The Casting Stone

by Thing1

4/10: And in then end....

10. The Casting Stone 10

The Casting Stone 10

Have a good week? I had a brutal one – a coma sounds inviting right about now. I've put this up early because we're off for Tahoe in about four hours & won't be heard from again until Monday. See – I didn't make you wait!

Note: How can I get two chapters out sometimes? A lovely little piece of modern technology called 'dictation software'. You say it, and the computer fills it in. So I just have to 'talk' the majority of the story, then go back & make changes, additions, etc. Now, Jen, I am not trying to torture people. Torture is forbidden by the Geneva Convention ;-) This week, I had no access to the computer with the software – so you get so see how painfully slow my typing is.

This is a 'talk' chapter, with a small burst of rather intense action in the middle. But it is important & does deepen a few mysteries. Bit of a cliffy – but I swear the answers will come in the next chapter.

A/N: Princess Emma! You're back! I was worried! Hope you find some time to continue your own work.

Remus has a bad night, then finds out what Harry & Draco did to Callum. (Told you there was limited action….)

***

Remus lay across the foot of the bed resting his head on his paws and staring at the startlingly bright and seemingly impossibly close full moon. It hung just over the trees, almost filling up the top half of the window. It must be at apogee. Surely it never looks so big or so bright at home. Or so very beautiful….Remus had to laugh slightly to himself as he lay there, in his monstrous body, thinking on the irony of his reflecting a full moon, rather than being driven wild and senseless by it. Where for so much of his life the full moon was 'lost time' to Remus, it was now a period of odd detachment for him. He was not himself, but he was not fully taken by the wolf. It was as if he were sitting on a chair in a dark and barren room, across from the monster, which sat as still and silent as himself. For the long hours of the night, nothing would be said, neither one in control of the body that held them, and they would just wait. But the wolf will pace; the wolf will still look around to see if maybe, just maybe it can get out. It's restless tonight.

Remus and the wolf were both unhappy at being locked in a strange room in a strange place. The wolf felt particularly unhappy, as they both gazed out the window at the unfamiliar landscape. This all smelt odd too; the wolf kept picking up strange scents that were intoxicating in their uniqueness. They called to him; they called to the wolf, which wanted only to run through the wilds and see what lived there. Remus wished he'd been able to eat something before he transformed, as that might have calmed the wolf somewhat. He stubbornly refused to move, however, and just shifted slightly so he could feel Katie's legs pressed against his side, hoping that the one familiar touch and scent in the small room would quiet the wolf somewhat. The wolf let out a small whine at that. Remus wanted only to be home right now, in his den, safe and in familiar surroundings. He was very on edge tonight, and even though Katie had managed to fall asleep, he found it impossible to sleep in the strange and unfamiliar environment. He glanced at the clock on the nightstand. 2:43. Long way to go.

The only sound in the room was Katie's quiet breathing as she slept, and only the wolf would have heard that anyway. As it always did during the transformation, time seemed to stand still. Before the potion, before he'd been able to keep his own mind during the transformations, the passage of time hadn't meant anything to the wolf, as it was far to caught up in the animalistic world of senses and instincts and blood urges. Now, the nights of transformation seemed almost endless, and in this strange place, which Remus barely recognized and which tantalized the wolf, it seemed worse than ever. If he could at least explore; show the wolf where they were, make the wolf calm…. Katie was right not to let me outside; she knew that was the wolf talking….He shook a bit as he felt the wolf growl at him, angry at being locked up and angry and in pain at being kept under such tight control by the potion. That feeling of confusion has lessened somewhat over the years as Remus became more accustomed to the sensation of being 'managed' by the potion, but whenever he was someplace the wolf didn't know, well, it managed to make itself felt more than usual.

