As Matt and Hermione walked down Diagon Alley away from Fudge's shop Hermione kept close to Matt's side. She cuddled his arm protectively and he smiled the whole time, loving having her near and holding onto him. He felt like he was the luckiest man alive, having won Hermione's heart after all. She had always had his, whether or not she realized it. Matt's flame for her burned even when she was not available and was not interested in him. That was ok, being her friend was enough. Now that friendship had morphed into something more and it was finally their time to shine.
"Hey Hermione?" Matt asked as they passed in front of Gringott's. The bank was almost the only building still lit, its windows shining golden in the late cold air.
"Yes Matt?" Hermione asked as they paused, she turned her head to look at him. He smiled at her, the light catching in her brown curls and shining in her eyes.
"Could I have another kiss?"
Hermione got an impish grin across her face, and she reached up to pull him down to her like she had done before. Matt quickly responded and this time, he found her lips to be warm but parted. Hermione's grin had been more than a little suggestive as their mouths captured one another. Matt and Hermione's eyes closed as this time; their tongues battled for dominance. They pressed themselves against one another, for warmth and comfort as they held the kiss for seemingly forever. When they finally broke apart for air, they were both panting and blushing of the light of the bank.
"Was that what you were hoping for?" Hermione asked as they resumed walking.
"And so much more." Matt replied, grinning ear to ear.
"I was wondering something," Hermione began as they slowly walked back to the Leaky Cauldron.
"What's that?"
"Well, you said you've been working on this project for werewolves. That must mean you have hair and tissue samples. Is there a willing donor?"
Matt paused and got lost in thought for a few moments. He wrestled with how much to tell her, but decided that since they were a couple, marriage contract or not, she should know everything. He would not keep secrets from her. Not like this.
"So, yes, we have a donor. The person does live in a special ward at St. Mungo's. There's something you ought to know though…"
"What is it?" Hermione wondered.
"The person is badly afflicted. They were bitten at precisely the wrong time. The moon that night, it wasn't completely full. Or at least it was only just barely begun to become full. When they were attacked, the attack itself was brutal, and the victim nearly died from a fall just beforehand…" Matt explained.
"What happened?" Hermione asked.
"Because of the timing, the victim mutated. This happens only on very rare occasions. It almost never does, because usually the werewolf has to be fully transformed to be able to infect. However, when they're in a partial state they can still infect. Usually, it doesn't happen because they're not typically in any mental state during transformation. Transformation only takes a few seconds, no more than a minute. Only very old werewolves who've undergone the transformation innumerable times retains their mental state when they do."
"That sounds horrible!" Hermione said. Matt nodded his agreement.
"It is, it's even worse if they take a victim. As you know, when a person is bitten, they're immediately infected and become a risk. However, the infection, lycanthropy, surges during transformation. That's partly why it's so painful and often the person is exhausted afterwards. If someone is unlucky enough to be bitten by a werewolf during the werewolf's transformation just prior to the moon becoming entirely full, they mutate. Their body becomes a half-human, half-werewolf that looks like a monster. They're just as dangerous, however, they maintain their sanity. They're fully aware of themselves, just as they are when not transformed. However, they're stuck like that. It's a halfway between human and beast and they cannot revert back."
"That is a terrible thing to inflict on someone. Who could be responsible for that?"
"Can you think of no one?" Matt asked sincerely. Hermione paused as she turned over in her head the few possibilities and gasped. Her hands flew to her mouth and her eyes widened with shock.
"Surely you don't mean Fenrir Greyback."
Matt nodded.
"He turned someone before he was killed at the Battle of Hogwarts. Hermione…it was Lavender Brown."
"No! You're serious? She was listed as deceased! She-she lived?" Hermione was aghast.
"Yeah. She was touch and go and Madam Pomfrey did everything she could, but it couldn't stop the transformation. She was listed as deceased and moved to St. Mungo's before Voldemort even fell. It was for safety."
"How could I have not known?" Hermione wondered.
