I am sooo sorry this took so long. I've been a little distracted recently
and haven't had much time to write (damn you work!) so I'm giving you three
chapters in one go! This one is one of my favourites because of the
Lupuscan chant (which is based on a Nordic werewolf ritual) and the
introduction of Saiph's character. Please remember to review, it feeds my
ego and makes me write faster!
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Remus hated lunar eclipses.
The very sight of the red moon sent the wolf in him crazy – no, correction – sent him crazy. He no longer thought of him and the wolf as two separate beings trapped in the same body. Since accepting the wolf he had begun to think more like one, both halves thought in the same way, but he'd changed and he knew it and not just in his head. He just wondered if it was normal. He needed Raq to explain it to him. No, he just needed Raq. He sat down and waited for night to fall.
* * * * *
Professor Dumbledore stood to address his students before dinner.
'Tonight is a very special night for we have a full lunar eclipse. All Astronomy students who wish to watch will please meet Professor Sinistra outside the main hall immediately after supper. All others will please stay in their common rooms due to unforeseen circumstances which could put safety in hazard.' Harry did not miss Snape's sneering glance at Lupin's empty seat. 'Prefects must make sure that this rule is particularly adhered to tonight. That is all.'
'What do you suppose that was all about?' Ron asked as her bit into a chicken leg.
Harry just shrugged. But Hermione had an answer as usual, 'I've read about this ("Surprise surprise," Ron mouthed at Harry). It said that on the full lunar eclipse the moon turns blood red. When this happens it's a signal to all werewolves to create havoc and destruction. They have no control whatsoever.'
'I hope Moony will be all right.'
'He's got the wolfsbane potion so he should be, but who knows what goes through a werewolf's mind when a blood moon is up?'
* * * * *
Diana, however, knew exactly. She'd gathered up as much meat as she could without arising suspicion and hurried off to Remus's office.
She heard him a long way off down the corridor, pacing like a lion in a cage, occasionally calling softly. She walked in and shut the door behind her.
'I thought you might be hungry,' she dumped a small pile of chicken legs on his desk before stuffing the rest into a small bag.
'Where are you going with that lot?' he asked between vast mouthfuls of tender meat.
'I'm visiting friends tonight. I said I'd bring the appetiser. Fancy joining me?'
'It's a red moon tonight, Raq. I can't, I don't trust myself.'
'You're switching aren't you?'
'What do you mean switching?'
'Oh god, Moony, I see it in your eyes. You know exactly what's happening but you don't want to admit it to yourself. I should have warned you about this. Please don't be angry with me, I never thought it'd happen this quickly.'
'I'm turning into a wolf, aren't I?'
'As it is inside it is outside, one mind, one body. I don't know how far you'll go, but I really think you should meet my friends. I know at least one can explain it better than I can. He's been through it, but you might not like what you see.'
Remus knew he shouldn't be, but he was excited. He hadn't been outside on a full moon since he was at school. He felt something move and tried to stop it. 'Tonight?'
Raq grinned, 'Tonight. You'll hunt like the wolf you are under the red moon. Tell you what, I'll show you mine, you show me yours.'
'What are you talking about?'
Diana pulled away a catch in her robes to let a long silver-grey tail unfurl into the open air. 'Mmm, it feels good to have a bit of air running through the fur.'
'You have a tail?'
'What, you didn't think I was this grey through teaching, did you? Not even Neville Longbottom could do that to me. I tell you what, though, it's a great advantage when playing quidditch. Come on, where's yours?'
Remus loosened a strap that had held his greatest embarrassment against his leg. It had been painful, but the greatest shock had been when he had transformed back after a moon and found the appendage still there. It was about half the size of an average wolf tail and its dark grey fur was streaked with rusty brown.
Diana studied it and laughed, 'I think after tonight you might have a proper tail. I like the patterns on your fur, though.' She growled playfully. 'It's all right, I'll teach you how to hide it.'
* * * * *
Once again the hallways of Hogwarts were full of prowlers. One subtle, breathless entity padded the ancient stones with silent feet – feet that would have sunk through if she let them. Few knew of her existence, fewer knew her name. Even the other ghosts of Hogwarts had little idea of their neighbour's presence. But tonight was a night for wanderers and dreamers, the savage and the wild, and she was all of these. She was the true guardian and she was proud of the part she played in guarding the Hall of Dreams against those who would not understand what lay within. She bounded along the ways she knew to a place where she could watch over her followers for they would honour her tonight and she wanted to see what had become of them.
