Dusk had fallen over the offices of Muggle-Wizard relations, leaving a serene calmness drifting through the empty offices. A calmness only temporary as its halls would spark with life the following morning. Amidst the evening stillness was one single shaft of dull, flickering candlelight, leaking through a door left slightly ajar.
A voice crackled from a radio: "There will be a candlelight vigil held tonight at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in remembrance for the brave witches and wizards who gave their lives five years ago today…"
Hermione Granger leaned back in her chair, glancing lazily over the sea of scrolls spread evenly across her deceptively large desk. She chewed mindlessly on the end of her quill, paying no mind to the monotonous voice on the radio. It was the same bland announcement given every year around this time. The same heartless roll call of dead friends whom the announcer never even knew.
"Lavender Brown…"
Hermione loathed it.
"Severus Snape…"
She thought it obscene.
"Nymphadora Tonks…"
She really should just turn the damn thing off.
"This just in! I have a report coming directly from the Ministry of Magic!"
Hermione gave a sideways glance at the radio.
"The Ministry of Magic has just announced that the 'Feral Defense Law' as officially been passed and will go into effect next month. This means that beginning next month, any werewolves considered 'feral' by Ministry standards; this means either werewolves who are unregistered or registered without a legal permanent residence, are to lose their status as 'human' and hunting them for sport or otherwise will now be made entirely legal."
SLAM!
With a few pounding footsteps and a few more slammed doors, the offices of Muggle-Wizard relations was left dark and quiet once more.
Two familiar faces were already waiting for her at the Hog's Head by the time Hermione arrived. One gave her a curt, militant nod, the other a wry smirk. They were happy to see her.
"Hey, 'Mione." Harry Potter ran a hand through his hair, scooting down towards the end of the booth to allow Hermione a seat beside him. There was an edge to his voice beneath his mask of calm, he had heard the announcement as well.
"Hermione." Ron Weasley sat across from them, looking grim. Hermione could only force a small ghost of a smile at his face. They had agreed to meet like this once a week, but it did not make seeing the bitterness in his eyes any easier.
"You've heard then." The two men nodded.
"Remus…"
Not everyone made it out of the War intact. Remus Lupin was one such grim reminder. Almost immediately after the War had officially ended, he had disappeared. Months passed, and as everyone began to heal, many wondered if the death of his wife had been the last straw for the already broken and grieving man. Then, almost out of nowhere, Harry had received a letter addressed to him in a familiar hand. Many, including Harry, feared its contents, not yet ready to possibly learn that Remus had drowned in his grief, adding yet another name to the list of friends the war had claimed.
But thankfully, this was not so. As it turned out, Remus had left to aid the ailing packs of wayward werewolves who had nowhere to go after their leader, Fenrir Greyback, perished in battle. As a result of the the werewolf population's nearly unanimous decision to side with Voldemort during the War, the stigma against lycanthropy had increased tenfold after the war ended. Most werewolves, unable to peacefully rejoin wizarding society, were left with no choice but to retreat into the mountains and countryside, stealing and killing in order to survive. It was Remus's hope that he could convince some of the packs to find more honest means of survival, providing aid and insight to pack alphas and education and wandless magic training for their "pups."
That was five years ago. Remus's letters to Harry had grown increasingly infrequent over the years but always said more or less the same thing; "I'm doing fine, please to not seek me out."
"When was your last letter?" Hermione asked.
Harry frowned. "April? It wasn't any different than usual. Didn't mention the law at all."
"Probably doesn't even know about it." Ron added.
Harry nodded in agreement. "We need to warn him."
"More than that!" Hermione did all she could to keep from shouting in the middle of crowded pub. "There's still dozens of un-convicted Death Eaters within the Ministry! With this law they could track Remus down by his registry number and kill him without any consequences! And that's not to mention all the people who've been attacked by Greyback and the werewolves under his command that are most likely counting down the days until this law gets passed so they can go out and exact revenge on any werewolves they can find! Remus could be murdered in cold blood and it would be completely legal!"
