Bitten

Twelve

Harry groaned as he sat up, slowly casting a tempest. He jumped out of bed when he saw the time, realising he had overslept. His run the previous night had been a lot longer, harder, and faster than usual and he had been exhausted when he collapsed into bed. He wasn't really surprised that he had missed his alarm. He pulled his uniform on quickly, grabbing his glasses, not wanting to rush his contacts. He grabbed his bag, glad that he had brought his books to his room the previous night, and ran out of the room, hastily glamouring his eyes as he went.

He slowed as he reached the Great Hall and walked inside. He sat down next to Hermione, grabbing a few pieces of toast. He ate quickly, taking a piece of toast with him as they headed to their Defence class.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked as they walked through the halls.

"Overslept. Thanks for waiting."

"Of course, mate. What's with the glasses?"

"Contacts take too long, I'll put them in during break. My choice was either contacts or breakfast. I'd rather breakfast." Ron made a noise of agreement as they reached the classroom, slipping inside and taking their seats just as the bell rang.

"Good morning class. I hope we all had a good Christmas. I thought that we would spend this lesson recapping on everything we covered last term. We'll start with werewolves. Can anyone tell me what jobs are barred to werewolves?"

Remus looked around the room, noticing all the raised hands. However, he wasn't in the practice of choosing those with raised hands during revision.

"Harry?" Harry looked up at him and Remus thought that Harry's eyes flickered golden for a moment. The same colour as his own eyes. But when he looked again, his eyes were the same green that they always were.

"Werewolves are unable to hold any job at the ministry. If they work at the ministry before being bitten, they will lose their job after being turned. Any job that is controlled by the ministry, such as reporters for the Daily Prophet, Healers, or lawyers, are legally not allowed to have a werewolf on the staff. However, due to the stigma against werewolves, most jobs don't hire werewolves even while they are legally allowed to." Remus took in Harry's defeated image as he spoke, his shoulders slumped slightly and his voice more monotone than normal.

"Correct. Now, can anyone tell me about education laws concerning wizards who were turned before they were eleven?"

Throughout the rest of the class, he kept an eye on Harry. While they discussed werewolves, he was sure that Harry had a defeated air around him and looked like he was partially zoned out. Occasionally when he would glance at his cub, he was sure that his eyes were golden, only to look green the next second. However, when they moved onto vampires, Harry seemed to liven up a bit and return to his normal self.

"Right, who wants to duel?" he asked, clapping his hands together. Everyone eagerly stood and he moved the tables and chairs to the side of the room, a duelling platform appearing at the front in place of his desk.

"Harry and Draco, would you like to go first?" Both boys nodded and moved forward, climbing onto the platform, pulling their wands from their cloak pockets as they went. He hadn't paired these two up before and was eager to see how they went. They were two of the best duellers in the class and he had no clue who would win. The two boys faced each other, wands in front of their faces.

"Scared Potter?" Draco asked, a slight smirk on his face.

"You wish," Harry replied, a similar smirk playing on his lips. Their classmates laughed slightly, although he had no clue why. Harry and Draco turned, taking three steps away from each other before turning. He raised his wand, sending green spark between them, signalling them to start.