Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am just borrowing the characters for some fun.

Warning: This story will contain swearing, scenes of torture and sexual innuendo. Eventual Slash.

Summary: Nothing is going to plan. The order is three days late to pick him up and Lucius Malfoy has somehow managed to get out of Azkaban. Remus always wants to talk, but Harry can't bring himself to even think of what happened in June. It was time to face facts: Harry's life belongs to the cause and his own feelings don't matter. Begins after Order of the Phoenix. Eventual Slash.

Chapter 10: Political Plots

The first thing Harry noticed was that he was incredibly uncomfortable. His face was smashed against the side of the couch and his hand was at an odd angle. He seemed of have fallen asleep sitting up and then fallen sideways. His back ached from the odd angle. His throat hurt, as if he had been sleeping with his mouth open.

The second thing he noticed was that he could hear voices. Curiosity overruling tiredness he wrenched his eyes open to see who was speaking. From his very strange vantage point he could make out 2 men talking in hushed tones on the other side of the room.

"- Just fell asleep 45 minutes ago." Something muffled and then "Kept him from visions."

"….Send a message to Dumbledore… Won't be available for a few days-"

Painstakingly, Harry pulled himself up into a proper seated position. Slowly his memory was coming back. The panic of the night before- followed by Remus trying incredibly hard to distract him. Everything rushed back at once. Hopefully there was some good news. He glanced at the clock and noticed that is was just gone 6 in the morning.

Harry staggered to his feet, and for the first time drew the attention of the men standing by the dining area. He hastily wiped the spit off his chin.

"Good news?" Croaked Harry, his voice coming out raspy after sleeping with his mouth open.

Remus was evaluating the tired teen in front of him, as if he was unsure if bad news would cause him to faint on the spot. "Its news. But I'm afraid it's not good. Don't worry all the Malfoy's and Professor Snape are doing fine."

With mention of his teachers Harry's eyes fell on the man standing next to Remus. It took him a moment to place Mr. Malfoy. The man's usually impeccable hair looked greasy and knotted. His robes were of a much lower quality then he normally wore. Dirt smudged his aristocratic face. Most startling of all was the small tremor that his hand displayed.

"You're trembling."

Malfoy glared back at him. "Don't worry I'll survive."

"What happened?" Whispered Harry, trying to imagine a situation that would leave such a well season veteran so undone.

"I don't have time to explain now. I need to get back before anyone notices I am gone." For the first time Harry saw a glint of fear in Lucius Malfoy's eyes. "Look at the Daily Prophet this morning."

Remus also had picked up on the man's hurry. "Thank you for informing us. I'll send your message to Dumbledore."

Malfoy nodded, and surprisingly seemed to readily accept the werewolf's help. "Defense class will be postponed for the next few days- Severus is indisposed."

"Tell him…" Remus paused for a moment. "Not to concern himself with me. I can manage."

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "That's a damn good thing because he is rather busy."

Harry tried in vain to uncover their cryptic conversation. What the hell was going on? Hopefully he could get some answers from Remus when Malfoy left.

As if reading Harry's mind Malfoy gave one final glare around the room and then disappeared into the Floo. Before the fire had even turned back to red Harry was turning to Remus for answers. "What's going on? Please don't make me wait to read the Daily Prophet!"

Remus looked distracted. "Tea first. Then we'll talk. I need to floo Dumbledore, and you ready some tea and toast while I do that?"

Harry's first reaction was to get annoyed at being shoved off so quickly. They all kept saying he was so central to the war, surely he should be kept in the loop? But then he saw the sad depressed look on Remus's face and nodded.

Harry walked towards the door realizing that only now was his left hand coming awake, and hoped that the faster he made tea the faster Remus would fill him in. He couldn't help but noticed that the door was shut behind him. The suspicious silence from the other side of the door also indicated a silencing charm.

Harry filled the kettle while he contemplated what could possibly be going on. It definitely seemed like there had been another attack. Maybe even a battle? Remus certainly seemed shaken, so maybe people had died? Harry hoped that wasn't the case, but the more he thought about the look on Malfoys face the more he believed it. And why was Malfoy sent in the first place? Snape certainly seemed to be the more obvious choice as a liaison to the Order. But he had said that Snape was busy…so there was probably something to do with potions in all of this.

