Rakka: Warning! this chapter contains drama, angst, angry lashing out, portkeys, and butterbeer! It may look like, for one chapter, this isn't a parody, but trust me, it's only a phase! We will return the the mockery of every self insert ever written! I promise! Also, CC was supposed to write this chapter, it was HER turn..

CC: Angst is your department, not mine!

Rakka: but it was YOUR turn! and I gave you the perfect setup! You didn't even have to think! Besides, vulgarities and violence are your department, not mine!

CC: oh, not fair!

Rakka: Which makes the next THREE chapters YOUR turn. So anyone wanting an update knows who to bug.

CC: Not fair! Don't sic the readers on me!

Rakka: that's what you get for procrastinating! I had this chapter done in MARCH! Did you even start chapter six yet? nooo...

CC: Stop picking on me!

Chapter 5: Lupus Parvulus

Minerva McGonnagall had never been the type of person to let something slide without questioning it, but something about the look in the eyes of the young Slytherin in front of her made her hold her tongue. She stood, nodding, and led Nikki down the corridor, to a statue, at which she stated that years password ('Chocolate Frogs') and headed up the staircase, the girl just a step behind her. Minerva knocked sharply on the door.

"Headmaster?" she called. "I have a student who wishes to speak with you."

"Come on in, Professor," Albus called back quietly as they entered, "Ah, and Miss LeComte, I was wondering when I would be seeing you."

"Well, Headmaster, if you saw this conversation coming, then I suppose it might make it a little easier for you," Nikki said with a hint of ice in her voice that made Minerva hesitate to leave. Quietly, she shut the door behind herself, and started down the stairs slowly, her ears perked for any raised voices. Inside the office, Nikki hadn't moved more than a few feet from the door, staring across the long room at Dumbledore, who stood up, but did not move from behind his desk.

"Well, Nikki," Dumbledore smiled. "What brings you here today?"

"Don't play the fool with me, Headmaster. You know as well as I that it won't work."

"Ah, yes," Dumbledore chuckled. "Thought that doesn't stop your friend Courtney from trying, does it? Well, honestly, I'm not sure why you're here."

Nikki walked up to the desk, still staring at the elder man standing behind it.

"My father." She said flatly. "You know who he is."

"I beg your pardon?" Dumbledore frowned innocently.

Nikki slammed her left hand down against the desk, the sharp sound waking a few sleeping portraits. She looked down at her hand, at the silver wolf's head ring on her middle finger, and jerked it off angrily, slamming it down on the desk.

"How could you keep this from me!" her voice was still not raised, but her rage was more than apparent.

"What makes you think I know who your father is?"

"You were the Headmaster here when my parents attended Hogwarts. You knew! If you didn't know before, then you knew the moment I walked into your office two weeks ago! And that..!" she gestured at the Sorting Hat, which sat upon the shelf behind him. "That.. filthy pile of rags! Did you tell it to lie to me! Were you trying to keep this from me by sending me on false leads!"

"Sorting Hat?" Dumbledore asked. "What is it that you said to Miss LeComte about her father?"

"I said," the Sorting Hat grumbled, "That she had courage, intelligence, and loyalty, much like her father. I don't know what part of that she found misleading.."

"You said he was Slytherin!"

The hat laughed a little, and Nikki was tempted to tear it off the shelf and start pulling his stitches apart until it gave her answers.

"No, no. I said," the hat cleared it's throat, "'Courage, intelligence, loyalty yes... much like your father, well then.. Slytherin!' You can be like someone and not be in the same house, you know."

Nikki faltered. "Maybe, but still, I don't understand how.. how.."

Dumbledore glanced down at the ring on the desk, then back at Nikki, who looked on the verge of tears.

"Sit down, Nikki," he said softly, sitting down at his desk, folding his hands as he carefully watched her over his half moon glasses. She sank into the chair across from him, hugging herself, the heat of her rage having burnt out, leaving nothing but the cold emptiness of uncertainty. Albus sighed. He knew that expression, that look of utter helplessness. The last time he saw it, it was in this very room, but twenty some years earlier, and it was her father looking back at him over the cluttered desk.

