The Marauders and the Arenotelicon

He'd never felt so terrible. His head pounded so badly his ears rang. His muscles, his whole body in fact, felt so heavy he didn't know if he could even move.

Yet there was a sense of satisfaction that was deeply primal and disturbing.

Despite the ringing in his ears, his sensitive hearing picked up soft, careful footsteps. He groaned loudly at the disturbance and the footsteps paused, only to speed up suddenly to almost a run.

"Oh my dear Heavens!" A started exclamation shot through his pained head like a bullet and he groaned again.

"My prayers were answered," sighed another voice.

"But how -?" The question wasn't finished.

"Later, Minerva. Go get Poppy."

Running steps receded as a gentle set of steps approached. He groaned in protest again. He could feel the vibrations in his muscles up through the floor and it hurt.

"Remus?"

"Pro-professor..." was all Remus could manage before his hoarse voice broke.

"It's all right, my boy." Gentle hands moved gingerly over him.

"W-wand?" croaked Remus and he painfully tossed his hand in the direction of where he thought the fireplace should be, only to have it land on something large and furry. "W-what...?"

Dumbledore shushed him. "Ssh. Don't move, be still. We'll have you fixed up again in no time at all."

Remus hoped so. He felt like he had one foot in the grave.

"Goodness gracious!" Madam Pomphrey immediately took control. "Albus, check for breaks. Hagrid, get that...thing out of the way."

"Poppy," began McGonagall.

"Minerva, conjure the steadiest stretcher you can and we'll get him off the floor. Blood everywhere! Which is his and which is that - Hagrid!"

There was a snap and ripping sound that made Remus twitch in disgust. It sounded to him like tearing flesh and breaking bones. "Yech!" complained Hagrid and nothing more was said.

"P-pain," whimpered Remus.

"Of course, my dear," soothed Madam Pomphrey. A few seconds later Remus descended into darkness.

"But he will be all right?" Remus recognized his father's voice.

"Papa?" His own voice was no more than a croaky whisper.

"Remus? Oh Remus, you're awake!" Remus felt his father's gentle touch on his arm and then his face. "I never should have let you come to school."

Guilt for he'd done washed over Remus and the consequences of his plan struck home hard. "No, Papa, please!" Remus' croaking whisper was pleading. "My friends -"

"Are in a lot of trouble." Remus involuntarily winced his father's stern tone. "As are you, young man."

"I have friends, Papa. Please don't make me leave my friends," Remus tried again.

There was a long pause and then a deep sigh. "You have a lot of explaining to do, young man." Remus knew that tone. That was his father's "brook no denial" voice. One did not argue with Phineas Lupin when he used that voice.

"Yes, Papa," Remus said dutifully.

"He's awake, is he, Phineas?" Remus tried to open his eyes and for the first time realized that his eyes were bandaged. His hands, also bandaged, brushed down his body to reveal more bandaged areas.

"Yes, do you think we can remove some of these, Madam Pomphrey?" Mr. Lupin's voice sounded worried again.

"I think so. There's a few spots to leave, though, but the bulk should be healing nicely enough." Gentle hands began moving over different areas of his arms and legs and the pressure from the many bandages lessened.

Finally the wrappings over his eyes were removed and Remus was confronted with the somber faces of his father, the school nurse and the headmaster. Madam Pomphrey performed a few tests and nodded her approval of his recovery progress.

"What were you thinking, son?" Phineas asked reproachfully.

"I-I," Remus stammered, looking from one adult to the other. "I tried to tell Professor Dumbledore but -"

"Yes, you did," agreed Dumbledore amiably, "but you left out some information as well. Your spell traps were clever, ingenious actually, and you may feel fortunate that Misters Potter, Black and Pettigrew came to no serious harm."

Remus was appropriately horrified. "They were so bent on finding proof of our suspicions before going to you. I tried to tell you that once and you didn't believe me."

"And that is the only reason I'm not expelling you, Mister Lupin," Dumbledore informed him with a frown. Remus swallowed. "You should have persisted, but I understand why you did not, at least with me. I can be intimidating sometimes, can't I?" Remus nodded weakly. "It's the reputation of being slightly odd, I imagine," Dumbledore said to no one in particular but both Madam Pomphrey and Phineas Lupin had arrested expressions on their faces, as if they wanted to say something but were fighting not too.

"I tried to get them to tell you, but they said after they had proof," Remus reiterated.

"Yes, they collaborate your statement," agreed Dumbledore. "I must say, impressive bit of detective work, though. I never would have thought of the Beast of Gevaudan would have been hunting the grounds of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts."

"The what?" asked Madam Pomphrey.

Lupin senior sagged in his chair. "One of those. I thought they were extinct."

