Chapter 13
Werewolves and Princes
It was a couple of days since the Howler from Mrs. Black. Sirius Potter was still dating Katja, and amazingly, their costumes for the Halloween Ball had just come in.
"These Muggles seem to be very efficient. I can see why we would want to associate with them," remarked Sirius.
"The company that we ordered from specialises in Halloween Costumes, and therefore is willing to ship things a little quicker. Plus, since you paid for it, I used a quicker shipping method." responded his girlfriend. Ever since the disownment, Katja had been a little preoccupied. What does this mean for that blasted Prophesy? Will I still have the Power to defeat the Dark Lord? She then laughed at herself. Prophesies aren't always true! I can still deal the Dark Lord a crippling blow, even without the prophesy. I know where the damned Horcruxes are, and how to destroy them. Maybe fewer people will die this time around.
–––
In his own World, outside the normal Space-Time Continuum, Fate was fuming. He went to the Anachronistic World, where he complained to Merlin and others.
"Merlin! So good to see you! Nice to see you to, Jesus!" Fate called as he set foot on the world. The two people that he had called to looked alarmed. Never had Fate come here like this, in supposedly a good mood, with good news.
"Those blasted people on World KWSB-92! They are messing things up, again! Sirius Black just got disowned, and the damned woman included the bit about the Last Name! She disowned the only person left with the name 'Black' with any goodness in their hearts. Well, except for Regulus. I think that he will be a willing Death Eater, but will then back out. I need to set those blasted Humans straight again! I guess I have to send them another prophesy."
In response, Jesus replied, "You must show them the way peacefully, my Lord. Otherwise, you will lead them from the true path. Mr Muhammad here agrees with me. You should make sure that the way she takes is the least offensive, and costs the fewest lives. The light should remain light."
"Evil magic is evil. Evil shall be abandoned, the girl should follow your lead, my Lord. For once, the Messengers from God are in agreement. While we are disgusted at what the Muggles are doing on that planet, we both still advocate peace."
"I agree with the Messengers, my Lord," said Merlin, finally re-entering the conversation. "Let the girl use the Cunning and Ambition that I know she has, and let her combine it with the bravery and strength that are Godric's gifts. But I warn you, my Lord. If you push her too far, then she could Fall into the very thing that she is trying to destroy. If you give her the wrong help, she could Fall. She should be able to do her task with Light Magic. It will then be easier on the Boy when it comes time for him to do his part."
"Thank you for your advice, Leaders of Earth's Religions." Fate replied after a minute. He knew that these three would prevent him from interfering more than he had. He decided to go back to his world and think. Out of all the worlds, this one, and one other, the home of Harry James Potter, the boy who defeated Lord Voldemort with his friends by his side, were his two favourites out of the millions of worlds. That night, he sent Sirius a prophesy.
–––
The next morning, Katja received a note at breakfast. It read, meet me You-Know-Where at Break. Padfoot. This intrigued Katja, so during her first break of the day, she went up to the Room of Requirement. She saw that Lily was there, too, along with James and Remus.
James started the meeting of the Marauders. "OK, everyone is present," he announced. In a formal tone, reminiscent of the Weasley twins pretending to be respectful, or when they mocked Percy, James continued. "I now hand the Floor to Mr Padfoot."
"Thank you, Mr Prongs. I have called you here today, because last night, I dreamt a prophesy." At their looks of shock, Sirius drew out a strand of memory, and put it on a piece of paper, similar to when Lily did it a couple of nights before. Writing appeared on the paper in letters that were not in the Latin alphabet.
Друг до Отця і друг сина, вона дружить з ними обома.
Вона, яка переміщається в часі буде мати справу Темного Лорда нищівного удару. Вона буде стежити за світлу сторону Сили. Вона знайде велику потужність з світлу сторону магії.
Якоря, які забороняють Темного Лорда від смерті будуть знищені неї.
