So, I said I'd start actually updating and voila! This chapter is important for the world I'm building in my story even if it's a bit on the short side for me. I expect to lose a few readers since this will subtly display one of my founding issues with J.K. Rowling's world. It will also, I hope setthe tone for my story on Werewolves and Vampires.

Special Thanks to filly8 for her wonderful review of my proofed chapters!

Harry Potter and the FOLD

In Light of the Moon

Verity was pacing when the mediwitch returned to her office. Poppy looked at the teen with some alarm.

"Verity, what are you doing here? There's a full moon tonight!" The girl seemed more intense than when they last talked a few days ago. She was fidgeting in her shoes as she waited impatiently for Poppy to come to her.

"I know we were going to have you come after we had changed at least once in our new home, but circumstances have changed a bit. We need a mediwitch there tonight." Poppy regarded the nervous girl. Her hair wasn't in its normal ponytail and instead in several tight french braids. She wore looser, worn t-shirt and pants and no socks in her sneakers. A second later Poppy realized that she was nervous, but energized. This girl was practically vibrating with adrenaline and excitement.

"Explain while I gather my medkit." Poppy hurried into the office, sending her house elf off to find Albus' house elf. Albus had been given the news on the Knockturn Alley students from the Board only two days ago and had been working closely with Hagrid and Poppy in preparation. He would understand what she was about, but she wanted to let him know that she wouldn't be in her office until moonset.

"The moon rises in less than 90 minutes, but we have a pregnant mother. She refuses to induce so the moonrise will do it for her."

Poppy glanced at her in alarm and confusion.

"A werewolf is pregnant?"

Verity gave her a wide, fang-filled grin."How else did you think we had pups?" Poppy shook her head. "Anyway, she isn't a werewolf, but her husband is. Odds of the pup being one is high. That means a human woman is going to give birth to a transformed werewolf pup. That is the problem." Poppy dropped her last items in her bag and grabbed the doses of Wolfsbane Potion she had. Severus had told her that Wolfsbane was harmless to a human, they will simply have a harder time performing magic for a while.

"Let's go, you can explain the rest once we get there."

Verity stepped forward and then stopped a moment. For a moment her restless energy seemed to focus in on Poppy entirely."First, you must promise to trust our instincts and wishes in this." Poppy gave her a raised eyebrow. "We will understand and know what's going on better than you will. You must promise to trust our judgement for tonight. Trust that we will explain tomorrow." Poppy regarded the young girl a moment, seeing a leader's conviction on her eye. She was serious and confidant in this request.

Suddenly, Poppy realized how much Verity was quelling in herself to reach out to Poppy at all. Werewolves had no reason to trust anything but the worst of other wizards, Potion masters and Mediwitches least of all if they wanted to be treated in their own manner. Verity wasn't taking the first step, she was taking the first leap. The least Poppy could do was meet her in the middle.

"If you will tell me who to listen to with regards to your instincts, I will listen to that person first and foremost. I cannot understand werewolf."

Verity smiled again, cynicism gone. She threw some powder in the floo and was gone, Poppy not too far after her.

000

Neville poked the fire. He felt Hannah's hand on his shoulder as he thought. After Misty had come to tell them Harry was recovering at Hogwarts for the evening and wouldn't wake until tomorrow evening the entire group voted to stay an additional day into Sunday. The original seven were staying until Wednesday if Harry didn't mind. They had already discussed a camp in August so they were breaking for the rest of June and all of July.

He looked up as Justin plopped on the log across from his. Ron, and Hermione were next to Neville and Susan was talking with Draco and Luna off to one side. When Neville looked up, Justin wasn't looking at him but at Ron and Draco. Behind the Half-Blood several more people gathered.

"It's not enough." Neville blinked as the group came forward. Thirty teens were a lot in the stable and it was getting rather crowded. "We want, no, we need more!"

Behind Justin, the sixth year Slytherin Twiggs spoke up. "We know that it's hard for all of us to meet and we're going to recruit more now, however, we will need to bring them up to speed and we need more time to study." Neville glanced at Ron and Draco as they glanced at Hermione and Susan respectively.

"What did you have in mind?" His question was out before he even thought about it. Neville hid his own surprise as the same reaction flickered through the eyes of many of the students here. Twiggs looked at him.

"We want to meet up in smaller groups every week or two all summer."

Neville blinked at him in shock but it was Ron who responded."We had a hard time convincing you to study for these three weeks. Now you want to study for the entire summer?"

