Disclaimer: I am the proud owner of a crappy old car that still runs, but not of Harry Potter.

Chapter 5
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The dishes were cleared by the time Remus and Severus were coming down the hallway, and Hermione had stopped trying to kill Ron with her clothing. Harry had calmed down and was trying to find a position that didn't pull on the newly forming scars, without any luck.

Right before the doors burst open his head whipped around towards the entrance and the other two paused in their discussion on transfiguration (or in Hermione's case, lecture). Both jumped when their ragged looking professor fell through the doors.

When he didn't turn around right away Hermione let out a small cough to catch his attention. From the way his back stiffened at the sound they knew he'd heard.

In the three seconds it took for him to turn and face them Harry had time for a small heart attack. A million thoughts ran through his head ranging from I'm not ready for this! to what's he going to think? His grip tightened on the sheets and he schooled his face into a calm mask. He'd wait to see how Professor Lupin reacted first.

Brown eyes locked with green and held for a moment. Remus glanced behind the boy to his two friends and saw near matching looks of curiosity and apprehension. His tense posture relaxed a little bit. It looked like at the very least his friends hadn't abandoned him.

With a few swishes of his wand one of the privacy screens floated over and separated Harry from his friends. Remus hesitantly made his way over to the chair by the boys' bed. Another few flicks of his wand and silencing charm covered the area around them. Slowly taking a seat Remus let out a breath and ran a hand through his messy two-toned hair.

After taking a moment to gather himself he looked back up towards Harry and found his words catching in his throat when nothing was said to him. He just saw Lily's green eyes watching him intently and that just about broke him.

"Harry I-" he dropped his gaze again, not able to look him in the eye. "I am so sorry." It came out as the barest whisper as he wrung his hands in shame.

"It is entirely my fault that this happened to you. I should never have put you and your friends in danger like that. It's only lucky that I didn't- didn't kill one of you last night!" He took a shuddering breath, but somehow managed not to let his tears fall. "I'll never be able to make it up to you I know," he continued in a rush, "but I just need to tell you how sorry I am for this. I'm so sorry Harry, I-"

The man was visibly shaking and obviously fighting back tears. But as he begged for forgiveness Harry found that he didn't need to hear it.

"Professor…" he said softly before leaning forward and awkwardly patting the older man's shoulder.

"We weren't thinking last night when we went back into the forest after you changed and ran off."

This caught the man's attention. He'd been under the impression that he'd bitten him and someone, maybe Sirius, had driven him off. His head shot up and he met Harry's face again.

"I should have realized that it was a bad idea, but when I thought I saw my dad-" Remus sucked in a surprised breath. He was going to need to hear this whole story, "-I stopped paying attention to anything else. If we had been paying better attention I never would have put Hermione in danger."

By the end of his explanation Harry was clutching the bed sheets in a death grip and scowling at his own foolishness. If they hadn't been so lucky last night his best friend might be dead today, and it would have been all his fault.

Seeing his expression Remus marveled at the kind hearted boy Harry had managed to become. He chuckled softly, making Harry look up at him in curiosity.

"Harry…how remarkably like Lily you are. So quick to forgive others, and so quick to blame yourself. Lily would do that to herself constantly." He shook his head with a small smile, "You may look like your father, but you have your mothers stubborn heart." He smiled over at him and gently patted the boys' hand above his sheets. Harry meanwhile basked in the comparison. Everyone mentioned James, but it was so rare for him to hear about Lily.

But with a sigh Remus pulled his hand back again, "Harry, I'll do everything I can to help you with this. There are things I can teach you that will make dealing with this easier. I'm not going to lie to you, Harry, this is going to change your life."

The boy nodded, he was sure that this was going to make his life harder, but then it was kind of par for the course for him.

Remus ran his hand through his hair again, "We'll have to talk to the Headmaster about this summer. There's no way you'll be able to stay at your aunt's house, it'd be too dangerous for them, I'm sorry."

Harry froze and stared at him wide eyed, "What?"

"I know you must have been looking forward to relaxing with your family, but it would be too dangerous for you to stay with this at least for the next two months," Remus looked at the boy with sympathy. He could just tell from the look of shock on Harry's face that this was a crushing blow. "But I'm sure with some time to work with you, you'll be able to spend at least the last month of break with them."

Harry gasped and leaned forward eagerly to correct him. But that moment the door opened again to admit Dumbledore and Snape. They both made their way over to step within the silencing spells area and conjured their own chairs.

"Remus," the aged headmaster nodded at him as he took a seat, "Harry." They both greeted him in return while Snape sat with a dark glower for them all as he wonder how in the world Albus had managed to convince him to come.

