Through the dark, silent halls of Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter, a third-year student, walked aimlessly as he tried to relax enough to fall asleep when he returned to his dormitory. Sometimes, a brisk walk in the cold castle tired Harry out, but after waking up from a nightmare of the Grim dog chasing him through the Forbidden Forest, he was struggling to calm his mind enough to fall back to sleep. Perhaps he could talk to one of his professors.

            Of course, there was only one professor he could trust to go to at this time of night and face minimal punishment, a detention of writing lines maybe. Professor Remus Lupin was a new professor to the school, but so far, he was Harry’s favorite and the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher the school ever had. And come to find out, Remus had also been a friend of Harry’s deceased parents, mainly his father, and they spent many evenings discussing Remus’s school days with James Potter over a spot of tea. It always brought a smile to Harry’s face, and he was sure it would help him get over his silly nightmare tonight.

            No, he shouldn’t be wandering the castle on a chilly January night—especially with a murderer out for his blood—and he’d probably get a brief tongue lashing from Remus when he knocked on his office door at first, but Remus always calmed down quickly and knew just what to say to make everything right again. It would be fine; he was sure of it.

            Harry pulled out his wand and the Marauder’s Map, a map of the entire school that revealed everyone’s current location. He cast lumos, and a gentle light illuminated the map for him, and he studied everyone’s position. Remus was in his quarters attached to his office, which was perfect for Harry. However, Mr. Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts, was lurking the hallways, and he was walking down the same hallway as Harry was.

            Harry flicked his wand, cancelling the charm to surround himself in darkness once more. He didn’t have his invisibility cloak with him tonight, so he would have to move quickly and get out of sight before Filch could catch up to him.

            Shoving the map in his pocket, Harry walked a bit faster, heading directly for Lupin’s office door. Another turn down a hall and down one flight of stairs brought him to the office door he needed, and he knocked on the door firmly. He could hear Filch’s steps behind him picking up pace, and he knocked loudly once more, cursing silently. He was not getting caught by Filch tonight. Maybe Remus was a heavy sleeper, and that was why he wasn’t answering the door. He was sure Remus wouldn’t mind if he broke into his office. At least, after he explained why he broke in.

            Harry raised his wand and tapped the doorknob.

            “Alohomora,” Harry whispered.

            The door did not unlock.

            “Alohomora!” Harry hissed through his teeth. The door still didn’t click open. What kind of locking spell did Remus keep on his door? Figures, he was trying to break into the teacher’s office whose job was defense.

            Filch was practically running down the hall now, and Harry desperately threw every bit of energy he had into his next try.
            “Alohomora!” he shouted.

            Several sparks shot off the doorknob before the door creaked open with a reluctant groan. Harry ran inside and slammed the door shut behind him, locking it manually from the inside. He leaned against it and waited as the footsteps paused outside.

            He heard Filch mumble about hearing someone, then the doorknob rattled, and Harry held his breath. After a few seconds, the doorknob went still and Filch began walking down the hall and away from the office door, his boots clicking on the ground.

            Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

            He was sure he would be in trouble with Remus, but far less so than if Filch had caught him.

            Turning to face the office, Harry smiled at the bookshelves of fascinating objects around him. Usually, there was a dark creature in a cage or a tank sitting on the shelves or near the massive mahogany desk that took up the center of the room. Surprisingly, there were no creatures to be seen anywhere. Harry frowned at a tipped over goblet sitting on the desk. The contents of the goblet were spilled over a stack of parchment that was scattered haphazardly across the desk, as if someone had been in a hurry to grab the goblet and knocked it over. Harry stepped closer, touching the fraying ends of the parchment.

            A noise caught Harry’s attention in the adjacent room. The door was slightly ajar, and a muffled grunting and ripping sound came from within the confines.

            “Remus?” Harry called out as he slowly moved toward the door. “Are you okay?”

            Harry tapped the door, causing it to swing open the slightest on its own, but it was enough to see what was happening in the room.

            There was stuffing and splintered wood everywhere from the ruins of furniture, tables and walls included. The chair looked like it had exploded as there was nothing left of the back support, only a shredded seat with destroyed arms. The dining table was broken into three parts and every end was chewed up, along with the two dining chairs. The walls had scratches and holes everywhere, and many smaller items were knocked over. A glass coffee table had been flipped, and the glass top part was shattered.

            And currently, a large, thin wolf was tearing the couch to tiny bits, its thick black claws ripping at the cushions while white fangs bit into the lining, tearing large chunks out.

            Harry gasped, taking a step back.

            The wolf dropped the fuzz in its mouth and turned yellow eyes on Harry, sniffing the air.

            It leaped for him, and Harry dropped to the ground and rolled away as the wolf landed inches away from him, the door slamming open, creating a shield between Harry and the wolf. It snarled as it sniffed the air.

            Harry quickly crawled to the nearest shelter he had—the desk. He squeezed himself under it and hugged his knees to his chest, his heart racing and his breaths heavy, but he forced himself to close his mouth and breath slowly through his nose to avoid making any noise.

            Unfortunately, the wolf had pushed him in the opposite direction of the exit, and he was now trapped in the office with a mad werewolf. Harry put a hand over his mouth to really muffle his sounds as he heard the wolf snuffing and grunting while stalking through the office on four lanky but strong looking limbs. Where on earth had the wolf come from? Was it something Remus had captured for their next lesson, and it escaped? Or worse—was the wolf Remus?

            Harry flinched as he heard the desk crunch a bit, parchment fluttering down in front of him. He froze, his eyes widening as he realized the wolf was leaning over the desk, its front paws digging into the wood as it turned its head this way and that, its nose twitching.

            The wolf pulled back and dropped down to all fours once more, its tail knocking the goblet off the desk.

            The clang the goblet made was sharp and echoed in the room, and Harry jumped, especially as the wolf spun around and attacked the goblet with a loud snarl, thrashing its head as it crunched the goblet in its jaws. As it was preoccupied with the goblet, Harry carefully crawled out from under the desk and moved to the side the wolf was not on, and from this angle he could see the office door.

            All he had to do was make a run for it, and he would be free.

            Harry was about to move when the room fell silent, and he froze, unsure what that meant.

            A moment passed when he heard low growling, and he glanced to his left to see the snout of the wolf inching further and further forward from behind the desk, the black nose sniffing intently.

            It was right next to him, all it had to do was look around the side of the desk and it would have him. Feeling a shiver down his back, Harry made a quick decision of back crawling away as fast as he could, back into the cubby under the desk. It was just in time as well, as the wolf shot forward and snapped at the empty space on the side of the desk. It sniffed the area, then huffed as it looked around the room, letting out a small howl before trotting through the office space.

            Harry peeked out from under the desk, then crawled toward the side to see where the wolf was. There was a clear path to the office door, all Harry had to do was run for it. It was his only chance of getting out. There was no way he would survive all night with a werewolf in close proximity. Harry crawled a bit more around the desk, looking every which way for the wolf. He swore he had just seen it a second ago sniffing the bookshelves, but it wasn’t there now. There was still a clear path to the door.

            He had to take his chance.

            Harry jumped to his feet and ran for the door, grabbing the knob and turning it.

            It did not open.

            Cursing himself for forgetting he had manually locked it, Harry undid the lock, then fell backward to the ground as the wolf slammed itself into the door in an attempt to grab Harry.

            Once again, the wolf blocked the door as it turned after Harry, its yellow eyes locked on the fallen child wo was back crawling away, and it stalked its prey with ears pinned down and canines flashing.

            Harry reached for his wand and pointed it at the wolf, trying to think of the best spell to use against it.

            “Stupefy!” Harry shouted just as the wolf pounced for him.

            The spell hit the wolf, knocking it back a few feet, and it landed on all four feet in an upright position, though it was still.

Harry backed away and sat up some as he stared at the wolf, unsure if it was stunned or not.

Then the wolf shook itself out before glaring at Harry, teeth bared.

            Harry’s jaw dropped. The spell hadn’t had the full intended effect against the werewolf. And now he had succeeded in making it angrier. He vaguely recalled Snape’s impromptu lesson on werewolves a couple months back but he had not done the homework yet when Remus decided no one had to complete it in the next lesson, much to Hermione’s disappointment. What was something that worked against wolves? What had Snape said?

            The wolf made a strange half-bark-growl noise as it ran for Harry, who jumped to his feet and ran around the desk, sliding to a halt as the wolf jumped on the desk and tried to bite him as he passed, forcing Harry to retreat the other way.

            He ran straight for the door, but just as he reached the knob, he felt sharp teeth sink into his shoulder, and he screamed as he was yanked to the ground and dragged away from the door.

The wolf thrashed its head, jerking Harry around on the floor as he struggled to whack at the wolf with his fists, kicking futilely in its grasp. Harry cried from the pain as the wolf bit down harder, and tears streamed down his cheek while trickles of blood dripping from his shoulder.

            Releasing his shoulder, the wolf stepped over Harry, pinning him to the floor with a massive paw, eyes darting between Harry’s neck and head like it was deciding which would be a swifter kill. Harry stared up at the wolf with glassy eyes, his shoulder throbbing, but despite it, he raised his hand just enough to point his wand at the wolf.

            “Expelliarmus!” Harry screamed.

            The wolf flew and smashed into the wall on the other side of the room, and it slid to the ground, momentarily dazed.

            Despite the pain, Harry jumped to his feet and ran for the door, opening it and slamming it shut behind him just as the wolf jumped for the door. Harry cast a locking charm on the door as the wolf snarled, howled, and screamed from within, the noises so loud he was sure the rest of the school was hearing it. Harry slowly slid to the ground, hugging his knees once more, the yells and shrieks of the wolf loud in his ears as he felt every scratch and thump on the door. Hogwarts was known for episodes of haunting sounds, but being right at the source, it was terrifying and disconcerting.

            Harry sobbed, hiding his face in his knees. He had never been so afraid in his life, not even the times he had faced Voldemort on the back of Quirrell’s head or even the basilisk in the chamber. This topped everything. And for someone he trusted to be the monster to do this . . . He didn’t understand how werewolves worked, but from his understanding, they did not often remember what they did in wolf form. Which made this even worse.

            And bites transformed the curse.

            Harry’s shoulder was swelling up and ached furiously. He was going to turn into a beast now. Like Remus was. And that thought terrified him.

            But who could he tell? If Remus didn’t remember tonight, and Harry exposed him, Remus would never forgive himself. And he would be sacked for sure. Harry couldn’t ruin the man’s life after everything he fought for to get to this point.

            And what of himself? Would they lock him up somewhere—away from the other students? Would he be expelled for being out after curfew? This was all his fault after all, Remus could hardly be to blame. His door had been locked and everything. Harry had just been a reckless, foolish imbecile as Snape would say. The headmaster might force him to leave the school, and it wasn’t like he could go back to the Dursleys like this. They had no protection against creatures like him.

            All Harry felt was fear. Fear for the unknown life ahead of him, and fear for the monster he would soon become.

            No, no one could find out about what happened tonight.

            For Remus’s sake.

            And for his own sake.

Harry managed to stumble on his way to a nearby classroom. He ran into the edges of a few tables, bruising his hips, then he tripped and fell over a chair, nearly striking his jaw against the hard floor. His teeth caught his lip when he jerked his head to avoid it hitting the ground, and he tasted blood in his mouth. Pushing to his feet, Harry forced himself to stagger over to the shelves in the storage closet in the back of the classroom.

            He threw things off the shelves in his search for supplies. He found a few old vials with smeared names on the labels, but Harry threw all caution to the wind that they were pain relievers and drank them down. One reminded him of the taste of a minty Pepper-Up while the other was simply repulsive, but some of the pain in his shoulder subsided the slightest, reducing the bite wound to a dull ache rather than sharp stabbing jolts. Harry shuffled through more supplies in the closet, knocking more things off before he found bandage material and a jar of dittany salve. The jar was old and covered in dust, but Harry was hopeful it still contained some healing properties.

            With zombie-like movements, Harry made his way over to a chair and set the bandage material and salve down on the desk. He pulled off his robe and removed his pajama shirt, exposing the wound.

            There were four deep punctures in his shoulder that turned into jagged cuts from the way the werewolf had dragged him. It wasn’t bleeding like it was moments earlier, but it was very swollen and red. Harry scooped up a generous amount of the dittany salve and gingerly applied it to the wound, hissing as he did so.

            The salve had a cooling effect, and Harry let out a small sigh of relief as the inflammation went down a bit, and he rolled his shoulder a couple times. With the practiced ease he learned while living with the Dursleys, Harry wrapped his shoulder with the bandage material, making sure to apply enough pressure to reduce the swelling but not enough to cut off blood flow. When his arm was wrapped, Harry leaned over the desk and rested his head in his arms, fighting back more tears. Minutes later, he fell asleep from the physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion of the night.

            “He was crying up a storm last night,” Severus snapped at Albus as he paced back and forth in front of the headmaster’s desk, his long black robes flowing behind him while his hair flicked with every agitated turn of the potion professor’s head. “Howling and screaming—he clearly forgot to take his potion. And what’s worse, the students heard him. They’re all talking about what could have possibly been causing the noise. All the what-ifs they’re coming up with . . .”

            “He was contained in his rooms, Severus,” Albus said tiredly. “Even if he had missed his potion, he was unable to leave his rooms. His door is always spelled lock with extraordinary runes and spells that would require quite a gifted wizard to break through.”

