Veritas 8B
Well, after a break I'm back. Sorry for the delay – I actually had considered just walking away from this, but decided I was being a bit of an oversensitive git. And I had to do anything to take my mind off the abysmal state of the Presidential election and the appalling behaviour from the Democrats and the GOP. I'm not thrilled with either Bush or Gore, but one of them is going to get the appointment and right now I think they're both becoming weaker and weaker in the eyes of the Americans and the world. At least everyone who dozed through sixth grade civics is finally learning what the Electoral College is all about & why they put it there to begin with. And those of us who lived in the UK, of course. I thought Parliamentary procedure got sticky….
With that off my chest, I'd like to thank Aziraphale, alpowell & Princess Emma; you three convinced me to pick this up again & I appreciate it. I thank everyone who is enjoying this, of course, but I wanted to especially thank them.
The last chapter I had posted is being re-done here, and split into two parts. Harry's POV on everything that is going on. The action will pick up more in the next bit, but this is needed to set up the continuation of this series.
***
And a recap/synopsis of what's got us to this point in the story….
Sirius & Remus, working for Dumbledore and the League again, have discovered a mysterious and very heavily protected Death Eater camp in the New Forest. Lucius Malfoy seems to be the head of the effort; he is responsible for casting a very dark and complex spell that guards the only entrance not protected by the Death Eaters' concealment and protection wards around the site in an underground cave at the base of a well spring that provides the force needed to hold the wards.
Sirius and Remus went to Malfoy Manor to collect the ingredients they needed to break the spell; the earth magic Lucius used can only be countered with the original items used to cast the spell. Snape, having resumed his role as a spy, helped them get in, but also tipped Lucius off to their arrival, for the purpose of keeping his cover safe. While Lucius did manage to capture them, Draco, who appears to be working with Snape, set them free later. Battered, bruised and in shock from the experience, they made it home to Remus' house, where Sirius is living at the moment. Remus' wife, Katie, is a healer, and she has quietly nursed them both back to health.
Christmas has just passed; and they are looking at starting the New Year trying to figure out exactly how they are going to get into the well spring, and what will happen once they do. Helping them with all of this is a woman from the League named Liz Harker, a Ravenclaw who was several years under them at Hogwarts. Sirius has become very attached to her…but he's not exactly free to lead any sort of normal life, is he? Harry, Ron and Hermione are, with permission from Dumbledore, coming to spend New Year's and the last week of their holiday at the Lupins. They are about to get a few surprises handed to them, but they kept saying they wanted to get involved….
***
Harry woke up when he heard the loud bang of a trunk lid falling shut. He opened one eye hesitantly to look up and saw Crookshanks watching him through half-cast eyes.
"I'm assuming that wasn't you."
Crookshanks yawned and settled back into the nest he'd made behind Harry's knees during the night. Ron promised Hermione we'd look after you. Why are you always sleeping on my bed? Harry always felt guilty if he moved and disrupted the cat, which he thought to be unfair in retrospect.
"Harry! Get up! Remus will be here in an hour. Just give the cat a kick, for goodness sake, and get up!"
Harry immediately stood up, ignoring Crookshanks' rather crabby sounding mews and growls. Finally. He had been looking forward to getting to spend a week with Sirius at the Lupins for a month now, but time had seemed to stand still, especially after the holidays started and practically everyone else had left. He saw that Ron was already dressed and was busy packing the last of his things into a bag.
"Come on, get your kit together so we can get some breakfast before Remus gets here. He's meeting us…."
"At the gate, Ron, I know. Wonder how were going to get to his house. Think we'll take the train?" Harry fought to keep the smile off his face as Ron groaned. Ron wasn't admitting it, but he was most anxious to get to the Lupins so he could see Hermione again. Hours spent on a slow moving muggle train was going to delay that considerably.
"Maybe Katie's coming with him, and she'll drive us all in that big car of hers."
"Oh, I doubt it. She's probably got to stay with Malcolm."
"Sirius will look after Malcolm; he's confessed that's his favourite pastime, right?"
"Yeah," yawned Harry, piling some clothes on the bed. "It'll be nice to finally meet Malcolm, won't it?"