"How can I ... he... " Nikki stuttered. "I thought.. I thought.."

"You want to know why your father is a werewolf, and you do not change at the full moon?"

Nikki nodded.

"Well," Albus sighed. "The curse of the werewolf is a very curious, complicated thing. It is genetic, yes, and it is a dominant gene. A carrier of it who does not change over is a rare creature, indeed. But you are only half werewolf, Nikki. Your father never bit your mother, and therefore, never transpired the curse onto her."

Nikki nodded again, and Albus cleared his throat.

"In most werewolves born with the curse, the transformations begin around age five. However, in half bloods like yourself, who are extremely rare, the transformation is even more delayed, not beginning until around age thirteen."

"But I'm seventeen," Nikki frowned.

"Yes, you are," Dumbledore said plainly. "Now, when you were about five or six, your mother brought you here, hoping that there was something I could do. At the time, there wasn't. However, a curious invention called the Wolfsbane Potion changed that. You may not know it, but you've been taking an experimental modification of the potion, in capsule form, since you were about eleven, in hopes that we could somehow subdue the dormant gene before it could effect you."

"My allergy medication..?" Nikki reached into her pocket, pulling out a small pill bottle.

"You don't have allergies, Nikki," Dumbledore sighed. "Except for mold, which I think we both know that pill doesn't help with."

Nikki smirked a little. "And to think, I thought this wasn't helping me at all.."

"It might not have, really. It may have just postponed the inevitable. There has been a risk since we started you on it that you may change over, and with each new cycle of the moon, the odds become greater that you will change. And, as we near the full moon, I want you to monitor your health very closely. Should you feel at all ill, speak to Professor Snape at once, and he will begin dosing you in the Wolfsbane potion in addition to your pills."

Nikki looked down at her hands, then back up at Dumbledore. "This doesn't change the fact that you kept this from me. When were you planning on telling me? When a werewolf started running rampant in the Slytherin girls' dormitory?"

"It was your mother's idea to keep this from you, Nikki. I thought you knew, honestly," Dumbledore sighed. They sat in silence for a moment, and Nikki picked her ring back up, putting it back on, and staring at it.

"I want to speak with him," She said quietly, more because volume was unneccesary than out of any shyness.

"Nikki, I.."

"I know, Headmaster. I know about the Order. I know about 12 Grimmauld Place. And I want you to take me there to see my father," she said firmly.

"How do you... " Dumbledore looked a little puzzled. "The only people in your grade that know of the Order are.."

"Gryffindors, aside from Luna Lovegood, and I don't speak to any of them," Nikki snapped impatiently. "Your secrets are not nearly as well gaurded as you think them to be. You're lucky that most Death Eaters don't read Muggle fiction books. Now do I need to start naming all remaining members in alphabetical order, or are we going to get moving?"

"Very well," Dumbledore sighed, standing. "Phineas? Would you please pay a visit to your other portrait and see if Mr. Lupin is in?"

With a great grumbling, Phineas left his portrait, leaving Dumbledore and Nikki to wait in awkward silence. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Pr'fessor?" Hagrid called through the wooden door. "I've got a couple of students that need to speak with ye.. though I'm not sure why they came to me of all people fer help.."

"Let them in, Hagrid," Dumbledore sighed knowingly. "Thank you."

Just then, the door opened, and, predictably, let in Remi, Tyler, and Courtney.

"Courtney told me about your dad," Remi sniffled, hugging Nikki. "And we figured you were going to try to get Dumbledore to take you to Sirius' house, so we came here right away!"

"You didn't think you could go on an adventure off of school grounds without us, did you?" Tyler smirked, using Nikki's shoulder as an armrest. Courtney laughed nervously.

"Okay.. so I kinda told them.. but you didn't tell me it was supposed to stay a secret.." Courtney stammered in her own defense when Nikki glared at her. Sighing, Nikki forced a smile.

