Wolf Lord
Chapter Seven
By Mell8
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Magizoology- the study of magical beasts.
Newt Scamander was awarded the Order of Merlin, Second Class, in 1979 in recognition of his services to the study of magical beasts. Scamander is solely responsible for the creation of the Werewolf Register in 1947.
--Taken from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
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Present:
"Where is he? If he knows where my daughter is…!"
Wolf groaned and pulled Cody behind a nearby tapestry just in time to let Arthur Weasley storm past them on his way to the Great Hall where dinner was still under way. Headmistress McGonagall and Professor Granger-Weasley trailed after him. Apparently Ronald Weasley couldn't keep a secret. Wolf wouldn't be telling him any other private information again.
"Listen," Wolf said to Cody with a grimace after the adults. "I have something to take care of really quickly. Wait for me in the forest."
"Alright," Cody said with a quizzical look after Wolf as the boy slid out from behind the tapestry and ran off after his grandfather.
He stood behind Arthur in the shadows as the man politely held open the Great Hall doors for the two women but before he could follow, Wolf stepped forward and put his hand on Weasley's shoulder.
"You wanted to see me?" Wolf said softly as he pushed the door closed with his free hand.
Arthur spun around in surprise and as soon as his eyes caught on Wolf's strange hair, no doubt what Ron had used to describe Wolf to his father, his eyes lit up.
"Yes, you're Wolf?" he said with a nod. "I want you to tell me everything you know about my daughter."
"Look," Wolf sighed. "I told your son last night that she is happy and healthy. I wasn't lying."
"Then why hasn't she come home?" Arthur whispered. "She has family here." He looked so heart broken that Wolf felt sorry for him.
"The reason she hasn't returned to you is a very large one," Wolf said slowly. Once she had control over her wolf, his mother could have easily returned to England without taxing her family. That issue, the one that caused her to leave in the first place, had been taken care of. No, what kept Ginevra Malfoy from returning was her husband and the price that, even after all these years, was still hanging over his head.
"There isn't anything that would keep Ginny from her family. She loves us!"
Wolf laughed gently. "You should ask yourself what sort of things would make her feel uncomfortable about being home. Namely, that she isn't comfortable with how you would react about the man she married."
"Married?" Arthur gasped. "My baby girl is married? How…When?" Weasley looked up at Wolf shrewdly for a second before coming to a realization. "You're her son, my grandson. That's how you know so much about her."
Wolf took a step away from his grandfather before nodding. "But don't go advertising it. I'm keeping who I am secret for a reason."
"Why? What reason do you have for hiding yourself from us? Why won't Ginny come home?"
Wolf grimaced as he felt the moon begin to edge above the horizon. He needed to be outside with Cody when the moon rose because Cody could shift anytime once the moon was out.
"I've already answered the second question the best I can. If you figure out who Ginny married then I can answer the first." Wolf nodded to his grandfather before turning and heading out onto the grounds. Once the main doors were closed behind him, he took off at a sprint for the forest. As he ran Wolf felt the moon rise completely above the horizon and hoped that Cody was as powerful as Wolf thought so that he wouldn't have started shifting yet.
Cody was standing just far enough inside the tree line that he wasn't visible from the castle. Wolf sniffed him out easily as the smell of impatience and worry wafted towards him.
Wolf felt Lupin shift where he was locked away in his office just as he reached Cody and shook off the sick feeling he got from that.
"Come on," Wolf said as he began leading Cody deeper into the forest. He kept an eye on Cody as they walked to gauge how close Cody was to shifting. After an hours walk they settled into one of the clearings Wolf had found the previous night.
"Strip," Wolf said gently. "You'll want to have clothes to wear in the morning and shifting destroys clothing. Cody nodded and began to pull off his clothes.
Wolf calmly sat down on the ground and Cody nervously followed suit once he was naked.
"When is this going to happen?" Cody asked as he leaned forward to look at Wolf.
"It will happen when your wolf side overpowers your human. Shifting happens when the human gives over his body to the wolf. It is that willing surrender that causes the wolf skin to cover the human. But the first few times you shift the wolf has to force it's way out, which is why the human side fades so fully into the background."
"But when exactly?" Cody whimpered.
Wolf just shrugged. He had no idea when Cody would shift except that it would be well before Wolf himself even started feeling the need.
