Chapter 8

After being fully scolded by Petunia the children had followed Lupin to an unused office on the first floor of the large home. Remus sat perched on the desktop looking at each of them. Getting out of the house took smarts and he was more than sure the pretty bushy haired little girl sitting innocently in front of him had something to do with that part. He looked to the boys next, Dudley was big for his age and he tended to use that to his advantage, but Harry did not have size on his side. Harry was fast and his eyes shown with a cunning he had only ever seen in the boys' late father and just like their father these boys seemed to have a knack for trouble. Remus clapped his hands together and rose.

"Alright everyone! If you do not know why I am here I will tell you!", he paced in front of them as he spoke.

"Your parents are worried about you and have asked me to come in here and help with a bit of real-world training."

Hermione's eyes lit up at the thought of something new to learn and Lupin smiled. He always appreciated someone eager to learn.

"With you parents you have learned magic and how to defend yourselves against said magic. With me will be relying on our basic instincts. The animal that lies just beneath the surface. Today children, you will face me.", his eyes flashed an amber color and the children gasped in amazement. Uncle Remus had never let his wolf out anywhere near them.

Hermione raised her hand.

Remus chuckled lightly to himself at his friend's ever curious daughter. He nodded his head to acknowledge her.

"How far will we be going Uncle Remus?"

He stopped pacing and looked at them all sympathetically.

"Well you are still children, so we aren't aiming for a full transformation. Just enough to give you a bit of an advantage in the field."

Harry let out a breath he had not realized he had been holding in. Dudley chuckled beside him and ruffled his younger brother's hair. Hermione shushed them as she was very intent on each piece of information that left Lupin's mouth. The children settled down and Lupin continued with his explanation of today's lesson.

"This afternoon in just a few moments I will allow you some time to get in touch with your inner selves in a sense. I too will allow a bit of myself out and then we are heading to the nearby wooded area."

Still in his cloak from earlier Remus did up a few buttons and motioned for the children to follow him out the door.

"Grab your coats kiddos! Nature calls!"

They shuffled up on to their feet and quickly followed Remus to the foyer where the coat closet was located. The walk there was uneventful, Remus gave tips and pointers on how best to tap into your other self but mostly the children spoke amongst themselves excitedly.

"Finally!", Dudley excitedly whispered.

"You let your tail out earlier 'Mione but now we all get to do it on purpose!", Harry piped in as well.

Hermione smiled as she remembered what happened earlier, she had been immensely proud of herself for managing that much at the time.

"It's going to be different this time Harry. We are going to have to use it offensively."

Dudley jumped forward and said," That's the best part 'Mione! Don't tell me your scared?"

He laughed out loud catching Remus' attention.

"Are you three ready?"

They stood on a hill with many trees surrounding them. The area had been decided upon earlier while all the adults discussed what would be best for all the children. Remus moved to stand on the highest part of the hill before speaking again.

"At this time, I am going to need you all to quiet down and line up for me."

The children rushed to do as he said bumping into each other slightly as they obeyed. Hermione stood in the middle. Remus rustled around in his pockets a bit before producing a blindfold.

"To give you young ones more of a chance I am going to blindfold myself while you lot run off into the surrounding trees to "commune" with nature of sorts and find your inner demon, whatever it may be."

He finished tying the blindfold around his eyes and patted himself down. His head cocked to the side as if he was listening for something.

"Why have you lot moved on yet?", he barked out.

They all jumped up and ran off into the trees.

Harry had run further into the trees then anyone else had, when he felt comfortable, he stopped. He stood there not sure of what he was supposed to do, shaking himself he thought about what it was to "commune" with nature.

He took off his shoes.

Standing on his bare feet he felt the dirt between his toes and just breathed. He concentrated on the different scents that filled his nostrils. He could smell Hermione a little further ahead of him and Dudley was even further behind that. If he struggled a bit he could just make out Remus' scent as well in the distance.

Feeling frustrated he closed his eyes and tried some meditation tricks he had picked up from Jean. Honestly, what more did they want from him? Hermione was the one who was usually better at putting things into practice.

Tired of pretty much all the nothing he spun around and punched the nearest tree. A chunk of wood had come off and sliced a good part of his knuckle. He grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand towards him as he roared in pain.

