The What, What
Chapter 1: The Party Before The Friends
12 year old Martha Black was writing to her friends on the 1st of August, just before her second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry started. She'd already sent a letter to three of her friends, Lannastar Potter, Dora Snape and Christine Wilkinson. She was just finishing off the letter to her other friend, Adelyne Marlo.
Done! She thought to herself, folding the letter and placing it in an envelope which she tied to the leg of the Black family owl, Firebane, so named because of the red-orange plumage running from his head to the tip of his tail. Firebane took off out of Martha's bedroom window, just as the latter heard her mother calling her downstairs for dinner.
She ran down the stairs and into the dining room, where she took her place next to her father, Sirius Black. Sirius was tall, with shoulder-length black hair, brown eyes and a rather handsome face for someone who had spent twelve years in Azkaban Prison. Her mother, Natalie Black, on the other hand, was medium height (though still quite a bit taller than Martha) with long light brown hair and pale blue eyes full of understanding and very emotive. Martha's younger half-sister, Georgia, came thundering down the stairs and into the dining room, taking her place between Sirius and their nine year old brother, Cody, who sat next to an empty seat which would soon be filled by Natalie. Georgia was short and very plump with long, mousey coloured hair and small, black watery eyes. She was a splitting image of her father, Peter Pettigrew, whom everyone thought was dead, but he'd only cut his finger off and run away from the scene which had been the scene of a horrific murder of thirteen Muggles (non-magical folk) and one wizard.
Sirius had been on the scene, trying to stop Pettigrew before he blew up the street with his wand, but couldn't stop him blowing it up and killing all those people, not to mention injuring several more, before cutting off his forefinger and fleeing in his animagi form, a rat. Sirius stayed on the scene, kneeling by Natalie's lifeless form, when the Ministry Aurors appeared on the scene and took him. Natalie had been pregnant with Martha at the time, and both would've died, had St. Mungo's hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries not appeared on the scene and taken her to hospital. Martha was born about seven months afterwards, along with her identical twin sister, which her parents had named Christene, and Sirius had been notified of their birth by Natalie. She'd then proceeded to trying to prove his innocence to the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. He'd released Sirius and that was when Pettigrew arrived at their house and killed Christene and raped Natalie to get her pregnant. He then shortened her pregnancy so that she went into labour almost immediately afterwards. This had happened when Martha was only a year old and only about three weeks after Georgia was born, Sirius had been convicted for another murder, of a mother and her baby daughter, and sent to Azkaban again, where Natalie took Martha and Georgia to visit him after two years and they'd been thrown into the cell by patrolling Aurors who'd said visiting time was over. They'd spent about six weeks in the cell when Natalie had found out that she was pregnant again with Sirius' child. She gave birth nine months later to a baby boy which the pair had called Cody and then they were released three months after that, but Sirius stayed because he was still thought guilty for the last murder. And after about eight years, he'd escaped and rejoined his family at home.
"Martha?" came her father's voice, tearing her away from her deep thoughts and she looked at him, realised both her siblings were eating and blushed slightly.
"Are you alright Martha?" Natalie asked her softly, looking concerned.
"I'm alright." Martha muttered, embarrassed.
"Are you sure?" Sirius asked her as she began to eat. She nodded to show she was okay and eventually both her parents started eating again.
When she went to bed that night, she heard a tap on the window and she slowly got out of bed and walked to her bedroom window. In the window, silhouetted against the full moon in the background, she saw Firebane tapping on the glass. She opened her window and he flew inside, landing on her bed. She walked over to him and untied Adelyne's reply from his leg, before opening it and beginning to read.
Dear Martha,
Thanks for the invite to the Start of Term party you're having. I've talked it over with my parents and they've said I'm able to go, and that I'm even allowed to stay overnight so we can all get on the train together in the morning! Hopefully I'll see you before then, when we're getting our books for school. I've also spoken to the others and we've decided a time to get our books, so we're all together. Ask your parents if it's alright if you're able to meet us at the Leaky Cauldron at midday on the 20th of August.