"It was intentionally hidden from us. I only found out because I was assigned her project once I started at St. Mungo's."
"How…how is she?" Hermione asked and Matt started to walk again, Hermione's had clasped in his, her attention held firmly on him.
"She's really strong. Greyback did a number on her throat and her vocal cords have only recently begun to mend. She can talk with a little help from my antidote. She knows it might be a cure, but it may not be either. Lavender's a fighter and has endured her condition well."
"Oh, I feel terrible! If I had known…, is she allowed visitors?" Hermione pressed.
"Well not typically no. Lavender's parents do show up routinely to see her. They care a lot, but because she was listed as deceased and rushed away, well no one knows really. St. Mungo's wasn't even sure of her condition until a month later. They kept her alive through potions and spells. And then when the mutation took effect, well she couldn't be released. She'd have been executed. Between her and her parents they agreed she could live at the hospital, and she would give tissue samples and hair samples to be tested. It took three years to get Project Lykos off the ground. My boss, Healer-In-Charge Cyrus Bolt, he spearheaded the whole thing. He fought to get the funding to hire me and an assistant and for all the ingredients and equipment needed to start making and modifying the Wolfsbane potion."
"Then what Draco's doing…"
"Is reprehensible. What I agreed to do was reprehensible. I was willing to sacrifice Lavender's prospects to save myself. The only reason I agreed to it at all, was because I knew that Lavender wouldn't die without it, and that once the cure did become available, she would be able to live normally anyway. The only thing that would be ruined would be me…"
Hermione bit her lip. Matt had caught onto Harry's bad habit of self-sacrifice and blame. Of all the things Harry Potter could have instilled in Matthew Santini, that was not one of them Hermione would have hoped for. She sighed as they reentered the Leaky Cauldron.
"Why did you ask about visitors? Did you want to see Lavender?" Matt asked.
"Well, you see, Lavender and I…to say we didn't get along is a bit of an understatement. We certainly had our disagreements over things and rarely saw eye to eye. It made for a tense dorm. Looking back though, I can see she tried to reach out to me several times, in her own way. I just could not see it through all the books and learning. I wish now, I had treated her better. Especially over her and Ron. I was so…"
"Jealous?" Matt offered. Hermione scowled but did not disagree. She had a feeling he knew exactly how he felt.
"You know…" Matt said looking at his watch. "She'll still be up. Her sleep schedule is all kinds of messed up due to her…problem. If you wanted, we could slip in to see her."
"Are you sure?! That could be dangerous, couldn't it?" Hermione asked, not wanting to put them at any more risk than they already were.
"It'll be fine, c'mon." he said and reached out to take her hand. Hermione grasped his fingers tightly and the pair Disapparated from the Leaky Cauldron.
A moment later they were in front of St. Mungo's. Matt slipped inside and approached the Welcome Desk. The weekend night shift was gone as the hospital only kept minimal staff for emergencies during the weekends. He slipped behind the desk and looked through the drawers. Matt found the one he wanted and silently tapped it with his wand. The drawer popped open, and he reached inside and grabbed a pair of security passes. He handed one to Hermione and the pair of them went to the third floor.
After slipping through the magical barriers erected each night with their passes, Matt led Hermione along the corridors past his offices. He paused and ducked inside his office for a moment, returning with a handful of vials of potions.
"What's that?" Hermione asked.
"This is the cure, in its current form. If she's having trouble a few drops of this will help stabilize her. There are times where the mutation flares and she's less herself than others."
Hermione could see through the windows various cauldrons bubbling and brewing on stands, left to mature over the weekend. They passed by several rooms with chairs for teaching and the photo room. Finally at the end of the corridor on the third floor was a single patient room.
The room itself had a thick set of bars for doors, much like a prison, but gleamed silver in the evening light streaming through windows. The room was large, with a king-size bed, a reclining chair, several rugs, a table and several chairs were in one corner. It was decorated with various posters of bands and Quidditch teams, and there was even a small wireless radio by the large windows. Hermione knew the posters well, having seen similar ones in her own dorm pinned by Lavender's bed.
