Author's note: So I'm not sure if I like how this chapter turned out. Might re-write it. Since this chapter gave me fits and I just want to go to sleep, I'll answer comments in the next chapter. For now, thanks so much to everyone who commented! I love reading everything you have to say; totally makes my day.

Anyways, thanks so, so much to kurosakiami01 and my new awesome beta Anathemal. Love all the help catching my stupid brain farts.

Draco had shifted with the rest of the pack at the moonrise even though he didn't have to anymore. They didn't know that, though, and to reveal otherwise would be worse than blowing his cover as a spy. If he was lucky, they'd torture him until he agreed to make the Shapeshifter Brew and kill him. At worse they'd extract it from his mind and leave him a vegetable. Despite the risk, he had readily agreed to Ron's plan. The Order needed to know what the werewolves were doing. The only way to do that was from the inside and what The Order needed, Harry needed.

Now he ran, ran and ran. For the joy of it, because he could, and because the others chased him. They usually chased Draco on full moons. Being chased meant he could lead them from the muggle settlements nearby, keep them occupied with deer and other game. It also meant if he slowed for even a few seconds, they'd be on him. Likely he would survive – he was pack – but the damage would be severe.

As he ran, Draco thought of Harry. He always thought of his mate, no matter what he was doing. They had been apart too long and his smile, his eyes, his voice filled Draco's thoughts. At this time of night, he'd likely be sleeping with the Weaslette. If it had been a bad day, the silencing charms would be thick about their room, or tent if they were in the field. The latter would still be visibly moving, both wizards taking comfort from the hell they lived in. There was never such comfort for the werewolf and he did his best never to think about his mate with the woman he'd chosen over Draco.

Thinking about them now, he gave into the wolfs rage and hurt and howled at the moon high overhead. Answering howls came from all about him, those who were giving chase. He ran faster, fueled by his pain - and then another's howl split the night air. The entire party froze, skidding on leaves and twigs, turning to heed the call of an Alpha who had found prey.

Draco's heart seized as those chasing him took off in the direction of the nearest muggle village. Although he did his best, some nights there was no preventing the carnage. Tonight would be one of those nights.

For a long moment he hesitated, padding slowly forward as he watched his pack run away from him through the trees. There was no reason for him to witness this. Likely, there was nothing he could do. No one would notice in the morning if he hadn't participated in the hunt.

The howl split the night again and Draco growled low in his throat. Except maybe this would be his chance to finally put an end to Greyback's leadership. It wasn't the mission, exactly, and it would make Ron royally pissed, but to put an end to his Sire? Oh, Draco would do a lot for that opportunity.

Breaking into a run, the quick footed werewolf caught up with his pack by the time they reached the hills surrounding the quaint British village. He'd seen them from the moment they cleared the forest; three werewolves snapping and snarling at the top of a hill at a clearly wounded wizard tried desperately to defend himself. Before the thought that this would be much worse than he'd imagined could fully register, the breeze shifted and the wizard's familiar scent filled Draco's nose. Fresh baked rolls, oiled leather, butterbeer, and dragons, plus a whiff of Harry. He growled; Draco knew Charlie Weasley's scent anywhere.

There was little thought to what happened next. Fixing the vista in his mind, Draco took another step as a wolf and skidded to a halt as a man. Startled, the pack behind him yelped and dropped back, trying to wrap their furry brains around what they had witnessed. The distraction didn't keep them from pouncing for long, but Draco apparated even as they leapt to rip out his now human throat.

Don't splinch, don't splinch, don't splinch, he chanted in his mind and felt a rush of exaltation as he landed directly behind Charlie. The wizard gave a startled yelp, stared at him in shock, and promptly passed out. Draco barely had the chance to wrap an arm around his back, throw his sire a wink, and apparate them to the first safe place he could think of before Greyback roared and charged in for the kill.

