20 The Fellowship of the Fox

by Ryuuohjin

/ AN /

Disclaimer - I do not on any way own Harry Potter or any of it's world or characters.

They all fully belong to J.K. Rowling and her affiliates.

Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, but it was really really struggling to get it to get complete, especially the Ollivander scenes, which I still isn't !00% with but decided to leave it as it is for now.

For any that is following my other stories, they will take some more time before being complete, especially Naruto, as that is really going no where at the moment.

/

Chapter 20 – Aftermath

Remus Lupin was in deep thought as he waited for old wand maker, Garrick Ollivander, to finish the evaluation on the pair of wands and wand holsters he had just given the man for examination. While honestly Remus didn't really think it was anything wrong with them, but better safe then sorry, just in case of something, as it never hurt to be a little cautious.

It had just been a few days since Sirius trial, and Remus had now fully recovered from the usually weakness that followed him after a full moon transformation. Not that he actually had been allowed to leave unless the Rasps, Rhy especially, had been convinced that he completely healthy and fully recovered. Although, truth be told, Remus hadn't made that much fuss about leaving any earlier either. And, actually, he hadn't felt this good in a while.

But even if he had been somewhat confined for a while, that didn't mean he had been completely idle. As Remus could now with complete certainty say it really was Potter Manor that the Rasp siblings lived at. How or why they had come to live there he didn't know, as all he got was evasive cryptic answered whenever he asked them about it. Then there was this morning. Just as he was about to leave the youngest of the siblings, Rhy, asked him if he would be willing to follow her the to their shop, Fox Den.

While Remus was quite confused what they would be doing here, he saw no problems in indulge the little girl for a while. The first thing he noticed after having flooed the siblings somewhat quaint shop, was that they yet seemed to have opened up for business for the day. The next thing he noticed was that Rhy seemed to have disappeared somewhere. But only only after a short moment wait, the little girl returned with a pair of beautiful wands, each in sturdy looking holsters, which she proceeded to hand to him.

When Remus just there looking confused, and made no move to accept them, Rhy started to explain that while he might not remember it, but when when he first had arrived at the manor Rhy had accidentally broken his old and that she had promised him to give him a new one, and this was her fulfilling that promise. Remus asked why she giving him extra wand, along with holsters to both of them. Rhy answered that the holsters was as an apology from her for breaking his old wand, along with using him to get some advertisement for the Fox Den. And as for the extra wand, she just said that it could never hurt to have an extra wand. Which was not something he really couldn't argue against. As Remus accepted the wands and the holsters, after much insistence on Rhy's part, he thanked her and proceed to strap them on, all while as he began too study them closely.

The holsters were wrist mounted and custom fitted, made out some sort of soft black leather. They were also comfortable enough for Remus to barely notice they were, and according to Rhy, there were runes of them make undetectable to sight or touch by others. Charms had also been cast so the wands wouldn't be able to slip out of holsters by accident, no matter what, nor would someone else able to summon the holsters or any wands in them to themselves. And as final more personal touch each holster was inscribed with his initials in a luxurious golden cursive script.

As for the wands he had gotten they quite extraordinary by themselves, and was amongst the most beautiful he had ever seen. One wand made of a mysterious, dense, heavy wood, with natural dark brown and green colouring and a wide, coarse grain texture. It had inlays of some kind of other wood here and there lightening it up slightly. The handle was carved to look like an owl, which was set with what looked like a pair of red gemstones as eyes. That, according to Rhy, was as close to a arithmetically perfect cut for a focusing jewels one could get. This wand felt even in more tune with him then his old one, and he felt a familiar yet foreign power rush through his arm, along giving of impressive display of fireworks when he for the first time had touched it.

The other wand made of a wood that was medium brown colour in appearance. It had coarse texture with straight and regular grains, and it was richly embellished in gold, with its main design consisting of a helical vine bearing one leaf for each of the Norse Futhark runes, and a large golden gemstone with a silky lustre at the pommel. Like the other wand, this also felt even in more tune with him then his old wand. Although, this felt more powerful then the other one, almost wild and untamed. But what had really surprised him was that instead of fireworks or anything like, his inner wolf reacted, although he didn't know why, when he first touched the wand, and a wolf howl, that had been more felt then heard, had suddenly erupted from it.

