Chapter 1- The Unexpected Inheritance
Disclaimer- If I owned Harry Potter, Harry would have salvaged one sole remaining time turner from the Department of Mysteries and saved Sirius in some intricate plot involving Polyjuice Potion and the Imperious Curse. Or someone would have thought to stun Wormtail in the Shrieking Shack.
No one glancing outside their living room windows could have failed to spot the old man appearing out of thin air, yet somehow no one noticed. Perhaps this lay in the complete silence of the apparition. It certainly had nothing to do with subtlety of dress or manner. He strode along Privet Drive with high-heeled boots clicking on the tarmac, wearing what looked like a cross between a pantomime dame's dress and a Hawaiian shirt, counting down door numbers as he progressed.
On this quiet Monday night during a foggy, damp July, Albus Dumbledore was calling upon his most famous pupil.
He reached Number Four, trying hard to contain his impatience, gave three sharp raps on the door knocker and waited. In the time it took for the obese Muggle to thunder through the hall, he gathered his agitation and shored it up behind formidable Occlumency barriers, determined to present his usual front of all-knowing calm.
"Judging by your look of stunned disbelief, Harry did not warn you that I was coming," said Dumbledore pleasantly. "However I can assure you that I will return your nephew shortly. We have some private matters to discuss."
Uncle Vernon said nothing at all, seemingly shocked speechless. Perhaps the sheer wizardliness of Dumbledore's robes, twinkling with silver stars on forget-me-not fabric, had robbed him of the ability to breathe. Harry could only hope.
"Let us step out into the night, Harry," Dumbledore beckoned. "It does not do to tarry over long on doorsteps in these troubled times."
Harry stepped cautiously round his uncle, suppressing his ingrained instinct to duck, and rushed down the steps.
"Professor, what's this about?" he asked, as Uncle Vernon stormed off to the kitchen. "I thought you weren't letting me leave until Friday."
If the ancient wizard detected the bitterness of that statement, he did not show it.
Dumbledore smiled gravely. "You are- as is often the case- correct, Harry. The wards require your residence here until the end of the week but tonight your presence at the Burrow is required with great urgency. If you will take my arm?"
They turned away from the open door of the Dursley residence and Harry reached for Dumbledore.
"My left arm, please. As you can see, my wand arm is not at its best."
Only then did Harry notice the thick white bandages constricting the headmaster's right hand. As he opened his mouth to ask the obvious question, the back of his jumper was grabbed tightly and he was squashed into the side of the scrawny old man.
"You may experience some slight discomfort."
Harry had barely stopped retching from the sensation of being squeezed through a very small
tube, when the headmaster steered him round chickens and wellington boots towards the rickety door and a kitchen filled with members of the Order, some of whom Harry only vaguely recognized. A smattering of red hair marked a full contingent of Weasleys, and Hermione hovered beside the cooker with Hestia Jones and a diminutive wizard with orange whiskers.
"What's going on?" Harry blurted out.
"Sirius' will reading, mate," Ron said. "Dumbledore says it can't be read until everyone that Sirius invited is here."
"Very true, and it is urgent that the will be read," Dumbledore said, "as you will understand shortly. If you will sit down, Harry?"
Albus sat at the table between Severus Snape and Remus Lupin, while Harry took the only remaining chair, by the fireplace next to Ginny.
"I know this is difficult, Remus," Albus said, "but Sirius felt that you should be the one to explain."
The werewolf, who looked crumpled and ill to Harry, sighed. His eyes were rimmed with red when he finally looked up from his hands.
"You all know that I'm a werewolf," he said. "But only Albus, Severus, and Mrs Tonks know just what that means." His gaze lingered on the expressionless Andromeda, and Harry thought he looked oddly wary. "A long time before written records, the Ministry of Magic created a curse to control the werewolf population. No one knows how they did it, and it's always been hushed up as shameful, but they worked the curse into the fabric of the lycanthropic infection. Every living werewolf is also cursed by this ancient magic and the only way to stop it being fatal is for a human to cast a...a certain spell, that counteracts the curse's effects."
