This is my first story. It is a one-shot now, but I may write a longer story based on it later, so tell me what you think.
Summary: While living among werewolves during the first war, Remus hears the rumor that will shake his world.
Disclaimer: I do not own Remus, Dumbledore, Harry, the Dark Lord, the Death Eaters, Godric's Hollow, the Daily Prophet, or any of the other plot elements taken from the Harry Potter series. J K Rowling owns everything.
It had been a good morning. The clouds of the past week had cleared to reveal a bright autumn sun that filtered into the forest in shades of red and yellow. The next few days would be warmer. Remus had passed the morning with Cyr and Samson, helping to winterize their little cave. Those two had been the first to accept him when he joined their pack about a year ago. They still didn't buy his idea that Dumbledore and his friends could be trusted, but they had accepted him at least. They seemed to appreciate his upbeat personality, so rare among members of the pack, and they valued his wand work. It had been especially helpful this morning, as he had cast warming charms around the back walls of the cavern, and strengthened the barrier spells at the mouth of the cave to keep out the wind, rain, and coming snow.
To top of an enjoyable morning, he had gone around noon to check his traps and found a nice, plumb rabbit. He still felt a little sick every time he had to take a rabbit from a trap and break its neck, but the prospect of fresh roasted meat made it worth it.
Now he was sitting by an empty fire ring outside the cave, skinning his prize. He sighed as he heard heavy footsteps coming down the path. Without raising his head, he knew it was Cyr, the noisier of his two cavemates.
"Oi, Remus," he said loudly as he sat down, "Did you hear the news?"
"Eh?" Remus grunted, still busy with the rabbit.
"Word in the woods is, the Dark Lord is DEAD!"
Remus stopped cutting at the rabbit and look up, his brow wrinkled. "He's dead?" he asked flatly.
Cyr missed the skepticism, or at least choose to ignore it. "Yep, what their sayin' is, he was killed by a BABY!"
Remus' eyebrows went higher. "A baby?"
Cyr nodded. Remus put down the rabbit.
"Cyr, do you realize how many times the Dark Lord has been 'dead' since the war began? I remember a few years ago when he was supposed to have been murdered by goblins during a riot at Gringots. Then, when there was that dragon pox outbreak, there was a rumor that he had caught it and was on his deathbed. Plus, in our neck of the woods, every few months there's a rumor that he's been bitten and is now a werewolf. And last spring they said that Greyback himself had ripped his throat out and was now ruling in his place as Werewolf-Lord of the Death Eaters."
"Noo, but Remus, I got this from a reeeal reliable source. See, I got it from Onus, who go it just this morning', straight from the man down at the pub!"
Remus chuckled and shook his head. "We need to talk about the definition of the words 'reliable source'."
"Noo, see," Cyr argued, "Onus even knew the baby's name. It was, umm, let's see what was it? Hurbert? No, let's see. Oi, Samson!"
Samson had just come walking up the path, two buckets of water hung on a stick born over his shoulders.
"What did Onus say that baby's name was?" Cyr called out to him.
"What? Oh, I don't remember… Henry, was it?"
"Eh, Henry sounds right. More right than Hubert…"
"Or was it Humphrey?
"Noo, it weren't Humphrey. Who names their kid Humphrey nowadays, anyways?"
Remus was now chuckling quietly at the two of them. "You realize it doesn't really matter what Onus said? Cause by the time it even got to the man at the pub, there were probably at least twenty versions of the story floating around the country."
"Noo," Cyr said emphatically, "Onus said the man at the pub was readin' this straight from the DailyProphet!"
"That's right," Samson added, setting his buckets down, "He said it came straight out of the paper that the Dark Lord had been defeated by a little baby down in Godric's Hollow."
Remus' head snapped up, suddenly interested. "Godric's Hollow?"
"Yep, and it gave the kid's name, if we could just remember it. Maybe it was Henry."
"Harry?" Remus asked sharply. "What it Harry?"
"That's it!" cried Cyr. "It was Harry, it was!"
Remus stood up, his rabbit forgotten.
"Where'r you goin'?" called Cyr.
"To Godric's Hollow- to check on baby Harry."
"Wait, then, take me with you!" Cyr scrambled up to follow him.
"No," said Remus shortly.
"Huh, well, then bring back news!" Cyr called. "You know we always love to hear…"
But Remus was already gone, as the bang echoed through the woods.