            Before Severus could reprimand Albus for foolishly hiring a werewolf some more, there was a quite knock on the door before it opened, revealing Remus Lupin. Remus’s hair was sticking up every which way and his robes were disheveled. His brown eyes still had yellow flecks in them, and he seemed a bit unsteady on his feet as he stumbled into the headmaster’s office, accidentally slamming the door behind himself. Remus winced at the noise before he collapsed in front of the headmaster’s desk.

            “I bit someone,” Remus whispered.

            There was silence in the room. Severus’s eyes widened and he felt anger swell in his chest. He glanced at Albus, who was still sitting behind his desk, his eyes on Remus, but the older wizard’s eyes had crinkled with concern.

            “You must be mistaken,” Albus said. “No one could have gotten through the wards set on your office.”

            “But someone did,” Remus insisted in a louder voice. He slowly stood up, gesturing wildly to his face. “I can smell it. All over me, my office, my desk. There was blood on the floor that wasn’t mine. I’ve bitten someone.”

            Albus paled considerably while Severus pointed his wand at Remus.

            “I knew this was a terrible idea,” Severus snarled. “You forgot your potion, didn’t you? All it takes is one missed dose and what do you get? A savage uncontrollable beast. Once again, you were mistaken for putting your trust in the likes of him, Albus. Look at what’s happened now. A student could very well have been devoured.”        

            “No,” Remus was quick to say, shaking his head and closing his eyes. “I would know. Whoever it was escaped.”

            “And for all we know, they may have suffered a severe scratch,” Albus said almost hopefully. “We must search the school for the injured party and set things straight. We need to see what the extent of the injury is and take the necessary precautions to keep this individual safe.”

            “If they have not bled to death somewhere,” Severus snapped, glaring at Remus, his wand still on the werewolf.

            “We must alert Poppy,” Albus said. “We will search the school first, and if we need to, perhaps we’ll arrange for a mandatory health check on all the students.”

            “I will stay to assist in finding this person,” Remus said, “for I owe them an apology, though no words will take back the suffering I’ve now caused them. At this time, I would like to hand in my resignation, effective immediately. I cannot take the risk of this happening ever again. Severus is right, it is too dangerous for me to be in a school full of children. I was foolish to forget my potion till the last minute, then in my rush to take it, I knocked it over. I cannot be trusted to stick to the regimen of the Wolfsbane, I clearly cannot be trusted to remain in this school either.”

            “He should leave immediately,” Severus said. “I dare say he’s caused enough damage.”

            “Severus,” Albus said, “please lower your wand. Remus is no threat at this time.”

            “I beg to differ. The effects of the full moon could still be felt at this early hour. He could act out in a fit of rage any minute.”

            “Highly unlikely, now lower your wand, Severus. We have a lot of work to do, and Remus can be of help. He’ll be able to sense who had been recently turned if anyone has.” Albus waited for Severus to lower his wand and pocket it away, though the surly professor did not stop glaring at Remus in the slightest. Albus continued, looking at Remus. “Are you sure you want to resign, Remus? We are not even sure of the circumstances that led to whatever happened last night.”

            “I can’t stay after this!” Remus nearly jumped back away from the desk. “My worst fears have come true, Albus. I will not stay here and risk it happening again, I . . . I just can’t. Do not force this upon me. I will do anything I can to make up for my sins, but not that.”

            “We learn from our mistakes. This is a preventable—”

            "Nothing is preventable!" Remus yelled, slamming a hand down on the headmaster's desk before backing away once more, taking deep breaths. "No. We tried, it failed. I have to leave. I deserve Azkaban for this. It's the least I deserve."

"He's not wrong, Albus," Severus said. "We have tried all we can do to keep the students safe. It failed. It would be foolhardy to keep trying at the expense of the students' wellbeing. And if word gets out? You would be terminated from your post for allowing this. I can only pray whoever you turned is not a pureblood Slytherin. This school be shut down. Not to mention, though not entirely unfortunate, hunters from all over would be after your head, Lupin. Perhaps Azkaban would be a far better place to keep the likes of you."

Albus held up a hand to stop Severus's rant. He was silent for a moment before he sighed and gave a reluctant nod of his head.

"I respect your wishes, Remus. After we find who you injured in your werewolf state, pending any charges a parent may wish to bring up, you are free to leave. I will not call any authorities on you myself, however. This was an accident, after all. We will search for a replacement professor immediately. Between the two of you, and Poppy, we will keep the matter quiet until the student has been found. We cannot risk injury befalling whoever this is should word get out to the students or worse, parents. We need to know what exactly happened and with whom before anymore statements, if any, are made."

            Severus crossed his arms and glared at the headmaster and Remus interchangeably.

            Harry yawned as he shuffled over to the Gryffindor table where his friends were finishing up with their breakfast. He glanced at the head table and immediately noticed that Professor Lupin, Professor Snape, and the headmaster were missing. He didn’t think much on it though as he dropped down heavily into a seat across from Ron and Hermione.

            “Bloody hell, Harry,” Ron said over a mouthful of eggs, “you look awful.”

            “Are you feeling okay?” Hermione asked, leaning over the table to peer into Harry’s eyes. “Your eyes are bloodshot and sunken in.”

            Hermione reached over the table and tried to place her hand on Harry’s forehead, but Harry jerked his head away. Hermione pulled back with a frown.

            “I’m fine,” Harry said. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

            “Where were you?” Ron asked. “You weren’t in your bed this morning. We thought you came down to breakfast early, but you weren’t here either.”

            “I was . . . in the infirmary. I had a headache and needed something to relieve it.” The lie rolled off Harry’s tongue easier as he thought up a plausible story. “And then Madam Pomfrey wouldn’t let me leave since it was so late at night.”

            “You should have alerted Professor McGonagall,” Hermione chastised. “She’s our Head of House, she takes care of things like that. She probably had headache reliever in her office. And she’s closer.”         

            “I didn’t want to bother her. And you know I like night strolls through the castle. It helps me sleep better.”

            “You need to stop doing that before it gets you in trouble.”

            “Ease up, Hermione,” Ron said. “He had a rough night.”

            Hermione huffed and returned to her breakfast, sparing one last concerned glance in Harry’s direction.

            Harry didn’t bother with breakfast. His stomach was queasy and flipping at the sight of all the greasy food laid out, and he was starting to regret having come to breakfast at all. Besides that, every muscle ached in his body, and his head still felt very heavy on his shoulders, which were throbbing painfully in unison as if both had been bitten and not just his right. His right shoulder still had some swelling, and the bite wound was oozing through the fresh bandages Harry had put on before leaving the abandoned classroom that morning. He tried to ignore the dampness while struggling to keep his head up and his eyes open.

            “Aren’t you going to eat breakfast?” Ron asked. “We have classes in twenty minutes.”

            “I’m really not that hungry,” Harry said.

            “Are you sure you feel all right?” Hermione asked. “Maybe you should go back to Madam Pomfrey.”

            “It might just be side effects of the potion I took. And lack of sleep. I’ll be okay.”

            Hermione did not look convinced and even Ron shared a concerned look with her.

            “Did you guys hear the screams last night?” Seamus asked at the other end of the table where he was seated next to a few other classmates. “Some of the sixth years said it sounded like a banshee moved in, but I think it sounded more like a beastly monster trying to break into the school.”

            Harry felt a shiver down his back as his ears suddenly seemed to pick up every whisper and rumor.

            “The ghouls must have thrown a party last night.”

            “I bet it was Moaning Myrtle. She’s such a nuisance.”

            “Did you hear the shrieks? It’s like the Shrieking Shack’s come alive again.”

            “Did you hear . . .?”

            “Did you hear . . .?”

            “Did you hear . . .?”

            Harry winced and covered his ears, the voices of many students reverberating off his eardrums and he closed his eyes, trying his best to block them out as his ears rang. Suddenly, everything fell silent, and Harry opened his eyes, noticing his friends giving him odd looks. Ron gestured to the head table with a jerk of his head, and Harry lowered his hands and turned in his seat to see the headmaster standing with his hands up for everyone to quiet down. When there was complete silence, the headmaster spoke.

            “Good morning, everyone. I only have one announcement before you begin your classes for today. As per the new Ministry guidelines, a mandatory health exam must be performed on all students today to make sure everyone is up to date on your vaccinating potions, vision and hearing check charms, and physicals.”

Harry paled, his heart racing in his chest, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. They knew. They had to know. And they were searching for him. Remus had to know. Was that why he was missing? Had he been sacked already? Harry tried to keep his breathing under control while the headmaster continued talking.

“When you hear your house and year called, please report to the infirmary for your health check. We will begin with the first years and work our way up to the seventh years. Please be cooperative with these new guidelines as it is only required once to get the school up to par, and then will only be performed on new first years coming in. You may return to your breakfast, and when you are finished, first-year Hufflepuffs will start the exams.”

“Ruddy new guidelines,” Ron muttered. “The board of education never cared about magical student health before, why bother now?”

“It’s not a bad thing, Ron,” Hermione said. “In muggle schools, this is done yearly. It’s about time Hogwarts did the same.”

            With his friends back to their usual bickering, Harry focused on breathing slowly through his nose, urging his heart to slow down. He could avoid the checkup. He used to do it all the time at primary school. He could come up with a thousand excuses as to why he missed his appointment. He had to. He could not be sent away from Hogwarts. He would have nowhere else to go.

Severus walked briskly to his potions storeroom in search of his dittany to treat some injuries uncovered on a couple Hufflepuff students. Sometimes, health exams revealed far more than anyone was ready for, especially muggleborns who say their kids’ magical abilities as unusual and freaky, or worse, as satanic. Those cases produced some of the worst abuse situations and Poppy was besides herself as she read over the parchment listing what injuries needed tending to.

            Severus found the salves he needed, and he grabbed a few other healing potions and shoved them into his robe pocket. He closed his storeroom and cast a few security charms and locks on it. No need to have any students finding the storeroom and snitching supplies from it.

            As Severus walked down the corridor, a thud in an adjacent classroom caught his attention. There was a small scuffle and then silence.

            Severus paused outside the classroom door, then pulled out his wand and flicked it toward the ceiling in the room. Hundreds of dormant candles came to life, lighting up the dark room. There was a rattling noise, then silence.

            Severus stepped into the room. Chairs were resting on top of tables, and a thick layer of dust settled over the furniture. Severus moved through the rows of desks with silent footfalls, swiveling his head in search of anyone, or anything, that could have caused the disturbance. As he neared the back of the room, a cupboard door creaked.

            Severus froze and stared at the door.

            Silence filled the room once more. Carefully, Severus reached for the cupboard door, and it creaked as he slowly pushed it open.

            Teeth flashed and Severus fell to the floor with a shout as a werewolf lunged out of the cupboard and snapped at him. He crawled away as the wolf stalked after him, its face scarred and its eyes red. Its gray fur bristled as it bared its large teeth at Severus.

            Finally feeling like he had put some distance between himself and the wolf, Severus raised his wand at it.

            “Riddikulus!” he shouted.
            His curse hit the wolf, and it shrunk down and turned into a yellow puppy chasing its tail. After a few spins, the puppy whimpered and ran back for the cupboard, jumping inside and disappearing in the darkness. The cupboard door swung closed at the movement of the boggart jumping inside.

            Severus panted on the floor for a few minutes, cursing himself for even investigating the damn room. He made note of the classroom so he would remember to come back down and relocate the boggart so no students came across it. Shakily, he stood up and left the classroom, locking the door behind him. He leaned back against the door, taking a minute to occlude his mind and slow his heart rate down before he carried on his way to the infirmary.

            When he arrived to the infirmary, he handed the potions to Poppy, who set them aside with a small muttered “thanks” as she reviewed her papers. A quill hovered in the air next to her, ready for the next exam.

            “Do you need any assistance?” Severus asked.

            “No,” Poppy said, “I just have to keep moving. We are on a bit of a time crunch and there are a lot of students to examine. As long as everyone shows up when they are supposed to, things should flow nicely. Unless we keep getting surprises.”

            “This may be for the best. We are uncovering things we may have never found out if not for this incident. Some of these students will be grateful when they are not returned to their wretched home lives.”

            “True. How are you holding up?”

            “What do you mean?” Severus frowned at Poppy.

            “You know,” Poppy pushed, giving Severus a pointed look, “with your history and all, this incident can be—”

            “I’m fine,” Severus snapped, cutting Poppy off. “I will deal as I always do. We must find the injured student before something awful happens.”

            Poppy stared at Severus for a moment, but he refused to acknowledge her, so she returned to marking up the parchment in front of her. Severus took a deep breath and occluded his mind some more.   

            Harry followed his friends to his next class of the day, his eyes aching behind his glasses. He rubbed at his eyes and adjusted his glasses, but his vision was very blurry behind them. He reached up and pulled the glasses down so he could see above the rim of his frames. The world was less blurry without his lens, which was odd, but he was getting a headache keeping the glasses on, so he pulled them off.

            A week had passed, and Harry had managed to avoid the mandatory health check up so far. It was taking a while to get through every student, so it was just yesterday that his year and House was called, and Harry stayed in the Gryffindor Tower while everyone else reported to the Infirmary for their exam. It took the entire day for Madam Pomfrey to get through his classmates, and when everyone was back, Harry had been afraid that Madam Pomfrey would come collect him from the tower herself. However, the next House was called this morning, and no professors came hunting Harry down. It was a relief for Harry. He might just get away with this.

            Besides, the worst of the pain was over, he suspected. His shoulder had two, large nasty scars on it, with four small raised scars over where each puncture wound of the wolf’s canines had been. The book Harry found on werewolves in the library that he spent yesterday reading explained that werewolf bites and scratches leave nasty scars, but aside from that, werewolves had a strange healing factor in their blood that allowed them to heal from wounds and injuries quicker than the average human or wizard. It also talked about enhanced senses, which would explains his current vision problem.

