Harry James Potter had a headache. It was more than that really, he thought as he struggled to sit up in his lumpy bed at four Privet Drive. Squinting through his skewed glasses, he wondered why he was covered in dirt and mud from head to toe as his head throbbed. He was aware that he was sweaty too, and wondered why uncle Vernon had the heater turned up so high when it was summer.

As he swung his legs over the side of the bed, Harry noted that his right ribs hurt as well, and he shut his eyes tight, trying to remember what had happened. He drew a blank.

"Boy! You'd better be up in there! It's already a quarter past six!" Aunt Petunia's shrieks were almost enough to do his throbbing head in just then, and Harry wondered if he were somehow hung over. He didn't drink, but after Sirius had died last year, he had considered it briefly.

Standing on what turned out to be shaky legs, Harry made his way down the hall to the bathroom where he turned on the shower to wash some of the mysterious grime off. Removing his shirt only served to startle him however, because he found several open scratches and what appeared to be bite marks on his side and back. He stared as the mirror fogged up, and tried again to remember any detail of how he'd come to be in such a state. He would have ventured a guess that uncle Vernon had gotten mad at him, but these definitely looked like an animal had attacked him.

At a shriek from his aunt to hurry up, Harry got into the too hot shower and gingerly washed away the dirt and blood, taking into account the many new bruises covering his body. Maybe uncle Vernon had gotten hold of him after all.

Harry left his filthy torn clothes in a heap on his bedroom floor after the shower and made his way downstairs. He was feeling so disoriented this morning that he risked telling aunt Petunia about his injuries. Generally she laughed at him if he asked for help or to go to the doctor, but not this morning.

"I think an animal attacked me last night," Harry said weakly as he sat down at the breakfast table. Dudley was still asleep and uncle Vernon had not yet come downstairs. He put his head down on his folded arms on the table as aunt Petunia scoffed, "You think? How can you not know stupid boy!?" When she got no response she looked over to see Harry's head down and came over. "If you think for one minute you can trick me into letting you out of chores-" she started, but paused, mouth open when Harry lifted up his shirt on the injured side.

After a long silence she asked in a hushed voice, "An animal you say?"

"I can't remember anything," he replied weakly. "I don't even remember going out last night."

They heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs, and aunt Petunia said hurriedly, "Go lay down on the couch. And don't get blood anywhere!"

Harry felt sluggish as he moved out of the kitchen just in time to miss uncle Vernon as he came in. "Where's that good for nothing boy?" he asked when he looked around and could not find the newspaper Harry was supposed to bring in every morning.

"Vernon, something's wrong," Petunia said quietly.

"Well punish him then."

"No, I mean... well, you'd better take a look." Irritated eyes rose to meet hers, but he rose to follow her into the living room regardless.

Harry lay on the couch in a fever, eyes unfocused and unaware that anyone else was with him.

Petunia lifted his shirt just enough to show the injuries and Vernon raised his brows.

"What the hell happened to him?"

"I don't know. He says he thinks an animal attacked him. What kind of animal could we have in Little Winging? It could try to attack Dudley!"

Vernon grunted. "Stray dog probably. I'll call the pound and tell them to make a run through the neighborhood."

"What about him?" Petunia asked, nodding towards Harry with a half worried, half disgusted look. "He might have rabies!"

Rolling his eyes, Vernon said, "Slap a bandage on him and send him to his room. But God help him if he doesn't do double chores tomorrow for the ones he misses today."  With that he moved off to find his paper and eat breakfast, leaving Petunia to quickly bandage Harry's side and rouse him from sleep to send him to his room.

* * *

Something was happening to Harry, although he wasn't quite sure what yet.

His fever had broken days ago and he'd resumed all of his chores, but life at Privet Drive had seemed to take a turn for the mysterious.

For starters, Harry kept having flashbacks, but he'd had no luck yet piecing them together. He often woke three or four times in the night with what appeared to be memories of running through the fields and thickets outside of town. He could remember feeling terrified, but as he turned in his dreams, he could never see what exactly it was that chased him.

While Harry did an endless amount of chores during the day to make up for the one's he'd missed, he had flashbacks of limping and sometimes crawling home in the darkness, and finally of dragging his damaged body up the stairs and into his bed.

The fragmented memory was not the only thing. His body was changing too and he wasn't sure if it was all part of the normal growing process or something that had to do with magic.

His eyes for instance no longer seemed to require glasses. They made his vision quite blurry in fact if he put them on, although he wore them anyway so that no one would notice anything was different. Aunt Petunia seemed to be keeping an unnaturally close eye on him after she'd patched him up, and once he heard her telling Dudley to stay away from him in case he had gotten rabies. He didn't know if rabies gave you better eyesight, but was resolved to go into town the first chance he got and research it in the library.

Another change was that when he went to replace the bandages on his wounds, the wounds were gone entirely. There was not even any tenderness in the area to indicate he'd been bitten or scratched at all.

Harry sat down on the edge of his bed, unused new bandages beside him. His head was spinning with the strangeness of it all. He didn't need glasses any more, and his gruesome scratches and bite marks had healed in a matter of days. This was definitely going to be an interesting summer.

* * *

What was that? Harry narrowed his eyes as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. Perhaps it had been because he was sick that he hadn't noticed the extra hair that had suddenly decided to sprout up on his chest. It wasn't that he hadn't had any to start with, but certainly not this much. Ron and some of the other boys in the dorm had a lot of chest hair, he reminded himself, and even Neville had started to grow some at the end of the last school year, so why should he worry over a little... a lot of sudden new growth? It itched like crazy too, and Harry wondered again if all of this could be attributed to a teenage growth spurt of some sort. He hoped so, because the other possibility that lurked at the back of his mind was something more sinister feeling. His real fear was that some sort of magical creature had poisoned him on that night he was still trying to piece together, and that he was going to sprout wings or a tail or something worse. He had been feeling more and more strange in his own body lately; more on edge than usual. He'd been so hungry lately as well, although that was part of growth spurts he reminded himself. Mrs. Weasley was frequently to be heard at meal times at the Burrow saying that if just one more teenage male sat with them to eat then she really would be eaten out of house and home.

There was one good change about the new way he felt, Harry discovered two weeks after he'd staggered home ill and confused. Aunt Marge had come to visit unexpectedly, but instead of Harry having to hide in his room for the remainder of her stay for fear of Ripper, her nasty dog, he'd been surprised to find the dog afraid of him. Interesting, was the first thought that came to Harry after the dog had scurried away to hide under the coffee table, and strange was the second. He hadn't even given the dog a stray look, knowing it was best not to look him in the eyes, but the dog somehow seemed terrified of him. Harry wasn't the only one to notice, which was the start of a long, and terrible summer for him.

It had started with a benign remark from uncle Vernon about Ripper looking unwell. Marge had seemed at a loss until Harry had been sent from the room to haul her luggage upstairs. While Harry was marveling at how light her luggage seemed and that she must not be staying long because she must not have packed much, Ripper had come out of his hiding place shaking, only to return with a simper when Harry returned to the sitting room for Marge's hat and coat. He was just on his way out again when Marge shouted, "Come back here boy!"

Harry turned to find her glaring down him down. "What have you done to my dog boy?"

He frowned. "Nothing aunt Marge."

"Don't you lie to me. Just look at him! He's terrified of you!"

"But I haven't had the chance to do anything," he tried then, and it was true. He hadn't been alone with the dog in the ten minutes since the pair had arrived.

"Oh, but if you got the chance you would do something to him? I see how it is. My ripper is as smart as they come, smarter then you'll ever be by the looks of it, and if he's scared of you then he knows you're about to do something to him!"

As far as Harry was concerned, the dog was as bonkers as aunt Marge was. It had always been this way. No matter how bad uncle Vernon, aunt Petunia, and Dudley were, aunt Marge and Ripper were always worse. For all he knew the dog had finally just gone completely senile. It was old enough.

"I wouldn't do anything to him aunt Marge," Harry said, trying to remain calm. The last thing he wanted was another incident with Marge floating away towards London and him being chased from the house by his uncle. The incident seemed to be fresh on Vernon and Petunia's mind as well however, because in the next moment, his uncle was telling him to get lost for the day.

With a huff Harry left the house, thinking that perhaps this was his opportunity to go into town and do some research in the library about rabies... or whatever it was that he had that was changing him.

Harry hurried past the thicket of woods that stood on the edge of the neighborhood where the Dursley's lived, feeling as though he was being watched, and then hurried into town. Luckily the library was not all that far away, but it did stand at the edge of the woods he thought he remembered from his flashbacks.

Inside, he asked the elder librarian for help finding books about rabies, and also about dogs, and she asked why he wanted to know.

"Just something I saw on the telly last night," he said, feeling nervous about the way she was looking at him. "You know, just wanted to know more."

"I wish I could help you young man, but a few nights ago someone broke into the library and tore apart every book we have on canines."

"Tore apart?" He raised his brows.

"To shreds," she said, looking affronted that it had happened at all.

"Did they catch the person?"

"No. The police are still searching."

"Oh."

Harry thanked her and then moved off into the library, thinking that since he was already here he might as well read something. He had not been allowed to check books out since he was nine and Dudley had ripped apart one of the library books he'd brought home to read, but he hadn't been banned from reading in the library at least.

He walked from row to row in the quiet building and occasionally passed an adult sitting at a table by themselves reading or doing work.  Being a sunny summer day, he had not yet spotted anyone close to his own age inside, and why he he asked himself. They've no reason to be afraid to go out, not like me.

It was just a feeling he'd had since the attack, that when he went out he was being watched. With death eaters still on the loose and Voldemort newly returned to power, he was sure Dumbledore or any one of the Order would have a fit if they found out he'd gone into town on his own in any case, so it wasn't like he was without reason to worry. Aside from Voldemort, there was still some sort of animal out there, lurking, and Harry was sure it was waiting for him to find himself alone in the woods again, though he still could not remember how he'd ended up in the woods in the first place.

"Looking for something lad?"

Harry looked down at the elder male voice that had spoken to him and found a professorish type sitting alone at a table in the wide aisle he was in.

He shrugged. "Came to read about dogs but the librarian said all the books were gone."

"Wanting to learn to train one up are yeh?"

Thinking back to Ripper, Harry nodded, just so he wouldn't get another strange look then, and said, "Yeah. My aunt's dog is sick and I wanted to know more about it."

"I see." The man looked thoughtful then and said, "The dog books may be gone, but have you thought about any of the books on legendary beasts?"

Harry frowned. Legendary beasts? Like magical creatures? Surely this man was not a wizard.

"Legendary?"

The man raised his finger then and said, "Here, let me show you. I believe I saw one in the next isle."

Harry followed him, and after a few moments of browsing, the man had found his query and pulled down a dusty tomb. Here it is.

Harry took it and read the spine: European Beasts In Legend: Myths, Facts, and Speculation.

"What do I look for?" Harry asked.

The man smiled. "Whatever catches your fancy young man. The fact that you are inside on a day like today seeking knowledge says a great deal about you. I believe you'll enjoy this find."

Harry thanked him then and went to a table way at the back of the library and set the heavy book down. He opened up to the table of contents hoping to find something about dogs, but his heart caught in his chest at what he found near the end: Werewolves In Fokelore.

Wolves were a type of dog then weren't they, and Harry had already had experience with Werewolves, Professor Lupin in particular trying to rip Sirius to shreds and then running off into the night under a full moon.

Harry hurriedly flipped to the back of the book, heart pounding, and found the chapter he was looking for.

"Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes, from the Greek lukos, "wolf" and anthrōpos, man, is a mythological being with purported powers to shapeshift into a wolf or wolf-like creature." I'll say, Harry said, remembering how terrifying Professor Lupin had looked. "While this transformation is most often associated with the full moon, many ancient myths from the world over report that the transformation may also occur after being placed under a curse, or after making a pact with the devil." Harry pulled a face. None of those options seemed pleasant, but something else registered in the back of his mind as well and he tucked it away for later when he could get to a newspaper to see when the next full moon was.

"Lycanthropes are attributed as having super strength, speed, smelling, and eyesight. In ancient times people were said to be able to distinguish a werewolf from a human even in their humanoid form from several features, namely the coming together of the eyebrows above the nose, and irregular curvature of the fingernails."

Subconsciously Harry looked down at his fingernails and then heaved a sigh of relief. They, at least, appeared to be normal. The next sentence had Harry worried however, and he re-read it just to be sure. "In times past, normal people have sometimes been persecuted, burned, and decapitated because a spouse has reported that he or she has grown extra hair on the hands, neck, back, chest, or legs." As if to prove a point that Harry was desperately trying to ignore, his chest itched then from the newly growing hair and he slammed the book shut. Without replacing it on the shelf on the other side of the library, Harry stood quickly and strode towards the entrance of the library.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" the librarian asked him, and Harry practically screamed, "NO!" before he continued out of the building at a brisk pace.

What did the Muggles know about werewolves anyway? The old, hand drawn image of a werewolf ripping a person in half with it's bare hands that sat at the top of the page in the European Beasts book was burned into Harry's mind as he continued back towards Privet Drive. He would dig out his Care of Magical Creatures book, and maybe even his old Defense book from third year and see what they had to say about Werewolves. He was sure he was just being paranoid at this point, but as it grew darker, the paranoia grew worse as he felt the familiar sensation of being watched catch up with him again, and he broke out into a full run all the way back to the house.

No no no no no. Harry was breathing hard and he had the urge to throw his Defense book across the room. He had probably read it wrong... but what about what the Care of Magical Creatures book had said? And the Muggle book from the library?

Harry fell back onto his bed on his back and stared up at the darkening ceiling. Downstairs he could hear the clatter of silverware against plates as the Dursleys and aunt Marge ate dinner, but he didn't feel hungry himself, a change from the constant hunger that had gripped him for the past three weeks.

As if to confirm what he'd just read, Harry looked up at his traitorous Quidditch calendar where it was pinned to the wall by his bed. In exactly one week it would be the full moon. That meant that three weeks ago, when he'd been attacked in the woods (however he'd gotten out there), it had also been a full moon. Damn.

Holding the Defense book up over his head, Harry re-read the words that were condemning him to a life of misery... as if Voldemort hadn't already done that. "Werewolves, also known in the magical world as Weres, or Lycans, are considered dark because of their violent nature. For three days a month, during the full moon, Weres transform under the light of the moon into their more primitive form, and go on a mindless feeding frenzy, attacking and eating whatever they can catch.

"Weres are typically classified in three types based on the type that transferred the Lycanthrope pathogen to them via bite or scratch:

- Russian Lycanthrope, which transforms into a tall wolf like creature with a long snout, and completely covered in hair.
- Albanian Lycanthrope, which transforms into a creature so near looking to a typical wolf that the features are often undistinguishable. This is the only type of Lycanthrope to have a tail.
- Norwegian Lycanthrope, which transforms to have some features of a wolf, such as a face, arms, and legs, mostly covered with hair, but that also keeps many of its humanoid features, such as the ability to walk upright in a normal way. This type of Lycan, while rare, also keeps it's normal humanoid skin on a majority of his or her face, normal human eyes that can turn yellow while hunting or when in the moonlight, and it's regular human voice if not on the hunt. So few have Norwegian Lycanthrope sightings been in Europe, that they have become close to folklore amongst even wizards, although purportedly, this is the majority of the few werewolves roaming in North America."

Harry scanned down the page to werewolf attributes and scowled at what he read there yet again.

"Those who have been newly bitten will experience extreme fever and disorientation. Most who are bitten do not survive, but those who do become the same as those who have cursed them with the bite. New hair growth, super strength, abnormally fast speed, keen eyesight (especially in darkness), and sensitive smell are among the most noted of symptoms. Other symptoms vary based on the type of Lycanthropy."

Harry shuddered as he realized that his room was completely dark now, as he'd yet to turn the light on, but he was still reading without issue, and without his glasses.

This time he didn't suppress the urge and really did throw the book across the room, growling faintly at himself when he noticed he'd actually put a dent in the wall where the book had hit. Would that be his new super strength showing through?

"Boy! What the devil are you doing up there?" Uncle Vernon's voice echoed from below and Harry stood up and began to pace. Heart pounding he balled and unballed his fists, trying to keep himself from shaking all over. Ron would say he was freaking out. If ever there was a good time to have a freak out, this would be it, he thought, and he kicked his desk hard to another disgruntled shout from downstairs. He might as well have become Voldemort himself if he was going to be going on violent rampages once a month killing, and... he shuddered, eating people. His thoughts flashed to his friends then and how near Remus had once come to attacking them. He didn't know if he could convince himself to go back to Hogwarts at all with his friends safety in mind.