Starting to fidget now from the restlessness and agitation of seeming to be at a timeless standstill, Remus sat up on the bed and looked at Katie for a moment, before getting up to go over and stand by the window. Katie shifted slightly in her sleep, but didn't wake up. Remus gave a low amused growl at this. Katie slept like a log unless he or the children needed something. At that, she would be awake in an instant. Otherwise, good luck. He was pleased to see that his agitation must just seem worse to him than it was, because if he was too worked up, she'd have woken up the instant he moved. Interesting trick, that.

It had taken him years, a lot of tears and an equal amount of arguments, to get used to having Katie with him for the transformations. Remus had forbidden it at first; he couldn't bear the idea of Katie watching him go through the hideous and painful transformation. I didn't want her to see that monster; I thought…did I really think she'd leave? Deep down? Never. I knew better, but still…Katie had, of course, managed the situation calmly and carefully. Managed me is more like it. She knew; she understood. And she never made fun of me for it, never chastised me for it. She just worked through it. So Katie. She knew that time would change everything…that I would come to understand it.

At first, when they were just married, she agreed to stay away like he asked, and would leave him alone for the whole night. Then she had started a slow stealth campaign to get him to allow her to stay with him, and to make him understand that her loving him and being with him would not be changed by anything. Katie's first volley had been to go into the study and sit with him for a few hours after he transformed one night that spring. Remus had been very angry with her the next morning, but she said nothing while he went on a tirade about her behaviour and not respecting his wishes. He paused to breathe, and Katie had taken that moment to calmly and quietly say that if Sirius was allowed to sit with him, why on earth couldn't she join them? Remus had shut up at that, having no good argument against it. So after that, Katie would join him for a few hours on those nights before she would go to bed. Remus was ashamed of her seeing him in the wolf's body at first; until he really did accept that it obviously made no difference to her.

There had been a struggle for a while, a few volleys back and forth, both sides making concessions, until Remus finally took all the walls down and let her in entirely. The beginning of the end had come when Remus suddenly demanded she stay away from the wolf entirely the last few months of her pregnancy with Malcolm. He had caught it for that, but he stubbornly refused to budge. Katie had screamed that he was being ridiculous, which she was not used to with him, but finally backed off, although she didn't speak to him for almost four days. Liz was pretty taken aback by that, I remember, but she was still new to us all. Sirius told me she was just stunned to see that Katie and I actually do argue with each other. Liz got a good understanding of how Katie's moods work, I think, from all that. All one or another, never a combination.

But after Malcolm was born, she trumped him by getting him to both admit he had been an idiot, which wasn't that hard, and then by insisting that he let her stay with him. All night, transformation and all. She had obeyed his wishes, now he had to honour hers. This is a marriage, Remus; no secrets. He tried to counter with she needed to tend to Malcolm, not him, but she just looked him in the eye and said that Sirius was quite capable of tending to his newest godson on his own. So he gave in; he finally needed to share this last thing with her. It had been very difficult for both of them, but looking back, Remus was again startled to see how in retrospect he had never realized how much he was carrying around inside on the subject until it was finally gone. Just as when he had learned of Sirius' innocence, of the truth behind James and Lily's deaths and the events of that night, a weight was lifted from him that he hadn't known was there. And everything was going to be alright for them; in fact better than ever before.

Remus went over to stand in front of the large window opening up on the back garden and giving an incredible view of the ocean just beyond. He stood up so he could rest his front paws on the sill and get a good look. He had to laugh to himself, picturing what someone would see if they happened to glance up a that moment. A huge black wolf, with streaks of grey on his muzzle, staring back down at them. They'd never believe it. Remus fidgeted a bit, then couldn't resist the urge to look back over at the clock once again. 2:57. Gods. He whined quietly and shook his head in frustration.

As he looked back out the window, though, something caught his eye. There was a movement in the darkness below. To the wolf, the garden under the full moon was a bright as day, and he stared down to try and see what had just darted across the lawn. I saw everyone go to bed a long time ago; did someone wake up? Better not be Callum; I wonder if I'm giving him 'the creeps', even if we put him at the opposite side of the house. One of the griffins? I thought they slept with Draco…. But he did not catch any of the familiar scents of his companions. Getting anxious, he shuffled a bit and pressed his face right up to the window to try and see more of the garden. Bloody muzzle….