Harry sighed. It was impossible to gleam any concrete information from the brief conversation they had had. He hoped Remus would be done soon. But there was one thing he could sink his teeth into-Malfoy was scared. Which meant that Harry should be terrified. He had never seen Malfoy loose his aristocratic mask before. He didn't like Malfoy per say but after more than a dozen classes with him Harry had come to realize that the man was a force to be reckoned with. Grudgingly he had even come to respect him. But after tonight…For goodness sakes the man had been shaking! Something was quite wrong.

Harry popped some bread in the oven and considered the nature of Malfoy's shaking hands. It certainly wasn't a nervous tick. He placed Remus's favorite jam (raspberry) on the table and some butter. Maybe a spell? And then in one fail swoop it came to him: Crucio. Harry had experienced the same trembling after the triwizard tournament. Now the only question was who was who had cast it at him-an attacker in a battle? Or Voldemort himself as some kind of revenge?

He pulled the toast out of the oven and placed it on a plate. Hopefully Remus would-

The door to the kitchen swung open and in walked a very tired looking Remus Lupin. He smiled slightly at the jam on the table before taking his usual seat. Before he could ask, Harry began pouring the warm water into the tea cups and watched at the tea leaves floated around in the small strainer within.

"Ta, Harry." Said Remus, closing his eyes for a moment as he took his first sip of tea. "This hits the spot. Hopefully it will keep me going for the next few hours too."

Harry sank into the seat across from him expectantly. It took all his strength not to burst into questions. He waited while Remus put jam on his toast. Finally, after all his food and drink had been prepped the werewolf began his explanation.

"You are of course aware that the election date has been set and the wizarding world is at a very precarious time at the moment. I think I mentioned to you that every interested candidate has someone running."

Harry nodded. "I remember you mentioning that when I first arrived."

"Right." Said Remus. "And the past few days the paper had been filled with political swill. Each group campaigning for their person. Voldemort is hoping for his man to win, as it will make things much easier and we have a person in the running as well with a similar goal in mind. The man running for our camp is named Geoffrey. Good chap, if a bit boring. But he has solid political ideas. Voldemorts guy is named Ventoli."

"Sorry, Remus-"Interrupted Harry trying to tie in the politics with the crucio'd man in the women's dining room. "But what does this have to do with anything?"

"I'm getting there. You'll see in a moment. Politics is a terribly messy business." Remus sighed. "Okay So of course Ventoli can't come out and say that he is pro-Voldemort and wants all the Muggleborns to fuck off, it would be political suicide. No one would vote for him. Up until tonight be was simply portraying himself as a more conservative candidate. But now-" Remus took as swig of his tea. Harry noticed him glance towards the cabinet where the firewhisky was stored. "Now he-well Voldemort- made a calculated attack to better his position and weaken our man."

"For the past few days Geoffrey's has been campaigning on muggleborn rights, werewolf rights and generally increasing public programs. All the things Voldemort hates, which for the most part the public has been eating up. Most people are scared after the return of Voldemort and want to be as far away from that as possible. You follow me?"

Harry nodded. "Makes sense to me. Most people are scared of Voldemort so they support the guy who has opposite ideas."

"Good, you have the base of it." Said Remus. He had finished his toast and brushed the crumbs from the table carefully onto his hand before placing them back on the plate. "So this attack was designed to make our man look bad and make Ventoli a stronger candidate. In order to do that Voldemort created a false terrorist group."

"He what?" Harry gawked. "How can he do that?"

Remus shrugged. "It's easy, he launched an attack and planted that is was the 'Muggleborn's anti persecution' group that did it. Of course no such group exists."

"That's-That's insane." Said Harry who could barely wrap his mind around the political twists of the whole thing.

"Nobody ever claimed Voldemort was sane." Said Remus with a grim smile. "Now this is where it gets complicated-"

"Nice to know I barely understand the easy part." muttered Harry.

