Aftermaths, Part 146

by Geri ([email protected])

Rating: Mostly PG-13, but NC-17 for overall story

Pairing: Snape/Lupin, Theodore/Blaise

Warning: AU; events that occurred at the end of Order of the Phoenix were significantly altered from the book.

Sequel to: Always, Summer Vacation, For Old Time's Sake, Three's a Crowd, Return of the Raven, Phoenix Reborn, and Phoenix Rising.

Summary: The various characters deal with the aftermath of the war, and Snape and Lupin try to build a family together with Theodore and Dylan. However, some people are unable to let go of the past...

Author's note: {} Indicates character's unspoken thoughts.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to J.K. Rowling, except Hob, who belongs to William Mayne; no money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.
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The hours passed all too quickly--or at least, that was the way it seemed to Aric--and before he knew it, he was taking the Floo with Lukas to the werewolves' townhouse. He stood there for a moment, feeling tongue-tied and awkward as he faced a crowd of unfamiliar faces. Then he spotted Brian, who smiled at him in a friendly manner and stepped forward to shake his hand, and then Kyra gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek and said, "Welcome to the pack, Aric."

The blonde werewolf twins, Lance and Lyra, suddenly ran up to him and began chattering at him eagerly. "I remember you, you're Uncle Takeshi's friend!" Lyra told him.

"Now you're a wolf, like us!" Lance said enthusiastically. "That's great! Now you can play with us!"

Their mother came and gently pulled them away. "I'm sorry about that," she said apologetically to Aric.

Aric was a little taken aback by Lance's statement, but he could see that the children didn't mean any harm. They had been werewolves for most of their short lives, and lived in the midst of a pack of werewolves, so it probably seemed normal to them. He smiled, a bit wryly, at the thought of a household where humans were the odd ones out.

As if echoing his thoughts, Max--the human child that he also remembered from his trips to the clinic--said wistfully, "I wish I could be a wolf, too."

"Max!" his mother Rachel exclaimed, sounding as if she didn't know whether to be horrified or amused.

Aric crouched down so that he could be on eye level with the boy. "Well, you're pretty lucky that you don't have to drink the Wolfsbane Potion; it tastes really awful." He grimaced in an exaggerated manner that made Max laugh.

"Yeah, it does smell really gross!" he agreed.

"And when you go to Hogwarts," Aric continued, "you can study Transfiguration, and maybe you can learn how to turn yourself into a wolf. That would be a lot better than being a werewolf, because you wouldn't have to take the potion, and you could change at any time, not just during the full moon."

"Really?" Max asked, his eyes lighting up.

"It's possible," Aric replied. "But not everyone can become an Animagus. It takes a lot of magical talent, and you'd have to study very hard."

"I'll work hard!" Max said eagerly. "Boy, I can't wait to go to Hogwarts! Will you help me study, Aric?"

"Sure," Aric replied. "Although Transfiguration isn't really my best subject." Then an idea occurred to him. "Professor Lupin's friend, Sirius Black, is an Animagus. Maybe he can help you with your studies when you're old enough."

"I like Sirius, he's nice," Max said happily. "He can turn into a dog; that's almost as good as a wolf."

The way Aric handled the children seemed to endear him to the other werewolves, and for the most part, they greeted him warmly. Two of the younger werewolves, Kian and Kai, were only a year or two older than he was, and asked him a lot of questions about Hogwarts and Durmstrang.

"It's too late for us," Kian sighed wistfully. "But at least the cubs will be able to go to school."

"It would have been great to have had the chance to play Quidditch," Kai sighed. Apparently both he and Kian were Quidditch enthusiasts, although they'd never had the chance to play, and didn't get to see many matches. Tickets could be expensive, especially for matches between the most popular teams, and were considered a luxury that took second place to more important expenses--like food and rent.

"Maybe you could teach us to play, Aric," Kian suggested, and several of the other werewolves looked interested by this idea. "Just for fun, of course."

"We could call it the Werewolf Cup," Kai joked.

"Sure," Aric said. "We'd need a large, open space where we could play, though."

"Amos Diggory is going to prison, right?" Kian said. "Which means that Lukas will probably get the estate. You'll let us play on the estate grounds, won't you, Lukas?"

