The Lion and the Wolf
Year One
Chapter Twelve
Revelation and Fire
March 20th, 1992
Friday
Harry was relieved that Friday was here. It was the day he got to escape the Hospital Wing from his monthly transformations, and even having to go back to Potions wasn't enough to bring him down. He found that the more he and Neville worked together, the better they had become at the subject, even with Snape hovering above them like an overgrown bat. No matter how much the Professor tried to intimidate them, they improved.
But the last two months were strange. Classes didn't seem any harder than usual, though Harry had noticed that Neville had been getting increasingly worse headaches after his classes with Quirrel. But that hadn't been the only thing that had been off. It seemed that several people were causing the two friends headaches.
First had been Ron and Hermione. Neville missed his friends but they were still angry with him. He didn't think that they were bad kids, but he didn't have anything to apologize about so it was all on them. Having Harry around made things a bit easier, but not having anyone to be really friendly with in Gryffindor was kind of strange. It made him want to say sorry, even if there was no reason to.
Harry felt conflicted about Weasley and Granger's absence. He liked it because that meant he could hang around Neville more and more. He enjoyed his presence, and they could talk endlessly about Herbology. But Harry did notice that it was starting to affect Neville in the long run. The Gryffindor, despite being around Harry and Theodore, seemed to be lonely. Harry hated it because he could tell it was making Neville sad, though to what extent he wasn't sure.
Second had been Draco Malfoy. Harry was informed the following morning by Theo of Malfoy's return. Harry wasn't sure how to feel about it. Sure, if he was honest about things, he could admit that he felt a twinge of fear after what had happened back in October. He thought he was over it, but to have the boy responsible come back was a wholly different issue. It made it real.
The last two months of his return though didn't lead to any form of contact with the boy, but Harry found that Malfoy tended to stare at him for longer than was socially acceptable. Long enough to be creepy and make Harry squirm under the scrutiny. He hated it but there wasn't anything he could do. Since Malfoy wasn't talking to him or touching him, then he couldn't be reported to the teachers and the Slytherins wouldn't do anything. So Malfoy stared relentlessly while Harry felt uncomfortable.
Third was, of course, Wayne Hopkins. He had gone back to his tendency to ignore Harry. One moment they would be close knit friends, and the next he would disappear for days and only show up in the dorms to sleep. It was wearing on the raven haired Hufflepuff. There was no explanation to the madness, and when he would ask his dormmate about it, Wayne would just shrug it off and give a noncommittal answer. It seemed oddly fitting that when all of Neville's friends abandoned him, Harry's one friend in his own house would do the same. They were both outcasts in their own houses, though only by a lack of attention and interest. Friend circles had already formed, and now both boys found themselves outside of all of them.
The only bright side to it all was that Harry, Neville, and Theo all became closer. Their lives orbited around each other, despite the fact they were all from different houses. Theo was the only one who wasn't suffering from not having any of his own House mates around. In fact, the Slytherins seemed to like Theo, with the obvious exception of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. But Theo made sure to let his friends know that it wasn't an issue that they should worry about.
Harry was starting to really enjoy Hogwarts by this point. He was doing well in his classes, had his few close friends, and Lupin became more integrated with his life. He was glad that he could go through school and not worry about Lupin losing control, but rather stayed calm and helped him out when he needed it. Having a wolf inside really helped him when it came to avoiding trouble and helped with remembering this with class.
Checking his watch after being so lost in thought, Harry noticed that he was close to running late for Potions. He only had two minutes to get there, and he would cut it close if he started running at that very moment. Lupin bubbled up from within and pushed to take control. He loved running, and didn't get to do much of it while he was cooped up in the Shrieking Shack.
He was almost there when he suddenly tripped over something. He looked back to see what he tripped over, but there was nothing there. But a sharp laugh did cause him to look up from the ground and spot a very familiar coifed blonde head.
"You should watch where you are going Potter. Someone might get the wrong impression of Hufflepuffs with you falling over yourself. Though I do guess the floor is the only place worthy of someone of your position in life."