Ron grinned. "I never thought I'd actually look forward to seeing a baby, but yeah, absolutely. Think he's as perfect as Sirius says?"
They both laughed. If Sirius was to be believed, the baby was the most angelic creature ever created, but they knew that Sirius was probably a little biased when it came to Remus' son.
"I 'spect he's essentially small, pink and uncommunicative as yet, but still I'm happy for Remus and Katie. I just hope that he doesn't cry like Sirius claims he doesn't. I can't help thinking, though, that he's a little um, overzealous, where his godchildren are concerned," said Ron, giving Harry a knowing look. "He thinks so much of you, after all, but he doesn't have to listen to you snore, does he?"
Harry threw some clothes for the week into a bag and they collected Fred, George and Ginny and went down to the kitchens to get some breakfast from the house elves, grateful again that Dumbledore pointedly ignored that they knew how to do this during the holiday, though they knew better than to do it when school was in session. After breakfast they went back to the tower, collected their things and said goodbye to the other Weasleys, then left to go to the front gates to meet with Remus.
"Well, Winky looks better, doesn't she," said Harry, as they left the main doors of the castle
Ron gave a huff, trudging forward through the snow on the fields as they skipped the road to walk directly to the gate. "She stopped crying at least. How can anyone cry for a year and a half anyway? And for Crouch at that."
"Maybe she's ready to rally for S.P.E.W. now that she's calmed down," Harry added, grinning at Ron's back. He was pleased to see that Ron's ears, already red from the cold, went even redder.
"Don't you dare bring all that up again. Just be happy Hermione is too pre-occupied with being a Prefect. I was worried she was going to convince Dean to try and get all the prefects united against the house elf 'enslavement' issue."
"I would have definitely used the cloak to eavesdrop on the conversation with the Slytheryn Prefects. The comments from Malfoy would have been priceless. I don't think that git knows Dobby is here at all."
They continued on in silence, finally reaching the gate and waiting quietly on the inside until suddenly Remus apparated a few feet away on the road. He smiled at them and walked forward.
"Hello! How are you?" he asked, in his usual kind and calm manner. Harry once again mused that Remus, who was after all technically a dark creature, was one of the least dark persons he had ever met.
Remus looked a little tired, but he still looked better than he ever had when he had been their teacher. He's happier now, isn't he? He has Katie, and Malcolm, that's changed him. And we know the truth about Sirius. Now we just have to prove it.
"We're good. And can't wait to get out of here. How are you?"
Remus chuckled and reached inside his robes.
"I'm fine, thank you. I decided a portkey would be best," Ron and Harry stepped forward outside of the gates and Remus handed them a book. "That will take you to the paddock, where Sirius is waiting. This will activate in about a minute," he said, looking at his watch.
"How's Hermione getting to your house?" asked Ron. Harry ginned at Remus behind Ron's back, but Remus' expression did not change. Sirius told me that only Remus was better than my dad at keeping a straight face.
"She's coming in by train, actually, from London with Liz. They'll arrive this afternoon, and Katie will collect them at the station. The portkey is about to activate. I'll see you there…"
Harry suddenly felt the pull of the spell. He couldn't do anything as images of Cedric suddenly popped into his head, and he appeared in the Lupins' back paddock suddenly feeling very shaky. He closed his eyes against the dizziness and the anxiety he felt every time he thought of Cedric and everything that had happened that night. Suddenly though he felt a strong hand gripping his shoulder and opened his eyes to see Sirius smiling at him.
Sirius looked better than Harry had ever seen him, but since Harry tended to compare him to his memory of what Sirius had looked like the first time they had ever come face to face in the Shrieking Shack, anything was an improvement. Sirius now looked much more like the handsome young man in the photo of Harry's parents wedding, with a few more lines about the face. He kept his hair very short and his face cleanly shaven. His skin no longer looked sallow, and he had filled out, though he was still quite thin, just not an unhealthy thin. Even his eyes, which were still very dark and looked haunted, had more life in them than the last time Harry had seen him.
"Not the best way to travel, I know," he said, giving Harry a look that meant he knew that portkeys gave Harry difficulties, "but definitely the fastest and safest way to get you here. You alright?"