"I can just picture a Bludger flying through the window," Lukas sighed, shaking his head, but he was smiling.

"We're going to live in a mansion!" Kai laughed excitedly.

"It's not mine yet," Lukas pointed out dryly. "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched."

"Come now," Rachel said, smiling at all of them indulgently. "We'd better sit down to dinner before it gets too late."

They made casual small talk as they ate, seeming to deliberately avoid any serious or touchy subject matters, like Aric's family or how the others had been turned. Instead, they talked about how most of the werewolves who had lost their jobs were being rehired now that their innocence had been proven, and Kian and Kai said that they'd been hired to work at the Sakura, which was expanding into delivery service. Kian was training to become a chef, and Kai was going to be a delivery person.

"They're also hiring a couple of your yearmates when they graduate," Kai told Aric. "Two Hufflepuff kids, Hannah and Ernie."

Which led to more discussion about Hogwarts and Quidditch. The younger werewolves questioned him eagerly about both subjects, and also teased him gently about his relationship with Takeshi.

"We knew he was pining over someone, but we didn't know who," Kian said. "You're quite the heartbreaker, Aric!"

Their teasing seemed good-natured, so Aric tried not to take offense, although he was a little embarrassed. It was really not so much different than joking around with his friends at Hogwarts or Durmstrang.

One werewolf, though, sat back and watched him with a cool, slightly wary look on his face. He didn't look hostile, exactly, more like he was observing Aric and waiting to see how he would act before passing judgment on him. He supposed that the werewolves had good reason to be wary of purebloods, but he didn't really like the idea of someone looking at him that way, like Snape evaluating a student's potion with a critical eye. The werewolf, who had been introduced to him as Ash, had a long scar across his face, which made him look a little scary, like the sort of person you wouldn't want to run into in a dark alley.

There were a few humans in Lukas's pack: Max, two other children, and a couple of humans who were married to werewolf spouses. After dessert, the adult humans shooed the reluctant children upstairs to be put to bed.

"But I want to watch," Max protested. "I want to play with Lance and Lyra, and I want a piggyback ride, Uncle Lukas!"

"Not this time, Max," Lukas said, picking up the boy and giving him a hug and a kiss on the forehead. "Tonight is a special night, just for the wolves, to welcome Aric into the pack. But I'll give you a piggyback ride upstairs, and read you a bedtime story before the moon rises."

Max seemed placated by that, and Lukas lifted the boy onto his shoulders and went upstairs with the others. Brian told Aric quietly, "Lukas thought you might feel more comfortable without any humans around tonight." Aric nodded gratefully. He had enough to worry about without feeling self-conscious about being watched, not to mention being afraid that he might bite an innocent child!

The pack grew quieter as moonrise drew closer, most of them taking seats on the couch or on the floor, waiting in silence or talking to each other very softly. Aric paced nervously in one corner of the room, a little apart from the rest of the pack. He felt, more than heard, a presence coming up behind him, and turned to see Ash standing beside him.

"Relax, pack brother," the older werewolf said. "It won't be as bad as you think."

"I hope not," Aric said. He tried not to stare, but his eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the scar on the other man's face. "Did you get that when you were turned?" he asked hesitantly.

Something cold and dangerous flashed in Ash's hazel eyes, just a brief flicker, but it was enough to make Aric regret his impulsive question. Ash fit the image of a stereotypical werewolf much better than Brian or the twins did. "There is an unspoken law in the pack, not to ask each other about the past, unless someone chooses to volunteer that information," Ash said in a level voice. "Most of us have painful memories that we wish to forget. Lukas always tells the new members that they are leaving the past behind and starting over fresh."

"I'm sorry," Aric apologized. "I didn't mean any offense." It was actually a rather appealing concept--starting over fresh, no one knowing anything about who you had been in the past. But of course everyone here knew his background--the story of how he had been turned had already been printed in the Daily Prophet.

"It's all right," Ash said. "You didn't know." He gave Aric an appraising look and added, "Perhaps someday I'll tell you how I got this." His fingers lightly traced his scar. "When I know you a little better."

Aric took that to mean, "When you have proven yourself to me and I know that I can trust you."

