Author's Note: Hi! Gotta love, love, love Labor Day weekend, dontcha? Thanks, all you reviewers out there. I really appreciate it. Even if what you have to say is something short like or just a word or two, I love getting reviews. It really brightens my day whenever I get one, so thank you all so much. Continue onwards for chapter 12.

Disclaimer: It's sad. J. K. won't even let me just borrow Harry Potter. Not even on a holiday. *sniff*

Chapter 12 Werewolf Relations

Harry grimaced and shook the sight of Lupin's pleading face out of his head before turning to look at Lucas and his father.

"For all the trouble you've been, this proposition had better be good." Lucas said dryly, looking at Harry.

"I agree," Rupert remarked, looking at Harry pointedly. "What is this 'amazing proposition' you have for us?"

Harry grinned. "Okay, let me just start by saying that I understand how you guys feel. You've been oppressed, hated, called names, denied basic essentials and jobs. I know; I've been there." Both Lucas and Rupert looked at Harry in disbelief.

"But you're Harry Potter," Lucas spluttered. "How on earth would you know how we feel? You're the Boy-Who-Lived."

Harry gave a snort of ironic laughter and a sad smile. "Yeah, I lived with relatives who hated me and abused me. My bedroom was a cupboard under the stairs until I turned eleven. I was constantly being told what a worthless freak I was. I know how you feel."

The two werewolves just looked at Harry in complete shock, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Why did everyone always assume he lived his life in a palace as some sort of a pampered prince? Lucas stepped forwards towards Harry worriedly.

"Did they ever … you know … hurt you?"

Harry nearly choked. "What, No! They never touched me that way or otherwise. The worst they ever did was maybe shake me up a bit. Or deny me food for a while … no biggy."

Lucas and Rupert looked like it was a big deal to them. "Harry," Rupert said very carefully, "you need to understand, to werewolves, our cubs are everything. We wouldn't ever think to do something such as that to a child, no matter how we are treated."

Harry just shrugged. It was over and done with; that part of his life was finished. For a brief second, he wondered what they were doing. They had probably thrown a party when they'd found out he was in prison. Maybe he should visit them, just to bring them down a bit; hearing he was free and healthy would definitely do that. Rupert looked like he was going to say more, when Harry continued his point from earlier, before they'd gotten side-tracked with his home life.

"Anyways, like I was saying, I can sympathize with you. But I have to say, the way you guys are treated – it's partly your won fault." Both werewolves started growling in protest, but Harry plowed on. "You aren't doing anything to try to stop the way people think of you. In fact, if anything, you're encouraging it! Constantly butting heads with the ministry, doing illegal things, not socializing with anyone other than werewolves, joining Voldemort. See where I'm going with this?"

Harry was pleased to see that neither Lucas nor Rupert flinched in the slightest when he said, "Voldemort." He was less than pleased, though, to find them practically snarling at him. Harry had no doubt that if they had been in wolf form, they would have been snarling.

"And just what do you expect us to do, Harry Potter?" Rupert spat his name as if it disgusted him, all sympathy for him gone in an instant, replaced by anger. "Just roll over and let the ministry continue to oppress us? Not fight back? Let them starve us and exterminate us? Keep us from having jobs, homes, or families? They would never accept us if we did try, which we have. With Voldemort, at least, we will not be as oppressed."

Harry grinned and clapped his hands together, earning himself two vicious glares. "See, no matter what happens; you're always going to be a minority. Always persecuted, disliked, and feared by the public. I don't blame you for not trying; but still, you're wrong about one thing. With Voldemort, things will be even worse than they are now. At least here, you are mildly tolerated; with Voldemort, you will be treated as slaves or worse as soon as he wins. Voldemort hates anyone who isn't a pureblood wizard, and werewolves will be no different."

"Then what can we do?" Lucas growled out, visibly irate. "If we are to be hated whatever happens, whatever action we take, what can we do?"

"Easy," Harry said, "you need to break free from wizarding society."

"What?" Both Lucas and Rupert looked at Harry in confusion.

"Break free from the wizarding society," Harry repeated patiently. "No matter what you do, you will be a minority, until you decide to make a change. Make your own government. Make the wizarding world stop ignoring you. Prove to them that you deserve to be treated as equals. I know for a fact that there are enough werewolves in the world for you to take a stand; you just need to come together."