Harry shakily returned his smile. "Yeah. It's worth it."
Remus suddenly appeared next to Sirius with a small pop. "Let's get inside shall we? I'm more in favour of chatting in front of the fire than standing in a foot of snow."
Ron grinned. "We finally get to meet Malcolm! Is he awake? Do we get to see him now?"
Sirius laughed. "He's up, he's fed, and he's ready for the day."
"Exactly what does a ten week old have on a their agenda, Padfoot?"
"Oh Moony, they have very busy days. Eat, sleep, be adored, spend the afternoon with Padfoot in front of the fire while he's supposed to be working, you know the sort of thing. And of course today has 'meeting new admirers' written in. Big day."
Katie looked up and smiled when they all walked into the kitchen where she was working on several large cauldrons at the fire.
"Welcome back. Have a good Christmas?" She shook their hands in turn when she walked over to them.
"Actually we were too busy looking forward to coming here," laughed Ron. "Christmas was semi-uneventful and quiet."
Remus smiled as he bent down to pick up Malcolm from his bassinet. "Locked in with Fred and George? I find that hard to believe."
"I did say semi-uneventful. Unfortunately, none of the Slytheryns stayed, so Fred and George spent most of the time in the kitchens working on new jokes and spells."
Harry grinned, and stepped closer to Remus to get a look at the baby. "Ginny got them, though," he said happily. "That was the highlight of the holidays. They couldn't decide to be proud of her for what she did or furious that they got caught out."
Harry and Ron looked at Malcolm, who quietly and calmly returned their gazes. Harry had never actually been so close to a baby, and was fascinated to note that Malcolm really did look a little like Katie. He'd assumed that Sirius was just exaggerating on that, as he'd always thought that babies must all just look alike, really, until they get a little older. But he definitely had Katie's very dark hair and dark eyes. Ron seemed to agree.
"He really does look like you, Katie," he said, sounding rather surprised as well. Katie laughed.
"Well, the good news is he seems to have Remus' rather calm demeanour. According to my mother I was not a calm and quiet baby by any stretch of the imagination."
Sirius winked at Harry. "Our little marauder is just biding his time. Da's rather calm demeanour hides a rather different disposition, as we know. And there is nothing so valuable as a marauder who can keep a straight face."
Katie gave him a withering look and turned back to her work. "I need to get all this finished before I leave to get Liz and Hermione, so I can get it to Mrs. Noyes. Why not take Malcolm with you when you leave?"
The men obediently left the kitchen. Ron and Harry dropped their bags into their room upstairs before going to join Sirius and Remus in Remus' study. Harry loved this room, and found it fascinating. Bookshelves covered about half of the room from floor to ceiling, and the tomes on them were wonderfully eclectic. Lots of Dark Arts, but also lots of interesting histories, charms texts, and a few muggle novels Remus found interesting. Harry had borrowed a few of those over the years, mostly titles he recognized but never read. 'Bleak House' was a bit much to get through but he had found to his annoyance that once he started it he couldn't stoop reading it and had to find out what happened. 'Kidnapped' was much better as was 'Interview with a Vampire'; actually that one had been both amusing and vaguely disturbing. He and Remus speculated that the author probably really did know a vampire, but might not realize it.
Harry and Ron dropped happily into the large overstuffed chairs Remus kept in front of the fireplace, which was blazing. The desk and worktable were, as usual, covered with fascinating looking parchments. Probably all for the wellspring problem. That one of a spell circle looks particularly intense…. That must be the actual spell they're working on. And that's Liz's counter spell.
Harry was anxious to see Liz again. He'd only spoken to her a few times in passing when they met at the end of the summer while Harry spent his last three days before school started here. But she had proven to be a valuable asset to Sirius and Remus, and Sirius had confessed to Harry that he had become very attached to her. That made Harry happy and anxious at the same time. What's he going to do? He can't just sort of settle down or anything. He's hardly a catch; maybe she's just caught up in the moment or something. Living under the same roof now, but when this is over, off she goes. That's not fair.