"What type of spell?" Emmeline Vance asked softly.
Remus' breath caught. "It's related to the magic binding house-elves. Compulsion and ownership bonds." He bowed his head as gasps of horror filled the room.
"Slavery, then?" Hermione raged. "That's what you're trying to say?"
Remus flinched, then snapped, "Yes, Hermione. That is what I'm trying to say. I'm a bloody slave!"
"Remus!" Dumbledore scolded, and he subsided at once.
"Sorry, Hermione. Sorry, professor."
Hermione was doing an excellent impression of a drowning fish, as was Mrs Weasley. Tonks knocked a cup to the ground as she pushed back her chair, but no one moved to repair the shards. Her hair cycled through a miasma of colours. Harry felt suddenly ill.
Dumbledore clasped his hands together and twisted a ring on his wasted middle finger.
"Perhaps you should continue explaining so we can proceed."
With an insistent nudge, the werewolf again began to speak. "The curse makes us ill and will kill us if we remain without a bonded owner for more than three full moons. When we're first turned, we can be claimed by any witch or wizard, and our consent isn't necessary. Until not very long ago, if a new werewolf was registered unbonded at the Ministry, there would be an...an auction amongst the people who worked in the Creatures Department. The spell enforces a lot of behaviour control charms. I can't lie to my owner or disobey an order. I can't argue with him and I need set rules and tasks to follow or the bond will cause me to become emotionally unstable. If I break a rule, it causes severe distress until I have been sufficiently punished. I also cannot..." He halted abruptly.
Albus frowned, eyes glinting. "Remus cannot have any input into who stands to inherit him. He cannot talk about it, if he overhears even just speculation on the subject he will become distressed until he is obliviated of the knowledge. The magic demands that both werewolf and inheriting owner must find out at the same moment from an official will reading, attended by a large invited group of the deceased's acquaintances, so the heir cannot be guessed."
"You mean that Sirius...?" Tonks said disbelievingly.
"Sirius was my owner," Remus admitted. "James came across mention of the spell in an old library book while we were still at Hogwarts and confronted me about it. He arranged a meeting with my owner at the time and persuaded him that I should be passed to Sirius. It only worked because Sirius was a Black. He inherited me when I was eighteen." He closed his eyes. "Sirius was furious when he found out."
"What did he do?" Molly said, quietly.
"He clung onto his stupid morals and almost let me die," Remus said, bitterly.
"That's about the harshest thing I've ever heard you say about Sirius," George pointed out, puzzled.
"Just because I couldn't before, didn't mean I never wanted to," he shrugged. "And whoever-" He stopped suddenly and took a deep breath. "I can't interact naturally with my owner," he rephrased, "but it doesn't have to effect my interactions with other humans unless they insist. Sirius decided we could keep it secret and none of you had to know."
Silence fell, many of the Order seemingly struggling with the confession. Harry shifted in his seat. Slavery? Sure, he knew about house-elves, but the well-treated ones wanted to serve, didn't they? But something like this, completely unwilling, and Lupin was a victim...that was just sick. He felt chilled to the bone.
Hermione cleared her throat. "What are your legal rights?"
"I don't have any. I am legally property and my owner can do what he or she wants with me," he said, in a very small voice. "In court, my testimony is worth nothing. I knew that Sirius was innocent, but my word can't be given as evidence, even under Veritaserum. The enslavement magic twists our magical cores and we can't betray our humans, so I would have insisted he was innocent even if he had been Lily and James' Secret Keeper."
"Zis is 'orrible!" Fleur exclaimed, and a wave of outrage from all assembled followed.
"How did we not already know about this?" Kingsley asked. "We're Aurors!"
"We learned during training that werewolf evidence is inadmissible in court, and should be ignored in investigations," Tonks pointed out, "but I thought that was just prejudice. No wonder any case involving werewolves should be referred to the Creatures Department."
