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Weapon (Possession Chapter LXXIII)
Chapter XXII - Divisions
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Remus sighed as he sat down, considering the week. It wasn't so much the week he was considering as the past few days.

His arrival back at Hogwarts had been standard but Sirius' presence had made it interesting. He had missed the other man and while they were still maintaining separate quarters, taking it slow, he didn't know how long that would continue. They could both be rather impetuous at times...

Although... they both had secret's to keep now... He knew Sirius wasn't telling him things, just as he wasn't telling Sirius things.

It still felt good though. It was amazing what one little slip of the tongue could do.

What followed after hadn't been as good but Harry had always recovered quickly from everything and the attack by the shadows was no different. It probably helped that various other shadows had made themselves conspicuous around their self proclaimed Master. They were reassuring to everyone, Harry included that they were under control, and they seemed to take delight in making the boy happy. It was childish but he'd once caught them making shadow animals on the curtain in far more detail than any hand could make. He hadn't heard them but from the smile gracing Harry's face, whatever they were saying to accompany the outlandish movements of the 'animals' was amusing. For that alone he was comfortable with them.

The real problem with the week lay with the vampires.

He didn't know what Dumbledore was thinking... or not thinking by even entertaining the notion of an alliance.

He knew the Light needed allies but did they really need those who had traditionally called themselves dark? The Vampires had done them a favour by allying with Lucius, they had ensured that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would not approach them, unlike almost all other Dark Lord's in the past. They had the opportunity to catch the undead between their two forces which would have destroyed many of them. Such a situation was not likely to arise again for centuries.

But the ancient wizard had greeted the vampire elder like a friend, and from the tone in Albus' voice, it almost seemed like he had been expecting them.

Did no one think of the werewolves?

They had served the dark, true, but they had also served the light, and they didn't view all humans - wizard or not - as food. And they were one of the few forces that had actively and continuously hunted the vampires for centuries.

Werewolves hated vampires. Vampires liked werewolves... as food.

It was not a well known fact, most wizards didn't care what a vampire ate, but werewolves were better nourishment for a vampire than a human or even a wizard. The mutagenic toxins in their blood that reacted in the light of the moon when ingested by a vampire acted to stabilise the undead form, stabilise the toxins that were in a vampires blood, the toxins that caused them to be a vampire and were introduced via their blood and bite and a stable form meant less bloodlust, less bloodlust meant less wasted energy which in turn lead to a reduced need to feed.

Thankfully, that little fact was not known by most vampires and most of them viewed werewolves as a troublesome meal by virtue of their increased strength, even in human form.

It was something Xeoaph would know though.

It was something all werewolves knew.

And it was the reason werewolves and vampires were traditional enemies.

Trying to make them fight on the same side was not going to work. There was too much history between them.

The Pack Messenger had shared his outrage as well, and now, if the Ministry accepted Xeoaph's offer, what ever they offered to them was going to have to be impressive before the werewolves would even consider fighting.

It wasn't just the Vampires though. The Dark Lord had finally made his offer. The Pack Messenger had relayed it, and if Remus didn't know that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was evil beyond all others, he would have been sorely tempted to take it.

And there was more on this mysterious third offer. Whoever they were, they were aware of the werewolves' reticence and they wanted to talk, face to face to reassure their potential allies of their power, and to discuss any questions that may have arisen. Their offer though, still remained almost too good to be true.

The Dark Lord wanted them to fight. The Ministry would no doubt want the same. In enticement the Dark Lord offered them acceptance and sacrifices, while the Ministry would probably offer to repeal the unfair laws.

This new party didn't want them to fight, they only wanted a large, visual show of support in one battle that they nominated, and the public proclamation that the werewolves had sided with neither the Dark Lord or Ministry. Apart from that it wanted them to hold neutral but was prepared to accept that the werewolves were not one homogenous whole and that some would fight for either side. Providing that whoever this party was had their backing at that one nominated battle the werewolves could side with who they liked.

This third party wanted chaos.

To entice them into this rather ambiguous position, they were offering sacrifices, victims who could be converted into more werewolves, which would appeal to those who wanted to side with the Dark Lord, and they were offering the eradication of unfair laws, which would appeal to those werewolves who wanted to side with the Ministry but more importantly they were offering power.

