"Are you sure this is a good idea, Mr. Lupin? I have serious concerns about this." Mia nervously twisted her hands together, looking at the writhing mass of white nyonye ngana ants.
"I second those concerns." Jamie echoed his sister, his voice bouncing around the deep cavern they were standing in. "This seems like a terrible idea. Are you sure we can't go out and see the manticores at the magical zoo again? At least you die quickly from poison instead of getting eaten alive one tiny bite at a time."
Remus smirked, "There's nothing like a good practical test to help a lesson really sink in. Now, who wants to be first?" He had actually been planning a fun field trip to the woods for this week, but when Jamie and Mia had both been complaining about how lame magical insects were, he had decided to take the children to see exactly how 'lame' they could be.
Jamie and Mia looked at each other and sighed before Mia pulled out her wand. "So, Jamie… odds or evens?"
"I'll take evens. Evens never lose." Taking his wand out as well, Mia and Jamie took a few steps apart before Mia tossed a coin from her pocket into the air. Keeping a quaffle in the air was a simple drill used in quesyn, and both teens were pretty good at it. However, doing it with a coin was a lot harder, so they used it to decide things between them. Remus stood back and watched as the siblings batted the coin around in the air with quesyn spells.
Eventually, the coin reached the ground, and Jamie joyfully proclaimed his victory. His reflexes had served him well. Looking for the coin, the children saw it rolling towards the ants. As soon as it came into contact with the mass, it seemed to get absorbed as the ravenous insects consumed it.
Mia gulped. "You're sure this is going to be okay, Professor?"
"I wouldn't let you do it if I didn't have absolute confidence that you'd be fine. After all, a lawsuit is a terrible amount of paperwork." Remus smiled, "You'll be fine. Just do what we learned yesterday."
Mia readied her wand and began a rather drawn-out wand movement, muttering an incantation that made her glow a light blue for a moment.
Remus approached her and waved his wand around her, "Very good, Mia. You cast it almost perfectly. Now, get up there and say hello."
Mia gave her brother the look of someone walking to the gallows and gave her wand to Remus before turning to the wall of insects and putting her hand into the mass. She shrieked as the insects started coming off the wall and covered her hand, jerking it away. The insects on her hand crawled about but didn't bite.
"Bravo, Mia!" Remus clapped, "I know that took a lot of courage, and I'm very proud of you. Now, can you direct them back to the wall?"
Mia took her hand, hovering it inches from the wall. She concentrated for a moment as the magic film around her skin gently encouraged the insects from her hand to return to the wall, just as she had practiced. The ants rejoined their colony, and Mia withdrew her hand and moved away from the wall rather quickly before sitting down and letting go of the breath she had been holding. "That was so creepy."
"You did very good regardless, Mia." Remus gave her his hand and helped her up, returning her wand as he did so. Then he turned to Jamie. "Now it's your turn, Jamie."
Jamie paled a little in the dim light but stepped forward resolutely. He grabbed his wand and cast the same spell his sister had. When he was done, he turned to Remus for inspection.
"You're looking good as well, Jamie. Now, get up there." Jamie also gave his wand to the professor for safekeeping before walking to the wall, a bit more confident now that his sister had done it. He put his hand on the wall, determined to outdo his sister at least a little. As the insects surged up his arm, he bit his lip and held himself steady, not letting go until they had covered nearly his entire torso. Once he moved his hand away, he stepped back and closed his eyes, trying to stay still.
His mind drifted back to the books he had read with Mia before coming here about these ants. The nyonye ngana ants were named after a powerful deity in Kuba mythology who had vomited them up after exhausting himself in the act of creation. The books mentioned that the ants were used in simple purification rituals, which were the wizard equivalent of bathing before the invention of aguamenti and soap. Jamie wasn't sure if he would try it when they had gotten up this morning, but seeing poorly how his sister had reacted to the ants, he couldn't resist the opportunity to show off.
