Unexpected Moonlight Experiences

by Healer Pomfrey

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.

I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

Harry stood next to his godfather beside the lake casting one Patronus after the other at the Dementors that were threatening to suck him into oblivion. Completely engrossed in his attempts he did not notice the professor in form of a werewolf that quickly approached them from behind.

Remus sensed meat and strode towards the lake. Without thinking he buried his teeth into the younger human's robes, before he quickly let off, sensing that an inner voice, which he could not understand, told him that these humans were not hunting objects.

Harry felt that something scratched his left wrist but was distracted a mere instant later when a figure that looked like his father cast a powerful Patronus from the other side of the lake. The Dementors fled and Harry drifted off into peaceful unconsciousness. He neither noticed that a few drops of blood came out of the scratch on his wrist, nor could he know that exactly an hour earlier, when they were using the time turner, Hermione had asked him where he had received the scratch.

"I have no idea," Harry had replied and dismissed the thought since his wrist felt completely normal and didn't hurt at all. 'Otherwise Madam Pomfrey would have mended it when I was in the hospital wing,' he had thought and concentrated on the task of freeing a hippogriff.

満月の経験

Two weeks later, Harry suddenly began to feel strange. At first, he sensed that he was tired but dismissed it to the thought that he hadn't slept enough due to Quidditch practice, homework and preparation for the end of year tests. However, on Saturday morning, two days before the beginning of the test week, he began to feel outright ill. Each of his limbs ached slightly, his whole body felt sore, he had a headache that worsened by the hour and he felt a bit nauseated. 'I hope I'm not getting sick right before the test week,' he thought, terrified. 'This is like when I had the flu a few years ago.'

"Harry!" Hermione's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

'She smells nice,' he noticed, 'like flowers.' "What?" he asked absentmindedly.

"Are you feeling all right?" his friend asked in concern. "You don't look good."

"I'm fine," Harry replied quietly.

"Let's go for a walk," Ron threw in. "Even the two of you can't study all day."

"I'm going to take a short nap," Harry said and retreated to his dormitory, unaware of the worried looks his friends cast at him. Unfortunately, he didn't feel in the slightest better when he woke up in the morning. 'I'm just going to stay in bed today until Hermione chases me out because we have to study,' he thought and turned around to face the wall, noticing that his body felt very heavy. 'I wonder where Sirius is. It would be nice to spend the holidays with him,' he thought, hoping for a wonder to happen so that he wouldn't have to go back to the Dursleys' in a week's time. 'I just hope I'll feel better by then; otherwise, I won't be able to finish my chores.'

Ron came to wake him up at lunchtime. "Get up you lazybones; it's lunchtime, and we have to study for the Transfiguration test afterwards."

"Give me a few minutes. I'm coming," Harry replied and slowly scrambled out of bed. A few minutes later, he dragged himself down to the common room. From the stairs he could already smell that Hermione was waiting for them in the common room. 'Strange,' he mused, 'I can smell things better than normal. Maybe someone cast a prank spell at me.' He slowly followed his friends to the Great Hall, unaware that Hermione was observing him in concern.

When Harry sat between his friends at the Gryffindor table, he realised to his surprise that he was ravenous in spite of feeling sick and nauseous. He wolfed down two large portions of shepherd's pie, before he laid his fork down on the plate and let out a long sigh. 'Ginny smells nice,' he thought, absentmindedly looking up when he suddenly felt Hermione's hand on his arm.

"Harry, you look sick. Let me take you to the hospital wing so that Madam Pomfrey can check on you," she said in a soft voice, giving him a sharp look.

"I'm fine. My head hurts a bit is all," Harry replied, feeling very uncomfortable when the girl placed the back of her cool hand on his forehead.

"You feel a bit warm but not overly so," she said thoughtfully.

"Hermione, please don't do such things here in the Great Hall," Harry whispered in annoyance that only intensified when he realised that his Head of House was now heading straight to them.

