Tempus Magia

Part Two

Chapter 15: Sacrifice

Hermione Granger made a grave error during the final battle that resulted in Remus's death. Working as an unspeakable she spends two years working on a spell using powder from time turners to go back to Remus's greatest hour of need. What if Remus's greatest time of need wasn't in *this* war?

Lily sat with a steaming cup of tea Monday evening. James had just left with Sirius to the Ministry to file a report for Euphemia Potter's death. They agreed to simply record her having died from Dragon Pox. There was no way Albus or Mad-Eye would believe it, but it was what Euphemia wanted.

Peter was devastated. He was convinced one of his letters contained the pathogen that killed James' mother and James being as emotionally worn out as he was, could barely talk, let alone contradict him.

Euphemia had held on until early Monday morning and died surrounded by her two sons and her daughter in law. Flabney passed on several moments after her mistress did, something that was unsurprising to anyone who knew the elf. Flabney had been Euphemia's nanny elf and was a little over two hundred years old.

Lily stood up and began to chop vegetables. Her mind unable to do much but resurface to snippets of her conversation with her mother in law.

"She mustn't know that we know she is from the future. She won't trust us."

"Tell nothing of her existence to anyone outside, Remus, Sirius, and James. The odd Lovegood woman is okay as well. If Hermione dies, Harry won't survive. Your son needs her, more than he needs any of us."

Lily had even questioned the girl's devotion to her son, only to have her mother in law snap at her. "She obliviated her parents and they were killed because of it for Harry. She gave up everything for our boy. Her loyalty is not the question Lily."

She summoned a pot and filled it with water. Her tears falling down her cheeks. She gave up her parents for her, Harry. Lily dropped the vegetables into the pot and collapsed into the chairs allowing her tears to take over.

It wasn't fair.

Hermione lost her parents.

Euphemia hadn't blamed the Death Eaters but Lily knew it was them. She rubbed her belly as she mourned a couple her own age that was probably happily pregnant right now. "Oh, Harry. I am so happy you are so loved."

Laying her head in her arms, she sobbed until James and Sirius returned from the Ministry with Peter in tow. Peter's mother had taken a turn for the worse on Thursday evening but made a drastic recovering on Sunday morning. Lily was happy for him.

He muttered his congratulations and handed her a small bag with little baby socks inside. She laughed at the deer print on them and hugged him. "Thank you, Peter."

James lifted her and carried her up the stairs, leaving his friends behind in the kitchen. "Will you watch over Hermione tonight?" she whispered. "I don't think I could…"

"Yes, I spoke with the Minister on my way out of the Ministry and the funeral is going to be tomorrow in Godric's Hollow. We're going to have to leave you at home to care for Hermione. I've told everyone that you are ill. Everyone bought it considering I ran through Saint Mungos mostly naked."

Lily nodded as he set her down on their bed. She was so tired she wouldn't argue with James even if she wanted to.

"James, Hermione is… what did your mother tell you about her?"

"Nothing," he sighed tucking her in. He was clearly not happy about the arrangement. "Mum said my occlumency shields are shite and you and Remus were the only ones who got any information of value."

"Oh," she whispered.

"Is there anything I can know?"

"Yes, she's family. Hermione is family."

Remus's head hit a stone and stumbled and fell. He was covered in mud, his body aching and freezing in the January chill. He had been stripped naked and his wand taken from him the moment he arrived in the werewolf encampment. That had been expected. What had not been expected was being thrown into a pit to fight other werewolves.

He wouldn't kill and that earned him Alpha Reynir's wrath. Reynir Greyback was a ruthless werewolf. Remus watched him rip the throat out of beta's neck for failing to be subservient. In the wild, the Alpha law was the highest law.

Higher than even his son Fenrir's intense want to tear Remus limb from limb. It was at the Alpha's mercy that Remus was alive at all. He was kept chained to a tree naked, every night. He shivered the only thing keeping him alive was the thought of her.