Someone grabbed his arm as soon as he arrived and Draco reacted without thinking. Surging up, he caught the attacker by the throat, flipped him over his body and pinned him to the bed with his weight. A low, warning growl filled the room, drowning the sounds of surprised gasps. Someone else grabbed him, tried to pull him away from the first attacker, but he effortlessly shoved them away and ignored the resulting crash. Al his focus was on destroying his attacker.

Hands, calloused, warm, and smelling of broom oil began pulling at his face, forcing him to look up. Not just any hands, his mate's hands.

"Draco stop!" he heard Harry's voice through the roaring in his ears, above the rumbling growl that still permeated the room, and he snapped back to the present.

"What…? Harry?"

Bewildered, Draco looked around, seeing only the Gryffindor dormitory and not a hill full of hostile werewolves. Something squawked from underneath him and he looked down to see a purple faced Ron trying to pull his hands from about his throat. Arms flying apart, he gasped in shock and fell back onto his ass on the rumbled covers.

"Ron, Merlin, I'm sorry! I didn't…I thought…Are you alright?"

"Fine," Ron croaked, eyeing Draco warily. "Overreact much, mate? I was trying to wake you for breakfast."

"Yeah, uh, sorry," Draco said again, "but maybe don't touch me when you do that from now on?"

"Yeah, sure."

Carefully Ron climbed out of Draco's bed and both looked over to see Harry helping a dazed Neville up from the floor.

"You been working out, Malfoy?" Neville asked, looking as dazed as though he had hit his head. Considering it looked like Draco had thrown him over the next bed, there was a good chance he had. "Because that was one heck of a shove."

"Something like that, yeah," Draco hedged. "You alright, Longbottom?"

"Think so. Thanks Harry." Steadying himself, Neville stared at Draco and then slowly shook his head. "Did we wake you from a nightmare or something?"

"Yeah, actually," Draco wanted to look away. He didn't. "Neville," the boy looked surprised by the use of his first name; they hadn't gotten along since first year after the full body-bind, "Thanks, for trying to help Ron. I would have hated it if I'd hurt him."

The praise turned the chubby boy red, but it was well deserved. A lot of people, Draco knew, would have just stood by and watched as Draco choked the life out of Ron.

"Pleasure to keep you from committing homicide any time, Draco."

The unexpected joke drew a laugh from the other three boys in the room and just like that the tension vanished. The event didn't stray far from Draco's mind, however. It was normal for a newly turned werewolf to lose control like he had and he was lucky to have his mate near to control him. However, he hadn't considered himself to be newly cursed since he had lived with the wolf for two years in his past-that-would-be-the-future. Being as uncontrolled as the newly cursed meant he had no hope of successfully using the shapeshifters brew. Draco had hoped to brew and use it immediately to allow him permanent control over the wolf immediately, removing his need for the painful, monthly change.

Unlike the wolfsbane potion, the shapeshifter potion allowed for complete control over the wolf and the change, not to mention made it a painless transition more similar to the animagus shift. Unfortunately, there was as much chance that the wolf would seize control as his human side. To his knowledge, only four people had ever taken the shapeshifter potion, himself included. Only one had not had the control and willpower necessary to leash the wolf. He had shifted in Grimmauld Place and nearly killed Ginny before they got him under control. There had been no way to reverse the effects of the potion, however, and Draco had had to kill the boy, barely seventeen, himself.

For now, the potion was off limits. However, there was still another werewolf in Hogwarts he was confident could benefit from the potions gift.

"Good evening, Severus," Draco smiled at his mentor as the man opened the door on their now weekly dinner. Of course, the Potions Master scowled, but he still let Draco inside and that was what counted in the end.

Motioning for Draco to take a seat in his usual spot at the table, Severus began pouring tea.

"You're early," the Professor announced, "The food has not yet been sent up from the kitchens."

"That's alright," Draco shrugged, "I had something else I wanted to talk to you about anyways. Knowing you, it could take us a while."

