CHAPTER 75: THE MOON

Facts:

A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope, was a human being who, upon the complete rising of the full moon, became an uncontrollable, fearsome and deadly wolf. This condition was caused by infection with lycanthropy, also known as werewolfry. Werewolves appeared in the form of wolves, but there were distinctions between them and regular wolves.

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25th of April 1994. Ed and Richard was in a classroom inside the suitcase. Ed was carving a ring, while Richard was grinding a shiny stone. Besides them, there's a small projection, showing a girl training melee combat in a training room, trying to survive from the physical training.

"Man, if this works, we'll probably going to get an Order of Merlin Medal." Richard commented.

"Eh, you can take it, I don't want it." Ed said.

"You sure? I mean, this is the order of Merlin medal mate…"

"For the company? Sure I'll take it, but I won't take it for myself." Ed said. "Anyway, have you finished grinding the moonstone?"

"Just about." Richard put the result of the grinding to a blood mixture. "How'd you get the blood anyway?"

"Lupin often hurts himself when he's transformed." Ed casually said, "So I picked some of the blood from the blood puddles…"

"That's gross…" Richard grimaced.

"Anything for science." Said Ed seriously.

"Is this science though?" Richard added. "Or is it magic?"

"Magic is a science we have yet to understand Richard." Ed pointed out. "Best remember that."

Ed then added a couple of touches to the ring, and it was done. "You finished the mixture?"

Richard hummed, and put a rather scarce blood bottle, but in the blood, there were shiny dust in it.

"Right, let's make this thing and test it, it's full moon right now, Lupin should be in the shack."

Ed then put the ring in the bottle, and the ring slowly absorbed the blood slowly but surely, making the bottle more and more clear. After a couple of minutes, the runes glowed green, and the ring is ready to be used.

"Right, let's go." Ed said as he grabbed the ring from the bottle.

"What about her?" Richard pointed at the projection.

"Oh, yeah…" Ed approached he projection, and tapped something, as if he was activating the speaker.

"Hermione, you good in there?" Ed cheekily asked.

"What do you mean I'm good?! I'm dying of exhaustion right here while you and Richard are playing scientists there!"

Ed chuckled, "Sorry darling, but that's the way it is, I did all those training in the beginning…"

"Yeah but you focused on Magic! I focused on punching people!" Hermione kept complaining.

"Don't whine." Ed teased.

"You're such an arse!" Hermione cursed, stomping her feet to the ground in annoyance.

"Is that really Hermione mate?" Richard asked as he laughed also, "She never curse!"

"I'm really a bad influence on her…" Ed whispered. Then, the boy continued to talk to the girl. "Right, I'm sorry, but it's necessary, how about this, you got off early this night, I will talk to Gilligan about possibly decreasing your training routine…"

"Really?" Hermione seemed hopeful of getting out of the torture.

"Yeah." Ed confirmed, "I'm going to Lupin tonight though, you want to come?"

"At this point, I'll go anywhere with you as long as it's not training." Hermione commented.

Ed chuckled. "Right, get out of there then, take a shower first."

Hermione then happily got out of the room and into the shower room. Then, Gilligan suddenly appeared behind Ed.

"You know it's necessary right Ed?" Gilligan commented.

"You're torturing the girl Gilligan, look at her." Ed shook his head in pity.

"I gave her the same routine as you, the one who's learning more magic than her…"

"I'm different than her Gilligan." Ed said, "I'm an Aldrich, she is not, she can't handle this type of training this age."

Gilligan sighed. "Very well, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you Gilligan."

The owl then disappeared again, leaving the two boys alone. "Shall we go to the living room then?"

"Right." Richard nodded and both of them bolted off to the living room. The two of the boys then waited for Hermione there and about fifteen minutes later, Hermione got out of her room with fresh clothes. Although she looks extremely tired. She glared at Ed menacingly as she walked to them.

"My muscles are sore all over." She grumbled in complaint. "I'm sleeping with you tonight, whether you like it or not. I want some cuddles…"

Ed chuckled. "Whatever you say Princess."

The group then got out of the suitcase, and they were now in the empty classroom. Then, Ed teleported them to the front of the shrieking shack, and when they arrived, as the name said, they heard shrieking inside as the full moon glowed brightly.

"I know that's Lupin, but it's still scary…" Hermione stood closer to Ed, hugging his arm tightly.

"You two are unbearable right now." Richard rolled his eyes.

Hermione noticed Richard's presence and quickly released Ed's arm as she blushed, but she still holding his hand.

