Werewolf, Chapter 7

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! It really inspires me to know that people enjoy this story. Sorry this update was slow, school just started. I'm in the high school this year, AAUUGGHH! Actually, it's not bad, but homework definitely cuts in on writing time. Well, hope you enjoy it! Please R&R!

Harry woke the next day feeling entirely healed. Madam Pomfrey removed the bandages and proclaimed him fit to leave. As he dressed, he glanced over at Professor Lupin's bed, but the curtains were once again drawn around it and there were no signs of movement from behind them. Harry desperately wanted to know what Lupin and Dumbledore had talked about the previous night, and why it was so important as to pull a half – dead man out of bed and up eleven flights of stairs, but he knew that he was not privy to that sort of information. Huffing in frustration, he exited the Hospital Wing and made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Finding Ron and Hermione was easy, he sat down between them and poured himself a bowl of cereal. He related to them the events of the previous night, but they didn't seem overly curious.

"It's Order business Harry, they're not going to tell us so you might as well stop stressing over it," Hermione stated before burying her nose in the Daily Prophet. Ron seemed equally uninterested, and they spent the rest of the meal in silence. But Harry couldn't stop thinking about the terrified look on Lupin's face, the way he had trembled with fear when he heard Madam Pomfrey's footsteps… Looking up at the high table, he saw Dumbledore chatting amiably with Professor Sinistra, no traces of worry or concern on his face at all. Either this was all a false alarm, or the Headmaster was a very good actor. But Harry couldn't help but think that something very bad was going to happen, and soon. He only hoped that they would be ready.


Remus lay in the Hospital Wing, staring listlessly at the ceiling. It would be another week, at least, before he had the strength to do anything other than hobble back and forth from the bathroom. He sincerely hoped that Albus had found someone other than Snape to teach his classes in his absence. But the Headmaster had much bigger things on his mind, things that Remus had put there…

He had reached the meeting just as it was beginning. Lupin was hard - put not to show his fear as he skirted the main crowd and approached the platform on which Lord Voldemort stood in all his glory. A cold chill forced it's way down his spine as he focused on his best friend's murderer. The eyes that did not belong to him narrowed to angry slits beneath the unfamiliar bushy black eyebrows. He wasn't stupid enough to try and exact his revenge on this hateful shell of a man, but God did he want to. He wanted to make the Dark Lord pay for all the pain he had caused, all the people he'd killed, all the children he had orphaned… But no, even as his heart called to attack, his mind called forth the cold truth. If Remus attacked, he would be killed, like so many before him. And right now, the most important thing he could do was lie low, listen, and hope to hear something of Voldemort's plans for these hateful creatures.

The Dark Lord raised his hands. The ferals seemed to sense the power emanating from the snake – like creature before them, for an instant later, they were silent.

"Creatures of the Dark, shunned for so long, hated by so many, I give you hope!" he shouted. He looked around at the wild faces before him and continued. "How long has it been since you tasted the flesh of humans? How long has it been since you were truly free? Ten, twenty years? What if I said there was a way to end your suffering? A way to bring you pleasure and satisfaction for the rest of your lives?"

He's playing the crowd, thought Lupin.

"I can help you get what you want!" Voldemort continued. "I can give you everything you ever dreamed of! There is just one thing I ask in return."

The ferals were hanging off his every word. Some were drooling. Lupin's heart sank. Voldemort had these killing machines in the palm of his hand.

"The only thing I ask is that you help me bring down the ones who have been oppressing you for so long! Get them out of the way, and you will no longer have to hide in fear and shame! You will be hailed as heroes, and you will be treated as such! Who's with me?"

There was a roar from the crowd. Lupin pretended to join in even as his heart filled with dread. After a minute, the Dark Lord raised his hands again. The ferals quieted down.

"I thank you, and promise you that all I have said will come true! Your first mission is this…"

Remus waited with baited breath, listening intently.

"The village of Anstierre is a major wizarding village. That will be the target of your first attack, on the night of the full moon. Leave none alive. Also, elect a leader, someone to whom I can give the details for the next mission. Is everything clear?"

There was a roar of assent. Voldemort nodded, and Disapparrated. Lupin started to make his way toward the forest to his right. He couldn't Disapparrate in front of the ferals, or they would know he had been spying on them, and would change their plans. But before he had gone ten feet, a particularly nasty looking, grizzled old man stepped in his path.

"Where you goin'?" he demanded, spitting through rotten teeth.

"Uh…" Lupin gulped. This was not good. Not good at all. A couple other ferals had noticed the situation and were now gathered around the two men.

"Umm…home?" Remus guessed. He was not even sure if ferals had homes. Desperately trying not to look as terrified as he felt, he attempted to dodge around the dentally challenged man.

"Tho thoon?" lisped Rotten Teeth Man, grabbing Lupin's arm with inhumanly strong fingers.

"We still haven't picked our leader yet," another man said. Remus immediately named him Scraggly Beard Man.

"Um…" squeaked Remus, "I wasn't really planning on, um, running, if you know what I mean…"

"Yer new to the pack, arentcha?" asked Rotten Teeth Man. Remus, not knowing what else to do, nodded. Maybe this would explain his obvious nervousness.

"Well, the way thingth are run here, if we're choothing a leader or thomethin', we have a fight out."

Remus bit back a whimper of fear. He had no idea what a fight out was, but he had a feeling it was not going to be pretty. Rotten Tooth Man was pushing him back toward the center of the field, where all the other ferals were gathered.

"Jutht get in there and do what cometh naturally," the old man said, as if this were a perfectly good explanation. Then he shoved Remus into the crowd and disappeared.

Peachy. This is just peachy. I can't leave now, or they'll know something is up, thought Remus nervously, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. What the heck is a fight out anyway? Sounds dangerous. He was saved from any further dark musings by a sudden commotion on his right. Two brawny ferals were tearing at each other with tooth and claw, a merciless look in their golden eyes. As Lupin watched, other fights broke out, each one as ferocious as the one next to it. With a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach, Remus finally realized what the term "fight out" meant. A gigantic battle, everybody for themselves, and whoever won was the undisputed leader. It was barbaric and supremely stupid, and if Remus had been anywhere other than where he was, he would have laughed at the sheer pig – headedness of the ferals' system of government. But he was not in the calm safety of his office at Hogwarts, he was right in the middle of the fray, and the murderous looking feral running straight toward him was very real indeed…

Remus woke in a cold sweat, his mouth clamped shut to keep from screaming. I'm safe, he told himself. I'm at Hogwarts. I'm safe. He ran a shaking hand over his pale face, starting at the still unfamiliar marks running down it. Releasing the breath he had been holding, he sank back into his pillow and closed his eyes again. I'm safe, he thought once more before falling back into a dreamless sleep.


"Was he there?"

"Yes, my lord. He was there."

"Is he wounded?"

"Very."

"Excellent. He will be too weak to fight. Is the decoy set?"

"Yes, lord. He told the old man last night."

"My plan is working perfectly. Now we must wait for the right time. You know what to do?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Good. Now go, and do not fail me."

"Never, my lord."