Remembering what he had read, he started slowly chanting a few words, channeling magic through the creatures like they were a wand. As Jamie repeated the short phrase, he channelled ever more magic, and the ants responded by crawling faster and faster all over his body, eventually starting to glow brightly. As Jamie changed gears and finished the ritual, he felt a mild prickling sensation all over his skin as the ravenous magic of the insects devoured every physical impurity. The ritual concluded with a bright flash, and then the only light in the cave was once again emanating from Remus and Mia's wands.
"Bravo, Jamie! Very impressive. I haven't seen that ritual performed in years. Now, why don't you put the insects back? We'll head home for the day, and I'll give you guys a quick quiz on what we've learned." Remus had a mischievous smile on his face as he conjured a Jamie-sized cloak and handed it to Mia before turning away. Mia gave him a confused look but knew that whenever that smile was on Remus's face, something very entertaining was about to happen. Remus, despite appearing straight-laced, was actually quite a prankster, and both of them had already faced down some of the man's pranks and been left laughing for days. That particular smile of his was a giveaway that something was about to happen.
Mia turned back to her brother as the insects drained off his body and immediately understood why Remus was looking away. She broke into raucous laughter.
"What?"
Mia could barely breathe through her laughter as she walked up to her brother and held out the cloak, her eyes averted, "Jamie, I think you're missing a few things."
Jamie looked down and yelped in embarrassment, realizing the insects had also devoured his clothes! "ACK! The books didn't say anything about this!" He grabbed the conjured cloak from his sister, who had yet to stop laughing, and put it on to protect what little dignity he had left. "Okay, Mia, I'll admit that was probably kind of funny from your perspective, but is it really that funny?"
"Oh, Jamie," Mia managed to get out through her peals of laughter, "The clothes aren't the only thing missing." She gestured towards his head.
Jamie reached up, wondering if the ants had done something crazy like change his hair color, when he encountered nothing but skin. "Blimey! I'm bald!"
Mia couldn't stop snickering, "Right in one! You look quite ridiculous, and as soon as we get home, we're taking pictures for posterity. This is priceless!"
"Yeah, yeah… Laugh it up, Mia." Jamie pouted, which only made him look more ridiculous and drove his sister into even more laughter.
Remus walked up to the children, "Now, Jamie, what have you learned about the risks of trying rituals without asking someone who's done it before?"
Jamie sighed and repeated something that both Remus and Mr. Ogden had mentioned a couple of times, "That I should expect the unexpected."
"Very good. Now, let's get back home so Mia can take those pictures." Remus grabbed the children's hands, and with a pop, the wizards disappeared, leaving the insects to continue their eternal tunnelling.
~~~~~~~~~~ Y ~~~~~~~~~~
The wolfsbane tasted as terrible as ever. With the full moon being tonight, he cursed his slightly sharpened senses. It wasn't anything dramatic, but he swore that the potion tasted worse today than it did yesterday. Or maybe it was his imagination. Remus eyed the still-smoking flask grimly, yet gratefully, before cleaning it with a swish of his wand and placing it back on the iron nightstand he'd transfigured for Falkwes. The phoenix could pick it up when he dropped off his first dose next month.
He looked in the mirror on his dresser. An aging, drained face looked back at him. As much as he hated to, it would be better to cancel his tutoring today and sleep until he transformed. Maybe that way, he'd be up to snuff tomorrow. With a sigh, he shuffled downstairs to make the necessary phone call.
~~~~~~~~~~ Y ~~~~~~~~~~
Remus was woken from his nap—not by the bone-crushing pain that marked his transformation, but by the sounds of light, happy feet on the staircase up to his room. Not wanting anyone to feel guilty for waking him up, he quickly sat up in bed. Noticing a book nearby, he grabbed that, too, and hastily pretended to be reading.
Jamie was the first through the door, his messy black hair stirring up old memories in Remus. The fleeting thought gently faded away as Remus' attention was drawn to Mia. With graceful ease, she floated a tray of delicious-looking cookies next to the empty flask on his nightstand.
"We baked you some cookies, Mr. Lupin!" Jamie's voice was energetic.