"Right…" Ed diverted the attention, "Let's go inside."

The group then entered the room, carefully opening the door quietly, so the werewolf wouldn't get alert. Once they went inside, they moved slowly, and in the corner of a room, they saw a howling werewolf, he looked in pain, and once he noticed the group, he growled at them, making the group alert.

"Why isn't he awake?" Hermione whispered. "Wasn't he supposed to be awake during the transformation? He drank the Wolfsbane potion."

"Don't know…" Ed said. "Snape maybe?"

"Snape wouldn't be that cruel…"

"You'd be surprised then…"

"Anyway." Richard interrupted. "I'll deal with incapacitating him, I wanted to try my newly developed magic too…"

Richard then carefully stepped forward and point his wand at the werewolf, making it more alert. The werewolf then tried to pounce Richard, but the boy quickly used a magic.

He draws a peculiar rune on the air, drawing a backwards 'N'

"Latr." He whispered.

The werewolf then stops mid-air, or rather, floated, the werewolf was still trying to pounce Richard, but its movement were slowed by a considerable degree.

"That's brilliant." Ed commented. "You need to give your research to the library though, it's part of the deal."

"Sure, I'll hand it over later." Richard stood proudly as he showcased one of his new research.

Ed nodded, and he then slowly walked towards the floating werewolf, who was still trying to break from the extreme slowness. The silver-eyed boy then carefully grabbed the werewolf's arm, and slowly crept towards its fingers.

"Right, Professor, I mean no harm." Ed whispered as he hold Lupin's hand. The werewolf was growling at Ed, he tried to strike Ed, but couldn't as he was slowed.

"I'm just going to put the ring to your finger." Ed showed the ring, and slowly put it at its fingers. The ring then does its magic, it reshaped to suit the size, and once it went in contact with Lupin's werewolf skin, it glowed, a sign that it had bounded to Lupin.

Ed then saw the eyes of the werewolf looked awake, it doesn't look like a predator anymore.

"Richard, release whatever magic you casted on him." Ed instructed.

"You sure?" Richard asked worriedly.

"I'm sure." Ed slowly backed down from the werewolf, and once he's close to Hermione, the girl held his hand tightly, she looked a bit scared and relieved at the same time.

"Right, release it." Ed pointed his wand at the werewolf.

Richard nodded, and in front of him, the drawing of the backwards 'N' suddenly appeared again, and Richard used his wand to slash the drawing, removing the magic.

The werewolf then fell down, he doesn't look threatening anymore, instead it looked pitiful. Then all of a sudden, a phenomenon that even Richard and Ed hadn't anticipated happened.

"What are you three doing here?" Lupin roughly said. The man then was shocked that he can speak.

"How?" Richard was also surprised.

Instead of surprised, Ed came closer to Lupin. "Interesting…"

"Is it a side effect?" Richard questioned.

"I think…" Ed built suspense. "I think it's because of the wolfsbane potion inside his blood, it makes the ring forced the werewolf to become more human."

"W-What are you talking about Ed, how can I talk?" Lupin said in shock.

"I'm sure that you've heard that I make magic items professor. Right now I'm making a magic item that made a werewolf be able to control its own transformation Professor, so they won't be bound by full moon again, and it looks like a succeeded."

"Y-You succeeded?"

"Yes Professor." Ed softly said, "You should be able to transform back to your human form Professor, just calm yourself down."

"O-Okay…"

Lupin then wasn't frantic anymore, he tried to calm himself down, and slowly but surely, he transformed back to his human form. He was now laying naked on the cold floor of the shack.

Ed then quickly pulled out his dark blue shirt, he enlarged it a bit and gave it to Lupin.

"How are you feeling Professor?" Ed asked as he eyed Richard, signalling him to pull out his notebook to take note, and the boy did.

"I-I feel… normal…" Lupin whispered in relief.

"Any raging emotions Professor?"

"N-No…"

"Any pain from the transformation?"

"I still have it, but it's normal to feel pain during transformation…"

Ed nodded. "Can you transform again?"

"W-What?"

"Can you transform again Professor? It goes both ways you know, you can transform anytime. Think about your time when you transform Professor."

Lupin blankly nodded and closed his eyes. And he slowly transform again, ripping Ed's shirt that he was wearing.

"I- I did it…" Lupin spoke in his werewolf form.

Ed nodded. "I guess it's a success then. You can transform back Professor Lupin."

Lupin then transform back and was naked again.

