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Weapon	By : uqui Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Voldemort Views: 105435 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 26
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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I got reminded that I haden't updated here so I remembered the password for here and here goes.
Thank you to teamedward240 and Angel no Yami for beta-ing. Any errors left are mine.
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Weapon (Possession Chapter XCVII)

Chapter XLVI - Viable Option Number Four

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No matter what the letter had said, Remus was more than a little surprised when he heard the pop of apparation even before he'd returned his wand to its holster at his side after tapping the parchment and saying the words. He'd expected that he'd be waiting at least a few minutes but apparently Viable Option Number Four was far more ready to treat with the werewolves than even he'd thought.
"I don't believe this!" The harsh accusation at least answered the question of how their dialogue would begin this time and Remus flicked his eyes to the rather young man that had accompanied the Shadow's representative.
"I do not believe this!" The cry was repeated, accompanied by an accusative stab of a finger. "I do not believe you got me out of the Auror Headquarters just to dump me on a bloody member of the Order of the Phoenix. Look, I thank you for getting me out but I am not going straight back in. I'm out of here."
The shadow's representative merely raised one eyebrow. "And where do you think you will go?"
"Back to You-Know-Who," the man said looking around but not recognizing the forest even with the moonlight streaming down between the spindly limbs of the trees.
There was an undignified snort and Remus just continued to watch as this played out. The last though had given him enough information for him to recognize that this must be the Death Eater Werewolf that had been captured... and, it appeared, freed. He'd think about the implications of how the werewolf had been freed later.
"Ah, back to your Lord. A man I happen to know you have not been in contact with since before your rescue, and who is unlikely to take your rescue as anything but a trap."
"I'll just tell him you rescued me."
"Without confirmation from the shadows, do you really think your Lord will believe that? I rather imagine he'd be more inclined to believe you were released deliberately, possibly to track down the location of his stronghold. And that is of course assuming you even got that close to your Lord again, something I doubt given his survival instincts," the shadow representative spoke softly, with no hint of any emotion. "Now you could go back to the Aurors but I doubt they'd treat you too well, or you could attempt to hide amongst the muggles, something that will leave you hunted after the first moon, which is, rather conveniently for me, in a few days. So no, my little werewolf, you will stay here while your pack leader and I discuss a few things and then you will accompany him."
The werewolf still looked rebellious.
"Or there is one more option," the masked man said quietly, ignoring the look of hope on young Death Eater's face as he drew his wand. "If you truly do not wish to accompany your pack leader then I'll make the arrangements right now for your file in the Ministry to end with the statement 'DDI' and that will mean that no one will bother coming for you."
"DDI?"
"Died during interrogation," Remus supplied softly.
"You wouldn't!" The young werewolf objected. "You wouldn't get me out of there just to kill me," he raged but was wise enough not to raise his hand against either.
The shadow representative said nothing and didn't even so much as blink as he remained standing there, wand drawn, awaiting the werewolf's decision with as much interest as one would feel when told that the fashions had changed from favoring blue shirts to red, in Daroobalgie, Australia, which is to say, with no interest at all.
The man's stoic outlook was not wasted on the young werewolf who relented with a subdued and fearful shudder. "Alright, I will go with the Pack Leader but if he hands me back over to the Aurors, I am going to try to run."
"It does not concern me what you do while in your pack leaders care," the shadow representative said, dismissing the matter entirely and Remus couldn't help a bark of laughter.
"What he means to say," Remus said for the benefit of the Death Eater Werewolf, "is now that I can confirm to the Gathering that the Shadows rescued you in good faith with no thought of reward, your part in negotiations between the Werewolf packs and the Shadow Lord is over." The older werewolf turned towards the shadow representative, giving him a respectful nod. "That is very well played," he said with admiration.
Remus thought he could detect a hint of a smile as the man replied. "Thank you but Gideon's presence here is merely a side issue and your desire to speak provided a convenient opportunity to give him back to your custody."
"I did wish to speak," Remus said before turning towards the now named Death Eater. "Gideon, if you could please excuse us, I will be with you shortly and you have my word as a Pack Leader and member of the Order, I will not turn you over to the Aurors, the Unspeakables or to the Order but rather, since the shadows so obviously desire it, I will take you to the Gathering with me and from there, you can accompany any of the pack leaders to go where you will. At that point I suspect that should you desire to return to the Dark Lord, the Shadow Lord would be willing to confirm to your master that he had a hand in your rescue."
