It was the day of the full moon, and Elijah was standing outside the Shrieking Shack, waiting for Isabel to arrive with Remus. Lily went over to him and smiled. "Feeling anxious?"
"Not even remotely. Just impatient."
"Well, there are no classes today, and Isabel and Remus running late, how about I help you take your mind off of things for a bit?" She wrapped her arms around his neck as he wrapped his around her waist.
"What did you have in mind?"
"Something you'll enjoy." She kissed him and pushed him into the shack.
Back in the Anima Mea cabin, Harry was meditating while everyone else was studying. Blaise glanced at his rival and bumped Daphne's shoulder. "Why is he doing that?"
"He's practicing Occlumency. Since our Soul Magic naturally blocks out any external mental intrusion, Harry hasn't really taken it seriously, but recently, he's been finding it more and more beneficial to help with memory. The whole Stone research thing was the trigger."
"Stone research?"
"He was trying to find out what the Philosophers Stone was and what it could do."
"Why?"
"Because it was something he read offhand a while ago and forgot and it was bugging him," said Hermione.
"Seems a bit odd for Harry to forget something like that."
"Not really, it's happened before when we were younger."
"We're not talking about that," said Harry, who was still in a lotus position. "And don't you dare start telling the story."
"What story," asked a familiar voice from the entrance. Harry opened his eyes as everyone turned to the entrance and saw Isabel standing there in a tank top and short shorts. Cedric coughed on his tea after getting caught off guard by her appearance. Harry and Blaise looked away, clearing their throats as Lily Moon and Pansy looked at her curiously. "Guess who's back, bitches?!"
"You're late," said Hermione, who was checking the time on the VCR on the TV. "You were supposed to be here a couple of hours ago."
"Not my fault. The Lycan was being difficult."
"Or you were being you and your personalities clashed," said Harry. "You like to think you're cute when you act like a brat."
"Cute?" She sped to him and got him in a choke hold. "Bitch, I'm adorable!"
"Let me go!" said Harry, blushing at how close to her cleavage he was.
"No."
"I'll let Remus in," said Susan, Serina, now a little bigger than a month ago and a few white feathers sprouting here and there, on her shoulder. Cedric looked at Harry's predicament and muttered softly.
"Lucky bastard."
"Oh?" said Penelope with a smirk. "And how is he lucky?"
"No reason…" he said, blushing. Penelope giggled as the girls pulled Isabel off of Harry. Remus walked in as Isabel laughed at Harry's face.
"Someone's growing up." The girls glared at her as Remus sighed.
"How did you put up with her for two months?"
"She grows on you," said Daphne.
"Maybe you," said Susan. "I don't care much for her."
"Well, I'm an acquired taste. Not for everyone, just a select few." She winked at the boys and Remus, causing Cedric's face to go red and Blaise and Harry to look away. Remus rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Shouldn't you act your age?"
"No. My father is actually more immature than I am. I count it to how long he's been around."
"And how long is that?" asked Harry.
"What's today? Sunday? So about… 564 years old. Give or take a few years."
"Wow," said Harry. "Almost 600 years old. Impressive he's lived for so long."
"Well, being the first vampire means your more powerful." Everyone turned to her and stared at her like she just grew a second head and a tail. "What?"
"First vampire?"
"Yep. Vampire Royalty, basically. So, you all might as well call me Princess Isabel!" She grinned as Susan rolled her eyes.
"Never going to happen." Serina chirped in agreement, causing Isabel to look at her.
"Oh, shush." She turned to Harry. "Where's Eli and Lily?"
"Elijah should be waiting by the Shack," said Harry.
"And given their behavior recently," said Pansy from her spot by the TV, "I think it's safe to say Mrs. Potter is… keeping him company."
"So, she finally made her move?"
"More like Elijah made the first one," said Daphne. "At least that's what Aunt Lily said. He kissed her first."
"Eli did that? Bullshit."
"No, really. Aunt Lily told us. If you want to hear it yourself, go find them." Isabel grinned and started heading out of the cabin, Remus grabbed the back of her top, stopping her.
"No you don't."
"Let go of my top, Lycan."
"Not unless you plan on leaving them alone, She-Vamp."
"You know what's funny? I know the full moon isn't up yet, and you've only got a small powerup, but I can still snap your arm in two if you don't let go of my top!" Suddenly, both of them started calming down, Isabel to the point of collapsing and Remus stumbling. "Ok, what the hell?"
"That would be Lily Moon," said Pansy. "She has a knack with runes, and she's only a first year. Something about her magic over compensating for her lack of voice." The young mute nodded and grinned.