As Harry breathed hard in the silence, disgusted with himself and what he had apparently become, he heard another shout from downstairs, this time aunt Marge beckoning him to come down. Trying to calm himself enough to go downstairs without blowing up aunt Marge, he left his room and half ran down the stairs, just wanting to get it all over with.

"There you are," she said with narrowed eyes when he came to stand in the kitchen doorway. "Do you know why you weren't invited to dinner boy?"

Harry didn't dignify her question with even a shake of his head. Whatever she had to say wasn't going to be something that would serve to calm him down. He was suddenly aware of how fast his heart was beating in anticipation of her derogatory words, and even more curious, he thought he was also aware of the beating hearts of the other people in the room.

"Ask me why," she dared him then, brining his attention back around to her from where he'd tilted his head, looking at each person in turn as he tried to decipher if he really could hear their pulse.

"Why," he said dully, and she smiled wide, revealing a bit of spinach stuck between her teeth.

"Because you aren't human enough boy. Remember, I said Ripper was smarter than you? That means I gave your portion to him." She motioned with her hand to a plate on the floor where Ripper had been eating before he'd scurried off to hide at Harry's appearance.

Going without food was nothing new to Harry when he was in residence at Privet Drive. If he'd done something to annoy uncle Vernon or aunt Petunia, he could count on missing a meal. Generally though, he was allowed three small meals a day. The fact that he had done nothing wrong today and his meal had been fed to the dog served to make him far angrier than he should have been if he had any hope of aunt Marge escaping in one, deflated piece.

"What's wrong, got nothing to say to that boy? You know, I'd have given your mother and father's portions to the dogs too if they were smart enough to even be here. But no, they'd had to go and drink themselves into the grave. You must not have been worth it for them to drink like that boy."

Uncle Vernon started to sputter something then as he and aunt Petunia watched Harry grip and un-grip his fists then. He could feel his blood pulsing through his veins now, and there was another strange feeling that was overtaking him now too. He wanted to jump at Marge and do something terrible. Yes, that's exactly what he wanted to do. She didn't seem to notice his anger though as she had turned around to have another bite of her meal, but aunt Petunia screamed then and uncle Vernon was shouting, and Harry wondered what the ruckus was about.

"Ahhhhh!" Dudley jumped up and ran from the room and uncle Vernon was shouting for him to bring the shotgun back.

Harry turned, still angry, expecting to see death eaters behind him, but instead what he saw was his reflection in the china cabinet against the wall. Instead of Harry James Potter, he saw a harrier, more grotesque version of his face, with yellow eyes, and sharp teeth. He was unrecognizable. Noting that his fingers felt different as well, he looked down to find sharp yellowing fingernails at the end of hairy fingers.

Breathing hard, Harry was brought back to reality with another sharp scream, this time from aunt Marge, who instead of standing there screaming like Petunia and Vernon, had actually taken a plate from the table and smashed it over the top of Harry's head.

Harry turned and gave a loud growl, startling the family again, and then on all fours, feeling that this was the right way to move, bolted up the stairs and into his room. With a wave of his wand he had his trunk packed and shrunk, and at more screaming from downstairs, he leapt through the closed window and down to the dark grass below.

Neighbors were coming out of their houses now to see what the screaming was about, but Harry had already run off into the night towards the thicket of woods that was on the other side of the park. He would likely never see Privet Drive again.

Panic and confusion. That was all Harry could feel now as he fell to his knees in the dense woods, a monster alone.

As his breathing calmed, and he could feel his heart rate dropping, he looked down to his fingers and was surprised to find his fingers changing back to their normal appearance. He reached up to his face then and felt that the hair had gone from there as well. What had just happened? Eyes scanning the tree canopy for confirmation, he found the moon, not yet full half obscured by trees. The books said werewolves were only supposed to transform under the full moon, and yet there he had been, as hairy as ever in the kitchen facing down aunt Marge.

"What's happening to me?" he asked nobody in the quiet darkness.

There was a loud crack to his left just then and his head snapped towards the sound, aware that he could also distinguish footsteps coming towards him. Was it a death eater? Was it uncle Vernon coming after him with the shotgun? Or maybe the police?

Ears perking for any sound they could sense, he could hear another heartbeat, this time different from any of the ones he'd just heard at Privet Drive. This one was calm. He heard something else just then though, that prompted him to feel panicky once again. It was a faint male whisper that said, "I've got you now."

Harry leapt up and bolted from his spot on the cold earth just as an arrow whizzed past his head and lodged into a tree. On two legs this time he ran for his life, faster than he'd ever run as a human before, but not as fast as he had run from Privet Drive as a monster. There was another arrow that narrowly missed him, and after that, nothing. He kept running well into the night, until he was sure no human could have followed him.

* * *

Harry awoke on the edge of a small lake at dawn, cold and achy. He had no idea where he was or if he was even close to a road or town. He'd run all through the night until he'd collapsed, exhausted and prayed that he had found a safe place to rest for the night. It had been a harrowing experience fleeing Little Winging, but the morning brought an entirely new set of problems with the rising sun.

Looking at the date on his watch, Harry knew he had five days until the full moon. Five days until he would go on a three day feeding frenzy. He had to figure out someplace safe. Maybe he could transfigure some handcuffs or something and cuff himself to a tree. The thought of his late night attacker however gave him pause and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, wondering who wanted to kill him now. Voldemort and his henchmen did not use bows and arrows. He knew of no one that did aside from perhaps elves, and he doubted an elf would step foot within a hundred miles of Little Whinging. Did elves kill werewolves?

Stomach growling, Harry looked around, hoping to spot something he could eat, but there was nothing. He would have thought to fish if he'd had a pole or the know how, but he had none of either and discarded the thought. He supposed he could try to get to Gringotts and get some money from his vault, but this thought made him stop as well. Surely the Ministry would be looking for him now that he'd done more underage magic. He had only turned 16 a month ago. He didn't want to explain to anybody either why he'd had to use the magic. He didn't want to be feared. But something wasn't right either. Owls could find you anywhere, and they would have sent an owl to him already, even if he was asleep here in the woods. But no notice had come, and to be sure, Harry checked the sky and could find no owls. Maybe something had gone wrong with the trace because he'd used the magic in his werewolf form. He shuddered just remembering the sight of himself in the china cabinet, and thought, they can't trace my human magic when I'm a monster.

Harry stood and felt in his pocket for his trunk, which was still in miniature. He would have liked to have changed his clothes this morning since the ones he was wearing were torn and dirty from a night of running through the countryside, but did not want to risk triggering the magic trace by unshrinking his luggage. I can if I'm a wolf, he thought to himself, but he didn't know how to change into that form any more than he knew where he was. He was still confused as to how it had happened last night without a full moon. One minute aunt Marge had been berating him and trying to put him down, and the next he'd felt the urge to launch at her and had then found himself a monster.

His stomach grumbled again and Harry picked a direction and moved off, hoping to find a road of some sort. He figured he had three options at this point: continue wandering around the wild and starve to death until the full moon (he shuddered again at the thought), make his way to Diagon Alley and live there until the summer ended, or try to get to Ron's house where he could try (try mind you) to keep his secret as he waited for school to start. While living in Diagon Alley didn't sound like such a bad option, he was feeling so lost at the moment that he really did want the company of the Weasleys, Ron especially, who might be able to help him figure something out. He could tell Ron, couldn't he? Ron hadn't seemed too upset about Professor Lupin after all... at least until the man had tried to eat them.

Making up his mind Harry continued walking, resolving himself to get to the Weasleys, and allowed his mind to get back to the more pressing issue of the nearing full moon. He did not want to eat people, and it became his mantra as he walked on. I don't eat people, I don't eat people. I don't eat people. It was no comfort as the days wore on.

There was an unpleasant feeling overtaking Harry as the full moon grew closer. He supposed it was best he not be around anyone, especially those he cared for at the Burrow, because he felt snippy and sarcastic even in his own thoughts to himself. He imagined perhaps that this was what Snape felt like on a daily basis.

Harry had been moving steadily closer to the Weasley's home since he'd left Little Whinging. Late at night when most people were in bed, he took the opportunity to use his new speed on two legs to run through the towns he came to and right back out into the wilderness, when there was wilderness to hide in. He was looking pretty grubby after four days on the run and no clothing to change into, despite his attempts to wash the grime off in cold streams. He didn't know if it was an effect of getting older, or of becoming... well, that type of monster he didn't like to think about, but he was also growing stubble each day now, and had no way of shaving it off, which added to the ‘bum' look he seemed to be going for these days.

Occasionally Harry met the familiar feeling of being watched again, just as he had felt in the weeks since his transformation in Little Whinging, but he could not discern who it was that was watching him, or where they were. Sometimes it was while he was in the woods, and sometimes while he snuck through cities and towns. Most times he was able to lose whomever it was that was spying on him from the shadows, but the evening he stood on the edge of Ottery St. Catchpole, where the Weasley's lived, the evening of the first full moon, he couldn't shake his pursuer.

All of Harry's senses were feeling heightened like the night he had nearly been speared with the arrow while fleeing the Dursleys. The breeze set his skin to tingling, and the hair on his arms on end. Every smell was sharper, and every movement of the grass on the hilltop he stood upon caught his eye. He supposed he might not have minded these new sensations as much if they weren't attached to the mindless killing that would probably follow as the sky grew dimmer and the moon began to come up over the horizon.

Harry's hands began to shake and he wasn't sure if it was fear of what he might do... what he might do if he got close enough to the Burrow in his transformed state, or if it was because he knew the moon would make it's appearance any minute now.

In the distance there was a howl, and Harry's head snapped in that direction. He didn't know how he knew that it wasn't a normal wolf's howl, but he did. It sounded, familiar, and he knew then there was another like him in the area. And then his skin tingled again and he gripped his hands into fists as he felt anger suddenly course through him. The last thing he saw before the hair began to grow abnormally fast all over his body was the full moon come up over the tree line, and then he ceased to think as Harry Potter, and became... something else entirely new to him.

Blood coursing through him, Harry felt a hunger like he had never known before, and he an anger that he had not yet satiated that hunger. Doing what felt natural, he dropped to all fours and sprinted off towards town, hoping to catch someone unawares so that he could have a decent meal this night.

Harry James Potter, werewolf, crouched low in some tall grass outside a farm house, and waited patiently, watching, sniffing the air for his prey. He knew there was someone inside the house, someone young and tasty. He could tell by the beating of the young heart he heard inside, how it beat a fast pace. Just as he was considering going right up to the back door and breaking the door handle clean off to get to his meal, an old beat up truck came down the drive with head lights blaring. Eyes narrowed, he watched as two men with shot guns emerged and hurried into the house. Harry heard the distinct click of a lock, and let out a low, dangerous growl.

Thwarted, he ran in the direction of the one house he was sure he could get into. The one house where he knew there were many bodies to devour. It was on the other side of town, just beyond the outskirts, but he was there in what seemed like a blur of branches, grass, and very little time.

Again Harry crouched in the tall grasses surrounding the house, closer this time, determined not to be denied his hunger, his right to life. Ears listening intently, Harry was able to discern the voices of six people inside, several of them laughing over something Harry did not care to understand. He would have them all.

Just as Harry leapt out towards the house from the field he spied from, he was tackled from the side, and a fierce battle ensued whereupon Harry realized he was facing down another werewolf. Not a wolf from another kind, but one like him. He strained to remember something that the human Harry had read, but his mind was clouded and he was unable. An uncertain growl left his throat, and the other wolf issued a challenge in return. Even more surprising, was that a voice followed the other wolf's growl.

"Don't do it kid."

Harry took a startled step back, still crouching on all fours, ready to pounce. The other wolf could talk? He let out another growl, and sensing the question in it, the wolf repeated himself, "Don't."

Fear swept through him then. Why could the other one talk? Why was it talking to him? Was it going to take his meal from him? No! He lunged then towards the house again, but found himself pinned firmly to the ground as the other one tackled him again, kneeling on his chest. Harry tried to bite at him in the tall grass, but was given a swift nip on the wrist as a warning, and he looked away in submission.

"Don't let it control you," the voice said in a half growl. "Choose to control it instead."

Harry's eyes flickered up to the one still pinning him down, and then away again.

"I'll let you up, if you keep listening."

When Harry didn't say anything or look up again, the other werewolf got off of him, and sat on his haunches. They were completely obscured by the grass now and the house with its shining lights and laughing meals were no longer visible.

"Use your anger at me right now to clear your mind. Use it to focus," the taller wolf said, and Harry's eyes flashed yellow and angry as he looked up at him again.

"That's it. Use it. Clear the instinct away. Steal control of your body back."

Harry gave a growl, trying to understand how to do what he was being told, trying to morph back into whatever he had been before, though he could not remember what it felt like to be human.

"You won't be able to change back when the moon shines on your skin, but you can talk. You can take your mind back."

Closing his eyes so tight that they hurt, Harry shook as he clenched his fists together and his long yellow nails dug into his palms. The pain was the thing that seemed to be the missing link to his reality however, and his mind suddenly cleared, as though clouds and cobwebs had been hanging around obscuring the truth from him.

Throat feeling raw and unused to words, he rasped, "You- you did this to me."

The other wolf shook his head. "No. But I know who did, and you're lucky you ran."

"The arrow?"

"Something else you'll have to worry about, but not now."

Harry's body gave a shudder again and he sucked in a deep breath, suddenly feeling weak as his body became fully human again, along with the wolf in front of him.

"The cloud hides the moon for now," the man said. He was probably in his mid twenties, but Harry couldn't be sure. "When it begins to shine again it'll l take you with it, and you'll have to learn to take control of your body and mind again."

"Why- why- are you- telling me?" He felt cold and couldn't keep himself from shivering, from having to continue to force the words out.

"I know the one who bit you," he repeated. "That's all you need to know for now."

"Did... did I bite anyone?"

"No. But you were going to. I assume you know them?" The man used his arm to push enough five foot high grass and weeds aside to reveal the Burrow, and Harry let his head fall to the ground hard.

"Friends," he croaked, wishing he could have some water.

"Most first time Weres migrate towards people they consider family, then kill them at their first full moon."

Feeling sick suddenly, Harry rolled over and threw up what little he'd had to eat earlier that day, thankful that no fingers or bones came up with it.

"Who are you?" Harry asked when he had wiped his mouth and had managed to stop shaking a few minutes later.

"Ethan. And you're to tell no one I've helped you."

"Why?"

"That falls into the category of questions you're not allowed to ask," he said, still crouched at Harry's feet, eyes darting here and there as his ears caught sounds on the wind.

Harry was going to ask why then, but a light suddenly fell on his face, and back arching in pain, he let out a howl as he was once again transformed into his monstrous body. Ethan pounced on top of him again and held him down, despite Harry's growls and furious swipes with claws that ripped at Ethan's clothing and skin. After long, tense minutes of coaching, Harry had some control of his mind again, though not as much as he'd had before. The hunger had returned in full force, and he was determined to eat something.

Their night continued on in this way into the wee hours of the morning when the sun began to rise. The moonlight would occasionally fade out behind a cloud and Harry would return to himself, shaking and weakened, only to have his mind ripped from him once more when the moon returned. Each time Ethan held him down, forcing him into submission.

When the moon had finally disappeared for good, Ethan lifted Harry from under the armpit and said, "The first night is the worst. It will be better tomorrow."

Harry looked up at him doubtfully, feeling as though his unsteady legs wouldn't hold him up for much longer. Not fearing the moon's return for the time being, though exhausted, Harry was finally able to take in Ethan's appearance. He was a good five foot eight, with short black hair, and a muscular build. His face was nothing but serious, and Harry wondered if he'd ever smiled a day in his life, though he himself didn't feel much like smiling these days.

Ethan helped him to the edge of the field where the house was once again visible, and then began to move away.

"Wait!" Harry said frantically.

Ethan turned and gave Harry a serious look. "If you're smart you won't even consider telling them what you are." He turned again and Harry panicked again.

"How will I find you?"

Without turning this time, Ethan said, "I'll find you," and then was gone.