A twitch of an eyebrow was the only indication that he had Severus' attention. Not much had changed in the Potions Master since that surprising smile in the infirmary, but minor differences Draco noticed meant he was having some effect. The most noticeable difference was Severus' hair. At their first dinner, he had mentioned a line of hair and skin care potions Malfoy Apothecary was now producing that could be used to tame any hair troubles from excessive curls, oil, dandruff, to just plain unruliness. Sleek-Easy was no longer the only hair care potion on the market and the family business was raking in the galleons. Apparently Severus had procured the one for oily hair, because his was now soft and sleek.

Of course, Draco hadn't mentioned the line of products was inspired by the one and only Harry Potter since he imagined Serverus would promptly discontinue use. Once the boy's hair had refused to be tamed by Narcissas's charms, she had been determined to see it flattened to his head. An innocuous comment from The Boy Who Lived about other people having hair just as unmanageable and his father had set his teams to work on research. Harry hadn't touched the bottle of the stuff his mother had sent while at school, but Draco guessed he would use it if his mother was around if only not to be rude.

"I told you Longbottom is going to be brilliant at herbology?"

"I think you mentioned something like that," Severus said as magnanimously as anyone could hope for. Another difference had been the way his mentor had eased up on Draco's classmate, no longer singling him out and terrorizing him. Of course, he wasn't anything less than prickly during class, but Neville hadn't blown up a cauldron all month.

"Yes, well, he introduced me to several new potions ingredients I had never heard of. I mean, he will introduce me to them, eventually. Anyways, after my own research I managed to combine a few of these ingredients with the typical wolfsbane potion to create what amounts to a werewolf cure."

Severus' cup rattled against his teeth and he quickly put the china down.

"And you didn't think to mention this earlier in the month?" he hissed angrily.

Draco winced.

"Well, I couldn't have used it before my first change. It doesn't take that early on. Besides, I wanted to be sure I was strong enough to prevent any possible negative side effects. As it turns out, I'm nowhere near ready and if I took it now I'd most likely turn into a mindless, savage beast and you'd have to put me down."

"I see," Severus said shortly, his lips pressed into a thin line.

"And I'm not sure I'm willing to share it with the masses just that, if that's what you were suggesting. I want to confirm that Voldemort," he restrained an eyeroll at Severus' twitch, "is gone for good before I let a madman like Greyback get his hands on a potion that will permanently allow him to shift between his human and werewolf forms whenever he pleases, painlessly, and allow him to ignore the call of the moon."

If it was possible, Severus looked even more severe.

"It is not a true cure, then."

Draco shook his head.

"No, the wolf spirit is permanently bound to a lycanthrope's soul. There's no way to remove it without killing the werewolf. However, the curse itself can be dispelled and that's what the potion does. It forces a confrontation of the spirits inhabiting the body, the winner no longer influenced by the other. In the case of a human, this means the bloodlust vanishes, the change is painless, and the sway of the moon is negated as I said. Seeking a mate, heightened senses, magical immunity, the beneficial abilities remain."

"I assume, if the wolf wins, the human loses the ability to retain their form and their mind."

"Yes." Draco took a deep breath and pushed aside the memories of howling and screaming aside. "I don't care to lose myself by being overconfident when I have you, Remus and Sirius to assist me during the full moon."

"You are certain I belong on that list, are you?"

Draco laughed and couldn't stop at the affronted look on Severus' face. When he finally got a hold of himself, their plates had filled with food from the kitchens.

"Apologies," Draco tried to contain his amusement, "but yes. I know you, Severus, and you're one of the three most loyal men I've ever met. Of the three, you're the smartest which means you'll help however you can without doing something foolish that will back fire. I mean, I'd make the wolfsbane myself, but…"

"But it would look rather suspicious if a thirteen year old boy could brew such an advanced potion out of the blue, yes," Severus finished.

Draco looked up from pouring himself more tea to see him smiling.

"You look good, by the way."

Snorting, Severus changed the topic without comment.