            Harry shoved his glasses into a robe pocket and rubbed his eyes again.

            “Are you okay, Harry?” Hermione asked.

            “My eyes are hurting, that’s all,” Harry said.

            “You don’t have your glasses on,” Hermione said. “Well no wonder they hurt. Where are your glasses?”

            “In my pocket,” Harry said. “They were making my eyes hurt. I actually can see better without them right now. Maybe the prescription needs to be updated.”

            “Huh.” Hermione tilted her head curiously. “Why didn’t Madam Pomfrey fix that for you yesterday?”

            “Oh, well, she did, but I think I told her to change them too much without realizing it,” Harry said.

            “Wait a minute,” Ron interrupted, “I don’t recall waiting in line with you yesterday. When did you get your exam done?”

            “I went really late, so I was last in line. I figured I could hang out in the library while I waited for everyone else to get done with their exams and then got back in line.”

            “You went to the library?” Hermione asked, raising her brows. “Willingly?”

            “Hey, I study sometimes,” Harry said with a chuckle. He scratched absently at his shoulder as they approached the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. The headmaster announced during a dinner earlier that week that Remus was resigning due to personal troubles at home and would be leaving very soon. According to what he heard from students coming back from the infirmary, Remus was hanging out there a lot, and it confirmed Harry’s suspicions that the headmaster was searching for a freshly bitten student.

            “I wonder who the new professor will be,” Ron said as he entered the classroom.

            The trio was slightly early, so they took a seat in the front of the classroom. Harry dug more at the scars on his shoulder. They must be in an itchy phase or something to itch so much. He hopes it meant they were healing and wouldn’t look so unsightly in a week or so.

            There was a loud bang in a nearby closet, and Harry winced at the volume of the noise while Hermione and Ron jumped and looked in the direction of the noise. Someone stumbled out of the closet and closed the door behind him. Water leaked out from under the door and small scratching noises could be heard.

            The new professor it would seem. He wore dark gray robes and had shoulder length brunette hair with an anchor beard and bushy mustache. He brushed a hand through his hair and smiled at the kids sitting in the classroom.

            “Sorry about that,” he said, walking over to his desk and leaning back against it. “No one warned me there was a tank full of grindylows in the classroom. I tried moving the tank without upsetting the little demons too much but they did not appreciate their new location. I’ll relocate them later. My name is Professor Connor Huntington, and I’ll be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. What are your names?”

            “Hermione Granger. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

            “Ron Weasley.”

            “Harry Potter,” Harry said with a small smile as he forced his hands to stop scratching at his shoulder.

            “Harry Potter,” Huntington repeated. “It is an honor to meet the Boy-Who-Lived. I’ve heard great stories of how you defeated You-Know-Who, even as a small toddler.”

            “Yeah, I don’t really recall the toddler incident,” Harry said.

            “I gathered as much. You know what, I also heard a rumor about a werewolf in the school recently. Can you imagine that? Hogwarts with a werewolf in its walls? Did you kids hear anything about it?”

            “Well,” Ron said, “the last full moon, there was something throwing an absolute fit somewhere in the castle. Screaming and howling, it woke everyone up, I’d say. Remember, Hermione?”

            Hermione frowned and shrugged, suddenly very quiet. Harry frowned at her as his hand found its way to his shoulder again, scratching away at the scars. He didn’t even realize he had been scratching until he noticed the professor frowning at him.

            “You okay, kid?” Huntington asked.

            Harry stopped scratching his shoulder and rubbed his arm instead.

            “Yes,” Harry answered, “I’m okay. Sore arm, probably from all the note taking.”

            Huntington chuckled warmly as he nodded his head in understanding.

            “You should rest then,” he said. “Wouldn’t want your arm to fall off during the next class. In fact, I’ll keep it light today.”

            “Thanks,” Harry forced himself to say, forcing a smile as well, though it felt more like a grimace. His really wanted nothing more than to scratch at his shoulder more. He did not understand why it was so itchy suddenly, but it was very distracting. He hoped it did not last long or he would not make it through any classes today.

            It took Poppy two weeks to get through every student in Hogwarts, and while she made sure to stay thorough to be fair to the students, especially as this took time away from their studies. Yet not a single one came through with a bite or scratch on them. The health exams exposed a few rough home situations for some of the students, and those were being handled by aurors who specialized in the department. Severus had supplied potions for healing and other small maladies as was needed, but he did not understand what could have been missed.

            Until Poppy reviewed her notes and found one missing report.

            “Oh no,” she said softly. “Harry didn’t come for his health check up.”

            Severus let out a heavy sigh and leaned his head back against the door frame he was leaning on. Of course it was Potter.

            Remus’s jaw dropped, and he paled considerably while his eyes became glassy. He shook his head, rushing forward and grabbing some of the papers Poppy was holding, shuffling through them as if hoping Harry’s was somewhere in the mix.

            “No, no,” he muttered repeatedly. “That can’t be right. No, I couldn’t have, not Harry.”

            “This doesn’t mean it was him,” Poppy tried to reason. “He may be unharmed. You may have not turned anyone for all we know.”

            “Of course, he’s bitten,” Severus said. He crossed his arms and stared at Poppy and Lupin reproachfully. “He’s hiding it. For whatever unknown reason he feels is justified, he’s putting everyone in this school at risk.”

            “We don’t know that for sure,” Poppy said. “He could be avoiding the exam for other reasons, too. I suspect his home life isn’t as grand as you’d like to think it is, Severus. And we cannot know anything for sure until we see Harry.”

            “Then we drag him here first thing in the morning.”

            “Oh, I’m sure that’ll go over well.”

            “I’ll find him,” Remus said. A few tears had escaped from his eyes but he ignored them stubbornly as he nodded his head. “I can find him and bring him here. I have to apologize and make things right with him.”

            “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Poppy said.

            “I agree,” Severus snapped. “You’ve done enough damage, wolf. And we’ve wasted enough time with these exams. The full moon is in fifteen days. We do not need a repeat of the last full moon to occur.”

            “You are right, Severus,” Albus said as he stepped into the infirmary, having heard most of the conversation on his way in. “We must take control of the situation before it is too late. However, we must give Harry the chance to make the right decision himself. He is not one to endanger his friends.”

            “We cannot wait on a child to decide what is best,” Severus argued, “not in this case. This could get ugly really fast. A werewolf is far too dangerous to allow to wander the school unsupervised for long.”

            “We have some time before the full moon, Severus. Let us give Harry a chance. I will let Minerva know that Harry skipped his health exam and must report to the infirmary at once. As his head of house, she will ensure that he attends the exam.”

            Severus scoffed at that. He had a feeling he would be hunting Harry down himself when everyone else’s plans failed. This was just what the world needed—their hero turned into a savage, uncontrollable monster. For a moment, Severus wanted to feel some kind of sadistic justice over Harry’s predicament—James Potter’s son turned into a beast by the very beast they tried protecting in their school years. But there was no joy in knowing Harry may have been bitten. Only a deep and heavy burden of some unknown emotion Severus felt within his chest, with just a dash of fear.  

“Invented by Damocles Belby,” Harry read, pointing at the words as he stared intently at the book, “the Wolfsbane Potion relieves the symptoms of lycanthropy in the werewolf, allowing one to hold on to their mental faculties after transformation and thus retain their human consciousness while in animalistic form, rendering the otherwise dangerous beast into an ordinary wolf.”

            Harry frowned at the page, looking over at a picture of the potion boiling in a cauldron. Under the picture was a list of the ingredients required to brew the potion, and Harry studied the list, glancing back and forth between the list and the text which explained how to brew the potion. He had never excelled in Potions class, but this was his answer to staying sane and keeping his friends safe from himself. He had to find a way to brew the potion within the next week as after that, it would be the week leading up to the full moon. He would have to come up with a Plan B if he couldn’t figure out the potion. Which, with his skills, was highly likely to happen.

            However, he would do his best. He reread the ingredients once more, then looked at how they were used in the potion. Boil the juice of two mandrake leaves. Add in exactly seventeen wolfsbane leaves and allow them to steep in a simmer for two hours at exactly ninety-six degrees Celsius. The temperature cannot rise or fall in those two hours. Okay, that might be a bit of a challenge.

            Harry bit his lip as he read on. After adding three drops of dragon’s blood, return the cauldron to a boil and wait three minutes before adding—

            “There you are!” Minerva McGonagall’s voice snapped from above him.

            Harry’s head snapped up to see his head of house’s furious look. She was standing in front of the table he was sitting at with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.

            “Did you not receive my message at breakfast this morning?” McGonagall asked.

            Harry winced. He had received her note about reporting to his office after his morning classes and before lunch, he had simply ignored. He was sure he knew what she wanted to discuss.

            “I received it, Professor,” Harry said.

            “Then why, pray tell, are you here in the library and not in my office long after you should have been?”

            “I . . .” Harry fought for a reasonable explanation, “I forgot you said before lunch.”

            “Where are your glasses?” McGonagall asked suddenly.

            “They were hurting my eyes. I took them off.”

            In truth, he had not worn his glasses in days. He found he really didn’t need them anymore, which honestly wasn’t the worst change he was experiencing.

            “All the more reason to see Madam Pomfrey,” McGonagall said.

            “Well, I don’t mind, really.”

            McGonagall rolled her eyes and motioned for Harry to follow her. Harry abandoned the books at the table and swung his bag over his shoulder before following his teacher out of the library.

He tried to put on a neutral face as if this trek didn’t bother him in the least, but his bravado was falling the closer they walked toward the infirmary. She wasn’t even bothering to hide the fact that that was where she was leading him. What if they locked him up somewhere far away from Hogwarts when they saw the bites? What if he was expelled from Hogwarts for being out after curfew and nearly exposing Remus’s secret? There were so many what ifs that Harry managed to consider a hundred nerve wracking scenarios in the time it took to ascend one floor, and his heart was racing in his chest while his breathing came heavy. They were just one flight of stairs away from the infirmary, and Harry froze.

“Professor McGonagall,” Harry said, “I really need to use the loo.”

“I’m sure it can wait until we are at the infirmary,” McGonagall said.

“No, it’s urgent. I didn’t want to waste any study time before classes and didn’t get a chance to go after lunch and I really need to go now.”

McGonagall turned annoyed eyes on Harry and stared him down. Harry did his best to look desperate by crossing his legs and giving the professor a pleading look. It seemed to work as McGonagall sighed and pointed at the nearby boys’ restroom.

“Very well,” she said, “but be quick. I do not want to keep Madam Pomfrey waiting any more than she already has for your health check-up.”

“Thank you,” Harry muttered before rushing to the restroom.

Inside, Harry raced to a sink and leaned against it heavily, taking several slow deep breaths to calm his heart and ease his mind. He was visibly shaking as he gripped the countertop, and he looked up in the mirror to see his unruly hair a bit wet from his sweat. He was sure McGonagall thought all of this was due to his need for the loo, and he was okay with her thinking that. It didn’t seem like she knew anything else.

 Which made Harry wonder who did know. This whole health check thing was surely in search of a bitten student, wasn’t it? At least Madam Pomfrey had to know so she wasn’t surprised when she found the marks. The headmaster would have to know as well. Remus was either sacked or he left of his own accord, and the reason behind either would have been disclosed to the headmaster. Was that all who knew?

“Mr. Potter, no dillydallying,” McGonagall called into the loo. “We are on a tight schedule, and you have classes starting up.”

Harry winced and looked around the loo, as if hoping an escape might pop up in front of him. He could not be exposed. Not yet. If he could brew the potion, he wouldn’t be a threat to anyone. His plan just had to work. He had to stay in the school as long as possible. He would not be sent away.

Harry set his bag down and unzipped it. He dug through it and found his invisibility cloak. Pulling out the silky fabric, he threw his bag on and covered himself with it, disappearing under the garment. Slowly, he walked out of the loo, tiptoeing past McGonagall, who was tapping her foot impatiently as she waited. Carefully, Harry slowly walked down the closest set of stairs before running away as fast as he could, headed for his next class.

Sure, the professors could find him again and pull him out of class at any time, but he had at least delayed the visit for now.

            Severus was not surprised to hear that Harry was evading his professors. He scoffed at McGonagall’s story of how Harry disappeared on her when she had been delivering him to the infirmary. The headmaster had informed all the professors now that Harry had missed his health check and was required to go to the infirmary. Everyone was to try to catch the little brat and take him there if they felt they had a chance to do so. However, Harry made sure to sit as far back in the classroom as possible, and he rushed out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang, ignoring anything the professors said, his friends running after him every time with confused looks.

            Even Severus’s class that Thursday, Harry was far back in the classroom, his friends reluctantly sitting next to him, though Granger looked very put out at sitting in the back.

            “Potter,” Severus said at the start of his class, “stay after class.”

            Harry didn’t acknowledge that he heard anything.

            Severus really didn’t expect to have any luck where the other professors had failed. As soon as the bell rang, Harry was out of his classroom before any other student, ignoring Severus shouting his name. Severus rolled his eyes but did not pursuit the little brat. He would be caught in due time. If the headmaster did not take active measures the week of the full moon, he would. He of all people knew how dangerous werewolves were.

            At the next staff meeting, the professors discussed Harry’s evasive behavior. McGonagall even confessed to trying to pull Harry from his dorm, but he had managed to disappear on her again before she could even announce why she was in the common room. Madam Pince explained how often Harry was in the library scanning through book after book, and even she tried to alert a few professors to his presence in an attempt to catch him, but he was always long gone before a professor could arrive. Severus frowned at that piece of information.

