A/N: I see how to get reviews…. Poll you guys! So far, the vote for a Part 3 is unanimous, and the influx of chapters has earned a THIRD bonus for this week! Want more after this? Five more reviews gets us a record FOURTH bonus for the week!
-C
Lily rubbed her temples, looking over the equations that she'd promised to examine more thoroughly. The new the potion worked, they knew it had a neutral (some reported even pleasant) taste, but was it as effective, and could it be produced in a reasonable timeframe for the people who needed it?
She looked over Remus's notes and thoughts, and then smiled to herself as she realized that they'd done it.
They'd not only made Wolfsbane drinkable, they somehow managed to increase the potency by ten percent, so much that Remus could conceivably leave his quarters unlocked and have students come pet him, and he would be no danger to them.
She began writing her report on the documents eagerly, elaborating on the formula and equations in detail, not realizing for perhaps quite some time that James was watching her work, grinning. She looked up when he set tea in front of her.
"I know that look," he said fondly. "Something good has happened."
"I think we've cracked it," she said, thanking him after taking a long drink of the perfect cup of tea. Sometimes, she really loved James more than she could possibly express. He could be so thoughtful. "I think we've fixed Wolfsbane."
"Really?" he asked eagerly, sitting across from her, letting her explain how it worked.
She knew that his understanding of her work was limited, but he always listened attentively, as though he fully understood every word. What he did understand, she knew, was that Remus's suffering was over. With a mild pain potion – or even a minor sedative – Remus would feel nothing with this new Wolfsbane, would taste nothing unpleasant, and would feel no murderous urges.
"Lily, this is amazing," he said, and she could see he was near tears at the realization that they'd accomplished it. "He'll be…he'll be okay."
"I only wish I thought of it sooner," she said sadly. "All these years, all his many months of transformation, and we're only now getting to it."
James kissed her hands and said, "Lily, it doesn't matter how long it took. You've just changed everything for those who are bitten, and if there's no urge to bite, there don't have to be any more werewolves."
She hadn't thought of it that way. If they could get this distributed around the world, the whole condition could be eradicated. There wouldn't be any more children to stigmatize, because what stigma could there be for something so easily contained?
She frowned, realizing that there were things that would need to be done once she could establish this in Britain, and before she could say a word, James said, "When Harry's graduated, love, you go anywhere you need to go to get it done. But let's let him get settled first."
"Of course!" she said, having thought the same thing. "But I just feel that there's so much we could do if we could only educate the communities. Remus has some contacts on the continent. I could start there."
Suddenly, everything just seemed bright.
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After her last Quidditch match of the year, Rhea supposed she didn't mind that Ravenclaw lost the Cup to Gryffindor. From what everyone had said, it had just been a matter of waiting for Gryffindor to win ever since Harry joined the team, and something strange had always happened to keep them from it. From the way Oliver Wood cried when he held the Cup in his hands, it was pretty clear it meant the world to him.
She could try again next year, but Wood was graduating.
"Are you upset?" Catherine asked as she walked Rhea back up to the castle after the match.
"Maybe I should be," Rhea said levelly, "but that Firebolt is so quick."
"Yeah, it really is," Catherine said, and when Rhea gave her a questioning look, Catherine just blushed and said no more on the subject. Instead, she turned to who was going to win the House Cup, and if either of their Houses had a realistic chance. In truth, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor were really tight, and Rhea thought it might come down to the wire, but she said nothing so as not to insult Hufflepuff.
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Lily and Dorcas reviewed the application twice before Dorcas declared it complete and promised to file it the following day.
"I can't wait to tell Remus," Lily said happily. "I've told Sirius to make him ride the train back so I can tell him in London when we pick up Harry. I want it all to be a big event."
"That sounds lovely," Dorcas said, nodding thoughtfully. "I think I can get this rushed through so you can hand him a copy of the approval by then."
Lily grinned. It was perfect. She knew Dorcas would understand just how important this was to Remus, the ability to have complete freedom over his mind and urges, to not feel the excruciating pain of transformation, to not feel as though taking medication every time he drank the potion.
"Now I just need to focus on a complete cure," Lily said, half-joking.
