Werewolves and Their Downfalls
By The Raven Angel
A/N: I have this whole future universe in my head and just wanted to get it out! I have redone this story and hope it's better than the original.
On another note, this story is an AU ( in one tiny part) because no matter what JKR says Sirius will never die (In most of our hearts) and in most of my stories. I just love him too much and I've handed him what I hope is a happy ending.
Disclaimer: I own James and Sirius Potter, Molly Potter, Garrett Potter, the briefly mentioned Grace, and nothing else. Enjoy!
It was almost 7 o'clock on a cold November evening and the stars twinkled like diamonds in the evening sky. Under the calming blanket of darkness was a house that would be better described as a mansion. Said house gave off the complete description of serenity. Made of sand colored bricks, it was surrounded by a nicely kept lawn and a flowerbed that made the air around the premises smell of roses and lilies. The home had quaint little blue shutters around its rectangular windows, one which was lit by a single candle and a blazing fire.
The room was obviously a study, big and comfortable, with a huge desk and bookshelves covering every wall. On the scarlet couch in front of the fireplace sat a man who, by physical appearance, looked like he could not have been a day over twenty-five. Rustling the paper he held entitled The Daily Profit the man sighed and distractedly pushed his jet-black bangs from his emerald green eyes revealing a thin lightning bolt scar. As he approached the end of the page, he pushed his round black glasses up his nose, frowned and mumbled, "Insipid Bovine? Well that's Fudge for you."
"Yes I read that article this morning. To tell you the truth, I thought it was the most honest thing that Rita Skeeter has ever written."
Harry James Potter jumped and looked up startled, but the surprised "O" that was his mouth quickly formed into a huge grin as he set the paper down and looked into the roaring fire in front of him, which now held the smiling face of his lovely wife Ginny Potter.
"Ginny!" Harry said happily. He slid off the couch and kneeled down in front of the red and gold fireplace so he could see her face more clearly. Ginny Weasley had been Ginny Potter for just over eight years (not nearly long enough according to her family). However, Potter or not, she could never hide her trademark flaming Weasley hair and freckles and beautiful brown eyes the color of chocolate. In Harry's opinion, it certainly wasn't the fire that was lighting up the room.
"I've missed you so much!" Harry exclaimed. Then as an after thought added, "Oh yes and so does Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, Hermione, Arthur, Molly, Neville, Luna, Remus, Dobby, and-"he stopped to take a breath. "Well anyway, you get the picture. You are missed by all," he said with a smirk.
Ginny laughed and smiled, her eyes twinkling like gold. "And why wouldn't they miss me Mister Potter? I dare say I am probably the most "missible" of all of us," her smile grew wider. "I mean my dazzling looks, my brilliant smile, my wonderful personality, my charming humor…"
Harry laughed and rolled his eyes. "Oh stop Ginerva or you might just sound conceded." She pretended to look offended but couldn't pull it off do to the budding smirk on her lips. "So how was work today honey?"
Ginny, upon hearing the word "work" frowned deeply and Harry feeling like he was child that had just uttered a swear to an important dinner guest, gave a sheepish smile. "Oh, I guess its fine," she said. "Dear Cornelius keeps checking up on us though, and I'm really about to quote some Rita Skeeter to his face." Harry chuckled at her attitude but really couldn't blame her. Three days ago, the newly appointed head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, Cornelius Fudge-information that caused Arthur Weasley to have a mild heart attack- strode pompously into Ginny's office and told her that it was her duty and her duty alone as a curse breaker to travel to Rome and investigate some problems with magical coins a muggle archaeologist had unearthed in an ancient tomb. So, two days ago Ginny had ranted and raved with steam spitting out of her ears all the way down to the International Flooing section of the Ministry. Harry's lips unconsciously twitched upwards remembering some of the phrases she had used to describe her beloved new boss. Definitely not something Molly had taught her.
"So," she asked casually. "How are my babies doing?"