The slight nod from the shadow representative was enough and Gideon bowed low towards him.
"I lead to serve," Remus intoned the ritual phrase, heedless of their audience.
"We follow to remember," the Death Eater replied before backing away to give them the appearance of privacy.
The shadow representative waited a moment before making an encompassing gesture. "So what did you wish to discuss, Mr. Lupin?" the man asked, his voice light and friendly but giving no clue as to his identity.
Remus took a deep breath. He'd thought about trying to approach the topic circumspectly but with the shadows unexpectedly bringing him the captured werewolf, which explained very nicely why the Ministry had gone quiet on their capture. Not even the Ministry was stupid enough to say they had captured a Death Eater who had been rescued probably a day or so later without significant fireworks given the complete lack of any disturbance or rumors. Announcing that type of escape would be so disastrous that even the Ministry knew that. It was a very transparent play from the shadows to garner support but one that made him feel better about his choice and he decided simply to go with the truth and to explain as simply as he could what he wanted and why.
"You have managed to convince me," he began, "that an alliance with you is something that we should consider, something I will be pushing for. It's no secret that I would oppose the Dark Lord but with the Ministry's continued reluctance to give the werewolves any form of equality and their alliance with the Vampire Families, I have found myself unable to truly advocate that path for the werewolves. I will continue to serve the Order but my service will be my own, individually. Your offer and your actions have convinced me that the werewolf packs should ally with your forces, despite the rather anarchical path you wish us to declare in public.
"I like to think that I will fight very hard for what I believe in, but with that said, I believe the majority of the Pack Leaders will be against this alliance because it is unknown. Never doubt your actions with Gideon will help but some will see the alliance that is assumed between the Dark Lord and the Shadows and will point out that you would have rescued Gideon without our alliance."
"Eh... no they wouldn't have," Gideon interrupted. "I'm sorry Pack Leader but if the others assume that, they are wrong. The Dark Lord spoke to me after I was captured, and while he was regretful that I had been captured, he instructed me to collect as much information as I could, even then. He did say he would take care of my brother but he didn't once offer a rescue, not that I expected it."
"Ah," Remus said in acknowledgement. "While that may be the case Gideon, some of the Pack Leaders will not heed that even when you tell them, so for the moment let me continue with my assumptions."
"Yes, Pack Leader."
Remus turned back to the shadow representative who hadn't moved during the brief break. "As I was saying, at least some of the pack leaders will, rightly or wrongly assume that you would rescue Gideon anyway because of your alliance with the Dark Lord. Gideon will convince some, but others will remain convinced of their assumptions.
"Your case for an alliance is not hopeless though. The Blood Oath you have assured us of will also sway many towards viewing this alliance favorably, and combined with the rest of your original offer, I believe the pack will be split. This is not to say that you do not offer enough! I cannot stress that strongly enough, it is just that your path is completely new to us," Remus lowered his head as if ashamed.
"My influence, such as it is within the Werewolf Packs, will at least ensure that your offer is considered fairly but I am never one to argue half a case and when I back something... well I'm honest enough to admit that when I back something, that is the outcome I want. I would ask therefore that you give me one more final piece of proof about your intentions to take to the Pack."
"And that would be?" Sirius asked when the shadows prompted him.
"You mentioned a charm that could be used in place of wolfsbane potion to help a werewolf keep their human mind during the change."
"I did, and I also mentioned that it had to be cast by someone of formidable power and even then it failed more often than not."
"That is true," Remus acknowledged, ignoring Gideon's start of surprise at the possibility of a charm that would help during the change. Remus suspected Gideon had never had wolfsbane potion given to him so the concept of being human during a full moon, even if not human shaped was something intriguing. "That is quite true," Remus repeated. "But I have done some research on that charm and must admit I had heard of -something- like it but had always dismissed it as wishful thinking. My research though would indicate that even if the charm fails, so long as the werewolf in question was focused during the change, then they would feel some effects of it, right up until their desire to remain human was drowned by the pain. And that is when the charm fails.
"I am certain that if cast on me, I will be able to see some effects of the charm, even if it ultimately fails and would therefore request that before the next full moon, the charm is cast on me. I believe that a combination of the effectiveness of the charm, your actions with Gideon and the loopholes you have generously allowed with this offer of alliance will convince most that your alliance is the path we should take but I believe that it will require all three to surmount the trepidation at taking the new path."
