The Dark Side of the Moon

Chapter 4 - The Killing Moon

Months had now passed since Remus and Hermione had been hunting in the dungeons. Further talk over the flagrant awkwardness they had shared did not arise, and as they were both tremendously overjoyed to go on pretending that nothing of such unspoken importance had occurred - neither of them was put out in the slightest. Christmas had come and gone; Hermione's worst Christmas ever. As it turned out, she was the only student left in the entire contains of the castle.

While this did mean she could indulge in such activities as daring herself to sit au natural in the Gryffindor common room (of which lasted for a grand total of five to twenty seconds before the paranoia that Dumbledore would inadvertently decide to waltz in at that precise moment grew too strong), sprinting up to the astronomy tower and screaming out swear words at the top of her lungs (Hermione was a girl of propriety and good language, but she knew that it would be an insult to Ron's future self if she didn't), and baiting the Whomping Willow with really big sticks (sod it, why not?), she still didn't fancy having to wake up Christmas morning all on her lonesome. It was, in a word, depressing.

And to think that January had arrived already - that meant she had been in 1978 for just over a hundred days.

No luck had led Hermione to finding anything of significance to her ticket home and she was beginning to ease off a little, searching three or four times a week rather than each minute of her spare time. She was called every now and then up to Dumbledore's office to tell him how she was getting on, if she was having any troubles with the work or anything else of note. Of course, the work was hardly a struggle for her. All the other seventh-year students were getting ready for their N.E.W.T's and although Dumbledore told her she by no means had to do them, she decided that she would. It would be good practise for when she returned to her own time - if she returned.

It was just after dinner one evening that Hermione felt an urge to search the Hogwarts grounds again - an unexpected jolt of something in her stomach. She was getting used to these sudden impulse decisions to go to a certain place. They had all proved useless thus far, but after spending a whole Christmas break by herself thinking that she was doomed to die old and alone and in the seventies, she most certainly wasn't about to take any chances.

'Lily, Remus, I'm going to look -' she started before noticing Snape standing a short way away, eyeing her suspiciously, 'I'm going to go for a walk in the grounds,' she finished as they crowded out of the Great Hall. Lily nodded and said she would see her back in the common room.

'I'll come,' Remus said automatically and followed her outside.

Hermione shivered and drew her cloak more tightly around her as they stepped into the chilly night air. The grass was sprinkled with shards of white ice like lemonade sorbet, and their feet crunched as they headed towards the Forbidden Forest.

'Question, Bel. Are we going into the forest?' Remus asked her calmly. 'I know you haven't been here long, but you should know what it's like at night.'

'Yes I know, but I haven't actually looked there yet, have I?' she reasoned, linking her arm in his genially. 'We don't have to go in far. I don't know, I just - I just feel like something's going to happen tonight.'

Hermione and Remus followed the light of her wand across the Quidditch pitch; the night was exceptionally dark with the gargantuan grey clouds that now blanketed the sky. They covered any luminance the moon held on offer, leaving no radiance except from the distant lights of the Hogwarts castle.

As they neared the edge of the forest Hermione heard a sudden rustling sound. Intuitively, she began trotting towards the bush it was coming from.

She stopped at it and stamped her feet. She didn't really know what she was doing, but her own piece of mind would be reassured in knowing what was in there. Maybe she could try and scare the creature into coming out.

'Come on,' she jeered. 'Come out of there.'

She rattled the bush with her hand, holding her breath. In a matter of moments a very frightened rabbit with an overt brown patch on its otherwise white back, bounded out and into the depths of the woods.

She crossed her arms and watched it go. 'Figures it would be nothing,' she muttered in annoyance.

A pale glow was now emanating from the sky, growing brighter and more prominent with every second. Hermione looked up at the sky to see the large silver moon appear majestically from behind one of the clouds.

'Well, that's better,' she commented. 'Nox.' The light in her wand ebbed and she placed it back into her robes.

'So, where to now Remus?' she asked, swivelling around. 'Remus?' she said again.

