Disclaimer - It's not mine. Never was. The only characters I own are Bella and her family. As well as Ms. Danae Lovell. You can't have them.

Special thanks to the following for continued reviews and well wishes.

Sarah - Once again, I am happy to hear your thoughts about the last chapter. It's good to know that some of the things I come up with are not as far fetched as I thing they are. (I.e. Peter and the silver hand. Ginny and Harry's resemblance to Lily and James. Etc..) Once again, thanks for the support, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Forever-a-Wanderer - I hope you enjoy the chapters to come, and thank you for the review. It is greatly appreciated.

Camilinha - Umm, yeah, I figured you'd be a little angry. But, on the bright side, Ailric and Remus' little talk is in this chapter. Hope you enjoy, and I'll be on messenger soon.

DaniLupin (Nimrodel Telcontar) - I haven't hurt our Remus too bad. He'll be fine. And yes, Peter must die. I just have to figure out the most painful way to accomplish that particular task. Avada Kedavra is too quick, and torture is too messy….. Ah, well, I'll come up with something. ;)

ElspethBates - Zabini is going to play a key in the story later on, so there is going to be more interaction with Sabine (more so than Sable). But it is going to be complicated. As for the children getting mixed up with the students, I doubt it. Sabine is the only one who is really going to be in her teenage form periodically, so the answer is probably no

Angel-girl-xxx - The Remus/Sable thing is slowly progressing, and will for a while. As for where I get the names for my characters from….I just pick ones that I like. Ones that I think will fit their character. My best peace of advice is to Google for a baby name site that has the origins of different names from different countries. I always find some interesting names on their. As for where Sabine, Gabe, and Ailric's names came from…I picked names I liked, but that's about it.

Lothliana - Good to see that you're keeping with me. I hope this chapter is sufficient for your reading pleasure. ;)


Wolf's Bane II: Return to Hogwarts

Chapter 10

Fixing What Ails You


Remus could honestly feel every single beat of his heart as it pumped blood through his veins, and the accompanying throbbing in his head as the pulse continued on unerraningly. His current feeling of half awake/half asleep was vaguely familiar. And he had actually thought he was dead for a little while; before he realized that where he was going probably didn't have silk sheets and a ceiling fan.

His run in with the Death Eaters had left him weak, and hurting all over the place. All he could remember from the night before was the sense of fear, and the urgent feeling to get away from the black cloaked men who were trying to kill him.

He'd been hit with numerous spells, but none of them had been enough to stop his exit from the building. Unfortunately, his luck had run out when he'd tripped over something and quickly found himself surrounded by Death Eaters, and looking into the beady eyes of Peter Pettigrew.

His old 'friend' had made short work of him, literally trying to strangle him to death after the Death Eaters had disarmed him of his wand. It had been an unfair fight from the beginning, with Peter having at least eight Death Eaters at his side, while Remus had been alone. Luckily, the werewolf had somehow managed to get his wand back, and Apparate out of the building. He still wasn't sure how he'd managed to do that, but at the moment he didn't particularly care.

He did remember seeing Nymphadora Tonk's concerned face flickering in and out of his sight, and then hearing Sable's voice ordering around someone. He remembered seeing his old girlfriend sitting by his side while numerous charms were being chanted, and someone poured vile tasting potions down his throat, but everything went blank after that.

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs brought his attention to the doorway, which swung open to admit Sable and Sabine, who was holding a large metal tray of medical bandages. Remus groaned and rolled over stiffly, not wanting anyone to go poking and prodding on his already pained body.

"Well, it looks like he's awake at any rate." Sabine said briskly, setting the tray down on a bedside table while her mother went over and pulled back the curtains of the eastern window, allowing the room to flood with morning light. Sabine immediately went to work while covertly watching her mother's interaction with the injured werewolf. Sable had been up most of the night, alternately checking on Remus and Ginny to make sure they were okay. Sabine hadn't quite figured out how the woman hadn't passed out from absolute exhaustion yet.

"How're you feeling, Remus?" her mother asked, coming to his side and shielding his eyes until they could adjust to the brightness of the sunlight.

"Have been better." he grumped, wincing when Sabine took his arm and checked the bandages. He tried to sit up, but a quick frown from both the women stopped that action in its tracks.

"Hey, tough guy." Sabine said gently, pushing him back down. "Lie down before you undo all my hard work."

"Where am I?"

"You're back in your room." came Sable's gentle voice. "You took a good beating, and we figured you'd want to get some rest after you were patched up."

"What happened anyway? You were in worse shape than Ailric was the last time he didn't take the Wolfsbane potion during a full moon and tried to eat himself up." Sabine said, reaching back for her wand to clean up the mess in front of her.

"I ran into an old friend."

"Peter?" her mother asked warily.