"About this shapeshifter potion; what did you need me to do?"

"Make it, of course."

Narrowing his eyes, the Potions Master said, "Who for, if you're not taking it?"

"Remus Lupin."

"Absolutely not!" Severus' nostrils flared and he glared daggers at Draco. "I will do nothing to assist that excuse for a Defense instructor. Not to mention that filth he calls a mate."

"I need him," Draco said calmly, not at all ruffled by his mentor's expected outburst. "More than that, I need him at his best. I don't expect you to do this for nothing, of course, I haven't actually become a Gryffindor."

That earned him another smile from Severus, despite the man's anger. Pulling out a scroll, he passed it across the table and waited for the man to open it. Black eyes darted across the instructions, narrowing in interest.

"When I'm ready to release it to the public, you may do so and claim its creation as your own. Any and all proceeds as well, so long as a portion is set into a fund to assist anyone afflicted with lycanthropy."

Scowling, Severus looked up from the potions instructions, then back down again. Draco didn't speak, eating his food and sipping his tea, content to let the man work it out on his own. There was little doubt in his mind that he would agree to the plan. After all, it would be a very lucrative deal. The Potions Master was bitter, and Salazar knew he could hold a grudge, but he wasn't stupid.

"If my calculations are correct," Severus spoke again as Draco was finishing his meal, "I can have this ready by the next full moon."

"That's right," Draco agreed, dabbing his mouth with his napkin and sitting back. He didn't bother asking if that meant the Potions Master had agreed. "I'll inform Professor Lupin later in the month, in case something goes amiss."

Draco only smiled as Severus sneered at him, recognizing the taunt for exactly what it was. The only reason the potion wouldn't come out right was if the Professor wanted it to come out badly.

"I assure you, it will be just fine."

"Of course, Professor."

"I'm still not sure this is a great idea."

Sirius, Remus, and Draco were gathered in the werewolf's quarters, Severus' finished shapeshifter potion sitting on the table between them. The day before, Draco had explained how it worked and the potential consequences of failure. Always the cautious one, Remus had wanted all the information at Draco's disposal and a night to sleep on his decision. To everyone's surprise, it was Sirius who thought the risk outweighed the benefits. Apparently the thought of losing his werewolf again so soon was too much to contemplate.

"I'll be fine, Pads," Remus assured his mate for the umpteenth time; it was starting to get on Draco's nerves how often he had heard those words over the last day. All the stories of Sirius Black said he was a reckless adventure seeker, but he had yet to be introduced to that man.

"You're sure about this, Draco?" Sirius demanded again. "He went through this without a problem in your future?"

"Absolutely, the smoothest transition of anyone I've given it to," Draco explained again. Maybe it would satisfy his cousin this time. " He's lived with the wolf longer than anyone and it gives him a distinct advantage."

"What if Sniv-" Sirius cut off at Draco's warning growl, "Snape poisoned it?"

Thankfully Remus laughed because the full moon was the next day and the wolf had Draco's emotions running hot.

"Bit obvious, don't you think? It's not his style."

"Moony-"

This time Remus interrupted before Sirius could come up with yet another reason for him not to take the shapeshifter potion. The kiss was short, chaste, and effective, but it was the first time Draco had seen either man do more than put an arm around the other and he blushed bright red. Suddenly feeling like he was intruding instead of ensuring that, should something go wrong, Sirius was safe, he tuned his back on the couple and pretended his enhanced hearing wasn't letting him hear their whispering.

"I promise, I'll be fine, Padfoot."

"Moony, I can't lose you again; I just got you back. I can't do this alone, take care of Harry, I need you."

"And you have me. You'll have even more of me after this, but I have to do this. Severus won't be able to brew the wolfsbane during the summer and I can't risk hurting you, or heaven forbid Harry. This is my shot at a normal life; I have to take it."

"Yeah," Sirius took a deep breath, "Yeah, I know. Okay."

