Trinity

Chapter 15

"Hell of an ending to a wedding."

"Has everyone gone?"

"Yes, the last of them flooed out just before I came up. Fleur's parents and aunt and uncle stayed. Fleur's mother knows a bit about healing and I gathered that Etienne and Suzette quite like Harry."

"Did Bill and Fleur get away alright?"

"Yes. They were a bit reluctant to leave until we assured them that Harry was going to be okay. I'm not sure they entirely believed us but they went. Bill's insisted I owl him as soon as I know something concrete."

"Where's Remus?"

"In the other room. Tonks is with him. He's pretty upset."

"Has Moody reported in?"

"No, not yet. It might take him a bit of time to track that pack down."

Harry moaned softly as he slowly swam towards consciousness. The voices stopped immediately at the soft sound and he felt the edge of the bed he presumed he was lying in dip slightly.

"Harry? Are you awake?" Hermione asked gently as he felt his glasses being slipped onto his face.

Harry drew in a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. The bushy-haired girl was staring down at him, her eyes full of worry and concern. He tilted his head to the side and saw that the other voices had belonged to Ron and Charlie.

"How are you feeling?" Hermione asked, regaining his attention.

Harry lay still for a moment to try and find an answer to that. His left shoulder felt numb and ached with a dull persistence and he felt tired and worn.

"Not that good," he murmured in answer to Hermione's question. "Shoulder hurts. Feel like crap."

Hermione reached out and grabbed something from the table beside the bed. It was vial containing a vibrant blue potion. She uncapped the vial and held it to his lips.

"Here. Swallow this. It'll help," she said, her face unreadable.

Harry grimaced but obeyed. The potion was slippery and bitter going down his throat but it acted fast and he soon felt a fair bit better.

"Alright," he said when the weary feeling started to fade. "How bad is it?"

Hermione almost flinched. "We're not...entirely sure. Remus seems to know something about this but he's very upset right now. Tonks is trying to calm him down."

Harry swallowed and tried to push himself into a sitting position. Pain lanced out from his shoulder across his chest and he gasped. Hermione made a scolding sound but helped him sit up, adjusting the pillows so that they gave him some support.

"Get him in here," Harry gasped as he tried to catch his breath and let the pain subside. "I want some answers and he seems to have them."

Charlie nodded and left the room hurriedly. Harry looked down and saw the bandage swathing his left shoulder. He grimaced and wondered just what effect the bites from Greyback would have. He didn't feel that different; just rather sore and a bit shaky.

A sharp voice from the room next door drew his attention then shortly afterwards Charlie returned with a set look on his face, dragging a drawn and upset Remus by the arm. Tonks was right behind them, her face pale though there was a hint of exasperation and anger in her eyes.

"Remus," Harry said, his voice slightly raspy.

The werewolf flinched and Harry scowled.

"Stop that," he said sharply and Remus' eyes flicked up to meet his. Harry saw on odd mix of emotions in them; horror, pain, anguish and fear were mixed with worry, concern and an odd desperation.

"Sit down and tell me what's going on," Harry ordered as gently as he was able to manage. "What happened to turn Greyback into a wolf? What are the implications of that and what are the results of this bite likely to be?"

Remus shuddered but sank into the chair that Ron hauled over for him. The werewolf scrubbed his face with his hands then looked over at Harry.

"If I'm right about what was done, there shouldn't be any effects from the bite," he said hoarsely. "They should be nothing more than ordinary wolf bites."

Expressions of surprise settled on everyone's faces and Harry looked at Remus intently.

"So what has got you so upset then?" he asked gently. "What is it about what Greyback has done that has you so thrown off guard?"

"I can't believe he did that," Remus whispered. "I knew Greyback was depraved and ruthless but what he's done..." His voice trailed off.

Harry sighed and reigned in his impatience; being injured never did much for his temper. "What has he done?" he asked firmly.

Remus drew in a shuddering breath. "There's a spell. It's ancient and more rumour than fact...though I suppose we can say it's fact now. It's forbidden and all knowledge of it was supposed to have been destroyed. It's Blood magic of the darkest, most vile kind."

