The sun was shining brightly, as it often did on warm summer days in Mid-June, and Cub was sitting in a spot half shaded by a large ash tree in Paterson Park. To be more accurate he was sitting on one of the branches of the large tree that was not shaded entirely by leaves at eleven o'clock that morning. Leaning against the trunk of the tree with one leg on either side Cub thought back to old Saturdays focusing on the tunes in particular, then pressed the wooden flute he had brought with him to his lips and began playing. He wasn't as good as Sable or Stalker, but after a bit of practice he could recreate their mesmerizing song. No one ever noticed what he did in the park, only two people did today though Cub didn't know it yet.
A routine had quickly fallen into place for the Summer, he and Remus would wake up at about seven in the morning and eat breakfast, usually cereal or toast. Then Remus would walk across Reverdy Road to get to the bakery and Cub would walk the opposite direction down Lynton Road past Welsford street and just past Monnow Road on the right was the park. There Cub would either watch the clouds or sit in the tree and play his flute or think. When Remus got off work, somewhere between noon and one in the afternoon, half past the hour at the latest, he would bring lunch down to the park where they would have a picnic lunch and walk home where they would read or play chess(which Cub won most of the time) until dinner. Then they would go to bed and start the process over again.
It was a relaxed schedule, but it worked. Remus and Cub rarely talked, but Cub at least made it look like he was participating in conversation, and he was smiling more, even though he missed the Pack dearly. Remus had apologized exactly seventeen point three times about them being gone, it would have been eighteen had Cub not cut him off mid sentence telling him that he didn't blame Remus for the loss of his friends, he blamed himself. Remus apparently was attempting to solve this problem by not reminding Cub about them, but he thought about them every day. Occasionally Remus would try to distract Cub with a story on his parents and godfather, though he had only mentioned his godfather once.
Flashback
"…Because of their animagus forms we called Peter Wormtail, your father Prongs and your godfather Padfoot, though he was partial to being called Snuffles." Remus had said one night.
"You said Wormtail and Prongs are dead, what about Padfoot?" It was one of Cubs few questions that he ever asked.
Remus shifted uncomfortably making Cub think he had said something wrong, "Sirius… Sirius is in jail for something horrible. He betrayed your parents to Voldemort and killed Peter. He betrayed us all and is in Azkaban for it."
Cub realized that this would be like Ferret or another member of the pack handing them all in, killing them, sending him to the Dursleys… It was unthinkable and wrong on so many levels. He didn't blame Remus the least bit for not wanting to talk about it. Cub offered a sentence he hoped would come off as comforting, "He deserves to be."
Remus smiled in understanding.
End Flashback
Harry was too absorbed in thoughts to realize that two people had moved to under his branch of the tree. The younger looked to the other for permission, the elder nodded to answer in the affirmative. The younger thought for a few seconds before calling above the sweet music Cub was playing, "But, soft! What light from yonder window breaks? It is the East and Juliet is the sun."
This had rather catastrophic consequences. First, startled by the noise, and the familiarity of it, dropped his flute and in attempt to recover it ended up upside down holding on to the limb with his legs and the flute in his hand. Cub then looked down to the girl ten feet below him, which made him lose all control of his body and fell, landing on his head of coarse. He quickly moved so he was sitting on the ground looking up at her, leaning back on his palms. He stumbled on words for a minute, "Pyg?"
"Ah, Cub, as eloquent and graceful as always. Of coarse it's me." The black haired girl replied offering a hand to help him up. Cub took it still in awe, she was quite a bit taller, though not even close to his height. Her eyes were brighter than he had ever seen and her hair was clean and brushed for the first time that he had ever seen. She no longer wore too big hand-me-downs, but a pair of jeans and a yellow tank top that contrasted beautifully with her hair. Before another word could be said he wrapped her in his arms in a tight embrace, just like the one they had shared a year ago, but much happier.
"Well, someone's happy." Said a sarcastic drawl, it was a voice that hadn't changed a bit in the year. He was wearing ragged jeans and a t-shirt, he was never one to give up the rebel look. It took a minute to realize it was actually Sable, he had shaved his beard and mustache off and cut his hair so it looked more mature. Cub didn't even hesitate to hug the older man. Meanwhile, Pyg had moved to pick up the long forgotten flute, so she was prepared when Cub asked how they had found him. She just smiled, "Cub, when we heard this music we had to find out where it was coming from. And we were more than pleasantly surprised to find you. Where did you get this anyway?"
Cub blushed lightly, "I'm in a special boarding school and have made some new friends, this was a Christmas present. I spent all day Christmas thinking about the chestnuts."
"What kind of boarding school?" Pyg asked as if insinuating something.
"Pyg…" Sable said warningly.
"I told you, I think he's going there too! You remember Saturdays!" She argued, Cub suddenly realized she was a witch, it hadn't been just him with the ability to control the emotions of others.
"Let me guess, someone had to come to explain why you were being invited to attend a school because of your special abilities." Cub asked and saw her face light up.
"Hogwarts." She whispered, Sable was cradling his head in his hand whispering something about Pyg's apparent lack of ability to keep secrets.