Hope to see you then,
Your friend
Adelyne.
Martha finished reading the letter and decided to immediately go ask her parents about meeting the other Canine Maraudesses at the Leaky Cauldron, so she placed the letter on her desk and walked down the stairs and into the hallway. She entered the lounge and saw Sirius sitting in an armchair, looking at a picture.
"Dad?" she asked him timidly. He looked up as she approached.
"Can't sleep?" he asked her as she sat down.
"It's not that. I wanted to ask you and Mum something." She said and he sighed, placing the picture on the arm of the chair and walking over to her.
"Your mother's not here at the moment." He said shortly.
"Where is she?"
"She's gone to see Remus and Minerva. Minerva's been injured."
"But tonight's the full moon! She could be bitten by Remus!" she exclaimed, standing up. Sirius sighed deeply and picked up the picture.
"Sit down for a second Martha. I know you're worried, but there's no need to be. Your mother knows what she's doing." He said calmly and Martha sat down again and he sat next to her on the couch and showed her the picture.
"That's a picture of the Marauders." Martha said softly and Sirius nodded.
"That it is." He said, "But do you know the origin of five of us becoming animagi?"
"Not really. All I know is that it was because you found out Remus was a werewolf."
"That's part of the reason. The other part was that we trusted Remus not to attack us while we were animals. Although there were near misses with one of us or any other student being bitten, we still trusted him. We knew that on the full moons, werewolves lose their minds as they become complete monsters, so three of us became large animals so we were able to keep a werewolf in check. I trust him now not to attack your mother while she's there. Just try to understand that, okay?" he asked her.
"Okay." Martha replied.
"Here, you have this, I don't need it anymore. But what was it you wanted to ask me?"
"Ummm…oh bugger! I forgot now!" she exclaimed and Sirius laughed. "Oh no, now I remember. Am I able to go to collect my books from Diagon Alley at midday on the 20th?" she asked. "Because that way I'm able to meet my friends there."
"That's fine with me. I'll ask your mother when she gets back. Okay?"
"Okay. Thanks Dad." She said, walking out of the lounge and back up to her bedroom. She got into bed, but now she couldn't sleep, because she was so worried about Natalie. She knew Sirius trusted Remus Lupin, having been his friend at school, but she wasn't sure she could. Although Remus had been her Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher the previous year at school, and she knew he wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone, she still couldn't fully trust him not to hurt her. Eventually, though, she fell asleep, but she dreamed. And they weren't good dreams either.
She was waiting behind a tree in someone's yard. She could hear the snarling of werewolves. There were more than one and they were hungry. Then she saw a human figure move in the darkness. The moon came out from behind the clouds and she saw who the figure was. It was Natalie and Martha wasn't sure if it was just a trick of the light from the moon, but she thought she saw Natalie's face twitch with what Martha thought was fear. Then she no longer had to use her ears to pick out the location of the werewolves, because she could see them. There were two of them and they were heading straight for Natalie. Her breathing coming in small gasps, Martha moved silently towards them. She was close now. So close that she could smell their putrid breath as they walked slowly towards Natalie, who was looking around in fear. Martha saw them stop, looking straight at Natalie. She bent her knees, ready to jump in front to protect Natalie, but the werewolves were too quick. They leapt at Natalie and Martha was amazed at their speed and agility. Then the larger male had Natalie in his jaws. Natalie screamed and Martha wanted to run to her, to stop the werewolf, but the smaller female werewolf was now looking at Martha, a kind of hunger in her yellow eyes. Then she howled, and Martha saw the male werewolf stop in his tracks, Natalie still in his mouth, her head hanging limp and deep wounds in her neck. Then the werewolf suddenly dropped her and howled along with his smaller counterpart. Martha seized this chance to run forwards, grab Natalie and drag her gently behind a row of densely packed trees. She checked her pulse, but couldn't find one. Suddenly, the female werewolf appeared and grabbed Natalie again, shaking her head vigorously and Martha screamed to try and make her stop. She continued screaming, and found herself being shaken. She looked around and saw the male werewolf with his mouth gently on her arm and shaking her. He continued shaking her and she closed her eyes, hoping he would stop.