Remus continued without commenting "This made up 'Muggleborn anti-persecuation group' has been painted to be pretty accepting of all the people in the wizarding world. For example they support werewolf rights. It's not such a stretch, everyone knows that Dumbledore supports werewolf rights and he is very vocal on his pro-muggleborn status."

"So they made it like a terrorist group that supports everything the Order does?" Said Harry, starting to feel his heart sink. This whole thing was the most Slytherin plan he had ever heard.

"Yes. Basically." Affirmed Remus, looking slightly relieved that Harry was following. "Okay so of course as a pro-werewolf group this group-and remember they are really Death Eaters- Attacked and infected many prominent pureblood heirs with the werewolf curse."

"But-How?" Now he was totally confused. "I thought that you could only become a werewolf if you were bitten by one? Not to state the obvious but last night was not a full moon."

Remus nodded. "Generally that is true. But what really causes the curse to change hands is the saliva of a werewolf in wolf form entering the blood stream."

"So in theory-"

"If you had some werewolf saliva and cut someone to the bone you could infect them with the curse." Finished Remus.

"So If I understand what you're saying right." Said Harry trying to work through all the information he was given "This pretend group beat up a bunch of pureblood kids and rubbed the werewolf saliva on them?"

"All in one." Said Remus. "Of course in reality it was kids whose parents were Death Eaters and wanted the honor of being useful to the Dark Lord. But they have set up a whole story about being kidnapped at a party and beaten up, then infected. They even have some poor muggleborn kids who have had their memories altered to fit the story."

Harry sat stunned for a moment at the level of manipulation it must take to pull off something like this. It was crazy! What kind of people sent their kids willingly to become werewolves? What kind of person happily accepted the job? Sure Harry supported Remus's rights, but he had seen how horrible it was to change into a wolf third year. Who would want that?

As if on cue Remus answered his question. "They have a very powerful werewolf named Fenrir Greyback helping them. He has been offered a position of high power in Death Eater circles. He's a sick bastard, but a force to be reckoned with. In general werewolves make strong allies in a war because they are such strong fighters. Most wizards who are werewolves also have increased stamina, strength and a vicious side if it's let to run wild."

Harry was aghast "But Malfoy always complained about Half-bloods. I always thought that the whole point of the thing was to keep the blood pure and all that tosh."

Remus laughed. "Well that is the end goal. But In this case they figure the end will justify the means."

The other penny dropped. "So Snape is busy making Wolfsbane?"

"Yes. That is why your lessons have been cancelled for the next few days." Said Remus "The full moon is in four days. Severus might not have time or ingredients to make a batch for me. If I have to change without it I will leave the house, not to worry."

"Remus I wasn't worried about that!" Cried Harry, feeling terribly undone. Now he understood why Remus had looked so upset and Lucius so shaken. Malfoy- he must have been asked to send in his son for the ploy. Harry wondered for a moment if his nemesis Draco Malfoy had become a werewolf too. But no-

"Malfoy didn't give his son, so he was punished." Stated Harry understanding the tremors of Malfoy's hands.

"You are very perceptive Harry." Said Remus.

Harry slouched into his chair, exhausted mentally and physically. What a giant mess. The world seemed to have turned upside down. He couldn't come to grips with what he had been told. He was happy that this time, at least, no one had been murdered. But it seemed that something about this plan felt very evil to Harry. To force people to send their children to have a life of hardship or risk torture themselves seemed the plan of a madman. Unfortunately, that madman had power and people who believed so strongly that they did sacrifice their children. The whole thing made his feel sick.

"What do we do now?"

Remus sighed and stood up. "We wait for the political shit storm to begin, we take a nap and we drink some firewhiskey when it is a more reasonable time of day." With that, the exhausted man, disappeared down that hall and left Harry to contemplate this thoughts alone.

It was still hours before the Daily Prophet would be delivered. Harry was restless and frustrated that there was nothing he could do. He wished that he knew who had been turned into a werewolf. For a moment he contemplated that he might actually know the victims of the attack. It seems that Draco Malfoy had been a possible target, so it didn't seem so strange to consider that maybe some of the other Hogwarts students had been turned. What would that mean for the upcoming year?

