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Lunaticus Book Three: New Moon Rising	By : JBankai89 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Remus Views: 12595 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, I gain nothing from this but a way to pass the time.

Chapter List
- 19
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A/N: Happy Tuesday everyone! Next update will be this Thursday, August 31^st.
Chapter Twenty – The Trial

The full moon hung low in the sky, and its appearance was met with a mournful howling.

Harry whined as he looked on to Tavish and Adina, both of whom had once more refused to eat without their mate present. He took an uncertain step back from the meal before him and moved as though to join the two submissives, but his path was cut off by a Hermione. She huffed, and gently nudged him back towards the carcass and his mate, who was waiting patiently for him. Reluctantly, he turned back to the meal and his mate

Ulrich licked affectionately at Harry's ears when he stopped at his side, and nudged him encouragingly.

Harry didn't feel very hungry, and picked at the offal while next to him Ulrich tore into the felled doe with renewed verve, apparently encouraged by his sub at his side.

Harry continued to graze over meal, and only stepped back, licking the blood from his muzzle when he noticed that Ulrich seemed to have had his fill.

As the rest of the pack surged towards the meal, Harry turned and tried to make his way over to the pair of subs again. This time, it was Ulrich who cut him off.

Harry's gaze shot up, but where he had expected to see Ulrich's lip curled back in a snarl, he saw a remorseful look in his eyes. The beta's ears were flat against his head, and he let out a soft, almost pleading whine, and the entirety of his body language and vocalization spelled out a clear message to Harry—

Leave them be.

Harry didn't want to; he wanted to console his friends in this difficult time, but it seemed as though the rest of the pack did not want him to do so. Around him, he could see a few of the wolves who had finished eating were beginning to circle the beta and his sub, as though intent to intervene if needed. Past Ulrich's bulk, Harry could see Adina and Tavish curled up together, so intertwined in fact that it was difficult to tell where one sub ended and the other began.

Harry whined as he stepped from foot to foot in his agitation, while the much larger form of his mate leant forward to nudge his cheek affectionately. Harry leant into the contact, and with a little more gentle encouragement, Harry reluctantly allowed Ulrich to lead him away.

They lay down away from the rest of the pack, but in a position where Ulrich could keep an eye on things at the same time. Harry stretched out on his side with a soft huff, and Ulrich settled down next to him, leaning forward to lick at Harry's ears again. As Ulrich did so, Harry lazily gazed at the rest of the pack milling about.

The morale of the pack was far from back to normal, but it was certainly better than it had been at the last moon, when things had been so tense and uncertain. Everyone was cautiously optimistic about the impending trial, and this attitude had bled into their wolf forms. The pups were all running and playing, the subs where keeping them in check, while the dominants either spent time with their respective mates, or sought to claim an unmated sub.

Harry watched the scene through half-lidded eyes, and snuggled more securely into his mate's side as he slowly fell asleep.

~*~

The following morning, things were far from peaceful.

Harry and Ulrich were woken at the crack of dawn by Tavish, who was already dressed in the set of robes that he had intended to wear to the trial. It was incredibly strange to see Tavish in traditional wizarding garb, but Harry could feel the stress radiating off the sub in waves, and did not dare comment on it.

Ulrich, as predicted, was slow and sluggish following the moon, as was Hermione. As a result, Harry, Adina, and Tavish were doing most of the last-minute preparations of getting everything in order, while Ulrich and Hermione were offered huge plates of food and an endless supply of coffee—a rare treat in the pack territory, as it wasn't something they were able to grow themselves.

By eight o'clock, everyone was dressed and ready to go, but Hermione, ever the over-prepared person that she was, went over their Itinerary one last time.

“Okay,” she said, her chin resting between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand while she paced in front of the group. “Alpha's being tried before a full court, in Courtroom Five on Level One, in the Department of Mysteries.” Hermione paused, and exchanged a look with Harry. Memories of the summer of his fifth year came rushing back to him in that moment, and he nodded in understanding as she pressed on.

