Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter characters (obviously)
A/N: Thanks to the reviewers. You guys rock my socks off!
Chapter 2
Blunt, To Say the Least
"It's not my fault," said Aurelia flatly.
"Yes it is," retorted Lupin, getting as close to argumentative as he ever would. "If you hadn't sent that letter…."
"Well, I happen to think it's better than doing nothing!" she cried. "I mean, what else were we to do? I don't want to spend the rest of my life like this, Remus, and you don't either!"
"I wasn't arguing on the justness of it, I meant that the way you've taken isn't going to help at all. She's just going to come and watch and report back to all her nasty little friends how nasty we are and nothing will get better."
Aurelia scoffed and shook her head.
They were on the balcony in Lupin's flat discussing an owl Aurelia had received recently.
The balcony was the only part of his flat Lupin really liked, it had a very good view of London, especially at night like this, when the moon was barely there (that was how Lupin liked it) and some of the stars were able to shine feebly through the pollution being given off by the city.
"I suppose you're going to tell me off now and send me to my room, is that right, Remus?"
"Yes, that's it," he replied. Then he sighed. "I suppose there's no use complaining about it, what's done is done." There was a pause. "What did you say in the letter again?"
Aurelia rolled her eyes like the impatient little imp she could be sometimes. "I told you already, I asked her who she thought she was kidding, this bill's not helping anyone, particularly us." She gave him a look that very much resembled one Alan would give, trying to look serious while wanting to grin. "Guess it might've been a little rash, 'specially some of the names I called her, but I was caught up in the heat of the moment, you know how it is," though she thought that Remus probably wasn't the type to get caught up in the heat of anything. She thought this quite bitterly, casting a sour look at him that he didn't see behind her piece of parchment.
The letter Lupin was reading said:
Dear Miss Callard,
We at the Council express salutations and greetings to you and yours and thank you for taking the time to write to us here as we sure you are quite occupied at the moment with other doings. ("The sarcasm is in that, one, eh? They must know none of us have jobs," Aurelia had told him hissingly.)
We find it regrettable that you find such flaws in the current legislation passed to protect you and creatures such as yourself. Therefore we have decided to send a delegate to meet with you and your fellows to interview you on the situation and your views on it. The delegate will meet you at the Werewolf Support Services Desk on December 5.
Sincerely yours,
Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic
"That's the full moon, isn't it?" asked Lupin, checking a calendar he kept on the wall to show the moon phases.
"Yes, I suppose she wanted to meet all of us."
"That'll be fun, I suppose, show him what a pleasant little gang we are, hmm?" He smiled wryly.
Aurelia tilted her head inquisitively. "You're not cross with me anymore?"
"Of course not, Aurelia, I just thought of how interesting this is going to be…."
*********************************
Indeed it was, though not in the traditional sense, he supposed.
They were all tucking into the room behind the Werewolf Support Services desk when none other than Dolores Umbridge herself arrived. They knew this because she announced it herself the first time she entered the room.
"I," she called out imperiously. "am Dolores Umbridge and I have been sent," she started pacing now, casting a critical eye over all twelve of them. "to interview you on the grievances you posses with the Werewolf Protection Act." She stopped pacing now, and stared at all of them. The facial expressions of all the werewolves was varied. There was outrage (Aurelia), disgust (Alan), and a severe raising of eyebrows from Lupin. She reminded him of a fat pet canary his old crazy aunt had kept, for it had had the quality of puffing its chest out in the same manner Umbridge was doing at the moment. He supposed it was in some vain effort to show superiority, though it was plain to Lupin at least that the woman was no less than terrified of all of them. Scanning the crowd of them, she seemed to decide that Lupin's look of surprise was the least threatening of them all.
"You! What is your name!" she barked. It was a question, but it sounded more like a command.
Lupin was one of those people who could create a very pronounced arc with their eyebrows when they wanted to, which was what he was doing now. "I'm Remus Lupin, it's a, um…." Just what it exactly "it" was the other werewolves and Umbridge never found out, for she cut him off before he could say much else.
"I see! I'm to find your views on the current situation!" She paused. "Well?"
Lupin was caught off-guard. Blunt, he thought, is an understatement for this one.
"Well! Werewolf, I'm talking to you!"
When she said this in that particular tone it definitely fanned the flames of the hatred Lupin had been feeling for the past six months. "Well, it's bloody unjust, isn't it?"
Umbridge, it turned out, could also arch her eyebrows rather spectacularly, for she did so now. "I see. Could you be more specific," she said, while sounding very much like she doubted he had the mental capacity to be able to.
"Well, we can't even get a job! I mean--." He hadn't meant to sound so desperate, even though it very well described their current situation very well.
"I see. Anything else?"
"Well, yes, I mean, that register. We prefer to keep this, um, private. You know?"
She looked as though she didn't, for she surveyed him sternly. "The register is there for yours and our safety."
