"So it's like magic..." Mr. Wealsey said in awe as he inspected Stiles's phone in his hand.
"Um...not exactly. It's...Muggle technology." Stiles tried to explain.
He had the luck that Salem had classes that kept up to date with Muggle technology. Granted he had a bit of a rude awakening with some of the more nitty gritty stuff, but he had Scott to help him. His best friend's sunshine attitude may seem naive to some, and granted it sort of was, it was a blessing for Stiles. Whenever Stiles asked a question of what something was or for an explanation of how something worked, Scott would happily explain. Stiles would use the excuse that his old school was really old school and he, therefore, needed some help.
But with a cup of coffee and some Adderall, Stiles figured out what most teenagers would need. Know how to use Google, Yahoo Mail, and of course...video games. (And porn, but he wasn't about to share that.)
"But you called this a 'smartphone'...it's intelligent?" Mr. Weasley inquired.
Stiles scratched the back of his head. Another thing he was lucky for was the was a Muggleborn. Things like television and phones and video games just...were! Never did he really need to explain them.
"That's what they're called because they do more than call. Games can be played on them. You can video-chat. Um...you can use the internet." Stiles tried to name all the uses that would make sense. He was sure that the ads explaining the wider camera zoom...or whatever it is they talked about would be helpful right now.
"So there are no magical spiders involved?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"No." Stiles chuckled. From a side glance, he saw Ron give a sigh of relief.
It was the day after he arrived. No serious business was discussed. It was mostly everyone telling Stiles about how everyone's lives carried on after he left. A lot of the friends he made were looking into career choices this year. Neville was looking to go into education, with his love of plants he hopes to help as one of the Herbology teachers. Luna has applied to various papers for internships. Even Ginny who was a year younger was thinking about getting some work experience done by helping Hagrid out more with his creatures while spending some of the breaks with Charlie and his dragons.
Once it was time for bed, the boys all camped out in Ron's room. Ron gladly caught Stiles up in this season's Quidditch matches and who looked good, while who was doing badly. Naturally, Ron still cheered on fiercely and proudly for the Chudley Cannons. The twins joined them, wanting to get more time with Stiles and he learned more about their joke shop. Naturally, they planned to visit soon. Stiles also may or may not have come up with some new brilliant ideas that the twins spent all night bringing closer into a reality.
Come morning, everyone eats breakfast together. Again Stiles is reminded of Hogwarts and Salem. It's lively, it's cozy, it's delicious...it's just home.
After breakfast the twins head out into the backyard on Ginny's instant they help her train. Harry follows without a word. Ron rolls his eyes and stays behind with Hermione and his dad, while his mother goes out to do more chores.
"The internet, when it was new would be called the world wide web. It was a network of connections...similar to radio. As it grew into more things, more public...soon everyone had access." Stiles did his best to explain.
"Yes. We got a computer at home...it's not that hard, but I still sort of ignore it actually." Hermione admitted.
"Kom-pute-er?" Mr. Weasley sounded it out.
"Before they would be big and blocky, but now...my smartphone," Stiles pointed to the device in Mr. Weasley's hand. "Has all the things a computer has. As I said...it can make calls, look up any information that exists. Just think of carrying around a library, but you can only access information on books that exist...or aren't in the restricted section."
"All of that? At the touch of a finger...and, you carry it in your pocket?" Mr. Weasley's voice got higher with awe and excitement by each word.
"Yes...but my phone is discharged. And it would need access to a working network to do a lot of those things. And it's pure Muggle tech. I'm not sure if it would work here anyway." Stiles said as he took back his phone. Some tech was made to be guarded against strong pulses of magic. Other clever people in Salem managed to make tech using a form of alchemy to make these products that would work.
"Fascinating! Muggles are truly wonderful!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed and Stiles smiled at him. His genuine adoration and appreciation for Muggle things was refreshing. Rather than fear or scoff at it, he was curious about it. More people should be like Mr. Wealsey, Stiles thought.
Scott and Derek arrived at the clinic early the next morning.
They barely caught Deaton before he closed up the clinic. They explained what happened and asked if he had any idea of what was going on. Like always, the Vet was mysterious and cryptic. The only piece of information that they managed to understand was to come back in the morning for his findings.
"Have you tried contacting Stiles?" Derek asked Scott while they waited.
"Yeah. I left like...a million messages! And he's never one to not reply soon. I'm starting to get really worried...What if Stiles didn't know that guy. And it's like when Deucalion took Erica and Boyd and Stiles was just trying to keep us all safe?" Scott rambled in a panic.
"Hey!" Derek gripped Scott's shoulder tightly to help bring him back to earth. "Stiles is good at hiding information. But...when he greeted that man it was genuine happiness." Derek admitted begrudgingly.
Scott nodded and took a deep breath. He was about to speak again when Deaton opened the door. He looked grim, which made both Scott's and Derek's stomach tie up in knots.
