FicWad

Changes

A Harry Potter fanfic written by Cereal_junkie

Warnings: V
Additional Warnings: None
Rating: R for violence and language
A/N: This idea came to me while listening to one of my favorite songs. If you can’t tell by the title, the song is “Changes” by 3 doors down. Before you say anything, no, this is not a songfic, because songfics have the lyrics of the songs in them. This was just inspired by the song. I like the idea of Harry being bitten by Lupin and becoming a werewolf after I thought about it, and I haven’t seen the idea online so I figured “Eh, why not?” Let’s see where this goes, shall we?

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or the canon events. J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and every character and canon event in it.


Ch. 1: The infection

The leaves overhead rustled faintly in the breeze. The moon drifted in and out of sight behind the shifting clouds. Hermione sat with her face turned toward the Whomping Willow, waiting. Harry sat stock still, his muscles straining as he waited to jump up at any moment to do what they needed to do. They had already rescued Buckbeak. Now they just needed to wait until their other selves came out of the Willow and await the following events so they could rescue Sirius. Harry would be damned if he was going to let the Dementors kiss his godfather. He just got him back, just found out he was innocent, and he had even offered to let Harry stay with him once the charges were dropped. He wanted that home so badly, but Hermione still insisted they let events play out as they already had, like Dumbledore told them, until they were to rescue Sirius. If not, they risked being seen, and that was bad for every party involved.

“Here we come!” Hermione whispered suddenly, and Harry tensed. He and Hermione got to their feet. Buckbeak raised his head in response to see what was going on. They saw Lupin, Ron, and Pettigrew clambering awkwardly out of the hole in the roots. Next came Hermione, then the unconscious Snape drifting oddly upwards. Next came Harry and Sirius. They all began walking toward the castle. Harry’s heart started to beat faster. He glanced up at the sky. Any moment now, that cloud was going to drift aside and shower the ground in moonlight. If only they could just go over there and catch Pettigrew while the others were distracted…

“Harry,” Hermione muttered as though she knew exactly what he was thinking, “we’ve got to stay put. We mustn’t be seen. There’s nothing we can do!” she said urgently, and Harry glared at her.

“So we’re just going to let Pettigrew escape all over again?” he hissed back, ignoring Hermione’s annoyed look.

“How do you expect to find a rat in the dark?” Hermione snapped. “There’s nothing we can do! We came back to help Sirius; we’re not supposed to do anything else!”

“All right!” Harry snapped back, and turned his attention back to the scene that was unfolding. The moon suddenly slid out from behind its cloud. They saw the tiny figures that were moving across the grounds stop. Then, they saw erratic movement from almost every figure.

“There goes Lupin,” Hermione whispered. “He’s transforming.” Harry looked and the man was indeed transforming. Then, a horrible thought occurred to Harry as he saw his godfather launch himself at the werewolf in dog form. Suddenly, before he could say anything, the huge figure was bounding toward the forest, right towards them.

“Hermione! We’ve got to move!” Harry said frantically.

“We mustn’t, I keep telling you-“ she started, obviously not seeing the huge thing coming toward them.

“Not to interfere! I know, but Lupin’s running into the forest right at us!” Harry said, and Hermione gasped.

“Quick!” she moaned, dashing to untie Buckbeak. “Quick! Where are we going to hide? The Dementors will be coming any moment!” She said, and Harry spoke up right away.

“Back to Hagrid’s! It’s empty now, come on!” He said, and they rushed frantically toward it, but it was too late. They heard the werewolf howling not ten feet away from them and Hermione screamed, drawing the attention of the now transformed Professor Lupin. Frantic, Harry hoisted Hermione up onto Buckbeak and told her to hold on. He was about to climb up on him as well when a growling made him turn around. Lupin was upon them and Harry turned his wand on him, trying to think of a spell to repel the werewolf. Before he could so much as shout an incantation the werewolf’s huge paw slashed down, catching Buckbeak on the rear and making the animal rear backward, a frightened Hermione just holding on by the feathers, and tear forward into the forest. Lupin made to run after them and Harry used a blasting curse to get his attention. With a growl, the wolf lunged for him instead, snapping his jaws.

