Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter; it all belongs to JK Rowling. I suppose I own the plot, in a way.

Summary: In dark times, prophecies predicted the rising of five who would have the power alone to defeat evil. They were the Pack.

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~ The Pack ~

Chapter One: The Prophecy

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Number 12 Grimmauld Place was as dark and grim as she remembered when Hermione Granger stepped inside the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix for the first time in over a year. The portraits still shrieked, Mrs. Black on the wall still screamed insults that registered only numbly in Hermione's head, and the air of pain felt stronger than ever.

Everything seemed so much worse, especially now that Sirius was no longer there. Hermione closed her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat. She had to get past this . . . she had to forget the pain of losing Sirius, forget her feelings for him.

Yet how could she? There wasn't even anyone to talk to about it, because who would understand? How could she tell Ron or Harry that she'd fallen in love with Harry's godfather . . . and that she still loved him, even after months of his inexplicable death.

She'd sworn never to come back here, to this cruel house that had been such a primary cause of Sirius's pain and loneliness during the few weeks before . . . and yet, here she was.

God, get over this, 'Mione, you're here for a reason. You were called, damn it, because they need you here.

Just one week before Hogwarts began, and her seventh year, the current residents of this house needed her because while searching the old Black chronicles, they had found something.

"Hermione!" the friendly voice cut through her thoughts and jerked her back to the fact that she was still standing in the middle of the hallway. "I'm glad you're here!"

"Hey, Prof - Remus," Hermione smiled sincerely and gave the thirty-four-year-old man a hug. "I've missed you guys over this month and a half, and it's been pretty long since I've seen you." she raised her eyebrows. "So - what did you need me for?"

"Couldn't do it without you," Remus grinned and led her towards the study. "Come inside, Harry and Ron are there - we'll explain."

She followed him in and was almost immediately suffocated by her two best friends throwing themselves at her in their elation at seeing each other after the weeks that had passed. She felt her joy subside a little as she remembered Sirius, and that he should have been here. Times were growing darker, and more dangerous, and with wizards and warriors dying at the hands of Voldemort's evil, there was simple joy to be found in seeing the people you cared about alive and well.

"Hey, 'Mione, you look great!" Ron complimented her, blushing slightly as he did so. "When did you straighten your hair?"

It was true that she looked different. Her body had sort of filled out over the summer, and with Ginny's insistence, she had started wearing rather more fitting clothing. After straightening her hair, she'd also cut it to her shoulders, and the look suited her.

"Some time ago," she waved it off dismissively. "I believe there's something you three have to explain to me."

"Sit down," Harry told her, pulling up an extra chair at the cluttered table. They all sat down, and Harry pushed an old piece of parchment, obviously torn out from a book, towards her. "Ron found this two days ago while we scoured the books of the Black library."

Hermione carefully scrutinized the page. The lettering and words appeared to be forming something of a rhyme, but they were in a very complicated language indeed.

"None of you could translate this?" she asked, looking up Remus.

He shook his head, a slightly sheepish smile on his mouth. "Uh - well, you see - I was never much of a languages person, and oddly enough, even Dumbledore hasn't been able to crack this. There aren't many people we can ask, and you're the only one with enough Ancient Runes study to even begin to work on this. Dumbledore suspects the Runes form the basis of this language."

"Hmmm . . ." Hermione looked down at the page again, more carefully, and noted that there were many symbols indeed that bore a strong resemblance to the Runes studies she'd done at Hogwarts. "Well, well."

"What?" Ron asked excitedly. "Did you find something?"

Lupin and Harry laughed at Ron's eagerness, although they too looked fairly intrigued. Hermione chuckled. "Patience." she said. "Is there an Ancient Runes textbook around this place?"

Harry pointed at the bookshelf with his wand. "Accio Ancient Rones Study!" he called. All of them being 17, they could now use magic and they had just completed their Apparation tests, with Lupin as their examiner.

The book soared towards Hermione, and she caught it. "With this, I should be able to work out most of this parchment." she shrugged. "But it'll take some time, so I suggest you three stop hovering over my shoulder and get to work on lunch, unless Mrs. Weasely's coming over, so that I can work in peace."

"We'll leave you in peace, 'Mione," Harry assured her, yanking Ron away. "Call us if you find anything."

"I assume," Hermione said dryly, before Remus reached the door, "That this parchment contains a prophecy, and that's why you assume its so important?"