"What does it do?" Harry asked, his voice gentling again.

"It can be used on werewolves and animagi," Remus said, his voice becoming firmer as he seemed to enter a more academic zone. "It forces the change all the way through in the case of werewolves and consolidates the change in animagi."

Harry frowned. "Forces the change all the way through? What exactly do you mean?"

"If everything is done correctly the spell, in conjunction with a potion and a small ritual, forces the change all the way," Remus replied. "Instead of simply becoming a werewolf the person is forced all the way through the change. They become a wolf but a wolf with a human's intelligence. And it's permanent. There is no way of reversing the spell."

A horrified silence fell in the room.

"What else?" Harry asked with resignation.

"They also become very resilient to magic," Remus continued. "Only spells with a lot of power behind them can affect them to any great extent. And they heal quickly. Those cutting spells you threw at Greyback had an enormous amount of power behind them but he'll have healed from them by now."

Harry blinked a little; he hadn't thought the spells had that much power behind them though he had tried his hardest. "Any good news?' he asked instead.

"They are actually wolves now," Remus replied. "Yes, they're intelligent, resistant to magic and have accelerated healing but they are just wolves. Silver won't affect them but their bites are no longer infectious."

"You win some, you lose some," Ron muttered. "But why would anyone do something like that to themselves? And how did Greyback find out about this spell?"

"I don't know why anyone would want to do that," Remus said bitterly. "But Greyback is hardly what you would call sane. He revelled in being a werewolf. He embraced it and would have gladly turned everyone in the world into one. He enjoyed being a monster."

Tonks made an angry sound and clamped a hand down on Remus' shoulder. "Don't you dare," she said fiercely. "Just because he was a monster doesn't make you one. The definition of a monster is in the acts they carry out. Greyback is a monster because he acts like one. You are a kind, caring, wonderful man."

Remus looked up and smiled weakly at Tonks but everyone could see the fear and hesitation in his eyes. Tonks made a sound like an angry cat and leaned down and kissed him fiercely. Remus seemed to flinch back at first then he relaxed and leaned into the kiss. Harry watched this and started to snicker. This caused Ron, Charlie and Hermione to lose their battle and they started laughing as well. Remus pulled away from Tonks and eyed them with what was almost shy amusement.

"What?" Tonks said with a grin. "Were we doing it wrong?"

Harry's snicker turned into a laugh then he gasped and grabbed at his shoulder. "Argh! Don't make me laugh. It hurts right now."

The laughter abated at this and everyone watched with concern as Harry took a deep breath. He looked up at them with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm fine," he said with exasperation. "It just jars my shoulder when I laugh. And Tonks, from my admittedly limited experience you two were doing just fine."

Tonks laughed and Remus slowly smiled.

Harry grinned back then sobered. "But Ron's question was a good one. How could Greyback have found out about that spell if it's supposed to be forbidden and lost?"

"Voldemort," Remus said simply. "If he was able to discover the means to create a Horcrux then there's no telling what other forbidden spells he found."

There were resigned sighs from the others and a few grim nods.

"Too true," Harry said with a grimace. "Greyback was a lot bigger than the others. He looked more...wolfish, if that makes any sense. I don't suppose you could hazard a guess as to why?"

"I could but remember it would only be a guess," Remus replied. "The spell is supposed to be incredibly painful and requires spilling a fair amount of blood, both for the potion and the ritual. I would speculate that attitude plays a large part in the success or otherwise of the transformation. I have no doubts Greyback would have leapt at the opportunity, embraced it wholeheartedly and ignored the pain. That could be the reason for the fact he looks and clearly is so much more formidable than the rest of the pack. There were thirteen in the pack including Greyback. I shudder to think how many didn't make it through the transformation. There is very little written about it but what there is indicates that failures end up terribly, horribly deformed. Deformed enough to kill them."

"Why would Greyback have leapt at the opportunity?" Hermione asked curiously. "If he liked to turn people into werewolves so much, why would he give that up?"