"It has been kept quiet, both to protect the werewolves themselves and to protect
wizarding pride," Dumbledore said. "There are also very few werewolves left in the world nowadays, and those left tend to belong to small branches of the very oldest Noble Houses."
"Why are there so few?" Hermione pressed.
"It is seen as more convenient to let us die," Remus said, voice wavering. "And when I said 'no legal rights', I meant it. I don't have the right to cause harm to any witch or wizard, even in self-defence, except in direct defence of my owner. If attacked, my options are to let myself be killed or to fight back and be executed later by the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. If I hit, say, Kingsley, with even a Bat Bogey Hex he would be well within his rights to haul me before the Ministry for execution."
"Two hundred years ago, Kingsley would have been expected to hit him with a Killing Curse without hesitation," Albus added.
Most of the witches gasped. Remus dropped his eyes back to the table and clasped his hands together so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
Dumbledore sighed, "If you would put the kettle on, Molly, I'm sure we all need a little time to absorb what we've just heard."
"Of course, Albus." She stood up, shakily.
An awkward silence fell, in which Remus tried to avoid all eye contact and not pick up on the scent of shock and disgust carried by almost every Order member. Only Dumbledore was seemingly unaffected, and the thought caused no small amount of disquiet. The Leader of the Light felt worry, trepidation and his usual self assurance.
"And I thought I had problems," Ron said softly.
Hermione hushed him. "It's barbaric. The Ministry sounds like it was even worse in the past, doesn't it? Poor Professor Lupin."
At the other end of the table, Kingsley Shacklebolt poured three spoonfuls of sugar into his tea with shaking hands. "Remus doesn't deserve this."
"You knew?" Tonks turned to her mother, who laughed coldly.
"Of course I knew. How could I not? I grew up in the House of Black. My mother owned Fenrir Greyback."
Kingsley set down his tea in a hurry. "Greyback?" he spluttered.
"I was disowned long before I would have inherited," Andromeda continued. "Bella and Cissy have all the Black werewolves between them."
"Except me," Remus added softly.
"Do you count?" she said, disdainfully. "You're hardly of the same breeding line."
Remus bowed his head, and he did not see her expression turn dark and spiteful, though Harry flinched at her sudden mirroring of Bellatrix's haughty hate.
"Oh, don't be so pathetic. I do recognise you, you know- I always have. Fenrir's cub, always in our kitchens trying to filch food. The filthy little mongrel, not born but a bitten werewolf. How we all laughed when Sirius befriended you at Hogwarts! Did you think I wouldn't remember?"
The werewolf clenched his teeth, biting down sarcasm. "I didn't think the spoiled pureblood princess would pay enough attention to remember such a lowly Creature. I must have forgotten your capacity for vindictiveness."
Andromeda's eyes lit up with pure rage. "I would have thought you'd be a bit more respectful, wolf, considering that you'll likely be kept within the family," she snapped.
In the blink of an eye, Dumbledore drew his wand. Just as Remus clenched his fists in pain, a sharp obliviate drove the words from his mind.
"Andromeda Tonks!" Dumbledore said. "I expected better from you."
Her answering smile was slow and sly. "Haven't you played the Obliviate game before, Albus? It's ever so much fun."
"Enough! Don't you think this situation is distressing enough without going out of your way to bait him? We are here to read your cousin's will- show some decency."
She drew herself up, radiating indignant pride. "I'm quite aware of the situation's gravity, and I don't think this sickening display is in any way fitting. Sirius was the Head of House Black- the will should be read without any of this pandering. The wolf should go to whomever Sirius decided and be grateful for it."
"You're acting like you think it's right," Tonks said, shocked. Her eyes were completely black.
"I may have married a Muggle-born, but I'm not any less a Black. I don't see anything wrong with werewolf enslavement." She smiled, and her similarity to Bellatrix shone all the stronger. "They need it after all. And they're only werewolves. Some of them would do well to remember that."
