Disclaimer: "When you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many, it's research". As far as I'm aware, I've only researched.
Author's Note:
-Parseltongue-
The Tales of Werewolves
Teach And We Shall Learn
James woke from dreams of Lily Evans to the sound of retching coming from the bathroom, so he flung his curtains open. Sirius had also heard the noise and had poked his head out to see what was going on.
"Moony?" Sirius suggested.
"No. The full moon's a week after Tuesday, it's too early. Besides, it usually doesn't sound as violent as that."
"Yeah, I don't puke that much." Remus piped up from behind his curtains. "And it's usually after the sun's gone down, not ten in the morning."
He came out and crossed the room, and James and Sirius quickly followed him. Peter just rolled over in his sleep.
Dom was crouched over the toilet bowl with one hand grabbing the edge tightly and the other holding his sunglasses on and he leaned over. He was shivering uncontrollably and his face shone with sweat.
"What's wrong?" Remus asked, with genuine concern in his voice. Sirius crouched next to Dom and rubbed his back.
"Don't… know." Dom wheezed between large gulps of air. He swallowed and Remus helped him stand up shakily, before he feinted into Remus' arms.
"Shit." Sirius breathed as Remus shifted Dom so he could carry him bridal style.
"We better get him to the hospital wing." Said James. Sirius opened the door so Remus could go through.
They lay him down on the bed and they got dressed. It was a Saturday so they wore casual clothes.
Remus wore flared blood red pants with a black turtleneck and a mustard yellow corduroy ('poor man's velvet') jacket.
James had a long sleave shirt with wide horizontal stripes ('Rugby shirt') of yellow and red, tight corduroy pants with a belt buckle in the front ('Garbardine Pants') and a satin jacket.
Sirius had ripped bellbottom jeans that dragged on the ground and a black t-shirt of his favourite rock band.
They all wore platform shoes, but everyone's soles were different thicknesses so that they all were the same hight.
They used a switching spell on Dom, so that his pyjamas were replaced with something out of his trunk.
They were black shoes, deep green dragon-hide jacket over a slightly tight black top with a silver dragon on the back that's tail curved around to the front, and dark jeans.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. The first thing he noticed was the high quality of the jacket, then the blatant show of house colours, ignoring the fact that his friends were showing a great deal of 'Gryffindor Pride' themselves.
The top clung to Dom's sweaty chest and Sirius's breath hitched in his throat, though he was slightly disappointed that he had a shirt on at all.
At one o-clock Peter finally came into the hospital wing to join his friends, who were sitting next to the bed Dom was in. He still hadn't woken up.
"Hey guys. What's up?"
"Dom's ill, Pomfrey says he won't wake until tomorrow morning, and he'll be fine then."
"He'll miss out on the Defence Against the Dark Arts test then. Lucky bastard."
Sirius turned to look at Peter. "Pete, it's Saturday. We don't have classes until Monday and Defence until Tuesday."
"There was a notice up in the common room from Harry: 'All students in seventh year D.A.D.A are to go to glowing trees on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, 10:30 pm Saturday night for a practical test of skills. Bring wand and sensible clothes'."
"But it's Saturday!" James whined, earning a look from Pomfrey, who was on the other side of the room cleaning something off the floor.
'I hope it's nothing dangerous.' They all thought.
At half past nine, Harry entered the hospital wing and saw Pomfrey standing next to Dom's feverish form. He reached into Dom's pocket and pulled out a bag, inside he grabbed the purple halves of two Skiving Snackboxes and put them in Dom's mouth.
Pomfrey rubbed her 'patients' throat and made him swallow. Almost instantly Dom's fever disappeared and he reached out for his glasses, which Harry placed in his hand. With them securely on his face he opened his eyes.
"Thank Merlin for the Weasley Twins." He said cheerfully. "I feel a bit bad about tricking the guys though."
"How are things going with them?" Harry shifted his bag onto his other shoulder.
Dom got out of bed and grabbed his jacket off the back off a chair. "Great. They're so excepting. It's easy to see why they didn't think Pete would betray them… Oh! Sorry. I didn't mean-"
"It's fine Dom. When we've finished this I'll write you a note to get that book out of the restricted section. Ok?"
"Cool. You got the potions?"
"Yeah. You should take the Wolfsbane now, so it has time to get into your system."
Dom drank the small vial obediently and winced as they started walking out into the hall on their way to the school grounds.
Two trees were glowing a Hufflepuff yellow on the edge of the Forbidden Forest where a number of students had gathered. Most had decided to wear their school pants and shirt (Marauders included).
Everyone had split off into eight small groups according to their house and gender. Just when the Slytherins had started wondering if this was all just some stupid joke, a piece of paper appeared in the middle of everyone in a burst of flames.
No one made a move to grab it until a Ravenclaw student got fed up with everyone just staring.
Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins.
Welcome to your first practical lesson!
I am sorry it had to be on a weekend, and without much notice, but when you get into a dangerous situation there rarely is any notice
Several people swallowed nervously.
and I don't think your other teachers would be too pleased if you were falling asleep in their classes because you didn't get enough the night before.
