Harry Potter and the Guardians of Power
Usual Disclaimers apply, folks – They belong to J.K. Rowling but I like to twist the plots and play with their minds, but all in fun, so if you recognize it, it isn't mine!
AN: Please read and review and thanks especially to those of you who have reviewed every chapter and added this story to your favorites list. Thank you for all your creative ways to catch gerbils. I had lots of fun reading your suggestions!
AN: I have done the impossible- because the hit counter on my story has been frozen for over a week, I now have 23 reviews for a story with no readers. Thank you Nearly Headless Nick and all the other ghosts who have read this story and reviewed it!
Chapter 27: Bowling for Gerbils
Dumbledore, Snape and Harry apperated directly from the Ministry to outside the door of No. 12 Grimmauld Place and swiftly climbed the now gleaming stairs to the newly painted red front door. They opened the door into utter chaos. Sirius as Padfoot and McGonagall as Tabby were madly chasing gerbils back from the front door. Mad Eye Moody and Remus had large butterfly nets, and were scooping up gerbils and dumping them in a tall plastic bucket as the dog and cat herded them close. Ron, changed into his lion form was sitting on the bottom stair, guarding the way down and little gerbils were running in and out of the upstairs doors, trying to escape but finding the way down the stairs blocked by a ferocious adolescent lion. Dumbledore grabbed Harry's hand and without a word being spoken, the two linked in power. Dumbledore as the secret keeper was tied directly into the house's protective wards, so Dumbledore channeled the power and the access, while Harry threw up a block preventing any animal, no matter how small, from gaining entrance or exit from the house.
Severus transformed into a bat and flew up to the ballroom, snatching gerbils up in his tiny hands and dropping them into the Plexiglas containers that were strategically placed along the way. The plastic combined with the height of the containers made it impossible for the gerbils to climb up and out to escape again. Severus almost fell out of the air at the sight that greeted him when he entered the devastated ballroom. The young auror, Tobias, was bound and stunned in one corner, but it looked like he had been stepped on rather soundly by Buckbeak several times before being bound. Hundreds of multi colored gerbils were dashing about, making it difficult to concentrate on any one animal.
Buckbeak and several cats were playing a weird form of tag with a group of gerbils by the blasted and twisted wreckage of the gerbil habitat. It looked like it had been blasted by a several reducto curses before melting into grotesque modern art. Hagrid was bellowing and scooping up rodents with a magically enlarged and adapted vacuum cleaner, obviously McGonagall's work. The dizzy and dusty gerbils were being sucked up and deposited into a large clear plastic trash bag that was slung on a strap over his large shoulder.
One of the Weasley twins was throwing what looked like spider webs; trapping the gerbils against the polished oak flooring of the ballroom, the other twin was sending what looked like muggle bubbles out of the end of his wand. They didn't pop when hitting the floor, but took off at great speed toward any free gerbil. When the bubble came in contact with a gerbil, it enveloped it, and the bubble then transformed into a yellow plastic gerbil ball; which then rolled over and attached itself to a growing chain of yellow balls that was getting quite long, like some bizarre children's toy.
Harry and Dumbledore ran up the stairs after strengthening the house's wards, and surveyed the sight of battle for only a moment before dashing into action. Harry conjured several long snakes and sent them down any holes in the walls in search of gerbils who had escaped in that manner. Dumbledore stood in the center of the floor, spinning in place with his wand over his head like a cowboy with a lasso, he Accio-ed the gerbils that were running freely in the room by the handfuls; and deposited them into the plastic containers. Severus transformed back to his human form and conjured lids with funnels for the containers. He then started flicking his wand and moving the gerbil balls and spider webbed gerbils into the containers.
Harry went out on the landing and looking down over the railing; he spun several mini-tornados, sweeping up the small escaped prisoners while leaving the much heavier people and animals standing in the hallway. He carefully guided his tornados over a tall empty container that McGonagall had quickly conjured after resuming human form. Harry put the tails of the tornados into the funnel on the top and released the wind, thanking it for its assistance.
Gerbil after gerbil slid down the funnel and into the Plexiglas, too dizzy and shocked to do more than fall in layer after layer of death eater fuzz balls on the bottom and eventually halfway up the sides. Mad Eye swept his magical eye around the entrance and declared it rodent free. He walked up the stairs slowly; almost too tired to climb, his madly spinning eye gazing into every crack, crevice and hole. He would occasionally point out a spot and one of the people following him would stun, scoop or capture the few remaining free gerbils.
