full of a scarlet-colored potion. She sat down obediently (and thankfully), but Lupin still caught her eyeing the potions warily.

"Don't worry," he said, smiling, "they're harmless, though they might make you feel slightly sick since it's your first time, but this is one of the few things you get at least somewhat used to as a werewolf, though, I feel I must warn you, they taste awful," he said, causing Hermione to laugh a little at the face he made, "You may laugh, but just wait. Also, you have to be careful you don't drink it too fast until you get used to it, or it'll scorch your throat, much like a Pepper-Up Potion would. I learned that one the hard way. Well, cheers," he said, handing Hermione one of the goblets. She took it and nervously drank about half a gulp. Lupin wasn't kidding; it tasted nasty!

"What do you think?" Lupin asked, his goblet already a quarter of the way empty. Hermione didn't even have to answer; the look on her face was enough., "Pity sugar makes it useless, huh?"

"Oh, yeah," she managed to get out, before taking another tentative gulp.

Fifteen minutes later, both their goblets were empty, but still smoking slightly. Hermione was vaguely wondering whether the taste would ever leave her mouth as Lupin began digging in his desk.

"Something to wash down the taste," he said, tossing her a bottle of butterbeer. She opened it and started drinking it, as they proceeded into an uncomfortable silence.

"You know, I'm surprised at you, Hermione," Lupin said, after a minute, and Hermione looked straight into his amber-brown eyes, "You're taking this a lot better than I would have expected anyone to. Unless there's something I don't know," he added when she looked away from him.

"I'm not taking this as well as you think I am," she said, still not looking at him.

"I know," Lupin said with an understanding smile, as Hermione looked up at him in surprise, "I figured this was all a cover when I went down to the library last week to find half the books on werewolves gone," he said, causing her to look away from him and a light pink blush to form on her cheeks. Then, his face darkened a little, "but just know that no book can tell you what it is really like. Even I have difficulty explaining it, and I have been a werewolf for thirty years. But I can tell you that the transformation is something you never get used to; every month is as painful as the last, even with the Wolfsbane Potion," he looked at Hermione (who had been hanging on his every word) with somber eyes, "I never meant to transfer this curse to anybody, especially one of my students. I know you don't think this is my fault, Hermione, but I am so so sorry, and I just want you to know that if you have any questions, or just want to talk, I'm here."

There was a pause and Lupin could almost here the gears in Hermione's head spinning. She finally voiced what he had been feeling since his talk with McGonagall three weeks previous.

"Everything's riding what's going to happen next week, isn't it?" she asked in a small voice. It took Lupin a minute to respond.

"Yes," he finally said, "which is why we need to be extra vigilant, and try to eliminate all things that could cause something to go wrong. In fact, just to make sure you can graduate in June, we'll have to be extra careful until the end of the year."

Hermione nodded slowly, knowing that there was a lot of weight on her shoulders, no matter how much Lupin tried to take off.

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There you have it. The long-awaited chapter five. Just a note on how I figured out how long Remus has been a werewolf, for those who want to know I know we have never been given the exact age he was bitten, just when he was a small boy, so I just put it at eight. So I took twenty-one (how old he was when Harry was born) minus eight and got thirteen. Then I took thirteen plus seventeen (how old Harry is now) and got thirty. Just a little side-bar. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't forget to Review! Please.