"You three are helpless," she sighed. "Headmaster, I think it would be best if they came with me."

"As do I," Dumbledore smiled. "After all, it's about time Tyler found out about his cousin."

"Cousin?" Tyler frowned. "Who's my cousin?"

"He's there," Phineas sighed, coming back into view in his portrait. "Though where else he would be is beyond me... unemployed lump, living off the wealth my family left behind.."

"That's enough, Phineas," Nikki said in a voice that could make the wind stop dead in it's tracks. "Thank you."

Courtney, Remi, and Tyler stared at Nikki, startled by her tone, as the Headmaster, completely nonplussed, lifted a portkey out of one of the many drawers on his desk, and before they could count to three, they were standing in the kitchen of number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

"Here we are," Remi bounced cheerfully. "Gosh, it's rather sad looking in here."

"The owner of this house passed on about a year and a half ago," Dumbledore said quietly. "He was your cousin, Tyler."

"He... woa, wait," Courtney took a step back. "He was your cousin?"

"I do see the resemblance," Nikki shrugged.

"Indeed," Remi nodded.

"To who?"

"I'll give you a hint, Tyler," Nikki sighed. "He was played by an actor who once played Dracula."

"Oh, I know this one!" Tyler jumped up and down in frustration. "Dammit! I don't remember! Give me another hint!"

"Snuffles," Remi added.

"What?"

"Padfoot," Nikki sighed, and he continued to stare blankly at her. "Sirius Black, you twit! Read a bloody book once in a while, for cripes sake.."

"My, my, someone's in a mood," Courtney commented.

"Sod off," Nikki growled. "I have my reasons, as you well know."

"What's going on in here?"

Everyone turned to the kitchen door, where Remus Lupin stood, looking significantly worse for wear than he had when Nikki and Courtney last saw him in Snape's Pensieve. Nikki paled a little.

"Ah, Remus," Dumbledore smiled, not missing a beat. "Precisely the man we came here to see."

"Who, might I ask, are all of you?" Remus looked positively baffled by the four Muggle-raised yanks now standing in the middle of the kitchen of the otherwise empty house.

"A few new students," Dumbedore had that knowing look in his eye, and, had Nikki not been near comatose with shock, she would have wanted to strangle him for it. "One of whom in particular wanted to see you."

"Really?" Remus frowned. "None of these children look familliar to me.."

Remi looked a little insulted about being called a child, but Courtney and Tyler were too busy looking around the kitchen in wonder to notice.

"I think you may want to take a closer look, Remus," Dumbledore rested his hands on Nikki's shoulders. "Because I think she should look quite familliar indeed." He turned away from Nikki and Remus, toward the other three. "Come along, let's give them some space to talk, no?"

Remi cast a supportive glance over at Nikki, Tyler gave her a wink, and Courtney forced a smile as the headmaster led them from the kitchen, leaving Nikki with her father in the awkward silence. She looked over at him and cast him a small, forced smile.

"Well," Remus clapped his hands together, forcing an all-too-similar smile back at her. "Care for a butterbeer?"

"Umm, never had one, actually," Nikki laughed a little, but her voice sounded like she was about to cry. "Sure, thanks."

He pulled two bottles from the cupboard, tapping the sides of them with his wand and sending the caps to land carefully on the table. "Here you are. I'd introduce myself, though I suspect you already know my name, though I'm afraid I didn't catch yours."

"Nikki," she said carefully, willing her voice not to shake, then clearing her throat. "Nikki LeComte."

Remus seemed to twitch a little at that. "I once knew a girl with your last name.. it explains why you look familliar."

"Yes, I believe you knew my mother quite well," Nikki said with the slightest hint of ice, which was entirely unintended, and caught her off gaurd moreso than him.

"So," Remus forced a smile again. "Why is it that you asked Dumbledore to come see me, of all people?"

Nikki laughed bitterly at his naievety, though she tried not to. "I guess I have a bit of explaining to do, don't I?"