After the tired group entered the ballroom, Mad Eye Moody began running his magical eye around the walls, pointing out hiding gerbils within them. Harry sent his snakes to drag them out, Hagrid sucked them out with his vacuum cleaner; Sirius and Remus just blasted a hole in the wall beside them and reaching in, grabbed them with their bare hands.
Molly and Arthur Weasley came up the stairs dragging a plastic sack full of stunned gerbils that they had managed to keep from escaping through the pipes in the basement. They looked exhausted, but very pleased.
After an exhausting and adrenalin filled forty five minutes, Mad Eye proclaimed every gerbil still on the premises captured or dead, and the various gerbil posse members gathered into the ballroom to begin to asses the damages. Molly eyed her son, the lion, with a glance that said, 'We will be speaking later, and at great length!' It was surprising to see a lion cowered before a slightly short, dumpy woman, but in the excitement, Ron had been unable to clear his mind enough to focus on returning to human form. Professor McGonagall took pity on him and spelled him back to normal, before sliding in exhaustion down the ballroom wall by the others.
With the gerbils now in captivity once more, everyone was slumped on the floor and just sat, catching their breath. Sirius eventually had his three new house elves bring up sandwiches and drinks for the tired gerbil hunters. The elves had managed to keep any gerbils from reaching the attics and freedom through the attic vents. Ginny had stood as her white tiger in front of the ballroom fireplace to keep any from escaping up the chimney, sending many gerbils back in fear of her; but she had managed to transform back before her mother could see her. Mad Eye Moody took charge of Tobias, removing the imperious curse, and then enervating him and releasing him from his bindings.
Tobias was very upset with what he had done, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…I tried not to do it, but I couldn't resist entirely. I only transformed the first one, Lucius Malfoy, before throwing off the curse, but he managed to knock me down while I was still fighting the curse and grabbed my wand. I was able to scream for help before he stunned me, and that's all I remember. I tried, but I wasn't strong enough, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"
Dumbledore patted him on the shoulder where he lay on the floor, waiting for Madame Pomfrey to arrive to heal his injuries. "We appreciate what you were able to do, Tobias, this would have been much worse if we had all these wizards free in the house. Fighting off the curse enough to warn the others saved them. The death eaters would have been able to physically overcome all of you and escape as humans and then return to Tom. We will soon know who and how many have escaped. Do not trouble yourself further, son, it could not be helped, and feel proud of fighting off that curse and warning your fellows."
Madame Pomfrey bustled into the ballroom at that moment, dropped the large satchel she was carrying, and hands on hips, surveyed the scene of battle. "So who is actually hurt in this mess? Where are my patients?" She eyed the long row of exhausted witches and wizards slumped and leaning against the wall of the devastated ballroom, and the large quantity of huge plastic containers full of roiling, teeming fuzzy rodents with evident distrust and distaste.
Dumbledore called her over to care for Tobias and then explained what was needed from her in regard to the many large containers of gerbils that writhed and wriggled within them. Poppy called Severus over and consulted quietly with the potions master. Severus reached into his robes and selected three vials of potions which Poppy administered to the injured and still embarrassed auror.
The now fed and partially recovered warriors stood up reluctantly as Mad Eye clumped back into the room, carrying a thick sheaf of parchments and an enchanted quill. "Albus, if I might ask you to repair the habitats; then we can begin the process of identifying the gerbils, to see just who and how many are missing?" Albus nodded, gestured to Harry to join him, and they began waving their wands, Harry holding his empty stick in his right hand, to repair the structure. Professor McGonagall re-entered the room and drew her wand to assist in the repairs. The plastic tubing seemed to melt in reverse as it flowed back up and into perfect shape, the habitats rebuilding themselves, so that the structure soon looked exactly as it had the day before when Sirius and Remus had shown it off to Harry and Severus, minus a few hundred inhabitants that is.
Poppy asked Ron, Ginny, Hermione, George and Fred to each begin by grabbing a gerbil apiece and holding it up. She taught Remus, Sirius, Molly, Arthur, and Tobias the quick spell that showed the name and condition of the gerbil in a teen's hand. They would each then announce to Mad Eye and his charmed parchments, which prisoner their gerbil was so the quill would mark them off, and then pass it to Madame Pomfrey if their gerbil was in need of medical attention. Otherwise they would replace it into the proper colored tubing.