Harry glared at Malfoy, surprised that he would just attack him out in the open again. "Watch yourself Malfoy. I don't want you to forget that I am under protection and you aren't allowed to touch me."
Malfoy just laughed at him. "Oh, I never touched you. I wouldn't want to touch something so pitiful and possible catch some peasant disease. But even if I did, you have no proof. I can do whatever I want, and you will be helpless to do anything about it. So just remember this Potter. I will not forget you embarrassing me. I will pay you back appropriately."
With a cocky smirk, the blonde Slytherin turned away and walked the way Harry just came from. Remembering that he needed to get to Potions right away, he left behind his anger and made his way deeper into the dungeons. He didn't have time to consider Draco's warning.
He slipped into the Potions room, hoping to not be noticed but his luck just wasn't that good.
"So nice of you to join us Mr. Potter, while the rest of us had the courtesy of showing up on time. Ten points from Gryffindor, and detention for disregard of our time."
The smirk on Snape's face irked Harry even further than Draco had done, but he decided it would be better to just keep his mouth shut and do his best in class without any sass.
Harry tried his best, but he couldn't help feeling on edge the rest of the day. The threat of Malfoy hung over his head, but he also felt like he couldn't talk about it. He just didn't want to be a bother. And technically, he wasn't touched just threatened. There was nothing that Slytherin house could do, and he still wasn't sure that they would do anything.
It was still weird to think about it, this whole deal with Slytherin House. None of them, bar Theo, really tried to interact with him. Rather, they just ignored him as if he wasn't even there. Sure, most of the school ignored him just on the basis that he was in a different year than a majority of the school, but this felt different.
Instead of the normal study period, he tried to convince Neville and Theo to get out of the Library and outside. He was feeling much too restless to try to get anything done anyways, but he didn't want to go out alone. If he was alone, then he could be a target for whatever scheme Malfoy could cook up. But unfortunately, the two boys wanted to get work done and Harry didn't want to distract them from that.
So as a result and in spite of himself and his worries, Harry found himself by the edge of the lake alone. As much as he loved the castle, there was something about being outside that really calmed him down. Maybe it had to do with the fact that there was a wolf inside of him that always wanted out and had no desire to be cooped up in buildings all day. But the longer he sat by the lake, the more his anxiousness was washed away. It helped that it was a surprisingly warm day in the end of March.
He was stirred out of his peaceful rest by the sound of two pairs of feet trying to sneak up on him, though the rocky beach didn't allow for complete silence. He couldn't make it obvious that he knew, since he really only heard because of his enhanced hearing, But that did not stop him from tensing up, hoping that he would not be attacked again for the second time that day.
As the sound of feet got closer, he decided to chance it and take whoever it was by surprise. "I'm not sure what you are up to, but it better not be something troublesome," he called out.
"Troublesome he says. Do you hear that Fred? Troublesome. When have we ever been anything other than that?"
"Too true, oh brother of mine. I think that is our default. How can we be something other than that?"
Harry snorted, amused by the twins who for whatever reason kept close to him. "Alright guys. I won't ask how you knew I was out here, since I now know about the map, but I will ask you what do you want?"
"Now pup, Harry-kins, ickle little Potter. Why do we need to need something? Can we just come hang around you?" George said?
Harry shook his head. "No. I think every conversation we have had revolves around you coming to me to either ask my opinion about a prank or you try to get all my secrets."
"Well, that is really your fault," Fred smiled a bit too sweetly. "If you weren't the son of a Marauder or have such interesting secrets for a first year, we wouldn't ask. So of course we ask those kinds of things."
"But don't think us heartless little things that only want you around because you are interesting," George followed up, "cause we definitely like you for who being you. Just Harry."
"But now that you mention it, George, didn't we need to talk to Harry about those things?"
"By me, you're right!"
"By you?"
"Yeah, by me. You know, like 'by George', but I am George, so it is by me."
"That makes sense. So can I get away with 'by him', or 'by my brother'?"
"I don't see why not. You are a free man after all."
