Werewolves at Hogwarts

Chapter 11

"So, how did you survive your current change at Hogwarts?" Minerva asked as the staff relaxed in the staffroom after dinner.

Remus groaned and shook his head slowly. "Storm decided to challenge so I had to put him down which was no real effort but Merlin help me, they creamed me at obstacle tag. Minerva, I am getting old, I have decided."

Filius overheard him and laughed delightedly. "You just need to remember your bruise healing charms," he teased gently before coming across. "Do you need me to relieve any sore spots?

"Thanks for the offer but I'm fine really. However, you might refresh your sixth years. Andy has no idea and Malcolm is not very skilled. How are they in class?"

Filius sighed. "Malcolm has a firm grounding in charms up to OWL level but he needs practical practice. I don't know what they teach at Beauxbatons, not real charms I think."

"Nah, they teach the children charms at Beauxbatons alright but they don't have as good a teacher as you, Filius," Rolanda Hooch commented, sitting on the arm of Remus' chair and digging her thumbs into the muscles of his shoulders.

He let out a howl of protest that quickly turned into a groan of appreciation as her strong thumbs found and destroyed the knot that had been giving him fits. "Down a bit, down, down. Oh Gods, oh yes, ahhhh. Oh yes, left, more. Aiah, ow, ow, ow." He subsided into a pool of inane grins as the Quidditch coach giggled and pounded on the rolls of muscle down his spine. "Oh God, that was good. If you weren't such a good coach you could earn a fortune as a masseuse."

Rolanda laughed. "Good enough to make you howl anyway," she teased slyly and giggled again as his ears blushed.

"Tell me, Minerva, what do you know about Paul's home changes?" Remus asked seriously when the coach had moved off to speak to Grubbly-Plank.

"Not a lot. Why?"

"Last night he could hardly walk and when we did get him moving about he would travel two steps then stop short, as if he was chained or caged in a very, very small area. He kept forgetting he was free and almost breaking his neck as if he had just avoided running into a wall. That was disconcerting if you were in the process of jumping from one platform to the other or if someone was close on your heels."

"I'll ask. Have the children owled their parents? I have had half a dozen owls from Madame Leger-Path alone."

"Yes, it was the task I set them as soon as dinner was over," Remus assured her then yawned mightily. "I have to go to bed. I wasn't joking when I said I was getting old, every bone in my body is telling me so at different frequencies and volumes."

"Go on, get to bed, Remus, you have to work tomorrow."

~~*~~

Andy sighed as Rose cast a muscle loosening charm over her. "Oh, Rose, that is one hell of a talent you have there," she groaned and sighed again.

Rose giggled. "It's really simple, I'll teach you tomorrow. So, how was it? Your Mother has been sending owls every half hour all day, to everyone, and we have all been dying of curiosity. So tell! All of it, from the beginning!"

Lisa bounced onto the bed opposite and dug her elbows into her knees, her chin on her hands. "Yes, tell! How was dreamy Malcolm as a wolf, and Professor Lupin? What is he like?"

"Storm was beautiful! So was Moony--Professor Lupin--silly. Okay, we have our pack names, mine is Sweetbriar, which is rather cool, Malcolm's is Storm, Charlie is Red and Paul is Cloud. Professor Lupin is Moony and he is a sort of amber and brown with a buff ruff, a mature male wolf. Storm is dark blue black and only half-maned, still sort of gangly. He did something very stupid last night; he challenged Moony for the alpha position and was put on his back very sharply. Red was so cute, so bouncy and full of energy. His change was the least painful, almost as if he accepted being a wolf as just one of those things that happened. Paul was so sad, a pale ghost of a wolf who had no name at all and he was so lost. Moony called him Cloud eventually. He could hardly walk never mind run, Cloud, I mean and he kept stopping which could be a little hard to take. It was funny, odd, knowing who you were as well as being what you were and thinking human while in wolf form. Wolves don't think the way humans do, sight and sound change places and speech is a whole body thing, not just sounds."

