Chapter 16
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As soon as the match officially began, Luther immediately sprang upon Sirius. His aim was the tender throat of the animagi. However, Padfoot nimbly leaped out of the way.
'Damn that was my move.' Sirius told himself.
The two canines circled one another waiting for the next opportune moment to pounce. The snarling and snapping of jaws were the only sounds to be heard that night in the silence of the forest.
The deadly dance continued as the two fierce beasts glared at each other with undisguised hatred.
Suddenly Luther leaped at Sirius once again. A mad rush of grey impacted with black. It was a battle between the shadows and the twilight. Sirius received a gash upon his forepaw.
His resulting fury gave him the pure power to overtake Luther and rake his unnatural claws down his spine. Luther rolled away from Sirius to inspect his wound. It was deep. A terrifying howl pierced the silence as he turned deadly eyes upon Padfood.
Sirius answered with a low growl that was so deep the earth shook under the paws of the audience. He and Luther charged one another again, simultaneously. They both were knocked away from the other from the sheer force of the compact.
Both sported fresh gashes from the collision. Suddenly a blind rage filled Luther. He rushed Sirius with an unknown speed. The worried cries of Cassiopeia and Remus installed within the wizard a new strength to defend himself with.
As the grey wolf reached Sirius with a look that promised a fatality Sirius surprised the crazed beast by using the first move of the match. He went for the jugular. Or at least he thought it was the jugular. It could have been the carotid artery. Either way, it promised to be a mortal wound.
However, Luther would not give up such a prize even though his lifeblood flowed out of him in rivers. He turned tail from his challenger that would prove victorious and hurried to Cassiopeia.
She stood rooted to the spot, too shocked with fear to move. Even as he was dieing before her, she knew that he could easily end her life as well. Sirius reached him before he could cause harm and bit deeply into the other side of his torn neck.
Luther fell to the ground at Cassi's feet and began to morph back into his human form, for in death, all werewolves too the form of man.
With his last shaky breath he whispered, "I really did love you." Then he died. In his own way, perhaps Luther did actually love Cassiopeia. He was willing to risk everything to claim her. Sure, having claim to her also meant absolute power. What if that was just a benefit of one whom truly did love her though? But then again, sometimes obsession leads to confusion and Luther was absolutely obsessed.
Sirius shoved aside the body of Luther with his foot and stood between Cassiopeia and Remus. Gabriel approached the middle of the ring to conclude the ceremony. The wolves began to howl.
Sirius was now the leader by combat of the other American wolf tribe. He approached the middle of the circle again after the howls had ceased. He announced that he was turning over the responsibility of both tribes to Gabriel.
He then went to walk back over to a very relieved Cassi and Remus. However, something was wrong. He began to flicker before their eyes. His figure was becoming hazy. He looked at them with confusion in his eyes. Then, he vanished.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The sun rose that morning and greeted some very somber werewolves. Cassiopeia and Remus had not spoken a word since converting back to their human forms. Gabriel was watching the two. The tribe members had left for their respective homes after the ceremony was over.
The victor may have vanished, but their leader was still there. In the wolf world that was the main thing. If there was no leader, there was chaos. If there was a leader, he would fix all the problems and there was no need to burden oneself.
Philley had tried to comfort Remus but he brushed her off. He preferred sitting beside Cassi at the kitchen table sharing blank faces and empty eyes.
He simply could not believe it.
Sirius was gone. He was gone again. This disappearance was worst than the last time. There was no veil in the department of mysteries to claim his brother. He simply vanished. There was no logical explanation.
Gabriel tried to offer the pair comforting words. They did not want to be comforted. They wanted Sirius Black.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I told you we should not have allowed him to go back sister."
"Shut up brother. He deserved the right to go back."
"He's here. Let's greet him."
The brother and sister went to greet their guest. Before them stood a very angry Sirius Black with blood caked upon his forearm and dirt in his hair, proof of his recent activities.
"What the hell am I doing back here?" Sirius demanded. There was foam at the corners of his mouth. He looked like a dog with Rabies. Everyone knows its bad to upset a dog with Rabies.
"Nice of you to join us again Mr. Black. We have missed you." The little girl with waist length white hair replied. She appeared around ten years old. It was a deceitful appearance.