"You miss nothing, Hermione," Remus chuckled and then nodded seriously. "You're right; Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and I believe this is a prophecy, which is why we must decode it. I didn't want to tell Harry or Ron until we were sure."

Hermione nodded. "I'll work as fast as I can."

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By sunset that day, with help from Fred and George who proved to be surprising obliging as they transferred varied alterations of Runes symbols to tracing paper to match them, Hermione had what she hoped was an accurate translation of the prophecy sitting in front her.

Knowing that Mrs. Weasely had already left with the twins, she called out to the others, and they came racing in, eager to know the secret of the language.

Silently, they all read the prophecy:

The Bloodline Prophecy

Since before the dawn of time, two creatures lived in chaos,
One a lion, brave and strong; one a snake, clever and ruthless;
Centuries down the lines of blood
In the darkest time, the snake shall grow
His power will be challenged by some, but his power shall be vanquished by none.
Cruel is the hand of fate, for none can stop the turmoil,
Until the ten of the century before the end,
Five children of the lion shall rise,
Three will know the local hog, two once did;
And only they may vanquish the blood of the snake.
One is the Leader, the quadra challenger,
Brave, his claw alone will finally kill the snake;
They will find him under the wings.
The next is the Knight, the minion of the lion,
Loyal, his claw will defend the heels of the pride;
He shall be found in the rabbit's den.
Third is the Hunter, the beast of the night,
Untamed, his strength will find and rip the servants of the snake;
Find him in the patronage of night's queen.
Fourth is the Angel, the purity of the soul,
Clever, she will provide the weapons and fight with her pride;
She can be found amongst the "mud".
And last is the Warrior, the defender of the pride,
Strong, he shall protect the lions with animal power;
He must be brought from the lair of the vampire.
These are the five, the children of the lion,
They alone may vanquish the snake,
But they must beware, for there is no truth,
Only that the snake and the lion may not live as one.
These are the five, the children of the lion,
Alone, they must fight . . . they are the Pack.

For a long moment, there was complete silence as they finished reading the startling prophecy and then looked at each other, confusion and apprehension very vivid in green, blue, gray and brown eyes.

Ron finally cleared his throat. "Maybe it's just me, but is anyone else getting a little chilly?" He asked rather nervously.

"I don't think it's necessarily you, Ron," Remus said slowly, looking around at the others. Hermione felt the same chill. "That was a definitely chilling prophecy, and we must find out what it means, because what is plain is that this prophecy is the key to crushing Voldemort."

Harry shifted uneasily. "Damn, I hope I'm not in it." he groaned.

"All right," Hermione interjected briskly, shaking off her apprehension and pulling the prophecy towards her. "We have to figure this out. Let's start with the first line, which obviously means that two different sides - or armies - lived in enmity. Then we proceed to the specifications: and lion and a snake."

"Gryffindor and Slytherin." Harry said at once.

Hermione nodded, and saw Remus doing the same. "Next," she continued, "It says that 'Centuries down the lines of blood, / In the darkest time, the snake shall grow'. That, we can assume, means that many generations of Gryffindors and Slytherins later, the Slytherin in question - the greatest of them all - will grow stronger in a time of darkness. That, undoubtedly, is Voldemort becoming stronger now."

"Precisely, which is why this prophecy now becomes very important," Remus nodded. "What's next? About his power, and how it cannot be completely vanquished, until . . ."

Ron frowned, staring at the parchment. "'Until the ten of the century before the end'." he read out. "What does that mean?"

"Maybe it's referring to a year?" Harry suggested, his brow furrowed.

Hermione considered this carefully and then shook her head. "I think that means the ten years - the decade - before 'the end'. When does everyone think the end of the world will come?"

"2000." Harry snapped his fingers. "So it's saying that Voldemort can only be defeated in the decade before 2000, which is now - between from 1990 onwards."

"Right," Hermione agreed. "'Five children of the lion shall rise' - " she smiled.

Ron grinned and leaped in quickly to prove that he was useful. "Five Gryffindors." he supplied.

"Well done, Ron." Hermione grinned and Harry and Remus chuckled. "We can therefore proceed if there are no arguments on that one. 'Three will know the local hog; two once did, / And only they may vanquish the blood of the snake'."

"Evidently, they are the only ones who have a chance of defeating Voldemort," Remus stated thoughtfully. "As for the previous line . . . anyone have any ideas?"

