Chapter 10: Basilisks and Werewolves
The Djinn watched from the shadows of the palace, observing quietly as his master played with his nephews. The war harden battle mage is now lifting children with the same hands that he use to kill his enemies. That's when he realized something. Combat might have brought them closer and fate might have tied them together, but he will never be a part of his master's family.
So the demon disappeared, leaving the warmth of familial light to wallow in his wretched existence.
"Get down!" Steven threw his tired and battered body over his master, saving them both from the swipe of Remus's growing claws.
"Remus!" Harry called out, struggling to pull away from Steven's iron grip. "Remus it's Harry!"
He half expected that the man would suddenly calm down and surprised the wolf inside of him, but the only responses that he got an angry growl from a half transformed face.
"Remus!" He cried out, but his hope quickly disappeared as those familiar brown eyes turned amber and wild.
"It's not use. His human side is completely overwhelmed." Steven said, watching in disgust as the man falls down onto his knees and began to howl in pain, fur sprouting painfully from his exposed skin. Realization stuck harry like a lightning bolt and he stopped struggling.
"Outside." He said. "We need to get him outside. He'll destroy the cellar at this point. He'll hurt everyone in the house if we don't get him out!"
'Well with the state of this dump I would prefer that he does destroy the cellar.' Steven wanted to say, but he bit his tongue instead. He found it funny that his master still has time to worry about other people with a half transformed werewolf is crawling front of him. Carefully, he pulled up his master and herded him out of the cellar, the heavy padded footsteps of the monster close on it's trail.
Just when you think that Merlin would cut you some slack after you slayed a basilisk.
The two wounded figure stumbled out into the open field, the terrain now resembling a battlefield from their last battle with the basilisk. The great big snake lay motionless like a glorious trophy, but they were both too busy to marvel at the beast. Steven hissed, trying hard to ignore the pain in his knee as he leaned onto the dead snake. Noticing that his demon might not be able to protect them again, Harry pulled out his wand and pushed Steven behind the Basilisk.
"Stay down," He whispered. "I'll try to stun him before he could get to you."
"Stunning spells doesn't work on beast like him sir." Steven struggled through gritted teeth. "So absolutely not. You will not throw yourself in harms way sir."
"But… wait. What-" Harry hushed his butler and listened intently. "What's that sound…?" He asked, his voice shaking in fear at the sound of heavy breaths and lip smacking. Steven saw the fear reflected on Harry's eyes and decided to distract the wolf before the boy could do anything rash. If he's too useless to fight then he might as well distract the monster so his master could escape.
And with his injured leg, he bolted from behind the thick dead snake, ready to face his death, but-
"He's eating the corpse." Steven said, perplexed at the scene unfolding in front of him. The skeletal figure of the brown werewolf held no interest towards him. The beast was focused on an open wound at the side of the snake's body, sinking his terrible teeth into the flesh. Steven sighed in relief, glad that he doesn't need to die.
"What?" Harry came around the corner of the body to join him. The genie was right. Remus Lupin is indeed, chowing down on a section of the Basilisk's tail.
"Apparently werewolves love basilisk meat. Who knew?" Steven chuckled, amused at the situation.
"Oh hell no." Harry muttered in annoyance, stomping towards the werewolf in furious indignation. "No friend of my father is going to gnaw at a dead body like an animal!"
Werewolf Lupin only growled at him in response, baring his big sharp canines that is drenched in sticky blood. Harry staggered back in response, the memories of his third year nightmare suddenly becoming more vivid than ever. This was not Remus… this… this was a monster.
Still… He couldn't bear the thought of seeing him debasing himself like that, reduced to become a wild animal scavenging on dead rotting meat.
"Stevens." He called out quietly, unable to turn away from the horrible sight of the animal tearing into flesh.
"Yes master?"
"Destroy the Basilisk."
Steven raised his eyebrow in objection. "But sir, you mentioned that you wanted to harvest it for ingredients?"