“We're meeting with Ron and Remus in the Atrium, and we'll go down to the courtroom together. They won't have us all in the courtroom at once, chances are they'll interview us one by one, and review our memory evidence individually. If all goes well, we should have Alpha out and back here before noon.” Hermione paused, and glanced over to Ulrich. “Who's watching the pack while you're away? Not Bryce?”

“Hell no,” Ulrich replied with a short shake of his head, “the last thing we need is to leave a power-hungry madman in charge of things—especially if that includes a group of unmated subs. No, I'm leaving Wu Fei in charge, he's one of the usual sentries, and he's pretty impartial. He won't take advantage of his temporary position, and if things get out of hand, he won't hesitate to contact me.”

“Good,” Hermione replied with a small nod, “I think that's everything...unless there's something you want to add, Ulrich?”

“No,” Ulrich replied, “we better get going anyway, I'd rather be early to this thing than late.”

“All right then,” Hermione said with a short nod, “let's go.”

Both Hermione and Ulrich were still too weakened by the moon to Apparate, and so they, along with Tavish—who had never gotten his license—were taken by Side-Along Apparition with Harry and Adina.

Privately, Harry was rather pleased about the idea of being able to do something that Ulrich momentarily could not, but he was careful to hide this feeling from the others. Now was hardly the time to gloat, and everyone was so tense that Harry was certain that if he were to attempt to joke about anything at the moment, they would not find it in any way amusing.

When they reappeared outside the visitors' entrance, Harry realized that it would be a bit of a challenge squeezing all of them inside the little phone box—especially with Ulrich being built like a brick shed.

“Why isn't this thing bigger on the inside...” Harry grunted as the five of them wormed their way in, while Hermione raised an arm to awkwardly lift the receiver. Harry punched in the code.

“Welcome to the Ministry of Magic,” the familiar, cool female voice said, “please state your name and business.”

“Er...” Hermione began, “Hermione Granger, Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, escorting Harry Potter, Adina...Greyback?” She nodded, and Hermione continued, “Tavish Greyback and Ulrich...”

“...Rahn,” he filled in for her, and she nodded her thanks.

“...and Ulrich Rahn, witnesses to the trial of Fenrir Greyback.”

“Thank you,” replied the cool female voice, “Visitors, please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes.” Harry heard the familiar rattle in the coin-return chute, and it spat out four badges bearing their names, along with the phrase, Trial Witness.

“Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium,” the woman's voice continued as the phone box door slid shut behind them with some difficulty, and elevator-like, they slid down and into the Ministry.

It was a tight squeeze, and Harry could feel Tavish, Adina, and Ulrich all fidgeting around him, and he assumed that they were unused to being in such a tight space. When the five of them spilled out of the phone box and into the Atrium in a tangled heap. Harry was barely conscious of the woman's final words of, “the Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day,” as they righted themselves, and Hermione passed out the badges.

“Come on,” Hermione said in a shaky tone of voice, while her eyes darted around the busy Atrium, but not for nothing—Harry, too, caught a number of people staring at them as they passed by. He couldn't work out if the looks were judgmental or merely curious, but nevertheless they made him distinctly uncomfortable. “We'll get you registered, then we can find the others.”

Harry immediately moved over to Ulrich and took his hand, and he seemed to be reassured by Harry's presence, and the dominant offered his hand a small squeeze. Harry returned it, and they moved towards with a renewed confidence towards the registration desk.

It did not take very long, given that aside from Hermione, only Harry and Ulrich were carrying wands, Adina having abandoned wizard magic when she was turned (a quirk, Harry assumed, that they had adopted from their mate), and Tavish mumbled something about never using a wand, which struck Harry as odd, but he didn't press it. They all had to submit to a search, and Ulrich, Adina, and Tavish all looked deeply unsettled at the prospect, but with Harry and Hermione's gentle reassurances, they managed to get through it without complaint.

“How are you two holding up?” Harry asked softly to his two fellow subs as they stepped back from the security desk, and they both offered him a weak smile.

