Chapter 53

Remus was hardly alone for a moment the entire time he was at St. Mungos, so even if he and Sirius had wanted to speak again about whether or not Harry was a horcrux they couldn't have. Both tried explaining away the signs and told themselves if Harry were a horcrux Voldemort wouldn't always be trying to kill him, both ignoring the fact that Voldemort might not know Harry was a horcrux. Poor Harry noticed every time the two Marauders looked at him these days it was with an expression very similar to the way Professor Trelawny looked at him when she predicted his death, only far more genuine and intense. They tried not to show it, but couldn't help it. While in denial, they knew the truth.

Sirius had been so desperate he had actually gone to Kreature for help, asking the elf to find any of the old Black family books that might mention horcruxes. He and Remus read every word in them between when the others came to visit, but found little to help. The only useful information that had any potential at all to save Harry was that if a person who'd made horcruxes felt genuine remorse for what they'd done, their soul would be repaired and the horcruxes would return to normal. There was no chance Voldemort would actually feel anything close to remorse. Still, they weren't giving up on finding some other way to save Harry, and in the meantime they were getting fairly good at lieing to themselves.

Harry, meanwhile, took comfort from his friends assuring him he'd never left his bed while having the vision. Ginny was probably the most comforting of all, telling him that if he had been possessed, he would have gaps in his memory during those times. Since Harry remembered the vision all too well, he finally believed he hadn't been the snake.

The constant stream of people visiting Remus at St. Mungo's included all the students of Phoenix House. They had been supposed to go home for Christmas holidays the day after the attack, but they showed up to give Remus a surprise gift first.

"I guess you could call it a combination Christmas and get well present," Seth said. "We all took up a collection to buy it for you."

It was a beautiful watch with an etched leather band and gold hands, but the best feature about it was that it showed the phases of the moon. It must have cost a small fortune for a group of people who couldn't find jobs, and Remus was deeply appreciative. He would treasure it the way he treasured the old briefcase that had been a gift from the muggle students he had once taught.

It turned out that Remus had to stay in the hospital over Christmas, but was able to go home very soon after. He couldn't leave without taking care of something though.

"I need to have a word with the man in that bed there." He sighed. "He's going to have a lot to deal with. The healers have been trying to convince him he'll have an almost normal life, but I don't think they got through to him."

"What happened to him?" Harry asked, though he had a good guess which Remus confirmed.

"The same thing that happened to Mila and I," Remus answered. "Er- I think the rest of you should stay back. He threw a food tray at one of the med witches this morning. He hasn't been in a good mood."

That was putting it mildly. Although the other werewolf had looked wistfully at all the visitors Remus had had, he'd pulled the curtains around his bed and refused to say anything whenever Remus had tried talking to him before. He wasn't any more eager to talk today.

"If you're going to tell me everything's going to be fine," the other werewolf said "I swear I'll bite you."

Remus gave him a sad smile. remembering what Seth had once said, he told him "There's no harm a werewolf bite will do to me anymore."

The other man's eyes went wide.

"So you're one too. That what you're in here for?"

"No. I was bitten by a werewolf many years ago. This time I was in here for something else." He paused. "I've been a werewolf almost my whole life. Naturally I have to take precautions but other than that I've-"

"What about a job?" the other werewolf interupted. "The law says I can't have a job around people anymore." He gave a bitter, ironic, almost frightening laugh. "I used to work for McNair in the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. I never liked McNair anyway. I aught to have him dispose of me since I'm a dangerous creature now. And Gwen-" his voice broke. "I was going to ask her to marry me. Hope she doesn't mind someone who's going to grow fur and fangs every month!" He picked up something from the table beside his bed and threw it at the wall.

The others were shocked. They couldn't imagine Remus acting that way. Or any of the other werewolves for that matter. Remus seemed to be expectiong it though and remained calm.

"Mr.-"

"Talbot," the other werewolf answered. "Lawrence Talbot."

"Mr. Talbot, I can honestly tell you that you still can have a life ahead of you. As to what your Gwen will do, I don't know. I know nobody has come to see you but-'

"Well," Lawrence admitted. "She doesn't exactly know where I am. We were going for a walk in the moonlight and I heard someone scream. I ran to help and that- that beast came at me. It jumped up and bit me in the chest. I don't know what happened to whoever it was after before me. Anyway, I knew what it was that bit me- what I am now- and I couldn't face Gwen after that. I just ran until I passed out."