Mia smiled gently at her teacher. "Mum told us you were sick, so Jamie and I stopped by the library to look up some cooking charms to bake you some cookies without burning down the house. I hope you like chocolate and marshmallows."
Remus appreciatively inhaled as the tray floated by. "They smell delicious, Mia. It's just what I need to wash down the taste of the terrible medicine I've been taking."
Jamie pulled a face, "Is it a potion? I bet it tastes horrible. Mia and I are convinced that all potion masters are evil gits who design these things to be awful just for the satisfaction of torturing their poor victims."
Remus laughed a little and couldn't help but think of Severus Snape. It was definitely the kind of thing he would have thought about the dour man when he was a student.
"Well, we should probably head home, Jamie. Bedlam still needs to be taken for a walk, and we promised Mum we wouldn't stay too long and tire out Mr. Lupin." Mia started moving towards the door.
"I guess. Bye Mr. Lupin. I hope you're feeling better tomorrow." Jamie smiled at his tutor before ambling out the door with his sister.
The happy feet pattered down the staircase again. Who knew such a short time with two young children could be so tiring? And after he'd slept all day, too. However, he couldn't fault their intent, and the cookies smelled delicious; the children seemed to have figured out his weakness for chocolate. He might even eat them for breakfast tomorrow. After all, his mum wasn't around to tut at him anymore, and it gave him something to look forward to post-transformation. Remus removed his glasses again and fell asleep, glad that the moon would rise late that night.
~~~~~~~~~~ Y ~~~~~~~~~~
His muscles seared, melting into new, larger forms. His joints popped, dislocating and then sliding into place. His ligaments tore, ripping and healing, ripping and healing. His bones stretched, crunching into longer, sturdier shapes. It seemed to last forever, but in only a few seconds, Remus was a werewolf. The full moon burned his blood, setting desires for fresh meat ablaze, yet, as before, he was in control.
The wolf smelled young, fresh meat in the room… no, Remus was stern with himself: children. He was smelling Mia and… the wolf made a low growl in confusion. Prongs? The scent filling the room was reminiscent of his long-dead friend. The wolf wanted to seek out his old playmate, and Remus' curiosity wanted to see where the scent led. Plodding over to the door, he clumsily depressed the door handle, but his massive werewolf body was too bulky for the door frame. Remus winced as he scraped and squeezed himself through the door, sending shivers through the house as he made his way out into the hallway and down the stairs. Thankfully, the creaky stairs supported his increased weight as the wolf followed the scent outside.
~~~~~~~~~~ S ~~~~~~~~~~
When Bathilda hit her 120th birthday many years ago, she had begun to notice how smaller and smaller noises would wake her up from sleep. By now, she had gradually become accustomed to sleeping less and often spent much of the night lightly dozing, comfortably hovering at the border between waking and dreaming. So when she was awoken by slight vibrations of her bed, she initially just rolled over and attempted to go back to sleep. However, when this was followed by the sounds of the staircase creaking, she decided to get up and make sure everything was okay. Sometimes, Bedlam would sneak in and make a mess searching for a non-existent rodent.
It took her a while to get herself out of bed and downstairs, but by that time, all the strange noises had ceased. Silently bemused, she wandered into her kitchen to prepare some tea to take back to bed. She reached for a mug out of a cabinet when, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed movement outside the window in the Granger's yard. Because of the light from the full moon, she could easily pick out Bedlam. He'd grown to be almost as long as Jamie was tall. Despite that, Bathilda could see that the other animal was easily twice the size of the bobcat, which surprised her. Most large animals stayed out of inhabited areas like Darwin.