“I'll feel better when we get to see Fenrir,” Adina replied in a similar tone of voice, “I'm very afraid that this will all be for nothing.”

Harry reached for her free hand, her opposite one being held tightly by Tavish, and he offered it a small squeeze.

“Everything will be fine, just you wait and see,” Harry said with an air of confidence that he did not feel. “We have a strong case, we'll get him out, I promise.”

Adina nodded her head, and despite how calm she looked, Harry could feel the tension coming off her in waves. Tavish looked more visibly nervous, and with Harry trying to keep the other subs calm, Hermione and Ulrich took the lead over where they were due to meet up with Ron and Remus.

“Hey, over here!” a voice called, and Harry glanced up to see Ron and Remus standing by the fountain, and Harry swallowed a wave of memory as he gazed at it. He kept his focus solely on Ron as they made their way over to him, but out of the corner of his eye he could see Remus smiling in his familiar placid manner, once more as though the last two years had never happened.

Harry wasn't entirely certain how he felt about that.

“Hey, Ron,” Hermione said as they made it over to them, and she hurried to his side to take his hand. Harry moved up to Ulrich's side, and strove to keep his expression neutral as he stood there, despite the raging, conflicting emotions in his heart that always came with seeing Remus. He bit the inside of his cheek and clutched tightly to Ulrich's hand.

“You guys ready to face the beast?” Ron teased, “and by beast I mean the effing Wizengamot...” he grimaced and shook his head.

“How likely are we to actually win this, Ron?” Harry asked uncertainly while he ignored the bad joke, and he grimaced.

“Kingsley has been at least receptive to our arguments, so chances are when all this is over we'll have his vote, he's always been fair, even with...erm, criminals.” He paused and offered the group of werewolves an apologetic look for his word choice before he continued, “but the rest of them are a bunch of stubborn old farts, so they'll be harder to convince.”

“Our defence is strong,” Remus added, “if it gets out that the Wizengamot was keeping Alpha behind bars for discriminatory reasons, rather than actual charges, there would be hell to pay. I have every confidence that we'll be able to get him out.”

Remus directed the latter part of his explanation towards Tavish and Adina specifically, and it sounded reassuring. Harry watched in quiet amazement as both Tavish and Adina smiled for the first time in days.

“We better get going,” Hermione said as she checked her watch, “it's almost quarter to nine.”

In tense, awkward silence, the group headed for the lift. Harry did not miss the wide berth the Ministry employees seemed to be giving them, and his stomach knotted uncomfortably as they went. Even with all the positive werewolf legislation over the last few years, it was still quite clear that he was no longer The Boy Who Lived—he was a creature now, and not to be trusted.

Harry swallowed his misery at this realization as best he could—he did not want to think about himself when Greyback's freedom hung in the balance.

A sudden hand wrapping around his waist startled Harry from his musings, and he looked up to Ulrich, who was smiling down at him warmly. Harry returned the gesture and looped one arm around the dominant's waist, while he pressed himself against his mate's side. Harry felt his face burn a little when Remus's eyes flitted in their direction, but he offered up no comment as Hermione jammed her thumb against the button for the level they wanted, and in dead, tense silence, they headed down to the courtroom.

Kingsley was waiting for them outside of Courtroom Five, wearing his Wizengamot robes and a smile.

“Harry,” he said in his smooth, familiar tone of voice, and Harry broke away from Ulrich to shake Kingsley's hand. “I wish it I could say it's good to see you, but under the circumstances...”

“Yeah, I know,” Harry replied with a weak smile of his own, “thanks for...well, allowing this trial.”

“At risk of being pelted to death with owls by you lot, it's the least I could do to save myself the headache,” he teased, and Harry grinned at him.

“So, what's the plan?” Harry asked as he retracted his hand at last and moved back to stand next to Ulrich once more.