Truthfully, Wolf could go all the way through the night until just before the moon set without shifting if he really needed to. It was unbelievably uncomfortable and somewhat painful, but he could do it.
After the first hour of waiting passed Cody began to pace around the clearing like a caged animal. Wolf could tell that the first stirrings of Cody's wolf were starting to pulse under Cody's skin.
Twenty minutes later Cody screamed as his skin began to split and fur erupted all over his body.
But Wolf wasn't paying attention to Cody because he had just felt something else that made him more scared than he had ever been before. Seconds before Cody shifted he had felt two other presences shift into wolf form. One was shifting for it's first time and the other for maybe it's third or fourth. And they were shifting somewhere inside the school.
Wolf quickly stood and made to rush back to the school but a growl behind him made Wolf turn back around. A midnight black wolf stood in the middle of the clearing, teeth barred in challenge.
Cody's wolf was powerful and despite the clear knowledge that Wolf was much stronger than him, the wolf wanted a dominance fight anyway. This happened a lot, particularly with new wolves, but Wolf didn't have the time to deal with this right now.
Instead of shifting and beating Cody's wolf into the ground, Wolf called on his power. He let it permeate the clearing and his eyes shown with a hard gold light. He didn't blink and looked straight at Cody's wolf as the power grew in the clearing. Soon small sparks of magic could be seen as the magic fought for space in the power crowded area.
After a full minute of trying to glare Wolf down, Cody's wolf relented and dropped its head to the ground in submission.
Wolf barked once before turning and taking off at a sprint. Cody was hard pressed to keep up with Wolf. This was his first time running on four legs so he was a little shaky. But, since Wolf didn't have the time to shift, his two human legs were slow enough that Cody only fell a few feet behind.
The hour's walk it took to get to the clearing earlier in the night was reduced to eight minutes and Wolf and Cody were soon rushing across the Hogwarts grounds and into the school.
Wolf stopped in the Entrance Hall to sniff the air and when he found a scent he swore and took off again, down to the dungeons.
He smelled both wolves down there and he smelled Molly.
Cody's claws skittered on the stone as he fought for purchase and speed but he managed to stay close enough to Wolf as the enraged Wolf Lord called on his magic again and stormed down the dungeon corridor.
Molly lay on the ground, schoolbooks scattered around her, and two werewolves hovering over her menacingly. Wolf sprang and tackled the stronger of the wolves while Cody instinctively took down the second.
Claws sprang out of Wolf's hands and his bared teeth were sharp and pointed as he rode the werewolf to the ground. The fought for a moment, claws against claws and teeth against teeth but Wolf easily came up on top.
Cody was crouched over the second wolf, growling but unharmed. Wolf sniffed the air and caught the scent of Wolfsbane potion on the unknown wolves' bodies. It wasn't enough to make then tame, like Lupin, but it had let these weak creatures wait until the moon had fully risen before shifting and it had given them the illusion of control over their wolves.
Wolf sneered and pulled his magic back in. He rudely turned his back on his opponent and hurried over to Molly. He really, really hoped that he had gotten here quick enough and she was still unharmed and therefore, still human.
He swore when he saw that her arm was bleeding and quickly ripped off the hem of his shirt to wipe the blood away.
There was a long, deep gash down her forearm and Wolf hoped that she had scraped her arm a sharp point in the wall. There was an easy way to find out whether Molly was a werewolf or human. Wolf called on his magic again and bent over her arm to try and heal it. If it healed then it was a werewolf bite. If it didn't then she was fine.
It healed.
"What's going on?" Molly whispered, her eyes filled with tears and her body shaking with fear.
"I'm so sorry," Wolf said back. "I am so, so sorry."
"Are those werewolves?" Molly asked as she looked over at Cody and the two unknown wolves. "Are you a werewolf?" she gasped and pushed her back into the wall.
"Yes," Wolf answered. "And now you're one too." He sounded sad, which was the only reason Molly didn't whip out her wand to curse him and to scream for help.
"It came around the corner," Molly whispered, looking over at the two wolves Wolf didn't know, "and caught my arm as it rushed past. But you saved me," Molly looked at Wolf and saw that the claws and sharp teeth were gone. "You kept them from killing me so you're a good werewolf. Right?"