"So what did you look like?" Lisa demanded eagerly. "Are you blonde still?"

"Humm, I'm sort of white and yellow like a Golden Retriever but with a softer coat."

"What did you do?"

"We played tag, and Moony showed us how to tell one scent from the other. Then we played a game where we had to stalk each other across the jungle-gym which was really hard because we weren't allowed to use our eyes, just our noses. It was fun! Later, just on moonset, we all denned up and waited for change, then Charlie brought the wands over and Professor Lupin showed us how to fix ourselves up before we had a nap. Then the house-elves brought breakfast and we spent the rest of the day studying."

"Did you get your potions assignment done? God! Snape was in a foul mood today! He gave half the class detention and we all had to write out the chapter of the textbook on drawn potions and simmered potions, and what the difference was between them."

Andy sighed and rolled on her back with her hand over her eyes. "That figures. I am knackered, ladies, I really do have to go to bed and sleep so I will survive the day tomorrow, but before I do I suppose I had better write my mother. She's going to keep harassing everyone until she hears from me."

"Okay, you do that, and we'll talk to you tomorrow," the two girls agreed cheerfully as they left.

~~*~~

Malcolm sat on his bed with his head in his hands wondering whether he had made a tragic mistake or a small error. He ached, particularly his throat and shoulder where bruises the size of sickle pieces mottled his skin and went down to the bone in places. He remembered being a wolf; he remembered everything, including thinking to defy his professor because he was actually bigger than Moony. But Moony had put him on his back like a small, insignificant cub in about two seconds flat and Moony had hurt him. Not as badly as he could have, of course, but enough to show Malcolm his place. And then they had played and learned a few things and all the while Malcolm was aware that he lived on the sufferance of his Alpha, nothing more. He had felt the power of those jaws Moony used so delicately to pick up the rope tug or the Frisbee and knew the older werewolf could have crushed out his life at a whim.

Malcolm groaned miserably and tossed himself down on his side, curling into a tight ball and wishing he had a tail to curl over his nose. "I am such an idiot!" he said aloud into his pillow.

"Granted," a voice agreed softly, the squeak of a sneaker alerting him to another human presence at the last moment.

"Who.... Oh, hi," Malcolm greeted the newcomer softly, ruefully.

"How are you feeling?" Porter Macklewaite asked solicitously as he stripped off his robes to reveal a pair of jeans and a baggy t-shirt.

"Why? What do you care?" Malcolm asked argumentatively.

The young man paused as if to give the question serious thought. "If you are hurt then I will have to endure your girlfriend's constant nagging about pointing toes, holding shoulders straight and taking hands lightly all by myself. Not a fate recommended for the faint hearted, I do assure you."

Malcolm sniggered even though Porter seemed serious. "True. Andy is really something. I'm not sure what yet, but definitely something. Gods, I feel like I was attacked and floored by a very large and very experienced alpha that I had just challenged and failed to beat out."

"In wolf society the alpha is the head of the pack. I assume you challenged Professor Lupin while in wolf form and were soundly beaten? Not a wise move. Before you try that sort of thing again, I would read up about our soft-spoken self-effacing Professor and see just how important he was to the war effort and what he did for us. You do not receive Orders of Merlin and the Phoenix for sitting in the corner and twiddling your thumbs, you know?"

"I suppose not. Look, I know it was stupid but, well, between you and me, no one has ever bested me in a fight before, ever. I mean, my parents always gave in to me and no one else was ever strong enough or quick enough to stop me doing just exactly what I wanted to. Now this skinny, shabby, frankly unimpressive little guy says 'I am the Alpha', and of course I don't believe him. Even if he smells like an alpha, walks like an alpha and holds his self up like an alpha, he doesn't push forward or build himself up like an alpha so I have to try. Then I am on my back with his jaw wrapped around my throat and I'm wondering how I got there, and if I was about to die. And then he let me go! I can't believe how he just walked away and left me laying there with a stunned look on my face. It was amazing."