Suddenly he felt all the hair on his mane stand up and his blood boil. Instinct caused him to see red as another wolf stepped out of the shadows and its silver markings glinted in the moonlight. It was slinking along the far left wall of the garden towards the house…

Too startled to move for a moment, he simply stood there staring, until the wolf in the garden stopped, and looked up at him. Remus was stunned by the look of the animal; the total malice and uncontrolled fury of its gaze. Is that what I…. He snapped out of it, and instinct took over; the wolf's instincts. Forgetting that he was locked into a soundproofed room, Remus gave a violent snarl and threw himself at the window. That wolf is not coming in here. The window shook heavily as he bounced off of it, but Remus simply backed up and, with another violent howl, threw himself against the panes again. This time the glass cracked, and Remus saw that the intruding werewolf had turned to run up the garden again. NO!

"Remus!"

This time the window broke; and Remus flew out of the window, vaguely aware of Katie screaming at him. But the wolf was too focused now on finding the intruder to care. He landed heavily on the grass snarling and snapping. Remus was not going to let that wolf anywhere near anyone else….He rose up, and raced towards the back of the garden. He just caught sight of the intruders tail disappearing over the gate. Remus could feel that this wolf was younger; newer. It was fleeing from the older and more dominant wolf as fast as it could go. Remus leapt over the gate himself, feeling the blood rush of the chase, and the darkness seeping through him as the wolf triumphantly gained an upper hand over his own sense of self and ran free. He followed the scent of the intruder wolf, racing down the stone steps towards the sea….

But once he reached the waters, he had to stop, as all traces of the wolf seemed to vanish. Remus ran up and down the sand in the small protected cove, trying to catch the scent again, but there was nothing. Infuriated, he threw his head back and let out a long wail. The curse was whispering at him, to resume his hunt, to find his prey. But then there was something else there, behind him…. The wolf turned with frightening speed and launched himself at whatever was racing out of the shadows at him. He bit down hard on a limb as it came up to swat his face, locking his jaws and snarling in fury. But he let go almost immediately, as he realized….

Padfoot let out a tentative bark, which Remus recognized as Padfoot being subservient, and lay down flat on the sand in front of him, his ears back and his teeth bared. Remus felt the confusion and the familiar sense of fear and anger of Sirius… Sirius; I'm sorry…. At that, his own senses seemed to come back to him. Oh, God. I must have scared them all half to death…but if Sirius is out here, then they opened the doors….

Remus took off back down the beach towards the steps, Padfoot now racing behind him. Must get back to the garden…Ouch! Padfoot caught up to the wolf and sunk his teeth deep into Remus' left hind leg, pulling the wolf to a halt. Damn it Sirius! Get the hell off of me! He turned with a snarl, and nearly bit the dog again when he suddenly realized what this must look like to Sirius. He didn't see the other wolf…all they must think is that I've lost it….Katie must be scared to death.

At that thought, Remus stopped and lay down in the sand himself, panting and willing himself to lie as still as possible, trying desperately to convince Sirius that he was himself. He knew that Sirius would never let him back up those steps if he didn't feel that Remus was in fact Remus and not the wolf, and sure enough, Padfoot moved to stand between him and the steps. Remus fought the urge to panic and to try and get past Sirius. The wolf came down here. There was just the one. You'll be able to see if the wolf comes back…Padfoot will see, and he'll understand.

Remus lay very, very still and gazed at Sirius trying to will him to understand that he was alright. After another seemingly endless stretch of time, Padfoot moved back a good distance from Remus, still watching him intently. Then Sirius transformed.

"Moony?"

Sirius stood there, holding his wand towards Remus, looking at him with a very strained expression. Remus shifted a bit and nodded his head, still not rising from the sand to show Sirius that he was of the right mind. Please, Sirius, try to figure it out. I have to get back up there! We have to! What if the wolf comes back some other way….oh my god, maybe it was just luring me away! It took every once of self control he had to remain there lying on the sand, trying not to think about the look on the wolf's face, and his wife up at the top of the stairs, unguarded.