Richard sighed as he saw this, and quickly also pulled out his shirt and enlarge it, giving it to Lupin. Ed seeing that there are now three naked men in the room, quickly pulled a blushing Hermione that was looking at Ed's bare chest out of the place. "Can you deal with Professor Lupin Richard, I shouldn't have brought Hermione here."

Richard just nodded and tended to Lupin, while Hermione and Ed got out of the place. "I'll take you back."

The two then blinked towards the living room, and Ed quickly brought another shirt for him, and clothes for Lupin.

"Stay here okay?" Ed said to Hermione as he's preparing to go back.

"Y-Yeah…" Hermione mumbled, she was blushing and staring at Ed now clothed chest.

"What? you like seeing my scarred torso?" Ed teased.

"N-No…" Hermione then looked away while blushing more profusely.

Ed chuckled and blinked back to the shrieking shack, bringing the clothes to the two. The boy entered the shrieking shack again, and saw that Lupin was laying against a wall, and Richard talking to him.

"Here." Ed threw a shirt to Richard, who was topless. "Any side effects after I left?"

Richard shook his head in denial. "No, everything's all good."

"We can put it in the special category then." Ed nodded.

"You're going to sell it?" Lupin asked excitedly, looking at the ring around his finger.

"It's… complicated." Richard explained. "We can't just mass produced it, to make the ring, we need the individual's blood to work, so we were thinking more of custom order."

"That's better than nothing I guess…" Lupin muttered. "What's the price of it?"

"That's the thing… one of the ingredient, moonstone, is quite expensive for a werewolf. Not to mention finding a ring that can hold the enchantment…" Ed continued.

"That's a problem… any ideas?"

"Well… we were thinking of a more… direct approach… the first option is that they find the ingredient themselves, then they gave it to us and just pay for the service, and the second option is to make them work for us…"

"And what kind of work?"

"I don't know yet…" Ed said. "But we need to make use of the werewolves strength."

Lupin nodded weakly. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure Professor."

"Can I still infect other people if I bite them?" he asked, he looked like he had wanted to ask it since the start.

Ed and Richard looked at each other. "We don't know Professor." Ed answered, making Lupin slightly disappointed. "But all we know is that if someone drink your blood now, they will definitely be infected."

"What? how is that possible?"

"What we studied is that the ring suppresses all the urges, including the urge to infect, so not knowing what to do, the 'curse' will go to your blood, like a virus or some sort, and if someone drink it, it will infect the drinker."

"So I literally have a cursed blood now?"

"Yes."

Lupin sighed, he then took of the ring, and handed it over to Ed.

"What are you doing Professor?" Ed confusedly asked.

"It's yours right? I need to return it."

Ed chuckled. "It's useless if I use it, it's bound to you after all, keep it professor, just think it as a payment to be an experiment."

"I- I can't accept this, you said it yourself, it's expensive…"

"I Insists Professor."

"Then… What can I do for you Ed?"

"Pardon me?"

"You said if the werewolves can't work they need to work, what can I do for you?"

Ed and Richard looked at each other and smirked. "Well… can you work with us to manage the company while we're in school? I mean… I know you're the teacher but-"

"Oh, no, I'd be happy to." Lupin cut off. "I was going to resign at the end of the year, the werewolf transformation is dangerous for the students here, I was afraid that I'm going to bite one of you…"

"So you'll-"

"I'd be happy to manage your company Ed, Richard." Lupin smiled. "But I'm still inexperienced…"

"At this point Professor, we're desperate to find someone to manage our company… We were born in the muggle world, so we don't have many connections, and then there's the pureblood bias thing, which we don't want to insert in our company, so we're looking for a non-pureblood man/women to manage it so he or she won't be biased."

Lupin nodded. "Well, I'll do my best then."

The man then stood up, looking at the two smiling boys. "Now, you should go back, it's already midnight, I'm a professor, so I should be punishing you right now."

Ed and Richard chuckled. "Very well Professor, good night." Ed and Richard went back first, while Lupin said that he'll take his time there. The two quickly blinked to the empty classroom and sat by the window.

"Want something to drink?" Ed asked, while Richard is sitting.

"Drink?" Richard questioned, confused by the question.

Ed then walked to a desk nearby that has a locker in it and take a bottle of red wine and shook it, showing it to Richard.

"You did not." Richard shook his head.

"I did." Ed smirked.

"Does Hermione know?" Richard questioned.

