Disclaimer - It's not mine. Never was. I own Sable and her offspring, along with any other character in here that is not copyrighted by J.K. Rowling or her publishers.
NOTICE: With the arrival of the sixth book, I am aware that this story is now more than likely an AU (alternate universe). However, I have not read The Halfblood Prince yet, and more than likely will not, at least until I finish this story.
I have been told by one of my friends that a number of my suspicions concerning the sixth book was correct, and that even a few of the ideas I planned on using later in this story are eerily similar to what happens in book six.
So please, please, don't send me a million emails telling me that this story is not parallel to the newest book. I already know it's not. And I intend to continue writing it as it is, using my own ideas that were formulated months and months ago.
With that said, please enjoy the newest chapter.
Wolf's Bane II: Return to Hogwarts
Chapter 13
The Beginning of the End
There was a storm raging outside when Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning. They quickly spotted Professor Lee speaking quite animatedly with little Professor Flitwick. She caught sight of them, excused herself from the Charms teachers presence, and walked over to where the three Gryffindors were standing.
"Good morning, children." she said pleasantly, smiling slightly at them. "Sleep well?"
"Okay." Ron said, stifling a loud yawn.
"Well enough." Harry said.
"I am sorry to catch you before you've managed to get some breakfast, Harry." Dr. Lee said. "But I was wondering if you could move your D.A. meeting up to Thursday evening after classes. I realize it is a bit last minute, but something has come up."
"Sure." he said. "Is it something serious?"
"Just some work for the Order." she said quietly. "Headmaster Dumbledore has some things for Remus and I to work on tomorrow night."
"Is everything okay?" Hermione asked. "No one's hurt again, are they?"
"Of course not, Mrs. Granger." Professor Lee said, handing them three pieces of parchment. "Now, here are your schedules for the year. Go on and get something to eat. You've only got a half hour before your first class." The three Gryffindors nodded and pulled their schedules out, checking them over.
"I've got Care of Magical Creatures after lunch." Ron said. "What about you two?"
"Same here. Hermione?"
"I am in there as well." she said, peering at Ron's schedule. "You're not taking Potions?"
"You are?" Ron asked incredulously. Hermione nodded and took her seat. "Harry is as well, aren't you Harry?"
"Yeah." he grimaced. "Professor McGonagall said that in order to become an Auror, I need to take it."
"Bloody starkers, both of you." Ron mumbled, piling eggs onto his plate. "Snape is going to be spastic."
"Well that's nothing new. You know he favors his own House over all the others, especially Gryffindor." Hermione countered. "I'm more curious about the work Professor Lee and Remus are working on, than I am about Snape's reaction to seeing Harry and I in his N.E.W.T. level potions class."
"Do you think it is anything serious?" Ron asked as they took their seats at Gryffindor table. "I mean, we just got to school. What could possibly be going wrong now?"
"It's Hogwarts." Harry said dryly, spearing a piece of toast. "Do I need to say anything else?"
Breakfast was over quickly enough, and the trio was forced to split up for their first class. Harry and Hermione headed off to the dungeons for Snape's potions class, and Ron went to Muggle Studies. And just as Hermione had predicted, Snape was none to pleased to see three of his least favorite Gryffindors sitting side by side in his N.E.W.T. class that morning. But more surprisingly was the fact that Neville Longbottom was also in the class, and wound up taking up the last seat at their table.
"It amazes me that either of you managed to scrape good enough marks on your O.W.L. examinations to be here." Snape said condescendingly, glaring intermittently at Neville and Harry. Neville still seemed to quiver at the glare their teacher gave, but Harry just stared him back, refusing to give any leeway with him. Eventually, the glaring contest between teacher and student was cut when someone in the classroom cleared their throat.
Snape immediately stalked to the front of the classroom, black robes billowing threateningly. With a wave of his wand, the instructions for the day's lesson covered the board. "The ingredients you need are present in your basic potions kit, and the ones that are not can be obtained from me at the appropriate time. Get to work."
Harry, Hermione, and Neville quickly set up their cauldrons and got to work.
"How much you want to bet Dumbledore had a hand in getting us all in here?" Harry asked.
"I wouldn't doubt it." Hermione said. "But, why are you in here, Neville? I didn't think you'd take another class under Professor Snape if you didn't have to."