As an answer to her question, a small, high-pitched voice yelled out "Mommy!" Harry let out a light grunt of amusement as their seven-year-old daughter, Molly, shoved him to the side.
"Mommy, when are you coming home? Do you miss me? Are you gunna bring me anything? Don't bring the boys anything though, they're mean! Do you know what they did to me?" She turned to Harry. "Daddy, did you tell her what they did to me?"
"No sweetie, I didn't," he answered with an amused smile.
Turning back to Ginny, Molly continued. "James told me that I looked like a dragon and that I have breath like one and that I must have been born from an egg! Well daddy wasn't around so naturally, I kicked him. Than Sirius came up behind me and cracked and egg open on my head and Garrett came in and laughed at me! Can you believe it?"
Ginny sighed. "Well honey, Daddy will just have to talk to those boys. Won't he Daddy?" She sent a pointed look towards Harry that clearly meant, or else.
"Yes sir!" saluted Harry. He sent a mock bow and charming grin her way which only made her roll her eyes and smile. However, just as soon as the smile came, it was replaced by a savage look in her eyes causing Harry and Molly to unconsciously scoot back. The reason for the savage look was soon explained by Ginny who turned to her right to listen to something that only she could hear. Her eyes flashed and she turned back to her husband and daughter and rolled her eyes.
"Sorry guys," she said. "I'll have to cut this visit a little short. Grace has something that she positively must tell Fudge right now." She rolled her eyes again then flashed an apologetic smile. "I'll check up again tomorrow. And Harry? You will talk to those boys. That's the second time they've found it necessary to smash an egg in Molly's hair." And with another quick smile and a "pop" she was gone.
Harry sighed at the vacant fireplace, still warm from the recent flames. 'How did I know she was going to ask me that?' he thought with a worried sigh. Disciplining the kids was not his thing.
He sighed again and gazed down at Molly who looked up at him with a beaming smile, making all of his worries instantly disappear. Just seeing his only daughter brought a contented grin to his face. Molly Gabriella Potter was truly the spitting mage of her mother. She had inherited the famous Weasley hair and freckles, her mother's caring, brown eyes, and a fiery temper. Molly had always been a kind, well-behaved child, never really seeing the point of always getting in trouble -unlike her older brothers- and loved to fly on her broom in the orchard out back. In fact, the only time that Molly wasn't her mothers' mini-me was when she put on her black, oval glasses for reading her muggle romance novels.
Harry scooped her up with a grunt and twirled her around causing her to squeal loudly with joy. Then he sat down on the couch with her balanced on his lap and cautiously asked "So my sweet, where are those meanie boys?"
"Oh," Molly said still laughing. "They're upstairs trying to turn Garrett's hair purple. I don't think its working though because I heard a lot of explosions."
Harry's emerald eyes went wide and his gaze traveled worriedly up to the ceiling. He then looked back down at his daughter who, to his rising suspicion, was wearing the world's goofiest grin. "Oh." he said. He then gently picked Molly up and set her on the couch. "Oh. Well, I'm just going to check up on that." Picking a random book of the shelf he handed it to Molly. Later that night, he would realize that when he pulled down the book, a huge cloud of dust followed, which probably should have given him a clue. "Why don't you stay hear and read this." Molly gave him a satisfied look and cracked open the book.
He walked as slowly out of the study as he could without seeming to actually run and closed the door behind him. Harry then proceeded to run as fast as he could up the stairs towards his son's bedroom.
Harry raced up the stares and down the many hallways of the Potter Mansion searching for his three sons; two of which were allegedly turning the thirds' hair purple.
'And how many times has this happened in the last month?' he asked himself.
He sighed and muttered, "James? Sirius? Where are you two?"
BOOM!
Suddenly a loud explosion was heard from down the hall followed closely by peals of laughter. Wincing, Harry took a deep breath and walked to the door at the end of the hall. Opening the door, he cautiously poked his head inside the room, feeling like he was in some sort of badly written horror movie.
