Fathers and Sons

Fathers and Sons

Chapter 20: The Sticking Place

As of late the Ministry's luck has slowed in their fight against the Death Eaters. The death of Royce Wilkes and arrest of Evan Rosier by Auror Alastor Moody was a windfall, but appears to be more of a fluke than a plan. For a time the public was hopeful that more arrests would follow if Rosier cut a deal with law enforcement, but there is a certain honour amongst villains -- at least while they still hold the wizarding world in terror. Secrecy, it seems, will continue to be their greatest strength. Bridget Wells, "No Further Death Eater Arrests," The Daily Prophet, 2 July 1981

June 1981

Even though she was still getting crap about kicking the Curenton kid's arse, Jane took their patrol more seriously now than ever. She was walking along the edge of the woods that grew along one side of the house, her wand in her hand and keeping her ears and eyes open for signs of any intruders. It had been quiet, but that didn't mean much. It was light later and that made it easier, so she didn't have to strain to see in the dark. She saw David approaching, making his walk in the opposite direction. "Anything?" she asked.

"Nothing." David stopped and considered the horizon, twirling his wand between two fingers. "I'm just as vigilant as anyone else, Janie, I know we have to check, but we don't have to have our full arsenal out here every night, do we? We know they're not about to march on us and they'd be stupid to send just one or two werewolves at us." He stuck his wand behind his ear.

"Well, the day we're not all out here is the day that something will go wrong," she said, stopping in front of him and crossing her arms. "Murphy's law. Things that can go wrong, will, especially when you're not looking after them. And don't call me Janie."

"So if we patrol, then nothing will ever go wrong," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Am I really supposed to believe that? Well, at least we've got you to break noses and take names."

"Of course not, but we're not going to be caught with our fingers up our noses." Jane rolled her eyes and turned her head as she heard not one but two cracks of Apparation not far from the tree line, slightly behind her.

David drew his wand from behind his ear and stepped past Jane, ready as always for a fight. "Who's there?" he called, just in case.

One of the approaching figures raised their wand in deference and called, "Don't kill me, Jane. Please?"

David began to laugh, but stifled it after realising his back was turned to Jane, who could easily hex him for being an arse. "Curenton!" he called, instead. "Haven't seen your arse in weeks!"

Jane rolled her eyes and gave a small noise of derision. "I'm not going to kill you," she greeted, pocketing her wand again. "Unless you try to kill me. Then the bets are off." She glanced at the smaller, dark-haired girl at Jeremy's side, also with wand in hand.

"Why would I kill you? You're our secret weapon," Jeremy said with a broad grin, and tucked his wand into his belt as they approached. He slid his arm around Julia. "David, Jane, this is Julia. Julia -- David and Jane. Where's the rest of your little brute squad?"

"Hi," Julia said, ever the somewhat awkwardly shy girl with not much to say. Some things seemed to never, ever change.

"Hi," Jane replied mildly. She had spent enough time with werewolves to know a non-werewolf when she saw one, and the girl was a witch - she was holding on to her wand in one tight fist. "Dunno, they're probably around the other side of the house if this patrol business is working like we think it is."

Jeremy heard footsteps, glanced behind him, and ducked just a moment before a hex flew over his head. "IT'S ME, IT'S CURENTON, STOP THAT."

David started to laugh again. "Nice shot, Adam!"

"You moved!" Adam accused Jeremy, but was grinning widely. "Hey, Curenton. I thought I'd try and take my hit before Jane used Reducto and we were picking up pieces."

"Ha, ha," Jane said and concluded her sarcasm with sticking her tongue out.

"And these are your friends?" Julia asked Jeremy uncertainly.

"They're my friends, I'm their target, it's a strange relationship but we make it work," Jeremy said wryly. "Julia, Adam, Adam, Julia. And there's Edward, now there's enough for a party!"

Edward climbed the hill and grinned at Jane on sight. "Jane left him in one piece this time, impressive use of restraint."

"Jane didn't get a chance," Jane answered.

"Only because David saw him first and because I took the first shot, I bet," Adam said, and he nodded at Julia. "Come to see my mother?"

"Yeah, we're here on official business," Jeremy said, doing his best to keep the mood light but appropriate at this point. "Julia's my fiancee, and will soon be my envoy. Don't kill her, either."

"I hope she's got a good Shield Charm in case," David muttered under his breath, and Edward coughed to hide a laugh.

Jane elbowed David sharply in the ribs. "Everything clear on the other side?" she asked.

"Yeah, and the woods is clear for meters, no worries," Adam said, coming on the other side of Jeremy and clapping him on the shoulder. "Come on, we'll take you inside," he added as they drifted away from the tree line and towards the house. "It's been boring as hell since the last time you came, we mostly give Jane as much crap as we can about it -- "

"I'm going to give you the same treatment if you don't shut up, and I'm going leave you out here and no one is going to blame me," Jane said, brandishing her wand. Adam lifted his hands and gave a mocking, girlish scream.