Sirius took a small step forward.

"Moony, are you alright?"

Remus gave a small gruff yelp, and nodded.

"Why…scratch that. You just jumped out a window, and practically scared your wife to death. Do you remember doing that?"

Sirius! Remus' yelp this time was a little lower, and his nod a little harsher.

"Don't give me that attitude; I'm trying to figure out what the hell just happened and that's not exactly easy to do in this situation. Katie said it looked almost like you were chasing something. Is that it? Were you chasing something?"

Remus had to stand up at that, again giving a single bark and nodding. Sirius glanced up and down the beach.

"I don't see anything Remus. It is still here?"

Remus shook his head and growled.

"Okay. Look, let's go back up to the…."

Remus bounded right past Sirius before he could finish and shot up the stairs. He ran across the back garden to the steps of the house, where he saw that Liz and Katie were standing in the doorway. Katie was sobbing and Liz had her arms around her. Remus stopped dead in the middle of the lawn and gave a small yelp. Liz and Katie both looked up, startled, and stared at him. Nobody moved. Remus suddenly realized that running so far ahead of Sirius might not have been a good idea and he fell down and lay flat on the grass to show them he wasn't going to hurt them, staring at his wife and feeling his heart tense up. Katie, love; please; I'm sorry, I'm sorry…But he started to just feel utterly miserable and totally helpless, unable to say anything and clearly, clearly having scared Katie deeply. He gave a high whine and kept his eyes on Katie, but didn't move towards her. She managed to stop crying and tried to take a small step towards him, but Liz didn't let go of her, and didn't take her eyes off of Remus.

"Sirius?" she called out.

Sirius' voice came up from the steps as he responded. "I'm coming! There was something in the garden. Remus is alright…."

As soon as Katie heard Sirius' reply she ran down the steps and came next to Remus, pulling his head onto her lap and crying as hard as he had ever seen. Remus felt himself start to cry now as well. That he had always been able to do, even when in the body of the wolf; the oddest thing, but even as a little boy, he knew that the wolf could, and did, cry. Katie, love; I'm sorry…I said I'd never let the wolf hurt you, or scare you…

Sirius and Liz appeared next to them after a little bit, Sirius reaching down to help Katie stand up, and Liz kneeling closer to Remus to get a good look at him.

"Are you hurt?"

Remus shook his head, then glanced at Sirius, who had bandaged his arm already and gave a slight gruff. Sirius glanced back down at him and smiled.

"Remus, Padfoot's taken far worse from you. Get inside, now; in case whatever it was comes back."

Sirius helped the still weeping Katie back into the house and Remus followed them, casting glances back over his shoulder, but aware that the intruder was long gone and showed no signs of coming back. He followed Sirius and Katie into the front room, where Sirius placed Katie on a chair, but she fell forward off of it so she could wrap her arms around Remus' neck again. She had stopped crying, but the wolf could feel that she was still very upset, so Remus simply sat with her and didn't move, until he saw Liz walk in, bringing a cup with her. He jumped a bit; she was not used to this like Sirius and Katie were, and he was startled to have her near him. But Liz, true to form, paid him no mind and came to sit on the chair behind Katie. She set the mug down and tapped it with her wand, then poured some herbs in it.

"Katie, drink this tea. You need to soothe your nerves a bit."

Katie finally sat back a bit and looked over at the cup with wet red eyes. "I'll not have any sleeping drafts, Liz; I've just had a fright, I'm not some hysterical ninny who…."

Liz shook her head. "Katie, do shut up and drink it. It's just one of your nerve tonics you give to Sirius, that's all."

