Prisoner

by TheLoud

When a human is captured by werewolves, escape is impossible, but she might be able to accomplish one thing: kill Remus Lupin. He's the most evil werewolf in the pack because he's the best at pretending to be human.

3. Chapter 3

"I've got to go teach Magic class soon," said the evil werewolf apologetically. "I assume you don't feel up to going out again today. I'll just leave your lunch here in case you feel like eating it later."

"You're teaching magic?" Sarah asked.

"I'm afraid it wouldn't be very relevant to you as a muggle. I have some muggle books you might like."

"No. I'll go with you. I've never been to a magic class before."

"I'm afraid you won't enjoy it."

"Not as much as this morning's class, you mean? It's hard to beat being used to demonstrate the proper way to hold a human victim down." She couldn't keep the fury out of her voice. She knew she shouldn't be doing this. This was not a well-thought-out escape plan.

The werewolf was doing his slow breathing exercise again. It worked. He still looked like a human, if an unnaturally calm one. "I know this is a very difficult situation for—"

She swung a fist at his monstrously sympathetic face. He caught her fist in midair in his calloused hand. She might as well have punched a tree.

"Ow!" she said.

"Sorry," he said, letting go of her fist. "Reflex. Let's try that again, if it will help you feel better. I won't block this time."

"What?" She shook out her aching hand.

"I'm sorry I blocked your punch, when I'm the only one here on whom you may safely take out your frustrations. Try it again. I promise I won't block this time." He clasped his hands behind his back. "This is a useful exercise for me too, as the wolf wants to defend himself." He closed his eyes. There was tension in the muscles of his shoulders as he gripped his hands. "But I am stronger than the wolf. I won't let him control me. Go on. Do it already. You're enjoying keeping me in suspense, are you? Fair enough. I'll wait."

"No, it's just… You want me to hit you. This just doesn't seem appropriate without a dominatrix outfit. And I should be calling you a naughty boy."

His laughter was explosive, powered by the tension in the air shattering. He opened his smiling eyes. He was blushing quite pink.

Sarah helplessly found herself laughing with him. So, this was it. She'd heard of Stockholm syndrome. Knowing about it apparently didn't help. She was laughing with her captor.

"I don't actually want to be hit," he choked out. "And if I did, I wouldn't presume to impose on you for this service. I wouldn't even have got your joke, were it not for my friend Sirius having some very odd magazines in his collection. His tastes are rather…varied. Not to be judgmental. He had them just sitting on the bookshelf in his flat, and I can't resist a bookshelf, and… I had no idea. Anyway. I was really not expecting to be reminded of Sirius today. I've got to teach a class in a few minutes." He took some more deep breaths, and got a book from the Latin bookcase.

"I'm coming with you."

"Then are you sure you don't want to punch me here? This will be your last chance until we get back. If you indulge while we're out, I'll have to make a big show of putting you in your place, and I don't want to do that."

"I can wait."

"All right then." He cast a spell over her uneaten lunch, and they set out for the woodland classroom again.

As horrible as this situation was, at least there was one benefit: she could learn about magic. Even if she, a muggle, couldn't do any magic herself, it seemed like an important thing to know about.

So, she strode through the hungry, yellow-eyed stares of the camp until they finally reached the bench-like logs. Some of the students stared at her with unabashed yellow eyes. Many were older than the students who'd been there to learn human impersonation in the morning.

"For my Magic students who aren't enrolled in my Human Impersonation class, I'll redo the introduction. This is Miss Briarcliff, a human given to me by Lord Greyback as a reward for my services. I brought her to class to familiarize you with your prey, so you will be able to properly ambush humans without getting overly excited and clumsy. To answer the inevitable question, we will not be practicing any spells on her today." This last sentence was met with some complaining groans, although also, if Sarah wasn't imagining it, some sighs of relief, probably from the less-prepared students.

The log bench that Sarah had to herself wasn't very comfortable. The ground, however, was fairly dry, and cushioned by a thick layer of dead leaves, so she sat on that and used the log as a backrest. Despite having skipped lunch, she wasn't hungry, but felt a bit shaky and unstable. The adrenaline from this morning was gone, leaving only weakness in its wake.

Her captor's calm voice was oddly soothing. It helped that so much of what he was saying was in Latin. He was probably talking about the best spells for killing humans, but it didn't sound that bad as long as she didn't understand the meaning. He might as well be teaching a spell to change the color of your nose hair.

These dead leaves really were quite comfortable, soft enough to lie on. Not crackly at all, really. More smooth, like old sheets worn soft… She gripped them frantically. They were sheets. She was on a bed, not a forest floor. She was finally waking from this nightmare. Of course she hadn't been captured by werewolves. She sat bolt upright too fast, and felt dizzy.

"Sorry," said the werewolf, crushing her hopes. "My students were impressed I could levitate you back here without waking you up, but then I spoiled it when I transferred you to the bed. Did you have a nice nap?"

"I fell asleep in your class?"

"Don't be embarrassed, my students do it all the time. Some of this material is rather dry."

"How can you make magic boring?"

"I learned from the best. It helps to imitate Professor Binns."

"What?"

"Sorry, you haven't faced the challenge of attempting to stay awake in his classroom." He waved his wand at her leftover lunch. "I've removed the stasis charm, so it should be edible again, at least no less edible than it was originally. I hope you don't mind leftovers for dinner. At least it will be better than whatever I'll be having with Greyback tonight. It's an honor to be invited to dine with him, and of course I can't refuse. I'd better get into character." He stood there for a moment. Nothing seemed to happen. "It's hard to go from feeling oddly nostalgic for a boring teacher, to trying to imitate a feral werewolf. It would probably help if you took another swing at me."

"What?"

"No pressure."

"Can't you just drop this disguise?"

He paused before answering. "Which is the disguise and which is the real me is an interesting question. To be a really convincing liar, one needs to believe the lie oneself, at least temporarily. Well, I'll just have to get into character on the way. I'll probably be back quite late, so don't wait up for me. I'll come in quietly so as not to wake you." And he was gone.

The Unauthorized Biography of Celestina Warbeck made a fairly interesting dinner companion. The author seemed to regard it as scandalous that The Singing Sorceress's mother was a muggle. The light got too dim for reading shortly after young Celestina was sorted into something called Gryffindor, and Mrs. Warbeck's demands that Hogwarts offer performing arts classes for her talented daughter were being ignored. The name Dumbledore appeared, not as the world's most powerful wizard who collected dangerous pets, but as a half-blood Professor of Transfiguration and head of Gryffindor House whose flamboyant dress sense may have inspired Celestina's later stagewear, so it must have been a different Dumbledore.

—-

Sarah's captor looked human as he served her porridge for breakfast. He smirked at her choice of reading material, still on the table with a bookmark in it. "Enjoy celebrity gossip?"

"There's this whole culture I didn't know existed. The author assumes I already know all about it. I'm figuring it out from context."

"That's exactly why I included that book in the library. I'm glad it works."

"So how was dinner?"

"The meeting went quite well, I think. All of Greyback's inner circle were there, so I guess I'm one of them now. We all had to agree that his plan for organized attacks on full-moon nights, rather than chance encounters, is brilliant. We'll position ourselves near some human town just before moonrise, cast an anti-disapparition ward to prevent our prey from escaping, then transform into our wolf forms and overwhelm the humans' defenses with our superior numbers, biting to kill and infect as many humans as possible. He hasn't selected a target yet, or he hasn't told me. He's counting on me, and the few other werewolves who can safely side-along apparate, to transport the fighters to the target, so it will have to be a town with which we wizarding werewolves are familiar. Sorry for introducing unfamiliar vocabulary without a definition. Apparition is a form of instantaneous transportation, like science fiction teleportation. He'll have to tell me in advance which town we're targeting, since I'll be transporting some of the fighters there. If I have enough time…" He trailed off. "I'm talking too much. Sorry, there's no one else I can really talk to, but I shouldn't be telling you this. It's very exciting to finally be in a really high-level meeting. I've been working towards this for months." His pride and excitement were obvious, if any of his displays of emotions were real.

The porridge had formed an unswallowable lump in her throat. She forced it down with difficulty. "Congratulations."

"Thank you. On a different topic, would you like to accompany me to this morning's class? Lord Greyback is unlikely to grace us with another surprise visit."

She wasn't going to find any murder weapons in a book of celebrity gossip. "I'll go." She got her clipboard.

After the staring yellow eyes of the camp, the cheerful, human-looking children's faces were a relief. Sarah had to remind herself that it was all an illusion. The children ceased their games and settled on their benches.

"Good morning class," said Professor Lupin with a smile.

"Good morning Professor Lupin! Good morning Miss Briarcliff!" the children choroused.