The Pack Messenger said the response to the questions that the Pack had raised had been easy. It had been confident. 'I can give you what the Dark Lord offers, I can give you what the Ministry offers but I can give you more. I can give you access to wolfsbane potion. I will ensure that you are considered human. And I will give you my word in blood.'

Remus blinked as he considered it. It meant only one thing. I will give you my oath, bound by my blood, so that if you feel I have reneged upon what I have offered, you may take my life.

It was an archaic offer... but it was attractive. For once they would have someone to blame, someone they could take out their anger on when things never eventuated.

It was not a pretty emotion, but it was human nature, and they had been betrayed too often. Dark Lord after Dark Lord, Ministry after Ministry, they all conveniently forgot their promises. This oath wouldn't ensure that it wouldn't happen. There were ways of getting around it, but it would give the werewolves a sense of control. That was something they had never been offered before.

That's why he said he would go to this meeting.

This new offer was confident. The details it was hinting at were too good to be true and even if nothing eventuated, it might give them the opportunity to stall, or blackmail both the Dark Lord and the Ministry into offering them more. He doubted the Ministry would have any inkling of even the possibility of a third offer, but the Dark Lord might, and if he took it seriously...

That's what he'd told the Pack Messenger to relay to the other Leaders. Somehow they had to let He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named know that they had another offer, and if he took it seriously, then they could take it seriously... unless further evidence could be presented to them, that the offer was genuine and that it had the ability to eventuate, otherwise they would be better off ignoring its hope completely.

Still, he would go to the meeting. He wanted to see what type of creature could even think of offering the werewolves a deal to ensure this chaos and he wanted to see for himself if it was all just a dream, a useful but unattainable dream.

Maybe he should talk to Sirius... properly talk to Sirius...

Except that would break his word.

He couldn't do that.

And then of course, adding to the week, there was the little talk he'd had with Albus after the vampire had left. So many things had been over looked with Harry that he had almost considered it impossible that this could be ignored.

He understood the reasons for Harry being raised by the Muggles and if he had had a loving family, it would be okay, but he was and had missed out on many of the traditional things wizarding families did. The small traditions, the things they didn't even think about because they saw them from birth. It was one of the things that separated a Muggle born wizard from the others and while the view was elitist, he knew James would never want Harry to be ignorant in that way.

Besides, for a wizard of Harry's power, the Coming of Age Ceremony was a necessity.

It wouldn't happen completely on his birthday, but that day would be the day that was pivotal. His power would fully awaken. It was the traditional time for it. And on that day he would need to be protected, shielded. For most wizards or witches it was just another day, but for Harry...

James had said that his Coming of Age Ceremony had been interesting and he had been shielded by the strongest shields in the Potter estate... Remus didn't even want to think what Harry's was going to be like.

Dumbledore had simply nodded when he'd brought the issue up, deliberately not mentioning the vampires or werewolves. The Headmaster had looked grave before he'd smiled and said that he'd already asked an old friend to provide the shielding for Harry since Hogwarts shields were good, but these one's were going to need to be exceptional and they couldn't use the Potter estate shields as they hadn't been reinforced since James had died.

Apart from the fact that it was prestigious for old wizarding families to maintain an estate, there were practical considerations. Most of them had shields specifically keyed to the blood of the owners. This meant that for those exceptional wizards, they could still use their home estates to contain their power because the shields were reinforced by their power. It was a set of complicated charms that tied the shields to a bloodline but it was worth it when people such as Harry were concerned.

Dumbledore had admitted it had been the same for him, and that he had deliberately kept a young Tom Riddle in school briefly for his Coming of Age. Most families took care of it quietly and most wizards didn't even require it... and how could he have forgotten until now?

At least the Headmaster had already thought of it.

Remus sighed as he got up, preparing to sleep, life had been so much easier in the past, even with the complications of the war.

He never thought he'd think that.

Maybe... maybe even if he couldn't talk to Sirius he should go see him. If it was one thing the dog animagus was good at, it was simplifying things and... and it would be good just to be with him.

Remus smiled as he left his quarters.

Somehow, everything would work out.

---

Voldemort hissed as he looked at the map. It was showing him the past, what had happened scant hours ago at one of his newly formed bases.

