Collector Part Two

Standard disclaimer applies; if you recognize something from the wizarding world, then I do not own it.

….

In the end telling Sirius wasn't as bad as Remus thought it would be. His temperamental friend only sighed in disgust at his "Damn martyr complex" six times and seemed to immensely enjoy Tonks underhand methods to get him to talk to her.

"Too bad Tonks lost her head during Fluer's declaration," Sirius mused, "granted it got results, but I would have whacked him over the head if it were me."

Luckily that was about the time that Regulus returned and, to Remus' surprise, expressed a bitter sweet meeting with Nymphadora.

When he asked Dora replied, "I never met Regulus while I was alive, but I heard he slipped an owl with congratulations to my Mother not long after I was born."

Regulus insisted the couple spend some time living in his bedroom so he could "properly meet his extraordinary cousin". Dora seemed interested herself in meeting friendly members of her family and fell into an easy conversation with the younger Black brother. Before long they were laughing and joking like old friends.

Remus and Sirius exchanged a look; Remus certainly would not have predicted those two would have gotten along so swimmingly. Sirius stood up and exaggerated an interest in wanting to go out to the Leaky Cauldron and insisting everyone else come along.

Agreeable enough everyone gathered their cloaks and appirated just outside the pub. Where one of Dr. Grey's posters hung:

Werewolves Rejoice

The new anti-transformative powder has been perfected, now no werewolf will change into a hairy beast once a month! Just contact Dr. Grey's Shapeshifters Studies and receive a free first dose for the upcoming full moon! Tested Lycanthropes recommend the treatment stating "It's like I was never bitten at all! I can finally treat the night of the full moon as any other night! My favorite activity was enjoying a moonlight stroll with my brand-new girlfriend! All thanks to Dr. Grey and his shapeshifting research. The man is keeping the powdered potion at an affordable one sickle and nine knuts per month! Once I was a Lycanthrope, now I'm just another wizard!"

"What-?" Dora had stopped and stared at the long-winded ad, bringing the entire group to a halt.

"He did it? He found the cure for Lycanthropy?" Remus asked in disbelief.

Regulus looked like he was vibrating in excitement, "Not a cure, but a treatment. The Doctor wanted to have it finished before the next full moon. I was there during the final tests, and the werewolves exposed to full moonlight didn't react or change at all, they stayed fully human the entire time!"

Remus, stunned, looked at him, "Any side-effects?"

"None," Regulus grinned, "Other than having a gritty powdery potion spread on your skin, and that I imagine we'll improve soon enough."

"Is it really free? The first dose?" Dora asked, Remus could tell she thought it was too good to be true and was looking for a catch. He felt the same.

"Dr. Grey wants to spread the news, and his potion, as much as possible so that everyone knows about it. He figured the best way to do that was to give free samples."

Dora turned toward Remus, "When is the next full moon?" He could see the hope in her eyes.

Remus grinned back, "Would the three of you consider joining me in five nights for a night in?"

"Night in, Moony? You don't want to run down Diagon Alley in the moonlight?" Sirius asked.

Remus shrugged and glanced at Regulus, "Not that I don't trust the Dr. Grey but I'd rather be sure."

Regulus clapped him on the back, "I completely understand," he grinned broadly, "I'll bring a bottle of firewhiskey."

Dora crowed and jumped laughing to hug Remus. He held her tightly in return and felt hope like he never had before blossoming in his chest.

"I think this calls for a round at the Leaky on me," Sirius grinned.

….

They had found themselves a table in the corner and Tonks leaned forward after everyone had ordered their drinks. She squeezed Remus' hand under the table, "Does Dr. Grey's research only apply to the afterlife? Is there a way to convey this new knowledge to the living?"

Regulus' smile faded a bit, "there are ways to pass information and research from the dead to the living, the trouble is unless the dead have a strong connection with the living it can be hard to convey. Or the livings misinterpret or dismiss what we tell them as nothing more than a dream. Often when we do get the chance to talk to the living the emotional connection overwhelms any kind of exchange of knowledge."

"Cheer up," Regulus said at their sobering expressions, "It does happen, that is how the Wolfsbane potion came to the living. An earlier project of Dr. Grey's that he shared through a dream to Damocles Belby. He provided the inspiration and Mr. Belby worked out the details of the wolfsbane potion for himself."

"So, living werewolves won't immediately benefit from Dr. Grey's research, but they could in the future," Remus summarized.

