Getting onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was just as bad as walking around Diagon Alley had been. Even though there were more people who came to see him off than usual, he still hurried onto the train just to avoid the parents who were whispering about him.
Per usual the Weasleys were running behind so Harry got to watch the spectacle of the redheaded clan scrambling to get onto the platform. He opened his window to catch their attention so that Ron and Hermione knew how far down they would have to go to find his compartment, which no one else had been willing to share with him so far.
It wasn't long after that his friends joined him in the compartment. "Hey guys," Harry smiled at seeing that his friends had gotten out of the World Cup in one piece. "I saw in the paper what happened."
"Yeah it was bloody crazy." Ron smiled at his friend while taking a seat across from him. "So how's your furry problem?"
"Not too terrible," Harry shrugged while raising his hands to show off the scars from his skin stretching the thick white scar tissue causing both his friends to wince at the sight. "Pain isn't too bad when the potion finally kicks in, but it's not right away. Tonks was right that exercise is helping me though."
"Well you are looking a bit better," Ron shrugged nonchalantly.
Hermione rolled her eyes, Harry was looking incredible, he had likely been spending most of his time exercising and if the sight of his arms with his sleeves rolled up was any indication of the rest of his body he would be the most physically fit student in the castle by far. "You clearly are making amazing progress Harry in just a few months as well."
"Yeah well I don't have much else to do, Sirius comes around all the time that he can and Tonks likes to keep in touch because she said if she was going to be my minder that she might as well get to know me more so I wasn't just a prisoner to her."
The friend's conversation was interrupted with the door opening and it wasn't wellwishers coming by, but Malfoy and his two cronies. "To think they would stoop so low to allow a beast like you back at Hogwarts. I always knew Dumbledore was a crackpot but to endanger everyone in the castle instead of having you put down I'll never understand," the blonde sneered smugly at the people he was tormenting.
"Budge off Malfoy, I'm not in the mood to deal with you today." Harry groaned as he had hoped that Draco would have found something else to occupy his time.
"I don't listen to beasts," Malfoy spat out. "Then again it makes sense a blood traitor, a mudblood and a monster all in one spot. A perfect example of everything wrong with our world."
Harry was tempted to beat Malfoy's ass for his hateful comments but he knew that he was likely going to be heavily scrutinized by everyone and that would only play into Malfoy's hand so he had to let it go. "Just fuck off," Harry muttered.
"Fine, I'm wasting my time on creatures like you anyway," Malfoy turned up his nose and walked away.
Cupping his face in his hands Harry took some deep, calming breaths. "Fucking hell it gets harder to keep it under control."
"What do you mean Harry?" Hermione politely asked.
"The wolf. I thought that what Sirius had said was just like a metaphor but no, I… there's a literal wolf inside my mind now that talks to me. Not like words but I know what it wants and it's always so bloody angry," Harry explained what he meant by his previous statement.
"I'm so sorry Harry," Hermione sighed and offered Harry a hug, which he declined.
"And I'm hungry all the time," Harry commented once his stomach growled.
Sensing an opportunity to help lighten the mood Hermione looked at Ron curiously. "Do you think Ron's a werewolf too? He is always stuffing his face?"
Ron scoffed indignantly even as he moved the food he was snacking on off to the side but Harry did get a chuckle out of it. "Pfft, could you imagine a Weasley Werewolf? All big and snarling but having such bright red fur?"
"I would look majestic," Ron gasped in awe at the mental image. "Better than Hermione anyway. Look at her hair and just picture that one. Probably just be a giant furball."
Harry did think about that and with how bushy Hermione's hair was, it would be even worse than his own fur, which made him laugh hysterically. "Ronald, I wouldn't… still better than Dumbledore, a werewolf with a beard."
"Flitwick, the smallest werewolf in the world," Harry laughed as he thought about how different people would look if they had his affliction.
That was enough to bring up the dower mood in the car enough that no one sulked all the way up to the castle.
But then Harry had to deal with the other students in the castle. "So much for house of the brave," Hermione huffed, sitting herself next to Harry, she had enough space around her that she could lay down on the bench if she wanted to for how much people were distancing themselves from him.
Ron actually went over and grabbed his brothers to try and fill up some of the empty air around his friend, which would also force Lee to come over to keep talking with Fred and George and then more people would be likely to remember that Harry was still Harry. Unfortunately that wasn't how it would go for this meal or many others this year.
Harry hated his new diet, not that the food was disgusting, it really only made him want his steaks cooked rare and he didn't care for vegetables as much anymore. But when he took his first bite of food when the feast began everyone around him stared, like he was suddenly going to leap across the table and tear into their flesh. But he was hungry and letting himself starve just so other people weren't afraid of him having a bloody T-bone would only serve to hurt him in the long run. "Do you fucking mind," He hissed angrily at his housemates who quickly turned back to their plates.
"It's night time though, isn't that when Harry's going to eat us?" a new first year student squeaked in fear when they saw Harry passing through the common room to head up to the dorms.