When Remus asked about the wands had, Rhy just smirked and told him that it was a surprise for later, but she did let it slip that there were two core in each wand. And that the ash wand wouldn't have been possible without him. And in the lignum vitae wand the broken pieces of his old wand had been incorporated. While the ash wand had some unique cores that she had never had heard someone use in a wand before. But while that may have piqued his curiosity, the reason he was currently in deep thought was what had happened during the full moon the wolf was in charge.

While had never been able remember exactly what happen while he transformed, he did remember certain feelings, like hunger, anger, fear, joy, etc. etc. He also sometimes could get vague impressions or distinct images from the wolf, especially if they made an strong impact while was transformed. From what he could remember of that night was feelings of confusion, followed surprise, then joy and playfulness, along strong sense protectiveness.

While that still confused him somewhat, what bothered right now, was how calm and at peace the wolf had been ever since. The wolf hadn't been this content in a long time, especially ever since Harry had disappeared. Remus also had the strange nagging feeling feeling that he had played with wolf cub during the night, but as that didn't make any sense at all he dismissed it, but nonetheless the feeling wouldn't leave him alone.

/

Hundreds of miles away Lucius Malfoy was having his morning tea when contemplating the recent events. He smirked as he knew all that the political career of Dumbeldore soon almost was over, it just need a little more push for it to be done. With that come to light this summer, especially considering all the articles Rita Skeeter had written surrounding Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, and his dreadful home life. She had even several times hinted at how she thought that Dumbeldore was responsible for all of it.

That along with the all articles detailing all the strange and dangerous things that had happened at Hogwarts the last few years, and latest scandal concerning the unlawful imprisonment of Sirius Black. Not mention that he now seemed have lost track of the boy, as soon as summer had started. Left the barmy old codgers reputation in completely in shambles. He had lost his positions in both the I.C.W. and in the Wizengamot, and was now, hanging to his position as the Headmaster of Hogwarts, just by the skin of his teeth.

"Good riddance," Lucius said putting his cup of tea down, he had never liked the muggle loving, senile old fool. He then sighed as he thought back on the mess from his idiotic son's latest actions had caused. Although, Draco could no longer be called a son, he was even unsure if Draco even could be called a daughter at this point. The more he thought about it, the more he felt he needed a glass. 'I wonder if it's too early to start drinking?'

He had first thought of going up and asking Narcissa if it would be possible for them to have another child, but then her words from their wedding night had came back to him. She threatened to caster him, using severing charms and to shove the cut up parts where sun don't shine if he tied to get her pregnant again. Threats that had only been getting more severe as her pregnancy went on.

Lucius had always considered himself quite lucky that they had conceive that night, but with the latest events concerning his son, he started reconsidering. But he thought better of it, as he knew she even kept an extremely sharp knife in the bedside drawer just in case she couldn't find her wand. So better just keep that as the very last resort.

'Hmm, I wonder if Narcissa would change her mind if Draco were to die?' Lucius reluctantly dismissed the idea too. Because he knew if would start his planning his own child's murder, somehow were to get back to his wife, he doubted any part of his body would exist where the sun didn't shine with as many holes as she would inflict upon him as, for some unfathomable reason, she adored the little brat.

He looked over the missive that had just arrived a few minutes earlier from the Parkinson's. Informing him they were nullifying their agreement and, as the letter pointed out, section four, subsection 'E', clearly stated if anything that would be prevent to offspring from being conceived was reason to forfeit the amount paid to secure the betrothal agreement and, clearly, and Draco current situation fell very much into that category. 'Twenty thousand galleons gone,' Lucius thought as he refilled his glass again. Looking down at the liquid in the glass, he thought, 'I need a bigger glass.'

Lucius Malfoy sat back in his chair as he finished reading the letter and once again began consider his options. He looked over at his stash of Firewhisky. 'Six bottles left; I'm going to need more after today.'