Regulus gave him a reassuring smile, "You, Remus, with your life as an example will do a lot to help the living werewolves' conditions."

Dora felt a wistful smile shape her mouth. Squeezing Remus' hand again she said to him, "See I always told you that you were a wonderful man."

Sirius barked a laugh, "Where are those drinks, we have toast to make!"

….

"So, what does it say?" Tonks leaned curiously over Remus' shoulder.

Her husband was quiet for a moment as he scanned the instructions, "Just apply the potion to the skin of the torso, neck, arms and legs up to twelve hours before moonrise. It says the more skin covered the better, however the areas mentioned should be more than enough to stop the transformation."

Tonks grinned widely at him and was about to offer assistance with the application when Remus cleared his throat and continued, "It further says there may be a tingling sensation during the time of the actual moonrise but no other effects." He shared a conspirator smile with Tonks, "so much for Regulus' 'no side effects.'"

Tonks raised her hand to her forehead and sighed dramatically, "Oh, no! A tingling sensation! Remus that is too much, so sorry but this potion is not for you!" The couple shared a laugh, giddy with hope.

Eventually they sobered and Remus reached over to lightly stroke her hand, "Dora, I want to spend moonrise locked in the bedroom, just to be sure, you understand?"

She nodded and shifted her hair from the light-hearted blue to a more serious dirty blond. "Of course. I hope you don't mind if I spend moonrise right on the other side of the door?"

She watched as he swallowed before he answered his voice huskier than before, "Of course. You'll be the first to know if it worked."

She grinned at him, how could she not. "I'll look forward to that moonlit stroll."

His answering smile was somber and sweet and she just had to lean in toward him. He wrapped his arm around her and pressed his cheek into her hair. After a few minutes she felt him smile, "I'll even let you help apply the potion," and Tonks had to laugh.

….

Both Sirius and Regulus had volunteered their bedrooms for Remus' transformation and then proceeded to have the oddest fight Tonks had ever seen. Sirius' strategy appeared to be to pile as much furniture as possible into Regulus' room when his brother wasn't looking. Regulus would mutter and move the furniture to Sirius' room in exacerbation, then retaliate by pinning strongly worded notes on any and every surface from Sirius' bedroom door to the wall right next to the hallway. It got so ridiculous that Tonks sat next to Remus on the couch and started taking notes to keep score while occasionally sharing bewildered glances of "is this what having a sibling is like" with Remus. Most entertaining were the moments when Sirius peeked his head out of his room, saw Regulus' back as he posted a letter on the wall, ducked back in his room, waited till Regulus walked past and then darted across the hall with a small bookshelf levitating in front of him.

All in all, as entertaining as it was it made Tonks exhausted and thankful, she had never had a sibling to start a war with.

In the end Remus stopped the conflict by suggesting he use the more secure bedroom in case he still transformed. Sirius immediately brightened for his room was the spare room and as such had less alcoves and closet space making the room easier to reinforce.

Tonks then assisted her husband as he proceeded to spell the bedroom into a fortress. Personally, Tonks thought it might be overkill but if it helped Remus keep his peace of mind then she would help him. She even promised the seal the door shut and only let him out when he spoke through the door.

Finally came the time when Remus was antsy to rub the lotion on. They had waited until the afternoon since, despite the instructions saying that up to twelve hours was safe Remus wanted to be sure the potion had enough time to soak in while simultaneously not wash or rub off.

Tonks followed Remus into Sirius' bedroom and shut the door for privacy in an excited Regulus' face.

She then turned to her nervous husband who was wringing his hands staring at the pewter cup the potion had come in. "Well, what are you waiting for? How am I to give you that massage if you're all covered up Mr. Lupin?"

Grinning nervously Remus began to remove his cardigan and a thought struck Tonks and she burst out laughing. When Remus quizzically looked at her she couldn't help but sputter, "No need to be so nervous Remus, in case you forgot we're married, I've already seen you naked!"

Remus huffed in response and finished undressing down to his under clothes fairly quickly.

Tonks despite having read through the application instructions several times already scanned the small parchment one more time. "Lie down so I can get your back," she grinned, "I really am going to enjoy this." Remus complied, rolling his eyes and smiling. Climbing up on the bed as well Tonks made sure the potion was in reach and steady before straddling her husband's back. She then reached over and scooped out a dollop of potion before jerking and staring at her hand.

"What's wrong?" Remus craned his neck over his shoulder.

Tonks shook her head and looked away from the cold cream. "Nothing, I just wasn't expecting it to be so cold," she grimaced apologetically, "sorry about that."