Jeremy sent Julia an amused look. "Welcome to Hati's pack," he whispered to her. "Hati's even worse."

"Oh, I can't wait," she said dryly.

"Mam's not so bad," Adam said. "She means business, though, so you just can't let her know you're scared."

"Much easier than it sounds," Jeremy pointed out. "She has those eyes. And I'm stuck with Fenrir Greyback and his crew of mad people, so I'm not exactly easily intimidated."

"Hati's not scary because she's mad, she's scary because she's sane." Edward caught up with the lot of them and walking next to the girl Julia. "Perfectly and utterly sane, and she can see through lies with a look. It's why you don't lie to her," he confided in the girl. "Don't even try."

"It -- hadn't occurred to me," Julia assured him, and tried a small smile. "Any -- anything I have to say is going to be coming from Jeremy."

"Yeah, because it's not going to be her broomstick handle over your arse if she catches you in a lie," Adam said, making a face.

"Childhood memories?" Jane asked lightly.

"Oh yes. Fond ones," he replied dryly, opening the front door of the house for all of them.

"Is Ben here?" Jeremy said to Edward, then he called into the house, "Ben! Ben's great, you have to meet Ben," he added to Julia.

"Ben's here," Edward said belatedly, a bit amused. "I'll go get Hati, though, she'll want to know you're here."

"... Okay," Julia said slowly.

Ben heard his name called from the back of the house where he was in conversation with Tom, Hati's husband. He excused himself quickly to Tom (who was used to the come-and-go way that things generally worked about the house) and pushed his way through the swinging door to the front of the house. A short walk down the hall and he looked into the foyer. "Jeremy," he greeted with a wide grin and immediately reached to his wolf. "I see Jane let you pass through unharmed."

"God, that is never going to die," Jane rolled her eyes.

"Nope," Adam and David confirmed in unison, and laughed.

Jeremy's wolf reacted favourably to the touch, and Jeremy just grinned. "It's good to see you, it's been too long. Sky's amazing, I have to say, just amazing. Useful," he added, when he realised how it might sound.

"My Sky is that," he agreed with a smile. God, he missed her. Soon they'd be back together, all of them. "It's good to see you too. Who did you bring with you today?" he motioned at the girl.

"Julia. My fiancee," Jeremy explained, sending her a smirk. "Who is gracious enough to become my envoy to this pack, since four or five days a month gone from the pack is getting a little suspicious."

Ben threw back his head and began to laugh, a great deal harder than he had in a very long time. Julia turned crimson, unsure of how to take it, not quite angry but definitely slightly irritated. "Why's that so funny," she murmured rhetorically.

"My apologies," Ben managed through his laughter. "My apologies, Julia, I'm not laughing at you. Jeremy finally came to visit us this spring and he said that he was engaged to be married, I could hardly believe that Jeremy Curenton found a girl who could stand him long enough to agree to marry him. Turns out she's real." That she was a witch seemed even more incredible to Ben, but wonders never would cease.

"Listen to that. Arse, who takes that kind of crap? Kick him into next year, Jeremy, go," Adam urged jokingly.

Jeremy drew his wand again and flicked it in Ben's direction, with a crooked smile, then shoved it into his belt again. "She's a real catch. Finds half-suicidal activists to be attractive." He kissed Julia's cheek. "No need to blush," he whispered to her.

"Telling me not to blush only makes the problem worse, love," she told him, and indeed she felt as though all the blood in her body had migrated to her face and neck.

"Again, my apologies," Ben said. "Anyone Jeremy thinks is worthy is certainly a friend of mine."

"Thank you," she said, undeniably pleased.

"She's helping my parents out at the Den," Jeremy added. "Of course, it's not as though she could help it, my parents will recruit anyone who sits still long enough and doesn't spit in their faces, but I think she actually does think we're people," he joked.

"Sometimes," Julia returned in a deadpan. "Other times I wonder. But your mother does feed me, so I keep going back."

"She makes the best stew. When this is all over," Jeremy said seriously to the world at large, "I'm inviting you all over for a bowl of my mother's stew."

"I won't move for less than two," Adam said.

"God you're a moron," Jane said, jabbing him in his side with her wand and moving past them the way that Ben had come from.

"Sounds fantastic," Ben said, as though neither of them had spoken. "First, it needs to be all over."

Hati descended the stairs from her room, Edward trailing behind her, and stopped to consider her sons. "Where is he?" she asked them calmly.

Adam turned to look at his mother. "Here, with Ben," he said.

"Hati," Jeremy greeted with a warm smile. "Good to see you, I know it's been a while but I've been terribly busy -- "

Hati gestured Edward away and stepped between her sons to approach the boy. "Spare me, Jeremy," she said, not unkindly. "What is it you're here to say? We're both busy, and I'm sure you can't be gone too long from the unified pack without catching the eye of one of Fenrir's vultures." She turned her gaze to the girl beside him, but said nothing yet.

