Chapter Ten

Some of the pack members had gone hunting and found some of the non-magical animals that lived in the forest. "I suppose we've got enough for the two of you," Quinlan said, with a distinct lack of graciousness.

"Gee, thanks," Sirius said dryly.

Still, although they were allowed food, they were definitely shunned by the rest of the pack. They ate sitting in a circle, in which Remus and Sirius were not included. Remus sat with his back against a tree, giving the circle a wistful look. He barely touched his food.

"Moony, eat something," Sirius said.

"I'm not hungry," Remus said absently.

"You're never hungry," Sirius said. "And the more upset you are, the less you eat, which just makes you irrational, which makes you get more upset."

Remus blinked at him for a minute, ate a few mouthfuls, and then went back to staring moodily at the werewolves.

"Do you want to ask to join the circle?" Sirius asked impatiently. "Because if we actually asked, they'd probably let us."

Remus looked at him like he was either crazy or high. "If they wanted us there, they would have made room for us. If we ask, we'll look like we're imposing. They'll either say no, or let us in without wanting us there. I'd rather sit here in my corner, thank you."

"All right," Sirius said, kissing him on the side of the face. "When this is over, we need a vacation."

Remus smiled slightly. "I thought this was supposed to be yours."

"It's hardly working out that way," Sirius pointed out. "Let's take Harry with us, too."

"Sure," Remus said. "We can be one big happy family."

Sirius tried to figure out if Remus was being sarcastic or not. "Well, that's hopefully the plan, yes."

Remus didn't have a chance to reply, because one of the other werewolves came over. He was almost as well-muscled and tall as Quinlan, and was fairly obviously high in pack dominance. "Do you need something?" Remus asked quietly, not looking at him.

"Yeah," the werewolf said. "You know, Quinlan's only letting you stay because you're his brother. The rest of us want you to get the hell out."

Remus gave Sirius a look that was somewhere between amusement and hopelessness. "See? Told you."

Sirius looked up at the werewolf. "It's too bad his brother's in charge, isn't it."

The werewolf snarled at him. "Quinlan's a good leader. He's just a little short-sighted on some family matters. A lot of us think it'd be best if we just made this decision for him."

"I don't think it works that way," Sirius said.

"He can punish us for killing you," the werewolf replied. "But he can't stop us."

"So what are you going to do, gang up on us?" Sirius asked. He was neither afraid nor impressed. "Show us how manly you are?"

"Oh, yeah," the werewolf said. "Like it would take more than one of us to deal with both of you. You look like you haven't eaten in weeks, and we all know how pathetic Remus is from the last time he was here."

Sirius glared up at him. "Shut up," he said. "Before you regret the next thing that comes out of your mouth."

The werewolf laughed derisively. "Oh, so you're his great protector? Remus, you're a werewolf, and you have to have someone fight your battles for you?"

Remus just looked away, obviously not considering the taunt worth his time.

"I'm not fighting his battles," Sirius said, standing up. "I'm fighting mine. I don't like you insulting him."

"So what? We don't like you being here."

"Gee, I hadn't noticed."

"If you're so big on protecting your little boyfriend, maybe you'd better convince him to get out before we rip you both to pieces."

Sirius drew back a fist and punched the werewolf squarely in the jaw. He reeled backwards, then leapt on top of Sirius, sending them both crashing to the ground. They rolled a few times, and Sirius tried to bang his head into the ground, but the werewolf was bigger and stronger. He managed to pin Sirius firmly to the ground.

"Told you that you wouldn't be able to beat me," the werewolf taunted, his hands tightening on Sirius' throat.

"Sirius!" Remus got to his feet, noting how violent the fight had become.

Sirius shifted into his Animagus form and leapt for the werewolf's throat, snarling. He had the wolf pinned within instants, and sank his teeth into his arm when he tried to protect his throat.

"SIRIUS!" Remus yelled. "STOP!"

There was no answer but snarls, and the snap as the werewolf's arm broke.

Remus grabbed Sirius by the back of the neck and hauled him off of the werewolf, who was now swearing up a blue streak. Sirius turned and snapped at Remus, who stumbled backwards and fell heavily onto the ground. At that, Sirius realized who he had just snapped at and cringed backwards, whining in the back of his throat.