"I wouldn't, but I want to be a Herbology researcher after Hogwarts." Neville said quietly, glancing nervously at Snape as he walked among the tables, critiquing and criticizing student's work. "And Professor McGonagall said I had to take this class since researchers often work with potions masters to develop new uses for their plants. But I don't think Professor Snape wanted me in here."
"We'll help you out, Neville." Hermione said reassuringly, patting him on the back. "Don't worry about…."
"Mrs. Granger." Snape called out, cutting the girl off.
"Yes, sir?" Hermione asked, looking up at him.
"Would you care to share your conversation with Mr. Longbottom with the class?" he asked. Hermione flushed and looked down at her cauldron, apparently chastised.
"No, sir. Sorry, sir." she said.
"Get to work." he growled. "I will not allow slackers in my classroom. And I expect a viable sample of this potion by the end of class from everyone, especially you, Longbottom."
"Yes, sir." Neville said, turning his attention to his cauldron. Snape turned his back and walked over to were a pair of Ravenclaw students were working diligently cutting up some sassafras roots. "Crazy old bat." Neville muttered under his breath.
"What was that Mr. Longbottom?" Snape demanded, whirling around to pin the three Gryffindors with a cold stare.
"I said I didn't know you had a cat." Neville said innocently, pointing to the store room door where a cat had wandered in. Snape whirled around and quickly picked the cat up, throwing it outside the classroom door before resuming his stalking up and down the aisles.
"He's mad." Hermione mumbled.
"So what's new?" Harry asked. "He'll hate us for the entire year, no matter what we do right. Might as well get used to it."
Professor Lee was nowhere in sight when Harry and the rest of his year filed into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom the later that day after lunch. They quickly took some seats near the front and pulled out their textbooks.
"Wonder what's going to happen this year. Hermione said, scanning the room as more sixth years walked in.
"No telling." Ron supplied. "Harry?"
"I have no idea." he answered.
A few moments later, Dr. Lee walked into the room, a small smile on her face. The excited chattering of students quieted down, and she motioned for them to gather around her.
"Good morning, students." she said. "And welcome to your first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of this term. For those of you who do not know me, my name is Dr. Mikayla Lee." She waved her wand, and a piece of parchment appeared. "Now, when I call your name, please answer."
After going through the roll, Dr. Lee vanished the parchment and began the lesson.
"Now, I am aware of the situation with Professor Umbridge from your last year." she said sternly. "And I am going to tell you now that my teaching methods are polar opposite of what she did. Where as Professor Umbridge relied more on theory and memorization, I will help you on your focus and actual execution of the spells you learn. Knowledge is power, as you have so often heard, I am sure. However, if you do not know how to wield the knowledge at your disposal, then it is useless. Any questions so far?"
"Will we have homework?" asked one of the Slytherins in the back.
"Yes, you will." Dr. Lee said. A few groans were heard, and she smiled serenely. "But, I am going to also tell you now, that it will be focused mainly on execution of your spells and defenses. Actual bookwork will be rare, with the exception of an essay I will set next week."
"What is the topic about?" someone else asked.
"Legends."
"Excuse me?" Draco asked. "Legends? Of what?"
"What else, Mr. Malfoy?" she questioned. "Hogwarts. You will each be required to research teacher approved topics of interest pertaining to the school's history, its founders, or anything else connected with Hogwarts."
"When will it be due?" Hermione asked.
"The last week in November." Dr. Lee said. "But that is enough about that for now. I will give you the rest of the details during our next class. Today, I want to go over a few things that we will be covering this year. If you would kindly take out your books, I will give you the overview of what you can expect in this class up until Christmas break." After they opened their books, Dr. Lee perched easily on the edge of her desk.
"The first thing we will be doing during our next class is dueling." she said, watching them.
"Dueling?" Malfoy asked.
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, dueling." she nodded. "I need to assess each student's aptitude for basic defense techniques before beginning anything else. As I said, my teaching relies heavily on being able to execute the spells, not only rote memorization. However, in addition to learning practical skills, there are also a number of magical creatures that I will bring into class which you will have to write essays on."
Class continued on and Harry listened intently as Dr. Lee outlined the rough sketch of the curriculum up until Christmas. It seemed as though Dr. Lee had taken some lessons from Remus' book, and focused more on information that was relevant to the surrounding world, but was also fun to learn as well. Before he realized it, the last bell of the day was ringing.
"Try to brush up on your defensive spells before next class." Dr. Lee said as they all packed up their belongings and headed out of the classroom. "The further along you are, the more I will be able to teach you."
