Braving the Past

Chapter 10: The First Transformation

Previously...

"What's – happening – " A strangled cry was released from her throat as she felt herself begin to morph.

So it was true. Fenrir Greyback had successfully turned a new werewolf.

"Tom! Get out of here!" Hermione coughed out, falling to the floor as her bones cracked and reformed. "It's not – safe!"

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Tom's eyes widened when he realized what was happening.

"I'll go get help! We can stop this!"

"It's too late – " Her voice came out much deeper this time, more bones breaking and rupturing, fur growing all over her body.

Tom barely managed to scramble away before her claws came at him and scraped along the floor. He flung himself out the door, casting a charm to slam it closed as she threw herself against the wood with snarling teeth.

Hermione Granger was a werewolf. That's what she and Madam Richter had been talking about. That's who that man he had seen was. And that's why she and Dumbledore had worried about the full moon. She had been attacked by a werewolf, not by Grindelwald.

Now Tom understood why she had tried so hard to keep her past a secret. This wasn't exactly something you wanted frightened teenagers and protective parents to know about.

Tom was about to run from the dormitory to get help when he heard a crash, glass landing on the floor with sharp clangs. Then Hermione's room was silent.

He cautiously made his way closer to the door, putting his ear up against the wood to listen for any indication that she was still in there. He opened the door a crack, then rushed into Hermione's demolished room to lean out the broken window, glass cutting into his palms.

Hermione had flung herself from the fifth story, white claw marks stark against the stone below him. He could see her werewolf form making its way quickly out into the Forbidden Forest before she had disappeared completely.

He had to get Dumbledore. He was the only one who would understand and keep it a secret. It also didn't help that he was the strongest wizard alive, not that Tom was quite ready to admit that to himself yet.

After running through the halls and down the stairs, Tom came to bang incessantly on the Professor's door. The old man finally flung the door open, wrapping a robe around himself and looking incredibly disgruntled.

"Tom? What in Merlin's name are you doing banging on a Professor's door at this hour?" Dumbledore wondered.

"Sir, it's Hermione – " He broke off, looking both ways down the hall. Then he leaned forward and whispered, "It's a full moon tonight, isn't it?"

Dumbledore's eyes, instead of growing wider, seemed to cave in on themselves, looking weary and saddened.

"Yes, I was afraid of that. Where is she now?"

"She jumped out the window and ran into the Forbidden Forest."

"Did anyone else see anything?"

Tom shook his head. "I don't think so. The Head Dorm is on the very edge of the castle, so no one could have known."

Dumbledore nodded his head once, then transfigured his and Tom's clothes into more appropriate attire.

"We must find her, before she does something she regrets. Though she may be in the forest for now, Hogsmeade village is not so far away."