"You're right," Jeremy said, nodding in agreement, and took Julia's hand. "I can't be gone too long, and that's the purpose of this visit. I can't visit you anymore."

At the reaction of Hati's wolf, Edward spoke up and stepped forward. "You're leaving us behind, then, you're not going to bring an end to this? We don't understand."

"Not at all. I can't, she can," Jeremy said to Hati, who seemed to relax fractionally at the tilt of his head towards Julia. "Hati, I would like you to meet Julia. She's my best friend and my fiancee, and my envoy to this pack from now on. I have the business of sabotage to handle by myself, and though bringing news to you is important, I can't risk discovery. Julia will bring you my messages from now on."

Julia tried not to look nervous, she looked the woman in the eye (Edward wasn't wrong about the eyes, she decided) and nodded. Still, "Hi," was about the most that she could get out of herself.

Hati considered her, then looked to her sons. "Take a good look at her. Make sure you don't kill her. I don't want him having to replace an envoy, nonetheless a best friend and fiancee, do you understand me?"

Adam turned to look at David. "Yeah, David. Don't kill her."

"I'm not the one who practically vivisected Curenton," David pointed out.

"He moved, he's whole!" he gestured back.

"All the same, I wouldn't like to be vivisected, thank you," Julia said politely.

"Oh yeah, she's going to fit in fine around here," Ben said to Jeremy, nodding.

"You can trust her, I suppose," Hati said directly to Jeremy. "And I don't mean trust her, as in with your life, but trust her to carry the message properly. No offence, child, but these things do matter."

"I think she can handle carrying one scroll of parchment, Hati," Jeremy said, unfazed. "She's a witch, she can defend herself, and she can Apparate quite close to the house, so long as no one's on the perimeter shooting hexes at unwary witches and wizards." He glanced at Adam.

"Better prepared than caught unawares, we learned a lesson from Conor's pack," David said, more soberly now.

Julia was unsure that her track record of helping at the Den was likely to impress Hati, and so said nothing for a minute. "I'll leave my wand at the door," she said suddenly. "Whatever it takes for you to trust me. I'm -- I'm doing this because Jeremy asked me. I would never presume anything."

Hati casually reached for her own wand and disarmed Julia with a flick of her wrist, catching her wand easily. "Child, if you even so much as raised your wand to me, I would have you -- what's the word they used, Edward?"

"Vivisected," Edward supplied, with a half-smile.

Hati nodded and held Julia's wand out to her. "I don't think Curenton places his trust idly. I trust you. Just don't be a fool. And don't be so easily disarmed. This might not be as easy a task as you think it."

"They don't suspect me, Hati, they won't be watching her," Jeremy protested. "You don't have to scare her -- "

Hati approached Jeremy and lifted his chin with her wand, surprised when Jeremy almost immediately had his wand pointing at her. She raised an eyebrow. "Would you rather have her scared, or dead? Would you place your life or hers on that presumption of yours, that your brilliant strategies might not ever fail? Open your eyes, boy, we're dealing with Death Eaters. If they find out about her ... " She withdrew her wand, and held Julia's out to her again. "Just prepare yourself for all possibilities, that's why we're still here."

Julia nodded calmly, despite the fact that her heart was beating in her ears and she was certain that everyone else in the room could hear it, too. "I understand," she said as she took her wand back from Hati's outstretched hand.

"Good. We'll be expecting you. Curenton, I need to talk to you. Alone. Come with me." Hati caught Edward's attention with a tug at their tie, and he began the trek up the stairs. Hati nodded to Jeremy, then followed.

"I'll be back soon," Jeremy whispered to Julia, catching her in a quick kiss before he started off. "I told you she was something else, didn't I?" he added with a glance back, then went to this rather intimidating little talk.

"Something else," Julia echoed, toying with her wand as she gazed at him as he climbed up the stairs.

"Told you she wasn't that bad," Adam said with a lopsided grin. "You did great."

"Yeah?" she said.

"Yeah. 'Course, getting through the obstacle course to get back will be interesting, but we've been given orders not to split you in twain..."

"Don't listen to him, they'll recognize you when you come back," Ben said to Julia. He had to admit, he was curious about the witch that would be the sort to be able to handle the little upstart Jeremy Curenton, she had to be of some kind of mettle. She glanced back up at him, and he smiled. "How about you come with me, Julia, and we can talk while you wait for Jeremy?"

"You're Ben Skoll. He's told me some about you," she said leaving the foyer with him and going into the front room.

"Well, I have to say that I haven't had a similar pleasure, my dear," he replied kindly, "but no matter. We'll be acquainted soon enough."

Julia made herself smile in response as she sat in an armchair. This was certainly nothing less than serious business to everyone involved, and that included her now more than ever.

~*~

July 1981

All of the McKinnons were dead. Marlene, her husband, his parents, and his two brothers were dead with all indication of a struggle and a fight, the Dark Mark left over the house. They had wasted no time in laying waste to the family, and now everyone left in the Order was on their most guarded, their most cautious.