Sable was never so happy to see her last class over and done with for the day.
She was currently headed towards the small village of Hogsmeade away from the castle. She had been told earlier that day by Dumbledore that she was to meet Remus at the Three Broomsticks in order to hash out a plan for the next reconnaissance mission they were to be sent on. Her stomach grumbled as she walked down the somewhat crowded streets, passing by witches and wizards doing some evening shopping.
She entered into the Three Broomsticks, and took seat in a booth. After giving her order to the patroness, she sat back and waited for Remus to arrive. Thankfully, he didn't keep her waiting long. A few moments after her butterbeer arrived, the little bell above the pub door was set to ringing as Remus entered in, quickly spotting her and coming towards where she was sitting.
"Hey." she said, motioning him down into a small booth near the western corner of the pub. There were few people there at this time of night, but she still felt the need to sequester themselves away from any prying ears.
"Hey." Remus said, slipping into the booth. Sable motioned for the patroness of the pub, Madame Rosmerta over and waited for Remus to order something to drink before saying anything else.
"What's been going on? Dumbledore said you had new information." she said, taking a sip of the butterbeer in front of her.
"Narcissa Malfoy and Justus Flint have moved into 12 Grimmauld Place." he said with a frown. "They've started cleaning the place out."
"So what's the problem?" she asked. "From what you told me, the place needs a good cleaning."
"There are some things left in there that are vital to the Order." Remus said. "Namely a few old tomes that were in the Black family's possession for generations. Dumbledore seems to think that one of them may be invaluable in the coming war."
"What's in it that's so important?" Sable asked.
"One of the books hold some very well kept information about one of the Black ancestors. We were in the process of translating it from old Latin when Sirius….." Remus fell off then, leaving the sentence half finished.
"What's so important about this ancestor?" she asked.
"His name was Draven Black, and he was a amateur researcher in Charms and Potions." Remus said, pulling a piece of parchment from his tattered robes and spreading what looked to be a large family tree out before her. "He supposedly found a counter curse against the Unforgivables, but the research was never published."
"According to the parchment, this Draven guy is possibly a direct descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw." Sable said thoughtfully, peering down at the parchment. "He'd be clever enough to find something like that with Ravenclaw's influence in him. Do we have any proof that his work is legitimate?"
"No, and to make matters even worse, St. Mungo's record's show that Draven Black was admitted to the mental ward for the last four years of his life." Remus said.
"He was a psyche case?" she asked.
"Apparently so. I asked Sirius about it not long before he…disappeared." Remus said. "He said he'd never heard of the guy before. Of course given his relationship with his family, it's no wonder he doesn't recognize the name."
"You know the Zabini's are tied into Ravenclaw's bloodline as well." Sable said, almost as an after thought. "Maybe one of them would offer up some information."
"I find it odd that two prominent wizarding families are both tied to the one Founder of Hogwarts who never married." Remus said.
"You don't have to marry to have children." Sable said carelessly, shrugging as she turned the parchment a little closer towards her. "Merlin knows how many grandchildren I'm going to wind up with once my three start pairing off. I'm honestly scared to see any child that Gabe may bring me. Let alone Ailric, or Merlin forbid, Sabine."
"If you're as good a grandmother as you are a mother, then I don't see where there would be a problem." Remus said quietly. Sable looked up at the werewolf when he grew increasingly quiet.
"Remus?" she asked, trying to get his attention. The man across her refused to say anything, only held his head off to the side as if he was ashamed of what he had said. "Remus, talk to me. What's wrong? Was it something I said?"
"No. It's nothing." he said, shaking his head. "How'd the kids like their first day teaching?" Sabine frowned at the quick change of subject, but let it slide.
"I haven't had a chance to speak with them yet." she said. "But I did look in on Gabe's Care of Magical Creatures class. He seemed to be doing well enough." Remus nodded and finished off his butterbeer, apparently contemplating her words carefully.
"What about Ailric?" he asked.
"If the third year's chatter wasn't proof enough of their enjoyment of his lecture in Professor Flitwick's class, I don't know what is." she said, smiling. "And I want to know who told Ailric how to make inanimate objects throw insults around like a group of hyperactive jarveys." Remus just grinned and shook his head.
"You found me out." he said. "How'd you know?"
"Because I never taught him that one, and I remember you and James using a similar charm to make the Slytherin's Quidditch team brooms yell at them when we were in school." she said.