Wolf smiled. "I'm the Wolf Lord, Alpha of all werewolves. I don't hurt humans unless they attack first and I help other werewolves learn the same etiquette. I haven't spoken to the two who attacked you, but I will as soon as they're human again."
"You said that I'm a werewolf now?" Molly whimpered. "What will I do?"
"Shh," Wolf reached forward and pulled her into his arms.
Cody nudged all her books together in a pile with his nose before backing away to keep an eye on the other two.
"I'll take care of you, so you don't need to worry about being a wolf. I can teach you how to control the change and how to live with it without it affecting your daily life." Wolf held her close and bent down to whisper this last bit in her ear, "my mother, your Aunt Ginny, is a werewolf too. She is living a perfectly happy life and enjoys the freedom being a wolf gives her."
"Really?" Molly asked as Wolf picked up her books and stood with her in him arms.
"Really," Wolf replied. "Now, I'm going to bring you to my room. You can sleep there tonight and I'll explain everything to you in the morning."
Molly nodded and let Wolf carry her through the deserted Slytherin Common room and up to his dorm. He gently tucked her into his bed, nodded to the still awake Buddy, and went back to where all three wolves were waiting for him.
Wolf walked past them and back up to the Entrance Hall. The followed his unspoken command and were on his heels the whole way to the forest.
Once they reached the clearing, Wolf stripped and placed his clothes next to Cody's before yipping once and taking off at a run. After his second step Wolf was running on four paws. The other three wolves barked back in excitement and took off after him, eager to follow their Alpha's commands.
III
A failure. It had all been a failure. Those two werewolves he had stationed in Hogwarts hadn't bitten anyone, hadn't recruited anyone into his pack, and had failed in their mission.
They had shifted inside the castle; he had felt that. And then he felt nothing. It was as if his wolves had disappeared.
This angered him greatly and he blamed the teachers for it wholeheartedly. He would have his children investigate the matter and on the next full moon his plans would go perfectly.
They would go perfectly or he would be making a visit to the castle personally.
III
Past:
After Draco had finished checking Ginny over for any injuries he gave her a lingering kiss and stood up from his seat. He smiled tightly at Alex, who was fuming at Draco's display of ownership of Ginny's attentions.
"I'll enjoy ripping that bitch from your bleeding arms and taking her in front of you," Alex hissed. "You'll be so hurt that only your eyes will work, and maybe your ears so you can hear her moan."
Draco just laughed. Alex was powerful, yes, but he wasn't more powerful than Draco. That meant that Alex would not be able to outlast Ginny when it came to the call of the moon and would therefore not be suitable as her mate.
Ginny was Draco's either way and because Draco knew that he didn't let Alex's taunting bother him.
Ben stood over Alex and Draco on the dais and held his hands out to the gathered crowd.
"And now we will see who the demi-alpha will be. Are there any rules the fighters would like to have in this competition?" Ben asked.
"I hold to the rule in the mate fight," Draco called. "The demi-wolf must be able to outlast Ginny in his change." He smirked at Alex knowingly but the other man only smirked back.
"No woman can outlast me," Alex said with a suggestive laugh. "Very well, I agree."
"That means neither of you can shift in this battle or you will have lost Ginny as your mate," Ben cautioned. Draco nodded, understanding the warning, while Alex just smirked. "Fight!"
Draco slid his feet into a defensive stance and called on his power. He pulled out his claws on his hands and feet and the greater strength and agility from his wolf side. The wolf gave it eagerly, seeming to know that being with their mate was at stake. Draco felt more power than he had ever experienced before throbbing through his body.
Alex howled, a slightly distorted sound when coming from a human throat, and one or two of the lesser wolves in the crowd answered his call. Then Alex charged.
Draco quickly caught on to Alex's fighting style. The larger wolf used his body as a battering ram, brutally crushing everything in his path. There was very little finesse to his punches and kicks and he spent a lot of time charging at Draco.
Draco just dodged. Alex would charge and Draco would make the easiest move possible to escape. Alex's punches were easily thrust aside and his kicks easily ducked.
To a bystander it might seem that Alex was winning. He was throwing all the moves while Draco was only able to defend himself. It seemed to many that it was only a matter of time before Draco slipped up on his defense and Alex got in the killing punch. It was also clear that, while he wasn't aiming to kill, Alex was aiming for the area's on Draco's body that would cause the most damage and pain.