“All of you will take a seat over there,” Kingsley said as he motioned to a long wooden bench that faced the courtroom's doors. “You'll be called in one by one to be questioned, and then once we have received all the testimonies, we'll come to a decision.” He paused, and regarded the group with a small frown. “I believe that this time he was falsely imprisoned, I am on your side in this, but my power only extends so far. Be prepared for the worst outcome, but hope for the best.”

“That's been the general consensus,” Hermione agreed with a weak smile of her own. Kingsley nodded at her, and cast a sweeping glance over everyone.

“I need to get inside,” he said, “have a seat, and try to stay calm when you're being questioned. Losing your temper won't help, all right?”

They all offered their understanding in the form of mumbled yeses or nods, and in a cluster they all shuffled towards the bench. Harry sat at the end of the row in between Ulrich and Tavish, with Adina on Tavish's other side, followed by Remus, Hermione, and Ron.

They sat in silence for several long minutes, when a sudden shuffling sound at the end of the passageway drew their attention. Even before they saw him, Harry could smell his alpha, and Tavish lurched forward in his seat as Greyback approached, bracketed on either side by a pair of Aurors. Sensing what was likely to happen next, Harry quickly reached out and gripped Tavish's forearm to stop him running at his mate.

“Don't,” Harry hissed softly, “don't do anything. Just sit. You'll get to see him properly soon, I promise.”

Tavish looked as though Harry had asked him to saw off his own arm with a butter knife, but nodded weakly and relaxed in his seat, his eyes downcast as Greyback approached.

He looked similar to how Harry remembered him from when he had first sought him out for information. He was in a set of grey Azkaban robes, his hair was unkempt, his skin was waxy, and his wrists and ankles were bound in thick iron manacles inset with silver runes.

The sole difference was the look of absolute shock on his face at the long line of witnesses that had shown up in his defence. His gaze flitted from one face to the next, and he did not even bother to try and mask his wide-eyed surprise as he looked at them. Tavish was squirming in his seat, eyeing Greyback longingly, but to Harry's suggestion he did not move, but appeared as though he was fighting a deep urge to go running at his mate.

Adina was faring a little better, and was smiling sadly up at Greyback while she held tightly to Tavish's hand. Harry caught the very brief softening in the alpha's gaze as he regarded his two mates before he was ushered into the courtroom, and the door slammed shut behind him.

Tavish let out a slow breath, and made a show of itching at his eyes, though Harry did not miss the covert way he wiped away his tears.

“Fuck, this is hard,” he whispered, and Harry offered his wrist a reassuring squeeze.

“You can do this,” Harry said encouragingly, “we'll get him out—I know we will.”

“You don't know that for sure,” Tavish replied, his voice still soft and anguished, “even your Minister is uncertain if we can actually offer up enough evidence for that.”

“Call me an optimist,” Harry replied, with a small grin as he elbowed Tavish in the side, and he smiled weakly, just as the courtroom door opened again, and one of the Aurors who had escorted Greyback in stood there with a small scroll of parchment in his hand.

“Adina...Greyback?” he called, and Adina started a little at her name, pausing long enough to pull Tavish into a tight hug before she got up, headed for the Auror, and she was led into the courtroom.

Harry immediately took Tavish's hand while the others closed the gap that Adina had left. Tavish rested his head on Harry's shoulder, but did not speak as they all stared at the courtroom door. They could hear the low thrum of voices coming from the other side, but it wasn't clear enough to tell them how the proceedings were going. Harry chewed his bottom lip nervously, but did not dare break the silence as they sat and waited.

After about fifteen minutes Tavish was called, and he stood up shakily to follow the Auror inside.

Remus looked up from the small stack of parchment in his hands to close the space, but saw Harry and froze. He looked back to his notes and did not move, while Ulrich none-too-subtly wrapped an arm around Harry's waist and tugged him a little closer. Harry didn't protest it, and moved a hand to cover Ulrich's in a move of reassurance.

The court proceedings continued, and Ron was called in next, followed by Hermione, and then Ulrich, leaving Harry alone with Remus.