"I couldn't help it." he said. "It was either that, or tell him how we enchanted the Marauder's Map. And that information is top secret."
"You never did tell me how you three made that map work." Sable said thoughtfully.
"Like I said, top secret." Remus replied sagely.
"Top secret my behind." she said, rising from the booth. "Want to go for a walk? I've been sitting down at a desk all day." Remus nodded and threw a few knuts on the table to cover his drink before walking with Sable out of the pub. Once they were in the streets, she turned the conversation back to the recon work they were going to do.
"So how do we plan on getting these books out of Grimmauld place?" she asked. "You said yourself that there are all kinds of wards and protection spells in place around the house."
"We're going to get someone in the Ministry to 'accidentally' let the wards go down for a few hours Thursday night." he said. "Since the Ministry has to approve any longstanding protection barriers, someone can overlook them down for a while."
"What about Flint and Narcissa Malfoy?" she asked. "You said they were cleaning the place out. Aren't they going to be there?"
"There is a Ministry gathering that evening that both of them will be at." Remus said. "There won't be anyone in the house for the evening."
"What about that house elf, Kreacher?" Sable asked.
"Word has it that he was relocated to Malfoy Manor." Remus said.
"That's helpful." she said, leaning onto a broken fence post they had stopped by. "So we just have to go in, get the books, and get out? Seems simple enough."
"We'll see." he said absently. "This is the Black family. Nothing is ever simple about them." They fell into a comfortable silence, both looking out over the small knoll that led out towards the Shrieking Shack. Sable caught Remus fidgeting uneasily with a small stick he had picked up. There was a slight frown on his face, and his eyes were drawn down into a sharp 'v'.
"You okay, Remus?" Sable asked, placing her hand on his shoulder. "You've been a bit off since we met in the Three Broomsticks."
"Just thinking." he said hurriedly.
"Something on your mind?" she asked.
"A number of things, actually." he admitted.
"Anything I can help you with?"
"As a matter of fact, there is." he answered, taking her hand gently in his own. "Two things, actually."
"Remus?"
"Promise me something, Sable." he said. "I want you to promise me that you'll be careful around Snape while you're at Hogwarts."
"Snape?" she asked, obviously confused at his request. "Considering he's not exactly my most favorite person to have around for tea and crumpets, I don't think that's going to be problem." Remus seemed to pull back a little, letting her hand go. Sable blinked a few times and tamped down the urge to scratch her head in utter confusion. "Remus, what's all this about? I know you don't like Snape, nor do I, but why…."
"It's a gut feeling, is all." Remus said dismissively. "With everything that's been going on lately, all the killings and attacks, I just want you and the kids to be safe. I don't trust him."
"Dumbledore trusts him." Sable said soothingly.
"Do you?"
"Well…..I…" she said, searchingly. Should the truth be told, she trusted the greasy bastard about as far as she could throw him. And that wasn't saying much.
"You don't either." Remus said finally, answering his own question.
"No, I don't." she admitted. "I'm not too sure there are that many that do, to be honest. But you already know that. What was the second thing you wanted to tell me about?"
"There's been word of a group of werewolves living in some caves near the coast." he said. "They've taken sides with Voldemort, and are slowly heading northward."
"That's not good." Sable said. "The reports from some of the Ministry Aurors are talking about more dementor attacks along the northern coastline. You don't think they're working together, do you?"
"I think they're about to try the other Death Eaters out of Azkaban." he said grimly. "Voldemort has promised them a better life, one without the persecution lycanthropy brings on once a person is infected."
"And how can I help this?" Sable said. "Sounds to me like all the damage has already been done."
"I'm leaving a few days for the western coast." Remus admitted. "Dumbledore wants me to try and infiltrate the camps, to find out what is going on, what the plans are. Can you make a few extra bottles of Wolfsbane potion?"
"I've got some in storage you can have." Sable said, nodding. "I keep a good bit made in case something comes up. What are you going to do? Surely you don't intend on trying to bribe them with it?"
"I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do." he grimaced. "But it should come in handy the closer the full moon gets." Sable nodded and turned back towards the dilapidated old house. She jerked a little when she felt Remus' arms wrap around her waist from behind, but slowly began to relax into them.
