A/N: Thank you all so so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! You all don't even know how blown away I am by the response...seriously, I never would have imagined it with this pairing. I am hoping to update this once a week. In this chapter...Fenrir figures out who his mate is! Did you all read the sneak peek of chapter two yesterday? Missed it? You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter two and be on the lookout for chapter three soon!
Remus sat in the infirmary ward, with his head in his hands. How was it that he was all alone again? He hadn't felt this low since he'd learned that James and Lily had died, and that Sirius was responsible. But, Sirius hadn't been responsible, and Remus had spent fourteen years of his life hating his best friend.
And then his best friend was gone. Dead.
He'd wasted years. And now, he felt such an immense pressure. They had to help end this once and for all.
He stared down at the infirmary bed that held an extremely tiny Hermione Granger, her breathing labored. Had he ever been that small? So obviously a child? How much had society crumbled that she was having to fight for her life? Only a few hours ago, a grown man...Dolohov no less...had tried to murder this child, simply because she was a muggleborn and she was fighting on the side opposite from him.
Remus grimaced, seeing the pucked, purple scar peeking out of the top of Hermione's hospital gown. She would pull through, he knew. After all, Hermione was a strong witch, and with his werewolf senses, he could already tell her body was working overtime to get her back in fighting condition.
Until then, he would sit and watch over her, because there was no one else who could do it. Harry had been swept away by Dumbledore, probably to discuss the evening's action. Ron laid in his own bed a few windows down, recovering from some kind of mental torture.
He scowled at the moonlight filtering in through the window, resting on Hermione's face and making her look almost relaxed.
"Yes, you were that small once." A voice came from behind him.
Remus jumped, having not heard Dumbledore enter the infirmary, his senses so focused on Hermione's bodily functions. He also hated feeling as though Dumbledore must have read his thoughts. "It's wrong that they've been thrown into this." He said, surprised by the low gravely sound of his voice.
Dumbledore sat in the empty chair next to him. "I agree, but it cannot be undone." Dumbledore said, letting the silence stretch on between them before speaking again. "But, I think that it means we should do everything we can to ensure that this war ends quickly. Don't you agree?"
Of course, Remus would be a fool to disagree, and perhaps that is what Dumbledore was banking on. Remus's assurance that he would do anything to end the war once and for all. For his friends. For James, Lily and Sirius. For the future. For Harry, Hermione and Ron. They deserved more.
And perhaps he should known that Dumbledore wasn't above manipulating people to get them to do what he wanted them to do, and that the setting for this meeting was not accidental. Perhaps he should have known that Dumbledore would ask him to do the one thing that he'd promised would never happen.
Find Fenrir Greyback.
Remus knew that there was no turning around that this point, but it didn't mean that he'd forgiven Albus Dumbledore. Find the werewolf packs, Dumbledore had instructed. Well, Remus was pretty certain that they'd found him.
Greyback's pack tended to roam Scotland's forests in the summer, but they moved further south during the winter. Greyback himself had taken to skulking about the Forbidden Forest on the full moon, too. Remus initially thought that it might be to terrorize him while he was teaching there, but it had continued after he left.
Following his nose, it didn't take long to find the makeshift camp that Greyback's pack had set up, and even less time to find to find the alpha. Greyback gave him a feral grin from across the camp, standing next to a cooking fire, huge arms across his broad chest. "Ah, pup, looks like you've finally come to your senses and came home."
Remus grit his teeth together, hearing a crack in his jaw from the pressure. "Wrong, I'm afraid Greyback. Official business...Dumbledore sent me. Is there somewhere we can talk?"
"Only if you address me properly." Fenrir prompted.
Remus sighed, knowing that it was necessary to keep Greyback's little pack balance happy. "Is there somewhere we can talk...alpha?"
Greyback smiled, but didn't respond, instead turning and heading towards a small cave, the mouth covered by what appeared to be a hanging deer skin. Inside, a second fire was bustling brightly. Once they were seated around the fire, Fenrir finally talked again. "What is it that you need?"
"Dumbledore would like to know what you would need to join our cause. It would help to know that we have the werewolf packs on our side." Remus said, cautiously, knowing that whatever Fenrir asked for was likely too great, and they would never be able to deliver. It was no secret that Fenrir hated wizards - despite being one himself - and didn't care to put himself in the middle of a wizard's war.
Fenrir was quiet for a while, his eyes staring into the fire. Remus was surprised to see him this way, almost contemplative. "I want my mate."
Of all the things that Remus was expecting to hear, that was not it. "You have a mate?" He asked, shocked beyond belief that someone as savage and violent as Fenrir could have something as loving and special as a mate. They were incredibly rare and sacred in werewolf culture.
"Yes." Fenrir said, his eyes turning to face Remus, his blue eyes blazing in the firelight. "She is at Hogwarts, and has been there for at least two years. I heard her. She called to me." He said, eager to learn more about his little mate. If there was another werewolf at Hogwarts, surely Lupin would know about it.