"Rex, I'm sorry there wasn't time for you to present your book report yesterday, so I'm giving you an opportunity first thing today. You have the floor." Lupin sat down on one of the log benches as Rex stood up.

Rex spoke of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with such delighted enthusiasm, Sarah was tempted to reread it herself. It was back on the shelf in the tent. She reminded herself that reading it would not help her slay any monsters.

"So I think everyone should read it," concluded Rex.

"Thank you very much, Rex, that was very well-presented," said Lupin. "Did you have any questions about it?"

"What's Turkish delight like?"

"I asked my mum the same question when I read that book, and she went right out and bought me some. It was disappointing. It's a type of candy. It's gummy, rosewater-flavored blocks. I thought someone had spilled perfume on it accidentally. I much prefer chocolate. Some people must like it I suppose. You should try it. I'll look for it the next time I go shopping."

"What do you think fauns taste like? Goats or humans?" He glanced at Sarah at the last word.

Lupin sighed. "We are pretending to be human in this class, therefore we do not discuss eating humans."

"But fauns aren't—"

"Rex," said Lupin like a stern human. He neither growled nor bared his fangs.

Rex stopped arguing.

Sarah wrote on her clipboard, "Teacher has excellent control of class, possibly because he resembles a cartoon supervillain."

Rex sat down as Lupin stood up. "Children, this book is available in the library. Speaking of the library, I need to say a few words about it. As you know, I'm not just your professor. I also do various, sometimes dangerous jobs for the pack. In the event that I don't return from one of these missions, I want to make sure that the library survives. I trust you students to maintain it, and continue using it responsibly, taking good care of the books and returning them promptly. I considered appointing a librarian in my stead, but I think it would be even better to leave you with a system for selecting a librarian yourselves. Thus, today's lesson continues our discussion of systems of government, moving on to democracy. I hope you will gain an understanding of how this system works, not just to make your human disguises more convincing, but to enable you to select the most competent librarian from amongst yourselves."

He gave a basic overview of voting, explaining and rephrasing with seemingly limitless patience, as the students found the concept difficult to grasp. He organized a referendum as an example, as the class decided if they should sit in sun or shade (shade won). Finally, most seemed to get it.

"I'm very proud of you all," he said. "Next, I want all of you to ask yourselves if you want to run for the job of class librarian. This job is a responsibility and an honor. As this is an important decision, you needn't decide today. Please decide by Friday if you would like to run.

"As today is Wednesday, all students who have earned a library day may come with me to exchange your books. Others, I will see in Magic class this afternoon, or in tomorrow's Human Impersonation class." Lupin led the mob of enthusiastic children through the camp to his tent. They descended on the bookshelves like a flock of vultures. There was no way they could all fit in the tent at once, so Lupin allowed only four in at a time. Sarah didn't feel comfortable in the crowded tent, but neither did she feel comfortable without Lupin, in the mob waiting outside, so she went in and sat on her bed. Lupin took note in a ledger of which books the students returned and which they borrowed.

When the mob had finally left, Lupin looked through his tin collection. "Chicken noodle soup for lunch?"

"Sure. Were you serious about not coming back from a mission?" Sarah asked.

"Yes. When Lord Greyback leads us to attack some human town, we have to assume that casualties will be very high on both sides." He set a bowl of magically-heated soup at her place at the table. This time, he was the one with no appetite. "Lord Greyback and the other high-ranking werewolves will be watching me closely during the battle to ensure that I attack with sufficient valor. It's quite likely that some human will kill me in self-defense, or I'll be badly injured, captured, and sent to the Werewolf Research Institute for experimentation, which would produce the same result only more slowly. Of course, this little library losing its librarian wouldn't be the worst consequence of that, but it's one I have a chance of preparing for. Believe me, I've been desperately searching for some way to get you out of here unharmed in the case of my death, but I haven't come up with anything that might work. Lord Greyback will give you as a reward to someone else, or take you himself. He's tried keeping humans captive before. They…" Lupin looked convincingly pale. "They don't live very long."

"So what happens if you don't fight with valor? If you don't help transport the werewolves at all?"

"I'll drop in rank, possibly be executed and eaten as a traitor, and lose you to someone who did fight well. Your best chance of survival is for me to be seen fighting bravely, yet somehow surviving the battle."

"If you die, is there anyone here who could take over your classes? Anyone else who can teach Human Impersonation?"

He shook his head. "No one here knows human culture nearly as well as I do. Present company excepted, of course. Are you planning to apply once the job is available? I'm afraid that prejudice against your race would be a barrier to employment, although of course you're far more qualified to teach this subject than I." He suddenly looked excited. "But you could be my teaching assistant while I'm here! It would really help to have another perspective, especially of an actual human. And I'm not qualified to teach…" He waved his hand vaguely. "Girl stuff. Could you do that? Please? I'm sorry, I shouldn't be making demands of you. But it would be such a help to the girls to have a real human female role model to emulate."

How much could she sabotage by teaching human culture wrong? This had potential. "I'll be glad to help."

"Thank you so much, Miss Briarcliff. I really can't thank you enough."

"It's no problem."

"Were you planning to attend this afternoon's Magic class? You didn't seem to get much out of it last time. Perhaps you could instead spend the time making a lesson plan for tomorrow morning's class. I'll give you some more paper." He went out and got a handful of dead leaves, which he transfigured into sheets of paper and set on the table. He added some pens of various colors. "Choose your subject, and your class length. Do you have any teaching experience?"

"No."

"I warn you, lecturing for five minutes can feel like an eternity in front of a big class like this. It helps to break things up with class discussions and activities. I'm sure you'll do great." He had an irrepressible smile on his face. "It's almost like a real school, with another teacher." He looked happier than he had when he'd boasted of being included in Greyback's plotting to attack a town.

—-

The next morning, Lupin happily announced to the students, "Miss Briarcliff has kindly agreed to help me teach this class. I hope you realize that a true human such as Miss Briarcliff can provide much better insights into human culture than an imitator like me. We are very fortunate to have such a qualified teacher. I'm sure I will learn a lot as well. Please pay careful attention to her lesson. Miss Briarcliff, you have the floor." He sat down and joined the class looking at her eagerly as she stood.

"Well. Hello. I thought that today I'd teach some human customs. For instance, when visiting a human, you may notice that they have a telly in their house. Um. Does anyone here know what a telly is?" Only one kid raised her hand.

Sarah pointed to her. "Yes?"

"It has cartoons on it," she said. "And you shouldn't watch them because they rot your brain, but sometimes you have to so mum can cook dinner in peace."

The class seemed grateful for the warning about this dangerous brain-rotting weapon which apparently lurked in human homes.

"Right," said Sarah. "Well. I don't know about the brain-rotting thing. I guess I wouldn't, if my brain had rotted, because the part that remembered stuff like that may have rotted away. Anyway, most human homes, in Britain at least, have a telly in them." The class found this news alarming.

Lupin raised his hand. Sarah called on him gratefully. He would sort this out.

"I just wanted to point out," he said, "if Miss Briarcliff doesn't mind me interrupting her lesson, that when she speaks of most human homes, she means most muggle homes, as she speaks from the perspective of a muggle. I recommend trying to pass as a muggle in most cases when you're around witches and wizards, as they will be hesitant to make any mention of Dark creatures in the presence of a muggle to avoid arousing suspicion of their own magic, and they generally don't know much about the muggle world, so you don't actually have to be that good at impersonating a muggle, just confident about it. Seeming familiar with devices like tellies will be a great way to convince witches and wizards that you're muggle children, since tellies are modern muggle inventions which require electricity, which most wizarding homes do not have. Of course, the exception to this rule is when you find yourself in the company of Death Eaters, who torment and kill muggles on sight, in which case you should pretend to be pureblood wizarding children who've never heard of tellies. I apologize for the interruption, Miss Briarcliff. Please continue."

Death Eaters? What? "Um. Thank you, Mr. Lupin. Yes, most muggle homes in Britain have a tellie. A tellie is a box with moving pictures in it, like movies, but I guess you don't have movies either. Not just pictures, sound, also. People watch them for fun. Some people say they rot your brain, but they're speaking metaphorically. They just mean that if you sit around watching the tellie instead of doing anything interesting, you turn into a boring, stupid person. So. That's why it's become trendy now, whenever you see a tellie, to throw it out a window."

Lupin's hand slowly rose into the air. Sarah ignored him.

"So instead of watching the tellie, what young people do nowadays is bite the heads off live bats," she said quickly.

"Miss Briarcliff," said Lupin, although she hadn't called on him.

"Do you have a question, Mr. Lupin?"

He stood. "I need to have a word with you. Excuse us." With a nod to the students, he led her away, behind some trees and shrubs. He cast what she recognized by now as silencing spells. "What are you doing?"