Magic sparked up around him as the claws on his hands and feet extended. He doubled over as the pain brought out his inner lion. His hair grew longer and thickened more than it already was, and a golden hue clung to the tips. He panted as the pain subsided, yet all his animalistic attributes remained.

He opened his now cat like golden green eyes and marveled at the woods around him, everything was so clear. It was as if he had never truly seen before. The greens of the leaves popped out vibrantly and the browns in the trunks of the trees seemed deeper than anything he had ever seen before.

Harry jumped into the air and shouted happily.

This was all his mother had ever said and more, nothing could compare to this feeling. Calming himself he noticed two bright spots in his mind, one obviously dimmer. A twig cracked in the distance and he shook the bright spots out of his head for now.

He needed to find Remus and the others.

Harry darted forward through the trees and almost yelled out again. He was much faster then before and the suddenness of it almost had him tripping over his clawed feet. Adjusting his stride, he flew through the trees silently. Breathing in deeply he tried to see if he could place any of the nearby scents. To his great surprise he smelled Hermione immediately. Harry could place her scent anywhere, her spicy nutmeg smell reminded him more of home than his own mother's scent.

He slowed down hearing the light buzz of conversation nearby. He crouched low by a tree before deciding to climb it for a better view. Peeking through the leaves he saw Hermione speaking to a bush.

"He should be showing up soon, I'm sure of it."

The bush shook slightly before Dudley popped out of it and spoke.

"Try using that tiny nose of yours sometime 'Mione."

Dudley straightened up to his full height and Harry could see his big brother in all his glory. Dudley shared many of the same aspects as Harry the only difference being his tail. It swished about happily and Harry couldn't tell if his brother had any real control of the thing. Once at his full height he looked Harry straight in face from his spot in the trees.

Harry jumped down.

"I'm not surprised you sniffed me out Dudders. That nose of your could smell food a mile away."

Harry jumped down and tussled a bit with Dudley, their new attributes adding a bit more violence to the good naturedness of it. Hermione sighed behind them.

Boys.

Like earlier Hermione sported a tail but this time she also had strong sharpened fingernails and snake like lavender eyes. Hermione coughed loudly into her hand and both boys chuckled as they pulled apart.

"We need some sort of a plan for this. We cant just have a go at Remus Lupin without one."

Dudley stepped forward with a chagrined look.

"Honestly 'Mione we are screwed anyways. May as well go in guns blazing and see what happens."

Harry nodded next to Dudley.

"We each pick a good spot and then we all go. He's going to beat us all but at least this way two of us can get some hits in while one is getting their ass handed to them.", Harry said.

Hermione agreed with them, but she knew one of them was getting badly hurt. Off in the distance a wolf howled, and she shook a little.

She bent down to grab a few sticks off the ground. She shuffled them in her hands and then settled them into one hand. Hermione held out her hand that held the sticks.

" Ok we draw straws. Shortest straw is stuck in the danger zone."

Dudley came forward and grabbed a stick for himself. He crowed in excitement when he saw his stick was about a good five inches long. He clapped Harry on the back supportively as he reached for his own stick.

Harry opened his hand to see a short little two-inch stick sitting in his palm. In front of the boys Hermione held up a three-and-a-half-inch stick and Harry groaned. Dudley laughed at Harry's horrible luck. He turned around to the right and began to sniff the way he was interested in taking.

"I myself am feeling like taking out his wand side and see what I can handle. I think it would be safer for 'Mione to hit his left side and handle things there."

Hermione made an outline in the dirt as Dudley ran through the plan.

"So then we all get in position ill either call out or whistle and we all charge forward."

Head still down Harry nodded in agreement. One last time all three children made eye contact with each other before running off to stand in position and await Dudley's signal.

Before leaving Hermione quickly ran up to Harry and kissed him briefly on the cheek. A blush flooded his cheeks as he watched her go. With a hand pressed to his cheek Harry zoomed into position.

Like before Harry hid in the tops of the trees and from his vantage point he could clearly see Remus. Remus Lupin stood on top of a grassy hill one hand in his pocket and the other holding a book up. The man was the picture of ease standing there.

A whistle cut through the air and Harry launched himself from the trees. He came in close to Remus and the man never moved as Harry launched the claws of one hand forward. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Hermione and Dudley closing in as well. He felt something strange stir in him as he beheld his best friend in the heat of mock battle. Her eyes twinkled with a blood thirsty light he had never seen before and in his next few moments of consciousness she had never looked like this before.