The shadow representative nodded slowly. "Why not ask for wolfsbane?"
Remus smirked, "Because you could just buy it which proves nothing about your Potions Master, or your intentions. It just proves you have the galleons to get it."
Sirius looked down reflectively. :He's got you there,: he said to the shadows.
:We know,: they replied, unconcerned.
:You want to cast the charm?: Sirius blurted mentally.
:Well, yes, that's why he wanted to meet us,: the shadows said easily.
:Then how do we get Harry here to cast it, without Remus recognizing him since if power is required he should cast the charm.:
:Our master already cast the charm, Sirius,: the shadows said. :We are more concerned with this assumption of an alliance between the Shadow Lord and the Dark Lord. Will you give us control for a moment?:
Sirius was mildly surprised but more amused to hear that Harry had already cast the charm on Remus so he held back his questions and let the shadows take control of his body. Like last time it didn't hurt and he could observe everything and he knew he could take control back at any time but it would be quicker if they could talk through him.
"We are agreeable to casting the charm on you, Pack Leader, if you accept that this charm will not be as effective as having our leader cast it due to the differences in power."
"That is acceptable," Remus said quietly.
Sirius grinned tightly as the Shadows covered up Harry's pre-involvement rather neatly but they continued after a small acknowledgement of Remus' consent. "However we are concerned about this assumption of an alliance between ourselves and the Dark Lord."
To everyone's surprise Remus just burst out laughing but before he answered, he brought out his wand being careful to keep the gestures public and non-threatening and cast a silencing charm between Gideon and himself. There were some things the younger werewolf did not need to hear. "You can say all you want that it is only rogue shadows dealing with the Dark Lord," the Pack Leader said, all traces of mirth disappearing. "But I am not stupid. The presence of the man who drove the Malfoy Death Eaters and the Vampires out of the Ministry speaks for itself. Either the Shadows are broken into two very powerful forces - those who support the Dark Lord and those who support the Shadow Lord, or they are one force, playing all sides of the game, with or without the Shadow Lord's knowledge.
"But even if you enter into this alliance with the werewolves without the Shadow Lord's knowledge, I trust him enough to see that it will be honored... Oof!"
Remus was taken by surprise by the inhuman speed of the shadow representative when his legs were swept out from under him and something that felt like the Hogwart's Express slammed him to the ground and pinned him there. When he recovered he looked up with no small amount of fear to feel the tip of a wand between his eyes and the man's pitch eyes boring down into him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Gideon sprawled on the ground in a petrificus totalus body bind, his eyes watching the proceedings even though the silencing spell meant he could not hear though Remus couldn't even feel a mote of relief at that as he was drawn back into the shadow representative's eyes. A moment ago they had been normal human eyes, black of course with white sclera, but now they were completely black and from the way they were tensed the shadow's representative was holding back some very powerful spells by force of will alone.
"And what do you know about the Shadow Lord?"
Remus looked up carefully. The voice was soft but full of menace and the wand between his eyes was stable as was the other hand that was latched on to his throat. Both his arms were pinned by the man who straddled his chest and with the angle that he'd fallen he couldn't even get enough leverage with his legs to attempt to get free. Even if he could the pressure forcing him down felt absolute.
"I know enough to know that I trust him," Remus carefully reiterated the gist behind his last words.
:Stop it!: Sirius screamed at the shadows, attempting to take control of his body back but they had gone from being playfully self assured into enraged killers and their hold was very strong. For a moment Sirius was forced to wonder if these were really rogue shadows. :Stop it, stop it, stop it!: he continued to scream at them.
:No,: they replied distantly to him. :He knows too much.:
:That's not his fault! That's yours for not playing the game better!: Sirius felt faintly sick with himself, using the shadows term for what they considered this - a game - but one where they were on the verge of killing his best friend. He concentrated on trying to move his arm.
"That is not important."
"What is important?"
"Can he trust you?"
:Of course Harry can trust Remus,: Sirius cried when he heard his body ask the question, seizing on the opportunity to cast as much doubt as he could into the shadow's collective thoughts. :I'd be more worried about Harry trusting you lot right at the moment. He gave you permission to get the werewolves, he did not give you permission to kill his friend!:
Remus apparently could see the distinction as well. "Is that can the Shadow Lord trust me, or can the shadows trust me?"