"Shift," Remus said quietly.

Sirius gave his head a shake.

"Sirius, it's all right." Remus reached out and smoothed his fur. "It's all right. You can change. I won't let them hurt you."

Sirius shifted back to human form, hugging Remus around the waist. "Oh God, I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't see that it was you."

"It's all right," Remus repeated.

"It's not all right!" one of the other werewolves shouted, bending over the werewolf that Sirius had bitten.

Remus looked up. "Unless you want a repeat of what just happened," he said coldly, "I suggest that you shut the hell up. I don't think I can control him if he shifts again."

The werewolves backed away, looking at Sirius nervously. A few of them helped the injured werewolf to his feet.

"Impressive," Quinlan drawled, once the others had left. "I knew there was something strange about you, Sirius Black."

Sirius gave him a look, still hugging Remus.

"So," Quinlan said. "Brains and brawn. A good pair."

"Too bad you only possess the half yourself," Remus snapped, not in the mood to be taunted by his brother. "You might want to tell your wolves that threatening Sirius isn't a good idea. He tends to get violent when he's in danger."

"I noticed," Quinlan said. "I also noticed that you seem to hold his leash."

Sirius glared up at him.

Remus shot to his feet, backing Quinlan into a nearby tree. "Shut. Up," he said. "You haven't a clue what I've lived through or anything that Sirius has been through. When you understand that, then you can judge us and our relationship. Until then, you can stay the hell away from the both of us, and unless you want your wolves to have their throats torn out, they can do the same. Unlike us, Sirius can shift whenever the mood strikes him, so I would highly suggest that you try to not piss him off. Maybe I can control him, but that doesn't mean I always try."

Quinlan raised an eyebrow. "Feisty today," he mentioned, elbowed his way past his brother, and stalked out of sight.

Remus sat down with a thud.

Sirius went over and hugged him properly. "Well, that just went terribly, and I'm not sure how," he said.

"Maybe because these people are barbaric?" Remus snapped.

"I think I'd go more with . . . arrogant gits," Sirius said. "They think that just because they have teeth, we don't."

Remus sighed. "Quinlan is going to make me pay for that little diatribe, though."

"I'm not sure if I can help you settle things with your brother," Sirius admitted, "but I'll be damned if anyone else is going to get near you."

Remus just sighed again and leaned against him. "Thank you."

****

The night passed without further incident, for which Sirius and Remus were both profoundly grateful. The next morning, Quinlan seemed slightly more disposed to not being a complete asshole, though not by much. Sirius and Remus were invited, although not very graciously, to join the pack for breakfast.

After breakfast, Remus noticed a group of children watching him with curiosity. As the adults drifted away to their daily work, the bravest of them approached him. "Are you a wizard?" he asked.

"Yes," Remus said, aware of Sirius watching him from a few feet away. Sirius thought that Remus was adorable with children. "You could be one too, if you wanted."

"I could?" the boy asked. Remus gave him a quick look, gauging his age of about eleven or twelve. He had another boy behind him, as well as a group of younger children. "What about Thomas?" He tugged his brother up to stand beside him.

Sirius blinked at them, noting both that Thomas and the other boy were twins, and that they did share quite a few features with Quinlan and Remus. He also noticed that Remus seemed oblivious to this fact.

"Thomas has magic as well," Remus said, with a slight nod. "Many of you do. Werewolves are magical creatures."

"Daddy says that wizards are bad," a girl who could not have been more than six years old spoke up, gazing up at Remus with wide eyes.

"Your daddy hasn't known many good wizards, then," Remus said. "Wizards are just like people -- just like werewolves. Some of them are good, and some of them are bad. But it's not fair that none of you will get the chance to learn to use your magic."

"Can we see some magic?" the first twin asked eagerly.

Remus smiled at him. "What's your name?"

"Timothy. I want to see some magic."

Remus laughed. "All right." He took his wand out of his pocket and shot some sparks up into the air. The children oohed and aahed appropriately.

"But that's not very useful magic," Thomas spoke up for the first time, looking at Remus seriously. "I want to see some useful magic."

"All right," Remus said mildly. He waved his wand briefly and conjured up some candy, handing a piece to each of the enthusiastic children. Thomas accepted the candy and sucked on it with a thoughtful expression.

