Chapter 385: The Hour of the Wolf
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30 April 1995, Republic of Ireland
Remus Lupin was worried. He didn't show it, of course, he had a position of authority to maintain. He was the first Lycan, the most powerful, the Alpha, in a way. To be honest, people tended to wrongly assume that werewolves lived like savages, bowing to the will of their leader without question. It wasn't exactly wrong, but it also wasn't right. There were some inherent instincts of respecting the more powerful, and there were some displays of violence, and challenges to display their dominance. However, this wasn't exactly natural. It came in cycles and was more pronounced near the full moon. It was artificial, and often people regretted the way that they acted around that time.
However, as much as it was an artificial feeling, it wasn't exactly wrong, and it was Fenrir Greyback's fault. He was a monster, and he wanted everyone to be like him. He wanted to be the wolf, the animal and wanted everyone to do the same. The young were particularly susceptible to his rhetoric, since they were very impressionable, hence the way he shaped almost an entire generation of werewolves in Britain and a good chunk of Europe.
He only cared for the strongest and chose his subordinates by having them fight each other. Over decades, this became the norm, and the mentality stuck around. Unfortunately, decades of instincts were hard to fight, and even as his fellow werewolves evolved to becoming Lycans, their violent tendencies tended to win out. There was a weird dichotomy between the Lycans who had done their best to escape Greyback's influence and those that were born into it. There were tensions, invisible walls between them, mended only by Lily's authority. If there was anything they could all agree on, it would be that Lily Evans was their saviour, the woman who had broken their chains and cured them.
It was why every single Lycan was willing to fight for her, especially when Voldemort returned. Of course, there were incidents, far more than he liked to admit, where some of them – those who were influenced by Greyback – became overly violent in their attacks. Lily's goal was to stop Voldemort's influence and to kill his allies. However, Remus could see that her heart wasn't really in it. She had gotten everything she had ever wanted, but her son's death had broken her in a way that he thought that Lily herself didn't think possible.
Without her active disapproval, the Lycans started to let go of the countless years of repressed anger at the people who prosecuted them. It was very similar to how Death Eaters behaved and it disgusted Remus to his core. He did his best to stop them, but the perpetrator only responded to violence. Remus couldn't do that without really taking sides in the divides between Lycans, and even then, he didn't think he had it in him to hurt another Lycan.
They were his people, his children, in a way. Every single Lycan was a miracle in his eyes, a product of decades of work on his side, and Lily's genius on the other. They were the living representation of everything he had ever wanted. His people were free, no newborn would ever be cursed with Lycanthropy. People didn't have to live in fear of them because of their nature, not anymore. But it all felt so bitter, because now, people didn't fear their nature, but their actions, and that was far worse. They had a justification to hate them now, even if they didn't have the manpower to stop them.
Thankfully, Lily stepped in a few weeks before she left for Greece and said in no uncertain words to stop the attacks. They had won, really, and Voldemort had gone to hiding. The dementors returned to Tartarus; there was no one to fight, not anymore. The only thing that remained was Lily putting some pressure to grant his fellow Lycans right as citizens of Britain, and that would be it. Peace at last.
Lily had promised, after all, and his fellow Lycans obeyed her words to the letter, and an unspoken ceasefire was in place in Britain. This was it, the endgame of Remus' ambition, the final sprint. If it wasn't for the fact that Lily disappeared.
He could feel something wrong, something missing and it unsettled him. It unsettled the rest of them as well, as evident by the small gathering yelling to Remus to do something, "Where is our Queen, Lupin? Where is our saviour?"
The way the other Lycans addressed Lily always made him uncomfortable. She hadn't even prompted them to do anything, but she did nothing to stop them either. They came up with it by themselves. In a way, they weren't exactly wrong. Lily was their queen, their saviour, their leader.