"Dr. Dea-"
"Scott, I'm only going to say this once and then we will pretend nothing ever happened. Stiles is fine at the moment. Know that. Trust in that. But Scott, listen to me. For your sake, his sake, and the sake of your friends and family...drop this." Deaton said quickly and seriously.
Scott and Derek furrowed their brows. They shared a look before looking back at Deaton.
"What...?" Scott asked confused.
"Where's Stiles?" Derek demanded.
"Busy. In matters that do not include you or you," he pointed to each of them, "Your packs, this town, or anyone in it. I'm serious...Do not pursue this."
"Then what are we supposed to do!? Wait?" Derek demanded.
"Exactly that." Deaton's voice was steely and uncompromising. He gave each wolf a meaningful glare before heading back inside.
"He's scared," Scott stated after a minute after Deaton went back inside.
"But he knows what's going on," Derek added as he glared at the door.
"He...he may not be the only one though," Scott said slowly as he looked at Derek with a growing grin.
Derek cocked his head to the side, "Who else would know?"
"Ms. Morrell. She was forced to be the Alpha Pack's temporary Emissary. She and doctor Deaton have different...methods, of how to do things. What the doc isn't willing to tell us, maybe she will." Scott suggested as they turned and got into the Camaro.
"You guys don't know how happy I am to be here and see that you are all alive and doing well. But let's get down to business. What's Greyback doing that needs my help?" Stiles demanded as the morning rolled into the afternoon and no one was approaching the reason for his visit.
All movement stopped and everyone was staring at Stiles. Some like the twins looked proud and amused, while others like Mrs. Weasley looked to be having some inner turmoil and had a lecture coming, and some like the Trio who shared knowing looks and had something on the tip of their tongue that they wanted to say.
"Stiles, dear...we have plenty of tim-"Mrs. Weasley began but Stiles cut her off.
"Time? I want to be grateful for your hospitality Mrs. Weasley, but time is not something I can waste." He smiled, but it was cold and sarcastic. "What am I to expect here? A second chance? I'm 17 already. And I have a life back home with people who need me..." he looked down at his feet. "This is just a visit. Prolonging the inevitable for me will be more painful. So please...can we just get on with it?"
"I'll call Sirius," Harry said as he headed upstairs to fetch his two-way mirror.
Twenty minutes later they're off to 12 Grimmauld Place.
Harry accompanies him and they're greeted by Sirius and Remus. They share short pleasantries before they're seated at the dining room table where Albus Dumbledore is waiting along with Minerva McGonagall, Sybill Trelawney, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Severus Snape, Alastor Moody, and the Minister of Magic himself.
"So...I hear you've got one howling of a problem," Stiles replied sarcastically as he made himself comfortable in his seat.
A lot of the players who had a hand in snapping his wand were in that room right now and Stiles had every intention of letting them know his anger still burned hot.
"Mr. Stilinski I am aware-" Dumbledore began, but Stiles scoffed and interrupted him.
"I thought Mr. Lupin was the Were. I thought you were the wizard trying to play god. Or Merlin. Or just a really clever chess player while we were all your duty bound pawns."
Sirius threw his head back and barked out a laugh while Trelawney and McGonagall gasped and Harry and Remus looked at him with their jaws dropped. The rest eyed Stiles with their perfected poker faces, though Moody had a bit of an amused smirk on his face, and Stiles just smirked back at them.
"Mr. Stilinski...we know that you must have felt-" the Minister began but Stiles cut him off too.
"Really? Do you all really know what I felt?" Stiles demanded. "Okay, let's recap. I've suffered loss, danger, near death, and banishment. My mother was the magical one and it was through magic that her memory lived on strongest. Then you cursed me by making me remember I used to be magic...there was a part of me and my mother that I had to hide from my father. Things that woke me up in nightmares that I couldn't beg my father to believe were really real because he would have thought me insane...and I nearly did lose my sanity. You know why?" Stiles demanded as his eyes glistened with tears of anger, "Because loneliness and isolation can lead you to dark and insane places!"
Stiles took a shuddering breath before he continued, much calmer now. "There is little left that can be said to me that'll surprise me. I don't need things to be sugar-coated. One wonderful evening with an amazing wizarding family doesn't make up for the fact that what I did saved lives, and yet I was punished for it severely. You think I'll see this as a reward? That I'll be blinded by the shiny warm miracle of being back that it'll fix everything?" He scoffed. "It's bordering cruel. I took my punishment and I made my way through the Muggle world expecting to never return to this one. I've made my peace with it and I moved on. You wanna know the life I have now lead? It's dangerous. I'm constantly fighting something...Werewolves, Kanima's, Nogitsune...I died just a few months ago because a Darach wanted to take the lives of the innocent to save her own ass and put my father in danger. I took his place, and I died, I was filled with nightmares, I was losing my mind, I got possessed by a demonic fox...so do tell me Minister...how exactly do you know how I feel?"