It sounded like they were kissing again, so Draco began reading the titles on the books crowding Lupin's shelves. They were in alphabetical order by author and included copies of Hogwarts class requirements, likely from when the werewolf was a student. Then there were specialty books on curse breaking, hexes, shielding spells, magical creatures -

"We're ready, Draco."

Still quite pink, Draco turned and nodded curtly to his Sire. Picking up the potions vial, he went to the four-poster in the room and motioned for Remus to lie down. Once he was settled, Draco passed over the vial and firmly pulled Sirius and Remus' hands apart.

"Don't touch him," Draco scolded since they had been over this already. They both knew how much it would upset Remus if he accidentally hurt his mate.

"Cheers," Remus declared, chugging the glittering silver liquid and tossing the vial to Draco.

The blonde had barely set it on the bedside table when the reaction started. It was mild at first; Lupin's eyes rapidly shifted between olive green and burning yellow. His breathing became hard pants and he didn't even twitch as Sirius asked if he was alright. Gradually the rest of Lupin's body began to flick between human and werewolf. His nails turned to claws and back, his teeth to fangs, his hair fell out and his fur grew in, then it fell out again as his hair grew back. Lupin's jaw clenched as the pain washed over him, manageable for now.

As the first bone broke and the werewolf's scream turned to a howl, Draco had to physically restrain Sirius from going to his mate. Thankfully his increased strength more than made up for their difference in age and height. When Lupin's voice gave out from screaming, the fight went out of Sirius and he sagged in Draco's arms. He didn't let go, but kept his eyes fixed on his Sire.

"How can you just stand there?!" Sirius wailed.

Draco's focus didn't waver.

"Soon, cousin, soon. Have faith in him."

Over the next fifteen minutes, the changes in Lupin's body slowed, then stopped altogether. The last shift left the man in his half wolf, half human body. His breathing was even, steady, but Draco knew the toll the battle would have taken on his body. Whoever, whatever had won would need time to rest.

"He's sleeping now, Sirius," Draco hauled his cousin to his feet. "Come have tea with me until he wakes again."

After a few steps, Sirius helped get himself to the small table and slumped in a chair. Sunken, hollow eyes watched the too still body on the bed. He didn't so much as glance in Draco's direction until the teapot rattled against his saucer from the shaking of Draco's hands.

"Not the cold bastard I was beginning to think you were after all," Sirius muttered.

Draco's lips attempted to form a smirk, but mostly just twitched at the corner. He pushed the saucer and cup in front of his cousin, not risking picking either up. For the same reason, he hadn't poured himself a cup of tea either.

"Want to talk about it?" Sirius continued when Draco didn't speak.

"No."

The former-convict snorted.

"Do it anyways." He smiled as Draco's eyes narrowed. "Consider it a distraction for my nerves. Always did like a good story when things were…tense."

Draco sighed, then nodded.

"Only because you're family."

Tearing his gaze from Remus again, Sirius smiled weakly.

"Odd to have family again."

"Get used to it," Draco drawled.

"Stop stalling," Sirius retorted.

"Right. Well, I created the shapeshifter potion. Bored, mostly, and it kept me occupied when I was cooped up in Grimmauld Place."

"Pardon?" Sirius interrupted.

The twitch in Draco's lips repeated.

"It became the headquarters for The Order of the Phoenix when Voldemort returned. Unplottable, you know."

"I do," Sirius chuckled. "Oh, the irony. What would my dear mother say."

"Her portrait had quite a bit to say," Draco agreed, "but as I was saying, creating the brew occupied quite a bit of my time. I was invested, though, not just bored and really thought I might have a cure on my hands. When I thought I had a suitable option, I tested it on myself."

"You did…what? Drank an unheard of, untested potion? Are you insane?"

"I thought, what did I have to lose?"

Draco could feel Sirius' gaze boring into him, but he didn't look up. Instead he turned his attention back to the bed where it really should have been all along.