The brown curls. If she was as smart as Euphemia said she was, she would like staying in his room. He had plenty of books and maps. He loved to collect old maps. The landmasses changed with every natural disaster that his various landmarks and he enjoyed working out the puzzles and mathematics of it all.

He wondered what her laugh sounded like. He was imaging a soft laugh and how she would run her hands through her hair prettily when the sun came finally rose overhead. He lifted his head towards the sun, the dried blood that caked his body cracking with him as he moved.

"Awake, I see." Remus looked to see Reynir watching him.

"Yes, Alpha."

"Interesting," he said thoughtfully. He waved at the terror twins standing behind him, Vali and Jormungand. "Take him down. We will speak once he does not reek of piss."

He was given a freezing spray down by Vali and then a thorough pat or more accurately a petting down. She scratched at his face when she realized he was not going to stand on occasion for her and stalked off in annoyance. She was the more unhinged one in the pair.

The two were identical except in their personalities and reproductive systems. If he was honest, Vali reminded him of Sirius' cousin Bellatrix Black. Had she married the Lestrange heir, yet? The idea of the witch breeding made him want to be violently ill.

"Lupin," Jormungand called. "Get up."

Remus rolled his eyes. "I'm tied to the wall."

"Have you not bathed yourself? We do not keep the Alpha waiting," he growled.

Where Vali was completely and blindingly loyal, Jormungand was smart and cunning. Vali may be able to cause mass destruction in a short time but Remus had no doubt that Jormungand could take down entire governments without lifting a finger. It was terrifying.

"No, your sister bound me and then saw to it that I was cleaned." Jormungand roared in anger, over what Remus wasn't sure. It wasn't as if Vali was the one who was violated.

His binding fell from his torso and a long black leather poncho was thrown at him. "Put it on. I will wait outside. One wrong move and I rip out your throat."

Remus slipped the poncho over his head and fixed it together with a leather belt. There were pants but they were tiny and he knew that should he need to run, he would not be able to.

It was a smart tactic. They were trying to get him to shed his humanity and become more animal than man. He almost laughed. He hadn't lied entirely to the Alpha when he said he joined so he could learn more about his inner wolf.

He just didn't mention he was trying to run away from Remus and by extension Hermione, by losing himself in Moony for a while. Moony howled every step they took away from her but once he found himself surrounded by the constant danger of the merging packs and the UK Alpha, Reynir, he found it easier to not smell her every waking moment. Not to miss the witch, he was destined to have but couldn't keep.

The merging of the packs was what Albus had sent him to investigate. If Voldemort gained control of every single werewolf in the UK, there would be no surviving the war. The entire Order knew this and it was one of the many reasons why they were all terrified of him. If Voldemort won, Remus would be safe from the Death Eaters because he was under the umbrella protection of the Greybacks.

When Fenrir was an angry and stupid teenager he bit Remus. Werewolf considers adults to be fourteen and over. Had Fenrir waited until Remus was fourteen then Remus would not have been protected. Since Remus was only six at the time, Fenrir was forced to magically adopt Moony. If Remus was to ever look himself up in the Ministry, he would find the last name Greyback tacked on after Lupin.

Having the Greyback protection was a blessing on Remus's part and a grave mistake on Fenrir's. When Remus was seven, his father took him to Hogwarts to add his blood to the wards. As long as he was alive, no werewolf would be able to break in through the wards and attack students. At the age of seven, Remus had been proud to help his people.

Wizardkind.

Albus, in all his wisdom, convinced the school board to sign a contract stating that Remus would only give his blood if he was actually allowed to attend Hogwarts. Most of the board withdrew their children, not that Remus minded. They were all stuffy Purebloods. Let Durmstrang or private tutoring have them.

He thought back to when they cut his palm and the Ministry witch balked at the fact that he bled as normal wizards do. That was what life was about, wasn't it? Sacrifices and protecting the ones we love.

"Are you done?" Jormungand asked from outside. Remus left the pants on a wicker chair with only three functioning legs.

"Yes," he replied calmly.

They walked in silence for several moments through the various pitched tents. The encampment was in a grouping of small clearings in a forest only able to be found by magical beings that were more creature than man. Reynir's tent was the largest, as he held meetings with the rest of the Alpha's there.

