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Hell Hath No Fury
The next full moon – the second-to-last before Graduation – turned out to be a long succession of bad events and poor choices for Hermione.
It began with the young werewolf skipping out on running with Remus the week before the moon. It was simply too awkward to be around him and Hermione decided that she still had to spend a lot of time revising for N.E.W.T.s. Plus, Harry and Ron had finally joined her in her revision and were now working with her in the library most days after school. The mother in her knew that she had to take advantage of the opportunity to better prepare the boys.
Hermione's lack of exercise left her jumpy, restless, and stressed during the week leading up to the full moon. Even Ron was noticing the changes in her, and he barely ever noticed anything like that. She knew that she was going to have to find out another way to hide her condition around the full moon or face telling her friends the truth. Because she knew that she wasn't ready to bear all to them yet, Hermione decided that on Friday, the day after the full moon, she was going to go to class and work hard and try to appear healthy and happy. She wouldn't risk raising any more suspicion.
On the night of the full moon Remus was late to meet Hermione and Professor Snape in the front of the school. Surprisingly enough, Snape inquired about Hermione's experiments while they stood there waiting. Despite looking bland and stoic about it, Hermione could tell that he had actually asked out of interest.
"I've been looking into the reaction of certain catalyst herbs with the Wolfsbane plant and the other ingredients in the potion," she explained to Professor Snape, not noticing that Remus had arrived.
"You've moved on to testing?" He asked, surprised. The group began walking out of the school, Snape disillusioning them as they went.
Hermione nodded, taking a deep breath before meeting Remus' eyes. "Professor Snape is allowing me to use the Potions Lab for it."
Remus quirked a brow. "That's quite a kind gesture of you, Severus."
Hermione had peeled her eyes away from Remus, watching the path in front of her as they exited the school and headed towards the gate. Now, though, Remus' tone prompted her to steal a quick glance at him. She couldn't be sure of what she saw in his expression, but for a split second she thought she saw a hint of possessiveness there.
"She was quite bothersome about it," Snape offered, his tone showing that he honestly could care less what Remus thought about this anymore.
The trio made the journey to Remus' cottage, Snape Disapparating only seconds after they arrived. It was when Hermione and Remus were alone that she truly felt the awkwardness settle in. Knowing that it was going to be a long twenty minutes until moonrise, she quickly grabbed her dressing gown and fled to the bathroom, waiting there up until a few moments before moonrise.
When she exited the bathroom Remus was already ready, sitting on the couch with a contemplative expression. Hermione felt the restlessness rise within her as moonrise drew closer. She began to pace. Remus' eyes followed her as she did so.
Pacing wasn't something she'd ever done in the past. The fact that she was doing it now was evidence of what the lack of running in the past week did to her, along with the stress about NEWTs and Remus. It was going to be a long night.
Soon Hermione was forced to stop pacing, the waves of discomfort rolling into new waves of excruciating pain. The transformation was starting.
Remus allowed the tremors of the transformation to fade away slowly, lying down on the ground and closing his eyes. He had a headache, which he knew would persist throughout the whole day if he didn't get some rest when they got back to Hogwarts.
He could feel the warmth of the morning light streaming through the window on his back. Summer was close. Picking up his head, he found the dressing gown that he'd worn last night and shrugged it on while still lying on the ground. Eventually, he glanced towards Hermione. She looked exhausted and drained, and he knew it was because she'd stayed up nearly all night in her wolf form.
Remus sighed, feeling sorry for letting things happen the way they did and wishing that he and Hermione could just go back to how things were before. Before the kiss he'd actually been able to help her with the lycanthropy. He wished that the kiss to never have happened, but more importantly he wished that he could revert to innocent feelings toward her. But then again, Remus had been having slightly less-than-innocent feelings towards Hermione for longer than he cared to admit.
Remus covered his face with his hands and tried to not relive the way her lips and body had felt against him. He remained like that until the door to the cottage creaked open and Severus's footsteps entered. Hermione seemed to be just waking up, having dozed off slightly in her utter exhaustion.
Severus flicked his wand and two Pepper-Up Potions appeared on the ground, one in front of Remus and the other in front of Hermione. They both drank. After downing the potion Remus felt significantly better, his headache finally abating. He could tell that Hermione wasn't at risk of passing out from exhaustion anymore, but she still looked to be in bad shape.