Twiggs smirked at them."Three weeks ago we were a group of kids studying for school. Now, we are more than that." Twiggs' words were void of sarcasm. He meant them. Ginny stepped forward as well. There was little love lost between Twiggs and Ginny. Besides the House rivalry, the Slytherin had made the unfortunate mistake of calling her a useless brat quite early in the camp and she had yet to completely forgive him. Even so, she came forward in support of his words.

"We are the FOLD. We have seen what this war has done to our friend and have decided that we will never stand by and let it happen again."

Neville saw agreement in the eyes surrounding them. They were all serious. He didn't see a single person looking hesitant. Glancing behind him surreptitiously, Neville waited for Ron or Draco to respond. Susan and Hermione were similarly looking at the two.

Strangely enough they glanced at each other for a brief moment before Draco spoke."Even if you say that, this kind of group meeting is very difficult to organize and many of the group has other responsibilities at home. Both Longbottom and Potter have estates to worry about." Neville hid his grin. He hadn't known that Draco reverted to pureblood behavior when nervous. He had gotten very good at calling everyone by their first name.

"Malfoy's right. Twice in one summer is going to be difficult enough." Ron's comments had the group frowning. Muttering amongst themselves, they seemed to be at a loss.

"What if we divide into chapters?" The entire group split to look at a young Hufflepuff second year. The young girl ducked her head shyly. She had been born in the United States, but after a divorce, her father had moved her back to England. Usually she didn't speak much except to other Hufflepuff's. Now everyone stared at her confused, even Hermione.

Susan was the first to recover, "Chapters? Like in a book?" Marilyn turn bright red as she shook her head.

"My brother, Matt, he's in America at a university. They have groups called fraternities that span the entire country. Each individual university has its own part of the group. Matt calls them chapters." She glanced at her friend nervously, but her friend simply nodded at her to continue. "If we divide ourselves into chapters and those chapters meet up more often, then we wouldn't be such a large group."

Neville could see that many of the group was considering this idea a viable one. Eventually though, all eyes returned to Ron and Draco. Their decision would be the deciding one. Neville met their eyes a moment. He liked the idea and it would take a lot of pressure off of Harry and the rest of the original seven. He nodded his approval and they glanced at Hermione and Susan. Both liked the idea. Ron was the one who spoke next.

"All right. We'll discuss it when Harry returns tomorrow and set it up before everyone leaves." The group seemed to relax as one now that their leaders were taking their request seriously. The group started to disperse as Raven popped in to tell them lights out.

Ron and Hermione sat next to Neville and Susan and Draco sat next to was the first on to speak. Honestly, Neville had expected her to speak up before this. She was a talker most of the time, it was strange to see her let someone else take the lead.

"It's good to see everyone taking an interest finally."

Ron shook his head before responding."How do you think we should pull this off? We were too busy to lead even smaller groups right now. Harry certainly won't have time and Neville probably won't either."

They all frowned as they started tossing ideas back and forth across the fire.

000

Poppy had been to some strange events in her years, but this one probably took the cake right now. Verity had flooed them to a store halfway down Knockturn Alley and they were hurrying towards the far end. Most of the alley was deserted, doors and windows closed and locked tight. Poppy suppressed a shudder at the eerie feeling. The sun had set almost an hour ago and the moon was due up in less than twenty minutes if Verity was to be believed.

Once inside the old stone building, Verity made a beeline for a group of women, including the expectant mother. Poppy hurried after them even as Verity started speaking.

"Mom, this is Madam Poppy Pomfrey from Hogwarts. She's a mediwitch. Madam Pomfrey, this is my mother, Victoria, our friends Tasha and Anya and this is Martha." Poppy nodded briskly to each of them before focusing all her attention on Martha.

"I assume you're the mother of the day. Come, let's see where we are right now." Poppy led her over to a seat as Verity spoke quietly with the other women. A brief diagnosis spell gave her a healthy, and impatient response. It also gave her a delightful surprise that would definitely make this evening more complicated.

"Madam Pomfrey?" She glanced over at Verity. The teen was dancing on her toes and Poppy could see Victoria coming over with two very worried males. "This is Ray and Ralph, Martha's son and husband. We need to enter the enclosure now. Please listen to Anya. She's the best of the non-transformed at dealing with us." Martha was helped up by her husband and Victoria and three of them followed Verity into the far room. Poppy peered into the room through one side. It was one of those interior garden rooms with iron fencing instead of walls. This was probably an inner courtyard of a castle at one point. The inside still had the feel of a garden, with an open roof and vines everywhere. They had added a locked gate to one side and reinforced the iron walls. To one side of the enclosure was a pile of rags and to another side was a small case of rabbits. Poppy looked away from those immediately, divining very quickly that they were to be food soon.