Remus lay back down, "Don't be sorry, a cold cream with a tingling sensation is better than transforming any day."

Tonks hummed in agreement and rubbed her hands together before getting started rubbing Remus' back. As she worked Tonks noticed a strange icy sensation traveling up her arm. Ignoring it she concentrated on kneading Remus' muscles into a state of relaxation, which was working rather well as Remus slowly became limp.

"Not that I'm complaining, but is whatever you're doing to my shoulder blades necessary?"

She had to smile in response, "No but I figure you being relaxed can't hurt." He just contentedly hummed in response.

By the time Tonks had finished his back, arms and chest and had moved on to his legs and feet a tingling sensation had begun in her hands and followed the cold path up her arms. Replacing the tingling was a numb feeling she was starting to get concerned about.

A gentle hand ran through her hair as she finished his right calf, "You're frowning. What's wrong?" His touch left that odd cold feeling in its wake and she couldn't help pull away. Remus dropped his hand, now frowning himself in confusion.

"I'm sorry; I'm just starting to feel a bit odd. Wonder if I caught a cold from Dad's neighbor, it certainly threw me for a loop to learn that the dead can still get sick." She leaned back from him but the numbness changed into a burning sensation. Her hair fell from the pink spikes to lanky brown; Tonks felt every morph she had burning away.

Remus grabbed her arms and lifted her, and the places where he touched seared an angry red. He immediately let go but blisters formed in their place. Her eyes were overflowing with tears. Every fiber of her being now trying to shut out the pain enough to think. Dimly she heard Remus' panicked voice, calling to Sirius.

Tonks frantically backpedaled and fell off the bed; she barely felt as she hit her shoulder hard. "Shower," she gasped and started to crawl toward the door.

Sirius smashed in the door then. Remus darted past him yelling at Sirius to bring Tonks to the shower.

….

Remus slammed the bathroom door open and immediately headed for the shower. Just as he got the water on Sirius carrying Tonks half slipped, half ran in and deposited Dora in the tub.

Dora moaned lightly under the spray, but otherwise seemed to have lost consciousness. Remus reached forward to help get her clothing off and froze, remembering how her flesh had burned and blisteredbeneath his touch.

He turned urgently, "Sirius- "and froze. His friend was staring at his own hands with a perplexed look on his face. Sirius' hands and forearms had turned red and irritated as if scrapped raw.

Sirius looked up, and moved over to Dora. "She seems to have stabilized for now, I'll floo St. Mungo's, keep an eye on her, Remus."

….

By the time Dora opened her eyes again she had been moved from St. Mungo's to Dr. Grey's private facility having determined she was severely reacting to the anti-transformation potion. Remus was barely able to blink at her before Healers working for Dr. Grey ushered him into a padded room to transform, 'just in case'.

Remus stood where they left him feeling numb. A little part of his mind whispered how he should be feeling the itch of ill-fitting skin, and the growing unease of a transformation approaching. Remus felt none of that. He physically felt light and strong, a weight lifted, but he only fleetingly dwelt on the sensation.

He felt sick. Dora, her hands and arms, every part of her that inevitably touched him while applying the potion had to be thoroughly washed and now heavily bandaged. She was given potions for skin repair. She won't be able to use her hands for months, and even then, some activities would be limited while she continued to heal.

They had also treated Sirius. While his skin wasn't as damaged as Dora's he still hurt his skin where he touched the potion. The potion, the miracle cure to stop Remus from transforming into a werewolf, he felt like laughing, crying and screaming all at the same time.

Remus dropped to his knees and let his head fall into his hands.

….

Sometime later there was a knock on the door. Remus ignored it. Regulus opened the door and entered.

"I see you didn't transform, moonrise was about an hour and a half ago," he said lightly. Remus ignored him.

Regulus fidgeted nervously before letting a huge breath out, "I'm sorry, I didn't know this would happen."

Remus remained silent.

"All that work all that research the Doctor performed, I thought there was no possible way he had missed anything."

Regulus heaved another sigh. "Tonks is awake and asking about you, do you want to tell her yourself that the potion prevented you from transforming?"

Without a word Remus rose to his feet and stepped out the door.

….

Tonks looked up from the pastel printed flowers that cover her sheet. Remus' eyes were haunted, filled to the brim with self-loathing. "Remus- "

He cut her off with a quick shake of his head. Vaguely she notices Regulus behind him. "Don't speak. You know this is my fault."