Everyone was quiet a moment after listening to the story, then Remus said "I think she's probably wondering where you are now. She'll have to find out eventually. As to finding a job-" an idea came to him. "I know a place dedicated to helping werewolves. They can always use more help. But by comming there, you'd be agreeing to keep everything secret and to not treat any of the other werewolves differently than you would anyone else."

Lawrence gave it some thought and said "I suppose it couldn't hurt. What else am I going to do?"

"Remember the conditions though. Give the idea some time. And remember every werewolf had a life before being bitten, and that they're no different than you."

He wanted to help Lawrence, and this felt right, but he wanted to be sure Lawrence wasn't going to cause trouble for anybody first. In the end, Lawrence gave Remus an adress to reach him at and Remus wished him luck. Whether he would come or not remained to be seen.

The family had a belated Christmas that year, but it was a joyous time. The best part was just having the family all together again, and Mila was just about to learn just how much she was wanted by everyone. Harry was in on the surprise, but nobody had said a word yet to Mila. Among her other presents that year she found an envelope. There was nothing special about it except the name on it.

"It's adressed to Mila Tonks," she said questioningly.

"Open it," Tonks said, grinning.

Mila opened the envelope and pulled out a document.

"It's a request I'm going to file to adopt you," Tonks explained to the little girl, who was already reading it intently. "I've got good connections in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. We've looked over all the laws that apply in this case, and we couldn't find any reason why the adoption shouldn't be allowed as long as they're fair." She paused to see Mila's reaction. "I'll do my best to be a good mother for you."

Milla hugged her.

"Thanks- Mum."

Going back to Hogwarts wasn't easy knowing Umbridge was waiting for him and it was made even harder by that fact that he had to take more Occlumacy lessons. Even Sirius, who wasn't fond of giving Snape more chances to give Harry a hard time, was adament about Harry taking the extra lessons. Maybe, the Marauders thought, Harry could prove their theory wrong. Maybe with a little more practice he could prove he could keep Voldemort out of his mind and that he wasn't a horcrux.

Still, the visions continued. Harry didn't mention them to any of his family ot friends, not wanting to worry them, but he couldn't hide it from his friends when he had a vision right in front of them, Voldemort's evil laughter comming out of Harry's own mouth.

"He's not inside my head," Harry told them. "It's more like I feel what he feels at times."

"So what made him feel so happy right now?" Hermione asked.

Harry didn't know, but but the next day they had their answer when the Daily Prophet announced there had been a mass breakout from Azkaban.

"I can't believe this! They're saying this has nothing to do with Voldemort. They're actually trying to link this to Sirius!"

The Ministry couldn't directly blame Sirius or say it had anything to do with him since he's been proven innocent and had been free for over a year now with most people trusting him again. However, when the article mentioned Bellatrix Lestrange it added "cousin of Sirius Black, first person to ever escape Azkaban," after the list of her crimes.

"This is mental, and it should be illegal. That makes it sound like he's a criminal too. Everyone knows he's innocent."

"They were very careful how they worded it," Hermione noted. "If they'd have said something like they suspect him of being behind the escape he could have had them prosecuted. But all they said was he was the first person to escape Azkaban and that he's Lestrange's cousin. Those are true facts even if they don't mean what it sounds like they do, so there's nothing Sirius can do about it." Then she added "I've been thinking, it's high time what's really going on gets printed. I could blackmail Skeeter to interview you, Harry."

Harry shook his head.

"I'd be risking Umbridge locking my dad and sister away, along with all the other werewolves."

"Legally she can't," Hermione said. "I've been researching the laws about werewolves."

"But Umbridge can change the laws. Look how she's restricted centaur territories and is trying to tag merpeople."

"But centaurs and merpeople are classified as beasts," Hermione said. "Werewolves are classsified as both beasts and beings. I'm not saying it's right to classify them as beasts," she added seeing the look on Harry's face. "You know that. But having both classifications makes laws about them harder to change."

"She made getting a job of almost any kind illegal for them."

"My guess is it took her years to get that passed though," Hermione explained. "And anyway, if they passed a law saying all werewolves were suspected of wanting to join Vol- Voldemort, they'd have to admit he's back, the very thing they want to deny. Besides, I don't believe Umbridge would carry out the threat."

Harry and Ron looked at her as if she were insane.

