A few days before Ted had to leave for Hogwarts he finally took Mark's advice and hooked up with a girl.
He woke up with his arms wrapped around Amber's curvy frame. It was definitely the best sex Ted had ever had. He wrapped a lock of her soft auburn hair around his index finger. That was strange; Ted could have sworn she had dazzling golden blonde hair. At least that was what he kept seeing every time he closed his eyes and entered her. He looked into her brilliant blue eyes every time he squeezed her perfect breasts. Every time he rubbed is palm against her clit he heard the musical sound of her moans. The sound was enough to make Ted come.
Amber opened her eyes. That was strange, her eyes were brown.
"Hey," she muttered sleepily. She had a cute voice but it was nothing like the musical sound Ted imagined last night. Feeling completely mortified, Ted realized what had happened. The entire time Ted was having sex with Amber he was picturing Victoire. He had imagined what her breasts would have felt like based on how he saw them fill out her top perfectly from the night he met her, and he even imagined what her moans would sound like based on her laughs.
Ted pulled himself away from Amber and got out of the bed.
"Where are you going?" she asked sounding more alert.
"I, um, need to get to work. I'm late," Ted glanced at the clock on his bedside table which read 9:37. "Crap! I really am late!" Ted was supposed to meet Greyback at 10 to go over his plans for Hogwarts.
"Um, you need to go, right now," said Ted as he picked up Amber's bra and shirt off the ground. He tossed them to her.
"Ok, jackass, listen here," Amber said rising from the bed. She did have a nice pair of tits Ted noted. "You can't just sleep with me and tell me I need to get out of here the second I wake up."
"Seriously my boss is going to strangle me if I'm late," Ted repressed a shudder at a memory of a time a werewolf showed up late to a headquarters meeting – Greyback seized him by the neck and shook him so hard Ted thought his eyes would pop out.
"I don't see how that's my problem," Amber said. She deliberately put her bra on as slow as she possibly could. Normally Ted would have enjoyed watching her, but it irritated him to no end today.
"Can you pick up the pace?" Ted asked crossly. Amber turned around and bent down very slowly to pick up her underwear, her firm bare ass sticking out in Ted's face. Ted tore his eyes away and hastily picked up his pants which were lying by Amber's feet. Something fluttered out of his pocket.
Amber snatched it before it fell to the floor. Her eyes grew wide with horror as she read the piece of paper.
"This is a ticket to the Hogwarts express," she hissed. "You told me you were 25!" Ted didn't know what to say.
"Oh. My. God! I just slept with a Hogwarts student!" she exclaimed, every syllable dripping with horror.
She slapped Ted hard across the face. Ted was surprised he felt it; normally a werewolf wouldn't feel a slap from a human. She pulled on her underwear and skirt faster than Ted thought possible. As she darted through the hall of Ted's apartment she pulled her shirt on.
"Good morning, sunshine," said Mark from the bathroom doorway with a stupid grin on his face as he watched her pull her shirt over her large breasts. She slammed the door behind her in response.
Ted felt lucky that his ticket fell out of his pocket at that moment. He felt guilty for being a total ass, but he couldn't afford to be late to Greyback. Maybe he could swing by WonderWitch later and apologize to Amber. Ted remembered the look in her eyes when she slapped him. Maybe it wasn't a good idea. He didn't have time to worry about it now anyway. He got ready as quickly as he could while ignoring Mark's remarks and left the apartment.
Ted's apartment was five kilometers from the werewolf headquarters. Ted wished he could run to the headquarters but his apartment was on a bustling street in London. If any muggles noticed how fast he ran it would terrify them. But muggles hardly noticed anything. Still Ted knew he couldn't take the risk.
After about three and a half kilometers Ted reached a dense forest. Here he was free to run without anyone seeing him. This forest was rumored to be filled with wolves and coyotes and terrifying howls were often heard, so hardly any muggles ventured into it. The few foolishly brave muggles who dared to enter often turned up with gruesome injuries and no recollection of how they got them. The wolves attacked the muggles and put memory charms on them when they first created the headquarters in order to keep them far away. It had been years since a muggle had entered.
Ted took off into the trees, running as fast as he could. Soon he stopped at a large thicket of trees. His eyes scanned several large trees until he found the right one.
It was an average sized oak tree and scattered amongst its several green leaves was a single blue leaf. Ted took a deep breath, wrapped his arms around the trunk of the tree, and heaved with all of his might. As the roots of the tree started to tear from their base the image of a large blurry building began to form in front of Ted. When Ted completely uprooted the tree the blurry building came into focus.
It was an old building with dirty cracking walls, but it was the great werewolf headquarters. It was the place Ted had grown up.
Ted slowly lowered the oak tree to the ground and wiped sweat from his brow. The ripped roots of the tree merged together, as if the tree had never been uprooted. Mark had turned one leaf on the tree blue. It exasperated Greyback but Mark insisted that it was impossible to remember which tree activated the spell to reveal the headquarters, because all the trees looked the same. Everyone made fun of Mark for being too dumb to remember the tree, but Ted was secretly grateful that Mark had turned a leaf blue because to Ted all the trees looked the same too.