Remus had shut the door to his bedroom, and Harry assumed that he was trying to get some sleep. The man had spent the night preventing Harry from getting a vision. He walked up to his room and threw himself on the bed. He was torn between action and exhaustion. His mind wouldn't stop spinning, but he couldn't keep his eyes open. Eventually he could no longer stay away and Harry fell into a restless sleep.

HPHPHP

Harry woke for the second time that day, in a much more comfortable position. This time sleep seemed to have eased the discomforts of the day, rather than augment them. It was startling to see how bright it was in the room and he quickly glanced at the clock.

2:17pm

He groaned and sat up straighter. He had not wanted to sleep so late. Harry rubbed sleepy eyes and quickly jumped out of bed. Deciding to just keep on the clothes from yesterday, he made a b-line for the kitchen. Hopefully by now Remus would have more answers about what was going on.

Unfortunately his curiosity was only partially satiated. The house was quiet, and on the kitchen table he found out the reason why.

Harry,

I had to leave to do some Order business concerning the events of last night. I didn't want to wake you. Please don't be alarmed if I am home late. There is so much to do. I left the Daily Prophet on the table for you to read.

Practice your Occlumency today. Don't forget your classes have been postponed until things cool down.

Remus

Harry placed the note back on the table and immediately moved to pursue the Daily Prophet. It wasn't at all that surprising that Remus had Order work to do, considering that he was handling contacts with the werewolves.

The newspaper was ripe with 'political swill'-as Remus would put it. There was an article dedicated to the reaction of the running politicians, and of course Geoffrey's came off like a twat who was backpedaling in the wake of a tragedy. There was also a rather lengthy article concerning the laws around werewolf rights that seemed to be suggesting that rules needed to be stricter. Rita Skeeter had published a story on the bereaved and terrified parents who were 'at once relieved that their children were alive and frightened of what their offspring was now capable of.

It seemed like most of the paper was taken up with articles concerning the events of the night previous. Unfortunately Harry knew that none of the journalists had any idea of what was really going on, or if they did they were not disrupting the status quo.

Harry felt antsy in his powerlessness. It seemed like everyone he knew-or at least saw on a regular basis was doing something productive, but he was stuck inside. For the first time Harry truly understood how hard it must have been for Sirius to stay still. Harry was someone who liked action, probably to a fault. In all the adventures he had gotten himself into in the past year, he had yet to be accused of pausing to think things through. It was annoying to think that the most useful thing he could do for the war effort was to read and do some meditation.

And so the days past. Each one exactly like the next. Remus was barely home, and was often sleeping when he was at Grimmauld place. In the past five days Harry had yet to see either of the Malfoys or Professor Snape. He was left entirely to his own devices, and he was sick of it. At first the concept of having the house to himself had been fun, almost mischievous. But after five days he was frustrated and bored. For lack of anything else to do he had thrown himself into his studies. He spent his time working on Occlumency or reading anything he could from the small Black family library. Without any proper scheduling he had not been able to regulate his sleep times and he found himself up at strange hours of the early morning or sleeping mid-afternoon. But nobody was there to notice…

Until the fifth day.

"Potter!"

Harry started awake. He had been practicing his Occlumency in the small dining room and must have drifted off. He was sitting on the floor, leaned up against the base of the couch. He must have just dozed off, as he felt not strange aches or pains. He glanced up at what had woken him and couldn't suppress a smile of relief.

"Professor Snape! I'm glad you're okay sir. I was starting to wonder if you were going to be able to come back." Said Harry, glad to see the man in flesh. Remus had offered reassurance's that Snape was fine, but they had always felt forced to him. Harry evaluated the man in front of him. His robes were stained with potions ingredients and his eyes had big purple bags under them as if he had not slept much. Otherwise he looked just as surly as he always did.

Snape rolled his eyes. "I am too stubborn to not come back. I have business to attend to. Where is Lupin?"