The twins nodded, while Harry laughed at them. "You guys are too much. Too much!"
They both smiled his way, but then Harry remembered that they wanted to talk. "Now Harry, we need to have a somewhat serious conversation with you."
"What Fred means is that it is as serious as we can be, which usually isn't very serious at all."
"But we wanted you to know that we know, that you suspect, that we know all about your secret."
"We also know that we know that we know all about your secret, and have decided that we couldn't care less and thus decided to keep you anyways."
It was then that time seemed to freeze for Harry. He knew they were close, but could they really know? Would they keep it under wraps? They were just too unpredictable to guess what they could do to him with that kind of knowledge.
"Like George said Harry. We know but it doesn't change a thing. We will not tell anyone about… your furry little problem. We promise, on our prankster's honor. On our desire to be better than the Marauders even."
Still, Harry didn't move an inch. He was stuck between either fleeing or fighting, but wasn't sure which would benefit him most.
"Seriously Harry. We aren't trying to trick you. We do not care about it and we still want to be your friend. You don't have to be afraid of us. We have no desire to sell you out or hand you over to the ministry. We won't even black mail you into anything, even if we think that your better senses could help us out with pranks."
Harry decided to play it safe. They hadn't come right out and said that they knew he was a werewolf, so it could have all been a ruse to make him admit it without them really knowing anything. He wouldn't put it past them to do something so underhanded. Almost desperate even.
"Nice try guys. But you aren't getting it out of me that easy," Harry smirked, trying to hide his nervousness.
George reached out and patted Harry on the head. "Oh, my sweet summer child. I admire your ability to deny everything. That is rule number one of being a prankster. Deny, deny, deny. And you are doing an admirable job."
"But let's be honest Harry," Fred said as wrapped an arm around the small Hufflepuff, "we know you are a werewolf."
George also put an arm around Harry, pinning him between the two Weasley boys, which stopped him from bolting, though it didn't stop him from trying. In his mind, everything was going wrong. He was told to keep his wolf a secret, but in the matter of a year, three people already knew about Harry Lupin. Remus was going to be pissed.
"H-how did you guys f-figure it out? I was so c-careful," Harry said, starting to choke up from panicked tears.
"Hey, hey. Calm down Harry," George said, getting serious, and grabbing the boy by the shoulders. "It is going to be okay. We only figured it out because we spent way too much time on it. Heck, we have even cut back in our pranks in order to figure it out. But like we both have said, we have no intention of selling you out or stop being your friend."
Fred nodded in agreement. "Yeah Harry. Plus, we kind of cheated. Remember how we have the Marauder's Map? That helped us keep track of you. No one else has that map, so you should stay pretty hidden. I doubt that anyone can figure it out the way we did."
Harry wouldn't stop shaking in fear. Dealing with this was too much. He had not been careful enough. Theo was at least bound by his own twisted sense of honor, but this? "I c-can't do t-this. I just can't."
George drew him into a tight hug, hoping to calm the raven-haired boy before he started to hyperventilate. "Shh… it will be okay Harry. We only know because we looked. You are as safe as you were before. It's going to be okay."
Harry shook his head, unable to accept that he was safe, and indeed started to lose breath. He felt light headed, but didn't pay attention to it as he was too consumed by fear.
Potter… calm down before I have to take over... You are going to pass out if you do not start to breathe…
Harry shook his head, not wanting to listen to Lupin. This was not the time to let the wolf out in the open but he was still struggling to let air in.
In and out Potter… In and out…
The wolf struggled with what to do. Clearly the boys knew he existed yet they were the reason his boy was having a panic attack. He liked the twins but now he was ready to rip into them for causing Potter distress. It was a hard spot to be in. As the seconds ticked by, Potter refused to calm down, so Lupin needed to do an urgent takeover. The trouble was, if done to suddenly it could cause problems in the body to transition from pure panic to a unnatural calm.
Lupin started to pull Potter out and replace himself as the controlling consciousness. Potter though was fighting him the entire way through.