"Mr. Potter, is everything all right?" the teacher asked sternly.

"Yes Professor," Harry replied.

"He hasn't been feeling well since yesterday," Hermione spoke up, glaring at Harry.

"I'm only tired because we studied so much," Harry lied.

McGonagall gave him a sharp look and said, "Ms. Granger, if Mr. Potter doesn't feel better later on, please take him to the hospital wing."

"I will," Hermione promised eagerly, causing Harry to inwardly groan.

The three friends retreated to the common room and began to study for their Transfiguration test that was going to take place in the morning. Unfortunately, Harry's condition didn't improve in the slightest, which didn't go unnoticed by his observing friend.

"Harry, let's go to the hospital wing to get something for your headache," she said firmly, knowing from the lack of protest that it had to be more than a simple headache that was bothering him.

Feeling too miserable to protest, Harry grudgingly followed his friends to the hospital wing, hoping that Madam Pomfrey would quickly give him a potion that solved his problems and let him go. However, when they reached the Mediwitch's domain, a parchment that was stuck to the door caught their eyes.

'Dear students,
due to a mass outbreak of the wizard's flu I am needed at St. Mungo's for the time being. Professor Snape will substitute for me. If he is not in the hospital wing, please find him in his office.
Poppy Pomfrey'

"Forget it," Harry sighed.

"But..."

"No. Let's go. It's dinner time."

Once again Harry wondered why he had such an appetite in spite of feeling unwell. Nevertheless, his Head of House came over to the Gryffindor table when he had just finished his meal and sat at the table with his achy head popped up on his fists.

"Mr. Potter, did you go to the hospital wing? You don't look any better to me."

Harry cringed at the stern voice. "It's not so bad. I didn't want to bother Professor Snape," he replied in a small voice, hoping not to attract everyone's attention.

"Very well then, please come with me," McGonagall replied sternly and unobtrusively nodded towards her colleague at the Head table, before she led Harry towards the hospital wing. She made Harry lie down on the first bed next to Madam Pomfrey's office, noticing from the corner of her eyes that Harry let out a relieved sigh as he stretched out on the bed. "We'll have to wait for Professor Snape," she said softly. "In the meantime, I'm going to take your temperature." She fetched a magical thermometer from the office and coaxed it under Harry's tongue. "It won't take long," she said soothingly, noticing that he seemed to feel very uncomfortable.

A few seconds later, yellow letters emerged from the tip of the glassy stick, '37.5'. The professor sighed. "Your temperature is slightly elevated, but it's not a fever, at least not yet. What exactly is ailing you?"

"My head and my whole body hurt," Harry admitted, just when Professor Snape strode into the hospital wing with his robes billowing behind him.

The Potions Master shooed Hermione and Ron out of the way and raised an eye at his older colleague. "Did Mr. Potter decide to try wriggling his way out of his tests?" he sneered.

Harry looked up in shock, but before he could even think of something to reply, Professor McGonagall said firmly, "Severus, if I might remind you, I was the one who brought Mr. Potter here. Apparently he did not wish to bother you."

"Very well then," the Slytherin replied and began to wave his wand over the boy.

"Apart from a slightly elevated temperature I can't find anything wrong," he said after a while. "What exactly seems to be the problem?"

"Everything hurts, but it's all right; I'm fine," Harry replied.

"Could it be the beginning of the flu?" McGonagall asked, and Snape once more waved his wand.

"No," he said finally, "at least not the wizard's flu. It's probably just a cold. I'll give Mr. Potter a Pepperup potion and he should be fine." He summoned a small phial from the potions shelf and handed it to Harry. "Drink and return to your dormitory. This should make you feel well enough to attend your test in the morning."

"Thank you, sir," Harry mumbled and quickly downed the potion, noticing that it only helped so much.

"Better?" the Gryffindor head queried, eyeing him in concern.

"Yes, thank you," Harry lied, eager to get away from the grumpy Potions Master.