"I take it," said Remus. "That you and Ms. Moon are both the newest additions to Anima Mea?"
"Bingo," said Pansy as Lily gave a thumbs up. Isabel grinned and managed to stand back up before going to Harry.
"Broadening your horizons, huh Harry?" Lily blushed darkly as Pansy grinned.
"I know I wouldn't mind." She sent a smooch his way, making Tracey and Susan glare at her, and Daphne roll her eyes. Hermione ignored everyone as she tried duplicating her feet from the library for the hundredth time.
"What's up with Bookworm?" asked Isabel.
"She pulled off something incredible a couple of weeks ago," said Padma. "And has been trying to recreate it. I think it's her Soul Ability."
"What did she do?"
"She had a bunch of books in front of her and managed to read all of them, cover to cover, in less than a minute! They were all floating around her in a circle and when she was done, they were stacked neatly back on the table."
"Speed Reading? Is that it?"
"I'm hoping not," said Hermione. She sighed. Isabel thought about what Padma said and pulled a small bolt she had in her pocket.
"Hey, Bookworm." When Hermione turned to address her, Isabel flicked the bolt at her head, and a book shot into the air to block it. "Defensive capabilities, I wonder…" she thought for a second more before looking at Hermione again. "Pull out your Grimoire. I want to see something." Hermione grabbed her Grimoire from its place in her bag and opened it, seeing nothing has changed. "Picture attacking me." When Hermione looked at her, shocked, Isabel rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine. Just do it."
Hermione reluctantly pictured Isabel as an enemy and her Grimoire's pages tore from its spine as books floated in the air, spinning around her like a shield as the Grimoire pages shot at the dhampir. She evaded them with the grace of an acrobat and smirked as the pages went back to the spine and the books returned to their spots on the table. "Was that because of me?"
"More than likely. And because you still see me as a friend and ally, the attacks didn't persist. At least, that's my theory. Because of them being the base of your Ability, why don't we call it Library, since you can find all kind of offensive and defensive spells in a magical library."
"Sounds better than Speed Reading, Daphne!" She glared at the girl who merely looked away, whistling. The others laughed and started speaking with Remus about what he'll do when the curse is gone. Seeing them distracted, Isabel slipped out and went to where Harry once said the Shrieking Shack was on the Marauders Map.
She made her way there and heard loud moaning inside. She grinned and leaned against wall, buffing out her nails as she heard Lily call out Elijah's name as she climaxed. "Funny! I think I had the same reaction when we hooked up at graduation!"
"Isabel?!" shouted both of them from inside the shack.
"Tell me honestly, Lily. How impressive is Elijah's sword?! I thought it was a broadsword, but that may have been my drunk mind speaking. What do you think?!"
"Izzy!" said Lily. "Go away!"
"No thanks, we need to get ready. So I'm waiting right here! Be a dear and clean up your mess, Eli! I'm sure the Lycan is not going to want to be in there when it smells like sex!"
"Izzy!" shouted Elijah. "Go away, or I swear I'm banning you from drinking my blood ever again!"
"Go ahead! Not like I need it anyways!" Elijah swung the door open to yell at her, baring both him and Lily to the world. Isabel looked down and grinned. "Definitely a broadsword! Guess my memory was correct!" She closed the door in his face as he covered himself. "Hurry up you two! We're burning day light!" She grinned as she heard Lily curse about 'stupid nosey, perverted dhampirs', and Elijah agreed with her. "It's good being me. Dad would be proud. Wonder how the fuck mothering bastard is these days…"
A few moments later, a very irate Lily exited the cabin and glared at the dhampir. "Why?..."
"Hey, I waited for you to finish." She sniffed the air. "For the fourth time?! Holy hell!"
"I don't know why you're surprised, you've been with him."
"Once, when we were drunk. I barely remember everything that happened. But I did remember, Eli Jr."
"You named it?!" shouted Eli as he stepped out.
"Yeah, why?"
"I'm not even going to bother. Where's Remus?"
"In the cabin with the others, talking about what he'll do when he gains control of the curse."
"No wonder no one stopped you."
"Hey, more than likely, you two would still be at it if I hadn't stepped in. I'm the good girl here. Doing it in the old run down shack, naughty girl, Lily."
"Shut up, Izzy." She grinned and stepped to the door way.
"Whew! Gonna need to give it another cleaning, Eli. Still smells like sweat and sex."
"Hardy har. I'll go get Remus, so we can deal with his 'furry little problem'." As he walked away, Isabel sidled up to a very annoyed Lily.