"Can he trust you?"
"Yes."
The answer was unfeigned and sincere. And Sirius flung himself off Remus with enough force to send himself flying as he finally hammered his will through to his body, cutting off the shadow control. He hit a tree and slumped there, breathing heavily but brokenly as the fear he had felt but his body had not felt slowly began to ebb from him. The shadows didn't bother to apologize and oddly Sirius was thankful for that. Right at the moment he didn't want to hear it from them.
Remus sat up slowly, still being careful to make sure his movements were not threatening as he moved to sit cross legged on the ground. "The day that the son of Lily and James Potter cannot trust me is the day after the universe dies," he enunciated clearly.
Sirius said nothing, he was still too busy trying to get his breathing under control but the shadows flickered around him arguing amongst themselves. Some of them wanted to seduce Remus now, others were happy if he gave his word not to betray them. Another faction was saying that Sirius was right, it was their own complacency that had brought about this problem and Sirius was thankful that at least some of the shadows were being reasonable but there was another faction screaming that they should just kill the werewolf and deal with the consequences. Thankfully that suggestion, while it had been the driving force behind the pressure on Sirius to strike Remus, was very quickly quashed by the other factions who pointed out that their master would not be happy if they killed Remus and would likely be so unhappy that he would reject them. None of the factions wanted to risk that. With all the factions Sirius could hear arguing there was one thing they all agreed upon - they'd screwed up. As the silence extended as the shadow factions kept arguing, Sirius knew he had to say something.
"They are... discussing their options," Sirius said and he knew as he spoke that Remus recognized the difference in his voice.
"Oh?"
"It appears they miscalculated."
"Perhaps but I would prefer to think that an alliance is based on trust."
"They prefer alliances based on mutual benefit with neither knowing too much about the other."
"What do you prefer?"
"Mutual respect," he shrugged, "and where possible, friendship."
Sirius looked off to the side as the shadows argument ceased. For an instant he thought it was in response to his words but then a very soft but very powerful voice spoke. It was deep and echoy even though it was a singular voice and the canine animagus knew that this was one of the most senior shadows, one that was respected by the others.
:We have miscalculated, this is true,: it began, :but the game is nothing without surprises, without challenges. Satisfaction in victory comes not from the certainty of its attainment but from the struggle and we have been inured of the struggle for too long. Now this is not a disaster. Of all the mistakes we could have made this one is the least of any. The werewolf is intelligent and we should have expected him to make the connection between our helpers and our master and then make the deductions based on actions. However, he has not gone running to the Order, he has not confronted our Master, he has merely carried on. I will grant, he could have been waiting for a time to blackmail us but this has not happened and we are forced now to deal with this issue.
:We have been unaccountably -lucky-,: the shadow continued. :So far the Order has accepted that the help rendered to the Serpent Lord was given by rogue shadows, and that those shadows and their helpers will fall into line when they encounter our Master. If there was such a thing as rogues this would be true and we will have to make arrangements now for a few 'rogues' to be caught and submit to our Master in a more public way than the lie we spread earlier to cover our Master's mistake. This holds true of our helpers and of this particular helper. He has been seen to be doing our bidding at the Dark Lord's side, and is therefore, to most wizards one of the rogue shadows. He cannot be seen now to be doing the Shadow Lord's bidding without first being converted and that conversion should be public for maximum effect but I also believe we should make him the focus of rogue shadows, make him one of their primary helpers. This accounts for his power and will account for any other necessary actions. It is only because we have used this helper in this situation, where he has been now recognized as working for both the Serpent and Shadow Lord that has allowed the connection to be made and we will be far more careful in future.
:We must now inform the Serpent Lord that he is not to refer to any alliance with the Shadow Lord. He has an alliance with the Shadows, but the Shadow Lord opposes him, which is the reason behind his desire to seduce our Master. Thus far the only people to know of the alliance between the Shadow Lord and the Serpent Lord are some of the Serpent Lord's ardent followers and those we have marked. The vampires know who the Shadow Lord will be and while Xeoaph doubts, he is not certain and in that uncertainty lies our power.
:Now, for this werewolf, seducing or killing him would earn us our masters ire and the latter would most likely give the werewolves to the Serpent Lord. However it is his words that we can use to play this game. He has concluded that either we are one force playing all sides or we are two forces supporting opposites. To the Order, the Ministry, the Vampires and any who may oppose us, as of now we are two powerful forces - the rogues and the faithful. And to those we trust, those who know what we are we are one force, playing all sides of the game.