"It's good," he finally said.

"Don't be such a dork," his brother said, elbowing him. "You don't need to be so . . . so . . . spectacle all the time."

Remus coughed. "I think you mean skeptical."

"Yeah, whatever," Timothy said. "Make s'more candy."

Sirius watched in amusement for a few more minutes while Remus demonstrated some basic magic, then saw Quinlan watching from the side of the clearing. The werewolf was leaning against a tree and watching the children with an expression that was an odd combination of amusement, anger, and longing.

Sirius stood, touched Remus briefly on the shoulder, and wandered over towards Quinlan. He leaned against a tree a few feet away for a few seconds, making sure that Quinlan knew he was there and didn't mind, before speaking. "Is it me or do the little ringleaders look an awful lot like you and Remus?"

Quinlan raised an eyebrow. "What about it?"

"Oh, I'm just trying to gauge how much Remus is going to gush later about having nephews," Sirius said, slightly amused. "Although he does seem a bit oblivious."

"Well, they're not exactly the spitting image," Quinlan said dryly. "They do take after their mother."

"I can see some differences," Sirius agreed. "Have I met the lady in question?"

"No," Quinlan said. "She's dead."

"Oh," Sirius said. "I'm sorry."

Quinlan turned to him with a slightly strange expression. "You were dead."

Sirius nodded. "It was very unusual circumstances."

"I take it that Remus brought you back?"

"At great risk to himself. Yes."

There was a long silence. When Quinlan spoke again, his voice had taken on an almost wistful tone. "That's the only thing in my entire life that's ever made me wish I had become a wizard. Thinking that I might have been able to save her."

"To my knowledge," Sirius said, "I'm the only person that's ever been dead and gone, and has come back. And that was due to the circumstances of my death."

"Still," Quinlan said thoughtfully, "my brother must love you more than life itself. It's interesting."

"Why is that interesting?" Sirius asked.

"Well, he is my brother," Quinlan said dryly, "and I haven't seen him for twenty years. Just about anything that I can find out about his life strikes me as interesting. And still, it's good to know that he hasn't been alone the whole time."

Sirius winced slightly. Quinlan raised an eyebrow at him. "Not only am I the first one to ever come back from the dead, I'm the first to ever escape from Azkaban," Sirius told him, trying to keep his tone light. "That took a large chunk of my life."

"Ah," Quinlan said. "So that's why you said Remus'd had a rough couple decades."

"Part of it, yeah."

"And here I thought you had taken care of him." Quinlan didn't sound angry. On the contrary; he sounded rather amused.

"Yes, well, kindly don't rub it in that I couldn't," Sirius said, trying to not get irritated. There were few things that pained him as much as the years of separation from Remus.

"I just think it's interesting," Quinlan said defensively. "You're the one who asked why. But after being away from him so many years, he still cared enough to bring you back to life. It's rather amazing."

"Are you being a gigantic ponce on purpose?" Sirius asked. "Or does it come naturally to you?"

"Both, actually," Quinlan said.

"Do you think we could have a conversation without you trying to tear my heart out, please?" Sirius asked.

Quinlan wasn't listening. He was staring rather fixedly at Remus and the children. "What's that idiot doing now?" he snarled, and stalked across the clearing. Remus had given his wand to Timothy and was helping him shoot sparks out of it.

Sirius hastened to catch up with Quinlan. "He's not going to hurt anyone," he said. "Remus is a competent teacher."

"I'm not worried about them, I'm worried about him," Quinlan snarled, and there was real fear in his eyes. "If one of the others catches him teaching the children magic, he'll be torn apart before he can as much explain his idealistic bullshit to them."

"It's not really bullshit, you know," Sirius said, although he stopped trying to slow Quinlan down. "I'm surprised none of them have been doing magic by accident."

"That's different," Quinlan said impatiently. "They can't control that, so it's forgiven." He reached the circle and loomed imperiously over all the children. "Go home," he said brusquely. "Your parents are looking for you."

Sirius glared at Quinlan. Remus just looked startled. The children groaned in disappointment, but got up and wandered away. Thomas and Timothy remained, looking interestedly between their father and newfound uncle.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Remus asked angrily, getting to his feet. "I wasn't doing any harm."