After Ted caught his breath he walked through the unlocked doors of the headquarters. There was no way any human could have the strength to uproot the tree to make the Headquarters visible, so there was no need for a lock on the door. The tree could not be lifted with magic either. Ted closed the door behind him, which made the headquarters invisible again, until someone else with superhuman strength up-rooted the oak tree with the single blue leaf.
Ted entered the hall where Liam was instructing children on werewolf sparring techniques. It was hard because things would be so different when they were in werewolf form, their bodies twisted into a massive new shape. Liam waved to Ted as Ted passed him. Ted headed up the stairs. He passed Alistar who was in a room that acted as a makeshift classroom. Alistar was teaching a group of children some basic charms. The room was pin drop silent accept for Alistar's voice, just the way Alistar liked it. Ted was glad that those days were behind him. Then he remembered bitterly that those days were in fact ahead of him at Hogwarts.
He walked by the children's bedrooms where several mattresses were scattered on the floor. Next to each mattress was a large cardboard box which contained each child's belonging – a few pairs of clothing and whatever Knick knacks the children had managed to find or steal over the years. If any child acquired more than what the child was able to fit in his or her box Alistar would make them throw things away, because the headquarters was an important location and he didn't want it to get cluttered with junk. Liam kept some of the children's extra belongings in his room for the children. Alistar scoffed at him for coddling the kids and said he was wasting the space in his room for the silly junk. Liam ignored Alistar.
Ted reached the attic where he was meeting Greyback. The attic was where the werewolves gathered to discuss business. It was off limits to the children.
He knocked on the door.
"Enter," came Greyback's raspy voice. Ted timidly pushed the door open. Greyback was sitting on a tall chair covered with velvet cushions. Pendergrass stood on his left side. Ted entered the room and bowed at Pendergrass and Greyback's feet in turn.
"Master," Ted said as he bowed.
"Hello Mr. Lupin," Greyback said in his cold voice. Ted cringed at the name. He hated the surname of his father, who abandoned him because he believed he was a monster. "Are you ready for your mission?"
"Yes master. I will do anything for the werewolves. Including living amongst vile Wizards," Ted answered.
"This is a very important mission, one you absolutely cannot fail at," said Greyback, completely ignoring Ted's statement. "In fact, if you do fail, you might as well live with the vile Wizards forever, because you will not be welcome back to these headquarters." Ted's breath caught.
"No need to worry, because I have full faith that you will succeed. After the Battle of Hogwarts against The Dark Lord, much of the school was rebuilt. Due to the school's magical properties new secret passages simply appeared throughout the castle. Your job is to find these passages and communicate their location to us. Then, on the next full moon, the werewolves will infiltrate the castle and bite as many children and take back as many children as we can.
"You will communicate with us once every month during the monthly Hogsmeade visits students participate in. The first one is in October. I will send a member of the werewolves to meet you in the basement of the Hogshead Bar at Hogsmeade. He will be your handler. You will give him all of the information that you've gathered. If the mission is not complete by Christmastime, you will come to the werewolf headquarters on Christmas day and report directly to me. If there is any sort of emergency, you can contact any member of the werewolves by owl post. Hogwarts has owls for the students to use and fortunately the mail is not checked by the staff. You will not contact the headquarters directly though, to be safe. You will contact your handler and he will contact me, any questions?"
"No master," said Ted his voice barely audible. For the first time Ted was actually afraid of his mission. What if he failed? What if the professors caught him? What would they do? Would they send him to Azkaban?
"Good. One last thing," Greyback snapped his fingers. A servant dashed into the room carrying a large black bottle. He bowed, handed it to Greyback, bowed again then scurried from the room.
"This is wolfsbane potion. You absolutely cannot bite anyone during your monthly transformations while you are posing as a student. Therefore you must consume one cup of this potion every day for a week before your transformation. Your handler will bring you a new bottle every month. During your transformation you must hide from everyone at the school. There is a forest that is restricted to students which you can enter," Greyback explained.
"But master, it is a disgrace amongst the werewolves to take the wolfsbane potion. Master, it prevents us from allowing our true selves to roam freely! Master, it dulls our brains and turns us into mindless fools to be controlled by the Ministry for Magic!" Ted cried.
"You dare interrupt me?!" Greyback thundered. He slowly rose from his chair. Ted tried hard not to tremble.
"M-master, please," Ted stuttered.
"Silence!" Greyback roared. "This mission is far too important, you simply cannot fail! You knew what you were getting into when you agreed to join it. You knew you would be suffering for many months amongst the wizards. If you did not have what it takes to do this then why did you agree? If you wish to back out now then you will forever be a disgrace to the werewolves!" Ted was speechless. He didn't want to back out. He simply didn't think he should have to take the vile wolfsbane potion. No werewolf in their ranks ever took the dreaded draught.
Ted took a sharp breath and forced himself to stop trembling. He said in a quiet but steady voice, "Master, I have what it takes to go on this mission. I will not let you down. I will take the wolfsbane and I will suffer through living with the wizards for the greater good of our people."
Greyback looked taken aback by Ted's sudden courage. "Very well," he said. "You may go." Ted took the potion bottles, bowed to Greyback and exited the room. He took each step deliberately standing tall and confidently. As soon as he closed the door behind him he began to tremble all over.