A Feast and More Plotting
by Matthew W. Quinn and Kyli Ann Rasco
April 25th, 1998 AD
6:30 PM
Fenrir Greyback sat at the head of a great table, with Remus Lupin sitting at his right. A huge roasted pig sat in the middle of the table and other members of the werewolf elite sat along either side.
Dozens of similar tables had been set up throughout the vast open space in the center of the colony. Huge roasted pigs sat in the center of each and the hundreds of werewolves were digging in. The Muggleborn musicians Greyback had liberated had a dais set up amidst the tables and played there.
I can't say I'm not having fun, Lupin thought as he cut into his roast pork. Even though it would be nice to have Dora here.
However, this was the second time in two months Greyback had thrown a major feast for the colony. He'd never done this before, even though there were the resources to do it after Voldemort took over.
He looked at the roasted pig. He could thank the Lord above for small mercies that it wasn't a roasted Order member serving as the primary course. With Greyback, one could never be sure.
He finished cutting his pork and chewed on a piece thoughtfully. He listened to the music for a moment. The question about why there was a second feast so soon after the first one continued to dog him.
"Sir?" he asked.
Greyback, caught in the midst of chewing, scowled at Lupin. He forced the food in his mouth to the side, bulging his left cheek almost comically, before answering.
"Eh?"
"I'm wondering, sir," Lupin said. "Why we're having a feast so soon after the last one?"
"Looking a gift horse in the mouth, eh, Remus?"
"I wouldn't say that, sir," Lupin said hesitantly.
"We'll discuss this later," Greyback growled, terminating that phase of the conversation. "Tell me about the improvements you've made to our defenses."
"Well," Lupin began. "Everyone who pulls shifts on the roof is now trained in Fiendfyre. We can turn the entire empty space around the colony into a crematorium if anyone tries to cross it en masse."
Greyback laughed. Lupin hoped for a moment he'd choke on his pork, but unclogging an obstructed throat was easy magic. Greyback could do it himself and there were plenty of others who could do it even if he couldn't.
"Good. What else?"
Lupin had thought about containing Fiendfyre in easily-broken boxes buried under the ground, a sort of Dark Magic analogue to Muggle land mines, but he still planned to use something like that to kill Greyback. It would not do to give his enemies within the colony clues.
Still, he'd taken other steps.
"I've made Portkeys to every important location in the colony. The main entryway, the classrooms for the children, and your office, for example. In the event of enemy penetration, we'll be able to respond much faster."
Such a plan could also give Lupin and his allies easy access to Greyback's office when the time came to take over.
Greyback nodded.
"Good."
He finished chewing and swallowed his food.
"I'll be speaking to you later. Right now, I've got something to do."
He rose from his chair and headed for the great gorge where the train used to run. Lupin knew that the senior werewolf would serve as a judge for the pit fights between werewolves that would soon take place.
Most of the others like those, he thought, watching as others expectantly trailed after Greyback. But it's not really my bag.
April 25th, 1998 AD
10 :30 PM
"You wished to see me, sir?" Lupin asked.
Greyback nodded.
"Sit down," he ordered, gesturing at one of the comfortable chairs in his office.
Lupin obeyed.
"I can't believe I'm telling you this," the senior werewolf said. "But I made you my second in command, regardless of whose side you were on before."
He scowled.
"There's a reason I'm having so many feasts so close together, and it has nothing to do with my generous nature."
I could have guessed that.
"There's been more muttering in the colony against the alliance with the Dark Lord," Greyback continued. "You've been wondering where James Johnson is?"
Now that Greyback had brought it up, Lupin did wonder where Johnson went. Johnson was a Snatcher who'd been having doubts lately. Lupin pondered recruiting him, but his tendency to express these doubts rather loudly ultimately changed his mind. If he openly tried to talk about the plan, the Vow would kill him, and Lupin did not want anyone to die without reason.
"I have, sir."
"He's at the bottom of the Thames, in a bag," Greyback said. "He said the Dark Lord intended to kill us when he's done with us. Not that I think he's wrong, but I'd told him to stuff it before."
Lupin's eyes widened.
"Why didn't you ask me to talk to him, sir?"
Lupin wondered for a moment if he said too much, but Greyback laughed.
"You have your uses, and outright thuggery isn't one of them. I had Wolf for that."
And it's a good thing you don't have him anymore.
"Johnson had to be silenced, permanently, lest the whole pack think the Death Eaters can't be trusted and push for an end to the alliance. If there's to be war, I want it to come at a time of my choosing, when we're ready."
He rubbed his neck in the same way he had when recounting the incident at Malfoy Manor.
"Wizard for wizard, the Death Eaters can crush us, and there are more of them now than there are us. If we fight on their terms, we'll all die. Our only hope to beat them is to outnumber them, take them by surprise, or both."
Lupin cocked his head. Outnumber them, when there are more of them?
"Do you propose we bite some more people, sir?"
That would be entirely too much. If Greyback wanted to start biting people by the hundreds to outnumber the Death Eaters at once rather than picking a few here and there to avoid being noticed, that might well be the time to initiate the coup even if it jeopardized the possibility of bringing the werewolves over to the Order. Lupin still felt bad every time he looked at Daniel Gray, and that was the only way to avoid the Order man being killed. He would not be able to join in any mass lycanthropy and stay sane.
Greyback shook his head.
"However nice that would be, we'd have to keep it quiet to avoid the Dark Lord figuring out what we're up to. I've got another idea."
He reached into a drawer on his desk and pulled out a file labeled "Operation Full Moon." He handed it to Lupin.
Lupin opened the file and looked at the contents. His eyes widened as he read.
Merlin!
The file contained a set of orders in the event Greyback and/or the upper leadership of the colony were assassinated by the Death Eaters. If this were to happen, the werewolves were to attack the centers of the Dark Lord's puppet government, as well as hunt down everyone bearing the Dark Mark they could find. Detailed instructions existed for Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, Justin Avery, Michael Mulciber, and Voldemort himself.
Lupin repressed a smile, which wasn't difficult given the shock dominating his face. By giving him these plans, Greyback had given Lupin one of the last things he needed for his plan to work. He already knew how he would kill Greyback and he figured he could use what the Death Eater told him the night Greyback sent him out in a robe and mask as proof of ill intent, but he wasn't quite sure what to do afterward beyond contacting Kingsley.
"What do you want me to do with these, sir?" Lupin asked.
"Give them to trustworthy people. In case they come after me, they'll probably come after you too, but they might view the others as unimportant and save them for later."
Greyback smiled grimly.
"With me and you gone, we might not win, but we'll at least make them regret what they did."
Lupin nodded.
"We will, sir."