"She has her suspicion but allowed it as long as I don't overdo it." Ed flatly said while bringing the bottle and conjuring two glasses.

"That's not healthy Ed."

"You want it or not?" Ed asked as he poured himself a drink.

Richard thought about it and relented. "You know what, I'll try it."

Ed smirked and poured Richard a drink. "I didn't really drink it daily to be honest, just once in a while."

"Like once a week?"

"Once a month really, when I just want to be separated from the rest of the world, I will sit here, in the middle of the night, stargazing by the window while drinking wine."

"That's nice." Richard nodded in agreement.

"It is." Ed smiled, sitting on a chair and drink his wine.

"Whooh, that's… an interesting taste." Richard commented, Ed saw that he tried his wine.

Ed chuckled. "It is an interesting taste isn't it." Ed then looked towards the window, seeing the full moon in it's glory. "So… what's the new magic you used back then?"

"That?" Richard smirked. "It's a quite simple yet complicated magic really. It's a runic magic based on your research with Flamel."

Ed nodded weakly. "That slowing spell, how is it different than the slowing charm?"

"First, it's permanent unless I myself cancel it, second, there isn't any counter curse, and third, it's about three times more powerful than a normal slowing charm."

"That's amazing." Ed praised. "Any attack spells?"

"I developed this eternal burning rune." Richard explained. "Once I draw the rune and activate it, the target will be burned until I cancel the rune. That's the only attack spell I've developed really, the rests are utility and defensive spells."

"Now that's scary." Ed commented, and the room goes quite a while, with the two boys enjoying their wine and gazing through the window.

"How's Cho by the way?" Ed suddenly asked, and Richard grimaced a bit.

"It's not going to work." Richard weakly said. "She's a bit… I don't know how to explain it…"

"Try then."

"She's… she always try to make me jealous you know? I don't know why… when we talked, she made sure that she always mention other boys to me, how they are different from me…"

"That's just not good at all mate." Ed shook his head in pity. "You should end it."

Richard nodded weakly. "And then there's Daph…"

Ed raised his eyebrow. "What about her?"

"You know what I'm talking about Ed…"

"So you do know that she likes you… I thought you were really blind."

"I was acting okay… I don't want her feelings to actually developed…"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Mate, she's a pureblood, her father is a pureblood supremacist, I'm muggle-born, not going to work."

"I'm sure it can work." Ed simply said.

"Says the one who's already married." Richard scoffed.

"I'm not married okay?" Ed defended.

"Then why did I see the mark in Hermione's hand? And what about those training?"

"I need to prepare her okay, I need to give her the elements so she can train and defend herself in the future, there's a war coming Richard, I can't just make her defenseless and let her get hurt."

Richard went quiet after that. "So there's really a war coming huh…"

Ed nodded. "Next year… you should convince your parents to get out of the country."

"Why?"

"Voldemort will make a move next year, he won't go public yet, but just in case… tell your parents to get out of the country."

Richard frowned. "How though? It's not like they instantly said yes…"

"I know…" Ed mumbled. "So I want to make my parents talk to your parents next year… so they can talk parent to parent."

"That's a good idea…" Richard nodded. "Alright Aldrich, I'll take your word for it."

Ed hummed. The room went quite, now it was tense a bit as Ed mention a war, but Ed quickly diverted the attention by talking about something else.

"How's the recruitment going?"

"Quite good." Richard answered. "About a quarter accepted and sign the blood contract, which is more than I've anticipated."

"We can start production this May then." Ed nodded. "I've already renovated some of the shops so it can be made to a small factory…"

"And then June we'll start selling the things." Richard added. "Daph also started on crafting the marketing strategy, so we'll be ready once we finished the first batch."

"Just make sure to tell to the ministry that we won't sell it to them in bulk."

Richard in confusion ask. "Why?"

"They're using dirty tactics to block the public perception of me. They refused to publish the investigation of the forbidden forest, so the public still see me as a boy who experiment dark magic in the forest. They want to do that so in the opening of the company, they'll rope me in to work with them."

"So that's why they disqualified you in the tournament… is there no way of fixing this?"

Ed shook his head. "The decision is final now… the ministry simply refused my request to publish the investigation."

"I'll do you better then." Richard suddenly said. "We refused to sell it to the ministry, we only take orders from individuals, not an organisation."

"That's a great idea." Ed nodded. "I'll deal with the backlash myself."

Richard hummed and raised his wine glass. "To the future."

Ed chuckled as he raised his glass and repeated Richard's words. "To the future."