"He's a werewolf, do you see a full moon in the sky?" Katie pointed out the window to show the lunar object was waning as the last night of the full moon had been days ago at this point.
"Mr. Potter, if I may have you for a moment," McGonagall called out to Harry before he secluded himself upstairs. "I know that you want to go to bed but, if you would follow me please."
"Sure thing," Harry tiredly responded, trudging behind his head of house back out of the common room. And the moment he was gone the gossiping started up.
It didn't take a genius to figure out where he was being led to, so when McGonagall opened the door to the room for him he could see a large silver gate that went floor to ceiling with a table and chairs on the outside but inside the cage was a room much more spacious than the Dursley cage was, inside there were hoops hanging from the ceiling, large balls of various sizes, things made for climbing and posts for scratching.
Deciding to be snarky about his new prison for the particular nights it was needed. "Oh wow, you made a playroom for Fluffy. So kind of you to build something for the student's pets," staring up at his professor to see if she'd flinch.
She at least looked saddened which Harry counted as a point in his favor. "It is for-"
"I know," Harry ran a hand through his hair, this was Minerva's first time being close to Harry since the incident and seeing the long, white scar tissue on his hands just made her feel even worse. "I could practically feel the silver in the back of my teeth right now."
"Before nightfall, we will escort you here and lock the door, the prefects will check on you throughout their rounds and…" Minerva sighed, she had the instructions that she needed to relay to Harry but she found it so inherently wrong to be telling something like this to a student.
"I know the drill, stay in the cage if I come out then Macnair gets to use his shiny new ax he bought just for that occasion." Harry muttered because that man had taken great pleasure in explaining in gruesome detail where every galleon he spent on that ax went, to the craftsmanship of the handle to the incredibly sharp blade "He did buy a new ax, I saw it when the ministry came to put the cage in the basement at Privet Drive, despite it probably getting used on me sometime in the future it is a nice looking ax."
"I'm so sorry Harry," Minerva said quietly while pulling Harry into a hug. Which startled him because he didn't think his professor was the touchy-feely type at all, but he figured that this was more for her benefit than his.
"You will not be required to attend classes in the mornings after you change back, likewise any classes that run into the night on those particular days you are exempt from." Minerva explained to her student how his schedule would be changed due to his affliction. "I'm certain Ms. Granger's notes will be able to help you keep up with your lessons."
Leading him back to the common room she let Harry go back up to bed before turning an eye onto her older students. She was wise enough to know that when all conversations ended as soon as Harry entered the room that they were gossiping about him, likely all the houses were at this point. "If it's not nice, keep it to yourselves," she warned her lions because this was something she wouldn't tolerate. Remus had to hide himself for years for fear of being found out and the man died over him being a werewolf passing on the disease to Harry in the process.
It was not something she was going to be willing to tolerate her lions making a joke out of.
"Mad-Eye huh?" Harry after being introduced to the new defense professor. "Tonks had some interesting tales to tell about the time spent training with you."
"Tonks, a fine lad," Moody answered quickly, then turned to the board to begin the lesson. "Now the Unforgivables."
Harry figured Tonks had been underselling how barmy the man was, he had put them all under the imperious, except for him.
After Malfoy opened his dumb mouth to whine about Harry not having to do something ridiculous like the rest of them Mad-Eye forced the class to listen to an impromptu lesson on werewolves with details that even Snape had not gone over last year when he was attempting to out Remus to the class.
"Werewolves can't be mind controlled, it's impossible to deal with the wolf and a human brain at the same time. Just like a werewolf doesn't feel the torture curse, their bodies are constantly in pain anyways, it would only serve to make them more angry. Of course the killing curse is still an option, then again, Mr. Potter here survived that too, so he might be the only thing in the world immune to all three unforgivables." The magical eye spinning wildly as it kept scanning up and down Harry's body as if something would show up if he looked long enough at him.
The strange looks from the rest of the class just made Harry wish someone would test that theory. But like all good things they must come to an end.
"Your potion Mr. Potter," Snape said while holding out the wolfsbane potion.
"Thanks Professor Snape," Harry said gratefully while downing the drink. "Still tastes like wet hair and shame."
"You must be familiar with that from all the time spent with your godfather," Snape sneered.
Harry would never admit it but he did actually laugh at that snide remark about Sirius.
"Come on Katie, we just want to talk to him for as long as he can before he starts to change," Hermione pleaded outside the room that the school knew Harry would be spending his nights in, Draco had been trying to get the school to dub it the Den of the Monster, and try as others might it was starting to stick with the younger years.
"No can do, Dumbledore himself told us how strict we have to be or else the Ministry is going to come after Harry," Katie denied with a shake of her head. "I know you're his best friends but this is his life we're talking about, we have to follow all the rules."
Surprisingly Ron was the one who pulled Hermione away. "Dad told me all about how the 'Gamot held meeting after meeting to try and figure out a way to get Harry out of Hogwarts. We cannot screw this up for him by breaking this rule that gets him expelled or worse, killed."
