Silver Blood
Chapter 7: The Spread of Darkness
The bright yellow, pink and dark blue colors blended together brightly. It was almost as beautiful as looking up at a full moon during the night, but more so. The sun had a bit of a cheerful glow while the moon glowed solemnly. Remus' thoughts drifted off while watching the beautiful sky turn colors as the sun got ready to set. It was almost evening time now and still no word from Dumbledore. Sirius would most likely be meeting him shortly. He tried to concentrate on what he would tell Sirius, but his mind was drifting into unreasonable and very random thoughts about the day and the night, which mean only one thing: A full moon was due soon.
Remus sighed and sat down on the edge of his desk wondering, not for the first time, why life was so complicated. As if living a normal life and making choices wasn't hard enough, life had to throw complications right in your face. His life before teaching at Hogwarts wasn't the best, but it was peaceful enough. He mostly lived on his own, except for the few friends he kept in touch with from his earlier days. Most people feared him, because of his second being during the full moon. Those that didn't know were just neutral. He had come to Hogwarts because he loved teaching and even from the nighttime experiences of hunting and running from bigger creatures and "wizard hunters", he learned a lot about the dark arts. Maybe because part of him classified under the dark arts he learned to take interest in it, but no matter how it came to be, he loved Hogwarts.
He also knew that Harry was at Hogwarts and wanted to see, for the first time in a long time, James' son growing up. To see how he handled his other relatives, his famous life and other sorts. Growing up in the muggle world without realization of the other half of him was bound to be hard, but it had turned out much more complicated than Remus first thought. Not only had Harry just learned about his family history, he had to fight it too. He was right in saying trouble always found him, and Ron and Hermione would jump in head first without realizing exactly what they were doing.
Remus jumped when a hard knocking interrupted his thoughts. He turned from the window wondering what possessed him to think back and everything and question life. Most likely it was his werewolf half.
"Come in Sirius," Remus said, knowing it was his friend...by smell unfortunately. Usually the night, or couple nights, before the full moon Remus' senses magnified letting him feel, taste, smell and see what he couldn't before. But they weren't always the friendliest feelings. He had learned to control his hunger for meat, which he usually got cravings for steak, chicken, lamb and all sorts of meat foods right before the full moon as well. Still, he couldn't control the new emotions and experiences right before his transformation, although back when he ran amuck as a werewolf, without Snape's potion making sure he didn't hurt anyone, he never clearly remembered what he did.
The door opened as Remus' thoughts continued on thinking back farther and farther into the past. Sirius stepped inside and saw the glazed, far-away look Remus was giving him and closed the door. He took a few steps forward and smiled slightly.
"Is it time again?"
Remus blinked out of his daze and shook his head. "Not yet, but soon, very soon. I'm hoping Dumbledore will send some word to us soon, I'll have to have Snape make more of the potion."
Sirius folded his arms, "You mean that the potion's all ready gone?"
Remus nodded, "Almost, there's not enough for another dose unfortunately. They've been gone some time and Snape made the potion from at least three months ago. It's lasted quite a while thankfully, but lately there have been more full moons. I'm not sure that's a good sign, Sirius. In fact...it seems like there are more and more bad signs."
Sirius looked at him with a grim expression. "Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? Do you sense something Moony?"
Remus let a small smile show. He remembered when he had gone to school with James and Sirius. Right before a full moon Remus got strange feelings, almost intuitions. He could usually tell how people were feeling and when something bad was happening. Usually the weather would give him the strange feelings. When the wind felt sad and howled a soft, sad tune something tragic was going to happen. When the wind howled angrily something bad was going to happen. And when the wind was warm and calm it was usually a good day...
"Remus, are you all right?"
Remus' eyes came back into focus and he saw that Sirius had his hands on his shoulders and was shaking him back to reality.
"Sorry, Padfoot. It gets harder to control in the night. I'm afraid the full moon is only a night or two away."
Sirius nodded solemnly and removed his hands from his friend's shoulders. The two of them remained in silence for a few minutes, wondering where to start the conversation. Sirius knew he had to start somewhere quickly before Remus' mind wandered off again.
"So...did you want to talk to me about something?"