"He enjoyed that part of it certainly," Remus said with distaste. "But he enjoyed being wolf-like more than that. He revelled in the night of the full moon. He wanted to be a wolf, I think. This would give him that with the added bonus of losing some of the problems of being a werewolf. No vulnerability to silver for a start. Only one painful transformation. And he would retain his intelligence in his wolf form." He paused. "I have no doubts Greyback is insane but he is also frighteningly intelligent at times."

"How many of the pack did we capture?" Harry asked.

"None," Ron replied with frustration. "The spells wore off too quickly and we were fighting too many. They took off pretty quickly when Greyback ran but they managed to dodge our spells."

"So the pack's still out there," Harry said slowly.

"Along with whatever werewolves that did not attempt the spell," Remus added.

Harry thought for a moment, shifting slightly to ease the ache in his shoulder. "Remus," he said hesitantly then couldn't continue.

Remus smiled in understanding. "You want me to go back and find out how many are left and see if I can talk them round."

Harry swallowed hard, feeling suddenly very trapped. "Yes," he said reluctantly.

"I'll do it," Remus said gently. "Harry, it's alright. Part of the reason I failed before is because Fenrir Greyback had too tight a hold on them. He was very charismatic when he wanted to be. But I know many of the werewolves would likely be as disturbed as I am about what Greyback's done. I may be able to have some success this time."

Harry nodded then his gaze stuttered hesitantly up to Tonks. She looked unhappy but resigned.

"It's okay, Harry," she said when she saw he was looking at her. "I know it's important. This is a war and we have to look for every advantage we can."

She gave Remus a look that very clearly said they were going to discuss this further in private and Harry relaxed a little. He wondered whether the Headmaster had ever felt like this when he sent people out to carry out tasks. His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and Fleur's mother entering.

She smiled when she saw Harry was awake. "Ah, 'Arry," she said, her throaty voice very similar to her daughter's. "I am glad to see zat you are awake. 'Ow does your shoulder feel?"

"Sore," Harry replied as the others moved out of the way.

"Zat is to be expected," she said with blunt practicality. "Let me see eet."

The French woman unwrapped the bandages with practiced but gentle hands revealing the half-healed bite wounds. Harry winced at the sight; he'd suspected they might be bad from the pain he'd been in at the time but he hadn't quite expected this. The half-healed scars were ragged and messy. It looked like his shoulder had been chewed which he supposed it had, to a certain extent.

"Are they going to scar?" he asked with as much dispassion as he could muster.

"Oui," Madame Delacour said regretfully. "But I 'ope zat zis salve will minimise ze scarring as much as possible. My 'usband was kind enough to return to our chateau to fetch eet. I 'ave had much success using eet on wounds."

Harry smiled grimly. "I hope you're right. Will my arm be affected at all?"

"Non," she replied as she began to smooth the salve over the bite marks. "You should 'ave full movement in your arm. We were able to 'eal the wounds, Poppy and I. It ees just zese scars that will remain."

"Madame Delacour? Was anyone else hurt?" Harry asked.

"You must call me Marguerite and non, no one else was 'urt," the French woman said kindly.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He remembered asking that question when he was being carried in but hadn't been sure whether he could believe the answer he'd gotten.

"Please thank your husband for the salve as well," he said gratefully.

"Armand will be pleased," Marguerite said with a smile. "He theenks you are a very fine young man." She stood and brushed down her robes. "Now," she said briskly, "you must rest. I weel send Ginevra up to sit weeth you but everyone else must leave."

She eyed the others archly and they hastily rose and started heading for the door. It seemed that Marguerite Delacour could be just as intimidating as Molly Weasley. She watched them leave with amusement then placed the jar of salve on the table next to the bed.

"Zat must be rubbed into your shoulder every morning and evening," she instructed. "Keep using eet until ze shoulder is no longer painful."

"Thank you, Ma...Marguerite," Harry said with a genuine smile.

The French woman smiled brilliantly back at him. "Such a fine young man," she said as she turned to the door and walked out. "Ginevra will be up shortly."

