Chapter 14 – Werewolves of London

'What time are they coming over tomorrow?' asked Ron.

'I told everyone to be here for eight o'clock,' Harry replied.

'Did you hear back from everyone?' asked Ginny.

'I was only waiting on Mr Doge,' said Hermione, 'and his reply came this morning.'

'Is he coming?'

'Yes,' said Harry. 'He seemed highly enthusiastic – I don't think retirement suits him.'

It was early November, and, after weeks of correspondence, Harry and Hermione had finally managed to arrange a meeting at Grimmauld Place for the new Order of the Phoenix. They'd invited everyone that they thought would be useful; surviving members of the Order's first and second incarnations, members of Dumbledore's Army, a handful of Aurors, and a few others.

'What about The Dark Force Defence League?' Ron had asked when they were drawing up the invitation list.

'No,' Harry had replied, bluntly. 'Not if I can help it; they'd probably think they ought to be leading us. Give them an inch, and they'll take a mile, believe me.'

There was a knock at the front door. Harry got up, left the drawing room where they were sitting, and went to answer it. When he opened the door, he was greeted by a familiar face.

'Hello!' said Harry, as he opened the door and saw who it was. 'What brings you here? You know the meeting isn't until tomorrow, right?'

It was Lavender Brown. 'Hi Harry,' she said. 'Yeah, I do. I need some help though. Can I come in?'

'Of course,' he replied. 'Come through to the kitchen.'

He led her along the hallway and down the steps to the kitchen, before returning to the drawing room, and sticking his head through the door.

'Who is it?' asked Ginny.

'Lavender. Needs my help with something.'

'If she asks, I'm not here,' said Ron. He took a nervous glance at Hermione, who rolled her eyes.

'Oh, do grow up, Ronald,' she said, getting to her feet. 'Come on, Harry. Let's see what she needs.'

They went to the kitchen, where Kreacher was serving Lavender with tea. Harry and Hermione joined her at the table, and each accepted a cup of their own.

'So,' said Harry, 'what can we do for you?'

Lavender looked thin. She was so wet that she looked like she'd been swimming with the Giant Squid. There were white scars on her neck, from where she had been attacked by Fenrir Greyback, and although they had long-since healed, they were far from faded.

'Do you want something to eat?' asked Hermione, looking concerned. Clearly, she too had noticed Lavender's weight-loss. 'I'm sure there's some stew left from dinner.'

'Yes!' said Lavender, longingly. 'Or perhaps, if you had some meat?'

Hermione gave her a bowl of stew, while Harry flash-fried a piece of steak from the fridge. Lavender wolfed them both down, thankful for the nourishment.

'Lavender, what happened to you?' asked Hermione.

'Nothing awful,' she replied, skewering the last piece of meat with her fork. 'I've just not been home much lately. I've been helping a pack of werewolves.'

'You've been doing what?' asked Harry, concerned.

'Ever since I got these,' she said, pointing to the scars on her neck, 'it's like I've had a connection with them. I know where to find them, and I've been trying to look after them.'

'But you're not...'

'No. Greyback wasn't in his wolf state when he bit me.'

'Like Bill,' Hermione muttered.

'But I still try and help as many as I can. Bring them food, water; as much Wolfsbane Potion as I can get my hands on. A few of them don't want it, of course.'

Hermione gasped. 'They just flatly refuse it?'

'Yeah,' Lavender sighed. 'Those ones usually try to bite me on a full moon, but most of them aren't like that.'

'Where are they?'

'In London?'

'Yeah.'

'All over; mostly underground – y'know – in sewers; in the service tunnels for those muggle trains; anywhere hidden.'

'Why?' asked Harry.

'Oh Harry, why do you think?' asked Lavender. 'They've been shunned by the wizarding community. Just because you see the good in everyone, doesn't mean everybody else does. Werewolves are still feared and hated.'

'What do you want from me then?' asked Harry.

'From both of you,' Lavender corrected him. 'I want you to change it.'