:This werewolf has stated he trusts our Master, as well he should since our Master trusts him but we want him to trust us, trust that no matter which one he believes us to be, he trusts us, so we need to give him a reason to trust us, and then bind that reason to us. And that shouldn't be too hard.:
Sirius got the impression that the old shadow was watching him with undisguised calculation and he suppressed a shiver. He'd agreed to help the shadows, he'd agreed to help Harry but he was not going to become an absolute slave, or some bit they tossed around only to dance to their purpose. :You'll have to give me a reason to trust you first,: he snapped with passion, their pervious actions not forgotten. :The only reason you didn't kill him is because I stopped you.:
The old shadow chuckled as the calculation vanished to be replaced with a feeling of grudging but genuine respect and Sirius got the impression of true amusement, not at his expense but at the outrage he could feel from the other shadows at his statement. :It's been a while, Mr. Black, since we have had helpers rather than slaves,: the old shadow said. :And the term helper has come to mean much the same as seduced when it means nothing of the sort, so please forgive our actions earlier in trying to force you to an action that goes against your nature.
:You are not one of the seduced, or else you could not have even voiced objection to us and you would quite happily cut your own throat with a dull blade if we so ordered it. No, you are a helper, Mr. Black, someone who has chosen to give his loyalty and trust to our Master and who we in turn recognize and assist, even as you assist us. The distinction means we should not have attempted to force.
:This is not something we do for the Serpent Lord either, despite his allegiance with our Master. Well, it isn't something we would do usually... except for those dastardly rogues... who knows what help they will give him?:
Sirius snorted but held up his hand to forestall the questions Remus would no doubt ask. :I do not forgive you,: he said to the shadows as a whole.
:You do not?:
:No. I do not forgive you,: he repeated. :I can only forgive you if you agree to two terms.:
:Terms?: The shadows were wary and Sirius knew why. Dark and dangerous they may be, but they were honorable about keeping their word.
:One, you never attempt to force me again and two, Remus is given similar status as a helper.:
:Agreed to the first, but the second must wait until the werewolves ally with us and our Master gives his express permission, which we have no doubt that he will.:
:All right,: Sirius agreed. :Now what?:
:Now, we apologize to the good werewolf for attacking him, and explain why we are so protective of our Master, and generally do everything in our power to make sure they ally with us still,: the elder shadow said and Sirius nodded mentally in agreement. :If I may?: the shadow asked the canine animagus.
:Yes,: he replied. They had given their word, and their word was their bond. They would not try to force him again.
The shadow took control of Sirius' body and had him stand tall before bowing deeply to the werewolf. "We are sorry, Mr. Lupin. You surprised us greatly and we acted without thinking, and such a thing, against someone who we dearly wish as an ally is unforgivable, yet we find ourselves asking for your forgiveness."
Remus had tensed as the man's eyes had turned pitch black again but his actions were placating and peaceful, though they carried the slight hint of nerves. The shadows were as changeable as the wind it seemed, one moment on the verge of killing him, and he knew they had been close to doing that, the next humbly asking his forgiveness... they were young, he realized as the man looked on with a faint expression of hope.
"I wish to forgive you for the good of the werewolf packs but I wish to know why you deemed it necessary to attack me. Only then will I be able to decide if an alliance with something as... impetuous as you is in our interests."
The shadows representative nodded before looking over at Gideon. The petrificus totalus had not worn off but he was still watching and still could not hear. A silencing charm had no physical presence but it was still effective and the boundary was still before the young death eater.
"You are correct," the shadows said, and Sirius' felt his eyes widen slightly as they began to drop some of the distortion on his voice. "It was very impetuous of us and we apologize however we beg your indulgence to explain our actions and hope that in our explanation you will find that the alliance we wish is still in the werewolves' best interests."
:What are you doing?: Sirius hissed.
