It Had To Be Her

1: The Bite

Severus

The fateful knock that sounded on his bedchamber door was a knock that the Potion Master of Hogwarts should have perhaps ignored in hindsight. As it was, he had not been sleeping but was deep into research on His Majesty's withered left hand, and so Severus was more annoyed than anything else to be disturbed at this late hour.

Severus made his last note in his notebook and shut it up for the night. He found his bed robe and tied it back on. No one knew this about him, but in his private chambers, he was a secret nudist, and it was only in public that he dressed in his austere black robes.

He unlocked the door after taking down his protective wards, expecting to see Minerva McGonagall with yet one more request by His Majesty, but instead, it was the grizzled old squib caretaker Argus Filch.

"Yes, Filch? What do you want at this late hour? I am afraid I will have to curb your use of my pay-per-view telly."

Filch rolled his eyes. "Cute. But I wouldn't dream of cuttin' into yer own use of that. Nah, I'm here cuz' that idiot wolf Dumbledore has teachin' Dark Arts classes conveniently 'forgot,'" He made quotation marks with his fingers, "To take his wolf behavior stuff ya' brew for him, an' now Potter an' his gang are out after curfew again on a full moon mind ya. Not that I care what happens to the brats but yer a teacher so I thought ye'd be able to bring the wolf in line."

Severus groaned inwardly. "Very well, Filch. Let me get decent, I will be right out presently."

"Fine with me, I've got a cat to feed and a hot toddy to get to. Have fun, Dracula."

Severus shut the door on the caretaker and quickly made his preparations. The last thing he grabbed was his wand, and he cast the usual magical tracker spells and found Potter and his gang being accosted by Lupin in his graying black wolf form. He ran up to the gang and shielded them with his body as Sirius Black in his dog form lunged at the wolf.

The wolf and the dog fought for a bit, but the wolf was stronger and bit Black on the back of the neck, incapacitating him. The wolf then tried to lunge for Miss Granger but he shielded her, and as he turned to push her out of the way, the wolf grabbed him by the right wrist and bit down, hard.

"Professor!" Miss Granger screamed. But he didn't hear her. All he felt was excruciating pain as he felt the poison of Lupin's lycanthropy spread throughout his body. He tried to move, but he blacked out and found himself not dead as he had hoped, or perhaps wanted, but in the hospital wing of Hogwarts with Minerva McGonagall in attendance...