Wolfsbane was a treatment, but Remus and the others who took it still had to undergo the transformation every month. They still needed monthly potions, and they still suffered some of the instability that their condition could lead to, even with Dorcas's great efforts to remove the social stigmas. But to reverse lycanthropy, to completely remove the condition from a person…. It might take the rest of Lily's life to accomplish, but she would throw herself at it nonetheless. No one deserved to suffer through that experience.
"I heard Harry won the Quidditch Cup," Dorcas said, putting the application in a file and setting it on top of several others on her desk.
"Yes, my great apologies to Rhea," Lily said sadly. "James saw her play; said she was stunning. Very graceful."
"She gets it from her father," Dorcas said happily. "You know, she doesn't talk about it much, but I think she just very much enjoys an excuse to fly."
Lily didn't really understand that, but James and Harry were the same way, so she could respect it and recognize it. Their flying was also terribly personal, and Lily would never dream of asking them about it. That Harry had even taken Caroline on his new broom was something of a marvel.
"Still, I get the sense that everyone sort of expected Gryffindor to win," Dorcas continued, smoothing a bit of pale hair from her face. "I think Rhea won't take it too hard. Who knows? There's always next year."
"Yes, there is," Lily said with a solemn nod, although she wondered if it would do much good the next year. "Are you taking them to the Quidditch World Cup?"
"I think Fabian would tie us up and drag us there if I didn't," Dorcas said, amused that Lily had even bothered to ask the question. The women laughed, although it had only been half a joke.
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Aeson sat down with Brontes on one of their last days without their sister at home before the summer began, and he looked up at a flock of birds just startled out of a nearby tree.
"D'you reckon it's cool that Auntie Cara killed somebody?"
"No," Brontes said, not sharply.
"Caro and I think it's sort of cool."
Brontes's nostrils flared.
"It obviously causes Auntie Cara distress to remember it, so I don't suggest you mention that you think it's cool to her, or in front of her."
Aeson blinked at his brother with surprise. Rarely was Brontes so forceful about anything, but this seemed to have him fired up, and so Aeson said he wouldn't, not that he had planned to, and looked back over to the tree. All the birds were gone.
"D'you reckon she'd kill somebody else?"
"Change the topic."
Aeson sighed and said, "D'you think Caro would kill somebody?"
Brontes growled and said, "If you don't stop talking about it, Aeson, I'll probably kill you in your sleep. Has Mother finished with the preparations to Adra's room for when she comes home?"
Aeson nodded, but he left soon after. If Brontes was set on being boring, that was his own business. No need to ruin Aeson's day with his sullenness.
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Draco wasn't surprised to be assaulted by Gryffindor trappings once again when he arrived at the final feast, especially after they won the Quidditch Cup. He was too busy trying not to feel bitter about Hermione Granger beating him, once again, on the exams. He really thought the practical Defense Against the Dark Arts exam would work in his favor, but it hadn't seemed to make much of a difference.
"Makes you feel a bit sick, doesn't it?" Pansy said with a sniff.
Daphne agreed with her, but Astoria Greengrass said nothing, and Draco found himself looking at her, wondering what went through her head when Pansy said such things.
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Ourania poked her face into Cora's room and said, "Hey, when d'you reckon you'll get your letter?"
Cora looked up with a suspicious look on her face, closing her book with a snap.
"Why?"
"No reason," Ourania said a little too quickly, giving her most innocent smile. Cora's eyes narrowed and she stood, crossing the room with surprising purpose, and walking straight into the corridor, leading Ourania to Damon's room.
"Why does Ourania want to know when I'm getting my letter?" Cora demanded, without a word of greeting.
Damon didn't look up as he said, "She wants an idea of when she has to have your blue jumper mended before you notice she took it."
"Traitor!" Ourania cried, frowning at her twin.
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Lily turned the approval over in her hands several times before James put a hand on her shoulder to signal that people were beginning to come through the barrier.
"Sirius said he got him to agree, right?" she asked, feeling butterflies in her stomach.
"I told you six times, love," James said, amused. "He'll be here."