            When Albus arrived, he explained that the Ministry had a timeline set for when all the health exams had to be completed, and that they were nearing the end of that deadline. Harry needed to report to the infirmary, and if force had to be used, then the professors were to do so the next time they saw Harry. The professors agreed, and at the end of their meeting, everyone bid each other goodnight, leaving one by one until only Severus and Albus remained.

            “Where is the wolf?” Severus asked. Lupin had disappeared earlier that day.

            “He left for the next week. Tomorrow starts the seven days leading up to the full moon.”

            Severus let out a deep sigh. Playing nice with Harry had allowed this to go on too far. They needed to contain that child now.

            “I fear,” Albus added, “that Harry may be using his invisibility cloak to hide from us.”

            “He has an invisibility cloak?” Severus growled. His eyes glinted in remembrance. “James Potter’s invisibility cloak?”

            “I gave it to Harry in his first year. After all, it is rightfully his heirloom.”

            “He was eleven years old, Albus! What did you think he would use it for?”

            “Perhaps I was hasty in wanting to return something of his parents to him.”

            “Perhaps!? The last thing we need right now is an invisible werewolf.”

            “I know. We need to bring Harry to the infirmary before the night of the full moon. He has avoided all of us and refuses to answer any of our letters. I believe he is afraid of what we may do to him. He needs reassurances that we mean no harm and only wish to help him through this traumatic change in his life. I will try to find him myself. Maybe he will listen to me in person, where I can talk him through his fears.”

            Severus closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath to force the image of an invisible werewolf rampaging through the halls of Hogwarts out of his mind. Once he occluded that thought away, he opened his eyes.  

            “I am missing a few ingredients from my private storeroom.”

            Albus’s brows shot up.

            “Is that so? Which ones?”  

            “An occamy egg, premade mandrake juice, a moonstone, and most recently, wolfsbane leaves. I wasn’t sure if it was Potter at first, but the last bit of ingredients taken last night changed my mind. And he’s been in the library a lot. He is researching his condition.”

            “And hoping to make the potion, it would seem.” Albus tapped his chin thoughtfully.

            “He will fail,” Severus said. “Wolfsbane is beyond finicky and volatile. He won’t make it past the first two steps. It took me three attempts to get the process down correctly.”

            “Does he need something else?” Albus asked.

            “He’s probably grabbed a few other ingredients from the classroom supply closet. The only thing I do not keep there is the Syrup of Hellebore as it is extremely poisonous. It’s the only thing he has not taken yet, probably due to the fact that I keep it locked up in the back of the closet.”

            “What do you suggest we do, Severus?”

            “We know what Potter is after. I suggest we give him exactly what he wants.”

            Harry followed the map down to Severus’s private storeroom once again in complete darkness, his eyes giving him an advantage with his newfound night vision. This was the final night he could attempt to make the Wolfsbane Potion. He had mocked practiced the movements while trying to collect all the ingredients he needed throughout the last week. The Syrup of Hellebore was the only thing he was missing, and he could not find the damn thing in the closet anywhere. Surely Remus had been taking the potion throughout most of the year, there had to be a supply of the syrup somewhere, or even the plant itself. He could milk the syrup out of the plant if he needed to. But he had to make the potion now and take a dose before midnight, which was only five hours away.

            Otherwise, Plan B would be escaping into the Forbidden Forest as far away as possible from Hogwarts. He remembered hearing rumors of werewolves living in the forest, though he had never personally seen them in all his misadventures. It was the best he could come up with at the moment. He still had seven days until the dreadful night came, and while he was fighting all levels of panic and anxiety, he had managed to stay clear of all the professors and even the headmaster. He might just get away with hiding what he had become.

            Harry came to the storeroom and pulled out his wand, ready to unlock the door. However, he paused when he noticed the door was already opened the slightest bit. The hair on the back of Harry’s neck rose and he glanced around. He didn’t see or smell anyone, oddly enough that was something he could do now, and when he looked down at the map, he didn’t see any names near the storeroom. Maybe he had left the door open last time. He would have to be more careful.

            He folded the map and shoved it in his robe pocket before he slipped into the storeroom and began scanning the shelves for the Syrup of Hellebore. He had to believe that he was going to find it tonight. Perhaps if he wished it enough, he might finally come across it.

            One by one, ingredient after ingredient, potion after potion, Harry went through every shelf and nearly snarled in frustration when he did not see the ingredient he desperately needed. As he walked past the back end of the shelves, he froze, his jaw dropping and his eyes widening.

            There, in a blue hourglass shaped vial, clearly labeled in Severus’s sharp script, was a Wolfsbane Potion.

            Harry’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest. They were definitely on to him. They were luring him into a trap. But that was exactly the potion he needed. And it was right in front of him. All he had to do was take it.

            With shaky hands, he reached for the potion, slowly picking it up off the shelf. He brought it to his nose, popping off the cork and inhaling the scent.

            Repulsive. Nauseating. Weakening.

            As Wolfsbane should be. There was a strong hint of horseradish scent among the vile magic working its way through his system from the smell alone, and Harry knew that this was Wolfsbane for sure. And he threw back the vial and downed the potion before checking the shelf for more. If he could find six more, he would be set for the week and wouldn’t need to bother attempting to brew something he would probably just fail at.

            But there were no more potions. As he felt around the back of the shelf in case they were hiding behind other vials, arms wrapped around his chest, pinning his arms to his side and dragging him out of the storeroom.

            “Ahh!” Harry cried out in surprise before thrashing around in his captor’s grip, kicking and writhing. He saw a glimpse of familiar black robes and he struggled harder. “Snape! Let me go!”

            “Enough of that,” Severus hissed in his ear. “I daresay you’ve caused enough trouble for everyone. We are going to the infirmary at once to have you looked over and then locked up like the wolf you are.”

            “No, please,” Harry pleaded as he tried to wrench his arms free. He kept throwing his weight every which way to try to unsteady the potions master as the man tried to drag him down the hall, and he kicked at Severus’s shins as well. He would not go down like this. He couldn’t be expelled for something he couldn’t control. And most importantly, he did not want to be locked up like a monster, even if he knew he was becoming one.

            “Stop it, Potter,” Severus snapped at him. “I am not against hexing you if it means an easier trip to the hospital wing.”

            Afraid Severus might follow through on his threat, Harry did the only thing he could think of.

            He bit down on the arm encircled around him.

            Severus cussed loudly as he yanked his arm away, and Harry was ably to jerk out of Severus’s grip and run down the hall as fast as he could, pulling out his invisibility cloak and disappearing under it.

            Severus did not chase after Harry. His plan had not worked quite as well as he had hoped but at least it did confirm his and the headmaster’s suspicion: Harry was the new werewolf. Severus pulled up his sleeve and looked at his arm. He had felt the pinch of teeth and nearly panicked, but Harry had not even left a mark. Which was good—in the week up to the full moon, a werewolf’s saliva starts producing more of the protein needed for transformation, as well as transferring the disease. With all the research Harry had done, he would have known that. He had not intended to puncture, just startle. However, it was not a comforting thought that Harry had been so willing to bite just to get away.

            Still, Harry had taken the bait. He would need more of the Wolfsbane Potion now that he had lost his chance of finding the last ingredient to attempt brewing his own, which he would fail at anyway. Severus had the upper hand now. If Harry wanted more doses, he would have to come directly to Severus. And Severus knew Harry would want more. If Albus was right about anything, it was that Harry would not endanger his friends intentionally.

            All Severus had to do was wait for Harry to appear for the next dose.  

“If I told you what I was,

            would you turn your back on me?

            And if I seemed dangerous,

            would you be scared?”

            --"Monster” Imagine Dragons

            Harry chewed his nails as he waited in the hallway in the early morning, hidden under his invisibility cloak. The Wolfsbane Potion had made him feel very nauseous and shaky last night, but then the effects had faded after a couple hours. He was sure that taming the mad wolf inside him came at a cost, and he was very willing to accept the stomach upset and side effects of the potion to keep everyone safe around him, and to keep the monster inside at bay.

            Light was filling the castle as morning dragged on, and slowly, candles lit up in the dungeons, and Harry adjusted himself on the windowsill he was sitting on, watching the office door intently. He wasn’t sure what the professor’s morning routines were, or where his quarters were, but he was hopeful a quick stop at the office was in those routines.

            He wasn’t sure how much longer he waited while gnawing on his fingernails. Finally, he saw Severus, dressed in his usual black teaching robes, walking down the hall with a cup of tea in his hands, and Harry pulled the cloak tighter around him as he slid off the windowsill.

            Severus pulled out his wand to unlock his office door.

            Harry slowly tiptoed toward Severus, not really wanting to startle the professor, nor wanting to announce his presence quite yet. He was almost right behind the professor when Severus spun around and directed his wand right at Harry.

            Harry jumped back, then lowered the hood of his invisibility cloak quickly to reveal himself.

            “It’s just me,” Harry said. “Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

            “Indeed,” Severus said, not lowering his wand. “Sneaking up on someone while invisible rarely startles anyone.”

            “I’m sorry about last night,” Harry said.

            “For what part?” Severus sneered. “Stealing from my supplies? Refusing to follow an order? Avoiding the infirmary? Or nearly biting me?”

            “I wasn’t trying to really bite you,” Harry said.

            “Oh, that makes it okay then?” Severus lowered his wand to his doorknob and tapped it twice, unlocking his office door. He walked into his office, though he did leave the door open, and Harry took that as an invite to follow the potions master.

            “No, it doesn’t,” Harry said as he walked into the office, pausing just within the entryway and watching as Severus took a sip of his tea before setting it down on his desk. “I just . . . I can’t go to the infirmary.”

            “And why not?” Severus asked as he rummaged through piles of parchment.

            “I think you know why,” Harry said. “But no one else seems to know. They would have come after me by now, wouldn’t they have?”

            “Most likely,” Severus agreed softly, glancing up at Harry’s floating head for a few seconds before shuffling through his parchment again. “I do not know what you think will happen when you go see Madam Pomfrey, but it’s probably nothing like what you are imagining in your head.”

            “Wasn’t the whole health check thing because of me?” Harry asked, stepping further in the office. “You were all looking for someone who was bitten.”

            “We were.” Severus pulled out an old slip of parchment and walked over to Harry. “And now we’re not. The headmaster and I know who was bitten. You are, however, still required to go to the infirmary. The headmaster has actually made it a mandatory protocol. Besides, you’ll need someplace secure for your . . . monthly ailment.”

            Severus held out the parchment slip, and Harry hesitantly accepted it, his hands appearing out from under the cloak. It was a list of potion ingredients with prices listed next to it. Harry frowned at it.

            “What is this?” he asked.

            “After all the research you’ve done, I’d think you’d recognize what potion these ingredients make.”

            “Wolfsbane,” Harry said.

            “Yes. I thought you might like to know what your future expenses will be, seeing as you are so determined to make the potion yourself. And if you continue to refuse to visit the infirmary and abide by the rules the headmaster will set for you, you will be removed from Hogwarts, and you will be on your own figuring out how to control the wolf within you.”

            Harry sucked in a breath at some of the prices for some of the ingredients. Why on earth were they so expensive? Did all werewolves spend this much every month? There was no way.

            “An ounce of dragon’s blood is fifty-four galleons?” Harry asked aloud.

            “You expect such a difficult to collect ingredient to be cheap?” Severus narrowed his eyes at Harry and crossed his arms. “Perhaps you thought the men who risk their lives obtaining it for you would give it to the great Harry Potter for free? Is that it?”

            “No, it’s not,” Harry snapped.

            “No, you’d rather just steal the ingredients instead, wouldn’t you, you impudent little brat?”

            Harry sucked in a breath as he realized that he had in fact stolen very expensive ingredients from the potions master. In all fairness, he knew what he had been doing was wrong, but he had not realized just how expensive the ingredients were. He had only been trying to keep himself from endangering the school.

            “I’m sorry,” Harry said. “I’ll bring them back. I didn’t break anything. And I didn’t know how expensive they were.”

            “Like that would have stopped you. I expect everything that you took to appear on my desk within the next couple hours or you’ll be scrubbing cauldrons and preparing ingredients for the next five years to pay off what you stole.”

            “I’ll bring them back.” Harry hesitated, lowering the parchment slightly as he peered up through his fringe at Severus. “I need more of the potion, sir.”

            “And you expect me to just hand them over to you at your every beck and call? Do you think I just have an endless supply of Wolfsbane Potions to give away like candy on Halloween?” Severus shook his head. “Wolfsbane must be brewed every month as it is a very sensitive potion and does not keep for long. One batch makes a week’s worth supply. Of course, I might be willing to spare a few doses I have left for one werewolf—should he report to the infirmary as he was supposed to.

            “Why? You know it’s me.”

            “You still need to have your full health check up performed, regardless of the fact that the headmaster and I know of your condition. And Madam Pomfrey will need to go over a few things with you, as will the headmaster.”

            “To lock me away? To kick me out of Hogwarts? No, I won’t go.”

            “Then no deal, Mr. Potter. You’re getting nothing from me.” Severus walked back to his desk, shuffling parchment once more as he collected his lesson plans for the day. Severus shrunk the parchment and stuffed them into a robe pocket.

            “You can’t do that.” Harry walked up the desk, setting the slip down on it while glaring up at Severus.

            “You know the stipulations that will change my mind.”

            “You’d be endangering everyone in this whole school.”

