Chapter 24 – Pack Mentality

"I want you out of my house!"

"What?"

"Out!"

Fearing the wrath of his uncle, Harry decided that it was best to listen to his uncle. Little did he know that in his hurry to leave, he missed owls from both Sirius and Mr. Weasley urging to avoid taking such action.

It was just Harry's luck to go from an agonizingly slow, yet typical summer at Privet Drive, to being attacked by Dementors. Though he had managed to save Dudley, His aunt and uncle refused to believe that it somehow wasn't his fault. It hurt even worse to find out that Dumbledore had people watching him and he hadn't bothered to inform Harry or ask if he even wanted the protection.

After what seemed like an eternity of running, he had to stop to catch his breath. In his hurry to get away, he quickly realized that he didn't have a clue as to where he was. Just like the summer before Third year, he was more concerned about putting distance between himself and his summer time prison, that a possible destination hadn't crossed his mind.

"Great job Harry," he complained to himself, "Now it'll take a while for anyone to find you,"

He continued his trek down the street for a few blocks, contemplating his predicament, before he began to feel the familiar tightness of his skin. Looking up into the sky, he saw that the sun was nearly down, meaning the moon was soon to rise.

'Stupid,' he thought. He had completely forgotten that tonight was the full moon, and instead of being at his aunt and uncle's where someone would pick him up and take him somewhere where he could safely shift, he was out in the open.

Resigning himself that he at least had to head back to Number 4 and wait for someone to come get him, he turned around and started heading back the way he came, hoping that he hadn't ventured too far off course during his hasty getaway.

A few minutes into the return trip Harry caught a scent from somewhere nearby. The smell itself was peculiar because he couldn't place it, but it reminded him of Remus.

"Moony?"

The growl that followed made him realize that it wasn't Remus, but he had a feeling that he wasn't too far off.

A large mass swiftly leapt from the shadows and pinned him to the ground. Harry tried to struggle against the great hand that held the back of his head and pressed him into the asphalt. He saw a face lean down into his peripheral, a smile gracing his attacker's face that showed all his fanged yellow teeth.

"Hello runt!"

-HP-

The tension in the atmosphere at Number 12 Grimmauld Place was so palpable, it could be cut with a simple cutting curse. Hermione, Sirius, and the Weasleys were in the sitting room, all trying to not let the panic of Harry's predicament overwhelm them. Arthur, Molly, and Ginny were all sitting the sofa closest to the fire while the twins were leaned against the wall directly behind them. Sirius kept pacing the length of floor directly in front of the fireplace, occasionally glancing towards the entrance to his home and cursing under his breath. It had been nearly half an hour since the rescue party was sent to collect his godson and he was getting restless. Ron was standing the closest armchair to mantelpiece, his face paling as his mind seemed to work into frenzy over his best mate.

The occupant of said armchair was even worse off. Hermione simply sat there staring into the flames as if hoping another message claiming that all this was a false alarm and that Harry was okay. She felt naïve for hoping for such a thing but it was all she could do to hold on to the last bit of her composure. Normally her mind would constantly work through any possible way to help, but her mind was hopelessly blank. It didn't help the fact that she remembered what tonight was.

At the sound of the front door opening, all of the occupants of the room jumped to their feet but none were as quick as Hermione. She dashed into the foyer intending to hug her best friend and make sure that he was okay. When she finally caught sight of who entered the room she immediately became rooted to her spot.

"Fleur?"

Standing in the entrance was Fleur, a little girl who she quickly remembered was her sister Gabrielle, and two adults who she immediately assumed were her parents. She was about to question their presence when Professor Dumbledore strode in behind them and stepped forward.

"What's going on Albus?" came Sirius' voice from behind her.

"There was an attack Sirius."

"We heard about the Dementors. My question is why are they here then? Were they with Harry, and if so, why isn't he with you?"

"You miss understand me Sirius, there have been two attacks. The Delacour's home in France was assaulted by a team of Death Eaters. They managed to escape to Hogwarts before their home was destroyed. I brought them here for their own protection."

A flash of irritation crossed Sirius' face before he shook himself and began to gesture towards the stairs. "Make yourselves at home. There should still be two room available on the third floor on the left." The French family nodded before solemnly making their way to their new quarters.

Once they were out of sight, Sirius strode forward, practically hissing, "I know I agreed to offer my home as a headquarters for the Order, but I would appreciate it if you didn't bring strangers here without my permission."