Injured gerbils would be given to Madam Pomfrey and she would have Minerva, Severus or Albus then transform them long enough to heal them and then transform them back into gerbil form. Harry was entrusted with returning each identified and treated gerbil back into the proper habitats; when they were done, they would be able to tell how many, and just who it was that were missing. They found very few that were injured badly, apparently gerbils could 'take a licking and keep on ticking'. Most of the witches and wizards there just looked at Sirius oddly when he announced that, but Harry, Hermione and Remus; and strangely enough, Professor Dumbledore laughed heartily.
It was a slow and tedious task, but with five teams working the job went much quicker. It still took over two hours to complete the task, and at the end only nineteen gerbils were unaccounted for, and presumed to have escaped from the house before Professor Dumbledore and Harry had been able to seal it. They could only assume they had been restored to human form by Malfoy before escaping out the window they had broken in the ballroom, since they couldn't apperate out, and the fireplace up here wasn't attached to the floo system.
Bellatrix Lestrange had not escaped since her habitat wasn't connected with any other and her tubing had not been damaged, but she had been squashed flat when Buckbeak apparently landed on her cage while chasing escapees. The tubing for the teenagers had been melted, but none of them wanted to leave so they had all stayed secure; huddled in an undamaged corner.
Malfoy, Pettigrew, Nott, McNair and fourteen other death eaters had presumably escaped. The remains of seven gerbils had been identified as former Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and five other former ministry workers. They had been in the way of the initial blast and were killed instantly when the habitat they were in had exploded. The last very ugly; much squashed dead gerbil was identified as Delores Umbridge. She had apparently been caught by one of Arabella Figg's cats who had tormented it and when it stopped playing; thrown it against a wall, where she had broken her little neck.
Harry's Uncle Vernon was the last one identified among the missing. Aunt Petunia had been found crouching fearfully inside the ruined wreckage of her purple habitat. Harry felt his father's warm arms encircling his shoulders as he was drawn into a comforting hug. "Are you all right, child? I know he was abusive and despicable to you, but remember, he is still in gerbil form and only a wizard will be able to transform him back. I know that Lucius and the others would not bother to restore him. He would be useless to them. If they had transformed him to discover a muggle, they would have killed him instantly." Severus brushed his lips across the boy's soft hair, "I would like to be here for you, but you will need to tell me how I can help."
Harry hugged him back, soaking up the warm feeling of safety and comfort. "More than anything else, I feel relief that he can never touch me again. I never thought of him as a 'father', he was always 'Dudley's father', and in fact, I never even considered him as an 'uncle' after I met Sirius and Remus. I think I will be all right, I appreciate the offer though; it has been a very long, very stressful day. Can we just go home?"
Severus drew Harry with him as he walked over to talk to Albus. Albus leaned next to Harry's ear to quietly ask his grandson "Is there anything you need, Harry? I will do my best to help you with anything that you require." He noticed that the boy was almost as tall as he was now, he could no longer see easily over the top of his head, and soon they would be eye to eye.
Harry let go of Severus with one arm to wrap it around his grandfather's waist and leaned his head onto the old man's shoulder, "Thanks, Grandpa, but I will be fine, I'm just very tired and a little stressed out from this day. It has been very emotional what with the pensieve, the press conference, meeting with Madame Bones and then topped off with all of this."
Severus nodded to his father, "I'm going to take Harry home now, and I will give him a Dreamless Sleep potion tonight. He needs a dream free night and I think even Hogwarts will need a little assistance in calming him after this day. I will talk to you later, Father, when he is settled in our quarters. Will you come to them or will I need to come to your office?"
"No, child, it will be all right in your quarters. I have some questions about the wards around Hogwarts that I would like to discuss with the Founders. Now that you no longer bear the dark mark, perhaps the wards can be modified to refuse to admit anyone wearing that evil brand, whether it is visible or not. And we need to have a warning system in place against any animagus who enters intending to harm anyone within the castle. I have had several ideas over the years, but they would all have required two elemental masters, and I have never had another one to work with. I'm sure, Harry that you will be able to assist in replenishing and perhaps modifying the wards, since you are one of the original casters of them."
"Of course, Grandpa, I will need to discuss them with Merlin, but that should be no problem. And I still need to work on 'Lupin's Cure' before I begin my O.W.L.'s next week."