Обраних об'єднають свої сили, щоб, нарешті, перемогти Темного Лорда.
Один від Отця і Сина вона, мандрівник, переміщених в часі, буде падати в любов з людиною, яка має важливе значення для сина. Той, хто має важливе значення для сина буде як брат до Отця. Доля, той, хто багато.
They did the very familiar translation spell as Lily commented that it looked like Russian, which Katja disagreed with.
"I think that it is a close relative of Russian," replied Katja, as the spell translated the text. Everyone was amazed at what they saw.
Friend to the Father, the Son, and friends of them both, the one who is misplaced in time will deal the 'dark lord' a crippling blow. She will follow the 'Light side', because she will find the 'Greater power' there. She shall destroy the anchors the 'dark lord' has that keep him from dying. To finally defeat the 'dark lord' the two chosen ones must combine their powers.
Friend of the Father, Friend of the Son, the one who is displaced in time will fall in love with someone she knew before as important to the Son, but like a Brother to the Father.
Fate, the one who is many.
The ones who knew Katja's secret knew that this was a pretty clear prophesy. Katja thought this too. She knew the Father and the Son—James and Harry, she was obviously misplaced in time, she was a light witch, and she had fallen in love with Sirius—Godfather of Harry, and Brother of James. As she was thinking this, she could everybody but James, who still didn't know Katja's history, were putting two and two together.
"Man, all these foreign prophesies!" said Lily. "You would think that no Seer actually speaks English in the United Kingdom!"
"Fate must have a foreign languages fetish of some sort. Of the prophesies that we know can be attributed to him, more than half have been in a language other than English, or a language that we can readily recognise." replied Katja. "Now should we give the Bumblebee a day off, or should we report this to him now?"
Sick of being offered Lemon Drops, they decided to wait for a couple of days before reporting to Dumbledore. Soon, it was time for Lunch. During lunch, the Slytherins were laughing and making fun of the "Blood-traitor Sirius No-name." All except for the one Slytherin that a person would expect to try and get revenge on a Gryffindor—especially a Marauder. Severus Snape was just sitting at the table watching hopelessly as his classmates teased the nameless man. Katja had an idea. She got the rest of the Marauders to sign a note to Severus, and sent it to him. Then, she got the Marauders to come up to the Common Room again, where Katja performed the Memory Extraction Spell (the same one Lily had used). When the memory was finished rendering on the paper, she showed it to the others.
"Wolfsbane?" asked Sirius. "That's lethal!"
"To you, maybe," responded Katja. "But in these quantities, it will not harm someone like Remus or me," she continued, sneakily giving the Secret to James.
"What's your plan?" asked Lily. "The way you're so smart, but always scheming, it's like you're the embodiment of three-quarters of the school!"
"My plan is to follow up on the letter we just sent to Severus. We will meet him in the Library Corridor to discuss a business deal."
She then discussed the particulars of the plan with the rest of the Marauders as they paper aeroplane flew towards Severus Snape. Severus noticed the note flying towards him. When he opened it, he found that it was an invitation to the Room of Requirement from the Marauders and an oath signed by all of the Marauders that they would not harm him. The letter also assured him that it was something that would be mutually beneficial.
Severus decided to go to this meeting, for the chance of getting harmed by the Marauders. Plus, they had acted liked Slytherins by trying to cunningly send whatever message they needed to give, and bravery (like a Gryffindork) by asking him to come. The part about him not being harmed was just a plus. After he was finished eating, he went up to the Seventh Floor Corridor, where he saw the door to the Room. He went in, and saw a set-up similar to a boardroom, like the ones found in Muggle films.
As the Leader of the Marauders, James was naturally sitting at the head of the table, flanked on either side by the rest of the Marauders. "Have a seat next to Evans, Severus," James commanded. "We have a business proposition that we think will prove quite profitable for you and us." Snape took his seat and started to listen. "You may have noticed that I referred to you by your first name, Severus, and not our nicknames for you. This is because we would like a truce between us."