* * * * *
Nightmares prevented Severus from sleeping. Golden eyes had seemed to watch him from every possible place, and some impossible ones.
He never liked to admit fear – but this was terror. It was so real he could almost taste it and it drove him from his bed. Every time he blinked he saw a pair of malevolent yellow eyes glaring back at him. Red light filtered through the small window, making metal and glass look as if it were drenched in blood.
He pulled on a robe and took to the corridors to make sure that no one had been so foolish as to venture out. His suspicions had not lessened about the Lupuscans and if any they'd be the ones to cause chaos tonight. Still, he should be able to handle a few idiotic students with moronic werewolf fantasies. He'd seen first hand the destruction that the Lupuscans had caused during Voldemort's reign and he for one didn't want the cult to be revived.
But there was one werewolf in the school which had to be checked upon first.
As soon as he reached the passageway in which Lupin had his office he could tell that something was wrong. He could hear... nothing. Not a whine, not a scrape, not a movement – nothing. He hurried forward to find the door wide open and Remus gone. He quickly checked the place over and found a goblet on his desk, the potion inside now still and useless, but undrunk.
'Damned fool he hasn't taken his potion. Doesn't he know how many peoples lives he's put in danger?'
Severus was outraged, but he was also scared. There was a mindless werewolf now running about Hogwarts School and he alone had to capture and restrain him. He steeled his mind to the task and set about it, wand ready in hand.
He scoured the many torchlit passages and stairways, but, although he didn't know it, he was being watched. A slim figure slipped like a ghost behind the Potions Master, her ears pricked and footsteps silent. But when she reached the window that she had deliberately left open she disappeared out of it and Snape lost the shadow he didn't even realise he had.
It was near the main entrance that the hunter found his quarry. Claws clicked sharply on the flagstones as Remus loped down the stairs towards the doors and his freedom.
'Stop right there, Lupin!'
The dark grey wolf with white and rusty markings stared up at him with a look of utter contempt on his lupine face before carrying on his quest for fresh air. Remus could feel the cool breeze with all its delicious scents through the cracks.
'Adligare!' Severus yelled and ropes shot out of the end of his wand, binding the struggling werewolf paw and jaw. 'You idiot, Lupin. Do you know how many lives you've put in danger, you stupid fucking wolf! You're nothing but a useless dumb animal, you understand me?'
'I'd let my brother go, if I were you.'
Severus jumped sharply. He hadn't realised anyone else was watching him. He looked up and what he saw made his heart pound like a hammer against his ribs. Bathed in the red light of the moon was the biggest wolf he had ever seen.
It would have been pure white in colour if it hadn't been in the path of the moon's light. It lounged gracefully along the wooden railing at the top of the stairs, its tail hanging down beside it. It seemed perfectly relaxed and not in the least perturbed by his presence.
Snape tried to clear the lump in his throat and unstick his tongue from the roof of his dry mouth, 'Who are you?'
The wolf slid off the railing and fell towards the ground floor. It landed with barely a sound on all four feet before rising onto two. It advanced towards him, muscles rippling all over its body and its very gait radiating raw power. If it weren't for its pricked ears it would have stood as tall as him, but it wasn't its ears that scared him, it was its eyes. The colour of pure gold, they were ringed in scarlet. The eyes of a savage king.
'I think the question is, who are you?'
'I, I am Professor Severus Snape, Master of this school.'
The wolf laughed and it was not pleasant. 'Really? I was always under the impression that Albus Dumbledore was master of this school, Severus was it?'
Severus pointed his wand at the creature, 'Get out of this school, wolf, before I kill you!'
The wolf snorted derisively, 'I wouldn't point that thing at me, chap, d'ye ken? Now are you going to let my brother go or do we have to make this unpleasant?'
'He's a werewolf!'
'Really? You don't say!' The white wolf had placed one of his hand-like paws under his chin and was fighting back a smile. 'Well, be that as it may, I have business to attend to and it would make my life so much easier if you just let Moony go and run off to bed like a good little boy before I tear your throat out.'
'Do not threaten me!' Snape yelled, and began to speak a curse, but the wolf advanced further, his lips drawn off his impressive teeth, reciting an ancient chant and making the Potions Master step back in fear.
'In the heat of the night when the stars shine bright O'er plain and dew-flecked hill Will the red moon rise for the Goldeneyes To bathe in the bloody rill.'
