I'm ba-ack! Did you miss me? I missed all of you –really I did. This was about all I worked on my whole time 'off'. Actually, I've got a huge section written, but I need a second opinion on it, so my poor beta-reader's about to get some forty pages of drivel to help with. But at least I should have the whole rough draft of Magical Mischief Makers done. Does this mean I'm going to get them up in any kind of decent pace? No. I am definitely insane, and am taking nine credits in the next six weeks. So I expect to have very little free time… but that will be given to this story! After all, I do want to get it done before July 8th. Now, go ahead and read!
Third year Defense Against the Dark Arts was always where the class stopped talking in generalities about trolls and vampires and such and started talking about specifics in how to defeat them. The class usually became everyone's favorite. Several young Gryffindors seemed to take it differently.
Sirius and James spent the entire lesson scowling as Professor Trimble lectured on various ways to kill werewolves. He didn't notice it, but then he didn't notice quite a bit of what went on. Everyone knew he didn't really want the job, but had taken it while writing his book on dark forces. Rumor had it that as soon as the book was published, Trimble was going to leave for somewhere peaceful and quiet. Meanwhile, though, he did his duty, as he saw it, to make certain that his students were prepared for whatever they might meet.
Lily and Jenny whispered to each other every now and then that lesson, and finally Lily raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"Professor, werewolves are people, so isn't it wrong to kill them?" She did not glance at Remus, who was looking miserable.
"Well," the professor hesitated. "You have a point. Werewolves are, during the rest of the month, people… of a sort….but they are dangerous to those around them. And everyone knows that werewolves usually become Dark Wizards." He looked thoughtful. "Some people have, in the past, called for extermination of the creatures. And they do, of course, have a much shorter life expectancy than normal people."
"Why?" Sirius asked. Remus had never mentioned that to any of his friends.
"For one thing, they're often killed, full moon or not. There have been wizards - and witches - who thought their duty was to kill all werewolves… and it's not a crime to kill a werewolf on the full moon."
"Have you ever killed a werewolf, sir?" Severus Snape asked from across the room.
"Indeed I have, several. It wasn't an easy task, either. In fact, I was nearly bitten myself."
"What would you do if that had happened to you?" one of the Slytherin girls asked.
"I'd have killed myself," he said airily. "I couldn't live as a monster like that…. Anyway, werewolves have no chance, no potential. They can't contribute anything to our society. It would be merciful to simply put them in asylums where they could be cared for, or even euthanasia. And besides, they are dangerous to normal people, to society. Werewolves cause numerous deaths each year. It might make sense to eliminate them… once you did, of course, there'd be no danger of anyone else ever being bitten. Yes, it could make sense."
"No, it wouldn't," Sirius growled. James glanced at him. He was staring at the professor, fury in his eyes. James kicked him.
"Don't make a fuss, it'll only make it worse," he hissed at Sirius. No one seemed to have noticed Sirius' outburst.
"What about Lady Selene?" Jenny asked.
"I'm sorry, I don't know who she was," Trimble admitted.
"She was one of my ancestors. She was a werewolf, she was bitten at the age of four. Her parents were told that she'd never live, that they should just lock her away quietly. But she was one of the most powerful witches of her time, and she led an army against Dark forces. That was seven hundred years ago."
"My dear girl, surely you don't think such an apocryphal story could be true? I recall the legend now… But even if Selene existed and did what it's said she did, that doesn't mean that all werewolves could have the same chance. There was the 1636 werewolf uprising which resulted in the Werewolf Code of Conduct of 1637, for example…" He glanced at the clock. "I think that's all the time we'll spend on werewolves today. Turn to page 692 of your book, please. We are studying the most powerful countercurses here, those that you should hope you'd never have to use.
"Most of these countercurses involve love. Love, in and of itself, is a very powerful countercurse. It can do astounding things. The life bond is an example of the type of countercurse I'm talking about."
"Life bond, sir?" James asked, relieved that the topic had been changed.
"Yes. The life bond is, quite simply, the binding of one person's life to another." The entire class looked mystified. He stopped and sighed. "I see I shall have to explain it in more detail." He shut his book and began pacing the front of the room.
"The life bond is used only as a last resort. If someone were dying, it might save him. But it would be risky, for the charm requires someone else to voluntarily bind lives. That is, the charm shares the one person's life with the dying man. But the process is extremely complicated and dangerous. It often doesn't work. And when it does work… the consequences are immense. If one member of the bond is killed, the other dies too. And the bond is permanent. There's no changing your mind once it's done. I cannot think of more than ten times when it has been used."
"What does love have to do with it?" Elaida Malfoy asked. She tossed her head, letting her golden hair flow down her back.
"My dear, if you didn't love someone, would you do that for him? Or her, of course. I doubt it… and the charm probably would not work, anyway. Such spells are very tricky, very difficult to work." He looked up. "I see we're out of time for today. Homework: either write about two ways of killing werewolves or research the life bond and tell me an instance of where it's been used." He collected his books and left.