Inside, the once clean bedroom was a complete mess and could probably better be described now as the worlds smallest war zone. Clothes were strewn everywhere and spots, stains, and smears of all shapes and colors were now covering the once white walls. In the middle of it all sat Harry and Ginny's eight year old son James Arthur Potter and his fraternal twin, Sirius Sterling Potter. Sitting on Sirius' lap was the Potters' youngest child of four years, Garrett Harold Potter who now possessed not purple, but dark green hair. Harry didn't really know whether to be amused or exasperated. Remembering his wife's look in the fireplace, he chose the latter.
"What in the world are you boys doing?" he asked with sigh and an unconvincing scowl. He really missed Ginny. As stated before, being stern with his kids just wasn't his thing.
Sirius and James looked up startled but soon adopted identical looks of innocent surprise on their eight year old faces. Garrett just smiled. Being four, he didn't care that his hair was green for the fourth- no fifth time that month, but he did find it funny to see his brother's antics when about to get in trouble by either their father or their mother.
James was the first to speak, and with a quick grin at Sirius he said to his father, "Hi dad. We were just, you know-"
"Playing with Garrett." finished Sirius without hesitation. "Why pass up the chance to spend time with our little brother?" Both boys sent dazzling smiles towards Harry. 'Those smiles will be the death of half the Hogwarts professors,' he thought amused. 'But better to not tell them that. Ever.' Instead, Harry responded by rolling his eyes and crouching down in between his sons.
James was, of course, named after Harry's father and took the title well. He was the only boy in the family who had kept the Potter tradition of inheriting his father's exact looks and his mother eyes. This caused James to become almost an exact replicate of James Potter Senior. Unfortunately, that apparently came with the mischief making genes too. Twice this month, Harry had stepped into the shower stall and turned on the faucet, only to find Filibusters Wet-Start Fireworks hidden in the back of the tub. As Garret had intelligently put it at breakfast that morning, "It was funny to hear daddy scream like a girl!" Remus had laughed and joked with Harry many times that James looked and acted even more like "Prongs" then Harry did.
Sirius was the only Potter child who looked like he'd really been dipped in both ends of the gene pool. He had gained black hair from Harry but it was not nearly as messy. He was tall for his age and lanky but well built- a Weasley family trait. From somewhere along the Potter or Weasley gene line Sirius had picked up Hazel eyes and most of the time it seemed a total lack of sense -although he seemed to share that particular gene with James. Like his twin he lived for pranks and Quidditch and already talked about playing chaser for Gryffindor when he went to Hogwarts. Sirius-like his surname- rarely lived up to his name because the Marauder gene had rooted itself in his young brain and just wouldn't let go. Though Sirius could be stern when he wanted to be he hated it when his parents and family reminded of him afterwards.
The last and youngest Potter child Garrett Potter was truly the unique one in his family. Harry and Ginny had noticed concerned, that even at a young age, Garrett seemed to exclude himself from his peers, preferring to just hang back from crowds and attention. Unlike his other siblings, Garrett had never said much of anything about Hogwarts and was always shy when his family asked him anything about it. What even more disturbed his parents- his father especially- was that he seemed have an attitude that reminded them all of everyone's favorite potions master.
As for looks little Garrett-like his brothers- had inherited his fathers jet black hair. If it were short like James' was it probably would have been the spitting image of his father and brothers' but instead he let it grow long so it took on a bit of a shaggy appearance like his brother Sirius' although way more messy. This technique was assumed by his family to hide his eyes which, out of all the Potter children, were a bright emerald green gained from his father and grandmother. From his mother he inherited an enormous amount of freckles across his nose and cheeks and a small, petite body.
"So dad, did you-"
"Talk to mom?"
"Don't do that," Harry said jokingly. "You know it creeps me out."
The twins just laughed. Even though they were not identical, they sure did remind both parents of their uncles Fred and George.