Albus watched the, now, two werewolves in his school and felt his already long day getting longer.

"I see that Remus has begun to explain a few things to you," Harry nodded and murmured a soft 'yes sir', "Good. Severus has been catching me up on what has happened while I've been placating our minister."

The old man sat back and considered the boy through his half moon spectacles, "My boy, I want you to know that while this will change certain aspects of your life, you should not allow it to stop you from achieving whatever you'd like in your life. There is no reason why you can't live just as you did before. If we take care there is no reason anyone should know about your condition."

Harry was nodding along with what the headmaster was saying but frowned when he finished, "Wait, you mean I'm not going to register with the Ministry? I thought everyone bitten had to."

Snape took that as an invitation and answered, "Did your injuries extend to your brain Mister Potter? Or did you really believe that reporting to the Ministry, which is no doubt full of Death Eater spies, about your recent allergy to silver was a wise choice?" Harry matched him scowl for scowl but had to admit that he hadn't thought about that.

Dumbledore nodded, "It would endanger you if they were to become aware of your lycanthropy. Unfortunately there are many in our world who fear werewolves, and who would try to harm you because of it." Remus growled lowly, having had encounters with some of those lycanphobes in the past.

Harry jumped a little at the growl and turned to his professor.

"They're right Harry, the longer you can go unnoticed by the ministry the better." He nodded at the headmaster, "We were just talking about this summer when you walked in. It would be best if he were to spend it away from his relatives, at least for the first month or so. The first full moon is dangerous and without the wolfsbane potion he could harm his aunt, uncle, or cousin."

"Without the wolfsbane potion?" Snape cut in with a glare, "Are you suggesting that the boy endure his first transformation without it? Are you mad Lupin?" He ended with a snarl.

Even though it was the last night of the full moon the previous night the wolf was still close to the surface. Brown eyes flashed amber as Remus sat forward and growled back, "Do you think I would want to cause him more pain? You may have had some small part in that potions creation, but you've not seen it in action. Newly bitten wizards cannot take it!"

Harry raised a brow at the headmaster, wondering if he was going to intervene. But Dumbledore only sat back and inspected the tassels on his robes as he hummed, leaving the boy shaking his head.

Remus continued, "Several of the ingredients would be lethal to a normal wizard, what do you think would happen to a werewolf that hasn't completed their change? You would have poisoned Harry!" He sat back then and took several deep breaths to calm down and slowly his eyes darkened back to their usual brown.

Severus looked like he'd been fed a lemon and Harry had to stifle a laugh as a mild cough so as not to face the disgruntled potions master.

"Very well," he finally intoned as he sat back eyeing the werewolf.

When it seemed that all parties had calmed down Dumbledore sat up and took command again.

With a small sigh he looked over at Harry, "The blood wards at your aunts house need to be recharged as soon as possible. You'll need to stay with them until the day before the first night of the full moon. After that you should be alright to stay away for a week to give yourself time to adjust. However after that you'll need to go back until the wards are charged."

Harry tried very hard not to scowl like Snape, but wasn't sure how well he'd managed it, "But, sir…can't I just stay away until after the first time?" He knew it would likely be a nasty three weeks until he could leave. Turning into a werewolf might not be so bad if it meant he got to leave the Dursleys, even for a little while.

"I'm afraid not, my boy. It must be as soon as possible," Dumbledore noted the semi rebellious look on his face, as did Snape, but chose not to remark upon it.

Harry nodded and glanced away. He'd just have to make the best of it, and hope the Dursleys didn't find out about his 'furry little problem'. "Alright, sir."

"Thank you, Harry." Dumbledore stood and groaned a little as his joints reminded him that he wasn't as young as he once was, "Remus, if you don't mind talking with Harry and explaining what he can expect in the next month?"

"Of course, Headmaster," he replied with a nod.

"Then we'll leave you to it. Severus, shall we go and once more do battle with the school board?" There was a twinkle in his eye as the dour potions master stood and followed him. This was sure to call for several headache relief potions by the end of it.

The two werewolves watched them leave before Remus turned back with a small frown of concentration, "Forgive me if I forget to warn you about certain things. It was a very longtime ago when I changed for the first time and I was very young."

"How young were you, sir?" Harry leaned back into the pillows to listen comfortably.

Remus snorted, "Young enough not to be able to tie my own shoes at least." He sighed and drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. "The biggest thing you'll have to watch out for are the instincts. There are lots of benefits of being a werewolf, Harry," he grinned over at him, "Better stamina, eyesight, hearing, sense of smell and strength. However you need to watch how you react to certain things. Anger can trigger a violent response, so try to stay away from Mister Malfoy." A teasing light brightened the older man's eyes and Harry had to answer with a grin of his own. The next time he fought with Malfoy would be…interesting.