"Bet he'll be surprised when three of us hand in essays on the life bond," James said grimly. "I'm sure that's the harder assignment." Sirius grinned. Remus didn't say anything, but his eyes spoke volumes.
"Five," Jenny said as she and Lily passed by them. "The life bond sounds more interesting, anyway."
"Are you all right, Remus?" Lily asked, concerned. He nodded. A smile tried to cross his face but failed miserably.
"I know what they think of - us," he said slowly. "And - and," he fell silent. "Well, thank you all," he said finally.
"Hey," James said, taking his arm. "Remus, look. Anyone like Trimble is just prejudiced and hasn't got a clue. I bet he's never known any werewolves in his life - well, he hasn't known that he knows them. Anything about you ever being a Dark wizard is nonsense."
"And if we took a poll, I'd vote you 'most likely to contribute to society'," Sirius said, grinning. "After all, James and I sure won't be making any positive contributions." He laughed. Lily and Jenny rolled their eyes at him, and at James, who was smirking too.
"He was wrong, Remus, completely wrong. He's an idiot, okay?" James made his friend look up. "We know you. I may have never met any other werewolves, but if they're even the least bit like you, they're all worth ten of Trimble."
"I think we should go to Dumbledore," Sirius said quietly, watching the other students file out of the class. "Trimble's a bigot, but he shouldn't say things like that. He'll get the other students to think that all werewolves are worthless…"
"Which other students?" Remus asked sarcastically. " The Slytherins? They'll think whatever they like, and it probably won't be good. Peter knows about me, and Elsie…"
"I think she knows," Lily said. "We don't talk about it, Remus, but I think she knows."
"Bill won't believe anything that isn't in a book, and the Herron twins never talk to anyone but each other, so I don't know what they think." Remus finished his rundown of the class, ticking them off on his fingers.
"Still…" Sirius stared off.
"Look, Sirius, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you standing up for me, all of you, but Dumbledore's done enough for me, just letting me in. I can't expect him to get rid of all the prejudice against people like me."
"No, we will," James said firmly. "We'll all do it, whatever it takes. We just have to show people that werewolves are people first, werewolves second."
"Right," Jenny said. "It's not your fault, after all. Sure it's not that great a thing, but you can't help it. Nothing you, or your parents, did caused what happened to you. So it's wrong to blame you for it."
"And you don't, and I can't tell you how grateful I am for that," Remus said. He stared at the floor as they walked along toward Gryffindor Tower. "People don't think that we can do or be anything at all, that we all are evil or sick. But they are wrong. We have just as much potential as normal people." His words gave an ironic twist to the word normal.
"If I ever met anyone who said that, I'd teach him better manners," Sirius promised, balling one of his hands into fists. He was the largest of the friends, at least half a head taller than James, and no one who saw him would have thought his words an idle or useless threat. Now Remus really smiled.
"Thanks, all of you," he said. "Isn't it time for Quidditch practice? I don't have too much homework to catch up on so I thought I'd come."
"Yes, it is time," James said, glancing at his watch. He looked at Lily. "Are you coming?"
"Have I missed a practice yet, other than that one where it was snowing?" she asked. "Of course I'll be there."
"Yeah, the big match against Slytherin is only a few weeks away, and we've got to practice," Jenny sighed. "Sometimes I think I'm too busy to sleep!"
"Want to give up your place on the team?" Sirius asked, grinning wickedly.
"Of course not, and you know it."
"Well, then, don't complain," he said, in a mocking voice. "Come on, James, I'll race you to the locker rooms." He grinned as the boys sprinted off.
"I do have to hurry, too," Jenny remarked to Lily as they strode along. "Where did Elsie go, anyway?"
"No idea. She's probably studying and will show up halfway through your practice to cheer for you."
"So who do you go to see? Me or James?" Jenny grinned at her friend, who sighed.
"Jenny, don't ask questions like that."
"Why not?"
"I go to see both of you, and Sirius too. So there." They hurried around a corridor and nearly ran into the boys, who had been stopped by Professor McGonagall. She was scowling at them and telling them something about detention.
"What was that about?" Lily asked when McGonagall had safely vanished around a bend.
"Oh, we've got detention tonight, for the fireworks incident last week," James explained. "She was telling us we'd be helping Hagrid… he has to find the Hidebehind that escaped Care of Magical Creatures yesterday." Sirius grinned, remembering their classes with the elusive Hidebehind, which was always trying to, well, hide behind you, hence the name.
"So where do you have to go?" Jenny asked, already pretty sure of the answer.
"Forbidden Forest," Remus said simply. He looked a bit concerned about the prospect, but James didn't seem at all worried, and Sirius seemed to welcome the adventure.
"It's about time we were able to get in there," he said. "I still think we should have tried before, James, but you said no…"
"I just hope you don't get eaten by anything," Jenny said, grinning. "Hate to hear about some poor troll somewhere with an upset stomach because of you!"
"Anyway, McGonagall also said no Quidditch practice for us tonight. The Hufflepuffs need the field, their Seeker quit and they have to get a new one."
"Why?" Lily tried to remember who'd been Seeker for their team when Gryffindor had tromped them.