Harry raised his wand arm automatically to shield his face and suddenly let out a horrible scream as the creature bit into his flesh. He noticed nothing but the pain as he took his wand out of his useless wand hand and jabbed the werewolf in the eye with it, stumbling backward as the creature reared and released him, howling while pawing at his eye. Without thinking, he tore back toward Hagrid’s hut, wanting nothing more than to get away from his transformed professor. The sound of padding behind him made him frantic, and he stopped just around a tree, waiting for the werewolf to pass him before he shot another blasting curse at him and tore in a different direction. He could see Hagrid’s hut, and though he could still hear the creature behind him, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief at the small hut. As he finally got within range of the hut, the padding was really close, but before he could turn his head to see how close the creature was, he felt huge claws tearing open his back.

He screamed again, falling face forward and only able to stop himself with his good arm. He rolled over hurriedly, cringing as he felt dirt entering the wounds on his back, and shot a blasting curse at Lupin’s eye, the same one he had jabbed, and he scrambled up while the creature was still distracted, wrenched the door of the hut open, and stumbled inside. The door was shut behind him as he fell to the floor, and he didn’t bother to try to get up. He heard the huge wooden bolt of the back door being slammed into place. Good. Lupin couldn’t get in.

“Oh, Harry!” Hermione’s quivering voice came from behind him. He tried to sit up, but his back screamed in protest and he flopped back down to the floor involuntarily.

“Hermione. Do you remember that spell? The one Professor Lupin used for Ron?” Harry asked, looking at his arm and trying not to vomit.

“Y-yes. But Harry, we have to get you back up to the castle-“ Hermione started, but Harry interrupted.

“No, Hermione! We need to save Sirius! Use the spell for my arm and my back! Please! This is why we came back, isn’t it?!” he asked, finally sitting up and glaring at her though it took all of his self control not to scream.

“F-fine. F-ferula!” Hermione said, pointing at Harry’s back first. He felt the wounds being wrapped tightly and resisted the urge to scream as he felt the dirt being ground into them. She did the same to his arm, and as soon as she was done, he got up, took off his ruined hospital shirt, and looked out the window. Lupin seemed to have gone.

“Sirius!” Harry said suddenly. It would be happening soon. He and Sirius would be in trouble and Harry would see his dad rescue them. Before Hermione could say anything, Harry was rushing back out the door toward the lake, and Hermione followed him, trying to get him to come back. He ignored her, however, as he came upon the scene of himself and Sirius across the lake. He was already failing. His weak Patronuses were doing nothing. Any minute now…

“Harry, what are you doing?! We can’t be seen!” She said, but he shushed her. He watched the scene with a horrified fascination. His dad would appear any second. One of the Dementors swooped down, lowering his hood. It was time for the rescuer to appear, but no one was coming. Suddenly, he was hit by a thought. It wasn’t his father he had seen. He had seen himself! He rushed out before Hermione could protest.

“EXPECTO PATRONUM!” he yelled. Out of his the end of his wand burst, not a shapeless cloud of mist, but a blinding, dazzling, silver animal. He screwed up his eyes trying to see what it was. It looked somewhat like a horse, and it was galloping silently away from him, across the black surface of the lake. He saw it lower its head and charge at the swarming Dementors. Now it was galloping around and around the black shapes on the ground, and the Dementors were falling back, scattering, retreating into the darkness. It was then that Hermione found her voice.

“What were you thinking?! I told you over and over not to interfere!” she yelled, but he grabbed her by the shoulders.

“But Hermione, you don’t get it! It wasn’t my dad that I saw across the lake! It was me! I just thought it was him!” Harry said, and he hugged her. Hermione was stunned, but when she spoke up, it sounded awed.

“Harry, look.” She said, pointing behind him. He turned to see the Patronus cantering back towards them over the still surface of the water. It wasn’t a horse. It wasn’t a unicorn, either. It was a stag. It was shining as brightly as the moon above. It was coming back to him. It stopped on the bank. Its hooves made no mark on the soft ground as it stared at Harry with its large, silver eyes. Slowly, it bowed its antlered head. And suddenly, Harry realized something.

“Prongs.” He whispered. As his trembling fingertips stretched toward the creature, it vanished. Harry stood there, hand still outstretched. Then, Hermione spoke up behind him.

“Harry, I can’t believe! You conjured up a Patronus that drove away all those Dementors! That’s very, very advanced magic!” Hermione said excitedly, practically bouncing on her heels.

“I knew I could do it this time because I’d already done it! Does that make any sense?” Harry asked, but Hermione wasn’t paying attention. She was looking elsewhere.