Ulrich was more than a little reluctant to leave, but Harry merely offered his hand a firm squeeze, followed by a drawn-out kiss, which seemed to calm the dominant enough for them to part, and Harry sat back down on the bench, with nearly two feet of space between the pair of them.

Unlike earlier, the silence between the exes was less tense, and more painfully awkward. Harry wanted to say something to break it, but for a long moment, he had no idea what he could say.

“I...er...got your letter,” Harry said at last, and Remus's gaze snapped up to him, though his expression was blank, and Harry couldn't work out what emotion he was seeing in those familiar amber eyes. “Thank you...for apologizing, I mean. It was...it was a very er, nice letter. I appreciated it.”

“I meant it,” Remus replied after a short pause, but shifted his gaze to the courtroom door as he spoke. “I was selfish and childish, and I handled your partial turning very badly, to put it mildly.” Harry smiled weakly at the sentiment, and nodded his head.

“Yeah,” he said with a soft chuckle, “that's one way of putting it...”

“I just hope you know that I am sorry,” Remus said in a similar tone of voice, and but he did not look over at Harry as he spoke. “I wish I had handled it better...I wish I still had you in my life. But, as the saying goes, I made this bed, now I have to lie in it. Nothing—nothing I can say or do could ever make up for what I have put you through.” Remus paused, and lifted a hand to his unshaven jaw, rubbing a hand across it in a motion of deep stress before he continued, “I treated you like a child, and not an adult. I—I hurt you, and you were the one person that I never wanted to hurt, yet I always managed it anyway. There's no excusing it—no making up for it. Too much damage has been done, I think, for me to ever even hope of redeeming myself for it, I see that now.”

Remus paused his monologue, and turned to face Harry. Harry's breath caught when he saw that the older man's eyes were gleaming with unshed tears as he regarded him with a small, sad smile.

“I wish the best for you and Ulrich, I really do,” Remus said, and it sounded as though he truly meant it, too. “Once this is all over, I will do all that I can to stay out of your way. Your life and mine are no longer intertwined, and there's no reason for me to hang around and make things more difficult for you.”

For a long moment, Harry did not say anything at all. He had no idea what he could say following such a heartfelt confession, and for the first time in a long time, he believed Remus's every word. Harry caught his bottom lip between his teeth as he regarded the older man, and felt his throat tighten as the words began to sink in.

Once this is all over, I will do all I can to stay out of your way.

“I—thank you,” Harry said at last, and swallowed past the lump of emotion caught in his throat. “You...it sounds like you've done a lot of reflecting since you left...left the territory, I mean.”

“I found a Mind Healer who also happens to be a werewolf,” Remus explained in the same mild tone, “she has been helping me reflect on all the wrong I have done, and with my own feelings towards my Lycanthropy. She has helped me a lot.”

“That's good, I'm glad,” Harry replied as he shifted his gaze away from Remus and towards the opposite wall, “you always had a hard time with it, I know that.”

“Indeed.”

They lapsed into silence, and not a full minute later the door opened again, this time to admit Remus. The door shut behind him with a note of finality, and Harry could not explain—even to himself—why he felt so heartbroken in that moment.

Harry sat alone in the passageway, and stared at the door while his mind raged with conflicting thoughts. All Remus's sentiments—all his genuine goodbyes—for now he could see that they were indeed genuine—Harry suddenly found himself anguished at the idea of never seeing him again. The thought left Harry feeling horribly guilty as his thoughts shifted to Ulrich.

I almost feel like I've cheated on him, even though I haven't done anything... Harry thought miserably, and raked a hand through his hair.

Twenty minutes passed, and Harry spent most of it agonizing over his own inner turmoil. When the courtroom door opened for the last time, he remembered with a jolt why he was here to begin with, and he felt his stomach twist in shame for how he'd been so caught up in his own problems that he hadn't rehearsed his answers for the Wizengamot at all.

“Harry Potter?” the Auror said.

“Yes?” Harry asked as he stood up slowly, and the Auror nodded his head once.

“Please follow me.”
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Lunaticus Book Three: New Moon Rising