            “No, Potter,” Severus said as he rounded the desk, standing in front of Harry and leaning in close so their faces were inches apart. “You would be.”

            Harry felt his hands shake and he lowered his eyes. He took a deep breath and steadied himself before opening his eyes again.

            “Okay,” he said. “I’ll do it. But can I have until the end of the week?”

            “That’s pushing it awfully close to the full moon. You have until the day before the full moon to take yourself to the infirmary and have the health exam performed.”

            “Okay,” Harry agreed.

            “And you will hand over your invisibility cloak,” Severus said, holding out his hand.

            “No!” Harry jerked back a step.

            “Potter,” Severus snarled through his teeth, glaring at the child. “You’ve been abusing it the last few weeks and we do not need an invisible werewolf running around Hogwarts. Hand it over, or you can kiss the Wolfsbane goodbye and find yourself locked up in Magical Creatures Control Unit come the full moon.”

            “It’s all I have of my parents,” Harry said.

            “I am confiscating it for the safety of the school,” Severus said. “I have no plans of keeping it from you permanently. It is your choice: give up the cloak or spend a long night at the Ministry sedated and in chains.”

            Harry bit his lip as he considered his options. If there really was a thing as Magical Creatures Control, it sounded like his worst nightmares come true. He didn’t want to lose the security he felt with the cloak, but he also could not miss his Wolfsbane now that he had started it. He needed to keep his sanity when the inevitable came and he turned into a wolf. Harry swallowed dryly and blinked his eyes rapidly as he stripped the cloak off his shoulders, revealing the rest of his body as he folded up the cloak and held it out to Severus, who took it and set it on his desk.

            “Wise decision.” Severus reached into his robe and pulled out a similar hourglass shaped vial Harry had seen last night. “Here. Take it this afternoon. You don’t want to take the doses so closely together to each other. And remember, the day before the full moon, you will see Madam Pomfrey, or I will drag you there myself under full body binds.”

            Harry nodded, clutching the potion to his chest like a lifeline.

            The next couple of days proved to be very difficult. The Wolfsbane made Harry feel sick to his stomach, and sometimes, he also felt very sleepy. At one point, he had passed out in Transfiguration, which caused him to lose points for Gryffindor. When Hermione had scolded him for not getting better sleep at night, he had snapped at her to mind her own business and worry about her own sleep, which he instantly regretted, especially after seeing her hurt look. Harry was not sure if his sudden irritability was caused by the full moon drawing nearer or if it was another side effect of the potion he was taking. Or a combination of both.

            Every afternoon, Harry reported to Severus’s office to pick up a dose of the Wolfsbane, which the professor usually handed over with only a reminder of their deal, which Harry nodded at before taking off to drink the potion in privacy.

            Every time he drank it, he immediately felt its effects. Weak. Unsteady. Shaky. Sick.

            And those effects seemed to last longer with each dose he took, and he wondered if he would feel this way the entirety of the full moon night. Even if he did, it would be worth it to keep his friends safe. Even if they were annoying him at the moment. Hermione seemed to realize something was off about Harry, and she was always insisting that he go back to the infirmary and have Madam Pomfrey reexamine him. Ron seemed to pick up on Harry’s negative energy and was usually trying to interest him in a game of exploding snap or chess to “take the stress of school off.” But Harry rejected their help. Sometimes kindly. Sometimes rudely.

            His senses were another thing to get used to. His eyesight had greatly improved, and everyone was quick to point out his missing, trademark glasses. His ears picked up every whisper, his nose every smell, and the hair on his skin seemed sensitive to every change in temperature and air pressure. It was driving him insane. After taking his sixth dose, Harry was feeling particularly sick and fed up with everyone’s loud talking. They were waiting outside the potions classroom door for Severus to finish cleaning up from the last class when Malfoy thought it was a great time to remind everyone that Harry did not wear glasses anymore.

            “What’s with the new look, Potter?” Malfoy asked. “Got tired of having four eyes? Wanted to see what normal was like?”

            “Lay off, Malfoy,” Ron quickly said. “No one asked you to open your mouth. It’s really nauseating when you do.”

            “What’s nauseating is that you associate yourself with mudbloods, Weasley,” Malfoy fired back.

            “Shut it, Malfoy,” Harry snarled through his teeth. “Or I’ll do it for you.”

            “Oh, you can see well enough to do that now? I know it was just talk before, but I’d actually like to see you put those broken eyes of yours to use. Go ahead. Just try it.”

            Crabbe and Goyle stepped closer to Malfoy and sneered at Harry, as if daring him to try something.  

            “Guys, just stop,” Hermione said. “It’s not worth it.”

            Ron and Harry turned away from Malfoy, who just had to get one last word in.

            “That’s right, listen to your mummy, you mudblood loving traitors.”

            Heart pumping his body full of adrenaline, Harry felt something deep in his chest snap, and he let out a feral snarl as he spun around and charged Malfoy, shoving the boy into the wall so quickly Crabbe and Goyle were too slow to react. Harry opened his mouth wide and lunged for Malfoy’s neck, wanting to rip the throat out of his nemesis and end his filthy mouth once and for all.

            A hand closed on the back of his neck and yanked him off Malfoy.

            “Potter!” Severus snapped, shaking him roughly by the scruff of his neck. “What in Merlin’s name do you think you’re doing?”

            Harry reached back to grab at Severus’s arm as if to pull the man off his neck, wincing in pain at the tight grip. He looked at Malfoy and ice hit his stomach as he took in the blonde boy’s wide eyes and pale face. Crabbe and Goyle were staring at Harry as if he had grown another head, and even Hermione and Ron were looking at Harry with jaws dropped, though Hermione had her hands over her mouth as well. Everyone else was staring, but they seemed oblivious to what had happened, as if they were just realizing something crazy was taking place and they had missed the show. The rush in his ears died down as Harry realized what he had nearly done, and his own eyes widened, and his knees began to shake.

            “Everyone inside the classroom,” Severus said, still keeping a firm grip on Harry’s neck. “Now.”

            His classmates piled into the classroom quickly, save for Hermione and Ron, who hesitated before following the others into the classroom, shooting looks back at Harry now and then as they did so.

            What did they think of him now? What did anyone think of him now? He really was turning into a monster. His knees shook and his eyes watered, but Harry fought the tears back by blinking rapidly.

“I tried to bite him,” Harry whispered.

“Wouldn’t be the first time you tried that stunt,” Severus scolded. “I think you’re done with classes now. And I believe you promised me you would do something today anyway, something you have not done yet?”       

“The infirmary,” Harry admitted, glancing up at Severus.

“Indeed. Seeing as you cannot control your emotions at the moment, I suggest you head to Madam Pomfrey and get the exam over with. I will alert the headmaster that you are on your way there now. They will discuss what you’ll do tomorrow. I’m sure Albus has a grand idea for his Golden Boy.”      

Severus gave Harry a push in the direction of the stairs leading out of the dungeons.

“And Potter, twenty points from Gryffindor for attacking a fellow student and detention with me . . . to be scheduled at a later date.”

Harry nodded before he started walking down the hall, still feeling very shaky as he climbed the stairs. He really had become a monster. He nearly sunk his teeth into Malfoy’s neck. His teeth. Like some savage wild animal hungry for blood, he had wanted to bite someone and cause as much damage as possible. What if he had?

That thought terrified Harry, and he forced the dark images flooding his brain to disappear. The image of his friend’s terrified looks popped up instead, and Harry felt sick to his stomach. He rushed to a nearby loo and held himself over a toilet, waiting to sick up. He kneeled above the seat for nearly ten minutes while his stomach twisted and knotted, but he never vomited. After a few more minutes, Harry decided he was a bit less queasy and went to the sink to splash cold water on his face. What would Hermione and Ron think of him now? What if they knew the truth—would they still want to remain his friends? Worse, what if they feared the monster he was becoming?

The tightness in Harry chest returned full force, and Harry hissed in pain before he gave into the urge and sobbed over the sink. He couldn’t be trusted to stay around anyone anymore. Even with the wolfsbane, he was a dangerous monster. Madam Pomfrey would see that. The headmaster would see that. They were waiting for him at the infirmary with chains and muzzles. Magical Creatures Control was probably there as well, ready to take him away to some cage in the Ministry.

There was only one thing left to do.

Run.

He had to run away, far away, from Hogwarts.

Somewhere no one would find him. Where he could never hurt anyone ever again. And where he would not be locked in chains.

Harry splashed his face one last time and was about to head to his dormitory and collect his things to do just that when he remembered that no matter how far he ran, he might turn back around once he turned into a mindless wolf and come right back to Hogwarts in search of a kill. No, he had to get the final dose of Wolfsbane before he left. He had to find where Severus was keeping it before the full moon tomorrow night.

New plan: break into Severus’s office and find the last dose.

“I haven’t seen him all day,” Severus said, his arms crossed and his foot tapping impatiently. “He still hasn’t shown up for his final dose. After everything we talked about, you’d think he’d at least have the courtesy to do that before vanishing to Timbuktu.”

            “There is still time for him to take the final potion,” Albus said. “We must be patient—”

            “Patient?” Severus snarled. “The full moon is in mere hours. We will have a werewolf loose in the halls of Hogwarts causing all sorts of havoc. We need to find him now.”

            “And I have all the teachers on board searching for Harry.” Albus walked across the infirmary toward where Poppy was adding a few charms to a new temporary addition in the ward. “They believe he is simply disobeying an order to have his health exam performed and they will bring him to the infirmary as soon as they find him.”

            “Oh good,” Severus said with a roll of his eyes. “No need to tell anyone he might turn into a raging wolf while in their vicinity.”

            “There is no need for alarm yet, Severus,” Albus said. “When that time comes . . .”

            “It’ll be too late,” Severus interrupted.

            “There are ways to subdue a werewolf,” Poppy said as she walked over to the men. “Most of the staff are trained in ways to subdue most magical beasts that threaten the school in one way or another.”

            “No one should have to face that wonderful opportunity if it can be avoided.”

            “True. But you know at this point, most common magic will be useless against Harry. Werewolves have strong absorption protection against defense spells. Even locator charms seem to struggle with finding werewolves this close to the full moon. We just have to be patient and hope that everything turns in our favor, hopefully, with best case scenario, Harry turns himself in.”

            Severus scoffed at how unlikely that was but Poppy continued talking as she gestured to the new addition in the infirmary. It was a walled off portion, a small cube with a single infirmary bed inside, and several security charms had been placed around it to contain a wolf and keep unsuspecting passersby out.

            “It’s not really made for long term containment,” Poppy said. “A determined werewolf could find a way to break down the walls if he really wanted to, but as long as Harry gets the final dose before the sunset disappears, he’ll have no desire to do that. And if he doesn’t, well, there’s always a back up plan.”

            “We must resume searching for Harry,” Albus said, already walking for the exit. “I am sure there has been some misunderstanding that could be cleared up with a few gentle words.”

            Severus rolled his eyes again but followed the headmaster out.

            “What are we to do with him for the rest of the year, Albus?” Severus asked as he walked alongside the elder wizard.

            “I do not have an answer yet,” Albus said. “One thing is clear: he will not be able to return to his relatives. It would be too difficult delivering a steady supply of Wolfsbane to a muggle area, and owls are notorious for disliking the smell and dropping packages with any hint of the plant’s scent. Besides, I cannot imagine his muggle relatives will take kindly to finding out Harry is a werewolf.”

            “Their little prince?” Severus frowned. “They would abandon him like that? I know the stigma around werewolves is unfavorable, but he is still their nephew.”

            “True, but I fear this may be something beyond what they are comfortable dealing with.”

            Severus frowned at that, but as the men reached the stairway, Albus climbed up the stairs while Severus went down them. He might as well start searching the dungeons again. Perhaps Harry will come to his senses and arrive for the last dose before sunset. Severus slowly walked through the halls leading to his office, glancing in every classroom and closet he walked by. He grew more anxious as he came up empty handed. Pausing at a window, he watched as the sun dropped lower and lower behind the mountains and growled under his breath before continuing down the hall. Candles lit above him as the castle was shrouded in increasing darkness, which added to Severus’s growing anxiety.

            He paused outside his private potions’ storeroom, his hand just on the knob when he felt a cold draft behind him. The door to the abandoned classroom across the hall was cracked open.

            Severus frowned, knowing he had not unlocked it, and he pulled out his wand and slowly crept into the room, glancing around for any signs of an intruder or even a boggart.

            “It’s just me,” Harry’s voice said.

            Severus startled, then looked up in the direction of the voice.

            Harry was sitting on a windowsill high above Severus’s head, his shoulders slumped and his feet swinging slightly. He had his arms wrapped around his waist slightly, as if attempting to warm himself up in the chilly night as a small draft blew around him from the window. Severus sighed and lowered his wand.

            “What are you doing here?” Severus asked firmly.

            “I don’t know,” Harry said with a shrug. “Thought it was somewhere I could be alone.”

            “Surely you would know better than to go unlocking unfamiliar rooms by now, wouldn’t you?”

            Harry’s eyes met Severus’s, but the child shrugged once more before dropping his gaze. Severus bit back a frustrated huff as he stepped further into the room.

            “How did you get up there?” Severus asked, frowning at the distance from the ground to the windowsill.

            “Climbed,” Harry said. “It was actually pretty easy. I guess it comes with all the other changes.”

            “You can’t stay up there, you know,” Severus said. “Everyone is looking for you.”

            “I know.” Harry glanced out the window before lowering his gaze to his lap once more. “I was actually planning on leaving.”