Remus flinched at the barb.
"Mum!" Tonks exclaimed.
The pureblood witch was unfazed. "Even Remus knows I'm right."
With a nasty smile, she rose to her feet and swept from the kitchen and out the back door.
"What was that?" Hermione whispered.
"Nymphadora, could you please go and fetch your mother back? We need her for the reading," Dumbledore said.
"You're not going to let her speak to Remus like that?" Molly protested.
"She's perfectly within her rights. As a Black addressing a family werewolf, she was positively polite," Snape said.
"That doesn't mean it's acceptable."
"It is, though," Remus said quietly. "Please, you don't need to defend me."
Molly stared at him, as though she had never seen him before.
Ted Tonks sighed. "Sometimes I wonder why she married me," he confessed. "I don't know how Sirius came out of that family so decent."
Remus frowned. "He wasn't always decent."
Suddenly the focus of the whole Order again, he shrugged.
"You shouldn't let her talk to you like that!" Molly continued to rage.
It was difficult to contain his scowls, but he reminded himself of her ignorance. The import of his revelation had not sunk in and she didn't understand.
"That was nicer than normal." He shrugged, deliberately playing up his indifference. "She only called me a mongrel once, and there wasn't a mention of fleas."
"I'll have to be more inventive in future," Andromeda said from the doorway. She resumed her seat proudly with her daughter trailing nervously in her wake.
"I don't know why you're treating him like it's some great shock," she said, halfway between scathing and confused. "He's known this was coming for weeks and it's not like he's never been inherited before. He isn't some newly bitten basket case of denial."
"That's why that werewolf in St. Mungos last year was so upset," Arthur realised. "The man who had just been bitten. I thought he was being a bit unreasonable."
Hermione gasped, but most of the others just looked confused.
"He had told the Healer he would rather die," Remus said, "so she claimed him while he was asleep. He threw a tantrum about it and earned himself quite a lot of..."
"Quite a lot of what?" Hestia said, softly.
His amber eyes dropped to the tabletop and he refused to answer. "Forget it. Pain potion, Severus?"
The Potions Master tossed over a vial of blue liquid and Remus uncorked and downed it in one smooth motion.
"Do you need another stomach-settler?" Snape asked.
"No. I'm starting to need more Anti-Cruciatus though."
"Anti-Cruciatus?" Arthur said, halfway between curious and horrified.
"The part about slow and agonising death wasn't an exaggeration," Snape drawled, pushing another potion vial into the werewolf's shaking hands.
"You mean Lupin is dying?" Fred said.
"Did you not pick up on that, Mr Weasley?"
"It's fine," Remus said. "Professor Dumbledore will read the will and I'll be fine." He knocked back the second vial and shuddered. "That tastes awful."
"Well, if you don't want it..." Snape drawled.
"No! No, it's brilliant. Absolutely delicious. It's helping already. Thank you, Severus."
Across the table, Harry's two best friends had their heads together.
"Who do you think Lupin will be bound to?" Hermione whispered.
"I don't know," Ron shrugged. "Harry's too young, isn't he? Maybe Sirius chose Tonks or Kingsley. He got on well with them, didn't he?"
Halfway into his statement, a lull in the adults' conversation left his words hanging in the air, fully audible to all. As Kingsley and Tonks did passable impressions of deer about to be hit by the Knight Bus, Remus' hands clenched into fists and he suppressed a whimper. The pressure on the inside of his skull that was the bond expressing displeasure was higher than he'd ever experienced before. He left out a half sob, and suddenly found himself struggling for breath.
Severus Snape cursed. As he snapped some scathing remark to the youngest Weasley boy, Albus Dumbledore was already raising his wand. He pressed it to the temple of the hyperventilating werewolf.
"Obliviate," he said crisply.
The Order watched as Remus calmed, a look of surreal unawareness spreading across his lined features. He slumped back in his seat as Albus removed his wand.