"You wish to start another war while we are already in the middle of one?" Rupert gasped out incredulously. Harry shook his head.

"No, not right now. I'm afraid we'll have to wait 'till Voldy is six feet under before I can help you start your own society. I'm a little busy right now, and, besides, if he were alive, it would just complicate the matter. Also, I'm pretty sure it won't turn into a war. The wizarding world won't want another war after just having one, and they probably want nothing more than to get werewolves out of their society. Besides, how can they deny you your own government when you've got the savior of the world, slayer of Moldy Shorts, backing you? They won't know what hit them."

Lucas looked impressed – that could work – but Rupert still looked at Harry suspiciously. "And just what's in this for you?"

Harry smirked. "Well, besides turning the world upside down, I need a favor." Rupert started growling again. "Now, don't be like that. It won't be hard; it probably won't even be that dangerous." Rupert looked skeptical at this. "All you have to do is get me into Voldy's castle. I know you, as one of his allies, - *cough* minions *cough* - have access."

"And how, if we were to do this, would we keep Voldemort from finding out. Fenrir has, no doubt, already told him that you came here to try to make a deal with me."

"Easy, just act. Kick me out of here making a big fuss, calling me names, the whole shebang. Even Voldemort won't be able to question why you don't harm me, thanks to Lucas here."

Rupert looked at Harry calculatingly before nodding his head. "Very well, swear it, an unbreakable oath."

Lucas cast the spell while they swore. When it was over, all three walked over to the doors. Harry turned to Rupert. "Before you kick me out in a fit of righteous anger, I have one question. Team Edward or Team Jacob?" The two werewolves exchanged confused glances. Harry went on. "I've always been partial to Team Jacob myself (1), but a lot of people are Team Edward."

"Er, okay," Rupert said hesitantly, obviously fearing for Harry's sanity. "Erm… Team Edward."

Harry stared disbelievingly for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. Were werewolves really that far removed form society? Laughing, Harry just pulled the two befuddled werewolves to the door.

Remus Lupin sat in a corner in the long hallway outside the leader's room, waiting for Harry to come out so he could try and talk with him. He sighed; they were taking forever in there. Luckily, Greyback wasn't waiting with him, as the guards had been forced to pull him into the courtyard and outside the hallway, as he had kept trying to get back into the throne room. Lupin sighed again; he was beginning to fall asleep out here.

Suddenly, the door burst open with a loud clang, startling Lupin into falling off the wall he had been leaning on and onto the floor. He looked up in surprise to see Harry being dragged by one arm by Rupert. Lucas followed; both had severe looks on their faces.

"How dare you come in here and waste my time with nonsense like this, you insolent pup," Rupert growled, glaring evilly at Harry. "You come here, blatantly disregarding our rules and disrespecting our customs." Lupin scrambled up onto his feet, only to fall down again as Rupert shoved Harry on top of him. "Leave. The only reason I don't kill you on the spot for your insults is because of that darned oath my foolish son made me swear. Mark my words; if I, or any of my clan, ever see you again, you will die."

With that, Rupert turned and strode back into the room he had come from. Lucas stayed for a few moments to glare at Harry disappointedly before returning as well, slamming the door loudly as he went.

"Well, that could have gone better," Harry groaned, sitting up only to find himself tangled up with Lupin.

"H- Har – "Harry all but growled at him. "Mr. Potter, what are you doing here?"

Harry groaned loudly and let his head thunk back onto the cold marble floor. Seriously, what could he possibly have done to this? Cursing and muttering under his breath, Harry violently pushed himself up off Lupin, nearly tripping and falling on his face as he did so. Harry began to stalk towards the doors to what he assumed was outside, trying to make a break for it when Lupin scrambled to his feet and grabbed Harry's shoulder, (2) refusing to let go. Harry tried fervently to shake the werewolf off but was unsuccessful.

"Harry, please," Lupin implored desperately, looking Harry in the eye. "However you feel towards me, Sirius, and the rest of the Order, there are some things you need to know if you're going to face Voldemort without accepting our help. Please just hear me out, Harry. I want to help you if you'll just – "

"First of all, it's Mr. Potter to you, and I already know all about the prophecy, Horcruxes, and how to destroy them, so don't even go there."