Both Remus and Hermione changed back into their clothes while Severus stood, tapping his foot by the front door. At last the trio set off back to Hogwarts. Hermione was very slow on the trip up to the castle, which prompted Severus to act in his normally cruel manner. "We do have things to do today, Miss Granger, things that do not involve making a four hour trip up to the castle," said the Potions Master.
Hermione ignored him, but Remus gave Severus an icy glare to compensate.
When they eventually arrived at the castle Remus was sure that Hermione would decide to stay in the Hospital Wing all day. He was therefore surprised when she told Poppy that she wasn't going to miss any classes today, and that she needed to get back to her rooms to prepare for breakfast.
"Hermione," Remus spoke up, "you're exhausted. You should take the day off." He himself always missed breakfast and sometimes a few classes the morning after the full moon.
She shook her head. "I'll be fine." He noted that she refused to make eye contact with him.
"Please, Hermione," he said, "you really need to get some rest."
She picked her head up and glared at him. "I'll be fine," was her clipped response before exiting the Hospital Wing.
Remus' shoulders slumped as he turned and begun the long trek back to his quarters for a nap. Hermione would soon understand how important immediate rest was after a full moon. He only hoped that she learned her lesson this time and didn't completely exhaust herself in the process.
The scent of lavender filled the bathroom, wafting above the water and causing Hermione to feel drowsy and at peace. She sighed deeply, letting her mind float away while she relaxed into the warm bathwater.
In the end she had made it through the whole day of classes just fine. Truthfully, she was completely knackered, but she'd still made it through the day of classes. In the afternoon Harry asked her if she was coming to the Quidditch pitch to watch their last practice before the final. Hermione cursed herself, remembering that she'd promised Harry and Ron to watch their practice. It was a very important event for them, as they were both graduating and would likely never play competitive Quidditch again.
She told Harry that she couldn't go in the end. He understood, having obviously noticed her battle with exhaustion throughout the day.
This left Hermione with a peaceful afternoon to herself. She was intent on taking a nice long bath with some of the lavender soap her mum had sent, along with getting as much rest as she could. The bath turned out to be just what she needed. Hermione even drifted off to sleep for a few moments, or at least she thought it was a few moments.
"HERMIONE!"
The shouting awoke her, making her start in the lukewarm bathwater. Someone was calling her name, muffled by the door to her bedroom. The voice sounded a lot like Harry, and this was enough to make Hermione jump out of the water and hastily pull some clothes on. She exited the bathroom and ran to the door of her bedroom, now able to hear that he was both pounding on the door and shouting for her. She opened it, finding Harry, still wearing all of his Quidditch gear, fixed with the most panicked expression she'd seen in a long time.
"Harry," she gasped, "what happened?"
"Ginny- it's Ginny," he sputtered out, breathing heavily, "She's been attacked."
Hermione's stomach dropped. She was fairly certain that she now wore the same expression of complete panic as Harry.
"She walked down to the Quidditch Pitch alone and then when she didn't arrive we went to look and-" Harry broke off, desperately trying to regain his composure.
"Harry where is she? Is she alright?" Hermione's voice was high and shrill when she spoke.
He rubbed his temples, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe this. "I- I think she'll be okay. She's in the hospital wing and-"
Before Harry could finish the sentence Hermione had stormed past him, grabbing his sleeve and pulling him along at breakneck speed. Soon enough they were running to the Hospital Wing, crossing the school in record time and ignoring all the strange looks they received along the way. The only thing that Hermione could think about was how she had planned to walk down to the Quidditch Pitch with Ginny. At the last moment she'd cancelled on them all, leaving Ginny to walk to the Pitch alone.
A few random students occupied the Hospital wing, sitting in beds and waiting for medical attention from Pomfrey. What caught Hermione's attention, however, was that the whole back of the room was curtained off from view. Madam Pomfrey bustled past Hermione and Harry just as they entered. She looked over her shoulder at them, pointing to the back of the room and leading the way. Shaking, Hermione made her way toward the closed-off area of the wing, pushing through some curtains and finding that it was packed with people.
Her eyes searched through a sea of Weasley-red hair for Ginny. She found the girl lying in one of the hospital beds, unconscious. Ginny looked pale and sickly. Hermione could immediately recognize this as being a result from blood loss. There wasn't much else to infer from Ginny's state, other than the fact that whomever had attacked her had likely intended to kill.
Mrs. Weasley sat at Ginny's bedside, sniffling softly. Mr. Weasley stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder and an expression of angry devastation on his face. Ron, Fred, and George were on the other side of the bed, watching their sister's form sadly.