"A truce?" asked Snape. "Why the hell after all these years of tormenting me, of me hating you, of Black trying to get me killed, do you want a truce. If you were Slytherins, I'd be even more worried than I currently am!"
"That's the beauty of it, Snape," responded Sirius. "We are acting like Slytherins. We need a favour that we are willing to pay good money for, and you get a truce. We will give you an oath for the cessation of hostilities between us, and you will return it. Really, if you weren't the best Potion-maker in the school, we wouldn't even be asking you. Of course, if you do the favour for us, you'd be helping Lily out."
"All right, what's the damned favour, Potter?" Snape asked. Katja realised that Snape gave the same sneer to James that he did for Harry. Naturally, the sneer was quite apparent on the last word of the sentence.
"We would like you to brew a potion for us." James said. Snape replied with, "No shit, Sherlock!" All the pure-bloods looked at Severus with a confused look on their faces, while Katja and Lily both laughed. They then explained that it was a Muggle expression.
James continued, "It's an obscure potion that isn't known (for the most part) in England. I am told that it is called the 'jedić napitak,' and its more often found in Serbia or China, although I found a recipe for it in Germany. It contains enough elements in it to successfully render someone like Remus into a harmless state during the full moon. We need two doses for every full moon, and we—that is to say, being as I am the only one with any money, I—will pay handsomely. If you make this potion, Severus, it will ensure that nothing like what happened last year will ever happen again. If you study the potion, and are able to perfect it, you could make yourself a very rich and influential potion-maker."
"How much are you talking, Potter?"
"15 galleons per month plus costs. There is a catch, though. I want the receipts for the money I give you for costs, because I don't want to be the victim of a Slytherin cheating trick. I want to know where every Knut of the money goes."
"31, and you've got yourself a deal."
"20" snapped James.
"25" returned Snape. It's good that he's negotiating. Maybe this can work out after all.
"Deal," returned James to the astonishment of everyone. Everyone knew that the midpoint of the haggle had been 22 Galleons, 12 Sickles, 21 Knuts, so the bid was a little high. Severus also realised this, and thought that James was perhaps trying to be nice.
"I know that you have some...unusual contacts, Severus," said Sirius. "I'm sure that you will have to use your contacts to get some of these materials."
"Of course, Black. I'll do your potion. Not for your sorry souls, but for my own, and Lily's. I know that she is your girlfriend, but..." Snape hesitated for a second before shouting, "Expecto Patronum!" A silver doe came out of his wand. Anyone who had been in DADA the day they did Patronuses knew exactly what Snape was getting at. He decided to not pursue that conversation any longer and take his oath of truce.
"I, Severus Snape, do Solemnly swear on my life and my magic, that I will not attempt to harm the Gryffindors known as 'The Marauders' in any way, shape, or form, physical or mental, until the end of school, at which point we can renegotiate. This oath is valid unless I am being forced to keep my cover as a Slytherin student, at which point I will not do you serious harm. I will also not tamper with the doses of this potion that I am giving to you. I also swear that I am truly sorry for the word that I used in our Fifth Year to describe Ms. Evans. May Merlin have mercy upon my soul; So Mote it be."
The Marauders then gave separate oaths, affirming the group oath. "I, Katja Wagner, born Hermione Granger, do solemnly swear that I will uphold the agreement of the Marauders so sworn. So Mote it be."
"I cannot have the Potion ready by this full moon, wolf, but I can have it for the next cycle," said Severus. "I will not mention your involvement with this, Marauders."
And he left the room.
"You realize that by giving him the formula you're altering the future," commented Lily.
With a smile on her face, Katja replied, "Why? How do we know he didn't invent it?"
Over the next couple of days, Katja and Sirius researched the ritual, and would be able to do it on the next new moon. Auror Williamson had no information about the ritual, seeing as the only werewolf he ever cared about had been lost in the War. All parties knew that Katja would be a horrible monster with no recollection of who she was, at least for a couple more moons.