It was an hour and a bottle later before an idea came to mind. It was brilliant,he thought in inebriated state. Sure, it would money, resources and time, but he was sure it would be worth it. So quickly while he still had it fresh in his mind, he wrote up several letters and sent them on their way. Satisfied with his, Lucius the alcohol take as he feel asleep.

Nearby, Draco suddenly felt shiver go down his spine, although he had no idea why.

/

"Interesting, interesting," Ollivander almost murmured to himself, as he was finishing the inspection of the wands. "Custom made, you said. These are from that new shop that opened recently, the Fox Den, I think it's called, correct?"

"That's correct," Remus confirmed with slight nod. "An accident broke my old wand, and as it involved one of the owners of the store... They made these ones for me, free of charge as an apology. But they told have you check their quality."

"Hmm? They did so did they," Ollivander asked with a eyebrow raised. "Too bad, they only seem to to sell custom made wands..."

"But either way, the holsters are top quality from I can tell, and will do what they have advertised," he said as handed them to back Remus. "Now over to the wands, which are not only aesthetically pleasing, a bit too embellished for my tastes though, but do show great craftsmanship."

"First there is this one, while not as interesting as the other one, but it's still an somewhat unusual combination," he said as he handed Remus the dark brown wand. "10 ¼", lignum vitae, it's stubborn and unyielding, with inlays of cypress and a pair small rubies as focusing gems. It contains two cores, tail hair from both a unicorn and Japanese magical creature called a kitsune."

"Did you know lignum vitae is amongst the hardest, densest wood in all of the world?" Ollivander said with a thoughtful expression . "It's also called the "Tree of Life" as well as "Iron Wood. It comes with a long history and many legends. The greatest legend about this wood is that is aid that Merlin own wand was made from Lignum Vitae."

"But that's neither here or there. It's quite a powerful wand, which excels at jinxes, curses, and hexes," Ollivander informed then him. "Treat it well and it will show you wonders."

"Now this other one here is really interesting," Ollivander said with his eyes twinkling with merriment. "Like other wand, it's also 10 1/4" but made of black ash, unbending, With a large tiger's eye with remarkable chatoyance at the pommel, but it was not for focus like with the other wand."

"No, that seems to be what the runes mostly are for..." his eyes narrowed in thought. His face then seemed to lit up "The gemstone at this wand seems to be more for storage. If pour magic into it, it will store it for you to use sometime later. Although I'm quite uncertain if could store magic indefinitely, nor could I say of how much magic can store, but still..."

"Also, it's not made of your ordinary wand wood," he then added. "No, it is actually made of magical wand wood... Living magical wand wood even..."

"Excuse me but what do mean by magical wood?" Remus asked confused. "I thought the wood for any wand was taken from ordinary trees."

"While that usually it's true for almost all wands," Ollivander informed. "But there is still the rare few that has wand wood taken from tree with a dryad dwelling in it, making the wood itself inherently magical. But as dryads was were quite picky in who to gave their wood, which the reason why there existed so few of them."

"Then there is this wand," handing the golden wand over to Remus. "It's made of wood taken from an actually magic tree, that was truly living and sentient, in this case an Ent. How the Rasps even managed get their hand get their hands on that kind of wood is most curious. As ents, like most fae, aren't that keen to mingle with humans. That alone makes the wand that kind of unique."

"Now another thing that is really special about this wand, is the cores," Ollivander said after some thought. "Like other wand, this one also have two cores. But unlike the wood, the cores are not very magical by themselves, but they sure are unusual. Actually, I don't think I seen any wands with those cores before. Hair from a werewolf and a wizard, as I said unusual wand cores."

Remus swallowed as he heard that, recalling what Rhy had said about that the wand, now understanding what she meant by that they wouldn't be able to be create the wand without him.

"As also I said before it's a most unusual wand, but it's extremely loyal," Ollivander then explained. "So loyal that in fact I'm doubtful it would it help anyone else but you, even if they shared your blood or bested you in combat. It is particularly good at charms or transfiguration."

After that the two of them chatted for a while before Remus left and Mr Ollivander bowed him from the shop.