For a minute, Remus remained quiet and Sirius thought he had drifted off again until he looked up. "I'm worried Sirius. There are bad signs everywhere now, I'm sure of it. It's not just my werewolf instincts either, I know there's something more to it. It's not for the same reasons as when we were kids; no girl is going to accidentally slip into the water, or no student will follow a fake unicorn into the Forbidden Forest...This is different Sirius. I'm not sure what it is though, I've never felt it before."
Sirius was looking down as Remus talked, trying to make sense of what Remus said. It was hard to understand his friend's feelings since he had no idea what it felt like, but he trusted him. If Remus, and Moony, were worried then something bad was most likely going to happen. But Remus could always figure out if it was something tragic, or an accident, or what, but if he couldn't figure out what he was feeling then that was definitely not a good sign.
"Are you sure it's not just a feeling of becoming a werewolf after a while. The last several times you took the medicine early so you barely even had any of these weird feelings, but it's all ready almost time and you haven't taken any yet. Are you sure it's not just the effects of not taking the medicine before these feelings take over?" Sirius asked quietly, leaning against the desk.
Remus looked thoughtfully at him and shook his head. "I'm not sure Sirius. I really wish I knew. That's definitely a possibility, but it just feels so...so strong like I'm...I don't know, sure of myself I guess. I usually trust my instincts, but you're right. What if these aren't my instincts but just effects of withdrawal from the potion?"
"I guess we won't know until the full moon comes, but it's better to be safe than sorry. We should watch out for any bad omens, maybe tell the Ministry to make sure the guards at Azkaban are careful," Sirius voiced.
Remus nodded, "Yes, maybe that's a good idea. I just wish that Dumbledore was in easy reach. It makes me wonder about..."
"Harry?" Sirius asked, all ready thinking the same thing. He had been worrying about Harry since the question of him guarding Fudge even came up.
"Yes, I'm suddenly not having a good feeling. I know that the Ministry is a safe building, so he should be fine, but all these bad signs...I don't know."
"Possibly signs of revolts from Death Eaters, or possibly a new Dark Lord," Sirius muttered.
"Actually yes," Remus said straightening up and walking toward the window. "What if the reason Dumbledore still hasn't come back from the meeting, and that Harry was the only one the Ministry could turn to. What if they're signs that something's coming, or that something's going to happen. It's possible, Sirius. Even with Voldemort gone there's still evil out there waiting to take his place."
"I know. That's why over the past many years the biggest problem was always him. Once he's taken care of other problems arise. But, if that pattern is true, then why hasn't any other dark creature or evil taken over yet?" Sirius asked, looking at the back of Remus.
"I'm not sure, Sirius. Maybe because Voldemort isn't dead, because he can't die, but is instead trapped in eternal slumber. That might mean that he was our biggest problem to worry about. However, with his body still in tact, though asleep, if any Death Eaters got loose into the Ministry who knows if they could figure out how to wake him up. That's all Harry needs is another encounter with his arch enemy," Remus said, turning around to face him. "He still has enough problems with Draco and his father."
"Lucius," Sirius hissed with bitter hatred. "I almost forgot about him. Has he weaseled his way out of Azkaban yet?"
"Not to my knowledge, but knowing him it won't take long. His family is constantly being watched by aurors, and he knows it. Until he gets proof of his innocence he won't be able to do anything, let alone free Voldemort from his chamber," Remus answered grimly.
Sirius sighed and rubbed his head. "What do we do?"
Remus leaned against the wall, thinking. "Well, I have been doing some thinking and maybe we could make a deal with the Ministry. If Dumbledore's meeting is delayed that would mean that Harry would have to stay over night at the Ministry and I'm sure he wouldn't be too happy about that. If we could possibly ask them to put any other auror there temporarily, until the meeting with the Giants was confirmed, then that would give Harry a break."
"Sounds good, unfortunately, too good to be true. The reason they picked Harry and not some other auror was that he was supposedly the only one strong enough to keep Fudge in his cell and not be hurt by his words."
Remus frowned, "Which makes me wonder what could scare Ministry officials that bad."
"Another bad omen?" Sirius asked, as if dreading the answer.
"Could be. We've just got to make sure we look for any other sign that might prove to be a danger to anyone, especially Harry. He's all ready been through hell and back, the last thing he needs is something else to break loose while he's watching Fudge."