A waste of life.

At twilight, Sirius Apparated into the front garden of the Potters' house in Godric's Hollow. He allowed himself a moment of temporary relief when he saw it still intact, lacking a Dark Mark over it, and as picturesque as ever. He waited for Peter to catch up with him and wordlessly approached the front door, knocking and waiting for an answer.

"What's going on?" Peter hissed to Sirius, sticking his hands in his pockets anxiously. "I mean -- I heard about the -- the M-McKinnons, but, did I miss something?" He looked at the door again and tried to talk himself down inside his own head. He would find a way to deal with this. He would find a way not to go back to the Dark Lord and be tortured. He had worked too hard to keep his own family alive to fail them now.

"Not out here," Sirius said tersely, waiting impatiently for an answer. He raised his hand to knock again when he heard Lily's voice on the other side of the door ask "Password?" "Some are living and some are dead," he intoned and the door swung open.

Lily mustered enough of her energy to smile at Sirius -- and Peter. She didn't have a chance to shoot Sirius a questioning gaze however, as Harry made another play for her hair. "No, Harry, mummy's hair is not a -- OW -- toy," she said, disentangling one of his hands from her red hair.

"Give me that kid," Sirius said, plucking him neatly from Lily's arms and tossing him over his shoulder as the boy gave a shrill giggle. "Bringing the kid to the door, Lily?"

She gave him a half-smirk. "Well. I figure at this point if the Death Eaters are coming after us, they're not going to bother knocking on the front door. They're just going to blast the thing in." Her smirk faded and she took a deep breath. "Come in, come in, both of you -- hello, Peter."

"Hi Lily," Peter said, his nerves too visible, and he looked away, to Harry. "Hey, Harry! He looks more like James every day, I swear."

"Lily's eyes, though," Sirius put in, holding Harry up near the ceiling.

Harry clapped his hands and gave another delighted giggle. "Yeah, yeah. It's probably for the best, redheads are known for being tempestuous -- JAMES, Sirius is here, he brought Peter."

"YES," James's shout came from an upstairs room, and he barreled down the stairs to greet his mates. "Good, it was getting quiet." He glanced at Lily, then added, "Suppose quiet is better than the alternative, sometimes."

"DA," Harry declared, looking around for the voice he recognized, and Sirius kept a tight hold on the squirming nearly one-year-old.

"Quiet? In this house?" Lily joked dryly. "Sirius, be careful with my son."

"You mean your earthworm," he said, still trying to keep a grip on him. "Okay, okay, dad," he finally conceded, handing Harry over to James.

"That's more like it. Hey, handsome," James said to his son, and gestured for the others to follow him into the sitting room. "Yeah, I'd want to get away from that ugly face of Sirius's, too."

Peter sniggered then turned it into a cough, flashing an awkward grin to Sirius.

"Why would you ever wish a face like James' on an innocent child, that's what I want to know," Sirius added. He was getting uncharacteristically nervous; they could talk about Harry only so long, brilliant little boy that he was.

"Well, let me tell you, there are nights when I think about that and just weep," Lily replied dryly, sitting by James on the couch and smoothing down Harry's hair. "Unfortunately, he got the cowlick, too."

"You like the cowlick," James teased, bouncing Harry in his lap, then smirked as he ruffled his hair.

"We need to talk," Sirius said suddenly, pushing his hair back, taking a look at his friends. He was cut off by a knock on the door. In a second, everyone in the room had their wand out -- except for Lily.

"I'll be right back," she said calmly, getting up from the couch as she ignored James's questioning look. "Password," she said calmly.

"Some are living and some are dead," Remus answered breathlessly. Lily had sent her Patronus message only last night, and he'd gotten away from the pack. By some miracle it had managed to become a night where nothing was going on, and he could actually come to his friends when they asked. The door opened and he shuddered slightly, pushing back at the wolf. "Hello," he managed.

"Are you all right?" she asked worriedly without preamble, ushering him in.

Worried, not sleeping, the usual. "Fine," he lied easily. "What is it?"

Unusually short as well. "Just... come in," she said, taking him by the arm, and squeezing his hand. "I just wanted to..." see you again, "well, come inside."

James looked up in surprise when he heard Remus's voice, and then immediately looked at Sirius before he called, "Is that you, Moony?"

"Here we go," Peter said under his breath, looking up to catch Sirius's gaze.

Remus stopped just inside the door of the sitting room, very aware of all eyes, even baby Harry's, on him. He glanced back and forth, unwittingly very much giving the impression of a caged animal. "Ah. Hello," he said.

"Hi," Sirius said coldly, crossing his arms in front of him but looking pointedly at Lily, who more than matched his frosty look.

"Sirius," James snapped. Sirius's steadfast belief was starting to unnerve him, though. "Hey, Remus," he added.

"Where've you been?" Peter said, with forced cordiality.