"You have been naughty while you were out, causing so much turmoil." The little boy with spiky white hair replied. He also had the appearance of a ten year old.
"I followed your damn rules. I didn't reveal my form to my master for exactly four months. I have NOT contacted Harry. What the hell else do you want from me?" Sirius was pretty pissed. Normally his language wasn't so vulgar, but he was angry beyond comprehension. "Do you little twerps have any idea what I have gone through in these past few months?"
"Actually we know exactly what you have gone through in these past few months. You have proven to be more active than what we had anticipated." The boy answered.
"We had only intended to give you a few months time to enjoy life since you had been stripped of it's pleasures so long ago. We had not intended you to challenge the leader of one of the American wolf tribes and win." The girl answered.
"Look, I know you two are the guardians of the veil, or whatever. I think I have proven myself worthy of life. I was finally happy." He answered quietly, so quietly that if the two youth were not supernatural beings they would not have heard.
"I told you he was going to do the guilt trip."
"Shut up." The girl told her brother. "I guess you have proven that you deserve life. You probably deserve it more than most." She thought for a moment placing her chin in her hand. "Okay. We'll let you live again."
"Yes!!" Sirius practically jumped into the air in his newfound glee. But that would be a very-unSirius like thing to do, so he did not and kept his composure instead. "I would like permission to contact my godson as well."
"Very well. He would probably find out on his own anyway." The boy answered bored with the situation now that his sister wouldn't let him kill the wizard.
"Can I go back now?"
"No. You must wait one week's time." The girl answered.
"But, I'll miss Cassiopeia's graduation!"
"We can not repair your body for the physical plane until such time. We had not anticipated on returning you to that plane of existence."
"Sister you're getting horrible at anticipating things."
"Shut up brother. Sirius, I will allow you to return the night of her graduation. That way you can greet her at her apartment during the celebration. Does this suite you?"
Sirius nodded. He would be given a second chance again. Or maybe this was his third chance if you could his escape from Azkaban.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A few days had passed. Cassiopeia had completed her final examinations and had subsequently locked herself up in her research lab. She hadn't spoken to anyone since Sirius' disappearance.
Remus stayed in America with her because he too felt her loss. He couldn't return to the Order. Most did not know that Sirius had been found only to be lost again. He needed to share his grief with someone who would understand.
However, Cassi wasn't talking to anyone. So he decided to contact someone from the Order who knew. He returned to Cassi's apartment and went to the fireplace to communicate.
He waved his wand and chanted the spell half-heartedly. Bill appeared before him from the other end of the fire.
"Hey Remus! Any new developments? Snape told us that the wolves were all under the leadership of Gabriel. He didn't know exactly what happened to Luther though."
"I don't really want to talk about it, Bill. Is Tonks there?"
"Yeah. Hold on." Bill disspeared from the flames. Remus stared at them with unblinking, emotionless eyes.
"Remus?"
"Tonks. Do you think you could spare some time?"
"Of course. I'll be right there."
It was only a few moments later that Tonks apparated. It seemed like a millennia to Remus. One had no sense of time when in such a depression.
"Tell me what happened."
Remus told Tonks everything. She grieved for the loss of her cousin again, but remained strong and stoic for his sake. He needed someone to understand, but not one to pity.
Over the next few days, Remus and Tonks had grown very close. Every day they went to the lab and brought Cassiopeia food. She would have starved if they had not. Still she refused to talk to anyone.
They had about given up that day. They had dropped off her meal and were about to leave when she burst out the door and hugged the two of them fiercely.
"I did it! I did it!" She shouted with passion and glee to the two stunned magical people before her.
"What did you do?" Remus asked carefully.
"The serum! I figured it out! We are no longer cursed Remus! We can control our transformations the same as natural werewolves." She smiled that radiant smile that the world had missed so dearly for the past few days.
"Tell me about this serum? I don't think I know anything about it." Tonks replied trying to get the newly not so mute girl to speak some more.
"Well this serum will allow werewolves like Remus and me to transform when we want. We can control our transformations the same as native werewolves can. No longer will we lose our minds in our wolf forms. It does not cure the infection per say. If I was to find a way to alter the actual infection it could kill us.