The light from the moon caught the larger animal in profile, and Bathilda dropped her mug in shock, the pieces falling onto the counter and tinkling down to the floor. Werewolf! She'd seen that silhouette once before when she was but a child. Her breath caught in her throat, remembering the horror of watching her muggle friend get bitten and then later succumb to the curse as it tried to force a transformation that a muggle couldn't endure. Slowly, her frozen brain kicked into gear. What was a werewolf doing here? Laws in Australia were definitely more werewolf friendly than in Britain, but they still usually took care to transform in groups away from populated areas. What was one doing here? On top of that, this one was acting strange. While Bedlam was viciously going after the beast, the werewolf was disinterested, almost distracted. With a start, Bathilda realized what the werewolf was actually concentrating on: the Granger house. Despite Bedlam's attempts to protect the children he'd bonded with, the werewolf was slowly but surely getting closer to the house, sniffing madly as it went. Something was off about this werewolf; they almost never ignored a fight. But now wasn't the best time to ponder, given that one of the most dangerous magical beasts in the world was slowly encroaching on the home of her young charges. She needed to get Remus so they could try to stop the beast.
Up on the top floor, Bathilda hurried down the hall to Remus's room. When she saw the door was already open, she slowed down. The doorframe was buckled, and fur was caught in the frame. Worse yet, the bed was empty, and the sheets were strewn everywhere. Bathilda's first thought was that the werewolf had already been in the house and eaten Remus. But there was no blood, and she hadn't noticed anything amiss on her way to the kitchen earlier. Besides, why would a beast eat him but not her? But that meant… no. Why would Albus send a werewolf to stay with her without a warning? It made no sense! Still, things weren't adding up. It would be best not to involve the authorities if she could avoid it; she'd just have to stop this werewolf from attacking the Grangers herself.
~~~~~~~~~~ S ~~~~~~~~~~
The sound of the French doors breaking was enough to wake the Granger household. The unmistakable sound of Bedlam's growl was enough to get Jamie out of bed, wand in hand. The sound of furniture crashing about had the boy out the door, ready to face whatever happened to be downstairs.
His sister met him on the upper landing, light spilling from her wand down the staircase onto the two animals below. Bedlam was blocking the bottom of the stairs, hissing and spitting at the… wolf? Jamie wasn't sure, but the other animal looked like a really, really big wolf. There was definitely something creepy about those golden eyes, though. They were staring directly at him with what looked like intelligence. However, that focus meant that the wolf was completely ignoring Bedlam and his sister. Quite a bad move.
In the blink of an eye, the staircase was plunged into the silver light of the full moon as Mia started to fling the downstairs furniture at the oversized wolf. Her first assault consisted of the heavy dining room table, which caught the wolf full force on the side and threw him across the room. Bedlam lept at the injured wolf, letting both siblings run down the stairs. Mia continued to rain furniture down on the beast as it attempted to dodge, while Jamie focused on warding himself and his sister from attacks before moving onto Bedlam. Their parents were both standing shellshocked on the landing at the top of the stairs, just close enough to see their children and their pet taking on the biggest wolf ever. Mrs. Granger had spent months getting the living just right when they'd first arrived in Australia, but it was now a complete disaster.
The front door ricocheted down the hallway, and Jamie noticed the figure of Mrs. Wilkins out of the corner of his eye. Soon, a two-pronged attack was three, and as Jamie finished placing shields, it became a four. It wasn't long before a very large, very unconscious wolf was lying in the living room on the remains of what used to be Valaria's grandmother's antique grandfather clock. As Valaria and Bertram crept into the now silent living room, the siblings noticed the mess and innocently began casting repairing charms and levitating the furniture back into place.
Meanwhile, Bathilda carefully conjured ropes to tie the wolf up, then levitated him into the middle of the room, where she transfigured some nearby broken lamps into a silver cage. Perplexed, Jamie watched the process unfold. When Bathilda was done, she sank into a nearby chair.
Bertram found his voice before Valeria. "Would anyone happen to know why we have a monster of a wolf in our sitting room? Has it also somehow bonded to my children like Bedlam did?"
Surprisingly, it was Mia who answered. "Dad, I don't think that's an ordinary wolf. Am I right, Mrs. Wilkins?"
"You be correct, my dear. This are a werewolf, one of the many dangers find in the magical world. All werewolves is witches and wizards by day, but one night a lunar month, the night of the full moon, they transforming into what you see before you. When they be like this, a beast, they has no mind, only instinct. They longing for blood, to bit other people and thus pass along their curse."