"They've nearly lost everything Sirius. Surely you wouldn't leave these people to suffer, especially when one of them is close with Harry."

It was the last statement that caused Sirius to noticeably deflate. Hermione felt that it wasn't right for Dumbledore to use Harry against Sirius, but she couldn't fault him for trying to save the lives of another family. Everyone turned to reenter the sitting room, when the front door burst open again and they were greeted by the sight of sight of Tonks and Moody carrying a visibly distressed Harry.

-HP-

"What do you mean you kicked him out?"

Tonks and Remus could not believe what they were hearing. They had arrived at Harry's home just as the Dursley's were about to take Dudley to the hospital, when they were informed that Harry had ran off.

"I threw the ungrateful freak out. I don't give a damn what you people say, this wouldn't have happened to my son if the brat wasn't around. I've had enough of all this freakishness."

"Do you realize what you've done?"

Vernon continued to get even redder in the face at Tonks' question, but after a glance to the wands that were held at the individuals sides, decided wisely to just climb inside his car a drive off.

"We need to find Harry as soon as possible."

Tonks turned to Remus and noticed that his gaze was up toward the sky, reminding her of the impending full moon. Striding forward, she carefully laid a hand on the older man's shoulder and was rewarded with a small smile gracing his face.

Looking towards the door, she saw Mad-eye hobbling towards them. "It appears Potter didn't get our letters. The kid should've known better than to just run off into the night, especially on a night like this."

This line of thought only aggravated Tonks even more. Sirius, Remus, and herself were the most vocal against Harry being left alone and it seems their secrecy had come back to bite them in the arse.

"Well how was he supposed to know that we would be around shortly? Hell, the kids been isolated for weeks now, and the way his uncle's temper seems to be, I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same thing."

"Enough you too," Remus joined in, "arguing isn't going to get us any closer to finding Harry. We need to split up and track him down as soon as possible."

With that, the group split up into multiple directions. Tonks decided to head towards the Northwest towards a patch of woods, figuring that if Harry remembered what tonight was, he would try to isolate himself in there. As she walked her brain drifted to what she had seen during her time watching Harry.

He looked normal enough for a kid his age but there were a number of details that she found alarming. Since most of her shifts started in the early hours of the morning, she noticed that Harry would regularly turn up shortly after she arrived and sneak his way back into the house. She'd confronted Dung on this multiple times, the idiot simply claiming that he noticed nothing of the sort under his watch, and decided that it wasn't worth the trouble of bringing it up.

"I'm gonna give you one more chance runt, and you'd better hope that this time I get the right answer. The Dark Lord says that either you willingly join my pack or I bring you to him so he can deal with you himself. Now, I don't take rejection well, so if you decide to not take my offer, I can't guarantee you'll make I to him in one piece. Alive, but not in one piece."

Tonks immediately caught the gasp that was on the edge of her lips in her throat. The voice that seemed to be coming from the direction of the woods did not sound friendly, in fact, it sounded almost predator-like. The mention of the word pack made it painfully obvious that whoever it was, was a werewolf, so she decided to inform the others with a silent Patronus, and to wait for back-up before engaging.

"So….What's it gonna be?"

"Tell Voldemort that I said piss off!"

She recognized the voice of Harry cutting through the darkness, and could tell by the strain of it that he wasn't in the best shape. The sound of a fleshy impact and two grunts, informed her that his condition was only going to get worse. She heard footsteps behind her, as she was quickly joined by the other Order members.

"Wrong answer Runt."

At that prompting, the Order charged into the tree line and were greeted by a group of 5 werewolves, 1 standing over Harry's body and 4 encircling them. A barrage of stunning spells caught the werewolves off guard, causing the 4 on he outskirts to make a hasty retreat. The leader lifted his head towards his attackers causing Remus to gasp.

"Greyback!"

"We meet again traitor. I'd love to stay and chat but my meeting with young Harry is over, so we'll have to continue this struggle another day." Before anyone could react, he disapparated away.

Remus darted forward to the spot where Greyback once stood. "Damnit", he said in low growl, his frustration coupled with the rising moon starting to get the better of him. He felt an arm on his elbow and turned to see Tonks looking worriedly at him.

"Remus, we need to get moving. There's no telling how long we have before-"

She wasn't able to finish her statement before a pained grunt ripped from Harry's mouth.

"Shit! We need to get him moving." She paused to look at Remus hoping that he was still with them enough to help. "How are you doing, Remus?" She could see the stress starting to overtake him.