Potter… I need you to let go… let me in… stop fighting me and let me have it…
Fred and George Weasley watched as Harry suffered through the internal battle. They were at a loss of what to do. They were only thirteen! How could they possibly handle something so grand? They obviously did not handle this as well as they should have, but they didn't know any other way than what they did. Direct and joking was always what worked best for them. Make heavy problems feel light and it would make it much easier to deal with.
But as they sat there, they did notice that Harry was calming down slowly. The boy leaned out of the hug that George had him wrapped in, head pointed towards the sky. Eyes shut tight, and his breathing became deeper. They were very encouraged by this.
But what they were not expecting was the sight they saw when the Hufflepuff opened his eyes. All of the signature green had left the first year's irises. Instead there was a burning amber that they had once spied on the train in September. It made them nervous because while they knew that Harry was a werewolf, they had not expected to come face to face with the wolf that lie beneath the surface.
The eyes stared into them, shifting between the twins without giving away any emotion. The Weasley twins shifted uncomfortably at the fierce stare, hoping that they did not anger the beast. They already felt bad for sending Harry into a panic attack, but to bring the ire of a werewolf upon themselves was something they wanted to avoid even more. For their own safety if nothing else.
"I've been waiting for you to figure it out for a while, I would have appreciated some tact in letting Potter know."
The red-heads were taken aback. This was not the response they had expected. If anything, they were waiting to be yelled at by the wolf. But knowing that the wolf was waiting for them, and referencing himself in the third person? Maybe there was some truth in the split personalities of werewolves. Maybe they were not so far off from thinking that Lupin wasn't actually Harry Potter, but the wolf inside.
"Potter will be okay, if you are wondering. We on the other hand, need to have a talk."
The twins nodded, unable to get any words out. "Very well," Harry continued, "You can call me Harry Lupin. Legally, Potter and I are both the son of Remus Lupin, but only I took on the name. It helps differentiate who is who inside this head. Much better than just being 'wolf'."
"So being a werewolf is like having two people in one mind?" Fred squeaked out.
"Sort of. Two minds, one human, one wolf. I am Harry Potter as much as I am Harry Lupin. One person, two minds. There is not one without the other, separate but one. It is really difficult to understand when you do not have a wolf inside you."
"What did you mean that you were waiting for us to figure it out?"
"I knew that you both were interested in discovering the secret of Harry Potter," Lupin started. "On the train, I decided that if you were to ever figure it out, depending on your reaction to the news, I would invite you to become a part of a pack."
"WHAT!? You mean you want to turn us?" George yelled.
Lupin shook his head. "No. Pack isn't reliant on the blood in your veins. It depends on your loyalty and commitment. It could be considered like becoming blood brothers, the old muggle way."
"Wicked." Fred and George said simultaneously.
Lupin let out a huff of amusement and gave them a sly smirk. "I take that as you are in?"
"Of course we are! What a silly question." Fred exclaimed
"We said we would stand by you no matter what, and if this helps us prove that, then we are for it," George added.
"Then I should also tell you that Theodore Nott is also a part of the pack. Can you stand by him as well?"
The red heads nodded. "Sure. If you vouch for him and say he is a good guy, then we can accept that. But what about Neville? Isn't he always hanging around you? Shouldn't he be a part of the pack as well?"
"Yes, but not yet," Harry said. "I haven't told him about being a werewolf yet, so I can't move forward with that. Nott only knows because he mistakenly tried to put silver on us without knowing we were a werewolf. But he has since accepted this and chosen to protect us."
"I eventually want to tell Neville, but there really isn't a good time to let him know. Can't exactly start the day off with a 'Good morning Neville, nice day out today. By the way, did you know I transform during full moons'. I like him and all, but I still wonder if I really want him to know or not."
"Gotcha," George shook his head understandingly. "But why haven't you decided about Neville knowing?"
"He already deals with a lot. I know that being the Boy-Who-Lived really gets to him, what with everyone staring at him or asking him a million questions about his scar or You-Know-Who. I would just be another burden, another secret, to bear. He doesn't need that kind of stress. But he is our friend and we don't want there to be secrets between us. I want him to trust us with things, but that requires us trusting him with things. It's hard."