"But were not unsafe."
That had been Aurelia. She looked nearly foaming at the mouth now, Lupin had never seen her that mad before, and frankly she was a little scary.
Umbridge looked even more severe, but she said in a very syrupy voice, "You'd be Miss Callard, wouldn't you?"
"Yes, and--,"
"Miss Callard, the last time I checked on a full moon you turned into a seven foot tall beast, is that about accurate?"
"Yes, but the potion--,"
"The potion cannot change the state of your being, Miss Callard," she said, sweeter still, "even it can change your mind, you are still quite dangerous, and as the Wolfsbane Potion is such a new discovery, many still remain unconvinced--,"
"Well they're wrong!" said Aurelia, and several of the other wolves nodded in agreement.
"You didn't let me finish, Miss Callard," said Umbridge dangerously.
"Well, we're no more dangerous as wolves than we are as people!"
"To many, that isn't much of a comfort," she replied, looking as though she thoroughly agreed with these people. "Therefore, the procedures are widely accepted, and in fact I've seen little opposition to the new bill --,"
"Except from us," said Alan. "And isn't that what it's really about?"
'Yes, and," added Simon, "It's not like a werewolf has ever done anything to any of those?" More murmurs of assent.
"Well, I'm sorry, but the majority has spoken, and I suggest you all get on with your lives!" she exclaimed, now looking as though had offended her, and, with a mighty swish of her robes, left.
The werewolves stood there for a moment, very surprised. Then, Adams, letting out a noise of disgust, went forward and grabbed a goblet of the smoking potion.
"What did I tell you, eh?" he asked grimly, taking a swallow, screwing up his face and muttering, "disgusting…."
"Do you mean the potion, Umbridge, or both?" asked Alan, also grabbing a goblet.
"A composite of the two of them, but does this potion taste a little fouler than usual to you?"
Alan swished some around in his mouth and said thoughtlessly as the others grabbed goblets, "No worse than normal. Why?"
Adams shrugged. "No reason."
It was precisely five seconds following that he keeled over.
*********************************
Lupin had somewhat fuzzy memories of that afternoon, all he remembered was Adams writhing in agony on the floor, his foaming potion spilled around him, his mouth open and gasping.
"Get some help!" he remembered shouting, and someone had run out in the hall calling for assistance.
It was too late, however. By the time someone had got there he was dead. Lupin didn't notice until after Adams had been taken away that he had been kneeling in the spilled potion and that the knees of his robes had burned through.
He had wandered away from the scene with Aurelia, who seemed lost in shock.
"I—I don't understand. What happened?"
Lupin shook his head. "Looked like poison, didn't it? But the only way…." He trailed off. The potion maybe? But if the potion had been poisoned all of them would've died. That didn't make sense.
"That Umbridge woman, every time we hear of her we get trouble, don't we?" asked Alan faintly.
Alan's words rang a bell somewhere in Lupin's head. They were in the Atrium by then, but Lupin sped off back to the lifts.
"Remus, where are you going?"
"Forgot my watch, wait for me up front!"
Recently, Lupin's great-uncle Adolphus had died. Great-uncle Adolphus had never been overly affectionate for Lupin, in fact, he had never really talked to him much, but nevertheless he was family and Lupin had received in the settlement a rather nice old watch that screamed at you loudly when you were running late. Somewhat of a nuisance, but Lupin supposed it might be worth something and had brought it to show to Maylor, who was something of an appraiser. Goodness knows he could use the money. In the hustle of the meeting, however, he'd left it behind. He was still trying to process everything that had happened when he heard voices from inside the half-open door. He almost went in, but among the voices was a sickly sweet one. He peeked in as much as he dared. Dolores Umbridge and another man he did not know were talking in hushed voices. Wishing that he had James' old Invisibility Cloak so he could get closer, he strained to hear.
"…Glad you haven't managed to bungle up the whole operation, I was certain when you failed with the potion…," her voice became a light hiss now, so Lupin could not hear it. The other man was muttering something that sounded like apologies. Umbridge hissed at him to shut up. "Did you manage to nick the personal item at least?"
"Yes," said the man and held something up.
Lupin recognized it by the glittering diamonds on the face. It was his watch.
"You're sure it's his? Where did you find it?"
"The table. I think Adams would be the only one who could afford something like this, wouldn't you say?"
"Yes, yes, of course, the rest are poor as rats. Very well, this shall suffice, along with his blood. You may go, Butler."
Lupin just had time to get out of the way before the man came out. When he was sure that both of them were gone, he sped off toward the lifts.
************************************
Later that night, several hundred miles away, a fire burned fiercely. Behind it lay Adams. He was dead, and behind him still stood a man cloaked in darkness. This man held a vial of Adams' blood and also Lupin's watch. His deep voice reverberated like a gong through the heavens, and several hundred miles away Remus Lupin, a werewolf at the time, awoke.
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