Several feet away stood about half of the Order of the Phoenix. Hermione spotted many familiar faces, including Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Remus, Sirius, Tonks, and Mad-Eye. Dumbledore spoke softly while the others listened. Hermione caught Remus' eye where he stood between Sirius and McGonagall. The expression he wore was enough to confirm Hermione's sneaking suspicion of what this was all about.
"What happened, Harry?" she asked stonily, turning to the bespectacled boy who now stood beside her.
His lips pulled into a thin line. "They didn't tell me much, only that McGonagall arrived and scared off whoever was attacking Ginny. I don't-" Harry ran a hand over his face. The distress almost radiated off of him. "Pomfrey said Ginny could've died if McGonagall had been a minute or two later."
Hermione combed a hand through her hair, only realizing at that moment that her hair was still damp from her bath. She wanted to say something to Harry, but no words would come.
Just then, Ron looked up from his place at Ginny's side. He stood and slowly made his way over to Harry and Hermione. Hermione was sure that had she not been in the midst of a terrible maelstrom of anger and guilt she would have tackled Ron in a hug and started sobbing into his shoulder at that moment.
"I needed some air," Ron explained uselessly. He, like Harry, was still wearing all of his Quidditch gear. His face looked pale and his posture slumped with obvious emotional exhaustion.
"Is she going to be okay?" Hermione asked shrilly.
Ron nodded. "Pomfrey said she'll miss several days of school. Sh- she was pretty banged up, Hermione," Ron's voice broke bitterly. Another wave of anger rose within Hermione. She looked to the group of Order members that was assembled only a few feet away, once again catching Remus' gaze. He looked sad and foreboding, like he knew something she didn't.
Hermione pushed past Harry and Ron, making her way towards the small circle of Order members. Dumbledore had been murmuring quietly to McGonagall and Snape, but he stopped when he saw Hermione approach, tailed by Harry and Ron.
By the time Hermione breached the circle most eyes were on her. She looked at Remus, her gaze drifting to McGonagall and Sirius, who stood on either side of him. They all looked at her with a sort of sadness that made her feel sick. "Who was it?" she asked stonily.
Nobody spoke.
After waiting too long for no response, she focused her gaze on Snape. The Potions Master stood still and expressionless for a long moment, before finally responding. "Lucius," he murmured, his dark eyes boring into Hermione's.
She saw red. It was only seconds before Hermione was storming from the Hospital Wing. All her resounding aches and pains of the full moon were forgotten in her raging anger. She could vaguely hear several sets of footsteps following her, along with the voices of Harry and Ron asking her where she was going and pleading with her to stop and explain what this meant. The vague sixth-sense that she'd developed somewhere in the back of her mind told her that Remus was trailing her as well.
She stormed all the way to the Great Hall, where dinner was currently taking place. Not thinking anything about consequences or what people would say, Hermione pushed into the grand room and strode all the way to the Slytherin table.
Draco was sitting near the end of the table alone. He was eating his dinner listlessly, occasionally glancing down the table to where his fellow Slytherins sat. Hermione did not falter in her procession towards Draco, finally catching his attention when he looked up. He watched her in complete confusion, his eyes darting to Ron, Harry, and Remus, who stood just outside the Great Hall.
"What are you-" Draco began, cut off when Hermione grabbed his arm and roughly pulled him from the table. He tried to pull away, but her grip was too strong. He stumbled away from the Slytherin table and Hermione nearly dragged him out of the Great Hall, back into the corridor where Harry, Ron, and Remus stood.
"What the fuck, Granger?" Draco nearly shouted, looking back to the Slytherin table, where many of the students were watching. Some students at the other tables watched as well, but most of the Great Hall hadn't cared to notice Hermione's storming entrance. She would be thankful for this later.
"Hermione-" Remus began, but she ignored him, continuing down the corridor with Draco stumbling along until they were well out of sight of the Great Hall. Harry and Ron followed as well, sharing looks and eyeing Draco closely. The boys were smart enough to understand at least part of what was going on now; they'd heard Snape mention Lucius Malfoy, and now Hermione was aggressively dragging Draco out of the Great Hall as if he'd done this to Ginny himself.
She pushed Draco against the wall of the corridor, her expression menacing and her wand pointed directly at his neck. "I should be asking you that, Draco. What the fuck? I kept your secret!" She was shouting and cursing, her rage unstoppable in that moment. Remus put up a muffling charm around them.