"Yeah." Remus grimaced. "The rat and his Death Eater buddies found me spying on them. And they proceeded to try and rip my throat out."

"Well, he almost succeeded." Sabine said grimly. "Almost took your heart along for the ride as well."

"The next Death Eater rally is going to be in Avonbury, three weeks from yesterday." he said, obviously tuning Sabine's voice out and focusing on Sable. "And apparently there are some plans in the higher ranking circles to get in touch with Lucius Malfoy."

"But he's in Azkaban." Sable said, frowning.

"That's what I heard." he sad. "At least before they caught me. How'd I even get back here?"

"You Apparated to Tonks' flat, actually." Sable said, putting her hand on his forehead to check for a fever. "Tonks and Danae brought you here, and we patched you up as well as we could." Remus frowned slightly, trying to place the unfamiliar name. Then he remembered the woman to whom it belonged.

Remus had known her since their time at Hogwarts. She had taken hundreds of points away from himself and the Marauders when she was a prefect, and Head Girl. But somehow, Sirius had won a spot in the Slytherin girl's heart, despite her House affiliation. He also knew that Danae had been one of the newly trained Aurors that had been forced to bring her old chum Sirius in when the Potters had been killed

Danae Lovell was a dark complected witch who worked at the Ministry; an Auror turned Unspeakable. She had been brought into the Order only a few weeks before they had lost Sirius at the Department of Mysteries, and had proven quite an asset.

She was somewhat eccentric, which had meant that she got along fabulously with Tonks, and helped keep the younger Metamorphagous' exuberant clumsiness under control. Her brief tenure as an Order member had helped to keep Sirius sane during his Dumbledore-imposed isolation at 12 Grimmauld Place. Sirius had never said anything, but Remus highly suspected that there was more to that particular relationship than either sides had let on.

"You were in bad shape." Sabine said absently, checking the bandage on his neck and grimacing when she saw the congealed blood. "You and Ginny both gave us a right scare."

"Ginny?" Remus asked, sitting up quickly and flinching as sharp pains shot up his arm. "Is she okay? Where is Harry?"

"She was attacked last night." Sable said simply. "But Harry is okay."

"How?"

"Voldemort started going through her head." she answered, relating the incidents of the night before. "But I managed to neutralize the hold he had."

"Is she hurt?"

"Just a little shook up." Sable said. "Molly almost smothered her, though."

"Yeah, when she finally got her peeled off of Harry." Sabine muttered, re-bandaging the wound. "How's his stomach, mom?" Sable motioned for him to raise his shirt up, but the reluctant wolf frowned. He wasn't exactly used to stripping in front of people, and he didn't want to start now.

"We don't bite, Remus." Sable said dryly. Remus only frowned harder and lifted his shirt. The two women went to work, poking, prodding, and checking where Peter had tried to gut him.

"I think we managed to get all the silver dust out." Sable said absently, removing the bandage on his stomach and checking for any signs of blood poisoning. Her hands ghosted over a pair of scars near the wound that resembled claw marks, and Remus' muscles instinctively clenched.

She knew those particular marks quite well, as her own mother had put them on him their last Christmas at Hogwarts. She caught Remus' confused look, and quickly removed her hands, then stood up. There was a slight color to her cheeks.

"Well, it seems like you're going to live." Sabine said, picking up on her mother's sudden nervousness, and breaking the intimate stare-down between the two adults. The tension between the two was thick enough to drown in, and she had no desire to suffocate. She picked up her supplies and put them on the tray. "Here is the blood replenishing potion for you, and a dreamless sleep potion. Drink both and get some rest." With that last order, the witch turned and left, a slight smile on her face.

Sable watched her daughter leave the room in a swirl of robes, and could have sworn she saw her shoulders rising and falling in a silent chuckle.

"I'll be back in a little while. Try and get some rest, okay?" she said, turning back to where Remus was downing the blood replenishing potion, per Sabine's instructions. "I need to tell Dumbledore what you found out. Don't be too surprised if he comes to speak with you himself." She was about half way to the door when the tired man's voice caught her.

"Thank you." Remus said unexpectedly, causing her to stare at him in utter confusion.

"For what?" she asked. "I haven't done anything."

"You kept me from dying." he pointed out dryly. "I'd say that was something."

Sable smiled slightly and walked back over to him, sitting down on the edge of the bed, and leaning over to hug him lightly. It was the first physical contact they had shared since she had come back, and Remus was beginning to wonder if he'd scared her more than he had originally thought.

"Just don't do it again." she said quietly. "I'm an Auror, not a Healer." Remus put his arms around her waist and squeezed lightly. He could tell that she was scared, but he was relieved that his injuries had not been fatal, despite how he'd felt the night before. "You better be glad I don't faint at the sight of blood."

"Yeah, but whatever you did worked." he grinned, resting his head on her shoulder. He felt her smile reach up to tug the hairs at the nape of his neck.