"That was singularly foolish of you, Mr Weasley," Albus said. "If it wasn't the holidays, I would take points."
"Your father and I will be speaking to you later," Molly glowered. "After everything we've just been told, you should have known better."
"I'm sorry!" Ron said. "I didn't think he would hear me. If you hadn't all stopped talking-"
"He would have heard you anyway, but the Headmaster wouldn't and it would have taken valuable time to deduce the problem," Snape sneered. "Werewolves have enhanced hearing after all."
Remus winced, the dreaminess leaving his features. "I really don't want to know what just happened, do I?"
Albus sighed. "No, you don't."
A sombre mood fell over the gathering as silence spread. Harry spotted Kingsley and Tonks communicating through a series of weighty stares, and his stomach churned. Not that he didn't like them both, but the idea of them owning Lupin, as property, was abhorrent. Lupin, whom he had always considered a semi-godfather, despite their limited interaction. Lupin, who had pulled Harry back from the Veil in the Death Chamber. Lupin, who had taught him the Patronus Charm.
Across the table, Hermione and Ron looked distinctly green around the gills.
Albus cleared his throat. "If you don't mind, it is important to read the will before anyone is called off on Order duties- I do not know if there will be another chance to get everyone together before the next two moons have passed. Please everyone."
His eyes lingered on Remus, who had turned very pale. To a circle of grim faces, he removed a sealed parchment from his breast pocket and held his wand to its glossy surface.
"I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, unseal the will of Sirius Orion Black."
With a shimmer of blue light, the seal fell away. Shaking out the parchment, Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"This is the last will and testament of Sirius Orion Black. Thank you to everyone for coming. I hope you will forgive me for making this brief, but there is a degree of urgency associated with the reading.
"To Andromeda and Nymphadora Tonks, I hereby reinstate you as members of the House of Black and release the contents of Andromeda's family vault back into her possession."
The Headmaster heard Remus groan slightly, and shot him an irritated glare.
"To Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, I leave ten thousand Galleons, to be used for Research and Development of pranks, and suggest that the last true Marauder may be a valuable source of information."
Remus smiled at the thought of assisting the mischief makers and some of the tension left his rigid limbs. Professor McGonagall let out a soft prayer as the twins grew very evil grins.
"To Minerva McGonagall, I leave my old Transfiguration textbooks. I'm sure you'll find the notes in the margins illuminating- we weren't just gossiping in your classes!"
The professor gaped as Remus snorted.
"What did you lot write in there?" she said, horrified, but didn't hear his reply through the laughter.
"To Harry James Potter, as my legal and magical heir, I leave Grimmauld Place, the contents of my old flat in Notting Hill, the Black vaults and my old motorbike, if Hagrid still has it. Unfortunately, I also must leave you the house-elf, Kreacher. It is my deepest regret that I could not be a better godfather to you, Harry, and I hope that you treasure our short days together as much as I do. As my last gift to you, I declare you legally emancipated. Give those good-for-nothing relatives of yours hell, with my blessing."
"My final bequeathment is the most important and it causes me great pain to think that I did not outlive you, Remus. I hate the thought of leaving you alone in an uncertain future. Before the ritual phrasing, I want to tell you that I always thought of you as a most beloved brother and ask that you try to remember me as such- that mischievous Gryffindor prankster instead of your reluctant owner. That hug two years ago in the Shrieking Shack was my welcome home and I wept over your distress afterwards. Don't mourn too long, Mooney. I'm sorry."
Albus paused and Remus bit his lip, ignoring the tears streaming down his cheeks and trying to keep his breathing semi-controlled. Albus' hands shook slightly.
"I, Sirius Orion Black, of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, bequeath the werewolf hitherto permitted to use the name Remus Lupin, to Harry James Potter, of the Ancient and Most Noble Houses Peverell and Black. I apologise to you both and trust that this is for the best. Take good care of each other."