First I shall assure you that nothing you will face tonight is life threatening, although that may change depending of if you follow my rules or not.
RULES:
No unforgivable or illegal curses.
Do not harm anything or anyone with a spell that will cause permanent damage.
No killing
You must read the parchment allowed at every checkpoint
Keep to the path.
No interhouse rivalries are allowed once you pass the first two yellow trees.
Stick together.
The path is lit by two rows of trees that are glowing green, so you don't have to use 'Lumos'. As the trees go on they will fade into red when you approach a clearing where a parchment is.
Good Luck!
- (Professor) Harry James Potter.
"Let's get to it then." Said Lily and she entered the wide path as the Gryffindors followed, with the Ravenclaws in second, Slytherins in third and Hufflepuffs bringing up the rear.
They walked along the path between the glowing green trees.
The path went on and a few people noticed that every tree was starting to get a red tint to them. As they thought they would, they came to their first red coloured clearing. A parchment glowing blue was floating in the middle. They could see a path on the other side, but the trees weren't glowing yet.
James went up and read the paper.
Two meters from head to tail
The strongest jaw of a land mammal
Can swim, but can't climb.
Rarely aggressive to human kind
Likes to live in solitude
What am I?
A hoarse growling noise from the darkened path over other side made everyone freeze. The parchment turned to dust and fell from James fingers.
A shining black mammal started towards them. It had a broad, heavy looking head and stocky legs. It was like a leopard, but bigger.
"It's a leopard on steroids!" Sirius said in a stage whisper, so the entire class could hear. There were some people who laughed because they thought it was polite to, but didn't think it was the time or the place to be making jokes.
"It's a Black Panther, a type of Jaguar." Said a Ravenclaw boy.
The Panther's eyes were bright green and it had a lightning bolt scar along its muzzle. It crouched down, preparing to pounce. Its tail seemed content with pushing leaves around behind it.
It pounced at a Hufflepuff and Sirius reacted without thinking. He jumped and side-tackled the panther into a tree stump.
"Stun it!"
"Stupefy"
There was nothing the panther could have done since it was pinned down by Sirius and blood was slowly spreading from a wound in its side where it had hit the stump.
The trees on the other path lit up green and they started walking again, still slightly shaken up. At least they knew now what to expect for the rest of the night.
Remus cocked his head as his superior hearing picked up someone saying "Ennervate" behind them, and then the sound of wings soaring and twigs breaking somewhere to the left of the path.
Again the trees faded to red and they came to another clearing. This time it was Severus who read the parchment.
Doesn't attack most of the time
Most potent venom of it's kind
Extremely aggressive if it's provoked
Enough venom to kill dozens in a single stroke
Very shy but lightning fast
What am I?
The parchment went to dust and something hissed, then another hissing creature joined it.
" 'Most potent venom of it's kind'." Severus repeated to himself. "It's a Taipan Snake" he said matter of factly.
Dom slithered up next to Nymph, he was at least a meter longer then she was and his fangs were longer then a Taipan's were supposed to be.
He had a tan coloured back that went black at his head and a pure white belly and wine-red eyes.
Nymph's burnt orange eyes took in the humans before them.
-No bitting, yeah?- She asked to confirm.
-Oh, no, I never said that! You can bite them as much as you want. Just don't inject any venom.-
If snakes could smirk, Nymph would have –Excellent-
Dom hissed a laugh and slithered up to them, his tongue flicking in and out as a reflex. He could smell their fear, their magic, and body heat. He felt every small bone in his spine respond to the slightest movement as he moved slowly at first.
He could feel the vibration on his sensitive belly as they stepped back as he got closer to them. He smelt Sirius moving to the back of the group. His fear was the strongest. He felt on the ground that Remus was moving around the side, as softly as he could
He saw Severus point his wand at the fast moving Nymph. Black smoke started coming off her. Dom had seen this spell before. Mostly it was used to banish conjured snakes quickly, but could also be used to inflict a large amount of pain on real snakes.
In Dom's opinion it should be illegal. But the Ministry wouldn't make it illegal unless it harmed humans.
Nymph was coughing and swearing in parseltongue. Dom curled up and pushed himself off the ground like a spring. He buried his impressive fangs into Severus's wrist and wiggled his body, spraying blood around as he hit an artery.
'-I must not inject, I must not inject…-' Dom thought to himself, repeating it over and over to stop himself killing the greasy git he was biting out of mild revenge.
The skin in his mouth was soft, like a marshmallow, to his serpent mind. At least Severus had the brains not to try to fling him off.
Someone sent a cutting charm at him and it hit, slicing him deeply across the side of his coffin-shaped face.
-Fuck!- Dom dropped off Severus and rounded on the smell of a recently cast spell. It had come from Kath. He headed towards her, but was cut off someone flinging a spell at him that sent him ten feet into the air.
…He got caught in the lower branches of a tree.
-Fuck!- he said again and looked down. He saw Nymph loose consciousness and the trees light up in green. He hissed angrily. He wasn't finished. He wanted to get them back for hurting Nymph!
'-I'll get them back at my next checkpoint.-' he thought maliciously.