He wasn't there. All she could see was the grand castle and the trees that stood stock still with no breeze to sway them. Everything was dead silent. She smiled to herself - trust a Marauder to try and joke around at the most inappropriate of times.

'Okay, Mr. I'm-Gonna-Try-And-Act-All-Macho-And-Cool-While-Hermione-Squeals-Like-A-Girl-And-I-Stand-About-Looking-All-Smug-And-Arrogant-And-Then-Brag-To-My-Similarly-Smug-And-Arrogant-Friends-About-How-I-Managed-To-Jump-Out-From-Behind-A-Tree-So-Expertly-And-shit-I-need-to-breathe.' She gulped several large doses of air then continued. 'If you're going to scare me Lupy boy, do it now before I get angry and resort to the somewhat tacky but otherwise undeniably effective magic stereotype of turning you into a toad.'

When she didn't hear a response she laughed. 'Oh, so you're going to do the whole pretending-you've-been-killed-tragically-while-I-bystood-like-an-imp trick, are you? Well, let me tell you something -' she stopped abruptly as she heard a deep, inhumanly growling coming from somewhere.

'Remus,' she called seriously. 'Did you hear that?' She pivoted in a circle, waiting for any sudden sign of movement. When nothing appeared, she fumbled inside her robes for her wand and held it out vigilantly.

The growling got louder. It was now coming from behind her. Preparing a spell in her mind, Hermione slowly turned around once more.

Her wand fell to the ground.

*-*-*

Peter and Sirius sat on the couch in the common room while James paced up and down by the fire.

'I'm done with waiting,' he said tetchily, his black hair flopping about wildly. 'This is so unlike Moony not to show up.'

'Perhaps he left without us?' Peter suggested shyly.

'No,' snapped Sirius. 'He wouldn't do that. Not tonight.' He lowered his voice. 'Not full-moon night.'

'Well, what should we do, should we just go to the Shack and check it out?' James said, still pacing.

'I s'pose there's not much else to do,' Sirius said boredly, though with a heavy note of apprehension in his tone. 'OI, Lily!'

Lily, who was talking animatedly to some friends in the corner, looked up.

''Ave you seen Remus about?'

'Yeah,' she answered. 'He went out to the grounds with Isabelle to search for that thing she's "lost".'

James stopped pacing immediately, adjusted his glasses and stared at Lily. 'What?'

'They're out there now but I don't think they'll be too much longer,' she said then added at the sight of his face, 'What on earth's the matter?'

James stared horrified at Sirius, who had turned a ghostly white colour. 'Jesus,' he murmured and the two bounded out of the common room.

*-*-*

Hermione stood dead still; she didn't trust her legs to hold out if she tried to move, they were shaking so much. Her breathing was now coming out in short, sharp gasps as she stared in sheer terror at this familiar beast. A hunched back, tiny black pupils amongst hungry eyes, claws that curled into sharp knives, long slender ears that would hear the quietest, most accidental of sounds. It was standing on all fours and was coated in rich brown fur, from its menacing head all the way to the very tip of its tufted tail. Of course, she identified it immediately as a werewolf. And which other werewolf could it be but -

'Remus,' she breathed.

He snarled, bearing a set of ultra-sharp, ultra-white teeth with two fangs hanging menacingly at the front. She could see the moon reflected in his beastly eyes and couldn't believe how careless she'd been. She had entirely forgotten that it was Full Moon tonight - obviously he had too. It was just so much harder to remember that Remus was a Werewolf in the past, primarily because it was all so hushed up; even she wasn't supposed to know about it. She gathered that nobody else knew but Sirius, Peter, James and Dumbledore whereas in the future, it was no longer surreptitious. Plus, Remus had the Wolfsbane potion to keep his human mind whilst transformed. Clearly it wasn't invented in this time.

Remus lowered his head and as quick as lightning grabbed in his mouth something that ran across his path, blood spilling everywhere. Hermione's stomach churned with revulsion - it was a rabbit with a brown patch on its back, the same rabbit she had seen before, she was sure of it. She watched in horror as he thrashed it about with his teeth, tearing at the flesh, and distorting the small animal far beyond recognition, let alone existence. He howled to the moon and rested his gaze solidly upon his next prey - her.