"I-I'm not sure sir." Said Harry shrugging. "He took of last night. He didn't want to be here during the full mood on account of not having his potion. I haven't seen him since. I could give him a message from you if you want."

"I don't want you to give him a message, you foolish boy." Snapped Snape, his hand coming to rub his head as if he was getting a headache. "Do you have any idea where he may have gone?"

"No sir."

Snape sighed. "He will need medical attention, Potter. It is the first full moon he has gone without Wolfsbane in a long time. He couldn't have come back when you were asleep?"

For the first time Harry noticed that Snape was carrying a small potions bag. To Harry it looked like the emergency care bag that Madame Pomfrey brought with her to Quidditch games.

Harry shrugged again in answer to the question. "I guess he could have."

"Bring me to his rooms." Snape was using he no nonsense teacher voice. It was usually followed by a deductions from Gryffindor.

Harry led him down the hall, and motioned him to be quiet near the picture of Mrs. Black. They marched up the stairs and onto the main landing on the second floor. Harry stopped in front of Remus's door and knocked. There was no response, so he knocked with a bit more force. Still no answer.

"I guess he's still gone."

Harry felt, more then saw, Snape rolling his eyes. "For goodness sake Potter, move out of the way."

And then Snape was opening the door to Remus's bedroom. It was never something that Harry would have considered doing. At number four entering someone's private space without knocking was sure to earn you a slap around the head and extra chores the next day. More than that though, Harry himself put a high value on his privacy and expected the same from everyone else. Snape seemed to have no such moral dilemmas.

Well it was lucky that Snape had no morals. At first Harry thought he was looking at a rather large pile of blankets on the bed. It took him a moment to realize that those blankets were actually moving. A tuft of hair was sticking out the top of the pile. With a deft wave of his wand, Snape made the blankets pull back and fold at the end of the bed. Harry held back a gasp.

Remus had never looked so rough. He was covered in dirt, and his clothes were also ripped and dirty. But worse, he seemed to be cut all over his body. A deep cut ran down the left side of his face and some smaller more shallow ones doted his forehead. Harry could see once long scratch run down under the edge of his shirt. The man hadn't even stirred at being disturbed in such an abrupt way.

Snape seemed to have expected this and was getting right to work. He waved his wand once, and Harry thought it looked like he was casting a basic diagnostic charm. Next followed a cleaning spell. Once that had been taken care of the potions master began running his wand over each cut and whispering under his breath. Harry stared in fascination.

"Potter, stop gawking and start helping. Remove his shirt."

Harry leaped into motion. He ran next to the bed and considered how best to remove the garment that so hindered Snape. Finally deciding that it was ripped to shreds anyway, Harry grabbed an edge and torn down the middle. Like his face, Remus's chest was covered in cuts and bruises. Snape nodded his thanks and kept going.

Harry watched, transfixed by the healing magic. All the cuts were miraculously healing before his eyes. Even after 5 years in the wizarding world Harry still found this impressive. Just as Snape was finishing up the pile of bruised and battered flesh began to move.

"Severus?"

"Shut up and let me finish, Lupin."

Well Snape certainly didn't spare anytime with his bedside manners…

In moments the potions master was done. He straightened and looked down his long nose at the broken man on the bed. "You will need to take a potion to prevent infection, and another to help with soreness in the muscles. I also have a salve for any bruises. Stay in bed for the day, and tomorrow take it easy."

Remus looked unsurprised by the lecture. "Severus you really didn't have to do this. I can manage on my own. I image you are quite busy."

"Potter, did you hear what I said?" Barked Snape, ignoring Remus's protests.

Harry jumped at being called upon. "Yeah, bed rest, salve, anti-infection and muscle pain potion."

"See that he follows my orders." Said Snape, placing three vials of potion and one jar on the bedside table.

"Yes sir." He repeated automatically

"I am trusting you with this, Potter." Snape glared at the teen, as if he was looking at something distasteful. "Don't screw it up."

Before either Remus or Harry could form a response, the potion master was stalking out the door.

A/N: As promised, a chapter mid-week. Thanks for reading and please Review! :)