"Teaching human culture. I'm a human, so whatever I make up is part of human culture, right?"

Lupin sighed. "You're not making stuff up. You're stealing ideas from Ozzy Osbourne, who is not generally regarded as a normal human being by either muggle or wizarding standards."

Sarah took a step back, and found that she'd hit her head against a low-hanging tree limb rather harder than she liked. "What?! No. No. I don't believe it. You're a wizard, who's also a werewolf, and you spent your youth locked in a shack, and you have Pride and Prejudice on your bookshelf, so there is no way you'd have had an opportunity to know about Ozzy Osbourne."

"My friend Sirius is a big fan."

"This is the bloke with the skin mags?"

"Yes, that bloke. He lets me crash on his couch whenever I'm in London. Anyway, even if I'd never heard of Ozzy Osbourne, I'd certainly recognize that biting the head off a bat is not normal human behavior. What do you take me for?"

"Um. A werewolf? The most evil werewolf in the pack? A hypocrite? A more knowledgeable one than I thought, which was my mistake, but still a hypocrite. I might not be able to sabotage your work here, but I'll be damned if I'll help."

Lupin took a moment to close his eyes, take a deep breath, and rub his temples. "I am trying to accomplish something here," he said.

"You're trying to teach these werewolves to pass as human, so they can better infiltrate and attack us. I won't be a part of that."

"You think that's what I'm doing?"

"That's what Greyback told you to do, and you said you'd do it, and I've seen you do it, so yeah. You can't very well deny it."

"Greyback wants his pack to be able to pass as humans. To do that, they have to understand human culture. If they truly understand human culture, if they get to know and love the literature, the art, the music, hell, the fashion, the sports, I don't care, then they won't think of humans as prey anymore. They'll think of them as people. That's what I'm trying to accomplish. If werewolves and humans are ever going to live peacefully together, we have to understand each other's cultures."

Sarah stared at him.

"And for god's sake don't tell Greyback," he added.

"But… but you're also teaching these kids magic. You're teaching them how to attack humans."

He gave her a steely look. "I am teaching them Latin."

"Well, yeah, because that's necessary for them to learn magic."

"I am teaching them Latin," he repeated. "This is necessary for some advanced branches of magic, yes. If they wanted to read very old grimoires or invent their own spells, it would be necessary."

"So… You're just wasting their time?"

"No! Learning another language is never a waste. Particularly Latin. It opens up a whole world of knowledge! Besides, it's a great help for those who want to move on to learn the other Romance languages, such as Italian and French."

"And that would help them… prey on Italians and Frenchies?"

"That would help them appreciate Italian opera and order at a French restaurant," he said firmly.

They looked at each other in silence for a while. "So will you help?" he finally said.

"I don't know if I should believe you."

"There's no real reason you should. You have only my word for it, and I'm an incorrigible liar. You don't have to help of course. You could just stay in the tent. You could read books. You could try to learn Latin. It really is a beautiful language."

She'd try again. "I'll help."

"Thank you, Miss Briarcliff."

He canceled the silencing spell and led her back to the class.

"Miss Briarcliff just demonstrated the human custom of pranking, which is comparable to our play-biting, by pranking all of us. She presented some entertainingly creative lies as human culture. While pranking is a worthy subject, I feel that it is overly ambitious to attempt as a first lesson. I have asked her to to postpone this particular lesson plan and develop one on a different subject, which she will present tomorrow. So, back to our previously scheduled lesson, more details about how to run a library." He taught the difference between fiction and nonfiction, and how it was sometimes hard to tell the difference, and how even books intended as nonfiction could be wrong, while fiction could contain important truths.

—-

That afternoon, after Lupin set off to teach Magic, Sarah prepared a presentation on hairstyling. While the little werewolves' hair didn't look particularly inhuman to her muggle eyes, it did give the impression of wild creatures. If they paid a bit more attention to their grooming, they could pass much more easily—

She ripped up her presentation on hairstyling.

When Lupin came home that evening, carrying a couple of dead partridges and a bunch of wild greens, she was ready for him as soon as she'd granted him permission to enter his own tent. "I'm not going to help," she said. "You'll have to teach Human Impersonation by yourself."

He nodded. "I respect that. With the information you have, that's really the most ethical choice. I'm sorry, I had no right to ask for your help in the first place. Anyway, I hope you like partridges. One of my students gave me these. I'm taking her word that the greens are edible. I never got a proper werewolf education, so I'm clueless about living off the land."

She'd been expecting a fight. She was all prepared with arguments, and had no use for them. She sat there blankly as he prepared dinner, mostly with his wand. She eventually said, "Werewolves eat greens? I thought you were serving this human food just for me. You're not just carnivores?"

"Not at all," he said. "Our diets are human except for one night a month. I mean. The same as a human diet. Not a diet consisting of humans. Not usually. Not by necessity."

Dinner was delicious.

"I'm sorry I can't offer you any wine," he said. "Burgundy would go well with this. I guess we'll just have to use our imaginations."

He knew about food and wine pairings. And she thought she'd be able to fool this very cultured werewolf with fake human culture lessons. She felt an urge to bite the head off a bat.

The next morning, she apologized to the class for the prank she'd played the day before. She explained that she hadn't really known what to teach, so she'd just made stuff up. She said she wouldn't be teaching them until she could think of a real lesson. The kids looked very disappointed, but perked up when Lupin spoke of their upcoming election.

Two candidates, Rex and Angelique, stepped forward to run for librarian. Sarah thought that Angelique seemed young for the job. She hoped she wouldn't be too disappointed when she lost. Lupin taught them how to campaign, and scheduled speeches, debates, and question and answer sessions. The kids were very excited.

—-

"I've been here for a week," Sarah said over dinner. "I've been counting the days."

"I'm not going to promise that living a lie gets any easier," Lupin said. "But one gets used to it."

"That time of the month is approaching."

"I know. The full moon is a week away. I'll have to find some way to protect you. The last trace of our humanity disappears on the full moon. Even I would bite you if I had access to you. I won't, as I'll be out attacking some human town with the rest of the able-bodied werewolves in this pack, but the young and infirm will stay behind in camp, and even they will be a danger to you, as you'll be greatly outnumbered."

"No, I mean my time of the month is approaching. I'll need some supplies."

He blinked at her for a while. Then, "Oh! Oh that. Right." His expression gradually changed, and then he was laughing so hard he had trouble breathing.

"I'm glad my biology is so amusing to you."

He tried to reply, but couldn't for a long time. Eventually, "Sorry, I'm not laughing at you. It's just...The last time I saw my friend James, he was complaining about his wife sending him out to buy that stuff. He thought it was awfully embarrassing. And then Sirius said that James was whipped. Sirius would never let a girl send him on errands like that. Sirius can have any girl he wants. He doesn't even have to put in any effort, they just throw themselves at him. You have to picture these blokes. They're both these filthy rich handsome pureblood human wizards. They have practically everything a man could want. So I pointed out that I'm much luckier than they, since whatever other troubles I may have, my wife will never send me out to buy any feminine hygiene products, since I will never have a wife! I'll never even have a girlfriend. We all got a good laugh out of it. And then you came into my life. Behold the terrible consequence of my foolish boast: all the inconveniences of marriage without any of the benefits. The gods must have been offended by my hubris. I'm clearly being punished for it." His attack of laughter resumed.

She watched him laughing. "I don't get it."

"I've read the Greek tragedies, I should know what happens to those who boast of their good fortune."

"No, I don't get why you wouldn't have a girlfriend."

He stopped laughing and stared at her. "I'm a werewolf," he explained as if she were a particularly slow student. "A Dark creature. A monster. Werewolves are soulless, evil, deserving nothing but death. I certainly don't deserve a girlfriend."

"Well sure, you're evil, but just in an ordinary hypocritical way, not any particularly monstrous way. Lots of humans are worse than you, and they have girlfriends. Lots of girls would be into this cartoon supervillain look you've got going. I mean, have you looked in a mirror recently?"

"I try to avoid mirrors. And what would I want a girl like that for? One who just wanted me for my body?"

She blinked at him. "Do I really have to explain? I mean, when Greyback gave me to you, he did imply that werewolves and humans can—"

"There would be no point being with someone I can't love. I've seen humans in love. My friend James—"

"This is the bloke who's embarrassed to buy stuff for his wife?"

"Yes, that bloke. He's loved Lily for years. He knew the moment he first saw her that they were destined to be together. He was completely obsessed. He'd ask her out constantly, and she'd hex him every time, but he never gave up."

"That sounds rather annoying actually. Are you sure that was love?" And who were these people? How could Lupin have made human friends while being kept as a pet? Maybe they were people who worked for Dumbledore. Animal trainers? Cage cleaners?