His favourite question. "Around," he said vaguely, and inwardly winced at how he knew it sounded. "What's going on here?" he asked, picking up on the underlying vibe in the room immediately. There was... hostilty. Distrust. Fear. The air was rife with it, it made the wolf nervous.

When nobody else spoke up, Lily started. "Remus, we're - "

"Lily," Sirius cut her off.

"This is our house, Sirius, and Remus is our friend. We want him to, and if..." If this is the last time we all see each other, I want him here for it.

Remus felt awful, he shouldn't be here. "If what, Lily?" he asked.

James shifted Harry in his arms and moved to stand beside his wife in small comfort. "Lily," he said softly.

Lily wordlessly took Harry from James, his familiar weight in her arms and breath on her neck as he nestled his head in there a comfort to her. "James," she said, and glanced up at him. Before someone else tried to interrupt or prompt or generally annoy her in some way, she turned back to Remus and said, "We're just meeting, all of us - "

"And that's all you're hearing about it," Peter said sharply. "Come on, Lily."

" - for mutual protection," she finished.

James just managed not to yell, for the sake of his son. "You don't get to tell her what to do, Peter," he said evenly.

"I think regardless of who knows, we can all agree that the fewer - " Sirius's gaze flickered to Remus, "people who know, the better."

It felt attacked, and surrounded, and Remus couldn't blame it much. He took a deep breath, controlling. "Thank you," he said, touching Lily's shoulder, and nodding to James. "But, I don't know that I should - "

She shook her head. "No, we're..." Lily was finding herself frustratingly speechless and flustered and not able to talk. It wasn't like her. "Because of the McKinnons -- "

"What happened to the McKinnons?" Remus interrupted.

"They're dead," Peter said, looking at his hands. He sounded as exhausted as he felt. That was his fault, too. "All of them. Haven't you heard?" he added, his voice rising a bit.

"Now just hold on a minute," James snapped. "Wormtail."

"Dead," Remus repeated hollowly.

"Dead," Sirius snapped. "Marlene, Josiah, all of his family. Put up quite a fight from the looks of things."

He leaned against the wall, one hand to his head. He should have known it would start somewhere. "I hadn't heard," he said, calm as ever in the face of hostility.

"No, of course you haven't," Sirius added. "You're never around TO hear anything, why should we expect you to have heard anything?"

"He's out there doing things just like we are," James defended, walking away from Lily to glare directly at Sirius. "Just because he's not here doesn't mean he's with them."

"No one said that," Peter added hastily. "Sirius, what were you going to say before?"

"Nothing," Sirius said flatly, holding James's gaze.

With them. The words played in Remus's mind, they thought he was with them, with the Death Eaters. Of course they think you're evil incarnate, they're wizards, he could feel it becoming edgy. "I... I should go," he said.

"Remus," Lily started, but he stopped her by holding up a hand.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Peter said under his breath. "Somewhere more important to be?" he spoke up.

It was beginning to rattle him again in warning, like it had when he thought he might tell everything he knew about the Pack and its Father. "Far less important," Remus said, but they didn't need more reasons to not trust him. "Goodbye."

"Remus," Lily started again, chasing him into the foyer and seizing him by the back of his shirt. He stopped as she wrapped one arm around him awkwardly, Harry still in her other arm. "I don't care what they think, and I don't care what you're doing out there," she said softly. "Just be careful. When this war is over, it'll all pass and we can all be okay. It'll be like it never happened."

It was so very characteristically Lily, that he smiled in spite of himself. He covered her hand with his but quickly withdrew it as if he'd been scalded. Get it off. "The war isn't over just yet," he said. "You and James keep that baby safe, right?"

"James," Peter said, his voice low so that Lily wouldn't hear and take his head off. "Come on, now you're just being stubborn. Think."

James ignored Peter, even though the sentiment struck him hard. "What were you going to say, Sirius?" he asked.

"Give it a minute," Sirius said.

"Don't worry, he's gone now. I watched him Disapparate myself," Lily said coldly, over Harry's babble.

Sirius let himself feel badly only for a second. It wasn't his fault that Remus had separated himself from them, and you couldn't trust anyone these days. "Good," he said, watching Lily settled back with little Harry in her lap. There was business to attend to.

~*~

Fenrir couldn't deny that there was a lot to deal with, too much if you asked him, but he had no choice - and so the meetings with those he trusted went from weekly to nightly soon enough. Tonight, Laurel met him first, then Remus, then Conor, but Wesley was still missing. "He'll be here soon," Fenrir said shortly as Laurel opened her mouth to speak. "Silence, Laurel, whatever it is, I don't care."

Remus eyed each of the room's occupants in turn. Wesley being conspicuously absent was growing more and more unnerving with each passing moment. He was used to Wesley being there when he came in to the meeting, silent and vigilant, and him being gone was undoubtedly a sign of something Not All Right about to happen. For good measure he cast a glance at Laurel that could be taken as quelling. She might not trust him but she wasn't going to say anything to him, not in front of Fenrir.