"You need a haircut." she mumbled, changing the subject.

"I know." he said, stroking her hair. They dropped into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, content to reassure themselves that they were actually there, alive and in one piece. "I'm sorry I worried you."

"As long as you're here now." she said, pulling back. "I'm glad you're okay." She stood up and brushed her robes off, then pushed her hair behind her ears. "Get some rest. I'll be back up in a little while to check on you."

"Yes, ma'am." Remus said, lying back on the pillows and watching as she walked out the room quietly, pulling the curtains closed again so the room fell into darkness. He heard the click of the door latch catching, and the slowly quieting steps of Sable as she walked down the hallway and descended the stairs to the first floor of the house. He reached over and grabbed the bottle of dreamless sleep potion, downing the acerbic contents in one swallow, then allowing it to weave its relaxing spell on his still weary body.

It was a few minutes later that he finally succumbed to the elixir's power, and slipped into the pleasant lands of uninterrupted slumber, a small smile on his face.


Gabe and Ailric were talking to each other in hushed tones when Sabine came down from the stairs, apparently trying to keep their discussion to themselves. The young woman instantly picked up her brothers' uneasiness and vanished the tray of medical equipment with her wand.

"Problems, guys?"

"Not really." Gabe said sourly. "Weasley just got told off by his sister. And Potter doesn't know whose side to take. Granger pulled Weasley outside a few minutes ago. And Potter's still with Ginny, more than like trying to figure out why he starts turning red every time she looks at him."

"Is that all?" Sabine asked. She hadn't expected a complete run down of what was going on with the Golden Trio and Ginny, but it was interesting to know why she had heard the door slam shut on the way down.

"And the bat is looking for mom." Ailric said, almost as an after thought. Sabine frowned and shook her head.

"What's Snape doing back here?" she asked. "I thought mom said he couldn't come back here."

"I need to speak with Dr. Lee." came the condescending voice from the doorway leading into the kitchen. The three siblings looked over and saw the man glaring at them. Sabine felt her skin crawl when the man's cool gaze swept over to her. This was one man that litteraly gave her the creeps!

"She's with Remus right now." Sabine said coolly. "She'll be down in a few minutes."

"I don't have time to wait around for her." Snape barked angrily, heading towards the stairs, only to be intercepted by Gabe.

"She'll be down in a few minutes." he repeated firmly.

"Get out of my way." Snape ordered. Gabe remained impassive, refusing to budge. "Move."

"She's busy." he said calmly. Sabine finally realized that Gabe was more like his father than she had realized. Even with the disguise in place, Gabe's facial expressions mirrored that of his sire's perfectly. The knitted brows and cool demeanor were identical. And their posture could not have been more similar. Gabe was truly Severus Snape's son, and that realization was a bit more than she had been hoping for, given Snape's reputation and Gabe's temperment.

"One would almost think you condone her time spent with that pathetic creature." Snape said, taking a step back and regarding the young man in front of him.

"I don't agree with her being with him anymore than I condone her being around you, should the truth be told." Gabe answered icily. "However, she is my mother, and he makes her happy. Back off."

"We protect our own, Snape." Ailric said, coming to his brother's side. Sabine walked over and stood next to her two brothers, almost forming a human shield in front of the older man.She had seen Ailric's unconscious movement towards his wand, and was getting ready to intervene should she need to.

"Your blind loyalty to your mother is sickening." the Potion's Master sneered.

"Yeah, well, so is your overall presence here." Ailric commented. "But we deal with it, don't we?"

"You insolent child! How dare you…"

"Severus?" came Dr. Lee's strident voice from the stairs. Sabine breathed a sigh of relief when their mother's face came into view. The younger woman had been afraid that Gabe and Ailric were about to hex Snape. "What are you doing here?"

"The Headmaster is asking for your presence." he snapped, glaring at the descending woman. She nodded and turned to the tense forms of her sons.

"Boys, what's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing." Gabe said easily, looking right at her. "Just talking." Sabine was not surprised to see her mother simply take the comment at face value and nod to them. Gabe always had been the one that could lie to their mother the easiest. But somehow, Sabine suspected that their mother always knew the truth in the end, no matter what it was. The woman just had an uncanny knack for telling when she was being lied to, especially by her own children.

"Dumbledore is here?" Sable asked Snape, seemingly surprised.

"Yes."

"Well, there is no need to keep him waiting, is there?" she asked, heading towards the kitchen. "If you'll excuse us, children." Snape shot one nasty glare to the three siblings, then followed Sable into the kitchen, shutting the door behind them.

"Merlin! I don't like that overgrown, blood sucking bastard!" Ailric fumed, his fists at his side. Sabine tuned out her brother, and focused in on Gabe. "..thinks he's so much better than the rest of us…."