"You're missing the pants boy." Jormungand hissed as they neared it. Close enough, Remus noted, that Reynir was likely to hear their conversation.

"I'm afraid they were a tad too tight and I do want to have pups one day," Jormungand grunted in response and Remus tried to bury down Hermione and thoughts of another wife and a son he would have one day. Jormungand lifted back the flap and Remus walked into a room filled with bemused smiles.

Around a semi-circular table sat ten men. Burly werewolves from adults nightmares flanked the room. They were a very clear disgusted at Remus's presence, but he ignored them. Remus had a mission, a goal.

In total there were nine Alphas in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. Two from England, two from Wales, two from Scotland, and two from Ireland. Each of these Alpha's all answered to the Head Alpha Reynir. Reynir, who Voldemort was currently trying to recruit.

Bryant Coleman and Seth Davis were in charge of the England packs. Seth was mostly city living and his pack held regular jobs and blended in well with Muggle society. Little to nothing was known about Bryant's pack and there were many that believed he lost most of his pack in a skirmish with the Ministry. Rumor was that the two England Alphas were planning on merging their lines through Seth's son and Bryant's only daughter, whom he doted on. It was the makings of a war between the two English Alphas that Albus was sure would crumble both packs.

Addanc Hughes and Morfran Lewis were the two Alphas from Wales and though they both had wives, they were lovers. Though technically they had two separate packs, for all intents and purposes they were one and the same. Their human sides were so far gone that they were in a constant state of change. It was terrifying to see and Remus was glad for the reminder of how dangerous the two were.

The Scottish pack was the most skilled in combat as they used their magic and their werewolf powers in tandem. They were also the least likely to join Voldemort. They enjoyed their peace and quiet. Sirius called them a 'bunch of bleeding werewolf Hufflepuffs.' They insisted on their seclusion so much so, that no one knew their last names or the names or faces of anyone in their packs. The Alphas were known as Frazer and Lachlan. They came alone, as they always did when the Head Alpha summoned them. If Remus had to join a pack, he would join the Scottish.

Ireland was led by Noah and Sean, two Alphas married to sister witches from Brazil. Noah Byrne and Sean Walsh were both stereotypical Irishman. They were nonviolent drunkards, whose packs preached peace and acceptance and lots of alcohol. No one was sure where their packs lived exactly, but it was known that they were the least prepared for an attack. If someone ever wanted to take down two packs, Noah's and Sean's would be the first to go.

It was easy to study these people on parchment and read back their information to Albus. Coming face to face with eight Alphas and one Head Alpha was daunting and made Remus weak at the knees. He refused to kneel though, he was a wizard first.

He may have the Greyback protection, but he had yet to choose a pack and that made him an Omega. An outcast. It was the most likely reason he was getting angry glares from everyone in the room.

"Remus Lupin," greeted Noah Byrne. "Welcome to the Tent of the Alphas."

Remus nodded in greeting to the Alphas.

This act enraged Morfran Lewis, but then again just about everything did. "You dare disrespect us by not greeting us?!"

"If I acknowledge that I do know all of your names, I will be suspected to be a spy and executed. If I acknowledge that I do not know all of your names then I will be viewed as a fool and executed as well. A nod in greeting circumvents both of scenarios and informs you that I am not a wizard of many words but of the mind."

Reynir leaned back in his seat, his bright blue eyes observing him thoughtfully. While most of the Alpha's seemed amused at his response Morfran's paramour, Addanc sneered at his response. Honestly, Morfran need to yank whatever he stuck so far up Addanc's-

"A wizard, you say? You insult us by coming here to our camp and don't even have the balls to call yourself a wolf?"

"Are we not wizards? If a human is bitten, they die. If a wizard is bitten during the full moon they turn into a werewolf. Since it is not the full moon, we are not werewolves and therefore wizards."

Okay, that one was a stretch. Why was he intentionally being an arse? Oh, maybe because the witch he is mated to and has never met in conscious form can't stay with him. Ah, that makes sense. Arse on!