The boys gave him a comforting pat and a knowing smile. They might not really understand all that was going through the mind of Harry Potter, considering there were two different minds in there, but they could at least sympathize his problem.
Harry rolled his neck around, trying to relieve some of the imagined weight on his shoulders. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. That was when the boys were able to watch as eyes turned from the angry amber of the wolf back to the serene green that they knew. It was spooky to witness, seeing the quick shift from beast to man. But with the green eyes, came back the sadness that ruled just moments ago. "So you guys really do not hate me?"
"Of course not Har-Bear. Whether you like it or not, you are stuck with us."
Harry gave them a sad smile of relief, and took them both into a hug. "Thank you," the green-eyed boy mumbled.
"You are family now Harry. Or pack mates. Or whatever," Fred stumbled as he tried to console the boy. Harry just laughed in response. "Now come on, let's get back to the castle."
April 7th, 1992
Tuesday
Harry loathed Tuesdays. Tuesday meant midnight classes for Astronomy for Hufflepuffs and Slytherins. If there was one thing he didn't want to know more about, it was the night sky. It already made him change shape every full moon, why would he want to pay attention to any other part of it.
Class was so boring and all he wanted to do was sleep. He couldn't even pass notes with Theo in class because there were no desks in the Astronomy tower. Instead, there were just places where you could set up a telescope and gaze upon the stars. Tonight, they were supposed to find the Hercules constellation, but Harry found he was having trouble finding anything.
It took him a second to realize that he couldn't see anything in the sky because some kind of bright light was coming from the school grounds. Curious, he lazily swiveled his telescope downwards, hoping to find a glimpse of what was making so much light in the middle of the night. It should have been pitch black out so close to the new moon.
But when his gaze got to the light, it was much too bright and much too angry to understand what it was through the glass. He looked away from his telescope and rubbed his eyes, trying to get his sight back. Once he got it back, he peered over the barrier of the castle tower and saw what was distracting him with so much light.
Fire.
Rather, Hagrid's hut and a portion of the Forbidden Forest was on fire. The wood was igniting quickly as the flames jumped from tree to tree. The hut that Hagrid called home was a burning inferno, a fireball that lit the night sky.
"Professor Sinistra! Look, there's a fire!" Harry shouted.
With his proclamation, there was a stampede of students rushing over to his side of the tower to watch the blaze in wonder and terror. The Astronomy Professor gasped in horror and quickly said a spell, causing a silvery owl to burst forth from her wand and fly off towards the main part of the castle.
Within moments, professors poured out of the castle towards the flames, throwing water and extinguishing spells at the mayhem. Sinistra quickly abandoned her students to make her way down the tower, presumably to help out in the relief. The students could only watch in silent trepidation.
Suddenly, a loud roar pierced through the night, an unholy sound of fire and hate. The students upon the tower shook as the sound reverberated through the darkness. A crash sounded from the blaze of the old hut, wood breaking upon wood, popping loudly as it combusted in the flames. Out of it rose a dragon, the size of a horse, and it bellowed once more. Fire tore from its throat and renewed the flames that were begging to consume to forest.
From what Harry could see that was not distorted from the bright fire and the heat, the dragon was a greenish brown, with a nasty looking black ridge along it's back. He didn't know much about dragons, but he knew for sure that something that size must have been young but by the destruction around it, it was very dangerous.
The dragon spread its wings with a great screech, and took to the air, as if the fire meant little to it. It didn't seem injured at all from the fire or debris. It struggled to use its wings, being used for the first time for flight. It eventually got enough rise from the hot air around it to get adequate lift to fly off into black sky.
Harry watched as it flew off, amazed that he would see such a thing here at Hogwarts. But with the departure of the winged beast, it begged the question. Why was there a dragon at Hogwarts?
And why was it in Hagrid's hut?
Harry turned to the other students, and caught Nott's eye. Based on the questioning look, the Slytherin had the same questions he did. This was not going to end well, depending on the answer to that question.
