Wretched little beggar

First Transformation

She sat up in bed, gasping, covered in cold sweat. Her breath came in short huffs, and she struggled to calm down her rapidly beating heart. The events of her nightmare remained foggy, except for the distinct sensation of terror.

-"Shhh, it's ok. You're fine. You're safe. You're going to be ok."

A calm voice repeated those words like a mantra, and M was slowly able to focus. She was in an unknown room, walls painted a soft peach color and blue curtains floating gently on the breeze. On the side of her bed, sitting on a stool was Mara, the same blond plait as she'd seen her with last time reaching down to her swollen stomach.

-"Hey. Finally up! How are you feeling?"

The woman took a jovial tone, but the gryffindor could see the worry creasing her brow. M didn't have the strength to lie.

-"Like trash."

And she did. She had a major headache, and the rest of her body was hurting. She glanced down at herself. She was wearing an unknown white nightgown, but could see through it that her torso was bandaged. Her arms were too, and from what she could feel, so were her legs. She had a moment's difficulty in remembering how she got there.

And then it came back. The monstrous wolf, the fight, the pain, and then, less clearly again, tripping through Hogsmeade with blood running from her wounds, the determination to get somewhere that could help, ringing Mara's doorbell and finally collapsing on her doorstep.

-"I should leave now." the raven-haired girl muttered.

-"Leave? You're in no condition to leave! You were more than half-dead when you showed up, and you're lucky to be alive! Even tho-" Mara stopped herself in mid sentence.

-"Even though what?"

-"I'm not sure I should tell you this right now... You've been unconscious for a couple of days, and you just woke up, and a shock could be bad for you right now and you need calm to heal properly..."

-"Tell me. Now."

The pregnant woman was still hesitant, but finally wavered under the green glare.

-"I'm so sorry. There's nothing I could have done, or anyone for that matter. Once the blood and saliva mix... I did all I could, and at least it shouldn't scar much, and you should be able to walk in a few days. You're lucky I'm training as a healer and knew what to do..."

-"Get to the point."

Mara sighed, then continued.

-"You were attacked by a wolf, correct?" She didn't wait for confirmation. "I'm sorry... that was no ordinary wolf."

***

The inhabitants of Hogwarts were pulled from their morning torpor on the 15th of July by a frenzied Remus Lupin. The poor man was almost in tears. He kept repeating "I'm sorry", and it took a while before McGonagall, Flitwick, and Dumbledore were finally able to calm him down. They took him down to the Head of Gryffindor's office, and sat him down in a chair with a cup of warm chocolate. They'd have taken him to Madam Pomfrey's, but he insisted he had to talk to them first.

Lupin stumbled through a terrorized explanation of what had happened the previous night. He retained a few fragments of his wolf's memory, and paired with the blood on the floor and the objects he'd found in the house, he'd quickly realized when he woke up that his worst fear had come to pass.

The professors' faces gradually grew paler as he went on with his story. This was partially their fault, as they were the ones who'd sent him there. After having assured Remus that he wasn't to blame, even though they could see he didn't believe them, they brought him to the infirmary and the matron gave him a sleeping draught.