Merlin's beard was Harry bored. He'd already run around the cage a dozen times, the balls weren't fun if there was no one to interact with and while he couldn't talk, being talked to was good to help him pass the time. That made him miss Tonks the most, she could talk about anything, just chatting the night away with stories about Hogwarts, her training, or just things she had gotten to do that he never had or would, like going to a concert, hanging out on the beach with friends, going to an amusement park and screaming her head off on the roller coasters.
So it was maybe hours or just an hour later when he heard commotion outside his door as they hadn't silenced the room and his hearing was good enough to listen through the wood. "No, please stop. I don't want to go in there, let me go," a small young voice whined. While he didn't know that voice, the other one he heard he recognized.
Draco Malfoy was busy shoving a first year Hufflepuff towards the door to Harry's room, Crabbe and Goyle meanwhile stood on both sides to stop the eleven year old from being able to run away. "What was that mudblood, I thought you liked dogs. Well I got a big dog in there for you to feed, with your body," Malfoy cackled madly while pressing the first-year to the door.
"Let her go Malfoy," Hermione ordered stomping up to the Slytherin who was bullying a younger student.
"I don't take orders from you mudblood," Malfoy shouted and continued to shove the little girl who was at this point bawling her eyes out that she was going to be torn apart and eaten by the scary monster.
It quickly devolved into a loud argument that attracted attention from a nearby passing professor. "What… is going on here?" Snape looked over the students in the hall outside the one room that they were told to not be near at this time.
"I'm just helping a lost first year sir," Malfoy said innocently while forcefully shaking the little girl so she'd get the idea to shut up.
"He's lying, he was trying to-" Ron protested before Snape cut him off.
"Silence Weasley, tell me," the potions master said while looking at the little girl who seemed almost as scared of him as she was the door. "What was going on?"
"He-he tried to feed me to the monster," the little girl sobbed and pointed at Malfoy and then the door to Harry's room.
"Professor Snape you can't-" Draco tried to say before he was silenced with a glare.
"One hundred points from Slytherin Mr. Malfoy and from this moment on, every full moon you will be in detention, for the rest of your remaining time at Hogwarts," Severus said with finality, earning shocked looks from everyone in the hall. "And I will be informing both Lucius and Narcissa about how your stupid actions nearly ruined many lives this night. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"
Draco looked horrified that he was being punished and by none other than his godfather of all people. He didn't know what to do, none of the children did, but he slowly nodded his head with the Hufflepuff girl fleeing the scene now that the older kids were distracted. "Crabbe, Goyle, take Mr. Malfoy to the common room and make sure there are no detours along the way," Snape ordered with the two other boys practically carrying Malfoy away.
That just left Hermione and Ron with Snape in the hallway. "And what about you two miscreants, out after curfew, five points from Gryffindor each."
"Sir, we just wanted to see how Harry was doing," Hermione reasoned. "Just see if things were good for him."
"And did Minerva fail to explain that when the moon rises that this room is off limits, not merely off limits unless you wanted to poke your head in?" Snape growled. "Go back to your dorm before I decide you need the same punishment I gave to Mr. Malfoy."
Ron and Hermione didn't need much more convincing at that point because a hundred points each along with dozens of detentions would just mean that they never had a chance in the future to visit Harry. Plus they had to tell the rest of the Gryffindors that Snape not only punished Draco Malfoy, but punished him hard.
"Mr. Potter?" Snape called out into the room as he entered to check on the student to ensure that nothing had tampered with the cage. Seeing the seated mass of fur and muscle in the far corner of the room. "Mr. Potter, I know you can hear and understand me, so do not play this game with me."
He watched as Harry rose up to his full height and plodded over as close to the gate as he felt comfortable doing. "Did anyone at any point other than myself enter this room after you transformed?"
Harry quickly shook his head in the negative. "Did you at any point make an attempt to leave this cage?"
Harry again replied in the same way. "Good. I take it with your hearing you knew something was going on outside?"
This time Harry nodded his head. "So when you figured out what was going on you ran to the other side of the room?"
Again getting the same response. "That's good, I'll speak with Albus about this, a prefect should have come by much earlier to stop this before it got this far."
Apparently that talk was enough that by the next night when Harry entered the room his favorite pink haired auror was waiting for him. "Surprise Harry Beary!" Tonks shouted at him.
"Tonks, what are you doing here?" the young werewolf said, unable to suppress his smile at the friendly face.
"Duh, getting paid to spend the night with the raddest dude in Hogwarts," Tonks smirked and ruffled Harry's hair. "As soon as you take your medicine, we can hang out."
Harry managed to stomach the potion and got put in his cage before he spent the entire remaining time in his human body talking with Tonks. After he changed though the fun for him didn't stop with Tonks continuing to tell him stories and casting spells through the bars to either levitate the balls or transfigure things into other toys.
That made his next nights far more tolerable when he got to spend them with Tonks who was rapidly becoming one of his best friends.