Snape had not even noticed that he had been pushed outside and the white wolf had circled him round until he had his back to the doors. They slammed shut behind him and two figures in black cloaks emerged from the shadows, carrying on the barbaric rhyme.
'Their song is dark and the spirits hark To hear these wild wolves call'
From the darkness another wolf appeared, black but for his yellow eyes.
'So off to the chase and find your place There's throats in the dark to maul!'
Another wolf, this time a steely grey approached from the other side.
'Run on your way, or please do stay, For we have bellies to fill'
A slender woman with and a salt-and-pepper tail and pricked wolf ears actually came so close as to stroke his face, her amber eyes flashing in the dark. Remus was now free and joined the growing circle.
'Or be the fool and play it cool While you have blood to spill!'
Another wolf's white patches caught the ruby light along with one whose reddish colour made him look as if he'd bathed in blood.
'Tis night, 'tis night, and the great wolfs' might Will make its victims flee'
A wolf that was so pale a grey that she was almost white added her voice to the chant.
'With our fierce grey heads and stealthy treads As we chase you through the trees.'
All ten members weaved sinuous patterns around the terrified man as they rose their voices as one.
'In the heat of the night when the stars shine bright O'er plain and dew-flecked hill Will the red moon rise for the Goldeneyes To bathe in the bloody rill!'
Snape hadn't been this scared since he'd rejoined the Death Eaters. It was like a nightmare come to life.
They advanced in step, tightening the circle, licking their lips and clicking their teeth. The large white male stepped aside deliberately to offer Snape one last chance to escape. He took it. Running as fast as he could, he took one last look at the Circle. It was a stupid mistake. Tripping over a fallen branch he cracked his head against the stone wall. The white king tutted.
'Didn't his mother ever warn him to look where he was going?'
'And not to take on an enemy until you know its full strength?' The black wolf sniggered.
'Hmm, quite. Come, to the chase, to the chase!'
A howling from the roof of the castle halted him. Three figures in long robes called to him. He saluted them, raising a clawed paw to the sky. 'And good hunting to you too, my brethren!'
The ten on the ground howled to the three above, their song lifting to the red moon above, before the ten turned and bounded away into the forest, some on four feet and some on two.
High above them three students of Hogwarts watched their pack disappear on a hunt and wished with all their hearts that they were going with them, the scent of blood in their nostrils and their bare feet pounding against the earth.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Remus hated lunar eclipses.
The very sight of the red moon sent the wolf in him crazy – no, correction – sent him crazy. He no longer thought of him and the wolf as two separate beings trapped in the same body. Since accepting the wolf he had begun to think more like one, both halves thought in the same way, but he'd changed and he knew it and not just in his head. He just wondered if it was normal. He needed Raq to explain it to him. No, he just needed Raq. He sat down and waited for night to fall.
* * * * *
Professor Dumbledore stood to address his students before dinner.
'Tonight is a very special night for we have a full lunar eclipse. All Astronomy students who wish to watch will please meet Professor Sinistra outside the main hall immediately after supper. All others will please stay in their common rooms due to unforeseen circumstances which could put safety in hazard.' Harry did not miss Snape's sneering glance at Lupin's empty seat. 'Prefects must make sure that this rule is particularly adhered to tonight. That is all.'
'What do you suppose that was all about?' Ron asked as her bit into a chicken leg.
Harry just shrugged. But Hermione had an answer as usual, 'I've read about this ("Surprise surprise," Ron mouthed at Harry). It said that on the full lunar eclipse the moon turns blood red. When this happens it's a signal to all werewolves to create havoc and destruction. They have no control whatsoever.'
'I hope Moony will be all right.'
'He's got the wolfsbane potion so he should be, but who knows what goes through a werewolf's mind when a blood moon is up?'
* * * * *
Diana, however, knew exactly. She'd gathered up as much meat as she could without arising suspicion and hurried off to Remus's office.
She heard him a long way off down the corridor, pacing like a lion in a cage, occasionally calling softly. She walked in and shut the door behind her.
'I thought you might be hungry,' she dumped a small pile of chicken legs on his desk before stuffing the rest into a small bag.
'Where are you going with that lot?' he asked between vast mouthfuls of tender meat.
'I'm visiting friends tonight. I said I'd bring the appetiser. Fancy joining me?'
'It's a red moon tonight, Raq. I can't, I don't trust myself.'
'You're switching aren't you?'