"Four times, huh?"
"We're not talking about this."
"Oh, come on! Who else are you going to talk to about it?"
"No one. That's what I'd prefer. No one needs to know about my private life."
"I do. You're sleeping with my best friend, and the man I was in love with for thirty plus years. The least you could do is humor me."
"Never going to happen."
"Then I'll take it by force."
"And how are you going to do that?"
"I'm going to read your mind."
"How?"
"By drinking your blood. Om nom, nom!" Isabel bit into Lily's neck and saw her most recent memories before pulling away from a very angry Lily. "Lucky girl." She grinned and wiped blood from her lips as Lily healed herself.
"Never do that again."
"One trip into your mind is enough." She grinned and looked her in the eye. "You really are a naughty girl."
"Shut it, Izzy."
"Make me, Lils."
"Hope you two are getting along," said Elijah as he came back, Remus in tow.
"Oh, just fine," said Isabel. "No need to worry."
"Uh huh. Lily?"
"Just as she said." Elijah was silent for a few moments before sighing.
"Alright, I'll take your word for it." He and Remus were about to step into the shack when Remus stopped. "What's wrong?"
"Could you do away with the lingering smell?"
"I told you…"
"Shut it, Izzy!" Elijah used multiple cleansing spells on the shack until Remus was satisfied, or at least until he said he was satisfied, as he had a grin after the first two. "Is it fine, now?"
"It was fine a while ago, I wanted to see just how long you'd keep it up."
"Why you…"
"Come on," said Remus. "We need to get ready."
"And there's the Marauder I remember," said Lily with a grin as she walked in.
"Why didn't I stick around again?" asked Isabel.
"You have a job," said Elijah as he walked in.
"Nah, that can't be it. They don't care if I work as long as I don't blow up the students." As she walked into the shack, Elijah drew a magic circle around Remus as Lily stood by the entrance of the shack leading to the Whomping Willow, as Isabel stood by the entrance they came through that lead to Hogsmeade. "Alright, Lycan. When you start to feel the change, let us know."
"I'll start the ritual," said Elijah. "then switch places with Isabel so that she can hold you down, and your human mind can then confront your beast mind. How the confrontation goes is all up to you, since me and Lily will be helping to power the ritual, we can't interfere, but Isabel can. If we see it's starting to get too much, we're gonna stop."
"Alright. God, I hope this works."
"God can't do shit," said Isabel, snacking on a bag of chips. "Those who claim otherwise are idiots."
"Are you always this cheerful?"
"This is her on a good day," said Elijah. "When she's feeling like a total bitch, she's much worse."
"She gets worse?" asked Lily.
"Nothing you need to worry about, Snow."
"Snow?"
"I'd call ya red, but there's no more red up top. I'd ask Elijah if the carpet changed too but…"
"That's enough of that," said Remus. "For once, I'm actually wanting the moon to come, just so I don't have to listen to her anymore."
"Lighten up, Lycan. We're all adults here."
"Physically, yes. Mentally and emotionally, no."
"Oh bite me, actually, don't. Being half human, I don't know if I'd be able to contract the curse."
"I could do it, see what happens."
"Remus…" said Lily.
"Only kidding, mostly." They waited a few more minutes until Remus felt the effects of the full moon start taking effect. "It's time…"
"Alright. Let's get started." Elijah channeled magic into the circle and Lily touched it on her end. He quickly switched places with Isabel, and channeled magic on his own end as Isabel drank the vial of blood in her pocket. As Remus started changing, Isabel grabbed his arms and pinned him to the ground, chest first, and struggled as she felt his immense strength during the change.
"Christ! What the hell?!"
"Just keep him in place!" said Elijah before he started saying words from a forgotten language, Lily couldn't place. Soon enough, Remus was fully turned into a werewolf, and Isabel was having trouble keeping him in place.
"Eli?! Please tell me we have a plan B for keeping him still!"
"We don't! Just keep a grip on him!"
"Maybe I should've asked Daddy for help!"
"No! Not him! If he shows up, I expect more than just us will get hurt!"
"I hate it when you're right!"
"Who's your father?!" asked Lily.
"You don't want to know," said Elijah.
"How long do I have to keep this up?!"
"Until his body stops thrashing!"
"Gee, that helps!"
"Can I make a suggestion?!" asked Lily, quickly tiring from the magic drain.
"What?!" Remus started snarling and trying to bite a chunk out of Isabel's neck at an awkward angle.
"Do you know the Legilimens spell?!"
