The Mutt who Lived
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable Harry Potter characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. I am merely borrowing the characters to play with them.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, Dumbledore/Weasley bashing.
''I could think of better ways to spend my Saturday,' Lily thought in annoyance, as she took her seat on the Wizengamot.
Cygnus Greengrass as the Chief Warlock opened the session and thanked everyone for coming on such a short notice, before he gave the floor to Amelia.
"Good morning everyone," Amelia began to speak. "Yesterday, the undersecretary to the minister, Dolores Umbridge, has invented a werewolf law, which allows her to simply arrest members of our society, and Minister Fudge has passed the law without the consent of the Wizengamot.
"Werewolves turn into a wolf one night per month; however, if they take the wolfsbane potion before the full moon, they retain full consciousness. Nevertheless, Miss Umbridge came to the Merlin Academy for Magical Arts last night to arrest Professor Lupin, a werewolf, who always takes the wolfsbane potion. On top of it, in spite of always being fully conscious thanks to the wolfsbane, he willingly makes his colleagues lock him into a werewolf-proof cellar during the full moon.
"I ask for a vote of no confidence against Minister Fudge for condoning his undersecretary's underhanded actions by abusing his ministerial powers."
"Hem hem," Dolores Umbridge spoke up, without even waiting for the Chief Warlock to invite her to speak, "werewolves are just animals, and considering how the Merlin Academy for Magical Arts behaved towards our esteemed former Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore, they can not be trusted."
"Objection, Chief Warlock," Augusta Longbottom spoke up and, when Greengrass gave her the floor, added, "I am teaching Magical Etiquette at the Merlin Academy for Magical Arts, and the teachers are extremely responsible as is Remus Lupin, the werewolf in question. He is also a wonderful professor, and the school does not only have a sole potions master but also a potions mistress in addition, who would be able to provide the wolfsbane if the potions master was incapacitated for some reason. I feel very safe in Mr. Lupin's company. I second Amelia's request for a vote of no confidence against Minister Fudge."
"I agree," Narcissa Malfoy, who was occupying Draco's seat until the time when her son was going to be of age, stated.
"A werewolf who has taken the wolfsbane is absolutely safe, and Professor Snape and I are working on developing a cure for lycanthropy," Lily spoke up. "Unfortunately, we can't promise if and when we'll succeed, however, Professor Lupin is willing to test any possible potion we deem worthy, and even when testing a new potion, he will be safely locked into the werewolf cellar, which Charlus Potter specifically built for him a few years ago."
Without any further discussion, the vote took place, and ninety percent of the members voted against the current minister.
Fudge left the room without further comment. Shaking his head in apparent annoyance, Greengrass addressed the members again. "Whom do you suggest as interim minister?" he asked, looking from one side to the next.
Arcturus Black rose from his seat. "I suggest Amelia Bones-Black."
"I second the motion," James spoke up, and the majority of the members agreed.
"Amelia Bones-Black, do you accept to become the interim Minister of Magic and prepare the election of a new minister for May 31?" Greengrass enquired.
"I accept," Amelia replied, adding, "and I thank you all very much for your confidence. Now, the first act of my position as interim minister is to fire the undersecretary. Dolores Umbridge, you are not needed here anymore. Please vacate your office in an hour at the latest."
"Hem hem," the witch in the pink robes, whom Lily disliked so much, spoke up, "You can't do that."
"I can, and I've just done so," Amelia replied in a for the kind witch surprisingly cold voice.
"Very well, as there are no other topics today, I end this session of the Wizengamot. Have a good day and thank you for coming," Greengrass announced, before he leaned over to Amelia to confer with her.
HP
A few days later, the Daily Prophet announced a change in the teaching staff at Hogwarts.
'Molly Weasley remains the headmistress in spite of the fact that she has not even been a teacher before being assigned the position. Albus Dumbledore, the deputy headmaster, is the Transfiguration professor, former Minister Fudge teaches Charms, Rubeus Hagrid Care of Magical Creatures, Amos Diggory Potions, former department head at the ministry Barty Crouch Defence Against the Dark Arts, Tiberius Odgen Ancient Runes, Sturgis Podmore Arithmancy, Arabella Figg, a Squib, who has so far lived in the muggle world, Muggle Studies, Mundungus Fletcher is the caretaker and Dolores Umbridge the headmistress and so-far sole teacher for the newly setup primary school. The new Hogwarts staff is looking forward to welcome your children at the old, esteemed school for Britain's magical world.'
"Oh Merlin, they must be desperate," Minerva spoke up in apparent amusement, causing everyone to chuckle.
"I wonder how many students they have at all," Lily added, smirking.
"Not many, that's for sure, especially with Umbridge responsible for the young ones," James spoke up, grinning.