"Severus, could I impose upon you to return the Weasley children and Hermione to Hogwarts with you? It was good that they were in Minerva's office planning a 'surprise' for Molly's birthday, when the call came in so that they could assist in the gerbil round-up. The twins in particular were most creative, though all of them were very helpful."
"Of course, Father." Severus motioned the other teens to come with them as they gathered closely together and touched the tea towel that Albus had turned into a portkey. They arrived back in Professor Snape's office and he quickly turned to the students. "Not one word is to get out about what happened tonight! Is that understood?" When they all nodded in agreement, he had Harry apperate them all back to their new quarters where they could leave without anyone paying them any attention, as they were known to be frequent guests, especially in the evenings.
Severus had his son get ready for bed, even though it was still early and not yet curfew. He handed Harry a vial of Dreamless Sleep and sat on the edge of his bed, gently brushing the black hair off of his forehead and removing the boy's glasses when his eyes drooped tiredly and refused to open again. "Good night, son, sleep well and we'll talk in the morning." He waited several minutes more to make sure Harry was deeply asleep, and then with a whispered, 'I love you.' that was almost too soft to be heard; he turned and left the room.
Early the next morning, a young lady of about twenty four spotted a dirty, bedraggled gerbil lying in the grass beside No. 10 Grimmauld Drive. "Oh you poor thing, are you lost? Here let me take you to someplace where you can be safe." She scooped him up and put him into her bag. She caught her bus and went merrily to work, thinking about where she could put her new gerbil. She asked her office partner, Sue, if she could use the old aquarium that she no longer needed. When Sue gave her permission, she took the 50 gallon glass tank into her room and set it on a small table beneath a large window. She scrounged around in the room's closets and came up with some old rags which she used to make a bed for her new pet, and a large piece of wire netting to keep the rodent in his tank.
The gerbil settled in and had just gone to sleep when he was rudely awoken by the sound of children's loud and excited voices. "Children, this is our new classroom pet. We will have to decide upon a name for him. So Mr. Gerbil, welcome to your new home, Ms. Carver's two year old preschool class. Now, who wants to hold him?" Vernon blanched and wished he had never left Petunia.
The newly escaped death eaters flopped around the dining room table at the Malfoy Manor and picked at the remains of a very large meal that had been provided for them by the surprised house elves. Lucius was upset that he had found no trace of his wife Narcissa, and everything portable and of value had disappeared, including the key to the family vault at Gringotts. 'Where could that witch have gone to?' He thought increasingly black thoughts as they sat and waited for the Dark Lord's call on their dark marks so they could apperate to his side, wherever he was.
Albus Dumbledore was enjoying a quiet peaceful sleep, no dreams, and no nightmares, wrapped in the warmth of a thick down comforter in his huge four poster bed when he became aware of a small being jumping up and down beside his head, calling his name. "Professor Dumbledore, sir. Headmaster, sir, you's is needing to be awake. We's is not knowing what's to do, sir!"
"Yes, Snag, what is it?" Dumbledore was one of those lucky individuals who had the ability to come completely awake if the situation warranted it. "What do you need me to do?"
'Good sir, the gates is holding out many, many werewolves and they is demanding to enter and have the cure, they is insisting to see Mr. Harry Potter, sir. And we's is not knowing what to do with them!"
Albus sighed, rubbed the bridge of his nose and placed his spectacles on his long, crooked nose. "I will be down shortly. Please contact the Ministry for me, specifically Minister Bones, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Blackstone if you would. Thank you, Snag." He swung his feet out of his warm bed and felt for his fuzzy slippers as he grabbed his dressing gown off the end of the bed. And it had been such a wonderful deep sleep!
The Headmaster had called Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Snape to assist him with the very large crowd now gathered restlessly and loudly outside the, fortunately, closed gates of Hogwarts. They were having very little success getting the crowd quieted down and were seriously considering stunning several of the most outspoken of the mob, when with a series of cracks, the Minister for Magic, the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, the Head of the Office for the Care and Control of Magical Creatures and a small army of aurors apperated onto the platform of the Hogwarts Express, the aurors quickly spreading out and surrounding the crowd. Using a sonorous charm, Madame Bones called out to the crowd.