"You okay, little brother?" she asked, watching him closely for some sort of reaction. The young man simply frowned and shook his head.

"I finally see where I got it from." he mumbled.

"What? Your personality?"

"My mannerisms." he said glumly, turning to walk out the room while Ailric continued to rant about Snape and his attitude problem. Sabine stood there, not knowing what to say to her brother.

Gabe had always been sort of the loner of the family. He was quiet, reserved, but overly temperamental when he had to be. Sabine had seen his anger only a handful of times as they had grown up, and had seen how cruel he could be to the ones that had taunted them while at school.

He could cut a person off at the knees with his insults and quips, and not care one way or the other. Hell, she wasn't even that bad, and she was the most temperamental of the three. The things that Gabe held dear, he protected with his life, and everything else was pushed aside.

And despite what their mother had always told them, about how much she loved them, and how much she would never give anything in the world for them, they realized that they were nothing more than unplanned accidents. And it hurt Gabe the most, knowing that his conception was due only to Snape's hand in the whole mess, and his status as one of Voldemort's more trusted Death Eaters. Hell, even she knew that Snape could possibly be her father, but she had never let it get to her the way Gabe did.

Gabe was the son of a Death Eater, and an unloyal one at that. Snape had turned his back on many in the wizarding world by becoming a Death Eater, and now he had turned his back on the Death Eaters, acting as a spy for the Order. And Sabine knew that the fact that his father was such a bastard was why Gabe had been reluctant about meeting him in the first place.

Gabe had just seen himself in Snape's face when he had faced him down at the foot of that stairwell. The very things that had made them so alike, despite their separation as he had grown up, had been realized. And Sabine had no doubts in her mind thather youngest brotherwas terrified of becoming any more like the man that had helped conceive him.


Sable sat down in the chair behind her desk, rubbing her temples and trying to get her thoughts in order before Harry got there. It was time to work on his Occulemency lessons, and if she didn't get calmed down, it was going to be worthless trying to teach him anything.

The day had went from bad to worse after she had left Remus' room earlier that morning. The meeting with Snape and Dumbledore had ended up with Snape snapping at her, and insinuating that Remus was no better than that 'loud mouth, overgrown prat Sirius Black', as the Potions Master had so blatantly put it. Well, needless to say, she had gotten defensive and said a few thing she shouldn't have.

Dumbledore had finally managed to get between them, and calm then down. He had berated them for acting like a pair of squabbling school children. And the worse part was that the lecture from the wizened old wizard had actually made her feel guilty. So she'd taken to her lab for the next few hours, only to have Sabine come in and tell her about the little incident between Gabe and the greasy bat right before she had come downstairs. That had gotten her angry with Snape again. And she had searched the entirety of Haven's Hallow for Gabe before finally finding him in the jungle that Sabine called a greenhouse, tending to some of the family pets that had taken up residence there.

She had tried to talk to him, to make sure that he was okay, only to be met with a stony sort of silence that she had attributed to Gabe in his self-reflection mode. He boy was more pensive and serious than was good for him sometimes, but she knew that he wouldn't be cuddled, he never had. So, she hugged him, and kissed him, saying it would be okay, and not to worry about what Snape had told him.

Gabe had just asked to be left alone for a while, to think he had said; and she had nodded in understanding, leaving him be. It was at that very point in time that she had began to doubt her decision to come back to England.

Fortunately for her, there was a knock on her study door a few minutes later, and Sable was forced to push the matters pressuring her away from her immediate concern in order to focus on Harry and his lessons.

Harry wasn't exactly sure what to expect during this lesson. The first one had simply been him talking to Dr. Lee. So he was kind of curious as to what this one would hold.

He found the woman sitting at her desk, watching him enter.

"Harry." she said nodding in his direction. "Please come in."

"Dr. Lee." he answered.

"I'm glad you could join me, Harry." she said, smiling. "Are you ready to get started?"

"Yes." he said. His resolve to make it through the Occulemency lessons had strengthened after seeing what had happened to Ginny the night before. She was being targeted simply because she was his friend, and Voldemort had some sort of connection to her. He didn't want something like that to happen again, and if it meant making it through more Occulemency lessons, then so be it. "So, what do I do to keep people out of my head?"

"The first thing I want you to do is clear your mind, Harry." she said calmly. "The way I am going to teach you to do this is nothing like the way Snape tried teaching you. I'm not going to just assault your mind and expect you to figure it out on your own. Mainly because it's painful that way, but more importantly you don't really learn anything. Instead you react unconsciously. Now, forget everything and just relax. I'm going to walk you through this one step at a time. Okay?"

"Okay." he said, closing his eyes and trying to focus on the task at hand. He heard Dr. Lee stand up and begin walking behind him, then stop and place her hands gently on his temples.