Opening her eyes again, she saw Sirius gently shaking her arm, his face pale. He stopped shaking her arm and that was when she noticed tears in his eyes.
"Dad, what's wr–" she began but was silenced with a look from her father. He didn't say anything, but she knew he wanted her to get out of bed. She got out of bed and put a dressing gown on and followed him out onto the landing. Only when they were out of her bedroom did Sirius speak, and even then he spoke softly.
"Are you okay Martha?" he asked her and she nodded.
"It was only a nightmare." She replied.
"What was it about?"
"Mum. And werewolves. I can't remember every detail, but I remember that in it, Mum was killed by two werewolves. As I said, it was only a nightmare."
"Maybe so, but I need to show you something. And once you have seen this, you'll most likely think that your dream may have been seeing something that really happened, and not any old dream." He said, leading Martha into his bedroom and Martha could see someone lying on the bed. Moving closer, she was able to see who it was. It was Natalie, though she didn't look very much like Natalie. Her face was pale and her brown hair was all over the place. Her whole left arm was bandaged, as was her right ankle. There were scratches all over her face and neck and her eyes were closed quite tightly, her teeth gritted in pain. And to top it up, all the memories from Martha's dream came flooding back to her and she burst into tears by her mother's bed. Natalie opened her eyes slowly and looked at Martha's sobbing form next to her. She placed her right arm around her daughter's shoulders and pulled her closer.
"What's wrong Martha?" she asked softly.
"She had a nightmare that you were killed by two werewolves. And seeing you in this condition must've brought the memories back." Sirius said softly, sitting next to his daughter, his right hand on her back. Natalie sighed and sat up slowly, pulling Martha into a hug.
When the day of the twentieth of August came, Martha and her parents went to the Leaky Cauldron, a wizarding pub, separating the wizarding alley, Diagon Alley, from the Muggle streets. Looking at her watch, Martha saw that she was about five minutes early, when she suddenly heard an excited shout.
"Martha!"
It was Christine, and Martha saw her friend's parents for the first time.
"Heya Christine!" she said excitedly, as Christine's parents walked slowly over.
"Hello, you must be Martha." Christine's mother said kindly to Martha.
"Yes, and this is my mother, Natalie Black." Martha said, indicating Natalie.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Angelina, and this is my husband William Wilkinson." Christine's mother said kindly, greeting Martha and Natalie politely.
"I'd heard from Christine that your father was Sirius Black. Is that right, or was she just having a bit of fun?" William asked Martha softly, so no one else could hear him.
"She was telling the truth. Sirius Black is my father. He's the larger dog. The one with the pointed ears and the scruffy fur." Martha replied in an undertone.
"I know. I was one of the Marauders. The amount of times I'd seen him transform, I'd recognise him anywhere." William said, laughing softly and walking over to Sirius. "Hello Sirius." He said to the dog, which wagged his tail and jumped up with his forepaws on William's shoulders. "Yup, its him." He laughed, pushing Sirius' paws off his shoulders. Martha and the others all laughed as they saw this, when there was suddenly another excited shout as all of her other friends came running towards them, their parents walking behind them.
"Hey Maraudesses!" Martha said excitedly to her friends. "Oh yeah, this is my mum, Natalie Black, and this dog is my dad."
"Wait a sec Martha, your dad is a dog?" Adelyne's mother asked her incredulously.
"Eve, that isn't an ordinary dog. That dog is in fact a man. A man by the name of Sirius Black." Adelyne's father explained softly to her. She looked him, then at Sirius and back at him.
"Wait, so Sirius actually has a daughter?" she asked her husband.