"So did we all, but apparently one had found its way here and was taken with our young werewolf here." Dumbledore motioned to Remus. "He began stalking the werewolf at the shack, startling the townspeople no end. They'd been losing sheep and small animals for months, but no humans had been attacked. Remus and his three friends were serving a detention with Hagrid when the Beast met up with your son, face to face. Undoubtedly, it was an old Beast, from the size of what was left of him, I'd say probably 500 years at the least."

Remus' stomach roiled. "What do you mean what was left of him?"

The adults turned to look at him. "Remus," began the headmaster, but his father interrupted.

"Remus, you killed the Beast. Took all night, according to Professor Dumbledore, and then, well, son, you ate quite a bit of him." Phineas looked apologetic at having to tell his son such news. Remus, for his part, was revolted enough to begin retching.

In a bid to rapidly change the subject, once he was finished being sick and had a glass of water, Remus asked anxiously, "Are my friends all right?"

Dumbledore smiled, settling himself comfortably on the bed next to Remus'. "Oh yes, they're fine! Mr. Potter got thrown backward into some bushes, had some horrible looking scratches that were easily mended. Misters Black and Pettigrew were covered in boils and sores. Mr. Black was also an interesting shade of purple until right before breakfast this morning. Mr. Pettigrew was temporarily blinded and had to be helped back to the castle. They are perfectly fine now, I assure you."

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling as he added, "Next time you do multiple spells in a small confined space, Mr. Lupin, I suggest that you make certain they are compatible first."

"They didn't work?" Remus didn't understand.

All three adults laughed. "Oh, they worked. Excellent set up by the way, but when the spells went off together there was a bit of element cancelling and the victims got what was left over, magically speaking."

Phineas frowned. "It could have been fatal," he chided the still chuckling headmaster. Remus was amazed at his father's adacity at correcting Dumbledore.

"No, not these particular spells but it is something for young Mr. Lupin to keep in mind in the future." Remus nodded vigorously, despite the headache it gave him.

"Did the same thing happen then to explain how the Beast entered the shack?" Phinease brushed a lock of brown hair from his son's eyes.

"And what was it?" chimed in Remus.

"Ah!" Dumbledore shook his head ruefully. "I'm afraid I'm not entirely certain spell cancellation is how the Beast got in but Remus' additional spells mingling with mine certainly did not help."

"I won't ever cast spells there again!" Remus promised ferverently.

"Excellent notion," agreed Dumbledore. "As for the Beast itself, I have my suspicions. Sightings are rare, more frequent among wizards than Muggles, but rare all the same. No one who has seen a Beast, or arenotelicon, like this up close has the same description, other than a canine-like animal with a strong musky smell. Theories abound from spell-mutated werewolves to something unknown and unregistered. The occurences of it being spotted is only when an arenotelicon attacks. I believe further rarity of the creature is because it is transgendered, thus allowing itself to reproduce without needing a partner."

Everyone stared at Dumbledore in disbelief. "Some frogs and other amphibians change their gender and thus perpetuate the species. It's entirely possible that the arenotelicon could do the same, thus why there are so few. They seem to be solitary creatures, not needing packmates like wolves or hyenas. Arenotelicons also seem to have a penchant for human flesh but go for humans who are alone and thus without much defense, like shephards or lone travelers. They also go after animals a bit smaller than they or less powerful, like sheep, pet dogs and other animals of medium size."

"And werewolves," Remus murmured.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, and werewolves, though I've never heard of a werewolf surviving an arenotelicon attack. Usually werewolves are attacked in mid transformation by the arenotelicon, according to accounts I've read, for the werewolf in question is always found dead, half-transformed." Remus shuddered. "Yet he waited until you were transformed before attacking."

"Could the Beast have not been an arenotelicon?" questioned Madam Pomphrey aghast.

"Possible," nodded Dumbledore, "but it had all the features of one, a very old one at that. Likely this beast had challenge so many werewolves, lived so long it was bold and overconfident. It happens, but the incident is something you will have to keep in mind in the future, Remus. Your alternate nature is a challenge to many creatures, vampires for example."

Remus nodded resignedly. "You're not going to expel me, are you, Professor?" he asked fearfully.

Dumbledore watched him for a long moment and then shook his head. "No." Remus sighed with relief. "But you and your three friends will be serving detention for the next week for this incident. I somehow doubt you weren't knowledgable of their plans to go to the village. I'd like to know how they snuck past Filch though. He was quite on the lookout for you four since your incident earlier in the year."

Remus tensed when his father demanded, "Incident?"

Dumbledore's beard twitched. "Ah, Phineas, boys will be boys. It was nothing serious, just egos bruised is all. Detention was served and the lesson hopefully learned." Phineas didn't look pleased with the explanation but he was mollified.