FicWad

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters, ideas, and situations created by JK Rowling and owned by her and her publishers. I own the original elements & characters. No money is being made by me, and no trademark or copyright infringement is intended.



Chapter XXII

"It was Greyback's werewolves," Harry said.

The group in Dumbledore's office jumped to their feet, for they had not heard anything before Harry's spoke. They were shocked to see Harry carrying two unconscious nude children and levitating an equally nude teen girl. "Greyback and his pack were going to cannibalize them tonight," Harry said. "They seem to be Muggles." He laid them on the rug in front of the fireplace. "Perhaps Madam Pomfrey should see them before you return them to their families, if they let any of their families survive."

"Of course, my boy," was all Dumbledore could say.

"I had to kill them," Harry said, tonelessly. Luna stopped Hermione and Padma from rushing him, knowing that Harry had to talk this out before he could accept any comfort. "I did search the mausoleum after I, well, after, but except for some food and the bones of their previous victims, I didn't find anything worthwhile." He turned and handed Moody a small sack. "I shrank what's left of the victims' bones. There wasn't much, because these were killed and eaten by them in werewolf form. Still, if you turn them over to the Muggles, they can probably discover who they were. It might at least give their families some closure."

Moody nodded.

Harry next turned to Sirius. "Where's Remus?"

"In his room. I expect he's on his third bottle of firewhiskey by now." Harry looked puzzled. "Werewolves apparently don't get drunk easily."

Harry nodded and turned to his mates. "Unless the Headmaster prevents it, could you please go to the Room of Requirement and wait for me? I suspect I won't be very good company, but I could really use yours."

"Of course," Luna said, walking over and kissing the now statue-like Harry on the cheek. "I will prepare your bath, my consort."

Padma kissed his other cheek. "And I shall be in your bath to wash you, my lord."

"And I shall be waiting to hold you after your bath, my husband-to-be," Hermione agreed. She cupped his cheek, and the three witches left.

"Harry. . . ." Sirius started, but Harry shook his head.

"I need to talk with him. There are fifteen more werewolves, and it looks like five or six might still be savable. You might want to join us in half an hour or so." Harry nodded at Moody and Dumbledore and left.

"I'll go get Shacklebolt and a few others I can trust," Moody said. "We'll clean up the mausoleum and check it out as well."

"Be careful," Dumbledore warned. He frowned. "In fact, since Harry might have left it booby-trapped, I had best go along as well."



Harry opened the door to Remus's chambers, and sure enough, Remus was on the sofa, with two empty firewhiskey bottles in front of him and a third nearly half gone.

Remus looked at Harry as he shut the door. "Are they dead?" he asked.

"The thirteen who were there," Harry agreed.

Remus sucked down the rest of the bottle and cracked open a fourth as he burped smoke.

"They had taken three kids, well, two little kids and a girl who might have been fourteen," Harry said. "They were going to eat the little boy's legs raw and grill the girl alive."

Remus sucked down nearly a fifth of the bottle with one swig. He burped more smoke and even a little flame

"I'm sorry that I had to do it, Remus."

Remus merely nodded, took a small sip, and declaimed:
"I saw the werewolves of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through Knockturn Alley at dawn looking for a wolfbane fix. . . ."

Remus took another deep swig.
"who poverty and tatters and hollowed-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities. . . ."
Another swig.
"who cowered in unshaven rooms in underwear, burning their money in wastebaskets and listening to the Terror through the walls. . . .
yacketayakking screaming vomiting whispering facts and memories and anecdotes and eyeball kicks and shocks of hospitals and jails and wars. . . ."

Another deep swig.
"who wandered around and around at midnight in the railroad yard wondering where to go, and went, leaving no broken hearts. . . .
who howled on their knees in the subway and were dragged off the roof waving genitals and manuscripts. . . ."

Remus drank down a quarter of the bottle. His speech was just starting to slur, but his eyelids were drooping.
"who walked all night with their shoes full of blood on the snowbank docks. . . ."

Another quarter.

"who fell on knees in hopeless cathedrals praying for each other's salvation and light. . . ."

Remus finished off the bottle, and it slipped from his hand to the floor.

Harry approached the werewolf, and partially laid him out on the sofa, although Remus was still sitting up, taking off the older man's shoes. "I am sorry I had to do that, Remus," Harry said again.

"I know, cub," Remus muttered. "Did you at least get Greyback along with the others?"

"I did," Harry said. "He'll never harm another child again." Harry summoned a nearby tray, and made Remus drink a large glass of water. Harry set the glass down and helped Remus lie down.

"Thank you, Harry," Remus said. "I'm sorry you had to do that, too."

"I know, Moony," Harry said, his hand on Remus' shoulder. "There are fifteen more. We might be able to save a few of them."

"A few?"

"I'm hoping at least six," Harry said. "Six of the others were rejected by Greyback because they weren't loyal enough, but they were glad to kill. The other three, I don't know."

"When?"

"In the morning, Moony," Harry said. "Get some rest."