"That makes you his beta, which is an honourable position. Since Professor Lupin is certainly not about to breed, that makes you and your girlfriend the breeding pair. Have you any idea who his real partner is? Wolves tend to mate for life, or until their partner is killed then they choose a new one, or not."

"His first partner was Sirius Black, but he was killed in the war. Andy thinks his current mate is Professor Snape but I can't see it myself."

Porter tucked his chin in on his chest for a moment of thought. "It makes sense. Professor Snape watches him all the time, particularly when he thinks no one is watching him. He was totally 'Snapesque' today--a right royal bastard--so he was probably worried. Are you in pain?" he asked, as Malcolm winced and massaged his throat. "There are charms to take care of those sorts of bruises."

"Yes, but I'm not good at them," Malcolm confessed miserably.

Pulling his wand, Porter said the incantation with the necessary swish and flick, bringing instant relief to Malcolm's throat and shoulder. "Thanks. You're good at that. Gods! I need to sleep, like I never needed to sleep before."

"Go on, I just want to study this potions text for a few more moments. I'll keep the candles down low."

"Thanks."

~~*~~

"Wasn't it great? Didn't you have fun?" Charlie giggled, bouncing on Paul's bed in the first year dormitory.

Paul smiled shyly. "I did have fun. I never had fun like that before, I don't think. Dad made me a really close fitting cage so I couldn't move about much and couldn't hurt myself, so I've never really run around as a wolf before. Did you get my name, Cloud, isn't it great? I like being a cloud; it's so free and clean."

"You are pretty good looking as a wolf too, a bit small and scrawny, but then Moony is not all that big either. Malcolm is bigger but he didn't last long against experience. I like being part of a pack even more than I like being at home for the change. Did you like the jungle gym? Wasn't it fun? I'm going to try the high jump next time, see if I can make it!"

"If you fall, you'll hurt yourself," Paul warned with a dire note in his voice.

Charlie yawned noisily. "No I won't, werewolves are indestructible so I'll just bounce."

Paul giggled and pulled the covers up to his chin. "Like your ball probably. I liked playing with you and your ball. I ... please can we play some more next time, Red?"

"Sure, Cloud," Charlie, agreed around a huge yawn.

Paul made an accepting noise and snuggled down, hugging the wolf name to him. He had a name, he had friends and he was part of something bigger than he was by himself, he loved it!

~~*~~

There had been an incident on the high moors during the full moon, the report on Ron's desk said flatly. Two Muggles had been found with their throats torn out in the rocks near where the Pennines Pack assembled. The Aurors who found them had scanned the area already and had no idea how they got there. Auror Fiona McDonald had taken the bodies straight back to headquarters over the complaints of her older although less alert partner for the night. An autopsy on the bodies revealed that the couple had been strangled and were dead before the wolves got to them.

"It's almost as if someone tried to set the Pennines Pack up for murder. Thank Merlin that Fiona was on the ball," Ron mused, muttering to himself as he flicked through the rest of the reports but found no further mention of werewolves, although there was a couple of reports of Selkie bodies being found in the remote beaches of the Shetland Isles. Since Selkies didn't normally go in for massed beaching like whales, it was odd. "All we need now is a slew of vampire crimes and we'll all be joining the Magical Creatures Control Department."

"What's that, Boss?" Hardy Lane, Ron's secretary, asked cheerfully as he dropped another set of reports onto Ron's desk. "This lot are from finance and only need your rubber stamp." He grinned, indicating the pile of paperwork.

"Yeah, like I'm going to pass anything without reading it?" Ron grinned back tiredly, smothering a yawn, and then he trotted out his well used but valid excuse for his tiredness. "If you have children Hardy, make sure they always know that night time is for sleeping! Martha Marie seems to feel the middle of the night is for playing games and running amok, and waking the baby," he told the younger man very seriously, raising another laugh. "I'll call you when I've finished reading," he promised, going back to his reports, babies were such good excuses for sleepiness.