Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy!
OK... Not the longest chapter I've written, but... Oh, well...

* Review response:
Naginator, The Swordslinger, Nanashi113, Penny is wise, god of all, Ella1331, ElementalMaster16, Ayshun Dragon, OverPowered, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Maleivius, um... dunno. teenage hormones? Anyway, Katie still has a role in this story, so it's far too early to remove her from the stage, so to speak.
Awsomeness7, officially, sometime after the Yule ball next year. Unofficially, not sure, as the definition of "going out" is kinda stretchy.
ManlyMonk, like I said to Maleivius, Katie hasn't fulfilled her role yet, so I won't get rid of her. As for that contract... Well, three guesses, what happens in this chapter?
1337box, should I remind you, my dear reader, that Ginny is still in St. Mungo's after being almost drained of her life by the diary? I plan on bringing her back to Hogwarts for the next year, but she's still going to be nothing more than a shadow of her former self.
Zarosian Chaos, it was a Ministry ball, and I see no reason for describing it as nothing really important happens there.

* Poll: Looks like Sirius WILL live in this story, but if you disagree with this, you still have a chance to get what you want. You still have 2 more chapters to decide the fate of the last male Black.

* Author's Note: Remus fans, can you find it in yourselves to forgive me?

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"powered speech / true prophecies by the seer"
"spells / parseltongue"

This chapter is not beta-read yet.

chapter 47: Midnight fight

The rest of February went by without any major events for Harry. Of course, the life at Hogwarts didn't suddenly become dull as ditchwater, especially with the Weasley twins around, but... Anyway, not having to worry about anything but his latest homework was good in the young Potter's mind – it finally allowed him to continue his research into the ways of dealing with Voldemort without having to destroy all of the man's horcruxes first.

But as he hadn't come up with an idea better than to seal the Dark Lord's soul away permanently, he had to find out how to do that and, obviously, the Hogwarts library and even its Restricted section, had nothing that could help him at all. So the green-eyed wizard had to turn to the Room of Requirement. Unfortunately, it looked like there weren't any easy way to accomplish what he needed that didn't involve sacrificing one's self in the process... Or did he just ask the room for the books and other stuff the wrong way? Still, disappointed with not finding anything good by the end of the first week of March, Harry decided to forget about this for a while and continue his research sometime later, when his enthusiasm would be restored.

This might have been a good decision too, as some of the professors thought that it was about time they started preparing their students to the end of year examinations, and so the amount of the homework they assigned all but doubled... Damn, they were just third years, and the young Potter didn't even want to think about what it will be like when he and his friends will be in their NEWTs or even OWLs years... Thankfully, some entertainment to keep everyone from going nuts from the amount of homework they had to do was on its way:

On Sunday, twentieth of March, the fifth qiudditch match of the season was played between the Slytherin and the Hufflepuff teams. And much like it was two months ago against the Ravenclaw team, the Snakes weren't having an easy game, even if this time their chasers were a little better that those of the opposing team... The game lasted for a little more than an hour and ended when the Slytherin seeker by some miracle – there wasn't any other explanation to how Basilius Malfoy managed to outmaneuver Cedric Diggory – got to the snitch first, thus earning the victory for the Slytherin team.

As the quidditch game did last too long today, no one even needed to run from the pitch to the castle to get to the Great hall on time for some lunch. And now that he was done with his meal, the young Potter was on his way to the Hogwarts library to do some more of his homework: after all there still was that project for Ancient Runes that he needed to finish by the end of the semester, and he had barely started it yet.

But it looked like the fates had something against him doing his homework today as soon, maybe fifteen or twenty minutes later, he was joined there by Draconica. And even if the blond witch was trying her best to appear as cold and distant and untouchable as always, Harry still could see that she was, well... It was just like an aura or something around her and he had seen her like this only once before, and it was way back in November, when the two of them had done that. On the second thought, 'Nica didn't appear this randy to him back then...

The blonde somewhat lifelessly dropped into the chair across from him, while under the table she gently touched his right foot with her feet, making it all but impossible for him to concentrate on his studies... Deciding that he indeed wasn't likely to make any progress with his homework at the moment, Harry closed his notebook and looked up at Draconica, who had her head propped on her hands as she was looking back at him... For the next several seconds the two of them just looked at each other, before the blond witch finally sighed and cocked her head to the side, while still having their feet touch under the table.

"Harry..." She breathed out, while her cheeks turned pink with a slight blush. "Can we?.." She asked, not even needing to finish the question to convey what she wanted to him. "Pretty please..." 'Nica added then with a pout, making herself all but irresistible to the young Potter. Sighing as he cursed his lack of willpower when it came to the pretty girls, the green-eyed wizard slowly nodded, accepting that there was no way for him to break free from under his friend's charms...