"Of course it was love. They're married now. Well. If they're both still alive. Dumbledore sends them on rather dangerous missions." Ah. They did work for Dumbledore. Hunting down more dangerous pets for his collection? "Anyway, I couldn't do that sort of thing. I don't have a soul. Without a soul, I'm incapable of true love. Without true love, I have no use for a girlfriend. Quod erat demonstrandum."

"How can you tell you don't have a soul? I don't know if I have a soul or not."

"Of course you have a soul. You're human."

"Prove I have a soul."

He seemed about to say something a few times, but didn't. Finally, he said, "I'm sorry, I need to make allowances for your lack of education on this topic. This is covered in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes at Hogwarts. Every witch and wizard knows this." He searched a bookshelf. "It was returned recently. Here it is. Lupine Lawlessness: Why Lycanthropes Don't Deserve to Live, by Professor Emerett Picardy. It explains how we're fundamentally different from humans. We have no souls, no capacity for love, no sense of morality." He handed the book to her.

"Don't werewolves pair up with each other, though? I've seen what appear to be couples around camp."

"Yes. We do have an instinctive attraction to the opposite sex, like any other animal. That's not love."

"You're high-ranking and popular around here. Haven't you—"

"With a werewolf girl?" He shuddered. "They're beasts."

"But since you're also a beast, aren't you attracted to—"

"Please don't make me think about werewolf girls in that way. I mean, to go from thoughts of a beautiful human girl like Lily to these… Ugh. On to a less disgusting topic." He got a scrap of paper and a pencil and put them on the table. "Write down exactly what supplies you need. I'll need to replenish our stocks of healing potions before the full moon anyway, so they'll have to let me out to go shopping. I'm the best werewolf here at passing for human in a wizarding apothecary, and I can go to a muggle shop while I'm out. Greyback will insist I take a kid along as an apprentice to show how it's done. I'm going to have to explain this purchase to a kid. The gods clearly have it in for me. Anyway, let me know if there's anything else you need while I'm out. Just put it on the list."

A switchblade, a gun, a chainsaw… it was no use. "I could use some conditioner."

"What?"

"For my hair. To help get tangles out. They sell it next to the shampoo. So there actually is something about human culture you don't know, huh?"

"I never claimed to know everything. That's why I asked you to be my teaching assistant. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have."

"I guess this is a girl thing I could be teaching in your Human Impersonation class if I wanted to be complicit in this. It's really just a long hair thing, not a girl thing specifically. You could probably use it too. Your hair's pretty long."

"I haven't had a chance to get it cut for a while," he said, embarrassed. "I must look like a savage."

"Don't worry, it looks good. I mean, you look fine. Human. Long hair on men is in now. You look like you're in a glam metal band or something. Or a wannabe."

"Now I know you're putting me on again."

"No! Really! How can you have heard of Ozzy Osbourne and not know about this? Doesn't your friend have posters of these bands?"

"He has posters of muggle girls in bikinis, and motorcycles. Even girls in bikinis riding motorcycles. No posters of blokes. I mean, Sirius himself has long hair, but I thought that was because of his ignorance of muggle fashion, not because he follows it. My muggle mum would always tell me I needed a haircut long before my hair got as long as his."

"There are different muggle styles you know. Go to a record store, look for pictures of Alice Cooper and Van Halen and blokes like that. Heck, look at the blokes buying their records. You'll see."

"How gullible do you think I am? Alice is a girl's name. I know an Alice, and while she does have long hair, she is definitely not a man in a glam metal band."

"No, Alice Cooper's a bloke. He sings about death and destruction. Really. You can trust me on this. Didn't you say I'm more qualified to teach human culture than you are?"

He sighed. "So in your qualified opinion, my long hair makes me look as manly as a muggle named Alice. Right." He laughed, then tried to stop laughing. "I'm sorry."

"You always say that. What are you sorry for this time?"

"I enjoy your company, Miss Briarcliff. I enjoy your jokes. I have no right to. Lord Greyback gave you to me for my pleasure, but that doesn't mean I have any right to actually take pleasure in your company." He pushed the paper and pencil closer to her. "Tell me what brand of conditioner you like, and anything else you want that I might be able to carry. My suitcase holds quite a lot. I'm serious. Let me know if there's anything at all I can get for you that might make your stay here less miserable."

"You know what I miss?" she said. "Music. I was captured on my way back from a music festival and I haven't heard a note of music since. Could I have a radio?"

"I don't think the wards around this camp let radio signals through," he said. "I'm sorry."

She shouldn't have felt disappointed.

The next morning, he cut his Human Impersonation class short, and canceled his afternoon Magic class. He apologized to the class for taking only one student on this field trip. He dismissed the rest of the students, then he and Rex walked Sarah back to his tent.

"Now Rex, I must impress upon you the extreme importance of your acting. We're heading into human territory. If our performances aren't flawless, we will both be found out and killed. Humans will show us no mercy."

Sarah was struck by how similar this speech was to ones he'd given her.

"Good luck," she found herself saying, for the kid looked very nervous. She suddenly gave him a hug.

"Thanks!" he said. His smile was perfect, his teeth human, his eyes sky blue.

Lupin let out the breath he'd been holding. "Tough test. Rex, you passed brilliantly. All right, if you can stay human even through that, I feel a lot better about taking you out into human territory."

Rex's grin got even wider and prouder.

Lupin picked up his empty suitcase. "Let's go find Greyback for any last-minute supply requests, and Whitefang to let us through the wards." They left.

Sarah hoped they'd be back safe soon. Because she needed conditioner. How shallow could she be? No, she hoped they'd both grow fangs in the middle of a crowded wizarding shop and be rounded up by the Werewolf Capture Unit. Then unmanageable hair would be the least of her worries. But the pack would be considerably worse off without its resident human-impersonation expert.

She tried to read a book, but couldn't concentrate.

—-

Lupin finally returned that evening. He opened his suitcase and took out a shopping bag that was larger than the suitcase.

"Welcome to my nightmare," he said, grinning. He put the shopping bag in front of her. She looked inside. It held a small portable tape player with headphones, several packs of batteries, and some cassette tapes. There was Alice Cooper, looking at her askance from behind his long hair, welcoming her to his nightmare.

"I apologize for doubting you, Miss Briarcliff. You were quite right. The store clerk recommended some other tapes as well. I told him that I had been made fun of recently for my ignorance of contemporary music, Alice Cooper in particular, and asked for help getting up to date."

She rushed to look through all the tapes.

"I got your conditioner too, and that other stuff you needed. I'll put that in the bathroom." He pulled another bag from his suitcase and took it there.

The record store employee had good taste. There was music she loved, and one folky-looking thing she'd never heard of. She stuck the Alice Cooper tape in the player. She put on the headphones, which probably sounded better than the tape player's little speakers. It worked! Welcome to my nightmare…

She eventually became aware that her captor was looking at her, and smiling. Damn he was creepy. She stopped the tape and took off the headphones. "What?" she asked.

"I'm just glad you like it," he said. "I'm glad… you still have a capacity for joy, even in a situation like this. There were these muggle girls in the record store, you could have been one of them, you should have been one of them, but I can't… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This is a pathetic gift." He retreated to the tiny area of the tent that served as a kitchen. "Did you find enough for lunch? Sorry, this isn't really set up for cooking without a wand."

"It was fine. Thanks for transfiguring that can opener. It works."

"I bought fresh stuff for dinner. Salad, salmon, potatoes, strawberries for dessert. I hope you like it."

"Sounds great." She watched him busy himself preparing dinner. "I don't mean to hog the music," she said. "I could play it through the speakers."

He blinked at her in confusion for a moment. "Oh! I thought you were. I could hear it just fine." Of course he could. "You were absolutely right, music is missing from this camp, and that's a serious deficiency. It's an essential part of human culture I should be teaching. I have a favor to ask. May I borrow your tapes and tape player to play for my class?"

Borrow? "But they're yours. You bought them."

"I bought them for you, with money my packmates stole from humans. They're certainly not mine. I wouldn't use them without your permission. But, I do want my students to hear human music. Could they really grow up to hunt and eat a people whose music they enjoy?"

Did even this make Sarah complicit? Was this the slippery slope? It would be easier on her if he just took them. "Go ahead, borrow them," she said.

"Thank you." His smile looked as genuine as a smile could be.

—-

Thank goodness she woke up in time to get to the little bathroom without staining the sheets, or the worn old t-shirt he'd given her to use as a nightgown. He'd bought exactly what she'd asked for. If she got pregnant, that would be nine months without this hassle, which would be a convenience, right? Ha.

She crept back to bed as silently as she could.