"I'm sorry I couldn't keep you," Remus mumbled. "I really wanted to, but. . . ."

"I know," Harry said. "I'm sorry, too. I would have loved to have been raised by you."

Remus smiled slightly, and then either fell asleep or finally passed out. Harry wasn't sure which.



"Remus."

"Remus."

Remus opened his bloodshot eyes and managed to mumble, "Blerg. . . ."

"Drink this," Harry said, holding out a hot mug of something.

Remus managed to sit up, and he drank the steaming potion down. "Not bad," he mumbled.

"Now get to the toilet," Harry said. "You're going to piss at least a quart in about three minutes, which will finish cleaning out your system, and you won't be able to hold back."

Remus moved a lot faster than he wanted to. Harry told his retreating friend, "I'll have fluid replacements here waiting."



Five minutes later, Remus returned. "That was the least worst hangover cure I've ever had, and probably the most effective," he said.

"That's what you get with Hermione and two cute Ravenclaws," Harry said. "They even modified it to work more effectively for werewolves."

Remus frowned and looked at the clock on the mantle. It was 6.42. "What did they do, stay up all night?"

"Actually, yes," Harry said. "They rather like you, you know." He held out another mug. "I know you prefer tea, but I think you need coffee."

Remus nodded, added three cubes of sugar and then some cream, and then sat down. "If I remember right, you fought and killed Greyback and twelve of his followers last night, and we're seeing to fifteen more today?"

"Not exactly," Harry said. "You were almost right about the numbers, by the way. Most of the werewolves were foreigners. None of the registered British werewolves you knew about were involved." Remus' shoulders dropped a bit in relief. "I captured the fifteen around Three this morning. I turned the six vicious ones over to the Ministry for questioning." Remus winced. He knew they would all be dead soon. "The three questionable ones I turned over to Dumbledore and Moody for questioning. They'll either turn them over to the Ministry afterwards or drop them back in their home countries."

"And the other six?"

"Five are foreigners: a German, a Finn, a Hungarian, a Pole, and an Estonian. The sixth is an Englishman who was bitten in early December. They had just forced him into the group a week ago, so he was registered but wasn't on the list you gave me, of course."

"And what do we do with them?" Remus asked.

"Do you know the little Vale the Potters own in Wales?"

"Your father mentioned it to me once or twice in passing, something about he needed me to check it out?"

Harry nodded. "It turns out I had a great great-uncle who was a werewolf. The family warded the valley for him to stay in. There are strong rune-wards involved here. It's a good thing you didn't go in unprepared, because a werewolf can't get out in his human form any more than the actual transformed werewolf could."

"And you're going to imprison them there?"

"I'm going to offer them sanctuary there," Harry corrected. "There's a lodge with nine small bedrooms and I can arrange food and some house elves to help them out. There's also an outbuilding where they can transform, so they can have shelter or run the woods."

"And what would they do?"

"Between them, they are fluent in eighteen different languages," Harry said. "They could be watching the Muggle and magical press at the very least. Since five of them speak German, and German is the most common language of the magical media in central and most of eastern Europe, there's quite a lot to get through. Five of them have at least a Fifth year magical education, while the German is a Squib who was bitten while in medical school. The Headmaster said he might have some intelligence sifting for them to do as well. We can also arrange small salaries, so they can post orders through their contact, or save it up."

"We? Me?" Remus asked.

"If you want," Harry answered. "Wouldn't they be more likely to trust a fellow werewolf? Or would it be a complication?"

Remus thought about that, and finally said, "It would probably be best if I talked to them first, but I likely would be the better contact."

"I hauled them in, so I should be with you, plus I can answer any questions they might have," Harry said. "Shall we go?"

"Where?"

"Oh, to the Room of Requirement."

Remus gave Harry a small twisted smile. "That figures. Oh, how will I get in and out of the Vale?"

"I can make you a portkey. Since I'll make it, it will by-pass the wards." Harry waved his hand and Remus' wrinkled robes were cleaned. "Shall we?"

"I believe we shall."

All six werewolves were happy to be free of Greyback, and willing to work together in any way to repay Harry. Harry's promise of Wolfbane Potion was also welcome.



None of the captured werewolves knew anything about Voldemort's location and little of his plans. He had been planning on using the werewolves in an attack on Hogwarts, but none of them knew if they would have been the primary assault force, or part of a much larger attack.

Harry therefore spent much of his free time with his DA. Should there be a direct attack on the school, or even on the Hogwarts Express, they would be ready.

Most of their work in the autumn had been on conditioning and purely defensive magic, as Harry taught them several different types of shields, including some very powerful ones which took more than a single person to cast. And, even though the dementors seemed to be neutral still, Harry showed them how to cast a Patronus, even though none had fully achieved one through mid-April.

In the spring, their work progressed to offensive spells, and how to fight as a group. Harry knew that, at least before, the Death Eaters had never fought in a really organized way. The few pitched magical battles they had engaged in were more like a medieval tournament melee -- disorganized fighting after the first engagement, other than each side knowing who was on which side.