Harry slumped back into his pillows and closed his eyes. While he was relieved that no one else was hurt, he was rather annoyed that he had, yet again, managed to end up hurt himself.

"Harry?" Ginny's soft voice caused his eyes to snap open.

"Hey, Ginny," he said with a lopsided smile. "You're not going to yell at me, are you?"

She gave a soft huff of exasperated laughter. "I ought to but I won't."

She came and sat down on the side of the bed and took his hand in her own. Harry's could see the worry, concern and fear that still lingered in her eyes.

"And I also know it won't do any good to yell," she said with quiet resignation. "Ron and Hermione told me that the wolf came straight at you. They seemed to think he realised you were the leader."

"Considering the wolf was Fenrir Greyback that was a pretty good assumption," Harry replied.

"Remus told me you're going to be fine," Ginny said hesitantly. "I didn't wait around for details but he said something about the bites not being infected. If that was Greuback, does that mean he was talking about lycanthropy?"

Harry nodded and pulled Ginny closer. A bit of shifting had her tucked in at his side, away from his bandaged left shoulder.

"You can get the details from Remus later but the basics are that what Greyback did has turned him into a wolf permanently but it also means he can't turn anyone else into a werewolf anymore," Harry explained. "So I've got a very nasty set of bite marks that are going to scar but other than that I'm fine."

Ginny gave him a small smile. "They say scars are sexy," she said with a hint of impishness.

"Speaking from experience, I can't say I've noticed that," Harry replied dryly, relieved to see that impishness.

Ginny looked at him with disbelief. "You're not serious, are you? Do you know how many girls wanted you to ask them to the Yule Ball a few years ago? Didn't you see all the girls lurking around hoping you'd notice them last year? Does the name Romilda Vane not ring a bell?"

Harry blushed and looked embarrassed. "Er, well..."

Ginny suddenly laughed and kissed his cheek. "That's one of the reasons I like you, Mr Potter," she said roguishly. "You're so adorably clueless."

"I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult," Harry grumbled good-naturedly.

Ginny just laughed. "So back to more important matters, how is your shoulder?"

"Sore," Harry replied. "But a lot better than it was before Marguerite treated it just before."

"Marguerite?" Ginny said curiously.

"Er, Madame Delacour," Harry clarified. "She asked me to call her Marguerite."

"I see," Ginny said archly.

Harry sighed with weary amusement. "She's a lot like her daughter, you know." He said with a hint of humour in his eyes. He paused for just long enough for Ginny to get slightly irritated then he continued. "Really ugly."

Ginny snorted with sudden laughter and gave Harry a light whack on his good shoulder. She had been so worried about Harry that it was only at this point that she realised that he wasn't wearing a shirt and she blinked. Then she blushed. Harry saw the blush and frowned until he followed Ginny's line of sight. She was staring at his chest. His bare chest. Then he blushed.

Then he yawned and that seemed to break the sudden tension that had developed. Ginny seemed to give herself a small shake and she crawled off the bed.

"You should get some rest," she said firmly as though she were convincing herself as much as him.

Harry swallowed the grin that was threatening and allowed her to help him back down into a lying position.

"How long was I unconscious?" he asked as she pulled the blankets up.

"Only a few hours," Ginny replied. "Mum said we'll stay here tonight. The extra wards they put up will be good for another twenty-four hours. She didn't want to move you unless she absolutely had to."

Harry nodded as he settled into the bed, wincing as his shoulder reminded him that being used as a wolf's chew toy was not something he wanted to repeat. He hadn't thought he'd be able to get to sleep but once he was lying down, the events of the day seemed to rush up and overwhelm him and then he knew nothing.

Ginny watched him fall asleep as she sat down in the chair beside the bed. Letting Harry run off without her today had been one of the hardest things she'd ever done. She actually wanted nothing more than to stand at his side during this like Ron and Hermione were. But she knew she couldn't. She knew that Harry loved her. He had never said the words and she wasn't sure he even knew it himself but it came out in the way he treated her and what he asked of her.