"I don't care. Get rid of the carcass. Burn it. Vaporize it. I don't care. Just make it so that Remus isn't-" Harry chocked on his words, the sight of his former professor becoming an animal too much for him to bear.
"Now, now." Steven chided gently, "The Lord of the Black Manor would know better than to waste such a valuable commodity.."
"What do you expect me to do? Stun and chain him like an animal while we harvest the basilisk? I can't treat him like that, I just.. can't. He's my… he's… he's family."
Suddenly Steven was overwhelmed by a wave of compassion for this young man. How can he call this monstrous man his family even after the things that had happened to him? How lonely he must be to be able to call such cursed beast as his family.
'What a strange child.' Steven thought to himself. He put on his best smile and leaned down to his master.
"If you want, I have a perfect solution to this conundrum." Steven said. "I will take you up to the rooftop where you can be safe, and afterwards you can command me to carry the Basilisk back to the manor. I will secure the body and the wolf will be unharmed."
"But you're already in bad shape… How can I ask you to-"
"You can, and you will." Steven smiled confidently. "Your wish shall sustain me."
Harry hesitated. "Are you sure?"
"Positive." Steven laughed, amused that his master would worry about him being tired. Such a strange child indeed.
"Well... As long as you don't hurt yourself..." Before Harry could continue, the crunching sound of teeth tearing into wet flesh distracted him and he is once again frozen onto the feasting werewolf.
"Pardon my insolence sir but,-" Steven took Harry's face into his hands and turned him away from the gory sight. "-you were giving me a command?"
"You said you would be ok." Harry said dangerously, glaring at the genie's right hand hanging limply on his side.
"Yeah, well." Steven grumbled in annoyance, unable to hide his irritability when two joins on his left side of the body are dislocated. "Obviously I was lying. Sir."
"How could you." Harry gasp in horror, slapping the Demon's dislocated shoulder flippantly. Steven crumbled to the group and silently screamed. "You trot around claiming you're my 'loyal servant' and yet you dare to lie to my face?!"
"You were going to have me vaporize a basilisk's body!" Steven screamed back, trying to reel in the anger from his voice and failing miserably.
"You lied to me!"
"Yes!" Steven threw his one good arm into the air. "Yes I did! Sir, you were going to throw away a perfectly good, fully intact, fresh basilisk body! After all the hard work that I did to keep the damage to the body to a minimal, you we're going to have me 'burn' it like a barbarian? Do you know how amazing the blood is as a silverware polish?"
"Barba-" Harry looked at his impudent servant in shock. "You're going to polish my utensils with Basilisk blood?"
"Yes, because our silverware are all rusty!"
"Don't lie to me! What about that soup spoon that I always use? That's not rusty."
"That's and that one for is the only utensils that are not rusty!"
"Basilisk blood." Harry scoffed. "Disgusting."
"Disgusting? Ha! Then you sir, are irrational and wasteful."
"WELL I APOLOGIZE IF DON'T WANT TO EAT USING THINGS SOAKED IN BASSILIK BLOOD."
"SIR. YOU WONT 'EAT' THE BLOOD. THE BLOOD IS A POLISH-"
"STILL."
"SO YOU WOULD RATHER EAT WITH A RUSTY SPOON INSTEAD?"
A wolfish howl cut off the ridiculous conversation between the two dunderheads, turning their attention back to what really matter; the raging werewolf on the front yard. Steven frowned. He thought that he could finally distract his master from that crippling fear. Apparently not.
Harry sighed and sat down, feeling defeated after he saw the werewolf. After the basilisk was teleported out of the area, Remus went into a frenzy. First he sniffed the ground where the large carcass lay, rolled on it, then howled out as if he's in agony. After a few minutes of nervous pacing and panting, the werewolf flopped himself down and went to sleep.
Their argument must've woken him up because after a few whines and howls, the werewolf began to heave. And heave. And heave. And then piles and piles of unimaginable things meat began to spew out from his mouth.
"Oh my god." Harry gagged, frozen in horror at the sight of regurgitated Basilisk meat and stomach bile pilling out on the ground. With his one good arm, Steven pulled his master's shoulder and turned him around.