The color drained from the faces of the two men who were hanging on their friend's every word. "W-what should we do?" Harry asked.
"According to this law if you are listed in the werewolf registry and have a registered permanent address you are considered 'docile.' Killing a docile werewolf is the same as murder. I'm going to get Remus's location from the Ministry, I know Kingsley has connections in the Beast Department and I'm well liked in my own, it shouldn't be difficult, the werewolf registry isn't any kind of privileged information. I'll track Remus down and convince him to come back and stay with one of us. With Kinglsey so far up the ranks we get him registered as a permanent resident rather quickly with little blowback."
Harry nodded. "We have just enough room for Gin and I back at our place. But he can stay with me. Whatever he needs. I'll ask around though, see who'd be willing to take him in."
"I'm sure Mum would have him. She needs a distraction…now that everyone's up and gone." Said Ron.
Hermione nodded. "Brilliant. Well then you two can make arrangements for Remus, I can track him down—"
Ron scoffed. "Wot, you? Really?"
Hermione felt her face grow hot. "Why yes. As a matter of fact. I'm the only one we can trust besides Kingsley with any authorization to access the werewolf registry files needed to track Remus down. And we need Kinglsey here to make sure Remus's resident registration goes through smoothly."
"I'll go with you." Harry offered.
"No, Harry. You have Ginny to worry about. She's due any day and tracking Remus down might take some time. Plus, werewolf packs will find a lone female far less of a threat than a mated male."
Harry grimaced. "You're making them sound like bloody animals 'Mione."
She simply shook her head. "You never did do Snape's essay all those years ago, did you?"
The next morning at the offices of Muggle-Wizard relations Hermione found herself completely incapable of concentrating on her work, a feat she had previously thought impossible. She stared blankly at the organized cascade of paperwork, untouched from the night before. Her gaze kept unconsciously flickering between her work and the open window beside her.
"…centaurs have already been demoted to legal game as a result of the law passed last year. We may begin seeing more laws like this passed with increasing regularity over the next—"
With an agitated flick of her wand, the radio beside her was silenced.
Hermione Granger was not a fool. She didn't expect every problem to be solved with the war won and Voldemort defeated. But she didn't expect…this. Any magical species affiliated with Voldemort's regime, namely giants, vampires and werewolves, saw the stigmas attached to them dramatically increasing in the aftershock of Harry's victory. Harry was human, he defeated a great evil and it was considered common knowledge among the wizarding populace that most half-human species did absolutely nothing to help. The efforts of people like Hagrid and Remus had gone largely ignored. The war was considered a human victory. High-profile dark creatures like Greyback propagated the stigma that dark creatures were the enemy. And in the Second War, they were all Voldemort's allies.
It was a lie. And now they were all facing the consequences.
She jolted when a large barn owl sailed into her office, dropping a thick envelope on her desk before expertly gliding back onto the windowsill where it waited. She hastily tore the envelope open and dumped the file it contained on the desk. There was a small handwritten note clipped to the front of the file:
Bring him home. KS.
She smiled and placed the note aside. Looking down her smile faded as she sat face to face with Remus Lupin's werewolf registry file.
It was thicker than she imagined it would be. Then again she knew she shouldn't be surprised, Remus was one of the more high-profile werewolves existing in the registry. She thumbed through the stack of papers which included news clippings related to his resignation from Hogwarts as well as movement reports back when the Ministry had been taken over by Death Eaters.
On the very top of the stack was the file Hermione needed. His official registry form.
"Remus John Lupin…date of birth—10th of March 1960…" she muttered to herself. "Age at contamination—aged four…Merlin…" she did not realize poor Remus had been bitten so young. "Registry number…registry number…ah-ha!" Quickly, she scribbled the number down. As her hand reached to close the file she caught a glimpse of a line of text near the bottom of the file.
Spouse: Nymphadora Tonks (metaporphmagus) DECEASED
She slammed the file closed.
"Here you go." She handed the file back to the barn owl waiting patiently on her windowsill, the owl gave a regal nod before taking the file in its talons and disappearing on the wind.