Full Moon

A/N Thank you to my beta. To my readers – enjoy the chapter

Hermione stretched and opened her eyes. Today was the day of the full moon. She knew that all of their hard work could have been for nothing – there was no guarantee whether or not any of the potions were going to work.

During their interviews with the other werewolves – Marie, Isabel, Mikhail, and Justin, they discovered that Ron was the only one who had been infected with a needle. The rest had been bit by one of the feral werewolves that were a part of Greyback's pack. Greyback was dead, but his legacy of terror lived on.

After a quick shower, she made her way downstairs to the study, where she knew Severus would be, knocking on the door before entering. She almost expected to see him brewing another potion, but instead he was making notations on a parchment. She waited for him to finish before she spoke.

“Do you think any of the potions that we have brewed are going to work?”

“I do not know. You do know that what may work on a werewolf that was infected due to a bite may not work on Ron.” The sentence was said as a statement, but there was a question in his eyes.

“I know. Even if we have found a potion that will work, it may only be the beginning. Only time will tell.”

***

Severus watched as she got a faraway look on her face and knew how hard the last few days had been on her. He couldn't imagine what it would have been like for him, finding out one of his friends was a werewolf. Dealing with knowing Remus Lupin and Fenrir Greyback had been enough for him. Although Hermione had given no indication of having feelings for Weasley other than friendship, he still was bothered by what he saw.

To cover up his own thoughts, he said, “I have written down the ingredients that are in the potions and which subject we will be giving the potion to. This way we will know which potions work and which potions don't.” Severus knew that there was a good chance that none of the potions were going to work at all.

“What time is moon rise?”

“Nine pm sharp, so we will need to make sure that they are all secure and given their potions in plenty of time for us to get back here. We shouldn't linger longer than necessary.”

“I'm not going to take any foolish chances,” she snapped, the words coming out sharper than she intended.

“I don’t want –” he said, then stopped, changing his mind. “I don't want any accidents tonight. Perhaps I should be the one that chains Mr. Weasley and gives him his potion.”

“No, I'm perfectly capable of doing it. Besides, I don't want him to think that I am avoiding him because he is a werewolf.” Turning, she stalked out of the room.

Severus watched as she left the room, shaking his head. He didn't know what her emotional outburst meant, but he had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last of it.

***

How dare he assume that she couldn't do her part? Didn't he know her better than that? After all, she had held Ron and Harry's hands for most of their Hogwarts days. They wouldn't have passed their classes if it hadn't been for her!

She knew that Severus was just trying to spare her the pain of having to see Ron chained up, but she wasn't really angry with Severus. It was Ron that she was angry with. How dare he insinuate that something was going on between her and Severus? Their relationship was purely professional. Wasn't it?

Ron was always jealous and insecure. It all started back in fourth year when Viktor Krum had asked her to the Yule Ball. Well, if Ron had asked her first instead of as a last resort, she would have gone with him. But no, he had to wait for a prettier girl.

Well, now he keeps to himself and doesn't even tell her that he is a werewolf and he thinks that he can presume to tell her whom she can and can't see? Even if there was something more to her relationship with Severus, he had nothing to say about it. With that last thought, she went to make certain that everything was ready for that evening.

***

The hours passed quickly, and soon it was 8 o'clock in the evening. They had agreed on a time of 8:15 to get everyone secure and to administer the potions. That gave them plenty of time to finish and to take the Portkeys back to the other house before the moon rose.

“I'll take Mikhail, Justin and Marie, if you will take Isabel and Ron,” Severus said, looking at her. He still didn't know why she wanted to torture herself by having to chain up Ron, but he supposed that she knew what she was doing.

“Alright.” She took the potions from him for Isabel and Ron and picked up her Portkey. “I'll meet you back here.” At 8:10 her Portkey activated and she vanished.

Grabbing his own Portkey, he waited for it to activate at 8:12. He knew that both Portkeys would return them to the safe house at 8:35, so they would have to work fast. As he chained up Mikhail and Justin and gave them their potions, he thought briefly of Remus Lupin. Even though he had shown much distaste for him, he had respected him as an Order member and as a professor. It was a pity that the man had not survived.

Refusing to dwell on the past, Severus moved on to his last charge for the evening.

***

Hermione had gone to Isabel first, wanting to spend a few minutes with Ron and give him a piece of her mind. After Isabel was secure, she made her way to the room where Ron was waiting for her. She glanced at her watch – it was only 8:20. She had time before her Portkey would activate. From inside the room she could hear thumps – it sounded as if Ron was playing with a Bludger or something in there.

“Ron, it's –” she started as she opened the door. A large, red furry creature launched itself at her and she threw up her arms to protect her throat. Her body screamed in pain as the teeth clamped down on one of her wrists, tearing into the flesh and grating on the bone.

”Petrificus Totalus!” Hermione heard from behind her. She watched as the werewolf that had been Ron dropped to the floor, frozen in time.

***

“Get back behind me!” Severus shouted. While he was certain that Ron could no longer do any damage, he quickly got the chains and locked him up, then locked the door behind him. Looking around, he searched for Hermione. He found her in the middle of the hall, bleeding profusely from her wrist and barely conscious. She was losing blood fast.

Cursing the Portkeys that would not activate until 8:35, he took his cloak and wrapped it around her wrist, trying to staunch the flow of blood.

“The moon hasn't risen yet,” Hermione whispered.

“You need to save your strength,” Severus said, looking down at her. Hoping and praying that he could summon a Patronus, he cast the spell and sent off his message to Albus. He just hoped it wasn't too late...