Feeling dizzy and nauseous on top of his exhaustion, Harry staggered towards the house, more glad than he'd ever been in his life for the simple fact that he knew every one of the Weasleys was safe this morning, at least until that night. Harry hoped desperately that Ethan would be back, but he couldn't be sure. He'd have to tell Ron. Have to get Ron to help tie him, chain him in the shed or something.

Harry stopped short then of the back door. If he just disappeared for the night, then the Weasley's would wonder, wouldn't they? Even with Ron running diversion, he knew Mrs. Weasley would be worried and probably call half the Order out looking for him.

Thinking that this wouldn't work, that Ethan didn't know what Harry was up against in the magical world... that Ethan himself might be a werewolf of the Muggle variety himself, and of no knowledge of the magical world, Harry turned instead and trudged to the side of the house, where he fell, exhausted under Ron's fourth story bedroom window, and waited for someone other than any of the elder Weasley's to find him.

* * *

"Harry! Harry, wake up!"

Harry roused at the rough shaking he was being subjected to, and looked up through too bright sunlight and blurry eyes to see a freckled face.

"Ron," he croaked.

"What the bloody hell happened to you?"

Harry lifted a weak hand to scratch at the back of his neck, imagining that he must look a right mess. He knew he was covered in dirt, and probably blood. He brought his hand back down then and noted that while healed, his wrist was covered in dried blood where Ethan had nipped him several times last night during his transformations.

"You gotta get me outta here," Harry croaked then. "Don't tell anybody I'm here."

"But where-"

"The shed," Harry said, and without hesitation, Ron lifted Harry, putting one of his arms around Harry's back and one of Harry's arms around his shoulders. Ron supported nearly all of Harry's weight as he hurried him off to the far shed on the edge of the property. There were several sheds and an old decrepit barn on the acres of Weasley Property, and thankfully, Ron had taken Harry to the one building Mr. Weasley did not use for tinkering with Muggle trinkets. In fact, it looked as though none of the Weasley's had been in this building for years.

As careful as he could, Ron deposited Harry on the dirt floor and knelt in front of him.

"Harry, what happened? Where'd you come from? You're covered in blood mate." Ron really seemed at a loss for what to do.

Weakly Harry let his head fall back against the soft rotting wood that was the wall. "Werewolf," was all he managed to say because his throat was raw and dry.

"Werewolf... we heard howling last night and dad warded the house."

"Me," Harry said, watching his friend's eyes cautiously. Ron was probably the one person on earth he could count on to have his back no matter what. This was the only thing in his life at this point he was sure of. The only solid thread of an old fairy tail life he had to hold on to.

"You?" Ron's brows were knitted together, and realization dawning on him he sat back slowly on his knees and feet. "You were- blimy Harry. It was you?" His voice was barely more than a whisper now as well.

Harry nodded, and then asked for water. Ron disappeared for a few minutes and then came back with water from the stream that ran through the north end of the property in a quickly scrubbed glass jar. Harry drank greedily from it, and then rested his head against the wall again.

"Please don't tell," Harry said, not caring if it sounded like he were begging. "Please Ron."

"I won't."

"This was the only place I could think to come. I don't even know how I got bit, but I did last month. And a week ago I accidentally transformed right there in the kitchen because I got angry and I had to run." He paused to drink more water, trying to sooth his throat again before continuing.

"Someone's after me Ron. I don't know who, but they shot an arrow at me the night I ran. And-" he paused, considering Ethan's warning not to tell anyone who had helped him.

"I almost attacked some people last night," Harry said grimly. "And another werewolf... he stopped me. Said he knew who was after me, and who bit me. He wouldn't tell me much, but he helped me last night. Helped me each time I turned back."

"Turned- turned back?"

"There's different kinds of lycans," Harry said. "I read about them. Read about me. Guess this kind can change back... must be... I don't..." He fell silent then, unsure what he was trying to say, and after long moments, looked into Ron's eyes again.

"Please don't tell anyone while I'm sleeping. I can't stay awake any longer."

"I won't mate, I won't."

"There's two more nights of the full moon Ron. You have to find a way to chain me out here. Gag me or something too, or else your family will hear me again. I don't have any control when the moon hits me... not unless Ethan helps."

"Ethan?"

Harry looked Ron hard in the eyes then and said, "You can't tell anyone that either. The one that helped me. I don't even know who he is. Just assume he's as dangerous as I am."

"You're not dangerous Harry." Harry's eyes were hard then and Ron nodded. "Right. Forgot."

Head throbbing from a need to go to sleep, and feeling much as he did the morning after he was first bitten, Harry let himself fall sideways to lay on the hard ground, and then he was asleep, unable to worry any longer about what his friend would do or what would happen when the night came again. His dreams were no place to hide from his worries though, as he drifted off into vivid memories of the things he'd almost done, of Ethan trying to help him keep control of his mind as it slowly slipped through his fingers like sand.

Harry felt marginally better than he had when he'd passed out. Marginally. He heard a rustle and his eyes popped open, uncertain of where he was until he spotted Ron sitting cross legged on the rotting floor a few feet in front of him, engrossed in a book.

"You look like Hermione," Harry said, mouth feeling dry again as he pushed himself up weakly to a sitting position.

Ron's head snapped up and he surveyed Harry for a minute before he reached into the backpack Harry hadn't yet noticed beside him and withdrew and apple and water bottle.

"Here." He handed them over and Harry went after the water first, feeling as though he'd gone to sleep in a dusty desert.

"Thanks." He took a large bite of the apple, aware that Ron was still watching him, and pointed to the book. "Reading about me? Usually that's Hermione's job."

"Well she's not here is she, and I can't very well tell her can I?" Ron raised his brow then and said, "This is Bill's old Defense book." He pulled another book out of the backpack then and handed it to Harry. "That one is one of the Magical Creature books Bill left behind when he moved to Romania. I haven't looked at that one yet, but I thought you'd like to."

Harry found the section about werewolves and tried to concentrate as he read, but he was still exhausted. Instead he turned his attention back to Ron and asked, "Learn anything interesting?"

"It says werewolves run in packs, just like normal wolves. And there's something else you're not going to like." Ron paused, and Harry swallowed another bite of the apple.

"I'm fairly sure I won't like anything about being a- a werewolf."

Ron nodded. "Yeah, well this is something that's near enough to the danger of You-Know-Who so I figure you ought to have a look anyway." Ron set the book on the floor between them and turned it so that Harry could see, before pointing to a symbol and two paragraphs below it.

"I think I've found who shot the arrow at you," Ron said in a serious tone. Harry's eyes flickered up to meet Ron's briefly before he turned his attention to the book again. The picture of the symbol was a rock engraving featuring an arrow crossed with a sword, and a plant behind it.

Voice too dry to read it out loud, Harry read silently, ‘Originating in Albania is the Ordinis Latro Flagari, loosely translated: Order of the Wolf Hunter. This clandestine group has been around since the first reported werewolf attacks in Albania in the 1300's. While little is known about this secret order, legend purports that a member of the Ziberi family made a pact with the devil in order to gain the strength necessary to defeat an invading enemy force that threatened his young female lover, although it is unknown which family said young woman was from.

In an ironic turn of events, the strength given to the young Ziberi was that of a werewolf, and he turned and killed his affianced during the first full moon after his transformation. The young woman's family vowed to avenge her death, but was not able before the beast had bitten several children in the town, and moved on to the next village, ashamed of what he had done after the full moon had faded. Disgusted with himself young Ziberi traveled as far and fast as he could away from his pursuers as well as those he had bitten. Little else is known about the matter except that many years after Ordinis Latro Flagari was formed, they found and killed Ziberi by decapitation. This secret order is supposedly still around today, although none have heard anything about it or it's members save for scattered werewolf killings across the world by decapitation, and aconite poisoning.'

"Great," Harry muttered, pushing the book away from himself and rubbing his weary eyes. "Another few pounds on my head. Wonder which one will get to me first. The Flagari people or Voldemort."

"My bet is the Order of the Wolf."

Harry and Ron's heads snapped up to find Ethan standing in the doorway. Somehow he had gotten in unnoticed as neither of them had seen the door open.

"You- who are you? You can't barge in to my-"

"Your shed?" Ethan let out a low growl then at Ron's protests to let him know he was not to be toyed with, and Ron closed his mouth tightly.

"What are you doing here? Is it time again?" Harry asked, wary of another long night of being exposed to the full moon.

"No. Not yet." Ethan knelt down next to Harry then to assess his charge. "You need to rest though, because tonight, we run."

"Run?" Ron asked, finding his voice again.

Ethan turned with a glare at Ron, who closed his mouth again, and then back to Harry.

"The Flagari Order was after a Were in Surrey when you were bitten," Ethan said directly to Harry, ignoring Ron entirely. "Some of their kind distinguish between Weres who have spilled human blood and those who haven't, and won't attack the newly bitten, although they will track them. The one who shot at you the night you ran isn't that kind. He shoots to kill, and is still tracking you. He just came in to Ottery St. Catchpole this afternoon."

"How do you know?" Harry asked.

"I went into town to see if there were reports of the howling and saw him."

Harry and Ron looked at each other for a moment and then back up to Ethan. "How do you know what he looks like?" Harry asked, biting his lip. He wanted to know who he was up against.

"He, she, or they, all wear one of these." Ethan produced a necklace from his jacket pocket and held it out for the two of them to see. There was a round emerald stone engraved with the same symbol that was in Ron's book.

"A sword for decapitation, Wolf's bane to poison you, and an arrow to deliver the poison, although the Muggle variety of hunters have been using guns to deliver the poison for the last hundred years."

"There's wolfs bane in the garden," Ron said then, realizing that Harry had practically been laying in it when he'd found him."

"It's ineffective unless it's in the blood stream or has been eaten," Ethan said, putting the necklace away again. Harry wasn't sure he wanted to know how Ethan had come by the Flagari necklace.

Looking Harry directly in the eyes, Ethan knelt then and said, "Rest a few more hours. Then we run."

"But it'll still be daylight!" Ron half shouted, not liking at all where this conversation was going.

Ethan turned to Ron then and smacked him up side the head. "I'm not a vampire! Idiot!"

"Oh. Right. Forgot. Sorry." Ron's voice cracked then and Harry could smell Ron's fear of the older werewolf. Being able to sense emotions this way unsettled him. Not that the rest of his life was calm and cheery, but still, he didn't like where this was going either. On the one hand he didn't want to be around the Weasley's and chance biting or... well, doing something worse to one of them. But on the other hand he didn't really know anything about Ethan other than that he'd helped him through his first night. Ron he knew and knew he could depend on.

Weighing his options, Harry also considered that Ron did not have a plan yet to help him through this, but Ethan appeared to know what was happening, and what to do about it. With another look at Ron's uncertain face, he made up his mind and said to Ethan, "In a few hours then."

"Harry," Ron looked amazed. "You can't be serious? We can contact Lupin- he'll know what to do."

"Lupin?" Ethan asked, with a serious look on his face.

"A werewolf we know. He taught at Hogwarts for a year before he tried to eat us and was kicked out."

"Did he look like us?"

"No," Harry said. "He was tall and covered in hair."

Ethan looked as though he'd heard something distasteful then and said, "Russian."

"No he's not. He's English," Ron said, but quieted at the glare from Ethan. Harry was again unsettled at the scent that came off of his friend, and by the fact that Ethan didn't seem to like him very much.

"He's a Russian Were. He has no control over his transformation. He really is a mindless killing machine on the full moon, as I'm sure your school books have told you."

"Where will you go then?" Ron asked, not liking the way he was being spoken to and letting it show through his tone. Harry had to hand it to Ron. His friend was not a Gryffindor for nothing, and despite any fear he had, he still had something to say about all of this. Probably the result of living with so many older siblings.

Harry looked to Ethan for an answer, but this was one question he did not seem to have an answer to.

"Hogwarts," Harry said, still feeling weak. "School starts in two weeks anyway. I might as well get there."

"Are you going to sneak into the school?" Ron questioned, not at all against the idea.

"Well they always told us there were werewolves in the forbidden forest. I can stay there if I have to."

"We'll have a lot of back tracking to do," Ethan said then. "It might take us two weeks to get there as it is, and that's if we don't encounter any issues. We have to throw off the hunter."

Ron sighed then and looked at Harry. "You're really going, aren't you?"

"I don't have a choice," Harry said. "I'll see you at school though."

Ron nodded. "Be safe Harry."

* * *

"Damn it. I hate this," Harry groaned in the dark woods as Ethan sat on his chest. It was the last night of the full moon, and they were well away from the Weasleys, but that didn't stop Harry's wolf form from lusting after the flesh of man. Every time he thought he'd finally gained control, he lost it and took off in hunt of prey.

"Don't," Ethan said, eyes searching the darkened forest. They should be safe in here from the light of the moon, but safe from hunters was something different altogether.

"Why shouldn't I? I didn't ask for this!" Harry suddenly snarled, all of his emotions still heightened and on the precipice of spilling over into his wolf form, whether the moon was shining on him or not.

Ethan eyed him as he moved to let Harry up. "It's not a curse, it's a gift."

With a nasty glare, Harry spat on the ground. "Losing control of yourself every month and becoming a monster!? You're crazy. I should have stayed with Ron."

Suddenly Ethan pinned Harry to the ground again and Harry wondered if Ethan was having difficulty controlling his emotions as well. "And what do you think your little friend would have done if you'd harmed one of his parents or siblings? He'd have just as soon turned you in to the Flagari as joined them."

"You don't know what your talking about," Harry growled again.

"Don't I?"

Letting him up one last time, Ethan motioned for Harry to follow him. They still had a long way to travel, and it would be best to do it at night under the moon, when they were fastest. Ethan knew it would be a good two days before Harry recovered from the weakness that would overtake his body from the forced transformation.

Harry followed, but kept his mouth shut.

* * *

"I'll never get it," Harry asserted as he fell to the ground on the rocky shore of a pristine mountain lake.

"You're not concentrating hard enough." Ethan turned his back on Harry instead of helping him up, and surveyed the line of trees in the near distance. Harry knew he was keeping watch for the hunter, but they hadn't seen him since the last night of the full moon, four days ago. As the night had neared its end, the hunter had caught up with them and had taken several shots at them with arrows, but luckily Harry's instincts had kicked in and he'd dodged each time.

Now, as they moved along the edge of a lake days later, he rubbed his sore bum from his latest attempt at controlling the impulse to transform. Ethan had given him instruction, but he still could not manage to transform back to himself when in fight or flight mode.

"You can't go back to school," Ethan said with finality a few moments later.

Harry looked up. "What?"

"I make you angry or scared and you transform. You can't control it. How do you expect to go to classes like that? You said yourself you don't want them to know."

Harry sighed, still sitting on the rocks. "We're not there yet, are we? We have time."

"And you still won't learn."

"Because you're a lousy teacher."

Eyes narrowed, the older man stared down at Harry. "Well excuse me," he snarked. "I never had to learn this, and I've never had to teach someone who doesn't already know how." His hands were on his hips, and Harry was reminded of Snape when he was irritated.

"What do you mean you didn't have to learn?"

"Unlike you, I was born this way."

Harry scoffed. "That's not possible. You mean you were bit after you were born?"

"No." Ethan took a few steps forward and knelt next to Harry as the water lapped along the shoreline behind him. Harry gave him his full attention.

"When two were's mate, their offspring are usually also weres. Occasionally there are some who end up human, just like sometimes wizards have children that can't do magic."

"So- your parents were both werewolves?"

"Yes. My entire family nearly. There were a few that were born human."

"So- so if I have kids someday, they might be-"

"No." Ethan cut him off. "Only with two werewolves. But I doubt you'll find any human that will trust you enough knowing what you are. I've seen relationships fall apart time and again over one person getting bitten."

Harry thought about Ginny again, and put his head down in shame.  "I'll learn to control it," he said quietly.

From where he was kneeling, Ethan said, "It still won't be enough."

Eyes coming up to meet the older wolf's, Harry said, "I don't want this. There has to be a spell... or something. Some way to turn back."

Ethan considered him heavily for a long time. "I only know one way, and I've never met anyone who's succeeded.  Most believe it's a legend."

"Tell me!" Harry's voice conveyed the urgency of how he felt.

"I was told once by my grandfather, that if a were kills the one who bit him, he has a chance of turning back into a human. But-" he paused, and eyed Harry then. There's always a but, Harry thought in the brief pause before Ethan continued. "It will only work if you haven't tasted human blood between being bitten and killing the one who bit you."