Sirius nodded. "Yes, we should do that. I did stop by the Ministry though a few hours ago. It's locked up good with one of the strongest charms I know of. I guess the Ministry is smarter than they seem, they probably did it for Harry's protection. And probably so Fudge would have no chance of escaping. Fudge, I'm sure, is no problem for Harry, so as long as no one else can get in I feel safe."
"Me too. That takes some relief out of me," Remus said quietly. "I'm sure Professor McGonagall is almost done with the scheduling for next year. Perhaps we should go talk to her about Dumbledore."
Sirius nodded in agreement. "Good idea."
Remus slowly got up, feeling the strange tingling sensation in many of his limbs. Another sign that the full moon was definitely closing in. Luckily, that and the magnified feelings and constant daydreaming would be all for the time being.
XXXXX
Across many miles of land to the very top of a large, misty mountain was an invincible tower that reached 250 feet. The cold weather from the icy mountaintop was blocked out by a magical shield that was created by all the aurors to keep heat in while the meeting was in progress. No muggle could even survive trying to venture to the top of the mountain, even if they just wanted to climb it for fun. It was the coldest mountain in northern Europe by the Carpathian Mountains. There weren't too many mountains in Northern Europe, but it was the biggest mountain they could find. Plus, no muggles dared to venture up it, which made it an easier hide-out.
Dumbledore was seated in the middle of the left side of the long table with Snape right next to him. The other aurors, including Moody, were all around split up on the same side and across from him. There were some younger wizards standing up and two of the eldest in front giving speeches. They were the top assistants to the Minister Arthur Weasley, who was on vacation at the moment. The debate was whether or not to alert him of what was happening. They weren't quite sure if the situation was serious enough, however, Moody seemed to have very strong opinions on the subject.
"Objection!" he slammed his hand down right as one of the elder wizards started to explain that they should wait to alert Mr. Weasley until they were sure it was urgent.
A few wizards closest to Moody jumped. All of them seemed a bit intimidated by him. He had a very strong voice and had very...unique ways of solving situations. Dumbledore, however, didn't look the least surprised that he was against what they were saying.
"How can you people call your selves aurors? What kind of idiots run this world!" he snapped.
"Moody," the other elder wizard said a bit coolly, "if you have any opinions that help the subject at hand, please do voice them. Otherwise, don't criticize."
"Do you really think that waiting until the moment before a disaster happens is the best thing to do?" he asked loudly, using his magical eye to look at the other wizards, while keeping his eye on the two wizards up front, who cringed inwardly. "Don't you realize the moment that we turn our backs on this situation and decide to wait something will just happen?"
"I believe that's called paranoia," one auror said almost sarcastically. He was of course referring to how Moody was known to just shoot curses at anything that moved because of his experiences as an auror. However, he was very perceptive and had a thing for reading people's minds, or at least emotions.
Both of Moody's eyes settled on the auror almost diagonally across from him, giving him a stern look. "Oh really, paranoia eh? Well, we'll just see what happens to us all won't we? Hasn't there been enough proof that the darkness and evils of this world are more active than usual? Some have even gone so far as to go into the muggle world. How do you explain that?" he challenged.
"We understand that Moody," one of the elderly wizards up front stated calmly. "In fact, we were just about to explain everything about what has happened so far with the dark creatures of our world before we decide."
Moody leaned back in his chair, awaiting the news most likely so he could comment against whatever they said afterward. The auror who glared a bit at Moody also turned his attention to the front, most likely to counter whatever Moody was going to say. The meeting was, in the least, turning into a big debate and not going anywhere. Dumbledore realized this and didn't show it very much. Nor had he commented much. He was listening and thinking to himself. Mostly, he wanted the meeting to get done with. Having a meeting for so long and being away from the world and all the problems they were debating, was not the smartest thing at all. After the meeting cooled down he would have to ask Snape to go check on things.
"Now," the wizard continued. "As you will see in a second, it is true that the usual creatures that hide in the dark and feed off the night have been coming out more so than they used to."