"Yes, and a son, unless I'm mistaken." He said, looking at Sirius, who inclined his head. Martha sighed.
"Alright, anyone who would like to meet my father in person please follow me." She said and everyone followed her. "Okay, considering I know some of you have met him previously, this could be interesting. Oh well, I guess you just want to greet him as a person, rather than a dog." She added, laughing as she led them into another room where she knew no one ever went. "Okay Dad, you can show yourself now." She said and Sirius transformed back to a man.
"Hello Sirius. Long time no see." William, Adelyne's father, whom Martha had found out, was called Marcus, and Jason Potter, Lannastar's father, all chorused, taking it in turns to shake Sirius' hand.
"Long time no see, guys. Especially not since they were born." He said, indicating the Maraudesses, who were talking excitedly.
"No, too right there, Sirius." William laughed, motioning for Angelina to come forward. "Now, I'd like you to meet my wife, Angelina. Angelina, this is an old friend of mine, Sirius."
"Pleased to meet you Sirius." Angelina said softly.
"Pleasure to meet you too, Angelina." Sirius replied. "And it's good to see you again, Eve." He added, nodding towards Adelyne's mother, Eve.
"Yes, welcome back to the world of civilians, rather than the world of Aurors." Eve replied and Sirius started laughing.
"To tell the truth, I'd much rather be in the world of civilians. Aurors are too hard-cored." He said and it was Eve's turn to laugh.
"I had no idea you were even married, let alone being a father." She laughed. "So I was a bit confused when Martha said that her father was the dog. I was thinking that's not really possible is it?"
"You're right about that, Eve." Natalie laughed. "Physically impossible for a human woman to be impregnated by a dog. Though it could be rather interesting."
"Anyway, who's this lovely lady – sorry Natalie – that's with you, Severus?" Sirius asked, grinning guiltily at Natalie.
"Are you trying to make me forgive you for what you nearly did to me, Black?" Dora's father, Severus Snape, growled in a low voice.
"Hey, I already apologised, Severus, so I think it's about time you forgave me, don't you think?" Sirius asked him, and Martha and Dora looked up at their respective fathers, then at each other and nodded.
"Alright, I suggest you don't argue now, Dad. Martha and I both know what he did, and yet, we were able to put aside our differences and become friends. So why can't you do that? Sirius already wants to make amends, so why don't you forgive him and get on with life. Just forgive and forget." Dora said, walking towards Severus, and his wife, whom Dora had explained was called Rosmerta, nodded in agreement to her daughter.
"I agree Severus. There's no point holding grudges. Besides, he didn't kill you, did he?"
"No, but he could've; quite easily. And the title 'Mad Mass Murderer' would've suited him quite well." Severus said.
"Professor; that was just a prank to stop you going too far into their business. He'd even told James to hide at the halfway point of the tunnel to stop you. He didn't really want to kill you. He didn't even mean for you to get as far as the end of the tunnel. That wasn't meant to happen." Martha explained and Severus looked hard at Sirius.
"Is what your daughter is telling me true, Black?" he asked in an undertone. "You really didn't want to hurt me?"
"What Martha said is true, but no, I really didn't want to hurt you. I'd never be able to accept being responsible for another person's death. Nor could I accept if I actually killed another person with my own hand." Sirius replied in a whisper. Severus inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled, nodding.
"Alright. I'll forgive you." He said so all the others could hear. He slowly moved his hand to shake Sirius'. When they finally shook hands, everyone else cheered at knowing that they'd finally put aside their differences and forgiven each other.
"Dad, does this mean that you and Mum will be coming with me to Martha's Start of Term party?" Dora asked her father.
"Okay, we'll go too." He finally said and Martha and Dora looked at each other, grinned, and started jumping up and down, laughing.
Ten days later, Martha's friends and their families all arrived and she greeted them all enthusiastically.
The party went well into the night and Martha enjoyed the whole thing. Eventually, it was time for bed and Martha and her friends all hit the sack in her room.