"I'm very grateful to you for saving Lukas," Ash continued. "And I'm glad that Takeshi seems to have found happiness with you. But remember one thing..." He slung an arm around Aric's shoulders in a companionable manner, but his feral, sharp-toothed grin was more threatening than reassuring. "Takeshi is a good friend of mine, and if you break his heart, you will answer to me, packmate or not."

"Of course I won't break his heart!" Aric said indignantly, then gave the other werewolf a suspicious look. Takeshi had never mentioned the names of the "past boyfriends" he had brought home to meet his parents. "What's it to you, anyway?"

Lukas descended the stairs, saying, "It's almost time."

Ash smiled and said, "He's my friend and I don't want to see him get hurt, that's all," and moved away before Aric could question him further. Lukas gave him a questioning look, and Ash just smiled innocently.

Aric didn't have time to worry about it, because a shaft of silver light spilled through the window, and he gasped as he felt a sudden, intense pain wracking his body. He dropped to his knees, crying out in pain and surprise; it felt like every joint in his body was being twisted in a different direction.

Lukas knelt down beside him, his face pale and strained. "Don't try to fight it," he said. "Give in to the change; it will pass more quickly that way."

Aric was too terrified to heed Lukas's advice, but the transformation swept over him against his will. He screamed as he heard his bones cracking, felt his flesh twisting and reshaping itself. He watched black fur sprout on his arms and hands, watched his fingers fuse together to form a paw, watched his nails lengthen into talons. His scream suddenly changed into a howl, and he realized that the transformation was complete.

He felt a cold nose touch his face, and he literally yelped in surprise. A large yellow wolf was nuzzling him, a concerned look in its yellow-green eyes.

"Lukas?" he tried to ask, but it came out as a short bark. The yellow wolf nodded and licked his face in what seemed to be a reassuring gesture. Obviously, it was more than a little weird to have your teacher licking your face, but it seemed perfectly natural to Aric's wolf self. He automatically started wagging his tail, then turned to stare at this new appendage. He tentatively wagged it again; it definitely felt very strange to have a body part that didn't exist on his human body--sort of like having an extra arm or leg.

Lukas watched him carefully, then seemed satisfied that Aric wasn't going to freak out and have a nervous breakdown. (Could a wolf even have a nervous breakdown?) In any case, Lukas licked Aric's face again, then ambled off and lay down on the rug beside the fireplace.

Aric cautiously walked around the room, testing his new body. Walking on four legs took a little getting used to. If he thought about it too much, he would get flustered and stumble, but he found that if he tried not to think about it and let the wolf's instincts take over, he could manage okay.

All around him the other wolves were greeting each other, touching noses and licking faces, and in some cases, wrestling in a playful manner. Two blond wolf cubs chased each other's tails, then pounced on each other, yipping happily, and rolled across the room like a little ball of golden fur. In one corner of the room, a black wolf and a wolf with pale golden fur--Aric thought they were Kian and Kai--curled up together, nuzzling each other in a very affectionate and somehow intimate way. Aric mentally raised his eyebrows (the wolf didn't really have any), but the other wolves paid the pair no heed, so it obviously wasn't a big deal to the pack. Well, at least it meant that they wouldn't give him and Takeshi a hard time. Lukas had certainly taken things in stride, and even Ash's reservations didn't seem to have anything to do with Aric's gender.

The other wolves greeted him in a reserved manner, seeming to understand that he was nervous about all this. Brian barked out a greeting and wagged his tail, his mouth dropping open in a lupine grin, and Kyra gave him an affectionate lick on the face. Even Ash came over and briefly but politely touched noses with him. Aric noticed that Ash's scar carried over to his wolf form, as did the gray in his hair. Aric also noticed that each of the wolves had their own unique scent. He couldn't really find the right human words to describe it, but while each of them obviously smelled like a wolf, there was a subtle difference to each individual.

He watched the pack, feeling a little calmer. Being a wolf was a little weird, but he still felt like himself. He didn't have any uncontrollable urges to bite or attack anyone. A few of the wolves were playing, a few were nuzzling each other, like Kian and Kai, but most of them were just sitting or lying on the living room floor. Lukas lay in front of the fireplace, eyes closed, apparently dozing, but his tail moved slowly from side to side, waving languidly in what seemed to be an idle, unthinking motion.