"And actually, I did talk to your mom. I had a strong feeling that she wanted me to ground you when she heard that you yet again, had cracked open an egg on your sister's head." He had said the magic words. James immediately looked embarrassed and muttered an "oops?" with a questioning smile. However, this exchange went unnoticed by Sirius who was busy trying unsuccessfully to spike up Garrett's hair and clearly not paying attention. "Oh," he said. "Well I think that the important thing is that we tried Dad." Harry sighed. At least he had gotten through to one child.
James snorted at his brother's behavior and mouthed "He's crazy" in Harry's direction.
He smiled at his son and was about to answer back when he heard a scream from somewhere downstairs. Sirius and Garrett looked up in alarm and James stared out the door with frightful eyes. Harry was on his feet and racing down the stairs in a flash.
"Molly?" he yelled. Drawing his wand, he burst into the study only to find Molly sitting safely on the couch with a book open on her lap and bawling her eyes out. "Molly!" he exclaimed. He rushed over to her and pulled her onto his lap, hugging her tightly. "Molly, what's wrong? What happened?"
She kept on sobbing and tightened her grip around Harry's neck making it almost hard to breath. After about five minutes, she managed to choke out, "Uncle…Remus!"
"Remus?" Harry asked. "What about him sweetie?"
"He- he's…going to die!"
This was not exactly what Harry had expected to hear. "What" he asked clearly confused. He gently unclasped her arms from around his neck. Where had his seven-year-old daughter gotten the absurd idea that her uncle was going to die?
"What in the world gave you that idea honey?" he asked softly. Molly wiped her eyes and looked into her fathers. She then pointed to the book that still lay open on the couch.
Puzzled Harry looked from Molly to the book then back to Molly. "That?" he asked. "The book?"
"Uh-huh," she said as she wiped more stray tears from her cheeks.
Harry went over to the couch and picked up the book. Looking at the pages his daughter had been reading he winced, immediately recognizing a book that he had been meaning to get rid of for quite some time. The book was entitled Werewolves and Their Downfalls and he had gained from Sirius the day he and Ginny moved in with the statement of, "You have a new house and I need to clean out mine. They're books I haven't had time to burn so take care of that for me in that big, new fireplace." This particular book was written in the early 1800s by an author who talked anything but kind towards werewolves.
However, Harry soon saw what exactly had upset Molly. There in big bold letters on the center of the page was:
According to most scientists of this time, the common werewolf lives only about 1/3 the life span of a non-infected wizard. With almost 13 major groups in Europe dedicated to the noble cause of eliminating all werewolf blood, and the extreme exhaustion following every full moon of the month by the infected person, it is abnormal for an infected subject to live as long as the uninfected.
"What's going on Dad?" said a voice from the doorway. Before Harry had time to answer James, Molly spit out, "Uncle Remus is going to die!" and started sobbing all over again.
"What?" exclaimed Sirius who had just appeared, still balancing Garrett in his arms.
"Uncle Remus is going to die! Why?" cried out James.
Harry closed the book and walked over to the boys. He put his arms around their shoulders and led them to sit on the couch. He took Garrett out of Sirius' arms and set him on his lap.
"Molly," he said gently, "Uncle Remus is not going to die anytime soon."
"But- but the book said that werewolves don't live as long as normal wizards. And Uncle Remus has been through so much, and done so much stuff, and he is always looking tired!" Molly furiously wiped at her tears with the back of her hand. "That, and he's almost like, seventy! And you know what his boys are like! How is he going to live through them much longer? And what about the Wolfsbane potion? How do you know that it will always work?"
Harry stared at his daughter for a few moments and then snorted. "First off, your Uncle is a normal wizard," he stated gently but firmly. "Second, this book was written a really long time ago, even before Uncle Remus' father was born. And back then there were many people that were not…too fond of werewolves. So…it was expected that they-well that they wouldn't die of…natural causes." He looked at his kids and his kids looked right back, obviously expecting him to go on.