She continued on her tirade, poking her wand into Draco's chest. "I wanted to help you! I tried to help you, and this is how you repay me?" Her wand was glowing red with the anticipation of all the harsh curses she wanted to cast. Her final words were more menacing and surprising to Harry and Ron than anything else; "I should have killed you when I had the chance."
"I- I don't know what you're talking about!" Draco sputtered, looking to the others as if asking for help. It seemed that Harry and Ron's expressions weren't very comforting, because his eyes soon darted back to Hermione.
"Of course you do," she raged, bright red sparks shooting from the tip of her wand, "Your father was behind all of it again!"
He suddenly looked very confused. Hermione hesitated, and before she could speak again there was a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Remus. With an anxious expression, he gently pulled her wand hand away from Draco. Hermione turned and faced him fully now. She could feel the burning of angry tears begin to form in her eyes. Remus kept his hand on her shoulder the whole time, and she could feel the wave of calm through his touch. Somewhere in the back of her mind Hermione wondered how angry and unhinged she would have become had Remus not been present when she'd confronted Draco.
Taking a deep breath and pushing aside the part of her that wanted to cry about this, Hermione looked behind Remus to where Harry and Ron stood. Ron was glaring at Draco openly, the tips of his ears red with anger. Harry looked angry as well, but more so bewildered than anything else. Hermione knew right then that she had to explain everything to them. There was no more putting it off; tonight all her secrets would come to light.
"Perhaps we should go back to the Hospital Wing," Remus suggested softly, dropping his hand from Hermione's shoulder, "you may accompany us, Draco." Hermione followed Remus' gaze back to Draco, whose eyes were darting between the four Gryffindors in front of him with a hardly-restrained fear.
"I don't know what's going on," Draco began hastily, now looking at Remus, "I haven't spoken to my father in weeks, I swear."
"It's alright, Draco," Remus interjected, taking up the kind and peaceful character that Hermione had always admired, "We'll just need to talk to Professor Dumbledore about this. You're not necessarily in any trouble."
Draco inclined his head in a minuscule nod. Remus let out a breath, "alright, then. We should clear out of the corridor before the rest of the students leave dinner."
Together, the odd group made their way back to the Hospital Wing. Remus stayed close to Hermione, as if to keep her from doing something rash or violent again. Despite thinking that she was in control of her temper now, she knew that she wasn't. A trend she'd noticed around the full moons was the increased aggression and lack of forethought, but it had never been as bad as it was today. She supposed it could be accounted to the quite emotionally and physically exhausting full moon combined with the fact that Ginny of all people had been attacked and she suspected Draco Malfoy to be behind it.
But did she suspect Draco? She'd been more than certain several moments ago, but now… Draco had seemed so honestly shocked by her accusations, and although he could very well be an extraordinary actor. Still… she really hadn't expected him to revert back to aiding his father. It had seemed that all of her efforts with him were actually getting somewhere. She chanced a look over in his direction. Remus was standing between them in an attempt to stop any more violent actions, but she still caught Draco's eye. He looked at her pleadingly, as if that desperate expression would vouch for his innocence in this. It was very odd coming from Draco Malfoy. Hermione looked away, keeping her eyes locked straight ahead and focusing on calming her temper the whole way back to the Hospital Wing.
Ginny's corner of the Hospital Wing was still closed off and full of people, most of whom looked surprised at the returning group. The Weasleys and Sirius, most of all, looked astonished by Draco's presence. Ginny's bed was still exposed and Hermione watched as Draco caught a glimpse of her through the throng of her family members. He stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the pale, unconscious girl in bed with her crying mother and worried family members by her side. "My father did that?" he whispered, horrified.
It was now that Hermione truly accepted the fact that Draco probably had nothing to do with this. Even if he had been involved, it was stupid of her to go charging into the Great Hall and dragging him out in a rage. There would definitely be some rumors in the morning. Plus, she now had plenty of explaining to do to Ron and Harry.
Dumbledore had left the circle of Order members, approaching Hermione, Draco, Remus, Harry, and Ron. "Hello, Mr. Malfoy," he greeted the blonde gingerly, as if there was nothing wrong in the world. Next he turned to the group as a whole. "Would you all like to come have a word with the group?" He motioned back to the collective of adults, all watching with interest. "Draco, I'm sure you have already come to a certain understanding of the situation." Draco nodded. Dumbledore smiled, looking over his shoulder to Snape. "Professor Snape has assured us that you are not to blame in this situation and I believe it would be prudent if you returned to your rooms until he can speak with you."