"Do you even realize what would have happened to you if anyone else had caught you?" Quinlan asked, his voice strained with fury. "Why d'you think I was standing over there watching you? To make sure you didn't try exactly this. Werewolves hate wizards, now will you get that into your head?"

"You could have explained to him," Sirius interrupted.

"He ought to have known better," Quinlan said.

"I do know better," Remus said. "I just don't care." His lips twisted into a bitter smile. "Your sons could be very accomplished wizards, you know. Especially Thomas."

"That's not the point," Quinlan snarled.

"Maybe we shouldn't have this discussion right in front of them?" Sirius suggested.

They both glared at him momentarily, then Quinlan turned to his sons. "Meet your uncle Remus," he said dryly. "Now go home."

"I don't want to," Timothy said.

"Yeah," Thomas said. "We're having fun watching you and uncle Remus fight over us."

"Kids," Quinlan said through ground teeth, "go. Home. And if I catch either of you doing magic, because I see that gleam in your eyes, then I will personally string you up by your toes."

Pouting, Thomas and Timothy wandered off.

"You didn't have any right," Quinlan said, although it was in a slightly lower voice than before. "And you're going to get yourself killed. The pack is leaving you alone through my sufferance. Now you've got a dozen kids who are all going to go home and say 'guess what I learned today?' and I'm going to have a dozen sets of parents asking me to kick you out or let them kill you. They already dislike you. Why do you need to make it worse?"

"Those children deserve a chance," Remus said heatedly. "Out of that dozen, I saw nine who could become wizards. We got a chance, even if you decided to not take it. Why should it be any different for them?"

"Even if the teachers and your precious Dumbledore agreed, their parents never will," Quinlan said. "Try werewolves with regular parents and there you might have some luck, but in this pack? It'll never happen."

"What this pack does, the other packs follow," Remus said. "Why the hell do you think we're here?"

Quinlan went very still.

Sirius sat down. "Oh my God."

"Quin, I -- I didn't mean that," Remus stammered.

"Yes, you did," Quinlan said quietly. "I was a fool to try to convince myself that you had actually come to see me. You came because you needed something from us. I tried to ignore that." He shrugged a little. "Fine, teach the kids all the magic you want. I can't stop you. Just be aware of the consequences."

He turned to walk away.

Remus swore viciously and kicked a nearby tree.

"I'll talk to him later," Sirius said quietly.

"Great," Remus snapped. "You can go play mediator between my brother and I since we're too stupid to just get along like most twins do."

"You are far too much alike," Sirius pointed out. "But not quite exactly the same, which is, I think, the problem."

Remus sighed and slumped against the tree.

"Can I assume it wasn't your brother that you were avoiding?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Remus said miserably. "Mostly, it was the pack, but he's part of the pack, now. He disdains me the same way the rest of them do. And maybe he's even right to do it. I just don't know anymore."

"Don't be an idiot."

Remus just looked at him.

"Most of their issue with you is that you're a wizard. Hey, let's teach the children another prejudice," Sirius said dryly. "That's just as bad as teaching the wizards that all the werewolves are evil."

"Their issue with me is that I chose to be a wizard over being a werewolf," Remus said. "It's different."

"No, it isn't," Sirius said. "If they didn't have a prejudice against wizards, you can be both."

"Yes, well," Remus said with a sigh, "wizards haven't exactly treated them well over the centuries, you know."

"I never said they did. But the way to fix it isn't happening here."

"It was stupid of me to think that I could end generations of prejudice just by shooting a few sparks for the children and handing out candies," Remus said bitterly. "I should have known better."

"What you were doing was fine," Sirius insisted. "It was working. It's their parents that are the problem. Just like it was working when you taught at Hogwarts."

Remus sighed and stood. "I'm going to go for a walk," he announced abruptly.

"Will you be all right?" Sirius asked, giving him a close look.

"Yeah. I just . . . I just want to be by myself for a while."

"All right."

****

Sirius glanced around the clearing. He was obviously surrounded by idiots. Given that Quinlan had merely stormed off, whereas Remus had expressly said he wanted to be alone for a while, he figured he would have a better chance at talking sense into the former twin.

He shifted into Padfoot and sniffed, following Quinlan's trail away from the small village. He had gone deep into the forest; it took Sirius the better part of a half hour to track him down. He was pacing angrily back and forth, tossing a rock from one hand to the other.