The fact that it was new meant that he hadn't lost many people but the fact that it was new meant that he shouldn't have lost it. But he knew now, oh yes, he knew where the vampire had run to.

It had been a well planned attack, with most of the manpower provided by the vampires, no doubt in an effort to prove that they were... not loyal, but that they would work with the humans on this. There were enough Order members there though that if they desired, they would have been able to cover the vampires' involvement from the Ministry, but this was probably an initial run, something for the Order to show success in before they approached the Ministry.

He would be expected though, to retaliate, both against the Order and the one who had leaked the position of the base. That usually wouldn't have been a problem. He would enjoy the slaughter of the Order but for the traitor... There were only a few of his forces who knew where that base was and there was only one who could possibly have given Dumbledore that information and he didn't want to destroy them yet.

He knew Snape was a spy. There were a number of his Death Eaters that had gleefully reported their suspicions of Severus' duplicity to him thinking they would be rewarded but he already knew. He was not so arrogant to think that the Potion Master could get that close to Dumbledore without the ancient wizard knowing. But Albus was playing the same game he was with Severus...

They both considered Snape's information useful, but neither of them relied on the Potion Master and their game would be over when Severus chose to support one side over the other.

Voldemort smiled... Perhaps it was time to begin a new round in their game. Snape was only one who could have given the information to Dumbledore... He should at least be seen to punish Snape... and perhaps he could see which way the man would jump this time.

Maybe Harry could help...

The Dark Lord sighed.

He already missed his mate. While they could communicate over the large distance, he knew Harry was reluctant to due to the presence of Fawkes. Harry was not in any danger, even if detected he could simply return to him and they would fight together but it would then take them many years to achieve their goals. This deception was faster but it was not comfortable.

But they would make the sacrifice of the other's company to be able to enjoy eternity together that much faster... And he wasn't going to destroy what his mate had suffered, what he had suffered because he missed Harry.

He'd miss him more if they were fighting for twenty seven years before they conquered it all. He knew that. They would both be too busy to see the other if it came to that.

And it wasn't like he wouldn't see Harry this year. He rather imagined that once Dumbledore considered the Heir of Gryffindor trained, Harry would be on the battle field. The Dark Lord was looking forward to it.

He'd seen partially what the shadows could do in combat and while he knew his beloved was powerful, he had yet to truly see what Harry could accomplish. Fighting Aurors was boring. They were weak, their training made them predictable. Fighting Vampires was similar. Xeoaph and Dumbledore would both be interesting to fight. The Vampire was old and powerful and would no doubt have some deceptive moves while the ancient wizard was sly and knew his moves. But he would kill both of them when it came to it.

No, fighting Harry would be exciting and invigorating. He'd fought the Boy-Who-Lived in the past and that had been challenging when Harry had yet to even grasp at his power. He had been innovative with his charms, giving him outcomes that no one could even hope to duplicate. Now that he knew what he could do, it would be so much more.

He ran his tongue over thin lips as he looked back at the image of the vampires attacking. So Xeoaph still wanted to see him dead and Dumbledore was desperate enough to take aide from the undead?

He'd known when Lucius interfered that he'd won over the Ministry and that it was only the man's rebellion that had kept him from claiming it all but he'd never expected Dumbledore to so openly admit that, for in accepting the vampire's aide he had now admitted that there was no other choice... Perhaps it wouldn't take the year as the shadows had indicated...

-Only by a day or so though.-

The Dark Lord sighed at the whisper, still this should make it easier for him to claim full dominion over the werewolves though, for there was no way that they could now ally with the Ministry. This time, the werewolves would not be able to stall him.

He flicked a mote of power at the map, ceasing the movement. The base was lost but he had successfully established other bases and he would continue to. There was nothing to be concerned about.

This was just the beginning of the year, the beginning of the year that ended it all and both Dumbledore and Xeoaph would appreciate that fully before he was finished.

He was going to enjoy that moment when Dumbledore realised that their saviour, the Heir of Gryffindor did not belong to the Order, did not belong to the Light but was his - mind, body and soul. And after he'd claimed it all, he would give it to his mate, a gift to the one who had made it all possible, right after he finished possessing Harry once more in all the ways imagination could suggest. And he had a fairly active imagination.

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