Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter; it all belongs to JK Rowling. I suppose I own the plot, in a way.
Summary: In dark times, prophecies predicted the rising of five who would have the power alone to defeat evil. They were the Pack.
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~ The Pack ~
Chapter Seven: At the Rising of the Moon
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On the following evening, while attempting to teach Harry and Ron the correct way to work the Invisibility Charm (why Harry would ever need the Charm with his cloak around was a point he brought up frequently simply to annoy Hermione, she was certain), the Pack came upon another prophecy.
Hermione was repeating, for about the fiftieth time that house, that the wand movement was a swish and a jab, not a point-blank jab that was mean to poke people's eyes out.
"Why not?" Ron demanded. "Both achieve the same effect; the charm will make you invisible, but the jabbing move will do the same thing because you'll be blinding your bloody opponent."
Harry roared with laughter, and Hermione found herself torn between amusement and disapproval. "Look, Ron, we're going to need it for the NEWT exams, and you can hardly blind a poor examiner like old Professor Tofty who took our OWLs, so you might as well do me a favor and learn the damned charm!"
"Might as well get it over with, Ron," Harry, who had just gotten the hang of the charm, pointed out reasonably, winking at Hermione who huffed in exasperation. "Then we can all have some lunch and then I have Quidditch practice to attend in the evening so I need rest."
"Dear me." Hermione snorted.
Ron grunted. "Oh all right," he picked up his wand from the table and swished and jabbed and muttered: "Invisego."
Unfortunately, he'd picked his wand up the wrong way around (as only Ron was capable of, Hermione thought with an inward groan) and the jet of light burst from his wand, which was supposed to be pointing at him, and hit the bookshelf on the opposite side of the room. The Charm, (thankfully) was not designed for inanimate objects, but the bookshelf, much to their horror, shook violently.
Harry and Ron raced forward to thrust the shelf back against the wall safely, but not before a couple of books felt out. Hermione sighed heavily. "Oh well." She shrugged and picked up the books. As she put them back, one of the much older, dustier volumes in her hand shook and a piece of faded old parchment fell out. She thrust the book back and picked up the parchment curiously.
"What is it? A letter?"
"I don't think so," Hermione stared at the sheet in shock. "In fact, if I'm not mistaken, this is another prophecy - written in Mermish."
Harry groaned despairingly. "I'm beginning to regret ever agreeing to study today." He muttered, eyeing the parchment with misgiving. "At least tell me you can read Mermish, 'Mione, so that we're not swamped in suspense and confusion like before!"
"Yeah," Hermione muttered distractedly, barely hearing him. "You and Ron better send Hedwig to summon Sirius and Remus from Diagon Alley right away; I'll translate this."
It wasn't exactly easy, Mermish not being one of her specialities, but it was infinitely quicker than translating Runes resemblances, and by the time the two teenage boys returned after sending Hedwig off with a hasty note, there was more or less a finished, much shorter, prophecy lying on the table.
Ron snatched it and began to read, and finally lowered it to the table again, looking rather perplexed. Hermione sighed; he was truly hopeless, and she and Harry bent over the parchment once more.
The Lunar Premonition
In the year of the serpent, when its enemies wake,
The time to act will be foretold,
When fortresses crack and bonds break,
When golds turns to rust and rust to gold,
There shall come the beast, the hunter of a pack,
One with power unhindered and raw,
To seek, of the serpent, the chinks and the crack,
To hunt down the minions of the empowered law.
This shall be the time, the time to act
And the hunter shall be born on that night.
If the fortress has cracked, the time is soon;
It shall come at the rising of the moon.
"Tell me something," Harry spoke up once they were through reading the mystical prophecy. "Is everything that happens to us fate? Were were meant to find this prophecy?"
"Somewhere," Hermione replied, surprised at her own logical mind thinking this way, "Everything does come down to fate. That's why prophecies exist at all, isn't it?"
Harry sat down. "And what do we make of this?"
"Maybe we should wait till Remus and Sirius get back." Ron suggested.
Hermione shrugged. "Okay, I agree that we should go about this as a pack, but I think I have a pretty good idea of what this prophecy means."
Of course, that made Ron and Harry instantly desperate to know what she thought, but she smirked and remained silent, reminding them that they were going to wait until the two men returned. At that thought, Hermione's mind drifted back to Sirius and the previous morning and she felt the ache in her body and heart again and the tingles spread through her limbs. She gulped and glared at the table. It was time to concentrate.
They returned within moments, bursting into the house, arousing furious shrieks from Mrs. Black, which they pointedly ignored by slamming the study door shut, and flopping down at the table.
"What happened?" Sirius gasped, panting. Obviously, they'd run a way before Disapparating. "We got Hedwig's note - rather urgent, I might add - "
"A prophecy." Hermione stated calmly, trying not to look at him for too long at a time. She pushed the parchment towards Remus, closely observing their - and Remus's in particular - reactions. "I think you might be interested in this one."
They read it in silence and then Sirius looked up. "Well, it connects very strongly to the other one, and it's pretty clear what it means, I suppose."
"But is there a serpent in the Chinese calendar?" Ron asked, frowning.
"I don't think that's what this refers to, not like the year of the dragon." Hermione shook her head. "I think 'year of the serpent' refers to the time when Voldemort grows extremely strong - like, now. And 'when its enemies wake' could pinpoint this time in particular, where Dumbledore and the Order are growing and the Pack has awoken and realized its purpose and task."