Remus looked completely thrown by her laughter, and even moreso by her comment. He gripped his butterbeer, but didn't take a sip, watching her intently.

"Well, where is a good place to start this.." she sighed, taking a sip of the drink in her hand. "Hmm.. well, I suppose I should tell you in the same order that I found out all this. You see, I never knew my father. When I was ten or eleven, my mother gave me a name, a Muggle who worked at a local car dealership - mind you, I thought myself a Muggle at the time, too, and her as well. For years, I believed it. Hated him, but believed it. Then, less than a month ago, a very belated Hogwarts Letter arrived, for myself as well as three of my friends, who you saw earlier. We came to England, and were sorted.. though when the sorting hat was on my head, it said a most curious thing.. that I was like my father. Now, how would the sorting hat know that, if my father was a Muggle?"

Remus watched her carefully as she paused, taking another sip of her drink, before beginning again. "Well, the thought haunted me for a few days, and I made the mistake of telling this to my dear friend Courtney who, though she has good intentions, tends to go about things in, well, in ways that certainly would make the Marauders proud. And she dragged me into Professor Snape's pensieve on some poorly planned mission to spy on my mother in the past and find out who my real father was."

Remus chuckled a little at the mention of the Marauders, and tried to surpress a smirk at the idea of Nikki and Courtney poking into Snape's memories, but failed.

"And we stumbled upon a most peculiar incident in the library that I don't think the snarky professor even knows he witnessed," Nikki smiled in a way that made Remus uncomfortable. "You see, we were sitting around, watching the greasy git writing an essay, when I heard a most peculiar sound around the corner, behind a bookshelf. I went over to investigate, and guess who I found, snogging against the reference books?"

Remus got a little red at that, and inspected the bottle in front of him as though it was fascinating, wishing she wouldn't stare at him that way. Sighing, she continued.

"My mom. And you," she took another sip of her drink. "And as Courtney dragged me back into reality before Snape could catch us, I thought to myself that, goodness, that couldn't have been more than a year before I was born. But, I don't get particularly hairy in the moonlight, so it seemed like we'd reached another dead end. But now I was more confused than ever. Because my mother wasn't the type to cheat on you, or to pick up someone else so quickly. I had found my answer, but it made no sense. So I went to Dumbledore."

Remus looked at her, his curiosity plain as day. Nikki smirked, a thin, tightly drawn smile, like that of someone who was beginning to spiral into insanity.

"Apparently, Professor Snape is a better potion maker than anyone ever suspected. He's been brewing me a modified Wolfsbane potion, which I have been taking since I was about ten, and thus far, I have yet to change over, that I know of."

He looked at her, completely numbstruck. For a moment, they sat in silence, before she burst into tears. Remus got to his feet and was around the table in a few quick steps, standing at her side.

"D..Dumbledore says that the stuff they've been giving me is experimental.. it's likely only a matter of time until it doesn't work anymore.. a wonder it has lasted as long as it has..."

"Sssh," Remus bent over her, hugging her tightly. "Sshh.. It's okay. It's not as bad as it sounds. Really. Besides, I'm here now."

Instead of making her stop, she started crying more, her chest heaving with all out sobs, all the tears she'd held back since grammar school over the father she didn't know finally forcing their way out. She stood, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, as though to make sure he didn't disappear on her again. As her death grip weakened and her sobs finally died down to mere sniffles, a loud smashing noise resounded from the next room.

"Tyler!" Remi yelled. "Nikki is going to kill you...!"

"I didn't touch it!" Tyler yelled back defensively. Nikki wiped her eyes and smiled.

"Oh, goodness," Nikki laughed a little. "You haven't really met the crew yet, have you?"

"No, I suppose not," Remus smiled, running his hand through her hair before letting it rest on her back. "Should I be afraid?"

"Only if you fear them breaking everything you own," Nikki smirked. "Come on, dad. Let's go see what Tyler broke this time." Laughing quietly, the werewolf followed his daughter into the study.