Chapter 30- A Blast from the past

 “No, I believe we need to keep our eyes open,” Remus answered, “Especially with the Triwizard Tournament being hosted at Hogwarts.”

Severus and Sirius nodded grimly, none of them realizing Harry had never gone up the stairs.

Chapter 31- Planning and Reacting

“I see that the last test of the potion was successful,” Albus said pleasantly from behind his desk as he watched Remus, Sirius and Severus take the seats in front of it. It was early, the morning after the full moon and the young men had just Flooed in.

“Yes,” Severus said. “The changes were permanent. Now we need to set up the Pro-Werewolf Association’s Headquarters and find three volunteers to test the potion for the Ministry’s approval. I expect that, between bureaucracy and preparing the building, we should be up and running by January.”

“Congratulations Severus. I always knew you would be successful,” Albus beamed and Severus, to the shock of everyone in the room, blushed.

“Thank you Albus.”

“Well, let’s start talking practicality here. Sirius, you offered one of the Black estates, have you chosen one?” Albus asked.

“Yes, I think nothing would have made mother happier than to know one of the Black estates is being used to help werewolves,” Sirius said biting back a smile, “I made sure to tell her.”

“I expect she was ecstatic,” Albus chuckled and Sirius grinned dreamily.

“I trust it is not one of the more known ones,” Remus said, “It wouldn’t do for people to start asking why you would have such an interest in this cause as to donate a whole estate.”

“No, it’s not. It’s one that father bought as an investment and didn’t flaunt. I didn’t even know we owned it until I went through the list of everything I inherited. It’s a Manor in quite a secluded area here in Scotland, which is perfect since our guests wouldn’t want to be seen coming and going. I was thinking we could also make Portkeys; give them a way to contact someone in the Association without others knowing, and this someone hands them a Portkey that takes them directly inside the house. Since we will have to register the house, this way no one will be seen coming in and out, and the Ministry can’t have a spy waiting to out the Werewolves.”

“That is a good idea. Can your contacts make sure they know how to get in touch Remus?” Severus asked.

“Sure,” Remus nodded.

“We have the building and the way for them to get there decided, what about who is going to work there?” Sirius asked.

“Volunteers,” Albus explained, “I will be lending some of Hogwarts’ house-elves to keep the place in order, but technically the house will only be used the seven days preceding the full moon when our guests need to be there to take the potion and make sure there is no adverse reaction. So we only need people in the house that week. I have already spoken to some people and they are quite interested in volunteering.”

“Who?” Remus asked.

“Mostly former Order members, but there are some that weren’t in the Order before. Lets see, from the Order we have, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hestia Jones, Emmeline Vance, Dedalus Diggle, Sturgis Podmore and Minerva, who offered to keep the Association’s finances in order, she’s good with that, believe me. Then there are some that weren’t in the Order, like Ted and Andromeda Tonks who offered their legal services, young Nymphadora who seemed quite interested and eager, Filius, Pomona and Molly and Arthur too. Poppy offered her services as a healer. I had thought of asking Alastor but I am afraid he is a little, shall we say, intense and will scare our guests,” Albus explained.

Sirius and Remus chuckled and Severus snorted.

“How many safe rooms can be built in the Manor for the transformations?” Remus asked Sirius.

“About twenty,” Sirius said pensively.

“So we will need ten batches of potion a month since ten of those rooms will be used by the returning werewolves,” Severus calculated. “What did you find about the whole registry business Albus?”

“I have been talking to Ted and Andromeda, and according to them the Ministry can force any Institution to show their documents at any given time,” Albus said.

Sirius slumped on his chair, “What will we do then?”

“Quite simple actually. Andromeda suggested that the Association not keep a registry,” Albus said.

“But Albus,” Remus started.

“The Association will provide the Permanent Wolfsbane for anyone interested. Whoever is interested will have to consent to be questioned about their intentions with Veritaserum,” Albus explained.

“Is that legal?” Severus asked.

“According to Andromeda, if the questioned party consents, yes.”

“So what, we question everyone and if they say they intend to hurt someone, they don’t get the potion?” Remus asked.

“Yes.” Dumbledore answered.

“What if they find a way around the Veritaserum?” Severus asked concerned.

Albus smiled, “Ah, as Andromeda suggested, the Association won’t have a registry but there is no problem if, let’s say, I have a … how would I call it… a personal journal about the people that come and go in the Association.”