"Now, I want you to picture a box, a container of some sort. Got it?" she said. Harry wasn't sure where this was going, but he done as she requested, picturing a box in his mind.

"Yeah." he said.

"Now, picture something else, it can be anything. But something that is a symbol for your memories. It can be anything, a book, a broom, a animal, anything. But treat that object like it holds all of your memories. Can you do that?"

"Yes." he answered. In his mind he could see a book with a green cover and gold writing on it.

"Now, throw that object into the box, and picture a shield around that box." she said calmly. "Protect the box with your mind. Remember, the memories you are protecting is what Voldemort will try to access. Guard them with your life."

"Alright." he said. In his mind's eye he threw the book into the little box, and stepped back, concentrating on seeing a small dome shaped barrier around it. "Now what?"

"You must keep your picture clear, Harry." she said gently, pushing slightly on his temples. "See ever single detail about that box, that object, that barrier. And hold it there."

"Okay."

"Now, I'm going to try and break through your barrier, Harry. It's going to feel like your head is overstuffed. You job is to push me out of your head, but never loose your concentration on that barrier and what is in it. If I manage to break your barrier, you have to control the flow of memories and stuff back into that box." she said, moving away from him. "On the count of three. One. Two. Three."

Harry felt the intruding presence in his mind as it tore at the barrier only moments after it made itself known. In his mind's eye, he could see a shadowy figure stalking around, growling and pawing that the dome he'd created in his mind. The creature finally let out a fierce snarl and swiped at the barrier, causing it to shatter like glass, and let the memories come rushing out like waves around him.

He saw his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon tucking Dudley into bed, while he looked on enviously. He saw Dudley's gang tormenting him at primary school….Uncle Vernon raging about his parents…Ginny lying on the floor of the Chamber of Secrets….

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" he screamed, forcing the memories back into the imaginary box while simultaneously pushing at the intruding presence. "GET OUT!" He dropped to the floor on his knees, clutching his head. His vision was swimming and he barely recognized when Dr. Lee pulled him from the floor and onto the couch a few moments later. "What did you do?" he croaked. "What was that?"

"I broke through your defenses." she said calmly. "I was able to get through too easily, and do you know why?"

"No." he answered.

"Occumlems like myself and Snape must search out the defenses of their subjects." she explained. "When we perform the spell, and find the protected area, we have to feel out the pulses of the shield, almost like playing seek and destroy. Think of it was locking onto a specific wavelength. Once we do that, it is simply a matter of tapping into the defenses and tearing them down by overflowing the shield with my own innate magic. The only way to prevent the destruction of the shielding is to never let your opponent lock onto your 'wavelength', thus keeping the dome intact, and your memories locked away. Now, let's try it again, until you get the feel of what it is like when someone is tampering around in your mind."

Harry nodded and they repeated the exercise a dozen more times, until Harry finally got used to feeling someone poking around in his head and searching for something.

The next time he felt Dr. Lee pull out of his mind, he looked up at her and frowned.

"This isn't helping me stop someone from digging around in my head." he said. How do I keep them out?"

"You change the composition of the shield. The color, shape, size, etc. If you keep changing it randomly, then no one can tap into it."

"And how am I supposed to do that when I can't even keep you out now?" he asked.

"Concentration." she said. "For now, we're going to work solely on your concentration and focus. The changing will come later. Now, let's try again. I want you to focus all your attention on pushing me out of your mind, Harry. I'm not going to attack your defenses immediately, but I want you to push me out. Okay?" Harry nodded and stood up once again, facing the woman. "One, two, three."

Harry immediately felt the intrusion, and gathered his mentality to push her out, but kept his focus on the small imaginary box in his head.

But Dr. Lee seemed to change her tactics. She pushed at the barrier, then let up and disappeared. He could still feel her presence there, right along the outskirts of his consciousness, apparently biding her time. Harry was just about to say something when he felt a crushing sensation in his skull, almost like someone was pinching his brain with a vice.

He dropped to his knees again, a strangled moan escaping his lips.

"Fight it, Potter!" the woman growled. "Don't let me do this to you! Push! Focus your energy and push me out! Concentrate!"

"I…am…"he stuttered, sweat beginning to pour off his head the longer they stayed locked in the mental battle.

"No, you are not!" she snapped. "Don't be a useless slacker! Concentrate!" The pounding pressure in his skull intensified ten fold and Harry screamed; and somewhere in the back of his mind, a dam broke, and his anger washed out.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD, YOU CRAZY WOMAN!" he screamed, pushing back at her hold as hard as he could.

He suddenly saw flashed before him of dark corridors and Death Eaters surrounding him…a picture of a grinning brown headed boy in Hogwart's robes…a stag, a dog, and two wolves fighting two other wolves in the snow while two black cloaked people looked on….a small coffin being laid in the ground…two familiar burning red eyes…a man and woman being with a flashing green light, and then slumping over…dead…

He felt the pressure ease instantly, and then slowly disappear. When he opened his eyes and glanced up, he saw Dr. Lee on her knees as well, clutching the sides of her chair with one hand, and her head with the other.