It seemed to take forever. Lily was sure it never took so long when she was coming home from school. How many students were there at Hogwarts, anyway, she thought bitterly, nearly rolling the approval in her need to have something to do with her hands. Instead she pulled it at the corners to be certain it was flat. It was a copy, but that wouldn't matter to Remus.
"There," James said softly, grinning.
Sirius and Remus were obvious first, with Catherine and Harry in tow, chatting away as if they'd never fought before. Lily sighed with slight relief and waved at her son as the four made their way across.
"Sirius," James said, shaking his best friend's hand. "Cara and the kids are at the Manor already, like you suggested. She didn't feel up to all the eyes."
With a nod, Sirius sighed and kissed Lily's cheek.
"I brought him," he said with a wink, "kicking and screaming as you said."
"What's all this about, then?" Remus said, smiling gently. "Not that I didn't enjoying a ride with you all on the Express, and watching Kitty and Harry pelt each other with jelly beans, but I do believe you must have called me here for a reason."
Lily grinned and handed him the approval, which he blinked at, turning it over before trying to read any of it.
"What's this?" he asked.
"Oh, just read it, Moony, honestly," James said, laughing.
As Remus read, his eyes went wider and wider, until his jaw finally dropped.
"Uncle Remus, you look absurd," Catherine said boldly, and Harry snorted.
"Sorry," Remus said, laughing. "Lily, this isn't what I think it is."
"Depends on what you think it is," she said cheekily.
He looked at her with tears forming, causing his eyes to glisten as he pulled her into a hug. She could feel that he was trembling slightly, and she said nothing as she held him, patting his shoulder and letting him squeeze her.
"I can't believe you've done all this," he said, wiping his eyes quickly as he pulled away. "This must have…. Lily, this is incredible."
"What is it?" Catherine asked, eyeing the approval with interest.
"Your Aunt Lily," Remus said with unmistakable pride in his voice, "has just made the biggest Potions breakthrough of the age. A near-perfect treatment for my condition, Kitty. I'll be docile as a duck."
"Have you ever actually met a duck?" Catherined asked coolly, unfazed by the news. "Some of them are monstrous."
Remus just laughed and said, "Yes, yes, yes. It hardly matters. Oh, Lily, this is really quite perfect."
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Cara smoothed her skirts as she talked to Dobby, waiting for everyone to arrive from King's Cross. She hated not being there to see her daughter home this year, but she had no interest in being gawked at so soon after the book had become a bestseller.
"Mistress wishes to have a special meal prepared before the Cup?" Dobby asked cheerfully.
"Oh, yes," Cara said, smiling. She hadn't thought of the Quidditch World Cup. Sirius had gotten them box seats and he was so terribly excited about it. She supposed in the box she wouldn't have to see as many people as if she were in the regular stands.
"What does Mistress want for the meal?" Dobby asked.
She liked Dobby. Between Dobby and Kreacher, they seemed to do her thinking for her on most menial tasks, and she appreciated that she could leave things in their hands and trust things to be done right and well.
"Whatever you think best, Dobby," she said, feeling brighter as she thought of something she'd been meaning to ask. "Has Winky thought of a name for the baby?"
"Not yet, Mistress," he said happily. "Master has said that the baby will be trained to replace Kreacher in his age, however, and that the next will be sent to France."
"Yes, and if you don't mind having a third," she said, smiling, "there's always the cottage."
Dobby flushed slightly and said, "Dobby is not minding, Mistress."
She would have laughed, but it seemed unkind, so she just smiled.
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Remus went back to the castle and collapsed on his bed, staring at his bedside table where he kept all kinds of salves and pastes and potions to help recover from his monthly nightmare. What would it be like to go through the full moon, transform, and still not need any of these things? What would it be to be so docile he never had to worry about what might happen if a student was out of bed too close to his office?
He rubbed his eyes and smiled to himself, trying not to feel too excited about it. Of course, it would be more expensive to produce, but Severus would make it for him, or Lily. And it wouldn't be available to everyone right away, but it was a step forward, such an important step forward, and it felt something like a victory.