"Hog . . . couldn't that be Hogwarts?" Harry shrugged.

"Yeah, could this mean that three of these five are current students at the school, and two once were, but have already graduated?"

They all stared at Ron, impressed.

"What?" he grinned. "I'm not that stupid, all right?"

"I'm beginning to agree," Hermione murmured, smiling at him. Her eyes travelled down the prophecy. "All right: 'One is the Leader, the quadra challenger, / Brave, his claw alone will finally kill the snake'." She frowned. "The Leader - the one who will eventually be the one to kill Voldemort - Harry?"

"Oh, no." Harry groaned.

Remus smirked, but his eyes had grown grave. "I think Harry is probably the only option, especially when you consider the next line - 'They will find him under the wings'."

"Do I look like there's a bird sitting on my head?"

Hermione and Ron began to laugh, and even Remus looked amused. Then he said calmly: "Well, Harry, 'under the wings' can also refer to 'under the protection', and you're certainly under Dumbledore's protection, as well as the protection of the Order of the Phoenix."

"Aha! Thus the wings, of the phoenix." Ron exclaimed excitedly.

"Well, we've discovered the Leader, now we need to figure out who the others are." Hermione continued. "'The next is the Knight, the minion of the lion, / Loyal, his claw will defend the heels of the pride; / He shall be found in the rabbit's den'." She glanced at the others. "Minion of the lion could refer to an ally, I suppose. He's loyal, which means he sticks by this group, and Harry, apparently. 'The heels of the pride' . . ."

"He watches the group's backs?" Harry asked.

"Most likely," Remus agreed, but he was smiling slightly. "But I think the location of this Knight is the real giveaway clue: 'the rabbit's den'."

"How many people do you know who live in rabbit's homes?" Ron demanded with a snort.

Hermione began to laugh. "Of course," she breathed. "It fits perfectly!"

"Eh?"

Ron looked around at them all, all staring at him expectantly and shrugged. "I don't know . . . a bu - oh." He suddenly went rather green. "You're not saying - ?"

"I believe, Ron, that's exactly what we - and this prophecy - are saying." Remus said with a reassuring smile. "The rabbit's den is none other than a 'burrow'. And who do we know who lives in a Burrow and is Harry's Knight?"

"Me?" Ron asked feebly.

"Never thought you'd feature in prophecies, did ya, Ron?" Harry smirked and patted his friend on the back.

Ron appeared quite astounded. Finally, his mouth opening and closing like a fish, he stuttered: "Well, if I'm - in it - then - then - Hermione has to be in there too!"

"I believe I am," Hermione responded calmly, meeting Remus's eyes for a moment. She quelled the quiver of shock and apprehension and said with as much dignity as she could: "I believe I'm this Angel, the 'pure' one - the goody-two-shoes, more like - " (they all laughed) " - and 'Clever, she will provide the weapons' - I'll be the one to make the potions, find the spells, decode the prophecies - "

"And, you're the one found in "mud"," Remus added. "The 'mud' has been surrounded by inverted commas, which means its a phrase used, which leads us to Mudblood and Muggle-borns."

"Wow," Harry shook his head. "This is pretty cool. It's like it was always meant to be. So, I suppose we're the three present students at Hogwarts. That means the other two have already graduated."

"The Hunter is one," Ron pointed out.

"Yes," Hermione smiled, her nimble mind quickly working out the clues, "And he's 'untamed', 'the beast of the night', and perhaps most importantly, 'in the patronage of night's queen'."

"What does that mean?" Ron demanded.

Hermione smiled at Remus. "It means, Ron, that the Hunter is not entirely human. That he is under the influence of the ruler of night - the moon. In short, he's a werewolf."

"Merlin's beard," Remus sank down into a chair weakly. "So I'm in this lion's pride as well?"

"Apparently so," Harry said cheerfully. "We wouldn't have any other, Remus, believe me!"

"So the four of us are four of the members of the Pack," Ron said, looking down at the prophecy again in some awe. "But there's one more - one more member of the Pack to find."

They all looked at each other, each just as perplexed. And Hermione knew they were all wondering the same thing:

Who was the Warrior?

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TBC.

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A/N: Just an idea I had that I thought would make a good story. So who is the Warrior, huh? Hehe. Please, please review and let me know if you want me to continue . . .