"I'll be fine, go on without me." At her worried look he quickly added, "I've taken my potion, but I would feel more comfortable changing at my place. Just make sure you get him to read the address so you can get him inside headquarters."

She wanted to reassure him that everything was okay. She wanted offer him comfort because in the little time she knew him, she understood that the night of the full moon was rough on him. Instead all she managed out was, "Okay", before he apparated away.

Turning back to Harry she saw Mad-Eye shoving a small piece of parchment into the teens face. "If you can hear me Potter, I need you to read this and think about it, while we apparate you to headquarters. Do you understand?" Harry managed to give a weak nod before opening his eyes to read the address on the paper, before Tonks and Moody draped his arms over their shoulders and apparated him away.

-HP-

Relief washed over Hermione at the sight of her best friend. "Harry, thank goodness you're alright." She made to rush forward but a raised hand from Tonks stopped her in her tracks.

"Later Hermione. We don't have much time before-", she was unable to finish due to Harry having fallen out of their grasp and onto his hands and knees.

"Harry!"

"'Arry!"

Both saw the shape that he was in and made to move forward to help. They stopped by a sudden roar from Harry and watched in fascinated horror as his nails elongated and his eyes began to glow.

Sirius was the first one to recover. "Quick! Get him downstairs now!" With Tonks' assistance he moved Harry through the dining room to a door in the back most reaches of the house before forcing Harry and himself through, shutting the door behind them.

Minutes went by as the occupants of the House of Black couldn't help but hear as the strangled cries of Harry turned into deep growls and sounds of thrashing about before all went quiet. Once it had seemed that the situation was back under control, Hermione and all the other guests moved from the kitchen and made their way to bedrooms, thoughts of how things had changed and the unfairness of life nagging them as one by one, they all drifted into unconsciousness.

-HP-

The first sensational Harry felt was an incredible soreness all over his body. At this point, he felt that he had been used to this, having been a werewolf for over a year by this point, but he hadn't felt this bad since the time he suffered from Wolfsbane poisoning. With a great effort he was able to move his left hand inches away before he came in contact with cloth. Opening his eyes, he peered that way and saw that an outfit had been provided by him, presumably by his godfather.

Not wanting to stay wherever he was any longer, he began to dress himself and managed to find a staircase up in the process. Ascending it, he found himself in a narrow dining room with a small kitchen and a large table taking up much of the available space. Sitting at the table was Sirius and a pink-haired witch that he vaguely remembered.

"Harry it's good to see that you're up." Unable to hold himself back any further, Harry quickly moved to hug his godfather, one that was returned with much gusto. "It's been way too long pup." Remembering that there was another occupant of the room, he gestured towards the witch. "You may not remember, but this is my cousin Nymphadora. She's the one who's most responsible bringing you here to safety,"

To Harry's wonder, her hair turned bright red as she glared at Sirius. "Don't call me Nymphadora!" Calming herself, she greeted Harry. "Wotcher Harry. Name's Tonks and don't even think about calling me anything else." The slight edge in her voice told Harry that he should obey that particular command.

"Nice to meet you Tonks. By the way, thanks for bringing me clothes Sirius."

Tonks piped up before Sirius could even respond, "Oh don't thank him Harry, I was the one who brought the clothes down for you. Congratulations by the way", she added with a flirtatious wink causing him to turn scarlet.

"Don't break the poor boy Tonks. There are a number of women here who wouldn't appreciate such talk." This caused Tonks to smirk even more causing Harry to feel even more uncomfortable. "Either way, she's just having you on Harry. I made sure to take the clothes from her before she could see any of the goods."

"Alright enough of that!" Harry was starting to get annoyed by all the teasing. After that the three sat down and chatted while they waited for the others to gather for breakfast. Sirius discussed what he had been up to since he last saw Harry and Tonks explained her ever changing appearance and told Harry all about her being a Metamorphmagus. After several minutes of idle chat, the door opened and Remus walked in and sat down directly across from Harry, looking like he lost a fight with a hippogriff.

"Rough night?"

"No more than usual Padfoot. Harry, it's good to see that you're alright."

"Just glad to be away from the Dursleys."

Remus leaned forward, his expression turning from cordial to serious. "Harry…What do you remember from last night?"

Harry scrunched his brows in concentration. "I remember running from the Dursleys before turning around and heading back. I caught a scent before I was tackled by something…and then after that, nothing."

The atmosphere in the kitchen got considerably tenser, as Remus prepared to explain as much of the situation from Harry as he could.