“I don’t know! Harry, look at Snape!” Hermione said, pointing across the lake. Harry looked, but at the same time Hermione pulled him into a bush and out of sight so they couldn’t be seen. They peered around the bush around the other bank. Snape had regained consciousness. He was conjuring stretchers and lifting the limp forms of Harry, Hermione, and Sirius onto them. A fourth stretcher, no doubt bearing Ron, was already floating at his side. Then, wand held out in front of him, he moved them away toward the castle.

“Right, it’s nearly time,” Hermione said tensely, looking at her watch. “We’ve got about forty-five minutes until Dumbledore locks the door to the hospital wing. We’ve got to rescue Sirius and get back into the ward before anybody realizes we’re missing.” Hermione said, glancing down at her watch again impatiently. They waited for a few minutes, and Harry spoke up.

“D’ you reckon he’s up there yet?” Harry asked, checking his watch. He looked up at the castle and began counting the windows to the right of the West Tower.

“Look!” Hermione whispered. “Who’s that? Someone’s coming back out of the castle!”

Harry stared through the darkness. The man was hurrying across the grounds, toward one of the entrances. Something shiny glinted in his belt.

“Macnair!” Harry said. “The executioner! He’s gone to get the Dementors! This is it, Hermione!”

She and Harry raced back to Hagrid’s cabin and wrenched open the door, pulling the reluctant Buckbeak hurriedly out the door. Harry hurriedly tied the other end of Buckbeak’s rope to his collar, jumping up on him and pulling Hermione up behind him.

“Hermione, hold on to me!” Harry said, and when he felt her grab him around the waist, he nudged Buckbeak’s sides with his heels. Buckbeak took a running start and jumped up into the air, causing his riders to lurch but not fall off. Harry gripped his flanks with his knees, feeling the great wings rising powerfully beneath them. Hermione’s grip around his waist was really tight around his waist and he could hear her muttering behind him.

“Oh, no. I don’t like this. Oh, I really don’t like this.”

Harry urged Buckbeak forward. They were gliding quietly toward the upper floors of the castle. Harry pulled hard on the left side of the rope, and Buckbeak turned. Harry was trying to count the windows flashing past, and suddenly he saw it.

“Woah!” he said, pulling back on the rope as hard as he could and making Buckbeak slow to a stop within a matter of seconds. They floated up to his window a few seconds later. He reached out to the glass as Buckbeak’s wings fell and was able to tap sharply on the glass. Sirius looked up. Harry saw his jaw drop. He leapt from his chair, hurried to the window and tried to open it, but it was locked.

“Stand back!” Hermione called to him, and she took out her wand, still gripping Harry hard around the middle with her left arm. “Alohomora!” she yelled, and the window sprang open.

“How…how…” Sirius said weakly, staring at the hippogriff.

“Get on! There’s not much time!” Harry said, gripping Buckbeak firmly on either side of his neck to hold him steady. “You’ve got to get out of here! The Dementors are coming! Macnair’s gone to get them!” Harry said urgently. Black placed a hand on either side of the window frame and heaved his head and shoulders out of it. It was very lucky he was so thin. In seconds, he managed to fling one leg over Buckbeak’s back and pull himself onto the hippogriff behind Hermione.

“Okay Buckbeak, up!” Harry said, shaking the rope. “Up to the tower! Come on!”

The hippogriff gave one sweep of its mighty wings and they were soaring upward again, high as the top of the West Tower. Buckbeak landed with a clatter on the battlements, and Harry and Hermione slid off him at once.

“Sirius, you’d better go, quick,” Harry panted, “They’ll reach Flitwick’s office any moment, they’ll find out you’re gone.”

Buckbeak pawed the ground, tossing his sharp head.

“What happened to the other boy, Ron? And what happened to you?” he asked, eyes widening as he noticed Harry’s bandages.

“Ron’s fine. He’s still out of it, but Madam Pomfrey says she can help him, and it’s nothing. You need to go!” Harry said urgently, waving him off.

But black was still staring down at Harry.

“Harry, get some help for yourself, and fast. And thank you.” Black said with a concerned smile.

“Go!” Harry and Hermione shouted together. Black wheeled Buckbeak around, facing the open sky.

“We’ll see each other again,” he said. “You are…truly your father’s son, Harry…”

He squeezed Buckbeak’s sides with his heels. Harry and Hermione jumped back as the enormous wings rose once more. The hippogriff took off into the air quickly. As Harry and Hermione gazed after them, they got smaller and smaller until they disappeared.


Ch. End