"Ariadne Prewett left… her family was almost all wiped out, remember? Some Dark wizard… anyway, she decided she couldn't play anymore. Can't really blame her… they said the attack killed her parents, brothers, sister, aunt and uncle, and all but one of her cousins….a girl who was visiting friends."
"That's terrible," Jenny said, trying to imagine such a thing and failing. "How awful for her."
"Yeah…" Remus shivered. Even Sirius no longer wore his cheerful grin.
The girls walked with the boys as far as the entrance hall, then turned back toward Gryffindor tower as the three mischief makers headed toward their punishment. The common room was crowded, so Lily and Jenny went to their dorm instead. No one was there; they'd seen Elsie studying downstairs and who knew where the Herron girls might be. Lily sat on her bed and stared out the window toward the forest.
"They'll probably miss dinner," Jenny noted, glancing at the time."
"I'm sure they will. Still, at least it isn't dark there yet." Lily shuddered at the thought of ever going into the dark forest at night. Jenny sighed and stretched out on her own bed, propping herself up on her elbows.
"Ever wonder what we'll do when we graduate, Lily?"
"All the time." Lily looked at Jenny. "And you?"
"Sure. I think I might like to travel around the world looking for exotic plants, trying to figure out their uses…."
"Yes, I think that would suit you. You should be better at Potions, the way you love plants, but…"
"They really don't have a lot in common… sure you use plants in Potions, and often we use potions to grow plants… but they're very different types of magic." Jenny smiled. "But if I want to find uses for exotic plants, I should know more of potion-brewing. Or know someone who does."
"Well, if Severus wasn't cold and domineering and cruel, you could ask him."
"He is all that," Jenny agreed. "Really, with all of us clever people, you'd think one of us would be a more than mediocre potions brewer. You're the best, probably."
"And that's not saying much," Lily said. "You are right, Peter's hopeless, Remus isn't that good at it, Elsie just doesn't like to make them, James and Sirius spend the whole class trying to come up with something poisonous or explosive…."
"Yes, life is never dull with those two around," Jenny agreed, rolling over onto her back. "I'm sure that the two of them will either end up in charge of the Ministry or in Azkaban, together."
"Probably," Lily laughed. She crossed her legs to change positions. "It's nice that they're such good friends."
"Yes." Jenny looked at Lily. "And it's nice that we're friends, too. I didn't really have friends before coming here, you know."
"And none of the people I knew were wizards!" Lily said, laughing again. "But we'll always be friends, Jenny, no matter what."
"Even if I do travel all over the world, and you don't…. even if we don't see each other for months, we'll be friends. I can't imagine us not."
"And we won't let anything come between us, right?" Lily looked at Jenny, who had half a smile on her lips for some reason. Jenny sighed.
"Yes, Lily, I'd never let anything come between us. Nothing at all, nothing and no one." Lily wasn't quite sure what to make of this, so she just smiled at her friend.
"Oh, look, I found something about the life bond." Jenny held up a book. "In this book I got from the library the other day on odd charm… let's see. This is about the first time in recorded history that the spell was performed."
"Tell me about it," Lily asked. "It sounds interesting."
"It is. Let's see." She began to read from the book. "Over three thousand years ago, in a distant land, there were two brothers, the some of a wizard and a Muggle woman. The boys were twins, and devoted to each other. Although the elder was a wizard and the younger a Muggle, they still did everything together.
"When they were grown, they set out upon travels and performed many heroic deeds. Once, they stopped at the court of a king whose people were trouble by a terrible monster – the book doesn't say what kind," Jenny commented. "Anyway, the boys fought the monster, and killed it. But in the fight, the Muggle brother was mortally injured. The elder brother did all he could, but his magic was not enough to save his brother. In despair, he watched as his brother lay dying.
"But there was a wizard at the king's court. He told the wizard brother of the Life-bond – I guess this isn't the first time it was used, just the first time it was recorded. So the older brother performed the spell and they both lived."
"That's a sweet story," Lily commented.
"It also says this had an unusual side effect. Instead of one brother being magic and the other Muggle, both were wizards –at night. During the day, neither could cast a spell."
"That story sounds very familiar," Lily said. "I think I've heard a Muggle version."
"Probably. Most of their myths are based on real things…. They just mess everything up." Jenny snorted. "No doubt the boys were demi-gods or some such."
"That sounds about right," Lily agreed. "Now, I wish we learned that kind of story in History of Magic, rather than dull things about Wendolyn the Weird."
"So do I." Jenny rolled over. "Pass me the ink, will you? I need to get started on this essay."
What did you think? Of course, that was the myth of Castor and Pollux…but the changes were mine!
Standard disclaimer: the Harry Potter books etc belong to J K Rowling etc. All that is mine is, er, the OC's and a few ideas. Like the Life-Bond, which will show up again. So if you didn't get it, read the passage again because it's going to be important.
Next part available at an unknown time, based on my free time, whether my beta-reader dies from reading the story, and whether my new computer has any bugs. (None so far – it's really cool having a father whose job enables him to get used computers every so often really cheaply –only about a year obsolete, and quite nice!)