:Giving him a reason to trust us again,: the shadows replied. :Don't worry that young werewolf won't be able to see when it comes to that so it will be only to Remus that we do this... or do you not trust him?:
:That's not fair!: Sirius complained. :You know I trust him, I just didn't think he'd find out this way.:
:Neither did we but we wish to shield our Master still from some of what we will be doing.:
:I thought he knew you were recruiting the werewolves.:
:He does, but there are other things we will do that he will not find as... agreeable. The Dark Lord has said he will do anything to protect our Master but we will do anything to make sure of our victory and that is something entirely different.:
Sirius nodded to himself. It was different and the shadows would protect Harry as well but their protection required his acceptance of them as did their existence as a power. They were bound to obey him no matter what his orders were. Even if they were 'Go away' they had to obey and Sirius knew that they did not want that. He saw the path the shadows walked with their master and resolved to try to help Harry as much as he could.
Remus had noticed that the shadows voice was different. So far he'd heard two 'voices' from their representative, one that he attributed to the man beneath the mask and one he attributed to the power he represented. But they seemed to be showing him a third now and he didn't know why. "I will listen to your explanation," he said when they paused for his response.
"As you have surmised for yourself, we are a very powerful force and while the wizarding world believes us to be two forces supporting opposites, and we are supporting that belief, you are correct in your other statement - we are one force, playing all sides."
"Does the Shadow Lord know?"
"Not everything," the shadows admitted, dropping more concealment. "He is very young and while he knows some of what we do, he does not yet grasp how completely we are involved in the game. He will before the year is out though and then he will be our Master and partner in everything."
"Does he know about your offer to the Werewolves?"
"Yes and we can see that you wonder how we will get the reforms we promised into the Ministry. We share your concern, getting the reforms into the current Ministry would not be possible but the current Ministry will not last much longer and their successors will either be more amenable to our suggestions or they will be replaced."
Remus couldn't help but start at the sheer power behind the voice and the conviction it had... not to mention that they were advocating a whole sale slaughter of the Ministry.
"Do not concern yourself, Mr. Lupin, there are many ways we can get our amendments through the Ministry into law, and we will chose one that is appropriate when it is required. We do not break our word."
"So why did you attack me?" Remus asked. The information given so far was fascinating but didn't answer that direct question.
"We made a mistake. We did not anticipate that anyone would connect our helper with our Master and therefore conclude that he was perhaps aware of more than has been suspected. It is obvious of course that we should have known, but we did not and we will protect our Master against anything."
Remus laughed weakly. "I hadn't worked it out until just before," he said simply. "And while I know that it is believed there are only rogues helping the Dark Lord, this alliance comes from the shadows, and either you were acting completely independently of your master - something that was possible, or this was an offer from the rogues, or you are a unified force. Thus the conclusions were easy, once I remembered that this man had been the one to fight for the Dark Lord and not just remembered that and been happy at his ability to kill vampires."
"Which was our mistake, in having this man come and, perhaps, in offering such a wide agreement to you. We should have used someone else, or not been... quite as encompassing as we were with our offer... but we want your allegiance and thus we have offered what we have and what we can deliver, rather than only a taste of what we can deliver."
"So why did you not kill me to protect your master?"
"I stopped them," Sirius said, his voice his own.
This time it was Remus' turn to start back in surprise, and with a soft 'pluomuf!' he fell back into a sitting position staring up at the shadows representative. "Si... Sirius...?"
"You were expecting someone else?" Sirius asked with a laugh. He turned his wand towards Gideon and muttered a gentle curse of darkness to conceal himself from the Death Eater, before sweeping his mask down and grinning broadly at his friend.
Remus just watched on but suddenly a hundred little things - hints, phrases and actions - that his friend had made over the few months of summer made sense. Particularly strong was the memory of the talk they'd had in the meadow, the talk that had ended well before Harry had been attacked, before he'd discovered the vampire in Dumbledore's office.
'Remus, don't... Don't make the same assumptions Albus has, that the world has. Harry is his own man. He is not his father. He will make his own decisions and live with the consequences. And so help us, we've put him in the position where we are going to have to live with the consequences as well.'
"So this is what you meant when you said Harry wasn't the concept we perceived."
"Not the best warning but I tried."
"Well it's given me more warning than probably anyone else."
"That's true."
Remus looked down, ashamed. "I guess you've got questions..." he said quietly.
"Yes," Sirius replied. "But since you've probably got the same questions about Harry's servants, I think our relative secrets are about equal, and I'm not about to hold you responsible for not telling me something that you were obviously not allowed to."
Remus smiled, a genuinely relieved smile, all trace of annoyance or doubt about the shadows removed.
"I spent too long in Azkaban doubting everything Remus, going back over what I should have done and what I shouldn't have done and how things should have been different to now doubt the few things I know with absolute certainty and one of those is that you are my friend, more than my friend and nothing you do will change that."