Harry suddenly realized he was scowling, and quickly changed his expression and turned to face Sirius who was settled on the couch next to Remus, watching Malcolm. He was about to say something when Ron suddenly spoke up.
"Remus? Um, would it be all right if I held Malcolm for a moment? I've never actually held a baby, you know." Ron looked a little flushed as he said this, and Harry looked at him in surprise. Ron was the last person he would have thought would ask this. While he himself was intrigued by the baby, and happy for Remus, he had no desire at all to actually hold him. He's just a little too small for my liking. I'll wait till he gets older, maybe.
Remus happily stood up and brought the baby over to Ron. "Simple stuff, Ron. Just hold your arm out at an angle, yes that's it. Make sure you hold his head up like this. All there is to it."
Ron looked delighted to be holding the baby and he grinned at Harry. "Not so difficult this; and no fuss."
Sirius chuckled. "Malcolm's like you were, Harry; he doesn't seem to mind being passed back and forth between people. I remember a cousin I had who, as a baby, refused to be held peacefully by anyone other than their mum and dad. Not very social at all, and a noisy houseguest. You, though, would happily move between anyone who was about."
"Did I cry a lot or anything?"
"Hardly ever, actually," said Remus, smiling at him. "You would fuss if you were put out by something, but rarely outright cried. Your dad said it was obvious that you'd inherited your mum's temper and rather excellent ability to get exactly what she wanted when she put her foot down."
"Only with James, of course," said Sirius.
"Oh, of course. She didn't have all three of us wrapped around her little finger by any stretch of the imagination," said Remus dryly with an amused expression.
***
Later that afternoon Harry had his first chance to be alone with Sirius. Remus went upstairs to take a nap, still tired from the previous night's full moon, and had taken Malcolm with him. Katie left to drive into town, deliver her potions to Mrs. Noyes and then collect Liz and Hermione at the station. Ron had offered to go with her, making a fuss about helping her with the large number of bottles she was taking to the appocothrey, but Harry knew better, and he didn't want to say anything unless it put Ron off and then he wasn't going to get any time at all with Sirius.
They went to Sirius' own study to talk. Smaller and cosier than Remus', Harry was surprised that Sirius had actually painted it yellow, and had covered the chairs in white. Sirius smiled.
"I found it easier to work with everything being very bright. Too many years in the dark, you know."
"How are you doing, anyway?" Harry had already assured Sirius three times that he himself was doing well; Harry had learned from experience that in the rare occasions Sirius repeated himself it usually meant that he was preoccupied with something and brooding about it. Sirius looked at him sideways for a moment, then sighed and sat down.
"We had a bad time of it at Malfoy's. We decided not to tell you until you got here, though, and could see that we really were all right. We got what we needed, though, so now it's a matter of figuring out how the hell we're going to really get into that camp and what we're going to do once we succeed. None of us want to make this a suicide mission."
"Don't even joke about that, Sirius," scowled Harry. Harry constantly dreamed of a time when Sirius would truly be free, that Voldemort would truly be gone, and they could all just get on with their lives. All of them.
"I'm not joking. You're old enough to know and understand everything that's happening. Most of it centres around you anyway, and I'm not going to insult you by pretending that's it's not as serious as is truly is. It's still nothing like it was, but that's going to change. When Remus and I, and everyone else who ever united against Voldemort, took on the responsibility for doing whatever we could to stop this, we took on every responsibility. If that means doing something potentially fatal, and it usually does, then so be it."
Harry glared at the floor. He knew that there were still things that Sirius, Remus and Dumbledore kept from him. Every few months something else would be revealed, usually after someone else had tried to kill him, and it was unnerving. He couldn't help thinking, listening to Sirius, that someday it really was going to be him that might be the one who didn't come back. The Boy Who Lived indeed. Now it's the Boy Who's Got to Finish What His Parents Started. He said nothing, though, as making such statements was a guarantee that he would infuriate Sirius, who always seemed to be worried that Harry was going to run off and do something stupid for the wrong reasons. He reminded himself again that this was not because Sirius considered him an idiot, but because Sirius didn't want him dead.
"What did happen at the Malfoy's, then?"