That wasn't to say that he didn't love Ron and Hermione. He did. They were his best friends, even surrogate brother and sister. They were the Gryffindor Trio and now the Trinity. He loved them.

But he loved her differently. She was his girlfriend. She didn't think she was his first love. She was fairly sure Cho held that title and how that thought rankled inside and made her want to claw the older girl's eyes out. But Cho hadn't lasted, had barely started for that matter. She was the one who had captured him. She was the one he kissed now. Innocent kisses mostly, only lately had they started getting decidedly more heated and she wondered after today's little display between the two of them whether she'd get more of those heated kisses. A small smile drifted across her lips. She hoped so. She liked them. But that was beside the point. Ginny was the one he was so desperate to protect.

She leaned back in the chair and watched the sleeping boy. There was a large part of her that wasn't entirely comfortable with the protectiveness but she'd seen the fear that lingered in Harry's eyes when the thought of her being captured by Voldemort occurred to him. She wondered whether it was something he'd seen in those terrible visions that had him so afraid or whether it was just because he feared her dying. She shuddered lightly.

In truth it wasn't just Harry's wishes that kept her from demanding a larger role in this war. Her encounter with Tom Riddle in her First Year had never quite left her. She still woke up with terrible nightmares where Harry didn't come after her and didn't save her. She woke up screaming from those. Her bedroom was on the same floor as Ron and Fred and George. It had always been Ron or the twins who had come in to hold her and let her cry on their shoulder after those nightmares. Oddly enough she rarely had the nightmares at Hogwarts which had always seemed strange to her. It was odd that the place where such a terrible thing had happened also seemed to comfort her. Though it also occurred to her she had never had the nightmares when Harry was staying with her family. Perhaps it wasn't Hogwarts that soothed her.

She knew her friends found it terribly romantic when she and Harry were dating during the last school year. Though none of them talked about it much, the girls she shared a dorm with knew at least the bare basics of what had happened to her. Dumbledore and McGonagall had spoken to them after Harry had rescued her. The girls always teased her, mostly gently, about Harry being her knight in shining armour and most of them had scoffed with amusement when she'd dated Michael and Dean. They'd been adamant that neither of those boys would last, that Harry would finally see what was underneath his nose all along. She'd laughed at them, figuring that if he hadn't by now, it was never going to happen.

But it had. She smiled as she remembered the aftermath of the Quidditch game. That kiss had been worth waiting all those years for.

"Ginny?"

She turned to see her mother standing in the doorway, looking worried but trying to hide it.

"He's asleep," Ginny said to her mother's unspoken question.

Mrs Weaskey nodded. "Oh, good." She paused and gave her only daughter a fond smile. "You looked like you were deep in thought."

Ginny smiled back wryly. "I suppose I was. I was just thinking about Harry...and me. How it was really hard to just watch him run off this afternoon and when they carried him back..." She shuddered.

"Are you going to ask if you can join them? Molly asked worriedly.

Ginny shook her head. "No. Harry wants me to be a safe as possible and that's what I plan to do. Besides, he and Ron and Hermione are eventually going to face You...Voldemort and I don't want any part of that."

Molly came into the door and leaned over to hug Ginny. "I thought you'd gotten past what happened in First Year?"

"Yeah, I have...mostly," Ginny replied. "But that doesn't mean I want to be anywhere near him."

Molly smoothed back Ginny's hair, closing her eyes as she remembered those dreadful hours after they had been informed about Ginny being abducted. Fear that had been added to when it became clear that Ron and Harry were also missing. But she also remembered the almost euphoric delight when the two boys reappeared with a very confused Gilderoy Lockhart and a very much alive Ginny. She'd been torn between being so terribly proud of the boys and wanting to smack them very hard for frightening her like that.

"I know this probably sounds terribly selfish but I'm glad you want to stay safe," she said, her voice quavering a little.

Ginny tightened her arms around her mother. "Harry and Ron and Hermione are going to win, Mum. I know it."

"I hope you're right, dear," Molly said softly then she placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead before leaving the room.