'Just like that?'

'It's not so difficult, is it? People listen to you, Harry; they trust what you say. Hermione – if you were to create a new Ministry initiative to aid sufferers of Lycanthropy, and Harry publically supported it, do you think it would pass a vote?'

'I think it would pass,' said Hermione, cautiously, 'but what it won't do is change public perception – at least not overnight.'

'Also,' said Harry, 'we can't force anything on anyone. From what you've told us, some werewolves don't want help.'

'But some do!' Lavender insisted. 'The majority do. The majority would like nothing more than to go back to their families, to have normal jobs, and to just sleep in their own beds. They just need help.'

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, silently communicating.

'Show us,' said Harry.

'What?' said Lavender.

'Take us to them,' said Hermione. 'Let us talk to them.'

'When?'

'It's not a full moon,' said Harry. 'Let's go now.'

Lavender beamed at them both. 'You'll need your cloaks.'

Minutes later, Harry and Hermione found themselves in a sewage pipe beneath Picadilly Circus.

'I wish I hadn't worn these shoes,' said Hermione. 'I love these shoes, and now look at them.'

'You know Hermione,' said Harry, shining his wand-light ahead of them. 'Some days you are such a girl.'

Aside from the occasional, unpleasant squelch, they walked on in silence, until Lavender stopped at an old rusted-iron door. 'We're here,' she said, tapping the lock with her wand. It clicked, and she heaved the door open.

'Who is it?' a grouchy voice snapped. 'Who's there?'

'It's me; Lavender,' she said.

An elderly man, at least ninety, stepped into Harry's wand light. He had a mane of grizzled hair, not dissimilar to Mad-eye Moody's; his face was scratched and scarred, and he was missing his left earlobe. He spoke with a gruff, cockney accent.

'I know who you are,' he growled. 'Who are these ones?'

Lavender seemed shaken by the frostiness of their reception, but she continued. 'Marius Grimsdyke, this is Harry Potter, and this is Hermione Granger.'

Grimsdyke squinted through the darkness, his eyes darting up to Harry's forehead. Harry's stomach turned; it had been a long time since anyone had identified him by his scar. Sub-consciously, he rubbed it with his fingers, trying to conceal it from view.

'Well, well, well,' said Grimsdyke, his voice loaded with sarcasm. 'Whodda thought it? The great 'Arry Potter! Down 'ere, in my 'umble sewer. What can we simple folk do for you?' Grimsdyke had moved forward so as their noses were only inches apart now. He carried a horrible stink, as though the years of living in sewers had been soaked up by his skin. Harry was beginning to hope that the other werewolves would be friendlier than this one.

'Leave him alone, Marius,' said Lavender, barging passed. Harry and Hermione followed after her, and gasped at the sight that greeted them.

It was a large room, dimly lit with little balls of light that were bobbing across the ceiling, though the most obvious thing was the stench – compared to this, Grimsdyke smelled of vanilla pods. There were a few battered-looking tables on the left-side of the room; two wizards were sat playing Chess at one, but the others were vacant. The rest of the floor was covered with bedding, with around a dozen witches and wizards sitting on their blankets, some reading, others chatting amongst themselves. Many of them looked thin and malnourished. However, all of this stopped when Harry and Hermione entered, as everyone turned to look at them.

'New blood, Lavender?' asked an elderly witch, sitting near the door. She was very thin, making her eyes look almost too big for her head. Despite her frailties, she smiled warmly at Harry and Hermione. 'When did you get the bite, my dears?'

'They're not lycanthropes, Doreen,' Lavender replied. 'They're humans.'

This sentence was met with uproar.

'Humans!'

'How dare you bring the uninfected here?'

'This is our sanctuary.'

'They're here to kill us!'

'No-one's here to kill you,' said Lavender, calmly. 'They're here to meet with you – to help.'

The witch called Doreen, got to her feet, and held out her hand to Hermione.