Katie shifted a bit so she could take the cup and drank it without further comment. They all stayed there in silence for a few minutes, until Sirius reappeared. He stopped in the doorway, then turned and said something quietly to someone behind him. Then he came in and shut the door. Harry and Draco must be up too; what a night I've made it for everyone. Gods, how did they explain all that carrying on to Callum?

Sirius came over and sat on the floor in front of Liz, who ran her hand through his hair and gave him a small kiss on the top of his head. He glanced up at her and smiled, then looked back at Remus.

"Well, we've secured all the windows and doors, so nothing is getting in or out of this place without our say-so. I've told Harry and Draco to go back to bed, that we've got everything under control and they needn't worry. Draco didn't look very convinced, but you know what he thinks of me. Now, obviously we're not going to get anything solved until the morning when you can talk with us," Sirius said softly, then reached out to give Remus a small scratch behind the ears. "I'm going to stay up and just keep an eye out, alright? You need to get back upstairs, in case our dear Muggle guest wakes up and goes wandering, although," here Remus saw Sirius wink at Liz, who, for some odd reason, blushed slightly and gave a small laugh, "I really don't think that's going to happen. It would seem, Katie, that Harry and Draco got a rather interesting idea on how to entertain themselves last evening."

Remus saw Katie look surprised, then she also flushed a bit and smiled, giving Sirius a curious look.

"We'll get the full details at breakfast. I've just a few sketchy ideas myself at the moment. Off you both go. Moony, try and sleep. I'd give you a sleeping draught but I know they don't do anything to the wolf. Okay?"

Katie and Remus went back upstairs. Katie said nothing else, just curled up next to Remus and they both lay there, staring at each other for a long time. Katie finally smiled a bit and reached over to caress Remus' face gently.

"I love you, Remus. Go to sleep, love, please. You need to rest."

Remus finally did manage to drift into a light sleep, but it was plagued with nightmarish dreams by the wolf.

***

The next morning Remus was exhausted. He knew that the transformation must have seemed longer than usual because he was so keyed up, but he was in more pain than he had felt in a long time, and it took him quite a while to stop shaking and get the strength to sit up. He let Katie help him shower, staying under the warm water and letting it soothe his aching body for a long time. Finally they got out, and Remus said he wasn't shaving that morning for all the chocolate in Honeydukes. Katie did finally laugh at this, and helped him get his shirt on, buttoning it up as he slowly drank the herbal tea Katie had made him to help with the pain from the transformations.

"Shall we get some breakfast? You must eat, I don't care what you say."

"I feel like I could eat every ounce of food on this island, Katie, love."

They went downstairs to find that Sirius, Liz, Draco and Harry were already eating a large breakfast. They all looked up quickly as Remus and Katie walked in, but Remus spoke first, not wanting to go through the standard and vaguely embarrassing process of assuring everyone that he was fine. We'll get to what happened.

"Where's Callum?"

Remus watched the others exchange amused and, he was surprised to see, slightly nervous glances. They've done something to the poor man. Didn't Sirius allude to that last night?

"What did you do?' Remus asked, wondering if he really wanted to know.

This made Sirius laugh and Liz giggle while they both gave Harry and Draco looks that obviously meant that the explanations were going to come from them.

Draco cleared his throat and sat back in his chair, folding his arms calmly.

"Mr. Maccreedy may have had too much to drink last night."

"Might he have indeed? Why is that, Draco?"

"Well, he may not have actually noticed how much he was imbibing."

Remus thought about this. "Glass didn't empty, did it?"

"Pitcher, actually."

"Ah. What else?"

Here Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry, who gave him a mischievous smile. "Come on Potter, I've confessed my transgression."

"Harry…."

"Callum may have been startled by something he thought he saw."

"Something?"

"Two small red somethings, actually. But we're sure he was just seeing things because he had obviously had far too much to drink. At least, that's what we're going to insist happened." Harry cast his glance at Draco's feet, where the Griffins were lying.

Remus looked at the griffins, then back up at Draco and Harry. "You didn't….Harry! Draco! You could have hurt the griffins!"