~/ *** \~

Remus Lupin wasn't your average werewolf, not at all. Not only did he follow everything written in those quite barbaric werewolf regulations passed by Wizengamot, but he also was a Dumbledore's man through and throughout. And even more, he got to attend Hogwarts even though he was turned well before his eleventh birthday...

And this was where he befriended a prankster and, later, a hardcore Gryffindor Sirius Black. Or at least everyone though him to be such until the grimm animagus revealed his true colors by selling his closest friend and brother in all but name James Potter to the Dark Lord... But since the aurors under Crouch Sr.'s command send the bastard to rot in Azkaban till Death claimed his dirty soul, Remus thought the Potters to be somewhat avenged and, following Dumbledore's word, moved on...

But this last summer, after spending almost twelve years behind bolt and bar, Sirius Black somehow managed to escape the infamous magical prison, a place many would call the Hell on Earth, destroying that little world Remus managed to build around himself in the process. So, now, following the call to protect the chosen one and to put Black where he belongs, the 'good' werewolf of Britain was searching for Sirius, like many other members of the 'Order of the Phoenix' did, though he had slightly different reasons for this: Remus wanted to finally learn why his ex-friend decided to join the Dark Lord and why he sold the Potters to him...

Still, it looked like Sirius was even more Black than he ever let on, his betrayal of the Light included – only a true Black could hide like this for months with all of the aurors and just volunteers searching for him high and low and be spotted only once, by a portrait inside Hogwarts of all things. But this only made Remus more determined to catch the grimm animagus and get to the bottom of what had happened prior to that fateful Halloween night twelve year ago...

At the moment, though, Remus was going walking through the under-bushes that grew on the outskirts of some muggle village in the southern Scotland – back in December, when Black had attacked the Gryffindor tower, the shabby werewolf looked for him around Hodsmeade, but having found nothing (partially because the snowstorm destroyed all of the scents in the area), he moved to the more southern regions in hopes of finding the traitor here. Alas, so far Remus had found nothing at all: it looked like Sirius somehow managed to completely 'go down the drain'.

And as the full moon was just three days ago, he was still recovering from his most recent transformation and so he wasn't in the best shape at the moment. Still, the wolf inside him was good enough to sense something coming at a great speed at him, and the shabby man, following his instincts, ducked down. A ash-gray curse flew the space his head was occupying just a moment ago...

Having studied DADA to level where he could get his mastery (if he wasn't a werewolf), and having fought in the war with Voldemort, Remus recognized this curse: vulnero lupus, a very dark piece of magic specifically designed to hurt werewolves. The origins of this spell were unknown, but according to some rumors, Voldemort himself developed it to keep his subservient lycans in line with the fear of slow and painful death... And it looked like now someone was using this curse to eliminate him. Could it be Black himself? - Remus wondered.

Some seventy meters away certain wizard sighed as his curse missed, but it didn't ruin his mood. If anything, it only added to his ardor as it he rarely could find a victim that could put up even this much fight. Hunting and killing those dirty beasts that werewolves are was like a game to this man, and this game was the most interesting if the beast fought back... Yes, Frederick Gamp was on one of his werewolf hunts tonight, and so far this one looked to be the best one he had had in the long time.

Stepping out of his hiding spit in the under-bushes into the streak of moonlight, Frederick revealed himself to his soon to be kill, making the werewolf tense: it looked like his reputation preceded him. Good, the dirty beast should fear their betters, after all, they are allowed to live only because of their betters' whim.

"So, what do we have here?" The young lord Gamp asked, looking down at Remus, who now had his wand drawn as well. "What kind of a filthy, disgusting dog do I get to kill tonight?" His 'opponent' didn't say anything in return, but his grip on his wand noticeably tensed. Not wasting any more time on talking to someone whom he viewed as nothing more than dirt on the soles of his shoes, Frederick sent another vulnero lupus curse at the werewolf in front of him...

Remus dodged the curse again, before training his wand at the attacker and firing three disarming charms in quick succession, but they splashed harmlessly against the other man's protego shield. And as soon as that shield was dropped, the dark wizard sent a sickly-purple arc of a dark cutting curse at the shabby werewolf. The said curse, though, didn't reach its target, stopped by a stone wall transfigured from some debris that was there on the ground – even if Remus wasn't as magically strong as, say, Dumbledore or You-Know-Who, he wasn't a pushover either, so something like this wasn't impossible for him.

"Not bad for a dirty beast!" Frederick commented, feeling high in his ardor from such a challenging hunt – actually he couldn't remember the last time when his prey lasted for more than a minute against him. Yeah, this one was going to be the best werewolf hunt he had ever had... "Eat this!" He shouted, aiming his wand at the beast he was trying to put down. "Reducto!" Remus, though, wasn't going down just yet as he masterfully intercepted the curse with a piece of debris from the ground, causing it to explode prematurely...