Hermione tried to think quickly but her heart was palpitating so hard that she was scared it would burst out of her chest before it dared to stop. She had read all about Werewolves and, knowing what they were capable of, knew she had no chance. No chance in Hell. Devouring any living creature was the Werewolf's purpose, and the skin of a human was their all-time favourite relish. Remus, clearly excited by the taste of blood lingering on his tongue, was now on all fours again and looked like he was going to pounce - very soon.

If she ran, he would catch her. If she shouted, no one would hear. If she reached down for her wand, the wolf was sure to attack. What other choice did she have?

'Remus,' she pleaded as a desperate last resort, looking as hard and unblinkingly as she could into his bloodshot eyes. 'Remember me? I'm a friend - I'm not food.'

He started treading slowly towards her, not taking his sight off her for a second. She backed up slowly; she felt like her whole life, her last moments as Hermione Granger, were now playing out in slow motion.

'Friend, not food,' she repeated but knew it was hopeless. He couldn't understand her. It wasn't Remus she was looking at anymore - it was a monster.

She uttered a squeak as she tripped on an uplifted tree root and fell over backwards. She recollected herself as quickly as she could but as she tried to get up, her knees gave way and she sat back down feebly.

She could hear the heavy thuds of the beast coming closer and saw the only option she had lying several feet from her - her wand. She desperately tried to make a leap for it but not before an enormous paw thrust her into the air.

She landed heavily against a tree, the wind knocked out of her, and dizzily put her hand to her head. She tasted on her lips the blood that was running down past her temple, and her hand was soon dripping with it. She felt like vomiting, but as steadily as she could, she put her hands to the ground at a weak attempt to heave herself up. She had to - she had to - fight.

It was no use, the world was getting blurry and the brightening light of the moon was blinding her. She could feel and taste the breath of the wolf on her neck - moist and hot. This was it, she was going to die. She was going to die without ever seeing Harry, or Ron, or her mother ever again. She was going to die without ever knowing why her father left. She was going to die, and Remus would never even know the true identity of the person whose life he had taken so unwillingly. Just as she lifted her head to look into the eyes of her killer, a shape with colossal antlers leaped over her, knocking the Werewolf aside.

She heard a vicious barking somewhere nearby and then everything went black.

*-*-*

'Is she awake? I think I saw her stir!' a voice said.

'Ssh, no, but she'll be awake soon if you don't shut-up,' a second voice whispered crossly.

'Righteo, no need to get touchy.'

'I was not getting touchy!'

'Were too!'

'Was not!'

'That was definitely touchiness.'

'Well I can't help it when you're so close in proximity.'

'Will you two stop bickering!' another voice hissed.

'Now, that was touchy,' the first voice snorted.

'I'll say.'

Hermione heard herself groan. She put her hand blearily to her head. It felt like it weighed a ton.

'You're awake!' the second voice, which she now recognized as James's exclaimed.

'Yes, unfortunately,' she said drowsily, not opening her eyes.

'Someone's happy to be back,' the first voice, Sirius, said.

'I'd be a lot happier if I didn't feel like a troll was sitting on my head playing the bongo drums on my face.'

'Yep, she's in high spirits all right,' he added brightly.

Hermione very slowly opened her eyes, trying to ignore the pain. She tried to sit up but felt herself involuntarily fall back down.

'Whoa, easy there,' James warned, helping her to sit up again. 'Slowly, now.'

She sat back and used her elbows to steady herself. It took her a moment to realize that she was in the Gryffindor common room, sitting on the couch.

She blinked. 'Where's Remus?' she asked shortly.

'I'm here,' said a hoarse voice.

Turning, she saw him sitting on an armchair, shirt sleeves pulled right up. His chin was resting on his closed hands and he was leaning forward, his elbows propped up on his knees. He looked ill - his face was pale, his eyes were tired and he sported big blue bags under them that Hermione remembered so clearly from the future. He also had a fair amount of fresh cuts on his arm and two deep gashes, one across his cheek and the other around the sensitive area of his eye.