The floating lights magically dimmed down as pictures found their way to the wall. Some of the aurors gasped at the sight, Moody just snorted and Dumbledore and Snape were unreadable. There, on the wall, was a picture of one of the most dangerous beasts in the Wizard World. The Nundu. It was a beast that somewhat resembled the muggle animal leopard, but its breath carried disease and death. Normally, it just stayed around the coast of East Africa, but, as shown in the picture flickering on the wall, it was blowing out a cloud of a blue almost dusty substance at a group of muggles. It was easy to tell the victims, or people, were muggles because few had a camera. None had ever seen a "leopard" with blue spots and completely black eyes that seemed to glint a blueish color when attacking. Also, muggles can't defend themselves so naturally they are immediately affected, but wizards, even without deflecting the attack, will take days to get symptoms. The muggles in the picture all ready had spots traveling on their skin.
Dumbledore's eyes dimmed unnoticed except by Snape at the unusual sight. The dark creatures and beasts, even though they were the most dangerous to wizards, never or rarely harmed muggles or even wizards for that fact. Only if their territory was being invaded and many knew enough not to go near any uninhabited areas.
"You see, this Nundu that usually spends its time hibernating or mating has found a way into the muggle world of North Africa. Not only that but it is firing an attack. As you all know Nundus by nature don't attack unless they are attacked first. These harmless muggles just wanted a picture and were at least five feet away. We still have no idea what has caused this beast to act the way it did," the wizard explained.
"There could be plenty of reasons," one auror interrupted. It was a female who was sitting near the back on Moody's side of the table. She was fairly young for an auror, but very watchful and intelligent, especially knowing about beasts and creatures. One of her jobs was to go and help other Ministry members capture or rid creatures from an area and she was quite good, from what he heard. She was one of the few half blood wizards that made up the Ministry. Although her eyes were cold and observant she was very kind. Dumbledore had only met her through a couple encounters of going to the Ministry. She was in fact the one that had caught Fudge in Voldemort's chamber and had paralyzed him. She, in a lot of ways, reminded him of Hermione. A very quick thinker.
The whole table of eyes had turned their attention on the young woman. "I admit this is very unusual for their behavior, but it's only this Nundu in the picture, or even maybe just one other, that is acting strangely. Unfortunately, you can't jump to any conclusions unless a whole pack from different areas is acting strange. That could mean a slight chance of a dark portal that has been opened, or possibly something strange in the atmosphere to make them act weird. We can assume they've gone crazy because of something bigger, or we can assume maybe they're angry or sick. We wouldn't know for sure," she explained.
Some aurors muttered amongst each other, several nodding in agreement. Moody partly glared at her, but also party glanced with a bit of admiration toward her. This woman, Alytena, was very strong for her age and who she was. It was hard being a woman, especially half blood, and doing near the top of the Ministry. She worked hard even years after her private school training in magic and had come to love the animals, good or bad, of the wizard world.
"That is a possibility," the old wizard said. "Are there any more comments?"
There was a murmur of whispers but that was all.
"Very well, we shall continue. Next there's a picture of Demiguise. As most of you all ready know this beast is able to become invincible, which is how it hides from us wizards and so that muggles can never see it— "
"Hold on," the auror, Drican, who sat diagonally across from Moody in a silent, subtle competition with him, interrupted. "I thought Demiguises were herbivorous beasts. Why does this picture show it eating a cat?"
The old wizard nodded. "Precisely right. It is an Herbivore. The only way these beasts could ever eat any bit of meat is if they are confused. And that takes either great dark magic, or at least a great dark presence to do so. They are getting even harder to track as well."
Snape, who had been quiet for most of the time, snorted. He knew that it was a bad sign to see this beast acting as it did, but he didn't particularly like this beast. Even though he had nothing personal against it. It was the fact that the long, fine silky, silvery hair on its body was spun into an invisibility cloak. And Snape knew too well just how frustrating invisibility cloaks were. Especially when students had them. Luckily, these beasts weren't very common in number, and if they were they were too hard to catch, hence why invisibility cloaks were so expensive. It wasn't a surprise that Harry had gotten one passed down to him.
"This beast is a classification number four," Alytena spoke up. There were five classes, at least in the beast range not counting creatures, that they ranged from. Five was the highest, which meant the most deadly or dangerous to wizards (which automatically meant a possible threat for muggles too).