"I got lucky – or I'm just that good, take your pick – and it worked. After a half-hour of agony, I woke up and could complete the change at will. The wolf didn't gnaw at me anymore, though all its emotions and instincts remained. It was bloody brilliant, though I didn't tell anyone right away. Tested it, everything I could do, how the full moon affected me, attacks on my mate…I wanted to be sure I wouldn't hurt anyone before I offered it to them."

"But you weren't willing to do that for yourself."

Sirius' voice was gentle with understanding, something that made Draco more uncomfortable than his outrage. Shrugging once, he brushed aside the comment and continued his story.

"I offered it to Remus first, then Bill Weasley – he was infected during the war. Then there was Charlie..." Draco sighed and it took all his wwillpowernot to stare down at his hands. "Charlie Weasley. Never knew if fate was trying to tell us something by having us all infected by Greyback, but I do know it would have been better to have left him to die than give him that everyone, but...he insisted, even though he hadn't been cursed for a full month. I…I gave in and when he woke up…he went straight for Ginny, his little sister. Remus and I were able to pull him off before he bit her, or worse, but…there was so much blood and he went beserk. He just…he just wasn't Charlie any more…"

"You were close," Sirius said; it wasn't a question.

"After I saved his life, I don't know, he felt obligated to be nice to me, I guess. He said that he didn't think I should spend so much time alone and pestered me when I was brewing or doing anything without other people. Eventually he wore me down and we got to know each other. He was, uh, I guess is a really nice guy. Funny, but not as energetic as his brothers. Brave, strong...gentle."

Draco trailed off, but Sirius wasn't done being distracted, or prying.

"Then you gave him the shapeshifter potion, but it didn't go well."

"No, it didn't," Draco confirmed, barely audible. "I tried to find a cure, but it was a war and we didn't really have a safe place to keep him. He was dangerous, a liability…"

"What did you do with him?"

"Harry...It was his first real decision as our leader and it ate him up inside. Thats why I had three months to experiment on a cure instead of one or two. We couldn't just...let him go, though. He was more than dangerous…"

"They killed him."

"I killed him."

Stunned, Sirius stared at Draco across the table. The silence dragged on, but Draco wasn't keen on ending it first. He wasn't entirely sure why he had shared that information at all, except it had been a long time since he had been able to talk to anyone about his past. He also wanted Sirius to understand that he hadn't given the potion to Lupin lightly. The consequences of it going badly weren't lost on him.

"Why you?"

Draco's lips cracked into a bitter smile.

"Because it was my responsibility. Because whoever did it would be hated by the Weasley clan so it couldn't be someone important. Because...if I didn't, Harry would have. Because...I failed him."

Whatever Sirius was going to say was left unsaid as Remus stirred and let out a low rumble. Draco was on his feet in a second, standing in front of his cousin, as the werewolf climbed to his feet.

"Remus," Sirius' voice was pleading.

The nearly eight foot tall creature tilted its head, listening to him as it came closer. Not about to allow that, Draco growled at his Sire and felt hope fill his chest as Remus froze in place. Slowly, large clawed hands were lifted in surrender. Relief filled Draco's chest at the hopeful sign.

"Change back, Professor," he said respectfully. "We need you to do that; show us that you can."

Tension laced each of Draco's muscles as he waited for Remus to revert to his human form. He knew it wasn't easy the first time, learning how to control the shift from one form to the other, but Draco was still anxious as the seconds ticked by. It was the last test, the one that said for certain he had won the battle with the wolf. If it was in control instead, they would never see Remus Lupin's face again.

Finally, the wolf features melted away and Remus shrunk to a normal height. He beamed, looking happier than Draco could remember seeing him.

"Moony," Sirius surged past Draco and this time he didn't move to stop him. The two men embraced and he took the opportunity to sneak out of the Professor's room. Staying would have meant an uncomfortable amount of gratitude. Besides, he'd promised Ron a game of chess and Harry help with his Astronomy homework.