Instead, she assessed the state of the group inside the garden as Tasha and Victoria closed and locked the gate. There was a collection of people. Some were helping make Martha comfortable, mostly people Poppy had just met. Others were talking with each other or occupying the little ones. It looked to be roughly two dozen in total, and at least a half of them kids. The list Poppy had received so far said twelve students and she saw at least one infant being carried around. The overall atmosphere was excited and a bit nervous.

"Over here, Madam Pomfrey." Poppy snapped out of her thoughts and hurried over to Anya. "Okay, here's what we do know. When a Werewolf gives birth, it is always during the full moon. The child starts to change about a half hour after moonrise and the infant is born and taken care of by the pack as the mother is cleaned by the father and any other family in there. The infant is never harmed in any way, even if the child is born human." Poppy looked at her sharply.

"How can a werewolf give birth to a human?"

"If the child has a human parent and a Lycanthrop parent, the child will be born human. They must either have two lycanthrop parents or a parent who is a full werewolf to be born a werewolf."

"Lycanthrop?" Anya sighed as she explained.

"Lycanthrop is anyone not born into lycanthropy. Werewolves, to us, are born with lycanthropy."

"There is a difference?"

"Significant differences. Ask Verity some time." Anya waved her hand dismissing the topic for more important ones. "Anyway, our biggest concern is a Werewolf has amazing healing abilities that a human simply lacks. We will need to remove Martha to heal her. If you could cast any long distance healing spells that would be most useful." Poppy opened her mouth to respond when Verity interrupted them.

"Madam Pomfrey, we need a bit of your blood before we transform." Poppy looked at her in frightened surprise. "It will allow some of us to recognize youonce we've transformed, I'll explain better tomorrow." Poppy eyes the girl a moment. Blood was a powerful thing, one didn't just give it away haphazardly. Slowly she reached out to the thorn bush on the wall and allowed a thorn to catch her finger.

"A drop to me, a drop to Mom and a drop to Anya should do it." Poppy grimaced but let a drop dribble onto the three metal spoons Verity and Anya were holding. Verity placed one in her mouth immediately, followed by Anya. The third was carried over to Victoria where Poppy watched as the woman licked the drop and gazed at her a moment. Then Victoria transfigured both spoons into paper and lit them on fire. Anya similarly disposed of her spoon. Poppy was surprised to note that while Anya enjoyed the blood, as a vampire that made sense, neither Verity nor her mother seemed to do so. In fact, Verity seemed to dislike the taste of blood.

"That should help should anything go wrong." Poppy turned back to Anya. Before she could respond Victoria lifted her face high to the sky and a joyful howl split the warm night air. Poppy watched in amazement as the other girls joined the pack leader in the wolf's song. The males joined barely a moment later, even Ray and Ralph next to Martha seemed compelled to call their soul to the bright mistress of the night peeking over the horizon. Poppy had heard Remus howl before at the moon, but never before the transformation took him. The entire group bared their necks, sending more than their voices upward.

A hand startled her out of the near trance. She looked back at Anya's amused eyes. "You really should keep your distance from that wall." Confused Poppy looked around to see herself a full three steps closer to the grating than a few moments ago, with little understanding of how she got there. "This is how you can tell a true pack from a group of furry thugs." Anya was staring into the howling mix as even the infant added his voice to the song.

"Wha-? How-?" Poppy's weak question couldn't form. The pull to howl had bubbled up within her stomach and throat, threatening to spill out. Anya's slightly lonely smile stopped her attempt.

"A true pack makes you want to join in before they even transform." A low snapping sound directed her attention back to the group as Verity led the way by growing fur. As a group the entire howling pack grew fur and fangs, shaking out limbs as they lengthened, growling and snapping as their senses adjusted. Victoria was the last to transform and the pack raised their voices once more to the moon. This call was more primal, more bestial than the previous one. Yet, Poppy did not feel the thread of utter terror and pity that had always accompanied Remus' howls.

"Martha's child should start to move soon." Poppy was dragged from her thoughts by Anya who was walking around the enclosure to get a better view of the expectant mother. Poppy then remembered, not only her reason for being dragged here this night, but also a curiosity.

"Anya, does she know she's giving birth to twins?"

Anya's startled look told her enough to know that Martha had probably been unaware. The look of utter incredulity was both amusing and exasperating. "Should I know anything about werewolf twins?" That question seemed to snap Anya out of it as she shook her head. She looked at Martha in frantic thought before shaking her head.

"Problem no, but..." Poppy looked up at her in question as she continued to watch Martha as the woman's breathing started to increase. "The pack considers twin lucky, that's all." Poppy snorted as she turned back to Martha, who looked like she was entering the first wave of contractions. Twins had always had lots of Myths surrounding them in the magical world.

