ITW,H - Chapter 117 - Werewolves (3) (Patreon)

I've managed to get one chapter ahead for both my HP chapters and my OG stories! Bad news is that I'm definitely going to have to use them both for next week's chapters, due to a family reunion that's happening, so I won't have any backlog for the fall semester like I wanted, lol. But hey, at least I won't miss next week, right?

(Word Count: 1,598)

“Who are you, and what do you want?” One of the men asked threateningly.

“My name is Harry Potter,” Harry said. “I asked Brontes to bring me here. Don't worry, I am not here to fight you.”

A murmur went through the camp.

One of the men by the fire squinted at him. “Harry Potter?” he asked. His accent sounded German. “The kids’ dueling champion?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Harry said, lifting his messy hair to showcase the lightningbolt scar.

The group looked at each other, lowering their wands partially. “Why would Harry Potter come to speak with us?” The same scarred woman that had first noticed him asked.

“Because I heard about your situation, and I know why you are here,” Harry said. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but judging from the looks of everyone here, I’d wager that you’re from other countries. You came because you heard about Remus Lupin and our Wolfsbane potion project, but when you got here, there weren't enough jobs to go around and you got stranded. Not knowing where to go to be safe for the full moon, you ended up in the most famous forest in Magical Britain.”

That made the camp go completely quiet as they shifted uncomfortably.

“That’s precisely why I’m here. Remus is an uncle to me, and I’ve been helping fund the project of his, alongside my godfather, Sirius Black. You’re all in this situation because you hoped to take part in our project, so I can’t help but feel a bit responsible for you,” Harry said.

“You know Lupin?” she asked.

“Yes. Like I said, I consider him to be family. He’s like an uncle to me. Now, I know he’s a werewolf. My father, James Potter, and my godfather, Sirius Black, were his best friends. They even learned to become animagi to stay with him during the full moon,” Harry said. Sirius had registered his animagus form some time ago, so revealing this wasn’t a problem. 

A few people exchanged looks. The young girl with the French book was staring at him, her eyes shining. The children were less wary of him, considering he was young as well.

“Werewolves don’t attack animagus?” One of them asked.

“What’s an animagus?” Another asked.

“An animagus is a witch or wizard that can take on the form of an animal. Werewolves don’t attack animals as long as they aren’t hungry, or the animals don’t threaten them. They also can’t transmit the werewolf curse to animals, so even if something happens, they’re safe from that,” Harry explained. “Well, as long as they don’t turn back to their human form too quickly.”

That seemed to ease some of the tension in the camp. 

Harry brought out his casserole dish. “I brought a gift. I figured you probably haven’t been able to get any good food out here, so I brought this. It can duplicate the dish to refill itself, so as long as you don’t completely empty it before it refills, it should last you three days before the spell wears off.”

The warm, savory smell of the chicken casserole caused everyone to lean in unconsciously. “Here,” Harry said, extending it to the woman that spotted him first. She seemed to be the largest voice of reason among them, based on several looks he had spotted of people looking towards her when they were unsure.

The woman stepped forward and accepted it. “Thank you,” she said with relief. “This came at just the right time.”

“It’s the least I could do,” Harry said.

With the gift of food, it seemed Harry was accepted into the camp wholeheartedly. They all began setting out small logs for places to sit around the campfire, and began dishing out the food to everyone.

As they ate, Harry began talking to the group to learn more about them. The makeshift leader of the group was Anaïs Moreau. She was a single mother of a young boy. Greyback had attacked her family and bit the boy in front of her. She didn’t know much about werewolves, didn’t know what to do for the full moon, so she held her son as he first transformed, hoping to comfort him through the pain. The large scar on her face came from her son as he clawed his way out of her hold. She was bitten that night, though she was lucky to survive. Since then, she lost her job and they’ve been struggling ever since.

There were a handful of other mothers and fathers like her, where their children were turned by Greyback, and ended up getting cursed as they helped their children. Most of them were turned by random werewolves.

Several of them weren’t even witches or wizards. They were unfortunate muggles camping out on a trail and caught by a werewolf who had tried to get away from civilization to transform in a safe place. Harry couldn’t exactly blame those werewolves from doing so, even if locking themselves up was the safest overall for everyone else, doing so took a heavy physical and painful toll on them. Transforming out in an open space was always easier. Unfortunately, even with the precautions of going out into the wilderness, there were always accidents like this where they ran into campers or hikers. Sometimes those campers would have guns for protection against bears or wolves, and the werewolf would die. Other times, the campers were killed. Other times, like this one, the campers were bitten and turned into werewolves themselves and unwillingly dragged into the wizarding world.

In total, there were 34 of them in the camp. Some of them were from Britain, some from France, Belgium, Poland, the Netherlands. All of them came because rumors had spread among the werewolf community about Remus and their wolfsbane project. It lit a fire under every werewolf that heard it. The wolfsbane potion did wonders for easing the transformation during the full moon, and the fact that it allowed them to keep their mind made it so they could ensure they would be safe during that night. Every single werewolf learned of the potion and coveted it more than anything, minus an actual cure.

“Remus and Sirius are working on making Wolfsbane potion more available,” Harry said. “They have greenhouses growing the ingredients, an occamy ranch for the eggs, and they have already started hiring werewolves… But the project is still new. It is not big enough yet to help everyone who needs it. We plan on eventually expanding it to help everyone, but that’s still a long way off.”

A man near the fire gave a harsh laugh.

“We know that now,” he said. He was a large man with short brown hair and a scar going across one cheek. “It’s like you said. We heard he had jobs, and was offering wolfsbane to werewolves for cheap.”

“But it’s too late for us to go back now. I spent all of my money getting here. I can’t return even if I wanted to,” A woman said.

“I don’t have anywhere to return to,” A man said glumly. “I was kicked out of the apartment I had before.”

“None of us do,” Anaïs said quietly. She looked to Harry “If you are here to tell us to leave, the centaurs have already threatened us to leave. But we can’t leave. Not when the full moon is so close. Where else can we go?”

“The centaurs are scared,” Harry said. “They have children in their herd, so they can’t risk having so many werewolves transform so close to their home. They are planning to attack before the full moon to kill or drive you out of the forest.”

Anaïs closed her eyes in pain, a tear running down her cheek. “We know. But what can we do? There isn’t anywhere else we can go.”

“I have a plan. I’ve convinced the centaurs to at least wait for four days. In four days, there’s an old estate sale that has a suitcase with its own internal environment. There will be plenty of space for all of you to transform safely, and there won’t be any risk to yourselves or anyone else. I’ve also begun the process of buying an abandoned castle not too far from here. It shouldn’t take me too long to buy it, and I can easily fix it up into a liveable space. It won’t be fully furnished, but at the very least, it would be better than out here.”

They all looked at him, stunned. “Wouldn’t that be expensive? A whole castle and an expanded suitcase? That’s at least a million galleons!”

Harry shrugged. “It’s not just for you. It will serve to help werewolves from all over for years to come. That’s an investment that’s well worth it. The castle would serve as temporary housing for all of you for now, but in the future it may serve as the headquarters for Remus’s company.”

Harry stood up, patting down his robe. “I came here to see what you all thought about this plan of mine, because I didn’t just want to make decisions for you. Think about it for the next few days while I prepare everything. I’ve also told Remus about your situation and he and my godfather should come around soon to check in on you as well.”

“There’s no need to think on it. That sounds much better than staying here waiting for the centaurs to attack. If you do manage to buy the castle, we’d be more than happy to move. Thank you, Harry.”