"Yeah!" Harry agreed, nodding. "Then this prophecy is sort of telling us when the time to make our move will be or something, right? But what's all this gold to rust stuff?"
Sirius shrugged. "Maybe it means things are being turned upside-down in the world." he suggested.
"That would certainly fit," Ron scowled. "Like Percy betraying us for the Ministry, the Ministry trying to take us - the good guys - down like they did not too long ago, and whatnot."
"Yes, I think Sirius is right about that," Remus nodded. "But 'when fortresses crack and bonds break'? I can't make much of that."
"Bonds break . . ." Hermione murmured, thinking hard. What had Ron just said? About Percy? "Maybe," she said tentatively, trying not to look at Sirius as he glanced at her, "'Bonds break' indicates a time where allies and enemies are unexpected, like when, as Ron said, Percy unexpectedly turned on Dumbledore and us."
"So this is certainly this time," Harry pointed out, "But it's not getting any more specific, is it, unless we can figure out 'fortresses crack'?"
"Well, next details who will begin our attack," Hermione continued. "The Hunter."
"Me." Remus sighed and Sirius slapped him on the shoulder encouragingly.
Hermione nodded. "Exactly. And it says 'hunt down the minions of the empowered law'. The minions could obviously mean the Death Eaters, which means on this particular night - because night is mentioned later on - Remus will hunt down and take out some of the Death Eaters, giving us better access to Voldemort. 'Empowered law' might mean Voldemort, of course, because he has come to power."
"Where do you learn to do this kind of analysis?" Ron demanded, obviously in awe, awe that was not wholly free of disapproval.
"Oh honestly, Ron, don't you read?"
"What's the point; you've always, always read it first."
The others chuckled, but Sirius hastily straightened his face when Hermione shot him a look, but his lips twitched and he winked at her, making a blush rise to her cheeks and she hurriedly looked back down at the prophecy.
"Hang on, it says here 'the hunter shall be born on that night'." Harry read. "Born? Remus is already born, and lived three decades, mind you. Or does this mean, the 'hunter' part of Remus will awaken on that night?"
"Yeah, because read on further . . ." Sirius pointed out, "It says 'the time is soon; It shall come at the rising of the moon'. Moony's going to be a werewolf when he begins the attack on the Death Eaters!"
Hermione glanced quickly at Remus and saw his expression flicker and for the first time in her life, she saw real fear shadow his eyes and a sort of helpless denial. He stood up and began to pace the room slowly, his expression deeply troubled.
"Remus?" Ron asked tentatively. "What's up, mate?"
Sirius looked at the table. He obviously already knew what was wrong, judging from the concerned glances he threw his best friend.
Remus sighed and said quietly, "In the Chamber of Terror, I stumbled into the cavern and tripped over something. It was you, Ron, and you were lying there, bleeding from bite marks - werewolf bite marks. The moon was hovering above you, and you were screaming at me to get away from you. I'd been the one to bite you. And then you changed to Hermione . . . who sobbed and begged me not to kill her . . . to Sirius, as a dog, wounded and mangled and dead . . . it was - is - my deepest, greatest fear. That I might hurt one of you, kill someone . . ."
"Remus," Hermione said quietly. "You would never do that; you may not be in control while you're a werewolf, but you have to realize that we'd never let you hurt us and that the bonds between us are too strong - so strong that even the mind of a werewolf will sense them."
"I told you, Moony," Sirius smiled and Hermione felt a surge of gladness as relief crossed over Remus's features at Harry and Ron's emphatic agreement. "Besides, do you think I'd let any werewolf come near them as a dog?"
"Thanks." Remus looked around at them all, and he sat back down. "This means - a lot. So," he coughed, obviously trying to clear the emotion out of his voice, but it stayed in his eyes, "Let's get back to the prophecy."
Harry huffed. "We need the more precise time, because full moons rise pretty often, if I may mention, and we can't exactly not give Remus the Wolfsbane Potion every time the moon rises, because that's just unnecessary torture to him."
Sirius nodded. "Maybe this fortress part will help," he suggested, shrugging.
"'When fortresses crack'," Hermione read out loud, frowning thoughtfully. Fortresses . . . what could classify as a fortress? A place of safety, a sanctuary . . . what was the sanctuary they knew? . . . and then it hit her. Hogwarts was the place of safety they knew, and since the Death Eaters in the Forest, it wasn't quite so safe for them.
"Hogwarts." she told them, smiling slightly. "It's talking about a sanctuary of sorts, and that's what Hogwarts is. And lately, it hasn't been so safe - 'when fortresses crack."
"Brilliant!" Ron croaked hoarsely.
Remus frowned slightly. "But that means it's already happened, and that means . . . the time has come. Which also means - "
"That we have to find out where Voldemort is before the next full moon." Sirius stated.
Harry checked the lunar calendar on the desk and looked up at them all rather apprehensively. "Six days." he mumbled. "Six days to find Voldemort and get nearby so that Remus morphs there."
"Never thought our battle would come so soon." Ron said quietly, and uneasily.
They all looked at each other. "We'll fight," Hermione said softly. "And we'll finish this. But right now, it's time to start hunting down Voldemort's location."
"Nope," Sirius countered, shaking his head playfully and standing up. "Right now, it's time for lunch."
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TBC.
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A/N: Chapter Eight coming soon! I'm so psyched about all the reviews and encouragement; it's really helping so keep going! Enjoy!