Sirius sat back on his haunches and watched him pace. He trusted Padfoot's instincts better than his own to tell him when to step in.

Still, after five minutes, watching Quinlan pace got very boring.

Eventually, he shifted back to his human form. "You'll have to forgive him," he said. "Moony can be quite the idiot sometimes."

Quinlan snarled something unintelligible and whipped the rock at his head.

Sirius ducked and it went over his head, hitting a tree behind him and smashing. "That would've taken my God damned head off," he said, sounding indignant.

"You noticed," Quinlan growled.

"Indeed," Sirius said. "But really, he is an idiot. I love him, but he's stupid sometimes."

"Thank you for those stunning words of comfort," Quinlan said coldly. "Go away."

"My point is that you shouldn't precisely take it to heart," Sirius said, trying to keep his patience.

"Oh, no, why would I?" Quinlan asked, his voice dripping sarcasm. "He as much said that he didn't come here to see me. Why would he ever want to see me? He made it very clear when we were children that he wanted nothing to do with me. I was the stupid one, for thinking that might have changed. His coming here had nothing to do with me."

"You know what your problem is?" Sirius asked brightly. "You two are far too much alike."

"Well, thank you for that revelation," Quinlan snapped. "I know that. He's the one who doesn't."

"Given that you can be irrational, maybe you should take it into account that he can be too, and not take it so personally," Sirius pointed out, hoping that Quinlan didn't throw any more rocks at his head. He might have to throw it back.

"Whyever should I take him not wanting to ever see me again personally?" Quinlan asked. "I can't imagine."

"Because it's not about you!" Sirius half-shouted. "He scares the shit out of himself, and you remind him of that. But it's not you."

"It is me," Quinlan said. "It's all of us. It's everything I stand for and everything I am. Yes, he scares himself, and yes, I remind him of that. But that's not why he doesn't want to see me. He doesn't want that because I'm the one who accepted what we are -- something he could never do. He thinks that I'm better than he is."

"And letting him drive you away is certainly not the way to ever make him comfortable with himself," Sirius said. "You have more of a chance at getting through to him than the rest of us could ever hope to."

"More," Quinlan said, "and less. Because he already rejected me, which means that it's past and it's done. I had my chance already."

"I don't think he rejected you. I think he tried to reject the werewolf. His own."

"Came to the same thing in the end," Quinlan said gloomily.

"No, it doesn't," Sirius said. "Sometimes semantics are important."

"Sirius," Quinlan said, with a distinct lack of patience, "you just said that I was the one with the chance to get through to him and make him accept himself. Therefore rejecting the werewolf and rejecting me is the exact same thing, by what you just said, thirty seconds ago. All right? Now leave me alone."

"Congratulations!" Sirius declared. "You've successfully given Remus exactly what he wants, which is exactly what he shouldn't have; the worst possible thing for him! And you've fallen victim to his most successful weapon -- outstubborning the enemy. I thought maybe you could outlast him, or at least pull even, but I guess I was wrong."

Quinlan gave him a cold stare. "You know nothing about me. And if that's what you think, then you know nothing about Remus, too."

"Enlighten me. Please." Sirius had had enough of listening to their stupidity. He was now on a mission.

"I don't think I shall," Quinlan said. He turned and continued to walk into the forest.

"Oh, go on," Sirius said. "Keep whingeing on in self-pity."

Sirius was a bit startled when, a few seconds later, he found himself pinned to the ground by two hundred pounds of angry werewolf. Said angry werewolf was also punching him across the face. "Don't you ever say that I indulge in self-pity," Quinlan snarled, holding him by the front of the shirt and shaking him. "I pulled myself together. I run this pack. Remus is the one who's spent the last twenty years indulging himself. Don't you dare talk that way about me."

"And you're just going to keep letting him do that to himself, all the while going off about how he's not going to listen?" Sirius asked. "He's not going to listen and he doesn't want me and I'll just go this way now."

Quinlan went to hit him again. Sirius grabbed him by the wrist and they struggled for a few seconds. Quinlan's superior muscles won out, and he punched Sirius squarely in the jaw. Sirius made a muffled noise of pain. "And what right do you have to even step in?" Quinlan asked. "This is between him and myself. Stay out of it."