"Yes!"
"Maybe try entering his mind!"
"Kinda got my hands full with holding him down!"
"You entered my mind before! Does it use the same method?!"
"Sort of, but…"
"Then use it! See what he's seeing and try and see if we can get to him through speaking!"
"I'm gonna hate this!" She bit into his neck and entered his mind.
As she entered his mind, she was taken aback by how chaotic it had become, just finding Remus in there was a challenge. 'Christ. Is this what Lycans go through on a monthly basis? This is maddening!' She traveled through his mind, finding it in the form of a forest with a few ruins dotting the place here and there under a blood red moon. She traversed the chaotic mind for what felt like hours until she heard panting and someone running.
(For your listening entertainment, I suggest you play Animal by Disturbed for the next scene.)
Remus was hiding behind a tree, breathing heavily. He strained his ears, trying to find any indication of where his hunter was. Isabel watched as the werewolf form slowly rounded the tree Remus was leaning against. Feeling a dark presence above him, Remus rolled away, under a swiping paw and backed away as his beast soul slowly advanced on him. Beast Remus snarled at him before charging. Remus rolled to the side and let the beast hit a tree before running away. Beast Remus howled and shadow wolves sprang from the roots of the trees and bolted after Remus.
Remus heard the wolves coming and started running faster. One of the wolves gained on him and bit his leg, making him scream out in pain. He kicked the wolf away and stumbled to get away from the rest. The further he got from the wolves, the closer they seemed to be. He turned a sharp corner and was face to face with Beast Remus. As the Beast slowly advanced on him, Remus summoned up his courage and tackled it to the ground, his strength equal to the Beasts. He looked at himself as the Beast howled, calling for the shadow wolves to strike. Remus yelled at the shadow wolves and forced them to back away. They circled the two, with the Beast snarling and swatting at the shadow wolves.
It managed to hit one, and Remus felt its pain. Almost instantly, Remus reacted and tackled the Beast away from the shadow wolf, as it lost its black color and became almost silver in appearance. The Beast backed away as it saw the look in Remus' eyes, the look of an Alpha, of a protector. The Beast lost its form, losing its initial muscle and gaining a more feeble form as Remus became more wolf-like. Unlike the Beast, Remus resembled more of a large grey wolf, the shadow wolves all changing and turning on the Beast, as the moon turned silver. The Beast turned and ran with Remus and the wolves giving chase.
The Beast ran through ruins and trees trying to get away as it resembled more of the werewolf, Fenrir Greyback. Remus caught up to him and tackled him down. The wolves circled them, and Remus howled. As he turned human once more, standing against the Beast as the wolves turned into a wall of flame. The Beast snarled once more as it tried attacking Remus, only to be swatted aside and into another tree. Remus made a blade appear in his hand and stabbed the Beast in the heart. Instantly, it turned into smoke and enveloped Remus, merging with him as the forest took on a more peaceful appearance and the ruins started looking like monuments to wolves and buildings resembling libraries. From the flames came a single grey wolf with silver eyes.
Isabel removed herself from Remus' mind and backed away as she felt him stop struggling.
"What happened," asked Lily.
"Remus beat the curse," said Isabel as the Lycan changed into his human form and sat up, groaning. He rubbed his neck and felt the bite marks.
"Really?"
"We needed to see what you were going through," said Elijah as he noticed the silver tinge to Remus' eyes, rather than the grey flecks that dotted them before. "You've been Awakened…"
"Is that what happened?" asked Remus as he stood up and dusted himself off. "That explains all the silver."
"I'll say," said Isabel, exhausted from the struggle and the mental intrusion. "You should've seen it, Eli. The curse manifested as a werewolf itself and formed shadow wolves to try and hunt Remus."
"Those wolves were my emotions under the curse," said Remus. "They were a part of me. When the Beast struck one of them, I felt it and reacted to protect it."
"That's when it changed from a shadow form into a silver one. The rest soon followed and now, Remus was in control."
"I hunted down the Beast, and 'killed' it. By that, I mean the werewolf form no longer has any control, or presence in my mind. In its place, however, is something better."
"Meaning," asked Isabel. Remus gave a wolf's grin before changing into a dark grey wolf with silver eyes. He bounded passed Lily to the Whomping Willow and over to a hill. The others followed after Lily hit the knot to stop it hitting them and watched as Remus howled at the full moon, sprouting several howls from every direction at various distances to sound as well. The students of Anima Mea ran outside, hearing the howl, and saw Remus' new form.