He cleared his throat. "But don't worry because all of those groups are all highly illegal now." Trying desperately to take his children's mind off such gruesome topics he stated, "OK so, who wants dinner? Pizza? Chinese? Ice Cream?" He got off the couch and casually tossed the book into the fire where the brittle pages stood no chance and soon turned into ashes.
"What about the other things Daddy?" Spoke up Garrett quietly.
Harry paused midway of tugging Sirius off the floor. 'Curse that four year old brain thirsting for knowledge.' Thought Harry. He cleared his throat. "Oh yeah well uh...
"Yeah Dad!" Sirius exclaimed. "You're just trying to get us off the subject by playing to our desires of ice cream!" He paused to give his father a mock glare. "Well, it worked. Come on James it's sugar time."
"No," said Garrett quietly. "I want to know about the other things." He turned to his father and gave him a pleading yet commanding look.
'Geez, did Ginny have an affair with Snape or what?' thought Harry unnerved. 'Wait… but if Ginny has had sex with Snape…then technically, I've had had sex with – oh Merlin why am I thinking of this!'
Harry shook his head. No more thinking for him for the rest of the night. "Fine. Ok, where were we?" he said sitting back down on the couch
"How Uncle Rem is always looking so tired," said Sirius defeated.
"Well, becoming a werewolf is tiring guys. You change your whole bone structure and it's stressing on your mind as well." He said gently. Your Uncle has been dealing with that for over fifty years."
"Secondly," he said offhandedly, "Never tell your Uncle he looks seventy because A, he's only fifty-eight and B, if you call him seventy then that makes Uncle Sirius seventy and I assure he will not take that well at all." Harry smirked to himself. 'Note to self: tell Sirius all about this part of the conversation.'
"Thirdly, he has been dealing with his own children for twenty-two years and if they haven't killed him yet I doubt they will now especially since two no longer live with him.
"Fourth, we don't always know that the wolfsbane potion will work but if it doesn't, he always has Sirius, me, Uncle Ron, and a handful of your cousins to keep him company," He blew threw his cheeks and turned to look at his youngest son. "Does that cover everything Garrett?"
Identical pairs of emerald eyes connected, one looking expectant and the other seemed to be considering. Smiling a little smile Garrett nodded.
"OK well I think that's enough excitement for one night!" exclaimed Sirius jumping up. "Now I believe there was a mentioning of ice cream? Let us please go stuff our faces with its chocolaty goodness!"
"Chocolate!" exclaimed James making a grimace. "That's disgusting! Vanilla is obviously superior!"
Harry looked up at his sons from the couch smiling gently while hugging Molly and Garrett.
"My triple chocolate could kick your vanilla beans' butt any day of the week!"
Turning swiftly to Harry with a frown set firmly on his face and determination in his eyes James asked, "Well which ones better to you Dad? It's vanilla isn't it? Go on, tell the puppy I'm right!"
Sirius gasped. "Puppy! I am not a puppy! And you are not right, I am Bambi." And at that, the twins were off having one of their everyday brotherly brawls.
Turning to her father as her brothers rolled on the ground, Molly asked, "So…I was wrong?"
"Yes sweetie," he stated kissing the top of her head. "You were most definitely wrong."
"Gotchya!" exclaimed Sirius who had successfully pinned his brother to the ground.
"I can assure you that your uncle will be old and gray by the time he gives in," said Harry.
Garrett let out an abrupt laugh and James and Sirius looked up and joined in, howling on the floor. Molly froze and slowly looked up, her eyes wide as saucers. Realizing his mistake, Harry tried all over again to explain to his now crying daughter that her uncle was fine while his three sons laughed in the back round.
A/N: Well that's the end! I am working right now on two other shorts and a chapter story although I don't think my chapter stories hold much appeal.
In addition, I really don't know whether curse breakers do things such as de-jinx muggle items but it sounded along the right lines to me.
Please review and tell me what you thought! Also please e-mail me or leave in your review any questions about the plot or something.
-Raven Angel.