Matt rapped on the bars gently.
The king size bed shifted and suddenly, a large creature emerged from under the covers. It stood taller than Matt, towering in the room, brown fur covered its entire body, and its head was longer than it should have been. Normal werewolves were barely distinguishable from a standard wolf; however, this creature was clearly mixed. The creature's legs were long and gangly, looking misshapen and its forelimbs were equally long. It lumbered to the door and crouched.
"Hey Lavender." Matt said with a smile. "I wanted to see if you might be up for some company, I brought someone with me." He stepped aside to show Hermione was with him, she had backed away the moment Lavender emerged from her bed.
"Matt…brought…me…someone?" Lavender spoke but slowly and forcefully.
"Here." Matt pulled one of the vials of the cure out and motioned for her paw. Lavender extended it and claw slipped through the bar. Matt tipped a few drops of the cure onto her claw and Lavender drew it back to lick. She immediately began to relax and moved forward again.
"Hi…Lavender. It's me, Hermione. Do you remember me?" Hermione asked as she stepped to the door with a gentle smile.
"Hello, Hermione." Lavender's voice was weak but much clearer this time, her voice distorted from the transformation.
"Matt told me what happened, how you've been since…well…"
Lavender nodded her misshapen head.
"I…had to come and see you," Hermione's voice was full of guilt. "I wanted to let you know that there were no hard feelings between us. That I don't think you, of all people, deserved this. I'm sure Matt will perfect the cure. He's so close! And I also wanted to tell you that I know you tried to reach me when we were in school. I just couldn't see it. I'm sorry about Ron as well. You were really good for him." Matt placed a hand on the small part of Hermione's back to give her some reassurance.
"Thank you, Hermione. That means a lot to me." Lavender said and large tears streaked down the sides of her muzzle.
"Ron's doing well, he's still living near his parents, but he works at the Ministry! He's an Auror along with Harry. He's dating Padma Patil, Parvati's sister." Hermione explained. Lavender seemed to perk up hearing about Ron.
"He's happy?" Lavender asked.
"We think so. He seems to be." Hermione said and looked at Matt for confirmation. Matt nodded.
"And you?" she asked Hermione.
"Me? Well yes…you see…I've started to date Matt…and I'm very happy. I'm at the Ministry too, in the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. I've been helping House Elves and Goblins as of late. But now…I think I've a new cause to take up: werewolves."
Lavender looked like she might have smiled, and she wiggled her hind quarters.
"Really? You mean like me?" Lavender said. Hermione nodded emphatically.
"Yes, just like you! I'm going to see what I can do to help you and those who are afflicted with lycanthropy. Make life easier for you. That way, when Matt finishes the cure and you can leave, you'll be able to join the world again. You'll get to be happy!"
"And not hurt anyone?" Lavender asked.
"Yes, not hurt anyone." Matt confirmed.
"Sometimes, I wish I could. It hurts to want to hurt." Lavender said and sniffed.
"I'm sure it does. But soon, you'll be ok." Hermione said.
"Promise?"
"We promise." Matt and Hermione said together. Lavender nodded and then yawned.
"Bedtime." She spoke and lumbered back to her massive bed.
As Matt and Hermione returned to the entrance and Matt replaced their security cards Hermione looked at him with a new regard. He truly was doing the right thing and desperately wanted to help their classmate, despite there being differences.
"We have to stop Malfoy." Hermione said.
Matt nodded and pulled a sheaf of parchment out of the desk. He quickly filled out the form and placed it in the very center of the desk. He then grabbed a blank piece and wrote two notes. One explaining to Nikki he would not be in for at least a week and was taking vacation. The other was to Healer-In-Charge Bolt explaining that an emergency had come up and Matt was taking vacation to deal with it. He also attached instructions for Zach to let the newest batch of Wolfsbane potion mature for three extra days after they had added additional portions of ingredients and other additives to make the cure.
"Ok, that's settled. I'm free for the next week. We need to find that tent." Matt said as they exited the hospital.