            Harry pulled a suitcase out from behind him and dropped it to the ground where it landed at Severus’s feet with a heavy thud. Severus kneeled next to it and opened it the slightest, and he realized it was packed full of all of Harry’s things minus his schoolbooks and supplies. He looked back up at Harry.

            “I was going to leave Hogwarts for good,” Harry said softly. “It’s no place for something like me, not anymore. How can I be a student here when I almost hurt another student?”

            “Potter . . .” Severus began to say, though he struggled with the right words.

            “I’m not safe,” Harry continued, his eyes tearing up and he wiped at them stubbornly. “I’m nothing but a monster now. Even Lupin left, he knew what was right. I have to leave, too. Before I hurt someone.”

            “Then why didn’t you leave?”

             “Without the last dose, I would be a mad werewolf. I don’t think I’d get far away enough to avoid coming right back to the school.”

            “Probably not,” Severus agreed.

            “After the last dose, I can leave.”

            “Where will you go, Potter?” Severus asked rhetorically. “You are thirteen. You have limited magical training, you cannot get a well-paying job to support your new lifestyle, and you’ll have no access to Wolfsbane. You would just be a danger to the towns and cities around you.”

            “I wouldn’t go where any people are,” Harry said.

            “And where might that be? You cannot leave. The headmaster surely won’t allow it.”

            “What am I supposed to do?” Harry snarled, baring his teeth at Severus in a very wolfish manner. “I’m a danger no matter where I go. I might hurt someone here. I might hurt someone out there. All anyone will want to do is lock me up like I’m some . . .” Harry looked away, glaring at the stone wall around him. “But it’s what I am, isn’t it?”

            Severus sucked in a deep breath at that. Harry was clearly struggling with what he had become, as would any reasonable person. Severus reminded himself that this wasn’t Harry’s fault. No, Harry had not helped circumstances, but he was just a child at the end of the day. A very upset and frightened child.

            “You have to understand that even with the Wolfsbane on board, if the wrong person runs into you, they can be a danger to you. Sure, it is preferable for you to be behind closed doors anyway, but it’s as much for your safety as it is for others.”

            “I figured,” Harry said. “Still, it’s terrifying. But I couldn’t make myself leave Hogwarts. It’s the first place that’s ever felt like home to me. I couldn’t say goodbye. I’m too weak.”

            “That is not weak,” Severus argued. “In fact, not running away from your fears is a very brave thing to do.”

            “But I’m a monster now. And all I’ll ever be is locked up.”

            Severus sighed as he leaned back into a desk behind him. He couldn’t believe he was saying this, but if it eased Harry’s mind enough into luring him down, it needed to be said. Even if he didn’t believe his own words.

            “With the Wolfsbane in your system, you are no different from anyone else. However, everyone else may still be afraid of you. You can’t go wandering the halls at night or be out frolicking in the woods. It is too risky. Being locked up is nonnegotiable. That is a new aspect of your life you’ll have to adjust to.”

            “I don’t want to live in a cage,” Harry whispered so softly Severus almost missed it.

            “A cage? There are no cages, Potter. Just a room. And a locked door.”

            “Chains?” Harry asked, shaking slightly, his eyes closing. “Muzzles?”

            “No. None of that. We are not cruel monster keepers here. Even Lupin had his own place, albeit a terrible one. We will do better for you. And come morning, you will be let out of the room to resume your normal activities—with a few new rules.”

            “How can I trust that?”

            “I can’t make you trust anything. You’ll just have to see for yourself. Come down from there, take your final potion, and walk with me to the infirmary. Poppy has a safehouse for you.”

            Harry took several deep breaths as he chewed his lip before he pushed off the windowsill. Severus’s breath caught in his throat as he watched Harry fall to the ground below, but the child landed on his feet, if a bit heavily. Severus nodded his head in approval when Harry stood before him.

            “Wait here. I will grab you a vial from my storeroom and you will take it immediately. Then, we will head up to the infirmary.”

            Harry nodded before lowering his head, watching the tops of his shoes while clasping his hands behind his back. Severus quickly left the room and unlocked the storeroom. He knew he had at least a couple extra doses of Wolfsbane here somewhere, excess from a recent batch. He found the hourglass-shaped vials and pulled one down. One last dose and Harry would at least be a safe werewolf. Even if he happened to turn on the way up to the infirmary, theoretically, he would not have an urge to attack.

            Of course, this was all still theory in Severus’s head. He had never been around a werewolf dosed with Wolfsbane on a full moon before. He made it a priority to avoid that scenario at all costs. One encounter with a werewolf several years ago had been enough for him. If he could get rid of Harry before he turned, that would be ideal. They still had a few minutes too.

            Severus turned to leave the storeroom when he heard someone scream, “Noooo!”

            Severus ran out of the room and nearly collided with Harry, who was fleeing the classroom next door. Harry pushed away from Severus with such force, Severus nearly toppled over.

            “You lied to me!” Harry shouted at him; his face red as he kicked at Severus to get away. “You tricked me—get away from me!”

            Harry jerked away from Severus when the professor tried to grab his arm before the child ran down the hall.

            “Potter!” Severus called after him. He glanced into the classroom to see what had frightened him.

            In the middle of the classroom was a large, rusty cage with clanking chains stretching outward, as if wanting to grab the nearest victim to yank into its confines. Severus only managed to get a brief glimpse of it, because as soon as his eyes fell on it, the cage rattled before it morphed into a red-eyed, scar faced werewolf that lunged for Severus, who slammed the door shut.

            Dammit, how could he forget to relocate the boggart? Well, he supposed he did have a lot of other pressing matters that had held his attention. Out of sight, out of mind. Severus ran down the hall after Harry, clutching the vial tightly in his grasp.   

            “Potter, slow down!” Severus called after him. He vaguely recalled Lupin explaining at a staff meeting that Harry’s boggart had taken the form of a dementor when they started Patronus Charm lessons. Clearly, there was something more terrifying in Harry’s mind now.

            As Severus made a turn down the hall, he slid to a halt.

            Harry was stock-still as he stared out a window.

            “Potter?” Severus asked, stepping a bit closer, slowly reaching the vial out to Harry. His own eyes widened however, as he saw the edge of the full moon peeking above the mountains as it began its climb in the cloudy, starless sky, a beam of moonlight shining down directly on Harry.

            Harry slowly turned, his hand reaching for his chest as if he couldn’t breathe, his eyes bloodshot. Then, he collapsed to the ground and seized violently.

            The vial of Wolfsbane shattered on the ground as Severus fumbled for his wand, backing away from the transformation. His heart leapt to his throat and the sound of it’s pounding was like a thunder in Severus’s ears as he trained his wand on Harry, his hand shaking the slightest.

            Harry cried out as his hands curled into paws, hair sprouting everywhere, and his face elongated, his body thrashing against the cold hard ground.

            In a matter of seconds, a wolf laid where Harry once had been, a silvery-furred beast with a small but bushy tail standing erect behind the creature as its sharp green eyes zoned in on Severus with a snarl as it pushed itself to its feet.

            For a moment, Severus was caught off guard by the green eyes, and for a split second, he saw Lily’s dead body behind them, but then the wolf lunged with open jaws.

            Severus cast several stunning spells in rapid order, striking every limb, and the wolf was jerked back with each hit, but all it needed to do was shake out its fur and it would snarl at Severus again as it stalked forward.

            Wolfsbane leaves, Severus thought, I have a ton in my closet.

            Severus fired a few more stunners, then turned and ran while the wolf took a few seconds to shake itself out again before it leaped after Severus.          

            Those extra few seconds Severus had gained by stunning the wolf were quickly lost as he neared his storeroom, and the beast slid its way in front of Severus before he could open the door. Severus backed away, right into the abandoned classroom, opening the door and quickly shutting it.           

            Yet, the wolf managed to sneak its head in between the door and the frame, keeping Severus from closing it all the way.

            Severus pushed all his strength into closing the door, but as it gave more and more, jaws snapping centimeters away from his robes, he knew it was a losing battle. He recalled the loose boggart in the classroom and where it hid the first time he defeated it, and he released the door, letting the wolf tumble into the classroom while he ran for the back cupboard, opening it and kicking into the darkness inside to disturb the dark creature.

            It worked.

            The red-eyed wolf leaped out from the cupboard, straight for Severus’s face, but Severus jumped away and slid behind a desk as the silver wolf slid to a halt in surprise at the new beast, but it snarled all the same, lunging for the red-eyed foe. The boggart snapped its jaws at the wolf, then quickly transformed into a rusty-old cage with chains that snatched a hold of the wolf’s neck and forearms, dragging it toward the cage.

            The wolf thrashed and bit at the metal chaining it down, then at the bars of the cage.

            Severus used the distraction to escape the classroom, knowing that the boggart would flee back into the cupboard soon as the creatures were not entirely offensive as they were defensive.  

            Severus ran into his storeroom and quickly found the wolfsbane leaves in the back of his organized supply where he would usually keep finished Wolfsbane as well. He grabbed several leaves and crumbled them in his hand, grabbing more and more fistfuls, uncaring that the toxins from the plant were seeping into his skin as he grabbed for more and more. He needed the leaves as broken and sappy as possible, exposing the most toxic parts.

            A low snarl caught his attention.

            The wolf was blocking the entrance as it stared down Severus, its fur bristled and its eyes glowing in the darkness, the little candlelight in the room creating a shadow upon the wolf. It slowly stepped into the room, growling softly with a slight bare of its sparkling white teeth.

            Severus held his palm up to his mouth and cast a wind charm through his breath, blowing the aconite at the wolf. With his wand, he began to cast a sleeping charm, a light purple glow emitting from the tip.

            The wolf sneezed as the aconite tickled its nose, then tried to snap at the leaves, consuming a few by accident. Realizing the taste was repulsive, the wolf began to back away while Severus stepped toward it. It couldn’t back away too quickly, though, as it began wobbling on its feet. It growled at Severus as more of the leaves slowly rained down on the wolf, snapping at Severus before whimpering as it wobbled more, slowly slipping to the ground.

            Another snarl and snap, but it did not deter Severus from standing above the wolf and dropping the rest of the plant on the beast, his wand still casting a sleeping charm. The weakened animal tremored as it tried to focus its eyes on Severus before it snarled before lowering its head and closing its eyes, following into a slumber.

            Severus stopped the charm and nearly collapsed, catching himself against the wall opposite the downed wolf. He took in several shaky breaths, sweat trickling down his face. He cast a weakened Patronus Charm to alert Poppy and the Headmaster that he had Harry contained . . . for now.

            He wasn’t sure how long the sleeping charm would hold the wolf or how quickly the plant would work through a wolf’s system. Honestly, it might need to snuff the reversal plant to avoid long term effects from the toxin, and Severus summoned the healing salve and a bezoar for himself to stop the toxins seeping through his skin. He choked down the stone and rubbed the salve all over him.

            While he kneeled on the ground waiting for himself to recover enough to levitate the wolf, and he was sure help was coming, he stared at the beast, the green eyes it had invading his head. Of course, the werewolf would have Lily’s eyes.

            The sound of clinking chains stirred the wolf, and its eyes flew open before it lunged for the closing door. However, it was jerked to a halt by the chain around its neck, chocking slightly. The chain, which was connected to the metal bed post of the infirmary bed, clanked and jingled as he tugged against them. The wolf spared it a glance before it snarled and attacked the chains, flailing and crunching on the magically reinforced restraints.

            Another chain with a shackle at the end lifted from the ground and attached itself to one of the wolf’s rear paws. It shortened itself back toward the bedframe, tripping the wolf, making him flail and kick while he kept trying to bite the chains at his neck and now on his paw. It howled instinctively for help, a low and mournful sound, before resuming his frustrated snarls and growls as he scraped his nails on the cold floor in an attempt to free himself. 

            Severus watched tightlipped from the other side of the wall. He had charmed a temporary mirror into the wall so he could watch the werewolf while Poppy finished adding the last of the security and locking charms to the door she had just exited. Another charm cast over the room and all sound vanished from within, and silence filled the infirmary. Poppy let out a sigh as he grabbed a parchment that was hovering near her and unrolled it, coming to stand next to Severus to peek in on the wolf.

            Currently, the wolf was snapping at his own back leg, as if desperate enough to start chewing off his own limb. Poppy flicked her wand, and another smaller chain slithered into the room and wrapped itself around the wolf’s muzzle.

            “Do you have to?” Severus asked, startling Poppy, who glanced up at him.

            “What?” she questioned.      

            “The chains.”

            “He’s going to end up hurting himself.”

            “I told him there wouldn’t be any chains.” Severus closed his eyes and rubbed two fingers against his temple where a headache was starting to form. “Or muzzles.”            

            “Maybe you shouldn’t have said that,” Poppy said as she lifted the parchment up to read. “In this state, he is very capable of tearing down every inch of this enclosure. In any case, Harry is unlikely to remember tonight without the final dose of the Wolfsbane in his system. I suppose you have nothing to worry about regarding what you told him.”

            “What do you make of his eyes?” Severus asked as he opened his own eyes to look at the wolf, who was now lying still on the ground under the restraints, panting heavily through his nose. 

            “His eyes?” Poppy glanced up briefly. “Green? Well, it’s unusual but not an unnatural eye color for wolves. Perhaps not as green as Harry’s, but I suppose the transformation may not have registered Harry’s green eye color as separate from a wolf’s green eye color, so no mutation occurred there, unlike say Remus’s, where the mutation changes his eyes to amber. Lycanthropy is not always predictable, you know.”