"How- how hard can that be?" Harry asked, feeling a little anxious. "You said you knew who bit me... right?"

Now it was Ethan's turn to look ashamed. "Yes."

"And? Will you help me find him?"

"I won't have to," Ethan said. "He'll find you." It was an ominous answer; one Harry hadn't been expecting.

"He's following us?"

"He doesn't have to follow you. You're connected. He's an alpha and your one of his beta's."

"I don't understand. What does that mean?"

"You read that werewolves run in packs," Ethan said, and Harry nodded. "It's different between the different types. The Russian weres only run in a pack during the full moon, and with whatever other weres they can find.  They don't have an alpha except while they're transformed. The Albanians will run only with those like them during the full moon, and they generally never move away from the pack as humans.  Their alpha is the leader of their community but has no real control unless the pack gives it to them. But we're different. We're as close as you can come to a cross between a full werewolf and a human, and whoever the alpha is can control you, even when you haven't transformed. He can call you out in your sleep, make you do his bidding. We can control ourselves during the full moon. We know what we're doing, especially if we were born this way. If someone has bitten you, decided to make you a beta, then they've got a reason. They've got a reason to bring you into their pack. It wasn't a random accident that you ended up this way. Trust me when I say you've got more than just the Flagari hunters after you."

Harry ran a hand through his hair. "And I'm supposed to kill the Alpha? Will you help me?"

Ethan looked away again. "I haven't decided yet."

"Because you know him," Harry said flatly. Just brilliant. Ethan was chummy with whoever had bitten him. But the look of shame on Ethan's face just wasn't matching up. Harry questioned him further but was informed yet again that he was not allowed to ask certain questions. Harry knew better than to push any further, because it was clear that Ethan was in charge at this point. If Harry wanted to learn to control himself, and get back to Hogwarts in one piece, he'd need the older werewolf.

* * *

It was with great relief, and trepidation, that Harry stood next to Ethan at the edge of the Hogwarts grounds. It had taken them the full two weeks to get there, and Harry knew that in a short few hours the train would be arriving in Hogsmeade station with his friends, no doubt worried about not being able to find him on the train.

"What will you tell them?" Ethan asked.

Harry thought for a moment, and then asked, "If I get a black eye, will it stick with me for a while?"

He nodded. "A few hours maybe. Bruises heal quickly."

"Punch me then. I'll tell them I was embarrassed about the bruise Dudley gave me and hid out in a storage closet or something. Ron will have my back."

"Dudley?"

"My fat cousin."

Ethan didn't give Harry fair warning before he reeled back and punched Harry in the right eye. Not expecting the blow so soon, Harry fell backwards and hit the ground, scraping his hands.

"Damn it!"

"You asked me," Ethan reminded him when Harry gave him a look of malcontent.

Harry picked himself up off the ground and unshrunk his trunk, and broom, which had ridden around in his pocket for three weeks now, and levitated them down the path to Hogsmeade station.

"They'll take my stuff up with everybody else's," he said as he stuck it in the storage area. "But I don't want to be seen hanging around the platform. Hagrid comes down to greet the first years."

"How will you convince them you've just gotten off the train then?" Ethan looked skeptical. Through the sparse conversation they'd had over the past two weeks, Harry knew that Ethan was not magical, but that a few people in his distant family were. He was aware of magic, but wary at the same time, and had never been to Hogwarts.

"Students go up to the castle by carriage. I'll hide in the woods until I see Ron and run out and climb on board."

Ethan rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure Ron will have made something up."

"And that's supposed to be a good thing?"

Harry gave him a little shove and then moved past him. "Come on."

They passed their time in silence at the edge of the forbidden forest a few trees in from the trail as it grew steadily darker out. It'd been dark for a full hour when Harry was just contemplating how much he enjoyed being out in the cool night air. He also thought of how his last two weeks on the run had gone. He still didn't have complete control over his transformations, but he'd managed to beat back the urge to change when he was angry or scared. It still worried him some about how he would explain things if Snape or Malfoy set him on edge too much during the term.

They heard noise in the distance, and Harry stood up from the rock he'd been sitting on. Ethan stood too, ears alert.

"It's them," Harry said, looking down at his watch. "Train always gets in about this time."

"I'll make sure you're on a carriage before I go then."

Harry's eyes grew large at this and he looked at Ethan. "You're not leaving are you?"

"What did you expect me to do? Go to classes with you? Sleep in your dorm?"

Harry bit his lip. "But the next full moon is in three weeks."

"I need to try to take care of your little hunter problem, as well as the alpha. I'll try to be back by the full moon but it's not a promise. Maybe that friend of yours," his lip curled up a little here, "can be of some use after all. Just make sure you're chained tight and don't have him for a snack, or else killing the Alpha won't matter."

"You're going to help me then?" They heard voices now and laughter, and the sound of wheels coming up the dry dirt drive.

"I'll help you, but I haven't decided how yet. Just- stay out of trouble and stay out of the woods. The Flagari don't care about crossing school bounds. I can guarantee you'll see the hunter soon. He's never seen you transform so he doesn't know exactly who the were is."

The first thestral drawn carriage came into sight then and Ethan took a few steps back. "Don't come looking for me," he warned as he backed further into the woods. Harry could sense that he was still there, but he could no longer see him, even with his enhanced eye sight.

"Bye," he whispered, unsure if Ethan could hear it, and then turned his attention to the carriages coming up the drive.

Twenty five carriages passed by without sight of his friends, and Harry was sure there weren't going to be too many more, before he caught sight of Ron's red hair as his friend looked back and forth in the woods for any sign of Harry.

When Harry was sure there were no other students or staff in sight, he darted out of the woods and climbed up onto the carriage, startling Hermione and Ginny.

"Harry! Where have you been!? What's happened to your face?" Hermione seemed altogether shocked while Ginny just looked worried. Ron on the other hand showed nothing but relief. He and Harry shared a look, before Ron gave the smallest shake of his head to indicate he hadn't told a soul about Harry's little wolf problem.

Harry pointed to his black eye. "Dudley did this a couple of days ago. I didn't want anybody to see and start asking questions, so I rode the train up in a broom closet."

"We wouldn't have told anybody," Ginny said then, and Harry's cheeks tinged red.

"I owled Ron last night and told him what I was going to do," Harry said. "I didn't know he didn't tell anybody."

Hermione eyed Ron then and Ginny said, "Well that explains a lot. He's been antsy all day and went to the bathroom twenty times on the train."

"Can you heal it Hermione?"

She took out her wand and the bruise was gone in about a second. "Honestly Harry, it's about time you learned some healing spells. The amount of times you end up in the Hospital Wing each year." She trailed off with a serious look at him and he flashed a grin.

"Why? Got you and Ginny haven't I?"

When the girls began to talk amongst themselves again, Harry looked out into the dark forest, and Ron along with him. When neither saw Ethan, they shared a serious look, and Harry tried to convey to Ron by sight alone that he'd fill him in on everything later.

One thing was for sure: It would be an interesting year at Hogwarts. Harry just hoped it wouldn't turn out to be a deadly one.

Harry thought Ron was still a little in shock the next morning from all that Harry had told him after the start of term feast. They'd snuck out of the tower and into an unused classroom around midnight so that Harry could fill him in on his last two weeks, including nearly being speared by the hunter's arrows again.

"I just can't believe it," Ron said as they walked to the Great Hall the next morning for breakfast, bags slung over their shoulders. "And he said the- the you know is after you too?" Ron had lowered his voice, aware of Harry's need for secrecy.

Harry nodded, knowing Ron was talking about the Alpha.

"Geez. Maybe we should start taking bets to see who gets to you first."

"I'll bet on Professor Snape," a silky voice said behind them then, and Harry and Ron froze, slowly turning to find their Professor standing behind them with his arms crossed.

"Sir?"

Snape eyed them warily and then said, "It's not even the end of the first day and you're up to something Potter." It was a statement of fact, and Harry didn't bother denying it. Once this man had his mind made up about something, there was no disputing it.

"I'm warning you," Snape said then in a deadly tone, "I desire a mostly Potter free year. And if I have to expel you to get it, make no mistake that I will." He stalked past them then and Harry let out a long breath.

"Right then," Ron said. "Add Snape to the list."

"Add Snape to the list," Harry repeated bitterly. Voldemort, Flagari, Alpha, Snape.

"Anyone else?" Ron half joked, trying to make his friend feel better.

Harry shrugged and said, "We'll see."

* * *

Harry only wished the list of people out to get him could be a matter to joke around about. As if two weeks on the run hadn't been enough, Harry had to worry about just going out onto the castle grounds to go to Care of Magical Creatures or Herbology. At least the green houses weren't right next to a patch of woods like Hagrid's hut was.

First thing in the morning three days a week was Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins. Harry eyed the woods warily as he, Ron, and Hermione walked down towards Care of Magical Creatures right after breakfast.

"Did you hear something Harry?" Hermione asked, noticing that he kept looking in the woods.

"What? No," Harry said then, trying to refocus on watching where he was walking instead, but being unable.

"Then what do you keep looking at?"

Ron nudged her then and said, "We heard some Slytherins talking about werewolves. Rumor has it that one of them joined Voldemort and got bitten intentionally to be stronger."

Normally Harry would have been upset that Ron had put the idea of werewolves in Hermione's head at all, except that they had heard that rumor during breakfast, although Harry was sure it wasn't true. No one in their right mind would want to be a werewolf, except maybe Ethan, and Harry still wasn't sure if Ethan was in his right mind or not.

"Don't be silly," Hermione said. "If they'd been bitten the Ministry would know."

Panic gripped Harry's chest then as he turned to Hermione. "What?"

"All magical werewolves have to register. It's the Ministry's way of keeping them out of office and out of work." She sounded as disgusted as Harry was at the prospect.

"But they can't just detect it," Ron said then. "You have to actually go in and register. I doubt any death eater would."

"And besides that," Hermione continued, as if Ron hadn't said anything at all. "Just look at how the Slytherins have got you and Harry searching out in the forest. I'll bet they've spread the rumor just to scare people."

Harry gave another look out into the Forest. If only Hermione knew that it wasn't a Slytherin Were Harry was afraid of. But later that day both Harry's fears and Hermione's suspicions about the Slytherins would be confirmed.

Almost as if the castle were sensing all of Harry's fears and making him face them down, Harry had had to spend Herbology outside followed by Potions of all classes. Snape had never made them go out on the grounds for class before, but today he had marched them right into the outer edge of the Forbidden Forest to search for ingredients.

Harry stayed right next to Ron and Hermione as he tried to force his emotions to calm, to remind himself that if anyone was out here it would be Ethan, when a voice startled him and set his heart to pounding.

"Haven't seen any strange folk around ‘ere lately have yeh?"

Harry spun along with Ron to see a tall man with short dirty blond hair standing over Neville, who was trying to pick his Lily Gum flowers carefully. Neville shook a little like he usually did around Snape as he shook his head in response to the man. It only took a moment for Harry to size the man up and know that this was the Flagari hunter that was after him. Tall and lean with a brown leather jacket, a modern Muggle bow in hand and a quiver full of arrows slung over his back.

"What about you?" He turned to Ron who said, "Only you."

Turning back to Neville he asked sternly, "What about wolves? Seen any of them around? Werewolves maybe?"

Neville lifted a shaky finger and pointed at a group of horrified Slytherins which included Draco, Pansy, and Crabbe, who had been the one spreading the rumor in the first place.

"Well don't look at us!" Draco shouted, half panicked. Harry had the feeling that Draco knew this was a hunter too, if not by reputation than by the bow and arrows.

The man raised his brow, but before he could ask the Slytherins anything, Professor Snape came out of the trees and cleared his throat, drawing the hunter's attention.

"You are on Hogwarts school grounds and are trespassing." Snape's voice was stern and for once Harry was glad the man was there as the silent class watched on, uncertain of whom this man was or whom he might be aiming those arrows at.

"Am I? I care nothing for wizard boundaries."

"Perhaps I shall call the headmaster down then and inform him you are disturbing both the boundary and my Potions class."

The man gave a little chuckle then and held his hand up. "I meant nothing by it wizard. I track two werewolves. They've been on the run for weeks and they've run straight past your... boundaries."

Snape looked around at his students, who were still fairly spread out, some standing, others kneeling on the ground where they had stopped to listen in.

"Are any of you a werewolf?" Snape questioned in a threatening way.

People shook their heads and there were murmers of ‘No sir,' and ‘not me.' "See for yourself then. There are none here whom you need to be concerned about. The last werewolf we encountered left three years ago."

Everyone knew he was talking of Remus Lupin, but nobody said anything.

The hunter nodded then and said, "My name is Ignotius Everwood. If any should hear of werewolves, I will be... around." He smiled at Snape then as he spoke in general to the watching audience, and then moved off, deep into the forest.

"Maybe Aaragog's family will get him," Ron said quietly to Harry, unaware that Snape had caught the comment. But before Harry could reply, Snape was barking at the class to pack up their supplies and make a line to go back to the castle.

Feeling on edge as they walked back to the castle at a hurried pace, no doubt so Snape could inform Dumbledore of their visitor, Harry tried to calm his heartbeat, afraid that even though the moment had passed, he was still very close to transforming unexpectedly.

* * *

"Come forth. There is work to be done."

Harry could hear his heart pounding in his ears, and little else aside from the deep voice that bid him to make his way out of bed and out of the castle.

"You will taste flesh tonight. We will feast together."

Harry licked his lips. Yes, that sounded like a good plan. He would just do as he was told and everything would be all right.

"Come forth. Come forth."

"Potter!"

Harry snapped awake and spun to find himself standing in the middle of the Entrance Hall, feet bare and shirtless. Thankfully he had pajama bottoms on but he looked around himself, confused to find himself in the darkened entryway facing down an irate Potion's Master.

"What do you think you're doing out at three in the morning?"

Harry swallowed. He had no idea. He tried desperately to grasp onto the dream he'd been having, but all he could remember was a voice and the feeling that he desperately needed to be outside, breathing in the fresh outdoor air.

"Getting a snack sir?" he asked more than said. He wasn't quite to the oak front doors, so it was possible he could have been on his way to the Kitchens down the corridor off the Entrance Hall.

"Detention Potter," Snape said then, lip curled. "I warned you about your rule breaking this year, didn't I? Not even a week into the term and you're sneaking around at all hours of the night." He shook his head in disgust. "Get back to bed. You can serve your detention Saturday morning instead of going to Quidditch practice."

Harry murmured a quick "Yes sir," as he hurried past him and back up through the castle, heart pounding fiercely. What had just happened? Snape was the least of his worries, he decided, as he woke Ron up quietly a few minutes later so he could discuss his late night unconscious stroll through the castle.

"Didn't Ethan say something about the Alpha being able to control you?" Ron asked sleepily as they sat on the bathroom floor in Gryffindor tower a few minutes later, the only place they could be sure they wouldn't be overheard.

Harry worked it over in his mind, trying to recall the dream he'd been having once again. "I think he was calling to me. He must be close."

Ron shuddered and said, "We can ward you into your bed at night."

"What if he comes into the castle to get to me then?"

"We'll have to ward the tower against intruders then. I doubt he'll get past the fat lady."

"Sirius did," Harry reminded him then, and Ron nodded.

"Come on, let's ward you into the room for tonight and tomorrow we'll figure out something else."

Harry sighed. "Tomorrow is Saturday and I have detention all morning with Snape."

Ron pulled a face and they stood up off the bathroom floor and made their way back into the sixth year boy's dormitory where Ron and Harry both put a spell around the room.

"Just pee in a cup or something," Ron joked as he climbed back into bed, not wanting to be woken again if Harry had to go to the bathroom and thus wake Ron to break his half of the wards.

Harry sighed and climbed into his own bed again, knowing he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep even though he wanted to. He listened to his dorm mates peaceful snores, including Ron's. Why did it have to be something every single year that would keep him from getting a decent night's sleep?

“Harry?  Harry, wake up!”  Ron stared in the darkness at his friend as he stood in front of the closed dorm bedroom door with blank, vacant eyes, and kept trying to walk through it.

When Harry didn’t wake up at Ron’s whispers, Ron looked around him and was glad to find that the other boy’s all had their hangings shut.  Ron crept forward and put his hand on Harry’s shoulder, leaping back when Harry startled awake and jumped.  His eyes flashed yellow for a moment, making Ron pull back another step, and then they turned back to green in the darkness.