Sirius, though, had told Harry something about werewolves that Professor Williamson finally told Katja. The January moon—the Full Wolf Moon—was the worst. Originally, it had been the February Moon that had been called the "Wolf Moon" but a werewolf from America had repatriated to the UK in the 1800s and introduced the new weakness for the wolves, whilst simultaneously taking one away.
Severus, of course, wouldn't be able to get the Wolfsbane Potion done in time for this month's transformation, but would definitely have it done by the next moon, assuming he did it correctly.
The next couple of weeks were mind-boggling for Katja. It seemed that she had a lot more homework than usual in this time period, even considering the fact that she had to both do homework and grade homework. Since her discussion with Professor Williamson, she had been, every once in a while, getting him to correct the papers from her classes. She felt this was justified, because of the way she had helped Harry through Hogwarts their first time around.
The day of the Halloween Ball was also approaching, but first was the full moon. Naturally, she and Sirius would be going together. Hermione also had the feeling that Dumbledore was going to pull something on Halloween, most likely something related to the Adoption business. She was so desperate to have a family that she had accepted the professor's offer almost immediately. She would become a Lady when the papers were finalised.
Soon, it was the day of the full moon. Katja noticed that she was having some of the same symptoms that she did last time. Before she knew it, she was walking down the familiar path to the forest. Just before she changed, she moaned, "I don't want to change!" just as the first pains of the change showed up in full force. She had failed to change into her Animagus form, so she was getting the 'full experience' this time.
She screamed. The light of the moon pierced through her, blinding her eyes. Katja raised a blood-curdling, hair raising scream as her blood started pumping wildly, as if her heart were beating faster than a hummingbird's wings. She could feel the rapid pounding in her ears.
Agony beyond agony tore through her as nails ripped through her fingers to form razor sharp claws. Every part of her flesh tingled, and then burned in an inferno of pain. All at once she had grown fur. She couldn't think. Her thoughts were silenced, drowned in torrents of staggering pain. Her screams of anguish transformed to primitive tortured howls as a snout forced its way through. The big bad wolf had returned.
Sirius had arranged it so that the others would definitely be in the Shrieking Shack, while he was going to be coming over to where she was—in the Forbidden Forest. Apparently, the centaurs weren't as fussed in this time period about her trips into the forest as they would have been in the 1990s.
She was the werewolf, and it was controlling her. This was the scariest part of being a werewolf, thought Katja, as she couldn't fully control herself. She thought only about what unwilling prey she could find. No, she thought, that's the wolf talking! And where the hell is Sirius?
Her instincts told her to seek out companionship and prey. She could smell another werewolf, but he, it was a he, she could tell now, he was too far away. Then, she smelled something delightful. She smelled Human! Tasty human! Human with a good smell! A voice called out to her.
"Katja!" she heard the voice. Her instincts as a predator told her that the voice, which belonged to the Tasty Human, was only 45 meters away. Her tongue flicked like a snake, then like a dog, licking its chops.
"Katja!" the voice called again. It was much nearer now, only 5 meters. The wolf in Katja asked how these animals could survive with only two feet and no tail. The wolf approached its prey, and then pounced on the Tasty Human.
Suddenly Hermione realised who the Tasty Human was! It was Sirius. A look of shock and surprise came over Tasty—no, Sirius's—face. He hadn't transformed yet, and there was no way for Katja to tell him that he should. Within seconds, Sirius was pinned to the ground by the wolf.
The person flinched as the wolf's breathing filled the air. He waited helplessly for the attack he knew would come. But it didn't come. The beast had stopped! Sirius then tried talking to Katja.
"Katja, are you there?" asked the Human.
As he was asking this of the werewolf, he could see the eyes of the wolf, the teeth just dripping with saliva. The tongue licked his face. He knew that one wrong move, and he would be a werewolf which, despite his stated non-prejudicial views towards them, he had no real desire to become one. That's why the Marauders had become Animagi in the first place.