“A personal jornal?” Remus grinned.

“According to Andromeda, the Ministry may request the documents of any legal Institution, but unless they have reason to believe someone is involved in a crime or some sort of illegal activity and can prove it enough to get a warrant, any person personal affects are quite out of the Ministry’s reach, no matter where they work or, in our case, volunteer. Besides, there is no way of them knowing if we have said journal.”

“So we keep an unofficial registry,” Sirius smiled, “What if someone talks?”

“That is why I hand picked the people I was asking to volunteer,” Albus said calmly, “They are either members of the Order that I trust or people that would have been in the Order if they hadn’t had small children at the time, like the Tonks’ and the Weasleys. Filius and Pomona weren’t active Members, but they were unofficially a part of the Order.”

“People that would have known Severus is our spy anyway, you mean?” Sirius asked knowingly.

“Yes,” Albus said. “Severus will be using his alias to deal with any problem that may occur, but there is always the chance of a volunteer having to contact him for some emergency and I can’t have just anyone know he is involved.”

“Alias?” Remus asked.

“During my research I used an alias to contact other Potions Masters,” Severus explained, “I used Polyjuice to look like a Muggle that lives near my house and created a new identity for me. Sean Evans is a home-schooled Potions Master whose only reference was Albus Dumbledore.”

“Quite a good reference if I say so myself,” Albus said.

Severus rolled his eyes and continued, “As Remus well knows, the use of aliases in the academic world is common. If- when I can shed my role as a spy, I can come out and let the world know that Sean Evans and Severus Snape are the same person. I have documentation in my vaults to prove so.”

“That was smart of you Severus,” Remus said with a knowing glint in his eyes, “The Ministry will probably want a Potions Master’s name with the potion, not only the Association to approve it, even if they consent not to disclose said name.”

“Yes, but there is another matter I’ve been thinking about,” Severus said seriously, “I was able to create this potion by adjusting a previous discovery. Someone else could find something new from my potion and who knows, get a cure. So it’s a little selfish to keep the formula completely to ourselves. I understand the need not to advertise the formula but we could let it be known that if any Potions Master or healer is interested, they can come to the Association. If they consent to a binding oath not to disclose the formula, and that they will only use it for further research and not to brew it for anyone, they will have access to it and to Sean Evans for discussions.”

Albus nodded thoughtfully, “I had thought of that and I think your solution is satisfactory. That also is related to another problem I had been thinking of, which is of course the matter that we don’t want to restrict the Permanent Wolfsbane to Britain. Right now we will work on opening the Association, but I am making contacts abroad to know if there are people interested to do the same in other countries. I, of course, want to make sure they will take the same precautions as us and we can either provide the potion or can have their brewers swear an oath too.”

“Maybe at first provide and once we are certain of their intentions we can delegate,” Severus pondered.

“This would put a big strain on you Severus,” Sirius stated.

“Actually it wouldn’t.” Severus smirked. “You are very good at Potions Sirius, completely capable of following instructions. Ms. Tonks, even though she is a walking disaster, is a very good Potions brewer too. And I know she can be trusted with this. I don’t trust Harry yet to do it alone, but he can assist us and I am confident that in a couple of years he would be quite capable on his own. The same goes for Ms. Granger, but unfortunately as of now she is too young to be in the Order and therefore know my loyalties, but in the future, she is a good candidate. Albus, too is a good Potions brewer, as is Poppy, and if I am not mistaken Ms. Vance was decent too. She was a couple of years behind us wasn’t she? If all of you help me, we could brew quite a bit. Besides, there will be a maximum of ten doses a month for the Association in Britain, and the other countries will have a maximum too. It’s not like any of us will be able to host hundreds at a time.”

 “The werewolf community of Great Britain isn’t more than three hundred, I’d wager,” Remus said, “Since the potion is permanent afterwards, it means they wouldn’t have to come back. In about two, two and a half years we should be able to reach them all. After that it would slow down to only the newly bitten, and that doesn’t happen every month, and with most of the werewolves tame that number should decrease too.”

“You can’t forget Greyback has followers, Remus, which means not all of those three hundred will qualify.” Albus said sadly and Remus nodded grimly.

