Reminder: I do not own anything having to do with Harry Potter. That's all J.K. Rowling's.

Warning: This story will contain violence. If that bothers you in any way, this fic is probably not the best for you to read.

This story is dedicated to Russet022, who takes her time to talk to me about random things for three hours in the middle of the day. Russet, you wanted Remus fic, so here it is. Sorry, it's not as happy as I thought it would be.

...Chapter One: Condemned

"Will she be alright?"

"--when I get my hands on--"

"Ron, shut up!"

"Mr. Potter, either keep silent or leave."

"Sorry."

Hermione's head ached, but she forced her eyes open. Light streamed from the windows, too much light. She closed her eyes again, wishing the sunlight away. Mercifully, someone closed the curtains, and when she opened her eyes again, red-headed blotches came into focus. The entire Weasley clan had to be crowded around her bed, judging from the sheer amount of red shone in her line of vision.

Someone edged closer and Hermione was relieved to see Harry.

"Hermione!" She could tell that he had not been sleeping. Dark circles stood out under his eyes and his normally emerald gaze was bloodshot. She smiled weakly up at him, wondering why she hurt all over.

The ever efficient Madam Pomfrey ushered everyone out before Hermione could get a word in. It took her a few moments to realize that she was not alone in the room. Sitting on the next bed was a rather haggard looking man with greying brown hair.

She heard a scream from behind the door, Ron's voice, and for a moment she was transferred back to the battle. Screams from all sides tore at her ears. Dust flew though the air, its motes disrupted by brilliant flashes of light from all directions. She remembered Ron's voice screaming her name as a weight bore down on her from behind.

And then all was pain. Nothing mattered except the searing pain on her shoulder, the ragged cries torn from her throat...

She was brought back to reality by an echo of the pain. Madam Pomfrey had stripped the bandage off her shoulder, and was dabbing at it with an ordinary gauze pad.

Why doesn't she use magic? Hermione wanted to ask the question. But fear stilled her tongue. Gryffindor courage escaped her as she wondered if she really wanted to know.

She looked back over at the man, trying to ignore the medi-witch.

"Professor Lupin?" Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper. "Were you injured?" His normally kind face was filled with pity. He shook his greying head from side to side.

Another shout issued from the hall, followed by a bang.

The door of the Hospital Wing flew off its hinges as an irate Ron Weasley stepped into the room.

His eyes rested on her face for a moment, intense relief softening his features. But then his face went hard.

He walked to the end of her bed and stood, watching the exposed wound like it was an animal ready to strike.

"Werewolf!" He shouted the word. Everything about him bespoke a rage that Hermione had never seen in her friend. Ron's usual temper had reached an entirely new level.

His eyes shifted to Lupin.

"Are you happy now? Are you glad she's like you?" Never before had Hermione thought that Ron could kill someone, but in that instant, she knew better.

The thought frightened her. He was her best friend. They had always known Harry would have to kill Voldemort. But Ron looked like he would enjoy nothing more in life than ripping Lupin limb from limb.

"Finally got a pack of your own? You bloody git! I bet you are happy!" Ron stormed out of the room before Pomfrey could throw him out.

Hermione's gut twisted in knots.

What was going on?

Remus Lupin never left her side. From the moment he had seen the bloody holes in her shirt at the end of the battle, the moment that his trembling hands revealed her new secret, he had been beside her. Before anyone else knew what horrors the girl would have to face, he watched over her. And as one of her best friends condemned him for being related to her new condition, he sat through it.

He condemned himself.

The wolf in him was pleased. It was content. For too many years it had been alone.

Remus felt the being inside him reach out to the girl in the bed. She would be horrified when she learned what she was. She would throw him out and condemn him as well.

He deserved it.

"Professor Lupin?" Her voice cut through his thoughts. "What happened?"

There, the question he had hoped to avoid.

"Fenrir Greyback transformed during the battle." No one knew how the Death Eater had managed to transform without the full moon, but that did not make what he had to say any easier.

"He bit you."

A gasp from the girl drew his gaze back to Madam Pomfrey's hands on her shoulder.

She would hate him, he knew it. But McGonagall thought that it would be less painful for her to learn the truth from someone who shared her fate.

"Hermione, at the next full moon, you will be a werewolf."

Before she could blame him, tell him that he should have protected her and the others, he left.

She would need time, luckily the full moon was weeks away.

...Author's Notes:

I have my reasons for making Hermione a werewolf. They will be revealed later in the story. So, don't expect me to tell you them in my Author's Notes.

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