Remus shook his head. "You're wrong. There are no werewolves at Hogwarts right now." He shook his head, thinking about some poor student at Hogwarts being mated to a man like Fenrir Greyback. "I won't force anyone to tie their life to you." Remus snarled. "That would be a fate worse than death."
Greyback's mouth snapped shut audibly. "Then you have nothing to offer me that would make me want to help in your silly little war."
Remus stormed out of the cave, not bothering to watch is back, wondering if he'd just made a terrible mistake. Had he let his own emotions get the better of him?
Ever since Lupin had come and visited him, Fenrir had been reeling with the knowledge that his mate was still a human. Just a simple witch. How was it possible that she could have called to him, he wondered? He'd spent more than one Hogsmeade weekend skulking around the village, hoping to catch a glimpse of her, but no luck.
The Dark Lord had come to visit him not long after Lupin, and he drove a harder bargain than the shabby werewolf professor. It was either help him, or die. But, the rewards weren't terrible either - immunity, free reign of the British Isles. Fenrir wouldn't dare tell the Dark Lord about his mate, lest the man try and use it against him. He knew he'd do anything for his mate.
But that was how he found himself running through the hallowed halls of Hogwarts for the first time ever. The Dark Lord had spoke of a battle in Hogwarts, in which Draco Malfoy was going to kill Headmaster Dumbledore. Fenrir had leapt at the opportunity to volunteer, unable to pass up the chance to be near his mate.
He dodged curse after curse that was hurled on his way out of the castle from the Astronomy tower, Bellatrix Lestrange laughing madly as she skipped down the halls. Somehow, that blasted Order of the Phoenix had come to join the cavalry.
Fenrir was about to leave for good, when a scent caught his attention, coming from an alcove. He knew without a doubt that this scent belonged to his mate. Stalking towards the little hiding spot, he could feel his heart beating in anticipation. He desperately needed to know just who it was.
He peered into the dark and nearly gasped at what he found. It was none other than Hermione Granger herself. He was reeling with the information that this mudblood, and all around thorn in Malfoy's side, was the woman who would be his.
With her wild hair, and doe like brown eyes, he thought that she looked rather like prey that he'd finally caught. He stepped towards her, watching as she pressed back further into the stone, until he was flush against her. Bending his head, his nose in her hair, Fenrir let the soothing feeling wash over him that he'd found her. Three years of waiting had been worth it.
Wanting nothing more than to throw her over his shoulder and take her with him, he knew that that would needlessly expose her to trouble with the Dark Lord. Though it took everything in his power to do it, he stepped away from her, rewarding Hermione Granger with a sharklike grin, before exiting her nook.
He wondered if she'd been able to feel their connection, too.
Hating himself for making the promise, Remus trudged through the Forbidden Forest, knowing that Greyback wouldn't have gone so far from the castle so close to the full moon. Cursing Dumbledore, he wondered if the old man had known he was going to die tonight, leaving Remus feeling vulnerable and unwilling to back out of the task he'd promised to do.
Dumbledore had called him to his office earlier that evening, and instructed Remus to find Greyback a second time and get him on their side for good, that nothing the werewolf would ask for was too great. When Remus had tried to explain about Greyback's mate at Hogwarts, Dumbledore had told him that he must agree if that was what Greyback wanted. One person would need to sacrifice herself for the greater good.
Remus had agreed, with the intention of arguing about it further, as Dumbledore had another engagement to attend to that evening. Now, Remus was left wondering what would happen to him if he broke a last promise with a dead man.
When he found the larger werewolf, his sire, Remus was disturbed by the positively gleeful look on his face. "I knew that you would come back to me, pup. What is it this time? More promises from your dead leader?" He taunted.
"Yes, actually." Remus said, hating himself that he was going to offer this to Greyback, a man he hated nearly as much as Voldemort. "We need your help. The support of the packs could mean the outcome of this war." He sighed, feeling the weight of his words on his shoulders. "We will give you your mate at the end of the war, if we are successful."
Greyback's eyes looked like he could not possibly be more excited, and Remus once again felt uneasy at the prospect. "An unbreakable vow, then. I cannot appear to have turned my back on the Dark Lord, now, but I promise that when the time is right, I will support your Harry Potter."
His arm stretched out in a sort of peace offering. Remus felt himself shaking, but he took the other man's hand, hands clasped around wrists. Wands raised, they began the making of the vow. Fenrir vowed to work for their side, and Remus vowed - personally - to help Fenrir get his mate once the war was over, on pain of death. That bit hurt most of all, but Remus knew that he would need to be there for whoever Fenrir's mate was.
The deal was done, then, and as Remus was walking away, he heard Greyback call after him. "Did I tell you that I figured out who my mate is?" He asked.
Remus felt his blood immediately run cold. He had thought that Greyback not knowing who exactly his mate was would buy them some time, but it appeared that he was wrong. He should have realized that Greyback was too eager to engage in the vow with him. Turning around, nostrils flared, he stared the much larger man down. "Who?" He demanded.
Fenrir's grin was positively feral. Each word was punctuated by a self satisfied smile as he watched the realization sink into Lupin's head. "Sweet. Little. Hermione. Granger."