Moonlight glowed through the fabric walls, softly illuminating her captor. At least he didn't snore. He slept in complete silence. She couldn't even hear him breathing. She could see him breathing, though. He was probably dreaming now, according to something she'd read in Psych 101 about a physiological sign that a man was dreaming, and he had just a thin sheet over him, so she could see the outline of this physiological indicator perfectly well. It did not indicate what kind of dream he was having. She knew that.

He suddenly jerked awake, bolted upright, and opened his mouth as if to scream, but no sound came out. Then he sat there, shaking and looking frantically around the room until his eyes locked with hers. He started. She saw him mouth what was probably the familiar word "sorry," but heard nothing.

He turned away from her and sat hunched over in a ball for a while, arms wrapped around his knees, shaking. He eventually got out of bed, and sat in one of the chairs. His pajamas were dark with sweat in spots. "Sorry," he repeated, audibly this time. "I didn't mean to wake you up. I don't usually. I can put up a stronger silencing spell if this one's wearing out." He gestured towards the rumpled bedding on the floor that comprised his bed.

"No, I didn't hear anything. I was awake already."

He nodded sympathetically. "The rest hardly seems worth the nightmares, does it? I'm going to read for a bit before I try again, that often helps. I won't need any more light than this, but if you'd like to join me, I could cast enough for you to read as well."

"Oh. No thanks. I think I'll try to just go straight back to sleep."

He nodded and said "Good luck," as if she were embarking on some desperate mission, then browsed his library.

"Why did you put a silencing spell around your bed?"

"There's no need for my nightmares to disturb your sleep."

"Does the silencing go both ways?"

"No, I wouldn't want to limit my hearing like that. If there's a commotion outside, I want to know about it. The silencing spell on the walls of this tent is one-way for that reason. And… I'm sorry, this is going to sound weird, but I've been having fewer nightmares since you've been here. There's something soothing about hearing a human breathing. It reminds me of my old dorm room. I can almost imagine I'm back in Gryffindor Tower, with my friends around me. Those were seven good years. The nightmares have been worse since I've been on my own."

"What?"

"Sorry, you wouldn't have heard of Gryffindor Tower. At my old school, Hogwarts, the students are sorted into four houses according to their talents. Each house has its own dormitories and common room, I was sorted into Gryffindor, the house of bravery. I made great friends there."

"But I thought you were locked in a shack."

"Oh. Well, that too of course, but only for full moons. You didn't believe that story I told my students, did you? Well, it was true in a way, but there are different ways to tell it. Dumbledore convinced my parents to let me go to school like a human child. I'll forever be grateful for the opportunity to get an education, and of course for the friends I made there."

"You said Dumbledore wanted to keep you as a pet. He wanted to flaunt his ability to tame a Dark creature. He locked you in a shack to break your will."

He stared at her. "You believed me?"

"You're covered in scars! You said being imprisoned by Dumbledore drove you to attack yourself. The story makes sense."

"Well, it had to, for Greyback to believe it."

"So, what, you're telling me your scars are fake?"

"No. My scars are real. Most of them are from me attacking myself during full moons. Mostly from when I was locked in that shack at school, yes. But, I mean, it wasn't actually that bad."

"How could it not be that bad?"

"It just wasn't."

"You're usually a better liar than this."

He shrugged. "Maybe that's because I'm not lying. I was glad I was allowed in school."

"And your father didn't really come home from work every day bragging about how many werewolves he'd killed?"

"Not every day, no. He does other Dark creatures too. Boggarts, doxies, hinkypunks… He's quite a good exterminator. People call him about all sorts of creatures, many of which aren't even really harmful, but are just nuisances. He doesn't always kill them, some he just relocates. This rich family wanted him to remove a thestral from their estate, and those aren't really that dangerous, they're just creepy-looking to some people. Sure they're carnivores, but they're mostly just scavengers. My dad took her home to keep as a pet. He let me name her. I called her Betty, because I thought her wings looked batty. It seems silly now, but the name stuck. She let me ride her. I fed her. Thestrals would be expensive for most people to keep, but my dad always had lots of meat for her from work. She never so much as nipped me, even though I smelled like the werewolf meat she often ate. Such a sweetheart. I had quite a nice childhood, really."

He walked away from the bookcase and back to his tangled nest of sheets and blankets on the floor. He set about straightening them. "Thank you, Miss Briarcliff. These are the perfect thoughts to calm me back down to sleep. I'll imagine brushing out Betty's mane and polishing her scales, She especially likes the livers of Dark creatures, so she'd do this cute little prance whenever I fed her one. That's got to keep the nightmares at bay. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Sure, these thoughts would keep his nightmares away.

—-

"Today is the day you've all been waiting for!" Lupin cheerfully proclaimed to the class. "Election Day! Now we choose who will be our librarian." He held up the ledger in which he recorded the library's records. "I've been thinking about this. Even if I do come back, I'll be happy to have someone else take over librarian duties." He set the ledger down on a log. "As of today, someone else will take charge of this ledger."

"You'll definitely come back," said Rex.

"Rex, I told you to raise your hand and wait to be called on before speaking," said Lupin sternly.

Rex stuck his hand up and resumed speaking at Lupin's nod. "I spoke to Lord Greyback. He says I can come to the attack tonight too. I'll be right beside you the whole time. I won't let any humans hurt you."

Lupin looked pale. "You? Coming tonight?"

"Lord Greyback said I could!" said Rex proudly. "He says he can use all the fighters he has."

"You're not a fighter. You're a child."

"I'm seventeen, I think. Probably about seventeen. How old were you when you killed your first human?"

"Eighteen. Almost two years ago."

"Tell us the story!"

"That's not relevant."

"Tell us! Tell us!" the kids shouted. Lupin wasn't in control of his class anymore.

He spoke hurriedly. "Dumbledore needed one of his enemies killed, so he used me. He has quite the flair for the dramatic, and a werewolf makes for an impressive murder weapon. This has nothing to do with you, Rex."

"I'm going to fight right by your side, Professor. I'm going to be just like you."

"I thought you were going to be a librarian just like me."

"That too."

"No. No. You can't run for librarian this morning if you're going to charge off to battle this evening."

"Why not?"

"Because we could both die tonight, Rex. Someone has to carry on the work I've started here. We can't risk leaving the library without a librarian."

Rex thought. Then he picked up the ledger, walked over to Angelique and handed it to her with a smile. "You ran a good campaign," he said. "Plus you actually have time to do the job. I'll be busy."

Angelique, wearing a big grin, took the ledger. "I won! I'm a librarian now!"

"Congratulations, Angelique," said Lupin. Then he addressed the class. "As Angelique is running unopposed, she wins by default. I'm sure she'll do an excellent job. So, as we no longer have any reason to hold an election, let's cut straight to the victory party and all congratulate our new librarian!" He nodded to Sarah, who turned on the music. Lupin set some fizzy drinks, crisps, biscuits, and Turkish delight out on a magically-flattened log.

The children attacked the snacks like, well, a pack of wolves.

Lupin sat on the same log as Sarah and they watched the children together.

"They seem rowdier than usual," said Sarah.

"Full moon tonight," explained Lupin. "Their wolves are coming to the surface. I know better than to try to teach them anything new on these days. It's challenging enough to maintain our current levels of humanity. I always find some excuse to have a party instead of a lesson. It's more practice of course, as I expect them to appear human during the party. I don't bother teaching magic class at all."

Sarah looked over at Lupin, with his short-bitten nails and worried brown eyes. "Your disguise is holding."

Those brown eyes flicked to her, and she was treated to his modest smile. "Thank you. I've had a lot of practice." They sat and watched some more. "All parties must come to an end." When a song ended, he pressed the stop and eject buttons on the tape player, put in a different tape, and pressed play. The music was not the cheerful pop she had selected for this party, but folk, voices harmonizing sweetly.

Of all the money that e'er I had
I spent it in good company
And all the harm I've ever done
Alas it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To mem'ry now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be to you all

Of all the comrades that e'er I had
They're sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They'd wish me one more day to stay
But since it fell unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be to you all

A man may drink and not be drunk
A man may fight and not be slain
A man may court a pretty girl
And perhaps be welcomed back again
A man may fight both foe and friend

Yet recognize his time to fall
Come fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all

The song had been sung at Sarah's grandfather's funeral. Her eyes welled with unexpected tears.

As the song played, Lupin got up, poured the last of a fizzy soft drink into one of the transfigured-leaf cups, and approached Rex. After a brief discussion, Lupin drew his wand and transfigured both their cups into proper pint glasses. He then clinked glasses with Rex, who looked thrilled at this gesture of respect from his teacher. They both drank. The song ended. That was the end of the tape.