“What?  What’s going on?”

“You.  You were trying to get through the wards to get out.  And your eyes...”

"Yeah?"

"Yellow."

"Great."

Harry ran his hand through his hair.  This was the second night in a row he’d dreamt of someone calling to him.  He couldn’t remember anything else, only that it was a deep male voice, and that it seemed so gentle yet commanding, that he wanted to follow it more than anything.

“Harry.”

“What?”

Ron pointed down to his hand.  “Your wand.”

Harry looked down now too and was startled to find that he was holding his wand.  “Do you… do you think I was going to let the wards down?”

“I don’t know.”

They stared at each other in the half moonlit room for long moments, before Ron told Harry to get back into bed and put several more wards around the room.  The other boys could get out, but Harry would not be able to.

“Maybe we should tell Hermione,” Ron whispered as he got back into his bed.

“No,” Harry said.  “We’ll have to figure things out on our own until Ethan comes back.”

“Ethan… great,” Ron muttered, before rolling over so that his back was to Harry.

Harry sighed and then lay down on his back, staring at the hangings over the bed.  At least Snape hadn’t caught him this time.  He didn’t want to scrub cauldrons for two days in a row.

* * *

“Here,” Ron said, setting a stack of books down heavily in front of Harry at a desk in the very back of the library.

“We’d better not check them out,” Harry said, fearing that madam Pince would catch on if she saw the titles they were reading.

“Well we’ll have to hurry then.  We’ve only got one hour a day where Hermione is in Arithmancy.”

“Here.”  Harry shoved the top book towards Ron and then pulled the next one off the stack.  He would rather be outside right now, soaking up the autumn sun during his free period, but he feared what would happen that night if he didn’t figure out how to stop the Alpha from calling him out of bed in his sleep each night.  He was also positive that while the hunter didn’t know his identity, that the Alpha did, seeing as how he was the one that had turned him.  No, not knowing who the Alpha was, Harry didn’t want to venture outside.

“There’s nothing here,” Ron said at the end of their hour as he closed the heavy tomb.  “Nothing we didn’t already know.”

“Same here,” Harry said, closing his book.  As they rose to put the books away Harry kept a cautious eye on other students to be sure no one was watching them.  Just as they got back to their table, Hermione came out from behind a bookshelf.

“There you are.  What are you doing up here?”

“Homework,” Harry said automatically.  He’d already rehearsed his answer to her.  “I want to get a leg up in defense this year.”

“Well you should,” she said, but then reluctantly added, “but you’re already top of the class in defense.”

He shrugged.  “I’ve got a price on my head, remember?”  This answer seemed to satisfy her and she didn’t ask them anymore about it as they headed towards Potions.

Harry was not pleased to find that in Potions Snape seemed to be keeping an extra close eye on him.  Every time he looked up from chopping his ingredients or stirring his potion, the man was in a new place in the room but still staring at him.

“He’s keeping an eye on you,” Ron said quietly after nudging Harry.

“Well he thinks I’m up to something.”

“Maybe we should be up to something to throw him off,” Ron whispered seriously.

Harry gave him a serious look and then a small nod.  Maybe.  If they let the man catch them at something and ‘foil’ their plan then maybe he’d leave them alone.  It might be worth the detention they would get, and Harry was glad Ron seemed to be willing to pay the price as well.

Hermione and Ginny gave them strange looks that night at dinner as Harry and Ron moved down to the other end of the table to discuss what kind of false trouble they could get into but they ignored it as they leaned in far over the table so they could talk more quietly and still hear each other over the noise of other students at dinner.

“He caught me out after bed without a shirt on, and he caught us talking in the hall that day.  What can we do with that?”

Ron frowned and thought hard.  “We really need Fred and George’s brains for this.  Wish they were still around.”

“We could write to them,” Harry suggested, “but they’d be too interested in our reasons.”

“Nah,” Ron said, sitting back.  “They live by a rule breaker’s code of conduct.”

Harry crossed his arms and shook his head.  “Rule breaker’s code of conduct.  What if Snape intercepted our owl?”  He leaned in again and in a mocking tone recited a fake letter, “Dear Fred and George.  We’re up to something.  We need help in throwing Snape off the trail.  Give us some rules to break.”

“Ok ok, well what about a prank then?  We can just take it right out of Fred and George’s book.  Next best thing right?”

“I’m listening.”

Ron lowered his voice.  “Let’s say we just do something to the Slytherins.  Something Snape would be interested in learning.  We’ll let Draco overhear our evil plan or something.  You know he’ll go right back to Snape with it.”

“I’m no good at pranks though.  I wouldn’t know what we would plot to do against their whole house.”

They thought in silence for a few moments and then Ron looked up.  “We’ll just do something annoying then.  Fred and George used to stick people to their chairs.  We could look up a spell to make the Slytherins stick to whatever they touch.”

Harry laughed out loud.  “Can you imagine?  The boys would all be stuck in the loo!”  

Ron laughed too.  “Ok, let’s do it then.”

“Actually plan it or just let Draco overhear?”

“Let’s just plan it,” Ron said.  “I want to do it. They put us through enough already.”

“We’ll definitely get detention if we do it.  Remember what’s coming up next week…”

Ron’s smile faded a little.  He knew.  The full moon was almost upon them again and he and Harry had been discussing different ways to keep Harry away from people and out of sight.  They’d already decided that with the hunter on the loose, and the alpha, that the shrieking shack and anywhere else out on the grounds wasn’t an option.  It would have to be someplace in the castle, somewhere where no one would hear him howling or open up a door and get… mauled.

“After dinner,” Ron said.  “Well just act suspicious then and let Draco overhear.”

Harry nodded.  “Fine.”

As planned they left shortly before they thought Draco would be finishing up and stood just outside the doors to the Great Hall.  When they saw him rise from the table they started whispering about their ‘plan to pay back the Slytherins with a sticking charm’.  Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Draco slow as they spoke just loud enough for him to hear, and then they stopped when they saw him hurry off towards the Dungeons, surely to tell Snape.

They didn’t leave the Entrance Hall though, they waited for Snape to come catch them plotting, and within five minutes he had appeared in the doorway to the dungeons with Draco looking smug standing behind him in the shadows.

“Potter- Weasley,” he said with a sneer and a definite curl of the lip.

“Sir?” Ron asked with a falsely innocent tone.  He even put his hands behind his back to make it look like he was trying hard to hide his intentions.

“It has come to my attention that you are planning some sort of foolish revenge on Slytherin house.”

“Revenge sir?” Harry piped up.  “For what?”

“Do not play coy with me Potter.  Mr. Malfoy overheard the two of you talking about permanent sticking charms.”  Nice touch Draco Harry thought to himself.  They’d never said anything about permanent but Draco had certainly done his job of getting Snape back into the Entrance Hall.

“I don’t know any sticking charms,” Harry said, and then mustered an angry look and said hotly, “he’s lying!  He’s just trying to get us into trouble!  You can’t prove anything!”

“I know you’ve been up to something Potter, and now I know what.  Detention for both of you.  Tonight."  He looked irritated then and said with a sneer, "Go find Mr. Filch and tell him you are to each serve an hour.  I don't have time to waste babysitting dunderheads like you."

He turned on his heel and stalked off and Draco crossed his arms, still looking smug as he followed his head of house.

Harry sighed and Ron said, "Had to be done.  At least it's only an hour."

"Too bad it's only an hour," Harry said.

"Too bad?  You hit your head or something?"

"If I'm awake all night doing detention, maybe I won't get called out."

They started up the stairs to find Filch.  "That's- possibly genious," Ron admitted.  "You could sleep in the day between or go to bed really early."

"My only worry is that he'll figure it out and call me out in the middle of the day.  Can you imagine me sleep walking down a corridor full of students?"

"And the yellow, you know," Ron said as a group of Ravenclaws passed by.  "What's that all about?"

"I don't know," Harry said.  "I haven't really looked at myself in the mirror, but Ethan, his are yellow when he's..." he paused, uncertain who could be just around the corner listening.  "We have to find a way to talk about this."

"Snitch and Playing Quidditch," Ron said, and Harry smiled and gave a nod understanding that the Snitch was golden like his apparently yellow eyes.

"Ethan gets the Snitch when he's playing Quidditch.  I must do it too."

"But you weren't playing last night."

They looked in four closets before they finally found Filch patrolling the library corridor with Mrs. Norris and he set them to work in a boys bathroom.  Finally alone again, they warded the bathroom against eavesdroppers and started to talk again.

"My face didn't change last night did it?"

"No."

"Maybe it's because of the Alpha calling me out.  He's obviously accessing some part of the beast side of me to get me out of the castle.  But I don't know about that," Harry said, changing his mind.  "There was one time where Ethan got really mad at me after we left the Burrow and his eyes were yellow for a minute.  I thought it was just because of the full moon later that night though."

"Some help he is," Ron said.  "He could have at least clued you in to some of this."

"We spent most of the time traveling with him trying to make me mad so I would freak out and change.  He was trying to teach me how to control the change so when I get mad here I don't do it in front of everybody."

"You told me.  But it doesn't sound like he's a good teacher.  You said you didn't have it down by the time you got back."

"No, I don't.  I'm just trying to not get mad at anyone."

Hermione tsked at them that evening when they got back to the common room.  "You know they'll send an owl to your mum," she told Ron.  "It's only been a week since school started."

Ron lifted up his hand and moved his fingers back and forth like they were talking.  "Yeah yeah," he grumbled, and followed Harry up stairs to the boys dormitory.

"What are we going to do all night?"

"What do you mean we?" asked Harry.

"Well if you've got to stay up, we might as well do something productive.  Let's sneak back to the library tonight and read and see what we can find."

"If we get caught with those books-"

"Then I'll say I'm researching for ways to help Professor Lupin or something.  I don't know."

"That hunter... I'm sure Snape alerted Dumbledore to what he said about chasing two were's onto school grounds.  If we get caught they'll think it's the two of us."

Ron grinned.  "Then I can go around snapping at all the people I don't like in the hallway between classes and scare the snot out of the Slytherins.  Come full moon they'll find they were wrong about me."

"And me?"

"What if I sneak out with the cloak and bring back a few of the books in my bag and we can sit up reading them."

Harry thought it over.  "You're too willing to get into trouble for me."

"What are best mates for?"

Harry agreed, and dug out his cloak for Ron, knowing he would do the same if the tables were turned and it was Ron who were a werewolf.  Ron snuck out through the common room at five minutes to curfew and returned almost forty minutes later with four heavy books and Harry's cloak.  Some of the other boys had gone into the dorm to study or start getting ready for bed, so Harry and Ron headed downstairs to a nook in a corner of the common room often used by older students because it was walled in on three sides.  It was the perfect place to study.

"Can I join you?" Hermione asked, comming up to them a few minutes after they sat down.  She was wearing her pajamas and had a notebook and her Runes book.

"Go ahead," Harry said, not wanting to draw suspicion.  They each had a book and the other two were still in Ron's bag under the table.

"What are you studying?" she asked.

Ron held up his book, a book about magical creatures and Harry did the same.

"Someone said Voldemort was gathering vampires into his ranks, and we know he already has werewolves and giants," Harry told her.  "I want to be sure I know how to fight each and every one of them when the time comes.  And besides, I wanted to know more about that hunter that came onto the grounds the other day."

"I looked the hunters up already," Hermione said.  "They sound aweful.  Can you imagine one of them hunting Professor Lupin if he were here?"

Harry shook his head but the answer was yes.  Yes, he could imagine what it would be like for Remus to be hunted, becuase he'd been followed by the hunter all summer, shot at, and filled with fear and adrenaline more often than he cared to admit.

Hermione left them studying to go to bed around midnight when the common room had finally cleared out, leaving Harry and Ron alone.

"Anything?" Ron asked.

"You become an Alpha by killing another Alpha, usually the leader of the pack they belong to."

"Aren't you supposed to find and kill the Alpha to get rid of the lycanthropy?  Does that mean you'll become an alpha?"

"I don't know," Harry said.  "That's what worries me.  I don't want to be even more of a werewolf."  He flipped back through the pages he'd read and stopped at a picture of a grotesque face.  "Look.  This is what my kind looks like as an Alpha when transformed."

"Yech."

"Yeah.  No thanks."

"I didn't find anything about the Alpha or the eyes.  This book mostly has information on Russian were's.  You know how Snape used to brew a potion for Remus?"

"Yeah."

"It only works for that kind of were.  Sorry," he finished lamely.

"For what?  You think I'd demean myself and accept help from Snape once a month?  You know he never let Remus live that down, how he had to brew a complicated, expensive potion all month long and how he was the only one to do it so he had to be burdened to do it for Lupin all year long..."

"If I was better at Potions I would come up with a potion for you."

"Thanks."

Ron fell asleep on the couch half an hour later, and Harry passed out next to him soon after.  He found himself immediately in a dream where he was outside in the Quidditch Pitch, ripping someone to shreds and enjoying the taste of flesh.  When he sat up, finally finished, he looked down in horror to find a shock of orange hair.  He had eaten Ron's instestines and left the grass a bloody mess under the three quarter moon.  Appalled he stood up and stumbled backwards.  He fell and when he hit the ground, he woke with a start.

Harry was confused when he found cold damp grass under his hands.  Was he still dreaming?  It didn't feel like he was dreaming.  He looked around wildly for the Alpha or the hunter or Ethan or anybody, but there was no one.  He looked to where Ron had been in his dream, heart thumping loudly in his chest, and found nothing there.  Harry turned and wretched, barfing on the grass.  No- no no no.  This can't be happening!  How did I get out here?  I was in bed with the dorm warded... no, I was next to Ron on the couch and we didn't ward the common room because we were going to stay up all night.

Getting to his feet, stumbling, and getting to his feet again, Harry ran as fast as his legs would carry him back out of the Quidditch Pitch and across the damp lawn.  He sprinted up countless sets of stairs and burst into the common room, where Ron was still in the corner sleeping.  He wasn't covered in blood and seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

Harry almost knocked a chair over in his haste to get to his best friend, and Ron startled awake at the noise.

"Harry?"

"He got me outside Ron!" Harry panted, still feeling panicky and completely out of control.  "I was in the pitch.  I was dreaming I'd eaten you... you were dead.  And then I woke up and I was really outside in the Pitch!"

Ron looked him up and down.  "You've got blood on you."

"What?"  Harry looked down at his chest, confused.  "I didn't get anyone, I swear!  There was no one out there."

"No, it's you.  You're hurt."  Ron pointed and Harry realized that his shirt was ripped. He lifted it up and found three angry, deep red scratches on his chest.

"Did you- did you do that to yourself?"

"I don't know... maybe?  Maybe I was trying to wake myself up."

Ron reached forward and spread his fingers apart to see if he could trace the scratches.  "No, these are too wide.  It had to be someone with a bigger hand... claw..."

They both stared at the scratches for long moments and finally Harry sat down, putting his head in one hand.  "What am I going to do?  It's only a matter of time until I really do get someone, or someone gets me."

"Come on.  Let's go up to the dorm.  I'll put tripple wards on it and you put yours on it."

"It's not safe for you up there," Harry said.  "I think the dream was a message.  The Alpha knows you're helping me, and he's telling me that he could have me rip you to shreds at any time."

"Then I'll ward my bed against you.  Come on.  It's not going to do either of us any good to stay down here the rest of the night."

Harry followed him upstairs and they put their wards up.  Ron also warded his bed and the beds of the other boys against Harry.

"You don't have to be my keeper you know," Harry said as they both lay in their separate beds in the darkness staring at the ceiling.

"No, but I am your friend."

"I know what we're going to do," Ron said, coming to their new favorite nook in the common room where Harry sat trying to do a particularly challenging transfiguration essay.

"About?" Harry asked, feeling irritated.

Ron spread the Marauder's Map on the small round table on top of Harry's homework and ignored his question. "The Room of Requirement," he said proudly.

"For the full moon?" Harry whispered.

Ron nodded. "We can make it into what we want, right? We can turn it into a cell with locked doors you can't get out of with no windows. You said if the moonlight doesn't shine on you, you don't turn, yeah?"

"That's a good idea," Harry said. He'd been starting to worry that he'd have to go out on the grounds and take his chances with the hunter and the Alpha. The full moon was only two days away and he was already starting to feel the effects. He'd snapped at Ron several times that morning and had been irritated and angry with everybody and everything, including this infernal transfiguration essay and even at McGonagall for assigning it.