The infection has increased our life spans and to completely remove it could result in our immediate demise due to shock. But, now we can transform without risking brutal consequences."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
TBC
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As soon as the match officially began, Luther immediately sprang upon Sirius. His aim was the tender throat of the animagi. However, Padfoot nimbly leaped out of the way.
'Damn that was my move.' Sirius told himself.
The two canines circled one another waiting for the next opportune moment to pounce. The snarling and snapping of jaws were the only sounds to be heard that night in the silence of the forest.
The deadly dance continued as the two fierce beasts glared at each other with undisguised hatred.
Suddenly Luther leaped at Sirius once again. A mad rush of grey impacted with black. It was a battle between the shadows and the twilight. Sirius received a gash upon his forepaw.
His resulting fury gave him the pure power to overtake Luther and rake his unnatural claws down his spine. Luther rolled away from Sirius to inspect his wound. It was deep. A terrifying howl pierced the silence as he turned deadly eyes upon Padfood.
Sirius answered with a low growl that was so deep the earth shook under the paws of the audience. He and Luther charged one another again, simultaneously. They both were knocked away from the other from the sheer force of the compact.
Both sported fresh gashes from the collision. Suddenly a blind rage filled Luther. He rushed Sirius with an unknown speed. The worried cries of Cassiopeia and Remus installed within the wizard a new strength to defend himself with.
As the grey wolf reached Sirius with a look that promised a fatality Sirius surprised the crazed beast by using the first move of the match. He went for the jugular. Or at least he thought it was the jugular. It could have been the carotid artery. Either way, it promised to be a mortal wound.
However, Luther would not give up such a prize even though his lifeblood flowed out of him in rivers. He turned tail from his challenger that would prove victorious and hurried to Cassiopeia.
She stood rooted to the spot, too shocked with fear to move. Even as he was dieing before her, she knew that he could easily end her life as well. Sirius reached him before he could cause harm and bit deeply into the other side of his torn neck.
Luther fell to the ground at Cassi's feet and began to morph back into his human form, for in death, all werewolves too the form of man.
With his last shaky breath he whispered, "I really did love you." Then he died. In his own way, perhaps Luther did actually love Cassiopeia. He was willing to risk everything to claim her. Sure, having claim to her also meant absolute power. What if that was just a benefit of one whom truly did love her though? But then again, sometimes obsession leads to confusion and Luther was absolutely obsessed.
Sirius shoved aside the body of Luther with his foot and stood between Cassiopeia and Remus. Gabriel approached the middle of the ring to conclude the ceremony. The wolves began to howl.
Sirius was now the leader by combat of the other American wolf tribe. He approached the middle of the circle again after the howls had ceased. He announced that he was turning over the responsibility of both tribes to Gabriel.
He then went to walk back over to a very relieved Cassi and Remus. However, something was wrong. He began to flicker before their eyes. His figure was becoming hazy. He looked at them with confusion in his eyes. Then, he vanished.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The sun rose that morning and greeted some very somber werewolves. Cassiopeia and Remus had not spoken a word since converting back to their human forms. Gabriel was watching the two. The tribe members had left for their respective homes after the ceremony was over.
The victor may have vanished, but their leader was still there. In the wolf world that was the main thing. If there was no leader, there was chaos. If there was a leader, he would fix all the problems and there was no need to burden oneself.
Philley had tried to comfort Remus but he brushed her off. He preferred sitting beside Cassi at the kitchen table sharing blank faces and empty eyes.
He simply could not believe it.
Sirius was gone. He was gone again. This disappearance was worst than the last time. There was no veil in the department of mysteries to claim his brother. He simply vanished. There was no logical explanation.
Gabriel tried to offer the pair comforting words. They did not want to be comforted. They wanted Sirius Black.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I told you we should not have allowed him to go back sister."
"Shut up brother. He deserved the right to go back."
"He's here. Let's greet him."
The brother and sister went to greet their guest. Before them stood a very angry Sirius Black with blood caked upon his forearm and dirt in his hair, proof of his recent activities.
"What the hell am I doing back here?" Sirius demanded. There was foam at the corners of his mouth. He looked like a dog with Rabies. Everyone knows its bad to upset a dog with Rabies.
"Nice of you to join us again Mr. Black. We have missed you." The little girl with waist length white hair replied. She appeared around ten years old. It was a deceitful appearance.