'Don't worry about them, my dears,' she said. 'Hysterical reactionaries; every one of them. Lovely to meet you, I'm Doreen Whifferdill.'

'Hermione Granger,' said Hermione, shaking hands.

'Harry Potter,' said Harry. There was some mumbling from the other werewolves, and a few tried to get a better look at him.

'Oh really?' said Doreen. 'My great-nephew used to talk about you. He's probably your age, actually. Do you know Ernie Macmillan?'

'Yes!' said Hermione, brightly. 'He was in our year at school. He was in my Muggle Studies class.'

'Oh how lovely! I've not seen him for many years now, of course. Is he well?'

'Last time we saw him, yes,' said Harry.

'Lovely, lovely,' said Doreen. 'Come in, come in. Close that door, Marius – there's a good chap.' They sat down at one of the vacant tables, and the others went back to their own activities. 'Now, what would you like to know?'

It was difficult to know where to start. Harry had so many questions; obviously he'd met werewolves before, and he knew Lupin had stayed with them, but he had never imagined this. Fortunately, Hermione spoke first.

'How long have you all been down here?' she asked.

'Various lengths of time,' she replied. 'I myself arrived about nine years ago, but Marius has been here for almost forty.'

'Oh my. May ask, if you don't mind, why did you choose to come down here? The Wolfsbane Potion was in existence nine years ago? Why not stay on the surface and take that?'

Doreen smiled, but her eyes were sad. 'Oh my dear, if only it were that simple. I'd tried to live on the surface for many years, but eventually, my wolf-state got too aggressive and I had no choice. I fear I'm responsible for young Leona over there.' She pointed to a witch who was sat watching them; she looked to be in her late twenties. 'It was the night after I bit her that I knew I had to leave my home.'

'But the Wolfsbane Potion...'

'...Is a very complicated potion,' said Harry. 'Even Lupin admitted he found it difficult to brew.'

'Oh you knew Remus, did you?' asked Doreen, brightly. 'He stayed with us for several months. Terrible shame about what happened to him – we were all devastated when Lavender told us.'

'He was our teacher,' said Hermione.

'And I'm Godfather to his son,' said Harry.

'How lovely,' said Doreen. 'Yes, you're quite right, Harry. I confess myself to be a most disastrous potioneer – no talent for it at all. The Wolfsbane Potion is considerably outside of my capability.'

'Surely you can purchase it ready made?' asked Harry.

'Yes and no. It is available in Diagon Alley, but it's unfeasibly expensive. Twenty galleons a dose – that's sixty galleons every month. No-one could afford that; especially when most lycanthropy sufferers lose their jobs after their employers find out.'

'That's terrible,' said Hermione. 'How can they justify that?'

'Cos we ain't trusted, are we?' growled Grimsdyke. 'They prefer to keep us 'idden from view.'

'As far as the wizarding community is concerned,' said Lavender, 'there's no incentive to help werewolves. They're just considered a threat.'

'And admittedly, some of us are,' sighed Doreen.

'Just look at Greyback,' said Lavender, nodding.

'Ah yes. Terrible man, Fenrir; terrible. I knew him before the bite; he used to come across as a nice enough chap, believe it or not. He was perhaps a little off though – used to collect Doxies in his youth and trap them in bottles – and he came from a very pro-pure blood family. Can't think of a better place for him than Azkaban.'

'Yeah, well not all of 'is ideas were terrible,' muttered Grimsdyke. 'Maybe we should fight for our freedom.'

'Don't say things like that Marius,' snapped Doreen. 'You know as well as I do that Fenrir is a savage killer; we're better than him.'

'Besides,' said Harry. 'I don't think you need to fight. We're going to help.'

'What can you do?' Grimsdyke sneered.

'We work at the Ministry,' said Hermione. 'We can help! I promise.'

'No offence, love, but I'll believe that when I see it.'

Half an hour later, after taking Lavender to the Leaky Cauldron and paying for her room, they were home again.

'What's that smell?' asked Ron.