"Look away sir." He whispered, stroking Harry's back to comfort the shocked teenager.
"No, Remus! I have to make sure that he's okay. Maybe he's poisoned, or he's ill-"
"I think he's just emptying his stomach so he could change back into his human form sir." Steven pointed out to the hints of dawn in the sky. Even after he pointed out the reason, the boy was still pushing against the railings of the roof, concerned for the werewolf below.
"Look." Harry said, pointing at the odd way the beast kept running around and sniffing the air, his jaw unhinged with drool dripping onto the ground.
"He doesn't look good. Maybe we should take him to the manor and have that odd witch take a look at him? I mean he just did ate a good portion of that tail. Who knows what's happening in his body. What if he's going to be ill once he's back in human form? What if-" Harry continued to go on and on about the werewolf, making Steven frown.
"Sir, for someone who told me that everyone you knew abandoned you, you're awfully concerned about this beast." Steven said slowly, choosing his words carefully.
"So I really must ask… What is your relationship with that monster?"
Harry stopped his tirade of hypothetical worries and become quiet.
"If you call him a monster again then I will have to punish you." Harry said dangerously, his eyes still fixed on the werewolf. "Remus is the closest thing that I had for a family, and I will not have you insult him."
Steven raised his eyebrow, confused why his master is scolding him over a simple question. Instead of arguing with hi master though, the genie only placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder and said, "I was wrong my Lord, forgive me."
Harry did not answer him, his eyes still fixed on the wolf running around in circles. "I think… I think he's hungry again…" he said in disbelief, watching the craggy silhouette of the best paw and nip at random things on the ground. Then he caught a scent in the air and bolted back out of sight.
"What?!" Harry screamed in frustration, hitting the railings with his hand. "Bring me down Stevens, we have to make sure he doesn't get into the house."
Stevens struggled to get up and ended up throwing himself against the rooftop railings. "I cant." The demon answered, his voice small with shame. "You'll have to wish it for me my Lord, I cannot move like this."
"Oh," Harry coughed, suddenly feeling guilty that he paid so little attention to his servant and protector. "Ok then, I wish that you would bring me down onto the yard."
Instantly, Steven's broken body was enveloped with a warm glow, and his back straightened proudly.
"Yes my Lord." He answered in a trance, the whites and pupils of his eyes covered in gold. Surely and with confidence, the demon cradled his master and began jumping off the rooftop, gliding gracefully down as if they're underwater.
"Thank you." Harry said to his butler. With those words, Stevens broke out of his trance, gasping with air and his face contorted in pain. "Stevens!" Harry rushed to him in concern.
"I am fine sir,"
"Aren't you some all powerful magical being? Why can't you use your oh-so-great genie magic to not be in pain?" Harry nervously laughed, trying to hide his concern flippantly. Stevens just smirked and pointed to the hole where the basilisk came from.
"He went that way." Harry frowned guiltily, glancing at the wound on his leg. "I'll limp after you sir. Quickly, before he swallow a child or some sort."
"Right." Harry nodded. Without a second thought, he ran full speed after the werewolf, whispering lumos as the basilisk cave swallowed him in darkness. For a moment he thought he had lost track of Remus, but a pained scream leads him into a small fork in the road. His nervous strides are padded with matted fur, and what he found at the end of the tunnel shocked him more than what he saw outside.
Remus was collapsed over a chest, his wolf body smoking and sizzling like seared meat on the grill. Patches of fur fell out of his body, revealing painfully sizzling raw skin. With the heat, the smell of the cave and the werewolf became unbearable, so Harry raised his wand, intent on stupefying his former professor into oblivion.
Just as the spell was about to leave his tongue, he noticed something odd. Even with his jaw in mid transformation, Remus was still clawing over the chest with an inhuman fervor. His howls turned into screams, and his panting became an audible whimpering of 'meat… meat… meat…'
Harry stopped himself and remembered Stevens's words. 'Apparently werewolves loves basilisk meat. Who knew?'