"Greyback's coming!" called a kid. Everyone dropped to the ground, although taking care to set down their cups without spilling them.

"You may rise," said Greyback magnanimously. "As you were." He sniffed around the party until he got to Sarah. Lupin quickly joined them.

"Your bitch smells like blood," said Greyback.

"Yes, my lord," said Lupin.

"You haven't got her pregnant yet."

"It can take a few tries. Oh, that reminds me. I was planning to put some protective spells around my tent to keep the non-combatant werewolves out while the rest of us are attacking the town, to protect my human."

"I'm impressed you've kept her alive this long."

"Thank you my lord. She was a very thoughtful gift, and I like to take good care of my property. I'm getting a lot of use out of her. Anyway, I'm concerned that having her in camp tonight would be stressful to the pack, as they'd be frustrated to smell her without being able to bite her. I think it would be better to stash her outside the camp. I could wall her into a cave some distance away, so the smell of her wouldn't be so tantalizing to the wolves in camp. I know of one not far from here. I discovered it when I was searching for this pack. She'd be too weak to dig her way out of course. I could come back and get her later. Or, should I fall in battle, someone else could get her, so she doesn't go to waste."

"That's very considerate of you, Lupin."

"Thank you my lord. So, you approve of this plan?"

"Sure. I'll tell Whitefang to let you and your human through the wards this afternoon, before we mobilize to attack. Just show him where you're stashing your human so he can retrieve her later if necessary, and he'll walk you back."

"Thank you my lord. I'll go pack some supplies for her."

Acting, acting, acting… Lupin just negotiated a plan to get them both safely out of the camp, beyond the wards, before the battle. They'd then have only one werewolf to escape, and then they'd both be free. She should not look too excited.

Greyback strode off. Lupin waved his wand to vanish empty bottles and snack packaging, and let the cups and two pint glasses flatten into leaves again. He gave no hint that he was feeling anything other than resignation to his own imminent death. Sarah, trying not to let her hands shake, packed the tape player and tapes into their paper bag.

"That concludes this month's classes," proclaimed Lupin. "There is no magic class this afternoon of course. I wish you the best of luck for tonight. I hope to see you all tomorrow. Either way, Angelique, I leave the library in your very capable hands."

The kids wished their professor good luck as well, then dispersed.

Sarah forced herself to seem calm until she and Lupin walked back and entered his tent. Then her enthusiasm burst out of her. "Mr. Lupin, you're brilliant!"

"I don't know about that, Miss Briarcliff," he said with his modest smile. "I'd rather come up with these ideas at more convenient times, but something about the opportunity to deceive an authority figure brings out the creativity in me. I just had to stop thinking of you as a liability, and realize that you gave me the perfect excuse to get outside the wards before the battle."

"I could kiss you!"

"Why? You don't even know why I so desperately needed to get outside the wards."

"What? It's obvious, isn't it? To us, I mean, not to Greyback. Once we're out, we can both escape before the battle! You don't have to fight at all, and I'll be free!"

He was staring at her. "You thought… Oh. Of course you did." His smile collapsed.

"I mean, there's still one werewolf in our way, Whitefang, but you could, what do you call it, apparate us both somewhere safe, just leave him behind, right? He'll be surprised, he shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"Miss Briarcliff. I can see how you would come to that conclusion with the information you have, but that actually wasn't my plan."

"So what is your plan?"

"I will take you outside the wards, and wall you into a cave. If all goes well, I should be back to get you a few days afterwards, to take you back to camp. I'll pack food and water for you of course, and you may bring some books and your tape player if you like, and I'll make a magical reading light for you. And you'll have some bedding, and the self-scourgifying bucket. It won't be all that bad." He busied himself around the tent gathering these things.

She waited, but that was apparently it. "So you were telling Greyback the truth?"

"Well. Not all of it. The only problem…" He thought for a while. "You might have trouble falling asleep in an unfamiliar cave, so here's what I'll do. As soon as I take you to the cave, I'll set up a bed for you, and magically knock you unconscious so you're not even bothered by the fact that you're alone in a dark cave. You'll wake up in the morning, uncover the light I set up for you, have breakfast, read a book, listen to some music, have a not really terrible time until I come back for you."

"But…" Words failed her.

"Please believe me, there's a very good reason for this. There are things you don't know. I can't tell anyone who hasn't been trained in occlumency. New vocabulary word for you, the art of preventing mind-reading. I don't know if Whitefang is a legilimens or not, but I can't risk it. Don't let him look in your eyes, although a really skilled legilimens doesn't even need to do that."

Whitefang might be able to read her mind? Fuck. Of course she couldn't go skipping merrily out of the camp, but apparently she couldn't even think about their escape plan. Ok. She could do this. She practiced filling her head with music. Anyone listening in on her thoughts would hear nothing but The Parting Glass.

Lupin had her choose some books to keep her entertained for days in a cave. She tried to take this seriously. She chose some muggle books, some wizarding.

Lupin packed her supplies into his suitcase, labeled Professor R. J. Lupin, which really wasn't big enough to contain everything, but somehow did with room to spare.

Soon enough, a harsh voice at the door shouted, "Lupin, you ready?"

"Yes, thank you so much for coming," said Lupin, opening the door of their tent and stepping out, carrying the suitcase. Sarah followed him, looking at her shoes. Of all the money that e'er I had, I spent it in good company.

Whitefang sniffed. "Can't have that smell in camp tonight," he said. "Your tent would be shredded by morning. Come on. You, human, walk in front where I can see you."

"I don't know where we're going," Sarah said to her shoes. And all the harm I've ever done, Alas it was to none but me.

"I'll walk with you," said Lupin, falling into step beside her and taking hold of her arm. And all I've done for want of wit, To mem'ry now I can't recall.

They walked through the camp. So fill to me the parting glass, Good night and joy be to you all.

Whitefang waved his wand, and Lupin led them through an unremarkable-seeming patch of woods. This was it. She was free of the wards, and guarded by only two werewolves. If she was going to escape, this would be her best opportunity.

She glanced at her captor, walking beside her. He looked human, in his cartoon supervillain way. Whitefang was older and less muscular, but more wolfish, and walked with his wand pointed at her like a loaded gun. Her best opportunity to escape was still pretty bad.

"Here's the cave," Lupin said. "It will take me a few minutes to make it habitable for her. Humans are delicate."

"Don't take too long," grumbled Whitefang. "We have a lot to do before tonight."

"I know."

Whitefang seemed content to stay outside the cave as Lupin said lumos and led her in by wandlight. He cast his familiar silence spell around them,

"You should be safe here." She would not be safe from cold, damp, or darkness. "This light is enough for you to read by, right?" He had filled an empty marmalade jar with flames, which burned on seemingly no fuel.

She nodded dully. This couldn't really be the plan, could it? Lupin just hadn't told her the real plan, for fear that Whitefang would read it from her mind. "But… we can escape now. Right? You can apparate us away."

"And undo all I've accomplished since I found this pack," he said bitterly. "I can't let you escape. That would destroy Greyback's trust in me." Lupin set the marmalade jar full of flames on a rock and stared at it. "This fire should last indefinitely. It's powered by my magic. Well, it should last until I die, so indefinitely only from my point of view. Objectively, not long at all, really. So. I guess that's how you'll know. If it suddenly goes completely dark in here." The shivering flames cast strange shadows on his face. "I'm sorry. I couldn't think of a way." The firelight gleamed off tears welling in his eyes. He suddenly looked down to search his pockets, drawing out a grey sphere the size of a pea. "If that flame goes out, you'll be alone in werewolf territory. There's no point trying to escape, they'll track you down, and you know what they'll do to you. This is a suicide pill. Crack it between your teeth, and death should be instantaneous. If you prefer. It's up to you of course. I thought I'd offer."

Sarah stared at the pill in his calloused hand. What did he care what happened after his death? Was this another lie? Was this truly something that could kill him if she somehow managed to trick it between his teeth rather than hers? Her hand shook with anger as she reached for the pill.

His hand was shaking too. He abruptly closed it into a fist before she reached it. "Fuck, I can't do this. I'm a Dark creature. Dumbledore tried to teach me right from wrong, but it was hopeless. I've got no moral sense. I can't act for the greater good. Change of plan. I'll take you somewhere else, someplace much more comfortable than this, but not as secure. You could escape. If I survive the battle, and I don't bring you back, the pack will know something's wrong. They'll know I let you escape, and then my whole mission's screwed. I need your promise that you won't try to escape. If I'm still alive in the morning, you'll come back to the pack with me. Please."

Sarah looked at the hypocritical werewolf. This was her chance. "I promise I won't try to escape," she said. Acting. She'd show him acting. She'd kill him by escaping, proving to Greyback that he hadn't kept her properly imprisoned.