'I even know where they are,' Harry added silently, but he wasn't about to share that information. Maybe dementors really did know everything. Lupin looked suitably bowled over. In quick succession, several emotions flashed across his face; complete and utter surprise at Harry's knowledge, relief that his ex-almost godson wasn't going after Voldemort blind, and finally, confusion as to how Harry was privy (3) to such well-guarded knowledge.

"But, Ha – Mr. Potter, how do you know that? I can count on one hand how many people know those things! And you were in Azkaban! Please, Ha – Mr. Potter, tell me the truth. If there's a leak in the Order …"

Lupin begged Harry with his eyes. Harry could tell Lupin truly wanted to make sure Harry was safe, but he still felt a flare of anger at being rooted for knowledge, as well as the usual dull distrust and dislike. And from the looks of it, Lupin wasn't going to give up anytime soon. Harry needed something to distract Lupin so that he could escape.

'I guess it's time to take a leaf out of a certain beloved pirate captain's book. Please, Disney, don't fail me now.'

Harry blinked owlishly at Lupin before responding, completely serious. "The dementors told me."

"Wh-what?"

"The dementors told me."

"Wait, what? Are you being serious? Wait, where'd you – where are you going? Harry, come back!"

While Lupin looked stunned and considered the possibility that Harry was being truthful, Harry managed to break out of the werewolf's grip and scamper around him to make a break to the doors leading outside. Harry quickly searched with his magic and found that the courtyard out there was the only place in the building without any anti-apparation charms on it.

'Chalk one up for Captain Jack Sparrow, (4)' he thought with a laugh. Ignoring Lupin's cries, he burst through the door yelling, "Freedom!" and startling all the werewolves in the yard. Unfortunately, one of these werewolves happened to be Fenrir Greyback. He launched himself forward, towards Harry, but stayed within arm's distance of him for some odd reason. The two growling werewolf guards standing next to Fenrir may have had something to do with it.

"You little brat!" He growled, an ugly sneer coming over his face. "A little birdy told me your little meeting with our high, esteemed leader didn't go so well. Too … bad."

Apparently Rupert's voice could really carry. "Yes, sad. A real shame. I'd hate to have to put any of you werewolves down when you try and save Moldy Shorts. Could have saved some of you a trip to the vet, but oh, well," Harry looked at Fenrir. "Some of you mutts might just have to get neutered while you're there, but don't worry. I'll make sure they put you to sleep when it happens. Though I do think a few of you have already been fixed."

Fenrir lunged forward, enraged, but whether it was at Harry calling Voldemort "Moldy Shorts," Harry implying that he would beat said Moldy Shorts, Harry "threatening" the werewolves, or Harry implying that Fenrir had long since lost his … manhood, Harry did not know. Instantly, the guards pulled him back and slammed him against the ground. (5) He growled and thrashed, fighting once more to try to get to Harry.

Struck by sudden inspiration, Harry turned around and pulled down his pants, mooning the werewolf. An enraged howl broke out from Fenrir, as did several chuckles, wolf-whistles, and disapproving glares from the surrounding werewolves. Lupin, who had arrived just in time to see Harry moon Fenrir, stared before chuckling a bit himself. Fenrir began to struggle all the more violently, and the guards began to look like they were having trouble trying to keep him from murdering Harry – though from the look one of them sent Harry, they really wished they could let Fenrir murder him.

Fenrir broke free, and Harry messily pulled up his pants and ran. Fenrir was chasing him around the courtyard, and while Harry knew he could just apparate away, he was having far too much fun messing with Fenrir to do that right now. Harry's pants kept almost falling down, and, laughing, he had to keep pulling them up. Suddenly, Connor turned the corner and appeared. He stood for a second, staring, before he seemed to recognize Harry's robe.

"Why's Fenrir chasing Tim?"

Connor earned himself strange looks from the werewolf's next to him, and Harry started laughing even harder. Gasping for breath, he pulled up his pants once more and apparated away.

Harry nearly fell down on the stone pavement as he arrived at a point outside the clan's meeting building. He also nearly dropped his pants again and had to take a few moments to try and get them cinched back up.

"Having a little trouble there?"

Harry jumped up, blushed a little, and glared half-heartedly at Lucas. "Don't you have anything better to do than sneak up behind me and make sarcastic comments?"

Lucas made a huge show out of seeming to think on that. "Hmm… nope."

Harry shook his head in exasperation before smiling. "So… nice performance back there, even if you just kind of stood there."

