Remus groaned as he woke up. He felt something hard underneath him, and it was extremely uncomfortable. It felt like stone. Hearing sniggering, he opened his eyes to see Harry watching him wake up with the biggest grin on his face. His emerald eyes practically howled in mirth at Remus' rather obvious discomfort.
"Good morning to you too. Where are we?" the werewolf asked, as he looked around. This certainly didn't look like his room, nor his temporary bedroom in the Shrieking Shack, which is were he was supposed to be. After all, full moon had been last night…
"Your room. You remember it don't you? You share it with Sirius, and mine's right next door…." Harry answered cheekily.
Remus did remember it then. He had just had his first transformation with the group now stuck in the Forest of Lost Souls. Almost instantly, Remus shot up, looking beyond worried as he began to question Harry rapidly,
"Is everyone okay, did I escape, please tell me I didn't bite anyone, was Padfoot able to control me…"
"Remus calm down. Everyone is fine. In fact, Nev is busy in his greenhouse, Minerva is dueling Sirius in hand-to-hand with Amber supervising, Luna, Ginny and Seamus have gone out hunting and Dean and Lav went fishing. Parvarti is helping 'Mione and Severus make a couple of healing potions—a couple specifically for you, I believe—and Ron is helping Nev harvest some of his plants. Amber told me to keep an eye on you, so here I am."
"Did I bite anyone?" asked Remus almost fearfully. Harry looked at Remus and sighed.
"Well, it was pretty rough at first. You managed to escape your room, and Padfoot was on your heels, but you kinda charged the common room, where the rest of us were. Padfoot stopped you from infecting Ron and Neville, Severus was terrified out of his wits, and I'm afraid that you didn't help matters by trying to bite him either. But Amber…"
Harry trailed off as he thought about his sister. What was Amber thinking, standing in front of the demented werewolf like that? She took everything so calmly too. And what about what happened to her after the bite. Certainly no one had reacted to a werewolf bite like THAT before.
"Amber what? Oh God, Amber what?" Remus nearly screeched.
"Amber stood in front of you and blocked your path anytime you tried to bite anybody else. Finally you gave in and jumped her and well, you bit her, but I think she wanted you to. And you're gonna be very surprised when you see her, because she had the weirdest reaction to the venom…"
Remus was astounded. How could anyone want a werewolf to bite them? Was Amber insane? And what was Harry talking about, a reaction to the venom?
"Reaction?" he echoed. Harry nodded. Without a word or sound, Harry beckoned, and Remus followed him to the commons. There he found everything as he said. Severus, Parvarti and Hermione were huddled in the corner set aside for Potions, Severus stirring the currently bubbling cauldron. Sirius and McGonagall were on the other side of the common room, sparring. From the looks of it, Sirius was winning, but Minerva was giving it everything she had, and given her age, wasn't doing too bad. Luna, Dean, Ginny, Lavender, Seamus, Neville and Ron were no where in sight.
Amber was located over in the same area as the two fighting adults. She was watching Sirius and Minerva fight and calling out pointers to both combatants every great once in a while. However, the ocean eyes watching the fight were now wolf in origin, and tainted with a golden color. And if that wasn't bad enough, a set of matching wolf ears and tail adorned her figure, making her look like some sort of wolf demon.
"How…?" Remus was officially confused beyond belief.
"Remus, I wish to thank you. By biting me last night, you have awakened my wolven heritage, something I am not entirely certain I would have received without such assistance. You have my gratitude." Amber said in response. Speaking reveled to Remus a nice set of fangs, and he could see a nice set of matching claws were Amber's nails had once been.
"Is that why you grew fangs and a tail when Remus bit you? But how did you come by a werewolf ancestry? Most countries ban werewolves from mating and having kids." asked a confused looking Harry.
"Most countries do not have minorities within their borders that follow their own rules. My mother had some Native American in her blood, and all Indian tribes are connected to nature, and see it as a family extension. They do not prevent the mating and breeding of certain people because they turn into a wolf on full moons. In fact, many saw werewolves as special mystic men or something. It was an honor to be their spouse, and have their children. The whites were too late to stop these things from happening, and even then, the Indians refused to follow such stupid and confining laws. From what little I know, Native Americans are still allowing their werewolf members to breed. Much to the American Ministries' horror."
Amber looked entirely too smug about that. Then again, the group had learned that Amber hated the government in every way. And she had a personal vendetta against magical government, England's in particular. The fact that her ancestors had managed to defy said government, and continued doing so to this day, probably made her do a happy dance every time she heard about it.
"And they don't execute these creatures? Their mates and children?" asked Hermione.