Sirius gave him another sideways glance, and this time a small smile. "Later. All three of you need to hear about it and I'm not saying anything without Remus to back me up."
"That sounds like I'm not going to like it. Malfoy plotting to kill me again? He hasn't managed to so far. Did you see Draco? Let me guess, he was hosting a meeting of Young Death Eaters and torturing animals."
Sirius shook his head. "And I thought nobody would ever dislike anyone more than I hated Snape when I was at Hogwarts."
Harry gave a small laugh. Then added, "I can't believe Dumbledore made him a Prefect."
"Someone's got to do it. Obviously Draco has superb grades on top of being a superb ass."
"Well, whenever he really bothers me I just picture that glorious time Barty Crouch turned him into a ferret and bounced him all over the entry hall. Pity McGonagal put a stop to it, actually."
Sirius now looked him right in the eye with an oddly closed expression. "Has Draco been giving you extra trouble this year, at all?"
Harry was surprised by the question. "Actually, um, we seem to see a little less of him than we used to. Except Hermione, of course, but she says he just ignores her more than anything else. But on the occasions when he does choose to pick at something he's his usual nasty self. He's still rude to Hagrid and of course Snape is constantly holding him up as a shining example of behaviour. Ron told Dean that he'd better get his grades up even more to beat out Draco, because if Hermione is Head Girl and Draco is Head Boy the school might not survive. What he meant was that he wouldn't survive, but he's still a little, well, closed on that subject."
Sirius had to smile now. "Those two still dancing around the obvious? Take my advice on this one; after living under this roof watching Remus and Katie tread on eggshells for over a year, I suggest that you just continue to keep out of it and try not to let it drive you crazy. It'll work out. Look at the Lupins now, right?"
Harry smiled. "Since we're on this subject, I have to say I'm very interested in seeing Liz again, after your last letter."
Sirius sighed, which surprised Harry. "What? I thought you and she were…."
"We are, we are. But it's complicated, you well know. I feel guilty over it all, really. Obviously we're not running around doing anything rash, but even taking tiny steps down this road seems dangerous with my current situation. I shouldn't even be in this house, you know, let alone in England at all; at any moment I may very well not be. Remus has had to lie outright to members of the Ministry who have come here on several occasions. I can't walk beyond the front gate without risking anyone seeing me. As long as I'm behind the wards, I'm reasonably safe, but still. I don't even go out as Padfoot anymore…"
"Why not? Everyone knows that Remus Lupin owns a large black dog that he brings with him to League meetings sometimes."
Sirius now looked miserable. "I haven't told Liz about it. She has no idea I'm an illegal animagus. So no Padfoot when she's around. Dumbledore never actually told her the details of how my innocence was established, he just told her she was coming to work with us and that I was innocent and Remus was harmless. She just took him on his word, of course. Pretty trusting of her, to move into a house with a convicted murderer and a werewolf, simply on someone's word."
"I think Dumbledore's word carries a bit of weight."
"Indeed it does, with the right people. Katie knew all about it because Remus told her. But he'd known her for years and they were already deeply involved with each other, whether they admitted it or not at the time, so he had no hesitations in telling her. She scared me out of my wits when I first met her and she knew exactly who I was, but Remus was right to do it. Now I feel like a heel for not having told Liz."
Harry shook his head. "I don't think so. Really, you've only known her a few months anyway. Just tell her now; now you know you can trust her."
Sirius shook his head. "Actually, the bigger problem is that I'm not sure I want to tell her just yet. This is, well, the last chance I have if anything goes wrong. For whatever reason Wormtail still hasn't let on about it with the Death Eaters; we'd know if he had and certainly it would have shown up in the Daily Prophet. And the only other people who know aren't telling."
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Harry didn't know what to say to Sirius, and Sirius seemed lost in his own thoughts as he stood up and stared absently out the window. Finally Sirius looked back at him.
"Think she's going to be upset I kept this from her?" Sirius asked in a slightly tense tone.
Harry just shrugged. "I think she'll understand; it's made all the difference for you, hasn't it? Just try not to scare her when you do decide to tell her by suddenly looming out of a dark alleyway or something."
Sirius did laugh at this and shook his head.