“I think we should prioritize,” Severus said, “Children and adults that have just been bitten should go first. They haven’t had all that experience with the transformation and if we can minimize their suffering it’s less likely for them to turn to Greyback.”

“I hate to agree, but Severus is right. Someone who is already used to the transformation will be able to endure a few more and be more patient than someone who has just been bitten,” Remus said.

“Maybe we could separate, you know like how the Muggles have separate lines at the supermarket for the elderly, so they can go first?” Sirius tried to explain, “We can separate vacancies. We have ten spots per month. We make three unofficial waiting lists of who is interested in the potion. In one we put the children, in the other recently bitten and in the last one those who have dealt with the problem longer; maybe we could have one for the elderly too. I mean, they deserve it. So we separate spots in order of arrival on the lists. We have two spots dedicated to recently bitten, two for the elderly, three for children, and three for the rest. If any of the special ones aren’t filled they automatically go to the rest. ”

Remus nodded, “I think that would work. The packs actually value their children and elderly so they will not object to them having special treatment. They may object for the recently bitten but I think we can negotiate that.”

“How does the Ministry’s approval of the potion work?” Sirius asked.

“As I said before, the Ministry requires three test subjects. The Potion will be submitted by the Association, and therefore they won’t require any formal documents of the brewer, but they may require a name. Then the Potion is tested in a previously selected place, which could be Headquarters of the Association if we ask for it, with three Ministry agents. Which means that during two full moons the three subjects will have to transform there and be tested. The Ministry may ask for three to make sure this works and it was not just a fluke. Once they are satisfied with the Potion’s formula they give it the seal of approval. If it’s a disclosed formula it goes to the public registry; if not it goes to a sealed archive and the examiners have to swear a binding oath not to disclose it until the holder of the rights to the Potion dies,” Severus explained.

“Said rights can be passed as inheritance so the potion formula can be locked forever. Since Severus’ formula will be owned by an Institution and not a person, the rights will pass along with the Institution. A copy of the formula will also be stored in mine, Harry’s and Severus’ vaults, just in case,” Albus added.

“Good,” Sirius said pleased, “So I’ll get someone started on the Manor to build at least three safe rooms for the test. I know that the Ministry can get annoying and slow with their approvals so we can build the rest while we wait for their answer.”

“I think that’s all we need for today,” Albus said happily, “I’ll talk to Ted, Andromeda and Minerva, and start on the bureaucratic details. Remus, do you think you can find the test subjects?”

“As long as there is some kind of protection against the Ministry keeping tabs on them, yes,” Remus said.

“The whole procedure is witnessed only by the three examiners. They will be Unspeakables and are required by the binding oath not to reveal anything they learn at the tests, even the subjects’ identities,” Severus explained.

“Then I will have three people ready for the next full moon,” Remus said.

“Good, that’s that and we’re all done here,” Sirius said happily. “Hum, Albus, I need to talk to you about another subject.”

“Yes, Sirius.”

“I want Harry to have extra Defense lessons again on top of his Animagus training. With all this that’s happened, I would feel calmer if he knows how to defend himself even more.”

“Alastor will be teaching DADA this year; I am sure he will be more than pleased to resume-” Albus started but Sirius cut him off.

“I have enormous respect for Mad-Eye but I want Severus to teach Harry,” Sirius said and Severus head snapped towards him.

“What?” he asked.

“I want Harry to learn to fight off Death Eaters, Severus. And you know how they think, how they act. Mad-Eye was the best Auror out there but he does not think like a Death Eater. At one time you did and it’s no use pretending you didn’t when that can benefit us. I know you don’t anymore, I don’t mean to offend you,” Sirius explained.

“You are not offending me. You are right. I was one and I know how they think even if I don’t agree with them anymore.”

“Good, but unfortunately Alastor doesn’t know how close to Harry you are, so he needs to be kept out of the loop,” Remus said.

“I’m not complaining,” Severus said and Albus shook his head. Severus and Alastor Moody would never get along.”

XXXXXXXXXXX

“So Professors Black and Lupin are worried about your dream and there is going to be a tournament at Hogwarts?” Neville asked.

As soon as they got on the Hogwarts Express, Ron, Neville, Hermione and Harry secured themselves a compartment and Harry told them what he had heard about the Triwizard Tournament and his dream.

“Do they think Trelawney’s prediction has anything to do with your dream?” Ron asked and Hermione snorted.