Lyra and Lance stopped wrestling and stared at Lukas, their attention seeming riveted by his tail, their heads moving back and forth, following the motion of his waving tail. They crept up behind him, like wolves stalking their prey. Lukas was still dozing, seemingly oblivious. The twins pounced at his tail, but it suddenly jerked up out of reach, then settled back down to the floor. The twins stared at each other in confusion, obviously not sure whether Lukas had done it on purpose or not. Then the werewolf leader rolled over on his side, snoring loudly. The cubs looked relieved, then determinedly pounced on his tail again, and once again, it jerked out of reach at the last second. The twins let out little yips of laughter as they kept pouncing at his tail, which kept darting out of reach. One of them (Lance?) finally gave up and jumped on Lukas's back instead, while Lyra kept chasing his tail, finally catching hold of it in her mouth.

Lukas suddenly jumped to his feet and jerked his tail up, sending both cubs tumbling across the floor. He cuffed the twins lightly with one paw and growled at them, and they ran away to hide behind their mother. Lukas growled, paced in circles on the rug beside the hearth three times, then lay back down and closed his eyes again. And before long, the twins started stalking his tail again, their eyes eager and unrepentant.

Aric shook his head and laughed, which came out as a soft "wuff". Then he found a corner of the room where he wouldn't get in the way of the wolves who were playing, and lay down. Well, this wasn't really so bad, he told himself, although it was still a little unnerving to look down and see black-furred paws instead of hands or feet. He yawned, his long, pink tongue curling, suddenly feeling sleepy. All that worrying had worn him out, or maybe it was because he was still recovering from the poison. He stretched out, laid his head down on his front paws, and closed his eyes. If he slept, maybe the night would pass more quickly, and when he woke up, he'd be human again.

He was just starting to doze off, when he felt sharp little teeth sink into his tail. He woke and leapt to his feet with a startled yelp. He instinctively turned on his attacker with a snarl and lashed out with one paw. He heard a yelp of pain, then realized that he had struck one of the twins. Before he had a chance to react, Ash leapt at him and knocked him over, snarling and baring his teeth. Aric snarled back at him and slashed at his face with his front paw, leaving a row of bloody scratches across AshÕs snout. And then they were rolling across the floor, biting and clawing at each other as the other wolves began barking, sounding alarmed.

And then someone was barking at them loudly and angrily, and a heavy body slammed into them, stunning both Aric and Ash. Lukas seized Aric by the scruff of his neck with his jaws and hauled him off of Ash, flinging him to one side with a quick jerk of his head. Then Lukas cuffed Ash, a real blow this time, hard enough to send him flying across the room, and the scarred wolf scrambled to his feet and backed away, whining and tucking his tail between his legs.

Lukas turned on Aric, growling and snarling angrily. An overwhelming, instinctive fear gripped him, banishing rational human thought from his mind. Before he knew what he was doing, Aric rolled over onto his back, tucked his tail between his legs, and threw back his head, exposing his throat. He whimpered in terror as he saw Lukas's jaws open wide, and then they closed around his throat, firmly enough that he could feel the sharpness of Lukas's teeth, but not hard enough to break the skin. Then Lukas released Aric and turned towards Ash, who immediately rolled over and exposed his throat as Aric had. Lukas closed his jaws around Ash's throat, then released him, and then cuffed both of them sharply on the ear and gave each of them a stern glare.

Slowly, Aric's humanity returned to him, but he was shaken by how quickly and completely the wolf had taken him over. Both Brian and Takeshi had been right when they had said that the wolf's instincts were stronger during the full moon--if anything, that was an understatement.

A black-furred wolf--and somehow Aric knew it was Rachel--stepped forward and growled at Lukas in a way that was both gentle and disapproving. And somehow, mostly by the tone of her voice, Aric understood what she was trying to say: "Don't be so hard on the boy. This is all new to him; he was just reacting instinctively."

Aric heard two soft little whimpers, and saw that the twins were slinking towards him, crawling on their bellies (a sign of submission, according to his DADA textbooks), ears and tails drooping. They whined at him contritely, and again, he knew what they were saying: "We're sorry, we were only playing."