"Very well then, please take Mr. Potter back to Gryffindor and make sure that he goes straight to bed," McGonagall said, turning to Hermione.

"So Harry doesn't have to study tonight?" Ron pouted, causing Hermione and her Head of House to shake their heads in disbelief.

"I'm sure Mr. Potter will be able to manage his Transfiguration test without studying tonight," McGonagall said, smiling, as she gently helped Harry out of the hospital wing.

満月の経験

In the morning, Harry didn't feel any better; however, the thought of going to the hospital wing in order to let himself be ridiculed by the Potions professor was not too appealing, and Harry preferred to attend classes, although he doubted that he would be able to receive good marks in any of his tests. To his relief, the written Transfiguration test went fairly well, although he had problems concentrating, especially as he had the impression as if the teacher was watching him like a hawk to make sure that he was all right. At least the questions that he had to answer were easy for someone who had spent the last weeks studying together with Hermione.

However, from the afternoon test onwards, everything went downhill. The practical part of the Transfiguration test wasn't difficult either; however, Harry could hardly lift his arm and only managed to properly cast half of the required spells.

"Harry, are you still feeling sick?" McGonagall asked in concern.

"A bit," Harry admitted. "I'm sorry for messing up."

The teacher thoughtfully cleared her throat. "You didn't mess up; however, your performance was in no way as good as normal. Please go to the hospital wing again as soon as the last afternoon class is over. I'll ask Professor Snape..."

"No Professor," Harry vehemently interrupted his Head of House. "I won't go to see Professor Snape again. It's not that bad and I'll be fine."

The teacher gave him a stern look and carefully felt his forehead, making sure that it didn't feel overly hot to the touch. "Very well," she finally said. "Try to get as much rest as possible, and if you don't feel well in the morning, come to me, so that I can excuse you with your teachers."

Harry profusely thanked his Head of House and returned to his common room, where he made himself comfortable on a sofa in front of the fireplace. 'If this continues, I'm going to screw up all of my tests,' he thought sadly. 'I wonder what's wrong with me. Too bad that Madam Pomfrey isn't here. I'm sure she wouldn't think that I came to see her in order to get out of my tests.'

The following two days were horrible. On Tuesday, the third years had their Defence Against the Dark Arts test. While the theoretical test was all right, Harry failed the practical test. From the corner of his eyes, he saw that Professor Lupin wanted to speak with him; however, he hurriedly left the room, not wanting to be sent to Professor Snape again.

During the Charms test on Wednesday, Harry didn't have much luck either. Wondering why Harry didn't manage to cast any of the charms, which he had been able to flawlessly cast in his class, Professor Flitwick asked Harry to cast the Patronus charm, knowing that his younger colleague had taught the boy. However, Harry's wand arm felt so heavy that Harry couldn't put enough magic in it to cast such a strong charm.

"I'm sorry Professor, but I don't feel so well today," he finally said, unable to come up with any other explanation.

"You should have told me before your test; however, I believe you and I'll arrange with Professor McGonagall that you can re-take this test at a later time," the professor promised and released Harry with the instruction to go and see Professor Snape.

Harry dragged himself back to his dormitory and went straight to bed. When his friends, who checked on him every now and then in concern, went to dinner, he called Dobby and asked him to bring something to eat for him, glad when Dobby complied without asking any questions. He was just about to drift off to sleep, when Hermione and Ron re-entered the dormitory.

"Harry, the twins went to the hospital wing and nicked a Pepperup and a dreamless sleep potion for you," Hermione explained, while Ron handed him two small phials.

"Tell them I said thank you please," Harry said gratefully and quickly gulped down both potions, sighing in relief as he succumbed to the effects of the dreamless sleep potion.

However, a few hours later, Harry felt himself being pulled out of his blissful sleep when an immense pain shot through his body as he transformed into a wolf. 'Everything hurts,' was the only thing Harry realised as he continued to sleep.

tbc…