Draco just continued to carefully defend and back away from Alex's onslaught.
But Ginny knew what was really going on. She and Draco had trained together as sparring partners when Ben had declared her proficient at controlling her wolf in stressful situations. Once she had that go ahead, Ginny had promptly joined the rest of the wolves in their daily fighting practice.
She had learned the correct way to punch with the thumb outside of her fist so she wouldn't break it, and how to put the most possible strength into her kicks. As a female that meant utilizing her back muscles and turning her hips into every movement.
Males had greater upper body strength and used their shoulders to great success. Alex was using his shoulder muscles constantly as he attacked and Ginny could imagine that they were starting to burn with fatigue.
Draco had also taught her the most important bit about sparring, strategy. She hadn't needed to do anything more than dodge and attack for her battle, but Draco was being a bit more sophisticated in his attack. He was waiting for Alex to tire himself out to such a degree that it would be easy to take the bigger man out. Not only would Alex be beaten, but he would be humiliated as well. To the crowd it would seem that Draco had waited until the most opportune moment and was able to take Alex out with only a few punches while Alex spent forever punching and missing.
The fight went on for another ten minutes and the moon began to rise towards the horizon. The few lesser wolves present began to shift awkwardly as the call of the moon became stronger the closer it came to rising.
But Ginny was starting to see the warning signs in Alex's attacks. His arms shook with slight fatigue, his movements had slowed just a little, and his attacks were starting to be a little less precise. And Draco's smirk grew.
Finally, after another five minutes went by, Draco dropped his defensive stance and adopted an offensive one. Alex noticed the difference immediately and it seemed to dawn on him that Draco had just been waiting this whole time instead of losing.
Draco sprang forward, a blur of motion that Ginny could barely keep track of, and Alex went flying into the air, nose bleeding freely. The crowd gasped and rushed to get out of the way of Alex's flying body. He hit the ground with a hard thud and a cracking sound and didn't get up.
Draco stood where Alex was once standing, fists at his side and hair barely out of place. There was a small bruise forming on one cheekbone where Alex had managed to graze him with a fist but otherwise he was barely mussed at all. He wasn't even breathing hard.
Alex slowly sat up with a grimace on his face. He tried to take a deep breath to snarl something at Draco but ended up gasping in pain and clutching his ribs. He coughed once and spat out red-flecked spit. He kept trying to stand up and face Draco but his ribs had been what that cracking sound was.
Draco waited patiently for Alex to either stand and resume the fight or give up. The crowd watched as well but there were quite a few of them who were already declaring Draco their Alpha.
"Alex, are you able to continue?" Ben called to the injured wolf.
Alex opened his mouth to speak but couldn't get enough breath to snarl an answer. Instead he shook his head, no, while glaring hatefully at Draco.
Somehow Alex was able to lever himself to his feet and he stalked angrily off into the woods. He was leaving in shame but at least his head was held high.
"I now declare Draco Malfoy as demi-alpha and I hereby say that I will step down from my position as Alpha as soon as Draco is properly trained for his new position. Let us run this night as a pack and enjoy the moonlight!" Ben stepped down off the dais and began removing his clothing for the shift. Once he was naked he sat down on the ground and waited. The other wolves in the clearing followed suit.
Draco was busy being checked over by Ginny, just to check and see if any of Alex's blows had landed hard enough to do any damage. Once she was sure her mate was safe Ginny nuzzled his cheek.
They both removed their clothes and curled up together on the ground, waiting for the call of the moon to grow strong enough to call them.
They watched as all the other wolves shifted and then sat down on the ground for their Alpha and the demi-alpha and his mate to shift.
Ben nodded politely to Draco before he bent over and gave himself to the change. It was a blatant acknowledgement of Draco's new placement in the pack and all of the waiting wolves noticed.
Ginny licked Draco's cheek with her human tongue before moving away from him to shift. A half second after Ginny's shift began, Draco's wolf took over and he bowed himself over to let the shift come.
This time he licked Ginny's cheek before throwing back his head and letting out a howl that was echoed by the entire pack. He and Ginny took off into the trees and the rest of the pack followed excitedly.