"And Crouch for Defence?" Sirius quipped. "The poor students. I could never stand that ba…"
"Sirius!" Amelia cut in. "Behave yourself."
"Yes Minister," Sirius replied, grinning at his wife.
HP
One day right after a staff meeting, Lily addressed Salazar Slytherin in the portrait of the founders of Hogwarts.
"Professor Slytherin, as you told us that you invented many potions, which are to a great extent lost in this time, I must ask you something," she said in a soft voice and, receiving a nod from the ancient wizard, continued, "Did you perhaps invent a cure for lycanthropy?"
Slytherin shook his head before enquired, "And what, please, might be lycanthropy?"
"Werewolves," his wife, Helga, informed him, only to add, "We did not have any werewolves in our time."
Lily profusely thanked the ancient couple for the information and left the room together with Severus, who had followed the conversation with interest.
"I'm surprised that they did not have werewolves in the middle ages," he said to her, once they passed the portrait of Merlin in front of the staff room.
"That's because I cured them with my wolvescure potion," Merlin spoke up, causing Lily and Severus to jerk around to view the wizard in his portrait.
"You invented a cure for lycanthropy?" Severus enquired, quirking an eyebrow.
"Yes my boy," Merlin confirmed, smiling. "Don't ask me for the exact content though, as more than one thousand years have passed. You should be able to locate the recipe in my vault at Gringotts though, you and your husband's vaults by now," he added in the direction of Lily.
"Thank you so much. I'll go and look for the recipe right away," Lily decided.
"It must be in one of my later scrolls," Merlin said, thoughtfully. "If you take me with you in a small photo frame, I can help you search for it."
HP
Right after the last afternoon class, Lily and Severus made their way to Gringotts and entered vault number 1, which had once belonged to Merlin but was part of the Potter vaults by now. To Lily's relief, the door opened with a small drop of her blood. She pulled the small photo frame out of her robe pocket and curiously looked around, only to realise that the vault was not extremely large, however, was exclusively filled with scrolls.
Merlin immediately began to guide her to the right shelf and had her open a series of scrolls, before they found the correct one.
"It's written in my language of the time," he explained, seeing that Lily and Severus stared at the text in apparent disbelief. "You should be able to translate it into your English by a simple charm," he continued, smirking.
Lily immediately pointed her wand at the scroll, and an in instant later, the text was readable for her and Severus.
'This is too good to be true,' Lily thought with an inexplainable sense of foreboding, just before Severus blurted out in clear disappointment, "We're lacking two of the ingredients, moon berry leaves and sheep fern."
"Oh no," Lily groaned, following Severus' outstretched finger with her eyes.
"Very well, let's take the scroll with us and return home now," Severus replied, letting out a deep sigh. "This recipe will still help us with our research."
HP
During the staff meeting the following day, Severus informed their colleagues how close they had come to having a cure for lycanthropy, when Salazar interrupted him from the portrait.
"Rubbish," he bellowed, causing everyone to stare at him in apparent shock. "You'll be able to find both, moon berry leaves and sheep fern, in my potions lab at Hogwarts."
The professors stared at the ancient wizard in bewilderment, before he continued, sounding bored, "The lab is kept under a permanent refreshment charm. Just speak with Amaterasu, my basilisk, and she'll show you the way."
"How do we even get to Hogwarts?" Lily enquired. "If we just intruded, I'm sure that Molly Weasley, as the headmistress, or even Dumbledore, would be alerted by the wards that we entered the premises."
Seeing Salazar roll his eyes in apparent annoyance, she glanced at her husband, who merely shrugged.
"Now," Godric spoke up, "are you and your husband the owners of Hogwarts or not? Simply ask Fawkes to take you to the founders' quarters. Tell our portraits what you need and also go to the parlour and speak with Hogwarts herself. Ask her to change the wards to answer to the two of you. I'll go ahead and inform us."
"Thank you Godric," Lily replied, smiling. "We'll ask Fawkes to take us right after the staff meeting."
"Take that doggy of yours with you," Salazar spoke up, smirking.
'Why would we take Inu with us?' Lily thought in bewilderment, however, decided to not question the ancient wizard's instruction.
"We will," she confirmed, smiling.
HP
Lily and James decided to head to Hogwarts on Saturday morning and take Severus and Inu with them, knowing that Minerva and Poppy, the surrogate grannies, would take good care of Harry, Neville and Dorea, while they were away.
Fawkes flashed them right into the founders' quarters, where the founders in the portrait greeted them with apparent enthusiasm.
"Now, first of all, Lily and James, you go and speak with Hogwarts about the wards. Introduce yourselves to her as her owners," Godric instructed them. "In the meantime, Salazar will teach Severus an important spell, which needs to be cast over the school and grounds."