Jamie shuddered at the explanation. "So you're saying it randomly chose this house to attack?"
Ms. Wilkins looked long and hard at the werewolf in the center of the room before she spoke. "Of that, I is not certain. Remus Lupin was missed from his bed when I go to getting his help before come here."
Jaws in the room dropped uniformly. Bertram spoke up again. "Are you saying that this beast in my living room is also the man who has been tutoring our children!?"
"I'm not really sure, to be honest. He might actually be this werewolf, but I don't want to accuse anyone until we can sort this out in the morning. If he is Remus, we can talk it out, and if he's not, we can ask whoever he is what brought him here. And find out where Remus is."
"Those ropes and a flimsy silver case won't hold it if it wakes again."
Mrs. Wilkins nodded in understanding at Mr. Granger. "Just like in your fairy tales, werewolves were hurted by silver. Even seemingly thin wires like this could be delay him through pain enough for me to knocking him out again. Plus, I thinking your children be quite effective with the furniture. This werewolf was not in good condition."
Jamie and Mia exchanged glances at each other. "Can we stay up with Mrs. Wilkins, Dad?"
"I think not!" Valeria interjected. "You've had enough excitement for one night, and you both have to be in school tomorrow. Back to bed!"
"But Mum…" Jamie and Mia chorused together with pouting lips and puppy dog eyes.
"Now!" Seeing that they would not win tonight, the children sighed and started trudging back to bed.
As they walked, Jamie noted that Bedlam had taken up position next to the stairs again and was still growling slightly at the wolf - no - werewolf. Maybe he could go back to sleep knowing that Bedlam would keep an eye out with Mrs. Wilkins.
~~~~~~~~~~ Y ~~~~~~~~~~
It was very early in the morning. The sky had just shifted from the jet blackness of night to the grey that heralds the sun's arrival when Jamie was once again jarred from his sleep, this time by a yell that was complete nonsense to his ears.
"WHY IS HARRY POTTER HERE? AND WHY WAS I TOLD HE WAS DEAD?!" Who was Harry Potter? And why was he here? Jamie grabbed his wand and scooted over to the door quietly, putting his ear against the frame, trying to hear what was going on.
"WILL SEATED REMUS! We are trying to keep the children from woke up again, so behaving like an adult!"
Sensibly figuring out that this was related to last night somehow, but glad his tutor was okay, Jamie cracked open his door and stealthily scooted out into the hallway, finding that his sister had already made it to the landing. Drat it all: why did she have the bedroom closer to the stairs? Whenever interesting eavesdropping was to be had, she was always there first.
The silver cage from last night was gone, and the lamps were once again whole. The werewolf had also vanished, making the living room look as presentable as ever, in Jamie's opinion. His mum would be pleased, especially if he remembered to pick up his dirty socks from the kitchen today.
Mrs. Wilkins noticed the movement at the top of the stairs and beckoned the children down with a gentle wave. "As I fearing, we woken you again. Perhaps it are for the best - Remus and I could hopefully is more civil with you two around. Besides, you deserve to hearing the story, I think. Both of you will old enough. Your parents should probably join us, too." Mrs. Wilkins sighed as she summoned the elder Grangers. She was confident they were interested in the story behind their werewolf attack from last night.
Once everyone was settled, Mrs. Wilkins took a deep breath and began her tale. "So… Let me tell you the story of James and Lily Potter: Jamie's birth parents." Jamie's eyes widened.
For the next several hours, Mrs. Wilkins, with the occasional interjection from Remus, finally divulged the whole truth of what happened in Britain all those years ago, from Voldemort's reign of terror to the Potter's fate and how and why Jamie had ended up with the Grangers, no mention of the Finch-Fletchleys required.
The Grangers asked questions throughout, resulting in a story that finally reached last night's events well into the morning. Remus leaned forward to explain, "So, as you now know, I'm a werewolf. My apologies for assuming that Professor Dumbledore sent word ahead. Since I arrived, I've been taking an amazing potion called Wolfsbane that, while it doesn't stop me from transforming, allows me to stay in control while transformed instead of being a ravenous beast. The first time I tried the potion, I made sure I transformed in the wilderness so that if the potion failed, I would not harm anyone. Last night, since I knew the potion worked, I decided to stay in my room and wait out the night there.