"I wouldn't worry, Fenrir." Conor spoke up with a note of amusement in his voice. "He's probably just talking to the children, you know how he gets with them. He's quite effective with them, really."

Laurel almost visibly bristled. "Don't patronise him! Don't you speak about him like that, Wesley's invaluable to us."

"That's enough," Fenrir barked, sending Conor a frosty glare. "No more nonsense out of either of you, it should only be a minute."

Not even a minute. Heavy footsteps and indistinct voices could be heard outside the door, coming up the stairs. "Like he said," Remus said dryly, and the door burst inward before there could be any answer.

Wesley flung open the door and threw Jeremy Curenton to the floor without a single word in preface. As the bastard winced on the floor from the previous assault and his head suddenly meeting the floor, Wesley looked to his Father with a slight smile. "Father, I have something to say, if I might," he said.

It was probably lucky that everyone was too busy looking at Jeremy prone on the wooden floor, because they didn't see Remus's eyes widen. To cover it, Remus looked back up at Wesley and then to Fenrir. He trusted his tongue to lie for him more readily than the wolf at that moment. "Let him," he mildly urged.

Fenrir nodded to his second son after Remus spoke. "Go on, don't waste our time, I hope this is good," he said. "You're late, Wesley."

"I had to find him, Father, and it wasn't easy, he's... he's always everywhere talking to everyone, that's how I know. That's how I know he knows something, or he's doing something, it's the rebellion, Father." At the flash of recognition in Fenrir's eyes, Wesley knelt in front of his Father. "Yes. I've been looking for the rebellion that we've heard so much about and I think I found them."

Laurel scrambled to Wesley and Fenrir's side, and it was almost like before Remus and Alecto and everything else, though the very thought of Alecto burned -- but no matter. "It's him, I knew it was him, him and Conor's girl and -- and likely Conor himself, and Skoll's first, we can't trust any of them!"

Remus looked to Conor, his face unreadable but surely thinking. Briony had told Remus about Conor finding out, on the stairs, in the dark while the pack had slept. She'd said little of it, but enough for him to know the elder werewolf must have understood this was bad news as well. "Calm down," he snapped, unsure of who he was talking to. He immediately backtracked, taking his mental place in the pecking order, deferential to Fenrir and above the rest. "Rumours, Wesley? Accusations over rumours."

Wesley looked to Fenrir, who simply sat back and said nothing against or for Remus, appraising them both. The challenge would be how to make this not seem a challenge, how to suggest to the first that he was right without forcing it on him. He felt himself grow nervous. "Some rumours are just rumours. Some rumours are more. You yourself know that."

"He's not defending Curenton, he's defending his girl," Laurel said, barely hiding her contempt. "Fine, it might not be her. Might. She's never tried to hide her disdain for us, you know, but -- "

"But she knows that putting herself in danger puts me in danger," Conor cut in. "She wouldn't do that. Briony wouldn't do that, nor would she put Remus at risk like that. Don't be foolish, Wesley, don't jump to conclusions." He tried not to look at Curenton, because he had known long ago that this would be the end of things, but it didn't mean he wanted to see it.

Remus was so pleased that Laurel had picked up on what he was hoping they would in this incredible improvisation, but didn't let it show. "And I said she wasn't going to be trouble," he said forcefully.

Fenrir pulled at the tie and stared at Remus. "I hope not, if my heir ends up dead by the hands of a rebel there'll be hell to pay. Do you hear me, Conor? If your little first -- "

"I hear you, Fenrir," Conor said calmly, now watching Curenton. The boy lay still, staring across the floor, his expression absorbed in thought -- there was perhaps a chance yet, if a small one, Conor thought. "Wesley, what is it you meant to do with this unnamed, or did you just mean to entertain yourself?"

"You don't get to speak to me like that," Wesley said, tone poisonous. "You don't get to say things like that to me, bastard of the Greyback pack."

"Enough," Fenrir shouted. "Wesley, make your point, I've had enough of this bickering!"

"He knows something," Wesley snapped in defiance, climbing to his feet, and buried his boot in Curenton's ribs just to punctuate his point. He stared down at Curenton as the unnamed whimpered in pain. "This nonsense will end once we discover the conspirators, Father."

Remus didn't dare reach out to Jeremy, not in this room, but he looked down at him. He was thinking, always thinking, but the wheels were spinning overtime. "Then go, make your cross-examination. Let's get this over with," he said impatiently, but undeniably nervous.

"Don't worry, Remus, she's fine," Fenrir said, just as impatient, and brushed off Laurel as he stood to observe. "Go on, Wesley. You've claimed this role as yours, then do it."

"Curenton!" Wesley knelt on one knee beside the bastard, not remotely touching him. "Can you speak."

Jeremy had endured worse. He had. He could handle this. He nodded fervently and a moment later said, "Yes."

"Then you're going to tell us what you know about the conspiracy within the pack," Wesley said, and suddenly one of his knives was in his hand. He took a fistful of Curenton's curly hair in his hand and yanked his head back to bare his neck, so the knife would fit in just the right sweet spot to draw the most blood. "Tell the truth, you sorry little bastard, I'll know if you're lying."