'You don't want to know,' Harry replied.

'How was it?' asked Ginny.

'Horrible,' said Hermione. 'If you'll excuse me, I've got books to read. I want to introduce some new pro-werewolf policies tomorrow, and something tells me that the Traditional Wizarding Values Alliance will pay me a visit before the end of the day.'

x x x

'You ready for lunch?' said Hermione, swinging around the office door frame.

'Yeah,' Harry replied. 'How's it going?'

'Kingsley approved my policy for putting a price cap on Wolfsbane Potion,' she replied. 'I've got it down to three galleons a dose, but we're going to try for more, and I'm just starting work on plans for The L.P.C.'

'L.P.C.?' asked Ron. 'What's that?'

'Lycanthropy Protection Centre,' said Harry.

'It's going to be a place for werewolves to go on full moons,' said Hermione, 'somewhere they can be safe from rogue hunters, but also prevented from biting anyone.'

'Sounds good,' said Ron.

'Yeah, but guess who's made an appointment with Rosalyn for this afternoon.'

'You're joking,' said Harry. 'How did they hear about this so quickly?'

'No idea,' she replied, 'but Horton and Pepperidge are due here in two hours.'

They went down to the Ministry canteen for lunch, and found Kingsley eating alone.

'Hello you three,' he said brightly. 'Good morning?'

'Until twenty minutes ago,' said Hermione, sourly.

'What's wrong? I thought your price cap idea was excellent.'

'The T.W.V.A. are coming,' said Ron. There was a certain foreboding in his voice.

Kingsley rolled his eyes, and consulted a pocket watch from within his robes. 'What time are they getting here?' he asked.

'They're meeting Rosalyn at two o'clock,' said Hermione.

'Right, I'll sit in on the meeting. I've had quite enough of their nonsense for one week.'

Three days earlier, Edgar Pepperidge had submitted a petition demanding that the T.W.V.A. be allowed to tour the Department of Mysteries. Kingsley and Mr Weasley had been forced to spend several hours explaining why that wasn't going to happen.

'Are you sure, Minister?' asked Hermione. 'You must have a very busy afternoon.'

'Absolutely positive,' said Kingsley. 'If the Alliance can't see the benefit of your new policies, then they're bigger fools than I thought, and it'll give me great pleasure to tell them so.'

Harry and Ron smirked. Hermione beamed, and made a sudden jolt, as though she'd considered hugging Kingsley, but thought better of it.

'Are you ok?' asked Kingsley, eyeing her with concern.

'Hmmm, oh, yes, fine,' she said, 'I just – er – need some lunch. I'll see you later, Minister.'

Harry and Ron struggled to contain their laughter as she hurried off to help herself to beef casserole.

At two o'clock, Harry and Ron went down to Level Four, and lingered outside Hermione's department. At ten minutes past two, the door burst open, and Messrs Horton and Pepperidge stormed out, looking unhappy.

'You've not heard the last of this, Minister,' shouted Pepperidge.

Harry and Ron waited until both men had disappeared in the golden lifts, before moving from their observation post. Kingsley exited Madam Scamander's office, a wide smile on his face.

'Ah,' he said, catching sight of them, 'have a good afternoon, gentlemen.'

He too strode off towards the lifts, and Harry and Ron hurried into the department's main office where Hermione was. She had a satisfied-yet-stunned look on her face.

'What happened?' asked Ron.

'It was unbelievable,' she replied. 'I've never seen Kingsley like that.'

'What happened?' Harry repeated.

'Well, we all sat down, and they started their spiel about how werewolves are dangerous and should be locked up. But they'd barely been speaking for a minute when Kingsley cut them off.'

'What did he say?'

'That werewolves are people too; that they shouldn't be villainised, and that he fully supported my work. Then they tried to protest, so Kingsley called them something I'd rather not repeat.'

Ron grinned. 'What did he say?'

'I'm not saying it,' she insisted.

'Write it down.'