The knowledge that he might miss his spell and destroy a dozen basilisk eggs made his hand tremble. What is wrong with him? A year ago he would've jumped headfirst and tackled Remus away, yelling some nonsense spell his adolescent brain could think of. Yet now, fear and doubt is paralyzing him in place, and it took everything in him to not let his wand drop.
So he sat down and waited, watching pensively as Remus's claws turned into hands, and the sizzling of his skin died down. When the werewolf finally laid still on top of the ornate chest, he swallowed his fear and went to work.
The mornings after a transformation are usually calm and peaceful. In his werewolf form, he would've killed any living thing around the area so there would no rustling of wild animals to disturb his sleep. Today was different. Instead of a warm freshly dug ground, Remus awoke on a cold and hard rock, with faint conversations going on the background.
"-are you sure?"
"Yes sir, please stop worrying about me."
"I wasn't! I was worried about the eggs. You could drop it."
"I promise I will be very careful sir."
Remus growled and whipped his head towards the noises, his animal instinct making him more territorial. The conversation stopped, but he could still hear the heavy breath of two people.
"Go now. Quickly Stevens." A familiar voice whispered. Remus could feel a whoosh of air being displaced. Now there was only one set of heavy breath.
'Someone is teleporting out.' He thought, reaching out blindly with trembling arms.
"Who goes there!" He yelled, his voice cracked and weak. He rubbed his eyes but his vision has not came back yet. "Who are you?!" He demanded, his angry voice echoing loud.
"Professor Lupin?" a timid voice called out to him. Dread filled his heart . Nobody but the student of Hogwarts knew about him. How do they found him in the morning after his transformation?
"Who…?" He asked, his voice becoming softer as he realizes that he might be talking to a student. "I cant tell who you are…"
"It's me Professor." The voice said, coming closer. A small trembling hand took his and held it tight. "It's Harry."
"What? Harry? Harry Potter?" Remus brows furrowed deep in confusion. "It can't be… Dumbledore told us you were kidnapped…" He said, rubbing his eyes furiously so he could get his vision back.
"Kidnapped?" the voice exclaimed in disbelief. "I wasn't kidnapped! I ran away…" and he began to tell the story. As the boy continued talking, Remus pushed the body away… unable to comprehend the remarkable tale. As much as he wanted to disbelieve it, the more he listened to the voice, the more he is sure that the voice was Harry's.
'No.' He told himself. 'Someone is tricking me'
However, as the boy's tragic story progressed, his vision came back to him. He blinked his eyes until the blurred lines of a boy turned sharp, and he caught sight of the unmistakable lightning bolt scar.
"Harry." Remus gasped. "It is you…" He whimpered, reaching out to pull the boy close.
Harry yelped as the naked man pulled him into a desperate embrace, interrupting his story with an anguished cry. At a loss of what to do, he settled to patting Remus's balding head as the man began crying into his lap, whispering frantic muffled apologies. Remus apologized for leaving him, for never writing, for never coming to visit him in his wretched bedroom in Privet Drive. Harry stayed silent and continued to pat his head, waiting until the distraught man to calm down.
"It's okay Harry," Remus wipes his eyes and smiled. "Now that you're here we can write to Dumbledore and he'll set things right. You'll be back in Hogwarts before you know it and you wont ever had to feel lonely again."
"Lonely?" Harry scoffed, taking a step back away from the man. "I've told you that Dumbledore has been manipulating me my whole life and the thing that you got from it was that I was lonely?!"
"…Well why else would you run away? Harry, Dumbledore-"
"-is a fraud!" He screamed, his voice echoing through the tunnels. "I can't believe I was sad for you people. I can't believe you still trust him even after I told you everything!"
"No Harry you don't understand-"
"No, I do understand. You chose to ignore me for two years not because you hate me, but because it's Dumbledore's order right?"