Lily followed James in the direction, in which Godric pointed, noticing that Inu remained with Severus, who obediently turned to Salazar.
"Lily and James," the voice of an elderly woman greeted them, as soon as they entered the parlour, "how nice of you to visit an old castle."
"Hogwarts?" James enquired, glancing around the room.
"Yes, I am Hogwarts," the voice confirmed, "and I am glad that you finally realised that you're my owners. One day, you must also bring little Harry to me. As the first heir of all four of my founders, he's very special to me."
"All right," Lily agreed, almost regretting that she had not brought the children.
"Please give me a moment to bond with you and change the wards to obey to you," Hogwarts continued, before she quietened.
After a moment, Lily noticed in surprise that a golden glow engulfed her and James, however, it was over before she could closely examine it.
"All done," Hogwarts informed them. "You are now able to control the wards, and you and I can communicate through telepathy. I will alert you if I need your help in any way, and if there is something that you wish me to do, you can just contact me by thinking to me."
'Thank you, Hogwarts,' Lily thought, envisioning the castle as the recipient of her thought.
'You're welcome, and I thank you for taking good care of me,' she heard the castle's voice in her head.
"Now I believe that you're needed to cast a spell together with Severus," Hogwarts continued to speak. "You probably know by now that Salazar has a basilisk familiar, Amaterasu. She's a real cutie, and she would never willingly harm anyone. Around forty years ago, however, there was a speaker of Parseltongue, and he forced Amaterasu out into the castle, where a student was killed by the look into her eyes. While he was alive, Salazar used to cast a spell over the whole school and the grounds that made everyone within immune against the basilisk's deadly look. Salazar has taught Severus the spell and advised him from where he has to cast it. There is a certain spot behind the lake, from where it is possible to oversee the whole area. Please go and assist him, before you head into Salazar's chamber to speak with Amaterasu. She knows Salazar's chamber best."
Lily and James profusely thanked Hogwarts, before they left the parlour to assist Severus with his task.
Lily almost chuckled at the sight of Severus standing in front of the founders' portrait with Inu in his arm, deeply engrossed in a conversation with Salazar about potions ingredients while gently caressing Inu's fur.
She felt sure that only Inu's eager waggling of his tail alerted Severus to their presence.
HP
Casting notice-me-not and invisibility charms on each other, Lily, James and Severus headed out onto the grounds, closely followed by an equally invisible Inu. Severus led them to the spot that Salazar had specified before showing them the wand movement. Together, they cast the charm, as they wanted it to be as strong as possible, even if knowing that Salazar had cast it alone at his time.
That done, they returned to the founders' quarters, where Salazar had already told Severus the way to the Chamber, which led through Helga's and Salazar's bathroom.
However, when they arrived in a large stone room, which reminded Lily of the dungeons, the basilisk was nowhere to be seen.
"Maybe she went into the forest to hunt," Severus guessed. The three colleagues slowly walked through the chamber, looking around with interest. Finally, Severus pointed to the wall. "These stones are lighter than the others, and they have the form of a door," he said eagerly. "Shall we try to open it?"
Unfortunately, whatever the three tried, the door did not budge. Only when Inu, who had so far been quietly following them, hissed something, the stones moved and rearranged themselves to a door sized opening in the wall. They hesitantly walked through and ended up in a living room, which was built around a huge fireplace. One side of the room was furnished with very old but comfortable looking chairs in different shades of green as well as a heavy oak table; the other side was equipped with a desk, a single chair and a bookshelf. All of a sudden, however, loud hissing sounds could be heard from the other side of the door that made them look back, alert.
Lily stared in shock at Inu, when he barked what seemed to be a response to the enormous basilisk, when its head appeared in the doorframe.
"Inu?" Lily addressed the canine, who looked at her, questioningly. "Can you understand the basilisk?"
Rather seeing the dog's response than understanding his bark, Lily added, "Can you please tell her that we're friends of Salazar and would like to see his potions lab?"
While Inu obediently translated, she whispered to the others, "We should have brought Salazar in a small frame. Coming without him was stupid, especially as we don't even understand Inu's barking."
To everyone's surprise, however, the basilisk slithered ahead and without further ado led them through what seemed to be the living room into a library with hundreds of bookshelves, hissing something to open doors every now and then. Hissing at a bookshelf, she made the shelf move into the room before moving the next three shelves on the right side to the left until the last shelf lead to the potions lab.
"He certainly protected his private lab well," Severus quipped. "But it was worth the effort," he added in absolute amazement as they entered the large room that had about the size of the Potions classrooms at Hogwarts and at the MAMA.