By nature Jeremy found himself twisting away from the knife, unable to resist some fear, but he controlled it. For the most part. He looked around, half-frantic as the fight-or-flight response kicked in, but mostly to see the faces -- Fenrir impassive, Conor blankly observant, Remus rather the same, and Laurel utterly absorbed. Ah, yes. He kept his eyes on her. "Don't kill me. Don't let him kill me!"

The instant Jeremy said it, Remus saw it. Yes, brilliant. He shoved any squeamishness left away out of necessity, and looked sharply at Laurel. "What is he talking about?" he asked her.

And just like that, Laurel saw not only Curenton's eyes on her, but Remus's, Fenrir's, Wesley's -- then they were all looking at her, criticising. "I don't know," she said, "I don't know why he expects me to spare him, I'll slit his throat myself -- "

"Oh God," Jeremy groaned, pitifully stirring and nearly cutting his own throat with the knife. "Oh God, please, no, don't let them do this, I'm sorry, Laurel -- "

"Stop it," Laurel growled, and crawled towards him, drawing the second knife from Wesley's back pocket. "Let me handle this, I'll show you how it's done -- "

Just as quickly, Wesley's knife was at Laurel's throat. "What is he talking about?" he repeated Remus's question. "The first of the pack asked you a question, Laurel, and you avoided it."

"Laurel," Remus pressed, hoping to fluster, even anger her.

Laurel tossed her head and gave a scornful laugh. "You are not the first of this pack," she snapped at Remus. "If it wasn't for me you never would have been bitten -- Fenrir, you know that, I've been yours to command since the day you bit me, since that perfect day, Fenrir. We've been together, Father and daughter, since that day, and this, this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. If you're trying to call me a traitor, that's mad, that's nonsense. I'm the furthest thing from a traitor. I'm yours, forever yours."

Fenrir approached her after a moment, discerning, but disturbed by her words. "Remus is the first of this pack," he said. "Are you disputing that?"

"If you want me to. Fenrir, I'll do anything for you, I always have and I always will, anything you want," Laurel stressed. "I would never -- go on with the Curenton, this is insanity."

"Challenging the first of the pack, Laurel?" Remus asked casually, although backed away a little, slowly. Even though Wesley had his knife at her throat, he wasn't willing to take a chance.

"Don't retreat, Remus," Fenrir said lightly. "She's a woman, an unnamed, and you're armed. You'll win. She can't be foolish enough to try."

Laurel looked at Wesley, but the knife wasn't about to move. The knife clattered to the floor as she fell to her knees at the look she saw in Fenrir's eyes. "Fenrir, please," she begged. "Please, you know that all I want is success for the pack, for you -- success won by werewolves, as your Father Greyback said, not by wizards -- we -- trust me, Fenrir, trust me."

Jeremy scrambled away from her as her foot landed inches from his face, and he ended up in the corner, staring at the most powerful werewolves in the pack. "You told me, Laurel! I didn't want to, I was scared, Miss Carrow had me convinced but you said you could fix everything, and we would run the pack then, and -- you told me this wouldn't happen and now you're just going to let them kill me so they don't kill you! Well sod that!"

Remus made himself look at Laurel and be unmoved, kept himself the heir of the pack they thought he was. "Is that true, Laurel?" he said.

Laurel shook her head fervently, and spoke to Fenrir instead, crawling away from Wesley and clutching at Fenrir, reaching for his hands and stung when he crossed his arms to keep them from her. "He's an upstart, you've always known he's an upstart, he's a Curenton, a wizard, a waste -- "

"An unnamed," Wesley said, tone as sharp as one of his knives.

"I'll tell you everything if you don't kill me. Don't kill her," Jeremy interjected in a panic, pressing himself against the wall. "Don't kill her, please, she's just scared, she's scared of Miss Carrow, and if Miss Carrow doesn't come she won't do anything -- don't kill her, I'm sorry, Laurel, I'm sorry."

Fenrir looked down at her (just as it was meant to be, he supposed) and felt filthy and betrayed. "Jealous little bitch, aren't you," he said. "Jealous of Remus, jealous of Alecto. Jealous of Wesley, no doubt."

"Cut the melodrama, Laurel, I think your cover's blown," Conor said, eyeing the supposedly wretched boy in the corner.

Remus was not allowing himself to wonder how exactly things were going this well. It would be frightening if he did so and so he kept his focus. "He gave you all up, Laurel, why do you keep on?"

"Because that's what pack does, you -- even when your Father takes a witch into his bed or a wizard as his first, you trust him and do his work and love him, Remus, that's what you do," Laurel said, gripping the fabric of Fenrir's trousers in her hands as she stared up at him. "That's what we're meant to do, you would know that if you knew a single thing about pack, Remus."

Fenrir pulled his leg away from her grasp and shoved her away with a kick, rolling his eyes as she collapsed in tears. "Wesley," he ordered.