The Pack's response to Martha's contractions was immediate. The wolf she had assumed was Ralph hadn't stopped whining and nuzzling his human wife except during that initial howl. Poppy had experienced a momentary feeling of shock when Martha didn't react in fright or pain, but she banished it upon formation. Whatever her experiences with Remus, it was clear that this group interacted entirely different.

Two other werewolves were at her side at her first moan of pain. Abstractly, Poppy noticed the other adults corral the younger ones to the other side of the garden and out of the way.

Martha had worn a fluffy bathrobe from the beginning and with the onset of birthing, Poppy understood why. Even Verity's clothing made sense as the lot of them had shed much of their clothing prior to changing. What clothing they hadn't shed had been shredded by the transformation itself. Now, the werewolves gently nuzzled the robe open, clearing a path for the children.

"Ray is on the left by Martha's neck, Ralph is behind her, Janet is on the right and Aisha is in front of her. Victoria is the one crouched to Aisha's side." Poppy stared at Anya in amazement, which drew a wry grin from the vampire. "After a while, you get the hang of it. I'm better with Martha's family since I'm so close to them. Victoria's the pack leader and Verity is her heir, so they're fairly simply to learn. I'm pretty sure the other female is Aisha, not her daughter Tanya. Sometimes I can't tell them apart, but Tanya is only 13 and Aisha's given birth before." She shrugged. Poppy agreed that made more sense. Looking at the Werewolves surrounding Martha, who, if her moans were any indication, would be giving birth within the next twenty or thirty minutes, Poppy tried to understand their behavior.

Ray was simple. He seemed to be holding his mother's hand and nuzzling her, whining. Janet appeared to be doing a similar activity with far less concern coloring her actions. Of course it wasn't her mother at stake either. Ralph was truly being helpful, curling behind Martha to help her sit upright and licking her face, probably keeping her cool. Aisha appeared to be the midwife in the group, though Poppy couldn't see what she was doing. Victoria was watching with an authoritative stance, glancing over at the other group periodically.

Poppy turned to Anya. "What should I expect to need to do?" Anya seemed to consider the question a moment.

"With regard to the actual birth? Nothing. Even if they would let us help with that, they do actually know what they're doing. Afterwards, however, I will retrieve Martha and she will need any after birth healing normally done. If you could do anything from this distance, the less stressed and in pain she is, the easier it will be to extract her from their grasp." Poppy nodded, hoping that Anya and the others, knew what they were doing. She promised Verity she would trust them.

Poppy amazed to watch how calm and reassured Martha was throughout the entire process. Although the pained moans turned into pained screams as she probably began pushing, she never once worried about the deadly, cursed claws she was in the grip of. In fact, she gripped Ralph's fur in a way that Poppy had seen many women grip their husband's arms. The first one was out and handed to Victoria immediately. The infant werewolf was born furry and screaming.

Martha barely had a moment to breathe and smile at her child before the contractions returned in full force. Anya moved closer to the door as Poppy prepared to perform a distance anesthetic and sealant spell. The second child came out with all the ease of the first and Anya was in the pen in an instant. She picked up Martha easily and zipped out, shutting the door just in time to smash Ralph's nose as he chased her. The others ignored them in favor of the infant twins, both of whom sounded incredibly hungry. Poppy missed Victoria bringing the infant to her own breast to feed, as she collected the placenta and started the afterbirth healing on Martha, who was mostly staring at her new babies.

Poppy had just finished her diagnosis and healing when she noted tears rolling down Martha's face. "Are you still in pain, Martha?" The woman shook her head. Anya knelt beside her, grasping her hand, Tasha on the other side.

It was Tasha who spoke first. "What's wrong Mar?"

The woman was sobbing silently now.

"My babies. They're all right?"

All three woman nodded as Tasha's arm went around her best friend's shoulder. "They're perfect!" Martha hiccupped a chuckle. "That's nothing to cry about." Martha's curly hair bounced slightly as she shook her head.

"My babies are born. I want to hold them." She looked back at Victoria, who had finished feeding one infant and was feeding the other. "I want my babies!" She was openly crying now, nearly hysterical. Poppy smiled gently. The hysteria was a natural result of the birth coupled with the lack of nursing. Nothing could solve it but the infants themselves once the moon set.

Tasha's arms brought Martha into a full hug. "Shhh, I know Mar, I know." The woman rocked the other as she murmured soothing noises to the mother. Poppy knew that nothing was going to help until Martha had her children in her arms. Nothing replaced a child in the eyes of their mother.