"Yes, another good point," the other elderly wizard spoke up from remaining silent through the presentation. "But even so, this beast does not have such an aggressive nature to it. If it starts eating animals in our world, it could turn on humans. And then it could very well venture off to the muggle world, although that's a bit exaggerated."
Another set of rumors went around the table as many whispered either to themselves or neighbors. It was quite debatable whether or not this meant that the world was in danger, or that the animals were just acting strange temporarily because of the upcoming full moon.
"I still say there's a possibility that it's because they sense a full moon's arrival," Drican said stubbornly.
"Ha!" Moody snorted, earning a sharp glare from the young wizard. "We've had full moons before and that never made them forget what they ate."
"I agree with Moody," Alytena said. "To confuse a beast as strong as Demiguise results in a very strong force. Not necessarily dark magic, or even any magic, but at least a dark presence, or some type of evil force. Something strong enough to affect it."
"Yes, but it could also be a force the Demiguises have never felt before. If a new creature or animal is within their environment that could confuse them. After all, more new breeds and cross breeds are coming up nowadays than centuries ago," another auror spoke up.
The table broke out in chatter, even between those standing up. There were many possibilities, hence why they were deciding whether or not to alert Mr. Weasley. There was no reason to disturb his temporary break off from all his hard work with getting the world back on its feet if the beasts and creatures would be fine the next day. It was a hard decision, but they had to come to one.
"Settle down please!" The wizard up front yelled. The table quieted down and the voices lowered. "We want to show one more thing before we adjourn this meeting temporarily so you can talk amongst yourselves so we can have a vote on what to do." He waved his hand and yet another picture magically replaced the last one for the time being. "This is the most important, we think anyway. This is a Kappa. Another very rare, but highly ranked beast. The first water demon we've seen act strangely. For those of you who might not have studied very far on the rarest creatures or beasts this is not just a water demon, it's a Japanese water demon. It can only live in shallow ponds or rivers and has a hollow in the top of its head where water is stored, giving it energy.
"You might know that this high ranked water demon feeds on human blood, however, because of its special species of being Japanese if you trick it into bowing all the water will drain out and it will be instantly weakened," he explained. "Another way to defeat this demon is to throw it a cucumber with your name carved in it so that it won't eat you. It feels that's a fair trade, however, recently a couple of these rare demons have almost killed a couple wizards out East because it did not accept the cucumber. And believe me, from experience, it's very tricky to get it to bow."
Alytena shook her head with sorrow. Being an expert on demons and creatures of all sorts she knew this wasn't a good sign. Some others looked just as worried, but others were still unconvinced that it was a more than short-temporary problem.
"We would like you all to now discuss amongst yourselves, or just think it through. In about ten minutes we'll have a vote on if we should alert the Minister or not."
The moment he finished his sentence everyone began talking and discussing everything they had seen and heard. Dumbledore and Snape were the only ones who weren't talking to anyone. Moody, as usual, was especially loud, but that was no surprise. Snape finally turned toward Dumbledore, an unreadable expression on his face.
"What do you think of all this, Headmaster?"
Dumbledore sat in thought and took a deep breath. "In all my years I have never seen such creatures react so badly at the same time. This could possibly mean a new threat of creature, possibly a breed between the most vile and darkest creatures of our world, or something else."
"Something else? What else could there be?"
Slowly, Dumbledore turned to face him. "There are many evils of this world Severus. Some come in forms and species, others come just in the night wind and some only exist deep down inside us. But however there may be evil, animals good and evil can sense it. If any of the five ranked beasts or creatures start reacting, we'll know something very sinister is around us. Figuring it out, however, might be a challenge. Still, this world has just attained the peace it fought so hard to have long ago. Ever since Harry defeated Voldemort this world has looked to him like a savior and it has been saved. Peace cannot last forever, but destruction can't possibly come this fast, or in all the species at once," Dumbledore explained.
"I'll need you to go to Hogwarts and tell Minerva my arrival tonight might be delayed till morning. If the creatures and beasts are acting up, Remus might be in some trouble. You may have to also make him another cauldron of potion. If this bad omen comes only at night, this upcoming full moon could last a while."
Snape nodded and immediately got up to depart. He would have to apparate to the town nearby Hogwarts and fly the rest of the way there. He glanced once more at Dumbledore's tired and serious expression before disappearing.
TO BE CONTINUED...