“They didn’t say, but I don’t think it matters. I mean, if it wasn’t just a dream, Pettigrew and Bellatrix are already with Voldemort. The prediction has been fulfilled,” Harry said.

“What’s this Tournament about anyway?” Ron asked.

“Dunno,” Harry shrugged, “I couldn’t ask or they’d know I eavesdropped. Dad doesn’t like eavesdropping especially because he usually tells me stuff that parents wouldn’t so if he isn’t telling it’s because he really doesn’t want me to hear.”

“Honestly, don’t you ever read Hogwarts a History? The Triwizard Tournament is a tournament between-“ and what followed was a very long lecture about all the Tournaments Hogwarts had hosted. All in all the boys surmised that three schools were involved and people had died.

“But why would they be worried? I mean if they are reinstating it they have to have solved the death toll issue right?” Neville asked.

“Durmstrang has a bad reputation involving Dark Arts. Maybe they are worried about that,” Ron said.

“With the schools coming, this faithful servant could be one of the guests,” Hermione said. “That’s probably why they are worried. Do be careful Harry.”

“I always am!” Harry said and the other three looked at him skeptically.

“What? The things that have happened were not my fault!” he cried indignantly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“This is going to be one interesting year,” Harry thought while fluffing his pillow. The welcoming feast sure was interesting. Between Dumbledore’s announcement of the Triwizard Tournament, to which Harry and his friends put up properly surprised faces, and the arrival of their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, his dad’s former boss, Alastor Mad-Eye Moody, all the students were extremely excited and had been chatting until late in the night. Moody had made his dramatic entrance, and if Harry knew Moody, he would bet he had waited for that thunder to crash to walk inside at the best time to scare the students. Ron had mentioned that earlier in the day his dad had to deal with some issue about Moody attacking some Muggle police officers with his booby trapped dustbins, which Harry could believe.

He also noticed that his Uncle Sev was not one tiny bit happy with Moody’s appearance. Harry knew they didn’t get along because Moody didn’t believe his Uncle had really left the Death Eaters; he had heard him numerous times going on about how there is no such thing as an ex-Death Eater. Well, Harry knew of two, Regulus and Severus, and he wasn’t about to let Moody change his mind; of course he couldn’t quite tell him that. The Horcruxes were a secret and Severus’ closeness to Harry was not known to people even in the Order. They had to keep up appearances. Severus didn’t trust all the Order members, often using Pettigrew as an example. Because of that he often played a part for them too, by not letting them be sure of his loyalties, making it look possible for him to actually be a spy of Voldemort’s in Dumbledore’s Order instead of the other way around. He said that this way his position wouldn’t be compromised. And though even Severus admitted Moody would die before joining Voldemort, he didn’t like the man and counted him out of his own inner circle, never letting anything slip in front of him.

Then there was the Tournament, and Harry was glad for the age limit. He didn’t want to be in the Tournament but knew that because he was the Boy-Who-Lived people would expect it from him just as Malfoy had mentioned in the train. He was very surprised when he came in their compartment taunting them, and they all knew what he was talking about!

Sure, eternal glory was tempting but Harry had enough near death experiences to last him a lifetime and he expected he would have more if Voldemort ever came back. He shuddered at the thought. His dad had approached him before he took him to the platform and told him about his extra defense lessons as well as Animagus training. For the first time, Sirius wasn’t postponing the training and Harry understood his dad was worried that the time that he would need any advantage he could get was getting closer. Harry would be doing the extra lessons twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, after dinner. When Harry said that he usually had Quidditch practice during those times, Sirius told him not to worry and now Harry knew why. Quidditch had been canceled. Sirius had even authorized Harry to tell his friends he would be doing extra Defense training because of the recent events that happened: Bellatrix kidnapping him and the World Cup.

XXXXXXXXX

“McGonagall wasn’t very happy,” Remus said dryly from his chair, “And I’m guessing Albus won’t be either. He’ll be getting an owl from Lucius Malfoy soon, if not a personal visit.”

“But you must confess that it must have been funny,” Sirius said wiping away tears from laughter, “The stuck up little twerp could use a little humiliation to bring himself down a notch or two.’

“Yes,” Remus said annoyed, “But a teacher acts through detentions and taking away points not Transfiguration and most certainly does not bounce a student like that. I honestly thought Mad-Eye had more sense than that.”