"Yes," Lucas replied loftily, "Father always did say the theater was denied a great actor when I decided to follow in his footsteps in leading our great clan after his eventual demise."

"Well, that's kind of … morbid."

Lucas nodded lazily. "Mmhmm, oh, do, hey, what's the plan now? I know you probably have places to be, people to see, dark lords to slay; but how are you going to contact us? Do you need me to come with you?"

Harry blinked at the abrupt change in conversation but answered willingly. "No, I don't need you to come with me." Lucas looked mildly put out by this, so he continued. "I need you here and acting as if everything is as normal as ever.

Lucas nodded in understanding. "Ok, but how are you going to contact us; and when are you going to contact us?"

Harry stopped for a second. How was he going to contact them? He couldn't just waltz into the clan building every time he wanted to talk with the werewolf leaders or something – especially not after that performance Rupert and Lucas had given earlier. Suddenly, he had an idea. Those galleons Granger had made sixth year in one of her (rare) strokes of genius. Maybe he could… Harry glanced around at the street around him. Suddenly, spying a tin can, he picked it up and wandlessly transfigured it into a dog tag with a chain. Lucas' eyes practically burst out of his skull.

"Wait, you don't, you don't have a wand. How on Earth did you do that?" Ignoring him, Harry went on to cast the same spell that Granger had used before. Satisfied, he held the newly finished dog tag up and walked over to push it into Lucas' hand. "Okay … why did you just give me a piece of metal?"

"It's a dog tag, "Harry explained patiently. "Pun intended. I spelled it so that when I need it to, it will heat up, and where and when I need to meet you and who and what I need you to meet me with will inscribe itself on the tag. It goes around your neck, hence the chain.

Lucas whistled, impressed, and pulled the dog tag over his head. "How on Earth did you figure that spell out?"

"Something a … ex-acquaintance of mine gave me gave me the idea." Harry said tersely. Lucas, noting he had stepped into sore territory, back off.

"Ok, so, where are you going now?"

"I don't really know," Harry answered. "I have some things I need to go looking for, but I suppose … I should get something to destroy them with first … but darn! That means I need to go back there. Darn it! I don't want to go back to Hogwarts!"

Now, at this point, you may be wondering why Harry would go all the way back to Hogwarts to get a basilisk fang when he could find other ways of destroying the horcruxes. Juan himself had questioned Harry when he said that's what he was going to do. Simple, he had to go to Hogwarts anyways to get the diadem, so why not grab a fang while he was at it. Besides, Harry thoroughly hated fiendfyre.

Juan seemed to agree with Harry's point of view when Harry accidentally set his robes on fire while practicing the spell – as it turns out, dementors are rather fond of their cloaks. Needless to say, the dementors had decided that fiendfyre was not a spell Harry needed to be taught; and he could just use the fang. Harry agreed completely. (though he was kind of wishing he hadn't, now, what with having to return to Hogwarts so soon.) Besides, a fang is much more awesome than some puny little fire. Come on, a two foot-long, pointy FANG compared to a stick…. no contest.

"Wait, what? Hogwarts? What are you talking about?" Lucas asked confusedly, not following Harry's line of thinking at all. Harry waved him.

"Never you mind." Harry looked up towards the sky, where the sun was beginning to set. "How long did you have us traipsing around in that stupid tunnel? I need to go; it's getting late."

Lucas nodded again, a bit sadly. "Okay, I'll see you when you call for me. Don't die."

"Words to remember," Harry chuckled. "I'll see you later, Lucas,"

Lucas reached forward quickly and grabbed Harry into a tight hug. "If you die, I will bring you back and kill you for not keeping your end of the deal." The hug was over before Harry could react, and Lucas strode away.

Harry just stood there for a few seconds, stumped and unable to move, before calling out, "Not gay! And did you just touch my butt?"

Lucas just laughed and left, leaving a mildly outraged Harry in his wake.

Author's Note: (1) No, not me the author personally. I remain impartial.

(2) Hey, it's not his arm this time. I feel like I always have people grabbing his arm.

(3) I love that word.

(4) Well, you see, this comes from scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where Jack confuses those guards with his words. He makes them think he's lying by using the truth to befuddle them, and while they're bickering, he sneaks onto the ship. Get it?

(5) Not a wall. Remember; they don't exist.

You should review. It's good for the soul. (And for my moral) And have a great Labor Day weekend. Thanks for reading! =D