"We'll go up there under the cloak, I'll soundproof it and lock you in and come back to get you in the morning."

"What if I somehow get out?"

"I figured we could go to the Room of Requirement tomorrow and ask it to just show us what we need and see if it'll work out. I'd stay with you but-"

"Yeah, I got it," Harry snapped. "I'm dangerous."

"Actually," Ron said, "that's not it." He leaned even further in and whispered, "I overheard McGonagall talking to Snape about bed checks. Seems they're taking the hunter that came on the grounds seriously. They're going to check beds to see if anyone is missing during the full moon."

Harry's face went pale and Ron nodded. "We can stuff pillows and blankets under your blanket so it looks like you're there. Fred and George taught me a spell once to cast noises to another area of a room. I'll make it sound like you're snoring when they come in to check."

Harry relaxed a little. "This can't work," he said.

"It has to. We only have a couple days left to get ready. We can come up with something better for next month."

Harry rubbed his eye with the palm of his hand, trying to force himself to not be sleepy. He'd been staying up later and later at night studying in the hopes that the less time he slept, the less time the Alpha would have to call him out, even though he hadn't been called out for days.

The next morning, which was a Saturday, Harry and Ron walked past the Room of Requirement three times, each thinking different things about what they needed. When they opened the door they found a cell with metal bars all the way around it in a tiny room with a worn red chair sitting in the only space of the room not taken up by the cell. The chair was just out of arm's reach of the cell, Harry noted. There were no windows, and instead there was a light outside the cell above the chair.

"What do you think?" Ron asked.

"We need a bunch of locks on the cell door." As he said it, several heavy metal locks appeared on the cell door as well as the door leading out to the corridor.

Ron went up and shook the metal bars to see if they were secure, and in response, more heavy metal appeared where the metal bars met the ceiling and floor.

"Not exactly how I envisioned spending three nights a month," Harry said, "but it'll do."

"I'm gonna use the map to nick some healing potions tonight," Ron said. "I figure we can keep them in here, and if you get hurt having them in here will get you to class faster in the morning. If you look sick and all scratched up they'll know."

"Yeah, and I can't exactly go to the Hospital Wing either."

"I figure you could probably get away with skipping class in the morning once, maybe twice, but you'll get detention and you don't want detention at night on the full moon. We can make up a story and say you just didn't feel like going to class. Snape'll eat that up."

"I'll have to use that excuse on the day after the last night of the full moon if I need it."

Even though a plan was in place, Harry still felt uneasy as Sunday night approached. He decided to spend Sunday by himself studying so he wouldn't keep snapping at his friends, and ended up skipping dinner as well, opting to meet Ron in the common room after dinner. Harry made a show of telling Hermione he was going up to his room to study for the evening where he could get some peace and quiet (because there was a group of loud first and second years playing Exploding Snape in the common room), and then he and Ron went up to the dormitory and got out the Marauder's map and Harry's cloak. They wouldn't both fit under the cloak, so only Harry wore it. He followed Ron back to the common room, where Ron made a comment to Hermione about wanting to go look for a Quidditch book in the library and told her he'd be back before curfew.

"You'd better actually go get a book," Harry told him when they made the Room of Requirement."

"I'm going to after I lock you in," Ron said. "I'm going to sneak into the Restricted Section under the cloak and get a book on love potions too."

"What? Why?"

"If they discover you're missing, I'm going to pretend like I don't know where you went. Then in the morning you'll turn up with the book from the Restricted Section and you'll get in trouble for breaking school rules. You can say you and I were both planning on pranking the Slytherins by slipping them all a love Potion at breakfast."

When Harry just stared at Ron, Ron asked, "What?"

"Where do you even come up with this stuff? You're a Slytherin at heart, I swear."

"Take it back Harry, that's not funny."

"First you break into the Hospital Wing to steal healing potions, then you come up with a plan to make it look like I'm in bed sleeping when I'm not, and now you're planning on keeping us out of trouble by getting us into trouble for another fake plan to prank the Slytherins. It's sneaky."

"I'm a man on a mission. That's being a Gryffindor."

"And sneaky," Harry said as he went into the cage and Ron set to locking all the locks and then warding the room against intruders and also soundproofing it.

"Did I miss anything?" Ron asked.

"No," Harry said dully, looking at the bars of the cage again. He felt like a caged animal.

Ron looked at his watch. "Crud. Only half an hour to curfew. I gotta go or I won't make it back in time."

Harry waved him off. "Thanks Ron."

"Don't thank me yet. Nothing's worked yet. I'll see you in the morning. I'll bring up a change of clothes for you too."

Ron left and Harry couldn't hear if he was warding the door from the other side or not because of the sound barrier. He looked at the bars of the cage again and then sat down on the cold stone floor.

Harry was glad there were no windows. He didn't know how he could tell that the moon was up, but he could. All of his senses were heightened like they had been on the last full moon. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he strained to hear any little sound outside of his room, even though there was nothing to hear.

Harry kept looking at his hands and arms to see if any new hair had grown, but it hadn't, despite the fact that the hunger was starting to come over him and his mind was starting to feel foggy.

As the night wore on, Harry grew more and more restless, and had taken to walking in circles around his tiny cell. He punched the cell bars several times and reached through them to fiddle with the locks Ron had set, wondering if he could break them with sheer strength. He tried, but failed. He tried pulling on the bars to break them out, but failed at that too.

Harry began to feel sick around one in the morning and wondered if he was going to throw up. He had an urge to howl, and fought it, but before long he let out a piteous howl and whimpered. He checked his arms again, but there was no new hair. Finally, feeling weak and too sick to move, Harry lay on the cold stone floor and stared at the door, waiting for Ron to return. He couldn't remember Ron's name, or even who he was. He just knew that a red-headed boy was supposed to come let him out. He wished he could remember when, and why he was locked up in this cage instead of being allowed to roam free under the moonlight with Ethan.

* * *

"Blimy Harry," Ron said early the next morning.

Harry cracked an eye open and Ron's brown sneakers came into view. He heard the locks all clicking open and the door to the cell swung open admitting Ron.

"Did you transform?"

"I don't think so," Harry said.

"Where'd all these scratches come from then?"

Harry looked down at his chest. His shirt was torn in several places and his chest was all scratched up.

"I must have done it," Harry said, not getting up because he was too weak.

"You don't remember?"

"I- no."

"Here, drink this." Ron helped Harry weakly sit up and gave him a bottle of water. Then Ron pulled Harry's shirt off over his head and quickly began applying a healing salve to heal the scratches on his chest and arms.

"It looks like you tried to scratch your own skin off."

"I don't remember."

"What do you remember?"

"It was like- my mind was foggy like when I transform, and my body wanted to transform but couldn't. I felt sick all night. I'm so weak."

"I wish we could tell Hermione. She could research it better than me."

"We can't," Harry reminded him, feeling miserable. They'd discussed it several times already and had both agreed that while they'd like to tell her, and would like to have her help, they couldn't trust that she would keep it a secret. Hermione usually insisted they seek the help of an adult, and on occasion when Harry and Ron had refused, she had gone to McGonagall on her own for help. They couldn't risk it. They knew she meant well, but Harry wanted to keep it a secret and Ron also thought it was for the best.

"They came in for bed checks last night," Ron said.

Harry didn't ask, he just stared at his friend and waited for the rest of the story while Ron slathered salve onto his arms. "They didn't suspect anything. I pretended to be asleep, and Neville was snoring so loudly I don't think McGonagall could tell if anyone else was making noise or not. She left pretty quickly after she stuck her head in the door."

"Good."

"Here." Ron handed Harry a pepperup potion and helped him drink it down. "That any better?"

"I'm really weak." Harry scrubbed at his eyes and said, "I think the Alpha was calling me. I kept trying to break the locks. I wonder if-"

"What?"

"Maybe the Alpha made me scratch myself up."

"You think he did that to punish you?"

"Maybe. I was so hungry Ron... like when I'd transformed. All I wanted to do was get out and roam the grounds. I could feel that the moon was up. I really wanted to transform but it was like I was trapped in this body."

"Your body," Ron reminded him. "Come on." He pulled Harry to his feet and then pushed him up against the cell bars when Harry's legs buckled. "Blimy!" he said again. When Harry regained his feet Ron let go of him, though Harry still swayed.

He pulled one of Harry's shirts out of his bag and then pulled it on over Harry's head. "Don't get any ideas. I'm not your mum, you're gonna have to do your pants yourself."

"I got it," Harry said, leaving the cell to sit in the faded red chair. Ron turned around to re-organize the potions bottles while Harry changed into clean pants. When Ron turned around again Harry was fumbling with his tie because his fingers were shaking. Ron pushed Harry's hands away and did his tie up.

"Thank you mother," Harry said with a weak grin, and Ron scoffed.

"If Ginny saw me she'd make fun too. She's always on me about having mum do everything for me." He sat back on his knees and said thoughtfully, "Actually, I kinda feel bad now that mum does do so much for me."

Harry tried to stand up but fell back into the chair. "I don't know how I'm gonna make it to class."

"Did you sleep at all?"

"I passed out some time in the middle of the night."

Ron scratched his head and sighed. "You've got super strength right? I mean, you're not all human anymore. You could probably get away with another pepperup potion. I'll see if I can sneak a strengthening potion out of the Hospital Wing sometime today too."

"You think?" Harry asked of the pepperup potion.

Ron dug around the box against the wall and pulled another one out. "If I accidentally poison you you'll have a real reason to go to the Hospital Wing and sleep all day."

"Give it to me," Harry said. He drank it down and did feel slightly better.

Ron looked at his watch after a few minutes when Harry had yet to keel over from the second potion. "Breakfast starts in ten minutes. Food might help too."

"I am hungry."

"They don't serve humans for breakfast."

Harry glared at Ron but Ron laughed and helped Harry stand up from the chair. They opened the door and Ron stuck his head out first to be sure no one was in the corridor and led the way down to the Great Hall, walking slowly so Harry wouldn't fall over. Once they were seated, Harry piled everything he could on his plate and began eating it faster than Ron thought was possible.

"Harry," Hermione said, as she sat down across from them, "that's disgusting."

Harry ignored her and piled more eggs and an unseemly pile of bacon on his plate.

"You could at least eat some fruit with your pig and side of eggs," Ginny commented, also coming to sit with them.

"He had two apples before this," Ron lied. All Harry seemed to want was protein. His stomach was uncomfortably full when he was done, but he felt almost strong enough to make it through the day.

Harry did make it through his classes that day, but only barely. He was tired and wanted to sleep and still felt all around sick and unwell. Snape took note of Harry's state in their afternoon Potions class when Harry appeared unable to keep his eyes open in class.

"Up late roaming the corridors were we Potter?" he asked, coming to stand in front of Harry's desk. Harry would have taken it as the man's normal taunting but he could sense an unusual desire to know in his voice. That coupled with the fact that the staff had been doing bed checks to see if students were missing during the full moon set both Harry and Ron on edge.

"Neville snored loudly all night and kept me up," Harry lied quietly (though it wasn't much of a lie because Neville did snore). "Just when I started to fall asleep Professor McGonagall came into our room and woke me up."

Snape made a noise as if he was noting something, glared at Harry, and moved off. Harry could feel Ron relax beside him.

"That's why you've looked sick all day," Hermione said from the bench next to theirs. "I wondered if you'd caught a cold."

After dinner that night, when Ron and Harry had made their way back to the Room of Requirement and Harry had been locked into the cell, Ron said, "Do you think Snape bought it?"

Harry shrugged. "If I wasn't there, how else would I know McGonagall came into the room?"

"Yeah." Ron plopped down into the red chair.

"What are you doing?"

"I want to see what happens tonight."

"What about bed checks? Hermione will know you haven't come back before curfew."

"Hermione went up to her room to study because there's a big exam tomorrow in Arithmancy and she said she didn't want to be bothered."

"That's right, I forgot."

"I'm going to watch the map," Ron said, pulling the Marauder's Map out. "If I see McGonagall or any other Professors making their way to Gryffindor I'll head up there. Right now I've got clothes and pillows stuffed under the blankets on both of our beds. I even stuffed a sock with other socks and left it hanging out under the blanket to look like a foot sticking out."

"Seriously," Harry said, "where do you get this stuff from?"

"The twins and I did it the night we flew the car to rescue you in second year. It didn't work at home ‘cause mum knows the twins sneak out sometimes so she checks to see that there's actually something alive under the covers, but it ought to work here."

"So you're gonna stay all night?"

"For a while at least," Ron said. "I have the cloak to get back to the tower later if have to."

Ron pretended to study instead of watching Harry pace the cell as the night wore on. Around one, Ron came to the cell bars and said, "Harry? You ok? You really don't look good."

Harry flew to the cell bars and reached through to grab Ron but Ron jumped back quickly and Harry missed him.

"I'm not a midnight snack," Ron joked nervously, but Harry wasn't laughing. He was breathing heavily and he began pulling at his shirt until it ripped.

"Don't do that," Ron said, but Harry wasn't listening or didn't hear him because in the next moment he was tearing at his chest with his fingernails. "Hey! Cut that out!"

Harry turned and let out a low growl and Ron frowned at him. He pulled out his wand and cast a Petrificus Totalus on Harry, which sent him falling to the floor with a thud. Ron cringed at the sight of his friend falling to the stone floor. "Sorry about that," he said. After twenty minutes, he canceled the spell but Harry seemed to have passed out. Ron went back to the map and noted that McGonagall hadn't moved from her quarters and that the other Professors all seemed to be asleep. He curled up in the chair and fell asleep a few minutes later, though it wasn't comfortable and he kept waking up and looking at Harry in the cell to be certain he was still there an still ok.

Both boys were groggy in the morning, but thanks to Ron petrifying his friend, Harry didn't have as many injuries as he'd had the previous morning.

"You look worse than before," Ron said, noting his friends pale face and shaking hands, and immediately giving Harry two pepperup potions.

"I'm weak," Harry said.

"Was it like this when you were transforming last month?"

"I was weak," Harry agreed, "but not like this. This hurts in my bones. And I'm so hungry."

Ron pulled an apple from his bag which he'd saved from lunch the day before. "Here. Try not to scarf breakfast down again today or people are going to start talking."

"If I even make it to breakfast."

"You could skip," Ron hedged. "I could bring you food, but you probably shouldn't skip."

"You could tell Hermione that I slept in."

"That could work. And History of Magic is first..."

Harry sighed. "Help me up." Ron helped him and then threw the cloak over him and walked with him up to Gryffindor tower. Just as they entered the common room, Hermione came down the stairs leading to the Girl's dormitory.

"Where's Harry?"

"Sleeping in," Ron said as he felt Harry brush past him and move towards the boy's staircase.

"But he'll miss breakfast."

Ron shrugged. "I think he probably ate enough yesterday to last him all week."

Hermione giggled and left the common room with Ron. She fretted over Harry missing History of Magic a couple of hours later and insisted Ron go to wake Harry up before Defense, which had been the plan anyway.

"You missed a lot of important things Harry," Hermione chastised him when he made it to Defense with only moments to spare. "They're all going to be on the test."

"I'll flunk the test if I don't get any sleep."

"You could cast a silencing charm on your bed hangings," Hermione said.

"You haven't heard Neville snore," Ron told her.

* * *

On the last night of the full moon, Ron locked Harry into the cell and left him alone to go back to the common room. Hermione had asked Ron to study with her and Harry and Ron agreed it would be best if they weren't missing from the common room for three nights in a row. Ron told Hermione that Harry had gone to bed early again trying to get some sleep, and she made Ron promise to cast a silencing charm around his and Harry's hangings to keep noise to a minimum.

In the morning, Harry asked Ron to take him to the Hospital Wing after Ron healed his scratches and bruises again, and Ron took him to see Madam Pomfrey.

"My Mr. Potter, you don't look well at all."

"He threw up this morning," Ron said, and it was true. He'd gone back to the Room of Requirement to find Harry laying next to several pools of sick.

"Was it something you ate dear?" She asked as Harry lay down on a hospital bed and groaned.

"Bacon," Harry said.

She looked to Ron who said, "He pigged out on bacon yesterday and didn't feel good because of it all night."

She tsked and tutted over Harry for a few minutes before sending Ron on his way to classes.