Sirius stopped laughing, “Yeah, I guess you are right. I wasn’t thinking about that point of view. I would have never done that to a student, and I’ve given Malfoy his fair share of detentions, not that it has worked any. He always acts like I am going to get sacked for daring to do so.”

“I think if he lost his little prince status in Slytherin it would work better. All the other students have to contend with their Heads of Houses when they get any detention, but Severus can only pat him on the head and award him points to make up for the ones he’s lost. I know that grates Severus, but there’s nothing we can do now. The best we can hope is that he’ll eventually start learning,” Remus sighed.

“Speaking of Severus, someone has to talk to him. The students are already complaining to us about his fouler-than-normal mood,” Sirius frowned.

“I think someone should talk to Moody. He’s the one that keeps acting like he’s going to arrest Severus at any second.”

“Agreed. I’ll have a chat with him,” Sirius nodded.

 XXXXXXXX

The students all scurried out of the way, shocked. This was not the teacher they were used seeing stalk through the halls, glowering like he was now. He banged the door to the staff room open and every teacher inside jumped. He went straight to the one he was looking for, who was standing next to the table with the tea.

“What the bloody hell were you thinking Mad-Eye?” Sirius growled.

“You’re going to have to be more specific than that sonny,” Moody grunted.

“Sirius,” McGonagall started reproachfully, while approaching the duo.

“I’m talking about you performing Unforgivables in front of a bunch of fourteen-year-olds!” Sirius hissed.

“What?” McGonagall asked appalled.

“They are old enough, and need to know what’s out there waiting for them,” Moody grunted.

“There was no need to perform the curses to let them know what’s out there. My son did not need to see the Killing Curse performed. Neville Longbottom did not need to witness the Cruciatus Curse-“

“Both of them have more right to know what those curses do than others,” Moody growled.

“They know,” Remus said firmly, “Make no mistake, they know. But there was no need for them to see it.”

“I believe in a practical approach and there was a time when you did too Black. I showed them the curses in the exact same way I showed you,” Moody said righteously.

“When I was eighteen and training to be an Auror. What’s gotten into you Alastor?” Sirius cried.

“I ask the same to you Sirius,” Moody grunted, “There was a time when you were one of the best Aurors out there and acted as such. There was a time when you did not defend the enemy,” and at this his magical eye focused directly on Severus who was inconspicuously watching the scene as he leaned against the wall. At this he straightened and stalked out.

“I already told you. Albus trusts Severus and you should too, but I think Albus won’t very much like your way of teaching,” Sirius hissed.

“He authorized it,” Moody said grinning victoriously.

“Did he now?” Sirius narrowed his eyes. “Then I shall have a word with him,” and he stalked out followed by Remus.

XXXXXXXX

“Unforgivables Albus!” Severus barked, “How could you authorize that?”

“I didn’t,” Dumbledore said, raising his hands at the fuming young men in front of him. He had quite a scare when the three of them barged in his office like they were about to face Voldemort himself.

“So Mad-Eye lied,” Sirius sneered.

“No, he didn’t,” Dumbledore rushed to explain at the glares he received, “Alastor’s condition for accepting the position was that I would not interfere with his classes or the way he taught. I had to accept. I need him here because of Karkaroff.”

“I can keep a better eye on Karkaroff than Moody,” Severus drawled.

“Yes, you can. And I am counting on that. But Alastor can intimidate him into behaving and you, Severus, can not do that,” Albus said sadly.

“Well, we don’t want him performing Unforgivables in front of Harry,” Remus said firmly.

“And yet you want Harry to learn to defend himself from Death Eaters,” Albus countered.

“Knowing and seeing are completely different things,” Sirius said in a low tone. “He doesn’t need to see the curses to know what the Death Eaters can do. I never wanted Harry to see them in his life. I have already failed to protect him from one of the Unforgivables last year. He could have done without the other two and the same with Neville Longbottom, Susan Bones and all the other children in this school who lost family to those curses.”

“I’ll talk to Alastor, but I can not interfere,” Albus sighed, “I am sorry but I would rather have the children shaken up by seeing those curses performed on spiders than on them.”

“Karkaroff wouldn’t dare-“ Remus said.

“Do you want to risk it?” Albus cut him off, “He could be the one Voldemort was talking about in Harry’s dream.”

That efficiently shut up the three men.

----