"If it was between the two of you, you'd be taking care of it."

"It's as taken care of as it's going to get," Quinlan said. "He's a guest of the pack at my behest. At the end of his month's stay, he'll be leaving to go back to his great quest, and after that I somehow doubt that we'll ever cross paths again. There's nothing to take care of."

"Do you know why he got so angry and said those nasty things to you?" Sirius asked.

"No," Quinlan said, and stood up abruptly. "And I don't care." He started back into the forest.

"It's because he was teaching those children something he loves and something he believes in," Sirius called after him. "And you just told him that it wasn't allowed and he wasn't good enough, just like the Ministry."

Quinlan stopped and half turned. "It's no more than he deserves," he said quietly. "If he wants to reject me, I can reject him as well. Fair's fair."

"I don't believe in being fair," Sirius said sharply. "And I don't care if you believe in being fair. For once, someone's going to do what's right."

"Fine," Quinlan said. "Just fine. I'll make a deal with you. If you can convince him to accept his wolf, then he can teach the children whatever the deuce magic he wants."

"That's entirely fair, except for the fact that Remus will want to teach the children beforehand. Let him teach them small, harmless things."

"There's no such thing as harmless magic among werewolves," Quinlan said. "What Remus wants to do isn't part of the bargain. It's your problem; deal with it."

"Oh, you say that like I can control him."

Quinlan smiled. "He seems to control you rather well. You telling me it doesn't go both ways?"

"I'm telling you that I know who the pack leader is," Sirius said.

"Ah, but a good pack leader will defer to suggestions from those underneath him, as long as those suggestions are sensible."

"Sometimes he does," Sirius said. "Though I'm usually far from sensible."

"Then I advise that you see what you can do," Quinlan said. He turned and started walking again, although this time he was heading back in the general direction of the village.

Sirius flopped backwards and stared up at the sky. He had a headache.

****

Remus wandered back to the village about an hour after Sirius got back. He looked extremely worn out and dejected. Sirius bounded up to his side in Padfoot form and licked his hand.

"Silly Padfoot," Remus said fondly, scratching behind his ears.

Sirius barked, making several of the werewolves look up in confusion. Then he ran off to find a stick and came loping back to Remus' side with a stupid dog grin on his face. It was always so much easier to be happy when he was Padfoot. It was also easier to make other people happy.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "You want to play fetch?" he asked skeptically.

Sirius nodded and shoved the stick at Remus' hand.

"You're a fool, Padfoot," Remus said.

Sirius rolled onto his back and laughed at Remus, who knelt by his side and rubbed his stomach. "A complete and total fool," he added, but he took the stick and tossed it across the clearing.

Sirius shot after it, gathering many an amused snort from the werewolves who were watching. He had long ago decided that playing fetch was simply a dog instinct and shouldn't be denied. Remus put up with this behavior, mostly because he privately found it very funny.

They continued to play fetch for several minutes, until Remus appeared to be in a slightly better mood. Then Sirius got bored and bounded over to Remus, knocking him down and licking at his face.

"Ack -- get off -- you stupid oaf -- " Remus pushed at his head, laughing. This had absolutely no effect on Sirius whatsoever. "You're a nutter," Remus protested. Sirius nodded and licked his face again. He got hold of Remus' sleeve and started tugging at it.

"Where do you want to go now?" Remus asked, in a tone of exasperated fondness.

Tug. Tug. Remus allowed himself to be pulled to his feet and was subsequently tugged towards the small tent they had been using. "Oh, that's where you want to go," Remus said with a laugh. Sirius got behind him and started to nudge at him, pushing him forwards.

"You're just trying to distract me from what happened earlier," Remus accused.

Sirius growled and gave him a more definite nudge forward.

"Ask nicely," Remus teased.

Sirius tugged on his sleeve again, whining in the back of his throat. Remus snorted with laughter and allowed himself to be tugged into the tent while some of the werewolves watched in interest. Sirius immediately shifted back into human form and tied the tent shut. Then he turned around and latched onto Remus, knocking him to the floor again.

"You're much too enthusiastic," Remus told him, amused.

"You can never have too much enthusiasm."

Remus grinned. "Now that's the Sirius I remember."

****