'Oh alright, fine.' She wrote the word on a piece of parchment from her desk, and handed it to Ron. He took the sheet, read it, and sniggered.

'He didn't?'

'He did.'

'Wow.'

'Exactly. So they stormed out, and now here we are.'

The trio stood in silence for a moment, each with a grin on their face.

'Well, we'd better get back to work,' said Harry.

'Yeah,' Hermione agreed. 'I want to get these plans done before we go home.'

'Let us know if you need any help,' said Ron, following Harry to the door.

'Will do,' she said. 'See you later.'

x x x

'He didn't!' said Ginny. Harry had just filled her in on the T.W.V.A. meeting.

'He did,' said Harry, grinning.

'How brilliant,' she replied. 'Remind me to bake him a cake or something.'

Harry laughed. They were moving furniture in the drawing room, in order to make space for the meeting. Ron and Hermione had gone upstairs, supposedly to fetch down more chairs, though, after they had been gone for twenty minutes, Ginny had hypothesised that they were, in reality, "celebrating the victory".

'You're alright with this plan, aren't you?' Harry asked.

'What, you mean for the Order?' she replied.

'Yeah.'

'Yeah, of course. I'm just glad you're actually letting me fight this time.'

'Plus, you get to boss some people around.'

'I won't deny, that is a perk.' They grinned at each other. 'How long til they get here?' she asked. She was moving towards him, a keen look in her eyes.

'Probably an hour or so, why?'

'I was just thinking, perhaps we could have a quick "celebration" of our own.'

Harry grinned. 'Only if you put up some paper-chains.'

Ginny laughed, and raised her eyebrows. 'Whatever works for you, Harry.' She took his hand, and led him up to their room.

At five to eight came the first knock at the front door. Harry opened it, and showed Cho, Lavender, Percy, Audrey, Fiona Wetlock, and Aberforth Dumbledore into the drawing room. About a minute later, Andromeda Tonks arrived with Teddy in her arms.

'Hello,' said Harry, in a soft voice to Teddy. Teddy giggled and turned his hair from grass-green to jet-black.

'Hiiiiiya,' he said, happily. He stretched his arms towards Harry for a hug, and Andromeda handed him over.

With Andromeda following, Harry carried Teddy into the drawing room, where the toddler's eyes fell upon Ariana.

'Birdie,' said Teddy, pointing. 'I want birdie.' Harry set him down on the floor beside the phoenix's stand, and Ariana hopped down to the floor to play. She cooed happily as Teddy clapped.

By eight o'clock, thirty other people had arrived, and were seated in a circle around the edge of the drawing room.

Harry got to his feet. 'Thank you all for coming,' he said.

'You're very welcome,' said George, loudly. Most of the others laughed, although Mrs Weasley rolled her eyes.

'You all know why we're here,' Harry continued, 'the new Order of the Phoenix.'

'...other crime fighting teams are available,' said George. Angelina elbowed him in the ribs.

'After Voldemort's defeat, I'm sure many of you were hoping that we'd never have to reform...'

'Hear hear,' said Kingsley, nodding.

'...but with the new threat posed by the Legion, I fear we have no choice. I won't deny that she's strong. She has the powers and abilities of all the beings she's consumed, but we have one great advantage: there is only one of her.

'No Death Eaters, no Inferi, no vampire army; just Legion herself. There are forty of us here tonight, and I for one, like those odds.'

'I've never really thought of you as a gambling man, Harry,' said Luna.

'No, Luna, it's a figure of speech,' said Professor McGonagall. She sounded a little exasperated.

'Oh, that does seem more likely,' Luna agreed.

Harry smiled. 'Anyway,' he said, 'Hermione and I have been talking, and we think we've come up with a good idea. In the old Order, there was one leader, and everyone else followed. However, we don't know what Legion's next target will be, and we need to cover multiple options. Therefore, Hermione's devised a hierarchy. Hermione...'