"Gentle wizard folk, I need your attention. Hogwarts had no control over the disbursement of the werewolves' cure. Mr. Blackstone's office is in control of the drawing for the allotment for each month. I know each and every one of you want to never have to transform again, but there simply is no way to brew the cure in a hurry. And since there are only two people on this earth capable of brewing this potion, the supply each month is limited. But you will all receive the cure; you just need to leave your name with one of Mr. Blackstone's clerks and where we can reach you to notify you when it is your turn to be cured."
Mr. Blackstone stepped forward, "Each of the aurors here has the paperwork to take down your name and information, you will not even need to come into the Ministry offices, and we will sign you up today if you like. Just form a line, perhaps all of you here on behalf of a child could line up over by the Hogwarts gate, those for yourself, get into ten lines each in front of an auror, and we will take down your information. Do not shove, we will get to each of you in turn and your position on the parchment makes no difference in the lottery. Each of you have an equal chance of being selected. After the children, any doses left will have a name drawn one by one to receive it. We have no interest in arresting anyone or keeping track of where you live."
"If you wish to be notified in care of Old Tom at the Leaky Cauldron or Madame Rosmerta here at the Three Broomsticks, that is acceptable. Just check in at least five days before the next full moon because if you don't send notice of acceptance so that we can send you directions on where and when to show up; we will give your spot to someone else and your name will go back in for the next lottery. We wouldn't want a dose to go to waste if someone doesn't show up."
"Professor Snape and Lord Potter are investigating ways to have more people help in the preparation and brewing of the potion, but it does take a full week of intense brewing, then it must sit for three days and then it must be taken exactly as the moon rises. There are several other potions which must be taken soon after regaining consciousness, and a normal dose of Wolfsbane must be taken the night before. The two men responsible for the cure are very diligent but this is an incredibly complex potion and not just anyone can brew it. The ingredients are quite rare and difficult to obtain, and you being here is disrupting the brewing that has already started for the next full moon on the 14th of February. Please listen to these good people from the Ministry and the cure will be given to each of you just as soon as it is humanly possible." Professor Dumbledore added from behind the school's gate.
A mother ran up to the fence surrounding the school and tried to thrust her small boy through the bars to Severus, "Please, my son's only five, he was bitten just two months ago and I can't bear for him to be in such pain ever again. Please help him, I will do anything you ask, give you anything, every galleon we have…Please…" She pled with tears running down her cheeks.
Severus reached through the bars and brushed his hand on the little blonde head nestled in shyness and fear against his mother's shoulder. "Madam, children have first priority, their bodies are the most damaged by the transformation, just talk to the young lady right there and she will take down your son's information. Harry and I are already brewing all that we can safely brew at one time as it is. You would not want us to make the batch wrong or ruin it and the irreplaceable ingredients by trying to rush it, would you?"
She kissed his hand, still sobbing, though now with gratitude; which startled him, and ran carrying her child over to the young auror holding a clipboard and a never out quill. As if her movement broke a dam, the others moved to make rough but remarkably peaceful lines in front of the aurors that Mr. Blackstone had indicated. The four professors waited long enough to be sure the Ministry had the situation well under control before turning to head up to the school. They all sighed as the crowd settled down and a potential riot was diverted. And all before breakfast!
Severus was a little worried about how Harry would feel about the crowd. 'He always blames himself for everything, but there really isn't any way we could brew more each month…hmm….maybe my seventh year potions classes if they had adequate supervision, and I do have Eric to help now…' Severus thought to himself, deep in planning as he followed the others back to the castle.
Nippy and Grip appeared in front of the men sitting in the kitchen eating the large breakfast that Toby was serving them. "Master Sirius, sir, we's is cleaning the ballroom and we's is finding something we's is not knowing what it is." Nippy handed Sirius a small, delicately made silver gerbil paw, placing it carefully into his new master's hand. Remus, Moody, and Tobias looked over his shoulder in excitement. Moody summoned the parchments containing the names of the missing prisoners and they all went thundering up the stairs.
Remus was first into the room, wand at the ready, "Point me, Peter Pettigrew!" he demanded. His wand turned once and pointed directly at Buckbeak's stomach. He repeated the spell with the same results. Moody started calling off the names of those still missing and they discovered that Buckbeak had eaten two other gerbils, and three of the cats had eaten one apiece. Remus and Sirius both choked to realize that Buckbeak had eaten McNair, the Ministry executioner sent to kill him last spring! They thought that was poetic justice, it seems there was some fairness in life after all!