Remus' heels clicked in the empty hallway, every click bringing him closer and closer to his inevitable procedure. He had agreed to have a rune tattooed to the back of his skull in order to seal his memories of the children. More importantly to seal his memories of Harry and Petunia.

The Order of the Phoenix had been called up again the night they had disappeared from the wizarding world. In the guise of concern Dumbledore sent countless search parties out to basically hunt for them. Luckily all his searching came up empty, thanks to Petunia they had all but disappeared. Remus could recall the many sleepless nights he spent out on missions whenever there was so much as a whisper of Petunia.

He sighed to himself.

Those times had been extremely hard on him. James had died, Peter had been murdered by Sirius, the world had become a much different place in the span of 24 hours.

The door to the lab downstairs came into his view and he hurried his last few steps. On the other side of the heavy wooden door his keen ears picked up the sound of voices.

He needed to do this, for James.

Remus opened the door and strode in. Inside the lab things had changed a bit since the last time he saw it, fewer candles lined the walls lending a spooky air to the underground chamber. A small part of him felt as if he had stepped into a horror film and he gulped.

"There you are Moony! I was about to send a search party out after you."

William clapped a hand on his back, and he jumped in surprise.

Remus chuckled nervously before replying.

"Just finishing up with your little monsters out there. They are quite a handful."

William laughed out loud and led Remus to a chair and small desk just inside the lab. He sat and William wandered over to his wife as Petunia approached him with a short razor. She smiled at him as she laid the items on the desk. The back of his head tingled in anticipation as he faced away from Petunia and bent his head down.

He felt her hand comb his hair up to expose the spot she needed. As she worked, he used this time to think about what was going to happen.

To protect his dead friends' family, he was about to let a woman he barely knew perform a complex ritual and tattoo the back of his head with an extremely powerful rune.

He could do this.

Every swipe of the blade sent a shiver down his spine that he tried to repress. Getting nicked by that blade was not part of his plans. Petunia's fingers skimmed his bare skin and it sent a shiver of another kind down his spine. Shaking himself mentally Remus reminded himself that now was not the time for that. Besides Petunia was a married woman, a little voice in the back of his head reminded him that she was married to a walking corpse. Still, she had been James' woman along with her sister and a part of him could never begin to imagine betraying James like that.

Petunia moved away from him slightly before speaking.

"You're good to go Moony."

Remus turned around to face her and their eyes met.

Before he could say anything, Jean began to dart about him. Magic already buzzed from her hands and the tattoo equipment in her hands. With a sigh Jean finished that last of her runes and turned to Remus excitedly.

"With this no one will be able to get anything out of your head Remus."

She smiled reassuringly towards him as Petunia walked around them to place a small sealed inkwell on the table beside everything else. Remus went back to his head down position and waited. Some one uncapped the inkwell and the smell of blood wafted towards his nose.

He stiffened.

He knew blood was going to be used to tattoo the rune into the back of his neck, but the smell was intoxicating.

Jean giggled and patted his head.

"Down boy. Behave and you can have a nice juicy steak after we are done."

Remus let out a small annoyed growl but was silenced by the sound of the tattoo gun. Once again Jean spoke up.

"This is going to sting Remus, but it'll be over soon, and then we will all be safer."

He felt the sting of the needle as it moved across his skin and he found comfort in the constant dull pain. Jean mumbled to herself as she worked and soon she was cleaning and dressing the area.

"You're going to need to get to a bed soon Remus. The magic will settle in and you will be drained for quite some time."

He had stood up as Jean spoke to him and a wave a dizziness crashed over him and he quickly sat back down. His vision swam and the last thing he saw was Petunia's face as she smiled sadly at him. William quickly rushed forward and caught the man before he could tumble out of his chair.

"A little help would be appreciated here ladies."

Jean moved forward to help her husband as Petunia summoned Vernon. A few moments later Vernon ambled through the door with a messenger dove perched on his shoulder. Jean dropped her side of Remus and headed straight for the dove.

It had been so long since she had seen a dove and, in her excitement, Remus' head may or may not have hit the desk just a bit. Petunia had removed the message and handed it to Jean.

"It's not from her I'm afraid."

Jean sighed tiredly. It had been quite a long time since they had heard from their friends in France. She looked down at the message and saw her daughters name written in a very loopy script. Well at least the children were keeping in touch.