"As you know, things didn't quite go according to plan. A werewolf has an amazing sense of smell, and I smelled something strange as soon as I finished transforming. The enhanced senses of the werewolf recognized your scent, Jamie, as being very similar to the scent of an old friend: your father. Believing as I did that both you and he were dead, I couldn't help but follow it to try and find the source. That, inevitably, led me straight here, where Bedlam assured you all woke up, and I found myself thoroughly battered shortly after I confirmed the scent was coming from you.
"That alone wouldn't have convinced me, but the scent brought back memories of your father when he was your age. I don't know how I didn't see it before, but you look a lot like him, though you have your mother's eyes. Knowing you were adopted made me all the more certain that you were indeed my best friend's son, Harry Potter. I confronted Monica as soon as I transformed back, and then you woke up and joined us."
The Grangers remained thoughtfully silent. Finally, Valeria spoke up, "As much as I currently have mixed feelings on just about everything at the moment, I think we can all agree on two things. First, the children are very late for school." Jamie and Mia groaned, "Second, I think we're all very displeased with one Albus Dumbledore in one way or another. Thus, I suggest we break up for the morning so the children can head to school. If we were, perchance, to find an opportunity during the day to each write our own letters to a certain old man and if that were to help us vent our feelings, so much the better." Light laughter echoed through the room before everyone went their separate ways.
~~~~~~~~~~ Y ~~~~~~~~~~
Jamie was lost in thought, staring at the ceiling as he processed everything he had heard early that morning. He knew he was adopted, as his parents had never tried to hide that fact, but now he knew a little more about his birth parents and wasn't quite sure what to think. He definitely still considered himself a Granger, but what about James and Lily? He couldn't help but abstractly admire their willingness to sacrifice themselves for him, but he had never really known them. Would they have been good parents? Would he have been happy? Would he have had other siblings? He couldn't even imagine what that life would have been like.
A knock at his door startled him from his thoughts. Jamie got up and opened the door, revealing his sister. "Hey, Mia."
"Hey, Jamie… mind if I come in?" Mia was shyly looking at her feet. Jamie wondered why his usually outspoken sister seemed so subdued, but he opened the door and let her in regardless.
"What's up, Mia? You okay?" Jamie asked.
Mia sighed, "Kind of? We learned a lot about you today, and… I'm also… What about you?"
"Well, while it's cool to know some things about James and Lily, it doesn't change my daily life that much. Bertam and Valeria are still my parents, and you're still my sister. I don't want it to change anyth-"
Jamie was cut off as his sister launched herself at him and hugged him tightly. "Woah! What's this for, Mia?" His arms came up as he hugged his sister back.
"I know it sounds silly, but I couldn't get the thought that you might not want to be around us anymore out of my head. After all, how could we measure up to your actual family, especially considering they literally died for you?" Mia sighed, "I was just paranoid, I guess."
Jamie hugged her a little tighter. "Well, you don't have to worry. No matter what I learn about James and Lily, you're stuck with me." Mia finally released him, "Now, that doesn't mean I'm not curious. Everyone else is writing 'strongly worded letters,' " Jamie raised his hands to write quotes in the air, "to Uncle Albus, so what do you say that you and I write one of our own? I'm not really upset at him, so instead of chewing him out, what do you say we ask him a bunch of questions? Maybe we can learn a thing or two while we're at it."
Mia smiled and nodded, and they sat down at Jamie's desk to start writing. Her worries subsided as they debated the merits of asking whether or not Uncle Albus had changed any of Jamie's diapers or if he had left everything to Mrs. Wilkins.
~~~~~~~~~~ Y ~~~~~~~~~~
A/N
LOL. We keep telling ourselves that we will write shorter chapters and post more regularly. Neither seems to happen, but at least you get long chapters!