Harry wanted his liegemen capable of following a clear chain of command, instead of just awaiting his orders. By early March, that chain had been worked out, and mock skirmishing had been added to the practices.

Other than his involvement with his consorts and the DA, early March also brought a return to Quidditch practice. Whatever had been the root causes of Ron's lack of confidence in the original time line were obviously overcome in this one. He had performed fairly well in the game against Slytherin in November, and he was even more able in practices.

Harry nudged Ron into making small suggested variations in plays to Angelina. Most of them seemed to work pretty well, and after their game in early April, Angelina went to McGonagall to suggest that Ron might make a good captain the next year, as Katie would be a prefect or Head Girl, taking her N.E.W.T.s, and dealing with having her four lovers at a distance, including the two males she was Bonding to.

Gryffindor beat Hufflepuff with great elan, while Ravenclaw narrowly beat Slytherin.



Hermione, Padma, and Luna, had done their research, and actually found a way to form the group bonds that would allow a woman Bond with two males. It was an ancient Sumarian variation, and would only work if the two males were close relatives (brothers or paternal half-brothers, father/son, paternal uncle/nephew, paternal grandfather/grandson).

Most of the research had been done by Padma, as it took help from her extended family back in India, who still preserved some of the knowledge of the very ancient Middle East and India. Luna found the loophole in British magical law which allowed the ceremony to be legally recognized.

Harry wasn't certain who was the most grateful: Fred, George, Alicia, Angelina, or Katie. Harry rather suspected that it would be difficult to talk any of them out of reswearing their fealty to them once he turned 17. All concerned knew, however, that they had to keep things quiet until after Katie left Hogwarts in just over a year.

With all that had been going on, Hermione had almost forgotten that this was her and Padma's O.W.L. year (she was not terribly concerned about Harry this time around, of course). As March turned into April, however, she would have panicked had not Harry and Padma prevented it. Harry started giving the pair test questions to practice on for all their common courses, and between Padma and herself, the pair had no difficulty coming up with the answers.

It would only be after the O.W.L.s were over that Hermione would realize that Harry had covered every single question on the Astronomy, Care, Charms, Defense, Herbology, Potions, and Transfiguration exams, and Harry confessed he had used a Penseive to go back and look at his memories of the exams.

Harry hadn't totally cheated (after all, there was a test bank of questions that the O.W.L.s would cover). Therefore he had included material other than what was on the exams he had taken. He had drawn material from the various conversations he had overheard about the O.W.L.s to figure out all the other questions as well.

Most of the other Fifth years had turned down the offer to study with Harry, Hermione, and Padma, as it was sometimes too intense even for most Ravenclaws. Lavender and Parvati were happy to study away from Hermione and Padma, and Ron and Dean wanted to study with Lavender and Parvati. Seamus often tagged along.

Neville, however, studied with the trio as much as he felt comfortable with. Susan and Hannah from Hufflepuff; Anthony, Su, Lisa, and Morag from Ravenclaw; and Tracey and Daphne from Slytherin also studied with them as much as possible. Of the nine, Neville probably studied with the trio the least, as it sometimes made Ginny jealous. Su, Tracey, Daphne, and Susan were with them nearly every time.

The others had calculated that this study group actually gave them the best shot at being prepared for the O.W.L.s. These decisions would have a fair impact on the O.W.L. results when they came out.

Of course, there were some bumps along the way to the O.W.L.s.



Saturday, April 27, 1996

This Hogsmeade Saturday occurred in the midst of the pre-O.W.L. frenzy. By promising a 'private session' with his three lovers early in the morning, and a study session that night after dinner, Harry persuaded Hermione and Padma to take a break. Once in the village, Harry refused to let either of them near the bookstore.

It was a chilly, overcast morning, so they went first to Honeydukes, before it grew too crowded, and then made a stop at the stationary shop, for more parchment and inks. Harry, Padma, and Hermione were curious when Luna picked up a special order.

They knew that Luna loved odd-colored ink -- one of her favorite small Christmas presents had been a set of Muggle flourescent acrylic inks from Hermione. Her most common ink was a magical combination of hot pink and electric blue, that intertwined the colors as she wrote.

"What colors is this one?" Harry asked, amused.

Luna flushed slightly but demonstrated. This ink combined two shades of brown and a vibrant green. "That's rather sedate for you, isn't it?" Hermione commented.

"No, it's perfect," Padma said. "It's the colors of our eyes."

Hermione nodded and went to order some ink in Padma brown, Harry green, and Luna grey.



The quartet got to the Three Broomsticks around 11:15. Madam Rosmerta intercepted them and whispered, "VIP, room Sixteen -- Madam Bones."

Harry nodded, and they wound their way through the main room, greeting the other students. It took a bit of doing, but they finally made their way up to the part of the building where the guest rooms were.

There were two aurors guarding one end of the corridor, and Dawlish nodded them in. "Ah, Lord Potter. Ladies. I thought we might have a chat."

*

Remus' quotations are of course from the poem 'Howl' by Allen Ginsberg. Except for the first two lines, the others are correct quotations.