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Chapter Four
"I watch the sunrise
sea turns golden
I close my eyes and I am born again
I am surrounded by the things that we were
and we were happy in your second wind."
The morning felt no different. He almost couldn't remember what his life was like before these bizarre two days. But he woke, irritated and rubbing his temples in hope it would rouse his dimming memories. Maybe he should ask someone about this... Sighing, he dressed in the change of clothes he found yesterday, when first shown his tent by—Fenrir. That name... Harry sighed again. Everything was so bloody foggy! Ready, he emerged from the tent, looking for a familiar face from the night before.
The morning was crisp; the birds were singing, the dew was icy and the air was curt with its whisperings. It was a morning that appealed most to Harry—brought forth good memories of school. Taking a deep breath, he momentarily forgot the chaos that reigned in his mind and heart.
"Alright, now to find someone who might be able to help..." Feeling far more cheerful, Harry took another glance around. The large campsite was a rush of activities; people crafting wares, textiles and tools, people preparing and caring for food and children, playing under the watchful eye of their carers. He approached a woman close to him, one who was focused on her sewing.
"Erm... excuse me?" She looked up, brown eyes curious.
"Yes?"
"Do you know where I can find Louis?" The woman tilted her head, lip sucked in between her teeth to be gnawed on for a moment.
"Yes, but he might be busy... What do you need him for?" Harry sighed, nodding his head slowly as he absorbed that new information. Of course the Beta would be busy...
"I just needed to ask him some questions. Is there anyone else I can talk to?" The woman pondered on this a moment, glancing down at her textiles in thought.
"You could always speak to the Elder. He lives on the outskirts of our camp, to the east."
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He supposed 'outskirt' was a rather loose term for these people, considering the large, marquee-type tent was far out of sight of the make-shift village, and, he also supposed, out of hearing reach too (his subconscious whispered 'human ears'). But that was where he found himself, peering through the closed, patch-work tent flap and into the spacious inner-workings of the humble dwelling.
"Hello?" Harry waited, entering hesitantly when he heard the croaky, curt 'come in' from the inhabitant. Slow steps took him towards an elderly man at the far left, who sat on furs and tattered cushions.
"What d'yer want? Hurry up, boy, I ain't got all day." Harry gulped, standing awkwardly before the, well, messy, grubby, dirty, tattered old man. "Take a seat, if yer goin' ter jus' stand there." In a clumsy, hesitant fashion, Harry took an awkward perch on a dusty cushion—as far from the man as possible.
"I—I need to ask you some questions, sir." He supposed in a way the old man reminded him of Dumbledore (but his curt manner reminded him of Snape, unfortunately). The man grunted, and Harry took that as permission.
"Why is everything fuzzy?!" Okay, so he didn't really mean for it to come out a bit hysterical... but maybe this was the point where everything started to make sense, or something. Or maybe he was just close to breaking point...
"The transfermation." The tone the man spoke it in irritated Harry, but only because it made him feel like an idiot.
"Yeh... but... why?" The man sighed.
"Has Fenrir told you nothing?"
"I... suppose not."
"The 'wolf-virus has a chemical inside it tha' muffles yer emotions, an' sometimes yer memories—basically, it wants ter make the transfermation process as easy as possible. It's the same fer all 'wolves who ar' approachin' their first moon, even if thay were born this way. Sometimes it's jus' more severe fer those who've lived lives outside our communi'ies. Good enough fer yer?" Harry nodded slowly, looking a little confused.
"Good. Now get out!"
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Harry supposed talking with that old 'elder' somewhat cleared up his questions (or at least the main load of them). He made the promise to himself, though, to ask Fenrir about the others when he saw him next—which looked like it would probably for dinner, at this rate. The day had been progressing slowly, Harry sitting with the same woman before (he learnt her name was Maude) and talking with her about pack politics and how the community ran. He was curious, and asking questions like this helped him understand how certain things he thought were odd worked (such as how the members of the pack were 'born' with a certain job destined for them. And that 'born' meant both natural birth and being bitten).
On the other hand, the more he sat with her the more he realised she didn't treat him with the same friendly nature as Louis, or, if he thought about it, Fenrir. It was almost like... she was deferring to him. Did werewolf packs have the culture of deference? It was odd, to say the least, and confused him to no end. It only brought to light another question that Harry had to ask Fenrir, and so far he thought maybe it would be easier to write out a questionnaire at the rate the new ones popped up.
Sometimes, the two of them sat in silence; Maude sewing away and Harry trying to order his questions (and ditch some of the ones that could be answered by others). By lunch, it was safe to say that Harry was pretty organised about what he wanted to ask, and how he wanted to ask it. The only problem would be if he could get them out when the time came.
"Let's go get some food." It was then that he realised how hungry he was, and hurried off after Maude with an enthusiasm he wasn't sure was normal behaviour for himself (if anything, it reminded him of Ron—which only brought on a series of sighs and wonderings on if his friends were okay, and if they were worried about him).
He didn't see Fenrir at lunch.
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Harry stared out the window, taking in the green grounds of Hogwarts. He was seventeen, and this was his final year. He didn't want to leave. He'd made friends with the people here, had managed to unite the houses through a series of strange and, sometimes, unfortunate events. He had managed to prove himself; to those who looked down on him and... and had managed to prove he was worth something to himself.
After this, after school was over, he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do with himself. Wasn't quite sure he wanted to finish growing up, to become fully independent.
But he knew—he knew that there was something... something he was supposed to do; or that there was something that had to happen...
... and Maybe he had a few years to grow up yet.
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Just wanted to apologise for not updating. I have my excuses, but I'm sure you're not interested.
Also, factoid I need to clear up: Why didn't Harry go to live with Sirius or Remus? Well, most of that will be cleared up in the story (and my plot, subsequently). I have thought about this (since I took an unannounced break, I had some time to go over my story-line and fix up a few plot-holes and stuff. There still could be some other mistakes, but that's understandable because this story is just fer fun an' ol'.) So yeh, just... feel free to point out any inaccuracies if you feel the need, and I'll make the effort to fix it all up. (:
OH!!!! And to the person who pointed out last chapters 'flashback'. YEH. That was a dream. (:
So I hope this somewhat made up for my lack of updates. I'll try hard to get the next chapter out soon, and make a regular habit of updating, but I can't make any promises. Turns out I can't keep them, even when it's for my own benefit. (: Oops.
And oh gosh, if any of you people like alternative music (like... awesome, electronic/alternative/Australian/incredibly sexy music—of course, that's just my opinion), you should check out Machine Gun Fellatio. Unfortunately, they aren't together anymore. This chapters title and 'prologue' is one of their songs. One of their... less dirty songs. They're amazing. (I've listened to them for years, but only recently found their cds again—hadn't yet put them on my computer, you see.)
Anyway, long ass a/n here, so I'm going to stooooppp. (:
See you next time, guys. Thanks for all your continued support (those who've continued to add this story to their alerts), it means a shit load to me.