"You know Martha, I'm surprised that Dean isn't here." Adelyne said, laughing and Martha looked thoughtful.
"I'm not. Although the relationship is going quite well, he's in France with his parents and he doesn't return until midnight tonight, so that he's able to get on the train on time tomorrow morning." Martha replied.
"And I hope you don't mind me asking, but what happened to your mum's arm and ankle? Not to mention her face and neck." Dora asked her quietly.
"She went to see Remus and Professor McGonagall. You know how they're married. Well, okay, it was on the night of the first of this month, and that was the full moon and she was bitten by Remus." Martha replied and in the dim light of the nearly full moon, she could see all her friends' jaws drop.
"So she's a … a werewolf?" Lannastar asked in a whisper. Martha nodded solemnly.
"Oh well, that means I'm not alone on full moons this year in the Shrieking Shack." Christine said, grinning.
"What do you mean, Christine?" Martha asked her friend. "You're not a werewolf too, are you?"
"Yep. I was born a werewolf. Your fathers may not have told you this, but my dad was bitten by Remus one full moon and ever since then has been a werewolf. Mum was shocked when she found out and she seemed hurt when she found out that when I was born, I took after my father in such a way that I even inherited his werewolf gene. Ever since the day I was born, I was transforming on full moons. At first Mum was reluctant to let me go with Dad on the full moons, but eventually she had to give in. She knew that if she didn't let me go, I would end up biting her and she'd be a werewolf then." Christine finished and Martha looked at her friend, tears in her eyes. "So … so you went with Remus every full moon last year?" she whispered.
"Yeah, and I'm telling you now, he's a bloody violent werewolf!" Christine replied and Martha looked shocked, the details of the dream trickling back to her.
"Is that why you were always in the Hospital Wing after every full moon? I thought you had just been beaten up by the Whomping Willow, and I don't know why Madam Pomfrey and Professor Talleo encouraged the theory, rather than just telling us the truth." Dora said, as it dawned on her.
"Okay, before we give each other nightmares, let's get to sleep." Adelyne said, seeming to sense Martha's discomfort about the subject.
"Good idea Adelyne." Lannastar agreed and the five girls lay down and all were soon asleep, except for Martha, who lay awake, remembering the dream she'd had the night Natalie had been bitten. Eventually, she decided she should talk about it to her parents, even though she knew it was a subject that they'd rather avoid. So she silently got out of bed and walked towards her parents' bedroom, where she knocked on the door. Sirius opened it, in his pyjamas.
"What's wrong Martha?" he asked her in a whisper.
"Dad, I need to talk to you and Mum." She replied. "And I know you'd rather not talk about this, but I need to know what happened the night Mum was bitten."
"Okay, come in." Sirius sighed, leading Martha into the room and closing the door. "Natalie," he whispered, gently shaking his wife awake. "Natalie, Martha needs to talk to us."
Natalie opened her eyes slowly and sat up, inviting Martha to sit on the bed.
"What's wrong Martha?" she asked.
"Mum, I know you'd prefer to avoid this subject, and I'm sorry to bring it up, but do you think you could please let me know basically what had happened the night you'd been bitten?" Martha asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. Natalie sighed deeply and began the story.