"Harry-"
"The only one who really cared for me was Sirius. He broke out of Azkaban for me. He went to the department mysteries for me. He didn't give to shits about Dumbledore's rules because he cared about me more than about Dumbledore's orders!"
"… and look where it had gotten him."
Harry gasped in disbelief. "Don't you dare speak about Sirius like that. He was your friend!"
In a flash, Stevens teleported in front of the gasping boy and the werewolf, his eyes glowing in murderous rage at Remus. "I sensed that you were distressed my Lord." Steven said dangerously.
"I'm fine." Harry said, his voice shaking in anger, blinking away the tears that are filling his eyes. Remus stumbled back in fear, shocked by the sudden appearance of his dead friend.
"S-S-Sirius?" He whimpered. Harry sighed
"Remus… I told you-" Before Harry could explain, Remus threw himself at Stevens and hugged him tightly, repeating his name like a desperate madman. Stevens used his one good arm and held the man right on his neck, his long slender fingers crushing the man's windpipe with pure hatred alone.
"Stop! You'll kill him!" Harry ordered.
Steven obeyed and let the man fell hard to the ground. Remus coughed, holding his bruising neck and looking up at those cold golden eyes.
"Those eyes… They're not Sirius's…"
"Figures. "Harry scoffed and turned away. "I literary just explained everything to you seconds ago, but I guess you don't listen when it's not Dumbledore's who is talking huh?"
Harry just sighed and began walking away from the man. Two years ago he would've trusted Remus with his life, but now… Harry shook his head in disappointment. "Lets go Stevens." He said quietly.
"Wait- Where are you going? Harry!" Remus crawled after him, only to be stopped by a Stevens's towering figure.
"I'm going away. Far away from here and I'm never coming back." Harry answered.
"What? Awa- but what about Hogwarts? You're only sixteen Harry, you need school. There's no place that could protect you from Voldemort better than Hogwarts." Harry scoffed, finding those words laughable in every way.
"Come on Remus. Even after the murders, basilisk, and werewolf attacks, you still think that Hogwarts is safe?" Harry sneered. He could see the sentence hurt Remus deeply, but he didn't care. He just wanted to make Remus feel as horrible as he is feeling right now.
"Make him forget." He said to his butler as he continue to walk away. "My hands are shaking too much. Obliviate him for me."
Steven looked at his master sadly and obeyed. Leaning down to the grief stricken man, he whispered words that brought Remus into a state of hypnosis.
"Its only a feverish dream. The moon talks to you in this nightmarish vision and you went mad in the heat of it. You never saw us. You never met us. You destroyed everything yourself."
"I destroyed everything myself." Remus repeated the words in a monotone voice.
Stevens waved his hand in satisfaction and joined his master, walking in silence until they reached the end of the tunnel. Harry stopped in his tracks and sighed, looking up at the coming down.
"Master, is it alright? Wasn't he family?" Stevens asked his master tentatively, unsure weather he did the right thing for his master. Harry turned to him.
"No Stevens. You're family. He's Dumbledore's lapdog. There's a difference."
The genie stood there, dumbfounded that his master just called him that. Harry's lips lifted into a hint of a smile and offered the Genie his hand. Steven just stared at his master's gentle smile, entranced as the morning sun rose behind the boy and bathed him in a beam of glorious sunshine.
His master looked beautiful.
"Come along. Lets go home."
Stevens blinked. "Yes master." He breathed out, taking the outstretched hand and teleporting them both back home. As he held his master close to prepare him for the journey, the demon let out a satisfied little smirk. The master now has nobody to lean on but him. Everything is going according to his plans.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! After a few weeks of not being able to write I finally sat down for a good few hours and spew this out ^^ Let me know if you think I made Harry and Steven too sappy with each other. I couldn't help it when I'm writing about two lonely creatures such as them XD
Also, thank you for the anon guest reviewers! If i could PM you to thank you for your kind word i would. I appreciate your kind words and your reviews really made me happy 3
Next chapter: Steven finally gets the extra pair of hands that he wanted. A familiar old character joins the Black Manor.
See you next chapter!