"Indeed, Charles bit the bastard on the ear and I demand Katie make sure my poor pet hasn't picked something up."

Remus stared at them for a moment, then started to laugh. This was obviously not what everyone else had expected from him, and they watched him closely.

"What? That was rather inappropriate but I think Callum asked it. Sorry, Liz."

"Don't be. He's a weed, I know it. But he was all I could think of to get us a boat, and I really didn't think he'd actually come down here. Bastard."

Sirius' expression brightened considerably at this, and Liz glared at him. "Mr. Black, how could you possibly be jealous of that man?"

"I'm not jealous of him…."

"You are, and I am actually a little insulted by that. Stop it, Mr. Black."

Sirius nodded. "Miss Harker, I was, I will admit, put out not by him so much as what he…represented. A better time in your life …."

Liz stood up and grabbed Sirius by the arm, hauling him to his feet. "Excuse us, we need to have a small discussion outside. We'll be back shortly. Remus, we need to hear everything about what happened last night. Get some breakfast, and when we get back," here she gave Sirius a rather stern look, "we'll go over it." Liz pushed Sirius out of the door and followed him, closing the back door behind her.

Harry smiled and shook his head at Draco. "I said I was willing to risk getting her mad at us, but I'm relieved she's distracted from doing that."

Remus laughed, then looked at Katie. "Did you have any idea this was all going on?"

"You've missed how upset Sirius is?"

"Not that, the incident with Callum. I doubt even Dumbledore all the way back in England has missed that Sirius is unhappy with that man."

Katie didn't answer him at first, but she did flush again as she had the night before and smiled in a rather wicked fashion. She just looked over at Harry and raised an eyebrow.

Draco smiled at this. "Professor, I believe that I have complemented you on finding such an impressive and resourceful equal to take as your wife on several occasions. I find the way she thinks particularly attractive."

Katie laughed at him and shook her head. Remus smiled and thanked Draco, then pointed out that did nothing by way of explanation as to why Callum was incapacitated. Harry spoke up.

"Katie suggested to me just before she left us last night that maybe Draco and I explore our common ground, rather than dwell on our differences. Our common ground, it seems, is really disliking Callum. So we had a conversation about what we could do with that."

"Glad to hear you are both making an effort to get along."

Harry proceeded to tell Katie and Remus, blow by blow, what had happened the night before. Remus managed to stop himself from laughing out loud, and tried to give them a small talking to. Well, they expect it of me I guess.

"Harry, Draco; that was decidedly immature and, I'm sure, illegal. Don't do it again."

Remus paused for effect.

"At least, don't do it without including me."

"You mean I can finally get to really see Mr. Moony in action? Sirius swears you're the real brains of the outfit, he just got the reputation because he had the bigger mouth."

Remus did laugh now. "No argument there. Well, we'll have to see."

At this point, Sirius and Liz came back in. Remus looked at them carefully, but Sirius finally looked happier than Remus had seen him in months, and Liz was no longer looking as tense as she had ever since Callum had made his entrance into their troupe.

"All sorted out?"

"All sorted out. I have apologized for being a git, my apologies have been accepted, and the woman still wants to marry me. In fact, we're going to do it no matter what happens with all of this. Period, end of discussion. On November 12. Giving Callum a definite date will shut him up once and for all, I think."

Liz smiled. "It'll shut me up, too. What a bargain."

"You I can never hear enough of, so that's no bargain."

Liz gave a rare blush and reclaimed her coffee cup. "Do shut up, Mr. Black," she mumbled as she drank.

Sirius turned to Remus instead, his eyes twinkling still even as his expression became a little more serious. "All right Remus, you've convinced us all that you're all right and stopped us from fussing because you hate little else in this world more than us fussing. Now, what happened? What did you see that was so bad you had to throw yourself out of the window?"

Remus sighed and stood up. He went to stand in front of the group, who remained sitting and silent, watching him quietly. Finally, he took a deep breath and told them.

"There was another werewolf in the garden. It was trying to get into the house."