Bad Moon Rising

Chapter Five: Once the Door Opens…







I told myself I won\'t miss you……But I remember……What it feels like beside you…..

I really miss your hair in my face……And the way your innocence tastes……And I think you should know this…..You deserve much better than me









Remus sat in a chair near the fire pretending to read a book. He had actually stopped reading it over an hour ago when Hermione had come into the room. She was sitting on the arm of Harry’s chair watching the boys play wizard’s chess. Every once in a while he would feel her eyes on him and look up to find her smiling softly at him.





It had been two weeks since the black moon, two weeks since the night he took her so passionately only a few feet away on the sofa. Two weeks since she admitted that she had feelings for him. Things had been strange, uncomfortable as he couldn’t seem to get that night out of his head, the feel, the scent, the taste of her all lingered to torture him. He found himself longing to catch a glimpse of her, aching to get close enough to smell her sweet, powdery scent.







The boys had returned the next day from training camp but they would be going back soon and he would once again be all alone in the house with her. He found himself longing for it. As much as he loved Harry and was fond of Ron, their being in the house agitated him in a way he didn’t understand. It wasn’t rational, after all, the house did belong to Harry. He just felt…provoked…with them there.







“You all right, Mione?” Harry asked, laying his hand on her thigh and giving it a squeeze.







“I’m fine, Harry, no worries.” She ruffled his curls and gave him a broad smile. Remus could feel the aggression building inside him, all of it directed towards Harry. He didn’t understand it; the boy wasn’t doing anything that he hadn’t seen him do a million times over the years. Why did it bother him now?





“Check mate.” Ron said smugly, leaning back in his chair as he watched the two queens on the board get into a catfight.







“Ah, bugger it, that’s twice in one day…I’m out.” Harry said, flopping back in the chair. “You want to have a go, Mione?”







“You know I don’t approve of wizard’s chess, look at them, those two are still fighting!” She withdrew her wand and released the spell over the board so that the two queens returned to normal; Harry’s lying on its side in defeat.







“We could go to the cinema.” Ron offered.







“That sounds like a good idea. What do you say, Mione? Wanna go on a date?” Harry asked, waggling his brows. She laughed and slapped his shoulder.







“With you? Why Mr. Potter, surely you aren’t trying to woo me.” She teased.







“Did you just hit me? You dare hit the boy who lived? You shall pay, witch!” Harry reached out and began tickling her without mercy. She slid off of the arm of the chair and into his lap where she wriggled and laughed hysterically as he tickled her.







Remus’s vision began to blur at the edges and he felt the heat creeping up his throat and into his face. Rage unlike anything he had ever known was building up inside him. With a growl he tossed the book aside and stormed out of the room, slamming the door closed behind him.







“What in the hell was that about?” Harry asked, his arms still wrapped around his friend. Hermione just stared at the door wondering the exact same thing.









~@~









Remus moved quickly through the house to the large, open room in the back that had been turned into an office for the Order. He went inside and locked the door before going to the painting of Albus Dumbledore.







“Remus! How nice to see you.” Albus said cheerfully as the younger wizard pulled up a chair.







“Albus, I need to ask you something…it’s of a rather personal, delicate nature.” Remus said as he settled his long body onto the chair.







“Of course, you know you can talk to me about anything.” Albus said curiously. It wasn’t like Remus to act so strangely.







“The night of the black moon…I was…well I was with a young woman, in the biblical sense.” He actually blushed which Albus found amusing.







“I am not surprised, Remus, the black moon would have increased your drive to copulate.” Albus said, eyes twinkling.







“The problem is that now, whenever there are other males anywhere near her I feel this blinding rage…they don’t have to do anything at all but if they are close to her I feel provoked….like I want to fight.” He was fisting and un-fisting his hands repeatedly.





“Remus…the young woman, was she innocent? Was she a virgin when you took her?” Albus asked, his brow furrowing.







“Yes, though I didn’t realize it before I…before we….well I didn’t realize it before.” He stammered.







“Oh, Remus, my dear boy.” Albus clucked and shook his head sadly. “Did you not read up on the Black Moon’s effects?”







“I read what I could find. There isn’t as much as you might think given it only occurs every thousand years.” Remus raked his hand through his hair in agitation.







“Even though you were not transformed, your wolf instincts were very much at the surface. Virgin’s blood is very powerful, Remus. Combine the moon and the blood of a virgin….you have yourself a mate.” Albus could see the horrified expression on the man’s face and he pitied him.







“A mate? As in a wolf’s mate? As in mated…for life?” Remus was pale, his head spinning.







“I am afraid so. Your aggressiveness when other males are near is a result of the lupine Alpha trait, you see them as a potential threat to your position and to your mate, and therefore you are driven to protect her and your territory.” Albus’s brow furrowed curiously. “Remus…who is the woman you mated?”





Remus looked up, his face a mask of shame. Not only had he stolen her innocence but he had bound himself to her in the process.







“Gods forgive me, Albus, but the woman is….Hermione.”