'What do you mean switching?'
'Oh god, Moony, I see it in your eyes. You know exactly what's happening but you don't want to admit it to yourself. I should have warned you about this. Please don't be angry with me, I never thought it'd happen this quickly.'
'I'm turning into a wolf, aren't I?'
'As it is inside it is outside, one mind, one body. I don't know how far you'll go, but I really think you should meet my friends. I know at least one can explain it better than I can. He's been through it, but you might not like what you see.'
Remus knew he shouldn't be, but he was excited. He hadn't been outside on a full moon since he was at school. He felt something move and tried to stop it. 'Tonight?'
Raq grinned, 'Tonight. You'll hunt like the wolf you are under the red moon. Tell you what, I'll show you mine, you show me yours.'
'What are you talking about?'
Diana pulled away a catch in her robes to let a long silver-grey tail unfurl into the open air. 'Mmm, it feels good to have a bit of air running through the fur.'
'You have a tail?'
'What, you didn't think I was this grey through teaching, did you? Not even Neville Longbottom could do that to me. I tell you what, though, it's a great advantage when playing quidditch. Come on, where's yours?'
Remus loosened a strap that had held his greatest embarrassment against his leg. It had been painful, but the greatest shock had been when he had transformed back after a moon and found the appendage still there. It was about half the size of an average wolf tail and its dark grey fur was streaked with rusty brown.
Diana studied it and laughed, 'I think after tonight you might have a proper tail. I like the patterns on your fur, though.' She growled playfully. 'It's all right, I'll teach you how to hide it.'
* * * * *
Once again the hallways of Hogwarts were full of prowlers. One subtle, breathless entity padded the ancient stones with silent feet – feet that would have sunk through if she let them. Few knew of her existence, fewer knew her name. Even the other ghosts of Hogwarts had little idea of their neighbour's presence. But tonight was a night for wanderers and dreamers, the savage and the wild, and she was all of these. She was the true guardian and she was proud of the part she played in guarding the Hall of Dreams against those who would not understand what lay within. She bounded along the ways she knew to a place where she could watch over her followers for they would honour her tonight and she wanted to see what had become of them.
* * * * *
Nightmares prevented Severus from sleeping. Golden eyes had seemed to watch him from every possible place, and some impossible ones.
He never liked to admit fear – but this was terror. It was so real he could almost taste it and it drove him from his bed. Every time he blinked he saw a pair of malevolent yellow eyes glaring back at him. Red light filtered through the small window, making metal and glass look as if it were drenched in blood.
He pulled on a robe and took to the corridors to make sure that no one had been so foolish as to venture out. His suspicions had not lessened about the Lupuscans and if any they'd be the ones to cause chaos tonight. Still, he should be able to handle a few idiotic students with moronic werewolf fantasies. He'd seen first hand the destruction that the Lupuscans had caused during Voldemort's reign and he for one didn't want the cult to be revived.
But there was one werewolf in the school which had to be checked upon first.
As soon as he reached the passageway in which Lupin had his office he could tell that something was wrong. He could hear... nothing. Not a whine, not a scrape, not a movement – nothing. He hurried forward to find the door wide open and Remus gone. He quickly checked the place over and found a goblet on his desk, the potion inside now still and useless, but undrunk.
'Damned fool he hasn't taken his potion. Doesn't he know how many peoples lives he's put in danger?'
Severus was outraged, but he was also scared. There was a mindless werewolf now running about Hogwarts School and he alone had to capture and restrain him. He steeled his mind to the task and set about it, wand ready in hand.
He scoured the many torchlit passages and stairways, but, although he didn't know it, he was being watched. A slim figure slipped like a ghost behind the Potions Master, her ears pricked and footsteps silent. But when she reached the window that she had deliberately left open she disappeared out of it and Snape lost the shadow he didn't even realise he had.
It was near the main entrance that the hunter found his quarry. Claws clicked sharply on the flagstones as Remus loped down the stairs towards the doors and his freedom.
'Stop right there, Lupin!'
The dark grey wolf with white and rusty markings stared up at him with a look of utter contempt on his lupine face before carrying on his quest for fresh air. Remus could feel the cool breeze with all its delicious scents through the cracks.
'Adligare!' Severus yelled and ropes shot out of the end of his wand, binding the struggling werewolf paw and jaw. 'You idiot, Lupin. Do you know how many lives you've put in danger, you stupid fucking wolf! You're nothing but a useless dumb animal, you understand me?'