No words were spoken between them as the fireflies began to dance around the night sky. Sable knew Remus was lost in his own thoughts, and she was preoccupied herself with the newest bits of information. Lycans and dementors working together to cause a mass jailbreak of Death Eaters was not good news, no matter who you were. They remained in silence a few more minutes, just enjoying each other's company while they could. Somewhere behind them, a clock chimed ten o'clock, and Sable turned herself around while Remus was still holding her.
"I need to get back." she muttered, absently smoothing out some imaginary wrinkles in his old robes.
"It is getting late." he agreed. Sable nodded once again, but didn't move out of the circle of his arms. It just felt so natural to feel the slight pressure on her hips from his arms resting there. Almost like she was made to fit right where she was.
"Can we do this, Remus?" she asked suddenly, looking off to the side.
"Do what?"
"Can we make it through this fighting, this war?" she asked quietly. "So many have already needlessly died."
"We will make it through." he said reassuringly, dragging her into a fierce hug. "We will make it through here, and one day you'll have all the grandchildren you could possibly handle." Sable just smiled, remembering her quip in the Three Broomsticks about never having any grandchildren.
"No, I won't." she said, looking up at him.
"Of course you…" he said, only to have Sable hush him with a finger over his lips."
"No, I won't." she said, smiling. "They'll be yours as well. Our grandchildren, not only mine."
Remus just smiled and bent down to gently press a kiss on her lips. It was a fleeting, barely there contact, but she felt a jolt all the way down to her toes. Her hands fisted in the front of his robes, more to hold herself steady than anything else.
How could this man still make her feel like a teenager with one kiss, especially after all these years? And it wasn't even a proper kiss, either.
Unfortunately, there was a little voice in her head that kept telling her not to let it go any further, and to get away from Remus for her own sake and sanity. It kept telling her that her children would never accept him, and that they would turn against her for wanting to be with him. It told her that having a relationship was too complicated, and that she wasn't ready for the commitment it meant later on down the road.
She promptly told the little bugger to go jump off a cliff and land on some pointy rocks.
Sable laid her head on his chest, snuggling into the tattered robes as if they were a blanket of the finest silk. She could hear his heartbeat, and noticed that it was a bit faster than normal.
'Good to know I'm not the only one who felt that.' she thought, grinning like some idiot teenage girl who had just garnered her crush's attention for the first time.
"You're gonna get me in trouble if you keep doing that, Remus Lupin." she teased him. She tried to sound reproachful, but her stern tone failed miserably.
"No more trouble than you can't get yourself out of." he replied easily, hugging her tightly. Sable smiled and shook her head.
"Your faith in me is astounding."
"As is yours for me." he countered. "However, we will leave our philosophy in faith for another time. As you said, it is getting late, and you need to get back to the castle." Sable nodded, and they set off for the road that lead up to the castle arm in arm. Once they arrived at the gate, Remus bid her goodnight with another fleeting kiss, then ushered her through the stone gargoyle guardians watching over the entrance.
"Send me word before you leave for the coast." Sable said, turning to face him. "I'll send an owl with the potion first thing in the morning."
"I will see you again in a few days before I leave." Remus said. "Take care of yourself, and the kids."
"Will do." Sable said. Remus nodded, took one step further back away from the gate, and promptly disappeared, leaving her to walk up to the castle on her own.
Sable was not sure if her feet were even hitting the dewy grass as she walked along. She felt like her old self again, before the fire, before she'd been forced to assume the life of someone completely different than who she'd been before. Up until now, she and Remus had kept the physical aspects of their relationship to null. Just then had been the first time since their night by the riverbank that he'd kissed her.
And she felt just as happy and light hearted now as she had then.
Sable walked up the steps of the school, and was about to push one of the double doors open when a familiar voice popped out of nowhere, causing Sable to groan in annoyance at being caught.
"Well, someone had an interesting evening, now didn't they?" he asked coldly. "Not a very good impression you are setting for the younger students, now is it, Professor Lee?"
A/N - Sorry for the long wait, but things have been hectic, and tropical storm Cindy and Hurricane Dennis have kept me good and busy lately (i.e. no electricity or internet connection.). Hope you all enjoy the latest chapter.
And as most of you will suspect, I am not going to have this story finished before the release of the sixth book.
I have contemplated pulling this story off and trying to write it to coincide with what happens in the sixth book, but I have decided not to considering I already have this story outlined and ready to go. If I rewrote everything to coincide with the entire book, there's no telling what I'll have to overhaul and change.
Until next time,
A.A.
And please remember to review. I want to know what you think.