"I apologized for that. You were not supposed to see me. Or at the Quiddich match, but I couldn't resist having the chance to see you play. I'd overheard McGonagal and Flitwick talking about how you were just as good as James one night in Hogsmead when I was lurking near the door of the Three Broomsticks to try and hear about anything that was going on. I was so proud to hear that you were an excellent Quiddich player, just like James. But I did get payback that day, for scaring you, you know. After you spotted me, and I turned to flee, I suddenly saw Remus standing there with McGonagal. I had no idea he was there, and that just about did me in on the spot. Of course I was very happy to see him that first instant, to know he was alright, at least. Then I suddenly thought that maybe he had told Dumbledore the whole story, and that's why he was there to begin with."
"But he didn't."
Sirius sighed and sat back down in the chair across from Harry.
"No. He was at Hogwarts because of me, of course, but…. I actually felt ashamed that night in the shack when he told you the entire story, and admitted that he had not; and why he hadn't. Ashamed that once again I doubted Remus, even though deep down I knew better. We all promised, when we did decided to do the spell, never to tell." Sirius gave a small smile. "Of course we were twelve at the time and failed to realize that, well, significant others so to speak were going to come into the picture. We made a caveat to the promise when James decided he had to tell Lily." He winked at Harry. "Thought I certainly didn't think Dumbledore had qualified for the caveat."
His expression became grave again. "We made that promise for a reason, you know. Not because we were doing something illegal, but because we never wanted people to know why we'd done it. We did it to help Remus, not bring him more grief. People would, most likely, suddenly overlook what we'd done, of our own volition mind you, and all blame would turn to Remus. 'Look at that – these poor innocent boys tricked into doing something that might kill them by a dangerous, untrustworthy dark creature.' That was always his concern. You heard it yourself, that night. He was upset that Dumbledore would be angry that he had 'led fellow students' to do something dangerous."
Harry looked at Sirius, who had the familiar dark expression he wore when he was upset. Sirius stopped talking and glared at the fire, absently tapping one finger on the armrest of his chair.
"Sirius?"
Sirius turned to look at him, but his expression remained grave, and he had a far off look in his eyes.
"You never have actually told me how you came up with the idea to become animagi." Sirius did smile slightly at this, but turned to look into the fire again.
"Your father came up with it one day during DADA. James was obsessed with finding some way to help Remus. He was very determined when it came to solving problems and helping his friends. After we confronted Remus and he confessed to us what was going on, James took the lead in trying to do something for our friend, who certainly was no dark creature."
Sirius chuckled absently and shook his head. "Oh, we were so damn smart, Harry. Forget centuries of research, forget Remus' mum and dad who had devoted their lives to trying to help Remus, and forget the fact that we were 12. James pointed out that it was no good he and I being top of our year if we couldn't figure out something for this."
"At first we focused on seeing if there was any way to cure him, but the only 'solutions' we found seemed too vague or too dangerous. Just superstitions, really, nothing we would ever risk because most of them involved shooting arrows through him or what have you. It was depressing, actually. All we could find was a lot of information on how and why we should be trying to kill Remus, not cure him. Then we did dark creatures in DADA, and learned at least one piece of useful information during the miserably long double session we spent on werewolves. Because it's a human curse, werewolves only curse other humans when they bite, not animals…."
Harry sat back contentedly to listen to the whole story. I love hearing these stories. I always feel closer to my parents, knowing the things they knew.
***
Sirius knew that Remus had been a little more on edge since he, James and Peter had figured it all out and confronted him with it. He seemed to always be waiting for someone else to do the same thing; someone who wasn't his friend. Sirius was finally beginning to appreciate how hard it was for Remus living with the constant nagging fear that he would be exposed and publicly denounced and dismissed at best. At worst, people would actually want to kill him. It just made them all the more determined to do something good for Remus
None of them were looking forward to DADA that afternoon. Professor Macmillan had announced last session when he wrapped up vampires that they would do werewolves during their next class. Remus had told them that Macmillan knew about him, and had helped Dumbledore determine how Remus might in fact be able to come to the school. Sirius knew that they couldn't just not do werewolves, but he thought that he was barely going to be able to sit through the class, and couldn't imagine how Remus felt. As they turned to go down the hall to the classroom, Sirius suddenly stopped.