"Well, I'd originally gone to check on Minerva, because she'd apparently fallen down the stairs of her house and injured herself. I didn't realise that night was a full moon, so I'd assumed that Remus had just gone to the bathroom or something, and I didn't worry much about it, at least until I heard growling. I looked around and saw a fully grown male werewolf standing behind me and growling at me. I made sure Minerva was directly behind me so she wouldn't end up getting hurt, but it was me the werewolf was after, not Minerva. He went for my throat, but I used my arms to protect myself and he bit my left arm at the elbow, but the force of the bite had broken my upper arm. He let go of my arm and bit my wrist, breaking my forearm; so basically, my arm was broken in two places. The bones were able to be magically healed, but the bites weren't. Then a smaller werewolf joined in. This one was female and she started scratching at my face and neck while the male bit my upper arm. Now remember that the bone in my upper arm was broken, so the bite hurt quite a bit. I kicked the werewolf in the head and instead he bit my right ankle, breaking the skin, his teeth also going through my Achilles tendon and my muscles. And on top of that, the bone in my ankle snapped as well. Eventually, Minerva regained consciousness and saw the damage being dealt to me and she yelled at them, placing a silver collar around both their necks and dragging them outside. When she returned, she quickly called your father to come and collect me, and while we were waiting for him, she asked me the incantation to heal bones so she could heal my injuries, I told her and she healed my broken bones before bandaging my wounds, leaving my face and neck unbandaged so I was able to breathe." She finished and by the time she'd finished the story, Martha was in tears in her parents' arms.
"Martha, there's no need to cry." Sirius said softly to her, stroking her hair. "She's still alive for starters, and she's going to be alright."
"Just out of curiosity, though Martha, what brought on the sudden need to know?" Natalie asked her. Martha looked up at her parents.
"Christine's a werewolf and she told me that last year she spent the full moons in the Shrieking Shack with Remus. She told me that he's a rather violent werewolf and she spent time in the Hospital Wing recovering after every full moon. Mum, when you said the male werewolf attacked you when you were seeing to Professor McGonagall, I automatically knew that werewolf was Remus. Because, firstly I knew that he was a werewolf, and secondly I knew you were at his place, so it all fit." Martha said and Natalie nodded slowly.
"I know that Christine's a werewolf and that she spent the full moons last year in the Shrieking Shack with Remus, and also that she had to spend time in the Hospital Wing to recover from her injuries. But did she tell you when she was bitten? We asked her that, but she didn't say anything." She said.
"She wasn't bitten. Her father was when he was hanging around with Remus one full moon –" Martha began, but she was interrupted by Sirius.
"I remember that day as though it was yesterday. We were being idiots that night, and we'd decided to take the risk of others being bitten, and let Remus out of the Shrieking Shack, but William came running out of the tunnel after him in human form. Remus must've smelt or heard him, because he ran towards him, and before any of us knew what was happening, Remus was tearing at his throat with his teeth. I ran towards them in my dog form and bit the back of Remus' neck hard, forcing him to let go of William, but we knew that from then on, he'd be a werewolf. James and I forced Remus back inside the Shrieking Shack while Marcus and Pettigrew helped William. But we already feared that we'd been too late to save him. It took two weeks for him to regain consciousness, and after that, he didn't fully trust Remus and stayed away from him until two years later, when we'd managed to convince him to trust Remus again, that Remus hadn't meant it." Sirius said softly.
"Thank you Dad for that explanation, but as I was saying, as a result of William being bitten, Christine was born a werewolf." Martha explained and, when she saw her parents looking puzzled, she sighed and continued. "Apparently, when a werewolf has a child, the werewolf genes are passed on too. If the child takes after that parent in any way, they have a risk of being born a werewolf. For example, if the mother is a werewolf and she has a child, that child runs the risk of getting the werewolf gene from its mother and being a werewolf when it's born."
"Oh, okay, so if Remus has any kids, they run the risk of being werewolves?" Natalie asked.
"Yeah." Martha said and Natalie and Sirius exchanged a worried look. "What?" she asked her parents, confused. Sirius sighed deeply.
"Martha, we should've told you this before. In about eight and a half months time, you're going to have a younger brother or sister." He said.
"Wait, so you're saying Mum's pregnant?" she asked Sirius and half a smile flitted across his face.
"Yes Martha. Your mother is pregnant." He said and Martha looked at her parents.
"Okay," she yawned. "I'd better get to bed, because I still need to get up tomorrow morning so I don't miss the train." She said, hugging her parents goodnight. "And congratulations for the pregnancy, Mum." She whispered to her mother.
"Thank you Martha." Natalie laughed, watching Martha leave the room.