But the most curious results were when they called for the location of Misters Goyle and Crabbe. Remus' wand pointed out the front door, but the pull was very strong as if they were very close. The men tramped down the stairs and out the front door, following Remus and his wand. They stopped, stared and all burst out laughing. It seems that Vincent and Gregory's fathers were no smarter than their sons. The remains of two squashed gerbils were in the gutter, the tire tracks showing plainly that the two had been run over by a muggle bus! The four men returned to the house to finish their meal, laughing heartily all the way.
Severus thought his morning couldn't have gotten any worse, first the mob at the gate at dawn, then having to convince Harry that he was entitled to a life outside of brewing the cure and that no one expected him to stop everything to brew the cure. After all, most of those werewolves had been transforming every month for years and they could wait several months for the cure if they had to. At least now they had a cure, and a chance for a normal life, which they hadn't had three days ago.
It had taken him until breakfast time to convince the boy, and himself, if he was to be utterly truthful. He took Harry by the shoulders and walked him down to the Great Hall for breakfast, leaving him in the corridor one floor above the entrance doors, so that he could go in the side staff door without them being seen together.
Ah, his favorite vegetable and cheese omelet, fried potatoes with mushrooms and onions, and very crisp bacon. Severus had fixed his morning tea just the way he liked it, took one deep, grateful sip, picked up his fork and stopped. 'What was that noise, it sounded like thousands of wings?' he looked up seconds before he was buried in parchments as hundreds of owls flew into the Great Hall, all of them aimed directly at him.
Severus glared at the students who were looking at him in shock and amusement, and the other staff members who were having a hard time not laughing. "It's not funny. Anyone laughing can just go deal with all of those owls." He snarled at them. He pulled his wand and banished all the unwanted letters into his fellow professors' offices. Let them deal with the deluge of unwanted mail. He glanced down at Harry, not wanting the boy to have to deal with that mess, only to see him also trying so hard not to laugh that he was choking on his pumpkin juice; not a parchment in sight.
Albus leaned over and reminded him, "Harry is under seventeen; all of his mail is diverted and inspected by the house elves and only that mail from people he knows is actually delivered. Otherwise he would be deluged by either fan mail or hate mail, or both; every time the Prophet wrote something about him. You know that." Severus nodded gratefully, sent a snarl at Harry and his friends and settled down to take out his frustrations on his breakfast.
Sirius walked up the stairs to his room to send an owl to Dumbledore about their discovery that morning. He was singing to himself as he climbed. He was free, Remus was cured, Peter was dead, Harry was safe and happy, and their foolish fight with Severus was finally over. Life was good! "Pettigrew got eaten by a hippogriff, on his way to freedom just last night…" he warbled at the top of his lungs. Remus choked on his tea in the library. 'Where had Padfoot learned, Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, for Merlin's sake?'
Severus had Eric watch as he instructed his sixth year classes on the preparation of the ingredients for both regular Wolfsbane and the new Lupin's Cure. He explained to them that they would not actually be brewing the potions, but that they were welcome to come by in the evenings and help in the brewing, with his permission, if they were interested and he considered them capable of actually helping of course. The seventh year N.E.W.T. classes would take those prepared ingredients and actually began brewing the complicated potions.
With the two cauldron's brewing in their private potion's lab in their chambers, they now had five cauldrons of the precious cure brewing. They should be able to finish two complete brewing cycles before the full moon. Each batch produced twenty cures, so they would have 219 doses for the full moon in February. Severus and Harry were both relieved at being able to tell the ministry about the additional doses that would be available instead of the original 59 that they had promised.
The Ministry had originally estimated about 350 werewolves were in Great Britain, including children, but Remus told them privately the number was probably closer to 600 including almost 75 children, so if they continued to brew as they were doing, they should have everyone who wanted a cure dosed within the next three or four months.
Remus confided that there would probably be some who did not want to come forward, either because they liked the freedom from morality that being a werewolf entailed, or they were wanted by the Ministry for whatever reason. Mr. Weasley had confided to them that anyone after the initial dosing that was captured as a werewolf; would either receive the cure whether they wanted it or not, or be sent to Azkaban, if they had deliberately and repeatedly avoided registering with the ministry.
Next chapter: Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast? should be up in a couple of days. It's mostly done, just some more editing and tweaking. Then just a couple more chapters and this will be done. Thanks for all your suggestions and encouragement, it keeps me typing.