Harry tried to fall asleep but after half an hour the Headmaster came into the Hospital Wing and asked Madam Pomfrey in hushed tones (which Harry heard clearly with his enhanced hearing), "Has there been anyone Madam?"

"No, I'd tell you if there were any suspicious illnesses."

They were quiet for a moment and Harry was sure the Headmaster's eyes had flitted over to his bed because in the next moment Madam Pomfrey said, "He threw up this morning. Mr. Weasley said he overate yesterday. I've already given him a potion for his stomach and he seems to be feeling better."

"Thank you Poppy. Let me know if anyone else comes in today."

"Of course Albus."

The Headmaster left and Madam Pomfrey came back over to Harry's bed.

"Feeling better dear?"

"I think I'm gonna be sick again," Harry mumbled, and within half an hour he was. He couldn't stop shaking either and the mediwitch decided that Harry had probably caught a nasty virus and decided to keep him for the day and through the next night. Harry was grateful. He was miserable, but he was grateful. He only hoped he didn't growl as he slept, and that if he did, she wouldn't notice.

"Feeling better Harry?" Ginny asked the morning after he got out of the Hospital Wing.

He nodded. He'd been filled full of potions until Madam Pomfrey was satisfied that he was better. Pepperup, anti-shaking and anti-nausea potions, and even a strengthening potion. Harry still didn't feel a hundred percent, but he'd faked his health enough that Madam Pomfrey had let him out. He didn't want to raise suspicion by spending too much time in the Hospital Wing.

"Ron said it was from all the bacon you ate," Hermione said smugly.

"That mighta been part of it," Harry said as he frowned down at his plate. "Madam Pomfrey said I also had a virus."

"You did look really unwell for a few days," Hermione said. "You look better now though."

"I feel better," Harry said.

"Good," Ron said with a grin, "you missed practice yesterday and I had to lead it."

"It wasn't pretty," Ginny said, and Ron made a face at his sister. "He yelled at everyone a lot. We'll all be glad you're back."

Harry looked at Ron, who shrugged. "What? I was under a lot of pressure, ok? The first game's in three weeks and I had to lead the first practice of the year and try to whip everyone into shape!"

Cormac McLaggen plopped down into the seat next to Hermione then, forcing her to budge up and move closer to Ginny. They both shot Cormac a dirty look, which he ignored.

"It was a poor show of leadership Potter," Cormac said, picking up Hermione's cup of pumpkin juice and giving her a wink and a smile as he took a sip out of it. She stuck her tongue out like she was disgusted and turned away from him.

"Hey, I didn't see you stepping up to lead last night," Ron grouched.

"I'm not talking about you Weasley," Cormac said. "I'm talking about Potter not showing for the first practice of the season. What kind of Captain does that? You know, if you're not up to the task, I'd be happy to take it on."

Harry stared at him for a moment. "I hereby declare that if I'm grievously sick or injured and unable to make practice again, that Ron's in charge. If he can't make it Ginny's in charge. Then Katie, then Demelza, then Jimmy, then Ritchie, then Dean, and then you Cormac."

Hermione covered her mouth and giggled and Cormac stood up, straightened his tie and moved off down the table as if the declaration hadn't perturbed him at all.

"Thank you Harry," Hermione said.

"And if Ron yells too much," Harry told Ginny, "hit him with a Bludger or something so you can take over."

"Hey!" Ron said, feigning a hurt look. "What am I, chopped liver?"

Ginny and Hermione both laughed and Harry shoved Ron playfully.

* * *

Harry was worried about going out onto the grounds for Quidditch practice, but nothing happened for several days as they practiced in the evenings after dinner and Harry and Ron grew complacent. They even went down to see Hagrid one evening after practice, and asked him about that ‘strange guy' that came onto school grounds several weeks before at the start of the term.

"Strange man," Hagrid said. "Muggle, but he got a wizard teh charm him so he can see and enter Wizard establishments. Headmaster Dumbledore wants reports on his whereabouts regular like. He's been camping deep in the forest. He disappears fer days at a time though. The Headmaster reckons he's out looking fer werewolves in other parts nearby. Downright shameful if yeh ask me, teh hunt magical creatures. Imagine if poor Professor Lupin was still ‘ere."

"And he thinks there's werewolves here?" Ron asked before taking a drink from the cup of tea Hagrid had made him.

"He does. He says there's two. He comes round me cabin ‘bout once a week teh ask, and I see him in Hogsmeade in the Hogshead askin' round if they've heard of anyone. Everyone's been tight lipped on account of Barry Kendall over at Honeydukes."

"The shopkeep?" Harry asked.

"Yup," Hagrid said. "Bet yeh didn' know he was even a werewolf did yeh?"

Harry and Ron shook their heads. "He's not like Professor Lupin though. He turns into a full wolf on the full moon. This last full moon his family took him all the way cross the country so he'd be far away from that hunter."

"Can't Dumbledore do anything to keep him off school grounds?" Harry asked.

"The grounds are big," Hagrid said. "Too big teh ward completely. From what I understand it took years just teh put up the anti-muggle and anti-appration charms that are up now, an' a whole team of skilled wizards teh do it too. He did go down teh the forest an' talk teh him along with me an' professor Snape. Told him teh clear out an' stay off the grounds or else he'd be facin' consequences."

"But he's been back to your cabin since then," Ron said.

"The forest isn't technically on school grounds," Hagrid said, "an' it's right behind me cabin. I reckon he figures he can get away with it."

Hagrid looked down at his watch. "Look at the time. It's dark out. I'll walk yeh back teh the castle. Gotta be careful nowadays. It's not just the hunter out."

Harry and Ron gave each other a look as they grabbed their brooms and followed Hagrid to the door. "What do you mean Hagrid?" Ron asked, though he and Harry both knew the Alpha was around.

"Well there's three werewolves around, aside from who we already talked abou'," Hagrid said before opening the door.

"Three?" Ron asked innocently.

"The two the hunter followed up teh these parts an' there's another been prowlin' around. I heard him howlin' all three nights of the full moon, an' I seen a hulkin' figure stalkin' round the Quidditch Pitch before then. Looked like he'd dragged somethin' out there when I went out an' looked the next mornin'. Blood all over the grass an' everything. I'm just glad none of the students or staff were hurt. The Headmaster put extra wards on me cabin and even put a charm on Fang to keep him from gettin' eaten."

Hagrid saw them to the front doors of the castle and then disappeared back into the night.

When Harry and Ron were sure they were alone, Ron said, "You woke up in the Pitch with all those gashes on your chest."

"And Hagrid saw him..." Harry shuddered and Ron did too.

"I don't think it's possible to have a normal year at Hogwarts.

"This is a normal year at Hogwarts," Harry said.

"Blimey, it is isn't it?"

"Next year you'll be a vampire and we'll have to cover you in sunblock to get you out for classes and Quidditch."

"Don't joke Harry."

* * *

Quidditch practice ran late Saturday night, and it was nearly dark by the time the team began heading back to the castle. Ginny had gone ahead with Katie Bell and Ron and Harry brought up the rear, lagging behind the others as they discussed the team's strengths and weaknesses. They were almost back to the castle when Harry stopped and stuck his nose up to sniff the air around them. Ron pulled out his wand and stilled.

"What is it?"

"Shh."

They were quiet as they stared into the darkness, and after several minutes, a dark figure staggered out from behind several trees.

Ron squinted. "Is that-"

"Ethan."

Harry dropped his broom and ran to the shaking figure as it collapsed onto the ground. He dropped to his knees beside him just as Ron came up with both of their brooms.

"Whoa," Ron said. Ethan's shirt had a large pool of blood on it and there was an arrow sticking out in the center with white and black striped fletching.

"Gotta get out of here," Ethan rasped.

Harry didn't need telling twice. He listened for any sign of the Flagari hunter for only a moment before he lifted Ethan up, surprised he was able to lift his shoulder's most of the way off the ground.

"Help me," Harry said, and Ron dropped the brooms and went to the other side. Together they got him to his feet and put his arms around their shoulders. Ron used his wand to levitate the brooms behind them as they dragged him towards the castle.

"Where are we gonna take him?" Ron asked.

"Not the Hospital Wing," Ethan said, eyes closed as his head hung limply with his chin against his chest.

"No, we're not stupid, thanks," Ron snarked.

"We gotta get the arrow out," Harry said. "If it's tipped with poison-"

"It is," Ethan mumbled, voice barely loud enough to hear. "Aconite."

Ron grouched about Ethan being heavy several times as they dragged him up the steps and to the oak front doors. "Grow some muscles then," Ethan snarked back as Harry opened the heavy door and stuck his head inside. It was almost nine and most of the younger years would already be inside their dorms. In another half hour the older years would be in their common rooms as well.

"Wait," Ron said, before Harry could begin dragging Ethan into the castle. "Where are we taking him?"

"Dungeons?" Harry suggested.

"Are you crazy?" Ron whispered. "Snape'll find us!"

"Yeah but there's tools in the potions labs. Knives, and ingredients we can brew an antidote with."

"I don't know an antidote for aconite poisoning!"

"Bezoar?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Just get me inside!" Ethan snapped. Harry looked inside one more time, and then they hauled Ethan into the castle and closed the door behind them. They paused so Ron could store their brooms in a cupboard and ward it shut so Filch couldn't get in, and then began carefully carrying Ethan down the long stairwell into the Dungeons.

"Let's use Lab C," Harry said. It was one of the smaller labs that older students were sometimes allowed to use for personal projects. It only had two workbenches and a small supply cupboard that was shared with Lab D.

Harry unlocked Lab C with his wand and they carried Ethan inside and struggled to get him up onto one of the workbenches. Ethan cursed when they nearly dropped him on the floor, and then let out a sigh of relief when he was finally on the workbench on his back, his feet and ankles hanging off the end.

"I hate you," Ethan said.

"You're welcome," Ron gruffed. "What now?"

"Get the arrow out!" Ethan snapped at them again.

"Shut it! I wasn't talking to you!"

Harry ignored the irritated voices of the other two to go into the store room, and came out with a box of spare Potions tools that were available for when a student's tool broke during class.

"Harry can't do it," Ethan said, eyes still closed.

"What?" Ron snapped. "Why?"

"If he gets sliced by the arrow he'll be poisoned too."

Ron cursed and took the knife Harry was offering him.

"Don't cut me open," Ethan said. "Push the arrow all the way through." He grimaced as he said it, as if it hurt just to think it.

"He's gonna bleed a lot," Ron said quietly to Harry, and Harry went back into the store room to see if there was anything he could find to use as bandages. He came back out a minute late with two sheets they sometimes used when they needed to strain chunks of ingredients out of potions before they could be bottled, and began cutting them into strips.

"Ethan, what do we do to get the poison out after the arrow's out?" Harry asked.

"Crush a bezoar, mix it with garlic, and stuff it in the wound. Then sew it up."

"Disgusting," Ron said, as Harry went to the store cupboard again and then began preparing ingredients. Ron transfigured a needle from one of the knives and pulled thread out of one of the sheets, and then took his Quidditch Robe off so he wouldn't ruin it.

"I put a silencing charm on the room," Harry said as he came back over with a mortar and pestle full of the crushed ingredients.

"Help me roll him over," Ron said, and the two Gryffindors lifted him up onto his side. Harry held him there while Ron went to the other side.

"Stand clear so the arrow doesn't get you when it comes through," Ron instructed. Harry stood back and Ron took a moment to prepare himself. He grimaced before he reached forward, gripped the arrow, let go, gripped it again and pushed on the arrow from the front. Ethan yelled as the arrow went through, and then Ron came around from the other side, blood on his hands, and pulled the arrow the rest of the way out through his back.

Ethan groaned and panted heavily, and Ron dropped the bloody arrow on the floor in disgust. "Blech," he said.

Harry ripped Ethan's shirt off and then handed the pestle to Ron who took a handful of the mixture, closed his eyes, and then pushed the mixture into the wound. Ethan screamed in pain again and then Harry took the needle and rough thread and quickly sewed up the hole in Ethan's back so they could lay him down. He went to his chest and sewed it up too, though Ethan had passed out before he was done.

Several minutes passed in silence as the boys stood there and stared at Ethan's passed out form. "What did we just do?" Ron asked, voice high as he looked at the blood all over his hands and shirt. "What the hell did we just see?"

Harry shook his head not certain. He heard what Ron was saying. He'd been disturbed to see the light leave Cedric's eyes in the graveyard, and even more scared and disturbed to see Sirius fall through the veil in the Department of Mysteries. This was on an entirely different level though. There'd been death before, but no blood. They'd never been required to sneak anyone into the castle before or to perform a surgery.

"Harry," Ron said quietly, and Harry looked over at his friend. "Don't make me do that to you, ok?"

"I won't."

"Don't. I mean it Harry."

Harry and Ron stared at Ethan's bloody body for another minute before Harry suddenly felt like he needed to scrub every inch of himself clean.

They washed their hands, took a strip of the sheet and got it wet and then washed as much blood as they could from Ethan's chest and back before wrapping his midsection in several layers of clean sheets.

They waited almost an hour to see if Ethan would wake up again, and when he didn't Harry said, "We can't stay here. Snape comes in and out of these rooms to get supplies to brew on the weekends."

"We could take him to guest quarters."

"Or the room of requirement."

"That's too far, and then we'd have to sneak him all the way back out of the castle again."

"You're right," Harry said. "Where's the nearest guest quarters?"

Ron thought. He and Harry spent a lot of their free time pouring over the Marauder's Map just so they'd be prepared in situations like this, and had done so since Harry had received it in their third year. "Two halls over," he said.

"Snape's gonna kill us when he finds us," Harry commented. "He's gonna find us." It was a certainty. But Snape didn't find them despite that it took them nearly ten minutes to drag the injured man to the nearest guest room. Once Harry and Ron had deposited him inside, they went back and washed any blood that had dripped down the hall behind them, and made sure there was no sign of blood on the door knob of the guest room.

"It's almost eleven," Ron said, feeling exhausted.

"I know."

"How long you think he'll sleep?"

"I don't know. I don't know how aconite poisoning works."

"Idiots," Ethan groaned as he came to. He groaned again. "What did you do to me?" His eyes opened a crack, but it seemed like he was too weak to open them further.

"We got the arrow out," Harry said from his seat next to the bed in the guest room. This was probably the smallest guest room he'd ever seen. It had a bed and a nightstand, two chairs and a wardrobe. It was cramped. "The wound is stitched up, but-"

"What?"

Ron and Harry looked at each other and then back at Ethan. "Nothing was clean. We did it all in a hurry."

"Were's aren't prone to infection. Once the aconite is countered I'll heal in a couple days."

"How long will that take?" Ron asked.

"All night at least," Ethan said. "I can feel the effects lessening already."

"What did the aconite do to you?" Harry asked.

"After you get aconite in your system, you have about ten minutes before it starts to paralyze you. You have an hour, two at the most, before it paralyzes your heart and lungs and you die."

That explained why he hadn't been able to open his eyes since they found him and why they'd had to drag him all the way into the castle.

They sat quietly for a while before Ethan said, "Where were you during the full moon?"

"Inside," Harry said.

Ethan looked at him.

"I couldn't go out. The Alpha's been calling me out all month. He got me outside once and slashed open my side while I was sleeping. He's been sending me dreams of me eating Ron too."

Ethan sighed. "And who did you eat while you were in the castle?"

"I locked him in a cell and warded it shut," Ron said. "He never transformed."

Ethan looked from Ron, to Harry. "You never transformed?"

Harry shook his head.

"Idiots."

"Hey!" Ron snapped at him. "We did the best we could! Where were you? Huh?"

"I was leading the hunter away from here! How sick did he get from not transforming?"

Harry and Ron looked at each other. "Pretty sick," Harry said. "I was weak and I kept throwing up."

"Your body is meant to transform when the moon is full. If you're locked inside with no window for the light to get in and you can't transform, your body is pouring all that energy into transforming with no transformation. The human body can't take that!" He turned and glared at Ron, who crossed his arms.

"Maybe if you'd said something," Ron said.

"I shouldn't have to! He's not an animal that needs to be locked up!"

"Well you didn't do a great job of leading the hunter away did you? And in the meantime Harry and I were left to figure things out for ourselves!"

"He doesn't need your help!" Ethan pushed himself up on his elbows and Ron jumped up off his chair.

Harry stood and put his hands up between them. "Whoa, both of you hold on. I do need Ron, and he's right, we didn't know and we didn't know what to do because you weren't here. Help us figure out what to do for the next full moon."