"Are you okay, Harry?" she asked breathlessly, looking over at him.

"I think so." he choked out, pulling himself up once more. "What just happened?"

"You pushed me out, quite violently I might add." she said, rubbing her head and getting to her feet. "Well done. You caught me off guard."

"Those weren't my memories." he stated. "How did I see that?"

"You pushed me out, and your innate magical abilities spilled over." she explained, taking a seat at her desk. "The backlash of your magic attacked the force that it sensed as an intruder. Sort of like a built in security system. It's the same thing that happened with Snape."

"Oh." he answered, not sure as to what to say. "Who were those people, the man and woman? And why were they surrounded by Death Eaters?"

"Those two were my mom and dad." she said, gesturing for him to take a seat. She waved her wand and two butterbeers came flying through the pet door at the bottom of the room's door. "Here, drink this." Harry popped the top on the drink and took a refreshing gulp, allowing it to settle into his stomach before he continued.

"They were killed by Death Eaters?" he asked.

"Right in front of my eyes, Mr. Potter." she said sadly. "I wasn't much older than you, in fact. And I watched them be murdered."

"I'm sorry." he said.

"They took more from me that night than can ever be replaced, Harry." Dr. Lee said sadly, and Harry could swear he saw her eyes tearing up.

"And the coffin?" he asked.

"My youngest daughter."

"Death Eaters?"

"No. Thankfully not."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize…" he began, not sure of what to say to her.

"It's okay. I've had a while for he pain to fade." she said, downing the drink and wiping her mouth absently. Harry suddenly felt horrid for being so rude to the woman in front of him. He hadn't realized how right Remus had been when the werewolf had told him that Dr. Lee had just as much reason to fight Voldemort as the rest of them.

"Why were they killed? Your parents I mean." he asked timidly. "And why were you there? If you don't mind me asking, that is."

"My parents were captured and used as bait." she said. "When I got to them, I was given an ultimatum. Either we go to Voldemort's side, or he'd kill us all. My parents refused, and tried to get me out. Voldemort killed them, and I was rescued before they killed me as well."

"I didn't know." Harry said again. "I never realized…when Remus said you had lost someone to the Death Eaters, I had just assumed…I thought it was your husband or something."

"Oh, they took the man I loved away from me as well, just not like you may be thinking." she said vaguely. "They made it damned well impossible for me to stay with him, that for sure!"

"But if…" he began, only to be waved off by her hand.

"That's enough for this evening, Harry." she said. "You've done much better than I expected. You have the potential, you just need some work. I want you to practice forming those shields every night before you go to bed. Right before you go to sleep, lock you little object into that box. It'll be good practice, and it'll help incase Voldemort decides to go poking around again."

"That's it?" he asked.

"For now." she said with a smile. She sat back in her chair and Harry could feel her eyes boring into him as he walked towards the door. "You're quite a surprise, young man. Lily and James would have been proud of you, especially your mother."

"How well do…did you know them?" he asked quietly, turning back to look at her.

"Well, she said, smiling. "quite well, as a matter of fact. I still remember when your father pranked the Ravenclaw Quidditch team's hair to fall out, and your mum found out. She was none too happy about it. Hexed your dad so many times, no one could recognize him after she was finished! And Sirius and Remus were no help whatsoever. I'd never seen two half grown boys run that in all my life. I think Sirius would have even outrun his more canine half."

Harry seemed to withdraw with the mention of his god-father. And he could see Dr. Lee visibly flinch at the realization that she had put her foot in her mouth.

"I'm sorry." she amended. "I just forget that I have so many memories of them, when you don't."

"It's okay." he said simply. "I'm kinda used to it by now."

"No, it's not okay, Harry." she said. "Nor is it fair for you." Harry seemed to regard the woman a bit, but just shrugged and continued towards the door.

"Goodnight, Professor." he said.

"Goodnight, Mr. Potter." she said gently, watching him as he let the door swing shut behind him. "Sweet dreams,child."


Remus shook his head and tried to clear the foggy feeling of being forced to sleep from his brain when he heard a knock at the door leading into his room. He called out for whoever it was to open it, and was more than a little surprised to see Ailric standing at the door.

"Hey." he said nonchalantly, nodding to Remus. "You holding up?"

"I have been better." Remus said, pulling himself up into a sitting position. The boy seemed slightly nervous for some odd reason, and Remus was beginning to wonder why.

"Mom asked me to come check on you while she was giving Potter some Occulemency lessons." he explained, as if that alone spoke for itself.

"I'm glad you're here, actually." Remus said. "I've been wanting to talk to you for a while now."