However, Remus was concerned with what it meant. He was afraid that Lily would disappear, that no one would truly know her, much like no one truly knew Voldemort's name. As for his people, well, he also wasn't under the illusion that the redhead cared about them out of kindness. She did so because she needed forces, and a loyal army, and what better way to buy someone's loyalty than to save them from their curse? It just didn't feel right to have the Lycans proclaim her as their queen, only for her to eventually abandon them when she found something better.
Don't get him wrong, Remus had no plans on betraying Lily, not after she had done so much for him and his people, but his people should learn to live their lives without her being in the centre of it. Not that Remus didn't understand their perspective. He would serve Lily until the day he died, but it still felt wrong to see young Lycans, teenagers even, dedicate their entire lives to her. It wasn't what they fought for, after all. They were all fighting for their rights, for their place in the world. That was the goal, and yet Remus was seeing a large shift towards violence for violence's sake.
"Busy," Remus retorted, trying his best to comfort them, "The Queen has left on a mission weeks ago, but rest assured, she is fine and well. She will most likely return soon, and I will tell you the moment she does. In the meantime, please stay calm and I'll do my best to help until she does."
"What the hell is she doing for so long?" another voice retorted.
"Who are we to ask what she's doing? Didn't she save us all? Didn't she give us the opportunity to live a life without fear of our own bodies, our own transformations? Who are we to dictate what she should or shouldn't do? We have all sworn to help her shape Britain to her own ideals, to be able to have our own place here. Hasn't she led us faithfully so far? Aren't we the most prevalent force in Magical Britain?"
Murmurs echoed across the room, and Remus' shoulders released a bit of tension. To be perfectly honest, he was speaking with a confidence he didn't really have. It was unusual for Lily to be this silent for so long. Even before the trip to Greece, she had barricaded herself to do her own research somewhere in the Department of Mysteries. She had cut almost all contact, but it wasn't absolute. She still sent him orders or asked for reports every few days.
She had never been so silent, and considering the fiasco in Greece, Remus was starting to get worried. He had expected a fuckup eventually in the tournament. He had been pleasantly surprised with the ICW's measures to make sure the Champions would not get hurt too much. However, at most, he expected a single death, maybe even someone accidentally getting maimed, but he never in his life ever expected something on the scale of the destruction of Mount Olympus.
Half of the champions had perished, including one from Britain, and there were dozens of deaths from the fallen debris. They were almost all ICW personnel, but still. It was oddly reminiscent of the Quidditch World Cup finals, just a year prior, only this time, children had died in broad daylight. Could Lily have been caught in the blast somehow? No, that wasn't possible. She wouldn't let herself be hurt like this. She was too strong, too smart. She fought Voldemort to a standstill. Only Albus Dumbledore had done that before her.
Right as Remus thought that he had successfully bought some more time, a familiar voice spoke up from across the room, "What false confidence you hold, Remus Lupin. To lie so brazenly to your own pack, how unfaithful."
The first Lycan stiffened and turned towards the source of the voice, hoping that he was wrong, "You're not welcome here Albus Dumbledore."
"You've certainly grown from the shy boy I allowed to learn in my school, my boy. But I fear it is not for the better. You were always brave, I believe, but you were never that good of a liar."
A voice retorted before Remus had time to say anything, "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, your Queen will not return. It is, after all, impossible to return from the dead."
That caused the entire to shout loudly, "That's impossible!"
A few came to attack him, only to be sent flying back with a bright white spell, "There's no reason to be so rude. I wasn't the one who did it. In fact, I believe our interests are aligned in that regard."
Remus dreaded the answer, but asked anyway, "Who killed her?"
"Why Harry Potter, of course. It was, perhaps, one of the greatest duels I have ever witnessed, and I'm including my own duel with Grindelwald as well. They fought on Mount Olympus, and well, only ruins remain in this place. Harry Potter won, vaporizing her entirely, leaving nothing behind but dust and ash. Do you think it was a coincidence that the boy announced his return just after your Queen disappeared? No, he knew that he needed to take her by surprise, to destroy what she had built."
The entire room became silent as every single one stood shocked at what happened.