The Alphas looked at each other, clearly unsure what to do with Remus's smart tongue. The Wales pack looked like they wanted to cut it out and feed it to him. Kinky bastards. Remus almost laughed that his inner voice when he was being a suicidal idiot sounded a lot like Sirius.

Sirius who basically threw himself at death on a daily basis and then got pissy when Remus tried to do the same thing with an ounce more caution. He wondered if Reynir would rip out his throat like he did the unlucky beta.

Remus theorized what would happen to Hermione if he died before she was able to save him. Would her charm, force her back to her time and acknowledge that she failed in her mission? Was that even possible? If Remus had lived to save Hermione's life in the future than obviously, he survived that long.

But, but what if he didn't? What would happen-

"Lupin," Reynir boomed. "Come forward."

Remus walked into the inside of their large wooden table. He stood directly in front of the greying wolf. The Head Alpha leaned over and looked into Remus's eyes. He leaned back into his chair. "Interesting."

Fenrir stood, "Father-"

Reynir waved his son off, "Lupin. Trials for a new cub is at least two weeks. You have not lived through a week."

Remus resisted the urge to bite his lip. If he had to wait two weeks, why was he here?

"We have received word that the Potter Auror's mother is dead. You will be allowed to attend the funeral later today under Fenrir, Jormungand, and Vali's watch. You will then return here while your pack mourns."

The wording was not lost on the rest of the Alphas. Only Fenrir was stupid enough to question his father. "Pack?"

"Remus Lupin may have our packs protection because of your folly but a pack involves beasts in the wild," Reynir eyes glowed knowingly and Remus quaked under his glare. "Remus Lupin has his pack."

The question of 'Well, then why the fuck is this mutt here?' rang unasked through the tent. Fenrir growled at Remus. Remus ignored him.

"Fenrir, take him. If he misses the services I will be displeased."

Greyback grabbed his arm and dragged him from the room. He was given a cloak and dragged to their lone and heavily guarded apparition point. He was to be side-alonged with Vali, who spent the short walk when he was tossed at her to the apparition point, clawing him and whimpering at him. It was nauseating.

Greyback bound their hands together. He issued several terse warnings and instructions before Vali tore him through apparition. Vali, being Vali, ignored Greyback's rules of staying to the back of the funeral. She forced him to walk through the large crowd and stand beside Fleamont's grave. Remus stood in front of the wizard he had know to be like an uncle to him and conjured a wreath of flowers for his grave.

Vali blue eyes brightened, "You can do wandless magic?" she whispered.

Remus nodded watching as James choked on the speech he made, while Sirius shook his tears streaming unashamedly down his face. Peter held him up and Remus was glad. Lily's absence was noticed by not just him but the others in attendance. A wild tale of a naked James running through Saint Mungos because she was deathly ill made Vali giggle quietly, tossing her blonde tresses back.

The speech was moving and James made mention of their incoming baby and how proud his mother had been when she heard the news. Towards the end of the speech, James caught his face through the crowd. Something told Remus he had known his presence since the very beginning. Maybe they really were a pack?

Remus wondered if he was trying to tell him something. He itched his wrists that were attached to Vali's, knowing that as an Auror, he would be able to sense the magic holding him prisoner. He caught the movement and gazed past Vali before returned to his speech without a parting glance to the blonde.

This entire thing was a test. The Order wanted to know if he was loyal to him, as did the Alphas. Well, they were all shit out of luck because the only person he was loyal to was Remus and his family.

Remus wanted nothing more than to run to James and Sirius. He wanted to run to his family with every fiber of his being but he knew that he couldn't. If he went back, he would be stuck with Hermione and that was not an option.

Using what little restraint he had, he turned to walk away as people walked up to give their condolences.

"We should wish your brothers well, should we not?" purred Vali.

"Would you wish to keep Alpha Reynir waiting?"

"No, but he said if you wanted-"

Remus sighed, "The woods are not crowded now… we could-"

Vali smiled happily and yanked his hand to follow him back towards the apparition point.