"Oh, I know she's foul enough to do something like that,but think about it. If she went through with her threat, you'd have no reason to do what she wants anymore. She's already taken away everything else, so that's her only way to keep you in her control."

That made sense, Harry realized.

"I'd still like to wait on doing the interview though. I don't want to push my luck."

Hermione didn't say anything more about the article, but said "By the way, I learned something else about Umbridge." She was grinning from ear to ear. "Haven't you noticed how she's mostly left Flitwick alone even though she's against anyone she thinks of as a half breed?"

That got only blank stares from the two boys.

"Don't tell me you two never figured out he's part goblin? Well, anyway, I wondered why she left him alone and I checked on her background. It turns out she's part goblin herself. A few generation further back than Flitwick, but the goblin blood is still there.

"Oh, we have to bring that up to her," Ron said laughing.

"We can't though," Harry said. If we do she'll blab to everyone about my dad's problem. She doesn't know about Mila, but once she does she'll make trouble over that too."

"Not if Mila registers as a werewolf first. Once a werewolf signs the registry, in return the Ministry can't tell anyone who doesn't know about their condition. Newt Scamander set up that rule when he created the registry."

Now this had possibilities. Mila had to register when she turned eleven, but nothing said she couldn't register sooner. Most werewolves just chose not to register until they had to. Once she was adopted the Ministry would know where she was anyway. And then- Umbridge could get a taste of her own medicine.

Sirius had been frustrated to say the least by the article in the Prophet. He'd also been frustrated lately with his lack of progress with Alex. So when Remus casually mentioned Alex would be at the meeting that night, Sirius brushed it off to save his ego.

"So? Why would she mean anymore to me than anyone else?"

"You've been trying hard enough to get a date with her."

"That's just- just-" He tried to come up with an excuse. "I can't let her get away with always turning me down. Think of my reputation."

"Oh how tragic. i can see why you can't allow that."

"Oh shut up. And stop laughing!"

Sirius sat on the couch and started petting Coal, one of the kittens Mrs. Norris had given birth to. The kitten had outsized ears, Crookshank's smashed in face, and Mrs. Norris' scrawny build. He was mostly black, with a few splotches of orange, one of them right over his heart. It had turned out Filch was so delighted with the kittens he'd given Coal to Hermione as a thank you for Crookshanks being the father. The trio had just about died of shock. Since Hermione didn't need another cat and remembered how fond Crookshanks and Sirius were of each other, she'd given the kitten to him. The bond was instant, even though Sirius had never been a fan of cats before knowing Crookshanks.

"Come off it Padfoot. You love Alex as much as I love Dora"

Now Sirius was beaming.

"You finally said it. You love my little cousin."

"I-" Remus started to protest, but couldn't.

"You know you love her Moony. So why not tell her? And just think about this. Your daughter is a werewolf too. What will you tell her someday when she falls in love? Are you going tell her she shouldn't for the same reasons you give for not being with Tonks?"

"You know better than that. If Mila falls in love with someone who loves her back I'll be as happy for her as any father would be for his daughter. If the boy she falls in love with loves her that much and she loves him back they should be together."

Sirius smirked, and Remus realized what he said. Tonks loved him enough not to care about his problem, and he knew his feelings for Tonks were much more than just friendship.

"You're right. I do need to tell her how much I love her." Then he added "What about you and Alex?"

"Like I told you, I don't have any special feelings for her. She's vain and arrogant and-"

"You sure you're not describing yourself?"

"Hey!"

Now it was Remus' turn to smirk.

"And I wouldn't let Alex hear you say that after the loving way she held your head on her lap when you were asleep as Padfoot."

"She what?" Sirius took in the words with hopeful surprise.

"Oh that's right. You woke up too fast to realize it."

"I have a chance with her?"

"I thought this was only about your reputation."

"Moony!"

"Then again, maybe she just likes dogs."

"Moony!"

AN: The wonderful idea for Umbridge being part goblin comes from Mosaic Muse. She's had many ideas I'm trying to work in.

I'm having a bit of a contest now regarding the werewolves. Mila is based on a character a friend of mine who loves Remus as much as I do roleplays and Seth is obviously from the Twilight series. But the other names, Giles Garnier and Lawrence Talbot are the names of other famous werewolves. The first person who knows where those names came from will get to name one of the werewolves at Phoenix House after themself. (Hint, Lawrence's story as well as the name of the girl he loves, Gwen, are a clue in his case.)

Thanks as always for all the reviews and to PadyandMoony