"I don't... I don't deserve that."
"Just so long as you know I don't deserve you either," Sirius said laughingly though his eyes were serious. "This is not something to doubt Remus and for now it is not something we can spend the night going over. I need to get back to the wilderness and you no doubt need to get back to the castle."
The werewolf nodded before he looked around towards the shadows. "You know, if you'd have just told me that it was Sirius meeting with me the first time, you wouldn't have had to made such a generous offer to the werewolves, I would have carried and argued for the alliance just on the strength of that."
"We know," the shadows said aloud, not using Sirius' voice. "But we want the werewolves' allegiance, all of them, not just the ones who will follow you... and there are more of those than you would think." They fell silent and relayed a few more things to Sirius.
"Remus... they want me to tell you something. They can talk by themselves but it's not the easiest for them so for things like this they usually use someone else. They think that the werewolves will want to pick a pack leader this time, as in a Supreme Pack Leader for all the werewolves on the Isles. The shadows want you to know, they will back you for that. Not as a part of anything just because they will back you. No questions, no requirements or agreements or favor owed. Even if the werewolves decide not to ally with the shadows, they will still back you."
"Why?"
The shadows were silent and Sirius sensed there were many reasons they had come to this decision including the fact that they believed that Remus was one of the few pack leaders for whom the phrase 'I lead to serve' was more than just tradition but he went with the simplest. "Remus, these are Harry's servants... Do you have any idea how much grief he'd give them if you got hurt?"
:Nice answer,: the shadows complimented him before they swirled, showing their agreement in the happy movements they made in the clearing.
"All right," Remus said as he rose with a wire smile. "If the packs decide they wish to have singular pack leader, I will put forth my candidacy. Now, are you going to cast that charm?"
Sirius nodded and pulled up his mask again as the shadows settled around him, once more masking his identity. He lifted his wand and removed the charms from the Death Eater werewolf before he bowed towards Remus, letting the young werewolf know that things had been resolved. The Death Eater was full of curiosity but seemed to accept that so long as the Pack Leader was unharmed and displaying no threatening gestures he could wait for his explanation and would not attack the other being.
Without ceremony Sirius cast the reinforcement charm on Remus before he turned to Gideon. "We have sorted out our differences," he said formally, giving a nod towards Remus. "And as our business is completed, I bid you good night. Try not to get captured again, Gideon," he added with a wink before he apparated out.
Remus watched the place Sirius had been standing for a moment. He wanted to talk much more but there was no time at the moment and they both knew it but that didn't stop the slight shaking in his hand.
"Pack Leader, are you alright?" Gideon asked, forgetting that Remus was also one of the Order.
Remus laughed weakly, looking down at his hand that was trembling. "I am fine Gideon, just very excited at this opportunity and possibility."
"So you still wish to ally with them, even though they attacked you?"
"Yes. That was a misunderstanding."
"A pretty serious one."
"True, but one that was resolved and I believe in that misunderstanding had lead to greater understanding and acceptance. I know more about them now Gideon and to argue for an alliance to the Gathering, that understanding is necessary."
The Death Eater nodded. "A part of me wants to say you should argue to serve my Master, but since they rescued me, I'm somewhat split on where the werewolves should give our loyalty. I know they only rescued me because they want to get support but I am still thankful. Though I am now a bit worried. You are a member of the Order after all, and I am an escaped Death Eater and the Gathering isn't until after the moon."
"That won't be a problem," Remus said. "I cannot support your choice in serving the Dark Lord but I will not turn you in. If we meet in battle then it will be something else but I will see to your well being until the Gathering, after that, you are on your own."
"I can accept that," Gideon said. "What about for the moon? You got that charm but I'll transform as usual."
"When I was in school, there was a house I stayed in when I transformed. Since there will be two of us, I think I can control you and myself... even if the charm fails half way through."
"You are going to have to tell me about them but not yet," Gideon said, rising and looking up at the moon. "Night is the time of the Death Eaters, but you probably have things to do tomorrow so we should get going."
"That is true," Remus said with a smile. "I do have much to do and even more to think on," Remus said as he rose. Despite the surprises of tonight and the amount he had to consider, not to mention the very long conversation he wanted to have with Harry now, he felt good about the future.
He looked up at the moon with a soft smile, :Sleep well, Sirius.:
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