"Sorry, as you haven't apparated before, you'll get quite motion-sick. Hold on." He held her arm. It didn't seem necessary for her to hold him, as he was gripping her so tightly. "Dumbledore won't be happy about this," he remarked. Suddenly the cave disappeared and she was whirling through empty space.

Just as suddenly, she was throwing up on the wood floor of a large and richly-furnished room. Two young men jumped up from the chess game they'd been playing. The chess pieces jumped as well, and yelled at the players for abandoning their game.

"Sorry," said Lupin. "Scourgify," he added, waving his wand at the vomit, which disappeared.

She felt rather conspicuous, suddenly throwing up on these strangers' floor, but the two young men ignored her.

"Remus!" exclaimed one of the chess-players, the one with long black hair. He charged and attacked Lupin with such a vigorous hug, he was nearly knocked off his feet. "Thank Merlin you're alive! It's been months, we've been so worried—"

"I missed you too," said Lupin quietly as he hugged back.

"Sirius, let the poor man breathe," said the other man, the one with glasses and shorter, messier black hair. "It would be pretty ironic for the hero to survive months in a werewolf pack, then get strangled by his best friend on his homecoming."

The long-haired man reluctantly let go of Lupin, who was immediately tackled by the short-haired man. "Remus you bastard! You had us worried sick! Couldn't you have sent a Patronus?"

"Sorry, I couldn't risk a Patronus being seen by the wrong person. Um. James? Don't make me use my werewolf strength to break out of this hug."

The short-haired man reluctantly let go.

"Speaking of which, it looks like the feral life suits you," remarked the long-haired man. "The werewolf workout: next fitness craze!"

"I had to do this to be taken seriously in the pack," Lupin said, embarrassed. "Werewolves take great stock in physical strength."

"Nah, you obviously developed these muscles just to attract chicks," he replied. "And look, it worked. Who's your nauseated friend?"

"Remus?" called a female voice from outside the room. Then a red-haired young woman rushed in as fast as a pregnant woman could rush. "Remus, thank God you're alive!" He was engulfed in yet another hug, at least a gentler one this time.

"Lily! I see that congratulations are in order," he said, holding her at arms length and looking at her bulging belly. "I've been away for so long, I didn't even know. When's the baby due?"

She glared at him with emerald green eyes. "What do you mean? Are you saying I'm so fat I look pregnant?"

Lupin suddenly looked terrified. "No! No, of course not."

She laughed. "I'm just messing with you, Remus. You're the only one I hadn't done that to yet. Your reaction almost made the wait worthwhile. Of course you're right. The baby's supposedly due August first, but you know how I feel about divination. Can you stay for dinner? Moonrise isn't for a few hours, is it?"

"Sorry, I have barely any time. I have to go back, but I had to warn you first. We're attacking Hogsmeade tonight."

"Surely you mean 'they,' not 'we,'" said the woman.

Lupin shook his head. "My absence would be noticed. I'm quite prominent in the pack. I'm nearly Greyback's righthand man. Well, righthand werewolf. Look, he even gave me this muggle as a reward for my services. Sarah Briarcliff, these are my friends, Lily and James Potter, and Sirius Black."

"Gave you?" gasped Lily.

"Like, for a Dark Revel?" said Sirius, looking pale.

"A what?" asked Lupin.

"They're. Um. They must just be a Death Eater thing. Never mind."

"Anyway, Sarah's been enormously helpful in keeping up this ruse. She can tell you more about that if she likes. I just brought her here to keep her safe and comfortable tonight. Greyback thinks she's in a dank cave. Dumbledore's going to be furious. He gave me very strict orders not to endanger the overall mission by rescuing any individuals. The mission's more important. But…"

"What's Dumbledore going to do, fire you?" laughed Sirius. "When it comes to werewolves fighting for the Light, you've got a monopoly. He hasn't even fired me, and I show up to a lot of missions drunk."

"He can use all the cannon fodder he can get," said Lily.

"Cannon fodder?" repeated Sirius. "That's another muggle expression, isn't it? That's a good one."

"You should be negotiating for better working conditions," added James.

"Or he should at least be paying you," added Lily.

Lupin shook his head. "The mission's the only important thing. I'll pick her up some time after moonrise, assuming I survive tonight's attack. If I don't, return Miss Briarcliff to her home of course."

"But surely you're not actually fighting on their side!" protested James.

"I have to be seen attacking humans tonight, or at least being attacked by them, or my cover is blown. Dumbledore's instructions were very clear on this point."

Sarah felt faint.

"I've got to go," said Lupin. "Many of the werewolves can't apparate, so I'll be side-along apparating them to the Forbidden Forest. We'll transform there, then attack the village. You three have got to get the message out, with no hint that it came from me."

"Of course," said Lily. "But how should we say we know?"

"Tell Dumbledore to tell everyone that the centaurs or someone prophesied that Hogsmeade will be attacked at moonrise tonight. Tell Madam Pomfrey to check the Shrieking Shack after moonset. It's a familiar place, so hopefully I'll have the instinct to drag myself there once I get so badly injured that I can't fight anymore. Which had better happen quickly." He gave James a significant look as he said this.

"Oh Merlin, Remus," said James. "You're asking me to..."

"Target me specifically, yes. Seeing me fall in battle will convince any suspicious werewolves that I'm definitely not a spy, and if I survive, I'll be even more trusted. As long as you're targeting specific werewolves, there's one who's particularly suspicious of me. He thinks I act too human to be truly loyal to the werewolf , light-colored male, fur's more white than grey. Scar on his left shoulder. But attack me first."

"But Remus, there's no way I can be certain I'll injure you just badly enough to incapacitate you, but not badly enough to kill you."

"The issue might not even come up if an Auror or other Order member gets to me first. I'll just be dead. That's still preferable to me actually biting a human when I'm in wolf form. Anyway, I see this information is in good hands. I have to get back before I'm missed. Good luck." He vanished with a crack.

Sirius reached his hand into the space where Lupin had been a moment before. He stood there, frozen, as Lily rushed past him to the large fireplace. She took a pinch of powder from a jar on the mantelpiece. When she threw the powder into the fire, the flames turned green. "Hogwarts Headmaster's Office!" she said. Then she stuck her head into the flames. "Professor Dumbledore?" she called. "I hate to bother you, but I wanted to ask your opinion about decorating the nursery. You have such a good eye for color. Do you have a minute?"

From the fire, a merry voice said, "I'm flattered that you would seek my opinion, Mrs. Potter. I'll step right through."

"Thank you," she said. She stepped back.

A proper wizard stepped out of the fireplace in a swirl of green flames. He had a long white beard, a pointy hat, long purple robes embroidered with stars, the works.

They watched as the flames faded from green back to orange. "Pink and blue are so cliche…" said Lily. When the last hint of green was gone her tone changed completely. "Remus says Greyback's pack is attacking Hogsmeade at moonrise tonight," she said in a rush. "We have to warn everyone so they can evacuate, but we can't let anyone know where the information came from. Remus's idea is that we could say the centaurs prophesied the attack."

The old wizard thought for a moment. "The centaurs would not appreciate entanglement in our affairs. I know! I've just hired a new Divination teacher, Sybill Trelawney. I'll tell her she revealed the information in a prophetic trance she doesn't remember."

"Brilliant!" said Lily. "She'll be glad to take credit for an accurate prophecy. It's a win-win. And tell Madam Pomfrey to check the Shrieking Shack after moonset. Remus will hopefully have an instinct to drag himself to a familiar place if he's injured."

"Anything else?"

"He said to target a tall light werewolf with a scar on his left shoulder who's been suspicious of him. And also Remus wants to be targeted. He'd rather be badly injured or die than bite a human."

"I'm afraid Mr. Lupin's personal preferences cannot be the sole determinant of our choices. We desperately need a spy amongst the werewolves, and he is our only possibility. He must survive this battle and resume his place in the pack. Now I must return to make preparations. You three, send patronuses to everyone you know, spreading the news of Trelawney's prophecy. Warn non-combatants to evacuate Hogsmeade. Rally fighters to come, riding brooms, hippogriffs, or whatever other means they have to attack from the air. Sirius and James, I will expect you in Hogsmeade before moonrise. Lily, I would normally expect you to lead the charge, but not, of course, in your current condition."

"I know, it wouldn't do to endanger the Potter heir," she said, rolling her eyes. "I swear, I'm going to invent a spell to get James pregnant with the next one."

"If anyone could do it, you could," said Dumbledore with a twinkle in his blue eyes.

Those smiling blue eyes next focused on Sarah. "We have not yet been introduced," he said pleasantly.