A snort from the chair in the corner informs her that Sirius is awake, "Not that nonsense Moony, if anyone it is Regulus' fault," the elder Black shot a glare at his brother. Regulus stiffened in response but didn't deny it. "Or Dr. Grey's."

Tonks turned back hastily toward Remus, "Don't Remus," she spoke harshly, "Don't blame yourself, the potion worked and you are not a wolf right now, for that it was worth it."

Remus made a strangled noise, reached forward as if to take her hand then thought better of it mid-way and dropped his hand awkwardly. "Is it? How can you say that? Now I don't dare even touch you for fear that it will hurt you."

"Dr. Grey's working on figuring this out, he will find out why this happened and how to fix this." Regulus offered apologetically.

"Why doesn't this amazing Dr. Grey face us himself?" Sirius bit out scathingly.

"And, so I was going to," a tall thin man with balding hair and beard peppered with gray and white. "It was short-sighted of me not to surmise that an anti-transformative potion would cause harm to native shapeshifters such as metamorphmagi. I neglected the possibility because native shapeshifters are not all that common. Derived shapeshifters such as animagi experienced minor reactions, and I assumed that the native shapeshifters would have similar reactions."

He paused and bowed to Tonks, "My sincerest apologies, I will offer the best medical assistance available. I must, however, also thank you for bringing me this unwilling insight into shapeshifting theory," another pause, "I hope you will consent to some simple exercises and permit my team to study your remarkable inherent ability."

Tonks frowned, "I think I've been through enough 'exercises' thank you."

Dr. Grey's eyebrows lowered, "well, then. How unfortunate that the development of the antidote to the anti-transformation potion will take additional time. In fact, I don't think I'll be able to develop it until you heal naturally."

Regulus stared at his mentor, "But you already have- ".

The Doctor swiftly motioned for Regulus to be silent and smiled, "You'll find I get what I want, Mrs. Lupin. Do you really think I could have discovered a treatment for lycanthropy as fast as I did if I relied only on volunteer test subjects?"

Tonks stared back in silence. Sirius muttered darkly. A low growl sounded from Remus.

"But you did have werewolf volunteers! There were hundreds of them here, willingly!" Regulus stepped around the foot of the bed Tonks was in, "I was the collecting blood samples from them and they gave their arms willingly!"

"Ah, but I only knew what to look for in their blood because of my earlier research with boggarts, kelpies, and most importantly, veelas. I let very few work with the veelas. They are proud, vicious, and we had to kidnap them." Unbeknownst the Doctor Remus started to inch behind him. "And now, here is my first encounter even with a metamorphmagi, I am not going to let this opportunity pass." Sirius exchanged a glance with Remus and also shifted. "Think of how much more I could learn about shapeshifting theory! I could learn how to prevent anyone from shapeshifting, or," and here Dr. Grey's eyes gleamed menacingly, "I could gain the ability to shapeshift into any form I fancy. To be the one and only individual able to change shape, no-one would be able to stop me from doing anything I wanted."

Remus and Sirius drew their wands on the Doctor. The man blinked, caught off guard, and in that time Regulus also had drawn his wand. Quietly Remus addressed the man, "Heal Dora to fix your mistake, but you will not hold her for your experiments."

The man glared back at him, "I will ensure you never use my product again". He smirked, "Say goodbye to your cure, you will always be a werewolf. And I can make sure everyone and anyone you meet knows it."

"If it means Dora will be safe from you and your 'studies' I don't care what you do."

Tonks inhaled behind him, "Remus- "

"No, Dora you are more important to me than some temporary cure. Besides there are more afterlives to explore and there might even be somewhere I'm not a werewolf at all."

Just then a bright light lite up between Remus and Tonks. They met each other's eyes and both reach for the light at the same time.

Dr. Grey blocked them and pulled out his own wand. Regulus must have seen the movement and tackled his mentor to the ground. "Go!" The younger Black yelled, "Leave now and you won't have to deal with this nonsense!"

The couple hesitated. Sirius grabbed both of their shoulders and shoved them, "We will handle the doctor, go, I will catch up with you wherever you end up next!"

Tonks stumbled into the light and Remus reaching out for her followed.

….

….

Author's Note: I spent far too long agonizing over this chapter, I hope you were able to enjoy it and not overthinking everything like I was... Once again I edited it myself so any mistakes are mine. The next story arc exists as a concept and half a written scene at the moment, so I won't be posting it soon.