"Yep, apparently my guardian is a wizard too, he's also a…" He paused, "A tame werewolf."
"You live with a werewolf!" Sable yelled, though quietly enough no one would hear. Cub could understand his reaction, him and Sable were more or less brothers, really close brothers to be exact.
"He's a tame werewolf." Cub repeated, knowing this was going to be difficult.
"What if he loses control and eats you!" Cub noted that Sable and Pyg probably weren't up to date on the latest potions.
"He takes a potion that makes him able to control himself."
"Let me ask you this, can you throw him?" Sable said slowly.
"No…" Cub replied just as slowly.
"Then don't trust him!" Sable said curtly.
"He's a friend of my father's that knew me before I was with the Dursleys, his honor to his friend is just as strong as ours." Cub argued, though very calmly, "Besides, he knows my feelings towards adults, I barely talk to him, and he has accepted the fact that I don't always eat."
Sable sighed and relented, Cub finally asked, "So where is the rest of the Pack?"
Both of them sighed, Sable finally answered, "Let's go to our apartment, we'll tell you on the way there and we can talk about your… boarding school… when we get there."
"Works for me." Cub replied as they began walking South on St. James's Road.
"Well as you could guess, Lulu lives with us." Sable began.
"Where is she then?" Cub asked.
"At work, she works across the Hall for Old Mrs.Thompson." Pyg said.
"And Pygmy(A/N: This is Pyg's real nickname, they just call her Pyg for short) used to go to the street on Rolls Road."
"How about Ferret?" Cub asked.
"Ferret, poor girl, since we had no money and she couldn't get a job she was sent to live with her Grandparents." Sable sighed, Cub didn't see what was so bad, couldn't they just visit her?
"In America." Pyg added, now Cub saw the problem.
"In some city called Logan, Kansas." Sable shook his head.
"Dare I ask about Stalker?" Cub said rather unsure whether he really wanted his question answered.
"He was adopted after me and Ferret were gone." Sable answered frowning.
"We have reason to believe that he is now in Scotland…" Pyg answered.
"Or Ireland." Sable added.
"Or France."
"Norway."
"Perhaps China."
"Like eight different families were looking at him for adoption, we have no idea where he is." Sable finished.
"Poor Stalker," Harry said remembering what it was like to live with someone you had never met in your life, and in half those countries he would have to learn a new language, not that Stalker wasn't capable.
"Yeah, we're going left here." Sable announced and they turned onto Argyle way and walked into their apartment building.
-
Okay enough about where Hogawarts is," Pyg said impatiently, making both Sable and Lulu(who had been recently freed from work) chuckle lightly, "What about the teachers?"
"McGonagall is the transfiguration teacher, she's a bit strict but won't bother you if you do your work, Snape is the potions and unless you're in Slytherin he'll pick on you for the fun of it, Flitwick and Sprout are rather easy going, Hagrid is the Gamekeeper and pretty much a big kid, especially since he's half giant. And the Headmaster has this illusion in his head that he knows everything and that everyone will trust him, which makes it very easy for me to get on his nerves." Cub replied somewhat cheerfully.
"You were talking about some sort of defense class too." Pyg pointed out.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I don't know who the teacher is, apparently there's a curse on the job so a reason always comes up for them to stop teaching." Cub answered.
"What happened to the last one?" Lulu asked him.
"I killed him." Cub replied blushing a little.
"Are you kidding?" Sable gasped with the girls looking surprised, Sable had a somewhat prideful look on his face. It was the same look he gave whenever they asked about Sable's parents, it was kind of creepy.
"He was trying to kill me, was I supposed to let him?" Cub argued.
"I guess not." Lulu sighed, "What about your friends?"
"Hermione is a muggleborn like Pyg, and my mum was too from what I've heard. Ron is the youngest of six boys in his family and has a younger sister, his whole family is magic. They're the only ones that know about my time at the Dursleys or about the Pack. Although several people have asked if I was raised by wolves." Cub told them.
"And how do you reply to such a question?" Sable asked with an unfeigned look of curiosity on his face.
"I told them that I pretty much was." Cub grinned.
"Oh God…" Lulu groaned, but both Pyg and Sable began laughing.
"Come on Lulu, we all know that we might as well have been animals." Sable told her.
"I will not have myself labeled as an animal!" Lulu huffed.
"What's wrong with being labeled as an animal? It gives an excuse for our terrible manners." Pyg was now smirking, oh, how she loved to bother her older sister.
"I, for one, do not have terrible manners." She looked down at her watch, "It's almost time for me to go back to Mrs. Thompson's to make her dinner, you three behave."
Cub looked shocked and looked down at his watch letting two words slip from his now frowning mouth, "Oh, shit."
-
(A/N: Sorry about the cliff hanger, but I wanted to get this posted after so many reviews. For the few of you that guessed that Pyg is a witch, you guessed correctly. Ferret will be back much later, but I doubt that Stalker will be seeing as he is in Scotland, Ireland, France, Norway or China. Please review!)