Aric made what he hoped was an apologetic sound, and lowered his head to lick their faces. {I'm sorry, too. You just startled me; I didn't mean to hurt you.} The twins seemed to understand, because they looked relieved.

Then Ash approached him, not quite slinking, but with his head hanging, a sheepish expression on his face--one that looked almost comical on the face of a wolf. And Aric understood that even if the werewolf seemed to have a chip on his shoulder about Aric for some reason, he also had reacted mainly out of instinct, to protect the twins. Aric touched his nose to Ash's in a conciliatory manner. He was relieved to note that scratches on Ash's face had closed up and were healing. Without thinking, he gave them an apologetic swipe with his tongue, although the human part of him was slightly appalled at the thought of licking a strange guy's face. But it seemed to be the right move, because Ash licked his face in return, looking much more friendly than he had all evening.

The twins barked and wagged their tails, looking up at him hopefully. {So you want to play, do you?} Aric thought, and barked and waved his tail in an inviting manner. The twins gleefully pounced on it. Soon, some of the older werewolves were joining in, and Aric found himself romping, tail-chasing, and wrestling for most of the evening. Lukas remained apart from the mob, watching from his place beside the hearth with amused and indulgent eyes.

Finally, they collapsed into an exhausted heap of furry bodies. His head was resting on someone's flank--he thought it was Kian's, but he was too sleepy to be certain--while the twins were curled up against his side, already snoring. Katherine gave his face an affectionate lick, as if to thank him for playing with the cubs, and lay down beside them. The human part of Aric thought he should probably feel a little uncomfortable about all this, but the wolf craved the closeness of its pack, and was perfectly content.

{Well, I'll worry about it in the morning,} Aric decided, and closed his eyes and went to sleep.
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The next morning, Aric awoke in a tangle of human bodies. The twin's heads were pillowed on his stomach, and his own head was resting on Kian's thigh. Katherine and Ash were lying on either side of him. Startled, Aric started to sit up, and the twins made sleepy noises of protest. Moving more slowly, he carefully eased the twins off of him without waking them, and tried to move out of the pile of sleeping bodies without stepping on anyone.

Lukas was still lying on the rug beside the fireplace, but he rose, yawned, and stretched as Aric made his way towards him. "How do you feel, Aric?" he asked.

"Okay, I guess," Aric replied. He felt tired and a little sore, but Takeshi had said that was to be expected. Then he realized that he didn't feel as sore as he should. "In fact, I feel pretty good." He unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it to one side to check his shoulder; the bite wound was completely healed, the skin smooth and unscarred. "The bite mark! It's gone!"

"Then your healing powers are working as they should," Lukas said, sounding pleased. "It's one of the few benefits of being a werewolf."

"Maybe there are others," Aric said slowly, thinking of the way that the pack had made him feel welcome, and the feeling of contentment he'd had at the end of the night.

Lukas smiled at him approvingly and patted him on the shoulder. "You handled yourself pretty well last night. I'm sorry if I was a little rough with you."

"It's okay," Aric said. "We were all acting on instinct, I guess. Being a wolf is going to take some getting used to."

"I should have warned you about the twins," Lukas said apologetically. "Or warned them to be more careful of you, since it was your first time transforming."

Aric grinned at him. "How many teeth-marks are there on your tail?"

"If it weren't for our healing powers, there would be quite a few," Lukas laughed. "The pack will be waking soon. Would you like to help me get breakfast started?" He hesitated. "Or perhaps you'd prefer to return to Hogwarts now?"

Aric thought it over for a moment. "No, I'd like to stay. I'll help you with breakfast, but you'll have to tell me what to do. I don't really know how to cook."

"I'm not much of a cook, either," Lukas admitted. "But it doesn't really take a lot of skill to fry bacon and eggs."

