I haven't updated in a while because we no longer have access to Wifi at work and I can no longer access writing software on my breaks. I'm going to try and figure something out but there aren't a lot of free writing software that don't require the internet.
Time seemed to fly since the full moon; days slowly turned to weeks and before any of them were ready, the dreaded full moon was mere days away from making an appearance. Harry didn't think he could dread anything more than he dreaded his uncle's lessons but this took the cake because there was nothing he could do to stop this from happening. This was something that was going to happen no matter what he or anyone had to so about it and that somehow made it worse.
For Harry, being this busy was not new to him but this didn't mean he wasn't tired and irritable. Between classwork, homework, and quidditch, he barely made time to work on his potion. Without Severus' help, he would have never gotten as much done as he had. To be honest, he wasn't sure how he managed to do it all without breaking down completely. Of course, his time with his relatives probably had a lot to do with that; if he hadn't grown up under the circumstances he did, he would have never been able to stand this pressure.
As the full moon came closer, he could feel his patience fading a little bit every day and he wondered if this was normal. When he spoke with Remus, he noticed the older boy seemed a little more irritated, so he went with the assumption that this was normal with the lunar cycle. He felt like there was electricity coursing through his veins and regardless of how tired he felt, he always felt like he was pulsing energy.
Everything was vivid; his senses, his thoughts and his dreams all seemed to become more intense with every passing night. Food tasted stronger, and though he couldn't see clearly without his glasses, his vision somehow seemed more... intense. It was almost alarming how strongly he felt things like the carpet under his barefoot to the taste of a sweet bun.
Remus had proven himself as a good ally and person to confide in; it helped that Remus was able to relate to everything Harry was saying and give him advice to make this easier for him and that meant a lot to him to not have to go through this alone.
The best part of his week was when he read in the Daily Prophet that a werewolf had been caught near Severus' place and was being placed in an environment where he could learn to control his new impulses; Harry hoped it had been the werewolf that had bitten him. The next thing Harry noticed was the name Voldemort becoming more and more present within the paper. It spoke of his attacks on villages and the things he had done to the muggles and muggle-borns. Severus stared at Lily after reading the latest article, as though he was seeing her for the first time.
"Are you ready to take the potion?" Severus had asked Harry.
"The full moon is tomorrow, so I guess so. Slughorn says something like this will need time to settle into my system."
He left out the part where it would give him time to recover any unfortunate side effects that may come about before the moon actually rose because, with potions like this, it was hard to tell what could happen. Harry and Severus had spent hours testing the potion in his blood and it seemed to be doing what it was supposed to do but they wouldn't know for sure until he actually consumed it.
"It's too bad we can't cure it all together," Harry muttered.
"Take it one step at a time, Harry! Besides, the rewrites to your DNA post change would be fatal to reverse and it would be a painful death," Slughorn informed the small boy who paled, his face filling with disappointment. This was to be expected. Werewolves weren't known for having the easiest lives and Harry just wanted to be normal for once in his life. He finally found people he fit in with and now this was happening and it didn't seem fair.
"Let's get this over with... I've been serious enough for one night and I need to work on my giggling goo tonight. I've been waking in the middle of the night giggle and last night when Professor McGonagall was informing us about a particularly nasty incident in class and I burst into giggles! she wanted to rip my head off."
"Yeah, some of the older students were talking about that... By the way... what's a sadist?"
"Alright Harry, remember to drink all of it no matter how bad it tastes and I was you to let use know if you feel any discomfort at all," Slughorn said, ignoring Harry's question and focusing on what they were there to do. The dull grey potion sat on the table but just the sight of it caused his stomach to bubble nervously. Who knew what was going to happen when he drank this?
Taking a deep breath, Harry picked up the potion and gulped it down in one movement. At first, the only thing he registered was how bad it tasted... It tasted worse than the time Dudley made him suck on his sweaty sock. Heck, it made the sock seem like a treat.
For a few seconds, the taste lingered in his mouth before his stomach violently sent the potion flying to the ground. Severus and Slughorn barely had a chance to react but had somehow managed to avoid the mess.
"Harry?"
After a few seconds, Harry tried to speak but this merely resulted in food from lunch rushing out of his mouth. By the time words could actually come out of his mouth, he was almost too tired to speak but he knew if he didn't assure Severus and Slughorn that he was okay, he would be going straight to the hospital wing.
"I'm fine!" Harry gasped as he wiped the tears from his cheeks and slowly glanced up towards Severus' pale worried face.
"You should sit down," Slughorn instructed Harry. "That means the potion wasn't compatible. We'll need to stabilise it a little more before you try again."
The full moon passed and Harry and Severus set back to work with more eagerness than before as the potion did not work this time but it was clear they were close. For the first hour, he had kept his mind intact but after the first hour... But it wasn't exactly complete control. It was more like selective control over certain behaviours and the rest were out of his control.
He was close to figuring it out, he knew he was but there was something missing; something that would tie everything together and he couldn't shake the feeling that the answer was right in front of him. It was for this reason that he felt himself growing more and more frustrated.
Experiments were conducted, blood was drawn and analysed and Harry was starting to feel more like a living, breathing pin cushion than a person. He often joked with Severus about being surprised he had any blood left to test.