"I'll kill him," a loud voice yelled, breaking the silence, and the others took that as a sign to start shouting as well. Even to Remus, who had more context than the other Lycans, what Dumbledore was spouting was possible. He had, himself, fought Harry Potter the previous year, and he could say, without a doubt that the boy took after his mother in the intelligence department. He was a very powerful threat, and a fight between him and Lily would certainly have a massive amount of collateral damage – much like the destruction of Mount Olympus.
However, Remus also knew that Lily and Dumbledore were not allies by any means, in fact, they were pretty antagonistic towards one another. The former headmaster could easily be lying to paint a target on Harry Potter's back.
It didn't help that there was a lot of history there between Lily and Harry, and it wasn't always the good kind. Merlin, the Lycans didn't know that Harry was their queen's son or even the woman's true name. Lily had done her best to hide her identity behind her mask as the Red Witch. To be perfectly honest, very few people knew of Lily Evans bar her marriage to James Potter. There weren't many photos or articles for people to recognize her with. She was just some unknown woman who died over a decade prior. At least, as far as anyone but her inner circle was concerned.
Remus yelled out, "Silence!" the hall stopped all at once, letting him turn towards Dumbledore, "You better have any proof of that."
"What better proof is there aside from hearing it from the source? Harry Potter is back, and he, better than anyone, would be able to prove my words. I tried to warn the world, again and again, of the danger the boy presented without some proper guidance. I tried to make sure he would end up as a good man, and when he proved that he was nothing more than a monster, I admit having let my fear take the better of me, and he used that to banish me from Britain. He fooled me, he fooled the world, he probably even fooled your Queen to underestimate him, and we all paid the price for it. Bring me Harry Potter and I'll prove to you that he is the one who killed your saviour. What do you have to lose with that? Are you telling me that you can't capture a single boy? I am not asking you to join me. I am not asking you for anything, only that you right a wrong that was done to you. May we meet again in better circumstances."
The former headmaster disappeared in a burst of light, leaving pandemonium for Remus to deal with. And just like that the first Lycan knew that he lost them, that nothing would ever stop his people from trying to hunt down Harry Potter. Sure, a few would stay their hands, but the rest would be too consumed by their love for their saviour to care, and there was nothing he could do to stop them. Only Lily coming back would do that.
Remus suppressed the urge to grieve her. He needed to get to Severus, and they needed to put a plan together. They needed to stop his people from going overboard, especially after Dumbledore painted a target on Harry Potter's back. The boy would kill them in seconds, and that would do nothing more than escalate the situation. This will only cause his people more suffering and there was nothing Remus could do. However, if Dumbledore was right, if Lily really had died at the hands of her own son, then after making sure his people would be fine, he would personally hunt down the boy and make him pay for what he had done. After all, as powerful as Harry Potter was, even he wouldn't be able to fight an entire army. Right?
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AN: Sorry if this feels rushed again. This last week was hell, and it doesn't look like it's stopping anytime soon. I barely had three hours of sleep last night to finish work, and I'm barely even done. It's my fault for procrastinating, but I'm kinda paying for it now. I know that this chapter wasn't really eventful. It's hard to write the eventful chapter without the time to properly plan it, and I'll be completely honest and say that I didn't have the time to do that for that one. I wanted to portray the duality of Remus, I suppose. Like how he feels indebted to Lily but is worried about his people.
As for the Lycans' reaction and gullibility, not all of them will be willing to believe Dumbledore at his words. This was just tempers running wild, but after a few moments of reflection, most of them would listen to Remus. Unfortunately, a few would still believe Dumbledore, and well, that's the problem. Remus is afraid that they'll attack Harry, he'll kill them, and well, that would snowball into a full-on fight, since he thinks that Dumbledore wants to throw gasoline on the fire.
Also, I don't think I put it anywhere that the Lycans knew about Lily's true identity, only knowing her as the 'Red Witch' or their Queen. Even Remus who knows enough, isn't even sure that she didn't end up fighting Harry and died. I might edit the chapter later to make it a bit clearer though.
I'm not sure if I pulled it off, so, as usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.