"Professor Dumbledore, this is Sarah Briarcliff," said Lily. "She's a muggle. Greyback gave her to Remus as a reward for his good work. She's been helping him give the impression that he's loyal to Greyback. He dropped her off here to keep her safe tonight."

"Nice to meet you," said Sarah as if she were demonstrating human behavior to Lupin's students.

"Likewise." Those blue eyes twinkled at her, and suddenly she found herself mentally running through her plan to kill Lupin by telling Greyback he was a spy.

Dumbledore broke eye contact, and Sarah nearly fell over. James caught her and gently lowered her to a couch. "I'm sorry, we're not being good hosts. Living with feral werewolves must be exhausting for a human. Oh, Miffy!" he called.

With a pop, a bizarre creature suddenly materialized. It was half her height, but with a larger head that was mostly bright green eyes and huge furry ears.

"Miffy, please tend to Miss Briarcliff, our guest. Fetch her tea or whatever she likes, and prepare a guest bedroom, as she'll be staying the night."

"Yes, Master Potter," said the little creature.

"Wait," said Lily. "Before you do that, fetch a couple of doses of sober-up potion for James and Sirius. I have a lot to do tonight, and I'll need them sober."

"Mistress Potter shouldn't exert herself in her condition!"

"Your objection is noted," said Lily dryly.

"Hey," protested Sirius. "I only had two, maybe three—"

"Just drink it," said Lily. Miffy had popped out of and back into existence, and was holding a bottle and two small glasses. The creature served an apparently awful-tasting beverage to both men, then took the cups back and vanished again.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Briarcliff," said Dumbledore. "I regret that I do not have time now for a more thorough meeting of the minds. Lily, please do not allow Miss Briarcliff out of Potter Manor until we develop a plan for her. We cannot leave our secrets in a mind unprotected by occlumency."

Lily nodded.

"Oh, and red and gold are perfect colors for a nursery." Dumbledore took a pinch of powder from the jar and threw it into the fire. When the flames turned green, he stepped in, declared "Hogwarts Headmaster's Office," and vanished in a swirl of green fire.

Lily drew her wand from the sleeve of her beautiful green gown. "Expecto Patronum!" A graceful silver doe stepped from her wand, illuminating the room with a brilliant silver light. "Alastor Moody, I have an important message from Professor Dumbledore. His new Divination professor, Sybill Trelawney, is a seer, who prophesied that Hogsmeade will be attacked by werewolves tonight. Hogsmeade must be evacuated. Aurors and other fighters must attack from the air. Coordinate with the Werewolf Capture Unit." The silver doe galloped off into nothingness.

Lily turned to the two men. "Go on, get to work."

Sirius was still staring at the place from which Lupin had vanished. "We didn't get a chance to say goodbye," he said, his voice breaking. "This might be it. What if… He has to come back right now so I can say goodbye properly!"

James put his hand on Sirius's shoulder. "He'll be fine. He has to. He's the bravest Gryffindor I've ever known."

"Brave and safe are two different things," said Sirius.

"That reminds me," said Lily. "Should we tell Peter?"

James burst into tense laughter. "That was a good one. Why? Battles aren't really his thing."

"It might be rude to make him feel left out."

"We should warn him to stay away at least."

"Yeah. Expecto Patronum!" The silver doe appeared again. "Peter, there's a prophecy that werewolves are going to attack Hogsmeade tonight, so you'll want to stay safely away of course. Warn everyone you know in Hogsmeade." The silver doe cantered away. "I don't know how that boy was sorted into Gryffindor," she remarked.

"Too stupid for Ravenclaw," said James with a false cheeriness. Both he and Lily were looking anxiously at Sirius, who seemed on the verge of tears.

"Too lazy for Hufflepuff," added Lily with the same false cheer. She nudged Sirius's shoulder. "Remus will be fine. I know he will."

Sirius made an effort to get his emotions under control. "Not ambitious enough for Slytherin," he finally contributed.

James and Lily laughed loudly.

"Now get to work," said Lily.

"I can't believe you expect me to cast a fucking Patronus charm right now," said Sirius. "How am I supposed to think of something happy?"

"Think of when your parents disowned you," suggested James.

"Yeah, that's a good one," said Sirius, seemingly sincere. He took a deep breath. "Expecto Patronum!" A shaggy silver dog the size of a bear gallumphed out of his wand. "Madam Rosmerta, Dumbledore just told me there's a prophecy that Hogsmeade will be attacked by werewolves tonight! Spread the news. Tell all non-combatants to evacuate, and fighters to fight from the air. Please stay safe." He sent the huge shaggy dog gallumphing off into nothingness.

Everyone stared at Sirius. "What?" he asked indignantly.

"Your first thought is Madam Rosmerta?" said Lily.

"She knows everyone. She can tell everyone in her pub. We should warn everyone with a business there, so they can tell all their customers. Once they evacuate, all those werewolves will just be running around in a ghost town. We'll turn the town into a trap, no one there but werewolves, MLE, and the Order."

"That's a good idea!" said Lily. She ran and grabbed a slim newspaper that seemed to be mostly ads. "Just about everyone there advertises in the Hogsmeade Gazette." She took the paper apart, handing part to James and part to Sirius.

When James waved his wand and said "Expecto Patronum," a glowing silver stag appeared, its antlers sparkling like ice crystals. "Madam Puddifoot…"

Sarah felt useless in this room of two wizards, one witch, and three glowing silver animals, so she was glad when the odd little huge-eyed servant appeared to offer her tea. Drinking it gave her something to do.

Finally, the three had apparently sent the message to everyone they could think of. "You two should eat a light dinner before you go," said Lily. "And take some Pepper-Up potion. You'll need your strength, fighting all night."

"It should be over faster than that," said James. "One werewolf pack against the combined aerial forces of the Aurors, the Werewolf Capture Unit, and the Order, when we've had warning and time to prepare? It'll be a massacre."

Sirius took a shaky breath.

"Except for Remus of course," James assured him.

"Miffy, we're ready for dinner," called Lily. "No wine." By the time they walked through the luxurious manor to the dining room, Miffy was just putting the finishing touches on the table.

The food was extraordinary, but the conversation wasn't appetizing. "We'll start off in the air of course," said James. "Then as soon as we find and incapacitate Remus, we take him to the Shrieking Shack. I'm not going to count on his ability to drag himself there. We lock him in, then get back in the air."

"Should I ride my broom or my motorbike, you think?" asked Sirius.

"This isn't just an Order mission," said Lily. "Aurors should be there too, so it might not be the best time to flaunt an illegal vehicle."

"I suppose you're right," said Sirius. "Shouldn't we be attacking them now? They must be gathering in the Forbidden Forest already."

"Even in their human forms, they can hide amongst trees much better than we can, and flying in a dense forest is asking for trouble," said James. "I don't want to knock myself out on a tree before the battle even starts. That would be embarrassing. Once they're transformed, though, they can't fly, can't cast spells, can't apparate, not really used to a town, they're sitting ducks as long as we stay in the air. It doesn't seem sporting."

"Moonrise in half an hour," said Lily.

"Let's go," said Sirius, who hadn't eaten much. The men got up and left to get a couple of brooms. Lily got a couple of pouches.

"I wish I were going with you," said Lily. "All I can do is prepare you. Here are some potions." She handed them the pouches, which they tucked in the pockets of their black robes. "Don't try to apparate if you get injured! Here, take portkeys. They'll take you back here." She took a couple of bedraggled-looking feathers from a vase on the mantelpiece and handed them to James and Sirius, who pocketed them. "The activation phrase is Love Nest."

James also grabbed a black case, which fit in a huge pocket of his robe. "We'll see how these work in a real battle."

"I don't know, James," said Sirius. "They just don't seem practical."

"When did you develop an interest in practicality, Sirius? You're just jealous. I probably won't have an opportunity to use them of course, as we should be fighting from the air the whole time."

"Kiss for luck!" said Lily. She gave James a long kiss.

"I am a very lucky man," said James when she finally broke the kiss.

"Don't you forget it," said Lily.

"Hey!" said Sirius. "Doesn't this tasty dish of cannon fodder get a hero's farewell too? I might be flying to my death here." Sirius looked at Sarah with big grey puppy dog eyes, then turned his profile to her and tapped his cheek expectantly. He really was very handsome, just as Lupin had said. She took a hesitant step towards him. "Too slow," he laughed, pulling away from her and baring his perfect teeth in a wicked grin. "You snooze, you lose. You just missed what might have been your last ever chance to kiss the irreplaceable Sirius Black. Come on James. Meet you at the Shrieking Shack. Last one there's a rotten flobberworm!" He vanished with a crack. James vanished an instant later.

"Isn't anyone going to play chess tonight?" squeaked a knight on the chessboard.