After several hours of staring at parchment and cauldrons, he found that his vision was blurring and he was feeling restless and antsy. He'd been staring at this parchment for two hours and he still couldn't figure out why the wolfsbane was reacting to the tarragon the way it was and how they could stop this reaction. It was obvious this was the reason he'd thrown up but both ingredients were needed for the potion and there was a way to make them work together it was...
Finally, Harry decided he needed to take a break before he got frustrated and destroyed everything because he was slowly losing his patience. Severus and Harry made their way to the Great Hall where they had a cup of tea and took a few moments to breathe and settle down. By the time Harry had calmed down enough to focus once again, it was seven o'clock and there were only a few hours until curfew.
In the classroom, Harry felt his stomach jump into his throat when he was Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter standing in the room looking at Harry's notes; the notes that not only stated that he was a werewolf but also stated information about Remus' infliction as well. Sirius and James were staring back and forth from the notes to each other while Peter was simply walking around nervously, rubbing his hands together in a creepy manner.
"Can I help you?" Severus said, startling James and Sirius from their thoughts and causing Peter to pale and run from the room like a child caught in the cookie jar; what a coward. Harry wondered how he managed to worm his way into Gryffindor because he was by no means brave. James and Sirius watched Peter run out, their faces were momentarily clouded by disbelief.
James and Sirius looked stunned and unable to form words for the first time since Harry had met them.
"I- I-umm, We were just leaving," James said stepping from the room, his expression was unreadable and Harry could have sworn he heard the older boys muttering apologies as they dashed down the corridors clumsily.
Over the next few weeks, between working and school, Harry found himself wondering if James, Sirius and Peter were going to tell anyone what they had discovered. As much as he wanted to convince himself that they hadn't figured it out, the glances they were giving them told him that they did but they didn't seem to be watching him with any type of malicious intents.
They weren't treating Remus any differently than usual and he seemed just as relaxed around them as usual. Hary had warned Remus that they had seen his notes but nothing appeared to have changed drastically. If anything, James and Sirius seemed to have changed a little bit. They seemed to act less conceited; it was actually refreshing to not see James wandering around like he owned the place.
When the next full moon came, the potion was nowhere near ready for consumption; this meant no trial this month.
On one hand it was a relief because how sick he'd gotten but on the other hand, it felt like a major setback and that wasn't sitting well with him. But it's not like Harry was on a deadline or like anyone was actually expecting this potion to be available soon, so nobody would missing it or wondering why it wasn't ready yet. Severus was saying how proud Harry should be of himself for achieving what he had already and so young.
Harry smiled and nodded; he knew he had accomplished a lot since he had gotten to Hogwarts and he was happy but he couldn't help but feel like he was stealing an important title away from Severus. He had mentioned this to Severus but the older boy didn't seem hurt by this; if anything he seemed proud of the younger boy who would make it just a little bit harder for others to catch up.
"I couldn't have done it without your help," Harry told Severus proudly. Severus had come up with just as many of the ideas and concepts as Harry and he was going to share the credit equally with Severus; it would only be fair.
Making their way to the Shrieking Shack, Remus told Harry how the Whomping Willow was added just for him so he'd had access to the shack during full moons.
Upon arriving at the shack, they set their bags down in the usual spot and got comfortable as the did the month before. There was at least an hour and a half until moonrise but Dumbledore had them leave early just to be safe.
A couple loud pops outside the shack caught their attention and their faces paled as two cruel looking men stumbled into the shack. They were wearing masks over their faces and long robes but through their masks, Harry could see pure evil in their eyes.
"Look, a couple young Hogwarts students. Won't our Lord be pleased!" The first one said as he grabbed Harry's shoulder. Harry could practically hear this man's teeth bearing together in a predatory grin.
"Yes, he will! This was almost too easy." The second one grabbed Remus' arm and his eyes seemed to glow with sick anticipation. These must be the Death Eaters Harry had heard about but what did they want with a couple Hogwarts students. Harry didn't get the chance to think anything else because a familiar tugging feeling took over and he knew they had just been apparated away from the shack.
"Did you two sneak away from the castle to be alone? To think, we were going to try and reel some students beyond the wards. Aren't we lucky that you two decided to be alone tonight of all nights; well, lucky for us!"
"They're a little young for that, you idiot!" The taller man cried smacking the other man over the head.
"Oh, and how old were you the first time you and Hale snuck away to 'be alone' as you phrased it?"
These must be the Death Eaters Harry had heard about but what did they want with a couple Hogwarts students. He wondered how these idiots were trusted with whatever mission they had been given because the Death Eaters he'd been told about had been described as stealthy, brilliant and cunning. Perhaps they were sent on a mission just to shut them up; he wondered if their Lord was even expecting them to succeed because Harry couldn't see them being trusted to fetch coffee, let alone Hogwarts students.
"I hardly see how that's any of your concern now shut up before someone hears us, our Lord is waiting and you know how much he loves to wait." It was clear their Lord enjoyed waiting about as much as Uncle Vernon loved being put on a diet. "Now, if you boys are good maybe our Lord will let you live."
Harry didn't get the chance to think anything else because a familiar tugging feeling took over and he knew they had just been apparated away from the shack.