"I'll slit her lying throat now, Father, so we don't have to hear this anymore?" Wesley suggested grimly, as he came forward.

Fenrir held his hand out to Wesley, who stared for a second before holding out his knife. He pulled Laurel to her feet and grabbed her by the hair. "We'll kill her in front of the pack. Make an example of her. The three of you, go, gather them, they'll want to see this." He leaned close to Laurel to whisper, "I knew you'd be the end of me, if I let you."

"Are you letting me go?" Jeremy dared leave the corner, still clutching at his side. "I swear I'll never do it again, she only told me that the unnameds would win -- "

"Wesley, thirty-five," Fenrir said, offhand. "Do it now. Conor, Remus, gather the pack."

Remus didn't want to see any of that, and left the room quickly before Wesley could start, barreling down the stairs two at a time. He went first to the common area. "Everyone, out here. Now," he said shortly over all of the conversation, which immediately hushed.

"Remus?" Gemma asked in a small voice from Skylar's lap, and found Skylar's hand over her mouth before she could say anything else. He looked at Skylar and gave the smallest shake of his head, indicating to give nothing away.

As Conor pulled the door shut, he saw Curenton fall from the third of over thirty blows to come, and closed the door with the shake of his head. There was worse to come, as he followed a sobbing Laurel and emotionless Fenrir down the stairs to greet the expansive unified pack with a public execution. "I don't know who's going to clean up the blood," he muttered -- being that it was usually Laurel's job. Fenrir, however, didn't seem amused.

"I didn't," Laurel said in a small voice, throat hoarse, and so desperate. "I didn't, I love you, Fenrir -- "

"Another word and I'll cut your tongue out first," Fenrir said, voice flat, and hauled her into the sitting room, drawing first blood against her throat (and he barely recalled her light hair on her collarbone so many years ago). "So! There are rumours of a rebellion, right? Everyone's heard. Well, those rumours are right, my children. They're right. And here we have the leader of the treachery. A bastard, who's surprised."

"You've got to be kidding me," Caleb said to Aaron, but apparently much louder than he'd intended, and now Fenrir was looking at him. "Er."

"No, it's true," Fenrir said to the pack, over the pitiful sobs that Laurel managed to get out. "Don't hunger for power, don't be jealous of your betters, you bastards and women, because this is what you get. You become a traitor. And I don't stand for traitors." He looked out to the crowd that was his pack. "I'll spare the rest of the rebellion, I know who you are, just change your minds and I'll forgive you. But it's too late for your leader." He leaned in to whisper into her ear one last time. "I don't need you anymore," he said, and began to cut her throat, not stopping even when he felt nearly soaked with blood.

The only sound in the room that might have drawn attention away from the spectacle was Gemma, who screamed and turned away, burying her face into Skylar's neck. Skylar paled as well, leaving her cheeks with only the slightest bit of colour in them. She kept one hand on Gemma's dark head and reached for Rory's hand with the other. They hadn't known, she hadn't told them... all they'd known was their part, and now they were witness to this.

Briony pressed a hand to her mouth, unsure whether it was out of shock of the sight or that they had done it. She didn't look at Conor, couldn't bring herself to, and so watched the blood and life drain out of Laurel.

Remus stood in the doorway, perfectly still and horribly drawn in to the moment. They had facilitated her murder, sure as though all of them had had their hands on the knife with Fenrir's. He was no better than the Death Eaters, surely. He couldn't even make himself step out of the self-loathing he was slipping into, it was easier than dealing with all of this in front of him. Either way, Laurel was going to be dead. The wolf was beginning to agitate him, as much as it ever had before he'd come to the pack. He lashed back at it, unwelcoming to it.

"Conor," Fenrir snapped, and as the older man stepped forward, he shoved Laurel's body into his arms. "Deal with this." He stuck the knife in his belt and surveyed his pack. "Do you understand now?" he shouted. "You won't win, because this is how it's meant to be. Don't be ungrateful. I was merciful this time, I won't be again." He left the room, and the puddle of blood that now stood in the center, grabbing Remus by the shoulder as he left. "You did a good job," he said, approving in almost a parental way.

Remus wanted to be ill. He had never wanted to be so ill in his entire life. But Fenrir expected a reaction, so he made himself say it. "Thank you."

Fenrir put both his bloody hands on Remus's shoulders and sighed, as though a whole new burden rested on his shoulders. "It gets easier," he said with a half-smile, and clapped him on the shoulder again. "Go on, look after the pack. Conor and I have work to do."

Remus shuddered and nodded. He moved away, aimlessly going to the next room and slamming the door shut. The pack would look after itself for a moment while he collapsed into a chair. After what felt like hours of catatonia but couldn't have been more than a minute he tore his shirt off over his head and took out his wand, Scourgifying until all hints of the blood were gone. He would have to live with the metaphorical blood on his hands the rest of his life, he would be damned if he was going to live with the actual blood on his shirt a second longer than necessary.