The silence in the room reined and Stiles leaned back in his chair feeling satisfied with himself. "Despite my age...I am no longer a child. If you want my help then I have conditions."
"Conditions?" Snape inquired.
"You're the potion master, aren't you?" Stiles asked Snape. When he nodded, Stiles smiled wider. "Good. You'll be needed. You'll go and fetch us some truth serum."
"What?" McGonagall cried.
"I want to help, but I can't do that unless I know what I'm hearing is the truth. So we're all going to take some truth serum and have a very rare moment in history in which we're all honest. Fun day ahead!" He cheerfully mocked.
The adults all looked at each other and were having multiple silent conversations. Stiles let them. He wanted to see how far he could push to give him an idea of how badly they wanted him specifically. There were werewolf hunters with much more knowledge about werewolves than Stiles could ever have. So if they were willing to agree to his terms, and possibly dish out more than they intended during the meeting...it told Stiles something big was going on, and it involved him.
"Why don't we take a break?" Dumbledore suggested.
The adults nodded while Stiles shared a look with Harry and shrugged. Harry led Stiles upstairs to Sirius's old room and let the adults discuss things.
"Sorry if I sounded like a dick." Stiles apologized as they entered Sirius's old room.
There was a lot of old Muggle stuff that even he recognized mixed in with Hogwarts and Gryffindor things.
"Don't worry about it. I was actually left in awe." Harry laughed.
"Really? Wasn't too much? Too pratty?" Stiles asked with a bit of a sheepish look.
"Maybe?" Harry shrugged with a chuckle. "But I mean it wasn't wrong. Because of our ages, they think they know what's best for us. It could be argued but..." the British wizard paused before he seriously asked. "Was everything you said true?"
Stiles froze for a moment before nodding.
Harry didn't know what to say so he just sat next to Stiles on the bed. Though Stiles wasn't a werewolf himself, he felt comforted like one would at being close to a friend.
"Hey..." Stiles spoke up after a while. "A lot of the people downstairs make sense to me, but what's the deal with Trelawney?"
"Huh? Oh...from what Sirius has told me, I was supposed to serve as a link between Voldemort and myself. Share visions and whatnot. But thanks to you, I was spared from delving into Voldemort's twisted mind. So you know, thanks. Had I had the link, there was a chance I could have predicted his attack on the Ministry. Some weeks before that though Mr. Weasley was there, and was attacked. Voldemort's own familiar was sent after him. Trelawney had a powerful vision that had her begging McGonagall to believe her. So shaken up that they sent someone to look in on Mr. Weasley. He was very injured, but no dark magic was done...he healed up." Harry recalled.
Stiles smiled. He liked Mr. Weasley a lot. And if he could maintain his fascination about Muggles after an attack like that, then Stiles not only liked him more, he respected him more. Nothing speaks louder about one's character than how they react after something's happened to them.
While Mr. Weasley was a true Gryffindor and continued on with a brave and noble heart, Stiles was afraid that he...could not. Stiles wasn't a noble lion, or a cunning snake, or a wise eagle, or loyal badger.
He wasn't even British.
He was an American, banished wizard who was tainted with darkness and haunted by death.
"Alan said you may stop by." Ms. Morrell smiled as Scott and Derek barged into her office. It was still early so though the school was opened, there weren't many people there.
"Then you know why we're here." Derek menacingly said.
Scott pushed him back gently and stepped forward. "Ms. Morrell, you've always seemed to have a soft spot for Stiles. Can't you please just tell us what happened to him?"
She sighed and looked sincerely apologetic. "I'm afraid I can't."
"But!" Scott cried
"There are rules in place much older than you. I'm sorry..." she looked around to make sure no one was paying attention before she waved them closer. Derek and Scott shared a look before they crouched down next to the desk. She began to speak in a whisper, "I can't tell you anything because I'm just an Emissary. One that's not related to Stiles in any way. But that's because Stiles only has one family member in town..." she sat back and looked at them knowingly.
"The Sheriff?" Derek asked.
She didn't reply, only smirked.
Derek nodded before pulling Scott out of her office. They hopped into the Camaro again and this time headed off to find the Sheriff.
"Why didn't we think of going to the Sheriff in the first place?" Scott asked.
Derek didn't really have an answer so he just stepped on the gas pedal more while he muttered, "Shut up". One way or another, they would talk to the Sheriff.
They gathered back in the dining room, all were standing except for Dumbledore. Stiles decided to take the seat across from him.
On the table, there was one small vial and two cups of tea.
"Your terms will be met, Mr. Stilinski. But since your hatred revolves mostly around me, I shall be the one who takes the serum...you as well." Dumbledore said as he motioned to the set up in front of them.
Stiles looked at the cups and vial before him with a critical stare before reaching over and picking up his cup. Dumbledore grabbed his and the vial and dropped half into each. Stiles locked eyes with the older wizard and said, "Cheers." before they both took as many gulps needed to down the drink.