"About what?" Ailric asked.

"A couple of things." the older man said. Ailric seemed to be waiting for him to speak again, and Remus took a deep breath, readying himself for the fight of his life just in case this didn't go as well as he had planned.

He'd wanted to talk to Ailric for some time since they had moved back to England, but had not known what to say to the boy. He was kind of at a loss as to a topic of conversation, especially when the only thing Remus wanted to know was more about his son. There had been a more than just a few awkward moments between the two of them, which usually ended in someone else jumping in to keep things from going down hill.

Merlin, all he wanted to do was find out about his son, especially since he never really thought he'd ever have a wife, much less any children.

"Well, what did you want to know?" Ailric asked.

"About you…your brother and sister." he said. "What…how…what it was like for you growing up. Why you agreed to come back here. Things like that."

Remus saw the younger man's posture change immediately from somewhat relaxed, if a little nervous, to completely defensive and on edge.

"Look, you weren't with us as we grew up, and it's not your fault. You thought mom had died, and she was terrified that coming back here would endanger everyone she loved." Ailric said. "Yes, she probably should have contacted you and Snape for that matter, and she shouldn't have sworn Dumbledore into secrecy, but she did. And at the time, it seemed best."

"I understand that." Remus said. "But it doesn't change the fact that I don't know anything about you, or Gabe and Sabine."

"I'll tell you straight, Remus." Ailric said simply, staring the older man in the eyes. "I don't know you enough to pass my opinion off on you, at least not yet. But I can tell you that I've never seen my mom as happy as she is now. Hell, up until you popped back up, and we got dragged over here, I'd never been able to make her blush! Now her face turns into a fine example of a tomato anytime someone even mentions your name!"

"But, I…" Remus said, trying to figure out where to take this conversation. "At least give me a chance to get to know you. That's all I'm asking for. I don't expect that much, but a lack of open hostility would be good."

"Hostile?" Ailric asked, cracking into a laugh. "You think I'm hostile? Oh, Merlin, that's rich!"

"That wasn't a joke." Remus said, completely serious. Ailric just wiped his eyes and shook his head at the older man's obvious discomfort.

"I'm sorry." he said, biting back another laugh. "But usually Sabine or Gabe are the ones accused of being hostile, not me."

"Yes, your siblings can be rather intimidating." he said.

"You have no idea." Ailric said, the sarcasm overly thick. "So, what do you want to know about us?'

"Anything, really." Remus said.

"Well, we're not all that hard to figure out." Ailric said easily. "Gabe is a potions freak who has an unnatural knack for messing with animals. I am the joker of the family who randomly Transfigures objects to run around harassing my older sister, and will talk to pretty much anyone. And Sabine is one hell of a Healer, if you can get passed her sarcasm...and drag her out from that jungle she calls a greenhouse."

"How do you three do it?" Remus asked, shaking his head. "You're so inexperienced, so…so..."

"Young?" he supplied, causing Remus to nod his head.

"You know as well as I do that lycans are one of the most misunderstood and feared magical beasts in both worlds." he said. "When the three of us started school at Salem, it wasn't long before we realized that our differences kept us apart from the majority of the other students.People like usare not as persecuted and ostracized in the States as they are here, but it still wasn't easy."

"You turned to books." Remus stated quietly, realizing where this was going.

"Well, that's the natural part of being unnatural. After a while, alienation comes as second nature to you. But yes, books were our refuge." he said sagely. "They didn't snicker or stare. They didn't call us names behind our back. They didn't judge or begrudge us because of what we were. Don't get me wrong, we had a few close friends who didn't care one way or the other. Granted two of them were vampires, one another werewolf, and another was three-quarters veela, but still."

"I thought werewolves and vampires didn't get along?" Remus asked.

"Well, normally we wouldn't." Ailric said, a sudden grin on his face. "But when the rest of the older students finally rallied against us, we figured scaring them into thinking we'd seduce them, bleed them dry, and then eat them would keep most of the trouble away."

"You intimidated them?"

"Sure did." Ailric said cheekily.

"Did it work?"

"Mostly, but there were still a brave few who we couldn't scare away." he said. "A hand fullof them actually became our friends, but there were a few bad Snitches in the bunch."

"Like who?"

"Well, Sabine's last boyfriend is the best example." he said.

"Boyfriend?"

"His name was Deek, and he was a Quidditch player." Ailric explained. "We didn't know it at the time, but he had been dared to date Sabine for a while, and then dump her."

"He hurt her, didn't he?"

"Bad." Ailric answered. "They broke it off after a few months, and a couple days later, Sabine saw him and his little fuck buddy strolling around campus. She tried to avoid them, but the pair started taunting her. Deek openly mocked her in front of everyone, quoting the things she'd said to him, and then telling her that she was nothing more than a filthy half-breed bitch."

"She took that?"