            Severus stared at the wolf a few minutes longer, and for a moment, he swore the wolf was staring back at him, those green eyes piercing right through him. Severus was sure he had cast a one-way mirror charm, but perhaps the wolf could sense his presence. Severus stepped back and cancelled the spell, and the wolf disappeared behind the thick wall as the mirror charm fizzled away.

            “This is not good,” Poppy said, shaking her head at the parchment.

            “What is it?” Severus asked, peering over Poppy’s shoulder.

            “I just completed a full health work-up charm on Harry,” Poppy explained. She tapped a section of the page. “He’s underweight, but anyone could see that; been that way since he started Hogwarts, really, but he’s lacking in many vitamins and minerals that go beyond poor eating habits. It’s as if he’s been starved periodically. And he has a few old injuries that did not heal correctly: fractured right wrist for starters, it’s put his hand out of alignment.”

            “Probably why he writes so poorly,” Severus commented.

            “It wouldn’t help if he can’t move it correctly. He’s also sprained his ankles so many times, he’s got the start of arthritis. His own lycanthropy may reverse that now, but it would be better to be proactive and tend to that once he is . . . back to himself. Mild trauma has been indicated around the head, could mean he’s had a concussion in the past. Further evaluation will be needed tomorrow to rule out any permanent damage.”

            “Typical child injuries?”

            “Mm, maybe. Given the right circumstances, anything is possible. Only Harry could really tell us otherwise, though I find many of these injuries suspect. And the near starvation? I doubt that was intentional on Harry’s part. Something doesn’t sit well about all of this.”

            Severus frowned at the parchment, reading over the medical jargon that described the exact nature of some of Harry’s injuries, and while he was familiar with some of the terminology, he would have to look further into what exactly was being described. Such as a distal radius malunion with volar angulation . . .

            “Good evening fellow professors,” Huntington said as he entered the infirmary, glancing around the space with his wand at the ready. “I was just patrolling the halls when I heard the strangest howls. You didn’t hear anything come this way, now, did you?”

            “The howls you heard most likely came from outside the castle,” Severus said easily. “There are rumored to be wolves living in the Forbidden Forest.”

            “Ah, I do believe I heard something about that,” Huntington said, lowering his wand. “Forgive me, it is second nature to be on edge when a potential dark creature may be on the premise. Though I swore it sounded a lot closer than the forest.”

            “I did not hear anything,” Poppy said as she rolled up the parchment. “I have been busy with patients.”

            “What’s behind all that?” Huntington asked, gesturing to the new addition in the infirmary.

            “A nasty case of dragon pox,” Poppy answered without missing a beat. “It is best to contain these cases to prevent an outbreak in the entire school.”

            “Oh, yes, I am all too familiar with that,” Huntington said, taking several steps back. “Seeing as this floor seems secure, I believe I will patrol the next level up, just to be safe that nothing breached the wards. For all we know, a new banshee has moved in.”

            “That sounds like a marvelous idea.”

            As Huntington turned around, he paused and stepped aside to allow someone else to walk in.

            “Evening, headmaster,” Huntington greeted causally.

            “Good evening,” Albus greeted in return. “And thank you for being so diligent and proactive on ruling out any threats to the school.”

            “Of course. As your defense professor, I figured I should be your first line of defense, naturally, of course. It is my job after all. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go make sure the next floor level is clear.”

            Huntington vanished in a swirl of gray robes while Albus slowly walked over to the containment, a thousand-yard stare in his eyes as he withdrew his wand and cast a see-through charm.

            The wolf within had managed to free himself from the chain muzzle and was tearing apart the bed he was chained to, his neck and rear paw still shackled. Cotton and foam littered the room as chunks of the material was ripped out of the mattress. The wolf’s ears were flat against his head, but they perked up when Albus cast the charm, and the wolf swung his head and stared directly at Albus, piercing him with vibrant eyes. While the charm did not allow the wolf to see outside of the room, he seemed to have a sixth sense that he was being watched, and his ears flattened once more as he snarled at Albus.

            Albus shook his head sadly at the sight.

            “I am so sorry, Harry,” he said.

            “You should be,” Severus said as he came to stand next to Albus. “This wouldn’t have happened if you had heeded my advice and never hired Lupin to begin with. You’ve—once again—endangered the students’ safety and look what it’s resulted in this time. What will the wizarding world think when they find out their hero is a savage beast.”

            Albus sighed as he closed his eyes.

            “We must not let them find out,” Albus said. “The ministry will see to it that Harry is locked away for “his protection” in an attempt to preserve what is left of Harry’s hero status. At least until a suitable guardian is found for Harry so that he may resume normal daily activities and continue to attend school.”

            “And how do we do that?” Severus asked, crossing his arms as he glanced into the room. Feathers were flying everywhere now as the wolf thrashed a pillow in frustration. “He’s also going to need a steady supply of Wolfsbane to avoid a repeat of tonight.”

            “Yes, Severus, and I was hoping you might consider applying for guardianship.”

            Severus was sure he did not hear that correctly. He blinked a few times, then glared at Albus.

            “Excuse me? You did not just say what I think you said, did you?”

            “Afraid so, dear boy. You are the only one here capable of brewing Wolfsbane and you are a professor at the school which Harry attends. I believe this arrangement would be the most ideal.”

            “No.”

            “It can be a temporary guardianship until another suitable candidate is found.”

            “No. No.” Severus shook his head a took a few steps away. “You cannot ask that of me. How dare you—you know my history with . . . with the likes of that!” Severus pointed at the wolf inside the containment. “No. I couldn’t. I can’t.”

            “Please, Severus,” Albus said, closing his eyes once more. “I won’t force you to do anything you do not wish to do, but I ask that you at least think it over. Reconsider. Harry is alone now. He has nowhere left to go.”

            Severus’s glare deepened as he backed further away. His legs suddenly felt like Jello and his hands shook the slightest. He’s mind was reeling from the request, and many thoughts and images were attacking his brain at once now, so much so, that he was starting to get very lightheaded from the onslaught. He said nothing as he turned for the bathroom in the infirmary and slammed the door shut behind him.

            Inside, Severus paced for a moment as his heart rate swooshed loudly in his ears while images continued to play on repeat in his head.

            “You really want to know what Remus is up to?” Black taunted one day during their fifth year. “Find yourself a stick and poke the knot at the base of the Whomping Willow. It’ll freeze up long enough for you to see exactly what we’ve been up to.”

            Severus leaned heavily over the sink, his palms digging into the cold metal as he felt waves of nausea hit him. After a few seconds, he turned the faucet on and splashed his face with cold water.

            Using a long, sturdy branch, Severus managed to hit the knot at the base of the tree, and the flailing branches froze, just as Black said it would. With only the full moon’s light for vision, he carefully maneuvered into the tunnel, and claustrophobia hit him hard as he realized how narrow the tunnel was. He did not particularly enjoy tight spaces, but if there was any chance he could get Potter and his group of friends expelled, he was going to push through his discomfort and see what was hidden at the end of the tunnel.

            The cold water shocked his face, but it wasn’t enough to shock away the memories. Severus turned the water off and closed his eyes tightly, trying his best to occlude them back into a dark corner of his mind.

            It was very dark in the tunnel. Severus’s wand was illuminated so he could avoid tripping over roots or smashing his head on the jagged rocks. There was a strange snuffling sound at the very end of the tunnel with an occasional scratching that was like nails on a chalkboard, and goosebumps shivered down Severus’s arms.

            Severus felt his chest tighten despite his best efforts at calming down and occluding. He backed up into a wall, then slid down it until he was seated up against a corner in the bathroom, his head in his hands while he rested his forehead against his knees. He focused on taking a breath at a time.

            It happened so fast; Severus didn’t even have a chance to scream. A large beastly animal came thundering around a corner at the end of the tunnel as Severus stepped out of it. A clawed paw swiped through the air and knocked Severus to the ground, slashing against the teenager’s ribs.

            Severus clutched at his left side as memory pains shot up his ribs and back, and he had phantom feelings of blood trickling over his hands. Severus tightened his grip and gritted his teeth as he stretched his legs out in front of him and leaned his head back against the freezing wall. Occlude, he thought, and he closed his eyes.

            The beast stood over Severus on two legs, snarling down at Severus, jaws wide open. Severus held his injured side as he back crawled away, his face white. A bright light illuminated the small space, stunning the wolf, who dropped down to all fours and shook his head. Hands grabbed Severus’s shoulders and yanked him to his feet. “Go!” Someone shouted, and Severus stumbled for the tunnel, sliding through the small space with Potter right behind him.

            The werewolf ran after the teens, but his wider shoulders only allowed him to follow so far into the tunnel, and he dug frantically at a place he could not squeeze through, howling and wailing away.

            Finally, Severus thought as his mind finally went blank. He waited a few minutes to appreciate the darkness behind his lids before he opened his eyes. He was still shaking the slightest and his skin was clammy, but he could at least breathe normally.

            Guardian of a werewolf.

            Severus scoffed at that thought. No, he could never do it. He would never be able to see a werewolf as anything but the terrifying beasts that wanted nothing more than to rip people to pieces. Harry was just more proof of that unchanging nature. They were too dangerous to live normally in society. Why could no one else see that?

            Severus glared at the floor in front of him. He never should have listened to his school nemesis about the tree to begin with. He had been so determined to find something expel-worthy with Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew that he blindly followed Black’s rules on getting into the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow just to prove a point. How foolish he had been. He would bear the scars of that mistake for the rest of his life.  

            But he would never make that same mistake again.

            And here he was, being asked to do something that went against every fiber of his being. He couldn’t do it. He would not be fooled twice.

            The look on Harry’s face before he changed struck Severus suddenly.

            He had been so terrified.

            Severus forcefully shook the image away. So what? Who wouldn’t be terrified of such a circumstance?

            “I’m a monster now,” Harry had said. “And all I’ll ever be is locked up.”

            Severus sighed as the words echoed around him. They were true, so why did they bother Severus so much? A sudden image of Lily’s saddened face crossed his mind, and he knew deep down that it was not the life she had envisioned for her son. She wouldn’t want to see her boy locked up like a beast in the Ministry, trapped there until someone found a way to control Harry—for the better or worse. And with no one there to protect the child, it looked like it was up to Severus.

            “You promised me,” Lily’s voice said.

            Severus covered his face with his hands.

            “I promised I would protect him,” Severus said. “I failed you, Lily. I’m so sorry.”

            “But you can still protect him,” the voice said.

            He wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating or just losing his bloody mind, but the words sounded so much like Lily, and they were telling him not to give up on his promise. He owed it to Lily after all, and begrudgingly, he owed it to James Potter. At last, he would be able to pay his life debt to the damn heroic Gryffindor by making sure his son was not ostracized for what he had become.

            Severus found the strength to leave the bathroom, and he walked into the infirmary on slightly unsteady feet. Albus was no longer present, good riddance, Severus couldn’t help but think. Poppy was checking in on Harry through a see-through charm and Severus stepped up to look in as well. The wolf was gnawing on the chain connected to his neck.

            “How are you feeling?” Poppy asked.

            “I’ll live,” Severus said.

            “Have you considered Albus’s request? You don’t have to do it if you don’t think you’ll be able to. It was asking a lot of you.”

            “No. I’ll do it.” Severus watched as the wolf lifted his head and seemingly stared right at him, those bright green eyes too much like Lily’s. Severus swallowed dryly as he said, “I don’t know how yet, but I owe it to his parents. Especially Lily.”

The chains clanked as they moved around the wolf, wrapping around each leg and pulling him to the ground until he was completely lateral, though he did try to snap at the chains holding him down. Then, a smaller chain rose from the ground next to his head and wrapped around his muzzle, closing his jaws tightly before snapping toward the ground, forcing the canine to rest his head flat on the ground. He growled softly against the restraints, but otherwise, he was completely immobile.

            “There,” Poppy said as she stared through the charmed window in the wall of the small room containing the werewolf. “That should hold him down.”

            Severus’s stomach churned as he was handed a thin, slimy feeling collar. He glanced into the room, noting the wolf was still down on his side, though the small tail was thumping on the ground.

            “I’ve infused this with a strong dose of lavender, chamomile, ginger, coconut, and just a hint of aconite,” Poppy explained, gesturing to the collar. “Together, the oils might calm him down enough that he may sleep the rest of the night without use of the chains. It’s a theory that hasn’t really been put to test on wolves with no wolfsbane, I’m sure you can imagine why.”

            Poppy hesitated, taking in Severus’s slightly shaking hands. She frowned at him, then reached for the collar.

            “Are you sure you don’t want me to do it?” Poppy asked.

            “No,” Severus said with a shake of his head. “I can do this. I have to do this.”

            “You don’t have to push it. Just because you’re taking Harry in doesn’t mean you have to prove yourself unafraid of what he becomes. Things like this take time and patience . . .”

            “I don’t need the lecture. We’re wasting time. I’m going to do this. It was my idea anyway.”

            Poppy sighed and nodded her head. She pulled out her wand and cast several charms and runes over the doorknob. After a few seconds, it unlocked. The door creaked open.

            “Be quick,” Poppy said. “Seeing someone will probably rile him up and he’ll fight against the chains more.”

            Severus nodded as he stepped up to the door, resting his hand on the doorknob. He gripped the knob tightly before he pushed the door open just enough to slip into the room, and he closed the door behind him before he lost his nerve.

            The window in the room allowed moonlight to shine through, offering enough light for Severus to see everything in the room without stumbling over his own feet. He slowly walked toward the wolf, collar ready in his hands, and the wolf’s eyes narrowed in on him.