"The Indians won't let them. And if you know anything about Native American magic, it has far more powerful and reaching outcomes then the kind Hogwarts teaches. They are very good about raising the dead, summoning spirits and giving them physical body again, even though it isn't always the spirit's original form. They could kill the same werewolf about 10 times, and their tribe will still keep bringing them back to life, and the curse along with it. This happened consistently till about 1902, when the magical governments in the US just gave up, and allowed them to do as they please."
"So this allows you to have werewolf-born blood in your veins, amongst other things." said Minerva in understanding. "But what did Remus biting you have anything to do with it?"
"Wizards reach magical maturity at 17. Then they get whatever inherited power they have. Technically, my wolf heritage could come when I am 17. But I am uncertain. Most of the powers that have been bred into my family, and into me, over the centuries have lain dormant for a long time. I am unsure if I would stand to gain these powers or not upon my 17th birthday. So, I bypassed the problem by directly solving it. Remus' werewolf venom kinda kick started my wolf blood. Had it been activated at age 17, the same thing would've more then likely happened."
Amber shrugged, uncaring. It wouldn't have killed her, at any rate, so to her it made little difference. Looking at Minerva and Sirius she asked, "Who won?"
"Me!" cried Sirius cheerfully. Amber nodded, congratulating the younger animagus on his win.
"No offense Aunt Min, but I kinda expected it. In a fight, be it the forest or the streets, age is one things that determines a fight. Experience plays a more vital part, but age can be your biggest advantage or disadvantage. The older you are the more chance you won't make it, particularly if your opponent is younger then you. You have at least a decade or two that Sirius doesn't have, and that will slow you down a bit. Sirius will be much faster then you, because he is younger."
Minerva nodded. It made sense. Sirius managed to escape her much easier then, say, Albus Dumbledore, because he could move much quicker then a man Albus' age. Minerva acknowledged that she was a good fighter, but she was not getting any younger, and her body couldn't take the challenge someone, say, Harry's age would present her.
Amber looked around, and decided something. Looking at her former Transfiguration professor and the ex-convict, she asked, "I have all the powers of a natural wolf, including the ability to become my other half anytime I want. Which of you would like to spar with me in a one-on-one animagus battle?"
Sirius was replaced with Padfoot before anyone could comment. Amber smirked.
"This will be interesting, to be sure. The majestic wolf against her dumber spoiled domestic cousin. Who will win, do you think?" Then Amber transformed herself into a beautiful sliver, black and white wolf.
Padfoot growled, accepting Amber's spoken and unspoken challenge and got into a battle stance. Amber gave a grin, baring a mouth full of fangs, but did nothing. She seemed to be waiting for Sirius to make the first attack. Her now completely golden eyes watched the black grim-dog as it began circling the tri-colored wolf, obviously looking for an opening to attack.
It is truly a measure of how much the group had changed since entering the forest that Sirius waited and circled Amber. Had this "fight" taken place before they had gotten lost, Sirius would've had thrown himself at her without a single thought, brash Gryffindor that he was. Amber's tutoring had shown him how to win a battle using Slytherin cunning and Ravenclaw intelligence.
Then again, Amber had changed drastically too. Before the forest, she would not have challenged him to the duel at all, and if forced to fight, would've been cowering, if a bit subtly, and terrified out of her wits. She would not be standing there, following with her eyes, but otherwise remaining unmoving.
In the end, Sirius did make the first move. Amber had sat on her hunches, tail curled around her front paws, and done nothing. Sirius attempted to tackle her, throwing his body full force at her, but Amber was quicker on the draw, and Sirius found himself flying through air. Harry had gone to fetch Neville and Ron from the greenhouse, and he laughed himself silly when his godfather landed with an undignified 'THUWMP!' on the floor. He landed on his front paws and his face, and momentum carried him to crash land into the nearby wall.
Padfoot growled at his godson, who was too busy howling in mirth to notice, and sent a betrayed look to Remus. Remus didn't notice either, rolling on the floor as he was. Not that anybody else was in much better condition, most crying from laughing so hard. Neville managed to comment through his laughter that it was a shame that those who went out had to miss it, it was so hilarious.
Snuffling in a shadowed corner proved that Amber had found that rather amusing as well. The wolf was silently quaking in mirth, but was doing rather well at suppressing her laughter. For a minute, Sirius had to stop and mentally curse her abusers to Hell. No doubt laughter had been banned from Amber's life for a long while. Too long.
Padfoot growled, although he made sure it had nothing to do with Amber specifically, and charged at Amber once more. The wolf ducked, and Padfoot crashed into the wall once again. The rest of the group howled even louder, and Amber and Sirius both knew this was going into the next pensieve the minute they got out. Sirius wouldn't have been surprised in the least if it was shown to the Great Hall of Hogwarts upon their return.