"You have been naughty while you were out, causing so much turmoil." The little boy with spiky white hair replied. He also had the appearance of a ten year old.
"I followed your damn rules. I didn't reveal my form to my master for exactly four months. I have NOT contacted Harry. What the hell else do you want from me?" Sirius was pretty pissed. Normally his language wasn't so vulgar, but he was angry beyond comprehension. "Do you little twerps have any idea what I have gone through in these past few months?"
"Actually we know exactly what you have gone through in these past few months. You have proven to be more active than what we had anticipated." The boy answered.
"We had only intended to give you a few months time to enjoy life since you had been stripped of it's pleasures so long ago. We had not intended you to challenge the leader of one of the American wolf tribes and win." The girl answered.
"Look, I know you two are the guardians of the veil, or whatever. I think I have proven myself worthy of life. I was finally happy." He answered quietly, so quietly that if the two youth were not supernatural beings they would not have heard.
"I told you he was going to do the guilt trip."
"Shut up." The girl told her brother. "I guess you have proven that you deserve life. You probably deserve it more than most." She thought for a moment placing her chin in her hand. "Okay. We'll let you live again."
"Yes!!" Sirius practically jumped into the air in his newfound glee. But that would be a very-unSirius like thing to do, so he did not and kept his composure instead. "I would like permission to contact my godson as well."
"Very well. He would probably find out on his own anyway." The boy answered bored with the situation now that his sister wouldn't let him kill the wizard.
"Can I go back now?"
"No. You must wait one week's time." The girl answered.
"But, I'll miss Cassiopeia's graduation!"
"We can not repair your body for the physical plane until such time. We had not anticipated on returning you to that plane of existence."
"Sister you're getting horrible at anticipating things."
"Shut up brother. Sirius, I will allow you to return the night of her graduation. That way you can greet her at her apartment during the celebration. Does this suite you?"
Sirius nodded. He would be given a second chance again. Or maybe this was his third chance if you could his escape from Azkaban.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A few days had passed. Cassiopeia had completed her final examinations and had subsequently locked herself up in her research lab. She hadn't spoken to anyone since Sirius' disappearance.
Remus stayed in America with her because he too felt her loss. He couldn't return to the Order. Most did not know that Sirius had been found only to be lost again. He needed to share his grief with someone who would understand.
However, Cassi wasn't talking to anyone. So he decided to contact someone from the Order who knew. He returned to Cassi's apartment and went to the fireplace to communicate.
He waved his wand and chanted the spell half-heartedly. Bill appeared before him from the other end of the fire.
"Hey Remus! Any new developments? Snape told us that the wolves were all under the leadership of Gabriel. He didn't know exactly what happened to Luther though."
"I don't really want to talk about it, Bill. Is Tonks there?"
"Yeah. Hold on." Bill disspeared from the flames. Remus stared at them with unblinking, emotionless eyes.
"Remus?"
"Tonks. Do you think you could spare some time?"
"Of course. I'll be right there."
It was only a few moments later that Tonks apparated. It seemed like a millennia to Remus. One had no sense of time when in such a depression.
"Tell me what happened."
Remus told Tonks everything. She grieved for the loss of her cousin again, but remained strong and stoic for his sake. He needed someone to understand, but not one to pity.
Over the next few days, Remus and Tonks had grown very close. Every day they went to the lab and brought Cassiopeia food. She would have starved if they had not. Still she refused to talk to anyone.
They had about given up that day. They had dropped off her meal and were about to leave when she burst out the door and hugged the two of them fiercely.
"I did it! I did it!" She shouted with passion and glee to the two stunned magical people before her.
"What did you do?" Remus asked carefully.
"The serum! I figured it out! We are no longer cursed Remus! We can control our transformations the same as natural werewolves." She smiled that radiant smile that the world had missed so dearly for the past few days.
"Tell me about this serum? I don't think I know anything about it." Tonks replied trying to get the newly not so mute girl to speak some more.
"Well this serum will allow werewolves like Remus and me to transform when we want. We can control our transformations the same as native werewolves can. No longer will we lose our minds in our wolf forms. It does not cure the infection per say. If I was to find a way to alter the actual infection it could kill us.
The infection has increased our life spans and to completely remove it could result in our immediate demise due to shock. But, now we can transform without risking brutal consequences."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
TBC