Title: The Lycanthropy Bet

Rating: T

Summary: The Weasley's are a wealthy pure blood family. Harry and Hermione are werewolves barely living above the poverty line in the slums of Diagon Alley. Fate has other ideas. AU. H/Hr H/G H/R. Please review.

~*~

There is so much truth to the saying that ignorance is bliss. It was nearly canon law when it came to the brutal prejudices that ran the wizarding world. Horror stories that were told as bedtime ploys to get young wizards to go to sleep at night. Fierce protection charms placed over houses and housewife legends to keep the bloodied beasts of blood at bay.

There were few exceptions to this rule, and every wizard and beast knew to keep their toe on the line so lest you want dire consequences from the Ministry or otherwise.

Yet, change can happen in the smallest of ways, and either for good or ill it happens regardless. It leaps up unassuming enough. Quickly, quietly, and reaches in deep and pulls out every moral and belief, every tradition you held dear, and shoves it right back into your face with such force you've feel as though you've been turned upside down.

Change did happen. It came just as unexpected as described above to a family that lived, breathed, and ate the strict, and stringent code of wizarding law, and more than that. They were changed, but would it be ultimately for the better?

~*~

The door to the Leaky Cauldron burst open to reveal two red headed wizards arms slung over each other's shoulders, indentical in appearance, holding bottles of mead and laughing uproariously at some joke about muggles and squibs. Fred tripped on the final step, stumbling forward, hampered by George's weight on his shoulders, and nearly sent the twins spiraling into the middle of the street in front of a large crowd of shoppers. Fred giggled, taking a lazy pull from his bottle and sloppily passing it to his twin who greedily lapped up the last few mouthfuls before carelessly tossing one of the depleted bottles over his shoulder.

"Ya shooould… ya should watch where you throw things!" Fred slurred, watching the bottle smash into a small explosion of glass shard's at a witch's feet who gave the drunken boys a sniff of disapproval before entering Madme Malkin's shop.

" Me? Me?! Bloody 'ell Fred! I ain't doin' nothing wrong here! You wanna start a fight?!"

" Mmmmm… mebbe I do…. Mum knows I'm the better twin." Fred replied knowledgeably. George untangled himself from Fred's grip, and reached for his wand, waving in the air threateningly.

"I'll blow yer brains all the way to Liverpool!"

"I'll knock you straight back to… too….. yesterday…." Fred challenged.

The twins drew their wands, circling each other as a large crowd gathered. With dramatic flourish they prepared to fight, but suddenly burst into peals of drunken laughter, nearly falling over again in the streets, reeking from strong liquor.

"Hey! Why don't you two move it along? You're scaring away my customers!"

Mr. Ollivander stood outside, arms crossed and looked remarkably like a ruffled owl. Fred and George scrambled to their feet, swaying tipsily trying to smother their giggles.

"Awwws! We're sorry Ollie! We dun mean to be soooo baaaad!" the twins replied at the same time. Mr. Ollivander remained firm.

" I'm sure your mother wouldn't be pleased to see how you've behaved today."

"Bloody hell, Fred. He'll owl mum!" George said, panicking slightly. Fred turned slightly green at the recent statement, and shuffled his weight from foot to foot.

"We'll be takin' leave now." Fred remarked, gently pulling George by the arm. In almost stunned silence, the twins ambled off down the road.

Mr. Ollivander snorted his disapproval.

"Tch. Lousy git's."

~*~

Harry Potter awoke that evening feeling ravenously hungry. Rolling over on his pallet of old robes and using the daily prophet as a blanket, he began to feel around for his glasses. After firming fixing the spectacles on his face, Harry was dismayed to see one large crack in the left lens. Sitting cross legged with his back against the wall, Harry looked at the damage to his beloved spectacles.

"Damn. Hermione, there's a crack in my glasses."

"So? Just use the reparo spell."

"I can't. Lost my wand again."

Through the filth and grime on his glasses, Harry could see Hermione rising from her own resting spot in the alley, stretching and yawning, shaking herself awake to begin the long process of finding food for the night.

"Oh… you mean, this wand, Harry? You left it by the trash heap the other day."

Hermione walked over to him, her brown hair thick with grime, tied back into a ponytail. She handed her friend his most prized poession, and Harry took it greedily, the slender wooden stick warming in his hands.

"Hermione, thank you."

" Don't mention it but haven't I warned you not to lose your wand?"

"Countless times."

Harry ran a hand through his messy dark hair, and tried to smooth it out as best he could. Without water and soap, they made good with the scourgify charms and using a rather large puddle left over from last night's storm that Hermione had trapped it an old bucket.

" Do we have a place for tonight?" Hermione asked, sitting down beside him. Harry rubbed his chilled arms, blowing on his hands to warm them.

"Malkin or Ollivander, I think. If not, we'll just go dumpster diving outside Leaky Cauldron again."

" Last time we did that, I got food poisoning." Hermione grouched.

"Well, unless fifty thousand galleons drop into our laps, this is our life." Harry reminded her firmly but gently.

"We're werewolves. What else do you expect?"

"Just because we're classified as animals does not mean we have to resort to acting like them!" Hermione hissed angrily.

Harry opened his mouth to answer her, when he heard loud shouts coming from the street. Rising slowly to his feet, Harry peeked out from the alleyway, looking with avid interest at the scuffle taking place.

"Hermione! Two wizards are getting beat up!"

"Oh Harry! Must you watch that? Who is it?"

"Red hair… ah, those drunken Weasley twins. Ouch! I think Fred got hit with a nasty stupefy spell. Oh… and now George is getting whalloped."

"Harry, honestly! You enjoy watching that?"

" The Weasley's have done nothing to improve life down here. Despite Molly Weasley's efforts in the magical creature department. Well, look at us! I hope those two get the sound beating of their lives!"

"Be a thick headed git if you want, Harry. I'm helping them." Hermione decided. Harry stopped and did a double take.

"You're going to bloody what?!"

" Good or bad, they don't deserve to get beaten up. Coming?"

Harry watched Hermione draw her wand, and melt into the shadows of the alleyway. With a overdramatic sigh, Harry drew his wand, following Hermione's lead and preparing to enter the fray without a smile.

"We'd better get a damn good reward for saving their happy asses." Harry growled.

A/N: I was going to include the battle In its entirety, but alas I'll add a bit next chapter. Anyways, please review!