Hermione couldn't help but gasp. 'Oh Remus, you look awful!'

He stood up and looked at her gravely. 'Are you all right?' he asked in the same throaty voice.

'Yes, I'm fine,' Hermione lied, her head was pounding monstrously. 'But -'

'Then I'll be getting to bed,' he said flatly. 'Goodnight.' He started to walk away.

'Remus, wait -' Hermione called. She mechanically stood up to stop him but saw stars and felt herself fall. In a split second James and Sirius had eased her back onto the couch.

'You took a nasty blow to the head Isabelle,' said Sirius grimly. 'Take it easy.'

She didn't take her eyes off Remus. In the months she had spent with him, she truly felt as if she had known him nearly as long as Harry and Ron. He was always so calm and collected, and now he looked as he did in the future right before she found the painting - lost. And not only lost but wretched with - with guilt.

'Why are you acting this way?' she asked meekly.

He moved closer. Hermione was shocked to see that he was shaking. The calmness she had always admired in him, his down-to-earth composure that he carried in all situations was gone and replaced with a stream of emotions he didn't seem to be able to handle.

'Look what I've done to you,' he whispered.

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it as hard as she could, willing it to stop trembling. 'I'm fine Remus, really I am.'

'I - I could have killed you,' he said wildly, pulling away. 'I would have killed you if these two hadn't shown up at the exact right second, if they hadn't stopped me!'

Hermione gulped back a sob. This should not have happened, he should not have to feel like this - not if it wasn't for her.

'It - wasn't - your - fault,' she said, fighting to keep her own voice from shaking.

'YES IT WAS!' he shouted, causing Hermione to flinch. 'If I hadn't been so careless to forget it was full moon!'

He shook his head and added more quietly, 'I'll completely understand if you don't want to come near me anymore, now that you know what I really am. I'm not going to make this any harder for you than it has to be, I'll stay away from you.'

He walked inertly up to the dormitories.

Hermione watched him go reluctantly. She almost stood up again but James put his hand out to stop her.

'Let him go,' he said quietly.

Very unexpectedly, a snore sounded from somewhere in the room. Hermione turned around promptly and noticed Wormtail in an armchair, fast asleep and with a trail of saliva dribbling out the side of his mouth.

'Eurgh,' she said, despite herself.

'Git,' muttered Sirius. 'Trust him to sleep through this.' He sat down on the couch and turned to Hermione, his eyes anxious.

'You won't tell anyone, will you? About us -'

'No, no. I wouldn't dream of it,' she said quickly. She closed her eyes and resignedly placed her head in her hands.

'Thanks,' she heard him say softly.

It was too hard - she couldn't hide her tears anymore. Unable to stop herself, Hermione put her head on Sirius' shoulder and cried silently into his sleeve. He put his arm around her.

'He's not used to making mistakes Isabelle,' he said solemnly. 'Sometimes he forgets that he is only human - well, part only human. He's the most protective person you'll ever meet, and for him to lose his head and put a friend in such danger - it's killing him.'

'I've just made such a mess of things,' she said, more to herself than to them. 'This was not supposed to happen - it wasn't.'

There was a short moment of silence.

'He stayed by your side from the moment he transformed back to the moment you woke up, you know,' James, who'd now come and sat down on the other side of her, said matter-of-factly. 'He wouldn't eat, drink, sleep, talk. It was getting to a point where I was scared he was forgetting to breathe.'

She brought her head away from Sirius' robes and looked at both James and Sirius. 'Thankyou,' she said. 'Both of you. For everything.' She hugged them both, wiping her eyes as she released them.

'Just try and get some rest, Isabelle. You'll feel better when you wake up,' James said, patting her on the back.

'Yeah, it's been a tough night,' Sirius added, standing up and yawning. 'We'll see you in the morning.'

'It is morning Padfoot,' James pointed out with a smirk, indicating the clock on the wall. It was just past five am.

'Oh, right,' Sirius said vaguely. 'See you in a few hours then.'

She managed to release a small laugh before bidding them goodnight. Once they had disappeared from sight, she closed her eyes and instantly fell asleep.