The room held an enormous table with six work stations, six sinks on one wall, shelves with empty phials and dozens of cauldrons in different sizes on the opposite wall and huge shelves with ingredients and potions on the farther part of the room.
Severus strode to the ingredients shelf, and Lily realised that he seemed very impressed by Salazar's lab. 'It's not easy to impress Severus,' she thought in amusement, as she interestedly followed him to the ingredients shelf and half-way though the room suddenly realised that it was much colder than before. Salazar's rooms were about as cool as the dungeons; however, this part of the potions lab was at least ten degrees cooler. "It's cold here," she voiced, slightly shivering.
"Yes, it's like a fridge," James agreed, while Severus absentmindedly examined a few ingredients.
"These ingredients are worth several millions of Galleons," he finally said. "There are several kinds of herbs and plants, which we don't have here in our time. They are as fresh as they were one thousand years ago because Salazar charmed the room to be so cold."
"Do you think we could try to plant a few of them and grow them in the greenhouses?" James enquired.
"I believe so," Severus replied in apparent excitement, "especially as these shelves seem to be self-replenishing."
"Did you see moon berry leaves and sheep fern yet?" Lily enquired, realising that Severus' excitement seemed to be contagious.
"Yes, I've got some of both," Severus replied, smirking, as he patted his robe pocket with his right hand.
They decided to only take the moon berry leaves and sheep fern with them for the time being and come again equipped with boxes and utensils to keep some of each ingredient fresh for the transport to the MAMA.
Just when they were on their way back through the chamber, realising gratefully that Inu made all the doors close behind them with a few hisses, Amaterasu hissed something at Inu, who in turn barked at Lily.
"What is it, dear?" Lily asked Inu, who stared at her with a blank face, before he ran ahead and came back, apparently motioning her to follow him.
All of a sudden, Lily felt strangely happy, even if she did not know why.
=I'm sssorry, I have taken the liberty of bonding with you. Inu told me that you were hiss mummy and the kindessst witch he knew and suggested that I bond with you. Since you're the heir of my Salazzzar, I found it adequate to do so," the basilisk hissed, and to her surprise, Lily could understand her. "I am Amaterasssu," the basilisk added.
"Hello Amaterasu," Lily replied, smiling at the huge animal in front of her. "Thank you so much for showing us to the potions lab. I appreciate it very much. We needed two ingredients to heal our friend from lycanthropy, and we found them in the lab."
"What isss lycanthropy?" Amaterasu enquired.
"The illness that makes a human turn into a werewolf," Lily explained.
"Oh, then it wasss a good thing that you came here. Inu told me that you are the ownersss of Hogwartsss. I hope that you will come and visit me again, soon. I am very lonely here, and it's cold. Can you perhapsss make the fireplace warm?"
"Of course," Lily reassured her and turned to switch on the fireplace.
"Amaterasu bonded to me and told me that she was lonely and that it was cold with the fireplace being off," she informed the others who nodded in understanding.
"Let me try to connect the fireplace to my office at MAMA," James said, pensively, before he waved his wand in a complicated movement. "Let me try," he added and stepped into the fireplace, shouting, "Headmaster's office, MAMA."
Severus and Lily exchanged a look of pure exasperation. "The question is what the name of this fireplace is," Severus stated, causing Lily to nod.
"I'll go back to the parlour and ask Hogwarts," she offered, just when James stepped out of the fireplace, grinning.
"It worked," he told them, "and the name of this fireplace is 'Salazar's Chamber'."
"That's great but how?" Lily asked in surprise, causing James to smirk.
"Love, I haven't been an Auror for nothing," he quipped, before he motioned for her and Severus to step into the fireplace and return home. "I'm going to bring Inu," he added, gently lifting the canine, who was busily hissing a good-bye to the basilisk, into his arms.
"Bye Amaterasu, we'll come and visit you soon," Lily promised, before she returned to the MAMA.
HP
"How can a Crup be a Parselmouth?" she asked, when the extended family and staff sat together for a late-night tea that evening.
"Perhaps the basilisk bonded to him?" Sirius suggested, causing Lily to shake her head.
"No, he already hissed something to open a door, before the basilisk even showed up," she replied, sighing.
"Could it have something to do how he defeated Voldemort?" Minerva asked, thoughtfully.
"You mean that he received some of Voldemort's powers?" James asked in apparent disbelief.
"That would be possible," Remus added, pensively.
"I'll ask Inu in my canine form at the next opportunity," Sirius promised. "Perhaps he knows something."
tbc...
Thank you so very much for the many kind reviews for the previous chapter. Please let me know what you think of this chapter and what you expect from this story. Any ideas or opinions are welcome.
Next chapter: "Kids and dogs".