To answer his question, Katja growled at him. She was trying to say 'yes' but the words just weren't coming out. "Come on, Katja. Don't let it overtake you. You can do it."
The wolf backed away as Katja was fighting with every gram of strength to maintain control of the animal. Sirius, knowing that this was his only chance, ran away and transformed into the dog. What Sirius didn't realise is that Katja's form would recognise him as an animal now, the very animal that disturbed the romance between it and the other werewolf the last time. If he would have known what would happen, he would have stayed with the Marauders.
The wolf overrode Katja's desire to prevent harm from a loved one. The wolf saw the one who brought despair, and the state of not being loved by anyone. The beast awoke, snarling at the dog, wanting revenge. Katja couldn't control it any longer. The wolf wanted to kill the dog. It was a Bad Dog and needed to die!
Why had Sirius delayed in transforming? He saw that the bloody moon was up! Why the fuck did he risk his life, or his freedom (and my life) by not transforming? Katja could think to herself, but couldn't control the body she was in. It was almost like being under the Imperious Curse. She was bloody worried—that's why she was so furious right now.
It was her own fault if he died—they had discussed this plan, and they thought that they could control her. They had forgotten that one small fact that Ruige had already met Padfoot, and Ruige didn't like Padfoot one bit.
If Sirius had died, everything that she worked for would be ruined. She would immediately be sent to Azkaban Prison to await the Dementor's Kiss. If she bit Sirius, she would be sent to Azkaban prison. Her anxiety would easily consume her—she had to bury all apprehension—her worry fuelled her
She started to rein in her emotions. Possibly then, she could get control. She slowly got control of the werewolf. She allowed herself to take complete control of the animal. She flailed the body of the wolf so as to lose track of the dog. She gave him a couple of paces. The wolf was starting to come back, but Sirius was a safe distance away now. He transformed into a human, took out his wand, and shouted, "OBDORMIO!" Words that every parent knew, Katja realised a second too late, because they caused the recipient of the curse to literally take a nap from anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours. Right after that spell, he shouted, "Stupefy!" Both spells hit her, and she was immediately knocked out.
When she woke up, she looked over at the pile of clothes next to the bed in the cabin in the forest. Somehow, Sirius had managed to get her into the cabin without waking her up—probably a side effect of the spell that he used, she thought.
She looked at her watch—she had bought it for herself on her seventeenth birthday, because the Weasleys were too poor to get her the traditional watch and Harry and her parents didn't have any clue about wizarding traditions. Maybe that's why the pure-bloods don't like us. They think that we do not want to learn their methods, learn their traditions, she thought to herself.
As she looked at her watch, she realised that there was still time for her to sneak into the castle and get up to bed. Harry was an Heir of Hogwarts, so he partially controlled the wards. He gave Hermione a ward-changer once he figured it out. She was about to use it for the first time. She had truly forgotten to use it the night they sneaked into the castle to destroy the Last Horcrux.
She hit the Rune pattern on the stone. She could feel the energy coming from the stone and from the school. There was a sudden temporary decrease in the energy, so Katja pushed open the front door, and walked in. She put her Disillusionment Charm on, and walked up to the Gryffindor Common Room, where she almost immediately fell asleep. Before she knew it, she was being shaken awake by Lily.
"Katja, you need to wake up! Katja!" Lily was yelling at her, telling her to wake up. She was on her favourite couch in the common room—the one that most students knew that they shouldn't sit on for threat of dire consequences.
"You look like you had a rough night," commented Lily when she saw that Katja was awake.
"You bloody well know what night it was last night, Lily! Of course I had a rough night." A look of recognition dawned on Lily's face. "I need to eat, let's go down to breakfast."
The girls got changed into their school robes, Katja got a couple of Pepper-Up Potions, and they went down to eat.