And while his attacker was waiting for the dust from the explosion to settle down, the shabby werewolf transfigured a couple of stone dogs to attack the dark wizard trying to kill him, while he himself tried to escape the area with his life. Unfortunately, it looked like some anti-apparation and even anti-portkey wards were raised, and trying to bring those down would take more time than he had at his hands. So, Remus did the only other thing that made sense in this situation: he tried to run the hell outta here, while his attacker was still busy with those stone dogs...

Remus was still well outside of the village, when a couple of reducto curses flew by, creating big explosions of dirt and dust in front of him as they hit the ground. Turning around, he saw his attacker, all out of his breath, running after him – why again those pure-blood bigots never exercise physically? Though, right now Remus was thankful for that...

"You... won't be... able to escape... me... filthy beast..." Frederick breathed out tiredly as he had more or less caught up with the werewolf he was hunting. "Sectumsempra!" His dark cutting curse missed the intended target by a large margin, making the lord Gamp curse his prey in his mind for making him run good two or even three hundreds meters. He re-trained his wand at Remus, who was slowly backpedaling towards the village, and started firing curses again. But since his mood for a hunt was completely ruined by that strenuous physical activity (running), he no longer held back with the curses that would mutilate and kill the beast with their first hit... Not that he managed to land even one hit with that valley of spells as the shabby werewolf raised some quite good transfigured shields to protect himself. "Stupid beast, die already!" Frederick growled, sending more dark curses at his target.

But again none of those had connected with Remus as the werewolf ducked behind a large bush that took the hit turning into a large flambeau in the process. With his 'cover' destroyed, Remus fired blindly a hair of disarming charms in the general direction of the other wizard, before making another attempt to run towards the village... He didn't manage to cover even twenty meters before a killing curse of all things whizzed past him, causing him to stop running and once again faced his attacker in order to defend himself.

"Vulnero lupus!" The young lord. Gamp shouted, throwing another curse at the werewolf, but it was dodged as were a cutting and a piercing curses that followed it. Damn beast was far more competent with its wand than Frederick was comfortable with, and, even worse, it was outlasting him, despite still recovering from the most recent transformation. He needed to off this stupid dog right now! "Crucio!" The dark-red beam of the unforgivable curse connected with the transfigured earthen wall that the beast had raised to protect itself. Pushing more of his magic, as well as his hate for the filthy no-good beasts, into the curse, Frederick made it break through the wall and connect with the werewolf that was hiding behind it, making the cur to hiss from the unbearable pain.

It took the lord Gamp about ten minutes of holding Remus under the most powerful crucio curse he was capable of to burn off his anger from having his werewolf hunt turn this awful. And while these ten minutes weren't enough to torture someone into the state of a vegetable, especially when that someone's mind had a natural protections of a beast, this time was still enough to make anyone a quietly moaning and sobbing mess for the time being... And since his hunt had come to an end, Frederick decided that it was time to deliver the finishing blow. No, putting the filthy werewolf out of its misery with a killing curse seemed to be far too generous for him, so he opted to use that anti-werewolf curse instead.

"Vulnero lupus!" The ash-gray beam of magic left the end of his wand, moment later piercing Remus's chest just below man's heart. Since this curse would slowly and very painfully kill the werewolf over the next ten minutes or so, the lord Gamp decided that he no longer had any reason to stay here, so, turning around, he started walking away towards the edge of the anti-apparation wards that he had set up for his hunt – he couldn't disable those from the inside after all...

What the dark wizard didn't expect was his already downed prey finding it in himself to fight off the pain from the curses he was put under away to pick his wand up... Maybe it was the feeling of the approaching death, maybe it was something else, but all of those moral limiters that Remus had were no more – he no longer saw any reason not to kill his enemies.

"Reducto!" Frederick Gamp had no time to react to the overpowered curse, and it slammed into the back of his next and the explosion that followed it destroyed most of his body, leaving only blood stains on the ground. The Most Noble House Gamp was no more... With his killer dead, Remus, no longer having any strength left in him, fell on the ground in a heap and waited for Death to come for him.

Only now it occurred to him that having followed Dumbledore's word, he did absolutely nothing to make sure that little Harry was brought up in a way that his parents wanted him to... Actually, the shabby but kind werewolf had never seen his best friend's son even once since before that Halloween night more than twelve years ago... Really, how could he forget someone, whom he considered to be of his pack, like this? Remus had no answer to this question... And as his life was fading away from him, he only hoped that when he meets James and Lily on the next great adventure, they will be able to forgive him. Even if he didn't deserve their forgiveness...

That's all, folks!
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