'I'd let my brother go, if I were you.'
Severus jumped sharply. He hadn't realised anyone else was watching him. He looked up and what he saw made his heart pound like a hammer against his ribs. Bathed in the red light of the moon was the biggest wolf he had ever seen.
It would have been pure white in colour if it hadn't been in the path of the moon's light. It lounged gracefully along the wooden railing at the top of the stairs, its tail hanging down beside it. It seemed perfectly relaxed and not in the least perturbed by his presence.
Snape tried to clear the lump in his throat and unstick his tongue from the roof of his dry mouth, 'Who are you?'
The wolf slid off the railing and fell towards the ground floor. It landed with barely a sound on all four feet before rising onto two. It advanced towards him, muscles rippling all over its body and its very gait radiating raw power. If it weren't for its pricked ears it would have stood as tall as him, but it wasn't its ears that scared him, it was its eyes. The colour of pure gold, they were ringed in scarlet. The eyes of a savage king.
'I think the question is, who are you?'
'I, I am Professor Severus Snape, Master of this school.'
The wolf laughed and it was not pleasant. 'Really? I was always under the impression that Albus Dumbledore was master of this school, Severus was it?'
Severus pointed his wand at the creature, 'Get out of this school, wolf, before I kill you!'
The wolf snorted derisively, 'I wouldn't point that thing at me, chap, d'ye ken? Now are you going to let my brother go or do we have to make this unpleasant?'
'He's a werewolf!'
'Really? You don't say!' The white wolf had placed one of his hand-like paws under his chin and was fighting back a smile. 'Well, be that as it may, I have business to attend to and it would make my life so much easier if you just let Moony go and run off to bed like a good little boy before I tear your throat out.'
'Do not threaten me!' Snape yelled, and began to speak a curse, but the wolf advanced further, his lips drawn off his impressive teeth, reciting an ancient chant and making the Potions Master step back in fear.
'In the heat of the night when the stars shine bright O'er plain and dew-flecked hill Will the red moon rise for the Goldeneyes To bathe in the bloody rill.'
Snape had not even noticed that he had been pushed outside and the white wolf had circled him round until he had his back to the doors. They slammed shut behind him and two figures in black cloaks emerged from the shadows, carrying on the barbaric rhyme.
'Their song is dark and the spirits hark To hear these wild wolves call'
From the darkness another wolf appeared, black but for his yellow eyes.
'So off to the chase and find your place There's throats in the dark to maul!'
Another wolf, this time a steely grey approached from the other side.
'Run on your way, or please do stay, For we have bellies to fill'
A slender woman with and a salt-and-pepper tail and pricked wolf ears actually came so close as to stroke his face, her amber eyes flashing in the dark. Remus was now free and joined the growing circle.
'Or be the fool and play it cool While you have blood to spill!'
Another wolf's white patches caught the ruby light along with one whose reddish colour made him look as if he'd bathed in blood.
'Tis night, 'tis night, and the great wolfs' might Will make its victims flee'
A wolf that was so pale a grey that she was almost white added her voice to the chant.
'With our fierce grey heads and stealthy treads As we chase you through the trees.'
All ten members weaved sinuous patterns around the terrified man as they rose their voices as one.
'In the heat of the night when the stars shine bright O'er plain and dew-flecked hill Will the red moon rise for the Goldeneyes To bathe in the bloody rill!'
Snape hadn't been this scared since he'd rejoined the Death Eaters. It was like a nightmare come to life.
They advanced in step, tightening the circle, licking their lips and clicking their teeth. The large white male stepped aside deliberately to offer Snape one last chance to escape. He took it. Running as fast as he could, he took one last look at the Circle. It was a stupid mistake. Tripping over a fallen branch he cracked his head against the stone wall. The white king tutted.
'Didn't his mother ever warn him to look where he was going?'
'And not to take on an enemy until you know its full strength?' The black wolf sniggered.
'Hmm, quite. Come, to the chase, to the chase!'
A howling from the roof of the castle halted him. Three figures in long robes called to him. He saluted them, raising a clawed paw to the sky. 'And good hunting to you too, my brethren!'
The ten on the ground howled to the three above, their song lifting to the red moon above, before the ten turned and bounded away into the forest, some on four feet and some on two.
High above them three students of Hogwarts watched their pack disappear on a hunt and wished with all their hearts that they were going with them, the scent of blood in their nostrils and their bare feet pounding against the earth.