So the two of them started breakfast, and before long, Rachel and Katherine woke and came over to help. They set the table with heaping platters of toast, eggs, bacon, and sausages, and bowls of porridge for the children, with plenty of milk and brown sugar. Max offered Aric a spoonful, which he ate to be polite, and he had to admit that it wasn't half-bad, although the wolf much preferred the sausages and bacon. And if some of the bacon was slightly burnt, everyone was too hungry to notice. The transformation apparently left them with wolfish appetites, because all the werewolves devoured their meals hungrily. Between bites, Aric talked and joked easily with the other werewolves, and the children chattered at him nonstop. Apparently having a new "uncle" was quite a novelty to them. Having younger siblings was quite a novelty to him, too, since he'd been the youngest child in his family. After breakfast, he played with the kids for a little while, but soon found himself worn out from giving piggyback rides and having Max and the twins pounce on him. At least they weren't able to bite his tail this time. Funny--it had been weird having a tail, but now it felt a little weird not to have one.

So he felt a little regret, but mostly relief when Lukas said, "That's enough. You can play with Aric another time. He needs to get back to school."

"Okay," Max sighed reluctantly.

"Will you come back and play with us again?" Lyra asked wistfully.

"Sure," Aric said, patting her on the head. "I'll come again on the full moon. Or before then, even."

He said goodbye to the children, then stopped to talk to Ash before he left. "Takeshi means a lot to me," he said. "I know I've done some dumb things in the past, but from now on, I'll work hard to make him happy. I would never intentionally do anything to hurt him." And then he recalled that he had hurt Takeshi yesterday without meaning to. "Maybe I could bring Takeshi with me on the next full moon?"

"Of course," Lukas said. "Takeshi is not a wolf, but he is part of the pack."

"Friends?" Aric asked, extending his hand towards Ash. The other werewolf hesitated for a moment, then nodded and clasped his hand firmly.

"Typical men," Kyra said with a snort of amusement. "They beat the crap out of each other, then become best friends."

"He did not beat the crap out of me," Ash protested indignantly. "I was winning the fight."

"No way!" Aric objected. "I was winning! After all, who's the one who got his face scratched?"

"Knock it off," Lukas growled. "Or I'll beat the crap out of both of you."

Ash just laughed. "You fight pretty good for a pampered pureblood," he told Aric, with a note of grudging respect in his voice.

"I should," Aric said with a grin. "I've been taking Physical Defense lessons from Lukas all year."

He said goodbye to his packmates, and while he was not exactly eager for the next full moon and transformation to come around, he found that he was looking forward to seeing the pack again. Somewhere along the way, he had shifted from thinking of them as "Lukas's pack" to thinking of them as "my pack".

Lukas grinned, as if he could read Aric's thoughts, and put an arm around his shoulders. "You're part of the pack now," he said. He grabbed a handful of Floo Powder, flung it into the fireplace, and together he and Aric stepped through it and returned to Hogwarts.

Lupin was waiting for them when they returned. "How did everything go?" he asked, looking a little anxious.

"Fine," Aric replied casually.

Lukas smiled and ruffled Aric's hair fondly. "He got into a little scuffle with Ash, but nothing serious, just normal wolf aggressions. We worked everything out."

"With a good smack upside the head," Aric said with a rueful smile, rubbing his ear. Of course it didn't hurt anymore, but the memory was still very vivid in his mind, along with the memory of Lukas's strong jaws and sharp teeth closing around his neck.

Lukas swatted at him playfully, then continued, "He's actually very good with the cubs. Maybe I'll have him baby-sit sometime."

Lupin laughed, sounding relieved. "I'm so glad everything worked out, then," he said, and hugged Aric tightly.

"Boy, you werewolves sure are a touchy-feely lot," Aric joked, but he hugged Lupin back, and it felt strangely good--not in a sexual way, but more of a sense of satisfaction and belonging.

"It's a pack instinct," Lukas explained. "The wolf always craves companionship and contact with its pack."

"Did you two eat yet?" Lupin asked. "Breakfast is over, but I could have the house-elves fix something for you."

"We ate a huge breakfast, but I wouldn't mind a little snack," Aric admitted.

"That's only natural," Lupin assured him. "The transformation uses up a lot of energy. So, what did you think of your new form?"

"It wasn't so bad," Aric said. "But it's a really weird feeling, to have a tail!"

"I know, isn't it?" Lupin agreed. "And then after it's over, sometimes I still have the urge to wag it even though it's not there!" And the three werewolves laughed together as they headed down to the kitchen.

Chapter 147

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