Harry sat down as Hermione got to her feet. 'Yes,' she said, 'if nobody objects, I thought it was sensible to designate Harry as leader. After all, Minister Shacklebolt is a very busy man, and Professor McGonagall has her duties at Hogwarts.'

'Fine with me,' said Kingsley.

'And me,' said McGonagall.

Hermione smiled. 'Good, then Harry will be our – for want of a better word – General. Below him are the Minister and the Professor as Colonels. They each oversee two Majors, who are Ron, Molly, Arthur, and myself, and we each lead two Captains, who each head up a team of three or four. Did everyone follow that?'

It was quite clear that they hadn't, and so – to several people's horror – Hermione produced a chart she had made, and passed it around the circle.

'I've tried to base everyone's ranking on their level of experience in facing dark magic, and their seniority in the old Order. If anyone has any problems with it, I'm happy to reconsider.'

Dedalus Diggle put his hand up. 'If you don't mind, Miss Granger, I would prefer not to serve as a Captain – I'd rather not take on the responsibility – perhaps someone else could take my place?'

'I would be willing to do zat,' said Madame Maxime. 'If you will 'ave me.'

'Any issues with that?' asked Harry, addressing the room. There was silence. 'Then the job's yours, Olympe.'

Madame Maxime nodded, courteously, and Hermione switched the names on her chart with a poke of her wand.

'Charlie,' said Harry, turning to the fourth oldest Weasley in the room, 'are you still happy not to lead a team, as we discussed?'

'Yeah, no problem, Harry,' Charlie replied. 'I'm barely in the country anyway; I work better as an overseas agent.'

'Cool.'

'Where's headquarters going to be?' asked Bill.

'Here again, I suppose,' said Harry. 'There's still a large number of protective enchantments on the house, and one of the four of us is usually at home. If we're all out – Molly, would you be willing...?'

'Yes, by all means,' said Mrs Weasley. 'If no-one's here, pop over to The Burrow, and leave a message with me.'

'Excellent,' said Harry. 'Everyone ok with everything we've covered so far?'

'Err, 'Arry,' said Hagrid, raising his hand. 'Are yeh sure yeh want me leadin' a team. I ain't done much duellin' before now.'

Harry smiled. 'Hagrid, there's no-one I would rather have than you. You'll keep your members safe, and I'll work with you on duelling if you like.'

Hagrid smiled, and nodded. 'Ahh, yer a good lad, 'Arry.'

'Anyone else?' asked Hermione. Andromeda raised her hand.

'Obviously, I'll help in any way I can,' she said, 'but I've got Teddy to think about, and I can't leave him on his own. I was wondering if I could be considered a part-time member?'

Harry looked at Teddy, who was still sat in the middle of the floor, playing with Ariana. He knew he'd never be able to live with himself if Teddy lost another family member.

'Of course you can,' said Harry. 'We'll only ask for your assistance when we absolutely need it. Is that ok?'

'That's perfect,' she replied. On the floor, Teddy clapped once again as Ariana fluttered over his head.

'Right, if there's nothing else, can we move on to team assignments?'

'Pardonne-moi, 'Arry,' said Fleur, 'but I must ask you to grant me ze same favour.'

'Part-time membership?'

'Oui.'

'Why's that?'

Fleur smiled, and glanced at Bill. Also smiling, he nodded back at her, encouragingly.

'Bill and I are going to 'ave a baby.'

'No!' said George, looking both stunned and pleased.

'Yes,' replied Bill.

The meeting forgotten, everyone got to their feet to offer their congratulations; shaking Bill's hand, kissing Fleur's cheek, and asking questions.'

'When are you due?' asked Hermione.

'Ze first week of May,' Fleur replied. 'We 'ave known for a while.'

'What are you hoping for Bill?' asked Kingsley. 'A boy or a girl?'

'If there's ten fingers and ten toes, I'll be happy, Minister,' said Bill, beaming. However, he was prevented from answering any more questions, as his mother had pulled him into a tight hug.