Chapter 6: Fool Moon

The night of the full moon was rapidly approaching and Hermione set to work on the Wolf's Bane potion that would render Remus harmless while he was in his altered state. The directions were far from easy, but she wasn't the smartest witch in her year for nothing. Finally, after almost two whole days of working on the most difficult, most time sensitive and time consuming potion she'd ever made, it was ready.

Wearily, she trudged with leaden feet into the kitchen with the fruits of her labor clutched safely to her chest in an old box. Carefully she set the box full of single dose vials near Remus's place setting and sat heavily at her usual place at the breakfast table. Putting her head down on the table with a thump, she sighed heavily with relief and exhaustion.

Moments later, looking a bit peaked because of the coming full moon, but whistling a perky tune, Remus sailed into the breakfast room with two plates heaped with eggs, bacon and buttered toast. He stopped in his tracks abruptly when he caught sight of Hermione with her head down on the table. He quietly put the plates on the table and moved to crouch down beside her chair.

"Hermione?"

All he got for his effort was a pained moan.

"Hermione," he tried again. Getting no response, he moved to stand behind her and, noticing how tense her shoulders were, began to massage her neck and shoulders. He was rewarded with a low moan that had nothing to do with pain. Curious as to what his charge had been up to that would drain her so completely, he finally asked, "Hermione, what did you do?"

Lacking the will power to raise her head, or even answer, she lifted her arm, pointing at his usual place. Its message delivered, the hand dropped limply onto the table with a heavy thud.

Remus, following the direction of her arm, saw an old shoe box sitting at his place. Curiosity eating him, he stopped massaging her shoulders, and went to the other side of the table to investigate. What he saw in the box brought a smile to his time-worn face. About three dozen stoppered glass vials cushioned with soft cotton batting stood in neat rows. Each was filled with exactly one dose of the Wolfs bane potion.

The smile turned into a frown as Remus quickly calculated that the amount of potion in the box would be enough for twelve werewolves to remain peaceful on the night of the full moon. He had heard Severus complain many times about the short shelf life of this particular potion. He had hated that he had to make it every month for one of his former enemies. Any thing he had done to try to make it last longer had either met with no results at all, or weakened effects of the potion itself.

Surprised by Hermione's apparent wanton disregard for the cost of most of the ingredients used in the potion, he turned to her with a stern reproach on his lips.

Before the words could be spoken, Hermione sighed tiredly. "I can hear you thinking, Remus."

"Why?" He asked. "You know I'm well off now, but that is no reason to waste such expensive ingredients!"

Suppressing a yawn, Hermione sat up for the first time since he had come into the breakfast room. "Do you really think I would waste any ingredients?"

He looked at her quizzically. "I wouldn't have thought so, but that's what I'm confused about! You made enough for twelve werewolves! I know Severus told you that the potion doesn't store well."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Remus. I though you were observant." When he only looked puzzled, she went on. "Do you remember that charm out of your mother's grimoire?"

"Which one? There are several."

"The one about keeping a potion in stasis for a up to a year." She smiled as comprehension dawned in his eyes. "I see you remember. I brewed a potion last week that had to be used immediately or it would have no effect. I put the stasis charm on it and took the potion before I started on yours. It worked, so I knew I could use the charm on the Wolf's bane potion."

Remus could only gape at her in wonder.

Seeing that he was speechless, Hermione stood and stretched. "The only thing you have to do to break the charm is unstopper the vial. You'll have to drink it then, of course, but I guess if you're ready to unstopper it, you're ready to drink it." Yawning hugely, she started making her way to the door. "You now have a year's supply of Wolf's bane potion and you'll never have to ask Severus Snape for it again."

She smiled tiredly over her shoulder at him. "You know the best part?" He mutely shook his head. Taking that for permission to continue, she smiled brighter and said, "All those doses came out of the same batch. I still have ingredients for two more 'months'!"

Hermione walked out the door and was just putting her foot on the bottom step to go upstairs to bed when Remus caught up with her. Still at a loss for words, he did the only thing he could think of. Taking her in his arms, he hugged her to him tightly, kissed her forehead and said, more sincerely than he ever had before, "Thank you."

A/N:

Okay, this has been sitting in my computer for the past week and I keep telling myself I'm going to add more to it. I seem to be delusional lately. So, I decided to just post it and maybe add a Fool Moon Part Deux. We'll see. I know it's a lot shorter than it should be. Hopefully the next one will be longer. My muse has apparently deserted me.

AF Marauder