"I'll be here for the next full moon," Ethan said, and laid back down.

"You sure?" Ron asked, clearly irritated.

Ethan glared at him.

"So you're gonna stick around?" Harry asked. "What about the Alpha?"

"I'm working on it," Ethan said.

"How?" Ron snapped.

Ethan ignored him.

"And what are you gonna do about the hunter?"

"I have a place to hide. I'll be around and out of sight."

"And if we need you?" Ron asked.

With a huff, Ethan said, "Go to the moving willow tree."

"You've got to be kidding," Ron raised his voice, ready to argue again. "You want us to go all the way out to the Shrieking Shack to get you?"

"The tunnel goes more than one place," Ethan said. "Take the tunnel to the left once you're inside. It goes to a cave under the school."

They sat with Ethan until almost five in the morning, and then helped him up and out of the castle. Harry wondered throughout their journey back to the front doors what they would say if someone spotted them supporting a shirtless, bandaged, injured werewolf back out onto the grounds, but they didn't encounter anyone, and all the portraits were still sleeping in their frames. When Ethan was gone, Harry and Ron retrieved their brooms form the cupboard, and then hurried back to the destroyed, bloody lab to get their Quidditch robes.

"There's no way we can clean this in time," Harry said.

"Forget it," Ron said. "Leave it."

They hurried as quickly as they could up to Gryffindor, showered before the other boys rose, and then changed into clean clothes.

"Worst night ever," Ron said as he fell face first into his bed. Harry mumbled as he fell asleep. He'd had worse nights. At least no one had died. He would always count that as a win.

* * *

"What is it you have to show me Severus?" Albus Dumbledore said as he came to the end of the Dungeon corridor. Severus had sent him a message shortly after breakfast requesting his presence. Without a word, Severus unlocked and opened the door to Lab C and motioned for the Headmaster to go inside.

There were bloody bandages on the floor, blood on one of the workbenches, on the door handle, and on the door leading to the supply cupboard. There was a used pestle and mortar full of bezoar and garlic, and a distinctly colored arrow on the floor.

"This confirms it then," Albus said.

"I would say so, yes," Severus said seriously.

"At least two, wouldn't you say so?"

Severus stooped down and picked up the arrow, smelling the tip before pulling it away from his nose.

"If one was poisoned with wolfsbane there's no way he or she would be able to get the arrow out themself."

"Get a count of the students and staff to be sure everyone is alive and accounted for. If one of the students is hurt I want to be certain they receive care."

"What will you do if we cannot figure out who it is?"

Albus looked at Severus and said, "Perhaps it is time for a visit from our friend Remus."

"Wonderful," Severus muttered.

Albus turned and left and Severus threw the bloody arrow back on the floor. "They didn't even have the decency to catch any of the blood in a phial," he sneered. A phial of werewolf blood was worth seven Galleons.

Harry and Ron's eyes were glued to the form of Remus Lupin as he walked down the corridor with Professor McGonagall chatting amiably Monday morning.

"What's he doing here?" Harry asked. His gut was twisting and he couldn't figure out why.

"I don't know, the defense position isn't open again," Ron said.

Hermione came up behind them as they stood in line outside the Charms classroom waiting to be let in.

"Did you see Professor Lupin?" she asked. "He arrived this morning."

"Why?" Harry asked, still feeling uneasy about his presence in the castle.

"Everyone knows he's a werewolf," Dean said from behind them. "You know after that hunter came on the grounds they've been checking beds and everything to see if anyone here is a werewolf. I bet he's here to see if he can figure out who."

Harry and Ron turned and stared at Dean open mouthed. "What?" Dean asked. "You don't think so?"

"Bet his nose leads him straight to Slytherin," Seamus said knowledgeably. "You know how Draco was boasting that he was one."

"Shut up Finnegan!" Draco snapped at him as he passed on his way to another class.

"It'll be nice to catch up with Remus," Hermione said as Professor Flitwick let them into the Charms room. "We haven't seen him in a while."

"Yeah," Ron said when Harry didn't answer. "That'll be nice." He smiled at Hermione as they sat down.

Harry couldn't concentrate through class though, because he felt too uneasy to do so. Remus could be there to rat him out to the Headmaster. Harry had a feeling Remus was there for something else but he couldn't figure out what. All he knew was that he didn't like it.

Harry didn't see Remus again until after study hall later that day. It was their last class and Harry and Ron had gotten up to leave class in the Great Hall early, thinking they'd go to the library to read.

"Hello Harry, Ron," Remus said as they came out of the great Hall. He had a smile, which Ron returned, but Harry turned and let out a low growl, eyes locked with Remus'.

Surprise flashed over Remus' face. "Whoa, easy cub," he said quietly, and put his hands up as he took a step back at another low growl from Harry.

"Harry!" Ron chastised in a whisper tinged with disbelief, tugging on his friend's sleeve. "What are you doing?" Harry growled again as his eyes turned yellow, and he shrugged out of Ron's grasp.

Hands still up to show he wasn't a threat, Remus said, "I'm not here to take your territory. It's yours, all right?"

Harry's eyes slowly changed back to their normal green, and the hair on the back of his neck stopped standing on end. Harry wasn't sure what had come over him, but as soon as he'd heard Remus' voice, he'd felt threatened. Remus had seemed to know just what to say to calm him down however, because he no longer felt on edge. He supposed he did consider this his territory. Why didn't he get this upset when Ethan had come into the castle?

Harry turned to look at Ron, who was giving Harry a look like he'd temporarily lost his mind. "What?" Harry asked, as if he hadn't just freaked out on Remus.

"It's ok," Remus said, voice quiet. "Let's talk in here." He led them into an empty room and warded the door shut. Harry pretended to be interested in a Prefect schedule that was posted on the wall, since Remus had brought them into the Prefect's meeting room, and when he turned around found Remus giving him a look he couldn't distinguish. He wasn't sure if it was sadness, uncertainty, or amusement. Perhaps somehow it was all three.

"When the Headmaster asked me to come to the school to see if I could spot two werewolves, I didn't think it would be you two."

"Un uh, not me," Ron said, holding up his hands. "Mum'd have my hide if it were me."

Harry wanted to ask how the Headmaster knew, but it was obvious with the wolf-hunter coming onto school grounds and with the mess they'd made and hadn't cleaned up in the potions lab. Everyone seemed to know the staff was on the search for werewolves.

"Who is the other person?" Remus asked quietly. Harry could clearly detect the sadness in his voice now though it was well masked as calmness.

"It's not a student," Ron said. "His name is-" Ron didn't finish though because Harry had elbowed him hard in the ribs. Ron shot him a look and rubbed his side.

"He's been helping me," Harry said. "Teaching me. He helped me get away from the Flagari and brought me to Hogwarts."

"And which one of you did the hunter injure over the weekend?" Remus asked seriously.

Harry and Ron gave each other a look, remembering all the blood the night they'd helped Ethan.

"Him," Harry said. "They got him with a tipped arrow. Remus-," Harry stuck his hands in his pockets as he suddenly began to feel nervous. "You're not gonna tell them are you? About me?"

Remus stood straight and sighed heavily, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Harry how did this happen? Who bit you?"

"It happened this summer. I'm still not really sure how. I just have random images of that night. I must have been out after dark when it happened. Mostly I just remember waking up all covered in bites and scratches and bruises the next day. Then I got angry and transformed there in the house a few weeks later, right after I figured out what was happening to me, and I had to run. That's when the wolf-hunter first spotted me and tried to kill me. I spent almost a week trying to get to Ron's house and that's when I met my other friend who's been helping me."

Ron snorted and Harry and Remus turned to him.

"He's not your friend Harry."

"He and Ron don't get along," Harry told Remus.

"It's not about us getting along!" Ron said hotly. "He gives you a bare minimum of information to make it seem like you have to keep depending on him, he doesn't show up for the full moon to help you out, and only comes around when he's been shot like we owe it to him to dig the arrow out of his gut. We're risking our necks for him Harry. Doesn't seem like much of a friend."

Remus looked to Harry to see what he had to say, but Harry didn't know what to say. Ron was right, and he'd thought the same thing several times. On top of what Ron had said, Ethan was moody and often short with them. He was marginally nicer to Harry than he was to Ron, but that wasn't saying much. On the other hand, Harry felt connected to Ethan, almost like he felt connected to the Alpha.

"He knows who bit me," Harry finally said.

"You don't?"

"No." Remus waited patiently for him to continue and Harry said, "If I ever want to be me again, I have to kill the alpha."

"That's a legend," Remus said seriously.

"No it's not. Not for us. And I have to kill him anyway because he keeps trying to call me out while I'm sleeping."

"You can't be serious." Remus suddenly sat up straighter. "You're a Norwegian Lycanthrope."

Harry nodded.

"I've only met one before. He was from Narvik and he killed his Alpha because he was trying to exert too much control over him." He paused. "Harry-" Remus leaned back against the wall. "I know I don't have to impress upon you how serious this is."

"I'm handling it," Harry said.

"The Flagari aren't leaving. They think there are two students here to hunt, and the Headmaster thinks there are two lycans here as well. I don't know how you'll keep this hidden with the alpha trying to call you out on top of that."

"But you can help us, can't you?" Ron asked. "You know more about this than we do and Ethan isn't telling us enough."

Harry elbowed Ron hard again and he finally said, "Hey! Cut that out!"

"Ethan is his name?" Remus asked.

"He told Harry not to tell anyone that he was helping him or who he was."

"Packs work differently amongst the different types," Remus said. "It's taboo amongst Norwegian lycans to help someone who isn't in their own pack. I can't imagine he would help you if you weren't in his pack. It's possible the Alpha, he said he knew him, correct? It's possible the Alpha doesn't want anyone to help Harry and this Ethan is doing so against the Alpha's wishes."

"He acts like he's ashamed to know the Alpha," Harry said.

"But he said he would help you kill him?"

"Not exactly," Harry hedged.

"What exactly did he say?"

"He said he'd help me but he hadn't decided how yet."

"You haven't- eaten yet have you?" Remus asked.

"No," Harry said vehemently.

"If Ethan and the Alpha believe the legend is true, then I would wager that the Alpha continues to try calling you out to hunt with him so that you'll eat. Then killing him to regain full humanity wouldn't be an option anymore. Once that's off the table you'd have little reason to kill him. If you try to kill him after you've tasted human flesh, you'll become the alpha instead."

"I know," Harry said.

"Then you should be wary of others killing the Alpha. If Ethan, or anyone else in the pack kills him first, you'll lose your chance."

Harry and Ron looked at each other. "He wouldn't do that," Harry said, though he wasn't certain. Ron didn't say anything about it though.

"I want you to be careful Harry." He turned and looked at Ron and said, "and you should be as well. I'd like to advise you both to steer clear of the entire issue as well as of Ethan, but it seems you're both already too involved. It was more than bold to bring him into the castle when he was hurt, especially since you don't know much about him."

Harry and Ron both felt properly chastised. It had been a dangerous thing to do to bring him in. Now that Harry thought about it, this was the kind of thing that might get them both expelled.

"It's all a big mess," Harry said, thinking again about how these things seemed to follow him around.

"How have you been handling the full moon?"

"Not well," Ron said when Harry didn't answer.

Remus gave them a questioning look and Ron filled in the details for him.

"The Headmaster brought me here to see if I could find out who it was," Remus said. After a long pause, he continued, "I'm not going to tell him, but I think you should Harry."

"Why? I'll get kicked out of school for sure! He'll make me register with the Ministry! That's why we haven't told Hermione."

Remus sighed. "It's your choice Harry. I'm not going to make it for you. I know you and I trust that you're taking precautions to keep others safe. It's not others I'm worried about though. You and Ron are in real danger, both from the Flagari and the Alpha. I can't say for certain what the Headmaster will do, but I don't believe he asked me to come here with the intention of turning you in to the Ministry or making you leave school. It's his job to keep all students safe, including you. I think he wants to help you and make sure everyone stays safe."

"Did he help you?" Harry asked after several moments.

"As a matter of fact, he did. He kept my secret because he didn't believe I should have to be an outcast as the Ministry would have me be. He also believed I should have a full education. And it was a weight off my shoulders having adults who knew about me to help me when the full moon came around. The Headmaster and Professor McGonagall took me out to the Shrieking Shack three nights a month and three mornings a month Madam Pomfrey healed me and made up excuses about my having to miss classes while I slept in the Hospital Wing."

Harry and Ron glanced at each other again. "We thought about using the Shrieking Shack," Harry said, "but the Alpha is out there and so is the hunter."

"You have reason to be scared," Remus said, stepping forward and putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "You don't have to do everything alone though. I can see that Ron has been a big help and you've obviously come to rely on Ethan, but there are others you can rely on too. People that care about you Harry. I'll do what I can to help you, but I'm not on staff and I was only invited to come for a few days until I could figure out who the lycans were. I would stay in Hogsmead if the Flagari weren't here, but that isn't a possibility. The Headmaster had me floo in directly to his office so I wouldn't have to come in from the outside."

Without warning Harry put his arms around Remus and hugged him tightly. Remus wrapped his arms around Harry as well. "I don't know what to do Remus. I never wanted this."

"I know," Remus said. "I'm sorry this happened to you. With all you've been dealing with, I never imagined this would get added to the list."

"Ethan told him it was a gift," Ron huffed as Harry and Remus let go of each other.

"Yes," Remus said, "for some it might be, especially for those of the Norwegian and Albanian tribes."

"It's not a gift," Harry said. "It's more people out for my blood. Someone's going to get me eventually Remus." Harry knew it was true. He felt it in his bones. He didn't know if he'd live to see another day, let alone another year. It was no wonder his grades had been slipping since school had started again. There was too much to be anxious about, too many things to plan and to do to spend time studying for charms exams and writing essays.

"I stand by what I said. I won't turn you in, but I think you should tell the Headmaster. He and others can be more help than you think."

"Others?" Ron asked.

Remus closed his mouth. "That's all I'll say," he said. He looked down at his watch. "The Headmaster is expecting a report in a few minutes. I have to go. I'll be around until tomorrow evening. If you want to talk I'm in the guest quarters down the hall from the Headmaster's office. I won't approach you again on this trip though or it might raise suspicion."

Harry gave him another hug and then Remus left.

"What are you gonna do?" Ron asked.

"I'm not telling anybody."

"Even after what Remus said?"

"Yes."

"I'd rather trust Dumbledore than Ethan."

"I know you would." Harry went for the door, but stopped and turned back to look at his best friend. "You're a good friend for helping me Ron, but Remus is right. It's dangerous to be around me."

"That's not what he said."

"It's what he meant though. It was bad enough for you and Hermione when it was just Voldemort, now it's the Alpha and the hunter too."

Ron shoved him lightly. "Forget it Harry, you're not getting rid of me. I'm in this now."

"Thanks," Harry said. Before he opened the door he said, "Ethan's in this too. He chose to find me and help me, I didn't ask for it. I don't know if I trust him, but I can't just ignore him either. What Remus said... him probably being part of the same pack I'm in... it makes sense now."

"What does?"

"I feel connected to him. Not like I'm his friend or anything... it's on a deeper level. It's like it's in my bones or something. I can't explain it."

"Like you owe it to him," Ron said, irritated.

"Not owing him..." Harry thought about it, trying to put words to it. "It's like, I have to help him, because it wouldn't be right not to, and I have to listen to him because I just have to."

"Maybe he's the Alpha and he's been lying to you."

The thought had crossed Harry's mind, but he'd discounted it as soon as the Alpha had started calling him out. "No, the Alpha is older, I can tell. I can tell he wants something from me. Ethan doesn't want anything."

"You can tell that?"

"Yeah."

Ron huffed. "I'm still not going anywhere. I don't have to like him either. If I have to help him, I'll do it for you."

"Thanks," Harry said.

Later that night at dinner, Harry and Ron glanced up at the head table. Remus was sitting between Snape and the Headmaster, and the Headmaster kept leaning over to Remus to whisper something as they looked out over the sea of students eating their meal. Snape seemed to be keeping an unusually close eye on the students as well. While Remus and the Headmaster were looking at the Hufflepuff table however, Snape was staring at Harry and Ron. They went back to their meal, backs to Snape where he couldn't see their faces.

"Git," Ron muttered.

Harry stuffed his mouth full of potatoes to keep from saying anything at all.