"She stood there and took it." he nodded. "Deek's Quidditch buddies had joined in the taunting by then, and they had moved on to picking on me and Gabe. By the time we got to her, Sabine was on the verge of slitting their throats. It was two days after a full moon, so all us 'weird' kids were kind of high strung anyhow. I think that's what finally made Sabine snap."

"Snap?"

"She attacked them." Ailric said. "It was a free for all for a while, and Sabine was nowhere near finished knocking heads when we all separated."

"Was she hurt?"

"Other than a few bruises, no." he said, shrugging. "Deek actually took the brunt ofit. Split lip, black eye, things like that. Oh, hewas scratched up a bit, but no one ever told the teachers, so it was okay. Sabine stayed depressed after that for a long time, but we finallyfixed it."

"How?" Remus asked, wondering what the group of teenagers done.

"Gabe and I banned together with a couple of our buddies and beat the shit out of Deek and his Quidditch buddies, then dumped them at Sabine's feet." Ailric said cockily. "Jace and Marco took care of some other loose ends, and Valkyerie handled the little bimbo that had been with Deek."

"You didn't kill anyone, did you?" Remus asked, realizing that had the Marauders been in the same position they would have probably done something eerily similar. If the truth was told, that had happened to one of Sirius' ex-girlfriends at one time, and they had done the same thing.

"Nah, but the nurse stayed busy for a while." he answered, shrugging. "Ever since then, Sabine's been touchy about relationships in general. That's why we were so surprised when she told mom to come back to Britain and make amends with you and Snape."

"What does she think of Snape?"

"Don't know for certain. But I don't like him."

"And Gabe?"

"He hasn't overly said anything yet either. But I'd bet he doesn't like'em. I don't think the bat has even spoken to Gabe since we got here, unless it was to snarl at him." Ailric commented dryly. "You should have seen'em this morning. I thought they were going to blow the top floor of the house before mom got down there and broke'em apart. They're too much alike, those two."

"Severus is complicated." Remus said, feeling somewhat responsible for taking up for the Potions Master.

"He's an asshole." Ailric said bluntly, causing Remus to chuckle.

"Yes, I suppose he is." Remus answered. "Has your mother talked to him lately? I assume he's been avoiding this place since he found out the truth?"

"They had a run-in earlier, right after mom and sis checked up on you. I'm not sure what happened, though I think Dumbledore pulled Snape and mom into the kitchen and told them to quit acting like a pair of bickering teenagers. But I could be wrong. TheWeasley twin's latest set of Extendable Ears are a bit fuzzy."

"So they pretty much can't stand him then?" Remus asked, a grin on his face.

"We already told mom that we'd come along with this, if only for the reason to meet you and Snape." Ailric said, shrugging. "We're practically grown, Remus, and mom knows that. She also knew that the four of us would more than likely not get the warmest of receptions if we came back here."

"But you did anyways." he pointed out. "You did come back."

"We want our mom happy, Lupin. And if it takes her being with you, or even Snape, for her to be happy, then so be it. She begged us to give you both a chance to get to know us, and so far I'd say you're doing okay."

"Better than Snape?" Remus asked, completely serious once again.

"Do I really have to answer that? It should be obvious enough." Ailric said. "You're trying, which is more than I can say for bat-man." Remus frowned and tried to readjust himself once again. At his side, a clock chimed out ten p.m. and Ailric grimaced.

"Problems?" he asked.

"I'm supposed to go meet Gabe to help him milk a snake he got earlier today." he answered, frowning. "Not exactly something I enjoy." Ailric stood and brushed his pants off. "Mom should be in here soon to check up on you, so get some rest."

Remus nodded, feeling much better about where he stood with his son while he watched Ailric leave the room and yell for Gabe as he walked down the hallway.

Well it seemed like things were slowly on their way to evening out. He had not gotten his son's blessing, per say. But it was refreshing to know that the boy was willing to try and work out some form of relationship, given the circumstances of things.

Of course, he still didn't know what the other two siblings thought about him, but he'd work on that soon enough.

Right now, he was content to know that Ailric was at least willing to try something. Remus knew that Sable would not go against her children to pacify her own wants or needs, no decent mother would. But he also knew that she wanted her children to work something out with their previously unknown fathers if they could. And Remus, well, he was willing to get to know all the children, not only Ailric. He just didn't want them to think that he was trying to take their mother away from them.

Merlin knows, he'd seen them gang up on Snape once already. And he didn't want three different teenagers pointing their wands at him with nothing but murder on their minds.


A/N - Hey everyone. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I am sincerely sorry for taking so long to update. Studying for college finals is a pain. But the good news is that it's almost over, and I'll be able to update more often once they're over with.

Until next time,

Lots of love to ya'

A.A.

Oh, and remember to review. I love hearing what you think about the latest chapter in this saga!