"Why don't you just skip this one, Remus, say you don't feel well. I doubt Macmillan will say anything."
Remus considered this tantamount to a public confession. James told Sirius to stop being an idiot and they went to class.
Professor Macmillan spoke about werewolves in the same dry tones he talked about everything else, but Sirius was on edge with every word. Did people notice that Macmillan did not ask his star second year any questions all period, or indeed didn't seem to even look at Remus for more than a second? Sirius knew he was just being paranoid at this point, especially when James gave him a particularly murderous glance one time when Sirius made a small sound of protest as Macmillan described werewolves as one of the most deadly and vicious of all dark creatures. Sirius carefully put on the expression he wore for lying to his parents and his teachers and sat still, listening to Macmillan in the distance.
"Lycanthropy is a very complex and very old curse. It is first written about in the 5th century BC, and obviously the spell had been perfected before then. It even appears in muggle mythology, originally in the tale of a Roman solider who was returning to camp one night with one of his comrades who had insulted a local healer that day. They were attacked by a very large wolf, which bit the solider that had insulted the healer and left. The solider lived, but was transformed into a huge savage wolf at the next full moon. Eventually he was hunted down and killed, after he had killed a large number of young girls. Muggle myths concerning most dark creatures are inaccurate and rather too fantastic, given muggles' rather hysteric response to things they do not understand, as you remember from our discussion of their belief that sunlight destroys vampires. A muggle novelist made that up, as you recall. Ms. Evans, do sit up and try to give the impression that you are listening to me."
"There are dark wizards who deliberately become werewolves. This gives them the strength, speed and senses of the wolf, and gives them the power to curse others deliberately through their bite. It is believed by some that a human who was turned into a werewolf through a bite can be cured if the original wolf is destroyed, and only if they themselves have never bitten anyone. This claim has never been satisfactorily proven, however."
Macmillan turned to the board, and started to write out an incantation. "This is the first stanza of the curse that is used to deliberately transform a human into a werewolf. Notice that the language specifies that the human blood is what is in fact cursed directly, as the life force that feeds the human body. For this reason, the curse only targets human blood. What does this mean, Mr. Black?"
Sirius had carefully said nothing all day, a record for him. But called on, he had to respond. "The curse only affects humans, because only humans have, um, human blood." That sounded silly even to his ears.
"Correct. Werewolves will feed off of other animals, just as a wolf does, but if they simply injure an animal that is successful in escaping the attack, that animal will not be affected. But humans who are bitten, and who survive, are impacted. This is intended by the curse. The purpose is not simply to turn someone into a wolf; it is to turn them into a damnation, a monster that in turn inflicts the curse on others. It is a very … ingenious… curse. Yes, Mr. Potter?"
"What about animagi? What if a werewolf bites a wizard or witch in an animagi form? Will they be cursed?"
"Excellent question. What do you think?"
"Well, an animagus is a human who assumes an animal shape. But Professor McGonagal said that in fact the individual does become that creature, while keeping a sense of self. That's what allows them to turn back. So, it would seem, I think, that an animagus wouldn't be impacted by the bite."
"Correct. Five points for Griffyndor. One of the most effective ways to kill a werewolf is to attack them as an animagus. The werewolf must battle without magic, although it still has the advantages of strength and endurance, so the animagus must be an animal strong enough to take on an enraged wolf. One of the most successful werewolf hunters in history was Caldish Campbell, a wolf animagus who lived in Ireland in the 1600s."
Sirius looked at James, who was focusing very hard on his parchment and trying not to smile. What? He turned instead to look at Remus, who was carefully looking at the same spot above the blackboard he had focused on all class with a very blank expression on his pale face. Finally Remus felt Sirius looking at him and reluctantly shifted his gaze to regard Sirius quietly out of the corner of his eye. Sirius gave him the slightest of smiles, just to reassure him, and was happy to see Remus at least give a tiny almost imperceptible nod back to him. We're still your friends, Remus.