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Brontes sat down at the dinner table and didn't bother looking at Adrasteia. She would pout all summer, and he knew it. She would be bitter about his joining her at Hogwarts, because she would no longer be special for being the only one of them who got to go. He wondered what she would think when Aeson got his letter, how he would react.
"Mother," Brontes said softly, "will we be going to the Quidditch World Cup?"
"Of course, dear," she said, without any warmth in her voice. "We have a plot next to the Malfoys."
Well, at least they would be going.
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Harry watched his father pour a glass of champagne for his mother, and he wondered what Catherine was doing, if she and her mother were having a talk about all the things that happened over the year, if the Blacks were also celebrating the news.
He thought about calling her, but if she was in the middle of a talk with her mother, he didn't want to ruin it. She would call him, when she was ready.
"Dad, can I take a walk to the church?" he asked. His father frowned slightly and glanced up at Harry's mother, who nodded.
Harry had considered flying, but it was late and he felt surprisingly tired. He pulled on a jacket and walked out to the high street, hearing a few small children laughing somewhere up the street.
For the first time in his life, he was curious about his neighbors. He'd never really given much thought to them because they weren't like him, weren't like the Blacks, or the Longbottoms, or the Malfoys. Was that conceited, he wondered? For all he knew, the next Hermione Granger was in one of these houses, and no one knew it yet. Who was he to dismiss them so easily?
But he'd never needed to wonder about his neighbors. He slipped his hands in his coat pockets, not because he was cool, but for something to do as he heard one of the children squeal with a particularly violent peel of laughter. No, he'd not needed to wonder, because he had so many interesting people in his age group to concern himself with, because of his parents' group of friends.
Like Neville and Catherine, mostly. Draco sometimes, but he'd have been happy with no one to occupy himself with except for Neville and Catherine. He wondered what this said about him, that he was so easily distracted, so easily satisfied.
"Excuse me?" a young woman's voice said. He stopped and turned to her. "Sorry, it's just that I'm not from around here and I'm meant to meet my cousin. Can you tell me how to get to Rose Cottage?"
He knew the place, mostly because it was near the church. He gestured up the high street and said, "It's that way, about a half a dozen houses before the church. If I've reached the graveyard, you've missed it. There's a placard on the house, but not by the street."
The woman thanked him, and he nodded, wondering who lived in Rose Cottage, what their story was, and who this cousin was. If she wasn't from here, where was she from?
Because, he realized for perhaps the first time in his life, everyone was from somewhere. And everyone had a story.
A/N: So, Remus gets a precious gift, another year is wrapped up, and Harry is starting to grow up.
Review Prompt: Friendly reminder, let me know your vote on a Part 3 or no Part 3! Also, which house would you rather grow up in: Grimmauld Place (with Cara's remodeling), Selwyn Manor, the Potters' Godric's Hollow house, the Burrow, or the Lovegood…thing. Personally, I'm torn between Selwyn Manor and Grimmauld Place, leaning toward the manor. Old houses are such a treat to a burgeoning imagination.
Q&A:
Q: Have you ever considered posting your stories on AO3? (danceegirl92)
A: Ah. Yes. Well, I have considered it, for sure. I'd be remiss not to, given how many people have jumped ship altogether for this newer site. I've read some stories on AO3, but I don't use it as a reader with any regularity. And I'll explain my thinking on why I'm not likely to use it as an author.
I understand it's got plusses. There's more flexibility with lemons and smut on AO3, which is obviously appealing to authors like me. Also, I've been told a lot of readers like the layout better/find it easier. I'm personally not drawn to that layout over this one. I'm also a creature of habit, and I've been writing stories here for a LONG time, and reading even longer. I don't think I'd ever pack up and leave, especially with the sheer VOLUME of stories I've got here, and I don't want to juggle between two sites. I'm also not a big fan of the whole tags thing. Especially with the upgrades FF has done to the search filters, I'm really happy here.
Long story short, no, I'll probably not be hopping on to AO3 any time soon, but I'm not ruling it out in the long term. Things change, and if it becomes a more attractive option, or even a necessary option, I promise to do everything I can to do a complete shift, should that day come, so that nothing gets lost in the transition.
Cheers
C