Draco nodded again, glancing at Hermione, Harry, and Ron cautiously. Hermione tried to offer him a somewhat apologetic nod, but she thought that perhaps it might have come out as more of an approval of Dumbledore's sending him away. She couldn't see the expressions of Harry or Ron, but she guessed that they were still both in some sort of stage of emotional upheaval.
Draco then looked toward Snape, who nodded minutely at him. Hermione didn't know quite what it meant, but she assumed that Snape would be speaking to Draco about all of this very soon. Draco left then, walking out of the Hospital Wing nervously, turning and looking back at Hermione and the others every few seconds until he was out of view. Once he was gone Dumbledore led Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Remus over to the group of Order members. "Perhaps we should all have a bit of a conversation about this," he suggested gently. Something told Hermione that despite his soft tone, he would not allow her to leave before this conversation happened. She felt a twinge of embarrassment that she'd acted so rashly.
McGonagall, Snape, Sirius, Tonks, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were all there, watching the approaching group. Once inside the circle of Order members, Dumbledore looked to Snape. "Severus," he sighed, "perhaps it would be best if you repeated the explanation you gave us only a few moments ago about this evening's events."
Snape looked frustrated. "Lucius Malfoy was long ago assigned the task of getting to Potter's closest friends," Snape began, "and eliminating them if possible."
Harry inhaled sharply.
Snape's gaze fell on Hermione, and despite his blank expression, she could tell what he meant by looking at her. He was giving her a chance to interject, stop him before he revealed anything to Harry and Ron that would require a further explanation. Hermione didn't move, giving him no signal to stop.
"When Lucius' attempt on Miss Granger's life failed, he became more desperate."
This time both Harry and Ron snapped towards Hermione, their confused looks prying at her composure. "Later," she whispered shortly, hoping that they would be patient.
"It is my belief that Lucius has been searching for a way to harm one of Potter's close friends for a while, and when he found Miss Weasley alone and outside of the safety of the castle, he attacked." Snape finally let down his blank, emotionless wall for a moment and he actually looked sort of sad about it.
"He was probably looking for me," Hermione murmured, her eyes resting on the ground.
"What do you mean?" Harry spoke up, turning and facing her, "and why did Professor Snape say that he tried to kill you, Hermione?"
She picked her head up, looking around the circle. McGonagall, Tonks, Kingsley, and the Weasleys all looked suspicious. Sirius watched her sadly, but allowed her a reassuring half-smile when she looked at him. Snape had reverted to the same listless expression. Dumbledore caught her eye and nodded his approval. Finally, she looked to Remus, who stood directly to her left. He held her gaze for a long time, showing a mix of guilt, lamenting, and understanding. She realized that in his past he had likely gone through a similar situation many times, and had to face the question of whether or not to tell many people about his Lycanthropy often. In that moment she wanted so badly to put off Harry and Ron's questions and go back to Remus' quarters with him and drink tea in front of the fire like they used to.
Ron let out a sharp breath, interrupting Hermione's thoughts. "This whole situation is too bloody complicated," he breathed, voice thick with irritation and pent up anger.
Hermione decided then that this had to happen now. She looked to both Harry and Ron. "Let's sit down and I'll explain it, okay?" she voiced, pointing towards an empty hospital bed at the edge of the circle, still within sight of Ginny. Her main motive in wanting to sit down was simply that she'd been standing for a very long time and her legs were killing her. Her joints would ache and protest for hours more until the effects of the full moon finally wore off.
Harry and Ron followed as Hermione walked over to the bed and sat on the edge. The whole group of Order members watched curiously, standing around the hospital bed and sharing worried looks. Hermione caught Remus' eye once she was sitting, sharing a long, strange look with him. It wasn't so much a look that conveyed any sort of emotion or message, but it still felt reassuring to Hermione. She knew his calm demeanor had to be difficult; everyone was about to learn that he'd infected his student with Lycanthropy and nearly killed her in the process. But somehow, despite the knowledge of what Harry — whose opinion Hermione knew Remus valued more than he would ever say — was about to learn, he remained steadfast in his subtle support.
"Did something happen?" Harry spoke up, now sitting on one side of Hermione, Ron on the other, "is this why you've been so different lately?"
She looked him dead in the eyes and nodded.
"This is why you've been sick a lot too."
She nodded again.
"What happened?" It was Ron who spoke now.
Hermione took a deep breath, and then began to tell her story.
Author's Note: This was one of my favorite chapters/scenes when I was planning out this story. What did everyone think?