"It worked!" shouted Harry. The kids cheered as Remus bounded over and changed back.
"No more curse." Harry hugged his Uncle as the teachers ran over to investigate the howl they could hear inside, along with half of the school.
"What is going on here?!" shouted Snape.
"Just helping out a friend, Severus," said Lily as she stood by Elijah and glared at him.
"Remus," said Dumbledore. "You shouldn't be outside. The curse…"
"Is something I don't have to worry about anymore, Albus." He grinned as he basked in the glow of the full moon, and no change started at all, shocking the aged headmaster. "Elijah cured me! I'm not cursed anymore!" Dumbledore stood there, dumbfounded as Elijah held Lily close to him.
'Impossible!' Thought Dumbledore. 'No one can cure lycanthropy! This has to be a trick! An illusion!' Dumbledore slowly brought out the Elder Wand, intending to aim it at Elijah, but found his view blocked by Lily. 'Damn! I need to know what he's capable of! But I can't do anything with Lily in the way!' Dumbledore maneuvered himself to get a better angle on Elijah, out of everyone else's view, and found himself close to Harry. He raised his wand barely and inch higher than it was, intending on using a full powered Legilimens spell on Elijah to try and read his mind. Harry, acting on pure instinct, disarmed Dumbledore using a No-Mag method Elijah taught him if he ever found himself against a random mugger in the Muggle World.
"Oh," said Harry. "Sorry Professor Dumbledore. Defensive reflex whenever someone is behind me."
"It's no problem my boy. May I have my wand back?"
"Yes, sir." Harry examined the wand and found a strange symbol on it. "What's this, Professor?"
"Just a unique symbol on the wand, my boy."
"I feel like I've seen it somewhere before." Harry racked his brain and went through his sorted memories to find the symbol. He managed to find a memory of his family's cloak and saw the same symbol on it. "That's interesting. The same symbol is on my father's cloak." Dumbledore faltered slightly as Lily turned around, hearing Harry speak up.
"What symbol?" Harry showed her the wand. Dumbledore kept quiet as he cursed mentally.
"I accidentally disarmed Professor Dumbledore of his wand and noticed the symbol on the handle of it. It's on Dad's cloak as well." Lily examined the symbol and warning sirens sounded in her mind about the familiarity of it. Harry turned it over in his hand, feeling a slight connection to it.
"Must be a coincidence," said Lily. Making Harry and Elijah glance at her then each other at the word 'coincidence'. Dumbledore mentally sighed in relief as Harry handed the wand back. He frowned when they turned away to speak with Remus as he felt the wand was no longer obedient to him.
'No! The Elder Wand! It's changed allegiance to Harry! This can't be happening! It doesn't seem like he's noticed. That's good. The power of the Elder Wand is too much for a young boy to handle without facing corruption.' As Dumbledore fired a firework spell into the air to get the students attention. "I believe that's enough excitement for one night. You all should return to your beds and get some rest for tomorrow's classes. "Remus, you're welcome to stay and visit for as long as you wish, the same extends to you, Ms. Daniels."
"Thank you for the invitation," said Remus. "But I'll only stay the night. I do have a teaching job as a substitute teacher to return to."
"I'd stick around longer as well," said Isabel. "But I know I've gotta get back to Ilvermorny soon. Though they almost seem happy when I'm gone."
"Maybe because it's a lot safer for them," said Susan as Lily snickered.
"Nah, that can't be it. I'm a valuable asset there."
"She's in denial, isn't she?" Lily smiled and nodded as Isabel stuck out her tongue.
"Oh yeah, I need a room to myself since Remus is going to take the guest room. Guess I'm bunking with someone." She sidled up to Elijah and grinned.
"Not on your life," said Lily as she hugged Elijah's arm to her chest.
"Why don't you bunk with Mr. Lupin," suggested Tracey.
"I'd rather be cursed again," said Remus as he went into the cabin.
"I-I-I wouldn't mind if…" said Cedric before Penelope interrupted him by tugging on his ear.
"Come on, you. Off to bed."
"Ow!"
"Just bunk with Lily," said Elijah. He leaned close to Lily and whispered something that made her blush and smirk slightly. "I'll just sleep in my room tonight." He kissed Lily on the cheek and went into the cabin. Isabel shrugged and turned to Lily.
"Guess I'm with you, Roomie."
"This isn't a sleepover, Daniels. Don't act like it is."
"Spoilsport." As the rest of Anima Mea went into their cabin, and the teachers went back into the castle, Dumbledore watched the cabin with suspicion, untrusting of Elijah, despite recent events.