Harry came out from the trees with a pink side, which used to be a wound of some sort. He fed an energy replenishing draught to Nymph who moaned in a hiss, and he summoned Dom down from the tree.
Dom transformed back painfully and held a hand up to the side of his face. Harry handed him a potion to drink that turned the gash into a bad bruise, then he used another potion to rub on it and turn it into a pink bit of newly healed skin.
"Thanks."
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. Are you ok? I saw what happened."
"I'm good, you'd better go, I don't know how long it'll take them to take down Aragog."
"I don't think they've reached him yet, it's not that close to here. Take care of Nymph for me."
Capable of human speech
Up to fifteen feet it's legs can reach
Is a know wizard killer
Stay clear of it's pincers
Has near-human intelligence
What Am I?
There was a huge creature blocking the path to the other side. It moved and spread out its eight legs. It was the size of a small elephant and had milky-white, unseeing eyes.
"May I ask how many have been hurt?" The Acromantula clicked and spoke at the same time.
"F-Four." Answered a Slytherin. "Alice got scratched by the Panther, Black got bruised when he tackled it. Severus was bitten by a snake and Peter fell over on our way here."
"I notice you didn't include animals when you count." Aragog took a few steps closer. "Are you sure they were animals, children?"
An attractive Slytherin girl stepped forward and aimed her wand. "Move."
"Why? I'm too old to hurt you, and I'm blind. Am I really that much of a threat?"
"Yes. A creature doesn't need to be strong or agile when it can talk it's victims into a trap."
"Very true. I can see you're a smart one." He clicked. "What's your name?"
"Bellatrix Black, but that isn't any of your business, so move."
"It's not my business, yet you tell me anyway. That's a bad move, Bellatrix Black. Never tell the enemy your name… I will let you pass if you promise to remember that."
Aragog moved aside and everyone cautiously passed and continued walking through the now lit other end of the path.
The last parchment was in a clearing larger then the others. Remus was breathing heavily, but despite his friends' questioning, wouldn't speak until he picked the parchment out of the air.
What am I?
Everyone looked at him strangely. "That's all he's written." He said. His voice was trembling.
There was a low growl from the shadows. It chilled everyone to the bone and seemed to vibrate in their chests. What ever it was growled again.
There was a snarl that made everyone jump and slowly, making each step quicken everyone's heartbeat, emerged a very pissed-off-looking male werewolf.
His tan coloured hair rustling in the wind as it approached. His mouth dripping with saliva as he bared his teeth.
Everyone's gaze was drawn to his teeth and bone crunching jaws, except for Remus'. The first thing he was the Werewolf's eyes.
His eyes could paralyse anyone with their colour and intensity. They were bright red, with a lemon yellow outline around the edge of the iris and pupil. (A/N: Think 'Lord of the Rings')
Remus smelt the same smell off the Werewolf that he did with the snake. The smell of Dominic… Or… Mutt. The name seemed to fit nicely.
Mutt (as he was called in his Werewolf form) lashed out with his claws at the nearest student sending her into a tree, blood dripped down from her hairline. Everyone started shooting spells at him, but he dodged them with ease.
He kept swinging around and whacking anyone and everyone with his paws, making sure to rip as much flesh as he could with his long claws.
Remus had been fighting the smell of blood since the Panther, and it was luring him into transforming. But he had been a Werewolf since he was young, and could control the call of blood away from the full moon.
But this was almost too much.
Mutt howled as a spell hit him, and Remus gritted his teeth to stop himself howling back.
The fight ended as someone (an advanced Slytherin (not Snape)) turned a broken off branch into silver, and drove it into Mutt's shoulder blade.
Dominic howled in pain a second time. Normally silver didn't affect him, but in Werewolf form it still hurt like hell. He felt his energy (or what was left of it) drain and a coldness spread from the wound.
He lay down slowly and closed his eyes, willing himself not to black out. He heard everyone's foot steps go past, and smelt them as they pushed the air around.
Someone hesitated. Dom could smell it was Remus.
Slowly, his grip on his consciousness slipped and he was senses were plunged into darkness.
"A-choo"
Harry walked through the archway from the small kitchen and into the living room. Dom moaned and rolled over, flinging his arm out and clawing at a nonexistent bedside table.
Draco laughed from the chair on the opposite side of the room. He chucked Dom's glasses and they landed on their owner's stomach.
"We didn't take you to Pomfrey. She would have killed us."
"Who took the silver out?" Dom sat up and winced, then rubbed his shoulder. Draco raised an eyebrow and looked at Dom's wand, which was on the table between them. "Ah."
The Healer-in-Training pushed himself out of his chair and knelt beside the couch. "Lay down. You're not up to it yet." Draco said then busied himself by checking Dom's pulse and temperature.
Harry leaned against the doorframe and smiled at his lover fussing over their adopted son. He made his decision.
He did want a child with Draco. And what ever happened, they'd be able to get through it, weather they were together or alone.
A/N2: It's a bit longer then normal, and mostly pointless. Don't kill me if the facts in the 'poems' are wrong.
Hope you enjoyed