The Werewolves' Magic Institute
By Admiral Albia

In which we find out what the Blacklands curse is.

All British history in this chapter has been derived from solid historical fact. You'll probably understand it better if you're English, but don't worry about it too much.

Disclaimer; I own nothing except the plot and any characters you don't recognize from the books. It's very simple. Jiggy McCue (and the other Musketeers) belong to the great god Michael Lawrence, the rest belongs to the great goddess J.K. Rowling. All lyrics from the musical Anything Goes belong to whoever owns Anything Goes.

My heartfelt gratitude to Caitlin Black. A better beta-reader I could not ask for.

Chapter 15; The Blacklands Curse

It didn't take long before everyone was back in the room, much to Sirius' obvious dismay. True to his word, however, he sat down on is bed, sighed and began to explain.
"Are you sitting, standing, or lying comfortably? Then I'll begin." Lily switched Myrtle into her other arm and Tkaa slid into Sirius' lap and curled up there.
"You know how the Celtic druids used to do ritual sacrifice because they thought it enhanced their magical abilities?" Lily, Remus, Hermione and Emilily nodded. Everyone else looked blank. "Well, they did. Not in a nice way, either. And do you know how they did Divination?" This time nobody knew. "They used to ritually sacrifice animals, then cut them open and look at their guts."
"That's gross," Hermione said. Sirius nodded.
"Didn't work, either. But the next bit - have any of you other than James and Remus heard of Black Moor? Thought not." Sirius sighed again. "The family house is there - Black Moor Hall. When it was built in Roman times it was Niger Domus... but I digress. The point is that canines are sacred on Black Moor.
"That's where the first wild British werewolf was found," Remus said knowingly.
"Methinks I know what happened," James added.
"You probably guessed right. The Celts knew about it. The Celts told the Romans, the Romans told the Vikings, the Vikings told the Saxons, the Saxons told the Normans. Then we stopped getting invaded, of course.
"Anyway, all through the invasions of Britain a small band of Celts had been living on Black Moor. When the Romans went they took over the Niger Domus, at least until the Domesday Book was written and showed them there. Even then, nothing was done about it until Henry VII became king.
"By that time, of course, everyone but the Black Moor Celts had forgotten about the canine rule. Henry VII booted the Celts out of the house, renamed it Black Moor Hall and gave it to one of his lords, who organised a werewolf-hunt. The Celts tried to stop him, but-" a spasm of pain crossed Sirius' face "- he wouldn't listen. He got all his friends together, they got their wands out, being wizards, and at full moon... need I go into this bit? Good. As soon as the first werewolf went down the Moor-magic was activated and cursed the wizard who killed it, who just happeneed to be the lord of the manor. And the family've stayed cursed ever since."
Silence fell. Then Hermione asked, "What's the curse?"
"Nobody really knows. The original bit was something to do with serving our time, but every Black Moor druid added something to it until now it's so huge and complex that the block its anchor sits on is about ready to fall over for all the runes carved into it. What we do know is that no Black since Lord Pertinax has had a conscience."
"Which is why Siri makes such a good prankster," James said brightly.
"Which is why we all make such good criminals! And then there's this little part of all of us that keeps trying to make us do... things! And it gets stronger when we're in a big group! And I'm the only one who's ever even tried to fight it, and I still get affected by it!"
"All right, calm down..." The rest of what James had to say was drowned out because Myrtle had just woken up and begun to scream. Anyone who was expecting it noticed James' mouth form the words `that bloody baby!` and Remus clapped his hands over his ears.
What's the matter with you? Tkaa asked Myrtle from Sirius' lap.
"She can't understand you, Tkaa, it's no use-" Sirius stopped abruptly as Felix jumped into Lily's arms and Myrtle stopped crying, opened her eyes and smiled.
That's better, the cat said, now keep it that way, you're giving us all a headache. The baby gurgled.
Sorry, I'm keeping Sirius happy, Tkaa said. Maybe later.
"What's going on?" Everyone asked at once.
"You mean... you and Emilily don't know what's happening?" James asked.
"We can understand them, but they're not making any sense."
"Hold it." Everyone turned to look at Remus. "Lily, could you hand Myrtle to me? Thanks." He went cross-eyed for a second, then began to change his head at a shocking speed. Myrtle gurgled again and tried to grab an ear as it wormed its way up the side of Remus' head. He grinned, took her hand away and switched back. "Congratulations, you've got a Cargen. Any other baby would've howled its head off."
"Except a werewolf," Anna said.
"Really? You two screamed pretty loud when your mother tried to cheer you up that way."
"Bottom," Hermione said. Everyone stared at her, and she blushed. "That's who you looked like just then - Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. You know, when he has an ass's head."
"Wolf," Remus corrected. "Oh, no, I see what you mean. That'd better be a compliment."
"I shall make an ass of him," Sirius said. "Then he does."
"Excuse me? Are we saying here that one of my children is famous and the other one's a Cargen?" James asked.
"Yep," Remus said.
"Then I have one question. Just one."
"Fire away," Lily said.
"WHY ME?!?"
"Oh Lord, why dost thou mock me?" Sirius corrected. "That's what you're supposed to say."
"Why me?"
"It had to be somebody. Couldn't be me because I'm cursed, couldn't be Remus because he's a werewolf, couldn't be Peter because he's a sneaky little rat. That leaves only one." Sirius paused. "Did you get Peter, by the way?"
"Yep. He's in Azkaban."
"About time too."
"The question still remains, though. Why me?"
"Like I said, it had to be somebody. Might as well be you."
"Great. Just peachy."
"There's a squirrel outside the window," Remus said.Everyone turned to look.
"Two squirrels," Emilily said. "She's got a baby with her." She went to the window and opened it a bit more. The (grey) squirrel hopped in, went straight to Myrtle and dropped her baby on the child with a lot of chittering.
"Huh?" Lily said.
"Lucky kid," Sirius said, grinning. "I had to wait two weeks before I got Tkaa."
"I had to wait eight years before I got Felix," Emilily said. "I bet there's not many Cargens can say they got their familiars in their first forty-eight hours of life."
"Or indeed that they got a grey squirrel," Sirius added. "They all used to run away from me." To the squirrel he added, "Thank you for your kindness." She chittered at him and jumped out of the window.
"So... she's got a squirrel now?" James asked, apparently trying to catch up.
"Yep. And the squirrel will annoy her immensely, but..." Sirius and Emilily simultaneously put their hands over Tkaa's and Felix's ears "...when all's said and done, that squirrel will be the best friend she's ever had. No offense, James."
"None taken... I think."

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A/n; Is it just me, or are these chapters getting shorter? Ah well. Only one more chapter to go, if I'm lucky.
Review... please... must... have... reviews...
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