/

"Draco Lucius Malfoy I will DISOWN YOU!" Narcissa Malfoy nee Black could once again be heard screeching uncharacteristically, despite how it yet was in the day

Although, for the last few days it been quite common occurrence as her son could proclaim.

So naive, so horribly naïve.

After the house elfs had informed Narcissa about her only offspring's latest foolish venture. She had only just barely been in time to save her son from whatever the demon that her son had summoned, and for reason enraged. It had then taking a much time and lot of fast talking, using all of her diplomatic skill to make the demon spare both her and her son, at least till she could call for her husband and wait for him to appear. Lucius had not at been pleased to found out what his son had been up to. After many long and hard negotiations and promises. Lucius had been able to appease the demon with a deal it had been satisfied with and disappeared.

But problem was that their son still didn't realise that he did wrong. For the very next day, after having slept on it, he was back himself as if what had happened was just a dream. Even though all the curses and transfigurations the demon cast over him still was there. But to Draco, in his own mind, he saw it as that had been the demon that had been in the wrong. And then when it refused to obey him and had instead try to attack him, his father made it go away. So he had been sure his father would take care of the rest as well.

It was this mindset that left Draco quite bewildered, when neither his father nor his mother did anything to correct any of what he saw as injustice to his person. After spending a day to ponder this why this was, maybe they were busy. But as that didn't seem to be case and he only was coming up with blank with anything else. Draco had the next day asked his parents that same question at breakfast the next day, even explained his reasoning behind it. But that only severed to confuse him even more, as both his parents had just stop eating and look at him most disappointingly before sighing deeply.

What was even worse was after explaining exactly why, his mother had revoked all of his allowance and privileges, that on of him being grounded and the other punishments he had gotten for summoning and insulting a demon. When he then went to complain to father about this unfair treatment from mother. Hoping he would do something about it.

Although that didn't go exactly as he had excepted either, as his father had just extended all of his punishments to cover his whole school year, and if he still hadn't learned his lesson by then... woe betide him...

But currently that was neither here or there, as Draco was once being screamed at by his mother. The reason for was that Draco had once again tried shirk from one of his punishment. Draco had first thought his parents been joking when he first heard what kind of punishments they had for him. But he had then been terrified when he realised that they were not joking. He couldn't believe they forced him to do chores like some kind of servant, he wasn't even allowed to use magic doing them.

Not that he already tried that, but that only resulted in having wand confiscated until the school started. As he had once forgotten that one of his many new punishments were that he now was to be under constant surveillance by the house elfs his family owned.

The elves were under strict order to not help him with any of his punishments, and to report immediately report to his mother as soon he did something he shouldn't. They were also told to only let Draco go, until he was done with all of his chores for the day and not allow any sloppy work.

Which now was the reason the science that played out in front of him. After having only quite hastily done most of his chores for the day, Draco had tried sneak away early. But was caught by a house elf that detained him, while another went get his mother, which had not had been the least happy to hear what he had tried to do.

As his mother was scolding him, and not for the first time since leaving Hogwarts for the summer did Draco Malfoy wish he had never left. Although life in the snake pit was anything but simple, he had at least some control over his life. In fact, after years of cultivating alliances within the house, he believed he was in the position to take over Slytherin as its King.

"DRACO! ARE LISTING TO ME! " he could then hear his mother shout, breaking him out of his thoughts. "LOOK AT ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU, YOUNG MAN!"

Oh, how he wished he was back at Hogwarts.

/

Voldemort looked out over the host camped before him. Werewolves, vampires, hags, trolls, and all manner of other dark creatures were present, and in growing numbers, but still not as many as he had expected. Although that could easily be fixed, soon too, very soon.

Ever since his revival the Halloween past, using blood from Harry Potter, he had kept to the shadows, recruiting as many as he could to his cause. While there had been a some set backs, especially since that annoying Fellowship had appeared, sowing chaos everywhere.

But he was patient, he had no problem with playing the waiting game, so these set backs really were nothing yet in the larger picture, but still something had be done before it went to far. Maybe Pettigrew would finally prove himself useable, lets see how far that rat would go to earn his favour. The rat might even surprise him, although he highly doubted that.

/

TBC

/