            A loud huff from the werewolf made Severus freeze as he sucked in a sharp breath. He watched as the wolf’s whiskers twitched, occasionally lifting his lips enough to show off pearly white teeth. The clinking of the chains as they tightened against their captive was loud in Severus’s ears.

            When the wolf did not move, Severus forced his own legs to move, and he walked a bit closer, a bit unnerved by the eyes tracking his every move. Growling grew louder in the room as he neared the wolf, and while his heart was racing and his hands shook a bit more, Severus ignored the feelings as he paused right next to the werewolf.

            It had been years since he had been this close to these kinds of beasts. Severus felt waves of nausea hitting him repeatedly as he slowly kneeled next to the wolf’s head. All he had to do now was slip the collar on his neck and retreat. All he had to do was touch the wolf who was lying very still, though growling through the chain muzzle.

            Severus slowly reached a hand for the wolf’s neck to slide the collar under him. His fingers were centimeters away from touching the silver fur when he hesitated, his hands shaking even more.

            And it was that hesitation that cost him, as the wolf began thrashing against the cold floor with loud moans and snarls, startling Severus, who fell back and crawled away before standing and retreating from the room. He slammed the door behind him and nearly collapsed on the floor from his shaking knees, and he sat against the wall of the room and tried to catch his breath that he hadn’t even realized he had been holding.

            Poppy was all over him offering words of comfort and a vial of some kind of brown liquid. Severus held his head in his hands before he angrily threw the collar aside.

            “It’s okay, Severus,” Poppy said. “You did your best.”

            “I couldn’t do it,” Severus said. He growled in frustration at his own cowardness.

            “That’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Poppy said. She pushed the vial into his hand. “Drink this or I’ll spell it into you.”

            Severus accepted the potion and sipped it. He quickly realized it was a Calming Draught, and the effects were near instant as he felt his heart and breathing slow and the shakiness of his body ebbed away. He took a few deep breaths, only vaguely aware of Poppy grabbing the collar and entering the room. She wasn’t in there for more than a few seconds when she came rushing back out. She closed the door and cast her multiple spells on it. Severus took another sip of the potion as he watched her.

            “Did you get it?” Severus asked without looking up from where he sat on the floor.

            “Yes,” Poppy said. “I’ll give him a few minutes with it on before removing the chains. Chances are he may still rip it off.”

            In those few minutes, Severus was able to collect himself and stand up once more. He finished the potion before vanishing the glass vial and looking into the room through the charmed window to see the wolf still in the chains on the ground, but he wasn’t fighting them. His eyes were closed, and his tail was still, and the thin collar left the slightest indent in his fur.  

            Poppy came out of her office and stood next to Severus. She waved her wand, and they both watched as the chains vanished, releasing the wolf.

            The werewolf instantly pushed himself up into a sternal position, but that was as far as he went before he laid his head down on his paws and yawned. He closed his eyes once more.

            “Can you imagine,” Poppy said, “a calming collar for werewolves instead of an expensive brew?”

            “He’s calm now,” Severus said, “but he’s still not of sound mind. Anyone who walks in there will be in danger of him attacking.”

            “True. But it works. With a few adjustments and some experimenting, perhaps there can be an easier way of life for werewolves all over. Besides, I’ve heard that the Wolfsbane can be very unpleasant.”

            “As it should be,” Severus argued. He stared at the wolf, noting that his eyes blinked open occasionally to look around the room, as if hoping for some kind of stimulus. It was enough to quiet the wolf for now, but who knew how long it would last.

            “While he’s a bit tamer,” Poppy said, “we should get some sleep.”

            Severus nodded his head.

            Harry slowly opened his eyes, squinting against the sunlight streaming into the room. His head was pounding, and his body ached, and he had no recollection of what happened last night. He looked around the room he was in but didn’t recognize it. He was lying on the cold floor, and he blushed as he realized he had no clothes on. There was an infirmary bed next to him, and he quickly climbed into it, hiding himself under the sheets.

            The room he was in was a small square room, a literal box that had only enough room for the bed and window that happened to be within it. There was nothing else but a door on the opposite wall. There wasn’t even another window looking into his small room. There weren’t even clothes to change into.

            Harry slowly lowered the blanket when it was clear no one was coming into the room yet, and he exposed his chest, glancing at the scars on his shoulder. Two long jagged scars, raised and rough, marred the front and two similar ones stood out on the back of his shoulder. Harry reached a hand to trace the scars, then froze, his eyes widening.

            His left hand was covered in dried blood.

            Harry’s jaw dropped as he stared at his hand. Why was there so much? Had he done something to himself? Or had he injured someone else? He glanced over the bed to look at the floor and spotted a few blood splatters here and there, and his stomach flipped, and he swallowed dryly.

            Harry looked down at his hand and arm, looking for any more signs of injury or having injured. He saw small cuts and bruises here and there, and he pulled the blanket away from his lower half to keep checking himself over. There were a few bite marks on his thigh, as if he had begun chewing at himself, and he knew those would scar like the injury on his shoulder. Around his ankle on the same leg was a very circular bruise, as if something had been shackled to him.

            He felt a tingling on his neck, and he reached up to touch it. He felt a piece of plastic like material and pulled at it. It came apart and he studied the collar like object. When he sniffed it, it smelled strongly of lavender, with a hint of other flowery smells. His neck still hurt slightly, and he wondered if he had bruising there like around his ankle. His eyes stung slightly as he realized he had most likely been locked in chains at some point during the night.

            The door suddenly opened, and Harry threw the blanket over himself and sat back on the bed some, a bit apprehensive about who might be walking through the door. He wasn’t entirely relieved when Severus walked in with a tray full of vials and jars.

            Severus paused in the doorway, his brows furrowing at something on Harry.

            Harry realized he was staring at the scars on his shoulder, and he set the collar aside and pulled the blanket up further over himself, his cheeks heating up as he was practically naked in the same room as his professor.

            Severus cleared his throat as he closed the door behind him and walked over to the bed. He waved his hand and a small stand appeared for Severus to set the tray down on. The first thing Severus grabbed was a hospital gown and he wordlessly handed it to Harry.

            Harry accepted the garment and when Severus pointedly turned away, Harry took that to mean he was expected to put it on now. Harry slipped into the gown, feeling a little better with some covering now, and then he looked down at all the vials and jars on the tray.

            “Are you finished, Potter,” Severus asked without turning.

            Harry didn’t say anything immediately as he considered all the possible scenarios about where he was and what was going to happen to him now. It appeared he was still in Hogwarts if Severus was here too. Harry gulped again before he said in a hoarse voice, “I’m finished.”

            He coughed while Severus turned around.

            The first thing Severus did was pick up a goblet and hand it to Harry, who accepted it and sipped the water gratefully. Harry drank about half od the goblet as he decided what he wanted to ask first.

            “Where am I?” Harry asked when he handed the goblet back to Severus.

            “The infirmary,” Severus answered. “I though the bed and gown might have given that away.”

            “I suspected,” Harry admitted. “You’ve been trying to get me here all week.”

            “And imagine all the trouble you could have avoided if he had simply delivered yourself.”

            Harry studied his hands, refusing to reply to that while Severus began mixing a couple vials together.

            “Why is my hand all bloody?” Harry asked in a whisper. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

            Severus gently grabbed Harry’s wrist and looked at the bloodied hand, then gently turned it over so Harry could see his nails.

            “Looks like you broke a nail,” Severus said. “Probably in one of your fits last night.”

            “What?” Harry studied his pointer finger, which was covered in a thicker layer of blood and had a small wound on the nail bed where his nail was indeed broken. “A broken nail caused this much blood?”

            “Wolves, like most canines, have blood vessels in their nails. If they break them too far down, they expose the vessel, and it bleeds. Don’t worry, it looks worse than it actually is. Blood, even in small amounts, has the tendency to spread and make a mess.”

            “Could I bleed out from that?” Harry asked curiously as he kept studying his nail.

            “If every wolf that broke a nail bled out from it, there would be no wolves in the wild. Or werewolves, so to speak. Staying calm and giving it time usually stops the bleeding, as does applying pressure. Once Madam Pomfrey was able to get a calming collar on you, you managed to calm down enough to sleep for a few hours. Then, of course, you were right back to shredding the room.”           

            “It doesn’t look bad,” Harry said, glancing around.

            “She fixed the room up when you were in the middle of transforming back,” Severus explained. “Here, drink this. It will help the headache.”

            Harry accepted the vial and drank it down, closing his eyes and sighing in relief as the throbbing in his head vanished. Harry felt a finger tilt his chin upward, and he opened his eyes to see Severus examining his neck. Harry frowned at the man.

            “You lied to me,” he said.

            Severus lowered his hand and met Harry’s eyes.

            “You said there would be no cages or chains,” Harry said.

            “There wasn’t going to be,” Severus said. “And there was never a cage, despite what this room looks like to you. Unfortunately, when you took off and missed the final dose of your potion, you transformed into a mad wolf, and chains were needed last night. We tried to help you with the calming collar, but it only lasted do long. Had you taken the final dose of Wolfsbane, it wouldn’t have been needed.”

            “There was a cage in the room,” Harry said, closing his eyes as he tried to recall what happened before he turned. “Last night . . . across from your storeroom.”

            “A boggart,” Severus said.

            Harry frowned at that.

            “It couldn’t have been. My boggart—”

            “Clearly changed.” Severus picked up a jar and unscrewed the top. “As can happen as you go through life and discover things that you never knew terrified you. Chin up.”

            Harry blinked before he obeyed and lifted his head up. Severus rubbed a potion into his neck, and Harry winced as he fought against the ticklish feeling from the cold salve and Severus’s fingers rubbing the potion into his neck. Once his neck was healed, Severus moved to his ankle next. Harry watched as the bruises faded away.

            “You started biting yourself last night,” Severus said. “Where?”

            “It’s just going to scar,” Harry said, his cheeks burning once again.

            “And this potion can minimize the scarring. And take away the pain. Let me see, Potter.”

            Harry sighed and carefully rolled up the hospital gown, being careful not to expose himself as he revealed the few bite marks on his thigh. Several small punctures covered his thigh, along with some blood stains. The bruising was starting to develop green and black coloring.

            “I can put it on,” Harry said.

            “You won’t be able to,” Severus said as he uncapped another potion. “This is specifically made for werewolf bites. It had dittany and just a small hint of silver in it, though not enough to trigger a severe reaction. It will hurt, however.”

            “What do you mean a reaction—Ahh!” Harry ground his teeth together as Severus rubbed the potion into the several bite marks, and he felt the injured skin fizzle and burn as the wounds closed and healed. Harry panted through his teeth and clenched the sheets around him as he endured the pain. He glared at Severus as the professor finished and closed the jar. He hissed through his teeth, “Bet you’re enjoying this.”

            “On the contrary,” Severus argued as he picked up a washcloth and used his wand to soak it. “I am not entirely heartless, Potter. And as it stands, we will have to set aside our differences in the near future if you have any desire of remaining at Hogwarts.”

            Severus sat on the edge of the bed and gently took Harry’s hand and began scrubbing the blood away.

            “You are allergic to silver, by the way,” Severus added. “That is why you could have a reaction to the potion with silver in it. Any more than a pinch would cause severe reactions. It would feel like your skin was burning right off if you had enough contact with it. Did you not see that in all your research.”

            “I think I glossed over what works against werewolves and focused on what controls them—without killing them. The information grew a little slim in that department.”

            “I can imagine. Unfortunately for you, there is a lot of prejudice against werewolves in wizarding society. Your journey forward will not be an easy one.”

            “Tell me about it,” Harry muttered. He waited as Severus finished cleaning his hand before dipping his finger in another salve, which healed the broken nail and pending infection. After everything was finished, Harry felt a lot better than he did when he woke up that morning, and he rested his hands in his lap. “What’s going to happen to me?”

            Severus was quiet as he set aside the tray of potions and jars.

            “You will not be returning to your relatives,” Severus said.

            Harry’s head snapped up at that.

            “Really? I mean, I get why, so it makes sense.”

            “Would you want to go back?” Severus asked, and Harry frowned at the odd question, then he realized something.

            “Madam Pomfrey did the health exam, didn’t she?”

            “You avoided answering the question.”

            “So did you.”

            Harry met Severus’s eyes as they stared silently at each other for a minute, then Severus sighed heavily.

            “We have a lot to discuss,” Severus said as he stood up. “For now, the headmaster has decided to assign you a temporary guardian who is capable of providing Wolfsbane and a place of shelter on Full Moon nights until a more permanent solution can be found. In the meantime, you will continue on with school as you have.”

            “I can stay?” Harry asked with a grin.

            “There was never an option of you not staying at Hogwarts.” Severus waved his hand and a tray of a Full English breakfast appeared. He set the tray down in front of Harry, who frowned at all the food.

            “I can’t eat all of that,” Harry said.

            “I think you’ll surprise yourself,” Severus said. “Besides, as ordered by Madam Pomfrey, you are required to gain one stone before the year is up. So I suggest you eat as much of this as you can. I will return with a uniform for you while you do so.”

            Harry took a bite of toast, and he felt his stomach growl angrily. He was actually pretty famished, and he took another bite of the toast before he was even finished with the first bite. He hummed appreciatively. Severus watched him for a moment before he turned to leave.

            “Wait,” Harry called to his professor.

            Severus paused just at the door, turning to raise a brow at Harry.

            “You said I’ve been assigned a temporary guardian. Who is it, sir?”

            Severus seemed to take in a deep breath before he answered, “Me.”

            Harry’s jaw dropped at the same time as his toast did, and Severus took his stunned silence as a chance to leave the room.