"By as much as we can tell Harry you were ambushed by a group of werewolves who were following orders from Voldemort. A similar attack happen around the same time at the Delacour's home in France."

Harry bolted right up at that. "Fleur! Are they all alright?"

"Yes they're fine Harry. They're here in fact, so you should be able to see them later. But on to more important things." Lupin paused to rub his eyes. It was obvious to Harry that whatever news he brought, it didn't bode well for anybody. "The group that attacked you was led by a werewolf named Fenrir Greyback."

"He's as worse as they come," Sirius interjected.

"Yes, whereas most werewolves feel cursed or shame due to their condition, Greyback sees werewolves as superior and believes that it his duty to infect as many people as people and have our kind take over." Lupin cast his eyes downward, either in debate on what to say next or as if something was deeply troubling him. "Greyback has a tendency to target children to turn. He positions himself close to his victims prior to the moon's rise so that he has the best chance of success, and…he's the werewolf that turned me."

Harry's eyes widened at this. No wonder the arrival of this man, if you could call him that, affected him so much. He had faced that man that changed his life.

Struggling for how to respond to the new information, Harry asked the first question that came to his mind.

"What does he want with me?"

"By what we can figure, Greyback is both threatened and intrigued by you. The possibility that Magical Britain's savior joining is ranks has the potential to bolster his cause. He also understands that if you refuse him, you could derail everything he's worked for by leading werewolves away from him and swaying public opinion. That's what he wanted, to give you an ultimatum."

Before Harry was able to process this, he heard the door to the kitchen open before a bushy-haired missile nearly tackled him out of his chair. "Harry! Thank Merlin, we were all so worried about you." All he could do was respond with a strangled "ow", which caused Hermione to suddenly remember what he went through the night before. She hastily backed away, mumbling a quick, "sorry", causing both teens to blush slightly.

"Jeez Hermione. Give the bloke time to heal." Harry was glad that Ron's entrance managed to prevent a potentially awkward situation. "Hey mate, feeling alright. I hope last night wasn't too-"

Another body had slammed into Harry's chest, albeit this was significantly smaller. "'Arry!" cried the excited voice of Gabrielle Delacour who proceed to ask him how he was okay so quickly, that even though Harry had a basic understanding of the language due to his friendship with her older sister, left him completely lost.

Harry then noticed Fleur enter the room, who quickly chastised her sister, before smiling warmly at Harry. "It is good to see you in one piece 'Arry. Hopefully Gabrielle's attack doesn't ern you a trip to ze 'ospital." Harry noticed that her accent had become less pronounced during their time apart, but wasn't able to ponder it any further before a pair of lips kissed him lightly on his cheek. He blushed even more as the rest of Grimmauld Place's occupants arrived for a hot meal.

It was a little while into the meal before more bad news was added to Harry's plate. Sirius cleared his throat, causing all at the table to look his way.

"Harry…Since you left before you could receive any letters, you missed the fact that you received a letter from the Ministry about using magic in front of your cousin. Since it was your third offense, they saw fit to expel you from Hogwarts."

All the color drained from Harry's face. He was expelled/? What was he to do? How would he go on in the magical world if they snapped his wand and denied him and education?

"However, Dumbledore was able to convince Fudge that you should be given the chance to defend your actions, so your expulsion has been put of pending a formal hearing."

Harry's head shot up. "So what you're saying is, Fudge wants to publically humiliate and make an example of me."

"Yes, that's what he'll try to do, but if you keep your head and show that you had a reason for casting magic, then there is no way they could expel you."

Even with Sirius' encouraging words, everyone could sense how much of an uphill battle this would be. Around the table, Harry cold see that everyone had a disturbed look on their faces'. Except the elder Delacours, who looked like they wanted to be anywhere but there.

Harry wanted to lash out at the injustice of it all, but was stopped by the feeling of a hand slipping into his. Looking to his left he saw Fleur give him a small smile and a quick squeeze of his hand, which he happily returned. His sour demeanor temporarily forgotten, he failed to see that Hermione had noticed the exchange with a small frown on her face.

AN-

I hope everyone enjoyed the little twist I add. I wanted to do something different and not just add on to the Dementor encounter, so I decided to add a-whole-nother player to this game of chess.

If the bit about Fleur's accent seems a little rushed, I added it in so that I could write more efficiently without having to worry as much that I'm getting the accent right.

Next chapter looks into the summer at Grimmauld Place a little and also will cover Harry's trial, which will be a little different.

As always, thanks for reading!