By now, the hunters and fishers had returned, and looked more then a little lost at finding a wolf and a dog—both of which they recognized as Amber and Sirius—seemingly facing off, and the rest of the group incapable of breathing from laughing too hard. Amber the wolf seemed on the verge of collapse herself, but her snuffling proved she was just trying to stop laughing herself.
They quickly got into the swing of things, though, because for the next half an hour or so, Padfoot about knocked himself out all by himself on the stone walls. Padfoot was acting more and more Gryffindor as the battle went on, and Amber didn't seemed inclined to do anything about it. For the next half an hour, Padfoot the Grim repeatedly launched himself bodily at Amber the wolf. For the next half an hour, Padfoot would repeatedly make three-point landings on his two front paws and his face as Amber simply evaded or ducked. This would lead Padfoot to go crashing into the stone walls.
Perhaps the fact that he never really hit the wall overly hard allowed Padfoot to take more then one crash. In any case, the battle was over within moments as Amber easily used her increased size and mass to pin the very much so dazed Padfoot to the stone floor. When Amber transformed back after a breathless and still laughing Severus declared her the victor, she was smirking and looking very smug.
She waited till Sirius had transformed back before she finally released her laughter. Of course, the fact that the still dazed animagus had forgotten to vanish his floppy ears and black fur didn't help. Amber laughed long, hard and loud, and despite their own humor, the rest of the group had a collective feeling that it wasn't just the situation that allowed Amber the release. She had a lot of laughter to make up for.
Harry cooked dinner that night out of some fish that Dean had caught that day, and the whole group continued to giggle and snicker over Padfoot's self-defeat. Sirius grumbled about it, but he sat next to Amber and the arm swung causally around her shoulder and his easy-going body language allowed Amber to know that he held nothing against her. At least personally.
Amber herself just grinned and tried to downplay the fight, which the laughing cheerful group continued to escalate into something worthy of a Final Battle between hero and Dark Lord. Maybe even more.
Amber's familiars just watched the group with a classic 'you are all insane' look to their faces. The Sarloos, named Ulrik, and the Jobita, named Orea, did not see what the heck was so funny about the fight. In their professional opinion, the black dog was the most retarded fighter on the planet. Their point of view was limited to the simple question concerning the creature. How on earth had he survived so long?
The other Sarloos, Ulrik's brother and sister, had been helping the hunters bring in meat, and did not see the fight. They caught the end, and saw nothing but a more superior wolf beat a dog in a fight. Near as they could tell, the fight lasted 10 seconds. Still, they were still giving the laughing group 'you are insane' looks.
The group had a great time around the fire that night. Soon, however, the group got tired and one by one headed to bed. It was a mark of change in the group as a whole that several of them went out with a significant other. The group had paired off, although they were still all one big family.
Forests have ways of changing things. Really, it was true for all dwelling places. Animals adapted to life within these places, and if they didn't, they died out. Dinosaurs and Wooly Mammoths could not adapt, and no longer exist. Humans are the most complex creatures on the planet, although they truthfully do not know it.
As such they could survive just about anything. They could and would fall back on basic survival when necessary. And basic survival had only a few simple rules. If it can be used for food, use it. Make sure to map all water sources, and make sure to mate before your life is over in order to carry on the legacy.
The group stuck in the Forest had not mated yet, they knew they weren't ready, but that didn't stop them form choosing their wanted mate. So, they coupled off, including the adults. Soon, the only person left in the common room was Amber. Without a word, she started humming as she cleaned up the Potions corner and the sparring area. It was a rather cheerful sounding tune, and with it came the only happy memories Amber had.
Severus had come back, as had Hermione, when they noticed that their lonely, haunted member had not come to bed. They saw her placing a potions vial on their created shelves, humming and tapping her foot to the beat.
"Amber? Aren't you going to bed? You're with the hunting party tomorrow." asked Hermione gently. Amber turned at her voice and nodded.
"In a minute. I'm almost done." she answered. Severus took note of her humming and asked about it.
"It's a little ditty my Dad used to sing to me. When I was upset, I would sometimes go to him, particularly if Mom wasn't home. Every time I did, he'd sing to me and "dance" with me. It would be all I needed to forget what had made me upset. Daddy had a good singing voice, and if Mom didn't claim me for a bedtime story, he'd always put me to sleep by singing to me."
Severus and Hermione exchanged glances that said that the rest of the group would be getting up early tomorrow to have an Amber-free meeting about this. Amber needed comfort badly, and she had just given them an idea of how to help. The goal was to get her as over the abuse as she could possibly be before returning to the real world.
"Well, that's interesting. What songs did he sing? I'm not a bad singer myself, perhaps I can take his place for tonight?" asked Severus. Amber looked wistful and nodded. Hermione watched them go, Amber listing her father's lullabies as she and Severus headed towards her room.
For tonight, Amber would have a peaceful sleep.