Thankfully DADA was the last class of the day. James practically ran back to the tower, pulling Remus, Sirius and Peter with him. He shoved them upstairs to their dorm room, and after making sure Houghton and Scott were not following them, shut the door and grinned at his friends.
"So that's it. That's what we can do. We'll become animagi, then we can be with you, Remus, and you can't hurt us. We can't cure you, I'm still not giving up on that, but at least we can stay with you. This is perfect!"
Remus looked rather concerned. "James; that's …well it's too dangerous. Too much can go wrong…."
"You heard Macmillan, you can't curse us…."
"Not that, with the spell. There's a reason it's illegal to do this without permission, you know. And only adult trained wizards can do it anyway."
Sirius clipped him on the shoulder. "Remus! James is right, this is perfect and I promise we'll be very careful."
"You're too young, they won't allow it! And besides, they'd ask you why you were doing it!"
Sirius and James grinned. "Who said anything about telling anyone about it? This is for you, Remus, you're the only one who matters here."
Remus looked at them silently. Sirius could tell he was, as usual, running calmly through all the possibilities this idea put forward, good and bad.
"We can do it, Remus. We can do this for you." Said Peter, quietly. "I think it's a really good idea, actually."
"See? Even Peter thinks it's a good idea. Course he always agrees with James," Sirius teased softly, and Peter just smiled quietly.
"It's going to take as a long time to even get the spell, let alone learn it and make the potion. So we're hardly doing anything rash, especially for us," grinned James, thrilled that he had finally found something that he could do. "Give us the word, Remus."
Remus finally, after a long silence, nodded softly. "But you can never, ever tell anyone. You can't risk anyone finding out what you're doing. We'll all be in trouble, and you could get expelled."
Sirius grinned as well. "We're always in trouble anyway, or practically always. But I promise to keep this a secret."
"I promise, too," said Peter.
James had a look of triumph on his face. "Then we agree. I feel like celebrating. Let's go down to the dungeons and fill the Slytheryn common room fire with smoke bombs that are set to go off just after they all get back from dinner."
"James," said Remus, smiling but sounding a little stressed still, "that's been done. And the silver still looks good from when we finished cleaning it last week."
"That's the beauty of it. We'll be the last people they suspect. Everyone will assume we learned our lesson then."
***
"Did you get in trouble for setting off the smoke bombs?"
"No. James was right, although McGonagal seemed to give us a few extra hard looks. It remains another marauder mystery. We made up for it that weekend, though, when we did get caught hexing the Slytheryn's Quiddich robes so they oozed a rather foul smelling goo as soon as you took them more than ten feet off the ground. That one remains one of my all time favourites, and I was proud to take the detention because everyone knew exactly who did that. We were actually congratulated, well out of any professor's earshot of course, by members of all the other houses at one point or another."
"And three years later, you figured it all out."
"Yes. But let me say this, and this must be a sign of how old and responsible I'm getting. It was very complicated, and it was very, very dangerous. Drinking the potion and getting used to the transformation was a very unpleasant experience. Your father and I actually spent a few days in the hospital wing. Remus was beside himself, thinking that we'd never snap out of it and it was all his fault. But we finally adjusted and everything was okay. I don't want you to ever, ever, even consider doing it. I feel safe in assuming that while James would be very proud of you for following in his footsteps as a Quiddich whiz, he'd not want you to try this. So please, just don't."
Harry smiled and shook his head. "Actually, it never even crossed my mind. I don't have the kind of motivation you did for even thinking about it. I have enough excitement in my life with out deliberately trying to do dangerous things."
"Good. Listen, there's Katie coming back. Let's go say hello to Liz and Hermione, shall we?"
"You are going to tell us about everything at dinner now that everyone's here, right?" Harry asked, rather anxiously. Obviously something had happened, and bigger things were about to. I hate being left out of this. He's not the only one who worries.
Sirius smiled and put an arm around Harry's shoulders as they walked out the door. "Can't it wait a few days? Let's just have fun tonight. We'll have an exploding snap contest; Remus and I are still up on you three from last summer."
"How about you challenge Ron to another chess match? That would be entertaining to watch."
"No, thank you. Learned that lesson. My humility is not up to it."