"Another thing to watch out for would be how you are with your friends," Remus continued.

"My friends?" Harry asked confused.

Remus smiled at him, "Yes, as odd as it seems. You're close now, but your instincts will likely mark them as your pack. You may find yourself reacting in ways you might consider odd." A red tinge colored his cheeks as he reminisced about his own adventures with the mauraders.

So the two spent most of the day talking, including Hermione and Ron when they realized that they must have been wondering just what was keeping them.

All too soon the day was gone. Now well enough to leave the infirmary they returned to their dorms, with explicit instructions from Madam Pomfrey that Harry was to report back every day to change the bandages.

The following three days until the end of term was spent in and out of the Hospital Wing, and dodging question from the rest of the lions about what had happened. Rumors ran rampant that Black had stolen a dragon and flown away to escape justice, and the only ones to see him do it were the Golden Trio.

Luckily no one was foolish enough to try more than a few questions to get the story since the three friends weren't talking.

The end of June approached and before he knew it Harry was loading up his trunk and boarding the train back to London.

The three friends sat quietly in their compartment, each lost in their own thoughts. They might have stayed that way the whole ride if it wasn't for Ron's ability to get bored and be impatient.

"So!" he exclaimed making the other two jump, "What are you going to do about the Dursleys?"

Harry shrugged and went back to leaning against the cool glass of the window. "Not sure, I'm for sure not going to tell them about my 'furry little problem'." He shuddered a little and hard glint shone in his eyes. "My uncle would lose it and probably go buy silver bullets to use on me." Ron scowled and nodded. He remembered the bars on Harry's window the summer before last. He wouldn't put it past the crazy muggles to do something drastic.

"If you need to get away you can always come to my house," he offered, "Mum wants to adopt you anyway, she won't say no."

Harry smiled, "Thanks, Ron. As soon as Dumbledore says I can leave I'll let you know."

"So, what are you going to do in three weeks, Harry?" Hermione closed her book and looked over at him from across the compartment curiously.

This managed to get a grin out of their dark haired friend.

"I'll be staying with Professor Lupin! He's going to come by a day or two before and pick me up. I won't have to go back for a whole week after!" He was grinning like crazy by the end of this and Hermione almost opened her mouth to comment on the fact that he'd probably spend the whole week healing from the ordeal. But the happy look on his face made her stop and think before she burst his bubble.

"That's great, Harry, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with Professor Lupin!" She tucked her book into her bag since they were almost back to London now.

However any further conversation was put on hold when a furry bullet flew into the train through the cracked window and began to circle around the small space hooting like mad and darting around like a fluffy snitch.

"Whoa! Catch it!"

Ron and Harry both jumped up at the same time and Ron nabbed it out of the air with a wary glance at Crookshanks. The ginger cat was looking at the small owl with too much interest for his comfort.

He passed the letter over to Harry once he saw who it was addressed to and they were all excited to hear from Sirius. Ron was especially pleased to get the small excitable owl as a gift. Once it passed the kneazle test he happily enjoyed his new pet. All the while Hedwig expressed her displeasure for the smaller owl with a series of hisses and fluffed feathers.

Harry reread the letter a few more times while they fussed over the owl, then sighed and folded it up to put it away safely. Quietly he murmured, "Sirius is going to be upset when he finds out…"

The rest of the ride was uneventful and goodbyes were spoken all around with promises to write and for Harry to tell them how everything goes with the full moon as soon as he could. He promised, then gathered up his truck and Hedwigs' cage to exit into the muggle world.

It was with a big sigh that he walked towards his Aunt and Uncle on the other end of the platform.

"Hello aunt Petunia, hello uncle Vernon," he muttered quietly as he came up to them. From the shade of purple his uncle was already turning, this was not going to be a pleasant summer.

"Trunk, car, now boy." Was all the large man said as he pointed towards their car. The thin horse faced woman had nothing to say and turned to walk away with only half a glance at her nephew.

As he climbed into the back seat and mentally prepared himself for the worst all he could think was, 'Here we go…'

A/N's: Hijole! This was the chapter that didn't want to end! This was almost finished sunday night, however, it just refused to end well! I'm much happier with this now though. Weasley Twins is almost done as well, just need to get it a little longer before I feel right posting it.

Update for those of you who were wondering. I'm doing much better, the two weeks of rest have done their job, and I'll be back to my job in a few days. I'll be recovering for a long time, but I'm mostly out of danger now. Thank you for the nice reviews and comments!

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